《Master Of None》


 Chapter 1 - (Prologue) the way the world works

    Everyone is born with a system. Well technically, they just needs to unlock it. Sounds simple right? But not really. The system a human unlocks can be anything. Someone can unlock their cksmith system just by walking by a forge where others need to create their very first weapon before it unlocks. Some people unlock a masters system that will take them to soaring heights that allow them to learn mastery skills. Others unlock unique systems such as magical smith which is the same as a cksmith but they can create magical items. The only catch is that if a human hasn''t run in to the proper conditions to unlock their system by the age of fifteen then that''s it, it''s all over. Their potential to unlock a system is gone and they be an average human with no potential to level up and grow. They fall to the lowest ss lucky even to make twenty gold a day when bread could cost a whole one of those.


    Now it may be a rare case but for Walker, it''s bing a closer and closer reality, Walker Will turn fifteen tomorrow. Well more specifically in 13 hours or at least that''s what''s left on the system countdown every human gets until they either unlock or lose their system. See his father Garret has a unique system. It''s not as good as a master but he has an Elite Guard System. This helps him patrol the capital city Diamond, its in the Crystal kingdom named for the first ever King Roman Crystal many years ago. Thanks to his father''s job Walker has been able to meet many various people in a day, giving more than enough chances to try unlocking his system.


    The world has uncountable types of systems some even spanning to other worlds or universes. But here there are a few notable races that call systems a blessing of the world. The elves of the forests pride nature and magic. The dwarves of the mountains hide away only caring for crafting and mining. Demi humans are tied to their distinguishing features unlocking rted systems. Demons hold more nefarious destructive magic powers often causing trouble with any system. Ancient dragon like monsters have systems rted to their species, often leveling and bing much stronger more easily. Angels, Merfolk, and other various species scattered through the world have their own challenges and strengths.


    The only thing that''s certain is that when ites to systems, you either do anything and everything you can to unlock it or you lose the chance forever.

 Chapter 2 - The People He Has Met

    Walker often chooses to follow his father to the gate so He can meet people passing in and out of the city. The massive walls protect them from the fields and forests full of monsters on the outside. Some of which smell and goblins smell the worst. The iron gate is always open to merchants, adventurers, explorers, and even royalty!


    Some of the notable people He''d met have been an older man with a unique system called Spice Trader which allowed him to procure and sell nts he turned in to spices. The aromatic scent of his cart could be smelled for many houses away. However upon trying to bargain with him for some tree bark he called cinnamon Walker quickly found no change In his system. He guessed he won''t be a spice trader or a merchant.


    Walker had the luck to meet many adventurers as they left on morning quests or training. Always rushing to a magic user when He saw them because the many types of magic in the world could not be counted. The elemental Magic was great for defense and attack but the unique Magic such as spatial magic or healing could lead to a wondrous life. Unfortunately, he had met over twenty three different magic users, and no spell that he had tried worked. Maybe I''ll try the church was one of his next thoughts, there was a woman who unlocked a Master Oracle System, and it was said she could see up to ten whole years in the future! These thoughts were always running through his mind.


    He was even lucky enough to meet someone with a Tamer System once. They preferred to tame sonic bats which were small creatures about the size of someone''s head that could confuse and disorient enemies with sound. The tamer even let Walker try and tame one of the baby bats which were as small as his pinky finger. Yet to no avail again there was no magical sounds or reaction from the system.


    Garret often told Walker the story of how he had been a child walking along and witnessed other kids his age throwing rocks at a stray dog. When he threw himself in front of it and yelled for them to stop he felt power well within him and his system gave a ding. ''You have reached the requirements. The Elite Guard System has be active. Congrattions.'' That was some years ago but now after rigorous training and a strong will, he''s pushed himself to level 30 through his system quests and leadership as an elite guardsman. He perfectly fit this role, he was tall, had brown hair just like Walker, and was very muscr. His stern features really scared the hooligans who tried to run amok on the streets.


    Garret


    Elite Guard System


    Level 30


    Exp. until next level 10,737,418,240


    Hp-75


    Def-77


    Mdef-77


    Atk- 45


    Matk-35


    Charisma (char)-32


    Agi-37


    Mana- 35


    "You shall carry the weight of thew as the defender of the weak. Those in danger shall find your shield and those causing strife shall find your de"


    By far garret was one of the strongest around the outer walls and even ranked highly in the inner city. The only problem was that after you get to a level the exp needed doubles making it harder and harder to grow and gain skill points to distribute to your stats. However the fact that every single thing rted to a person''s system gained them exp really helped. Not to mention the quests given by the system to guide and allow proper development of skills. Some quests are daily, others could take a lifetime; one never knows until they get their system. Not to mention the experiencerewards could vary wildly depending on difficulty.

 Chapter 3 - 3.Home Sweet Home

    Normally Walker would spend all day running around by the gates trying to find new people with new systems to meet. But today his mother Hilda had promised him one of her famous apple turnovers. Walker''s mother was lucky enough to get the Baking System. To the average person that would sound prettyme. However once someone tasted her food and experienced the special effects they would be hooked for life. The pastries she cooked could recover fatigue, mana, and even hp depending on ingredients. She once made the mistake of giving his little sister Lisa a cookie that increased agility, temporarily causing Lisa to run around the kitchen table until she got dizzy.


    Due to these skills she received a decent amount of business from low tier adventurers. Some of the longer quests they took required her signature no stale bread!


    Walking back home to a small one family house just off the street from the market was always a tough time for Walker. It signifies another day without a system. Hilda who just like Walker had brown hair but hers was always shoulder length ponytail, and clever green eyes; was average height and very slender and fast looking. This was because she needed to be smaller and faster when cooking. The feeling of warmth from her smile always cheered walker up though;


    Hilda


    The Baker System


    Level 15


    Exp until next level 327,680


    Hp-40


    Def-30


    Mdef-20


    Atk- 20


    Matk-20


    Char-41


    Agi-25


    Mana-20


    "Your cooking shall always imbue special qualities. The better the ingredient the better the dish! Food is love."


    ...


    "Garet, Walker! Hurry up and get inside. I just finished dinner, I swear if you let it get cold there will be no birthday cake for you tomorrow" shouted Hilda with a slight smile.


    Their home may not have beenrge being in the lower ss area but it was always filled with the lovely scents of cooking. Sitting down to their meal Lisa ran to steal the seat next to Walker as always.


    Lisa; Walker''s little sister was only 8 years old but had been lucky enough to discover her system early in life. She matched Walker with her brown hair and green eyes but her hair was kept short just below her ears. She was short and slender giving the impression she could jump past you at any minute. Lisa had always adored her older brother constantly wanting to be the first person to see what his system would be.


    Lisa''s system however was one of chance encounters, her favorite dress had ripped after getting caught on a corner and as a six year old her only reaction was to cry to Walker and their mother to fix it. Luckily Hilda had grown up with their neighbor who had unlocked the Tailor system. A quick knock on the door and short conversation lead to them sitting and watching the dress be quickly sewn and patched.


    Lisa had suddenly asked to try however, this was a normal thing for children since everyone wanted to find their system, so there was no problem in allowing her the attempt. Miraculously as soon as her finger touched the needle a ding responded and Lisa jumped in surprise.

 Chapter 4 - 4.Sisters Tears

    Lisa


    The Seamstress System


    Level 5


    Exp to next level 320


    Hp-14


    Def-13


    Mdef- 6


    Atk- 12


    Matk-6


    Char- 10


    Agi- 13


    "Measurements shalle to you at a nce. The right material to create elegance is second nature. The bnce between practicality and beauty is your art."


    ...


    That''s the short and sweet of how Lisa gained her system at such a young age. Since then Walker had been bombarded constantly with "what did you do today brother!" "Did you unlock it yet" "what will you try tomorrow?". Endless questions that continued even now at the dinner table.


    "Walker, how long is left?" Inquired Hilda.


    " I spent ten whole hours with Father today trying to find something that leaves me with three hours left. I even tried sneaking up behind him while he was distracted, trying for a rogue or hunter system." Replied walker


    "I know it''s tough honey, I''ve introduced you to everyone I know, the butcher, the carpenter, the toy maker, and even a cart driver. With yourst few hours try whatever you can, don''t worry about going to sleep on time" Hilda''s voice reassured with a slight sense of worry. "But you Lisa I know you''ve been cking on fixing that hole in your hooded robe and if it isn''t fixed before you go to bed there will not be any breakfast for you!" The stern motherly gaze pierced Lisa who quickly cleaned her te and rushed to the bedroom to grab her sewing needles.


    "I''ll help clean the table and dishes, maybe I''ll unlock a master cleaning system." Joked Walker. With that Garet went to clean himself after work and Hilda returned to the kitchen to prepare for tomorrow''s usual customers.


    No one can say cleaning is the most fun thing ever but if that''s how Walker unlocked his system maybe it''s worth it. Walker constantly thought this way. Maybe I''ll try this, could be this, how about just one shot at this. He had tried easily over a thousand different things in his fifteen years. With two hours left I''ll try some attack actions. Maybe I can still be an adventurer and travel! Walker thought to himself. Theical scene of Walker jumping around the kitchen with a butter knife was not an umon one for children but still held a sense of stress now that less than two hours remained.


    "Ahhhh!" A high pitched scream echoed from Lisa''s bedroom followed by fast footsteps.


    "Walker! Walker! Walker! I poked myself with my needle, fix it it''s huurrttts." Begged Lisa with small tears in her eyes. Walker had be used to this the past two years as his sister always ran to him when she had slipped while sewing. He was always able to bandage her up and quell the small tears that burdened her.


    "You know I saw a healer the other day use a spell called light heal, want me to give it a try?" Walker asked knowing the possibility of trying something new would distract Lisa from her pin prick pain.


    Knowing he was still level zero and had no system he had no hope it would work. The stats of a level zero were sad to say the least and all that he could do was watch the timer countdown.


    Walker


    System: none


    Countdown: 01:17:30 remaining


    Level 0


    Exp until next level- 10


    Hp- 5


    Def- 2


    Mdef- 2


    Atk- 1


    Matk- 1


    Char- 2


    Agi- 3


    Mana- 5


    ...


    Knowing he would probably just have to go grab a bandage he still ced his hands above his sister''s small hand and copied the healer he had seen earlier. "Light heal!"Walker said firmly. However no green healing light was produced instead a resounding ding and a new message appeared.


    ''You have met the requirements, The Jack of All Trades System has been activated. Congrattions!''

 Chapter 5 - 5. Walker’s System

    Before Walker could even recover from the shock he was sent a new message.


    ''You have essed a skill from The Healer System, light heal. Would you like to use skill- Light heal?''


    "Yes!" Walker immediately said yes feeling his heart begin to rush. In that instance, he felt himself be filled with energy and consequently said "Light heal!" Green light glowed from his hands and the system immediately prompted;


    ''Light heal used. Target Lisa has been healed 1 hp.''


    Lisa immediately jumped in shock staring at her brother in awe. Her brother had just healed her using his mana, something only someone with a system could aplish.


    " Mother, Fathere quicke heeerrrreee! Walker is a healer! He''s a healer!" Cried Lisa causing Garett and Hilda to rush in to the room seeing the fading green light from Walker''s hands.


    The pure joy on their faces could not be matched with words their son was a healer, a rare system that was valued in any tier of the city let alone outside.


    After a moment Garett rushed to his son and grabbed him in a brutal bear hug "My son the healer!!!!" He yelled while spinning Walker in excitement.


    "I''m so proud of you," Hilda said with a tear slowly falling down her cheek. Years of stress and worry falling from her shoulders now that she knew her son would be able to live a full life.


    "Wait.. ack...father stop! I can''t breathe!!!! Put me down, I''m not a healer, I can''t read with you squishing me!!!" Walker finally was released. He was breathing a bit heavy from being squished, also out of excitement.


    "My system name is Jack of All Trades. I''m not sure what it means but it asked me if I wanted to learn and use the light heal skill so I said yes." I need to look in to this more, if I can heal why don''t I have a healer system? This was the first question he asked himself. Walker began thinking and reading as his family watched, eventually, his gaze fell on to his new stats since he had finally after years been graced with his first level; level 1.


    Walker


    Jack of All Trades system


    Level 1


    Exp until next level- 20


    Hp- 6


    Def-3


    Mdef-3


    Atk-2


    Matk-2


    Char-3


    Agi-4


    Mana-6


    Points avable for distribution- 5


    "Jack of all trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than a master of one"


    ...


    ''User has attempted to learn many skills unlocking the system. As such the user can use any skill, weapon, gear, tools, and items as long as they do not require mastery. Mastery level skills from other sses can not be learned.''


    ''Current skills:


    Light heal-cost 1 mana


    Heals up to 15hp to the target


    ....


    Immediately walker fell into deep thought thinking to himself; what does this mean? I can''t learn and master level skills but I can learn any other skill and use any gear or weapons or tools I want? Does this mean I can go anywhere and do anything? Can I be an adventurer and see the world?


    ''Passive skill learned from the Philosophers System- Critical thinking


    Skill causes the user''s thoughts to flow smoothly and allows reaching solutions faster than the average human''


    I just gained a skill from thinking? !!! And from a Philosophers system none the less! Wait does this mean I will get to earn exp from everything I do? The surprise he faced with these thoughts was in to see on his face.


    "Mother, father. I''ve decided, I want to travel the world and be an adventurer! My system lets me use any skills, gear, weapons, and even any tools! I can learn to take care of myself so I want to register and take the adventurer guild test tomorrow on my birthday! I may never get a mastery skill but I don''t need them. I can earn experience and grow doing anything now, you won''t have to worry and I can even help out more at home."

 Chapter 6 - 6.The Future

    "A unique system..." Hilda whispered, "you unlocked a unique system." Her face was full of confusion and disbelief. Unique systems were umon but could mean anything.


    "Are you sure?" Garret broke in. His face was serious. "You know it can be Incredibly dangerous out in the wild taking quests. If you can do anything it''s safer to learn within the walls andplete your system quests to gain experience. Especially if you aren''t limited to what you can do." Instead of being stunned, Garret immediately began pressing Walker, knowing that his son could learn rare skills and live an easy life without worry within the walls. He didn''t want to see his son leave the walls only toe back hurt like the many he''d seen while on the job as a guard.


    " I''m sure, I''ve always wanted to explore and because I can do anything is why I should be an adventurer! I can''t even imagine what else I can learn while out exploring. Plus if I ever decide to retire I can start doing anything in the city, I won''t have to worry about my future being ruined if I get injured or if I decide to stop exploring." The years of running around meeting so many people to try and unlock his system made him want to meet even more people. What other kinds of systems were there? Why can''t I live the stories I''ve heard? Can I fight monsters like the high level adventurers who save whole viges? These questions flowed in his mind.


    Garret immediately left the room, but quickly returned carrying a small leather shield. "This was my first shield, it might not be strong but to start it could save your life. I also want you to prove to me you can equip it!" Hilda watched and slowly came out of her shocked state grasping what Garett was thinking, she knew that if walker indeed could prove himself then they would not have to worry so much. They didn''t distrust Walker but what if Walker had misunderstood his system and couldn''t equip everything? It could spell his death outside the walls.


    Walker grabbed the leather shield knowing that if he equipped an item that was not of his ss its stats would be reduced to zero and had a high potential to break upon use. Instead, the system graced him with this message,


    '' Equipped with a small leather shield to the left arm. Def+2 agi-1''


    Garret immediately let fly a soft open palm p toward the shield. His hand made a loud thud upon the leather but the shield didn''t budge and neither did Walker who had steeled himself behind it.


    '' skill perfect block has been taken from The Guardian System. Would you like to learn the skill perfect block?''


    "Yes, learn skill perfect block." he eximed knowing he would need it in the future.


    ''Learned skill- perfect block


    Cost-5 mana


    As long as a shield is equipped can block an attack only allowing up to 5 points of damage through''


    "Did you just say perfect block!" Garret questioned "Only guardians learn that skill, it''s very costly to mana and very hard to learn. It''s a high ss skill, it may not be a master skill but it''s as close as you can get for defense!" Garret started to step back looking as if he would fall over. His son had just learned a skill from something so small, was this really possible?!


    The overwhelming feeling of tiredness had set in on Walker, he had only six mana and he''d just used hisst five after his level up leaving him at zero. He quickly sat down as his mother rushed to his side to scold him. "You can''t rush in to this you''ve already tired yourself out, if you''re going to be so reckless I won''t be teaching you to make my never stale bread before you leave to register in the morning!"


    Walker smiled knowing with those words he had gained his mother''s blessing as well, however as his eyes shifted to his sister he knew immediately that she was going to do everything within her power to keep him in the housee sunrise.

 Chapter 7 - 7.First Quest

    As sleep came easily walker was awakened by a new sound of a system message issuing his first ever daily quest,


    '' your dreams and desires have guided you to live the life of an adventurer.


    Quest: register as an adventurer and pass the three tests to gain the first tier adventurer que of stone


    Reward:


    5exp, party skill''


    Walker was excited not only could he gain some experience but he would get a skill used by adventurers and leaders that would allow him to join or create a party. Most people needed to gain the skill through their system or by having a party decided and approved by a guild. The advantages he had were starting to show, not small. Maybe having a system like this wasn''t as bad as he thought.


    He quickly hopped from his bed and began getting dressed being as careful as possible not to let the floorboards creak. Through the years he had leaned to avoid the squeaky boards that would wake Lisa as he passed her bedroom. Thinking to himself, please stay asleep please stay asleep he was quickly interrupted by the system,


    '' Due to constant careful actions the skill silent feet has been found from the Hunters system would you like to learn the skill: Silent feet?''


    "Yes learn skill Silent Feet" whispered walker


    '' silent feet skill has been learned


    Silent feet- mana cost 0


    Users steps be nearly silent allowing them to sneak up on prey or pass by predators without alerting them''


    Quickly walker moved to the kitchen contemting how a skill cost zero mana. He wondered if it was a unique skill of a hunter but was happy nheless knowing it would be useful to escape from a dangerous situation.


    "Good morning." Flowed the bright voice of Hilda " I''ve prepared a backpack with some necessities you will need by the door but before you run out you''ll be making bread with me."


    Walker was used to helping his mother and jumped right in to measuring, mixing, and preparing the tools. But surprising the second he began kneading the dough his system chimed in,


    '' through consecutive actions the passive skill Extension has been learned.


    Extension- passive


    Extends the lifetime of food, potions, items, and others. Crafted by the user''


    "Mother I just got the extension skill, is this why your bread doesn''t stale as fast as normal bread?"


    "Yes that''s exactly right, I know it does more than just extend the shelf life of food stuffs but since that''s my specialty it''s all it affects. Since you might try your hand in potions or crafting I wanted you to try to learn it. It''s my way of making sure you won''t go hungry while out and about." Hilda said using a tender but firm voice full of pride. Upon learning that her son could learn any skill she desperately wanted to pass on a skill to him. As his mother she felt it was her duty to do something no matter how small to help him get started. "Now be quick I can hear your father putting on his gear, tell him he''s responsible for walking with you to the adventurers guild, good luck today remember to be careful!"


    Finding his father half dressed in his guard uniform and gear walker grabbed his backpack and bounced from foot to foot.


    Garet was used to this as walker had always acted like this when going out to hunt for his system. The difference now was instead of searching he would be setting off on his own journey with his newly unlocked system. How many times had he and Hilda stayed up worried that walker wouldn''t be able to survive daily life without a system? This fear had almost be true, but like a ray of hope walker gained his system and was ready to face the world. "Ha there we go!" Garret put on his glovesst as always and stood to open the door. " let''s go get you to the adventurers guild. You better bring back a good story for us." Walker could only nod his head in excitement.

 Chapter 8 - 8.Registration

    The walk through the market was quick, it helped that their home was near the main road and that the adventurers guild had their main building in the middle of the street. The guild was a massive four story building that had a triangr peak on the fourth floor roof. There was also arge training field behind the building for examinations and training. Not to mention the basement used for storage, monster dissection, and even some pet storage for tamers.


    "Well this is your stop, don''t be toote getting home, your mother worked hard on that birthday cake of yours,"Garret said as he continued his usual route to the gate.


    Walker quickly pushed open therge oak door revealing the hustle and bustle of the guild''s first floor. Plenty of adventures mored over the morning bulletin boards full of potential quests. While the staff behind the counter registered epted quests, issued rewards, and took quests from citizens.


    Hurrying over to the counter and dodging the parties getting ready to leave, Walker approached an empty spot in front of the counter. A shorter woman wearing the guild''s uniform which consisted of a ck vest over a white shirt and ck pants came up to the counter quickly while adjusting her sses. She had short dirty blond hair barely reaching the top of her ears and a business like demeanor. The name tag said ra- first floor manager


    "Hello, and wee to the adventurers guild, can I ask what business you have today?"


    Walker was impressed by the professional attitude and readily replied, " yes I''m here to register, I''d like to take the tests to be an adventurer today."


    ra grabbed some papers from a shelf underneath the table. "Follow me, we will go to the written exam room for the first test. You will be required to answer questions on the basics of what an adventurer does, why you''d like to be one, and furthermore your system name and a brief description of what your system can do."


    The room was simple, with rows of tables with chairs. A few others seemed to be taking the same exam as him. "Once youplete this form return to the front to hand it in. Next, you will be taken to the training field by an avable adventurer above the silver tier to demonstrate your current skills. Finally, you will have an interview." "Once we evaluate all three we will inform you of the decision, I wish you the best of luck". ra then turned and walked through the door.


    Most of the information was easy, Walker had learned all this just by living and idolizing adventurers. However when he got to the section asking about what role he would y in a party he was unsure. So he answered everything and walked to the counter. "Excuse me, miss ra here it asks what roll I would take in a party but I''m not sure how to answer. Can I ask for your guidance please?"Walker was very polite and knew how to treat someone in a customer service position. He learned well watching his mother assist those who came to by her pastries.


    "Well that''s usually an easy answer, those with long range attacks often put a simple term as archer or attack mage, some with defense and offensive prowess could list defender or attacker, and others with healing or support rolls may list supporter. Often those with leadership based systems just simply put down a leader." ra replied with a short but very simple to understand answer demonstrating her years of experience.


    Walker contemted for a moment, " so if I can fill every position should I just reply all?"


    ra''s face held some surprise until she caught herself and replied " I''m not sure someone could fill every position, may I ask for your System details so I can give you a better answer?"


    Walker handed her the form and showed her the details he''d filled in about his system. She took quite a few minutes to finally reply "due to the information here I would say yes you could say all positions are avable to you. However after yourbat evaluation we will be able to give you a better position and prove your skills. Please wait here while I retrieve a proctor". ra headed to a row of magic crystals used formunications.


    After a short while a veryrge man with red hair, a red beard to his chest and came from the second floor. Walker couldn''t help but think, this man could eat me alive like an ogre and no one would be able to stop him!

 Chapter 9 - 9.Combat Test

    "My name''s Dirk, you''ll be following me. And be quick!" The man named Dirk said and began moving to the back door heading outside to a group of training dummies and weapon racks.


    "Here''s the deal, first choose any weapons you would like to demonstrate your abilities with and use them on the dummies I will watch. If you can''t properly use them then we will spar. Understood?"


    Walker replied quickly "yes sir"


    " Don''t use that sir crap on me, yes or no is fine. You have ten minutes, I''ll be watching." Dirk stepped back and leaned against a weapons rack waiting.


    Walker gazed at the options, bows, swords, and mage staffs lined up to choose from. There were even a few unique weapons to choose from. What should I do first? Walker was thinking, he didn''t want to waste time so he grabbed the bow and notched an arrow.


    ''Due to quick movement while using a ranged weapon the skill Quick Shot has been taken from the Rangers system. Would the user like to learn Quick shot?''


    "Yes learn Quick Shot" Walkers immediately reply caused Dirk to raise an eyebrow questioning his actions.


    ''Quick shot skill has been learned.


    Quick shot cost- 1 mana


    Speeds up motions to fire a physical projectile using a ranged weapon.''


    Walker''s body moved as if he had trained as an archer for years firing an arrow fast and urately hitting a straw training dummy dead center. He quickly ced the bow down and grabbed a sword. Dirk thought he would try and sh the dummy next but watched in confusion as walker quickly pricked his finger drawing blood. "Light heal!" A green glow emanated from Walker''s hand healing the prick faster than it was made. This action alone stunned Dirk. This boy was some strange mix of archer and healer? A priest? An exorcist maybe?


    Walker knew he had four mana left to really show off his skills so he looked at the unique weapons in the rack and grabbed arge scythe due to its impressive appearance. He brought it to his side ready to swing it in an arc.


    '' unique weapon has been detected two skills avable from the Reaper system, please choose one to learn,


    Crescent moon cost - 2 mana


    Can only be used with a scythe. The de will follow the path of a crescent and send energy a short distance forward cleaving through flesh like butter.


    sh cost- 1 mana


    Requires a ded weapon. Cuts the opponent with the de causing damage and blood to flow.''


    Walker knew that showing off a unique skill at the cost of an extra mana point would most likely make a bigger impact. " learn crescent moon".


    ''Crescent moon skill learned''


    Walker immediately used his new skill to send a crescent shaped energy from the de thatpletely cut off the straw head of the training dummy. This skill was dangerous!!!


    Dirk could barely stand at this point, these were skills from three different sses, never in all his years had he seen a system that allowed all three to exist at once.


    Walker chose an elementary mage staff next, this was what he was most excited for, his entire life he had hoped he would be able to use real magic. He faced the sad looking training dummy and closes his eyes focusing all his energy in to the staff. Please let me use an attack spell he repeated in his head over and over.


    ''The user is channeling their mana in to a magical weapon, the skill mana shot has been taken from the Magicians System. Would you like to learn the skill mana shot?''


    "Yes learn mana shot!"


    ''The skill mana shot has been learned,


    Mana shot cost- 1 mana


    Requires a magical staff to use. Consumes the users mana and condenses it in to a small ball which is fired at a high speed at the target''


    Walker felt the energy within him rush in to the staff. He opened his eyes in time to witness a solid light blue ball fly from the tip of the staff and crush the remaining chest portion of the dummy. A resounding crack rang through therge training field causing many nearby adventures to look around.


    "Dirk I seem to have destroyed the dummy, should I switch to another one?" Walker asked sheepishly.


    "Why do you mean switch to the next one? You have more!?" This boy somehow demonstrated skills that should not be connected! Even one from a unique system. "No this is enough. Can you tell me, what system do you have? I''ve never seen anything like what you''ve demonstrated today." Dirk was rubbing his head in disbeliefpletely stumped.


    "My system is called The Jack of All Trades system. I can learn any skills as long as they aren''t a mastery skill. I can also use any weapon, gears, tools, items, you name it. I know it''s hard to believe but I have one mana left that I could use to try another skill?"


    Dirk stood speechless, a unique system like this actually existed. This boy could really learn any skill. The things he could do will be limitless, as a gold tier adventurer Dirk knew that he needed to ensure this boy fully registered and quickly grew stronger. The future of the guild was at stake! " You surpassed my expectations, as curious as I am to see more we don''t need you passing out after using all your mana. Let''s go inside, I will give my report and you will proceed to the interview." Dirk quickly began heading inside immediately finding ra and heading to the second floor, Walker could see him speaking rapidly.

 Chapter 10 - 10.The Interview

    After sitting for some time Walker began to be worried. What if they had decided they couldn''t ept him because he couldn''t use a mastery skill!? Maybe my level was too low now, I haven''t taken the time to level up.


    While lost in thought Dirk and ra approached "e-hem" Dirk cleared his throat to get Walker''s attention. "ra and I shall be interviewing you. Normally it would only be one person but since I''m curious about some things I asked to join in." ra finished his sentence "we shall be heading to the second floor private meeting room one please follow us."


    Hot on their heels Walker followed them up the staircase to see a long hallway with many doors each numbered in sequence. These were all private meeting rooms to discuss special quests such as escorts, item gatherings, and unique monster ying.


    The group quickly entered room one which had a few chairs and arge table to make meeting easier. Dirk and ra took their seats on one side of the table while Walker was on the other.


    "You''ve demonstrated a very diverse group of skillsing from multiple Systems. I have officially listed you as able to fulfill all possible roles within a party." ra produced the paperwork from earlier pointing out the finished section. "That being said what position do you see yourself fulfilling?"


    Walker had already thought of a reply for this kind of question while he waited and replied with confidence. " Ick experience and also need to level up, so I hope to find a younger party like myself and fill a much needed role or even be a leader that can support the whole party. I feel like it will be easier to find where I fit in as I speak to potential party members and experience real battles."


    To Dirk, this answer made the most sense, but he was left wondering if he would focus on supporting through attack skills or other means. " will you be learning more healing and support skills or will you focus on attack and defense?" Dirks''s voice had be much more serious as he gauged Walker''s character.


    " I want to learn enough skills to cover any weakness, but based on thebat test I have more attack skills than others. Learning a support skill like boost or more defensive skill like mana shield would be a good goal. However, I am also thinking of learning some trade and survival skills to repair weapons and gear, along with more easily set up camp, and even negotiate prices." Walker''s answer would have sounded much too grand if he did not have his system, but with the system he had it was a very attainable goal to pursue.


    The conversation continued further in to his upbringing, how he acquired his system, and other personal matters. After about an hour ra spoke up " this will conclude today''s interview we will bring the information to the guild master for examination. Normally it would not require his input however with your unique system we would like to put in personal rmendations. Please report to the guild in the morning to retrieve your te and further guidance, even without the master''s input you have surpassed the requirements to join as a stone tier adventurer. Congrattions."

 Chapter 11 - 11.Cake!

    After being escorted back down stairs, Walker made sure to properly thank Dirk and ra for their guidance before rushing out the door to his family home. He flew past people as he sprinted in excitement.


    ''Through constant sprinting, the user has learned the passive skill endurance from the wanderers'' system.


    Endurance- passive


    The user can sprint, run, walk, and fight for a longer period.''


    Walker didn''t even notice this message; he was too focused on shouting the good news.


    Bursting through the door, "I did it! I passed, I get to go on adventures!!!"


    Lisa was the first to reach him jumping to him in her normal manner refusing to let go. Caught in the midst of her ko hug Walker heard her "you''re not allowed to leave for adventures. Who will stay with me when I prick my fingers? Who will I talk to when I level up? You can''t leave! It''s not allowed!"


    Walker had known this would happen " you know some quests will now take me out of the city, but that doesn''t mean I won''t be back to visit. How do you expect me to collect stories to tell you by staying home all the time?"


    The enticing words caused Lisa to hop down and smile, she could be the first to hear her brother''s stories!


    As this scene unfolded Hilda had walked up and watched with a smile. "Your father will be home any minute. Get your stuff put away and be ready to eat. I''ve roasted a chicken, baked a cake, and even bought some extra milk today. We are celebrating!"


    No sooner than that they heard the door behind them nk open to show a tired but excited looking Garret. "Now since you beat me home you can set the table and tell me all about the registration!"


    As the family began their meal the words flowed from Walker without end. So much so he almost forgot to eat himself. But as usual, Hilda being his mother was able to snap him out of it. Sooner than he realized it was time to sleep, he went to his room stuffed and happy. If he had ever thought that today, the day of his birthday that he would have a system he would have been full of disbelief. Quickly checking his quest he realized it had not beenpleted, Walker looked at it and realized he still needed to retrieve his stone tier badge from the guild to fulfill the requirements. Sleep came easily after using all but one mana today and talking more than he ever did.


    Morning approached in what seemed like a blink of an eye. "Today I n on epting my badge and looking for a small party. I need to level up and learn new things so I can take better quests." Walker made the announcement as he stood from the breakfast table.


    Garret hearing this toughened his emotions and replied " that usually means you''ll be taking a quest with a party if you can find one. Which shouldn''t be too hard for you. But for one second if you don''t think that after you join them on a quest and return through those gates, you aren''t expected toe here immediately after reporting to the guild you''re in for a world of punishment."


    Walker knew this was the same as wishing him off for his father and didn''t dare reply. He knew he would be weed back home with warmth no matter what.


    After saying these goodbyes and promising Lisa a great story over and over he managed to sneak through the front door and head to the guild.


    This morning the hustle and bustle of the guild seemed much more so than the other day. Many stone and iron tier adventures were moring about. Walker caught bits and pieces of sentences about a tinum tier adventurer leading his gold tier teammates. The word dragon seemed toe up more clearly as well. However, Walker was not interested in gossip and only had one goal in mind, questpletion!


    Quickly spotting ra he jumped to the counter and called out to her" miss ra, good morning!"


    ra was happy to see walker return bright and early " I have your badge right here there was no issue processing your paperwork. With the blessing of the guild master, we have decided to waive the five gold registration fee due to our high expectations for your future. I would also rmend you meet three younger adventurers upstairs who could use someone with healing abilities you possess. They are also of a simr age to you as well and we here at the guild hope you will give them a chance."


    Walker was stunned not only did he receive his badge for free keeping his savings of 100G (G= gold) intact but they had also gone so far as to find party members that could join him! " thank you very much this is so much more than I expected. I''m very d I was able to register with you!" Walker showed his heart on his sleeve.

 Chapter 12 - 12.Party Members

    "The room you will be going to is room 15, they have been getting to know each other for thest half hour so you will have some catching up to do," ra said with a smile sending him off to the second floor


    Walker found the room with ease and could hear muffled voicesing from the other side. With a quick knock, he opened the door revealing a tall girl with blond hair and thick iron armor covering her. She could be described as a mountain, the feeling that a single point of damage could not even phase her was an understatement.


    Sitting at the table with his feet up was a slim boy only a few inches taller than Walker adorned in light leather armor, ck hair, and sharp features. From the look he has, anyone could tell he was happy not to be alone with the two girls any longer.


    Finally, a tough looking girl wearing slightly revealing clothing showing off her formed muscles, red hair, and tough looking iron knuckles was standing to the left. She looked ready to pounce, ring at Walker as if daring him to challenge her.


    "Finally we get to bnce out the ratio in here, I was worried I''d be the only guy in the party!" A quick joke and a chuckle came from the boy at the table who slowly stood up to extend his hand. "I''m Gil, 15 years old and user of The Ranger System."


    His introduction was quick and to the point. The tall girl to his right took a step forward as well "you can call me Su, I just turned 15 as well. I shall be the protector in the party." Walker quickly confirmed in his mind that she would easily fill the role of defender in their party.


    Lastly, all eyes looked toward the red head with the iron knuckles. " what?! I already introduced myself. It''s not my fault he showed upte." She looked away pretending there was nothing to be said.


    " she said her name is Remey and she''s a closebat fighter. Although that''s easy to guess with her gear and choice of weapon." Gil spoke up quickly to avoid conflict.


    Walker''s thinking skills really started to shine as he found exactly what they needed to be a functioning party " so all that''s missing is a healer and supporting role, and if we find a fifth member down the line a magic damage dealer. Well not that we will really need another member as long as I can boost my mana I can cover us." He quickly jumped to his system and distributed his 5 points in to mana


    '' mana has risen to 11'' the system chimed immediately


    "Wait, so you''re a healer and supporter?" Remey interrupted. She knew she would often take damage and knew she needed to make sure the healer focused on her since she would be closest to the enemy.


    "Well technically yes. But I can also cover us on magic attack, also if your gear is damaged I''ll try to learn some skills to fix it. Oh, I can cook too so we shouldn''t worry about food much...and...and..." Walker looked like he could say more but the confused looks of all three caused him to trail off. "What''s wrong do I have something on my face?" He asked innocently.


    "I''d like to ask what system you have, but it will be easier to go downstairs and have the guild link us as a party so we can see each other''s stats and system names." Gill offered up taking some pressure off the others and Walker.


    "Oh, actually I can do that too!" Walker immediately switches to his quest to collect rewards. "Collect rewards!"


    '' you havepleted your first quest.


    5exp rewarded


    Due to rmendations from two staff of the adventurers guild and advanced reward has been issued, Party skill was upgraded to the party leader skill from the Leader system.


    Party leader skill:


    Not only can you start and join a party but as the leader, you will be able to see the items, skills, statistics, and location on any map of your current party members. You will also be able to quick chat any party members by announcing "quick chat _____" ''


    " activate party leader. Send invites to Gil, Remey, and su!" Walker immediately activated his rewarded skill with a massive smile on his face.


    A toll of three chimes echoed in the room as the three received the invite. "Seriously!!! Didn''t you just say you could heal and support? But you actually have a leader system?" Gil was bbergasted he was meeting someone with such high potential seeing as the leadership systems were a rare case.


    "Just wait until you ept and view our party, it''s much better," Walker said with a sly smile.

 Chapter 13 - 13.First Party Quest

    After all three epted the invite walker quickly viewed his new teammates to get a feeling for the party.


    Su


    Shield Bearer System


    Level 4


    exp until next level- 80 exp


    Hp- 14


    Def- 12


    Mdef-12


    Atk-8


    Char-5


    Agi-5


    Mana-11


    "You have an unbreakable shield. No attack may phase you, your protection is sure".


    She would definitely be the party''s defender. This made sense looking at her stature again and how her stats rted. Walker couldn''t help but be terrified if she was an agility based attacker. Someone of her stature could probablynd a heavy blow ignoring defense. Luckily she was a tank instead.


    Remey


    Brawler System


    Level 6 exp until next level- 320


    Hp-15


    Def-14


    Mdef-7


    Atk-20


    Matk-7


    Char-6


    Agi-16


    Mana-15


    " close and personal! That is the essence of closebat. Let your fists fly and blood boil."


    Based off of her temperament Walker thought Remey would do a lot of rushing in. This could be rough for everyone but at least her smaller size could put off enemies. She might get some good surprise jabs in.


    Gil


    The Ranger System


    Level 3 exp until next level- 40


    Hp-5


    Def-4


    Mdef-4


    Atk-9


    Matk-9


    Char-8


    Agi-10


    Mana-10


    "The forest is where you thrive. Huntinges naturally to you, foraging is second nature."


    It was a worry that finding food outside the walls would be tough but if Gil could forage it could be really useful. Not to mention he had skills that could assist in venturing around a Forest which was a dangerous ce for any traveler due to low visibility.


    ...


    "All skills!"


    "All weapons!"


    "All gear!"


    Shouted Gil, Remey, and Su in order while staring open mouthed at walker.


    " yea I kinda have a jack of all trades system, the only downside is I can''t learn any mastery skills." Walker replied while looking down.


    "So that''s how you can cover us so easily, you''re right we don''t need a fifth member." Su said matter of factly.


    "In that case I think we should take an easy quest to get to know each other and see our skills in person" Gil had the right idea walker was thinking exactly the same thing. Su quickly nodded her head leaving only Remey to reply. " well yes obviously, just make sure you heal me, I don''t feel like getting hurt on an easy quest!" Remey blurted out but Walker got the feeling she was happier than she let on.


    The three almost ran down to start fighting for a quest from the stone tier quest board.


    Slime gathering, mail delivery, stable cleanup...all soundedckluster.


    The guild spent a lot of their time separating requests in to proper Bulletin boards for each tier. The safety of their adventurers was always in mind. Adventurers that took quests above their tier ranking were rare but also often denied. Certain situations may allow them to do so safely but it was unique. For example a water mage of the same tier as a quest may easily fail a quest in to a desert where they are at a disadvantage. Where as a fire mage of a tier lower may seed due to the extreme heat. The guild also did not allow anyone to run off solo adventuring without warrant. These who did attempt to often would be set straight by guild staff during testing. Not to mention have their quests denied.


    "Hey! Who wants to go hunt some me newts to collect their tails for a potion maker?!" Gil had snuck to the front and grabbed a simple quest. me newts were ck lizards with red spots that spent their time absorbing sun on the outskirts of the sun hollow forest. They tended to move fast but their tails were an important ingredient for certain potions.


    Walker checked the reward requirements and saw they only needed to gather 10 tails for a reward of 100G. That would be 25G each which was a bit high for a simpler quest, but passing up this quest was not easy.


    "Let''s take it the reward is good and as long as we don''t let them use their fire spit to burn us too badly I can heal any small wounds'''' Walker offered. "Then please go ept it at the counter, leader." Su addressed Walker. He was surprised to be addressed as "leader" but after inviting them to the party and making himself the leader it did make sense.


    Seeing an open spot at the counter he jumped in ce to wait for ra to be avable.

 Chapter 14 - 14.Warning

    After a few moments, ra came to Walker, " I take it you''ve had a good Introduction and wish to ept your first quest?"


    "Yes please, we would like to ept this quest to hunt and gather Fire Newt tails". Walker responded curtly.


    "That was very quick indeed, this quest was just posted with an adjusted reward due to the potential danger in the area. As such I must advise you not to enter the sun hollow forest under any circumstance. A tinum tier adventurer is leading his gold tier members to y a dragon that has recently been seen in the area. However, as long as you remain on the outskirts it should not be a problem." Walker knew this warning was emphasized strongly because of the low amount of adventuring experience but he was confident in his ability to safely return.


    "Thank you for the warning, I''ll discuss it with my party so they are prepared for any event." With that, he turned to meet his new found party outside to talk over the quest and head towards the South Gate, the nearest to the sun hollow woods.


    The walk to the South Gate was less busy than the north but that''s because more travelers came from the grassy ins to the north than through the more dangerous forests to the south. However, for adventurers the south was much more intriguing due to the higher numbers of monsters that called the forests home. This lead to the gathering quests, escort quests, and even ying quests!


    Upon discussing and epting the quest the system had sent the same message to all four young adventurers.


    ''Your party had epted a quest. you must hunt and retrieve 10 me newts tails.


    Rewards- 25G each 5exp''


    This put a spring in their step as they headed for the gate.


    "Stop right there!" A gruff familiar voice ordered.


    Garret with three guards in tow quickly halted the party.


    "Father, why are you stopping us? We are headed out to gather me newt tails; it''s our first quest!" Walker was confused


    "And who told you to leave through this gate without introducing your new friends to the guards on duty?" The business like tone was undermined by the smirk on his face


    Walker quickly caught on thinking, I can''t believe he would intentionally embarrass me on my first day. He could swear he saw Remey giggle just a bit before hurriedly returning a serious face.


    The introductions were quick but as soon as they were about to leave, e here a minute, the other guards and myself pooled some gold together to get you something as a congrattions. This will put our minds at ease, everyone will miss watching you running around trying to learn new things."Garrett slipped a small red potion in to Walker''s hands. This was a light potion it''s cost 50G and could heal up to 30hp. For a new adventure it could mean life or death!


    Without any proper words to say all walker could do was smile as the guards behind his father made shooing motions to push him on his way.


    The first step outside the gate is always awe inspiring. The world opens up in to a grand scene. The open sky full of fluffy white clouds and the rocky fields leading to the Sun hallow forest. The rocks were the reason the me newts lived in the area so much. They could absorb plenty of heat to help them grow. Normally a me newts is the size of a child''s hand but if left alone they have been known to grow over two feet long!


    The party followed the well worn path all looking in different directions in search of one newt. However walker was about to make things much easier,


    '' through consecutive actions the keen eye passive skill has been taken from the artists system.


    Passive skill keen eye


    Allows the user to notice small details in their surroundings, especially if they are focused.''


    "Oh! This will help a lot. I just gained the keen eye passive skill. I should be able to spot them easier now." Walker''s sudden exmation caught the party off guard but before they could say anything he had already stopped and pointed at arge stone about ten feet away.

 Chapter 15 - 15.Flame Newts

    A small me newt was resting on the stone blending in while basking. Gil motioned for everyone to stop while he silently drew his bow.


    '' silent shot has been activated- target resting me newt''


    Immediately an arrow flew through the air without a sound cleanly cutting in to the newts small head.


    ''10 damage done to me newt. me newt defeated. Party gains 1exp each.''


    "That was an excellent shot." Su chimed, she knew how difficult it could be hitting a small target even if it was close.


    "I can definitely see the perks of your Ranger System. Having a silent long range skill could really help against these quick me newts." Walker deduced. He began thinking that ten tails would be much faster to gain than he expected. They may even be able to collect some extra to sell to the guild!


    This method seemed to work well for them, they managed to find and grab the next four me newts no problem gaining them four more exp each!


    "I don''t know about you guys but I know I''m not going to touch any gross dead newts, their blood will ruin my gear!" Remey was not happy realizing she would need to carry some at some point seeing as Walker had most gear and food, Gil had his arrows and bow along with the first five newts, and Su would always be upied with her heavy gear and shield.


    "Oooo wait Walker can you use spatial magic?" Gil excitedly asked, "there''s a skill called inventory, I read in a book that it creates a space to store anything that''s not alive."


    Walker wasn''t sure how he would learn this skill but he decided to give it a shot "so what I would just touch the newt and say what? Inventory?"


    '' the user has used a specific action, the inventory skill has been taken from the dimension traveler system. Would you like to learn inventory skills?''


    "Wow, that was actually pretty easy, yes learn inventory!"


    ''Inventory skill has been learned


    Inventory cost- 0 mana


    By saying "store" when in contact with a non living item the item shall be stored in a different dimensional space. Items will degrade at a slower rate while stored. To retrieve an item all that is needed is a thought.''


    Walker quickly touched the five newts and said "store", a small foggy energy emerged from his hand and they disappeared. Yet again Gil was stunned he hadn''t even believed a unique skill like that could be learned but another let alone so easily!


    A few hours passed as they continued on as the same process and finding the final newt just near the forest''s edge. They had gained 5 more exp each. This put Walker in a very good mood because he was now sure to level up and receive five more skill points after they returned and imed the quest.


    "Thanks to Gil we were able to do this quest much more easily than expected, but I think trying to catch a few more on our walk back would help us. We can sell them to the guild for dissection and maybe get a few extra gold to split." Walker had thought of this earlier and now decided it was the right time to share his goals to gain gold.


    The party agreed and began to step back towards the kingdom walls "eeeeeeuuuuuuuugggghhhhhh!!!!" A massive guttural screech came from the Forest followed by a Plume of smoke and what appeared to be a pair of ck wings.


    "Holy hell!" Remey who had been silent more of the day jumped and fell backwards. Luckily Su was right there to catch her before she hit the ground living up to her system. Remey quickly jumped up face as red as her hair while Gil was obviously holding back a burst ofughter. But Walker was oblivious to all of this...


    ''A mother''s death cry was heard. An emergency quest has been generated. "Save my child from greed".


    Requirements: save the young child before it is captured and sold in to very


    Reward: evaluated by performance


    ???exp, ??? Skill''

 Chapter 16 - 16. Rescue

    Walker didn''t understand where a mother''s cry had been heard, but he knew that rewards based on performance could mean a lot of exp. he also knew that a new skill could be valuable to his future.


    " Hey everyone I just received an emergency quest, I''m going to ept it. I''m not sure what will happen." Walker followed through by selecting ept.


    '' Quest has been epted, a small arrow leading you shall be visible to you and your party members. Please make haste.''


    " the party leader has epted a rescue quest? Don''t only high tier adventurers receive those?" Gil wasn''t sure how to process this knowing that usually, a gold or higher tier adventurer would receive these kinds of emergency quests.


    "There''s no reward listed but if it''s performance based we could really do well toplete this fast," Su stated out of facts.


    " Fine I''ll do it but you have to exin what''s going on, it''s too much work." Remey spit out the answer but her excited tone gave her true feelings away.


    Looking at the small gold arrow walker saw it pointing towards the Forest. "I guess we are going in to the forest. Hey Remey, Su I think it would be best that you two held down this area so the child we rescue will feel safe when we get back. Gil if I remember right you have some stealth skills that can help you move through the forest silently. I have a skill that silences my steps so we should be able to move efficiently. Ready!"


    The pair set off at a furious pace weaving through the brush and weaving through the trees. Being in the warmer season the ground was lush with greenery but they did not make a sound. Gil was using his skills to the limit to stay vignt and remain by Walker''s side.


    "We got a big one this time! Selling these scales will us plenty of gold."


    "Check around here maybe we''ll find some of its treasure hoards!"


    Distant voices could be heard which walker assumed were the adventures who had just in the dragon. Through the branches an outline the size of a house could be seen, not many details butrge ck scales, and pointy white ws were enough to tell that it was indeed a dragon. With an extra burst of energy, the pair moved on noticing the little gold arrow arcing toward a rocky Boulder surrounded by old looking trees.


    "It''s a cave. The kid must''ve fallen down running from all that noise." Gil''s assumption was an easy one to make but from Walker''s examination of the area, he notices small bones and a well worn opening to the cave.


    "Let''s head in slowly. It doesn''t lookrge but something has definitely been living here. Be ready to run." A quick but firm whisper was enough to put Gil on edge and hold his bow at the ready.


    The two stepped in to the dim areas in the cave realizing it was much smaller than expected. A small pile of animal bones in the back along with some shed ck scales. This was the dragon''s nest! The worry increased as the two thought of a child being captured as food, but walker thought further, why would the child be sold to very if they were meant for food?


    "Hissssssss grrooooo" a tame hiss and a small growl were heard to their right causing Gil to jump back and notch an arrow. Walker quickly moved in front of him brandishing his small leather shield, but suddenly put his arrow down.


    "You idiot that''s a dragon hatchling if it can breathe fire even though it''s small it will kill you!" Panicked Gil tried to get around Walker, but was blocked again


    "No stop the quest just updated, the hatchling is the child." Walker said slowly


    "What?! Impossible! Emergency quests are only generated from humans I thought?" What Gill had said wasn''t necessarily false but low tier adventurers would never encounter quests issued by other races, or extremely dangerous situations.


    '' The child has been found. The child has harmed itself in its fearful state and is currently injured. Due to this condition the child is hostile to all in the area. Calming the child is required to continue the rescue''

 Chapter 17 - 17. Hatchling

    The hatchling was slowly backing away, its small ck scales could be seen as semi transparent almost like crystal. Small white horns protruded from its shovel shaped head. Tiny pointed teeth could be seen as it hissed and growled. The length from head to tail only was enough to reach Walker''s waist but he knew that its sharp ws could still shred his flesh. However, as the hatchling stepped back a few scratches were seen on its side dripping red blood.


    " How can that be the child? It''s ready to kill us if we even step forward." Gill said exasperated


    " my system said it was hurt and fearful let me try something. Light heal". Walker quickly cast his only healing skill in hope that it would work.


    '' light heal- target ck crystal me dragon hatchling- 15hp recovered''


    The hatching was startled and jumped up moving even farther back. But now knowing he could heal the hatchling walker quickly cast light heal again to finish


    ''The child has been healed, the fear has subsided.''


    The hatchling was definitely more calm and wasn''t hissing or growling as much as it had before. " Alright, I''m going to try and get closer. We still need to get it out of here away from those adventurers. I think I understand what it means by "sell" and "very" in the quest. Wouldn''t those adventures try and sell a high ranking pet to a tamer to use as their pet? Aren''t most pets raised from eggs? But this hatchling is already born so it would be forced to follow a tamer. It''s not right." Walker had finally collected the puzzle pieces and found the reason for the quest to be generated. He knew that he would not want this for any of his family andpletely understood the fallen mother''s feelings.


    " you''ve got a point but we still don''t know how to get it to follow us. All we have to do is get it away from here right? I''m sure it won''t let us carry it." Gil was right carrying the hatchling would just lead to injury since it didn''t trust humans.


    Walker quickly remembered his inventory and in a grey sh, a newt appeared in his hand. The hatchlings'' eyes immediately focused on it following even a slight movement of the newt. Walker and Gill smiled at each other having the same thought.


    Walker began tossing a newt at the hatchling who jumped for it and greedily ate until not even a crumb was left. "Alright here''s the n we will lead it out of the forest as far from the adventurers as possible. Quickly take a look around the cave while I start to move, you might be able to find some useful things for crafting." Walker said ncing at the shed scales nearby while tossing him his backpack which had a little room in it still.


    While backing out the cave walker held another newt in his hand he shook slightly which made the hatchling begin to step forward. As he moved outside and toward where Remey and Su waited the hatchling began to quicken its pace wanting more food.


    After about ten minutes of this process, the hatchling appeared annoyed not getting the newt so Walker tossed it to the newt as a reward causing the hatchling to again be motivated to follow even farther. After another ten or so minutes Gil came in to sight, finally catching up. "I grabbed quite a bit for you to store but I think you should just store the whole bag first so we can sort it all when we get away from here". Gil definitely had over packed the backpack which appeared to be ready to burst. Walker quickly touched it "store!" The backpack disappeared.


    "Let''s keep moving, we are almost out of here." Walker mentioned while staking more steps back. Gil kept his bow up ready to intercept anything dangerous that approached as they backed out of the forest and in to the rocky fields once again. Loud footsteps of Su and Remey approached but came to a skidding halt.


    "I guess you''re wondering what happened." Gil and walker said in unison

 Chapter 18 - 18. Tamer?

    After an exnation walker tossed the fifth me newt to the ever hungry hatchling. "By the way, we will need to hunt for more me newts now that I''ve been leading the hatchling." The smallugh, in the end, helped to put Su and Remey at ease but this left the question.


    "So why do we do with it now? Has the quest beenpleted?" Remey was the first to ask the question that weighed on everyone''s minds. Walker checked his system and didn''t see anypleted section but noticed a shing areabeled inventory.


    He quickly took a look realizing this must be the storage from the inventory.


    Inventory:


    me newt body-5


    Darkness crystal-3


    ck crystal me dragon scale- 8


    Camping gear-1


    No stale bread-5


    Water bottle-4


    Gold- 100


    Light health potion- 1


    "Wow I can see everything already organized in my inventory, Gil you even grabbed three magic stones. These darkness crystals are really rare. We can even try to sell or make gear from those shed dragon scales." The excitement in Walker''s voice was apparent but his party members were much too distracted watching the hatchling who hade forward in front of Walker.


    He kneeled down, "what''s wrong? Are you still hungry?" Walker was confused by the actions of the hatchling.


    Without warning the hatchling leaned forward and touched its head to Walkers resulting in a system notification.


    '' the emergency quest "save my child from greed". Has beenpleted.


    Rewards:


    30 exp to each party member


    Elite skill- blood contract


    Uses all mana in the user''s body to condense a single drop of blood. This drop shall unite any form of beast and bond them to the user. They shall share emotions, exp, and other aspects of life depending on the beast''s intelligence.''


    "What!" The four were stunned getting this much exp was usually expected from copper and silver tier adventurer quests. The number may seem low but most quests took in to ount the other rewards. Hunting quests usually rewarded low exp but high gold due to the fact that the hunted monsters give exp themselves. Whereas gathering quests gave high exp and moderate gold due to the tame nature of the quest.


    The hatchling again bumped Walker as if getting impatient. " do you want me to use my new skill?" This question was answered with a soft "gurufff" sound which Walker took as a yes. " Guys I''m about to try out a new skill, it will use my remaining mana so I''ll need a bit of help on the way home" Walker sounded worried but Su stepped forward prepared to cover him.


    Holding his hand over the hatchlings head "blood contract!" Upon saying this walker felt all of his energy converge to his fingertip and a small amount of pain


    ''Due to blood contract activation, all mana has condensed. 1 damage taken.''


    The glowing blue and red drop fell on to the hatchlings head and the blue color spread over its body while the red drop of blood was absorbed.


    '' ck crystal me dragon hatchling has epted the contract. The user can now see the level and skills of the contracted beast. The emotional bond has been formed. weak Telepathicmunication is now possible. Please name your contracted beast to solidify your bond''


    Hmm, a name should I just call it Draco? It''s cliche though, fang? Lisa would find that cute...maybe something based on its appearance, her crystal ck scales kinda shiny like the stars when the sun hits them...midnight? That kinda fits; you can only see the shade of darkness at midnight. " would you like the name Midnight?" Walker asked the hatchling in response the hatchling began hopping around Walker with plenty of energy but sadly walkercked the energy himself. Upon looking at his System he saw he had leveled up and knew that his skill points were best off used for his mana since he would constantly need more to use his skills.


    ''5 points have been added to mana. Total mana moved to 17.''


    The overwhelming tired feeling dissipated to a small degree making it easier for him to stand. "Do you need my shoulder to lean on?" Su prepared herself but with a shake of his head Walker steadied himself.


    "Do you want to exin what just happened and why the party shows Midnight as our fifth member?" Remey cut in


    "Well I used a contract skill and now the hatchling is bonded with me. Everyone I would like to Introduce you to Midnight. Oh she''s a female ck crystal me dragon. She knows two skills and is only level 1" walker made the introduction as midnight stopped to look up raising her head in pride upon hearing her new name.


    Midnight


    ck me crystal dragon (hatchling)


    Level 1


    Skills:


    Devour-


    Consumes prey to strengthen the body and assist in growth


    Shred-


    Using ws tears at the target causing damage. The stronger the user the higher the damage.

 Chapter 19 - 19. The Trail Home

    "Well it''s final, one day you''re going to give me a heart attack with all the surprises. First you''re a healer, then you''re a spatial magic user, and now you''ve tamed a rare dragon." Gil threw his arms up in defeat, knowing that things will only get crazier.


    "Good thing we are adventurers, you will be able to easily feed Midnight by taking her on hunting quests. But please ask her not to eat all the me newts." Su fretted behind Walker. He turned just to see midnight pouncing on to a rock anding back up with a mouthful of newt.


    This was a good opportunity to test out the telepathicmunication ""midnight please leave the tails for us, we need them for a quest once we get back to the adventurers guild"" walker thought toward midnight. The reaction was instant midnight angled her head slightly then ran toward him quickly dropping just a me newt tail in front of him almost bragging that she could easily aplish this.


    "Yea yea he''s now a tamer and we are still short on me newts so let''s get moving. The sooner we are back the better I have things to do." Remey pushed everyone to move. Walker wasn''t sure what she needed to do but didn''t mind moving along also sensing that midnight wanted to hunt more.


    The trip back seemed to move much faster than the trip there but the party was able to rx more as they watched midnight inspect every little crack and crevice for me newts. They all wondered if this would be her favorite food and how many she would need to eat once she grew in to an adult.


    ''Midnight has sessfully hunted 10 me newts. The exp shall be split with the party. 10 exp each''


    The system sent a message surprising the party because they didn''t expect any experience would be split from Midnight''s feasting. Midnight however pranced over dropping the remainder of the tails on the ground with a proud look about her.


    "Speaking of experience I leveled up after thest quest and I know Gil did too. But that makes me wonder, how did you get to level 6 already Remey?" Walker had been wondering this for a while but had held himself back as not to put any Unnecessary pressure on his new member.


    " well it''s not like it''s a secret or anything. I grew up in an orphanage we always had to fight over food and other stuff so one day I got in to a fight with one of my siblings and there it was my Brawler system. It just works out that every time we got in to a spat I would gain exp. so if we can move faster I''d prefer to get back soon, who else do you think is bringing dinner tonight?" Remey''s answer made a lot of sense, the situation almost seemed tailored to her system.


    "So that''s what you meant when you had things to do. You shoulde by my house my mother has the baker system and makes plenty of things you could bring home". Walker offered hoping that this would help her open up to the rest of the party more


    "Maybe I''ll do that, I''ll think about it" Remey said quietly almost too quietly.


    "Here I am, just getting my system through hunting with my father in the woods and you were out fighting already. I feel like I definitely fell behind." Gil chimed in with augh. " living on the outside of the walls my father took me hunting since he was an archer and I learned to forage from my mother since she was a farmer. You could say as a Ranger I got half of each of their systems."


    "You know some people do believe the system can be passed down from parents so in your case that would make sense." Walker added.


    All eyes then turned to Su expectantly. "It''s your turn we shared ours and we already know about Walker''s unusual system so how did you get yours Su!?" Remey was spot on


    "Well it''s not that good a story" she looked away embarrassed "I was trying to reach something on the top shelf and a bucket fell. I used my arm to block it...and then my system came up". She trailed off in the end.


    "You know what they say, try everything you can because you don''t know what will unlock your system." Gil chimed in tofort her


    "Has anyone else realized that we now have to take a baby dragon through the South Gate?" Remey suddenly inquired while stopping.


    "Honestly I was pretending it wouldn''t be a problem" walker said with a slight frown knowing he would most likely have to pay a fee for not having his beast registered with the adventurers guild.

 Chapter 20 - 20. The Gates/ Reporting In

    ""Stay close to me, we are entering the kingdom it could be dangerous. '''' Walker thought to Midnight who growled slightly but proceeded to stick to his heels.


    "We might as well get this over with, hopefully, the fee isn''t too bad." Walker was very nervous. The guards didn''t know he was a tamer making it tough to bring a monster in. But he knew under no circumstances could he leave midnight alone outside.


    "Halt!" You may be adventurers but you must not bring beasts inside the walls for the safety of the people!" One guard walker didn''t recognize spoke up. The others who he had met many times were looking at him as if he''d grown a second head. "Please state your business walker." The other guard had spoken up but been more polite knowing the news of his system and also having pitched in for the gift.


    "Sooo I might have tamer skills now and I just forged a pact with Midnight here through an emergency quest...if my father is still working you might want to get him so he can file a report. I know this isn''t the right way to do it but I haven''t registered as a tamer yet. By the way, my name''s Walker! My father is Garret, how have you liked the new job?" Walker sped through the beginning but quickly turned to the new and now off put guard.


    The new guard slightly unsettled after hearing this was the boy every other guard gossiped about, " Well it''s not as exciting as one may think but a quiet life here is better than patrolling the fields and fighting orcs. So you''re the boy who can learn anything huh? Sure you''re not just a lucky tamer?"


    " If I was just a tamer would I be able to heal people, defend, attack, walk silently, and do this?" Walker used his inventory and pulled out his backpack causing the guard''s jaw to drop. Spatial magic he had just witnessed spatial magic!


    "Well, eeermmm yea you might have a point there, in any case for not having the proper identification for your..umm Midnight? There it normally will cost 20G fine and until you register at the guild you must be escorted by guards there". Leaning on his work knowledge the guard was able to cast off his previously shaken emotions to regain seriousness.


    "Walker! Why must you cause trouble!" Garret had just rounded the corner to see a small ck dragon curled around his son''s legs ying while he spoke to another guard. "Why did you bring a baby dragon with you!? Didn''t you just go to collect me newts? Dragons and newts are very different...oh I''ve failed as a father." Garret appeared to be defeated but the look of wonder as he stared at the ck crystal dragon was apparent.


    "Well father this is Midnight my new partner" reaching down to tap midnight forehead "and Midnight this is my father Garret you''ll be seeing more of him tonight at dinner." Midnight looked fiercely at Garret for a moment before walking up to him and sniffing then shaking her head. She would remember him now but for some reason, all she sent to walker was ""food? Hungry? When?"". Walker wasn''t surprised it seemed like this little dragon would eat him out of house and home. Lots of hunting quests could be seen in his future.


    After sitting down to file some paperwork and forking over the 20G two guards had appeared to walk with them to the adventurers guild. Helping to pass the trip they bothered the party members about their first quest and what happened. Thispletely distracted them all from the looks of amazement and reactions of passersby in the street.


    Once they saw the familiar door of the guild the guards bid them farewell even waving to midnight who gave a soft "pfft" in farewell. The guild is used to many strange sights but seeing a small dragon was indeed a sight that drew a few stares. ra nearly jumped over the counter in her surprise. Where did he get a dragon...didn''t I issue them a me newt quest?.


    "We''ll be heading to meeting room five please follow me." ra only took a moment to steel herself back to her normalposed form. Following her upstairs and to the room they quickly sat down, midnight finding it morefortable toy on top of Walker''s feet instead of the table made them all d.


    ra''s expectant re causes Walker to immediately recount the circumstances during their quest. At the word emergency quest ra, a face showed disbelief but she knew that lying was not something a young adventurer could pull off. After some time and a few questionster things seemed to draw to a close. "I''ll be taking the items from your quest and I shall return with the reward along with paperwork to register your beast...err to add Midnight to your party". ra had realized midnight popped her head up at being called beast so ra quickly changed to saying her name. Midnight''s reaction was a proud shake of her head before returning to her nap.


    A momentter. "Here is your 25G each, I would rmend as I do to all young adventurers to save it and invest in your gear at your lower tier to prepare for the future. Secondly, I have filled out this registration form for you and it only requires your signature. From this point on Midnight will be required to wear this tag showing her contract with you. The guards will recognize it and other adventurers will know not to cause trouble. Finally I rmend you find a suitable ce for her to live as she may be small now but with time I''m sure you can imagine the size she will grow to." ra has slid a small metal ne that was engraved with a strange symbol


    '' identification tag has been recognized, please list the wearer and the user.''


    Walker quickly ced it on one of Midnight''s small horns


    ''Identification que has been bound to ck crystal dragon hatchling- midnight. Contracted with user Walker. Due to the registration being finalized the stats of the contracted beast are now avable to the party leader.''


    Walker quickly looked at his party menu excited to finally see the difference between a dragon and a human. He knew that monsters and beasts were naturally stronger and grew in different ways but he was not prepared for what he saw.

 Chapter 21 - 21. Party Plans

    Midnight


    ck me crystal dragon (hatchling)


    Exp. 10/100


    Hp-100


    Def-50


    Mdef-50


    Atk-75


    Matk-75


    Agi-30


    Mana-50


    ...


    This was insane midnight was many times stronger than any of them! But this is only her level 1 stats? I wonder why she doesn''t have charisma, is it because she''s considered a monster and doesn''t need it? Maybe charisma is only a human based stat. These thoughts ran rampant through Walker''s head before he noticed her exp. "it will take longer for midnight to level up than us but it is a fair price to pay for her stats being so strong at a low level." Walker said out loud.


    "So she''ll be this small and cute for a long time then?" Surprising everyone Remey had been the one to pose this question. Her face was slightly tinged red but broke In to a brilliant smile upon hearing a small low purring sound from midnight whose draconic nature would always wee praise.


    "Well I can''t say for sure but I think if we hold her back she could suffer, we all have heard stories of how strong dragons get and the sizes they reach. Plus what if being with us on adventures helps her grow to her peak? We will see many different things and fight many different battles." Walker was falling deeper and deeper in to thought. All the possibilities could suffocate him.


    "Well if battles are something you need I strongly rmend volunteering for the field patrol. We are nearing the end of the harvest season and the guild will be asked to assist the guards as usual." ra was spot on knowing that such a task would truly help the rtions of young adventurers and the guards not to mention help them raise their rank in the long run.


    "Oh yeah she''s right we''ll have to face all those pesky giant locusts soon! They travel south as the season changes and eat everything In their path. My parents farm is usually pretty safe because we are closer to the walls but every year the ones near the outskirts of the guarded area lose plenty of crops." Gil growing up outside the walls would give the party a much needed informant in preparing for such a quest.


    "Gil exactly right, I''m d your party has someone knowledgeable. There is also the bonus of keeping the defeated giant locust bodies. There are not many valuable parts but the small amount of meat is a good source of nutrients for animals and often the army. However where the value truly exists is the wings which can make a strong roofing material for alchemists greenhouses. They allow light and heat through but will keep cold winds out allowing the survival of certain herbs over the winter. The only downside is that they do not oftenst a year so the more locust wings harvested the better." ra shared arge amount of promising information.


    "This could actually help us a lot, I would like to get a stronger shield if we are looking to take hunting quests and we would need to stay near the city for this quest. I fully support taking this time to strengthen our defenses." Sue, as always, looked at the facts and chose the logical path. However as their defender Walker knew she would always desire a stronger defense.


    "Well first things first we justpleted our first party quest and collected our gold. Let''s see where we stand with experience and talk about any points we have. I''d like to hear what everyone''s goals are for themselves." Walker was thinking of what they may need to prepare and getting everyone''s input would be helpful.


    " On that note I believe I shall return to the desk, if you would like I can add you to the field guard log now and you will be notified by your systems when you are needed?" ra saw that it was best to allow the party proper privacy.


    "Yes if everyone agrees I believe we would like to be added." Walker looked at the others who all nodded in unison


    "Excellent I shall do so, I hope you all have great ambition." ra left with a wink slightly energizing the party who were eager to share their goals utilizing their systems.


    "May I start?" Su seemed to have already decided. With a quick nod from walker she continued. " the only thing I want since I got my system was the ability to protect those around me. I don''t like to attack and hurt others so I put all my points toward defense ,magic defense, and hit points. This should make me an immovable mountainter on." She had a clear image of herself. The confidence in her statement was inspiring.


    " I know you want to protect us but if you can''t get there in time there''s no point. I think putting some points in to your agility could really maximize your abilities." Walker had noticed this when she first epted the party invite but knew that as lower leveled adventurers they would grow together quickly to fill the weaknesses they naturally had.


    "I see that''s a good point, a mountain can''t move to protect a vige..." Su drifted off in to thought as she searched herself for a better mental image of strength.


    "Well mine is simple, I already have better skills towards hunting and archery not to mention silent movements through forests. I''ll just discuss stealth and my damage. I want to bnce my magic attack and attack. That way when I get to the magic arrow skill I can deal the same damage with a real arrow basically giving me endless ammunition. Along with the ability to escape. I think the term is sniper." Gil had actually been distributing his few stats properly but Walker was curious, "why have you added stats to charisma?" The question was well founded since it was the only outlier in his ns.


    "Well seeing as I grew up in the fields I could have stayed there and hunted without joining the guild. But I need a safer environment not to mention the guidance of the guild so I don''t fall in to the usual pitfalls of hunting alone outside the walls. So to that end I have always tried to add one or two points to charisma so It would help me join a party and get along inside the city." The reason was much more simple than walker expected but he was d because having a little extra charisma could help smooth a rough situation.


    "Honestly I think you''ve made smart choices, I worry about your defenses but I think that can be improved over time." Walker really didn''t see any issues, he could see Gil bing a great scout who could sneak up behind an enemy andnd much needed attacks in critical situations.


    "Well you don''t need to think hard about my goals!" Remey adopted her usual rough attitude

 Chapter 22 - 22. Party Plans 2

    "Obviously I''m going to be making enough money for the orphanage so all my brothers and sisters can attend the academy." Remey had said something to why should have expected but Walker still could imagine her yelling she wanted power.


    "That would be the best way to rise in status. The academy graduation could easily yield them a title which allows for an easy life. Even if not they won''t ever starve." Su seemed more knowledgeable on this subject than expected.


    "That leaves the leader! Tells us your dreams and ambitions." Gil jumped inughing at his own bravado.


    Walker was thinking and could see many paths before him. He knew he would need to feed Midnight no matter what. He may not be a true tamer but since they had an equal bond he could not betray her trust. He would also like to support his family, his father has worked incredibly hard and deserves time to rx. However the drive to meet more people, see new things, and travel was a strong me in his heart.


    "I have responsibilities to support my family and help Midnight grow stronger. But through all the running around trying to find my system I''ve discovered a thirst for new adventures. So I will explore, maybe take Midnight to the mountains to find other dragons, I know the ruins to the south west have treasures so maybe there one day, and what kind of magic could I learn from elves if I could get through all those forests?" As he spoke more and more ideas came to mind he felt the need to write them all and keep adding to the list.


    '' the user has expressed a desire to store information. Through his actions the skill mental archive has been taken from the Schrs system.


    Mental archive- 0 mana cost


    Within you is a vast sea, shaping this sea there is an archive full of knowledge. You can store any and all information you consume within.


    Would the user like to learn mental archive?''


    " oh this will be great I''ll be able to remember maps while we travel. Yes, learn mental archive.!" The sudden outburst worried the others but they started to brush it off having a feeling walker would exin something cool soon.


    ''User has learned mental archive.''


    Immediately walker felt his mind had expended. He could sense a space within him filled with bookshelves full of nk books. As his thoughts raced he could sense words appearing in him. The words of hispanions and all his experiences written and ready to be recounted in an instant.


    "I just got a skill, this will help us immensely. I wanted to remember everything I was thinking and everything you all said and suddenly I got a skill called mental archive. It records the information I absorb and records it in a mental archive basically to me it looks like a library in my mind. I guess I''ll never be without a map." Walker ended with a slightugh happy to share the good news of how he''ll be able to help more.


    "Well at least it''s not another dragon or shy space magic" Remey said releasing the tension in the room as everyone had prepared for something dramatic.


    "So now that We''ve said what we strive for I think we should talk about gear we might need. I know I might be leaving you out of this Gil but the materials you gathered would most likely harm your skills. I think it might be hard to move around in heavier scale armor let alone be noisy".


    Gil didn''t look sad at all; he knew his speed and silence was an important factor to scouting and hunting. But he had been thinking about these scales as well and came up with an idea. "We should make Su a better shield, I think she will benefit more than most of us based on the strength of the materials, I also have a feeling it might be lighter than the shield she has." Walker immediately nodded in agreement and Su''s usual serious face was showing a slight smile.


    "We should strengthen those iron knuckles you have there too, Remey. If you''re out dealing high physical damage we will be in a bind if they break." Walker jumped on to the flow Gil had started continuing it. "I also would like to see if I can have some sort of staff made, if I''m going to heal and support and even use attack magicter it will be important in conserving my mana."


    These ideas formed a nice n but there was one thing they needed to do to truly implement it. "I guess tomorrow we will be heading to the forge. I''m not sure if it will be easy to find someone who will work with us since we are lower tier but I think we can convince them by showing them the materials" with that walker gave them all directions to his home so they could meet and walk together. The excitement could be seen in every one of their eyes, visiting the forge as a lower tier adventurer was a big deal!


    The day had definitely begun to fade as Walker left the adventurers guild saying farewell to his party. Midnight was quick to stand by his side constantly looking at her eyes absorbing new things constantly. Walker had hoped she wouldn''t immediately rush to eat anything being sold on the streets as he knew how ravenous she was with the newts.


    Due to the transition from day to night he was lucky to avoid the busier areas of the market. Once dark encroached the night life exploded as inns and other eateries opened their doors to drinkers.


    Soon a thought began to emerge as he walked...how do I introduce a dragon to my family?


    The shock of this though immediately stopped him in his tracks causing midnight to perk her head up and look around for danger. Walker had totally forgotten in his excitement and nning that he needed to exin to his family that he now had a dragon in his party! Not to mention one that was equally bound to him for life! The thought of terrifying his little sister caused his brows to crumple in worry. But he had to choose. He was only a few minutes walk from home and he needed to muster his courage no matter what!


    It was time to meet the family!

 Chapter 23 - 23. Lisa’s Best Friend

    "Wait right here at the door, I need to prepare them for this." Walker''s voice had worry in it and midnight sat quickly unsure of what was about to happen.


    The door opened revealing his father, mother, and Lisa sitting at the table just about to start eating. The spot walker usually sat and had a te waiting for him but curiously there was also a dish on the ground.


    "Well? Where''s this dragon the guards rushed to tell me about today? You didn''t leave it at the guild, did you? I was looking forward to seeing it again!" Garret said expectantly.


    The frustration etched in Walker''s face was tangible. He realized by going through the south gate earlier he had missed out on surprising his father at home. Well at least he could still surprise Lisa and his mother with how small and cute midnight was.


    "Midnight! This is my family. Garret my father who you saw earlier, Hilda my mother, and my adorable little sister Lisa. Everyone, this is my new friend Midnight. Due to some unfortunate circumstances we''ve be bonded like family and we will be sticking together for a long time."


    Midnight jumped in and ran to sniff and examine the new people feeling that it was safe to do so from Walker. Quicker than quick Lisa slipped from her chair grabbing the te on the floor and cing it in front of midnight. The roast chicken was steaming hot and baked to perfection. The only feeling walker could notice from Midnight was ""food!"" Which made Walker feel like Lisa had nned this out to steal midnight from him.


    With a smallugh " well if I don''t follow their lead I guess I''ll go hungry" walker went to his normal seat and began telling them of his first adventure. The feelings and descriptions poured out from him as his family saw how excited he was to see his party again tomorrow. The new skills were of only a small shock to his parents who he mentally prepared themselves for a huge shock just in case.


    Dinner passed quickly and not surprisingly midnight took it upon herself to follow Lisa everywhere. Lisa seemed very happy with this development proiming midnight to be her new little sister.


    "You know if she''s your little sister that means you''re not allowed to cry when we leave for a quest, she''ll be looking at you as an example." Walker figured a bit of teasing was appropriate since he knew she might try to keep them from leaving the house tomorrow morning.


    "I don''t cry when you leave! You''re just imagining it because you''re jealous midnight is ying with me!" Lisa stuck her tongue out while closing her eyes.


    "Please don''t teach that face to midnight it''s not as cute as you think it is." At this midnight gave a quizzical look while cocking her head curiously. "By the way don''t you have some sewing to do? Don''t you want to level up and make your new little sister something warm for the winter? Haven''t you heard that dragons like to stay warm?" With this thought, Lisa''s eyes grew wide in realization. How could she let midnight go cold, the snow would get here soon after harvest.


    "Fine, I''ll go practice but Only because I don''t want midnight to get cold when you make her go out in the snow on quests!" Sticking her tongue out once more she ran off from the kitchen leaving behind a lost looking midnight.


    "Don''t worry she''ll be back in the morning, now would be a good time to figure out where you want to sleep as well." After Walker said this midnight seemed to understand quickly and began walking towards Hilda''s kitchen, a curious walker followed. Midnight curled up against the big stone oven. Walker knew if he so much as touched it he would burn himself but it appeared to be the perfect spot for midnight to sleep the night away. It had been a big day and it was understandable that she would readily sleep.


    Following the lead, Walker found his way to his bed, and almost before his head even hit the pillow he was fast asleep.


    Curiously he didn''t dream, he found himself within his mental archive. Walker thought this strange at first but immediately began to think. Well, my body must be asleep. I remember going to bed and since this is just in my head I guess I can hang out here while my body rests.


    The shelves were filled with an uncountable amount of books but as walker wandered and pulled out random books he realized most were nk. Some were full of things he''d said, he even happened across his conversation about his party''s goals. The more he explored it however he noticed even previous memories from him searching for his system were present. He wasn''t sure what this meant but was happy to be able to recall the attempts. Thinking of tomorrow''s ns he looked at a book that had him wandering by the forge and he was curious what skills he might be able to acquire.


    The temptations of unbreakable shields and Magic''s swords would surely cause anyone to falter.


    With these thoughts, he drifted off to sleep...


    ''Daily quest:


    Find the three struggling cksmiths and assist them in their system quests.


    Reward:


    All around appraisal skill, party 3exp. each''


    As the fog in his eyes cleared, Walker read the notification and smiled. Today will be a great morning!


    Realizing he could hear a bunch of noise in the direction of the kitchen he walked out to see his party gathered around the table. Gil seemed to have really hit it off and was talking with Garret, while Su was cleaning off some of Midnight scales with a rag. Remey surprisingly was talking to Hilda. "Finally you took forever, if miss Hilda hadn''t offered to give me some bread to bring home with me after we go to the forge I would have left without you!" Remey was the first to notice walker but as he was about to speak." Moooovvveee!" Lisa ran past him with a handful of sandwiches, it looked like she had gotten everyone''s breakfast ready while they talked. Well at least walker suspected his mother Hilda had made them and Lisa had only gone to gather them.


    "Well I may bete to the party but it seems like a perfect time to eat and start our morning walk. We got a quest to do after all!" Walkers word brought everyone to attention since his party members had already seen the party notification that they would be helping the cksmiths for experience .

 Chapter 24 - 24. Heat Of The Forge

    Garret ran out the door faster than the rest since he needed to report to his job. Lisa tried to sneak out to follow walker and midnight but with a quick grab from Hilda, that n failed quickly.


    "Don''t worry we''ll be backter, maybe I''ll even bring something nice back!" Walker''s voice could barely be heard by Lisa as Hilda scolded her but Lisa would make sure her brother held up his promise.


    The walk wasn''t that long for the party since the forge was near the adventurers guild. The location made it easier for adventures to do business and since they were also near the alchemists building it was easy to understand why this was the main market street.


    "So I guess our leader will be needing wake up calls." Gill''s tone was serious but by the looks of his face, he was only teasing.


    "He can wake himself up, I''ll only be heading there to see Miss Hilda. Her bread willst long enough so we won''t throw any out at home. I don''t know how you could have kept this secret for so long." Remey gave a slight re at Walker before looking away but Walker felt she was actually happy to havee this morning.


    "I''m just d Lisa didn''ttch on to our legs so we couldn''t leave, I''m going to see if I can pick her up a new set of needles. She has the seamstress system so one day she might be able to provide us with some nice clothing for more important quests. I might even get an older brother discount!" Walkerughs as he said thest part but Su was quick to cut in "don''t take advantage of your adorable little sister. But to be fair it does sound useful knowing someone with such a system...maybe the scraps from our gear can make high quality needles for her. I''m sure as she grows she will easily wear out the tools quickly ." Su hit on some important meanings one of which was one the party would always have to remember; gear maintenance. A hunter without a bow is weaker, a mage without a staff is stunted, and a tank without a shield is without skills. Remembering to be prepared could be life or death.


    "Well in the practice of preparation maybe I should buy some basic weapons in case something happens. I should be able to use any of them as long as they aren''t master grade weapons. I should also take time one day to unlock a few more skills for attack and defense." Walker thought out loud prompting the others to go silent for a minute.


    "You know you''ll think yourself in to insanity if you don''t put it all aside. We don''t need you wearing yourself out since we just got here." Gil made a good point walker had be lost in thought and didn''t even notice therge two story building. The forge had offices for those in charge on the second floor and a veryrge first floor with multiple forging rooms. Therge grey smoke stacks carried mixtures of ck and white smoke in to the sky. From what walker understood the basement was mostly their storage for ores, monster parts, and other crafting items along with fuel for the endless fires. The entrance was almost always open to release the heat that built up inside so seeing right to the front counter was easy.


    The inside greeting room was simple, no chairs just an open space full of well worn woodwork lightly dusted in coal. Many people visited and often carried heavy weight with them causing a rugged look on the floors. It was not an umon sight to see someone covered in soot behind the counter since the lower level cksmiths would take turns training and watching the front throughout the day.


    Currently, a smaller but well muscled boy was behind the counter, he was cleaner that what was expected showing off slightly pale skin, dirty blond hair, and a face that showed weing features. He wore the usual leather apron and boots along with a tool belt giving the impression he was ready to jump to a project any moment.


    "Hello hello there. The names Rodney and this is the forge...well I''m sure you could tell that but ya never know. So whatcha need? Armor? Swords? Magic stones?" This boy was a bit energetic but that''s not a bad thing.


    " Actually we''re hoping to have three or four items crafted plus we would also like to help out while we are here." Walker spoke up quickly after epting the high energy Rodney.


    " sounds like a n, I''ll need to know what you wish to craft and what materials so I can escort you to the proper cksmith. The prices will vary depending on what you need so I hope you''re prepared." Rodney spoke as if he was very ustomed to the process.


    "We are looking to have a great shield made, modify some iron knuckles, have a staff created, and if possible a set of needles made from the scraps. All will be made out of ck crystal dragon scales and darkness crystals. The only item that really requires a crystal though is the staff the other crystals we have we will most likely save for future use." Walker had already nned out his order so he readily listed the necessary details.


    "Alright so a great shield, knuckles upgrade, magic staff with a darkness crystal, and needles. Sounds good and all crafted out of dragon scal...DRAGON SCALES!!! Are you serious you have dragon scales!? Holy lord! You even brought a baby dragon with you!!" Rodney had been going through the motions and it dawned on him that dragon scales had been brought to the forge let alone a baby dragon. This was incredible, he had been waiting for just this opportunity, he knew many in the forge that would try and steal this opportunity. He also knew two others who would fight tooth and nail for a single scale.


    "Shhhh shhh you can''t tell anyone I need you toe with me, I''ll give you a really good deal to craft with those scales so don''t worry." Rodney gathered himself and practically jumped the counter trying to whisper to Walker and his party to follow. The shocked and quizzical looks from everyone were quite funny, although midnight just seemed to be feeding off the energy and slightly bouncing around.

 Chapter 25 - 25. System Quests

    Rodney began leading them past many rooms to arge corner room with the generic forgoing tools. However the pit of fire was significantlyrger along with a dark grey hammer that seemed to have been used for thousands of blows.


    "Just wait here a minute I need to find someone, I promise this will be great. Just don''t leave please please ok?." Rodney was almost jumping as he rushed out the door.


    "Sooo anyone else know what''s going on?" Gill was the first to break the silence.


    "No idea but that guy has more energy that a horned rabbit." Remey made a very clearparison cause if everyone imagined Rodney as a fluffy brown white haired rabbit bouncing through the ins.


    Su couldn''t help cracking a smile " well whatever is going on I have a good feeling. Although the happiest seems to be midnight". Su motioned toward the forge where midnight had crawled on to a shelf connecting to it and pressed as closely to the smoke stack leaving the room as possible.


    "Well it does make sense, she should be able to breath mes at some point right? Maybe the heat will help her. If she learned a fire skill she could help out with things much more." Walker was imagining midnight releasing giant fireballs that could consume the heavens...he definitely got carried away.


    Loud footsteps could be heard heading toward the room. Rodney burst in, "these are the ones with the scales they can help us I only told you two like I promised. It only took six months working the front to find someone!!"


    Arge man whose body barely fit through the door and his reddish brown beard seemed to take up all his face only grunted in response. If this man was to speak would the building fall? This was the question the party was asking themselves. Behind him a smaller man who looked in need of a good meal wearing clothes obviously too big for him and almost the opposite waspletely bald.


    "OK so thank you for waiting, I know I rushed you in here but I promise this is very important. So I know you look like an adventuring party and I''m sure it''s a reeeeeally awesome story about how your tamer got a dragon . But Laterter." Rodney was speaking much too fast causing therge man to grunt again but in what''s seemed to be an irritated manor. At that the skinny man stepped forward in front of Rodney even seemingly calming the high energy.


    "First of all my name is Sherman, thank you for the time and stomaching this one''s rudeness. I was told you''re looking for some items to be crafter, my personal skill set is with magical staffs hence my system is the magical weaponry system. Now this fe here is Brutus he specializes in defensive gear his system is the protectors craftsman system. And of course Rodney there is an all around type with a cksmith system. Now I know this is a lot but now to the point of all this, we have systems like most others but our quests require us to create and oftentimes we hit a snag where we are required to use certain materials. With that I''m sure you can catch on that we need to use dragon based materials to finish these quests. While I fear the next material will be even rarer it is plenty rare enough for smiths here in the lower tier of the city to encounter them. So in our and your interest we would be willing to negotiate a deal for our services." Sherman seemed to be the sort of man toy out all the information first very up front.


    "Ah I''ve heard of this with carpenters before, I once met one that was traveling to find a hundred year old willow so he could craft something out of it for a quest." Walker recalled an older man he had met while following his father to work one day. "So I see what benefits you all would gain, I''m sure bypleting the quests you''ll gain important insights in to your professions. My party is preparing to guarding the fields and require the gear we mentioned before to assist in our safety. Due to our current standing we are limited on funds along with materials so what can you do for us?" Walker seemed to go in to an unforeseen business mode remembering the merchants he had met who seemed to sneak their ways in to the heart and steal wallets with pretty words.


    ''Due to the users actions the passive skill negotiability has been taken from the stall owners system.


    Negotiability- passive skill


    When bargaining for deals the user of this passive skill always seems to tip the scale in their favor. Words flow more elegantly and even a rock could be sold as a gem.''


    Walker was surprised by this but refused to show it on his face, this passive skill may not be too shy but he would see if the results were noticeable.


    "I''ll do it for free. My quest has stopped me from crafting until I use dragon materials, everything I try to craft cracks until Iplete this quest. My system is mean but I''ve heard that one day I might be able to craft much stronger materials so I guess I can''t be too down about it." Rodney was all smiles; he was the first one to answer.


    "Hmmm" Brutus continued his streak of not speaking. Iy holding up his hand with five fingers.


    "Ah well if Brutus only wants five gold I''ll match that. It''s really just for our time. Our quests aren''t as strict as the boys but for Brutus I''m sure he will be able to advance his prices since his system guides him in such a manner. Mine is just limiting me from using my attuning skill which I use to adjust magical weapons. Overall we will benefit much more than any price we give but we can not afford to do something for nothing since we pay the master of the forge to use the spaces. So what are your thoughts?"

 Chapter 26 - 26. Coal Dust

    Well they thought they would have to fight tooth and nail to get what they wanted but to everyone''s surprise the party had gained an amazing deal.


    "It would be incredibly rude not to ept that offer, no matter how prepared I was to give you hell in a battle of words to get what we need," Walker responded with a firmugh. "To be fair we will also be staying here to assist where we can if you don''t mind? Unless you are all unable to begin working at this point in time?" Walker had closed the deal and even offered assistance however the smiths didn''t know that it was also part of the party''s quest as well.


    "Yes please I''ll take the help, the more the merrier I''ll be making the needles and enhancing those knuckles I''ll need two scales, one person to catch the trimmings I''ll use for the needles, and the owner of the knuckles so I get the shape right," Rodney spoke up quickly, eager to get back to work and be down working the front.


    With a nod, Gil and Remey began moving towards the door "hurry up kid my knuckles are itching for an upgrade so I can teach the kids a few morals back home." Remey looked like morels may mean fights but nobody dared say it out loud. With that, they could hear Rodney speaking way too fast all the way down the hall.


    "From your gear I take it you will be using the shield?" Sherman asked Su directly


    "Yes, that would be me".


    "Good then follow Brutus and bring four of the scales, your shield will take the most due to its defensive needs. Lastly, I''ll be taking two scales and a darkness crystal for the staff. We will remain here since this room is open." After that Brutus let out a Hmpff and turned around while Su quickly grabbed the scales from Walker and followed.


    Walker brought out the crystal andst scales along with five gold for Sherman. "Everything looked to be in order, now that the crystal will best, first we need to heat and shape those scales with some real metal. Using mybined skill they will fuse and share properties meaning I''ll be able to pour and shape your staff then attach the crystal and begin Attunement." Shermanid out his n after taking the gold and moved toward a medium sized pot that had been scorched ck by years of use. "Bring those scales and drop em in I''m adding the iron and some copper, maybe some extra carbon...or some...this too.." Sherman began adding small things to the pot mumbling to himself as Walker dropped the scales in to it as well.


    Sherman continued moving around until "let''s add just a little of this, and slide it right into that Forge fire we''ll see how long it takes to melt down but while we wait how about you tell me what you were looking for in the staff?".


    "Well, my partycks magical damage so I will be filling that role. So I will need mana, and magic attack improvement. I chose the darkness crystal to add an element to the staff instead of a non elemental staff if that is alright?" Walker knew mana would be a problem but was remembering that having elemental attacks could be incredibly useful.


    There were basic elements such as fire, water, earth, and air. Some rarebination elements like ice, magma, lightning. He also knew of darkness and light elements. Some rumors existed that there were, even more, extending all the way to space and time but the rarity was so high that they were most likely just myths.


    "Good good all of those are doable and I can even promise to add the dark element to the staff without issue. Since your party seems to be young I would be willing to buy any additional darkness crystals from you. They tend to be more rare than the basic ones and I know a client who has been looking for one." Sherman confirmed but also surprised Walker by asking to buy a darkness crystal. Walker knew that the rarer the crystals the more expensive since he had heard of the basic elemental crystals selling for 80G as materials but he had no idea what darkness or its counterpart light crystals would sell for.


    " I do have an extra and would be willing to sell it at market price." Walker pulled out the second darkness crystal and offered it to Sherman who smiled and reached for a pouch on his waist.


    "120G is the current value due to its rarity in the area as ofte. Here it is, I''m sure you''ll cross paths with my client at some point as their darkness affinity is obvious in their gear and skills."


    Midnight who had been resting silently was perplexed by the exchange for gold but suddenly stood up and returned to Walker side ""ck food" was what walker felting from her. Pulling out the final crystal walker thought towards her "you want this to eat?"" Without a second of pause, Midnight snatched the crystal and swallowed it whole. This surprised both Sherman and Walker who witnessed a slight shimmer in her scales before midnight returned to her warm resting ce to nap.


    "Well I''d like to say it''s strange but if that little dragon had ck crystals her element may be darkness. I guess you gave her a pretty nice treat." Shermanughed as he returned to the forge brandishing thick leather gloves giving the pit a shake. "Move that mold toward me it''s time to pour!"


    Without hesitation walker looked over at a heavy metal block with a small hole in it on wheels and pushed it with all his might toward Sherman. The second it was in ce Sherman pulled the pot and poured molten white orange liquid in to the block''s hole until it was full. Small ck wisps came off from the metal as dust burned off.


    "Get that coal over there and start shoveling. If this cools down too fast it will crack. We need to slowly lower the heat around it!" Sherman''s orders were firm as he himself also threw some coal around the block and let it start to burn


    The time passed slowly as Sherman would order for more or less coal and sometimes oil to be poured over the block as it could be slowly seen losing its heat. Walker was now roughly covered in ck coal dust from head to foot, not surprisingly midnight looked the same. For some reason Sherman seemed to be clean though, walker wondered if it was a perk of his system.


    More time passed and soon Sherman had stopped the orderspletely and grabbed arge hammer swinging it down on the block separating it in to two pieces. The metal inside was revealed to be ck iron with twists like a dragon''s tale and an open w at the top empty and waiting. Grabbing it with his gloves he lifted it up and in another had grabbed pliers. " hold the crystal in the center of that w while the metal can still bend. I''ll be attaching it there" Sherman spoke out again causing Walker to jump to it and carefully hold the crystal perfectly in the center of the w. For every one of the five ws Sherman bent to touch the crystal it seemed to fuse more with the staff almost sinking in to it until the final w touched causing shadows to dance in the mes of the fire weing the elements.


    "Hahahaha perfect perfect now kid time for you to let your mana flow in to this ck dragon staff. I knew the dragon w mold would fit the crystal perfect all that''s left is fitting it to your mana so there won''t be any misfired spells."

 Chapter 27 - 27. Showing Off

    Walker felt his mana begin to be sucked away in to the staff as a dark glow Emanated from the crystal.


    ''5 mana consumed. ck dragon staff has been acknowledged by the user.''


    ck dragon staff- darkness element


    Matk +3


    Mana +10


    "Well that was a bit of a surprise but it epted your mana very easily, hmmm I would assume you were talented in the darkness element all along then. Well, anyways the item is finished and in a record time of only 5 hours too. If you happen to get more scales and crystals please ask for me so I can adjust this ck dragon staff. If you give me the right materials maybe I''ll be able to improve it to a grand dragon staff." The excitement of future prospects could be seen in Sherman''s eyes but was quickly reced with faint tiredness as he had used many skills in this endeavor.


    '' one cksmith has been helped two remain''


    The system prompted Walker that progress had been made so he said his thanks and goodbyes to Sherman while dragging midnight from her nap to find the others who were definitely still hard at work. This made sense to him since it could definitely take more time making a shield and also enhancing equipment. The enhancement needed to be shaped properly so taking that in to ount slower work was definitely needed so Walker decided to follow therge thud sounds of a hammer to arger door.


    Upon entering the room walker saw Su in a simr state to him but she was wearingrge gloves as well holding arge ck shield with a simr texture to Midnight''s scales. While she held it in ce Brutus woulde down with his hammer forcing the hot metal to finish taking shape.


    "Well I guess they won''t need me, and here I thought we could help" walker spoke to midnight while standing at the door and decided to take a moment of rest as he watched Brutus pick up the shield and plunge it in to a bath of oil with a sizzle.


    "I saw that the quest updated so I assumed you were done, I should only be a moment leader." Su had noticed the two watching and confirmed the situation.


    Before a few minutes had passed Brutus had dried and shined the shield with many different clothes and handed it to Su. Walker quickly checked the quest progress to see,


    '' two cksmiths have been helped one remains''


    The system had already taken thepletion in to ount.


    "Hmm thanks," a deep voice in almost a whisper said, surprising the two but before they could react Brutus had begun walking out the door towards another room.


    "Well I guess that leaves Remey and Gil then, my bet is they are right down the hall since I can just barely hear Rodney talking too much," Walker said with augh and he began looking with Su for the other two.


    "Sharp needles are important but not on just one size, they need bnce if it''s not bnced there''s no point. All weapons need bnce or they.." opening the door Rodney''s voice stopped and he jumped from the grindstone grabbing two packages.


    "The knuckles will be cool in a moment and here are the sewing needles. I kinda got excited and made some throwing needles from the rest of the scrap. Cause why waste it right?"


    epting the package walker mumbles his thank you slightly stunned Rodney had even done something extra. He wondered if Rodney would be a popr smith with his work ethic.


    ''ck throwing needles


    Atk+1


    Able to add poisons ''


    These needles looked pretty useful, they could be used for mid ranged attacks and even help paralyze a target if treated properly. Walker finally rested his eyes on Gil and Remey and found that they were much cleaner than himself and Su. This must be a side effect of only strengthening and not fully producing a weapon; less coal.


    ''All three ck smiths have been assisted. The requirements for the quest have been reached.


    Reward:


    3exp each party member, all around appraisal skill.


    Rewards have been distributed.


    All around appraisal skill has been taken from the Master appraiser system. User has learned all around appraisal


    All around appraisal - 0 mana


    Can appraise non master ss objects to a certain degree. Sometimes weaknesses to monsters, hidden skills, and other mysteries can be discovered through use.''


    "Yes, we did it!" Gil was the first to chime out happy to get more exp and see the fruits of theirbors.


    "Check out these knuckles! I can hit things so much harder now." Remey was shadow boxing making it hard to see the new ck veins in Her iron knuckles, there were even spikes on them too which would definitely cause some extra damage.


    "Between my staff, your knuckles, and the shield I''m very happy. Not to mention two types of needles I was really surprised you could do this extra work, Rodney!" Walker was smiling ear to ear feeding off his excitement after reading the skill.


    "Well, I need to do my best to build up a customer base now that I can craft! I hope to see you all soon!" Rodney began leading them out knowing they were dirty and definitely tired from the day of heat and coal dust. After waving goodbye, Walker was looking at a fruit stall and decided to try out his new skill.


    "All around appraisal" walker said quietly not to allow his party to hear and tease him.


    ''Apple +.5 health


    Nutritious and weak to worms. Rumored to keep the cleric away.''


    Walker was interested in the addition to health upon eating the fruit but began theorizing it must be the healthy aspect and not all fruits would do it. He then realized this could be incredibly useful in discovering an enemy''s weakness since it showed that worms were apples'' weaknesses.


    Smiling even more fully, the party was walking through the street more than showing off their new gear all the while covered in dust looking like they''d never seen a bath.

 Chapter 28 - 28. Gift And Rest

    As the party parted ways due to their desire to clean up, Walker used his new skill on the shield and knuckles to see how they came out.


    ''ck scale shield


    Def+5


    Mdef+5


    Hp+10


    Crystal knuckles


    Atk+10


    Def+2


    Possible bleeding''


    Walker was impressed, he had an idea Su would want bnced defense but the addition of hp boost was a huge bonus to a defensive position. The attack on the knuckles was astounding not to mention those spikes must cause the possible bleeding which could help weaken strong enemies.


    As midnight happily walked beside him observing hisical faces as Walker used the new skill everywhere he had an idea. Taking out the sewing needles he was curious what effects they might have after being crafted out of a rare material not often used for such needles.


    ''Draconic sewing needles


    Agi+5


    Self harm immunity


    Elemental thread''


    Walker stopped suddenly, midnight confused, and was looking at the house where she knew food was in the distance to Walker who was not moving. She didn''t understand why he had stopped knowing he could eat soon. But walker was in shock not only did these needles improve agility but they could keep the user from harming themselves while sewing with them. The even bigger shock was elemental thread! This meant that as these needles were used for sewing they could impart elements on to the fabric. This could drastically change the worth of the item created. Walker knew that giving these to Lisa would promise her steady business in the future so he would not need to worry, however, he also knew she would be worried about mana at all times due to the requirements of using the item''s skill. Mixed emotions of worry and happiness were obvious on his face.


    He took another step wrapping the needles up again and prepared to give Lisa the gift of her life!


    Upon entering the house walker knew Garret would still be at work and could hear his mother ttering away in the kitchen so decided not to interrupt her. Seeing Lisa in the kitchen with a swatch of fabricyer out in the shape of a cloak he wondered who it was for but decided that he would much rather show Lisa her new needles.


    "I know you''re hard at work so I guess I won''t bother you with a gift right now," Walker smirked knowing Lisa would bepletely enticed by these words.


    "What! Of course I''m not busy at all, I''m just ying so I can ept a gift!" Lisa had jumped from the chair and ran to Walker pretending nothing was on the table at all.


    "Well if you''re sure I guess you can have this." He handed her the rolled pouch of different sized needles "these are called draconic sewing needles you''ll be able to sew faster, never hurt yourself, and even mix the elements themselves in to your thread. Just don''t over do it OK? No one wants to see you asleep at the table working too hard." Walker''s words made Lisa''s face be one of awe.


    "These are great wait..." Lisa trailed off and looked even happier now "I just got a quest I get to use my new needles already. Just you watch brother, I''m going to make something amazing!"


    Walker was surprised he had identally started a quest for his sister''s system and it hadpletely absorbed her as she rushed to the table and began measuring and cutting at a furious pace.


    Unknown to Walker his sister had just received a quest with the title ''a gift for a gift''. Titled quests were a rare urrence for the systems it basically meant a huge growing point was about to ur for the user. Lisa had not yet realized this but when shepleted it the rewards would surely be great.


    As the time passed walker had cleaned himself up and recounted his days'' adventures to the family exining the new gears his party had. Lisa had cut in showing off the needles and telling Walker just to wait and see in a mysterious voice. Garret had returnedte noting that some guards had been injured while guarding the fields and that this year might be tougher on the harvest. After eating they all cleaned up, Lisa rushed to her room to go back to work which was slightly unusual but Hilda remarked that the gift must be motivating her. Walker returned to his room finally ready to rest.


    The next morning walker woke up normally and headed out to breakfast.


    "A notice came for you this morning. It''s on the table with a sandwich, that basket there is for you party members when you go to meet them." Hilda''s voice rang out from the kitchen where she was cooking.


    The letter had the official guild seal on it. Once opened Walker read that his party was requested for field patrol so he was required to report to the adventurers guard upon receiving the notice.


    After he had read the notice twice just to be sure, he roused midnight from her slumber by the oven and headed out towards the guild. He was curious why he didn''t see Lisa up as usual but figured she was extra tired from trying out her new sewing needles.


    Walker proceeded to use his party chat function as he walked at a vigorous pace. The only one he had woken was Su who seemed to be a surprisingly slow starter. Gil had been wide awake being used to his mother''s early farming hours and Remey was up due to the younger children at the orphanage.


    By the time Walker was at the guild, he had half a sandwich left and tossed the other half to midnight who greedily ate it as if she was starved. But he knew well she had eaten arge helping of chicken and plenty of sandwich ingredients his mother had fed her as she was weak willed against Midnight''s pleading eyes.


    It only took a few minutes for the others to show up ready to go. It was time to meet ra for the details.

 Chapter 29 - 29. Field Guards

    The guild was very busy today, the fight to reach the counter was the toughest yet. Everyone seemed to be moring for a quest or other service.


    The second ra noticed Walker and his party she motioned for them to go upstairs showing four fingers. Walker led his party to room four and they all took their seats making small talk while they waited.


    "So how many siblings do you have Remey? You''ve all met my sister so I figured I''d ask everyone." Walker had been wondering for a while.


    " six younger two older . Five boys and three girls. The boys usuallye to challenge me but the girls always run away cause they don''t like fighting. I''ve told them all to try everything to find their systems but they don''t listen without some tough love." Talking about her siblings seemed to make her much happier than any other topic. "I do know that Gil is an only child with how he acts he always wants attention." Remey stuck her tongue out at Gil as she said it to make a bigger impression lending Gil to menacingly grab an arrow from his quiver.


    " I have an older brother but he left home a few years ago and hasn''te back. So more or less it''s easier to think of me as an only child." This was a surprise from Su that no one expected. She always acted so astute and responsible that they thought her to be an only child the whole time. The look on her face said that was all she would share so no one pressed her for more. However, it was perfect timing since ra knocked and quickly entered the room without waiting for a response. Her tiredplexion spoke volumes to how the day had been.


    "I think you need this seat more than me", Gil quickly stood up pulling out the chair as ra more or less copsed with it.


    "So you''ve received your summons you party shall join the rotation today, as will many downstairs who are trying to apply now. We received news that there is a giant locust swarm headed this way. The guild will most likely issue a quest based off of how many killed per reward. The price is not always 2G for a giant locust. However, I do need to warn you if you see a female Also known as a jade locust run. Do not think just run. They are fast and their kicks can crush a grown man''s skull instantly. That goes for midnight too." ra finished by staring midnight directly in the eyes to make her point.


    "Will our systems give us a quest do you think? Or is it just a normal guild quest?" Walker was curious if he could stack exp and gold rewards to level up faster.


    "Most likely it will just be the normal guild quest, you should receive it once you leave the building. However, a great many adventurers will be out today so who knows what could happen. You may end up sharing space to protect therger fields." ra had slightly dashed Walker''s hopes but he still knew that his party would be able to make at least 10G today.


    "Your party shall start at the east gate and rotate to the north. Although it sounds like arge area the odds ofpleting the walk before encountering locusts is small. Most likely you''ll be stopped at the second or third field. Do not be afraid to watch more experienced adventurers first, this is a yearly urrence...well not normally do we get a swarm but that''s why we increase adventures in such urrences." ra seemed to be done exining.


    "Well, it sounds like it would be the best practice to move out, although I don''t see any reason for us to say this room is not being used any longer when we exit." Walker smiled knowing that ra could take advantage of the time to rest as the party headed out towards the east gate.


    '' guild quest has been epted.


    Locust swarm is impending the party shall leave the east gate and patrol.


    Reward:


    2G for every giant locust killed''


    "You know if we kill the locusts I''m sure they could be a good food source for midnight through the winter." Su had just had a brilliant thought. Causing Midnight to jump and prance ahead of the group hearing she would have a new food to try.


    " that''s a good idea, at first I thought we would just sell them for pig feed as most do but that sounds much better. We are pretty much being paid to strengthen a party member." Gil hit the nail on the head and the party had a renewed energy about them.


    Quickly they got to the east gate and after registering that they were attending the position they signed up for began walking the roads used to transport grains and vegetables from the fields. Here and there they could see groups of adventures surroundingrge locusts the size of a pony. They had brown and grey exoskeletons with ck streaks throughout. Theirrge hind legs had sharp barbs and their mouths had small pincers that seemed perfect for eating any means of vegetables. They were definitely a gue for any farmer.


    Upon viewing the sky the party noticed some very high up flying almost gliding over the fields seemingly not interested while others were spotted by adventurers as they descended to feed.


    Walker using his keen eye was able to spot one and quickly notified everyone. "Su be ready ten feet in front of us that one shouldnd. You''ll need to distract it while Gil aims to fire and Remey gets close to crushing it. I''ll try to hit it with a long range while Midnight, you get to its left side and use your ws." Walker had announced the battle n and everyone was on the balls of their feet ready.


    Su rushed forward as the locustnded "shield bash!" She pushed her shield forward stunning the locust causing it to stumble a bit as it had tried tond.


    Gil used quick shot and hit it in its eye


    "Eeaaaakkkk" the locust became crazed due to the pain but it didn''t even have a second to rest.


    "Pulverize!" Remey burst forward with her knuckles in a downward motionpletely smashing the locusts'' left front leg.


    This attack caused the locust to move closer to Midnight who''s ws using shred took its back right leg in to three pieces.


    "Su back up I''m going to attack!" Walker shouted following that with mana shot.


    The locust couldn''t hold on as the st hit its head dead on causing ck brown blood to ooze out as it copsed on the ground.


    ''2exp received due to locust death. 1 giant locust killed added to the current quest total.''


    The party was all smiling and barely broke a sweat. This would be a rewarding day if they could remain steady.


    The five continued on fight after fight easily finding their next target with Gil and walker in the lookout. They easily surpassed their goal of five giant locusts and after killing their sixth decided it was time to rest and recover.

 Chapter 30 - 30. Rivals

    The party found some nice rocks to use as seats and pulled out some no stale bread and water. They may have been a bit tired by the energy from chasing their goals that were fresh in their minds.


    While they ate they were observing a spear man, infantry swordsman with a shield and a water mage take down giant locusts nearby. They had watched the three wlessly fell two. The swordsman with sleek ck hair and a burly build would halt the locust''s movement, while the water mage with blue robes, sses, and a very cliche wooden staff would use water in the shape of chains to hold them. After that set up the blond spiky haired spear man who looked lean and spry wouldnd a decisive blow to the locusts head. The strategy was sound and fit perfectly for the three. After seeing them fell the second the party gave each other looks. They were all thinking; were we being out done?


    "We''ll rest another ten minutes to get our mana back to full then we''ll show them who''s the best!" Walker could feel the rising energy in the air and wanted to optimize the situation. Maybe it is better to have more parties around so we can push farther.


    "GERALD!!! Retreat!!!!!" The shout from the spear man caused everyone to look up in haste.


    Three giant locusts were currently ganging up on the swordsman but that wasn''t the worst of it. A green hue could be seen on one. It hadrger legs with more spines. The aura emanating from this jade locust was one of killing.


    "Um, guys...that''s not good." Gil could barely finish his sentence when the jade locust released a kick sending the swordsman flying in to the water mage with a loud crack. Bones had been shattered!!!


    "Sister Gloria! Gerald!!!!" The spear man was in a panic rushing to his now unconscious party members. They had been fighting for hours and were toward their end. The spear man Geoff was nning to rest with his party and walk back. They had imed enough locusts and tagged them for the guards on patrol to pick up for the guild but now it looked like they would face their end. All for a few gold and exp...the two giant locusts with the jade locust saw this opening and turned to unleash a massive kick in Geoff''s direction.


    Thwack vvvrrmmmmm!!! A crazy loud metallic sound and vibration echoed out. Geoff looked up to see an immovable girl holding a ck shield in front of him. Her face was scrunched up in effort after a massive blow that took half her health to block.


    "Get ugh up and move you carry one my party will grab the mage." Su had ryed Walker''s order. Remey had quickly lifted Gloria and the stunned Geoff came back to reality hefting up Gerald and slowly starting to head towards the wall...too slowly.


    "Su! Guard them! Gil and I will be distracting these three until you''re all far enough away!" Walker had issued the order while he and Gil ran opposite circles around the locusts causing them to turn in distraction. Midnight was circling the jade locust to distract it but the jade locust was smarter and realized its prey was escaping.


    "Weren''t these bugs supposed to eat nts!" Walker yelled at Gil.


    "This green one is a female! It fights because it feels threatened it thinks you''re going to kill its mates and young." Gil having grown up in the fields knew more. Gil was letting arrows fold towards the legs of the giant locusts in order to slow them down.


    Walker immediately saw this and fired a mana shot towards Gil''s target, noticing ck streaks as he was happy that the staff was properly channeling the darkness element.


    His mana shot was enough to put the locust Gil was facing to its side which allowed Gil to use quick shot three times sending arrows through its head leaving only one giant locust and the jade locust remaining.


    The situation was not good, upon seeing its mate fall the jade locust unleashed a massive screech.


    "Eeeaaaaaaaakkkkeee" this sound was deafening and midnight could barely stand. Seeing this walker ran as fast as possible to get in front of midnight with his leather shield. The jade locust kicked out "perfect block!" Walker used his only guard skill and was pushed back. The leather shield tore in half and Walker was left with 2hp. Midnight was in front growling in rage seeing her partner being harmed.


    Walker saw Gil holding off the other giant locust along with Midnight''s growing rage. He felt too weak to immediately stand and wasn''t sure how he would survive. Midnight''s growl reached a peak and heat waves could be seen emanating from her. She puffed up her chest and released a ball of ck mes towards the jade locust. The jade locust was able to dodge most of the blow but Walker could see its back right leg was burning to ashes, severely weakening it. However, using this skill for the first time hadpletely drained midnight as she copsed...she was an easy target.


    Gil was stuck slowly whittling down the health of the other giant locust, midnight was unconscious and in the line of fire, and Walker was a step from death.


    "Noooo!! Get up Midnight get UP!" Walker''s voice was hoarse with emotion. He couldn''t watch midnight get hurt. It was uneptable he needed to move.


    ''Skill unyielding has been taken from the hero''s system


    Unyielding- passive


    The less hp the hero has the higher their matk, atk, agi.''


    Walker stood up not even noticing the system notification. He brandished his staff and channeled all his mana within it. He was screaming from his heart for power that could crush this jade locust. The system answered...


    ''Skill mana destion has been taken from the destruction god''s system.


    Mana destion- 15 mana


    Uses high amounts of energy to send a concentrated st of unstable mana. The unstable mana destroys the very fiber of a creature''s mana system, making survival impossible. ''


    A massive amount of energy usurped through Walker, the pain he felt from this was immense but he was numb to it due to his chaotic emotions. A ball of darker mana appeared before him condensed to the size of a marble then flew at incredible speed through the jade locusts body. The locust stopped and a st of energy flew from its body. Walker had already copsed, falling in to unconsciousness. The jade locust was devoid of life, its very mana system had been destroyed, its brain was mush, and any lingering life was soon to dissipate.


    Gil had seen this and doubled his efforts using thest of his arrows and mana to kill the final giant locust with arrows to take it down. He fell to his knees along with the giant locust which has also fallen. Dragging himself up he dragged himself to where walkerid finding him to still be breathing Gil nced up seeing Remey and Su rushing towards them with a group of guards and a few other adventurers. "Hahahaha I guess I can sleep now." Gil passed out next to Walker.


    Su and Remey were red faced and panicked upon reaching them. Tears could be seen in the corners of Remey''s eyes. Su had steeled herself for the worst but noticing the three breathing her shoulders slumped and she dropped the shield releasing all the stress.


    With the help of a few guards and adventures, they were able to carry the three back to the walls. There were tents set up for injured adventures due to the season. Remey was able to get them In to a small tent with enough room for the three and along with Su took the time to rest while walker''s wounds were treated.

 Chapter 31 - 31. Waking Up

    After four hours walker''s consciousness finally returned and he opened his eyes finding himself in a cot under a white tent. A cool evening breeze was felting from the openings and a bit of snoring from his left. Looking over he noticed Remey asleep in a chair next to Gil who was also on a cot with some minor scratches on his face.


    Su wasying on the ground next to midnight with her head on Midnight''s back. From the looks of it, she had cried herself asleep while caring for midnight. This brought a smile to Walkers'' face knowing they were all safe and alive.


    As he began to move slightly he realized his entire body was incredibly sore. Multiple bandages covered scratches and cuts. His left arm was wrapped heavily and upon looking down he saw the remnants of his father''s leather shield. He winced at this sight knowing it saved his life but felt bad for losing it.


    Knowing his body needed rest he didn''t try to move, instead, he took a look at the system and was at a loss for words.


    ''2 giant locusts killed


    1 jade locust killed


    50 exp gained for out-matching the odds.


    Hidden quest- heroic action waspleted.


    Rescued another adventurer party and defeated an enemy well beyond the party''s strength


    Reward: level up one level for each party member regardless of exp required.


    The title has been awarded: each party member has gained the title Hero.


    Title Hero-


    Multiplies all exp for titles user. A hero''s growth is the inspiration for all.''


    Walker could not believe what had happened, he knew they had risked their lives but it was only what was expected that every adventurer should act the same. But a hidden quest? When''s thest time the kingdom had heard of one happening? Wasn''t it twenty years ago when a forge master had crafted himself a new hand using over a hundred ultra rare monster materials spending years in a desire to return to his peak. This kind of quest was unheard of. Let alone a title!? Those were only ever rewarded after amazing feats. The king''s title was passed down generation to generation, it was said that a monster yer title was given to an old hunter who single handedly took out a coven of vampires numbering over ten thousand, and even rumors of the elf that gained the speedster title by reaching an agility higher than any other in the world.


    These things were enough topletely stun anyone no matter how strong their soul. Taking the advantage of time, Walker began checking the party statuses knowing he needed all the information so he could properly exin everything. Their lives were about to get much more chaotic now that they had a title. It was not something they could hide. From now on their quests would be affected and even those around them would receive quests rted to their titles.


    Walker- Hero


    Jack of all trades system


    Level4- 50/160exp


    Hp-9


    Def-5


    Mdef-5


    Atk-4


    Matk-5


    Char-5


    Agi-7


    Mana-15


    Gear-


    broken leather shield:


    No bonuses


    ck dragon staff:


    Mana+10, matk+3, darkness element


    Su- Hero


    Shield bearer system


    Level 5- 50/320exp


    Hp-16


    Def-15


    Mdef-15


    Atk-9


    Matk-6


    Char-6


    Agi-6


    Mana-12


    Gear-


    ck scale shield


    Def+5, mdef+5,hp+10


    Remey- Hero


    Brawler system


    Level7- 50/1280exp


    Hp-16


    Def-16


    Mdef-8


    Atk-21


    Matk-8


    Char-7


    Agi-19


    Mana-18


    Gear-


    Crystal knuckles


    Atk+10,def+2, bleeding possibility


    Gil-Hero


    Ranger system


    Level5- 50/320exp


    Hp-8


    Def-7


    Mdef-7


    Atk-13


    Matk-13


    Char-11


    Agi-13


    Mana-14


    Gear-


    Worn basic bow


    Atk+1


    Basic arrows


    Atk+1


    Midnight- Hero


    ck me dragon (hatchling)


    Level2- 50/200exp


    Hp-105


    Def-55


    Mdef-55


    Atk-80


    Matk-80


    Agi-35


    Mana-55


    Gear- none


    New skills-


    ck fireball


    An incredibly powerful dark ming ball consumes all mana and causes the target to burn in to ashes upon contact.


    This skill ck fireball must have been what Midnight''s used. Maybe she needed to eat the darkness crystal to help her gain it. Walker had been stumped as to why Midnight had eaten that crystal for sure but the theory that she needed it to strengthen her inner mes seemed sound.


    We definitely need to get Gil a better bow and maybe some arrows that he can infuse with magic. Walker kept thinking more and more about how they could improve so they wouldn''t get hurt again. Soon he noticed Gil Laying in bed pointing at Walker so Remey would notice Walker''s ramblings. Walker''s face flushed a deep red, realizing he had most likely woken them and looked a bit of a fool.


    "Sooo umm nice job on that giant locust..." Walker said to Gil after a moment.


    "Pfft No way you''d be hogging all that glory" Gil''s instant retort was enough to raise midnight and Su back to thend of the awake.


    Midnight stood shakily, the effects of using all her mana were clearly stronger than that of a humans. It was an important fact Walker would have to remember. "Midnight don''t worry about getting up. I know you used a lot of energy. But you can never do that again! Why would have happened if no one else was there?" Walker was happy midnight was awake but seeing her in this state made him sad so he knew he needed to reprimand her so she would be safeter. In response to this, Midnight took a few steps closer andid back down without enough energy to fight or retort. Su had made it back in to her feet and pulled up a chair with a serious face.


    "You two rushed in to battle to hold them back and you being the leader I trusted that you three would be OK. But it was reckless; the rmended course of action was to run on sight of the jade locusts! Not that I would have left those other three to die..." her energy from the first two sentences fails as she admitted she would have readily done the same all over again.


    "Exactly! We may have done the same thing but you three should have retreated sooner. Hmpf I don''t know what''s wrong with men and trying to be tough it''s prettyme." Remey was obviously more happy than angry at the three as she showed her heart on her sleeve.


    Gil had drawn a confused and surprised face "so leader...are going to exin this?"


    "Ahm uh yea so some stuff happened and we have a title..."

 Chapter 32 - 32. Bonus Rewards

    "Ha! That''s a good one you just said we had a title. I''ll have to use that one on my parents. They''llugh until they fall down." Gil wasughing like a fool while he propped himself up.


    Walker sat up and looked at everyone with a stern face. "Wepleted a hidden quest by killing a monster much stronger than ourselves while rescuing others. Now we all have the Hero title. We also gained a level up each. Not to mention the hero title gives us experience multiplier; that part confuses me but I''m sure we will start to understand it once we get back out to the fields...well tomorrow that is since it looks pretty dark outside now." Walker was scratching his head feeling awkward as jaws dropped...even Midnight was looking at him wide eyed. For a human or other race to get a title such as hero, it was unheard of but imagining a dragon having it was something that could change the heavens themselves.


    "So what''s going to happen..." Remey trailed off now showing worry in her voice.


    "No idea this is unprecedented, I think we should keep it quiet for a while and figure out what it means. Then if others start to notice we cane out and say it but I think the guild will be able to protect us while we grow if we speak to ra. Actually, I know many parties get a manager from the guild when they get to a higher tier, maybe we should ask ra she''s been a huge help so far." Walker had been thinking about a manager for a long time knowing that their situation had be very unique and the title had been the final link to make the move.


    "That''s a good idea, protection will be important. If we can''t figure it out and protect ourselves other kingdoms could try and drag us without our consent." Su made a good supporting point as always. The thought of being kidnapped and dragged to an unfamiliarnd was enough for Remey and Gil to immediately nod. Even midnight had moved a little closer feeling the weight of the situation.


    "My thought is we can rest a bit more and gather our thoughts then head to the guild. I know it''s going to be past dark by then but since adventurers work all day and night they never close." With that walker rested his head again preparing himself to forge a contract with the guild.


    After resting a bit longer they all were ready to get up and moving, midnight still swayed a bit but was ready to get moving. As they exited the tent noting that they were near the South Gate now, they noticed two figures waiting nearby.


    It was the water mage Gloria and Geoff the spear man. Their third party member Gerald was missing which was not a surprise noting he took the biggest blow.


    "Thank you!" The two bowed to Walker''s party. Geoff took the lead " if you all hadn''t helped we wouldn''t be here today, I know it was risky and I can see the injuries caused on our behalf. We were only a party of three but we were not wise and pushed ourselves too far and couldn''t run from the jade locust. We could never properly thank you enough but as a start, I hope you know you can always call on us if you ever need anything." Geoff''s emotions were welling up within him.


    ''Adventuring party triple G has registered you as their ally. User party chat function can nowmunicate with the leader of triple G.''


    "Triple G?" Walker was confused but then it dawned on him.


    "Yea that''s us, we made that name since the three of us all have names that start with G! Can you please tell us your party name?" Gloria the water mage has spoken up despite the obvious bruising to her face which was surely painful at the moment.


    "Umm to be honest we haven''t made one yet...but we will have to figure that out soon especially now that we''ve gained an ally. It would be kind of sad if you didn''t know who to ask for" walker was stunned how could they forget to name their party of all things!


    "I hope we can be the first to know your party name in the future then! By the way, I sent a guard to notify the guild of your deeds and also had those two giant locusts along with the jade sent there so you wouldn''t worry. I thought it the least I could do. I know it''s impolite to run but Gerald is still resting and we need to be there when he wakes up, sadly he broke an arm so it will be a week or so of healing before he will be back to snuff. Thank you again we owe you all our lives!" Geoff and Gloria gave another bow and turned to rush back toward another tent, Walker could swear he saw tears falling down their cheeks as they turned.


    With that they continued through the gate and towards the adventurers guild. Upon opening the door they were greeted with a ferocious re from ra.


    " Well look who decided toe to report! I guess listening to my advice was too challenging." The scolding was heartbreaking, the party didn''t expect ra to be so angry "room 13 is open I''ll be up momentarily." Without a second nce ra went to a filing cab and began riffling papers. Walker led the way and the party went to room 13 everyone was nervous except for midnight who took the opportunity to nap.


    The door opened slightly bouncing in the wall before ra closed it firmly they knew they were in for trouble. "Now walker exin what happened!" He immediately recounted the situation leaving out the hidden quest rewards as not to shock her immediately.


    "Yes, that matches the first report I received. Our systems recorded a total of 9 giant locusts and a jade locust being killed. We will sell the wings for you to the alchemist guild, you will receive 18G for that. The rest of the bodies are up to your decision." ra had gone in to business mode but was still showing a scary re.


    "Thank you very much miss ra." Walker was going to act very polite before dropping the big news. "My party has discussed this and we understand that some parties get managers from the guild. We believe you would be the best option as we have seen how skilled you are in your daily efforts. I hope you can consider us." With a slight bow he could see a slight smirk spear before she caught herself.


    "Maybe once you''re a silver tier adventurer party, that usually the lowest managers will be assigned." ra''s business took over again but Walker wasn''t done.


    "Actually the reason we are looking for one so early is fairly dramatic. Please prepare yourself this maye as quite a shock....we kinda got a hidden questpleted and...well...we have titles now..." walker became nervous the more he spoke seeing as ra''s poker face was too tough at this moment.


    "Well that exins a lot." ra stated inly


    "Ummm what?" The party said in unisonpletely confused.

 Chapter 33 - 33. Systems In Motion

    Walker was dumbfounded, he had prepared topletely blow ra''s mind but instead all his built up excitement deted.


    "But what do you mean makes sense?" Slightly recovering Walker was now letting his curiosity grow.


    "Well I got a system quest. Since it was a titled quest called "fostering a young hero" I figured it would be a big deal. Also looking through some very old guild records I found that a hero is sometimes a system or a title. So I expected someone with a hero system to appear. However, it''s fairly surprising that all of you gained the title. You just may all shock the world luckily I was prepared." A small giggle was released from her lips as she said thest part since she felt she had aplished, a fitting revenge on those who didn''t follow her guidance.


    "Well, I''ll also take your party under my management seeing as you would be the first. Let me just set it up I''ll need your party name?" ra flowed wlessly in to the primary goal.


    The party was stuck, they had been thinking and bouncing ideas off each other the whole walk to the guild and had nothing. Not a single good idea.


    "Well, I''m not an omnipotent goddess I can''t just leave the name nk and still register your party." ra had realized they were stuck and attempted to push them to a decision.


    "Let''s go with that!" Remey immediately perked up " omnipotent sounds good we can do anything we even have a leader with like, infinite skills and we have a literal dragon!!!" The excitement was contagious soon the whole party was smiling even midnight had roused from her nap enough to huff quietly at the name.


    "Our party name is Omnipotent,'''' Walker spoke up, finalizing the decision.


    "Well umm OK I''ll set it up." ra was a bit hesitant but proceeded after seeing their looks


    ''Party has been registered as Omnipotent. The party known as omnipotent has been registered as managed by the adventurers guild first floor manager ra. Does the user and leader of omnipotent ept?''


    "Yes, I ept!" Walker quickly epted.


    "Perfect now I can look in to directly sending you quests to browse and decide on taking without you having to sit down and ept a quest every time. Also, I will be notified when you reach requirements forpletion so that I can move forward with preparing rewards and other such activities. You will also have the ability as party leader to contact me to speak on details and I will be able to do the same." The benefits ra gave them as a manager were very good for any party and Walker understood why getting a manager became a requirement. Not to mention once one was silver or higher tier parties often gained fans who would disrupt them as they entered the guild.


    "We also have realized that our titles as you demonstrated can''t stay secret forever so we find it safer to request your guidance. We already know the guild has experience in this realm as they often protect those with promising talent or nobles." This was a very important reason for their meeting with ra, once word got out not only would stronger people try to take advantage of them but also other countries as well.


    "Yes you are correct in knowing I can arrange that for you, we have many higher strength individuals that have retired from adventuring to be an employee of the guild. Some as such have amazing abilities to guard those without even their knowledge. Rest assured the adventurers guild wishes nothing more than your safety and growth and even at the event of a catastrophe will be there to assist."everyone''s stress dissipated a bit after hearing her words. They had thought some stronger employees would be sent to guard them but hearing that they would be able to do so without change to their party adventures.


    "I hate to rush you all out but I''m going to get very busy arranging everything properly. I rmend heading home and not spreading a word just yet. I know it may seem exciting but as you know it could be dangerous." ra seemed eager to jump in to her work even though the night was upon them.


    "In that case, we will do just that, I know everyone needs rest after today plus who knows what tomorrow will bring. I know we will meet early in the morning to look at a quest, it''s too bad we can''t go out after more locusts but we can''t take other parties chances it wouldn''t be fair." Walker was slightly dejected but knew that he would only be hated by other parties if he somehow weasels his party in to another day guarding the fields. But he knew getting out together was the best way to shake off the residual emotions from their chaotic day.


    After saying their goodbyes the party split up heading home for the day. By the time he returned home Walker''s family was all asleep. Lisa had fallen asleep at the table working on something and he quickly carried her to bed. Afterpleting his task he went to bed himself too tired to even look at what she had been so engrossed in as to fall asleep at the table.


    ...


    Within a study full of books and arge oak desk an older man in about his fifties was in luxurious white nightclothes reading from piles of documents. The man had long white hair and a serious face with the lines set in after years of using a poker face. He pulled documents from stacks that seemed to defy gravity mumbling every so often before scribbling a note or two. Every once in a while the man would check his candles and continue working. Seemingly stuck in a problem he began to pace and read a map "could go north...dragons...but the craftsman....the forests are too big... Safe away from the swamps and ruins.....but they ancient artifacts...not sure....beast man maybe...definitely not demons...." the man trailed on mumbling words ever so often as time passed. The weight of the world seemed to be on his shoulder until a small notification pulled him back to reality.


    '' the kingdom has been blessed with five who have gained the title of hero. The title quest blessing of the king has been issued to the user.


    Requirements: bless the five who hold the hero title and assist in their growth. The duty of a good king is to seize the opportunity in front of themselves and push their kingdom to the top.


    Rewards: none''


    The man had frozen on the spot a map falling to the floor. This quest offered no reward but having a title bearer in the kingdom was more than any reward let alone five! With the energy of someone twenty years younger, the man bolted from the room. As he got farther and farther the sounds of shouting could be heard waking others in the night.

 Chapter 34 - 34. Peace

    The morning hade, as usual, however, Walker and Midnight had slept a bitter than everyone else. So much so that Walker was just getting to the kitchen as Garret left for his work.


    Upon seeing Walker, Lisa bounced up with a smile "good morning!" And promptly ran to her room. Walker was even more curious, was her work that important right now? He began to think of his sister as a different person.


    Midnight seemed to have already eaten as his mother had been working in the kitchen all morning. Everyone seemed to have gained a weakness for feeding Midnight. Walker grabbed some bread from the cupboard and began to eat while noticing ra had sent him some possible quests in a new section of his system. Looking through them there were three that stood out; one requiring the party to assist supply delivery from the adventurers guild to the alchemist building which was an expected quest due to the influx of materials from the locust swarm. The second was a gathering quest for various herbs near the Sun hallow forest, the main being a yellow flower known as sunflowers which grew wildly in the area due to the sun and warmth of the area. It is used mainly as a cooking ingredients and ground in to oils for other potions. The third was a reurring quest to head to the garbage facilities and exterminate giant rats, this may make an eptable pay due to how gross the job was but Walker couldn''t feed something so gross to Midnight and personally didn''t want to smell like the facilities.


    The only one that stood out was the gathering quest, the party would be able to take some time off of fighting and focus on something more normal for their tier. Not to mention taking a few extra for Hilda.


    After thinking for another moment he decided to ept it and prepared to gather his party for a rxing day.


    In the upper floors of the guild.


    Hushed voices could be heard in rapid conversation.


    "So you''ll be their manager good good, I sent a few shadows to guard them already but I''m sure we don''t have long before something happens. Nobles and even royalty will make their move soon." A strong deep voice said.


    ra could be heard responding, " yes sir, putting them together was really a great decision. They may be young now but within a few months, I expect their progress to explode. I worry that once royalty makes their move they may try to monopolize them but having your backing guild Master, will protect them."


    An older man''s voice chimes in at this point "if they grow fast they will soon be going farther and farther for their quests. We know heading to certain areas is safer than others due to which kingdom rules. The beast-men may be more hot headed but not much to worry about, dwarves can''t be bothered to leave their mountains not to mention any of the wise dragons. However, the elves and demons could be a problem. Those elves may try to gain them to continue their fights against the demons. Same for the demons but the real worry is how sneaky they can be. Honestly the line between demon and monster is way too thin these days."


    "It may be wise to reach out to the castle ourselves then, we can establish an understanding early so when other kingdomse knocking at the door we are United." ra saw the opportunity they now had and this seemed the best course.


    Back to Walker who he now made it to the South Gate


    "ording to the quest we need five bundles of 10 sunflowers and two pots of the roots. Think taking a few extra to bring back for ourselves won''t be an issue.There is a note that we shouldn''t take too many from one location so we will need to spread out our efforts." Walker gave the final review of their requirements.


    The reward may only be 5G each but the exp will also be higher due to the nature of the quest which wascking as 10exp each by their systems.


    Overall walking to the area was not too tough and they quickly spotted the tall yellow flowers. Midnight didn''t seem to be interested as she began hunting for newts in the area however that proved harder than expected due to a few clouds blocking the sun. She soon gave up and began following Su, as Su was walking to find the best flowers to pick.


    Gil and Remey had Taken up the process of harvesting the roots while Walker quickly managed to assemble four bundles.


    ''Benevolent harvesting has been taken from the herbalists'' system Due to users'' repeated actions. Would the user like to learn benevolent harvesting?''


    "Oh! Yes," walker was surprised not expecting a skill, he couldn''t help but shout it out.


    ''Skill benevolent harvesting has been learned.


    Benevolent harvesting- 0 mana cost


    When harvesting various nt life the user is able to take from the nt in a way that allows the nt to grow back in a stronger and more efficient manner. Long term pruning can lead to overall better quality growth.''


    This skill did not seem very important in the short term but if Walker was able to take the time to return here this skill could greatly influence the growth of sunflowers let alone any other nts he harvested in the future. Upon thinking on this subject he decided he will bring a few flowers to harvest seeds for nting and ask Gil''s mother for assistancee growing season.


    There was a slight breeze pushing the clouds along leaving the party in a rxing atmosphere. After a few more hours of harvesting they had gathered the required 5 bundles and an additional five one for each of them along with two pots of roots.


    The trip back was a bit tougher with the additional weight not wanting to damage the flowers by cing them in walkers inventory. But there was no problem traveling all the way to the guild. ra had already prepared the reward and was awaiting them at the counter.


    "Wee back, I''m d you chose a gathering quest today. I''m sure it did wonders to work away the stresses of yesterday. Please follow me to room 1 and quicklyplete the quest after I examine the herbs. After, I have someone I would like to introduce you to." ra shed them a brilliant smile as she began leading them upstairs.

 Chapter 35 - 35. Guild Master

    Quickly entering the meeting room ra had the partyy the required items on the table and filled out a paper attached to a clipboard.


    "Perfect, quality appears to be high in each one, it seems you all take great care in finding the best." ra was impressed seeing that there were almost no damages nor growth deformities in the flowers. This was often an issue when young parties went to gather due to inexperience.


    "Now that it''s been epted I will have someone elsee to collect them since we have something else we must do, please follow me to the top floor." ra left the paper with the stems and went towards the stairs.


    "Wait on the top floor?" Gil was confused, wasn''t the top floor for the guild masters office?


    ra didn''t turn around and proceeded upwards the party on her heels. Soon they reached a spacious area with a few desks with various people filling out paperwork. At the end of the room was a wood door with finishing from every entire tier que. There were even tinum markings.


    ra knocked on the door and slowly opened it. "This is the omnipotent party as requested by the guild master!" The introduction was a surprise but even more shocking were the two men in the room.


    An old man who appeared frail with long white hair and a long white beard was seated behind arge desk. His body feigned weakness but his eyes said that he could crush them. Next to him was a very muscr tall man wearing silver and gold armor. He had a few scars covering the left side of his face making him more intimidating. His hair was a brown color and his face was showing an aloof personality.


    "Ah yes, young walker, Su, Gil, Remey, and you''re Midnight I take it? Come ine in we have been waiting for you." The old man seemed to have already met them knowing their names and whose appearance belonged to them. "I''m sure you''re wondering why we''ve walked you here but first things first, I am Ibis. You may know me better as the white Ibis due to my past adventures. To my right is Barryically known as the berserk Barry. I would not rmend putting him in a bad mood." Ibis chuckled at his joke.


    "Old man I told you not to call me that, I know your memory fades in your age but try to remember, you may even write a note." Barry retorted while Ibis smiled devilishly.


    "Oh don''t worry I won''t beat you down in front of the young heroes here. Naturally, that is why we called you." Ibis wlessly transitioned back to the party at hand " I know you requested assistance in protection and the second ra became your manager we sent that protection out. We here at the guild like to protect a bright future. So in that matter, we''ve decided to introduce you to the castle, well specifically you will be meeting the king. The title you received makes you very wantedmodities all over the continent so I hope you understand forging a rtionship with the government to a stronger degree will allow more protection. Not to mention whether you like it or not royalty will be involved. The only question is will you tread that path alone or ept the guild''s ability to introduce you and back you?" He hadid out many things that sounded scary to the party. They had never imagined meeting a king in their lifetime.


    "If we were to go about this alone I fear my friends and I would be swallowed by greed and torn apart. But can the guild prevent this?" Su was the one to speak up, beating Walker to the punch. But she spoke about the feelings of the whole party.


    "You know we have many powerful adventures with many systems. We have the strength to protect and back you making up for theck of noble blood. Not to mention the adventurers guild had been called in to military matters many times in our history making us well respected. Any who would dare to go against us, even the king could breed unrest."Barry''s deep voice surprised them, not expecting him to sound so bold.


    "Now a few rules. Do not ept anything from other nobles; they only will try to bend you to their will as political gambits. The king will most likely do the same however you can ept his offers. Unlike the nobles, he already has the power and will use his offerings as a way to boost your standing and most likely shore up his foundation with the people. Those people who are happy seeing a hero let alone five rise from among them will plead to the king. This means you will all represent the people and must act as such. I do not expect perfection however as you well know your actions are observed by all." Ibis had be very serious.


    It was clear that nobles were not necessarily trustworthy but that made sense they had too much money and a lot of power. The idea of representing the people greatly appealed to the party since they hade from different areas of the lower tier of the kingdom. Gil saw this as an opportunity to shore up the foundation of the fields. Su was just happy to have her new party protected. Remey was thinking of possible expansions for the orphanage. Walker was imagining a new home filled with everything his family could possibly need. Midnight well she was thinking about food...not a surprise.


    Walker took a step forward "we would like the adventurers guild to back us. Please sir if you could introduce us to the king before theye knocking at our doors we would greatly appreciate it." He knew he didn''t ask permission to speak for the whole party but looking side to side he saw them nodding in unison with determined faces.


    "Ha! Good good we''ll leave now; Barry and I areing to, ra you shall be in charge while we are gone. We have an audience with the king in an hour. I scheduled it once ra notified me you would be returning." Ibis was a sly man knowing the party would have to ept his proposals.

 Chapter 36 - 36. Inner Walls

    ra smiled knowing their n had seeded. She was also happy that her new party would be safer. Her fortune in being ced to assist them had helped her immensely in the struggle within the guild to move up. She may not have the level and stories of a retired adventurer but bringing these youths to the mater she had solidified a path upwards.


    On the other hand, the party who began following Barry and Ibis towards the inner walls had realized this was all nned from the start. Since it benefited them they were not overly angry however they still felt a bit roughed up about it.


    Luckily the walk to the inner gate was not an arduous one and being adventurers they were used to such activities. Ibis was surprisingly quick in his feet, quickly betraying his frail looks. Walker had begun to remember some of the stories behind his name white ibis.


    If he recalled correctly white ibis was a summoner who could summon all matter of avian elementals. However, the name came from a minor battle with a horde of undead from the ancient ruins where he used a light elemental Ibis bird topletely wipe it out. Some called the bird the holy ibis. His strength was enough that the army sent with him didn''t even raise a sword instead they became a mere escort. After that many smaller tales of him going to take out small swarms and hordes of monsters becamemonce however none as amazing as the first.


    On the other hand, Barry the berserk was younger by many years and the tales about him were a bit more grim. He had made his name as a solo adventurer going to small viges near the river to the east where orcs often attacked travelers. A toon of soldiers had been sent one year due to escted numbers and came upon Barry fighting a high orc. There were bloody bodies everywhere around him as he wielded tworge double de axes. They said they were unsure if they looked upon man or beast in that moment as Barry had be a killing machine. The personality he had was fairly pleasant but in battle, it seemed he was brutal beyond measure.


    These two clearly had the means to be the master and vice master of the adventurers guild from stories like that. However the presence they exuded as they approached the gate made the guards and passersby stand up straighter and hurry their pace. It was as if they all recognized an unseen strength.


    Upon reaching the gate walker was brought back to reality and noticed there were more equipped guards here than the outer walls. This may not have been a major difference but it was enough to be seen Barry held back as Ibis passed through the gate the guards had stepped aside recognizing the legends before them. After the party had gotten through the gate Barry followed behind as if guarding from the rear.


    The site of the inner walls was astounding. The buildings wererger with courtyards full of flowers or training spaces. The market stalls were much cleaner and held higher quality items. There were significantly more carriages moving through the streets. Even the bricks on the streets were a nicer speckled grey then the dark bricks in the lower tier.


    "Are we even in the same kingdom?" Remey was struck with a sense of being elsewhere identally saying her thoughts out loud.


    They continued following Ibis while noticing the people walking around dressed in much higher quality fabrics than anyone in the lower tier who would often wear their work clothing. Passing nobles with swords or staffs would nod to Ibis and Barry but quickly re at the party after seeing where they hade from.


    They felt as if on disy, just some entertainment for the nobles to look at. It was a gross feeling making Walker''s skin crawl. Seeing that Ibis was picking up the pace they quickly followed trying to ignore the looks of those they passed.


    The sight of a massive castle soonpletely filled their view. The towering grey stone sparkled as if filled with diamond. The roof shimmered with gold. Stone gargoyles and dragons adorned the eaves and windows as if protecting each one. The front door was equally ornate carved from some ck wood of unknown origin. They started to swing open as Ibis approached and a guard in white trimmed armor approached.


    "State your purpose today sir Ibis." The guard required the reason before admittance.


    Ibis quickly pulled the guard close and whispered to him their reason for arrival as not to alert any unwanted attention. Without a second of pause the guard motioned for others to escort the guests inside as a precaution.


    Entering in to the front courtyard they witnessed the most advanced training ground they had ever seen, there was even room for tamed beasts asrge as a house! Many elites were practicing different tasks but the party was rushed in to the inner castle before they could observe more.


    The inside of the inner castle wasvished in paintings of royal families and ornate furniture. The tapestries were of the highest quality. They were soon lead to a double door,


    "Now do not speak unless spoken to is that understood? And bow you will need to bow." Ibis said and began to open the door before they could respond.


    The door opened and it was as if they had seen a new world. The room had fifteen or twenty people all aids to the king standing to the sides watching the door. Guards lined the walls prepared for anything. A purple carpet led directly to a tform on which four thrones stood tworge and two small. These thrones were carved from crystal and adorned with an almost shimmering fabric. Only two of the thrones were currently upied. The center was the king August Bernard Diamond and to his right the queen Marian Alda Diamond. The party gulped back their nervousness and proceeded forward.

 Chapter 37 - 37. Kings Blessings

    The king had a steady face with strongly set lines from years of using a poker face. His hair was long and white due to his age but he was only in his fifties and expected many years more. He wore clothing of unmatched quality inparison to all but the Queen. The Queen had curled ck hair and warm features but her eyes threatened destruction to those that wronged her. Both king and Queen were slim and fit of average height.


    "Hello, my king I Ibis and Barry of the adventurers guild greet you along with these young ones." As Ibis made his greeting there was a stir within the attendants and nobles within the hall noticing a dragon, a few guards brought their hands to their weapons.


    A man with long brown hair and mboyant clothing stepped forward. Clicking his tongue he motioned for guards to step forward. "Remove that ugly monster before it causes the king harm! It''s disgusting to think you would bring such a thing here of all ces.!"


    Upon hearing this midnight lowered herself ready to pounce. Walker pulled his staff from his inventory and stamped it down causing a loud echo through the room. "Midnight calm down! You are better than him, don''t allow him to push you to anger!" His words immediately calmed Midnight who responded by rxing and wrapping her tail around one of his legs.


    "Youmoner, have no right to speak as such let alone bring out a weapon! Guards!" The man again pushed the guards forward.


    Walker had be agitated, they came to meet the king yet some idiot instead tries to have a member of his family harmed? He wanted to push them away to make them feel the fear Midnight did. Walker felt that she thought she would die like her mother. Feeling her tail tighten around him he grew more angry.


    '' Due to the users desire the skill dragon''s intimidation has been taken from the ck crystal me dragon system. Would the user like to learn dragon''s intimidation?''


    "Yes" walker said between clenched teeth


    ''Skill dragons intimidation has been learned.


    Dragon''s intimidation- 1 to 5 mana cost per use


    A violent roar is released intimidating all who hear it. The more mana used the stronger the roar. ''


    Walker stepped forward with his other leg and took a deep breath as more guards moved up. "BAAAAHHHHHHHHHRRRRRR" he realeased the built up air consuming two mana. The roar was shocking the moving guards fell to their knees, some of the attendants and nobles followed suit. Others obviously stronger were able to stand some only flinched. The kings and queen didn''t even react as it was too small to them.


    Walker noticed that his party was not affected at all which he noted as important forter uses.


    "Hmm that would be enough Markus you may not like monsters for your own reasons but the little dragon is much more important than you could know." The king''s voice was the only sound to break the tension. " that''s an interesting skill you have there, I look forward to your exnation sincest I knew that was a dragon''s roar." All eyes directed at Walker, some ring, others confused, and even others still in shock.


    Walker kneeled and so did his party. He forced the anger from his face knowing he may have overreacted. "Forgive me my king. I see Midnight as part of my family now. We have an equal bond using a blood contract. The thought of harming to her caused me to learn another skill."


    "Ah so you''re a tamer then interesting...wait you just learned that skill now?" The king had never seen someone easily put a skill to practice as fast as Walker had and believed he was being tricked.


    "My king I awakened the jack of all trades system. I am able to learn any skill that''s not a mastery skill. Midnight here is a ck crystal dragon hatchling we rescued. Gil here is a Ranger, Su is a shield bearer, and Remey is a Brawler. We are humbled to meet you." The queen had made an O with he lips as her jaw dropped surprised at his words.


    Her melodic voice rang out "so you''re saying you can use skills from many systems...hmmm use another I wish to see." The queen was letting her curiosity guide her but Walker could not say no.


    Upon this walker sent his staff back to storage. "That my queen was spatial magic used to store items, even monsters we''ve hunted. I also learned this from a quest. All around appraisal!" Walker used his appraisal skill on Markus who had just begun recovering.


    ''Markus Raven


    Treasurers system


    Level- 63


    Weakness- snake type monsters. Fear of snakes has been ingrained within him for his entire life due to watching one bite and kill his younger sister while he was a child.''


    "I received this after helping some cksmiths. I know that Markus Raven has a treasurer system and is level 63 he is also terrified of snakes due to childhood trauma. This skill doesn''t tell me everything because I would need a master appraisal skill but it gives me some basics and even some hidden information such as weaknesses." With these words Markus showed rage in his face and stood up quickly but he was unable to make a move.


    "Well how interesting, I can tell these skills would not normally be connected. And here I was prepared to reprimand you on your party name of omnipotent but it seems it fits well." The king''s words reminded Markus of where he was causing him to put his poker face back on and return to the line of other nobles and attendants. "I assume the guild master has already told you why we wished to meet you, however this is still a surprise to my attendants and nobles here so bear with me as they may react strongly." The king finales smirked showing his excitement " I see four of you with the hero''s title but where''s the fifth?"


    The nobles and attendants'' faces dropped. Did he just say title? No this must be one of his jokes.


    "Actually my king Midnight is the fifth member of our party and holds the hero title as well. Like I mentioned before we have an equal contract that is why she is family to me." Midnight stood and puffed up her chest at Walker''s words the feelings of before wiped away by his praise.


    "Impossible! How could a monster have a hero''s title! Monsters are evil creatures that kill and kill!" Markus Raven spoke again having gathered his courage.


    "Well not only did we set a record for the most titles in any one kingdom but we also destroyed the thought process that all monsters are evil. I quite like this party in August, I would like to see more of them in the future." The queen''s words caused even more shock as she had immediately supported them! Was she in on this trick too?


    "Hahahaha. Yes I see this is indeed remarkable. The other day I received a quest telling me to bless the five heroes that had been granted such a title in my kingdom as to foster their growth. Now that I see who is before me I am amazed again. Not in My life did I imagine this. I am truly blessed to be the king of this kingdom!" The king''s words were absolute, the fact that he had received a quest for such an asion spoke volumes to how important this title was. Normally the king would only receive quests that revolve around the kingdom''s growth. Such as taxes, harvests, ambassadors, and even wars. None of which did not have their great importance to the kingdom as a whole.


    The king stood and stepped toward the kneeling party. Ibis and Barry stepped backwards.


    "My young heroes. I wee you and pass to you the king''s blessing. I shall award all of you with a medal to allow travel in my name. You shall receive the amethyst mansion which has been abandoned for many years and in need of new owners to bring it back to glory. If you do choose you may enter any academy or school of battle, magic, or otherwise within the kingdom. All who see these young ones here know this! They are protected and fostered by myself as king and the adventures guild. To harm them is to harm me and the kingdom itself. You have been warned!"

 Chapter 38 - 38. Awestruck

    The king''s words had put the party on its head. Had they really just received a mansion andnd!? They could attend any academy? Some academy''s were restricted to nobles only. Does this mean we are nobles now too? The king chose to back us! How strong will we get now? What do we do now? How do we tell our families this?


    With that the king turned and returned to the throne. "I will give you some time to gather and move your families, I''m sure this is a shock to you. Also I shall send a small group of royal guards to guard the mansion for now until you have settled in. After such I will expect you to return for another audience with me and my attendants. Now we have much to speak about. You may leave for today." The king knew there would be hours of deliberation if not days with his attendants so he sent the party on its way.


    " wait!" The queen ordered, causing them to freeze. " Little midnighte here". Midnight looked to Walker for approval and he gave a nod. Midnight walked over and stood before the queen. The queen reached out a hand and ced it on Midnight''s head and brushed down her spine. "So that''s what a real dragon feels like, you are indeed adorable little Midnight. You may leave with your family now." She had called midnight over just out of curiosity for what her scales felt like. This queen''s curiosity was dangerous.


    The king could be seen smirking towards his queen knowing her less serious side was showing. With that the party continued to leave the room Ibis remaining and Barry following.


    "That was very interesting, not many people would have the courage to speak out against a noble let along in front of the king. Don''t go making too many enemies kid." Barry was reprimanding Walker but the sound of his voice made it seem to be apliment. "You all will head home to prepare your families to move if they desire if not their safety is not a guarantee. We can''t afford to spread guardians everywhere. And by the way ra is holding the gold from your gathering quest for you, she said she wanted your party to set an ount with the grand bankter, do not forget." With that they began the walk back towards the lower tier.


    "Oh yea we did get that quest done, how much experience did we get? The title said it would multiply it right?" Remey chimed in voicing what they had all just remembered after Barry''s words.


    '' gathering questpleted.


    Rewards:


    5G each


    10exp each converted to 100exp each due to title multiplier''


    "WHAT!" Walker was the first to burst out causing a few disdainful looks from those passing by. "This is insane, how can it multiply it by ten times!?"


    Su was walking as if her legs were jello seeing the huge bonus the title gave them. Gil had a goofy smile covering his face and Remey mirrored walkers'' surprise.


    "Hmmm so that''s what the title does. Now, I understand why heroes are revered in history books." Barry had brought them back to the gate to the lower tier and finally chimed in while wearing a pensive look. "Now get moving, I need to get back to the hall. Go by your new homes tomorrow if possible the sooner the better." Turning and giving a small wave he was on his way again.


    "So I guess we head home, hey Gil think your parents will be OK moving within the inner walls?" Remey knew she would leave the orphanage eventually and was already emotionally prepared. But she knew Gil''s family was used to the open areas.


    "Hell yea they will, my dad hates setting traps to keep away the odd monsters or animals that roam the fields and my mother wants nothing more than her own flower garden without worrying for the harvest every year. I''m more worried about Walker''s parents leaving the area they have built a ce for themselves in themunity." Walker was lost in thought and barely heard what Gil had said.


    "Well Lisa will be excited and dad would be happy to get some distance from the outer wall, I know the high energy has been wearing away on him these few years. Mom probably won''t mind either since adventurers are her main customers so she will just package things and send them to the guild instead of out of the house. Midnight you''ll have more room I''m sure and maybe there will be arge firece to bask in." Midnight jumped and bounced around showing her excitement at the chance for a warm napping spot.


    "Well I as well should have no qualms, I''ve long outgrown my bedroom in my family''s house and would be happy to have more room." Su was nodding her head already nning out how muchrger her bed would be.


    "Well on that note let''s split up, we have some packing to do! Don''t forget to rent a carriage to bring everything over in one trip we should have enough after thisst job!" Walker yelled as he rushed away with midnight on his heels. The day had ended up pretty amazing and he was excited to reach home and surprise everyone.


    The sun had begun to dip down and the shadows lengthened. Walker could swear the was an additional shadow where no person was standing but pushed it from his mind without worry due to his excitement. He reached home faster than usual finding his father already home which was a surprise.


    "Walker you''re back already huh? Surprise I got sent home early today, not sure why though hahaha." Garret was happy to have an early day even without knowledge why.


    "Actually midnight and I might be the reason for that." Garret made a confused face not understanding. "I''ll need Lisa and Mom for a big announcement." Walker rushed to the kitchen in pursuit of his mother and sister.

 Chapter 39 - 39. Big News

    Walker found his mother in the kitchen and told her to meet at the table for a family meeting saying it was important. Next he went looking for Lisa but her room however, was locked.


    "I''m busy, don''te in!" She had heard Walker got home and didn''t want himing In. Was she really at that phase and didn''t want anyone around? Walker was unsure after the past days of her not wanting people around.


    "Family meeting at the table hurry up I won''t start until you''re there!" Walker yelled his excitement showing in his voice. Walker returned to the table where his mother and father both had worried looks on their faces. Upon sitting down Midnight moved toy on walkers feet per the usual.


    Lisa soon joined them looking a bit run down and tired. Walker could see the circles under her eyes.


    "Today after a short quest my party and I went to the inner walls, more specifically we went and met the king within the castle." Hilda seemed to believe him and was frozen staring at him. Garret on the other hand was shaking his head.


    "I know you have told better jokes than that before. But the king? It''s too unbelievable." Garret was still shaking his head.


    "There''s actually more...a lot more. The day before my party went to guard the fields from giant locusts. We encountered another party getting swarmed and attacked by a jade locust. We couldn''t just run and leave them so we helped. We got beat up a bit so that''s why I hade home veryte and didn''t eat with everyone. We are all fine now, just some scratches because we were healed. But due to our actions wepleted a quest more specifically a hidden quest. We all five obtaining a title, the hero title. Even Midnight here has it as well." Walker said thest sentences slower fearing he would give them all heart attacks. Waiting a moment for everyone to catch up he then continued. "And we asked the guild for protection leading us to be brought to meet the king who had received a titled quest to bless us as heroes. He also gave usnd more specifically the amethyst mansion within the inner walls so we will be moving. If you don''t want to you can stay here but they won''t be able to post guards here in case undesirable characters appear..." he then trailed off seeing the shock on their faces reaching yet another level.


    For a few minutes no one spoke while absorbing the information but finally was broken by the sound of Lisa moving her chair to get up. She walked up to Walker and firmly punched him in the arm "you could have died!! You idiot what would we have done!" After all the things he had just told her she was stuck on the fact he had gotten hurt and been reckless.


    " she''s exactly right you know, we told you we would be worried about sending you out as an adventurer and here you are telling us you threw yourself in to a near death situation. Honey we may have raised him too leniently". Hilda chimed in as well but she was smiling a bit giving away her true feelings.


    " oh i almost forgot I brought these sunflowers back from the quest today! I know you like to add the seeds to your bread!" Walker had been waiting for the right time to present these to Hilda.


    " buying your mother''s forgiveness will not work. But I can''t say going to live thefy life sounds bad seeing as I wouldn''t need to guard the outer wall any longer. I could apply for inner wall patrol." Garret had chimed in after thinking about an easier job and the rxing days off infort.


    " so umm if everyone is OK with it we should probably start packing so we can head there in the morning..." Walker again stirred up the room as they did not expect to move suddenly.


    The conversation fell in to many questions involving Walker''s day. This went on for a good hour until everyone had exhausted their curiosity. Realizing time was of the essence they all went their separate ways to begin packing their belongings. Even midnight ran to help but Walker suspected it was only to eat the things Hilda wouldn''t need in the kitchen.


    Time went on and through tote in the night everyone toiled away preparing for tomorrow.Lisa had insisted she didn''t need help packing her room and Walker was left to help with the pots and pans.


    Not much sleep was had in the home tonight either due to packing or excitement. But in time the morning dide. Unexpectedly Hilda had made a massive table full of breakfast surprising everyone. "Well we aren''t going to move all the food with us, we can buy more for the new kitchen so let''s eat and celebrate!"


    They all dug in to the meal, Midnight soon found a profound love of bacon causing her to try and steal it from Walker who was fast enough to protect it and eat it quick. Lisa however had given in and shared hers with midnight.


    Walker was the first to finish eating. "I''m going to run out to the stables and rent a carriage to help us move everything in one go. I''ll be back soon!" With that he dashed out the door.


    The energy he had was propelling him forward faster and fast. As he approached somerge stables he knew were full of horses and a few other animals he noticed a man repairing a carriage which had lost a wheel.


    ''Emergency quest:


    A man is in danger of death. Repairing a carriage is dangerous work , pull the man from underneath before the carriage tips and falls upon him. Speed is of the essence.


    Rewards:


    5exp''


    Walker saw this and nced at the man underneath the carriage. As he worked, Walker noticed the carriage begin to sway slightly. Walker''s heart jumped in his chest and he used all this strength to sprint to the man. Jumping andtching on to the man''s leg Walker powerfully dragged the man to the side. Secondster the carriage began to fall crashing on to its side.


    The man Walker had just pulled from there stared in shock. He had just been under there a second ago...he had almost died! This man waste in age but still young enough to work. His ck hair speckled with grey and a modest built body from years of repairing his own carriage.


    He immediately grabbed and shook walkers hands "thank you thank you thank you. I didn''t even notice it wasn''t safe if not for you I would have been crushed just now! Thank you." The man had fallen in to too many thank yous due to his adrenaline rush.


    "My name is Igor and if there''s anything I can do to repay you just say the word now!" Sincerity twinkled in his eyes.


    "No need to thank me it was an emergency quest not to mention I wouldn''t want to see anyone hurt. But there is something I can ask you for, can you introduce me to a carriage driver to help my family move?" Walker didn''t need much but figured to ask an inside man for help to move along faster.


    "Yes! That''s an easy one if you''re looking at a carriage driver! I own three along with six horses in these very stables. I have a carriage driver system after all so it''s part of who I am." Igor was proud to boast his achievments even though he had almost been crushed a moment ago. "Just tell me where to go and I''ll meet you there. I''ll get a carriage ready immediatly!" Due to Igor''s willingness and forward energy walker gave him the details and turned to walk home. As he walked he checked the quest he had received wondering if being a hero had anything to do with this sudden emergency quest.


    ''Emergency quest has beenpleted by saving Igor.


    Rewards:


    5exp multiplied by title to 50exp''


    Walker smiled an extra pep in his step as he returned home.

 Chapter 40 - 40. The Mansion

    Walker returned home smiling since with thatst quest he had hit level five. He had been musing what to do with his next five stat points and distributed them to defense, magic attack, one one point to agility. Taking that hit against the jade locust made him worry he would not be able to defend in the future. However as he began to think of why to do his next level up Garret opened the door and started bringing out crates and boxes. There weren''t many due to his families smaller residence and collection of items but it was enough to cause Walker to jump in and help.


    Not a few momentster did the sound of a carriage and horsese to their ears. Igor was heading to them with a smile in his nicest garb knowing he would head to the inner walls. Stopping in front of the pile of crates and boxes he spared no time to rest and immediately began loading the carriage. Garret was impressed that Walker had been so fast to find a nice carriage along with a driver who was so astute to help themy their belongings.


    With just about everything loaded after an hour of work Hilda hade out and hopped in with Garret. Lisa and midnight were thest two. Walker went looking for them to tell them they were leaving. The home seemed empty bringing a bit of sadness to Walker but it became overshadowed by new opportunities. He reached Lisa''s room and could hear her talking to midnight in a hushed whisper "do you think he''ll like it? It took days but it''s perfect." This made Walker curious so he almost just opened the door but decided it''s safer to knock.


    "Hey it''s time to go we need to get on the carriage!" His voice caused a scramble in the room for a moment.


    "Come in!" Lisa''s voice called out so Walker opened the door slowly. Standing there with her arms out holding a ck cloak that seemed to shine ever so slightly. "I made this for you with the needles you gave me! It should fit exactly. It''s a thank you for your gift." Lisa''s huge smile was contagious and Walker couldn''t help but smile as well. Even midnight seemed to have an air of happiness about her.


    Using his all around appraisal skill walker checked it out


    '' elemental cloak- high ss item


    +5 mana


    Channels elements to refresh 2 mana every five minutes.


    Created out of familial love and determination.''


    "This..this is amazing! You made a high ss item do you know what this can do? It can regenerate mana! Lisa this is incredible!" Walker was ecstatic this single cloak had not only increased his mana but also refreshed it. This would hugely reduce his worry if exhausting his mana while out fighting.


    "I wanted you to be safer so I used all my mana every day sewing with the needles you gave me. I even got a titled quest that rewarded me for giving you a gift in return." Her smug smile and voice was showing how proud she was of being praised by her older brother.


    Walker put the cloak on and felt the refreshing feeling of mana flowing around him. This was definitely something he couldn''t imagine happening. He smiled at Lisa "how do I look? Do I look like I can cast any spell?" She smiled and nodded her head quickly hugging Walker happy to see he liked her gift so much so to put it on immediately.


    ''The passive skill elemental affinity has been taken from the Elemental mage ss due to the user experiencing mana influx from the existing elements.


    Elemental affinity- passive skill


    Allows the user to more easily use magic based on the elements. ''


    Walker nced at the skill curious what more easily meant and made a mental note to practice some spells when he has the chance. If this means he could use all the elements he could choose the best for each situation and counter many element based monsters. Smiling he said "let''s go show this off and you can tell mother and father about your high ss creation. You know people would pay a lot for something like this, you just may be able to take your own orders like mother does." Walker knew this would excite Lisa since she was always amazed by the adventurers that ced orders for bread and such with their mother.


    Exiting the home they jumped in the carriage along with midnight and began the ride to their new home. Lisa and Walker exined the cloak on their ride. Hilda and Garret were extremely surprised. They knew Lisa was working on a gift for Walker but not that it was to such an amazing degree. They truly had two children with bright futures.


    Soon they came to a stop so Walker jumped out and saw the sight before him. Ten guards were stationed at a rusting gate. The was a strong but slightly old looking stone wall surrounding arge property. Behind the walls was an overgrown garden in desperate need of some love. The mansion itself had a few broken shutters and needed a good scrubbing on the putter bricks. Some shingles were missing from the roof. All in all it was a bit old looking but the two floor building was definitelyrge enough to house all of them and even 30 of 40 guests if ever need be. Walker could see on one side was what appeared to be a small outdoor forge and on the other side of the mansion a small outdoor workshop which appears to be equipped with alchemy tools.


    Before he could start thinking a guard approached "hello sir hero we are the royal guards sent by his majesty. We will start a patrol with your permission. Five of us shall be patrolling at once on shifts. His majesty also sent this gift here. Once you ept it we shall begin." The guard held out a box with a small note attached.


    "Thank you, please guard myself and my parties families safety." Nodding the guards headed to start their patrol. As they started to walk away the sound of another two carriages approaching drew his attention. Gil and Remey were in one and Su was on the other. It looked like Remey had partnered up with Gil since he passed the orphanage in his way from the fields. Walker couldn''t wait to hear what they thought.

 Chapter 41 - 41. Moving In Gift

    Once they had stopped Remey was the first to the gate "it''s huuuggee" she was in awepared to her shared room in the orphanage this would be a major change.


    Before Gil could get to them, a plump woman wearing overalls with tied up blond hair hopped from the carriage brandishing a shovel and hoe. "I''ll be tending to this beast of a garden, honey you go find a room for us." She proceeded through the gates with a smile looking to be on a mission.


    "And that''s my mom" Gil was a bit embarrassed but he did mention she would like to have her own garden. A skinnier man with brown hair came out next wearing a green and brown cloak perfect for blending in to the forest. He was fairly tall and had eyes like a hawk. His feet didn''t make a single sound wherever he stepped. His movements were very precise. "Yes dear, I''ll kick this little hero in the butt to start some strength training!" Heughed to himself at his joke while Gil looked even more red faced.


    Su had also exited her carriage ande up to walker. "Hello, leader it''s a nice morning. My mother is a bit weak today so my father and I will walk her inside. I promise to introduce everyone at dinner." Su seemed a bit sad but the glint of excitement In her eyes showed how she wanted to explore the mansion.


    "Sounds good. I''ll be taking a walk around. I''m curious what kind of spaces we have." Walker was enticed by the forge and workshop and could glimpse the edges of a training area behind the mansion. " hey everyone by the way before you all rush away we have a gift from the king!" Walker drew Gil and Remey to where he and Su stood.


    Lifting the box he opened the lid to reveal gold, and five crystal medals inscribed with their names. There was a slight flicker of magic in them, most likely to show that it was genuine to their kingdom. "The letter says, I hope you find your new homes well. I ced the travel medals within this box along with some funds I''ve heard young adventurers are always in need of it may be only be 500G but it should be enough to start some home repairs and rece the shield I heard young Walker lost. I hope to hold an audience with all of you again in theing weeks. The queen is very interested in any new tricks you all have to show us." The letter was short and sweet but also expressed that piercing curiosity of the queen. Walker made sure to remember some safe skills to demonstrate to them upon their calling.


    "Holy lord that''s 500G I''ve never seen that much." Remey dug her hands in to the box letting the gold fall through her fingers


    "Haha imagine Walker picking that up if the gold wasn''t blessed with a magic seal to make it weightless." Gill was almost giggling at the thought it seems this amount of gold threw his mind for a loop.


    "This should be good to rece those shingles and start the damaged shutters along with upkeep the walls and maybe a new gate." Su had begun to note the things they needed.


    "Alright so as everyone moves in let''s all take note of what we need and what may warrant repairs. Later at dinner we will make a list and call for the proper craftsmen." Walker thought of dividing and conquering to be the best way to cover thisrge property. With that, they went their separate ways Walker storing the gold untilter while everyone wore their medal. Midnight''s medal attached right to her adventurer que making it a perfect fit.


    Walker and midnight began walking through the overgrown garden towards the forge. There were many rusty tools that had been left unused for too long. Storing them away Walker knew he could have them brought back to life at the forge building in the lower tier. The anvil and the forge oven itself looked in perfect condition awaiting use.


    Moving past this he came around the mansion seeing therge training ground in back. A small archery range with rotted straw and wood dummies, a sparring ground, some rotted dummies that appeared to be for meleebat, there was even a small pond for what seemed to be for training the water elemental magic. Walker though this must mean someone had water magic when they lived here. Walking through the back he found an out door patio with a beautiful stone table. This will be perfect for dining outside in the warmer seasons not to mention events!


    Making his way forward again to the workshop he had seen was in an equal state as the forge. Rusted tools but to his surprise multiple sized cauldrons that could be used to make many potions at the same time. The person who built it had thought it out very well so that all the fires would heat in unison multiple pots, allowing for multiple batches to easily be adjusted. Opening a small cab walker found a slew of vials waiting to be discovered. This was one thing they would not need to buy in the future.


    Leaving the workshop he again came to the front of the house noticing an ornate door knocker carved from a ck stone. It seemed to be a snake biting its own tail. His hand reached out to touch it causing a slight shock. "What the holy lord was that!" Walker was surprised and cautiously touched the knocker again only for nothing to happen. Maybe I''m over excited, he thought maybe he had exaggerated it since the metal was cold.


    Pushing the doors open walker got a full view of the grand opening. Arge stair case lead upwards to the second floor. Two hallways lead to either side of the building. There were spots on the walls that appeared to once upon a time held portraits. Luckily there were some decorative tables and vases left behind which would greatly help the furnishing process. However, Walker wasn''t thinking of this instead he was stuck on one thing, "it''s all covered in ayer of dust!" Walker knew the cleaning would take all day.


    '' titled quest: a home fit for a hero.


    Requirements:


    Repair the leaking roof


    Tame the garden


    Return the forge to use


    Return the alchemy workshop to use


    Gain new training dummies for the training ground


    Remove harmful dust


    Repair the walls


    Rece the front gate


    Organize the library


    Discover the past of the amethyst mansion


    Rewards:


    50exp, ess to the study.''


    "Well, I guess that''s settled" walker rolled up his sleeves and used the party chat to let everyone know to check their quests while he called ra for some assistance in hiring a craftsman to fix the outside.

 Chapter 42 - 42. Clean Clean Clean

    The conversation with ra was quick she noted that three carpenters could easily fix the shutters and roof for 75G, the forge could fix and repair the gate and walls along with the tools for 115G, and hiring temporary cleaning services from the adventurers guild for 40G. The other matters would be in their hands. Walker also invited ra to dinner to celebrate with them as she was their party manager and would be very involved in their future affairs.


    Walker knew that Gil''s mother was already hard at work in the garden for he could hear her singing as she worked. He really wanted to focus on the alchemy workshop but the libraries temptation was much stronger. He told himself he would worry about the alchemy equipment tomorrow and take a visit to the forge to submit payment. Since the alchemy building was next door to the forge it would be killing two birds with one stone.


    Walker came down the right side hallway noticing small patches of wallpaper that had peeled making a mental note to repair them. He soone to arge oak door. The inscription "knowledge is a gift to those who wish to learn" was inscribed upon it. Walker felt this was a fitting motto for a library and pushed the heavy door open. This library was muchrger than he expected. There were walls of books, a firece awaiting new logs to burn, and a fewdders as well as spiraling stairs to a second floor balcony for the next set of shelves. The furnishings were nearly perfect but for the dust and cobwebs. However upon inspection he found the books to be in great condition. Curious he studied the shelves finding someone had carved magical runes in the wood which must have protected the books. Someone truly cared for these books so much so to spend hours keeping them safe.


    Soon walker found a few piles of books next to a chair along with the odd one or two set upon a table or steps of the stairs. He could see that the books were organized by category by reading the spines. Following suit he walked around the library cing books on forging, alchemical ingredients, monster species, magical training techniques, even a few cookbooks that he was sure to show his motherter. This library was very diverse and was going to help everyone grow in their own Avenue.


    After spending a decent amount of time cing the books away walker hunted around finding some cloths to wipe away dust and cobwebs. He started at the door and worked his way up the spiral staircase. The balcony on the second story shelves was a smaller space and easier to clean so it only took him an hour to get through. However as he was about to turn and descend the stars a ck book with a serpent biting its tail caught his eye. Walker reached out a hand and pulled it from the shelf.


    ::: day 1


    Today we received the news that father was lost to the demons in the war. Mothers illness took a turn after she was notified making me the one in charge of the house. To keep my sanity I began writing this journal, it feels right to organize my thoughts in writing.


    Day2


    Mother has fallen in to a slumber, I must find a way to heal her illness but I fear it may also be one of the heart without father here. My water magic works well with alchemy so I''ve built a workshop to experiment. The forge father built will be perfect to craft the small tools I need in the future.


    ....


    Day 15


    Mothers breath has been erratictely. I''ve exhausted most of our funds on rare herbs from far away. Hopefully I can have a breakthrough. I was able to create a small pond in the back yard which has helped me train my water control significantly. I can now remove most impurities from the herbs than before.


    ....


    Day17


    In need of money I reached out to a small group who wished to use my families research. Since my great grandfather believed in the immortal serpent reflected in our crest, they readily assisted me. They paid me greatly for my health potions which were more effective than most others of the same grade. They tried to ask me to work using monster parts but they were too vtile for my work.


    ...


    Day 23


    I''ve discovered that my great grandfather had hidden much of his research from the family and I was lucky to discover it while looking through the books for inspiration. There''s theory of a potion that could make one immortal but the ingredients couldn''t possibly exist. Let along how could someone defeat a monster as such?


    ...


    Day25


    I''ve exhausted all thebinations of herbs I need to start experimenting with more. I have asked for those monster materials but I don''t expect much. But what if? Mother seems more pale than the other day I''ve called for a doctor and healer again. I can not stop my research! This might save her life!


    ....


    Day 34


    I''ve received many different monster materials and none show any promise. Every potion even the ones that should heal or increase lifespan seem to cause instant death or shortened lifespan. What am I doing wrong! I''ve given everything to them and they still haven''t found the right materials.


    ...


    Day 36


    My mana is running dry faster and faster if I must burn my life essence than I shall, I refuse to lose myst family. Today my investors found a ck snake seemingly simr to the one my great grandfather modeled our crest after. The skin seems to peel offyer toyer as if it goes through rebirth. Cutting to its organs I found a ck egg. I can''t cut its shell and it shows no sign of life so I''ve stored it away in great grandfathers hiding spot as a memento.


    Day 37


    I had a breakthrough this snakes flesh can stabilize the potion but it degrades too fast it onlysts a second! What am I missing! I need more but they are threatening to give up on my since I haven''t produced anything new these few days.


    ...


    Day 46


    I''ve been abandoned, no one answers my call any longer. No servants, no fundse in, and even the doctors. They say my mother is not of this world any longer but I know they are wrong with this immortality potion she will return younger and brighter than ever. I only need more time.


    ....


    Day 62


    It''s going to work today the flesh is almost gone I''ve used thest of my herbs and even burned my soul to stabilize it. Myst moments I''ll feed it to mother and see her life return after I shall take some myself and we will live forever!


    :::


    Walker was not fully sure what he had found he skipped through pages disgusted and afraid of this persons descent in to madness. How much experimentation did she do? Did she use these potions on living people to find it would kill them instead of eversting life? She even burned her very soul making this convoluted potion. Many more questions continued to rush to his mind.

 Chapter 43 - 43. Final Resting Place

    Walker was about to read the journal again to glean more information from it when her heard gils voice yelling for him from outside.


    "Walker! Come over here!" Gil sounds like he''d found something. Walker quickly headed towards the garden area to see Gil and his mother by the wall staring at a thorn bush.


    "Mom found these while she was trimming back these red thorns. She says the thorns are used for some medicinal purposes as an antiseptic but that''s not what''s important. That''s are headstones there''s three." Gil pointed at some small rectangr stones that read,


    "Marian ouroboros


    Loving mother taken too soon


    Avis Ouroboros


    Great yer of demons


    Allison ouroboros


    Unyielding in pursuit of family"


    This must be the family that lived here prior. Now walker had names to ce to the journal. The daughter must have passed away after burning her soul. This was a saddening story, "I''ve learned a bit from some journals in the library about the family. I think we should clean these up and respect them. Their daughter tried very hard in the face of terrible events." Walker then bowed slightly offering a prayer to the souls in hopes it would help them rest more peacefully.


    " aye I''ll be sure to make this area nice and flowery in the warmer months, I''m sure any spirit would appreciate the view" Gil''s mother was looking down with a pensive look. Through many years of working in the fields she epted the cycle of nature knowing that where something would die another thing would soon grow. But that didn''t make it any easier on those left living.


    Walker decided not to share the past with his party unless it was necessary, he had alreadypleted the subject of discovering the past of amethyst mansion and didn''t want to cause anyone else sadness on a happy day. He was about to turn to walk back inside when he noticed a familiar face measuring the front gate and scribbling down note.


    "Rodney?! So the forge sent you to do the gate huh?" Walker approached happy to see a familiar face after the discovery of something unsettling.


    "Yup now that I can craft properly I''ve been running around everywhere! I''ll measure this look at the walls then head back. We''ll make it today and finish it all tomorrow so you just need to submit payment!" Rodney''s works were bursting with energy and fire as usual.


    "Well I won''t get in your way then, but hopefully the walls are easier than they look." Walker was a bit worried the age of the walls would present an expensive challenge.


    "Well the gates are easy we just use an existing mold. The walls will take us all day tomorrow depending on test of time. But so far it just looks to be patching jobs which is very easy and will most likely finish earlier than expected." Rodney was showing off. Walker nodded and decided to return inside to finish dusting the library. Saying his goodbyes.


    Once he was back in the library he picked up where he left off and cleaned the dust and cobwebs. Every once in a while he''d find a quill, or the odd coin around. He noticed a loose leg on a chair but was easily able to tighten the screw on it without worry. All in all after two more hours it was in pristine condition.


    Noticing the time he went to meet his mother to tell her they could eat outside on the patio. He also made note to grab some chairs for everyone. Setting up and stopping to tell her passed some time and before he knew it everyone was making their way to the table.


    Su entered the room helping a skinny and frail looking women with white hair and warm features to sit down. "This is my mother Helena I apologize for thete introduction but she is often ill so we take priority over resting. Behind me is my father Frederick" as a man with grey and brown peppered hair came behind Su he was tall and tired looking. One could tell from the etched lines on his face he spends too much time in worry.


    "Nice to meet you." The two unintentionally said in unison causingughs to resound.


    "We look forward to a bright future, especially if I can sit in the garden when it''s finished." Su''s mother smiled and the world seemed a bit brighter.


    "Well of course as long as you don''t hurt the nts I''ll even build you your own little reading nook!" Gil''s mother was happy to see someone else showing enthusiasm for the garden.


    Walker was happy everyone was chatting and getting to know each other and as they all finished their food he found a nice time to talk about the quest. "So I''ve finished the library, and read a journal about the previous owners to discover the past. I saw Rodney at the gate he said as long as I submit payment tomorrow the gate will be delivered and the wall finished so expect noise in the early hours. ra got in contact with three carpenters for the shutters and roof so we are covered on that as well. Also four adventurers will be visiting to assist in cleaning since I posted a quest. So that being said does anyone want toe to the forge and alchemist buildings with me tomorrow to get the remaining tools?" Walker was thankful he could see the progress of the quest through his system it''s was an immense help.


    "Actually I would like toe, I want to stop by the orphanage since it will be the first morning without me. Also growing up I learned a few tricks for fevers in the orphanage so I might be able to help pick out some starting herbs." This surprise from Remey was unusual, none of them had expected the hot tempered brawler to also know some alchemy. "What? It''s not weird. Did none of you take medicine when you were sick? Just magically got better huh?" Her face had flushed red as she realized she''d shown her caring side to everyone, even some newer people.


    They allughed and began talking and teasing once more after that. Staying upter than usual walkers mother even brought out some apple turnovers as dessert to celebrate. But they would be waking up early so sleep came eventually.

 Chapter 44 - 44. Orphanage

    Walker had chosen a bedroom close to the stairs so he could get up and move more easily without waking others. The room was not furnished and only had a bed as of now but, walker knew he could fill it over time.


    Leaving his room just as the sun rose he found Remey already waiting for him. "Well didn''t you sleep long pfft" he knew she was just teasing him but was curious how early she had awoke. He was sure that being the big sister of the orphanage gave her plenty to do earlier in the morning.


    They walked down the stairs and grabbed some bread to eat on the way to the forge. Walker''s mother had already been up as usual baking so he didn''t disturb her. He was thankful that with her system she could ce orders for food from home and have them delivered. It definitely took the hasstle out of shopping for ingredients.


    Exiting the mansion, Walker said a quick good morning to the guards and proceeded on their way. The nice part of being out early was that they didn''t get any looks from wandering nobles as they weren''t out yet. Only craftsman and carriage drivers seemed to be out to do deliveries. Many delivering high ss ingredients or the unusual parcels torge mansions or high end shops. Even the horses pulling these carts were high end.


    With no problems at all the pair made it to the lower tier and headed towards the orphanage first, mostly because walker could see a bit of stress in Remeys eyes. The orphanage was a slightly run down building near the church. It''s walls used to be white but had faded to grey. A small garden made up the yard to help with food. They''d built a small pen for a cow to provide milk. This was due to the nuns being required to assist in the growth of orphans as part of their training. However the funds for the orphanage came from the castle not religion.


    It wasn''t so much that they hurt for funding; it was more that people chose not to recognize that some children had no homes or family. It would be interesting to see what Remey could do with her title of hero to affect the orphanage.


    Before the two even made it to the door, a group of kids burst out tackling Remey to the ground.


    "Get her!"


    "Surprise attack tackle!!!"


    "This time we''ll win!"


    These phrases of battle continued as Remey began rising up and throwing kids off her arms and legs. It was an endless battle, making walker realize how she had easily unlocked her system. While Remey said hello in this manner walker noticed an older woman watching with a slight smile.


    "Hello, my name''s Walker I''m a member of Remeys party, we were in the area so we decided to stop by for a bit before we headed to the forge and alchemist building." Walker was polite as ever.


    "How nice, tell your parents they did well raising you. Hahaha, my names Lin I''m in charge of the little monsters over there. I hope you''re all treating Remey well, she''s always acting hot tempered but she''s more doting than anyone else here. Although her sense of timing could use work, we were just about to start lessons for the day now I''ll have to calm them down." Even with thosest words the smile grew on Lin''s face. She was fairly happy that the first of Remeys party she''d brought home was a boy and decided she might just tease Remey a bitter.


    "Hey get your butts inside before I drag you in!!!! You aren''t escaping math lessons today!" Surprising Walker Lin let out a loud yell causing every child to snap to attention and rush inside.Some nced at walker in curiosity but didn''t dare disobey Lin.


    "We''ll get you next time!" One boy yelled as he mmed the door closed so Remey couldn''t pursue him.


    "They''ll never beat me, I''m just too strong" Remey was all too happy at another victory over her siblings.


    "Ohhh yes another win for Remey I guess being the only one to bring a boy home does make you a winner." Lin''s statement caused Remey to stutter and flush red. Walker however was unfazed catching on to Lin''s mischief.


    "I know you worry about those gremlins in there but you haven''t even been gone a day! Take this polite young man and get a move on! Here I thought you were growing up. Hahaha" Lin chuckled as she said this causing Remey to turn and move on her way at a fast pace.


    "Fine I won''t visit ever!" Remey was embarrassed and said she wouldn''t return but both Lin and walker knew they were false words.


    Fearing Remey would get too far away walker quickly followed "it was nice to meet you! I''ll have my mother send some bread for you all!" Walker hurriedly caught up to Remey. It was time to pay the forge and visit the alchemy building.


    The walk was short and Walker was able to pay at the counter of the forge very easily, being told that the gate would be ced in a few hours and people had already been sent to repair and clean up the wall.


    This left the alchemy building. The building was simr in size to the forge since they required heat to cook many things. The first floor was arge shop selling potions, herbs, and some monster parts. There was also an assortment of tools one may need. The second floor housed many rooms for producing potions and processing herbs. Their third floor was the same as the forge; housing the offices of the alchemist building. As the pair approached the entrance walker noticed many colored smokesing from the different stacks. He had always wondered what herbs and potions created these different colors. Pushing the theory from his mind, he opened the front door.


    Ding ding

 Chapter 45 - 45. New Hobbies

    The two were immediately hit with the scent of green forests. The feeling of being in the woods was aided by the bountiful amounts of green herbs lining shelves along the walls. Each werebeled and even listed basic properties. Looking towards the counter they could see many tools of various sizes and shapes along with all-ready made potions, organized by tiers. Surprisingly, there was an empty shelf where high potions would be. Walker wondered if this was because someone had purchased them all prior.


    "Wee to the alchemist shop!" An older looking man wearing green robes said with open hands from behind a counter. He had nearly blended in with the herbs behind him.


    Approaching the counter walker began pulling rusted tools from his inventory. "Hello, I''m looking to rece these tools and also request some beginner herbs for creating health and mana potions please." Walker knew exactly what he wanted. He also wanted to prioritize the tools so that he could get the quest done sooner.


    "Also throw in some buck weed, snow sprout, and some of that red hue clover. We''ll need it to make some nourishing tea to prevent illness." Walker was extremely surprised that Remey had known the ingredients right away and also what to use them for.


    "Ah back again little Remey, is one of your siblings feeling unwell?" This man recognized Remey as well? Walker was again stunned. He didn''t know Remey at all!


    "Not this time, my party and I just moved In to that run down ce in the upper tier amethyst ashiest eehh whatever mansion. We''re cleaning it up and I know if your body is weak the dust and dirt can make ya sick." Remey talked casually with this man even exining easily why she needed the ingredients. Wait, this was good for someone with a weak body? Was she thinking of Su''s mother? Remey definitely held more depth than Walker knew.


    "Sure, sure, I''ll put it all together don''t worry, and you, young man, must be part of her party. Hmmm.. you should learn well from little Remey here; she knows good household medicine. She could probably make a potion faster than you, ha!" Letting out a quickugh he turned and began grabbing things in to a crate.


    Remey had be slightly red but was standing firm watching the old man work taking note of what he grabbed. While she watched walker decided to let his eyes wander soon falling on a shelf behind the counter holding stranger herbs than he''d every seen. Using all around appraisal he studied them.


    ''Ice lotus- toxic herb


    Can be used to purify deadly frostbite however if ingested will kill by freezing internal organs.''


    Wow, so there''s a difference between how it''s used. this thought was the first think in his head. Walker was d he could learn simple things such as this. It could really help in a pinch. He continued using his skill, wanting to learn as much as possible to store away in his mental archive.


    '' orange me grass- non toxic


    Calms and purifies impurities when used in high heat brewing.


    Purple spotted mushroom- partially toxic


    When ingested causes severe hallucination, however when ground in to a fine paste can be used to purify weak poisons.


    Green footed toad eggs- inedible


    Used to absorb poisonous fat based impurities over long periods of time.


    Green grass- non toxic/ edible


    in old grass


    Weeping orchid- spiritual


    Can not be eaten or brewed unless using spiritual based skills. The effects strengthen brews that heal injuries to the mind.''


    Walker was lost in a daze so much so that he didn''t even notice Remey staring at him. She didn''t know why he was spacing out with his jaw dropped slowly turning inch by inch. Walker soon got caught on one thing though,


    ''Dragon fruit- species specific/ ss specialized


    Can only be used in potions for a specific ss or consumed by those with dragon blood. If consumed in a potion or raw, the one consuming may findtent potential unlocked.''


    Walker immediately saw promise in this item,


    "Excuse me can I ask how much for that fruit there." Walker has pointed to the spiky red fruit on a middle shelf.


    "Ahh that fruit? It''s supposed to be special for specific sses but it''s been sitting here for a week and no interest. The going rate is 90G but since we want to get rid of it for the shelf space, I can sell it for 80G." The price seemed steep but if the benefits were as good as walker hoped Midnight may im some of her natural dragon skills early.


    "Ha! old man you know you can sell it for 60G." Remey jumped in haggling for a lower price causing the man to scrunch his face.


    "I should have known you''d try to challenge me, 75G"


    "50g or no deal"


    Remey had just dropped it another ten gold walker didn''t understand.


    "You little...65G take it or leave it!" Remey nodded confirming she would take it for that "hmpf that right then, boy! You''ll be paying correct? This crate has recement tools and a beginners herb kit. Since you brought Remey with you I threw in a few extra herbs good for soothing cuts and scrapes she''ll show you how to blend em. With the fruit and the tea ingredients I''ll charge you 115G."


    Walker pulled the gold from his inventory cing it on the counter. The man took it and sat back down. "Now scoot, little Remey; I can''t have you trying to talk down all the prices for every customer." He made a shooing motion to the pait as Walker stored the crate in his inventory.


    "We''lle to annoy you again another day old man!" Remey turned with a smile, she was definitely in a better mood aftering here. Giving a wave of his own and a smile Walker tired to follower her out the door. Walker had learned a lot just by using his all around appraisal skill on the herbs. Now while he was out on quests he was sure he could identify useful herbs.

 Chapter 46 - 46. Patched Up

    "Hey Remey, the old man in the shop said you could show me some things, like household alchemy right? Did you learn it yourself or did someone teach you?" Walker was curious if Remey would tell him while in her good mood.


    "Oh it''s not much; I just snuck in there when I was little so I could learn how to make medicine we couldn''t afford. I got caught by that old guy there but instead of kicking me on the street like he should have, he let me stay." Walker could definitely imagine Remey not giving up if she couldn''t get something but the words sneak and Remey didn''t quit fit well together in his mind.


    "So Remey the alchemist brawler, I wonder what Su and Gil will think about your new job ss." Walker bumped her slightly on the shoulder.


    "Oh if you tell they I''m some medicine maker I''ll punch ya until you forget today!" Remeys threat wasn''t light but she sounded too yful for it to be serious. The rest of their walk back they chatted about various herbs and some household herbs. Some that help stay away, others that can get rid of headaches, Remey even knew one that helped with muscle soreness.


    The pair had only been gone a few hours but they could see the shutters had already been made and repaired, three workers were on the roof cing new shingles. There was about five people using earth skills on the walls and fixing them. Walker even noticed someone washing windows, that must have been an adventurer sent by the guild.


    "Let''s go put these in the workshop!" Walkers excitement grew as he realized they wouldplete another task.


    Reaching the Side with the alchemy workshop the two quick began pulling old rotted crates and scooping out ashes. Walker opened the chimney up causing a pleasant flow of clean air. Now that they could let the dust fly their speed would soar. It took only two hours of their time to get the shop clean enough to where walker feltfortable storing herbs and cing new tools.


    "Put the snow sprout near the ground; it like the colder earth than the warmer are up top." Remey gave Walker a nce, as she worked exining how to store the herb. Walker who had be a believer in Remeys hidden talent, followed her words and had a feeling that the herb just looked greener on the bottom shelf. Almost more alive.


    The process was simple since they didn''t have too many herbs but the knowledge that walker could easily fill the shelves with many more let him smile. Soon Remey began roughly chopping the three herbs she had asked for and tossing them in to a small pot.


    Filling it with water and moving it to one of the hearths she tossed some small sticks underneath to start a fire. Walker was watching intently to see how long and how much she would heat it to make the tea. Once she had gotten it started she left the room and soon returned with a handful of sugar. She dropped it in "that''s the basics of the tea it''s nothing tough but instead of sugar, honey is better but it''s not the right season. Also do not bring it to a boil just until it''s steaming then strain it in to cups. After that the tea is drinkable. The honey and sugar is to sweeten it so it''s easier to drink but does not effect the quality in any way." Walker hadn''t even asked a question and Remey already knew what to say.


    "Maybe I''ll leave this workshop to you Remey, I think you can make better use of it than I." Walker was worried he would step on Remeys toes if he was in here experimenting for new skills.


    "I can only do the basics, some things you need skills for so when I need those I''ll drag your butt in here then" she had epted his offer but in the condition of him being at her call for more challenging things.


    Soon the herb tea began to steam causing a fresh earthy aroma to prate their nostrils. Remey pulled the pot and grabbed one of the new tools from a shelf. Inside the room was a strainer and she slowly poured the liquid through it in to some stone cups. There were enough for everyone. She even grabbed a small bowl for Midnight which Walker smiled at.


    "Let''s go visit everyone and see how we''re all doing" Remey was in full mom mode, which opened Walker''s eyes to how great his party was bing.


    As they walked the mansion finding someone here and there to hand a cup to, walker concluded that the roof was nearly finished, the walls were donepletely and the gate being hung, the dust and dirt had left the building along with shiny windows, the craftsmen had brought training dummies for the grounds, and the difference in the garden was astonishing.


    "The garden looks amazing it''s been trimmed and cleared! It''s totally ready for when springes!" Walker was very happy to be able to envision the wondrous ce it would bee spring.


    "Well of course I used to deal with fields much bigger than this. I just used a bit of muscle to take those thorns over there and the rest fell in to ce." Gil''s mother was nodding her head in approval. "I''ll nt some fruit trees along the wall, we''ll have some vegetables here and there, I saw you two in that workshop and now that I see this tea I''ll make a ce for herbs. I may not have many skills for growing rare ones but the basic ones I can grow if you pick up seeds. If there''s anything else you want just let me know."


    "Hmm I may ask you to grow something a bit challenging, I just need to see if I can get seeds from the fruitter." Walker was wondering if growing more dragon fruits would be helpful to midnight and decided that going back to the library to read up on monsters may be wise. There was plenty of knowledge he had not pursued yet.


    "Aye just let me know when, I do like a challenge every once in a while." With that Gils mother gave the empty cup she had drank from picked up a rake and moved towards another part of t front garden.


    "I think I''m going to head for the library now, tonight we can all check the quest rewards together!" Walker was stuck on studying the books to find more information on dragons. If He had neglected to learn he could identally harm midnight. He was now on a mission!

 Chapter 47 - 47. Bookworm

    Walker made his way to the library quickly finding the section for monster anatomy and history. There were a total of around 150 books which was fairly significant. However thinking of it reminded walker of why the previous owner may have rued these books. Pushing the thought from his mind he chose to think of the help it would bring now.


    Banshee, history of skeletons, poison eyed moths, the near extinction of shadow cats, ancient reptiles... these were some of the titles walker read as he went down the first row. His curiosity was peaked but he couldn''t get distracted if he wanted to share the fruit with midnight. Walker was curious what midnight had been doing in the mansion all day but figured she was either trying to get food or napping by the fire.


    Dragon eggs and beyond. "Ah this looks like what I''m after." The book he found looked fairly unread making it easier to see letters as they weren''t aged or worn. Flipping though the pages walker skipped most of the first half of the book as they were about how a mother would hatch ory the egg.


    The chapter titled hatchling to young adult was the one that caught Walker''s eye. There were diagrams of different species of dragons , all of which showed no wings on any. Yet theparing diagrams showed the bones developing under the topyer of scales. The books stated that the wings would be able to extend from the body after the hatchling shed its baby scales which were weaker but this would only happen after the adult scales had begun to grow in. Walker could only imagine Midnight flying around the kitchen trying to steal food from everyone.


    If anyone saw him giggling while reading they wouldbel him a fool. Continuing on he noticed sections about dragons not always manifesting the same skills as their parents. For dragons their bloodline was important so if two different species had an egg the hatchling may gain some skills of both but if there was stronger blood from one than the other parent the hatchling would most likely lean towards the one. This caused Walker to wonder what species Midnight''s father is. Based off the scales in the cave they found Midnight, Walker knew the mother was ck crystal me dragon but figuring out what skills went with what species might require a more specific book.


    The next paragraph mentioned catalysts that dragons would consume to aid their growth. Walker knew he had found what he was looking for, the mention of crystals was something he had already more or less understood. The books said that the dragons would want to consume crystals of elements they had affinity with because they would strengthen their bones and scales. The next section mentioned that the stronger the monsters they consumed the stronger they could grow their muscles and all their organs. Finally there was a section on herbs that dragons were often attracted to, they would eat or roll in them. These acts would help their internal and magical growth strengthening their minds. After long term consumption a dragon could even grow to speak othernguages or develop advanced skills. These traits were often found in ancient dragons.


    Pondering this information walker decided the fruit would be ssified as an herb since it came from nts. He wondered if he managed to grow them he could feed more to midnight and it would help her learn humannguage. This possibility made him much more excited because others would be able to converse with her in a more fluid manner. Now that he knew the fruit could actually be beneficial to midnight walker breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to keep reading but decided against it since a special specific book would be much more helpful.


    Noticing the time had flown by as he ready walker put some pep in to his step and went to the outdoor dining table where he realized he was thest making it there for dinner.


    "And here we were betting you would sleep in the library!" Lisa was the first to notice and wanted to get back at her brother for hiding away all day.


    "I was actually reading about some interesting things but I guess I won''t be sharing any of it... too bad I''m sure you''d want to hear about dragons." Walker said this while sitting down and pretending to only have eyes for food. This made Lisa let out a hmpf and turn away but the others at the table had their Interest piqued.


    "Leader I''d like to know what you have been reading, was it to learn more about midnight?" Su was the one to ask and she had already sniffed out walkers reason.


    "Well I guess if you already know why" walker was slightly discouraged but not enough to stop him. "I wanted to find out what to expect from her growth, I learned about why to expect when ites to wings and even skills. The first being the easier to Understand. Sadly we don''t know what kind of dragon her father is so we just need to wait to see if she learns anything species specific."


    "So she''ll be pping around our heads sometime soon huh? Should be fun I doubt any enemies would see hering." Gil was imagining midnight swooping in and carrying off annoying monsters so they could wander unhindered during quests.


    "I''m not sure when but yes eventually she''ll shed her baby scales and expose her wings along with some adult scales that will grow with her. I also figured out for sure why she ate one of those crystals, they make her bones and scales stronger so we might need to buy some more. Actually we came across this dragon fruit at the alchemist building and I thought it might be useful for her." Walker pulled the fruit from his inventory.


    " this in theory should strengthen her mind and magical might. Hopefully she likes it if not I may have bought a ss specific fruit for no reason." Before anyone was able to ask another question midnight had already abandoned the chicken she was eating and neatly jumped up on top of Walkerp.


    "Well I guess this settles whether you want the fruit or not." Walker took his dinner knife slicing the fruit and taking ten small pea sized red seeds from inside before setting the fruit in a ce for midnight. She quickly scarfed them down causing everyone to wonder if she had even chewed.


    "Honey was that good?" Hilda had taken to calling midnight honey. This was due to the hours midnight would spend watching her cook and helping as Hilda would say, clean up the scraps.


    A small wisp of me escaped midnight maw and she appeared to be drowsy. Laying her head on walkersp she drifted off to sleeppletely forgetting she still had food left. Walker pet her head to make sure she was alright and found she was warmer than usual. This must be the effects of the fruit he thought.


    "Well I guess I get to carry midnight to bed" at this joke everyone seemed tough and smile a bit. They had alle to adore the little dragon even though some had of them just met her.

 Chapter 48 - 48. Hidden Study

    Walker was able to avoid cleanup as he reminded the others that they would have a party meeting to go over their quest.


    "So I''m pretty sure we''ve done everything so we should be able to collect the rewards. I''ve been wondering though, where is the study? I walked the whole house and nothing." Walker had ignored the issue of the study this whole time not being able to find it.


    "We talked about this as we bumped in to each other and no one found a study in this whole ce. The closest thing was the library I guess." Gil had also made sure to check every room and door.


    "It must be hidden then so that''s why it''s a reward. Systems sure are amazing to find something hidden." Su was high lighting a feeling everyone had every time they used their systems.


    "Let''s collect this then so we can have an answer!" Walker went to look at his system quests.


    ''Quest: a home fit for a hero. has beenpleted


    Rewards:


    50 exp multiplied to 500exp


    Location of the study...


    1. Enter the library


    2. Move the chair with the wobbly leg


    3. Step on the loose floorboard beneath


    4. Follow the stairs that appear.''


    "Holy heavens that experience is crazy! We''re going to be too strong at this rate! We need take a test to bring our adventurer tier up!" Gil was the only one to shout in surprise as the others were stunned.


    "Wait guys let''s find that stupid study thing before we freak out about levels and experience. I want to know where it is!" Remey had been frustrated by not being able to find a room in a building they now owned. Her curiosity had overpowered her excitement.


    Walker was the first to stand "race you all to the library!!!" He''d done it now, he began running leaving everyone in the dust. Gil was the first to realize "oh hell no get your weak ass back here!" He''s let himself go full throttle to catch up to walker. Midnight awoke saw this, she excitedly ran behind, she may not have known what the n was but everyone seemed to be excited.


    Remey and Su stood back a bit, "he Remey? Thanks for that tea earlier it was really helpful." Su smiled happy to have a friend who cared for her family as well.


    "Pshh it''s to be expected, you all will have to deal with me since you''re family now!" Remey ran off without another word but she was smiling bigger than she had ever done before. Su started to run behind her a bit, her slow pace as a defensive ss allowed her to wipe her tears. Her father had been stressed for years trying to help her mother. Su had always felt too weak to do anything but now? That is all changing, she had more family and a way to get stronger to find the best medicines.


    She soon caught up to everyone to see walker moving a chair " I fixed the leg thinking it was broken yesterday but who would have thought it was like that on purpose." Walker was d he had remembered because if he hadn''t they would be stomping the stepping under chairs all night.


    "Ha! Found it this board is loose I bet this one moves when I step on it." Walker ces his foot down. Click! They all heard the noise then felt the floor vibrate. Fshzzzz a bookcase sank in the the wall and slid back revealing stone steps leading to a basement room.


    The party slowly made their way down the steps finding they came out to a veryrge area with stone supporting pirs. The study took up the entirety of the mansion in space. This was easily called ab than a study. Along one side were cages with ck bars and small runes inscribed in them. "This must be where she kept the monsters for her experiments." Walker mumbled and shook his head. They noticed some had bones of various monsters still there and made note to clean it all out properlyter.


    Towards one end of the massive room there was separate areas for alchemical brewing along with arge discretion table holding various tools. The bookshelves next to the table held booksbels experiment 1 all the way to experiment 607. "I can''t believe the previous owner we experimented and logged everything here." Gil had pulled a random book looking through it before her stopped suddenly "guys...one ingredient for this potion was the blood of an infant beast man...this is terrible..." Gils face was twisted in disgust. The thought of abusing a child in such a way to y around with potions what horrifying.


    "When I first cleaned the library I found an journal made by the daughter of this mansion, she tested many things to try and save her mother from an illness. Loosing both her parents truly took a toll on her mind..." the news was not what walker wanted to share with his party but it was inevitable.


    "I can understand why, but this is too much." Su had also pulled a book looking at some of the drastic measures that had been taken.


    Remey had taken a book with a lesser number and didn''t see the horrors her friends did. " this one here is testing herbs only to make a stronger health potion, there''s theories aboutbining it with mana potion ingredients to make a new potion." With this they realized that the experiments became worse and worse the more they went on. Once monsters had been used things began to turn ugly.


    Moving away from the books walker found a wall holding shelves and shelves of potions allbeled with numbers in reference to books. The bottles held a magical flicker meaning they were still usable.


    "Guys there''s potions over here, well have to do some reading to find out what all of these are. If they are dangerous we should burn the notes and potions, if they are safe maybe we can use them especially the health potions." Walker knew that some things weren''t meant to exist so burning the darker potions was the safest option. Now they could take the time to figure it out.

 Chapter 49 - 49. Potions Potions Potions

    The party began lining up books next to each potion on the ground. There were many without matches which walker assumed meant they were toxic. However reading the rted books would exin the potions effects.


    Only about twenty were there, the first eight seemed like variations of healing potions. This was the earlier experiments which seems to be experimenting using herbs that focused on blood flow and skin development. The theories were very sound and could show developments in quality. Their colors started out red but slowly became a shade of purple telling them that some mana potion ingredients had been added to try to make a different potion.


    There were two green potions after this, these were interesting since the books stayed that these were made using fast growing ingredients. These ingredients when mixed properly created a potion that boosted agility! These were very expensive potions and could really effect the tide of a battle. Walker immediatelybeled them agility and stowed them away.


    Four potions next were strange, they were a yellowish gold color with flecks of ck in them. Remey and Gil were reading from a row books pertaining to them with confused faces. "I''m not sure any of this makes sense, these are not toxic at all from what the reading says, but the effects are worded weirdly." Gil was happy to know they weren''t dangerous but the next few entries didn''t hold any logic. "It''s made from golden slime cores but can a slime really be gold colored?" Gil hadn''t realized the was such a species of slime.


    "It says this potion causes growth, what does that even mean!? It doesn''t make sense. It keeps saying it makes someone grow for a set period of time, does that mean I''ll get taller if I drink it?" Remey was not happy to see that she couldn''t figure out the exact effects of drinking.


    "Well you said it''s not toxic sooo" walker grabbed one and removed the cork. He brought the vial to his lips and gulped down half the potion.


    ''Growth potion has been consumed by the user, for the next 12 hours exp earned will be doubled''


    "...oh my holy lord...." walker saw this system notification and walker was stunned.


    "What! What''s it doing? Do you feel taller?" Remey was letting her curiosity get the best of her. However everyone else had also looked towards him as well.


    "Growth means exp. it''s doubled...for twelve hours" walkers words were almost a whisper as he didn''t even know this kind of potion existed.


    "wait you said double exp! I''ve heard only royalty has ever had such potions! But I thought it was a rumor spread out of jealousy." Su was the one to burst out. Everyone knew royalty had the ability to gain resources others could only dream of but now that the left knew this it was a whole other level.


    "I think we need to go out on an extermination quest, we can take advantage of these potions and also help out someone with a monster infestation." Gil had already thought of a way to optimize their questing and growth.


    "Perfect! So we can go out and beat up some pests and get stronger, my kind of quest." Remey was getting excited for this kind of potion.


    "Before we get too ahead of ourselves, has anyone read about those seven ck potions there?" Su was the one to break the mood knowing if they ignored it they might not get back to the task at hand.


    They all looked and grabbed books, these rted to some higher numbered experiments putting everyone on edge. From what walker could see these potions were mostly made from a special organ in an obsidian rhino. This was a notoriously tough monster to fight, it''s skin was extremely thick and its temper very short. They would rarely leave the northern part of the country but every once in a while would stampede causing whole areas to be destroyed. Itparison to this a few herbs were used that bolstered energy, some of which were usually not used in potions at all but in teas.


    "Rage potions" Gil said two words that did not sound good "the effects are heightened strength at the loss of mental capacity. After use the affected will fall in to aa for at least a month"


    "Well those are dangerous, I understand being stronger can save a situation but if you can''t think properly what''s to stop you from killing yourselves or your own party?" Walker really disliked these potions, he couldn''t find any good reasons to use them. "As much as I think we should throw these potions out I actually think some adventurers would use these. And since they don''t seem to be made in a cruel way I can justify selling them. But I refuse to consider using these."


    "Agreed" Gil, Remey and Su responded immediately, they also didn''t wish to ever use these potions but understood some adventurers fighting styles were more barbaric.


    "I think we could ask Barry if he would use them to be honest, his nickname is berserker." Su had remembered the vice guild masters nickname well. This idea was good for someone with a solo fighting style in a pinch.


    Walker nodded his head epting this idea. They all knew Barry had many years of adventuring under his belt so he could make the proper decision in using or not using theses.


    "I''m sure there are still some things to discover down here but I think we''ve found enough for now, we can check it out more tomorrow. Plus I know everyone''s been waiting to check out the results of our exp forpleting the quest." Walker had decided they''d waited long enough to see who leveled up from the crazy amount of exp they received.


    They all went to look at their systems, smiles breaking out on their face, however from thisst burst of exp it looked like midnight may have gained the most levels.

 Chapter 50 - 50. The Level Jump

    Walker had seen the system and noticed immediately that midnight had grown two whole levels!


    Midnight was now level 4 and needed 800exp to get to level 5. Monsters stats are so high but their exp requirements will dwarf a humans in time.


    Walker, Su, and Gil had reached level 6 slowly but surely catching up to Remey who was at level 7. They all needed 640exp to get to level 7 where as Remey needed 1280exp. Walker started doing the math and wondered what came after so many levels. Every system had different requirements that would show themselves over time. Walkers father had to continually gain experience but for him he got it just by being at his job. There had been master systems that after certain levels required special conditions to be fulfilled.


    There were some like tamers that were required to strengthen their bonds with tamed monsters. Even the the ruling ss systems would be based off of the strength of the country or forces they ruled. Within these strange requirements and conditions it was often found that the exp needed to level up would no longer double but be a constant cap. Bringing these thoughts together with the hero title multiplying the exp the party received it raised a question. If our exp was to be constant or bound by other rules of the system, would our growth continue to skyrocket?


    The inter workings of the systems was aplicated creature to study and no amount of lifetimes could reach a truth behind it.


    "Hey heelloooo there... Ah wee back to reality." Gil was waving his hand in front of walker who had been too focused on his thoughts to hear anything else. "We were just saying we should find a quest to take tomorrow, maybe travel somewhere to take advantage of these potions, our title, and maybe even take the adventurers ranking test so we can advance a tier as a party. With our level increase it just makes sense."


    Walker realized he had been too focused on ten steps ahead and neglected the first step ahead. "I''ll talk to ra in the morning, the test always sends a party out to a certain area to gather specific monster parts as evidence. We may be able to prioritize one with the most benefits. But for now let''s go to sleep, I feel like we all have a lot to think about and rest could clear our minds." Everyone agreed with this n, mostly because they had been snickering a bid at midnight who was falling back to sleep as they all talked.


    The party went to their rooms realizing just howte it had gotten and slept the night away.


    As soon as the sun broke Walker, Su, midnight, Gil, and Remey were woken by a system message,


    ''Titled quest: The heroic party


    Each member of a heroic party has a ce to stand. This ce highlights their strengths and protects each other''s weaknesses. Each member shall receive specific quests.


    Requirements:


    Reach silver tier party


    Reach level 15 and unlock heroic leveling


    Complete daily quest (1 for each member)


    Be known as a heroic party.


    Rewards:


    100exp


    Locked:::


    Locked:::


    Locked:::''


    ''Daily quest: jack of all trades system


    You are the pir of the party. Your words are respected and those around you look to you for support.


    Requirements:


    Assist the defender-Su


    Assist the scout- Gil


    Assist the attacker- Remey


    Assist the wild card-Midnight


    Rewards:


    50exp


    Multi buff skill''


    The mor within the mansion was enough to wake the dead. Each one of them rushed to get dressed and immediately ran to find one another. This hero title had just thrown something crazy at them.


    This titled quest was not something easy to achieve but just getting the requirements would be an amazing feat. The experience would be a great help to each of them. However locked rewards? Why were rewards locked? Does this mean they weren''t qualified to view them? What could unlock them? Would they be able to collect them afterpleting the quest? There were too many questions.


    Once they all found each other near the front hall everyone talked at once spewing out questions statements. Sadly the ruckus was not understandable and many minutes passed before they had returned to being calm to a degree.


    "So my daily quest is to help all of you so let''s start with Su" walker wanted to get things rolling and head to the adventurers guild to ask for a test to rank up their tier.


    "Actually my quest is to guard Remey from danger today. It specifically says to stay vignt as I travel." Su had been standing slightly closer to Remey and now the reason was clear.


    "Well mine is to demonstrate the unyielding will of a front line attacker, so if you can give me an opening for that somehow they your job is done" Remey flexed her fists as she spoke. Her eagerness for a fight was clear but walker was unsure how toplete this quest immediately.


    "Well that''s my turn then, my quest is to observe and spot weaknesses of the party members. This is kind of strange but since I have skills that allow me to scout it makes sense." Gill had a pensive look on his face. His eyes were fluid drifting to each member constantly.


    "I''d like to say we can figure out midnights but she can''t really tell us huh?" Walker knew this was a tough one but had faith midnights would be able topete it. "I''ll just have to keep an eye out and if I notice something midnight wants I''ll try to help out." Walker was confident in their abilities.


    "Oh I almost forgot if we''re going to the guild I need to grab those rage potions to see if Barry is interested." Realizing walker had been distracted and didn''t store the rage potions he resigned himself to go to the hidden study. "I''ll meet you guys back here in half an hour if you want to all grab food for the walk?!" Walker turned and started heading to the library.


    Easily descending the hidden stairs and getting down to the study walker stored away the the rage potions and rushed to head back.


    THUDD!


    Walker tripped andnded face first in the floor. "Ugh whyyyyy" walkers exmation want heard as he was alone. He looked down wondering what he had tripped on only to find a section of the stone floor had shifted revealing an open storage space.

 Chapter 51 - 51. Lucky Find

    Slowly pulling himself to his knees still a bit muddled due to his fall he found that the space under the shifted floor wasrge. Walker pushed the stone revealing three medium crates. Pulling the first one out was a bit tough it was very heavy.


    He pulled the lid off the top to reveal at least twenty transparent blue crystals. These were water magic crystals. These were water crystals! This must have been the daughter''s store of water crystals to assist in her water magic.


    As a party, they didn''t need the water crystals for and magical reasons, however, if they brought these to the forge they may be able to sell them and buy some dark crystals for midnight. Walker stored the crate away curious to see if the other two crates were the same.


    The second one Walker pulled up was not as heavy as the first which piqued Walker''s curiosity. Once the lid was off walker saw some herbs in small vials. Some had aged poorly and looked to be nothing but dust, others looked perfectly preserved. Walker was thinking he should bring these along to the alchemist guild for some rification. His all around appraisal could help give him insight but he won''t truly know the uses. It would be interesting to see the kind of herbs that the daughter of the family had viewed as important to stow away.


    The third crate was smaller than the other two and Walker easily pulled it up from the storage. Upon opening the lid he realized it was full of sawdust. Picking up a handful and using all around appraisal walker saw that it was sawdust from an oak tree. He could only wonder why this was so important. He went to grab another handful and realized there was a slimy of ck from the sawdust. Walker began clearing the dust away. Once revealed arge fist sized egg that was smooth and dark ck. This must have been the egg from the snake she had used as prion experiment ingredients! If so it had been down here for maybe years not hatching or anything. Was it dead? Walker wanted to check with his all around appraisal skill,


    ''Abyssal serpent egg (dormant)


    Abyssal serpents live in dark ces but will often leave to absorb light as energy before returning to deep pits or caves. These serpents can grow to great sizes and are often believed to be evil due to their color and ability to devour light. Their extremely tough creatures due to their fast healing capabilities and were once revered as immortal. Eggs are rarely found as they need to absorb light for a lengthy amount of time before hatching is possible.''


    Walker was surprised, such a rare creature had been hunted down and killed. Not to mention it had even had an egg within it that was capable of lying dormant for years until the right time to hatch. Another thing that struck walker was that it had been revered as immortal due to its healing capabilities, could this have been the serpent the family crest had been founded on? How strange fate worked that this egg woulde to exist here. After being trapped here for years walker believed this baby serpent deserved a chance at life. He stored the egg in his inventory and decided thate the night he would form a contract with it before it hatched so that it would be part of the family as well. He didn''t necessarily want it for its fighting capabilities but to give it a chance at an adventurous life. Also, the idea of midnight getting a younger sibling made him giggle.


    Walker was about to leave when he saw underneath was a small pendant. There was a woven leather cord and a metal snake biting its tail. Using his skill walker checked it,


    '' immortal serpent pendant


    Assists the body in natural healing +2hp every 10 minutes''


    Walker had definitely found a priceless family heirloom and was unsure what to do. There was no family left alive to deliver it to, and his party technically owned the mansion now. Walker stored it away thinking that it might be wise to give this to Su since she would often be taking damage. Realizing he had spent a lot of time down in the study he jumped up and ran back towards the front hall, he had definitely left everyone waiting.


    Upon his return, he noticed Remeys annoyed face, "what the heck took you so long? I know we just moved in but did you really get lost?" Yup Remey wasn''t too happy but walker was sure he could change her mind.


    Walker recounted the discovery greatly downying his minor face nt. "So after finding all that you want me to wear this pendant?" Su held up the immortal serpent pendant questioning its abilities " I feel bad we can''t return it to the family but I agree that giving it to me is a wise move leader. I will be at risk on the front lines of battle." Su began nodding at the positive though process behind this decision.


    "So basically midnights getting a little sister or brother? As long as it''s a cute little noodle I won''t be too upset with you for beingte. But if it''s mean looking I''m going to show you how I kept the kids in line when they got in trouble." Remey sent a re at walker but the small smirk was evident.


    " I guess stopping by the forge and alchemist building is also on the to do list for today. I agree that we should find the proper items for midnights growth, you did say that it would help strengthen her scales and since she will grow to a young adult sooner orter it''s the same as us eating vegetables." Gil recalled all the times his mother had yelled at him to finish his carrots or he wouldn''t grow right.


    "Remey I''m sure with your friend''s help at the alchemist building we can identify some of the herbs I found. I can figure out what they are with my skill but there''s no point if I don''t know what they are used for. I''ll be relying on you." Walkerid on the sweet words to put Remey back in a good mood knowing she could put up a fight against the old man there.


    "Yea I know I''m the only one who can do it, you''re right o choose me for this." Walker felt that he may have stoked Remey''s ego a bit too much but was prepared.


    "On that note let''s get moving, we have a lot to do today." Walker started out the door.

 Chapter 52 - 52. Errands

    The walk to the lower tier was uneventful. They had learned that traveling early in the morning was the best way to go so they truly enjoyed their walk.


    The party was traveling down the street with the forge in their view. It looked like they had just gotten a delivery of ores as a carriage was parked outside. A pair of strong looking smiths were unloading crates full of the ores. Some shined silvery others a dark ck. These must be the basics to create themon steel items produced here.


    The party stopped by the carriage being unloaded " Gil, you take the crystals inside to sell and buy dark crystals. That would let us go to the alchemist guild. It should save us a little time." Walker wanted to find a good quest as soon as possible to optimize their new found potions. Plus he was a little excited.


    "Sure thing, it''ll be easier for one person to get in there while they are unloading anyways" Gil took the crystals from Walker and headed in.


    As Remey turned to head in to the alchemy building a man carrying two crates came around the corner of the carriage.


    "Ahh ugh" the man stubbed his foot in the wheel of the carriage and the two crates began to slide and fall out of his hands.


    A crate full of ores was falling over Remeys head "quick guard!" Su used her skills to get her shield over Remey thest second the crate began to fall but her shield was being pushed back.


    "I''ve got you!" Walker seeing this happening jumped forward to help push the crate off the shield.


    Thunk Creeack


    The crate hit the ground with a thud and cracked. The weight could have seriously Injured Remey.


    "Hey you oaf you could have hurt me, you know that!" Remey cracked her knuckles starting to reprimand the man. "Do you even know that I was there? Could you even see me?" Walker joined in, the Adrenaline fueling him for the moment.


    " you need to carry less if you can''t see in front of you! What if it was a child running by? Who would have exined to their parents?." The man''s face immediately became pale. He apologized profusely promising he wouldn''t be rushing things again. However they didn''t hold any true ill will towards him knowing it was an ident and helped gather the contents of the cracked and broken crate that had fallen. After a few moments the man returned to work.


    "Well that was a wake up call for sure!" Walker was now on high alert after this spike in energy." He looked over at Remey and Su who were smiling like fools. "What? Is there something in my face?" Walker wasn''t sure what was going on.


    Remey and Su looked at each other as said in unison "daily questplete!" Su had protected Remey with Walker''s help and the scolding from Remey and the scolding walker had brought down definitely showed an unyielding will. "Huh so I guess Remey''s mom mode in scolding really shows her will." Walker teased Remey, making her blush and raise her fist threateningly.


    "Ugh if you want to get beat stay here, if you want to get those herbs figured out follow me. I''m fine if you don''t though." Remey stuck her tongue out at Walker and walked in to the alchemist building.


    The same smell and scene appeared as thest time they had gone to the building and it caused Walker to feel more at home and rxed. The same old man was sitting behind the counter drinking a steaming cup of tea. Upon seeing Remey he smiled "oh and back again because you missed me? I didn''t think the hot tempered little gal like you could miss me." Heughed at his own little joke.


    "Pfft keep spouting nonsense and we might not show you something good." Remey knew this was the best way to pique his interest and proceeded to fire away an air of mystery.


    " And here I thought you''d juste to show off another of your party members." The old man smirked then looked at walker, "so what have you got today?"


    Walker pulled the crate from his storage and ced all the dried and preserved herbs on the counter.


    " Hmm from left to right you''ve got some purple mink flower; used for muscle cramps. Seeping vines; the sap will crystallize and is good for blood flow. Oooo you have some rock ferns they are rare; mainly used in defensive potions. Rag weed; verymon to use to meld bitter ingredients in to potions for children. Babies breath; it''s not a potion ingredient but a popr flour with women. Ah! You have angels wing! These seeds are extremely rare! They only grow in high elevations, the flowers look like angels wings and the pollen is amazing for enhancing the effectiveness of almost any potion. I''ll buy it all!" The man sudden outburst caused them to jump but it was clear they had something very useful.


    "We''ll sell you half no more no less. We will be growing the remainder in our garden to use ourselves. But we could be convinced to bring some by for you when it blooms. Well also sell half of the rock fern. The rest of them well keep." Remey had going in to bartering mode stumping the old man who wanted all the angels wing seeds.


    "Pfft again with you always making things tough. Fine I''ll that both at half for 95G. But you''re better selling the whole to me growing them is very tough." The man shook his head not believing they could possibly grow it.


    "Don''t you worry we have a skilled farmer, 120G because you doubt us." Remey smirked knowing the next offer would be the one to take as she drove the price too high.


    "Grr you brat! Fine 105G and promise not to spill a word to anyone about this. Once it''s grown it will cause amotion in the alchemist circles. People might even try to steal it." The old man didn''t like spending the extra gold but cared enough to warn them of the risks.


    "I knew we could reach a reasonable deal old man, thanks for the heads up. We won''t say a word." Remey grabbed the gold with a smile while Walker collected the remaining herbs.


    "It was nice meeting you sir, good luck with your new project." Su was very polite and this got arge smile from the old man.


    "Yes, my project hahaha d to have seen another member of little Remeys party feel free to visit anytime." With that, they headed out the door to join back up with Gil.

 Chapter 53 - 53. Quest Progress

    Upon exiting the building they saw Gil standing a bit from the door holding a small crate. "Hope your luck was good as mine! 13 darkness crystals and 40G. A fair price based off the market." Gil was proud to announce his sess.


    Perfect "hey midnight Gil got you a snack for while we travel!" Midnight looked excited knowing what they were already. She had been patiently waiting outside and Walker was very tempted to reward her. However, he knew she would want to nap after eating one so he held himself back.


    Walker stored the crystals forter. "We found something challenging for your mother to grow." Walker smirked knowing if she seeded in growing the angels'' wing seeds their funds would be ever increasing. "We also got some babies breath seeds so we''ll always have nice center pieces. You should give them to your mother as a gift. Walker tossed Gil the babies breath seeds knowing that they may just help the mansion be more like home for the family who was used to the open fields.


    "Come on you guys we''ve got ces to be!" Remey has started moving towards the adventurers guild with a mischievous look.


    "Hmm Remey always rushes forward in to things." Gil made a generalment based off of what he''d noticed.


    "Yes, it can be good in surprise attacks but could hold us back in a situation that needs a delicate touch" walker agreed with the statement but also saw the good in her actions.


    Unknowingly the two werepleting Gil''s daily quest. Their analysis of Remey''s actions and tendencies was part of the understanding the roles each other yed. This would show its merits in many battles toe.


    The entire walk to the guild walker and Gil talked about what each person brought to the party. Surprising walker Gil was very hard in himself about his weaker defense but did recognize he had the highest ability to properly scout a safe path for their travels. Walker brought up the agility issue with Su and Gil recognized that it could be adjusted with the proper gear and leveling. Gil also was worried over midnight easily distracted attitude as she seemed to want to rush to new things constantly. Walker knew that would be a tough problem to tackle as it was one of many. However, he was more concerned about trying to work towards midnight gaining a speaking ability. This would solve a lot ofmunication issues between her and others.


    Upon reaching the guild Gil brought up how Walker had easily be lost in thought and didn''t even notice they''d reached their destination. Walker couldn''t argue this, the whole party already understood his diversity in skills and knowledge but this weakness could potentially lose an easy battle.


    "Thanks for the talk Gil, I think we understand the party much better now. Once we get outside the walls we can put some things to use. Now we can open a party bank ount, register for the advancement test, and hopefully sell Barry some potions." The errands had just begun and now they had the main reason for their outing.


    Entering the guild they noticed more looks from the other adventurers than usual. Word had begun to spread of them achieving a title making them a popr gossip topic. Many eyes lingered on midnight as most people had a hard time believing a monster would gain a title of hero. Humans and other races often feared dragons.


    Knowing the party was on their way ra was ready to greet them at the counter "wee back! I''m d to see everyone looking well rested. I was a bit worried the change of scenery would affect your sleep." ra had truly begun to care for her new party as did many managers after epting the responsibilities.


    "Good morning ra!"Walker was happy to see ra was on top of her game and ready for the day. "Before we get to some other big things we would like to open a party bank ount. I know you rmended it a little while ago and it would really make us more efficient in sending quest rewards directly to the bank."


    Adventurers whose parties opened ounts with the bank were able to directly send their rewards there to pick upter. This included items, gold, and even some amount of paper works. This was very efficient for longer journeys away from a ce they could receive such rewards.


    "Yes I''ve actually already filled out the paperwork for you, all that''s needed is each members fingerprint toplete the seal. This will be required for each withdrawal or deposit. Also I will require 100G as an opening deposit." Walker handed over the gold and each took turn fingerprinting a contract. When it came to midnight they used the tip of her tail. Unknown to the party ra informed them that she had been reading up on dragons and found that the tips of their tails had unique scale cement for each dragon that would stay the same their entire lifespan. This news surprises walker whomitted it to memory.


    "Now that should finalize your ount. What are these big things you all have nned?" ra had be curious since they hadn''t mentioned anything else as of yet.


    "Before we get to our main reason for today''s visit we were wondering if Barry was around?"


    ra was a bit surprised by the question but the party was in luck.


    "Barry is actually out in the training field, we were short an examiner for a new adventurer today and he jumped in to fill the spot. He finished up moments ago and is still out there, you should be able to catch him."


    Walker and the party knew they were in luck "thank you, we''ll be back in as soon as we talk to him. The main reason we can is to take an advancement test. We know there are many things to look at and prepare so we wanted toe early." Walker let ra know their main reason for visiting so she could prepare while they spoke to Barry.


    "Ah yes I had a feeling you''d want to test sooner thanter, I''ll have some things ready for when youe back inside."


    ra began grabbing papers from here and there. The party turned and headed out the door leading to the training field.

 Chapter 54 - 54. Advancement (1)

    The second the door opened to the fields the view again left them in awe. The guild really had an amazing training field. Spotting Barry was easy. He stood by the racks of weapons where Walker had taken his own test.


    Barry quickly noticed the party approaching " you all know you''re already part of the guild and don''t need to test right?" Barry chuckled at his own joke.


    "Well duh! We came here for something else. Hmpf" Remey took Barry too seriously only increasing hisughter.


    "We actually came across some potions we think you might be interested in." Walker took the lead before Remey could get more fired up at Barry''s joking. "These potions are called rage potions, we came across them while cleaning out the mansion." Walker pulled the potions from his inventory setting them on a nearby table with a few daggers in it.


    "Ooohh and you knew they were rage potions from their looks?" Barry''s voice had some surprise within it not realizing they had knowledge of alchemy.


    "Well after some research we were able to find notes. Apparently, this potion is made from an obsidian rhino organ. It''s will enhance strength but weaken the mind. Also, ites with drawbacks after it wears off." Walker wanted to showcase their knowledge to prove to Barry they didn''t just use some skill but actually took the time to learn about the potions'' origin.


    "Well well, I''m surprised you all found these. It''s been some years since I''ve purchased any due to their rarity. Most people wouldn''t buy these due to the drawbacks but luckily I have my ways to counteract them. Hmmm, my stock has fallen to 12 rage potions so 6 more would be a nice boost." Barry was staring off in to the distance while figuring out what to say to them. He only ever used these potions in dire situations but as the vice guild leader he often was sent on dangerous quests. "I can take them off your hands. I''ll find a use for them in the future without doubts. I''ll offer you..." he trailed off not sure what price would be fair.


    Walker had a thought earlier and since Barry was the vice guild leader he felt it would be alright to ask this. "Actually it can be items and gold to make the difference. The reason I ask this is I''ve realized I don''t have a short ranged weapon. I learned a weapon specific skill when I took my test to join the guild. So I have hopes you could give me that scythe over there as part of the payment?" Walker recalled his crescent moon skill and decided that the party''s goal for advancement could put them in a situation where magic was not the best option.


    "Haha perfect then you may take that weapon and I''ll give you 400G. Also ask ra to give you the core of the monster I killedst week. I have no use for its core but you might." Barry was happy to sneak in something mysterious. He had wanted to find a way to pass off the item to them curious about what they would do with it.


    "Thank you!" Walker was happy to get what they needed but also intrigued by the other item Barry had given them.


    "Now take your stuff and hurry along, I should have another newbieing any time now." Barry shooed them away while walker stored the gold and his new closebat weapon.


    '' razor scythe


    +10atk


    +5def''


    Walker had used his skill on the scythe and didn''t think the benefits were bad at all. Knowing his spatial magic could greatly assist his fighting style. He would not need to worry over an enemy bing too close. After Barry''s shooing they returned inside to the counter only to find ra with three stacks of paperwork.


    "Wee back, I''m sure you found Barry alright by the smiles on your faces." ra was about to start on the advancement exnation but walker was quick.


    "Barry actually told us to ask you to give us the core of a monster he foughtst week. I''m not sure what exactly he fought but it was part of our deal." Walker was worried he''d interrupted ra and looked down in embarrassment.


    "Well isn''t that a surprise, and here I bet he would just sell it like in the past, just one moment." ra disappears in to the back of the building only to return a few momentster.


    "This is the steel golems core, he went to deal with one causing trouble in the mines. "I''ll let you all figure out what to use it for," ra smirked and handed over the small grey ball. Walker was curious about what she meant but decided to worry over it at another time and stored it away.


    "Now the advancement test is held over a minimum of one month and a maximum of two months. You will receive a location to travel and must bring back proof your party has defeated certain monsters known to live within the area. Depending on the area you may also be required to show proof of items, herbs, or knowledge obtained while there. Based off of what you bring back your results will be calcted. It has been heard that some parties jump two ranks higher but that is rare. If you proceed safely I fully expect your party to be able to rank up." ra unloaded this information which Walker memorized. They would have an advantage over others with Walker''s skill to store away monster bodies, herbs, items, etc.


    ra continued, "I''ve gathered three options as is the normal amount for each party that requests a test. First; the ancient ruins. The undead are rife in the area and need constant trimming. This area also has many ruins which are not mapped out and hold many secrets. Second; the Marshnds. There are many poisonous monsters and herbs here along with water dwelling creatures. This is a dangerous area full of things that can mess with a person senses. Many adventurers have be lost in the marshnds leaving many things to be found. Third; the mountains. This area is tough terrain but filled with many crafting materials. The monsters there have very strong defenses and often the ability to fly or manipte earth. Many caves and deep ravines hold secrets still. Please think these options over and decide as a party." ra finished her exnation. She secretly had hopes they would not choose the marshnds because the poisons there had imed many young parties. But between the other two options she was unsure which was safer.

 Chapter 55 - 55. Advancement (2)

    Remey, Gil, Su, and even midnight looked at walker with expecting eyes. They trusted his judgment in what the best ce would be for them to travel.


    Thinking on it walker believed the marshnds to be the most dangerous. Between poisonous monsters and treacherous terrain it was not an ideal ce to spend up to two months.


    The mountains sounded promising but progress could be slow going because none of them were equipped to climb. Not to mention mining rare ores would take a lot of time. Even more so flying monsters presented a challenge for Remey and Su which significantly decreased the parties fighting ability.


    The ancient ruins sounded troublesome due to the mysteries it''s held. The ruins were not mapped so if they got in to trouble no one could easily find them. However on the flip side of that they had high chances of finding things left behind within the ruins. Also due to the high number of undead they could maximize their exp gains.


    "I do not want to risk everyone''s safety going to the marshnds, also the mountains seem like they may hinder our progress. This leaves the ancient ruins as our best option." Walker was firm in his choice causing ra to breath a sigh of relief.


    "In that case I will register your party as taking the test by traveling to the ancient ruins south west of the kingdom. Learning about the monsters that inhabit the area ispletely on you as the party. Preparations are also up to your discretion. Will you be leaving today or some time in the future? You must begin within three days of registering for the test or you will be penalized." ra knew they would be wise enough to do some research beforehand but she didn''t realize Walker had skimmed many books from the mansions library just in case he needed the knowledge.


    "We will begin today, our families are already aware the life of an adventurer and won''t worry for us being away for long. We have also mentally prepared for a journey and are excited to be on our way to a new ce."Walker wanted to head directly there but knew not to rush too fast in to things.


    ra looked skeptical and decided to test walker a bit as their manager. " name the two mostmon monsters you''ll face along with the most dangerous enemy even a Diamond tier party would avoid."


    At the question, walker smirked remembering some books he had looked over while searching for things about dragons. "Skeletons are weak enemies and verymon, to defeat them its best to break the skull detaching it from its body. Zombies are alsomon, they do not care about lost limbs or wounds only destroying their brains or burning them to ash is an option. One stronger monster to avoid is an undead Lich. This is due to their strong magical capabilities allowing them high intelligence. They can also create other undead monsters with a wave of their hand." Walker''s answer was logical and to the point. He knew that facts and facts alone would appease their manager.


    ra had a small o with her lips showing her surprise, she had not expected a perfect answer. "Well in that case I wish you luck. I''ll send you some quests you can take care of that are in the area." As she had been soundly beaten by logic she decided the best method from here on now was to help the party optimize the time they spent in the ancient ruins.


    With that walker and the party left the counter and headed to the South Gate. The travel to the ruins would take a few days but walker was sure they could use that time to better practice some teamwork. They would only have about half a day to travel due to their errands in the morning but it was more than enough to start.


    The streets had be busy prompting Walker to keep midnight near. He wasn''t so much worried about her being harmed by a carriage transporting goods as he was worried she would break the carriage.


    "So what do you think we''ll find in the ruins?" Gil was the first to speak up as they walked.


    "We''ll probably find another potion since we seem to be mas for them." Remey joked.


    "It would be nice to find some gear or weapons crafted by the ancients. Maybe we could learn from them." Su had a royal vision of them bringing back ancient practices to revolutionize the kingdom.


    "Exp that''s what we''ll find!" Walker was having trouble containing his excitement. "Skeletons and zombies are rarely alone so as long as we y it safe we can really level up. Not to mention if I focus on trying to learn a holy/light magic spell that effects an area we could move fast. Really fast." Walker had been thinking about this for a while. Expanding the elements he could use would be invaluable to the party as a whole. And during this test undead type monsters hated holy/light magics.


    "Oh hey ra has already sent a quest for us to add to the list as we travel!" Walker had noticed there were some options avable to them. Seeing one that caught his eye was a quest to kill 15 grey haired spiders. These were dinner te sized spiders that liked to jump and kill birds. They often would attack smaller animals as well. This was a problem for merchants who traveled the area with children so this quest wasmon in the traveled route.


    "We''ll be sticking to a merchant route so we should take a quest to kill off some grey hairs spiders. The perk is we don''t need to bring in proof since the system will update when weplete it! Not to mention would a hero ignore the safety of those traveling?" Walker smiled at hisst question. Any travelers they passed would surely notice themon sight of young adventurers securing the merchant routes. Often they would thank them as they passed. This was a great way to get their name out there as hero''s.


    '' quest epted


    Requirements:


    y 15 grey haired spiders


    Rewards:


    20G


    Discount coupon with the merchant society auction building''

 Chapter 56 - 56. Creepy Crawly

    The party easily left the walls and began their journey. The merchant routes wererger dirt roads made for multiple carriages and guards to pass each other. Many routes veered off towards small towns or trading points. Camping spots were a verymon sight along the roads, some people even left pots and pans as good will to other travelers.


    Since they were heading south skirting the sun hallowed forest they saw glimpses of me newts skittering about the rocks. However the farther they walked the less seemed to be sunning themselves. Walker couldn''t help but wonder if this was because of the spiders.


    "Stop." Gil had whispered in a hushed voice pointing ahead of them at a Boulder on the roadside. "Can you see the spider blending in to the rock? It''s waiting to ambush a bird from up high. I think I can snipe it from here." Gil notched an arrow silently. Pulled it''s back and let it fly.


    Thwack!


    Dead center, to the others it seemed Gil was going to hit the Boulder and the arrow would fall but to their surprise the arrow stuck to the grey color of the Boulder. They saw a piece of grey fall from it and noticed the outline of a spider with curled legs in the ground, Gils arrow sticking out.


    "Wow I didn''t realize they blended in to rocks so well. I wouldn''t have noticed it." Walker was stunned not only had Gil silently fired an arrow with uracy he had also noticed such a well camouged monster.


    " the trick isn''t to look for them but to look for part of a stone that seems too perfect. The hair on the spiders doesn''t have the rough texture as stone does. I picked it up since these stupid things used toe try and get at the baby cows our neighbor had. So naturally as a good neighbor would do my father would kill them on sight." Gil was proud to showcase a skill his father had taught them.


    "But how were you able to let loose that arrow so quietly? We were right next to you and didn''t even hear the release of the bow." Su knew for sure she should have heard the twang of the bowstring as the arrow was loosed.


    Gils smile was sheepish "I kinda got a new skillst level up, it''s called silent shot." Gil rarely spoke of his skills and was embarrassed that Su was amazed by it.


    Checking the system walker saw good news,


    '' one grey haired spider defeated. Gained 5exp multiples to 50exp''


    The smile only grew bigger on his face knowing the party would be gaining a lot from a simple quest.


    Hours passed as they traveled every once in a while Gil would spot a spider. Walker had managed to spot two as well but was no where near the talent Gil had finding them. By the time the sun was setting they had defeated 8 spiders total. This gave them 400exp which was astoundingpared to what others would receive.


    They party had decided to find a spot to camp for the night and luckily heard some chatting in the distance. Rounding a bend they came to a t open spot. Three people sat around a zing fire. A pot of stew was boiling away above the mes. There was one man organizing arge backpack. He seemed very used to traveling having well developed muscles and sharp eyes. The woman that was casually tossing Ingredients in to the stew was thinner but looks seemed to be deceiving based on her speed of adding ingredients. She had a seriousness about her that showed from in the lines of her face. The third person was a young girl looking to be about ten who was drowsing in the warmth of the fire. She looked surprisingly strong for the age but it was obvious it came from traveling as her clothing showed wear and tear from long walking.


    The man had noticed them the second they rounded the corner "heeyyoo looking for a spot toy yer head ey?" His speech was odd but rxed. He must have been used to passing other travelers.


    "Yes we are about to call it quits for the day, if you don''t mind us joining you we can offer some bread for your stew? It''s freshly baked this morning." Walker knew everyone would be hungry and making a trade would help break the ice with the travelers.


    "Bread!" The young girl came out of her half asleep state and popped her head up. "We have been out of bread for two week! What kind is it? Where''d you get it? Is it soft or crispy?" She began running questions from her mouth not even waiting for an answer.


    "Tia! You''ll scare em off calm down!" The woman scolded the girl. "Pleasee sit we always wee others it''s our policy, we''ll ept your bread for some stew but we also require a story." She smirked knowing that long days of travel often became boring and hearing new things was a great way to stay of the right mind.


    "Thank you very much, we will definitely take you up on that! My names walker." Walker I traduced himself as it was polite.


    "Gil here" Gil raised his hand walking to sit down.


    "Pleased to meet you, I am Su." Su gave a nod and followed Gil


    "Remey, but you can call me dragon fist!" Remey had decided she wanted an adventurers nick name like Barry and Ibis so tried one out as a test.


    "Pffft dragon fist huh? Since when do people call you that?" Gil was doubled over inughter prompting Remey to flush red and immediately run at him. Luckily for Gil he was adept at dodging Remey.


    Ignoring their rambunctious actions walker pointed towards midnight who had blended with the darkness. "This is our final member midnight, no need to be afraid she''s just like you or I." Walker was a bit worried seeing the girl Tias eyes widen but the man nodded epting it. He had run in to tamers before and long ago epted dining with strange creatures.


    "Hmm call me Rob, my wife here is Elise. Finally our daughter Tia. We travel here and there seeing the world. Trading what we can. We''ve never felt the need to settle down." He didn''t sound tired at all, it was actually the opposite. Upon mentioning traveling the world his eyes glinted with passion.


    Walker used his inventory to pull out two loafs of bread his mother had made earlier in the day. As he began tearing bits off for everyone he began speaking. " so you said you''d like to hear a story right? How does one sound about five adventurers who obtained the title of hero sound?" The party all looked at each other smiling at walkers words. The three travelers were confused but ready to listen. As the night went on and they ate walker began their story, how they found midnight and joined together. Gil, Remey, and Su joined in as well each saying their part. The shocked faces of Rob, Elise, and Tia doubting they had titles but soon became convinced.

 Chapter 57 - 57. Night Watch

    "Well, who would have thought we''d meet budding hero''s" Robughed at his luck. He had met many different people from bandits to nobles while traveling. However, this was the first person who had a title he had ever met. This just went to show how valuable it was to take the time to speak to someone was.


    Soon the fire began to die down, Gil and Su had volunteered to set up the tents they had with Remey cleaning up some of their gear from today''s travels. Walker offered to take the first watch for the night as he wanted to show his thanks to the travelers for the stew.


    Walker took up a spot a bit farther from the fire so he could see around the bend in the road in case anyone came down it. Surprising him midnight came and sat back to back with him. "You know you can go sleep, I know you like the fire." Walker didn''t want to force midnight to stay up after traveling all day but with a snort and a shake of her head, she refused.


    Walker was vignt but started to drift off, however, midnight nudged him to shake him out of it. Soon the reverse happened and midnight began to fall asleep but walker returned the favor leaning in to her and shaking her out of it as well.


    '' daily quest has beenpleted.


    All party members have sessfully been assisted.


    Rewards:


    50exp multiplied to 500exp


    Multi buff skill.


    The multi buff skill has been taken from the supporter''s system.


    Multi buff skill- cost 5 mana


    Add multiple enhancements to each party member. Buff include; +2atk, +2matk, +3agi, +2def, +2mdef. ''


    Walker did not expect this. How had hepleted Midnight''s daily quest with her? They were just sitting and watching for danger. Was it because they had helped keep each other stay awake? After getting over his confusion, he realized just how great this buff skill was. He could improve the entire party''s stats all at once by a decent margin. This would make tougher enemies much easier to deal with.


    After looking at the new skill in awe he realized just how many experience points he had gained from this daily quest. If this was the same for everyone they would all be making leaps of levels for a while. Maybe achieving level 15 and unlocking the heroic leveling was easier than they expected.


    The remainder of the night passed easily, walker and midnight switched with Su and Gil thenter they switched with Rob and Remey. Once the sun began to peek through the night everyone had already gotten up to huddle by the fire and wake themselves with the remaining stew.


    "Well we hate to eat and run but my family and I have some clouds to chase." Rob, Tia, and Elise had packed their tent and prepared themselves for more walking. Tia ran up to midnight patting her in goodbye before waving as the trio walked off.


    "Well, I guess we should follow their example then," Walker said to everyone. They should get a move in too it would take them a few more days to reach the ruins.


    "Who wants to bet Su and I will find the first spider!" Remey had boundless energy as usual.


    "Ha! You can''t beat walkers and my eyes. We can see through the soul!" Gil met her challenge with vigor.


    ''Daily quest: spotting the details


    Having a keen eye for details is an important quality for a hero.


    Requirements: each party member must spot and defeat at least one grey haired spider by themselves.


    Rewards:


    30exp each party member''


    Midnight jumped in excitement at this, she now understood that they were excited to go hunting!


    "Well I guess today will be plenty of fun." Walker chuckled seeing their daily quests were all the same. The system had pulled from their rivalry and was helping them push to be better. Being able to strengthen their observation skills without using the system was a great way to sharpen their minds.


    After a short time walking the road midnight suddenly sprinted forward pouncing in a small rock. By the time everyone got near her they saw the smallest grey haired spider that had seen, yet pierced by her teeth. "Umm Midnight''s in the lead so far." Walker said with a bit of augh.


    "She''s a girl so points for our team!" Remey yelled in triumph. Her face quickly fell as she watched midnight devour the spider. "Maybe we don''t count this one."


    "Agreed" Gil felt the same about watching midnight eat a spider as Remey. Just too gross. However midnight could not care even a little, she was happy to have a snack.


    The day had be cloudy adding an extra challenge to their game. However around midday, they suddenly stopped.


    "There''s one" Gil, Su, Remey, and Walker said in unison.


    Without hesitation, they each jumped in a different direction.


    "Quick shot" Gils arrow pierced the spider quickly killing it.


    "Shield bash" Su made a quick dash mming her shield cracking a small rock leaving behind a smashed spider.


    "Hammer fist!" Remey sped her two hands together and released a massive strikepletely crushing arger spider. It didn''t even have the chance to move.


    Walker had felt he''d focused on magic too much and used his spatial magic to retrieve his scythe. "Crescent moon!" With a swing he sent a wave from the de slicing a rock in half along with a spider.


    However as the wave traveled past that one spider for a small distance he realized he had just made a mistake.


    Small skittering sounds could be heard approaching. Not just one set of sounds but many. Normally the spiders didn''t congregate however when the femalesid eggs they wouldy a hundred in a clutch. They would often hatch at the same time upying the same area for weeks until they spread out or died.


    Walker had just disturbed twenty two of such spiders which were very unhappy their hunting had been interrupted. Sensing the danger walker prepared himself for what came next.

 Chapter 58 - 58. Too Many Legs

    "We''ve got trouble! Everyone form up on me!" Walker yelled. Gil was the first to get to him seeing the spider''s angry approach.


    "Wow, you really know how to draw a crowd." Gil was way too rxed. Walker questioned if he even had a sliver of seriousness sometimes.


    Remey and Su were right behind him. "What did you get a skill that makes every spidere bother us?" Remey was trying to hide her disgust. She really didn''t like spiders.


    The spiders were closing in almost within striking range. Midnight jumped out shing through one with her ws. 21 left.


    "Multi buff!" Walker took the momentary distraction midnight made to buff the group. Being used to walkers surprises by now the party didn''t falter.


    "I''ll take range support!" Gil stepped back notching an arrow.


    "Remey Su if you two can get them to group up I can unleash a big attack!" Walker was going to utilize the crescent moon skill again. It was a bit of a drain on mana but the less they had to deal with in a swarm the better.


    "Remey I can do this by myself just watch my new skill!" Su broke character and was going to show off. The adrenaline must have gotten to her. "Come at me trash!" With her insult a slight glow engulfed her. Walker had seen this before when he was younger. His father once showed him a taunting skill.


    The spiders all instantly turned towards Su stampeding towards her as if driven by madness. "Walker it''s all up to you make it a good hit!" Su began jumping backwards to stay out of the way.


    "Midnight I''ll need you to pounce on the survivors!" Walker''s call to midnight was met with a growl. He felt she understood due to their connection so he immediately looses his attack. "Crescent moon, crescent moon! He sent to waves flying at the spiders. Some were split in half while a few managed to survive but lost legs. 4 spiders remained alive.


    Midnight pounced on the nearest,tearing it apart. Remey followed her lead "thrash!" She unleashed a series of punches at her fastest speed. They may not have been as strong as other punches she had but the amount of punches couldn''t be perfectly defended against. 0 spiders survived the onught.


    Falling to his butt Walker returned the scythe to his inventory. "Never again!" He yelled andid back.


    "You''ll be paying for any nightmares I have about spiders." Remey came over softly punching his leg.


    "If He''s paying I want minotaur steak, I''ve always wanted to try it." Gil joined in sensing an opportunity to tease Walker which was rare. "Hey Su, that was the first time I''ve seen you use a taunting skill. Didn''t know you could say mean things." Gil like the others had been surprised by her words not knowing she had a taunt skill.


    "I learned it as one of my first skills but I really don''t like to use it since I have to say mean things." Su was dejected due to using it. But realized if she hadn''t they would still be whittling away the spiders.


    Walker, Su, and Gil had all reached level 8 while Remey was on the cusp of level 9. Midnight was not level 6! Her stats still greatly overshadowed the other members but her leveling would greatly slowpared to them. Midnight would need over 700exp more than her party members to level up now. Realizing this walker thought she would be thest to reach level 15.


    Gil and Su were smiling as they looked to distribute their points to stats. However, Remey looked more conflicted. "It''s going to be hard getting to level 15, isn''t it? I''m the only one who didn''t level up with the number of spiders we defeated I''m only close." She was shaking her head in doubt.


    " I''m not sure how high we can reach in our test but if we really push ourselves and optimize those potions at the right time we just may be able to finish a step ahead." Walker was also thinking of the challenge. If they could work together and utilize Su''s taunting skill they may be able to attract high numbers of zombies or skeletons. Walker decided he would start to focus on somerge area magic while praying so he could maybe learn a light elemental skill.


    Noticing Midnight had finished eating walker decided to store the remaining 15 spider bodies. A thought urred to him, if we had another body we could increase our exp gains...walker hurriedly pulled the abyssal serpent egg from his inventory letting it bask in the light. The others noticed this and bore witness to a strange sight. The egg seemed to glow as it pulled the rays of the sun closer to it.


    "Huh isn''t that something?" Gil was entranced by this little egg.


    "I guess I''ll be carrying this today. Tonight I''m going to form a contract with it so when it hatches we can easily wee it." Walker felt confident that this was the right decision. Even if the progress is slow having another in battle could be a huge help.


    They soon got back up and began walking again. Time passed as the sun soon set. They had made great progress so far noticing they could see faint outlines of buildings in the distance. Another day or so of travels and they should be at the start of the ruins.


    After finding a nice spot near arge tree the party set up their camp for the night. With the help of midnight walker was able to gather some firewood and start a nice ze. While Walker did that Remey and Su had managed to find a rabbit grazing nearby and captured it. This was a nice surprise since it was rare to find a regr animal in an area monsters hunted. Gil had set up the tents leaving the only thing left to cook and eat.


    Once they had all shared their fill walker decided this was the right time to form a new contract."I''ll have to ask you guys to take the watch tonight after I use blood contract I''ll be out of mana and probably need some serious sleep." Walker knew it was risky but saw the benefits outweighing the negatives. "Let''s do this then" walker prepared himself

 Chapter 59 - 59. Contracts

    Walker ced the egg on a t part of the ground in front of him. The warmth of the me was still able to reach the two but it wasn''t overpowering. Walker mentally prepared himself for the huge mana drain and tiredness.


    The egg had lost its glow as the sun had set but still had echoes of a glimmer in the firelight. "Blood contract" Walker immediately felt all his mana converge to his finger resting above the egg. A drop of shining blood fell from his finger and hit the egg.


    ''Blood contract skill has been used.


    Contract sessfully formed with infant abyssal serpent. Upon hatching the user will have ess to the abyssal serpents stats and skill information.''


    Walker didn''t even have time to smile before he passed out. His dreams were of darkness. He wanted to see the light but couldn''t find any. Every once in a while a glimmer would appear and he''d run at it only for it to disappear. He was tired and needed it... why couldn''t he have it.


    Walker shot up from his slumber to see the sun rising. His dreams were fresh in his mind. Was this his new connection with the abyssal serpent egg? Did it want the light so it could finally hatch after years in the dark waiting?


    He was about to fall deep in to thought when he smelled some bread warming by the fire. His hunger overcame him and he rushed to join the others eating. " you know we had to drag you to a tent right?" Remey was a bit annoyed Walker had left himself out in the openst night. Not to mention the egg which any number of night predators could have stolen from them.


    "Sorry sorry that was my fault I let my excitement cloud my judgement. By the way where''s the egg?" Walker didn''t see it nearby and became worried.


    "I have it!" Su gave a slight shout from a rock she was sitting on while watching the sunset. "I thought it would like to watch the sunset with me since you said it needs light to hatch." Su''s kindness was really unmatched.


    "It''s strange after I made the contract and fell asleep The dreams I had were all about darkness and chasing light. It might be how the serpents felt after years of sleeping." Remey became slightly teary-eyed after hearing this.


    "Don''t worry little fe we''ll get you to hatch and keep you up on endless adventure!!!" He dramatic jump up with her fist in the air cause everyone tough. Midnight was keeping an eye on Su who was holding the egg.


    "When that egg hatches it will be your younger sibling you''ll need to teach it well," Walker said this when midnight came over to him patting her in the head. Unknown to him midnight had shared the same dreams as he didst night. It would seem the blood contract was more connected than he believed.


    The party quickly began on its way once again. After a few hours of travel, Walker could make out a broken spire. This lead down to stone buildings with broken roofs, partial doorways. And even some random pits where houses seemed to fall in to the depths.


    Weeds covered what seemed to be an old street. Some archways were still standing, the intricate carvings faded away leaving but a shadow of true artwork. This was once a massive city but overnight had lost its whole poption. Nobody had managed to find the true reason behind its downfall its name had been lost to time. Adventurers had discovered that atop the earth the buildings would often hold skeletons and the odd zombie or so that came up from the mass of underground tunnels.


    Making it to the center of the ancient ruins was near impossible due to the swarms of undead monsters. Undead hade from underground almost drawn to the outside. Many adventurers would set up camp on the outskirts and attempt venturing inside to find treasures but never return. It was not umon to find empty tents or forgotten notes of farewell.


    "So that big tower thing is in the center right? Think we could see the whole world from up there? Let''s go there first!" Remey wanted to rush right in like usual but Su grabbed her shoulder.


    "Haven''t you heard how dangerous the ruins are? No one ever makes it to the center and back. The undead monsters are too thick. Making it to the inner walls is already considered a gold tier adventurer party challenge as it is." Su being the voice of reason was able to tame Remey''s excitement for a few moments.


    Gil and Remey looked at each other for a few minutes then smiled devilishly "then we can''t leave until one of us touches that outer wall!" The two said in unison.


    "You know I''d almost be convinced you two had telepathy systems." Walker gave them a strange look. If they were able to get as far as the inner walls of the ancient ruins and bring back evidence of a monster from there would they be promoted right to gold tier party?


    "I don''t think we should head in today, it''s better to have a full day to use." Su was logical as always. She was right it would be better to scout and maybe attract a single enemy out to test things on for a full exploration the next morning.


    "Gil, do you want to scout and lure a skeleton or zombie out here. I''m going to try and learn some holy light magic. If I can pull that off maybe we can be faster tomorrow." Walker knew sending Gil would be safe due to his soft footsteps.


    Gil headed off while Remey and Su set up a small camp. Midnight seemed distracted and kept sniffing the air almost looking for food.


    ''Daily quest: the jack of all trades system


    Your party is in need of a light magic user to make their current objective safer. As the all around magic user, it''s your duty to step up.


    Requirements:


    Learn one light magic skill.


    Rewards:


    +1matk stat ''


    "What!!!! I can get stat points from heroic daily quests!!!???" Walker''s outburst was ignored as Remey, Su, and midnight had all also frozen while staring at their systems.


    "Leader! If I do this daily quest I can get a poison resistance passive skill!" Su rushed over to Walker not able to control herself. " I just need to test a zombies hits against my shield ten times!" Walker was incredibly surprised but turning his head to Remey he knew more was toe.

 Chapter 60 - 60. Testing

    "I need to incapacitate a zombie by breaking its arms and legs without damaging its head. I''ll get a piercing passive skill." Remey saw Su and her excitement so she tried looking indifferent.


    The only one they couldn''t understand was midnight who was hopping in the air as high as she could. For a moment the three were stuck staring at her in confusion. However they didn''t get much time to rx as Gil ran up to them. "Two zombies one skeleton with a broken sword. Iing about two minutes behind me. I need to dodge them so just distract the skeleton and one zombie for a few minutes I''ll tell you moreter." Gil was panting hard but a strong look of determination resided in his eyes.


    "You''ve got it! Su you will take one zombie, Remey after Su blocks it and give you the signal start going after its limbs. You''ll need to calcte and be precise. Midnight let Gil dodge the other zombie then help him do what you need to do. I''ll be praying for light magic and trying to take down the skeleton." Walker''s staff appeared in his hand


    "Oh holy lord bless me with the gift of light" Walker began praying.


    Religion may not have been a major driving force in the world however many did believe in something. Some believed in the power of monsters and others in specific elements. When humans referred to the holy lord they meant a god they worshipped often who controlled light or as they called it often holy magic.


    "Skills have been taken from the holy priestess system, the holy lord system, and the master of seven mes system. Please choose one skill.


    Turn undead


    Holy smite


    Evil consuming me''


    Three skills? The system wants me to choose one? Do all of these serve my situation? I can''t even see what they do. Walker was being consumed by his thoughts but the ttering of bones forced him in to a fighting stance.


    "Ugh fine evil consuming me sounds like the more versatile skill, I choose that!"


    "The user has chosen evil consuming me from the master of seven mes system.


    Evil consuming mes- 3 mana cost


    A ball of White mes blessed by light pursue a single target. Once hit the me feeds off darkness within consuming undead creatures. If any other enemies touch the mes while they burn they will also be affected. The mes are purifying. ''


    Walker couldn''t even look at the system notification. He saw Su and Remey moving to pull a zombie away. Gil had already begun his dodging. He looked as if he was dancing around the zombie''s slow swings. Every movement Gil made always left him a hair of space from the rotting flesh epassing the zombies. The skeleton was headed right for Walker. Just as nned but walker was still not happy to see yellowish grey bones pursuing him. Something that was once human still clung to life and now wished to kill him.


    The hollow eyes seemed to stare in to Walker''s soul as it opened its mouth making ttering noises. The skeleton raised a jagged broken sword. Walker jumped back narrowly avoiding the sh.


    Before walker could start his spell Midnight pounced on to the skeleton crushing its skull. Looking over to where Gil was he saw him still dodging the zombie. "Gil tell me when you''re done I''ll help you!" Walker wasn''t sure why midnight didn''t help Gil but wasn''t able to think on it.


    Looking over to Su and Remey walker saw Su blocking a broken armed zombie''s helpless attacks. Remey was attempting to get a good angle to hit a leg but it was a tough situation.


    "Walker now!" Gil had just spun around the zombie leaving its front open to an attack.


    "Evil consuming mes!" It was a longer attack to shout but the effect was amazing. A white ball of fire immediately sprang from walkers staff. The zombie had no chance to move out of the way. The fireball epasses the zombie''s front and began traveling to its limbs. This fire was ravenous! Gil and walker watched in awe as the zombie was failing to ashes in front of them.


    "That''s some spell you''ve got there!" Gil was the first toe back to reality. Walker smiled at this new skill.


    Looking at Remey and Su the two saw the sad remains of a zombie helplessly squirming on the ground as Su used her shield to end the fight.


    The two walked over a bit out of breath with a triumphant look on their faces.


    ''Zombie defeated 6exp multiplied to 60exp''


    ''Skeleton defeated 5exp multiplied to 50exp''


    ''Zombie defeated 6exp multiplied to 60exp''


    The system was proving yet again how great the title was.


    Noticing Remey giving a strange look walker turned around to see midnight crushing the skeletons bones in her teeth. "Midnight you know we have other monsters stored you don''t need to eat that!" Walker was worried it would make her sick they were just bones!


    However, as he started towards her to stop her Walker noticed a strange grayish white aura on her scales around her back. This caused walker to stop, this was like when she ate the darkness crystal. Was this somehow improving her scales? Why only on her back?


    There were too many questions that were unanswered and walker reminded himself to find a book on specific species of dragons as soon as they returned from the test.


    Once midnight had finished crunching on the bones she stood up and walked towards everyone else. With an irritated shake, Walker noticed she had some loose scales on her back. "Midnight! You''re shedding your scales!!! You''re starting to grow your adult scales!" Walker immediately remembered this from the book he had read smiling widely. This was an important part of her life cycle. After her new scales grew it they would grow with her. It also meant she would soon show her wings! Maybe they would hint at what kind of dragon her father was. Walker was still skeptical of why she ate the bones but this new development overshadowed it.

 Chapter 61 - 61. Catching Up

    "Really! Does that mean she''ll be crushing enemies from the sky!" Remey had grand visions of midnight swooping down and crushing skeletons before they could act.


    "I would believe her wings would need time to develop. We should make sure we save skeletons'' bones for her. Maybe they hold the right nutrients. My mother always told me my body is strong because I drank a lot of milk as a child." Su used her logic skills trying to decipher the reasoning and to also ground Remey''s imagination.


    "Hmm, this may have been a blessing in disguise that we chose this ce to travel to. Not only will we level up but midnight is also finding nutritious foods. Well not that I''d call bones food." Walkerughed at his little joke.


    " not to rain on everyone''s parade but does anyone want to exin how my daily quest just gave me an agility point for dodging an undead enemy''s attacks at thest minute fifteen times?" Gil was still amazed and skeptical of this daily quest. He''d heard only master systems could reward stat points for quests.


    "Wait you got an agility point? I only got a passive skill. Pfft whatever I''ll just have to hit you harder." Remey had a devilish grin " my hits ignore two defense stat points now." Remey cracked her knuckles for added effect.


    "Hmm add on Su''s quest to take hits and gain poison resistance and my magic attacks to gain a magic attack stat point." Walker was connecting the dots. "It seems the system''s daily quests have us actions to help train us against these enemies. The hero title has really changed and even pushes us to grow. I would be willing to bet Midnight''s quest was to beat that skeleton and eat the bones. I mean why else would she ignore what I said and immediately attack it?"


    After Walker connected these dots faces or realization appeared on everyone. "I feel like we are cheating. The systems are basically pushing us in the right direction every time." Gil felt they would be invincible after not too long.


    "You can''t rely on it. That was just a test that you scouted out. If it was a huge swarm we would have been overwhelmed the way we all fought alone." Su saw the arrogance spawn in Gil''s eyes and quickly brought him down to the earth again.


    "Su is right, we had intended to test some things out and that''s exactly what the system quests helped us with. Now we need to utilize what we just learned. Think of it this way, if Su has poison resistance doesn''t that lead you to believe the zombies rotting flesh could poison us?" Walker''s words began opening their eyes. " Gil your quest revolves around dodging so there may be traps of close encounters a scout needs to avoid. Remey you gained some piercing power passive is it not a long shot to say we may face some tough defense based opponents? What about my magic? Does that mean my new spell needed more strength to defeat what we will encounter? Even Midnight''s growth shows us that she needed to get stronger before we went forward."


    The weight of Walker''s deductions fell on everyone. This the nning had truly begun. This young inexperienced party had just taken its first step in to the realm of true adventurers. So far they had a lot of luck but properly collecting Information and using it critically was a skill often learned over time. Veteran adventurers of weaker tiers often outlived those who Shot up the rankings early due to this exact reason.


    After an hour or so of deliberation, the party had caught up to an adequate understanding of what dangers they may face entering the ruins.


    "We should set out base camp and prepare for tomorrow. We''ll be heading in to the real ruins right?" Gil chimed in after they''d all reached understanding.


    "Sounds like a n to me" Walker got up. He''s pulled out the egg while they rested and it glowing softly. Walker could feel a warmth through his connection with it. "Hey midnight can you guard your sibling while we set up?" Midnight was delighted to be given such a job and quickly curled her self around the egg while still allowing it to bathe in the light.


    The remainder of the day passed quickly and soon they were all left in the quiet of the night. Walker had stored the egg away after they had all eaten. This would be theirst real test before starting their ns to gain massive amounts of exp.


    Walker had taken the first night''s watch and was trying to be as vignt as possible. Now that things were silent through their little camp he noticed distant moans or sudden ttering sounds. These sounds would echo off the ancient stone buildings and rubble. One thing was sure, he would not rest peacefully thinking of the grotesque undead in the dark.


    Soon walker had switched with Gil andter Gil with Su and so forth. When morning came walker made sure to be the first awake so the egg could see the first light of the day. He could feel the warmth of the sun washing away the terrifying sounds of the night. It was time to start their test for real!


    Once everyone had risen they ate light so they could stay focused. The camp was easily broken down. The seat before when Gil had gone to scout and lure back some enemies he''d glimpsed a town square. The n was to lure as many undead as possible there and release Walker''s evil consuming mes. Then after those wore off everyone would finish off the remaining undead in the area and start again.


    They would divide in to pairs leaving Su in the square. Her job would be to taunt the ones the others lured there. Su would then move in circles using some crumbled buildings to ensure the distance between her and their man made swarm.


    Walker pulled his staff from his inventory, "let''s go to that square and start luring in our prey." His serious aura radiated to the others. They were ready!

 Chapter 62 - 62. Swarm

    "Gil grab those five zombies over there! Meet us in the square when you can. Midnight back him up in case things get too close!" Halfway to their location they''d spotted five zombies following a stray cat and decided these would be the first lured over.


    Once Gil had run over the zombies focused on him, the cat nced back and almost seemed thankful for its pursuit to end.


    Meanwhile, Walker, Remey, and Su made their way to the square as fast as possible. They took note of some copsed arches that would slow the undead as they followed Su. "We''ll be leaving now, we''ll be back make sure you yell for us if anything happens." Walker and Remey took off in the opposite direction they hade.


    Remey and walker ran down another overgrown road. The two noticed a caved In Homerger than the others and decided to head towards it. As they approached three skeletons were idling nearby. Two had damaged axes the other had nothing. Remey ran towards them leaving a wide area between them.


    The two skeletons raised their skulls and teeth ttered. With her key movements, they began following after Remey. Walker followed slightly behind the group eyes watching the surroundings. He felt there would be more around a bigger area like this.


    Walker nced down an alley way and noticed that there were doors boarded up on the sides. This was the outer area of the ruins it would make sense that previous adventurers would have boarded off ces that had ess to the underground. Dangerous ideas entered Walker''s mind.


    "Remey you go ahead I have an idea!" Walker made his way to the alley way and used his staff end to pry the boards from the door. He could hear scratching from the Inside and prepared himself to run out as soon as the door was free to open.


    The board fell to the ground and Walker felt the door pushing back towards him. He quickly jumped back and ran to the opening of the alleyway. He didn''t know how long this ce was sealed but it was long enough for many undead to be trapped as they tried to escape the underground. Seeing them begin to follow him walker lured them towards the square he wasn''t able to count how many were behind him but there were over twenty in view.


    Walker quickly used his party chat function "I found a bunch trapped behind a boarded up door I''m not sure how many but I''ming to the square. We need to get them there and prepare to wipe them out!" After notifying the other members he continued to let the zombies get close then ran forward away from them. He repeated this over and over for almost half an hour. These zombies were just so damn slow.


    Over the groans and sliding of feet, Walker could swear he heard a loud thump here and there. But over the vibrations of the zombies following him, he thought it may just be nerves.


    Once he approached the square he was impressed to see 13 skeletons with various or no broken weapons following Su. Behind them were 9 zombies some of which didn''t have arms or broken limbs. It seemed Remey was trying to mitigate their attack ability so Su could easily keep them contained. Gil and midnight were waiting on top of a roof of a nearby building that seemed stable. It was a perfect vantage point of him to use his arrows and also for the party to meet up and take potions.


    Remey had appeared next to Su pointing towards Walker. This was her signal to go meet up with Gil and midnight on the roof. Walker proceeded to run faster still allowing the zombies to flow in to the square while he caught up and found Su and Remey climbing a rustydder.


    Upon getting to the roof himself walker was able to see the square now almost full of rotting zombies and grey bones skeletons. They were slowly approaching the building the party stood on. Walker had unleashed much more than just twenty zombies. They seemed to filter in to the square without end. He was not beginning to believe he had made the wrong choice in opening that door.


    "Here we''ll all drink half a potion that''s twelve hours we have to maximize our hunting. We may take longer than that to deal with all of them. We''ll need a few days to rest after this so don''t worry about going all out but let''s be smart about it." Walker had epted that they would need time to recover from this battle, but the rewards will be well worth the soreness of a few days.


    Pulling the potions from inventory they all drank half a potion, Su had helped midnight with this. Leaving just one growth potion remaining. Walker thought this would be held on until midnight needed it to get her heroic leveling function. That seemed the best use, however there was not any time to dwell on it now. Ignoring the system message saying they had consumed the growth potion they continued.


    "Su can you taunt from up here? We need them to group up for the first hit." Walker was ready to use his spell but if the undead were to spread out it was pointless.


    Stepping to the edge of the roof Su took a deep breath. "Get your asses over here you rotting pieces of garbage!" She banged in her shield after letting out the uncharacteristic shout which still stunned the party. They did understand she needed to yell insults to properly activate her taunting skill but it was too shocking.


    Su''s body gave off an aura and the undead seemed to all focus on her. The echoes of her voice seemed to still reverberate through the outer area of the ruins. The barren walls and broken buildings allowed sounds to travel much farther.

 Chapter 63 - 63. Problems

    Walker realized that having Su shout a taunt skill so loud was not the best move. The echos carried the skill much father than intended.


    "We need to move fast that skill traveled more than I expected. Be ready for a longer fight!" Walker gave his warning and watched the undead begin to push forward closer to each other. "Wait...waiiitttt....EVIL CONSUMING FLAME!!!!" Walker saw the perfect moment and released a white fireball to the middle of the swarm.


    The me seemed small at first just a white dot among the rotting undead. But as the seconds passed the mes spread. Soon the party was witness to a bright white ze consuming the whole square. However, the me didn''t dare spread to the stone buildings or burn the over grown nts. This was a testament to the light magic element. This spell only consumed evil and the thoughtless undead that only wished to kill were evil.


    Witnessing this walker felt enlightened. This was a lesson of what magic would affect other elemental magic. What could harm and what could help.


    ''The user has reached partial enlightenment in the world''s elemental magic. The skill elemental fusion Has been taken from the world bringers system.


    Elemental fusion- ???


    The ways of the world are mysterious, not many achieve an understanding of the systems in which existence flow. Using the knowledge gained through this understanding elemental magic can be fused in to stronger attacks''


    Walker almost became enthralled by this system message but before he could start thinking he noticed something. The white mes were dying down in the square. A small line of me traveled down the streets Walker hade from.


    But what truly brought them the entire party to halt was not the white mes, not the countless system notifications, but the creature stomping through the ashes towards them.


    Walker used his skill to discern its identity,


    ''Undead golem


    Created through long term rot. Many undead forced in to one ce over many years will eventually conform in to one body as their bodies break down.''


    This undead golem looked slow but it was tough. Every time it touched the white mes ayer of rotting skin would burn to ashes only to reveal the golem to still be walker forwards.


    This golem was terrifying. The legs and arms were like tree trunks. Its body was made of multiple fused rib cages. The head was sunken in to the body, barely even noticeable. The hands had melted together in to honey rotting cudgels. One hit could end all of their lives.


    The mes had begun to die down revealing bones, partially burned zombie arms or legs, and ashes plenty of ashes. If the wind had decided to blow the whole area would disappear in to a grey haze.


    The ever approaching thuds of the golems steps rang in Walker''s ears. "We may have messed up a bit here." Walker had realized this fight would be much tougher than he had expected. "Alright here''s the n. Su be ready to block at a second notice. Gil when we back off you shoot every chance you get. Remey time your attacks for when Gils'' arrows hit so it''s distracted. Midnight stay away from its feet they could crush you. I''ll buff everyone and try to heal and attack when possible."


    Walker had devised a roll for everyone as quick as possible. Looking around he could see a few zombies or skeletons still moving some lost arms others couldn''t even properly move.


    Midnight had already jumped from the roof and begun finishing off the injured undead. Gil was letting fly arrow after arrow clearing an area for the others to fight.


    "Multi buff!" Walker buffed everyone up. The undead golem had arrived in the square. It had definitely lost some mass from the remaining mes it carelessly stepped on. However, the aura of dread around it was strong.


    The golem noticed Su who had just gotten in to position and began to move. Remey was to the side unnoticed.


    An arrow flew and hit the golem in its center. The golem barely flinched at the damage. Remey circled around its back and released a punch. The golem barely registered the hit. It didn''t even take its focus from Su.


    "Su it''s still affected by your taunt keep it at a distance. We will wear it down." Walker


    Midnight had finished attacking the injured undead and came to the right side of the golem. She unleashed her ws rending a piece of the golems tough skin off. Noticing the golem didn''t even react Walker could feel the anger in Midnight. She did not like being ignored. Midnight let herself go In to a small frenzy cleaving flesh from bones on the golem.


    After six swipes of her ws midnight had made significant cuts to the golems side and back showing the underlying muscles and bones fused together. Midnight had be a bit short of breath from her attacks.


    "Midnight move back let me at em!" Remey jumped forward throwing punches at the same areas midnight already damaged, the sounds of bones cracking were disgusting.


    The golem finally took its notice from Su and began to turn. But as it raised its arm to swing at Remey three arrows in quick session pierced its shoulder. The golem dropped its arm and turned towards the roof Gil was still standing on.


    The golem was moving a bit farther now the sounds it made echoing through the buildings. Each step cracked the old stones on the square. Su had made her way near Walker with an idea. " leader use your mes on the cuts midnight and Remey made, you may get under its defenses." Her n was solid. Walkercked piercing power but Remey and midnight didn''t so he could use their efforts to do real damage.


    Su and walker separated "get over here you fat brute!" Su used a taunt to draw its attention. The golem had begun to collect arrows on its outside like porcupine needles. Gil refused to stop firing.


    Walker approached the golems back seeing the deepened cut. He mmed his staff in to it as deep as he could. "Evil consuming mes!" White fire burst from the injury. Walker retreated as the golem came to a halt yet again.

 Chapter 64 - 64. Round Two

    Soon a disturbing scene of movement under the golems skin was seen. It was as if something was pushing out for an opening. Smoke billowed from the wounds it had received. The mes began to prate its skin parts falling off here and there. The smoke was room much to see through as the golem was consumed.


    The sounds of rotten flesh hitting the grounds sickened the party but they knew this wasn''t over yet. There''s hadn''t been a system notification.


    The smoke began to clear. Ashes were falling around the golem. It had lost most of its mass. No tough skin remained. There was mostly bone and muscle. Small bits of skin burned in the ground. It''s head had be much more visible. It was a grotesque half skeletal half rotten skull. A small bit of red resided within its eyes.


    The now smaller golem stepped forward without any thuds or stones cracking. It had lost most of its weight and strength. Its speed had increased however, it flung its arms out towards Su. "Guard!" Su prepared to take the hit.


    Shiiinngfff


    A metal vibrating sound was made as she had blocked the hit. The sounds of the golems bones breaking in its mess of a hand. The golem had been pushed back unsteady. This allowed Remey and midnight to jump forwardnding their blows to both sides simultaneously.


    Midnight let out a small roar as she tore off one of its arms. Remey''s hit was heavy, the sound of multiple bones breaking caused the golem to stumble dramatically. This allowed Su to jump forward having recovered from her defense. "Shield bash!" Su mmed her shield in to the golem, it fell to its back.


    "This is our chance! Everyone let''s finish this!" Walker''s war cry sparked a fire in their eyes. They may not have finished it after the first strategy but this second round the golem was weak and they were about toe out on top.


    Midnight and Remey targeted its body. Remey jumped and smashed her fists down breaking its remaining arm. Midnight tore out bones from its very core. Gil targeted its head firing arrows in to it with precision and speed. Walker stepped forward. "Evil consuming me!" The white fireball hit the golem which was still stunned in its back. This time the mes didn''t have a chance to fall from it. They fervently consumed the golem leaving ashes and smoking bones behind.


    ''Undead golem defeated.


    100exp gained multiplied to 200exp multiplied to 2000exp''


    The party collectively breathed a sigh of relief. " whoooooooooohoooooo" Gil let out a shout of victory before jumping down from the roof.


    They were all sweating from the exertion and heat of the previous mes. " I think we''ve earned an hour to rest." Remey fell to her butt with an exasperated sigh.


    "Agreed" Walker knew they wouldn''t be able to do this indefinitely so they would have to rest between. "We also need to pick up some of the broken weapons, bones, and other things they may have had on them. The me only burned the undead not their items." Walker didn''t want to do this immediately but knew the faster they collected these things the better. Storing them away for proof and various other reasons was a smart move.


    "I really would hate to run in to another one of those things" Su spoke for everyone. The undead golem was an annoyingly tough opponent. Walker made a note not to open anymore sealed doors, the danger was too great.


    "So how many undead did we actually get?" Gil asked the question they were wondering about.


    Walker nced at his system. "Hold on to your seat cause this might knock you on the ground....thirty six skeletons, twenty four zombies, and one undead golem..." Walker knew this was insane all at once but he didn''t realize just how insane it was.


    ....


    ra burst through the guild masters'' doors. "You need to look at this now! Can a system be wrong!? This can''t be right nothing I''m seeing can be right!" She was in a panicked state which truly threw Ibis off who was used to the professional ra.


    "I mean I can see their progress as their manager so I can see where they are and what''s happening. But the system just sent a crazy amount of notifications on the party''s actions. It''s just not possible." ra used her system to send a string of notifications to ibis. As she was an employee and him the guild master they could share system information.


    Ibis was intrigued at first seeing the list of skeletons and zombies but realized the list wasn''t getting smaller. There were too many that were killed all at once. The most shocking though? An undead golem at the very end. "How could they kill all of these at once! An undead golem is a challenge of ate bronze early silver tier adventurer party!"


    "That''s what I''m saying they somehow did all this at once it''s insane! They are taking a test so I knew they would try hard but this is too much." ra had fallen speechless as she sat there. "I don''t know what tier they will be awarded but I know it will cause waves in the guild."


    "We''ll have to heavily ce these acts on their title. It''s the only way to keep unrest from skyrocketing. I need you to start mentioning to the others about the hero party omnipotent. This is an order spread this rumor of their title as much as possible before they return." Ibis could see no other way than to make it seem that this huge jump was only due to the title they received. If someone tried to replicate whatever they were doing in the ruins many may die.


    Unknown to ibis and ra they were due for another shock and sooner than they expected.


    ...


    "Alright we''ll that''s everything we could findying around" Remey wiped her brow and smiled at the pile of bones, ancient coins, broken armor, and weapons. Other various things as well but walker would store them all and let his inventory organize them.


    "Then I guess it''s time to gather more for round two." Walker smiled they still had a lot of hunting to do.

 Chapter 65 - 65. Results

    "Again!! It''s happening again!!!" ra was about to exit the office when a slew of notifications showed up, this was the third time.


    Ibis and ra had taken to sitting in wait for developments. The second time twenty three zombies and seven skeletons were defeated. This was still too many all at once for a party of their tier.


    Even more shocking was two hourster it was now happening again. "Thirty three zombies and twenty seven skeletons. What are they doing putting them all in a hole and blowing it up?" ra felt defeated. She couldn''t think of any logical reason or practice that would cause these sudden jumps.


    "I''m d we started writing this down, we are witnessing a record." Ibis had seen much in his life but this was the most monsters he had ever seen defeated by a party of this tier. If this was a gold tier entering the area for two months it would make sense.


    "It''s been almost ten full hours and these five have done something no one would have expected. I''m not sure even a seer would have seen this." ra had let loose so many sighs during the past few hours since this had all started. " we''ll need to prepare to receive whatever they bring back. I assume we will have to process arge amount." ra looked at ibis knowing that their work hadn''t even started yet.


    "Spatial magic" these two words brought a whole other round of shock to the guild master. The party would most likely sell or have the guild sell the items and monster parts they acquired. This meant that they would need plenty of manpower to do it efficiently. This basically meant they needed to be prepared the same as when a raid party of over a hundred would return. Ibis shook his head and started pulling out paperwork.


    ...


    Their potion was almost up but between their weak muscles and sweaty clothing, the party was done. They couldn''t possibly muster any more energy to try and huntst minute undead. The square was left full of ashes. If an unknowing person happened upon this sight they would believe that a massive bonfire had taken ce.


    During their first break, Walker had decided to leave the egg in the sun on the roof with Gil who could easily guard it while firing. This decision had proved to be the right one as Walker could feel additional warmth in the egg. Walker had decided to carry it on their walk back to bond a bit more and allow it thest of the day''s light.


    "I want to sssllleeeepppp" Remey groaned as she forced herself to stand yet again. She had pushed herself to collect as much as fast as possible thisst round so she could rest longer.


    "I second that, I would also like to eat and bathe." Su had begun struggling to hold her shield after thest round. She was not used to running around holding her shield and wearing her armor for hours while the others lured over the undead.


    "Yup let''s go back, if I have to draw my bow again my arm may fly with the arrow." Gil had realized just how important it was to train both arms to properly fire his bow. In the final round, he had begun using his non dominant hand to fire and realized his aim suffered. This was an important realization for him.


    "Honestly I''m very happy we didn''t see another of those undead golems. I can''t believe I messed that up so bad. I''ll be much more careful as we go the rest of this journey." Walker had wanted to apologize to everyone for a while but didn''t want to throw off their momentum.


    " don''t beat yourself up, if I''d noticed a closed door I''d want to check it out too. We''re literally exploring ruins it''s part of the deal." Gil didn''t hold any ill will. Not that any of them had the energy.


    Once they had returned to their camping spot they''d made a warm fire. The night passed quickly however waking each other up for the night watch was definitely a challenge. Strangely the distant ttering of bones or zombie moans were rare after their hunting.


    Upon morning walker noticed this to be the first time Remey slept in. She must have run herself a bit too hard yesterday. She was luring more than any of us and as the attacker moves much more. Walker was thinking an agility based item may help Remey with this problem in the future.


    "I know we are supposed to rest but I think I''ll practice firing my bow with my left hand today. I really wasn''t happy with it yesterday." The thought of missing his target had haunted Gils dreams.


    "That''s a good idea, i think I''ll follow your lead and work on some endurance wearing my armor and moving some rocks." Su also had some things she didn''t feel like while they battled thergest being the fact that in the end holding her shield was hard. This was not eptable to a defender whose shield could save a life.


    Walker was thinking of what he should work on today " I should probably look in to all the items we picked up yesterday. We need to start nning on what to keep and what to try to sell." This was his job as party leader and could not ck off since the others were determined to improve.


    Walker pulled up his inventory in his system and felt the pressure. "We really did pick up everything huh?" He looked to Gil and Su showed that they had many additional items for him to inspect. " I might as well jump in to it" with that walker had begun.


    The current list held many things, some important and others werepletely useless. Knowing that some things may have hidden uses walker would have to use his all around appraisal skill often.

 Chapter 66 - 66. Strange Items

    Seeing Gil and Su head off on their own to train walker realized just how excited they were to be making progress. Each one of them had be much more driven than when they started this journey. In the short time they''d been out they managed to adopt a mental attitude only high tier hunters had. This perseverance and way of thinking was beyond their years.


    Walker wondered if this was also due to the hero title but decided it most likely was just something they were picking up due to the fast paced lifestyle. Since Remey and midnight were still asleep Walker say by the fire with the egg. He wouldn''t walk off without someone awake being here to keep watch.


    When pulling up his inventory he only looked at the new items:


    Undead bone pieces- 142


    Undead skull -8


    Rotten leather armor- 18 sets


    Rusty heavy armor- 7 sets


    Broken sword-38


    Broken spear- 21


    Aged magic staff- 4


    Ancient gold coins- 402


    Enchanted boots-1


    Ancient talisman-1


    Rusty axe-8


    Zombie flesh- 89


    Undead ashes- 306


    Undead golem core-1


    Ancient religious amulet-22


    Damaged books-3


    Pristine butter knife-1


    Walker looked at the list holding his breath, this was a lot. He knew he could ignore the rotten leather and rusty items. The bones and zombie flesh could be sold mostly for materials in weapons. However, there were a few things that stood out over the others. Walker pulled them out to use his skill on them one by one.


    '' undead golem core.


    A bloody orb that is formed under the pressure of many rotting bodies taken from an undead golem. This is an amazing item for crafting if the user has undead specialized skills.''


    Hmm, this should be valuable to the right person. Walker didn''t n on following the route of a necromancer. But knowing they found a useful material he''d keep it in the back of his mind.


    '' enchanted boots


    +1 agi, +1def


    Made by an enchanter to withstand the test of time. These boots have an added bonus to prevent slipping.''


    Walker saw this and was a bit surprised. He wondered if there were many enchanters in the ancient ruins before they''d fallen. These boots may not look amazing but some stat boosts and the fact that the enchantments kept them from wearing away was a nice boon. "I''ll have to ask who wants to wear them after we wash them." Walker started mumbling to himself. The boots definitely needed a wash as they smelled like zombies.


    '' pristine butter knife


    The first creation of the master cksmith Aaron. This may seem small but was blessed never to rust. Part of a dining set for two.''


    "Oh!" Walker let out a surprised sound. It may only be a butter knife but seeing it was crafted by a master cksmith really exined why it hadn''t rusted or dulled. Walker giggled to himself wondering if they would somehow find the whole dining set for two of silver wear while they hunted zombies.


    ''Undead skull


    Used for unique crafting forms. It is rare that an undead monster is defeated leaving an undamaged skull behind. Some necromancers have been known to use them to house magical orbs.''


    Ah, another item like the undead golem core. Unique to a specific type of system or magic. Walker was slightly unhappy seeing this but continued in.


    '' ancient religions amulet.


    The meaning behind these twisted rings have been lost. An ancient civilization used these to identify those following a certain faith.''


    Walker found this to be disappointing as well. These amulets were hung in a thin chain. The amulet itself was twisted rings in the form of a sideways eight. Walker had hoped he would gain insight to the religion this ruins'' inhabitants used to follow. He would need to keep an eye out for this symbol. The party may be able to find a temple with intact scriptures. They would be worthy a great deal to schrs who researches the history of the ruins.


    ''Ancient talisman


    This talisman has been Inscribed with a formation to unlock a seal. This can only be used with the specific seal it was made for.''


    This may have been the most interesting of all. The paper was dingy from age but faint red lines in strange patternspletely covered it.


    Walker thought that exploring to find a sealed door might be a good idea. If the door was sealed it may be a treasure vault or room full of ancient knowledge. The fact that it was sealed means it was important. If it was just a key or magic lock it could have been an average door for someone''s home.


    Before he could delve in to it any farther walker could hear Remey getting up and subsequently midnight stretching as well.


    Remey had a bad case of bed head but looked well rested. Midnight however had lost more scales giving way to more solid looking adult scales. Her back looked slightly swollen making Walker worry before he remembered this was a natural part of a dragon''s growth as the wings will grow under the baby scales.


    "Gil and Su ran off to train, I''m going through what we collected and I think we''ll be going on a treasure huntter." Walker''s mischievous smile made Remey believe this treasure hunt would be well worth it.


    Midnight came over sniffing the egg in front of Walker greeting her little sibling. Then proceeded to plop her head in Walkers''p for attention.


    "Once Su and Gil get back for lunch we can head out to look for our treasure. I have a hunch for where this talisman may havee from." Walker showed Remey the talisman which confused her since she had never seen one before. "This unlocks a sealed door it''s not like a key or magic lock. If you seal something it''s gotta be super important. So if we find the right door we can see what''s been sealed away for who so owns how long!" At this Remey gave an excited smile.


    Remey jumped in excitement and quickly grimaced "I AM SOOO SOORREEE" Remey was not happy after all the running the day before. Walker couldn''t help butugh and start to look for something to cook up for lunch.

 Chapter 67 - 67. Treasure Hunt

    Walker had made some sandwiches from dried meats and no stale bread for everyone. While they munched walker shared the news of the ancient talisman.


    "Wait so you''re telling me we might have the key to some treasure trove?" Gil was still skeptical having never heard of this kind of way to lock a door.


    "Yes, and I have a feeling of where to go look." Walker was even thinking of where the talisman may have originated. Since the majority of the undead came from one ce it made sense where it came from. "The door I opened released that golem and a bunch of undead, statistically that''s where the talisman came from. Plus the other undead have been wandering around the area for who knows how long. We can take this gamble and maybe find something big." This was not a terrible idea. They had a lot of time to continue their hunting but if they discovered something historical there could boost their test results higher.


    " We also may not return here again or in a very long time so if we don''t take a chance at this we may forever miss out." Su wanted to take advantage of this treasure hunt. As a child, she had always dreamed of finding riches so she could buy the best medicine for her mother and help her father retire. Even with the hero title assisting in solving these problems she still had this desire.


    "Well I want to do it, I think we''ll at least find an Interesting souvenir to bring back." Remey made her decision since she was enticed by showing off the things she found to her siblings at the orphanage.


    Midnight naturally was ignoring all of them devouring a leg of the jade locust the party had defeated some time ago.


    The partyughed and chatted while they finished their lunch. They put out the fire and cleaned up their camp. It was time to go exploring!


    Walker easily lead them past the square and to the alley way he had found the door. Due to their previous hunting, they didn''t encounter a single undead in the immediate area.


    Before entering Walker threw a rock inside to lure anything out that may still be there. " no response, I guess we head inside. Be ready we don''t know what''s inside." Walker fell behind Su who was holding her shield at the ready.


    They crept inside step by step revealing a dingy room. There was rotten wood covering the stone floor. This must have been the old furniture crushed by the zombies. There seemed to be stairs heading to a basement and once upon a time stairs heading to a second floor. However, the second floor had copsed in on itself without having the stone base like the first floor.


    "This first part looks clear let''s spread out and give a check quick, then we''ll head to the basement. Watch those stairs over there some thing may be down there." Walker''s quick order snapped everyone in to scouting mode.


    Gil quickly found some ancient gold coins, while Remey found some rusted silver wear.


    "Nothing too amazing unless you''re collecting rust." Remey was building her hopes up too early for treasure.


    "If you''re that impatient we can head to the basement already." Walker teased Remey a bit but knew there really wasn''t much more than a bad smell on the first floor.


    Su lead the way once again as they followed down the stairs. Walker noticed some cracked steps and that the entrance was a bit broken. This was definitely where the undead golem hade from.


    The basement was muchrger. Water dripped from cracks in the walls adding to the mildew smell. The first floor was also damp but seemed to be so with a slimy ck liquid. "Nasty! You said that thing was from zombies rotting close together right? Well we found its birth ce." Gil was shaking its head. Out of all the ways monsters can be born this was one of the grossest he''d learned.


    A scratching sound caught their attention from the corner. They all fell in to battle stances. There was a zombie stuck to the wall. Well what was left of one that is. It had rotted away leaving only a torso and head stuck to the mucky floor. Gil quickly dispatched it with an arrow. "Well I''m d I''ve witnessed that zombie turn in to a pile of goop." Gil''s sarcasm was boundless.


    Su was investigating the other side of the wall "leader can you please use your skill to investigate these bottles?" Su had found a rusting metal rack with ten bottles on it. They were dusty and had fadedbels however nothing written was left after years.


    ''Aged berry wine


    This is a specialty wine produced once a year. The longer it is aged the higher quality it bes. In some cases, a bottle can cause an army to be drunk. Age:489 years quality: top grade estimated price: 800G''


    Walker read what his system gave him as an answer and they were all floored. A wine that could make an army dunk? "Wait did you just say eight hundred gold for a bottle!" Remey was stuck in the extravagant price.


    "I knew this was something good. I heard that some wines when aged be much higher quality. This is the exact case." Su had remembered meeting a friend of her parents who had a wine tasting system. This person had spoken of the intricacy of wine however Su being young and never having any made his words gibberish at the time.


    "Well this could be a really nice gift, or to celebrate our promotion if we pass the test." Walker was happy to find something so interesting. Who would have thought this aged wine would persevere hundreds of years.


    Midnight let out a slight huff drawing everyone''s attention. She had reached the end of the basement which seemed darker. Walker went to meet her finding the basement didn''t end. Instead there were intricate stone carvings of angels and skeletons on the wall. A stone archway with an opening leading down even more stairs. Sadly Walker realized he couldn''t read the symbols written in stone.


    ''Passive skill universal trantion has been taken from the embassy system.


    Universal trantion- passive


    Trante written and spokennguage in to the tongue of the user. The user can not write anynguages unless learned however will learn them faster. The user can understand anynguage spoken or written by bipedal intelligent species. This does not include animals and monsters.''


    Walker smiled as the words in stone became clear to him.

 Chapter 68 - 68. In To The Depths

    "Lucky me I have a trantion passive skill now." Walker was happy as can be, however the party was looking at him like he was crazy. "Guys I can read what this says now! We can see just how important any literature or ancient scripts we find will be!"


    This realization hit Su making her excited as well "the value of theirnguage is on its own a massive step in learning about their civilization. Leader what do those symbols say!?" She couldn''t wait and wanted Walker to trante. They all became curious now.


    Reading from the stone archway " Rest easy those who have left the path of life". Walker wasn''t sure the exact meanings these words had. "So does this reference the dead?" The only thought walker had was those who left the path of life would be the dead.


    "Hmm so is this like the church? They usually have mausoleum under the graveyards." Living in the orphanage Remey had gained knowledge of the church and burial rights.


    "This seems bigger though, isn''t it known that there are various underground caves and tunnel systems?" Gil remembered walker mentioning this to them as they had traveled.


    "Catbs" Su said this one word which they all knew to be true.


    "That exins the amount of undead, the entire underground is catbs! Why didn''t we figure that out earlier. We totally dropped the ball on that." Walkerughed at his blindness.


    After a moment he had calmed down, "so shall we head in?" With this everyone nodded ready to delve in to the catbs.


    The stairs and stone path was dust from years of sitting. The asional scuff marks could be seen from the wandering undead. However it seemed that when walker had opened that door the majority of undead stuck in this area had vacated the underground area. This made their exploration easier.


    Their steps echoed aver so slightly off the stone walls. Every once in a while they would pass indents in the wall. It appeared enough space for a body toy. Some indents even had small pieces of bones remaining. It was surprising how the party was able to see down in the catbs but walker had noticed small crystals embedded in the walls. He had seen things in the city before which would be connected by magic to filter in sunlight.


    Su was taking the lead to block any undead enemies they may encounter but suddenly a clicking sound was heard.


    Wooosh shikkk


    An arrow shot out of a small hole in the wall grazing su''s shoulder. "Ugh" Su felt the pain and quickly her eyes widened. "There''s poison on the arrow! My system just said I resisted poison"


    Walker was shocked they hadn''t noticed any traps yet but Su had just triggered one. "That exins why you had received poison resistance. Since you lead the way you could run in to traps...I''m d you had the skill if it was anyone else we would be running out of here immediately." The entire party was now on edge. The graze wasn''t enough to truly harm Su but it was enough to wake them all up.


    ''Daily quest: party quest- long term chain quest.


    Requirements:


    Escape the catbs


    Optional- find the sealed door


    Optional- learn the history of the ancient ruins


    Optional: ???


    Optional: ???


    Rewards:


    200exp


    Optional- 300exp


    Optional- 400exp


    Optional:???


    Optional:???''


    "Wait what''s with this quest we can just turn around and leave." Remeys words made everyone''s jaw drop. This was a jinx!


    As if responding to her words the party heard a few more clicks from behind them. A rumble was felt in the walls a d ground. Soon the sounds of stones hitting the floor filled their ears. Walker immediately ran towards the entrance only to be stopped by the dust and the view of a blocked path.


    Walker could see where a beam in the ceiling was holding up the stones. This had fallen as a result of the hidden mechanism Su activated. A two stage trap to poison and trap the intruder.


    "We need to move forward. We can''t make it back if we try to dig ourselves out it could copse more." Walker''s words echoed to his party and he soon walked to join them again. This was not part of his grand treasure hunt idea.


    Gil stepped forward "look the quest had multiple parts, these look optional but if we need to escape here I think we will require some of these parts. It''s all connected in some way. Why else would it be a chain quest?" Gil''s idea was sound. This quest said optional but was most likely all connected.


    "It''s also long term so it''s more than just daily. Who knows how long it could take us. I''m just d we have a bit of food and water but the sooner we make it out the better. Unfortunately, now that we are down here we can''t tell the time. We need to make sure we rest properly or else we could exhaust ourselves." Su and her logic was a wee sound. She had a knack for saying the right things to calm one''s mind.


    "So we push forward, no point in sitting here for now." Remey knew staying still would t help the situation so instead pushed for them to move.


    Midnight looked toward where they hade from unhappy to be moving downward. It would seem she didn''t like the stagnant air in these catbs very much.


    The party moved slowly keeping an eye out. This careful travel was paying off because as they seemed to descend more they had noticed three spots of loose stones that were attached to a wire or hidden mechanisms. There were more traps awaiting them as they traveled but having a watchful eye was going to be a necessity the entire time they were in the catbs.


    Once their path had ttened out they noticed they had more space. They wereing to an opening of some sort. The closer they came the more they noticed some scratching sounds. Walker brought a finger to his mouth to be quiet. They weren''t alone down here and whatever was ahead was going to hear them if they weren''t careful.

 Chapter 69 - 69. (Nice) Really? Again?

    Walker crept to take a peak that the room. It was a medium sized room there were stone tables against the two walls along with many indents that used to house bodies. However this was not the thing that drew the eye. There was masses of greenish threads all over one corner of the room. Creatures that appeared to be stitched together with this greenish thread. They had spider like bodies but the ghastly part was their bodies were stitched with rotting flesh. White bone like fangs protruded from their mouth. Walker had not seen this kind of creature before and used his skill.


    ''Corpse spider


    A creature that preys on undead mainly zombies. Its body is extremely weak so it traps zombies to use as material to create its own armor. The house and use rotting fluids as poison and also as a main ingredient in their threads. Females can not produce thread and often used skeletons to create tougher armor nicknames as skeletal spiders even though they are the same species''


    This was a tough position to be in. Walker could see an exit on the other side of the room however if they crossed the room they would step on threads alerting the corpse spiders. Walker could only spot three but noticed something moving under the mass of threads in the corner.


    With a whisper "they are corpse spiders, I see three but I think there''s another under the threads in the corner. We need to fight. They aren''t undead they just use zombie flesh as armor. In theory, I can burn away their defense and then you guys kill them. They use poison though so we''ll need to rely upon Su so stay behind her."


    Su softly stepped to the front while Gil drew an arrow in advance. Midnight and Remey stood slightly behind Su to the sides. Walker readied his staff.


    The second Su entered the room stepping in a thread the closest corpse spider turned and let out a blood curdling squeal. The other two turned and started to move towards the party. The mass of threads in the corner showed significant movement.


    The spider that had alerted the others was the first to get close to them "evil consuming me!" Walker sent a white me at it which cause it to engulf and begun to il around throwing thread outwards. However, this caused a great deal of fire to spread. Due to the threads being produced by the spiders using the rotting fluids of the flesh they cover their bodies in the whole room was soon caught in a white ze.


    Everyone was in a panic, the fire may not be burning them but they couldn''t see and the heat was unbearable. Walker couldn''t see Su in front of him but could hear the squealing of the spiders near him. An arrow flew past him and he realized Gil had nearly ran in to him. Walker grasped in his direction finding his bow and grabbing his hand. This calmed Gil enough to he didn''t run away realizing it was a human hand.


    The pair moved around finding a wall and leaning against it. The mes in the side of the room died down slightly causing them to see shadowed figures in the mes. The corpse spiders had be enraged as their rotting armor and nest had been burned. Gil released walkers hand " to the right!" He''d seen an angry spider rushing a taller shadow. Aiming his arrow he fired at the spider like shadow which produced another squeal.


    The taller shadow noticed the direction of the arrow and the squeal and ran towards the wall. It was Remey! "I lost Su and Midnight I don''t know which direction they went." She was breathing hard her eyes panicked.


    "We need to stay away from that corner the mes are concentrated there that must be the nest. Let''s move to the opposite side. Some mes are dying down." Walker saw that the ze in one corner was strong but the farther away from it the mes had already started to fall to waist hight.


    CLANGGG!


    Vibrating metal sounds came from in front of them as they saw Su blocking a pale white spider. It looked soft and easily damaged except for its sharp white fangs which shed with her shield.


    "Gil shoot the spider, I''ll get Su!" Walker rushed forward "Su!" He grabbed her arm pulling her back with all his strength. She almost resisted but she heard Walker''s voice and allowed it. The spider missed her by a hair allowing Gil''s arrow to catch it off guard. Without its stitched together armor the spider couldn''t protect itself. The arrow shot through itpletely.


    The sounds of midnight growling and flesh being torn apart came from behind them. Remey jumped towards the noise only to find midnight has circled behind a spider and torn it apart.


    Most of the mes on the floor had burned the threads to ash all that was left was the nest still covered in white mes but almostpletely burned. However, remembering the movement within walker held ready.


    A bony leg tore through the mes revealing a corpse spider d in burning bones. "That''s a skeletal spider it''s tougher than the others!" Walker gave a warning shout and switched his staff for the scythe in this inventory. "Crescent moon!" Walker sliced at the spider the wave arching towards it. The spider moved too fast but not fast enough. Four legs were sheared off. The spider fell to the side allowing Remey to jump in.


    "Defense break!" Remey unleashed a palm strikes happening the bones on the spider abdomen.


    Gil saw this opportunity and acted. "Remey back! " the second Remey was clear Gil release his arrow in the exact spot Remey had just broken. The spider iled in agony before its remaining legs curled and it stopped moving.


    ''Three corpse spider defeated


    21 exp gained multiples to 210exp


    One skeletal spider defeated


    10exp gained multiplied to 100exp''


    With the system confirmation, Remey looked at Walker, "no more spiders ever again!!!!" She was sure to have nightmares now that she''d seen the worst spider imaginable.

 Chapter 70 - 70. Kill Or Keep

    The party formed up just in case any other corpse spider remained alive or came after themotion. However, after waiting for a long time the remaining mes died out leaving only silence. They finally were able to catch their breath and rx slightly.


    "I didn''t expect the mes to consume the thread as well, I know they''re made using the fluids of rotting zombies but it was unexpected. If we run in to more we will have to stay farther from them." Walker knew they were lucky to survive this unharmed and the only reason was the low number of enemies. If they had encountered arge nest they certainly would have died.


    Su had regained her breath and looked at walker "it''s definitely dangerous fighting these spiders. Every time their fangs hit my shield I felt it ring through my body. Their bodies were weak without that armor but their attack was almost too much." She was pale having used a lot of energy blocking the spider blindly in the mes.


    "We will rest here a while so don''t worry too much. If you can''t sit still take a look around, but don''t push yourself." Walker''s face showed worry but knew Su was wise enough to take time to breathe.


    Seeing as Gil had made his way to the remnants of the nest midnight and walker went to examine as well. "You don''t suppose those white round things are important do you?" Gils'' question was mirrored by him pointing at a cluster of ten softball sized white orbs. They werepletely smooth and perfectly round.


    "All around appraisal!" Walker knew he didn''t have to say every skill out loud but knew this served as an answer or propermunication of what he was doing.


    ''Corpse spider egg.


    Skeletal spiders often give birth to ten eggs at a time. In their lifespan, they can produce one hundred young. The eggs take up to one year to develop before hatching. The young spiders will immediately burrow in to bits of flesh their parents have provided to create small armors. Once they have done so they will hunt small insects to assist their growth until they properly developed poison and thread.''


    Walker was puzzled, these eggs were spared from the me like the corpse spiders true bodies were. But since they would need zombie flesh to make armors did that mean they would die if they hatched? "These are corpse spider eggs. They were probably wrapped in zombie flesh until I burned it away."


    Gil pulled out an arrow and stood holding it like a dagger "we should probably kill them. I''m not sure what they can do but if they hatch it won''t be good for us." Gil began to stab downward.


    "Wait wait, let''s keep them. I can store them away so they won''t hatch I also have the zombie flesh for when they hatch." Walker had an idea.


    "No no no no no no no!! You are not getting your own personal army of gross spiders as pets I don''t care if they are the most powerful tamed beasts ever!!!" Remey overheard walker and Gil. She rushed over yelling at walker her face red but also showed hints of fear.


    "Wait Remey listen I have an idea, we can''t easily provide and keep all these spiders right?" Walker first talked Remey down. "But we got a coupon from that quest for the merchants'' auction. If we take these eggs and the hard to sell zombie flesh wouldn''t tamers pay plenty of gold? Not to mention these spiders can''t bemon toe across." Walker''s idea was simple, sell one egg paired with some bones and some zombie flesh as a package. A tamer could purchase it from the auction and in turn gain a unique poison type tamed beast. This way they wouldn''t kill a defenseless monster and they could get rid of bones and zombie flesh that they had too much of. They also could use their earnings to purchase something at the auction themselves.


    Su hade over at themotion Remey was making and studied the eggs carefully, "I agree I do not wish to be part of harming defenseless babies even if they are skin crawling monsters. Would you smash the abyssal serpent egg because you didn''t like snakes?" Her questioned made Remey look down. She was moping because Su made a good point making her feel bad.


    Crossing her arms she replied " fine store them away don''t let them hatch! If I see one baby spider I''ll beat you to a pulp!" She red at walker making the point that he was not allowed to contract it very clear.


    Walker took the time to store the eggs along with the remains of the four spiders. Walker noticed all the bones hadn''t burned off of the skeletal spider and took a closer look. It seemed the bones had started to fuse with the spider itself. Walker wondered if this meant that these spiders could over time grow in to their armor and it wouldn''t be effected by evil consuming mes.


    The party knew that the longer they rested the longer they were trapped but they had no idea how much time was passing. They decided to rest until they had felt prepared. They rationed the food and water because they did it know how long it would take to find an exit. While they rested walker noticed that even though the light wasn''t bright it did still nourish the abyssal serpent egg which he''d taken from his inventory to check up on. He was slowly bing a doting father.


    After an unknown amount of time Su had gained more color to her face so she had decided it was time to leave the room. The route they traveled was much wider than the previous hallway. They could all stand side by side in this one, it also had supporting arches cares in worn stone. Gil noticed that there were paths up ahead branching off.


    "I''m going to scout the left path first. I''ll be back in a few minutes." He quietly started sneaking down the smaller left hallway.

 Chapter 71 - 71. Maze

    Gil snuck down the smaller hallways taking note of any differences in the floor in case of traps. These hallways didn''t have any indents for bodies but did have spots for candles long since burned. He noticed some moth eaten tapestry once hung on the walls.


    The hallways were not long and he came to a small room at the end. A stone altar was in the center covered in carved symbols. The walls were carvings of worship. Along with the heavens and mes underneath the ground. Upon the altar were some ancient gold coins and a book that was strangely in good condition. It appeared to be dusty but not rotten or overly damaged. Gil took note that the symbols in the alter may have had something to do with this.


    He inspected the altar and the book finding a small metal thread underneath the book. Using an arrow he fixed the thread so it would not move. He''d lose an arrow but gain an unknown book that could hold many secrets.


    After securing the thread he took the book and quickly retreated. In case the thread didn''t hold. He reached the rest of the party in a moment "so I found you a book to read, it must be important if it had a trap on it right?" Gil was smug knowing he was to thank for something potentially important.


    Walker took the book and dusted off the cover, "where was it?"


    "It was on a stone altar covered in symbols and stuff. I figured it looked important right? Righhhhht?" Gil was waiting to know what it said so pushed Walker along.


    "The title is; undying faith. If it was on an alter it may be religious. When we take a break I''ll read in to it. Nice job" this might be some important insight they needed to get through the catbs but stopping now would not be wise as they had just rested.


    They moved forward and soon came to a small hallway this time on the right. Gil already knew what to do and began sneaking down the hallway.


    Unlike the first hallways this one curved to the left. Gil found indents for bodies and a small fountain like statue. It was a man carved from stone holding a heart in one hand and a book in another. He could see spouts in his chest where water once flowed. Moving on he continued forward not finding anything and returning to therge hallway. Looking down he saw the party.


    "Um it''s a circle. I came right back out here." Seeing this they came to meet him. "Other than a creepy old fountain nothing back there just loops around. Freaking maze down here just to get us lost." Gil wasn''t happy since he didn''t find anything this time.


    Much to the party''s dismay, this process reappeared four more times as they moved forwards. There were hallways that would circle around leaving them back where they started. This was made almost as if on purpose to confuse someone. Or maybe to keep the undead down here.


    "Stop" Gil said in a hushed voice. "Do you hear that?" The ttering of bones up ahead was faint but loud enough to make out.


    "Skeletons" Walker recognized it instantly. "It doesn''t sound like too many but we should be prepared"


    The party crouched and moved quietly down the hallway. Soon three bony shapes in the shadows came in to sight. Two heldrger rusty swords and one had a bow but no arrows. The bow was strange it didn''t look old and rusty like the other weapons skeletons had. " there''s something weird about that one with the bow, there are no arrows and the bow isn''t old and worn looking." Walker whispered to them.


    "I''ll aim to take it out first, once I fire my arrow we rush them ok?" Gil figured if he took out the strange archer skeleton first it would be wise. Gil stood taller and draw his bow. He had a second arrow clenched between his teeth for the second shot.


    The arrow freed itself from his bow. It was silent but on target. The skeleton holding the bow stumbled but didn''t fall. Gil already had the second arrow drawn and following the first hit the skull of the skeleton. It still stood but was obviously dazed.


    Su came out of her crouch rushing the skeletons. Remey and midnight were close behind. The two with melee weapons ran forward. The sounds of metal hitting metal were all they could hear as the two skeletons mmed their weapons on to Su''s shield. However, Remey wasn''t having any of it. She wound up her right fist and shattered the skull of the nearest skeleton.


    The one holding the bow had recovered and had visible damage in its skull. Cracks webbed out from where the arrows were impaled. Gil let fly another arrow but the skeleton stepped back. It reached to draw its own bow leading them to witness something crazy. An arrow formed out of ck smoke. This was magic! "Gil dodge!" Walker shouted as Gil wasn''t moving yet. The skeleton released its dark arrow narrowly missing Gil but piercing deep in to the wall behind him. Beads of sweat came off Gil''s brow. Remey and Su had cornered the other skeleton knocking its weapon across the room. Midnight had used the time the skeleton with a bow was focused on Gil to sneak behind it. She jumped crushing the skull easily between her teeth. Walker made a mental note of how good she was getting at sneaking up on enemies.


    A loud crack came as Su mmed her shield in to thest skeleton finishing the job.


    ''Two skeletons defeated


    10 exp gained multiplied to 100exp


    One skeletal archer defeated


    9exp gained multiplied to 90exp''


    Walker was puzzled, this was still a skeleton but it was specified as a skeletal archer. He knew skeletons could wield many weapons often which they held as they died. However, a skeletal archer meant the skeleton was a very powerful archer when they were alive. Walker decided to inspect the weapon left behind.

 Chapter 72 - 72. Flowing Water

    '' magic soul bow


    +2 matk, +2atk


    A bow created through great hardship. The crafter feared the time a hunter wouldck an arrow to protect themselves and used his soul to forge magic unto the bow itself. When mana is used as fuel the bow creates an arrow with the user''s elemental affinity.''


    "Hey Gil, you just got a new toy!" Walker knew this was perfect for Gil who wanted to keep his attack and magical attack stats the same. He desired the ability to use magic arrows and regr arrows. This bow was almost made for him.


    "Yea? What''s it do? That weird skeleton used magic didn''t it?" Gils face slowly changed from confused to awe. "Wait you''re not saying this bow made that happen are you!?" Gil was shaking waiting for confirmation.


    "Exactly that you can use mana and it creates an arrow out of your elemental affinity. So this is perfect for you." Walker smiled and picked up the bow to hand to Gil.


    Gil took the bow having a hard time believing it was real. "So that exins why that arrow was all dark and spooky. It was terrifying but makes sense a skeleton would have a dark element." As he said these words his voice curious at what his elemental affinity would be.


    "We''ll aim at the wall there and test it just don''t hit an archway!" Walker Su and Remey were looking at him expectably sad Midnight had decided it was time to snack on some of the skeletal archer''s bones and did not pay attention.


    Gil lifted the bow, the second he sent his mana in to it green swirls seemed to appear out of nowhere. This green swirl of magic pulled the air towards his fingers as he pulled the string. Soon a green arrow with a top that rotated like a tornado appeared on the bow. Everyone but Gil was ck jawed. Gil however was feeling the wind as it was part of his body. He breathed out and released the arrow.


    Their breaths were taken away, the arrow reached the wall in a blink of an eye. The rotation drilled a hole through the wall as if cleanly cut. The shocking part was there was no sound! Arge breeze that took the air from them but no sound!


    Gil let the bow fall to his side, he breathed deeply, "I won''t be able to use that many times but, wow." He couldn''t believe what he''d just done. This was something he''d only dreamed of, to fire a magical arrow.


    "You literally just took our breath away jerk! Pfft guess you''ll be all full of hot air now"Remeyughed at her jokes. Gil had definitely shown a wind elemental affinity and a powerful one at that. An archer needed to be attuned to the wind to truly know where their arrows wouldnd but this was another levelpletely.


    While they all gushed over Gil''s new weapon not a single one noticed the water beginning to flow from the hole Gil''s arrow had created.


    "Hey umm guys where did this puddlee from" Remey had realized they were all standing in a growing puddle. Midnight had backed away from the water unwilling to touch it a slight growl in her throat.


    "Leader midnight doesn''t seem to like this water at all." Su was worried they were standing in this puddle and she didn''t see anything wrong.


    "I''ll check it out let''s see what my skill says" Walker used his all around appraisal skill immediately


    ''Rotting leach


    Small undead creatures that live in toxic conditions. Often found in bodies of stagnant water filled with corpses. Once it infects a host it spreads poisons throughout the hosts body slowly feeding in its very life.''


    "Everyone out of the puddle now! There are leeches in the water!" Walker jumped to the dry stones. Seeing this everyone else followed. Upon paying more attention they all saw small purple colored worm like things trying to swim in the water. Noticing one near her Remey stomped on it with her foot crushing it.


    The flow of the water was Increasing and as such so was the puddle. "We need to move and get away from this stuff now." Walker made the call to move ahead faster. He knew that these leaches could be trouble in the long term. "We need to stay away from water, I''m not sure leaders'' mes can kill them when they swim in the water." Su was definitely afraid of these things, they were slimy poisonous worms. Her mother had once tried a regr leech as a healing technique. Unfortunately, the healer that was there had spilled a jar full of leaches in the room and one had scrawled on to Su giving her an irrational fear.


    Her face was absolute terror causing the others to hesitate. They rarely had seen Su lose her calm demeanor and give way to fear. "Then let''s move we can push forward just stay alert." Worried about Su walker decided to push everyone forward away from this unexpected situation.


    The flow of water was almost gushing now, there must be an extreme amount of water behind the wall.


    rrrraackkk!


    The sound of the wall beginning to crack echoed through the catbs. "Run!" Remey yelled and the party started sprinting forward. They passed many side hallways rushing to find a door to close behind them. It dealt like an eternity of running as they heard more and more cracking noises. They could see a small narrow stairway leading up at the end of the hall. Five skeletons were standing around near the walls.


    "Ignore the skeletons we need to get up higher, just knock them away!" Walker''s n was to push the skeletons away and climb the stairs. If any followed Su would bash them with her shield. "Su you follow behind Remey front in case there''s another enemy up top!."


    They ran with all their might not worrying about alerting the skeletons. The skeletons turned and left the sides of the walls toe towards the party. The nearest was kicked back by Remey as she got to the stair well. "Mana st!" Walker forced two away with his spell as Gil and midnight went up the stairs. The other skeletons were pushed back by Su as Walker and her began climbing.


    The sound of a crumbling wall and gushing water was all they could hear, even the skeletons paused their movements. The water wasing.

 Chapter 73 - 73. Lost

    They ran hopping two stairs at a time trying to get up. The water could be heard flowing up the stairs and no one knew how high it would go. A skeleton was on their heels but Su used their height advantage being higher on the stairs to crack its skull before running harder.


    "Walker we''ve got a room up here." Gil''s voice echoed down the stairs along with a grunt from Remey who seemed to be fighting.


    As Walker saw the room he noticed Remey fighting a half rotted half skeleton zombie. It must be very old to have made it to this state. Before anyone even helped Remey had already crushed its head with a strong punch. "Pfft I can handle myself." Remey was out of breath but still had the energy to brag.


    Su stepped in to the room backwards watching as the water slowed to only three steps from them. "It''s safe to say that we can not return that way." The look of horror on her face was evident. A death by drowning and leaches was not anyone''s preference.


    Seeing that the water had stopped and there was no immediate danger the party copsed to the ground. They could finally catch their breath and rx. "Ok so maybe having you test out your new bow was a bad idea." Walker looked at Gil who smiled sheepishly.


    "Better to test it out and run like a fool then failter" Su responded while stretching her legs.


    "We passed a lot of hallways I hope we going the right way." Remey had seen many possible turns but stayed straight forward afraid to lose the others while running.


    Finally looking around them walker noticed the room''s round shape. The stairs they hade from let way to a domed ceiling. Three hallways branched from this all seeming to slope upward and to the left as if in a spiral.


    While resting walker pulled the book Gil had found ncing through the pages not seeing much of interest. This was all scripture for an ancient religion. "This undying faith seems to worship a god that grants immortality. I don''t see it named anywhere in this book though." Walker''s forehead crunched and he looked harder trying to pry more information. "The rituals and such in here aren''t necessarily evil but a lot of blood letting and animal sacrifices. Thisst section speaks of a way to fuse the souls with others to gain the blessing of the god. Naturally the blessing is immortality. What kind of people lived here to believe something so brutal?" Walker couldn''t contain his curiosity, if these people truly fused their souls with one another how could a body contain them?


    "So basically these people did some pretty gruesome things, no wonder this ce is filled with undead" Remeys bluntment brought the realization to them.


    "What if it was because of the things they worshiped and did the city ended up like this? What if they tried to get immortality from their god and ended up creating all these undead and ruins?" Gil had just hit the nail on The head.


    ''Chain quest link has beenpleted


    Optional: discover the history of the ancient ruins


    Rewards:


    400 exp multiples to 4000exp.''


    "Ha! Yes I''m right." Gil jumped up in victory.


    "So due to their worship and attempts to fuse their souls they created the undead. I wonder if we can find any specifics, I bet that spire in the center isn''t just for show right? It''s probably swamped with the undead for a reason too." Walker drew the connection. If any super important religious ritual would take ce wouldn''t it be at the most important looking ce?


    "Leader if that''s the case should we venture there? Or try to avoid it? I''d hate to fight so many undead or even stronger ones but that seal could only be on something important right? Maybe it''s a key back outside from the tower?" Su wondered if the deal was so immensely important to the ancient ruins but walker dashed her hopes.


    "As far as I know no one has ever entered the spire but this talisman is most likely for another door. From the writings here if the tower was religious it was most likely open to those who lived here for worship." Walker based his hunch on how many religious buildings worked in their city along with the hope that they could find a treasure in a sealed door. He may have been slightly biased.


    Looking up from his pensive state Walker decided that scouting a bit in to the three hallways would be wise. "Gil you take the right path I''ll take the left then we will return and check the middle." The left and right path seemed to turn a bit more than the center so Walker was thinking it was longer and went farther up.


    Gil stood up, now that they had rested he was ready. He proceeded forward walking on the slopes curving halfway. The walls were smooth but every few feet carvings were evident. As he walked he felt he''d traveled a distance upward but the end was near. He came to a dead end, another alter say In front of him. However, no books or scrolls were present. There was an ancient religious amulet and some coins. This was aplete bust! Gil grabbed the items and headed back in a huff having wasted time.


    Walker had headed down the left hallways ande to simr conclusion. However his dead end housed an ancient suit of armor which Walker examined with his skill.


    ''Undying faith ceremonial armor


    Carved from bloody stone this armor was believed to assist in the connection with the gods.''


    This stone red armor was carved with many symbols and patterns. Its shoulders held spikes and the helm a skeletal carved face. The bracers and boots were carved to look like the heads of snakes. This would have been a terrifying sight to see if walker did not know it was ceremonial only andcked battle prowess.


    Walker quickly stored away the Armor knowing it could help their test grade if they ever escaped the catbs. The walk back to the domed chamber seemed faster than his slow sneak upwards.

 Chapter 74 - 74. Surprises

    Gil and Walker came back to the room at the exact same time. The two exchanged a look and put arms around each others shoulder pushing each other to and fro. This was a bro moment. Both found itical that theypleted their scouting at the same time.


    "Ehhmmdies if your now done flirting..." Remey saw an opportunity to get a good jab in and took it whole heartedly. However the huge smiles and odd postures of the two made Gil and walker freeze.


    "Soo what''s are you guys hiding behind your backs?" Gil noticed Remey and Su using her shield to block them from seeing behind them.


    "Remey I think it''s time." Su looked at Remey and Remey nodded back.


    In unison the pair said "we present the all new Midnight!!!!" From behind them Midnight jumped out. However the stunning part of all this was two small wings down the length of her back. These wings looked to be made of bones. Pure white skeletal bones with a think ck membrane between them making up the wings. The adult scales around where they were attached had white lines through the mainly ck translucent parts.


    Gil and walker were dumbfounded "how! When! What happened!" They were only gone at most an hour or two to scout.


    "As soon as you two left midnight kept rubbing on the walls and trying to scratch her back. She had a lot of loose scales so we helped her and before we knew it we saw her wings poking out!" Su and Remey were absolutely giddy. "We were very worried at first but remembered what you had said."


    Remeys smile was infectious "we were the first to see midnights new wings!" The two seemed to have bonded with midnight through this.


    Meanwhile midnight was prancing side to side showing off her wings. It was obvious she couldn''t use them yet as she needed to develop the muscles. Her pride as a dragon swelled now that she had her wings.


    "Have you guys ever heard of a skeletal dragon before?" Walker''s question caught them off guard. "I saw it in the book I read while looking for information on dragons. They often consume bones in their life and have extremely high defenses. They have wings very simr to midnights. If I were to ce a bet I would say midnights father was a skeletal dragon and she Inherited those wings from her father''s blood. And they look like they have mixed with her mothers ck scales. Between a skeletal dragon and a dark me dragon she would probably be the tougher of the two now because she got the defense of qualities of one and the other.


    The party was enthralled by Midnight''s wings. Normally after seeing so many skeletons seeing something bone like would put them down but this changed their whole perspective. "Wait does that mean she will lose all he ck scales?" Remey seemed dejected that midnight may grow out of he pure ck scales to pale while ones.


    "I''m not sure it seemed like those ones by her wings are a mix. So in theory she''s just getting stronger scales and highlighted colors. I think it looks pretty cool." After Walker''sst sentence midnight puffed he chest up more. She was really enjoying this attention.


    "So Gil while we''re resting again what did you find?" Walker didn''t think the armor was worth sharing since it wasn''t valuable.


    "It was a dead end only another alter with those religious amulet and a few coins. It was a waste." Gil shook his head and looked hopefully at thest hallway.


    "Same here mine lead to some ceremonial armor but nothing else." Walker was worried the third path would be the same and they would be trapped.


    "Well no point in sitting here I''m going to scout thest one. Wish me luck." Everyone gave Gil a nod and a wave as he jumped to action.


    This hallway was much like the others but it slowly became wider the higher Gil went. The roof of this hallway also mirrored the domed theme of the prior room. After an hour of walking the incline had be steeper but Gil could care less about that. He had just found something interesting.


    Directly in front of him was a wall of bones. It would be unusual anywhere but here however the way it was ced made him think there was more to it. Upon investigating it wasn''t aplete dead end, Gil could feel a slight drifting from the cracks between bones. The bones were arranged perfectly with three skulls in the center. There seemed to be nothing concrete holding them together. Gil gave the wall a solid kick and instead of breaking through was met with an unyielding force. This was not just a wall. With this information, he was ready to let the party know. Using the party chat function he told them everything was clear and that he had a puzzle for them.


    Walker wasn''t sure what kind of puzzle Gil was referring too so he doubled his efforts along with the others to get up to him. Upon seeing the bone wall blocking their path Gil stood there like a fool pointing. "No idea how to break this, good luck" Gilughed and sat down to watch Walker work.


    Walker went about the same methods as Gil, noticing a draft from between bones, that nothing seemed to hold it all together, and let a solid kick at it.


    "Pfft that''s not a real hit let me do it." Remey wound up and with a shout unleashed a powerful punch. Her knuckles grinding on the bones. However not a single dent was made. He face contorted in pain almost as if she''d struck the toughest dragon scales. "What in the holy heavens are these things made of? It didn''t even scratch!" She was astounded that her punch was perfectly resisted. However as Remey had punched at the wall a strange thought was urring to Walker.

 Chapter 75 - 75. Unsealed

    Walker reached out his hand and attempted to let mana flow in to the bone wall. The wall then shone with a myriad ofplicated patterns. Walker''s hunch had paid off. Seeing that there was a rectangr spot where the patterns were notplete in between the skulls of the wall he knew exactly what belonged there.


    "Ya know Gil if you''re going to find a puzzle you should probably find one without a key." Walker smirked pulling out the ancient talisman and cing it between the skulls.


    The skulls eyes glowed for a moment and all the bones fell to the ground in to dust immediately. The wall was gone letting way to an open hallway. However there was a drastic difference in the quality of the walls and walkways itself. The walls symbols weren''t faded at allst where the bone wall had been. The stone floor was clean and free of dust. This put everyone on edge fearing they had entered somewhere they shouldn''t be.


    As they walked it was noticeably brighter allowing Walker to hold the abyssal serpent egg to gain a bit more light. There were no echoes or bones or scratching up ahead and he was put at ease. Any hints of traps were not there in this hallway. They noticed that the path was slowly bing stairs until they werepletely walking upwards on arge spiral stair case. They had to stop many times to rest as the more seemed to be unending stairs.


    Soon they could hear a tap tap tap repeating over and over. It''s was often a habit impatient people picked up as they waited for something. This cause Su to tense up as she lead the way. The others prepared themselves for what may lie ahead.


    They reached the cusp of the stairs, a strange glow wasing from the room up top. The party shared looks preparing themselves to see what awaited them. Would they be able to survive? Was this an exit? Will there be another trap? What if it''s a dead end? This questions and more rang in their heads.


    They mustered their courage all stepped out from the stair way. They were caught in awe immediately.


    The stone walls were engraved with gold. Depictions of creatures growing from infancy to adulthood to death were depicted everywhere. The gold glow from many crystals made the room feel as if it was full of power. There were racks of armors and weapons. Chests of perfectly polished ancient and recent gold coins. Jewels glimmered from jewelry. Elegant tapestries showed brilliant colors and scenes of those praying. Towards the back of the room the tap tap tap sound stopped.


    An old voice seemingly filled with power and dread echoed, "two hundred thirty three years four month and seven days since I received a visitor. Yet not one but five havee to pay respects." A skin crawlingughter reverberated through the room.


    This voice wasing from a cloaked figure sitting atop a pearl white throne. The throne itself stood out not because of its color but the fact that it was carved from pure bone. "Now speak your names so I may know who hase asking of me." The voice was demanding and sweat quickly grew on their foreheads. This was not someone they could escape from.


    Walker didn''t want to cause the death of everyone so stepped up to take the brunt of the attention. "I am walker, this is my party Su, Remey, Gil, and midnight. We are adventurers who came to the ancient ruins for a test and happened toe to the ce you see us now." Walker watched the cloaked person closely.


    At first the party had thought this person to be living however they saw a ck skeletal hand from the sleeve of the cloak. Walker quickly used his skill to check and see any possibility of escape. This could all be an illusion to escape right?


    '' ancient liche king


    The skills of this monster are notparable to an undead liche. This is an almost immortal undead creature. One body does not limit it along with other abilities to create and guide huge numbers of undead. Often created through many years of self experimentation or unholy Magics.''


    Walker gulped back more fear seeing this. "Ah so you young one are their leader. And you have such a useful ability to see what I currently am." Moreugher filled the room. The hood fell from the monsters head revealing a ck skull with many ck lines and symbols etched in to it. The eye sockets were filled with a white me.


    "In life they called me the king of the undying faith, now I am the immortal king. My god saw my efforts and rewarded me greatly. However as the time has passed it seems those outside here have be weak. Rarely do I see anyone who can make it here let alone the catbs themselves. My experiments always prove too powerful." The king shook his head. Disappointment from its voice. "Sooo the question is why are you here, you said a test but those who find me are looking for more. Thest to visit was a pathetic demon necromancer. Wanted knowledge to create an undead army, such a small mind."


    Walker was unsure how to answer but before he did his system caught his eye.


    '' chain mission linkplete:


    Optional: find the sealed door


    Reward:


    300exp multiples to 3000exp.


    Quest updated:


    Optional: listen to the story of thest hero the immortal king met.


    Reward:


    The immortal kings insight


    Gift from immortal king


    Optional:


    Take the kings test and pass


    Reward:


    ????''


    The chain quest had been updated the two optional quests had been revealed but still did not seem optional at all. One reward was still unknown to them but this was not what Walker had been caught on. The immortal king this ancient lich king had met another hero!

 Chapter 76 - 76. Story Time

    "I mentioned before we came here to take a test this is to rank up to a higher tier adventurer party. However we also came here because the monsters here can be defeated in groups making us stronger. We have goals and dreams to pursue so we must be stronger." The answer was fairly cliche but walker felt it was right for the moment.


    The immortal king cocked his head to the side "I''ve met one other who tried to do the same...hmmm since you all havee to see me I will gift you with some history." immortal king brought its hand to its jaw and the patterns on its bones glowed slightly.


    "In its prime this great city was magnificent, the people such as I strived for the immortal god''s attention. We followed strict religious beliefs and life was harmonious. Often the outside rabble would be brought in to gain a chance to join us or be used as part of our learning. Most higher ups would experiment with magic, if we could learn more we could garner the gods attention and gain its blessings. To be an immortal is the Pinnacle of life. You understand the undying faith is one that strives to stand above death. Look at this body before you it''s looking dead yet the souls within me brim with power and life." Immortal kingughed as he praised himself.


    "One such rabble was brought in, a child with a mother. Something happened to the father but that''s not important. Without names they were subject 912 and 913. The overseer made many notes that the mother 912 would fake courage in front of 913 while the testing urred. For rabble such as them it was impressive. The system she possessed was one of a healer so she was perfect for discovering certain intricacies of life power. Sadly 913 had yet to show his system so all that was left was to let it watch and hope it unlocked something useful. This went on for many a month until one day the mother fell from life and became a low level undead. Didn''t retain her soul or consciousness aplete failure." Immortal king shook his head still remembering reading the reports of a promising experiment failure.


    "That instant the boy 913 unlocked its system. The overseer didn''t even have a chance to react as 913 acted above a normal expected level one''s power and escaped. This led to the overseer losing his position and a search for the missing subject. Unfortunately there was no evidence found. But that was not the end of it." The flow of the patterns seemed to radiate a bit almost as if the anger from years past was fresh.


    "Some timeter rumors of someone with a hero system trying to obtain the hero title spread. This naturally enticed our great undying cities hunters because a rare specimen as such would give them a life of ease when captured and turned if for a reward. The disgusting part was this hero was said to reside with the vampire trash! Those royal vampires hated the results of our experiments and religion. They thought themselves high and mighty for worshiping that god of blood. To think they were conditionally immortal as long as they fed on blood. Pathetic. What a half assed form of immortality, an insult to the great god of immortality." Waves of shadow and anger came from immortal king, it truly hated vampires to its very core.


    "Our great city waged many a war against them to no end. We would never convince them of the pure immortality gained through the soul. I digress. This hero gained poprity over the years. ying our hunters and showing up to battles against the vampires. Soon we found ourselves in turmoil. No new subjects, along with unrest pushed us to full blown war. The vampires lead their strongest to our city and tried to take our undying life from us. We were able to cut the numbers down significantly but needed to resort to ourst untested trump card. We fused all of our souls in to one body. My body" immortal king grasped at his throne with his free hand making the party wonder if it would shatter under its grip.


    " The city was designed for this purpose, we wouldmit the greatest act, to fuse our souls and ept the blessing of the immortal god. The soul spire in the center of the city would attract the souls pulled from their mortal bodies and begin the fusion in to one body. However, since testing was notplete it left us all trapped and bound in the spire. Each of us our souls bound together became one, we had left mortal death behind and gained immortal life as a soul bound to bones. Our mortal bodies became ythings for us, skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and so forth. Our experiments through the years became different...." trailing off it had realized it was getting in a tangent and returned to the main story.


    "The vampire royalty was faced with our undead army and was forced to retreat. They had almostpletely lost their species in this battle alone. Sadly we couldn''t follow them to destroy the few remaining. But since they went to slumber and lick their wounds for a few hundred years it was not a loss." The immortal king paused a moment then continued. "Once the two sides had fallen in to ruin a young man walked down our streets. It was subject 913. He held a curved sword made by the vampires and slew undead left and right. Upon reaching the spire he had one demand, the undead that was his mother. Naturally we did not allow this but we were ufortable we were one now not many andcked control of the powers from our souls. 913 shed at us causing a few souls to be freed and fade away but he realized there would be no end. We told him we would use him as our prime experimental subject causing him to be enraged. To control him we forced the undead mother 912 toe. The reaction was not as good as we''d hoped 913 stated that he, Cosmos, had returned to rescue her. It appeared 913 was very broken in the mind. Seeing no proper response pushed 913 farther causing him to y 912''s undead body." The party was stunned immortal king was telling them the one and only person they heard about now to be a hero had lost his mind and in his own mother. Would they be able to do the same if their family had lost their soul leaving behind a monster? Would they be able to remain sane?

 Chapter 77 - 77. Fall Of A Hero

    "With this moment of weakness instead of following whatever quest he ignored it. He fought the very system the world gave him. His failure to rescue the one person he cared about cause 913 to be something else. It was fascinating. I watched intently as I saw cracks appear over the very soul of 913. To go against the world was very frowned upon, to say the least but to try and destroy your own system? Idiotic. 913 shouted and iled about saying things that there was no point in having the hero system. That the world had yed a cruel joke. 913 rambled for almost an hour before turning his de on himself attempting to destroy the part of him the system resides in. Naturally there was a consequence. I witnessed true darkness and evil envelope him. This rabble that had once been of human blood gave up its very form of existence. The system 913 had broken and cast aside changed. When this evil aura and smoke faded what was left was a man bearing a tail and two horns. Sharp red ws on his hands and a sword permanently dyed in his own blood. The system which bore the name heroic system was now the fallen''s system . The world and the system had cursed him but this did not stop 913. This subject 913 cosmos looked at us, at our very souls and said we were pathetic. He left that moment, we couldn''t even follow his movement. We tried to send the swarm of undead after him but found he had sealed the city. Our army could not leave." The room trembled as it said thesest words.


    "These years we''ve had the undead gather our artifacts I''ve sent out talismans that will open the doors that lead here. ced my experiments in certain areas. My entertainment has been slow. The more time passed the more treasure hunters, adventurers, knowledge sealers came but they never figured out the puzzles and keys I left to get to me. Sometimes I had them killed if they were weak, others I made my undead interrogate for information. 913 cosmos had left and joined the demons, stories of his ruthlessness scarred the humans and elves causing a massive war across thend. The hero wannabe had be a great evil instead. How amusing isn''t it? I know not what happened to 913 now but I do not care. Lately I''ve been more interested in my experiments trying to fuse undead with living monsters to see if they can be a perfect immortal body so I can leave this ce." Immortal king seemed to rx as he''d shared a rudimentary story of how things had reached this state.


    This was a terrifying story for the party, they may not have ns to go against the system or the world but knowing there were major consequences would strike fear in to the bravest. They also had the title of hero therefore they worried that they could identally go against it and cause the same disaster as Cosmos.


    "Sir, if I may ask. What happened to Cosmos after?" Remey was curious and was the first to break from her own thoughts.


    "Ah finally another speaks, you look to be a fighter on the front lines. Those knuckles of yours give you away little one. To your question, I would say he''s alive with the demons. His body and system may be cursed and I''m sure he suffers from many things. I doubt the world and system would allow him to escape from it so soon." An evilugh escaped immortal king knowing the one who pushed and prodded to this existence was suffering brought it sce.


    "Hmm it''s been long since I''ve had guests. I''m interested in all of you and your systems but if I heed that I''ll forget my experiments. There''s been a slight snagbining ancient bones and living flesh. So should I kill you or release you?" The presence in the room became dangerous at this question.


    Walker was thinking about what the immortal king was experimenting on and feared for the unlucky creatures that became its subjects. This sparked an idea, they''d fought something that fit the lines of what it was experimenting in. "Sir if you allow us to live and leave I am inclined to give you a gift. I know you have knowledge of corpse spiders, specifically females. There was a skeletal spider we killed that was very strange you may think interesting." Walker pulled the skeletal spider from his inventory making sure to keep a leg for proof for the guild in case they needed it. This skeletal spider had skeleton bones as its armor but they didn''t burn when engulfed by the evil consuming mes. It had somehow started to be one with the bones themselves.


    Walker ced the skeletal spider in front of the immortal king " I used a spell that burned and consumed undead on it but it only partially burned it. The bones seem to be part of it now. This didn''t happen to the male corpse spiders. I hope this helps." Walker stepped back allowing the immortal king to fully grasp the creature.


    Immortal king waved a hand and almost like on a string the skeletal spider rose in the air. ck threads seemed to probe the body. "Hmmm....interesting....young maybe third generation....you said the corpse spiders didn''t show this?" After talking to itself the immortal king posed a question.


    "Yes only the skeletal spider." Walker answers quickly not wanting to take away any focus from the spider.


    "Interesting it was from another clutch then. Must have traveled to breed. This is sufficient then. I''ll be keeping this spider. You are wise to use it as coteral. If I''d taken your bodies you''d most likely just be fodder for another undead golem since you destroyed one I made a few years ago." They were stunned, it was watching them even then! This was worrisome.

 Chapter 78 - 78. Gifts

    The skeletal spider was engulfed by darkness disappearing. "I''ll allow you to live and as a good host I''ll allow each of you to take or ask one thing. Think of it as a gift for bringing me a few things to think on for the next years." The words sounded in good faith but they knew there could be hidden dangers.


    Gil stepped forward knowing they would need to make the best of this to gain benefits for the party but also for their kingdom as well. "Sir part of our test to advance our party is to defeat monsters here, gather knowledge, and treasures. Our kingdom knows little of the history of these ruins and I hope to ask for some history and religious books to bring back with us if possible." The others were impressed by Gil''s smart request. He had immediately thought of something to help improve not just the party but the kingdom. The hero title was showing.


    The immortal king waved his hand and a pile of five books rose from a spot of darkness on the floor. "You are wise to ask this of me, I have many copies of all history and religious texts. I''ll allow you to take these and spread the word of the immortal god." Immortal king was impressed. These texts had long been collected by him and were not essible by the normal people who came treasure hunting.


    "Thank you very much sir." Gil motioned to Walker who stored the books away promptly. Still caught up on how well Gil had used his question the party was unable to stop Midnight from walking forward.


    She let out a few growls and huffs which somehow the immortal king seemed to understand. "Ha ha ha ha arrogant like any other dragon. You may be a weak and small one but I can see why you''d want that. You hold skeletal and a dark dragon bloodline in perfect mixture. I shall not give you one of my bones however, it would cause your very soul to be enveloped and your body to die. But I will create something for you that serves what you desire. You may watch as you will only see something like this once."


    The rest of the party was immensely confused. Did Midnight just ask to eat part of the ancient undead lich? Immortal king could have killed them all if he took offense to that. However their faces became even more astounded as immortal kind pulled off piece of its throne and started infusing the purest darkness to it. This small bead took form with stripes and engravings of pearly bone white and extreme darkness. This bead radiated profound understanding of darkness and death.


    Immortal king spent a few minutes studying it before cing it in front of midnight "you would do best to have your little leader hold that for now, if you all make it from here it will put you to sleep for many a day." A slight chuckle was heard as it stated the if they make it from here. The feelings of dread washed over them again. Midnight delicately picked up the bead and dropped it in Walker''s palm. It was small and held no weight but there still was a feeling of heaviness. Walker used his all around appraisal skill to see what it was.


    ''Condensed understanding


    The forces of death and darkness have been condensed in to a single source. This item is uniquely created by those with a masterful understanding of the sourceponent. This item can be used in various ways to increase understanding and to change the potency of a creature''s blood.''


    Walker had never heard of condensing ones understanding of something. If a master of a particr element did this would the results be the same? This lead to many other questions but since he had no knowledge nor had heard any rumors of such an item he had the feeling it was extremely valuable. What truly caught his eye was the potential to increase how potent a bloodline was. This meant midnight could be a more pure dragon than a normal mixed blood dragon. As such she could be much much more powerful.


    "I''m sure you''re surprised to see that" immortal king didn''t have facial expressions but walker could tell it was smirking. " I made something simr for that demonic necromancer when he came a few hundred years ago, however he only wanted knowledge not true understanding. That brat cheated his way out of here using his master skills" immortal king tapped away at the throne with its hand in frustration. They all made note not to mention the necromancer no matter how curious they were.


    Remey was the next to step forward, "there''s not much I can think of to ask. I''m not as witty as the others but I''m smart enough to know I have many waiting for me to return. I also know that after this I''ll be going to many more dangerous ces. You sir said I was a front line fighter and we were very correct. I often leave the safety of our guardian. Our leader has a sister that can stitch and design things. My hopes are that you have a fabric as strong as armor so I could move faster but also be protected. This would help me a lot and make sure my party won''t lose its main damage dealer to one attack."


    Remey may have thought she wasn''t as smart as the others and humbly said such. Yet she was very wrong. What she''s asked for was something only someone thinking ahead with strong battle instincts would ask. She used her knowledge of walkers sisters system to her advantage. Along with this she also asked for the fabric specifically. This meant that not only something for her could be made. It could benefit everyone in the party not just her!


    Immortal king cocked its skull to the side thinking. "Hmm you are most interesting. I did not expect you to ask for a material. You say you don''t believe yourself smart but your words betray themselves." Immortal king pointed a finger at a closed chest to his left. "Go open that and choose a color"

 Chapter 79 - 79. Still Gifts

    Remey walked towards a wooden chest immortal king had pointed to. It was fairlyrge and had a heavy lid. Remey opened it revealing many colors of shimmering fabric.


    "Those are made arcane silk worm thread. I received them many years ago. The silk repels magic of all kinds and is as tough as steel. I used to wear robes made of such fabric. However, it became useless to me as I now have the ability to create cloaks made to boost my abilities greatly. I''m d to get rid of some, having useless things is quite a pain." Immortal king was remembering before fusing with all the souls. Every grand priest of higher was given robes of this silk so they could perform their acts in battle safely.


    Remey pulled arge roll of red and white striped arcane silk worn silk. "I would like to choose this one if that''s eptable." Remey held up the silk.


    "Hmm yes it will match" immortal king nodded and Remey brought the fabric to Walker to store away. Su was the next to move forward.


    "Ahh finically the defender steps forward, I''d believed you to be mute." Immortal kingughed heartily at its joke.


    "Great sir I''ve thought about this and I know it is very selfish, but if you have any knowledge on unique spells to heal a person''s weak constitution could you please give them to our leader? Not only can we use it to help others but it would mean curing my mother''s illness." Su wanted to think of something else something better but she couldn''t put aside a chance that this being which had lived for hundreds of years had an answer.


    "Hmm challenging aren''t you...why not bring that mother here and I''ll make her undying?" Immortal king mocked her trying to put her on edge or potentially burst at anger as some guardians often do.


    "Thank you for that kind offer however that is not what she or I would desire." Su gracefully declined not even phased by its words.


    Immortal king grumbled as its mind games were unsessful. It now didn''t feel amused and grabbed a scroll from the darkness tossing it to Walker. "That has 912''s master healing spell sealed. It''s one use. Heal her mother or whatever I care not. Now tell me your request so I can send you out." Walker caught the scroll and put it away. The worry after hearing immortal king''s words increased. Su gave Walker an apologetic look knowing she had aggravated it.


    Walker prepared himself, he''d been trying to think of a specific thing but instead decided to take a gamble. "Sir I hope to ask for one thing only you can give. I see the great power and belief you hold and know asking for something specific to be unwise. So I beseech you to give something you see fit in your eyes." This gamble was shocking. Everyone else was out in a state of even higher stress than before. Why had walker made this gamble!?


    Silence reigned in the room, immortal kings tapping had stopped instantly upon Walker''s words. He could feel immortal kings'' look prating him. "Yes yes, an interesting suggestion. You are not lured by the shiny things here are you not? Well I''ve watched you through the eyes of other undead and I can not decided your system. It''s very unique I''m sure." Small pools of darkness appeared around immortal king as it stuck its hands in and out seemly searching.


    "Hmm no no....maybe...ah too good....oh the memories...." immortal king mumbled to itself item after item until a small palm sized bag was pulled out. This drawstring bag was a light blue with golden cords. "You told me to choose child and choose I have. Before the war our city was vibrant as blessed by the immortal god itself. However those vile vampires broke buildings, ughtered people, and even brought true death to every nt within our city. You see the weeds and ruin outside this room." Notes of anger were apparent in its voice. Immortal king was viewing the great sights of the city before the attacks and soul fusion. They may not have been the most benevolent people however their city was a stunning sight showcasing life in many forms. "Take this, it holds many extinct nt seeds. I mayck taste but When I can leave this spire I desire to consume vile blood fruit once again. To see the weeping willows branches sway. To feel the prick of oozing vines!" The energy in the room was ever expanding as immortal king thought of more and more it had lost and wished to reim.


    Walker hesitated hearing some of the names it said and worried it would bring misfortune to the world. However he had asked and would now need to receive. He could only rely on his skillter to choose wisely along with work with Gils mother to gain skills to grow them properly.


    He reached out his hand to receive the pouch "child we expect you to nt these so that we can view them again. This is not for you but a gift for us."


    ''Quest: the return of life


    As a hero, there are many things asked of you. Sometimes one must y evil creatures and others retrieve a cat from a tree.


    Requirement:


    nt and foster four nt species thought to be extinct back to life.


    Rewards:


    1000exp


    A visit''


    Walker''s jaw dropped upon seeing this happen. They just received a quest from a gift from someone seen as evil? The things the people did in the ancient city were ghastly and cruel however they were still part of how the world worked. Without evil there was no good. This may not be a bad thing to persue however, what did the system mean by a visit? Would immortal king be escaping to see the nts or would something else be visiting? Before walker could continue in his train of thought he was interrupted.

 Chapter 80 - 80. Test

    "That look on your face says something happened." The immortal king held the bag dangling above Walker''s open palm. "Tell me or I retract this gift." This was not something walker could bypass if he did not speak the truth he had a feeling his life would end.


    "We just received a quest, one specifically to bring back these extinct nt species." Walker put on a better poker face and awaited the response.


    "How could you receive a quest that would normally be for someone with a nting or botany system? Exin more carefully." Immortal king seemed more aggravated not having a specific answer. It seemed his curious it''s was too strong to allow simple answers. Walker would have to give him more.


    Hesitating a moment knowing it could anger immortal king walker mentally prepared himself. "We gained the title of hero whilepleting a quest. It was a hidden quest and we can''t promise it would work for just anyone. Now we get quests rted to a hero. It also helps that my unique system lets me gain any skill that''s not a mastery skill. So I find the quests we receive to be of variety." Walker was waiting for it to explode in rage and kill them but instead he felt the bagnd in his palm.


    "Ah so the hero title is it? You''re a lucky brat then." Immortal kin leaned back as if pondering this.


    "Excuse me sir actually all five of us received the title." Walker rified so that he wouldn''t be called a lier. It could spell death if he seemed to lie.


    "What?" Immortal king was stuck, had he really just said they all received it. Wait no all five? That little dragon as well? A monster a hero? Immortal king was an ancient undead lich who had existed for nearly five hundred years. It had never heard of five let alone a monster achieving the same title! He knew that any physical experimentation would not yield proper evidence of why a monster gained a title let alone a hero title.


    "Sir I know this seems impossible, many have questioned us but it just is this way. I know you may be caught thinking of midnight as a monster but if a hero is to be a hero would they really care why kind of being you are? Even evil in its purest form needs good and possesses some itself." Walker''s words were profound. These were things he had contemted for hours each day wondering why Midnight a monster could be a hero. Thinking of what made them different but that was the thing, there was no difference. They were living and now even looking at an undead who had done great evil in its time. Walker could see why the quest was given. This ancient undead lich calling itself immortal king cared for the nts it knew in life that faded away. There was if it a speck of some good.


    " what you said now may be the very reason 913 fell from the heroic system and never gained the true hero title." Immortal king was thinking for a moment, was it really wise to let them leave? With that in mind his next move was made up, he would test them the same as that irritating necromancer.


    "I''ve made a decision, for you to be able to leave you must pass my test. I shall send you to the entrance of the spire. You may open the door and walk out. Simple is it not? If you get from there to the borders of the city you will be free, if not you''ll be dead. Easy to remember isn''t it?" Immortal king not only decided to test them this way because it knew the dangers outside. It also chose this because the necromancer had escaped using its mastery skills and it wanted a form of revenge by seeing its test seed in defeating others. There was a sure chance that at least three of the five would perish.


    The party knew this was not a simple test but a deadly trap. They had started out on the outer area of the ruins and ended up in its center. The center had the thickest swarms of undead. Zombies and skeletons were to be uncountable were other strong undead monsters were mixed in as well. The party knew they couldn''t take down multiple undead golems so what would they do if they encountered multiple or even stronger monsters all at once.


    "Sir can we have a few moments to prepare and n?" Walker did not immediately startying out a n with the party in fear that it could anger immortal king to act without its permission.


    "Hmm you may have ten minutes no more no less, I allowed that bratty necromancer the same but he was unwise and denied it. I do not expect you to be the same." The hidden threat was evident in the strength of immortal kings words.


    "Thank you sir." Walker gathered with the rest of the party. Fearful looks were all they had but walker had begun to think. " you guys remember the castle? The skill I used to scare everyone? I can use that then throw evil consuming mes in to the swarms. After that Su can take the lead plowing through anything in our way. We can''t stop to finish anything. If we get in to a tough spot gil should be ready to use his new bow to open a hole for us. Remey and midnight you''re to take each side of Su and keep anything from grabbing her. Together with Gil, I will watch our backs." Walker''s n was simple and efficient. Knowing that they might encounter something too strong to fight he chose a n revolving around running with as little interference as possible.


    Everyone was serious as this was one of the most nerve racking n yet. The past days they''d felt as if their hearts could burst from their chests any minute. However this moment the fruits of their training and focus were showing. They may be fearful but they did not shake. They may be worried but they did not hesitate. They prepared themselves and looked at each other once more. It was time.

 Chapter 81 - 81. Escape!

    Walker turned after confirming everyone was prepared. "We are ready for your test." He gave a determined look and feel to the air around him.


    Immortal king stood and looked at each one of them. It was excited to watch its entertainment but felt a slight tug at knowing the only ones to visit it in years would be gone. However it remembered the new experiments with the skeletal spider and became much for energetic. " if that''s your choice, and here I''d had hope you would give up before you started and stay here to be my new experimental subjects." Arge sighing sound reverberated through the room. Immortal king had tired of waiting and waved its hand. The party fell in to a pool of darkness in the blink of an eye.


    Soon the darkness revealed a stone door. Upon it were carvings of strange twisting trees, people praying to someone in ceremonial armor, and many strange monsters. Floating orbs seemed to be highlighted in the carvings along with many symbols possessing a slight glow. This carving was much more detailed than everything else they had seen within the entire catbs.


    "This must be the door outside." Walker spoke up to break the silence. Upon looking behind him he saw a wall of darkness blocking them from retreating. They had no choice but to move forward.


    "Do-ddoo you think it''s still watching?" Remey whispered afraid to alert immortal king.


    "Yea definitely, and it''s going to watch us Until we die or escape here. Can''t say I wouldn''t either we''re pretty awesome people." Gil tried to joke around a bit to lighten the mood. He may be a freaking out inside but he knew if he could remove even A tiny amount of stress from the group.


    "Leader I''m ready." Su moved to the sorry ready to push it open.


    Remey and midnight lived to Su''s sides. Gil stood behind Su and Walker behind Gil. They were prepared to open the stone door. As soon as Walker stepped in to position the door began to break open.


    The dim glow of the moon was the first thing to reach their eyes. The sounds of bones ttering and zombies shuffling filled their ears. As their eyes adjusted they saw a swarm of skeletons and zombies that they were uncountable. This was part of the n however the sheer amount of undead outside the door was astounding.


    Undead tore at each other to move forward desperate to get in to this new area. Walker knew what to do and prepared a deep breath. "BAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Walker used dragons intimidation releasing a massive roar. It echoed throughout the ruins causing chaos. The Undead may not be able to hear or feel the sound, but the shockwave produced still caused them to stagger.


    Zombies fell to the ground as if they were puppets without strings. Skeletons seemed to fall apart. Undead golems halted their advances. A few other monsters the party didn''t take the time to identify had also been effected. However before there was a second for the intimidated undead to recover Su and the party he began to rush forward. Metal nging and bones crunching were sounds that battered their ears.


    They pushed and broke their way through the hoard towards an ancient looking wall. Walker turned halfway through the first swarm of undead and raised his staff. "Evil consuming mes!" A white fireball flew to the undead near the closing door and walker saw it begun to grow. "Move it! I sent the mes over there let''s get out of here before we are blinded by them.


    This doubled their efforts while also dealing with the immediate threat of a giant swarm following them to the outskirts of the city. Up ahead there was a deformed undead golem blocking their path right before the half fallen wall. Su was the first to see this as the one pushing through and already had a way to use it to their advantage. " the golem is stunned from leaders attack! Use its arm and shoulder to hop and jump the wall!" If this was any other time and any other situation they would have told Su she was crazy. However it was still stunned so even if it started moving now it would be too slow to catch them as they used it as a step.


    Su was the first to do the step up the undead golem like adder and jump to the unknown other side of the wall. Midnight followed in haveing the easier time using her better adapted body to clear the distance. Remey and Gil were both fairly agile and got up and over without a problem. Walker managed to get to the undead golems shoulder when it began to jerk and move its arm. It had recovered from dragons intimidation and began moving. Walker jumped from the shoulder almost falling and barely made it over the wall.


    Hisnding was less than graceful as he tumbled a few feet before jumping up and following behind the rest again. They were still running. There wasn''t an undead in sight but the area they had jumped in to were tightly packed broken buildings. Many small alleyways and crevices gave monsters perfect ces to hide. As walker closed the small gap in front of him that had been left from jumping he noticed Gil kicking away small rat like creatures that skittered around from alley to alley. The terrifying part was these small rats didn''t have all of their body attached. Some seemed to be missing half the flesh in their faces and others a limb or two. Walker used his skill as he ran being careful to kick these rats as far as possible when they came close.


    '' undead rat


    Fast rotting vermin that slowly kill their prey through many bites. These undead rats are a gue above the normal rats as their bites can leave anything they bite poisoned. Exterminating them is fairly difficult as they can escape through the smallest crevice.''


    "Keep them off you! Their bites are poisonous !" Walker shouted the warning as he noticed midnight using her tail to p one in to a nearby wall. The undead rat was wobbling for a moment but then was right back to running. The little vermin were tough!

 Chapter 82 - 82. Freedom.

    It seemed the undead rats never dwindled in number but increased. The ruined houses seemed to get farther and farther apart leavingrger space to run. However the more space around the more undead rats seemed to be surrounding them. In a matter of minutes they had a group of twenty jumping at them from time to time.


    Walker caught himself wondering why there weren''t any other undead around until he started focusing on his surroundings. Every once in a while they would pass piles of old clothing or armors. Others there were piles of broken bones that looked gnawed on. These undead rats were consuming anything and everything that moved in their territory. This was their part of the ruins and nothing that entered left.


    Immortal king was surelyughing at this, it knew the in and out of the ruins. Sending them to escape from this depth of the ruins was a death sentence!


    Remey was starting to find her punches missing and Su found two or three would hang up on her. These may just be undead rats but they had enough intellect to hang up on to their prey. This reason alone was why they posed such a threat.


    Gil had resorted to firing arrows at the ones behind them to keep them away from their openings. This was working so far but it seemed like the undead rats used their speed to properly dodge.


    "Su we need to get rid of these rats all at once, if you taunt them they will all focus on you and I might be able to burn them." Walker knew the situation would only worsen over time as they wore down the party''s stamina.


    Su was worried she wouldn''t be able to block all of them but remembered her poison resistance skill. " yes I should be able to do that but you will need to be fast we''ll only have a moment" the second she taunted Walker would need to attack.


    "Gil. Remey, Midnight be ready to get the stragglers. We''ll need to be quick." Walker said the orders to ready everyone. "Alright Su on your mark!"


    This was the moment. Walker had his staff ready to aim at the biggest group. "Get over you! You stupid vermin!" Su shouted her taunt and every undead rat turned to her direction. They quickly moved in to a jumping position obviously nning on hurling themselves at the same time toward her. This was definitely more dangerous but the second they jumped walker could hit almost all of them.


    A slight squeal was made by thergest of the group of undead rats and then they were off. They had all jumped at the same time aiming at the same spot on Su''s shield. "Evil consuming me!" Walker aimed and fired his white me at them. It was perfectly set up hitting the rat in the center of the group. Some immediately fell to the ground burning. Othersnded and ran around in panic.


    Arrows whizzed by Su as Gil fired at the two Walker had not caught in the fire. Midnight was swatting away the ones that were burning from Su. While Remey was stomping on the ones that had lost mobility to finish them. Their small n had worked and twenty undead rats were either defeated or turned ashes on the stone ground.


    They wanted to rest but knew they needed to keep moving. The sun had begun to rise and they knew that this was a temporary relief in pursuit. They had a fairly straight path to exit the ruins but they could see small groups of undead shambling through the streets. As they ran they dodged and ignored any other undead. The sun had risen significantly in to the sky by the time they stopped moving.


    Once they had begun to recognize their first hunting area from when they were luring undead it was simple. They rxed a bit knowing that the majority of the undead had been defeated by them.


    Easily reaching the square they had begun to feel the fatigue of running most of the day. But knew they couldn''t stop until they''d left the ruinspletely. With a final burst of energy then moved towards the outskirts. However, they were blocked by a lone zombie. The strange part about this zombie was it held a small box in its hands. Before they could do anything they heard immortal kings voice. "I believed the rats would get two or three of you but I did not expect all five to survive. It was rather entertaining, so I''ll allow you to pass." With that, the zombie turned to dust leaving the small box.


    Walker approached it hesitantly seeing the system prompt that they hadpleted the quest and passed immortal kings test. No reward was disyed meaning it wasn''t a system reward but a reward from immortal king itself.


    Carefully opening the lid five silver skull rings shined in the sun. Using his all around appraisal skill walker checked them.


    '' silver skull ring


    Rings made from minerals found in high level undead. This naturally repels low level undead''


    This was a fairly useful way to avoid the undead swarms since most were made of low level undead. Walker was relieved it wasn''t anything insane and dangerous. He passed out one to everyone mentioning what it did and found that the one he gave midnight expanded to fit the front leg.


    They walked a bit farther to where they had camped in the past. As soon as their foot hit the campsite the system updated them.


    ''Chain questpleted:


    Escaped the catbs.


    Rewards:


    200exp multiplied to 2000exp.


    Chain questpleted, all optional sectionspleted, all rewards collected''


    Upon seeing the notice everyone instantly let the sheer amount of stress roll off them. With barely any energy to set up tents, they started to rest. They had finally escaped. The thoughts and worries of the adventure guild rank up test were not to be found. All that mattered was they had escaped with their lives after meeting a terrifyingly strong creature. They weren''t sure anyone at the guild would believe them even after showing their proof. But that was something to worry aboutter. They needed rest and to travel back to be evaluated.

 Chapter 83 - 83. Return Journey

    After resting for more than a day the party had all gathered around to prepare to travel back. They had no idea how long they had been lost in the catbs.


    They had advanced a significant amount of levels from the quests and hadn''t stopped seeing notifications of defeated undead until justst night. It seemed the evil consuming mes were eating away at the swarms near the center for some time.


    The fruits of theirbor were unprecedented. They did not know the chaos they had cause ra in these days. However as they cleaned up and started their journey back to the guild they thought on their newfound levels and experiences.


    Walker


    Jack of all trades system


    Title: hero


    Level 14


    109230/163840exp


    Hp-21


    Def-22


    Mdef-18


    Atk-22


    Matk-26


    Char-16


    Agi-26


    Mana-30


    He had many gears to boost mana and recover mana and had gained a new one the silver skull ring which detected low level undead. This item everyone in the party received and it would definitely help against undead swarms in the adventuring career. Walker had also gained a new skill elemental fusion which he was contemting experimenting with once he returned to their mansion. Making use of the training ground to learn other elemental spells would be the best move. He had also learned a spell call evil consuming me which was an incredible help in dealing withrge swarms of undead.


    Su


    Shield bearer system


    Title: hero


    Level 14


    109230/163840 exp


    Hp-30


    Def-33


    Mdef-33


    Atk-25


    Matk-15


    Char-15


    Agi-25


    Mana-25


    Su had also gained much through these days. She had truly seen how important her role was as the main defender in the party. She had gained a poison resistance skill that would really put her above other defenders. She knew her weakness was agility and had put some of her skill points in to it when she leveled up. She had also acquired a scroll with a master level healing spell inscribed upon it. She knew it came about through nefarious means hundreds of years ago. The ancient undead lich had experimented and tortured someone for this very thing. Yet she knew this may solve the problem that haunted her mother her entire life. Once shepleted the healing Su would be able to give all of her energy to the party and pursue their goals and dreams. The very thought made her heart beat stronger.


    Remey


    Brawler system


    Title: hero


    Level 14


    113810/163840 exp


    Hp-30


    Def-30


    Mdef-21


    Atk-34


    Matk-16


    Char-13


    Agi-32


    Mana-27


    Remey had learned a great amount as well. Some more important than others. She had learned when to speak out and when not to in the face of immortal king. She knew she was powerful but no one could stop it from getting in to her head. She grew more ustomed to working with the other party members. When faced with death she remembered not that she should escape but that she should find a way to survive until the end. This lead her to pick a very rare arcane silk which could be made in to incredible clothing. The party could all benefit from having stronger defenses and lighter gear. This would increase their battle prowess even further.


    Gil


    Ranger system


    Level 14


    Title: hero


    109230/ 163840


    Hp-24


    Def-25


    Mdef-25


    Atk-30


    Matk-30


    Char-21


    Agi-26


    Mana-23


    Gil had been an integral part of finding a safe path in the catbs. The party had leaned on him to act as a scout and spot traps. He''d gained himself a new bow which allowed him to fire magical arrows made of his elemental affinity. From this he learned he had a wind magical affinity. Consequently this was the best affinity for someone who uses the bow. It had been said that even the wind would guide their arrows to the target. Due to his position when hunting in the square he had learned how to watch the whole party and react to danger. This put him right next to Walker sometimes assisting in more ns. He had more or less shown he could stand as second inmand of the group. He''d even be pretty good at snapping Walker out of his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. His thought to ask of history books from immortal king would prove a huge boon to the entire kingdom and not only their test. His critical thinking was expanding as well.


    Midnight


    Skeletal dragon/ ck crystal me dragon system


    Title: hero


    Level: 8


    Exp: 10260/102400


    Hp-150


    Def-100


    Mdef-100


    Atk-125


    Matk-125


    Agi-80


    Mana-100


    Midnight had shown an uncanny ability to sneak up on her prey. This was something she was born with but learned to truly exploit against the undead. She had shown the others her father''s blood line unintentionally by munching on bones and eventually showing off her wings. The surprise of showing her wings was enough to send walker in to a spiral however she also demonstrates the change to her adult scales. This was surely the start of her growth spurt towards a young adult dragon. She''d gained condensed understanding from immortal king in both death and darkness which would strengthen her bloodline. She would consume this once safe at the mansion and most likely sleep for days to digest it. The party could only guess why amazing changes would ur.


    They all stood before the kingdoms gate after some days traveling. They had all spoken and shown off their new levels. They found counting the zombies, skeletons, corpse spiders, undead rats, undead golem, and other random undead they''d defeated to be impossible. They also had faith that even if they had defeated zero they now had enough within Walker''s inventory to get them to the next tier. They had made it home. The feelings of relief washed over them. Soon they were all smiling as they stepped forward. The sun was high in the sky and they had a meeting with the adventurers guild. They couldn''t wait to surprise ra and maybe even cause a littlemotion by telling guild master ibis about the immortal king.

 Chapter 84 - 84. Reporting In

    The party took the center of the street and walked tall. The pride they felt in returning was immeasurable. This had been the longest any of them had been gone from their homes. They walked slow enjoying the sounds of their home city. The hustle and bustle wee over the previousmon sounds of bones and scratching. It seemed as if the walk to the guild was short to them. The building soon stood tall in front of them the door asking them to open it.


    Walker opened the door to see the normal groups sitting around chatting, moring for quests, and returningpleted reports. A few new faces were attempting to gather a party spared nces at them but quickly gave up noticing they had already formed one. ra was nowhere to be seen after a few minutes of looking.


    "Excuse me miss!" Walker hailed a smaller blond woman who was running by. "Have you seen ra? She''s our party manager and we''ve just returned." The woman almost dropped her paperwork on the ground.


    "You say your ra''s party? Wait your the one causing all themotion? But your so young?" The woman had let her thoughts run from her mouth before she knew it. These young adventures that looked green as grass had been the reason for all the drama upstairs. Orders for preparation to receive arge amount of items had pushed the basement in to overdrive to process and make space. Paperwork had been filled out to get ahead of the soon toe influx. The guild master and ra the floor manager had been cooped up in the office for days at one point. Whenever another employee saw them they were mumbling about impossible things. The ying of swarms of undead? A low tier party defeating a mid tier undead golem? It all had sounded like they lost their minds. And standing in front of her the ones that supposedly did it all.


    "Umm uuh um y-yes she''s here pardon me before I was surprised. I''ll go notify her now. Please wait a moment." She snapped herself from her daze ced down her paperwork and rushed upstairs to the guild masters office.


    The sound of thudding footsteps were heard on the floor above along with the stairs until a familiar face burst from the stairwell. "I SWEAR YOU IDIOTS! If you''d been one dayter you would have failed the two month requirement!" ra wanted to tell them she was happy to see them, to ask them a million questions about what happened. However the second she heard they were back she felt the anger of knowing if they were a dayter their amazing aplishments no matter what they were would be written off as a failure.


    The party as a whole was taken back, never had they imagined ra able to yell so much so that she could silence the entire first floor. Many parties looked at her in fear knowing her position as manager of the first floor. They also were taken back by her tone and made note never to anger her. ra however quickly realized she had made a scene and straightened her jacket clearing her throat. "Please follow me to the guild master office" the curt and simple sentence again shocked those on the first floor since she was escorting such a young party up to the guild masters office of all ces!


    The party may be in slight shock but they knew the exact reason. They had been unable to properly keep time in the catbs and had just found out they almost lost the right to advance from this test. Not only would it have been a recorded failure but it also would have severely limited their long term progress as adventurers. It wasn''t umon for a party to fail however the reason for failure is often more important. If the party failed due to encountering monsters or situations that were too challenging it was more eptable because they could still grow stronger in the future. But if a party failed because they didn''t bring proof or failed the time limit it showed that theycked the ability toplete quests properly overall. That fact alone could end an adventurers career because having that ability was why they were relied on.


    These thoughts bombarded the party as they stepped upwards towards the guild masters office. They had been so happy to slowly walk to the guild as if they had all the time in the world. They couldn''t have been more wrong!


    None of them dared to speak as ra lead them to the office. Upon entering they found ibis sitting and waiting expectantly. In front of him was a stack of documents that seemed to bebeled omnipotent party. This added anotheryer to the stress and fear the party felt at the moment.


    ra took a seat next to ibis and they both looked at each other as if having a silent conversation. "We have been waiting for you return, here we have gathered every defeat your system sent me as your manager. Please as the party leader begin from the second your foot left the city to the second your foot entered the city. Every detail as possible and as it happened." After ra had spoken she and ibis both pulled out nk sheets of paper and writing utensils. They looked like two students ready to study.


    Walker shook off some fear epting that the pair looked so serious because of the test. This of course was not the case but the party was still ignorant of how big an effect their actions had. Walker started exining little by little. ra became stuck for a moment when he exined how they lured and created their own little swarms of undead to use a new spell on. She interrupted him for the details and inter workings of the spell. However ibis became stuck on the undead golem. He himself in his youth once had to fight one and did not expect the young party to have the strength to do so themselves. The pair did not know that the story was about to shock them even further.

 Chapter 85 - 85. How It Happened

    Once walker had gotten to the part where they had been trapped in the catbs ra became very serious.


    "Was that when you encountered the corpse spiders? I know they hunt above ground but often create nests below ground." She had picked up many bits of information due to working at the guild. This was one of those.


    "Yes, we encountered a nest and even have the eggs left from it. We n to sell them at the auction as a bundle with some zombie flesh and skeleton bones for tamers who want to raise them." ra was impressed by the forward thinking but was also d Walker had not pulled out an egg to show off. If it had hatched in the office she would have instantly killed it.


    Ibis and ra jotted down a few more notes before walker continued. They were fairly interested in the skeletal spider and ibis himself took the remaining leg to personally deliver it to the basement. The guild had created many books based off of monster anatomy and this was an interesting evolution for corpse spiders. This could change some of the outdated information.


    The pair seemed unhappy that the party was unable to map out the ruins but understood that they had unintentionally entered the catbs below. Ibis also showed interest in the ceremonial armor and asked if it too was being sold in the auction. Walker had nned to do just that not knowing if it had any value other than historical. "Yes actually it is very popr with collectors. Barry happens to be one. He may not wear much armor ever but is a fanatic for collecting. Just don''t tell him I told you." Walker and the party weren''t much surprised by this they had assumed Barry may be interested in something of the sort due to his high physical battle history.


    Walker handed it over to ibis who told him he would deposit 500G for it in their party ount. This surprised everyone that the guild master was willing to spend so much on something not even fit forbat. However not a single one of them protested. They needed not worry about auctioning it now.


    Continuing on they spoke of finding the skeletal archer. This rare form of undead was a tough opponent for most but luckily had been encountered in a smaller space. If it had been in an open area it may have been a different result. Gil showed off the bow impressing ibis "this Very well is a weapon that couldst you a lifetime. Even if you get a stronger bow it may be better to use it as materials to enhance this one. I strongly rmend having some elemental crystals used to temper it. Specifically for your affinity." It was sound advice. Using air/wind crystals would most certainly help Gil cut down the firing time of his elemental arrows. In a tight spot less than a second could mean life or death.


    Once walker exined the undead leeches ibis and ra chanted in their heads how happy they were that the Party escaped. The pair had seen some remains once upon a time that had been the results of such leeches. It was never a pretty sight or story to hear of an unfortunate adventurer that fell in one of the ancient ruins water ways. There had even been a poor soul that drank from one. Many monster encyclopedia of the undead variety warned not to go anywhere near them and to especially avoid rain in the undead heavy areas since the leeches could travel small distances to hunt.


    Upon sharing the growth of midnight wings she stood tall and gave them a soft p. In these few days she had gained a small amount of control over them. She was far from flying but now could fully extend them to cause a small breeze. That however did not stop her strutting around the office for a few minutes as walker exined her fathers and mother bloodline. The pair furiously scribbled notes knowing those in the research team would kill them if they didn''t share this. In depth knowledge on dangerous dragons was always far and in between.


    After being reminded of the talisman the party had found the two grew even more interested. A few other talismans had been found and were thought to bepletely useless as no one had found the doors. Some had been sold as collector''s pieces. The news that they actually corresponded to a door was big news. This being released would push many to go to the ancient ruins and persue treasure. However the next words were enough to break through their initial shock.


    The news of an ancient undead lich existing within the central spire of the ancient ruins was ground breaking. Such a creature had the ability to ughter whole armies. Walker quickly described what his all around appraisal skill stated about it and even gave them the name it told them. The more he told them about immortal king the more they seemed to grow pale. After he told them about it fusing its soul from every living soul in the city and bing trapped did they finally gain some color to their faces.


    The entire story of the previous hero caused ibis to sweat. ra however was surprised. This was something she didn''t know. Walker became perplexed at the reaction of ibis but knew he had to finish every detail. Reviewing the conditions of their gifts and how immortal king had decided to test them ra and ibis felt like their hearts would jump from their throats.


    Describing their escape n d and ibis began to realize just how much this party had advanced mentally. Due to their resolve to get stronger they pushed their minds to develop faster than a normal party would. Years of experiences had been burned in to their minds. Not only their minds but it was evident in the short time since ibis brought them to the castle that these five had be significantly stronger. Their ingenuity would allow them to ovee stronger parties in level. Once Walker had finished speaking and described their calm and thankfully basic trip back the pair finally rxed.

 Chapter 86 - 86. Test Results

    Ibis took arge stamp from his front drawer. A slight bit of mana infused in to it as her stamped the papers with a thud. Next thing the party knew his papers had burned to nothing. This magical item had disintegrated the papers to send the knowledge elsewhere. "Hmm now the king has a copy, this will be a confidential matter. We will use ra''s notes to produce a doctored report. If everyone knew of the door talismans and an ancient undead lich giving away power every adventurer would run to their death. Basing off of immortal kings temperaments it would most likely y with them all and we would be at a grave loss." Ibis did not want to admit that even he most likely couldn''t defeat such a monster. This ancient undead lich could be felled by a Diamond tier adventure party but one that had fused with many souls most likely possessed powers beyond that which was expected.


    ra released an exasperated sigh "we''ve been watching your progress using my managerial abilities. We received the same notifications you all did as you defeated monsters. With This, we can gather the scope of your ability. With the additional history books, you brought back and even the materials your rank up is more than guaranteed. However since you''ve all smashed every previous record from any test we had to reevaluate." These five had no idea what they''d put them through. "Now you said you would auction some things off? Does that mean you will have the guild process the excess?" This question was to ascertain if they wasted their time preparing the monster dissection in the basement for their arrival.


    "Yes exactly, we should only need five bones and five parts of zombie flesh for each egg. The rest well sell to the guild for processing. We know it won''t turn much of a profit however. We also gathered broken and rusty weapons and armors so we will also sell those to the guild. I know there''s a partnership with the forge and they will receive these as materials. The ancient gold coins we received we would like to exchange for minted gold coins of our kingdom. Lastly some of the ancient religious essories we would like to hand over to you and the guild as well. I''m sure they aremon but maybe they will be useful for history. Oh! Also I already took the time to read those history books on the trip back here so at ater date I''d like a copy of each to ce at the mansions library. If you need help tranting anything I can now read thenguage of the ancient city." Walker unloaded his ns amazing the pair yet again at how thorough he was.


    "Yes I''m sure the research devision will be dragging you in to the library as a trantor. They might even keep you for the rest of your life." raughed at her joke but knew that it was very much true after seeing that they could spend days without sleep in study. Once they gained traction in a subject it was like fighting the tide.


    "Ah yes we especially prepared them for the influx of materials so don''t worry about dropping it all off today. It will be nice to put them through the wringer once in a while." An evil glint could be seen in the old mana eyes. He had lost many a bet with the head of the dissection and research divisions and this was a nice opportunity for a little revenge.


    After that ibis began sifting through another drawer in his desk. The clinking of metals ever present. "Ha! Found them." He pulled five identical silver ques from the drawer. "These are your new tes. We would have like to send you directly to gold tier adventurer party but your level is just not high enough to allow you to safely go on gold tier quests. However we have decided that your party should be able to properly handle silver level quests. Your mental fortitude and creativity have given birth to an advanced form of teamwork. We are both very impressed." The party each took a medal not believing the color they saw in their hands. This was insane! They had jumped straight to silver in such a short time.


    "Now don''t let it go to your heads. You are all still young and easy to target. Not to mention having this tier now along with your title will most likely cause trouble. We will be able to use your title as a deterrent from some but others will say you got lucky and try their luck." ra''s words were out of worry but also out of past knowledge. She had seen parties grow to a new tier a bit faster than others Only to be ambushed or worse by others at thepletion of quests causing the party to fall apart or worse.


    They all took her words to heart while affixing the knew medals to their person. Once they had done so ibis spoke up, "I understand you may all be tired but you will need to head downstairs with ra to deal with the basement. After such we will get to work andter release the results to the public as we always do to congratte those parties. Please take notice of the ranking board downstairs. Your party will now be on the silver bulletin." Ibis was trying to move them along so he could begin creating the doctored test results along with check for a reply from the king. He would not get much sleep tonight.


    ra stood up and with a gesture began leading the party downstairs. After returning to the first floor she lead them to a secondary stair case leading to the basement. The noises of sawing, chopping and even some boiling liquids started to be heard. There were many strange and exotic smells mixing. The party was about to enter the research and dissection division of the guild.

 Chapter 87 - 87. Dissection And Research

    Besides the smell the basement had sights that would cause a run of the mill citizen to loose their lunch. Many monsters of various sizesy onrge tables cut open exposing all of their internal organs. People were poking and prodding them. Some wore thing rubber suits to explore the anatomy of more hazardous monsters while others wore nothing but a shirt and pants. Various tools were being used from saws to extremely sharp des. There was even someone hammering away at rock like scales with a chisel.


    ra lead them to arge open space, "this is the spot for your party. Please empty everything you are going to have us process right here." ra may not have been showing it but she was extremely interested to see the multitude of items brought back. It was rare for a single party to bring back so much. Usually onlyrge raid groups against swarms orrge monster hoards would bring back items in bulk.


    Walker proceeded to pull most of the undead bones from his storage leaving only enough to sell with the corpse spider eggs. He did the same with the zombie flesh. Next the sound of ttering weapons and armor sets as all of them came out of nowhere. Followed by the leather armors and the ancient gold coins which got their own pile. The pile was almost as tall as Walker seeing as he just stacked it all on top of each other.


    However he then began emptying the undead ashes in to the area around the items. It was true minerals could be extracted from the ashes of the undead. However this massive quantity was too much. Not only would this take time to process by the alchemist guild would not need undead ashes for the next year at least. This was a rather unique ingredient for potions. Often used in paralyzing potions as a thickener to get it to coat weapons.


    ra thought she had somehow stumbled in to a desert made of ash. This is what happened to all of those they had defeated. That''s why the zombie flesh was such small amountpared to the amount defeated.


    The sounds had died down around them and the party found many of those once at work to be eyeing the pile. This was the insatiable curiosity those of the dissection and research division possessed.


    They noticed a skinny man walking towards them. He was bald and wearing thin framed sses. Adorned in his body were many leather holsters. They contained knives of many sized, little torge saws, and even some strange needle like tools Walker had never seen.


    "Looks like a good haul you brought us this time eh? ra?" The man was looking at the pile like it was a feast before him. "My name Richard and I''m in charge of the weirdos down here. It''s best to get out of the way, once my colleague gets over here she might drag ya to the library for the next year." The party didn''t see this as a threat but more of a warning based on a true story.


    They were dumbfounded, were they really being kicked out? Should they be lucky not to stay in the skin crawling area or should they be angry not to see how it''s evaluated. "Let''s go, it''s best to listen to him. Once he starts he won''t be much use anyways he''ll get too absorbed." ra rolled her eyes knowing that most working down in the basement would stop and help Richard causing a frenzy of analysis. It was basically throwing bait to a shark tank.


    The party left still a bit ruffled. As they returned to the first floor ra spoke again, "congrattion on ranking up substantially. As your party manager I will ce the proceeds from the items left here in your bank ount. Also since you desire to ce some items in the auction I will procure tickets. The auction is held once a month. Since you reside in the upper tier now you will be allowed to attend the Ga family auction. They are renowned for up keeping strong civility during auctions along with extremely tight security. Lastly I am ordering you all to rest. You gained many levels too fast and you need to all adjust. I will be denying you quests for one week." ra''s words and face said there would be no arguing with this. Walker almost spoke up but realized he had no chance whatsoever.


    With that ra promptly left and headed back upstairs. She knew that the longer she dawdled the longer it would take to set everything up.


    The party had nothing more to do and had decided to finally head home. Tonight they would need to feast. However they began to caught strange nces and hear the odd whisper. To everyone on the first floor this young party had cause a scene and not only that but left the first floor stone tier adventurers but returned at silver tier!


    There was something strange going on by most of the adventurers were of at highest bronze tier themselves and naturally feared those higher than themselves. However to be so young at silver tier cause many to doubt them. This could spell trouble for the future.


    Avoiding most of the looks they left the guild and returned to the street. As they walked home they stopped at many stalls. They chose some exceptional roasted meat from a Minotaur, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and even splurged on some exotic spices. Walker would have bought dessert too but if he had his mother would kill him. Midnight took note of the quantity of food and was soon bouncing along with everyone almost pushing them to walk faster.


    After some time walking they saw the mansion loom ahead of them. It may not be the peak of growing season however gils mother had stated to bring some green in to the gardens.

 Chapter 88 - 88. Home Sweet Home

    The garden was growing rather well even though the cold set in more and more each day. Dark green vines had begun to climb up some trellises set up in an archway. There appeared to be a roughly set up path snaking through an entire side of the garden. Walker could only imagine how nice it would be to wander through the growth as the sun rose.


    The previous over grown spots of thorns had beenpletely torn out leaving only spaces for new nts to grow. Walker was imagining what would happen once all the new seeds he had were introduced, they would surely have the most wonderful garden in the kingdom.


    Unfortunately nobody was outside at the moment so all the could do was enter. Once the doors were opened the party looked at each other, "three...two...one... WE''RE HOME!!!!!" They all yelled together causing their voices to echo.


    Shuffling sounds were followed by loud running footsteps. Before walker could even turn Lisa had jumped on to his back in a huge hug. "Y¡ªyou we-were ggone so-o looong!!" Walker hadn''t expected Lisa to fly in to full tears but it was to be expected after they were gone almost two whole months. Consoling Lisa walker didn''t even see that Gils mother hade from the stairs. The two were already talking fast.


    From what walker could hear his father was off on a hunt for wild boar. Gil found that funny since his father had alwaysined about not being able to take the time to do so in the past. Now with their new home he had taken full advantage to pursue one of his dreams.


    Su had run off up the stairs towards her mother bedroom. After they got situated Walker mentally reminded himself to go there with the scroll he had stored to allow Su to use it on her mother. Hopefully there would be even more to celebrate tonight.


    Remey was looking a bit dejected since she didn''t have any family here than the party itself. "I''m sure my fathers off guarding something or other. So want to go see what my mother things about the feast tonight?" Walker tried to distract Remey and it seemed to work like a charm.


    "Ha! Let''s go midnight and tell miss hilda all about our adventures before walker does!" Midnight was happy to go to the kitchen, she had missed Hilda passing her scraps to her as she cooked. Remey stuck her tongue out at walker and ran off with midnight in her heels.


    "So Lisa, don''t you want to hear what happened? You know I fought some pretty gross undead. We even met one that''s been alive for hundreds of years. He gave Remey something nice that she wants you to test your skills on." These words were enough to spark Lisa''s curiosity. She released walker from her death grip of a hug and looked at him wondering why they weren''t heading to the kitchen like Remey. "Hey Gil don''t forget about dinner!" Walker teased as Gil was still rambling on sharing everything. Gil brushed him off waving his hand for him to go away.


    Before walker could throw more teasing remarks Lisa had grabbed his hand and began to drag him. She may have still be smaller than him but she was stronger than she looked.


    They soon reached the kitchen where they could hear Remey talking "spiders are just so gross and we saw two different kinds those weird grey ones on the rocks tried to sneak and jump but those super gross ones underground worse zombie skin and bone they smmmeellleeeddd sooooo baaddd." Walkerughed to himself knowing that Remey got along so well with his mother. It made him happy to know she had shaken herself from her prior sadness.


    Remey noticed walkering in and gave him a re turning back to Hilda "and he has some spider eggs! You need to tell him he isn''t allowed to hatch them!!!! He said we would auction them but he might be trying to fool me so he can have gross spider pets!" Remey was sneaky, she had involved his mother to make sure he wouldn''t get another contracted monster. Her distaste for spiders knew no bounds.


    "Youe home and instead of bringing food and stories your brought spiders?" Hildaughed at her own little joke knowing all too well walker and the rest of the party stopped to grab food.


    As walker began to take the ingredients from his storage Lisa had clung to Remey. "Walker said you got a gift from someone and you were going to ask me to use my skills on it?" Lisa''s excitement could not be contained to wait patiently.


    "Hmm and did he say what it was?" Lisa shook her head no. "Good at least he knows that, walker can you give me that item?" Remey was used to teasing and creating mystery for her siblings at the orphanage and took on the act perfectly. She wasn''t giving any hints until it was right in front of Lisa.


    Remey and walker moved to obscure Lisa''s vision as walker took the arcane silk from his storage. In the next second Remey spun around letting the free end wave and almost shimmer in the air. Lisa was star struck, this beautiful silk shine reflected in her eyes. This quality of fabric was something only the highest ss seamstress or trailer could work with and there was a massive roll of it in front of her!


    "Silk! Look it''s silk! Mother they brought back silk!" Lisa was bouncing but holding herself back afraid to touch it just yet.


    "Ehm well yes it''s silk but it''s called arcane silk, it''s made from arcane silk worms thread. It''s repels magic and is as strong as steel. So with your special needles you may be one of the only ones able to creat something from it." Walker was overjoyed seeing how happy his sister was. Their adventure may have had rough points but to know how happy the results made others was so much better.


    "Actually because of this I had hope you could make something''s for us." Remey spoke up on her n.

 Chapter 89 - 89. Feast

    Remey had been brainstorming while they had travels back home about what to ask Lisa to make. She hade up with ideas for everyone.


    "That being said I''m basically cing an order, do you think your up for it?" Remey smirked as she said this.


    Lisa looked ready to reply but paused and hesitated. He eyes shown with renewed vigor, "yes I ept the quest!" Lisa grabbed Remeys hand and started to pull her away. While struggling to hold the fabric and Lisa''s hand Remey had no choice but to follow.


    "Huh so Lisa received a quest from Remey asking to ce an order." Walker was surprised and spoke out loud.


    "Well for her profession that''s how it would normally go, just like me I receive quests when I take orders for my baked goods." Hilda knew Walker had this information but decided to reinforce it since she knew he often fell in to his own thoughts.


    After thinking on it a bit more walker decided it was best to help out with the cooking but was promptly forced out of the kitchen. His mother decided that none of them were to help cook at all since they were celebrating their return.


    With his newfound free time walker wandered to the training area. He figured he might as well the the abyssal serpent egg absorb more light while he practices. After cing the egg down safely walker decided that since the small pond was there he might as well try to learn water magic.


    Most of his skills hade situationally, he often didn''t learn something unless it went with the flow. So he figured the best bet to learn something would be to directly gather some water in his hands.


    "Freeze!...." nothing happened.


    Walker knew it wouldn''t be that easy but decided to try everything he heard of.


    "Dance!....spikes!....flow!....rain!..." if anyone was witnessing this they would think him mad. But after over an hour of shouting and throwing water or letting it drip from his hands he was no where. To add insult to I jury as walker stood up his foot slipped on an algaeden rock.


    Before he could do anything he was totally underwater. He could feel the muck on the bottom of the fond between his fingers. As he pushed up award he noticed the silt stirred by this motions.


    "Skill water maniption had been taken from the water elemental system.


    Would the user like to learn water maniption?''


    Walker didn''t even need to say yes just as his head breached the surface of the water his thoughts had already given the system the go ahead.


    ''Skill water maniption has been learned.


    Water maniption- mana 1+


    Gives the ability to manipte water in to its many forms. The more mana used the more effect it will have. The water manipted must exist is the area directly and can not be created.''


    Walker dragged himself back to drynd trying to both read and not shiver due to how cold the water was. While doing so he realized it was the perfect way to test this new skill.


    Walker immediately used water maniptions on the water covering his clothing and body. He noticed three mana had been consumed instantly. The water on his body and in his clothing started to drip down. It was repelled from him as if it had been mixed with oil. A puddle developed at his feet.


    Walkers excitement grew as he ced a finger in the puddle and pushed more mana in to it trying to freeze it. Another three mana was consumed and the small puddle turned bright white freezing in to crunchy crystals.


    ying with his new skill walker tried to find the smallest amount of water he could control using only one singr mana point. This took much of his time and almost all his mana. Soon he realized that it was time to eat and quickly retrieved the egg. His spirits were very high.


    Entering the indoor dining area he was amazed by the amount of food. The party may have gotten a decent amount on their way back but it appeared that his mother had truly out done herself. Perfectly sliced meats with mounds of roasted vegetables sat center. Peeled fruits were ced like little gems waiting to be eaten. Walker almost pulled one of the ten bottles of aged berry wine to drink with dinner since it would be an amazing surprise. However remembering its extravagant price he thought It smarter to save it for the auction. There would be many who would pay a hefty sum for one bottle which could easily fund the party for a good while.


    "This all looks amazing!" Walker pulled out a chair and sat down. Naturally he had been thest to arrive since he''d been outside.


    Everyone was eating and talking, walker could only feel he was extremely lucky to have so many people to share a meal with. Each member of the party took their turns sharing their adventures. This time they were more calm and didn''t miss a detail. Their families looked in awe, and horror based on the part they were at. This slightly amused them as they were the ones who had lived it and had already epted the absurdity.


    The night approached and soon they realized they''d basically started to sleep at the dinner table. For everyone it was time to rest. They all deserved to revel in their dreams for the night. They wouldn''t be able to go on a quest for a week so instead they would all go their own ways until the auction in a few days. Walker had his own ns to experiment with magic. Midnight would be absorbing the condensed understanding and most likely sleeping. Gil said he would run off to find his father and hunt a bit. Remey would spend time with her siblings at the orphanage, well basically beating them up. And Su was going to use the scroll in the morning to heal her mother. Walker offered to be there to help if needed so first thing they would do was to heal Su''s mother.

 Chapter 90 - 90. Healing

    It was almost a blink of an eye for the night to pass. Walker woke up refreshed and ready to go. However he found midnight eagerly waiting at the foot of his bed and he knew exactly why. She wanted the condensed understanding.


    "Is there somewherefortable you want to process this?" Walker wanted to make sure midnight was ready for the days she would be passed out to absorb and understand this.


    In response midnight started moving to the kitchen. Hilda had long set up a ce for her to nap next to the oven and that was the ce chosen. Seeing this walker retrieved the condensed understanding from his inventory and offered it in his palm. Midnight cautiously grasped it with her teeth before fully swallowing it.


    The effect was grey and ck strands of energy flowing around her scales and a cloud forming in her eyes. Her eyelids dropped as she began to fall off to sleep. Walker could feel a huge amount of energy from their connection and realized a minuscule amount was also effecting him. He wasn''t sure what this would change in him but decided it wasn''t too important since it was only natural since the two were connected.


    Walker waited a little while worried midnight would be hurting but was instead finding her to be sleeping much better than ever. He knew that trusting a monster to have given them something safe was a ridiculous notion. However something told him that immortal king wouldn''t have lied. Shaking off this strange feeling walker left midnight to her rest.


    He slowly walked through the mansion thinking about what element he wanted to try out next. Should he get earth magic? He could try to use it to make earth walls for defenses. Su would be able to breath easier too. Should he try wind magic? He could speed up Gils arrows even more to pierce through the toughest defenses. He could y with fire more and get some basic fire maniption, it would help since the colder season was upon them. Soon as the snow fell ice wraiths, yeti, frost trolls, and other snow affinity monsters would be able to travel near them. This was always a tough time for young adventurers. Winter was apletely different environment to maneuver. Many who were sure footed became clumsy where those who specialized in water and wind element magic needed to be more careful not to effect their party negatively.


    While pondering these things Walker suddenly bumped in to something. Taking two steps back he realized it wasn''t something but someone. "Leader shouldn''t you be paying attention to where you are?" Luckily Su had steadied him.


    Walker was fairly embarrassed since he knew it was his major w to be lost in thoughts. "Sorry about that Su I was thinking about learning more elemental magic. Would you like to go use the scroll now?" Walker wanted to push past his embarrassment and get to the main event.


    "Yes, I was actually looking for you. Mother and father are waiting for me in their room. I''ve yet to tell them why. I just told them we had new medicine." Su didn''t want to push their hopes too high in case things failed. This was a big deal, healing her mothers frail constitution would be a massive blessing.


    The two headed a few doors down to find Su''s mother Helena stillying in bed looking fairly pale. Frederick he father was in a chair sitting next to her. They had obviously been chatting about what kind of medicine their daughter may have and were extremely curious upon seeing walker as well.


    Walker didn''t waste a moment and pulled the scroll from his inventory. Su took it from him readily. "Mother, father this is a scroll that holds a single healing spell from a master healer. It should be able to heal mothers weak constitution permanently. Walker and I are going to use our mana to activate it with your permission." Su was looking at her mother worried she wouldn''t allow them to since this was such a valuable item.


    Helenas face was wrinkled in thought. Should she tell Su to save it for when their party was in dire need? Or should she let greed take her and let them heal her. "Use it on your mother, I know this could heal any of you from near death but I love you and Helena so much more than my own life. I''ll happily sell myself to get another healing item to rece it." Frederick spoke up. He knew this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity and had decided to bet it all on it.


    Helena and Su looked pained, Frederick had just offered his very life to the party in exchange. Walker knew the magnitude of this and responded first, "this scroll is not something owned by the party, I''m just holding on to it for safety. My friend Su here earned this herself and may I say she could have chosen anything. Yet she chose the one thing she cared for most in her heart. Her families well-being. I could not want someone better in my party. So there is no need for any exchange, I''m here to help my party member, no a member of my own family." Walkers words brought a tear to Helena''s eye. She was so happy Su had found someone so reliable in her life. Frederick was speechless he tried to say something but the words escaped him, he could only nod his head over and over.


    Su smiled wider than she ever had before, "walker let''s use the scroll." Su usually called him leader but walker was happy to hear his name. Su and walker stood by Helena and opened the scroll. Each had one end in one hand as they channeled mana within it.


    A green glow emanated from the open scroll and soon small glowing sparks came forth. These sparks epassed Helena. The glow grew brighter and bright for more than ten minutes until it abruptly faded.

 Chapter 91 - 91. Elemental Magic

    The scroll had vanished from their hands,pletely consumed now that the spell sealed within had been used. Su looked a bit weak as she had less mana that walker and used most of it. However as they looked to Helena the changes were great. Helena who had previously been pale was now rosy cheeked and her eyes shown with energy.


    Frederick saw this change and had jumped up standing in front of the bed, his desire to grab her and swing her in his harms was barely held back.


    Walker knew that they would have a lot to go over so he was ready to excuse himself. "I know this is a lot to take in so I''ll leave you all to rest." Before Su could stop him he left through the door. As his steps faded the sounds of excitement and crying had filled the room.


    Walker was finally free to proceed with his studies. He had decided to first experiment with earth since the ground was everywhere. It was much like the same he did with water. He started by throwing a rock...nothing. Stomping the ground....nothing. Yelling earth wall in different ents...nothing.


    He had the drive to try many things but felt again like a fool. The next hour of doing so made him look just as such. The sun had now risen enough to give him adequate light which was greedily absorbed by the abyssal serpent egg.


    After almost two hours walker threw some dust in the air "sandstorm!"


    ''Due to actions from the user in rtion to elemental fusion skill two skills have been take .


    The skill earth maniption has been taken from the earth elemental system.


    The skill wind maniption has been taken from the sky elemental system.


    Would the user like to learn the skills?''


    "Y-yess!" Walker pushed pst his minor shock seeing two skills pop up.


    ''Skill wind maniption has been learned.


    Wind maniption- mana 1+


    Give the ability to manipte the air. The more mana used the more the user can manipte. This can not creat air but utilize the air in the environment.


    Skill earth maniption has been learned


    Earth maniption-mana 1+


    Give the ability to manipte the earth. The more mana used the the more the user can manipte. This can not create earth but utilizes the earth in the environment.''


    Walker was thinking, now that he had earth, wind, and water he would have to get light darkness and fire. The question was didn''t he already have a darkness and a fire spell? Or what''s evil consuming me a light spell? Would he also try to manipte time? He had a spatial magic skill too. He didn''t fully understand thest two elements rtion to the other six so decided to forego them for now.


    Deciding to start with light and fire walker used evil consuming me skill to create a white fireball in his hand. The theory he hade up with was that keeping it within his palm and keeping it burning he could manipte the strength by forcing more mana in to it. To enhance this and rte it also to the darkness element he used the shadow of the mansion as his workspace.


    Slowly increasing the mana would make the white me brighter andrger chasing away the darkness of the shadows around him. However decreasing the mana the shadow would return to its normal strength. Walker could feel some heating off of it and was trying to ignore the slight burning feeling in his hand. He judged he had enough mana to test this for about three hours as long as he didn''t use too much.


    Unknown to him the abyssal egg had absorbed a significant amount of the light given off from the white me.


    The time passed and as walker noticed his mana dwindling he became a bit more reckless. Sometimes he would force the the me so small that the shadows looked to be swallowing it and others he would push it to its limit and have the shadow almost disappear. His hands felt dry and almost brittle from the constant heat but he refused to give up. He had sweat dripping from his brow. Aplex expression showed on his face as he knew only a few precious minutes remained before he''d need to stop for the day.


    Finally he hit one mana remaining andpletely extinguished the me. He fell to hit butt leaning back with a huge sigh. "Soooo ttttiirreeddd!!!" He didn''t want to move anymore he just wanted to nap in the sun that had now risen to conquer the shadows on the side of the house walker had been experimenting in.


    He drifted off to sleep not even taking notice of the system in action.


    ''Skill darkness maniption has been taken from the lord of the dark system


    The skill light maniption has been taken from the angels system


    The skill me maniption has been taken from the me elementals system.


    The system has detected six elemental skillspatible with existing skill elemental fusion.


    Skills have been fused:


    Light maniption, water maniption, wind maniption, fire maniption, earth maniption, darkness maniption.


    Skill grand elemental maniption has been created and learned.


    Skill grand elemental maniption- mana 1+


    User can greatly manipte any of the six core elements: light, air, water, earth, fire, darkness. The user can not create these


    elements where they do not exist.''


    Walkers nap produced strange dreams of fire and water mixing to create steam. The earth burning endlessly creatingva. The wind throwing water and dust creating tornadoes and typhoons. Darkness water and earth creating poison swamps. Light, water, and air creating clouds of the heavens. So many ways for the elements tobine and natural phenomenon. For walker who was often lost in thought this dream was better than reading any book or tome. Lucky for him his dream was being recorded in his mental archive.


    Subtle cracking sounds could be heard near him. Scratching and more cracking grew in volume.

 Chapter 92 - 92. New Friends

    Walker was awoken from his nap by something cold wrapping around his hand. Rubbing his eye with his opposite the blurry ck form took shape.


    A small ck snake was curled around walkers left hand. It''s head not even the size of a gold coin. It''s ck scales shimmered with a faint amount of light. It''s small forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth and its gold eyes focused on walkers face.


    Walkers spun his head to where the egg was to find only shells.


    "You hatched!!" Walker let out an excited Yelp. He had been eagerly awaiting this little ones birthday. He could feel through their connection that the little ck snake was cold and had decided to wrap itself in the warmest ce which was walkers hand.


    Walker was trying to contain his excitement as he slowly stood up. He didn''t want to frighten the little abyssal serpent. However it didn''t even flinch as it wasfortable being near walker. The blood contract had made a perfect connection. The serpent could feel walker intention and knew it was not in any danger. It could feel the warmth of the excitement in walker and was resting easy.


    Walker went to collect the shell shards but seceded to use his skill first curious if he should just throw them out. Especially since the shell which had been ck was not pure white which made him more curious.


    '' abyssal serpent egg shells


    Once the abyssal serpent has hatched the energy within the shell is absorbed in to the newborn creature. The leftover shell can be used as a stabilizer in antidotal potions. It gives an enhancement to the potions ability to absorb poison due to its newck in energy.''


    "Huh interesting." Walker mumbled out loud while mentally scolding himself for almost throwing something important away. He picked up the shell and brought it to the alchemyb finding a ce on a shelf so that it could be used at ater date.


    Walker had an extra bounce in his step as he walked inside. All this excitement was invigorating. He knew Gil was away and Remey was at the orphanage. He didn''t want to interrupt Su and her family anymore today since they were celebrating Helena''s healing. His father was likely still out and distracting Lisa from her work could anger her. His mother had left to deliver some breads to the guild so she could get fresh air and out of the kitchen which was understandable. Walker thought in the very least he could head to the kitchen and show the little serpent it''s sister so it wouldn''t be afraid of midnight when she was awake and moving about.


    Upon entering the kitchen the same grey and ck whisks of energy were softly flowing around midnight scales. She was breathing slowly deep in slumber. Walker lifted his hand so the little serpent could see "that''s midnight, shes be your big sister. We found her in a forest and got her away from some dangerous people. She''s part of the family just like you are now." As walker spoke he realized he hadn''t even thought of a proper name for the little serpent. Through his connection with it he could tell it was a male which made him happy because he''d never had a little brother only two little sisters Lisa and midnight.


    "Hmm a name...venom?" The serpent recoiled a bit. "That''s a no...how about slithers?" More recoiling "another no...hmmm onyx?" Walker knew there was once a family with the onyx name but it had long merged with another and given up the name. The little serpent rxed its slight coil and almost seemed to nod. Walker felt it was epting this name. "Then onyx it is, my name is walker, that is midnight and you are onyx. Later I''ll introduce you to my sister Lisa, my mother Hilda, my father Garet...." walker began rambling about everyone the little serpent would meet in the mansion. It would be a big day.


    As walker chatted in the kitchen Lisa who had grown hungry having skipped lunch to keep working found him on the floor talking to his hand like a nutcase. " oh no my brother broke his mind!" Lisa was convinced Walker had gone crazy from training.


    " Pfft boo I''m fine you''re the crazy one locking yourself away to work. I remember when you didn''t want to practice." Walkers witty response was just as an older brother should. " no I''m here talking to little onyx who just hatched today. Onyx this is my little sister Lisa, Lisa this is onyx our new little brother."


    Lisa did not expect a little ck snake to be curled around her brothers hand and instantly became infatuated. "He''s sooooo cute and tiny!" Lisa carefully stretched a finger out to pet the top on onyx''s head. Onyx rubbed his head in to her finger obviously enjoying the warmth. Him and midnight would get along very well hanging out by the oven.


    Lisa had known they found an egg as walker had exined it at dinner the night prior however she did not expect it to hatch so soon. For her it was almost like it happened in the blink of an eye. " you''re going to have to be a good big sister and make sure you help me show him around the mansion." Walker was just as excited but decided to let Lisa take the lead for the tour.


    Springing up from the ground "I can do that! We can take a tour right now!" From that moment on the spent a whole hour touring the mansion telling onyx where everyone''s rooms were and what other rooms were used for. They even visited the library which seemed to peak onyx''s interest greatly. Maybe onyx was a bit like walker and craved knowledge. He had just hatched after all. Being in that dark egg for much longer than it should have before finally being able to meet the right conditions to be born in to the world. Walker made the mental decision to show onyx the world!

 Chapter 93 - 93. Preparation

    The rest of the day passed fairly uneventful as everyone met onyx as they returned home. Gil and his father had been the first to return and had sessfully caught a wild boar for dinner.


    As they had eaten Helena had thanked the party profusely, and Frederick continued to offer anything they ever needed. Su seemed to be in a radiant mood. She appeared even happier every time her mother started a conversation or spoke with emotion since it had been a rare urrence with her previous illness. It had seemed Gil''s mother and Su''s mother were hitting it off as they spoke of the garden and ces to rx for tea. Apparently, a gazebo would be built in the spring and a swing was also on the list.


    Walker could feel onyx had be tired through their connection. He looked at onyx and wondered where he would like to sleep. Instead, as Walker was about to ask the system notified him.


    ''Bonded creature onyx has used shadow ink skill on the user.


    Onyx has gone in to a form of slumber.''


    Before his eyes onyx melted in to a ck ink like liquid and absorbed in to Walker''s skin. What was left was a snake like tattoo. Walker could feel onyx was asleep and thought this was a great way for onyx to remain safe and warm while he rested. Walker knew he would need to research some more about abyssal serpents on their way from the auction. He wanted to find a book shop or even attend the city library.


    Since midnight would still be slumbering to absorb the condensed understanding it would work out well for the party to go to the auction. Walker had a feeling brining a young dragon to a high society event might cause some trouble.


    Walker had been lost in thought too long and before he realized it everyone had finished dinner and started to head their own ways for bed. With a quick reminder to the party about the auction he followed suit.


    Sleep came easily and ended just as easily, however, the morning was goi to be a bit more interesting.


    '' daily quest


    Purchase any item to enhance your ability within the party.


    Reward:


    Skill pertaining to the item.''


    Walker rubbed the sleep from his eyes seeing the new daily quest. The system had been silent for a few days as if giving them time to rest. Now it had finallye with something new and it was interesting.


    Walker knew this was going to be the wildcard in the group since anything he chose could affect the party. However, the question was what kind of daily quest did everyone else get? Would Midnight get one while she absorbed the condensed understanding? These things could keep him theorizing for hours but sadly he could not afford to do so.


    The door sounded as if it would fall from its hinges as someone pounded on the other side. "Hey Walker, you got this weird daily quest too right? Walker! Get your butt up and mean in the front hall!" Gil sounded impatient. He must have gotten a daily quest too and wasn''t sure what to go with it. Not to mention I''m sure he was faced with Remey and Su as well.


    Once he was dressed in his finer clothes he decided to top it off by wearing his travel medal the king gave him along with his new silver tier adventurer que. These would surely allow them an easier time conversing with the other guests at the auction. Knowing how nobles thought to a certain degree showing off their standing in both the guild and with the king could get them a significant amount of respect and if not that somemon courtesy.


    Once Walker had adorned himself as such he met the others who had definitely thought the same. Each had worn their travel medals from the king and also their ques. They all smirked at each other knowing their smart thinking.


    "So the quests, I got one saying on I need to buy an item based on my Ranger system so like do I need a new bow?" Gil couldn''t wait any longer, Remey and Su had tried to calm his worry but failed. Gil had just gotten his bow and feared he would have to give it up. It was his dream now how could he trade it away.


    Seeing this worry Walker knew immediately where Gil wasing from but had an answer. "No of course not, it just needs to be something rted to your system right? So maybe some boots that help you sneak? Or maybe some strong arrows? It could even be new bracers time protect your arm from the bows reverb." The one key thing Gil had missed by focusing on his weapon was that there were many other aspects in his system. "That goes for you too Su, don''t only focus on your shield. Remey you and I both know you could use some better armor but if not that then please nothing too crazy." Walker feared Remey would by some insane ws or metal knuckles that she wouldn''t use orcked proper skills for.


    "Pfft I don''t even know what you''re talking about. Like I would even want to buy spikes to put on my boots..." Remey had let it slip. She could feign not wanting them but her attitude spoke the opposite. Everyone else had hope that Walker''s warning would be enough. They all also feared Remey getting angry and kicking their butts with spiked boots. Not a pretty sight to imagine.


    " I might still buy something for midnight if we see it but I feel like she won''t care unless it''s food." Walkerughed a bit sure that midnight wouldn''t even be interested in the auction anyways. Yet he did know he might encounter something unique to purchase for her.


    "Well not to rush everyone but how about we all head out and meet ra to pick up our tickets at the guild. We can also ask for the results of the basement. We might just have some extra funds for the auction itself!" Walker slipped up allowing some excitement to show. As much as a peaceful morning enjoying the city could be, it seemed all they could think about would be the auction.

 Chapter 94 - 94. Claras Advice

    The party drew many looks walking the streets, this time many weren''t as negative as usual. Just the addition of nicer clothing and a metal was enough to change the onlookers perspective.


    The guards had recognized the kings travel medal and immediately allowed the party to pass. This was proving more useful than usual since the party normally had to stop and wait for them to allow them in or out of the higher tier.


    They also attracted looks from those out and about in the lower tier. The difference here though is every once in a while someone they knew with give a shout.


    "Hey walker y''all headed to a fancy party!?" One guard who recognized him teased as their patrol passed.


    This scene reurred three more times with a few craftsman and even one of his mother''s friends who thought they all looked cute. Overall it was an embarrassing morning so far.


    The guild came in to view and they sped up soon entering the door. Surprisingly the guild was fairly empty today. Easily finding ra at the front counter " good morning ra!" They all said their hellos and good mornings.


    "Ah it''s nice to see you here early, already dressed for the auction I see. Here are you tickets." ra produced five tickets with inscription of the ga family. ra had been nning on giving them five so midnight could attend how''re found midnight not to be present. " is midnight not feeling well?" Her worry evident in her voice.


    "Oh no she''s just sleeping away after the trip. She''ll be asleep for a while longer. By the way why is it so empty in here?" At this point everyone seemed rather curious to why theck ofmotion in the usual busy guild first floor.


    ra had heard this question more than a few times today therefor the response was instant. "There''s a mug merchant party that left and hired many guards. It''s heading to another country so it''s expected for them to get many guards to properly protect the cargo around the clock." They had all left before the sun rose this morning making for a fairly peaceful sunrise. For those that worked on paperwork today was a lucky day to get ahead and really maximize their effort.


    "So on to another matter, the research and dissection division finished the evaluation. In total the equipment, weapons, monster parts, and other items were traded for a significant amount of gold. Your total within your party bank now is 3476G. Please do not get too excited tonight at the auction. I would hate to see another party loose itself in greed." ra''s advice was not unfounded it was fairlymon for some parties to fall in to the trap of spending all their money as soon as they got it.


    "Actually about that, can we pay using our que as identification? We all received a quest and will be making some purchases tonight as well as selling." Walker definitely didn''t want to show off their gold by brining it with him. It would have been much too shower to use special magic over and over to pull out payments.


    ra was surprised they didn''t already know, "those ques are bound to your specific mana, if you use it as identification the auction house can ept it and the payment will be transferred from the party bank." This was a relief. One less thing to worry about. "I know it may be rude but I don''t remember you having a tattoo Walker, where did ite from?" ra was a bit worried walker had u kicked a strange skill or even worse fallen in with a sketchy group.


    Walker looked down remember onyx who was still asleep. " oh would you like to meet our unofficial sixth member?" ras eyebrows hunched up in confusion. New member? While ra looked at his hand walker used his connection with onyx to softly nudge him awake, it would also be good for onyx to meet ra and get used to busier streets.


    The ck ink started to pool up over walkers hand revealing a small ck serpent wrapped around. "This is onyx an abyssal serpent that recently hatched! Onyx this is our parties manager, her name is ra and she works here at the adventurers guild. Welle here often, it''s lucky it''s not too busy today so you can take a better look." Onyx''s head was on a swivel, he couldn''t take in the new sights fast enough but eventually focused on ra. She was extremely smitten with the little ck serpent which had miraculously appeared. This type of magic was rare for a contracted beast/monster to have. Knowing this ra had an idea of what a manager should do.


    "Ah well nice to meet you onyx, and wee to the adventurers guild. Once you growrge enough we''ll figure out a que for you as well. Walker, should I take it you''ll need more information on how to properly raise such a creature? Also maybe more materials on dragons like Midnight?" Walker nodded his head since ra perfectly saw his ns. "Good then as your manager I''ll take a look through our archives, we gather many materials not necessarily housed within the libraries due to the guild specifically gathering them." ra skilled triumphantly knowing she had executed a perfect move for a parties manager.


    "Yes that would be excellent, we were going to search bookstores in hopes of finding something on dragons or abyssal serpents. Now we can focus on other things." Seeing that their afternoon would be free the party started thinking on what else they may do.


    They said their farewells to ra who seemed excited to go find some different materials from the archive. It was a rare opportunity to be able to peruse the archives for something rted to rare monsters. Especially dragons.


    Now with the afternoon off Remey had decided to drag everyone to the orphanage, she may usually be a bit rough around the edges but since almost everyone was with her she wanted to show them off.

 Chapter 95 - 95. Auction House

    We passed the hours talking and ying at the orphanage. We''d stopped to get food and had a pretty nice pic outside in the front yard. It may have been cold but the sun was still bright in the clear sky. Even son wouldn''t stop the vendors in the market so why would the cold stop us from enjoying the sun?


    Once our meal Had finished we headed straight to the auction house. It was within the higher tier and near the main barracks. That was another reason why the ga family was able to gain such airtight security.


    The barracks were where most of the soldiers trained and some of the higher ups held offices. Often promising young soldiers would be chosen from the sses of the academy and brought to the barracks to learn under the higher ups. They would usually be given specific weapons and guided towards certain skills. This was a frustrating point for some since not everyone system supported their option. Luck could y a huge roll. Nobels often also had a step up since they had more resources to make whatever system they unlocked viable.


    Approaching a tall marble building the party was in awe. Large grey and white marble columns held up a strong stone roof. The massive wooden door was painted with gold leaves and vines. Two well dressed men stood waiting in front epting tickets.


    The party climbed the ten stone steps to the entrance, " hello and wee. May I ask to see your tickets sirs and madames?" The man to their right held an open palm awaiting their tickets. Each member of the party ces them in his palm. The man pulled a small pen which glowed slightly as he marked the ticket. "Your admittance is verified, I wish you luck today. If you are just purchasing you may head forward to the main room. If you are selling you can stop at the counter." His instructions were short and sweet. The party proceeded inside.


    Lush red carpets and intricate paintings lined the floors and walls. Here and there a table with refreshments waiting for someone to need them. They could see the open space with a group of people chatting. But a few feet from the room there was a woman standing in front of a counter. An older man was sitting behind the counter with man different monocles dangling from his neck.


    "Hello sir, would you like to have items appraised and registered for the auction?" The woman bowed slightly as she asked in greeting.


    Walker began pulling things from his spatial storage. The old man didn''t even flinch while the woman was fairly surprised. "My party would like to auction these corps spider eggs as packages with these undead bones and zombie flesh. Each package is ideal for a tamer who would like to raise a corps spider or potentially a skeletal spider. Also we have some aged berry wine. We Know how old it was and we personally procured it from the ancient ruins." Walker had said thest part to see if the old man would try and attempt any tricks.


    The old man shifted through four different monocles examining the eggs. Small hmmm sounds and gruff hus sounds weremon yet he hadn''t spoke . He then looked at the wine, walker had only taken out eight bottles. He intended to share one with the king and hold thest for an extremely important moment for the party. He wasn''t sure what moment but he knew he would like only the best for hisrades.


    The old man shifted through every monocle he had before scrambling in a drawer in the counter. He pulled out a gold rimmed monocle inscribed with a star pattern. The look of concentration in his eyes was permeable. Even the woman who had first spoken seemed intent on hearing the appraisal.


    " the egg package starts at one hundred and fifty gold. Rare monster but expensive to grow. Hmm you are lucky some from the tamers guild are attending tonight''s so well boost the price to one hundred and seventy five gold." This was the offices lucky day! The tamers guild was rather small and often known to travel. This meant it had no set base of operation. The main reason being that it''s members were always hunting for ways to improve their skills, tamed beasts, and finding new monsters to tame. asionally the adventurers guild would have a tamer leave and join the tamers guild or have duel membership. The rtion was actually very good.


    The old man didn''t stop there and went in to the wine. " this wine is almost too exquisite for my skills. I had trouble viewing its quality. That being said you children are very wise to sell this. I''d say it''s almost two hundred and fifty years old, that''s to say the aging process. A truly knowledgeable person knows wine can sit and taste the same after a hundred years until it hits the perfect time and enters the aging process. This can be from the makers mana being diffused within. Even the lowest quality wine can be perfection if the mana within has enough time to bleed from it. In this case you found wine that was once thought of as swill. However it entered its aging process and was left for an extremely long time in that state. It went from swill to elixir if I were topare the quality now. Starting but will be...Hmm I could start at nine hundred a bottle but i believe an even one thousand is more respectable." The old man finally gave up his facade of seriousness at thesest words. Walker and the party were stunned by this starting price. They had really found a treasure!


    "Now before you run off my name is Avis I have an appraisal system. I may not be a master appraiser yet knowing someone such as myself is always useful. May I inquiry your party name?" The old man now introduced as Avis had seen more than just the items presented. He saw promising youths who would most likely be returning here again with more and more interesting things to sell.

 Chapter 96 - 96. Small Talk

    Walker was d to meet someone with such a system. He knew that his all around appraisal skill could indeed be limited as he progressed. Making a friend here could be a strong choice in the future. "d to meet you sir, you may if heard of us recently but we are the omnipotent party. I am the leader walker. My fellow party mates are Su, Remey, and Gil. Unfortunately our other member is currently busy and unable to attend." Walker didn''t want to say sleeping, he felt that would sound insulting to the auction house.


    The old man''s smile became wider "ah so your the young ones causing all themotion. Iheard stories of the hero title, a dragon as a party member, and even that you''ve be silver rank. Thest of which you show off to the world. Hmm wise indeed disying your party status and rtion to the king. Well in any case no more dawdling here. I Avis Ga wee you to your first auction." Avis sat back down smiling and making shooing motions with his hands to send them in their way. It had been many years since adventurers caught his eyes so much so that the woman partnered with him at the counter had never seen him act in this manner. She had never witnessed Avis wee a single guest in the past ten years she''d worked.


    The party moved on leaving the woman stunned. Avis was thinking to himself that tonight would be an interesting auction.


    The main room wasrge andvish. A brilliant crystal chandelier was cent of the ceiling causing rainbow light refractions to dance in the air. Some armed guards dressed in highly decorated armor waited at the walls of the need arose. In total there were a little over thirty guests. Some wore pins or clothing with family crests. Walker spotted a group of three in the corner wearing cloaks embroidered with a beast w and whip. Those must be the tamers guild members. Walker thought he should attempt to introduce himself before the start.


    As they scanned the room Gil nudged his shoulder " isn''t that the guy from the castle that wanted to get rid of midnight?" Gil pointed towards a mad who was wide eyed and almost fearful.


    Nodding his head Gil then wondered "why do you think he''s moving so far from us? Did your skill scare him that bad?" Gil was referring to walker dragons intimidation. It definitely engraved their party name in to those members of the court and guard. However the reason Markus raven was currently staying far away was smaller and cuter.


    Onyx had climbed up to walkers shoulder to get a better view, thus letting others easily see him as well. One such person who immediately took notice was Markus raven. "If I remember right Markus Raven has a fear of snakes and little Onyx here is probably the reason. Hopefully he won''t act out but who knows if he''ll bid against us." Walker was fortunate not to have to deal with a dramatic scene but was also worried Markus raven would go out of his way to block them from making bids. This not only could effect their quests but also damage their growing reputation.


    Remey was staring at a tablepletely ignoring the guests along with walker and Gil. "Hey I''m taking Su we''re going by to grab a snack!" Remey dragged Su to a small table. Various candy coated fruits and miniature pastries had been put out for the guests. Remey had immediately zeroed in on some tarts with red fruit that shined with sugary ze. Gil and walker gave each other a look, at least they knew Remey wouldn''t be picking a fight with someone. Su looked just as happy.


    "Well while the girls bond I''m going to walk around a bit and get a feeling for the room. Maybe I''ll meet someone interesting." Shrugging his shoulders Gil made his way towards a small group of people who seemed embroiled in conversation. As walker tried to listen he heard the odd sentence about arrows being auctioned off. This must be why Gil wanted to head that way.


    Since he was left alone and he could feel onyx''s curiosity he headed towards the tamers guild members. He was also curious. The tallest one among them was a skinny man with long pulled back ck hair. His features were sharp and he wore thick gloves. The think gloves weren''t normal attire so it must be rted to the kind of tamed beast he had. The second member was rather short and plump man with brown and blond peppered hair. He had small mustache and seemed to be very distracted by food. The third was a slim athletic looking girl about walkers age. She had shoulder length reddish brown hair and too many freckles to count. Her emerald eyes seemed to pick apart any details, the phrase eyes like a hawk fit her well. That being said she noticed walkering first and a sh of curiosity appeared within her eyes at the sight of onyx in his shoulder.


    "Hello there, I see you''re a member of the tamers guild. It''s nice to see others with tamer skills tonight. My name is walker and this is my little brother onyx." The fact that he''d said, others with tamer skills, was not something the taller man missed. This basically said that the person introducing themselves as walker had a tamed beast but wasn''t necessarily a tamer.


    Casually extending a hand the tall man grasped walkers and gave it a shake "my name is Laurence I am the leader of this trio. The littless to my left is Elise don''t let her energetic personality offend you she doesn''t mean to be rude. And well the other is Riley, I can''t speak for his table manners." The man Riley didn''t even look up and kept eating, conversation didn''t even interest him in the slightest. On the contrary Elise walked a full circle around walker and closely took a look at onyx.


    "Baby little snake there huh? It''s cute but it could easily get eaten by birds. Are you sure it''s ok to have the little fe out? What species is he? Does he have venom? How big will he get?" The bombardment of questions was too much to answer at much and if Laurence hadn''t given a warning Walker may have taken it as rude.


    Laurence grabbed Elise''s shoulder stopping her a moment. She made an angry scrunched up face at Laurence for ruining her analysis. Walker took this opportunity to reply to some questions. " Onyx is an abyssal serpent, I don''t worry about his safety if need be he can hide on my skin as a tattoo. And for his venom...well let me check" Walker looked within the system only to find something surprising.

 Chapter 97 - 97. Baiting The Bidders

    '' onyx


    Abyssal serpent hatchling


    Level 0


    System locked


    Stats locked


    Abyssal serpent hatchlings must enter growth stage to gain ess''


    "Ah yes he needs to grow a bit more before I can tell his characteristics. Well that''s fine I am procuring some books on his species soon so that should help." Walker was a bit disappointed but also half expected onyx to need more time before being able to use a system. It was interesting considering that onyx had used his skill to be a tattoo. Thinking on it walker believed it was a natural born skill to protect itself while vulnerable and small.


    "Aee that''s not fun, but at least you know he''ll be little and cute for a little bit." Elise was all smiles as she held a finger to onyx. Onyx was studying this new person intently also studying. While the two gave each other the once over walker continued speaking to Laurence.


    "I''m sad to say my little sister and the final member of my party couldn''t attend since she''s busy. I''m sure you three would have found her much more interesting since she''s a cross breed dragon." Walker knew these words would hook them and maybe even give them time outside of the auction to speak. If walker could make connections with the tamers guild he could learn some insider secrets on how to properly assist in the growth of midnight and onyx.


    Laurence was wearing a perfect poker face but was dumbfounded in the inside. He''d only met a tamer once with a dragon as their tamed beast and they were considered top ten in the guild. "Ohhh a dragon you say? Would this be the same one we heard rumors about? The heroic dragon?" Laurence had been in the city for three days and purposefully spent time dining in different pubs and eateries to listen to the current gossip.


    This was impressive, not everyone who entered a new town or city would take the time to learn of the current gossip. "In that you would be right, my party all hold the hero titles. However that''s not as interesting as our recent endeavors. Would you like to know? The adventurers guild had yet to release the report of our test to rank up to silver tier." This was the clincher, walker had set the bait by mentioning midnight and now would finish it by giving true three the first information on the ten packages of corpse spider eggs. Not only would this entice them to bid but it would also give them a step up to n a strategy to acquire them. Not to mention adding to their new friendship.


    Laurence saw this ploy but knew it held merits for him if walker was offering this information. He''d decided to take the bait and see where it lead. "That does sound rather interesting, we''d dly wee some new stories."


    "Well my party chose the ancient ruins, and while there we were fairly lucky to encounter a small nest of corpse spiders. One of which was female, otherwise known as a skeletal spider. After dealing with the adults we found a clutch of eggs. Luckily we also had defeated zombies and skeletons. With those in addition to the eggs we were able to ce a package of some zombie flesh, undead bones, and a single corpse spider egg in to the auction. Actually ten of them to be specific." Walker was intently watching Laurence''s face to see the effect. His poker face was perfect and didn''t show anything however walker could still feel a slight excitement in the air.


    "That''s rather interesting indeed, I dide here tonight in hopes of finding some gear that may benefit my training style. However finding rarer monsters to tame may work in our favor as well. If you don''t mind I would like to discuss something with my little trio. To make up for cutting the conversation short we wouldn''t mind meeting again. We are in the city for another week." Laurence knew stopping now was smarter so he could get Elise and Riley in the same page but did worry this would push Walker away.


    Walker however was happy to hear this, they definitely were going to be bidding in the corpse spider eggs. This was well worth it. " if that''s the case I take no offense at all, if you ask around I''m sure you''ll find out mansion. You three are more than wee toe to dinner one night." It was a bit sly inviting them to dinner to steal some tips but he knew they''d be too interested in midnight not to visit before they left the city.


    " yes well dly visit, our business should allow us free time tomorrow. It was very nice to meet a new friend with tamer skills." Laurence Layered it on a bit thick but was eager to see another dragon and couldn''t refuse.


    Elise had perked up listening about the spiders and even more so about going to the party''s mansion. " yes it was nice to meet you onyx, walker. I can''t wait to meet your little sister. I''ll bring my Ste for you to meet as well." She smiled knowing Walker would wonder who Ste was but walker had already deduced it was an avian type of tamed beast due to her personality.


    Riley had nced up to look at walkers face at the mention of dinner but returned to eating. At least he had taken the moment to listen. With his goodbyes said and ns made walker headed towards Gil who had found an open cocktail table to lean on. "You look happy after meeting those tamers" Gil could see that everything went well.


    "Oh you know just shared some gossip about corpse spiders at the auction. They were here looking for gear but after hearing that gossip needed to talk privately. Did you hear anything good about arrows?" Walker knew Gil would only have stopped roaming if he''d found what he was after.


    "Ha Ha yea you got me, there''s a few arrow packages up for auction. One specifically made so the arrow is faster. I''m interested in that one specifically. There''s an ice arrow as well but it will take a lot of mana to activate properly and I don''t think it''s worth it." An arrow made to move faster coupled with Gils wind element was a dangerous idea. The ice arrow however sounded like a major hinderance. Walker nodded in agreement noticing that chairs were being brought out by attendants. The stage at the far end of the room had a table ced on it and was being prepared for the auction to start.

 Chapter 98 - 98. Time To Bid

    Seeing that things were about to start Remey and Su found walker and Gil. They watched as rows of red hooks tweed chairs were brought out along with a table of bidding cards. As the party leader walker headed up and epted his bidding card. Their number would be 6. All he would have to do is raise his card and the bid would be made off the set increment, if he desires more he could shout a price.


    The guests all took their seats, walker noticed Markus raven at the farthest possible seat, and Inwardly chuckled. The tamers had sat two rows ahead of them but Walker noticed Elise nce at them with a smile. This was a good sign for them.


    The room started to quiet down as a tall woman in a flowing white dress took the stage. Her presence demanded attention. This woman was most definitely the one that would be selling the items today.


    "Hello and wee to our esteemed auction house of the ga family. We are truly blessed to wee you all here. Tonight we have some very interesting items. We shall begin with the sunburning sword at a price of nine hundred gold. This sword was crafted by a high sword smith. It has the ability to channel sunlight in to mes. We shall nowmence the bidding..." walker let her voice fade out not interested in the item at all. He would have been the only one to use it in the party anyways. Remey, Su, and Gil definitely didn''t bat an eye at the sword either. Instead they watched as other guests raised their numbers inpetition for each offer increasing by a hundred gold.


    After about five minutes an older man with a thin sword insignia on his shirt was bidding against a retired looking soldier. The final price before the retired looking soldier gave up was one thousand seven hundred gold. This was a marginal increase for the seller.


    Walker saw the soldier smirking however, a thought urred to him. Did this man sell the sword then bid on it to raise its price? How sneaky. Walker knew he couldn''t use this strategy on the corpse spider eggs because he''d made it known to the tamers they came from his party. Yet he did not tell anyone about the eight bottles of wine he''d ced in the auction. A sneaky smile had grown on his lips as another item was brought forth.


    " This item is a special item crafted from withering wood. These arrow shafts have a stronger breaking point but lighter weight. This allows them to travel faster than your average arrow. This is a must buy for any who uses a bow. The starting bid for a bundle of one hundred shall be two hundred gold." This was not a bad deal, arrows were often cheap since many materials could be used. The nice part about these is Gil would be able to ce any arrow head he desired on to these arrow shafts.


    "Let the bidding begin!" The woman looked through the crowd.


    "Number nine two hundred gold"


    She quickly nced to the side


    "Number four two twenty five!"


    "Number six two fifty"


    Walker entered the fray his bid jumping in. Seeing that the increment was only for twenty five gold he realized that the overall starting bid affected the growth per bid. This was a valuable lesson.


    "Number nine two seventy five"


    Gil nced at walker worried but also excited.


    "Number six three hundred!"


    The man holding the number nine hesitated. It didn''t appear these arrow shafts were his priority.


    "Once...twice....and three times it''s sold to number six! You can retrieve your items at the counter as you leave! Congrattions!"


    Gil wanted to rush away that second to collect them but knew the others were still looking for their very own items.


    "We have a special item next, the same craftsman that created the previous arrows has also prepared a bundle of stabbing ice arrows. These arrows are engraved with rare ice magic. Upon contact, the arrow head explodes in to ice spikes causing heavy damage. The starting bid for this bundle of fifty is three hundred gold! Let the bidding begin!"


    These were much more expensive and Walker counted himself lucky that Gil had seen the drawbacks. Remey and Su looked at walker half expecting him to bid but rxed when he shook his head. They trusted his judgment and Gil also had shaken his head solidifying their choice.


    The man who had been bidding for the first set of arrows was heavily betting on these arrows. This must be his true goal. Perhaps he was a magical bowman. They were a rarer system but they needed arrows just like these stabbing ice arrows. The only reason walker knew this was his father had met a man with such a system while working and shared the story with Walker.


    "Sold! Five hundred and seventy five gold!"


    The price was much too expensive the Pfft breathed a sigh of relief knowing they could have spent all their money if they''d chose wrong.


    "Our next item is one meant for those in the front line! These fleeting arm guards are made of fairy iron! They have the ability to enhance speed and the strength to block attacks!"


    Walker nced at Su and Remey, if either wanted these arm guards it would be perfect. Sucked in the agility department and always liked to enhance her defenses. However, Remey needed the speed to dive or properly block attacks since she wouldn''t always have Su to block for her. The arm guards had a strange silver hue to them and the attendant carrying them out could have been said to be holding feathers.


    "The starting bid is two hundred and fifty gold. Let the bidding begin!"


    Walker felt Su tug in his arm, that was all the signal he needed.


    "Number six two fifty"


    A moment passed and they thought no one would oppose them however they saw a hand raise.


    "Number thirteen two seventy five!"


    Walker immediately countered.


    "Number six three hundred"


    "Number twenty three fifty"


    Now two people were fighting them for the guards!


    "Number six four hundred!"


    The anticipation was too much as Walker waited for the count. Su squeezed his sleeve tightly wanting to lock down the arm guards.


    " once...twice...three times sold to number six for four hundred gold. Congrattions!"


    Su breathed out a heavy sigh, "this is too stressful" walker couldn''t agree more. But that was an easier bid then expected. Thest bid seemed to be someone trying to push the price up but walker let it roll off. He told himself to keep a level head if his emotions ran wild he could loose his opportunity.

 Chapter 99 - 99. Tamers Victory

    They had gained two out of four items. Now walker had his eye out for Remey and himself. He also had hope he''d see something for midnight. A few pieces of armor and weapons sold but nothing that struck them as worth having. However just as they feared they would see anything a bright blue ne was brought in stage.


    "This is a special item with a very unique effect. It''s called the magic reflection pendent and it was brought from a wandering trader. It is one of three we will be selling tonight. It has the ability to reflect weak magic spells and reduce damage of strong spells. This item could keep any from an unfortunate end. The starting price will be five hundred gold!"


    Walker knew Remey had the lowest magic defense in the party and so did she. The second the woman in the white dress finished he exnation the two had already had a silent conversation with their eyes. This was the pendant Remey wanted. Since there would be three up for auction tonight walker decided to put up an intimidating bid.


    "Let the bidding begin."


    Walker raised his number in the air and shouted loudly "six hundred gold!" This was the first shouted bid of the night and everyone saw that this would be a tough fight. Knowing there were two more to be sold next those who walker had scared off rested easy. Those who had nned to bid decided to hold off so that they wouldn''t be stuck with a hugely driven up price. Miraculously this left walker unopposed.


    "Once...twice....three time it''s sold for six hundred gold to number six. Your lucky day congrattions."


    The woman appeared a bit unhappy seeing the others scared off but knew she could lure them to spend more on the other two. As she had the next pendant brought out the bidding became furious as others refused to let this one slip away.


    Meanwhile walker smiled to himself. "That was a bold move but I''m d you got me that pendant. It will definitely help me make it home to tell everyone stories." Remey was a bit embarrassed but she was impressed walker had shown more courage to scare off others immediately. As their parties leader he had gained a great amount of respect in that instance. Walkers smile turned in to a full grin, between Remeys words and see that thest pendant sold for almost double the price he paid he knew he made the right move.


    Next was an item they had been waiting for,


    " next we have ten sets of a very unique item. If there are tamers or those buying for tamers you should seriously consider this item. We have a package deal, you will be bidding on zombie flesh, undead bones, and a corpse spider egg. The seller painstakingly prepared these packages so you would have everything the hatchling corpse spider needed to grow. Each package will start at one hundred and seventy five gold. Let the bidding begin!"


    Laurence immediately stood up. " three hundred gold!"


    This was unprecedented, three hundred gold with much much higher than the starting price. Not only this but by standing Laurence was telling everyone that he would not stop bidding until he won. Not a single person dared to oppose them. Seeing the tamers guild insignia on their cloaks the guests knew they would be bidding against a strong opponent with much deeper pockets. Naturally Laurence was not opposed and won the first package easily. The second however Riley stood up and offered the same price. This was a great surprise since he''d yet to speak.


    Again there was no opposition. Another package bought up by the tamers. Come the third Elise stood up offering the same price yet again. The guests were now justpletely shaken three tamers in a row issuing a challenge. Walker had known that the corpse spider could make a valuable asset to a tamer with its venom and threads to poison and trap enemies. His underestimation came with the potential that it would be female. If it was a skeletal spider the defensive strength alone could make it an ideal bodyguard. Add on the fact that multiple corpse spider meant breeding potential it was a no brainer for the tamer guild to want ever single egg.


    The guests believed that after the third tamer had acquired their package that they may have a chance. These important families had connections in the military and other royalty that would be in their debt to receive a monster such as the corpse spider to tame. However once the fourth package was announce all three tamers stood up. Laurence offered again the same price. This time however instead of saying they were bidding they said "we bid on behalf of the tamers guild" at this the other guests felt robbed. If they had known the tamers first three bids had been from their own pockets they could have our bid them!


    This sneaky strategy had swept the floor with every single corpse spider egg. To say the least the party was overjoyed. They had just managed to gain three thousand gold. They hadn''t even seen their aged berry whine sell yet.


    After thest package sold Laurence gave a polite nod to the party before sitting. Elise was visibly excited, it was sure to be tough for her to sit through the remainder of the auction.


    "Those corpse spider eggs are a rare item to follow so we hope everyone is ready for the next. Here we have a pair of moon crystal earrings. These may seem strange but I promise they are more than meets the eye. Brought from the elven kingdom and crafter under the light of a full moon these earring enhance ones perception. The starting bid will be four hundred gold! Let the bidding begin!"


    Increase perception? Walker wasn''t sure what this would mean and immediately used his all around appraisal skill to get more information.

 Chapter 100 - 100. Earrings And Wine

    ''Moon crystal earrings


    Enhances the five major senses to better understand the environment. Opens the path to developing spiritual sense.''


    Spiritual sense? Walker had heard this before when speaking to those involved with the church. Often those who had light affinity and skills involving healing would speak of spiritual senses. Walker was curious if studying spiritual sense would increase his healing and buffing skills.


    The basic enhancement of the five sense alone was something that could help him remain vignt while in any situation. Unit to mention as a leader his decisions could hold his party members lives. It may not have been a shy piece of equipment but it could enhance walkers decision making ability and potentially other skills in the future. It was time for him to bid on it.


    "Number 27 four hundred gold"


    Walker held back a little this time knowing some guests would be anxious to bid.


    "Number two four fifty!"


    "Number one five hundred"


    The fighting had escted and soon the price hit six hundred gold. It seemed guests were bidding not for the item but to show force.


    "Number six six fifty gold"


    Walker had waited to see the bids slow down to make his move.


    "Once...twice...number seven for six seventy five"


    Someone had tried to jump inst second. The man holding seven was Markus raven. He looked much too happy to be pushing the price higher on the party. This was his small revenge for the embarrassment in front of the king. Walker wasn''t ready to let him win.


    "Number six seven hundred gold."


    "Number seven seven twenty five"


    "Number six seven fifty!"


    This looked to be the moment Markus raven was smiling with glee at how much higher he had pushed the price. He didn''t know that the party had just gained three thousand gold and no longer were in dire need for gold. Not to mention there were still times to be sold.


    "Once...twice...three times sold for seven hundred and fifty gold to number six congrattions!"


    Walker had spent more than he wanted but had pulled it off. He passed a relieved look at the others who were a bit confused and worried. They did not expect Markus raven to challenge them let alone walker to answer. This item must have significant value to walker. Gil in particr took not of how useful it would be while hunting to have improved senses and based his understanding from that. It seemed expensive but he believed walker would make it priceless.


    "Our next item is extremely valuable and rare. These aged berry wine were pried from the depths of the encumbrance ruins. They have been through an aging process of nearly two hundred and fifty years. The quality was even a challenge for our appraiser. If you enjoy quality this is your item tonight! We will be auctioning eight bottles individually. Each will be starting at an even one thousand gold! Let the bidding begin!"


    Not a single person bid immediately. One thousand gold for a bottle of wine? Aged for two hundred and fifty years? Each bottle would be over that age just to reach a proper aging process. The high society nobles in the room knew that this was an extremely high quality wine. Only the most elite would be able to afford and share this.


    The tamers were not interested in this whatsoever and were visibly bored. However most of those in the front rows were looking to their aids. It was a calm before a storm, the first person bid and on came the storm.


    "Number seven one thousand"


    "Number two one one hundred"


    "Number nine one two hundred"


    The bids came in to a flurry soon racking up to a full two thousand! More than half those that started bidding in the first rush had bowed out in the first bottle. There were seven left and the party couldn''t even imagine what would happen with those.


    "Number seven two thousand two hundred gold"


    Walker saw an opportunity and decided to gamble.


    "Number six two thousand three hundred gold"


    Markus raven immediately shot death res at walker. In his anger he immediately responded.


    "Number seven two thousand four hundred gold."


    With that little jab at Markus raven walker didn''t bid again. He simply pushed the price up an extra hundred to make a point. Markus knew this and instead of a happy face he showed an ugly rage as he was announced the winner. One hundred gold was nothing to him but it was the principal.


    Walker didn''t dare to push the price up again after the first bottle. Markus raven had been aggravated and now threw bids at every bottle. This act alone won him two more bottles but also drove up the price for everyone else. Walkers one gamble greatly paid off in raising the price of every single bottle. This gave them a grand total of twenty two thousand gold for the eight bottlebined. They were officially rich!


    Remey and Gil had done the math in their heads and had begun sweating. How could such a sum of money even be possible? They never imagined that one day they could swim in gold if they were wanting. Su naturally was more resolved and silently freaking out while maintaining her poker face. Walker was all smiles. He felt aplished from their first auction.


    While they calmed themselves and epted therge sum of money they were to be paid the auction continued. Some paintings and other art pieces sold along with some weapons and armor that walker found unimportant. However the woman presented a package of ten light crystals causing onyx to stir on walkers shoulder. These may be the next things he needed to bid on. Since abyssal serpents consumed light it would make sense onyx wanted the light crystals. Light crystals were basically concentrated light element. These could easily assist in breaking through to his growth phase. If so walker might just need to put in more muscle so he could keep onyx in his shoulder.

 Chapter 101 - 101. Making A Scene

    " these hard to find light crystals will be selling in a package often! The bidding will start at four hundred gold! Let the bidding begin"


    Only four hundred gold? This seemed low for ten light crystals. Walker wasn''t sure why the price was so low but didn''t think too much about it. The strange part was no one immediately bid either, this again put Walker off. Onyx nudged him reminding him of his desire so walker was forced to bid.


    "N-number six four hundred gold"


    The woman stuttered slightly ncing at someone in the middle row. Walker could see those dressed in the church''s garb.


    The man dressed in the higher quality robes raised his hand immediately.


    "Yes number eleven four twenty five."


    Walker didn''t hesitate either, onyx wanted these crystals and Walker had the ability to provide them.


    "Number six four seventy five"


    Huh? The woman numbed the bid fifty gold? Some other guests were ncing at the party almost in pity. Was it not normal to bid against the church?


    "Number eleven five hundred gold."


    Ah now it was clear, they were favoring the church. The church must have a hand in the auction when it came to healing rted items.


    "Number six five fifty"


    Again with the jump but Walker didn''t hesitate, he knew that those in the church were required by their faith to live a frugal life. Spending too much would taint their positive public image. This must also be why the price was lowered so the ga auction house could make a good impression on the church.


    "Once....twice...three times it''s sold to number six for six hundred and fifty gold. Good luck!"


    The pauses in the countdown were longer this time than any other. On top of that instead of congrattions, the wording was good luck? We''re they going to be in trouble for bidding against the church? Even Markus raven was giving them a look of pity? This in itself made walkers'' skin crawl. But there was no going back, they could only move forward.


    A few warning nces at the party soon were focused back on stage.


    "Our final item today is this luminescent ring! This ring assists in the gathering of light. Any light mage or faith healer would surely love this item. The bidding will start at two hundred and fifty gold! Let the bidding begin!"


    This was another item that sounded too low priced to be true, another bid for the church''s favor? Walker was thinking the item strange, just how did it gather light to assist in light magic and healing? We''re the two not slightly different? Light magic made sense you basically would get more light but healing the light would have to be turned in to the skill so having too much could hurt the user. Walker used his skill to see if he could learn anything more,


    ''Cursed ring of luminesces


    This ring has the ability to channel light and also convert it in to mana. This ring has been cursed by its creator to consume the soul of the user.


    The user relied on a light attribute healer to save his dying daughter. Sadly the healer never showed up so the creator made this ring for revenge by burning his own soul.''


    Walker knew the dangers of a cursed items, many traveling merchants had shared horror stories of transporting them only to be met with misfortune. Stories were written warning people not to trust something too perfect when gifted by a stranger.


    "Leader what''s wrong? You look worried" Su was the first to notice Walker hesitation. "Does the item look worth buying? We trust you to pick it if you think it will be of use."


    To the rest of the party better healing sounded like a nice perk. Not to mention Walker can learn any skill so light magic was also not a bad thing to enhance.


    "What? No way I don''t want a cursed item!" Walker had said this just a little too loud and a few guests heard him.


    The man in the nicer church attire stood tall, "how dare you nder an item sold by the church. We priced it low so that the great people may benefit from its potential healing abilities!"


    The man wasn''t quiet old but had well worn wrinkles in his forehead that had been ented by his anger. Walker had not expected this confrontation.


    "My name is walker a silver tier adventure and wielder of the hero title. I have an appraisal ability and could see the true nature of that item. Now you have all seen me buy multiple items tonight and I trust the Ga family values. However I will bet my title that the ring currently up for auction is cursed. It will consume the soul of the user every time the wield it. If the ga family could please ask the appraiser to take a close look to clear this up I''m sure the truth will be shown!" Walkers speech was thanks to critical thinking and his true feelings. As a person how could he let something harmful escape his watch.


    Gil rose from his seat to stand next to walker followed by su and Remey "we members of the omnipotent party are willing to also put our hero titles on the line! We trust the skill and knowledge of our leader and refuse to allow something dangerous to harm anyone else!" This was why walker had grown to love his party. They were family who could back him up and truly believe in him to the depths of their heart. Even onyx had coiled up on walkers shoulder releasing a soft his.


    The man from the church looked to be flying in to rage when the woman in stage spoke "this family auction house does not permit physical disputes! This matter will be decided by the elder present tonight! Be silent!" Her words were demanding and final, anyone else about to speak up was quelled. "Elder Avis ga is an appraiser and most trusted. You have all seen his high abilities and to deny his word would be to deny the ga family itself. Please elder I leave the stage to you."

 Chapter 102 - 102. Complicated Enemies

    Avis strolled up the stage withfort. With many years of experience a small interruption like this could never phase him. "Hmm well I surly did not appraise this tonight, Mia please look in to who epted this itemter." The woman on the stage, now Mia, looked deadly serious. She knew an order from the elder no matter how calmly said was final.


    The auction did ept items the day of but most were submitted in advance by other members of the ga family or their attendants. This item currently was one of the items another member had epted. Most likely due to the church''s standing did not properly appraise it either. This was sadly amon error made when people faced the church. Due to its status and overall good appearance most would automatically trust those representing them.


    Avis had shifted through five different monocles on stage while circling the ring on disy. "Hmm...ohh....Ugh...." at first he had seemed rather interested but the second he ced thest monocle over his eye and gazed at the gem imbedded he became disgusted. "My esteemed guests after proper appraisal I must inform you that this is indeed a cursed item. It seems the creator burned their soul to curse the user to do the same. Unfortunately we at the ga family auction refuse to auction this item. It will be returned to the seller. If knowledge that they knew it was cursed and they sold it anyways is found they will be ck listed from the auction house. In that you have my word. Furthermore as am apology I ask that those who wish to stay a bit longer tonight join us here and enjoy a seasonal dessert brought in from the demi humansnds." Avis always prepared a special delicacy in case things went poorly at an auction. He found that those in high society couldn''t help themselves when rare and expensive cuisine was offered. To prove his point those nobles in the audience seemed rather cheery and impressed.


    Inplete opposition the man from the church looked incredibly angry. Not only had he failed to buy the light crystals but they knew item he was required to sell had been returned. He would be loosing greatly when his superior heard of this matter. He red at the party making sure to remember their faces, he was not beneath revenge.


    Walker almost missed it but Avis have a slight smile and nod to him. Avis had been impressed, it was not often he met another with an appraisal skill. He would surely be inviting the youth to dinner and future auctions, he did have some granddaughters who were in need or marriage after all. The thought of one marrying a hero was enough to tempt him, adding the skills was better. He was definitely fitting of the title sly old man.


    Arge breath was released, Gil sat back down "I know Remey is usually the one to cause trouble but holy lord did you have to pick a fight with the church." Remey punched Gils shoulder hearing this.


    "Oh so you would have preferred to let it go hurt someone, I see" Remeys taunt back was enough to make Gil pale.


    "Leader I''m d you said something, it would sadden me to hear of a healer being unable to peruse their duty." This incident resonated with Su more than the others. She had met many healers due to her mother''s illness and believed that they were exceptionally valuable to the world. Some healers possessed dangerous skills that would cost them years of their life to heal terrible injuries. Yet that was a choice, for someone unknowingly to get a cursed gear that caused their death was just in wrong.


    The party managed to witness the man from the church storm out of the auction house with two attendants in tow. The two attendants looked worried, walker also felt worried for their safety. He needed to ept early that he couldn''t protect every single person he saw, in the end he would harm more than save.


    "So are we staying for desserts?" Wanting to break the tension his question was met with a resounding yes. It was clear that they were all excited to try something they''d never had before.


    Soon attendants began brining out small tarts made from a blended red fruit. It shined ever so slightly. "Excuse me can I ask the name of the fruit used?" Walker knew the others were just as curious as him to what this new vor would be.


    "Yes sir, this is a fruit called red cranberry. Demi-humans farm this in the wends of their kingdom. Apparently the fields are forced to be dry for the whole growth period and then once they hit peak ripeness they flood them. This causes all the fruit that''s ripe to float to catchs and the bad fruit to sink and be fertilizer. I hear it is a very amazing sight." This was definitely interesting, they had never heard of such a fruit needing these conditions. A very ingenious harvesting method.


    They each took one tart and held it high, "to a sessful night." Walker and the others toastedughing by a bit while popping the whole tart in their mouths. Their faces immediately puckered. Sour! The shiny red fruit that had been blended with sugar was too sour! Many of the other guests were making the same faces as them however that didn''t stop them from wanting another. This was a rare taste in their kingdom, most of the fruits they grew or imported were sweet in nature.


    The party went to collect their new items and utilized the coupon they had gained from their spider hunting. Today had brought them new items, almost twenty five thousand gold, and even a new enemy. Hopefully the good would out way the bad. They still needed to check their daily quest to see what skills they would gain. Their power as a party could substantially grow just with these additional items and skills.

 Chapter 103 - 103. New Skills

    The night had gone on a bit longer than expected and by the time the party returned home the air had be frosty. Before they entered the mansion Gil spoke up, "we''ll have snow by morning" he said this as if it wasmon to predict the weather.


    "And how do you know that? Huh?" Remey was naturally the one to challenge Gil.


    "My mother taught me to feel the air. The way the cold sinks in to your bones and the stillness of the cold. She needed these skills to pull in ast minute harvest so it would t die in the frost. If you focus you might just figure it out." His mocking tone at the end made Remey''s face flush red. She was about to hit him as hard as she could when small white kes began to fall.


    The wide smirk was not hidden whatsoever on Gils'' face, they hurried inside not wanting to turn in to ice sculptures themselves.


    It was plentyte and they all wanted to sleep but they were too excited and had to share their skills.


    '' daily questpleted.


    Rewards:


    Walker: area sense- passive


    Allows the user to expand their heightened senses to arger area.


    Gil: air flow- passive


    Allows the user to determine the slight changes in the air and more urately adjust projectiles.


    Su: deflect-passive


    The user naturally generates an aura in their armor. Projectiles will more often deflect off the armor they make contact with mitigating harm.


    Remey: mana absorption-passive


    The user naturally absorbs man from any magical attack used upon them. This allows them to mitigate some damage and recover small amounts of mana.''


    The system gave them all extremely useful passive skills. However before they could focus on it the systems notified them once more.


    ''Midnightpleted daily quest


    Quest: meditate on the strength of one''s foundation


    Reward:


    Increased absorption rate in the understanding of one''s bones.''


    This was an unexpected bonus, not only had the party members gained a quest but midnight had been given one that suited her unique situation. This was a true representation of what power the systems had in the world and to each unique individual.


    The skills each member gained were perfect to help them over time. Remey had gained an item that assisted in magical protection. This her gain of an ability that protected her from some magical attack damage and helped her obtain mana would greatly boost her fighting strength. She now could release a bit of her stress due to the terror of magical attacks.


    Su was looking at her skill happily. Due to her slower speed fighting a long range enemy was her biggest weakness. Gaining an equipment that helped her speed and a skill that deflected projectiles seemed to be a perfect pair. Add in her high defensive and magical defensive strengthnding a blow on her was beginning to look like a dream. Not to mention with the small agility boost she can now more easily protect her party members.


    Gil''s skill was one that was more interesting, he already possessed amazing aim. Adding in the ability to feel the changes in the air and how it will affect his arrows would change his range drastically. Instead of just being a long range fighter he could jump to extreme ranged fighter. Using abination of his new bow to fire wind elemental arrows and his new skill to fire farther than he ever could before he could deal massive damage. The enemy wouldn''t even be able to touch him!


    Walker''s skill was more practical than most. As the party leader, he fully acknowledged his requirements to always know what''s going on around them. The earrings he bought not only enhanced his senses but gave him a way to learn spiritual sense which could assist in healing and other things. However his new passive skill increased the range his senses covered. In simple terms sneaking home on him would be infinitely more challenging. For exemple if Gil was silently stepping toward him walker could see the slight change in shadows or maybe smell the tinge of sweat.


    "So basically Gil became a long range cannon." Walkers joke was all too true.


    "Well I''m not going to brag but with my bow yea pretty much. Not that it could effect Su much my arrows would just bounce away." Gil had begun to see the strengths and weaknesses of the new skills already and wanted to practice them as soon as possible. However their bodies would not allow them such things as they''d been awake for too long already.


    "Pfft that''s fine you two y with arrows or whatever, Walker will tell me when bad guys sneak up on us and I''ll beat them up with infinite mana." Remey could see it now, Walker would warn her and she''d run around magic spells rolling off her as she used her punches endlessly.


    "Remey please don''t be reckless, the magic could still hurt you. I know you want to take them down but please stay close to me." Su genuinely worried Remey would get too far away but Remeys small smile reminded Su that she wasn''t so dumb as to abandon herrades in a fight. But she still wanted to remind her.


    The would need to see the true effects on their battles in the nexting days. They still had free time before ra would let them take more quests. They might as well work on these new skills.


    They all stayed up chatting and showing off their new equipment. Walker was happy that his new ratings didn''t require piercing his ears but instead clipped on. Su found her arm guards adjusted to fit her very well. And Remey was unting her new pendant. Gil did feel a bit left out not having a gear to equip but soon realized he had plenty of arrow shafts that he could add tailor made arrow heads. He would have the best arrows designed for him making his buy much more valuable. Onyx had beaten everyone to sleep bing a tattoo again on walkers hand. The others saw this and decided to call it a day and head off to bed.

 Chapter 104 - 104. Training

    Like usually the morning was there faster than they wanted. But with it there was also the system prompting their wake up.


    '' Daily quest:


    train skills for three hours


    Reward:


    50exp''


    Walker thought to himself the daily quest seemed pretty easy. He had nned to train himself anyways. He wanted to try to unlock spiritual sense so he could understand healing better. He might even gain other things from it, a better understanding of those around him would be a major boost any way he saw it.


    After gearing up he headed to the training grounds behind the mansion only to find Remey beating up on a poor wooden dummy. "I should have known you''d beat me out here." The treating was enough to get a nce from Remey. She kept punching and looked drenched in sweat. She had been out for longer than walker expected.


    Walker was grateful seeing that Remey had cleared arge amount of the main training area of the thinyer of snow that had fallen. Walker thought to himself he would need to return the favor by doing so next time. Maybe he should use fire magic or water maniption to move it, heughs inwardly at this.


    Remey had wanted to test her new passive skill butcked a way to use magic. She had been working onbinations of punches and even adding some kicks in while she waited for Walker. "That white me of yours can''t harm things that aren''t undead or evil right? Use it in me, my mana is low and I want to see if it recovers." Walker knew Remey would want to test her new skill but it was a pretty smart idea to use a spell that technically couldn''t hurt her. The heat would still be unbearable but it wouldn''t really harm her.


    Walker pulled his staff from his inventory "evil consuming me!" He aimed and fired a white fireball at her. The mes epass Remey and she let out a grunt as she felt the strong heat. They quickly dissipated as if they were being smothered. Her face was still struggling with the heat but strangely walker saw a small blue glow on her entire body, this must be the skill absorbing some mana. He waited politely to see if she had indeed recovered mana.


    "Hhhisssss holy lord that''s hot...haaa...but it worked I gained four mana from that. I''m not sure it will be worth it. I''m sure wearing my new pendant the effects would be different but I want to get stronger without gear first." It was rightfully so that she had trouble talking at first, walker knew just how hot those mes felt. It was rather interesting the amount of mana she took from the spell though. It seemed to take a toll on the body but would the mana absorbed berger if it was a stronger spell? This was a question they could test but it would also harm Remey and walker did not want to do so.


    Remey also seemed to realize this "I don''t think I can test my new skill as much as I thought. I''ll just let ite naturally." This was a wise choice, Remey had great battle instincts and this moment proved it. No point in fighting a pointless battle.


    Walker decided that since Remey looked like she would rest and take a chance to observe Walker he would start practicing as well. He wanted to see just how his senses had changed and to what degree. He shifted through his skills looking to see if he could utilize any to assist in this...


    Elemental maniption?


    When did I get this? Wait where is my earth maniption? Wait! Where are the other elements? Walker had finally noticed his skills had fused in to elemental maniption. It only took over a day for him to pay enough attention. To be fair he was distracted with his new little brother onyx and the excitement of his first auction. However now that he did see this he had a lot of work to do.


    Walker wasn''t sure exactly if this skill would work the same as his previous ones. They ha familiar descriptions from what he could remember. Well he had full mana and decided it was worth a try. "Earth maniption, wall!" He pushed five mana in to the earth and thought about a wall rising in front of him.


    "Hoooooollllyyy youuu you just!!..." Remey was shocked by a sudden rumbling as the ground converged in to a thick wall in front of walker and her. "You have earth magic now! When?!" She was actually a bit angry Walker hadn''t told anyone about his breakthrough. He could now block attacks from a distance which could save Remey if she ever was too far from Su. It was a great back up n.


    "Don''t be too excited that cost five whole mana to cast." A devilish smirk crossed walkers face, "want to test its strength?" He knew tempting Remey in this was was dangerous but by doing so she could show him just how dependable the ability to create walls of earth would be.


    There was no way she could turn this down. She had enough mana to throw a solid punch before returning to rest. "Bring it on magic boy!" She couldn''t help but taunt as she wound up he arm. She stomped down her leg letting an intense force flow from her fist. Her defense shattering fist hit the wall with force enough to disce the very air around them. It seemed that no damage had been done at first but...ccrackkkk!" A lid crack resounded around the training ground as a small crater in the wall appeared. Cracks spiderwebbed from its causing chunks of the wall to crumble. Only Hal''s of what was there remained now.


    "Wow" walker could only utter this one word. He wildly underestimated her punches. Walker reminded himself that getting in to a fist fight with Remey would be a terrible blunder.

 Chapter 105 - 105. Showing Off

    "Hmpf guess you''re fancy earth magic you were hiding can''t stand up to me at all." Remey tried to look extra tough but walker knew she had exhausted most of her mana already this morning and was down for the count.


    "I can''t lie your punches are no contest. I wasn''t hiding it by the way I just got kind of distracted and didn''t see anything. Plus even I didn''t realize what it could do. I tried learning all the elements and I practiced until I passed out. When I woke up onyx had hatched and that was more important." Walker knew using onyx as the excuse was dirty but it was still true. He couldn''t neglect a newborn creature let alone one that was part of his family.


    "Well then, if you show me something else cool I won''t punch you when I get my mana back." The teasing was evident in her tone but walker felt there was a real threat mixed in.


    "Fine then, I want to test some thing anyways." He knew that ice was basically water but more solid, so in theory he could manipte the snow just like the earth. "You know those arrows that made ice spikes on contact? Watch this." Walker then held out a hand focusing on the snow nearest to them. "Elemental maniption, ice spikes!" Hismand and as mixed. A jagged spike shot from the snow faster than the earth had moved. Walker had aimed for the remaining earth wall fully piercing it. The sharp piece of ice that remained halfway through the wall spoke of terrifying injury. This attack could severely harm any monster without sufficient defenses.


    "Oooo aaahhh you made ice congrats I''ll ask you to chill my drinks at dinner." Walker couldn''t help but glee at Remey who was giggling to herself while leaning against the earth wall he had made.


    "Not enough for you? Fine let me mix a few elements." He wanted to do something a bit scary. Mumbling to himself "add some air....just a bit of water...mostly fire but not fire...hmmm would this make.....storm...typhoon...no....ha! Got it!" He''d thought for a moment on what elements to mix to get his next elemental maniption. "Let''s say I mix the right amount of wind water and fire. The fire provides energy that forces the water to change but the wind forces the water to cool. This turmoil is a storm and storms give birth to...elemental maniption, lightning bolt!"


    A yellow bolt of light night flew from his hand where a small grey cloud had formed. The light from it was blinding and a strange burning smell filled the air. The bolt hit the nearest training dummypletely obliterating it. Straw and bits of wood flew everywhere. A secondter "BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!" The sound produced echoed for a few moments causing major tuning in Remey and walkers ears.


    Walker stumbled slightly, he had not expected the sound to be so strong. He also hadn''t realized it would consume fifteen mana. This was a dangerous spell to use. It wasn''t necessarily troublesome to just manipte the elements but due to his elemental fusion skill and the elemental maniption he could fuse and create exceptionalbinations. This also meant he needed to be much more careful, he couldn''t imagine what would happen if he hit a person with lightning.


    Walker turned to apologize to Remey but instead found her standing up smiling. She yelled at Walker due to her temporary deafness "that was the best spell ever!!!!!" It figured that the most energetic of the party would be enticed by the sh and boom of the lightning. This may not have been the best thing to show off. He didn''t have much time to worry about the impression he mad as the sound of footsteps took his focus.


    A few moments passed and Gil came barreling around the counter for the mansion. Su was slightly behind him a worried expression in her face. "What in the holy heaven was that!" All Gil knew was they heard a loud boom as they respectively were heading outside to train. There was smoking debris all around the training ground. However knowing the sound as thunder they all looked up, had lightning struck the training dummy on a clear sky after yesterday''s snow? Had someone tempted a god?


    Remey was uncontroble giggling unable to even speak while she grasped at her stomach. "Well as you can see Remey is getting her abdominal workout in and I just tested my elemental fusion and elemental maniption skills. Fun facts I can mix elements and make lightning now..." walker slowly trailed off as he said thest but not wanting to cause even more drama.


    "Leader how can you say that so normally, we did not even know you could manipte the elements but now you can even make lightning?" Su had returned to her poker face but definitely had an air of curiosity about her.


    "Well Since you guys know what I''m practicing, how about you tell me you ns. Maybe I can help." Gil seemed to already have a n since he was holding three sets of older looking arrows.


    "Long distance sniping. I have a skill naturally that enhances my vision and now with the new passive skill I can try to fire arrows from farther. I think starting from one end of the training field and spacing targets evenly to the far wall would be a start." Gils n was to fire arrows at increasing distances until he found his maximum distance with decent uracy. From there he would focus and push to go to the next farthest distance improving his uracy with each shot until he wasfortable.


    Nodding his head walker moved to the middle of the training field. "Elemental maniption, multi ice walls." Channeling mana in to the snow he imagined ice turning in to circr walls. Ten walls appeared specs out in the training grounds. Looking back at Gil all walker could see was that his jaw had dropped. "You wanted targets like this right?"

 Chapter 106 - 106. Meditation

    Gil didn''t say another word but instead ran over to one side of the fold and aimed for the first target. He was a kid in a candy shop.


    Su took a look and after Gil had fired three arrows started to run. Her speed had definitely increased as she reached the first target Gil was firing at much earlier than normally. She raised her shield stopping Gil''s fourth arrow in its ce. Once the arrow had fallen to the ground they understood this would be her training. She could adapt to her new speed and see how her skills affected her. How often protect lies could be deflected and if it was easily possible to block faster or farther arrows.


    They all soon realized just how often they overlooked Su and his amazing ability to block. She dove to block arrows. She would slide in the snow in to a stable standing position. She would push her shield forward to purposefully deflect the arrow. The movements weren''t skills they were ingrained in her very body. It takes hours of practice to reach this point. Walker was convinced that she could block attacks in her sleep.


    Aftering out of his awe, walker stopped watching Su and Gil practice. Remey seemed to still be captivated so he didn''t distract her, knowing the long ranged attacks and the defenders'' skill would greatly help her as a front line defender.


    He sat down to explore his newly expanded senses. He could already notice the enhanced sight. Gil''s arrows fled from his bow at a fairly quick speed. Yet Walker could track the arrow enough so that he could predict which target they were going to. Being able to do so would help against even the longest range battles, knowing even a second earlier of an iing attack he could change the result.


    Closing his eyes he did something he would regret. He breathed in deeply through his nose. Instantly he was attacked by the sour smell of sweat and mud. Scrunching his nose in disdain he resisted the urge to cover his face with his cloak. "After this, we all need to bathe!" His shout was heard by everyone and only received some weird nces. Walker could get used to smelling things a bit stronger, but that would be easier said than done. He made mental notes to head to the kitchenter to overwhelm himself to get used to it all.


    His sense of taste was another reason he would head to the kitchenter. However, as he sat focusing on it a bit he did realize he could still taste a bit of his dinner the night before. Did he have some meat caught in his teeth? He scolded himself for not properly cleaning his teeth realizing his standards would rise.


    His hearing was something that was surprisingly more useful. From this distance, he normally wouldn''t be able to pick up in Gils mumbling. He could clearly hear Gil telling himself he released too early on thest shot. Focusing his mind even more he heard the twang of Gils bow, in unison a soft step then a harder step immediately followed by the metal twang of Su''s shield. "Su don''t hesitate when you block, I know the snow is a tough terrain but if you hesitate even a second you could fail the block." Su had heard these words and knew exactly what walker was talking about. Her moment of indecision had indeed made her step back and readjust. The thing that amazes her though, was that walker was sitting on the ground with his eyes closed not having seen it at all.


    The uses of enhanced heating could be many, forget about someone sneaking up on them. Add the fact that walker could listen in to far away conversations he could be the sneakiest of spies. When he turned his hearing on himself he found that he didn''t breath smoothly, instead as he focused he was breathing a bit fast and uneven.


    Feeling how his body was moving with each breath he now knew that he had overlooked the greatest change. He could feel more. Instead of just knowing he was breathing and feeling his heart beat, he now felt everything. As his breath came in he felt his lungs expanding and taking in the air. He could feel the paths of where his heart pumped blood. Even the slight twitching of muscles in his hands and legs while he thought. Even more so every time Su moved, Gil let loose an arrow, and Remey breathed he felt the air on his skin move. The world itself was moving around him changing how he reacted and moved. How could someone ever surprise him if he could feel the world itself?


    Zeroing in on this feeling he explored it, he wanted to see just how much around him he could feel. He could tell there was ice all around them as the temperature in the wind was cooler higher or lower in the air. Even the small ice crystals in the air were not exempt from his notice.


    There was more though, a tugging. Was this mana? The mana in the air and earth around him was almost visible. This must be why Gil can turn wind in to magical arrows. This must be why the earth reacts properly to my mana and changes shape. Even the snow and ice around me has its own shape of mana. It wasn''t hidden knowledge that the world had mana in everything but being able to sense it wasn''t normally possible.


    '' skill mana sense from the spiritualist system has been learned through the users own efforts.


    The skill had been upgraded to high mana sense due to current equipped gear.


    High mana sense- passive


    Mana exists in everything in the world. However the ability to see how it all works in harmony is easily missed. This skill allows the user to gain insight in to the natural order of the world.''

 Chapter 107 - 107. Understanding

    Walker had not seen the system notifying him of his skill or of how wearing the earrings had influenced it. Instead he waspletely entranced by the flow of mana around him. The mana in the earth was colder and dark slowly taking mana from the ice as it melted. The air was doing the opposite, it was pushing man in to the ice making it stronger and colder. The heat from the sun was a strange mix of light and fire mana that were melting and forcing the ice to release more mana back to the air and in to the earth. The shadows of the mansion protected the ice and kept the light away also enhancing the coldness. These small events would have been overlooked normally. Now that he could see how they worked and what mana did to y a part it was as if he had seen color for the first time.


    Focusing on himself he could see that the mana in his body wasn''t just one form of mana but many different kinds. The elements were being filtered through if h his body and used to do many different things. If he wanted he was able to pull in mana of a certain element from outside his body to increase the amount of said element. He directed his senses to Gil who he could feel was drawing his bow. It wasn''t that Gil had the wind elemental mana in his body but instead his body attracted it allowing him to use it. This realization that affinities weren''t mana that resides in a persons body but the mana they could best attract changes his perspective.


    He could feel light mana being pulled towards his hand and realized that even though onyx was resting in tattoo form he still drew mana towards him. This was unique since onyx ate light element but the fact that onyx naturally attracted it even when not actively consuming it was I retesting. Walker deceived to pull out one of the light crystals curious to what they felt like.


    The crystal to him felt like pressure. There was an intense amount of light element mana stuck inside the crystal. It wanted to push out and expand but couldn''t. Since crystals of any element took a long time to form it must mean that they change as they absorb more of an element. If this was true would they be able to harness this and form elemental crystals themselves? Walker had bepletely consumed by his thoughts and the feelings of the things around him. It was as if he had opened his eyes for the first time to see a new world.


    ''Daily questplete:


    Train for three hours


    Reward:


    50 exp multiplied to 500exp''


    Before he could push any farther he started to notice the tightness in his body. He hadn''t realized he had been sitting for nearly two and a half hours just taking in the new feelings. He did not have enough time to explore this new world! But just as he was goi got push through the pin to keep looking in to it all more his senses told him he needed to get up.


    He could hear three sets of footsteps approaching the front of the mansion. It would seem they had guests. Walker tried to stand up but found his joints fighting him. Sitting for so long was not his smartest move. Hobbling along he reached the front of the mansion. Having a good idea of who wasing to visit he mentally nudged onyx toe out of his tattoo form to meet the three.


    Laurence, Riley, and Elise were standing near the door awaiting a response form their knock. "And here I thought you three were too busy raising a little army of corpse spiders to visit for dinner." At the greeting the three turned to walker. Elise was the first to make a move to greet him showing more interest in onyx who had just begun to slither up to walkers shoulder.


    "Hello little onyx we came to visit!" Elise was in heaven seeing the adorable ck serpent. Walker wondered if she would still call him little onyx when onyx had grown big enough to swallow a human whole.


    "Again I apologize for Elise, she''s a unique individual. It''s good to see you well, we''ve stored the eggs in a special pouch that inhibits hatching. It''s better to preform contracts and hatching in a safe ce." This was amon knowledge to tamers but walker hadn''t heard of a special item made to inhibit hatching. He didn''t need to possess one as he wasn''t a tamer and his inventory acted in the same way. However more knowledge was always wee, he never knew what he would need to know for a quest.


    "I''ve got to say your tactics at the auction were very ingenious. Purposefully standing and buying eggs individually and to give the insinuation as if to buy for your guild. It tricked all of them there, before they knew it thest seven had been bought truly under the name of the guild. I may be borrowing it in the future." Walker had not lied in hispliment, it had been a great n and well worth remembering.


    "If we''d known better it was like this one who sold them prepared them just for a tamer. Luck must really have been shining on us." Laurence let free a small smile with his joke, seeing that the poker face from the auction house was no longer present he decided it was time to go inside.


    "Well I''m not going to let you freeze out here, you should alle inside. We won''t go through this door though, well enter through the kitchen." A devilish smile appeared. While the three didn''t know why they needed to enter through the kitchen, they did not question it.


    The five moved towards the entrance to the back of the mansion. Having a kitchen entrance was definitely one major benefit of arge house, especially if a certain dragon like to take naps by the oven.

 Chapter 108 - 108. Meeting Stella

    Luckily as they group enter red Hilda wasn''t working in the kitchen. If she had been walker would have gotten the scolding of his life in front of his new friends. The heat of the oven weed them.


    "So you wanted to warm us up, I thought it was strange you wanted to enter through here." Laurence thought walker had just brought them this way out of kindness. Elise however saw the reason why and jumped towards the side of the oven.


    "This my friends is midnight, she''s sleeping while meditating so I''m not sure she''ll be running around any time soon. Just don''t touch her, you will probably burn yourself, she really likes to sleep next to the oven." While he spoke Laurence and Riley had both moved behind Elise trying to take a look.


    Elise was using every ounce of focus she possessed to be certain she learned everything possible from the encounter. Every scale, every line, every bone, every nail, and so many more aspects of midnight were analyzed by her hawk like gaze. She had only glimpses a dragon once and had not the opportunity to truly take in the wonder.


    Elise was a tamer specialized in avian creatures. To say she wasn''t interested in dragons would be a tant lie. Dragons may be their own beast but they did fly life birds so many who tamed bird like monsters saw them with high respect. Elise was very captivated by midnights scales due to their toughness. Avian beasts rarely had trying defenses and often instead would possess great speed. The simple reason being that if they had tough defense it would make them too heavy to fly.


    "Her wings are very beautiful, but they seem a bit different from the rest of her body. Why?" Elise didn''t beat around the bush she didn''t understand the full reason why and just asked without hesitation or even looking at walker.


    Not perturbed at all by this walker answered "we believe her father to be a skeletal dragon which is why her scales have white and grey lines. But her mother was a ck crystal me dragon so she had many characteristics such as her mother''s tough scales, coloration, and even most of her skills. She recently started to shed her baby scales so eventually the colors will even out but for now it was mostly just exposing her wings." Walker himself was eagerly awaiting midnight to awaken. Once she did he could only imagine what new skills and power she may have.


    Laurence was focused on the grey and ck wisps flowing around midnight, he couldn''t figure out how it was an effect of something small like meditation. "May I ask what kind of meditation young midnight is going through to produce these wisps? I''ve never seen such a thing on any tamed beast before."


    "Actually it''s a pretty unique case, due to certain reasons we discovered arge part of the catbs in the ancient ruins. We needed up trapped but luckily found our way out. Through our escape we found a bead called concentrated understanding. It possessed knowledge on darkness and death well basically bones. So midnight is processing it." These where''s were so nonchnt and calm that the three before him almost just brushed it off.


    "Wait, what?" This was the second time walker had heard Riley speak, Riley was the only one able to respond to what Walker just said. "You didn''t seriously find someone with a master skill to create condensed understanding did you? That''s just crazy." This was one reason why the adventurers guild needed to doctor their report before release, such items were so insanely rare that they could cause massive battles between the strongest warriors. Condensed understanding was basically a master giving down his experiences learning about a specific element.


    "Let''s just keep that part a secret alright. After she finishes meditating on it no one will have proof it existed." Walker had shrugged as he said this, he pretty much had just said even if you tell people you can''t prove it. Sneaky sneaky.


    Elise had seen all she wanted to see and couldn''t rebuttals what Walker had said. As amazed as she was she had promised to bring someone else with her when she visited. " would you like to meet my Ste? Can I summon her here? She doesn''t like the cold so this is a good ce.


    Remembering that Elise had indeed mentioned someone names Ste walker didn''t mind. But summon her? How would a tamer summon something? These were very different systems. At walkers nod Elise lifted her hand. A small red ring which matched one Riley and Laurence had on began to glow. "Ste don''t fly we are inside." With those simple words red light shed and someone else had joined them...or wait something else.


    In front of them was a young girl with bird ws for feet. The ws were sharp and dangerous looking. He legs looked strong and slightly orange. Her arms were adorned with feathers to creat blue and green wings. Her hands were part of these wings but each finger had a razor sharp Talon. Her face was much like any girls but she has slightly pointed ears and a mix of feathers in her short brown hair. She had sharp yellow eyes that seemed to prate anything she looked at.


    "This is my lovely Ste, she''s a harpy and the most adorable girl ever!" Elise was always excited to show off Ste since harpies were notoriously hard to tame. They often would rebel due to their stubborn will and unborn desire to fly through the skies. "We''ve been together since we were little, she fell right out of the sky after her mother was hunted by adventurers for taking livestock. Once I met her my system unlocked. We are pretty much sisters. If I didn''t worry for her safety I wouldn''t have asked her to wait within the beast ring." She loved Ste to the bottom of her heart, not every tamer had this devotion and connection to their tamed beasts. This exined why Elise had certain characteristics of avian creatures, she had grown up side by side with one.

 Chapter 109 - 109. Onyx Meet Hyde?

    "Well you can let her hang out all you wish here as long as she doesn''t cause trouble she''s the same as you or I." Ste smiled at this, she would have spoken if she could but harpiescked the ability until they reached adulthood. A harpy fully grown gained some powerful abilities rted to their voice. Some of which could stun, cause sleep, and even deafen an enemy. They were often dangerous in groups hence why adventurers hunting a harpy would put wax earplugs in their ears and use hand signals tomunicate.


    "I wonder if I could as well? I have a red needle porcupine as one of my beasts. It''s needles have a fire attribute, hence the thick gloves. It''s rather young and isn''t used to out beast rings yet, it would be nice to allow it room to breath." Walker recalled hearing about these monsters which lived near volcanoes and other extremely hot areas. They would consume tough minerals to grow sharp quills that could heat up to high temperatures. It wouldn''t often attack and was normally a defensive monster which would roll up in to a ball when attacked and shoot its quills. Remembering correctly they only grew to the size of a crystal ball.


    "Sure thing, just let me know if it starts any fires so I can put it out. It will be good for a young porcupine to experience arger gathering of people." This was exactly the same thinking walker had when bringing onyx to the auction.


    "Ah thank you very much, I knew you would understand my intentions." Laurence raised his hand straitened his gloves and the red light shed from his ring. Soon a small monster appeared in his left hand.


    This small red porcupine was much smaller than walker expected. It''s quills we''re a full red color showing it hadn''t full developed yet. It gave of a decent amount of heat just due to its high internal temperature. It meekly looked around with its little ck eyes before bouncing in to a ball seeing walker. "Now you see why I want it to get used to people more. Once it grows a little and I can figure out its strengths I''ll choose a name; mostly because I feel like naming him Hyde might be a bit much." Walker smiled at this name and agreed it seemed to for at the moment but after it grew out of its young phase it might not be so skittish.


    Using his hands to cup the little monster Laurence made soothing sounds. "Don''t worry it''s going to be a bit loud but I promise no one will hurt you here." With his reassuring words the little porcupine unfurled and again gave walker some worried looks. It soon noticed onyx on walkers shoulder and the looks became curious. "Oh you''d like to meet the little serpent there? That''s unusual for you. Walker would you mind introducing onyx?"


    "Yes of course, I''m sure onyx is just as curious. The two are both young and finding new friends is always beneficial." Walker held out his hand allowing onyx to travel down his arm and in to his own palm. The two monsters looked at each other swaying a bit as the moves their heads. Onyx seemed to be happy taking a closer look at another monster that had also recently been born. He may have a sister in midnight but he had yet to converse with her since she was asleep meditating.


    The porcupine let out small chit chit sounds as it moves slightly closer. These were met with onyx making small hissing sounds. The pair seemed to be getting along. Seeing this walker decided it would be best to move to another room. "Let''s head to the dining room, besides therge table we also have a decent sitting area with som couches. We can rx and talk there. I think my father might be around, he used to work guarding the outer gate and has spoken to a few of your guilds members before. I''m sure he''d like to pry some stories from you." Walker may have been joking a bit but the truth was that he also wanted to hear more on their travels. He wasn''t nning to join the tamers guild but since they traveled more than most other guilds he might decided to go on an adventure with them especially if it was a joint quest.


    The group made their way to the dining hall and found that Su and Hilda were enjoying a pot of tea while chatting. It seemed Su had told her about everyone''s new skills and how her son could manipte the elements. "Ah this is Su, I''m sure you saw her at the auction, and this is my mother Hilda. Mother, Su, these are the tamers I met at the auction this is Riley, Laurence and his newly born red quill porcupine, and Elise with her sister Ste. They came to spend some time and eat with uster." Hilda quickly stood up surprised that walker had invited guests. It was not long ago that he didn''t really even have friends. He had always been consumed by finding his system. As a mother she was extremely proud that her son had never give up, found his system, found a party of friends he treated like family, and now was able to branch out to meet new people. It was all a lot for her to handle.


    "It''s so nice to meet more of walkers friends, I''m sure he already brought you to meet midnight. You know she was much smaller when they first found her, just like your little puff ball there. I''ll make some extra dinner so the little fe can fatten up a bit." Hildas warm smile was so strong Laurence couldn''t admit that the red quill porcupine ate minerals and not traditional food. "Ah how rude of me as one of the mothers of the house I need to go get more tea. I''ll be back just find a ce to sit." Hold rushed off mumbling about bringing enough sugar and milk for all of them.

 Chapter 110 - 110. The Life Of A Tamer

    Su went to im a spot on one of the chairs. She had changed in to morefortable cloths after her training earlier. Walker hadn''t realized he had been the only one left due to him being lost in meditation.


    Laurence ced the little porcupine on the floor next to a coffee table and after ncing at Su immediately rolled in to a ball. "Ah you''re looking more and more like a Hyde every time to do that." Laurence joked around starting to ept that may be that the name sticks.


    Onyx saw the porcupines reaction is slithered over to it making small hissing sounds. This seemed to calm it down significantly as it unrolled fairly fast. Maybe onyx was telling it su was like the porcupine, a defender.


    Ste had positioned herself behind where Elise sat and wrapped her arms around her. It was kind of adorable but very understandable since Ste had been asked to wait in the beast ring for a few days.


    "So I''ve been wondering, where do you all get those beast rings? I can''t help but think it would be incredibly useful for locations that midnight might not be allowed or able to travel." The thought process behind this was that Walker wanted a safe ce for midnight if they came to an area that was too hostile towards monsters. Just like at the castle if someone targeted her he could just hide her away in the ring.


    Laurence was surprised, he had been thinking walker had a system somewhat like a tamer. It wasn''t easy to find solid information on what system someone possessed and most of the time rumors were exaggerated. It wasn''t like the kid could actually learn any skill, he just had a unique system!


    " well, most tamers will be given a quest to gather the materials for one and bring it to a magical craftsman. We all need different materials to create the magic carvings inside. For me, I needed monster materials from fire affinity monsters. This is because I''m a fire tamer. It sounds cooler than it is, I can''t actually tame fire itself just fire monsters." This exined why walker had not really heard of them, they were part of a quest tamers had.


    "That doesn''t go to say that some tamers gain a master skill early to hold their tamed beasts within their own soul. I believe it''s simr to spatial magic but more intimate." A master''s skill...walkers only drawback was he couldn''t learn a master skill.


    "Well I guess that''s a challenge, I won''t be able to learn a master''s level skill. Maybe down the line I''ll figure out how to change spatial magic to allow living things inside. Or happen upon an artifact that has the same uses as the beast rings. Ah how about your contracts, I''m not sure if it''s rude but I only know one way to contract and create a bond, I''d love to know more from those who have actually used them." This was something that had been on his mind. Walker knew he had used a blood contract that always used all his mana at the time. He also knew that the bond made his tamed beast equal to him and shared feelings and emotions. It wasn''t a perfect master skill that would allow the master to actually see through their tamed beast but it was the closest he would ever get.


    "Oh no it''s not rude at all, we each have very different contracting methods. It usually goes down to what kind of tamer we are. Since I have the me tamer system I form binds using a me contract. It only works on beasts with fire affinity so I''m limited but I''ve never once felt so." This made sense, but saying Laurence was limited was a major lie. The world was arge ce and there were many species of monsters some unknown still. Laurence was sure to have much too many choices in beasts to tame than he could ever dream of.


    " wild beast tamer system....wild contract." Riley spoke up, he had begun snacking on some dried vegetables he had with him.


    "Yes Riley is a wild beast tamer, he''s a bit hard to fight with since he can''t tell his beasts what to do in a fight. Hence the wild contract. Although a lot of beasts that wouldn''t normally allow themselves to be tamed can fall under his care. He even has some wild demon boars." Laurence took over the exnation knowing Riley would only give the most basic information. It was a good and a bad thing to be able to tame the most wild beasts. Good because no one else could do so and you could gain very unique allies. Bad because you couldn''t tell them to do anything and influence their actions. Well it was definitely wild.


    "Oh my tub my turn!" Elise was raising her hand and Ste had mimicked her making small higher pitched noises. " my system is the sky tamer system, I can use the sky contract to bond with anything that can fly. That''s why Ste and I are so perfect together. She''s just like me but with wings! I hope that I can learn a transfer skill one day and fly with her." Elise giggled as she allowed herself to lean back in to Ste more. Ste seemed rather excited at flying through the sky at Elise.


    The transfer skill was a skill unique to a tamer. It could take an ability of their tamed beast and allow them to use it a the cost of mana. Could he learn that skill too. Could he breath fire balls and fly on skeletal wings made of mana? If he was hungry would he be able to eat light just like onyx? There were too many possibilities but they were very enticing.


    Walker returned from his day dreaming and only felt it polite to share the contract he used as well. "Well I''m sure you have heard but I have a jack of all trades system. I can learn pretty much any skill that''s not a master level skill, so the contract skill I managed to learn was blood contract."

 Chapter 111 - 111. The Need To Explore

    Elise started to giggle a bit more than necessary. A tear in her eye " you''re hysterical you just said you made two blood contracts with a straight face." This was something only some of the most powerful tamers could do. Getting the blood contract skill was so rare that if inscribed within a scroll it could sell for hundreds of thousands of gold to a tamer. This was mainly because the user would be so closely bonded that it was hard to distinguish from a master level contract. Not only that but the user of a blood contract shared more than just some bond, it was literal sharing of feelings and information. Not every tamer had an ability tomunicate with their tamed beasts, therefore having this ability tomunicate was highly sought after.


    "Well it wasn''t really a joke, it''s true. My system gave me this skill. It''s been very useful. I know when midnight is hungry, or when onyx is tired. Actually right now onyx wants me to get him one of the light crystals since he is hungry and has just remembered it." Walker produced from his inventory one of the light crystals. ced it under the table where the two were still hissing and chittering away getting along like the best of friends. Onyx pulled it with his tail and wrapped around it still holding his conversation. Walker then looked at onyx who had started staring at him. "Oh yes I''ll get something for you friend to snack on too, I can''t be a rude host." Walker checked his inventory looking for something made of metal or good minerals for the hedgehog to snack on. He had held on to some of the broken weapons just in case he wanted to experiment with crafting in the future. He figured now is a good opportunity to see if it''s good enough quality for a snack instead. Pulling the hilt of a sword with a slight amount of rust in it "Laurence is this an eptable item for the porcupine to snack on? I think it''s made of some ancient iron. I just worry about the rust."


    This had snapped Laurence out of his daze, "umm well yea he can burn away any impurity in his stomach but wait are you sure you can use blood contract?" Walker set the sword hilt down underneath the coffee table and soon hear a small chipping sound. The little porcupine was using its very hard teeth to chip little bits off. It was actually a very interesting phenomenon to witness seeing that this was one of the ways monsters strengthened themselves.


    "Well yea, it''s annoying because it drains all my mana no matter what but it''s pretty amazing. Even now while midnight meditates and learns about darkness and death I''m also feeling a change in my understanding. I can''t say I''m gaining much from the death part since I''m not a skeletal dragon which has a strong connections due to its bones. But I can feel the dark mana being affected since I''ve learned to manipte darkness element." Again his words were deafening to them.


    "Wait so you have a dark affinity?" Elise had realized he wasn''t joking and be extremely serious.


    "Well no...I can use all the elements..." Walker said this slowly afraid he might be causing them all a heart attack.


    Even Riley was looking at him stunned. This just spoke to how crazy it all sounded. "If I was to post a quest specifically asking for your party to travel with us as escorts would you ept?" Laurence knew the three would be reporting to their guild after leaving the city. By bringing the omnipotent party along they knew they would be praised and even promoted. This was because their guild master was the only other person they knew who used blood contract. It also would be valuable for Walker to meet him knowing that as the party leader of said party having the connection was invaluable. The potential of Walkers'' party was immeasurable.


    "We can introduce you to our guild master, it would also give you a chance to get a bit farther from the city. Naturally, we travel many ces as tamers in pursuit of unique beasts. Not to mention, Elise here is after a very unique bird. One that uses darkness as its element so having someone with such affinity could be very useful. Any thoughts?" This was Laurence''s n. If he convinced them toe on an adventure to broaden their horizons and assist them in something rare, then this trip would be a massive boon.


    This seemed like a decent proposition, walker knew that meeting the master of the tamers guild would create a strong connection for their party as a whole. Getting out to explore a new area would give them valuable experience especially with their new skills and levels. The search for a rare dark affinity bird sounded tempting, Elise Was most likely looking for a nest to make a contract with an egg of such a species. On the other hand Walker could learn more about taming from the first hand. "It sounds very tempting, unfortunately, we won''t leave until midnight awakens, also our manager kind of got angry at us and refuses to give us a quest for a few more days." Walkerughed at thest part a bit embarrassed. This was also a ruse to see what else they were thinking, Walker had already caught on to Laurence and his tricky strategy.


    "Well naturally we don''t n on leaving the city for a little while. We can easily extend our stay in an inn." This was nothing to them as they had brought adequate funds in case they needed to stay longer.


    "Oh no, I couldn''t ask that if you, you three would be staying here. Please feel free we have more rooms than we know what to do with. Plus I''ll dly drag everyone out to the training field." This was the more walker wanted, training with experienced tamers would allow the party to learn how to battle other humans along with a few different monsters. It was an all around benefit. The tamers would gain experience and a better understanding of who they would be traveling with if the party epting their request.

 Chapter 112 - 112. New Materials

    Laurence saw no reason to say no to Walkers offer, saving a few gold from staying at an inn And getting to know their party better was ideal. "Yes, that sounds like a grand time, we ept your offer." Elise couldn''t be happier this meant that Ste could remain out of the beast ring and even fly in the air around the mansion.


    "It''s settled then we''ll find you all some rooms. If you are all up to it you cane to the adventurers guild tomorrow and meet our manager. I''m sure she will want to hear your request directly. Plus maybe we can get out of waiting a few more days." Walker''s sneaky n probably wouldn''t work but if he could convince ra to even let them adventure a day earlier it was worth it.


    Hilda who had already returned with tea while the group talked jumped up. The porcupine quickly curled up in fear. "Oh I need to start dinner I got so distracted chatting and watching the little ones." Hilda had been having a grand time making dinner since moving to the mansion. She had fewer orders to worry about since she only kept her adventurer and close clients. This meant that she could cook to her heart''s content and branch out trying new things. Consequently, her level had been able to increase more than it used to which added to her joy.


    "Ahh I guess your name will need to be Hyde after all..." Laurence had finally given in seeing the porcupine curled up under the table yet again. He was thankful that it hadn''t shot any quills and started fires. He would need to practice with Hyde to see where his strengths would lie in battle, maybe Hyde would be able to roll around and fire quills in a strategic manner. Laurence put his strategizing to the side for now knowing he could take advantage of walkers party and test the theory out at the elementary levelter. It would be good to start more training the younger the tamed beast the better.


    Crack!


    A loud cracking sound had taken their attention interrupting the flow of conversation. They all looked toward the windows since it sounded like ss but in actuality, it wasn''t ss at all. After looking around they noticed broken pieces of crystal in the floor under the coffee table. The light mana within the light crystal had been fully consumed by onyx. Upon seeing this they all became entranced in the lights faintly shining between onyx''s scales. None of them had ever witnessed a mana crystal lose all its mana before because they were often crafting materials or fully consumed. In this case only the mana was consumed leaving the physical crystal behind.


    "Well that''s a first for me" Gil saw this as he had walked in to the room seeing everyone looking at the broken crystal. "So what is it now? Is it useful for anything? If it''s just something pretty maybe a jeweler will buy it." Gil took up a seat joining everyone.


    "This here is Gil, he''s our resident ranger. He like fires arrows and stuff." Walker threw some teasing to the air knowing it would get Gil talking more.


    "Oh says the guy who can just look at something and his system gives him a new skill. Use your wonderful powers and tell us if this is useful." Gil snagged a crystal shard and tossed it to Walker. A smug smirk on his face knowing that walker was too curious not to do so.


    "Fine fine, all around appraisal!"


    '' deste mana shard


    The Remnant of an elemental mana crystal. The mana has been consumed causing the structure of the crystal to break. Ideal material for crafting items and types of equipment that can store mana.''


    "Oh!" Walker was surprised by thest bit, he had assumed it would only be useless now since they''d lost the mana. But these shards were basically smaller mana crystals that were waiting to absorb mana. " so basically since onyx ate all the mana the crystal wasn''t able to stay in the same shape. So it broke making a bunch of mini crystals which don''t have mana. This means they can absorb mana when they are used to craft things. Should be an interesting item to bring by the forge some time." The idea that they could obtain some form of item to store mana for when they need it most was very exciting. For any adventurer running out of mana and potentially passing out in battle was a huge risk.


    "Oooo I want some too how do I get all the mana out? Can I eat it too? Does it taste good?" Elise had be very focused on the reaction onyx had to consume light element and now had listened to Walkers'' every word.


    Thinking on this he responded carefully, "in theory if you or Ste had the element for the crystal you use then you can slowly drain it of magic. It''s easier for onyx who eats said element. Actually it might be easy for me since I can manipte elements with my skill. If it works that way then just use the crystal as fuel for an elemental skill or magic and eventually it will run out. Basically, train like crazy." Elise had a strange glint in her eyes as she turned to look at Ste. Ste however was fluffing her feathers knowing exactly what Elise would ask of her. She may not be able to speak but she was smart.


    "My sister Ste can throw some wind des. It''s a super rare skill a harpy will learn once out of a hundred harpy born. So you could say she just needs a wind crystal and some time and we''ll have some super rare materials." Laurence was prepared to ask Walkers'' party to help them drain some mana crystals he currently had to bring back to the tamers guild but once he heard the theory he didn''t act in it. Knowing Elise and Ste could provide the shards put him at ease.

 Chapter 113 - 113. Dinner And Deals

    They all continued chatting for some time. Gils and Su''s parents had made their way inside introducing themselves and sitting at the dining table talking themselves. Garret had returned from his new guard position on the inner gates only to find walker had invited tamers to dinner. To say the least, he was ecstatic.


    "Don''t tell me you''vee to steal away walker from the adventurers guild. There''s no way as a father I''d let him leave and wander the world only returning every few years. That''s just not allowed it''s a family rule!" Walker never remembered this being a family rule but he knew this was his fathers'' way of saying he loved him so he didn''t say anything.


    "Well, actually we were hoping to take the whole party to a gathering with our guild master. We also want them to ept a quest with us. But there''s plenty of time before that, Walker even told us he''d take us to the adventurers guild to meet their manager, we''ll be having an insider tour." Laurenceughed at this to lighten the mood. Garret readily epted this seeing that they weren''t aiming to steal away the entire party but instead work together. He''d heard of those awakening the tamer systems and leaving only to return once in a few years or never at all. It was a minor fear every parent had.


    " don''t worry about us, we would be joining them for a few months but it would bring us both a lot. Not to mention we haven''t explored many areas yet so joining a party of tamers who have would be very valuable for our party. Since we have a manager they would send us quests with the system too so we could branch out in that way as well." Walker had already thought of how to exin their ns to everyone else. Plus the idea of going somewhere new was tantalizing. Something else that really caught walkers attention was that other tamers they meet may have knowledge on dragons like midnight. The more he learned no matter how small the better.


    Lisa who had been making friends with Ste and Elise had heard this. "If you all leave you need to bring souvenirs or else I won''t give you your new clothes!" Lisa was understandably unhappy to hear they were leaving again, they had all just gotten back! Since Remey had given her the arcane silk she he constantly worked and was almost finished with what she had made everyone. The only problem was the amount of mana she needed to sew all the parts together. She refused to give them something that would fail them in need, so she had worked until her mana was almost empty then rested, worked, rested, worked, rested, and after hearing everyone talking in the dining hall had decided to take a break. She had been very excited to see that Walker had brought new friends, especially Elise and Ste who were very interested in hearing about the new needles walker had gifted her. Elise may have only been interested in them because they were made from dragon scales but Ste was more excited to meet another girl, it had been rough being in a group with all males, Elise may not care but Ste did just a bit.


    "Don''t worry I''ll keep an eye out, maybe I''ll even beat walker to the punch." Gil had always been an only child and now that he''d met Lisa and started to see her and the party as family he wanted to spoil her to the ends of the earth.


    "Oh is this a challenge? I believe Remey and I will be able to find something better than you and walker." Su had rxed significantly over thest hours chatting. So much so that she was even in a betting mood.


    "Yea that''s right we''ll kick both your butts!" Remey strutted in the room from visiting the orphanage after training. She had been thest person they needed to move forward with dinner.


    "Well if you two are willing to bet on it then I guess the loser will have to help prepare the gardens in spring." cing the penalty for the bet this way would make sure that they would be ready to grow all the new seedse spring. Walker was always thinking ahead this way, plus he didn''t mind some friendingpetition. "Laurence we''ll be relying on you for some help here since you''ll know the areas we travel." Laurence couldn''t help but smile at this shameless use of connections. How bold to ask in front of those he waspeting with.


    They all he gathered and helped set the table bringing out plenty of food. The tamers were over the moon with Hildas'' cooking and made sure she knew it. Especially Riley who barely spoke had issued a whole sentence in how great the roasted beef was. Onyx had devoured another whole light crystal making them realize just how important it would be in the future to have the crystals for when they are in dark ces. Walker also was thankful that he could produce the evil consuming mes which were part light element which could help feed onyx. Light crystals would be expensive. The little porcupine Hyde was still chipping away at the rusty sword hilt happy as all else. He didn''t risk meeting everyone but since everyone Had slowly shown up for dinner he easily grew used to the noise.


    Dinner passed faster than they could expect and soon walker had shown everyone to their rooms. Laurence had asked if they could get up early to head to the adventurers guild which was not a problem for any of them.


    Walker headed to bedst out of everyone thinking of what tomorrow would bring. He would have to remember to get onyx identification as his tamed monster while at the guild as not to cause any trouble. As Walker closed his eyes to drift off to sleep he couldn''t help to have a sense of foreboding on the day toe.

 Chapter 114 - 114. Unfortunate Encounters

    Everyone seemed to wake up refreshed and full of energy. Hilda had been kind enough to set up enough sandwiches for everyone to have as they walked for breakfast. Elise had decided to let Ste remain at the mansion so that she could fly around the training field and be free. Laurence Had chosen to leave Hyde in the beast ring for safety since it was possible for him to start a fire by ident. He would hate to be the reason his new friends lost their beautiful home.


    "Alright now that we''re all together let''s head out. I figured we could head the long way so you three can view the city more." As Walker had dressed and eaten a sandwich he thought of the route to take to the guild. He knew he wanted to walk them by the auction house this time to see the academy which was nearby. That would make them pass by the holy cathedral which was definitely a sight to see. The stained ss windows were as old as the castle. Not to mention the tall marble arches and pirs. The cathedral was especially known for its music, those that joined their choir had the ability and skills to of healing music. This was a rare skill that often wasn''t useful in battle but surprisingly helpful for the elderly and those recovering from illness. Thus hearing their songs was something many would travel for. It just so happened that the entire quire which normally split off and went to the smaller churches in the outer area to perform would gather once a month for arge performance. Today they were together and performing which would be a very great experience to show off to the tamers. After that, it was an easy trip to the guild and forge. They weren''t going to head in to the forge just pass by but it reminded Walker to gather as many crystal shards as possible. After the guild, he wanted to test out some more elemental maniption and also challenge Laurence to a sparing match. Walker desperately wanted to see his other tamed beasts.


    They were chatting and pointing out many of therger buildings and such as they walked. The knowledge was still fairly new to walker and the party since they hadn''t lived in the upper tier long, luckily Garret picked up a lot of information as a guard.


    "One thing I don''t really get is why are there so many people running?" Elise had noticed small groups of young people running in the area. This was strange by the basic fact that due to the systems people had body training wasn''t necessarily a norm.


    "Ah well for some systems like guards they have quests that require body training. I wouldn''t have learned it if my father hadn''t told me about his system quests. It''s rare for it to be the case but at the academy, the ones that do have such quests tend to group up together." When he was young his sister and he would often wonder why Garret would leave early in the morning eventually they had learned the details.


    " it always amazes me the many things the world asks of us through our systems," Laurence said this almost every day. It was easily his catchphrase, but due to how true it was no one ever made fun of him for it.


    The group had started to see the towering holy cathedral in front of them. The outer courtyard was a gathering ce for many in the mornings to chat and have tea. Only the best of the best chefs would bring their pastries to sell to the many tables in the hopes of fame. The elderly were often there first as well so they could get inside to say their prayers or visit healers.


    The holy churches often recruited every healer they had the chance to. This was simply because their teachings were for the benefit of others. That being said their mission had brought them significant power over human faith. This was good because they were able to heal and aid the sick and weak. Yet on the opposite, it gave way to many who desired to feed off of the church as well. Some nobles had be victims and viins in this respect. There were a small number of nobles who had long been members and made hefty donations to the church, therefore, they exerted their power to cause weak minded members of the church to act as they see fit. Those nobles that were not as powerful could often be victims to the prior group. This woulde in the form of denial of healing, exemption from prayers, and even their children being denied a blessing which was a very big part of nobleman tradition.


    The group seemed to walk upon such an example of viiny this very morning.


    "You trash, why would we let you in here when you can''t even donate a hundred gold for our services. Do you think your ears are even good enough to hear my voice let alone their healing notes? Pathetic!" Walker saw a familiar face along with two familiar attendants. This was the man from the auction house. He was currently pushing out a man with visible injuries from the front door.


    The man in bandages had his arm in a sling and most likely was there to be healed. Everyone knew there was no price for healing but it was customary to donate so the church could buy food and such. But by no means was it required.


    Walker used his skill wanting to know who the despicable man from the church was, this is the second time they''d seen his ugly side.


    '' Ross Merrill


    Level: 22


    Light channeler system


    Sent to the church as the youngest son of the Merrill family. The hate for his own family and the church cause his mind to warp. His favorite pastimes are charging lower tier citizens for healing and toying with the nuns who he outranks.''


    "Ugh" Walker let out a disgusted grunt. This man may not have had the best of life being forced to the church by his family but it was no excuse to treat those around him poorly. Not only did he prey on the weak but he "toyed with the nuns"? Walker couldn''t imagine the terrible things he may have done.


    Before Walker could even shout he saw the man that Ross had pushed begin to fall. They were standing on the top of the steps to the cathedral and the man in bandages wouldn''t be able to catch himself.

 Chapter 115 - 115. Heroic Deeds

    "Su! Catch that man!" Walker was rting the order but Su had already caught his intentions and begun to move. Since Su was their party defender she had the strength to catch the man without injury. This left Walker able to support.


    Su had used one of her blocking skills to get right behind the man falling. In a second she had dropped her shield that she normally wore on her back and caught the man.


    "Sir are you ok? Did your injuries worsen?" Su was worried the man had be more injured even though she caught his fall.


    "Nice job Su, so this man didn''t donate enough money to the church for healing?" Walker said this rather loud. "Then I''ll just need to heal him myself, heal!" Walker used his healing skill three times and saw the bandages man''s slightly pale and tired face Be rosy and warm.


    The man soon stood up out of Su''s arms and began to move his body and remove bandages. He even pulled off his sling and started to stretch his shoulder. "Young master thank you so much for healing me! You young miss thank you for catching me! Who would have known I''d meet two heroic saints in a day!" The man had been unable to work for a week and was finally able to make his way to the cathedral for healing only to fall victim to Ross and his cruelty.


    Walker looked towards Ross with disgust openly on his face. Ross red back seeing that Walker had just healed the bandages man and even made a show of it to the others by speaking loudly to draw attention.


    "So do you have a proper answer for me of why a man of the church would demand a hundred gold for healing and even kick an injured man down stairs!" Walkers'' words almost echoed he had yelled so loud. This drew attention from many in the front courtyard.


    A small crowd had gathered, they had all seen out of the corner of their eye the bandages man fall. Yet now they were in awe as he had been caught and healed in an instant by the two. After the auction, the party had taken to disying their travel medals and the ques much more visibly to tame some of the stricter nobles'' gazes. This was working in their favor currently so Walker decided to push a bit and work towards Ross''s punishment.


    "That man of the church Ross, he continually charges those that are injured for the services that their faith preaches as free for all man. Instead of upholding just and good intentions he auctions cursed items without care for the danger. Worse than all that he toys with the kind and Righteous nuns who have given their hard work and determination to true good. I beseech these strong and kind people here today to ce the scene here today in the ears of the high priest. I can''t think they would be so keen to know their ways have been perverted in such a way!" Walker was using every ounce of mental strength to speak and act as a noble and hero.


    Enraged by his words Ross took a few steps down the stairs " how dare those born in the low tier, do you think I don''t know your scheme!? These poor fools have assaulted the faith here by spreading lies about healing items. They robbed the church of much needed light crystals. They even dare to lie to royalty that they are hero''s to pad their tier as adventurers. How else could they jump to silver tier at such a young age? Fools!" This would have worked in his favor if walker had not spoken first. Yet since Walker hadid out a calm and strong speech where Ross was full of anger and usations those listening could not bring themselves to believe.


    They had heard the rumors of young adventurers receiving the hero title. They also believed the king''s word above that of a single person from the church. Also as it wasmon for nobles to gossip some did know of Ross''s unsavory activities, when you were Rich in the high tier of society what else was there to do but gossip?


    One of the nuns who had been attendant to Ross was breaking down as tears fell from her eyes. This young girl had taken a few beatings under the ruse that Ross was purifying her sins. The other girl had long be numb to Ross''s words and heavy hand, but at these words, a small cold glint came through her eyes. This was her chance, "yes these hero''s speak the truth! Ross he long abused my sisters and me iming to save us from sin but use us as ythings he can break and berate at any time. He knew that the ring was cursed but just wanted money to sneak on the brothel. I''ve watched him many times force payment for healing but Icked the power to change things. Now that the heroes havee they can rule down proper punishment." This was unexpected, no one expected this flurry of words from a nun so small in stature. The most convincing part however, were the small purple bruises that could be seen around her neck and face craftily hidden by her clothing. Not that she had said her piece and be slightly disheveled the became clear.


    The small crowd had begun slinging insults at Ross who''s anger had begun to turn to fear. Would he lose the power he had slowly stolen from the church over one pathetic old man? These weak attendants were pushing back against him? Him!? He cursed his system for not having proper attack skills to smite this trash around him. They didn''t deserve to be in his presence. He began to retreat slightly...


    Therge front doors of the cathedral created a loud thunk! Sound attracting all attention. They began to creak open slowly to reveal a short old man wearing high priest robes.

 Chapter 116 - 116. High Priest

    The high priest was dressed elegantly in flowing red and green robes. He may have been aged but his eyes were sharp behind an old pair of bronze rimmed sses. He carried a in wooden scepter to assist in him walking and was followed by two older nuns, as his attendants.


    Ross saw this and smiled, his smile showed too many teeth. It was unnerving. The high priest would definitely take his word over some lowborn adventurers. "High priest! I beseech you to halt these trouble makers. They have ndered the good faith of the church and caused a scene in front here. We can not allow them to spread their sphemy any longer they must be punished!" Those that he gathered had no words for the shameless man in front of them, did he really believe he could win this argument?


    " do you not believe me to have proper healing Ross!" The high priest had raised his voice which was indeed a rare urrence. He was known as a rather patient man to all but when it came to those who wondered and dishonored the faith it was rather different. "Do you not think me a fool? I''ve already spoken to Avis Ga about your night out at the auction. Not only that but as I head to greet those who wish to attend healing to I find you abusing your authority. Even more I hear that you have in turn abused your attendants as well? Do you truly wish to be free of this home?" His gaze pierced Ross''s soul as of seeing the darkness within. He had royally messed up and was going to pay the price. "Rose please bind him until the guards arrive, he has outstayed his wee and must travel a new path." At his words the older nun raised a finger and white chains made of light wrapped Ross in to a full cocoon of white chains. He could not even flinch let alone speak. "Thank you dear, as always a wonderful job." The nun gave a nod and watched closely. To ensure Ross stayed in ce.


    The high priest took some steps towards Walkers'' group. Just as the onlookers were stunned so was the party. This turn of events was not at all expected. Who knew the high priest had heard everything! He even had spoken to Avis about the auction!


    "You all must be the tamers guild and the little hero''s Avis told me about. If I''m not mistaken I heard there was a little dragon hero too. How sad she''s not with you all." The high priest had always had a knack for finding out anything and everything just by listening around the cathedral. If anyone knew what was going on it would be him. The benefit of being the high priest for years aided the multitude of connections he had. "Well I''m any casee inside, I have some nice seats open where we can talk. Oooh don''t worry about that fool he''ll be ousted from our faith. There''s nothing I detest more than those who do not follow the code they pledge." The high priest shook his head, he truly did pity those who fell from the right path. "Rose please watch over poor Ross until the guards are here, we will worry about notifying his familyter."


    The Hight priest gave them a wave to follow. They all hesitated a moment unsure if it was ok for them to so quickly head inside after such a scene. They were out at ease as they noticed the small crowd praising their actions and even whispers of how fair and strong the high priest was to dish out righteous punishment so fast.


    They promptly followed the high priest inside the doors to be greeted by the wonders of the cathedral. This was also the party''s first time inside, since they had only been to the smaller lower tier churches. The light shown through manyrge stained ss windows reflecting the rainbow upon them. Large oak pews lined the inside facing a stone tform. Many people holding a myriad of instruments were seated warming up on the tform. Most notable however was arge pir holding a glowing orb. It was as if light was being taken and thrown out of it, this brought a warm conforming feeling to everyone looking at it.


    ''Entered healing aura: mana recover and health recovery has been boosted.''


    This was also unexpected, it wasmon knowledge that the cathedral had the best means of healing others. The fact that it had an incredibly rare item that created a healing aura was above and beyond this. Just being in the cathedral healed people and sped go mana regeneration. The effects of adding healing music in top of this must be incredible!


    These new sights and feeling were overwhelming. The high priest had a smug grin in his face, he would never tire of seeing these looks of awe on those he brought inside. His favorite moment was when an injured person would awaken for the first time to fully bask in the wonderful sight.


    The group continued looking all around them taking note of the many carved statues that guarded the walls. These were figures that had truly shaped and greatly influence history along with the faith as a whole. Some had used healing powers never before seen again while others had devoted untold hours and sacrifice to uphold the values of the faith.


    Before long the high priest had seated himself upon the front row closest to where the musicians would y. He patted the open spaces next to him waiting for the party and the tamers to take their seats. He may want to have his conversation before the music began but it would be rude to interrupt their viewing of his amazing home. He knew Ross had caused friction in the eyes of the party, and if they would be as influential in the kingdom as Avis was predicting he knew he needed to mend that immediately. He also feared the tamers guild members would tell their guild master to avoid the church greatly reducing the items brought to them necessary for rare healing rituals or even damage the rtionship with the alchemists who also partnered with the church. He felt he had a strong goal to achieve in this meeting.

 Chapter 117 - 117. New Connections

    Having finally sat down and taken in enough of the elegant artwork that was the inside of the cathedral it was time to chat.


    "First let me congratte you for your test results. It''s very impressive to rise to silver tier so young. You all must have worked incredibly hard. Also to you three tamers guild members, I hear you had a sweeping victory at the auction, I hope your new beasts serve the guild well." These were but formalities but also a way to show that the high priest knew of the group in front of them.


    "Thank you very much high priest. We are very grateful for you words and to be shown to the magnificent seats. We were showing our new friends around and remembered there would be a performance today. We thought there was nothing better than to hear the lovely music tomemorate their visit to you kingdoms capitol." Walkers practice in speaking like a noble was paying off. He had gained the art of replying honestly and charmingly. Not every noble was able to pull this off. He knew he had his critical thinking skill to thanks since he was able to properly think through all his words before he used them.


    "Us as well high priest, we thank you for your words. However we could not have had that sweeping victory without hearing a little snake hiss a secret or two." Laurence chuckled as he said this.


    "Ah so you all became friends at first sight, how fitting. I can''t imagine a hero reaching out to anyone without light in their souls. I hope that you young hero''s feel the same even after that poor showing out front and at the auction. As Ross''s senior I should take responsibility for his actions. I know he was a troubled boy sent here by his family as a good faith gift to the church, yet, we did not guide him in a pure enough way. For that I am very sorry." The high priest had long known bad apples made their way in to the church constantly and without enough supervision they rotted faster than one could act.


    " we of course understand that one person does not stand for all in the faith. It would be the same as saying that because one stone on a road is broken that they are all bad and need to be reced." A simple rtion but a true one indeed. One person could not stand for every aspect of a group no matter how hard they tried, everyone was unique in their own right.


    "Ahh it pleases me to hear such wise words from those so young. We as the elders must be getting through to some." A heartyugh escapes him. " there''s is another thing that struck me, I''ve heard the rumors you can use any skill but did you really use a healing skill?"


    ''Daily quest: assist the church


    You have met the high priest and experienced the church''s true form. Use your skills to heal some brutal injuries and return smiles to the faces of the people.


    Rewards:


    100exp


    Fame rises''


    The system prompted them to assist the church in healing to raise their names. They did have the quest goal of bing known as a heroic party so this was a perfect daily quest. But why did the system prompt them now? They had been in the church for some time.


    Walker didn''t let his surprise at their daily quest show. Su, Gil, and Remey were eagerly watching him having seen the same system notice.


    "Yes, I have the basic heal spell. It''s actually the first skill I used when I unlocked my system. I tried to heal my sisters pricked finger and it all unlocked so fast. It was a pretty great day." He had a theory of where the high priest was going with his question, in rtion to the system quest it was very usible.


    "Well if I could be so forward to ask this, do you and your friends have time to stay and help us with those who do not fully heal from today''s melody? It would be a true honor to be healed by one with the hero title. I hope this doesn''t interrupt you ns with friends either, of course I''m asking for them to join you." The high priest knew he could be pushing too much but having the hero''s and the tamers work together would solidify their rtions as a whole.


    Laurence wanted to say no since he was still out off by the actions of Ross but he had noticed a peculiar system notice. In his system view he saw this,


    '' special quest: friend of the hero


    You have started a flourishing friendship with budding hero''s. This is a test to you character and morals, to show the world this you must do what any good friend would do. Help them out.


    Reward:


    75exp


    Tamers guild fame increase''


    Tamers never gained quests that didn''t revolve around taming or growing rtionships between tamed beasts. The only other quest they received were from guilds issuing said quests. Was this the power of being around someone with a title? Everyone had heard that those with titles cause system nearby to act strangely but this was on a whole different level. Their title causes them to gain a quest they would never have in their lives!


    "We will help, there''s nothing that would make us happier than to see those fallen stand again." Laurenceyered his words with sweet intentions. He was extremely excited to have a new quest let alone one he could never hope to have without meeting the omnipotent party.


    "Excellent excellent I knew asking you young folks would take some weight from my old bones." This was the ideal oue for the high priest. He''d lead the foundation for a strong rtionship with two guilds and the newest title holders in the continent. He may seem sneaky at times but his goals were far from nefarious. "Ah and here I got you all talking too much the music is about to start!"

 Chapter 118 - 118. Beauty Of Song

    As they had all spoken many people had gathered in the cathedral. Some were helped along by family or nuns and others walked on their own. Many elderly hade and sat seeking relief for aching bones. The small talk around the cathedral slowly died down to silence as it was a clear the musicians had prepared.


    A lone violin began to y. This single not started their hearts beating faster. Warm wave fluctuated within their body resonating with their souls. One by one more Instruments joined bringing the sound to a loud body of harmonized notes. Flutes fluttered in their ears meeting the string instruments. Trumpets and trombonesid out a base of low and high tones bringing energy to the depths. These feeling of harmony made them want to stand and dance. Energy flowed through the room, the orb on the center of the stage flowed brighter and rainbows danced.


    The time of the melody began to shift to a quiet background as a a girl about sixteen years old took the center stage. She held no musical instrument like the others. Her brown hair hung to her waist and was braided tightly. She was slim and wore sky blue dress that showed he figure but hid away anything tempting. He features were soft and he brilliant emerald eyes shown with a joy like no other. She had many freckles and from what Walker could see a few scars that had begun to fade away over time.


    This girl stood still but slowly began to raise her arms until the music came to a sudden stop and she opened her mouth. Walker waspletely entranced, her voice spoke of pure sunlight, the overshot of dreams, and much more. Saying that she had the voice of an angel was a tant insult. Between her appearance and her voice walker could easily say this was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.


    Gil''s elbow hit walkers ribs; a smirk on his face shaking his head slightly. Walker had been sitting there jaw dropped catching flies. Gil had seen this and wanted him to put the poker face back on to not embarrass himself. The high priest had already seen this and smiled inwardly.


    The girls words continued to flow smoother than any river would flow. Soon the dancing rainbows took on shapes of clouds, doves, angels, and many more creatures which came to visit those that were weak or ill. This melody and dance of colors and light was healing those in need in front of their very eyes. The performance had been going on for over ten minutes when they felt the dip in mana. It seemed the end was approaching.


    Feeling this their hearts wanted to cry out to keep going but nobody desires to see the musicians fall. Walker had begun to look at more than just the singing girl noticing he was the only one so very transfixed on her song. He made a mental note to thank Gil, if he had not elbowed him he would have looked like a foole the end.


    The end was soft and left them wanting for more. However the musicians had used their mana and needed to recover. The aura I. The room returned to its prior activity and the light no longer danced. Many of the guests showed great improvement. The elderly especially were standing straighter and talking as they left much faster than they had entered. There were about twenty people still left. Some were in wheelchairs unconscious some bandages covering them. Others were being attended to by nuns recing bandages on or risky healed wounds.


    "Here''s the n, Su and Remey partner up and assist in changing bandages. Laurence and Riley will fetch fresh water to use for cleaning wounds. Elise and Gil will help move the unconscious. I''m going to move around and use my healing spell to assist those withrger injuries." The critical thinking passive skill was really paying off today for walker. In a matter of seconds he had issued a n. The high priest was very impressed by his astute decision and decided to use one of his spells as well. His magic was limited to a certain amount of uses a day. This was the rise and fall of a high priest system but for a moment like this where those with tougher illness and wounds were left he always saved some spells.


    He stood and started tapping his in wooden staff. Green waves began to form from the bottom in the marble floors. "Healing pulse..." the high priest didn''t speak loudly but the green wave responded through the room effecting everyone within. It bounces from statues, to walls, from the ceiling, everywhere. This pulse reverberated many times until the high priest returned to sitting slightly out of breath. "Ha it takes more out of me every day but I can never get over how wonderful that skill is." He may be showing his age but the light in his eyes said he refused to give up healing those in need.


    Meanwhile everyone had gotten to their task. Working in tandem with the nuns it was an impressive disy of the churches true values. Walker made his way to a man withrge bandages on his back. This was definitely a wound from a monster. Long gashes ran from his shoulder to his ribs that he partially healed. It was a wonder this man had lived through the encounter. Without any hesitation he began to use his healing skill which quickly closed the wounds after only two uses. He was met by the grateful smiles of the nuns nearby who had been able to save mana and heal more small injuries than focusing mushroomed skills on onerge injury. Having just one more healer really made a difference.


    Walkers mana only held out for an half hour of healing before he began to let it regenerate. While this happened he assisted in changing bandages noticing that almost everyone had already been healed. This was an amazing feat and surely was only because of the experiences those who had healed for many years had. A novice healer could not have been able to properly evaluate the injuries and use their skills and mana wisely to heal the most people. Some injuries were toorge to fully heal and Required multiple treatments due to the healers mana restricting them. It was something once learned changed the efficiency and strategy of healing.

 Chapter 119 - 119. Rainbow Songstress

    Having joined the effort to change bandages walker reached thest weapon fairly quickly. As he reached to apply them a soft slightly tan hand beat him to the punch. Looking up the girl that had been singing was there not even noticing she had just stolen the bandage from his hands. She was incredibly focused on her actions that she soon had finished bandaging her patient and stood up with a look of relief. Everyone Ha even helped today and now it was time to rest.


    "You''re pretty fast, you must have practiced for a long time." There was nothing but pure admiration in walkers words. His face Hade slightly blushed as he tried to keep from staring at the girl in front of him.


    She smiled a bit giving him a nod. Walker wasn''t sure if she was just shy or didn''t want to talk but decided to persevere and introduce himself. "My name is walker, I''m the leader of the omnipotent party. We were showing some friends around and decided to see performance for the first time. There are no words to describe your performance. I believe it''splimentary to gift flowers to the star, I don''t have the usual ones but I have an idea." Walker eyed a basin of clean water and used his elemental maniption skill to create an iced bouquet of wildflowers. The shimmered in the light of the stained ss trapping and reflecting the rainbow colors. "I hope these will suffice." Walker plucked the frozen bouquet and offered them to her.


    She was stunned her lips formed an O shape and her eyes were dazzled by the details. She had yet to witness this form of magic and thought it very simr to her own control of the light element. She grasped the bouquet feeling the cool icy stems. They may have been melting fast in the warmth of the cathedral but the beauty she had seen in a moment was forever ingrained within her.


    "Ooh I see you''ve met my daughter Alice." The high priest had regained some energy after resting and decided to check on the two who had just finished assisting thest patient. "I was blessed by the holy lord to find her abandoned on our doorstep one winter night. Since then she''s been my daughter." So her name was Alice, walker would make sure not to let it escape him. Yet even though her eyes was entangled by the melting bouquet she still didn''t utter a word. This confusion was in on walkers face. "Ah I''m sure you''re wondering why I''m introducing her, well as you saw she can obviously speak but due to her system her words are infused with mana. She has a mystical power in her system, it''s called the rainbow songstress system. She had amazing ability to form light in to the shape and form her words delegate. However this ability never turns off so if she speaks too much she could exhaust herself easily. Her very words can heal and bring calm to the very soul. I believe it was a blessing from the world itself for her to be left here and I will never change my mind." The high priest didn''t look sad at all while exining her risky abilities. Instead he looked like a proud parent whose child had demonstrated a great aplishment.


    This system was amazing in its own respect. It had the ability to finely control light to give it form. This in turn allowed it to assist in healing through the forms created. To be able to properly use these skills one would need a very strong understanding of the light element, this exined why Alice was fairly tan. Spending many hours in the light of the sun to practice and understand would be natural to her. Loosing the ability to safely converse with normal words was a major downside but looking at how Alice acted and how happy she was to be helping others not a single bit of sadness could be found. It was like the high priest said, a true blessing.


    "I understand, that is a pretty intense system. Although seeing what she''s made of it I doubt any could do the same. I recently gained the ability to manipte light and I can''t make it dance as Alice does it the least." Walker raised a hand and used his elemental maniption to cause the light through the stained ss to make a varying rainbow. "This is the most I think I can do before I practice more. I feel sillypared to you, hahaha." The nervousugh waspletely ignored as Alice had snapped her head up. She hadn''t met anyone else who could move light like here even in a small way. She had seen Ross channel light through objects, she always saw the orb in the main hall of the cathedral give of light, she had even seen some fire healing skills that had white mes but it wasn''t pure light. She snagged walkers hand her smile bigger than before, her gaze was full of pressure.


    Walker knew exactly what she wanted to ask "of course I''ll practice ande back to help again. It would not due for a hero with healing powers to let them waste away..." his face was redder than a tomato, this was too much for him. Turning his head away he saw Gil and Remey holding backughter while looking his way.


    Pffft...Ha he''s...hah hah look how red..." Remey struggled to get this out through forced breathing and small giggles.


    "Looks like little walker has grown up and found a wife" Gil put the nail in the coffin, walker was officially the most embarrassed he''d ever been.


    Alice had also heard their words and dropped his hand showing a slightly red face as well. The high priest saw this as a good time to wrap things up and rest. They did have another performanceter in the day and recovering their mana was utmost importance. "Well I hate to steal Alice from her new friend but we need to rest. We have our second performance in only a few hours. We need to be ready to y the whole piece. Pleasee again when you have the chance, and if you leave for an adventure know that you''re always wee to heal and recover fatigue here." The high priest turned to head toward a door at the end of the hall.


    Alice had followed him constantly ncing back as she walked. She paused a moment as the frozen bouquet dripped a few more drops "thank you" the sweetest voice walker had ever heard whispered just now. He again dropped his jaw for a moment as his heart may have just stopped.


    "I-I um I''ll bring more next time..." walker struggled in his reply. Alice was almost out of the room by then but if walker had seen her face he would have known how happy she was to hear he would return.

 Chapter 120 - 120. Teasing

    Seeing that Alice and the head priest had gone off to rest Remey and Gil didn''t let walker breath for even a minute.


    "So what''s your girlfriends name?"


    "Was it love at first sight"


    "Why don''t you make me flowers out of ice?"


    The pie unloaded all their won''t up teasing they had thought of while waiting for the head priest to leave walker alone. While these too ranted on Su had made her way over as well. She had been pushing herself hard to help as much as possible. Her family experiences made her heart cry for those injured and she couldn''t just hallway help.


    "Leader is it time to head to the guild hall? I know you were busy with the priest and the singer so I tried not to interrupt before. Please ignore those two I''m not sure they understand matters of the heart yet." Su usually didn''t throw words at others but seeing Gil and Remey gang up on walker she saw it as important to do so.


    This lightened the mood a bit, "yes your right we should ditch these two and head out. Let''s head over to Laurence, Elise, and Riley it looks like they are waiting for us." Su and walker headed towards the door where Elise was waving. Remey and Gil were leftughing but soon realized they would be alone.


    "Hey wait!" Gil darted after them with Remey on her heels. Their taunts forgotten in the fear of being left at the cathedral all day.


    "Sure took your time talking to your new friend there huh? Good for you." Laurence had seen the teasing towards walker and didn''t want to add to it but couldn''t resist a few words.


    He had recovered his poker face by the time the group Had begun their walk to the adventurers guild. "Well naturally it''s important to foster rtionships as an adventurer. Not to mention our party may face injuries I can''t heal so knowing a rising healer is very beneficial." Using their upation and healing as an excuse made it seem as though walker had just been simply building connections. The truth was in to see however, not a single one of them believed his words for a second! "So let''s get ourselves over to the adventurers guild, it''s a short walk this way!" Walker took the lead and before they even knew it they had reached the front door.


    The noise of the first floor was nothing out of the usual, plenty of parties vied for the for quests and the attention of the staff. ra had not expected to see the party for another few days at least.


    The guild had recently posted the test results although fabricated a bit. It was normal for the guild to do so for a party so that they can get special requests and also to garner the rtionships between parties. It was a wild and crazy ideology that the lowest and newest adventurer party had be silver rank overnight. Once the regrs at the guild had noticed the new post they read it and came to im it was a lie and that someone else had posted it. However as they staff exined it more they added the hero title, verifications from the king and verification from the master of the guild. Those who argued quickly became those was spread the gossip and preaches for the party. ra was just happy that walker hadn''t brought midnight along, it seemed that she was going to be the discerning factor in weather or not people recognized them.


    This however did not stop those who had seen the party return and im their silver tier ques. It also didn''t help that they all wore the kings travel medals openly now. ra understood that it made things easier when facing nobles but still, did they really need more attention?


    "Hey there hero!"


    "The hero returns!"


    "Rescue some tamers this time ey?"


    A few of the older regrs gave them shouts as the walked. This confused the group since it was the first time but it was easily brushed off.


    "Hello ra! We brought some new friends to visit you, actually they want to ce a request." Walker had found ra easily since she was staring right at them.


    "You know you can''t ept any quest for a few more days. I won''t budge so easily, it''s part of my job." She crossed her arms keeping a stern face while ring at walker whose sheepish smile was all she saw.


    ra took a nce at the three that hade with the party quickly identifying their tamers guild crests. "Oh so you did find some tamers at the auction!" She was genuinely surprised they had gotten so lucky that the tamers guild themselves had been there. She figured nobles or those from the academy would have bought up the corpse spider eggs.


    Laurence as his parties leader came forward to stand by walker. " hello miss ra, walker has told us much about you. Now that I see you it is clear that without such a fine manager their party would be lost to the right path. I understand you have ced restrictions upon them and we do not with to cause friction. We would like to post a quest requesting the omnipotent party however. Would you be so kind to assist me in this?" Laurence showed his eloquent tongue, he had many years of practice speaking with these sweet words.


    Laurence had been born to a maid in service of a noble, his father a butler. Until he unlocked his system he had learned their jobs and assisted them. Naturally he needed to learn how to speak In The presence of a noble or royalty. This skill could make or break his sess here today!


    The piercing gaze of ra remained unbroken, " you must wait three days for tour request to be processed after that it will be sent to the party in question. If they ept your system will notify you, if not the same goes." Her poker face did not falter, instead she had remained standing strong. Gathering the paperwork here and there from shelves Su soon ced arge stack in front of Laurence. A devilish grin had shown on her beautiful face, "I''ll just need a few forms filled out." This may have been the normal procedure but ra was scary!

 Chapter 121 - 121. Claras Thoughts

    While Laurence took the paperwork and sat down at one of the many tables walker swore he saw a tear in his eye. Poor Laurence and his stack of paper work.


    "I have gathered some smaterials and copied them in To this journal. The first section is about dragons with dark elemental affinities, the second is some information specifically on skeletal dragons. There are very interesting things rted to their diet which I think will help once midnight hits a growth spurt. I also managed to find some parts on abyssal serpents, mostly about their rarity and the mostmon location they have been found. They were once hunted to near extinction since they were thought to be evil. They may consume light element as nourishment but they can actually utilize light magic skills along with dark magic skills. However you''ll need to note that their dark elemental skills are mostly for stealth, it''s actually a significant part of their species evolution." What would he ever do without ra! Walker had totally forgotten about her looking in to the guilds records for information. The tamers hadpletely taken his attentiontely.


    Walker began to scan the pages of the journal making sure to get a good look at each page. His skill mental archive was recording all the information for him to peruseter on. ra had really outdone herself, not only had she recorded in depth bits of how big a skeletal dragon was expected to grow but also the ideal diet for one! Catching his attention was the fact that most skeletal dragons would eat only bones once they reached adulthood. Their stomach acid would be strong enough to dissolve even other dragons bones! The curious part was that the stronger the bones they ate the more they could strengthen their own sakes for defense. If midnight did the same she could avoid a serious amount of damage. Since midnight was a mixed breed dragon walker didn''t think she would only eat bones especially since she had eaten other monsters as well not just the bones. This most likely meant that she could survive off a mixed diet! This relieved him quite a lot since they party would always need to provide food for her.


    The section on the abyssal serpents had simr knowledge on growth rate and inner anatomy. It referenced a researcher who had discovered the long thought extinct serpents over fourth years ago. The man had hidden in a cave from a storm while out doing research I let to see strange pairings of snakes moving in the walls. Eventually he saw one smaller one turn in to a pool of ink and materialize in to an abyssal serpent. Naturally this researcher furiously recorded all of this and studied their activities for some time. Hence the knowledge on diet and growth came to be. Abyssal serpents seemed to start out with only the ability to hide themselves as "paintings" or in onyx''s case a tattoo. After they reached a full two feet in length did their growth spurt start. The theory was that this was when their system unlocked and they could actively grow.


    ncing down at where onyx had been resting in tattoo form walker figured he was about one and a half feet long. This growth must be from the more concentrated light element from the crystals onyx had been snacking on. If walker were to only feed him light crystals would onyx grow even faster? This could be an expensive investment but if onyx grew to the size this researcher theorized it would be well worth it. The longest one the researcher had witnessed was one spanning the length of ten horse drawn carriages. The thickness the size of a hundred year old oak. That size of an abyssal serpent could easily swallow a young dragon and a few adventurer parties to boot.


    "This is perfect! I didn''t expect you to rewrite it all in to a journal for me. You''ve outdone yourself!" ra stood just a bit taller hearing his words. She was after all the first floor manager of the adventurers guild. Of course she would put forth amazing results. It helped greatly that she had found the motivation to be better herself. Seeing this party in front of her push forward to improve by leaps and bounds made her want to do the same. If they would be the strongest party then she should be the best manager. It was the only eptable path.


    " well as your manager I am required to do my best. So are you nning to ept their request? Should I guess that it stems from you wanting to improve your knowledge on the bonds you share with midnight and onyx?" ra hit the nail in the head. " if so I strongly rmend it, adventurers and tamers often pair up and have dual memberships with each respective guild. I''m not telling you to join them, but making connections could improve your survival in the future. For example since tamers have a better understanding of beasts this works out to them also having better rtions with the Demi humans. Since their species has many traits from monsters their personalities follow suit. Humans tend to have a decent rtionship politically with them but on an individual level it''s still challenging." Knowing the party would branch out and eventually visit other kingdoms ra knew it was part of her duty to guide them. The tamers guild connecting with them and showing them how to get along with Demi humans would be the perfect situation. Not to mention the Demi human territory is well known for being safer than other areas. There were still dangers but because it was mostly open ins before the mountains it was a great training ground. Adventurers would be able to see danger and run or be able to openly maneuver to take down an opponent. This was also a reason why the merchants preferred their journeys to the Demi human kingdom than to the elf kingdom. Too many monsters could ambush them in the forest.


    "While their leader does some paperwork I''ll give you all some Demi human basics!" ra had gone in to full manager mode. It was a wonder she wasn''t a teacher!

 Chapter 122 - 122. Lessons

    " the Demi humans as you Know are a race that has an extreme variation in ability. Unlike humans they are simr in respect to monsters when ites to systems. For example you as a human can have a system that gives you magic skills. A monster would have a system that is rted to what species it is. A Demi human would have a system that builds from their beast traits. A reptilian Demi human that has the blood of snakes may have a system that grants them abilities a snake species of monster would have. Poison, scales, heightened smell, cold blood, and many more. These effect them physically, but where things be interesting is that their system will zero in on the species of snake. Say it''s a me serpent then maybe the Demi human would have skills rted to fire such as fire immunity, fire ball, and maybe even me healing. This makes the Demi humans thought to be halfway between monsters and humans. The simrities are why humans can get along with them to a degree, specifically tamers. However the opposite is true of elves and Demi humans. Elves detest monsters due to their chaotic actions therefore they often do not get along with Demi humans. The dwarves often get along with Demi humans because they appreciate physical strength which most Demi humans have in abundance. Other races like the demons are not so kind to any race, they often like to aggravate the Demi humans tempers since they are like monsters." This speech was one most of the staff learned for when parties would travel toward the Demi humannds for the first time.


    "Wait so does that mean there are some that have monster traits?" Remey had taken an interest, her thoughtsing to midnight. We''re there Demi humans who were part dragon?


    "Yes as I said they have traits of monsters and animals. I know you may be thinking of midnight your little dragon. However it is normal for those that have such traits to live with intelligent monsters to rule them. In the case of a dragon like Demi human they may be servants to the ancient dragons who have viges in the mountains. That''s a whole other lesson on the dragon kin, if I talk on that topic we could be here for many hours. The reason I mentioned a Demi human with monster abilities may rule over intelligent monsters of the same trait is simple, power. Due to their traits they could have the strengths and skills of said monsters but the higher intelligence of a human. End of the day by manipting the monsters they often be somewhat of their own breed of viin. The Demi human kingdom constantly tries to put an end to these individuals. Don''t go thinking they are all bad however, some Demi humans use their monster traits to create peaceful solutions. I believe I recently heard a story of a Demi human with wasp like traits that was able tomunicate with a queen wasp to stop killing farmers in an apple orchard. Now instead the giant wasps act as guards for the farmers greatly increasing their harvest. This was because of the Demi humans traits and skills which brought about advantage to both. Increased harvest and safety for farmers along with the freedom to grow and consume the invaders of the fields for the giant wasps. A win win." ra like to remember such stories. Hearing of those who used their unique situations to benefit arge amount of people was inspiring.


    Remey was trying to process all this information. Knowing that some monsters reported to a Demi human it could be challenging to fight in the Demi humannds. Gil had though the exact same thing, "so how do we know if a monster is doing something like guarding an orchard? Is there any way to tell the difference between them and a wild monster that could attack at any moment? Why if we defeat a monster that we aren''t supposed to?" All valid questions.


    "That''s exactly the reason you should listen to the tamers guild, they can point out special markings often given to such monsters. It''s a skill that Demi humans often have to identify those under their leadership. Even more so if you see the citizens in the Demi human cities or towns they will often have tattoos showing which noble they serve under. Now it''s not expected that a person memorize every possible identification of every noble or leader but the tamers should teach you the most important three or five." This has been a long standing tradition since before the Demi humans had formed a nation. They started many many years ago as tribes fighting amongst themselves for territory. They would tattoo their tribe members to show they belonged and represent them in battle. The traditionsted through the ages and became their own form of social ranking.


    "Finally!" Laurence had filled out thest form and dramatically dropped the stack on the counter. "Miss ra I would like to hand in these forms to creat a request!"


    "Of course, I will file this for you and send the necessary quest to the specified party. Pleas look for a notification from your system in theing days for eptance or denial." ra switched modes and was giving Laurence the speech she was taught when she started working at the guild.


    The look on Laurence''s face was one of pleading. He didn''t know if he could fill it all out again without breaking. Monsters attacking by surprise? He could handle it. Elise driving him crazy with questions? He could handle it. Paperwork? Well he might just fail to survive. This was the bane of his very existence.


    ncing at walker "so if I remember right you wanted to go get some training done right? I know we took up too much time here. I do apologize for rushing out so suddenly but I did promise my friends here I would train with them. Until next time miss ra." Laurence grabbed Riley and Elise by the arm practically dragging them out. This took all of ra''s strength not to loose her poker face andugh out loud.

 Chapter 123 - 123. Riley’s Beasts

    Saying their own goodbyes to ra the Party rushed to catch up with Laurence and the others who had headed out the door.


    ra smiled after them taking the top three forms from the stack and tossing the others in a recycling bin. Her little trick would teach them from trying to get around her rules in the future. She promptly got to work setting up the quest so she could issue it in a few days.


    The walk back to the mansion was much faster than they had expected. Part in turn of Laurence rushing along and the other since no one got in the way. Walker wanted to stop at the cathedral again but knew if he said anything he would get teased for the rest of the day. Also there were still a few hours until the second performance, it would be strange to show up again so early.


    When they returned they didn''t bother heading inside. They knew if they warmed up by the fire they would end up inside all afternoon.


    Gils targets were still there along with a freshyer of ice that had set overnight. " Gil I''m going to add a few more targets as obstacles so you can work on firing while moving." Walker had noticed that Gil almost always fired from a standstill position, this was fine so far but what if they needed to run or dodge?


    Elise had mentally signaled Ste who soon flew down from a spot on the roof. She had been enjoying the warmth of the sunpletely unaffected by the chill in the air.


    "Hmm so you need to work on shooting while moving right? I think we can set up a fun game to practice then. It will depend on everyone else too." Laurence had an idea that would allow everyone to practice dodging and attacking. "You remember how I said Riley was a wild beast tamer? Well if he releases his three wild demon boars they could run wild on the training field a bit. Su could block and dodge, Gil can fire at targets while dodging, I can hold Hyde and dodge so he can get used to more chaos, Ste and Elise can work together to fly and dodge,and Remey can try to destroy more targets than anyone else while not being hit. Riley please don''t fall asleep on us like thest time we trained this way, we were stuck running for two hours! I figure you will practice dodging while manipting elements?" Laurence had a good n and it definitely made for good training. If they all could let dodging be instinctual then even when attacked unaware their bodies could react to prevent harm.


    "Yes, making targets while we remove will definitely help me understand my skills limitations.but I think we can add more to it, how about one person is it, basically we y tag. We need to dodge the boars, not get tagged, and break targets." Walker didn''t want to make it easy, if they were going to improve they needed to challenge themselves with more multitasking. A good adventurer could manage many parts of a chaotic environment to ensure survival.


    "Let''s y tag!! I promise Ste and I won''t hide in the sky all the time, we need to work on our game in the ground too, why if Ste can''t fly. Winds can be really dangerous for flying type monsters you know!" This was actually one thing Ste and Elise practices often. They both knew the risks that came with flight thergest being falling. Being shot down by an enemy or even being blown off course by strong with was always a possibility. To counter this threat they developed strategy to dodge and run in the ground that utilizes jumps and temporary flight.


    "Well that''s decided, Riley if you could please summon them. Walker if you could please make some more targets." Laurence summoned out Hyde from his ring and held him in his glove covered hands.


    Walker looked around and decided to create fifty ice pirs equally spread through the field. This would really push his ability to manipte water and change it to ice. He closed his eyes allowing his senses to expand and feel the natural water mana around him. Using his elemental maniption he slowly willed the water element mana to change in to pirs about the hight of a normal person. Most of his mana was consumed and he felt like he had just run around the mansion ten times.


    Some of the pirs were not perfectly constructed showing that he needed to learn more of elemental mana. Trying things in such arge scale without proper knowledge would not lead to a concrete result. Hence three pirs looked as if they would fall by themselves.


    Walkers eyes shot open just as arge grey creature sprinted past him. This was the demon boar! It''s hair had a grey pointy look to it. The tusks were ck along with its hooves. A red glint shown in its eyes threatening to run wild everywhere it could. This thing was almost double the size of midnight and could easily crush any one of them. Had Laurence and elegies really been training this way normally?


    Any time to think was quickly used up as the serving boar came sprinting towards him. Walker jumped to the side narrowly avoiding the ck tusk aimed at his stomach. They may not be the fastest creatures In The world but they could give the entire group a run for their money.


    Su was trying to dodge them but only seeded in deflecting the oneing towards her. She had the lowest agility out of everyone and that was hurting her now. She didn''t take any damage from the attacks but her pride would be feeling the stingter. This was just more incentive to improve her agility next time she leveled up.


    Walker found that he had a moment without any of the boars focused on him so he began watching everyone''s tactics.

 Chapter 124 - 124. How To Dodge

    Watching Gil adapt more to moving while aiming at farther targets was interesting. Now that a bit of chaos had been added his usual cool and calm actions became rushed. No one in the party had ever noticed this tendency. His aim had always been very precise, knowing that his aim would Seeger the more stress he was under was very important for walker to know. This problem however was easily fixed, this training idea from Laurence was actually brilliant.


    Remey and Gil had simr agility but instead of using hers to dodge Remey seemed to bepletely engrossed in attacking targets. When a boar would charge at her she would try to push it back using strength. The choice to do so instead of dodging waspletely about her personality. Remey would face things head on instead of avoid them. "Remey save you strength and dodge! If this was a real fight you would get worn out and crushed!" His words weren''t the nicest but when it came to Remey being blunt was the safest practice. Naturally he face flushed red in anger, she didn''t want anyone to doubt her ability by saying she could loose a fight. The next time the boar charged at her she spun slightly letting it pass by her narrowly. The tongue stuck out at walker was just her extra tough.


    Laurence was constantly whispering to Hyde so that he would be morefortable. Sadly the progress was extremely slow since every time a boar even looked on their direction Hyde curled up. Laurence was just happy he wasn''t shooting ming quills everywhere. When Hyde had first grown quills he would fire them off at anything that made a sound, Laurence had faced many hardships when Hyde identally hit one of the other tamers sand tiger. It was not a very bing sight as Laurence rand from an enraged sand tiger.


    Elise and Ste had paired up which was to be expected. They used a unique fighting style where Ste would grab Elise by the shoulder with her talons and lift her up to dodge anythinging their way. Two ps of Ste''s wings was enough to get the pair a few feet in the air. Therge drawback seemed to be that it took Ste a lot of energy to carry Elise''s weight. Elise wasn''t thatrge of a person but since Ste was a harpy she wasn''t made for strength and heavy lifting. Her strength was speed and quick attacks with the ability to retreat.


    Laurence constantly nced at Elise using the current strategy and walker had a feeling he was on the same page as him. Laurence also wanted to see Elise improving herself instead of relying only on Ste for help. The two were a dedicated pair but if one was ever injured their entire strategy would be broken.


    Riley was...walker couldn''t see Riley anywhere. Shouldn''t he be running around too? Turning his head her and there to get a better view of the training field walker eventually zeroed in on the far corner. Riley was seated on the ground snacking on some dried vegetables. He was ready to yell at Riley to join them when he noticed a boat was heading toward Riley already. That would teach hem to bezy while they all worked!


    The boar was heading directly toward Riley with no room for dodging. Miraculously Riley dropped his dried vegetables and red at the boar. His eyes seemed bloodshot and full of pure rage. Walker could feel some fear build within him even though he was far away. The boar stopped its assault immediately and turned around to charge towards Elise.


    Riley must have used a skill from his system! That was not a normal reaction for anyone to have when faced with danger. Not to mention since Riley could tame a wild beast what techniques did he use to do so? They couldn''t be the same as other tamers so they must be more wild themselves. Walker had thought his skills would be some grand show of force but instead he had witnessed the piercing re of an apex predator that would put a wild beast in its ce. Walker couldn''t think anything poor about Riley''s actions. Riley may seem toze about but he needed to use his system skills to properly curb his tamed beasts from harming even him, hence he needed to face them head on to assert strength and dominance.


    Walker had now fallen in to his greatest weakness. He was thinking too much and not paying attention to the tow boars currentlying from opposite sides. He felt the ground vibrate slightly and returned to his senses to see they were going to crush him.


    He couldn''t fly up above them like Ste and Elise. He couldn''t overpower them to hold or deflect them like Remey. Since hecked a shield he couldn''t block and suffer minor damage like Su. He was stuck, if he jumped to the side he could still be grazed. Even worse when the two boars inevitably collided after missing him they would both move the direction he dodged meaning he would have to immediately doge again on unsteady feet.


    The pressure of the two bore down on walker who was using his critical thinking skill to the max. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion but that didn''t mean his body was any faster. He needed a way to dodge these two and keep dodging. He needed to chain together his movements so they flowed as one constant step.


    The system granted him an answer,


    '' Due to the users perilous situation the skill dance of the wild rabbit has been taken from the tribesman system and automatically learned.''


    His body now moved without his consent. He could feel an almost instinctual tug cing his feet and turning his torso. This was almost second nature to him.


    The others had noticed walker be cornered and were about to shout and rush over but instead saw something more amazing and strange.

 Chapter 125 - 125. Improvement

    Walker didn''t even take a second to read the system notification. He instead had allowed his instincts to take over and follow through his feelings.


    The two boars were about to crush him when he hopped out of the way on one foot turning elegantly. His other foot helps slightly off the ground hended in a slight crouch. As walker had predicted the boards hit each other with force showing no sign of injury. Instead they seemed more fired up to charge at their previous victim. They both turned towards walker lowering their tusks to try and maim him. Yet again walker hopped and spun leaving a fraction of an inch between them.


    The boars charged over and over at him jerking their tusks every which way trying to snare their prey. However walker constantly avoided them hopping and spinning around. Always dodging within a hairs length from them. He would bend his knees to duck under their chins and slide between the two boars with his jade acting to bnce his weight. The movements bing more and more elegant.


    The others were all witnessing this, the third boar had been drawn as well since the other two were making so much noise. They all witnessed walker dancing around three demon boars now! The boards hadn''t so much as brushes him. Walker was dancing around not showing a single bead of sweat. His actions spoke of a rabbit avoiding a fox; constantly leaping and sliding by at any cost. One second he would look to be caught only to escape with plenty of space to breath. Nobody had the courage to interrupt this breathtaking scene before them for some time.


    Soon the demon boars grew visibly slower, their rage had died down leaving way to tiredness. Demon boars may have been fast and powerful but stamina was not their strong suit. They were burst hunters, a strong fast attack to im their prey then a long rest. The fact that the others had all stopped to watch waspletely ignored. Their training may have been important as well but watching walker dance around the boars had given them insight on new ways to dodge and survive against strong attacks.


    Riley finally stood up, he could tell the demon boars were basically done and out of energy. It was time to let them rest, he approached the three who couldn''t even muster the energy to charge at walker again and with a flesh of red light they returned to the beast ring. Walker who had seen that the three boars were done had distanced himself while holding his hands out to bnce himself for the next chance to dodge. Only once the bots returned to Riley best ring did he leave his trance like state of dancing.


    Remey and Elise rand towards him a million questions on their mind. They had the energy to run to him but not the forethought to let one speak before the other.


    Walker himself was still processing what had happened for the past moments. He didn''t even pay heed to Remey and Eliseunching questions. He knew he had wanted a way to dodge and that he couldn''t find an answer but he didn''t expect to feel his body move on its own. He had no answers so I stead looked to his system.


    '' dance of the wild rabbit- passive skill


    This way of moving is deeply ingrained in the blood of tribesman. Through many evolutions tribesman would watch weaker animals escape predators. The strong desire and learning ability gave birth to an instinctual passive skill. Using the natural agility of the user they are able to move in a way to avoid most attacks. Like a rabbit slipping from the jaws of a fox.''


    A skill that came from evolution? Wasn''t that the same of a monsters skills? It may be true that older monster records didn''t record certain monsters have skills they do today. This was thought to be an evolution over time to better hunt and kill in their territories. It was the same with any living creature. But if that was the case why did it say tribesman? Weren''t those ancient human groups?


    "I swear if you dove out any longer I''ll smack you!" Remey had be tired of walkers non responsive gaze and drew her fist back. She released with her anger a punch sure to leave a decent sized bruise.


    Feeling a slight tug to move down and to the left walker ducked and twisted slightly letting remey''s fist hit nothing but air. "Hey! What''s that for!? I''m still trying to figure out what just happened." Understandably walker wasn''t too happy to see Remey winding up again. The two went at it again and again Remey punching and walker dodging, it was an entertaining show to watch if one didn''t know Remey was actually trying to hurt Walker.


    "Ahem!" Laurence trying to break up the little show in front of him. "I know you two are a bit busy but Walker, have you ever met a Demi human with rabbit ears before?" This was definitely a strange question. What did rabbit eared Demi humans have to do with walker? The skill might be called dance if the wild rabbit...did this mean Laurence knew where it came from?


    "No never in my life. Since you''re asking I take it you know where the skill I just gotes from?" Seeing Laurence face react slightly in surprise walker knew he was right.


    "Hmm well I''ve met the a Demi human rabbit tribe before. They prefer to live away from their kingdoms city since it''s too cramped. They have a dance just the same with how you were dodging. No matter how hard any of us tamers tried we couldn''t learn the step...well if it''s a skill I guess it makes sense." When Laurence had first be a tamer his older guild members had brought him out to learn the ropes. This adventure brought them in to contact with the rabbit tribe which traveled here and there in the ins. Each tamer that met them made a fool of themselves trying to learn their dances, this show ofedy was loved by the rabbit Demi humans.


    "You know if you want when we leave on the quest we put in at the guild, we could take a small detour to meet with the rabbit tribesman." Laurence didn''t so much want to help walker understand his new skill as he wanted to get a little revenge for theughter at his poor attempt to dance. But both would easily happen in this detour.


    Seeing that the demon boars had been tired out they had all agreed to go off on their own to digest their training session.


    Gil didn''t need any direction, he had felt incredibly embarrassed and angry at himself for missing so many targets today. He knew that if he couldn''t improve his skills so that he never faltered he could loose the new family he had worked for. That being said he was the only one to stay out in the training field. He started a game for himself that if he missed a target he would have to practice a certain skill a hundred times...safe to say he was in for a long night.


    Su knew she needed to improve her agility even more. In that respect she decided to take a trip to the forge to try and lighten her armor. She needed to wait to level up to put points in to agility so this was the best move.


    Remey was being Remey...she was trying to copy walkers new skill in the safety of her room. If anyone else could see her she would surely die of embarrassment. Luckily everyone in the mansion was much to busy to snoop on each other.


    Laurence had taken Riley and Elise to the dining hall. Walker swore he could still hear Laurence reprimanding her for only using one strategy with Ste. It may be true to it was impressive how tough Laurence could be. He was basically a stern father!


    Walker himself felt that too much had happened. He had to understand elements better and the only way he knew to do that was to meditate. Not only that but he had another skill he barely understood. There was the chance to meet others who possessed this skill so he could breath a bit easier. In all honesty he just wanted to take a moment and be free of all this pressure to understand skills. This may seem negligent to some but if he worked himself raw instead of improvement he could hurt himself. This chain of thinking inevitably brought him to the kitchen.


    Hilda was off elsewhere leaving just the calm roar of the fire and soft breathing of midnight slumbering near the oven. Walkers sat leaning himself next to midnight wondering just how much longer she would sleep. It had been nearly a week now since she had ingested the condensed understanding. Around her more of her baby scales had fallen, Hilda had dutifully cleaned them up and left them for walker in a basket. More adult scales had shown themselves to be thicker and sharper edges than the younger scales. Their colors had more pure dark color mixed with the grayish white of bones. The wings that had appeared weak seemed to be more defined. The skeletal parts had be thinker and held a perfect bone white color. The membrane between them was pitch ck and looked as tough as a shield. He could only imagine how muchrger her wings would be when she reached adulthood.

 Chapter 126 - 126. Dark

    Finding these new differences in midnight walker became victim of the calm and warmth drifting off to sleep. If hilda hade in at that moment she would have seen a heartwarming sight, luckily no one came to intrude on the pairs rest.


    Opening his eyes walker couldn''t see a single thing. It was pitch ck... he remembered sitting next to midnight then a secondter was here. Not that he knew where here was.


    The sounds of ttering bones echoed around him, was he somehow back in the ancient ruins? But how was everything ck. There wasn''t even a ground where he stood.


    Walker could feel something near him, a bond which could only be midnight. "Crack!!!" The sound of shattering bones nearly deafened him. He spun around trying to see where it came from and what it was but couldn''t see a thing. There was no light around him so he could make no shape out.


    Walker could hear low growlsing from around him as more bones cluttered about. Was that midnight growling? But where was she? Why couldn''t he see her? Was she in the same situation? The cluttering and cracking sounds were intensifying as if a legion of skeletons were in battle.


    Walker finally realized that he should be able to make more sense of things by ignoring fb sight at all. This proved to be the correct method of action since he immediately felt the darkness element all around him. He wasn''t blind in the sense that there was no light it was actually that he was standing within pure darkness element mana! He was relieved that he wasn''t actually blind but a slew of questions came to him the most prominent being, how did I get here.


    The sound of bones breaking around him snapped him out of it. Through his sense of mana he could tell that there were an uncountable number of skeletons and bone d creatures forming and breaking around him. The darkness hid their true forms but the shape the mana took was terrifying. These things neverpletely formed but would break and shatter and start to form again. The constant shifting caused the sounds walker heard.


    Walker wanted to run, this horrifying ce he had found himself in was not somewhere a person should be! He tried taking a step further only to feel small crunching underneath his feet. There were smaller bones forming and breaking beneath his very feet as well. He tried reaching out through the mana only to find more bone like things all around. There was no path avable!


    "Gggrrrrrruuu" a heavier growl came from his side and he focused on it finally sensing the outline of a familiar figure. Midnight! She was here too he could find her now.


    Walker began running as fast as he could ducking under half formed skeletons and dodging shattering bones. Midnight had been doing the same but was stuck where she stood unable to move forward. Approaching her walker reached out his hand, now they weren''t alone in this chaos. His hand rested upon her head, "ouch!"


    Walker jerked awake his hand on Midnight''s head. He felt pain in his opposite hand, looking downwards it was onyx who had sank his fangs in to walker. Through their connection he could feel an extreme amount of anxiousness and worrying from onyx.


    Onyx quickly withdrew himself from the bite leaving small needle pricks that slowly dropped blood on walkers hand. In his other hand midnight began to shift nuzzling walkers hand. She had finally opened her eyes. Walker wanted to jump in joy at midnights awakening but he was also torn after being bitten by onyx. He could tell onyx hadn''t done it out of cruelty so why?


    Many questions came forth as he was still not sure about the dark ce full of bone creatures. He had found midnight there but was it all in his head? The same energies that had beening off of midnight for days were present in that ce. Had she really been trapped there all alone?


    Thisst question resonated within him...that nefarious ancient liche had tricked them! This condensed understanding was a double edged sword trapping those using it within. Walker couldn''t do anything about this but he was angry, what if midnight had never escaped! Why if he couldn''t escape! If he hadn''t been jolted awake by onyx he could have been trapped just the same. His anger was building with no outlet however midnight distracted him cing her head in hisp. "Right you''re back now and that''s all that matters. Onyx don''t worry, thank you for waking me up if you hadn''t I think I would have been trapped there with midnight too." Walker was happy to feel that onyx had rxed now.


    The connection they shared through the blood contracts was a profound thing. It was strong enough to pull walker in to the same world as midnight. Without that walker would have been non the wiser when it came to the situation she was in. Had they gained anything from this mess or was it all just a waste?


    Walker had already noticed midnight growth but that could have been normal for a dragon her age. She would go through spurts of growth as she pushed towards young adulthood. "So was it worth it being stuck there for a few days?" Walker felt asking midnight directly was less of a long shot than just waiting to see. Plus he believed she was smart enough to understand his intentions.


    Naturally midnight being her normal prideful self slowly stood up. Arching her back stretching herself out a few pops and clicks as some more baby scales fell off revealing even more adult scales. Once she had adequately shaken the sleep from herself she was ready to show off.


    Midnight set herself in to a strong stance and growled softly. Shadows seemed to elongate within the kitchen. The mes that danced in the oven cast darker and darker shadows that crept up on midnight. Walker found himself having a harder time focusing on midnight. Her presence was harder to sense as well. She was wrapping shadows themselves around her body, it was almost sinister seeing them take shape. The shadows soon gave way to spiky white bone spines that followed her spine. Her small horns elongated turning bone white as well. Her ws andgs gained their own bone spikes. She had not o to hid herself but added a bone armor to herself. Walker hurriedly checked the names and abilities of these new skills in the system.


    '' Skeletal armor- 5mana


    Using the natural calcium in the body to create temporary armor. This armor is as strong as the very bones of the user.


    Shadow wrapping- 2mana


    The shadows are at the call of the user. They will cause others who view the user to lose attention and pass their gaze by. The darker an area the more effective.''


    So midnight could now hide away from an enemy and create more defense to protect herself. Walker almost thought for a second that trying to understand such pure concentrated understanding just happened to trap those without enough knowledge. However he knew that immortal king would have happily omitted that fact from its exnation just out of pure entertainment value. On the bright side midnight could not continue to emphasize her tactics of sneaking up and decimating enemies. The best part was if she failed she would have adequate defensive strength to take a hit then proved to make her next attack.


    "That''s great! You''ll be able to sneak up on anyone now!" After asking her to show off he knew he needed to properly praise her. So far walker had learned that dragons seemed fairly prideful and if he praised them it would make things mush safer. "So while you slept your little brother decided to hatch and join us on adventures, this is onyx." Walker lifted onyx up who had curled in to a coil in his hand. Realizing he himself was still bleeding slightly he used his light heal skill to get rid of the small injury. He could tell onyx still felt stressed about it, also a bit nervous finally meeting his big sister.


    Midnight hesitated a moment before the shadows and bone armor dissolved in to nothing. She didn''t need it since she didn''t feel threatened at all by the small serpent partially wrapped around walker hand. The two could feel the bond they had through walker. They may not be as tightly connected as walker was with them but they shared a lot through him. Brining her face towards onyx she smelled him making sure to remember his scent. Onyx rxed his coil and lifted his head looking carefully in to midnights eyes. He had already seen her before but now that she was awake he was seeing her for real. After some time the two seemed to full ept the other, onyx curled around walkers arm making his way to walkers shoulder to settle down for a bit. Midnight yawned and stretched more starting to look around. She could smell new scents in the air.


    "Oh I forgot, I have some interesting guests for you to meet!"

 Chapter 127 - 127. Meet Midnight

    "We have some guests from the tamers guild, they also have some tamed beasts with them, make sure tour nice. Ste is a harpy and she''s very sweet but Hyde is a porcupine and scares easily so try to be quiet around him he might shoot off quills. You''ll like Elise she''s very energetic but she''s the most excited to meet you. Riley won''t bother you but he might eat more than you. Last but not least Laurence is their leader, he seems serious but he''s actually nice." Walker headed down the hallways to the dining hall bbing to midnight about thest few days. Exining how they met their new tamer friends, and even sharing a bit about the performance at the cathedral.


    Approaching the dining hall they could hear the chatting going on. It would seem that the others had headed inside to rest before dinner as well. Walker opened the doors leaving them open behind him.


    "Ladies and gentlemen your attention please! Today I''ve called you all here for a great gathering, one that you''ve long waited for. Today I introduce you to the one, the only the draconic hero midnight!!!" He couldn''t help butugh to himself as midnight strutted our flexing her wings. Her head held high as everyone looked in awe. At first they thought walker had lost his mind acting like an announcer but as soon as midnight made an entrance the party was ecstatic. Finally midnight had woken up! Laurence Elise and Riley were awestruck. This small dragon had grown however slight in since just the other day. Seeing midnight move and show off her scales and wings was much different then just looking at her resting. They didn''t realize just how much majesty they had missed.


    Elise was the first out of her seat. She practically ran over Riley who was slow to stand. Laurence missed his chance to hold Elise back shaking his head in response.


    "You''re awake you''re awake you''re awake! We''ve wanted to meet you for dayssss. I''m Elise that''s Ste. Can your roar? This Ewing''s are great can you fly yet? What about your ws how sharp are they? Wait can you breath fire?..." her questions didn''t stop, even if midnight could speak she wouldn''t have a chance to say a word.


    Midnight let off a huff and a small growl to warn Elise to back off but that only seemed to garner more attention. "I did warn you she had a lot of energy." Walker gave midnight a pleasing look hoping she wouldn''t get too angry.


    Laurence wasn''t sure what to say, at this point apologizing for Elise was too little. " so this here is Elise, I am Laurence, and that over there is Riley. We''re very excited to meet you officially." Laurence lowered his head slightly which seemed to appease midnight significantly. It would seem Laurence had some tricks when dealing with prideful beasts. Walker would remember that.


    Riley hadn''t stood up but had his full attention on midnight. His wild beast system would be one of the only systems that the three had with the potential to tame a dragon. This was something he didn''t particrly want to do but would be seen as an amazing feat. Just that fact alone made him curious to learn more, especially if fate would guide him to a simr wild beast. Observing midnight would definitely lead to a breakthrough for him.


    Dragons were known to be prideful, this was something midnight often demonstrated. They would not even think to bow their heads unless the one they bowed to was significantly more powerful than them. Even in the case their needed to be respect. Those powerful enough to visit the viges of ancient dragons had returned with stories of daily offerings that weren''t needed but used to properly show respect. It wasmon for arrogant adventurers to visit in search of fame to instead be turned to ash of pure on disy by a slightly irritated dragon. To say the least when it came to wild dragons were up their in the ranks.


    Elise had finally fallen silent as she circled midnight. It was as if she had seen her for the first time again. Unlike Elise Ste was still a distance away by the chairs. It seemed the aura midnight had being a dragon was pretty intimidating to avian monsters. This was a bit of a surprise to walker who thought that Ste would have followed Elise. The possibility that meeting another monster with wings could be a huge asset was outweighed by the general hierarchy of monsters. But knowing Elise she would help shake away that fear.


    "Laurence I''m sorry to say but I think Hyde over there is doing why he does best..." walker spotted Hyde under the coffee table curled up once again. "Onyx do you want to go talk your friend out of his defenses? It''s your job as her little brother to introduce your friends." Onyx seemed fairly excited to do so and didn''t even wait for walker to head over instead choosing to slither down and across the floor. The small hissing sounds trying to convince Hyde toe too seemed faster and more energetic than previously.


    "Let''s all sit back down we have all night to chat and to introduce our midnight to you." This was walkers way of forcing Elise to step back and give midnight some space, something midnight seemed happy for.


    After some time Hyde was eventually convinced toe out and meet midnight. He was hesitant at first but once her realized she wasn''t going to try to eat him things went smoothly. The two even seemed to be talking. Since midnight like the heat being a dragon meeting a fire species monster like Hyde was proving to be fruitful. This mad walker curious if midnight would act adversely to a water or ice elemental monster. It was definitely something he would have to think on in the future, especially since winter had set in around the ins where they would be traveling next.


    Ste was still distancing herself from midnight throughout the night. Even as they all ate dinner she had yet to properly meet midnight. The nice part about this could mean that as they all traveled some avian monsters may be naturally deterred from attacking. This could make any possible escort missions all that much safer.


    While everyone became distracted in their chatter not a single one noticed Ste inching closer and closer to midnight. The two were at the far end of the table and had finished eating before anyone else. Midnight had taken notice of Ste approaching and let out a small sigh to wee her closer. Ste froze a moment before letting out some smaller high pitched sounds, sadly she wasn''t able to speak until she grew up but some understanding was definitelying through. Midnight in response moved closer sniffing her and memorizing her smell, Ste didn''t dare to move until she had finished. After this midnight withdrew herself and Ste visibly rxed, she was finally unwinding from hours of stress. Anyone witnessing this would have had a small insight in to the hierarchy of monsters.


    Coming to the end of their dinner walker decided it was time to go over the n. "So you have ced a request to the guild. Once we get it we do n to ept but can you tell us the travel ns? I''m curious how we will move and where we are actually escorting you three. Not to mention the monster Elise wants to tame on the way." Hearing this Elise stared at Laurence, she was silently asking for permission to go in to detail. He gave a small nod, this was a big deal it was very rare that a tamer would allow others to know of their goals. This was because others with simr abilities could take advantage of the work one does to swoop in and seal a contract with the monsters eggs while the other was still subduing the parent. It was a dangerous job which was why tamers would often travel in pairs or trios when searching for a new monster.


    " I''ll start us off before Elise gives you the details. I hope to leave early in the morning after the quest is issued. We will travel from the east gate in to the ins. The wind may be a bit cold so I rmend brining manyyers. We will head north easy up a trade route, the rabbit tribe tends to rest in that area around this time of year, hopefully we can spend a few days there. After that we will head more east taking a rest in an area the monster has been seen in. After we deal with that matter we will head to the Demi human kingdom capitol where we have a small headquarters. We n to report in to our guild master before he leaves for another location. While there we hope to introduce midnight to his tamed monster another dragon and also you all to him. After that the quest will bepleted. Naturally we will be rewarding you with something special, as that is said we made a little deal with your manager to keep it under wraps until our guild master can present it personally." It was well thought out walker wanted to pry in to the reward more but from the smirk in Laurence''s face he knew he wouldn''t get an inch from him.

 Chapter 128 - 128. Elise’s Determination

    Laurence in turn gave Elise a nod. Everyone but the party and the tamers had long left the dining table so this conversation had been safely done in private. It wasn''t that the tamers didn''t trust the party''s family but the less who heard the details the safer. There was no telling what could happen.


    " I''m after an avian monster specifically one that has an ability to hide in the shadows. So having someone that can sense darkness element mana would give us a way to keep the parents distracted. The monster''s species is cursed crow, it can fly in the sky but also fly through the shadows. That means it can attack from your shadow or above you making it a tough enemy. The reason it''s known as the cursed crow is that it can used shadows to stop its prey in its ce after itnds its first attack. The reason I''m after this is for that skill in particr. Immobilizing an opponent could make me a highly important member of the tamers guild. It bes fairly aggressive when it nests and oftenys twenty or so eggs. It shouldn''t matter if I take one since when they hatch they fight each other to leave the nest and hide in the shadows until they hit a growth spurt. Out of twenty usually only two or three survive, which makes them very rare especially for a tamer to have." This was the most serious Elise had been since they met her. It Only went to show just how much she wanted to find one of these birds. She sought it out to properly establish herself in the guild. If she could go with others to help tame beasts and restrain the respective beasts or parents she could make the experience much safer.


    "Do they often live in groups or singr?" Su wanted to know is she would be useless against a flock of these crows or if she could manage to protect everyone from one.


    "From the documents, we studied they travel in flocks but nest in pairs. After the eggs areid the male leaves to find another female and the female remains. The problem will lie in its ability to attack from the shadows and stop us from moving." If avoiding attacks was the best strategy Walker''s new skill should help greatly. One thing that he wondered was if the cursed crows attack needed to cause damage to someone to stop their movements and if they could deflect its attacks.


    "How many targets can the cursed crow hold in ce with its skill to use shadows? Can it''s attacks be deflected?" Walker needed to build a strategy in this answer.


    This time Laurence spoke up, "the tamers that first spotted it saw three orcs trapped by shadow chains so we know it can bind three. Is needs to cause physical harm to ce the curse, so using a shield to block will be no problem." Su let out a sigh hearing this. She did fear as the slowest member of the party she would hold them all back.


    " if the mother is harmed what are the odds of the eggs hatching safely?" Gil was worried that if he fired an arrow at the cursed crow mother he could damage her wings making her incapable of flight. In turn she wouldn''t be able to defend the rest of the eggs from predators.


    Elise had expected this question, ever since hearing that they had the hero title she knew that convincing them to help couldn''t cause more harm than good. If she told a lie or was trying to do something that would be worse off for the cursed crow eggs remaining she could kiss the parties aid goodbye. "The area that the cursed crows make their nests is well chosen. They migrate more northern to this area because their natural predators do not live in the area. The eggs also when hatched don''t rely in their mother for food and instead hunt from the shadows out of instinct. I would prefer to leave the mother unharmed if possible but if the worst happens I hope we can rely on walker to heal her." They were impressed by her forethought at this ce, even Laurence didn''t realize she saw the potential for walker to heal the cursed crow immediately.


    " Hmm just in case I think it will be best if Gil does scouting and avoids firing arrows directly. If things get dangerous though all bets all be off." This was understandable, and the party leader walker wasn''t going topletely deny Gil the ability to properly use his skills in a dangerous situation.


    Walker also wasn''tfortable with the area, "how many times have the three of you traveled the area we are going through?" Making sure they had a proper guide could definitely make it an easy journey or one fraught with hardship.


    This was another expected question " I''ve personally traveled the routes we will be taking eight times back and forth. Elise had twice, and this is Riley''s first. I''mfortable in the area since it was one of the first I traveled upon joining the guild." This wasforting for everyone in the party who was going to the area for the first time. As such they weren''t familiar with the terrain nor were they familiar with the monsters that roamed. On top of all this, it was icy and snowy which brought out other monsters not always in the area.


    " honestly I think we will be plenty prepared for everything, over the next day or so you can give us a rundown on the monsters in the area. We will prepare our warm clothing along with thicker tents to bring. I know Su headed to the forge to drop her armor off to be lightened so we will pick that up as well. We will also have some more time to train and adjust to each others fighting style. I''m sure midnight is anxious to burn some energy after resting so long." Walker knew Ste would be challenged to fight next to midnight but at his words she didn''t even flinch. Had she gotten used to midnight some how?


    "Well everything sounds like it''s in order, since it''s gotten sote why don''t we call it a day and get some rest ourselves. We can be up early to train a bit more." Riley nodded at this knowing his demon boars would be ready to run wild again after a nights rest. Laurence was also excited to see how midnight would fight he just hoped she wouldn''t try and eat any of the demon boars. He did know they were often prey forrger more dangerous monsters.


    They all headed towards their rooms, normally midnight would head to the spot by the kitchen to sleep by the warm oven. Instead she was following Walker. Through their bond he could tell she was uneasy. This was most likely because she thought she would end up stuck in the dark ce again trapped by skeletal things without the ability to escape.


    Walker turned and looked at her, she feared he would tell her to go to her own bed. "Well you''reing to my room right? Let''s go grab some extra nkets." Midnight added an extra pep to her step. They grabbed the extra nkets from the hall closet and made their way to Walker''s room.


    Onyx curled up next to midnight instead of turning in to his tattoo form, even he could feel some of what midnight was feeling. With a spot made up for midnight and Walker in bed the three drifted off to sleep. The training of the day had tired walker out much more than he expected.


    The night passed by safely, no dreams were had involving bones or darkness at all. It could even be said that they all slept better than they had before.


    Onyx was the first to wake as the sun pushed away the night. He started to shift and absorb some of the light. His movements caused midnight to awaken who soon was nuzzling Walker to get up too. She knew he had some stored monster''s bodies for her to eat and she was eager to dig in to more of the jade locust since she had enjoyed per of it previously.


    Walker himself couldn''t say he was unhappy being woken up for food, his stomach told him he needed to head to the kitchen himself. Heading down to the kitchen he greeted Hilda and was roped in to making breakfast for everyone. He even managed to see Garret Before he headed off to work. He found Remey and surprisingly Elise already awake in the dining hall.


    "Good morning, I have egg sandwiches!" Remey and Elise looked as if walker had just handed each of them a bar of gold. The two must have been up chatting for a while. Seeing as they had more training to do for the day they would all need some energy to start off on the right foot.

 Chapter 129 - 129. Last Day Off

    The morning past in a flurry, as everyone woke up they grabbed a sandwich then headed to the training field. Naturally Riley made it there almostst taking his sweet time eating. Onyx was wrapped around a pile of the remaining light crystals and walker knew that he would have to ask Su to purchase more when she picked up her newly lightened armorter.


    Their training was much the same as yesterday. Su had started to deflect more attacks which would put the boars off bnce. This was a perfect strategy to make up for herck of agility. Gil showed marked improvements to his uracy. He didn''t sweat and stress like the prior day, funny enough he made not every time he missed. Much more practice was in his future even after the main training was done. Remey may have surprised walker the most, she seemed to have learned some mew moves to dodge. She had definitely tried to copy his new skill dance of the wild rabbit, the spinning movements were simr. The best part was Remey would start the spin to dodge then turn it in to momentum for a punch. This counter may not have been the heaviest damage dealer but it definitely stunned the target. Upon more study in the system walker found she was actually using a skill called counter and jab as a pair. She made up the connecting movements with the spin movement. The counter skill gave her the ability to respond instantly to an attack. The jab was a softer punch that would put someone off bnce. Together the two skills allowed a super fast response to any enemy.


    Elise and Ste had split up, most likely due to Laurence''s reprimands the night before. Ste was still dodging using the sky but would also use the ice pirs as walls to deter the boars advance. Elise however had surprisingly slower agility, most likely fromck of practice. That being said she paired up with Su who could shield her. This helped Su block more but also made Elise very aware of her own surroundings and rtion to Su. This was an ideal practice for her since she needed to be ready for attacks at any side. Riley was doing the same as before which was not much surprise. Laurence and Hyde seemed to have a breakthrough with each other. Hyde may still have been curled in to a ball but was now able to fire the odd quill here and there. This would cause a loud hiss as it would melt the ice pirs. It wasn''t very urate and Hyde had trouble shooting them off when Laurence wanted but it was still a very significant feet for the young me porcupine.


    Midnight was understandably the biggest change. She had broken out her skeletal armor skill right away since she wasn''t used to it yet. She continuously would hide behind the ice pirs using the shadows to help hide her. Naturally the demon boars would be much more violent when they seemed to loose their target, this gave midnight the opening to jump out and give them a push in another direction. Riley was thankful she didn''t attack all out since she could easily harm or kill his boars. To walker this was an ideal strategy for midnight, she had made great leaps in her sneak attack skill


    Walker was right in the midst of training as well. The party had received the same daily quest to train for three hours as the day before and chose to take full advantage. Surprisingly he had found he could assist midnight in making the shadows deeper. Through their connecting he had understood darkness mana just a bit more and could manipte it better than some other elements. Midnight was very happy to see him helping her which greatly strengthened their bond even more. Almost unnoticeable walker was also using light mana to try and blind the boars as they charged at him. They didn''t seem to perturbed but sometimes would Veer off course showing it did work a little. He wanted to show off his progress if he managed to visit the cathedral before they left on the next quest.


    The hours went on like this until the demon boars had be exhausted. Everyone else seemed a lot happier than the previous day with their progress. This training would have been harsh for normal adventurers at their level but since they had turned it in to a game it came easily. Gil remained in the training field practicing more, he refused to give up until ten out of ten arrows hit their target from long distance. Laurence took Elise and Riley for another lecture. Something walker felt Elise and Riley might just nap through as the two looked rather worn. Remey had run off again most likely to practice her newbo move in private. Midnight seemed to be hungry and decided to go bother Hilda for food, she hadn''t forgotten her favorite activity even though she''d slept for days.


    Walker was cleaning up onyx''s pile of crystal shards making sure to store them away for when they could creat really good mana storing equipment. Onyx himself was very tired from eating the light mana at a voracious pace. He curled around walkers arm and became a tattoo to rest most likely until the next day.


    "Leader, would you like toe to the forge with me? I need to pick up my armor, I also wouldn''t mind stopping by the cathedral. If they need help I think it should be part of our duty as those with the hero title." Su knew asking walker to go with her would most likely be a yes. She had seen how walker acted around Alice and could foresee him trying to venture there alone. However her reason for going was to pay back the many healers that had seen her mother. She knew there was no way for her to ever repay ever single one but going and taking a small bit of the burden from those at the cathedral was enough. A true healer would be happy knowing that their endeavors had helped even more people.


    "Yes! That''s a great idea. Ipletely agree since I have the light heal skill I should make the most of it. We''re already done training today and we need to head out anyways so why not do some good." If Gil or Remey had heard that they would be giggling already. It was obvious that walker wasn''t only interested in healing but it was rather adorable.


    The two set off deciding to get the armor first. Since walker was going with Su he didn''t have to ask her to purchase light crystals he could do it himself. He also nned on grabbing some dark crystals if possible since he wanted to treat midnight to celebrate her waking up. There was some worry that midnight would get jealous of onyx who was getting plenty of light crystals themselves.


    The two walked on their breath clear to see in the chilly air. Winter was definitely here no matter how much they wanted the spring toe sooner. Walker also couldn''t help but want to experiment in the garden...in due time he told himself.


    The city changed greatly as winter progressed. Some of the more dull buildings became more elegant as the were adorned by icicles and a slight sheen of frost. The bits of snow hooded statues and hid away cracked stones. They two couldn''t help but enjoy the walk in silence taking in the beauty of naturebined with human creation. This lead them to the forge faster than they had expected.


    Due to the high heat of the forge it was one of the few buildings devoid of ice and snow. The constant mes would stave off the winter chill. This lead the forge to open arger front hall for travelers to rest in. It helped bring in business and create a temporary trading hub. It was a very genius idea the forge master had thought up in his youth. Some small vendors would sell spiced ciders made from imported fruits. The hot smell of spices would start to warm someone up the first step inside they took.


    The building didn''t seem overly crowded like some other days but it was most likely because the morning rush had already passed. Some familiar faces of guards waved to greet walker, he had long be a well known name due to his father. Even a few merchants gave a wave remembering the energetic boy always asking them questions about system that and system this. They themselves had been very proud to hear the story of walker gaining a system. On top of that they bragged to their friends about knowing the young boy who gained a title with his party. He was quite the topic of gossip; if only he knew.


    "Hello! Miss Su you''re back! Hello mr walker as well. It''s great to see you both!" Rodney ran up to great them. He had added miss and mr on to their names, it sounded strange but walker could tell it was most likely due to his learning at the forge. He was definitely improving his customer service skills and during the winter with therge amount of people stopping in to chat and trade was the best chance he would have.

 Chapter 130 - 130.surprise Quest

    "Hello! We''vee to pick up Su''s armor. Also if possible I''d like to bus fifty light and fifty darkness crystals. Would that be possible?" Walker got right down to business. He did of course want to enjoy some of the warmth in the guild but also wanted to make sure he didn''t forget anything he hade for.


    "You have perfect timing! We just got a delivery of many varieties of crystals in this morning. I''ll have miss Su''s armor brought out while I put a crate together of the crystals." Rodney was really putting his all in to the orders. It was impressive seeing his change in professionalism. It had only been a short while since they''d met but in those few months he''d reallye along. Being able to craft again was most likely the spark to this. He would finally be taking his own customers and getting more and more jobs. That alone would increase his experience.


    Once Rodney returned with a medium sized crate with the two types of crystals in them he called for Su''s armor. Her previously dense armors had been significantly lightened. Instead of heaven steel bindings there was lighter threaded metals making it more flexible but still strong. The joints had been reced with a chain mail instead of harsh steel connections giving her even more flexibility and removing some more weight.


    Overall the slimmer armor made Su look less dominating as a defender but this could work in their favor to ease monsters in to thinking they have an upper hand. The others in the party would also be able to rely more on Su to block any attacks they couldn''t dodge as well. Not to mention Su would have an easier time keeping up with everyone as they moved, especially when they needed to run.


    Su had walker store it away until they returned to the mansion. "Is there anything else you need assistance with today!" Rodney was ncing at arge group of guards who just came in. They all carried their spare armors meaning they were here for maintenance.


    "No, we have everything we need. You''re doing great! We won''t hold you up any longer, we will be away for a little while so we will try to bring back some good forging materials." Walker knew that on their journey they may encounter some materials only avable in the Demi human territories. If so bringing them to the forge would be a great way to help out those who needed them for quests. Not Iy that but it would strengthen the parties rtionship with the forge as a whole.


    " we look forward to your next visit then! I hope your travels are safe!" Rodney had an excited glint in his eye. It was not often that someone said they would bring back something interesting. Most of his daily work was maintenance and basic needs. Seeing something different like the dragon scales they had once brought could really liven things up. Rodney ran off to greet the group of guards and called for assistance collecting their armors.


    Su and walker used this as their opportunity to head out before they got caught up with the guards. If they noticed walker he could end up trapped talking for over an hour. He enjoyed seeing everyone but visiting the cathedral was all that was on his mind.


    The pair headed back in to the cold easily making their way toward the cathedral.


    '' emergency quest- falling maiden


    Catch the falling maiden so she is not harmed by the slippery ice. It is a hero''s duty to prevent harming to those around them.


    Reward:


    20exp


    Increase in fame


    Increase in rtion with the holy faith''


    "Su did you just get a quest?" Walker was carefully scanning the surroundings not seeing a single person near them. The only thing he could see were the open cathedral doors and the Ivey steps leading to them.


    "Yea leader, it says I need to support my party leader while he rescues a maiden in danger. I don''t see anyone but I am right behind you." Su took position behind walker in a slight crouch as they started to proceed.


    Walker didn''t want to rush up the steps due to how slippery they were. He was still not sure why they ha shorten emergent quests even though they were the only two around. He was able to rx just slightly knowing Su Had this back. The party members had all grown to trust each other as family after their previous adventures to the ancient ruins. This made tense situations much more manageable such as this.


    Once they had ascended halfway on the steps they noticed a few people leaving the cathedral. They seemed to have been healed recently some carrying bandages or unwrapping them from hands or arms. Walker started to carefully examine each of them looking for any inclination of an ident.


    Soon more people headed out making the stairs a bit more crowded. Some nuns had exited as well walking with a familiar face. It was Alice! They were starting to head down the stairs near walker Su, most likely getting some air after working hard to heal others.the second she nced to the side she noticed walker.


    Her smile onlysted a second, as she became distracted he foot slightly missed the edge. Thisbined with the ice caused her to fall backwards her head in direct collision course with the stone steps. Walker was in the balls of his feet ready to jump any which way. This paid off since Alice had just passed close enough to for him to catch her. He reached out his arms but as Alice began to fall in to them he realized he was also in the edge of the steps.


    He slid just enough to begin falling back, he grasped Alice tightly preparing to shield her as they fell. He tended up only to feel to hands in his back preventing him from sliding further. It was Su to the rescue! She was firm footed and ready for anything, she had seen how Alice''s foot missed the step and knew walker would be reaching out to catch her. As walker moved Su was already in motion to brace him up. It was the perfect support to walkers actions and he couldn''t be more thankful.


    "Are you ok? Your not hurt right?" Alice seemed a bit stunned but quickly shook her head. He face increasingly bing more red realizing she was being held. Walker also realized this and quickly helped her stand back up straight his face mirroring the tomato red color of Alice''s. "Umm maybe we should walk with you in case you slip again. I''d hate I mean- Uh we would hate to see you get hurt..."


    ''Emergency quest- falling maiden


    Completed catching the falling maiden.


    Reward:


    20 exp multiplied to 200exp


    The nuns witnessed the heroic actions of the party. Fame increased, rtionship with the holy faith strengthened''


    "Leader I''m going to head Inside and see what I can do to help, take your time making sure miss Alice is not hurt." Leaving him with a small smile Su rushed up the steps leaving the two alone. The nuns that had been walking with Alice were at first worried about Alice slipping. However seeing the familiar face of walker and Su from yesterday resumed walking knowing that she was in good hands.


    Walker held out his hand, "just to make sure the ice doesn''t get the best of you on the steps." He felt embarrassed and looked away slightly as Alice took his hand letting him guide her down the steps. Upon reaching the bottom they quickly let go unable to handle the contact anymore. The two had be much more red so much so that the cold couldn''t even touch them.


    Walker knew that she couldn''t speak much so he decided to take the lead as any gentleman should. " after helping out yesterday my party and I spent the morning training today. It''s not much but now I can manage this with my elemental maniption skill." Walker used two mana and waved his hand downwards. The light condensed in to a white sh making it hard to see for a moment before their eyes refocused. "When I first tried that this morning not much happened. But after using it for a few hours I figured out that adding a hand motion helped me visualize the light condensing for a second. It only costs me one mana to use too so it could help me slow down some monsters." Alice seemed to find this use of his light maniption much more amazing than walker thought.


    Her smile seemed all that much brighter than the light he had just caused. Alice decided to copy him adding her own whisper "small sh" the same shing phenomenon happened. Walker was infatuated with how easily her simple words could bed light to her will. For the drawbacks of burning away mana with every word she spoke the strength and control was immense. "I guess I''ll need to work a little harder to impress you." Walkerughed at himself as he spoke but Alice only shook her head with a smile. She was very impressed he was able to use light in such a way. She herself experimented constantly in her free time to see what else she could do. She didn''t ever go in tobat because she had been readied in the holy faith which took healing as its main profession. Hearing walker talk about the benefits of this ability to battle monsters made her consider how someone like her would fight.

 Chapter 131 - 131. Request Approved

    The two walked around enjoying the views of winter on the higher tier houses. Walker shared stories of how he had gained his system and met hispanions. He promised to introduce her to Midnight the next time she came to the cathedral.


    "I''m not sure when the next time will be however...we are heading in to the Demi human kingdom to meet with the tamers guild master. We will be away for a while since we have a few stops to make on the way. Actually one is to meet a Demi human tribe called the rabbit tribe, I actually learned a skill that involves dancing." Hearing that he wouldn''t be visiting again for a while Alice seemed sad. Her face had fallen in to a grow which soon became confusion as she heard walker learned a dance through a skill.


    "Hahaha I know it sounds weird but it''s actually a skill to dodge. It''s basically a way of moving. It copies a rabbit escaping a fox trying to eat it. But the way the movements are it''s almost like a dance. The best way to put it is that it''s a feeling pulling me away from danger, my body knows where to go before my mind does." Her jaw had dropped, this was exactly how she felt when she first sang. She didn''t need to think about the words or the way the light would flow. Her body just moved and created the beastie before her. "Should I take that face to mean you understand?" Walker wasn''t sure whether she had made this face because she thought it amazing or because she knew the exact feeling. Alice quickly bobbed her head yes with a bit more force than necessary.


    This made walkerugh a bit and Alice blush in turn. The two wanted to keep walking more but they both had goose bumps all over telling them to get back to the warmth of the cathedral too. Walker also knew he shouldn''t abandon all the work to Su. It was his turn to help out with the healing too.


    They made it back to the cathedral faster than they had left since they wanted to warm up. Walker happily helped Alice up the stairs bringing in another wave of embarrassment. If anyone were witnessing their interaction they would be calling the pair too cute kids.


    Quickly entering the cathedral walker felt the healing aura being strength to his chilled bones. This ce was magical. Su was helping to clean up an area from a previous guest who had shed their bandages after being healed. He gave her a wave to get her attention and let her know he was back.


    With that he gave a nce around soon finding a young boy with a wrapped ankle. The mother was sitting soothing him as he was obviously in pain. "I''ll perform my light heal skill if you can handle the bandages. Deal?" Alice nodded in agreement as they got right to work.


    To Walker time blew by in an instant and before he knew it the cathedral was nearing the time to close the doors. They had spent some hours healing and bandaging minor injuries. Alice and walker worked well together quickly and efficiently helping any who were in need. The nuns couldn''t help but gossip about how perfect the pair was. This among other things had assisted in the constantly flushed looks on their faces.


    "Leader it looks like we''ve done all we can for the day." Su hade to greet the pair since they as well had finished cleaning up the odds and ends left over from today''s work. "We shouldn''t leave everyone waiting for us at home, it would be best to head out. Miss Alice, I hope toe again to assist upon our return. It fills my heart the hard work you all put in to healing others." The words she spoke were true but that did t make walker want to leave any more so. The silver lining being that Su was establishing herself as a consistent aid to the nuns as long as she was able, this in itself were bright words for anyone to hear. The poption was fairlyrge and there was never a shortage of those in need, any help was weed.


    Looking down dejected walker couldn''t help to want to draw things out, however he knew that would not be a good trait to have. "It was wondrous helping you work today. I''ll keep practicing with light magic so I can catch up to you. Maybe I''ll have something better to show you when I''m back. Just as Su said we wille help out whenever we can, until then I wish you well!" His words sounded happier than his face showed but that didn''t deter Alice in the bit. She had alwayscked younger friends due to the simple fact that the others in the church were older nuns or lower ranked priests. Not many children her age ever came and when they did it was for healing.


    She wanted to show her thanks foring to help but also that she wanted them toe back. It had been a long day for her so she was low on mana, Instead of dining she had another idea. "Hmm mmm mMMmm mmh hmmm" she bummed out a soft few notes trying to use minimal mana. The light near the floor condensed and became small rainbow like flowers. They had four petals and reminded Walker of buttercups that often bloomed in the roadways.


    This gesture may have been small but in its own right was amazing. With such little encouragement the light mana had shaped itself in to something amazing. " I gave you those flowers made of icest time and now you leave me with flowers of light. Haha I guess I''ll have to bring you back a souvenir that won''t melt or fade away when I return." Walker hadn''t even thought before he spoke but his words were the perfect choice.


    Alice had a glint in her eye after hearing this, she would be waiting ever day for him to get back. Not Iy had she found two friends but also had someone promise to bring her a gift from outside the walls, a ce she had never been. What would it be? How she would rack her brain in the days toe anxiously to find out.


    " good bye for now!" Walker and Su gave her a wave as they watched the rainbow buttercups dissolve back in to the normal light. This scene made the two of them want to stay and see more but they knew they had others waiting for them. Braving the chilly air that was ever cooling due to the setting sun they headed toward the mansion.


    They picked up the pace more and more noticing small kes of snow falling around them. Tonight even more snow would fall to send off their party when they receive the request from ra.


    Bursting through the front door and shaking away the snow that had piled up on their clothes, they knew that they would have to be ready with even moreyers to deal with the cold. Maybe they weren''t fully ready to travel out in to the open ins in the middle of winter.


    The sounds of chatter were louder than usualing from the dining hall. Everyone else must be hiding away from the snow as well. Su and walker headed toward the hall to find everyone sitting and talking away. Hot chocte and tea had been brewed up. "Well I didn''t know we were missing the party!" Walker shouted just loud enough to get their attention.


    Lisa jumped up to her feet, "you took way too long to get back! What did the forge hire you to make magic weapons?!" Lisa was definitely unhappy with Walker. But why was she so angry? She had been locking herself in her own room working with the new fabric basically ignoring all of them. What changed.


    " no we-..umm" walker tried to exin but Lisa ran out of the room leaving him to talk to the open air. "What has gotten in to her?"


    "Not a clue we were all in here waiting for you two to get back to start dinner and then Lisa came out full of energy. She got tea and even broke out the hot chocte. So we''ve been having a pretty good time. She asked where you two were a million times." Naturally Gil was at a loss as well. "So how did it all go?"


    "Su''s armor looks great, I''m sure it will make a big difference in her speed. We even managed to get a bunch of light crystals and darkness crystals. Onyx and midnight will have a feast of their own...well maybe I''ll hold off for a bit so itsts the journey." This idea was probably the best since they two might need encouragement to get them through the cold days.


    "Bang!" Lisa burst in to the room kicking the door out of the way. "Surprise!!! I finished your winter clothes!"

 Chapter 132 - 132. Winter Gear

    Lisa was standing there arms full of cloths. She couldn''t even see over the stack in her hands. There were red and white hats and gloves along with winter cloaks to block the wind. Scarves hung down every which way almost trying to escape her grasp.


    "What is all this?" Remey had stood up and jumped in to a fighting stance at the door being kicked open. She rxed and now was fairly confused by all the cloths Lisa had brought.


    "It''s what I made from the silk you brought me! Don''t you like it? I made hats and gloves and ims and even scarves! I wanted to get them done since the snow wasing and you''re all going by to be out adventuring!" Walkers adorable sister had pulled at the heartstrings. Not only had she worked herself ragged to get them done fast but she had been so thoughtful to make them the perfect kind of clothing for the cold they would face.


    The red and white patterns would match so the party seemed very professional. The gloves had perfect shaped fingers so they could move their hands and grasp weapons without issues. They even seemed to help grip them better. The cloaks ran down to their knees allowing enough room to properly run and stretch their legs. This was much more important than the average person would think, simply because they needed these qualities in battle. Walker did worry that the hats would cover their ears worsening their hearing. However he was very surprised to find that his ears were covered and warm but his ability to hear did not Diminish at all. The scarves gave them a nice way to cover their faces from an chilly wind along with their necks which would be left open to the cold air otherwise.


    "Lisa you have done a spectacr job, I couldn''t imagine finding better winter gear anywhere." Su patted Lisa''s head. Lisa was standing tall as the party members had all grabbed their gear. Lisa was left holding some strange looking gloves.


    "I even made midnight some that are able to stretch for her ws. Her ws cane out the hold and the rest of her feet are covers by the silk! I even made it so it repels water so she won''t worry about getting wet!" She was much more proud of this fact, meaning it must have been a challenge. In reaction midnight rushed over eager to have her very own matching gear.


    Lisa helped midnight try them on and in turn midnight walked back and forth getting a feel for them. They seemed perfectly tailored to fit her without any error whatsoever.


    Walker put on his cloak finding a weird extra pocket on his shoulder. "Hey Lisa what''s this pocket for?"


    Lisa had a smug look all over her face, "onyx of course! Do you think I wouldn''t rush to add a ce for him to be able to see what was goi by on? I am a professional when ites to my orders after all." Walker scooped her up crushing her in a huge bear hug. "Nooo you''re squishing meeeeeee! I''m gonnna get squished tttt" Lisa may have been protesting but her words were hard to believe since she was giggling all too much.


    After a few moments Walker finally released her. It was time to check out their winter gear with his all around appraisal skill. This was the best part.


    '' arcane silk gloves


    +5mdef, +2def


    Water resistant


    Small chance to deflect weak magical attacks.


    Arcane silk hat


    +3mdef, +1 def


    Water resistant


    Small chance to deflect weak magical attack


    Arcane silk scarf


    +4mdef, +2 def


    Water resistant


    Wind resistant


    Small chance to deflect weak magical attack


    Arcane silk cloak


    +8 mdef, +6 def


    Water resistant


    Wind resistant


    Small chance to deflect weak magical attack''


    Walker said the appraisal out loud as he did them. These would be idea winter gear to block some of the magical attacks from ice wraiths and freezing attacks from snow ghouls. Not only that but since they were water resistant the party could forget about always being soaked by melting snow. The wind resistance was an added bonus since the ins were Notorious for their constant breeze. If they encountered a storm they would be much better off than the average traveler.


    The amount of defense was to be expected, this was a flexible very light silk. But that was not the main focus, the silk was made by arcane silk worms this meant that it had mana imbued within it. Therefore the simple fact it could give a chance to deflect weak magic spells was phenomenal. If they were caught off guard by an attack there was a chance it would just roll off them. Even more so if it didnd on a member of the party they had the added magical defense to reduce the damage.


    "You''re right this is a true masterpiece crafted by an amazingly talented seamstress." Remey joined the bandwagon praising Lisa as well.


    "Thank you Lisa your really did a great job." Lisa had been waiting to hear these words from walker since she finished thest out of glovestest night. She had wanted to rush to wake him up but decided to wait untilter. She had been disappointed and frankly a bit angry finding the had all trained the. Su and walker had gone off to the forge. The worst part was that sounded to be a quick trip turned in to a long trip that took hours. She had no idea why they had taken so long!


    Gil was looking at everyone smiling like a fool. "Am I the only one that thinks we are starting to look like a professional party? We all match now, actually we look pretty cool." Growing up in the fields Gil often saw party''s and guards all matching showing their rtions. Now that he was among them he felt he had truly be one of the great adventurers he idolized.


    Laurence had been holding back Elise trying not to Interrupt them. This was a touching moment for the party and he felt it would be rude to butt in on it earlier. "Well now with your all escorting us we will look rather splendid. We have our takers insignia and you will all have matching red and white winter gear. We might just look like an important envoy."


    "Yes we''ll look perfect! Everyone will want to steal away out escort party, but don''t worry we won''t let that happen." Elise interjected as she excised Laurence''s grip. "Lisa your too cute, you make such stylish gear. I''ll need toe back with Ste to ask you to design some spring outfits for us." Lisa''s face lit up once again.


    "Of course I''m always in the lookout for future orders. It would be a pleasure to do business with you. Especially if you provide new materials for me to use." Her sudden professional attitude brought a chorus ofughter to the room. They all were in high spirits the new gear really looked great on them. Any worry of the cold had been forgotten now reced with a full heart and excitement for the journey ahead.


    '' request for the omnipotent party received:


    Escort quest:


    Escort the three tamers guild members to their final destination; tamers guild headquarters number three in the Demi human kingdom of Ordist.


    Requirements:


    Travel with the three tamers to their destination.


    Protect them from potential threats.


    Rewards:


    300exp


    Special reward from the tamers guild master


    Rtion with the tamers guild


    Increase in fame as a heroic party.


    Do you wish to ept the request?


    Yes/no''


    "It''s here!!! Your request went through we can ept it as a quest." Walker suddenly jumped front he chair he had just sat in and hurried to ept.


    '' escort quest epted, meet the clients at the east gate upon their notice.''


    "Hey Laurence do we really need to go all the way to the easy gate to meet you three or do you think we could all leave here together." The question was sarcastic enough for the others tough to themselves a bit.


    "Hey the paperwork said I needed to put a meeting location. And what if you five had decided to run off somewhere else. We all know you made an excuse of going to the forge to visit the cathedral. You could have decided to stay there with your girlfriend." Laurence threw a perfect retort. The games were on, walker didn''t flinch away from this and instead went all in on his own quips to Laurence.


    They all went on this way for the remainder of the night. As the other family members came to the dining hall the party showed off their new gear and Lisa basked in the praise. Not everyone was happy that the party was again leaving for some weeks or even months but it was something they had to ept since they all were adventurers now. The meal finished and everyone had agreed to be up at daybreak to head out. Tomorrow morning was the start of another journey. This time they would venture in to the ins of the Demi human territory.

 Chapter 133 - 133. Off To The Plains

    Everyone met early in the morning right before the sun was about to rise. Walker had stored away plenty of no stale bread Hilda had prepared for the trip. He knew if he didn''t take it he was in for a scolding.


    Surprisingly everyone else had woken up to send them off. This scene really made them all want to stay a few days longer but it couldn''t be so. As adventurers the siren song of a journey was impossible to turn down. After promising Lisa he would bring back something interesting for her I''ve eaten times she finally release his arm. Midnight was smart enough to keep an eye on her tail so Lisa didn''ttch in to her as well. The only person that wasn''t sad to see them go was walker father Garret. He instead couldn''t wait to hear about their experiences with the tamers guild. Walker had slowly begun to realize that his father may have had a secret dream of being a tamer. With Garrett shooing them out they were one step closer to treading a new path.


    They had left early enough that those employed by the city had yet to clear all the streets. Many lower tier adventurers would ept this job as a quest since it was much needed in the winter. The parties that epted the quest also would gain more rewards based on how much they did. This was why so many would ept it but that didn''t stop everyone from being happy they were not one of those parties.


    They had not left through the east gate yet as a party but the second they stepped beyond the archway they were in awe. Whyy before them was a massive sea of untouched white. Only small nts poked out here and there, just tall enough to break the service and feel the wind. There were not many ces disturbed by game animals yet as the snow was still too fresh.


    "I''d say we should tighten out cloaks." Gil broke the silence and quickly tightened the strings in his cloak to keep away the cold. He was the happiest with the gloves Lisa had made due to the simple fact that he was an archer. He need fine control of his fingers and gloves usually didn''t cooperate with that therefore, he often didn''t wear gloves when the cold set it. This was the first time he was able to properly stave the cold from his fingers while carrying a bow which put him is a very good mood.


    Everyone tightened their winter gear then fell in to formation. Su took the lead with Laurence slightly behind to guide them. Midnight and Remey took opposite sides paired off with Riley and Elise. Ste had been coaxed in to the beast ring so she would t have to spend all he time fighting the cold wind. This was another weakness to Elise and her avianpanions, if they didn''t have water or ice elemental affinities they could loose the ability to fly in the snow and wind. Walker took up the read, having the best senses now he would be able to deal with any attacks from behind while still monitoring everyone else. Onyx had found the little pouch on walkers shoulder to be his favorite spot. Through their bond he knew it wasn''t cold in the least for onyx. Naturally onyx was loving the new sights of the ins however few they seemed to be since it was winter. Walker couldn''t help but feel like onyx was learning quite a bit faster than the average monster would.


    The two main concerns to watch out for were ice wraiths and snow women or snow ghouls. These were undead spirit type monsters. They often came in to being after someone died in the snow and would fall to rest once the snow melted.


    Ice wraiths were almost snake like withrge heads. They used their natural water mana to pull shards of ice to make their bodies. This gave them a vicious attack pattern of hurling razor sharp icicle and biting in to prey with extremely sharp ice teeth. The positive side they couldn''t reform their body instantly so as long as it was damaged properly it was defeated for some time before it could gather the energy to reform.


    The snow ghoul or moremonly known as a snow women were more dangerous. It was often a spirit that would use falling snow and illusions. This was due to their water and light affinities. It would try to lure travelers a away from their path and in to a bad environment where they would perish. However to the trained eye they were easily avoidable. Their only attack was a breeze of snow to disorient those it wanted to lead astray. This attack was also easily shrugged off and due to its small patience the snow woman would often leave to lure another target. These monsters were only able to feed on mana andcked proper bodies, therey the need to lure prey in to a bad situation.


    Walker spent time reading up on these two so he could properly give everyone a run down on the way out of the city. Leaving the kingdom would always be dangerous, but leaving prepared was just slightly less. The tamers were already familiar with this information but they had remained silent letting walker take the lead. The were the ones being escorted now and Laurence refused to take away any valuable experiences from the party. This wasn''t out of negligence but respect for a group he believed capable of standing on top.


    They were heading north east hoping to spot a camp made by the Demi human rabbit tribe. It could take a few more hours to reach the area they normally rested at. Luckily the sun was visible so nning their own resting schedule was easy. Every three hours of moving they decided to stop to drink water and breath.


    "I don''t know how we will survive when you leave. You''re special magic is too good!" Elise had really fallen in love with not carrying much gear. She hates the weight of it because Ste couldn''t easily pick her up and fly.


    " don''t tamers have any way to carry things, like the beast ring but for food and gear? It sounds like something that tamers would have since they need to feed their partners." Remey understood that walkers spatial magic was rare but she had assumed that tamers might have a little, how else could they easily feed big monsters while on a journey?


    "That is true we do have something. Usually once a tamer gets strong enough we get another quest to gather certain items and bring them to a magic cksmith same as our beast rings. From there they will make a bag, ring, or even backpack that can carry all food and equipment for our specific tamed beasts. The downside is those quests rarely show up since we have to teach certain requirements for our own system. I think I only know three tamers who have done it in my time with the guild." Recalling his time meeting the master of the tamers guild who had been feeding his beasts Laurenceughed at himself. When he had see the guild master pull out half a cow from a satchel he though some sorcery was happening and fallen backwards. Unknown to him this was a favorite joke to y on I suspecting new tamers.


    "Oh that would make sense, I would assume that a master tamer would get a skill that just allows storage in a simr way to them being able to store away their beasts?" Walker made the connection from what Laurence had previously told him about master tamers being given a skill to hide away their tamed beasts within their own soul.


    "Exactly! There''s one master earth tamer that can open a stairway in the ground as long as there''s earth at their feet. It turns in to an underground pantry it''s super cool. But it''s not actually there you can''t dig in to it but it''s wherever she is." Elise interjected wanting to show off her knowledge of the tamers guilds strongest members. Of course the takes of the earthen tamer Vanesa were widely known. She had been one of the few tamer ever to tame a giant bull worm which often caused havoc in the mountains for the dwarves. She had single handedly saved theirrgest mine from copse. This alone had garnered immense respect from the dwarf kingdom. Since she was half human and half elf it lead to a stronger rtionship between the two kingdoms putting some distrust to rest. It was truly amazing how some good could change the outlooks of whole kingdoms.


    " I remember when my father brought that story home, he raved about it for days!" Walker couldn''t help but think back on the fond memory, but now he would be the one to bring back stories and rave about them. How jealous Garret would be if walker met Vanesa the earth tamer.

 Chapter 134 - 134. The Pack

    So far they had been lucky enough not to encounter much in the way of monsters. Every once in a while they''d catch a glimpse of one far off but it would head the opposite way. Having a other group of people was a nice deterrent to small groups of monsters.


    They had been traveling fairly easy due to the lower amount of snow. At times they would skirt a snow drift to avoid unnecessary trouble. However they soon noticed that the snow was not as untouched as before. "Walker, the amount of ow prints points to a group of four or five monsters roaming around. I''m not sure what direction they moved in there seems to be more ice around here keeping their prints from being clear." Gil was utilizing his scouting abilities to guess what was around them. A group of four or five monsters may have the courage to attack them.


    "I want everyone to be ready, if we encounter the group we will target them at long range first. Best case they run worst case we don''t see them and they ambush us." He knew that he could trust Gil and his estimate. He didn''t really believe they could be ambushed since they were all on the lookout but this terrain was going to be a challenge to work with especially with the wind throwing up some snow to block their long range view.


    Midnight was sniffing the tracks trying to discern a scent to be wary of but she didn''t seem happy with what she found. Most likely no results came of this, the wind was carrying everything away without much hope for proper tracking. Things would be much easier if the wind died down and Ste could watch from the air.


    Moving forward everyone soon became much more conscious of their surroundings. Monster prints increased making it very obvious that they frequented the area. "Leader, there some white fur up here can your appraisal skill identify it?" Since Su was in the lead she was the first to spot a tuft of blues white fur sticking out of the snow. Whatever monster it came from was definitely shedding a bit.


    "I can give it a shot, I don''t see why it wouldn''t work." Walker moved to the front picking up the fur.


    '' cial wolf fur


    Fur from a cial wolf. Often travelingrge distances with the seasons the cial wolf travels in packs. Used to create items or gear that can channel water elemental mana.''


    Reading the systems information out loud walker saw Laurence''s expression grow much more serious. " I take it you''ve encountered cial wolves before?"


    "Yes, they are a pain to say the least." A loud sigh followed his words. " like you said they travel in packs which make sense wince Gil said he expects for or five in the area. The good news is they don''t have any long range attacks to hit an run attack. The bad news is that they make up for it in coordination and fangs made of razor sharp ice. Their bites freeze in contact. They will shake their head to break their teeth off in their prey and quickly freeze more. It''s a blitz attack that canpletely immobilize prey so the rest of the pack can attack. During the summer they stay near the mountains where it''s colder but during the winter theye to the ins to hunt." Distance sounded like their best bet. If these monsters were close range damage dealers then Su could block the ones that got close while everyone else used ranged attacks to incapacitate them. There was one problem though.


    "How am I going to see these over grown mutts? Their fur is the same as the snow, which is everywhere!" Remey was definitely not happy in the least that she had to y eye spy again just like when they hunted grey haired spiders. She had the most trouble finding the well camouged monsters.


    "Hmm Elise, Gil, and I will stay vignt for the cial wolves. Remey stay near Su so that you cannd a hard punch to any wolf that Su stuns with her shield. Riley and Laurence stay behind Su, if you see anything let us know. Midnight, make yourself as unnoticeable as possible, you might just get to take advantage of your new skills." With a slight change to the formation walker had highlighted those with the best vision so that they wouldn''t be caught off guard. The only thing scarier than one monster attacking was the potential for five attacking at once.


    Midnight quickly used her shadow wrapping skill to hide away. If walker looked for her he could find her but if he didn''t focus enough she would just drift in and out of the corner of his Vision.


    Everyone was moving along carefully giving every twig, every de of grass, and every unusual snow drift a second nce. Nothing would escape their gaze!


    '' daily quest: man verses beast


    y the cial Wolfpack responsible for hunting down many merchant caravans. Bring rest to those taken before their time!


    Reward:


    100exp''


    "Hold up everyone stop! Be in your guard!" Walker knew they wouldn''t receive a daily quest for no reason. This meant they were in for a battle. "Looks like we will be hunting for cial wolves now." The tamers looked at everyone in confusion. What changed that they would go hunting for the monsters they were wary of?


    "We just received our daily quest, apparently these cial wolves have hunted down merchants as prey. So our systems gave us a daily quest to y them. It''s a hero title thing" gil was so nonchnt that it sounded as if he was just going to buy bread from the market. Just a usual thing....not!


    "Leader of these wolves have hunted to many do you think there is a quest from the guild as well? We should check." Showing off her brilliance once again Su saw the possibility to gain additional rewards. They had told ra they would ept guild quests as well.


    Walker did not hesitate a second and looked through his system. ra had indeed sent a myriad of quests rted to the area they were in. Top of the list was,


    '' quest: y four cial wolves


    cial wolves have been hunting the ga family trading routes to the east. Two prominent up anding merchants lost their lives to them along with a multitude of merchandise.


    Rewards:


    Any found merchandise


    VIP auction invitation''


    "Su you''re brilliant, the merchants mentioned were from the Gat family. If we manage to y four we can im a vip auction invitation. Not only that but we also can keep any found merchandise as payment. They must really want these trade routes secured. Not to mention the two up anding merchants that perished must have been important. When we return we will have to offer condolences to Avis!" The sad and the happy mixed with each other. Walker never liked to hear of anyone being hurt, it was worse that it was from a family he had started to like. However he was happy that Su had thought to check for a guild quest as well, now they could potentially get valuable items to back up their growth. The vip auction ticket was strange though, he had never heard of it. But if it''s vip it must mean items not usually auctioned would be there. Who knows what he could find!


    " Hmm are you sure we can take down the cial Wolfpack?" Laurence was worried the party would be too torn protecting them to properly fight.


    "Pfft aren''t you three joining in the battle? Don''t you want your pick of whatever merchandise is left over? Plus it''s a wolf pack, what if they have a cial wolf egg? Do you not want to bring a cial wolf pup to the guild?" The no hits barred words of Remey struck home. However they seemed to do slightly more than expected.


    Laurence, Elise, and Riley suddenly became blurry eyed. Focusing on their system. They in turn he just received a quest.


    '' special quest: vile cial wolves


    The hero party omnipotence had been tasked with defeating the vile cial wolf pack. This pack has caused insurmountable harm to travelers and merchants alike. Join them to stand strong as travelers yourself!


    Reward:


    100exp''


    " I don''t know how you''re title as hero''s has so much influence over the system but I guess we will be joining you. We just got a quest as well." Shaking his head Laurence still wasn''t sure he was reading it right. This was the second time they''d received a quest a tuner would never get.


    Riley himself brushed off the system quest, he would much rather ignore the cial wolves. They were a wild beast that he could tame since they revolved around loyalty to an alpha. But if it would get him experience he might as well help out.


    "Let''s gooo hunting!!!" Elise shouted with a hop obviously the most excited to see the new quest. She had been bored receiving the same old quests to increase the bond with tamed beasts or to train with them. However her shout may not have been the best idea. Herck of control had attracted some unwanted attention.

 Chapter 135 - 135. Alpha

    After Elise had shouted in excitement Gil noticed a white shape in the distance pop up from the snow.


    "Walker to my left. Do you see that out there? It''s hard to see but something in the distance heard us." Gil brought attention to the thing far out. "Actually make they five things...one looks big"


    The four white mounds stretched up with a fifthrger mound behind the four. It was too far to make out destinations features but they all had a guess to what was now staring them down.


    " I think that would be our wolf pack, four look normal sized but that fifth one looks like trouble. I''d say that''s the alpha." Looking at walker for a n. "Elise stay by Su, you won''t be able to help much in this fight. Riley only let one boar free, we can''t have them running wild."


    Walker agreed with Laurence in these aspects. " why do I have a bad feeling when you say it''s an alpha?" The five shapes were slowly approaching them now bing more defined the closer they got.


    " cial wolves often travel in packs as we know, but they will fight amongst themselves as time goes on. If left alone long enough one may rise to be the strongest that one bes the alpha. It gets the most food and grows stronger than the average cial wolf. What I''m saying is it will be tougher than the others-" Laurence cut himself off seeing that the wolves have begun to run a circle to their right.


    " Su get ready they will reach us faster than expected. Gil when they are in range take out the nearest one. Laurence if you have another beast to bring out have them hold back until they wolves are close. Remey same for you hold back until you can hit and retreat, no risks. I''m going to make the ground in front of us a bit tougher for them."


    Walker channeled his mana in to the ground beneath him. He imagined frozen earth spikes


    Sprouting a small distance ahead of them directly in the path of the cial wolves. He felt five of his mana melt away but the spikes littering the wolves travel path would slow them down giving the party the advantage. This also gives them more chances to throw out ranged attacks.


    The wolves were a fair distance away but now they could all make out their detailed features. Their fur was a white color, a slight bluish hue toward the tips as if touched by a constant frost. Their teeth were crystal clear ice filed down to perfect points. Eyes were filled with ferocious emotion calling for the death of their prey. Their breath did not put steam in to the cold air giving them a cold killing aura, it was easy to see how an ambush by these monsters could devastate a merchant caravan.


    Gil had readied his arrow, the wolves were farther off than walker expected but as Gil released his arrow the results of his training showed. The arrow flew throughout the air taking a slight angle with the wind. The arrow and the front running cial wolf met perfectly piercing its left eye. His perfect aim shocked everyone but they couldn''t take any time to focus on this. The wolf that was hit lost its bnce and couldn''t properly run, it may not be defeated yet but it is easily down for the count.


    Already setting up another arrow Gil was tracking the next wolf. However he didn''t have much of a chance to since walker was working his own magic. He had the idea while training to use his mana shot skill with his elemental fusion and elemental maniption skill. Using his understanding of these three skills he used the earth around him to create a spike. Consuming triple the mana it normally would hew let loose the spike. Thisbination caused the spike to rocket forward at incredible speed. His aim wasn''t as perfect as gil''s arrow but none the less the spike pieces the side of the cial wolf.


    '' cial wolf defeated


    80 exp gained multiplied to 800exp ''


    One hit! Walker did not expect this fusion of skills to be so powerful. The mana cost wasn''t extremely high but it took a little time to aim and create the earth spike.


    "Aaaaaawhoooooo" the alpha wolf gave a loud howl then sprinted towards the party. The remaining two wolves speed increased as well. That howl must have buffed their agility.


    Gil adjusted to their speed and let fly his next arrow. This one missed they eye but lodged in to a wolves shoulder. It slowed the wolf but did not incapacitate it. Setting up his third arrow he aimed and fired at the same wolf this time hitting near the same shoulderpletely knocking the wolf down. It appeared that the front leg was unusable. Now that walker had a still target he released the next mana shot earth spikebo. The spike flew through the air at its incredible speed piercing through the fallen wolfs'' head.


    ''cial wolf defeated


    80 exp gained multiplied to 800 exp''


    This was the time, the alpha and remaining able bodied wolf hit the icy earth spikes. The wolf let out a high pitched whine as it shredded its softer paws but the alpha just became angrier. The snarling face of the alpha spoke of bloodybat if it was able to reach them.


    The two wolves were bing much too close. This spurred Su to ready herself to block the alpha which didn''t seem to let up its speed. Walker didn''t have time for another earth spike and instead switched his staff for the scythe he had in his storage. He couldn''t help but think it had been a while since he practiced closebat, but he knew he had a solid skill. Aiming for the alphas legs he raised the de and utilized his crescent moon skill. A curved energy flew from the de heading towards the alpha.


    The alpha saw iting and leapt over the attack cutting the distance to them significantly. However the alpha had blocked the view of the other wolf which ran head on in to the crescent moon attack. Taking a serious injury to its neck it fell and squirmed in the ground rolling in to more earth spikes. The damage snowballed in to mortal wounds. In its panicked the wolf had defeated itself. Unfortunately they couldn''t focus on the system notice of defeat, the alpha was in front of them.


    Su was taunting the alpha that which was ready to pounce. It left forward maw open ready to brunch and tear at Su. Her practice deflecting hits came to fruition as she stepped sideways pushing her shield forward. Instead of meeting her head on the alphas head bore the brunt of the collision. Slightly disoriented it focusedpletely on Su wanted to defeat this opponent. Yet Su wasn''t the only one it fought.


    Since the alpha was distracted Remey was able to get near its unprotected side. " hay maker!" She screamed as she released a massive punch to the alphas hip. A sickening crack sounded from the alpha its hip had most certainly shattered. The alphas'' growl be higher pitched and its back leg gave out.


    Midnight came in to focus shing with her ws using her shred skill. The already in pain and off bnce alpha lost use of both back legs. But it refused to give up, it was the top fighter in its pack the most vicious killer. How could smaller creatures halt its movements.


    Surprising all but Elise and Riley a red and white striped tiger leapt on top of the alpha tearing in to the back of its neck. mes were flowing from its mouth sizzling and burning the alphas flesh. "Tear it to pieces Bengal!" Laurence shouted as the tiger dug farther in to the alphas neck. This was the killing blow!


    Laurence hadn''t been forward with his second tamed beast but seeing it now they knew just how strong a seasoned tamer could be. This red me tiger was Laurence''s first tamed beast. He had caught with it tooth and nail to earn mutual respect and only called on it when in desperate need. Tobat the alpha he knew his partner Bengal could finish the fight.


    '' defeated Alpha cial wolf


    100exp gained multiplied to 1000 exp.


    Gil fired his arrow finishing off the final incapacitated cial wolf.


    '' cial wolf defeated


    80 exp gained multiplied to 800 exp.


    Daily Questplete: man versus beast


    cial wolf pack has been in.


    Reward:


    100 exp multiplied to 1000exp


    Questplete: y four cial wolves


    Reward:


    Vip auction ticket


    Remaining merchandise''


    The slew of system notifications captivated everyone. So much expiring ha even gained. The difficulty of defeating a pack was normally much higher. However due to the parties various skills and ability to n they had an extreme advantage over any enemy let alone one that often won battles due to coordination and numbers.

 Chapter 136 - 136. Remnant Merchandise

    "You were hiding quite the partner!" Walker was thankful Laurence had waited for the opportune moment to let his other tamed beast attack. However, not a single one of them expected the intimidating red and white striped tiger to chomp in to the alpha with ming jaws. This was not a monster they would want to fight at their level.


    Laurenceughed a bit, he was embarrassed to show off his long term tamed beast. " well Bengal hates the cold since she''s a red striped tiger. I also can''t bother her without good reason," in response to that the tiger gave a low growl, " yes yes back to the beast ring where it''s warm." Laurence returned Bengal to the beast ring. "She''s very temperamental but I had the luck to run in to a traveling circus as a child. A mother had given birth to three eggs instead of the predicted two so with all my money and belongings I purchased one. From that second I left to find the tamers guild and the rest is history." Walker wanted to pry a bit in to how Laurence had progressed as a tamer but knew that they had plenty of time left in their travels to talk.


    "Hey walker get your butt over here and store away these wolves. We should save them to sell for materials when we get to the beast kingdom!" Midnight and Gil had dragged over the farther wolf. Now Walker could run and quickly store them away. The fur was sure to be valuable to those wanting to craft certain gear. Even the ws would most likely fetch a decent price.


    After storing them away walker remembers the secondary reward from the guild issued quest. "Hey let''s start looking around the area for the lost merchandise. If anything survived we can im it as ours." Having no idea what was being transported walker decided to use his mana maniption skill and most of his remaining mana to remove as much snow around them as possible.


    cing his hands in to the cold snow he allowed his mana to drain away. Envisioning the snow melting and evaporating away leaving the empty ground the surprised shouts from the others fell on his ears. He had closed his eyes to focus on this task with all his might, as they opened he didn''t know what to say. A huge part of the area had be cleared of snow and ice, a bit of mud and grass was now in its ce. Steam rose at the edges of the cleared area, everyone was staring at Walker whose hands were now grasping mud, beads of sweat trailing down his face as he noted heavily. He may have used too much mana all at once.


    " That was so cool! You should do that everywhere we walk, no more snow just grass and easy traveling!" Elise seemed to be fantasizing of her path beingpletely unhindered but with a flick to her head from Laurence.


    "You know there isn''t anyone who has enough mana to do that, not get looking for that merchandise. Walker worked hard to make it easier for us." Shaking his head Laurence helped walker up and tossed him a small towel he had in his coat. "That''s a impressive trick you''ve got there." The two smiled at each other, Laurence had surprised walker with his tiger and in turn walker surprised Laurence with his mana maniption yet again. Their rivalry was one born from friendship and would surely push them both to be better.


    " Leader! I found broken crates over here!" Su was the first to spot some debris. She had found broken crates which seemingly held food before they were wed apart. The cial wolves must have eaten well.


    Now that they all had a narrowed down area everyone moved to where Su was soon finding the remained of a merchant carriage. Luckily there seemed to be no bodies within the remnants. The unfortunate souls had most likely been devoured bones and all leaving only what the wolves didn''t want to eat; the extra merchandise.


    The carts white top had been torn to pieces and stained with mud. Only one wheel seemed to remain intact, no longer attached to the cart. It was easy to tell that the cargo Ha mostly been food. " I think we got tricked in ying those wolves..." Gil was not excited to see the crumbs of cheese and breads.


    "Well it was a daily quest too so we were lucky a guild quest existed in the first ce. We also have a vip auction invite, who o owns what we can gain from that." Quickly highlighting the silver lining walker was also picking through the broken crates.


    "Ha Ha yesss! Jackpot!" Dancing around in front of four small crates filled with different herbs Remey was making a fool of herself. "We have a ton of herbs here, the can''t be rare but we won''t need anymore herbs for potions for a while!"


    Seeing that Remey was excited about herbs was definitely a perfectedy but she rarely got to practice her hobby due to how busy the party had been. " let me store them away when we are back at the mansion we can y around with them. We can make our very own health potions to save money for other things." This excited Remey to a high degree. Su and Gil were fairly confused as they didn''t know Remey had often bought and made simple teas from herbs to keep the children in the orphanage healthy. This side of Remey was more rare than diamonds.


    "Ah I think I found something the cial wolves didn''t want to eat." Holding up two pouches of what appeared to be crystals, along with one torn open pouch. " I would bet this pouch had water crystals at one point that the wolves swallowed. These two happen to have earth and fire crystals." The two pouches had about ten of each crystal but it was a nice find.


    "Take the fire crystals, I''m sure Hyde and Bengal will be happy to have them." This was just what Laurence wanted to hear. The fire crystals could help boost their strength. The earth crystals however were useless.


    "Can I have the earth crystals?" Riley who rarely spoke had just said his first words in a long while. "My demon boars hold an earth affinity, I could use them." Walker hadn''t bothered to research the demon boars but hearing this it did make sense. They were tough beasts and earth was a tough element.


    "Sure thing, I didn''t realize they were earth affinity monsters, I''ll keep it in mind as we look for more." The two nodded to each other as Riley caught the pouch of earth crystals. Walker was d to hear him speak up and join the conversation.


    " ooo I found something! I found something!" The hyper voice of Elise called out to everyone. Pulling a leather backpack from underneath the remains of the cart she dragged it to an open space. The weight seemed to be almost more than she could lift, why could be inside that had so much weight?


    Gathering around the leather backpack Elise unhooked the straps opening the top. It fell over spilling small green grey rocks out by their feet. "Rocks... I found rocks....this sucks!" Elise was crushed, she thought she had found a backpack pull of gold but instead it was useless old rocks. "Who even walks around with a bunch of rocks on their back anyways?"


    All of them seemed to echo this feeling but out of curiosity Walker still tried to appraise these rocks.


    '' orichalcum ore


    Created only in some of the toughest underground environments, this ore gains strength above most other naturally urring ores. Used to create armors that are nearly unbreakable. This ore is extremely rare and often sold for very high prices. The ideal craftingponent for a unique weapon for one with a master level system.''


    "... they must not have known this was being carried..." whispering in shock walkers words were barely being heard.


    "Huh? What do you mean they must not have known? Why would they care about rocks?" Remey echoed Elise, the pair had the feeling that walker was loosing his mind.


    "Ehmm" clearing his throat he continued louder this time, " if they knew this was part of the merchandise they would have put more than just a request with the guild. I think soldiers would be here too." This brought on another wave of confused looks, now everyone shared the same thought that walker was crazy.


    "Ha so you collect rocks now? You know these aren''t even pretty gems so you shouldn''t give them to your new girl friend." Thinking walker was trying to make them a gift for his new found infatuation Gil decided to let loose a bit of teasing.


    "No Gil stop being an idiot! This is orichalcum ore! Having just a tenth of what''s in this back makes people a target for assassins and bandits. The amount here is impossible, if the ga family knew about it they would sell everything to get this back!" He may have been frustrated for a moment but quickly calmed himself. " this is serious I know I''m overreacting a bit but we can not tell anyone about this." Walker picked up the spilled ore and stored away the backpack. "Naturally when we figure this out we will split it between us but for now I think it''s best we pretend we didn''t find anything more than some crystals and frozen cheese."

 Chapter 137 - 137. Looking For The Tribe

    The others were stunned, had they seriouslye across one of the most rare metal ores in the entire world?


    "Wait we don''t want such a thing. It may be valuable but I value my teams lives much more than some rare ore." Laurence realized the danger above all else, riches were much less valuable than a life. He had learned this lesson well during his years in the tamer guild. One day a promising new tamer went chasing a monster the next they had a funeral, it was all toomon.


    "Don''t worry I''ve thought this out. As far as it looks the one carrying this was hiding it. Most likely to try and sell it for personal profitter. Taking that in to ount we can increase our chances of sess by covering this wreckage back with ice. The trail will run cold so to say until spring when it melts. We leave no evidence. Furthermore the ore stud in my storage away from prying eyes, the second we are in private area with your guild master I''ll split it half and half. Of this you have my word as one who bears the hero title." Walker meant this with all his heart. He refused to be someone his friends could not trust.


    '' special quest: a hero''s honor


    Split the orichalcum ore with the tamers guild equally.


    Penalty for failure:


    Loss of title''


    Laurence and walker both received this system message. It would seem swearing a deal on his system was incredibly binding. " as I said I swear in my title. Do you trust me?" A tense moment passed as Laurence weighed the positives and negatives.


    " you sure are a unique person. I think doing this in the safety of the tamers guild headquarters is smart. The guild master will also feel some shock we have felt every day since meeting you. Hahaha it''s a deal!" The two grasped hands in agreement.


    '' special quest epted.''


    The system also acknowledged this, taking the stress away from the situation they all decided to take the opportunity to rest. Walker needed to recover his mana as well.


    "Sometimes I feel like we are super unlucky and other super lucky. Or both at the same time." Remey let out an exasperated rant. "Like we get trapped in the catbs which is unlucky but we also make it to a ce no other adventurer has made it which is lucky. Then we get gifts which is lucky but then we need to run for our lives which is unlucky... it''s too much"


    "You could say the omnipotent party is the luckiest unlucky party!" Joining the fun Elise gave them their very own saying.


    " no no no noooo if you say that too much it will stay this way. Our hearts aren''t strong enough!" Feigning a heart attack Gil stood up. Step. Step. Copse "aahhhh...I''m dead"


    "And thatdies and gentlemen is theedy king, Gil!" Walker became the announcer of the antics. They all continued like this for two hours eating some bread and cheese while enough of walker mana recovered.


    Using his mana maniption to pull water from the mud and freeze the wreckage in a mound of ice and snow they were ready to be on their way. It didn''t take nearly as much mana to cover it all up than to clear a huge area. The wind had long set in to pushing the fluffy snow over the cleared space to retake the ins in the name of cold.


    "We''ve traveled far enough to be in the rabbit tribes normal resting area. Keep an eye out for smoke in the distance or footprints. Around this time of year they have sleds they pull behind them so lines and t patches are also signs they passed through." Laurence didn''t expect to immediately find them since they were fairly adept In staying hidden from monsters. But at least some signs should remain that they were near.


    "So basically we just keep walking them, right? No way other than that." Gil decided he would take this chance to scout ahead a bit. He hadn''t used these skills much in the recent days. "I''ll be running ahead, hopefully I''ll be back with good news in a bit!" Off he went.


    The group maintained their stride and was a fair bit behind him. Gil was seeing a whole lot of nothing as he scouted onward. The path seemed fairly untouched. Every once in a while he would spot the remnants of animals traveling but had yet to see anything real.


    Making his way a decent distance away he seems three strange shapes in the ice ahead. The was a slightly tter area with sharp overgrowths of ice. The snow seemed to drift around it. Taking a lower stance he had an arrow ready just in case. These long spiky things of rostering ice were definitely the ice wraiths walker had told him about. But why did something seem off?


    The snow around these was being pushed away from them which made sense due to their ice bodies in a constant rotation. But the snow near there little area was too perfectly white. Most other snow was speckled with some bit of dead foliage or dusting of dirt. Wait did that blob of snow just move?


    Gil didn''t know what was happening, the ice wraiths definitely weren''t causing this since they seemedpletely immersed in building up their bodies. Focusing in with his eyes as much as possible Gil could see smaller oval shapes protruding from the weird pure white blob of snow. As this blob moved two hands seemed to split from it and pull back arge slingshot. A projectile flung from the slingshot shattering the body of one ice wraith.


    Gil was surprised to learn that it was a person blending in with the snow perfectly! Faster than his eyes could follow two more shots were fired shattering the remaining ice wraiths. Their bodies broken and unable to reform the white blob stood tall reveling a very muscr man holding a pure white cloak of fur.


    "Ah! Ears!" Gil yelped out loud in his surprise. This extremely build man had two white rabbit ears on the top of his head. He wore tight fitting tanned animal skins. The projectiles handguns from his belt were Shari looking ck stones. His hair was cut tight to his head showing off a a tattoo of a small rabbit on the back of his neck. This was definitely a member of the rebut tribe.


    The man was bending down collecting parts of the ice wraiths body and cing them in a bag. After selecting the ones that he desired his gaze turned to Gil. With a few quick steps he had shown up right by Gil "what was that about my ears boy!?" That was when gils soul left his body.


    "Ahhh holy lord oh no." Gil ran it wasn''t his most promising moment but an extremely muscr rabbit man had just ran to him faster than he could blink. His instincts screamed run. And run her did, Gil rand toward the others as break neck speed. No arrows drawn just all out break neck speed running.


    Walking along after gils path Su suddenly stopped which in turn halted the party. "Leader I think I''m unwell, I may need to rest." Su thought her eyes were showing her false visions. "I seem to be hallucinating that Gil is being chased by an extremely buff rabbit man."


    The others had now opened their eyes wide takin in the scene, "no your not seeing things, if you are we are effected too." Walker couldn''t fathom what was happening, why was ship being chased? Why was that man so muscr? Weren''t rabbit tribe Demi humans supposed to be as cute as a rabbit? Was that just a stereotype he''d made up in his mind after thinking about the small rabbits he saw being sold to nobles as pets?


    "Tell me boy! Are you going to say something about my ears! Do they look good?! Huh! Hhhuuuhhh!" The man was yelling at Gil as he ran.


    "Oh no did Gil say something about the ears? Ugh of course he did, that my friends is the head warrior of the rabbit tribe Otis. He has a thing about people talking about his ears, and he''s it''s about his muscles. It''s a very drastic difference." Laurence hadn''t seen Otis in two or three years but he swore in that time he''d easily grown in size. It was weird to think that the man was simr in size to Laurence when they first met years ago. "Otis!!!! Leave him alone ande over here you brute!"


    Stoping dead in his tracks, "oh joy who told a spitfire like you toe around these parts!" The two ran over to each other grasping arms greeting each other. This was a wee sight for Gil who had copsed in to the snow to recover his lost pride.

 Chapter 138 - 138. Muscle Man

    "Laurence I swear for all I do to shock you I think you are trying to shock me more. It''s nice to meet you Otis my name is Walker and I''m the leader of the omnipotent party. We are currently escorting the tamers to a few locations in this area." Walker he been the first to quickly recover his wits after seeing Laurence run to the jacked rabbit tribesman.


    " oh an escort, how fancy. I am Otis the head warrior of the rabbit tribesman. So Laurence what brings you and your escort our way? There aren''t any orcs prowling the ins to hunt in the winter you know." The tamers were well known for hunting orcs in the warmer days of summer. This was due to the high fat content in their meat. Once properly preserved it was very nutritious for tamed beasts which feed on meat primarily.


    "No no of course not, we can to see the tribe. During my stay with my friends here we talked over many things. Since we are traveling this direction we took a detour so I could introduce them to you. I''m fairly certain you will find them as interesting as I do." Seeing as Laurence didn''t exin why they would be interesting Otis became curious but as he carefully scanned the party which had fullye to greet him even Gil he did see something unusual.


    " so they''ve tamed a dragon! You''re right how interesting! Here I thought I would be waiting all day to figure it out." Midnight growled slightly at these words. She wasn''t tamed she was an equal. Every onyx began to be slightly agitated, he did not like the insult to his family.


    "Midnight is not a tamed beast, she is family we''re are equals. Same with onyx here on my shoulder. Please refrain from thinking anything less." The three were ring intently at Otis who did not expect such a reaction.


    This party leader must be a strange tamer to feel like this about his beasts, but equal in the party? Equal in the family? Very odd. " I see, well I did not mean any insult. The tamers guild will be blessed to gain another tamer who cares so much for their contracted beasts."


    Walker knew having midnight and onyx with him would make him a dead ringer for a tamer but he didn''t want to be just a tamer. " I think I should properly introduce myself and the party. That is Gil our ranger, Su our shield bearer, Remey our growler, midnight our rogue so to say, onyx our abyssal serpent, and I am walker the jack of all trades. We are the omnipotent party which holds the title of hero." Otis didn''t fully understand this second introduction. The first few members sounded normal, to call a dragon a rogue made sense they were wild in nature. Otis had never heard of an abyssal serpent so just decided to brush it off. But the leader wasn''t a tamer? Jack of all trades? What did that mean?...wait title?


    "What do you mean title? How can all of you have a title? You can''t share a title." Otis had be much more serious now, it was one thing to im you had a title but share one? Impossible and insulting to his intelligence.


    "Yes five of us each have the title of hero. It''s a long story. We do not share it we always have it. I''m surprised the rumors haven''t traveled this far yet, must''ve a result of the slow winter trade." It was natural that the word of those with a new title hadn''t spread from the kingdom much, the trade routes being hard to traverse would often be left untouched until spring. That could also be said for the gossip that the merchants carried with them.


    Otis didn''t want to believe the kid in front of him, five hero''s? He nced at Otis who was nodding his head with a smile. " Hmm since Laurence brought you here I will believe you for now, but I will see the truth in time. If you are lying to me there will be consequences."


    A moment of intent stating happened between Otis and Walker before Walker spoke again. " I won''t force you to believe however the words I spoke are true, we have a title, they are my family, and we can do anything." Gil was worried Walker''s words would set the muscle bound man in to anger but instead the two were standing their ground.


    "Well since you are so adamant I will take tour word. Not many have the nerve to stand to my face and dispute what I say. I''ll allow your courage to speak to your character. Now, Laurence who are the two new tamers with you, I''ve never seen them so they must be green as can be." Otis had wrapped the matter up for now. He would be keeping a close eye on Walker to see just what kind of person and system there was within him. The girl with Laurence seemed unable to tame her energy, she had been bouncing side to side since she came over. The exact opposite of the boy with him so seemed to be sleeping on his feet. Leave it to Laurence to bring two opposites together.


    " oh yes of course this is Elise she specializes in avian beats and this is Riley he specializes in wild beasts." Otis was again confused, how could the sleepy one be a wild beast tamer? He seems so tame and soft. The girl definitely seemed like a tamer of birds, high energy and hyper focused.


    Luckily Elise knew if she bombarded this man with questions she would be strictly lectured by Laurence. It was just a blessing she had realized and held back.


    "Ah look at me keeping my friend out in the cold. Bring your escort and green tamers. We can celebrate in our makeshift vige. It''s been a while since we had guests." Laurence smirked at this, he knew exactly when Otis meant by make shift vige. ncing at walker his mischievous smirk did not go unnoticed. Just wait until you see what they do in the winter.


    While Laurenceughed internally they all followed Otis. Walking for nearly an hour Otis seemed to be getting restless. He most likely didn''t want to move so slow, every step he took looked like it was held back. Laurence started tough to himself a bit drawing a little attention, he knew that Otis would normally run full speed home after a hunt. Naturally as a Demi human his speed was fairly fast, the fact that he had rabbit traits meant that fact was emphasized even more so.


    More time passed and arge mass of snow seemed to be rising in front of them. The closer they all got the less it blended in, it wasn''t just a mass of snow it was perfectly crafted snow walls epassing arge area. "Holy lord they made a giant snow fort." Her voice was filled with awe as Remey and Elise eyes each other.


    "I think we should race to the wall." The energy elegies had was only rivaled by Remey.


    "Mhm good n, we''ll see who gets their but kicked." The others heard this and took this challenge in as well.


    "Well if I need to show off I guess I will" Gil stepped equally to the other two and soon followed everyone else. Otis was looking in amusement.


    "Ready...set...gooo!" Walker called out and sped off towards the wall. Even Laurence was in hot pursuit.


    Noticeably faster Su was making her way toward the snow wall as well. Midnight was trying to jump in the air and glide a bit which was very intriguing. Walker knew she was still a bit young but seeing her want to fly and practice flying made him excited for the day she would actually take flight. Pushing this excitement away he promised himself not to rush her, she didn''t want any harm toe to her in pushing her wings too soon.


    Gil took the lead over Remey, his better footing in the snow giving him the advantage. They were closing in on the wall with every step about to make his win final.


    His hand was stretched out reaching for the wall when all a sudden a shadow appeared next to him. With a small breeze, Otis ced a hand on the wall softly. "I win. Hahaha I even gave you all a head start." Not a single one of them had noticed Otis run, he was too fast. He reached the wall in an instant without even breaking a sweat. They had been robbed, Gil most of all was stuck not knowing how to feel. Impressed or angry? Ah why''s the point forget it he thought to himself. "Wee to the temporary winter home of the rabbit tribesman." Otis stood proudly in front of the snow wall which was Triple his height. They had arrived!

 Chapter 139 - 139. The Way Of The Rabbit

    "Wait so do you build this every year?" This seemed impossible, a wall this size must take days for pack and stabilize, but they did every winter?


    "Well of course, we move around constantly so we find a good ce for the winter and build it up. A few snow footed rabbit traits mixed in here and there and next thing you know we have a few mages to kick up a blizzard or two. Work together for a few hours and boom got a winter wall to block the wind and keep out the pesky monsters. Not to mention warm." Not every day was Otis able to show off his people''s winter creation. Most visitors were met in their normal wanderinge the spring and summer. Almost none found or visited the tribe when they bunkered down for the winter.


    This made sense to walker, as a species of animal rabbits weren''t just rabbits. There were many variations. Ones that developed in cold climates, some in hot, others in swamps, there were many different kinds. This meant a that as Demi humans calling them just a mix of rabbit and human wasn''t very urate. The type of rabbit they had traits from would radically effect their system.


    " I can see why you would prefer something like this in the winter. If it''s warmer and blocks the wind it could be called a paradise in the ins during the winter." Throwing apliment and her and there seemed like the proper move to with the trust of Otis, so that''s just how Walker operated.


    "Ha! Laurence you found a good one! You know kid no one ever seems to understand just how grand out little winter wondend is." Laughing more Otis began leading them around the edge of the wall. The entirety of the wall seemed to be diamond shaped directing the consistent wind from any direction.


    Seeing an opening in the wall enough just for two or three people to enter shoulder to shoulder Otis let out a whistle. Two cloaked figures came out of hiding ces in the wall, they were perfectly blended in with the same white fur cloak Otis had to hide himself. Walker wasn''t sure why it was able to blend so well so his curiosity got the better of him.


    '' high yeti fur cloak


    +4 mdef, +2 def


    Snow camouge


    Made form Fur of a fifty year old yeti. It''s age allowed it to absorb significant natural mana. This trait allows its fur to blend with any snow in its surroundings.''


    His all around appraisal revealed low defensive stats but a unique ability. The fact that the fur had to be from an older yeti was also impressive. From walkers reading in the mansions library he had seen that the older a yeti got the bigger it grew. Meaning at the age of fifty it would be a tough opponent to take down, but also could yield high rewards. This meant that the tribe was able to defeat some of the stronger ice elemental monsters in the area and even more northern near the mountains. His thoughts being interrupted walker Laid his eyes in what was within the wall.


    Small round domed igloos made up most homes. Some had smoke stacks where others had areas set up outside them for fire and cooking. Even a few dining tables were seen scattered about. A few massive stacks of wood seemed to be the store for the winter. Along the wall some tribesman were tending to slightly melted or damaged parts. The atmosphere was energetic and bright, there didn''t seem to be a sad face among them. Rabbit earned children darted around here and there while adults chased after them. A training area seemed to be in use as teenage children seemed to be racing or practicing new skills. The most eye catching scene however was therge open square in the middle of everything.


    "No one wander off, we need to head to the center and greet the elders. If they give permission we could be allowed to stay for a night or two. If not we will be escorted out." Laurence hadn''t mentioned this in the first ce but it was in to tell that there was no sure way to make them let us stay. It wouldpletely be up to how the elders felt at the moment of meeting them.


    Walking through the scatters igloo homes and little open streets many of the rabbit tribesman bartered with each other. Instead of currency it seemed they traded here and there for what they needed. This seemed much more practical for a group used to wandering the opennds.


    Walker quickly took mental note of the things he could see them trading for. Some were trading foods, not a big surprise. He didn''t see much fresh bread but a surprising amount of meats and vegetables. Some seemed to trading monster parts more than anything, this much be to craft unique equipment that the tribe makes themselves. He knew he had the cial wolf bodies stored away and considered trying to sell trade parts or all of them here. That would need to wait though, they had just reached the square.


    Therge fire pit had a small fire in the center. Five older people say around it holding cups with a strong herby tea within. There were two men and three woman, these were the elders of the tribe. They may not have been the oldest but they were indeed the wisest when it came to decisions for the good of the tribe.


    "Elders, I have returned from hunting after running in to my old friend Laurence. He brings with him two young ones from the tamers guild and six friends escorting him. These six consist of five who say they hold the title of hero, the six appears to be a newly hatched member. I vouch for them as head warrior." Otis stepped back and awaited a response. He had not known them all long but trusted Laurence with those he keptpany with. He had also seen how the party acted around him and the tamers, Otis hadn''t sensed a single bit of malice not even from a young dragon. The possibility that they really had the hero title did not seem as far fetched as the first second her heard it.


    " oh hero this hero that anyone is a hero anytime. It''s all in perspective!" The oldest looking woman waved her hand not seeming to care about the title. She was the most bundled up out of the five. Her grey hair and floppy ears one of the only things easily visible.


    " but the world did recognize them, that''s impressive enough for children like them. Even that cute little lizard there is a hero. Cant you see the worlds energy cloning to them? How pure." The man to her right seemed much more cheerful and interested. But could he really see the worlds energy? He didn''t even have open eyes yet spoke of seeing. His hair was grey like the others but the fur in his ears was pure white.


    " Ha! World energy that''s all you ever talk about. You''re an old blind fool. A dragons a dragon but if it''s tamed we''ll need to watch out for its master nothing more." What appeared to be the youngest one was firing directly at walker. She seemed to know he had the contract with midnight, however her words stirred anger in him and midnight. He wasn''t some ruthless master that drove midnight to follow his orders. The were equal.


    Otis gave walker a death stare telling him not to move or speak. Luckily Walker knew how to keep his cool and ryed this to midnight mentally. If they got kicked out now he may not learn anything, plus they would all be out in the wind for the night. None of them wanted to go back out now.


    " your hate of dragons is astounding as ever, just because one snacked on that leg of yours doesn''t mean they all want to eat you. Just let them stay a few days I''m sure we can bleed them dry if some good stories to pass the winter. If they really are title holders than they can show off some interesting things." The third woman had a diforting smile, like she wanted to study a specimen. He ck ears twitching here and there listening for a response.


    " you all just need to make your choices but at the end of the day our Otis vouches for them and in that I trust. Let the young learn from these new faces and let us old watch for any threats. As of now all I see is promise." Thest man was different than the others, scars shown on his face and one ear waspletely missing. Even though Otis was the head warrior the aura this elder gave off was much more threatening.

 Chapter 140 - 140. Poor Otis

    "Now are we agreed?" The man spike again looking around.


    "Agreed!" They all nodded and said in unison.


    "Then wee to our winter vige, pleas make yourselves at home and enjoy the warmth of our fires. You may address us as elder while you are here. As long as you show us respect you are as good as any other rabbit tribesman however bear with me, if you fire spect us we will show our ws." These words were both strict rule and sounds advice, both of which every one of them nned to follow.


    Stepping forward walker began his reply, " hello there, my name is walker and I am the party leader of the omnipotent party. I hold the jack of all trades system. This is midnight my younger sister and onyx our younger brother. Here is my second inmand Gil with his ranger system. This is Su with the shield bearer system and Remey with the brawler system. We thank you very much for allowing us to stay with you, and look forward to learning many things." Walker bowed slightly to show more respect bringing a smile to the man with one ears face. How responsible and professional this boys introduction was showed he was also wise beyond his years which was a very sought after quality in the tribe.


    Laurence took his turn next, " I am honored to be with the tribe yet again. I''ve brought with me Elise a young avian tamer, he sister Ste will most likely roam the skies if the wind is soft. Here is Riley our young wild beast tamer, please rest assured his demon boars will not be taking a walk. This is their first time here in the winter and I''m sure they will learn a fair bit of survival tricks, so I thank you in advance." These two as well seemed interesting to the elders. One that could tame wild beasts was fairly rare and another that tamed avian monsters. Having seen their fair share of avian monsters hunt the ins the tribe was adept in countering them but hunting them properly was always a task for more advanced hunters.


    " ahh so much potential is always a good sight to see, feel free to join us all tonight for a meal. We often have a very lively fire with plenty of food and chatter. Otis will show you to an open spot in the meantime." With that the one eared elder seemed to be captivated by his tea. Otis made a wave with his hand to follow him. It appeared they were done with the introductions.


    Moving away from the square walker nced back to see the elders discussing something. It seemed they had given everyone the once over and now were sharing their opinions.


    Otis brought everyone through a tangle of igloos and pathways leading to arger open space. " if you''ve got any tents this is a spot you can use. If you''d like to have you''re own home built we can ask the mages to build an igloo but you''ll need to trade for it, nothings free in life." Otis was about to turn away when he saw walker moving to the center of the space, why was he doing?


    " I don''t think we need much in the way of roofing but some walls for privacy would be nice." Walker focused on the image of four walls with one opening while using his mana maniption. Mana was drained out while the earth rumbled. Four stone walls began to rise around them leaving just one space to exit. A few drops of sweat dripped from walker but overall he seemed fairly happy with their temporary living area. "Alright let''s set up our own little sleeping area. We can get a small fire startedter for heat while we sleep.


    Wasn''t this boy a tamer? How''d I''d he just sculpt earth? "Boy how can a tamer like you move the earth like this? Do you have a third underground tamed beast?" Otis felt this theory was the most usible, had he brought in an underground threat to the vige? If so should he risk battling this boy to kick him out?


    " I never said I was a tamer, I introduced myself as someone with the jack of all trades system. I can learn pretty much any skill. Well not a mastery level skill but as you can see it''s not that big a deal." Otis was beside himself, any skill? He had thought walker to be trying to hide the kind of tamer he was with a yful lie by saying he was a jack of all trades but it was true.


    " what else can you do, can you I would like to see more proof you are what you say." Otis already decided to believe walker but under the guise of proof he could convince walker to show off more. This could help in a manner of ways, if walker had skills he could use to harm or help the viger he would find a way to remove or convince walker respectively.


    " there''s a lot but I can used a monster skill to intimidate enemies, manipte the elements, appraise things, use any weapons...honestly I would loose track of I hadn''t gained a skill called mental archive that lets me record everything in a bit library in my head. Don''t worry though using it won''t give me a headache." Laugh in at his little joke he soon stopped realizing he may have overwhelmed Otis.


    Spacing out a moment Otis slowly turned ring at Laurence. " I may have teased you a few times when you visited but did you really have to bring such an enigma here!" Laurence only smiled in response, in his mind he wasughing with evil intent seeing that his revenge had begun.


    "No I would never bring someone here to cause you shock and confusion. I only wished for my new friends to see the majesty of the rabbit tribes winter resting ce." Laurence used his sweet words but was curing Otis for the jokes he had made when Laurence tried to dance. Tonight he would have revenge.


    "Ahhgg" walker turned to find Gil t on his face. There was a slight icy patch that was almost perfectly clear. Gil had ignored the others and tried to set up a sleeping spot with some gear he carried. He felt he would trouble walker if he asked him to always store it.


    Looking up a nice purple lump was already forming on his forehead. "Ummm hey walker...think I could ask you to help out with this? If we are eating with everyone tonight I should look my best." The smile he gave walker was forced as he was fairly embarrassed for not noticing the ice however walker long epted the chance they would slip and fall as they learned the new terrain.


    " well better to fall her than inbat I guess. Come over here. Oh, hey Otis I can also heal, forgot to mention it when you asked" as Gil came to walker the light heal skill was used bringing the green healing light from walkers hands. The growing bruise in Gil''s forehead faded away in an instant as if it was not there at all.


    " healing too? I swear if anyone fights you when you''ve grown up it will always be like fighting your natural enemy..." he no longer wanted to quarrel with Laurence and instead felt he had lost. He the head warrior wasn''t able to push aside this amount of shock. He had met someone who in theory would always be able to y in his weaknesses.


    " well I''m still limited to my mana usage so it''s not like I can fight forever. But you are right, if I work hard one day I might be able to always give my party the edge in battle. Oh Su, Remey I haven''t gotten your gear out yet I''m sorry. Elise Riley yours too!" Pulling out from his spatial magic inventory walker ced everyone''s gear in front of them. Lastly he pulled out his own.


    This was the nail in the coffin, even special magic. What was this kid? How could he do all of this like it wasmon every day activities. " I feel like I could spend a lifetime watching you and only learn a fraction of what you can do." Dejected Otis made his leave, Laurence wanted to feel aplished but instead felt he may have gone too hard.


    Deciding it wasn''t too big a deal, " well now Otis seems to know how we all felt getting to know your skills too."


    " you don''t even know the half of it, we learned it first hand while on our first adventure. He literally formed a blood contract that day! It was ridiculous, since then we''ve just been waiting for crazy stuff to happen." Gil knew all too well hour everyone felt and wished he could say it was easy to adjust to.


    " you''ve got that right I half expect him to start changing the weather or pulling diamonds from ash next." Dramatically Remey waved her hands as if she was conjuring a storm. Laughing at her jokes they went about setting up their home for the night.

 Chapter 141 - 141. Bonfire

    Every once in a while a curious tribesman woulde by to see what the earth walls were all about. Peaking their heads in they would see the group making up bedding and a small ce for a fire and run off to share the gossip.


    Fairly soon a group of children had gathered daring each other to go inside and convince them to show off their earth magic. Soon themotion was enough to draw everyone''s attention.


    " you know if you don''t go out there they''ll eventually rush in here and we''ll have to clean everything up again." These words came from Remey, apparently she was used to the same thing happening in the orphanage. If you weren''t careful your hard earned clean room would be a mess in a second. It was a lesson learned through experience.


    " I feel like every time I get most of my mana back I have to use it all again, at this rate I''ll run out forever." Standing up from his newly set up bed walker headed toward the entrance he''d made earlier. Seeing about ten kids huddled together trying to convince each other to go inside walker knew Remey was right, it was only a matter of time. " so I hear someone wanted to see some elemental magic!" Walker increased his vibrato to draw their attention.


    Seeing that their ears perked up and eyes focused on him he knew he had his audience. Raising his hand he used a single mana to push some wind their way. pping his hand down the gust of wind flew from him ruffling all of their hair and causing their cloths to billow slightly. Chorus of giggles and squealing greeted his ears. "So can I ask someone to guide me to an open training area?" With the ice broken a few of them grabbed in to his arms and started to drag him away. Most of them ran way ahead getting close to one of the big ice walls. Soon the open space seemedrge enough to y in.


    Eyeing the scratchings on the ground he could tell this was the designated ying area. A few childhood games came to mind as he notices squares and numbers drawn in. Thinking back he remembered arge metal slide in the noble tier he had seen once. Maybe he could do something simr with his elemental maniption.


    "Alright alright stand back! Stand back! Open your eyes and watch the earth rumble!" cing his hands on the ground he channeled his mana in to the ground. Shaking started causing inmmation surprised gasps from the kids. Even adults hade by to see themotion. From the earth steps began to rise at the top a sloped smooth surface descending to the ground. After five minutes of shaking a perfect earth slidey in front of them. " now add some ice..." walker headed over touching the smooth slopes surface pouring more mana in to it. Water was pulled from the air settling and freezing in to a mirror on the slide. It wasplete an earth slide with a perfect slippery surface to slip and slide down over and over.


    Walker climbed the steps he had made while everyone watched him, the kids seemed confused by even more excited. They hadn''t seen a slide before. If walker hadn''t seen one before either he wouldn''t know what to do, but luckily he did. Upon reaching the top he sat his but down raised his arms and promptly flew down the slide. The air whistles in his ears and he reaches the bottom much faster than he wanted. Hitting the bottom hnded feet first and promptly tumbled twice before miraculouslynding in his feet again he took a few unsteady steps. ncing back at the group he only saw smiles, " well what are you waiting for? Get up there and slide!" His shout was all they needed as they all pushed and caught for the chance to get to the top. Even a few older kids and adults had made their way to the slide. It seemed his little creation would be a big hit.


    Now that his mana was depleted again he headed a little distance away and took a seat on the ground. "Well you sure are a hit with the kids, any you''ve only just got here today." A skinny tall woman with grey brown ears greeted him. " I''m J my husband is Otis he mentioned you had some interesting skills so I took a walk and found this new creation. I''ve got to say you''re living up to the gossip, but at this rate you want have a moment to breath at the fire tonight." Laughing to herself J headed towards the slide yelling for the kids to be careful and not to fight. It seemed the adults hade to organize the chaos but they all made sure to greet walker, word did travel fast here.


    After rxing and watching the children y for an hour or so he had rxed and was sure the slide would remain intact and safe. It was just about time to eat and a few kids had already been dragged off by parents. Walker himself headed back to the little area they had finding everyone else all ready to head to the square.


    " I feel like none of you would have even waited for me." Shaking his head he cleaned himself up brushing off some snow and trying to look more presentable.


    " well hey we figured tour new ymates would drag you along." If one didn''t know better Gil was trying to pick a fight. In turn walker tossed a snowball to the back of his head.


    " hey don''t start a ranger battle with a ranger! I''ll bring you down with my hawk eye!"


    " oh year right! I''ll just learn a new skill and eagle eye every shot!"


    The two bickered on in spectacr fashion until Su and Remey decided it was time to head to the square. Su grabbed gils arm and Remey grabbed walkers arm and off they were dragged. " let''s go girls no more drama we have a dinner to attend" Remeys words hit hard ending the matter but she was right it was time to go eat.


    Followed by Laurence and the others they headed back to the square. The closer they got the more voices they heard. The scene that greeted them was spectacr. A massive bonfire made it seem to be daylight in the center of the square. Many small wooden table had been brought to line the outside of the square leaving plenty of space between the fire and myriad of food.


    "Wow they do this every night?" Riley with a rare line felt he had found his dream. Rushing off to join those eating he seemed to find a group of tribesman just as involved in the live of food as him. Laurence wanted to stop him but knew it was inevitable, at least he was off with likeminded individuals.


    "Elise let''s go find some desserts! Sue on we''re finding desert." Just like that the girls had rushed off following someone who seemed to be carrying a pudding.


    " well looks like it''s just us, do we go to eat with the elders?" Laurence had been here before and his n to eat with the elders came from previous visits. He knew that it was an unsaid rule for guests to respect and down with elders if possible.


    " sounds pretty good to me, the man with with the scars seems pretty interested in what we can do. I''m sure he''s already heard of my elemental maniption." The two headed towards a smaller group of tables where the elders were seated.


    "Ah and so the young decide toe and visit the veterans. I''m d you had the time toe join us for dinner. We''ve heard you made a veryrge impression in some of the rugrats after you made a private space your yourselves." The one eared elder seemed happy to see them and made sure to emphasize that he knew what they had been up to. This was almost certainly the elder to watch out for, very sneaky.


    " we felt that it would only be right toe greet our kind hosts. Not to mention I''m sure after hearing about my antics you''re curious enough to what else I can do." After turning in the charm walker smiled and reached for a cup of water the elder offered to him.


    " you have that right, you can manipte three elements. Wind, water, and earth. That''s a pretty rare feat." The elders were very impressed with the skill walker had shown but even more so with the simple fact that he had done something for the children.


    " well actually I can manipte all the elements. The skill is called elemental maniption. I can use pretty much any skill that''s not a mastery skill, every weapon, any gear, hahah I can even dance." Walker couldn''t help butugh remembering his new dodging skill dance of the wild rabbit.

 Chapter 142 - 142. Shock The Tribe

    The elder didn''t even blink, " ahhhA I see so it''s every element, but if you are going to brag about dancing I think you''ll be outmatched here." The elder was very confident in his words almost on cue they heard music start off.


    Drums and strings seemed to fill the air. The big space between tables and the bonfire became filled with tribesman. The music started to pick up reaching a consistent beat. Those with less experience stepped back allowing room, the dancing started. The tribesman jumped towards each other seemingly to collide only to spin and change levels as the dodges past each other. This repeated to the best of the music, every possible collision was turned in to an elegant spin showing coordination. It was as if a rabbit was jumping to dodge a fox.


    " I remember some years ago you Laurence were trying to dance rather drunk with our tribe. Care to take a second attempt with your friend here." It would seem that the elder doubted the possibility that walker could actually dance. Even more was the fact that Laurence had arranged this exact situation knowing walkers skill the second he saw it. That sneaky bastard, walker would need to get him back for thister.


    " oh no I could never drag Laurence in to this. I would love to join in the dance I''ve been excited all day to enjoy yourpany so it''s sad to walk away so quick. However this looks like quiet a fun step." Walker looked towards an open spot in the group and waited for the right moment.


    The best began to pick up again the speed increasing to the point it left only nine dancers able to properly use the step. This was not daunting in the least to walker, he was confident in his skill and knew he could keep up with his agility.


    On the down beat he jumped directly at Otis we was dancing in the group. Otis''s eyes were wide seeing the iing walker not expecting him to suddenly jump in. They were a heard length from impacting as their feet touched down. Suddenly the next beat rang out and walker spun, the two dodged perfectly endearing a crouch and turning to their next jump. Those watching becamepletely speechless. It was impossible! Inconceivable! No one other than a rabbit trait Demi human could learn the dance of the wild rabbit.


    " so I may not be able to dance but if my eyes aren''t lying to me, I found someone who can." Laurence had a smug smile while ncing at the elders. However his words of victory from on deaf ears, the elders had all stood from their seats witnessing an impossible feat.


    Otis having still not recovered from walkers earlier magic rted feats was again thrown in to confusion. But instead of faltering his body continued to move, this was instinct after all.


    All that were dancing were the tribes top warriors, only they had mastered the dance of the wild rabbit to such degree. Walker saw the strength they all possessed and almost felt bad for immediately gaining the use of the skill. This thought didn''t sit long because he forced it away, his system was that kind of system If he doesn''t ept it and use it he may fail to protect others.


    Continuing the dance walker faces every other warrior participating. All showed in as day their surprise that they did not collide. Now that someone had proven they could keep up their vigor rose leading to more and more encounters. Once they were all sweating bullets the beat began to slow, everyone started to part from the middle leaving only Otis and walker.


    " boy you haven''t learned the dance of the rabid rabbit have you?" This was the next step in the dance but it was technically a skill only the highest warrior of the tribe would learn often only one of two learning in a lifetime.


    "No I have only learned dance of the wild rabbit. Should I leave?" Walker worried if he stayed dancing he may ruin Otis''s performance however his reply was the opposite.


    " well take a chance and try to keep up. Maybe you can learn it and push me to our mastery skill. If anyone can push me closer to the step of the golden hare it may be you." Otis raised a hand signaling to start the piece.


    The music became erratic, shouts and trilling came from those watching. The look in Otis''s eyes became wild and his steps became closer and more aggressive. Soon new moves were being added, Otis would sweep his leg trying to hit walker off bnce then jump away only to return with another near miss. The spins now came with backhanded swipes to push walker off bnce. This was the next step in the dance? It had be much less elegant and more unpredictable.


    The music increased speed soon putting walker on edge. Otis was reacting faster and nearly catching him. Some hits would stagger him but walker would narrowly catch himself and jump again in to a spin. This dance was getting annoying, he couldn''t keep up. The pressure was building inside Walker, an anger even he didn''t realize to be pent up.


    The beat echoed his heart, blood thick in his veins, he was going to loose it at this rate. The pressure reached a peak and without his warrant his voice was heard, " aahhggg no more!!!" He refused to be put off bnce anymore, this was it thest straw now he would hit back.


    Feeling his frustration onyx had wrapped around his neck biting his own tail. Having be a tattoo walker looked more intimidating. Midnight had felt the same ande to the edge of the crowd. Snarling and growling echoing through to walker, he could feel her encouragement, there was no more taking the hits and retreating.


    '' Due to great mental stress the skill: dance of the rabid rabbit has been learned.


    Dance of the rabid rabbit- passive


    Having lost hold of their mental fortitude a rabbit in rage bes erratic. Turning against even the predator after their life, a rabbit shall show its ws.''


    Walker stopped for a second his eyes bloodshot. Otis was about to swing in to the next spin but instead of connecting to the stationary body of walker something more happened. Walker lowered his level and swept with his leg. Otis tumbled andnded with his knees bent. Now they can go all out.


    The two lost more elegance and added more to their chaos. Feet swung in spins to push and prod each other in to falling. Walker no longer lost bnce but instead flowed move to move his own hands flying to push. There was no thinking on what the would do next or how they would avoid the blows, just instinct remained.


    A short time of this passed both their eyes deadlocked on each others. Small flecks of gold reflected in the eyes of Otis but nothing else. The music had started to slow, falling in to a swift lull. Peaceful feelings epassed their instinctual movements speaking of green glowing ins and soft winds. Eventually they weren''t striking out in the sounds but just dancing as before. The music came to an end leaving two heavy breathing individuals. The tribe watching on was silent, the elders silent, even walkers party members were silent.


    The one eared elder approached the two giving them a serious look. " you came to our tribe an unknown to us. Yet you show the skills long since endeavored by our warriors. Not only that but you show growth when pressured by our strongest. You may not possess the traits of the rabbits like us. Yet you are our earless brother. You may alwayse to dance with us as you need, wee home." These words are soft spoken but powerful. Everyone heard them and none denied the meaning behind this. The elder had weed him as one of them and so it shall be.


    Shouts echoed through the vige at his words and Otis finally broke his staring match with walker. He had never been pushed that far in some years and he felt much closer to breaking through to the mastery skill. Step of the golden hare was a once every 50 years appearance. Otis knew he had the capability it was only pushing himself past the chaos of the dance of the rabid rabbit to reach the camp perception beyond.


    He nodded to the elder and reached out to walker, "e on us warriors need to eat out full before the morning hunt." There was no longer a serious exterior to Otis, walker saw the ever striving man in front of him for who he was. The two had spoken in their actions and showed their determination. No longer strangers but distant cousins finally reunited as family.


    " have you seen your muscles? How will I ever manage to fight past you for food." Trashing each other the exhausted pair went to the nearest table to start eating. Naturally they became crowded by many other tribe members, it would be a long night.

 Chapter 143 - 143. Morning Hunt

    The night hadsted longer than expected. Walker was dragged every which way eventuallynding near the elders once again. The others were able to finally get near him after being attacked themselves by questions. The elders seemed much more open to them after seeing walker dance and even went so far to ask for stories, they wanted to know how he got to where he was today. Naturally they told their tales, leaving out some parts of the ancient ruins to match the adventurer guilds reports, the elders memorized each word.


    The stories wouldter get told to the others in the tribe, being bunkered down for the winter the tribe enjoyed sharing new stories from their travels. Having something new brought to them during the winter was an exceptional treat.


    Reveling in the stories of Laurence''s first time in the tribe the one eared elder gave walker a little a munitions for some revenge. Laurence was otherwise too embarrassed to rebuke the story and had called it an early night.


    The night grewte and the bonfire finally started to die down. The elders had long since left themselves leaving only the party and a few others.


    " well I rmend you all head off to sleep. Tomorrow morning we''ll be hunting for snow imps, their hide is great for crafting ice resistant gear. They also often store water crystals in their body so that may be an added bonus." From what Walker remembered snow imps were small devil like creatures, their fire counter parts had wings. The ice imps possessed water elemental attacks in the form of ice needles and had slightly tougher bodies. Without wings they had developed a skill allowing them to skate across ice and snow to run or attack.


    Watching as Otis left them they all decided to heed his words and headed off to their own bed. Laurence had managed to get some wood and started a fire to warm their walled in area. With the crackling if a fire and the warmth to apany it walker was asleep before his head hit his pillow.


    Feeling a tugging in his leg walker groggily raised his head. Midnight was shaking his pant leg to get his attention. The sun had yet to break the horizon but he could feel it was close. Remey was already up shaking Su and Gil awake in turn. Onyx at some point had found a spot on Midnights'' head to rest, most likely due to her being warmer sleeping near the fire. The two looked at walker with obvious intent; food.


    Taking out some light crystals for onyx and a few dark crystals for midnight the two seemed happier than kids in a candy store. Midnights crunching was enough to rouse Elise and Laurence from their sleep as well, Riley however was still on cloud nine.


    Everyone was still tired from the night before, walker could feel his muscles protest his actions as he stood and stretched. Laurence soon stoked the lure back in to mes which helped everyone start back up. Once su had fully risen she helped walker warm some bread which finally woke Riley...of course it was food that woke him.


    While they ate they had put their gear back in fixing their winter cloths to block any wind. Today didn''t seem to be too bad, only a soft cook breeze brushed by them.


    Elise in her tired state raised a hand feeling the wind. " today won''t be windy at all, by noon it will be still. Stee on out!" A sh of red and Ste had returned front he beast ring. Elise must have a skill to sense the wind, this made sense since she was an avian tamer. Without important skills like that she could identally summon a bird in to a potential tornado.


    Shaking her feathers and looking at Elise with slight annoyance it was clear that Ste did not enjoy the cold morning. However Laurence produced some extra winter gear perfectly sized for Ste, after adorning it she seemed much happier to be out and about with everyone.


    " wakey wakey!" A few knocks on the earth wall and a call from Otis was greeted by gils tired grumble. Otis stood in their doorway looking no more tired than when they met him, how was he not insanely sore fromst night? This was the Only thought to echo through walkers head.


    Everyone had managed to eat something, walker hid away the remaining light crystals in the pouch on his shoulder and onyx followed them, a moth to the me. Midnight had ravenously devoured the dark crystals and even some pieces of bread she had sneakily stolen from Gil.


    Fully equipped the group was ready to be on their way. Leaving the vige through the hole in the walls they found the ins sparkling with ice and sun. The clear skies gave them an almost blinding view. Without any wind Ste was in the air faster that one could even nce at her.


    " yesterday''s hunting party spotted a few snow imps in that direction. They managed to steal some white radishes they had dug up from the frozen ground. This is the best time to harvest them but they are a favorite for some monsters around here." These white radishes were indeed popr, they could only be harvested in the coldest of months if harvested any other time they would rot away in minutes. They held high market value and high nutrition, parents were the biggest buyers in the city to help their children grow strong.


    " we will follow you lead, everyone in the same formation we used yesterday. Su you can shoulder Otis as the defensive line." Walker gave his orders as the leader and soon the tamers were in the center with midnight and Remey on the sides. Gil was slightly back in front of walker. Otis fell in next to Su in the front two pie looking like an unbreakable wall.


    Heading forward they all soon reached a ce where someone had dug holes in to the hard ground. Frozen rootsy exposed showing chunks of icy dirt. Mounds of this and snow were next to each hole but something felt off. " wait ready up! There''s something in the mounds of snow!" Walker had spotted a tiny blue horn sticking from one of the mounds.


    Everyone jumped in to guard, " Gil pierce that mound there. Aim a bit below that blue point sticking up." A sneaky grin appeared on gils face, he knew exactly what Walker was thinking. Instead of being ambushed now they were do the ambushing.


    His arrow streaked through the air between them. A sickening think sound was made as the arrow was buried deeply within the pile. High pitched whining and screaming canes from the mound and four fingered ws tore through the pile revealing a blue skinned imp with a single arrow through their shoulder. It''s scream alerted the others, soon four had broken from the mounds. They had been waiting to ambush those that came after the foragers.


    The one shot by Gil had fallen in to blind rage. It''s hand raised and ice needles formed in front of it. Su moved with haste locking her shield in front of Elise, the ice needles shattered upon impact not even leaving a scratch on her shield.


    Otis crouched in the direction of the farthest snow imp. At some point he had put on cool blue gloves, his fist clenched he rocketed off toward the imp. The speed was intense, not a single person or monster there could stop it. His fist collided with the imp in the next momentpletely crushing its face, mmed in to the ice and snow in the ground it could be said it had been thoroughly crushed.


    Midnight had vanished from where she was. A tearing sound and a look toward the imp Gil had shot with an arrow revealed her. She was shredding the imp, rightfully angry it had attacked her friends.


    Ste nose dived toward another snow imp he talons outstretched as she neared the ground. She flung he wings out catching her momentum grabbing the imp. Being caught in her talons was definitely not a present experience as it was iling constantly for freedom. While the imp struggles Ste flew back up as high as she could manage, then the imp got what it wanted. After being released it fell faster and faster picking up speed, the second it came in to contact with the ground its life was over. The impact made the ground vibrate slightly apanied by a solid thunk.


    Gil and Remey had focused on one of the two remaining imps, every time it would retreat Gil would aim at it giving Remey the chance tond a blow.


    Walker had focused on thest snow imp knowing Gil and Remey would soon finish off theirs. Walker decided to move forward pulling his scythe from his inventory. It was time to get up close and personal.

 Chapter 144 - 144. Great Ice Imp

    The snow imp tried to fire off ice needles but every single one missed its target. Walker danced around the attacks with ease. As he spun he didn''t even use a skill to swipe the scythe down on to the imp. Loading its arm the imp was stunned and couldn''t react. Seeing the opening walker moved in again for the next attack. The imp released a blood curdling scream deafening walkers ears. The sound didn''t stop his next strike which dly ended the scream.


    Gil and Remey had defeated their own snow imp leaving way to a delightful system message.


    '' defeated five lesser snow imps


    250 exp multiplied to 2500 exp gained''


    It may only be a drop in the bucket when experience was involved but it was a step closer to their goals.


    Otis had dragged the two snow imps to the group, Ste remained in the sky watchful. Walker quickly stored them away which made Otis fairly grateful, now they could hunt more without needed to head back to drop off their Boone.


    " oooo I wish I could fly up that high with Ste...stupid snow imp." The idea of being that high in the sky was scary enough but Elise just seemed jealous.


    Midnight huffed in agreement, " oh of course you want to fly up there too, don''t worry when I get stronger and your wings grow more we can fly together." Elise and midnight seemed to be closer friends every day, it most likely had to do with the fascination of flying however.


    " well after seeing that imp fall from the sky I think I''ll stay steady on the ground." Seeing the remnants of the imp Gil didn''t even want to consider flying. Thankfully Walker had stored it away so they weren''t all reminded.


    "Eeeehhhhghueeeeeee" a guttural screech shook their bodies. They were about to make a n to sweep the area for more imps but it seemed something else had already found them.


    Everyone jumped in to defensive stances to get a view of what made the god awful noise. The sounds of cracking ice soon became loud. Double the dice of the snow imps arger more brutish imp came in to view. It''s arms were wrapped in solid blue foggy ice. ws came to deadly sharp points and its horns were thicker than the other imps. It''s steps caused the snow and ice to crack and break, it was much heavier.


    '' daily quest. Defeat the greater ice imp


    y the greater ice imp to secure a safe area for the rabbit tribe to forage.


    Repeats:


    60exp''


    The daily quest wentpletely ignored as the new enemy grew closer.


    " leader can you tell what that is?" Su was hoping walker could discern its identity as she prepared herself for some harsh hits.


    Otis spoke up not sounding happy at all, " that''s a greater ice imp, it likes to boss around the snow imps. This exins the ambush, its skin is much tougher and its strength is very high." This was not the first greater ice imp he had fought but it was never easy to take one down. It''s hits were hard enough to knock even him out for some time so the group he was with could easily be killed.


    Walker wanted to know more, he hadn''t read about this monster front he library and knew they would need to find a weakness. Hoping his appraisal skill woulde to the rescue he used it quickly,


    '' greater ice imp


    Due to its enhanced strength it has lost the fine control to create ice needles. Instead it creates crude spears and clubs from ice. It''s ws are the toughest ice it can creat easily shredding steel. Piercing it''s skin is just as challenging due to its nearly frozen body. Extremely weak to fire elemental attacks it rarely leaves frozen underground caves.''


    " it''s weak to fire based attacks, Laurence don''t summon Bengal if a hitnds it could spell the end. Try and get Hyde to make a small fire, I''ll try to use the mes and my skills to counter it. In the meantime Gil use you bows skill to pierce it''s legs to slow it down. Remey join Otis and distract it do not get in range it can create ice so ears or clubs. Su you hold back it can break through your armor Instead protect Laurence and Hyde." They mobilized immediately, Hyde naturally roles in to a ball in fear but since he Ha even practicing with Laurence was still able to fire off some quills. Walker pulled out some fire starter from his inventory, he was praising his mother in his head for being so diligent in preparing his first backpack with necessities.


    While they painstakingly set up a small fire, the great ice imp had gotten close enough to use its skill creating arge ice club. The ice was jagged and had many protruding shards. It was safe to say that one hit would do more than just knock someone out. Remey and Otis taunted it with shouts while the ran around it. Just narrowly avoiding its swings causing the imp to be angrier.


    It''s minions had been in by these weak things and it couldn''t help but feel even more rage. The great imp tried to step forward and catch the two running things off guard when it felt a huge amount of pressure in its leg. Protruding from its calf was a green arrow letting off sharp whisper of wind. This pressure drilled in to it shing its skin. With an increasingly angry roar it stumbled slightly.


    Gil felt the loss of mana at this shot but knew he had done well seeing the great imp loose its footing. Holding off this thing was much more important than loosing some mana at the moment. He fired a normal arrow as a distraction, its skin was too tough but Gil knew if he fired back to back wind arrows it would use its tough ice wrapped stems to block, it would be a waste of mana.


    Walker saw the rampaging greater ice imp and knew he could give them an advantage. " multi buff!" He shouted to notify everyone as a wave of magic hit them boosting them faster and stronger. Now the battle my dodged attacks didn''t even have a chance to hit Remey or Otis. Not that Otis really needed the buff he was extremely fast himself. Laurence had yet to experience this and felt his mind clear a bit, this sped up his fire making with Hyde who finally fired quills on to the tinder they had piled up. Realizing that midnight may try to sneak attack the imp walker gave her a look, " midnight stay here and guard out backs. We can''t afford to be attacked by anything else that shows up." This simple order was to keep her away from the imps club but also to keep any other imps from showing up. Who knew how many the greater ice imp controlled.


    The small whips of smoke was growing more and more. This was mirrored by the greater ice imps rage, its attacks were more wild causing Otis to resort to the dance of the wild rabbit. Remey had started to retreat knowing she couldn''t properly dodge the attacks any longer. Instead she remained farther away throwing handfuls of snow causing it further irritation. Unable tond a hit the greater ice imp used its ability and created a second ice club. This was trouble.


    Now having to dodge double the attacks Otis was visibly sweating. He wanted to fall in to dance if the rabid rabbit but he knew if he did he could identally cause an attack tond on an ally. Gil seeing this used another wind element arrow burning up more mana, it managed to hit the same leg slowing the imp more. The other arrow had dissipated leaving sliced up muscle exposed. The imp growled as blue blood flowed from its wounds.


    The mes had finally sprites from the tinder! Now walker could take his turn to attack. He swapped his scythe for his staff and began to channel the mes in to a ball. Since he had used his evil consuming mes he was able to better shape and direct the mes.


    '' due to past experience in fire elemental maniption the skill fire flower has been taken from the me enchantress system.


    Fire flower had been automatically leaned due to user actions in creating the magical attack before the skill was given.


    Fire flower- 3mana cost


    Apressed seed of me is created and fired at an enemy. Once contact is made the seed bloom wrapping the enemy in ming vines. Once incapacitated the flowers bloom causing small explosions inflicting fire damage and burns.''


    Feeling a change in the fire he let the instinct guide him. The mes grew no longer needing the tinder and instead being created through walkers mana. Theypressed more and more until a small bead of intense heat floated in front of walker. He knew this attack could cause area damage and his ally''s would need to retreat. " everyone get back I have a big oneing!" With his warning heard Otis and Remey rushed back to where Su was. The small fire bead shot through the air piercing the center of the great ice imps chest. The attack looked to do no damage whatsoever...

 Chapter 145 - 145. Flame Flowers

    "What! What happened!" Walker had felt all the pressure of the mes hepressed and sent at the great ice imp but there was no damage? How could this be? He desperately checked his mana seeing he still had more than enough. However he noticed the system message about the new skill...maybe there was still a chance.


    The greater ice imp was stunned for a moment, it had felt fear at the first sense of mes but now realized that the attack had done nothing. It''s rage subsided in to a feeling or arrogance, it would crush these enemies.


    Laurence was stunned, walker had called for a retreat leaving the monster to move forward. The attack had done nothing, the n had failed and now they were sitting ducks. Ste seeing the advanced started to descend to strike at the imps eyes. Seeing this walker panicked, the attack was supposed to bloom and explode Ste could be hurt.


    " Elise! Stop Ste! The attack will hit her too!" Walkers words didn''t go unnoticed he said the attack would hit her to, was his attack still not finished?


    Elise dropped in to a bought of fear, Ste couldn''t get hurt. If she lost Ste it would be equal to cutting out her own heart. Elise desperately sent her thoughts to Ste who was descending faster and faster. "STELLA!!!!" Elise screamed with all her might , she needed to protect her. She was powerless just a tamer without any skills of her own. She had always relied on Ste for battle and support but now that Ste was rushing in to mortal danger she couldn''t do anything.


    Elise began to move, her body seemed possessed by pure emotion. She refused to allow her heart to be torn. These feelings resonated with her.


    Walker looked in horror as Elise ran toward the greater ice imp. Elise would die too...they would loose their new friends. He was too far to grab he and pull her back. He wouldn''t be able to save her. His heart sank, everyone else was shocked feeling the same fear of loss and powerlessness.


    However Elise started to change, her tamers cloak began to tear as wings began to spread from her back. Her features sharpened and her shoed fell to bits as talons formed. The grey and yellow feathers on her wings shown in the sunlight dropping everyone''s jaws. Elise leaped and pped her wings moving faster than she had ever moved before. She intercepted Ste who was already too close to the imp. The two collided and fell out of range of the greater ice imp.


    Hundreds of ming vines erupted from the minuscule wound on the greater ice imps chest. The vines burned and tangled around it stopping Its movement. The ice clubs dropped to the ground as it became a cracking of ming vines and screeching growls. Buds began to form soon growing in torge balls of mes. The buds bloomed showing thousands of pristine red and yellow petals. A moment after the bloomed they exploded in to balls of me, each petal spreading and burning the target inside. The force knocked everyone off their feet sprawling them in the snow.


    Scrambling to stand in light of the explosion stunning them Otis and walker were the first up to focus on the badly breathing greater ice imp. The attack had yet to finish it but had greatly burned it. The winds from gils arrows were much worse after being hit with fire and it would be impossible for the imp to stand again even if they didn''t finish it off. Walker looked at Otis who nodded. Otis would not take this kill for the tribe, he had respect for walker as a leader who had put his bets n in motion. With a returning nod walker came forward.


    Creating a spear from earth andbining it with his mana shot walker aimed at the great ice imps head. He released it piercing the monsters brain ending the battle.


    '' Greater ice imp defeated


    100exp multiplied to 1000exp gained


    Daily questpleted: defeat the greater ice imp


    Reward:


    60 exp multiplied to 600exp.''


    There was no time to look in to the system message, Laurence had already taken off running to Elise.


    Walker and the others burst off immediately as well. The found Ste with a broken wing holding Elise who waspletely unconscious. Elise had reverted back to her normal form torn clothing and all. Tears fell from ste''s eyes on to Elise, not a single person doubted that she even cared about her own broken wing and only for Elise''s well being.


    Laurence fell to his knees and began giving Elise a once over, walker followed his lead and started inspecting the damage to Ste. It only appeared that Ste broke a wing and had minor cuts and bruises from the fall. The ice was not a safending spot and definitely caused most of the cuts. " Su, Gil, Remey I need you three to hold down Ste while I heal her wing, I''m going to hold it in ce and use light heal until it is properly in ce. Ste this will hurt but I need you to be still so it heals properly. You and Elise will be fine we are here and refuse to let anything happen." With that they moved in to ce.


    After they had Ste held in ce walker moved her broken wing in to alignment. The silent screams sent shakes through her body. Steeling his will walker began to cast light heal over and over. Watching the joint and broken bones slowly fuse back together with each heal spell. Five usester it seemed that the bones in her wing were back together and could be left to heal the remainder themselves. Ste had be numb and exhausted through this process passing out in to their arms. Now it was time to see how Elise was doing.


    Laurence and Otis had found no putter injuries other then a purple bruise to her head. " other than this bruise I think she just exhausted all of her mana, it''s safe to say she will be out for a few hours. Walker can you heal her just to be safe? She may have hurt her head" walker gave a nod and used his light heal skill, the bruise fades almost instantly. Elise seemed to be resting well.


    Collectively they all breathed a sigh of relief, " five snow imps, a greater ice imp, and Elise risking her life to save Ste from my new spell. I think today has been too much." Walker looked and felt emotionally exhausted. Midnight nuzzled her head on his side trying to calm him down. Onyx who had curled up for safety in the pocket in his shoulder popped his head out trying to do the same.


    " yes I think our hunt should be over now, it will be much too dangerous to keep these two out in the open. Let''s get them somewhere safe to rest." Otis said what they all thought. No way would they risk anything more, it was best to return to the tribe.


    Walker stored away the greater ice imps body to sort outter. He would confer with the elders on what it could be used for after Elise and Ste had woken up safely.


    They all needed some time to sort out what had just happened in their own heads. Walking back in formation Gil finally spoke up, " so can anyone tell me what just happened to Elise when you know grew wings like a harpy?!" The single thought everyone was having was finally said out loud. Laurence who was carrying Elise seemed to have an answer.


    Looking at Riley who was now carrying Laurence''s bag the two nodded. They were both tamers and knew of the skills a tamer could possess, however as a party themselves they had to weigh the decision to share the specifics. This wasn''t out of distrust but a lesson taught by the tamers guild as they grew.


    Making the agreement that it was eptable to share Laurence continued, " many tamers have skills that allow them to use traits of their tamed beasts. Such as flying or hearing, some can even temporarily grow a tail. Although I''ve never seen it as intense aspletely changing a body. We will need to ask Elise when she wakes up. I have a feeling she gained her mastery skill. It was incredible." If what Laurence had said was true they all had just witnessed the unlocking of a mastery skill. These were the key skills in someone''s system, not only did it show their true power but was also their trump card. The use of a mastery skill could change any battle instantly.


    Not everyone managed to gain a mastery skill, some didn''t even have one as part of their system. More so there was also the quests and hidden requirements to unlock it at all. Some would go their entire lives not even knowing they had the potential for a mastery skill. Others would unlock it in great moments of pressure, this was most likely one sick moment.

 Chapter 146 - 146. Return To The Tribe

    With Laurence having exined his theory the conversation fell back in to silence. They all had a lot to think on and everyone was still worried for Elise and Ste. Until both had woken up they would not leave their side.


    They seemed to reach the vige much faster than when they left, easily entering and returning to their own camping spot. Otis left after making sure they had returned safely, he needed to report to the elders that they had cleared the foraging area and also the danger the greater ice imp posed. Rare monsters like a greater ice imp were a major threat to most of the tribe and more caution would be needed in the future.


    The two had been ced down on to bedding and covered to stay warm. Gil started up a fire and everyone began to rest from the hard fight.


    Many things had happened during their battle with the greater ice demon. One such was the fact that if walker discovered a skill himself he would automatically learn it. The system definitely worked in untold ways but this was a significant discovery. If he experimented more with the elemental magic he could learn the specific spells. The fire flower spell created mes with his mana instead of mana maniption which can not do so. This was much better than evil consuming mes which he could create but couldn''t harm all enemies. The downside of the fire flower is the pause before it takes effect, it also took some time to condense the mes. Many of walkers skills so far seemed to be like this which meant he was a big hitter but couldn''t quickly change the pace of a battle.


    His personal goal would have to be faster castes spells for long range. So far in closer range he can rely On a scythe but while he was in the beast kingdom he told himself to find another closebat weapon. This would only solidify his closebat skills. He also wanted a new shield to be able to block when needed, he had been cking due to the loss of his fathers shield. Maybe he could repair and enhance it?


    Another instead of this was what Laurence said there were skills that allowed tamers to use traits of their tamed beasts. Yet these weren''t always mastery skills, so could walker learn them? The real question was how would he learn them? He knew that learning monster skills and Demi human skills were not out of his scope but a tamer skill to use a specific trait? He couldn''t even imagine the unique situation to spur that response from his system.


    Everything seemed to boil down to three main points. Understanding of the elements, having a verietyof gear for every situation, and trying everything to learn more skills. It would seem he didn''t have enough time to do it all at once...


    " mmhhff" it had been a few hours since they returned and the sound of Elise stirring git walker attention. Laurence was right there as well refusing to rest properly until he spoke with her. Her eyes fluttered clearing unknown to where they were and what they were seeing.


    " Don''t worry, we''re in the tribe. Ste is ok and you''re ok. You both fell unconscious during the battle. How do you feel." The anxious look on Laurence''s fast could fill volumes. It had taken years for him to be strong enough to lead the younger tamers and he refused to let any fail to return.


    Looking around almost afraid to move Elise began to slowly move her fingers and toes. She did this until she had finally moved and stretched every muscle. Her fear of being harmed after the battle was too strong not to test everything. She became still again letting a long drawn out sigh, " tired I''m way too tired. But I''m not hurt...how?" Of course you''re be tired you used all your mana. The two wanted to yell at her but held back.


    " well actually we had hope you could exin to us. You suddenly took on the appearance of a harpy and flew. Crashing in to Ste before walkers attack exploded and hurt you two. You hit your head pretty hard and Ste broke a wing. You were both healed by walker but naturally it was a lot of stress and mana. You two were unconscious so we carried the two of you back. Ste is still resting, she went through a lot and shouldn''t fly for a few days." This was the most calm Elise had been since meeting the party. It was eerie seeing the uncontrobly energy missing from Elise. Obviously she could feel responsible for Stes injury, however, she knew if she hadn''t Ste could be no longer in this world.


    Going through her system she saw the skill she had used. Her eyes became slightly frantic as she read and understood what it meant. She wanted to jump up and be happy but she knew she couldn''t until Ste forgave her for hurting her wing. There were some things even she needed to control properly. Knowing Laurence and walker would want an exnation she took a deep breath. " so I may have unlocked a mastery skill called soaring integration....I can mirror the body and abilities of my tamed beast by constantly expending mana. I also need to have a strong bond with my tamed beast to use it. If Ste didn''t trust me so much," tears started to fall down her cheeks, " I-I wouldn''t be able t-to use it, but I just-uurrt her with it...I might be a terrible sister." Elegies had finally released the flood of emotions from the fight. The weight of gaining a mastery skill, of nearly dying, of hurting the most important family she had, all of this fell on her shoulders at once.


    Scratching sounds came from the other side of the camp, Ste was struggling to standpletely exhausted still.


    Ste had awoken to Elise crying and knew immediately that it''s cause was her. She didn''t want Elise to feel bad for hurting her, she had seen the mes burst out from where she had been aiming. Ste knew she had t listened and attacked almost dying. The fact that Elise had so strongly wishes to protect her that she had in turn risked her own life and even used a mastery skill touched her heart in a profound way.


    Ever since Ste had met Elise she ha sheen nothing but grateful. She tried every day in hopes that she had developed enough to speak the only words she would ever want to say. However day in and day out she found she had yet to grow enough. Without Elise she wouldn''t be here nor would she have gone on adventures seeing things a harpy could never see. The dreams that mirrored Elise to fly through the sky together never ceases.


    Ste moved slowly toward Elise who had buried her head in her hands hiding the tears. Kneeling down next to her Ste grabbed Elise''s head forcing her to look at her. The two touched foreheads eyes closed. Walker felt he had intruded on something private, the two needed space and he gave it to them. Family deserves time alone especially after a hard battle. As Laurence and walker decided to leave on a walk they already noticed Elise had stoped her tears. Giving walker a slight nod they walked toward the vige square to see the elders.


    The vige was lively as ever, they all enjoyed the rare sunny clear days in the winter. The fact that no wind buffered the ins today was a blessing causing many to leave to hunt and forage.


    Many rabbit tribesman were vigorously haggling to get the new food brought in during the hunts. Seeing Otis who was training a few younger children walker knew it must be part of his duties as head warrior. Otis noticed the pair instantly and left his trainees to continue their practice. " you are going to bring the hunted to the elders I take it? I spoke to them about allowing you to keep the greater ice imp. They agreed but would like the bodies of the snow imps."


    Walker had already nned on giving the snow imps to the tribe since it would be another factor increasing their rtions. However he also had hope the elders could give him direction on what to use the greater ice imps body for. He had no idea of what parts were crafting materials, if they were stronger and more rare than snow imps it must have some exceptional value.


    Before they three headed the rest of the way to the square walker decided to have a little fun to lighten the mood. " hey Otis, would you mind if I tried something with your students over there?" Working Otis''s curiosity he smirked wanting to see what woulde of this.


    " no problem, give them some pressure it''s good for the bones." The smirk became devilish, Otis was definitely an evil instructor.

 Chapter 147 - 147. Testing The Trainees

    "Hello there! I''m walker as some of you may have heard. Your kind teacher Otis has given me permission to pose a little challenge." The young trainee warriors were surprised by walkers sudden intrusion on their training. Some looked excited but hearing that Otis gave permission they fell in to fear. Otis was notoriously tough on everyone he trained, it did make them stronger, yet it didn''t stop how torturous it was.


    " This will be pretty simple, I''m going to create a target simr to a monster we battled early this morning. Your goal is simple, break it to pieces by any means necessary. Sound good?" The trainees looked much more confused now...that was it? Had Otis gone soft and let someone nice take over. The slight glimmer of hope began to bloom in them.


    Seeing the trainees smile and nod at the seemingly easy task walker touched the ground. The earth began to rise. Large hands made of earth formed, pointed ws on the end. A mouth open in a screech showed sharp teeth. Two earth clubs formed in each hand, the intimidating greater ice imp took on earth form in all its toughness. The trainees were stunned, a monster he had fought earlier this morning? That was a giant snow imp!


    Otis took note of their face and decided a bit of instruction was needed. " yes this is known as a greater ice imp, it''s rare but doese down from the mountains in the winter. We had some trouble with it this morning but managed to crush it. This earth version is probably slightly weaker than its real defense but should pose some fun challenge." There it was the evil glint in the eyes of Otis, the look that made the trainees fear rise. Whenever he had that look they knew they would be too sore to walk properly the next day.


    "Alright alright let''s not tell stories just yet. Like I said the goal I simple break this and you win." This looked intimidating but the trainees knew it was just earth, they could break it.


    Thergest of the trainees crouched to the ground their leg muscles visibly tightening. Like a slingshot fired the trainees speed was impressive, in a moment he was about to m in to the earth imp target, however, that would be too easy.


    Walker had prepared himself raising his hand, the air began to bend to his will gathering behind it. The second the trainee had given up sire footing on the ground he knew what to do. Whipping his hand down the air behind it rushed forward colliding with the trainee. Naturally the trainee without solid hold on anything was flung back tumbling until he found himself sitting on his but bewildered. " and here I thought you might actually touch the target." Walker was shaking his head in disappointment.


    Two other trainees saw this moment to hit the target themselves, the two had slower speed but looked to have punching techniques ready. Seeing the two approaching walker waited a moment, their attacks were heading to opposite sides of their target. The blow would most definitely crack the earth imp target. With a tap of his foot an a little mana the earth clubs the target held angles backwards and the two trainees punch them instead of the earth imp targets main body. Small cracks webbed from the clubs but the target wasn''t harmed at all. The next gust of wind sent them tumbling just the same as the previous attempt.


    Any lingering hope that this would be easy had been snuffed out of the trainees. Instead it was reced by the steeled will to destroy their enemy. This trait had been hammered in to them over and over by Otis and now reared its head.


    They began to attack in turn increasingly faster as they adapted to walkers knock-backs. The hits in the clubs ever increased causing more and more cracks to form. However they still couldn''t touch the real target.


    The first trainee had prepared to jump again this time watching for an opening. Seeing that walker just used the wind they released the pressure leaping low to the ground. The speed was more intense this time yet the result was much better. Both clubs crossed to block the attack, the damage had been building more and more and unlike the previous hits the clubs shattered in to pieces of stone and dirt. This was their opening the target was wide open.


    Every single trainee able to rushed the target, walker didn''t make a move. Otis saw the triumphant smirk in walkers eyes and knew there was something more. The trainees attacksnded at the same time shattering the target. The imp fell apart as water rushed out soaking thempletely. Washed off their feet walker ced a finger in the puddle now epassing all of them, activating this elemental maniption skill the water began to freeze leaving a thinyer of frost over every trainee.


    " Hmm you know Otis, it would seem your trainees rush it a bit too much. Not a single one imagined the opening was a trap to freeze them all in ce. Imagine if it was acid, or even fire, ooo what if it was an explosion." The trainees who were now shivering slightly were horrified, what if this was real? They could explode!


    " Ahhhh well they are young, good things this wasn''t anything that dangerous." Standing a bit taller and taking a deep breath Otis shouted, " go home clean up and think about a solution to the trial you faced today. Tomorrow I expect everyone to have a n of action of what could be done differently, along with the best one to beat an opponent that has high defensive power." With his words the trainees began to stand, so slid a bit on the ice but managed well enough.


    " Sorry about the ice let me help a bit." Walker used some mana to draw fire from a cooking area nearby. The mes snakes in the air meting the frost leaving only a puddle. The shivering slowed in the trainees bodies. " that''s better, no go get dry!" The trainees themselves were speechless, they had just gone against someone who manipted earth, air, water, and fire! How crazy was this. Could they even survive outside the walls of monsters like him roamed around?


    Slowly but surely the traineese back to their senses and left on their way to their winter igloos. Today may not have been the insanely tough training they were used to but instead they had been challenged mentally. This was a very strong lesson to think before they acted.


    Seeing them leave walker nced at Otis, " so what did you think of my training, up to par?"


    The look on his face showed it all, Otis was impressed with the direction walker had taken. " I prefer more forceful methods but I''ve got to say you may have shaken their brains a bit. Hahaha I''m not sure they will be able to think at night for fear they may run in to a master of the elements." pping walker on the back Otis pushed him towards the square to see the elders. Otis wasn''t much of conversation due to hisughing at his own joke too much, but Walker didn''t mind.


    It would seem the second the trainees left they had started to spread gossip about walker using four elements and that the morning hunting party defeated a greater ice imp. A fair amount of adults had shown up around the square chatting and constantly ncing at Otis and walker.


    Some feigned that they were trying to trade and others seemed to just inly stare. The elders were seated by a small fire as they often were drinking a strong herb tea. Every once in a while one would speak and other would nod or shake their head. It would seem the inter workings of the tribe were slowly pondered every day.


    The pair approached the fire waiting for the elders to take notice to be polite. The one eared elder was the first to take a look at them and soon finished his conversation with the others.


    " I see you''ve managed to make it here, I take it the little tamer and the harpy are in good health?" The other elders didn''t spare much of a nce but their ears twitched as the swayed the response.


    " yes we returned and quickly put them to rest, elders. The pair had some hardship today and will most likely rest in to tomorrow. After they had awoken, we spoke to them about what had urred. The two needed their space to process it all together, family deserves privacy but I believe they will be up and moving tomorrow." Walker wanted to blurt out and ask about the greater ice imp body but knew things needed to be taken in turn.


    Brushing his chin the one eared elder then spoke, " I''m d they are safe and have been healed. It is always tough for family to be injured, we feel it in our tribe as well." A momentary pause reflecting on the statement he continued, " we heard you''ve all brought back an interesting harvest, care to tell us about it?"

 Chapter 148 - 148. Elders Knowledge

    Hearing the elders'' words Walker first retrieved the five snow imps from his storage and ced them in front of them. " these are the snow imps that tried to ambush us by hiding within the snow and dirt piles. If the first one hadn''t let its blue horn poke out of the snow we may have not reacted fast enough. Thankfully we did notice them and instead ambushed them. The battle was fairly simple until one let out a screech attracting the greater ice imp." Seeing the elder wanted to speak walker waited a moment.


    With a pensive look the elder said his piece, " Otis has told us the ways of these snow imps. They often would not do so but seeing that they were guided by a greater ice imp it makes sense. These five may be small but can be used to make some tough ice resistant leathers. Their horns will be used in spears to channel water mana, I''m sure you will hunt more in theing days until you''re ready to leave." The elder was hinting at walker to collect a few snow imps of his own. Hearing that the horns could be used to craft arrows that could channel water mana walker had a few thoughts. Could Gil use them for his arrow heads with the withering wood arrow shafts? If so maybe he could use wind element and water element to make a form of ice arrow like the others from the auction. They had t bought the other arrows but instead opted for the arrow shafts, this meant that Gil could make a few unique arrows, if so he could put together a collection of unique hand made elemental arrows to use in different situations.


    "I see, it would be wise for us to go hunting more in the time before Ste''s wing is fully healed. I would also like to see those trainees answer the question Otis gave them after my little test." This got the attention of all the elders, having yet heard of this since it had just happened the elders were extremely interested.


    Recounting his idea and actions to create and earth greater ice elemental target, walker spoke of manipting it to block. He also spoke of pushing them away and filling it with water for when it was defeated. Hearing that he taught them a lesson on blindly rushing in after experiencing the near risk on the real greater ice elemental the elders were d. Only a select few warriors had the strength such as Otis to rush in and crush an enemy quickly. Since the traineescked experience in battle learning the lesson the hard way in the safety of the vige would prove fruitful.


    " Ha Ha Hoo how sneaky, and here I thought Otis was a harsh instructor. We may have to use your tactics in the future. They must be terrified of your use of the elements, I can''t imagine their faces." Having a goodugh the elder was thinking just how valuable having walker around was so far. What else could this boy do.


    Feeling it was the right moment walker pulled the greater ice imps body from his storage. Therger body fell to the ground with a thud. The dense blue ice in its arms showed no sign it would melt anytime soon. The skin definitely was tougher than the snow imps and it''s horns were fatter and definitely going to be valuable. "Elders I have spoken to Otis about keeping this defeated monster but I hope that you can share your knowledge with me about its uses. Ick the proper experience with these subjects." After his admittance tock of knowledge the other elders began to nod while harshly gazing at the greater ice imps body.


    After some time the elders started to look back at their tea and speak in turn.


    " those arms covered in ice are useless, it may not melt easy even in the baking sun.


    But don''t n on using it for anything more than keeping food cold long term." The old floppy eared woman dismissed the arms covered in blue ice quickly. Maybe this was something walker could sell in the beast kingdom for a small amount of gold to merchants.


    " what your after is the thing that creates that ice. Inside by its heart is a special water crystal. It''s called a condensed water crystal it''s more potent than a regr water crystal so it''s not used in the same way. It''s so concentrated that it forms ice instead of water. Very useful in crafting staffs." Another rod the elders spoke finishing the firsts thoughts. It was almost as if they shared a mind.


    " that skin there is good for the joints in armor it keeps out the cold and is strong but stretchy." Another elder piped up with more valuable information.


    "Those horns and teeth are also good for weapons crafting. They can channel water mana which at a higher rate." Lastly the one eared elder finished the lecture in uses, walker could really swear they all acted as one.


    " I thank you for the knowledge, I believe I have many ideas to ponder now that I know what uses this monster has. I would not have known that there was a concentrated water crystal by its heart without your input." Walker lowered his head in thanks shaving off the desire to drop in to thought into what else to use the monster parts in. He stored the body away so that it would not deteriorate.


    With things seemingly wrapped up the one eared elder had his own further questions. " so what is your n moving forward. How long will you stay?" This was something Laurence and walker had already talked about , Laurence who had wandered off while walker had tested the trainees was most likely already back at their little camp. Knowing he already knew Laurence''s thoughts out him at ease before he answered.


    "I''ve spoken with Laurence and we decided on three days, Ste can get additional healing to make sure she is in tip too shape. We can assist in hunting during the mornings. I also n on testing the trainees a bit, I think Otis wouldn''t mind having a teaching assistant for a few days." Thisst mention seemed to greatly please the elders who valued walkers unpredictability. When training new warriors there was always an element of control and safety for them which often lead them to be a bitckadaisical at times. Therefore adding the natural unpredictable factors the monsters had would better prepare a young warriors minds. This also would allow the elders to glean more information on walkers skills and the party as a whole, they were sure that this information would be very valuable and as the party''s fame grew so would the desire for their information. This thought seemed cruel to use the party but it was part of the world especially since the tribe moved andmunicated with many different groups through the warmer months.


    " well then tomorrow I shall personallye to watch the trainees, I haven''t been to the training grounds in a week or so. Maybe it can get my blood flowing a little seeing the young ones sweat it out." Otis became Stoney faced remembering his harsh training years ago under the hand of this very elder. The trainees may fear Otis for his training but Otis was the same at their age.


    " We look forward to your input tomorrow elder, I''m sure that the trainees will prosper much more than usual." Otis knew that starting thepliments early would lessen the strength of the elders wordse the next day, he also knew he himself could very well end up participating in training as well.


    " oh well if it''s going to be such a big event I have a new fire spell I just learned that I can use some practice on. Between that and recently showing off not to rush in we can focus on timing of attacks and retreats." Walker wanted to practice his fire spell and maybe even try to unlock a more basic version to use less mana inbat, but first he needed to know the danger radius of his new spell. Testing it out in a training would give him all his answers, especially to how long the spell takes to cause an explosion of fire.


    " oho already have a lesson n how studious of you, are you sure you''re going to be an adventurer and not a teacher? Maybe a magic schr?" Hearing the n for the training the elder was pleased. After a bit more chatting they two were dismissed, Otis was visibly on edge.


    " something wrong with my idea to work on timing with your trainees? I''m sorry if I overstepped the boundaries I know I''m a guest here" walker was worried Otis was not happy about him taking it upon himself to n the training.


    "It''s nothing to worry on, I just can''t help but remember being trained by the elder. He is very strict even now I fear he will drag me in to the lesson. Tomorrow could be rough" Otis had fallen in to thoughts of out memories walking off in to the clusters of igloos leaving walker to head off back to the camp. Otis sure had it tough if he was that afraid of the elder the training must have been brutal. Tomorrow was right around the corner and it would be busy.

 Chapter 149 - 149. Simple Right?

    Ste and Elise had been resting the entire time walker was gone. Upon returning walker found the two snacking and chatting with the others. Midnight and Laurence had fallen asleep in their respective bedding. Laurence had sumbed to the fatigue after worrying over Elise since the morning and midnight as slothful as usual couldn''t resist a nap by the fire.


    Walker updated the party in the happenings with the elders and the uses the greater ice imps body had. Gil became extremely interested " you''re telling me I might be able to expand my elemental attacks by using arrows with special tips? If I could fuse my wind affinity and other elements it may prove to be a nice trunk card." Gil ran with the idea wanted to start pulling teeth and the horns of the greater ice imp immediately. Sadly hecked the proper skills to utilize the materials so pledged to wait until they returned to the guild. With this decision made walker gave up the idea of selling the body but instead waiting until they returned home. It was another thing to look forward to when they took a break from their journeys.


    They managed to eat and rx with the stress of the day finally behind them.


    When the morning came everyone had gotten up early as the day before, Laurence was already lecturing Elise and Ste about staying behind today since Ste still shouldn''t fly. Between strict nces and small rants he prepared some dried meats and toasted bread for everyone''s breakfast. It was a fairlyical sight to see someone acting caring while reprimanding someone.


    " good morning, I see you are off to a quick start." Walker tried to distract Laurence saving Elise and Ste from another round of lectures.


    " oh good morning good morning. Elise and Ste will be staying here today. Elise seems alright but Ste still has swelling where her wing was harmed so unfortunately another day of rest. I also wanted to make a suggestion." Laurence got a little more serious, " after thinking on it I think we should head out to hunt in different groups so everyone can be a little ufortable. I know that sounds odd but what happens if someone is hurt and we can''t rely on their aid? It would be good to boost our individual ability." Laurence made a lot of sense here and walker had also had this thought cross his mind. Individual training would also be valuable to such ends.


    " I definitely agree" walker Remey, Su and gils attention. " we will split up today, each go to a different hunting group to aid them. Midnight do you want to hunt or stay here with Elise and Ste?" Walker wasn''t sure if midnight would want to go off alone with another group to hunt. Remembering she was a dragon after all and some might be put off by her hunting.


    Looking at him carefully midnight growled slightly hearing walker suggest she stay. " well hunting it is then, I''ll send you with Otis he shouldn''t need much help but can easily back you up." With the arrangements made they are and geared up until Otis arrived.


    Hearing their ideas Otis appreciated the goals and brought them to arger group about to head off. Each party member including Laurence and Riley went off with another group of three. The hunting groups of four all when different directions, some forging, some hunting, and others scouting out potential dangerous monsters encroaching on the vige.


    Through the day Gil optimized his longer range taking down the odd snow imp without his group even seeing it.


    Su ended up foraging for some white radish which rxed her. She was able to talk, learning more of the vige and its history. The tribesman found her pure caring heart a blessing.


    Remey had some built up fury over the greater ice imp. She didn''t like that she had to distract it and not attack the whole time. So with her restraints gone she mercilessly crushed every snow imp and ice wraith sheid eyes on. The tribesman began to shiver every time she burst off with her fist cocked.


    Laurence used this opportunity to limate Hyde even further. The pair had been working more and more to get Hyde used tobat and people in general. This effort was paying off indeed. Hyde could now fire off ming quills much more urately sometimes even without curling in to a ball. It was safe to say Laurence was a proud father.


    Riley was avoiding effort giving the three hunters with him a slight headache. However as ice needles reigned down on him Riley was finally forced to summon one of his demon boars. This decision shocked the hunters and caused its own brand of chaos. Riley really could use a bit more control on his wild aspect of his taming system.


    Walker naturally shocked everyone with his elemental maniptions, however he mostly used mana shot by itself and his scythe to try and gain some closebat skills. He decided that punching would not be his forte but he would avoid it. He also wanted to make sure his mana waspletely full for his return to trainingter, if the elder was there he wanted to put his all in to it.


    The hunting hours passed in a sh and soon everyone Ha shorten back together at their little camp. Gil had been able to keep the three snow imps he took down with arrows, the hunters he went with said they hadn''t even noticed them and could not rightfully take them. This was very respectable and only spoke to the tribes upstanding values.


    Forck of a better work Su and Remey needed a bath. She was covered in dirt which as it had defrosted became mud. Remey on the other hand had learned that the blue blood from imps definitely smelled, not as bad as other monsters but still very much so. The two had dropped their gear and headed off toward a bathing area specifically for women. Naturally Su and Elise had tagged along leaving walker, Gil, Laurence, and midnight alone. Riley would have been included but patently he worked too hard and needed energy so he''d gone off to eat with his fellow gluttons.


    Midnight seemed fairly upbeat as she had dragged back a horned white rabbit. These monsters changed fur colors with the seasons and often liked to charge at their enemy. The vicious pointed horn in their head held a toxic poison paralyzing their prey. Walker had seen Otis carrying three more, the two seemed to have had a very good hunt. Midnight would naturally be caught up in her small feast for a while before napping to burn off the meal.


    " so would you two like toe to the training area and help out teaching the trainee warriors? I''m sure Otis won''t mind, even the elder ising." Laurence had already wanted to bring Hyde out for more conditioning.


    " of course, I can''t say I''ll participate but Hyde and I will be watching. Don''t worry about being loud Hyde had been making great progress, he''s much more courageous now!" Laurence was very proud and it was written all over his face.


    " you know I''ll go! Maybe I can show off a bit more, you know we''ve kind of been a big hit here in the tribe. Simone is always peaking around the corner or sneaking nces. It''s pretty nice to be popr." Well there it was Gil had inted his ego a bit too much. Fame may prove to soon be his greatest weakness.


    With that the three headed off, the trainees and Otis had already arrived. Seeing the stiff stances of the trainees it was in to know that Otis had dropped the bomb. The elder wasing. The three greeted Otis, after a few words Laurence stepped back to a safe distance where a few parents had gathered, their interest was grabbed when they heard walker would be assisting Otis.


    " hello hello! I''m d everyone is back, the elder ising which it seems you all have heard. But don''t stress about it you''ll make fools of yourselves so stiff and straight like that!" Walker addressed the elephant in the room, he knew telling them to rx wasn''t a fix all but it at least made them conscious of it. Seeing a few start to stretch showed it was worth saying. " now yesterday we had some fun learning the value of not rushing in! Today we build on that and focus on timing." Walker used his elemental maniption to raise ten earth pirs fairly spread out. " this will be simple you will attack the target myself or my party member Gil attacks." This alone gave him skeptical looks from the small crowd watching. They hadn''t been present yesterday to see the penalties the trainees faced from rushing in all at once. The trainees were put on edge stiffening up again.


    " well I see you went right to work! An old rabbit like me would have beente if I''d stayed a savings longer at the fire." The elder came up behind walker seeing the targets and hearing walkers words. Let''s see what the sneaky boy has for our young ones today. This was the only thought the elder had.

 Chapter 150 - 150. Strict Strict Strict

    " Ah hello elder, you have perfect timing." Walker manipted more earth in to a bench for him to sit. He also pulled an extra nket from his storage, " I''m sorry to pull you from the fire, I hope this is morefortable for you while you observe." Hopefully this gesture would earn him some respect but also keep the elder from jumping in too much, Otis was impressed by the tant attempt to butter the elder up.


    " very thoughtful, if every little one was born like you I could say the world would be filled with only kindness." Laughing to himself the elder settled in eyes examining the trainees preparing to evaluate everything that happened.


    " first of all my party meme we Gil will be our ranger attacker. Otis will be our front line attacker. The two will demonstrate to you an example of timing for attacks please watch." With his words Gil notched an arrow and giving a nod to Otis. Otisunched forward in to range of the first earth pir. Over his shoulder an arrow flew by lodging in to the pir. The next moment Otis unleashed a soft kick to the pir. Immediately retreating the second arrow from Gil found its mark. Otis returned to gils side and the two went to rest.


    " now who can tell me what happened and why their timing would be beneficial to a battle?" Pop quiz time, the elder would get a kick from this since this required firm thinking on the why an action was used instead of pure instinctual battle.


    The trainee that had used their strong legs to jump forward at the target the other day spoke up first. " if the target was a monster the archer would have caused damage with their first shot. This would put the monster off bnce so their would be forced to take the attackers hit. The second shot caused more damage to stop a counter to the attacker."


    This was the response walker wanted, it was a simple maneuver. It would be extremely simple to learn this tactic especially for younger adventurers that would often fight single targets in a group.


    " well I''m sure this was simpler or everyone to understand. Now the real challengees when you add a magic user. For example, Gil Otis are you ready? Well use the strategy we did on the greater ice imp." The to have a nod falling in to a ready stance. " let''s go then!" Walker pulled his staff from his storage and activated his fire flower skill, the mes began to build and condense as he spent his mana.


    Gil fired an arrow as Otis attacked this was the same asst time however as Otis retreated it was walkers turn. "Fire flower!" Walker made a point to yell out his attack to signal it would hit. This was more to demonstrate propermunication a spell caster should use, often stories of the main attacker being his identally with a spell would make the rounds as gossip.


    The condensed seed of fire prated the target Gil and Otis had damaged. Walker started to retreat, Otis to states the target shouting at it like he and Remey had done.


    "Otis retreat Gil cover!" Walker dropped themands and Otis retreated back to walker while gold fired to arrows towards the base of the earth pir. The trainees were confused, the spell did nothing why did they retreat? There was nothing properly gained. However before they could start to ask ming vines bursts from the stone pir, the tangling fire scorching the surface and causing cracks a it tightened. Within seconds buds were formed and momentster began to bloom. The three prepared themselves for the backsh, a chorus of explosions causing the pir to shatter in to pieces deafened everyone around. The wave of air pushed everyone but Gil, Otis, and walker back due to their preparedness. As soon as the knock back passed walker had switched his staff for the scythe and rushed forward brining a downward attack in to therger chunk left near the ground. Leaving it stabbed in to the remains of the pir walker stood and watched the stunned trainees.


    The small crowd had taken quite the surprise some falling overpletely. The elder still sat unfazed analyzing what was toe next. Waiting a few minutes for everyone''s hearing to return walker motioned for Gil and Otis toe to him. Once the two stood next to him the trainees seemed toe back to reality a bit. Expecting walker to ask for the reasons they used this strategy they were all prepared to answer the oing question.


    " how many seconds did it take for my spell to cause an explosion which produced knock back?" Every single onlooker and trainee was at a loss, not a single one had counted the time between the release of the spell and the explosion it caused. Seeing that they all had no answers Walker looked at Gil and Otis. " can you two gentlemen enlighten these trainees to how many seconds it took for the spell to fully activate?" Walkers words were filled with strength, this was the difference in l experience that gave them the edge.


    "12 seconds" the two responded in unison, the trainees were again awestruck.


    " now I''ve only ever used this spell twice, yet these two were able to memorize the time it takes for this spell to cause its explosion. The reason? Because timing isn''t just what order someone attacks it''s also what time they attack, what time they dodge, what time they distract, what time they retreat, what time..." letting the sentence trail off he could see the gears grinding in the trainees heads. " since you have plenty to think I''m let''s move on, form up teams, any magic users can utilize long range spells of not I will use a mana shot spell. Gil how many seconds does it take?"


    " five seconds to fire not much of a building time only about half a second." Gil was spot on it was to be expected. Gil may be a bit goofy at times but when it came to keeping an eye on the entire battle he was fairly advanced, always keeping track with a sharp eye.


    "In rtion it takes Gil one second to notch an arrow, half a second to pull the bow, and two seconds to aim. That''s all without using quick shot which cuts a second from aiming. His targets rarely dodge his arrow. He will work in ce of a mage, he has a rather nice bow." This brought a smile to gils face, he had been practicing rather hardtely to limit the amount of mana used in his wind affinity arrow so that he could use a weaker version more often. If he allowed it to run its full course it could burn half his mana away but after exhausting himself too many times he managed to bring his overall number to seven shots.


    The groups started to form and soon they were disying their ownbinations trying to blend their timing. Impressively that was an earth magic user with them that could fire small earth projectiles. This further enhanced the amount of times they could all practice. Once the final target had been broken the trainees lined up expecting more to be created instead something more disinter urs...the elder stood.


    "Ten seconds to create an earth needle! What were you focusing on the clouds in the sky? And you, are you only able to run and nothing more? Learn to use that speed in multiple hit attacks. Boy the next time I see you count with your fingers I''ll double your math lesson.." the elders words went on and on. Now walker and Gil gained the full strict elder effect. It was indeed terrifying and they understood how Otis must have felt in his younger years training under the elder. " now walker make us more of those targets, we need more practice. You''ll be joining them I expect that mana shot spell down by a second at least. Otis don''t you dare think I didn''t notice you were I to using your right leg to attack, what do you n to hop on one foot the rest of your life? You Gil was it? Those wind arrows are too slow, they are but a soft breeze we could sneeze them off course!" And that was it now they were no longer instructors but trainees themselves. Otis could almost hear let''s of his heart break, but he wasn''t alone in his pain, Gil and walker were both standing with the jaws dropped. Over the course of the next hour everyone was pushed to a slumped mess of sweat and empty mana reserves. Walker now felt his mana shot spell was second nature to home while Gil wishes he''d never found this amazing bow. Otis was still stuck in a squatting position as punishment for not using both legs equally to attack. The only question they all had was, how could they make it to dinner without passing out right there?

 Chapter 151 - 151. Hungry

    The elder had given them all onest lecture in their improvements and failings. Ending his talk by praising walker for educating the trainees about an integral part of a hunting party''s sess. Happy with himself the elder headed back to his tea and fire.


    Gil Laurence and walker were all staring at Otis waiting for him to say something, eventually he did. " the elder seemed in good spirits today, he went easy on us."


    " that was easy! Seriously we got dragged in to all that training and now I''ve got almost zero mana." Exasperated Gil raised and dropped his arms defeated.


    " yes he often carries a few potions if he really wants to push. Or if someone isn''t catching on fast enough. I believe he really liked the lesson walkers magic really forced home the dangers of poor timing." Some of the trainees had begun to head away but almost every single one of them kept looking at the shattered stone pirs as they walked away. Even the small crowd that had gathered was constantly taking peaks at the shattered pirs to remind themselves of the exploding fire flowers they had seen. Walker was a hit, the center of gossip for the tribe and if he tried to escape the questions at dinner he''d surely fail.


    Tired and in need of cleaning up the three left Otis at the training field to do just that. After getting in to cleaner shape walker found midnight asleep by the fire as expected. It would seem the girls were still out wandering the tribe. Walker couldn''t help but think how sad it would be when they needed to leave, this ce was quickly bing a second home.


    ""Hungry"" this intense feeling started to radiate from onyx. Walker was incredibly tired and had just begun toy down for a nap before dinner. Without thinking he pulled the crate of all his light crystals from his storage. Onyx left walkers shoulder, slithering in to the crate. Walker didn''t even have a chance to remove a few before his eyelids drooped and he was asleep. His fatigue had gotten the best of him.


    This feeling of energy resounded through him. It was warm and light pushing in to his mind brining him back to the conscious world. "Hmmhgs" walker frowned having been awakened by this strange feeling, it was too cold out to feel this kind of warmth. His eyes fluttered open realizing this wasn''t physical but a mental energying from his bonds to onyx. Bing more panicked walker began to shake himself away to see broken crystal shards all around him. What happened?


    Small scratching sounds wereing from the crate which had tipped on to its side leaving even more crystal shards in the ground. Midnight was awake and staring intently at the crate the excitement evident in her eyes. Every time a crack or scratching sound was made midnights energy seemed to build, what''s gotten her so excited? Walker was lost he remembered falling asleep needed a nap to get some energy back but what else had he done? Why hadn''t he put away the crate with the light crystals...wait...where''s onyx?


    Jumping up he circled the crate to see the opening only to find something much different than light crystals. Inside the small crate was a ball of moving scales. The dark rounded body covers in scales twisted ion itself searching through the broken shards of light crystals. Some a head appeared with a light crystal held within its mouth, onyx! " you''ve eaten all the light crystals! You''ve grown huge! How did you do this!" Heating walker onyx quickly finished off the light crystal he had causing it to shatter. Onyx unfurled his balled up coils revealing his length to now be three times walkers height. His body had be thicker and his scales seemed darker than they previously were. Looking past onyx''s newrge size walker saw that there were no light crystals left, every single one was broken and consumed.


    "Master, I''ve done it" walker spun about in confusion, who the hell just talked to him? He looked everywhere but it was only him, midnight and...onyx.


    " onyx did you just...speak?" Walker intently stared at the newly grown serpent in front of him. His hopes rising as the possibilities flooded his mind.


    " yes master, I''ve unlocked my system and gained my skills. Thank you for leaving the food for me, it was enough to cause my growth spurt." Yes yes yes! Onyx had finally grown and not just a little it was a huge burst. Onyx must have been building up to this. Walker immediately checked onyx''s stats to see what onyx had goi my for him.


    Onyx


    Abyssal serpent system


    Abyssal ck serpent


    Level: 1


    Exp. 0/100


    Hp-45


    Atk-35


    Matk-65


    Def-35


    Mdef-55


    Agi-45


    Mana-70


    Walker was incredibly excited to see onyx finally at level one after growing. This was a momentous asion to celebrate. Walker saw that upon unlocking his system onyx had gained a telepathy skill, this was an great surprise since now onyx couldmunicate much easier. " wait onyx I see you have a telepathy skill but how can you already speak so well?"


    The serpent raised its head higher seemingly amused, " master I''ve been watching and listening. Waiting for the day I can speak at the equal you say I am." Walkers brows furrowed, a tinge of anger in his eyes.


    " then stop this master stuff, like you just said we are equals. I am you big brother walker and that is your big sister midnight!" Onyx shrank away a bit not expecting that reaction from walker, onyx saw more than just a big brother due to their contract and how walker lead the party. " listen onyx we are family not some tamed beast and a master, no matter what so let''s act like it." Onyx rushed forward wrapping himself around walkers neck and shoulders. Rxing and letting his body drape over like a scarf walker could feel the weight upon him. " onyx I think we''ll need to rethink your favorite sitting spot because if you keep growing like this you''ll be brighter than me!" Not afraid in the least walker only could feel thecent happy feelinging from onyx.


    Delving deeper in to onyx''s skills walker saw two that he started with that seemed incredibly useful


    '' decaying venom-10 mana


    Injected through the fangs this venom eats away at the mana and stamina of the inflicted. Highly taxing to create and keep within the body it is a very potent trump card for some species of monsters.


    Bind- 2mana


    Using the strong coiling muscles the user wraps around a target. Each second the target is wrapped the coil will tighten forcing more and more damage eventually strangling the target.''


    These skills were fairly impressive starting off skills for onyx, being a monster he was already born strong but would naturally reach the same wall midnight had. Experience, since monsters needed many more points over than other creatures they would often hit a bottle neck where it took years to level up. Being born strong due to their rare species midnight and onyx had an advantage over moremon species like the snow imps or giant locusts. However once they hit a tough patch in leveling adventurers would overtake them with skills and gear being able to defeat them. This was how the world worked, a natural way of things. But this didn''t take away from how impressive their stats were now and what they could be.


    " midnight what do you think of your little brothers growth spurt? Pretty amazing isn''t it?" Midnight huffed her eyes gleaming intently while taking in onyx''s new appearance.


    " brother she says she wants to take me out to fight." It was walkers turn again to be stunned. He spent all his time causing shock to those around him but was not used to being shocked himself. What in the holy lord did onyx mean that midnight wanted to take onyx out to fight!? Onyx could talk to midnight! Walker could finally hold a conversation with midnight properly instead of hoping that one day she would gain a skill to take human form ormunicate like an ancient dragon does. Walker could cry, he''s wanted to talk to her since the second they''d met.


    " midnight! Onyx can tell me anything you want to say to me, we can finally talk!" Her eyes grewrger andrger while looking directly at walker, the energy seemed almost tangible between the three of them.


    There was a silence between them asking to be broken as walker waited for onyx to speak. Midnight was struggling with what to say knowing that her words would finally reach walker. No longer would she have to fully rely on the feelings the two sent and the small mental messages they pushed back and forth that could only exin small things.


    " brother, she says thank you for the newts they tasted good"

 Chapter 152 - 152. Translations

    Tears had started to fall from walkers eyes as he reached out a hand to midnight. I response midnight tackles him to the ground rubbing he face close to his. The understanding between them was deeper than it had ever been. The two could finally understand each other, sharing real words. Midnight hadn''t understood at the time why walker and the party he''d lured her out with food, however as things progressed she felt safe with them and eventually understood her mother''s passing. The more she observed and grew the more she realized that life as a monster was basically waiting for something stronger to defeat you. This was the case for her mother, who had left to find a ce to raise her young but unintentionally came to close to arge human city. The natural reaction was to properly defend the city and get rid of threats, he mother being the possible threat. Learning these things midnight knew that walker had more than just rescued her, he had given her a home and an even bigger family when she would have instead been in herself. Through their adventures she had even gained a title no monster known had ever gained before, she was walking a great path.


    After the emotional moments had oases and the three had finally calmed down a bit walker stored away all the crystal shards, his collection of them had grown significantly. Walker couldn''t help but wonder how much onyx would want to eat now, hopefully he could make the most of the sun during the day.


    Wondering where everyone else had gotten to walker began to realize it what fairlyte, maybe they had all headed to the square to join in therger dinner. " hey midnight, onyx it would seem everyone else went off to the square without us, why don''t we go get a little revenge and give them a shock." Midnight seemed happy about the food dinner would have but onyx did seem excited to now properly greet everyone, he had felt trapped the whole time waiting to have enough energy for his growth spurt.


    Heading towards the square midnight pranced about around Walker more excited than ever to see everyone. She may be food driven as always but knowing she could ask for onyx to get her words across she was even more energized. Walker on the other hand began to developed a unique fear, he had often paired Remey and midnight as the strongest offensive attackers. The fear was in as day that the two may get even closer andmit to only rushing in to battle. He''d be keeping an eye out.


    " I know you already know this but Elise is going to freak out and ask a million question. You two won''t have to answer every single one but don''t let her overwhelm you. Onyx I know you get along with Hyde well but be careful not to frighten him, you grew prettyrge all the sudden. Also you may be able to really help Laurence get Hyde morefortable with crowds andbat, I''m sure he will rely on your assistance." As the three came in to view of the nightly bonfire walker tried to tighten up some loose ends.


    "Brother I know Hyde is often frightened but his ears are sensitive and even footsteps are too loud. Sister says she will ask a million questions to Elise in revenge." Naturally midnight would choose to but heads directly. The interesting part was that onyx already learned that Hyde was sensitive to sound, this was definitely a fact Laurence didn''t know and would be extremely helpful.


    Remey was the first to notice theming, before even getting sword out her jaw had hit the floor. Having onyx not many timesrger trapped around his shoulders and neck gave walker a much more intimidating appearance.


    Noticing the extra silence from Remey not speaking Gils attention was drawn next, his reaction was much the same but he did manage some words, " soo umm really embracing the evil viin kind of look huh?" Onyx raised his head not sure why Gil thought he would look evil, this was just the way he grew.


    " brother is not evil, he is kind." Yup that was it Gil was now frozen.


    " onyx I think you broke gil with your new skill. He''s stiffer than the icicles." Looking at su and Remey walker smiled. "Now that onyx has had his growth spurt he gained a telepathy skill, I''m not sure if it''s normal for his species but it''s amazing. Midnight why don''t you say hello as well." Thinking midnight would t out start talking they got stuck as well, anything could happen now who knew what crazy stuff happened every time the blinked.


    " sister says she''s going to beat up more monsters than you Remey. She says you are very warm Su and always share the best food. Sister thinks Gil has good eyes but needs more brains." All eyes fell to midnight Gil however was a bit more shaken.


    " what do you mean more brai-.." Gil started to rant back at the words onyx tranted but caught himself.


    "WHATTTTT!!???" Su Gil and Remey all cued out in unison. They had just realized what walker had been shocked by before, not they couldmunicate with midnight.


    " yup not only can onyxmunicate with you but he can also tell us what midnight wants to say. I''m still struggling to believe it." Proud would be an understatement to how walker felt saying all this. The final barrier between them and their final party members had finally been broken.


    Remey in her own energetic fashion did her beast to crush midnight in the biggest bear hug she could manage. Midnight of course struggles to break free but they all knew it was only for show. Su was naturally more reserved giving midnight a pat on the head but showing more emotion than most on her face.


    Kneeling down Gil looked right in to midnights eyes, " I need more brains huh? I''ll show you brains next time we train I''ll show you who''s boss." With a decisive snort midnight stood there trying to individuate Gil.


    " sister says she''ll crush you from the shadows, bring it on." Onyx chimes in with the trantion, he was really getting in to this finding that it was only him who could take this task.


    " onyx you really are bing a great brother, I can already see how much happier everyone will be with your contribution to the party. You''re already part of the family but now that you''ve grown, wee to the omnipotent party. You''re the sixth member!" As the others heard walker wee onyx to the party their chatter increased. The overwhelming feelings of happiness radiating from them drawing attention.


    " well you are all surely loud and in high spirits tonight, did you get another quest?" Laurence had seen them all grouped up wondering what themotion was, knowing them it could be anything.


    "Oh you know same old same old, onyx had a growth spurt and now he has telepathy to speak to us and trante for midnight." The nonchnt manner of walkersment out Laurence at ease without fully realizing what walker had said.


    " Ah I figured something like...wait" as he caught up on what walker had just said Laurence trailed off. " telepathy, you mean onyx can speak now! And he can trante for midnight!" Yet again the tamer was learning something new and wondrous from the party.


    " yes it''s nice to finally greet you. I am onyx, can you please summon Hyde for me, I''d like to show off my new growth." The soft voice in his head threw Laurence of just a bit but instead of freezing in shock all he could do wasugh. The fact that walker now had his own abyssal ck serpent trantor that doubles as an intimidating scarf was too much.


    Retrieving his breath Laurence finally managed to reply, " yes yes sorry I just needed a minute, it''s just too much you''re all so amazing. Let me bring Hyde out. Does this mean you can trante for Hyde as well?" Bobbing his head up and down onyx showed his willingness to do so.


    With a small sh of red Hyde had appeared in Laurence''s hands. Rolling in to a spiky ball immediately seeing at everyone was gathered around. Onyx repositioned himself small hissing sounds trying to get Hyde to rx. Momentster Hyde had poked his head out, jumping up in happiness they could only imagine that Hyde was excited for his friends growth spurt. Soon the two grew silent and instead onyx had turned to Laurence, " Hyde says everyone hurts his ears so he curls up to cover them. He likes when you whisper to him."


    Laurence wasn''t entirely sure how he felt about this, this whole time he had believed Hyde to be afraid not sensitive to sound. " thank you very much onyx, I might just have a solution."

 Chapter 153 - 153. Onyx Goes Hunting

    Laurence pulled a small bandana from his pocket, digging around more He pulled more bits of cotton for fire starting as well. " I may not have the perfect pair but..." tying the bandana and cotton around Hyde''s head a makeshift pair of earmuffs came to be, " hopefully this make things easier." Hyde bounced around visibly excited.


    " Hyde says he loves them, they are perfect." The widest smile anyone had ever seen on Laurence graced their eyes.


    The energy began to grow again as onyx started to trante full conversations between Hyde, midnight, and himself. They were all excited to hear answers to questions they''d always wondered. Midnights favorite food as toasted chicken but she would eat any meat. Hyde enjoyed sunny days near the mountains. Onyx couldn''t stand it when it''s rained because it made him cold too fast. The cracklings of fire was most rxing to midnight. The questions could go on and on forever.


    " Is that onyx?! He''s so big, what happened? Did you over feed him? Did you use a time magic spell? Is this his real size and you''ve just been hiding it!" Ah and there was Elise full of energy as always. Ste was glued to her hip as the two ran up to the group.


    " Ste how is your wing?" Onyx asked Ste immediately. Elise went silent, she''d just heard a voice but saw no mouth move. She thought she had finally lost her mind.


    " brother Ste says he won''t is still sore can you heal it again?" Having gotten his reply onyx asked walker to heal Ste again, her wing was still a bit swollen and had seemed in need of the next treatment.


    Stepping behind Ste Elise watched with wide eyes. After Ste had been healed again she seemed visibly more rxed. "Brother Ste says that''s enough, she thinks after another treatment tomorrow she will be ready to fly again."


    " that''s great! I''m d you''re feeling better Ste. Thanks for tranting onyx, a great job." Realization flooded Elise as she connected the dots. Onyx could notmunicate with others through their minds and hold full conversations. It was a miracle skill not many tamed beasts could develop.


    " y-you developed the ability of telepathy after growing. You''ve unlocked your system as an abyssal ck serpent. Can you trante for me, I need to tell my sister something." Quickly being reminded about her fear that Ste held it against her when they collided and injured Ste''s wing, Elise asked onyx for a favor.


    Seeing his head bob up and down Elise focused herself on Ste. " I am so sorry for breaking your wing. I never meant to hurt you, but if you hate me I''ll understand..." her voice shook at these words, if Ste hated her for it she would need to ept the greatest pain in her life this far.


    Ste listens carefully and soon moved her Face in front of onyx. The two were still as stone until Ste seemed to be a bit happier and even brushed onyx in the head. Returning to stare back at Elise Ste awaited onyx to send her reply.


    " Ste said, I have loved you since the day we first met. You''re my family and I can''t wait for you to show me your wings." The words were simple enough but the emotion in her eyes shown brighter than any fire. The two embraced as more pent up stress left Elise. These past days had been extremely emotionally taxing in the two and now they could finally let it all go.


    The night continued with much the same, onyx tranted constantly and seemed to really enjoy his new central position in the party. Instead of just watching and learning he could now participate. No longer would he sit and watch while he hid, no he would hunt.


    " brother please take me hunting tomorrow, I wish to catch up to you and sister. I know Ick the title but I will work harder." The resolve clear to walker there was nothing to argue.


    " then it will be so, in the morning be ready I''m goi to partner you with midnight. She will sneak you close and you can do what you do best." Appeased by walkers n the night continued in until everyone had headed home to rest. Naturally Riley wasn''t eager to have onyx trante for him, his tamed beasts were wild and reasoning with them would be the same as talking to a wall. However he did congratte onyx and midnight which surprised them all since he was of few words.


    The morning seemed to rush at them since they had stayed up much toote conversing. One of the most surprising things walker had gleaned from the conversations was that midnight had made a bit of a rivalry with Remey. This seemed to be since they were the two most capable of front linebat. Remey may be more charging in and midnight more sneaking but front linebat indeed. This was a bit worrying but maybe a good motivator for the two to put more in to training.


    While thinking on the day toe walker realized he was the first awake. Being so he stoked the fire and started some food. Once the light had began to pick up Remey followed however something weird happened.


    Noticing Remey had woken up walker turned to greet her but instead of the usual good morning she fell to her kneesughing too hard to breath. "You-...hah..hah- your face-hahah"pletely lost walker began to look at himself, his left hand seemed fine but as his eyes trailed to his right the ck top of a tattoo showed on his palm. Following it the tattoo wrapped his arm all the way to his shoulder, he could only imagine where else it traveled until walker found the head on his chest. Onyx had gone in to tattoo form to sleep wrapping himself around walker giving him an incredibly amusing appearance.


    Looking back at Remey who was still doubled over on the ground walker couldn''t help but feel defeated. He wouldn''t get angry at onyx for sleeping but it was still rough that he had chosen this particr position to sleep. He would definitely be having a few words with onyx on how rude it is to sleep on someone''s face.


    Everyone soon began to stir and as not to fully embarrass himself walker woke onyx as well. The serpent felt it was too early for a lecture but could understand why walker was a bit upset over it. Remey of course told everyone of what she saw first in the morning making walker the target of a few hoodlum jokes.


    " so no that the bandit member has done the cooking are we nning on hunting the same way as yesterday?" Gil wanted to join the same group he had before because he had been their only long range attacker which gave him the practice at long range sniping.


    " yes same way as yesterday brainless." Walker shot him a gore in revenge. " although onyx will be going with midnight. Midnight I want you to hide away in your shadow wrapping and sneak up on monsters. Once close enough let onyx use bind on them and jump in when needed. It will be your job as the older sister to help him along." Midnight stood tall growling with anticipation. Her and onyx would be an invincible team!


    The second Otis arrived things went much like they had the day prior. Otis was leading midnight and onyx after some snow imps that had been moving too close to the walls. The sneaky monsters didn''t know to stay away and would always try to ambush the returning foragers.


    Quicklying ion a group of three midnight headed walkers n disappearing from sight. Onyx was coiled on her back ready tounch at any target when midnight was ready.


    The sickening crunching of bones a learned the two imps who reacted in terror as Otis crushed their third.


    This was a perfect distraction for midnight who had circled around behind the imps. Creeping one foot after the other she watched for any sign they may notice her, however one had already rushed off to fight Otis. The second was perfectly distracted trying to make ice needles to hit Otis from a distance. Midnight was not having that.


    Giving onyx the signal she ounces forward giving him the perfect striking distance. Onyx flung himself from her back and began to wrap around the snow imp. The imp didn''t even have a chance to w at him or bite, its legs and arms bound to it and its magic useless the imp whined for freedom. It''s struggle didn''t give onyx much trouble as he slowly began to tighten. Seeing that onyx had things handled she stepped back slightly watching her younger brother work.


    The sound of air being forced from the snow imps lungs gave way to shallow breaths. It''s bones began to creek while its mind faded. The skin turned more and more blue until finalrge cracking sounds were heard. The system immediately notified him of his victory over the snow imp. Real easing the imp to see that it had taken a strange shape Otis approached holding his two defeated ups.


    " congrattions on your first hunt onyx. Midnight did well getting you to a surprise attack." With that they were off after another prey.

 Chapter 154 - 154. Last Day

    The pair did not hunt down as many snow imps as Otis however after the fourth battle the two had be very efficient in their sneak attacks.


    Onyx had fully grasped the power he had to bind and slowly crush monsters. He already understood that his main weakness would be time, the sooner he leveled up and discovered faster attack or support skills the better. So far he had refused to use his venom for fear that it would drain away too much mana. He also found it redundant in smaller monsters like the snow imps, if he was close enough to bite and didn''t need to retreat he would rather just bind them.


    Midnight proudly watched her younger brother defeat four imps in a row. She was only needed the third time since the imp had managed to keep an arm free, in anger midnight had torn the imps arm off before it could even try to scratch onyx. It was her job as a big sister after all.


    Luckily Otis had brought a small sled with him to easily carry his quarry. Adding on midnight and onyx''s was no problem at all, for Otis it was just more weight for training.


    The others were having simr good luck, Su and her foraging group had found a new area plentiful in winter root vegetables. The shear amount was so much that the nned to make three trips in the day. Once they returned with the first load the next group would be sent to the same location. Su was excited to be able to take some as her but knowing the vegetables would be much needed in their journey to the beast kingdom capital.


    Remey had the honor of fighting ice wraiths today, she hated the things. Their ice body''s would create a jarring crunching and scraping sound. Even after being defeated they''d start to put themselves cal together to fight again. It was Incredibly frustrating for her. Naturally she went berserk on all of the ones she encountered smashing the bodies to crushed ice. Her fellow warriors retrieved the water crystals that had been created in the ice wraiths body as they went. The group wasn''t upset to avoid battle for fear that Remey would punch them too.


    Laurence and Hyde seemed the most changed over night. Hyde waspletely different, his aim when firing quills was leaps and bounds better. Now that he wasn''t covering his ears by curling up a ball he was able to see better to aim. This resulted in a high number of pin pricks and small burns on a group of snow imps who were easily crushed in their distraction. It was simple to say that Laurence was rather happy.


    Walker had ended up tasked with a very different job than his hunting. Instead he was asked to shore up some defenses since too many snow imps were patrolling the area. Using his elemental maniption he was the perfect person to incorporate earth in to the base of the walls for added stability. To many of the detesting warriors the one eared elder even left the square to drop off some light mana potions to keep walker on the job. This was fairly profitable for both the tribe and walker.


    As he worked he was understanding the mix of elements in the earth, especially thebination of water and earth. The tribe was gaining more protection for the end of winter for a small investment. The end of winter was always the toughest because the monsters that had traveled south from the mountains now migrated back as fast as possible. In the next month the ins would be much more active for monsters. There would also be territory battles for the normal orcs and goblins that liked to roam the area. All in all it was a huge undertaking for the vige every year but they loved it. The tribe had been doing so for many generations and had no intention of changing.


    Riley was the odd man out, he had opted to go with a group of two who were I trusted to stay behind him at all times. The reasoning was clear, for when he released his demon boards they trampled the ground in front of him crushing ice wraiths and snow imps alike. The three demon boars had been kept up a bit more unable to run to burn energy. This was the ideal situation, space to run? Check. Enemies to crush? Check. What else could they need?


    Hunting a bit longer than the day before reverting returned just a bit after noon. Their bounties much bigger than before which reminded the tribe of the warm weather toe in the next one or two months.


    Midnight and onyx returned, onyx on midnight back. The two looked rather energetic still and seeing Otis with such arge haul it was evident that they had great sess. Walker was low on mana having done all he could to his section of wall so when he saw everyone approaching he went to greet them.


    " looks like you three took down every snow imp in the ins!" Midnight stood a bit taller while onyx bobbed his head aggressively. " I''m d you enjoyed your first hunting trip, midnight did anything of note happen?" Midnight huffed lifting her head even taller.


    " sister says your worry isn''t needed, the blue things were too weak for us. I agree with her, my coils easily crushed them. I will need to fight more to level up and get better skills." Onyx was intent on this his emotions bubbling up within him. He refused to be the weakest in the party, he wanted to stand next to everyone not behind them.


    Seeing that onyx was exceptionally motivated walker made a promise to himself that he would find more light crystals to help him out. "I''m sure Otis must have been impressed as well, what did you think of his first time out?" Years of training young warriors Otis Ha sling given up sugar coating his words.


    " midnights sneaking is better every time she uses it, it''s the perfect skills for when the main attacker is distracting an enemy. Onyx takes advantage of that very well but his skills are slow to finish a fight, he needs a long rand skill or a more powerful one. Together they work very well, onyx is able to speak in peoples minds which keeps things silent, if you''re ambushing someone it''s an idealmunication method." Walker had expected that the bind skill and the venom would be too slow, he was worried sending onyx out the first time without every party member but being with midnight another monster may be easier. Not to mention they were all family in the end of the day and if something threatened onyx midnight would do more than defeat it.


    "Thank you for your input, hear that onyx? That means we get to hunt more and since we''re leaving for the capitol tomorrow we should have plenty of monsters to practice on while we move!" Otis wasn''t happy still to be reminded they were leaving, he had taken a strong liking to walker and the party since they brought so much value to the tribe. " oh by the way otis, since it''s myst chance to show the trainees my skills I have something a bit rough to put them through. I''ll need some help with it." While walker had worked he thought about the greatest values for adventures to have to survive. These may all not align with what the tubes warriors needed to have but some rang true no matter what.


    Su, Remey and Elise had all headed to wash up, Su was much more dirt covered today than the other day but seeing the back of vegetables walker couldn''t find any downside. So what if there was more dirt? She found us some great food for the journey. Midnight and onyx were still bonding as midnight ate one of the snow imps they had hunted. Surprisingly even onyx ate small pieces. None of them had expected him to want to consume anything but light mana however he had the ability to do so and after prodding from midnight he''d tried some of their prey.


    Walker had made sure to use some healing spells on Ste who didn''t really seem to need it but it was better safe than sorry. With the help of onyx Ste was able to confirm she felt no stiffness or soreness. In fact she said she felt better than she had before and even considered resting more often in the future. It would seem Ste learned a lot from her mandatory rest.


    Walker had no idea where Gil, Riley, and Laurence had disappeared off too but after listening in on a few gossipers around their camp he had an idea. Apparently the three had beat him to their camp only to be snagged by a group of children dragging them to the slide. They may not be able to manipte the earth in to new things to y on but they sure could join in races down the slide. Walker could only imagine gil being talked in to a race over and over by telling him he would be too slow.


    " so walker, what''s your n for this afternoons training?" Otis had walked in through the little entrance without walker even noticing. With a devilish smile walker replied.

 Chapter 155 - 155. Run Run Run

    " fear" the one word was all he wanted to ce in the trainees. Otis had no idea where asker was going with this but he had grown to trust him and his process.


    Otis walked along listening to the npletely understanding it''s goal. This was a hard lesson to teach but if the two worked together their strength could be enough.


    Arriving at the training field the trainees seemed eager to start. They knew the elder hadn''t nned on watching and critiquing their actions. Seeing them all talking, enjoying their time walker almost felt bad for the lesson he had nned. He ced his hand on the ground willing arge pir to rise from the earth. Five smaller pirs rose around it surrounding therge one like guards. Otis and walker both came forward, walker leaning on therge pir and Otis on a smaller pir.


    Walkers magic had attracted the attention of the trainee warriors who were now silent waiting for them to speak. " listen up, today is thest day walker will be joining us. Due to that we will be having a special training session. Your goal is to survive and destroy each pir here. Our goal is to defend each pir and destroy you. Do you understand? Your goal is to survive! Whatever means possible to survive you may take however if we crush every single one of you expect to be banned from sleeping within the walls for one week." The penalty had been Otis''s idea, he had used it in the past for those who had refused to focus properly in training, however the penalty had only ever been a day not a whole week. " during this penalty you will not be allowed to bring food, or water with you. You will rely on your own two hands is that understood!" They had all gone pale now, Otis had put arge amount of force in to his words. He was often tough with his training but this was a whole other level.


    " get ready! If you aren''t ready to fight in five seconds I''ll kill you faster!" Walker began to manipte the snow on the ground in to medium sized ice arrows. Soon four footed around him. " five!" The arrows began to spin and Otis crouched. " four!" Some of the trainees began to fall in to position. " three!" Walker send an ice arrow toward one of the unprepared trainees. It sliced the rabbit girls cheek cause of a dribble of blood to fall.


    Otis pounced forward next, his punch knocked another unprepared to the ground, their breath forced from them in a loud hiss. " Ha! Look at these weaklings! They thought a monster would count down the start of a battle." Otisughed smiling wildly and he began to move in a pattern, the dance of the wild rabbit had started but the trainees knew it could build up in an instant.


    Shaken from their shock the other trainees moved immediately. Falling in to a broken formation since they were missing two ally''s already defeated their attacks started. They had gotten together after theirst training to work on timing wanting to prove the elder and their teachers that could do it. This was their demonstration of that practice.


    Two attackers began moving toward the smaller pirs while another started to yell at Otis. The remaining of walkers ice arrows flew at their feet trying to hit their legs, but the trainees dodged. Two solid metal balls few towards their target easily breaking one of the putter pirs. Seeing this walker showed anger in his face. " You pathetic wastes of space broke my creation!!!!" The two attackers running forward were blown away by a gust of wind from walker. They tumbled backwards butnded on their feet. The ranger attackers now decided attention one aiming for Otis the other for more pirs. " Otis crush their friends!" Hearing this the standing trainees didn''t know who the target was. However Otis rand to the already wheezing trainee he had punched and lifted him with one hand. Spinning around he tossed the trainee head first at the ranged attackers. Not expecting the dirty tactic they were totally knocked to the ground. They were stunned by the sudden blow.


    The girl who had gotten cut before had pulled daggers from her sheaths and tried cutting around to walkers back. Sensing this walker waited for her to get close. Once she was five steps behind him about to burst forward the earth canes in trapping her in a sinkhole. All that was above the ground was he head, her body trapped by the earth. Walker had stepped forward. " Otis leave the trash to me! Toss those others back in to the fright!" This was the signal for Otis to back off. He ran to those ranged attackers who had barely recovered to their feet and gave them a kick to the backside. Stumbling closer to the pirs walker ignored the two main attackers that had juste forward shattering another pir. " you think any of you can beat me! I don''t even need these damn pirs!" Walker had been building a mix of energy with his elemental maniption. He had practiced this once before and hadn''t risked using it again since the situation wasn''t right. Not to mention the noise would attract more monsters if he had used it in the ins. However here it would be safe behind the walls, it was also for training.


    Having heard the signal and seeing the amount of energy walker had gathers it was time for Otis to act his part. " no walker not that spell! You''ll kill them! Stop!" Otis started to move forward faking a trip to the ground. The trainees seeing that Otis was fearful instantly lost their bearings. Never had they seen him with fear in his face, never had Otis once panicked and fallen. This was serious. They all felt the hairs in the bodies standing up as the energy built.


    " I''ll destroy you all!" Walker released the energy he had built."BOOOOMMMMM!!!!" A massive explosion took ce as a lightning bold flew from walkers outstretched hand toward therge pir. The sound defeated every single one of them. Therge and small pirs were bombarded by his attack shattering and crumbling away. Debris flew everywhere and most of the trainees copsed clutching their ears. Walker had used most of his mana but wasn''t done he forced the earth he''d just destroyed to rise up, the sharp shards ready to fly around shredding the trainees. Those that saw this immediately ran, they turned and sprinted away. Some grabbed the nearest ally who hadn''t started to move and drag them away.


    Walker watched, Otis stood and smiled. The shards of stone dropped. Otis and walker met in the middleughing with each other while they pped each other on the back. Walker release the girl stuck in the ground. The trainees that he started to sprint away slowly stopped,pletely stunned. Why were the two demonsughing and patting each others backs!?


    " I''ll destroy you allll!!! Ahaha" Otis was cracking up recounting walkers worlds. " did you take that directly from a children''s story book?" A tear fell from his eye as heughed even harder.


    " woah there, haha you''re students fell for it hook line and sinkers. Did you even teach them what a bluff looks like." The two started all over againughing until they wheezed. They slowed themselves forcing theirughs down and the air back in their lungs.


    Once walker was able to stand upright properly he took out a mana potion he had received from the elder earlier. Drinking it his mana was almost back to full. He headed to the injured trainees quickly casting light heal in all of them. The girl who had just barely crawled from the hole she had been trapped in flinched as he healed her cheek. He scratch gone she touched her face lost as to what to do. Walker used his remaining mana to create arge circr bench.


    Sitting themselves down walker and Otis waited patiently. Well walker waited patiently Otis seemed more energetic. " get your butts over here now! Sit down and listen to your score!" The trainees slowly inched closer and closer, some couldn''t sit and were too tense. They still weren''t sure what was going on.


    " ohe on I''m not going to bite, that was part of the test, I even healed some of you. You all know if Otis wanted to really crush you that first punch wouldn''t have just knocked you out of breath. Also my arrows wouldn''t have grazed you or missed your feet." Walker knew he and Otis would definitely give them a shock but he knew this was a solid way.


    " well if that''s how close you all are going to get then fine don''t sit. Those of you who ran when you realized you couldn''t win pass. Those who continued to attack failed." Otis lost patience again blurting it out. " Ah and if you were trapped or I unable to move we will allow you to pass as well."

 Chapter 156 - 156. Feast

    " So pretty much as Otis said everyone passed. We wanted you to learn to run away. But since you''ve never faced someone trying to actually kill you we decided to try out our acting skills." Hearing that they wouldn''t be kicked out in to the ins for a week helped them rx. More so knowing that they weren''t actually going to be mortally wounded some were able to sit down to join them.


    " Now running away from an extremely dangerous opponent is not shameful. How else would the vige know ranger was outside out door?" Otis made a good point, the logic was sound.


    " Furthermore I saw some of you try and get the others moving, rescuing and getting your allies to safety is also a good reason to run. Living and surviving lets you learn. Once you learn you be stronger, sooner thanter you''ll beat the opponent that tried for your life." Walker had wished he could have run from the jade locust once upon a time. Yet seeing where he''d made it having not run and instead stayed to hold it off. Maybe it was the right situation but others wouldn''t be so lucky, knowing when to retreat was a valuable skill to have.


    "Someone tell me what you all should have done when we ambushed you?" Otis was looking for those who hadn''t prepared themselves instantly but insteadgged behind. If they didn''t know what they needed to change he would be whipping them in to shape the hard way.


    The girl who had been grazed by walkers ice arrow was the first to raise a hand. She was still standing farther back than anyone else but had found the courage to answer after feeling the piercing gaze of Otis. " we should always be ready and not expect a warning. Your ambush was sessful because we weren''t serious yet. Instead of falling in to disarray, we should have moved in to a defensive formation to intercept." She had already thought through what their actions should have been. She seemed fairly unsteady after the encounter with the ice arrow and being trapped in the earth for a bit but her mind was still sharp. In a few more years she would definitely be a group leader.


    " Exactly, when would an enemy ever give you a warning they were going to attack? Not to mention what would happen if you were out on a foraging mission and found yourself surrounded by snow imps? That''s exactly the dangers you may face outside these walls." Walker wanted to drive home the idea of being as prepared as possible. "Next, who can tell me why it was wrong to just leave your ally hurt on the ground near Otis?"


    This was a much easier question to answer and the trainee that was thrown raised his hand. "If they had managed to get me behind them safely I wouldn''t have been open to an attack. A monster would have killed me not just thrown me like a weapon." His voice was dejected but his words were two.


    " That''s exactly right I wouldn''t have thrown you, if I was like that greater ice imp the other day I would have crushed you with my club and moved on to the next insect. Covering for each other''s weak moments is a never ending issue. You will never have a team of warriors working together wlessly, eventually, someone will be hurt and it''s better to save a warriors than lose them." Even Otis had been the one protected before, it may have been some years since thest time but he remembered every second of the experiences. They were driving factors in his personal training.


    "Analyzing your opponents'' strength is a tough skill to learn, but if even one person in a group can do it the chance of survival multiplied." Wrapping up their goals walker decided it was time for the warriors to work on their own to share their ideas of this experience.


    Otis and walker gave them space to do just that, " so do you think my n was good enough to leave an impression?" Walker had been worried he over stepped by making such a dramatic performance.


    Otis thought a moment scratching his head, " you definitely scared them for sure. You seem way too polite and nice, the personality flip was enough. Then you went and threw some lightning which was crazy itself. Lightning in the ins is dangerous alone, always strikes the tallest thing so using it was definitely something to cause them fear. I''ll have to go over environmental safety again." Chatting idly as they walked the two soon reached the little camp where everyone else seemed to have gathered after cleaning up. " since you are all leaving tomorrow we''ll be having some extra food tonight, make sure toe and eat your fill." Saying their temporary farewells walker went inside.


    " So did you have to be as loud as possible? We all know that thunder was you." Remey was not the happiest camper being awakened from a nap after cleaning up.


    "I couldn''t help it I was helping teach with Otis." Not liking the excuse walker was forced to dodge Remey''s punches. Although missing just made her punch more.


    " Hey Su check it out, walker and Remey are putting on a y!" Sitting on his but snacking with Riley Gil was watching the two fooling around, however, his words bit him quick as Remey sent her next punch to his arm. " ahh!! That''s my good arm what if I can''t draw my bow?" Feigning a broken arm Gils'' acting hadn''t improved.


    " Leader I''m sure your use of noise was necessary but next time you need to warn others. A fair amount of shock went through the vige." The sweet voice of reason was reprimanding Walker.


    "I''m sorry Su, I''ll apologize to the elders when we get to the square. Otis said there''s going to be some extra food tonight." Overhearing them midnight was already in her feet. Riley had even spared a nce up from his own snacking.


    Taking his time to clean up himself walker was soon ready to head to dinner with the tribe in the square.


    Coming in to the light of the bonfire they noticed the multitude of food and drinks. More tables had been pressed together to holdrge tes of roasted meats. Towering fire roasted vegetables from their foraging were always within reach. The bonfire was constantly stoked higher and higher keeping everyone warm and bright. This was a massive feast!


    Approaching the elders, Walker was more nervous knowing the one eared elder could put him through the wringer in training. " ehm excuse me elders, I''vee to apologize for my noise earlier. I hadn''t thought to warn you of my training proposal with Otis."


    Lifting a mug the one ear elder replied quickly, " no need to worry, Otis is currently working that off as we speak. He should take full responsibility for bringing in an assistant." The evil grin was directed at the bonfire where Otis was constantly moving logs. He had been set up to stoke the fire all night. Throwing an apologetic smile at Otis, Otis only waved his hand not minding. He had supported the idea after all.


    " In any case, thank you for the hospitality. Unfortunately, we n to be back on our travels early in the morning." The slight tug at his heart over not wanting to leave was not avoidable. The tribe had been very weing, the time spent lively. However even if they stayed as soon as the snow melted the tribe would be back on the move, it was inevitable.


    " we''ve been d to have you and you''re party. Seeing the next generations promise is always pleasant for us elders. If you happen to meet that stubborn lion in the capitol tell him Ribald send his regards. Now off you go, get a real meal in before you head out in the snow tomorrow." The elders all began to shoo him away wanting to return to their own meals.


    Jumping in to the festivities walker was dragged table to table. Understandably the trainees he happened to see avoided him for the most part. This must be how Otis feels all the time. This thought was fairly constant through the night.


    Midnight was busy making sure onyx tried some of everything she liked. The two binding only lead to heighten Walker''s mood. Gil seemed to really hit it off with his hunting group, they had imed a little table and ying a card game shouting every so often.


    Elise and Ste had found the desserts quickly recruiting Su and Remey in an attempt to clear the table. It was no surprise to see Riley right there too trying to im some of everything before the girls got to it. Laurence was bringing Hyde around to say farewell to those he had met prior and was again offing ways with. Seeing Hyde being more open with his makeshift earmuffs was uplifting. This was a pretty amazing send off from their new friends.

 Chapter 157 - 157. On The Road Again

    The morning,as always, crashed in to their lives. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes everyone began to pack up. Walker storing what he needed so they could move faster. The night had ge until the bonfire became just embers. Almost every tribe member had made time to visit the party to say farewell. Some of the parents had nearly force fed walker food not wanting him to be unprepared for his trip. He had definitely made asting impact on them by making that slide.


    " everyone looking geared up and ready to be on the move?" The party was back in to their winter gear warm as could be. Onyx had wrapped himself in walkers shoulders underneath his cloak. The tamers were bundled up, Ste had been put safely in to Elise''s beast ring due to the strong winds buffering the ins.


    Using elemental maniption walker willed the walls he had created to fall back in to the earth. The spot they had called home for a few days had returned to the open area in a line of igloos. The sun had just started to break the horizon sending the vige in to a glittering jewel.


    Not many of the rabbit tribe were up and loving other than the normal hunters and foragers who were already out or on their way out. Reaching the exit to the snow walls the silhouette of a buff rabbit Demi human was clear.


    Otis was standing tall a rolled up paper in his hands stone faced as always. He wanted to be thest to see his new and old friends off. "Sleeping in before you''re adventures continue I see, and here I was up early trying to put together this report for you." Shaking his head at Laurence he passed over the paper.


    " you saw your tribe dragging us all here and therest night, there was no way we could rival your early to rise motto." Laurence gave Otis a pat on the shoulder. " thank you for this, it will definitely help our next goal. It was good to see you again, don''t get any bulkier by the time I visit again." The twoughing as they said their goodbyes spurred the desire to get in the move.


    " Otis it was a pleasure to meet you, I hope that my party and I cane again one day. I''m sure we will be seeing much of the world." Saying his own goodbye the others echoed walkers words.


    " I''m sure we''ll see each other again, don''t worry I''ll make sure my trainee warriors are up to snuff for when you visit. Maybe they''ll get some revenge." With his own bump to walkers shoulder Otis headed back inside the vige. Now all that my before them were glittering ins.


    Whipping wind was bringing in darker clouds far off in the distance. Falling in to formation the party was making their way forward yet again. " so Laurence should I assume the paper Otis put together for you were important?" Everyone had been wondering this but had yet to take the chance to ask.


    "Ah yes I asked if he could send some warriors to scout the territory the cursed crow is nesting in. Apparently it''s shifted slightly which is good for us since it''s closer. Although it''s also be more aggressive so we will need to be much more careful." It was good to find their distance shortened, but hearing their target was more aggressive was worrisome. "Even more good news it would seem other monsters have more or less chased from the area around the nest. We will only only need to focus on keeping the mother cursed crow upied." This was another piece of news that could really enhance their chances of sess. Elise seemed to gain more energy from this picking up her pace, unable to argue against her enthusiasm everyone else followed her lead.


    The ever increasing wind made moving forward much tougher but if they were to get to the edge of the cursed crows territory they couldn''t stop. It seemed even the monsters were finding refuge from the wind refusing to get out hunting today.


    "Let''s all tighten together, if the wind picks up more the snow will get blown around. We can''t have anyone getting separated in the poor conditions." The group pulled together all within at least an arms length.


    "Stupid wind...grrr cold...mmrrrg" gils grumbling was now easy to hear for everyone. It was easy to see how was not a fan of the current weather. A sharp kick to his leg and Remey had shut him up for the time being.


    The conditions soon worsened as a fine snow began to fall. Whipped up by the wind the snow became blinding. " hey everyone let''s stope for a moment!"


    Walker wasn''t sure what to do and decided it best to confer with the group. This was bing more dangerous by the minute.


    "Leader I think we should stop and wait out the storm." Su was right it was the best move to make given the danger.


    "No! We''re finally getting close what if the eggs hatch before we get there? There will be no point if I miss it." Elise had been more than patient due to Ste''s healing wing. Now that they were in the move all the pent up determination was forefront in her mind.


    Thinking seriously about how they should proceed it was Laurence who had apromise "what if we linked arms and kept moving? We would stay together safely and could keep moving forward. It would be slower but still progress."


    " I agree we would be able to remain together without being lost. We also won''t need to worry they will hatch without you Elise." Walker made the executive decision to move forward with Laurence''s idea.


    Everyone linked arms creating a strange human chain. Taking steps in unison they moved forward again. The wind pushing back against them constantly. Snow pping them in the face at every step. The party was constantly thanking Lisa in their heads because their winter gear was doing an amazing job. She would be drowning in praise when they returned home.


    Gil stopped suddenly his head cocked to the side listening. " I think I just heard someone crying?" Hearing this Su wanted to immediately investigate.


    "Leader what if someone is lost out here? We could be the only others to pass by during the storm." Knowing Su only had good intentions walker almost agreed instantly but he was wary of someone else being out in the storm as well as them.


    " who''s over there!" Laurence yelled out trying to get somethings attention. In a hushed voice " I just saw something move to our right." The sounds of a woman crying reaches the others ears as well this time.


    Everyone was frozen in their steps, the crying didn''t feel normal but they did want to know where it wasing from. An outline of someone crouched in the ground seemed toe in to view before a gust of wind blew up more snow to blind them.


    " did you see it! There was a person copsed in the snow! It must''ve them crying." Su tried to pull away front he group but Remey and walker had steeled them grips. "e on we need to help them!"


    " there''s more movement behind us!" Laurence had started to gaze around seeing that more than just one figure was hidden by the snow.


    " I think there''s more than one person crying now..." gils voice tempted slightly, this situation was putting him on edge.


    Su was still pulling slightly on walker and Remey but they weren''t letting her go. " Su stop, something not right! Why would three different woman be out in this storm?" The question was enough to make everyone think. Su had acted in instinct to try and help which wasn''t a bad thing but in this case it could be.


    More figures seemed to be moving around their right side the crying increasing in volume. Small glimpses of women on the ground seemingly injured would appear when the wind stopped for a moment but quickly disappear. Chills rose in their bodies as realization began to creep up.


    Remey was the first to breath their silence, " walker of I remember right you told us about a monster called a snow woman? She would lure people to a trap and feed off their mana to survive...I think we may be near something dangerous."


    This was one of the monsters known to roam the ins in the winter, they couldn''t attack in any harmful way but could cause illusions. They would utilize storms to lure in adventurers to dangerous ces. The edge threes would be trapped or perish leaving behind mana for the snow woman to feed on.


    The crying had turned in to loud wailing, even knowing the danger they all wanted to rush towards the sound to save those in danger. Their emotions were screaming at them to act and not be heartless. Tightening both his arms walker prepared to get the group moving, they needed to escape!

 Chapter 158 - 158. Illusions

    " we need to head left! If we get to close to the right side we may get stuck." Pulling on Su''s arm Remey pushed. Su still wanted to go check to be sure but couldn''t disobey walker, she held too much respect for her party to ignore the danger.


    The wailing grew even louder in their ears with every step away they took. " don''t look back to your right!" Gil had been surveying the area to make sure nothing hade to near and begun to see other things in the distance. A women with a broken leg hobbling along hands outstretched for help begged him to stop. The wind would blow recing her with a woman copsed on the ground holding an infant who''s skin was turning blue.


    "Heeeellppp ahhhhhg" calls for help came from the blinding snow behind them. Gil pushed from the end of the chain to move faster. His eyes never leaving the area behind them.


    " mmyyy babbby"


    "My ankle is broken my ankle"


    " I''m trapped in the ice help me"


    " monsters monseters help please help"


    " ahhhgg hheeaaa"


    " someone save me ahhhh save me"


    The sounds became tormenting them, Su realized beyond a doubt no one but them were in danger. The more they moved away from their previous position the more the shouts for help and wailing came. The snow became fierce in front of them almost trying to drag them back towards the sounds. Gil was watching more of the harmed women behind him but their faces were pale and expressionless as they cried out. The injuries became less and less to the point they were just standing still wailing.


    " ignore the sounds and push through!" Shouting encouragement walker pushed against the wind. No longer was Su putting up a fight trying to pull away towards the voices but she pushed with him away from the sounds. Linked arms everyone stepped forwardbatting the incessant wind.


    " push!" Laurence and Gil toward the back gave thest spurt trying to get fast tiger from the emotionless figures behind them.


    "Ahh"


    "Oof"


    "Fwpfff"


    With a myriad of sounds and some thuds everyonended in a pile on the ground. The wind was soft. The sun shone through some clouds warming them up.


    "Get your butt off me Gil or I swear I''ll beat you senseless!!!" Remey pushed Gill off her while midnight snuck under Su to push her up as well.


    " what the heck just happened? Where''s all the wind and snow?" Elise was looking aroundpletely confused on where they were and what was going on.


    " take a look behind us" staring off the direction they hade walker had spotted rushing water. They had gotten all too near the rushing river that cut through the ins. Ice floated down crushing in to the banks. Three flickering ghost like women floated around the edges beforepletely vanishing.


    " we almost went for a not so warm swim." The deep frown on Laurence''s face spike volumes to how dangerous their potion he''d been. " it was only a small storm and a soft breeze but those three fooled us good. We were basically blinded by their illusions." Shaking his head Laurence helped Riley stand up.


    " leader I''m sorry...I almost doomed us all to an early grave." Su had seen the snow women vanish. The icy cold waters rushing along sent shivers through her very core. If she had rushed off she could have died and brought everyone with her.


    " no su you aren''t wrong to want to help those in need. That''s why you''re part of the party, your heart is pure. Walker won''t hold that against you." Remeyforted her knowing Su would beat herself up constantly about it.


    " Remey is right, if I didn''t know something was off I would have rushed in to help too. I''m just thankful we did our research before venturing out." This was their first encounter with illusions and it had almost ended them. They would need preventative measure in the future.


    " Laurence do you have any idea how close we are now? After that I think we may be better off resting." Looking at gils face walker knew he most of all needed some time to rx. Gil had been thest person in their chain and kept watch if their backs the entire time, meaning Gil had seen the illusions first hand.


    Laurence withdrew a map from his cloak and surveyed the area. Using his finger and thump to draw lines while looking at the horizon his face showed surprise. " seeing that we got this close to the river if we travel a bit more east we should be right in the edge. Judging from the speed of the river we are just west of the rapids. We can make camp here and head to the nest here in the morning." Gesturing to a space a short distance away walker nodded. Quickly traversing the light winds and partly cloudy sky they easily reached their desired camping spot. The sun was nearing setting so lighting a fire became priority.


    " Gil take a break for a while, we''ll set things up and get the fire started, you need the rest." Seeing that Gil hadn''t spoken since they got away from the snow women''s illusions walker knew he was shaken. Gil smiled softly and set up his bed roll to take a nap. Hopefully some sleep would get their emotionless faces out of his head.


    The camp came together quickly and within the hour a roaring fire was warming them. Onyx had freed himself from underneath walkers cloak only to coil up on top of midnight who was already dozing by the fire. The two seemed one of a kind now that onyx had gone hunting with his sister. Remey and Su had giggled with Elise on how cute they were promoting some embarrassed words from onyx who refused to be cute but instead fierce like midnight. Sadly that made him even cuter in the girls eyes.


    Sharing the night watch everyone was able to sleep uninterrupted. Monsters seemed to be avoiding the cursed crows territory just as Otis had gathered. Walker had taken gils shift to let him rest more, he deserved it after being subject to the most illusions.


    Watching the sun rise onyx had made his way to trap around walkers shoulders. " you know you need to take advantage of your favorite spot before you get bigger."


    Letting out a frustrate hiss was onyx''s only reply. He would find a way to shrink if he could, how could he ever loose his sitting spot and have to slither around himself. On the other side of things if he did get bigger he could participate more in battles. It was all worth pondering. Taking in the new sunlight walker got up from his watch and stoke up the fire, today would be an interesting day so they might as well start it off with a good breakfast.


    Going all out walker pulled some meats and vegetables Su had procured from the tribe. Setting up the vegetable to roast and the meat to warm the smells began taunting everyone still sound asleep. The first to show signs of movement was midnight and Riley. It was almost a perfect tie as to which stood first, however Riley had managed to beat the ever hungry dragon by a second.


    Going around nudging everyone else awake walker went to Gilst. " hey archer guy get your butt awake we''ve got some food to eat." Not the best wake up call but this wasn''t a fancy inn.


    " ummmnggg not now, those stupid headless snow women kept me tossing around all night. Let me sleep." Walker had expected Gil to have a few nightmares, gils pale face after seeing some of their illusions was a dead giveaway.


    " well do what you want but if midnight or Riley gets to your dried jerky don''tin to me." The thought of loosing his food was more than enough to get him up. Walker may have felt bad for him but not enough to protect his food.


    Now that everyone was up it was time to start the nning for their main goal ining here. " Elise is there any way you want to go about distracting and grabbing the cursed crow egg?" This was Elise''s request so letting her take the lead was only fair.


    Putting in her most serious expression Elise told them her n " we stop the mother from getting to the nest. Someone sneaks in and grabs an egg. We retract far far away, to the tamers guild headquarters." Laurence reached out flicking Elise in the head.


    " we have days of travel, and weeks before that to n this out and that''s all you have for us?" Laurence wasn''t even surprised by this but it was still annoying.


    " well ya know I have the general ideaid out now we just have to try it." And another delicious to the head. " ggrrr fine anyone else have a n?" Pouring she used her best puppy dog eyes in walker in hopes he would take over.


    Seeing this walker brought his hand to his chinpleting a thinking pose, " hmmm...hmmmmmmmm...hmmmmmMMMM....." Elise leaned forward every Hmm wanting to hear it. " yup! I''ve got a n." He said it just loud enough to get Elise to jump a bit. After a slight chuckle it was time to get to it.

 Chapter 159 - 159. Lure

    " here''s what I think we should do; split up in to two groups. The stealers will be Gil, myself, and midnight we three have the best ability to sneak. The distraction will be Su, onyx, Remey , and Elise. Elise you and Ste can lure it from the sky, Su will taunt it and once it''s close onyx will use his bind skill to trap it. Remey you''re going to protect onyx so the cursed crow doesn''t il it''s talons and hurt him, just be ready to help hold it. Riley and Laurence you''ll be back up, who knows what other monsters could be around trying to hunt for the eggs or go after the cursed crow when it''s incapacitated. Not to mention your tamed beasts may be a bit of a poor matchup for this situation." Laurence knew that having Hyde send his fiery quills at the crow could harm it too much and letting Riley''s board rampage would hinder all of them so he didn''t argue at all, this is why they needed help.


    It was a simple enough n to follow the only trick would be getting to the nest without alerting the mother before she was temporarily trapped. " Laurence do you have the specific location of the nest?" Laurence pulled out a small map of the area. The nest was in a small rocky clearing surrounded by high grass. The territory was clearly marked in a rough circle. " if we can attract the cursed crow to the edge of its territory here it should be far enough for it to get back to the nest fast enough. Elise you or Ste can fly up in the air to draw it out of the shadows and attack, just be ready for a sneak attack. Su keep an eye on them so you can taunt it at any moment. Onyx you know what to do, you''ll have to settle for Su''s shoulders for now."


    Onyx uncoiled himself and slithered over to Su who lowered her arm to allow him up. " thank you cousin Su, I look forward to our debenture."


    " cousin? Well I guess if midnight and walker are you siblings then I can be your cousin. Wee to the team cousin onyx." At her worlds onus could himself a bit more on Su''s shoulders and raised his head just like midnight would to show off her scales. He was already picking up some of midnights traits, next he would be rushing for kitchen scraps from hilda.


    " alright onest warning, keep an eye on the shadows, if the crow manages to ambush you things will be rough. It''s skill to stop your movement upon it causing you injury will be our main concern. If you aren''t confident in your dodge then do your best to block." With the final warning said they split up, Su''s team headed in a roundabout path to the farthest reach of the estimated territory. Walkers team started to head the opposite, he would await Su or Remey to utilize their system and notify him they had trapped hI cursed crow.


    Laurence and Riley slowly trailed behind Su''s party, Riley was more than happy to be left out so he could rx more. However Laurence felt useless even though to was logical he couldn''t help. Deciding it was best to keep his eyes open to be ready as backup than dwell on it he took a deep breath and did just that.


    Su was leading her group following the territory line established by the warriors from the rabbit tribe. The stretch of ins imed by the cursed crow had grass that stood tall even through the snow. Building a nest in the area was most certainly a wise move. Finding it must have been like finding a needle in a haystack.


    Elise had brought out Ste from her beast ring, she had taken flight immediately after being told their n. Ste may have been excited to be out in the open sky again but she focused herself knowing how important this quest was to Elise. Ste would have to be the only one in the air, Elise only had a previous few moments before her soaring integration skill would run her mana dry.


    Approaching their destination to start the n Su had noticed even the average animals like squirrels and range rabbits avoided getting close to the taller grasses. Since even the average animals knew to stay away the crow must be very adamant about finding threats to its nest, hopefully it showed itself easily.


    Forming up Su took the front with onyx coiled up to jump at an time. Remey and Elise were both evenly behind her. Ste kelts herself above them awaiting a signal to move forward to lure out the crow, she would need to remain lower to the ground in case it caught her with an attack. If it did manage tond one she would be paralyzed by shadows for a time causing her to fall from the sky.


    Sending a message with the system to walker that they were ready she awaited her leaders response.


    ...


    Walker had let Gil take the lead, he had the lightest foot steps and could naturally discern which spot was the safest to ce his foot. The tall grass was apt at hiding icy spots that could alert any monster in the area, small holes and puddles weremon due to the roots in the ground. Using silent gestures to help those following him he couldn''t stop thinking how useful it would be if onyx was there to use his telepathy for this.


    They hand not fully begun to encroach in to the territory but instead position themselves in the fastest path to the nest. If they went in too soon and drew the attention of the crow the other team would not be able to get in and out with the egg fast enough.


    Crouching down to remain hidden the group awaited Su''s notice that they had proceeded and lured the crow.


    Feeling the tap on his shoulder walker signaled that Su''s team had started to bait the crow.


    ....


    Ste had started to fly in to the territory staying low. She glided side to side avoiding any shadowy patches where she could easily be ambushed. A soft breeze rustled the grass around the ice and snow. It was too quiet. Su and Remey had a sharp eye on Ste following slightly behind. Elise''s nerves were threatening to boil over.


    Su raised her hand and lowered her stance, Ste had just turned sharply to the left. A shadowy V shape seemed to shoot from grass patch to grass patch. Ste was spinning in the air avoiding shadows on the ground, the slight breeze causing them to move slightly making things harder. Ste locked on to the shadows movements and began to slowly pull back towards the others.


    Ste on her way Su had Elise and Remey step back, they still hadn''tid eyes in the cursed crow which was staying in the shadows. " avoid shadow patches, I''ll taunt it the second I see it leave the shadows." Ste was approaching faster now still moving in a zig zag pattern to avoid betting close to shadows. The V shaped shadow still following. She was soon over top of Su, the second the two met eyes Ste took a sharp upward turn. As she rose higher she hoped the crow would show itself.


    Not easily tricked the cursed crow noticed the others in the ground and began drastically shooting from shadow to shadow. The V shape darted past them not showing itself yet. It''s speed was too much making every single one of them loose sight.


    Only the soft wind made a sound. ncing here and there trying to catch a movement Su turned about. " Su!" Remey pushed Su from behind.


    "CAAAWWWWWW" a defiant cursed crow had burst from Su''s shadow narrowly missing Su but grazing Remeys ear lobe. The tiny scratch wasn''t even enough to be felt but for the crows skill it worked. ck shadow chains sprang up anchoring Remeys limbs to her side.


    "Ggrrrraaa" Remey struggles against the shadow chains trying to break free. They refused to break and instead became tighter. Su straitened her self seeing Remey trapped, she wanted to rush forward but holding itself above Remey was the cursed crow.


    It''s ck feathers shined slightly almost dripping shadows. Small wisps of ck smoke fell with each p. It''s red eyes were trained on Su waiting for any sign of movement. Beak and talons were sharp as a razor. It was almost taunting her, knowing it was out of her reach.


    Inching her feet slowly Su nagar to fall in to a defensive stance. The crows gaze never faltered. Moments felt like hours with each small movement until she was ready to shout her taunt. Su took in a deep breath about to shout, that movement was enough to push the crow to love itself. It''s darted down towards Su it''s talons spread to scratch her face.

 Chapter 160 - 160. Holding Shadows

    The cursed crow darted down towards Su, it''s talons outstretched trying to scratch her exposed face. The speed it had was much faster than Su could dodge or block, her heart skipped. Her eyes closed as she expected the feelings of shadow chains pulling her down but instead a strong gust of wind blew past her. "Great shot Ste! Keep those softer wind desing to keep it off bnce!" Elise was cheering on Ste who had descended down behind the crow while it focused on Su.


    The cursed crow was pushed off target and forced to take arge arc around su. Recovered from her instability Su faced the cursed crow now standing in front of Remey acting as her shield. "get over here you good for nothing chicken!" The cursed crow may not have understood her words but the effect still took root. This was a challenge to its territory; it must defeat this enemy!


    The crow''s attack directed at Su, it sped towards her again, talons ready to strike. This time Su waspletely prepared with her shield already in motion. Screeching metal filled her ears as the crow''s talons scraped along, its momentum nearly stopped barely holding itself in the air. pping its wings had the cursed crow doubled its efforts attempting to break through her shield. Trusting her gear Su prepared for her counter attack.


    Waiting until the cursed crow came at her again Su pushed forward into its attack. Taking the crow by surprise she reached it with a shield bash. She held back as not to harm the crow but the effects were perfect. Falling toward the ground the crow was stunned, "onyx now!" Signalling Onyx to move he sprung off her shoulders. Faster than expected he reached the crow spinning himself around it. The crow couldn''t even take time to struggle as its own wings were forced close to its body. Onyx made sure not to continue to crush it but instead maintain a steady pressure.


    Wiggling side to side the crust crow was red to stab at onyx with its beak but found Elise had closed its beach shut. Realizing its talons were its only choice it tried to move them but Su had already grasped them tightly. All three of them were pinning it down without fail. It wasical to see the three of them taking such effort to hold the bird but Remey didn''tugh at all.


    Luckily Su could still utilize the party chat option in the system, thanking the world for giving him leadership skills she sent him a message.


    Rustling sounds came from the grass around them, a group of small long rodent-like creatures sprinted past them. High pitched whinesing from their mouths as they ran toward the nest. They had been waiting.


    ¡­.


    Seeing Su''s message through their system walker gave the signal that they didn''t have to sneak anymore. Since Su had told them her group was entering the territory walker''s group had begun to slowly creep toward the nest.


    " Alright that was Su''s message, We are good to move along. The faster we grab an egg and retreat the sooner the crow can be released." With a nod Gil stood tall and began moving quickly, midnight following up the rear.


    Their increased pace quickly brought them to the nest. The open area had been cleared of snow which was pushed up into a bowl shape. The tall grass was noticeably cut down most likely by the cursed crows beak. The nest itself was made of the grass and some smaller twigs blown into the area most likely. Feathers and small animal bones were around the nest itself, obvious meals it had caught while protecting its territory.


    Nestled in the middle of the nest partially covered by dried cut grassid twenty two pale white eggs. Streaks of ck trailed down the sides along with a slight shadowy aura.


    "Does it matter which one I take? Should I grab more than one?" Gil was standing over the nest unsure of which was most important.


    Walker wanted to get this done quick, he was worried the cursed crow would be too stressed by being bound for too long. "I''m not sure, I can try using my all around appraisal and hope that I get something interesting but they all might just be the same."


    '' cursed crow egg


    The four week old egg of a cursed crow. It''s nearing the hatching phase of its lifespan. Weak affinity to dark element.


    cursed crow egg


    The four week old egg of a cursed crow. It''s nearing the hatching phase of its lifespan. Weak affinity to dark element.


    cursed crow egg


    The four week old egg of a cursed crow. It''s nearing the hatching phase of its lifespan. Weak affinity to dark element.''


    Walker read through the notifications as fast as he could looking for anything different. Only two stood out,


    ''rge cursed crow egg


    The four week old egg of a cursed crow. It''s mother consumedrge amounts of nutrition while it developed leading to itsrger size. Nearing the hatching phase it will most likely be born stronger than its siblings. Very weak affinity for any elements.


    Small cursed crow egg


    The four week old egg of a cursed crow. It''s sibling consumed most of the nutrition it was meant to have causing it tock in size. Nearing the Hatchling phase of its lifespan. Extremely high affinity for darkness element. Weak affinity for wind element.''


    Seeing that one would be born stronger it was obvious that one would be able to fight off its siblings and survive in the wild. However Elise had said she was after the cursed crows ability to incapacitate targets for a long time. Knowing the cursed crow used darkness to do so, Walker thought it better to choose the small egg. Not to mention it had a second affinity for the wind element, this would definitely show in its flying speed.


    " grab the smaller egg, It looks the most promising." Gil gave Walker a funny look but started to bend down toward the egg nheless.


    His fingers about to grasp the egg, a chorus of whines and chittering alerted them. The grass rustled as something moved within. Standing tall everyone had be tense and fell into ready positions. Midnight let out a soft growl, she was unsure what enemy was approaching but she nned to take it down.


    In an instant six slender rodents flew from the tall grass aiming for the nest. These rodents were long grey haired pests. Gil recognized them from his childhood. Field rats. They would group you to steal grain, vegetables, small game, and even smoking meat if left unattended. They were a gue anywhere for anyone.


    "Stop the field rats! They''re after the eggs!" Gil screamed out the warning knowing that they would each take an egg and run. They must have been waiting for a moment when the mother crow was first racers toe in.


    Using quick shot Gil was able to fire an arrow piercing one of the field rats heading toward the nest. The other five had been too fast each snapping up an egg in their mouth and rushing off. Walker had seen the small egg grabbed by one and immediately chased after it.


    "Midnight get in front of that one! It has the egg we are after!" Walker was sprinting through the grass after the field rats with the small cursed crow egg in its mouth. Midnight sped forward trying to get ahead of it and cut it off. If walker could manage it he sure as steel would get Elise the best cursed crow egg he could.


    Clenching his fists walker tried to gain momentum, if he could only get closer then he could manipte the elements to trap it. However the field rat made up for what itcked in attack and defensive power with speed. It was pushing faster and faster, extending the distance between walker and midnight.


    The two pushed as hard as they could to catch the fueled rat but were only rewarded with more space. Gil had caught up to Walker and was trying to catch up but even he was outpaced by the field rats. These pests had always caused him frustration in life and he refused to give up until they were dead.


    He had the advantage of firing arrows in front of it to direct it side to side. Using his quick shot skill he was able to push the field rat to the left but it still was yet to slow. Trying one more Gilnded an arrow directly in front of the field rat. His training was showing, his aim while moving and under pressure was much much better. However the field rat was a step ahead, as the arrow impeded its path it took arge leap passing over the arrow and continuing on its escape path.

 Chapter 161 - 161. Catch The Rat

    Seeing his arrow had no effect Gil realized he''d lost ground. Walker and midnight had caught up to Gil but the space between them and the rat was bing too great. Not wanting to give up they continued running but failed To gain ground.


    They were losing sight of their goal, they would have to settle for one of the eggs left behind. Even therge egg had been stolen by the field rats leaving only the basic eggs. Walker felt the crushing defeat of letting a friend down.


    Ready to turn around and rush back to the nest in hopes eggs remained walker andpany stopped. A Loud roar had stopped them in their tracks. Bengal Laurence''s tiger had kept from the tall grass ws ready. mes burst forth from its ws shredding the field rat into three pieces. The small egg fell from its mouth falling through the air. Fearing the sound of a breaking egg everyone winced eyes closed. The sound never reached their ears. Cautiously they opened their eyes only to see Laurence t on his face arms outstretched and a small cursed crow egg in his hands.


    " wooaaahhh yea where''d youe from Laurence!?" Gil was shocked, Laurence had seemingly appeared from nowhere.


    Pulling himself up, Laurence wiped the ice and snow from his face. " well we were following Su''s group but as soon as they pinned down that slipper crow those damn field rats rushed by. Those things aren''t even worth using as fees for a monster but they had the audacity to stake out the cursed crows nest. Bengal and I had some problems with that." Raising his hands Laurence showed that he had actually caught every egg stolen by the field rats. Onerge egg, one small egg, and three normal eggs all unharmed. Bengal must be much faster than they realized.


    Seeing that Bengal was so capable Walker realized that this difference in power between tamer and tamed beast must be why Laurence struggled to get Bengal motivated. However at this moment it seemed the two had performed a miracle. With all the eggs safe, Walker ran the four they did not need back to the nest. After carefully cing them he covered them with a bit of grass and retreated. Sending a message to Su they had finished up he went back to their previous camping sight.


    ¡­


    They had all seen the fire of rats run past them. Knowing where they were heading was a stressful reminder that they couldn''t leave their jobs to help. Remey struggled even more against the shadow chains seemingly making progress as time went on. The chains did not have a strong long term effect and could be worn down the more the trapped creature struggled. Seeing this Elise took note for how she would battle with her own cursed crow one day. She realized she couldn''t leave and help but she could learn more about the cursed crows abilities.


    " Ha! My arms free" a single shadow chain seemed to turn in to ink and melt into Remey''s shadow. She had freed one arm and would be able to hasten her full freedom.


    ...


    Laurence having seen the field rats at the time had run around preparing to cut them off. He witnessed their speed and knew Hyde wouldn''t be enough to stop them. Sending Riley to help Remey he took off running, in a sh he had summoned Bengal from his beast ring. Hyde was not going to be fast enough to catch these pests.


    Taking off on Bengals back the two circles at great speed. They reached the tall grass around the nest with ease. Just in time to see the field rats rush at the nest and im an egg Laurence was already cutting off one''s escape path. Bengal had cleaved it in two leaving the egg unharmed in its mouth.


    Bengal saw how determined Laurence was to retrieve all of these eggs and respected him for it. In all the times Bengal had been summoned while he was Laurence''s tamed beast he had never seen a renewed fire in his heart like now. Seeing the young hero''s growing with each step spurred Laurence to do the same.


    Cutting off two others which had run together they met the same defeat as the first. The eggs were easily retrieved. The fourth was greedy, it had stopped only a few feet in the grass to eat the egg. It left itself wide open for Bengal to step on it, the egg left resting peacefully on the snow.


    Laurence could see walker, midnight, and Gil chasing the final one but their speed was not enough. " let''s go we need to save thest one!" Laurence road Bengal in a half circle to cut off the field rat, he jumped off bengals back once they were close. With the two of them blocking its path it would not escape. Gil had unintentionally pushed the field rat even closer to them letting Bengal slice through it easily. However unlike the other rats it lost grip on the smaller egg.


    The small egg was tumbling through the air, Laurence knew it would be an affront to him as a tamer if he allowed a single crack. His body moved in its own and he dove. Clearing the gap he elegantly face nted into the ground outstretched arms hoping to catch. The smooth warm feel of the eggnding in his palms. He''d caught the egg! Damn you field rats I win we win! His emotions boiled within as he held every egg safely. Walker and Gil showed a whole new level of shock seeing him having caught the egg. Even midnight did a small prancing motion out of triumph.


    Walker took the non needed eggs to the nest to hatch naturally while he kept the smaller. Laurence was curious why but he knew that Su''s team needed to release the cursed crow and then they could all talk.


    ¡­


    Su who was waiting intently saw the system message from walker to release the cursed crow. " Remey have you freed yourselfpletely? We can release the crow now." Waiting for Remey to say she was ready they would move.


    Remey had managed to release every shadowy chain but for her left foot. The chain barely hung on and was broken after a few more moments of punching. No one was sure if this was the best method to break them but since it was Remey it worked. Seeing thest chain recede and feeling she had full control of her movements Remey stretched a bit " all good here, tell that stupid chicken to fly away fast or I''ll make fried chicken." She yed at being angry but her nces at Su proved she was actually thankful Su hadn''t been hurt by the crow.


    " alright onyx release the crow, Elise you and I will let it go as soon as onyx is back on my shoulders." Onyx quickly released its pressure causing the cursed crow to p its wings trying to pull away. Onyx''s tail had just pulled back up onto Su''s shoulder " release!" The two let go and the crow dove into the shadows wanting freedom. Seeing the V shaped shadow darting farther and farther away toward the nest they knew it was unhurt from its capture. " Ok! Let''s go back to the camp team! Nice job." Su was ecstatic that they had been sessful on their end.


    They were heading back but Su grabbed Remeys hand, " you did great". She was red faced, she had never had someone protect her like that. Remey herself just looked away indifferently.


    " Pfft I was just stuck in the shadows the whole time, I didn''t do anything." Su could swear there was a small smile forming on Remey''s face but couldn''t get in front of her to see it.


    "e on you''re all too slow! Ste let''s go see our new friend!!" Elise yelled for the others before rushing ahead, not wanting to be left behind Su and Remey followed. Riley, who had been starting to fall asleep, realized he should catch up too. Ah how frustrating it was to run but at least he didn''t have to work hard.


    ¡­


    Finding that walker''s group and Laurence were already at their camp trying to bring the fire to life Elise rushed around. " where''s my new friend?! Is it close to hatching? Ahh what do I name it? Shadow? Murder? Fluffy? What''s the egg look like? Is it giant? Can it swallow an elephant?" Her excitement was pushing her questions to even stranger topics but the group just continued on as if nothing was happening.


    "Walker, do you hear something? It would seem something flying around making a stir here."


    " yes Laurence, how strange, I thought the wind wasing from the east. Maybe we are imagining things."


    "Walker, Laurence, it''s obviously just your minds ying tricks on you all that''s here is us." Gil joined in their game.


    " Oh wait you two," Laurence pulled out a small egg from his beast ring. " I have this cursed crow egg with me too. That must be it!"

 Chapter 162 - 162. Avian Tamer Skills

    " aaahhh it''s soooo cuuutteeee!!! It''s so small it''s going to be the most adorable nugget ever. Wait should i name it nugget!? Will it look like it''s mother and be all shadowy. Will it be a shadowy fluff ball!" Elise and her hyper antics werepletely ignored by walker''s group who wereughing at their own little acting.


    Stended next to Elise and started her own energetic dance. She seemed much more reserved than Elise but still her face and body showed how she was feeling. " Ste! Steelllaa, look, that''s our cursed crow egg, it''s sooo tiny and adorable. I want to hatch it now!" Elisetched into Ste trying to drag her closer, finishing theirughter Laurence saw that Elise was about to rush in to contracting immediately without learning any more information. As her senior he had the responsibility to make sure her decisions were informed.


    His face fell into the strict stony look of a leader, "Elise calm down! Have you even asked walker why his group chose this egg? You yourself said it was tiny, does that seem normal for the research you did on the cursed crows eggs? And have you even thought that this specific egg may not be the exact one you were looking for? Have you even thought of any of this!?" His words pped Elise in the face, she was easily excited but in her actions she had forgotten all her work.


    Upon closer examination she could easily tell the egg was almost half the size of a normal cursed crow egg. However the strange aura of darkness around it seemed plenty strong, just like the mother cursed crow. Her eyes meeting Walker, she saw he was smiling in wait for her questions. "Can you please tell me why your group chose this egg out of those within the nest? I''m sure it wasn''t the only one there." Her heart still pounding from adrenaline she held herself back waiting for his response.


    " I''m d you asked, when we found all the eggs in the nest we had no clue which to grab. We didn''t even know if they would be different. Gil asked me which one to take and I decided to give my all around appraisal skill a shot. Most of the eggs were average size, they had beenid four weeks and approaching the hatching phase. They mostly had weak affinity for the darkness element. The two outliers were arger egg and that smaller egg." gesturing with his hands to the size of therge egg and pointing to the small egg Walker continued, "my appraisal skill told me that therge egg had consumed arge amount of nutrition from its mother. This meant it would be stronger when it hatched, however, it had very weak darkness elemental affinity. Thinking on that I assumed it would not have strong skills to use the shadows to trap a target. The small eggcked nutrition so developed less meaning it was less likely to survive hatching with its siblings. The positive is that the egg had a strong dark elemental affinity, it even has a second affinity, a weak wind affinity. Not only should it be able to use shadows better but it should be able to move faster in the wind as well." looking rather proud at his thorough evaluations Walker sat himself down waiting to hear what Elise was thinking.


    Elise was staring at him eyes wide, she had wanted the cursed crow to join her for its unique ability to use shadows as a form of restraint. The fact that walker could use his appraisal skill to find one egg out of many that could develop that skill better was incredible. Furthermore he had found one with a second affinity! The wind affinity was amon affinity for monsters with higher agility, yet for an avian type monster the wind affinity was more valuable. Having the affinity an avian monster would be able to fly higher, fly faster, and often grow faster overall. "It''s perfect! You couldn''t have chosen better! Who cares if it''s small when it hatches, it will just be cuter." she turned her head to re at Laurence who was still holding the small egg, she desperately wanted to form her contract. "Can I have my new friend now?" Giving in now that Laurence also understood the reasons behind choosing the small egg he handed it to Elise.


    Elise carefully cradled it in her hands loving looks on her face. " I haven''t shown off many skills but today i get to show off my way of contracting. Maybe a bit more too." She stuck her tongue out slightly teasing the party who was still fairly in the dark when it came to the intricacies of the tamer''s specific sses. Elise had only used her contracting skill once, with Ste, however it was second nature to her. Holding the small egg up to her face a soft wind began to blow. Visible green wind mana started to flow around her with the increasing wind. Soon her hair danced about taking on the green wind mana coloration. The mana traveled through her body focusing on her lips, the intense wind mana causing the snow around them to fly though the air. Sounds of grass rustling increased until all the mana was focused, she rested her lips upon the egg. The wind mana flowed from her into the egg causing a glowing green wing pattern on its surface, Elise withdrew her lips causing the wind to instantly die down.


    " All done! So what did you think? Pretty cool right?" Snow that remained in the air slowly fell around them, her contracting skill truly leading to an elegant sight.


    " More than cool! I''m not sure i have ever seen anything more beautiful." Gil was entranced by the way the wind mana had flowed through her. He had drawn many conclusions by experimenting with his new bow and wind element affinity, however, seeing the way it flowed in the air to condense was enlightening. Shocked by the suddenpliment Elise was slightly red faced but she couldn''t deny that the dancing mana was beautiful.


    With a sharp whistle Laurence teased Gil, " so you''re flirting with my junior is that it Gil?"


    The chorus of oooo and ahhh from Remey and walker was enough to cause Gil''s face to turn bright red. He stumbled over words trying to exin himself. Yet there was no escaping the teasing no matter what he tried. After giving up he instead decided to think on the way the wind was moving, if he was lucky he may learn more. Increasing his own understanding of how wind elements worked he could improve his archery by leaps and bounds.


    " Don''t you all get distracted now! I''ve got much more to show off, this is where things get good." Unhappy that everyone was losing focus Elise started to prepare herself for her next skill. " I can only use this skill when a monster is close to hatching, most tamers can. With a bunch of our mana and the right touch, " Elise wrapped her hands around the egg, warmth starting to radiate around them. Her face visibly became pale as the waves of warmth wrapped the egg. Small shadowy wisps came off the egg and everyone could swear they felt a soft breeze. This skill..is called¡­" her focus was leaving her out of breath.


    " It''s called incubation." Laurence cut in to allow Elise the proper focus. " The skill speeds up hatching, it''s not a perfect skill since it can only bring an egg closer to hatching. But seeing as Walker''s appraisal said it was four weeks old and nearing the hatching phase i think we will see something much more amazing." Quiet tapping sounds seemed to be echoing from the egg. Their frequency increased until the egg began to shake.


    Small cracks started to bow out from the inside of the egg, the tapping increasing every second. Elise had stopped her skill opening her hands fully showing the cracks growingrger. Chips of shells fell into her hands. "Cheeep, cheep" the tapping became apanied by the small chirps of a bird. Just moments passed and the shell finally broke open revealing a small ck chick. The cursed crow chick had wisps of dark mana flowing off its fluffy ck feathers. Its eyes were barely open but easily identified as green instead of red like its mother. Normally a hatched cursed crow chick would fight its siblings trying to get into the shadows, however this one that had bonded with Elise did not.


    The chick looked about taking in the faces of what may be its parents. Ste hade close next to Elise her feathers in in view. The Chick began to chirp hesitantly but then louder trying to hop towards Ste. Ste seemed to understand its chirping reaching out to it with some feathers. The two met with a soft touch, they already shared a connection through Elise but the chick had identified Ste as a mother figure.

 Chapter 163 - 163. Mama Stella

    Elise was using all her remaining strength to keep from snuggling the small chick. She was not at all upset to see that it had identified Ste as a mother figure. It made sense, they both had feathers. " Guess instead of big sis ste she will call you mother Ste." Elise softly bumped Ste with her shoulder. With her newly formed connection she could easily tell the cursed crow chick was female, another girl in the family.


    Afraid to frighten the chick everyone whispered, "Congrattions. Do you two have a name in mind yet?" Su broke the whispers with her question. She couldn''t hold back and wanted to hear what Elis and Ste had brainstormed.


    Giving Each other a look Elise and Ste had already decided on one during their night watch. Often as a child Elise''s parents told her many stories. Learning fairy tales and some history she had been enthralled by an angelic hero. The hero had pure white wings that could influence any being, her beauty was said to silence wars in a heartbeat. Known as one to stop conflict she quickly became revered by the people.Wanting the chick to follow her footsteps and have the ability to stop any violence they decided to name the chick after her. "We decided to name her Av after the angelic hero."


    " Hello cousin Av, wee to the world." Onyx greeted the new chick, it looked for the voice. Seeing onyx it jumped off Elise''s hands and onto the ground, it quickly fell into the shadows at Elise''s feet. Small chirping sounds came from here she was hiding in the shadow, onyx coiled up more a small hising from him. " No I will not eat you, I''m not a predator." His pleas don''t tone had broken any hope of whispering as everyone broke intoughter.


    The chick rose from the shadow behind Ste still making small chirps. Ste just shook her head at it knowing it waspletely convinced Onyx would eat it. Sadly it wasn''t aware midnight was also next to Ste. Midnight moved slightly alerting the chick, this time itpletely fell over in shock. " No sister Midnight will not eat you either, no one here will eat you." Clearly exasperated, Onyx unfurled from Su''s shoulders, he slithered into the ground and wrapped around Walker. Slowly turning into his tattoo form it would seem he gave up.


    "Awe I''m sorry Onyx, Av was just born, I''m sure she doesn''t mean anything by it. It''s natural to be afraid of the world when you''re little." Walker was trying tofort Onyx but received no reply, he was sulking. The stream of chirps wasn''t stopping as midnight was still sitting looking at the chick confused. Having enough of it steal used her wing to put a blocker between them, more head shaking.


    "That''s right Av we are your friends and family. No one will eat you here." A hesitant chirp from the chick followed, "Yes you, your name is Av, and I am Elise. That is Ste, she''s my sister." Pointing to everyone else in turn, "This is Laurence my senior and Riley my equal. This is the party protecting us, Midnight who you think will eat you, Onyx who you made feel bad." She paused on this giving the chick a stern look. " Remey, Su, Gil, and their leader Walker. We will all protect you so no need to worry." No one was certain that the chick understood a word but it started to chirp happily. At the very least it felt the positive energy Elise was trying to portray.


    After working this out the camp liveliness began to die down. Elise had settled by the fire chopping up dried meat into very small pieces to feed to Av. The little chick was greedily snapping up the small pieces as if it was starved. Walker could understand this may be a result of its lesser nutrition as an egg and maybe it would have a growth spurt sooner due to its voracious appetite. Letting his thoughts wander Walker was fairly happy with their actions today, the splitting up of the team worked well and the n was solid. The part that put him off was the field rats that had obviously been watching the territory. If there was any reason the warriors had warned them that the cursed crow was a bit more aggressive it was because it knew those field rats were there.


    Hunting the field the cursed crow must have noticed them at some point. However as Su had told Walker they rushed past them the second the crow was disabled. Meaning they constantly must have tried to enter the territory to steal eggs. These pests were definitely something they should exterminate when they see, too smart to rush in and get hunted by the crow and too fast to be caught easily.


    This experience showed how even their fastest party members were too slow. They needed to level up more! Leaving off on that thought he took his rest, waking up only for thest watch of the night.


    The morning came fast as always, however this time everyone was greeted by the enthusiastic chirping of Av. She had made a home on top of Ste''s head, she was basically a ck dandelion. Elise was already awake preparing meals for the two, seeing how serious she was about caring for her new cursed crow family member Walker could only smile. It would seem that through the night Av had gotten morefortable with all of them. Her fear being diminished after seeing them all sleeping near her without any attempt to eat her, a fear that was justified due to the fact that when cursed crows hatched they instinctively fought their siblings.


    Conferring with Laurence, Walker mapped out the journey to the demi-human kingdom capitol, the city of Ordist. They should only need another two days of travel, one of which Walker was determined to use to take quests in the area. The tall dried grass that stuck out of the snow would be the only obstacle they faced when it came to terrain. Many monsters may hide away in it trying to ambush prey, however Walker nned to use that as motivation to improve his senses. Midnight would be the biggest advantage with this terrain because she could enhance her sneaking ability with the shadows. The tall grass and shadowsbined would put her in the perfect position to crush any monsters the group managed to spot first.


    Once they had eaten a good breakfast the camp was easily broken down. "Let''s get moving!" Giving the go ahead to move forward Walker had everyone fall into the same formation they had been in previously. The only change was that Midnight was free to scout ahead instead of Gil.


    The mornings in the ins were peaceful, the wind would blow softly and grass would rustle against icy snow. If monsters didn''t roam them on the hunt it would be almost serene, but that was exactly how it was, monsters.


    Midnight had snuck forward a few feet through the grass, her goal to find something to fight first. Lucky for her she seeded, with a loud growl to alert the party she pounced on the back of a snow imp. The screech it let out as she shredded its neck caused its two fellow imps to rush away, directly to the party. Gil focused on the grass as the imp pushed it out of the way to flee, there was no need to hesitate so he used quick shot barely knocking its leg. The imp stumbled face first into Su''s waiting shield. With a hearty ng and a bit of force Su managed to crush it in one smash.


    Remey was after the second. The imp was unintentionally running towards where Elise was carrying Av, this pushed Remey to move faster. " nobody touches our new fluff ball!!!!" Her battle cry piercing the air she used her hammer fist skill to rocket the imps head into the ground. Her anger taking over slightly she repeatedly stomped it until the system notified them of a defeat.


    Standing in slight horror Laurence only had one thought, " let''s not threaten cute things in front of Remey."


    " Agreed" everyone who was witnessing this said in unison.


    Midnight was dragging her prey back towards them, it was still barely alive only enough so to twitch. " sister wants to give the kill to Av as a gift. She says she wants to see her grow strong so she can fly with her after her wings grow more." Onyx immediately tranted.


    For a human this would have been a strange gesture but for monsters this was indeed a great kindness. Seeing this any residual fear Av had for the young dragon before her melted away. With midnight using her strength to perfectly pin the snow imp down Av kept from Elise''s hands. The chick pecked and chirped her own battle cry. Secondster the imp stopped breathingpletely, surprisingly the party still gained experience, this was a nice way to share some with their friends. Av let loose a mighty chirp after defeating its first enemy, it may have been due to a lot of help but she was extremely proud. Ste and Elise could barely contain their gratitude to Midnight for being so kind.

 Chapter 164 - 164. Quests Galore

    " Hey Onyx can you tell what Av is saying?" Walker had been curious for a while but wasn''t sure if there was actually a dialogue there yet.


    " Sadly no brother, it is all mostly instinctual chatter. Her chirps basically trante in to; kill defend crush strong strong. She''s much like a child, I''m sure the more we speak around her the more she will learn." This made a lot of sense, a baby could really only follow its natural desires after all.


    "Ooooh nice job little Av you did so well. Our little guardian, I can''t wait for you to get big and strong!" Coddling the little chick Elise threw outpliments, this would give the chick the proper drive to help in battleter on.


    While everyone fawned over Av and Midnight''s good will Walker saw the opportunity to check out what quests have been sent to them by ra. He had neglected lookingtely due to how busy the rabbit tribe had made the party, but with his determination ignited he opened up the system.


    The list went on and on, ra had really been working hard. She had not sent any gathering quests because she knew that by the time they returned someone else could easily havepleted it. Taking gathering quests was just selfish and rude in this respect. Looking in to the ying quests it was in to see that some winter monsters had been causing trouble. The ins were fairly easy to traverse unlike some other areas in the winter, thus many merchants would still make the trek. Coincidentally, migrating monsters ran in to them often causing problems. Three quests seemed to line up fairly nicely.


    '' Quest: y snow imps


    A group of five snow imps have been sighted along the trade routes ambushing small merchant groups and running off with food. y them to maintain a safer merchant crossing.


    Requirements:


    y five snow imps


    Rewards:


    40exp


    60G


    Quest; y frost penguins


    Two frost penguins have made a small stretch of the ins their nesting territory. Travelers that encounter them have been harmed and chased off.


    Requirements:


    y two frost penguins


    Reward:


    20exp


    40G


    Quest: Snow golem menace


    Snow golems are an elemental monster often found in the mountains, one has traveled down in to the ins starting fights with any traveler. Defeat this pest to increase the safety of the area.


    Requirements:


    Defeat one snow golem


    Rewards:


    80exp


    125G''


    These three quests issued by the guild were all in line with the groups nned path of travel. The others Walker had ignored either required hunting down specific monsters to capture or adding time to their travel, both which he refused to do. The other bonus with these choices was that the party could fight two new monsters. The frost penguins were monsters often found in children''s novels, the romantic idea that they mate for life paired with their ability to slide on the ice made them popr. Remove the romanticism and the frost penguin was much less lovable, it had a sharp icy beak that it used to pierce through tough defenses. Often it lived near the icy rivers flowing off mountains but in the winter it took advantage of the snow to look for a mate and huntrge amounts of prey. It had a very tough stomach and could eat just about any living thing, something that made it exceptionally annoying.


    "Hey I am setting up some quests for us to do on our travel path, has anyone read up on snow golems before? All i know is that they normally live in the mountains and like to fight." Walker had yet to find information on one in the mansions library so asking the others was the best bet, who knew what they may have learned by chance. Not to mention Laurence may have battled in his prior travels.


    "Wait Walker did you not hear about the one that wandered all the way to our kingdomst year?" Surprisingly Gil was the one with an answer.


    "Huh?"


    "You really didn''t hear it, wow." of all the people who had not caught wind of the story Gil wouldn''t have picked Walker, he himself had always been running around by the gates after all. "Wellst year there was a snow golem that wandered down the mountains, apparently some adventurers encountered it and ran because they couldn''t beat it. Since snow golem''s are barely sentient snowmen that absorbed too much water mana it followed them. The adventurers not realizing snow golem''s only knew how to follow basic instincts to, well, fight and lead it right to the outer walls. Luckily that court magician was there, the woman with fire magic melted it to a puddle. Nobody was hurt but it was a big deal that one was all the way to the walls." He rambled off the story like it was everyday gossip.


    "Well that wasmon gossip for those in the fields since a few farmers saw it lumbering through their resting fields but for the average person it wasn''t thatmon." Remey was the one to stand up for Walker''sck of knowledge but they all suspected it was just her desire to mess with Gil.


    "So it sounds like it is weak to fire, leader, do you think you can learn a faster fire magic attack? It maye in handy for this battle."


    '' Daily quest: ying with fire


    Requirement:


    Using elemental maniption to teach yourself three fire magic skills.


    Reward:


    +1 matk.''


    "Su you''re great! You just caused the daily quest for me today to get three more fire magic skills! And the reward is a magic attack point!" Walker was practically bouncing as he shouted in glee. The daily quests had all been the sametely, revolving around helping the rabbit tribe. They hadn''t even been worth mentioning they had been so mundane. Finally he had a good one.


    "Yes I got a good quest too! Midnight you''re going down!" Midnight growled in response to Remey''s taunt, it would seem their daily quest was one where they would bepeting.


    "Sister says she dodge every punch you throw at her." Onyx tranted the growl with ease. It sounds like the two would be doing some battle training.


    "Hey Riley, let''s give your demon boars a good workout. I need some pressure to work on a new skill." Gil barely dragged Riley in to the open ins. Riley didn''t even have a chance to protest.


    "Leader, I will need your help with my quest. I need to defend against your spells. My reward is weak resistance to fire, it will be invaluable to the party." Su had already gained a poison resistance and was not working on some fire resistance, she was slowly but surely going to be resistant to everything.


    "Well Elise, it looks like we are taking a break to train...I swear i never can tell what will happen around all of you." with a sigh and a shake of his head Laurence started to set up a small resting camp. Luckily he had some tea he could boil up while he waited. As much as he wanted to reprimand them he knew that if these monsters were in their way they would battle them anyways, so it was better to ept quests and benefit more. Not to mention now they would have more strength to make it to their destination. Losing a little time was well worth the gain and further peace of mind.


    Laurence''s words were lost to the wind as Walker had already started cutting down some of the tall grass around. He nned on making space for him to create a small fire to manipte. After only a few moments Walker and Su had cut a sizable area, safe enough to start a fire without identally catching arge portion of the ins on fire, easily controlled and extinguished.


    Having made a safe area Walker started a small fire, using his elemental maniption he began to guide the fire. Last time he managed to learn a new spell he had condensed the fire, however, that led to a spell that took too long to create and to have an effect. It was also dangerous to use around an ally. His personal goal was to have spells that he could use around the party, the fear he had of identally harming those he cared for was ever present. One spell that haunted his dreams most was the mana destion skill he had used, it hadpletely destroyed the mana system of a living creature, he was terrified what it would do to others.


    Taking a deep breath Walker began changing the shape of the mes, he couldn''t create anything with fine details but interestingly enough he could make some rough shapes. Trying to force the mes to take on the shape of a small cat he could not help but giggle. Even Su joined in pretending to y with it, they werepletely entranced for over an hour doing so.

 Chapter 165 - 165. FIRE!

    The two hadpletely lost sight of the goals here, instead Su tried to feed the me cat that had slowly been changing shape pieces of dried grass. The benefits of the fire were great, even sitting on the ice they were warm. The two had no care in the world, Walker had begun to shape the ears better so they looked as if they moved up and down. The paws began to develop rudimentary ws and a waving tale. Finding that the more Su fed it the more the mes would bristle out almost like fur.


    Making the fire cat swipe at Su with its paw she blocked it with the back of her arm guard. Small ck soot spots showed up but caused no damage to her or to her arm guards. "Leader, can you make it bigger? Maybe we can have a new pet!" Su was normally serious but when adding in something cute Walker often saw the facade fall apart. Not wanting to disappoint her he used a free hand to grab a handful of grass, Since the mes were something that came from burning grass he only needed mana to manipte it and not create it. This in pair with the pieces of gear he had that helped him regenerate mana made him able to manipte it for a fairly long time.


    Not using even a fifth if his mana the growing fire cat had reached a foot tall. Su was even more entertained by this and began to y with it again, the cat''s paws causing more soot marks on Su''s armor.


    '' The skill me doll has been taken from the puppeteer system. The skill has been automatically learned due to user experimentation.


    me doll- 2mana cost


    Creates a doll of mes in the desired shape by the user. The doll will be able to follow basic actions as instructed by the user. Attacks from the doll will deal fire elemental damage often causing burns to a target. When destroyed will cause a loud bang to disorient its assant.''


    The system showed Walker the skill he had just learned and without hesitation he used it. The cat he had made from the mes took a denser shape and no longer constantly drained his mana. Instead it walked over to the pile of grass consuming some itself.


    "Oh! How''d you do that? It''s different now, did you learn a skill?" Not letting the change escape her Su wanted answers. The fire doll was yfully rolling about acting just as a normal cat would, it had been directed by walker to do so.


    Smiling at Su Walker exined, " that''s the first skill I just learned, it''s name is me doll. I can make mes change in to any shape I want and issue them orders. I directed it to act like a cat, and even better when it breaks it makes a loud noise to disorient whatever destroyed it. Here watch, kitty cat take a swipe at Su, she needs to block some attacks." The me doll stopped acting like a cat and instead rolled on to its feet, it''s tail sweeping up more grass in to its body. The mes bristles around where a spine would be on a real cat just as it bounded forward. The me doll cat swiped forward the soft yful swats long gone. Instead small bursts of me came from its ws reminding Walker of Laurence''s tiger Bengal.


    Su raised her arms not holding her shield and she was forced to try and deflect the ws. The hits were not very heavy and did not cause her damage, However they were fast enough that she was forced to take every blow. Fair to say she was on her way to finishing her quest. Walker himself was deep in thought, nearly two hours ofplete distraction had yielded one of the most interesting spells he had.


    The me doll did not need to be a cat, what if he made a dragon? A snake? A bear? There were so many possibilities, the only drawback was being able to provide its fire with enough fuel to burn. This fact was constantly reinforced by watching the cat me doll use its tail to pull small pieces of grass in to it.


    "Ugghhh I''ll worry about the possibilitiester i need two more fire spells! Little kitty cat please keep your me burning and wait over here. I''m going to need your help forming some more spells." Walker intended to use the me doll as a source of constant mes, it would feed itself so he could experiment with his maniption freely. A bit disappointed for the sudden stop Su pouted a bit but soon found herself more excited at the potential to see two more new spells.


    "Why don''t you try doing what you did with that earth spike you made? Isn''t that an earth spell?" Su like the others had just been assuming it was another spell Walker had learned, however it was not the case.


    "Actually it''s just me forcing two elements to work together with my elemental maniption. I had hoped it would be some sort of spell after the fire flower but that doesn''t seem to work. I have no idea on the requirements to make a skill topletely be learned." This was one thing Walker had partially been avoiding but now he could not avoid it. For the quest!


    "That court magician that Gil was talking about has a few stories about her. One is that she can create giant fireballs the size of a meteor, why not try that?"


    Walker left a quizzical look at Su, "you want me to make a meteor? Su you''re usually very down to earth, you do know that would destroy like a lot." He definitely thought she had broken something in her head for wanting him to do something so dangerous for everyone around him.


    "No not that, do it smaller like the size of a watermelon!'' Her re was enough to tell him he was overreacting.


    "Well i guess i can try it, just watch and see what i can do." trying to y off his awkward overreaction he focused doubly on his next attempt.


    Holding his hands above the me doll he pulled a small amount of fire between them. He imagined the fire rotating in a small ball the speed slow but dense. Constantly pushing the thought of it condensing in to a seed from his mind was his main focus. He refused to end up in the same ce he had before, he needed something new.


    "Leader try making it in to a teardrop shape, if it spins like that it might get too small." The idea was fair, with the spinning he was creating an inward pull but if he forced it to pull out he would create a more aerodynamic shape. He would also cause the rotation trying to condense would lessen.


    "Su get ready, I will let this fly, we will see what it does." Grabbing her shield Su took her stance ready to block whatever came at her. Walker raised his hands and willed the me forwards. The teardrop moved at a fairly steady pace. Halfway to Su it started to fade, by the time it reached her nothing but a match me brushed her shield.


    "Tsk" Walker began to form another this time letting it condense just a bit more. The second one he released got even closer this time but still puttered out. "TSK" his annoyance grew and so did the rate of condensation, the side of the teardrop condensed to almost half. Releasing the third he felt much more mana drain from him than before. The smaller teardrop fireball shot much faster mming in to Su''s shield, a burst of me slightly pushing Su back appeared upon contact.


    '' The skill Fire bolt has been taken from the fire mage system. The skill fire bolt has been learned through the user''s experimentation with elemental maniption.


    Fire bolt- 3mana cost


    Condensed mes form an aerodynamic shape shooting off at a target. Upon contact a small burst of mes causes knock back and burns.''


    " Leader that must have worked, that attack had some good power." Lowering her shield Su had her answer, it was written all over Walker''s face.


    That was the second spell done and done but there was still one more to figure out. The me doll had great use in providing fire to manipte, it could also cause perfect distractions during battle. The fire bolt would cover his safer to use fire spell goal easily. It was fast and caused some knock back, that could reallye in handy to throw off an opponent.


    With attack and distraction taken care of Walker was thinking he should focus on some defense, the real question was how could he make fire protect him. The best part was he had their party''s defender right in front of him, it was time to pick her brain.

 Chapter 166 - 166. Wrapped Up

    "Su what do you think i should do about defense? Do you have any ideas about how i could use fire to defend myself or someone else?" This was the right person to ask, as their group''s defender she would have the best ideas of what shape to make the mes take.


    "I would have said to use the fire like you make the earth rise in to a wall, but you said it doesn''t just be a skill that easily. Hmmm¡­." Closing her eyes to focus on her thoughts she took a few moments. "What if you tried to copy Midnight, she wraps herself in shadows to sneak around better. If you wrap yourself in mes the ice attacks from snow imps probably won''t get through. You''ll need to figure out the not burning yourself part though, i have no idea how to control mes." Well at least Su was blunt, her inspiration from Midnight was perfect, but the disappointment in realizing how many burns walker might get while figuring it out. Lucky he had a healing spell.


    The distant grunts of Remey unleashing punches and kicks over and over could be heard. The only response were the sounds of Midnight''s growls. If Walker focused he could even hear the stampeding demon boars breaking snow and ice. His party members were pushing themselves to the limit toplete their daily quests and he was afraid to burn himself? Was Su afraid of his mes as he directed them at her? How pathetic! Walker stood up tall he would push harder, he needed to give it everything he got.


    Instead of just focusing on the mes he focused on the flow of mana within him, not only would he need to control the mes but he would need to control the amount of mana used to keep them from burning him. Starting small he took a small lick of me trying to get it to form around his hands, The heat was too much for him causing ack in focus. The me dissipatedpletely leaving nothing behind but reddened skin on Walker''s hands.Using his light heal skill Walker fixed up his hand and started over. Another bit of me intertwined itself around his hand. This time he put more focus on the mana he used to manipte the me, the heat was slightly less than before. Biting his lip he pushed the me to grow little by little, his entire hand bing covered.


    The mes began to overtake his control zing up his arm, he dropped the mana letting it dissipate yet again. The damage was more this time he needed to use light heal twice to fix the damage. "Leader, stop trying to make armor. If you make armor it will fit too closely and burn you, maybe make it something more loose fitting."


    Su was right, he had been imagining a suit of ming armor that would perfectly defend him. Was that out of his league? Would a suit of ming armor made with his elemental maniption be at the level of a mastery skill? What if he did think smaller? He could take some inspiration from Lisa, she had designed his cloaks. Within his mind he thought of every stitch and detail he could remember from the first cloak Lisa had made for him. The mes would be his thread and his mana would forge the needle. Strings of fire began to weave around him bing something new. There was no burning or heat, just gentle warmth.


    Su stood as far back as she could avoiding the me threads that seemed to weave themselves. Walker standing arms out at his sides not moving an inch. Threads taking form in to a billowing cloak of crimson fire appeared around Walker. Seemingly alive it draped over him not causing a single bit of harm. Even onyx who was still on his shoulders showed no sign of fear or damage. Instead onyx only watched, wanting to take in every second of Walker''s new skills.


    '' The skill crimson cloak has been taken from the phoenix king system. Due to the users experimentation with elemental maniption skill the skill crimson cloak has been automatically learned.


    Crimson cloak- 6mana cost


    Uses the fusion of the users mana and mes to create a cloak of me. Magic and physical attacks thate in to contact with the cloak get burned up to varying degrees. Using additional mana the cloak can be expanded to blockrge area attacks. Therger the expansion the more mana consumed.


    Quest: ying with fire


    Requirements:


    Learn three fire magic skills using elemental maniption has beenpleted.


    Reward:


    +1 matk point''


    The moment the system sent this notification Walker fell to his knees, " I really need to start paying attention to how much mana I have left when I train" He had burned through all but two mana.


    "Leader, that was amazing!" lifting Walker back to his feet Su gave walker a shoulder to lean on. "You''ll make Lisa way too jealous if you let her see that. She will spend years trying to make a real cloak just like it."


    "Haha maybe it would be a good challenge." with both of their daily questspleted the two headed back to rest, Walker had dispelled the me doll letting his mind wander on what else he could shape it in to.


    Most of the day had already passed beingpletely sidetracked by their daily quests. The others still seemedpletely set on finishing up so Walker took the opportunity to rest.


    Remey flung a punch as fast as she possibly could toward Midnight. Jumping backwards she tried to p her wings to add a bit of height. She may not be able to fly yet but her daily quest was to learn to use her wings to dodge and attack Remey. Remey had a simr quest which was to use her speed and wits tond fifty hits on Midnight who was faster than her. The two had been sparing as much as possible Midnight wanting the experience from her quest to push her growth farther. She couldn''t get the idea of flying in the air to get above her prey out of her head. She would be the most deadly dragon ever, flying in wrapped in shadows suddenly dragging off a deadly enemy.


    Remey was pushing herself for an attack stat point. For Remey, she attack power in the form of the attack stat would be incredibly important. She naturally did not want to get hurt but, she feared the party would one day run in to an enemy she was too weak to even damage. If this ever happened she would be the reason they didn''t survive, she was the main frontal attacker after all.


    Gil was in a much different situation than the others, his daily quest had coincided with a system quest unique to his ranger system. Gil''s father was able to use a skill called double shot which allowed his father to shoot two arrows at once. This was very useful for group battles because Gil would be able to snipe two targets at once. More importantly if he could master this skill he could then start to learn triple shot. After that quad shot and furthermore a skill called multi-shot which fired a whopping seven arrows at once.


    When it came to mastering the skill it wasn''t enough to just be able to use it, he also needed to be able to fully understand how it worked. How the aiming of the two arrows fit in to the way he held the bow. How his wind elemental affinity could enhance the speed or direction of the two arrows. What to do when using the skill under mental pressure or cornered. These were all things he could work on under the onught of Riley''s demon boars. Unfortunately Gil could only survive training with two at the same time, however to Gil''s surprise Riley had the third assist in his own training. Seeing everyone in the parry be super motivated Riley felt he was being left behind. Naturally this feeling was intensified by not being useful in capturing the cursed crow egg.


    Laurence had jumped in to save the day with his best tamed beast Bengal. Then there was Elise who had Ste and now an equally impressive double affinity cursed crow chick. It was time he learned to make these wild beasts bend to his will. Utilizing skill after skill Riley slowly tried to make the single demon boar bow to him in either fear or respect. He would have his work cut out for him seeing as the boars were all extremely stubborn.


    The remainder of the day went on like this until every single one of them had returned exhausted. The only two unaffected were Laurence and Elise who had leisurely spent the day with snacks and tea enjoying the show. Ste had been caught up ying mother to the cursed crow chick. Tomorrow would be much different, tomorrow was for guild quests and travel.

 Chapter 167 - 167. Feeling The Heat

    Not a single member of the party waste to rise in the morning. Every single one had been spurred to action by their daily quests the previous day.This may not have been in their ns but was most certainly not a setback. Instead it should prove to be beneficial, having greater attack power could speed up their three nned quests on their way.


    Gearing up and putting out their fire, everyone was in their formation and heading toward thest known location of their first targets, the five snow imps causing trouble for merchant groups.The plotted travel path intersected with multiple mercantile routes. These routes were often well up-kept meaning they were easy to traverse, that went for merchants and Monsters.


    Elise was hesitant to expose Av to so much battle so early and had made the decision to keep her in the beast ring. This idea was supported by every member of the group, not a single one of them wished to see the new fluff balle to harm. This was naturally a rough lesson for little Av, however she took it in stride, soon epting the temporary arrangements. Ste had taken some time to coax her along but this was part of her job seeing that Av had imprinted on her. The adorable scene had started everyone''s day off on a bright note, truly setting the mood.


    Gil was sent out ahead of the group to scout out the mercantile routes, his goal to identify where the group of snow imps had recently traveled so that they could cut them off. Since these snow imps had been ambushing merchants there was worry they would try to do the same to the party, but with Gil scouting them out the imps wouldn''t expect their ambush to be turned on them.


    Gil stayed lower to the ground as he headed forward to keep his head from rising above the dried out grass. His footsteps silent he wentpletely unnoticed. Without the others constricting his pace Gil easily made it to some of the first routes. Well maintained with almost no outlying tracks he came up empty, no signs of snow imps. Instead of following the route like merchants would Gil made the decision to travel parallel. This would give him a new viewpoint of what the imps may see while they attempt an ambush. Following this Theory he traveled parallel to the route for some moments still finding nothing out of the ordinary, this was until he had turned around to report back to Walker. His foot was just about to step directly on to a strange looking scuff mark in the snow.


    Kneeling down he could identify the unmistakable shape if a snow imps foot, it seemed the tracks were heading farther parallel down the route. Following them a little ways he soon saw a strange cleaning. For some reason the route had been poorly widened justrge enough for a small group to stop and rest. Snow and grass had been piled on to one side obviously from the learning of the small area. Seeing that there weren''t any other fresh tracks heading toward the clearing on the main route Gil knew it was all too suspicious. Taking this chance to retreat Gil returned to the group with haste.


    Upon his arrival the group stopped for a short rest, "Walker, I was able to find some tracks. Following them I came in to view of a very poorly made clearing. The route had no fresh tracks so it obviously was not made by merchants. Also the snow and grass from that clearing were all piled in the same spot, I suspect that is the trapid out by the snow imps."


    Elise furrowed her eyebrows, " Are you saying the imps cleared the area to bait and ambush merchants? That doesn''t seem right." She couldn''t believe snow imps were smart enough to set such a trap.


    " The definitely don''t seem too smart I know, but how many times do you think they saw merchants do just that then settle down to rest for the night? The snow imps constantly saw easy prey setting itself up on a golden tter." Even the wildest beasts could learn hunting strategy, this was just slightly better strategy.


    Elise started to see what Walker was saying and decided to believe Gil''s theory, worst case the run in to ack of enemies. "Then what is your n, do we get to do the ambushing." Raising her fist punching the air Elise showed off a habit she had picked up from Remey.


    "Yea ambush!" and Remey was punching the air too¡­


    Shaking his head and pulling the other towards him Walker started their nning.


    ¡­


    Walker, Su, Laurence, Elise, and Riley walked down the route towards the clearing.They all took in the view of the roughly made clearing. It looked like an animal had rolled around tearing up the grass and throwing it in to a pile with dirt and snow it could grab. Ir was most certainly as Gil had said, not made by merchant hands.


    Once at the learning Su positioned herself so that she would easily be able to defend any attacksing from the pile of grass and snow. Walker was by her side equally prepared for any attacks. The others feigned preparing camp to rest. Stretching his arms with his staff in hand Walker pointed toward the pile. This was his signal.


    Gil had led Remey, Midnight, Onyx, and Ste to the side of the pile ready to perform a pincer attack against the Snow imps believed to be waiting inside. Once they were all ready Ste took off out of the tall grass flying up to gain an aerial view. Her disturbance had shocked the snow imps inside the pile causing them to move slightly showing the groups exactly where they were hiding within. "There they are, let''s move!" Walker shouted his order and with it came his new fire bolt spell.


    The fire bolt tore through the air encountering the pile, pieces of snow and ice were thrown about. Grass fell around them burning from Walker''s attack. The snow imps screamed in anger as they felt the hot sparks on their skin, they burst forward after Walker. "Come at me you weak toads!" Su taunted them controlling their motion towards her instead. The three snow imps farthest from Su started to throw ice needles towards them. Walker had been prepared for this, he immediately created his crimson cloak skill. The flowing crimson mes that created the cloak sizzled as the needles came in to contact. They melted almost instantly, not a single one making it to Su''s shield let alone touching Walker.


    The snow imps werepletely focused on Walker''s group which was now fully mobilized for battle. Ste had started her speedy descent closing in on the snow imp farthest from Su. Swooping down her talons locked around her target quickly dragging it in to the sky. The party had seen her do this before and did not desire to see the results yet again.


    Gil''s side of the pincer had moved forward, Midnight did not utilize her normal sneaky strategy but instead rushed forwards to pounce and im her own prey. The third snow imp that was previously letting loose ice needles tried to free its brethren from Midnight but was met by an angry Onyx. Onyx had used his tattoo skill to hide on Midnight back, but seeing the enemy approach he revealed himself using his bind skill to stop the imp in its tracks. The Snow imp couldn''t even scratch.


    Walker and Su were about to focus on the remaining two snow imps when they suddenly copsed just a few steps in front of them. Two arrows were lodged in their backs. The imps still twitched on the ground making Walker and Su take steps back, but before they could move in to finish it, two more arrows pierced the imps at the same time. Walker had seen Gil fire two arrows at once. He has mastered double shot.


    Walker and Su hadpletely be the distraction not even having the chance to join the fight. Walker had nned for them to join in and defeat the five with teamwork but obviously they were all powerful enough to optimize the distracted state of the snow imps. The result was aplete shutout for their enemy.


    Coming up a bit hesitant Laurence got Walker''s attention, " so not exactly to n but I think Gil stealing the show with his fancy arrows was pretty neat. Although I don''t think we should tell him that. Right fire boy?" Laurenceughed a bit at his joke as he headed to check on Ste with Elise.


    Walker would definitely be rethinking his strategy when it came torger battles, the fact that Gil could now take down two targets or at least disable two was excellent. Instead of unsteady at this realization he was instead finding himself excited, the party had more options now.

 Chapter 168 - 168. Slip And Slide

    " Hey brainless, thanks for the heads up you would take two down at once. All my hard nning fell to pieces." Walker approached Gil punching his shoulder.


    " Oh yea it''s my fault your new spell that we''ve never seen made every single one target you and Su. what was it I heard Laurence say? Oh, right, fire boy." Gil returned Walker''s punch with one of his own.


    "Ugh stop flirting you two, Walker you need to get the snow imps stored away, I swear they are still looking at me." Remey shrank away from the nearest snow imp hiding behind her.


    "This is a brotherly bond, you''re just jealous we get along so well while you are too hot tempered." That was when Remey started chasing Gil around. The two were definitely going to tire themselves out before the group even got near the two frost penguins.


    "Leader Midnight has dragged the Imps in to one pile, please store them away. I will make sure those two stop their trouble." Su as reliable as ever took the pressure from Walker as she put on her scolding face, those two were in for a good lecture. Su also may have been a bit jealous that Gil had shown off his new skill and she had no way to show off her new fire resistance.


    Elise was cleaning off Ste''s talons, the snow imp she had dropped was hardly recognizable at this point. No matter how many times this happened Walker could never see himself being used to it. However the fact that avian type monsters had this fighting style opened Walkers eyes to a wider world ofbat.


    Monsters of different elements would obviously y to their strengths, as would anyone in a life or death battle. Ste was an avian type monster, she could fly, because of this she was able to drag enemies in the air and let gravity do the work for her. This must be the same for earth based monsters as well, they could create quicksand or something simr to drag in prey to their demise. Water type elemental monsters could most likely use water to drown and trap enemies, The possibilities were all there just waiting for Walker to analyze and create countermeasures. This was one of many moments that remind him of just how young and inexperienced the party really was. They may havee far in such a short time but that seemed to hold them back more than help. They could easily fall victim to a situation an older adventurer knew to avoid.


    While he stored the snow imps bodies away Walker thought on this. Meanwhile Onyx and Midnight were doing their own bonding. " Sister I did exactly as you said, I hid on your back then crushed the the prey. It didn''t even scratch me." a few growls and huffs from Midnightter Onyx replies, " No sister i would never doubt you. I just feared if I did not capture the other prey it might try to harm you". Midnight blew a slight bit of steam from her nose after hearing this, "Yes sister I understand no one will ever beat you. When I grow bigger I won''t need to bind them, I will crush them for you with a swing of my tail." This answer seemed to excite Midnight who started to prepare for the next fight.


    The two were having their bonding moment so Walker decided to let them be. Instead he decided to make sure all the embers from his fire bolt spell had gone out, it was not any of their intentions to start a fire. Just because it was cold did not mean the grass wouldn''t burn.


    After they had all taken a short rest they focused on to their next target, the frost penguins. They were upying an area not toorge in size but was well traversed causing a significant amount of trouble. Normally if they were just nesting in the area they could have been chased out with force, however since the pair was actively defending the territory and causing injury they needed to be in.


    Since the party wouldn''t need to worry about a possible ambush like with the snow imps Gil was positioned in the back. They also remained as one group so they would not be easy targets for the frost penguins piercing beaks. Walker did not want Riley, Elise, and Laurence jumping in to this battle. He was worried that the penguins could utilize their speed to quickly take them down or seriously injure them. Tamers had the great benefit of not being alone but the huge downside of not using other gear to defend themselves. Therefore the three were told to strictly remain behind Su, Laurence would bring out Bengal in the worst case scenario.


    Easily making their way to the area the penguins were the party mostly took merchant routes. It was obvious to see that the routes were being bypassed due to the frost penguin threat. Narrow paths in the grass and snow had been ttened, these would be the trails the penguins often slide around on while patrolling and attacking. They had oil coated feathers that repelled water so sliding around was often very fast for them. Add on their ideal body shape which had very low air resistance they could build up decent speed to pierce an enemy.


    "Eeeaaa" The group had just started to approach a wider part of the route when a loud cry drew their attention. Just a little away from them two monsters were just seeing them group approach. This was the pair of frost penguins, their blue ck feathers shining reflecting the sun. Their dull orange beaks were incredibly pointy being covered in a clearyer of ice. Yellow wispy feathers came off one of them differentiating the male from the female. Walker would have taken more time to analyze them but after just a moment the two flopped on to their bellies and started picking up speed towards the group. Using the water mana in the snow to build it up faster.


    "Su get ready they are building up a lot of speed." Using his multi buff skill Walker made sure that Su had the proper backing to block both of the frost penguins attacks. "Gil can you slow the one in back down?"


    "You got it." Gil notched an arrow tracking the penguin with the yellow feathers. Releasing the arrow it flew the distance to the penguin but just as it would havended in to it''s back the penguin took a sharp turn. They were fast and could dodge! Gil refused to give up and started to prepare another arrow, he may have missed his target but he had created some distance between the two penguins.


    "Remey you''ll need to be fast, the second Su stops the first hit get in there with a hammer fist to try and knock it down. Midnight you''re her back up, if it''s not knocked out in one hit crush it." The pair needed no more encouragement, they had trained together for their daily quests previously and had gotten extremelyfortable fighting together.


    The first frost penguin picked up intense speed heading right for Elise, Su was already in position. The sharp beak mmed in to her shield with a sickening crack. The frost penguin he hit so hard that Su stumbled backward slightly, however the penguin had no chance to take advantage of this, its beak had splintered due to the intense force. This was a losing battle for a strong spear against an imprable shield. iling in pain the frost penguin was left wide open, Remey took the advantage and jumped up wards letting her sped fists home down with extra force. Her hammer fist left her equally vulnerable but had devastating blunt force.


    The thud of her fists on flesh made the ground tremble slightly, the penguin becamepletely stunned. The second penguin with yellow feathers tried its best to turn and attack Remey but it had been forced off course by Gil''s steady assault. Midnight fell in to her roll supporting Remey, Using her ws she shredded through the penguins surprisingly soft feathers. The frost penguins gave up plenty of defense to gain speed and attack power, this now put them at a massive disadvantage in closebat.


    Gil finally managed to properlynd an arrow on the approaching penguin which squawked out in pain. This gave Remey and Midnight the notice they needed to return to Su''s protection. Walker sent a fire bolt toward the oing penguin which was now enraged by its injury and the loss of its mate. Increasing its speed to a much faster pace than the first penguin had Su knew Walker''s attack would miss. She ced herself in front of Walker who had drawn the attention of the penguin. Walker''s fire bolt flew past its target, bursting with a small pop on the ground. Su mmed her shield in to the ice and snow on the ground, she wanted to use it as a base for support. She put all her weight behind the shield for the next oing attack.

 Chapter 169 - 169. Big Oaf

    The frost penguin struck dead center on Su''s shield, she was pushed back leaving skid marks in the snow. The penguin brought to a firm stop, "haaaaaa!" putting all her strength in to it Su pushed back raising her shield more. The penguin was not expecting such a counter and flipped on to its back. Two arrows sprouted from its exposed belly right before Remey came down with another brutal hammer fist. Midnight swooped innding a devastating bite to its neck finishing the second frost penguin. The penguin had not expected Su to be so prepared to counter it after being pushed back so much.


    After using her strength in her block and sudden counter Su had fallen to one knee catching her breath. To be safe Walker used a light heal spell not wanting Su to have any small injuries. She had demonstrated why she was the sole defender of the party. She refused to be outdone by the others, they all had improved their skills and so did she.


    "Su that was amazing! That penguin rushed in like swoooooshhhh then mmed your shield down and it smacked in to it like a wall. I thought it was going to hurt you when it pushed you back but then you were like haa and it flipped over. You were so cool, I didn''t know you could do that!" Elise had been captivated by Su and her fancy shield work, to Elise Su was an unbreakable wall. The overwhelming show of defensive prowess really spoke to her, the strength that radiated around her was inspirational.


    In turn the others praised Su as well, Su on the other hand who was not used to such copiouspliments turned vibrant red. Shrinking away behind her shield they got to witness the rare sight of an embarrassed Su, a turtle shrinking away behind its shell.


    While the others fawned over Su, Walker was about to store away the second frost penguin body when he found himself wondering what in the world it could be used for. Utilizing his ever trusty all around appraisal skill he checked up on the frost penguin body.


    '' Frost penguin body


    The body of a frost penguin is often held in high esteem for chefs. The highly concentrated fat within its meat makes it incredibly tender. The light bones are used to create vorful stocks for soups. The sharp beak is too brittle for use in crafting and is often just used for disy purposes. The feathers are sought after for jewelry and pillows due to the oils produced by the penguins, they deter water.''


    This was a pleasant surprise, Walker had expected more utility in crafting but instead it was a better food item. Thinking that his mother would rather enjoy this as a fun ingredient to cook with he stored it away with the intention of giving it as a gift. The feathers would most likely go to Lisa who could best utilize them in some form of clothing or nket. Happy with his discovery Walker made a thorough check of the area to make sure they didn''t leave anything behind. Finding the area was all clear he pushed everyone to continue on, there was one more quest waiting for them toplete, they couldn''t stop until the snow golem had been dealt with.


    With some encouragement Walker was able to get everyone on the move again, the protesting from Riley who wanted to take a break to eat again was one of his rare moments of speech. Yet Laurence was always prepared for it and was able to get him back on track with a little tough love from a senior.


    The tall grass became more sparse opening up to a tter more snow covered area, the wind seemed slightly stronger as well which would exin why the grass wasn''t able to stand tall above the snow. The stronger winds caused Elise to give up on participating in the next battle, Ste would have too much trouble staying on course. It was not worth the risk of additional injury.


    Riley would need to sit out as well, the fact that his demon boars were wild was a constant risk. Walker often found himself wondering why Riley was grouped up at all, but seeing that Laurence was the more experienced member leading to lesser experienced members the theory was that Riley needed guidance on how to operate before he went out solo. Of course Riley was not opposed to sitting out again since he could bezy and rx.


    Laurence had made it clear that he would only participate if needed in thest fight, this time he wanted the same, however, he did mention that Hyde would be out of the beast ring to watch. This would be valuable learning for Hyde who would almost always be smaller than his opponents. Dealing withrger opponents often had their ups and downs, they were an easier target for long range attacks but they also hit much harder in close range. Since Hyde could fire ming quills at a distance Laurence had hope he would see the value in keeping distance as a ranged attacker, Laurence wouldn''t always be able to hold him after all.


    The expanse of snow was almost blinding to their eyes but the group pushed forward, the snow golem had recently been sighted near here and should be easy to hear or see when they got close. Knowing this Walker began to focus on his hearing, a snow golem was arge enemy and would definitely make a bit too much noise lumbering around. He soon began to pick up a very quiet thumping in the distance. "Walker, there''s something way out there moving, I can''t pin it down it''s like a shift in the snow." Gil''s sharp eyes were the reason Walker had opted to focus on hearing, whatever Walker didn''t hear Gil would see. They were the perfect pair of sight and sound.


    "I can hear a sound of heavy footsteps in that direction as well. I would bet that it''s the snow golem, it''s made of snow after all so it makes sense it would blend in from a distance. Let''s see if we can get it toe to us." Walker removed some of the dry grass he and Su had gathered from their daily quest the previous day. Knowing his fire doll skill would need fuel he wanted to have something on hand. Easily starting a small fire Walker willed the fire doll to take the shape of a cat yet again, he wanted a speedy form to be able to dodge any attacks from the golem. The others who were witnessing this spell for the first time had their eyes glued to the fire as it took shape. Seeing Walker feeding it grass to build up its fire they were even more enthralled, "Alright now kitty cat, head over there and lure that big oaf here then when your close jump at it head on to distract it for us." With its order the cat pulled some more dried grass in to it and rushed off. Noticing that everyone but Su was fixed on him Walker couldn''t help but tease a bit, " It''s just my new fire doll skill, it''s nothing much." with a wink to Su, she joined in.


    "What leader is saying is right, it''s not all that grand. You all look like you''ve just witnessed a miracle. Let''s focus now we have an enemy heading our way." Su and Walker shared a mischievous grin as they prepared to hunt the snow golem.


    The sounds ofrge steps making their way closer caused the rest of the party to snap in to attention. The once small looking difference in snow was approaching. Now that it was closer the shape had been defined, The snow golem was about seven feet tall and thicker than arge tree. Its hands and arms were rudimentary without joints or defined features, but something told them that it could still grasp and crush them. Each step slightly shook the ground easily demonstrating the sheer amount of snowpressed to create its body. The goal would be to separate the golem''s body from its core which would break its flow of water mana. Once this was aplished it would be unable to maintain a shape and break apart. The challengey in chipping away at thepressed snow that made up its body to actually get at the core, using Walkers fire bolt they should stand a chance of whittling away at it.


    "Gil, keep your distance and try to push it off bnce. Su deflect its attacks only if you need to, no head on defense it will hit too hard. Midnight and Remey, you two are on hit and run tactics. We need to get as much of its body broken apart as possible, once we see the core we will go all in on separating it. Onyx stick with me, you can''t use ranged attacks so it''s too risky right now." The n was set out and the snow golem was near.

 Chapter 170 - 170. Shaved Ice

    The me doll cat was darting around in front of the snow golem, the golem was too slow to grasp the small cat in front of it. If it could manage to grab on it could crush this annoyance and be victorious. The size of its hands firmly in fists were like two giant hammers waiting to pound an enemy in to the ground. With its long stride the golem hade in to range of Walker and Gil, knowing this the me doll cat turned and charged in at the golem, the golem reacted by swatting at it. Its massive fist mmed in to the me doll no problem causing it to break, a loud bang rang through the ins causing the snow golem to step back uneasy with what just happened.


    With the distraction set Gil had begun to target with a wind elemental arrow. He was aiming for its arms so that it would lose some fighting power, if he managed to damage it enough the party could focus attacks on one side to reach the core. While Gil built up his wind elemental arrow Walker released three consecutive fire bolts to take advantage of the temporarily stationary golem. The fire bolts rushed through the air colliding in to the golem''s left shoulder. Bits of snow and ice fell from it while steam rose from the golem. There was barely any damage but this was expected. The small bit that fell from the golems body was enough of a start, Walker had also given Gil more time to finish preparing his arrow.


    Gil released the wind arrow pushing it to increase its speed before impacting with the golem. Having seen where Walker''s attacksnded he aimed for the left shoulder as well. The wind on the ins seemed to mix well with the arrow giving it an extra boost, upon impact the arrow was unable to pierce through the golmes shoulder. But it lodged in to the shoulder causing whipping wind to explode from it, pieces of snow were flew off the golem leaving a decent crater. The shoulder was missing about half of the snow that made it up. This progress was nice but unfortunately to keep it up would cost more mana than they had.


    The golem was not very happy about being attacked from long range and began to takerger steps to approach the group. Seeing that its pace increased Walker hurried to create another fire doll, the same cat form of mes began toe in to shape. He wanted to use it to assist in Remey and Midnights hit and run strategy, if the golem was about tond a blow on either of them the me doll could jump in to take the hit while the other retreated. Gil was forming another arrow but the golem hade too close, Midnight and Remey moved out to start their tactics. Su remained near Gil and Walker, if the golem targeted either while they prepared attacks the fight was over.


    The snow golem noticed the twoing towards it and lifted itsrge fists to try and crush them. Yet as soon as the fists started toe down on them they slit opposite sides. Midnight when towards its damaged left side using her ws to sheer away more snow. Remey ran around it trying to draw its attention. The golem spun following Remey just as she wanted. This left Midnight another chance to strike. The two continued this switching off, however as they were about to try for their next attack the snow golem began to raise a foot. Once its foot was in the air it stomped downwards causing the ground around them to vibrate. The two lost their stride and were forced to take quick steps away from the golem, Walker had just finished his second fire doll sending it in to start up the distraction again.


    Remey and Midnight were d to see this since they had nearly be easy targets while off bnce. Returning to closebat the two waited for the me doll cat to draw the golem''s attention, the cat zipped under the golem causing it to reach downward exposing the damaged shoulder. Remey and midnight took this as a good time to unleash a dual attack. Remey came forward with arge right hook aimed at the thinnest part of the shoulder. Midnight came from the opposite direction her ws cleaving away a part of the shoulder as well. Theirbined efforts were rewarded by the shoulder giving way, therge left arm of the snow golem copsing on to the ground. " Walker, while we distract it more, get over here and store this arm! I''ll tell you whyter!" Remey shouted at Walker who had no idea why she would want to keep apressed pile of snow, but he dashed forward anyway keeping a sharp eye on the golem.


    The snow golem waspletely focused on the tree running around and attacking it. Having lost an arm it was aggravated so much so that no other thing than crushing its enemy was its focus. Walker was able to get to the golem''s severed arm and store it away, surprisingly the arm had already started to melt leaving a small puddle on the ground. Since the golem was distracted Walker stayed where he was taking careful aim. He sent two more fire bolts at the golem easily striking its left side. Larger pieces of snow were not being broken off since it was constantly building damage to one area of its body. More and more steam rose from the left side of the now enraged snow golem.


    Gil began to aim his next arrow at the golem''s legs so he could slow its movements even more. Expanding arge amount of his mana the arrow was released, since the golem was closer the arrow reached it much sooner. Lodging itself in to the golem''s left foot the arrow tore through bits of snow. The remaining bits of snow that could barely be called a foot made the golem very lopsided, it now leaned down to the left letting Remey and Midnight more easily target the weak side. The two began to dig deeper with each strike breakingrger chunks of snow from the golem each time. This dance went on for some time before the actions of the golem changed.


    Acting much more erratic the golem began to swing in a wide arc with its remaining arm. Raising its legs to kick downwards and force the three that rand around its feet back became a constant attack. The golem had sensed its core bing exposed. Gil had always had a sharp eye and was able to spot the darker blue coloration in a crater of the golem''s left side. "Walker see that blue icy spot? That has to be it''s core! We need to get that out of its body!"


    Easily finding the spot Gil was talking about Walker prepared himself to jump in at the right moment. Midnight and Remey also heard this decided to pick up their pace. Pushing closer to the golem they were met with frantic attacks. The golem knew it was in danger and its instincts to survive took hold over it. The next swing of its arm was not the same attack as before, as the arm was going to miss them it spontaneously detached from the golem. Flying toward them the arm made heavy contact rocketing the two tens of feet away. Walker was instantly moving and his body was acting faster than he could think. Speeding forward he knew if he didn''t stop the golem this second it could easily move forward and stomp Remey and Midnight to death.


    Walker released multiple fire bolts trying to draw its attention but the golem did not even flinch. The golem knew this was a critical moment, it''s instincts screamed to defeat the enemy in front of it or else. Walker witnessing this used all his speed to reach the left side of the golem, plunging his hands forward he wrapped them around the extremely cold blue ice core of the golem. Pulling as hard as he could it refused to budge, the golem continued towards the still stunned Midnight and Remey dragging Walker with it. He braced his legs on the golem''s side itself trying to gain leverage to pull the core free, the pain of the core freezing to his palmspletely ignored. No matter how hard he pulled the core refused to budge, the golem was painfully close. Walker couldn''t help but think of how bad he was failing as a leader, he should be able to protect hispanions at any turn. "Come on you stupid oaf!" His entire body jerked tearing at the core, he may not be the strongest person in the party but he would do anything to make this happen. Walker was pulling himself closer prepared to release a fire bolt right in front of himself, he knew if he did so he would be damaged as well but it was worth the risk.

 Chapter 171 - 171. Together

    Walker prepared himself for the ensuing pain, his fire bolt would do more than just burn him, he wasn''t even sure if he would be able to fully heal himself. There was no going back, it was now or never...hands grabbed Walker''s shoulders. "Pulll!" Su''s voice screamed in his ears, he did not hesitate for a second and pulled. All his strength, all of his being was in this attempt. The next second he was falling backwards, his body crashing in to the snow and hard armor. An elbow jammed in his ribs, someone''s knee jabbed in to his stomach. His frostbitten hands clutched the blue icy orb that was the snow golem''s core. The hulking figure of the snow golem was grumbling before him.


    Walker desperately used his mana to heal his hands so he could release the snow golem core and stand. The green healing aura wasn''t fading yet before he had forced the core in to his storage, afraid the snow golem would somehow start to reform. His feet tripped over others but he couldn''t stop himself from sprinting ti Remey and Midnight. The two were knocked unconscious by the golem''s arm. The arm was beginning to deteriorate but not fast enough, it was still on top of the two. Storing it away as well Walker frantically healed the two who did not show any signs ofing to. "Walker! Stop it stop it now! They are breathing and healed!" Su had gotten up from the ground to chase after him only to see him healing them over and over. Walkers mana was nearly gone and Su knew that if he continued he would be down on the ground as well.


    After having Su scream and shake him back to reality Walker could see they two were still breathing, any injured gone from them. Looking at Su, Walker saw behind her was Gil, Laurence, Elise, Ste, and even Riley in a mess on the ground. Every single one of they had pulled Walker from the back, they were the force behind him. They had alle together to tear away the golem''s core, Gil was the second one up rushing to where Walker and Su were. The look of panic on his face fell away as he noticed the two were alright. Expelling a long sigh, he gave Walker a look, " Get your butt over there and store away more of that Golem''s snow. Didn''t Remey say we should save it? You don''t want her to beat you when she gets up?"


    "Pshh damn ve driver you are, making me work on almost no mana." hearing Gil reprimand him for sitting around he was able to break away the tension. Although Remey would totally go punch him if he didn''t collect the rest of the golem''s snow, she wouldn''t even take a second to worry about her well being. Remey was Remey and punching was what she did. Su and Gil grabbed the opposite sides of Walker and brought him to his feet. While he went to collect the golem''s snow they started to set up a rough campsite so Remey and Midnight could rest morefortably.


    Laurence, Elise, Ste, and Riley were starting to get their own breath back, able to stand stretching themselves; they knew there would be a few bruises in the morning. Walker easily stored away the snow and turned to his friends, he wasn''t sure what to say to them at all. They had all gone above and beyond to help finish the fight even though they had said they wouldn''t join in the fight. "You don''t need to say a word, let''s all just make a camp for the night. We don''t need to travel anymore today."Laurence rested a hand on Walker''s shoulder a moment before walking towards where Su and Gil were setting up camp. Taking a moment to appreciate those around him Walker headed to help set up camp.


    Their fire was zing to stave off the cold, the group decided to break out more food than usual since they were near the demi-human kingdom now. The heating meat and toasting bread was the motivation needed for Midnight to shake herself awake. The noise she made as she came to was also enough for Remey toe back to reality as well. The two seemed confused but not for long, Midnightpletely dropped her confusion and chose instead to rush for food. It was nice to see her priorities in order. Remey however did need some exnation, one second she was fighting a massive snow golem and the next she wasying in camp by the fire.


    Walker had been keeping a close eye on the two waiting for them to stir, that being so he was right there when Remey began to look around. Not worrying for Midnight he knew that she would go with the flow, also Onyx would exin it all to her since they had been getting so close.


    "Sleeping beauty awake again, how do you feel?" The royal re Walker had received with thatment was definitely worth it.


    " Don''t feel a thing. Better than ever, I gave that snowman a good smack¡­." she raised her fist definitely but the confusion returned to her face, having trailed off Walker took the opportunity to exin what happened to the two of them.


    ¡­.


    "So it pretty much threw its arm at you two since it was about to be taken down. Without everyone backing me up I''m not sure the core would have separated from its body. Speaking of cores, we have three of them now, snow golem, undead golem, and iron golem cores. Wonder what we could do with them."


    "Yea yea cores and ns and stuff do whatever. So you gathered up as much of its snow body you could right? " Remey really could care less what happened with the cores they had as far as she cared Walker could drop them in a hole.


    " Well of course I did, but why is it so important?" It was Remey''s turn to be surprised, she knew something Walker didn''t.


    " Alchemy of course! If you had used that fancy appraisal skill of yours you would have seen that the condensed snow that makes up its body is very pure. The old man at the alchemist guild once showed me that medicine or potions made with it are almost double as effective. The only reason it was so rarely used is because the body melts and takes in impurities too fast, but with your spatial inventory magic thingy we can get a lot of it all at once. That means what student Walker?" Wagging her finger at Walker Remey was now ying teacher.


    "Well Professor Remey I would say that means we have some to make our own potions and we have some to sell to your friend at the alchemist guild."


    "Full marks full marks" the twoughed a bit before Remey''s stomach growled louder than a beast. "So let''s eat that good by the fire!" She had nor realized how hungry she was and smelling the aroma she had been pushed over the limit. Heading to eat themselves they joined everyone who was happy to see Remey back up and moving. Today was yet another reminder that no matter how hard they nned if theycked strength things could still go wrong. They had been lucky so far but one day they may not be.They needed to get stronger, that heroic leveling was one of their quest requirements and it needed to be achieved.


    Walker was checking out the system notifications from the day, he wanted to add up how much experience they had all gained today. Totaling it up with their title multiplying it they had gained four thousand seven hundred experience. On top of that they had gained another two hundred and fifteen gold, this isn''t even considering what they could make selling the snow imps and golem snow. Walker nned to try and sell the snow imp bodies when they got to the demi-human kingdom, Ordist was sure to have a trading hub of some form. They would also be meeting the tamer''s guild master who could possibly offer a decent amount of advice during their stay.


    The journey had taught them a lot and parting with their new friends was something he did not want to dwell on. But he needed to be realistic, on the party''s trip home they would be alone with no one to escort, meaning that they could take many more quests along the way. For now however, Walker wanted to imagine what the so-called "beast kingdom" would be like. What kind of demi-humans would they meet? What kind of new magics or weapons would they encounter? In many stories there were tales of their coliseums, where warriors would battle in tournaments to challenge each other for glory. There really was a massive world of possibility constantly in front of them, it was just their choice to choose which they chased.

 Chapter 172 - 172. The Sights

    With the previous days battles behind them and some good sleep under their belts the group was excited to finally reach a new kingdom. For everyone in the party thus was the first time seeing another kingdom, it was something they never had imagined would happen. Heading out early in the morning the ins began to fade away. The first hours brought small cottages with their own farnd or animal pens. The farther they traveled the more grouped the homes became giving way to small viges. These ces were not major in size but housedrge families that had been there for years. Massive yellow stone walls began toe in to sight, the yellow stone was rather roughpared to the smooth grey stone the Crystal kingdom capital Diamond was. Walker stocked that up to the locations being different influencing the avability of certain materials.


    Massive gates opened in the wall allowing many different demi-humans ess to the city, there seemed to be a spot for those with wings tond and check in with guards at the top as well. Large guards wearing red and yellow armors were stationed along the entrances to each gate. One demi-human in particr seemed to be acting as the foreman at the gate requesting identifications from travelers. The group began to approach the gates after waiting in line for sometime, Laurence had taken the lead since they would be visiting the tamer''s guild headquarters while in the city. Walker double checked that every member of the party was wearing their travel medal that the king had gifted them, hopefully it would speed up the entry process.


    "Name or affiliation, identification, and reason for entry into the city of Ordist today." the demi-human that was asking Laurence for these things seemed fairly bored, his hair was white and fairly curly. Long ck horns arched from his head, a sheep trait demihuman.


    Laurence pulled some papers from his cloak, "Myself and my fellow tamers are checking in at headquarters for a scheduled report. We will be bringing in some guests with us for our report."


    The sheep demi-human took the papers and adjusted a small wire frame pair of sses to carefully read them. Looking at Elise, Riley, and Laurence in turn nodded and passed back the papers. "Everything is in order please have you guests step forward for identification."


    Following the man''s orders Laurence waved the party forward. Standing in front of the demi-human man he recited the same things asked of Laurence. "We are registered with the adventurers guild as the Omnipotent party. We are here to finish an escort quest with the tamer''s guild members. We would also like to do some sightseeing, the city so far looks rather amazing and I can not wait to see within the walls."Realizing they only had their medals as identification Walker removed his and ced it in front of the demi-human man. "I hope this is enough as a form of identification, we also have our silver tier adventurers'' ques on us."


    The man had been focused on the paperwork on his little table but seeing the medal his quill fell to the floor. Seeing this tworge guards approached, they sensed something wrong since they had never seen their superior drop anything let alone their prized quill. The guards had short ck hair on most of their bodies along with bulging muscles, definitely gori traits. Worried that something was wrong Walker picked the medal back up, about to apologize, however the demi-human man spoke first. "Honored guests, I do apologize for my inappropriate greetings" the man stemmed from his table and lowered his head. "I shall not allow myself this mistake ever again, I should have recognized emissaries from the Crystal kingdom immediately. I shall notify our king of your arrival, I am sure he will look forward to speaking with you. Until then I shall send my personal guards with you as an escort to the tamer guild headquarters, Wee to the city of Ordist!" Motioning to the two guards that had been approaching he whispered orders to them, after just moments the guards snapped to attention as straight standing as possible taking one side of the group each.


    Meanwhile the group was looking at each other quizzically, since when were we emissaries? All of the party asked this question to themselves, they may have met the king and been given a mansion but not such an important title. Inching next to Walker, Laurence bent down slightly whispering in his ear. "You never mentioned those medals made you emissaries, that would have been useful." some frustration was definitely evident. " If we had known you were emissaries we would have been able use a much more discreet entrance."


    "Trust me if we knew that the travel medals the king gave us made us emissaries we would have told you. We seem to have been duped."Walker was equally frustrated, now on top of meeting the Tamer''s guild master they would have to meet more royalty potentially making their trip home farther away. They loved adventuring; it was their dream but the party did miss their family.


    Having the two intimidating guards at their sides they didn''t feel like wandering off to sight-see would be possible, so Laurence settled for taking them directly to their headquarters. Once through the gate a new world was open to them, needing to stop to take it all in the party saw tall buildings made of the same rough yellow stone. The streets were massive with plenty of room to move and haggle in. Bustling crowds swarmed food stalls which cooked up any food imaginable. There were many trees and bushes nted making it feel almost as if they were in a very organized jungle. The air was not empty but popted by many flying demi-humans, some buildings had openings up high allowing them tond there for entry.


    Looking down therge road they could see all the way to a massive stone castle, branching off from the castle in the four cardinal directions were the coliseums. They wererge enough to house thousands and attracted massive crowds outside. This was one major reason travelers visited, the kingdom was known for their exceptional warriors and challenging them was often a dream of those with rted systems. Remey would most likely be vying for an opportunity to do battle herself if they let her get too close. To be fair even Walker considered it slightly but he preferred magic instead of closebat.


    Being led down side streets the party saw many fruits and vegetables that their kingdom did not trade in, the demi-human kingdom definitely had a very food focused lifestyle. This was part because they had the open spaces of the ins to farm in and also because their animal traits often push their metabolism very high requiring more nutrition. "Before we leave we will need to pick up some new ingredients for Hilda! Walker, your mother would love that!" Remey was thankfully only eyeing the food and not the coliseums. She did have a point: these were ingredients someone with a baker system may not have ess to, and seeing that experimenting with something new could help her level up it would be a perfect gift.


    "Put the food aside, we need to bring back some seeds for my mother to grow. If we do that she can grow all the food we like and Your mother can cook with them, it''s the perfect n." Gil''s idea was also spot on.


    "We are definitely doing both, I also want to check out what else they get in from other ces. It might not just be food, it could be books, gear, clothing, anything! We should also stop in at their adventurers guild, they may operate on differentws but they are still connected to ours." As much as he wanted to shorten their to do list Walker seemed to see more and more things to add to it as they walked.


    Curing through many of the extra wide roads and past some more elegant buildings Laurence paved the way for the party. Soon they were approaching a veryrge open area. It was fenced off with its own gates and had a partial roof. Many different stables and roosting areas were set up all popted by a myriad of different monsters. Some of therger beasts roamed the open area. Onerge stone hut in particr was letting out a constant stream of dark smoke, Walker could only guess that was where the guild master''s dragon was rxing. The open space even had a small but deep pond that constantly rippled with motion. This was most certainly the tamer;s guild headquarters.


    "Well Laurence I''ve got to say, this is pretty amazing. I think we could spend a few hours just touring all of this before even getting to the city." Smiling at these words Laurence gestured so a man on the other side of the fence. A small section of the fence fell in to the ground revealing an opening to enter.


    "Wee to the guild my friends."

 Chapter 173 - 173. Tamers Guild Master

    There seemed to be someone rushing around every step of the way. Carrying food, cleaning the grounds, practicing with the tamed beast, too many moving parts to easily keep track of.


    The species of monsters were hard to ount for as well, some as simple as goblins, night hawks, giant spiders. And others with additional limbs or massive fangs the party had only ever seen in story books. Walker was certain a wealth of knowledge existed here, he would only need to gain ess to any library they had. For adventurers knowing the traits and possible attacks of a monster was a massive advantage, therefore if he utilized his mental archive skill and the tamers guild information the entire party would benefit.


    The main building they had been led into was mostly storage and indoor resting pens. Many stairs led underground which was only assumed to be to more resting pens. The entire building was designed to haverger doorways and wide open concepts. This was definitely to make the tamer''s beasts feel morefortable.


    Something akin to a store was on one side or arge hall, shelves upon shelves of strange things. The jars and baskets held ores, crystals, monster parts, bones, flowers, so many things. "Ah our little shop caught your eye, I see. That''s for tamers to buy things their bests may need for growth. Rare foods? We have it. Rare medicine ingredients? Right over there. Shed feathers from a molting falcon? Yup have it right in the shop. We travel so far and so often that we easily establish a decent tradework to get what we need." Definitely a surprise for the party, the tamers would obviously have resources that others did not and would aim to trade and sell them. Walker made a note to stop there on his way out, maybe he and his all around appraisal skill could find something nice.


    Only half of the main building seemed to have a roof, most likely due to the essibility for flying monsters. This meant that only half the building had a second floor. Reaching arge staircase and heading upwards the all too familiar sounds of a busy office filled their ears. Many in tamers guild inscribed clothing ran from desk to desk sharing paperwork. This was only one of the many headquarters, imagining howplicated the web of information that traveled through each one let alone to and back from each other was daunting.


    Midnight was behind Walker following along taking in the sights. She was steadily gaining arger andrger ego since tamers were constantly stopping to gaze at the little dragon that had entered the office. Most of them had only even seen the guild master''s dragon and that was if they were lucky to see it taking off. Standing much taller Midnight pranced about, "sister says she likes it here, people understand her power." Hearing onyx trante walker wanted to p himself, this was all he needed, Midnight to get an even bigger ego from all the attention.


    "Well of course they understand your power, there''s only one other dragon here. Tamers that can tame a dragon are extremely rare. Not that you''re necessarily tamed but to them it''s the case." Laurence casually replied to Midnight, everyone had steadily gotten used to Onyx''s trantions. Onyx himself felt great pride every time he was able to convey something that couldn''t be spoken, to him it was a job only he could do in the party.


    "Actually speaking of the other dragon, will we get to meet it? Do you want to meet it Midnight?" Not sure if she should be excited or worried Su wanted to test the waters to hear what Midnight thought of other dragons.


    "Ah well that''spletely based on the guild master''s mood." Laurence seemed a bit off put with his answer, maybe the guild master was overprotective of hispanion.


    "Sister says she would only like to meet them to show them she is stronger. Then she will have this as her territory too." Well the first part was expected, Walker didn''t worry about that it was a ssic Midnight desire. But what was this about territory?


    "What do you mean take this as your territory?" Walker figured the best way to understand was to t out ask.


    "Sister says that she is the most powerful dragon at home so that makes it her territory. When she proves her strength she will take this as her territory too." Well it was true that Midnight was the only dragon they knew of at home so technically it could be her territory.


    "Well just don''t run in to battle with the Guild master''s dragon, at least try and have a conversation first. Who knows maybe you two will be friends." In response Midnight snorted dramatically. "No, I know that''s you ignoring what i''m saying. Friends first then we can talk about territory." Picking up on Midnight''s different responses and gathering the meaning before Onyx spoke was one trick Walker had picked up on. Surprisingly the only other person with a knack for it was Remey, Walker wasn''t sure if it was due to their rivalry or if it was a special bond they had.


    Once they had walked through the offices they came to a rather silent corner, this was in contrast to the adventurer''s guild which led directly to ornate doors and office space right outside them. Instead here at the tamer''s guild they were greeted by the average oak door, well slightlyrger oak door. Lawrence knocked on the door softly almost as if he was afraid to be more loud. In response a loud thud came from the other side of the door apanied by some scrambling. "Whoever is interrupting my peace better get their sorry butts in here before Ie out there to beat them!" The gruff voice did absolutely nothing to hide away their anger. Was it peace the person inside was having or a nap? The party was sure it was thetter based on the scrambling after Lawrence knocked.


    Pushing open the door they were all greeted with a fairly simple room. There were no grand bookshelves orrge desks. Just simplefy chairs around a coffee table. One in looking desk covered with paperwork. Not even paintings adorned the walls. Even the floorcked a carpet and only had the woodboards. The owner of the gruff voice they had just heard said behind said in desk.


    Expecting arger man to be the owner of the voice they heard the party was stunned to be dead wrong. Just barely four anda half feet tall the smaller burly man red at them. His long beard was peppered with grey losing its brown color. Spots of soot streaked his aged face. Something told them that even though he seemed small and old that he could easily take them down without any trouble. "Ah Lauraence you finally drag yourself back here. I thought you''d been lost in the forest again. Get on over and sit down, I expect good news." The guild master did not even spare a nce yet for the party. He waspletely focused on his own members, rightfully so, if he wasn''t his position would be at serious risk. Seeing this Laurence wanted to speak up but thought better of it and sat down as instructed. "Elise, while your senior talks let me see that cursed crow egg you picked up, I will take a careful look, you know I have a knack for guessing how good a monster will be."


    Her eyes lit up at this, not only did she get to show off Av, but she would also be able to show off her new friends who helped her acquire the best possibly cursed crow chick anyone would ever see. Carefully she summoned Av from her beast ring in to her hands, "Guild master Ribbolt, As you can see she has already hatched. Her name is Av and she is easily the greatest cursed crow the guild shall ever see. She has a very strong affinity for dark mana which means she should be able to lock down other monsters better. Even more she has a weak wind affinity which makes her more amazing. I could not have achieved this without my new friends!" with the spotlight suddenly on them Walker saw no reason not to introduce himself.


    Hello sir, we are known as the omnipotent party. We hail from the crystal kingdom capital city Diamond. We are only affiliated with the adventurers guild and look forward to continuing to build a rtionship with the tamers guild." His words seemed to go unheard, the only noticeable difference was thatRibbolt''s eyes stopped on Midnight and Onyx for a moment. The look was enough for Walker to know they had been noticed. Ribbolt focused back on Av and Elise, wagging his finger over the little fluff ball. "Now Laurence, why aren''t you reporting in? Speak already." The hint of annoyance made Lawrence sit up much more straight before he began to recount their travels.

 Chapter 174 - 174. Ignored?

    Laurence spoke quickly without leaving out any details, the guild master Ribbolt seemed very interested in hearing the part about the party auctioning off corpse spider eggs. The more the story went on the more Ribbolt seemed to nce at Walker. The party had been standing still the entire time, Midnight was clearly bing restless. Absentmindedly Walker began to pat her head to keep her distracted from waiting. Slightly jealous Onyx left walkers shoulders partially to reach his other hand, Walker nowpletely distracted himself was smiling like a fool giving both of them attention. He often forgot how young they really were even though they could do so many amazing things already.


    Seeing that both the monsters with the party that had entered his office were getting attention from the leader, Ribbolt began to peg Walker as a tamer. Seeing that Ribbolt was known to be a bit aloof he did not fully read any notifications from his tamers. This being known by the average tamer in the guild Lawrence had already pieced together that he didn''t know why the parry was there, most likely having approved the escort without a second nce. Laurence became a bit more energetic after realizing their guild master was still falling in to the same habits. He had already gained a small revenge on the rabbit tribe that made fun of him years ago for his poor dancing but now it would continue. This guild master of his that had always burst in to anger and shirked his work would feel the shock first hand!


    Finishing up his report of every event during the travels Laurence held back a triumphantugh knowing the guild master would be asking about the party any minute. " You three very well know you won''t be able to hatch and form a contract with any of those eggs. If you dare keep one from a tamer that could give them a good home expat to be food for Toro." The stern look on Ribbolt''s face spoke of unending penalties if his words were not headed, Walker wondered who Toro was but didn''t speak up to find out just yet. "Now you there leader of the whatever it was party, are you sure the adventurers guild is where you wish to stay? Tamer''s at your age with two beasts, let alone a dragon and an abyssal serpent, should be with my guild. You would gain much more."


    Ah and there it was the moment Laurence was waiting for. Midnight let out a small growl knowing how Walker felt about her and Onyx being called his tamed beasts. They both knew very well that to the core of his being he saw them as his family, every day he expressed to them those true emotions and reminded them of this. "Respectfully sir, These are not tamed beasts nor am I a tamer. Let me properly introduce myself, I am Walker user of the jack of all trades system. These are my siblings Midnight and Onyx. Our ranger Gil, Brawler Remey, and Shield bearer Su." The steel in his voice betrayed his polite words. Ribbolt respected a tamer''s feelings towards their tamed beasts but found that new tamers would still see them as beasts. However he was not hung up on the fact that Walker had so quickly decided his beasts were equals but instead that not a single person the boy had introduced had any form of system rted to taming.


    "Laurence, why did you bring them here, who''s tamed these monsters if none of them are tamers, I can clearly see their identification tags. I know they are registered." the cold re almost put Laurence off of his happier mood. Gesturing to Walker Laurence didn''t even need to speak.


    "Brother I feel this man does not understand our bonds." Onyx spoke up causing Ribbolt to shift slightly, his poker face remained but his bodynguage showed he was unsettled, never had Ribbolt learned anywhere that abyssal serpents could use skills allowing them to speak within someone''s mind.


    "It may seem odd to you but as I said I am a user of the jack of all trades system. That being said I learned the blood contract skill and formed equal contracts with Midnight and Onyx. I am in no way a tamer, the skill was only a way for me to build a strong bond with family." Not only was this boy insinuating that he was not a tamer but also that he could use a high taming skill blood contract. Tamers that used such skill often had a very wide range of possible tamed beasts, it was unheard of for one without a tamer type system to have this skill!


    Feeling this was somewhat familiar Ribbolt moved to his desk throwing papers around causing a general mess to grow. Eventually lifting up a small folder he flipped it open reading the contents. This was the information Laurence had sent ahead of them as they traveled. It exined the intricacies of the party they had escorting them along with the rtion to the king. Even more so it described the details of their titles. "Hmmmm" the long noise Ribbolt made while he thought of how to proceed almost seemed to echo. "So five hero titles and one monster with a skill I have never heard of its species having...Not to mention those medals show you are close to royalty¡­" trailing off once again Ribbolt had reached the spot where Laurence had promised a reward from the guild master.


    Still reveling in his masterful ability to shock the guildmaster ina minor bit of revenge Laurence turned to Ribbolt with a smile. Notsting more than a second Laurence recognized the look of impending punishment. "Laurence seems to have told you I would be paying for their escort, Of course I as their kind and honorable Guild master would be more than willing." It was like a volcano building to eruption, Laurence knew his future was done for, the guildmaster was sure to put him to cleaning the pens for months. "Well it may not be much but I see hints of dragon scales in some of your gear, as it so happens Toro sheds his scales once a year to growrger. If you would like some I am willing to part with about twenty medium scales." This reward sounded rather small at first but Walker came to the realization that these would be twenty medium sized scales from an ADULT dragon. Not to mention they didn''t even know its species yet, it could be extremely valuable to them, not that they nned to sell it but instead use ity for more gear.


    "Thank you very much, we will gratefully ept it. We are very happy to have been of assistance escorting our friends home. We had many fruitful encounters as Laurence described, some of which I am sure we would not have had without their knowledge." This was in no way exaggerating, Walker couldn''t have imagined meeting the rabbit tribe without their guidance. "Midnight has actually been shedding her baby scales, she''s nearly finished as I''m sure you can see. I hope that you can give me some advice for what is toe next. I know it greatly depends on species but any knowledge is valuable to us." Walker found the reward interesting and its value was not lost on him Yet he refused to think of it now, he was finally meeting someone who was adept in raising a dragon and he wanted to drag out as much information as possibly to try and help himself.


    "Well I do see what you''re saying, I can also see she is very new to her wings. Skeletal dragon wings and crystal ck fire dragon body with mixed up scales. I''d give the wings another three months before she could fly for over an hour, that is unless she starts easing more bones and more dark crystals. Also make sure she prectives pping theme, she doesn''t need to lift off just p them until they are tired. I have some journals you may find interesting, I can dly share them, well as long as you can show me this system of yours that can use our timer skills." Waker had been the one trying to glean information but Ribbolt wasn''t going to give it away freely, he wanted proof that this boy in front of him could do what he said. This would also give him a better understanding of the type of person trying to form rtions with the guild, it was not every day that someone with a title, let along five with a title visited.


    Even though Laurence was significantly taller than Ribbolt, Ribbolt managed to grab hold of Laurence''s ear and start to drag him out the door. "Well get those feet moving we are going outside, Laurence has volunteered to spar with you so you can show off the skills you have." The disgruntled sounds of Laurence as he was dragged down the stairs were all toomon sounds when the guildmaster visited a headquarters, not a single tamer stopped to help in fear they would be dragged in as well.

 Chapter 175 - 175. Show Me What You Got!

    Heading out the other tamers that were training made plenty of room in the plentiful area around the tamers guild. They knew all too well that the guild master needed a wide berth when he trained himself, a few younger tamers always learned this lesson the hard way, the tales of lost eyebrows to dragon fire were more than one would expect.


    Finally released Laurence refused to look at the party, it has been months since the guild master treated him in such a way. Laurence had basically been raised by the tamers guild, this made the guild master much much harder on him. He knew it was because the gils master cared for him like family every more so than the other tamers but it was still embarrassing for him to be treated this way. "Well boy move on up! You two are going to show off a little, Laurence, tell thatzy cat of yours they need to fight."knowing he did not have a choice Laurence called out Bengal, who did not seem to be happy in the least. However seeing Ribbolt, Bengal lost the normalx attitude and became extremely serious. It was not only Laurence who had been raised by such a person.


    Walker really didn''t want to spare with Laurence, he knew Bengal was much more powerful than they had seen. Reluctantly he prompted Onyx to move off his shoulders and on to Midnight''s back, He would be doing this alone. This seemed unfair but if Walker really wanted to show Ribbolt what he had for strength he couldn''t rely on Onyx or Midnight. Not surprised that Walker did not bring in hispanions Laurence was prepared to dodge constantly, Bengal may be strong but as a tamer his greatest weakness was when he was alone. Bengal would need to attack Walker to keep him upied while he avoided any attacks directed at him.


    Walker himself was starting to be excited, he had not wanted to do this a moment ago but thinking about the curveballs he could throw a tough enemy that wasn''t going to kill him if he messed up got him excited. Pulling the remaining dried grass from his inventory he used a fire bolt to start it all on fire. This sudden appearance of grass was astonishing ro say the least, Ribbolt in his long years of being with the guild had only seen true spatial magic a handful of times.


    Knowing that Walker had many ways to bend the mes to his will hemented allowing Walker the chance to prepare. Sending Bengal towards Walker he realized he was already toote the fire had taken shape, no longer was it a mass of uncontrolled fire. The familiar shape of a harpy flew in front of Walker blocking the ming ws. Since the tigers sh had been enrobed in mes the harpy hadn''t taken any damage at all, adding more fire to fire was not that big of a damage dealer. On the other hand since Walker had changed the shape of the mes in to a Ste inspired me doll he now had an aerialpanion to battle with. Not only had he carefully watched Elise and Ste train so he could learn their strategies but he also could use his me cloak so that his me doll harpy could pick him up. Seeing that Walker was using his skills to the best of his ability Laurence pushed Bengal to move faster. Before the me doll even had a chance to grab Walker with its talons the tiger had already gotten in front of him. The oing sh was terrifying but not unavoidable, Walker fellin to a stance utilizing the dance of the wild rabbit skill. His spins dodged five consecutive shes from Bengal which only enraged the tiger.


    Earlier in it''s life Bengal needed to work incredibly hard, always training with Laurence under a brutal guild member, always under pressure, and never a day of rest. Years of this made Bengal the prideful tiger he was, he could crush many enemies with his powerful ws, nothing would stand definitely before him. After Laurence had been promoted higher in to the guild Bengal finally found rest, he becamezy and temperamental not having any motivation to push forward. Laurence who had also felt the same allowed it to happen, This resulted in the current Bengal being easily pushed in to rage when things did not go his way.


    Seeing that Bangel was being consumed by his anger Walker let fly a fire bolt, it would not harm the me attribute tiger much at all but it would sting a bit. The me doll was also trying to get a few good hits, Walker constantly shouted out orders for it to attack in certain ways, these all stemming from what he had seen Ste do in other battles. Walker was really beginning to like the hit and run tactic.


    Coming in for another exchange with his ws Bengal pushed forward again, however Walker was prepared for it now. Using his elemental maniption he began dodge backwards his dance of the wild rabbit beginning to escte. During a second of pause Walker stomped on to the ground using his mana to form two dull earth swords. He made the thin so he could maintain his speed to avoid Bengal''s ws. Laurence had yet to see walker do something like this, he had seen the earth spikes and walls but Walker had just made blunt edged swords? Narrowing his eyes Laurenece prepared for Walker to do something even more shocking than his usual antics.


    New weapons in his hands Walker couldn''t help but remember the dual swordsman he had met, his father had once introduced Walker to his instructor. The instructor worked at the military academy now as he retired a few years ago. This being the case the instructor had somehow taken arge interest in the training of the guards. That being so he had developed many connections with every guard. Due to this while Garret was worried to find Walker''s system he was one of the people Walker was taken to. They had given Walker various swords and shields trying to unlock something, however when Walker had witnessed the instructor attack a training dummy with blinding speed using both swords it became forever burned in his mind. This was a childhood dream long forgotten, but now as it resurfaced Walker knew he could do more to learn.


    Approaching again Bengal leapt in to attack, narrowly avoiding the sh Walker crossed the two blunt earth swords. He copied the motions from his fathers instructor and brought them down. Not surprisingly Bengal avoided Walker''s strike, he was much faster than Walker, the only issue was that utilizing the dance of the wild rabbit skill Walker could dodge attacks narrowly, which meant his speed did not need to be higher than Ben''s. The me doll swooped down while the tiger was focused on Walker, able tond some annoying hits with its fire talons. This gave Walker the chance to read the new skill he had hoped the system would give him.


    '' Skill cross sh has been taken from the dual swordmaster system. Through strong desire and users actions the skill cross sh has been automatically learned.


    Cross sh- 2mana cost


    Requires two ded swords


    Using the user''s strength and mana create an X shaped shing attack. The two swords used sustain damage from the rioting mana poured in to them. The mana once released causes increased damage to the target.''


    Walker had seen this very attack slice a wood dummy in to four pieces years ago, now he would be able to sue it himself. His pace of dodging was picking up and so was his heart beat. His feelings intensifying he shouted for the me doll to rush at Bengal, this went as expected, the me doll flew in to Bengal who swatted it to the ground. Not letting up for a second, Bengal pounced, destroying the me doll, the incredibly loud bang that resulted causing Bengal to falter for just a moment. Walker was already next to him by then, the swords crossed starting his attack. The cross shnded this time on Bengal''s side. The mana used in the swords caused them to shatter back in to pieces of earth, however the marks left on Bengal''s fur were in a perfect X shape. Bengal saw this impromptu haircut and sung at Walker. The pace having built even faster, Walker was ready to move in to the dance of the rabbid rabbit. Now the real sparing would start, while dodging the next attack two more earth swords were pushed up to him however they were rougher than before. Walker''s mentality was affecting his control over his maniption of the earth, but this didn''t matter. He was going to go all out against Bengal, the Tiger could shrug off Walker''s soft hits with ease.


    Bengal shed at him over and over trying to hit the annoyance in front of him, instead Walker spun around letting off small hits with every turn. These did nothing to hurt Bengal but did show Walker''s skill. Slowly bing embroiled in the dance of the rabbid rabbit Walker nearly dropped one sword to attack with his hands. Seeing this Bengal became much more angry, He needed to show this fly it''s ce!

 Chapter 176 - 176. Sparring

    Bengal released a loud roarpletely interrupting Walker''s flow, mes radiated from his feetpletely pushing Walker backwards. "Finally you get warmed up, Let''s get serious now!" Laurence shouted his encouragement to Bangel who was now intimidating beyond what he was a second ago. The roar he had unleashedpletely broke through Walker''s Dance of the rabid rabbit, the pace now broken Walker did not feel he could fall back in to it without building up again. This was a huge downfall he did not expect the skill to have.


    The slow footsteps of Bengal radiated more mes at every contact with the earth. Walker tried to manipte the air to send a gust of wind to slow Bengal but failed. The tiger waspletely unaffected maintaining its pace. Lifting the poorly made earth swords Walker thought better of rushing in now and instead dropped the swords. This action made Bengal rush forward, This was unfortunate for Bengal who met Walker''s staff head on. The mana shot skill Walker released had strength enough to halt Bengal for an instant. This was all Walker needed to begin channeling more mana in to the ground, he knew he couldn''t beat Bengal at all so using arge amount of mana he would try and trap him. Wishing there was snow in the training area Walker would have preferred to manipte water. But the guild seemed very good at clearing away and keeping things clean.


    Feeling the rumble in the ground Everyone knew something big wasing, Bengal also sensed this and moved forward to sh again, still able to barely dodge Walker had finished what he wanted to do. Walls of earth rose from the ground around them, they were starting to close in in to a dome shape trying to capture Bengal. Walker himself dodged one of Bengal''s shed and narrowly jumped out of thest opening. The earth mmed shut leaving an angry tiger inside. Sweat poured down Walker''s face, not only was he low on mana but he had pushed his body while trying to reach the dance of the rabid rabbit. The onlookers had grown slightly as some younger tamers couldn''t help but wonder what was going on.


    Thinking he had trapped Bengal had been a mistake, the earth trembles and cracks int he earth dome Walker had made became prevalent. More and more shaking could be seen in the earth before another muffled roar was heard. me escaped the cracks as the dome shatter sending ming debris everywhere. Some unlucky young tamers became victims of the debris, they had earned their first bruises from the guild master''s training decisions, it was a badge of honor. Bengal who had just shown his force sprinted towards Walker. Not expecting Bengal to recover instantly Walker desperately tried to turn to dodge but he wasn''t able to. Bengal swatted him with hisrge paw sending him tumbling five timesnding gracefully on his bottom.


    "HAHAHA you took some time to get riled up but I''m finally starting to see the energetic kitten Laurence managed to find abandoned in an alleyway." Ribboltughed seeing the final strike, Bengal had retreated toward Laurence wanting to go back to rest. Now that Bengal had worked hard and shaken theziness from his body Laurence knew that he would want to rest, he also knew that Ribbolt may just let up on him seeing that the two hadn''t gone too soft from theirck of training.


    Walker who was still sitting there stunned seeing Ribboltughing to himself wasn''t sure if this meant the sparring match was a sess. Moving from their safe viewing spot Gil and Su helped Walker stand back up. After some minutes of brushing himself clean most of the dirt and sweat previously visible had been wiped away. Laurence had returned the victorious Bengal to the beast ring before he walked over to make sure Walker was OK. Easily seeing that there were no problems he rxed, " I did not expect you to use Elise''s strategy, Ste would have been jealous seeing another harpy dive bombing someone in battle. Although I think the swords were more surprising, where did that ideae from?"


    Feeling a little better after hearing the praise Walker recovered his bruised pride from being knocked down in one swipe. "My father is a guard as you know, he once took me to meet an instructor of his that used two swords. Seeing that you wouldn''t actually try to kill me i thought it best to test out something I only ever dreamed of. There are a few other things i should practice in but to be honest my mana is toocking." Slightly disappointed with his low mana Walker wanted to start creating gear or having gear made for him which could store away mana, if he could do this properly he would no longer be limited in battle. This was a verymonly used technique for the more experienced or high ranking adventurers.


    "That sounds to be right, you should conserve mana as much as possible. Your strategy wasn''t bad, kid. But you fail when ites to creativity!" Ribbolt had finally decided to enter in to the conversation again. "I am sure you often rely on your party to pick up your shortfalls but how would you have defeated arger enemy like that on your own? Could you have created arger fire creation? What about using a strategy of numbers? You could have made a swarm of bees out of that fire could you not? Those earth swords were not bad but much too weak, not ever going tond a scratch without the proper skills. You were able to make that earth wall dome which was definitely your best idea but it looked like you made it and that was it. No reinforcements, no secondary wells,ck of knowledge on structure to make the earth more dense. I will put it bluntly, you''re a novice at best, you need to spend more time understanding your skills, if I understand your system even a little you''re blessed to have many possible skills. But you rush through them like a fool!" Ribbolt was a bit harsh but not a single person could argue with what he had said. They had all noticed this even Walker, when using the elemental maniption Walker rarely fused elements properly but instead used their basic forms. If he put the same study in to the mix of elements he may be able to find a way for thebination that creates lightning to be a skill. If so he would be able to make it usable in battle safely.


    Taking all of this in, Walker hesitated for a moment, "Thank you for the advice, I agree, I could use a lot of training. I may have let myself get caught up too much in quests and wanting to increase my level that I have gotten ahead of myself."


    "Good you do that, also Ranger boy, widen your view when watching abattle you were too focused on one thing. Shield girl, stop tensing at every movement of an enemy I could see you twitch every time the kitten swatted at your leader, if you were in that battle you would have been knocked off bnce in a second. You, violent girl, you need to burn some energy and calm down you''re way too worked up seeing a fight. I am sure you will rush in to your death like this. And you two chatted the whole time, I could see the two of your bodies moving, it''s obvious you two were analyzing the battle but if your opponent can read you like a book even talking in your heads will give you away. You two need better poker faces." Ribbolt ma be a bit rough around the edges personality wise but his knowledge and advice was sound. He was very wise after years of battle being able to pick out weaknesses even from those witnessing a fight. All of the things he said were painfully true, so much so that they were all stunned. "Elise where is that harpy sister of yours? Bring her out and have her practice with that fire the boy made, she should try fighting herself for a change it could really help her. Riley you head off to the closed training rooms in the basement, I don''t want you out of there until one of those boars kneels to you." Laurence became fearful himself, when Ribbolt got on a roll like this anyone he saw was judged and given a training task, how much Laurence now regretted waking Ribbolt today. "Laurence ran off and get something to burn for the boys magic, I saw that magic take in a lot of fuel to move you will be responsible for keeping the next one moving for Elise and Ste." this was definitely his punishment for waking him, Laurence had been downgraded to fetching firewood.

 Chapter 177 - 177. Bronze

    Laurence sprinted off and was back in the blink of an eye. His arms hugging a massive pile of straw. The pile dropped in front of Walker before he ran off again. Walker''s mana was low but seeing Ribbolt give him a slight re he decided feeling more tired wasn''t a problem,using his me doll skill another fire harpy took form. Walker stood back as Elise brought out Ste to meet her soaring partner.


    With a red sh Ste appeared in front of the group. Her eyesnded on the fiery mirror image of herself, her confusion tangible. "Ste, Walker made us a fire doll that should copy your techniques, we can train against it in the air!" Just hearing that she could fight in the air for a change was enough to make Ste jump in to flight, Elise wanted to join her but after seeing the look on Ribbolt''s face said if she even dared she would be cleaning the pens for the next year.


    Having made the fire doll Walker felt the low mana getting to him. Everyone else noticed this but knew he would recover over time so didn''t stress too much.


    " So little lizard, you want to meet my dragon? He''s got a bit of a temper but as long as you don''t pick a fight you will be fine." Ribbolt spoke as if hepletely expected a fight and was just saying it for politeness.


    Midnight naturally crouched while arching her back, she was totally going to start a fight. Seeing this Walker wanted to be ready to jump in but his low mana may limit him. After a long sigh he pushed his worry to the side, this was one reason they hade all the way here, "Alright let''s go meet another dragon." Su seemed to be the most surprised that he decided to do so so soon but did not argue knowing Walker would have considered the situation.


    "Just to take a wild guess here but we''re going to that smoking building over there right?" Seeing Ribbolt nod, "oh joy hot and Smokey and a possibly giant dragon." Gil was a bit excited to see such a monster but also was fairly unsettled, dragons often were known as being incredibly dangerous. They were some of the few species that could be ancient, seemingly undying.


    Midnight having heard this stood as tall as possible trying to put off an imposing aura. Onyx left her back to return to Walker''s shoulders, seemingly in response to her wishes. She pped her wings a few times shaking herself out, Walker could already see her trying to fight a dragon easily double her size and began mentally preparing himself. The building they the party was following Ribbolt to seemed much smaller than the main building, however there were piles of dirt being hauled outside and transported away, Some tamers even carriedrge piles of ashes out. They weren''t sure the general cause of all of this and at first assumed the dragon caused all the smoke. Large doors made up the entire front of the building made of a strong iron. The size was most certainly for the dragon to more easily get in and out, the closer they managed to get the more activity they found.


    Entering the inside they saw nothing, not a dragon, not many people, not even the cause of the smoke. Instead they found pipes leading in to the ground and a heavily strengthened elevator onrge chains. This was constantly in motion and every time it came up there was either arge amount of dirt and rock or ash. The elevator could easily fit the party including Ribbolt ten times over. "Hope you kids aren''t afraid of the underground. I always find it funny when someone goes under for the first time, I forget I was born under the rocks." Ribbolt hinted at his heritage a bit knowing that the party had definitely noticed his shorter height and realized he had some dwarven blood.


    The elevator made almost deafening clicking noises as it descended fairly quickly, the stone walls sped by in a blur until the speed sharply decreased, this caused everyone but Ribbolt to stagger to his own amusement. Once they had all gotten their bearings they had realized the elevator stopped showing them a massive cavern. Beneath the Tamers guild main building was the true headquarters, The massive cave system partially natural and partially excavated. "It may be a bitte but wee to our headquarters." Ribbolt saw the looks of awe on their faces and knew they were enjoying the sights. Massive stctites came from the ceiling, many echoes of pickaxes swinging could be heard. Various ores were being filtered and organized some even being forged in the wide open space, the pipes leading up in to the ceiling heading outside.


    "TORO! GET YOUR SCALY HIDE DOWN HERE!" Ribbolt screamed at the top of his lungs causing echoes to reverberate all around them. The tamers guild members were all used to this and continued unfazed, Seeing a movement at the top of the cavern, a stctite or what they thought was a stctite moved. The massive winged shape fell towards the grounding into better light. This thing was the size of a house! The second light hit its body reflections danced around them. Shimmering bronze scales dazzled their eyes, the dragon''s wings were equally shimmeringing to sharp hooks that could easily cling to the cave walls. Its snout was more shovel shaped andcked the vicious sharp teeth Midnight''s species had. The ws on its legs were less pointed and simr to its snout, more rounded and shovel like. This massive bronze dragon stood tall barely showing a nce to the people behind Ribbolt. However for a split second its eyes rested on Midnight.


    Besides the fact that the entire party was stunned, they were also realizing just how small they were in the wide world of adventuring. They had struggled againstrger opponents and even nearly died but seeing the dragon before them they knew they couldn''t even scratch on it. "You better not have been eating all the ore again, you know the forges rely on us." The bronze dragon; Toro, snorted a small stream of smoke from it''s snout as it heard this. Walker couldn''t help butpare it to Midnight, she consumed darkness crystals and bones gaining nutrients to grow stronger scales. This dragon in front of them had perfect bronze scales and hearing what Ribbolt said it obviously consumed a huge amount of ores to gain this effect.


    Midnight was also more stunned than she expected but refused to drop her head. Standing tall was an instinct dragons had to challenge another but due to the difference in strength between the two Toro didn''t even feel the need to return the challenge. Feeling insulted, Midnight wed the ground wanting a response, all she managed to do was get a second nce from Toro. At least they weren''t fighting was all Walker could think. "Ahh I at least expected you to greet another dragon or our guests but instead you''re as arrogant as always, don''t make me bring you above ground again I know you had the sun on your scales." The threat seemed to do the trick and Toro started to shift ufortably. Lowing itself a bit the dragon gave a fair look at all of them, feeling a chance Midnight moved closer issuing her own snort at the bronze dragon in front of her.


    The two seemed to make simr sounds at each other for a few minutes before Midnight became much more agitated. From what everyone saw Toro was making fun of Midnight as he used his snout to point towards her wings and scales. After more sounds from Toro, Midnight used her skeletal armor skill making herself much more intimidating. The stomped her front ws to the ground letting out her mightiest roar which was inparison to what the bronze dragon could do fairly small. In response Toro wanted to show this little pest where her ce was,stood taller, his chest expanding with air. Knowing what was about to Happen Ribbolt and Walker both stepped farther, they could both sense the heat in the air increasing meaning instead of a roar fire was about to bellow through the cave.


    Walker was going to use all but one of his remaining mana on the dragon''s intimidation skill, it was the only one he could think would distract the massive dragon. Not realizing Ribbolt was also preparing something Walker didn''t hesitate, releasing a massive roar louder than any he had previously he was joined by Ribbolt who was also releasing a roar that dwarfed Walkers. The echoes of these two roars caused the cave itself to shudder ever so slightly and some dust to rain over them. The entire cave became silent and Toro stopped in his tracks. His head shifting back and forth between the two in front of him, his chest deting in confusion.

 Chapter 178 - 178. Shared Skills

    Since they both saw that Toro was losing his desire to burn everything to a crisp Walker and Ribbolt turned to each other having the same confused look Toro had for them. "Boy how in the world can you use that skill?"


    "You know I can ask the same question, right?" Walker was equally curious how Ribbolt was not only louder then him but also had just used dragon''s intimidation.


    The two stared each other down for a moment before Walker finally gave in first, "I am not limited to just normal skills, I can learn monster''s skills as well. It''s been a big surprise." Walker could only imagine what other skills he would gain from the many encounters he was yet to have and started to think he should study up more on monsters skills to see if he could try to learn a specific one. "And you? How can you use a monster''s skill, I know you don''t share the same system as me."


    "That''s obvious ain''t it? I am a dragon tamer and have a skill that lets me borrow my dragon''s skills. I can even breathe a little fire when i''m angry enough." Laughing at his obvious superiority Walker had begun to believe that both dragon and dragon tamer were equally arrogant. "No more roars though, we stopped everyone from their work, getting them moving again can be a pain. As for the official introduction, the little fe here is Toro." Little? Ribbolt really just called a bronze dragon the side of a house little?


    Seeing that they all were a bit shocked by his statement Ribbolt exined a bit more, " you see the ore dragons like Toro are born and left in ore rich areas underground. They hatch and are left to fend for themselves. I happened upon his little nest andmanaged to unlock my system. I used a contract skill I have heard you''re able to use as well. Since I don''t have a mining or forging system my mothers side of the family told me to move on out so after feeding this little fe all the ore i could get my hands on we went on out in the world, I have gotta say, it''s much more rxing out here, dwarven people don''t know when to rest." Recalling the many times Ribbolt had been unable to sleep due to the insistent work mining or forging he was yet again thankful for his push to leave his homnd. The dwarves weremonly known as non stop workers always obsessed with forging something better, learning a new way to refine an ore, and many other forms of metalworking.


    "Well that exins the massive caverns, you probably brought some amazing tricks with you." Gil chimed in breaking the two sided conversation having caught up with everything they had just happened.


    "Well it all started with feeding this one''s favorite snacks, as you can tell, from his scales he can''t get enough ores to make shiny bronze armor. Started digging when we joined the guild and has yet to stop. We managed to work out a good deal and set up a headquarters, add about forty years and here we stand." The fact that Ribbolt had invested forty years in this was quite extraordinary, not to mention forge a deal with an entire kingdom and on top of that rise to a high enough standing in his guild to make it all happen. "Now do you know what an ore dragon is? It doesn''t look much like you even know what that hatchling there is¡­" Wanting to argue this Walker was about to start listing off all the knowledge they had but a tug on his sleeve and a shake of her head Su made sure he kept his mouth shut. She wanted to hear what Ribbolt had to say so she could help Midnight in better ways as well and if Walker dragged them off topic it could be forever.


    It had been a wonder that Remey had also kept quiet the whole time but upon close inspection Walker saw that Remey was motioning her fist softly as if imagining she could break the bronze scales on Toro. She was off in dreand.


    Seeing the unspokenmunication going on Ribbolt was patient, but only for a moment. "Ore dragons are a breed of earth dragon. They are often inrge cave systems looking for natural ores to eat along with any other earth dwelling monsters. They don''t often head to the surface and their wings are much like those sonic bats. Better for hanging on to walls. Their scales will change with what ore they eat the most eventually changing their characteristics, you can see this is Toro who ate abination of ores to develop bronze scales. This makes them much tougher than most dragons but they are more made for digging and crushing stone not so much attacking. What a dragon eats as it grows is incredibly important, if your hatchling consumes higher level monsters or a high amount of...Dark crystals?" Ribbolt took a guess at one aspect,"and bones it would seem. Interestingbination there. From what I''ve learned skeletal dragons rarely produce offspring maybe once every seventy five years at least''"


    This was new to them, knowing if Midnight was a more rare species could mean she would have an advantage in life, the simple fact that less people could know her weaknesses or what skills she may have. Walker had already known that what she ate could enhance her scales, he had some darkness crystals set aside just for her. He also did not know that higher level monsters could increase her growth as well. This was something he should ask at the adventurer''s guild, they often sold useless meat from monsters to tamers or other ces to make use of it. Some very high level monsters even got made in to bait just to use it up instead of wasting it.


    "What are your thoughts on good training for skills? Should Midnight train differently than we may?" Walker knew Midnight might need more time to train than them since she had skills that none could help her with. Even if Walker managed to learn the ones she had then he would be behind her in understanding. However if he could glean more information from someone who had infact trained with a dragon for years and years he may be able to help put together a good training n. End of the day Walker was afraid that Midnight may fall behind due to her needing more experience points than them. If she could improve how she used her skills any gap in strength that developed could be ovee.


    "You''ll need to put her in her element, she should bepletely immersed in what her affinities are. Any skills she has that rte to affinity can be increased through understanding. In Toro''s case the first time he breathed fire he burned every drop of mana in his body and passed out for


    a whole day." The image of the giant bronze dragon in front of them being small and breathing fire enough to pass out was just too hard to imagine. But for Ribbolt it was just like yesterday.


    They two had not been able to do too much when they first formed a contract, Toro had been a small hatchling Ribbolt found while wandering the small caves only he seemed to be able to fit in at his small size. Since he had yet to unlock his system his parents and other family basically just let him wander off. He had dwarven blood after all and at some point it was assumed he would pick up the right pickax or see the right crafting technique to lead to his system unlocking.


    Once he found Toro they two had hid from each other but after Toro tried to use his fire to attack in fear and passed out, Toro had awakened finding he was still alive and some ore had been dragged over for him to eat. The sleeping Ribbolt lying next to him scratches all over his hands from polling the ore fromthe nearby rocks. This was the deciding factor to grow trust and respect, The two had roamed the caverns together for weeks before Ribbolt finally said he wanted to give a name to the small dragon. Upon issuing his idea for names the system unlocked and prompted the blood contract skill which the two agreed to immediately. Since then they had gone on many adventures. Losing the approval of his family was not the end for him but something that freed him from the chains every dwarf had astound them. They would work themselves to death always crafting, always mining, always trying to build, At the end of the day he was not a full dwarf nor a full human he was a tamer and he would make sure the world knew him.

 Chapter 179 - 179. Bronze Flames

    "Hmm so with those training ideas you should have a better idea of what to do. Now lets go over to our personal forges. I want to show you the effects dragon fire can have on what our cksmiths can produce. We have a very strong deal with the forges here in this kingdom, they value strong gear and weapons. I am sure you saw the coliseums. This means we can always create unique equipment with Toro''s mes that is constantly in demand. We make the majority if the entire guild''s funds here,"


    This was an amazing feat, Walker knew that the adventurer''s guild made funds forthe actions of the adventurers and those who ced requests. The tamer''s guild could do that but most if the time needed to rely on other means. Some had unique monsters that could use rare skills to heal, grow food, clear areas, battle, many things. This usually made their members great to hire as mercenaries as well. They would also often go out to explore so they could work on improving their tamed monsters of finding more rare ones to tame. This was all a constant challenge they themselves gave to each other.


    Pointing towards the nearest forge where a cksmith seemed to be about to forge a sword, Ribbolt pushed for Toro to stoke the fire. The cksmith seemed rather excited at this quickly grabbing a collection of items to change theposition he was using. The caves were massive and each cksmith was required to hunt down their own materials. This made them much harder working, but most made their output of gear or weapons more consistent.


    "Now when a dragon me is used on a forge their affinity is spread throughout their fire. This means that if the cksmith is using the right materials then they can trap that specific affinityin to the item they are making. Ore dragons are very important in this sense since when bronze is present in the item the earth elemental mana fused into the item increases much more." Toro had gone behind the little forge to a small opening the cksmith had opened, seeing Toro fill his chest with air they were prepared to witness true dragon mes for the first time. The party was holding their breath waiting for the moment toe. With arge swoosh sound the air was sucked towards Toro right before blinding orange yellow mes spat from his mouth causing the forge to burn the same color. The feeling of the heat became much more intense.


    "You see dragon mes also burn much hotter, a cksmith can work much more easily too" Laughing again at their amazed expressions Ribbolt knew that this was one of his favorite things to show off to younger guild members.


    The cksmith was furiously mixing small bits of different ores and powders in to a melting metal, the metal was glowing white hot and seemingly absorbing everything in to it as it was added. Once the cksmith was ready he grabbed arge pair of tings pulling the super heated metal and starting to m a hammer down upon it, The entire party watched the process for who knows how long. They were too engrossed, even Midnight was watching carefully, she herself had not realized she would be able to assist insomething like this since she learned more about her own fire. Within her the desire to be stronger was growing even more powerful. She was seeing Toro as a rival to surpass and not just some other dragon to steal territory from.


    Ribbolt had pulled up a stool and somehow ,managed to nap sitting up but not a single person had noticed this. Eventually Toro started to break mes in to the forge less often and the cksmith started the cooling process. Going in to many different oil baths at varying temperatures the cksmith tapped here and there straightening outsmall details. By the time the cksmith had the sword de cool enough to tough they could see lines of bronze that traveled up and down an iron de. The unmistakable earth mana that radiated fromthe de was beautiful.


    Toro had stopped breathing mes and used his tail to softly poke Ribbilt awake, even though they two seemed a bit rough around the edges Walker could tell from that small gesture that they really cared for each other. Unlike when Laurence woke him up Ribbolt calmly stretched and stood up, Seeing thepleted de he took it from the cksmith. "Perfect perfect, another sess. You know when we first started experimenting with this we had unbnced swords that would crack at a nce, now? They are fought over in all four coliseums by some of the top warriors. If only other dwarves would crawl out of the rocks and take a look they just might learn something for once." Hisughter echoed making the cksmith smile much more. It was rare for the dragon to help out the lower ranked cksmiths like him but today he had struck gold and the guild master himself had shown up giving him aid, this was a major boost in experience. "Finish this up and have it sent to my office, I have ns for this one." Nodding his head the cksmith took the sword de and headed off to another part of the caves.


    "Now that we''ve got that worked out let''s go check in on what else is happening up top, I am sure that fire creation of yours has been having a decent amount of fun." Ribbolt was the only one who had any sense of time underground. The cksmiths had lost it long ago bing embroiled in their work over worrying for time. The cksmith had spent four whole hours shaping the de alone. The melting process had taken two. Cooling had spent one and a half. Overall they had spent the rest of their day underground, no meals or anything. They had been so entranced by the entire process not focusing on anything.


    Following Ribbolt they went back to therge elevator. Ribbolt sent Toro back to where he was when they entered and Toro seemed more than happy to have his alone time back. The party was still fairly unsteady on their feet as the elevator moved upwards. Midnight seemed very lost in thought, she had seen many things she was not yet capable of. Since she had never really had the chance to learn from another dragon before she was understandably confused by her abilities inparison to Toro''s. Walker was also a bit lost in thought, he had not for a minute believed Midnight would be able to forge weapons, not only would this be a massive boon for the party to get higher leveled gear but also great training.


    Walker had not considered trying to pick up a forging skill because he did not believe he had enough time or ability to properly utilize it, but now he was considering learning one. Although he did know it may be better to have a higher level cksmith visit their mansion''s forge to train with Midnight and create gear for them. There was also the added benefit that a cksmith may lower their requested pay just to forge with such a unique fire. Besides forging there was also the spring to begin thinking about, soon they would be nting and growing many herbs that he and Remey could experiment with to make potions. Things would get very very busy once they got home.


    Finally making it back to the surface Ribbolt headed through the massive doors and out in to the now star filled night. Surprisingly there were many tamers out and about still training. Many seemed to be training monsters with the darkness affinity. Easily spotting Ste and Elise training still, Elise had brought out Av to watch and learn from Ste. The me doll Walker had created seemed well unkempt by Laurence who seemed to be watching carefully next to arge pile of straw.


    "Elise finish everything up, Ste has done enough today! Laurence clean that mess up, it''s in the way!" Laurence looked like he had just been pped, he worked so hard to get all of this here and now he needed to clean it all up. His life was rough but he had been the one that caused Ribbolt annoyance so it was unavoidable. Riley was still nowhere to be found and was most likely going to be off training until someone went to tell him to stop, this was the power the guild master had over them. "Once Laurence cleans up his mess I will have him bring you somewhere to sleep. Tomorrow you can train here or head in to the city, I don''t mind either way, just don''t cause any trouble or I will make sure you are banned from and ce with a tamer''s guild headquarters." His words were not to be overly rude but as the guild master he valued the reputation everyone worked hard to uphold.

 Chapter 180 - 180. Wake Up Call

    They all chatted idly as Laurence cleaned things up, Elise with her order to finish things up used her soaring assimtion skill to fly up andpletely destroy the me doll with Ste. The two were in pretty good coordination and Walker wondered if she had really avoided practicing the skill while they were all underground. Seeing her use the skill and quickly withdraw it Ribbolt was proud of the young tamer learning to control her mana. However he refused to let this show even a little on his face to keep up his strict persona. He couldn''t have them thinking he had gone soft on them.


    After a bit more time Laurence and Elise guided the party to another building, Ribbolt had headed back to the caverns with a few shooing motions not wanting to talk any longer. He was definitely a rough kind of person but after hearing a bit about him from Laurence and how Ribbolt had worked to build himself to this point no one could say a mean thing. The smaller stone building had plenty of beds andmunal areas, it seemed to be a general sleeping and resting ce for the Tamers. This was because many of the Tamers only stopped here to rest and would often be back out on a quest or traveling soon. The only members that would stay long term were the newest members of the guild which needed to learn the ropes and the members that helped care for therge property.


    Not a single one of them had realized just how tired they were until their heads hit the pillows, sleep took them almost instantly. Midnight seemed to still be caught in though and had fallen asleep resting her head on Walker while thinking of the mes she had seen at the forge. Her dreams were filled with her own hopes for power and strength.


    Hearing amotion the party was brutally awoken by the noise. For some reason there were plenty more tamers running around than usual, wanting to see what themotion was. Walker quickly started to shake awake the others. Remey was the hardest to get moving, the constant moving on the trip had pushed her harder than expected and her body was trying to reim the lost hours of rest from staying watch at night. But once she realized things were busy around them she was able to put it aside and help getting Gil and Su awake. Midnight had gotten up with Walker and Onyx was fine in his tattoo form wrapped around Walker. Luckily Onyx was kind enough to now avoid sleeping on Walker''s face. He could only imagine what the tamer''s would say seeing him covered intattoos.


    They all rushed outside to see arge group of guards standing at the entrance to the tamer''s guild. The party was able to guess why they were there after yesterday''s event at the gate. The same demi-human man was in attendance with more guards and one veryrge guard that had a muscled arm pattern on the chest of his armor. It would seem that he was the guard in charge. Laurence had already arrived at the gate speaking with them exining something, easily arriving next to him Walker could hear that he was refusing to let them in to meet with the party. "Laurence no need to worry, we all just woke up and came to see themotion. Thank you for trying to let us sleep more, we were pretty tired from out journey." Walker said thisst part for two reason, one to properly thank Laurence for being a kind friend and second, to show those who hade to see them that they were in an unhappy state having been woken earlier than they needed. This could make their visitors more apologetic and help the party a bit.


    "Hello and good morning emissaries of the Crystal kingdom. I have brought an escort today to invite you to the castle of our king. He has been notified properly of your arrival and wishes to meet with you today."The man was very prompt with his words knowing that his orders were absolute.


    "Well we have just woken up, please allow us a few moments to make ourselves presentable. I know it would be improper to meet a king in shambles as we are now." In truth the party looked fine but showing the right amount of respect could get them very far, Walker also wanted to speak with Laurence for some inside information on meeting the king of this kingdom. They only had limitedknowledge on how things worked here and it would be important to make the right impression.


    "Of course honored guests, please take some time. My escort and I shall remain here until you have prepared." The demi-human man stood still with an expectant look.


    Laurence grabbed Walker by the arm leading him to therger building where the guild master''s office was. The hustle and bustle was much more than it was when they had arrived the day before. Heading up to the office they found that the door was wide open and Ribbolt was tearing through paperwork. "Finally you brought them, took forever. Now you all have a medal of emissaries from your kingdom, it would have been nice for a better heads up but that''s past us. Since you came here first you showed them you had a rtion to our guild and if I don''t send something with you I will be ndered. You will be taking these documents in my stead." Ribbolt threw a sealed envelope to Walker who barely managed to catch it. On top of that Walker saw a bundle of cloth on the coffee table. "You''re also taking the sword from yesterday as a gift, you will be paying me back for it. When an emissary visits they often bring gifts for the reigning king and since the king likes to battle in the coliseums that sword will put you in his good graces." Ribbolt continued to move about in a rush, It was naturally rare to have so many guardse to the guild and he wanted to make sure everything was in proper order when they came to inspect.


    After Walker stored away the wrapped sword Ribbolt nearly pushed them all from the room and began issuing orders to ever tamer in sight. There were tamers furiously cleaning and moving boxes around, it would seem the kingdom puts harsh regtions on the guild, most likely because of the tamers beasts having some of the traits that demi-humans did. They wanted to keep a strict leash on the guild so as not to cause any friction in how the tamers acted within the kingdom.


    "Laurence I know we are in a rush but can you give us any advice?" Walker wanted just a bit more before they left, Laurence was nning on doing just that if Walker had asked or not.


    "The king has traits of a lion, his bloodline has always been some of the most powerful within the kingdom and they own the coliseums. He has four generals that reign over each sector of the city. They also recruit their army from each coliseum often holding daily tournaments where they offer those who do well positions. It does not matter your social standing, you are judged by strength. My best advice is not to show fear and not to look down, look him in the eyes and do not start a fight." Walker and party all nced at Remey and Midnight.


    "Stop it I''m not nning on starting an all out war, I like it here so far everything looks different." Remey responded a bit angry with all the looks on her, Midnight however just snorted and looked away, equally unhappy.


    They all moved forward, many thoughts racing in their minds. This would be the second king they had met, not a single one of them believed they would ever meet a king let alone two, at this rate they might end up meeting every king in the continent. The demi-human man was waiting for them still unmoving, with their approach the fence lowered in to the ground again and the guards made way for the party. The guards were the same gori traits as the day before. The leader of the guards was easily a whole head taller than the others. His traits seemed much more prominent showing his strength. They could all see that his armor was engraved with many patterns mostly depicting battle. He must have fought his way up to earn the position.


    Once they had left the guildpletely the fence rose and two guards held the rear, the party knew they were being escorted but they still felt that they were being taken off to as prison and not a meeting with royalty. The guards steps in unison rang around them as they set off.

 Chapter 181 - 181. Pride

    The wide streets made way for them as they traveled down the center, nces from passing citizens and merchants were constant. It was not every day that such arge escort was leading a group down the center of the main road. Luckily hand pulled carts were the normal use for major transportation, this was due to the higher average strength of most citizens. They easily skirted the escort continuing on their delivery routes.


    The party again passed by many food stalls, and gear merchants wanting to check things out. One thing that stood out missing seemed to be herbs and potions. There seemed to be few merchants selling them, this was in contrast to the Crystal kingdom which had an entire building dedicated to their development. They passed arger building with groups simr to theirs, Walker took note that this was likely the adventurers guild in the city and wanted to remember where it was so they could return to check things out. Knowing ra she would somehow manage to contact someone for them to meet. They did not n to take any quests centered around the city but would most likely have a few on the way home. Even though they wanted to make some stops before they headed home they didn''t n to stay forever.


    The massive circr walls of a coliseum grew taller as the escort approached, the dull roars of a crowd easily heard from well outside. There were plenty of warriors and audience pushing and shoving for admittance. This was a major part of the daily routine for some with high hopes to be high ranking military figures. The escort easily pierced through the crowd making room for the party to get inside the entrance. Unhappy shouts echoed behind them but were quickly stifled by the guards. The inside of the coliseum was intricately carved depictingrge battles and dire stakes. Many of the carvings showed warriors of each generation that had made waves within that specific coliseum. This was a surprise to the party because the buildings on the outside were made rougher out of stone but here it was obvious a lot of time and effort went in to construction.


    The demi-human man leading them through the corridors saw this, "I am also amazed every time I walk these halls. It makes even me someone without a warrior system want to plunge in to battle." His change in attitude from very astute to a bit more rxed seemed to be due to the lessening of the escort. It was in to see therge number of guards was stressful to him. This would easily be exined since at the gate he would only have two with him while doing his work.


    "Yes it is very well done, there are many talented artists in your kingdom." Su seemed to be enjoying the carvings the most out of everyone. Her neck was craned upward even looking at the pictures on the ceiling. "How amazing it must have been to witness some of these battles, their drive to improve must be inspiring." This made the remaining guards and the demi-human leading them all stand much taller, it was verymon for citizens to take great pride in their history.


    "I hope you may share your king''s words with our king as well, he is very passionate about such things. So much so that he strengthened our academy of the arts so they could better teach andter record such scenes." This was definitely a surprise, the party knew of the high praise for warriors but did not expect simr praise for other systems. They could not judge this book by its cover.


    The rounded corridor came to a guarded set of doors leading in to the castle, the guards immediately opened the doors allowing the escort to proceed. The difference in the carvings became more focused on the growth of the country, scenes of the first king battling tribes in the ins fornd. Soon the walls showed them building up walls andrge armies. However the images became more disturbing, scenes of battle with demons usingrge scale magic becamemon. The hunting parties of said demons were prevalent. It would seem there was a deep rooted hatred of the demon race due to past wars. This would be very good to know and Walker desperately wanted to find some history books to learn more about what had transpired to cause such a war. The carvings changed yet again showing more peaceful times where the coliseums were built for the four generals under the king''s authority. Scenes of chosen warriors fighting offpetitors were much moremon.


    Just as they approached another set of doors Walker caught a glimpse of an unfinished carving, an older looking lion trait demi-human resting in a bed, they appeared sickly and surrounded by other simrly trait demi-humans. This must be some recent history if it was still not fully carved.


    They halted in front of these doors. The guards opened them in to arge room that was wide open with stairs leading to balconies on the sides. This must be the main meeting room, the strange part was that there were no rugs or ornate decorations, more carvings on the walls and stairs but nothing else. Standing in the center was a tall man wearing tight fitting robes, long golden hair trailed down his back. From this angle, they could all tell his teeth were unusually sharp. His hands were well calloused and fell in to sharp ws. The man took notice of the opening door sending the four attendants nearby away. The demi-human that was leading the party approached the man standing expectantly. "Report." the man''s voice was deep and powerful making their hair stand on end.


    "My king I have escorted the emissaries from the Crystal kingdom here, I shall take my leave unless you require me as a scribe." With a simple wave of his hand the demi-human that led them had left with two guards leaving only thergest guard with them.


    "So you are the ones sent to visit me, I did not expect those so young, and I did not expect them to send so called heroes. Especially the dragon. Your kingdom has been spreading some very interesting gossip. Many of my representatives have been updating me, I hear you have a good rtionship with the tamer''s guild." The king did not yet introduce himself but left the party to make the first move in that respect.


    "We greet you king of Ordist, My name is Walker the leader of the Omnipotent party. As you have said we are young and do have the blessing of fate to hold a title. We traveled with friends we made in the tamer''s guild and wereter hired by them as escorts. Thus we stopped there when we first arrived toplete our quest. We have brought documents as a favor from the tamer''s guild, Walker retrieved them from his storage handing them to the king who grabbed them and tossed them aside. One of his attendants waiting at the side of the room moved to grab them before they touched the floor and retreated again. Undeterred Walker continued, "We also learned it was customary to bring a gift as part of our visit here." seeing the king''s eyes light up at this Walker pulled the sword from the inventory as well. He unwrapped it revealing an intricate golden hilt in a golden scabbard, the head of a lion was etched multiple times on to it. Walker checked quickly with his appraisal skill.


    ''Earth splitting sword


    +7atk, +5matk


    When mana is channeled through it the mana is converted to earth elemental mana. This allows an attack to easily split the earth apart.''


    "I present you with the earth splitting sword, this weapon was forged in the dragon fire of the Guild master''s dragon Toro. It was a wondrous experience to witness." the King almost jumped to grab the new weapon. The metallic twang of it being unsheathed brought a orange yellow shine to reflect off it. Green lines were running down the de emanating earth elemental mana. It had been finely polished and perfectly set with the handle. It was most certainly a high ss weapon.


    The king moved through some motions showing his expertise in wielding swords. His movements were solid and flowing without any hesitancy. His show of strength was not anything meant to show off but instead out of pure excitement andmitment. He wanted to feel the weight of the weapon and find the proper stances. He needed to know its strengths and weaknesses. Watching this for a few more minutes the king sheathed the sword once again, instead of tossing it aside like he did the papers he motioned for an attendant to take it. The attendant took the weapon gingerly as the king softly ced it in their hands. The respect for the weapon was impressive and none in the party had ever seen someone take such care.

 Chapter 182 - 182. Coincidence

    "This weapon is very bnced and has a very nice handle on the earth elemental mana it produces. Very high quality, I shall use it in my next battle against the generals." His toothy smile showed the sharpness of his teeth, they were like lions, able to tear flesh from bone at any moment. "My name is Rorick of the lion pride tribe. I am the current ruling king of Ordist. I am d to see our allies are fostering proper warriors and sending them here to show off." a sneaky glint in his eyes said there would be more to this. "Since you havee all this way, how about joining one of the generals tournaments. Scy appreciates the potential of the young and is currently having a tournament for those around your age. I would very much like to see your kingdom''s future strength," There it was the all too perfect coincidence. The look in the king''s eye said that this was far from normal, Walker suspected it was set upst minute to test how the Crystal kingdom was doing. Walker would need a harsh word with their king when they next met.


    "Why of course we would be honored to participate in such a strong tradition in your kingdom. My fellow party member Su was very much intrigued by the carvings showcasing the history, ``You truly have excellent artists and warriors." Walker was not putting all the pieces together and wanted to butter the king up a bit to see if they could gain some more knowledge. Maybe even some form of reward for themselves at the end.


    Hearing this the king himself seemed to be more prideful while ncing to Su as Walker motioned to her. "Very good eyes for a strong looking young warrior, I hope to see just what you can do against our young ones. We should have three spots avable so please choose who of you will join me watching from my personal balcony and who will enter in to the fun." This was a bit unexpected but was most likely intentional so that Walker could keep Midnight out of a fight. This would be a risk due to her being a monster, if great harm came to her there was no safeguard to pull her out. Knowing this was the king''s intention Walker already knew who would go to fight.


    "Su, Remey, and myself will join. Gil, Midnight, and Onyx will watch with you. However I must know if there are any regtions to adhere to?" His choice on who to put in to the small tournament was staying the same no matter what but Walker had a striking suspicion that attack magic would be banned, they were a race that preferred brute force battle after all.


    "Ah yes how silly of me, I almost forgot." The toothy grin was shown again as the youth had seen through his little trick. " magic is forbidden, you may enhance your body with it but cannot use ranged spells or status inducing spells. No poisons at all, if you are suspected of doing so you will be exiled from her forever. You must fight until your opponent is unable to continue. You may choose weapons from our general armory and use elemental magic to strengthen them but not give them magical properties. You may forfeit but if you do so you will be charged a major fine as well as leave the city for five years. Other than that things are fairly simple, try not to mortally wound someone and you shall do fine." The king was smiling all the while, he knew that Walker was adept in magic from the gossip he had heard and wanted to see what this young hero could do without it as an option. He did internally praise Walker for keeping his archer and monsters out of the battle, it was the correct decision as a leader. "Shall my attendants lead you to the proper coliseum? Your members can follow me to the balcony." Having Onyx go with Midnight, Walker watched asking Rorick headed up a staircase with Gil in tow, Midnight seemed unhappy to be left out but Onyx got her following Gil easily enough.


    "Guests please allow us to guide you tody general Scy''s coliseum." The same attendant that had taken the sword was the one guiding them. The left through the opposite door they entered, the walls were filled with simr carvings showing a variety of demi-humans with snake or reptilian themed traits. This must be the difference within the general''s heritage as well. From what Walker knew, Scy was the name of an ancient sea monster that had many snakes as it''s limbs. It would not be a surprise if that bloodline surfaced in reptilian based demi-humans. The tales of the intense battles against the ancient monster fought before being trapped deep under the sea, eventually being lost to the centuries. The tale was both epic and sad, Walker wanted to believe it right to imprison an evil monster for life after they caused great damage but also found it sad to think of a being trapped forever. These were emotions a normal person should not feel for a monster, was he influenced too much by having monsters aspanions?


    Sounds of cheering and yelling became louder and louder until the three had been brought to a waiting room. Weapons lined the walls and a few younger demi-humans stood idly stretching and talking. They eyed the three carefully knowing that these were the opponents that they had been warned about battling. They had not been told of their abilities due to their mentors wanting them to face a true battle, In war they would not have the luxury of knowing an opponent s every move.


    The attendant left them alone as soon as they had entered, all they three knew was at the opposite end of the room was a tunnel that led to the light of the open air coliseum. " I am going to look for some weapons to bring in with me, I want to be prepared." Walker was nning to bring a few with him in his storage since spatial magic was not an attack magic and therefore not banned. He was also thinking about how he might utilize earth elemental maniption to strengthen a weapon without using it as a form of attack. He was mostly thinking of a strategy using cross sh and earth swords. It could take his opponent off guard in an instant.


    Seeing two thin swords he began to n how he would use these two and earth swords to his advantage. If he had the time he wished he could try and learn a skill that made better quality impromptu weapons out of the earth but he knew he was limited. Taking and carrying the swords as openly as possible to show thepetition that he would be using them would hopefully give them a false sense of security. He proceeded to wander the room, the opponents were now ignoring him having seen his weapon choice, exactly as Walker wanted. He sneakily stored away an ax, one long spear, and even a small throwing dagger. The three may not be used exactly as intended but he would make the best of them for sure.


    Remey and Su had seen every move he had made. " You really think you''re so sneaky don''t you?" Remey was giggling as she said this knowing that the poor opponents Walker was put up against were in for a rude awakening.


    Remey I think you should go grab that staff over there," lowering to a whisper, " Make them think you are a mid range fighter so they force you in to closebat, then boom a fist to the head." Hearing his suggestion Remey smiled evilly. She loved this n to surprise and crush her enemy before they knew what happened. She ran and snagged the wood staff surprising some of the demi-humans there since they thought she was going to use her knuckles but now they assumed they were to protect the tops of her hands while blocking with the staff.


    Su most likely couldn''t use these sorts of ns. Her armor andrge shield gave her away, that being so she still walked over and grabbed a second shield. Walker wasn''t sure what she was nning but didn''t want to push her to tell him, he trusted her decisions.


    Checking through all their gear the three made sure that everything was in order. There were a total of thirty two of them in the room waiting for the start. Every single one was trying to size the other up, some had already fought each other before while others werepletely unknown. The three had hope that they were going to be unknown enough to surprise each opponent. The sounds from the tunnel became very loud signalling the start, an attendant entered and started to usher them out into the coliseum.

 Chapter 183 - 183. Round One Start

    The tunnel was dark due to the participants blocking the light, but once they reached the end the blinding sun was paired with the roar of the crowds. Rows and rows of spectators stood yelling and calling out to them. Many pointed out to certain Demi-human warriors to show their favorites or rtions, they were celebrities. The massive open area in the center of the coliseum held only one other person. The woman standing in the center was muchrger than an average person and wore veryrge clothing covering almost every inch of her body. Strange movements from under the purple clothing make it seem like there was another living thing underneath. The only thingspletely seen were her pale face highlighted by very red lips and piercing green eyes. Her hands were the same pale color as her face and were almost the same as any humans, but at the ends there were sharp needle like nails. Even though she was mostly covered up her aura was intimidating to say the least.


    Many guards guided the participants in to four groups on four different sides of the woman. Su, Walker, and Remey had all been split up but keeping eyes on each other from where they stood. Once the groups had been put in to order the guards started to tamp their feet on the ground. The crowd mirrored them causing the very ground to shake. Those next to the party members stood taller trying to show off more of their strengths.


    The woman in the middle raised a hand and everyone stopped. The silence seemed much more deafening than the noise before. After a short pause the woman spoke, somehow her words reached everyone even though she did not actively yell, "Here stands some of our most prized young warriors. They strive daily to meet their potential. Today they shall battle in four small tournaments to show off their determination. The four champions shall have a bright future and gain rewards that shall put them on the correct path to be engraved in stone. One may even rise to general one day!" The audience shifted with energy, these young were really thought to have the chance to be generals? They would all be witness to the start of an epic.


    Feeling the tension grow the woman spoke more, " four battles shall take ce at once, there will be four rounds. Thest round for each group shall determine the victor. I Scy general of Ordist thanks the King for his grand inspiration for this year''s tournament of the future!" With that being said the crowd burst in to a roar, hearing that their king had suggested that they knew that he cared for the strength of their future. Standing from the tallest balcony able to see every part of the battle area the king raises a hand holding a sword. The aura he released was enough to rouse every participant in this battle.


    Guards began leading the four groups to the walls of the battle area. The participants leaned in a line along the wall, this would be their waiting area. Walker was taking the chance to analyze the ground to decide if he would be able to use the earth as a weapon. The ground had very dryyers of dust on top, but after digging his foot in he found that it became solid stone, the crafters that had built the coliseum had added dirt over top stone to soften falls. They were definitely wise craftsmen to make this decision.


    Some of the nearby participants gave Walker strange looks wondering why he was ying in the dirt but ended up deciding he was a bit mentallycking. They looked forward to an easy fight against him. There were plenty of different traits in the group Walker was in, the two he saw as the greatestpetition were all ring at each other. They had definitely fought before, thergest of the three had scaly looking green skin and yellow eyes. His face seemed to have a much wider mouth than others and reminded Walker of a crocodile he had seen pictures of in books as a child. The next was a smaller boy with reddish orange hair. He had a long tale andrge ears. He seemed to crouch and almost tease the other two constantly. Thus was in to see that he was a mischievous monkey. The third was the strangest, their entire body was covered in white and ck spotted fur. His hands were more paw like and his eyes were sharp. If Walker could guess this contestant had some form of rtion to felines. His eyes were quick and his body twitched ready for other movements, he would definitely be the toughest top beat with those obviously quick reflexes.


    The three were in a line next to each other seemingly trash talking every so often while they all waited for the first two to be chosen to battle. Scy walked a circle picking out two from each group to start. Once chosen the two would go towards the center of the battle area leaving enough space between them for the other battles to take ce. There was more than enough room for all four battles at once and for none to bump shoulders. Scy had picked out six so far none of which were Remey or Su, they would not be first to fight for their group. This was good, the two would be able to hide their skills for a bit longer. Walker, however, was not as lucky after Scy pointed to therge green scaled skin participant she stopped in front of Walker, "and you". Those two words forced him to walk forward, he did not want to give up his preparations just yet but since he needed to he might as well take down the biggest participant doing so.


    Looking like he had just won the lottery his crocodile like opponent smiled with hisrge mouth. The ghastlyrge teeth were a mustard yellow color. "You''re too small to even be a snack for me, try and stay standing for a bit so I can impress the general." He had not introduced himself but Walker did not need to know his name.


    " All the best to you as well, my name is Walker and I n to show the might of my own kingdom." His opponent did nothing but snort and look down on him. For him the battle was already won.


    Scy yet again stood in the middle watching those who had taken position. She had chosen her favorites to win and was eager to put her theories in to practice. She repeated her same hand raise as before but this time they all knew that her lowering it would mean they start. The swift downward movement of her arm was barely able to be seen, but it was just slow enough for the participants to fly in to motion. Walker''s opponent was the only one not to immediately rush in to a fight, instead he tookrge breaths causing his muscles to bulge. Veins stood out around his body, Walker knew this was a strengthening technique of some kind. Having almost doubled his muscles the opponent stomped forward, his speed seemed to have slowed. He was attempting to intimidate Walker to show off his might, but Walker wasn''t the least bit affected.


    Walker drew the two swords he had had and started to run towards his opponent, this was definitely unexpected to his opponent but weed. Walker approached dodging a wide swing, whole he ducked under it he arced one sword up to try and deal some damage. The sword connected without any trouble but was unable to leave a decent wound. The scaly crocodile-like skin was showing its strength and easily stopped damage, the sword definitely made some effect though since the force instantly caused bruising.


    With a grunt, his opponent swung again but Walker easily dodged, he was trying to avoid using the dance of the wild rabbit so he could use it to surprise otherster. Now knowing his speed was faster than his opponent Walker took full advantagending strike after strike with both swords, the damage would have to slowly umte so he could save his mana.


    The two fought this battle of attrition for some time, the audience definitely was getting tired of it since the battles had alle to a close much faster. Feeling this energy lower than usual Walker was about to swing his de again when his opponent managed to block it. Using their other hand his opponent wrenched the sword from Walker throwing it aside. Now walker only had the one sword, it was time to start acting. Walker made his strikes sloppy allowing his opponent to knock them aside each time. Falling for his act they started to be more bold in their blocks and swings. Walker''s opponent was takingrge steps in toward him with every attack. Finally, his opponent managed to knock the other sword out of his hands, now Walker had no weapon.

 Chapter 184 - 184.Tricks

    Without his swords Walker''s opponent waspletely conceived he had won. He puffed up his chest showing off his strength and body covered in bruises. This was a show of his body''s toughness, no other could prate his skin! Throwing wide aarcs with his fists he was basically ying with Walker, he was in the spotlight and wanted all eyes on him, not others could take his attention, there were no other fights going on.


    The audience was tired of this ying and had begun to shout for an ending, their voicesing together to shake the walls yet again. Full of confidence and the taste of victory Walker''s opponent came in for a massive punch to end the fight. This was exactly what Walker wanted.


    He had prepared the earth underneath him using mana slowly to create a pair of swords, these were better than hisst attempt because the floor of the arena was well made with tough stone. Now that his opponent took a massive stemp in there was no way he could adjust and dodge. Walker thrust his hands into the dust on the ground, pulling up the two swords he had made with his earth maniption. Crossing them he pushed them in to his opponent''s chest. His heart beat stopped in surprise, he had no idea where these des hade from.


    Using his cross sh two deep red lines were cut through his opponents tough skin, the cry of pain was loudenough to rival the cheers of the audience which were now surprised yelps as the underdog had made aeback. After his cross sh Walker spun dodging his opponent''s massive body as it fell to the ground. Crossing his swords he ced one foot on his opponents back and ced the crossed swords by his neck. His opponent was already unconscious due to blood loss and sheer shock. Not a single person witnessing this expected this. Some yelled about magic use but were silenced as Walker had not directly attacked with it but used it to make himself a weapon. "Victor!" Scy pointed and shouted at Walker, he couldn''t tell if she was emotionally influenced by the result at all. Taking a nce at the King''s balcony the king was showing off his toothy grin very happy to see the results.


    The other participants were not giving Walker another look. He was walking away from a fight having drawn it out and putting heavy damage on his opponent. Looking a bit sweaty but otherwise unharmed Walker had clearly fought a wise battle. The final decisive moment was luring in a tougher opponent to create a strong battle ending blow. After collecting the two swords Walker had dropped though the battle had caused the two he created to turn back in to crumpled earth. There was nothing to be said so he returned to the wall, many eyes on him wondering just how a magic caster like him had created such a strategy using swords. Many were trying to guess his system in the stands but none were right. Medical teams had already taken care of the defeated opponents making way for the next rounds.


    Scy had already started to decide the next battles, Su and Remey were both picked this time around. Su was cool as ever, standing with a rather skinny demi-human with veryrge eyes and hooked ws on his hands. Remey was bouncing side to side facing a demi-human that had a hard looking shell on the back of his arms and the back of his head and torso. This was definitely a demi-human with an armadillo trait, Remey would have a fun time wailing punch after punch on to the tough ting. She spun the wooden staff making it more convincing that she would use it in the battle toe. The crowd had already started cheering for their favorites, Walker noticed that the demi-human participant from his group with the feline trait was gaining the most attention, it would seem he was a favorite out of all the participants.


    The fighting began in an instant, Scy showed a slight smile as shehad decided on who she believed would win. Remey naturally rushed in to her armadillo trait opponent. Surprising everyone, her opponent rolled himself in to a ball somehow maintaining and gaining rolling speed. The tough armor on his body protects him while doubling as a strong offensive attack. Remey made a show of using the wood staff to vault over the rolling opponent with ease. The crowd was eating this fast paced battle up and praising her for her unique style. Her opponent may have been fast and heavily defensive but she had just the skill that could shatter his defenses.


    Remey rarely used it due to her love of punches but her armor breaking palm used a decent amount of mana to force energy in to the opponent''s body and break through tough defenses. Walker had only seen her use it once but he remembered the stance she took to prepare it. Her legs were staggered and the staff held out in one hand while her right was pulled back palm to the ground. Her armadillo-like opponent sped towards her, his speed had increased as he traveled in a straight line. He was counting on this so that he wouldn''t be able to dodge. Inches before they would collide Remey dropped the wooden staff and pushed forward with her other palm, the force stopped her opponent instantly while also causing Remmy to skid backwards.


    Seeing cracks all over the stopped opponents armor the audience had their breath taken away, Remey''s opponent unfurled and crawled on the ground, he had taken some of the most severe damage in his life, His breathing was ragged, he couldn''t even hope to stand. After just a few more moments he had passed out and medical staff rushed to him using healing magic skills to mend his inner injuries. Remey picked up the staff whistling and twirling it like nothing had happened at all.


    Su was attempting to m herrge and the smaller shield in to her opponent but every tiny movement she made was dodged, Her opponentsrge eyes gave him an ideal vantage of how her entire body changed while in motion. This made him able to predict where and how she would attack. Using his curved ws he was trying tond strikes after she failed to strike him but to his dismay his strikes seemed to narrowly deflect from her armor. Even more irritating for him she was able to dodge his attacks much more so than a normal defender would.


    Su was keeping her cool knowing that his techniques were causing anger to build in her opponent, she wanted exactly that. She like Walker was ying a mind game, as soon as her opponent would mess up she would end it. While she battled in this way Walker began to realize that Su could duel wield shields, why had this never urred to him? She was using herrge ck scaled shield and the smaller metal once from the preparation room. What if she had two medium side shields for each arm? He watched the battle more wanting to go have two new shields made for her so she could maximize her defense and increase her attack.


    While Walker fantasized on the new formation possibilities Su had finally angered her opponent enough to get him to attack her. He was no longer watching as carefully but instead openly trying to strike the gaps in her armor. Thus she became more defensive, adding to his frustration. Her opponent jumped forward aiming at her neck, Su threw the smaller shield at him while he was in midair and unable to dodge. The force knocked him off course causing him to fall head first on to the ground right in front of Su''s waiting shield. She thrust her shield down on his head, knocking him out. The crowd was loving the brutal use of the shield, seeing a defensive gear used perfectly for offense was a wee sight being so rare in the kingdom.


    Walker was proud to see Su execute such a well thought out n in the midst of a battle, he wanted to head over and talk about why she chose that strategy but stopped himself, There was still one battle going on. The group he was in waspletely upied by the sight of the feline trait demi-human using massive leaps and bounds to jump and twist in the air, shing as he did so. The agile flexibility would definitely make him the hardest tobat, on top of that he was extremely precise with a thin saber. Every sh added another wound to his opponent until it looked as if his opponent had crawled through a forest of thorns. In just a few more moves the opponent had be unable to lift their weapon beingpletely defeated. Without even a bead of sweat dropping the feline trait participant went back to the hall and leaned back with his eyes closed.

 Chapter 185 - 185. Strength

    Thest two rounds went by without any major uproars. The only one who stood out was the participant with monkey-like traits who purposely jumped about antagonizing his opponent, Walker felt bad for the opponent seeing that they were easily outmatched and more used just as a training dummy. The numbers in each group were split in half to four and would again be split in half this round. Scy seemed happier than before seeing that the weeds had been pulled and now the real fighters remained. This time she just pointed from where she stood to pair people up. Walker and Su avoided this round but Remey was chosen to fight a younger demi-human with a gori trait just like the guards. His traits seemed unusually strong causing ck hair to sprout all over his body and giving him a slight hunch over.


    This battle Remey was easily outmatched in strength, she would most likely be winning in speed but otherwise she needed to do her best to avoid a hit. The feline trait and the monkey trait participants from Walker''s group were put against each other. The two created an aura so tense it could be cut. They had been rivals their entire lives and considered the two top fighters in their generation. Not a single citizen believed they wouldn''t be high ranking within the army but the only question was who would be higher?


    Thee other matches were beingpletely ignored due to the two rivals about to fight it out. However Walker was paying more attention to Remey because he was worried that her opponent may prove too tough. The battles started instantaneously, Remey led with the wooden staff pretending that it was her main weapon yet again. The gori trait opponent did not have a weapon but his fists wererge enough to be considered weapons in their own right.Once the two came close enough Remey swung out with the wooden staff to goad her opponent in to a strike but instead countering it her opponent grabbed the staff and tore it from her grip. The snape of the staff being broken in to two was loud enough for Walker to hear from the opposite end of the arena. Remey was surprised but didn''t worry too much since she didn''t need it as a weapon, she had her knuckles.


    Her opponent did not show any sign of feeling victory over this and had most likely figured out she was in no need of other weapons. Using hisrge fists the gorrills like demi-human swung downwards at Remey, his fist missed her leaving a sizable dent in the ground. Remey became much more serious after witnessing his brutal strength. She started to run around his side to get in to a good position to strike as a more exposed and sensitive area. Throwing out a jab with her left hand to distract him Remey followed up with a strong right hook, she was aiming for her opponents side to try and break some ribs which could slow him downpletely.


    Her hit was on point but stoppedpletely without doing much damage, a small bleeding cut was left but her gori trait opponent was tough. He swung his hand back at her clipping her left arm. She felt much more pain than she should have and realized her shoulder had just been dislocated. Remey had not expected such a slight hit to cause so much damage.


    She gritted her teeth, she wasn''t allowed to give up but needed to avoid any other blows from this opponent. She used her speed again to try get a good angle, finding one she aimed for the back shoulder of her opponent. She wasn''t able to lock her fingers together to use her hammer fist, instead she used her palm strike from thest battle. Her opponent was tough so in theory she could bypass that and do damage inside. She made contant and immediately jumped back avoiding another backhand as her opponent spun to meet her. She could see that his shoulder and arm dropped slightly, she may not have made a huge impact but enough to put her opponent off. If she couldnd a few more hits like that she may be able to avoid those ack handed hits. She repeated her previous speedy run circling her opponent before stopping and darting towards them. Her target this time was the exposed back of his head.


    Remey was about tond her blow when the gori trait demi-human sank low dodging her strike, with his hand he grabbed her leg and mmed her to the ground. His other hand held her good arm steady,pletely incapacitating Remey. Scy pointed at him announcing victory. Remey had lost, the medical staff were rushing in to look at her shoulder and now bruised leg. Her opponent had been hiding his own speed to lure her in to a trap, he knew she would go after his weak points so intentionally left them open. The gori trait demi-human was much more cunning than either walker or Remey had predicted.


    Remey was furious with herself, she hadn''t considered that she was being tricked and needed to reevaluate her strategies. She knew she had been warned in the past about rushing in and now it finally bit her in the butt. She swallowed her pride and nodded to her opponent who respectfully nodded back. She was representing her party and kingdom after all, she could not show that she was so frustrated. Leaving the arena and to a medical area, she was soon healed and brought upwards in the coliseum to join the king''s balcony.


    "You were quite surprising when youpletely stopped the rolling with one strike, but you underestimate your opponent''s intelligence. I quite like your act with the wooden staff. If you study it a bit more you may be able toplete a nice facade." The king said his piece while keeping eyes on the remaining battles. He was a battle maniac but did appreciate those that struggled to adjust and defeat opponents, it was the least he could do but offer some words.


    Walker had seen everything and realized the same things as Remey, he would not be bothering her with any speeches since he knew well that Remey would beat herself up much more about the loss than any other could. He did however n on training with her more since he knew she would be highly motivated to improve. If Su and Remey could spar more then Remey would be improving much more, Su had the same calm thinking that Remey''s opponent had just used against her.


    Focusing back on the most popr battle, Walker saw that while he had been focused on Remey''s battle the feline trait and the monkey trait participants had been fighting a brutal battle. The feline trait demi-human was missing clumps of fur and had a few broken fingers. The jumps and twists in the air to strike with their saber was very few and far between now that he were panting heavily.


    The moneley trait demi-human had many small shes everywhere, one eye had beenpletely blinded by flowing blood from his head. He was definitely less flexible due to these wounds as they would open more when he bent his body to try and grapple his opponent. The two were still pushing constantly trying to get the advantage, however they could not find the proper openings. The saber swiped down only to be caught at the hilt by the monkey trait participant''s tail. The feline trait opponent used a kick to push away the other so that he wouldn''t be locked in to a choke hold. The two had several more collisions such as this without a clear winner being found. They were pushing themselves to the brink of exhaustion and it was only the second round, they would be in terrible shape for the final. They were either too arrogant to believe they would win no matter what or they knew that if they didn''t give their all now they would only lose.


    The two collided, they had no more skills and only technique left, their mana was depleted. They struck out toward each other barely making contact, they fell together hitting the ground in a puff of dust. Neither were conscious and neither were at any advantage. It was a double knock out! Walker darted his eyes to Scy only to see her motion to take them both away. "Two participants have been eliminated to group three! Ties in battle are losses for both sides, no matter how hard the battle it is still a loss." Scy had made the decision and even with the dismay of the crowd it stood.


    Walker understood the logic but this was too strict, they two had shown amazing skill yet they were kicked out so easily. Seeing as he and one opponent in his group were the only two left that would make his fight thest. He took a deep breath and prepared himself, he would leave no trick behind as he wanted to win, everything he had to use he would use.

 Chapter 186 - 186. Panic

    The other battle finished almost directly after the two had tied. The medical staff had been prompt as before and cleared the arena. Even if the traditions around battle were tough in this country they did not hold back when it came to healing. Walker was still wondering about why they weren''t using potions but was not in a position to focus on it at all. Scy omitted Walker''s group from the next fight so that all the participants would battle after for the final spots at the same time. Su had entered her area with a frog trait demi-human. She could see the webbed feet and fingers along with therger chin. She was preparing herself for longer ranged attacks, she had witnessed bullfrogs catching flies before.


    The two introduced themselves respectfully and with the motion from Scy had begun battle. Surprising Su her opponent had made a massive leap putting themselves directly in front of her. She was forced to ce the small shield in front of her since she could move that one faster. However with their mouth open a pink tongue shot outnding a hit right on to Su''s face. She was knocked off her feet leaving her rolling in the dirt, the small shield flung from her grip. She managed to hold her main shield and use it to help her stand but was just in time for her opponent to release the next attack. Su was able to deflect this one out of instinct and regain her footing. She had taken a hard hit that shook her brain and blurred her vision but that was not enough to put her down. She was now prepared for her opponents strong legs and the same trick would not get her.


    Knowing this her opponent got in close to her again using a series of kicks trying to put her off so they could use their tongue again. Su was blocking all of them expertly not letting any damage through. "Lets go you green faced toad!" Su taunted her opponent and mmed her shield forward. The sudden taunt caused her opponent to be distracted andnded a kick dead center on her shield. With her push she knocked her opponent on to the ground, this was the perfect chance to start her own attacks. Using her own kick she stomped on to her opponents foot wanting to damage them enough to slow their speed. Her opponent made a high pitched groan in response and tried desperately to stand on their now broken foot. The pain clouded their judgment as they used their tongue tosh out at Su to get her away, Su was expecting this and blocked with her free hand wrapping in around the tongue.


    With her opponent stuck in close range she used her shield bash skill three times directly in the face of her opponent. The frog trait demi-human cursed itself for its panic before they were knocked to the ground and released by Su. Many in the audience were shaking their head, this was disgraceful to panic so wildly in a battle. The frog trait opponent had started out strong with a sound strategy utilizing their two strongest features, but pain hadpletely overshadowed all that work. This demonstration here today would lead to many lessons in pain tolerance for the unfortunate demi-human participant.


    The battle having ended, Su was having her bruised cheek healed. Scy was surveying the final pairs that would face off, this was her prediction in motion. The battle that her king had prepared was something that didn''t seem to interest any of the other generals whatsoever. But she had always enjoyed scouting out young talent and pushing them in to the next stage of strength. This may also stem from a slight desire to cause pain to others but she med her monster bloodline for this. It was rare enough for those in the demi-human kingdom to have traits of monsters and often the person became influenced in some way by these traits. Motioning for each of the pairs to move forward in to the open areas she saw many possibilities, she had a firm grasp on the two winners from the second and fourth groups. The gori trait participant was well known for his strategy and analysis being much higher than someone his age normally has. The fourth group just had an above average martial arts user that seemed to already have terrified their opponent with theirst show of skills, the match would be over easily and nobody seemed interested.


    The two outliers were Su in the first group and Walker in the third group. Scy had been learning a lot from Su as she fought and knew what to expect from a calm and collected shield user. On the contrary she had no idea what to expect from Walker who showed such a strange system, she even went so far to believe that he was incredibly limited by the rules that he could not directly attack with magic. For her if she allowed him to use it to attack she believed he would have finished the fights much faster. Feeling more excited than previous rounds she raised her hand to signal things would begin. With the same motion again she started the battle.


    Walker was facing a very strange trait on a demi-human, instead of the usual animal trait this demi human had the traits of a slug. Specifically the slime that was produced by a slug. This would seem very weak to use to one''s advantage but it seemed that they could cause the slime to be slippery or sticky. They basically could produce something that radically altered the immediate terrain for their opponent giving them many openings to use martial arts to knock them down in to defeat. This was one of the unusual outliers that became stronger only with a more intelligent use of the skill.


    Su was facing an equally challenging opponent, the girl facing her was heavily augmented by the traits she possessed. Her traits came from a scorpion making one of her hands in to arge w, she also had a very long stinger and tail as an extra limb. There were rules not to use deadly force so Su knew that her opponent would not be using poison or they would face severe consequences, but the crushing power of the w could easily shred the tougher defenses she had. The girl was eyeing Su like she was prey to hunt which made Su want to fight her more to show she was not some easy target.


    The battle having begun they started to feel each other out. Walker immediately started creating earth swords that rose from the ground around him, he made them so that they were spread enough to grab in an instant. He did not worry about his opponent grasping one because it this urred he would just manipte the earth to fall away in to dust. His opponent was not phased by this having seen thest instance of this magic. In reaction they threw blobs of their slime at the swords making them impossible to pull out, while this happened Walker was able to approach and attempt his first few attacks. The swords hit his opponent but slid off their body leaving only small cuts. This was the highly resistant skin and slimebination a slug had against predators in the wild. Walker saw that he could in fact cause some damage so used his higher agility to reign down small attacks, soon his swords became heavy and it was hard to lift his arms, they had be covered in the slug trait opponents slime. He could no longer use them, as if on cue his opponent lifted his leg to kick Walker, the only choice left was to drop the swords and back up.


    Su was struggling herself on the opposite end, her opponent was attacking relentlessly. Her tail worked in tandem with her w in an attempt to either piece through Su''s defenses or sheer them away. Even worse, whenever Su thought she had blocked every attack her opponent would then use their leg or normal arm tosh out to try and put her off guard. Su had absolutely no room to push back. Her agility was just not enough, however her opponent was unable to do any real damage so they were in a stalemate.


    The two found themselves in a much more disadvantageous position in their respective battles than they had nned. Su was able to see what she needed to do to put herself in to victory but it required more agility, something she did not have. Walker had plenty of tricks left and was prepared to start using them, he still had the weapons that he had gathered from the preparation area. He could use the throwing knife to distract his opponent then go in with the ax. He could lure in and use the spear to pierce them. He could even utilize his scythe if need be to cause some more serious injuries using his crescent moon skill. It would all depend on how his opponent reacted.

 Chapter 187 - 187. Giving It All

    Su was stuck, she was wearing herself down more and more while her opponent didn''t seem to be slowing. On the contrary, her opponent seemed to be even more ferocious. The attacks from her opponent''s tail were trying to reach behind her and avoid her shieldpletely. Su was trying her best to back step and turn but the speed of her opponent''s tail was well beyond her own speed. The scorpion trait demi-human took advantage of this, unleashing a flurry of strike with her tail. The speed was much faster than Su had every battle against, the strikes hit her armor missing her shield, she waspletely off bnce. Seeing this her opponent took advantage and thrust theirrge wed hand forward. Reaching well past her shield and other hand it stopped open on Su''s neck. The battle was stopped immediately by Scy who named the scorpion trait demi-human the victor.


    Su dropped to her knees barely able to catch her breath, she faced herplete opposite, speed without restriction. She was pushed to her absolute limit trying to block every attack and waspletely outmatched, she needed to get stronger. She needed to be the fastest defender possible so not a single strike could get past her. The medics came to check on her and assist her out of the arena, she only had minor wounds but had exhausted all of her energy, she was required to rest immediately. She wanted to see Walker''s fight but she had already started to fall unconscious from exhaustion.


    Walker was without a weapon, every time he reached for an earth sword he found that it was already covered in his opponent''s slime. His strategy to have a weapon always within reach was wed. Having no choice but to switch things up he held his hand behind his back to hide his spatial magic inventory. The Throwing knife was taken out and he hurled it at his opponent.


    ''Skill knife throwing has been taken from the performer system. Would the user like to learn the skill knife throwing?''


    Walker ignored the system not needing the distraction. His opponent was surprised by the throwing knife but not by much, they easily sidestepped the single knife moving directly in to Walker''s raised hand. His opponent had no idea why Walker was attacking without a single weapon or even a fist clenched. This kid hadpletely given up was the only possibility. Walker pulled the ax from his inventory which appeared in to his open hand, clenching the handle he swung downward.


    ''Skill chop has been taken from the woodsman system. Would the user like to learn the skill chop?''


    The system went ignored again as the de of the ax came down on the slug trait demi-human, he used his arm to block it causing a severe gash to be made. The white of bone and flowing blood was enough to cause the opponent to retreat to a safe distance while grumbling and using arge amount of their sticky slime to force the wound to stop dripping blood. Walker saw this and pushed forward, winding his arm back he threw the ax aiming for his opponent who was still trying to stop the bleeding. This attack did not go unnoticed and his opponent dropped t top the ground as the ax brushed past their head. When they looked back up Walker was pulling a long spear from his inventory and thrusting it toward them. His opponent rolled to avoid four quick stabs barely keeping distance.


    '' Skill quick stab has been taken from the spear man system. Would the user like to learn the skill quick stab?.''


    Again the system was ignored, Walker was facing down his opponent that had rolled on to their feet holding their arm with gritted teeth. They threw slime directly at Walker who blocked it with the spear unfortunately causing it to follow the path of the swords and be unusable. Wanting to end this fast before Walker pulled another weapon out of nowhere the slug trait demi-human charged forward, their hand full of sticky slime ready to smack Walker to the ground. Unfortunately, Walker was not done, the scythe appeared in Walker''s hands. With a twist the de was rushing toward his opponent, naturally, there was no way to stop the momentum they had built up. Walker used the crescent moon skill sending a sh of energy at his opponent''s legs.


    Walker''s opponent had turned extremely pale, they had no way to dodge, no way to block, and no way to stop the terrifying crescent shaped attack from destroying their legs. Within an instant Scy appeared holding a small ck fan downwards, the crescent moonnded and dispersed into a gust of wind. Scy had just stepped in to end the fight herself. "The victor is decided!" her shout brought the crowd in to an uproar of cheering. They had all witnessed amazing spatial magic and the term weapons master was being said over and over. "No need to lose some legs, how will you train if you need to rest for some months. Very interesting young emissary." Scy said these things to Walker''s opponent and then to him. She had moved faster than a blink of an eye and stopped Walker''s attack without a single bit of resistance. That was the strength of one of the four generals of Ordist.


    Walker''s opponent was stone faced, Scy had just said he was about to lose his legs, if Walker had aimed higher then they would have been split in half. Walker himself was trying to push himself out of his stunned state, he was still trying to make sense of the strength Scy had. He had almost lostplete sight that he was just named the victor of his group. Looking about he found the other three victors stood tall as the audience cheered, Walker had finished up his battlest. Scy had returned to the middle to patiently allow the young warriors their time in the spotlight.


    Walker looked upwards at the king''s balcony, Gil and Remey were going wild cheering for him. Even the king gave a wave down to the four of them. Having started to calm down, attendants came out to lead the four back out of the arena, as they left Scy was giving an ending announcement.


    The winners of this tournament however quickly it was put together were supposedly going to be given a huge opportunity. The second that the news had reached the king that emissaries from the Crystal kingdom had arrived he gathered as much information as possible, The rumors and gossip came flowing in about how fast the Omnipotent party had jumped up the tiers in the adventures guild. On top of that they had also had a very fruitful adventure to the ancient ruins, bringing back a heavy amount of knowledge and defeating many enemies. This was all besides the fact that they all instantaneously gained the hero title, even the monster in the party had! The king had issued an order to his general, they utilized their soldiers to notify the most promising talents at their age and put together a small one day tournament. This allowed the king to see what the Crystal kingdom had raised, also what those new title holders could do. The two kingdoms may not have any ill intentions between the two but having more information on the other was still useful.


    Seeing thepletion of his little n he told the party members with him to follow to the room they had first met in. He wished to speak to them now that they had all done battle. Walker was led away from the other three back to the king''s room to find everyone waiting. Su was led in just a moment before him and was being asked millions of questions by Remey and Gil who had been worried about her. They had no idea how adept Su was at using two shields in battle and they had all been amazed by it. "Su we are definitely getting you new shields". Walker''s words offered a greeting and also a promise, as the leader of the party he had let her down by not even considering that Su as a shield bearer could dual wield shields. Most defenders would not choose to do so due to the weight, but if they could make two lighter shields Su would double her blocking ability.


    Su herself was a bit embarrassed hearing that Walker was already nning to do more for her, she had lost yet she was still being praised. "Remey that armadillo got crushed, you need to use your palm skills more, they are insane!" Walker wanted to encourage her since she would understandably be unhappy with the results of the battle. But if she was convinced to use them more often her flexibility in battle would greatly increase. Remey hit him in the shoulder a bit softer than usual but he could tell he had made the right move. Walker really wanted to pick Gil''s brain on what he had spotted by observing but at the moment he had to focus on king Rorick.

 Chapter 188 - 188. Root Of Hate

    King Rorick was watching the party interact finding it very refreshing from the normal proper demeanor of all his attendants. "Ehm" he cleared his throat to remind the still young adventurers of where they were, his amusement in on his face. "How did you three enjoy the annual tournament?" keeping up his ruse that this was a normal event the king gave a toothy grin.


    " Yes it was very interesting to see how widely the warriors use the traits they are born with. I feel our party has learned a great deal from today." Su nodded intently as Walker''s words were exactly true. The king smiled even more.


    "I am d you all enjoyed yourselves then, I had prepared some nice mentors for the four winners but unfortunately you Walker, will not be able to stay for a year long mentor-ship. Hmm what to do, I n to send a customary thank you gift to your King when you leave, Ah I will figure something out for then." He hadn''t expected one of the party to win against their best up anding warriors but was pleasantly surprised to see it happen. " What did you think of meeting my general Scy, she is one of the most powerful people in the entire kingdom."


    "Her presence was very forward, I was very surprised to see her block thatst attack, I couldn''t even see her move!" Walker was showing his heart on his sleeve by speaking his mind. Scy''s action was still stuck in his head.


    "Ha! Yes i think she is rather amazing as well, you know she wasn''t born here. Scy was born to the demons as one of their ves, but through a significant amount of effort and her mastery over her system she came to this kingdom. My Father helped her learn to be a proper general and ced her as my direct guard until I became king. You could say she has watched me grow up." This was a bit more than they had nned to learn about general Scy but it was nice to hear that a king was much more down to earth than the nobles and royalty they were used to. However hearing that Scy had once been a ve was enough to wipe the smiles from the party.


    "Ah yes I figured your king may not have been as forting as we are here. My gate manager said you all seemed fairly clueless about carrying the medals your emissaries carry." After a long sigh and a bit more disappointment king Rorick continued. "Our kingdom has always had a bit of a disagreement with the demons, naturally due to some of their stronger ranking demons liking to toy with our popce. They are a kingdom where strength reigns supreme, no matter your birth you are considered trash until you gain strength." King Rorick''s eyes grew cold. "Over the past years the demons have be much more active and begun to ignore their normal power struggle. They have formed a group building up their strong again, taking ves of other kingdoms. Now that is not enough to cause anything like war but their greater demons have been sending more intellectual trickery than usual, the most recent being potions." King Rorick clenched his fists almost shaking, "Some merchants came selling many potions at a lower cost iming they wanted to enter the market with a stronger health potion, naturally this gained momentum well. Many citizens bought them and consumed them. The results? Slow painful death." Pausing while staring off at the wall king Rorick seemed to take hold of his emotions again, " many were healed instantly then over the next week withered away bleeding mana into the air and no longer able to generate it. We hunted the merchant only to find that they had fled the city and left everything behind. We found evidence that they had been a demon but we could not find their escape route, we are currently hunting them believing they are somehow hiding in the city still. This is why your escort was so strong, we can not risk anything."


    Walker was silent along with the rest of the party, this was why they had yet to see any potions being used or sold. The fact that the Demi-humans did not get along with demons wasmon knowledge and even outlined in their history. They even banned them from their city due to pay disputes. However the fact that one had managed to poison so many of the citizens was pure evil, Walker did not want to believe an entire race was evil. He had seen monsters like Midnight who were much more than just some killing machine monster, but were all demons really alike? Walker also began to connect the dots between some of the newer carvings on the stone walls, but held himself back not wanting to cause a scene.


    "King Rorick, should I understand that you wish us to bring this information to our king?" Walker wanted to thank him for the worry and additional escort but first needed to follow the proper business respects.


    "Smart boy, yes I will leave you with documents delivered by my general to you upon your exit. We will be asking for support in certain matters and have found we can rely on your kingdom." King Rorick had started to soften again having finished the heavier matters, he was d that younger emissaries hade over the strict and stubborn usual ones. Things would proceed much more efficiently if backed by one with a hero title.


    "We shall do our best." Walker bowed slightly as a sign of respect. "And we thank you for your additional escort, however, we will go sightseeing tomorrow and wish to be left to our own devices. If this is tough for you to allow, we can sign documentation that it is our choice so you can rest easy and be free of retaliation." Walker knew that they could be used as pawns for their kingdom to attack Ordist, so it was only wise that they leave a record of dropping their escort to prevent any undo futures.


    A wave of king Roricks hand brought an attendant over with documents. They stood in front of Walker allowing him to fill out their desire to be relieved of an escort and that they would take full responsibility for their own well being. "While in my city please remain at attention, I do not trust a demon to let such an opportunity lie untouched." With this final warning king Rorick turned, allowing his attendants to lead the party out.


    The weight that just dropped on their shoulders was enough to break a back. The Demi-humans and demons had always been at odds but at this moment it seemed that things were close to boiling over. Walker only feared that the art showing wars against demons were about to repeat themselves. The previous escort led them back to the tamers guild with no issue, the past ruckus from before seemingly forgotten.


    The party ignored anyone that asked them to head anywhere, choosing instead to find an empty ce in the sleeping quarters so they could speak privately. Today was a lot to digest and they needed the time to understand.


    "When we were entering the doors of the king''s chambers did anyone else see the newest carvings?" Leading off Walker was about to exin his theory. Seeing everyone shake their heads no he took a deep breath, "there was the start of a carving, it showed an older kingying on a bed surrounded by others. It looked like they were sick. I believe that the previous king consumed one of the potions that King Rorick spoke of." Everyone but Midnight seemed surprised and conflicted.


    "Naturally they would want to catch the culprit no matter what. I understand why they sent such a strong escort now, they had just faced great hardship." Su understood immediately.


    " so why don''t they just go and punch the demon''s faces? They are more than strong enough." Remey was angry for them, the idea of potions which should heal being used to poison was disgusting to her.


    "They can''t their hands are tied, they don''t have the demon in question and can''t get answers. Without an interrogation of Ordist does anything against the demons, the demons will be justified to attack and no one can help defend Ordist. It''s all politics. However I have a feeling Walker had some ideas about that?" Gil had one eye brow raised knowing exactly what Walker was thinking.


    "Well, Gil you''re spot on. I think we should go sightseeing tomorrow, visit this city''s adventurers guild, look around the markets, get her the things we want or need. While doing all that we keep our eyes out and let trouble find us. If king Rorick is right, then the culprit may take advantage of us being here. Basically we are fish bait." The party wore devilish smiles, even Midnight seemed eager to reel in prey this way.

 Chapter 189 - 189. Popular

    No one bothered them as when Laurence had noticed the party, he saw them deep in conversation. Many of the tamer''s had heard of the tournament and pushed for entrance. Those that had gained entrance returned to tell the tale. Not often did an outsider even ce in a tournament, let alone one that had been thrown together so fast. The gossip about the party even having members on the King''s balcony skyrocketed. Many citizens knew that they were adventurers from the Crystal kingdom and even had acquired a title at an incredibly young age. Overnight they had be the most talked about sensation.


    Walker had checked his system learning the three skills from hisst round in the Colosseum''s arena.


    ''Knife throwing- 1 mana cost


    Uses a small knife as a projectile. Can cause a stunned and bleeding effect. The more surprised the user is the longer they are stunned.


    Chop- 2 mana cost


    Used only with an ax this skill allows the user to cut through some of the toughest trees. Often used for clearingnd bones can also be cleaved by this skill.


    Quick stab- 1 mana cost per stab


    More reliant on the users stamina, the users thrust out with spear or simr ded weapon as fast as possible. The more this attacknds the higher the damage will rise.''


    They party all woke up early so they could put their sightseeing in to action. They geared up keeping everything as close to them as possible, they wanted to be sure that if anything happened they could react within an instant. Wanting to try some of the local foods they didn''t eat breakfast which seemed to make Midnight slightly agitated, however after some promising words of new treats Walker managed to lighten her mood. Not many were out and about in therge open space training this early in the morning. Many tamers that trained at night had already finished and many that trained in the morning had yet to wake.


    Onyx was enjoying the sunrise while on his favorite spot, Walker''s shoulders, Walker swore onyx had gotten heavier again and decided he would start measuring him every so often. Walker was a bit jealous that Onyx could survive just by absorbing light mana and converting it in to energy for hisbody.Although he wasn''t sure if he could ever make a switch to eating that sincestly all he could think about was his mother''s apple pie.


    The group spotted a familiar face training nearer to the gate they were about to leave from. "Good morning Elise and Ste! One of the first to rise, you must be really excited to traintely." Elise and Ste paused, sweat already glossy on their bodies.


    "Walker! Exactly who we needed, we need another me doll this time to make it smaller than Ste so we can have a harder time hitting it." Her excitement rammed in to Walker, he had no choice but to say yes. It was obvious by therge pile of straw nearby that she would hound him until he did it anyways.


    Walker started the fire gradually shaping a smaller me doll in the shape of Ste, everyone watched, still fairly amazed by theprocess of the skill. After a few moments the small me doll harpy took to the air awaiting Walker''s order. "So what do you need it to do? Once I give it an order it will keep at it, we will be out all day so you will have to destroy it if you decide to stop before we get back."


    Elise was not deterred by this at all, instead she grabbed Walker''s hands shaking them in glee. " You''re awesome, just have it dodge and try to attack us. We will battle until we can''t then destroy it!" After issuing this order to the me doll it immediately targeted Ste who was still on the ground. This caused Ste to jump in to the air to dodge. Before the party was caught up they headed away, Elise waving at them yelling about bringing her back steamed cream buns.


    The tamers at the fence were reluctant to let the party out of the gate without any of their higher ups there to approve it, however without any reason not to they lowered the fence. On their way not free of any escort the party realized many of the early morning workers were stopping to stare at them. Some even gave them waves of greeting which was very surprising. "So has anyone else noticed that we are the center of attention? Did we make that big an impression yesterday? There weren''t even that many people?" Gil was all together too puzzled by this treatment. The next man that gave him a wave he stopped. " Ah yes good morning to you as well, if i could bother you for a moment. Can you tell us why everyone seems to be greeting us?" The man was much more surprised by this question that the party was getting all the attention.


    "Well who wouldn''t want to greet the heroes in the morning?!" the manughed and headed on his way. Naturally they were all a bit struck by this, even in their home kingdom they hadn''t received such gestures. Small parts of them were beginning to like this demi-human kingdom a bit more than their home. Shaking the thoughts from their heads they decided it was not work stressing about and continued towards the smell of cooking food. First on the to do list was breakfast!


    Walker nned on using his adventure que to pay for the meals directly from the guild bank ount. This was one huge advantage of being in another city with an adventurers guild. They were some of the first to make it to the market area, therge road only upied by those on their way to work or transporting goods. Many food stalls were just putting up shop, some set up small sitting areas wanting to entice customers to sit and enjoy various foods. The nearest was serving a variety of chilled fruits that were freshly sliced, Gil had jumped for those wanting to taste the fruits so he could find out the names for his mother. He was reveling in the dream of being able to eat his favorites every day. The colorful variety he had in a paper wrapping was very eye-catching, "These green ones are kiwi, the orange is called a mango, this other yellow one is a banana, we''ve had it shipped in to our kingdom a lot. Oh this one is¡­" Gill was eventually tuned out by everyone as they were too hungry to listen to him go on and on about food.


    Onyx had left Walker''s shoulders and hitched a ride on Midnight''s back. The two moved from stall to stall, smelling the air looking for something good. Midnight naturally stopped at arger stall that had a significant amount of smoke around it. There was a man constantly fanning mes underneath a massive metal oven. The smoke billowed out of a stack in the oven, even as strong as it was the smell of the smoke and slices were pleasant. Seeing the man jump slightly Walker knew that Onyx had just spoken to him.


    The man grabbed some thick gloves and pulled a while smoked horned rabbit from the oven. The plume of smoke released added a whole other level of eye burning. Midnight was not fazed by this at all and watched as the food was wrapped in papers for her. Walker started to rush to catch up so he could pay since Midnight wouldn''t know. However he was stunned to see her turn and present her adventurers que which the man gratefully epted as payment. She then grabbed hold of her meal and turned around, "Since when do you know how to pay!" Walker was thrown for a loop over Midnight''s mastery of payment.


    "Brother, we watched everyone many times pay and learned ourselves. No need to worry we were able to get a discount since we were so polite." Not only did Onyx and Midnight act polite enough to get a discount but they both understood how to use gold. He almost wanted to fell down on his butt he was so amazed. They were just too good.


    Walker followed their lead deciding to get a wrapped sandwich of some of the smoked horned rabbit and fresh sliced vegetables. The man was more than happy to help him as well while praising the adorable snake and dragon siblings. This put Walker even further in to a dazed state but he quickly recovered when the food was ced in his hands. His hunger had reached its peak, time to eat!


    Everyone ate way too much food as they walked, so much so that the swore they may burst. With their breakfast taken care of Walker decided their best course of action was to kill some time stopping by the adventurers guild here in the city to check it out. The other merchants would not be setting up shop for some time as many would note early to buy their wares.


    Heading toward the location of the guild, they found it easily. They had passed it just yesterday and even without that they could hear the familiar hustle and bustle over quests as back home had. From the street that could see that there were many demi-humans pushing even to get in the door. It would seem the quest rush in the city was much higher than back home. Walker wondered why this may be and figured asking when they got close wouldn''t hurt. With the Ordist kingdom adventurers guild building in front of them they took their first steps toward the door.

 Chapter 190 - 190. Ordist Adventurers Guild

    The party was prepared to push and shove their own way inside to check things out but instead were surprised to see the people parting for them to enter. Many mumbled about the color of their que. Apparently those with silver tier ques really made an impression here. Noticing that there were few groups like them around was an even stranger fact. The party easily made it to the front counter where things seemed to be pure chaos, staff rushed around carryingrge piles of documents, many started to drop and not a single one stopped for them. If ra was here to see this she would have a heart attack.


    Soon a woman with cheetah spots all over her body stopped from rushing around to greet them, Hello there, wee to the adventurers guild. May I ask which quest you are epting today?" The woman eyed their ques and knew the group must be there to ept a challenging quest. "With so many of you gathered together it must be a very big quest. We rarely see such a group." This further confused them since it was very normal for groups to form a party, it was actually the rules in their kingdom.


    " Well actually our party is just visiting from the Crystal kingdom. We decided we should broaden our horizons by stopping in here to learn how this city''s guild operates." The cheetah woman was fairly taken back, it was a very rare urrence for those of another city to stop in especially in a party.


    "Oh you must forgive me, it is rather rare to see a party form here unless it is arge quest, Many prefer to travel as solo or duo groups here. I am sure this is very different but it is the preference of the king, his rules help keep each individual as powerful as possible in case we ever need our strength." after a short pause. "It is often very busy in the mornings, within two more hours every quest but a handful will be gone, it is part of thepetition to earn a right to battle in the coliseums. One must be at the bronze tier as an adventurer, then they justplete twenty quests to assist the city. This system is very advantageous for the growth and functions here." this was actually a very great idea, it was in to see the citizens drive to be involved with anything rted to the coliseums, and if they always had challengers they would need a way to regte it. On top of this they also geared that drive to assist the city itself not only helping growth but also ingraining the adventurers guild in to the traditions of the demi-human culture.


    "That is very different from our home but it sounds like it must be quite the life." Walker was showing how unimpressed he was yet again in his face.


    "Would you like to take a quest while here or are you all here to exchange items from travels? I am sure you came across many different enemies on the way through the ins." The cheetah women had nailed their goals down solid. Walker was very much hoping to sell the snow imp bodies they had gathered, he wanted to hold on to the greater ice imp until they were back home but the snow imps were of no great use to them. They had left most to the rabbit tribe but still managed to keep seven of them from their hunts and travels.


    "Where would we bring snow imp bodies to be dissected and appraised for gold?" Walker couldn''t locate a staircase to go to a downstairs discretion area.


    "Of course, you can just bring them to the counter, we can take them for appraisal in the work space in the back." Having her this Walker realized that the counter was in fact much more reinforced than their home guild was. "If you have exceptionallyrge prey to have dealt with you can have carrierse to where you have it held to pick it up." Ah that would make sense, Walker could tell that based on some of the equipment the pushing adventurers had they were most likely trying to grabcarrier quests.


    "No it''s ok we have them with us." Walker confused the woman who wasn''t seeing any other bodies with them at all. When Walker began to pull them from his inventory more than just the cheetah woman behind the counter were stunned. Multiple staff members stopped in their tracks. Even the noise in the hall lowered as those with a view were sunned. The rare space magic and the higher tier party dropping some snow imps with severe damage on the counter was not a normal sight.


    Quickly recovering the cheetah woman moved very fast to grab an appraiser. She was very in her element using her speed to dodge around the staff still moving around in the chaos. She returned in the blink of an eye dragging an older looking man who hadrger leathery ears. The man seemed to have some traits of a bat and had a blindfold covering his eyes. Making several clicking sounds with his tongue towards the pile of snow imps he nodded his head. It was very impressive to see an appraiser that was able to use sounds to appraise monster remains. With a whisper to the cheetah woman''s ear he turned to head back to where he had juste from.


    "Our appraiser says some are damaged very much and it will affect the price. All together the guild will offer a total of three hundred and fifty gold. This is reduced from four hundred due to damage, Due to your status as silver tier adventurers we will waive the dissection fee this time. Would you like the gold directly or have it deposited in to your party ount?" Signalling that Walker wanted it in the party ount he held out his que. After some small magic the transaction wasplete and some other staff grabbed the snow imps to bring them off to dissection. "Will there be anything else you need while here?"


    Walker thought for a moment, "Actually we are looking for some materials we may want to craft with, are there any specific ces in the market to check that may be more unique?" This was most likely the best ce to ask since the guild would directly sell the materials to a forge or to merchants that used the market ce.


    "Oh of course, there is one shop that always brings in very strange items. A young woman and her father recently started here about two months ago, they said they couldn''t set up shop until after the crisis had passed but now they wanted to sell their wares as much as they could. They are known for their red and green fabric carpets you can;t miss them on the market road!" This was exactly the kind of ce Walker wanted to check out. Strange items? Perfect, maybe his appraisal skill could sniff out something amazing.


    "Thank you for all your help today! We will definitely tell our guild manager about our time here, I wish you luck with the crowd." Giving a thankful smile the cheetah woman was off in a blink. There were many more in need of help after all. The party easily left as many parted again for their exit. This was overall much easier than they expected after seeing therge crowd.


    Making their way back to the market road more and more demi-humans were on the streets. They still waved every so often but it seemed the general morning rush was enough to keep most focused on themselves.


    They were all happy to have eaten earlier because not the stalls were so swarmed with customers that getting anything to eat seemed i possible. Some merchants had already opened shop trying to sell various clothing, tools, and even gems. However these didn''t really interest them since they were mostly after materials. Walker couldn''t forget that he wanted everyone in the party to have some form of item that could store mana forter use. This meant that he would need to find unique materials to give to a cksmith to create better equipment. Judging by what they currently saw nothing really jumped out saying that it would be useful.


    They continued down to almost the middle of therge road before they spotted arge patch of red andgreen carpeting. The space had three medium wood tables holding arge variety of different materials, gear, essories, and even a few magic staffs. The variety was astounding. In the very middle a man sat cross legged eyes closed almost waiting for something. A smaller girl rushed around trying to attract attention from any that walked by. Some stopped and asked her questions while others ignored her. The girl seemed to be doing all the work, something was definitely putting Walker off though...

 Chapter 191 - 191. Curse

    "Gil, what do you see there? Walker stopped slowly trying not to draw too much attention. The rest stopped with him looking at him curiously.


    Gill made small nces while pointing around at the other stalls not to draw attention, he had started to notice what Walker was feeling. His sharp eyes were zeroing in on things that were just not exactly right. "That frail short girl in the turban with green hair poking out is limping. She has bandages on her arms under those long purple sleeves. Her clothing is definitely much too old and small for her. She is also sweating a lot, she does not seem very healthy at all." Gil was bing more and more tense as he watched the girl move more. It was obvious to him that she had many injuries and was not eating properly. On top of all this was the man in the middle.


    "That man sitting in the middle is wearing much nicer clothing, his face and hair do not match a single bit of the girl, they can''t be rted in any way. He is also very clean and has no visible injuries. Well actually I think his knuckles are a bit red." thest bit was almost a growl for Gil, he had started to put some things together that he absolutely did not want to see. The man was wearing the same purple long sleeved shirt and purple pants that the girl was but his werepletely spotless and brand new. He breathed easy and didn''t lift a finger to any customer allowing it all to be handled by the girl. Walker was almost certain the girl would pass out soon.


    "Leader, this can not be normal, how can someone allow this to happen?" Su was too pure to ept that this kind of thing could exist.


    Gil was twitching his hand slightly almost as if he was imagining grabbing his bow. "Calm down and breath Gil, we will do something about this." Walker exined the possible connection in what Gil saw so that Onyx and Midnight could understand. Su had already grasped it and Like Gil Remey''s anger was growing. "It looks like that man has been beating the girl and forcing all the work on her. We don''t have proof yet but we can see it from the way their bodies are injured. Something still feels off though...ah! I can''t see any animal or monster-like traits on them. I wonder if they actually demi-humans." Walker tried to look harder and so did Gil but after a few more moments confirmed that they showed no signs of being demi-humans at all.


    "We should just go and force him to admit it, if anyone hurt my brothers or sisters like that I would end them." Remey was imagining the girl as her family back at the orphanage and it was causing her to be a bit unstable.


    "Like I said we will do something, let me use my appraisal skill. Maybe we can find something to ask the man to get him started talking. We can get him to identally spill the details of what he has been doing. Once we do that we can get the guards to properly arrest him, even though we are in another country we all know that injuries like hers are not from training at all." while the demi-human kingdom strongly encouraged training at a young age, they did have limits. They would never risk the health and future of a child that could grow in to a very powerful warrior.


    Walker focused on a pendant in the shape of an eye to try and dig up a good reason to ask the man some questions. Activating his all around appraisal skill yielded more than he expected.


    '' Cursed eye of the abyss


    Increases affinity for darkness at the cost of sanity. Was forged by a cksmith who had been driven insane after spending years alone crafting in the darkness.''


    Walker''s jaw dropped, the others just looked at him like he had started to lose his mind. Why would he be making such a face now? "Brother, sister, and I are bing worried about you,"


    Onyx did not like that Walker seemed to be stuck. He was always thinking and trying to make sense of things but at this moment there was nothing visible.


    Walker was furiously using his appraisal skill,


    '' Cursed gem of ice


    +10matk


    Created from the blood of one hundred snow imps and frozen by the coldest night of winter. Cursed by the hex touch of the demon Vincent.


    Cursed staff of mes


    Allows stronger fire magic attacks. Special attack blue me wall is able to be learned through in depth study of the staff''s innate affinity. Cursed by the demon Vincent''s hex touch to cause the same damage to the user as it causes to the opponent.


    Cursed ss of poison


    A normal ss cursed by the demon Vincent''s hex touch to store a mana eating poison on its surface at all times. Any liquid ced inside besced with poison.


    Cursed¡­.


    Cursed¡­


    Cursed¡­


    Cursed by¡­


    Cursed¡­.


    Cursed by ¡­.''


    Every item on the tables was either cursed or had been cursed by this demon named Vincent''s cursed touch. Walker couldn''t fathom how so many cursed items in one ce were even possible, how dangerous was everything here. Each and every item was enough to kill its own user or put them on the path to kill others and themselves. "We need to do something as soon as possible." Walker finally moved his mouth in a stunned whisper. Everyone heard it as they were hyper focused on what he was doing due to his strange actions. "We may need the guards, as soon as possible¡­" Walker wasn''t sure they should approach the man anymore.


    ''Chain quest: Justice for Ordist


    The party has discovered the dastardly culprit behind multiple ns to weaken the kingdom of Ordist. This demon has caused many deaths and much suffering.


    Requirement:


    Shut down the sale of cursed objects.


    Reward:


    100exp


    Requirement:


    Pursue the target and rescue the unnamed girl.


    Reward:


    300exp


    Requirement: optional


    assist the guards to capture the demon Vincent


    Reward:


    600exp


    Requirement: optional


    Defeat the demon Vincent


    Reward:


    400exp.


    Time is limited. The party must act before the criminal flees the city.


    Punishment:


    Loss of five levels''


    Every member of the party felt that their heart had stopped and they may die. Not only was this a chain quest to shut down a cursed item merchant but also to subdue a demon? They even had to rescue the girl with the demon. Even more terrifying was that although this quest had amazing rewards it also came with a failure penalty, they could lose five levels, this was unheard of in any situation. The system was basically forcing them to act, Walker was certain this was another effect from the hero title. " Remey go find the guards and show them your travel medal, tell them we found someone selling cursed items and that they are most likely a demon. Gil keep back and focus your eyes on the slightest movement, if anything happens we are counting on you. Onyx, Midnight, stay far enough away as not to be caught up in anything but close enough toe to support it. Su, you and I are going to go have a word to keep him distracted while we wait for the guards," Remey had already started off before Walker finished, she had read the quest and knew just how dangerous things would be, this was their first run in with a demon. Unfortunately, their sightseeing was cut short, they had all hoped that they would not be targeted by a demon or even run in to it in the first ce but it seemed the hero title was pushing their fate in a different direction.


    Gil had blended in to the crow hiding himself from view, Walker couldn''t spot him but felt his eyes watching. Midnight and Onyx seemed to have disappeared in to the shadows, Midnight was using her skill shadow wrapping to blend in the shifting shadows of those on the street. With all of the movement it would be nearly impossible to pick out midnight as the shadows she wrapped herself with moved with her.


    Walker gave Su a look, he really did not want to move any closer to the chaos that was sure to ensue after they interrupted the attempts to sell the items. The girl quickly zeroed in on the two approaching. "Hi there, wee to our little stall, we have plenty to choose from. How about this stone pendant for thedy, not only will it increase her looks but it will also make her defense stronger. Maybe you fancy the swords we have? You can give them a swing, we promise you may even like one so much you can''t put it down!" The girl was using all her energy to try and push for the sale. Walker could feel his heart breaking as he knew she was most likely pushing through tremendous pain to do so.

 Chapter 192 - 192. Vincent

    Walker put on his best smile after hearing the girl use her first sales pitch. He wanted the attention on him and not attracting more customers. "Well I have got to say, you are an excellent sales woman. But i am not sure what you may have that i can use. Your variety is just sorge. My girlfriend and I are just too torn, we wish we could buy them all." Walkerughed loudly making sure his show was convincing. Even Su leaned in to him a bit to try and pull off the act. There was still no reaction from the man sitting but the girl seemed to jump on the act full force.


    She practically dragged them to a table full of gems and jewelry pushing them to pick up and examine them in different ways. Walker knew they should not touch a single thing or else they would end up with a cursed gear potentially stuck to them for life. There were those that possessed some purification skills but those often required extremely rare items or high amounts of gold to pay the person. Some purification skills were even said to shave away the life of the user to break a curse. "What can you tell me about this blue chain ne here? It looks foreign I wonder about its history." The girl immediately searched the table for the one Walker was talking about obviously having trouble, He had actually motioned toward a green one but said blue to slow her down.


    "Honey you know blue shes with me gear, what about the maroon one?" Su yed along motioning to a pink gem calling it maroon, the girl was slightly panicking not being able to find what they were talking about.


    Walker waited a moment looking expectantly which made the girl even more flushed, " Well I''m not sure this girl can help us, she seems not to know what she is even selling. We are better off going elsewhere." Walker started to pull Sui away by the arm which caused a look of sheer terror from the girl. She was staring at the manpletely afraid of the consequences of losing the sale.


    "Ahh young man,you seem to have asked a question to a novice, let a master help you out." The man''s eyes had opened, they were a yellow color that seemed to pierce through the spirit. "So you wished to know the history of the blue and maroon ones? Let me see" The man had stood up a bit too fast forfort but Walker and u held their ground. Walker could feel Su tensing, waiting to block any potential attacks.


    Walker wanted to avoid fighting in such a crowded market, if any magic went awry it could harm or kill someone. Even more so without the guards there they could let the man escape, Walker was also watching the man carefully. He lifted the blue ne up delicately, "This was made by a traveling gem carver, he spent hours carving every single loop in the chain here. He ced such great care in to his craft he procured the materials through any means. This is definitely a wonderful piece that boasts boosted defense from water elemental oriented attacks." The man ced the ne down and picked up the one with the pink gem. "This is rather different, the quality of the chain is almost nothing but the pink gem here is only formed under very high temperatures. The adventurer that traveled to obtain this was said to have defeated a whole pride of red mane lions. This gem can improve the strength of the fire elemental magics you may use." The man ced it down in to its ce. Walker tried to look pensive as he wanted them so seem like he was unsure of what would be the best to buy.


    Taking advantage of his chance to think Walker used his appraisal skill on the man, wanting to know a bit more about what to expect.


    '' Vincent


    Demon


    Level 26


    Witch doctor system


    Loves watching their cursed items cause general mayhem to innocents. His favorite activity is torturing those under them in the demon ranks. Loyally follows the orders of a greater demon. Has experimented with their hex touch ability to curse items, potions, people, and even buildings.''


    Walker pretended he was looking at his own stats to decide whether he should purchase one but had actually read the disturbing information in the appraisal. This was the very demon they needed to help the guards capture. Even more one of his favorite pastimes was torturing those under him, thispletely exined why the girl with him was so injured. The truly striking part was that this demon''s hex touch worked on many things but most importantly potions. They didn''t even need to pursue the person who had caused such trouble with poisoned potions since the demon here was most likely the culprit.


    Walker was about to ask about another essory on the table but heard the approach of footsteps. Guards had started a walk down the middle of the road, there were easily forty of them in four lines making way. The girl was visibly agitated by this, however the man seemedpletely unfazed choosing instead to smile at the pair waiting for the next question. Walker pretended to get a better look at one of the rings on the table moving himself closer to the girl so that he could pull her away when the guards got close enough. Vincent stayed calm but his eyes told Walker that he was unhappy with the way he had moved.


    The guards found them very quickly and moved in to a half circle formation blocking all methods of escape on the ground. "Damn it, Brat use that spell and hide me!" Vincent dropped his calm facade screaming at the girl to use magic. She crouched in terror with her hands out, a wave of light flew from her hands engulfing Vincent. Once the light had faded there was no Vincent in sight. The guards that had mobilized were marching forward to close the gap not at all rxing since their target had just vanished. There was a slight jungle from the farthest table that caught Walkers attention, It had also caught Gil''s eye.


    An arrow appeared out of nowhere stuck in the air, drops of red blood dripped from it along with the sounds of grunting. The arrow had struck someone they couldn''t see! The spell the girl had just used bent the light around Vincent making him invisible. With the damage the spell began to fade exposing the extremely angry Vincent.


    "You worthless brats, how dare you harm me!" Vincent jumped forward to grab a hold of Walker trying tond his hex touch skill on him, however Su was there with her shield already. Vincent''s handnded on her shieldpletely. There was a dark puff of smoke as a strange pattern formed on the shield. "Worthless girl, out of my way" Vincent kicked Su''s shield away trying to get by, his anger clouding his vision. To everyone''s surprise Su''s shield crumpled like rusted metal. The shield that had protected her for so long was nothing but dust, Walker could only pray that Vincent didn''t use any more curses on them. If one were tond on their body the results could be horrendous. Luckily when Vincent was about to push past Su and touch her a vicious growl came from behind him. Midnight had snuck up and was already rending her ws across his back.


    "Onyx do not touch him, Midnight retreat, if he touches you he can curse you." The headed Walkers words and retreated, Onyx had just been about to use his bind skill to trap Vincent. With his turban sliced and his clothing as well two ck horns were visible on his head. They may have been small but showed his race clearly. His back there was a bat like wing under his clothing that had been covered with bandages in an attempt to hide them. He could not deny he was a demon nor could he escape at the moment.


    More guards with wings seemed to be filling the air above having taken more time to arrive. Remey was sprinting up behind the gori like guards, she had a worried expression on her face but seeing that all the help she had notified had already arrived she held a victorious pose.


    Walker pulled his staff from his inventory while Su backed away pulling the girl with her. "The system was notifying him that they had shut down the sale of the cursed items due to the guards appearance and their evacuation of the citizens. Walker was now waiting for the system to notify him that the girl was safe, Su just needed to get her behind the guards. "How dare you ruin my fun! My lord sent me to do a job and i swore I wouldplete it even at the cost of my Life!"

 Chapter 193 - 193. Capture

    Vincent began to gather a dark energy around his hands as he raised them, the power behind it must be a mastery skill. Walker braced himself unsure if he could stop this. Walker released a fire bolt at Vincent but it somehow curved around him and was sted in to the ground. Seeing that his attack had failed Walker sent two more trying to stop him from using whatever dangerous skill he was gathering but instead the fire bolts were againdeflected.


    "I curse this verynd with my own blood. Let my soul be burned to bring retributions on those who mock my might." The dark aura converted on his hand and he started to m it downwards. The guards on the ground had ;picked up pace to rush in to stop him at all costs. The system rang in Walkers ears notifying him that the girl had been saved by Su. This was all seemingly falling in to a chaotic state and Vincent''s hand was now inches from the ground, massive gusts of wind pushed them all causing Walker to close his eyes.


    The sound of something falling to the ground with a thud and the screaming of Vincent filled the streets. There was blood pouring from where his arm was just moments ago. The arm in question was on the ground starting to fall in to a rotten mass of flesh. The curse he had just attempted to perform had backfired in his failing toplete it and the rebound destroyed it. The fact that someone had severed his arm was a blessing. With even more gusting winds a familiar person had shown up in front of Vincent.


    The general Scy was there, her fan radiating extremely potent wind mana, she had sent a wind de through the space between them while on her way here to stop Vincent. She had been notified shortly after the guards had been and knew that she would be needed if the report was true. She was much more inclined to believe it hearing it camefrom one of those that had participated in the tournament just the day before. From their actions she had seen the true spirit they possessed and felt they would not lie about something so serious. On top of that she had also heard the gossip of the hero title.


    "You pathetic demon wished to breed harm and misfortune on my side of the city, how dare you. May your soul never find rest in the afterlife." Scy raised her fan at the struggling Vincent fully intent on killing him.


    "Waitdy Scy!" Walker shouted for her attention while also using Light heal on Vincent to slow the blood loss. "He is terrible indeed but he can tell us more about why he was sent here and what else he has sold. Every item here is cursed by him. We need to save those who have unknowingly taken them.


    His words did not seem to register but after a few seconds Scy lowered her fan, "You are wise but soft boy." her whisper was almost too quiet to hear but nheless Walker still understood it. He bowed his head as Scy red at Vincent who had passed out from , she raised her flowing clothing slightly and a snakelike creature slithered out, it seemed to have fins and Gil''s. "My baby leviathan is fairly resistant to magic so I will have it restrain this trash and take it directly to King Rorick. The guards will confiscate these items. What of that girl with him?" She appeared to want to take the girl as well. "She must be a demon as well, another piece of trash."


    "Lady Scy please allow my party to deal with her, I was able to gather some information that she was a toy for Vincent. He tortured her and severely injured her. She doesn''t even have a name." Scy''s face softened just a bit, she had once been the very same, she knew very well that the weaker demons were the same if not treated worse than the ves.


    "You may take here, be sure to ask her as many questions as possible, send the information directly to me." With this the baby leviathan had fully entangled Vincent, Scy grabbed a hold of its frilled tail pulling in up off the ground. With more wind she was long gone from sight, Walker could not imagine how strong she was and promised himself not to use his appraisal skill on her for fear of seeing something insane.


    The guards had stopped their motions intently listening to what Scy was saying, after her departure they formed smaller teams and carefully began to break down the shop. Some would exim that they needed another pair of gauntlets as they would be damaged after touching certain items. Walker couldn''t watch them do this over and over knowing that each and every item on the tables was a potential life lost.


    Su was a small distance off by a temporarily abandoned fruit stand trying to get the girl to rx, there were tears in the girls eyes. She was shaking all over her nails biting in to her arms. This was not something that she should be involved in at such a young age. Walker was not excited in any sense to have to try and ask her questions about how she got here and what she had been doing. He could not imagine what terrible things had urred for her to fall under such a terrible person in her young age.


    Walker met them and ced his hand on her head while kneeling down to her level. He used his light heal skill over and over watching as bruises faded and the bags under the girls eyes faded. He had spent most of his mana just on this finding that her injuries were much worse than her had expected. "Can you show me those bandages on your arms please? Walker used the same voice he had once used to sooth Lisa when she had been frightened by her first thunderstorm. The situation may be different but the soothing intention was the same to a child. The girl was shaking just a bit less and was able to understand Walker was not about to hurt her after feeling his healing skill. While he removed the dirty bandages revealing scars upon scars Walker continued to speak, " That magic you used was very amazing, I have never seen someone use light magic to make someone invisible. You are very talented." His words were soft and calm which set the mood for the girl to slow her breathing and rx. "Su can you please get Remey, I am sure she would love to meet someone new, You know you are just the same age of Remey''s younger brothers and sisters." Walker rambled on about Remey growing up in an orphanage and taking care of all her siblings. This seemed to calm the girl even more but she was far from rxed.


    Remey came over easily, "I can''t believe Scy stopped that evil guy, I was ready to give him a face full of fist." She was finishing up her conversation with Su when she saw the state of the girl Walker was talking to and immediately jumped in to big sister mode. With Remey now fully caring for the girl, Walker motioned for onyx and Midnight toe over. They stayed away from the girl as not to scare her more, Gil made his way over as well. "Gil I have no idea how younded that arrow but it was perfect." pping Gil on the back, Gil showed a slightly embarrassed look.


    "Well when that light shed around I had no idea where he went, but when I saw the table corner move I figured something was off so I shot an arrow at the spot I thought was weird. Lucky me my arrow got stuck in the air. Who would have thought light magic could make someone invisible. It is weird though, a demon bringing around a girl who had light magic, I thought demons hated light magic."Gil was right, there were plenty of stories that spoke about how much demons disliked light magic since their culture held dark elemental magic in high esteem.


    Midnight and Onyx were looking at Walker expectantly they definitely wanted some praise after following hismands to retreat after the attack. "You two did well, I am d he didn''t get his hands on either of you, he could ce a curse on someone with a touch.I feel bad for Su''s shield, it fell to dust." Walker and Gil looked off to the pile of rusty dust on the ground, that shield had protected all of them for a long time now, it had even been modified with dragon scale but it still didn''t withstand the hex touch of Vincent.


    The guards had begun to carefully escort crates filled with the cursed items away, any citizen around was kept away due to the danger. They seemed well experienced in such matters and most likely gained these skills from their time guarding the markets. Seeing that things were handled Walker wanted to encourage them to move to the tamers guild so they could get a handle on what happened and make the girl more rxed away from the streets that would soon be crowded again.

 Chapter 194 - 194. Making Sense

    Heading back to the tamers guild, Remey took the responsibility to carry the girl who had now fallen in to a stress induced sleep. Walker was worried that there was more than just serious emotional trauma, but possibly a curse left over from Vincent.


    '' unnamed girl


    Demon race


    Level 6


    Light benders system


    Forced out of her home due to her system based on the light element. Passed around as a useless servant until she unlocked the light bending ability allowing temporary invisibility. Taken in by Vincent and used to cause constant suffering, many emotional and physical scars were created. Surviving many curses under the torment of Vincent but currently is free of any curse.''


    Walker was able to breathe a sigh of relief seeing that the girl was not currently cursed, he would have had to do everything in his power to l;earn a purification skill to free her. He tried not to dwell on the horrid treatment she had to go through since she unlocked her system, it may be the way the society in the demon kingdom worked but it was still wrong in his eyes. Everyone had worth and did not deserve such hate.


    Using the system he checked the quest rewards wanting to see the total of experience they had all received.


    ''Chain quest: Justice for Ordistpleted


    Requirement :


    shut down the sale of cursed objects


    Reward:


    100 exp multiplied to 1000 exp


    Requirement:


    Pursue the target and rescue the unnamed girl


    Reward:


    300 exp multiplied to 3000 exp


    requirement : optional


    Defeat the demon Vincent


    Reward:


    None


    Requirement: Optional


    Assist the guards to capture the Demon Vincent


    Reward:


    600exp multiplied to 6000exp."


    This all came together to ten thousand experiences, it was a major contribution to their growth. The had gained much more than usual from these quests making Walker believe that the bigger the heroic action the bigger the reward, This was in in the choice to subdue Vincent and not defeat him. Walker was itching to look and see what levels they were but stopped himself. The party needed to get their rescued friend somewhere safe and speak to the tamer''s guild master about what to do now. Things were definitely going to escte.


    The moment they were seen by the tamers watching the fence it began to lower, Laurence and Ribbolt were standing there dead silent. Walker knew there was a lot to talk about, Robbolt headed towards his office with Walker in tow. Walker gave a nod to the others to head to the resting quarters with the girl so that she could rest and they could take some time to make sense of what just happened.


    After taking a seat at the coffee table in Ribolt''s office the first thing out of Laurence and Ribbolt''s mouth was, "What the hell happened!"


    With a bit of a sigh Walker told them every detail starting with the tournament the day before. From there he went on to exin that they denied their escort from king Rorick and even tried to use themselves as bait. Their n naturally did not work but they instead were unintentionally guided to the merchant selling strange items by the adventures guild within the city. This all added up to both a lucky and unlucky discovery. It was true that the party had saved many more demi-humans from cursed items, and death. However they had also gone up against an opponent whose skills could literally curse them to turn to dust. This thought still made Walker shiver as he told them. Seeing that Walker understood the danger that the party had been on either Laurence nor Ribbolt reprimanded him.


    "So now they have their culprit, I am not sure if this is good or bad. If they execute that demon the hate for demons will only grow more. And if they manage to get him to spill the names of his leaders then they could go after the demon kingdom. However if they are wise they will only punish the one demon and pursue more political avenues. War would not be good for any kingdom on the continent." Ribbolt knew more than anyone how war could severely harm the guild and people in the continent. The loss of safe travel would cripple any adventurer, tamer, merchant, and even public rtions. The stress of war would breed a whole different generation full of hate.


    Walker understood what Ribbolt was thinking and was also having his own silent prayers that war would be avoidable. If they could just find a peaceful resolution for the demons and the demi-humans maybe years of bad blood could be washed away.


    "Why would the demons send someone to poison the popce and curse them now? It seems too random." Laurence had made a good point, one well worth investigating more.


    "That is what I have been wondering for a while. If they wanted to do something big against the kingdom to weaken them this would be it. But to what end?" Walker was not well traveled enough to fully understand the rtions all the kingdoms had, the only one he really knew was the demi-human and human kingdom. The Crystal kingdom and the Kingdom of Ordist had long shared trade, food from Ordist and manufactured goods from Crystal. This was a nice bnce and they saw each other as equals.


    "I can lend some wisdom to this, long ago the demons yed a trick on the tribes of the demi-humans to get some of theirnd. This made the demi-humans angry and they tried to fight the demons to get it back. As you can imagine it was a physical attacker against a magical attacker. The demi-humans suffered huge losses and the demons were in turn overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the demi-humans. Both races nearly brought each other to extinction. The demons speak of a deal that the demi-humans made and went back on. This has fueled the conflict between the two for a long time. It doesn''t help that both races are stubborn and prideful, it really makes things harder." Ribbolt had often dealt with the stress between the two nations,it was rare for tamers to need to travel in thend upied by the demons but when they did it was very dangerous. He had gained quite a few wrinkles on his face trying to mediate some problems during the border crossings.


    "Walker, I think the real question you need to ask yourself at the moment is what will happen to the girl your party rescued? She is a demon right? If she stays here she will be treated just as poorly as in the demon''s territory." Laurence brought up a good point, one that Walker was thinking about just now.


    "She has no home with the demons, and she can''t make a home here. She may as well juste with us back to Diamond. My party has a huge mansion with plenty of space. Demons may rarelye to our kingdom but I can''t say there is an overall hate like here. Maybe she will be able to find a good ce for herself, I know some people who use light magic too." Walker was thinking that the girl would fit in at the cathedral, she may not necessarily be a healer but if she used light magic maybe she would be weed anyways. From what he remembered growing up people did not necessarily hate the demon race but the stories they heard had definitely put them off. This could be a good way to start a better rtionship. If the demi-humans started a war with the demons it was safe to say that Walker''s kingdom would end up involved in some way. He may be able to convince the king to act as a stopgap between the two and clear things up. Walker''s mind was flooded with all these things he had never once been part of, it was overwhelming.


    "Then i rmend you all head out soon, with today''s incident i am sure things will escte here, you are all bound to be dragged in to more drama the longer you stay. You''ve already seen the King''s sly tricks with his tournament. You didn''t think it was actually a tradition did you?" Walker had wondered but in the end just went with the flow.


    "I did think it was too convenient, but it was a good way for us to build up some respect with the kingdom as a whole. I hope it worked, We will need as much respect and credibility as possible if we get involved even more than we are now." Things may not be rushed in to war any second because the political aspect of leaders would drag things out, but that did not change the amount of pressure Walker felt. He, like most people did not want to see anyone hurt or die, no matter the race and kingdom. "I''m going to head over to where everyone else is, we told Scy that we would gather some information from the girl to give here, once that is done we can get ready for the journey back.

 Chapter 195 - 195. Keeping The Deal

    Walker was about to leave when he remembered something, "Hey Laurence since nobody else is around this may be the best time to give you half of what we found from that quest." For only a moment Laurence seemed confused.


    "That quest? You mean the one that makes things very risky for us because of the value?"


    "Yes THAT one. We did promise to split it half and half." Ribbolt had been told of the quotes to y the wolves but Laurence had purposefully kept the items they found hidden so that things could remain hidden and safe longer.


    Walker pulled the overfilled backpack out of his storage and let it fall to the coffee table with a hard thwack. The orichalcum ore on the inside bounced together making Ribbolt wonder why a seemingly rock filled backpack was so important. Walker opened the top and pulled out half the ore leaving it in a pile on the table, then quickly stored the bag away again.


    "This is...Where!" This was less of a question and more of an order from Ribbolt. Laurence was pale knowing that if he was not very careful with his response he would be severely punished.


    "The quest to y those wolves was because they had harmed and destroyed a merchant carriage. The reward was that we could take the remaining items, we told you about the mana crystals but omitted the backpack that the quest issuer definitely did not know about. I told Walker to keep it all but he made a deal with me to split it. Now that we have done so our deal isplete." Laurence was not taking his eyes off the pile of Orichalcum ore on the table afraid that they may run away themselves.


    "HMM you are all way too lucky, are you sure your party doesn''t have a gambler in your midst?" Ribbolt could not fathom just how insane this amount of luck was. This was one of the rarest ores and Walker had just ced half of what they found on the table. They could easily have sold it all for thousands of gold. They could even make some of the best equipment too, only a small amount was needed to greatly increase the qualities of anything crafted with it.


    While Ribbolt made sense of what was sitting in front of him Walker was realizing that if he was able to get the forge at the mansionrunning and Midnight could level up to the point where she could add her dragon fire to the mes then just maybe they could forge Su new shield with some of this ore. This would fix a bunch of current problems they had and also greatly strengthen them. However first things first, find Su a temporary shield for the trip home.


    Speaking of the trip home he would also need to consider the fact that they would now be bringing along an extra person who would need protecting. The odds were that Remey would handle the majority of the protecting since she had the most experience with younger children, even more so since she had the offensive and defensive ability to block most of the snow imps or ice wraiths attacks.


    "You''ve given out tamers guild such an impressive amount of orichalcum ore, you had the ability to store it away and keep it hidden but you did not. I more than understand why you are considered a her by the system. You will all be leaving tomorrow morning most likely correct? I will have your reward for the escort quest packaged for you. Along with something else for your entire party to carry." Ribbolt looked very serious but his words were soft and much warmer than they had been before, Walker felt touched by this.


    "I''ll head out for now then, we will make sure to say our proper goodbyes in the morning. That is if Elise, and Riley aren''t still stuck training like crazy." With a smallugh Walker left the office closing the door behind him. Laurence and Ribbolt had begun to talk fast between the two of them. It seemed that Ribbolt had many things he was trusting in Laurence toplete.


    Many tamers nced at Walker as he headed to the resting quarters, the gossip about what happened in the market had already spread to almost everyone. The entire kingdom of Ordist would soon be preaching the kindness and dedication of the Omnipotent party. Thinking of this Walker felt embarrassed but also a sense of pride, they had saved many from the fate of a cursed item.


    Upon entering the resting quarters, spotting the rest of the party was simple. Many of the tamers had left them a wide area to have their own space. This was their way of respecting their status. Walker knew this and was again embarrassed. "So what did Ribbolt have to say? Hopefully nothing too bad?" Gil wore a mask of worry as he asked.


    "Well we can''t expect king Rorick to just let this go, but since this could all take time we don''t have to worry about a war breaking out immediately, things will get all tangled up in politics for a while. I think the biggest worry right now is what we will need to do with the girl we rescued." Walker was looking softly at the girl who had wrapped herself around Remey''s arm asleep but still clutching tightly. "She can''t go back to the demon territories, and she won''t be able to stay here. Both ces will not treat her well." Su was looking the most affected by this news, she had already felt her heart break learning the horrible treatment of the girl but now knowing that the girl would have no ce to go home to her heart ached more. "This being said, I think she would fit in rather well at our mansion until she finds a ce to call home, but that would be up to her. However seeing that she has alreadyid im to Remey she may never let go."


    Remey gave a solid re hearing this but knew it was all because she had the most experience as an older sibling. Walker may have known how to calm his sister Lisa, but Remey had been able to calm all of her younger and even older siblings. The difference was just too much and the girl would have been attached to her no matter what.


    "We also will. Need to ask her some questions and write up a small report for Scy, as much asdo not want to put any more stress on her, Scy would be even more brutal. Just being around Scy is tense." Walker remembered the chill he felt from the strength Scy had shown, not to mention the baby leviathan the had somehow hid underneath her clothing. There were many mysteries he did not wish to solve revolving around that general.


    "So when she wakes up we will ask her some things, you can leave it to me and Gil." Remey knew that the less of them that bothered the girl the better. Not to mention if they would be leaving sooner every single one of them shouldn''t be upied with one task.


    "That''s right Remey and I will hold this down, you and Su can go find a new shield for Su and grab those seeds and fruit."


    "Oh it''s nice to see you haven''t forgotten the most important reason we are here." Walker rolled his eyes at Gil while letting his words drip with sarcasm. Su was understandably downcast remembering her shield falling to dust, it had been the best piece of gear she had ever had. Even if it was the worst it was still her favorite and nothing could ever top it.


    "Leader, I don''t think we should buy anything fancy. I just need something to get us home. I know you must have ns for when we return." Su was perceptive as always, she could see the gears turning in Walkers head.


    Before Walker could open his mouth to confirm, the girl clinging to Remey had started to stir. She definitely still needed rest but did not seem ustomed to long periods of sleep, most likely due to previous trauma. Her eyelids fluttered a moment before her mind caught up with her body. "Ahpf!" she squealed out a slight yelp, she had just remembered what had happened and now was awake in an unfamiliar ce with a group of people she had just met very recently. Remey immediately used her free hand to brush her now exposed green hair, the tiny ck horns were very different from Vincent''s. This was because there were white lines curving around the girls where Vincent had pure ck. Walker could only theorize this was due to the light elemental affinity the girl had.


    Few moments passed as Remey talked her in to a semi calm state. "My name is Remey and this is my adventuring party. We helped the demi-humans capture Vincent, you will not need to worry about him anymore." The girl''s eyes were wide and steadily dripping tears. Her facade from the market was long gone and her true emotions were showing.

 Chapter 196 - 196. Last Minute Shopping

    Remey stayed silent letting the girl adjust to this news. It was most likely some of the best news she had ever heard in her life. Walker and Su gave each other a look and decided to leave them along to take away the pressure from two more sets of eyes. Leaving Midnight and Onyx who had found a spot to nap, they left the resting quarters. They trusted Remey and Gil to take diligent notes and smooth things out for the girl, Walker only wished that she had a name so they would be able to better address her. He decided it would be something they talked about when the two of them returned from theirst minute shopping. Maybe if the girl decided to go with them she would think of a name for herself.


    The tamers guild members were at their usual routine after the morning drama had calmed down, some of them seemed to be running towards the underground but it was few and far between. The two tamers at the fence were surprised that Walker and Su were going back out again after everything that urred but after Walker made a bit of small talk asking about an armor shop they understood why the two were heading out.


    There was a much heavier presence of guards on the streets since this morning, it was obviously due to the demon, they wanted to put the citizens at ease. However the fact that anything had happened did not deter the crowds from storming the coliseums since Walker could see them from the opposite side of the long market road. Walker went towards the same stand that had prepared the fruit for Gil this morning finding that the same mad was running it. "Hello there, looking to buy a snack for the afternoon?" The merchant was rather polite and gestured at his many fruits at the ready.


    "I actually was wondering if I could purchase some seeds from you? You see we have arge garden back home and would like to try growing some of these fruits there since we don''t often see them in our kingdom. Would that be possibly?" The man shuffled some buckets and bowls around from underneath his work space. It looked like he had buckets filled with every type of fruit seed he sold.


    "Usually I let them dry and save them to sell to the farmers once a month. I have no reason not to sell some to you, just don''t get too angry at me if they do not like the soil you put them in. Some of these are very picky on how they like to grow." The man began to fill small paper bags with about thirty of each seed. There ended up being six bags of different seeds all together. "I am willing to sell you each for one gold. I could not call myself a merchant if I gave them all away for free but I couldn''t possibly sell them at an expensive price to the esteemed hero party." The man had a yful smile as he called them a hero party. He had spent most of his morning gossiping with customers over the emissaries from the Crystal kingdom and especially over the mornings capture of a vile demon criminal.


    "Ah you''re so kind to us, we would not expect such a generous discount. We will take the seeds and two bowls of sliced fruit." Walker handed over twelve gold to the man who in turn gave him the bags. Walker stored them away which brought a sparkle to the man''s eyes as he expertly sliced away at the fruit. The two bowls he gave them had been arranged in a way that made the thin sliced fruit in the form of arge rose flower.


    Su was in a trance, it was a beautiful presentation. "Sir i am sure this will taste as amazing as it looks. You must really love what you do." Her words were so genuine that the man had to smile in response. He had received manypliments through the years but today it was just a little sweeter.


    Giving the merchant man a wave the two moved onward with an armor shop in their sights. They devoured the delicious fresh fruit being sure to toss the empty bowls in the proper collection area. The shop they had in their sights was very in looking, a simple shield and sword sign hung from the entrance. The two opened the in wooden door to find a small open room with about twenty armor sets on disy. Most were very basic in design, they were made of verymon material.


    Su immediately started judging each one, they may not have been here for armor but Walker saw no harm in using this chance to learn about armors. The more experience they had in the designs the better for when their forge was used to enhance or craft their own gears. The shields and swords were all on disy against the walls. There wererge two handed shields that followed general rectangr or badge like shapes. The single handed shields were mostly round or longer rectangles. Walker was judging the shapes to see what might be best for deflecting attacks. Su may be able to easily block things but since she had some skills and gear that led her to be able to deflect things more he was thinking that having an oval shaped shield with rounded top may be better. He was drawing designs in his head, since Su often used her shield to bash forward or downwards he thought some spikes or a point on the edge would be fitting.


    Realizing he was getting way ahead of himself he waved for Su toe over, he had already taken a look at every shield to make sure that they weren''t cursed, he was a bit paranoid about this now. The best two options were either a two handed iron shield that wasrger rectangle or two smaller bronze shields that were circr. Su did not see anything that greatly stood out and started to pick up the two handed shield. She would prefer this for temporary use since she would more or less need it to block attacks from getting near the girl. Su felt it was easier topletely hide her behind the one shield then need speed to use two small shields at once to hope they can cover enough area.


    Walker had expected this and after the shield was in Su''s hands he looked at the small counter by the door. One man sat there focused on reading a newspaper. The title on the front page read "Young emissaries make a ssh in the arena!" This was another reason the party was so talked about. The kingdom news had been printing articles constantly, Walker could only fear howrge the headline would be the next day after they had written about the demon being captured. He was also happy that there was no way to put pictures in these small newspapers or else everyone would know what he looked like. He could only deal with so much attention.


    The man noticed theming to the counter and ced the paper down, "Find something for yourself miss?"


    "Yes sir, I would like to purchase this iron shield. May I inquire about the price?" With a nod the man checked some documents.


    "That was crafted by a younger cksmith, It is only made with iron at the most basic level. Due to this ites at a cheap price of five gold. Many of a cksmith''s first works are normally sold this cheap or even less." This was not unheard of, most young craftsman system users would just sell their first creations for whatever they could get so they could find more materials to continue their work and push to increase their level.


    Su used her adventurers que to purchase the shield and equipped it to her back so that it was easier to travel back. They were barely in the shop for half an hour before they had headed out. The streets were much more lively, Walker could see a massive crowd at the coliseum. It would see a battle was about to start, this was a good chance to get away from the area so they weren''t lost in the sea of people.


    Doubling their efforts to head back to the tamers guild they weaved through the streets, many merchants had closed up shop after today''s events. This exined why so many were heading to the coliseums. When a demon selling cursed items causes the market road to be temporarily closed it wasmon sense that people would feel put off buy things for the day. The only benefit in this was an impromptu day off for merchants and neither Walker of Su were distracted to buy something they didn''t need at another stall.

 Chapter 197 - 197. Named

    The two made it back to the Tamers guild fairly quick since they were heading away from the crowded streets. Su had been walking funny but this was most likely because she needed to adjust to the new weight of the shield. The iron shield weighed more than her previous one due to the modifications it had undergone by adding the dragon scales.


    Once she had gone through the lowered fence with Walker she removed the shield, "What''s up? Is it notfortable?" Walker wasn''t sure why she had removed it.


    "Ah it''s fine, I just want to get used to holding it. I thought it would be weird to carry it in the streets but with how much room there is here, I should be able to swing it around a bit before we get to the sleeping quarters." Walker gave Su the space she needed as they walked. It was interesting watching Su twist and turn to get used to the shield, Walker had not seen her do this thest time she got her previous shield modified, the party had split up to train. Walker was sure that some of the tamers found her actions odd but seeing the strange things they were doing to train with their beasts Walker didn''t see any problem.


    When they entered the resting quarters they found Remey still in the same position as when they left, however the girl seemed much more at ease having spent a few hours adjusting to Gil and herself. Gil had a small stack of papers that he had already sealed and handed to Walker as soon as he reached him. The girl shrank back in to Remey a bit more when Walker and Su approached. "Come on, that''s Walker, we talked about him, he has a little sister named Lisa back home. He''s really nice and can show you some cool magic. Introduce yourself, I promise he will be your friend too."


    Remey whispered to her which seemed to make her a bit more courageous than a moment ago. "My na-me is-s Maria, Remey helped me pick it¡­." the girl paused a bit with another deep breath. "My system is a light benders system, I can make light bend and change sha-pes." She winced as she said this most likely as result of being harmed whenever she brought up her system.


    "Well my name is Walker, I have a jack of all trades system. With it I can do a lot but one of them is this." Walker used his elemental maniption to start making the light mana in the environment converge in to a little white glowing ball. This made the girls eyes open wide, due to her time in the demon territory she had never seen another being that could manipte light at all. "I even have a friend who can shape light in to animals and flowers. I can take you to see her sing one day." Having seen the girl''s reaction to his small elemental maniption he knew that it would be the thing to get her more interested in opening up.


    "Yes, I would want to. Remey said I coulde with all of you? Is that really alright...I-I''m a demon too." She was waiting for Walker or Su to yell or hit her but it never came. The only thing that happened was Su and Walker smiled bigger.


    "Well unlike here or where you were born, our kingdom doesn''t hate any race. We may not all get along, but we don''t have any rules that stop them from visiting, or living there. Aaaanndd my party just happens to have way too much room in a mansion we are cleaning up. So you''re wee toe with us. Who knows maybe you will just make a few friends in our city of Diamond." Maria was silent but her eyes darted to everyone''s faces looking for even a hint of cruelty or anger. Her eyes were red from obvious crying, Su and Walker could tell that she would be crying again now if she had any tears left. "We actually n to leave tomorrow early morning, Su here is going to be your own personal guard, she''s really strong." With a hushed whisper at thest part Maria seemed a bit distracted now.


    She was looking at Su who was waiting for the right time to make her own introduction. With a soft hit on Walker''s shoulder she started, "Leader is right, I just got this new shield here and it''s pretty tough. I will make sure it stands between you and any mean monsters. All you will need to do is stand behind me and watch everyone use cool skills." She was not used to talking to those younger than her being the youngest in her own family, but she adopted the same tone Walker and Remey used which seemed to work well enough.


    "I''m sorry your other shield broke." Maria said so softly that Su almost missed it, but luckily she had heard it.


    "I don''t know why, it was a shield, it did what it needed to. If it hadn''t had my shieldthen it could have been me, or one of my party members hurt. No, that was the reason I carry a shield, to protect." Su may have lost the soothing tone but the fact that her words were so heartfelt more than got through to Maria. She had never met anyone with such a kind heart and Walker swore he saw stars shining in her eyes, Su may have found her very own little fan.


    With the ice starting to melt between the party and the newly named Maria Walker wanted to make sure that she would befortable around Onyx and Midnight. Onyx was the most awake since the second Walker had entered he had been watching and waiting for the right time to speak. "Onyx, could youe make an introduction as well?" Onyx slithered over to Walker taking his usual spot on Walker''s shoulders. "This is my youngest brother Onyx, he is also very nice, he has a telepathy skill and can talk to you in your head so don''t let it scare you."


    Onyx was looking at Maria and her at him. She didn''t seem very afraid at all which was a bit of a surprise. "Like my brother said, I am Onyx. I am an abyssal serpent, it is nice to meet you Maria." Onyx kept things short afraid he would overwhelm her.


    "Cute." Maria said one word which surprised them even more. "Some demons have tails that look like you but they can''t talk. You are better." Well that made things easier, to be honest not once had they thought that as a demon she would be used to snakes because some of them developed snake like tails naturally. It was a trait they had which was used inbat to poison their opponents. It was even more surprising that Maria thought Onyx was cute, Walker had worried for no reason.


    "Would you be up for one more introduction? Midnight over there is my little sister too and also Onyx''s older sister. She will also be protecting you if youe with us." With a bit more nervousness Maria nodded, Midnight was a dragon after all, between her dark scales and bony wings she was fairly intimidating.Midnight, who had been pretending to sleep, shook herself as she stood up. She didn''t immediately move close to Maria which made Walker proud.


    Midnight sniffed the air making sure to remember Maria''s scent in case she needed it. "Sister, says its nice to meet you. She will share some good food with you when we get back to the kitchen. She says she knows how to get aunt to give her extra."


    "You sneaky, I knew you were convincing mother to give you more while she cooked." Walker gave her a soft flick on the head which was returned with a swish of her tail to his leg. The strange sight of a young dragon ying with a humanpletely destroyed any stereotypes Maria had about dragons. It turned out they are not evil monsters that want to eat all little demons but instead have the capacity to be just like humans.


    The slightest smile shown on Maria''s face before it was gone. She was notpletely gone from her past hardships, one day Walker had hope that she would be smiling all the time. "So what do you think, do you want toe join us?" Maria couldn''t speak a word her throat felt like it was closing up. She instead nodded her head over and over and thest of the tears she had dripped down her cheeks. Walker ced his hand softly on her head, "wee to the family, we will find you some warm clothes so you don''t get too cold in the ins. The wind is really brutal you know." Maria''s life had finally changed, after eight years of torture and suffering she was finally going to be somewhere safe.

 Chapter 198 - 198. On Their Way

    Once Maria had fallen asleep again, Remey and Su volunteered to ask around the guild to gather some winter clothing for her. Gil and Walker prepared some food for everyone since Midnight had started to hound them about being hungry, to appease her Walker gave her ten of the darkness crystals he still had stored away. Through the journey she had eaten about half of them. He wasn''t sure how much it was influencing her growth but for good measure he pulled out some of the bones he kept for her to eat as well. Getting her scales and defenses stronger was definitely an all around benefit to the party, plus it might hello her fly sooner. Having realized that she had yet to practice pping her wings he had Onyx go outside with her and practice for a bit. This also got her off his case wanting more crystals.


    "So with us leaving tomorrow we will need to meet with someone to take the letter to our kingdom. We also will give them our documents, it will most likely generate a quest so we should have some good motivation to get back faster. My n is to move in a straight line, we have a lot to do if we are going to be strong enough to potentially stop a war." Gil was not surprised by Walker''s ideals at all.


    "I knew you would want to get involved. If we are going to do anything like that I think we should get that heroic leveling system unlocked. We are all level fourteen but for Midnight so if we really push four of us can figure it out. From there we can help Midnight get there too; it just might take longer. Onyx will have a tough time though he doesn''t have a title like us." Gil felt bad that Onyx was limited by his normal experience rate, but they couldn''t force a title to show up to multiply his experience from battles.


    "Agreed, it will be the priority. We still have a little of those golden potions left, Midnight or Onyx can use them to catch up. I want to get our gear upgraded too, Su needs shields, you could use some better light armor, Remey needs new boots no matter how she will say she doesn''t, and in all honesty I think I should get more variety of weapons. I need to do some serious training to enhance my style of battle, I am falling behind on using my skills to their fullest." Walker knew he would soon be a weak link if he let things keep getting too far behind. He also had remembered that he promised a certain someone he would work on his light magic Maniption. If he did not hold up his promise he would embarrass himself.


    Gil agreed on all counts, they did need these things. "I think we should do as many quests on our route home as possible. We should also try and hunt down more monsters. We are used to the snow imps and their strategies. They seem verymon and troublesome, getting rid of more will only benefit more travelers."


    "Sounds good to me." with their short talk Walker had confirmed his course of action. Once Su and Remey were back they gave Midnight and Onyx a shout toe back in. Midnight rushed in like she had never eaten food in her life. They all ate making sure to save some for Maria who woke up shortly after they had started to clean up. Seeing the food Maria had another emotional moment since she had often been fed scraps or told to root through the trash. This was indeed too much for her heart to take. She passed back out soon after eating, obviously needing the rest. Walker used a few more light heal spells to try and make sure she was fully healed but found he was worrying for nothing as she was fully healed physically.


    With an early dinner done the party took a much needed rest making sure they would be early to rise.


    Luckily Walker was woken up by Remey who had asked a nice tamer who trained bats to wake her up at the end of their training. The two woke everyone else up and helped Maria in to fluffy green robes they had gotten from a tamer who''s daughter had long grown out of them. With all of them looking ready to brave the cold they left the resting quarters, Laurence, Riley, and Ste were already waiting for them.


    "Well good morning, I am d we could see you three before we left. It''s going to be a bit more lonely without all of you." With Walker''s words Elise started to hug each one of them goodbye even stopping to say a short goodbye to Maria.


    "It was fun." Riley was as much a talker now as he was before, however Walker could see a strange energy in his eyes. One could say Riley was giving off a wild aura of his own, a definite result of his training these past few days.


    "Ribbolt was awake all night making these," Laurence handed each of them a small metal insignia. The tamers guild insignia attached perfectly to their adventures guild ques. "You are from now and forever recognized as honorary members of our guild. If you are ever in need or require a ce to rest you will be wee in any one of our headquarters." This was a very touching gesture, one that made all of their hearts more full. "Also here are the bronze dragon scales that were promised to you." Laurence motioned to arger crate on the ground. Walker knew better than ti try and lift it instead he just stored it away. These scales were muchrger than the ones they had gotten from Midnight''s dragon den or shedding. The difference in age and growth had a major influence on how the items crafted from them woulde out.


    "It was really a pleasure traveling with all of you" Walker gave Laurence onest handshake.


    "You as well, safe travels." Laurence knew he didn''t need any more words, they all knew how great their journey had been. They would always cherish the memories and looked forward to venturing to Diamond city again so they could visit.


    Leaving through the lowered fence Walker nearly bumped into therger gori trait guard, he had been standing right in their path.There were only four guards, therger one Walker had almost bumped in to gave them a nod to follow them. This didn''t seem like a form of goodbye escort but more of a way to show them where to go. The four guards took their sides and headed towards therge gate in the front, being so early the sun had barely managed to light the area. The silhouette of a very familiar general came in to view waiting for them at therge gate.


    "I am d to see you all well, Unfortunately king Rorick is too upied at the moment with the recent capture of a national criminal." Scy stood with her fan in front of her face staring down the parity as if she was going to start another tournament. " I''ve brought the letters we would like you to deliver, I trust you have something for me as well to deliver?"


    Walker quickly pulled the papers Gil and Remey had put together from speaking to Maria. Scy took them with one hand, letting them fall in to her sleeve and seemingly disappear. This strange sight stopped Walker for only a moment, She gave him an amused look before speaking again.


    "That little package is also for you, King Rorick said he enjoyed testing the swords you brought with him and thought to return the favor. He also wishes for you to improve your skills and show him what you''ve learned the next time you all return here." She was gesturing to a bundle of wrapped items. There were two thin swords much like the two Walker had used in the tournament. However they held a strange aura to them. Using his all around appraisal skill Walker gave them a once over,


    ''Twin blitz sabers


    +6atk, +6agi


    When skills are used that require dual wielded des the speed of the user is increased by an additional 2 points.''


    These were beautifully made swords that seemed to beg to be held in bnce, Walker had never felt the need to use two swords at once this much. The look on his face was almost a mirror to the look on King Rorick''s face when he had seen the sword they gifted him. This made Walker seriously reconsider using magic so heavily.


    Looking back down at the remaining bundle of cloth, there sic gold pins in the shape of a lion''s head. Each radiated a slight golden glow, Scy had noticed his gaze drawn to the pins. " Those are simr to the travel medals your king gave you. We would never tattoo outsiders with a mark but for those that have done out city great good we created these. Any demi-human that is part of any tribe, faction, pack, you name it will know that you are backed by our king."


    With the most sincerity and thankfulness he could muster, "This is an honor, we never expected something so amazing."

 Chapter 199 - 199. Warming Up

    With her reasons foring therepleted Scy seemed like she wanted to say more. Walker almost asked her but instead had realized she was not looking at any member of the party. Instead her eyes were resting on a fairly terrified Maria. She had pushed herself as close to Su''s leg as possible almost as if she thought she could blend in.


    Scy slowly took the few steps forward while still looking at Maria, her head was looking down apletely deadpan face. Her eyes seemed to share a connection for just a moment, Maria detached herself from Su and looked straight up at Scy. "When I was taken from my family I was brought to where the knight of gluttony reigned. I was freed from there after fifteen years. What knight owned you?"


    Maria had wide eyes hearing this, she had not expected someone so powerful to have been in the samesituation as she had been, I was with envy." Maria looked downwards. The two of them had both been in different territories. These territories were reigned over by the seven knights of sin. They were often the viins in children''s books, the most evil of all the demons. Most people knew this was all part fantasy and part truth.


    The truth was that there were indeed knights that had systems that made them considered the pinnacle of their respective sin. They would often rise to power iming their own areas within the demon territory as their own. The power rules all mentality that is the core of demon traditions caused many small battles between the knights, this was often the reason that they would keep to themselves. Sometimesthey would branch out to cause some trouble to other neighboring nations but often were caught in their own internal struggles. Thest time they were recorded to stop their own battles was in a story book, there had been a demon lore that rose to power and forced the knights in to a contract. This gave them his army which he brought against the demi-humans. After the war had passed both sides had stepped back leaving a significant hatred for each other. The ruling king of the Demi humans created his city and the demon lord disappeared in to the shadows.


    "Well I do not believe you will find yourself feeling envious with them by your side." Scy showed a small smile and walked away down therge open road. The guards followed her with a respectful nod to the party. Aria was looking off towards the direction of Scy. The two were not friends nor did they speak much but they knew they were connected deeply. The sight of someone who had dragged themselves from the bottom and been freed from the cruelty of the demon territory inspired Maria, she would not sit idle, she would make a new life just like Scy.


    Su gave Maria a small pat on the back to signal it was time to start moving, Maria took a small corner of Su''s clothes between her fingers and walked step to step with her out of the gates and towards her future. Thends around the capitol of Ordist were dotted with small viges and farmnds. The snow that hadpletely nketed the ins seemed to have thinned just a bit, spring was on its way.


    Realizing that Maria had legs much too small to keep up on the trails, or in the snow Su picked her up and ced her on her shoulders. Su was ying the older sister role very well, so much so that even Remey was a bit jealous. With their walking arrangements set they started to head out in to the true open ins where viges and farnd was nowhere to be seen. The merchant trails seemed fairly well worn, another sign that spring was starting to show its head. The mud however on the trails they walked was not a wee sign, it made moving a bit harder. The only one that seemed to be enjoying the mud was Gil who was scouting ahead, narrowing down some possible prey for their dinnerter. Many small animal tracks were keeping him upied, one inparticr that drew his attention were the tracks of amon rabbit. They developed white fur for the winter and Gil wanted to challenge himself to spot it.


    Continuing well ahead of the party he saw that the tracks left the trail and went on in to the snow, the grass was popping slightly through the snow in this area making tracking much rougher. He was trying to stand a bit taller so he could try and spot movement from farther away when something caught his attention. What he thought was going to be just the white rabbit he was looking for turned out to be more, much more. The much had only been a smallyer before the still frozen ground. Do to this the footprints of the muchrger horned rabbits looked unlike they normally would.


    For the party this could spell some trouble for the party, if the horned rabbits were already leaving their hibernation they would be out in the ins in droves. Not only would it mean they need to battle them more often as they traveled but it also meant the predators that constantly hunted the horned rabbits would also be hunting the party. The ins were suddenly much more dangerous.


    Gil retreated from his distance to return to the group, he needed to let them know to adjust their strategy for a more agile opponent. They could handle snow imps and ice wraiths but adding the horned rabbits and potentially other monsters, this could easily throw them off their course. Gil turned and retreated quietly until he knew he was out of hearing range, then began to run the distance back to the party. However as he approached them he realized they had already discovered the new enemy.


    There was arge horned rabbit jumping around Remey trying to stab forward with its yellowing horn. Unlike a regr rabbit these horned rabbits were almost triple the size. The yellow horn that grew out of their head to a point would be longer the more years they lived. The females had a deadly paralyzing poison that developed within their horn but the males did not. There was no way to tell the difference normally.


    Remey was doing her best to dodge the quick leaps from the horned rabbit. It''srge legs gave it the advantage in closebat. Gil had already drawn his bow but was farther away than he preferred, the rabbit was moving way too much for him to fire his arrow without potentially hitting Remey. Instead of firing he let out an annoyed grunt and sprinted forward to get closer.


    Su had Maria safely guarded behind her shield with Midnight behind them guarding their backs. Walker had warned Midnight to stay away from the horned rabbit, he was not sure if it was able to paralyze her and did not want to take the risk.Walker was waiting for the right chance to slow or stop the rabbit but its movements were erratic, Remey was going a great job of dodging it''s attacks but this could not go on forever.Noticing movement in the distance Walker''s heart almost stopped thinking it was another enemy, however to his delight it was a sprinting Gil. Gil had run a few more feet to get to a better vantage, he was still not sure of his shot but he aimed for the ground near the horned rabbit.


    With the arrow let loose itnded in to the snowy ground making a solid thunk. The rabbit heard and saw this instinctively jumping away. This put enough distance between them for Walker to send a fire bolt its way. The spell impacted the rabbits white fur causing it to burn and tumble around. In its panic Gil was able to aim and get two quick shots in to it nearly ending the battle there. Remey jumped in with a hammer fistpletely ending the fight. The slightly burned and arrow pierced horned rabbit was down for the count.


    ''Defeated one horned rabbit male


    Gained 20 exp multiplied to 200exp.''


    Gil caught up to them, "So if you haven''t realized, the horned rabbits are out of hibernation. There are plenty of tracks ahead of us so we will definitely be bumping in to more."


    "No duh they are out of hibernation, while you were off exploring I was doing all the work." Remey ran at Gil and reared to punch him in the arm. Gil tried his best to dodge but Remey found her target and Gil found a new bruise.


    "You really need to stay a bit closer when you leave to scout, what if the horned rabbit had found you and not us?" Su took on a strict tone as she started in on reprimanding Gil.


    Walker watched all this smiling while he stored away the horned rabbits body. Tonight they would have a pretty good meal. The horned rabbits were tougher than regr rabbits but had more meat, something Midnight was sure to enjoy.

 Chapter 200 - 200. New Prey

    With their new enemy taken down and the party adequately on alert Gil led them slightly out of the way to avoid therger number of horned rabbit tracks. "The worst thing about the spring in the ins is that the horned rabbitse out in mass. They spent all winter in dens sleeping. Their young should have been born and they will all being out too."


    "Where did you learn that?" Since Gil was acting all know it all Remey felt the need to fight him on his knowledge,


    "Didn''t you ask the warriors in the rabbit tribe about the monsters in the area when you went out hunting? Or did you just spend your time threatening to punch them?" Hitting the nail on the head Remey puffed up her cheeks in frustration. Normally she would run to hit him again but instead she held back knowing Gil was right and not wanting to admit it. Gil had really made the most of his hunting while with the tribe, he had taken many chances to learn the insider tricks to hunting.


    Gil was about to share more about his learning but was interrupted by another two horned rabbits in the distance. The two were jumping at each other trying to stab the other with their horns. "Walker, the two seem to be fighting over territory, should we pass or try to take them out?" Gil already had an arrow in his other hand waiting for the word to take a long shot at one of them.


    Walker couldn''t see the harm in getting some more experience and also gaining a bit more meat for the journey back to their kingdom. With a nod Gil had taken aim tracking therger horned rabbit. It only took a moment for him to have his sights set and to let the arrow free. The party watched as the arrow soared in the air and hit therger rabbit in the back legpletely stopping its ability to jump. The other horned rabbit took the advantage and stabbed in to therger with its horn finishing the job for the party.


    The rabbit now victorious aimed at the party since it was now the owner of this territory and wanted to defend it. The horned rabbit showed it''s running prowess but bursting toward them. It''s back legs giving it massive back leg muscles pushing its speed much faster than expected. Gil had already released his second arrow and missed his target due to misjudging the speed. Making adjustments his third arrow managed to hit the horned rabbit making it lurch to the side, however there was no time for a fourth arrow due to the rabbit not slowing enough. The now very aggravated horned rabbit was aiming for the closest person, that happened to be Su who could not move because she was defending Maria.


    The horned rabbit proved too fast for Su and as it jumped forward managed to scrape by her arm. Su was adept indeflecting blows now but speed was still her weakness, the blow to he arm was enough to draw blood but should not have stopped her. The problem was that Su had faltered slightly, this was a female horned rabbit and had just gotten some of its paralyzing poison in her.


    Walker saw this hesitation and started to move himself. Midnight was much faster though, she jumped in to the side of the horned rabbit pushing it away and tearing into it with her ws. Walker expected Su to bepletely incapacitated however she soon regained some bnce and stood strong in front of the scared Maria. The poison resistance skill was really paying off, as the horned rabbit had recovered and aimed at Su again. She blocked and deflected the horn causing it to stumble again. It had started to loose too much blood from Gil''s arrow and Midnight''s ws. This was the perfect chance for Remey tond a defense breaking palm, she had been thinking about how to properly work it in to her fighting style since the tournament. Her palm hit the shoulder of the horned rabbit causing a sickening crack to ring out as it cracked bone. The horned rabbit fell to the groundpletely defeated.


    Walker was already next to Su using a light heal spell on her to fix up her arm. "Lisa is going to be so angry at me tearing the winter clothes she made me." Of course that was what Su was worried about, not the fact that she had just been poisoned.


    "You know she will fix it up no problem, but your arm won''t always be able to be healed like this, if it had been somewhere else it could have been permanent." Walker used a stern tone to draw his point home. She may be the defender of the group but he would not tolerate avoidable injury.


    Su understood this wasing out of kindness and not anger so she nodded, she did still feel a bit bad. Remey wasforting Maria who was not going anywhere near the horned rabbit that Walker had yet to store away. " They are definitely dangerous, it is good to be afraid. But you don''t need to worry, we will keep them well away from you." her words seemed to be doing the trick, "Plus they will taste good roasted tonight." Maria grew a bit wide eyed and maybe more afraid since she did not expect they would be eating something like the horned rabbits.


    After storing away the nearest horned rabbit Walker and Midnight headed to therger one noticing it had some strange injuries. They had clearly been made by some sort of teeth and not from territory fights between other horned rabbits. Motioning for Gil toe take a look Walker had hopes that Gil had heard something from the rabbit tribesman.


    "Ohh that doesn''t look right." Gil knelt down looking at the partially healed wounds on the horned rabbits back. "These are definitely teeth of some sort, they don''t look like those wolves we battledbefore but I would say it''s simr. Maybe a speckled fox?" Gil was wracking his brain on every word the warriors had told him and could onlye up with one possible oue.


    "I have actually heard of those!" Walker had seen one of the pelts in the tribe and managed to ask what it was. "The speckled fox usually raids the dens of the horned rabbits to get at their young before they can get out in the ins to run away, my guess is this rabbit was lucky enough to to fight one off." The white and grey speckled fur was where the name speckled fox came from. They were an interesting monster having a wind and earth affinity. They could easily dig out a horned rabbit den but also use a unique skill called air step. The skill air step would allow them to use the very air around them as a foot hold to attack at strange angles. This made them very hard to hunt making their fur very rare and expensive.


    Gil was recalling these things as well and a small smile had started to appear. "You know these are supposed to be a pretty goo challenge to hunt, and since one seemed to be around the area maybe i should try to do a bit more scouting." Walker knew exactly where this was going, he stored the horned rabbit away giving Midnight a look.


    "Let''s go Midnight, we can leave this hunting maniac to find his fox by himself." Surprisingly Midnight shook her head and huffed at him.


    "Sister says she will catch a fox before Gil will." Gil raised an eyebrow at Midnight.


    "You''re on, the first one to catch a speckled fox gets to sleep during their night watch!" The two went off in opposite directionspletely ignoring Walker''s attempts to make them stop and return to the group.


    Walker cursed them as he went to set up camp, since the two had run off he figured it was safer to stay in one ce for the night even though it was a bit early. Gil was very confident that he would be the first to find one since he could follow the tracks wherever they lead. However he was underestimating Midnight''s ability to smell around and track a scent.


    Midnight had already taken the chance to small the horned rabbit and was following the scent around the areas it had traveled earlier in the day. Gil was running off following a set of tracks made by a horned rabbit in the hoped that they would lead to a den that was hopefully being stalked by a speckled fox. The two had headed off inpletely opposite directions, who knew which one would reach their goal first.


    Su and Remey had spoken to Walker about setting up camp and all agreed that when Midnight and Gil returned they would be in charge of splitting the watch at night just the two of them. That would teach them to ce a bet and rush off alone.

 Chapter 201 - 201. Bet

    Midnight had been keeping low to the ground using the shorter grass to camouge herself while she followed the scent of the horned rabbit. She had yet toe in to contact with any other horned rabbits but had a feeling she was quickly approaching her target. More moments of crouched stalking passed until she saw an up heaved spot of dirt. This was a dig up den the horned rabbit hade from. Prowling around the edges she could find a slightly different smell, one more rted to a predator. She saw the w marks around the edges of the dug out den and knew she was on the right trail. Moving in to the taller grass that poked through the snow she followed the new scent.


    Gil had tracked the footprints in circles, he was almost convinced the horned rabbits had intentionally moved in such a way to confuse anyone trying to track them. What proved this theory false however was the small drops of blood showing bright on the white snow. With a strong smile Gill followed the tracks in their erratic pattern now picking up something new, a paw print slightly like a wolfs but smaller. They would cut off here and there with what Gil thought was the ce the speckled fox used its air step skill. Knowing he was getting closer he increased his speed keeping an arrow in his teeth and one in his hand, he wanted to snag his prize as soon as he saw it.


    Midnight had been weaving through the grass using her shadow wrapping ability to blend in even more. He tail was lifted as she did not want to scrape up the snow or ice alerting the prey she had in sight. There was a white and grey speckled fox sniffing and digging as a slightly raised spot on the ground. It would w at the spot here and there trying to break through the ice and in to the dirt below. Completely focused on the prey it wanted to eat, the speckled fox had no idea of the approaching danger. Midnight waited at the edge of the grass refusing to rush in and scare it away, she was a hunter waiting for her prey to turn it''s back, all she needed was that right moment to pounce.


    Gil was in a simr position, he had speedily followed the tracks finding that there were more drops of blood, it would seem that the speckled fox he was after was the one injured and not a horned rabbit. Seeing arger boulder hall in the ground Gil noticed that the grass around it had been bent around, something seemed to have fallen against the taller grass to cause this. There was a small smear of blood on the rock itself and Gil could hear loud pantinging from around the edge of it. He had readied his first arrow so he could let it loose at a moment''s notice.


    The speckled fox circled the raised ground digging away the icy snow on top, it soon rounded the hump enough to have it back facing Midnightpletely. This was the chance she was waiting for, with all her might she leaped forward using her wings to slow her fall just a bit. The more she used them in this way the more she felt that it was an instinctual action. Shended dead center on the speckled foxes back with her ws and teeth piercing its neck. The fox let out a terrible whine out of pain and surprise. Unknown to Midnight there were four young horned rabbits that had be extremely terrified hearing the whine from within their den. Midnight did not let up even for a second, she knew if she let it escape her grip it could run away escaping in to the grass. Twisting her mouth so her teeth would dig in to the fox more she felt the toughness of bone, the fox had copsed under her weight and struggled slightly in death''s grip. With a sharp twist of her head Midnight felt the life of the speckled fox flee, she had defeated it, now to drag back her prey and show off her victory.


    Gil rounded the boulder seeing a speckled fox with a sizable gash in its side most definitely from the horn of a horned rabbit. His breath drew in sharply as he tried to aim for its eyes, he wanted to preserve the pelt. However he underestimated the heightened awareness of the speckled fox by being on the edge of death. Noticing Gil it used its strength to jump up and on to the boulder. Gil reacted instantly changing his aim, however the fox jumped up again and stepped in the airnding behind Gil. Feeling the threat Gil dove to the side as the fox lept toward him. It crashed in to the boulder face first unable to stop its motion. Gil did not waste this chance and let his arrow fly, piercing the same spot it was already injured. The arrow dug in to it much more than it normally would have due to the fox''s already opened wound. iling about in pain the fox was desperately trying to stand and run, Gil was not allowing it though. The second arrow had left his teeth and been notched in to the bow, with a flick of his hand Gil had sent the arrow in to the same spot as the other causing the movements of the fox to cease. He had bagged his own prey, Gil took a moment to jump a bit in victory before he realized he needed to get back and officially win his bet.


    ''Two speckled fox defeated


    50exp gained multiplied to 500exp.''


    Walker saw these notifications happy to see that two speckled fox had been defeated, as much as he was annoyed the two had rushed off on their own he was proud that they were able to do so well. "So who do you guys thing will get back first?" Walker figured that a little fun was needed since they were left out of Gil and Midnight''s bet.


    "Sister will be back first, she has a better set of skills to sneak up on her prey." Onyx was definitely biased even though he made a good point.


    "Gil has more experience hunting and has learned a lot for the rabbit tribe warriors, I believe he can use his skills in tandem and find his target first." Su had drawn her conclusions using her normal logic. She was by far the most logical of the party and having her insight was always the most refreshing.


    "Hmmm I think that Midnight will be back first, but that''s only because I want Gil to taste defeat." Remey brandished her fists wanting to see Gil who had teased her earlier get what wasing to him. She had forgotten she had already punched him in revenge earlier.


    The three were looking at Walker for his answer, he paused slightly knowing that he could check his system for their locations but knew that would be unfair to the others. That didn''t relieve the desire to do so however. "I would say Gil will show up then Midnight a few minutester. Gil has the edge in tracking so he could have found one first. Midnight is a bit faster so she could have caught up carrying the fox back." Walker based things purely on stats and experience, however as he said this two figures had began to approach.


    Gil had a speckled fox hung over his shoulders as he trudged through the snow and Ice, where Midnight was dragging hers behind here. The two saw each other and pushed themselves to move faster under the additional weight of their prey. Maria who had fallen asleep on Su''sp was pushed awake by the noise the two made and made an oh shaped face seeing the two with their speckled fox. "The fur is so pretty¡­" She had whispered it more to herself than the others but it was loud enough for Walker to hear.


    "Well I will tell you this then, when we get them back to the adventurers guild I will ask for them to skin it and return the pelt to us. I can take them to Lisa and see if she can make you something nice and fluffy to wear." Maria was overjoyed hearing this, letting a hint of a smile show on her face. She had still been fairly quiet around everyone since she was not used to being allowed to speak but the nicer they seemed to be to her the more she believed that they were actually looking out for her well being. This was a major step in her life to learn to trust. Maria scooted over to Walker holding on to the edge of his cloak, Walker knew this was just a small gesture but for Maria this was a veryrge action.


    "Ha! I''m back first!" Gil shouted but was immediately greeted with a growl from Midnight who had dropped her own speckled fox next to his in unison. The two red at each other before turning to the others. "Who was first!'' Gil asked and Midnight mirrored with a huff.


    "Huh? You two tied, don''t worry as a reward you will both be taking the full night''s watch yourselves and letting us all sleep." Walkerid down his verdict causing both Gil and Midnight''s jaws to drop.


    "That''s what you two get for rushing off alone, it''s only fair." Su closed up any path for argument as the two joined the rest around the fire, defeated.

 Chapter 202 - 202. Population Boom

    Soon the smell of roasting Horned rabbit legs filled the air, Walker was extra vignt since he was worried it would attract other predators, however as it cooked he found none hade. Gil and Midnight were sulking since they did not want to be stuck with the watch all by themselves, however Walker refused to budge. Maria was visibly drooling, not a single person had realized just how underfed she must have been while with Vincent, they should have stopped sooner or given her some bread to snack on as they walked. This was something they would remedy when they returned to their travels in the morning.


    The horned rabbit had been fully cooked, the crispy smoky vors brought them all to heaven. The meat may have been a bit tough but the vor was much better than any of them expected. Hilda would have a field day with this when they returned to the mansion, Walker would definitely be hunting a few more and asking the guild to dissect them for their meat. He also wondered what the horns were for, he knew that there was a paralyzing poison in the females horns and this gave Walker an idea. He had received the throwing needles from Rodney as an extra when he enhanced Remey''s knuckles and crafted sewing needles. Walker had been letting the throwing needles waste away in his inventory for too long and felt that if the poison could be properly extracted he could coat the needles with them to give him a good way to subdue monsters. This was yet another thing added to the to do list for when they got back.


    Having stuffed themselves everyone was ready to sleep. Walker created a me doll in the shape of the speckled fox that Gil and Midnight had brought back. This was his trick to add another guard to their night watch and also keep a fire unkempt. The wind had not been too brutal and the fire had been easily sustained. Gil took the first half of the night being unable to resist Midnight''s sad look wanting to sleep after dinner.


    The sun started to break the horizon bringing the ins back to life. The sparkling Ice was enough to push everyone back to the world of the awake. Maria had not had the chance to ever sit and watch the sunrise, Su sat with her as the two did so, Maria was having trouble understanding that this was actually real and not a dream, her life so far had been a dull grey. Now it was suddenly starting to show colors she had never been able to imagine before. Walker had warmed some bread on the fire that the me doll fox had kept going, he was very proud of his idea to use it in this way.


    With a warm breakfast and an easy camp clean up they were all on the move yet again. Gil seemed a bit more tired than the others, his excitement to run ahead and scout had been slightly diminished. He had definitely learned his lesson after running off on his own. Midnight seemed tog behind a bit as well but she was able to pick herself back up in energy once she had eaten, there didn''t seem to be anything that food could not solve for her.


    The morning was still early and lucky for them the wind had almost died down to stillness. The peaceful ins were only brought sound by the party''s crunching steps. Gil was able to lead them off the path they strode a few times to avoid some horned rabbit tracks but that did not seem to stop the party from seeing one in the distance, the number of horned rabbitsing out of hibernation was increasing. The one in the distance seemed to be snacking on the dried grass that was above the snow. Since the green grasses were yet to be unearthed this was all there was for them to eat.


    Gil held up a hand to the party wanting to take a long range shot at the stationary rabbit, he wanted the practice on a real target to keep improving his long range. Walker understood this and had everyone else prepare themselves while Gil took his aim, they had learned that the horned rabbits could use their speed to easily make up the distance to them the day before.


    The arrow Gil released flew in arge arc in the air, it curved downward toward the horned rabbit. The arrownded right along the rabbits back, the sudden pain caused it to jump high in to the air and roll a bit when it fell. The horned rabbit was panicked and quickly found the attackers. Su had already settled in to her ready position and Midnight was by her side. Onyx was watching from Walker''s shoulders as Walker shot a long range fire bolt. He wanted to see how well he could aim from long distance. The fire bolt went much further than he expected, missing the charging horned rabbit by a significant distance, however it was well within the area to hit if the distance was adjusted. With this knowledge Walker sent a second fire bolt at the horned rabbit that had now covered a third of the distance between them.


    Once adjusted, the second fire bolt was much better on course than the previous, itnded head first on the horned rabbit causing it to stumble and fall in shock. The tumble seemed to push Gil''s arrow deeper causing it to be much slower getting up. The timing was perfect for Gil tond yet another arrow. The ins were really an advantageous hunting ground for them as long range attackers. The rabbit was still not done, Walker realized that while he had been too focused on the second fire bolt Onyx had left his shoulders and was furiously closing the gap between him and the rabbit. The stunned rabbit was struggling to stand after the long ranged attacks and was just about to continue its aggravated sprint. Onyx rose from the grass and snow around the horned rabbits feet rapidly entangling it.


    Onyx was using his bind skill to its full ability to try and subdue the rabbit, however Onyx was still too small to fully wrap all four of its legs. The rabbit could not get Onyx off of it and was now under increasing pressure pushing on its back and ribs. With less and less ability to breath it struggles to attack the serpent coiled around it. Watching this Walker said a silent prayer that Onyx would never do that to him as he was almost always wrapped around his shoulders. Bleeding and losing oxygen the Rabbit soon felt its bones crush, the damage done it could not survive much longer. Just secondster the party was notified by their systems that the Horned rabbit was defeated. It was another two hundred experiences on the pile they needed.


    Onyx unwrapped himself from the bind, slithering over to Walker he waited for him to speak. "That was very good timing, but don''t forget you are still a bit small. You couldn''t fully wrap around the horned rabbit."


    "Yes brother, I know, but if i get bigger I won''t be able to ride on your shoulders or sister''s back." Walker shook his head as how shamelessOnyx was, he would keep small just so he wouldn''t need to slither around himself.


    Gil was retrieving his arrows when he nced up out of habit to survey the area. He immediately hit the ground t, this caused everyone else to stop cold. Gil was motioning for them all to get down. Walker slowly crawled along the snow to get next to Gil. He used the chance when he got there to store away the horned rabbit body in case they needed to make a speedy escape and couldn''t take it with them. "There are at least fifty of them over there. They dug away a ton of snow and are eating all the grass. It''s crazy, I thought they would fight each other for territory."


    Walker slowly pushed himself up just enough to see over the grass ahead. Gil was right, just ahead of them there was a huge torn up area, the ground looked like it had constantly been trampled and dug at. There was no grass alive or dried remaining. The horned rabbits easily numbered over fifty, they were scratching at the ground moving snow in search of more grass. When one would find some the others around it would jump at it trying to swallow it up first.


    Lowering himself back down he gave Gil a dangerous look, should they retreat and hope none of the horned rabbits see them, or should they fortify some defenses and start unleashing some dangerous attacks. "Gil, do you feel like making a dent in thest of the experience we need to get to level fifteen?"

 Chapter 203 - 203. Set Em Up

    The question Walker posed was a risky one for sure. The theory was that if they managed to set up a bit of defense andunch some big attacks then they could gain much more experience than they would have otherwise. Or they had the option of retreating, the problem with that though was if even one horned rabbit spotted them they would need to fight too many all at once without any preparation.


    Remey and Su had crawled up to them and heard thest bit. They shared a nice look with each other debating whether or not the two boys had lost their minds. However the more they thought about it the more dangerous it seemed to risk retreating. The worst case would be all of them crawling slowly away and being spotted whilepletely defenseless. Maria seemed frozen to the spot unable to crawl to meet them, Midnight was belly down on the ground next to her making sure she was safe. Maria was even snuggling in to Midnight which showed just how afraid she was to see the party members that seemed so powerful hiding.


    "Leader, if we can not retreat what do you have in mind?" Su wanted to run through the n to make sure not a single thing was rushed.


    "Well first thing," Walker started to crawl backwards slowly. "We get back a bit more so I can raise some earth walls and give myself and Gil to stand on and also protect us." following his lead they start to move farther and farther back. Once they had returned to where Maria and Midnight waited Walker continued. "Gil can fire his wind arrows, those can probably pierce through a few of them in a row. I can try and condense some fire flower spells to send seeds all around. We might be able to get three or four send off before the horned rabbits charge. They rush towards us and the flowers bloom and explode. From there we get in to formation and hopefully take down any that didn''t run away."


    "Leader, you should make earth spikes on the wall or around it, any of the rabbits running at us will be deterred from trying to get in." Su made a good point, adding a little extra defense was always good.


    "Well what are we going to do? Just sit and watch?" Remey was very unhappy with theck of closebat in this n.


    "Well no, after the explosion you and Midnight get to be the first out to attack what horned rabbits are left." Walker''s promise seemed to appease Remey just by a bit.


    "You won''t leave me alone?" Maria''s small voice spoke up, it was nice to see her more confident to ask them a question. No


    "No of course not, Leader left me out of the n right? That means I''m lucky enough to stay with you and Onyx to keep those mean horned rabbits away." Su gave Maria''s cheek a yful poke, for someone without younger siblings Su was really taking on a big sister role.


    With a small nod Maria seemed to feel more at ease. Now that things were in line Walker began to imagine the tower-like shape he wanted to create. The four earth walls would have sharp spikes on each outer side of the wall. The walls would rise up a foot taller than him and be topped with an easy to stand on tform. Walker could feel this would consume a bit more mana if he did not imagine everything more carefully. He could not rush this. He fell deeper in to his thoughts, he imagined every bit of earth moving to change shape and alter their own shape using the natural earth elemental mana as a catalyst for push more to conform to the shape. The more he relied on the naturally existing mana the less of his own he seemed to need to put forward.


    To Walker it had only been a minute at most, but for the party an entire twenty minutes had passed, they were worried to see that nothing had happened but after poking Walker a few times he did not respond. After a few more moments, they could all feel something vibrating. The earth under them began to rise up piece by piece. Four walls slowly climbed around them. Gil and Walker started to be raised up as earth became part of a roof leaving the others behind. Even a door formed in one of the walls which seemed like it could fall away with the proper amount of pressure from their side.


    The outside was much more intimidating, there were sharp dark brown earth spikes all over the walls as if someone had taken them from a giant porcupine. The walls seemed almost as tough as steel. Walker rapidly stood up as he had finished raising the structure. Hepletely ignored the system telling him of a new learned skill. The Horned rabbits were all standing on their hind legs staring at the strange new earth tower that was just a few hundred feet away.


    "Gil start on your wind arrows, I am going to make a few fire flower spells." Gil didn''t need to be told and had a;ready started to make his first wind elemental arrow using the skill of his bow. He was aiming for thergest gathering of horned rabbits, he wanted to at least harm as many as possible.


    Walker had already began creating and condensing mes. The first fire flower seed had easily been created. However as Gil released his first arrow the horned rabbits seemed to feel that danger was approaching. They all turned and started their sprint towards the party. The army of white fur and horns would have terrified many adventurers but the pair had already steeled their will.


    Walker released his first fire flower spell whichnded in the ground a bit far from the rabbits. The second was already starting to take shape, as was Gil''s second arrow. While they focused on their next attacks the first arrow Gil had fired pierce one running rabbit, it went strait through and in to four more. The arrow embedded itself in to the ground tearing at the ground with win. The winding off it cause even nearby horned rabbits to gain scratches and cuts to their feet. Only three of the rabbits hit were defeated, the others that were hit were in no shape to continue attacking.


    Walker let fly his second fire flower near the first. The first was not yet growing as it was still preparing to bloom. The horned rabbits had already covered a third of the distance to them. Walker forced himself to move faster, the only thing on his mind condensing fire for a me flower seed.


    Gil had sent his second arrow in much the same way taking out eight rabbits this time. His third arrow was already being fired as Walker was only half way through making his third spell but Gil was already sending off his third elemental arrow. He was using his mana recklessly but the results were well worth the mana used. His third arrow was a bit unsteady from Gil''s haste and mmed in to the ground too short, this however actually worked very well. The arrow had much more forcending short causing dirt and ice to fly in to the air. The wind pushed even more in to a swirl blinding arge number of horned rabbits. Gil had never considered using the elemental arrow to do such things. "Walker I am switching to regr arrows, I will save just enough mana for one more big elemental arrow." Walker barely acknowledged Gil.


    Walker condensed much more fire than he had before. He was using his understanding of elemental maniption to this highest capacity to force more mana in to the spell. The result was a me flower seed almost double the size. After he released it to the same area as the previous two he fell to his knees, unable to breath. He had taxed his body too much thesest moments. Desperately he gulped down air while trying to see how the first me flower spell would bloom.


    Gil was sending long shots at decent uracy causing every horned rabbit struck to slow in to line with another. He was expertly firing his arrows in a way to not only guide more of the rabbits toward walkers spells but also slowing them to group them up. This was the absolute height of Gil''s skills and practice. The term sniper seemed too small for him. These skills were above and beyond what one would expect of a ranger. Walker wished he could capture this moment, luckily his mental archive was doing that for him.


    The majority of the horned rabbits had started to group up aiming for the tower, they were all only about a hundred feet from the tower, for the horned rabbits this was a very short distance, However they were just about to step in to area of Walkers fire flowers.

 Chapter 204 - 204. Knock Them Down

    The second the First horned rabbit''s footnded near the first fire flower seed Walker had sent off was the moment it burst in to bloom. The fire flower had been taking its time to incubate as it normally did when used. Walker had tried to n it perfectly so that when the rabbits would reach them the first spell would burst and capture them. The ming vines were doing just that, easily twenty horned rabbits were trapped within the expanding vines as buds began to form. The hair on them was burning off and the vines wrapped around them more and more. The buds on the first spell were getting ready to bloom when the second spell burst as well. The rabbits that had avoided the first spell were quickly snared by ming vines. The squealing of the rabbits was deafening. Su and Remey gave each other a look knowing that these enemies were too close.


    The first spell''s buds burst in to bloom. The heat and light from the explosion shook the ground and blinded them. This was soon followed up by a symphony of explosions from the second spell as well. Many notifications flew across their systems but they couldn''t even keep their eyes open to view them. The wind was whipping astound them as the mes sucked it in greedily.


    Then it all stopped. There was arge group of stunned horned rabbits that had stopped dead in front of the explosions. They had been moving too fast to keep a distance and ended up right where the explosion had just been. The first two had only cleared out thirty rabbits. There were still many more that had not been dealt with, some injured were struggling to stand and start forward to keep the fight. The dazed ones soon started to move again as they realized there was not another attack on its way.


    They had vastly underestimated the sheer numbers of the rabbits, there were much more than fifty just standing in front of them. There had been many horned rabbits resting on the ground which made them seem to be patches of snow, even Gil with his sharp eyes had not noticed this. This massive group of horned rabbits had emerged from the dens and gathered to find mates and fight for dominance. They had been doing just that, attracting each other and tearing up the ground so that they could get to the small amounts of grass that had hopes of reaching the light to grow. This was plight on the ins, these excessive monsters should be thinned out!


    Walker felt the earth trembling more...it was thest fire flower spell, it hadn''t gone off with the other two. Walker quickly manipted the earth roof he made while taking in deep breaths, this was going to be dangerous. Him and Gil fell through the ceiling on to the ground. Remey and Su had barely pulled Maria out of the way. "What in the holy heavens were you thinking?! Why are you back inside? Is it time to go out?" Remey let fly her reprimands and questions out of adrenaline but soon was answered by a deeper rumbling in the ground.


    Looking at them Walker gave Su directions, "Stand in front of that wall with your shield, Everyone behind her. I don''t know how big this explosion will be, I used almost all my mana in thatst fire flower to make it bigger." Gil turned even more pale hearing this. Maria hid under Midnight who was direct;y behind Su bracing her back. Walker, Gil, Remey and Onyx all fell in line behind Su as well.


    The terrifying sounds of earth and ice cracking along with the terrified screeching of horned rabbits filled the air. The party could feel the heat prating the walls causing them to burst in to sweat. The temperature seemed to rise much higher than it should. Walker had his eyes tightly closed but if he had been outside the walls and had his eyes open her would have seen a truly amazing sight.


    The mana filled me flower had been stuffed so densely that it was able to take up three times the space of a normal fire flower. The me vines extended much hitter and stronger than the two previous spellsbined. They were so formidable that some horned rabbits had been defeated from being snared alone. The buds that grew were double the size of the normal fire flower spell. The spell seemed to thirst for the air around it taking in so much that the horned rabbits couldn''t even breath. This brought them to a standstill allowing the vines to trap even more.


    Nearly ever rabbit was trapped now, the ones that were not were struggling to breath and force themselves away from the terror they felt. Their instincts screamed for the to escape this death by fire. The air seemed to suddenly stand still, no sound was made. Even the horned rabbits felt that this was it, the peace of death. The deep roar of the flower buds blooming in to massive ming flowers rocked the ground. The explosion tore up the earth below it and incinerated the rabbits the vines had trapped.


    The party held closely to each other as the shock wave from Walker''s forced attack broke away the spikes and walls. Su felt herself being pushed back and only had hope that the walls and her shield would hold together long enough. mes brushed the party just slightly, not enough to burn them but enough to show its strength. Su could feel her hands beginning to blister but held fast. They had no hearing due to the explosions and their bnce was off, if anything remained and did not run they would not be able to defend themselves at all.


    The smell of burned meat and hair was the only thing any of them could sense. They felt as if they had been baked in the sun all day. Su knew her hands were burned from holding her shield but she had thrown it done as soon as the pressure faded. Lucky or unlucky the nerves in her hands were not able to send the signal for pain. She grabbed the shoulder of who she thought to be Walker and tried to yell for healing. Feeling that someone was in turn grabbing her own shoulders she could feel energy flowing in to her, the feelings returning to her hands. She had found the right person luckily.


    The breeze picked back up, blowing away smoke in the air and letting the normal light of the sun shine through. Walker was still in a state of deafness but had opened his eyes. Su had grasped around and found his shoulder which allowed him to in turn hold her shoulders in ce. He knew he was about to exhaust his mana but he healed her anyways. Remey and Midnight had opened their eyes ready for a fight but were instead staring at the scene before them.


    There was a huge scorched crater when Walker had sent his spells. The charred ground looked like it had been struck by a dragon''s breath. The burning or charred bodies of horned rabbits were strewn about here and there. Some were severely burned and falling in to death having been just out of range of the me vines. The system was still sending notifications to each of them as Remey and Midnight started toe back to the reality of things. It was their turn to get to work. Walker saw the two run off and he fell in to his mana deficient slumber. Gil was sitting next to him feeling just as drained. Su and Onyx were still there watching over the two and Maria. Maria had crouched in to a ball with her hands over her ears. The light seemed to flutter around her trying to hide her away from their eyes.


    Su was very vignt even though there was no sign of any enemy approaching, she refused to rx until she knew, The rubble that had been their little tower was basically a pile of cracked and burned dirt, if Su did not have her shield they all would have been very badly burned. Even after Walker''s healing Su still felt the burns in her hands, they would need more time and more healing.


    Midnight and Remey quickly finished off the remaining horned rabbits, those that had been slightly harmed orpletely unharmed were still running in fear. The massive explosion had been so terrifying that they would not stop running for at least an hour. The fear of fire would greatly shape every single surviving horned rabbit''s life toe. Taking about an hour to check the immediate area Midnight and Remey had finished off and dragged back many bodies. There were partially cooked, burned, charred, so many variations of damaged horned rabbits. The system had finally finished notifying them leaving everyone but Walker who was still unconscious amazed. They had gained a massive chunk of experience they needed to get much closer to level fifteen and unlocking the heroic leveling system.


    ''73 horned rabbits defeated.


    1460 exp gained multiplies to 14600 exp''

 Chapter 205 - 205. Ashamed

    Walker''s eyes slowly lifted, the sun in the sky had fallen low to the horizon, orange and pink hues seemingly drifting away with the breeze. Feeling the weight in his head apanied by the fog after using all his mana he was a bit unsteady. He could hear a fire crackling nearby and looked around to find that Gil was asleep nearby. Su and Remey were sitting with Midnight by the fire, Maria was curled up asleep on Su''s leg. Lifting his hands to wipe away the sleep from his eyes he found that Onyx was in tattoo form sleeping himself. "Aauuhh" He yawned a bit more loudly to let them know he was up. "How long have I been asleep?"


    Su looked ready to stand up and move to him but she stopped in ce remembering Maria on herp. Remey smiled at that and headed to Walker herself. "Well since you used all your mana like an idiot Midnight and I cleaned up your mess a few hours ago. We even set up camp, so you owe us." Making a fist and hitting him on the shoulder much softer than she normally would have. Walker had begun to realize she only did this when she was happy that someone was looking better, especially when she had been worried about them.


    "Thanks¡­" Walker was not very happy with his obviousck for mana and really wanted to get to a ce where he could use spells more efficiently. Thinking of this he remembered that as he focused on imagining the shape the earth would take using his elemental maniption skill the system had notified him.


    '' Through vigorous use of elemental maniption on earth elemental mana the user has gained the skill, High earth sculpting from the prospector system.


    High earth sculpting- mana 0+ cost


    The user can more finely sculpt the earth as they want it to. The more efficient and clear their methods the less mana is taken in the maniption skill. Additional mana can be used to increase speed of maniption or to createrger sculpted sections.''


    This exined why he was able to make everything move so well, he had never tried to move earth around people and to lift himself up while also building walls and spikes. The multitasking was something that took all of his focus."Seriously you get yourself awake and then space out!? Seriously first you left us sitting there in the cold forever when you said you were building walls and now you''re doing it again."


    Remey had turned a bit red with anger and looked like she was about to turn herst soft punch in to a flurry of tough love. "What do you mean forever? It only took me like a minute to build the defenses before?"


    Su was listening and watching the exchange making sure the noise wouldn''t wake Maria. "Leader you wereying t with your hands on the ground for a very long period of time. We had gotten worried you were frozen." Walker was wide eyed, was it really that long? To him it had only been a minute or two at most. Could he have been fully absorbed in to his meditative state while imagining how the defenses would take shape?


    "I see...I''m sorry¡­" Walker was still not sure how to make sense of this, he knew he should apologize for causing them stress. What if a horned rabbit had approached them while it was unguarded? They would all have been forced to defend him while he did not even more a muscle to hello. As the leader of his party he felt great shame being the weak link for them. His actions had the potential to get them all killed and the increased realization of this made him reaffirm his will to train his elemental maniption. It was clear that there were skills that he needed to gain to better use his elemental maniption, he only needed to spend time and energy toprehend them.


    The me flower spell was a perfect example of this, if he had understood more on howpressing more mana would affect the spell itself he could have held more back. The system had notified him as well when he did so, remembering this Walker checked things out.


    ''The over charge skill has been taken from the spell crackers system due to the user''s actions in forcing mana in to a spell.


    Overcharge- mana 1+ cost


    The user can force more mana in to any spell. This is controlled by how much mana the user wishes to add, however this skill has a high chance of causing the spell it is used in tandem with to break down. The breakdown can forcibly break magic lock, circle, and other spells but often will cause arge knock back effect.''


    The damage he had done to Su''s hands was a major factor in the regret he now felt. He could still see some redness on Su''s hands from holding her metal shield. The over charging of the me flower spell had forced it to grow much more powerful but that also put him and his party members within the range of damage. If he had been slightly less lucky then Su could have beenpletely incapacitated or even killed. Not to mention this sounded like a small knock back effect, what if the spell had blown up in his face, that would have been the end. The entire party would have been wiped off the face of the world without anyone knowing.


    "Leader, my hands are fine, you can still rest more." Su had seen Walker''s eyes on her hands and wanted to reassure him she was dine and not to worry too much. Walker refused that answer and stood himself up, he made it over to the fire and used jis light heal skill two more timers on Su. The green light faded away showing her hands had returned to their undamaged state. "Thank you, that feels much better."


    "Don''t thank me it was my fault, I forced the spell to get bigger and risked everyone''s life for more experience. I was rushing us to get to level fifteen, I should be more patient." He hung his head low.


    "Hmpf, at least you know." Remey gave him another hit to the shoulder as she sat back down around the fire. Su was just smiling at him and Remey knowing that there was no ill intentions between the two.


    Walker looked around from his spot by the fire realizing there was arge pile just behind their tents. "Umm guys, what is all that?" His finger pointed the the ck and white pile, he was struggling to make sense of it due to the fading light.


    " Those are the remains of all the horned rabbits you burned away. Also the ones Midnight and Remey finished off. They spent over an hour dragging all the defeated ones back." Su''s words were a small shock to Walker, he hadpletely forgotten that there would be horned rabbit bodies left for them to collect.


    Not wanting them to sit out and attract predators Walker got up again and tried to store them all away. He had no clue if any of them could have any value at all. Some had no fur and severe burns all over. Others were charred to a crisp and forck of a better word, cooked. However something kind of unusual about them was that the horns seemed to have resisted the mes the best and looked only a bit soot covered. This made him wonder if the poisons could still, be extracted or if that would have burned off too.


    With a sigh he got to work storing away every single one, He had seen in the system his massive experience gain from the party defeating seventy three of the horned rabbits but all that was left when he checked his storage were, twenty eight bodies. This added on to the ones that had already gathers but them at an even thirty one horned rabbits to have the guild dissect.


    Hilda will be busy making jerky for days, was the only thing Walker could really gather from this. However he knew his mother would be more than just a little excited to do so. She had books and books of recipes she had never been able to try, spicebinations that she knew she couldn''t sell to the average adventurer due to the fact that they only had the funds for the most basic provisions. At the very least he knew he would be making one person happy due to his poor choices as a leader. Remey and Su saw that he was a bit more dejected as he returned to the fire, but did not want to pry knowing it would take him more time to ept what had urred and the consequences from his actions as leader.

 Chapter 206 - 206. Guild Wide

    Gil was the only one that had slept through the night, Walker had tried to take first watch but was threatened by Remey to sleep first. As much as he tried to resist the second his head hit the pillow he was out cold. Later he was woken up by Midnight who had been raking watch and he realized he would have thest watch of the night. Having the time to watch the sun rise while he walked idly around their camp Walker began to see more and more of the damage he had caused.


    The crater that had been made from his attacks had devastated the grass that had previously grown here. The earth that had been cooked from defending the party from the mes was almost like sand now. He had not intended this kind of damage at all, even worse were the small drifts of ash that the wind had yed with through the night. He knew that these were the bodies of the horned rabbits they had wanted to defeat. The horde of rabbits was definitely a plight on the ins but in his actions he had destroyed a spot in the ins as well, was it really better than what the rabbits would have done as they grew?


    Walker was staring at the crater and the sandy soil all around, he sarcastically thought it was like a messed up beach just instead of water there was ash everywhere. However this sarcastic thought may have held merit.


    Walker raised a hand and ,manipted a gust of air to blow away arge portion of the ash around. He looked about seeing a lot of the snow that had melted from the mes and been frozen again by the chilling winds. The ice looked rather beautiful in the rising oranges of the sun, however Walker needed it to melt again. Using his elemental maniption he channeled mana in to the ice causing it to turn back in to water and flow toward the crater he had created.


    The small streams of water moved in to the crater easily filling it up and showing off the bits of green grass that had survived the mes due to heavier snow coverage than other spots. The sandy solid and the small pond that had just been a crater reflected in the sun. This was a view perfect for a painting, now the damage had not been undone but through his efforts Walker had hope that as the grass grew back the animals and monsters in the ins could stop her to drink. There was even a chance that some traveling merchants would make this a regr stop on the way between the two kingdoms. That was all he could hope for.


    "Well I would say that looks much better." Gil''s voice surprised him from behind. He had been the next wake up and found that Walker was staring sadly at the damage. But when Walker had gained a bit more sternness to his face and used his elemental maniption Gil knew things were about to change.


    He had seen the wind blowing the ashes away and scattering them in to the ins, this was often something those in the fields would do with ash from their firece to add some nutrients to their soil, however he wasn''t sure of Walker knew this or was just cleaning up a but. The sight of the water then trickling in to the crater put a smile on his face knowing that even though the spells had harmed the area it may end up better for it in the long term. "Looks pretty great to me, sorry about the whole sleeping all night thing. I guess those wind elemental arrows take more mana out of me than I thought. I''m pretty sure Remey is going to try and beat me up pretty hard for it." Laughing a bit he gave Walker a bump on the arm as a greeting.


    "Well she did hit me twice, but not as hard as i think she will hit you." Walker''s sideways smile made Gil wrinkle his forehead in worry. " We may have bitten off more than we could chew with this one. We were too reckless, we may have been better off risking a retreat. It was a miracle we didn''t alert them as we got near in the first ce."


    Seeing him shake his head Gil wanted to hit Walker himself. "Was it reckless? Yes, but we made the choice together and we did the best we could. At the very least we choose how we would fight instead of running away and potentially being beaten while literallyying down on the ground." Gil was adamant in his words, he believed that even though things looked bad now they were better off making their own chives and sticking to them. "You know those horned rabbits would have eaten much more of the ins before someone got to them, do you think the adventurer''s guild would have just left them be? We found them early but there are sure to be more groups like this out here. Hopefully we just made a difference." This was much stronger insight from Gil than he was used to and it sounded very viable.


    What if there were more hordes of the horned rabbits that were destroying the grasses before they could even start to grow? What if they were left to breed more in the warming weather? The adventurers guild would be forced to action to sendrge groups of adventures to get rid of them or trim the poption. How many travelers or merchants would die or be harmed before the guild learned of what was happening. All these questions were flooding Walker''s mind and only went to make him realize how dangerousrge groups of monsters suddenly expanding could be.


    Unknown to all of them ra had seen the notifications of all the horned rabbits being defeated and looked back in to the records for past instances of such things.She hade up with documents from fifteen years ago about an early spring which had given the horned rabbits the chances to breed more and grow faster. This had led to hordes of horned rabbits leaving the ins and devastating crops for all surrounding kingdoms. These reasons in particr caused her to push off to the Guild master immediately.


    Three sharp knocks rang on the guild master''s office door before ra burst in with the documents she had found, Ibis was far from surprised since he was getting used to ra being the only one with such a habit. Out of all the managers in the guild ra was the only one with the courage enough to burst in to his office and start throwing some of the most outrageous sounding things at him, he loved it. "Master Ibis we may have a horned rabbit outbreak on our hands!" Ibis dropped his quill to the desk, his eyes locked on to ra.


    "What do you mean we might have a horned rabbit outbreak again? Do you know how bad that was fifteen years ago? Even I was out in the ins trying to cull the numbers from those pests." Ibis remembered the weeks he spent roaming around constantly harassed by horned rabbits at every turn.


    "The omnipotent party defeated seventy four of them all at once just a few hours ago. I went through the archived documents and found that an outbreak had urred before. With the warming weather and the number that they defeated I believe it is safe to say are facing a simr urrence. What would you like to do?" ra''s entrance had made the air thick with tension, Ibis was not going to struggle with this decision in the least.


    "I have faced this before and I know how bad the kingdom hurt for years after this. I never wish to see those in the lower tier deprived of food over such a matter as not being prepared to defend the farms. The people were failedst time, but this time we will rise to the challenge. I am about to issue a guild wide extermination quest, get every first floor employee awake and ready, it will be a long few days." Ibis had ryed his orders and within the next second almost every guild employee was being woken. The dissection employees were on the list as well rushing to clear the basement to make way for a massive amount of horned rabbits to show themselves.


    '' Guild wide extermination quest- emergency quest


    The guild has gathered information from the ins that the horned rabbit poption is facing an outbreak. Every adventurer is required to register and begin patrolling the areas around the farnds. Silver tier and above will be allowed to move out in to the ins to huntrger groups of horned rabbits. Each defeated horned rabbit will be registered and rewarded with three gold. Parties that go above and beyond will be considered for a tier advancement test. Protect our kingdom''s livelihood and prosperity!


    requirement :


    Exterminate Horned rabbits


    Reward:


    3G each horned rabbit defeated.''

 Chapter 207 - 207. Chance Encounter

    Walker saw this notification as well and immediately pushed in to motion waking up the others. Once everyone was awake he frantically started to break down the camp, there were more horned rabbits around like before and he did not want to be caught up in the chaos. Remey and Su read their own systems seeing this and had not even questioned what was going on. They started to break the camp down even faster. Walker almost missed the notification from ra.


    "I saw what had happened and found that those numbers of horned rabbits were unusual. The records showed that it may be an outbreak. Please return to the kingdom immediately." Walker headed this message and set his sights on moving the entire day without rest.


    "Maria today may be a bit tough, when you get tired let us know and you can ride on our shoulders to keep watch for us ok?" Maria nodded unsure of what was going on since she was not a member of the adventurers guild and had not received this notification.


    "All cleaned up here." Gil had just dropped the tent in front of Walker so it could be stored.


    "Fire is out leader." Su and remey had gotten the fire out and cleaned up along with the food scraps from their meal the night before.


    Midnight came up and pushed her nose against Walker showing that she was happy he was up and moving, however she knew that they were about to get on their way. Luckily she understood the system notifications as well as they had. Walker gave her a pat on the head appreciating the action and stored away thest of their camping gear. It was time to make haste.


    They moved at a much faster pace than usual, there seemed to only be tracks from horned rabbits leaving the area due to the terrifying explosions from the day before. These had done well to scare off them and any other monsters around. Gil even pointed out some snow imp tracks that had made a very straight line away from where the party had been camping. It would seem they had their usual night watch for nothing since the noise they had made was enough to scare away any danger.


    The grass was long enough for it to be above the melting snow and ice. As they walked they could swear more strands of dried grass were popping up out of the ground, the ice was releasing them from its grip. After some time the sun had reached the highest point in the sky paving the way for tougher travel in the mud of the paths.


    Small birds seemed to flit and flutter around them looking for anything the party had kicked up while trudging through the mud. Maria had quickly be tired and took a spot on Su''s shoulders. Walker noticed Maria tug on Su''s hair a bit to get her attention, she was pointing forwards with a serious expression. She was taking the joke about watching out from up high very seriously. This was good for them however because Gil took this as a sign to move ahead quietly to see what was up ahead.


    Returning tookjust a few moments, Gil''s face said everything. "There are way more horned rabbits up there than before. Even an army would have trouble with them." This was not an overstatement at the least, Gil had spotted over two hundred of the horned rabbits lounging about in the sun, napping. "We should head back and skirt far around them, they seem to mostly be asleep so I think we should be able to get far away without any noticing us."


    Walker nodded and everyone followed Gil''s suggestion. Fighting one horde of horned rabbits was more than enough for them until they had gained more strength. Taking the same path backwards the party then got off the path and on to the grassy un-treadnd. They made a veryrge arc around where the horned rabbits were resting avoiding them without trouble. Once they were safe enough away almost everyone let out a sigh of relief.


    This lucky dodge gave them more incentive to move faster, their past became almost jogging as they wanted to reach home as soon as possible, or at the very least reach more adventurers to team up with. Maria was having a rough time bouncing on Su''s armor so she chose to jump on to Walker''s back enjoying some time with Onyx who was quickly bing a close friend. While mid jog Gil pulled up his bow, "Front left, we can take it down while moving it looks like a single."He had aimed at a horned rabbit that was covered in dirt, it seemed to just havee out of its own hibernation.


    When Gil released his arrow Walker had also sent a fire bolt. They had changed direction slightly moving towards the horned rabbit. The arrow and fire bolt hit at the same timepletely knocking the horned rabbit on its side. With their target down Remey used her speed to sprint forward, the rabbit struggled to stand but as it started to rise it was beaten down again by Remey. The horned rabbit had no chance, it hadn''t even seen its defeating.


    Walker ran up storing it way before everyone gave themselves a quick check and kept on their way. No other horned rabbits seemed to be around which made them all much happier. Their pace was much more than they were used to but it was paying off greatly. The sun had just started to sink in the sky when some shapes started to form in the distance. This was something they were all warning to see, a tent.


    "Looks like there is at least one person up there making camp for the night, Leader do we want to stop?" Walker was a bit put off by a solo adventurer or merchant being out but it made more sense to camp with at least one more person, more eyes to spot danger were always wee.


    "Walker nodded and gave a shout, "Hello there, anyone home?"The tent rustled a bit before arge person opened the ps.


    "Ha! Who would have expected me to run in to you scamps here. I was out for an errand when that quest showed up. Now I will roam about the ins for a few days." It was Barry, of all people they had encountered it was their vice guild leader. This was better than running in to a camp of ten adventurers, if any horned rabbits even looked this way the party was sure that Barry could deal with them in an instant.


    "Barry! We were just looking for a spot to camp and noticed your tent, of all the people to see!" All of them were equally surprised, the only one that was confused was Maria who had never seen this man in her life.


    "I take it you all were the cause of the guild wide quest? I would be a fool not to put two and two together. Hero title holders travel through the ins and all the sudden there is a horned rabbit outbreak? It seems too coincidental not to be rted." Barry was much more rxed than he had been when they met. Walker had his suspicion that the meeting in the castle had added just enough stress for him to be a bit more rigid.


    "Funny story about that one," Gil was scratching his head looking away as he spoke, "We kind of ran in to arge horde and tried to take them out....It was a bit rough" Barry heard this and started examining every one of them for injuries and damage but only noticed some scorch marks on their clothing and the obvious tiredness from jogging most of the day.


    "I can see that, Is that where this littledy came from?" He gestured to Maria on Walker''s back.


    "Oh, this is Maria. She joined us while we were in the demi-human kingdom. That''s another long story, isn''t she the cutest though!" Remey made the introduction but Maria shrank behind Walker a bit more seeing the attention on her.


    "Well it is nice to meet you little demon girl, I am Barry the vice guild master of the adventurers guild in the city of Diamond. I look forward to you joining one day." How sly he was trying to recruit her before she was even a citizen of the kingdom. Just the fact that she was with the party made him try this.


    In response the light seemed to bend around Maria making it hard to make her out on Walker''s back. "Ah it looks like I scared her, I know I am a bitrge but I promise I am nice enough." Barry''s voice got a little high pitched which made them all want tough. Having a lot to talk about the party started to set up camp finding that Barry didn''t have any materials to start fire with and had nned just to sleep without one. The party did not agree to this and started one themselves, Walker and the others had diligently stocked up on some wood and dried grass while at the tamers guild.

 Chapter 208 - 208. Barry Leads The Way

    "Well I could have told you the king would give you travel medals that made you emissaries. Royalty is a sneaky lot. Even the king of Ordist gave you a sigil now, you are all going to be very tangled up if you keep traveling far and wide." Barry almost seemed a bit sad saying this knowing that the politics of kingdoms couldplicate any situation one was in. "Seeing that you were dragged in to a tournament, the king must really have liked you all. Now that you helped out with the demons it is sure that they will send some of their own emissaries to visit in theing months. I would not be surprised if he sent one of his generals, I have heard he only does that when he wishes to send a strong message." Walker was imagining general Scy showing up in the castle and putting all the nobles and attendants in to a state of shock. He almost had hope it would happen just as such. "It does worry me that a demon was intentionally cursing gear to sell however...We may have to recruit a few more appraisers just to be safe." Barry fiddled with his system most likely sending a message to the guild master to do such a thing. It was a good precaution to take just in case there were more items that had made their way outside the Kingdom of Ordist.


    "We also managed to learn a bunch of things about crafting from the tamers guild master, Midnight and I have some experiments we want to try out when we get home." Walker was not in the least bit afraid to let Barry in on some of the ideas he had, Barry seemed like the kind of person that would not tell a soul unless asked to. Not only that but Barry also seemed to want to help them more than he let on.


    "Ohho you met that old guy too? I would expect him to have some goodforging tips seeing that he grew up in the dwarven kingdom. Even if he doesn''t have a system they like there he would have picked up some knowledge just by growing up there. Whatever he showed you or told you should be very useful, make sure to heed his words." Walker and the others gave a nod, Midnight even seemed to be listening intently. "So that little snake there still hasn''t been introduced to me, when are you going to get to that?" Barry had been polite so far but his curiosity had finally caught up to him.


    "Forgive me, I did not want to interrupt the reunion. My name is Onyx." Barry did not show a single ounce of surprise when Onyx spoke in his head, it was the years of poker face experience he had.


    "So this little one can already speak, how unique. With you working overtime I don''t think any of you will need to learn hand signals like the other adventurer parties do, how lucky." Barry had always been the one who distributed basic hand signal books to younger parties as part of his role in the guild, but seeing that the party wouldpletelymunicate without the need to speak he was relieved to have one less party to give a speech to at his monthly lecture.


    "Actually I still hope to attend a ss on them, It may be useful when we interact with other groups." Gil was the one to speak up, as he often scouted ahead he was most likely the one who would work together with other scouts and be required to be silent. Onyx would not always be going with him so if anyone needed to learn hand signals it was him.


    "I also would like a copy of your notes and knowledge, if I memorize them I can teach them to others." Walker would use his mental archive skill to the fullest just so he would not need to practice them. He could also potentially be in the scouting position and thought Gil''s idea to be wise.


    "Well maybe I will just be asking you two to give a lecture on it one day in my ce." Barryughed at this but id did not seem to be a joke as much as it was a way for him to avoid having to work more.


    The time went on like this until it was well past sunset. They all decided to get some rest for the night so they would be refreshed for the morning. If the party kept up their pace they could make it home the next day before the sun set again. Barry even offered to travel with them since he was just told to roam around the ins to find a horde to take out if he could.


    Once they had all started to get up the party spent some time roasting the most recently caught horned rabbits legs to share with Barry who for some reason had not brought any food with him. It seemed he traveled very light only taking the most basic gear to sleep and his two double ded axes. These two weapons seemed to scream death just looking at them, Barry however was not deterred at all casually lifting the obviously heavy weapons with one hand.


    "That seems to be some pretty good catch there, and here I thought you all had roasted them to ashes based on your story." Barry had tried to lighten things up when he noticed how hard Walker had put the event on himself. Although it seemed his words weren''t really needed since the party already was developing solutions to the problems that had and wanted to improve upon.


    "Well that''s enough sitting around let''s get on the move, I will head with you all until the fields." Barry pushed them to be on their way, he knew that with the outbreak of horned rabbits happening there could be arge group passing them by at any time. Not that he was afraid of them, in fact he was excited to get a little exercise in.


    Cleaning things up as fast as they could, the party broke down camp and get ready to follow Barry who took the lead. They followed nearly at a jog pace even though they were fairly sore from the other day, however knowing that they could reach home before sunset only seemed to motivate them further. The winds on the ins were a bit stronger today making them all bundle up extra carefully. The sun may be stronger and melting the snow slowly but that did not make it too much warmer.


    The entire morning passed uneventful, they had yet to see a monster at all, even Gil had not spotted any tracks along the way. Barry seemed a bit unhappy with this since he was out to wander around and hunt some horned rabbits based on the orders for the guild master. However in contradiction Walker was more than happy for the uninterrupted pace, he knew that ever second saved when the did not need to fight an opponent was time they used to get nearer to home.


    Gil picked up his pace to try to scout ahead a bit but was matched by Barry who went ahead with him, it seemed Barry did not want to be left out of any potential battles. Although he was met with disappointment when Gil returned having found no signs of any monsters around. Barry had begun to believe that the break out had been false, he was soon to be proved wrong on that ount though.


    Midnight had slowed sniffing the air, "Sister says she smells more rabbits." Midnight was definitely more sensitive than any of the others when it came to smell since she was a dragon, the wind was also bringing many smells from across the ins to them.


    "Little Onyx, which way is your sister smelling them?" Barry did not even hesitate before asking, it was clear he was aiming to find them.


    "To our right they should be near." With this Barry started to shift to the right while picking up his pace. Walker was not sure if he should head that way too but decided since he would be with Barry the party would not have too much to worry about.


    Passing through some higher dried grass, the party soon saw arge amount of shapes in the distance, they were too white to be snow and moved around way too much. The sun was showing high in the sky at this point and the group of horned rabbits was doing much of the same the Gil had witnessed before. The only difference was that this group may only have consisted of a little over a hundred. "Hm a small group but it will be enough to practice on. Walker after i deal with them I will expect you to carry them back for me." What Barry sped up way ahead of the party.

 Chapter 209 - 209. Strength

    They were a bit put off seeing Barry take his two axes in his hands and rush towards such arge group. Walker immediately stopped and started to make earth walls. He made a very simr tower that he used before, however his high earth sculpting allowed for it toe together much faster and lifted up the whole party to the top. They were all looking at Barry who seemed to be charging to the center of the horned rabbit horde. They had noticed him and most were on their hind legs watching, some had even started to run at him as well. Through outthe group many were waking up a bit sluggish from sunbathing for the afternoon. "So should we help him?" Remey was the only one to speak, everyone had been so surprised that he had just rushed in.


    "I don''t know, it seems like he can take care of it himself, but¡­" Su shared their feelings of wonder and curiosity with how Barry acted.


    "Isn''t his nickname something along the lines of berserker? Should we really risk being to close to someone with a fighting style that sounds dangerous like that? Plus Walker and I are long range attackers, we can help from here if he needs it." Gil spoke with reason but he reminded them that Barry was well known for his brutality inbat, something they would most definitely be witnessing here.


    The first horned rabbit to reach him was sliced cleanly in half with a single swing of his ax. This was much more impressive than they had expected, yet the rabbits reacted violently seeing their brethren destroyed so easily. The screeching echoed around waking up any other horned rabbits that had yet to sense the iing enemy.


    Walker could swear he saw Barry smiling. The man was really getting in to the more horned rabbits that reached him. His axes were able to cleave through two or three in one swing, any rabbit too close to him had already been taken by death to the afterlife. The scene was one that not many would witness, a high ranking adventurer using pure strength to dispatch over a hundred weak monsters. This was the goal any adventurer dreamed on, to have the strength and fortitude to follow a cause start to finish.


    Therger amount of horned rabbits had gotten near Barry, the first part had just been a warm up for him. Now that he had his blood pumping he let out a yell, halfway between a growl and a shout it struck fear in to every horned rabbit and even the party when they heard it. "I can''t believe that''s Barry, he''s so nice but now he''s so brutal." Gil was lost, the disparity was just too great here.


    The fear had frozen most of the rabbits which seemed to make Barry move faster and faster, he ran slicing rabbits up more and more. Some had been so afraid of his yell that they ran away heading toward the party''s tower. "Gil you take that one on the right, Remey you take it out when he stops it. Midnight you will do the same to the rabbit fleeing on the left, I will be sending some fire bolts at it." Walker knew that this was an extermination quest and as much as he did not want to be sidetracked making it home he thought it better that the less rabbits escaped.


    Working in their pairs, Midnight and Remey ran off toward the two opposite side. Gil had already sent an arrow using a quick shot at the rabbits back leg. Itnded perfectly at the closer distance causing the rabbit to tumble and squeal. Gil fired another arrow aiming for the front leg to incapacitate it more. By the time the second arrow hadnded Remey was already there. Her spiked knuckles brandished in a heavy right hook. The horned rabbit took the blow directly to its head causing it to m in to the ground with equal force to Remey''s punch. Since the first hit had not finished it Remey tried her newerbo, using her left hand her defense breaking palm was striking down on the horned rabbits ribs. The palmnded causing three ribs to shatter and fly in to the internal organs of the rabbit. The system showed her victory, making Remey grab the leg of the rabbit and start dragging it back.


    Midnight was moving furiously as she watched two fire bolts hit the horned rabbit in the face. Walker had really improved his aim and judge of distance while they had been on the ins. The attacks singed the rabbits fur and stunned it. While it tried to recover from the burns if felt in it''s eyes the rabbit was instead greeted by Midnight ws. She shredded in to the rabbit which had left its soft side belly open. Upon feeling the pain it reared up trying to kick but instead gave Midnight the perfect chance to bite down on its throat. The Rabbit''s high pitch squeal was cut off instantly as it lost the ability to breath and died almost instantly. Midnight started to drag back her prey as well.


    Walker was very proud of their efficiency and of how well Barry was drawing the attention of therge group of rabbits. He had already defeated forty of them easily, however it was very hard to count since so many were cut in to pieces. There were some other rabbits running away from Barry at this point due to sheer terror but they were heading away from the party so they would not pursue them.


    Watching as Barry gained more and more red spots on his clothing and armors the party saw not the king vice guild master but a brutal beast. Barry continued to show this side of himself when he threw his axes toward a cluster of rabbits and they slid through them like butter. Miraculously the axes then turned like boomerangs and came back, that was one amazing skill that made everyone''s jaws drop. Before they returned Barry used his fists and kicks to continue his absolute extermination of the horned rabbits.


    The party watched the battle for another half hour, in that time Barry had single handedly taken out the entire horde, it was an amazing feat to say the least. Not only that but once he started to walk back to the party the blood on him seemed to start to evaporate. Another amazing skill.


    The ferociousness that Barry had just demonstrated was long gone and reced by a refreshed look. He was walking away as if all the stress in the world had just left him. "Ah sorry for taking so long, I was being a bitzy since I wanted to train a bit more." His greeting put them to shame, He was beingzy? His moves and strength were well above what any of them even imagined yet he insisted he was just beingzy? This was too much for the party to handle and instead moved to start gathering and storing away the defeated horned rabbits. They refused to even think on how much experience this battle had just brought Barry, mostly since it wouldn''t even be considered a drop in the bucket for him at his level.


    Barry watched as the party left him without saying a word, he felt a little bad that he may have put them off but he hoped more so that he had encouraged them to push for more strength. Sending a quick notification to the guild master, his system had counted that Barry had defeated one hundred and fifteen horned rabbits, this was most certainly and outbreak worth their attention.


    Realizing that he was being rude Barry started bringing Walker the horned rabbit pieces, "That tower over there is really something, did you add stairs of anything on the inside?"


    Changing the subject gave them a chance to get back in to the swing of things. "Well I made something simr to this and unlocked a high earth sculpting skill that works with my elemental maniption skill. So as long as I can spend some time learning about the elements I should be able to make better things. There may be stairs in it next time, I will have to think about it. I am even considering memorizing a few blueprints so I can copy simple structures."


    "That sounds like a pretty good idea, I can have some battle towers and defensive wall designs sent to your mansion, I have a decent few that are long since retired from the army. They still should give you good use though, you are battling monsters most of the time." It was strange that Barry would have blueprints from past army tactics.


    "Were you once part of the army? If you don''t want me to pry I will let it be." Walker was worried he was being too forward and interrupting Barry''s privacy.

 Chapter 210 - 210. Dissection Frenzy

    "Eh I don''t mind, when I was a kid I first joined the army. My father was a knight so it was in my blood to follow him. I unlocked my system in one of my first fist fights with a group of people who insulted my father. Naturally I got my butt kicked." Barryughed at the memory from so many years ago. "They said my father would never survive a single battle let alone a war, so in my anger i threw a few punches and lost my mind. Next thing I knew an instructor was kicking me across the courtyard and I was on the way to a healer. I Can tell you they never spoke bad about me or my family again." Barry seemed rather happy to speak about his family like this. " Naturally when I learned I had a berserker system I volunteered to be one of the specialized forces with unique systems, it went pretty well for a few years but eventually the me died away. I was only following orders and doing exact;y what I was told. I was reprimanded for letting my skills take over, so I left and joined as an adventurer. Almost twenty yearster I am the vice guild master and I get to travel around the entire continent without restriction." This was why he smiled so much telling Walker the story, he had made it to the epitome of his dream. The path he traveled was the path he belonged to.


    "That is really inspiring, Vice master Barry, I hope that my party can achieve the same feeling." Barry smiled patting Walker on the shoulder. He really did hope that every single one of them found the exact same feeling of belonging he felt every day of his life. The constant errands from the guild master were frustrating yes, but he got to do them his way without anyone stopping him.


    With a bit more pushing they had all the defeated rabbits stored away in an hour or so. Barry started the pace and pushed the party to move faster than they had before. He had a taste for the battles toe and wanted to find arger group. Walker and the party struggled to keep pace. Maria was most definitely hating the bumping around, however she had no choice but to bear it since she would have been left in the dust if she was on her own two feet.


    Hours passed them by and they started to feel the effects of the rigorous travel. Barry looked cool as a cucumber inparison making them all that much more jealous of his level. The fields and farm houses started to show in the distance. There were groups of adventurers roaming about here and there along with evidence of battles. There had definitely been a few horned rabbits that had made it this far, there were also many adventurers leaving toward the ins. They saw that the vice guild master was there and waved or nodded in greeting, "Well this will be where I leave you all, I still have much more to do." Barry did not even wait for a reply, he was gone that instant not even waiting for the group''s farewell.


    Looking at the walls past the fields they were a bit disheartened by the fact that they still had to Walk. They had no choice though and moved on. The more adventurers they saw the more they realized that they were being watched. It would seem that the additional insignia from the king of Ordist was enough to draw the gaze of those that had stubbornly ignored the party known for having a title. Adding to their quickly spread gossip almost every adventurer now knew them along with most nobles.


    When they finally approached the gates they found that the guards weed them readily, Walker had expected to have to exin their newpanion Maria but instead was ushered through. It would seem that due to the outbreak adventurers were given the fast pass in and out of the walls. This made things much easier for them since they just wanted to get home to rest. Reporting in at the guild and going to the castle to deliver the documents would wait, it would be a huge insult to show up in a half asleep and filthy state to the castle.


    Their final walk through the inner walls and to the mansion were blurred out as they were all too tired to fully focus. Besides bathing and making their way to their rooms the only other memorable part was setting up Maria with a guest room right next to where Su''s room was.


    Not a single member of the party was immune to the small nightmares of horned rabbit hordes, the only exception was Midnight who only seemed to dream of eating them roasted.


    After waking up early so many days in a row every member of the party naturally woke up just as early. It was easy for them to hunt out breakfast and find that Maria had snuck in to Su''s room to sleep due to her nightmares. While they waited for breakfast to be cooked Su and Remey took Maria around the mansion showing off the training grounds and library. The found that Maria was able to read at a ferocious pace. Having discovered this they asked if she would like to stay there which was a resounding yes. Su had already introduced Maria to her mother and was veryfortable leaving the two in the library. Her mother had found it the best ce to sip tea and rx.


    Having gotten their new guest settled the party adorned themselves with their gear and made way for the adventurers guild. They left easily enough to make it there before many people. The sounds of adventurers trying to make way to the front desk were rather loud, so much so that it could be heard from down the street. Walker and party got to the front doors without much trouble pushing past many groups also trying to get inside. "Su can you lead the way? I know it may be rude but we need to get to the front." Su gave him a nod and removed her shield from her back. She braced herself and started forward down the middle of the room.


    There were shouts at the, to wait their turn and to stop pushing but when they saw the ques and medals the party wore they quickly shut their mouths. ra was looking deathly tired at the counter and was very happy to see her party return. "Wee back to the kingdom, what is your n, leader of the Omnipotent party?" ra still seemed to have a bit of energy to tease them.


    "We would like to turn in some horned rabbit bodies from vice guild master Barry. We would also like to turn in some from our party, however we would like the meat, poison, and hornsfrom them returned to us. We also have arge body of a greater Ice imp dissected and the usable parts returned. Lastly we would like an escort to the castle for an audience with the king." Walker had a hefty request, ra had been prepared for every word of it though. She had suspected royalty to y some cards and the audience with the king was an obvious result of this.


    "Please follow me to the basement, we will drop off the defeated monsters there and then I will let the Guild master travel with you to the Castle." ra was all professional which actually seemed to rx the party as it felt like home.


    Following her to the basement the party found that most staff was very upied with breaking down horned rabbits the second they would be brought in. The even more surprising part was the massive amount of space cleared. "I have asked for space to be cleared for your and Barry since they consist of thergest possible influx." That was all Walker needed, he started to first pull out of his storage all of the horned rabbits that Barry had defeated. The dissection staff took them almost as fast as he could put them on the ground.


    "The next rabbits were hunted by our party and also the greater ice imp." At those words arger group of staff came over lured by the rare monster. The moment the greater Ice imp body touched the ground they pounced on to it like wolves on prey. They started measuring and recording as much as possible to add to their records. This gave Walker time to pull out the remaining rabbits. Once this was done he felt a great deal of weight had been removed since he now just needed to wait for the results to be brought to him ready for whatever he decided to do with them.

 Chapter 211 - 211.Seeing Ibis

    ra then pushed them to return upstairs and even further tpo head to the guild master''s office. The dissection staff seemed to be in a frenzy with the monsters dropped off. Some seemed fairly unhappy by the burned up bodies, they much prefered the closest to how they normally existed in the wild. They did find some benefit in the fact that they could study the horned rabbit''s anatomy under the stress of extreme heat though, many notes were added in this respect.


    The artistic door of the guild master''s office was already in front of them as ra had pushed them all the way up the stairs. She wanted to get them there and have a reason to sit down for the first time all day. "Guild master, I have brought the Omnipotent party!" ra said this while pushing open the door, she hadn''t even knocked. Walker and the others hesitated but ra walked right in and sat on an empty chair, she looked like she would have copsed in to it anyways.


    "Ah ra, bold as always. Come ine in don''t wait there all day." Ibis waved for them to all emter. "We saw your events in the ins, I am sure you noticed the quest that showed up right after, and I am also sure you are wondering why?"


    "Sir. I believe I actually know why. I can remember a story from my parents before they had established the farm." Ibis gave Gil a wide smile.


    "Well then, Share it with your party, it should sound much bettering from you whose parents lived through it out on the fields." Ibis sat back gettingfortable while he let Gil take the lead.


    Gil was proud to share something he had learned growing up and took the chance, "My parents were not yet able to get their own fields so my mother had been working on the outer fields with a close friend. My father had been away hunting when he came back suddenly. Most of those adventurers or travelers that had recently left the city returned, some hurt badly and others barely able to walk." Gil paused a moment trying to be suspenseful. "They said there were hundreds of horned rabbitsing their way and that there was no way to get past them. Naturally once enough people had reported this all of the guards were dispatched to the walls. The adventurers were also notified but it was not enough time. The horned rabbits had flooded in to the fields eating anything and everything they could since the seedlings had been recently nted. The spring hade early which brought them out of their hibernation almost a month early if I remember the story right." Gil thought another few minutes before something seemed to click. "The farmers fled their fields and found shelter in the walls, for hours the rabbits destroyed the young seedlings before the guards and adventurers teamed up to push them back. The city lost three quarters of its projected harvest. It was the greatest famine that caused a decline in our poption for three whole years." The others looked at Gil like he had be a living history book. The only thing they continued to wonder was why he didn''t show this smart side of himself as often.


    "Aha yes young Gil is spot on. The rabbits had no food out in the ins because the ice was still thick but they had already started their breeding. The increase in numbers was nothing but a disaster. Naturally they smelled out anything they could eat and left the ins in hordes. Every kingdom bordering the ins had a tough battle against them. Ever since we have kept strict watch for this kind of event to ur again. Luckily ra noticed the abnormal amount of horned rabbits you defeated. This paired with her wise decision to check the archives lead to her immediate report and my response to use my power as the guild master. " Looking rather proud of himself, Ibis followed this up. "Naturally as the ones who discovered this outbreakhowever idental it weas, we at the guild will still honor the guild wide quest and reward you for the horned rabbits you defeated." This was great news for them, they had risked a lot for the experience and Walker had even seen it as a big disappointment due to his poor decision making. But now there was another silver lining, they had made some gold for the party which would only help them be stronger. The biggest lesson though was that they had managed to warn their kingdom of a massive threat to their soon to be nted crops. This would most likely extend to the other kingdoms that bordered the ins which would save many more from starvation.


    "Thank you for that guild master Ibis." Walker made sure to be as polite as possible since it was such a great moment of enlightenment. "Actually we have reason to visit the king again and were hoping you could attend with us? The events of our travels to Ordist will most likely affect our guild and kingdom together." Walker knew this was not the time to share too much information so only shared this little bit. He still held the secrets of the letters and documents given to him, to personally deliver to the king. This was the utmost security he could give it since it was put away in his inventory skill which only he could ess.


    "I am certain the king will receive you at a moment''s notice, it would seem you have all found out about the other details those travel medals give you. Especially since you know to wear a new sigil right next to them. " Ibis had sharp eyes and had been waiting to bring up the new symbol pinned to their clothing. This party had been building some very strong connections while away. They not only were close with the guild''s close friends, the tamers. But they had also be close with the King of Ordist himself gaining his special sigil.


    The entire party stood a bit taller recalling the things they had aplished while in the demi-human kingdom. They were even more motivated now to travel around more and be stronger so that when they ventured there again they could show their new and now old friends how hard they had worked.


    Ibis stood up and stretched slightly, "Now let this old man take you all for a walk to meet with royalty." Ibisughed a bit, "ra I will leave you in charge, don''t fall asleep now." His words went unheard and ra had already fallen asleep in her chair. "Ahh asleep already, you really work yourself too hard my granddaughter." Ibis almost whispered this but Walker was able to hear this and showed it on his face. Ibis gave him a small wink and strode through the door.


    Walker couldn''t help but think about how little the party actually knew about ra. She rarely spoke about herself and had instilled within her a hard working serious individual who truly cared about everything she did in life. But she had not even said for a second that Ibis was her grandfather, The guild master of the adventurers guild was her grandfather and she was the first floor manager. This was a big deal and if the other adventurers knew this she would be swamped with those who wanted her as a manager to get in to the guild masters'' good graces. This walos exined why she was able to so boldly walk in to his office without fear.


    Walker almost was too stuck on this puzzleing together that Ibis got too far ahead, he rand after the rest of the party and Ibis after softly closing the door and whispering goodbye to ra. She always worked so hard and Walker promised himself to get her a gift from the party as a thank you. He would soon be bothering her with more work so it was only fair to thank her in advance also.


    The group made it through the guild with ease, even the youngest adventurers knew that markings on Ibis''s robes meant he was the master of the guild. They made a path for him to walk not daring to make any remarks, they feared saying anything improper could end their career, of course Ibis was not so cruel but what they did not know would not hurt them. It was good for them to have the proper respect.


    Gil could swear that the second they left the guild there were more shadows than there should be following them but every time his eyes would focus on one he would find them gone. Ignoring this strangeness he runned his eyes and continued to follow behind Ibis. The guards at the inner gates allowed the, an easy entry and with a wave of his hand Ibis had gotten them into the inner walls of the castle as well. The party was greeted with a very familiar sight but slightly different this time.

 Chapter 212 - 212. To The Castle

    When they had passed through the smaller training courtyard of the castle a butler had greeted them and asked them why they hade to the pce. "We have business to report to the king. As you can see this party bears the proper identification to request a meeting." Ibis unexpectedly drew attention not only to the travel medals the parry wore but also the marking of the king of Ordist and their silver ques.


    "Of course, we shall notify the king sir Ibis. Please follow me to a room for you all to rest." The butler led the, down a hall and to arger room withvished furniture. The couches were softer than any the party had ever sat on before. The coffee table was made from an intricately carved wood that they could not identify. Ibis motioned for an attendant in the corner who rushed off at his signal. The attendant showed up with tea and a tray of small finger sandwiches in just a moment. This was the life of royalty, being waited on hand and foot.


    "Now I hope you all remember the basics from thest time we met with the king? I do not expect you to go using a dragon''s roar to intimidate those nobles again." Ibisughing to himself added some sugar to his tea and drinking with a smug expression. He was making fun of Walker so casually!


    "Of course we will not be, we have very important business to take care of." Before anyone else could reply Su was already there with a response, her cool demeanor making Walker feel that everything was in their right. She had already started to set herself up some tea and even poured cups for everyone else. They had no idea how long they would need to wait, they hade in without prior notice so they could be interrupting any matter of activities.


    Onyx seemed to be enjoying the view of the well decorated room, Walker forgot that he had not been here to see it all thest time they visited the castle. This was indeed a veryrge feast for the eyes since there were so many handcrafted items in great detail. Midnight seemed much toofortable finding a spot by a window where the sun wasing in andying by it, She really had no sense of shame sometimes.


    They enjoyed their peace and tea for a fair bit of time before the butler had returned with another attendant, "Honorable guests this attendant shall escort you to the king for your meeting." Ibis ced his cup down and motioned for the party to do the same. With some encouragement, Midnight left the warmth of the sun and headed along with them.


    The slight stress at seeing the king and queen again was a bit strong to them but over their past experiences the party was able to steel themselves before reaching therger doors that lead in to the kings court. The tworge doors were opened for them by guards revealing the familiar sight. The king and queen sat upon their thrones showing no emotion, the king''s gaze studied the party and seemed to pick apart any differences. His eyes rested on Onyx for a second making note of a new member to their party.


    The queen may have been cool faced but Walker had a foreboding feeling that she wanted to see new skills and even examine Midnight''s smaller wings. Her eyes had not left Midnight since the doors had opened. Scanning the room Walker realized that there were far less attendants this time around. A few of the nobles seemed familiar but others they had never seen before. Their sudden visitation had definitely changed the king''s ns making less nobles and attendants show up thanst time. Walker was fairly d to see this, he had worries that the more in attendance the harder it would be to tell the king the goings on in the demi-human kingdom.


    The familiar face of one noble in particr was watching them very carefully. Markus Raven was frozen as he stared down Walker at the front of the party. His eyes had seen the snake wrapped around his shoulders. The worst part was that he knew Walker had learned of his fear of such creatures. This was the worst possible thing to happen, how could he counter the authority of children if they used such dastardly tricks against him.


    "Wee Ibis, how does the quest to exterminate horned rabbits proceed? Will I need to dispatch troops to assist?" The king was all business, he had also seen the guild wide quest and gathered his own information on the dangers of the outbreak. The famine had been thergest stain on his entire time as king and he did not wish to relive the loss of so many lives.


    "I greet you, my king. The adventurers guild has sent one of our strongest members, the vice guild master to the ins to clean things up. Along with the efforts of our other groups a total of one thousand two hundred and seventy eight horned rabbits have been reported as defeated. I currently believe that we will not face any such attacks onthe seedlings in the fields again. However we would greatly appreciate having some scouts sent out to assist in findingrge groups to send out parties too." Ibis gave his report firmly and efficiently. This was the exact kind of response Walker would have to improve on to get to. The information was easy to follow and understand leaving no confusion to what was happening or needed.


    "Then it shall be so, I will have sixty scouts send to assist. They will report to your guild hall under my orders within the hour." One guard by the door promptly left the room to ry this order. " I see you have brought the young hero party with you again." The king made this general statement to see what the response would be.


    "Yes, they were the ones who wished for this audience. They recently traveled to the demi-human kingdom and wish to speak to you now that they had returned."


    The king raised a hand to his chin, "I see, from the looks of things I believe things went well." The king looked directly at the symbol of king Rorick they now wore.


    Walker stepped equal to Ibis and gave a short bow before pulling the documents from his storage. "Since we bore the mark of an emissary from out kingdom the king of Ordist gave us a task for our journey back. We have these documents from King Rorick. We also should share our encounter with a demon who was intentionally poisoning and selling cursed items there." Walkers''s words caused a stir through those present. The talk of a demon doing such terrible things to the citizens of Ordist was very shocking. On top of this the party had acted as emissaries for their kingdom and shared knowledge with the king? Why would they so young be trusted with such tasks?


    "So you found out the secondary meaning behind those medals. I do apologize for not sharing that with you but I thought it useful to give you something that showed you were protected by our kingdom." An attendant came and took the documents from Walker. The king did not look through them immediately and instead told the attendant to bring them to his study forter. This was a trick the king had learned after some time. He could look upon these documents in peace and make more sound decisions alone than when influenced by his court.


    Walker waited for the attention to focus on them, again and began telling their story from the second they entered the gates of Ordist. Many of the attendants and nobles wore their hearts on their sleeves as Walker spoke. They could not imagine that the king of Ordist had made a tournament to test them in just a day, not only this but had actually rewarded them for their actions.


    The news of how they came across and helped apprehend the demon with general Scy made some of themanders of their kingdom''s army gain very serious faces. The generals of the demi-human kingdom had often sparred with some of their kingdoms knights when visiting for yearly meetings. Naturally the demi-human''s general;s had show fierce strength that warranted great respect. It was big news for even the most elite warriors to have been watched by a general leg alone a young adventurer which was in theory nowhere near the ranking of an elite in the army.


    The king and queen listed quietly absorbing the story and waiting for any additional information. Each word Walker had spoken was weighed for truth and exaggeration by them, however they both felt that every word was genuine. "It would seem much has happened for your Omnipotent party in this journey. We are d you have returned to the kingdom safe and sound." The queen spoke up before the king, she obviously could not contain herself much more.

 Chapter 213 - 213. Queenly Curiosity

    The queen had lost the cold poker face and allowed her curiosity to show. The King even smirked a bit at this ready to see what amusing things his queen was about to dig up. Walker had expected fully that queen Marian would want to see some interesting skills and even want to try and see the changes in Midnight. Walker decided that before they got dragged back in to the serious conversation it would be best to humor her. "As I am sure you remember, I wanted you to bring some interesting things for me to see the next time you visited, Leader of the Omnipotent party." The look in her eyes showed fierce fire.


    Walker stood up "My queen I have a veryrge amount of things I could share with you, but I must say this breeze is too troublesome for me to exin properly." Queen Marian looked rather confused, as did most of the nobles, even Ibis was lost to thin.


    "I can not say I feel the slightest of drafts, are you feeling unwell?" Queen Marian was a bit worried now.


    "Well how could you not feel this breeze?" Walker lifted a hand and channeled a single mana in to the air then pped downwards causing a soft gust to fly through the room. It was not strong but it was enough to ruffle the hair upon everyone''s head. "Even the light seems to be ying tricks on my eyes." Walker then used his elemental maniption to form a bit of a rainbow from the sunlighting through the small high up windows. The queen was no longer confused but smiling openly. Seeing that there was more Walker could do he smiled himself.


    There were decorative torches lit in the room that could serve a greater purpose. " Well my queen I have fooled around long enough. I would like to introduce you to someone new." Walker channeled his mana and pulled the mes toward him. This worried the guards but the king waved them off. The young adventurer was not the type to cause real trouble, the hero title was proof of this. "My queen I would like you to meet you!" Walker had looked upon every detail of the queen''s sitting body and manipted the mes in to a me doll of her. The me doll stood and waved at the real queen. "This me doll mayck the true appearance of your highness but it is fairly interesting. Please go and greet the queen and keep herpany while I introduce our newest party member. Be sure to apud." Walker gave a sly smile as he watched the me doll follow his orders. The fire still pulled from the decorative torches every few minutes but did not harm anyone or even get too near. The me doll hovered in the air as if it was sitting like the queen.


    "Well hello me, enjoy the young adventurers showing off." Queen Marian giggled gleefully at her new mepanion. The me doll mirrored her before tuning its head to the party again.


    "My King and My Queen, please meet our party''s newest member. This is my younger brother Onyx." Onyx who had been carefully observing lifted his head and raised his body a bit. His tongue slipped in and out of his mouth smelling the air.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you." Onyx spoke within their minds his greeting which was another shock to the two. They did not expect the ck serpent to be able to use a telepathic ability to speak to them.


    "Honey, isn''t that little snake very polite?" Queen Marian was pleasantly surprised by this new addition to her quickly growing favorite party.


    "Oh yes dear, a very nice addition to the young party. I am sure that he will prove invaluable." Having the king approve of her thoughts she turned again.


    "Ah Onyx if you want to show off a bit more feel free to show off how you rest. Midnight I know you are very excited to show off yourself. I think your skeletal armor would be perfect." Midnight who had remembered the praise from the queen was quick to move in front of Walker. She gave a look at Onyx who was turning in to ink and bing a tattoo wrapping around Walker.


    Midnight gave herself a shake and white bone started to form around her. The armor wrapping around her scales became tougher. Bone spikes that protruded gave off a deathly sharpness. Her wings seemed to also benefit from this skill bing a bit more defined, this had been the fruit of her practice before eating or sleeping.


    The queen''s eyes were popping out of her head, these were two monsters skills that she as a royal would never see in her life. Not only was she seeing an extremely rare abyssal serpent but it was demonstrating a skill it was born with. The dragon was showing off its bloodline skill to create bone armor out of thin air. The look was intimidating, everyone in the room was in awe at the difference between the small dragon that had stood there to the now terrifying looking creature of battle.


    "Excellent, truly excellent! You have proven to be some of the most interesting adventurers I have ever seen. You will have my full support whenever you may need it!" Queen Marian had never had someone so open to show off with her. The me doll at her side was even apuding the new skills she had just witnessed. Most nobles or guests would try to show off and gain her favor, thus it had be one of her favorite pastimes since she was often stuck in the castle. Now that she had found someone who was not promising to show her skills for an immediate reward but instead doing so just because she asked she decided they deserved special attention.


    King August managed to call the queen after a few moments, "Walker, how long will your me creationst? It seems that you may be feeding it too much mana." The king first inquired about his worry. If the young hero was to pass out in the court he may lose some of the nobles backing the party that had aplished so much. The king had been trying to use his leverage and knowledge on titles to make as many powerful nobles support the party from behind the scenes. Some resisted not wanting to see any power leave their grasp while others took the opportunity to strengthen their bond with the king. Others backed them just because it was an interesting change in the kingdom.


    "That is the best part my king, once I use mana to cast and manipte the mes in to a me doll it can survive as long as it has a source of energy to thrive on. When it is defeated forcefully though it does explode with a loud back to disorient an enemy." This information on the skill was very impressive, for the guards in the room they saw this as an almost perfect warning system, if an intruder attacked a me doll guarding the doors then it would not only notify other guards with noise, but also halt the enemy. Many were jealous and wished to ask the young adventurer to leave some as guards.


    The king had also thought of this." If you tell your me doll to only follow my queen''s orders and ignore yours will it be able to do so?" Walker was not sure about this either and decided that it would look better to discover this with the entire court present. He had lost all anxiousness from before. The rest of the party were naturally a bit more put off. Su trusted his judgment but Gil and Remey were a but stuck in their own heads worried that Walker would somehow cause another stir with a noble. Markus Raven naturally seemed much more tame than before which also put them at ease.


    "We can experiment with that if you would like?" Walker turned to the me doll, "Please ignore any order that is not from the queen. Even my own." The me doll stopped and satpletely still, the queen thought hard on this.


    "Stand up and raise your right hand." The me doll was slow but did exactly as instructed. The queen nodded to Walker.


    "Lower your hand ande here" Walker waited eagerly as the me doll was still. Had their experiment worked? Moments passed and Walker was just about to call it a sess when the me doll stopped taking in fire from the torches and slowly burned out. "Ah it seems that since it could not follow my orders since I created it, it got stuck and stopped doing anything."


    "That is a disappointment but I am sure you will find great value in it for when you sleep." The kings dreams of having an army of me dolls to guard their vaults came crashing down.

 Chapter 214 - 214. Proposition

    "Now that we have had our fun, I would like to ask your party a question. What do you all think about demons now that you have met them?" The king was much more serious, even queen Marian now held her poker face. Walker motioned for his party to speak first.


    "My king, I believe that their kingdom has harsh values that cause arge amount of pain, however I do believe they are not all as bad as the stories have made them to be. We have already met one that has been through a pretty rough upbringing that is very pure at heart," Gil used his best demeanor to deliver his thoughts. The sweat on his brow was a thin sheen but his stance was firm, he believed this to his core.


    Remey was the next to speak, "I agree with my party member, demons seem to like to y tricks and want to avoid a good punch but that does not mean they are weak. I think they are a force to be reckoned with." Remey was still pretty rough around the edges but her worlds still had an impact.


    Walker was grateful that Su was speaking next. "My king, My queen, I have never had a younger sibling, only an older brother who left home never to return due to their own greed. I long thought myself a single child but recently met a little demon that deserves a true older sister. I had an idea that I could potentially stand as the example of the need in life. I hope that for other mistreated demons that that possibility is also there." Walker had never pried in to the story behind Su''s older brother put of respect but now he was much more curious. Even more so he felt that she was going through a change in how she saw herself.


    Before the king could say another word Onyx tranted for Midnight, "Sister says that she likes her new friend and wishes to make more when she is strong enough to go on another adventure.


    " Onyx took a short pause, "I believe in the little demon girl who finds me cute." Walker had not expected the two to speak up as well but was proud of their blunt thoughts that left nothing up for debate.


    "And you leader of the omnipotent party?" The king looked at him waiting for his reply.


    "There may be those who just wish to cause trouble. There may be a very brutal hierarchy where power is the only thing that matters. And there way be things I have yet to understand when ites to demons. But what I do know is that just like humans some are cruel and others are kind. I would prefer to give those that can be kind the chance to do so."


    Some nobles seemed to nod in agreement while others shook their heads in disagreement. Walker had unwittingly just taken up his stance on the potential war with the demons. "You have a wise heart and that definitely has gained you respect today. I will look upon the documents you have delivered to me with your words in my mind. Thank you for your service to the country, I king August Bernard Diamond wee you home." The king wanted to make his stance clear that these adventurers were serving under him, this cemented his standing and their standing to the nobles present. The queen nodded at this showing her own approval.


    After this an attendant came to their side and ushered them from the courts. This was also the way for the king to send them on their way. The party wanted to get a little revenge for the surprise of them being emissaries but instead had found themselves to be yed like a fiddle. They are too inexperienced in the ways of royalty and have not at all resisted the guidance of the king or queen.


    "Hahah I see you are all struggling with those within the court. Give it about ten years and you may be able to see how things connect." Ibis seemed to be in fairly good spirits having see how things went, this young party seemed to be following in his footsteps when it came to navigating royalty. He had once been lost in the sea of hidden meanings and back door conversations that he had almost ended up engaged to a noble''s daughter he had never met. Coincidentally he had in turn met that daughter and fallen in love yearster. Ibis saw much of his younger self in these adventurers.


    Lost in thought, guild master Ibis led the way back towards the guild, however before they could leave the courtyard an attendant rushed out. Having stopped the party and Ibis in their tracks the attendant quickly escorted them to a side hallway. The party and Ibis who seemed calm as all else climbed step after step upwards in to a tower. The path they had taken seemed to swirl in their minds so much so that without the help of the attendant they did not believe they would ever leave this tower again. Ibis had reached a door in front of him and the attendant had rushed off.


    Ibis opened the door and stepped in to arge room with a table and desk full of papers. Maps seemed to spill over the sides of therge table along with many colored gs each depicting different nations. This was by far the most detailed map that Walker had ever seen. His mental archive skill was working overtime memorizing every single detail. With this Walker felt he would never need a generic map again. The desk seemed to have many important documents all marked with their kingdom''s seal. Walker wanted to ask where they had been brought but Ibis raised a hand to tell them to wait.


    Their wait was rewarded when the door they had entered through opened again just ten or so minutester. The king strode through the door looking much more worn out than he had before. This seemed to be the true face of the king instead of the tough poker face he always wore when in the court. "I am d my attendant was able to grab you before you got too far ahead. Ibis you could not have possibly been trying to leave so you would not have to ascend these stairs."


    "Of course not King August, I would never dare." Ibis became more casual with the king here making them all feel they were somewhere special where the regtions of the court may not be held too strongly.


    "I see you are all very curious, This is my private study, as you can tell only those with my permission can even get here let alone leave. I wished to speak to you in private. I am very impressed with what my spies have told me of your activities while away." Seeing the looks on their faces he knew he needed to borate. "It is very normal to have spies in other nations even when friendly with them, it is mostly to gather gossip and other information. I know of a few from the demi-human kingdom here in our very own country, one is even a member of my court. It is a fairlymon urrence." seeing that they were still confused and curious the king took a seat at the desk and gestured to the table with all the maps. "That is the entire continent that we know of. There are many different races, some of which you have already met. I as king see you as the title holders of this kingdom. To me that means you will all rise in power whether you like it or not. If even a single one of you had said in the court that you wanted to go against the demons then the chances of it actually happening would double. We as a kingdom are close enough to the demons to know things are on unsteady ground. They are constantly at odds with demi-humans and the elves hate that their entire race exists. Our kingdom has yed moderator up until recently. I say this because they have cut offmunication and any information gatherers had been forced out of the territory. This had put all three kingdoms in a state of unease, this stretches farther however. Those in the dwarvennd and even the mountains of some ancient dragon kind have reported rumors of demons trying to involve themselves in affairs." The king looked strained. "I would like to ask your party to travel to these kingdoms and represent us to try and keep the bnce of peace. My reasoning is the title you all hold. I do not believe a hero is just the hero of humans but of life itself." The king had some wise words and adequately shocked the party. Ibis had taken a seat and was smiling smugly, he had known this wasing all along.

 Chapter 215 - 215. Future Journey

    Walker was not sure what to say in this situation, the hero title seemed to have brought them to yet another intense decision. "My king-" Walker was interrupted by the king''s wave unhappy with how he was being addressed. "King August¡­" The king nodded epting this. "Aren''t there better choices for this kind of mission? I know the kingdom should have some with emissary systems."


    "That may be true but by sending one with the title of hero we could show that we not only trusted the kingdoms to safeguard our valuable title holders but furthermore that we have the best interests of all in mind. Heroes are known for being righteous sending an entire party worth would inspire their citizens to assist us." The king looked at each of them equally. "You are all young, the future of this generation. Not only will you represent a way for those with the dreams to rise up to soar but also to rest at ease knowing that there are those who stand against the wrongs in the world." These were some hefty words that weighed on the party.


    "Oh you are starting to stress them out, that kind of speech will only make them worry. Look you all are very important to the king''s political game, a hero in name alone can spur many to action. Thankfully you have all been seen doing exactly what a hero would so far, save and protect citizens of the world. This had just been reinforced by your actions in Ordist. The king only asks you to expand your horizon and go on bigger adventures.'' Ibis looked back at king August, "Now what was the ce you would like them to venture to in a few months?" Ibis had already expected the king to overplicate his meanings and patiently waited to trante.


    "Ah yes, thank you Ibis. Like your guild master said I would just like to ask you to head to a specific ce in a month or so. As you know we are entering spring, many kingdoms are the same. With the springes the flooding and rain storms that cause trouble for many." The king stood and moved to therge table full of maps, "Here is our kingdom, since we have surrounded ourselves with out fields we can see far around us without problem. Other kingdoms have other such environments. The forests take in the rain and grow intensely. The elves have many troubles controlling this intense growth but are very used to it having many nature based systems. The case is different here." The king pointed north near the foot of the mountains. "The dwarves have to worry over flooding mines and treacherous monsters that are able to thrive in the new water filled areas. This would all be the normal seasonal challenges but for some reason there have already been a few strange monster sightings." The king seemed to be worried.


    "I can take it from here, my guild did the scouting for these locations." Ibis had sent a select few specialized in scouting to check this phenomenon out. "These two kingdoms have documented two new species of slimes that seem to havee from nowhere. Slimes as you know usually freeze during the winter and are dormant but during the rainy season defrost and thrive. Usually they are not a problem and easily disposed of by younger tier parties. But there were sightings of a purple slime that seemed to rot and kill any nts it came in to contact with. The thought was that these came from the swamps and moved in to the forest for food. However when the slimes were captured and brought to the swamp they immediately became agitated and left the area. Furthermore they are very different from the normal green decaying slimes that live in the swamp, we have a suspicion they were bred and left in the forest to run amok." Ibis stroked his beard letting them grasp this before continuing. "This is simr in the dwarven mines where normally grey slimes that eat metal ore survive. Instead there''s a yellow slime that secretes acid. It is dissolving any ore constantly. Both of these locations have had strange sightings on different times weeks apart of a person with horns, a demon."


    "So you think a demon somehow managed to get two new slime species and left them in the ces they would cause the most damage." Remey was standing a bit taller showing off her intellect at seeing where this was going.


    "Yes that is correct, We can only fear what would happen if either slimes grew out of control. Even more since they seem very drawn to the specific areas we believe they have been controlled by this demon that has been sighted. I as king would like to issue a request to y slimes in the elven forest. We have contacted their kingdom and received permission to send a party there, Unfortunately the dwarves are too possessive of their mines and refuse out aid, The elves on the other hand will always wee a helping hand hunting a demon. Your party can not only carry our medal to represent our kingdom but also fulfill your hero title by helping to eliminate a threat that may destroy the sun hollow forest and even more so the elven kingdom." King August had againid heavy words upon their shoulders, however this time Remey seemed to be immune to it.


    "If we take this can we get ess to any of the research done on these new slimes? I have a friend who would find it very interesting, we could make some great potions with new slimes." Walker connected the dots, Remey had a passion for alchemical potion making, she may only have made simple things but with Walker''s help she saw the potential to do her own experiments just like she saw the old man in the alchemist building doing when she was younger.


    "Of course you would be allowed to have them, we will even add in some rare slime samples from various othernds. If that would help you in your endeavors." The king saw this opportunity and wanted to maximize it, Remey had given him too much to bait her with.


    "Walker! Say yes." Remey red at him and knew he had to ept this. Gil was sighing in relief for once Remey was not directing her anger on him at all.


    "King August we are interested, you said we would leave in a month? Is this because of the rules for who can travel in the depths of the sun hollow forest near the elven kingdom?" Walker was always curious about the elusive elves. They were much more solitary due to their longer lifespans and focus on nature based magic. Most would not even leave the forest their whole lives.


    "Exactly that, no as king I officially request your party to help in this matter." The system heard this and quickly generated a quest.


    '' Royal rtions: slime trouble


    The king of the Crystal kingdom has asked the party to investigate the source of new slime species causing damage to important ecosystems.


    Requirements:


    Travel to the deep sun hollow forest in one month.


    y and investigate the new slime species.


    Discover the cause of the slime invasion.


    Build connections within the elven kingdom''s deep Hollow forest territory.


    Rewards:


    Slime samples from various species.


    900exp


    Additional rewards determined atpletion''


    The systemid out exactly what the king had intended. This quest was generated from King august requesting something, therefore Walker was surprised to see that additional rewards could be added afterpletion. The experience was also high seeping that the [arty would be gaining new species of slime remains and experience, They would also be one of the few parties that had experience fighting the, meaning the adventurers guild would most likely have them teach a ss or fill out an informational document.


    "King August, we have received the quest. We look forward to departing in a month, is there anything else we would need to know before we leave, we have a lot to prepare for now." Walker was rapidly building a n to train, grow new seedlings, and work on everyone''s gear in theing month. This all needed to be started so when they left to research thus new slime species and their cause they would be in top condition. He also had the goal of unlocking the heroic leveling system at level fifteen. Remey was currently the closest to this.


    "Yes, before you leave I will give you documents to share with the Elves that patrol the deep Sun Hollow forest, They will most likely stop you to warn you as you enter. My letter with the seals of both elves and our kingdom will allow you entrance. Now get on your way, I would hate to ruin your preparation, my queen and I are eager to see you grow stronger." At these final words Midnight puffed up her chest knowing that she would show up again to impress them. She was very happy being in the presence of the royalty that always seemed so interested in her greatness. Her ego was taking off.

 Chapter 216 - 216. Planning A Garden

    Ibis exchanged a few letters with the king then left out the door to lead the party. On the other side of the door they found the same attendant that led them up waiting to show them down. There was nothing to block them as they left through the castle gates, many soldiers seemed to be escorting various nobles in and out, it would seem the king would be very busy due to the news he received about the demon causing trouble in the demi-human kingdom.


    "I would like to spend more time with you youngsters but I have a feeling you have a lot to do. Off you go back to Amethyst mansion to get yourselves ready. I will send you all a little something to wee you home." With that Ibis moved off walking much faster than they expected him capable of. Walker was still. Thinking on how things would progress this month when he further remembered his desire to stop at the cathedral and see Alice. He was also remembering the VIP auction ticket, he wondered if he could find something very unique to purchase. There was also the monster materials from the greater ice imp along with the snow from the snow golem that when melted would make a pure water perfect for potions, he was willing to bet that some would sell at a very high price. Walker knew he should not dwell on money so much but with the extra gold he could afford to boost the party''s safety by purchasing more materials for gear along with light and darkness crystals for Onyx and Midnight.


    While they walked, Walker decided to start things out, "Gil when we get back can you ask your mother toe and chat for a bit? We have the new seeds for her and also the other seeds we received from Immortal king and the others we''ve picked up as we went."


    "Sure thing, we should be nting seeds within the week if we want to have a good harvest this year." Remey seemed to perk up hearing this, she knew that they would be growing plenty of medicinal herbs as well.


    "We will need some nted near the alchemy workshop, there are herbs that need to be picked fresh to be best used." She aimed these words at Gil tomake sure her point was getting through, she wanted everything to be perfect. Unfortunately Gil was distracted thinking of the fruits that were soon to grow that he could feast on. Cating him like this Remey decided to torment him with punches the entire walk back. Su seemed to find it fairlyforting to be back in the city walking the streets without worry.


    Luckily as they got to the gates of the mansion Gil did not have to even run off to look for his mother, she happened to be in the gardens preparing plots and an area to walk through already. Most of the snow in the garden had either been spread out to melt faster orpletely removed. This was a habit from when they were in the fields that his mother had kept because of how much earlier the nts could start to take root once the soil had warmed up. She saw them entering and gave them a wave. Su, Midnight and Onyx went inside to find a fire, Su seemed to want to go and chat with her parents a bit since they had really not spoken at all when they had returned.


    "So now that you are all back what are your big ns? Not going to sleep for a week I hope!" She was joking around enjoying the sun that was shining down in the garden while she had been working. Gil was much happier seeing the mood she was in working for herself instead of toiling away on crops that would be required to be sold to the kingdom for their survival.


    "Mom I haven''t told you about all the things we have brought back for you!" Gil seemed to act much more child like when he was excited to share these things with his mother, Remey was holding back augh since she did not want to tease him too much in front of his family.


    "Me? What could you have possibly found that you want to give me? Actually...it must be food you want me to try to grow? Ever since you and your father found those wild blueberries you have been bringing me the most random things you think I want to grow." With this Remey was unable to hold herself, the image of a small Gil running to his mother holding armfuls of wild fruits or nts was just too adorable.


    "Pfft no of course not its just something we found in the demi-human kingdom." Gil became way too bashful at the question. Walker noticed that Gil''s mother had been using a rake to tear at the soil on the ground, however he had no idea how she managed to do it. The ground was still very frozen!


    "Ah you''re curious huh? It''s like that skill some earth mages have where they can shape the ground but a bit better. I can use specific farming tools to grind up even the toughest spoil to prepare to nt seedlings, now is the best time to get it ready you know! As soon as the first rains start this soil will soak it up and be ready to provide for any little seedlings I wish to nurture." Gil''s mother looked very pleased that Walker was taking an interest in the garden, she had always wished her son Gil had more of a green thumb but had taken more after his father. That did not mean she did not love him, just that she always feltcking in the terms of passing down knowledge on skills. She was nearly blind to the fact that she had constantly taught her son how to properly define whether a nt was suitable to eat or not by exining qualities and characteristics. This was the key to all his knowledge on foraging within a forest or really any environment.


    Walker pulled out the various seed and fruits they had. Gil''s mother had an excited glint in her eyes seeing these, she beckoned them over to an old stone bench she had dug from the overgrown thorns and bushed previously. "ce down your treasures here let me take a good look." She wanted to waste no time, seeing the fruits she only could give Gil a knowing look.


    "Mom, if you could grow some of these fruits I think it would be really nice. Walker''s mother can even use them too so it will help both of you level up and experiment with something new¡­"His voice trailed off in the end trying not to prove his mother''s point.


    She pped him on the shoulder, "Yes yes I know Hilda would love some new fruits, have you seen those pies she baked with apples. I can only imagine what she could do with these." She took the fruits in her hand, she slit the kiwi open and pulled the tiny ck seeds from them. They were smaller than grains of sand but seemed to stay in her hand without any chance of falling or being lost. The seeds on the strawberries seemed to fall off in to her hands as well. Watching her expertly gather the seeds was something every farmer in the fields could do with their system, it was verymon. However Walker had never witnessed this and to him it was very amazing. Remey had seen alchemists do something simr when preparing herbs for potions. They would try and save seeds so that another generation could be grown for the next batch of potions. "Now watch how well my speed dry skill makes these little seeds ready for nting." Gil''s mother held them openly in her palms, the seeds seemed to give off a bit of steam in the chilly air. Their color faded a bit and soon they looked to be perfectly dried seeds that had been stored and prepared for the spring. It was a skill only Gil had ever witnessed out of the three of them.


    "These other seeds are more potion ingredients, this dragon fruit can be used by Midnight or special sses to get stronger so I hope you can help it grow in to a bountiful tree. This is the rare angels wing it can greatly enhance potions and I have heard it normally grows in high altitudes, I hope it''s a good enough challenge for you." Walker smiled seeing that this really seemed to get her fired up. Walker grabbed the small pouch and pulled the drawstrings open, "These seeds are a gift we received, they are mostly extinct nt species. I have no clues to what they can be used for but I am sure we can make a big ssh in the world by growing them"

 Chapter 217 - 217. Extinct Plants

    Walker''s words had brought an excited smile to Gil''s mother''s face, no farmer she had ever heard of had brought a nt back from extinction. "Do you know what they are called? I would love to be the mother of these forgotten species." She wanted to snatch the seeds and start growing them this minute but wanted to have Walker give them a good look since she knew he had an appraisal skill.


    "Well don''t let us wait, we don''t know what the seeds are either you have the appraisal skill." Remey was impatient and gave him a few hits to the shoulder trying to get his butt in gear. Walker looked at Gil for support but found he was also excited to know what nts these were.


    "Um well give me a minute. There are four different ones. I will read what the system tells me from my all around appraisal skill." He mourned his sore shoulder for a moment before separating four different looking seeds and used his skill.


    '' Oozing vine seed


    This seed is thest remaining of the oozing vine. This nt is known to grow in dark ces loving the natural darkness mana. It''s flowers arepletely ck and extremely poisonous to ingest. They can be ground and used as a very strong pain killer when spread on an open wounds


    Weeping willow tree seed


    This seed will grow in to arge tree with branches that seem to fall to its side like tear drops. The tree blooms in the spring with soft white fuzz, the pollen is very potent. The strong pollen has a rxing effect on any that breathes it in and will clear the affected''s mind. Many schrs once found great enlightenment through using this pollen causing the tree to be hunted to extinction.


    Blood fruit seed


    This seed is thest remaining of the blood fruit bush species of nt. The blood fruit used to grow in many ces all over sunny areas. The fruit produced is a very small red cherry like fruit. The fruit has the unique ability to assist in the replenishment of the body''s blood. This species was over harvested by researchers.


    Spirit lily seed


    This seed is known to exist in multiple aspects of the world. Growing in water this lily is often found in untouched forest ponds. This will grow translucent leaves and flowers making it seem to be a spirit or ghost. Any part of the nt can be used to create potions that boost magical attack for a set limit of time. They are extremely hard to grow and absolutely detest being touched, they will die at the slightest injury to their stems or leaves. They only grow from the root up and after blooming will release three seeds.''


    This was a lot of information to take in, these nts had all been forced to extinction and were thought to bepletely lost to the world. Walker understood why some of them had been over farmed. The blood fruit sounded like it was invaluable for medics, or healers to have with them while trying to treat injuries. The oozing vine also must have simr uses.


    The weeping willow sounded like it would have been highly sought after by those with crafting or artistic systems. Seeing that Immortal king had told them that it used to grow in the ancient ruins before they were ruins was a great attribution to why their research in to immortality must have had leaps and bounds. Falling in to a state of enlightenment to pursue new ideas and forms would be extremely advantageous.


    Thest seed was more easily exined, this nt was simply too delicate, how could something that could die from the slightest injury to itself even survive in nature. Not only that but it could only produce three seeds after blooming once? The appraisal also said it grew from the root, so in theory would that mean it could bloom again if it was ab;e to grow unharmed?


    "These all seem very promising. I really want to get my hands on the spirit lily. I have never heard of a nt so soft and strange, If I can get it to grow in that little training pond in the field we could have a rather mystical view to witness when we eat. Oh I can just imagine the looks of it in the moonlight." This image settles in all of their minds the second she said it. Translucent flowers and leaves blowing in the wing under the light of a full mood. One could even say they saw spirits dancing over this.


    "I believe we could have the most unique garden in the continent." Gil spoke up, visibly excited by the prospect.


    "Well first things first, I will need to start some of these out growing. I can use my rapid growth skill to get their roots established. These blood fruit bushes would make a nice hedge for around the walls...The oozing vine can grow up the trellises I wish to ce on the walking path around the garden." Gil''s mother was already setting up a mental image of where things would be ced. She had the ability to influence how they would grow due to her skills and knew that she could properly guide the vines in to the perfect shapes to hold an archway. "That weeping willow seed would be nice by the pond for some shade, and by the bench here for drinking tea. I have so much to do now!" She grasped the rake and took the seeds in her hand. She had rushed off to another corner of the garden before they could even get another word in. This seemed to be a trendtely in people going off or dismissing them too caught up in their own world.


    "Well mom will get everything growing just fine, you just watch in a few weeks we will have plenty of new nts taking root and brightening things up. I can''t wait to eat new fruit all the time." Gil seemed to catch the virus from Midnight that caused her to only think about food. Walker and Remey gave each other a look before Remey hit Gil square in the shoulder.


    "Let''s get inside, I feel like we will need to get our other goals taken care of see we can all help nt in a few weeks." Walker refused to leave it all on Gil''s mother at the end of the day, he also wanted to gain a few nting skills, they could be very valuable when he was trying to gain medicinal herbs for potions. Remey would undoubtedlyalso want to help since she was more or less the expert in the party on herbs for teas or potions. "By the way Remey, we should visit the alchemist building tomorrow, I want to see if your friend there would like some of the snow golem''s body. We might be able to trade for some other herb seeds."


    "Oh he would kill for some of that, we can get much more than just seeds." Remey seemed to be much like a devil in that sentence, she would really extort that old man for everything she had. "I also need to stop at the orphanage since I just got back, I have plenty to share with them." She seemed a bit sad at this, she had been thinking about her siblings a lot while on the journey back. Luckily they had been plenty busy and she was distracted from such thoughts.


    The three made it inside only to find that everyone was all in the dining hall fighting over a table full of food, it would seem they were having an early dinner to celebrate their return properly. "You three really needed to take your time huh? I made all this food and only Midnight had the kindness toe andpliment it. Onyx you really are such a dear to let me know how she like the taste of my roast chicken." Hilda was patting Onyx on the head, Walker had not even noticed Onyx had left him to go inside. This was something Onyx seemed to be very good at and it was only more evidence to how well his species survived in the shadows.


    "Mother we had to report some things to the guild and the castle, they even asked us to leave again in only a month! We will eat all your food before we are stuck with dried meats and breads again!" Walker tried to butter his mother up since he had felt rude noting in earlier. Gil smiled, now Walker could look foolish getting some scolding from his mother.


    "Now I was told by Su that the guild would be bringing me something that you had all hunted?" Walker was reminded of the horned rabbits being dissected and quickly confirmed in the system that the gold was added to their party ount. This meant that they had been dissected, ra had even sent a message saying that the monster materials were going to be delivered at no charge to the mansion. She really worked hard!


    "Exactly, Su beat us to the punch. We defeated a lot of horned rabbits, I thought you would like to try out some new recipes and smoke the meat. If i can remember right you have a bunch of spices you have never had the chance to use in your cooking? Well now that you don''t have to rely on orders to make a living you can test anything out you want!" Walker had also be excited by the food. He had caught the virus too.

 Chapter 218 - 218. Orbs

    Hilda looked happily at Walker, she was proud that her son had been thinking so much about her and her dreams. "That sounds like just the kind of things I would like to do." She ruffled his hair, "Should I test the spicy peppers I found in the market? They were too strong for my clients but now I can give them a proper attempt. They have been dried for a while but will be excellent roasted with a stock¡­" She became lost in her ns, she had memorized many recipes and wanted to start writing these new ideas immediately. Walker could only imagine how many cookbooks would be written and added to the library, he made a mental note to add a new shelf for her to ce them on. The library would be gaining a cooking section next to its potion making section.


    "Walker! Get over here and eat! Your mother baked an apple pie!" Garret dragged him to the food, with out any hesitancy her


    The night went on fairly calm while the party told stories of the outbreak and how many horned rabbits they had seen. Lisa refused to leave Walker alone until he had told her every detail about their stay with the rabbit tribe. Walker had the feeling that she would have been telling Otis he had cute ears to his face. Garret was much like Lisa but he insisted about knowing all the details to what the tamers headquarters were like and what new beats he had seen there. This was definitely where Lisa had gotten her love for stories from.


    Before they had all wen their separate ways to sleep Walker asked Su if she wanted to head to the alchemist building with him and Remey the next day. She was unsure why until Walker said that Remey would be going to the orphanage after so he and Su could go to the cathedral to help out. She had agreed easily wanting to go and be of use, Walker also exined the uses of some of the seeds soon to be grown in the garden and that made Su even more excited. She could not help but wonder how helpful they would be to those injured and brought for healing.


    With that the morning came quick enough, they weren''t nning on leaving early so Walker chose to head outside and practice his elemental maniption. With the knowledge that he could better manipte the elements with clearer imagination and focus Walker wanted to make a breakthrough on the light element. Partly because he had promised he would have more to show Alice when he saw her next. Also because he had realized just how far away he was from properly using it .


    Maria had shown another use for the light element which was to bend it around a person and make them invisible. Doing this was a lost concept to Walker who did not even understand how it was possible. He had barely even used the light element to try and blind an opponent. This being said he thought he may be better off trying to find an alternate use. The forest was most likely a shaded ce that required some light, using a fire bolt there would be a very poor choice as it could cause a massive fire. This reasoning made him want to have some form of light creation or spell to keep their surroundings lit at night or even during the day.


    Walker first used some mana to create the little rainbow he had done before. Using it as a a guideline he memorized the colors and tried to make them form in to a sphere. He imagined the rainbow forming a circle of color that spread light around in all directions. His mana started to be consumed a bit more by this and when he opened his eyes next he saw a fluctuating mass of rainbow the size of his fist. It was much too unsteady and was pulling at his mana too fast. Walker released his elemental manipting and closed his eyes again to think more deeply.


    Feeling that he had tried too hard to direct every single color of light in to one source Walker tried to remember how the shapes Alice created with her song moved. They were indeed a rainbow color but he could remember that some were more white or red. The hue changed as they danced in the air. Even the flowers she had created were notpletely one rainbow color but many in each individual one. This thought brought him to a conclusion, If he focused on one aspect maybe the light would be more stable.


    Walker used his elemental maniption to again pull at the light mana but this time imagined only a bright yellow ball of light forming. Noting that only a single mana seemed to be consumed in this he opened his eyes to see a marble sized ball of yellow light floating in front of him. He tried to add mana to it but instead of growing bigger it split in to two little yellow balls of light mana floating in front of him. This strange action was not at all what he wanted it to do, it seemed that the light elemental ball did not want to get bigger at all but instead only wanted to stay that size.


    Testing this theory Walker poured five mana in to it and watched as five more balls of yellow light joined the other two. Each single mana was making another yellow light ball.


    '' Through the repeated use of light elemental maniption the skill yellow orb has been learned.


    Yellow orb- 1mana cost


    Used a single mana to breathe a floating ball of yellow light. This ball will follow the user around and light up the immediate area they travel. The orb will fade over an hour as it consumes the light mana it condensed from.''


    Well reading this Walker was kind of happy, it was not something amazing to show off with but would serve his purpose very well. He felt Onyx wrapping around his shoulders as he woke up and left his tattoo form. Onyx sprain forward and swallowed one of the yellow orbs. Walker was not sure why he had just done this.


    "Brother, thank you for breakfast." Onyx spoke immediately after and then sprang for another of the orbs. Within just two minutes Onyx had swallowed every single orb. Curling back up around Walker''s shoulders he seemed very happy. Walker could only think that because these were made from the light mana around them and it was condensed tost an hour that these were basically the same as the light crystals. They definitely were much weaker than a crystal would be but they only cost a single mana for Walker to create. Not to mention that with his cloak he could regenerate mana faster and make arge amount of them.


    Making more of them Onyx ate a total of six more before returning to his tattoo form and sleeping. It seemed that he had eaten his fill. Walker was much happier knowing that he himself could provide Onyx with a stable source of nourishment. Walker decided that he wanted to try doing the same thing as with the yellow light orb but with the other colors. Before he realized it he had started to create a purple ball of light the same size of the yellow one before. This one was nearly the same but had a weirder feeling.


    The light was making it harder for Walker to focus his eyes on, it seemed that the more he looked directly at it the fuzzier his vision became. There was also the difference that two mana were consumed in creating it out of the light elemental mana. Walker created five more to try and get the same result asst time and found that now surrounded by six of the purple floating light orbs he could not focus at all and his vision waspletely blurry, it was like he had sshed water in his eyes.


    '' skill blurry orb has been taken from the illusionist system. The skill blurry orb has been learned through users maniption of light element.


    Blurry orb- 2mana cost


    The violet light emitted from the orb created is much stronger than the eyes can absorb. This affects the view of the orb making their vision unfocused and blurry. Making it tougher to aim and hit a target this orb can onlyst about ten minutes.''


    This skill was definitely more useful to counter rangedbatants. If someone was trying to target the group their vision would be blurred and their aim would be affected. Walker was much happier with this skill since it could potentially protect the party from attackers they could not even reach or see. This was still not enough for him though, he wanted to try one more form of light orb.

 Chapter 219 - 219. To The Alchemist

    He thought on what color may be able to change and give birth to another unique skill that could help them within the deeper sun hollow forest. Walker was not sure what would be best and decided that he was trying to specte on something he could not know without better studying. He chose the color blue since he liked to look at the sky at times and he was excited to see the soon blue skied of spring andter summer.


    He imagined that the light elemental mana had solidified in to a blue hue much like the sky. He felt that the same amount of mana was benign consumed as with the blurry orb skill. He took much longer thinking on this one and letting the mana flow in to it. He wanted to match the vibrant blue of the sky exactly , he refused to settle for something less. This slowness was very helpful to him since it gave him time to regenerate mana as well as more closely manipte the light elemental mana forming the orb.


    Taking almost triple the time to create the blue orb for the first time Walker soon opened his eyes to a perfectly round blue orb the exact same shade as the sky. He waspletely captivated by this sky blue orb. Even trying to move his eyes from it for a second seemed like an insult to the pure perfect beauty of the blue. With great mental effort Walker managed to cover his eyes with one hand, free of the captivation he kept his eyes on the ground. Why had he been so stuck staring at the orb? The system seemed to have the answer for him notifying him of a new skill.


    ''The skill luring orb has been learned through maniption of the light element.


    Luring orb- 2mana cost


    The color of the luring orb holds the beauty of the very skies with in it. The light emitted fills the viewer with wonder. It is very easy for monsters to be lured and held in a dazed state. This skill onlysts for one minute and is weaker against more intelligent monsters.''


    This skill was great! Because Walker had taken more time to prepare it he had still managed to learn a skill. Not only that but it was ideal for luring monsters with lower intellect and keeping them dazed in one ce. This skill could makerger groups much easier. He wished he had practiced and learned thus much earlier so he could have distracted the horned rabbits with it. If he had done so a lot of danger could have been mitigated.


    These three spellsbined could be very worthwhile skills to use while in the dimly lit forests. Plus he was confident that if he showed off all three at once his promise to Alice would be fulfilled. With a renewed vigor Walker turned to head inside only to find that he had an audience watching thest skill.


    "So you seem pretty excitedwith your new spell huh? It wouldn''t be to show off to a certain singer at the cathedral?" Remey smiled a bit too widely as she teased him, but her teasing was interrupted by Su who was more interested in other things.


    "Leader, that blue orb, what was it? I could not focus on anything but that until it suddenly disappeared." Su was the refreshing logic to Remey''s teasing. Walker was happy to hear the question since he was very excited about his new skill.


    "This one is called a luring orb, it can attract monsters and put them in to a daze. It works on anyone that looks at it but it is less effective the more intelligent the view that is looking at it. I think it will be very useful for keeping monsters distracted while we fight!"


    "Leader that definitely sounds like a useful skill to have. But won''t we all get distracted as well?" This was the fatal w of the new skill. If the party wanted a chance to use it they needed to be able topletely resist it at a seconds nce.


    "Yes, but if we all train together with it I think we will have no problem resisting the luring orb and the blurry orb." Walker used the blurry orb skill to create a purple orb. "Remey high five!" Not knowing why Remey took the step forward and raised her hand to give him a high five. She figured why not? But when her hand seemed like it would make contact she swiped in down back to her side.


    "Huh?" She raised her hand and tried again but did not make contact at all even though it looked like her hand would hit his. "Why can''t I give you a high five! Why is it so foggy out here!" Seeing that Remey was getting a bit angry Walker released the purple blurry orb.


    "Try it now" Hesitantly Remey gave it another try and the p of a high five making contact was heard. "That was the blurry orb, it makes things harder to see so ranged attacks would be very hard. I was thinking I could use it and let it rest above our heads." Su nodded her head, she also saw the value in this, It also only seemed to have a limited effect on them. Walker seemed to have had focused eyes and was not affected, but Su clearly saw that Remey had a more clouded vision.


    "If you ever use that on me I will break you!" Remey was not happy about being used as his test subject but also knew it was revenge for her teasing about him wanting to go to the cathedral. "Lets just get moving, we have ces to be." She stalked off towards the front gate. It was definitely enough ying around. Walker wished he had figured out more like he had with the high earth sculpting skill but had decided that he would need much more practice to make a big change like that in other elements. He had been more stressed when he made progress in the earth element.


    Their walk through the streets was not too different from usual, however the three noticed many more people giving them looks. There were a few nobles walking the market in the higher tier of the city who seemed to smile or frown when they saw the party and the three identifying medals on their bodies. The medal from the king was one that set them aside inparison as nobles. The silver tier que for adventurers was a justified reason for respect, and even the insignia from the demi-human kingdom was an incredibly rare award. Thesebined practically screamed that they were the hero party all the gossip was about. Their return had spread like wildfire, the fact that they did notpletely denounce demons caused unhappiness to some nobles but to others it gained them great respect.


    Seeing the unwanted attention they moved a bit faster to return to the lower tier where the alchemist building was.The many smokestacks were putting out a myriad of colored and pungent smokes, this everyday urrence made it any easy ce to find. Walking in to the door they found the same herb filled room with the pleasant earthy smell. The same old man was sitting behind the counter writing notes in a journal.


    "Eh you''re back again brat? I thought I heard you all moved to another kingdom, bad luck I guess."


    "Oho you want me gone that bad huh old man? How could I leave when we have something you would trade your soul for?" Remey joined the old man''s banter without a hitch.


    "Hello there, we do indeed have something interesting that is fairly valuable." Walker took a more polite approach since he knew Remey would be trying to get as much from him as possible, not that the old man did not expect this.


    "And you brought your friends too, now you are really trying to show off how you''ve grown." The old manughed a bit making Remey''s face turn a bit red.


    She was ready with a retort though, "Fine I guess we won''t be selling you a snow golem''s arm then." She pretended to turn around to walk out the door. The old man had braced his hands o n the table, his quill and journal falling to the floor.


    "Ehm, yes of course I am interested in your business valued customers. Please if you could present the item you wish to sell to me I have a special room in the back to ce such items." The old man had flipped a switch bing apletely different person. Walker and Su were surprised by this but Remey was prepared.


    "We can consider it then, show us to your evaluation room, and make sure it is clean. We will nit be responsible for the impurities your room causes it to absorb." She knew just the words to say top hasten the old man further.

 Chapter 220 - 220. Member!

    The old man had opened the counter and let them follow him, "Sir are you sure nobody wille in and want to purchase something while we are away from the counter?"


    "Huh? Purchase something? This entrance you used isn''t for the shop, this is for members of the alchemist building." Su and Walker felt they had just been pped, the ce they had entered following Remey was only for members. Why had Remey gone this way? "What did this brat not tell you she was here so much when she was about this high that we made her a member?" The old man lowered his hand to his waist showing that Remey must have been that height the first time she showed up here. "The brat wanted medicine for someone in her family that was sick, I swear she bothered me for hours."


    "I did end up winning and getting you to teach me how to make some herbal teas and basic salves. You even let me watch you create simple potions." Remey jumped in exining he first victory over the old man.


    "You simply stalked me and snuck in I never taught you anything." The old man was being coy trying to hide the fact that he had intentionally done so.


    "Oh and I am sure all the herbs you identally threw out or dropped and said weren''t yours were not actually gifts for me?"


    "Gifts! Ha! I say, Ha! I never give gifts especially to rude children like you." The old man was about to argue back even more but he had led them down a hallways and through a door. Inside was a spotless room with a shiny cloth on the floor. It looked to be some form of metal but also could move and fold, Walker and Su had no idea what this was. "This room is for evaluating delicate monster parts or herbs there are magic runes on this sheet to stop an item from degrading pleas ce your item here." The old man was pointing out many glimmering symbols. Walker recognized some symbols that were simr to the ones on the library shelves that kept the books safe.


    Walker removed the snow Golem arm on to the sheet, luckily it was separated from the rest of the body and could be taken out of his inventory separately. There was not melting or change in the arm from when he first collected it. The arm started to melt much faster than expected but it was put to a stop when the old man ced a finger on the sheet. Cold air seemed to emanate from the sheet freezing the melted portion and keeping the rest frozen.


    "Hmmm this is a significant find, you managed to get an entire arm. This must have been very lucky, snow golems are dangerous and hard to fight." Hearing the old man Walker was about to exin the situation that had urred but Remey jumped in first.


    "We have the whole body. Our party leader will ce it in the next VIP auction in the Ga family auction house, we have a ticket. Naturally we will keep some for our personal use, but most will be sold. Aren''t you happy? We brought you an entire arm to im before anyone else." Remey was slick, she had used this to her advantage, She knew the old man would want more for his supply but used the arm as a taste to get him hooked. Furthermore she told him where he could get moreter. These inbination made Remey a shrewd client for the alchemist building.


    "Well haven''t you nned everything out, you get smarter every day." The old man was smiling at this but his eyes said he would start to push hard. "I appreciate your kindness when youe here first, I know some friends that also happen to have VIP tickets for the Ga family auction next week. They have been talking about a special herb supposed to be sold there this year." Having been given the hint he gave one of his own to give a fair trade. Walker made sure to memorize this, if this herb was very rare he may need to try to purchase it for Gil''s mother to grow. His dreams of a garden full of everything they needed woulde true!


    "Sir, we know that you could make the most of this item here, the arm should be able to create arge amount of potions. I do have an additional deal though, naturally this would lower the cost you spend on this high quality potion ingredient." Su seemed to have started to learn from Remey, Walker feared this sales woman duo.


    "Well if the deal is that good I would consider it, speak." The old man was not in to a drawn out mood today and instead wanted to purchase this item and start his experiments right away, he would not entertain a foolish idea.


    Remey seemed to pick up on what Su was thinking and allowed her to take the reins. "We have the entire body of this snow golem. Of course we can not sell it whole. If you are able to help divide it up and keep its quality we cane to an arrangement for that arm there." The old man saw exactly why they hade here. Remey already knew the specialties of this room could keep a product from degrading, this meant the entire body could be cut apart and stored before it melted and absorbs impurities. Ideally what would be left were bottles of pure water.


    "Such a logical and wise friend you have." The old man gave Remey a re knowing he needed to take the deal to get what he wanted but unhappy it would take time. "Fortunately I always have special vials around just for these kinds of things. We will put on engraved gloves to take apart the body and separate it in torge vials. Based on the size of this arm I would say the entire body would fill about five hundred vials. A single potion should only need ha;f a vile to have its effects enhanced." Walker absorbed this information and put it aside forter use. He was surprised to hear therge number of vials it would fill but was not surprised by the fact that there were that manyrge vials just empty and waiting to be used.


    "I will buy the arm for two thousand gold. No more than that, if you did not ask for the assistance to divide up the body I would have paid another five hundred." The old man turned around and left the room, soon a rattling was heard approaching. With a slight bang the old man pushed in arge cart with crates filled with vials. "Well what are you waiting for let''s deal with this arm then you can ce the rest of the body here." With his encouragement they donned metal like gloves exactly the same as the sheet and started to scrape small pieces of the frozen golem arm in to vials. The single arm filled most of what the old man had brought in. Almost within a second of being filled and capped by special corks the snow melted leaving crystal clear water in each.


    The process had taken about half an hour, and the old man picked up a que simr to the adventures ques they all had. The difference was that engraved on it were leaves on a vine, his gold que had five leaves on it. Walker took his que and with a tap to each other a slight glow of magic appeared. The system notified him that 2000G had just been transferred to their party ount. This was the end of their transaction.


    The old man left the room shouting back, "Get the golem body out so we can start it, I want to be done in no more than two hours!" With that he pushed in more vials of vials and they all got to work. After only an hour and a half and some extra cold fingers the four had filled a total of five hundred and neen bottles.


    "That golem was definitely a nice size, I would say on therger side of the medium snow golems. Thergest I have heard about was double maybe triple this size." Walker and Su could not imagine fighting something of that size, they had struggled so much with this one!


    "We can leave you to go experiment with your new ingredient, its been years since you used yourst bottle showing me that potion." Remey tossed the vial in her hand to him, "That''s for all your help back then." Remey left the room right after saying that. The old man smiled at the vial in his hands. Years ago he had made a potion for a fever to give Remey. He had used thest bit of pure water to increase its effects and Remey had always remembered it.


    Walker and Su gave a kind nod before they followed Remey out the door, Walker could swear he heard the old man say onest thing. "She''s really grown up."

 Chapter 221 - 221. Cracks

    Walker had stored every vial of the pure water very happy with the amount they had. He wanted to save at least three hundred for any possible potions the party would need or make. This sounded like too much but he wanted to think long term, how many potions would they need if they reached a higher level. The battles they had been in so far they party had not used potions mostly because there would have been no time to stop and drink them. However Walker was thinking that as holders of the hero title they would often find themselves not in need of the potions themselves, but those they may save. How many people could they help with higher grade health or mana potions?


    Asking himself that question Walker would sell two hundred and eighteen so that they could make a bit more gold. The pure water would also go in to cirction for alchemists in the kingdom leading to breakthroughs in potions and even higher grade potions reaching the markets. This may be a roundabout method to slightly strengthen the kingdom but it was enough. Their kingdom''s economy was very important to everyone that lived within it.


    "You two go off and bandage a few people up, I am going home to see my brothers and sisters!" Remey was already running off before Su and Walker could even reply. She was way too excited to go tell her stories to her family.


    Su and Walker took a leisurely pace on the way to the cathedral, not having to rush somewhere was a gift. Taking their time to reach the cathedral, they soon found the familiar intricate stone building and colored ss windows. Walker could already feel his face heating up as they climbed each step. The door was open as usual for the public toe for prayer or for healing, the sight upon entering was unexpected. There was arge crowd of elderly people all trying to get toward the front of the cathedral where therge crystal was. The aura did not seem as strong as it had been when they werest there.


    '' Daily quest: Prayer troubles


    The cathedral has been damaged causing the healing aura to slowly fade. Assist those who wish to repair it,


    Requirement:


    Heal those in need


    Repair the healing aura light crystal


    Reward:


    300exp''


    Walker read the system quest and immediately understood the situation, the elderly hade to be healed but instead found that they could not be healed at all. The effects of the healing aura around them were too weak to affect them, let alone the elderly who were dealing with their weary bones.


    Walker and Su made their way to the front of the cathedral, "Please be at ease, we are working to repair the damages done. We can still heal you given more time to rest. If anyone had a mana transfer skill or would like to donate mana potions this would greatly assist in the healing efforts." The high priest was trying to calm the obviously frustrated elderly who did not seem to understand why they could not get their usual healing. Many healers and nuns ran about focusing on a group of injured people, they were putting those with serious injuries as a priority. This made plenty of sense to Walker and Su, who were trying to get a mental handle of what was going on.


    The elderly continued to throughout angry phrases wanting to be relieved of their joint pain. Some even went so far to try and guilt the high priest by saying they could not even lift their grandchildren to hold them. The high priest was very pale and had used too much of his mana.


    Walker could not take this sight any longer, Su was of the same mind, bur before she could move Walker had already stepped forward. "Someone said that they need healing? Well I have some extra mana and a healing skill why not line up and receive my help!" His voice echoed through the stones of the cathedral silencing many of the frustrated voices. The high priest gave a pleading look saying thank you for diverting the elderlyattention. "Su can you help out over there? Also gather some information on what exactly happened?" Su gave a sharp nod and headed toward the high priest who was in need of a seat very badly .


    "High priest are you alright? You are much too pale." Su was very soft spoken so that she would not draw any attention from Walker who now had a line in front of him.


    "Yes, I will be fine with some rest, it has been a very long day." He walked leaning on Su''s shoulder to the nearest bench. After resting for a moment he gave her a small smile, "I am sure you two are much more worried than you are letting on, I am sorry to cause you some stress." The high priest in his old age was not the happiest when he found himself troubling the youths.


    "It is no trouble, you have used too much mana and deserve any assistance. If I could bother you, how did this happen. I remember the cathedral is always very well upkept." Su did not want to seem rude especially since she was worried the high priest could pass out at any moment. She was still allowing him a bit of support even though he had sat down on a bench.


    "Well everything was fine until this morning, the healing light crystal was being polished to let the sun''s rays shine through it better when the one responsible for the task slipped from theirdder. It was a surprise to those below him and in his desperate grabbing for support he mmed his head in to the crystal causing it to crack and leak its mana. It was an ident, since then he has been unconscious along with the three priests in training that tried to catch him." The four of them have been healed but not woken up, it is worrying, I feel it is because of theck of healing aura they have been around for so many years now, their bodies are a bit weak." Even though I am affected by this, I do not often feel my true age because I am within the healing aura even when I sleep." The high priest sighed in defeat, he had no such knowledge how to repair such damage and could only try to pour his own mana in to the crystal to create the aura. The n had gone well until he drained his mana to a very slim amount and the crystal returned to leading more mana. The mana that was leaking from it was indeed light elemental aura but without being channeled through the crystal properly it was not healing anyone.


    "We are going to try everything we can to help! You can count on use, we would hate to see anyone suffer, and we know that every member of the church feels the same." Su reassured the high priest which was met with a sad smile, he wanted to hope that this would prove true but had his doubts.


    He leaned back letting Su be free from his added stress, he knew that she could do much more good helping take care of those with heavier injuries. Su gave him a reassuring look and moved to the groups of injured. She quickly found work in those that needed bandages changed and put her knowledge in to practice. She could not re apply bandages as fast as the nuns or other healers but she was able to make arge difference. She was very aware of her surroundings since she was always trying to block an enemy attack. Every time someone near her needed a bandage, water, or even another hand she was already there.


    The other healers saw her efforts and silently praised her, they would not stop their missions to say anything but every single one of them had started to idolize someone who was not a healer doing something so amazing. This bit of inspiration motivated every single one of them to work ,more efficiently and heal more. Many were on the ends of their mana and could not use healing spells but did what they could. They would work while they waited for their mana to regenerate.


    Walker was still distracting the elderly who seemed to be more and more impatient the longer they waited in line. They had been relying on the cathedral for years and years but now it was unable to help them as it always had. Seeing this Walker started to look about for another healer to jump in so he could try to remedy the greater problem, His sights fell on an unconscious girlying on a bench. "Alice!" Walker was worried that she was ill but watched carefully and saw that she must have used all of her mana, he felt silly for his sudden outburst. The old woman that had just stepped in front of him noticed this.


    "Oh, dear are you worried about Little Alice? You should really let her know when she wakes up, I am sure she would be more than happy to hear it." The old woman gave him a wink.


    "Miss I do apologize but I have realized that I need to solve this problem at the root. Can you please wait just a bit longer?" The old woman only smiled more and with another wink let him rush to Su.

 Chapter 222 - 222. Repair Man

    "Su did you find out what happened?" Walker found her washing a cloth in some greenish tinted water. This was an herbal solution used to help heal burns that wasmonly used in every church in the kingdom. It was even for sale at the alchemist stalls in the market.


    "Leader, one of the priests in training, was polishing the healing light crystal and fell, they hurt their head and those that tried to catch them were also hurt. Not the crystal is cracked and losing its mana. Somehow the crack needs to be mended but I am not sure how." Walker absorbed this information then looked more closely at therge healing light crystal.


    He was able to see that there were small cracks spider webbing out from one side along with adder still propped up near it. "Su you wouldn''t think that I could climb up there would you?" Walker was already in motion with those words. Su wanted to stop them since it was dangerous to climb up somewhere where another had fallen not too long before. But she was involved in a task that must bepleted for an injured man who had been burned working in the forge.


    The healers and nuns paid Walker no mind since they were so involved with their own tasks. The second Walker approached the stone pir that had been carved to hold the crystal he could sense that there was light elemental mana traveling in strange ways. He looked around the area to see that the colors were not the normal assortments of a rainbow but a weird mix matched pattern of reds and yellows. The crystal having this damage was keeping it from filtering all forms of light through it.


    Walker could feel there was more of an issue with it as well, the mana that was leaking out was the partially filtered light elemental mana but instead of storing any of it , it just flowed back out. It could not store any of the sun''s rays at all right now!


    Reaching the foot of the adder Walker ced a shaky foot on the first wooden rung and started to climb. There was a wobble here and there but not enough to deter him He was three quarters of the way up when thedder started to sway side to side. Thisdder was in need of repair for sure and was definitely the reason the priest in training had fallen. Walker did not want to abort his climbing to reach the crystal but felt thedder would topple over if he went any higher. "Don''t you worry I have thedder under control!" The weak voice of the high priest reached his ears. The high priest had forced himself to stand and was not holding thedder which was much more steady. "Just do your best, if anyone can figure it out it will definitely be a hero." The tiredness in the high priests voice was evident but their hope was stronger. This was exactly the job for a hero. It was not morous like ying evil monsters or rescuing damsels in distress but this was just as important.


    Walker was on steady footing and easily reached the top of thedder. The healing light crystal was shimmering weakly trying to filter the light as it normally did. Reaching out and touching the cracks Walker could feel that the built up light elemental mana was flowing out as fast as it flowed in to the crystal. This flow caused the strange colors to appear in the air.


    "The problem is that the crystal can''t store the light mana any more! I need a bit of time to see what we can do!" Walker had a few ideas on what to try to get things to work, his first n was to use elemental maniption to keep the mana from flowing out of the crystal. With that he could examine how the crystal structure was affected. The real question was how would he change the crystals structure? It was not technically a part of earth anymore since it had taken on the light element. So using earth sculpting was out of the question, but what if he could somehow shape the light elemental mana within the crystal to change the structure.


    He ced his hands fully on the cracks and channeled his mana in to the light element mana seeping out of the crystal. The light elemental mana was held back in the center of the crystal, however the more that built up the more it pushed against him to escape. This was like a river pushing on a leaking dam! The pressure building would eventually break the dam, or in this case Walker''s maniption.


    He needed something to use to repair the crystal, using his mana maniption he tried to force the light elemental mana to move and fill the cracks but only found that the mana could slightly affect the crystal. "Ugh why won''t you change!" Walker let out his thoughts verbally to think through the pressure. "I need something to plug these cracks, stupid broken crystal."


    His frustrations sounding around him smacked him back in the face, he did have something he could use to plug the cracks. Removing one hand Walker pulled some of the crystal shards from his inventory. These crystal shards could be used to craft gear that could store mana, furthermore they used to be light crystals too! He had a handful of about ten shards, by letting some of the mana from the healing light crystal flow in to them he felt it being trapped inside each shard. Without his control the shards would leak out the mana, but when he ced them in to the cracks they seemed to keep the light elemental mana within them.


    This theory to use them to plug the cracks could work! Walker began fitting in the shards pulling out another twenty throughout this process. After a great deal of time there were only very small cracks left that were still bleeding the mana. The light elemental mana had somewhat started to build within the healing light crystal. Walker gave his next attempt to channel the light elemental mana within the crystal to fuse all the shards back together and close the remaining cracks. He imagined the diamond light structure of the crystals bing attached at corners held together by the light mana within. The mana was flowing along these connections slowly gaining more traction.


    Walker felt something click together and he opened his eyes to the perfectly smooth surface of the healing light crystal.


    '' Skill crystal crafting has been learned through specific use actions and taken from the crystal craftsman system.


    Crystal crafting- mana 1+ cost


    Using mana to manipte the natural elemental mana within a crystal the user can make the crystals more easily change shapes and fit to gear. The crystals used can be made in to unique energy sources for gear and other items.''


    Walker did not look at the skill much since was too concerned with the healing light crystal in front of him. He had spent over an hour on thedder. The high priest was using all of his physical energy to keep thedder still watching Walker work. During this time he was in awe to see the repairs being made, Walker had used more than one form of magic to fully fix somethingnone of them were able to fix themselves. It was impressive to say the least.


    Feeling the faint aura of healing starting to return along with perfect rainbows flowing from the healing light crystal Walker descended thedder. When he came face to face with the high priest the high priest began to copse. "Ah! Are you alright?!" Walker was extremely worried, he did not know how long he had spent on this project just that there high priest had been there the entire time.


    "Mhm- ye-ss I am...fine. Just-tired." The high priest was unsteady so Walker helped him over to the bench Su had led him to earlier. The high priest looked like he had just had the energy sucked from him. This was one of the busiest days at the cathedral in a very long time. He was thinking that it may be time to retire soon if this kept up.


    Walker wanted the high priest to have some peace so he left him to the bench alone where he seemed to be alms falling asleep. The elderly that had been restless and frustrated before had started to settle down and instead shout their praise to Walker for fixing things up well. Walker wanted to go check on Alice but realized she was nowhere to be seen. The spot she had been resting on was empty. He turned around here and there trying to see where she had gone. Feeling a slight tap on his shoulder Walker turned to see the massive smile on Alice''s face. She had woken up while Walker fixed the healing light crystal and was extremely impressed.

 Chapter 223 - 223. Blue

    "Alice! Are you ok to be standing? You looked really tired on the bench before, did you use too much mana?" Walker showed a bit too much worry but it only seemed to make Alice smile more. She was slightly embarrassed by being fawned over like this.


    She could not control herself and gave Walker a massive hug. She not only was d to see him again but had also witnessed him save the most important part of the entire church within the kingdom. Without the healing aura then many people may not receive proper care in the future, especially those with severe injuries, not having the healing light crystal''s healing aura could spell death for them.


    Walker had not expected the sudden embrace but returned it automatically. His face had turned more red than ever before but he was very happy. "I have so many stories to tell you about! Would you like to sit down and rest? I can tell you all about it." Walker did not want to drag Alice on a walk with him, he could see that she was definitely tired still but the returning healing aura was starting to work on her.


    Alice nodded her head more than she needed while most of the elderly went to sit on the benches or chat in the hall, they had seen the youngster fix the crystal and were enthralled by the scene. They started to chat and share the amazing things they had witnessed and also gossip on what the party was like. They seemed to be the worst gossipers in the entire kingdom.


    Finding a corner of the cathedral without many people around where Walker could tell his stories he felt a bit bad leaving Su along with the healers. However he was relieved of this worry seeing that with the healing aura the running around slowed and most of the healers seemed to be rxed. Many of the injured had started to fall in to peaceful sleep their wounds or illnesses healing slowly without as much attention. The entire atmosphere had returned to the normal calming warmth that the cathedral was known for.


    "We ended up fighting in a coliseum with all these demi-humans¡­.then the demon was selling the cursed¡­.General Scy showed up and¡­" Walker was unloading the weeks of stories all at once but instead of having trouble keeping up Alice seemed to bepletely consumed by them. She had never left the city let alone the kingdom and desired to hear more and more about the world.


    After some time Walker finally finished the tales rted to their journey to the kingdom of Ordist, "Now we have a month or so to prepare to go back out to the deeper sun hollow forest. Honestly it seems like we may be working to death." Alice giggled slightly at Walker''s defeated look knowing he wouldn''t have it any other way. The light around them seemed to vibrate at her soft giggles. Walker became enticed by this giggle wanting to hear more of it, his cheeks showing the redness that had just faded.


    Alice poked his shoulder getting his attention, "New skills?" She said on;ly two words which made the light form a rainbow question mark in the air, Walker had promised to show off his progress with the light element when he returned.


    "To be honest things were a bit too busy and I was very bad in my practice, but I made a breakthrough in the earth element which let me figure some things out. I took some time practicing the light element this morning and was able to create three skills." Walker first created the yellow ball of light, "This is pretty simple, it only lights up the area, since we will be in a dimly lit forest I thought trying to get a light source was very important." Onyx had woken up and gotten a bit hungry, he had wrapped around Walker''s shoulders again some time ago while he told stories. Onyx snapped up the yellow light orb as he had done before, he was rather happy with this new snack. "Oh yea, and Onyx likes to eat this one." Alice thought this rather amazing and made a small oh face. She had not expected Onyx to just swallow a little orb of light whole.


    Onyx was very happy with the cathedral, the amount of light element here was very high, this helped him absorb better quality light elements and he could feel himself growing. Having had another snack Onyx decided he would explore a bit to see if he could find any other interesting spots. He slithered off toward the more crowded area causing a few healers a little shock but otherwise no trouble at all.


    "Then there is this one," Walker created the purple blurry orb and watched as Alice''s vision fogged over. "It makes it harder to focus your eyes, it is pretty useful against long ranged attacks. Remey hates it though because I used it to tease her a bit, she couldn''t evennd a high five while looking at it." Alice heard this as a challenge and lifted Walkers hand to try and high five him. She wrinkled her forehead finding that every time she tried to make contact she was slightly off and only brushed his fingers or arm. "Exactly like that hahaha" Walker released the blurry orb and high fived Alice who did not seem as amused but far from angry.


    "Lastly there is this one, I bet you will be stuck on this one a bit longer." He let a small smirk form on his lips while Alice looked expectantly. The blue luring ob started to condense and draw her attention. This was the perfect blue sky that she had stared at while singing outside. This simple color had inspired many songs for her. Alice had her eyes locked on it not wanting to look away, not being able to look away. Her hand reached for Walker''s sleeve and tugged on it.


    "Beautiful blue." Her soft words did not echo through the cathedral but they did cause the light to change. The same color of blue from the orb filled the rafters of the cathedral causing everyone inside to be silent. The color did not have the same luring effect as the orb did but it was an inspiring color. It was almost as if all the light had turned in to the sky within the Cathedral. The high priest had seen Walker telling his story to Alice and was happy to see that she had such a dedicated friend. Seeing how she was inspired by Walker he realized that the little girl he had raised had be an amazing person so young. It truly made all the efforts and stress of the day melt away, he looked upwards at the beautiful blue above him with a foolish smile on his face.


    The light slowly turned back to the normal hints of rainbowing from the healing light crystal. Walker''s luring orb had long faded but the two were still looking up at the rafters of the Cathedral. Every time Walker thought he had something to show off Alice was able to outdo him with a word, he would need to work harder to do something more amazing.


    The two eventually looked back down unsure what to do now, Walker didn''t have another light skill to show off, but he did have something he might be able to try. "Alice, is it ok to y with a little fire here? I have another skill that could be kind of interesting but I can''t break any rules. It''s not dangerous so it shouldn''t harm anything." Alice thought for a few moments before she gave a nod to Walker.


    With her approval he pulled out some basic fire making materials and some of the dried grasses he had left. With the pile in front of him he created a few sparks and started to shape the small growing me. The cathedral still had decorative torches from before the healing light crystal had been brought in and began to naturally light the entire space. This meant that there was enough air flow to keep the smoke away from anyone that could breath it in. Walker had an image within his head that he wanted the me doll to take on. He had thought hard about what he would show her.


    Alice was watching intently as the mes took shape before her eyes. It was pulling in pieces of dried grass itself and forming limbs. This shape was smaller than the actual person but in front of them Walker had made a fire doll of Maria. "This is not as detailed as Maria really is but I wanted to tell you about our new friend. This is what Maria looks like roughly. She is the girl in the story I told you that we rescued from the mean demon." Walker realized that Alice was having trouble listening as she was too caught up in examining the me doll in front of her.

 Chapter 224 - 224. Invitation

    Giving her more time to get used to the me doll Walker patiently waited. She eventually looked at him wanting to know more, "Like I told you she has the light benders system, she was able to make light bend around someone and make them invisible. It was really cool and I think she woulde here next time. It is very rare for a demon to have a light elemental affinity let alone a light based system." Alice was still having trouble believing that a demon had a light elemental affinity as well and had read all the books about demons in the cathedral. She had believed every word that demons were often evil and only after the destruction of others, however, Walker had started to change her perspective as he spoke of Maria''s hardships. Alice had never known of these cultural aspects of the demons territories and hierarchy. Today she had learned something she could not read in any book here.


    She had pulled on Walkers sleeve again after he had said he would bring Maria to meet her at the cathedral. This was her expressing her agreement for his idea. "We told her she could stay with us as long as she wanted, we have too much space to do anything with so why not right? You know...You''re also wee toe visit any time for dinner...if you want." Walker had been gathering his courage to invite Alice to the mansion the entire time they had been sitting together.


    Alice grew a bit flushed in the cheeks herself but gave a firm nod that she would want to do just that. Walker had told her all about the mansion but wanted to see it all herself. She was very enticed by the garden he had described to her that was being guided by a farmer from the fields. She also wanted to be present when the weeping willow tree Walker had described bloomed, she may be able to use the experience and pollen to have an epiphany to stop her mana from being consumed whenever she spoke. She wanted to say so many things every day but was always limited.


    "Actually, I think next week my party and I are going to a VIP auction, as far as I know there are no rules against bringing guests. You and the high priest are more than wee toe. If you see anything you like I''d dly put a bid in for you." Alice, who had never been to an auction before was very excited by the chance to go to one. She jumped up and started to pull Walker toward the high priest. She wanted to let him know that they had dinner ns and an auction to go to. The many years of guests talking about the Ga family and a few of their elders visiting for healing was enough for her to have enough knowledge to be even more excited then someone who had never heard of it before.


    She had easily pulled the red faced Walker along to the high priest, Walker''s face tomato red having Alice holding on to him. "Oh and what has made you so excited all of the sudden?" The high priest had recovered as well from the restored healing aura. His face had more color and he did not seem to need any support while sitting. In all honestly Walker thought that if he hadn''t seen the high priests prior appearance that the high priest was having an average day.


    Alice tugged on Walker more and more wanting him to tell the high priest what he had just asked her. "Haha ok ok, I just asked Alice if you two would like toe with my party to a VIP auction that we have a ticket for. Afterwards you two are very wee toe to our mansion for dinner." The high priest was not expecting this kind of invite. The ga family rarely just handed out VIP tickets to their VIP auctions. They were usually reserved for very important figures. Had the party be so important already?


    "Well we would indeed like to attend a VIP auction. I hear it is very hard to get such tickets, how did you manage to get a hold of one? Don''t tell me you tricked that old Ga family elder,'' The high priestughed a bit at his joke knowing that his friend who had not visited in a while would never allow himself to be tricked in any way.


    "Actually the story is not as positive as that, my party was traveling on the way to the demi-human kingdom and we encountered a pack of frost wolves. They had previously caused some trouble by defeating a young merchant that was transporting some goods for the Ga family. The issued a quest to the guild to have the wolves defeated and the reward was the leftover supplies they were transporting and the VIP ticket. It was pretty lucky that our paths seemed to align in this way." This was a good exnation and was indeed very lucky. Not many adventurers had ever been in a situation to gain such a nice reward. This was sly of the Ga family who could have given the ticket out expecting that the adventurers would not be able to attend or have the fund to bid on anything. It could have been a reward that technically offered the party that epted the quest nothing.


    "Well well well how interesting and lucky you are. If we do attend would you be offended if I bid in the church''s stead?" The high priest could only imagine what amazing items may jump out at them at the VIP auction mostly reserved for nobles or those with high status. This was a very fortuitous opportunity to strengthen some of the up anding healers.


    "Well it is an auction so I would not stop you from trying. We may bid as well though, my party is always in need of new gear. We are actually considering inviting a cksmith to our mansion to use the forge there to try and create some very interesting items." hearing this the high priest was impressed all over again, not many adventures would be willing to bring in a cksmith and work with them to create gear. It was much moremon for an adventure to have existing gear adjusted to their needs or for them to just buy something already made.


    "I can see you are very dedicated to the future you wish to pursue. I believe I have rested enough it is time to get things straightened out after the episode earlier." The high priest stood up looking invigorated from his rest. "We will meet you at the auction house when the VIP auction is scheduled to happen, I will even send a letter to my friend to let them know we''ll being. They might even set up a special setting just for us." With that the high priest was off to the group of healers that had finished up their duties and looked ready to fall asleep on the marble floors.


    Alice pulled at Walker arm again this time showing her happiness that the high priest had agreed to go to the auction and dinner. She would be able to try a bunch of new things all because of her lucky encounter with Walker. "Ehm well I am looking forward to it as well¡­" He innocently replied to her bright face not sure what else to say. "We should probably go help, I have left Su to fend for herself too long, I am sure she will be waiting for me so we can go back to the mansion.


    The pair found Su who was also taking a rest with the healers that had just been spurred back in to action cleaning things up. Many of the nuns had already carried away the injured to rooms on the side of the cathedral so they could sleep and heal without any interruptions. Su saw the twoing up to her and gave Walker an exhausted look, but she was still smiling through it. "Leader, thanks to you the healers can finally get some rest. They told me that they had been busier than they had in years trying to keep up with the use of mana."


    "I''m not sure I am the start here Su, the healers seem to be looking at you like you are their idol now. A shield bearer revered by the healers, huh." Alice agreed with Walker nodding vigorously. She grabbed Su''s hand and gave her a high five too.


    "Leader, did you show her the purple blurry orb?" Suughed a bit knowing that the reason behind the high five was most certainly the sharing of the skills effects.


    The two sat and chatted with Su until she had rested enough to get back on her feet. Walker and Su were about to say their goodbyes when Walker remembered something he had held on to to give Alice. Onyx came back to Walker after a little and changed back in to tattoo to rest, he seemed to have eaten his fill.

 Chapter 225 - 225.One Days Work

    Walker and Su were standing about to head on their way since they had already spent most of the day between the alchemist building and the cathedral. They were feeling hungry and a bit worn out from their unexpected quest. Remembering this Walker checked the system quickly seeing the notification.


    ''Daily questpleted


    Requirement:


    Heal those in need


    Repair the healing light crystal.


    Reward:


    300 exp multiplied to 3000exp.''


    He smiled while looking at this but did not forget that he had saved some things from their purchases in the markets of Ordist to share when he came back to the cathedral.


    "Alice! I almost forgot," Walker pulled out a basket full of fruits that Gil had chosen from the markets. They Were all still perfectly ripe and waiting to be eaten. Walker had not seen any items worth bringing back and was also too put off after the incident with the cursed items. So he had decided to hold on to some of the fruits instead. "We purchased a lot of fruit so we could grow them in the garden and have them for whenever we wanted, but I made sure to save some for you!" Alice took therge basket in her hands having a bit of trouble holding it all up.


    "Yes Alice you need to try those little brown fuzzy fruits. They are green on the inside and a bit sour but it''s very good." This one had been Su''s favorite. "I really enjoyed those kiwi fruits and I am sure you will too." Alice just nodded along with here seeing the sincere feelings in Su''s words.


    "I hate to run off but we need to get back for dinner, we have been away for so long and it would be rude to keep everyone who is waiting for us to get back to eat." Walker said his goodbye and so did Su. The high priest had disappeared off somewhere and Walker was not worried about saying good bye since they would see them in a few days anyways. He quickly released the me doll of Maria he had made before heading out so that it did not cause any trouble if someone else tried to deal with it.


    Alice waved as they left trying to hold all the fruit with one hand. Waving back Walker was very excited for the auction now. "Su I invited Alice and the high priest toe with us to the VIP auction, It should be very fun. The high priest was pretty surprised though, it seems like this auction is much harder to get into than I knew."


    "Leader, I actually happen to know a bit about this. When I was younger I tried to sneak in because I heard that they were selling a miracle potion to heal any injury. Of course it was a rumor but the VIP auction only gives tickets to those high ss merchants or very rich nobles. I have also heard that many very high ranking members of the castle or guilds show up as well. We will need to wear our best clothing to attend." Walker could definitely see Su trying to sneak in to an auction if she thought that there was a way to heal her mother, she really did care for her family. Although it was a past event Walker enjoyed imagining Su trying to sneak in somewhere wearing a bunch of armor or carrying a shield.


    "I will definitely have to ask Lisa to get something sewn up for myself then, I don''t have a lot of formal wear." Walker had not expected this to be a problem. "Oh speaking about clothes and gear, we should stop by the forge tomorrow and see if we can get a high level cksmith toe to our forge at the mansion soon. I will also see if Midnight wants to practice breathing fire, she may be able to learn a fire breath skill to help in the forging process."


    "I agree, if Midnight were to learn a skill like that she could imbue our gear with her elements or just strengthen them more. The Tamers guild master''s dragon had very hot mes that melted those metals like nothing." The two recalled the crafting they had witnessed and could not wait to see what they could do themselves. Walker also had the thought of asking a cksmith to show him how to properly repair and sharpen gear so that he could gain some skills to do just that on their journeys. If Walker really wanted he could one day gather all the tools for a forge and carry them in his inventory to have a portable forge! How great would that be for when a weapon of gear broke.


    Falling in to his own day dream Walker spent the entire walk home to the mansion lost in thought. Su did not mind this since she was also thinking about what kind of shields she would gain, Walker had said something about having two made for her which meant that she could properly learn how to dual wield shields. If she were to train on this she may increase her blocking speed and how much she could block. She could imagine defending two or more people at once in dire situations. She had started to take after Walker and became easily lost in thoughts.


    When they returned to the mansion it was a sight to behold, Gil''s mother had torn up a massive amount of soil. There were many paths marked out and some even were already lined with small stones. She seemed to be developing a small walking path. The benches that she had uncovered had already been moved. There were even wooden trellises made and ced around the starting path. For one days worth of work she had done an amazing amount. Walker would never look down on a farmer ever again.


    "Leader, this is already looking so amazing, I can not believe how much has already been done. It looks like there will be bushes nted over there. Oh and that spot will be perfect to reflecting on training. Look the path even goes out back to the training field." Su was much more excited than Walker expected, however since the warm weather was approaching he thought it all the better. They could all enjoy the garden to its fullest once the rainy month had passed and they were in full swing of spring.


    Walker could hear the familiar thunk of arrows and knew Gil must be out back. "I''m going to go see what Gil is practicing, are youing or going inside?"


    "I will head inside leader, I want to clean up after today''s errands." With a nod Walker left Su to her own ns and headed around the side of the mansion.


    Gil had set up the training dummies at different angles and distances and was currently running around the sides to try and fire arrows differently. The thing was Walker thought it looked odd. He would run and get close to a dummy and fire behind it but also use his newly free hand tond a punch or push the dummy a bit. He felt that Gil needed a weapon in the free hand so that he would be able to properly attack. He added a dagger on to his growing list of gear and weapons the party needed.


    "Training the day away huh?" Gil heard Walker and came to a stop, the sweat dripping down his face spoke volumes.


    "Back from your little date huh? How was your errands" The small bit of teasing in Gil''s voice was evident but not in amean way.


    "We did very well at the alchemist building, we also mentioned we would sell some vials of pure water at the VIP auction." Walker wasn''t sure if he wanted to tell Gil he invited Alice and the High priest to the auction as well but figured it was a bit better than to hide it. "We ran in to a bit of trouble at the cathedral but we fixed it all up no problem. I invited Alice and the high priest to the auction with us next week. The high priest asked if he could bid on some things for the church, I said we would not mind. Things should be a lot of fun." Gil smiled a bit too much hearing this but did not make anyments back.


    "We should be getting the items from the horned rabbits and that greater snow imp delivered right? Will we sell some things from that too?" Gil was already thinking way ahead but it was a good thing.


    "I wanted to see what we could do with the materials from the greater ice imp but at the moment we don''t have any use for the high water mana crystal it had in its body. We also don''t really need the skin for gear since we n to have things made with the bronze dragon scales and other metal we have. It would just be a waste to hold on to those two items. The gold can at least help us get more material better suited to our needs." Walker and Gil agreed on this, they may not have included the others in this debate but none of them had any use for those items as well. "Actually I was just thinking of one thing we definitely need to get for you." Gil was confused by this but listened for Walker''s theory.

 Chapter 226 - 226. Designs

    "You were practicing mixing in closebat to your shooting right? Well i figure you can''tnd strong punches or palm strikes like Remey so why don''t you use a dagger?" Gil understood immediately.


    "I was actually thinking about that too, but I am not sure how I would keep it in my hands when I fight while also pulling back an arrow."


    "Well we are going to look for a cksmith so maybe we could have a special holster made that lets you put the dagger in near your your hand is when you draw your bow?" Walker gestured to right below the left side of Gil''s chest.


    "That could work, I could pull it out fast after I released an arrow then ce it back while I drew the bow." Gil started to envision the process. "I have used a dagger before to fight a little since my system has some rted skills but I have never really used them since I am always so far from my targets. Buttely I have been worried about what would happen if I do not have my bow. I could basically be left out of the battlepletely not to mention easily injured. I would be a liability." Gil had realized this a long time ago but had decided to act on this shortfall in his techniques with the time they had before they left for the deeper sun hollow forest.


    "That sounds like a great n, the forest will be very different from the ins, I won''t be able to use my fire bolt or fire flower skills without causing a massive fire. I hope to learn water magic or maybe develop something else. I have yet to try out those new swords I got." Walker joined gil In brainstorming new fighting techniques that may work in the forest. The two quickly rule out many of the longer ranged strategies they had used just due tock of visibility. They decided that a weapon like the scythe Walker had used would also not work out so well since it would get caught on a tree if the area was crowded, after all most of the trails or paths in the forest were tight and weaved through heavy growths.


    Before they had realized it the sun had started to sink down behind the horizon, "My stomach is telling me it is time to eat." Gil stood up from the patch of ground the two had been using as their drawing board.


    "Yes let''s go see what we have to eat, I bet my mother has been experimenting with the fruit we brought back." These words made Gil nearly jump in to a sprint. He really did like the fruits they had had in the demi-human kingdom.


    Walker did not feel like being left behind and picked up his pace, the two rushed inside to find almost everyone at the dining table, even Remey had beat them back.


    "Well we thought you two would be outside all night! Come sit down and get your tes full, I made plenty of food tonight. Try some of the spicy roasted chicken, Midnight has been eating it and if you aren''t quick it will be gone before you know it." Hilda had broken in to her old books and found some of the spices she had been hoarding. Tonight seemed to be many of the dishes she had been wanting to test. The two happily dug in while answering any questions Hilda asked on the dishes.


    Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal, Walker even found that Maria had left the library to im a seat next to Su for dinner. Su''s mother seemed to also be treating Maria with a lot of attention, fussing over her as she tried the spicy chicken which made her face red.


    This was very uplifting for the party since they had promised Maria a better ce to live, this was exactly the kind of life they wanted to give her. "Maria, in a few days we are going to an event with some friends, after they will being to dinner. They can both use healing magic but more importantly have light elemental skills just like you. I hope you can find the time to talk to them a bit, they may just want to recruit you to the church." Walkerughed a bit but realized Maria seemed worried instead.


    "You don''t have to worry, they are both very nice. The high priest takes very good care of anyone hees in contact with, he even adopted and raised an orphan. I am sure you will get along well. Plus our friend Alice has a very unique light element skill, you can try to show off but she will definitely shock you." Maria became much more curious than worried after Su reassured her.


    "Walker were you even going to let me know we would have guests then? I need to prepare a menu and desserts and drinks. It''s for a high priest you know! They are much more refined than your tamer friends." Hilda fell in to a mad fury trying to build a menu in her head.


    "Mother you don''t need to worry there is plenty of time. The auction we are going to is in a week, after it we wille here. The guild will have delivered all the horned rabbit meat we gathered while in the ins. You will have a lot of fresh ingredients!" This seemed to bring Hilda back to reality.


    The dinner started to pass by quickly leaving only the party to speak on their future ns. "So Gil and I were talking about the gear we need. We will have some really good crafting materials but should look for more at the auction. Once we have gathered them we can have a cksmithe over. Tomorrow I should head to the forge to see what interesting materials they have and also if a cksmith would be willing toe over next week. Midnight I hope that you can join me tomorrow too, we can try to awaken a fire breathing skill, if we can figure it out you may be able to help us forge our gear." This made Midnight much more energized, she had the image of dragon mes changing the solid metal to liquid in seconds ingrained in her brain.


    "Sister says she will have the best mes even if she needs to try a thousand times." Walker pet her head encouraging the behavior. If she had this drive to do so then the work would definitely pay off.


    "We will need a dagger for Gil. Two shields of Su. Remey you really need some better light armor at least, I know it will need to be flexible to move in but it is really important that you have it. I am also thinking of having a bunch of basic weapons made. Oh and Gil you need to choose some arrow heads, I can use a new skill to add mana crystals to gear so if you choose some arrow heads that can have crystals added maybe I can make that work." Remey was a bit annoyed that Walker wanted to weigh her down with more gear but she did not argue at his firm tone. Gil had nearly forgotten his withering wood arrow shafts that he had been neglecting forck of good arrowhead materials. However now that they had their bronze dragon scales the scrapes from crafting other things would be perfect to reshape and make a bunch of arrowheads.


    "Leader, do you have an idea for what shape my shields should be? I have some ideas of my own so that I may be able to move with them more easily." Su had thought about this the entire walk back and while she cleaned herself up from their work at the cathedral.


    "I would prefer to hear what you think, it''s much more important for you to use themfortably." Walker wanted Su to feel more connected to her shields and not have something she did not desire forced on her.


    "In that case I would like almost oval shaped shields. I thought that having rectangles shaped shields would cover the best space but they would also slow me down when I moved because if the wind resistance, If I have oval shaped shields with a point at the button I can stab them in the ground and use the earth to help brace myself. That also gives me a better edge to attack an enemy. If they can be rounded on the outside as well that would help me deflect attacks better. I do not want spikes or anything, what if I use them to brace up an ally?" These were all very viable options.


    "Sounds perfect to me, in the next few days please try and draw it out so when we find a cksmith they can take a look and analyze it. Gil that also goes for your arrowheads and dagger. Remey you are the easiest, since your gear will be light weight it will most likely not be anything super specific. Maybe you should get some gloves that can add damage to your palm strikes¡­"

 Chapter 227 - 227. Insight

    When Walker had said that she may need gloves to apany her spiked knuckles Remey almost exploded with happiness. She had been trying to incorporate her palm strikes into her fighting style better and if she felt she could do more damage with it she would most certainly use it more. "If I am getting gloves to make them cover my whole arm, I hate when I get scratches and bruises all over my arms from fighting."


    "Well in that case draw them out too, it is a great idea to mitigate small injuries like that. We have no idea if we will run in to an enemy with poison in the forest. At least the new species of purple slimes will have a rotting effect we need to avoid but we will need to learn how they do that." Walker was starting to think on what kind of weapons he wanted and how he would go about practicing them. "I need more time, if I am going to learn a bunch of weapons so I can better cover us I need the time to do it." One month just seemed so short. Training while in a new area was not the nest way to go about things. In the ins they had arge and easy view around themselves so they could more easily see an enemying, in the forest they would not have that at all.


    "Just start with the basics, you think too much." Remey brushed off Walker''s worries without a single bit of thought. In her mind it was better to start with the mostmon weapons and just work his way through them. "You could just punch things too."


    "No!..I mean I don''t know any hand to hand skills. That''s your expertise after all." Walker was afraid if he became a closebat type like Remey he would start to rush in like a mad person like Remey did." Instead of being insulted at the reaction Remey took the second part as apliment.


    "Well, I think we should get some rest, I want to be up to train a bit more in the morning. I even n to hunt a bit with my dad." Gil was the one to make the move to go to sleep, he still needed to clean up after his own training from the day after all.


    "I will go and start drawing out my new shields. I will also think about improving my armor more as well."Su headed off towards the library, Walker was sure she would be looking in to some books for inspiration.


    "Well see ya, I will do my own thing tomorrow."Remey ran off too, all that was left was Midnight who had fallen asleep in front of the firece and Onyx who was in tattoo form asleep now too. Walker gave in and got up to go sleep too. The many thoughts and ideas on what to have made for him flooded his mind. There were just too many options. Part of him wanted to focus on some unique weapons so that he could take people by surprise with unique attacks. However he had a feeling that learning basic weapons like swords, bows, shields, and others would be easier to practice. This was definitely a tougher choice for him to make.


    Wandering his way to his own room he saw a familiar short figure sneaking through the hallway. "Maria? What are you doing out here now? I thought you had gone to bed a while ago?" Maria seemed a bit startled at first but realized it was Walker and rxed after a moment.


    She had be much more open to them since they had journeyed with her all the way to this new kingdom. Since she had been here no one had woken her in the middle of the night to beat her, or test new curses on her, or even just to travel when no one would see them. "I just want to be close to Su so if anything happens¡­"


    Walker had expected her to have trouble adjusting, it was clear that she had taken Su''s promise of protection to heart and wanted to be nearby if anything did in fact happen. " Well she should be getting ready for bed too, I am sure if you knock and ask to sleep in the same room you will be good to go." Her face formed a small smile since she had expected Walker to tell her to go back to her room alone.


    "Mhm." She started to walk quickly down the hall towards Su''s room, Walker saw her stop and knock on the door. The door opened and Maria was let inside without any trouble. Su was really taking the big sister roll seriously. With his own smile Walker headed to bed himself. Before he knew it he was already opening his eyes to the sun just breaking the horizon through his window.


    Walking through the mansion after getting all geared up like usual he did not see a single person around. It was just more to show how much space they really had. He couldn''t help but think that maybe they should hire some staff just to make things a bit more lively. Remembering that his mother may just kill someone that messed with her kitchen he decided that it may not be the best idea to look for any chefs. Cleaning staffseemed most applicable since there was a lot of space that would need to be kept nice and neat. He did not expect everyone to constantly take on chores while the party was out on a journey or quest.


    While thinking on this Walker made it all the way to the front door still not seeing anyone, having headed outside he finally found Gil''s mother who was digging a trench to allow water to flow off of a marked out flower bed. "Good morning!" Walker greeted her since he thought taking some time to chat about the garden may help him n out how he would help her nt the seedlings.


    "Ah, Walker, good morning. Do you feel that slight chill still around from the night? It means we have another few days until we can nt anything. If we nt too soon these seedlings can be stunted or die." This was the sixth sense of a farmer alright, Walker couldn''t even make sense of what chill she was talking about other than the cool air in general.


    "Since I have your ear, can I ask you how you would like to nt the seedlings? I want to make sure I can help since trying to learn some farming skills sounds very useful. It''s also pretty rude to leave you to all the hard work." He wanted to be a bit more polite since he wanted her to know how much he appreciated her effort.


    "Work? What work? This is great, I get up early and get my hands dirty sculpting this garden in the most beautiful ce in all of the kingdom." Gil''s motherughed a bit thinking Walker had been joking with her to get the day started on a good note. "I will n to nt them soon. Once this chill leaves the air I can use a few skills to sprout the seeds faster. Using my growth boost skill we should have that weeping willow tree taller than either of us in a month."


    "Really? In a month? That sounds great! I did not know that farmers had such great skills in their systems." Walker was very surprised to hear that Gil''s mother could speed up growth to such an extent.


    "Eh it''s not all that great, If things aren''t all ready the nt will die instantly." She was frowning quite a bit remembering how long it took her to figure out how to properly use this skill. "If you do not have enough nutrients in the soil and water the nt will start to grow fast. It will eat up all the water and nutrients and burn itself out dying on the spot and making the small part of the earth infertile for a few years. I had a lot of hardship before I mastered the use of this skill."


    "Wow, I didn''t know it would require that much practice. Are there more skills that can do simr things?" Walker was bing more and more interested in how the farmer''s system worked. He had mainly been learning skills revolving around battle, if he took a little time to learn some of these other skills he could be at a huge advantage. What if he found a rare herb while far away? With a skill that made it grow more he could harvest a ton of it all at once and still leave some to stay as part of nature.


    "Hmm the over growth skill is pretty simr. Instead of making the nt grow faster it caused the nt to bear more fruit. If I used it on an apple tree it would grow almost double the amount of apples. The problem with this is that it uses up a lot of the stored nutrients within the nt. This leaves the nt much weaker for weeks afterwards. If it''s done before winter it is basically saying the nt won''t survive the cold."

 Chapter 228 - 228. Lost In Thought

    Walker was drinking up this knowledge, these were skills he had yet toe in to contact with and had very unique uses. Since he was little he had always tried to learn about the most interesting sounding jobs. When he would run after a mage he would ignore the farmers who cake through the gates daily. It was in and simple reasoning to his younger brain that these were boring systems that he was not interested in. Finding out that they were much more in depth now made him feel like he had been missing out this whole time. What else had he ignored that was a diamond in the rough?


    "So if you use the growth boost to get a nt to grow faster than the overgrowth skill to get it to bare fruit earlier then could you have a second round of harvesting?"


    "Exactly, some farmers will do this on their fields once every three or four years. Doing it too often will tire the soil too much. If the farmer has a lot of resources or money they may buy fertilizers so they can get even three or four harvests in a year. I have heard that the demi-human farmers can get up to six in a year." He had known that the demi-humans were known as amazing farmers because they naturally had stronger bodies which more easily worked the fields, but not knowing that it also came down to nning skill use in this way he had more respect for the kingdom and farmers alike.


    "In theory we could do this with some medicinal herbs and start to sell them to the alchemist guild." This was a very good money making theory for all of them when the party was away.


    "Don''t go getting ahead of yourself, I am a farmer yes but not an alchemist. I need different skills to properly grow medicinal herbs. One or two is fine but some require a more delicate touch." This made Walker a bit disappointed but he understood.


    "You have given me a lot to think about on my walk to the forge this morning. I can''t wait to learn some of these skills miss!"


    "Ugh none of that miss, I don''t stand on ceremony. In the fields we just call each other by name. Call me Jane, just Jane." Walker gave her a nod but would definitely still add the miss in there. His mother had raised him to be respectful after all!


    He headed out with the forge on his mind. He had fallen asleep thinking about what weapons he wanted to have made or purchase to learn some new skills. He nned to avoid the basics for now since he wanted to practice with the two swords he had been given by king Rorick. On top of this he also would just use magic for long range if he was in need. If anyone else need long range then he would have Gil take care of things.


    Likewise practicing with a shield would be nice to have defensive skills covered but he did not feel like it was very necessary. After seeing Barry use his axes he had half a thought to try and learn some skills rted to using them. However the thought of scaring his party every time he wielded them was not as attractive.


    Once upon a time he had heard that some dwarves would use their hammers as weapons. This could be a very viable weapon to learn since it could also trante in to forging skills. He could wield two hammers if he ever needed or onerge hammer. The more he thought on this the more tempting it was, after a short while longer, he had decided that learning to battle with a hammer was on the to do list.


    Wracking his brain on what else he should use he found that hecked knowledge on a wide array of weapons. If he chose to go with anything else more unique he would need more time to learn it, deciding that focusing on just the happier first may be his best move. He still wanted to focus on his elemental maniptions after all.


    Realizing that he now stood in front of the forge, Walker had spent the entire walk cpletely distracted, it was a wonder he had not bumped in to anything or anybody. Heading inside it was a bit crowded today since a few merchants had been trying to swing by before they needed to travel outside the kingdom to trade. Walker was a bit surprised to find Rodney working the front counter. " I thought you would be off crafting something now that you were able to?" Walker gave a shortugh as he got Rodney''s attention.


    "Mr. Walker, wee! I have been crafting a lot but I find this is the best ce toe looking for interesting orders that I can use to help me level up" This indeed was a good idea, Walker could clearly see that Rodney had gained a small amount of muscle. It also was clear that from working the counter longer he was gaining better and better customer service skills.


    "Well you are in pretty good luck, I happen to need some help. Do you know of any really skilled cksmiths that can make house calls? I have a forge at themansion and need some unique metals forged in to weapons." Rodney lit up at the words unique metals. Walker was of course referring to the orichalcum and the bronze dragon scales. These two materials were tougher to work with and would require a higher level cksmith than he had met before.


    "Well we do have some that tend to make house calls but they are usually the ones that are newer to the forge, they like to offer that service to get a jump start on their levels. The best skilled smiths here stay here and wait for jobs toe to them since they have gained reputation." Rodney had given Walker the answer he had expected. But since Walker had other ns to use a technique that not everyone at the forge could use along with very rare materials it was better off that it was not here at the forge.


    "Are you sure there is nobody that would prefer to get out here for a change of pace? Maybe someone that just needs an excuse to try some new techniques?" trying to make it sound more enticing he had hope that his words may job Rodney''s memories.


    Seeming to work Rodney slowly showed that the gears were turning in his head. After such a short time he had be much more reserved, his energy had died down a bit showing that he took the thinking route more. "Oh! I know just the guy. We have a cksmith that left for almost a year to go study a volcano! He said he hates being cramped up with all the fumes and prefers the open air near the magma. If you ask me though the fumes at a volcano sound way worse." Rodney had a sudden burst of energy from his realization which made Walker start to take back his silentpliments before. "He should be upstairs somewhere, he hates signing his name to any work because he says he doesn''t forge for fame. He seemed really dramatic, like how else would you get customers?" This cksmith was sounding better and better to Walker, if the man was not in it for fame then he would certainly be able to convince him to keep things more quiet on what materials were used.


    "Would you say this cksmith is very skilled?" This was the important part, this smith would need to be higher level to craft with the tough rare materials Walker had and would possibly purchase at the VIP auction.


    "Very skilled, he was forging using magma from a volcano! Have you ever heard someone doing something so crazy? He made a bunch of spears that he sold when he got here, about seventy five were what he called good quality. But to my eyes they were perfection, I couldn''t even notice a crack in them. The others he said were not good he threw in to the magma to melt away and get reformed. He is a unique cksmith." Walker could have been discouraged by this since there was the chance that this cksmith may throw away any gear he made that did not lower his standards, But even more so that the gear and weapon he had made were considered perfect to another smith. The man had some high standards which was perfect for what Walker was after.


    The party needed some better gear and weapons, he refused to let Su''s shield break a second time. His instructions would include a lot of inquiry in to how to properly strengthen gear. Rodney was waiting for Walker to give a response to whether he would like to meet their strange cksmith.


    "Do you think your cksmith has time to talk to a possible client?"

 Chapter 229 - 229. Weird Smith

    Rodney replied to Walker quickly, "Yes, of course he would." Rodney''s supervisor had told him to make sure if anyone came asking for their wanderingcksmith to give them a warning about how he may throw away what he believes to be poor quality items. Seeing that Walker was not deterred by this he smiled happily to give a senior that was gossiped over sucha potential job for a party that had helped him so much. Rodney told himself he would butter up his senior cksmith as much as he could to try and get the opportunity to watch him work. It was not every day that someone could learn from a cksmith that had forged in a volcano.


    Rodney made sure to lead Walker up the back stairs reserved only for the members of the forge. This was another instruction that his supervisor had given him. Many of the morepetitive cksmiths would try and snag jobs from the others so that they could increase their own fame. This was not necessarily bad but when it came to those with higher ss abilities or unique crafting methods it could end up stunting their growth.


    There was plenty of ck coal dust in the air as Rodney led him up the stairs, Walker made the mistake of grabbing the railing and now was looking at his dyed ck hands. The next things he would know he would have coal dust all over himself like a miner. He brushed his hands on this cloths epting the added chore of needing to clean his clothing when he got home, it would seem that this would be amon task for any time he visited the forge.


    Finally reaching one of the high floors Walker looked about finding that the entire floor seemed to only be onerge hallway around onerge room.


    The door to this room was simple but was flowing with carved magic runes. The carvings had been fitted with various metals which seemed to make it harder to focus on. "I would not rement trying to decipher these runes They were made specifically to make spying on the contents of the room impossible. They just give you a headache at the end of the day." It was very good to hear how seriously the forge took their higher level crafting techniques. However Walker still did not want to have his party''s gear crafted here.


    Rodney touched the door in a few ces changing the flow of magic in the runes. After another moment it ceased its magical glow and the door swung open. This was a pretty cool magic which Walker thought maye in handy one day. He made a mental note to ask more about itter if he had a vault made in the mansion, who knows what he may want to store closer to home.


    The room inside was filled with more tools than anything. Various hammers and shaping tools were hung upon the walls. There were many different sized anvils and stools. The amount of coal in one corner seemed enough tost for five smiths. There was even a smaller table filled with an array of files and sharpening tools. With all of these a cksmith would be hard pressed to find a reason to leave. This was obviously a huge benefit for those with unique skills or high levels.


    Walker seemed to be missing something, wasn''t there supposed to be a cksmith in here? Rodney had left Walker standing by the door observing while he approached the coal pile. With a quick grab Rodney had started shoveling aside the coal. Curious as to why Walker moved over to him.


    One coal dust covered arm soon became unveiled, then another. Next a leg, then the second. Lastly a head without a single hair appeared, there was a man that had been sleeping in the coal pile! His body seemed very thin but still showed plenty of muscle enough to forge metals in to shape. The only other defining feature seemed to be a pair of round goggles that covered his eyes. Other than that he wore simple cksmith gear, leather heat resistant apron and gloves along with thick pants and boots. If Walker were to try and guess what level he was he would say somewhat low, but since Rodney was so intent on waking this man up he must be incredible.


    "Walker I would like to introduce you to our wandering cksmith! Sir this is Walker he is looking for someone to co,e to their party''s mansion to craft some things." Walker had thought the man to still be asleep but was proven wrong when he tilted his head a bit to get a look at him.


    "It''s nice to meet you, what Rodney has said is true. We require someone with your skills to forge some of our new gear, we have some unique materials that we can''t manipte at the moment." This seemed to have gotten the man''s interests. With an outstretched hand he obviously wanted to see the materials.


    Walker gave a look to Rodney who was too excited and hopeful to send away. "Rodney, this does not leave this room understood?"


    "Yes yes of course. The memories from this will be sealed, they''ll never see the light of day again." Walker would have to remind him again to be safeter. He pulled one of the bronze dragon scales and a single piece of the orichalcum ore from his inventory. The wandering cksmith took both in to his hands and started examining them. The strange actions he took while looking at them ranged from tapping them, to shining it with his sleeve, and even biting it once or twice.


    "Umm" Walker was about to ask why the wandering cksmith was doing these things when he suddenly ced the two materials back in to Walker''s hands. He quickly started to gather tools and ce them in to a backpack that looked like it would topple him over if he put it on his shoulders. After taking over a dozen tools he pointed to Rodney and then the coal pile.


    "Yes I will have that pile delivered to the mansion as well." The wandering cksmith held up two fingers on one hand. "Two piles, understood. Walker, he has agreed to journey with you to your mansion. He will most likely stay as long as you need. I know you said you want to get more materials but he will need time to prepare the forge to his liking anyways so do not rush. I will personallye to make sure that things are delivered properly." Walker could not argue with this, it was naturally what he had wanted to aplish, it just seemed too fast. That and he noticed that Rodney was definitely using this delivery as a way to snake away and watch those wandering cksmith craft.


    "Well sounds fine to me, just remember that this stays between us. May I ask your name?" The wandering cksmith smiled showing that even his teeth were stained with coal dust from sleeping in the pile. He shook his head refusing to give up his name or even speak a word. How weird this guy was sleeping in coal and not even speaking. Should I use it all around appraisal skill? This question was stuck on Walker''s mind, but he decided against it so he could respect the cksmith''s wishes.


    "He is a very humble cksmith, he never gives his name. This is another unique trait only he has, "In a hushed tone, "just go with it." Rodney set top gathering the coal pile in to a proper shape to be transported while Walker was left to guide his new guest back to the mansion.


    Walker stored away the materials he had taken out and headed down the same stairs he hade up. When he reached the bottom the wandering cksmith pulled him down a different hallway to a rear door. This was the back exist that was only used for deliveries, it seemed that he did not want anyone interruptingthem


    "Well, we have an old forge that has not seen much use, we got most of the old rusted tools reced but it''s pretty sad. I do not have cksmith skills yet so I can not really use it. I may try to learn some while you''re around though as long as you do not mind." The wandering cksmith shook his head showing that he did not mind at all. "We will need a decent amount of gears and weapons. Thergest in size will be two shields that our defender has drawn up. Of course any ns we give you are open to adjustment if you find them improper." The wandering cksmith needed this but did not seem to be deterred in the least.


    Walker felt strange having an entire conversation by himself but figured he would fill the silence by exining more of what they needed.

 Chapter 230 - 230. Materials

    Through the entire walk Walker had exined every single piece of gear and weapon he was aiming to have made. He did not share his ideas to use Midnight''s possible fire breath since Walker intended on trying to train with her tomorrow to figure things out. The wandering cksmith seemed to look a bit happier knowing he had arge to do list in front of him. It even seemed that every time the forge at the mansion was mentioned he smiled a bit more. It would be an easily proven theory that he liked to go to new forges and that may be one reason he traveled around.


    Having finished up their conversation and nearly reached the mansion Walker pointed out the growing building that would be his temporary home. "We have plenty of spare rooms so feel free to im one while you are here. Also do not be a stranger ande eat with us. We have plenty of food every night." Walker stopped realizing there were a decent amount of crates waiting just inside the front gate. Su and Remey were shifting them around but stopped when they saw Walker.


    "Leader! The guild just dropped off the horned rabbit meat and the materials from the greater ice imp. We have the high water mana crystal here." Su had a smaller crate that seemed very isted and even had a thinyer of frost on it. The wandering cksmith saw this and almost ran to where Su was, trying to get a look inside the crate.


    "Su don''t worry, that''s the man that will be helping us in the forge. He is normally a wandering cksmith and has some unique abilities ording to Rodney." Su had tensed up suddenly but rxed having heard of Walker''s sess in finding a cksmith for them.


    "It is nice to meet you sir. I am Su, I will trouble you for some shields." The wandering cksmith was too focused on the crate and was already taking off the lid. The sudden burst of cool air as the lid came open made them all shiver. This did not deter the four of them from taking a closer look though.


    The high water element mana crystal was easily triple the size of a normal water mana crystal. The manaing from it causes the air to seem to be freezing around it. Not a single one of them felt that they should even dare to touch it, even the usually courageous Remey knew she would not risk a touch. Surprisingly the wandering cksmith grabbed it with his gloves and waspletely unaffected. He turned it around and around in his hands to see the light shining through it before giving a slight nod and putting it back in the crate.


    He pointed at the crystal and at his hammer, "If you want to use it you can, I am not sure what you can do with it but we were just going to sell it." The cksmith shook his head vigorously closing the lid to the crate and taking it in his hands. "Of course though since you want to use it we would not dare to sell it."This made him smile again while clutching the crate tighter.


    Remey looked at the cksmith and thought before she spoke, this man''s actions reminded her of some of the younger boys when they were still learning to speak properly. " I will need you to make the light weight flexible armor for me and some gloves to protect my arms. I will leave the other things to your." Remey seemed in a pretty good mood today, she happened to have some of her ideas for designs already drawn out and handed hi, a piece of paper from her pocket. The wandering cksmith grabbed it with a hand while the other bnced the crate.


    The cksmith scanned it and nodded or shook his head a few times. Not a single on of them understood what he was reacting too but they could tell he wasmitting it all to memory. After just another moment he returned the paper to Remey and looked back to Walker. "Would you like to find a room?" The shaking of the wandering cksmiths head proved that this was not what he was after. "Then you must want to see the forge?" The cksmith smiled and waited for Walker to lead the way.


    "Well I am going to show our guest the forge, I wille back to help with this soon." Walker headed toward the side of the mansion with the forge attached leaving Su and Remey to the crates. "That man was pretty odd, he needs a good bath." Su was curious how someone so covered in coal dust could deal with the feeling of being dirty.


    "He reminds me of my younger brothers before they learned to speak well. I think he will surprise us." It was rare for Remey to say something like this which tripped Su up a bit. "Come on, if you don''t put your back in to it I will have more brought inside to the kitchen than you!" Remey made it a little game for them to y, this made Su double her efforts and follow after her.


    This is out little forge, I know it is not what you are used to but it is pretty amazing to us." The wandering cksmith seemed to not hear a single word as he started to examine every nook and cranny. There was not a single corner that went without his touch. Every tool needed to be checked for quality and use. This thorough examination made Walker feel like this man was on a whole other level than any other professional cksmith he had ever met before.


    The crate had been set down on a work table quickly causing more frost to build up. "Now that we have gotten here and are away from prying eyes I would also like to add something that we n to use in forging.'' Walker braced himself for the wandering cksmith''s possible fractions. "Our other party member is a younger dragon, she only had a single use fireball attack but we will be training all day tomorrow to try and unlock a fire breath skill. We n to use her mes to a degree in the forging process." This stopped the wandering cksmith in his tracks.


    Stopping his examinationspletely the wandering cksmith moved directly to where he would be cing the metals to melt in the forge fires. He checked the thickness and size of the inside trying to judge just what king of abuse it could take. Taking a much longer time to check it all than Walker had expected the wandering cksmith came to stand in front of him. He grabbed Walker''s hand and gave it a firm handshake, Walker had half a thought that he was about to lose the cksmith he had just recruited.


    His thoughts were proven false when the wandering cksmith started to unload his tools in the next moment. It looked like Walker had just sealed the deal by telling him he would be crafting in dragon fire. For someone who had forged in literal magma he must have high tastes for what kind of forging he did with what kind of fuel. Walker left him to get settled,pletely confused by how this strange cksmith thought.


    Walker made his way to the pile of crates only to find that thest two that were left contained the skin and bones from the greeted ice imp. Su and Remey had left these for him to bring to the forge for the wandering cksmith. Using his own strength he took two trips to carry them over and ce them on the work table. By the time Walker was back with the second crate full of the bones the wandering cksmith had already pulled out the sin and was examining it for toughness. The portion he was testing seemed to easily resist his tools. Walker was willing to ce a bet that these would somehow y in to Remey''s armor and gloves.


    He did not look at all interested in the bones even though Walker opened the box himself to show them off. "Should we sell these bones then?" The wandering cksmith looked at him and gave a nod. This was all Walker needed to store them away for the VIP auction.


    "Well this time I will actually leave you to it. Walker headed out seeing that the wandering cksmith had gone back to setting up his tools. He felt a growing feeling of excitement knowing that he would have a bunch of new gear and possible skills in the future. Now all he had was hopes that him and Midnight could train well and figure it a good fire breath skill for her.


    Later in the night Walker had noticed that the wandering cksmith did note inside for dinner. He brought a te with a bunch of food on it to the forge only to find that the man had fallen asleep at the work table. The tools have been rearranged in to better efficient positions. The forge itself looked ready to be used at any moment. There were some tools left on the work table that seemed to be set aside for maintenance. Happy to see this Walker had a feeling he had lucked out on someone that really took their system skills with passion and dedication. Leaving the food on the table he decided to call it a night so he could wake up early and train with Midnight. Dreams of dragon fire danced through his mind while he slept.

 Chapter 231 - 231. Light A Spark

    Once Walker had gotten himself awake and ready for the day it was time to hunt for where Midnight was sleeping. He noticed that Onyx was not in his tattoo form and nowhere to be found. Walker wanted to know where he had wandered off to but decided to leave it be, it was time to get training!


    Checking the kitchen first Walker found only a few snacks to eat while wandering the mansion. The next destination was the firece in the dining hall, he knew that this was also a favorite napping spot for the cute dragon.


    Surprisingly he found that Midnight was not there either, the embers were barely burning in the firece showing that no one had been there to stoke it up for some time. With a puzzled expression he decided to check outside, maybe she had gone to the forge for some reason. The wandering cksmith could have heated things up to experiments with the environment.


    Walker left out the back door and barely made it ten steps before he noticed Midnight in the slightly muddy training field. She was pping her wings in strong up and down motions slightly lifting off the ground with each attempt. Her wings had been getting thicker and more developed thesest few days since she had been practicing every day. She had be enamored with flying after seeing Ste and Elise both aplish it multiple times.


    She would only get about an inch off the ground before she would touch back down but Walker could see just how fast she was developing. It was only a short while ago that she was only able to open and close her wings, let alone still had all her baby scales.


    Keeping his distance Walker waited until it looked like Midnight had reached a breaking period. Once she had stopped and regained her breath he made his move forward. "Good morning Midnight! You look like you''re really starting to get the hang of things!" Midnight puffed up her chest happily hearing his praise. Walker wanted to make sure he yed to her pride as much as possible so that she would be even more motivated to figure out a fire breath skill.


    Midnight had already learned a ck fireball skill but it had too many downsides. On top of consuming all her mana and leaving herpletely defenseless it was also a one shot skill. If the ck fire ball was to miss or not finish off her opponent it was basically signing her own death certificate.


    "Are you still up for some more training? I have thest of the darkness crystals and can try and manipte some fire with my skills. If we can figure out a me breath attack you can help out our wandering cksmith friend who seems to have slept all night in the forge." Hearing that Walker was going to give her the remaining darkness crystals already energized her, but having the goal to have her own fire breath attack like she had seen at the tamer''s guild was even more so.


    She nearly tackled Walker as she tried to get him to hand over the darkness crystals sooner. "Alright, alright, I will get them out don''t worry." Laughing at her actions Walker took the remaining darkness crystals from his storage along with a damaged piece of rib bone from the greater ice imp. He figured that the greater ice imp was a strong opponent and if she ate the bone it could help her strengthen her scales some more.


    Midnight made quick work of the darkness crystals, her teeth shattering them in her mouth. The wisps of darkness elemental mana flowed around her, while she absorbed it there seemed to be a strong aura growing within her. The damaged rib bone served as her dessert, Midnight easily chomped down on it making it seem like she was eating candy. The wisps of darkness elemental mana seemed to have a few strands of bone white mixed in as they faded in to her scales.


    Walker watched this process trying to grasp the flow of mana from crystal to living being. This was not something every monster was able to do and served as valuable experiences for those that needed to understand a certain element. Walker had not made much effort to learn darkness elemental mana but had a solid grasp on it due to his connection with Midnight. He knew that it was much like the light elemental mana which was part of ever day life. It would fade in strength during the brightest time of day and increase during the darkest period of night. The darkness elemental mana was fleeting and could show up easily but also disappear easily, Walker could almost describe it as slippery.


    The shadows around Midnight and Walker seemed to be drawn to her while she was stationary, this was the finishing of her little meal of crystals and bone. She had fully absorbed the mana from the crystals and stabilized her own inner energy. This process had only taken her a little over an hour which just went to show how focused she was on her own training. Midnight could feel that there was a huge amount of energy built up within her chest.


    "There we go, looks like you are ready to train! I am going to get a fire started and we can both try to manipte it with our mana." Walker''s n was simple, start a fire and have Midnight try to breath some darkness mana from her body in to it. After she had control of that she could use her internal mes to do the same and create a ck me breath attack.


    Walker gathered some wood from old training dummies and a pile near the walls. The fire he started was not toorge but wouldst long enough to them both to take their time experimenting."Midnight I am going to try and mix the fire mana with the dark mana and see if I can make a ck me. Try to release small amounts of your own darkness mana in to the me too. Just small amounts, it doesn''t all need toe out at once like your ck fire ball." Midnight looked like she understood and got right next to the growing mes.


    She was almost touching the mes with her face, Walker was constantly amazed by her natural resistance to fire since she always slept almost on top of the fire in the firece. He could easily see her making a next in the embers if she was ever cold.


    Walker himself started by watching the shadows that seemed to dance with the mes. They moved freely like the mes did almost like the light given off by the fire was chasing the shadows. This made Walker realized that fire was not necessarily the same as the light element but the two being so closely rted would make it much harder to nd fire and darkness. He decided to start with manipting the shadows that were cast in to bing denser. The mana he used was almost so small that it did not even register as a single point, it was regenerated before he even really noticed. The affinity he had for darkness element mana since Midnight had consumed a lot of the condensed understanding was much higher.


    The shadows became almost as dense and dark as the night sky, they were able to fend off the lighting from the fire, however this was not Walker''s goal, he instead wanted them to wee the heat of the fire. He first tried to bring mes without any adjustment toward the dark shadows. The results were not as he desired, the mespletely dissipated after mixing with the dark shadows. The light element within them had been snuffed out and the fire inturn which was mixed in with it as well.


    Walker nced at Midnight who was having her own struggles, she would puff up her chest with a full breath and release it with some darkness mana all at once. This led to a puff of darkness infused air that would force the mes away from her mouth not mixing at all but constantly bending away. The darkness mana was proving to be a real pain to infuse with the fire on purpose. Seeing this Walker realized the the ck fireball skill must be an instinctual skill that Midnight''s species must learn and not one that they gained through experience, meaning that even she did not have a grasp on how the mes became mixed with the dark mana.


    Midnight was working hard ion slowly releasing her breath, she needed to forcefully slow the release of the mana she built up. Walker wanted to help her but realized that he had no skill that would act as a support for her at the moment. Sadly the two of them needed to work out how to do this on their own and once they seeded then maybe they could give the other some guidance.

 Chapter 232 - 232. Decay

    Wanting to beat Midnight to the punch Walker focused on condensing some shadows even more, this time he was going to try and use the mes to send only the pure fire elemental mana to the shadows. This seemed to be working a little at first. The me elemental mana was heating up the shadows so much that Walked felt the at the shadows could actually burn him if he were to touch them. The problem was that the second he tried to change the shadows and fire element mix shape it split apart again in to two separate elements again losing any semnce of fusion.


    Taking another shot at it he repeated the process but this time thought that he would let a little light element rotate around the shape of the me he wanted to make. If it was really so much so that the light and dark elemental mana chased each other would it work that the light elemental mana would help to hold the darkness and fire together? This was what he asked himself while the shadows started to mix with the fire. The two mana had reached the same hot shadows and before but not some of the light elemental mana from the fire was being pulled in a thin membrane around the ball shape Walker wanted.


    The shape was holding up so far the heat was still there. The light element was not beingpletely sniffed out by the dark. The fire elemental mana was not being dragged by the light element in to the ball of shadow more and more. Just as Walker thought there would be a breakthrough and the darkness elemental mana would be mes the light elemental mana was pushed away by the darkness elemental mana. The two had be out of bnce and caused the ball to fall apart.


    Walker took a second to breath and found that Midnight was almost in a meditative state birthing in and out very slowly. It looked as if she was practicing using the mana within her breath. She had given up on mixing it with mes for now since she realized that she had no control over the strength of the mana she released. Walker could tell that she was taking great effort to slow the flow when she built the mana up. It took her entire body''s strength to make the mana flow the way she desired it to.


    Not wanting to be outdone in terms of effort Walker tried his experiment again. This time he acted more carefully like Midnight was doing with her mana. He was consuming more of his own mana to manipte the three elements this time by taking longer. However when he got to the stage where he had the light elemental mana flowing around the heated shadow ball everything was more stable. The heat was being drawn in by the light elemental mana but at a slower rate. The bnce was in check and the shadows were heating up to higher and higher temperatures. The feeling of being burned asing stronger and stronger to his exposed skin.


    With a burst of me the ball had turned in to a pitch ck fire. He had seeded in controlling the three elemental manas to create a ck fireball in his hand. The fire elemental mana was the joining factor between the light and dark mana. The light mana was mixed in with every lick of me making the darkness mana stand out. The two were dancing with each other in a perfect bnce, when one element would push the other would push back.


    '' The user had gained a triple elemental skill due to their use of the elemental maniption skill. The skill ck me creation has been learned.


    ck me creation- 2 mana cost


    ck mes are a fusion of three elements. They are very hard to extinguish in the night and in the daylight. They not only can purify the darkness but also corrupt the light. Burns left by these ck mes do not only cause damage to the opponent but will also leave a longer term decaying effect.''


    This was what he was after, he had seeded in blending the three elements together to create his skill. This ck me was not to be messed with, it was simr to his other me skill evil consuming me. This ck me could purify darkness as well but in a different way. The difference was it could also harm light elements as well by using the darkness element it was made in to. The fact that the burns would leave a decaying effect was very scary to think about, if an enemy escaped after being harmed by these mes they would slowly have their injury decay way until their death. This was both good and bad, it could irritate and anger a strong opponent that could handle the first attack. On the reverse it could also help deal with opponents that ran away after being harmed, with Gil tracking them they could find the opponent and collect the defeated body or finish it off.


    Midnight had stopped her controlled breathing as was staring at the mes in Walkers grasp, she was not moving a single muscle. Walker almost said something but realized she was having some kind of breakthrough of her own. Midnight stayed like this for a few minutes before cautiously stepping towards the mes in his hands. She hesitantly brought her face close to them and breathed out very slowly. The mana she breathed out reacted instantly causing a s,all me to wish out. This was the start of her own goal.


    Walker did not dare to extinguish the me but instead started to work on keeping control of it while using the least amount of mana possible. He started to develop more and more control while Midnight slowly breathed in and out practicing the soft woosh of ck mes again and again. Neither of them noticed the wandering cksmith that had leaned up against the wall of the mansion to watch this spectacle.


    The two of them maintained this for arge amount of time, Midnight had started to release more and more mana at once making the small woosh turn in to a foot long ck fire ze. The fire Walker had started previously and hadpletely turned ck with their control. Midnight took arger breath inwards preparing to release more of her own mana than she had done before. Walker swore he saw some for the ck mes be inhaled when she was breathing in. To test his theory he extinguished his ck mes before Midnight could stop herself.


    Midnight breathed out with force, there were not wisps of darkness mana but instead full on ck mes. The were very spread out but were indeed what she wanted to do. Midnight jumped around seeing her sess and tackled Walker to his back. The two rolled on the ground in excitement before waves of exhaustion started to ovee them. They had been at this for hours practicing.


    The two were breathing heavily feeling rather pleased with the work the had put in, the sun had risen and started to fall all the while. The sound of pping brought them both back to a sitting up potion. The wandering cksmith was smiling widely still covered in coal dust but seemingly more energetic than he had been the precious day. He came over to the two of them and patted Walker and Midnight in the back. They realized that he had just witnessed their aplishment.


    Walker felt a bit embarrassed but Midnight straightened her necks a nit d that she was being recognized for her efforts. The wandering cksmith gave them both a nid and headed back towards the forge, after a little time the sounds of hammering could be heard. No smoke was leaving the smoke stack from the forge leading Walker to believe that the wandering cksmith and started to make some modifications after witnessing the kinds of mes he would be forging in. They had really found a strange cksmith to help them out, but he was extremely dedicated.


    Now that the two had gotten an understanding of their skills Walker took a look at Midnight''s learned skill,


    '' Decaying me breath- 5 mana cost (Changes with duration)


    The cks mes expelled through the natural mes within carry a strong decay that eats away at the body of those damaged but it. The user can extend the duration of this breath attack by taking a deeper breath and infusingrger amounts of mana. The mes can burn hot enough to leave severe burns.''


    Reading this out loud Walker had spurred Midnight to stand up and prance about in victory, she was waiting for Walker to praise her. " Congrattions on getting your fire breath skill! Now we can practice the next few days before the VIP auctions and master it." This made Midnight more excited since she was one step closer to being the powerful dragon like she had met at the tamers guild.

 Chapter 233 - 233. Balancing Mana

    The pair made sure the fire was not burning at all anymore and made their way inside. Now that they were done Walker noticed they had both be covered in grey ash, The fire he had started was constantly raining ash on them while they focused, they had been too distracted to notice this. Since this was the case the two headed off to clean up. They were extremely hungry having skipped lunch and pushed in to dinner, however it was well worth the entire day spent trying to figure out how to meld these elements in to a form they could use.


    Finding that everyone was already at the table the two jumped in eating before saying anything to anyone. They got a few worried looks but Gil who had headed out to the training field when he had woken up saw that the two were hard at work training, so he had taken it upon himself to keep everyone away from disturbing them. He knew that this was an important task for the two of them to develop their skills. This would not only make the two of them stronger but also the entire party.


    The addition of the decaying mes Midnight would be practicing on the gear forged was anybody''s guess, the only person that seemed to have an idea was the wandering cksmith who had started altering the forge at a rapid pace. He knew the ins and outs of different elements'' effects on the materials he would use. Thus the party would allow him free reign to make whatever changes that were necessary.


    After the two had taken their fill and dinner had started to die down Hilda shooed them away to bed, she was still Walker''s mother and she swore up and down that after training all day he needed rest. Midnight being part of the family was also forced off to sleep, however she was not as deterred as Walker was since she liked to nap after eating anyway. After a but more pushing Walker gave in and let sleep take him.


    Feeling a nudge to his shoulder Walker woke up before the sun had even started to rise. Midnight was pushing her head in to his shoulder trying to wake him up. Onyx was wrapped in a coil on her back and immediately ryed her full desire. "Sister says it is the perfect time to train her new skill."


    Walker wondered why it was the perfect time to train her skills now but not feeling too tired he started to get up without arguing. The three of them went downstairs and outside to the dark training field. The moon was just starting to set over the horizon making it extremely early in the morning. Midnight had woken him up well before the sun would rise. "Brother can you make one of the light orbs for me to eat? I am still hungry since it is too early for me to properly enjoy the sun." Walker obliged onyx and made ten of the yellow light orbs for him to eat. "Thank you brother." Onyx greedily snapped them up before wrapping himself around Walker''s shoulders and watching him and Midnight prepare a small fire.


    As the fire started to grow the two of them took up spots like they had before. The difference this time was that Walker was able to use the ck me skill to create a ck fire ball in his hands. Much to his surprise the me dissipated almost instantly. This was not as easy as it had been before. Walker looked to Midnight who also was struggling, her decaying breath skill was much smaller and needed much more of the fire they had built to support it.


    "Are we failing because there isn''t enough light mana around to keep the ck mes bnced?" Walker mumbled this out loud while creating another ball of ck mes. This time she used his mana maniption to pull more light elemental mana near. It proved to still be ineffective though. Walker decided that he needed to increase the draw of the light elemental mana more so he created a few of the yellow light orbs he had made before. " Leave these ones for now, I need them to test a theory."


    Creating yet another ck mes Walker pulled the higher amount of light elemental mana towards it finally bncing out the mes. This skill had now proven to be more delicate than he expected. The naturally stronger dark elemental mana was easily flowing to the mes since it was darker at this time of night. The light elemental mana was only brought out from the moon and stars so there was not as much around.


    Midnight had given up on forcing out more of the mes but instead tried to concentrate the ones she could make. There was already a noticeable difference, instead of spreading out in a wide arc the mes were now being sent out in a small stream at greater distance. The mes that had been orange and yellow on their fire were not dancing with a bit of darkness. This was another change from the previous day, The higher light elemental mana from the day had made the darkness elemental mana stand out in the, not the opposite was happening twitch the light elemental mana. Walker was not sure how to use this to his advantage.


    It was obvious that in the height of day that the light element spells would be strongest. The same was said for darkness element spells at the peak of night. This may be the perfect chance for him to try and practice some dark elemental skills. He had some that he refused to use because of their danger such as the mana destion skill which was indeed of the darkness element. The fact that it destroyed the targets mana system was just too dangerous to use around any of his party. So it was time to manipte the shadows.


    Onyx watched intently as Walker released his ck mes and instead started to manipte the dark elemental mana in the shadows to condense in to a solid ball of pure darkness. Onyx was a bit fearful of this since it was the opposite of what he would normally eat. The thing was he could hide in shadows in tattoo form and even had an affinity for darkness mana, it almost called to him. "Brother hold that ball of darkness there." Onyx slowly moved from Walker''s shoulder and tried to touch the ball of darkness. His nose tipped it slightly and the ball seemed to stick to him like glue. It melted over his entire body making him nearly pitch ck with no shine on his scales at all.


    Onyx immediately snapped out eating the yellow light orbs that Walker had created. There was still no light shine on Onyx''s scales like usual, "Brother I need more light." The voice Onyx used to ry this message was desperate, Walker responded by creating a yellow light orb after yellow light obs. Onyx ate them all up until a slight shine started to show through his scales. "Brother, I was able to understand something about myself. The darkness elemental mana can bnce in my body as well as the light elemental mana."


    Onyx seemed to be switching between the two different elements on his scales to bnce them, Walker was surprised that he had found a way to practice his own affinities for the two elements without using skills. This was purely manipting mana within his body now something anyone could do.


    Walker returned to creating his shadow ball while keeping an eye on Onyx and Midnight who both were practicing their own ways. The ball of darkness was not at all like the light orbs, it was able to change shape much easier as if it did not need a form to exist. This must be why shadows could seemingly copy any shape in reference to the light around something.


    Walker shaped the dark ball of mana, he first made a spike that looks sharp but his hand actually moved through it when he tried to touch it. This spike wasn''t really there because the darkness elemental mana was not condensed enough. Walker focused more of his mana in to manipting the element to try and achieve this. Slowly the deeper the darkness grew the more physical the shadow spike seemed to be.


    Time passed as they all experimented with the different elements manas, Walker finally felt resistance from the dark elemental spike after taking over an hour to condense it. Darkness elemental mana did not seem to want to stay in a solid form and was trying to spread out again. Walker wondered why this was the case when light elemental mana easily condensed, could it be because light elemental mana was always flowing through the air? While darkness elemental man shifted and spread out as big as it could at all times? Walker was left with so many more questions than he had started with looking at the darkness elemental spike.

 Chapter 234 - 234. Remey Goes Out

    '' The user has learned the skill shadow spike through experimentation with the elemental maniption skill.


    Shadow spike- 4 mana cost


    The user controls the existing shadows to form a sharp spike. This takes a significant amount of time to properly form. The target damaged with this spike is inflicted with strong decay that is nearly impossible to purify without a high amount of light elemental mana.''


    At first nce Walker was not impressed by this skill in the least. What point of the battle would he be able to take up his time to create such a spike. However he was thinking in the wrong way, this skill was not for when he was in a battle but before it started!


    Walker found that this skill would best be used when he had the chance to catch an enemy off guards before they had spotted him. Not only would he be able to cause some damage to the enemy but it would also ce a huge amount of decay on them which would slowly eat at the enemy''s health. This effect would be very useful against strong opponents that took time to deal with, Walker could already see Su holding off an opponent that was decaying away until it copsed. This could be his easy but time consuming tank buster.


    The only other party member that could use this skill better would have been Midnight who is more geared towards sneaking up and defeating opponents. Unfortunately she was limited in what skills she could learn. This was just the way the world worked. However this did not mean she could not do something simr with her decaying breath. The new strategy to wait out a tough opponent could prove invaluable. One drawback dide to mind though.


    The party had been very lucky to keep monster bodies to sell or use as food. There were also the ones that were materials for crafting. If they inflicted decay on them then the bodies would have the potential to be useless to them in any way. Walker would need to somehow have enough light mana and a purification skill. This seemed too far-fetched to use in a dimly lit forest where the darkness mana would end up more powerful anyways.


    Coming back to reality Walker saw that Onyx had curled up and looked much more normal that he had before. Onyx hadpletely adjusted his body and bnced out the two conflicting manas. There were some differences that could be seen clearly though, his scales were much darker than before. Walkerpared them to staring in to an abyss, this really fit the name for his species. There was also a bit of light that would glint in Onyx''s eyes if he looked close enough. Walker was sure that this was the remaining light elemental mana he had consumed that he was using to bnce things out.


    Midnight was also having a bit more luck, The mes that came form her mouth had grown in size and strength. Instead of the small ones that needed the assistance of the fire Walker had made she was creating her own again. This was a much more difficult process but since her and Walker knew the basics from the prior training they had progressed more easily.


    While the sun had started to rise above the horizon bringing light to the training fields Walker found it bing much more difficult to create the shadow spike. He spent some time practicing this skill to see if he could make it appear within the shadows from a distance. Sadly he needed to be in contact with shadows himself for the skill to make any spike at all. On top of this he found that his hand would not make any contact now that the sun was rising. The shadow spike that he was fearful to touch was nothing but a shadow in the shape of a spike and nothing more.


    Walker saw Midnight struggling to adjust her mes and decided he would return to practicing the ck mes as the sun rose as well. Onyx was coiled up enjoying his morning meal of sunlight, his body warm and bnced as it should be. The three nned to train the day away.


    While Walker was busy training Remey had decided to do a few things herself. She had always hated the fact that she could not create potions that would heal fevers or help someone sleep at night when they were stressed by growing pains. She could only make small shelves and teas that she had learned from the alchemist buildings alchemists. She had taken too much time learning these things when she was younger and realized that with Walker''s help she would be able to put her hard earned knowledge to use.


    She had decided that she would make sure the alchemy room was in perfect shape for when Walker had the fresh herbs from the garden. Nothing would stop her in this respect, She decided to visit the old man at the alchemist building, she did not care for a second that she would be interrupting his new experiments with the pure water he had gotten from their previous visit.


    Making sure to keep to herself Remey headed out towards the alchemist building. She saw that Walker was too focused on the ck mes in his hands to even notice her. The only one that seemed to catch her leaving the mansion from the back door was Onyx. She held up her finisher to make a shush motion. Onyx responded with a little head bob before resting again watching Midnight breath small ck mes.


    Remey told herself that she would find the best light crystals for Onyx when she had the chance as a thank you. Her trip was fairly uninterrupted, she walked to the lower tier of the city feeling back at home. She had ran around the streets with her siblings getting in to plenty of trouble and random brawls. The alleyways were just shortcuts to her that could take her to any ce she wanted without issue. She avoided any of the merchant stalls that were crowded and made some rounds towards the older stalls that were less visited.


    "Been a while kid,e to try and buy out all of my honey again?" There was an older woman who had caught Remey taking a look as she passed.


    "Psshh that honey was too expensive, no one else would have bought it I did you a favor." The retort was not as malicious as it would have sounded to the unknowing listener. The old woman showed a snaggle toothed grin before grabbing a small jar of yellow gold honey.


    "Here honey, take the honey." The old womanughed but ended up coughing a bit at the end. "I hope your little brothers are still doing well, no sore throats this time of year?"


    "Nope not a one! Since I started adventuring I have sent them some good money for food. I even had one of my party member''s mothers send some breads." The old woman handed Remey the small jar of honey the same grin on her face.


    "Good, no get along now before you scare more of my business away." The woman tried to put on a stern face but her smile was still indeed showing through.


    "Not that I wanted to stay anyways!" Remey picked up the pace, slipping the honey in to her pocket. The old woman was in a much better mood seeing that the little girl that had once begged for honey for her little brother''s sore throat was all grown up. She didn''t notice the gold coins on her table until muchter, there was no chance of catching up to Remey now.


    Remey went on like this only visiting stalls that had elderly or ill looking merchants. She had visited these stalls so many times since she was little that they would always recognize her in an instant. These merchants would start their conversations with the same harsh greetings that to an unknowing listener would be shouts to leave. To Remey these were the same warm greetings she had always heard from the same people who had given her ways to take care of those she loved.


    The orphanage had not always been on such solid ground, when Remey was young it was a rarity to get two full meals a day, now? She had worked hard and been able to help enough that the orphanage was considering adding another building. Times had really changed since she was little. These changes had allowed her to have the freedom to be an adventurer and make more money for her family. Just because she now lived somewhere else did not mean she was not still a child of the orphanage, it would always be her home.


    After visiting another three stalls and having random herbs or fruits stuffed in to her hands, Remey had sneakily left gold at every single one of them.

 Chapter 235 - 235.Visit The Old Man

    Remey''s feet eventually brought her to the alchemist building, she let herself in through the members entrance and headed up a set of stairs. Some younger members spotted her on the second floor and were dead set on kicking her out the second they saw her. It was obvious that she was not an alchemist in any way.


    "This area is for members only! You are trespassing somewhere you do not belong, leave before we call the guards and have you banned for life!" One of three alchemists barely at the age of twenty approached her just at the top of the stairs.


    "Who made you a master alchemist huh? You three look like apprentices at best. You can''t even enter the third floor you''re too dumb still." Remey was not a master of words and chose to insult them instead of exining that she had indeed been amember longer than they had.


    "Go get the master alchemist! We will have you banned for insulting us and trespassing." The tallest of the three stood there blocking the stairs upwards since he could see that Remey was trying to head that way.


    "I swear if you don''t move in ten seconds I will beat you until you forget what the word alchemy means. Better yet I will knock all the information about cotton fungus from your brain than feed it to you!."


    This threat caused the two remaining apprentices to bite their tongues, this intruder was throwing around knowledge on rare ingredients like she knew what they did. "Just because you have heard the name of something doesn''t change anything, I bet you can''t even tell us what it does!" The apprentice felt that he had just assured his dominance of the wannabe alchemist intruder.


    "Really? What idiot wouldn''t know?" Remey felt like she would have been getting further if she was talking to a wall than these two apprentices. "Cotton fungus absorbs moisture ten times its own size. If someone like you were to eat it you would be dehydrated and on death''s door in a half hour. The only way you could survive is if someone valued yourck of a brain enough to feed you some sky salts." Remey had just recited the knowledge like she had been reading from a textbook.


    The perfect description was enough to keep the apprentices at bay for a moment. Not just anyone would have learned such things since the two potion ingredients were rare and did note from any of the nearby areas. The cotton fungus was only found in the dry desserts past the mountains and the sky salts were found at the tops of mountains themselves near the sea.


    "She is exactly right!" The voice of a familiar man echoed through the hallways. "Now let''s figure out a proper punishment¡­.hmmm The three of you will be in charge of scrubbing every single cauldron in the rental rooms until they are all shiny and new." The old man finally stood behind the two other apprentices with the third behind him. "Brat what are you doing here? Did you even show them your que that you have as a member? I swear you never take it with you when youe here."


    The apprentices felt like they had switched worlds somehow, this intruder was actually a member? Even worse, their master knew her well enough to punish them for insulting her? "Well who else would Ie to bother? I need to get you to show me more good tricks before you fall in to your grave old man!" The insult was another p to the apprentices, if they dared to even speak in the time Remey used they would be punished for weeks.


    "Oho don''t worry, I will find a potion for immortality just so you have to see me every single time you walk through the door." The old man''s smile was vicious but his eyes were kind. "What are you three standing around for! Apologize then get off to scrubbing those cauldrons!" The three apprentices each gave Remey a proper apology then ran off. She knew they were not sincere since they did not really know who she was butas long as the annoyance was gone she did not care too much. "Lets go to my own littleb, you can watch as usual." The two of them climbed to the third floor which was reserved for the alchemists who ran the building. Their private alchemybs were here. Only those with membership and permission could walk this floor. The only other floor that was in the building was the fourth top floor.


    The fourth floor was only essible to the highest ranked alchemists in the building because it was where they stored their research notes. Remey had only been once but had seen a magical skill that lets any writing on any paper turn invisible to only the one who wrote it or one that was granted permission. The skill that did this was inscribed on to a special tform and would activate every time there was mana channeled through it. The old man had once told Remey that the founder of the alchemist building possessed this skill and left it for them all to use in the future.


    " So how many of those vials have you used on yourtest experiment? Any good progress?" Remey and the old man had entered in to a medium sized room full of various tools. There were beakers and test tubes above burners fitted with fire crystals that created small heat sources. The smell of burning herbs was strong but to Remey it was much more weing than anyone else would find it. The drying herbs by a small window looked meticulously strung together for maximum quality. Remey remembered the many different varieties she had seen since she had firste to thisb. Therge cauldron on the middle of the room was fueled by arge amount of fire crystals at its base. The liquid inside was bubbling constantly showing Remey the various herbs that had been tossed in.


    "Eh nothing yet, those stupid merchants need to get moving and bring in wormwood and tulip bulbs so I can mix them in to a potion to boost eyesight. The product I have now is just a poisonous goop." Understandably unhappy with his current state the old man ruffled through various herbs from drawers that took up the whole wall of one side of the room. When Remey was little she believed that these drawers held the herbs that could cure any illness no matter how intense.


    ''You didn''t juste to watch today huh? You look like you visited a decent amount of the stalls like you used to whenever your siblings were sick. "The old man got deadly serious and looked at Remey in the eye, "What''s wrong?" He had seen this girl grow up in front of his eyes. She had been a nagging pain for him when she first showed up but eventually her rough personality matched his own along with his friends in the market. The resemnce was so close that a few of them had even started calling him her grandfather. But that was what he would get when a kid would follow him around pestering him about what herbs were good for chills, or fevers, or a runny nose.


    "Why would something be wrong? Huh?I can''t juste here and bring some stuff I was given." Remey acted stubborn as always but quickly started gathering a beaker and some water from a bucket. She opened the drawers like she had done many times tossing in a few small herbs along with some she had been given while visiting the stalls in the markets. She ces therge beaker on to a burner that was being heated by a fire element crystal.


    Once the water had started to simmer she opened the jar of honey to pour a bit into the simmering beaker. She pulled two small beakers from another drawer underneath a table and toured the brewed tea in to it making sure none of therge leaves came with the liquid. She shoved the tea in to the old man''s hands, "That should fix your throat, you know nobody wants to hear you yelling like that." It had been many years that the two had known each other and Remey had picked up a few tricks. This tea''s recipe was the best she could do to help someone who had raised their voice and harmed their vocal cord.


    "Only you ever notice that my voice gets rougher after yelling.'' The old man sipped the tea and enjoyed the sweetness of the honey, "Ha! That old bat had been hiding the best honey from me, I knew it!"


    Well why would she want to give it to you after you stepped on her cat''s tail, not once , but four times!" The old man could not angry, he had indeed stepped on her cat''s tail four times, as far as Remey knew, but it was actually five times now.

 Chapter 236 - 236. Another Dinner Guest

    "So you cane by the mansion some time to check out our ownb, the building on the side of the mansion is small and I need to know what to add to it to get it working."Remey broke the next silence between sips of tea.


    "I knew you wanted something, why do you want that? You epted you could not make potions years ago." The old man had taken a great deal of time to exin why a brawler would not be able to learn the people skills to control temperature and synthesize the potions. It was not only the process that needed to be followed to create a potion. There needed to be a proper infusion of mana at certain points that would dissolve herbs or cause liquids to evaporate.


    These were not the only skills that were needed, some herbs could only be properly stored by using skills that an alchemist system or simr system would have. If Remey had tried to dry out most of the herbs that were in the very room she was drinking tea in, the results would be a useless dried out weed.


    "I know that, but i have someone who can use the skills I don''t have." She was thinking about Walker who could be her hands while she had the knowledge of what motions and stamps were needed.


    "Ahh that boy with you before that wanted the dragon fruit the first time you brought him, he did seem to be fairly caught up in all the herbs."


    "Oh that was him using his appraisal skill to look at everything, he is super weird. For some reason the most basic things seem to excite him. I swear he is a chore." Remey so casually references that Walker had been using his appraisal skill, something that Walker had not realized she had picked up at the time and still would not figure out.


    "He has an appraisal skill, you sure made an interesting friend. First those angel wings and now pure water from a snow golem¡­" The old man pondered for some time on what he wanted to do. "I can make avisit your fancy mansion, but only after I sweep that auction clean of pure water. I went through a lot of trouble to convince that old fool upstairs to give me his ticket. It cost an entire crimson fang root!" The old man nearly choked on his tea as he admitted he had traded such a rare herb for a VIP auction ticket.


    "Good then we will drag you back to the mansion after the auction. Our party leader already invited the high priest from the cathedral over so we still will have a bunch of free rooms for you to pick for the night. We will have dinner so you can mooch off us for the night." Remey tried her best to not show that she was excited that the old man woulde. She was looking out the window as she said that he coulde to dinner as well.


    "High priest? Your friend isn''t a noble is he? I hate the type, can''t stand their high end attitude. They always expect miracle potions from basic ingredients." Remey shook her head no before she replied.


    "His father was a guard down here in the lower tier. He just got an interesting system and can do a lot of things. Plus now that we have titles all these nobles and royals are trying t get close with us. It''s just another pain, I want to get out on the move again, but since we were asked to go to another kingdom I would rather focus on alchemy for a while."


    "Ah it''s time!" The old man jumped up and started throwing different herbs in to his pot bingpletely absorbed into what he was making. Remey had seen him like this before and knew he could be at this for hours. She ced down her beaker of tea and left the excess herbs she had been given at the market. Remey snuck through the door and headed out the way she came.


    The old man was furiously adding things and mixing while adjusting the temperature. He had seen Remey leave and was rather happy that he had been invited, as far as he was concerned it was just as his friend at the market had teased, he was her grandfather.


    Remey made it outside and headed towards the orphanage, she couldn''t think of anywhere else to go now that she had taken care of her main goals for heading out in the first ce.


    ''Daily quest: patience is a virtue


    The orphans at the local orphanage always take pride in challenging you to a fight. This can cause trouble at times if the user is weak and gives in to the taunts. Fighting in any way will cause a failure of this daily quest.


    Requirements:


    Resist the taunts of the orphans for one hour


    Reward:


    20 exp''


    "Ugh what? But those monsters need a lesson." Remey was not happy with this, she had been on a huge winning streak in every brawl she got in to with her siblings, now she would have to give it up because of a quest?


    She desperately wanted to give up on this daily quest by the nagging feeling that she would be letting the whole entire party down by not taking this quest caused her to bite her lip and deal with it. She walked in to the front yard of the orphanage making note of where all her siblings were. One of the youngest boys ran over to her immediately jumping with all his might to tackle her. Remey expertly caught him and flung him over her shoulder.


    "You will need to get bigger before tackling and messing with me at all." Normally Remey would give him a hard lesson with her fist for a more dramatic move,the little boy was stuck in her shoulder powerless. She hadn''t even tried to fight him. The other orphans saw this and were totally convince that Remey was baiting them in for a big attack. They would need to bait her out so they could trick her in to their victory.


    "Stinky Remey is back!" One of the younger orphans shouted at her trying to get a reaction. Instead all he got was a re from Remey that stuck him to the spot. Over the years Remey had mastered this re that would strike fear in to the eyes of any misbehaving younger sibling. It was nearly on par with a mother''s re.


    The boy sealed his mouth shut and ran to hide under a bed. If Remey was in a bad mood then they would all need to hide away, she would easily bring down chores as punishment on anyone that was daring enough to cause her trouble.


    Remeylet go of the boy who had tried to tackle her, he ran off with a stuck out tongue most likely to n pout his next attack with the others. "Weren''t you just here the other day? Lin had seen hering through the door and was a bit frustrated to see Remey back again. "You should be out enjoying the world yet you show up to fuss over us all day. What does your party think when you are away the second you get back?"


    "They are busy training or with their own family. Why is it so bad that I am with mine?" Remey still had the feeling that there was a difference between her and the others. This mostly stemmed from the fact that they had their own parents of siblings. Remey had been in the orphanage as long as she could remember, this ce was her home and family.


    "Yes yes, I know you are the same as my daughter, That is why you need to get out of here and keep growing. I would hate for you to end up tied down afraid to leave here."


    Remey was not happy to hear this but she knew the words were out of Lin''s love for her. Lin had taken care of every single one of them since they came to the orphanage. Whether they were babies or toddlers each child was immediately a member of Lin''s family.


    "I just can''t sit here and let the orphanage waste away, you all deserve much better and I will make this the best ce in the entire kingdom! You want a new school house? I will get it. If you need more clothing, I will buy it. If someone is sick, I will make the medicine. And if anyone dares to harm any of you, I will beat them!" Remey let her feelings cry out to Lin in this moment. Lin had heard this a great many times but now she saw a new light in Remey''s eyes. A fire that had grown stronger than ever before.

 Chapter 237 - 237. Tantrum

    "I have a party behind me. We have so much now that we can afford to invest in a better future for everyone here. If anyone wants to go to the academy for the army I can get them in to the sses. If someone wants to be an alchemist I know a sneaky old man that can get them an apprenticeship. My party has a good rtion with the forge and even the tamer''s guild. Even the adventurer''s guild is an open door to them! If we have so much to give why can''t I give it?"


    Lin was proud to hear the girl she raised say these things but she also knew the weight that these words carried. The crushing pressure that could suffocate a person if they were not careful. "I hear you, but are you the only one in this family? What will you do when the young ones have grown up? Will you force them to stay and still take your charity? No, You need to be an individual too. You have already done so much, with your party meeting the high priest he looked in to where you were born and raised. He has sent more funds to get the orphanage back up to speed." This was evident in the cleaner front yard and the new additions already being built on to the orphanage. There were new nkets on every bed and even the floors seemed more shiny.


    "I just...what if you need me¡­" Remey had almost whispered this but Lin was sharp enough to catch it. She had learned the ins and outs of each child she had ever raised and Remey was no different.


    Lin ced her hand on Remey''s head, "This is still home, and you have done a lot for us. Just don''t try to do too much or else you will lose your new family members. You don''t have to give up one family for the other, your family just got bigger." Thus was enough to calm Remey down, she had been getting more and more easily aggravated in the past days because she had missed the orphanage. Now that she was there she had thrown herself under as much stress as Lin had when she had just started there years ago.


    With her piece said Lin headed off knowing that leaving Remey to think on this was the best course of action, she knew that she could not force Remey to do anything but she could give her the words she needed to understand. Remey herself headed towards their kitchen noticing that the pots and pans that had once been dented and broken were all reced with perfect new ones. The utensils all looked in good condition and were not the old wood spoons or forks they used to have but metal ones.


    Feeling a bit out if ce Remey fell in to the familiar motions of making tea, she had done this so many times to keep the younger siblings warm and full of nutrients during the winter that her body could make any tea without her needing to think on it. The smell filled the kitchen and drifted in to the rest of the orphanage. The only other person who had managed to make the tea was Lin and since the younger boys had seen Lin in the bedrooms they had found their target. Remey was always the most distracted while making food or drinks so they would try and strike now!


    The smaller boy out of the small group of three snuck up closer and closer hiding behind the entrance. The other two took a position on the opposite side of the door frame waiting for Remey to walk through, unfortunately for them they were too predictable. The nights on watch with the partybined with the days they spent looking for monsters in the ins had given Remey a sharp sense to where things may be hiding.


    She was easily snapped out of her daze and focused on the three, she knew the one boy would be back to take another shot, he would never learn. The problem was she couldn''t do anything just yet since the quest would be failed if she got in to a fight.


    Remey inhaled the sweet and rxing aroma of tea while she pushed the talk with Lin from her mind. The words that were spoken to her would be something she needed to think about alone, but she felt that there was a heavy truth to them.


    "Hmm this kitchen seems so dirty, I really need to find three or four people to clean it top to bottom. I wonder who will volunteer." She had used one of her trump cards, when she was growing up she had always been the one to support Lin in arranging chores. This fear of being given a big job like scrubbing grease out of the kitchen or sweeping all the floors in the building were just two examples of the evil Remey had brought on the younger siblings.


    The three boys looked at each other not sure if they could risk it, if they attacked Remey now then they could lose all their free time in the day. How would they go outside to hunt for bugs or y tag if they were too tired from scrubbing pots and pans, it just wasn''t possible.


    The look they shared was enough to tell each other they were going to back off for now, there would be more chances. Remey was silently grinning knowing that she had scared them off for now. Maybe this not punching thing was not as hard as she expected, all she needed was another half hour or so toplete her daily quest.


    "NOOO NO NO NO, I want to y with the it NOW!" There it was, the world''s worst part about living with a bunch of younger children; tantrums. The young girl''s voice pierced the air like a needle through cloth. Remey had watched her good mood fly off in that instant.


    cing her cup down she left the kitchen only to find that there were two of her siblings fighting over a stuffed bear. "It''s my turn! MINE!'''' The taller girl was viciously trying to tear the bear from her sister''s hands so that she could have it for herself while the younger girl was red faced and holding on to it for dear life.


    Remey watched the two pull at it knowing that neither was nning to share the stuffed animal at any time. This same fight had happened more times than she could count. She had once gone to the trouble to get a second stuffed bear but it had been ignored in favor of the one currently being brutalized by the two girls.


    The second Remey was about to cut in and take the bear a heart stopping tearing sound was heard. "You killed him you killed beary bear!" The younger girl released it and fell in to the floor. Her tears flowed like a river, the other girl just held on to the newly torn bear stunned. The minutes passed and even the older girl was not silently crying since her favorite toy was not broken too.


    "You two know better! You need to treat your toys with respect when this happens. What will we do now?" Remey used her hard tone to show how serious she was, the two girls who were crying looked at her in desperation.


    "IT"S-sss her Fault!" The younger girl sobbed out these words pointing at the older girl incriminating her.


    The other girl looked at Remey with a now equally red face. "No, ITS HER FAULT!"


    This annoying repeat scene happened every other day here between two or three of the orphans, it was just part of siblings growing up. "Give me the bear..Now" Remey held out a hand starling down the older girl. If she had not showed the harsh angry tone then the girl would have just run or thrown it and run. However when Remey showed this face and tone they knew not to fool around. The girl handed Remey the stuffed bear.


    "You my friend will be staying with me for a vacation while these two learn some respect." Remey tucked the bear in to her cloak and left the two alone.


    "She took him away." The older girl was stunned at the loss andck of punishment. But to the younger girl this was the worst possible punishment, now she would not be able to y with the bear and it was even ripped open showing its stuffing. The two cried more but to Remey this was the tough love they needed.


    She made a mental effort not to ask Lisa to sew the bear back to its former glory when she returned, she would also give it a good wash so that its fur might look less dingy. This bear had been around longer than Remey had after all.

 Chapter 238 - 238. Pacifist

    Once they had calmed down the girls shared what had happened to them with everyone else. Lin naturally overheard all of this and started humming to herself. Remey would normally jump in to punishment seeing these actions, but now she was acting much more mature. This was the exact action Lin would have taken had she found the situation unfolding. Little did she know Remey was biting her lip holding herself back toplete her quest.


    Although the nagging feeling that things might just be easier this way was bing stronger and stronger. Now that she had a small goal in repairing the teddy bear Remey looked at the system finding that there was only two minutes left until the quest wouldplete itself. She just needed to make it to the door.


    "Thus is MY win stinky Remey!" The same boy as before was running at her now to try and get her leg. He was totally alone and his trump card re had already been used. She started to move out of reflex to draw her fist back.


    "You need a lesson in manners huh!?" Remey wound up standing tall throttling her fist down towards her sibling. The boy realized that Remey wasing down with real force and had a face of terror. He could not stop his motion and would be right in the path of this punch.


    Just as the fist was about to connect Remey stopped, "Ha! You thought I would actually get you with everything I had?" The boy softly bumped in to her leg and fell on his butt. "Next time don''t shout out your attack, the element of surprise is much better in a real fight."


    ''Daily quest: patients is a virtue


    Requirements:


    Resist the taunts for the orphans for one hour-pleted


    Rewards:


    20exp multiplied to 200exp.''


    Remey let her fist softly pump his shoulder before she turned to leave out the door. She had finished the quest and felt very proud of herself. She hadn''t thrown a single punch or gotten in to a single fight but still had the feeling that she had aplished her duty as an older sister. Having heard Lin''s words she was sure that the orphanage was back on the up and up and would not be in any danger. This was the thing she wanted most and if she continued to work hard then she would be able to give them all the best of lives. Just because Lin said that she did not need to do anything more she couldn''t talk Remey out of doing everything.


    Patting the small bear she headed back home to the mansion. Her errands were done for the day and her family would be waiting for her to eat dinner. Plus who else would tease Walker for sitting outside all day ying with fire.


    When Remey had returned Lisa had jumped at the job of repairing the teddy bear, she even promised it would look as good as new.


    With a satisfied look she headed to drag Walker inside before he managed to exhaust all his mana. "Get you butt moving, how else are we going to get to start eating Miss. Hilda''s new recipe?!" Remey may not have had a way with words but she got Midnight''s attention which was enough to get her running inside. Onyx and Walker were slower but he stood up with a bit of extra effort. "Looking like an old man already huh?"


    "Pfft I''ve been sitting there all day training, what have you been up to?" Walker was still trying to shake out his stiff joints much to Remey''s amusements.


    "Ey nothing much, I invited the old man from the alchemist guild over for after the auction. He managed to get a ticket and wants toe to dinner. I will have him help me out in the alchemy workshop." Walker was pleasantly surprised that Remey had taken the initiative to get the alchemy workshop up to par for the work they would do in theing weeks and months.


    He was not sure what to say to this and instead nodded as they headed inside for dinner. He could not help but notice that Remey was walking with a bit more bounce in her step, what had put her in such a good mood?


    The meal had proven to be a hit, Hilda''s new spice blend on the horned rabbit legs would easily be one of her top dishes. Everyone managed to eat way too much and headed off to sleep for an early night.


    The morning came early. With the great breakthroughs in their control of the ck mes and Midnight''s decaying breath Walker had decided that today was a good day to head over to their forge and test out what Midnight could do. The pair found that their forge had been radically changed in thest day.


    The wandering cksmith was asleep at the table, an empty te still left from the dinner he had been brought the night before. He had been working on strengthening the forge since he had heard he would be able to forge in dragon''s mes. This was a fire that could easily cause massive damage to a forge because of the unique mana a dragon added to their mes, every single one was different. This simple fact was a reason that many who would fight against wild dragons would research the elements of said dragon was strong in so they could wear resistant gear and bring effective weapons.


    The wandering cksmith had seen that Midnight had darkness element in her me breath meaning that there would be a decaying effect. From his experience he knew that such fire could destroy the forge itself due to the wear and tear it put on the metal and tools. If he did not use his best techniques then he would be constantly looking at clumps of rusting metal.


    Walker was examining the reinforced forge and the tools that had been inscribed with patterns. The wandering cksmith had added runes to his tools to give them some added strength as well. His inspections had woken up the wandering cksmith who was stretching in his chair. Noticing that Walker was looking over the changes he pulled up a hammer and channeled mana through it bringing it down on an anvil. Walker was startled but soon in awe seeing the glow of the hammer meet the anvil and start to glow as well. The two had the same runes carved in to them.


    "AH, ehm...good morning there. I brought Midnight in case you wanted to test things out. It will also help her learn how to better control her decaying breath attack." The wandering smith nodded heavily. He also wanted to get some practice in since he had just finished all the reinforcements. He jumped in to action tossing some coal inside the forge.


    The wandering smith held out a hand and a small spark of me flew in to the forge lighting it in an instant. The red mes grew in temperature putting out smoke and heat. He pulled out his bag from a corner and removed two basic iron ingots to test out the forge. Motioning to Midnight it was obvious he wanted her to start adding to the mes.


    Midnight moved toward the opening to the forge a bit unsteady since Walker and the wandering cksmith were staring so intently at her. She puffed up her chest and released a small stream of ck mes in to the forge fires. The mes lost their orange yellow glow and were dyed ck with wisps of white and some orange. They seemed very unbnced at first but became much more even every time she puffed in more mes.


    The wandering cksmith started to add his own mana in to the forge which glowed with runes causing the mes to be much more stable. The metal and stones that made up the forge seemed to have a protective coating of self sustaining mana around them keeping away the decaying effect of her mes. Walker was amazed by the level of skill it took just to prepare the forge.


    The wandering cksmith motioned for Walker, "Do you want me to use my dark mes too?" Walker was not sure why the wandering ck smith would want such a thing. But as the cksmith nodded and Walker had no reason not to oblige.


    Walker created a ball of ck mes and threw it in to the forge as well. The intensity of the mes grew some, this spurred the wandering cksmith to add more coal as fuel before he grabbed the metal to begin heating it. The tongs he used to hold it were also glowing with mana. The tiny runes inscribed were something Walker could not even dream to be able to do since they were so small andplicated.


    The forge was burning at a great temperature causing them all to break in to a heavy sweat. This did not deter the Wandering cksmith who was just getting started on his testing.

 Chapter 239 - 239. Lifetime?

    The wandering cksmith was incredibly focused while he worked. The world could have been falling around him and he would not even flinch in the slightest. Every so often he would hold a hand out to stop Midnight from adding another breath to the forge so that he could turn the metal to evenly heat it. Walker would also get the same motions from him so that he could have another ck me ball throwing in to the forge. The work was hot and soon Walker had tossed off his cloak covered in sweat.


    The white undershirt he wore became caked with coal dust and ash, Midnight lost the shine to her scales as the same dust and ash covered her. They could care less however since they were infected by the focus the wandering cksmith had. Using the tongs to pull out the nearly melting metal the three saw that there were a significant amount of ckened cracks that had spread over it. The wandering cksmith was not pleased by this but started to hammer away at the clump of white and ck metal. The forge mes were still maintained by Walker who was constantly motioned at to add more coal.


    The hammer struck easily fifty times before the metal was thrust once again in to the mes. Midnight was starting to tire after only this short time but it was in to see that she was not used to keeping her breath at this pace. The wandering cksmith did not miss this fact and slowed her pace down by adding more coal and having Walker use the ck mes more.


    '' The skill ck me bolt has been learned through repetitive actions using the ck me skill.


    ck me bolt- 2 mana cost


    Simr to a regr fire bolt spell the ck me bolt holds the same shape. The ck me bolt will burst on contact with the opponent causing them to be burned and suffer from minor decay. There is no knock back effect from this spell''


    Walker had no time to read this notification because the wandering ck smith had again taken out the metal to start the hammering process. This time he pulled a sharper spiked tool to start making holes and rounding the metal. After just a few minutes the formerly rectangr metal was shaped in to a circle. It was the base of a ne.


    The newly shaped metal went back in to the forge but this time instead of creating the ck me ball Walker used the ck me bolt skill. It was notpletely intentional but he had felt that there was another way to do it. The skill flew in to the forge increasing the temperature more than before which caused the wandering cksmith to pull the metal in to the front. He was an expert at controlling temperature, the sudden change in Walker''s skill could not phase him.


    This process continued for a few more moments before the mes died down and the wandering cksmith grabbed a few smaller spiked tools. He pulled the metal out and started adding more holes until a chain was formed from the ne, there was onerger section with an indent that had not been forced all the way through. This was a chain ne that could hold a single gem. Walker was amazed that a chain had been made in this way, from what he had known they were formed piece by piece not molded out of a whole piece of metal.


    This was definitely a very rare urrence in the forging world, if the chain had been molded from just one piece of metal would that mean that mana could flow through more smoothly than multiple pieces being shaped together and bent in to a chain shape?


    The thought was one that not everyone would realize but having seen the runes the wandering cksmith had carved in to the tools the theory was sound. Just learning this one technique should be able to enhance the items effect multiple times over.


    The wandering cksmith rushed the now almostplete ne to the forge and had Midnight and Walker increase their mes much much more. The fire was hotter than it had been just second ago but it was only a temporary experience. The ne was again pulled out of the mes but this time were dunked in to a vat of warmed oils that the wandering cksmith had prepared. The oil sizzled violently as it cooled but the wandering smith did not flinch away as it did so. He was used to this after years and years of cooling forged items.


    The ne was dunked in to four other vats of oils until the heat had almost dissipatedpletely. Without resting for even a moment the wandering cksmithid it on a table and picked up a small file. He went through each link in the chain removing burrs and any small deficiencies in the metal. There was no shine to this ne but instead a dark hue that covered the entire piece of iron.


    Midnight and Walker witnessed the rapid work of the wandering cksmith for almost an hour before the files and other small tools were ced down. The final product was a fine chained ne with onerge link perfectly fitted for a gem or mana crystal. The time it had taken to create this was so short that Walker could easily say this was the fastest cksmith in the entire country.


    Walker had nothing to say in the moment so instead he used his all around appraisal skill to check out what their creation was all about.


    '' ck iron ne


    +6mdef


    Decay resistance


    Lifetime- 20 minutes''


    "What does lifetime mean?" Walker was lost at this new addition to the description. He was staring intently at the ne and so was the wandering smith. The look of displeasure was clearly written in his features. Walker had no idea what seemed to make him so upset over this ne. It was very finely made and even looked pretty nice, sure the color was not shiny and shy but it was still very good. To five decay resistance and also a decent amount of magical defense this item would sell very well in any gear shop.


    Midnight was resting on the floor trying to get her breath back, this one instance of forging had really taken it out of her. She needed plenty of time to recover her stamina before they even thought about trying again.


    Walker soon noticed that the ck hue on the ne was starting to get darker. Was this the darkness elemental mana that had been adding to the forging process? The wandering cksmith was looking more and more unhappy as the minutes passed but his eyes never left the ne for a second, he was intent on analyzing every single feature. Walker stood by ready for any change or reaction.


    Twenty minutes had finally passed and the hue on the ne had be so strong that one wouldn''t even be able to tell that it had ever had a silver iron color before. Small cracks formed in the chain links that held it all together and the ne broke apart on the worktable. Walker stared open mouth at this. "Failed" The soft rough voice of the wandering smith was the most surprising thing he had heard today. There was only one word but it spoke volumes. Was this what the appraisal meant by lifetime twenty minutes? It would onlyst for twenty minutes before decaying and falling in to pieces?


    The three of them had just spent a huge amount of effort on this one thing to have it fall in to nothing. The wandering cksmith only sat for another moment before he pulled out another few tools form his bag and started to carve another rune in to the still hot forge. It would seem that there was something missing from his preparations. The darkness mana that became fused with the metal had caused it to degrade in just minutes instead ofsting like a normal piece of gear.


    Walker wondered if the wandering cksmith had faced simr issues forging in magma, the temperature would have been so hot that it could have turned any material in to melted nothingness within just seconds. Walker watched the runes being carved on the forge, then the tools, and eleven on to the anvil. The process was captivating since the wandering cksmith was so elegant and refined in his style that every movement was perfect. There was not a single error in how he moved and carved away the small bits of metal.


    After he had finished Midnight had regained most of her mana and had enough energy to look at the changed the wandering cksmith had made. She did not understand what they were but the feeling of resistanceing from them now made her think that the mes could not do anything against the tools.


    Walker noticed that the wandering cksmith had grabbed another piece of iron, it was time for the second test.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 240 - 240. Second Try

    The method started out the same as the first, the wandering cksmith started with coal and a slower addition of Midnight''s decaying mes. He had Walker use his ck me bolt spell more than before to boost the temperature. The things he had learned before were more than meets the eye. The control of the heat had be much more fine and even the movement of the metal was slower and more careful. The entire process seemed like it was taking longer but since the mes kept a very steady pace they did not have any fear that anything would go wrong.


    The metal was pulled out and the wandering cksmith started with the hammering, he had reduced the amount of hits to the metal this time and used more strength to get the same shapes. The metal was thrust in to the mes having barely cooled down at all. This led to Midnight and Walker not needing to add their mes as much as the previous time. There was also less coal used. The entire process has already be double as efficient than before.


    The metal was already being shaped by the smith and the familiar shape of the ne was starting to take shape. The pointed tools that had made the chain links had been dipped in to oils before being used causing bits to burn off and stain the metal. However this did not seem to influence the temperature in any negative way, only speed up how fast the shape came to be.


    After just a short time back in the mes the wandering cksmith was already cooling the second ne in the oils. The process took longer to cool than before but the results were already much different. The shine of the grey silver iron was much brighter and instead of a ck hue there were ck thin lines through the entire piece. They were all perfectly spaced without an error in their pattern


    The filing had begun and this time Midnight who had some remaining energy was watching the entire process. The burrs were removed and even some of the edges on therger parts were sanded away. The wandering cksmith even started to polish the pieces directly after, it was clearly still holding some temperature but the polish made it shine even brighter. After some time the wandering cksmith hadid the ne down on the work table.


    Walker could say this was apletely different piece of great than they had seen before, it shines with a splendor that spoke of high quality skills and effort. The ck colored lines and deepened through the polishing making the chains look like two different metals had been woven together like thread. Walker worried that this too would have the strange lifetime that the other one had so he hesitated a bit using his all around appraisal skill.


    '' Shadow iron ne


    +8Mdef, + 4Def


    Strong decay resistance


    One slot avable for mana crystal gem''


    There was no lifetime! They had definitely seeded, there was stronger magical defense and even some regr defense. Not only that but the decay resistance was strong. The new thing that struck him was that the ne said that it had a slot open for a mana crystal get. What was this?


    Walker tried to sift through his memories but the only thing that seemed close to what a mana crystal gem would be were the crystal shards he had. He pulled a handful from his inventory and asked the wandering cksmith, "Are these at all rted to the mana crystal gems that could fit in to the ne?" Without even a hesitation the wandering cksmith snatched the shards from Walker and grabbed a small mold from his stack of tools.


    The work had started again but this time instead of heating anything the wandering cksmith was taking the shards and cing them between the two parts of the mold. There were many carvings on the molds that glowed as he worked. The patterns glowed stronger or weaker when the wandering cksmith would adjust the shards he was shing within. Soon a small ck and click sound reverberated through the forge that signified that the two parts of the mold had be one.


    Hammering away to make sure they were firmly together the wandering cksmith then lift the entire mold in to the forge. This sight was worrying since Walker expected the crystal shard to be damaged by the mes. However to his surprise there were not cracking sounds at all, instead it sounded like someone had just brought a kettle to a roaring boil.


    The wandering cksmith was using various tools to take the mold here and there causing the glowing runes to brighten or darken. This was the strangest process in a forge that Walker had ever witnessed, he had yet to hear of this technique and figured that the shards would just be fitted in to a piece of equipment or melted in to it to add a mana storing effect. Instead they were somehow being molded on to a new shape.


    After almost a full hour of this the wandering cksmith hefted the mold from the fire and dropped it on the floor. The coal dust around it slightly burned and his gloves had smoked a bit too. The wandering cksmith grabbed the high water elemental crystal from the box and softly touched the mold. The heat within it vanished in mere minutes. The sounds of metal groaning were fairly loud but did not seem to be causing any damage at all.


    Putting away the high water elemental crystal the wandering cksmith approached the mold with arge hammer he had used to forge before. He wound up and let the hammer m in to the mold with a deafening ng. The vibrating metal separated from each other again bing two pieces of the mold. Inside a small multi faceted gem was visible.


    This gem had the same clearness and appearance as the crystal shards before but Walker could feel the draw of mana in the air. This gem was already absorbing mana even though it was not attached to anything at all. The wandering cksmith worked fast affixing the gem to the ne. Walker was curious how the ne had changed and checked the appraisal. The only difference that had shown one once simple line in the description.


    ''Mana storage: 0/20''


    The gem had given the ne the ability to store away a whole twenty mana! The wandering cksmith had just shaped the crystal shard Walker had shown him in to a mana storage gem. This was exactly what Walker wanted in their gear so that they would not need to worry about using up all their mana while fighting any battles. If all of the gear the wandering cksmith made came with this mana storage gem iy then they would easily double their party strength.


    "Good" The wandering cksmith stared at the shadow iron ne giving it a soft nod. He had said his second word in approval of this creation. The previous problems that caused the decaying effect on the first test were gone and how they could craft using Midnight mes. Walker was even included which seemed to remove a lot of stress from Midnight who had not gotten used to the use of her decaying me breath. Crafting all of these gears that they wanted would take a much longer time than he expected but would be well worth it by the end of their time before their journey.


    Walker looked at the wandering cksmith who held out the ne to him, "You want me to wear it?" his question was greeted with a shake of the head. "Then you want me to give it to someone?'' Another shake of the head. "Sell it?" There was a nod this time. It seemed that the wandering cksmith wanted this to be sold so that the party could get better material for the auction. This was not necessarily out of the wandering cksmith''s good faith but instead came from his desire to craft with more materials. He had discovered a new way to forge that he had yet to use and wanted more. It was almost like an intense addiction.


    Walker smiled knowing that in the end he would see many more amazing things.This would only be the start of their crafting experiences but for now it was time for them all to rest. Surprisingly after Walker had stored away the ne the wandering cksmith followed him in to the mansion. The three headed toward the bathing area in the mansion. It was a fairlyrge area made out of man water mana crystals to promote the flow of water. The fire crystals had been worked in to the bath as well to maintain proper temperature.


    For the first time since he arrived the wandering cksmith would be scrubbing away theyers of ash and coal dust. Seeing that this was a chance to get clean himself the three of them got rid of the ash and coal dust in turn. Walker helped out Midnight who could not shrub at the scales between her wings. Normally she was much cleaner but today there was no avoiding the dust that seemed to get everywhere in a blink of an eye. Feeling refreshed and clean Walker had changed in to some basic clothing. He also had found that the wandering cksmith had put on a second pair of identical clothing he was wearing before, although these were spotless.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 241 - 241. Snowy Mountains

    Having finished their day long practicing Walker took the time to show the wandering cksmith around the mansion, he seems fairly interested in the many metal fixtures around the ce that had been shaped in to intricate figures. This was obviously his ck smith personality acting out but Walker did not mind in thest.


    When they reached the library Walker remembered that there were a small number of books on forging that he had organized but not even read the titles of. "I have no idea if you like to read but this small shelf here has about eight or ten books on forging. Feel free to browse through them. I know you might want to rx a bit after today." The wandering cksmith grabbed at the books with a huge grin on his face. The first book only looked to be on basics and he ced it down as fast as he picked it up.


    The reaction to the second book was much different though, his reaction to the book titled, "Crafting in the snowy mountains" Was one of obsession. This was because the wandering cksmith had yet to try going up in to the higher mountains to craft, the simple fact that they posed a danger he could not defend himself from was the reason why. He would need an escort to do such a thing or the protection from one of the ancient dragons in the viges. He had always wanted to explore and try many forging techniques and the ones spoken about in this book were all new to him.


    Seeing that the wandering cksmith had found a chair and been absorbed by a book he decided to let him be. When he was about to leave the room he found that Maria had attached herself to his leg. She had been reading in the library as well. But now with the addition of a stranger she was afraid to stay alone.


    "Maria this man is the cksmith that is helping us in the forge. He is staging here for some time and is very nice. Please be polite when you see him and wave." Maria still did not release herself from Walker''s leg because of how unsure she was with this new person. The wandering cksmith had heard this and given a little wave before returning to his reading.


    Walker knew it would take time for her to get used to him and decided it might not be a bad thing to stay and read for a bit himself. He grabbed a book on monsters that lived in the sun hollow forest and took his time to learn what they may face. Maria took up a seat next to him and used Walker as a backrest to read in to her own book.


    Walker was surprised to see that she was reading a book on the church. It would seem that when he told her that his friends from the church would be visiting it had made her more dedicated to find out what the church was like. There were many teachings on light elemental magic along with healing. These things were scarce toe by in the demon territories and were very attractive to Maria. The two started to read the rest of the day away until the strong aroma of food reached them.


    In only two hours the wandering cksmith had finished his book on theories rted to crafting in the mountains. He had many things to consider and was already nning his own journey to the mountains. His mind was a strange ce but Walker knew that something had inspired him.


    Maria herself was more excited to eat tonight than before, evidently she had be one of his mothers biggest fans. The spicy foods she had were something she had never been able to experience growing up and she had fallen in love with the new vors. Of course this was also due to his mother spoiling Maria with various desserts just like how she spoiled Midnight by giving her food whenever Midnight looked at her.


    Walker ced his book back on the shelf full of insight to what they may face in the deep sun hollow forest. The poisonous nts aside, he was most worried about the living mushrooms. These monsters could look just like any other mushroom but grow to double the size. They also had various species that could spread their spores to not only multiply but also poison an enemy. They were notorious for paralyzing or poisoning a traveler then using their body to spread spores and grow. For the unfortunate travelers to be attacked in this way their death was often slow and painful.


    This inspired Walker to purchase some antidotal potions before the party left, but there was plenty of time for that. Now was the time to dig in to a meal and try the new recipes his mother had experimented with in the day. Once everyone had gathered Walker stood up to get everyone''s attention. "This is the cksmith that is joining us in the forge to get our gear all sorted out. He will be here for some time and doesn''t say much. This is our family. They can do plenty of things and are always on the move. If you need anything I am sure they will be able to help." The wandering cksmith waved a hand and smiled at the greeting. Garret seemed the most interested along with Gil''s father.


    "You said the other day at dinner you won''t need to forge anything for the party until after auction right? So it won''t be a problem if the two of us bother your cksmith friend with some small jobs right?'' Hearing this the wandering cksmith nodded his head not even giving Walker a chance to reply. He had a thirst for all things forging and did not seem to want to turn down any request from those who were letting him forge with dragon mes.


    "Perfect, we have some repairs and such for my armor and Gil''s father was just telling me he needed some arrowheads for the next hunt he ns on so we will be bothering you tomorrow." With that they had all started to eat, sometimes someone would ask the new guest about what he had done and somehow he was able to exin enough to answer the question. The skills he had developed by not talking were rather impressive.


    After dinner Walker showed off the wandering cksmith''s creation. "It can store up to twenty mana! This is just what we will need!" Walker couldn''t control his excitement exining this to the party.


    "So if we have those added to all of our gear you''re saying we can add a huge amount of stored mana to keep using our skill?" Su wanted to be sure that this would be the results before she allowed herself to think on how she would adapt her strategy.


    "Exactly, what if we had another hundred mana to use when we were in a battle? We would be able to take outrger enemies while we are at a lower level while using the proper strategy."


    "I could punch my way through an army!" Remey raised a fist imagining solo destroying an army of monsters by herself. As much as they had all been deterred by seeing Barry take down a horde of horned rabbits the sight had still stuck with them and made them all want to be able to do just that themselves.


    "If I had that much extra mana then I could use six or seven of the wind element arrows using my bow. It could change the way I fightpletely." Gil had been worried about needing more closebat skills in the forest but if he had the ability to use his bow''s skill more than he could try to use it more often.


    "Even my shields would be able to be equipped like this?" Su worried that her shields would be unable to have the mana storing ability because they could take damage. If the crystal gem had taken a hit it would probably break.


    "I think there will be a better spot to keep the gem on them, maybe by the handles you hold. Then instead of being hit by the enemy it would be protected like your arm will be."


    "I agree leader, I will mention it to the cksmith."


    "Wait, what about mine? Won''t I be able to break them too?" Remey caught on to the worry.


    "You can equip something like the ne or have it added to your thin armor. We don''t have to have it put in to the knuckles or gloves." This was enough to stave off her worries.


    "Oh good you are all still awake." Gil''s mother found them all still at the table talking about gear. "I will need some help in the garden tomorrow. The sun should be nice and warm melting out the rest of the chill. I talked with a few farmers today and all of our skills say that the ground may still be frozen but the cold should be leaving us. We can finally start nting some seeds."


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 242 - 242. Planting

    This was perfect timing for them, the garden was pretty much ready to ept the seedlings since Gil''s mother had tilled the soil with her skills. This being said the real challenge was to get all the seeds and seedlings she had started to grow in ce. "I will focus on the willow tree, it will need my skills to start out properly and catch up to the other nts. The spirit lily is already nted. I dropped the seeds in to the pond this morning during the rising sun. Not a single person is allowed to disturb them, I already made a scarecrow to keep any animals away." Not a single one of the party had noticed her making a scarecrow but it sounded good that they did not have to worry over the most delicate nt.


    "We can all be up early to help you put no problem!" Walker answered for them not wanting anyone to find an excuse to sleep in.


    "Hm good. Then I will see you all bright and early." She left them all to keep chatting but realizing howte it was they decided they should go sleep as well.


    The party slept well, especially Walker and Midnight who had spent the day in the hot forge practicing their fire and watching the wandering cksmith create something amazing. Of all the people that was up first to wake all of them up it was actually Gil. It was a trick he had gained from his mother to wake up right before the sun would start to rise. It was the basic instinct of someone who worked the fields.


    Tossing on their rattier clothing the party was ready to get muddy from the days work. Walker was wondering if his elemental maniption woulde in handy. If he used high earth sculpting then he may be able to better create ces for the nts to rest.


    Finding Gil''s mother already outside in the garden with a pile of gardening tools she started to distribute the seeds. "Gill you will be nting these oozing vines along the wall there. Keep the pointed part down so that the vines will sprout properly!" Gil took the handful of seeds and a small trowel before moving to the wall to start a row. "And space them out at least three feet so they can spread!" This was a general rule for vines so that they could have space to grow for the years. Gil did not need this reminder though since he had heard it a thousand times when his mother had him nt pole beans.


    "Remey you are in charge of fruit. The strawberries will go in that row there. The kiwi are going to be the next row near them so that when they grow they give the strawberries some shade. I already have those apple saplings nted on the other side of the strawberry row. Sue here, the blood fruits are you job. They are arger bush and will take up some space. The will go as far around the opposite side of the wall that Gil is going on so that they can really spread out. Just nt them at least six inches deep so that the roots can really hook in to the moist soil." She handed them the seeds they needed and off the two went to their respective areas.


    "Miss Jane, will my high earth sculpting skill work to make ces for the seeds?" Walker wanted to still be as polite as possible since Gil''s mother had done so much work already but instead he received a bit of a re.


    "I said none of this miss stuff, use that again and I will make you clean out the poison Ivy next time it starts to grow." This was a much heavier threat than Walker imagined. ASs a farmer Gil''s mother had a skill that protected her from the poisonous itching oils of the poison ivy nt, Walker did not have such a skill. "And why would you disturb the earth mana? It is rxed and flowing naturally. If you harden it up and force it to change the seeds won''t get any nutrients, why do you think mages make the worst farmers?"Walker just sat there a bit silent, he had never heard that mages make bad farmers. Since he focused on magic would he make a bad farmer too?


    "Now I hope you are ready to learn some things because first we are going to nt your dragon fruit tree." She practically dragged him to the stone bench she had moved to the center of the garden. The paths she had outlined lead to a round t spot that Walker assumed would be covered in ster. "The tree will be the shade for this spot here. If it is not grown properly forget about reading here you won''t be able to stand the summer sun at all."


    Gil''s mother took out the dragon fruit seeds from her pocket and moved in to the tilled solid behind the bench. "Get over here and dig about ten inches down, these are the deepest seeds we need to nt." Walker scooped the soft slightly damp soil with his hands. The scent of first prated his nostrils. "These seeds need to be deeper because once they grow they will try and absorb as much sun as possible. This means they will grow tall and be off bnce. I did some research and asked around and one of my friends said that they normally grow in clusters of five or six dragon fruit trees that all share a rootwork. This formation keeps them standing against winds."


    Walker headed her words and dug five well spaced out holes in the flower bed. He saw that the solid had already been treated with some small bits of fertilizer made from the nts and leaves that Gil''s mother had taken out and ground up when they first moved in. The fact that she had not even wasted the weeds was rather impressive.


    " Now I have a skill that adds some of my mana in to a seed, it will cause it to sprout within a few minutes and reach a younger growth stage within an hour. This is draining when nting an entire field but really beneficial when nting important crops. Just watch what I do and give it a try, this is a skill that farmers and alchemists can both use." Gil''s mother held one of the small seeds between two fingers. There was a soft green glow enveloping the seed for just a second before she nted it and covered it up with solid. "Did you see the mana that covered it? That is what you want to happen, now try it out."


    Handing Walker a seed Jane leaned back a small smirk on her face. Walker held the seed just like her and started to channel his mana in to the seed. The glow seemed to be starting. Crack! The seed shattered in his hands and fell in to pieces on the ground. Jane cracked up withughter at this, she had known this could happen but said nothing. "Ha-don''tworry, hahaha, I did the same thing, haa, when I first started." She rubbed a tear from her eye finding it extremely funny. "The farmer that told me how to master that trick did not warn me either, it''s a right of passage. Once you learn how much mana a seed can hold you will get the skill. Here are the rest of your dragon fruit seeds, good luck." She left Walker sitting there frustrated on the ground with four holes left in the ground waiting for seeds to be ced.


    Walker was dead set on making his seeds grow faster just like hers and decided to give it his all. However the next three seeds cracked just like his first attempt. He was pouring his mana in to the little seeds too fast causing them to be unable to hold all of it at once. This was a trick that took precision and not rushing. Taking a deep breath Walker held a seed and decided to start at the basics. How do I control my mana? This question was simpler said than done but since he had been doing so much training manipting elemental mana he thought it would be easier.


    Walker focused on the amount of mana in his own body, he imagined a small amount of it flowing from the center of his being and through his fingers in to the seed. This slow flow was softer on the seed which had almost no strength as of yet. This time the result was a bit different. The seed did not shatter and fall apart but instead Walker could feel it break slowly and split in half. This was not the goal he had in mind but it was progress. "I need to be softer!" He took another deep breath and grasped at a seed, he started on his next try.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 243 - 243. Germination

    Crack!


    Walker lost focus and another seed shattered. He had taken a step back in his progress. All it had taken was a soft breeze to pull his mind from the tiny amount of mana he was trying to infuse in to the seed.


    This was not as easy and Gil''s mother had made it seem. She was already off helping out with the others nting their seeds. She had already prepared the seeds for them since they would not be able to add mana to them using a skill like she could. As annoying as this process was to learn Walker knew that she had left it this way to that he would learn a skill.


    Holding another new seed in his hands he started the process again. The small amount of mana began to wrap around the seed. Walker felt he was holding back a raging river by himself. Bit by bit the mana entered the small seed causing it to bulge ever so slightly. There were no cracks and no visible damage to it. Now the problem was cutting off the flow so that the mana would stay inside. Thest time he had tried this the mana inside forced it''s way out and shattered even more violently.


    He knew that he was adding just too much mana but if he held back toomuch then there was no difference at all. This time Walker allowed some mana to slip out of the seed and flow in to the air around him. The seed still did not crack but instead started to glow a bit more than it had before. Walker refused to celebrate until he could feel the seed would not take or give any more mana at all. Coming to a bnce he was able to stop the flow and was left with a small glowing seed just the same as Jane''s.


    Walker quickly released it afraid that if he held it any longer then it would somehow absorb more mana and burst. With the seed in the hole that had been made he covered it all up and gave the soil a pat. This was his win, after trying this for an two hours he had nted his first seed!


    '' The skill speed germination- 2 mana cost


    Infused a seed with mana to speed the germination process. The seed will be able to better absorb natural mana and nutrients from the soil.''


    Walker knew that this skill would be nothing special to anyone else but to him this could be very useful in both alchemy and forging. It was rare but for some kinds of weapons it was important to have nt based materials. For example Gil''s arrows, if he used a fully metal arrow then it would be too heavy to travel far and be useless. There were also staffs that could channel certain elemental manas better than forged metal ones. If Walker could use these farmer skills to create his own materials he may be able to have a higher quality weapon at a lower level than others would.


    There was also huge profit in this since many of the more important buildings could only use these kind of rare materials. Some could not hold mana for runes or have proper strength to stand up to wear and tear. The best example of this was the forge, where all the materials of the building needed to be resistant to heat.


    Getting in to the swing of things he used his newly acquired speed germination skill to infuse the other seeds and ce them in to the ground. The seed that Jane had nted before had already started to sprout out of the ground. The small light green leaves were mixed with a red purple veins that seemed to pull more mana from the air and light as it grew. Walker wondered how much of this was the speed germination skill at work and how much of it was the nts natural growing rate.


    "Oho, finally managed to get the hang of things there, and here I expected a greenhorn like you to spend all day on it." Jane hade up from helping Remey and Su who had nted half of their seeds. Surprisingly there were many more seeds sprouting in the strawberry row already. "Ah don''t worry about them, those seeds grow faster even when left alone, I just gave them a bit of a boost. I''m not sure if you will learn this skill but I have a passive called green thumb." This was new to Walker and easily piqued his interest.


    Seeing his curious look she knew that she had his full attention. This was what she had wanted, if she could get Walker motivated to keep gardening then she knew that he would eventually learn this passive skill as well. " The green thumb skill boosts the speed of growth for every nt you nurture, even just spending a few hours on them then you will wake up in the morning to a few inches of growth. I gained it after growing a hundred different nts. It was a reward for one of my main quests in my system."


    Walker thought that this sounded like a huge challenge at the moment, he was so spread out that he could not imagine having the time to grow over a hundred different nts. " Wait, I just need to nurture them for a few hours? Do you think I can do that while practicing other skills?" Walker could see the start of a good n.


    "That''s going to be up to you" Jane smiled knowing that he had taken the bait and was going to start working on these new skills with some good focus. "Now get over here, you need to learn to infuse the water with more mana so that it''s easier for the nts to drink up." He felt that she was throwing the hardest possible skills at him to learn, but if he did not give it his all then there was no point.


    She had set up three barrels full of water from a pump in the corner of the yard. "This water is already natural, ites from the pump which is drilled down in to a natural underground pond. That already had more nutrients than other waters, all we need to do is add some mana to get things working. You should get the hang of it easily." Walker was left again alone with just the barrels of water and a feeling that this was not as easy as she made it sound. Jane hadn''t even shown him how it was done.


    Walker did the only logical thing and ced his hand in to the first barrel of water, he let the mana from his body begin to flow into the water. The water rapidly started to suck the mana up like it was an unending void. This was the opposite of the seeds he had just been infusing with mana, the water wanted to take all of his mana and leave him with none.


    He could feel the water getting hotter, the top of it even seemed to steam a little. The level had definitely started to decrease, Walker red at Gil''s mother who was already fully focused on preparing things for the weeping willow tree.


    Walker stopped the flow of mana with difficulty and stepped back watching the water evaporate at a much faster pace. This was simr to the seed but instead of shattering the water would start to evaporate into the air. It would also take on the mana willingly instead of needing to have it pushed in to it. This meant that he needed the strength to keep the mana from rushing in and making the hard work to disappear.


    After the first barrel had stopped losing water top evaporationhe saw that a whole quarter of it had taken his mana and disappeared. Now he needed to find out just how much mana the water could take without evaporating. Instead of cing his whole hand in the water he only ced one finger, this already slowed the amount of mana that could leave his body. Using the same method to hold back the flow of mana Walker slowly let out bit by bit.


    The water reacted much differently than it had before, it became much clearer. He could almost see the bottom wood grain of the barrel like it was empty, if it wasn''t for his slight reflection on the surface he would say that there really was nothing in the barrel.


    He stayed in this stance for what seemed to be years as the mana flowed out of him and in to the water a drop at a time. The water had finally started to give a magical glow like the seeds had. This was the moment for him to pull away. He already knew better than to rush this so he pulled his finger out slowly and stopped the mana as he did so. The result was water that was perfectly clear and half a bluish glow of mana. "Ha! Not going to evaporate this time!" Walkers'' cries for victory drew everyone''s attention.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 244 - 244.Watering

    The rest of the party had nearly finished all of their nting and Remey had started to mix some fertilizer in to the solid around the strawberry rows. He was a bit embarrassed at this but realized that there were small drops of sweat running down his face. His hair was soaked and so were his clothes. He had not even noticed the entire time he focused on the water that the sun had been beating down directly on him. He was so focused that he had not even noticed Midnight and Onyx who were resting by the now sprouted dragon fruit nts.


    "Well that was a pretty good speed, you only needed thirty minutes to finish that single bucket. I thought you would have passed out after the first try." Janeughed a bit, she had clearly known that the water would try to take all his mana so that it could evaporate away in to the air. "The trick is to let the smallest amount possible each time, if you give it another shot you may be able to do it in about twenty minutes. I will do the other barrel since you will be low on mana by then." The two of them each took a barrel.


    Walker used his previous strategy and only ced one single finger in, however he was shocked to see that Jane had ced both hands right in to the water without fear. Walker watched as the water became clearer almost instantly, she was much faster than he had been. Not wanting to lose too badly he started to focus and allow mana in to the water. At a much slower pace than Jane the water started to be clear. He knew that she had already finished but was waiting for him so he let a little more mana in to the water. The reaction was instant, the water gained a slight glow of mana and he knew he needed to start pulling back. In his haste he had almost just evaporated most of it like the first time.


    Ten more minutes passed and he had finally finished his second barrel.


    '' The skill water activation has been taken from the farmers system. The user has learned the skill water activation through their actions.


    Water activation- 3 mana cost per gallon


    The minerals in water are not always easy for nts to absorb. By adding additional mana they gain a more easily absorb able structure allowing nts to take it in at a faster rate.''


    "Done it''s done!" Walker sat down where he was standing breathing heavily. The sun had started to get to him and he needed to rest to regain his mana.


    "That was much faster, I take it you got the water activation skill right? Now that you have it you will be much faster and can add mana torger amounts of water at once. You will have a huge difference in nts grown with regr water of mana infused water. Mostly in growing size and speed."Jane nodded with each benefit she spoke of. "If we keep up with the mana infused water then tend to them properly we will have flowers on the nts before the bees even show up to pollinate them. That will be where you wind elemental maniptione in handy. I have a skill that makes pollination have a higher chance of happening but I can not bring the pollen to the flower without physically doing it. So your wind magic can make a little pollen tornado so they all will bare fruitter." She had already nned out weeks in advance. This was how the mind of a farmer truly worked.


    "Sounds like a n, but right now I think I am going toy here and just rx." Walker was still tired but his breath had returned to him.


    "Rx? That''s a good one, Gil you''re team leader has some good jokes!" She yelled over to Gil who could barely hear what she was calling for. "We have to start watering the seedlings that are starting to sprout, they won''tst long without the nutrients in the water. We are starting the, much too early, but since the first shouldn''te we are getting a head start." This made Walker want to cry, she already made hi, use up all his mana and she expected more, farmers might just be evil.


    Since Gil had finished up his nting he jumped in to the other rows with Su who was just about at the end as well. Remey had just ced her final bit of fertilizer down and looked to find another bucket. Jane had refused to let them use thest barrel of water saying that she was sure that they would need itter. She looked like she was expecting something.


    The one and a half barrels were absorbed quicker in to the soil than they all had expected. By the time they had started to pour the infused water on to the ces where they had nted it was evident that the soil was very dry. The burst of growth to get the seeds from a dormant state to a grown seedling state had consumed much more of the moisture in the soil than any could have guessed. The soil had just been muddy only a short time earlier.


    Jane roamed about pointing out the spots that still needed some water or seedlings that had grown improperly and needed to be plucked. "See this one right here, it has a double leave but no secondary leaves starting, if we leave it it will grow sideways. Now how would it get sunlight like that? We would have a bunch of half grown strawberries not fit for eating at all."


    The only one that was not impressed by her ability to pick these tiny details in each barely developed seedling was Gil. With his mother constantly pointing these things out and his system''s support there was no wondering why his eyesight was so good. This was its own kind of training, since it was not taking up any of his mana and could be utilized with his heightened senses from his gear Walker trained asking as many questions as possible to find those that were also growing improperly.


    The oozing vines were all perfect, not a single one had grown in a strange way. Jane mentioned that vine nts are often very flexible so they would almost never grow in a bad way. The thing that had the most problems was the strawberry row. Apparently these nts were temperamental when it came to the way they grew. If they had just a little too much resistance when sprouting it changed the entire way the leaves would grow. Comparing this to the spirit lily that was now at the bottom of the training pond, Walker could not imagine how it was even possible that it could grow.


    "Mom, can you show them that skill? You still need to use some skills on the weeping willow, and you save the water for it right?" Gil was looking at the tiny weeping willow sapling that Jane had been working on in between helping all of them. Was this skill that Gil had mentioned what she was waiting for?


    "That skill huh? Well I haven''t used it this month so I guess I can use it this time." This got Su''s attention.


    "Do you happen to have a skill with a time restriction?" Su had heard of some skills being limited to only a certain amount of uses in a lifetime or within a certain time period. These skills were often high level skills or mastery skills. She had never seen one though since she had never been able to afford to pay a healer with one such skill.


    "That is exactly it, my mastery skill can only be used once a month. Gil always gets so excited when I use it. You should have seen his face when I first showed it to him, he talked about it for weeks afterwards." Gil was not at all embarrassed by this though and instead seemed to be getting even more excited.


    "I will get some more fertilizer over there and get the sapling ready." Gil started to rush off grabbing a shovel. "Walker get that barrel over here too we will need all the water for mom to use her skill." Su and Remey needed to help Water move the whole barrel but between them it was an easier task. "Alright pour it all out here, right on top of the fertilizer. The more mud the better." Gil had tossed five buckets of fertilizer all around the sapling. The pile was just about taller than the sapling now.


    Gil''s mother came over and started to evaluate the work they had done to prepare. "Alight everything is looking good. Pour out the water right here and stand back. Things will get a bit busy."


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 245 - 245. Nature Goddess

    The water poured out in to the fertilizer causing a muddy ck and brown mix to puddle around the sapling. The entire party followed Gil''s lead and stood a fair distance back. Jane took arge breath and rolled up her sleeves a bit more, with a slight stretch she reached out to touch the sapling. The party watched and listened intently to see what would happen.


    " I beseech you goddess of growth and fertility. Bless this young life with your touch and allow it the strength to be a pir of nature." Swirls of green mana seemed to be growing out of the ground and air itself. These wisps focused in on Gil''s mother and were channeled through her hand at an incredible rate. The strength of the green glow continues to increase many times over. The energetic feeling in the air was tangible, it was almost if someone had used a very high level healing spell. The aura in the cathedral was notparable in the least.


    Suddenly the glow dispersed and Jane stepped back looking a bit pale. Gil rushed up and helped her move back while keeping an eye on the little sapling. There started a slow creaking and a slight vibration in the ground, roots started to spring up from the sapling. They were white grey and twisted in and out of the soil. The sapling itself was pushing taller and taller, more branches sprouting.


    The leaves were going through many seasons growing, fading, flowering, and then going dormant over and over. The life cycles of the weeping willow were incredible to witness all at once. "Watch the roots, if they catch your foot it might twist around you!" Gil shouted a warning just as Walker saw a root get near him, he heeded Gil''s voice and moved back farther watching the root dig back down in to the ground.


    The now muchrger weeping willow tree was growing in to a full fledged adult size before their eyes, it was already much taller than them and the trunk was almost double their waist in thickness. After about five minutes of rapid growth the speed of the growth was slowing, after another five the party were amazed to see the long drooping branches of a massive white and grey bark tree. There were tiny white buds starting to form that would soon form leaves.


    "So what did you all think?" No one had the right words to reply to Jane at that moment, and seeing that she was fairly tired Gil decided he would take the job of exining what had just happened.


    "Mom''s mastery skill can only be used once a month. It is called touch of the nature goddess. It can grow a nt in to full maturity in just a few minutes. The cost is of course the nutrients in the soil and a whole lot of mana." Walker thought this was one of the most beautiful skills he had ever witnessed besides the light from Alice''s song.


    The shifting seasons that had been shown to the, in wick session had spoken volumes, trying to describe what they had seen in words would have been too little for what had actually urred. " It was...just...wow." Gilughed a bit at this reaction and started to help his mother toward the door of the mansion. He thought it better to leave them to take it all in themselves.


    Midnight and Onyx had been interrupted from their rest and sat much farther away. They were both entranced by the massive tree that had appeared within minutes. They were studying the other nts that they had seen Gil''s mother helping with wondering if they would as well burst from the ground and be massive trees too. After some time they had all gathered their thoughts.


    "That was one of the coolest mastery skills ever." Remey summed up her thoughts pretty easily, this was what Walker and Su were thinking too and could only nod.


    "I can not imagine what else she could grow if she could use that skill more than once a month." Walker was trying to imagine a farm springing up in to a jungle in just a few minutes using a tun of mana potions.


    "Leader, Gil said the skill was called touch of the nature goddess. Does that mean she borrows the power of a goddess just to do that?" Su was curious that one day she may be able ti call for a god''s power as well. The real question was how did the world decide what gods would be rted to what systems. If they too were bound by the would''s system then was the world more powerful than a god. Or was it that they just didn''t understand things correctly.


    "It sounded like it, but who knows how it all works. All I know is that we have juts seen something great and I can''t wait until next month to see what else she decided to grow." u knew that this was all just going to be theory anyways and dropped the thought. She would find her mastery skill when the time was right, no need to rush.


    "Ugh, I am filthy! Let''s go inside and get the mud off." Remey had looked down to find there was more dirt on her pants than she had ever seen. " Do you think farmers are always this dirty?"


    "It looked like Gil''s mother didn''t have a single speck of dirt on her." Su had observed that every time Jane had knelt down not a bit of mud stuck to her overalls. It was like it was afraid to stick to her.


    "Must be a skill, if I can get that skill my clothes will never get dirty." Walker was trying to brainstorm on how to gain a passive skill like that or one that the cksmiths sometimes had that kept them clean.


    "Ha! Well if you figure it out also find a way to give it to us." Su nodded supporting Remey''s desire. Having such a skill would be pretty great for when they were on long journeys after all. Plus they would always look their best, and a hero should always look their best to set the right example.


    With their long days work finished they all went inside, Onyx and Midnight following behind. The baths were full of plenty of dirt but they had made themselves clean again after some great effort. The dirt would not being out of their old clothing anytime soon though, luckily they had worn the old clothing intentionally.


    They all got in to dinner andter off to bed with out any issue. Everyone had realized that the auction was the next day, they had all been waiting for it eagerly. The party slept like logs, since their bodies had been put through an introductory course in farmbor. When he woke up Walker was not surprised to find that Gil''s mother was already outside checking up on the seedlings.


    Just like she had said there was no frost even though it was still a bit cold outside. The night air had brought a morning dew that coated all of the seedlings and the newly grown weeping willow. He was still having trouble grasping just how fast the sapling that was barely grown had be a full grown tree. It was really an amazing mastery skill.


    He was not the only one getting up however because the second he had opened his door after staring out the window for some time at the garden, he found Su heading toward the kitchen.


    "Good morning leader, care to hunt down some breakfast?"


    "Of course, we need to eat early before my mother starts to cook. I know she will be preparing a lot of things for dinner tonight since we will be having guests. I wouldn''t be surprised if we get dragged in to cleaning vegetables before we head to the auction." Walker and Su chatted idly about what they should wear tonight and what crazy items may be sold by those who had the ability to acquire a VIP auction ticket.


    Walker was wondering just who they may see there, he really had hoped that they would see the appraiser of the Ga family again since he had left such a positive impressionst time. "I wonder if Onyx and Midnight wille? Onyx might be interested in an auction but I have no idea about Midnight." This was more a thought out loud but Su answered still.


    "I believe Onyx will go no matter what. He seems to want to know everything in the world, it is definitely your influence on him." Su smiled a bit at her teasing, not that this was an insult in any way. " Midnight may not want to but I think she shoulde with us. What if she sees something that seems interesting, that we do not have a sense for?" Su made a pretty good point.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 246 - 246. Dress To Impress

    Hearing that there was an increase in pots and pans ttering around in the kitchen as the two approached Walker prepared to get dragged in to food prep work. The two came to the sight of Hilda running about at an incredible speed. Vegetables would flee in terror if they could. Her knife was expertly cutting them on to various shapes for a stuffing that would fill the already dry rubbed horned rabbit on the counter.


    "Mother, are you nning on roasting the entire thing today?" The horned rabbit was one of the smaller ones they had defeated but it would still take up almost the entire oven with its size.


    "Well what else should I be doing so early in the morning? I seasoned itst night so that the herbs and spices could sink in, now I will roast it with that oak that Gil''s father brought back from the forest. Maybe twelve hours or so and it will be done." Walker had learned that his mother would not take any shortcuts and was willing to spend the longer amount of time to get a better product but this was getting more and more due to her experiments. "If I don''t take the time then how do you expect me to have good enough food to feed the high priest. Even Remey told me she invited a master alchemist, a master!" Hilda threw her arms up with an exasperated look. These kids were really challenging her more and more by inviting these high ss guests.


    "Ha ha¡­ well they are our friends but you don''t need to worry about it. Everything you cook is great and I am sure they will love it." Walker wanted to take at least a little stress away from his mother since they were the cause of it.


    "Yea yea sweet words will do nothing until I have served all the food I have nned. Now if you have time get over there and start washing the fruit so that I can prepare it for some dessertster. Su I will need your help measuring out some flour and sugar over there." With that the two were put in to work just as Walker had expected.


    They cooked and cleaned food for an hour. Hilda deemed them free to go, for their assistance they had gained some berry muffins that she had made the night before just for breakfast. The sweet cinnamon topping that she put on it was a favorite out of all the toppings she had ever made. It was especially a hit among the guards after she had sent Garret with a dozen one day to give them as a gift. The next time she had been out to order ingredients every single guard she walked by had told her how amazing they were and that they couldn''t wait for her to make them again. Understandably it was now a monthly bake for them, they would all pool together some gold to buy the ingredients themselves and send them over.


    With their prized muffins the pair headed towards the dining hall to see who else had made it awake. Surprisingly Gil and Remey were already up and bickering about closebat battles. "If I am right in front of someone why would I push them away? I should just use my dagger to attack them first."


    "No, if you are too close they already have the upper hand, you need the space to get your dagger ready and pick out the ce you will attack. By the time you have started your movement they will have already attacked you!" It looked like Gil had been taking his training seriously and decided to ask the party''s main front line attack for some closebat advice. Unfortunately Gil and Remey had the tendency to butt heads a little more than talk smoothly.


    Walker decided to show Gil what Remey was talking about, "Think fast!" He used his hand to poke Gil in the side. "Again" Walker moved in closer doing the same thing, Gil had no space to even move his arm to block.


    "Walker, gahhhh what are you doing!?" Gil was shocked by the first attack but stuck on the second.


    "See what I am saying, you can''t even move your arm to block anything, how will you even draw that dagger you n to get?" Gil had no words his theory had been proven false and he had to submit to what Remey had exined.


    "So are you two excited for the auction?" Su wanted to keep Gil from starting up the argument since it looked like he had already taken a good lesson from things.


    "Yes! We are going to get the best things and no one can stop us. The old man is going to buy out all the vials of pure water we put up so we will have plenty of gold to spend." Remey was practically bouncing with excitement.


    "What if someone bids against him, aren''t there going to be a lot of nobles or high ranking people with deep pockets? I would be surprised if we can sneak out with some of the less rare items." Gil was a little more realistic.


    "To be honest I think Gil has a point, but something tells me that with the high priest we may have some more luck. I just hope that he doesn''t try to bid against us too much." Walker did worry that if arge amount of light crystals or some light rted gear showed up they would be out bid by the church in one move.


    However there was the added bonus that since the high priest would be with them the other participants would be adverse to bidding against the whole group. It was a general practice to keep the church in good graces. There would also be the fact that nobles who had their own influence or high tier adventurers could show up. What if royalty even sent someone? How could anyone justify bidding against a royal?


    "Well there is no point in worrying too much we just need to be ready to ept that there are those with more gold than us. But if we can get a few things that can help our gear it will be all the better. The greater ice imp bones and the pure water should sell very well." Midnight and Onyx had been bumming around by the fire but were attracted by the conversation, Walker was very happy to see the two of them bonding so much as ofte.


    "Brother, we both want to try and get something to help us get stronger too." Onyx rarely expressed to Walker that he wanted something so he would have no reason to say no.


    "Just keep an eye out and if you see something let me know, I will do my best to win it." Walker let Onyx slither up on to his shoulders like usual and decided that they should all start to get ready. The auction was a special event with only VIP invites. This meant that it was much longer than the previous one they had attended. They had much more chances to socialize beforehand. This could work very well for them since thest time they are able to let the tamers know that they had the corpse spider eggs. Maybe they would run in to someone who really wanted to bid on the pure water of the greater ice imp bones.


    The party split up to put on their nicest clothes. Each one of them made sure to keep their adventurers que, travel medal, and the insignia from the demi-human kingdom sigil and visible. These three symbols would go far in thesocializing aspect of the auction to forge new connections and also keep those with higher status at bay. If they yed their cards right they may gain some insight in what others were selling, it could make all the difference in them winning a good item or not.


    Su and Remey had left their gear behind and wore some of the winter robes and clean clothing they had. They matched very well making the two seem like they were a distant family. They had brushed their hair and cleaned their faces giving them an extra glow about them. Walker and Gil had used simr clothing choices and matched well with the girls. If anyone looked it was clear to see the party rtion. This was another very good choice since they could show off their strongbinds to others.


    Midnight and Onyx had obviously taken time to polish up their scales as well since they seemed much cleaner than the previous day. Walker wondered if that was why the two were by the firece this morning to dry out. Midnight was already walking around with a little more pride today alone, he couldn''t imagine how she would act when there were some high ss guests asking about her and swarming them with attention. That was one thing Walker was not fully prepared for, would people swarm them or would people avoid them because of Midnight? He was not sure which would be worse.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 247 - 247. Redecorated

    "Alright, let''s get a move on." Walker and the others stood at the open door, the sun had risen and started to fall again leaving the evening just starting to approach. The VIP auction would take them well in to theter hours but that was not the main event, that would be the after auction socializing. The party nned to head out after the bidding and go back for dinner at the mansion with their own guests.


    Midnight led the way showing off her clean shiny scales and her slightly open wings, it was very evident she was trying to make the best impressions. "Hey umm Midnight knows where we are going right?" Gil spoke up realizing that she had yet to go to the auction house and was basically wandering around on her own.


    "Eh, Onyx should remember where we are headed so it should be fine. He will give her some direction in the worst case. If he doesn''t then we will just show up a little less early than we nned." Walker was not all that concerned since the nobles that they were passing on the way seemed much less aggravated and much more interested in the party.


    With their medals all on disy and more rumors circting their own kingdom had started to take much more interest in them. It was fairly amusing to the party that the demi-human kingdom had be so enamored with them so easily due to their actions but their own kingdom was slow. This was mostly due to how the human mind worked, their cultures were founded differently and valued slightly different things, it was to be expected. Walker could only hope that he would not have much trouble today while they were at the auction.


    With so,me direction from Onyx Midnight managed to lead the party all the way to the Ga family auction house. The steps held many guests that were trying to get some of the remaining tickets from those who would show up to get rid of their extras or even sell them. Some of the lucky adventurers that got a ticket and could not afford to participate would sell themst minute to gain some much needed party funds. There were also those who could bring guests that would choose an adventurer from the crowd and bring them along. This was sometimes an invaluable experience since the adventurer would make better connections with nobles which would lead to a more profitable future.


    The crowd took notice of the party almost as soon as they approached. No one tried to cause them any trouble but the looks from some of those without tickets were full of jealousy as they approached the door. They were still young adventurers even though they had made a decent name for themselves. This made them the target of some jealousy since the party looked like they were about to walk in.


    "Oh, Walker. We just got here ourselves. How are you all this evening?" The high priest hade up behind them just arriving himself. He was wearing the ceremonial robes which made him truly stand out over all the others that had been waiting in the crowd.


    Alice was standing next to him surprisingly not in any church garb at all. She was instead in a white dress with blue embroidered patterns along the seams. It was reminiscent of the way the light flowed when she would sing. Walker was sure that Lisa would bombard her with questions on how it was made and who made it. He was looking forward to watching his little sister try to imitate these patterns.


    "Hello, high priest. It is good to see you well. Alice you look amazing, you really bring out the beauty in that dress." Walker even surprised himself with his line and decided to thank his father for putting him on the right direction. The years of listening to the guards chat idly about the women they were trying to court was going to pay off. What an unexpected bit of knowledge he had learned, he would have never thought that the art ofplimenting a woman would be something he would need.


    Alice was very happy with thispliment and grew fairly red faced. The high priest had a small smile watching this scene. "How are things at the cathedral? Is Walker''s repair still holding up well?" Su had been concerned since the day they hadst been there. If the light healing crystal was not still in tip top shape then there were many who would suffer, something she just could not allow.


    "It is working perfectly, thanks to you two it is back to it''s normal self. You know all my healers and nuns have been asking when you will be back to help out. They really seem to find you the best volunteer they have ever had," Su had not expected such aplement and was stumped silent due to it. Her face tinged a little red and she gave a small nod. "I hope your three cane and help out next time too, having more hands the better, well in your case maybe a w or two." Midnight had not realized the high priest would talk to her but after receiving his attention she puffed up her chest a little. The high priest was ying right to her ego.


    "Well since we are all here, let''s get inside. I want to put a few words in someone''s ear about what we are selling." Walker gained a devilish smile, this time he would work harder to make the prices go up when they sold their items. He also wanted to see the Ga family elder appraise his items too. He felt that his insight was very valuable.


    The amount of guards and attendants at the door had tripledpared to thest time they were there. This must have been the additional security due to the high ss guests and the rarer items. The party was in awe seeing that the interior designs had also changed. Instead of the red color scheme likest time their carpets and drapes had been reced with purples and yellows. The paintings had all been swapped out and even had price tags next to them so that those who liked them could purchase them. There were newer furnishings polished and hand carved. They did not know that the auction house went to such lengths to maintain it''s high end appearance.


    "Hello sirs and madams, can I please ask you for your name?" The main attendant approached, he seemed rather new and was shouldered by a security guard. They were taking their job very seriously. The guard was ncing at Midnight and was most certainly a bit put off.


    "We are the omnipotent party and we are bringing two guests with us." Walker took the lead to make sure everything went smoothly.


    "Perfect, you have been upgraded to a balcony seating for the auction by one of our family elders for your assistance to the auction house and the family. Thank you for epting our previous quest with the adventurers guild. High priest it is an honor to see you again, may you have good luck tonight and enjoy the atmosphere." The man had be much more polite and open the second he had read their name on the list. Walker was pleased to hear that they had been upgraded to a better seating and was interested to see what this seating would look like.


    "Thank you very much." Walker and the high priest both spoke at the same time making it a little awkward but in a good way. The two of them led the way while the others followed, Midnight was right on Walkers heel as then went through the door. She seemed fairly enamored with the nice appearance, she even wiped her feet on the mat at the front of the door before entering. Walker wondered where she had learned this etiquette.


    Walking along the hall they came to a familiar face waiting at a counter before the open hall. "Hello again, and wee back to the Ga family auction house. Are you looking to sell more items this time?" She clearly had remembered the corpse spider eggs that the party had sold thest time, however this was not a surprise since her job relied on her having a keen memory of guests and what they sold.


    "Yes, we have brought arge amount of items. Do you have a ce we can put them down? We do not want to disturb the flow of guests here." Walker had thrown the woman off just a little but she was quick to point to a room branching off from the main hall.


    Walker and the high priest were the only two that left the group. Walker had expected him to stay but looking at his eyes he knew that the high priest who had rarely ever left the kingdom was curious to what an adventurer had brought back.


    "Well back again, hahaha you even brought one of my friends along."


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 248 - 248. To Make Waves

    The Ga family elder was sitting on a stool behind the counter, the room the two had just walked in to was the storage area for the items that the elder was appraising before the auction. They could see the woman who had just directed them at the other side of the counter. "You have something a littlerge do you? I hope it is something that will challenge my appraisal skill." A sly smile spread on his face. He had been waiting for something interesting toe through the door and make the night worth his time.


    "I can''t say it is as good as the wine we found at the ancient ruins but we happened to cross paths with two tough monsters while in the ins." Walker pulled the bones of the greater ice imp and let them rest on the floor, the nearlyplete skeleton immediately got the two older men''s attention.


    "So these are the monsters you have been battling out on your journey?" The high priest had never seen a creature like this. "With such a big opponent you all must work harder than I expected, I am impressed."


    "No, if we saw a lot of these it would be pretty tough, this is what is left of a greater ice imp. We had some trouble with it and we can''t really use the bones for anything. But we thought they may sell well here since there are lots of other uses for them. Most of the snow imps in the ins are much smaller than this and easier to deal with." The Ga family elder was already shifting through monocles trying to get an appropriate appraisal. "By the way, today we will be trusting you to sell our items at the proper price so we won''t be haggling with you." This made the elder smile even more, if this boy was going to offer such trust and respect he would make sure they got what they were worth.


    "These do indeed form a greater ice imp. Looks to be about seventy five years old and has not been through too many tough battles. It''s lucky you found it in the ins, normally we only see items from one when they are much older, this one was young and naive." he shook his head knowing that if it had lived for another twenty or so years the value of the bones would have been almost double due to the amount of elemental mana built up within them. "Do you have anything else for me? Maybe something that could make waves in the auction tonight?"


    The high priest had expected this to be the only item but when Walker started to pull out crates that clicked with ss he was thrown in to another wave of curiosity. "I have two hundred vials of pure water from a snow golem. We ran in to one that really liked to fight¡­" Walker trailed off remembering the near death experience in the ins. "Anyways yes we are looking to sell them all, maybe in batches of fifty since many alchemists will buy arge amount."


    "Yes, fifty is doable, let me take a look to check the purity. I do trust the items you bring but after thest time you were here I have tightened my reins on the flow of products we auction."


    "That sounds very professional, I hope that things have been very fruitful in that endeavor." Walker knew that it was him who had caused this change by calling the now imprisoned representative of the church out on bringing a cursed item to the auction. The high priest did not even flinch at hearing this. He had done his due diligence to remove the culprit and believed that the church was not clear of the responsibility.


    "Hmm, clear, very strong, did you take this while still frozen then cap this? It is very pure there has been almost no impurity leaching in to it. It has been a few years since we have had pure watere through our auction house. This is a nice amount and should do well in our potion market. The next auction we have may have a good amount of stronger potions."


    "Yes we bring it to an alchemist that my party member knows and he helped us bottle it all up. We sold some to him directly and he will even be attending today to try and purchase more. I believe that this may bring the waves you are looking for." Walker smiled knowing that the information on this pure water was definitely not kept secret. There was definitely a way that the information got out to other alchemists.


    "That would exin why we have had a few alchemists and herbalists that would rarely use their VIP tickets. I have wondered why a few masters have even attended. This will make you all a decent amount of gold. Upgrading your seats to a balcony was the right choice. So it was this elder that had upgraded their seating.


    "Thank you very much for that, we are all excited to see what the balcony seating is like." Walker headed out the door he hade in realizing that the high priest wasgging behind. "Anything wrong?"


    "Ah yes I was wondering how these would affect a healing potion. I just may put some bids in on those. I have heard that pure water can take out some poisons using some healing skill, it could be very valuable for the adventures that have braved the swamps ande home injured." The high priest always had thoughts of helping others, this raised Walker''s opinions of him greatly.


    The two moved onward finding the rest of the party and Alice still waiting for them. "Sorry for the wait we just left the items with the elder, we are ready to head in." The woman moved a rope to allow them entry. The Main hall was decorated much like the entry way was,vish purple and yellow fabric hung from the walls. The appetizers being carried around smelled of strong herbs and looked like they had been taken right from the most detailed paintings. They themselves were pieces of art. The most eye-catching part was that there were suits of armor that were lined up along the walls, amongst other things like weapons and shields as well. These were all auction items put out on disy so that the VIP guests could check out what was going to be sold.


    Naturally thest minute items added and the other more unique items for auction were not on disy here. Things like materials and monster parts were not the most suitable for disy anyways.


    The amount of guests was fairly small but they were all well dressed and some had some defining traits. There was a small group all wearing matching pendants with mes carved on them. They looked to be an adventuring party that was very interested in some red themed armor. At the back of the room there were a few familiar faces, Markus Raven was with a few other nobles that Walker could recognize from the castle. He must have been here in the stead of royalty, it was to be expected that they would want to have eyes out for unique items. Having sighted Walker and Onyx he was not the happiest but he knew he could not perfectly avoid them seeing that their fame was rising.


    "Leader I am going to look at those shields over there, maybe I will see some ideas I really like." Su did not even wait to hear what anyone else said, she was already off to study a white shield with green details on it. She was the party defender so not a single one of them could judge her for being so interested. They would all be the same if they saw something they liked.


    "If Su is going off to look at shields I am taking Alice to find some good food,st time it was the best." Alice could not even say a word to protest and Remey took full advantage. The high priest could onlyugh as she was dragged away. Walker almost followed them, but he knew that it would be better to let the two have their own fun.


    "Well since it is only us now why don''t we make our rounds, there are a few nobles from the castle I should greet. It would look good for you two as well to join me." The high priest was looking at Markus Raven and as much as Walker did not want to test those waters he had no reason to say no. Getting up his own courage he nodded and started to walk over with the high priest.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 249 - 249.Wrong

    "High priest, how fortunate we are to see you here. I am surprised that you have brought some young adventurers with you this time." Markus had assumed that these were guests of the high priest when they had all entered.


    "Actually it is the opposite, today I am the guest. These young ones made an offer to bring me along and I just could not refuse. What can I say I am easily tempted." Heughed a bit showing his charisma.


    Markus was caught with surprise; he had not ever expected them to have a ticket to this auction at such a young age, it was even rare for a nobles child to have one for themselves. "It has been a little while since west saw each other, treasurer Raven. You are looking well, I hope that the wine you boughtst time proved desirable. We had a little trouble getting it out of the ancient ruins."


    "You found that!" Markus was caught with even more surprise, he hadn''t heard that their party were the ones who had sold it. He was a little annoyed he had padded their pockets when he bought it but also thankful since when he gave it to the king he had received raving reviews.


    "Well I suppose i need to thank you for that then, it did in fact serve me well. I used it as a gift for his majesty." Markus was having a bit of trouble admitting it since their first encounter was a bit rough around the edges. It was even tougher since he could see Midnight from across the room enjoying the appetizers with the other party members.


    Gil took the chance to chime in with his own thoughts, "So you must be here to represent the castle today? It must be a lot of work for you." He wanted to build some rtions with the castle so that things could be easier in the future, Walker agreed that it was necessary and did not push it away.


    "Oh no tonight I am here myself with a few friends. We really enjoy the auctions because we have found some very interesting things. I personally love to find unique art. I have a collection of historical pieces from the founding of our kingdom. One day I hope to open my own museum after retiring from treasure." Markus had run off on his own tangent, none of them expected him to have such a strong cultural goal in his life. Their opinion improved greatly after hearing this.


    "If we manage toe across anything in the future we will keep that in mind. We may one day go back to the ancient ruins and find some things that you find interesting as well." Walker put a bit more politeness in to this since he was finding that Markus may not be as bad as he expected. It was also very impressive how well he was doing in the presence of Onyx on his shoulders. He was fearful of snakes but it looked like he had been working on this fear since it had been exposed to the entire court. He was a very hard working noble.


    "I actually have a set of historical items I have been collecting from the adventures that go to the ancient ruins. I have collected almost every single piece of the set but stillck onest piece." He seemed rather annoyed at this, making everyone curious.


    "Well whatpiece is left? Is it a painting or some older books?" The high priest was also intrigued by this, he had known that Markus was an avid historical collector but hearing that he was even willing to ask the young adventurers he wanted to know more. The rumors of the first trip to the castle spread easily to the higher ranking individuals like the high priest so seeing Markus take this all in stride impressed him.


    "Well I found a unique set of silverware, I know it sounds rather strange but it was crafted by a cksmith who had amazing skills to keep them from deteriorating ever. Thest piece if it shares the name of the rest would be; pristine butter knife." Walker and Gil were speechless, what were the odds. "It was crafted by one that lived in the ancient ruins and most likely passed down their knowledge somehow to other cksmiths. Some who have studied forging theory found that a great many techniques are the base of our kingdom''s crafting" Markus seemed so proud of this knowledge. The prior image of the man was being crushed in to dust in Walker and Gil''s minds. The man may have caused them some trouble but it would look like that was not the whole of his character.


    "If I were to tell you we knew where thest piece of the set was, what would you say?" Walker said these words slowly bracing himself for any possible repeat of their first meeting. However he prepared himself for nothing.


    Markus''s eyes bulged, " don''t tell me you know where it is? Do you? If you do I will put all of our past aside and purchase it. Don''t tell me it''s up for auction tonight!" Gil and Walker wanted tough, they had assumed this noble would always be against them but now that they knew that they had more to them than what they had seen so far they were much less ufortable. "Well? Is it?"


    Markus had be a bit too open and realized this pulling back. "I am sorry, we are a bit caught off guard. With our first meeting we thought youpletely hated us, especially my little sister Midnight."


    "Well I may only be the treasurer for the kingdom but I know that the castle does not even allow tamers to bring in their tamed beasts. At the time I was disheveled due to the tant disregard for the rules, it was onlyter that I was told the details of why your err, sister was there." Markus looked apologetic but still did not apologize, he would never apologize for worrying about the safety of the kingdom. "I did react very strongly though, but seeing youing to talk to me I can share my own thoughts properly. Thank you for your input the other day on the demon issue, we look forward to the unique solutions your party may present." Markus had shifted in to full noble mode, this was years of training using his eloquent words and solid poker face. "Well back to our prior discussion, the item we were speaking about, is it up for auction?"


    Walker was trying to wrap his head around this progression, how had he been so wrong about this noble, yes he knew that there were some that really did not like their party but this apparently was not one at all. Feeling a bit embarrassed Walker took out the shiny pristine butter knife from his inventory. "This is thest piece you have been looking for right?"


    Markus almost hit the floor, "Yes! Hahahah yes it is, finally theplete set. What can I give you for it?" This was such an unexpected turn of events, Walker had never thought he would sell this item and had kept it for the simple fact that having silverware was always a useful thing. He would have gone his whole life just eating with it none the wiser of its historical value.


    "Well to be honest, if we keep it we would just use it for its intended purpose. So if you really want it you can have it, just help us out in the future sometime, we are still learning the ropes when ites to how the castle works." Walker handed the pristine butter knife over to Markus who delicately cradled it in his hands.


    He was lookingat it like he had just been handed the most delicate piece in all the world. He pulled out a small leather case from a pocket in his coat and slipped the knife within. He made sure it was secure then ced it back within the folds of his jacket. "I will indeed remember this, I may have overreacted in the past but if you and your party are ever in need, I will have open ears." Markus stood a bit taller, he considered leaving the auction at that moment to go put thest piece with the others of the set but stopped himself. "I will be heading over that way to look at the art, but I do think you may find some value in a rumor I heard." Markus leaned in to the three a little closer, "There should be some high mana crystals up for auction tonight. They are rare but one in particr has a dual element, it should be very useful to someone who has the ability to use multiple elements." With that Markus walked off his two guests rejoining him.


    "Well that was sure an interesting encounter, I think I misjudged him." Walker could only nod in agreement with Gil.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 250 - 250. Dual Elements

    The high priest had been mostly silent through this entire event, he knew that the party had not hit it off well with Markus Raven and he personally had pulled a few strings to make sure that Markus would attend this VIP auction. The high priest put in a lot of work after he had been invited and wanted to make sure his adoptive daughter would have the chance to properly spend time with her friends. If it was up to him he would make sure the party did not leave the kingdom again so they would not face any dangers outside the walls, unfortunately he knew that that was impossible. He could only dote on his Alice so much as a father.


    "I have never heard of dual elemental crystals, I wonder what they can do." Walker was more speaking out loud than starting a conversation.


    "Well once the auction house sold a fair amount of dual elemental crystals from a volcanic area, earth and fire mana I believe. They sold for five thousand gold each, a very useful item for the fire and earth made team that was in attendance." The high priest held a smug look knowing that he rarely had the opportunity to show off knowledge like this. He may be years older than those who brought him to the auction this time but he could share his gained knowledge.


    "That sounds pretty cool, so if I went to a forest I may find an earth and water elemental crystal? It sounds like it can be a rare chance based on what natural mana exists there." Gil was excited to try and find some of his own. They would be a huge bounty for the party.


    "From what I know it is very possible, but they need to be lucky to absorb a bnced amount of mana from both natural sources. That is what makes them rare. They are also harder to sue since they require a very specific system. The pair of mages that purchase the previous dual elemental crystals often fused spells with each other so they used the crystals to create a unique staff that they both could channel mana in to." The high priest held a finger to his chin, " They were known as the earth cracking duo before they retired."


    "Wait, you have met those two! My parents only told me stories about them, they were the first two to fuse earth and fire magic in the kingdom, that was years ago." Gil had been read many stories by his parents, these kind of tales were very popr with the children in the fields who would rarely go in to the city when they were younger.


    "Years ago? I swear it is almost like yesterday. When I met the two they could barely use any spells, their fathers brought them to an auction and they begged for the crystals. Ah how fun that auction was, the two fathers didn''t even realize they were bidding against each other until the end when their children ran to share the news of the crystals they had just won." The high priestughed to himself, he could only reminisce on these auctions now that he was reminded of his younger years. "I was not even a high priest at the time, I was just learning to be an entry level priest. My mentor took me here to show my the way auctions worked, how fun it was." the high priest wandered off following an attendant carrying beverages. The two were left a little in awe, what stories could the high priest share with them if he sat down and just started to talk.


    "One day we are going to get him to tell us all about the people he has met."


    "Definitely." Gil and Walker made their own deal, this would serve as a good way to get Gil to the cathedral to volunteer, not that he knew the high priest had stories about some of his favorite childhood stories, it would be much easier convincing him. The only other person that would need convincing was Remey but with a nce Walker knew it would be much easier.


    Alice had been dragged to food with Remey but now that her and Remey were eating the smile on her face was veryrge. Remey was rambling on about something, Walker could only guess she had started to talk about the orphanage because she was showing more energy than usual. Walker had long noticed that she only showed a certain kind of smile and energy when talking about her own family. Midnight was also calmly sitting and enjoying the conversation, she seemed to like spending time in this setting where so many people were giving her attention. She also seemed to like that Alice would often snag an extra appetizer to pass down to her. Alice had unwittingly earned Midnight''s respect.


    "Want to go see what Su is checking out? She seems to have found something cool." Gil pointed towards a set of armor that was outlined with a lot of different carvings.


    The two made their way across the room to see that she had been reading a piece of paper that described the crafting method and benefits of the armor. "What did you find Su?" Walker had be more interested the closer he got. The armor was a fairly basic design but had runes and other patterns carved on to it. From what he could see the metal also had a glow of natural elemental mana, it was absorbing them from the atmosphere around it. This may have been slight but it was a pretty impressive feat.


    "This armor was forged by the dwarves then somehow managed to get carved and detailed by the elves. This is a very rare set of armor. It is only made of silver and Iron so it is not as strong. But since it was made by the dwarves they added some reinforcing techniques so I doubt it can''t stand up to even the hardest hits." Su double checked the paper next to the armor. "Then these carvings allow it to absorb a small amount of mana from around it, this is really good to block any attacks from elemental magic. For any defender using body enhancing skills this can make them much tougher. I believe someone like the armies ice shield defender could make the best use of armor like this."


    "Ice shield defender? I have never heard of someone like that." Walker and Gil were equally lost.


    "I did some research on other defenders so I could make my shields better when I ask the cksmith. There is a man that uses water magic and defensive armor to create ice shields and ice armor. He is considered one of the best young defenders in the entire army. A lot of people expect him to be a general one day." Su had been researching a lot when everyone was not paying attention. The fact that she was even looking in to the army for inspiration was impressive.


    "So he would be able to use this armor to take in more of the water elemental mana he needed to create shields and armor." Walker came to his own conclusion, "This armor would give him a huge advantage, he could block attacks well above his own level. Maybe while we are in the deeper sun hollow forest we should look to learn more about runes from any elves wee in to contact with.''


    "I believe that to be a wise decision leader, but now I think we should go over and have a snack like them before we get to dinner. None of us ate lunch...I just realized we got too excited." Su was right and Walker and Gil suddenly came to the same realization feeling their empty stomachs crying out to them.


    The three joined up with Remey who gave them the rundown on what they should and should not try. They all ended up with small tes of only the best appetizers suggested by Remey. Even Midnight was nodding her head in support of the suggestions, how had the threee to these consensuses they had no idea, but were they spot on.


    Walker was about to ask Alice what she like the best out of the appetizers when he noticed her gaze was fixed on a small bracelet in the corner of therge room. "Want to go check that out? We can see what it has to offer." Walker looked towards the bracelet too, Alice shook her head. "Brother, Alice does not want to get something she doesn''t need. She thinks the gold is better spent elsewhere."


    "Onyx, I''m an idiot! You can talk for Alice since she don''t use mana to speak if you talk to her in her mind." Walker had not realized just how foolish he had been, he had the perfect little brother here to help him out to talk for Alice and the idea hadpletely gone over his head.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 251 - 251. Balcony Seats

    "Alice says not to worry about it, she would prefer to talk to you in her own way. She feels bad that I would have to work to trante. But miss. Alice I do not mind at all. But I will respect what you want." Onyx went silent at this, it seemed like he had gotten a small talking to from Alice in their minds. It was only fair that Alice had always wanted to speak with her own voice and did not want anyone else speaking for here.


    This made Walker a bit sad knowing that she would not be letting Onyx talk for her so that they could have longer conversations but he understood. "I won''t push you, but if you ever want to say something I won''t be upset if you ask Onyx to help."


    Alice just shook her head with a smile, "But since you won''t let Onyx say anything I guess I can''t tell that you don''t want to go look at that bracelet." Walker hooked her arm and started to pull her to the corner of the room. She had no way to protest and let herself be dragged off leaving the rest of the party eating and looking around themselves. Midnight was a bit annoyed that her friend was being pulled off but chose to get Remey to give her more food. This was not as easy though since Remey had built up an immunity to the pleading look Midnight used. Her siblings had used it so often that she developed the immunity almost instantly.


    The bracelet that Alice had been looking at was a simple one, it was iid with ten different colored gems. The metal that these gems were set in to shined with the reflection of the light within the room. It had been made from silver and polished so well that the two could see their reflections within it. "The paper here says its called the rainbow bracelet. It was crafted by a jewel smith that wandered throughout the kingdom and sold it to the auction house. I wonder what else it does, it''s not written in the paper." Walker decided this was the perfect chance to use his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Rainbow silver bracelet


    +2Matk


    Mana storage 0/10


    The gems used to create this bracelet were taken from a high altitude mountain peak. They sat in the first rays of sunrise for many years allowing them to gain the ability to absorb light in many different frequencies. The silver metal used to craft this naturally repels poisons.''


    "Oh, this would be perfect for you, it absorbs different kinds of light elements so it can store some mana. It also says it resists poisons, if you are healing anyone who has been poisoned maybe it will help. I will bid on it." Alice tried to shake her head more but Walker was conveniently looking away. Alice reached out to grab and turn his head toward her so he could see her shaking her head.


    Walker closed his eyes refusing to see it making Alice just hold his face defeated. " Ehm, I do have to remind you, you''re at an event." The high priest was standing there a mischievous smirk on his face, he had seen the whole thing unfold but still wanted to raise the two a little. It was his job as a father after all. "I do agree with Walker though, since you always run out of mana when you sing I would feel much more at ease knowing you have a little put away for safety. It also matches the colors you make with your skills. If he does not win it I will be winning it for you." Alice wanted to argue back with him but knew that once the decision was made she was outnumbered.


    "Sounds like a n to me!" Walker gave a big thumbs up with the high priest pretending that his face was not very very red from how Alice had grabbed his face just a moment ago. "It looks like chairs are being brought out in front of the stage and the armors and other things are being put away, should we find out seats?"


    Looking about the high priest saw the attendants starting to make the change in the hall. "Yes it looks to be about time, let us collect you other members and ask an attendant to show us up the stairs."


    While Walker beckoned for the others to join them the high priest gged down an attendant who was more than happy to leave the chairs to another and show them the way. They had definitely given the attendant an easier job then to lug around chairs. "You will have one of our five balcony seats tonight. The auctioneer on the stage will have an eye on you at all times for a bid so do not worry about missing anyone. We heard that the high priest would also be bidding and ced an extra chair to the front so that it can be easier for you. Your number will be seven and his shall be eight. Today there are only thirty bidders."


    The group was shown up a set of marble stairs and through a smaller hallway. The door that was opened for them was a very beautiful gold and brown color most likely hand crafted. The balcony seating they nowid eyes on was showing quite the scene. There were tworger chairs right next to the railing of the balcony that faced the stage directly, they would have a very good view of any items on disy, much better than if they were on the main floor. The other chairs were set behind the two others close enough to see and ry a message to the one that was bidding.


    Small tables were against the walls with some refreshments and more appetizers, this seemed to be a benefit of the upgraded seating. There were also a set of curtains that could be closed at their own discretion if they wanted more privacy. In addition there was also a pamphlet of item names and the order they would be auctioned, this was yet another bonus for them in the upgraded seating. Walker skimmed the pamphlet finding it was only the items that were already disyed on the floor. This was not very helpful since he wanted to bid on materials or new additions to the auction that night. However he saw that the rainbow silver bracelet was being sold at a starting price of three hundred gold. It was a little high of a price but Walker was not afraid of this. He would pay much more to buy a gift for Alice, especially one that could be so useful to her.


    Walker and the high priest took the seats near the railing and surveyed the first floor, it was already full of chairs and free from auction items now. The switch over was extremely efficient even with their group asking one of the attendants away to lead them to their seating. "This is your first time in the balcony seating right? What do you think? Everything you thought it would be?"


    "This is really the best seating here. I can see the stage much better, plus if the auctioneer is looking at us more closely I know my bid will get seen. They really outdo themselves setting this room up too, there are so many extra details." Walker did not hold back his praise when he spoke on how impressed he was.


    "Most people like the pamphlets they put out. It really helps them strategize, not that I will be bidding on any of the things on disy, the good stuffes after them." The high priest was going to leave the bracelet to Walker in the worst case he would step in.


    "Hello and Wee top this month''s VIP auction. I congratte those of you who have procured tickets and wee those who are new. We will begin with the previously viewed items from the floor and then move in to some other products. Tonight our first item will be¡­" Walker saw that the armor being brought out was nothing that they were after and decided to make small talk while they waited for the bracelet to make its way on stage. No one in the party had let him know they wanted anything either so he assumed that they were waiting for the better items that they could use for forging.


    Some itemster the auctioneer finally brought the bracelet on stage, "Here we have a very beautifully crafted rainbow silver bracelet. This can store mana and also increase the magical attack of the wearer. It would make an exceptional and practical gift for any young woman. The starting bid will open at three hundred gold!" The auctioneer on stage showed off the bracelet on a small pedestal. The lights focusing on it were reflecting off of it making it seem even more brilliant.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 252 - 252. Bidding War

    Walker saw no reason to wait around, he raised a hand with the number card that had been on his seat when they walked in.


    "Number seven three hundred starting bid."


    "Number twenty five, three fifty.


    "Number fourteen, four hundred."


    Walker did not expect such a fast pacedpetition the bidders were already jumping in to the fray.


    "Number eighteen, five hundred."


    "Number five five fifty."


    "Number eighteen, six hundred."


    "Number seven- oh number twenty five seven hundred." Walker had been outbid faster than the auctioneer could rattle off the number, this was going to get pricey. However if they thought they could beat Walker so easily that was a problem. He decided to bide his time and watched the three other bidders fight over it. The price soon reached eight hundred and fifty gold. This item was mostly popr because of its ability to store mana, now that the price was high only those who could use the boost it gave and the storage of mana would be left.


    "Number seven nine hundred gold." Walker threw in his bid since the pace had slowed down leaving number twenty five left.


    "Number seven going once, going twice, Sold! For nine hundred gold to number seven. Congrattions!." The high priest was looking at Walker rather impressed, he had almost thought himself that Walker had given up. But just as he almost ces a bid he saw that Walker was tightly gripping the number card and intent;y looking around at those below. He was analyzing the situation and waiting for the moment where his opponent bidder would be willing to give in.


    "The next item will be one of the most unique armors we have ever had in stock. This armor started its life out in the dwarvennds forged and reinforced. There was plenty of trading that ced it in the hands of an elven rune carver andter in ours. This steel mana armor has the ability to attract natural mana and also block strong attacks. The bidding starts at nine hundred and fifty gold." The armor was the one that Su had been looking at with such interest.


    "Su are you sure you don''t want that armor? We can have the cksmith change it I have seen him use some rune carving skills." Walker was sure she may want it.


    "No leader, If I use that armor it will not be to its fullest. I do not have the proper skills to useit with natural mana. I can have better armor made from scratch." This did not stop her from ogling the armor from the balcony. Walker told himself that he would make sure to ask the wandering cksmith about adding some runes to maybe fill its mana storage capability with natural mana. If the cksmith was able to work his magic it might help Su in the long run.


    Watching the bidding for this armor they could see a few of the well dressed individuals bidding for it. They were wearing the same uniforms that army officers would. This was most likely because any number of their defenders could make use of this armor. Just the reinforcement from the dwarves was enough to keep it at a high priest. However the addition of mana being attracted naturally made it much more tempting. Most people could go their whole entire lives without seeing a piece of equipment touched by two different races.


    The elves and dwarves did not dislike each other by any means but they were far away and when they dide in contact have different cultural values. These two facts made partnerships much rarer. Some people here would bid on it just to keep it in a collection. After some time arger gentleman that waspletely alone was the only person bidding against the army officers. The bidding had gone well past two thousand gold coins. The onlookers were caught up in this bidding war. If any of them were to breathe they just may miss the deciding factor of who may win.


    Therger man stood up after another three back and forth bids. However his gesture was not unnoticed as one of the slightly taller army officers stood up as well. These were the two inpetition. They were going to bid until they could not bid anymore. The auction was still early having not even gotten to the new items or the materials or monster parts that would be auctioned. This was incredible to see a showdown so early, eventually the army officers that were seated started to pull at their standing friend, it seemed he was about to go over their budget for bidding. Therger man took this in stride bringing his bid an extra fifty gold higher than the previous bid. The total had reached three thousand two hundred gold, this bid was what ended it.


    There was an audible sight from the entire auction house as the bidding finally ended. The man sat down when his bid was named the winner. The army officers were not too happy but had their eyes left on many other pieces that night. The party was happy their first bid had not ended up in that situation, however since the fire had been lit everyone was getting hungry for morepetition. The rest of the auction would be much more lively. This would be good and bad for the party.


    The art pieces were filtered through by the auctioneer, most went with out much of a bidding war. Markus Raven was the most notable participant in the art portion taking away almost ten paintings himself. The bidders seemed to be gossiping about his actions on the floor but he paid them no heed at all.


    The next few items also went fast as they were a few weapons and shields that had been on disy, surprisingly Su had little interest in the shields after she had looked at them. She had already taken what knowledge she needed from them and wasit interested in having one herself. This was due to the simple fact that she wasmore interested in having the shields that would be custom made for her.


    This was what they had all been waiting for, the items in the pamphlet had all been sold, now they would fall in to the new items that were brought in today and the items that could nit be disyed.


    "Next up we have arge batch of potions created by one of our kingdoms master alchemists. They worked hard to experiment and create this new high health potion with less ingredients. This is a revolutionary form which still holds the same strength. It is rumored that they used pure water in the potion to boost effectiveness. The starting bid for these potions in a batch of tenwill start at one thousand five hundred gold."


    Remey knew instantly that this was the old man''s potions. "Walker, don''t go bidding on those, they were made by the old man. If you can drive up the price he will be happy. He must be after some extra gold so that he can make sure all the pure water we have is his." Remey said this in ackadaisical tone but her eyes were locked on the table full of potions. Hearing that he had used the pure water to make a batch of potions that used less ingredients with the same effect was no small matter in the alchemy world.


    "You got it, I will throw in a bid here and there to try and keep it flowing." Walker was also impressed by the fact that these potions had been tweaked to use less ingredients with the same effect. Even though his knowledge on alchemy was limited he was no fool that would think they were the same as other high potions.


    "Hmm maybe I should bid on those." The high priest was interested in them but Walker had other ns.


    "If you are interested then Remey can take you to meet with the alchemist that made them. He put them up on the auction so he can make some more money before the pure water we are auctioning." The high priest raised an eyebrow and looked at Remey surprised that she had such connections. He himself had only been in contact with a few master alchemists and had a tough time building rtionships due to the fact that the church normally relied on mana potions and healing skills instead of other potions. The church was simply not a huge buyer for the alchemy building.


    "Yea what Walker said, I can introduce you to him for a deal. Just don''t bid and scare anyone off." Remey said this but had a flushed face a bit embarrassed that Walker had worked her connections in to a deal. The high priest looked at her more carefully before smiling and nodding in approval. It looked like he was more than happy to do just that.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 253 - 253. Selling Pure Water

    With the agreement not to bid they all turned their attention back to the auction. The four military officers bid on the potions edging out anypetition. They had all started to talk to a fast extent when they were presents. This was one of the main things that they had been sent to the auction to gain. Potions could easily be ordered in bulk by the military or they could be bought at a regr auction, however the newer potions would normally hit a market first. This put the military in the same position as everyone else in the kingdom, they needed to put in the leg work to get new potions.


    Having purchased one batch of the high healing potions each the mood of the officers significantly increased, they knew that they would be praised for bringing back such a thing to theirmander.


    Keeping up with the theme a familiar set of crates were brought out on to the stage. "The next Item is being sold in f four batches of fifty vials. These vials contain pure water from a snow golem andck many impurities that normally exist within water used in the alchemical process. This water was stored while frozen and is of an extremely high quality! This bidding for the first batch will start at a discounted price of two thousand gold!"


    Walker thought that the elder of the Ga family would offer them more, but discounted? "What does he mean discounted? This is pure water, it is way too valuable for them to discount it." Remey said exactly what Walker was thinking. He was equally annoyed that they would discount it.


    "Just you wait, I think you will all see why it was discounted." The high priest raised a hand being the first bid.


    "Number eight two thousand"


    "Number twenty nine three thousand"


    The bid jumped a thousand gold just now! The high priest was smiling again giving the whole party the I told you so look. "The discount he gave you will get the alchemists on edge, and they will bid more faster trying to scare off those lower bidders. Should be a nice show. I will be buying thest one though." The high priest was sure that he would win the final batch of the vials and worst case if he gave in he would convince the party to hand over any extra they had.


    "If that''s how it is it''s fine, but if they had not gotten higher that fast I would have needed to go have a word with that appraiser." Remey was a little put off because of the discount but watching it jump thousands of gold in a minute she calmed down.


    "Number twenty nine nine thousand two hundred!"


    The number was extremely high now that a few bidders had started to go against this number twenty nine.


    "Number two ten thousand gold!"


    Seeing the number of gold hit ten thousand the entire party nearly feinted on the spot. This price was so much more than what they had sold the arm of the snow golem to the alchemist Remey knew. "Don''t look at me, we sold it to a fair price. This is just insane, the alchemists down there have a rivalry and don''t care about gold." Remey went back to pretending she did not care as much but Alice who was looking right at her saw the smile spread on her face.


    "Alchemists do indeed make a lot of profit from their potions, It''s why they have never formed a guild. If they did they would loose personal ie and need to set up rules. They would also need to pay more taxes to the kingdom the resided in." The high priest joined in the conversation a little bit disappointed.


    "So the adventurers guild is limited by the kingdom in a way since they need to pay for the building and taxes?" Gil was clueless about these things and decided to take the chance to learn more.


    "Yes and no, since the adventurers guild has so many members they are well off, but the alchemists are few in number. Not many will have the proper systems to pursue it as a career. That paired with how tough it is to get the right ingredients and learning makes it harder to properly function as a guild. I would guess that if they formed a guild they would produce half the potions they do now for the kingdom." The high priest knew that it was better to keep them in the format they currently were but he also wished that they could do something abut their rivalry. The shear disregard for how they were acting in front of the high ss crowd was disappointing. Someone should never throw around their gold like this.


    "Number twenty nine twelve thousand gold, going once, going twice, sold to number twenty nine for twelve thousand gold. Congrattions!."


    The first batch had just sold for an astounding amount of gold, the party was wondering how they could ever spend the insane amount of gold growing in their party bank ount. The alchemists hadn''t even slowed down when the high priest threw the first bid out, nothing would seem to stop them.


    The second and third batches went for eleven thousand gold and nine thousand gold. The price seemed to decrease as the batches went on showing that the alchemists were running out ofpetition. Now that the price had lowered the priest smiled and watched the fourth batch bidding start. He was biding his time and had not bid on the others, a few of the crowd cast nces up at the balcony seeing that the priest was still there. They had the impression that the high priest would have been bidding on every single batch but it had yet to ur.


    "Number two, seven thousand gold!"


    The bids had reached a decent amount but still lower than the previous batch. The bidders were silent and the auctioneer was about to start the count when the high priest raised his number.


    "Number eight, eight thousand gold!"


    The high priest himself had just raised a thousand! This was crazy, the party knew that the church would have deep pockets but they still though the high priest was a frugal man. Instead he was ready to jump in and fight the fight with any other bigger, Rising to the challenge the other bidder did not want to let go.


    "Number two eight thousand five hundred!"


    "Number eight, ten thousand gold!"


    The high priest jumped up the price again by a huge amount, the onlookers were viewing the balcony realizing that a fool was trying topete with the church. Not just the church but the high priest who could make such financial decisions without worry, he was the one that set the budgets after all!


    "Number eight, going once, going twice, sold! Number eight for ten thousand gold! Congrattions!" Everyone including Alice and Midnight were looking at the high priest.


    "What, I said I would be winning thisst batch. Just because I am a bit older now doesn''t mean I am willing to let something I want slip away. Just think of what the healers can use this for. Those swamps and their sted poison will be cowering from our healing." hearing this they totally believed that if the high priest wanted to he could keep a calm face and dere war on all injuries. They were speechless, even Alice scooched away from him a little wondering if she truly knew the man in front of here.


    The auctioneer brought out various other alchemy herbs and tools, none of which were interesting to Remey. She was the groups expert on the subject so Walker was looking to her for what to bid on or not. "Just leave those all be, if we need ingredients we can ask the old man. After tonight he will want to sell things to stock back up on gold. Plus his are better quality then those." To Remey the things being sold were just too low quality to be used in any of their potions.


    "Well, if Remey thinks so I''m fine with it. I can see that they all look a bit older from here." Gil backed things up, his sharp eyes catching the small details like dried out roots or curled leaves. He also had the knowledge his mother had passed down about nts and what to look for in a sick one. This knowledge just helped to hold back Walker''s hand no matter ow rare the auctioneer made the ingredient sound.


    "We will be moving on to out monster and crafting materials portion of the night! I know many have been waiting to see what rare and unique ingredients havee through our doors recently. I can only say that you will be very surprised!" The auctioneer gestured for the attendants to bring out anrge amount of bones. These were familiar to the party since they were the bones of the greater Ice imp. Their other item was being sold as the first item, how lucky!


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 254 - 254. Mystery Bidder

    "These bonese from a younger greater ice imp. The adventurers that hunted this monster had some trouble but managed to prevail and bring back the bones just for this auction. The starting price will be nine hundred gold!" This price was more than what they expected.


    "Well I am d it''s not another discount." Gil breathed a sigh of relief.


    "I do not think they would discount something that can be used to craft. It would make the value of the other materials they sellter seem too high or too low. The price is based on rarity." Su chimed in sharing her own opinion. The logic was sound and no one had any reason to argue. Gil thought on this himself and came to the same conclusion.


    "Number thirteen four thousand gold!" There was a wave of whispers, the high bid from the start had unsettled everyone. This high of a bid on something like this waspletely uncalled for.


    "Who just bid so much on our greater ice imp bones.?" Walker was leaving almost over the railing looking for this number thirteen bidder. The others were also right next to him trying to get a look at who was willing to bid so much at once. They had only expected the total to hit two thousand gold if they were lucky but this bidder had blown that out of the water.


    "To the left there in the white robe, he is hiding his face." The high priest was simrly intrigued. Out of the corner of his eye he had seen that this man raised his number card then lowered it very fast to keep attention away from him.


    The party locked in on the man who was keeping all of his features hidden very well, not a single one of them thought they would be able to do anything if they wanted to talk to himter. "Walker, can you get an appraisal on him from up here?" Gil was simrly interested in who this personwas.


    "Let me give it a try, we should thank him after he stays around. His bid is very out of the ordinary." Walker looked carefully and tried his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Target distance is too great, some information is unable to be discerned.


    Grey


    Level???


    Golem builder system


    Race???''


    "The distance is too far to get much but his name is Grey and he had a golem builder system." Walker wished he could get closer but if he went downstairs he could risk bidding on something else. Not to mention he did not have enough reason to pry in to this person;s business.


    "Golem builder? That is usually a dwarven system right leader?" Su could swear she had seen this in a book once.


    "Yes, I think one of the forging books in the library has a chapter about the kind of system that can create golems. They are one of the biggest forces in the dwarven army. What would one be doing here." Walker''s question would go unanswered since the auctioneer had already pronounced the item sold and the next item was being brought out.


    "The next item we have is just as rare as thest. We have the shed skin of a steel worm! These monsters live in mountains consuming various metal ores to create stronger and stronger skins. When they grow a stronger one they shed the outeryer of skin leaving it behind. This material is tough like metal but flexible like leather, only the best cksmiths can form it in to a good armor! The starting price will be four hundred gold!" Remey had shot up in her chair hearing the properties this material had.


    "Walker, get that for my new armor, it''s perfect."


    "I was just thinking the same thing." Walker had his eyes glued to the forty foot long silver steel like skin. It took ten attendants to bring it on to the stage due to therge size of it alone. They were quick to show that they could bend and twist the skin easily but also could not pierce it with a simple knife. With any of the bidders'' doubts taken away, a decent amount of attention was drawn to it.


    "This is just a theory, but if that man that just bought out bones has a dwraven system, do you think he is selling this skin?" Su broke the thoughts and kept Walker from making the first bid.


    "This would be too much of a coincidence if it wasn''t true." Walker echoed her thoughts before he prepared to ce his bid.


    "Number three one thousand gold!"


    Walker waited a second seeing that there were four other bidders that looked to be about to bid then held up his sign with three fingers. "Number seven three thousand gold!" The bidders were hit again with a wave of whispers, another crazy bid right after the other. The man in the white robes shuffled a bit as they nced up towards the balcony. Walker looked down at him with a smile on his face. He could not see the white robed man''s face but could tell that his look had been seen. With a little luck he may be able to talk to this manter.


    "Going once, going twice, sold for three thousand gold to number seven. Congrattions!" Walker was happy with his purchase but Remey was a little less happy now.


    "You didn''t really need to spend such a crazy amount on me you know." She huffed a little but Gil knew she was happy to have her own unique material for armor.


    "Well he needed to make sure our brawler would be well protected right? Can''t fault our leader for doing his best." Remey''s face grew red when Gil said this, so much so that she got up and grabbed some water farther away from where they were all sitting. Gil had scared her away a little.


    "I also think I want to try to talk to that golem builder. I may have something he is interested in." Walker had a mischievous smile himself. The gears were turning in his head, he happened to have three golem cores and nothing to do with them.


    The others gave him a look but the high priest seemed to catch on that he was looking to build another connection. This young boy was starting to catch on to the real reason these VIP auctions were held.


    "The next item we have is much more unique. There was an adventure group that was out by the sea and was lucky to find a dual elemental crystal growing out of the side of the sea cliffs. The light element and the water element are perfectly bnced in this high crustal and normal crystals. The fifteen dual elemental crystals and the one high dual elemental crystals will start at a price of three thousand gold!."


    This was the item that Markus Raven had told them about, they would want to bid on it to try and make it theirs. They did not have much use for the dual elemental crystals but that was not the biggest deal. If they could procure it then they would be able to hold on to it for when they needed it. The light element and the water element were not Walker''s strongest elements but one day he would need them to be up to par with his fire element and earth element.


    "I will bid on this one, if I can get it maybe I will have to find other crystals to work toward a new staff with all the elements affinities." Walker was talking to himself but everyone around thought it was a good Idea.


    "If you are able to get the dual and high elemental crystals for such a staff I believe that you will have a very good weapon leader." Su was right there to support this. She had seen what the elemental magics had the possibility to do and could only see merit in having a staff that was aligned for every element.


    "Do what you want, I have what i need." Remey was still in a happy zone after getting the steel worm skin for her armor so she would not have any opinion on what the others wanted.


    "Go for it, I think it is a good goal to have for our only magic attacker." Gil also had no qualms with this. They had the gold and Walker should have a staff that would make use of all the elements. If he used his current staff to use light spells it could be harder for him since they were opposite elements. So far it had not been a problem but if Walker learned stringer spells the fine tuning that was needed may be disrupted.


    "Good luck, this bidding war will be very tough, many will want those crystals." The high priest had nothing to say on what they bid on but he already knew that any of the bidders there today were there just to fight over this one item. The adventurers that had found these crystals had gone right to the auction house and after dropping them off spread the rumors about them to every high ss individual they could.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 255 - 255. Crafting Portion

    "Number twenty two, seven thousand gold!"


    "Number seven, seven thousand five hundred gold!"


    "Number one, eight thousand gold!"


    The pace was fast, as soon as one bid would be said another was already being spoken. The auctioneer could barely keep up. The price was going back and forth raising by five hundred gold each time. The bidders that were not bidding half expected another outrageous jump by thousands of gold. They rxed realizing that this was not happening this time.


    "Number seven, with thousand five hundred!"


    "Walker what is your cut off for this?" Su whispered in his ear not wanting to say anything too loud even though they were in their own seating.


    "Twelve thousand sounds about our limit, I don''t want to get too far ahead of myself. We may encounter such crystals again in the future." Walker knew that if he let all the gold get sunk in to this one thing they could end up stuck in the future if they wanted to get something. There was also the fact that there should be a few more items after these crystals so he did not want to get too bid happy.


    "Number twenty, ten thousand gold!"


    While he was distracted the price had been pushed up much higher, it was getting too close to what Walker was willing to pay.


    "Number seven, ten thousand five hundred gold¡­.going once, going twice- Number twenty eleven thousand gold!"


    Walker thought he was about to get lucky but this number twenty had jumped in at thest second to try and secure the bid for themselves.


    "Number seven, twelve thousand gold!" This was it Walker had ced hisst bid. The auctioneer was looking around "Going once, going twice, sold for twelve thousand gold to number seven! Congrattions!" Walker let out a huge sigh, he had not realized he was holding his breath the entire time.


    "Are you sure you never unlocked a luck ability? I swear I saw the man that was bidding against you drop his card at thest second and miss out on the final call." The high priest was looking at him joking but Walker himself was wondering just how lucky it was that he put his max bid at twelve thousand and somehow got twelve thousand.


    "Now what are we looking for? Think anything better than that will show up in thest items?" Remy leaned forward now much more invested after thest items. She wanted to see if anyone else could get something for their gear.


    "Brother, I would like that." Onyx who had been silent was now slithering off Walker''s shoulder and poking his head over the balcony. His eyes were transfixed on the item being brought on stage.


    "This item is a rare crafting material. It is found at the edges of deep chasms and often in dark caves. This is known as dusk stone. This dusk stone possesses the strange ability to attract light elemental mana and can be used for a wide variety of crafting potential. The starting bit till be four hundred gold."


    "Why do you want that? Can''t you absorb enough light elements by yourself?" Walker was lost to what Onyx was thinking when it came to why he was so interested in the item.


    "I can sleep with it and absorb more light mana while I rest." This was his short and sweet answer. Since light elemental mana was basically Onyx''s source of life Walker had no reason to ignore the stone. Not many seemed interested in the dusk stone at all.


    "Hmm if your little friend is so interested then I will split the cost with you if you are willing to split the stone in half. Some of my younger nuns can use this stone in a ne to help them practice their light healing skills." This made the bid even easier to make.


    "Perfect n for me, how do you feel Onyx?" Onyx just bobbed his head refusing to take his eyes off the dusk stone.


    Walker raised his card jumping in to the very slow bidding war that was happening on the floor. It looked like there werea few interested in it just for the sake of grabbing an item, the normal fire that existed when the item was sought after was nowhere to be found.


    "Number seven, six fifty!" His bid was the most recent and only ended up raising the price fifty gold. This item was much less popr than was nned. "Going once, going twice, sold for six hundred and fifty gold to number seven. Congrattions!" The auctioneer was obviously d to be rid of the item, she was looking at it with a sliver of hate in her eyes. It had slowed the pace and energy in the auction way too much.


    "Lend me your que here." The high priest reached out and epted Walker''s adventurers que and tapped a pendant to it. There was a slight glow as the bank transfer was made. "I really do envy this magic, when I was a child this was still too new and only a few used it. Now it is everywhere and I can not believe what things would be like without it." The high priest reminisced as he gave back the que to Walker.


    Walker noticed that there were many patterns on the pendant that the high priest wore and assumed that they were symbols of his standing in the church. The church didn''t have many symbols that they used to identify them. Instead it was often just the white clothing they wore and sometimes gold embroidery to show the reflection of light known for healing.


    "The next item we have was grownby a hermit in the mountains. These sparkling moss have been known to increase the purifying ability of mes when making armor from poisonous materials. The starting bid for this crate of sparkling moss will be five hundred gold!" The bidders started to jump on this but to Walker it was not very interesting at all, they did not have any poisonous materials at all.


    "We are never going to the swamps so we will never have any poisonous materials that need that." Remey spoke but was supported by Su. They both hated the idea of going somewhere with deep slow mud. For Su she feared she would sink in to quicksand instantly with the weight of her armor.


    "Yea, I don''t need it and we definitely won''t go to the swamps any time soon." Gil was fine with avoiding the swamps too, it was tough for him to hunt there.


    "No never!" Remey argued a bit with Gil The two of them getting in to their usual routine.


    "You all may not like the sound of the swamps but there are many useful things that grow there. The monsters produce poisons that can be refined in to medicine and some nts that grow in the tough environment are actually very useful in crafting." The high priest charmed in, Walker listened and held back his one judgment. Talking on ces he had never been was something he tried to avoid unless he had done some research.


    "Oh, looks like thatst one finished up, I wonder what''s next." Walker''s attention was drawn back to the stage seeing that there were a few new items on disy.


    "These here are shell bug spikes. Theye for the desert lends past the mountains. They are rarely found here and are known for their tough exterior and nearly hollow interior. These spikes were expertly trimmed form a shell and are very easy to add to armor, shields, and even as an arrow head! They easily hold poisons or mana crystal within them and can be reused due to their toughness. The price for a package of one hundred will be starting at five hundred gold!"


    Gil had dropped his skit with Remey and was currently staring down the spikes. Thement the auctioneer had made about them easily holding a mana crystal or some form of poison greatly attracted him.


    "Oho, not a bad price, we purchase those from a traveling caravan. They bring us the thin spikes from the younger shell bugs because they can be used for acupuncture or to administer medicine under the skin." The high priest was not surprised to see these at the Vip auction. The real buyer would be looking for this item on their own. It was obviously someone trying to make some quick gold before the end of the auction.


    "I think those will be my arrow heads, if I can fill them how I like I think I will be able to be much more versatile in battle." Gil had thought a long time about the arrows he wanted to make with his withering wood arrow shafts. Thisbination fit just what he was after. "I''m sure of it, Walker please bid on those, they will be perfect." Walker did not hesitate for a second. If this was what Gil needed he would get them.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 256 - 256. Old Patient

    "Number seven, five hundred and fifty gold!" The auctioneer announced thiscking the same fire she normally had, this time was less impressive than all the other items. She knew this should be sold in the general auction but since a guest brought the, today she was stuck selling them. She could see that there wasn''t even going to be anypetition for them.


    "Going once, going twice, Sold for five hundred and fifty gold to number seven!" She even dropped the congrattions at the end.


    "Well that was easy, we were the second bidder and got it." Walker just looked at Gil who slowly sat back down, he had jumped up watching for any opponents to bid against them.


    "Hehe, you got pretty excited for your new arrow heads oh party ranger." Remey mocked him much like Gil had before. Gil pretended not to hear her and looked off at the wall. The party had taken in a significant number if items so far and there was still a few items left from the other things left to be sold.


    "The next item tonight it a very rare item indeed. This was taken from the deepest party of the deserts over the mountains, sunshine honey! This had the ability to purify ones body of the toughest of poisons and even assist in the healing of burns. The sand stripe bees that create this honey will hunt anyone that harms their colony so it is very hard to obtain. These four jars will start at seven hundred gold!" The auctioneer looked to be happier with these items and tried to push just how rare this item was.


    The effects were very good and Walker could tell that it had taken root in a few of the other bidders. "Number eight, seven hundred!" The high priest had been the one to bid on this immediately. He was hyper focused on getting this honey to use in the cathedral for burn patients.


    The bidding war hade back in an intense way. The high priest was being pushed higher and higher on the price and it looked like it was not going to end easily. Thest bid that opposed him pushed the price for the sunshine honey to six thousand gold. Not wanting to let it get away from him he stood up and leaned on the balcony. "Seven thousand gold in the name of the church!" He raised his hand with his number. The entire hall had gone silent, the high priest had just used his trump card to obtain the sunshine honey.


    "Number eight, seven thousand gold, going once, twice, sold to number eight for seven thousand gold! Congrattions!" The auctioneer was startled by the sudden interjection but she rushed the final words to make sure it was harder for anyone to oppose the high priest. She knew that the high priest and the elder that had personally appraised every item tonight were good friends. She would lose respect in the family if she did not take care of this as best as she could.


    The high priest sat down with a warm smile on his face, he felt no shame at all for using the name of the church to stun every other bidder in it letting him win. "That is definitely a good strategy, remind me to have you bid on something if I am having trouble in the future." Walker spoke without looking at the high priest. The lesson had been learned, this was a way to use one''s political power to their advantage and Walker would not soon forget it.


    The final auction items were nothing impressive, they were all things that specific systems could use or that would not be of any help to the church or the party. They had gained a decent amount of items anyways and Walker decided that he was content. They had some extra gold in the party bank and some new things to bring back to the cksmith for their gear. It was safe to see they hade out victorious.


    "Thank you all foring to the VIP auction this month, I wish you good luck in gaining tickets to the next and hope to see the amazing items you bring with you. Please remain for the final hour and enjoy drinks provided by the auction house." With the closing words said Walker noticed the man in the white robes moving to the exit.


    "Hey I will meet you all outside, I have someone I need to talk to!" Walker ran downstairs the way they hade and reached the corridor leading to the entrance. The man in the robes was only a little ways ahead of him and Walker easily caught up. "Your bid tonight was very bold, I would expect a golem builder to have such courage." The man in the white robes stopped dead in his tracks.


    "You know me from somewhere?" His voice was cold and raspy, not used to speaking to others.


    "Not at all, I have a skill that gives some details. That''s not important, I would assume that a man with such a system would be after some golem rted materials? Like an undead golem core, a snow golem core, and even a steel golem core?" Walker was trying to hook him in to buying these cores so he held nothing back.


    The white robbed man started to turn but then stopped himself. "If you ever find yourself in the mountains I will expect you to visit the high forge, ask for grey." The man rushed off and out the door. Walker could only feel like he had failed, but there was the chance that he would end up in the mountains one day. The underground city of the dwarves was there, and so he was sure it would be the high forge.


    Walker stopped by the desk and entered the same room he had dropped off his items for auction. An attendant led him to all of them and he stored them away in his inventory. The rest of the party and the high priest made it to him with no problem, the high priest gave him a knowing smile.


    "What was that all about? Did you think the stuff we bought would run away?" Gil was curious at what could make Walker run down the stairs so fast.


    "Oh, you know just trying to talk to an interesting guest. I have a ce we can visit if we ever go to the mountains." Walker left it at that and helped the high priest with his winnings. When they got outside they found that there were some young priests in training waiting for them.


    "Walker, if you could please pass them my items so that they can take them back to the cathedral?" Walker did as he was asked and the priests in training eagerly took them. They had been waiting outside conversing with each other on moral values and their lessons, it had been a long wait.


    "There you are kid! It would have been nice if you told me you had the balcony seats, I would have joined you all." The old man was walking briskly to the party giving Remey an intense re.


    "Well if you had told me you wanted to sit with us I could have had something arranged but guess who didn''t, you." The two gave each other their normal not so nice greetings but there was no real anger or distaste in their tones.


    "Ah yea old man, this is the high priest. He is very interested in those potions you made with the pure water, I am certain that if you made some more with the pure water you bought tonight then he will purchase them for the church." The high priest was surprised that this old man that had rushed up so fast, this was the master alchemist she wanted to introduce him to?


    "You want me to meet the high priest?" The old man gave the high priest a once over, "You look familiar, have you ever healed a man who burned his left leg on a spilled cauldron?"


    "Was this in the summer a few years back?" The old man lifted his robes showing the faint scars on his left leg.


    "Been a few years but I can walk pretty well again. I have made some decent burn salves since then, I can try and make that Honey you bought in to them to stretch your supply." The two fell in to step with each other as they walked behind the party. They were bing fast friends after remembering each other from an unfortunate ident.


    "Guess I didn''t need to introduce them¡­" Remey was a little miffed since her efforts were lost but at the end of the day they would both still have what they want so she dropped it and moved on.


    Their walk took a little longer since they were limited to the pace of their new additions. Walker had been pretty quiet but still managed to match pace with Alice. The two of them walked slightly red face shoulder to shoulder.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 257 - 257. Shock In The Garden

    The garden was dark since the sun had long set, but there was enough rising moonlight to show off the many young sprouts. In just a small amount of time the most impressive growth were the oozing vines which were almost over a foot tall. The old man Was looking at these inquisitive;ey. He had been a master alchemist for some years and had neverid eyes on these veins. He stopped and looked about in the garden even more finding there were more things he had never seen. "What are these nts you have here? For the life of me I can''t identify them, even with my alchemist''s almanac skill. I should have all the herbs I have ever used or studied saved in my mind with it and I have nothing when ites to those vines that sprout by the wall, and this tree that looks like it''s about to fall over."


    "Eh just some formerly extinct herbs we got from an adventure to the ancient ruins." Remey''s voice was so casual and rxed.


    "Oh, just formerly exti--What! What do you mean formerly extinct!?" The old man yelled much louder than anyone had expected him capable of. Remey had already be used to knowing that their garden was home to herbs that grew nowhere else any longer. Jane was going to be sure that they would grow and be some of the nest specimens they had ever been seen.


    "What can they do? What are their names? Can they be used for any potions? Are they poisonous? What part of the ancient ruins did they grow?" The old man rattled off questions with energy that he did not seem to possess earlier. His chat with the high priest had bepletely forgotten.


    "Calm down, we will send some over to youter. Gil''s mother is growing them with us. She will be more than happy to tell you all about them. After hearing about them you might even want toe help grow them too, we do have an alchemyb here too." This was the hook she had baited for him. She was going to make sure that the old man made trips to their mansion to not only help keep the herbs growing well but also keep the alchemyb maintained.


    "I''ll be here until you can''t stand me. I need to research these herbs until I have seen every possible oue." The old man cared not for anything in return, this knowledge was more valuable than any amount of gold. They could ask for his very soul and he would give it to them. Herbs that no alchemist hadid hands on were to be sought after and hoarder by a master alchemist.


    "Well we do need some help growing those angel wings, so I guess you can do as much research as you want it, you will help us out with that." Walker jumped in seeing what Remey''s goal was. She was pretty sly at times, Walker would need to keep this in the back of his mind.


    "Done, I can use some of them too right? There can only be me though, I won''t allow any second rate alchemist near here to cause any damage or trouble to these seedlings." The old man wanted to make sure there would be no other ns to let anothere near what he wanted to research.


    "Yea yea, no one else is allowed to research them but for you and Gil''s mother. Oh and you should send some of the oozing vines over there to the church. If I remember Walker''s appraisal right they can be used for pain somehow¡­" Remey pretended not to remember the details which drove the old man crazy.


    "Come on, I can smell the food from out here!" Gil had reached the door first and was about to leave the rest of the, behind. The second the door cracked open the smell hit them all like a wave of pleasure.


    The herb and spices used to roast the vegetables and horned rabbit prated their sense of smell. There was not a more amazing scent in the whole world from what they all could tell. Midnight was the fastest to act and rushed toward the dining room with Onyx on her back. She would be crushed if she was not the first to sample these new tastes, she was Hilda''s number one fan and taste tester.


    "Would you like me to lead the way?" Walker looked at the lost Alice who was still trying to take in the views of the mansion. The strange new nts in the garden coupled with the recently cleaned entry way were enough to captivate anyone. Walker himself wondered who had done all the shining and sweeping, he would be thanking themter for their amazing work.


    Alice smiled andtched on to his arm, she was just as excited for the food as well and lost herself to her emotions. Walker felt his face flush but led her toward the dining room. Remey was giggling behind him while Su held her back. Su was earning major brownie points in Walker''s book.


    The scents of roasted horned rabbit and vegetables only intensified until the magnificent sight of the table took their full attention. Hilda had outdone herself roasting the entire horned rabbit. It was the center of the table, all the sides of roasted vegetables and fresh fruits added to the feast. Glistening zed fruits were ced on top of cream filled tart shells. The apple pies that Hilda was famous for were made in to small personal sizes for everyone to enjoy. There were even multiple versions of baked quiche in different pans, this was definitely multiple sessful experiments she wanted to show off. The scene was much like one would expect from a mansion in the upper tier housing. Any noble would be proud to call this meal theirs.


    "Ah! You''re earlier than I expected, let me go get the drinks I made. Gerret, go greet our guests!" Hilda yelled at her husband to get him on the mover. Su''s Mother and Father also stood to greet the high priest and the master alchemist that hade with them The flurry of greetings did not seem to end as Gil''s parents joined in. This left the party and Alice out of the loop, it was a typical adult move at any party or event.


    iming their seats Walker and Alice chose seats towards the end of the table closest to the fire ce where Midnight and Onyx had alreadyid im to a tter of food. Walker still thought it strange that Onyx was eating when he couldget what he needed from light elemental mana but he had most likely been infected by Midnight. She could convince even those on the strictest diets to give in and eat something delicious.


    "Here you all go, my friend makes the most wonderful peach tea blend. Just a couple hours of steaming and then chilling it down with some honey and you have a refreshing beverage." She poured sses for everyoneapanied by a lemon slice. Walker was caught in awe to see that she was wearing a dress instead of her normal kitchen attire.


    "Wait, father, did youb your hair?" Garret was sticking out like a sore thumb. The man neverbed his hair and would usually fight tooth and nail to let his bed head be. Hilda had never been sessful but for one or two times in getting him tob it, their wedding day and the day that he met her parents. This would be the famous third time he had ever properlybed his hair.


    "What? No it must have been this way when I woke up today." Garret avoided the subject telling Walker everything he needed to know. His mother must have used some tricks to get him tob it.


    "Now tonight we have some delightful guests. Master alchemist, and high priest wee to our home the former Amethyst family mansion. Alice wee as well, feel free to enjoy a tour after, I prepared some cocktails for after dinner." Hilda had thought of everything. There was the full feast in front of them all made to perfection and then the dessert which was her best work. On top of that she had managed to get the beverages from a friend and made a cocktail. Walker was tempted to ask for a sip but knew that he was still too young to drink in the kingdom.


    "Ah man, that''s what we should have tried while in the demi-human kingdom, one can drink there as soon as the turn fifteen. Here we need to be eighteen." Gil facepalmed while realizing they had missed an opportunity that they did not have at home. Naturally his mother heard this and a smack to the back of the head solved his desire to try alcohol.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 258 - 258. Reading The Night Away

    The table was much more lively than usual, the old man was picking Jane''s brain for all the knowledge on the new nts they were growing. The details she had were better than any book Walker had read. With her skills she was able to take away growth rates and nutrients needed for each sprout she saw, it was the farmers version of an appraisal skill. With every small detail learned it was almostpared to an earth shaking presentation for the old man. There was no doubt in anyone''s mind that he would be spending a veryrge portion of his time at the mansion, and more specifically in the garden. With the way Jane acted it would seem she had found herself a new friend. The two would be the perfect gardening duo.


    When Gil''s father chimed in about bringing natural herbs for the forest he was bombarded by the demands of the two. He had stepped in to a dangerous trap of fulfilling their orders. He almost wished he had taken the opportunity to run away and hide before they realized he would go there to hunt and gather.


    Hilda and Garret had be intertwined in the conversation with the high priest and Su''s parents. Since Su''s mother had seen so many different healers she was well acquainted with the church and some of their more adventurous healers. The high priest took advantage of this and asked for every detail from the past so he could evaluate their growth since theyst saw their patient. He was dead set on making sure that those wandering healers that rarely returned to the church for reports or training were still doing their best. He was much more overprotective than they had expected.


    "Since they are going to be talking all night do you want the grand tour?" Alice was all smiles when she heard that Walker was willing to give her a tour. She had only really been in the cathedral and a few other nobles'' houses due to healing. She had never really been a guest somewhere.


    "Then let''s get on our way." Gil made kissing faces at Walker which made Su identally elbow him. Walker gave Su a smile knowing that he owed her one.


    Walker''s main destination was the library since it was the most impressive room to him in the mansion. He could not wait for the garden to take root and be the wondrous walking path that he could show off as well. He decided that the forge and alchemistb were not worth the trip either. Alice had never shown interest that he knew of in either, although it may be something cool to show her when the old man had his way with theirb. He did not add the training field in to the tour either, mostly because it was not much to see at night and he was afraid that they may identally disturb the growing spirit lotus.


    "This is our library, it took some time to organize it but there are enough books to keep someone busy for a lifetime!" Walker held out his arms wide as he entered the door first. The scene was astounding to the average person who would rarely see many books in one ce let alone enough to make up a library. Alice approached the first shelf she saw and started her search through things. "You know, I am the one who organized it so if you want something on history, light elemental mana, monster, forging, anything you just need to ask." Walker wanted to get her to say something too, her voice was so rare that he had started to yearn for it.


    Alice just gave him a look and kept on looking through the shelf she was on. With some small effort she was looking through each and every single title to see what they were about. Traveled from shelf to shelf eventually figuring out the organization of their books and was soon on the second floor checking through the books on the arts. She was taking a stack of five books all on the art of singing and performing. "Ah I should have guessed you would be after those." Walker spoke this out loud, she was a songstress after all and it was part of her system to sing. She would obviously want to learn more about singing. These books that she had not seen before would make her develop new ideas for songs and even new techniques.


    Walker found a book on the uses of water magic in healing. He decided that since he was going in to a forest he may as well start to develop his water magic, the fact that it could heal and also attack would widen his variety of useful skills for all situations. He also would have some time between helping in the forge so he wanted to make the best of his time. This would be an ideal prelude to his next challenge which would be tio learn to use a war hammer in battle.


    The two sat down on one of the couches that were in the library for reading, there was not much light so walker used the yellow light orb to give them a soft glow to read in. The two became absorbed in their books soon falling asleep where they sat. Not a single person came to disturb them.


    Walker woke up to a heavy feeling on his shoulder, the sun had started to push through the window as it rose illuminating the library in all its glory. Walker tried to move his arm to wipe the sleep from his eyes but found it to be trapped. He looked down finding that a sleeping Alice was snoring ever so slightly while on top of his arm and shoulder. The two had fallen asleep reading, Walker was frozen. He had never been in such a situation and waspletely unable to move for fear he would wake Alice up.


    He sat therepletely frozen but captivated by the lighting through the window and resting on Alice''s face. He swore that there was not a more beautiful sight in the world. The sun rose slowly but soon reached Alice''s eyes causing her to stir. She moved trying to get away from it but realized something was off about where shey. She opened her eyes and found Walker smiling like a fool looking at her where shey; on his shoulder.


    She pushed up embarrassed of where she was and how she had slept, "emm good morning¡­" Walker had nothing else to say to break through the awkward morning. Alice lightly tapped his arm in response to this. She was redder than a tomato. The two eventually roused themselves and started their way to the dining hall for breakfast.


    "Hey look the two bookworms finally got out of the library! Did you manage to read every book there in one night?" Gil was the first to see them enter the dining hall. The high priest sat with Hilda drinking tea and chatting about food.


    "Walker, I was just talking with the high priest on some possible baked goods I could send over to the cathedral to help those with upset stomachs after they are healed. I will have you take them back tomorrow for them." This was the first on a list of chores that were already starting.


    Walker did not see this as a bad thing though, it would be a good excuse to help out and heal a few people. Plus he was sure that Su would want to go as well, she had made a few friends while there thest time. "If you want to bring the books you didn''t finish reading with you I don''t mind. You will make more use of them than if they would be when sitting here." Alice nodded very happy with this proposal. She had fallen asleep halfway through her first book and still wanted to read the others she had taken for the shelves.


    "Should I take it they had some interesting books on singing?" The high priest knew his adoptive daughter well. She had long memorized every single book of song in the entire cathedral and always hunger for more. Since she was at risk of using up her mana if she talked all the time she spent more time reading and even writing her own songs. The fact that she could not speak freely was a blessing in this way, she had branched out in to many more creative outlets than a child normally would.


    Alice was nodding her head so much so that Walker wondered if it was properly attached. "Well then you are wee to visit any time, even if this one is off on some adventure." Hilda smiled a bit knowing that she could get the girl alone and learn some more about her. She would be blind to miss the fact that Walker was treating her differently than others.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 259 - 259. Splitting Stone

    The high priest soon was saying his goodbyes along with Alice, the two were expected at the cathedral for the normal healing. Expecting them to stay longer would just end up hurting others in the long run. Not wanting to make them feel Guilty Walker saw them out. The high priest was the first out the door, "I will being again to visit another time. I think that in time your garden will be a wonderful ce to meditate and rest my old joints." He was very impressed with the way it was already mapped out and was eager to see the final beauty.


    Alice lingered slightly at the door with Walker, she was conflicted and obviously did not want to leave, but her responsibility was to the church. She had practiced and trained herself for years for the goal of helping others and she would not give it up so easily. "I will bring the books you were reading by tomorrow for sure, and we will stay to help with some healing.. This made her cheer up, "Oh and before you leave." Walker pulled the rainbow silver bracelet from his inventory. He smoothly grabbed Alice''s hand and slid the bracelet on.


    She nearly teared up since she was overjoyed at the first gift she had gotten from someone who was not trying to pay for healing or from the high priest. "Thank you, I love it." She spoke the most Walker had ever heard from her. The sweet and smooth voice making the sunlight dance with a few rainbows. Walker was almost captivated by the scene but before he could respond she had kissed him on the cheek and ran to meet the high priest''s pace.


    Walker was stunned and stood at the door for a decent portion of time. He had never had such a thing happen and his emotions were in turmoil. Part of him wanted to rush after her again while another part wanted to curl up and hide away in happiness. Tomorrow could note soon enough, he would need to try very hard to rush himself to bring the books he had promised her to the cathedral. With this on his mind he started off through the mansion to make sure that he told Su about his ns, he was sure she would go with him.


    "Leader, what are you running around for?" Su had juste out of her mother''s room after checking in with her which was a long time habit of hers. She was doing it less often but still fell in to the same old routines at times.


    "Ah, well I wanted to know if you would like to head to the cathedral tomorrow to help with the healing? I need to bring Alice some books too so I thought it would work out pretty well." Walker was slightly red faced but was not as embarrassed to be more open to the always supportive Su.


    "Of course, they always need extra hands to get everyone healed. We can do so much to help them and since we have the time it is only right that we do. We should be bringing Gil and Remey too, they need to act a little more like heroes or else we two will be the only ones that the kingdom knows¡­.Well Midnight shoulde too, but i think she might not be as helpful." Su had her worries that Midnight would just find a warm ce to curl up and nap.


    "You never know some of the elderly there may find her adorable. If they bring her any food she will do whatever they ask of her. Plus how many people can say they have seen a dragon in their lives? Just having her there would be something to take away their pain with distractions." Walker made some good points that it would still be beneficial overall to bring the whole party. "Yea that settles it we are going to bring everyone whether they like it or not." Walker was determined. Everyone would be helping and he would be able toplete the task he wanted to get done.


    "By the way, do you need me toe with my designs and the materials for my shields? I really want to try and help if I can." Su had been finishing up her design ideas and had a much more clear vision of the shields she would be using. She just needed to convey the, to the wandering cksmith who they were all sure was asleep in the forge from tweaking things all night, he was a perfectionist.


    "Ah, I almost forgot! Let''s bring him the materials we bought, If you can go get Gil and Remey we can start crafting or at least make design changes. The steel worm skin is so big that i think we will be able to use it for more than just Remey''s armor." Su was happy with this idea and in her excitement went on her mission to find the other two. She had a sneaking suspicion that Gil was still asleep and that Remey was off trying to punch something.


    Walker went down to the front and around the house to the forge. There was a small amount of smoke rising from the smokestack which showed that the forge was already heated and ready. "You must have a sixth sense to know that I was on the way." Walker announced his arrival only to find that the wandering cksmith had cleared the table for the new materials Walker was bringing with him. "First we have this crate of fifty shell bug spikes, Gil wants to make arrowheads with them. I think he will ask you to make some adjustments so that they can more easily hold some paralyzing poisons or some elemental crystals."


    Walker put the crate down on the table and the wandering cksmith did not wait even a beat to open it and start to look at them. He pulled out six of them and tossed them in to a pile on the ground. They had small cracks and one was even missing a point. With just a nce he had taken out the worst parts. "This is a dusk stone, if I can ask you to split it in half so I can deliver half to the high priest tomorrow and keep the other half for Onyx to use to absorb some light elemental mana I would really appreciate it. I thought you would have more fine tuned skills to make it happen without breaking itpletely." The wandering cksmith added to this and was more than happy to help in this matter. He also decided he would make a few adjustments while at it.


    Walker pulled the bronze dragon scales and Orichalcum ore out of his inventory cing them down as well, the wandering cksmith did not flinch as he already knew of these materials. He had nned on using them the entire time and was more interested in what other new material there was.


    Walker started to pull the forty foot long steel worm skin from his inventory soliciting an immediate reaction from the wandering cksmith. With some help and a little bit of effort the entire skin was rolled up and ced at the foot of the work table. The two of them were looking at their materials. The wandering cksmith had poked and prodded the steel worm skin a few times seemingly happy with the item. He saw that it was strong and flexible which would make it perfect for the conjoining parts of armors.


    The wandering cksmith took some time to analyze each piece of the materials he had at hand. As part of his job he needed to make sure that any imperfections or damaged materials were not used or were fixed in a way that would not put the final product at jeopardy. He was extremely careful in his actions and would every once in a while grab a nearby tool to scrape or cut away a piece of the steel skin.


    Once he had looked over every material he took hold of the dusk stone and a chisel. With a hammer he ced the chisel on the stone and swung his hammer being careful with his force, One swing and the dusk stone spit in a perfect half. The inside was smooth and had a very small amount of glow to it. Walker was amazed at the skill the wandering cksmith used to make the stone split in two so perfectly. With the two halves separated he was able to take some other tools and started to carve them in to shape. The pieces and dust that came off from his work were put in to a small dish he had and would be used for other thingster. Walker watched the speed of his hands trim and shape the dusk stone halves in to perfect shapes. They both now looked like pieces of perfectly shiny ck stones. Onyx was sure to be happier with this than what they had before.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 260 - 260. Ordering Gear

    "Walker, I found them!" Su yelled for Walker as she came around and in to the forge. She took in the sight of all their materials and eagerly held out another paper with ideas and design to the wandering cksmith. He grabbed them with excitement in on his face. He had been waiting to see the finalized ideas so he could make their dreams in to realities. The challenged that were presented to him in this way were his reason for smithing.


    "The two shields I am looking at should be bnced and easy to move. But they need to be strong against magic and physical attacks. I can''t have them just blocking though they need to be able to deflect. If I need to hit an opponent then I want the bottom to be pointed, I can also use that to hold myself in the ground to stop some push back. No spikes, what if I hold up my party with them?" Su could no longer contain her excitement and rambled off everything she had bottled up until now.


    "Walker? Su?" Gil and Remey called for the to of them, whileing in to the forge in a slightly curious and dazed state. " Why is Su so energetic, she told us to get ready ande to the forge as soon as possible." Gil was still half asleep trying to make sense of why he was dragged from bed when he wanted to stay there all day to rx.


    "Did you two forget that after our trip to the auction we would need to finalize out gear decisions and start to forge them? Our cksmith friend here needs to hear and see the final details so he can start making the best of the best." The wandering cksmith had easily absorbed the ideas from Su and was already sitting waiting for the other two.


    "Yes, I should have known it was time to get my new gloves and armor!" Remey had nearly forgotten but having the wave of memorye over her she was more energized than anyone else had been, the only person who rivaled her energy was Su who rarely lost her normal cool and collected state. "Alright so my gloves need to be able to cover up to my elbow so when I use my elbow to attack they don''t get all cut up. Then the gloves need to be thinner here so my spiked crystal knuckles arefortable. I really don''t care what my armor looks like as long as it is flexible and strong. If I can''t stretch out when Ind hits then I will be slow and if I am slow I will die. So make sure it is flex-i-ble." Remey enunciated every syble in the word flexible to make her point.


    The wandering cksmith pointed towards the steel worm skin and to one of the bronze dragon scales. Remey understood that he was nning on using both of those in her gloves and new armor so she had no arguments. Out of everyone she was the least specific when it came to design. Gil was going to be the most challenging.


    He was still waking himself up but was starting to feed off the energy and momentum of the others. "These spikes are perfect for arrow heads but I can''t just attach them as they are. I can put the parts together myself and fill the arrow with what I need but the insides of those spikes aren''t right. There are still some pieces of shell that keep me from putting a mana crystal in them and there is nothing to keep the poison I use there. So basically I need you to develop a metal that can coat the back half of each spike and seal them. From there I need a way to fill them easily, basically an opening and shutting method." Gil was not overly detailed but he knew exactly what he wanted. The wandering cksmith felt that this was one of the most challenging requests he had gotten recently and was ready to jump on it.


    His eyes turned to Walker who was standing in waiting with his own ideas. "I just want a hammer, well three. Onerge hammer for smashing, it needs a pointed end too so that I can pierce something too. Also it should have bnce. Then I need two smaller hammers that can be used for smithing or battle. I n on learning some basic repair skills if I can along with a dual wielding skill. I already want to practice with dual wielded swords so I think trying out hammers could be interesting. Other than that I will ask our guild manager to have some steel, iron, and other metals ingots sent here. I need some basic weapons of your choice so I can expand my armory and skills." Walker had a fairly tall order.


    The amount of items the wandering cksmith had free reign over was much more than his normal clientele would give him. This was enough work to keep him busy for weeks, he could jump in to forging with his full being and do what he did best, this was just as good as his training journeys where he would spend weeks just trying out new things.


    With his ideas set he grabbed at a pile of paper on the worktable and started to draw out very detailed diagrams. There were lists of materials next to each party that he would be needing and their amounts. This looked to be a list for Walker to use when he would make some more purchases. It was understandable that they would need more since they could not use only the materials they had gathered. The materials were just the catalysts to make the gear stronger and tougher.


    "Oh and before I forget, I have a bunch of Midnight''s baby scales that she shed when her adult scales started to grow in. She still has some to lose but I figure these ones mighte in useful here?" Walker pulled out an armful of the baby scales.


    Dropping his drawn out designs and ns the wandering cksmith grabbed at the scales turning them over and over in his hands. What the party did not know but the wandering cksmith did was that these were some of the best things they could have given him just now. These baby scales may not be good for the base of any gear, but they would make a great outer coating to make the durability skyrocket. Dragon scales also make their gear easier to repair in the future since the baby dragon scales lent to the ability for other metals to take on attributes of the materials that were added.


    Seeing how happy the wandering cksmith was Walker happily handed him the majority of the shed scales that the party had collected. "Alright, we will leave you to it. Just leave the list on the table and I will take it in the morning when I go to the cathedral." The wandering cksmith didn''t even hear a word of this. He just kept going on with his workpletely immersed in it.


    "By the way, we are all going to the cathedral to volunteer tomorrow. I think we will have time to eat breakfast and rx in the morning so don''t worry." Walker dropped this on Remey and Gil who wanted to argue but were stopped by the look Su was giving them. Gil may technically have been the second inmand when it came to the party but since Su had the calm and cool logic approach no one in the party could ever go against her. This was final and the other three would just need to ept it.


    The four of them headed inside and found that Midnight and Onyx were upying their usual spot in front of the fire within the dining hall. The two had been there sincest night and showed no sign of moving anytime soon. Walker decided it was fine to leave them be for a while. "So who wants toe bug the old man with me? He spent the entire night bothering your mom Gil. Now he''s taken up residence in the alchemistb preparing for when he can use some of the nts."


    "I will pass this time. I am not very good with potions and can''t help much. I don''t want to be a burden." Su knew where her strengths were.


    "Same, I am better off at gathering herbs than making them in to anything. End of the day I would just be there to be there. I will practice some of my dagger skills instead. Ah! Wait a dagger, I forgot to ask for a dagger." Gil ran off back to the forge to speak to the wandering cksmith about making a dagger for him. He hadpletely been caught up in the thoughts of the arrow heads that would be made that he forgot one of his own personal goals for getting stronger.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 261 - 261.Alchemy Chores

    With Gil having run off and Su wanting to take some time to rx in the dining room Remey and Walker decided they should go see what the old man had gotten in to. Walker had no idea what he could have done with the alchemyb that they had set up but he had a feeling that it would be more organized and efficient. When making potions there needed to be the right ingredient at their fingertips at the right time. He also knew that there were specific storage methods fir some of the herbs used which would require the know how and skills of an alchemist.


    Remey was the first to stop in her tracks, there was a dark ck smoke drifting from the smokestack in the roof, one that she recognized. "I think I might need to head over to do a thing quick." She was about to turn heel and go right back inside when a voice stopped her.


    "I can hear you! Get in here and exin this to me!" The old man sounded full of anger.


    Remey''s face dropped, even though she and the old man would argue a bit she knew he was never truly angry with her unless she did something that could harm the potions. "Hey Remey, what''s wrong?" Walker was also worried about the tone the old man had just used, seeing that Remey kept looking at the ck smokeing from the smokestack he knew it must be something with the cauldrons.


    "Did you not hear me!? Get in here, now!" The second yell put Remey back in to motion, she went right to the door and walked in. The plume of ck smoke that escaped was enough to nearly put Walker back to bed. The strong burned and bitter smell was potent, his better sense of smell was even more pained by it.


    Remey stood in front of the old man looking at one of the cauldrons that had been left in the alchemyb from the previous owners of the mansion. "Made some tea did you? Just thought, oh the cauldron will clean itself did you? Then exin to me why I am currently here burning off your cauldron so that it can get rid of the impurities that have settled in from improper care!" He may let Remey call him old man but that did not mean he had any less respect to alchemy, he was a master alchemist after all.


    Remey had no answers for him, he had said exactly what had happened, and to be fair she hadpletely forgotten to clean it. She knew these rules and reasons for why a cauldron needed to be cleaned off every time it was used but she was careless since she didn''t brew potions with skills. "I don''t have an answer, I forgot...Is it going to be usable?" Her voice was the quietest Walker had ever heard it. The tough and bold Remey was reduced to a quiet child under the anger of the old man.


    "Usable? Of course it will be, I''m here! Do you think I would really let something fall to ruin?" The old man crossed his arms inspecting the burning cauldron, he had a small amount of dark liquid that was easily cleaning the sides and bottom. "I found all the cleansing herbs in here and used them, you should have no problem with that since if I did not do this any potions made in here would fail or turn to poisons."


    Walker did not realize that something as simple as poor cleaning could lead to a potion being poisonous. It made sense, this was very simr to how his mother exined that if foods were not treated right they could end up making someone sick. "Did I organize the herbs right that we have?" Remey was a bit afraid herself to ask this but if she didn''t then she would keep the old man on the same angry topic all day. It would be better if she could get him to move on.


    "You organized them? Hmmm, the only thing out of ce was the spiky grass, it should have been bundled and dried. But that can only be done for medicinal purposes using the instant dry skill so I can excuse that. I finished that up and have it hanging by the window to absorb the sunlight." The old man had bundled and changed a few things on the shelves that Walker and Remey and set up. Some of the leaves were not dried out and in smaller piles where as the others were spread out more. The bundles of spiky grass had faded to a dull green color but now hung from string in front of the window.


    "Why do they need to be in the sunlight of the window?" Walker himself found that he did not have any knowledge of preparing the herbs for potions and this would be a valuable chance to learn some.


    "Has Remey not taught you anything yet? The sun keeps away the mites that would eat them. The heat from the sun also will keep them from absorbing the water in the air. This is all very important to keeping the quality of the herbs before being used. On a misstep and you could throw hundreds of gold in to the trash." The old man was shaking his head the entire time but had a little smirk. He was in fact enjoying the impromptu lesson which reminded him of his younger days asking the same questions.


    "What about cleaning the cauldrons? They had been here for some years before we moved in so I am sure the other two need to be cleaned as well, How would I do that?" Walker was eyeing the other two cauldrons that had no fire or anything under them. They were pretty much untouched as they had been for some years.


    "Well it''s just funny that you say that, they need to be scrubbed and then boiled out with an herb mixture. How about you and Remey get to it and clean them out. Remey knows the herbs to add to the water when you boil it. I will stay here and finish this one." the old man had this goal the entire time., he was going to drop the chores on them as soon as they walked in. Remey was inwardly cursing him knowing that he had used his anger to also get them to clean up for him.


    "Come on lets roll them outside first, we can chip away at the burned ash on the bottom and try to scrape away what is left inside." The two each pushed a cauldron on to its side and rolled them as carefully as possible out the door and in to the grass. Remey had grabbed two round metal brushes as she went out . "The goal is basically to get all this stuff off the bottom., "Remey gestured to a bunch of ck and grey chips from many fires that had adhered themselves to the bottom of the cauldrons over time. "If they stay there the mes won''t heat what is being made inside properly and it could burn over here and be cold over here. Same as your moms oven."


    Walker was pretty used to this since when he was a little younger he was always helping his mother. He had smaller hands at the time and was able to more easily get at some spots in the cold oven to pull out ash or baked flour. His mother had told him the same reasoning for cleaning it once a month. It was a very rare urrence for a stone oven to be turned off and would take an entire day to cool.


    The two each took their own metal brush and went to work. Remey was well versed in this and was able to make progress much faster than Walker. The chips and ashes came off in a flurry of dust as she scrubbed away. Walker realized that while he was scrubbing there were faint lines in the bottom and sides that had long been filled with ck soot. This made him work harder to uncover all these grooves.


    Some time passed as only the sound of scrubbing was heard in this part of the yard, "Hey Remey can youe check mine out? I think I have cleaned up all the grooves on the cauldron." Walker wanted her to check over his work to make sure that he had done his best. He was still in the dark when it came to how well he needed to do for something like this other than to just remove the existing ash.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 262 - 262. Grooves

    "What do you mean grooves? The old man will kill us if there are cracks on even one cauldron. Ugh, this isn''t fair we never even used them and we ended up left with something broken." Remeyined loudly as she walked over to where Walker had been scrubbing. She knew that the old man would go full on strict alchemist mode and punish them even if they had not been the ones to damage a cauldron. "Let me-" Remey stopped talking and sprinted to the alchemyb. Walker stood there with his jaw dropped at how fast Remey had just run away and inside theb to tell the old man.


    "I''m going to die...Remey just went to sell me out and I am going to die in the hands of an old man." There was no other possibility, Walker thought he hadpletely messed up. Remey had obviously seen this and rushed inside to save herself from whatever further punishment there would be.


    Secondter the old man and Remey were walking out with very serious expressions. "What do you mean grooves on the cauldron boy!" There was no anger in his voice but it was harsh and serious.


    "Well I found them while scrubbing and they were filled with a bunch of ck ash so I just kept cleaning it. If they are cracks I have no idea how they formed, they are so perfect." Walker was about to try and exin more that they were already there when he was stopped. When the old man started to run his hands over the grooves tracing them, He followed every groove up and down the cauldron feeling every single spot for possible damage.


    "You said this was already here for years right? You didn''t buy this to learn potions somehow? Nobody gifted this to you?" The old man started to interrogate Walker wanting to know the truth.


    "No these were all here when we moved in. We had to take a lot of time to clean things up. This whole mansion had been left in disrepair since the family passed on." His answer caused the old man to look at him intensely.


    "You kids may be the luckiest people in the kingdom, there are only five cauldrons like this in the entire alchemy building and they are only owned by myself and the other master alchemists. They are known as elemental cauldrons. They are extremely rare and often hard to find anywhere in the country because of how hard they are to craft. The only race that has ever managed to properly pass down the knowledge to do so are the elves."


    "I knew it as soon as I saw it, It''s the same as the one you use." Remey became all smiles at this. She knew that when she saw the grooves Walker was talking about that they were almost the same as one a master alchemist had on their cauldron. There was no difference in the two.


    "This is indeed a good find, if we had cleaned the inside the same as a regr cauldron we would have damaged it. You did well toe get me Remey. We need to get some herbs, you don''t have them though so we need to get back to myb to get them." The old man was starting to fall in to his own thoughts and leaving Walker to be the only one confused about what an elemental cauldron was.


    "Um, what is an elemental cauldron?" His question drew both the old man and Remey''s eyes to him. They were looking at him like they had just been asked what color the sky was.


    "I forget that you didn''te barging in to my alchemyb like this troublesome kid did. The elemental cauldron is made with certain skills and patterns in it that will help it pull in natural mana. This will boost the efficiency of the potion making process. It is not something that could change the quality but it will help finish the brew faster. It also is more gentle on the herbs inside the brew. Some herbs will crumble at the lightest touch but in this cauldron that can dissolve slowly and easily. That is why they are valuable. For a master alchemist this means we can make more potions and experiment faster. Not to mention the rare herbs we go hunting for won''t be wasted in any way." Walker had a look of enlightenment on his face. So this cauldron was really something amazing.


    "This is great, we have a master alchemist''s cauldron in our alchemyb, I wish I could make potions too. I want to use it and make the high mana potions you do. I want to make all the healing teas and salves I can''t make without skills.'''' Remey was being sucked in to her daydreams, Walker had never understood just how deeply her desires to perform alchemyy. She had always watched another person make the things her family needed at the orphanage. She had felt powerless since she could not provide the medicines they needed when they were sick unless she had another make them.


    The old man changed the look on his face to a much softer smile, his hand rested on her head for just a moment but it was enough to show that Remey was near tears. He had seen how badly she wanted to have these skills as a child and how strongly these feelings still resided in her. He could only pray to the world that one day there would be a way for her to use all of the years of study she had used when watching him. As far as he was concerned she was better than any of the apprentices he had ever had. She had always memorized the things he did and knew how to do things in theb after one look. She cared much more than others and that was what the other apprentices who had their systemcked, the fire.


    Remey regained her mind and pushed the old man''s hand away, "Let''s go get those herbs if we don''t then we are letting gold sit in in the storage room and dull." Remey already took a step toward the gate with her words. The old man had no intention of waiting there for her to get the herbs herself. Walker was feeling a bit awkward having witnessed the scene that just urred, he felt he had interrupted a very important family.


    "Wait, Don''t ditch me here!" Walker realized that the two had already started to head out of the mansion grounds ahead of him while he sat there thinking.


    The three moved fairly fast as they wanted to get the herbs quickly and go back to their newfound treasure.


    ''Emergency quest: Robbery


    A young noble woman was walking with her father down the street when a robber pulled them in to an alley way and forced them to drop their belongings. The woman''s bag was taken and the father''s gold pouch stuffed inside.


    Requirement:


    The young woman''s purse must be returned


    Capture or defeat the robber.


    Reward:


    50exp''


    Walker and Remey dropped in to a fighting stance. The old man looked about wondering what had triggered them. Their eyes scanned the area around them. The street was surprisingly empty at the moment which was very unusual for this time of day.


    "Walker over there, it looks like a guy running!" Remey and Walker shot off toward the brown cloaked man running away from an alleyway. His brown cloak hid his face and arms but he was clearly clutching something under it.


    "Let''s catch up to him and get him cornered. I can''t use magic here without damaging the city or anyone else that is inside the shops!" Walker wanted to let off a fire bolt to stun the robber but he was too limited to what he could do in the city. Luckily both his and Remey''s speed was enough to start to catch up to the robber.


    The robber tried to duck in to another ally and escape, Remey was only a few steps ahead of them but when she turned the corner she jumped back. "Walker, get back, he''s not alone!" The robber had turned about wearing bandages on his face to keep his identity covered. There were four others dressed just the same with their faces bandaged.


    These other four robbers had been keeping the street blocked well enough so that people were noting down it. Most nobles would avoid strange people on the streets out of their own will. The now five robbers had tried to face their chaser''s answer ready to fight them off. Walker decided that there was no longer any way for him to avoid using his magic. He needed to get serious.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 263 - 263.Heroes Duty

    "Remey, go all out and avoid the buildings!" Walker made the call with his courage built up/. He had already reached the range of their opponents. They were outnumbered and if the two of them held back then they could be on the losing end of this fight. The strange part was that they did not keep running but instead decided to fight.


    Walker channeled some mana in to the air and pped his hand downwards. Three of the robbers were blown back a few feet. The other two held strong and did not hesitate at all. One went after Remey while the other charged at Walker. They both pulled daggers fromunder their cloaks.


    Two shes came close to Walker but his dance of the wild rabbit skill kicked in giving him the instinctual feeling to twist and turn. He wanted to let fly a fire bolt but the range was too strong. He ced his foot solidly on the ground willing it to create a few spikes. The speed that the ground changed to keep the other three at bay was ten times faster than it normally would have been. The high earth sculpting skill was working perfectly.


    The robber tried to sh again but was met with a surprising block. Walker pulled the twin blitz sabers he had gotten in the demi-human kingdom from his inventory. He crossed them andpletely stopped the downward shes from the robber.


    The robber was caught off guard and stumbled backwards. With his own advantage Walker sought to maximize it, he created a purple blurry orb and kept his eyes down. The robber had tried to swing wildly at Walker to by themselves time to recover but found that none of their swings made contact.


    Walker raised one of the sabers the two sabers again and released his chop skill that he had gotten from the demi-human tournament. The robber did not expect his movement to be so fast and tried to dodge, however due to the effect of the blurry orb their body awareness was off. The robber moved in to the chop trying to deflect it. Walkers sabernded on the robbers bare arm cutting deeply.


    The pain solicited a loud groan but the robber attacked with their other hand. Walker again used chop and made contact,pletely disarming his opponent. He looked to his side to find that the other three had disappeared after Walked had created the earth spikes. Remey was current;y bending her opponents arm behind their back. The robber struggled in immense pain.


    "Ahh, stop stop stop" The bandages moved frantically where the person''s mouth would be. "Ahhhe on! I give just take the coin. I give!"


    "Remey take this." Walker pulled some rope he had stores away in his inventory on a whim. He had been doing this with the camping gear and other necessities. "Tie him up tight. I will deal with the other one over there.


    "You got it, I will tie it tight. Here you take this." Remey tossed a blue and green bag towards Walker. The sound of jingling coins on the inside were clear.


    Walker looked around and saw the robber he had battled bleeding profusely, their breath was short and shallow. He rushed forward not wanting the robber to lose their life when they can exin what just happened with their partner.


    ''Defeated low rank member of the stone gang.


    100exp multiplied to 1000exp''


    Walker looked at the robber he had battled realizing that he had been too slow to heal him. He stood there stuck in indecision. This was someone from their own kingdom that had just been killed by his hands. But if he had not done anything he would be a victim. This was life or death. How could those other robbers just abandon the others?


    "Young man?" a man''s voice called out, "Young man? Are you well?" Walker was shaken from his thoughts. He would need to worry about how this all made him feelter.


    "Yes, I should be fine. I just needed to collect my thoughts." Walker looked at a man about his fathers age wearing high end fabrics and holding a walking stick. There was a girl a little older than Walker holding on to the man''s arm. She was wearing a fine blue dress and had her hair braided down her shoulder. She looked fairly terrified especially since they were standing near a now deceased robber. The very same one that had stolen her bag.


    "Thank you so much for your assistance. We were just out for our usual walk when that man came up and demanded out valuables. He said that the stone gang required more fear. I thought they would take my daughter as well. Thankfully they only took my gold and her bag"


    The sounds of armor d footsteps echoed down the street as guards arrived at the scene. They had been called on by someone witnessing the scene out a window. "Walker,The guards have taken the other robber in to custody. I told them what we saw and that we got a quest. They are looking for those other three." Remey punched her fist in to her hand upset that they had let three of them get away. They could cause more trouble now.


    "Well Sir, miss, here are your belongings. I''m d we were around to help." Walker handed the bag to the man who in turn handed it to the young woman with him.


    ''Emergency Questpleter: Robber


    Requirement:


    The robber must be captured or defeated-pete


    Return the young woman''s bag-plete


    Reward:


    50 exp multiplied to 500exp.''


    "You two aren''t from that hero party are you? The name''s Omnipotent party if I remember right?" The man had been thinking that these two seemed familiar from the rumors he had heard.


    "You got that right, we just happened to be out to get some supplies and received an emergency quest. It is our duty as holders of the hero title to help anyone in need." Remey stood tall spouting all this without shame. She was happy to be living up to the title.


    "Really? You''re serious? I heard you went to the ancient ruins and defeated a horde of undead and then went to the demi-human kingdom and won a tournament, and fought an evil demon, and and¡­" The young woman grew much more excited at this.


    "Haha, sorry sorry. My daughter is very impressed by what she has heard about you heroes. I promise we will have a talk about keeping her calm." The man apologized fairly embarrassed but his daughter had just broken through the tension of the attack. The fact that the guards were moving away from the robbers body was also part of the broken tension.


    "Hello, can I ask you all to give statements on what has happened here? We have a patrol following the remaining assants and should be apprehending them in haste. We will require your statements for the court." The guard that stood in front of them was very serious and already had a board with papers on it. He was going to record the statements right here so that they could take them directly to theirmander.


    The four of them gave their statements in no time. The guards had already begun to open the area. They had worked at an incredible pace to clean the spot where the battle was and even gotten rid of the earth spikes Walker had made to keep the three robbers away were already piles of stone and dirt on the side of the road. The teamwork of the guards was not to be underestimated.


    "If I remember correctly your party moved in to the old Amethyst mansion correct?" The man made sure to ask them before they left back on their way.


    "Yes that''s correct." Walker was curious why he had asked.


    "I will send my thanks overter. Please feel free to visit the Ronan family general store at any time. We have anything and everything you could need in your daily life. I will let my employees know that you will receive a discount." The man and his daughter headed off down the street. His daughter looked back at them talking fast to her father.


    "I''ve heard that the Ronan family general store gets items from all over the country. We should stop there one day. Especially if they gift us with a discount." Remey had never been able to shop there since it was within the higher tier housing. But the rumors of the amazing items there were spoken of even in the lower tier.


    "Well wasn''t that a sight to see." The old man walked up from where he had been standing talking to the guards. He had witnessed the entire scene and gave his own witness report. "Just walking to get some herbs with you two turned in to a show of your hero titles. I guess they are well founded in these titles." The old man had been impressed with how fast the two had reacted. But he could also see the cloud hanging above their heads.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 264 - 264. Life Story

    "Now, I know that was a lot but crime does happen. You two were pretty great there helping those two. I thought that things would end poorly when those others showed themselves. But you two managed things well. Let''s leave it to the guards." The old man took a more gentle tone than he often used knowing that the two had not often been in such a situation, this was clear on their faces.


    Walker looked at the spot the robber had been before for a few moments, "Who is this stone gang and why are they running around here stealing from people?" He wanted to know what someone would need to go through to put themselves in a life or death situation like this. They had tried to kill others just for a pouch of gold and a valuable bag. It was unfathomable to him that this could happen.


    "Gangs pop up all the time. There are always people who think they can get along better by taking from others. The guards are trained to find and detain these people, but sometimes they choose to fight until there''s nothing left. Come on let''s go get those herbs, making some potions will help clear your head. It''s a great meditating activity." Walker only nodded wishing he could change the oue. He had received experience points for defeating the gang member but that didn''t make him feel it was worth it. The monsters he beat were at least out there to kill and survive not to kill to steal.


    "You know, there were times I could have done exactly what they were doing when I was younger in the orphanage." Remey spoke softly but Walker could hear her clearly. The three of them walked slowly toward the lower tier and the alchemist building. " The orphanage was not as good as it is now. We had less food and worse conditions since there were less donations. My older sisters or I could have joined up with a gang like that and tried to make more money but we were always taught that doing that could harm the orphanage more. But there are always people who aren''t told how many people it can hurt." Remey was sharing all the things she had been told growing up by her own older siblings.


    "Then we need to make a change so that there aren''t those people that end up doing this." Walker wanted to help everyone but that wasn''t possible and he knew it.


    "I want to fix it too, but being arrested by the guards and being put on trial could be the lesson they need to change their ways, so let them take care of it. We can only do so much, it will never be perfect." Remey was speaking in a wise manner, surprising even the old man. But he had known about her life in the orphanage and had also worried she would join one of the many gangs that grew in the less fortunate areas of the kingdom.


    "Hmm there is no perfect kingdom where everyone is perfectly set up for life. Even if someone is perfectly taken care of they might choose to go off and do wrong. Would you have that hero title if there were no viin in the world." The old man interjected making Walker think harder. He had a very good point that could not be argued. This was inevitable but it did not mean they had to like it.


    Remey walked with her own frown, she had not been happy to see the experience gained from the death of the robber either. However she was more able to ept it due to the risks that came with growing up an orphan. "How about you ask your father to look in to this? He is a guard and should be able to figure out how things ended right?" This idea seemed to bring light back to Walker''s eyes.


    "I will, that sounds right. If they are having trouble we can work together with them to find the gang and capture them. We have plenty of time before we need to leave again." Walker had another goal added to his long list of growing goals.


    With the stress alleviated to a degree the trio continued on their way. The old man led them through the normal entrance that Remey used. One of the apprentices was at the counter studying a journal. "Master alchemists you''re back. Wee." When he saw them enter his greeting was immediate.


    "I will, be taking some herbs and training outside the building for a few weeks. I will return for some supplies through the weeks but I will not be filling orders. He ones I have are for low tier health and mana potions anyways. Since you are the lucky one here to hold down the members only side of the shop you may have the mana potion orders and you fellow apprentices can divide up the low tier health potion orders." The Old man spoke clearly.


    "It would be my honor to help you in this way. Thank you so much for allowing me to fill orders as an apprentice." The apprentice left the front desk to tell his fellow apprentices to start making some low tier health potions.


    "You know, he is the best apprentice we have right now. He practically lives in those journals he reads. He even copies them all again to memorize them since he doesn''t have the alchemists almanac skill yet. He will be a master in ten years or so." The old manughed a little liking the feeling of showing off the promising youths in the building. Remey found herself a fair bit jealous though.


    "If I had the right system I would crush them¡­" Remey mumble grumpily making the old manugh just a little more.


    "If you had the right system I am sure you would have found a way to steal my position as a master alchemist." The two went back and forth the entire time they climbed the stairs. "Ah right, Walker stay close to Remey and I. You are our guest but the rules are strict not to allow those who are not members up on these floors." The old man was not worried but also would hate to see another instance where a guest was being kicked out while an alchemist waited in theirb for them.


    "Got it, I will be stuck like glue." Walker was staying in pace with them as they walked through the halls. The smells of different potions and herbs seemed to mix and change with every step. He even smelled familiar cooking ingredients like rosemary and mint. They must be for brewing healing teas or mixes of medicines for children.


    "Enjoying the smells I see. These really are the smells of home. I was born in this building you know." The old man was feeling nostalgic seeing how Walker was taking in the various smells of herbs as they passed each door. He had been the same way when he was younger and inexperienced. "My mother was the second master alchemist the building ever had. It was built to rece another that burned down due to an ident. She was known as the burned alchemist since she burned her eyebrows off more than once." Heughed and thought back to the many times he helped his own mother rece her cloaks and gloves since she would push the temperatures higher and higher to purify tough herbs.


    "So you have been learning since you were a baby. Does that mean you received your system when you were born?" This was a very rare urrence for anyone in the world, it was normally just a story told to mothers waiting for their child to be born.


    "That is correct. I have had my true alchemist system my entire life. I have never met anyone with the word true in front of their alchemist system. I have met master, high, blood, even monster alchemist systems. I have no idea what true alchemist means and to be honest I will never really care. I love what I am and I have always been happy to be what I am. It might be what the word true means but that''s beside the point. This is my home and I will always be here." The old man had shown a lot of his true self here.


    "Why are you getting too emotional? You have told me this story so many times I can''t ever forget it. If we don''t stop him now he will drag us to the hall of master alchemists to show off her paintings. There are paintings of every master alchemist there along with a record of their breakthroughs in the world of alchemy." Remey spoke like she had been there many times.


    "You brat, I tell you the story because you like it. Why did I ever let you in here that first day." The old man smiled while opening the door to hisb.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 265 - 265. Remmeys Knowledge

    Walker was ovee by the sight of a master alchemist''sb. The amount of herbs and different tools he had never seen in this entire life was impressive. The smell of powerfully refined and dried herbs was much stronger than the little shop downstairs. This alone spoke volumes to the difference in quality. The cauldron in the middle of the room was the same as the one he had cleaned at the mansion, the only difference was that it was in perfectly spotless condition.


    "Well take a look around, I will have the mansion''s alchemyb looking like this in a few weeks. I already contacted a carpenter to make a wall of shelving with drawers like mine. It is a must for any alchemyb." The old man said this like he had just requested for a snack from a vendor.


    Walker wanted to tell him that it wasn''t necessary but Remey was giving him a death re. He could feel the threat that if he spoke to stop this from happening his torment would never end. Instead he heeded the old man''s words and took a look at all the unique tools. There were small picks that were made to extract seeds from certain herbs. Thin knives to slice the finest parts off tough nuts. Evenrger tools to scrape bark from trees or roots. The most striking piece of equipment he had not seen before was arge press. The huge weight on the top would crush things to extract the juices from whatever was put under it. This alone seemed like a very useful piece of equipment to have for an alchemist.


    "Walker check these out, they are some of the cooler things that real alchemists get to use." Remey was holding a jar full of round pearls. "These are from Iced shell oysters that live in the north sea. They are put inside a vial of potion to keep it cold. They can even keep some potions frozen so they won''t degrade." Walker could feel the chilling from the jar in her hands without touching it.


    "So some potions need to be stored at a colder temperature? Do they all need to be like that or are there ones that need high temperatures?" Walker was finding that he found a whole new portion of information on alchemy that he had yet to consider.


    "There are some that need to remain boiling until they are used. Some need to stay in the dark or they will degrade instantly. I even had a potion that could not be stored in ss because it melted through ss. You would think that one was toxic to humans but it was actually the best medicine for hair loss. Once it hits the air it would lose its acidic properties and absorb in to someone''s head causing hair growth over a month. It was a weird but amazing potion." The old man was pulling herbs from the drawers and cing them in to a bag to carry back. He heard their conversation and had remembered the request from a vige elder years ago.


    "What about the vials or bottles they are held in? Do they need to be made from certain things or have spells weaved in to them?" Since there was a master alchemist so willing to share some of his knowledge Walker figured it was the best chance to ask more and more questions.


    "Well most are easily contained in ss without anything special about it. Some can''t even be held in a physical vessel but need a spiritual or magic container. Others need to be kept in molten rock or in frozen bowls. If i remember right those alchemists that make those potions always need a mage of a certain element around. It is a huge pain." The old man shook his head unhappy with some past troubles resurfacing in his memory.


    Walker himself was trying to imagine the sheer amount of mana to contain a potion in a constant amount of ice or molten rock. Let along what they could do or what they would cause to happen. "What could a potion held in molten rock even be used for?" He had to ask, his curiosity was starting to eat away at him.


    "Huh? It would be used for healing a dragon of course. What did you think it would be used for? Taking a bath? Potions aren''t just for humans you know. There are potions that can heal or even help certain monsters learn skills. You should have met some tamers who told you about this before right?" The old man''s voice was pretty annoyed hearing a questing that to him was incrediblymon sense.


    "Remey did you know that there were potions that could help monsters?" Walker looked at Remey with all seriousness.


    "Well yea, of course, how could I not." She just shrugged not seeing what Walker was getting at.


    "Well then why would you not share this or bring it up when we were at the tamers guild? They could potentially have given us some ideas to help Midnight and even Onyx¡­" Walker''s voice started to show a tinge of anger, he had not learned this at all and Remey could have changed it.


    "Oh right, and while we were at it we could decide not to go home and journey up to the mountains to get the herbs we would need. Then we could go to the forest to find the water we need and then we could go all the way to the oceans to find the proper kind of seaweed too. Those are just three ingredients that when made in to a potion for a creature with scales they have a small chance of making their scales grow stronger against magic. A small chance, so when I didn''t say anything it was because it wasn''t worth our time." Remey huffed and crossed her arms giving Walker a death re to really push her point.


    Walker was a little stunned, she had known so much yet shared none of it because she didn''t see it as being important enough to bother the party with. He wasn''t sure if Remey waszy or just smarter than he had ever given her credit for. "Hahaha you would never have gathered herbs like that!" The old man was on a step stool grabbing at a drawer high up for an herb he had not used for some years. "The herbs for potions like that only grow every few years in their own life cycles. For a dragon you would need some snap dragon flowers. Not just any snapdragon flowers but albino ones. Do you know how rare an albino herb is?" The old manughed even harder, nearly falling off the stool he was standing on.


    Walker was feeling as if he was thrown in to an ocean of knowledge. He had no bearings on potions at all, he had yet to even study the basics. Was Remey so far ahead of him that he would never catch up? This massive distance between a beginner and a master was incredibly daunting.


    Remey was still looking at Walker a little angry that he had insinuated she did not care to help members of their party. "So what do you think? Should we forget our new gear and rush off to hunt for some herbs that may not have even grown this year in the hopes that we may get a tiny tiny TINY chance to improve two party members? Or should we get this cauldron all set then start to get you some alchemy skills so we can make our own potions?"


    "I don''t know why you bother asking him these useless questions. He will being back to learn alchemy skills. You will be teaching him what herbs can do and how to store them while I give demonstrations of my experiments with those new nts growing in your garden." The old man had ced thest herb in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Now see that crate of vials? Put that in your inventory magic and bring it along for me, I will be making at least half of those today."


    Walker didn''t speak due to his currently muddle mental state, he stored away the crate of vials and followed the old man who had gotten more energy due to his desire to go make some new potions in a cauldron that had surprised them all. The elemental cauldron was really that great, with it there he would be working at the same pace as he would in his ownb. This meant that he would not need to go back to the alchemist building as often to try out more sensitive experiments.


    "I''ll show you how to clean the elemental cauldron then I will show you the new high healing potion form. You won''t be able to make it for a while but if you think about it you can start to discern some important differences in low, mid, and high tier." The old man shined a sly smile at Walker knowing this would gain his curiosity and fire to learn something new.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 266 - 266. Small Bet

    With their errands finished the three headed back. The entire walk back to the mansion Walker took notice of every single guard. There were five patrols that passed them by which was nearly triple what would normally be in the area for the time of day. They were not actively searching but instead were just remaining vignt and talking to the nobles as they passed. From what Walker had learned this was their strategy to put the citizens at ease after some criminal mischief.


    "Looks like they caught those other stone gang members." Walker made the offhandment.


    "How would you know? Did you hear a guard say it?'' Remey was right there to Butt heads with him since she knew he hadn''t gone to ask anyone about it.


    "Well from what I have learned from my father, the guards will send out patrols like this to put people at ease. They would still be searching and not talking as much if there were still dangerous criminals on the loose. I will ask my father when he gets home tonight. I''m willing to bet that all of them will have been captured." Walker was very confident in what he had learned but Remey didn''t appear to believe him.


    "Fine, But if they haven''t been captured you need to make training dummies for me tomorrow after we get back from the cathedral. Since you''re forcing us to go."


    "Deal, and if I win you have to go with us every time until we leave for the next journey." Walker and Remey had struck their bet.


    "Oh, you are all going to the cathedral tomorrow? Then I will go as well. I need to work out a proper contract for the high healing potions they would like me to make them. I can also assume he will want to learn about that sunshine honey he bought." The old man mostly wanted to go chat with a friend but he knew business would be discussed first, It was only to be expected when it came to the organizations they were part of.


    Remey and Walker were too caught up in their bet and trash talking to focus on what the old man was saying. "Ugh, you''re both just kids. I forget you two need tough lessons. You will both be cleaning the cauldrons after I make potions too." This put a stop to their bickering instantly. The rest of their walk home was in silence. They were afraid another chore could be added.


    Once they returned the old man had Walker roll the elemental cauldron in to the alchemyb. The first step he took was to ce some sugar in the bottom of the pot. "This will act as a scrubber against the surface. The herbs that get blended in to it will make sure that anything it doesn''t scrape away is dissolved." The old man narrated as he went.


    He grabbed a wooden tool with a rounded end. This he used to grind the sugar and herbs against the inside of the cauldron. Soon the dried herbs had been crushed in to a gritty powder with the sugar. The small parts were all over the inside along with some burned on bits that had started to fall off. "Now we will add regr water, we need to heat the cauldron very hot so that it will cause the rest of the things stuck on toe off." The fire underneath the cauldron was soon reaching up to the sides in a wild manner.


    Walker stood there watching as it burst in to a violent boil. The smaller burned on flecks were peeling off in to the water at a quick pace bringing the clean smoothness of the inner side of the cauldron back. "Now we add this and this." The old man tossed in a few other herbs before putting the lid on and cing a weight on top of it. "The steam that builds up will clean the lid and force what is inside to cook hotter and hotter." The old man watched the pot intensely looking for any escaping steam. "If any steam was escaping we would need to have a new lid made. There are some potions that be useless if certain things evaporate from them."


    The old man waited as the pressure in the cauldron built up higher and higher. Walker could tell that the violent boiling had be less and now there was a a feeling of pressure in the whole room. "Go open that window, the herbs and water should have pulled out all the caked on impurities from years of sitting here." Walker pushed open the window and checked to make sure the smokestack was still open.


    The old man grabbed the same wooden tool as before and pushed off the weight. The lid jumped off the top of the cauldron and rolled to the floor. The pressure inside let out a bellow of ck and white steamy smoke. The smell was burning Walker''s nose like nothing he had ever smelt before. He started to cough and tear up, unable to handle the burning smoke and steam.


    "Haha, you''ll get used to it, now, open that door too we will need to start to empty out the cauldron and kill the fire under it." The old man grabbed a hanging chain and attached it to the cauldron. He used a handle on the wall attached to some weight to lift it easily. The cauldron tipped in to a channel carved in to the floor which caused the ckened liquid to runoff outside in to a deep hole that was created for such drainage of theb.


    "How nice it is to have a first floorb again. I hate having to call for an apprentice to drain a cauldron for twenty minutes since it needs to be brought multiple floors down. Here it is a bit more old school and can be put in to a deep hole in the earth where it will be part of the soil." The old man was very happy having this small luxury.


    Walker was blurry eyed and watching all this the best he could. He had assumed that they would need to wait for the cauldron to cool to do anything but he was d that theb was designed for this. He had not paid much mind to why things were designed in such a way since hecked the knowledge, but now it was looking very thought out and efficient.


    "Why does it burn so much!" Walker finally couldn''t handle it and rushed outside gagging on the toxic fumes still in the air.


    "Whooo, yea! You did a lot better than I did the first time I was in ab and he cleaned out a cauldron." Remey was outside the door watching the scene before her unfold. She had onlysted halfway through the boiling process before she couldn''t handle the fumes any longer. The muffledughter of the old man wasing from theirb just as it had from his years ago.


    "That is like a gas attack. How can he stay in there so long?" Walker couldn''t fathom how any human could sit in such toxic air for so long.


    "Well the old man is a master alchemist, he has a skill that cleans the air he breathes so he can stay near potions when the brew no matter what fumese off them." Walker looked at her defeated.


    "Come on system! Why couldn''t you have given me that skill!?" He yelled out at the world with the hope that he could somehow convince it to give him such a skill. His shout went unanswered though. Walker grumbled under his breath as he went back in to theb this time with Remey next to him. The air had cleared enough to be bearable for the two of them.


    "So, what do you two want to see first? A healing potion? A high healing potion? Or should I just start ying around with the sap that oozes out of the leaves on the oozing vines?" The old man had already gathered four vials of the sap from the oozing vine leaves and was more excited to y around with them than anything else.


    "Up to you, I already have seen your health potions and can guess what you did with the pure water tochange things up. Walker can''t make that anyway so it would be better to try and learn the simple experimenting skills like extraction and dilution." Remey had already chosen the two she thought were themost useful to a newer alchemist.


    "Good choices, I need to use extract to remove the poison to see if the painkiller in the sap can be separated and made in to a pellet form somehow. Then I will try to make a liquid form and dilute the pain killer so it can be used in other potions. It could be very good for long term healing." The old man had already started to move and gather equipment.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 267 - 267. Dilute

    "This sap is just a raw ingredient, it is useless as it is to an alchemist. So what we want to do is make it safe for consumption or direct use on wounds. As you know it can be used to make a paste that soothes pain, but that is useless to open wounds or internal pain." The old man held one of the vials of oozing vine sap and poured it in to the empty cauldron. "The heat we will use will need to be low. We want to cause the different things that make the sap up to separate and not cook." He slowly heated the cauldron and added a small amount of water. The rules with the extraction skill is simple, it''s not a magic that instantly separates something. You need to have the things you wish to separate under the correct conditions. This can only be found by experimenting. The best alchemists could take the poison out of any liquid or herbs." The old man watched the heat intently.


    "See how there are bubbles formingthere? It is getting too hot so stirring like this brings the cooler air in to it and stops that." The techniques were simple but the bubbles he had mentioned were so small Walker could barely see them. This was their skill of a master alchemist who had spent a lifetime honing his skills.


    Walker saw that the water was starting to evaporate, "What happens when all the water is gone from the cauldron? Do we add more?"


    "No, if you do you will cause the things you wish to separate to half form back together in to a ruined mess. The water is only the catalyst to start drawing the different parts their separate ways. Do you see that oily looking substance on top of the water? The sap is staying at the bottom while the oils areing to the top. Most vines have poisons that are attached to then oils so that should be the poison that is toxic to consume. This is where we will try the extraction skill."


    The old man grabbed Walkers hand and held it over the cauldron. "We have started the process and now we should have a high chance to separate the two. The elemental cauldron will take our mana easily and force it to follow the pattern on it. This will assist the extraction skill while we use it. The two parts should fully separate, so just focus on feeling the mana in my hands move about. This is how ever apprentice learns at first."


    The old man started to push mana out of his hand and through Walker''s. The fine control caused the slight steaming from the cauldron to curl and twist while the reaction inside speed up faster and faster. The two parts were separating more dramatically. The sap at the bottom because yellow in color and rested on the very bottom while the clear oils built up on top. Walker could feel the mana finally pushing the two apart within the cauldron. This control was much more refined than he had imagined the process would be.


    The old man released Walker''s hand and grabbed a metaldle. "We need to pull out all the oil as fast as we can. Grab another vial and get to it." They got worked on skimming the oils from the top and pouring it in to a bowl. The oils was clear but held a little shine to it. They spent ten minutes just doing this getting every minuscule bit that was on top. The old man sometimes dipped his back in and grabbed some that Walker couldn''t even see but knew that the old man was doing it for a reason.


    "Now we let the water steam off and we should have the refined sap. I''m sure you''ve already guessed that this is also a process of poison making. However some alchemists with poison making systems will have skills that enhance the poisons extracted. The good thing about this is their waste is normally highly refined potion ingredients. There is a market for the waste in the form of poisons and vice versa." This made sense to Walker who knew that there were many hunters that would buy poisons that would paralyze their prey so that they could collect them more easily and bring food home to their family. There were also the darker reasons for selling poison but even the army would rarely use any poisons unless there were no other alternatives.


    The oil that had been extracted was funneled in to a vial and looked like thicker clear water. If he didn''t know better Walker would say it was harmless. "Let me use a few skills to take a look at this." The old man held it up to the light and started to look at it as it turned in the vial. "Loose viscosity and easily absorbed in to the blood or stomach. Hmm, long release time so it would kill slowly and make the affected sick. Hmm weak over all would take multiple doses to kill an adult or a monster. Good for basic hunting. Not worth much." His evaluationplete he ced the vial down and moved his focus to the now thickened yellow oozing vine sap.


    "Now we must dilute this so it is not too concentrated. If it is too strong then you could cause more damage than help in a medicine or potion. Now you cannot use regr water to dilute this if you do you will bring in impurities to the medicine you are making. Most of the time I would use some distilled water that has been infused with mana but here I will add some of the pure water." he poured a vial of pure water in to it directly which caused the same to instantly start to be a poorly mixed mess. It was like oil and water had been attempted to mix.


    "this is much easier than extraction, all the two need is mana to start the process to fuse them. This is one of the easiest skills to learn. You can do this part." Walker listen well and ced his hand of his own volition over the cauldron and poured a small amount of his mana out of his hand. The old mana started to stir and the separated solutions became more and more consistent as he did so.


    ''Skill dilute has been learned through the practice and assistance of a true alchemist system holder. The skill will be upgraded to true dilution.


    True dilution- 1 mana cost per minute


    The mana will act as a catalyst forcing the desired liquids to be one in a bnced manner. The bnce will lead to a thinned out product that retains its qualities but in a weaker strength.''


    Walker immediately read this off causing a surprised look to show on the old man''s face. " So you learned one of my skills directly because I am the one teaching you. How interesting. It even mentioned my system." He wanted to think about this but the diluted oozing vine sap required his full attention.


    He grabbed another vial and started to fill it. The product was a yellow liquid slightly thinner than the oils that had separated fromit. There were about five vials of it after they had diluted it. "Now is thehard part. We can either test this on ourselves and see how strong the pain killing effect is or we can appraise it and hope that we find the strength. The problem is we will most likely just get theeffects from an appraisal. So our best method would be to test it. Are you feeling pain anywhere and want to try a drop?" Walker and Remey both shook their heads no. Remey had been watching and memorizing the entire process so that she could have every single detail for when it was needed.


    "Well I thought so, that''s why we alchemists usually have certain things around to test these for toxicity. Some use mice, or other small animals. Others will just taste it or put it on their skin. I find that it is easier to use a living insect. Ants surprisingly have the same aversion to poison that other animals have but they will sense it somehow and avoid it. So either capture a few and put a drop near them or find an anthill and do the same. If they run or avoid it then it is poisonous to most living creatures. If they examine it and even take it back to their colony then it is safe and even beneficial." The old man had been taught this by his mother years ago and preferred this method over using small animals any day.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 268 - 268. Humane Testing

    "Let''s go outside and find an anthill then." Remey grabbed one of the vials of the diluted oozing vice sap and ran outside. The old man and Walker followed her each with their own vial in hand. Remey was walking slowly staring at the ground for even a hint of an anthill. Walker and the old man soon joined her looking like kids trying to find bugs to y with.


    Walker was much more impressed by this method over the other possible ones. He found that his respect for the old master alchemist was growing more and more through the day. Remey had really found herself a great friend. "Found one!" Remey was crouching by a slightly built up pile of dirt that little ck ants were swarming around. They had found some fallen crumbs most likely form Garret''s breakfast as he left the mansion for work.


    "Hurry up so you can see!" Remey had no patients, this was one aspect of the alchemy experimentation process she could help with. She was always the fastest tpo jump in when the old man was in need of a hand. She would rush outside in to their small back garden with the fast growing herbs or all the way to the greenhouses in hunt of ants with him. It was one of the deepest childhood memories she had.


    "You were always faster than me finding them. Especially when I told you I would give you medicines to bring home if you helped me test some new ones." The old man rushed over and looked at the spot. He and Remey both uncorked the vials and dripped a single drop of the diluted oozing tree sap. The two dropsnded right near the entrance to the anthill.


    Walker made it over just in time to see that the ants had eagerly started to investigate this new thing. Instead of a reaction to run they actually start to try and pick it up between their little pincers and take it in the anthill. "Ha! We did good, we did good!" The old man and Remey nearly jumped with joy. Walker was pretty impressed but was more reserved.


    "Should I guess that it is very rare to seed on the fort try of you two are jumping around like this?" Walker was on the verge ofughing at the two but held back. Remey and the old man stopped themselves instantly.


    "Ehem, not just a little tradition to keep the good luck on a roll."


    "Pfftt you wouldn''t know. It''s an alchemist thing" The two were suddenly;y quieter after this and Walker again felt like he was interrupting some family tradition.


    "Well then, Whoooohooo" Walker gave a jump and a shout instantly making Remey burst out withughter. The old man even smiled a bit while turning his head. His shoulders bouncing up and down slightly.


    "You''re such a weirdo, let''s go back in and watch him mix up a health potion with the oozing vine same dilution mixed in. I think it should make the healing process much smoother for those who use it on external wounds." Remey already could see that it would be a wondrous addition to the health potions.


    "Yes, this could be another page added to my journal in the hall. If you are able to sell some of these vines or at least the sap from them you can greatly change the way healing with potions is done. The healing process is not always painless you know." The old man was giddy with this knowledge. This was a breakthrough that could cause waves for every alchemist in the country due to the priorextinct additional herb.


    With the three back inside theb the old man did not waste any time. "Just watch the potion making process and take note of the way I work. You will need to practice the extraction process nearly a hundred times before you get the skill learned properly. My rmendation is to do it on butter. If you separate the milk solids and liquids when it''s melted you can give them to your mother for cooking. Also if you ruin it a few times it is less expensive." The old man stopped right before adding the first herb to the wiped out cauldron because he knew that this test would take his full focus. Walker nodded and the old man started.


    The heat was controlled very specifically. The old man showed his strengths as a master alchemist by changing the temperature to bring it higher right before adding another herb to the cauldron so that it did not drop too low and stop the dissolving process When he saw the the temperature would get too hot he would add a few drops of pure water which caused just enough of a drop to stop any possible burning.


    Walker watched as there were a few herbs that the old man used the extraction skill on and quickly skimmed off the toxins that came off. He then started to add more and more pure water building up the amount of potion. Remey poked Walker''s shoulder getting his attention. "Normally he does five times the size batch. This is a small test batch so that he can see the results of the oozing vine sap." She was mumbling the whole rest of the process having it all memorized from seeing the health potion making process memorized.


    The old man stopped moving and added the rest of the vial of the oozing vine sap. It looked like it did not want to mix in to the rest of the potion so he started to use the true dilute skill. This was another reason the old man had taught Walker the skill. It was useful for adding other things to change small aspects of the potions when needed. Some people need weaker health potions and others will need to add or subtract certain ingredients.


    When the two different liquids started to mix together he mmed the lid on to the cauldron and ced the weight on it. He put out the fire heating the cauldron and stepped back counting under his breath. This looked to be the final step in the entire process. The old man held out his hands and used a skill causing the air in theb to drop in temperature. The chill crawled up Walker''s spine making him shiver slightly. The cauldron slightly creaked as it cooled faster than it normally would.


    This went on for about ten minutes until the old man released arge breath and removed the lid to the cauldron. There was no steam that escaped at all since it had been properly cooled. The potion had taken on a reddish tint with a little yellow mixed in. The smell was very bitter and stung the nose only a little bit. However Walker could clearly feel that just smelling it was bringing up his energy. "Looks good, correct color, proper viscosity." The old man had taken a notebook from a pocket recording the differences in the potionpared to a normal health potion. "This is still a low health potion but it has the properties of the oozing vine pain killer in it. We will be taking this to the cathedral tomorrow to see if those with achy joints can use it or if it is better for those with small household injuries. I n to rmend this as an addition to bandages and wrappings." The old man was writing this down but remembered that he was in fact teaching.


    "So it could act well for burns right? The healers normally soak bandages in some form of healing potions to wrap around the damaged skin. So using this would take away the pain from the burns and speed the healing process?" Remey had already seen where the old man was going and wanted to confirm the theory.


    "Exactly that, it can also be for scrapes and other wide area damage to skin. I think it could also be used on other things but it would be better to test it out in a real life healing situation first before pushing it in to tougher injuries and weaker patients." This was the normal action taken by alchemists who had adjusted potions. The church was usually the preferred partner since their healers could assist in any possible side effects of a new variation. There were also those who would jump to help create a world shaking potion and offer their injuries to be the test basis. It was a kingdom wide event when an earth shaking breakthrough was made, everyone who had honor on their blood for their kingdom would help.


    The old man funneled the potion in to ten vials with one being only a half vial. "So we lost too much of the water as steam huh?" Remey noticed this instantly.


    "Looks like enough evaporated that it is notable. I believe it was because we had to add a longer dilution process to get the oozing vine sap added. The starting water amount for the second batch will need to be higher." The old man started to prepare a second set of herbs, "You two can run along. I will be testing this two more times to nail down the proper measurements. I could use some peace and quiet while I talk to myself." Remey grabbed Walker and practically dragged him from theb.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 269 - 269. Life Lessons

    "We can let him be, he was having trouble focusing with us there, when he gets like that it''s best to let him be. He wille get us if he discovers something really good. He even came and found me at the orphanage when he discovered something with hisst magic attackboosting potion. Lin was angry but then realized that he had made all the medicine and came with us to the alchemy building. She took some time but eventually let me go there much more. Not that she could keep me fromgoing where I wanted in the first ce." Remey walked toward the mansions front door with her hands over her head stretching after their activities.


    "You know Remey, out of all of us I think you have the biggest family. The orphanage, the old master alchemist, and now us. You are the luckiest one out of all of us." Walker said thispletely believing it. He had seen how all those Remey was surrounded by were such an intricate part of her life. He still thought she was a bit rough around the edges but she would fight to the death to protect those she cared for.


    "Psh, yea whatever¡­" Remeye didn''t stop to look at him but right before she opened the door to the mansion she paused. "You know it was a tough fight today with that robber. You needed to do your best to survive. Don''t let it eat away at you, they would have killed you without flinching just for a small amount of gold. Life is worth more than that I know, but they were ready to throw theirs away. You are a hero and if it was wrong to stop such a criminal i''m sure you would not have that title any longer." Remey opened the door and went inside leaving Walker to think about her words. He knew this was her trying to cheer him up, but he still felt that today would take some time to ept.


    After some time Walker started to hear the armored footsteps that he had heard so many times in his life. "Walker, what are you doing standing outside the door? Don''t tell me you forgot hot to open it?" Garretughed at his own dad joke and pped Walker on the back.


    "Ah! Do you have to p so hard? You know just because I am an adventurer doesn''t mean my defense is as good as your attack!" Walker could feel the redness spreading where his father had just greeted him.


    "Ehh, you can use it to toughen up. I know you can power through it." Garret gave him a few more pats to his back before realizing that Walker was still not making any move to open the door. "You really forgot how to open the door¡­" Garret wasn''t sure if his joke had be reality.


    "I know¡­" Walker sat there still. "Did you hear about three members of the stone gang being captured today?" Walker was still stuck on this even though Remey had tried to cheer him up just a little bit ago.


    "Yes, actually they were caught trying to jump the wall back in to the lower tier. They spilled their entire n to rob nobles and take the money and valuables to the lower tier for their own gain. I also heard that they tried to kill you and Remy." Garet looked at Walker seriously, he had already known that this would have some effect on Walker but had not expected it to slow him so much.


    "I know I should be fine with it since I have defeated monsters before. But this just feels different¡­" Walker studied his hands trying to forget that he had defeated a robber, a human from his own kingdom."


    "Alright, sit down here." Garret dropped his helm and shield on to the ground and sat in the front step dragging Walker with him. "Whether you like it or not it happened. I would like to tell you that it gets easier the more you kill. Yes, kill. You kill monsters, animals, and even humans. There will be more too. But there is a difference. From the report I saw across my desk it was in self defense. Not to mention you two were trying to stop a robbery not knowing that they would turn and attack with other waiting members." Garret was looking Walker dead in the eyes. For him this was a father to son talk that held more importance than any other thing in the world.


    Feeling the weight of Garret''s words Walker started to feel much worse. It was true that he sugar coated everythingby saying defeated but he was really killing things. He was taking life from another being.


    "The robber you faced turned tail and decided to attack you. He bet his life against yours and you won. That doesn''t make you evil or cruel. It makes you firm in your beliefs and proves that you can hold on to the justice you preach. Because you didn''t hold back and run you were able to stand for what you believe. Tell me, what would have happened to Remey if you held back and retreated? Would she have won on a two on one fight? What if the other three joined in? Who would have won in a five against one fight?" Walker knew well that Remey was strong and could have taken two or three even but five Robbers could have worn her down and defeated her with ease.


    "Would you have epted the loss of one of your party members, no one of OUR family just so a robber who already decided to gamble on their life could live in prison? Would you?" Garret stood up and picked up his shield and helm. "Take the time to think about it, as long as you need. I will tell everyone to let you be for now." Garret had said all he was willing to. He knew that even as Walker''s father he could not change a perspective or fore an Ideal on to him. Walker would have toe to an understanding himself.


    Walker sat on the front step as the light faded to night. The stars werein the clear sky showing off just how expansive existence really was. Walker let every thought flow freely and released them in turn. He stared at the stars while meditating on his own beliefs. The moon reached the peak of the night before he knew it and Walker had the feeling that he had reached an understanding within himself.


    "If I spend my life like this I will be afraid to protect even my own family¡­" Walker told himself this and reassured his motivation in pursuing the path of a hero. Even a hero could not avoid death but they could do their best to fight against it. Feeling full of energy even though it was sote at night Walker decided that it was best to take it in stride.


    Crossing his legs he entered in to a state of meditation focusing on the mana around him. He felt the dance of light and darkness elemental manas in the night. The cool breeze pushing the warmth of the earth about. The small bits of dew that formed on the sprouting nts in the garden rolling down their stems spoke of the connection all these elements had. Walker started to sue his elemental maniption to enhance these small partners actions in the night studying the effects.


    His system did not make a single sound while he meditated but his knowledge grew. The hidden strings that seemed to guide each elemental mana to cause the cycle of life and deal was much less blurry than it had been. He had no idea of how much time had passed but he could tell that the energy in the air had started to rise. The cool breeze was gaining strength and warmth. The dew on the nts was mixing with light and fire mana bing a soft fog and eventually steam. Walker could sense all of this.


    When the chirping of birds joined the mix he could tell he was only scratching the surface of how this all worked. The bodies of insects, animals and even sentient creatures like humans would put off their own mana changing how the flow of the world moved about. This realization was enough to shake his very foundation. He had been manipting each element alone. When he pushed them together to force new effects he had created amazing attacks like the lightning bolt but created no skills.


    His experimentation had been just that, throwing things together without understanding what they truly did alone. This was the missing piece to being a real mage. Even the most adept fore mage would have weaker skills without the proper understanding of why fire burned. With this thought the system finally responded.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 270 - 270. Real Understanding

    ''The user had reached the proper understanding to be given the full ability of the elemental fusion skill. The elemental fusion skill has been unlocked and upgraded to grand elemental unification.


    Grand elemental unification- passive


    The user canbine multiple elements to create different effect s and spells through experimentation. The strength of the spell created varies on the u understanding of the elements used to create it. The amount of mana depends on the elemental mana taken and forced to bnce within the spells.''


    Walker read this slowly and carefully once he had opened his eyes. He had not realized that the skill he had been using to fuse elements had been locked to a degree because of his small understanding of how the elements all worked together.


    With his new knowledge on how the elements could work together naturally he had some ideas of how to use the spells he had more efficiently. He also had an idea of how he would create some new elemental spells to use in the deep sun hollow forest. But first he nned to start with the basics, single elemental maniptions to understand and change the way he thought about each one. Then he would start tobine them in to new spells and work his way up to a proper understanding of the strongestbinations using the most elements.


    The door behind him opened suddenly, "See I told you he would have beaten us outside! He''s excited to go see Alice." Gil was stepping out of the mansion a smug smile on his face.


    Walker looked around realizing that the Su had already risen well above the horizon and was shining brightly in the garden. He had been awake all night. "Oh¡­" He had nothing else to react to other than the mental kicks he was giving himself at the fact that he would now be going off to the cathedral tired. "Let me go grab the books for Alice then we can head put." He stood up stretching his legs slowly due to their stiffness.


    As he walked off he could hear Remey whispering, "I think he sat out here all night. We might need to talk to him about his feelings for Alice." Walker had no reaction to this and kept on his way. He would make sure remey was working extra hard today to heal those that needed it.


    The old man was equallyte having spent his night toiling away with thest vial of the oozing vine sap. He had a medium sized bag full of health potions with different concentrations to use at the cathedral. He had cleared space in his journalpletely devoted to these experiments. If he was able to find the closest measurement today then he would be one step closer to a major breakthrough for every alchemist. With his potions secured he found everyone but Walker standing at the front gate of the mansion. "Where is your leader? Is he skipping out today?" Midnight was the one who answered with a huff and shake of her head.


    "Sister says that Walker was feeling badst night and spent his time meditating. She snuck up using her skills to make sure he was Ok." This was a surprise to the rest of them who never noticed Midnight leave the firece most of the time they spent in the dining hall. This just went to show how good Midnight was getting at sneaking up on people. She could even gather information unnoticed now!


    "Well he will be cheered up as soon as he sees his friends face I am sure. Something about the kid makes me think he won''t stay like that long." With his words Gil and Remey seemed to rx. Midnight and Onyx agreed and did not push the subject at all. Su ion the other hand still looked slightly worried and decided that she would keep an eye on Walker for the day.


    Walker meanwhile found his way back to the group waiting for him. He had grabbed some bread to eat on the way from the kitchen and even snagged some coffee which his mother always had brewed. He was not much of a coffee drinker since it was an ingredient that could make someone only temporarily more awake. However this situation called for it.


    The party saw his tiredplexion and knew that he had definitely been awake all night. Remey felt bad for not staying with him but realized that he did not seem to be sulking while thinking on what had happened. In contrast he seemed more open and epting than usual. The feeling around him was actually calming and tranquil. "I talked to you father, you win our bet. But don''t expect me to be happy about it." Remey said this then took the lead of the group.


    Walker looked on happy to hear that Remey had epted that they would be going to the cathedral often to help. He knew that she was not much of a healer but with her knowledge of herbs and potions she would be a valuable asset to have. If someone came in injured she could discern what potion or medicine may have the best effects to heal them. This was based off of years of watching a master alchemist at work.


    "Hey, what does it smell so smokey around here?" Gil was sniffing the air and looking around. The strong smell of smoke was all around them. Voices were bing louder and louder until the scene of ck smoke billowing in to the air was finally visible.


    Walker was the first running, he feared that the cathedral had somehow caught fire and was burning to the ground while he slowly walked over. The view of a destroyed building in ruins soon loomed in front of his. It was many streets before the cathedral but it was arge building that housed many of the carpenters in the higher tier. There were those with water magic already putting out the small mes left but the amount of healers carrying back those with burns was too small.


    Walker turned around to see that everyone was behind him. Even the old man was moving at a much faster pace to catch up with the party. "We have a job to do. Get as many of the injured to the cathedral to heal. Then start to heal anyone you can or help in any way." Walker was already to move before he finished. The system had already recognized this as a massive emergency and sent out quests to those who could help in the area.


    ''Emergency quest: Fire!


    There had been a massive fire in the carpenters quarters of the high tier. The heroes are on their way and require all able bodied citizens to put in their strength. Stand as one and assist where you can.


    Requirement:


    Heal injured citizens


    Transport injured citizens


    Put out fires and hot coals


    Keep citizens away from the danger


    Reward:


    Experience points based on performance.''


    The system sent this quest to everyone within the vicinity. The party saw this and doubled their efforts. The system was using their hero titles to send more to help. This was exactly what needed to happen. The old man even received a special quest, something he had not seen in years.


    "Hahaha! There is no time to sit around idle is there? Me and my old bones are going to heal you all before you even get to the cathedral!" His energy was high while he started to pull the weakest concentration potions from his bag. He knew that these were the safest to use and would start with those that had minor wounds. He would leave the people with the most life threatening wounds to the experienced healers who could properly manage the situation.


    Remey heard the old man jumping in to action and decided to start up her own rivalry. " You won''t help as many as I do old man! Gil help me carry that man to the cathedral!" Remey grabbed Gil and brought him over to a man rating against a wall. His legs had been burned and he needed help to even move. The healers would need to be the ones that worked with him.


    Walker saw familiar faces of the priests in training mending small wounds and the younger healers starting in emergency healing. There were many guards around who had been carrying buckets of water as they approached. They had received the same quest and acted immediately. The quest had even reached theirmander who mobilized every inactive guard to go assist, When fire broke out it was a massive undertaking. There was a great chance of it spreading if there was not action fast enough to keep it in check.


    Walker saw that the smoke was blinding some people and using his elemental maniption started a soft upward breeze. The smoke rose higher in to the air keeping away from the guards and healers vision. However with the smoke out of the way more injured became visible nearer to the smoldering ruins that had been the carpenters sleeping quarters. There was much more left to do.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 271 - 271. Calm In The Chaos

    Walker ran to the manying on the ground nearest to the ruined building. He found that he had been burned all over one side of his body while he ran from the fire. Using his light heal skill Walker saw that there was almost no change in the man''s appearance. This was well beyond his normal healing ability. "Let me help you, I can get him stable so he can be transported to the cathedral. He looks to have some internal wounds that your spell healed."


    The young nun who stopped next to him had a white light emanating from her eyes. This was letting her see the insides of the man and the state in which they were. "He definitely fell, your spell has stopped the bleeding around his liver. I will start to add a splint to his broken leg. I need you to grab some of that broken wood over there for me."


    Walker knew not to argue with the experience this nun obviously had. He ran over to the broken boards that definitely had fallen from the carpenters quarters as it copsed in the what of the fire. They were simr lengths which was why the nun had pointed them out. Walker had see splints before butcked the experience in setting them.


    With the man''s breath shallow but seemingly stable the nun had Walker hold the two boards in the opposite sides. She tore some of the fabric from his shirt to expose the burns. She spread some salve she carried on them making a notable difference. The blood from the wounds seemed to slow and the burns themselves looked like they were not as painful.


    "I need you to stay as still as possible. I will tie it as tight as possible so that the bone won''t damage the veins and arteries while he is moved. You will be in charge of holding his leg up the entire trip to the cathedral. If he starts to sweat you will need to use that healing spell a few times to bring down high fever from the burns." With his orders Walker acted. He kept pressure on the boards while she started to tie the torn fabric around them.


    Small groans escaped the man''s lips while they worked but he did not return to consciousness. The splint that was being made was rough but it did its job well, the nun had a huge amount of skill in this area. "Guards! This young man will go with you to watch this splint. Move slowly and do not twist this man''s leg at all." The guards that carried a makeshift stretcher did not hesitate at all and instead went to work.


    In tandem they moved the man in to the stretcher and lifter. Walker held the man''s leg still and they began moving at a hearty pace. There was almost no jostling to the injured man making Walker believe that the guards were doing more than just their usual effort. Within minutes they had made their way to the stairs of the cathedral where the high [priest was standing directing those who were arriving.


    "Those who are not in serious pain or have serious injuries please stay outside and make way for those with serious wounds or in great pain. You there, take that young woman to the back. That boy there he needs to be as close to the crystal as possible." The high priest was barely stopping for a breath between orders and shouts. His eyes focused on Walker the second him and the guards began to climb the stairs. "Walker, get that man inside to the very front. Then I need you out here using you healing magic skills on those with small injuries. We need to clear out this crowd so that it is easier for everyone to work." there was no greeting necessary, they both knew that there was work to be done and everything else could wait.


    Walker entered the cathedral and found that there were injured people everywhere. There were many that had been brought toward the healing light crystal to get the most benefit possible from it. The two guards maneuvered through the maze of injured and did their best to remain out of the way of the healers and nuns bustling about. One nun had already cleared a space seeing the iing injured man. The guards slowly ced him down and removed the makeshift stretched. The nun took over the splint for Walker.


    There were many people that were standing around toward the back of the cathedral that had minor burns and scrapes. Many looked to be customers that had stopped at the first floor of the carpenters quarters wanting to request jobs with specific carpenters. There were also plenty of family members who have been staying there as well. It had been a building for living instead of work. The carpenters had not ever built their own guild or organization in the kingdom, Instead they mutually rented living quarters and worked together often to promote their unique skills.


    Walker approached a few children who had obviously fallen and hurt themselves while they escaped the crumbling building. "I''m going to heal you all up alright? After that I will need you all to find a ce out of the healer''s way so they can help your parents OK?" The three kids looked to understand but their terrified faces did not change much.


    Walker used some light heal spells on them and saw a marked improvement. They rxed a little, having their injuries healed and a woman with a burn in her arm pulled them back to the wall away from themotion. "Miss let me deal with that first." Walker pressed himself to the wall and healed the woman''s arm as well. It was a small burn and it healed easily. There were small tears in her eyes but she was holding herself back to stay strong for the children. "You are all going to be fine. If you can all find a ce away from the chaos and wait, we will have everyone feeling better soon." Walker put every ounce of energy he had in to sounding reassuring. He wanted to put out a feeling of calm and strength.


    ''The skill calming waves has been taken from the motherhood system. The user has automatically learned the skill calming waves due to the emergency quests dire situations.


    Calming waves- 4 mana cost


    The user uses their mana to project a light elemental aura from their body. This aura has the ability to strengthen the mental prowess of those within arge area of the user.


    +5Matck and +5Mdef to those within the area.


    Healing skills used within the aura gain bonuses from natural light elemental mana drawn to the calming waves skill.''


    Walker was still pressed against the wall but stopped when he started to read the skill. At first it looked like this was a skill just to calm those or buff others. But in this situation it was an ideal. Not only would this skill calm the panic in those that were injured but would also benefit the healers using light elemental healing magic.


    Walker saw a passing nun and grabbed her arm. "I need to keep moving please let me go." The nun pulled against him seeing that he was not injured.


    "Has Alice used her skills to sing yet? I have a skill that should boost her healing magic!" He yelled over the noise in the cathedral to get his meaning through to the nun before she broke his grip.


    "No, she was instructed to wait until the high priest gave the order. Most of the musicians are already here and preparing for a concert. They are going to use all of their mana to heal everyone that gets brought here at once. They want to get those closest to death in to stable condition." The nun knew exactly what Walker was saying and she knew just how valuable a skill to increase healing was.


    "Go let the high priest know that Walker can assist in the mass healing. Tell him to start the concert as soon as possible." Walker released her arm without an apology. The nun did not mind his rudeness, this was a dire situation that the cathedral rarely faces.


    With his message passed on he made his way to the healing light crystal at a furious pace. He could see some of the musicians already starting to take the stage and channeling their mana in to their instruments to prepare for their healing concert. Most of them had not expected this kind of event when the emergency quest rang out; they were the first to get in to motion.


    Seeing a crouched figure at the base of the crystal Walker knew it was Alice in a second. He could see the bracelet he had recently given her on her wrist. "Alice!" She turned to him without any hesitation. Her face was filled with worry over the sheer amount of injuries all at once. This was one of the worst events at the cathedral in her life.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 272 - 272. No Rest

    Alice was a mix of happy and unhappy to see Walker here. She knew that he could help healing the injured but she was unhappy that he came to check on her. There were more important things to be doing. Walker grabbed her and made sure he had her full attention. "I have a skill to help you heal everyone. We will do it together. I have already sent someone to let the high priest know. As soon as he sets the order I will be right here with you."


    Hearing this Alice reaffirmed her mind to use all the mana possible to heal everyone. She had practiced her songs for years and this was the moment all of it would be tested. She saw more and more of the usual healing musicians entering through the front and side doors. She knew that they could be ready at the drop of a hat due to their constant training.


    The high priest had sent out his own notifications through the system to bring as many of those capable of healing from the lower tier churches and even the castle back to the cathedral. The number of nuns and healers would keep increasing as time went on until the church was at full force. These times was why the people would donate their hard earned gold. The castle would spend resources to help them grow the promising youths with healing abilities as well, it was this moment that their investments would prove worth it.


    Arge group of healing musicians entered in to the cathedral lead by the high priest himself. His orders were obvious even from this distance. The healing musicians ran to the healing light crystal. One holding a fiddle stepped up, "Miss Alice, Sir Walker it is time to start the concert." The man did not hesitate but instead took the leading position to start the music.


    The single slow note of his fiddle rang out causing the air to stir, he drew his bow so slowly that it felt time was slowing down as well. Walker saw that everything around him had begun to move in slow motion. Other musicians started to pick up the note bringing it to arge reverberating tone. The moment the fiddle yer''s bow stopped the real song began.


    The notes danced in their ears starting to drown out the yells and chaos in the entire cathedral. However the crying and shouts of pain were still breaking through interrupting the flow of healing magic that had just started. " Alice, watch what I can do now." Walker smiled at her and brought himself to stand next to the fiddle yer. He raised his hand and used his newly acquired calming waves skill.


    The mana drained out of Walker immediately sending out a white wave of light from his hand. The calming aura enveloped everyone within the cathedral and even spread a few streets down from it. This skill was most certainly a high ss skill. There was no denying the instant effects throughout the entire cathedral. The musical notes being created became more crisp and clear. The healing light crystal generated more healing light. The screams and cries of pain instantly started to slow until there were barely any grunts or unrest. The healers and nuns seemed to have sped up and were working with a more focused efficient mannerism.


    Alice saw this as her chance to begin her song. She started slow and soft, her voice piercing the air and reaching every ear. This was much stronger than it had ever been before. Despite her seriousness her own stress was melting away giving way to an easily flowing melody. The entire atmosphere began to shift as the light itself started to bend in to rainbow sparrows. These rainbow sparrows flew person to person letting themselves be absorbed in to those with injuries. Theplexions of those seriously injured started to be more full of life and any with minor injuries visibly saw them healing at an incredible rate.


    Walker could feel the first healing wave start to dissipate and cast it again. The wave of light from his hand brought a massive amount of calming aura to everyone. The strength of Alice and the musicians again increased. Walker was also affected by the first healing wave and had the second one boosted.


    The high priest could not resist the call to heal others while all these skills were in ce. To make the most of the situation he used his healing wave skill causing green rings to spread from him. Those that were being brought in to the cathedral quickly encountered this immense healing mana. Many were able to instantly move and find a ce to rest without assistance. Walker noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Remey and Gil were making multiple trips inside and out. The trips were much faster over the course of the concert.


    Su hade inside at some point as well and was making the best use of her energy to move bandaged to any healer that was in need. She used her strength to carryrge buckets of water to help clean wounds. She did not shy away from a single person in needed and managed to find exactly what was needed.


    Midnight and Onyx were making themselves useful as well. Onyx had surprisingly been surrounded by children who were terrified of what had happened but enamored in Onyx. He would slither up tall and make all of them giggle during the performance. Walker could see that Onyx had some hidden talents when it came to children, it was not only Maria who had taken a liking to Him.


    Midnight looked to have paired up with two guards and was using her strength to help carry some of thergest men that had been injured. With every trip into the cathedral she seemed to stand taller and her eyes shined brighter. Not a single person showed fear when she approached, instead they would reach out to her as she passed to pat her scales. She had be a pir of strength that would protect them. A monster that could breath fire that was currently rescuing them from fire. This strange happening would forever be recorded in to the kingdom''s history.


    Walker used the calming waves skill many times while the concert went on. The musicians with lesser mana began to drop their instruments and fall from their chairs. Soon the fiddle yer was slumped against the pir holding the healing light crystal, The only two left were Walker and Alice.


    Her voice became soft and her eyes drooped. Walker could feel the weight of his body as well. Theck of sleep and theck of mana both hitting him at once. He used thest of his energy to reach out and catch the falling Alice. "I''ll be damned if I let you fall." Alice heard his words and smiled as her mind faded to darkness. Walker let himself and Alice down as softly as he could but he too was losing consciousness. It was up to the rest of the party and the remaining healers.


    Walker''s eyes shot open as he felt warmthing from his chest. He could feel a liquid in his mouth bringing him energy. He gulped it down realizing that someone was holding a potion to his lips. His mana was starting to recover. The old man was looking at him with a hard expression on his face. "Nice job kid, you really outdid yourself. But they need you awake now."


    Walker finished the mana potion and forced his achy body up. There was no rest to be had yet, there was still a lot to do. The healers were still on the move but the atmosphere was much more controlled than it had been. "How long-"


    "Two hours. I was too busy with the seriously injured. I had some of my mana and health potions sent from my vault. Now that I have managed to get caught up I used one on you and your girlfriend here."


    Walker wanted to refute him but seeing that Alice was looking around worried her had nothing to say but for one thing. "Alice, can you sing a short song?" Alice did not hesitate to nod. They both had about a third of their mana recovered and could not justify stopping to continue their rest.


    Without another word Alice started to sing. Her words again resonated through the cathedral while Walker sent out more calming waves. They continued on until they both were about to pass out again.


    The high priest hade up behind them while they did this and stopped them just before their mana ran out. "You two have done great. But we need to help the exhausted get to a ce to rest." The high priest had dark circles under his eyes. This was taking a toll on him, however with the end in sight he pushed himself to his limit and issued more orders to those that could move. The healers and nuns that were near their end needed to rest.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 273 - 273. Thanks

    With the high priest''s order. The two stopped their skills holding on to thest bit of their mana. Alice''s bracelet glowed as it sent her the stored mana. Herplexion was much less pale and she seemed to hold a little more energy. The exhaustion was still clear though. Walker was not as lucky. The old man was not around with another mana potion so he was much slower moving. The guards that looked just as exhausted were being directed by some nuns. Alice also motioned for Walker to follow her.


    Some cots and bed rolls had been stored in the closets off of the main cathedral hall. These were being set up for the injured and those without a ce to sleep. Many of the benches had already been moved against the walls to make room for the switch to temporary sleeping quarters.


    There were many of the carpenters and carpenters families watching as Walker and Alice moved things to set up. A few said their thank yous and nodded to them. "Walker!" Gil''s ragged voice broke out from nearby. Gil was dragging along ten bed rolls to where Walker was setting up a cot. "Su and Remey are just about out of energy. Midnight and Onyx are over in the corner there. They nearly passed out on the move before I told them to go rest. The nuns and healers are on their way to rest, some assistance came from the military academy an hour ago. With them and the other students the guards are off to rest as well.." Gil looked like he had been moving nonstop.


    With ash and blood on their clothing Walker and Gil looked about for Remey and Su. "Su!" Walker called out seeing that Su was still setting up a cot, Remey was walking around trying to help but nearly falling over herself. The two had pushed their stamina to its limits."Leave the rest up to the academy students. Gil just told me they were sent here to heal and assist. It''s part pf their emergency training. Take a look."


    Su looked around as well seeing the military academy uniforms moving around taking over for nuns and healers alike. "Finally¡­" Su dropped the bedroll in her hands on the cot and shuffled towards where Midnight and Onyx had fallen asleep.


    Walker had no more words for them and instead propped himself against the wall with the rest of the party. Alice came over looking at them all leaning against the wall and sat down next to Walker. "I brought your books." Walker smiled at Alice who just shook her head smiling too. Theycked the energy to speak or even attempt to converse farther and chose to drift off in to an exhausted sleep. The hours passed until the hustle and bustle of others woke them up.


    By the time the entire party and Alice had opened their eyes there were five tall burly men standing in front of them. One had a guards uniform on and seemed ready to report. The other four were obviously carpenters that had been living in the carpenters quarters. They had some bandages or small burns still. One man seemed to be propped up just by a crutch yet he still stood tall in front of the party.


    "Walker, these men are here to speak with you." The high priest looking more lively than hours ago came around from behind the group of men. He gave a nod to the guard to speak.


    "Sir hero, the I am the guard captain in charge of the remaining guards on sight. The fire was fully extinguished, the injured have been transported, and those that are still injured will be resting here at the cathedral. The castle has sent for supplies to rebuild the quarters and are also supplying food to those without their home. May I please dismiss the remaining men back to their home?'' Walker stood up as fast as his body allowed. He was shaken by the guard reporting to him.


    "I told him that you are the person to report to. As the leader of the Omnipotent party it is only right. Without the hero title the emergency quest would not have been sent out to so many people. Actually I will also report." The high priest cleared his throat and straightened his back. The airs of professionalism he put on only with nobles spread off him. "The church has healed those that we can and will be housing as many as we can. Any in need of healing will still remain here until they are well enough to return to their family or to a new home."


    Walker was trying to grip the words being spoken to him. He was still stunned when one of the carpenters spoke up as well. "Sir hero, thank you on behalf of our families and fellow carpenters. This fire was not anything we could have dealt with without your assistance. With the system sending out that emergency quest we received immediate help. If a hero was not around we would have lost valuable time. On behalf of every carpenter team, business, and family. Thank you, even if it was by chance, thank you. We will never forget the heroic actions every one of you have taken today. My son is alive because of your party member right there."


    What surprised Walker was that the man was pointing at Midnight. "That little dragon of yours dragged him from the remains of the building. My son had hidden in the bathtub as the building copsed. He survived the fall but was still surrounded by fire. No one but your little dragon could have gotten to him safely." Midnight stood tall next to Walker hearing this praise.


    "Her name is Midnight, We were all just doing what was expected of us and deserve no thanks. Please attend to your family. High priest, I hope that every healer can rest now that it has calmed down, you included. Captain, thank you for bringing the water and your men. They were extremely important in the transportation of the wounded. Please send my thanks and let them rest fully."


    "Understood sir." The captain left towards the cathedral doors where two of his officers stood looking on with dark circles in their eyes. When the captain reached them then relief on their faces was clear as day.


    The carpenters went off towards other groups spreading their own news about the party and talking about the events that had urred. "This was really a blessing, the hero title you kids hold made all the difference. It made the emergency quest spread to some citizens nearby that are already helping out. One of the nearby clothing shops is producing clothing, there is an order being transported by a stable owner, and even a bar has closed so it''s staff can provide food and water to those in need. Whether you believe it or not you are all the catalyst to the lives saved today." The high priest left them on that note.


    "That was...A lot to take in." Gil didn''t quite have the words to exin how he felt over all this.


    "I feel like we did the best we could, but I still feel we could have done more." Su could only think that she wanted to help more, but as she saw the scene in front of her she knew that everything that they had done had led to the safety that was now here.


    "Walker, if every trip to the cathedral is like this then I think you scammed us. If we do this every time we might work to death." Remey was joking a little to break the tension. "I just never imagined this could all happen, everyone keeps looking at us and whispering." She was seeing many families or healers point their way. They were all still fulfilling the emergency quest.


    "Sister says that she is very happy with the attention. They even told her they would ask her for help again in the future." Onyx spoke up for the first time in a while. "The children really seemed to like me, I think I should volunteer to baby sit some time." Onyx was dead serious about this, he had enjoyed distracting the children and keeping them in one spot and away from the working healers and guards.


    "Today was a lot to take in. That emergency quest was a surprise to say the least. Let alone the fact that it got sent out to so many people. I feel like we shouldn''t take credit for any of this but the way it looks we can''t argue. I am sure the emergency quest will end any time now though. With so many people helping I think there will be a lot of leveling up, it will really help the cathedral have better healing power." Alice nodded over and over knowing that the more healers and nuns that leveled up the better they could do to help others. It was an ideal situation.


    Having only rested a few hours the group was about to huddle back down and rest more. Before they could speak any longer and get to rest the system notified them. There were a lot of notifications iing.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 274 - 274. Heroic Party

    ''Emergency quest: Fire!


    There had been a massive fire in the carpenters quarters of the high tier. The heroes are on their way and require all able bodied citizens to put in their strength. Stand as one and assist where you can.


    Requirement:


    Heal injured citizens


    Transport injured citizens


    Put out fires and hot coals


    Keep citizens away from the danger


    Reward:


    Walker- experience points with title multiplier reached level fifteen requirement additional experience points delegated to party members.


    Gil- experience points with title multiplier reached level fifteen requirement additional experience points delegated to party members


    Remey- experience points with title multiplier reached level fifteen requirement additional experience points delegated to party members


    Su- experience points with title multiplier reached level fifteen requirement additional experience points delegated to party members


    Midnight- experience points with title multiplier reached level fifteen requirement additional experience points delegated to party members


    Onyx- received remaining experience from party members, calctionsmencing.


    Emergency quest: Fireplete.''


    "Wait so how much experience did we get?" Remey was trying to make sense of these system exnations. However the more she looked the more she noticed that the system was not responding.


    "It said we reached level fifteen, so does that mean we are going to get the heroic leveling system? Leader, what was the quest again?" Su was also finding that her system would not respond to her.


    "Well we needed to get to the silver tier adventurer party which we did. We needed to get to level fifteen which we did before the system stopped responding. Then¡­Oh yeaplete daily quests which we have been doing when the pop up. Last It was to be known as a heroic party. That one is thest one I think." He was staring at his system window without any reaction as well. Even Midnight and Onyx were waiting to see what was happening.


    Alice was looking at each of thempletely lost. She had no idea what any of them were talking about. She reached out and tapped Onyx on the head giving him a nod. "Alice says that you are all considered heroes already. The nuns and healers were talking about it the second the emergency quest went out. She says that every person that visits the cathedral has gossiped about youtely as well."


    Alice nodded along with this, much to the surprise of everyone. "So we are pretty much already known in the kingdom as a heroic party? I figured for sure in the demi-human kingdom but I thought it would be harder here¡­" Gil was scratching his head trying to figure out if that would mean their titles quest would beplete.


    ''System calctions have beenpleted.''


    "Oh, the system changed!" Remey jumped seeing that her system window changed to this small message.


    ''Titled questpleted: Heroic party


    Requirements:


    Silver tier adventurer party-pleted


    Daily quests-pleted


    Known as a heroic party-pleted and continuing


    Party members reach level 15-pleted.


    Additional party member not included due tock of hero title.


    Rewards: Unlocked


    100 exp multiplied to 1000 exp


    Unlocked: System upgrade or title upgrade for certain party members


    Unlocked: Heroic boost passive skill


    +5 to all stats when inbat with other hero title holders


    Unlocked: Heroic inspiration passive Skill


    +5 to all stats to those assisting the hero title holder.''


    Before any of them could even start to process these things another message forced the system screen to change.


    ''Congrattions the user has reached the proper requirements to unlock heroic leveling along with other benefits. The system maintenance shall begin. Please rest well user.''


    Walker looked around but had no chance to say anything, his eyes started to close and his mind faded to sleep. Alice was the only one awake with Onyx as the two were shocked. Alice jumped up and sprinted to where she knew the high priest would be. Before even another moment passed there were ten healers checking the party and moving them on to cots.


    "They all said something about a quest and now they are unconscious.." Onyx had told the high priest the situation, he was understandably worried and hovered over Walker. "If it was because of their system quest try not to worry too much. This might be a requirement of their quest."


    "High priest, we have all evaluated the heroes and we have not found any illness. They seem to have full health and full mana now. There is no sign of poison or mental trauma. We did try to heal them but the system notified us that we were not able to use them as a target to heal. I believe this is something to do with the system and we can not influence it." The woman that spoke to him was one of the best healers in the cathedral. She was fully confident in her evaluation and had even been in a simr situation before.


    "It has been some time since someone''s system blocked a skill being used to heal. Do you think they are receiving the maintenance that some masters receive from the system when they make a massive breakthrough?"


    "Yes high priest, I believe it is the same maintenance that happens when someone acquires their master skill for their system." Alice''s jaw dropped hearing this. They were still young yet they were experiencing something that only those who had studied for years would have happened to them.


    "Make sure you all return to resting. I will rest nearby with Alice and Onyx to watch over them. They are sure to wake up soon, let''s move them to my private quarters first though. They will need peace to understand what ever is happening."


    With his orders set they assisted in moving them to the private quarters the high priest would use. The cots and the bed rolls were ced side by side. Midnight proved a challenge to move at first but with a few guards who were still around helping friends they were able to get her there. Alice sat down on the floor watching them intently. Onyx had coiled up on herp fidgeting. She stroked his scales softly trying to ease his stress but they both could not shake the feeling.


    "You two need to rest as well, They will be fine. If they wake up and need us we will be right here." The high priest sat down on a couch taking a serious look at the party resting before him. He had heard many impossible things and even witnessed some of them. This was part of his life that would stand out over any other portion. He was witnessing a true piece of history right now. While he himself drifted off in to a nap the only though on his mind was what would the future bring?


    Alice had taken up the spot next to Walker''s cot with her head resting on it. She was half in to sleep and half out, her worry keeping her awake while she waited to see a sign of someone waking up. Onyx was still with her not even moving a muscle watching every one of them. The only sign that he was in fact alive was that he was breathing.


    "Mhhhuugg" Walker''s arm shifted and he groaned. His eyes opened slowly causing Alice and Onyx to perk up immediately. The unfamiliar ceiling and silent space around him caused his eyebrows to scratch together, "Where¡­?" He turned his head to find Alice and Onyx right inhis face wide eyed looking at him.


    Lifting his hand he rested it on Alice''s head, "Sorry, I got really tired all of the sudden. Onyx, thanks for standing guard." His voice was still full of sleep but his body was waking up. His voice seemed to cause a chain reaction making the rest of the part to stir as well.


    Walker pushed himself up looking around finding that they were all in the same room. The high priest was asleep with his hand on his chin holding himself up. "We really put you two out here...Thank you." His voice was much quieter but Alice only replied with a shake of her head.


    "Ugh, why does my head feel like I have been mming it against the walls." Remey was rubbing her temples as she rolled over and on to her feet.


    "Your head hurts? I feel like I have a weight on my chest." Gil was rubbing the spot on his chest. "My chest is only ever sore like this when I use too much mana, but I didn''t use any whilesleeping¡­" He was inspecting his body wondering what was going on.


    "Everything looks funny¡­" Su was sitting up now too but she was looking right ahead at the others. There was a strange glint in her eyes. A golden glow almost.


    Midnight had roused herself as well. Her ws dug in to the floor as she flexed and shook herself out. She looked like she was ufortable in her own body.


    "What''s going on?" Walker looked to the system for answers.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 275 - 275. Upgrade

    Walker third to get words out but just made disgruntled choking sounds. He could not even speak; he was so surprised by what was going on.


    ''System maintenance has been done. System and/or title upgrades have been finished. One party member was excluded due tock of title.


    Level increase due to additional experience points:


    Onyx


    Level: 9


    Exp until next level: 38300/51200


    Species: abyssal serpent system


    Hp-75


    Atk-65


    Matk-95


    Def-65


    Mdef-85


    Agi-75


    Mana-100


    Species skills unlocked:


    Shadow de- 3 mana cost


    Uses the user''s own shadow to create a de adhering to the users body.


    Shadow spike- 3 mana cost


    Creates spikes from the user''s shadow. Can cause damage to others only when the user is in contact with the target''s shadow.


    Hero title holder Gil has received a system upgrade. Ranger system has been upgraded to Arcane Marksman due to bnce between physical attack and magical attack.


    Gil


    Level: 15


    Exp until next level: 0/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 0/10


    Arcane Marksman system


    Title: Hero


    Hp-26


    Def-26


    Mdef-26


    Atk-32


    Matk-32


    Char-22


    Agi-28


    Mana-25


    "You are at home within the forest. You have bnced the physical world and the mana realm. You shall never miss a target"


    Unique passive skill gained through system upgrade:


    Mana absorption- Passive


    The mana within the air is absorbed by the user. The user will constantly absorb mana to use in their physical and magical attacks.


    Hero title holder Su has gained a system upgrade. Shield bearer system has been upgraded to Draconic guardian due to close rtion to a dragon and the use of dragon scale infused equipment.


    Su


    Level:15


    Exp until next level: 0/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 0/10


    Draconic guardian system


    Title: Hero


    Hp-32


    Def-35


    Mdef-35


    Atk-27


    Matk-15


    Char-15


    Agi-27


    Mana-26


    "Your shield holds the strength of the mountains and skies. Those within your vision can hide nothing. How dare any foe attempt to harm those under your protection."


    Unique skill gained from system upgrade:


    Royal dragon eyes- passive skill


    Royal dragons are known for their detail oriented vision. Due to this they are known to react the fastest and always have a jump on their opponent in battle.


    Hero title holder Remey has gained a unique system fusion producing a system upgrade. Due to intense dreams and desires the Alchemical Brawler system has been created.


    Remey


    Level: 15


    Exp until next level: 0/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 0/10


    Alchemical Brawler system


    Title: hero


    Hp-32


    Def-31


    Mdef-23


    Atk-36


    Matk-17


    Char-14


    Agi-34


    Mana-29


    " One fist crushes opponents while the other creates magical brews. There is both healing and fury in your eyes. No ally shall remain harmed and no enemy shall remain standing."


    Due to system fusion the upgraded system has not yielded any unique skills. The hero title holder is now able to learn skills from the alchemist systems.


    Hero title holder Midnight has received a unique system upgrade and species evolution due to the dormant blood line long diluted in the family tree. Skills and appearance shall be maintained. Characteristics and skills will now be expanded in future growth. Midnight has gained the true dragon champion species system.


    Midnight


    Level: 15


    Exp until next level: 0/100000


    Heroic quests until next level: 0/50


    Species: True dragon champion system


    Title: Hero


    Hp-190


    Def-120


    Mdef-120


    Atk-145


    Matk-145


    Agi-100


    Mana-120


    "The ancient royal dragons have long raised champions. The champion is known as the strongest of all dragons. No other shall stand at the peak of dragon kind but you."


    No new skills have been gained due to unique system upgrade. The user must grow and learn of the changes to their bloodline.


    The hero title holder Walker has been denied a system upgrade due tock of a matching upgraded system. The hero title holder Walker has received an upgrade to the hero title. The Hero title has been upgraded to the True Hero title.


    Walker


    Level: 15


    Exp until next level: 0/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 0/10


    Jack of All Trades system


    Title: True hero


    Hp-23


    Def-23


    Mdef-19


    Atk-24


    Matk-28


    Char-17


    Agi-28


    Mana-32


    The title True Hero has only had four past holders. The Title grants multiplied experience along with +5 to all stats when performing heroic deeds. The True hero title allows the user ess to one mastery skill from the hero system.


    Mastery skill- :Locked:''


    Walker drew in a sharp breath. He struggled to release it. The things he was reading were almost fantasy. "Am..am I really awake?" He managed to squeeze out this one question to the confusion of Alice.


    Remey had fallen in to tears, there were sobs resounding from her while she smiled wider than any of them had ever witnessed before.


    Gil rubbed his chest, "I am absorbing mana...I am absorbing mana!" He kept repeating this amazed it was actually happening.


    Midnight was flexing her body and twisting trying to find every single difference. Her ws were scraping away at the stone floor but she barely noticed.


    Su was mystified looking at everyone. To her everyone was moving just a tick slower. Her eyes were picking up on the slight muscle twitches before they actually made a movement.


    The high priest startled awake to this scene and was shaken, "What''s wrong? What''s going on?" His heart was beating faster and faster seeing every single one of the party in a different state. Alice was looking the same as the high,pletely confused and shaken.


    The only one that seemed to be taking it in stride was Onyx, he was using his telepathy ability to converse with everyone at once sharing these system notifications and catching himself up in the situation. Before the party could fall even further in to their own shock exnations flooded from the system


    ''Heroic leveling has been unlocked. Experience per level has been locked. The hero title holders will now be required toplete heroic quests. The daily quest will be changed to heroic quests without a time limit requirement. Both requirements must be filled to level up. Experience will be stored when reaching requirements. Heroic quests will not be stored and will be unique to each hero title holder unless multiple participate within a single heroic quest.''


    The system unloaded the new way their heroic leveling would work. They would be set at a lower experience requirement to level up but also made toplete quests as a secondary requirement. This would keep their leveling ahead of many others but also limit them to their actions. However each other the party realized that it was only normal to act like a hero in the things they do. They wouldplete these heroic leveling quests no matter what anyways so it was nothing out of the ordinary.


    "Walker! What''s wrong? What happened to all of you?" The high priest had panic in his voice as he worried over their sudden freeze after their various strange actions after waking up.


    Walker snapped out of his own thoughts and took a very deep breath. "Su and Gil have an upgraded system. Remey has a fused system that is unique to her. Midnight had a diluted blood line awakened. Lastly I had my title upgraded to True hero. We all also had our leveling requirements changed...It''s a lot" After rambling these things off Alice and the high priest were left with more questions than answered.


    This was not what the high priest had expected to be said. Instead he expected something along the lines of, ""We unlocked mastery skill"" But instead it was a list of impossible sounding things. "That...How?...why?...I don''t¡­" The high priest was sifting through every possible memory he had and found no proper answers. The system had thrown yet another curve at him. "The world is truly mysterious in it''s ways. Oh Holy Lord, please bring calm to my mind." The high priest said a small prayer before he looked back at Walker who was looking for words to exin his feelings.


    "I can''t believe-eve, I-I-I can finally learn Alch-chemy" Remey was still sobbing as she spoke her first words after reading the system over and over. She felt that her deepest wish had been answered. This was the greatest blessing she could ever think of obtaining.


    Suddenly gathering herself Remey''s face became serious. "Thank you." These two words drew every person''s attention. "Without all of you as my family I would still be running around trying to make money for the orphanage. I probably would have been injured or killed by now. Thank you." This was all she could say. There were no words that could portray the feelings bursting from her heart in this moment.


    Su was the only one to react and moved to hug Remey who fell back in to sobbing. There was no sadness in her vying, just unfiltered happiness. She had always wanted to be able to properly help those in her family that were sick butcked the skills, with those fusion system she would be able to pursue that dream constantly.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 276 - 276. Remeys Promise

    Gil stood himself and sat behind Remey leaning his back up against her, "Give that old alchemist a run for his money now alright?" He was still stunned by the change within his own system but it was in to see just how greatly this affected Remey.


    Midnight was even taking notice and stuck her head near Remey''sp. While Walker started to stand Remey was able to calm herself again. Her blurry eyes nced at Midnight and Onyx. "Walker...I will find the ingredients to that potion we talked about before...it might take a year or two but I will make it as may times as we need."


    This caught Walker off guard again, it was true he had been angry with Remey when she hadn''t told him about potions that could increase the strength of a dragon or serpents scales. But he had been able to move away from it knowing that Remey had not spoken of it since pursuing it would take them far from their party goals. "I would appreciate that, But take your time, our adventures won''t be ending any time soon. I won''t hold anything like that against you¡­" Walker was having a hard time looking Remey in her eyes.


    It was clear as day that this had been eating at her silently. Shethought that she had let them down and now with such an amazing thing happening it gave her the power to make up for it with her own two hands. Walker may be unable to prevent her from doing this but with her new personal goal established he could tell she would be stronger than ever.


    Su calmed Remey down significantly while looking at everything around her in awe. "I just didn''t realize how much I was missing. I can tell by the way your jaw clenches when you will take a step with your right foot. The tiny muscle movements are amazing." Su was watching Walker stand and walk to them, she had already picked up on the different muscle twitches connecting to each other.


    "I think the best way to describe how i feel now is that I have a me burning in my chest. There is mana being pulled directly through my heart and flowing in my body. I wonder how many wind elemental arrows I can let fly now¡­" The two were having these new sensations while Midnight had moved on to flexing her wings.


    She was able to extend them just slightly farther, and when she gave a soft p it looked to create more wind beneath her. "Midnight, if I were to guess you would be flying around in a month or so. By the time we return from the deep sun hollow forest you might be an expert in the sky like Ste." The encouragement was not missed and Midnight nearly tackled Walker in glee.


    Onyx was still seated with Alice, he had been catching her and the High priest up on the specifics to a small degree so they could understand all the things that had just happened at one. The two of them were looking at the party like they werepletely different people.


    "You kids really are put to give all of us old folks a heart attack. You might just send the king for a ride too." The high priest was still unsure of everything but he had recovered enough of his mentality to joke around.


    Alice stood up and reached out a finger hesitantly poking Walker in the face. "Hey, Alice I am still me. My system stayed the same I just have an upgraded title." He tried to poke her back but she swiftly dodged his slow attack. Onyx took the opportunity to slither up to Walker''s shoulders and getfortable. "Onyx I swear you got heavier. You are level nine now, and I am pretty sure you will have a growth spurting so relish this while you can." Onyx tightend himself a bit in protest.


    Alice switched her target and poked Onyx who joined in the small battle with the end of his tail. He was moving faster than Walker but still letting Alice dodge the attacks.


    Loud footsteps started to resound outside the door to the high priests quarters. BANG!!! The door flew open presenting the old man was standing there sweating with an empty bag in his hands. "I''m out of potions but when I woke up they to-..." He looked at them surrounding Remey who had obviously been crying. "Who do I force to drink purple toad poison?" The death re on his face was full of evil promises.


    Walker was about to exin but Remey broke Su''s grip and stood in front of the old man. "How about I make you drink it when I extract my own from the bones of a purple bog toad." She didn''t even flinch saying this. Her tear stained face holding no room for argument.


    "Oh really, and you think your party leader can do that with just your advice?" The old man looked at her knowing that this was not a joke but had been a serious usation.


    "No, with my skills and two hands I will do it. My Alchemical Brawler system will let me do anything you can do. So don''t think for a second that you won''t be guiding me through every single skill you''ve ever used or seen when ites to alchemy." Remey stood as tall as possible and held a clenched hand up to the old man.


    "You''re actually serious.." he could see in her eyes that she wasn''t ying with him at all and that Remey was seriously saying she would learn his skills. In all his years he had only ever seen her act this way when one of her siblings was sick and she wanted medicine for them. He would ignore her sometimes and she would leave but when it was dire she would strike this same pose and face. "How?"


    Without any reason to doubt her he asked the simple question. Remet grabbed his hand and dragged him off. "I will be back. I have a lot to learn before we go to the sun hollow forest. I will be living in the alchemyb so I can keep you all healed on our journey." Not a single one of them could argue this. She had pure me in her eyes and it spoke of future strength. This inspired them beyond what they had expected.


    "Walker" Gil looked at where Remey was running off to and then at Walker.


    " Go on a hunting trip Gil. Your father said he wanted to go after some wild boar right? Take some time to figure things out." Gil nodded and ran off out the door as well. He did not want to be left behind. Remey could now do a muchrger part in the party and even made promises to create things with her own two hands. How could he let her get ahead. He was technically the second inmand for the party after all.


    "Leader, Is it really OK to let them go off on their own right now?" Su was worried that Remey would have a hard time adjusting no matter how much she pushed. She had finally realized a lifelong dream but it was not going to be as easy as she hoped. Not to mention Gil would need to relearn how to use his mana, with the absorptioning in he would need to learn the usage bnce.


    "Yes, I think this is best for them. They are the main rivals in our party. If Remey learns how to make even low tier potions with skills then she will be a huge asset to us. Not to mention she is still our main closebat roll. Gil now has full ess to the attack that he has been limited by. Plus as much as he denies it, he feels weak. You have seen him practicing all this time, he is just like me that way. We both feel the need to get stronger."


    Su understood where Walker wasing from but she still worried that if they all split up they would lose their ability to work as a team. "Also they will be back to get fitted for their new gear so then we can drag them in to some real training. I''m also not going to make you train with a group until you are used to your new vision skill." Walker''s point was logical. Su could have a ton of idents while adjusting to this new way of sight. Whether someone''s vision improved or worsened they would need to adjust.


    Walker and Su looked at Midnight who was bugging the high priest who had noticed the floor she had started to identally tear up while flexing and getting used to her body starting to change. "Hey Alice, is there any way we won''t need to fix that?" Walker looked at her and felt his heart fall. She was shaking her head no.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 277 - 277. Special Guest

    "Let me use my high earth sculpting on that. I should be able to fix it." Walker ced his hands over the scratches dug in to the stone floor and slowly used mana to make them close up and smooth to match the rest of the floor.


    "Hmm good, now no more testing your upgrades and new skills in my room. I n to get some real sleep after checking on the healers from the military academy. Alice you better be off to sleep too. You have stayed up all day and night waiting for them." The high priest took a strict tone, this was the same time Walker''s father used on him.


    "Let me carry the books for you, I wille back after stopping at the adventurers guild and home to exin what happened. Knowing Gil he is going to find his father and rush off without telling his mother." Su nodded her head agreeing that this was exactly what Gil would do.


    The high priest checked the door making sure that the old alchemist had not damaged it in his worry. Seeing that it was fine she moved forward ncing at all of them to make sure they were following. He was wary of them scraping up the floor more.


    Alice grabbed the edge of Walkers cloak and pulled him down a side halfway. Su saw this, "I will wait outside with Midnight, we can all go to report this together."


    Alice pulled him down hallway after hallway and out a back door. This was not her room at all but arge back garden. There were many yellow flowers starting to bloom in the warming spring air. She kept pulling Walker farther to a small gazebo by a tall white tree. She patted the table in the gazebo showing him the ce for the books.


    "Don''t tell me you are going to start reading now?" she nodded in response. "Well, I won''t tell you not to but just get some rest too." He knew that Alice had also felt the motivation Remey had sparked in Gil. She had seen just how far away from her her new friends were. She needed to get stronger as well.


    Walker pulled the books from his storage and ced them on the table. Alice looked at the, approvingly. "I should head back. I can''t leave them waiting all day, I''ve already rested long enough." He turned to leave and head around the cathedral when he felt tow arms wrap around him from the back.


    "I am sorry if I worried you...I will be better about that in the future¡­" Walker felt Alice tighten her grip before she eventually released him. "I will be back to see you again soon, Don''t let the high priest catch you reading instead of sleeping." Walker gave her his best smile and headed around the cathedral. Before he had even gotten halfway to the front Alice had already fallen asleep cuddling a book she had just opened to the first page.


    The high priest had followed the pair out and walked to stand next to Alice. "I swear no matter how many times I tell you not to sleep out here, this is the only ce I find you." He grabbed a book from the stack and started to read himself. He had not had a new book himself for quite some time.


    "Hey, sorry I took so long!" Walker spotted Midnight and Su standing at the bottom of the steps to the cathedral.


    "It''s fine, Midnight was just practicing her pping. It looks like she can extend them more easily now. I bet she will have a growth spurt like Onyx will too." Walker recoiled at this.


    "Midnight, what will we do if you can''t fit in the house?" Su made a surprised oh face at this realization as well.


    "Sister says that you can build a new house that she can fit in." Walker almost tripped while walking hearing this. She wanted him to build a whole new mansion if she grew too big for it.


    "Maybe we should look in to a way for you to get a skill that makes you smaller instead. I have read some story books about ancient dragons using a transformation ability to look human when they go traveling. They were just story books but maybe they hold some truth." This brought a hop to Midnight step. She pranced along imagining herself on the move just like the others in her party.


    "I think more and more that we should go looking for an ancient dragon''s vige in the mountains. I never know enough about dragons to give any firm answers." Walkermented hisck of knowledge. He hated not being able to help in this way.


    "Well first we need to get through the sun hollow forest and investigate those purple slime''s rotting away the forest." Su was logical as ever and made sure Walker remembered their current goal.


    "If Remey can learn some rot and poison antidote potions we will have a better chance of defeating and gaining more knowledge. That would be plenty of stress off our backs." Walker had made the connection that with Remey''s new upgraded system she would be their best chance to stay poison free. The only one that had poison resistance was Su.


    This fact was one they needed to figure out sooner orter and having such a perfect solution all of the sudden was a blessing. They would just need to gather the power herbs for Remey before they left and let her have the time she needed. The old master alchemist was sure to have some very effective antidote potion forms he would share with them.


    "You know, I don''t think I will need to try to hard to learn alchemy now. Remey will most likely take over that role in the partypletely." Walker said this more stating a fact than really worrying about it.


    "Leader, you know Remey will find a way to force you to learn the skills. She will want to show off everything she can do and since you will actually be able to learn the skills it is expected that she will drag you in to is." Su''s logic was true but Walker was no a little afraid of the alchemyb and the future tortures learning from Remey may bring.


    When they started to see the Guild building Midnight stopped looking at the entrance. "What''s wrong?" Walker saw her stop and followed her gaze. ra was standing with her arms crossed in front of the entrance ring the three of them, down. "Is it just me or does she look really really angry?'' Walker shivered knowing that they may be getting the talk of their life from ra. He wished that Gil and Remey hade too so that they would get the same treatment. Even Onyx would miss it because he had long since turned back in to his tattoo form to rest.


    The three of them approached ra slowly, "Guild master''s office, now." This was all that ra said and the tone she used caused the, all to feel more shivers.


    They followed the same steps that they were used to towards the guild master''s office, however Su was having some trouble getting up the steps easily. Her new vision passive skill was causing her trouble. The details in the wood were messing with her perception and she was either lifting her foot too high or not high enough making her stumble slightly. Walker slowed himself so that if she started to fall he was there to be someone to hold on to for support.


    ra saw this but still said nothing more. She was just as curious about why this was happening but her anger was not letting her ask at the moment. Walker saw the constant nces she gave them, and each tie he felt that there was more ice crawling up his spine. He had not expected this reaction from ra.


    When they reached the office spaces they found that every single employees was missing from the floor. It was dead silent and the guild office door was already open. Ibis was standing instead of sitting at his desk. Instead of Barry like they had expected the only other person in the room was someone they did not expect to see at all.


    The queen sat in Ibis''s chair looking rather pleased while she drank tea from one of the finest tea cups the guild had in possession. There was a single guard who wore red and white armor. This was a style of armor not a single one of them had ever seen. The guard was covering their face with a simr help and had des all over them ready to be pulled from their sheaths at any second.


    Upon seeing the threee upstairs the queen ced her tea cup down and motioned for them toe in. "Well I have heard your party caused quite themotion thest day or so. Why do you think I am here?"


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 278 - 278. Dangerous Systems

    The queens sweet voice dripped with sarcasm. "Ah yes, do not worry my husband is not hiding around the corner. He is too busy with the hoards of horned rabbits. He needs to be ready to send off troops to wherever the worst hoards surface. He received a certain notification that threw him in to a rather strange mood." The queen looked like she was both happy and unhappy at the same time. Her face was almost impossible to properly read.


    Pausing for a moment to let it all sink in, Can you exin how you managed to change your title from hero to true hero?" This question was exactly what Walker was thinking she would be here about. If the king was upied with the military the queen would need to be the one that had to deal with it. Naturally for her to be this unhappy about something so important for the kingdom she would have been busy with something important as well.


    Walker did not hesitate to spill out the entire story and even their quests that they hadpleted. With every word he spoke the queens jaw seemed to drop lower. It may have been unbing of royalty to act in such a way but since the entire floor had been evacuated just for her there was no fear or reason to act as a perfect noble.


    When he had finished telling her of every single detail and even reading some things directly from the system the queen looked much less satisfied than before. "There is so much that you just said that I believed to be impossible. Not only that but you have even said a few things that will change our rtions with other kingdoms. Do you know what it means to have a dragon with a dragon champion blood line? Do you know what it means to have an arcane archer?" The queen emphasized these two systems over the others since they were systems that were very important to other kingdoms.


    She looked at each and every person present in the room before speaking again. "On top of all that you somehow managed to upgrade a title to a true title. These titles are only ever found as ancient knowledge passed down from hundreds of years ago. That is just how rare they are. They Were thought to be a myth until just a few years ago when someone brought some ancient scrolls from across the sea that spoke of true titles. Then just like that we heard word than another continent across the sea that had such a title holder. However that is of no concern. You are now a true hero." The queen was very serious about this and how much this could affect the kingdom.


    Ibis approached the party and gave them a look over. "It is unfortunate that your other two members are not here right now but with everything that happened I can understand why they would not be. You already know that your hero titles had the effect of widening the area of an emergency quest so much so that it even reached the king who sent the military academy students to assist. What do you think your true hero title can do?"


    Ibis watched as Walker started to fully understand the weight of these upgraded titles. With this true hero title he may have the chance of sending out quests to an entire kingdom or more. It was a major development for every single ruling power on the continent. The waves this would make would not be stopping at any moment.


    "Even more you did not notify us that there was even a possibility that you would all gain these from a quest. How do you think I reacted when I saw that the only party I manage suddenly changed to apletely different system description. A different title description. And even changed to such a drastically different level. Not to mention that you all received an emergency quest that whenpletedchanged my own system interface because it somehowpleted another main quest for you." Walker was feeling bad that he had not contacted ra the second he woke up. It was in to she had been stressed out about this. However when he wanted to apologize what she saidst caught him.


    "What do you mean your system interface changed?'' He was curious how she was affected by all this too. As far as he knew she was not included in their titles quest and should not have received an upgrade. The system had also not notified him that ra had received an upgrade either.


    "Oh you want to know do you? Well now I have a second set of quests on my selection. They are divided up by the usual tiered quests that I could send to you then also organized by tier and a term of heroic quests. So now with your new level up system I can directly send you quests that wouldplete that level up requirement of yours. Do you think the system exined this or that it just showed up and I had to sit here confused waiting for you?" This made Walker and Su feel bad all at once. Midnight could feel this in the air as well and lowered her head trying to avoid ra''s looks.


    "We are sorry...we got very caught up in trying to understand ourselves." Walker almost whispered the apology but was not greeted with more talking to. Instead ra stepped back as she looked at the queen who was holding up a hand.


    ra had bowed slightly in apology for getting carried away with something that could wait untilter. "You all still have the task the king assigned you. However now that your systems have changed I need to tell you a few things that may prove to be slightly troublesome. First since Midnight it here I will start with the blood line you unlocked." The queen looked at Midnight in the eyes who was now listening intently.


    "You have a blood line that is specifically fostered by royal dragons. These are often ancient dragons that have the blood of the first dragon within them. They are the most powerful dragons and rarelye off the mountains. This would be fine but when they decide to battle they often choose to send a champion to battle for them. This champion will be a young royal with slightly more of the royal bloodline than others. They would be supported since birth to be a champion above all other dragons. Now if they fight that means some ancient dragons currently do not have a living champion. That means one ancient maye looking for a champion to fill the position."


    This was a very scary possibility for them. Not even the entire army could stand up against and ancient dragon that had been alive for nearly a thousand years. They could be an extremely high leveled opponent with endless battle experience. Midnight was stepping back hearing this. She was definitely excited that she could be one of the most powerful dragons in the world. But hearing that a dragon more powerful than she was now, more powerful than any of them in the kingdom was, could nowe looking for her and put her in to fight or flight mode.


    "It will be fine, if theye we will try to reason with them first. Worst case we find a way to run." Walker had ced his hand on her back letting her know he was there. Midnight visibly calmed down after that. But was still acting slightly skittish.


    "You understand that this alone is enough to cause many of our kingdom''s nobles to fall in to panic, hence the abandoned floor and my personal guard being here to use their skills to block the sound from leaving this room." The queen pointed at the guard in the red and white armor who was still standing straight. Walker still couldn''t get a read on them at all. "Secondly you have an arcane Marksman system holder now. This is a system that man of the elven kingdom has. However the problem with that is there has never been a moment inhistory where a human has ever had such a system. The elves are sure to try and take him so that he will not let any of their skills be analyzed by us or an enemy."


    "So Gil will be at risk too. Aren''t we on good terms with the elves? Can we negotiate with them somehow?'' Walker did not want anythingto happen to his party. He felt that the ancient dragon actually leaving the mountains was less likely than the elves sending someone to retrieve Gil.


    "Oh we can, but we have nothing to use as leverage to stop them from saying that it is a catalyst for war. The only benefit we have is that the demons have them too upied at the moment. There is also you, your title should be enough to make them hesitate. They are long lived species that have great respect for the way the world works. Systems are something that attract them to their very core, if you are willing to bargain with information they may let you keep your party member if he binds his soul to a promise not to give away the facts of their system. Of course it would bind all of you too since you already know some details I assume?"


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 279 - 279. Walkers Favorite Game

    Walker heard the words that the queen had said and silently nodded, he would be lying if he did not know the details of Gil''s unique skill and that he was off practicing to figure more out. As the party leader he would be able to see every skill whenever it was learned. Even ra would be able to figure these things out since she was their manager. It would be possible for Ibis as well, the guild master had certain control over many things when it came to the guild members.


    "I hate to ask what on our souls would mean, but whates with binding a soul?" Walker had a feeling that he already knew what it meant.


    "soul bind is a rare piece of magic that only a very small amount of soul mages in the elven kingdom have been able to reach. They ce a magical bind on a living being''s soul. Basically magic is carved in to the soul putting some restriction on it. Most of the time for information or the use of a skill." The queen did not look happy about this. "Long ago a demon captured an elf with such a soul bind on them. One of out scouts watched the battle field interrogation. The results of the elf being tortured for this information were...not good to say the least. The mana in their body exploded out at once,pletely dissolving the elves'' soul. The demon perished as well."


    The queen looked like she had just swallowed something bitter and could not stand it.Walker wanted to think of something to say but he wasing up with a loss. This sounded like a brutal way to die and nobody deserves it. "You see why I do not wish you all to be affected by this magic. My hope is that there will be a way to get the elves to trust you all instead. Before the word of your parties upgraded systems reaches outside the kingdom you will all need to be working on the problems with the slimes in the deep sun hollow forest." The queen was basically telling them that they were fighting the clock on this. If they did not find a way to gain favor with the elves by protecting the forest they call home then they would be facing a much worse alternative.


    "Then that''s what we will do, I believe that my party can do much better than anyone expects. You can rely on us." Walker knew that they had no choice, he refused to ept such a dangerous alternative.


    The queen nodded hoping that Walker''s words would be true. "Now that my queenly duties are taken care of¡­" Her gaze fell on the three. "Care to show me anything interesting?" Her curiosity was always ready to drag out something interesting.


    "Well...I really have not learned muchtely. One skill really just boosts rity of mind and calms people but I don''t mind showing it off¡­" Walker was thinking about the most recent experience. "Oh actually Midnight had learned Decaying breath. It''s a ck fire. It is really cool but super dangerous."


    The queen''s eye lit up wanting to see it, however she realized that it would be too dangerous to try out an attack like that indoors. She also knew that it was not wise for her to venture outside without a proper way to hide herself. "Hmm maybe when you all visit the castle again." She seemed like the air had just been taken from her.


    Seeing this Walker conjured up his purple blurry orb which brightened her curiosity back. "This is a kind of light magic. Want to know what it does?" Walker kept his eyes on the ground and refused to look at the orb. However the queen had looked directly at it the second it appeared.


    "Well of course, it is a nice color but is that all it does?" She thought that he had just learned to make light orbs of other colors.


    Walker stepped closer to the desk making the guard turn their head just slightly. "I bet you can''t give me a high five?" The queen was not afraid of this challenge and instead looked at him and raised her hand holding on to a smirk. How could she not be able to give him a high five?


    The queen swept her hand towards Walker''s raised hand and missed hitting nothing but air. "Huh?"


    "Ah, try again. Maybe it was just bad luck." Walker concealing his mischievous smile while the queen tried again. This was quickly bing one of his favorite tricks to y on anyone. Visibly annoyed the queen gave two more tries before realizing that she definitely did not have some form of sight problem.


    "So that''s what it does huh? Makes someone miss an attack?" She narrowed her eyes at Walker and he immediately made the purple blurry orb disappear.


    "More or less yes. It messes with vision. It''s almost as cool as the ck mes I learned while helping practice Midnight''s decaying breath." Walker made a small ck fireball appear in his hand which captivated the queen. He had already had his own fun so now it was only fair for him to give up something she would like.


    "Is her decaying breath like this color?" She was still dead set on seeing Midnight breath out fire. This was definitely something the king had not seen and if she had the chance she could get one up on him."


    "Yes very simr. I would say hers will be better though because she can use it to do a lot more than just make fire balls. Well if i practice with them I might be able to do other things too. But I need to train in some closebat weapons before I focus on magic again." Walker did not hide his current goals when it came to training. The wandering cksmith was going to make him hammers so he needed to give his best effort to learn how to use them forbat.


    "Actually my queen, I may be able to do something interesting. I did gain a passive skill from my system upgrading and I do need to train it. Will you help me?" Su spoke up which was rare for her when they were in a meeting like this. The queen''s curiosity had rxed her and made her more open to showing off.


    "Alright, what do you intend to have me do?" The queen looked at Su wondering what her angle would be.


    "Have your guard take a step forward. Before they do we will guess with their right or with their left foot. However guesses right which foot they step with will win." The queen had no idea how this would be interesting but decided to humor Su.


    The queen nodded to the guard who turned their head and rxed their stance waiting for the two to guess. The queen was looking at Su to speak first since she was the one to offer this game. "Left." Su did not hesitate in her answer. She had seen the armor on the guards body twitch and adjust slightly as the guard unconsciously stiffened the muscles underneath.


    "Then I shall take right." The guard started to take their step forward and the left foot made a small metallic tink sound on the floor. "How lucky. Let''s try again." The guard moved their foot back and rxed bncing on both feet evenly.


    Su did not hesitate and guessed again, "Left"


    The queen respond instantly as well. "Left" they both chose left and the guard stepped forward with their left foot. If Walker did not know better he would say that the guard was just moving the foot they were both guessing on. However since he knew of Su''s new passive skill in detail he expected she was guessing which he would move before it was even in motion.


    They continued on this nearly ten times which Su guessed correctly every time and the queen only being correct four times. "How did you manage to predict first. Did you gain a foresight ability in your upgraded system?" She wanted the answers since she had slowly be more and more curious about what would allow someone to have such a perfect way of guessing something they could not control.


    "Well I am not sure if you have noticed, but my eyes are a little different." Su looked at the queen in her eyes. The queen could see the slight yellowish gold glint in them now. "I can see fine details with a new passive skill that I gained in my system upgrade. Every time your guard decided what foot to step with they subconsciously tensed their muscles and then I saw the slight change in their armor. With that I made my guess." The queen was impressed. This skill was not something so simple as foresight, it actually requiredrge mental processing to properly guess. She smiled at this surprise, she had found something unexpected.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 280 - 280. Changing The Guild

    The guard actually turned their head looking at Su through their metal helm. It would seem that this passive skill had not only attracted the curiosity and attention of the queen but her guard as well. "I will be able to block many more attacks before my party members even know they areing." Su proudly said this wanting to emphasize what she would be using it to do.


    "That is a great thing to hear. Having an exceptional guardian is what ever single party needs. If any of the academy teachers were here I am sure they would be fighting and tripping over themselves to convince you to join." The queen seemed to find this much funnier than it was. However her guard made a small nod.


    Midnight was a little disappointed at being unable to show anything off, however Walkers reassuring pats kept her from trying to show off her decaying breath ignoring the dangers. "Well, I havee to speak with you as I needed to for my duty and even had a little fun. I will return to my king and share what is necessary. We expect great things." The queen stood and was escorted from the room by the guard. She was handed a basic brown cloak from the rack by the door and seemed to blend in to the surrounding the second it was fastened around her.


    ra and Ibis released great sighs after she had finally descended the stairs, her guard was long gone as well. "You just had to keep us all waiting, didn''t you? I spent hours exining the current state of the guild and who was on the frontlines of the horned rabbit hoard extermination." Ibis sat in his chair feeling much kroefortable being in his usual spot. "Do you know how much I needed to exin that Barry was not the proper standard to hold for the guild? He had in more than triple the other adventurers¡­" Ibis looked like he had lost years of his life from this meeting.


    "We even had to send home almost all of the staff. I will be weeks behind due to this sudden visit. Don''t get me wrong I am happy that you were all able to help with the fire. Fires are very dangerous in the kingdom and can easily spread to other buildings. The injured are also the hardest to cake for since they have many different internal and external injuries." ra had read documentation on past instances of fire and how the sooner a quest was issued the less people would be hurt. "But it was still an ordeal for the guild. I had to send away plenty of parties before. This is the first time the guild doors have been locked in years." ra spun a small golden key on her finger showing off the key to the front door which she had never used in her career.


    "We really did not expect any of this to happen. We were just trying to help then as soon as the questpleted we couldn''t even keep our eyes open. We definitely shocked some of the church members since they saw us all pass out at the same time." Walker tried to apologize and exin that it was apletely unexpected situation.


    "Don''t worry too much, we know it was unexpected but we just need to say it all to get it off our chests." Ibis seemed to be a little less rattled now that the queen was gone and he had taken his own deep calming breaths.


    "Now any idea what the difference between the heroic quotes and regr quests are? Because As far as I can see they are quests that hold almost no merit and have almost no reward." ra had been fiddling with her system window and only found that these quests were worse in these standards.


    "So pretty much they won''t help us rank up to the next tier in the guild and they won''t really make us rich or gain a lot of experience?" Walker rified since he had a theory that had started to form


    "Oh, it sounds like these are for the people who really need something done or could save someone''s life." Su realized this before Walker could articte his own thoughts. Su saw the annoyance in his face. "Sorry leader." She smiled as she said this, not really sorry at all.


    "I see, so since you all have the hero title then you are required to take quests that are right and just instead of those that would just boost your merit selfishly. That would make a lot of sense." Ibis had already assumed this but having more supporting facts made him stand firmer on the theory.


    "Well then all I am left with is to ask what you would prefer, the heroic quests or the regr quests?" ra knew that not gaining gold and experience would possibly slow their growth as a party. It would also hold them back for moving up to the next tier of the adventurers guild.


    Walker did not even need to ponder this, there was only one answer. "We will take the heroic quests. We have embraced the hero title by now and we should focus on both of the requirements to level up." He looked towards Midnight who he knew had gotten the tougher level up requirements. It was obvious that this was because she had such higher stats as a monster. She could handle opponents much stronger than the party without her. But with this difference she could easily miss out on valuable battle experience.


    "Then that is what I will send your way. Be ready for some tough jobs with little reward in the future." ra seemed to be more motivated as she checked through the quests and sorted them. "I will be nice and not send you to the sewers or the garbage facility." She gave this as both a little revenge and kindness. If the party left her out of the loop again she would send them only these quests.


    "Well go get some rest. We need to call back the employees and start on the work we missed." Ibis had epted that this was the only break he would have for a few days and begun in on the stack of paperwork he was sure would grow before his eyes.


    ra gave them a wave while she waspletely absorbed by the system and the new way her quests were organized. Walker and Su tried to say goodbye but were met with no response so just showed themselves out.


    "You know, I might start making these quests required to be taken." ra said this soon after the three had left down the stairs.


    "It would be a good change to make to how we rank the tiers and who receives a test for promotion." Ibis had the same idea. If ra could find the quests that were deemed justified to take even with poor reward then she could pass them more often to parties. There was also the fact that she could note a party that was taking only these quests or at least a higher number and reward theme for doing what was right.


    This would mark a change in the way the guild operated for the entire kingdom.


    "Well that was a surprise to say the least." Walker had just stepped back on to the street.


    "Yes it was. Of all the people toe see us it was her. I would have imagined she would be stuck where she was." Su made sure not to slip anything unsafe from her mouth while speaking in the open.


    Midnight herself shook her head and huffed. She hadgrown a soft spot for the queen since she was often greeted with praise from her. However this time she was surprised like the others, but for her it was mostly surprising because she was told that another dragon coulde looking for her.


    The three of them wanted the most to head off towards home but Walker had alreadymitted to returning to the cathedral after they stopped home just to let the family know they were fine. "Let''s get on our way. We don''t get to sleep in abed until we tell everyone we are safe then go and help more at the cathedral." Walker summoned his energy and made his way in the direction of the mansion.


    By the time the front gates and garden started toe in to view so did much more green then they had seen the other morning when they left. The sounds of a shovel hitting soil and stones being raked echoed from the walls as the three walked in through the gates. "Oh, finally back are you?" Gil''s mother was working in the garden on the pathways through the garden. Some where she had procured some white stones that she was putting onto the path making it stand out amongst the earth. Things were really taking shape.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 281 - 281. Clear Your Minds

    "Hello, working hard as always I see." Walker wanted to stay positive since he was about to tell her that Gil had run off to hunt without so much as a goodbye to her.


    "Oh it''s never work if it''s something you love. How are things after the fire? Your father came back covered in ash and nearly asleep on his feet the other day. He was barely awake long enough to give us all the details before falling asleep with his dinner roll as a pillow." Sheughed at this remembering how he hadn''t even managed to take a bite.


    "Well the cathedral pretty much exhausted themselves so the military academy had toe and help with the transporting and healing. I am pretty sure they are also cleaning up the previous carpenters quarters so they can rebuild."


    "That''s good, I hope all of them can recover swiftly. I am sure the King will have a speech to wish those who perished off properly." She looked a little sad but also relieved that there was such a dedicated force already at work.


    "We were also pretty exhausted ourselves and ended up spending some time at the cathedral to rest. Not on purpose though. Wepleted a quest and ended up taking some time to get a handle on things." Walker was looking for the right way to say that Gil had run off for a while but he didn''t even have a chance.


    "And now Gil is off testing out some new skill without telling anyone but his father?" She had hit the nail on the head.


    "Yes miss Jane, it sounds like he does this often." Su was pleasantly surprised by the insight Gil''s mother had shown.


    "Trust me if he had not run off to show his father a new skill he got as a kid then it was like it did not even happen. The two of them would run off in to the woods to hunt and test things. They are thick as thieves." She shook her head smiling at all the times the two hade back in a messy state having fooled around with a new skill too much.


    "Should I assume that Remey is the same? She dragged the master alchemist in to theb and there has been different colored smoke pouring from the smokestack since. I was worried she was starting to burn things for fun until I heard him telling out instructions and techniques. Since when can Remey make potions?" This was something that Jane had found extremely confusing since she was sure that Remey had a brawler system and not an alchemy based one. She had even went as far to double check with Hilda after noticing these developments.


    "About that, we should get everyone together so we can tell them about a few things. We might need to hold back on some details but that won''t change anything." Walker headed inside with Su and Midnight onhis heels before he realized he should use the party chat function to let Gil know that he should keep his upgraded system under wraps for now.


    This is easily done since Gil greeted him in a whisper. Walker made the warning short and sweet before the chat ended suddenly. He was sure that Gil had understood and gotten right back into his hunt. By the time Walker had made his own way to the dining hall every single member of the families and even Maria and the wandering cksmith were there, The only two missing were Remey and the old man who were locked in theb training in their own ways.


    Walker carefully began to unload the role the party yed in the emergency quest along with the details of the titled quests they had. Walker left out most of the specifics when it came to what the upgrade systems were and instead used more generic names for them. He made sure that everyone understood that this was a major development and that the very kingdom would be influenced by it.


    "Well that makes sense why the emergency quest even alerted the guards in the resting rooms. I was taking my break when it showed up. I needed to order those under me to get buckets and haul water before I have even sat down." Garret was happy to hear that the party was responsible even if it was just the system sending the emergency quest and not them specifically. "Just by being in the area you were the source of many more saved lives. Thest fire that broke out ten years ago destroyed five homes and two merchant storage buildings. It was devastating." As a guard Garret had read and written reports on fires and wished for a way to keep them from happening at all.


    "We were really surprised to see how fast everyone reacted, we got the same emergency quest as everyone else but when we read that the heroes needed help it was rather heart warming" Su was extremely happy to think back on the effect that the hero title was having. The more people they could help the better in her book.


    "Well I am just surprised that the king issued the order to send the military academy students. They often won''t be sent in to real situation like that. But I can say from the rumors I have heard they did very well. There just might be something special in that academy." Hilda had met some friends so she could share some of her recipes earlier in the day and got an ear full on how well the healers from the academy had done. The entire lower tier was buzzing about the students they had been able to send making a difference so early in their lives to the kingdom.


    Lisa was sitting in a chair nearly bouncing. With every word of what the party had done she became more and more in awe of what had happened. "Walker, can you use that new wave skill here? I want to see what it''s like." She thought that a skill that could boost healing was very rare but the fact that it could also boost some stats and calm someone''s mind was a very interesting effect she never thought her brother would have. Naturally she was also enamored with healing spells since her brother had learned one as his first skill and then used it to heal a prick on her finger.


    Walker thought on this for a moment and realized that Su''s parents were leaning forward with anticipation. The two of them had seen many healing skills and were focused on seeing one they had yet to experience.


    Knowing that he could not avoid his audience he raised his hands and used his calming waves skill. The wave of white light moved through the room and passed through everyone. They could all feel their minds bing clearer and the stress of the day beginning to melt away. Walker even felt the effects himself and realized how useful this could be for training.


    "Oh, Ooooohhh...OHHHHHH! I figured it out!" Lisa slowly grew more animated as her ind cleared and she came to realization. "I have been stitching it backwards!" She jumped up in a rush to get the fabric she had been working with. She had been struggling with a new stitch that just seemed to fall apart every time. Having this clear mind she was able to take a new perspective and notice that she had been stitching it from the front and into the back. Now she could find a way to move forward with her ideas.


    The rest of them watched this urrence and began to think that they needed to take advantage of their cleared minds as well. "I will be reviewing some recipes just for some practice." Hilda was off to the kitchen forgetting the tea she had just poured.


    Su''s parents were already hand in hand and wandering towards the library to share a novel. The two had started their very own tradition of sharing a novel so they could debate on it afterward. It was a very endearing activity that Walker would strive for in his marriage one day.


    Garret on the other hand just hummed to himself pleased with the newfound rity. He was often muddled with thoughts of work and what kind of day he would have as a guard. It was a very stressful job because at any point something bad could happen calling him off in to a dangerous situation.


    Su was watching everyone''s movements to practice her new sought. She was incredibly frustrated while she had walked back to the mansion. She had tripped in ces she never would have before and it was all due to herck of understanding. This was more of a driving force for her to be better, she would face this new challenge so she could fully use this great gift.


    Midnight was another odd ball in this. She hadid herself down in her normal spot and looked to be asleep, However her slight twitches and ps of her wings slowly made it look like she was actually hard at work understanding how her muscles moved and were developing. Walker swore that the skeletal wings had gained a little bit more muscle under the skeletal scales.Walker could only think about how cute it was that she was trying to hide it.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 282 - 282. Back To The Cathedral

    Giggling to himself like a fool Walker left the dining hall where even Maria had abandoned for the library herself. It seemed that he would need to be careful with the healing waves skill due to the calming and clearing of people''s minds. This would make them want to focus on other tasks to get farther ahead than they would when more stressed out. Even more facts backing this up was the fact that Gil''s mother had already rushed to the garden and begun to use skills to prune down of the growing nts to change the way they would grow.


    Walker wanted to head off immediately to the cathedral but he felt it would be too early. The high priest and Alice would definitely still be resting and if he used the calming waves skill until he was too low on mana then the two best healers he knew would not have their healing boosted. In the end it was about quality and efficiency to get the injured back in to full health sooner.


    With the little free time he had he decided to head towards the forge where he saw the wandering cksmith enter in after the calming waves skill. He was not surprised to find that the wandering cksmith was fully focused on repairing and changing his tools. There were new carvings being made and new magical patterns.


    He had even started to heat up the forge so he could remake a few that he had thought up better and stronger designs for. Since Walker had just entered he made room for him to sit. "I was thinking I woulde here to see what is going on while everyone works some things out themselves. I also thought I should ask you if you would like to start working on the equipment tomorrow?"


    Walker didn''t even need to look for a response but he still did to see that the wandering cksmith was nodding and smiling while still working. There was something about watching a master work on something that just brought about a feeling of tranquility. It was like watching the first art or dance in motion.


    The wandering cksmith did not mind the audience since he would be working with Walker for days on end. Instead he was happy to have someone who is as interested in the art he was practicing as he was. Not to mention Walker had already proven that he would go hunting for better materials and even spend all of his mana to help in the preparation for the best gear. That was all he needed to properly show what his heart was forged from to the wandering cksmith.


    The time wandered away on them before the cksmith started to lose his high focus. He had managed to make three different engraving tools and map out many designs in to parchment. They were things he would add to the forge to prevent more decay affect from the mes they would use along with pulling any of the natural impurities from the materials. These natural impurities could cause the final product to rest or crack unexpectedly and very few cksmiths could fully pull them from the metals they used.


    "Leader, I have gotten a better grasp now. I think we can head out." Su had been standing at the door trying to get Walker''s attention and finally seeded now that the wandering cksmith had finished his creations. When Walker turned about he saw that Midnight was also with Su. She looked like she was keeping her wings tight to her back now.


    "Had some good practice?" He gave Midnight a slight smile and was given a small whine in return. She was definitely feeling sore from flexing the muscles on her wings to get used to them, but it was a necessary practice if she wanted to fly properly one day.


    The wandering cksmith didn''t pay them any mind as the three left the forge, he had already moved on to his next task in changing the tools in the forge.


    "I should be able to move about without tripping so much now. My mind was not focused enough when I was walking so i was not properly paying attention to where I stepped and how. There are so many things I have never noticed before." Su was realizing that the things she had missed were innumerable. The sight that humans had was good but it was not the best.


    "Well I am d you were able to figure that out, but do you think you will be able to help safely?" he was concerned that Su could identally do something that could harm someone. It was just a cautious thought due to her still adjusting.


    "I should be fine if I don''t move around so fast. I will just stay in one ce and help with the bandaging." Su was more concerned that she may be unable to help as much as she had been.


    Seeing that she was starting to worry, Walker tried to cheer her up, "The healers should have gotten a good hold of the situation so we don''t need to burn ourselves out. It is a slow run to the finish now." Su nodded in agreement but she was stubborn when it came to her personal expectations.


    Midnight took the lead to the cathedral making sure to stay on the way, however as the three approached the scene of the fire they were surprised by what they saw. The guards and the military students had hauled out all of the burned wood and ashes leaving an almostpletely clear ce for the new building. There was still a pile of ruble that needed to be taken away along with all the metal bits and pieces they had found. It looked like as much as possible would be salvaged to use and make the new carpenter quarters.


    The guards and even some of the military academy students waved or nodded at them. Through a lot of the activities they had seen or been told about the party and what happened. On top of this they had also received the emergency quest that was passed down to them. All together the party was again the talk of gossip.


    "You know we should make a stop at the military academy after our next journey. If we can form some better bonds then maybe we can help Remey out to get the orphans epted. I know the king would just have them epted if we asked but it would be better if we could give them a path to be epted themselves." Walker''s idea hade out of nowhere.


    "That would be nice, I know she has mentioned she is worried about them not having a way to move up in the kingdom well. But the military takes very many different systems. They need to have arge variety of skills to perform their duties." Su gestured to the students clearing the rubble and also starting to build temporary structures to start rebuilding.


    Walker could only think about just how true this was, they hade to heal and even build. There were definitely those who could cook, make armor, and scout too. The army had such a wide range that he almost reconsidered being an adventurer. But if he moved to the academy then he would lose the freedom to take the quests he wanted over others.


    Midnight had started to get way ahead of them causing Walker and Su to need to run to catch up. The two of them had gotten too caught up in their ideas and ns. Soon they came in to view of the cathedral. The door was wide open and there was a steady stream of peopleing in and out. When the three entered there were already some of the healers that had worked themselves to exhaustion back on the job.


    Many of the families and carpenters were still there taking up temporary residence until they would be able to return to a carpenter''s quarters. These people seemed to be the most in and out visiting with friends who wereing to check on them and make sure that they were safe and sound. The guards and students were the second busiest looking since they were constantly carrying in clean water and other supplies for the healers to use. They assisted in moving those that needed to be closer to the healing light crystal.


    Having the extra muscle was really making the healers work more efficiently since they would often be much more tired performing these jobs. From the looks of the resting patients they had been moved in to a way that highlighted the healing of these most severely injured. There were people who had received the greatest burns or crushing injuries from the falling building. The healers that surrounded them were constantly checking and maintaining their condition until they could be healed enough to be stable. This had been going on in shifts and only calmed down after the great number of injured had decreased. Seeing that the job was still far from done Walker started to look around for any sign of Alice or the healing musicians.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 283 - 283. Babysitting

    "I can see a few healers I have worked with before, I am going to join them." Su moved off toward a group of healers that were preparing bandages. It was nice to know that she was making some new and good friends here, they would easily understand that she would be a little limited when it came to the activities she could perform at the moment.


    "Are youing with me?" Walker asked Midnight since she looked like she had no idea where she would be going. She was not as used to healing as Su and Walker were yet, but since Walker was saving his mana to use it for the best possible amount of healing he could help her find a ce to fit in for a while.


    Midnight looked at him unsure if she would but then gave a slight nod, "Well then off we go, we need to find Alice or the high priest. Or even just who is in charge for now so I can n out how to use the calming waves." However as he said this he decided that using the skill once now would be able to give the healers at work a small edge and motivation.


    He raised his hand and let the calming wave flow out instantly causing a change in the cathedral. The healers spared a nce toward Walker and some even gave him shouts of thanks. The calming wave had started to work its magic causing the healing spells to be more effective. Those that were struggling had calmed and even began to heal faster.


    "Well I am d to see you again." The same healer that Walker had seen the high priest instruct the other day had made her way to him within seconds of his skill being used. "I can get the high priest or miss Alice if you would like, but the two of them should still rest for another hour at least." She looked like she would do whatever it took to let the two rest that much longer.


    "That sounds good to me, I am sure that the other musicians are resting still too. I just want to make sure that my skill does the most it can to heal everyone. Midnight also will need a job to help with so just point us in a directions." The healer looked at Midnight a little skeptical but soon thought better of this since she had seen the little dragon helping move full grown men earlier.


    "Good, then I will have you assist with the children. The mothers are going crazy trying to manage right now. I would prefer you saved your mana for when we can perform another concert, that is the best means of healing we have." She pointed towards a spot near the door where it appeared that most of the children had gathered and were acting rambunctious. A few mothers were there trying to manage them but instead were just tiring themselves out against the boundless energy children seemed to have.


    "Well Midnight, I can''t think of something more fun to do." Midnight looked appeased by this jobs since she would get plenty of attention from the children. She had learned this in the rabbit demi-human vige since wherever she went she had attracted the curiosity of the kids there.


    Walker and Midnight went over to the group and instantly started to attract their eyes. "Soooo I have heard that some of you have never met a real dragon before." Walker said this loud enough to get their attention and also to let the parents know that they were going to help them distract the children for a while. A few mothers looked at them as if they were going to shed a tear right there out of happiness.


    Midnight stood tall and opened her wings with a slight wince. She had definitely overworked her muscles a little but Walker would not heal them. If he did then she would not be used to the natural healing process necessary for her wings to develop. It could hurt her flying in the long term and he would not do anything of the sort.


    The children nearest rushed over their voices loud and high pitched trying to be the first that got to touch Midnight''s scales. However as they came close Walker lifted and hand and manipted the air in the cathedral to hold them all back softly. The little gust made a few bandages drift in the air but didn''t cause any disturbance, He breathed a sigh of relief at this.


    Seeing that Walker had just made the wind with his hand the children started to focus on him. "Now how rude would it have been if you rushed up to my sister here and started to pat her without permission? Would you all have let me just run up and start messing up your hair?" A few of them put their hands on their heads protecting the hair from any possible ruffling, while others just looked disappointed. "In any case, Midnight would you allow them toe and meet you?"


    They were all eagerly looking at Midnight wanting to see her respond. With a p of her wings she pulled them back in and huffed a few times. "Well aren''t you all, lucky today. If you can form an orderly line she would meet you all." Walker made motions to help the twenty or so children line up and start to meet Midnight.


    Naturally they were fidgeting and excited so staying in line was a challenge for them. However when they would reach Midnight they were realizing just how intimidating a dragon was. They had wanted to rush in and touch a real dragon but now they were hesitant. Some would not even try to touch her and retreated while those with more courage would go up and reach out a hand in greeting. Midnight was loving every second of it making sure her head was held higher and higher when each came to her. She was soon making huffing sounds of greetings to them and even letting one of them touch her tail since the child looked curious.


    Walker was pretty happy to see that there was not as much fear as he had expected. There were many who would definitely fear Midnight for being a dragon but instead there were more than extremely happy to see her. The parents had all seen the help she brought the day of the fire, they had started to talk and found that the little dragon had been a huge help to them. These facts cleared any doubt they had that Midnight''s fame was ever growing in the kingdom, the merchants that traveled through in the spring would most certainly be carrying the tales of the heroic dragon.


    Walker felt a small tug on his cloak. "Can you do that windy thing again?" there was a little girl who was standing right by his knee. She had to be seven years old but was having no problem asking him to show off more magic.


    "Well just for you alright? I am supposed to be saving my mana for when I can join another healing concert. You should have heard one the other day right? I was the one by the crystal with the beautiful girl who sang for everyone." The little girl''s eyes lit up at this since she had been thinking of the songs that were sung and the lights that had danced in the air constantly.


    Walker knelt to the girls'' leave and held up a hand. He manipted the air to start to swirl just a little in the palm of his hands. "Here, give me your hand, I''ll show you something cool." The little girl held up her hand to Walker, he turned it so that her palm faced the ceiling and manipted the little swirl of air in to her palm. With his maniption it continues to spin in a little tornado.


    The little girl broke out in to a grin and couldn''t help but giggle. "It tickles hehahahe it tickles." The wind brought the much neededughter to the cathedral making many of the parents show looks of relief. They had been afraid that this would mark a hugely traumatic moment for all of their children caring for them for the rest of their lives.


    Feeling that he would start to use more mana if he kept it going he let the air slowly cease its rotation until the little girl was staring at her hand in awe. She kept poking her palm to make sure she had actually just felt and seen the small tornado. Walker wanted to keep building off of this atmosphere and tried to get the girl talking. If he could get her in to a good conversation then the other children should join in bing more organized and calm.


    "So have you found your system yet?" His questionmade the little girl smile even bigger than she had before. He had definitely chosen the right question to ask.


    "Yes! I just got it now!" Walker was nodding along but realized that the words he had heard were not the ones that he had expected.


    "Wait right now like right now right now?" He felt that his heart was picking up speed and the little girl met his reaction with a speedy nod.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 284 - 284. Guidence

    "Yes mister. When you put the little spinny air in my hand i got it but it was so cool. I want to do it again!" She was excited and bounding around. Walker had dropped his jaw hearing this. He had really just helped someone else unlock their system. Not to mention it was by showing them some magic.


    Realizing that it had been through magic he was again caught up. "Can you tell me what your system is called?" He couldn''t stop, he needed to satiate his curiosity and know the answer.


    She had a little trouble understanding her system window and it was clearly due to her younger age and not being used to a system at all. "SssrORm Weeelder" She sounded it out making sure it sounded right.


    "Storm wielder? That sounds super cool and strong. Do you have any skills to start with?'' Walker was letting his curiosity rule him.


    "I think¡­." She was again confused by the light in her eyes became clear after a moment. "I can do the thing you did." She turned up her hand and a small tornado started to spin in her palm. However the wind that framed around it was grey like storm clouds. This was definitely using more than one element to create a miniature storm.


    "Wow, that is pretty cool. I think it is better than mine!" Walker was carefully keeping a hold on the air around the girl''s palm so that the new spell did not escape her grasp. "Now for a real challenge, can you make it go away without letting it go somewhere?'' The little girl again became confused. "Just like I did with mine. Just let it slowly stop spinning and melt away."


    His description made the little girl''s confusion disappear. The little spinning grey tornado started to fade to nothing. There were small drops of water that d formed on their hands and dripped off. Walker was carefully thinking about how her magic had pulled in the air and also the water to create the grey looking swirls. "You have a pretty good system there, we should go find your parents to go tell them." He wanted to make sure that they were aware of the dangers that maye with such a system.


    The little girl looked down not as happy with this but took Walker''s hand and started to pull him towards two cots along the wall. There was a man and a woman with wrapping on their heads. They had obviously been injured in the building copse causing some head injuries that kept them from waking up. The girl''s reaction to him asking about them was most likely due to this, she was happy and ying with the other children but in the end she was still worried about her parents.


    "Well hello mr. and mrs. Storm weilder''s parents. I just heard that this little girl here is your daughter and she had a bunch of cool stuff to show you when you wake up." Walker did not lose his smile and introduced himself. The little girl was a bit confused but before she would say anything Walker spoke to her. "Don''t you know if you talk to someone who is injured and asleep that they might just be able to hear you still? That''s why you need to tell them that you love them and to get better soon." This seemed to make perfect sense to the little girl who started to rattle off everything that had just happened, to her parents.


    "You know I will need to head over soon to help out with the concert." Walker had already nced at the high priest making his way to the healing light crystal and knew he should also go up there to meet him to get in the loop on the n. "But I need to let you know about your magic there." He gave the little girls hand a poke, making her smile a little. "It is small now but it is called storm wielder right? That means it could be a really big storm which is dangerous. So when you want to show it off to your parents if they wake up, call for me. I will help you so it stays small and safe. Then maybeter I will talk to them about a good ce for you to practice."


    He was worried that through the concert the girl''s parents would be healed and wake up. If they did and the little girl was too excited she might release a skill she could not control yet and cause more chaos. "Pinky promise me OK?" He held out a pinky and the little girl held out her own. The two interlocked them and made their promise. "Then off I go to talk to the high priest. You stay here and make sure that you are the first one your parents see when they wake up."


    Walker had at first just wanted to make sure that the little girl wouldn''t cause idental trouble but now that he had realized fully that he was the cause of her unlocking system he wanted to make sure he gave her more. He turned towards the healing light crystal and found a nun that had just delivered some fresh bandages to a healer. Walker stopped her and exined the situation, the nun understood and mentioned that two others had gained some systems through this since there were many new things happening. She said that even a healer system had awakened in a young boy who used his first skill to heal his own arm.


    After the nun went off to watch the little girl Walker could not help but think back to his first healing skill. How strange the world works, there was a terrible fire yet there were those that had started to awake their systems in the midst of all of it. Before he coulde back to reality of his own ord the high priest had noticed him. "You are looking much better and awake than I am." His greeting was apanied by hisughter.


    "Well I have some good gear to recoup my mana and you let us get some good rest.." The high priest smiled at this, not arguing the facts. "But you know we couldn''t stay away for long. What are you thinking for healing?" This was the main point of the return to the cathedral. Another concert should heal almost everyone and get those still seriously injured to a better ce.


    "Alice is still a little tired but she should be ready soon. I am sending out some nuns to collect the remaining musicians and get a small concert ready. On my way in to the main hall here I swear I saw you with a child." The high priest was curious to why Walker was not running about trying to heal everyone.


    "Oh yea, I want to make sure I can use the calming waves skill to assist in the healing. If i waste mana then we won''t be able to heal as many as possible. So I was helping out with the children. Midnight is still over there keeping them entertained. Or maybe they are entertaining her¡­" Walker could see that Midnight looked much happier than the children. Her ego was growing more and more by the second.


    "I actually did meet one very interesting little girl. I showed of a little magic and she was able to actually unlock her system. I never thought that I would be able to cause something like that." his words rang true with his sincerity.


    "You would be amazed at the number of healers that are working here that unlocked their very own systems while being healed. There is just something about the way of the world. It seems to know just what a person needs to be the best version of themselves they can be. It hands us the tools and lets us take the reigns." Walker could see the high priest''s eyes following a few of the healers around. They must be the very lines he was talking about.


    "The thing about those healers that gained their systems that way, they work much harder then the ones that the nobles send our way. It''s just funny that way." With this the high priest walked off to instruct the nuns and healers about the cathedral in the set up.


    Walker couldn''t help but to agree that there would be something lost in someone sent off to a job. But someone who takes passion in something by repaying it would go above and beyond. The perfect example was Su who was not even the holder of a healing type system running about doing more than just about any other healers. For just a second he wondered why she had gained a dragon based defensive system like the draconic guardian system instead of a healing system. However he was already answering this. Su would never be able to sit still when someone was being harmed, she had to be there to project, it is who she is and always will be.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 285 - 285. Fans

    Walker was going to keep on in this train of thought to properly think on why the world had dictated the decisions of the system upgrades. He had read some of the reasoning in the notifications but that also left the question of why other aspects of their personality had been ignored. Gil could have easily gained something that mixed farming and archery but instead it focused on his bnced magical attack and regr attack.


    Putting the will of the world aside Walker had be distracted by the musicians making their way inside. There were some who seemed very familiar since he had been on stage with them when they performed. The dark circles under their eyes from working so hard still showed they needed rest.


    Deciding that it was best to head their way he went up to the healing light crystal to start some small talk while they got ready. "Helloo, I know I helped you guys before but my name is Walker. Sorry for theck of introduction before." He said this to a female musician holding a cello.


    "Oh trust me we all know who Alice''s boyfriend is. We would have tried to speak to the hero too but sadly theck of mana is always a burden." When she teased him with the word boyfriend a switch flipped inside turning Walker red all over.


    "I-Umm- no...we¡­" He struggled for the wordspletely thrown off by these words.


    "Fine fine future Alice''s boyfriend then." The cello yer giggled more as a few other musicians came over to join in the conversation.


    "So you are the hero that everyone always talks about?" One man with a harp looked at him up and down.


    "Well actually just about everyone in my party is a hero title holder, well I technically still am but it''s a little different. But that''s aplicated mess." Walker was going to say he was a true hero title holder but realized it would open a can of worms that would take ages to exin.


    " But you are the hero that we hear the rumors about the most. You have been to the ancient ruins and pretty much destroyed every undead to bring back ancient wisdom to strengthen our kingdom.."


    "And you went and found out about that hoard of horned rabbits that could have eaten all the food and caused everyone to perish¡­"


    "Wait he also saved the party I healed from a jade locust, that was apparently where they got their titles."


    "Really they got their titles saving a whole party!? That''s amazing!"


    Walker watched as everyone that was talking to him kept the conversation flowing even though he had not spoken a word. He was feeling a little left out.


    When he saw an opening he decided to try and get some attention off of him. "Anything me and my party do is smallpared to the great work that you and the other healers put in. Watching the work you all do really touches my heart." He was sincere in this, every single healer he saw here at work was pushing themselves to the maximum to help those injured.


    "What about that girl Su with you? She is probably the best healer there is. You don''t even need to say anything and she is already there." The harp yer spoke up again.


    "What if I told you a secret?" The musicians leaned in eager to hear what he had to say. "My friend Su isn''t really a healer at all. She is a guardian. She is best with a shield and can save anyone from harm. Her mother was often ill and she picked a lot of things up from healers while she grew up. She has a passion for helping people." Walker nodded as he said this happy that the attention was off of him.


    "Really not a healer?"


    "That''s impossible she knows so much that she can look like a healer?"


    "Her dedication is amazing. She must be a saint guardian, right?"


    "Huh? What is a saint guardian?" Walker was curious to what this system or title would be.


    "You have never heard of the saint guardians?" One of the musicians spoke up confused how someone who had helped them so many times had not heard of them. "They are the guardians of the church. They go out to the ces on the border to rescue people or they will go ces where the army can''t send it''s healers. Right now they went off to the ins to protect small viges from the hoards."


    Walker was amazed that he had not heard of them ever. "Yes the saint guardian havemore of a title given by us but i have heard that one actually has the saint guardian system. She is the leader of the saint guardians. they can use light magic as shields and the captain can even make a shield that heals people as she takes damage for others."


    This information sounded amazing, if he could meet this woman with the saint guardian system he would have a chance to learn a shielding skill that could also heal people. "I really hope that I can meet them one day then. They sound like a very interesting group of people." The musicians nodded and said their own opinions.


    "Alright alright, time to get to work. I hope that everyone has slept well." The high priest walked up behind the group which had be quite loud talking about the saint guardians. "You all know that we are about to start the performance, right?" He looked like he had just interrupted a group of naughty children ying games instead of doing their chores.


    Instantly the group dispersed to their respective seats or positions for the performance. "Sorry about that, since I didn''t have a chance to meet themst time I wanted to get to know who I would be helping out." Walker looked a little embarrassed but in actuality he was happy to have spoken with all of them.


    There was a slight pull on the edge of his cloak making him turn. "Alice you''re back!" He became much more embarrassed having reacted so strongly but was only met with Alice''s warm smile. "Erm are you ready to get this show on the roads?" Walker scratched his head trying to y it off that he had been ready the entire time.


    "Oh we are ready, I will be right here with my healing pulse skill." The high priest answered and was ready to get things in the roll. With a tap of his walking staff the room went nearly silent. The healers gave a nce at him and started to work faster. It was like someone had sent a jolt of energy through everyone. The high priest had signaled the start of the concert and this would mean everyone needed to heal the injured as much as possible. "Walker if you could start us off."


    Walker needed no pushing and raised his hand to let the calming waves skill send white light throughout the entire cathedral. As the healers looked to move more efficiently and the healing powers increased Walker caught a glimpse of Su and Midnight.


    Su was moving faster meeting any healer in need. She was holding bandages and taking dirty ones but then the next moment she was right next to a healer that needed an extra hand to hold a tool or bowl. It wasno wonder that the healers and musicians all believed that Su was actually the wielder of a healing type system and not a guardian type system.


    Midnight was a much different case. The calming waves had seemed to excite the children instead of calm them. Midnight was doing her best to keep them from running about and getting in the healer''s way. She managed to hold their attention by opening her sore wings and pping them slightly. The wind was not as impressive as the skill Walker showed off but the sight of a dragon opening its wings stunned them.


    Midnight''s actions were perfectly in time with thestart of the music which took a hold of the children''s attention and kept them in one spot. Knowing that when the lights started to dance and be small white hopping rabbits, that Alice had started to sing. Rainbow grass started to sprout from the floor and touch every healer letting them use their skills faster along with the rabbits that jumped in to the bodies of the injured.


    Looking over to where the little girl was Walker worried that she would be in the way. However he was proven wrong to worry when he saw that she was waiting a safe distance from her parents'' cots. There was a healer changing the bandages and adding new ones while singing healing magic. The little girl was watching Walker use his skill smiling widely. She knew that her new friend was doing his best to help her parents.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 286 - 286. Father

    This song went on for some time as the musicians used all but the veryst bit of their mana. Alice sang until the end of her song growing very pale but holding back just a little so she would not hit exhaustion. The high priest had been very firm not to let anyone pass out this time around. Some of the falling musicians had acquired slight injure and he refused to let theme to harm. "Walker now for ast huzzah."


    Walker released another healing wave which was equaled by the high priest using five healing pulses in a row. Those that were injured were visibly healing. The healers were amazed and had trouble focusing for a split second. The high priest had trained his whole life to be able to use this skill so fast in session and with Walker''s healing wave skill it came to the absolute peak of healing. Every single one of the barriers he had faced were finally broken, he was healing more people at a rate than he ever had before.


    Walker had no words to describe what he was seeing, it was as if a god had descended from the heavens and used an unthinkable skill to heal people instantly. This was more than he had ever expected. Walker wondered why the high priest had not used this before but when he looked over he found that the high priest was in his knees sweating and breathing heavily. This skill used in such a way was intensely painful on his body due to his age and the amount of mana forced out all at once.


    Walker used his own light healing skill on the high priest with his mana to offset the pain the high priest was feeling with the bacsh of such a skill. The pale face of the high priest had a slight flush of color but his condition did not improve much. Alice came to his side with worry all over her face but she did not frown. She had seen just how many times he had practiced to reach this point and knew it was his proudest moment.


    The high priest himself slowly but surely recovered his breathing as the calming waves skill faded. Walker released another of the calming waves to keep assisting the healers still hard at work. There had been a massive shift in patients as the healers were bringing many to the back who had been fully healed and even started t get up.


    The nuns were examining those who had made full recoveries so that they could be sure everything was as it should be. There were very many people standing up and trying to get out if the cathedral to go and meet family. These people had been stuck with injuries to their legs of backs and were ecstatic to be up and moving. Seeing that there were many different families hugging and smiling Walker tried to find the little girl and her parents but was distracted again by the high priest.


    "Alice go get me a high mana potion. I need to do something." She tried to protest but he made his face firm. "Trust me I will not be using the same skill as I did before." Her face was curious since she could not tell what he was thinking. "While she fetches that help me stand. I want your help a few more times, can you use that spell again?"


    Walker looked at his system and determined that using it two or three more times would be possible but he would most likely be passed out for a while. "I will; give it all that I have." His resolve was clear and the high priest knew that Walker would not go back on his word.


    When Alice returned the high priest took the high mana potion and drank the entire thing down. The color returned to his face and mana seemingly emanated from his body. "I have had a titled quest to unlock my mastery skill for twenty years. However I have never been able to use five healing pulses at once. Today I unlocked it and can use it once a month. I can''t think of a better time. Please Walker, use your calming waves skill."


    Walker felt his heart beat quicken, he was going to witness a mastery healing skill while he helped the high priest. Alice immediately looked at the high priest in awe. He had never used a mastery healing skill and she finally knew why. All his hard work that he tried to hide from her due to fatherly worry had paid off. Walker released the calming wave sending it out yet again.


    "Alice watch your father show you what a mastery healing skill can do." He looked at her with a tear in his eye. This would be one of the happiest days in his life, an unforgettable moment. "Please hear me light of the world. I shall give you all that i have within my spirit as a gift so that you may allow those in pain to bask in your light. Come forth, domain of starlight healing."


    The roof of the cathedral turned pitch ck along with the entire room. There were no sounds just darkness and silence. Walker was about to speak out but was caught by a faint glow in the darkness. There were an uncountable number of stars of all shapes and sizes popping up above them The light en-robed every single person there making their body glow with the pure innocent starlight.


    The healers that had been working were hands off as they saw that the light was healing as an extremely fast rate. The healing pulses looked like a beginner healing spell inparison. There were shooting stars forming and rushing through the dark sky that was bare to them above. Walker felt that he was looking at endless possibilities, nothing but a small dot in an endless adventure. This thought brought tears to his eyes, he had so much more to explore and learn.


    The weight in his shoulder increased and he realized the high priest had used all of his mana. Grabbing Alice''s attention the twoid the high priest down and used a few things to create a pillow. One of the healers nearby saw this and rushed to him to examine the high priest. "Just exhausted. I will use my mana transfer skill so he can rest easy. Just bring me to a cot after." The healer let a blue light radiate from her fingers before falling to the side and being caught by Alice. With Walker''s help they ced her in a cot and returned to the high priest.


    "You father is really amazing isn''t he." Walker had yet to call the high priest Alice''s father. She rarely said anything and hearing it spoke made her tear up even more. Today was just that amazing of a day. The high priest was breathing slowly but with strength. The two knew that they didn''t need to worry for his health but refused to leave anyways.


    "Alice I will most likely be joining those two with thisst calming waves skill. I trust you." She looked at Walker worried but had heard what the high priest said before. Her nod was the signal to use thest healing waves skill.


    With the white wave leaving his hand Walker felt the sleep take him. The only thing he could think was how beautiful the stars were as he closed his eyes. This was the most time sin row he had ever used all his mana. The system was notifying him but he was already in dreand.


    ''The user had lost all of their mana multiple times within a certain period. The skill mana bank has been taken from the tree of life system. The skill mana bank has been learned automatically.


    Mana bank- 4 mana cost


    The user is able to store away mana in their very body up to a certain point. For every four mana spent to store mana within the body the mana count will rise by one until the bank is depleted. The user will suffer consequences for storing more than their body can handle. The user does not require mana to take mana from their bank.''


    Walker would soon awake to this skill but he would have many other things to worry about first. Alice had been right there helping him when he had passed out. She rested his head on herp happier than anything to see that she had met someone so willing to give their all to help others. The high priest had always taught her never to settle for anyone as a friend or more that was unable to dedicate their entire benign to help another. She had the feeling that she had finally found friends who could meet these high expectations.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 287 - 287. Introducing...

    The time passed much faster than anyone else expected. The mastery skill, domain of starlight healing, had tripled the healing and mana regeneration of everyone within the star''s light. It had brought pure joy to the hearts of those who had witnessed itpletely changing how they all felt in that moment. As the light faded and the cathedral returned to the normal state the entire ce was still silent. The injured had recovered and the seriously injured were fast asleep without a single blemish on them.


    Many had started to cry and could not hold their emotions back. They had seen a wondrous skill that filled their very souls to the brim. To speak now would be to end this purity and happy moments. There were many silently hugging while the healers gave final checks with the nuns.


    Many checked up on the high priest but did not go to wake him after they noticed that Alice was guarding him and Walker. Su eventually made her way back to Alice and Walker having seen the high priest''s skill. She had helped and now was able to stop since she had no skills to examine anyone properly.


    With the children calmed and very orderly the parents had taken over letting Midnight go toy down and join them resting. Her soreness and any tiredness was healed with the high priests skills as well. Walker was in the same condition as he rapidly regenerated mana. He was groggy but awoke fairly fast.


    The revitalized feeling in his body was not surprising to him after experiencing the high priests mastery skill. He felt that he was leaning on something and looked up to find that Alice was hiding his head in herp looking a little worried. "And here I thought I had fallen asleep on a cloud." The line was sweeter than honey and made Alice feel like she had just swallowed a spoonful of sugar. But nheless she loved it.


    She squeezed his cheeks happy that he had woken up quickly. Walker wanted toy there forever but knew that it was best to get up and check on the others, "Sorry, that was a line I heard from a minstrel passing through when I was little. I thought of it the second I saw your face." He was red faced having said something so embarrassing. But he did not regret it at all.


    He stood and looked around. "Su I trust you can make sure Alice stays here resting while I go find a unique little girl whose parents should get a warning about the system she just unlocked." Alice and Su looked curious but didn''t respond, wanting to stay and rest there in case the high priest woke up.


    Walker could feel a shifting on his shoulders as Onyx came out of his tattoo form. "Oh you slept through all the action." Walker was actually sad that Onyx had missed the mastery skill.


    "Brother I was able to feel it in my sleep. It took me a long time to absorb that pure light, I am full of energy and think I will have a growth spurt soon.'''' This was good news since it would make onyx better inbat. But the thought of Onyx being toorge to stay on his shoulders was a little disappointing. "I will go and find sister to tell her too." Onyx slithered off of his shoulder wanting to stretch a little from his long sleep.


    Walker moved through the people who had started to gain energy and want to move about. His search for the two parents and the little girl revealed a heart warming sight. The two parents were sitting up with their daughter sped in their arms. They were all teary eyed but smiling broadly. Walker held back waiting for them to calm down. The little girl in their arms was overjoyed having all of her worry melt away in her parents arms.


    It took some time but Walker finally saw that they were getting adjusted to being healed and recovered from their sudden emotions. He almost felt bad going over to cause another stir by bringing up their daughter''s new system.


    "Well I can see that your parents look rather healthy. Have you told them about your news?" The little girl heard him and ran ,grabbing on to his leg.


    She was tugging Walker over to her parents who were lost to who this boy was. Mommy daddy, this is miss dragon''s older brother." Walker couldn''t help just smile at this introduction. Of all the things to be introduced as it was miss dragon''s older brother. Although this was true it was of no use to the parents who had yet to meet Midnight.


    "Ha ha, what she means is that I am Walker and my little sister is Midnight, that little dragon over there. She was lucky enough to meet this little stormy friend here." Walker dropped a little hint causing a glint to appear in the little girl''s eyes.


    Both parents seemed to have a little more rity as the remembered the rumors about the Omnipotent party made up of hero title holders and even a hero titled dragon. "We are very d to hear that our daughter has been behaving while we were resting." The father chimed in taking the lead and extending a hand to Walker.


    "Oh she has been more than behaving. She has been very very good and has been very patient to tell you all her news." Walker gave the little girl a poke to the cheek causing her to giggle. "Do you want to show them with my help or just tell them?'' He knew what her answer would be but he didn''t want to push it on her.


    "Show! Show!" She couldn''t even form a sentence and jumped with her sheets.


    "Alright then hold out your hands and I will keep it small." The parents saw that their daughter was cupping her hands and looking much more serious. Her little eyebrows scrunched up and her jaw tightened. Walker ced his hands under hers as she started to show her newly acquired system.


    The small grey tornado started to swirl slowly but surely. The parent''s jaws dropped the instant it appeared. Walker was manipting the mana in the air around it to force it to stay small but was only able to do this due to his higher magical attack stats. He knew that if he was lower leveled andcked the points in the stat he would have been knocked aside and the spell would have grown to it''s full size.


    The little girl was focusing much harder this time since she wanted to properly show her parents the things she could do. "Now remember how to make it stop spinning like before. Just slow the spinning until it pops in to nothing." Walker guided her through it as she stopped the little tornado again leaving droplets of water on her hand from the grey cloudy wind.


    "See I have my system now. I am a storm wielder!" She rushed and jumped in to her father''s arms without a single bit of hesitation. Her goggling was infectious to everyone who passed by the four of them.


    "As you can tell she was pretty lucky to unlock a good system like that. I just showed her a little bit of wind magic and the next thing I know she is telling me she has unlocked her system." Walker let them know the circumstances since the little girl was too excited to speak properly. "This little storm wielder got a unique system for sure, but a dangerous one for sure. I thought it best if I made a pass back to you with some ideas for what she could do with it."


    "Sir hero, we are very grateful for you to take interest but we are only a family of carpenters. I can''t ask you to do anything more than you already have." The father gestured to himself and his wife who were obviously hard workers. The calluses were very well developed on their hands from years of wood carving. The muscles on their body stood out from heavier lifting, it was in to see their hard work.


    "First off, let''s drop the sir...sounds weird. Also just call me Walker, we lived in the same tier until a few months ago anyways." The parents rxed a bit, finding that Walker was not a vicious noble after more power but instead amoner like them. "Second I-" Walker was cut off by a system notification.


    ''Daily heroic quest: guide the young.


    Requirement:


    Give the young storm wielder a path to follow that is supported by her family and by the storm wielder herself.


    Reward:


    1 heroic quest point


    10exp''


    The daily quests were still working and they had changed to daily heroic quests! Walker was ecstatic and almost lost himself in thoughts in the middle of his conversation. "Erm sorry about that I had a system notification. Anyways I would be happy to offer some ideas on what your daughter could pursue. I believe she will need some guidance to learn her magic."


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 288 - 288. Possible Paths

    The parents could not argue this. Since they had seen the little storm made in their daughters hands. They could only imagine what would have happened if their daughter had used the skill without anyone there to keep it in check. The two looked at their daughter then at each other. "Hit us with your first idea. We will listen to whatever you have in mind but we will veto anything we think is unsafe." Their daughter sat herself in her fathersp all ears.


    "Well actually, how about you tell me your name now? I have been wondering if I should just call you storm wielder forever¡­" he looked at the girl with an amused face since he knew she had not introduced herself either.


    The little girl''s face flushed as she realized she had skipped introductions in her excitement to get her system. "Gale! I am Gale." She was proud to say it and pointed to her chest while holding her head high.


    "We named her that after a huge wind storm that was going on when she was born. It really gave us a lot of work after we got her settled. It was why we were able to afford arger apartment in the carpenters quarters¡­" The father looked rather disappointed remembering that their home was gone.


    "Well nice to meet you Gale." Walker was happy to know the girl''s name and couldn''t help to see the coincidence that she was born during a wind storm and gained a system that revolved around storms. The world was really working in strange ways.


    An idea hade to Walker just then but he held tight to it not wanting to push anything until he gave out his few ideas on what the parents could do to guide their daughters safe growth. " My first thought is the obvious one, send her to the military academy. She is sure to get in for free with her system." This answer brought a frown to the both of their faces.


    "I refuse to let our daughter go to war and be used as a pawn for the nobles." The mother agreed and nodded along with this. Naturally the nobles had some influence over the armies and they could be in charge of small toons. This had often caused some drama and was not always the most supported gossip in the lower tier since many had been lost to the nobles folly.


    "I thought that would be a no. But I just wanted to put it out there. She could always try it all alone. I know that some people can learn from their system better alone than with anyone else. The problem with that though is that if she gets stuck or messes up she will only lean on herself." This was the next undesirable idea that Walker had, but he said it to put it out there.


    "I would not befortable with that. I have heard too many horror stories about a child hurting others or themselves with skills they do not understand. I know that some mother''s even hire tutors so their children can learn from someone with a simr system." Gale''s mother had asked around and be terrified by this possibility while carrying her baby. Now that Gale had gained a system every terrible story made up or real flooded her mind.


    Her husband nodded with her agreeing that this was not the best decision for their daughter either. Walker had his third and final idea, this one he was sure would meet their needs. "Thest thing would be the adventurers guild. I am already a silver tier member and I can ask the guild master for some help. I am sure he knows a good teacher for Gale. On top of that they have protection from the worse off nobles scheme and she would be able to take jobs she desires when she is older. Even more so she will have freedom to go to open spaces where she can try out her skills."


    Walker smiled at the part about speaking to the guild master. He knew that if he introduced him to this little girl and her parents then then Ibis would freak out over the possibilities such a system had. The parents looked unhappy for a moment but the longer they thought and whispered to each other the more they seemed to like the idea. "Will I get to go out and meet dragons with you if I join the adventuressss?" Gale spoke up looking at Midnight from across the cathedral.


    "Well I have no idea how many out there are even like Midnight but I can definitely tell you that you can go in all sorts of adventures. I can take quests that take me far away or ones that keep me here in the city. It is hard work but all for the benefit of everyone around you." Walker''s exnation seemed to hit the right note with Gale and her parents.


    "Depending on what this guild master says we could consider it." Their judgment was not final but it was the most open they had been as of yet.


    "Then I will send a message to my party manager and ask for a meeting." Walker lost hope that this daily quest would be easilypleted. He reminded himself that daily was just the fact that he could receive a daily quest but not that he could finish it. It could take forever if Ibis was busy or Gale''s parents were not open to anything.


    "We may need to wait a while until we have gotten things cleared up...I don''t think we will be able to get to a meeting until we have regained some of our saving s after rebuilding the carpenters quarters¡­." Gale''s father looked down embarrassed to admit that they would be cleaning out their family savings due to this fire.


    Walker''s face lit up, it was time for his idea. "Well about that, my family and my party''s family recently moved in to a mansion in the higher tier. Naturally it is in poor condition. We have had a lot of work done but most of us still need some good furniture. I would also like all the spare rooms furnished along with some new training dummies stocked up for us to use. I also think having arge garden shed built could help my party members'' mothers a lot. I would also like an addition built on to the forge so we can store up materials better. It would be a joint work with the forge to make a solid and safe storage building." This had caught the two parents attention, however they could not understand why he was talking about the jobs he needed done.


    Of course if I happened to meet two carpenters in need of work I could be inclined to offer them a spare room to stay in for a few months while all this work goes on. Of courseter arrangements could be made but I can''t see all this work being done so quickly that the carpenters hired would be able to leave the job sight." He smirked as he said this since he saw that realizationing over the two parents.


    "We just happen to know two carpenters that are looking for work right now. They are free to travel and watch over a job sight indefinitely." The father smiled widely and had no reason to refuse. The gossip about a kind hero title holder along with how this boy was acting with their daughter was more than enough evidence that he would be true to his word.


    With their deal in the making Walker decided it was best to leave them to catch up and fawn over their daughter''s system. "I will stop by here after the high priest manages to get to bed to rest, Let me know if you need anything and we can stop on the way to the mansion. Although you all seem pretty energetic now."


    "We have never felt better, We will wait for you and follow along to our new job site." The father winked at him. "Oh and my name is Jamie, my wife''s name is Ann." Walker smiled and gave them a wink back himself joining in on the little game. He was happy that he could do more to help them out. The truth was that their daughter was reminding him of his own sister and when he got his system.


    "So what was that all about?" Su saw him talking with the family since he had mentioned something about a new system. She witnessed the little girl''s skill and had pointed it out to Alice who was also very interested. Alice was still ncing at the high priest constantly but she was a lot more rxed now that she had thought things through. Walker could even swear he saw her eyelids start to droop even though she was interested in the happenings with the family.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 289 - 289. Ideas

    Walker sat down next to Su and Alice with a smile on his face. "Well since our mansioncks furniture and I think we could use a garden shed and a strage addition to the forge, I hired some carpenters." His high and mighty tone made the two girls look at him funny.


    "So you hired someone? But didn''t you say you were going to talk to someone about a new system?" Su was trying to build the connection between the two things.


    "Exactly, the two carpenters I hired happen to have a little daughter who unlocked her system and needs a little guidance. I figure that since they also need somewhere to stay they can juste to the mansion which will be their work site. We have plenty of space in the training field for them to use as a work space." He still was proud of his quick thinking to help someone and also move theirfort level ahead.


    "That does sound nice. But again, what system?" Su was a little less patient than usual since she was fairly tired from running around helping with the healing.


    "Oh, their daughter is a storm wielder. Or at least that''s what the system is called. So far she can make a little storm in her hands but it could easily grow if left unchecked. I was thinking of introducing her to Ibis so he could help find a good mentor for her." The look of rity came over Su''s face.


    "She won''t be able to practice much here in the city or even outside the walls. She will need to go out into the open areas of the kingdom, maybe even the ins." She was brainstorming out loud about the dangers such a system could have.


    "I am worried about that too, the storm she made in her hand was pushing back a little when I forced it to stay there. I doubt it can do much but make some small personal rain clouds now but when she levels up I think it could take over an entire area." Walker could only see now that the little girl could literally change the weather in to a terrifying storm. She would most likely be able to cause entire kingdoms to lock themselves down.


    "Did you see if they were interested in the military academy?" Su was thinking of faster ways for the girl to obtain structure but didn''t look happy saying it out loud.


    "That was the first but I didn''t think her parents would go for it since the military is too easy to manipte by some high ranking nobles. Especially students at times." Walker nodded as he spoke. "Oh, and coincidentally her name is Gale, apparently she was born during a wind storm and got the name. Now she is a storm wielder. Funny right?" Su raised an eyebrow at the coincidence but didn''t argue against it. It was very strange.


    Walker felt a slight weight on his shoulder and looked down. Alice had finally fallen in to sleep and was resting on his shoulder. Walker lowered his voice while he talked Su through the choices he had made when he told the carpenters what they would be building. She was excited by the idea of having more training dummies since she wanted to try and practice dodging around more opponents, even if they were dummies.


    After some time the high priest started to show signs that he was waking up. His breathing became deeper and he mumbles slightly while opening his eyes. He was still not as energetic looking as he could have been but overall his health was in great condition.


    "So you went and used a skill like that and then ditched us to sit in awe?" Walker''s greeting was a little rough but hearing these words the high priest allowed a little rose in to his cheeks.


    "Well if I couldn''t trust you all to hold things together after that then why are you even here?" The sharp retort was on point and the two gave each other a look.


    "Congrattions on the mastery skill. It was a very amazing sight to see. Who knew a healing skill like that even existed." Walker was still entranced as he remembered the countless stars.


    "I couldn''t believe it myself, the endless stars that flooded my mind when I started the chant was almost too much to bear. I did not expect the information flood to be so strong. There is a good reason it takes years to get a mastery skill. I was trying to adjust to it for...Well actually how long was I resting?" he realized that he had no sense of time right now. The high priest had been resting since he used the mastery skill and been in an unconscious position.


    "Just a few hours now. Alice was trying pretty hard to stay awake to wait for you but well¡­" Walker looked at her asleep on his shoulder still. "I am pretty sure you will be busy with everyone who wants to ask about your mastery skill or thank you for it. You''re going to be the talk of the town." Walkerughed a little in the hope that some of the gossip may not be about his party.


    "Well if I am reading this right I can only use it once a month at the cost of all my mana. I will need to be careful with how I use it. If there is another ident like this and I wasted it then I will be letting many people down." This new stress fell on the high priest''s shoulder heavily. Having a mastery skill was great, the feeling was one of the best due to the aplishment. However there was also the added responsibility of using a mastery skill at the best time. Not to mention that his mastery skill was one with the potential to save many lives all at once.


    "For now you should just rx and rest. You said a month right? Just wait for your month and use it when the feeling is right. Who knows what will happen when people start to return from the horned rabbit outbreak." Walker figured taking the logical route might help the nest.


    The high priest appreciated this knowing that Walker was trying to keep him from his worries. However the high priest was not so foolish to believe that his position and the mastery skill would not be used by others as leverage somewhere. The church was very influential because of their healing beliefs in the kingdom. They were very different from most religions that worshiped gods or monsters. The fact that they solely held faith in the systems and the world was a bit different. They had been able to carve out an influential existence helping many injured every day. This had brought many people happiness and safety.


    "I think I will take your advice and go rest longer. I will leave Alice to you for a while longer. I would hate to wake her up when she seems to be sleeping so soundly." The high priest stood up with some help from Su while winking at Walker.


    "What is it with winking today.." he mumbled under his breath at the weird new trend of people trying to give him more meaning behind words.


    Seeing the high priest leave Onyx, who had been with Midnight, slithered over and made a home in Walker''sp. "Brother I think we should start to head home soon. The nuns have been saying they will start to clean up and that they will be asking the guards to make tents in the square for some people to sleep."


    "We could try to help with that, but I think it would be best to bring out new guests home so they can find a room to rest in." He was torn over staying to help more and getting Gale''s family to a ce to rest themselves. When he looked at Su his mind had been made up though. "We will head home in a little bit since we all need some rest."


    With Walker''s words directed at Su she gave a weak smile. She would dly stay longer but if she pushed her body to it''s limit she would end up causing more work than help. Seeing that Midnight had also been tired out by the children only enforced the fact that they needed to get to the mansion and settle themselves first.


    Su went over to Midnight and chatted with her about how she liked the babysitting job. Onyx joined them to trante clearly since he was also interested in what jobs she had taken through all the healing.


    Walker couldn''t help but stare at Alice resting on his shoulder. There were many beautiful things he had seen but he could notpare a single one to her. This realization anchored itself within him before he even knew what had happened. The thought somehow seemed to cause Alice to stir.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 290 - 290. Crush

    "How was the nap?" Walker softly greeted her making sure not to startle her as she woke up. This proved futile as she realized her position and turned red.


    Alice quickly forgot her feeling of embarrassment seeing that the high priest was nowhere to be seen. She turned her head here and there and still could not see him anywhere. Eventually her eyes rested on Walker with a little panic within them. "He went to be. He woke up just a short while ago and did not want to bother you."


    The sigh of relief caused a slight vibration in the light but Alice did not speak a word still. "I think you should follow his example and go rest too. You have worked pretty hard yourself and it looks like the guards that were dispatched have already started work. By the time you and him wake up it will be time to start a new daily routine." Walker wanted to do this best to get her to rest properly.


    The unwillingness in her face was clear and he knew he would have to do better to get her to rest. "Fine how about this. My party is having a bunch of gear forged for us. We will need an expert to let us know how we look with them, I am willing to offer you the position if you go and rest too."


    His bribe was easily seen as just that by the narrowing of Alice''s eyes. However she had not fully nned to go against his asks for her to rest. She was feeling her eyes starting to droop again and even if she got up and moved around she would be falling asleep the moment she stopped moving.


    Her hand grabbed his and started to drag him up. "Well of course I will escort you. I need to try and be a gentleman after all." Walker held her hand firmly and walked Alice to the door of her room. He was about to turn and head back when Alice pulled on his hand and refused to let go. "You know everyone will be waiting for me, do you want me to stay that badly." His teasing tine was enough to make her blush even more.


    Not wanting to prolong this feeling of embarrassment Alice pulled on his hand making him lean forward with surprise. Her lips hit his cheek and in the next second Alice had opened and closed the door to her room. Walker was standing there stunned for more than he wanted to be but he needed to process what had just happened. His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest.


    His slow walk was slightly unsteady as he was in and out of focus due to Alice''s actions. He was d that Gil and Remey had not been there to tease him or else he would have fallen in to a mess. Before Walker opened the door back to the main cathedral he forced himself to take a deep breath and calm his heart.


    Su was easy to spot since she was chatting with a few of the healers that hade to speak with her. One of the musicians was there as well, still holding his harp in his hands even though he looked extremely tired. The dark circles under his eyes showed that he was in dire need of sleep.


    "Walker, these are some of my friends. They came to thank us for out help but I keep telling them they worked just as hard and deserve the thanks as well. The won''t listen to reason though." Su was acting a little sheepish which was an interesting change from the always cool and logical norm.


    "We just wanted to make sure Su knew how important she was to us. She was always there with exactly what we needed. Sometimes before we even knew it ourselves." One of the nuns was using much more energy in her words than necessary making the other two look at her like she was a crazed fan.


    "Of course she was there. She is a hero, they are always there just when you need them." The musician with the harp smiled and stood a little taller saying this praise. He had been the one asking about her system earlier when Walker was talking with them before the healing concert.


    Su was acting very uncharacteristic and was looking away from the musician. She would normally have had a cool logical response but instead just ignored thepliment. ""Well Su is the defender of our party. We all rely on her for our safety. I have no doubt she will always be there when we need her." Walker decided that since she was epting thepliments he would throw his i to the ring as well. He rarely got the opportunity topliment the great work his party was capable of.


    "Well since you are also so dedicated toing and healing as well it is only right that I work just as hard. You can also use the same defending skills if you want so I could say the same for you." Su responded with the usual logic and cool air. Why had she not epted hispliment?


    "It sounds like you are both very key parts of your party. I can''t imagine how a hero like Su wouldn''t be the key member in anything she did though." The musician with the harpplemented her again. This gave Su a surprised look but she still didn''t respond and just looked away shifting her body from foot to foot nervously.


    The three nuns looked on in amusement at this scene before them. They had known the young harp yer for some time now since he was always so dedicated to ying and practicing at every moment of the day. Seeing that his full attention was now on Su was a very interesting change that they were going to take notice of. "Yes yes, very key in any role. Especially helping healing. I was curious, what did you think of the music thest two days. Were there any instruments that stood out to you?"


    The nun that had been eyeing this the most decided to chime in and ask to add a little fuel to the spark she saw. Walker had caught on to that was happening to her and was having a hard time keeping the smile andughter from his face. Su had let him be when it came to his awkwardness with Alice and he would give her that same respect.


    "Well, I can say that it really was touching. The feelings in the pieces the musicians yed were clear as the sun. I wish I could have taken the time to stop and listen." She paused bing a little stoic while she pondered which internment stood out the most. "I don''t really y any instruments and I have very little knowledge on what sounds goes to what. But there was a really peaceful plucking of strings that I could hear. I know it wasn''t a guitar or fiddle but more elegant."


    The harp yer started to to look excited and more red then Walker thought possible. However as he noticed this the thought that his own would turn that red when talking to Alice came across his mind. Walker stood there now trapped in his own personal embarrassment.


    "That sounds like a harp, it''s the one that our musician Henry has. You really shoulde listen one day when he is practicing, the sounds fill the whole hall and it is perfect to rx to." The third nun spoke up this time with a little more force.


    Su finally looked at the harp yer then away again quickly. "I guess it would be nice toe and volunteer when you practiced." She tried her best to hold her voice steady but a little shaky at the end gave away her thoughts.


    "I would like nothing more than that!" Henry spoke a little too fast and then fell silent. He was equally embarrassed.


    Su wanted to run away and decided that using resting as an excuse was the best n. "Well my party members and I need to help some new friends to a ce to stay and then rest ourselves. We will most certainly be back to volunteer soon. Hopefully before out next adventure." Su took the lead and got Midnight up and moving.


    "Well you heard her, if I let myselfg behind they will leave me in the dust. "Nice to meet you Henry." Walker gave him a thumbs up and chased after Su. Without any hesitation the harp yer Henry was bombarded by questions from the three nuns. His face showed the embarrassment and the happiness all rolled in to one. He was not as prepared for this as he may have expected but he was going to be bothered until he spoke what he felt or the nuns would find another way to get it from him. Walker made a mental note to fear the gossip of the nuns which seemed to kick tiredness to the curb.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 291 - 291. Proper Rest

    Walker easily caught up to Su. "I don''t see why they had to keep us for so long. They knew we were tired and wanted to go home to rest." It was in to see that she was trying to y it off like there was nothing that had been said between her and Henry.


    "Well I am sure they were just excited to have the time to talk to another friend since thest two days have been rush rush rush." Walker yed dumb and didn''t bring up Henry. It was only fair since she had not teased him about Alice.


    Midnight was leading the way with Onyx on her back. The two seemed to be in their own world only moving for when there was someone in their way. Su still was a little flushed but her better mood was easy to pick up on no matter how tired she had looked before. "I guess we will need to go back to the cathedralter. I will want to show off the new gear anyways." Walker tried to make it seem like he was the one who wanted to return and help first.


    "Well we have to go back again before we head out to the deep sun hollow forest. I think they will need our help a few more times before the family''s can move in to a new building." Su had immediately jumped on this chance. Feeling that he had given her the right chance Walker was secretly praising himself.


    The tired feelings that had been building up since the start of the whole mess was starting to catch up to all of them. They may have rested but theck of rest in a real bed was starting to get to them. Since they were both not up for a long conversation while they walked, Walker was looking at the system notifications only to find the new skill he had gained while passed out.


    He had exhausted his mana another time while at the cathedral adding to the man times he had done so. Due to this he had unlocked a skill and learned it automatically which made him happy. He cringed however at the fact that it was so costly.


    Spending four mana only to store one of them away sounded like a pretty big loss of he tried to store it while he was out on an adventure. But here in the kingdom he had a safer environment and could at least start. Since he was heading off to rest he decided to give it a try.


    ''4 mana consumed. 1 mana has been stored within the user''s body.


    Mana stored:1''


    The system notified him of this but he was less concerned with the notification and more of the feeling he was having. He drew in a sharp breath as the feeling of heat spread in his veins. He was using his very body to store more mana than he normally could have. This means that parts of his body would be pushed past their limits due to this skill.


    When he first read the skill he had been more excited and thought it would be so easy. However he was being proved wrong. He forgot that his body already normally has mana in it and he would be forcing a greater burden on top it. This had been why the system warned him about storing too much in his body.


    "What''s wrong Walker?" The concern in Su''s voice was in to hear. She had dropped the normal leader from her expression for his actual name showing that she had been thrown off.


    "I just tested out a new skill and it is going to be harder to use than i expected. I got too excited and rushed in to it." Su was looking even more worried since she could clearly see that his skin was flushed and he had started to sweat a little. To her eyes he was running a small fever because of whatever he had just done.


    Walker on the other hand was breathing through the pain that came with storing one single mana and decided that there would be some restrictions ced on this skill. "I don''t think I can really use this skill until I level up more¡­" He said this to calm Su down but also so that he could reinforce to himself that he needed to be careful.


    The remainder of the walk to the mansion Su would nce at him constantly. She was only able to rx when the two reached the front door. The two had looked at the two opposite sides of the mansion. One was the forge which was billowing smoke as the wandering cksmith made some new tools and adjustments. The next day they would be working to make some of the long awaited gear. Su was much more focused on it.


    "We can ask to work on your shields first. I know you must feel naked without proper ones to carry around." It was only fair to feel um protected without your main source of attack and defense. Walker would feel the same way without a staff or other weapon in his inventory.


    Su responded with a nod that she would be waiting. The other side of the mansion where the alchemyb was, was also billowing some yellowish smoke. The old master alchemist and Remey were hard at work. Her promise to improve and learn how to properly use her new system was being realized.


    It was not a lie to say that she had all the information and the theory but none of the practice. She had been limited for so long by her system. She had the ability to help teach but never really know the true feelings behind the things she said. Walker couldn''t help but think that she would work herself to exhaustion.


    "He will make her rest at some point. You have seen how he treats her like his own family." Su knew Walker''s thoughts at a nce and reassured him. Her words were very true. As much as the two of them had argued or bartered in front of him it was just too easy to see that the two of them have shared a bind stronger than just friends or mentor and student.


    "Besides Remey we also have Gil out hunting with his father. He better not try to push it to the deep woods before us to scout. I swear if he does I am going to hit him myself." Walker was sure Gil would be wise enough not to risk such a thing but he also knew that He was excited. This made Walker consider using Remey''s form of punishment if Gil were to act up in such a way.


    The mansion was eerily quiet as they arrived but this was not worth focusing on. Midnight and Onyx had immediately made for the shortest route to their favorite napping ce in the dining room. Not wanting to be left out Walker headed to his own room and found that Su was doing the same. They could find everyer and hang out.


    With their tiredness taking the lead they four went to sleep. They were too tired to realize they had not really eaten at all the past two days. This became evident to them when the stomach acted as their wake up call in the morning.


    Walker could barely keep himself from rushing off to get food while he changed and got cleaned up after sleeping. The smell of some freshly made bacon and eggs had taken up the entirety of the mansion. With the scent on his mind and the only possible ce for it toe from being the dining hall he broke off into his furious pursuit.


    The one who was sitting at the table eating their fill was Su, she had woken up just early enough to start her own breakfast and had made much more than was needed. "I thought you and Midnight would be hungry too so I made extra." Su said this as soon as she finished a mouthful of fluffy scrambled eggs.


    "You know I think you may be a saint." Walker said this remembering the conversation about the saint guardians.


    "Speaking of saints, I would definitely like to meet one of the saint guardians when they are back at the cathedral." Su had the same thought as he had said his words. The two would definitely be able to learn a lot from a group that was dedicated to protecting others. While Walker was interested in a blocking skill that also healed the user Su was more interested in their strategies when it came to defending.


    "If we are lucky they will be back after our journey to the deep sun hollow forest. But they are apparently protecting some small viges so who knows how long they will be." The duty the saint guardians had was one that did not sound easily left. With their meal finishing up and Midnight looking full of energy it was time to head to the forge to get a start on the gear.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 292 - 292. Crafting A Shield

    Su seemed more excited than Walker of Midnight, mostly because she was not about to exhaust herself using spells to add to the fire. However Walker didn''t say thisint out loud. He hadmitted to this and wanted to make sure that the entire party had the best possible gear.


    Onyx chose to stay outside and bask in the sunlight, Midnight had shared some of the bacon with him adding yet another addict to the family. They would soon need to start a small farm to feed them all at this rate. They couldn''t eat horned rabbit forever, eventually Hilda''s would run out of recipes to test.


    There were already plenty of soundsing from the forge along with smoke from the fires. When the trio entered they found that the wandering cksmith had been hard at work creating all the connecting pieces for the armors and weapons. The small sps for Remey''s gloves and light armor were in one pile while some adornments for Su''s shield were in another. These pieces were specially made to hold everything together so that they would not crack or break under stress. The thought process of designing them was very intense.


    They watched as the wandering cksmith was finishing up a leather sheath for Gil''s dagger. The dagger had yet to be forged but he already had all the materials divided out for everything that would be crafted. Walker couldn''t help but to wonder how he had cut the steel worm skin in to such perfect strips and pieces.


    The wandering cksmith immediately noticed them as they came in and started to prepare to craft the shields. They would be thergest project and he wanted Su to be there so he couldpare size and weight as he crafted them. They were already drawn out on a piece of parchment with incredible detail. Su was entranced by it seeing her extremely minor design hade to life. The design of the back of the shield where she would hold it had many criss-crossed parts of metal that were supporting the shell-like shape giving her the impression that it would be much stronger than she had expected.


    "Walker and Midnight reporting for fire support. Just point us in the direction you want us and we will get to work." Walker''s introduction for the day made the wandering cksmith smile and wave them to get near the fires. Before he grabbed the materials he would start to shape he took some measurements of Su''s arms and cut some parts from the steel worm skin. These would be for the handle of the shield so the metal wouldn''t cut in to her hands.


    The wandering cksmith had Walker and Midnight working soon after. The two were throwing ck fireballs and breathing decaying mes respectively in to the fires constantly. Every once in a while the wandering cksmith would add some coal but this was less so. The metals and other small materials were added in a certain order seemingly starting to fuse together as it turned red hot.


    Su was staying far back out of the way but her eyes never left the wandering cksmith''s hands. She wanted to see her dreams be reality. The shape took form after only a few hammer falls which just went to show the skill and strength being used. Seeing the rounding of the shield and the supporting parts being added was a whole other process that neither of them had witnessed. Even Midnight was looking at the process with intention to learn. She was providing the fire after all and to her this was something she should know to be a better dragon.


    Once the shield had fully taken its basic shape the wandering cksmith sped up his work using a myriad of different tools on the front to add carvings and supports. The pointed bottom was made sharper so it could anchor in the ground while the top was rounded smooth so it could more easily be used as a support. In the back of the shield there was a carved indent with supports that was going to be for a mana storage gem.


    Seeing that there would be one mana storage gem in each shield was a great thing. Su would be able to store a lot more mana for another time in her shields. This could be invaluable to her skills in blocking or deflecting. Not to mention there were sureto be new skills she learned from her upgraded system. Not a single one of them knew what woulde of this but Walker was sure it would be amazing.


    The first shield was quicklying together and soon just needed its basic polishing and final touches for when itpletely cooled. The wandering cksmith had only aplished this in three hours! After looking at Midnight and Walker he had decided that the two of the, should be able to hold out to make the second shield right away. He did not hesitate to start his work. Su was still entranced and kept looking at the cooling shield that just needed details.


    When the second was ced next to it she was nearly jumping around with excitement. She was seeing the same shields that were in her head in reality. If she was not in control of herself she would have reached out for them right there burning her hands. The wandering cksmith gave her a few nces and took some more measurements before adorning his gloves again and starting to work out some final detail.


    Walker and Midnight sat against the wall of the forge since they were not free to rx and regain their energy. Six straight hours of using their spells to make the fire burn properly had really put them through the ringer. However from what they saw it was more than worth it, the shields were cool looking but the happiness Su had in her face mattered more.


    Remembering that the wandering cksmith would need all the mana crystal shards he had he pulled the remainder firm his inventory. He was going all in and wanted to make sure there were enough to make mana storage gems for every single piece of gear.


    Watching the wandering cksmith carve patterns into the shield he saw that they were infused with his mana. The mana would travel down the line back to where the gem would be set in the shield. It was the path that would allow the storage and use of the mana but also boost the effect of any skills that utilized mana in to the shield. It was a very wise decision and made the shield even more valuable for long term use.


    Su was practically losing herself over this. She was already thinking of how she was going to use both shields in tandem and wanted to practice with them right that second. This however made her realize that she would need multiple sparring partners to develop her new strategy and practice and dual wielding shield skills. "Leader, I will need to head to the guild and ask for some training partners. I would ask you to use your me doll spell to make me some enemies but I think battling against new opponents would be better."


    "I agree, when I get my new weapons I will head to the guild training fields to practice. I am sure there are some adventurers there that have used blunt weapons that could teach me a thing or two." Walker''s thought process was the same and he nned to have Remey and Gil do the same. They may be developing new skills right now but they needed tobat experience with unknown opponents. Only then would they really start to learn.


    After carving and polishing the first shield was finally finished. The ck bronze color was from the addition of the two kinds of dragon scales which strengthened it to a major amount. The carved patterns gave the shield an artistic aura to it. There was a feeling that if someone were to try and hit this shield they instead would find themselves hurt and the shield without a scratch.


    Su had a shine in her eyes and the wandering cksmith gestures for her to pick it up from the table. He needed to see how it fit in her hands and if there needed to be any adjustments made. She grabbed the shield like she had just been handed a delicate flower. She gingerly turned it and fitted it on to her arm.


    She only had one finished shield attached but it was in to see how the size could perfectly block attacks on her entire front along with any one the was next to her. If she had two in her hands they would be able to fit together seamlessly clocking anyone behind her and on her sides. It was a perfect fit.


    Su lifted it and stuck it to the ground. The soft hum of the metal spoke of strength and unyielding defenses. Su grinned like a kid in a candy shop. "This is the best shield I have ever held in my entire life."


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 293 - 293. Twin Shields

    The wandering cksmith had already jumped in to the finish of the second shield before Su had even said her words. He had seen that it fit in her hand like an extension of her own being. This was perfect for his goal and now he just needed to match the second shield to it. He spent much more time carving and polishing the second since it needed to be an exact match for her opposite hand.


    Su stood getting ustomed to the first shield. Every few minutes she would crouch or lift the shield to see how it moved in her arm. The flow of her movements was not interrupted at all. Since there was one shield already made Walker decided to use his all around appraisal skill to check it out.


    '' ckened bronze dragon shield (right hand)


    +15def, +15mdef


    Strong fire resistance


    Strong decay resistance


    Increased deflection chance


    Open slot for mana gem input''


    The shield was astounding, there was a huge amount of defense and magical defense added to Su just from the one shield. When the second was finished the defense and magic defense would be thirty each!


    The resistances were a surprise, the decay resistance was most certainly from Midnight and Walkers addition of mes. However the fire resistance must have been from the bronze dragon scales they received from the tamer''s guild master. Walker would be sending a letter of thanks as soon as he finished here.


    Seeing that there was an increased chance to deflect things Walker knew that it would be perfect for Su to deal with ranged attacks. "Do you want to hear the stats or will it be too much to handle right now?" Walker''s sly grin made Su afraid but very excited to ask. She had a feeling that they would exceed her expectations.


    Su took a very deep breath then look Walker in the eyes. "I am ready. Tell me everything." She was trying her best to keep her heart from beating out of her chest in excitement.


    "Fifteen defense and fifteen magical defense." Su''s jaw dropped hearing this. She had done the math and was sure that most attacks from weaker monsters would stand no chance of harming her or anyone behind her. "Decay resistant and fire resistance. Plus it has a higher chance of deflection." Walker was sure Su''s jaw was going to hit the floor at this point. But there was still more. "Lastly there is one mana storage gem slot. The ne from before that I decided to hold on to can store twenty mana. So I think you will be able to store forty mana with the two shields together."


    The wandering cksmith needed and gave a small grunt as he worked to support what Walker was saying. "This is too great...too perfect¡­" Su''s voice was but a whisper now. She felt she had just been given an amazing treasure. If other defenders knew about this they would throw their lives in the floor for these shields. Not to mention these shields were most likely better than what the military used. Any one of their men would love to have them.


    After a little more time the second part of the shield waspleted and Su held both in her hands. She mmed both on to the ground making theme together in to therger blocking shield seamlessly. She held the position the wandering cksmith walked around looking for any errors or needed adjustments.


    "Great" His single word was enough for all three of them to rejoice. The shields hade together perfectly in only nine hours of work. It was a huge blessing to have such a talented cksmith and such amazing materials to work with. Before they got too far in to her celebration they could already hear the fire being stoked back up. The wandering cksmith was going to make the mana storage gems so that the shields could bepletely finished. He was not one to stop a job before it was done.


    This attitude sparked something in Walker and pushed him to also join in to help again. Since he had seen the process once he was able to jump in to assist slightly where it was needed. He was able to hand off the right tool or add coal to the forge when needed.


    The mold was quickly taken out of the heat and popped open by the wandering cksmith. The process of cooling and making sure there were no impurities or damages was the same as thest time. Su was watching carefully along with Midnight who had also missed this process.


    When the wandering cksmith began to fit it in to the first shield he refused to give it back to Su. Instead he made sure the two shields were next to each other and put together like they would be when Su used them. He started off the second gem and after some time created another wless mana storage gem.


    When the second gem was fitted in to the other shield there was a slight draw of mana that caused the patterns carved in to the shields to glow for a second which made the metal around the gems seem to shrink. He had been keeping them together so they would be in sync when they were used in tandem. Now that they were both done the Wandering cksmith gave them over to Su and let her keep them.


    He knew that Midnight and Walker were done for the day and started to instead craft the mana storage gems to prepare for the other items. Walker saw this as his chance to head out and let him work peacefully.


    Su was already out in the front of the forge testing out some movements. She had an easy time adjusting to the weight. They were perfectly bnced for the grip she had on them but what would trouble her is keeping them both together. They may fit perfectly when ced but she would still need practice to execute the move.


    While she practiced the ck bronze shine attracted Walker''s attention. This could be really good for when Su taunted enemies so that Midnight or Onyx could sneak up on them. Even more so was the fact that the shaping of the shields allowed for more twisting of the shield in Su''s hands. She found that she was able to move them in to angles she had been unable to before.


    "These are just too good." Su kept saying this between moves.


    "Su, the sun is already setting. Let''s go inside and eat. You can show off to everyone who is at dinner." Walker woke up Onyx who had fallen asleep bathing in the sun all day. Walker swore as he slithered on to his shoulders that Onyx was a few inches longer. He had most certainly entered in to the expected growth spurt.


    The dinner was fairly quiet since Remey stayed focused on alchemy with the old alchemist and did note out of the alchemyb. Gil had yet to return meaning that his father was still away. Walker''s father was still at work since the guards had mostly been sent to help in the building and patrolling of the streets. The fire had shaken the entire area not to mention the recent robbery from the stone gang added worry. Tobat this there were more guard patrols and some guards were moving supplies to the builders.


    With the smaller group at dinner Walker found himself enjoying tea with Su''s parents, Gil''s mother, His mother, and Maria. The only new additions were Gale and her parents who were rather silent and shy to join in on everything right away, no one was offended by this since the family had just been through so much. The positive though was that when Gale saw Walker she ran up to him and wouldtch on to his leg. Su had run away to polish up the shield since she was convinced that it had started to get dusty. She had talked about it the entire meal until she finished eating. Once he had chatted and had his tea he took an early night to get himself ready to wake up to work in the morning. Midnight had already beat him to it though.


    The morning came closer than just as fast as normal but Walker found himself more and more excited for it. He felt that he would be able to get a lot done today since the two biggest pieces of gear were finished. Apparently Midnight had the same feelings since she was already awake and just about to push Walker''s door open when he himself opened it to go looking for her.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 294 - 294. Flexible

    "Morning Su, what are you up to?" Walker found Su downstairs with breakfast sandwiches already made staring at the two shields she had leaned up against the wall.


    "Just trying to figure out how I can use my skills together. I think I will be starting out practicing by myself on some training dummies. My shield bash skill is one I have only ever used with one shield and not two. I also have no idea what skills may change ore from my new upgraded system. I just have a feeling I will need to learn more than I expect."


    "I think that''s the perfect n, I know I will be in the forge the whole day. If everything goes well we should have Gil, and Remey''s gear done then finish mine tomorrow. After that would just be some upkeep and little things. I n to let our cksmith friend decide if he wants to stay longer. I do have a feeling he may start to n a trip to the mountains though."


    Walker was recalling how much the wandering cksmith had focused in the book about forging in the mountains and the fact that he had been pouring over some maps in the library. Maria had surprisingly started to grow closer to the silent calm man. Having someone else in the library to read that didn''t make her fearful was a good way for her to adjust to other people.


    Eating his sandwich fast Walker left Su to gaze at her shields longer. He thought she had developed an unhealthy love of them but he was thinking that he would be the same way when he got his new weapons too.


    When he and Midnight walked in to the forge they found that there were mana gems added to every single pile of materials. There were also some in swords, spears, shields, and other basic tools made from iron. It would appear that the wandering cksmith had started to make basic items for Walker after he had finished the mana gems. However at this moment he was asleep with his head on the anvil. Walker decided to start to store away the basic weapons to clear up space for them to work.


    By the time the wandering cksmith started to stir Walker was sweeping away some ash from the dirt floor. This made the groggy cksmith smile along with seeing the breakfast sandwich on the table that Walker had brought out for him. He himself had also not eaten the entire time he forged and it was going to catch up to him if he didn''t eat now.


    Once he was ready the cksmith started up the forge and chose to start with the smallest piece first. Gil''s dagger was an easy thing to make and would require the least mana. This meant that by the time he had the next set of materials heated Walker and Midnight should already be more or less at full mana.


    The process went the same as before however the shaping in to a dagger was different. The small de was made to fit the sheath that was made the day before. On top of this the Wandering cksmith was adding strips of the steel worm skin to the handle while it was still hot. The slight hiss that this made was surprisingly satisfying, the skin almost melted and became one with the handle of the dagger giving it a perfect grip.


    The temper on it was quick and it took less than an hour toplete and cool. Once done the wandering cksmith got to sharpening and polishing the small dagger. Due to it''s small size he did not add an iy for a mana storage gem. He would also make the arrow headster but would not require Walker or Midnight''s help so it was being set aside for now.


    The next on the list appeared to be Remey''s gloves and Armor. The steel worm skin had been shaved in to thin straps that were wrapped around think rods of metal alloy the wandering cksmith had already made. He started to heat the entire pile at once. The ck mes forced the steel worm skin to join with the metal.


    When the wandering cksmith pulled them from the mes, he did not use a happier but instead twisted them together and seemed to use simr techniques to making thread. The work he did with the red hot and nearly molten metal was something that Walker had not even thought possible. By the time he had realized that this technique had been made a mix of cloth making and metal working Walker already could see the shape of one glove. The speed that the wandering cksmith used made his hands almost a blur.


    Soon there was a fully formed shoulder length glove held on to a mold as it cooled. Through the process the steel worm skin had kept the metal bendable making the hands and joints of the glove movable like the steel worm skin was. However it had the toughness of the bronze dragon scales and Orichalcum. In each of the forearms were three small holes that looked like they could be fitted with a small stone. Walker looked at the table of materials and found that there were six small t mana storage gems waiting to be used in them.


    Muchter when both gloves had set in to proper shape the Wandering cksmith pushed the gems in to ce and used small pieces of metal to attach them firmly. There ended up being patterns that looked to be sewn in to the gloves even though they had not been sewn at all. The technique was a mystery even though Walker had just witnessed it.


    '' Flexible dragon steel gloves


    +4def, +4mdef, +6atk


    Strong fire resistance


    Strong earth resistance


    Strong decay resistance


    Mana storage 0/15''


    This one glove had amazing stats too. Walker was thrown off by just how amazon all this gear wasing out. They should be insanely valuable gear used only for the strongest adventurers. He felt that he was not worthy enough to even be in the same room with it. However there way more toe as the same technique was being used to make the light body armor for Remey as well.


    The time went faster with the body armor since it was a lessplicated shape. When it was done it cooled on a mold of a female body that had been adjusted for someone Remey''s size. It also had some extra parts added to be adjustable with growth which was a very considerate addition. The wandering cksmith fitted one mana gem in to the chest area of the light armor which caused the patterns to sync with the gloves. They were a perfect set.


    "Flexible dragon body armor


    +6def, +6mdef


    Strong fire resistance


    Strong earth resistance


    Strong decay resistance


    Mana storage 0/20''


    Walker had used his all around appraisal skill on all of these armors and was still surprised by how great they were. The earth resistance was obviously from they steel worm skin which would help if they ever came in to battle with someone or something using earth rted magic. The decay and fire were the same as before. However the sheer amount of mana Remey would be able to store was greater than anyone in the party.


    Having this ability to store a massive amount of mana meant that as their front line attacker Remey could put out a significantly more deadly amount of damage now. She had pretty much be double as dangerous as she was.


    Walker decided that while they rested he would check Gil''s dagger as well.


    '' ck scale dagger


    +5atk


    Strong decay resistance


    Strong fire resistance''


    This was the most tame piece they had forged so far mostly because it was technically a backup weapon for when Gil somehow ended up in close range. The real bonus would be the arrows once they had been made. Gil would be able to adjust them to have poisons or mana gems in them giving them different attacks that would not require him to use skills that relied on his mana.


    While he thought on this his eyes drifted to the pile of materials that was left. They were going to be hisrge hammer and two smaller hammers. There were more materials in the pile than he realized along with a small mold for the smaller hammers. They were looking to be t on one side and spiked on the other. This would give them some prative power and bashing power. There was also the added benefit that they would be able to be used for forging, other crafting, and just general use.


    Walker wanted to get right to work but when he saw how tired Midnight already was he knew that they would not be finishing everything today Instead he decided to call it a day early and see how Su was doing with her training. The wandering cksmith had already foreseen this and was instead starting work on the many arrow heads for Gil''s arrows. Walker felt that he hadgged behind a little in this situation.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 295 - 295. Dual Wielding

    Midnight had left the forge with Onyx on her back moving towards the house. Walker could swear that Onyx had grown again while they slept at night. "I really am going to have to make him slither everywhere himself." Walker talked out loud to himselfmenting his loss.


    Su had set up five training dummies in the training field. Three were already broken beyond repair but the one she was facing was in line with a second. She had been practicing the shield bash skill using both shields on two separate targets.


    Su pushed forwards with the pointed bottom of her shield and stabbed in to both of the training dummies together. The cracking and breaking sounds of straw and wood sounded loud and clear in tandem. She hadnded her attack then pulled the shields back and put them together in to one. She then used another shield bash and charged them forcing the two dummies apart and knocking them on to the ground.


    This strategy that she had been developing looked like it would be perfectly able to break groups up and also attack multiple opponents. "Yu must have been thinking about this a lot to get to this point." Walker was very impressed with the skill she had using both of the shields. He almost wished that they had thought of getting her two shields the entire time she had been a member of the party.


    Su was slightly out of breath but still full of energy. "I thought that I would need to work on coordination more, but with this new vision skill I am able to see my mistakes better, I feel like I was lost when I started but I am gettingfortable now."


    "I think your switch to the separate andbined shield will really put out opponents off guard." Su nodded along thinking the same thing. "Feel like having someone real to spar with? I want to work on getting more skills with the twin blitz swords." Walker had been itching to practice with them but in the chaos of the fire and the forging he had been too busy or tired.


    Su raised her shields and readied herself without a word. She was already in the proper mindset to train and battle so it was Walker who was behind.


    He pulled out the twin blitz swords and bnced them equally in each hand. "I can already use a cross sh but I need something to really lock down an opponent." Walker was not sure how t do this so he instead started making up swings from different angles.


    The metallic vibration and things from his sword deflecting off the shields were the only things making sounds in the training field other than their grunts. Whenever Su saw a chance to use a shield bash she took it and pushed Walker to dodge or defend. This made him think more on his feet and adjust to really closebat. He had been way too focused on magic and was nit at his best when in closebat battle, something that could be his downfallter on.


    He started to fall in to a rhythm using his dance of the wild rabbit while shing with the swords in turn. He had slowly picked up this strategy finding that Su had more trouble using the shield bash skill against him when he was doing this.


    ''The skill de wheel has been taken from the sword saint system. The user has learned the skill de wheel through consistent practice.


    de wheel- 1 mana cost per swing


    The user utilizes their agility and dodging skills to move in a spinning rhythm. They sh down using two swords one at a time in quick session. The longer the skill is used the faster and sharper it will get. At the twentieth strike damage is doubled.''


    Walker''s sudden stop made Su look at him expectantly, she knew that he must have just gained a skill to stop so suddenly and look so pensive. She had already been able to memorize what the faces he made meant and to prepare herself to hear something that normally would be crazy for anyone else.


    "Hehehe, do you want to really test your shield''s new defenses?" Walker''s evil expression made Su felt that this was no longer her own training session. Walker was definitely about to take over.


    "Well I don''t see why now." The second she said this she was greeted by the twitching in Walker''s muscles as he raised one of the twin blitz swords to attack. The first attack was no trouble for her to deflect. Not a single bit of damage crept through. The speed that Walker used was slow enough giving her the impression that he had not actually gotten a new skill but just thought of a way to get one.


    While she thought on this she saw that he was twisting and shing with the other hand. This was still no threat and easily dealt with. However before she could think any more the other hand wasing around to sh again. She realized that she could not push forward since every time she tried to raise her foot the next sh wasing.


    Walker was focusing on the de wheel trying to build up the damage. He was not sure what would happen when he reached the double damage of the twentieth strike but by the time he reached the seventh he was already pushing Su to take steps back. The pace became more dramatic since she had to bring the two shields together to defend instead of deflect.


    The one sided attacks continued, the fifteenth strike was enough to send Su stumbling back andpletely break her stance. Walker rushed in with the sixteenth which Su narrowly blocked. The shield was definitely much stronger and really improving Su''s defensive ability.


    Walker readied the next strike but just as he brought down the sh he felt a weakness oveing him. Su saw this too and dropped her shields to catch Walker as he stumbled, "Hahaha I ran myself out of mana. Only one left."


    "Well while you rest you can tell me what that was. You seemed to get stronger every time you shed at me. I couldn''t even push forward with a shield bash." Su was impressed because she had never felt cornered so well and wanted to find a way to counter it.


    "de wheel. I get stronger the more attacks in a row I do using the skill. It uses my agility so Ibined it with the dance of the wild rabbit." Walker was breathing a little heavy and took a moment to catch his breath. "If I reached twenty consecutive strikes my damage would be doubled. I thought I could really give your shields a good test. Although I can''t even see a scratch¡­" Su realized she had dropped them on the ground to help Walker sit himself down.


    "Oh I''m sorry my partners. I will never throw you in the dirt like that again. Did Walker hurt you two.." Walker watched this scene and realized that Su needed to get out more. She was literally talking to the shields like they were real people.


    While Walker recovered mana and rested, Su continued on practicing. She had learned that even with two shields she was still able to be backed in to a corner. This lit a fire in her that would not be extinguished easily. By the time she was down to thest of her mana Walker was there to help her stand just like she had with him earlier. "You know you should be saving some mana to store in to those shields now, right?"


    The look of embarrassment washed over Su''s face as she realized she had forgotten one of the biggest reasons they all had their own gear crafted. They had needed a way tobat theirck of mana. "I was just waiting until I went to bed to use the rest of my mana." Walker could only giggle at Su''s stubborn rey. It would seem that hanging out with Remey so often had rubbed off in her just a little.


    "Let''s go eat dinner with everyone. I am sure that will work wonders for recovering a little mana." His words dripped with teasing but that was fine since Su didn''t have the energy to retort.


    "You''re back!" The little voice of Gale sounded through the dining room as she sprinted and attached herself to Walker. "Show me more wind!"


    Gale let mister Walker eat first. He has been hard at work all day. I am sure of you are patient he will show you something before bed." Gale''s mother smiled apologetically but soon found that Walker didn''t seem to mind at all.


    "Magic? You want to see some wind magic huh? Hmmm, I was thinking that I needed to practice my wind magic you know. Let me eat something and I will have just enough energy to practice with you once or twice." Gale released his leg at this response and went to find her own seat at the dining table.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 296 - 296. Mushroom Worries

    "Walker, why is your cloak so ragged? You need to take better care of it." Lisa saw the coal dust covered state Walker was in and found it very unsettling since she was the one who had made that cloak.


    Feeling he had made a mistake by not cleaning up first and making sure the cloak was washer, Walker knew that he needed to use his trump card to make Lisa happy. It was time topliment her, a lot.


    "Well I know that I have a very talented and beautiful younger sister who could repair any damage that could evere to any piece of clothing I have." His words were sweet enough to give someone a stomach ache.


    "I know better than to listen to you when you are trying to distract me from being angry." Lisa crossed her arms pretending to be really mad. However the smirk on her face gave away her true feelings, that she was actually really happy to hear thepliments from her older brother.


    "Yes, big sis Lisa is the best! She even fixed the hold in my shirt!" Gale joined uin not realizing fully what was going in but showing an almost perfectly patched shirt. "She even had purple to fix it!" The purple threat stood out against the grey shirt but it was Gale''s favorite color so no one had argued it.


    "Hear that Walker, I have another sister to worry about now." Lisa stuck her tongue out at him before ignoring him to give Gale more attention. Between Gale and Midnight giving Lisa more attention than Walker throughout the entire sinner he had begun to feel a little forgotten.


    He went off to the library to get away from everyone after he had cleaned up and found that Maria was leaning against the second floor book shelf reading about poison toads. "Why choose to switch your reading topic to poison today? Weren''t you reading about historyst time I saw you?" His question startled her from her own little world.


    "Mhm, but I was told you were going somewhere that might have something poisonous¡­" She had been secretly reading everything about poisonous monsters and nts since the day before.


    "Well I will need an expert to give me the details before I leave and rush in to a new environment. But we are going to the deeper sun hollow forest. Not to the swamps. I think nts and animals that live in the forests are a little more important." With his input, Maria ced the book down and started to filter through the books on a taller shelf.


    "That one." She tried to reach for one that was just a little too high, seeing this Walker grabbed it. "I read that one already but it''s about bad mushrooms." Walker wondered how she had reached and read this book but just figured that she had asked either Su''s mother or the wandering cksmith for help.


    Taking the book Walker took up a space next to her and started to read. She seemed happy to havepany and started back in to her book on poison toads. The peaceful environment in the library coupled with the smell of books helped all the stress from the day to melt away. Walker soon was absorbed in the book, memorizing as much as he could before he went off to sleep.


    The book was about the various species of monstrous mushrooms. Most mushrooms in the deep sun hollow forest were edible and a source of food for the elven kingdom. Yet there were the rarer poisonous ones that were to be avoided due to the fact that even a touch could kill a full grown man.


    The monstrous mushrooms were a mutated species that had grownrge and gained the ability to move around and consume living creatures. They were often easy to defeat and kill so they posed no threat. The trouble was that their spores were able to cause a massive variety of different ailments, some of which could paralyze or poison. Both conditions could end someone''s life while they are in the forest.


    The weaker ones did not even develop spores meaning that they could be killed and even eaten. The ones that started to grow toorge though soon had the caps on the top of them change colors. This was the sign that they had developed spores and would release a cloud of them upon death to try and kill what attacked them and use it as nutrition for its soon to grow young.


    The best ways to defeat them were to use ranged attacks that did not stir the air or to be fast enough to attack and retreat within an instant. The other rmendation was to have gear that resisted the possible effects of the spores, but this was harder due to their multiple effects.


    Walker thought this was one of the best things to know since they were said to be one of the hardest opponents for closebat fighters. Since Remey and Midnight were their two main closebat fighters being able to warn them was the best possibility. Seeing that Su would also possibly be close to them she would need to avoid using her shield bash skill on them. The real question would be if she could safely block them after taunting them.


    Seeing that the spores would be airborne Walker realized that he should use some form of water magic. This could deal with the spores in the air and also potentially do some damage if the skill is powerful enough. It was the start of a safer strategy.


    With so much to think about Walker decided it was best to get some real rest. The moon had climbed high in the sky and even Maria had fallen asleep reading. Raking the little demon girl to her own room Walker left her tucked in with the book by her pillow. He found that he slept much better than normal once he had woken up.


    The morning was crisp and the sun was even brighter than the day before. The thought of Walker having his new weapons by the end of today made him much more energetic. It was like he had been given a massive boost in agility out of nowhere. Su was already out in the training fieldying down some hurt on the training dummies.


    Walker gave her a wave as he headed out the back door on his way to the forge. Su was practicing twisting to ck and using her shields at different times. She had taken inspiration from Walker''s de wheel skill and wanted to be able to twist and block in an instant. His actions were stiff but definitely improving the more she tried them, all she needed was to find the flow in which she could move the best. After she did that she would be able to clock anything without even thinking.


    Distancing himself he headed to the forge finding that Onyx was resting nearby watching Su from a distance. He had found a great spot where the morning sun hit and most likely would stay there until the sun passed it''s highest point. Midnight had definitely rubbed off on him.


    When Walker entered the forge the Wandering cksmith was already hard at work. He was finishing another stack of arrow heads for Gil which looked to have killed plenty of time in his early morning. There was an empty te showing that he had eaten something which made Walker much happier since it always seemed that the wandering cksmith would not leave the forge at all.


    Midnight wandered in right behind Walker, the shadow wrapping wearing off as she released it. "Getting a little sneaky practice in first thing in the morning huh?" Walker had not noticed her at all which was quite the feat since he had improved senses and could often sense mana now.


    She raised her head pretty tall and spread her wings to give them a p. She showed off her sneaking and how she wanted to share her progress with wing strength. The pping she did to show off stoked the fire a little in the forge making the wandering cksmith smile and p. It seemed he was rather enjoying the disy of strength that could be used in the forge.


    Without wasting time they three decided t get to work. The techniques were different since the small hampers would be molded. However, therge hammer was going to be heavily tempered and made with a mana storage iy. The drawing on the parchments on the table showed the thinking that went in to it. The design showed a twisted easy to grip handle with arge rectangr head. The back was arge spike that could use the weight and sharpness to cut through armor.


    There were even ratios to the amount of each metal and material used. This was the most in depth that any of the gear that had been designed previously had. It looked like the wandering cksmith had plenty of ideas in the works for this. Walker''s excitement was building.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 297 - 297. Finishing Up

    Midnight and the wandering cksmith were already on the move. The heat was rising and the materials were being heated to begin the shaping process. Walker joined in and the metal was ready faster than they realized.


    The wandering cksmith used yet another technique to shape the metal, instead of hammering it to shape it he had begun to use some tools to pull and twist the metal together. The handle gradually started to take shape but with this technique the wandering cksmith had to constantly take it in and out of the heat from the forge. It was a lot more lifting than any of the other techniques which made things seem slower.


    Midnight was getting much more used to her decaying breath attack and had started to focus it more so that it yielded more heat. This had been the perfect practice over thest few days for her to properly master using the skill at the drop of a hat. Not to mention she was getting used to following hand signals instead of verbally or mentally sent words. This meant that if the party was ever in a situation where Walker couldn''t speak out loud or have Onyx do so, then Midnight would still be able to properly understand the meanings of "let''s go" or "Wait here".


    Their teamwork had improved greatly and the bond between them was strengthened with every move made by the wandering cksmith. He had already made a handle out of the red hot metal that looked much better than any of the other weapons or gear he had made. This was truly a master cksmith at work.


    The time came for them to stop heating the metal and the wandering cksmith paced the head of the hammer in to a mold. He did not put the entire hammer head in the mold, which made Walker curious to why. Within the next moment the wandering cksmith was bringing his own hammer down forcing the red hot metal in to the world. This was how the spoke on the other side was being created.


    Walker would have never imagined this was how the hammer would be shaped. It was a very amazing technique that must have been discovered over many years of attempts and failures. Once the red hot metal had been shaped more tools were used to tten and even the bashing part of the hammer. The shape was then changed again with yet another tool adding heavy lines in to it. These looked to be markings that could channel mana just like the small carvings on Su''s shields.


    The only question was, why were these carvings different? Walker wanted to ask but as the hammer started to cool down the wandering cksmith started to carve the more fine lines. The hammer was still hot but it looked like this was the intention because the wandering cksmith only seemed to be speeding up as it cooled. The skill that he demonstrated was always a wondrous thing to watch.


    When the hammer had cooled enoughthe polishing process began which had even more carving involved. By the time the wandering cksmith was polishing thest part the single weapon had taken half the day. "Walker took the chance to evaluate the hammer with his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Draconic crusher


    +8atk, +2 def


    Strong fire resistance


    Strong decay resistance


    Strong earth resistance


    Specially made by a master cksmith to retain its strength and hold less weight.


    Able to infuse elemental mana within the hammer''s head to cause elemental damage.


    Mana storage 0/25''


    Walker saw this appraisal and knew that the quality of this weapon was above and beyond what he had ever seen in his life. The mana storage would allow for five more than one of Su''s shields. The attack was a great boost and it even came with three resistances. The clincher was that the wandering cksmith was most certainly considered a master, it was shown in the appraisal as proof. He had made this hammer so that it was just as strong but lighter. This could mean the difference in any battle.


    Walker took it in his hands after the mana storage gem was iid within it. The gem was in the top of the hammer where it could rest without fear of being burned. The spiked side was deadly looking and even had its own carvings. Those carvings were definitely what was giving him the ability to infuse mana in to the hammer.


    He was surprised by its weight, he could lift it without too much trouble. However this did not mean that he could easily swing it. He was realizing that with his effort in holding it hecked the skill to stop the momentum in an instant. Forck of better excuses it was just because he didnot have enough muscle built up. This made him want to go and train immediately but he had no choice but to stay.


    The heating process was already starting for the two smaller hammers. The materials were heated and ready for mold when Walker realized that the molds showed a de on the back of the hammers almost like axes. This did make sense since he could use an ax to have while out in the forest. The problem was that he had not expected this, he needed to make sure that he took longer to learn how to use a ded hammer than a regr one.


    The process was almost half the time it took for therge hammer. The two smaller hammers were done in a blink of an eye and cooled just as fast. When Walker first picked one up he realized that there were no mana storage gem''s within them and also that they were much easier to hold and handle. The difference was staggering but made a lot more sense. These smaller hammers were more forbackup or utility than therger one which was meant for realbat.


    Having the two in his hands made Walker feel like a bnced fighter. The domineering aura he had made Midnight give him a soft growl. She could feel that Walker was itching for a fight and she wanted to run off to fight as well. However when the wandering cksmith gave a gesture for them to heat up the fire more they were brought back to the task at hand. The final items needed to be made before anything else could be done.


    Walker was sure that they had made just about everything he had asked for but was seeing the wandering cksmith starting to create more and asking for the mes. The two watched as he started to craft more armor, this time it looked to fit Walker. This was something extra that the wandering cksmith had decided to make himself.


    They were just basic armor without any special effectsbut they would improve his defense and magic defense without a problem. They were also made of the steel worm skin making them easy to wear. Walker continued to help even when the wandering cksmith returned to Gil''s arrow heads. He was invested to see the end of this job and also wanted to make sure that the wandering cksmith had an idea of what he would do after their order waspleted.


    They stretched themselves to the very end of their mana and energy. Daylight had long faded by the time they finished. Walker was looking at the pile of extra gear and weapons they had made. The only pieces that stood out were Gil and Remey''s item. They needed to try these things on in case any adjustments needed to be made. Walker would have to drag Remey from alchemy and Gil from hunting. Both were practically impossible.


    Before he went off to rest and wake up the next morning to try the impossible, Walker decided he should see what the wandering cksmiths ns were. "Now that that the order isplete, do you have any ns on what to do next?" The smile onthe wandering cksmith''s face was in as day saying that he had one.


    "Time to n" This was the longest sentence he had said in front of Walker. The fact that he had directly spoken so quickly was a major surprise.


    Walker was unsure of what the wandering cksmith was nning but decided that he would just let it be. Yet as he tried to turn the wandering cksmith had already pulled a map out from under the table. He tapped down on it showing that he was aiming for the mountains. Walker realized that it was a guild request form with the omnipotent party being requested.


    "Wait, don''t tell me you want us to escort you to the mountains so you can try to craft while on top of them?" This was exactly what the wandering cksmith wanted. This had been his n for a while now.


    Walker was happy for this but also unhappy since they would end up leaving home again for a long amount of time. The journey through the mountains was usuallydone by courageous travelers and merchants. Bringing a guest along with them sounded much harder than the other guild quests they had taken on before. He had no idea what to say to the wandering cksmith.


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 298 - 298. Alchemy Genius

    While it was an honor to be thought of when it came to such a matter as escorting a master cksmith, it was also a very dangerous request that the party had never tried before. The real problem was that they were already preparing to leave for the deep sun hollow forest and would be gone for an unknown amount of time to gather information on the purple slime''s guing the area.


    "I would love to ept it, however, my party is not experienced in escort quests. We will also be away for some while; in the forest so we will not be able to ept other quests any time soon." The wandering cksmith shook his head.


    He poked Walker in his chest, "get stronger." This was not much to go on but it was enough to know that the wandering cksmith wanted their party to get stronger before epting this quest.


    "Then please wait for us to get a little stronger, then we will return and go on an adventure with you." This brought a smile to the wandering cksmith''s face. He looked like he was already starting to n routes and ideal locations on the map.


    With the request put on the back burner Walker had no choice but to go hunt down Remey. Her gear had been finished and she needed to try it on for a final confirmation that everything was perfectly done. Walker had no doubts that it was fine but at the same time it was better to check for anything before they went out and used them fully.


    The alchemistb looked like it had been running smoke for days now, Walker had no idea how the two of them had the stomach to stay inside for so long without rest or food. When he approached the door he was able to hear the bickeringing from inside. "I swear if you burn this one again I will make you scrub that cauldron a hundred time!"


    "If you didn''t try and change what I was doing halfway through the extraction process then I would havepleted it perfectly!"


    "Oh yes it would have been perfect¡­ Perfectly average!"


    Walker took a deep breath not knowing what he was walking in to. They were obviously at odds with each other while they were training. He pushed the door open and revealed that the two were covered in bits of ash and small amounts of dried herbs from sitting over the fire and the cauldrons.


    "Remey, I need you toe try on your gear. It''s the final check for any further modifications." Walker said what he needed to say and expected Remey to be angry she had been interrupted but instead he was surprised to see her beaming smile.


    "You''re just in time to see more of my genius! I have already made mid Tier health and mana potions and now I am working on high tier!" Her face was getting even brighter as she said this.


    "No you are failing to make a high mana potion. If you would just listen to me then you would have seeded." The old man was not the happiest but Walker could see that there was a row of potions on the shelf that were all marked with an R and a number. They were the order Remey had made her potions.


    In total the shelf held about thirty potions. The quality seemed to increase every five potions. The crazy part was that they had been working continuously. This meant that Remey had taken the years of knowledge and started to apply them seeding in creating the tiered potions almost all the time. In other words Remey may actually be considered a genius, her years of watching in awe and learning while she spent time with the old master alchemist were paying off.


    "Umm, just to be clear. How long does it usually take for a new alchemist to learn how to make a high potion of any kind?" Walker had no baseline for these things and wanted to see what the real speed of Remey''s growth had been.


    "Well one of my best apprentices took about a year and a half before he could make a high tier potion for the first time. But what can you do when a noble sends a child...They have no work ethic. If I had any apprentices that put the same amount of work and study in that Remey has all these years then I would have be the sole producer of the potions on the continent."


    The old man was not speaking lightly in the least. He was very blunt with the fact that most of the apprentices did not live up to their potential since they were discovered to have the system then sent by family to learn and make easy money as an alchemist. People like Remey were rare in the world and here even more so.


    "Like I said I am a genius. Now sit and watch me finish this high health potions then we can go give my gloves a test run." Remey had not moved from next to the cauldron at all, the bubbling was at a peak and she had to make sure that the extraction process was running properly. The old master alchemist was very impressed by her multitasking because he could remember that even when he was at this age he had topletely focus on the production. He had no ability at that time to even listen let alone speak and look at someone else.


    Walker sat down on a stool and watched as Remey used her mana to keep the potion progressing. Here and there the old man would move her hand or say something about temperature. To the untrained eye it was just a normal master teaching an apprentice. However since Walker knew that there was more to it he could see the tricks that Remey was using, having picked them up over the years that she watched him work.


    The potion started to rapidly reduce causing Remey to move in to quick motion lowering temperature and putting the lid on the cauldron. "Next time you need to feel it happening before it reaches that point. The mana in the herbs will tell you they are about to release their own elemental mana." This was a trick that would take many attempts to learn but once learned could never be forgotten.


    The amount of alchemical skills Remey was using already was astounding. She had dedicated herself so astutely that the old man was pushing her towards every required and even specific skill she could. He may have passed on a huge amount of knowledge to the average apprentice, but to Remey he was not going to leave even the smallest detail unsaid. " Start on getting your vials ready now, and add some of that spring salt so that they hold a longer shelf life."


    There were many more ingredients than Walker remembered when he wasst in the alchemyb. "I take it you guys had some ingredients brought over while I was working in the forge?" The look of their faces spoke volumes to how dumb they thought the question was.


    "If you knew that then why ask? We needed a lot of things to get to work." Remey and the old man replied almost together while they prepared the vials. Walker decided that this slightly busy moment may not have been the best time for him to ask a question. There was also the fact that by the looks of the two, they had not rested in the least. They needed some good sleep so that they could be a little more weing in their attitude.


    Without hesitation Remey started to use the same cooling skill that the old master alchemist had before. The room became chilly but suddenly the cooling stopped. "Ugh I am out of mana again." Remey swayed on her feet but the old man was there with a low tier mana potion. The potion took effect quickly and the cooling continued. It was clear that Remey was very limited by her level and the amount of mana she had. All the more reason for her to get her gloves and start to store mana in to them for these moments. It would be invaluable.


    They two were still working hard to now pour the potion in to the vials which looked like a pristine red color. The spring salt dissolved and made them a slightly darker shade of red. The effect was very clear and Walker made sure he would remember the qualities. "So did I pass?'' Remey was looking at the old man with an eager expression.


    He held up the vial to the light and swirled it around. He then tasted a little and thought for a few moments. He started to open his mouth to speak before that he gave the potion a sniff and another swirl. "High health potion creation was a sess. You lost two vials worth to the evaporation but that wille in time. You are improving greatly. Now go get your butt to that forge and get that gear that will let you store up your mana. I don''t like using mana potions so often."


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    ¡­..

 Chapter 299 - 299. The Gloves Are...On?

    Remey was so happy that she nearly tackled the old man in a bear hug. Walker was sitting there with his jaw dropped wondering where all this emission hade from. Remey was so happy and loving in this moment. He could barely tell she was the same person. "Don''t think you will be resting long old man. I am going to learn everything you have discovered in your entire life." Remey issued her statement as a promise to him before grabbing Walker''s arm and dragging him outside.


    Remey stopped and felt the heat of the now setting sun. Walker had spent most of the day in the forge and Remey had been more or less locked up in the alchemyb. Both had been missing out of the important light they needed. "Is Gil back yet?"


    Walker was a little surprised she was asking about Gil but since they were the only two that had not been near the forge for their gear it made sense. "No not yet. I figure I am going to contact him with the party chat skill soon. He needs toe and work on his arrows before we head out." Remey gave Walker a not.


    The ash and bits of dried herbs that wereing from her clothes made it look like she was about to blow away in the slight breeze with them. "You know I think I got really lucky going to the adventurer''s guild. Lin told me not to under any cost but with my system there was not much else to do. We could not afford the tuition to the military academy so i would have had to work as a mercenary or a guard." Remey had not spoken about the other possible careers she had considered before.


    "Being a guard would not have been that bad. Look at my father."


    "That''s not what I mean, I just couldn''t have found passion in it. Right now I can''t wait to train more and to learn something new. I have never felt this in my life. I really am lucky, so many of the alchemists have this dead look in their eyes because when they gained their system tier families just sent them off and ruined their passion. I will fix that, the alchemy building needs to be a guild with tests and recruitment."


    "Do you really think you can manage that? They seem pretty set in their ways to make a lot of money and stay as a ]n independent building." Walker had not thought that Remey would have such a desire, but seeing that she had be so invested he knew that she had not thought about this in a fleeting moment. She must have been thinking this for some time but finally found a way to act on it now.


    "Yes, I will use the hero title to its advantage and I will make whatever connections I need. When we are strong enough I will make that change and make alchemy a better profession. No more noble families sending off their emotionally dead children to suffer and make money for them. You should know what I feel, would you have been just as happy if your parents forced you to stay inside the city and just learn trade skills?"


    Walker had not really thought of this, his parents had been supportive of his desires and only even voiced worry. For the most part they had always made sure that he had the choice in life over his own fate. " I see what you are saying. It would mean some loss of gold for the alchemists but in the end they would have better budding talent. Even looking at the demi-human kingdom incident with the potions that made people sick; it could solve that problem. A guild has the power to hire people to check quality and constantly make sure that things are safe. The possibility of someone being harmed through potions would be incredibly minute."


    This was another thing that could change, there would no longer be so many alchemists or fake alchemists selling off experimental potions. This meant that the overall quality would start to increase. Even more so if the alchemists followed the lead of the tamers then they could spread to many kingdoms and carve out a ce in history right next to the other guilds,


    "When you decide to act just let me know. I will be behind you to make sure that they listen to every word. " Walker made this promise feeling that this was the best move to make the most people happier in the long run. This would be a massive positive change.


    "I will be counting on you then." Remey gave him a genuine smile and pushed open the door to the forge. "I hear you have something amazing to show me?"


    The wandering cksmith was a little startled but he did not show it long. Instead he want to the mannequin that he had used to hold her armor in shape. He soon had the gloves and armor in his hands; passing them to remey. Her eyes were alight with the desire to break them in so she rushed to the side of the forge and locked herself in the storage area to change.


    When she burst out of the door she was already making fake punches and jabs. Remey was effectively shadow boxing while she tried to see if the gloves were flexible enough. Eleven thought her armor and gloves were tight, it was clear that she had no problem bending, twisting, and releasing her moves.


    When Remey removed her knuckles from her pockets where she always had them clipped for quick use her face made a devious grin. They fit perfectly over the fingers of the gloved and stayed in ce perfectly. "I have no problems, these are perfect." Remey looked at her arms and was in awe at the patterns seemingly sewn into the gloves and armor that were slowly absorbing a little of her mana. The best part was that she could see that the mana storage gems were also receiving the mana. "These should be safe to use while I make potions too right?"


    The wandering cksmith nodded happily that his creation was perfect and did not require an adjustment. He also foresaw this question since he had been keeping an ear out for what the party members were doing. Hearing that Remey had started to work in the alchemistb he made sure to use the weaving like technique to make the gloves. This lead to them having a more water proof effect.


    "They should also help resist the decay from the slime when we are fighting them. This means you cany down some damage much more safely." Walker''s worries had been appeased by this gear but Remey didn''t seem to be ankle to focus on that fact. Instead she was still admiring the way the armor and gloves seamlessly fit together at her shoulders.


    "These are going to get broken in right now!" Remey flexed and started out the door. She looked to be headed back to the alchemistb to get back to work. She wanted to have a sessful high mana potion made next. After that she would start to make potions for their trip to the sun hollow forest, they would be useful for the party. Worst case they could sell them to anyone they passed as the traveled. "Oh by the way I will call Gil for you."


    Remey said this as she walked away and Walker could swear she heard her yelling at Gil to get his butt back to the mansion or she woulde hunting for him.


    With the amazing progress Remey had made and the fact that Gil was on his way back Walker was left with low mana and a sense of tiredness. He had spent just about an entire day in the forge again, however tomorrow he would be free to try out his new weapons. He wanted to head to the guild and challenge some other opponents in the training field.


    Sparring with others would help him adapt to those he did not know along with surprises in battle. Not to mention he was still technically a newbie inbat. Even though his party had done a lot so far, they rarely got up close and personal with enemies. So far they had done a lot of long rangebat and not truly been in the heat of a battle.


    This fact alone was a good reason to train more, on top of that showing face at the guild would bring out those who doubted their skills making their name as heroes even more viable. Walker didn''t really like the gossip that never seemed to end but it was better to have positive gossip than negative gossip. He was also worried that he wouldck the proper connections with other parties if it ever came time for him to need another party''s help.


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 Chapter 300 - 300. Parental Meeting

    The wandering cksmith joined everyone for dinner that night. Walker saw that Maria was sitting right next to him and even had brought a book on forging she found interesting to show him. They were a strange mix of friends but knowing that Maria, a demon, could make friends with others like the wandering cksmith who was much older really put Walker at ease.


    Gale was with Lisa almost the entire night. She had started to idolize Lisa since there were many things Lisa had started to make for the family. They had lost most of their clothing to the fire andcked a variety. This worked out well for Lisa since she needed the practice. She also could not turn down the chance to let her imagination run wild.


    She created some new work clothes that seemed to resist the de tools they used which was a pretty amazing feat within itself. Many carpenters had cuts and scars from the tools as they worked over the years, being ankle to avoid these small injuries meant a safer work environment and also a better mood. Both already showed on Gale''s parents'' faces.


    Walker had also begun to notice small end tables and even a dresser in the hallway as he wandered around after dinner. They seemed to be hard at work starting with the smaller furniture in the house. He trusted that they were doing their best and from the quality he saw in these small pieces he knew that even if they did not need a new ce to say that choosing them to do this work was a great choice.


    Walker still had the heroic quest in mind and decided it might be best to bring Gale with him to the adventurers guild while he trained. Her parents could have a meeting and talk about Gale''s future while she was watching Su and Walker train. This would be a wee experience for everyone involved along with a good growing point.


    Walker had no doubt that seeing how the adventurers worked to improve, that Gale and her parents would want to choose the adventurer''s guild. Gale may be too young to decide fully to be a member but she would just be looking for a teacher, which wouldn''t require membership. Overall it was still a decent n.


    He sent ra a message to confirm that it would be alright for him to bring the family along tomorrow and almost immediately received a reply. She was business like as usual telling him that there would be avable time to meet with the guild master. With their ns in ce he let Gale''s parents know before he went off from the dining hall.


    Before he knew it the morning had rushed in to his room and he was getting ready yet againfor another day. They had been lucky to have amazing weather the past few days and walker had beenmenting the fact that he had been inside the forge missing out on it. Today was going to be different though, he was going to be out and taking advantage of the guild''s training fields. He was going to use the day to its fullest.


    "Good morning Su" Walker found that Su was by the front of the door with a familiar face attached to her leg.


    "Good morning, look who I found waiting for us here this morning. She was here even before her parents woke up." Su ruffled Gale''s hair which caused the little girl to giggle.


    "I take it you''re pretty excited to see what the adventurers guild is like then? There should be a lot of people there so make sure you stick close to us. I will make sure you get a good show while we train. I have a few new things I n to try out." Walker had spent his time brainstorming while he waited for sleep to take him. He had a few elements he wanted to use in tandem with therge hammer.


    "Will I get to use my skills too?" Gale didn''t let herself be distracted. She had been wanting to practice and learn about her system for some time now but always told not to or to wait. It was only fair that she now wanted to start to experiment with the opportunity in sight.


    "You will need to wait until we have a conversation with someone at the guild. But if everything goes well then yes, you will get to y with your skills." Gale''s mother came down the stairs and joined the conversation. Her husband was right behind her nodding along. He looked very serious and was ready to make the best deal possible for his daughter''s future.


    "Well since we are all her let''s get on our way." The group headed out and started to move towards the adventurers guild. Gale ran around them and bounced from person to person, the excitement was tangible. She was going to be able to use her skills and Walker knew that if the little girl did not get the chance to do something today she would definitely get herself in to some trouble.


    As they passed through the streets there were a few vendors starting to set up shop. It was still pretty early but justte enough to grab a snack from one vendor. The stall had just started making some breakfast pancakes which were very easy to hold and eat on the move. There were even some with fruits cooked in so they weremore nutritious.


    Su seemed to jump at these and had gotten the most out of any of them. Walker made sure that if she was ever in a bad mood that these would be nice things he could find to cheer her up. Luckily for everyone''s sanity the food was able to calm Gale but a small margin. This helped with her parents'' nerves since they were about to talk to a very important person in the kingdom.


    The gravity of who they were working for and living with had not really set in. However as they had talked the word hero and guild master seemed to hold more and more weight. Their shoulders had started to get stiff and they almost had decided to leave and go elsewhere for a while. Who could have easily handled the difference in status.


    What really kept them there was the positive attitude that the rest of the family had. They Were more like the average family and made them feel very at home. The kids may have been the wild cards that somehow got the hero title but they were still young. After realizing these things Gale''s parents had reaffirmed their attitudes and made sure they would procure the best for their daughter. They may only be simple carpenters but their daughter was going to be the best made their kingdom had ever heard of.


    Gale could feel the confidence start to brim from her parents. Her mood skyrocketed even more, so much so that she was soon holding both her parents hands and swinging between them. They looked like a perfect family out for a morning walk, definitely not heading to the guild to talk to the guild master of the adventurers guild.


    When the group arrived it was rather quiet. There were a few party''s here and there who were either returning with horned rabbit bodies or leaving to go patrol for some to hunt. The others that were around were not epting the quest or just not strong enough yet to do so. Walker worried that this would mean the training fields were barren.


    "That is our guild manager ra. I will go see her to see what we should do. " Walker left the others at the entrance and met ra at the counter.


    "You''re earlier than I expected. But that works out well. Since we are in a lull now. The adventurers that took the quest to hunt the horned rabbits have started to need to go farther and farther to find them. I believe it will have passed in another day or two." This was very good news for any merchants trying to hear that way. There would be no problem for them to travel as long as they had an escort.


    The positive was also that there wouldbe more adventurers returning to their normal escort jobs with merchants that contracted them. The daily life of the guild would return slightly but there would also be an influx of those looking to go off and get tested due to their gain of experience from fighting the horned rabbit hordes.


    Walker gave a wave to Gale''s parents who left Gale with Su. "Let''s head up with ra to meet the guild master." Walker looked to ra who led the way. She was going to be as professional as possible in front of these parents since their daughter could end up as a new adventurer. It was only proper.


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 Chapter 301 - 301. Anticipation

    "The guild master''s office is right this way." raknocked on the door before pushing it open. "These are the parents of the little girl Walker told us about.This is Ibis out esteemed guild master. I hope you can have a pleasant meeting." ra left the three of them to enter the office.


    "Hello there, I am d to meet you. Walker has notified me that he was with your daughter when she unlocked her system. He asked me to look around for a proper teacher for her since it''s a rather tricky system."


    Ibis greeted them with all the professionalism required. When he was not with members of the guild he often acted like this. "Gale is the user of a storm wielder system. So far I know she has a skill that can create a very small tornado with some rain clouds. I believe that if she grows strong enough she will be able to change the weather in arger area." Walker did not hold back with what he thought could happen if there was not a proper teacher.


    "Yes, here at the guild we have a handful of adventures with dangerous abilities. For example, take mine. As you may know I have the control to summon light attribute elementals. One being an Ibis bird. It sounds like it could be cute, right?" Ibis smiled but then raised a hand. There was a sh of light that condensed itself in to the form of an Ibis. It perched itself on his arms. "Now she has restricted herself to a smaller size but normally she is the size of a small house. I had this spell at level five. The stronger I got therger my friend here got. If I did not have a dedicated partner and a good teacher I could have be reckless. My friend here could have easily escaped my control and gone after the cattle in the farms." He released the summoning before looking at Gale''s parents.


    "Walker, can you please give us some privacy? We do trust you to care for Gale but as parents we would prefer to stand on our own two feet here." Gale''s father asked him to leave. Walker was not unhappy with this at all, it was their family business and he knew that he had already given them the help he could. Leaving them he found that ra had expected this and waited outside.


    "Parents always get unsettled when talking about their child''s future. Many whoe looking for a teacher, as for private meetings like that. Don''t let it put you off." She thought that walker would feel bad but after looking at him for a minute she realized that he was fine.


    "So Su and I have some new gear to test out and hope to spar a little in the training fields here. Any idea on who may be around?" This was a little surprise to ra who knew that they normally trained at the mansion.


    "There are plenty of small parties that usually pair up with the higher tied parties that stayed away from the danger of the horned rabbits. They have practically lived in the training field, by now I am sure they will be looking for someone new to try their luck with." ra had broken up a few rivalries out on the training field sending some younger adventurers him with a threat of suspension. Things tended to get a little heated when they were not out taking quests or in their usual routines.


    "Well Su has two shields that need to be field tested and I am trying to learn to use a hammer...so we will be taking all challengers." Hearing that Walker was not practicing magic was yet another surprise.


    "I knew that you could use swords and a scythe if you wanted, but why did you think to try hammers?" ra was trying to put the pieces together so she could understand his thinking.


    "Well I can''t use the fire magic I have focused ontely. On top of that I do not think that earth magic will be fast enough. More so I am limited to what weapons I amfortable with, so I decided to try something a little different. The hammer I have should be able to channel the elemental mana I use too so it should be a very useful strategy to catch an opponent off guard. Plus I should in theory be able to take out a slime with a single swing when I go to the deep sun hollow forest." Walker''s ideas were sound and even just talking about it was getting his blood pumping.


    The two chatted more about the kinds of elements Walker had hope to use while he was sparing and which ones he had higher hopes for. Naturally earth would be a decent option since the hammer had a high earth resistance. Fire also would be as well. However the two elements could cause harm to how the forest grew and fire would even destroy the forest.


    "Well I expect using water to make some ice could be better. It would melt and end up nourishing the forest. I would skip wind through. It could damage some of the more ancient trees there. They can heal to a degree but cutting off branches is unwise. If you wish to get on good terms with the elves you will cause as little harm as possible to the forest. They are known for even tossing ambassadors in the prison for a few weeks for cutting branches for their fires instead of picking them off the ground."


    Walker thought that ra was just trying to tease him a little with this. However he did agree that using a wind element was not a wise choice. He could cause a significant amount of damage to a tree and potentially kill it. His recent nting experiences had made him care more about nts.


    "Well I am going over to find some sparring partners. Wish me luck." Walker ran over to Su and Gale when her and ra returned to the bottom floor.


    "Go easy on them!" She shouted after him knowing that she would most likely be called out for some trouble soon. It always seemed like Walker and his party were involved in some form of trouble.


    "You two ready to go find some random sparring partners? I have been itching to try out my new hammer this whole time" Walker had chosen the hammer since it would be different than any other weapons he often saw. Yet now that he was about to use it for the first time he was way more excited than expected. The very fact that he could channel elemental mana through it was the most amazing addition from the wandering cksmith.


    " Leader, just promise to leave some for me. I need multiple opponents to test my shields out on. My dual wielding can definitely improve." Su looked like she was in the same state of mind as Walker. Having a break was always really nice, but now that they had been idle for a few days they wanted to get in to a real battle and test themselves.


    When the three left through the back door and saw the sight of the training field they were not disappointed. There were small groups here and there, some challenging others or already in battle. Many looked their way as they showed up, they were being sized up."Gale, want to yell out in challenge for us?" Walker thought that the little girl would enjoy being part of the fun too so he gave her a job.


    Gale inhaled deeply and ced her hands around her mouth before letting out her mightiest yell. "Big brother and Big sister say they can beat you all up!!!!" This high pitched shout nearly echoed. Walker and Su had wildly underestimated the little girl''s lung capacity. She could deafen someone if she was not careful.


    The sounds of this challenge brought over two groups immediately. One was a group of five fighters that looked to have been trainingin hand to handbat. The other three were a more basic party made up of a magic user holding a staff, and two swordsmen with short swords and small shields. "You can beat us up? Pfttthose fancy shields must have been a gift from daddy, let me dent them for you." The best part about having Gale yell for the, was that their identities were not given away.


    Walker had been sneaky and hid the medals and ques they had just for this reason. He knew that when people saw their age and the silver tier adventurer que then they would be recognized. If they were they would have had zero chance of getting opponents. Even more so if Midnight had gone with them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 302 - 302. Smash

    "You''re looking for opponents right? Are you a magic attacker or front line attacker? I don''t see much defensive gear so you can''t be a defender." One of the swordsmen grabbed Walker''s attention and wanted to figure out what they would be going against.


    "Eh I can do whatever, but for this I want to learn with this." Walker pulled the domineering hammer from his storage space. The shine glinted in the sun and made his sparring partners envious.


    "Pretty showy huh? That''s fine, we will take the agility advantage." The other swordsman took it that the hammer would slow Walker down enough to have some easy wins. Unfortunately for the swordsman they did notknow that it have been made specially to be lighter while retaining strength.


    The two beckoned for Walker to move to an open space where they could take turns sparring. "Gale stay back at the stairs to the back door and do not move in to the field. It is dangerous." Walker was met with a lot of nodding and a thumbs up. He knew that she had a good sense of street smarts so she would not intentionally get in to trouble.


    Su had moved off with the group of font tile fighters and was already using her shields to block their punches. She was taking on all of them at one time and did not seem to be allowing any punches through. Strangely enough it seemed that she was not just kicking and deflecting but also doing it in the most efficient way. Her time training with the two shields was definitely showing.


    "Do you have high enough magic defense to withstand some wind magic?" The magic user with the two swordsmen spoke up with a quiet voice. The girl was fairly shy looking but the small staff she held, there were small green elemental mana crystals embedded in it. They were definitely of a wind element that could increase her magic.


    "I am pretty confident that I can deal with some wind. That staff looks pretty great for wind magic." Walker knew that the staff was very rare to have at a lower level as an adventurer. It could make all the difference in a battle.


    The mage nodded. "I am testing this new weapon so just make sure you all are able to dodge well." Walker smiled as he raised the hammer and gave it a test swing. He needed to get used to the feel. When he came down with it for the fifth time he tried to channel a single point of mana through it and found a simr feeling to his grand elemental maniption skill. He could use his mana to influence the elemental mana to gather in the hammer. This was all he needed to prepare.


    "Well then I will be first." The tallest swordsman drew his sword and fell in to his stance. He did not have his shield raised much and focused on his sword. Walker saw this as a w he could go after so he decided to raise the hammer and jump forward with a downward smash.


    The speed he used was a surprise to the swordsman causing his to sh out and barley parry the hammer. However the hammers weight was not easily pushed aside and still grazed him. When it hit the ground a small amount of mes sparked out.


    Walker had only channeled the smallest possible amount of fire element in to the hammer wanting to make sure he did not go overboard. This little test showed him that the hammer could act as the catalyst for mes by making sparks when it made contact.Even more as he jumped back to gain distance he could already feel the water inthe air being pulled to the hammer. He wanted to try the water element next.


    Seeing the small amount of sparks the swordsman knew that if the hammernded he could be burned. "Magic weapon huh? That''s pretty valuable. Don''t cry when I break it!" He dashed forward with his sword pointed like a spear. The de was very straightforward just like the penguin attack from the ins; but they were faster. Walker easily turned to the side and started to bring the hammer down again, but the swordsman was wary of this and dodged himself.


    Again the hammer mmed in to the ground causing a thud, this time it caused a small spot of icicles to burst up. When it came in to contact with the ground it had pulled more water elemental mana from the deeper part of the ground to produce this effect. Walker slightly shuddered at what this could do to an enemy and decided that he could hold off on it for training.


    This put his sparring partner more on guard. Walker liked this and used it as his chance to advance. He swung the hammer forward allowing his body to flow with the momentum to get his steps farther. "Try this on for size!" Walker channeled the wind elemental manain to the hammer with his swing. The sideways swing caused a rough and blunt burst of air that knocked the swordsman back.


    With his opponentpletely staggered Walker headed in with a downward swing on to the swordsman''s shoulder. He held back enough so it would not cause any harm but the slight bit of darkness element he had begun to channel in to the hammer had a very interesting effect.


    Walker had wanted to test out the use of darkness elemental mana and pushed a very small amount in to the hammer. The swordsman''s shadow reacted to this reaching up and wrapping itself around the swordsman''s legs. It was not a full proof trap, but it definitely caused the swordsman to stagger and fall. Walker held the hammer up , "My win."


    This test of the hammer''s ability to channel the elements had given a very good result. Not only was it basically an extension of his own body. It could also add more physical damage to his magical attacks. Just like Gil Walker would be able to switch between these two forms of attack without fail. Not just that but he could put them together to deal a very surprising attack to an enemy.


    "Alight, you gave my brother a pretty good run for his money. But I know how to use my shield so don''t think that fancy magic hammer can do much against me." The slightly shorter but more muscle bound swordsman came over after helping his brother up. "I think I can put you off your feet." The smile he had was only for show, there was a serious glint in his eyes the other swordsman hadcked.


    Walker was happy to hear this challenge because he wanted to use his high earth sculpting and his grand elemental maniption in tandem with the hammer. He had an idea of how he would trap an opponent. There weren''t more words as the two moved in to battle, they were just feeling each other out much slower than the previous sparring.


    They quickly found that the other was able to keep up and that Walker was even a little faster, especially when it came to dodging. The strikes that this swordsman put out were much sharper, they had a lot more training behind them along with strength. Walker was sure to dodge them more than he needed with the dance of the wild rabbit. It was much tougher using the skill holding a hammer.


    This was an small adjustment though since he had held more than a few weapons in his time and was used to the adjustment needed. After a minute of dodging the strikes he found a chance to swing down. However this was what the swordsman wanted and already had the shield moving upwards. However what they did not expect was that Walker had been channeling the light elemental mana in to the hammer from the sunlight.


    There was a bright sh thatpletely blinded his opponent giving Walker the chance to use the opposite end of the hammer to knock away the swordsman. The shield had no chance to get in the path of the end of the hammer. This left his opponent wide open for the next attack.


    Walker had seen Remey use herbos many times, he decided to follow what he had seen and add more swings to his attack. He started to mix the elements in to the swing as the swordsman tried to retreat. He did not use elemental man in each of his swings so that his opponent would have no chance to figure out which attacks were safer to block or not. As a result there was the one sided dodging battle happeningnow. This was what Walker was nning though, he had the earth elemental mana gathered in to the hammer along with a clear idea on what shape he wanted it to take.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 303 - 303. Hammer Skills

    He looked at his retreating opponent and stopped in his tracks. This was what the swordsman needed to retreat out of each of the hammer, however Walker had raised it above his head and started to m down on to the ground with a heavy force.


    There was a burst of earth elemental mana and the ground impacted where the hammer hit. His opponent had no idea why this attack was used if it was so deadly, all he could think was; Why hit the ground?


    This was the intention he had missed though, the ground around him was being manipted by Walker''s skills and it was rising behind him. He noticed this toote and realized that he had no way to back up or dodge to either side. He was a rat in a cage!


    Walker advanced before his opponent could get a bearing on where to go and was already in front of the swordsman with a softer swing to knock him down. "What the- where did thate from!?" The two swordsman brothers were understandably lost. They were not focused on magic but on closebat and only closebat, they had missed the fluctuations of mana that their mage partner had been feeling in both battles.


    "That hammer is really too powerful, I''d like to see you try a fight without it." This was a little bit of jealousy talking but Walker did not mind. He had gained a skill he wanted and the system had notified him in this moment.


    ''The skill elemental smash has been taken from the arcane diator system. The user has met the requirements to learn the skill elemental smash.


    Elemental smash- 1+ mana cost


    Depending on the elemental mana manipted by the user the blunt weapon used can influence and cause damage rted to the chosen element. This can be made more powerful by gathering more or less elemental mana within the bunt weapon. The user must not exceed the weapons capacity or else the weapon could be extremely damaged.''


    Walker was not worried about the damaging of the hammer since it was so tough, however he was worried that if he tried the skill with any other weapon the results could be poor. "Fine, then I will use another weapon for the next match. I am facing your wind mage friend there right?" He was smiling like this did not bother him at all.


    The two brothers did not expect this because they had expected him to hold his hammer tighter and say that it was the only weapon he could use with his system. Normally this would be the case but since they did not know that Walker could wield any weapon that was not a specific mastery weapon.


    "Use what ever weapon you want. I need to get better inbat." The mage''s small voice reached Walker''s ears and he nodded. He wanted to use the hammer more but decided to rise to the challenge and really show off.


    "I will use two new hammers that I have no practice with." He said this as an honest gesture to the mage who believed him and smiled at the handicap. The two hammers showed up while therge one disappeared in to the inventory.


    The three opponents were shocked with this demonstration of spatial magic and were nowpletely lost to what kind of system Walker had. They at first believe he had some form of closebat system that was able to use a more unique weapon like a hammer. Then they believed that the hammer could use elemental magic by design. They had not considered the magic wasing from him.


    Walker held the bnced hammers in his hands. He turned them so the ded side would be away from his opponent since the wind mage had armor that could be easily damaged by the des. "Are you ready?"


    The look of Walker adjusting to the weight and bnce of the two hammers put them at ease since the two swordsman brothers were worried that their third member could get hurt. It was very normal for the mage or supporter of a party to have a weaker health or defense so that they could emphasize magic attack as a main damage dealer.


    The wind began to stir sound the mage as she gathered the elemental mana to start off her own attack. For an inexperienced opponent the change in the wind would make getting up close and personal a little tougher. However Walker was used to using the wind as well and did not even flinch at this wind.


    He pushed towards her, making the mage a little nervous. There was a wall like gust of wind that pushed out from the mage as soon as she moved her staff. The elemental crystals glowed with a green light and put more force in to it. The wall of wind pushed Walker back a few feet keeping the distance while the mage gathered more for another spell. The ball of wind being formed was all too easy for Walker to sense.


    He gained his footing and pushed forward again. He found that the smaller hammers did not have the same ability to channel mana that therge one did, but this was to be expected. The were tougher and definitely had decent weight to the, to deal harder physical attacks. Walker had a feeling that if he used the de wheel skill or the cross sh skill he could easily win using the bloated side of the hammers. However he wanted to learn new skills and understand what was going on with the bunch weapons in his hands.


    He got closer and the wind around the mage started to pick up. It was impressive how tough the air around her was to move in since he was so used to being within something simr. The ball of wind shot at him but heid himself t in the ground to dodge it. He had no problem with dodging but the wind that passed by him started to pull him with it. Walker was forced to spin one of the hammers and use the ded side to anchor him while the ball of wind passed by.


    The look of the mages face as he stood up and started to close the distance between them again was an unhappy one. " I didn''t expect the attack to pull me with it even though I dodged. It''s a very good lesson." Walker praised his opponent before breaking in to a run. He swung his hammers down in turn trying to hit the mage who used some wind magic to boost her speed.


    This support magic was very useful to reduce air friction on the body and boost agility. It caught Walker off guard as he constantly sent the hammer strikes down in groups of two. The system was watching and notified him of his new skill while he pushed farther. Walker paid in to mind and kept up his onught.


    The mage was burning through her mana much faster than expected by using all of the wind elemental mana in the area. Walker knew this and had been biding his time, now was the chance he had been waiting for.


    Walker used his grand elemental maniption to disrupt the wind causing the mage to be incredibly shocked. She had never felt someone stop her magic using the same element as her. It was an extremely rare urrence that usually only came about when two people with the same or simr systems fought.


    She could not gather the appropriate amount of wind element to push Walker back and was left to face the two oing hammers by herself. However just as Walker was about to swing them down the two swordsman brothers jumped in with their shields raised to block. "We think that is far enough."


    Walker looked at the over protective brothers and nodded. "I rarely get to try out some new skills on people I don''t know. I learned a lot just now." The group had spent almost a half hour battling to learn that they had barely scraped the surface of Walker''s skills.


    "How did you break my wind?" The mage had only one question. She had never encountered this and was understandably shaken by the experience. She never wanted to feel her element abandon her again.


    "Oh I have a skill that lets me manipte the element. So I just used it a little to cause the wind elemental mana to run wild." Walker ced the two hammers in to his inventory and then raised a hand making a small breeze flow toward the mage.


    "So you''re an elemental mage that can use weapons...Pretty rare." The younger brother was impressed to meet a unique system holder like this.


    "Nope, I can do a lot more than that." Walker was feeling a little arrogant and pulled out his staff and then put it away. He then pulled out the twin blitz swords then put them away. "I have a few other random weapons but I can use them all."


    "You''re a weapons master! I thought there were only two in the entire kingdom?!" The older brother was immediately shocked by this. Being a weapons master was a very rare system that the military would give anything for.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 304 - 304. Run From Yourself

    Walker just smiled even wider while looking at the three who thought him to be the third unheard of weapons master. "Nope, wrong again. I am a master of none¡­" He felt like his joke was being missed since they did not know what his system was at all.


    "Then what is it, man you are trying to give us a heart attack." The two swordsman brothers were unhappy hearing that their hopes of meeting a battle master had been dashed.


    "Hero...he''s the hero party leader." The small voice of the mage spoke up. This caused the two brothers to freeze.


    "Ding ding, right you are. My name''s Walker. Thanks for the match." He was smiling like a fool since he had just hidden his system for so long. He felt that as long as he did not show too many skills and wear the travel medals he could make himself seem like any other kid. Without Midnight with him he might be able to travelpletely incognito about the kingdom at even the busiest time of day.


    "No way, why are you here? Shouldn''t you be off like saving someone or out in the ins with the other silver tier adventurers?" The awe that Walker thought the brothers would feel were reced with a little anger. They were here because they were too weak yet someone who had beenbeled as strong was still here too?


    "It''s not that we don''t want to be but my party actually had a lot of difficulty with the massive hoards. Plus we have another quest that is much more important and we need to prepare for it or we could lose a lot." Walker used his most serious tone for this to show that he was not taking the situation in the ins lightly.


    "But why train with us.." The mage spoke up again asking a question that the trio was thinking.


    "Experience, I have only trained with my party or in battles with monsters. If I ever encounter something unexpected then I would be at a loss. The best ce to get used to that feeling? Right here at the guild." His words were purely logical and there was no fault in them.


    That is exactly what we were told by the party leader. If we wanted to join the party we needed to stay here and train until we could react to anything without fail." The older of the swordsman brothers said this still sounding a little disappointed.


    "Well I can help with that if you want?" Walker was thinking about his me doll skill and how he could make three of them to match the trio. If he put them against themselves then they could learn about their own weaknesses. It was not perfect but could really show them where their faults lie.


    "We are definitely not sparring with you anymore. I heard you can use a ton of magic that could throw us out of the training fields."


    "Yeah and what happens if your dragon friend shows up and decides to use our bones as toothpicks?"


    "Are rumors like that really floating around? Huh¡­" Walker was surprised to hear this especially after the time spent healing at the cathedral. "Well anyways just bring over a ton of straw from that barn over there. I will pay for itter so don''t worry. I will make something for you two to fight."


    The two brothers were very confused but decided to oblige him anyways. The mage took this chance to take as much information from Walker as possible. It was rare to bump in to others with the same elemental affinity, let alone multiple. "Can you show me what you can do with wind? I have been stuck on that wall skill for a while. I can use it to push people back but it can''t stop arrows or sharp projectiles."


    This was not an umon problem from what Walker had read about. There was a lot of force needed to stop a de in general and dispersing the force from a pointed object was tougher than arge object. "Well how much do you understand wind? Are you just trying to make a solid tough wall? Or you imagining the currents the wind moves in that would deflect the arrows? I don''t think wind could just stop an arrowpletely but I do know it could change its direction and send it back where it came from."


    This little idea was enough for the mage. She had not spent a ton of time meditating on the movements of wind and instead just imagined what the wind would do. This had been the same premise with the ball of wind she had made. She wanted it to take that shape to use the wind ball skill and that was it nothing more.


    "I see, so I need to not only shape it but think about what direction all the small bits of air elemental mana move in to make that shape." She was easily catching on since she had scratched the surface of this realization herself. The only reason she hadn''t found it herself was that she had been too focused on leveling uptely to be strong enough to give good support.


    "By the way, that skill you used to help you dodge me, what is it called? It seems very useful." Walker already had the rarely used multi buff skill but he thought that taking the time to learn a few more buff skills could be worthwhile in the long run.


    "It''s called lighten. It lets the air around you split away from your body and let you move more easily. It only boosts my agility by three points but it is really good for a mage. I can''t handle attacks very well." This was a little more of a boost than Walker expected but it was really nice.


    "That could definitely save you in a tense situation. I can''t imagine how much tougher it would have been if you boosted your party members while we were sparing." The difficulty would have been upped a little helping Walker have a longer battle.


    "They hate it when I boost them during training, they want to get stronger first then have boosts. They always say that they need to get there with their own power first." She said this with a bit of annoyance since it seemed like she really wanted to help them out.


    The two brother swordsman came over with a pull cart full of straw. ''Alright so what are you going to make? A training dummy?" They had been talking about what Walker could possibly make with the straw and could only imagine that he was going to make some form of training dummy. This was more confusing since they could just use one that was already in the training field.


    "You could say that." Walker lit a small pile of the straw on fire and began shaping the mes with his skills. The three watched a familiar shape was created in front of them. The me doll skill had mimicked their mage, itcked some details but it still looked rather perfect.


    "Yo are to use the same techniques as this wind mage and try to show her her weak points. Try not to hurt her but don''t go easy on her." Walker said this and the me doll turned to the mage and started to move menacingly. "This is your training partner, just make sure you are away from it if you destroy it. It will go out with a bang." Walker gave this shout as the wind mage started to run away from her sudden opponent.


    "Um...will we have to fight ourselves too¡­" The older brother looked at Walker a little afraid. They did nit want to tell the leader of the most popr party no, but they did not feel confident in training this way. Especially seeing their third member running away from her fire doll copy.


    "Well of course, how else will you be able to find your own weaknesses?" The next me doll started to take shape and quickly after that the third took shape as well. Now there were three me dolls using the pile of straw as fuel while they battled the party Walker had just spared with.


    Now that he had had a few matches and gained some new skills he had a base to practice on. This left Su who should still be fighting the group that she had seen in the beginning. When Walker found them on therge training fields Su was only battling against two who looked very tired. They were sweating profusely and had plenty of bruises already starting to show. It looked like Su''s defenses had proven too much for them to break.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 305 - 305. Break

    Su used a double shield bash to knock the two standing fighters down. One had a dagger fall to the ground a few feet away and couldn''t find the energy to pick it back up. While the other fighter tried to hop back up and deliver a kick but was met with Su''s shield again.


    "That''s it! No more, we can''tnd a hit anywhere." The fighter who had tried tond a kick walked to the other closebat fighters who were pretty ragged looking. He grumbled the whole way about how she must be an invincible wall that was hiding her real level.


    "Looks like you put them through the wringer." Walker got Su''s attention and as she turned towards him he noticed that she had barely broken a sweat. This spoke volumes to how well her new duel welding strategy was going.


    "Leader, I was able to try a lot of my moves just now. Things were rough to start since I couldn''t bnce against so many people. But now I can maneuver much better." This was good to hear, especially since she was still adjusting to her new passive skill; royal dragon eyes.


    "I had some good progress too. I figured out a little about my new hammer. The elements I can channel through it helped me get the elemental smash skill. It will be perfect to get rid of slimes while avoiding damage to the forest." Walker was very proud of his sess and wanted to brag a little too.


    "Are those...me dolls?" Su was looking across the field at a mage running from a ming copy of herself. The random wind spells being thrown out at the copy haphazardly.


    "Oh, Yes they needed a little help training and said that they didn''t want to spar with me anymore. So I made them some me dolls. With three of them running on that small pile of hay they should be done in a few more minutes." Walker spoke true and after another minute the three me dolls flickered out of existence with a wisp of smoke. The three prior opponents werepletely exhausted.


    "I see." Su had no words to say about the me dolls. The three definitely looked to have been having trouble against them. But if Walker said it was help for training then she would choose to believe him.


    Before the two could say another word there was a little girl running toward them at full speed. "Shouldn''t you be waiting over there by the building to watch?" Walker tried his best at a disapproving tone.


    "They are too tired to move, it''s safe." Gale pointed at all of the nearby adventurers who had been Walker and Su''s sparring partners. None of them were even thinking about trying a skill. Instead they were sitting around drinking water in the shade. Some were evenying on their back seemingly asleep.


    "You know, Su, we might have over did it on the training today¡­" Walker was catching on that even though their level was lower, that they may have been a little ahead of the adventurers at the simr level or age. However he did not have much time to think of this.


    "Gale,e over here!" Gale''s mother and father called out to her. They had just walked out on to the training field with ra. "Oh there you are. How was the training?"


    While Gale regaled her mother with the things she had seen her father approached Walker and Su. "We worked out a teacher for Gale. Apparently there is an old mage that retired to a small vige near the ins. They are always looking for craftsmen toe and work so we will move there in a month. That should be enough time to finish the job with you. We will insist that we are paid at a very steep discount for the work we do. You are allowing us to live at your mansion and have even introduced us to the guild master. Thank you very much."


    This thank you waspletely unnecessary as far as Walker and Su were concerned. "We are just d that you and your family are safe and healthy. You will need to send us letters on how you are all doing. Sadly we will be leaving for a quest before you leave." Su felt bad that she would not be able to see them off but it was part of the life they lived. Not everything would always happen when and where they wanted.


    "Su is right. You don''t need to worry about staying with us or anything at all. It is the right thing to do to lend help where we can." Walker fully supported Su with the same ideas.


    "Well in that case we are going to take a trip to have a letter delivered, we will see youter at the mansion." Gale''s father headed back to Gale and her mother to go hire someone to take a letter to the vige near the ins.


    ra watched the family head off. "Well now that that is taken care of, you two must feel better." She seemed pretty happy that the two had helped out a family in need. Let alone brought someone with a powerful system to the guild.


    ''Heroic questpleted: Guide the young


    Reward:


    1 heroic point


    10 exp multiplied to 100 exp''


    The system confirmed that they hadpleted the quest which was a wee sight. Getting the first heroic point took a little more time, however having the questpleted made Walker feel more full than usual.


    "Well I guess you didn''t cause too much trouble out here. It looks like you did quiet things down a lot." ra wasughing at the exhausted young adventurers around. "Hiding your medal so they would spar with you. That is exactly what Barry used to do before he became the vice guild master."


    At the very least the two took some pride in repeating the footsteps of one of the best adventurers in the guild. It was an honor to hear this. "We can''t just sit around and wait to leave. We need to train against people we have never fought before so that we can gain more experience." Walker was in full training mode and wanted to keep improving. The new skills have lit a fire even stronger than before.


    "While I do support you, I don''t think making those me dolls of yours is considered training when all you do is watch them run around." ra became serious once again and gave Walker a hard stare.


    After swallowing hard and taking a deep breath. "Well naturally I will pay the guild for the materials used. Also I have been meaning to go over and check up with my sparring partners to see if they found any of their ws." With Walker running over to his previous sparring Partners, ra and Su embed up chatting while they watched Walker help them out.


    "I did manage to watch you use those two shields. I would say you look more natural with two instead of onerge shield." ra had seen the minute amount of damage that could be done to Su even against to mane opponents. To her it meant that Su was in the perfect position with the perfect weapon.


    "There is a perfect bnce between my new shields. I feel like I don''t even need to worry about damage making it past them. I still have a tough time pushing through multiple opponents but it is getting easier. I need to strengthen my agility more." As she had trained she found that when she tried to push herself passed or in to opponents she wasgging behind. This would give her opponent too much opportunity attack.


    "Then you will need to be out there working hard to level up. From the looking of it Gil is off hunting. He might have some extra experience already." ra did not want to put Su down but she did hope to spark a little rivalry so the party would push harder. Since they were going to the deep sun hollow forest she had been doing some research and was fearful that they would have trouble with the stronger monsters.


    "I know we asked you to be our manager and we have really benefited from the things you bring. But have faith that we can get the quest done. We have surprised you before right?" Su took a little line from something Walker would say to try and put ra at ease, however, it seemed to have an opposite effect.


    "Surprises are what i am worried for...I am a young person you know, way too young to have my heart stop every time you all do something crazy." ra was slightly pale remembering the many explosive bursts of experience she had seen them game.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 306 - 306. Gil Returns

    "How did you sparring partners fair?" Su asked Walker as he met them at the back entrance to the guild.


    "They seem...tired. Not sure why.." He was avoiding eye contact knowing full well that it was his fault for sending the fire dolls after them. He may have started with good intentions but now the young party would be slightly traumatized.


    "Right. Tired is the word." ra still shook her head at Walker knowing exactly why he was avoiding eye contact. "How much longer until you all decide to leave for the deep sun hollow forest? Will you take any of the quests I lined up for you before you leave?'' ra had been sorting through many quests and slowly but surely passing them on to the other guild staff. The change in guild criteria for testing were slowly taking effect.


    "We should be leaving in a day or so. We need to get all of our gear finished. I am sure Gil will be hard at work making some new arrows since he finally has arrow heads for his withering wood arrow shafts. Remey in theory is already done learning how to make high potions so i will ask her to make antidotes for poison and rot. That should set us up well for the deep sun hollow forest. Other than that just basic stuff." Walker rattled the list off he had been building in his head.


    Looking much happier about the party''s position hearing that they were preparing diligently she decided to share some of the projects she had been working on. "That''s good. I expect you will take some quests on the way there too. Speaking of quests, I have been using the change to heroic quests I gained from your party upgrades. The guild is nning to change the way we approve testing a little. The more heroic quests done the better the chance of approval for a tier advancement test. This is just between us for now though. It is better if it happens naturally."


    She usually would not share such things with a party but since they were the specific cause of the change she decided that it was only right to share what she was doing with what they had given her. "That sounds like a great decision. So many more people can be helped." Su was ecstatic to hear this. She was thinking of all the people they had just helped at the fire and could be helped in the future if such quests became amon quest for adventurers. This could change the way the kingdom youth thought in the future. They could be a more caring and kind kingdom.


    "Yes, I think so too. If it all goes well then the guild will be rising in fame as well. This could spur a whole new generation toe." ra was standing high on this and could only think about how she wanted to get back to making this change. The real challenge would be to figure out how to decide which quotes were heroic or not if she was not the one viewing them. It would be impossible for her to sort every single quest at every single guild location in the world.


    "Well I wish you luck ra. If you need help let us know. Not that we can give out quests or sort them." Walkerughed a little while looking in the direction of the mansion.


    "Yes yes, you go back and meet Gil. If my map says anything it shows he is back at the mansion now." ra knew that was something Walker was worrying over and decided to reveal the spoiler."


    "Perfect! Then we will see you the day we leave for the forest." The pair waved as they headed down the street.


    "Well we will have our mansion furnished while we are away. Gale will have a teacher and an entire new vige to explore. We have gotten some decent training in. And Gil should be finishing up his arrows. We only need to ask Remey for the antidote potions and we will be ready for our next adventure. We are a little early too." Walker was nearly bouncing while he recounted their current state.


    "Have you looked in to the monsters that roam the deep sun hollow forest yet?" Su had not done any research yet but she knew that Walker would have definitely looked about for a few things in the library.


    "So far i have only read about the basic monsters that live there. The goblins should be little problem as long as we avoid any caves we find. They are considered low level monsters and only pose problems in their dens. There are some nt based monsters but I had only seen some names with no descriptions so I guess they are too rare to worry over too much. What I am most concerned over is the monstrous mushroom species. They can have a bunch of different effects when they release spores. Some can paralyze, others poison, and some just do nothing."


    "So we should be prepared to deal with them the most, any ideal way to fight them?'' Su couldn''t say that she was able to do anything with his information. She had no way to stop something so small like spores which were like pollen or dust in the air.


    "Water magic or fight them in the rain. We could also use ranged attacks and just stay away from them when we defeat them. The thing is some of their bodies can be made in to valuable medicine or potions, so we will want to harvest them." Walker was still struggling with the idea and decided that he should try working with water magic. He wanted to use his new weapon but he would need to hold that for the purple slimes decaying the forest.


    "So it sounds like you will be practicing a little when we get back." Su couldn''t help but smile knowing that Walker would be a little upset that he couldn''t keep swinging around his hammer. "It''s funny that you always end up with magic even when you get other weapons. It''s like you''re fated."


    "Oh, Ha ha. Make fun of the wannabe front line fighter that keeps falling for the temptation of magic." Walker and Su went on like this for the remainder of the walk to the mansion. Before they even entered the gate they saw that Gil''s mother was hare at work upkeep the nts. The weeping willow tree had reallye in to its own after her mastery skill was used. She had been hard at work making sure it was stable and there were even buds forming for it to flower for the first time naturally.


    "Finally back from your little trip hey? Well get over to that forge and tell Gil he needs toe help me out. He owes me for leaving without telling me again." She smiled sneakily, this was the price Gil must usually pay for rushing off to hunt with his father without telling her.


    With a smile Walker did exactly as he was asked. He went right to the forge finding Gil to be ying with the arrow heads already. "Walker, you''re just in time! I need some of the elemental crystals so I can use a new skill. The arcane marksman is more than just a marksman. I can fire elemental arrows using my mana yes but they are practically weak good for nothing. The real power is adding those elemental arrows to physical arrows. It''s a fusion! If I can use the elemental crystals as a base then I can fuse the energy in to an arrow. The best part? I would be making tins of crystal shards for our friend here to y with."


    The excitement made Gil spit all of this out at once making it hard to Understand. Naturally Su turned right around deciding to let Walker handle the mess of words that was just thrown out. There was an excited smile on the wandering cksmith''s face too, it would seem that Gil had already exined this new skill to him and he was eager to get his hands on more of the elemental crystal shards so he could use them to create mana storage gems for future gear.


    "So wait, this skill would take the elemental mana from a crystal. Then it would fuse it in to a regr arrow. Then you would use your skill to fuse the two in to a powerful arrow that did physical and elemental magic damage?" Walker wanted to clear up the mess Gil had just exined.


    "Yes! That''s it. So I need every element possible of crystals so I can make a ton of different arrows. I need earth crystals if we can buy them. I have no idea what the light or the dark elemental crystals would add but I want to try them. I figure who cares about adding poison or anything to my arrows since the elemental mana will be better¡­" Gil was rambling on more and more.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 307 - 307. Old Bones

    "Gil! Listen, you definitely should make a ton of the elemental arrows and I will store them in my inventory. Then you can use whatever ones you want in a set. But I want you to use the horned rabbits paralyzing poison to make some paralyzing arrows too. I would prefer to have some arrows that won''t kill an opponent. Some situations don''t need us to kill things." Walker was dead set in this and Gil did not look like he would argue.


    "Fine, but we need to get more crystals so i can use the my new arrow crafting skill." Gil practically bounced in ce. He had lost a lot of his normal coolness after figuring this out. However the more walker looked at him the more he realized something. Gil''s eyes were sunken in and he had dark circles under them. His body had plenty of scratches from traveling through the brush in the woods in search of prey.


    "Actually first you need to go help your mother since she said to have you go meet her in the garden. Then you need to rest since it looks like you haven''t slept since you left." This was final, Walker would not let up on this for any reason. If Gil was going to rush off to train it was fine, but there was no way Walker would let him train to death.


    "But I need to test this dagger and make-"


    "Nope, your mother. Then go rest. Then you can y with the arrows and the dagger. I will even get the crystals all set up for you while you sleep." Walker gave a little but still refused to let Gil get away without resting. "And here I thought Remey would be the one that I would have to yell at about rest. Did you notice that the alchemyb wasn''t putting out smoke when you got back? That''s because she realized she needed rest." Walker used his trump card. If Gil knew that he wasgging behind everyone including Remey who was more stubborn he would have to go rest.


    Gil stood up and left the forge grumbling about wanting to try out his new dagger. Bur Walker paid him no mind since he knew his party would have made him rest too. It was all a part of being a family. They needed to look out for each other even when one of them was being way too stubborn for their own good.


    Walker left the wandering cksmith who was still tinkering with a few small things left over from the materials he had been given. It was clear that he refused to waste a single bit of material. The odds and ends had be household tools like knives, rakes, and there was even the start of a wood cutting ax. Walker couldn''t help but wonder how many people had kitchen knives made of dragon scales.


    When Walker came to the front garden again to see how Gil was doing he found that Remey and Su were standing next to Gil and his mother looking at the ground. Midnight had even made her way outside and was growling at a small mound of dirt that seemed to be rising up higher by the second.


    '' Long term quest: Return of life has beenpleted.


    Requirement:


    Bring back four species of extinct nts.


    Reward:


    1000 exp multiplied to 10000 exp


    A visit''


    Walker and the party hadpletely forgotten this quest that had shown up when the immortal king had given walker the seeds from his city before it fell to ruin. "Guys get away from that! This has to be that ancient Lich!"


    The rest of the party heard him and jumped back away from the rising mound of dirt. Gil''s mother had no idea what was going on but hearing that there could be danger she followed the others and stood behind them. Midnight was still growling louder and louder as the mound of dirt grew.


    Soon brown pieces of rotted wood started to show. The mound was falling away revealing arge decrepit coffin. There were roots and small insects crawling from it. The aura of death and smell of rot was strong. "Ahhh, I only have five of these coffins left. It takes a few years worth of energy to use them and project my consciousness. But I did leave you with a task. You humanspleted it a little faster than i expected." The familiar voice of Immortal King caused them all to freeze.


    "Hmm no greeting, and here I thought you would all be happy to hear my voice." The malice dripped from each word as the rotten brown coffin started to fall to pieces revealing a barley help together skeleton. There were bits of cloth that hung to the bones along with various ck lines on the bones. It looked like it had been infected. "I use one of my most valuable magics to see the results of your work and nothing. Well at least I am present to see the blooming of the weeping willow. However I seem to be too early, a shame." The voice was strangely sad but Walker could see bits of bones falling off.


    "We were just surprised that you actually came to visit so soon, Wee to our home." Walker was afraid that the Immortal King could do something terrible. He had no idea that he could escape the ancient ruins.


    "I will only be able to project myself for a little while longer, I have not escaped the ursed ruins of my home. But I am d to have used this magic now. You all look a little different." The skeleton''s jaw cked together as if it wasughing at them. "You in particr look the most different, a true hero title? That worthless Cosmos would loathe to have you in his sights." The cking of the skeleton''s jaws increased as more of the bones lost pieces.


    "Oh little dragon, how did you like the condensed understanding I gifted you. Very valuable right?'' Midnight shrunk away while still growling. However she did not look to be running. It looked like she was instead waiting for a chance to attack. "Don''t go doing something you will regret. I may not have any power using these old bones, but if you anger me I will release thergest swarm of undead in your direction possible. You have no idea the true depth of our catbs." The threat made every single one of them retreat backwards yet again.


    The skeleton ignored the party and touched upon the oozing vines. It looked to be remembering something fondly and did not speak. The blood fruit bushes were small but had sproutedrge enough to show off sprouts of small green leaves."These are doing well...You human farmers have advanced much better over thest decades¡­"


    Walker looked at the others. They didn''t look like they wanted to even speak on thepliment that was just given to them. "Even more surprising is this weeping willow. We had little saplings like this one lining out streets.'' The skeleton had approached and reached out to touch the unbloomed buds of the weeping willow.


    Walker couldn''t help but wonder howrge the weeping willow was supposed to get if Immortal King considered therge tree to be a sapling still. "We thank you for thepliments. We took your words to heart and tried our best to grow the seeds you left in our care. We even asked for a farmer with a mastery skill to help us out. That is how the weeping willow is grown so tall already."


    Walker had hope that his polite response would keep the Lich in a pleasant mood. "Where is the spirit lily? You could not have started to grow it already, or have you?" The skeleton looked about and waited for a response. The empty eye sockets of the skeleton were degrading fairly fast but not fast enough. They still held a sense of impending doom.


    "It is in the back training pond, it needs to be left untouched or else it will die and we will be unable to rent again." Gil''s mother spoke up. The shaky voice she used was showing her fear for the craziness that was happening. This was something that she could never have imagined happening in her lifetime.


    "You must be the farmer...interesting. Then show me the spirit lily, I mayck power but I should be able to feed it before I leave. I want those to exist again most of all." It looked like the desire to see some of his city to return was more powerful than wasting time on other things. Walker could not even start to understand how this would feel.


    With a deep breath and some shaky first steps, Gil''s mother started to walk around the mansion to the pond in the training field. The skeleton that was being used by Immortal King was right behind her. Not a word was being spoken as they walked.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 308 - 308. Safe

    The second the translucent leaves and stems were seen softly swaying in the water Undead King stopped. It was clear that it was lost in thought. "You must spread these seeds as far as possible. Bring them back to the world. If you can manage this I will promise to spare your kingdom when I inevitably escape our self made prison. We will bring the undead swarm and consume that worthless experiment. Our new city shall rise." The lines on the skeleton that had been wrapped around it started to fade and the skeleton''s dposition elerated.


    "You have impressed us, such young beings have done something we were unable to do in our deadnd. Do not disappoint me." The skeleton turned to dust fully and drifted to the spirit lily in the pond. The dust dissolved in to the water and the lily seemed to glow with a spiritual light. There was a profound auraing from it.


    Once the light faded the spirit lily looked much more sure in it''s foundation. There was a feeling that it could burst in to growth at any moment. The party all released a breath at the same time. The nerves they had felt were intense. "I forgot about that quest...It feels like it has been years.." Remey was pale and had small beads of sweat on her forehead.


    "So did I, who thought that it woulde here¡­" Su was equally pale after the visit; that was a reward for the quest they had received when Walker obtained the seeds from Immortal King.


    "You five are going to take some time to exin why a coffin just popped out of the garden and opened up to a skeleton that said it would send a swarm of undead here if it was unhappy; right?" Gil''s mother had regained her voice and was understandably shaken.


    "Well apparently the lich that lived in the ancient ruins can send its consciousness outside for a short time...It is news to us as well. We even forgot the quest showed up after it gave us these seeds." Walker tried to be a little positive but the entire situation was unprecedented.


    "Guys...do we need to report this?" Gil spoke up finally, the tiredness in his voice seeping out. This encounter had been enough to push him to his limit and he was ready to sleep in thewn if he needed to.


    "I don''t think any good wille from telling anyone that an ancient lich just showed up to visit our garden. Plus...it said it had no power in that form." Walker could only see the chaos that woulde from telling someone about what had just happened.


    Midnight had finally rxed and stopped her growling, but she was still very unsettled. It would take all day for her toe out of her stressed situation. From her shadow a familiar serpent started to slither, Onyx had refused to budge an inch when the presence of Immortal King had shown itself. "Brother, I hope that you never invite this guest again. I could barely move through the shadows." Onyx had felt trapped the second the aura hit him. His ability to move was suffocated.


    "If hees again I don''t think we could say no¡­" Walker looked at everyone to see that they had no arguments. The general consensus was not to let anyone else know of this. "I think this is a good enough time to end the day...We can start in on some things tomorrow." There were nods and yeses from everyone as they headed inside to wait for dinner and get some sleep to reset after the strange visit from Immortal King.


    Not a single member of the party escaped the troubled dreams of the catbs while they slept. Even Gil''s mother had strange dreams of skeletal flours popping out of her garden in ce of everything she tried to grow. Having the sunlighte in to their rooms to wake them was a breath of fresh air for sure.


    Walker hopped out of bed pushing the dreams to the back of his mind and decided that he would head out early to grab some of the elemental crystals Gil would like to use for his arrows. It was interesting to think on what the effects of the different crystals could be. Between water and fire all Walker could imagine were bursts of each element. The earth elemental crystals he would be looking for would be the first time he would have them. They would be new to him along with any air elemental crystals.


    The thing about the air elemental crystals were that they were the same element that Gil''s bow could naturally make arrows out of. So would they be stronger or would they be useless because they would have the same result? While he pondered these things the streets and buildings passed him by, he was soon standing in front of the forge which seemed to be more or less silent in the early hours.


    He was not surprised to see a familiar face drowsing at the counter. "Good morning Rodney. Looking busy as always." The boy jumped a little at the sudden voice he had not expected to show up.


    "Walker, wee. It is just opening now. We haven''t really started any work since we try to keep certain hours quiet for the surrounding neighbors." This was a long known agreement with the forge due to the sleepless nights that the neighbors always experienced during the busiest of merchant seasons.


    "Well I am not here to cause any noise, just wondering what you have for elemental mana crystals today. I am mainly looking for earth and wind elements. I will also take more light and dark. Water and fire can wait if you do not have many."


    "You are lucky indeed. We have arge shipment of many crystals from the mines up north justst night. They brought a lot of different crystals that we are still separating in the back. We can do a packaged deal if you want a hundred of every single type?'' Rodney had been reallying in to his own. The time at the counter dealing with customers was turning him in to a faux merchant. This deal wasrge but since Walker definitely had the money Rodney offered it to him.


    Walker could not help but rebuttal since Rodney seemed so optimistic in his role after being found nearly Asleep at the desk. "Make it one hundred and fifty of each crystal and I will spare you the task of delivery." He smiled knowing that this was something that could save them a lot of time. Delivery was usually the most tiresome part of the forging process because sometimes the crafted items were too unwieldy to just carry home, especially if they were a gift or new sets of armor. Therefore the forge would hire an adventure to deliver them or personally need to deliver them.


    "You got it." Rodney ducked behind the counter and in to a back room where a lot of shuffling and voices could be heard. The order took a decent amount of time to be put together since the shipment had juste in but Walker did not mind. He had been thinking about what he would do when he returned. He couldn''t say he was interested in what Gil''s new skill looked like but if he got too caught up in it he would end up learning how to make arrows infused with elements. This was not a skill he was in dire need for. Instead he was much more in need of the water magic which could deal with the more dangerous monsters in the deep sun hollow forest.


    A few buff men came out from the back and ced crates down containing all the elemental mana crystals that Rodney had just asked for. They recognized Walker from his visits prior and also from him running around the lower tier before he got his system. They were pretty excited to see him store away the crystals and pay for them since it was all the more motivation to work harder. They were seeing someone who had lived in the same ce as them rise up to the higher tier with the nobles. He even lived in a mansion now.


    "Come visit again!" Rodney yelled after him as Walker headed out the door. The only thing now on his mind was what water magic he should try and learn. As he wandered home while his thoughts continuously fell on to some form of Ice. This was mainly because he could use it to restrain a target. On top of that it would hit hard physically. The only problem was that ice could take him time to form due to the changing season. He would be better off learning to make some form of easily maneuverable spell with water alone.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 309 - 309. Smooth Moves

    With his crystal in the inventory and a slow walking pace Walker enjoyed the peaceful morning. He liked wandering the lower tier and waving to the guards he knew. Seeing the workers and merchants setting up was a calming experience for him since he knew just how important they were to the city as a whole. These people were the ones that sold and traded food and other important goods. When even one didn''t show up or had a rough time the entire chain was affected.


    After the surprise visit the other day he needed this time to himself to really unwind and get himself ready to go on another adventure. Before he had gone to bed he scoured the library so he could find a few books on the elements and how they worked together. He had ced four of them that spoke of the light element and its influence on the other elements. He was nning on stopping by the cathedral on his walk home so that he could give them to Alice. He wanted to make sure that he said his goodbyes before he was gone for who knew how long investigating the purple slimes.


    When the cathedral came in to view he saw that there were still a decent amount of tents in front and taking up space in the square. However on his way passed the previously burned down carpenter''s quarters which already had an entire floor of structure built. There were many people moving around preparing pieces for the day''s building. Therefore looking at the tents still at the cathedral Walker rested easy knowing that their homes were soon to return.


    The steps had a few people sitting on it and enjoying the sunny morning. They waved and greeted Walker, easily remembering his face from his assistance in the healing of many of them. "Back again so soon? Should I try to recruit you as a member of the church at this rate?'' The high priest was resting on a chair by the entrance. He seemed to be greeting thoseing in first thing in the morning.


    "Well, I would like to say yes to that. But I am actually about to leave again for some time. I found a few books Alice may like and wanted to top by and drop them off." He seemed a little embarrassed saying it now but the high priest seemed pretty happy to hear this.


    "She just got up and is in the garden reading. You will be a pleasant surprise with the new books. She already read three of the five she selected before. I feel like there is never enough to keep her upied these days." The high priest shook his head in defeat. He had scoured all the nearby book stores for some other books on the light element but all there were copies of ones they already had. The ones that seemed to be there that she had not read were ones that were not applicable to what she wanted to learn.


    Walker remembered the way and headed off. He found the back garden and the gazebo Alice waszily reading in. She was wearing apletely white sun dress that swayed in the breeze. Walker stood stunned for a few minutes before he was able to gather himself and head to the gazebo himself.


    Before Alice even realized it was him he had pulled out the books he had brought and sat down. "So I thought you would want to read these too." How smile and casual tone was his attempt to act cool, however, his entire persona was dispelled when Alice looked at him with a surprised smile. He was lost yet again looking at her.


    Before he could say another word she had slid over to sit next to him and stole the books from his grasp. She started to look through them while leaning on him. Any other person it would be rude but since the two had grown closer and closer at every meeting Walker could only be happy that she was next to him.


    "I also wanted to let you know that I should be heading to the deep sun hollow forest in a day or two. Of course you are wee to go and browse the library while we are gone but sadly I won''t be there to help you out finding anything."


    Walker knew that she would not need his help but offering it was the point. Plus just keeping each otherpany was the main reason to read in the library there instead of just staying home alone.


    He knew that he had just dashed her joy at having some new reading material since her eyes looked much more sad. But she did not fallpletely because she knew that he would be returning full of stories to tell her. She hadtched on to one of his sleeves holding him to the bench of the gazebo while opening the page of the book she was reading. "Well, I am not leaving right away. I nned to spend some time here anyways. If you really want I can even stay and practice some water magic here instead of home." His offer was more because he couldn''t use the training pond. If he disturbed the spirit lily it could die, so he would need to practice elsewhere anyways.


    Hearing that he would stay and even train there Alice marked her page and stood up. Walker had no idea where she was going but when he stood up she raised a hand and waved at him to stop. Sitting there he waited while listening to the birds tweeting and pping around in the bushes. Before he knew it Alice had returned carrying arge basin of water in her hands. The slow steady steps and the slight droplets on her dress.


    Walker jumped up and grabbed the basin from her. "I know that I said I would stay and try to practice water magic but you didn''t need to run and get a bunch for me." Walker was embarrassed that she would run off to do something like this for him so suddenly.


    "I can help." Her melodic voice made the sunlight shift slightly andpletely stopped Walker in his tracks. He was still surprised any time she used the mana she had to speak.


    "You know if I could hear your voice every day of my life I think I would be living a dream." Yet another slick phrase he had heard from he guards growing up just popped in to his head and fell out his mouth before he could realize it.


    Alice''s reaction was the immediate flush of read and tuning away from Walker while he was embarrassed in his own right. The water basin slipped from his hands and sshed him slightly on the face dragging him back to reality and away from Alice. The sudden ssh made herugh which in turn made the sunlight swift in to a few additional colors again.


    "I might not be able to focus here if I try to learn something¡­" He mumbled this barely loud enough for Alice to hear. He was more talking to himself but out of worry she grabbed his sleeve again and decided that while Walker sat down to focus on learning something about water magic, that his back would be her own backrest for reading.


    While the two now sat back to back Alice continued her books and Walker start to meditate and sense the water mana within the water basin. He tried to fall in to the meditative state faster but he was too focused on the person leaning on his back. It took him nearly triple the time to calm himself and actually start to properly focus on how the water was rippling with every single little breeze in the back garden of the cathedral.


    He was using the grand elemental maniption to make the water rotate in a whirlpool. The flow of the water was much stronger than manipting the air. The water had more weight behind it and could drag along stronger things. The wind would naturally be easier to resist but would be faster overall.


    Seeing the difference in the two difference elements were the start of how he would go about influencing this element. They could both move in simr fashion and Walker even knew that Air could carry small amounts of evaporated water. This was proven by rain clouds and snowstorms. The question was how could he use that to make an attack?


    Realizing he had gotten ahead of himself and was about to try and fuse two elements before he even learned how to manipte the single one and have skills he could use for it, Walker re-focused himself on the water alone. The little whirlpool he made was easy to start but much tougher to stop or even reverse.


    Since the water was held down by its own weight, getting it to rise up was more of a challenge, however he started to notice that the water did not like to be separated into pieces but preferred to stay together. He decided that he should build on this fact and moved in to a new technique.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 310 - 310. Chilly Skills

    The water could stay together and easily twist and change shape. If he couldn''t force it to go back and stop the started motion then he could just use the motion he started to reach an opponent. Within his mind he imagined that the water was being shaped in to a form of rope. If he could make the water act this way he could use it to stop an opponent from moving and even freeze the water rope in to ice to make it stronger. Both ideas were sound. However he found that this water rope he was creating was reacting strangely.


    When he would influence one side the rope would reverberate all the way to the opposite end, somehow with a stronger force. This was just like when he made the whirlpool. The spinning seemed to gain more and more force as the water pushed itself. The slight pop he heard for the water rope was even more of a surprise since he could feel the very end of the water rope splitting off some very fast moving droplets.


    The first idea that entered his mind was that he should freeze these droplets if they will fly off the end anyways. With this idea in mind he focused his mana on creating the rope and holding its shape so that it could fit in to his hand and easily stretch to meet an opponent.


    He formed it seven times before he found a way to make it stay in shape when he tougher it. The amount of water that he had pulled out if the basin was nearly half and the amount of mana he had used was just about a third. The rope hitting his hand and not breaking was a joyful moment since Walker could feel how unstable this was.


    Before he tried to do anything to cause force to travel through the water rope or freeze any of it, Walker decided to try and understand how to stabilize it. The slow rotation of the watering from the part in his hand and flowing down in a soft pointed end of the rope made him wonder why it might fall apart. His answer came when he shifted his hand and felt that the calm flow became more erratic.


    Walker realized that the flow was disrupted by his own shifting and that he would need to manipte the elemental mana so that it would speed up or slow down ordingly. This started to take a toll on him because he needed to factor in even the smallest twitches he made as he moved the water rope up and down, let alone in big motions.


    He spent some time on this but after a few movements he felt that he had started to fully understand the way he needed to change the flow of water elemental mana when he moved. The challenge came with feeling the water elemental mana at the end of the water rope but through practice he would be able to fully master this technique.


    When Walker finally feltfortable with the mana flowing in the rope in his hand he decided to send a few pulses of energy through it. The resounding effect was a huge increase of chaotic flow in the water pushing against itself, the resulting crack at the end of the rope shot off a few drops. The dropsnded softly on the tree nearby and didn''t seem to do much.


    With this feeling locked in to his brain Walker focused on trying to make the tip of the water rope freeze while staying attached to the liquid mana rope. The result was a frozen point forming at the end that transitions in to a slushy end to the mana rope. It eventually moved back in to the liquid state in his hand.


    Feeling that the change had been made and was still holding stable he sent another pulse of mana through the water rope. Its reaction was much stronger and the crack at the end was simr to shattering ice. Three small thunks resounded through the garden as Walker saw that three small ice needles had lodged in to the tree and frozen the surface.


    ''The user has learned the skill frost whip. The skill has been taken from the snow queen system.


    Frost whip- 2+ mana cost


    The user creates a whip of water. The water can change from solid to liquid form to release a ice needles from the end. The ice needles carry condense water mana that can cause freezing upon contact. The entire whip can be frozen and changed back to liquid state by the user as they desire.''


    Walker smiled and looked at the frosty whip in his hands. The water was mostly liquid in his hands by the end and was nearly totally frozen. There was a soft blue light when the sun shone throughout and reflected on the frosty ice crystals within the water.


    "Hahahah I did it. I can use this in the forest no problem." He was ecstatic about the new weapon he could create out of water, in the forest he could rely on this for some rangebat, to subdue an opponent, and even freeze in to multiple shapes to support or hold things.


    Walker looked around and found that Alice was not resting on his back but watching him manipte the frost whip he had just finished up. He realized that his crossed legs were insanely stiff and that the sun had started to sink down. He had practiced well past lunch and in to the evening. "Oh, it''s been hours hasn''t it?..." Alice nodded but did not take her eyes off of the frost whip in his hands. "Want me to show off with a little bit more mana before I leave?''


    The nodding of Alice''s head made him wonder if she could control herself. With his target locked on to one of the stones in the garden Walker stood up and waved his hand, sending the whip in to motion. The flow he made caused arge arch to be made and another ice shattering crack.


    The three ice needles that flew off of the frost whip made contact with the stolen and quickly covered it in a thinyer of ice. The surprising part was that the ice needles actually stuck in to the surface creating three small holes in the stone.


    These three holes may have been small but they were enough to show that there was more power in the whip that he expected. Not letting up, Walker made the whip extend andtch on to the rock then freeze in ce. He broke off the end of the whip and then turned it back to water, Unfortunately because the frozen part was not attached it stayed as ice. "Looks like I have to keep this in contact if I want to turn it back and forth.


    When he attached the liquid part to the frozen part it was able to be manipted again. Walker felt that he had a good starting idea of where the ws would lie in this skill. If hecked water to start up the skill it would take a lot of time to make a whip out of natural moisture in the air. If he lost part of the whip he would either need toe in to contact with it again or he would need to make another.


    Doing this in battle would be tough but that was why he had party members with him, he would be able to stop an opponent and they could go in for the attack. If they battled the monstrous mushroom species then he would be able to turn the mana in to water to soak the mushroom and prevent the spores. This was his best idea to prevent the possible risks they would face. Coupled with Remey, who would be making the antidote potions, the party would be much safer when facing these monsters.


    Feeling his mana getting low Walker let the frost whip melt in to liquid form and fall to the ground. Alice had watched his little show and wished she would watch more. She was only able to control one element and anytime she saw Walker use another it was an amazing thing in her eyes.


    "I really hate to say this, but I should go. I need to prepare to leave in a day. I am d we could spend time together. I know I was practicing and you were reading but it''s nice just spending the time." Walker talked himself in circles not full wanting to go. Alice felt the same but eventually they needed to part.


    Alice gave him a tight hug and whispered in his ear before he left, "Come back safe." Walker had heard her speak more than usual today and was over the moon hearing these words.


    "I will bring you a good story!" He gave a wave as he headed toward the mansion.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 311 - 311. Arcane Arrows

    The second that Walker came in to view Gil spotted him from the garden. He had been pulling weeds since he didn''t have the materials to start work on his arrows like he had wanted. "Where have you been? You were gone almost all day!"


    Walker wanting to show off a little gave him a small smirk, "You want to see what I have been doing all day?" He went over to the pump for water and pulled up some in to a barrel. Walker used his new skill pulling the water out of the barrel and creating the frost whip. "I have just been working on this little trick."


    Walker swung the whip sending the pulse through it and causing a loud crack of breaking ice. The ice needlesnded in the ground causing a small sheen of frost to form over the weeds Gil had been plucking. "Ah! Really? That''s how you wanted to show me? By scaring me half to death?"


    While Gil yelled back at Walker in annoyance, Walker was doubled overughing. Once he had finally started to breathe calmly and Gil had stopped ranting the two could finally speak normally. "I was thinking that skill could be useful when we leave. I just got caught up learning it and by the time I realized it was already well past noon, sorry¡­"


    "Ehh, it''s fine. I needed to help out with the weeds in the strawberry rows anyways. I guess mom and miss. Hilda are nning on making strawberry jam to save for when we get back, so I need to put the work in now." Gil brushed the dirt from his pants and hands. "Want to drop the crystals off at the forge so we can get started."


    The two chatted about their morning and what Walker''s new frost whip skill could do. Gil was very happy to hear that his archery would be a huge advantage when fighting the monstrous mushroom species. He had been practicing adding the elemental mana in to arrows and he had some tricks he wanted to show off.


    "So you showed Midnight your new favorite sun bathing spot?" Walker spotted Onyx and Midnight the second the rounded the corner.


    "You''re back brother. We knew you woulde here so we waited for you. Sister said she was hungrier than usual and wanted to ask you if you had any good food." Walker was surprised, however he had expected that she would be going through a growth spurt with her system and bloodline changing. Having such a powerful dragon champion bloodline awaken must take a lot more nutrients than the mixed bloodline that was previously dominant.


    "I managed to find a bunch of crystals when I went out shopping. You can take some of the light crystals too. Whatever you don''t eat and Gil doesn''t use for his arrows will be stock for the forge. It''s a long term investment." Since he had spent way too much gold on so many crystals Walker knew that he would have to justify it.


    Gil waspletely unfocused when it came to the price, he knew that the party had more gold than they had ns for so he just went right in to the forge and started getting prepared. The wandering cksmith was tinkering with a set of kitchen knives and saw them enter. He kept an eye on them curious on what they would be doing while he tinkered away.


    "Alight, so here are the light crystals, and here are the darkness crystals." Walker opened the smaller crates for Onyx and Midnight to get at while he pulled the others out of his inventory. "Fire, water, earth, andst but not least air. There we go. What are you going to start on first?"


    Walker was looking at Gil wanting to see what his sill was all about. "Not sure I will be starting all the way, it looks like Midnight it getting started first." Gil pointed at Midnight who had taken a mouthful of each crystal and piled them up in front of her.


    "Umm, what are you trying to do-" Walker was going to ask when she started chomping down on all of them. Instead of just eating the darkness crystals she was eating some of each element.


    "Sister said they all smell good." Onyx''s exnations from Midnight was short but just like her.


    "So, I guess she can and will eat every elemental crystal now¡­" Gil was just looking at the scene in awe.


    "I guess so...must be the change in her bloodline. A dragon champion couldn''t be limited by one element if they are a champion among dragons." Walker found this conclusion simple. A dragon champion would need scales toughened by every element to withstand attacks from different elemental dragon attacks.


    Midnight didn''t even pay them a single look, instead, she just made a low growl to show that she heard them then returned to snacking. Meanwhile, Onyx found a small pile of light elemental crystals for himself and wrapped around it. He looked like he was sleeping as the light element danced around his scales.


    "Well Want to see a mana crystal break faster than you have ever seen before?" Gil said this but was interrupted by a clear cracking sound. "Exactly, as fast as that.'' He tried to keep a straight face as he acted high and mighty but the fact that Onyx was already absorbing the light elemental mana faster than he could create an arrow was all too clear.


    "You said we would need water right?" Gil grabbed a few water elemental mana crystals and sat down at the work table. He had ced five arrows on it and was examining the arrowheads looking to start infusing the elemental mana in to them. "The trick is to get the mana to get from here to here. If i can do that without breaking either of these then we are golden."


    Walker wanted to ask some questions but Gil had already gotten in to motion. He held the arrow head to the water elemental mana crystal and started to use his skill to manipte the mana to push in to the arrow head. Since the spikes were hollow to begin with there was a hollow point left in the arrow head. This only helped give the mana a ce to go.


    He could see that the mana crystal was starting to crack slightly as the elemental mana was being pulled out of it. Gil was exerting a lot of effort to make this happen and his scrunched up face showed exactly that. Walker could feel how the mana was trying to force its way out in to the open air but Gil was using his own mana to force it to move in to the arrow head.


    This entire process had taken nearly five minutes but with the dim blue light the water elemental mana crystal had disappeared and the crystal shattered in his hand. The shards dropped on to the table out of his hand and the arrow head had gained a blue tint.


    "That is how you make a water elemental mana infused arrow." Gil looked at Walker with a fool''s smile. The sweat that dripped down his face made him look a lot less cool than he believed himself to be.


    Walker did not miss this chance to use his all around appraisal skill to check the arrow out. He was more and more thankful for this skill every day.


    '' Wither spike arrow (water element): Activation 3 mana cost


    This arrow has been made from a rare wither wood tree and a spiked shell bug. The unique blend of materials created the perfect vessel for elemental mana and poison. Depending on the mana infused in to this physical arrow there will be a magical reaction upon contact.


    Water element has been infused in to this wither spike arrow. The result upon contact will cause high amounts of water element to be attracted to the target. This will cause water attracted to form sharp ice spikes within seconds.''


    "That''s actually pretty amazing. You know what this can do right?" Walker was amazed that Gil had been able to find all of this out in just a short hunting trip with his father.


    Gil didn''t look Walker in the eyes as Walker said this making him realize that he was off the mark. "Well...not exactly. I kind of broke like twenty arrows trying to infuse them with wind elemental arrows and fusing them with the wind arrow my bow made. I pretty much had the skill but couldn''t make it work until now." He wiped his forehead while looking at what he had created in his hands. "You guys want to go out and test this out? We will need to know for safety reasons when we are out fighting."


    Walker and the wandering cksmith did not even flinch as they stood up and headed out the door. No one had to tell them twice. "For safety." Walker echoed Gil as they went to the training field.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 312 - 312. Testing Arrows

    Three eagerly went to the training field and set up the nearest wood and straw dummy. Midnight and Onyx had stayed in the forge without any difference; they were way too focused on the elemental mana crystals they had to eat. Walker moved the dummy halfway across the training field from where they stood. "This should be far enough so we don''t get caught in any of the effects of the arrows." The wandering cksmith and Gil gave the thumbs up in approval.


    "I have been waiting forever to have these arrows just the way I wanted them. They are even better than I had hoped for. They are perfectly bnced and I can''t see any reason why they won''t fly straight. Let''s do this." Gil was radiating excitement as he drew his bow.


    The arrow pulled back swiftly in Gil''s hands until it looked like it couldn''t be pulled back any farther. There was a flow of mana from Gil to the arrow causing the arrow head to glow. The blue glow attracted their attention, Gil released the arrow as soon as the glow seemed to be at its height. His aim was perfect as usual and the arrow found its mark at the center of the training dummy.


    For a second they stood there thinking that nothing had happened. However, they were proven wrong in a blink of an eye. Water droplets seemed toe out of thin air and converge on the training dummy. It looks like it had been sitting out in a soft misty rain for hours. Then again, before they could blink, the water sprung out in to a burst of spiky ice. The arrow was left frozen in to the training dummy long with the ice that had pierced through it.


    The wandering cksmith rushed forward to see the results, he had never made arrows that had been infused with such magic before. He had the skills to make parts of the arrows like the arrow heads but he could not fully create an arrow unless it waspletely made of metal. Therefore he was often left having to partner with someone with archery skills who could carve the arrow shaft and add the fins to keep it flying straight. He felt that there was a lot to learn from seeing how the magically infused arrow head took the force from the change in the water element.


    Walker and Gil were right behind him finding that the crystal clear blue ice showed them everything they needed to know. The arrow hade in to contact and prated the training dummy but had been pushed back out by the freezing water. It left a slightly dented arrow head on the arrow, which was otherwise undamaged.


    "Looks like I will need to maintain the arrow heads when I use these arrows if I can get them back. The good news is if I do break the arrow head then I should be able to use the arrow shaft still. I wonder what will happen with the fire elemental arrow?"


    "I would assume the arrow head would be fine and the arrow shaft would burn. I think the darkness element when added could cause the entire arrow to decay. The earth element would probably cause the ground to spike like the ice but I have no clue on what the wind would do." Walker was trying to theorize what would happen with each element but couldn''t be sure of every single one. He hadn''t even mentioned the light element because he had no clue if it would even be able to use any damage.


    "Well, the wind would most likely just cause the same shing wind effect that my bow makes with its wind elemental arrow. I am not worried about it since I have an idea. I am more worried about what the elements I have no affinity for will do and how I can properly use them. If the darkness element makes the arrow decay along with the target then it could be trouble. What if I miss and hit something important? Or even worse what if the arrow is simr to a poison arrow and it doesn''t stop a monster in its tracks?"


    Gil was watching the ice start to melt slowly off of the dummy revealing more of the damage it had caused. He could tell that it had even pulled some of the moisture from inside the dummy to condense and formed spiky crystals of ice. Even if the enemy he hit with this arrow had survived it would leave a dire injury. This was good if he was trying to defeat the opponent but terrible if he hit something he did not mean to.


    "The withering wood is really an amazing material for the arrow shaft. It felt very natural when I draw it between my fingers. There was almost no resistance from the air as I released it." The feeling of releasing the arrow was stuck in his head, it was the smoothest process he had experienced since bing an archer.


    "There''s only one way to test everything else out and get you used to the feeling of the withering wood arrow shafts." Walker looked at Gil with a light in his eyes. The wandering cksmith was right there with him. The two wanted to see the other effects the infused arrows would have.


    "I can only make a few more today, I used up a lot of my mana this morning so it was harder to make this one properly." He was thinking that with his remaining mana he could only make about ten more arrows before he reached his limit, however he was not prepared for what Walker said next.


    "I can just go ask Remey for some of the mana potions she made while training. I need to make sure she can make some antidote potions for when we are in the forest anyway." Walker didn''t even look at Gil for an answer before he went toward the alchemyb. This left Gil to go back to the forge and get to work on making more of the elemental infused arrows. He nned to prioritize those that would cause the least damage to the forest if he missed since Walker had also been training different skills for such a reason.


    When Walker looked at the smoke stack on the top of their alchemyb he found that it was spewing white yellow smoke. It smelled very bitter and definitely was not from the same process Remey had been using the previous days.


    "Quick add the florescent fungus and stir as fast as possible to break it up." The old man''s voice was easily heard as Walker opened the door seeing the yellow potion being mixed by Remey as her life depended on it. The two were incredibly focused on what they were making and paid him no mind.


    The two added a few more smaller herbs that looked very absorbent and simr to mushrooms and funguses. They dissolved in to the bubbling yellow liquid while Remey stirred it vigorously. She had sweat pouring from her face but the determination In her eyes was hotter than the fire beneath the pot. "The lid, get the lid and cover it. We need to seal it and let it cool down overnight." Thest order from the old master alchemist made Remey nearly throw therge stirring stick to the floor. She mmed the cauldron lid down on to the top and started to wrap a cloth around the edges to seal everything inside.


    The lid tried to bounce off from the steaming from the still bubbling cauldron but it was too tightly fastened on to it. Remey sat down on the nearby stool and looked at Walker for the first time. "Come over here to see the antidote potions being made?"


    "Actually I was going to ask about them but you beat me to it. They look like a lot of work but I know it will be worth it." Walker was looking at the cauldron then to the shelves that were now lined with the potions Remey had used to practice since she got the upgraded system. From the looks of it, she had been constantly working to improve and memorize the actions she would need when making potions alone.


    "I also need to ask for some of the mana potions so Gil can keep making his new arrows. They pack a decent punch but he is running low on mana."


    "So you came all the way here? Are we invited to see what our hard work leads to? I want to know what I will need to avoid when he used them. If I am too close I am the one who could get hurt." Remey was too tired at the moment to act huffy but still managed to add a lit sarcasm in to her words.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 313 - 313. Reading Material

    Walker looked At the pair who seemed exhausted from their work. When he nced at the cauldrons two of them swerve sealed meaning that they were both full of the antidote potion. If the two had taken so much out of them then Walker was sure that they wouldn''t be able to make a third, or at least Remey would be unable to while the old master alchemist would need to do it alone.


    "Bahh I''m not really interested in some magical arrows. I will just stay here and try to experiment on the oozing vine more. I want that other bush to bloom and grow berries but Hilda said it would be another two weeks." The old man seemed unhappy to have to wait for another herb to experiment with.


    "Hey Remey, have you shown him the notes from the family that previously lived here?" Walker had realized that in all the time the master alchemist had been around they had not bothered to show him the shelves of journals in the basement.


    Her eyes widened and she looked at Walker like he had just opened up a grand understanding for her. "Ipletely forgot! Old man, we have something to show you for your research. But there are rules."


    Hearing that Remey was going to give the old man rules was a little surprising but Walker had wanted to do the same anyways. He would not allow there to be any harm or torture to monsters on the property ever again. If he had it his way it wouldn''t happen on the entire continent.


    "There are some darker experiments done by the woman who lived here before. She may have meant well but her actions were not so nice. You are not allowed to use live monsters or harm monsters for ingredients. It is fine to procure them safely and humanely but if you use any other means we will get rid of you." Remey said this with all her steel, she was tired but she still had the energy to properly get her values across.


    "Who do you think I am? You know what I am like and what I believe in. Now tell me what you have for me that could influence my years of research." The old man did not flinch at her words and responded with the same amount of steel as Remey. He knew how serious she was if she was bringing up her own morals.


    "Then before we get back to Gil let''s go to the library basement." Walker led the way. The old man was wondering why they were heading to the library since he had clearly seen that it did not have a basement at all when he had been there to see what books they had. He did not find anything he already knew or wanted to read so he had given up on the books there.


    When they reached the library and no one was around Walker made a point of closing and locking the doors. He knew that no one would go down and sift through things to cause any trouble but he wanted to make sure that the youngsters, like Maria and Gale, didn''t get stuck down there somehow. The way the entrance worked was secret and if they got stuck it would be a tragedy.


    When the entrance to the basement revealed itself the old man was stunned to say the east. In all his years he had not gone hunting for such ces and never had the reason to go to one. When he entered the basement he recognized the caked attached to the wall and knew exactly why they had said there were rules. He knew that the previous owner of the mansion must have used this area for their experiments.


    "The tools down here and the books are all free for you to use, some are harder to read since they are written by someone mentally unstable, but they are worthwhile for you I am sure." Walker pointed at the bookshelves full of journals that the party had already looked over. He worried that the old master alchemist would be sickened by some of the things written in them but also knew that some of the journals were written based on positive ideals.


    "Some of those tools look handmade, they must be for specific potions. Interesting¡­" The old man did not touch the journals yet since he knew that when he did he would not stop reading until he had found every single little bit of knowledge. He was also interested in seeing what the tools could be used for, it was not the first time seeing hand made tools. Many of the alchemists at the alchemist building would have tools made to be used for their specific research, oftentimes they were just more advanced versions of basic equipment.


    "A lot of these tools are useless since they are used for taking living samples, I do not work that way. However, this one looks like it''s used to keep the solids in a liquid while under pressure. This one is for removing seeds from a flower, ah and this is for shaving the skin off roots. Only a few moments passed and he had an entire armful of tools to bring up to the alchemyb.


    "Should I just start to store all the journals so you can look at them in the alchemyb?" Walker was beginning to see visions of many trips in and out of the library which would just end up wasting time.


    "Ah yes do that. I want every single one. I also want all the tools on the left side of the table that I sorted out." The old man was not picky at all and did not hold back. He requested everything so with the help from Remey the three of them got everything back up the stairs and out to the alchemyb.


    Once they had set everything in an easily essible ce for the old master alchemist to read and study from they grabbed a few of the lower tier mana potions Remey had been sessful in making while she practiced. "Now get out of here and let me have some peace to read. I will have all of these journals dealt with by the time you all get back from that quest of yours."


    With the old man shooing them out they had no choice but to oblige. "I can''t believe we showed him all those journals and he still rushed us out. It''s like he thinks I would distract him or something." Remey was naturally in a huff over it, but Walker saw right through her to the relief that she felt. She had been worried that when they left he would lock himself away at the alchemy building once again, at least when he was here someone woulde to check up on him and he might even go out to speak with Gil''s mother about herbs.


    "Right, there''s no possible way you could distract anyone from doing something/." The sarcasm in his words did not spare Waker from the punch to the arm. He feigned extreme pain while she just pretended to ignore him. The two kept up this skit until they managed to enter the forge.


    "So I hear you are doing some cool stuff. I brought some mana potions so you can show off even more." Remey motioned for Walker to take them out of his inventory, he soon had five stacked up on the work table Gil was using.


    The wandering cksmith had a wide smile seeing that there was a way for Gil to continue creating arrows. He had been entranced watching the arcane marksman skill to fuse the elemental crystals into the arrows and produce mana crystal shards. This was a great byproduct of the process that could be used in many pieces of gear the wandering cksmith would make. It was also valuable knowledge to see that the elemental mana can be removed and ced in another vessel. The wandering cksmith had long thought of theories to do something like this but the mes of the forge would remove most elemental mana or change it in some way. If he could take knowledge from what Gil was doing then there was a chance that he would be able to make gear that enhanced ascertain elements and provided resistances to them.


    "I have managed to make one of the fire element arrows, two of the earth element arrows, and one of the darkness element arrows. I also have a light element arrow but to be honest I think this one might be a waste. Light element is usually for illusions and healing, what if the arrow somehow heals my target? What would be the point of that?" Walker could only agree, but he still thought that it was worth testing first.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 314 - 314. Elemental Arrows

    "Thene on and grab your bow, I want to see what they can do!" Remey was getting a little energy back now that he had left the stuffiness of the alchemistb. She wanted to see the new arrows more and more as she saw that they would have different effects when they hit a target. To support her the wandering cksmith stood up and grabbed the arrows to carry off with them.


    "Well, I guess we are goingback to the training field." Gil had no choice, his arrows were snatched and Remey had pushed them to go back out, he felt annoyed that the arrows would be used so fast.


    "Stop pouting, we needed to test things out at some point, and you know that Su will need to see itter too. So just suck it up and be ready to make more. You have a tun of arrows to work with anyways. Not to mention the more you have in reserved the better." Walker used his logic to soothe Gil''s frustration but instead, he seemed to be hitting on a sore spot.


    Midnight had fallen asleep in the forge and could not be awoken by any means of noise. Onyx was still wrapped around a dwindling pile of light elemental mana crystals. Shards were building up as they were emptied of light mana. Walker did not see any reason to try and drag him along since he was working so diligently to grow. The only thing he mourned was that the cute little onyx was slowly bing the intimidating serpent Onyx.


    By the time Gil and Walker had caught up with the other two, there was already a pile of training dummies ready to be set up. They lined them up one by one next to the one they had previously tested the ice elemental arrow on. That training dummy had lost the ice but shoed the true damage that had been done.


    The water was still dripping from the dummy and the arrow had fallen on the ground. The ces the ice had prated were torn and scratched up showing the possible internal injuries a living creature would be caused. Seeing this Walker worried that Gil''s new arrows wouldck the ability to trap an opponent and be too deadly. This made him thankful that he had the horned rabbits paralyzing poison to give him to make arrows for that specific reason.


    "Alright, we have enough set up. What arrow should I test?" Gil was standing at the ready waiting for an arrow to be handed to him.


    The wandering cksmith handed him an arrow with an arrow head that was glowing with a brown light. The arrow was obviously an earth elemental arrow that Walker had been interested in. His theory was that it would cause the earth to make spikes as the water arrow did with the ice.


    "Earth elemental arrow notched and ready, enjoy the show." Gil gracefully pulled the arrow back and looked to the target. His aim was spot on hitting the training dummy in the center yet again. The arrow released the burst of earth elemental mana and caused the ground to rumble for a moment. Everyone was able to feel the slight tremor.


    When the tremor stopped they were all looking around for what was supposed to happen, there was nothing more going on. Gil clicked his tongue at this, "I guess I failed." He looked down unhappy when the ground shook again. The next moment a mass of earth shot up and wrapped around the dummy.


    Walker had been proven wrong, there were no spikes made of the earth but arge amount of it rose up topletely encase the target. This was better than he had expected from the earachement arrow. "We can use this to trap enemies when we encounter a group!" His happiness was tangible.


    "My thoughts exactly, I was sure that your theory would be right. I am actually happy you were wrong. I was beginning to think all of my arrows would be super dangerous." Gil was on the same side as Walker when it came to the new arrows. They did need to be deadly against monsters, but they would not always need to harm everything he shot at.


    "I have to give it to you, that was pretty cool. I would have no way to stop that in a fight if you hit me with that arrow before I saw you and used some evasive maneuvers to dodge. Plus the earth was dyed making it even more of a surprise." Remey as shaking her head knowing that Gil had just gained a huge amount of versatility in his archery. Gil had already been a top quality shot when it came to long rangebat. Now he was also a top quality magic damage and physical damage dealer. His strength had easily doubled.


    "Now what arrow are we going to test?" His answer was already being handed to him in the form of an arrow radiating dark mana. "Darkness elemental arrow it is." Gil did not hesitate and notched the arrow right away. He pulled it back and let it fly after adding his own mana yet again. The arrow hit the training dummy and immediately released a dark burst of what looked to be smoke. This was the darkness mana that was escaping the arrow head.


    The darkness elemental mana faded away leaving the dummy standing with the arrow stuck in the center. However, there was a noticeable amount of rot and decay at the spot where it had impacted. When the group moved closer they could see that the inside of the training dummy was starting to visibly rot and decay in front of them. Before any of them could say anything the training dummy fell over and was pretty much spit in ti two halves with rit on each piece. The arrow had surprisingly stayed intact.


    "Huh, I thought the withering wood arrow shaft would rot away from the darkness elemental mana bt It looks like I was wrong. The arrow head is definitely more brittle now though." Gil was examining the arrow which still seemed usable. He probably wouldn''t be able to add any of the elemental mana to it now but adding a poison would be fine. "Alright let''s test an air element one, I want to see if my bow speeds it up even more."


    Gil betrayed himself and got very excited about the wind elemental arrow since it was simr to using his bow''s element. He was already looking less tired than he had been when he was first working on the arrows in the forge. It was clear that he was still learning about the effects of his mana absorption.


    He took the arrow from the wandering cksmith who was enjoying every moment of this testing. He rarely got to see some of the things he helped create in action in a way such as this. Gil was already drawing and releasing the arrow before everyone had focused. The bow seemed to add extra wind elemental mana to it and the arrow shot much faster than anyone had expected it to.


    The arrow fully buried itself in to the training dummy. The huge amount of air elemental mana released caused the wind to pick up and spin around the training dummy. The wind tore at the dummy breaking it apart and leaving it shed in many ces. The ground and nearby training dummies also suffered from this which really showed the strength of the wind element.


    "Area effect damage is awesome¡­" Remey was in awe, she had no skill possible of this kind of damage. She could attack a single target and make short work of them, but when it came to dealing damage to multiple at one time she was at a loss.


    While they all checked out the damage that had been done they realized that this would be the best arrow to use against any grouped enemy, it would be even better if they snuck up on them. "Gil I''m pretty sure we can''t use that in the forest. We would tear up a decent spot of thend and definitely anger any of the elves that saw it.." Walker was still trying to be proactive in causing as little damage to the forest as possible. This didn''t stop him from thinking of all the great possibilities that this arrow came with.


    "Two elemental arrows left right? I think the fire elemental arrow should best. I am pretty sure it will burn up the leftover training dummies. Plus we have no idea what this light elemental arrow will do, might as well take the shot. Gil shrugged while taking the arrow infused with the light elemental mana. He notched the arrow and aimed for one of the dummies still standing.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 315 - 315. Blinding Light

    The light elemental in Gil''s hand radiated some light from the arrow head before Gil let it fly. Everyone held their breath out of curiosity as it flew to the training dummy. When it made contact the entire group waspletely stunned. The arrow made contact and the light that came out from the arrow head was blending. Every single one of them lost their ability to see in the world of white light.


    "What in the world!"


    "My eyes!"


    "Ugh, why didn''t I expect this!" Walker was thest to cry out his frustration at the new blindness he had. He could have used his all around appraisal skill to see if this had a dangerous effect. He could have looked in to the light element which was used to do simr visual skills. He could have just not focused on the arrow so much. Sadly not a single one of them thought of this.


    The four of them were stunned and crawling on the groundpletely blind for ten whole minutes. When their vision started to return they were still unsteady in their feet due to how blurry their eye sight was still.


    "Arrow we shouldn''t use unless we absolutely have to and arepletely prepared," Gil said this while looking at the fuzzy outline of the training dummy he had just shot.


    "Yup, wither spike arrow with light element should be treated very delicately¡­" Walker trailed off as he rubbed his eyes again and again trying to fix his sight.


    "That was the worst thing that we have ever tested. If you use one of those and don''t warn me in the future I will beat you." Remey couldn''t tell which outline was Gil but she still held the murderous intent in her voice.


    The three of them heard a muffled voice that was definitely the wandering cksmith, "perfect arrow." The arrow had somehow made him deem it perfect. This was surprising to them since it had caused them so much distress.


    "Well, I guess it does work really well for blinding an enemy for a long time. I think we can use it at night to double the effect." Walker just went with it even though he was surprised with the wandering cksmith''s reaction.


    The group waited a little more time and soon found that their eyesight had returned to almost normal. "Since I can see better, want to use thest arrow?" Gil was looking at the fire elemental wither spike arrow in the wandering cksmith''s hand.


    "Sure, let me just stand back a little farther." Remey was not taking any chances after thest arrow had blinded her. He did not trust that the fire would stay contained in any form.


    "I am going to have my magic ready too, just in case." With Walker also being more careful Remey and he gave each other a knowing look. The wandering cksmith was not phased at all and eagerly awaited thest elemental arrow to be let loose.


    Gil drew the arrow and aimed at the group of training dummies that now looked rather rough inparison to how they did before the start. Some visible sparks wereing off the arrow head of the wither spike arrow. This was different from the other arrows and made Remey step backward more.


    Gil released the arrow and the sparks became embers until they hit the training dummy. The result was a burst of fire simr to when Walker''s fire doll would be destroyed. However, the difference was that the mes burn ed longer from the arrow. The spot that the arrow struck was burned to ck ash while the mes spread around the target in an area a few feet around it.


    The other training dummies caught fire as well since they were just wood and straw mostly. Walker was looking at the mes, "Well at least we know it wouldn''t burst in to a massive wildfire immediately." This was the positive he saw in the whole situation. "But we are still not going to use it in the forest. The impact pointpletely turned to ash." His analysis was supported by everyone there.


    "That was one of the coolest though, you need to admit." Gil was smiling like a fool while looking at the dummies on fire. His theory for what would happen with the arrow was proven correct which really made his day.


    "Yes yes it was cool, bit do you know who will have to put this out?" Walker was about to make the point that he was going to have to use his grand elemental maniption to put it out when he noticed that the wandering cksmith was pointing at the sky.


    The rest of them looked up just in time to see therge grey cloud overtake the sun. The first drops of rainnded on their faces. Before they had even looked down it had begun to pour, they were allpletely soaked.


    "I did not feel like taking a cold bath like this!" Remey yelled in protest as she ran towards the inside of the mansion where she knew there would be a fire burning.


    "I will get Midnight and Onyx, you will stay in the forge and keep working right?" Walker figured that Gil would be too excited to stop at the moment so he just assumed that he would keep making more arrows. His answer was simple, Gil ran towards the forge. Within a few seconds, Midnight left through the door and seemed to be enjoying the downpour of rain that helped to clean her scales.


    Onyx was a different story, he looked unhappy to leave the forge since the rain was cold. He watched as Walker and the wandering cksmith came inside the forge. When Walker was inside Onyx wrapped himself around Walker''s. "Want me to bring in some light elemental crystals inside for you?" Onyx did not need to answer, Walker could feel the desire through their bond.


    Walker stored a few crystals away before he p[repared to run through the rain to the inside of the mansion for his own dry clothes. The warmth of the forge fire looked to be enough for Gil and the wandering cksmith. The two were focused on the arrows on the table. "Just remember to make some with the paralyzing poison from the horned rabbits. If you run out of mana or we don''t want to use mana we will need another option." Walker headed out running to the mansion on that note. Gil and the wandering cksmith just kept at work with only a small nce at the door.


    When Walker had finally gotten himself and Onyx dried off he found that Su and Remey were in the dining hall with Midnight. Midnight had curled up by the fire and Onyx did not miss the chance to head over and join her in the warmth. Ramey was describing Gil''s new arrows to Su who was the only one that did not see him test them.


    He decided to join them and quickly passed the night. When dinner came the old master alchemist was missing since he waspletely absorbed in his research of the journals left behind. Gil was surprisingly absent as well, the wandering cksmith was naturally still out in the forge with Gil. The two missing dinner was not a major problem, but Walker did worry that Gil might not rest properly.


    Remey had left the dinner early so she could sleep a few hours before she needed to be awake to store the antidot potions in to the vials. They were one of the most important things the party needed for their trip.


    Walker noticed that Midnight had eaten much more than usual for dinner and that even Onyx had joined in. The entire time he could only think that the two were going to be much longer in theing month. By the time they returned to the mansion they might just look to be different monsters all together.


    The rain beat on the windows throughout the entire night. This set the mood for a cozy night wrapped in the nkets and made way for a slow start in the morning.


    When Walker finally opened his eyes he noticed that the rain was stilling down outside. He wondered if everything was going to be alright with their travels and decided to see if Lisa had any ideas on water proofing some of their gear. They already had some water and wind proof winter gear but having some water proof shoes or even socks would make their travels that much more pleasant. The real question would be if Lisa was up to the challenge. Walker set off towards his sisters'' work room.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 316 - 316. Seamstress At Work

    Walker headed towards Lisa''s room. He had the fact that the party needed some modified water proof gear for traveling in the pouring rain. However, he was also interested in spending some quality time with his little sister. He had focused so much on the party and growing stronger that he had neglected to take some time for his family. It didn''t help that he had been caught up in the healing efforts at the cathedral along with spending time with Alice.


    He approached the door worried that he would be waking her, however, he could hear that there were scissors cutting fabric inside. With a knock on the door, Walker heard that the cutting stopped and footsteps approaching. As the door swung open, Lisa''s face showed a brilliant surprised smile.


    "Brother! What are youing here for? Don''t you need to train for your quest?" Lisa had been hard at work herself wanting to reach a higher level in her own system. If she could level up as a seamstress she could constantly make better and stronger clothing for her bother''s party. She would also one day be able to provide money for the family while they were out hunting.


    She knew that she didn''t need to work for gold but she hated the idea that she would not be contributing when everyone else seemed to be. Eleven Su''s parents managed the estate and helped to keep everything clean. "I couldn''t leave for another month or more without spending some time with you. What kind of older brother would I be if I didn''t? Not to mention I also have a challenge for you, are you up for an order?"


    Hearing what Walker said Lisa became much more animated. Not only did she get to spend time with her brother for some sibling bonding, but she was also going t have an order she knew would be helping them. She could not contain herself and started to bounce on her feet waiting to hear more.


    "We have to travel in a lot of rain and that means that we will be soaked the entire time. I had hope that you could make us some water proof anything to maybe save our feet and bones from freezing." Lisa looked at Walker intensely while she brainstormed ideas.


    A look of enlightenment came to her as she started to rush around the room for small pieces of wax. "This is the perfect solution. You won''t need new clothing or anything to wear extra. Just get everyone''s winter gear I made and boots so I can make them water proof." With his orders, Walker headed out and managed to get everyone''s traveling gear.


    Most of his party members were rxing on the rainy day and spending time with their parents as well. Remey was gearing up to go to the orphanage onest time before they left, Walker was lucky to catch her and ask for her boots at thest minute. She had not seemed too happy switching to her old pair but when she heard that the agility boosting boots she had gained from the ancient ruins were going to be properly water proofed she became much brighter.


    Since Remey had finished her antidote potions earlier in the morning to free up her time she also promised that on her way home she would get something special for dinner. Walker did not disagree at all with this since he knew his mother would be excited for the help, even if it ended up being something small.


    Carrying all of the gear in his hands along with the boots Walker looked like a living ball ofundry. When he burst through the door Lisa jumped up and was about to throw her scissors at him before she realized it was him. "You scared me half to death Walker. What if I have thrown these at you!?"


    Come on, you wouldn''t have hurt me, you are too adorable to hurt anyone." Walker tried to talk Lisa down so she wouldn''t be too annoyed with him for his loud entrance. Walker ced the gear and boots on the table looking at the pieces of wax that Lisa had gathered up.


    "So here''s the n, we need to heat up these extra bits of wax in to a hot thin liquid. I save all these from making water proof thread for this reason. Then we will add some natural oils that will help it bond to the fabric. The next step will bepletely coating the outside in a very thinyer of wax. It is kind of hard to do because if it is spread too think the fabric won''t be able to absorb it and you will just have a crumbly wax mess." She held up arge metal bowl resting it on a piece of ckened wood. "Now get some of that fancy fire magic, I want all of this melted while I prepare the clothing."


    Walker had never seen his sister in her work mode. He swore that she was apletely different person. This change must have begun when she got her first quest and just kept building until she was an intense worker always striving for improvement.


    Lisa was pulling out wire molds that she put the gear on, they were simr to mannequins but made of wire so the gear could be easily adjusted and sewn. She had enough to set up everyone''s gear separately. "Walker throw your boots to me and hurry up with the way!." Her shout gave him no means to argue and he again did as he was told.


    She even set up the boots with some pieced of rounded wood so they were bent like someone was wearing them already. It was a trick he had not thought that a seamstress or even a cobbler would use, mostly because he had little to no experience in the techniques they would use. He made himself a promise to learn some extra trade skills when he had time, they coulde in useful one day.


    She started to add bits of thread to the joints in all of the clothing making them seem even tighter. This would tighten the spaces between the seams making them less likely t allow water within. This would keep them all drier in the long term travel.


    Getting all the way to the forest was the problem when it came to the rain. There would be no way to block the downpour and the party would take all of it upon themselves. When they entered the forest there were the benefits of the trees which could block a lot of the falling droplets.


    Walker used one of the lit candles in the room to start his grand elemental maniption skill. The fire in his hands was basically the same as the dark fireball but it was made of regr fire. This was enough to heat the wax in the bowel to the melting point. "Make it as hot as you can without causing it to burn. The thinner it is the easier it will be to brush it on to every single bit of fabric."


    Walker had expected Lisa to be in awe of his magic use, however, she was instead focused solely on the sewing she was doing. The smell of hot and nearly smoking wax filled the room, uponpleting the first pieces of gear Lisa checked the viscosity of the wax. "Perfect, now I will add some mineral oils that will keep it stable and allow it to absorb in to the fabric better. I need you to do the mixing while I keep sewing. If you stop mixing the oils will burn." Her words carried a heaviness that he had not expected, he was more and more impressed by the minute.


    He continued on with the wooden stirring stick he was handed while Lisa went to each of the wire mannequins in turn. She was speeding through the sewing much faster than anyone would normally. "Stay focused on the wax, it smells too hot." Lisa could smell the wax starting to smoke slightly and she quickly called for the adjustment.


    Walker had been watching his sister work and couldn''t help but wonder what kind of skills she had developed that let her flow through every stitch with such speed. After another half hour, Walker could see that the oils Lisa had added werepletely incorporated and had be a perfect emulsion. Lisa had also finished up the sewing. She had taken one of therger needles and added to the ces where theces joined the boots. The new look was one that seemed much more closed and stable. The technique was not one that only a cobbler would have but also one that a seamstress would have, Walker was interested in seeing this ovep of skills.


    "Alight let the wax stay at that temperature so I can get a brush." Lisa had a set of brushes she had invested n recently started away in a tool drawer. She grabbed three that were ideal for the job and focused back on the task at hand. She dipped thergest in and started to evenly brush the wax in to thergest areas of the gear. Her brushstrokes were definitely imbued with mana that Walker could easily sense. This was definitely adding to the water proofing technique and would lead to a better product. Walker was amazed all over again by the skills his sister knew.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 317 - 317. Mud

    "You know most of the time people are amazed by what I can do, but today I get to be the audience and watch something amazing you can do." He hadn''t even thought as he said this. Lisa just smiled and worked a little faster. She loved thepliment from her older brother but could not let it stop her from her goal. If she was going to show off she refused to let some praise ruin her work of art.


    Before Walker knew it Lisa had switched brushes and moved on to the arms and sleeves. She was making sure that they were coated the same way as therger spots were and even getting the seems. The smallest brush was usedst for the seams and the crevices in everyone''s boots.


    When Lisa stood back and wiped the sweat from her forehead the difference in the gear was almost unnoticeable. The only thing that gave away the wax added was that there was a slight shine to everything. "Done done done. These should keep you all as dry as you can get out in a rainstorm like this." She was very happy to have this all done. "Oh, you can pour that melted wax in to the metal jug over there. When I need to use it again I will ce that right next to the fire to start it melting." Walker did as he was told happy to get rid of the heat that had made him sweat as well.


    After getting the wax poured out he opened the window letting in the fresh cool air. The room became much more refreshed with the burst of air and the two realized just how warm it was having the fire going the entire time. "So I would say that was pretty fast. When did you learn a skill to let you sew so fast? I could barely see all the patterns you were adding."


    Lis proudly put away her needles and rolled u her waxed thread. "It''s a skill known as quick stitch. It lets me use any of the stitches I have learned topletion at my fastest possible pace. The only problem is I need to get topletion. That means I need to use the strict pattern over and over again. The basic ones only had to be done a hundred times. But the one I used took a thousand stitches to master." This sounded like it would take a lot of time. It made sense that this was how a trade skill like seamstress system would work, but it sounded very daunting.


    "So what you''re saying is I was lucky enough to witness hours and hours of your hard worke to fruition. As expected of the world''s best little sister." Walker ced his hand on her head making her blush from the praise.


    Lisa quickly gained a serious look again, "You can''t wear it until tomorrow. The wax needs to set and if you wear it now it will make spots that aren''t properly water proof." Walker had moved to touch the gear and start to fold it all up to bring to everyone, but now he was quickly withdrawing to make sure he didn''t ruin the effort they put in.


    "Get down here and help! The rain is going to flood the strawberries!" Gil yelled through the entire mansion making Walker and Lisa jump to attention. The two gave each other a look of worry and started to rush downstairs.


    "What''s wrong with the strawberries?" Walker wasn''t sure what would happen if they got flooded but based on the yell it was not a good situation.


    Gil was getting another pair of boots and a cloak on. "The rain ising down too fast and the ce we nted them holds the water. There is a huge puddle that will drown the strawberry patch if we don''t get pout there and dig some channels for the water to stream off." He rushed out the door the second his boot was tied. Walker and Lisa started to get ready to go out themselves.


    "So we are going to y on the mud right?" Lisa was not as understanding since she had never done any gardening at all, but she did remember making mud pies with her brother.


    "Pretty much, just watch Gil and copy him. He grew up doing the farming stuff with his mother. I am sure he can''t do things like a real farmer but just going through the motions can do much more than you would think." Walker knew that the skills that Gil''s mother would use could do much more than theirs but since it was simple as putting seeds in a hole or digging a channel then they could be of help.


    By the time the two had reached the strawberry patch, it was clear that the water had been pooling there since the rain started. Walker looked around seeing that Gil had already grabbed a myriad of tools for digging out the channels. "Just grab something and dig. It needs to stretch slightly downhill so the water runs away from the puddle. Just watch out for roots. No earth magic Walker!" The task was given and before he knew it he was digging a little channel while getting covered in mud.


    Lisa did not leave his side and was carefully digging the same channel with him. She was wearing her basic work dress which would be needing a hard washing after this. She was smiling bright enough to push the grey clouds away while working hard. Walker couldn''t imagine how she was so happy to be doing this but when he realized they were saving the fruit they had worked hard to nt he felt happy too.


    By the time Su joined them and Gil''s mother made her way from another patch of the garden the strawberries were draining very well. "I need to put in better irrigation over the next weeks. If I had known that thend was prone to puddling around here I could have prevented this." Gil''s mother was not happy, but there was no way for her to know how thend acted since they hadn''t even been at the mansion for a year yet.


    The group finished their work after another hour. There were not rudimentary channels dug that let the water flow away toward the front gate. Shivering and covered in mud they all tried to rush inside towards the warmth. Their shoes were all left by the door but that didn''t help protect the carpet from the water dripping off of them.


    "Walker use your magic to get the water off me so I can get to my room!" Lisa was demanding as ever, but Walker knew that this was just an excuse for her to see him use more magic.


    "Alight, just stand still and watch the awesomeness." Walker channeled his mana using his grand elemental maniption skill. The water elemental mana reacted and started to converge in to one point leaving Lisa''s clothing dry. The mud was still there but now mostly just clumps of dirt.


    Lisa looked at Walker like he had just done an amazing magical feat. "Do it again!" Walker couldn''t resist the cute look of excitement and started to dry his clothing in the same way. Now with two balls of water, he just stood there wondering what to do with them.


    "Umm, grab the door?" Walker asked Lisa to open the door and he prepared himself to throw the water outside where it should be. When the door opened he didn''t even look and tossed both of the water balls outside. The only problem with this was that Remey was just about to open the door.


    "I rush home to get out of the rain and you are waiting here to throw water at me!? You better start running now." The death stare that Remey had in her face was enough to make Walker do just that. The two ran around the entrance while Lisa giggled at the show. "Oho, so you convinced your brother to do this practical joke then?"


    Lisa had given herself away in Remey''s eyes byughing so much. With a new target, Remey was now chasing Lisa around threatening to get her. It was Walker''s turn to enjoy the show.


    The three tired themselves out after a little bit more of their fooling around for a bit longer. "You guys know we have to clean all of this up now, right?'' Walker had realized that between Remey and them there was now dusty and muddy dirt all over the entrance. Not to mention where the water had been falling off of Remey. They had made themselves their own chores, it was a sad realization, but Lisa was just happy to spend more time with Walker while they got some cleaning supplies.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 318 - 318. Slime Anatomy

    After the three had properly cleaned up the mess they had made they got changed and headed to the dining hall. They had not seen Gil, Su, or Gil''s mothere inside and wondered if they were still outside working. They were proven wrong when they saw that they were by the fire drinking tea and walking about the ns to properly irrigate the garden when the weather clears up. It would be arge project which would be perfect for Gil''s mother to do while the party was off on their quest.


    "Oh there you three are, we decided t use the back entrance since you all looked to be having so much fun," Gil smirked as his mother said this. He had thought about joining in, but he knew he would have to clean up after.


    "Oh we did, I''m d we save the strawberries too. If we didn''t have the strawberry jam to look forward to when we got back from our adventure don''t know what we would look forward to." Walker teased a little seeing that Gil was smirking at him.


    "I heard the yell and I was worried that we had already lost them. I did not think that they could get too much water. I have learned a lot today." Su seemed the most thankful. It looked like the strawberry jam really was something she was looking forward to the most.


    "Since everyone happens to be here do you guys want to go over our travel ns for tomorrow?" This seemed like the best idea since they would be spending the remaining time preparingst minute things and having some of their own time. After everyone seemed to agree Lisa and Gil''s mother decided to hang out and finish the tea by the fire. Midnight and Onyx were roused from their spot in front of the fire and came over to the table where everyone had sat down.


    "You guys remember the path we took when we went to get the me newts right? I figure we can follow that and enter the forest the same way. We can then slowly make out way deeper until we can find evidence of the slime''s decay. The goal will to be to observe first then try to defeat some and capture their bodies. If we can separate their core from the slime that would be good too."


    Walker had read up on the slime anatomy and found that there was really just a condensed core created through various means. Many slimes you be created naturally in standing water and take on characteristics of what they formed from. The cores would be the instinctual consciousness that held the actual body together. It was very rare for slimes to grow veryrge since they had almost no defense or magic defense. The real problem was that if they were not defeated properly they would not die.


    "We need to be careful of the slime body and core merging back together. I read the same book as Walker and it said that a slime core is not considered defeated even separated from its body. It will just go dormant." Su had done her own research and found this interesting fact.


    "Could we save the slime cores to bring back with us? Should we save the slime from their bodies too? " Gil was a little lost on slimes. The only ones he knew about were the ones that started to form on the farm. To him, those were just weird puddles that never became a monster but instead just covered by dirt and never seen again.


    "I think we should do that for sure. We can bring a water proof bag to hold the cores and some ss vials to store the slime. I won''t be able to keep the cores in my inventory since they are technically alive. But I should be able to store away their bodies without a core since they are just slime after all." Walker had already thought of this and wanted to bring back as many as possible for the kingdom to research.


    "We should bring back a lot of the slime then. It can be used for potion ingredients. I have no idea of a slime that can cause decay is worth much but it could still be valuable research." Remey was thinking of the uses these new slimes could have while also looking forward to new potions training.


    "We can do that. The more we bring back the better then. I also think we should keep an eye out for quests to gather herbs and such. If we can double up on the things we bring back we could be if some use to others." Walker had also considered the reason for the quest. They were not there to exterminatepletely or to gain levels. They were there to study, research, and find the cause of the slimes. They could also use that hunting time to look for herbs. They needed to scour the area anyways so it would just work out.


    "Leader, we should also try to greet any passing elves. They patrol the deep sun hollow forest and are very territorial. If we forge a bond with them it may help us for years toe.'' Su had a good point. They should try to gain rtions with as many people as possible, it could only help.


    "I doubt we will see any elves. They are way more at home in the forests than we are. They will probably just watch us and then act if we break their rules. But hey we are going to be there to hello so I doubt anything will, happen." The party all felt a little shiver as he said this but brushed it off without worry.


    That leaves gear, I worked with Lisa today and it is all water proofed. In the morning we can collect it and then head out. So make sure that you have everything ready to go tonight." Walker put the hard deadline to leave down making Gil look a little unhappy.


    "I thought I would have more time to make arrows before I left."


    "You can just make them as we travel, it''s not like you won''t have your mana replenished faster than all of us." Remey tried to cheer Gil up, her attempt seemed to work pretty well.


    "Just make sure if you make arrows you do it in the tent. I don''t want any prying eyes to see what is going on. Just in case. I know we eventually need to deal with the dangers of you having the system unique to elven races, but for now, we can try to avoid it. We need to aplish our quest first." Walker''s serious tone made Gil fully listen and think on this. He did not want to risk the safety of the whole entire party.


    "Onyx you might need to stay in tattoo form with your shadow ink skill for a while. I am worried you will get too cold." This was only natural to worry about since like most snakes and serpents Onyx was cold blooded and needed the warmth to function.


    "Don''t worry brother, if I get too cold I can always wrap around Sister and stay warm." Midnight huffed at them and raised her head higher. She was clearly telling them to leave it to her.


    "Walker, I have actually been thinking about something." Remey chipped in with a little more seriousness than usual. Walker looked at her not sure what to expect her to say. "You know mybo skill that I use to string my punches together? Well, I think you should learn it for your attacks. With your inventory, you can take out your weapons out in the blink of an eye. All you need to do next is make the attacks flow."


    This was a really good idea and one Walker had thught of a little. He had believed that the skill Remey used was unique to punches but hearing her now he was excited. "Then I will try to learn it from you while we travel. It would definitely help me out. I have some unique weapons like the dual swords,rge hammer, and a scythe. Plus mix those hard to expect attacks with the basics of amon shield, sword, spear, and well bow; then an opponent would never be able to keep up. It would make his closebat strength much higher and even give him his own unique style of fighting. His physicalbat prowess may just be able to rival his magic attack prowess.


    "Good, I will start putting you through some training every time we stop to rest." Walker was not sure if this promise from Remey sounded like she was helping, or like she was nning to torture him to death. Either way, he would be learning a new skill.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 319 - 319. Out In The Rain

    The morning came crashing in as the sun shined through Walker''s bedroom window. Before the party had gone to sleep they had packed their bags and had Walker store everything within his inventory. The only thing he had left to do was visit Lisa''s work room for the gear that was freshly water proofed so they could all manage the rain during the trip.


    Looking about the room he noticed that Midnight had made her way in to the room to sleep the night. It was clear that she still was having a little trouble sleeping on her own, especially since she knew Immortal king had shown up for a visit. With a slight smile, he went to get cleaned up and ready for the day.


    The noise of him changing slowly woke Midnight who had a drowsy Onyx on her back. Well good morning to you two." His greeting was met with a small groan showing that they did not want to be up so early. "If you both sleep the morning away we will leavete and you two won''t get to join everyone for breakfast." This perked Midnight up pretty fast. Walker knew that the motivation of food was the best motivation for her.


    The three traveled down to the dining room finding that there was a massive spread of breakfast foods. Bacon, apple pancakes, and even hash were piled high on tes. The smell was enough to make anyone''s mouth water.


    "Quickly eat faster before Walker starts to steal it all." Gul was already hard a work making sure the mountain of food disappeared. Su paid no attention and instead was enjoying fruit sd and tea in as refined a manner as one could while wearing armor.


    "Your mother was up early with Lisa and Maria to make all of this. I tried to jump in but just got yelled at. So instead I made a few more light mana potions for us to bring. They are in the table over there." Remey pointed to a small box of vials. Remey had already made a decent amount of potions in practice but had now made even more to bring along.


    Walker had counted that they had twenty antidote potions, thirty health potions, and thirty five mana potions now. They were multiple tiers so that they could use the ones they needed at the right moment.


    Walker wanted to sit down and dig in but stored the potions away first. When he turned around he saw that thest of the bacon had just been scraped on to Midnight''s te and was being devoured. Walker fell to his knees defeated.


    After properly mourning the missed chance to eat bacon Walker and the rest of the party headed to Lisa''s work room. "You can all take your gear, but for Midnight I have something special." Lisa ran to a chest up against the wall and pulled out a matching ck. It was strangely shaped and had a braided tie around the top. "I made this to help keep you dry too."


    Midnight let Lisa tie the cloak around her revealing that it tied around her neck and kept her entire back covered. The rain would roll off instead of sticking to her while they traveled. Midnight strutted around the room showing it off and testing ut out. After she had found that it did not stop her from moving and jumping she seemed even happier.


    With everyone geared up, they all let Lisa walk around and take a final check. There were small tweaks here and there but after a few moments, they had reaxched her standards. "You are all ready to go!" She stood there looking at the hard workpleted.


    "We will all keep am eye out for anything we think might be useful for you while we are out. If we are lucky we will find so,e herbs that you can use as a natural fabric dye." this promise from Walker made Lisa even more excited for when the party would return. Midnight gave Lisa onest bump before the party headed toward the entrance of the mansion.


    The party had said their goodbyes the night before and they were all ready to head out. The system was right on time with their departure and finally issued the quest from the king.


    ''Kingdom quest: Slime investigation


    There are two locations on the continent facing a new peril. Two new species of slime have been found to be wreaking havoc on the environment. The Crystal kingdom''s allies are investigating but are looking for assistance. A strange demon like character has been observed near the slimes in question.


    Requirements:


    Investigate the cause of the new species of slimes in either the deep sun hollow forest or the dwarven mines.


    Gather the slime bodies and cores for research


    Find possible solutions to prevent further damage


    Rewards:


    1000exp


    Gift from the king of the Crystal kingdom''


    This notification made the entire party feel the full weight of their new quest. They had not received a quest titled; kingdom quest before, having one now made it feel like the quest was much more important than any of the others previously.


    The party made their way out in to the soft drizzle, the streets were almost abandoned due to the poor weather they were having. The rain was one thing that would keep people inside and close to the firece. Many outdoor jobs would not be able to work due to the more dangerous conditions. This was evident when the party saw the structure of the carpenter''s quarters being built. It was obvious that the heavy rain from the day before had slowed the projects.


    "Walker as soon as we leave through the gate we should take a quest to hunt something. I want you to try and learn mybo skill before we get in to the forest." Remey knew that this would be easier said than done because most of the minsters and animals would be hiding where it was warm.


    "Awe so that means no me newts to hunt as targets¡­" Gil looked sad. He had hopes that he would be able to test his long range sniping against the smallest me newts sun bathing. Sadly he would not have the chance because the sun was not looking to be able to peal out from behind the grey clouds in the least.


    "I don''t know why you all seem to be so unhappy with the rain. We will be able to fight against the wide mouth tree frogs." Su had been fairly quiet while thinking on the new strategies Walker would be able to use when he learned thebo skill. However, when she heard that they were worried they wouldn''t be able to train on the way she had to speak up.


    "Not sure how I feel about having to fight against slimy frogs." Remey was not the happiest to hear this but everyone else seemed to have no problem.


    "They aren''t slimy." Su gave Remey a look while she exined "The wide mouthed frogs are just that. Frogs with very wide mouths that can use their long tongue to grab prey and swallow them whole. They usually go after the grey haired spiders after it rains. This weather is their ideal hunting conditions because they can find the grey haired spiders that get flushed out of their dens after the rain." Su had done a lot of reading up in her free ti,e to make sure she was prepared for the adventure. The fact that she had even taken weather in to ount was impressive.


    "Wait, if I remember right they can be used in a lot of different gear because of their skin having stic qualities." Gil had heard this as a child from a neighbor farmer who used it for some repairs.


    "I wonder what we could use it for¡­" Walker started to ponder this as Su spoke back up.


    "I also read that the meat is considered a delicacy. Apparently, it tastes like a higher quality chicken." This got Midnight''s attention. She started to look about and focus on where the party was walking. Since they were approaching the gate it was the perfect tie to sharpen their sense.


    The party passed through the gate with a wave and some see youter shouts from the guards. They recognized the identifications of the party and were happy to see them off. Many of the guards had either known Walker or had heard of the recent endeavors. Feeling a little more motivated at the happy send off the party got in to formation with Su at the lead. Walker was on the same side as Remey so that he could properly observe thebo skill he would be trying to learn. It was going to be a harsh day but hopefully very worthwhile. "Gil if you see any wide mouth frogs let me know, I will take the first one." Remey brandished her knuckles in excitement.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 320 - 320. Wide Mouth Frogs

    The party held close to the merchant trails as they left the city. They had already traveled the route from the south gate a few times and were much morefortable leaving this way for the sun hollow forest. Luckily the rain was misty instead of the heavy downpour from the night before. If it had been too bad they would have lost visibility making travel much more dangerous for everyone.


    "Hey Walker, you don''t think that the wither spike ice arrow will have a greater effect since it''s raining, do you?'' Gil hade to this realization as they walked. He wanted to think of the best times and ces for each arrow and how to make that decision during battle.


    "It should, the arrow just makes the water elemental mana gather in one ce to cause it to form in to ice spikes." Walke had already thought of this and made the decision that it could end up being beneficial. However, there was also the possibility that things would be more dangerous since they did not know how much more water elemental mana would be attracted.


    "That sounds like it could be dangerous. From the way Remey described it all to me it could cause a lot of damage to the surrounding area." Su had much more dramatic ideas of what the arrows did after listening to Remey. She was currently imagining that the entire forest would be turned in to ice if Gil so much as thought about shooting one.


    "It should be limited to the amount of water elemental mana within the arrow. If we can figure out the area that it can affect then we shouldn''t need to worry too much. Plus I think the fire element arrows are pretty much useless in weather like this. Not sure about earth element but I have a feeling they are not as good either." Walker stepped in to a little mud to make a point. The water was making the path they were traveling much softer which would make the earth softer as well when manipted by magic.


    "That makes sense, if more of the elemental mana is around it should be more powerful, and if the opposite elemental mana is around then the opposite will be weaker. Why would fire burn in water anyways." Remey was just stating the blunt facts but couldn''t understand why this was a topic anyways. She would prefer just to avoid the risk of a massive move as a whole, especially after the incident with the light arrow.


    "Well, we don''t have to wait to worry about it. Gil, do you see that green and brown spot on the top of that small rock up ahead?" Su had caught a small bit of motion well ahead of the party on the trail they were walking.


    "I see what you are pointing out. That definitely is a strange shape for a rock. It would make a perfect target for a water elemental wither spike arrow." Gil pulled one from his quiver over his shoulder. This was another new gear item that the wandering cksmith had made for him.


    The quiver was made so that it could hold all the elemental arrows in its own space. This would make it easier for Gil to pick the one he wanted in an instant instead of grabbing with the hope that he had pulled the arrow he wanted at first. It was also easy to restock on the go so that Walker could drop more arrows into it without trouble.


    Gil had already set his sights on the camouged frog, he swiftly pulled back an arrow and channeled some mana in to it. The blue glowing from the arrow head made the air around him chill slightly. This seemed to already have a greater effect than when he tested it before. "Su, it feels a little different, we are far away bit please stay ready just in case." Gil made his warning and let the arrow fly.


    The far away target was hit with an audible fleshy thwack, the arrow easily pierced the wide mouthed frog which let out a pained croak. Within seconds the water around it in a five foot radius pulled in to a ball around the point that the arrow struck. The water rapidly froze and created arge chunk of spiked ice.


    The wide mouthed frog which was the size of the average cow was now almostpletely pierced and encased within the ice. "Wow" Remey only let out this one word but it spoke to what they all thought.


    "I would say that is a significant boost in strength because of the high amount of water in the area." Walker was already heading toward the target.


    ''Wide mouthed frog defeated


    15exp multiplied to 150 exp.''


    The system was a littlete from what Walker could see but since the wide mouth frog was partially trapped and partially skewered it made sense that it may not have been instantly defeated.


    Midnight was right there next to Walker wanting to see the new food she would be able to try when they all stopped for restter. "You look pretty excited, is having frog meat really that delicious sounding." Midnight''s reaction was to speed up and get to the frozen frog first. This left Walker to think of how he would properly defrost the newly acquired dinner.


    "Gil it looks like the arrow is still good even though it waspletely frozen. The soft skin of the frog could be a really good thing when we defeat them." Walker immediately noticed that there was not any dent or other mange to the arrow other than the fact that it was now frozen. This made the arrow much more useable over and over saving the party a little gold and time.


    "It worked like a charm, it''s not really an area of effect attack but I would say it can do some damage to surrounding enemies." Gil was analyzing the use of the arrow inparison to what it had done.


    "Nope, you guys can cook this up, I won''t be touching these unless I have to fight one." Remey had goosebumps just looking at the frog''s skin. She had been told it wasn''t slimy but that didn''t mean that she believed them at all.


    Walker found that he didn''t need to use much mana to make the ice melt. "I am pretty sure since you used your mana to make the arrow cause ice to form it is easier to use mana to make it melt. I am not sure if this is good or bad since an enemy that can manipte elements too might have an easier time escaping the earth elemental arrow." this was good and bad news, the good side was that they could have more unexpected strength based on weather. The downside came in the form of mana, if a mage with the element Gil used was somehow trapped then they could escape much more easily.


    "This sounds gross and I think it''s gross, but save the eyeballs separately. I read that they are a delicacy for elves'' traditional rituals. I read that they use it to assist in the growth of certain underwater herbs." Remey had gotten over her current disgust to make this fact known. She may not want to tough the frog but she could still remember the things she had picked up from the old master alchemist. The herbs that she had heard were normally sold to their kingdom by the elves due to the tough growing methods.


    "So there must be some sort of mana or material in the eyes of the wide mouther frogs that provide the right nutrient for under water nts? Interesting, I will try to think of that in the future. You will have to let me know of any other monster parts that can be used to grow certain herbs, I want to make sure I don''t waste anything, I kind of have been thinking we should also build a greenhouse for you and the old man at the mansion." Walker said thest part with some embarrassment.


    "Really!? You want to build a greenhouse so we can farm our own herbs better?" Remey was very excited at this possibility since she had hundreds of herbs memorized that she would need to go get fresh every time she wanted to sue them. If they had a greenhouse built then they would be able to just go outside the alchemyb and pick what they needed.


    "The mansion seems to get bigger every day, I will have to let mom know that she might be able to grow some tropical flowers if we get a greenhouse,"Gil mumbled to himself remembering some flowers his mother had once shown him in a hand drawn book. She had always wanted to grow certain flowers butcked the gold to have the proper environment set up. Gil took this as his next personal goal at the mansion for when they returned.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 321 - 321.Practical Skills

    Once Walker had dealt with the ice the body of the wide mouth frog showed arge amount of damage. The way the ice had frozen it had pierced many of the internal organs and even torn the skin in many ces. The party would have trouble using most of the skin as materials but the meat was still safe to eat. Walker pulled out a dagger that the wandering cksmith had made as extra and carved out the eyeballs to store separately. After this, he used one of the smaller hammers to cut down the legs.


    The design of the small hammers was the best for multiple uses due to the ded back end they had. This added enough weight to cut down trees if needed along with other basic uses. The skills that the wandering cksmith had used to make them feel lighter was really useful since Walker would have to swing multiple times to cut through the joints.


    Normally Walker would have stored the entire body as one but due to the damage from the ice, he thought it better to have it broken down in to the pieces that they could cook and eat. He had managed to learn the basics of breaking down animals to cook from his mother years ago. He had never had a skill for it but was still able to manage the basics.


    ''The skill dissection has been learned from the butcher system. Would the user like to learn the skill dissection?''


    Walker had no reason to refuse this skill since it was a very useful one. If he could be more adept in breaking down their prey then he would be able to better store monster materials in his inventory. He would also have the ability to sell specific parts at specific times.


    ''The skill dissection has been learned.


    Dissection- 1 mana cost


    The user uses their inner mana to slice through even the toughest animal tendons and muscles. Delicate meat and organs are less likely to be pierced by the user''s knife when they are working on their target.''


    This was not a very showy skill but a practical one. Walker could see himself using it constantly, especially when they were traveling and he would have to make the party a meal. This would also help him ration the meat they had.


    "I didn''t know you could field dress a monster." Gil had not seen Walker doing this before and had usually been the person responsible for any small game they hunted on their trips.


    "Well, I learned how to break down animals from my mother and decided I should just deal with this now. I actually just got a skill that helps me do it faster." He was still working but he sounded a bit sheepish.


    "I wonder if it does the same as my skill then, I have one that helps me skin prey really fast. I can''t really debone animals well. That seems to be a different skill." He looked annoyed by this but was still impressed that he was now not the only way that could deal with the aftermath of hunting.


    After a little more time Walker had finished up and used a puddle to clean his hands. The wide mouth frog was stored away properly. "Let''s get on the way. Sorry, that took so long."


    We don''t mind the break, we wanted to check around the area anyways. It looks like there was a small fight over there." Su and Remey had walked along the rail a little and found some roughed up ground. "I would say that it was the frog you just dealt with trying to get arge grey haired spider."


    ''If that''s the case then we should try to keep a better eye out for spiders too. If they are on the run they might attack us if we get too close to where they are hiding." Gil had a sharp eye and could spot the spiders easily, but if they were constantly on the move then he would have to work extra hard to make sure he spotted them before anything happened.


    "I should be able to spot them too, leave some of the work to me." Su was d to take on the role, her new skill was one of the best ways to spot a camouged enemy. She could notice even their smallest motions to breathe.


    '' wide mouth frog defeated


    15 exp multiplied to 150 exp.''


    This system notification made them all drop in to abat stance. "Where did Midnight go?" Remey was looking around and could not find their little dragon anywhere.


    In the distance, they could hear a triumphant growling which caused them all to rush ahead. Midnight had found a frog wedged between somerger rocks closer to the treeline. She had managed to shred the legs so they could not escape and pounced on top to finish the job.


    "Did you really need to rush on ahead without us?" Walker''s tone was full of anger and some worry. He was not alright with the fact that Midnight had gone off out of sight and without any notice. If something had happened then it would have been a fatal mistake for the party.


    Midnight shrank back losing her victorious attitude in the realization that the entire party was not happy with her actions. "We know you want to go off and hunt since we have been at home for a while. But what would you have done if there were ten of those frogs? Of a bunch of grey haired spiders? We could have been too slow to find you and we would need to turn around the second we have set out.'' Walker tried to understand why they were unhappy with her at the moment. Luckily it appeared she was understanding his words and feeling fairly bad about it.


    "Just stick closer to us and if you find another then let us know too. We will still let you test out your new strength but make sure you have back up. Onyx isn''t even awake yet to help out." Walker stored away the wide mouth frog after breaking it down too. He was a little worried he may have been a little harsh but from the looks of it, Midnight was understanding of the whys.


    Walker worried a little that Onyx was not awake and focused on the adventure, however, it was a rainy cold day and he knew that Onyx would be at a massive disadvantage as a cold blooded monster. At the end of the day it was safer for Onyx to remain resting and wait toe out when the rain either stopped or the temperature had warmed up.


    Having the second wide mouthed frog body stored away made Walker happy since they would have some fresh meat for the trip. As great as it was having some dried provisions he wanted to keep something fresh to help their spirits in the rain."Walker, we should walk along the forest edge to see what is what. We might be able to see any decay from the slimes being around here. If not then we know that they don''te this far for some reason."


    Gil''s idea was sound so the party formed up and started to walk along the tree line in search of any signs of purple slimes. They managed to see a few spots in the mud where grey haired spiders and wide mouth frogs had encountered each other but nothing ales seemed to stand out. There were even a few merchant tracks as they braved the dangers of the forest to try and make it to the even kingdom to trade.


    "It really seems like things are dead around here. Not man monsters or people have been through. No sign of any slimes at all." Gil''s statement made Walker a little ufortable.


    "If they are only in the deep forest then that points to the theory that they were certainly brought there or evening from even deeper in the forest, right leader?" Su had created this theory as they searched the tree line. This was the reason Walker had started to feel ufortable.


    "If they are put there then we will have to find out who and why, I really hope it is not a demon caused incident. If it is then they are in two possible ces with two species of slimes that perfectly cause two kingdoms trouble. If they areing from deeper in the forest we might need help."


    Walker knew that the first theory was a whole can of political worms. He would prefer that the party was not involved with a possible war. On the other hand, if they wereing from the deep sun hollow forest it could point to an elf causing the damage. This in itself was also a but problem. No theory seemed to be safe at the moment.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 322 - 322. Smart Spiders

    "Well, I don''t see anything that looks like decay or slime monster." Remey threw her hands up since they seemed to being up empty everywhere they looked along the tree line.


    "Looks like we have to head on in now, just remember to keep your eyes open. The trees will obscure our long distance vision and there could be monsters in the branches." Walker gave a few warnings as they all formed up. Remey was the lead with Walker in tow, she wanted him to see her use herbo skill as soon as she found the next enemy.


    The forest was not too hard to maneuver since there were worn trails near the outer edge. This made the party more rxed since they were able to still spot anything a good distance away. The trees toward the edge were also younger and did not have the proper potential for monsters to use as homes.


    The real problem was the fact that the ground in the forest was covered in dead leaves or moss, making the floor of the forest soft and effected the party''s footing. On top of that when they got deeper the tree roots would berge enough that they would have to step on or over most of them.Some vines had started to grow up the older trees and hang over their heads, these were the perfect ce for insects and spiders to hang making Remey much more wary.


    "Stop, did you see that." Su had spotted a slight motion four trees ahead of them. "There was something that moved in the corner of my eye, it is on the tree over there blending in." She moved in front of Walker and Remey motioning for Gil to draw a normal arrow. "Aim at the fourth tree about halfway up. The bark doesn''t look normal."


    Su could see a discoloration on the brown tree bark, it had moved slightly which tipped her off that it was definitely unusual. Gil followed her line of sight and notched a normal arrow. When he let it fly he half expected it to just thunk in to the bark of the tree as any arrow would. However, he was surprised to hear a soft squishing sound instead.


    The was a lot of movement from under the brown patch that seemed to be held to the tree with the arrow that Gil had fired. With whatever Gul had hit struggling Remey broke from behind Su and wound up a solid punch. She unleashed two heavy right and left hooks at the spot causing a cracking sound.


    Pieces of dried brown bark fell on to the ground revealing a much smaller baby grey haired spider that had just been crushed by Remey. It had used its spider thread to pick up a piece of fallen bark and hide itself to ambush prey. If the party had walked by without Su seeing the movement they could have been victims of this strategy.


    "Only two experience points for that but if we hadn''t seen it we could have been poisoned or worse¡­" She seemed disappointed at this because the risk was much higher if they had not noticed it.


    "It was using a natural hunting tactic. Just because it was smarter in how it hunted doesn''t mean it was any stronger, look at the size. I''m surprised my arrow didn''t defeat it in one shot." Gil was looking at the spider that couldn''t even be used as crafting materials. If he had known what it was he would have just tried to go around it and let it grow to adulthood.


    "At least we know that they can hint like that. If we didn''t learn this lesson now it could have caught us off guardter. I will be looking for discolored spots in the forest as we walk." Walker was studying the bark that had been used as a disguise. "The scary part is that the bark also acted like a little bit of a shield."


    "By discolored do you mean something that seems to stand out as a little too different...something like that round spot on the ground over there?'' Remey was standing like a stone statue. She was locked on arge round spot on the ground that was a very bright shade of greenpared to the moss surrounding it.


    "Form up, that one looks bigger. Remey do you want to fight it and try to work somebos is? Or should we try and beat it quickly." Walker left it up to Remey since it was her trying to teach him a lesson. Plus it was a good experience to let her act as the leader at times. The entire party needed to grow and evolve not just one.


    "We can take it down together, it will be easier to show offbos against opponents that don''t have poison or eight legs to dodge." This was the answer Walker would havee up with. "Su you taunt it while Walker prepares that fancy new skill of his. Gil, you will be support and Midnight will circle behind. Once it is surrounded we will all attack in turn." Remey was more adept at battle strategy and was showing her prowess here.


    Gil pulled back a basic arrow and was nning on using it the same way they had with the baby grey haired spider. This one was certainlyrger but if it was struck through the moss patch then it would want to attack or run right away. Midnight faded in to the shadows using her shadow wrapping skill and Gil released the arrow.


    There was almost no resistance and the scratching of legs gave away the spider hiding under the moss. The light green moss was flung in to the air revealing a veryrge adult grey haired spider. "Get over here you worthless bug!" Su taunted the spider making it focus its rage from being hurt in her. It charged at her but was met with her shields as it swung its sharp legs down at her.


    The sound of vibrating metal let The others know that they were able to attack. Remey went in with a slide to get under its weaker belly. She was able to strike twice with jabs before retreating again. The damage she had done was enough to slow and stagger the spider. Walker was creating the first whip much faster due to the water all around him.


    Since the spider was distracted and staggering Midnight was able to bound in and shred at the legs of the spider taking out three of them in a vicious swipe. When Midnight retreated she pped out her wings giving her a slight boost backward. Walker wanted to praise her for the wise use of her wings but the frost whip was formed and he needed to hold his own.


    Gil and Walker worked together at mid range to fire their projectiles. Gil''s arrow was able to take out and lodge in to one of the spider''s eyes. Walker sent a pulse of mana through the frost whip and sent three ice needles in to the same area as Gil''s arrow. The result was a very angry and hurt spider.


    The grey haired spider began to panic at the damage it was receiving andshed out blindly. Su was there with her shields blocking every attack and even managing to parry one that could have reached out for Remey as she moved in with a hammer fist. When Remey made contact the spider''s abdomen cracked open showing just how much damage it was taking from the onught of attacks.


    Walker knew that it would try to flee since it had started to spin around wildly, he used the frost whip to wrap around two of its legs and made it freeze. He did not worry that the ice would break and he wouldn''t be able to control it since he was already making a new frost whip in his other hand. The second frost whip wrapped around another two legs while Midnight came in and shredded off the remaining free leg.


    Su mmed her shields together and used a shield bash with her full might to crush the spider in its weakest point. The giant grey haired spider had not stood a chance against the teamwork of the party.


    ''Giant grey haired spider defeated


    45 exp multiplies to 450 exp''


    The party looked at the twitching corpse knowing that they had gone in to full attack mode and defeated a strong opponent. If this spider had ambushed them they would have lost a member of their party, no doubt about it. "Nice job Remey. You have good eyes." Walker''s sudden praise made Remey unable to reply, however, Gil and Su echoed this along with a few huffs from Midnight. She was suddenly too sheepish to reply at all.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 323 - 323. Goblin Facts

    We should be able to get a lot out of this spider. It looks like it has developed well past adulthood and grown a veryrge spider silk nd. The spider silk is great for bow stings and even used in some clothing. "Your sister might like it." Gil had already learned the value of such spiders because the first bow he had ever owned used the grey haired spider silk as a bow string. It was a very basic bow but he still learned about it as any good archer would.


    "Brilliant idea, I wonder what could be made with spider silk from such a huge spider." Walker went to work storing the spider away while the two chatted about what could be made with the silk.


    "It looks like it used a bunch of young moss stuck to some of its thread to hide under. If these spiders hunted like this out in the rocks on the outskirts they would be much more formidable." Su was picking up the mossy cover that had been made by the spider. "Leader, please save this for me. I think we can use this if we need to hide some thing.'' Walker did not hesitate to store it away, Su always had logical ideas and this was yet another one.


    Midnight was sniffing around and seemed to have the scent of more spiders. "Sister says that there are many spiders in that direction." Onyx hade out of his tattoo form after so muchmotion. He realized that he should be out assisting as much as he could during a dangerous situation.


    "Then we will not be going that way. First, it will be a pain to deal with all of them. Second, if there are a lot of spiders, then there are sure not any purple slimes over there." Walker turned his head to the left looking in the opposite direction of the possible spiders'' nest.


    "Does Midnight smell any from over there?" Remey was very interested in taking the path without the massive spiders. If she had the choice she would rather scrub every single cauldron in the alchemy building than head to a spider''s nest.


    "Sister says that there are not any spider scents that way." Onyx was already wide awake and tranting like he had been there the entire time doing so.


    "Leader,e this way." Su took the lead surprising Walker and Gil. However, Remey looked fairly happy having her backup in this.


    The party let Midnight take the lead since she had the grey haired spider scent memorized. She was helping them avoid the traps and small silk threads left behind to trap prey. This also was a good way for them to avoid running in to arge nest of them which would be able to out number the party.


    "The trees are definitely gettingrger around here and there are bigger tree roots." Gil had noticed that as they walked the scenery was starting to morph. The tree tops were now well above their heads and the rain that fell was mostly just mist falling off the leaves. The water proof gear they had on was making them as dry as possible.


    We haven''t seen any signs of monsters or even regr animals for a while. It actually feels like the forest is too quiet. And when the forest is quiet it usually means there is a predator around." Gil had been hunting in the woods enough times to know that when it was too quiet then that means danger. The tweeting of the birds should never be lost from a hunter''s ears.


    With Gil dropping in a crouch low to the ground the rest of the party was also on high alert. Su and Gil were to two that had the best eye sight and were taking the lead in trying to spot an enemy. Midnight was sniffing the air trying to catch a scent of anything out of the ordinary. Yet as they stopped the sound of tweeting birds started to resume. "Whatever it was that passed by is gone now." Gil rxed a little and moved back in to the normal walking stance.


    "We should keep an eye out for any tracks or evidence of what is prowling around. I would prefer to know what we might bump in to." Walker could only imagine what monster was strong enough of a predator to make all the sounds of the forest go silent.


    "You don''t think we moved in to a goblin territory already, do you?" Remey had paid attention to the briefing Walker gave the party. The predator in the first was numerous, however, one that stuck in her mind was the goblins. The simple reason was that they detested humans or any other sentient race. They had very strong instincts and could use basic tools. This made them tougher to beat when they were in groups. Especially for smaller parties.


    "Gil walked a few steps ahead and turned back to look at Remey, "I hate to tell you this, but it looks like we are about to pass through their territory." In front of the path, the party wished to travel were numerous small foot prints.


    "Ugh, why did I need to jinx myself like that. I really don''t want to fight smelly green monsters." Remey looking at her gloves in fear that she would ruin them in one adventure.


    "Leader, you said that as long as we avoid the goblin''s nest we should be fine to battle against them right?" Su was a little worried to be fighting more human like monsters. She had some fear that it would be harder to defeat them for that reason.


    "Yes, I read a book all about them in the library. They are apparently strange even when ites to monsters. Unlike the other monsters goblins aren''t born from eggs, instead, they are a total mystery. No researcher has even been able to figure out how they breed. They also can''t be tamed by any form of tamer yet to exist to human knowledge. The only thing we do know is that they smell, really bad." Walker was joking on thest part since he could see the party needed a little humor. However, Gil picked up the subject.


    "They have very poor hygiene and are known to let their food rot. This makes their bite poisonous. They also can use crude tools so watch out for sharpened rocks or sticks. I remember you said that they are known to hunt in groups too. So the least that are usually seen together in two and most ever seen is twenty." Gil had tried to remember these details the most since he was worried about their numbers.


    "Oh, I remember too. They have almost no use as monster materials and often end up bing a nuisance to small viges. The adventurers that are sent to deal with them are often paid by the kingdom or by vigers who saved up." Remey remembered this as the other two had talked.


    Walker justughed to himself since their fear of the goblins a moment ago fell away and turned in to a study session. "Let''s move carefully and focus on ay tracks we see. They usually can''t set traps but had been known to ambush prey. If you see something say something and we will jump in to action." Walker made thesest words before taking the lead with Gil. Since Gil was the tracking expert in the party he would be making sure that they were not identally following the goblins to their nest.


    The careful forward movement lead the party deeper i to the forest. The trees seemed to tower over them more with every passing step. Walker had started to notice the amount of movement above them and be a little worried, enough to tell his party. "Keep an eye up above us too. There are a lot of animals in the tree tops and I am sure there are some monsters hunting them." As he said this he saw a small bird fly branch to branch before suddenly disappearing between them. He was sure he had just witnessed such an instance.


    "Great, look on the ground for green goblin monster grossness and look up for anything that might be in the trees." Remey could only imagine another giant grey haired spider descending from the trees trying to grasp one of them as they passed by. It was not a pleasant day dream to have at all, let alone the fact that it could easily be a reality if they did not take enough care in where they walked.


    "Grrrrr" Midnight scrunched her nose up and started to softly growl while looking ahead of them. She had not seen something but smelled something very off.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 324 - 324. Goblins, Spiders, And Slimes. Oh My!

    Midnight was ring at a patch of trees ahead of them. There was the scent of rot and decay in the air causing all of them to want to cover their noses. The worst part was that they could see the ck rot on the trees in front of them. It looked like Midnight had gone around using decaying breath mes for hours and hours.


    "Somerhing tells me this is the work of the slimes we are after." Gil was slow to approach the area since the smell of rot was so bad. He prodded that the bark of the tree with an arrow and found that it just ked off existing in the inside of the rotting wood. The ck decay had eaten in to the very core of the tree.


    "I can see why people are unhappy with this. These slimes are doing a lot of damage to the very lifeblood of the forest. The elven kingdom must be furious. They literally have lived here forever." One look at Remey told all of them that she was just as unhappy to see this. In her mind she could only imagine how many life saving herbs could have been killed or brought to extinction by this decay.


    "I might jot be an expert, but from my friends at the cathedral, I have learned some things about purification magic. I do not believe that it would be able to deal with this level of decay. The only solution would be to let the infected trees die or to cut off the decaying part."


    Su knew that purification magic was rare to begin with. She had heard that it was usually used to cleanse something of a curse or a living creature from poisons or even to enhance the quality of materials by removing disruptive mana.


    "I think so too, this is very advanced and powerful. Remey, what are your thoughts? Could those antidote potions resist this in any way?" Walker was worried that the potions Remey and the old master alchemist had made might be too weak to protect them if they toughed the slime or had a head on collision in battle.


    "Pfft, who do you think we are? We used some of the pure water and even some other special herbs to make sure they were of the highest quality. It may take multiple treatments but if you get that decay on you and wrap soaked bandages on it, then it just might protect you from the decay damage and cure you." She thought for a moment. "The worst case I would say go to the cathedral for healing anyways.


    Midnight looked to be suffering in the scene of the decay. Her nose was much stronger than theirs and she could not deal with the smell. Come on let''s see if we can follow the path of decay." Now that Walker had seen the full extent of the purple limes decay quality he wanted to formte so,e new pans.


    He was happy that the slime obviously did not just decay and break things down in an instant. Instead it took time, meaning that the party would be able to safely reach other if they were hurt. The sooner they would use the antidote potion the less damage, if any, there would be. Walker made sure it was always on his mind to pull one out.


    "Just stay vignt, some slimes have been known to shoot acid or other fluids from their bodies. These might not since it looks like they had to be in long term contact to cause this decay. But I would rather be safe than sorry." Walker''s final warning was one he said a few times and the party knew he was worrying over it.


    With that, the party started to follow the trail of decay. They could still find the tracks of goblins and even some of the grey haired spider silk here and there. This area seemed to be heavily traveled by many monsters. Remey was stopping to look at the remains of the young growth, her grimace getting worse and worse with every minute.


    Gil was mirroring her unhappiness, he had been hunting in forests many times with his father and he had been taught to respect nature. His goal as a hunter had always been to take what they needed to survive and prosper. If he had tried to take too much his father was always there exining why it could hurt the forest and that it was or was not necessary.


    Su did not have the same experiences and understanding of the forest that her party members did, however, she had started to learn through gardening that a lot of effort could go in to one single seedling. For a forest to grow it was a massive aplishment for nature. The way a single tree was cut could change how the entire forest grew, even the smallest detail could make a life or death difference.


    These things were driving the party as they noticed that the ck decay was getting more intense. They could smell the rot much more strongly, this made Midnight look very agitated and unhappy. She may have a skill that made her me breath cause decay, but this was something her body was able to produce and not harmful to her. The rot that was caused by the slimes was different, it was rotting things still alive and causing a lot of damage. There was no way Midnight nose could get used to it, especially since she upgraded to dragon champion. Her body was much more sensitive and growing to be stronger, her sense of smell was only one thing that had improved.


    The more the party proceeded closer to the heavy decay the more they started to notice signs of struggle. There were grey hairs from the spiders on the ground. It looked like they had been broken or cut off in some ways. There were even remaining pieces of legs here or there. "We are getting close to something, I can hear some fighting."


    Gil gave a warning and the party all crouched to try and travel unnoticed. "Midnight, use your skill and sneak around. Don''t get in to the fight unless we give a call." Walker wanted to set up to ambush any monsters that they were about toe in to contact with if possible.


    Su took a slight lead as they went through the trees. There were bits of purple slime scattered on the ground as the battle they were approaching had progressed. Gil pointed them out so they would not step on them and possibly alert the monsters ahead. What drew their attention was the small skinny green body of a pointed eared creature.


    The decay on the body made it hard to see the finer details but it was obvious that this was the remains of a goblin in by the slimes. They were battling each other for some reason, Walker figured that it was because this was considered the territory of the goblins and they did not like any other monster encroaching on it.


    The party saw a grey blur as a spider jumped from a tree towards the ground. The next thing they saw was a round purple blob that seemed to ripple as it rolled forwards. The sickly purple color it had made it look unnatural and poisonous. The battle the two were having in the small clearing ahead was not the only battle.


    There were about five other monsters battling slimes as well. These slimes which were the same size as a ten year old child seemed to have the advantage due to the fact that they couldn''t be killed unless their core was destroyed. The goblins that appeared to be working with the grey spiders were trying their best to thrust sharp sticks and stones in to the slimes to break their cores.


    "Do you see a goblin riding a grey haired spider over there¡­?" Gil was staring at a goblin using a veryrge grey haired spider as a mount. It looked like they had somehow paired up while fighting and their strategy was working. The spider would move around the slime and allow the goblin to stab with its pointed stick. The pair took out a slime faster than the rest of the goblins and spiders that were struggling.


    "I know that they are usually enemiespeting for prey in the forest. But it looks like the threat of the slimes somehow brought them together. I''m not sure if this is good or bad, but I prefer the natural order of the forest over the invasion of the slimes. What would you guys say to help the goblins and spiders out for now?" Walker''s idea sounded like a mad man had just spoken. Not a single adventurer would say they wanted to help monsters let alone goblins which were known to hate other sentient races.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 325 - 325. Joint Battle

    '' Heroic quest: protecting nature''s bnce


    Join the natural monster species in defeating the invasive species of slimes.


    Requirement:


    Defeat three small purple slimes


    Defeat two medium slimes


    Defeat one giant slime together with the natural monster species


    Reward:


    200 exp


    Free travel through goblin territory


    Respect of natural monster species with intelligence.


    1 heroic quest point''


    "Well I feel a little crazier, let''s go help some monsters." Gil read the system quest and decided to just roll with it.


    "Ugh, they might smell by I guess I am feeling crazy too¡­" Remey fleshed her fists ready toy down some hurt on the slime cores she could get her hands on.


    "We need to protect the natural order of the world. It is what a true hero does. Even if these monsters do not appreciate it then I will still do it." Su had already made up her mind. To her this was to be expected of them, they needed to be heroes in every way, not just to humans.


    Midnight had already gone off and would jump in when she could. This left Walker, Remey, and Su to lead the charge in and take over the pace of the battle. Walker threw together a n in the hopes that if the goblins and grey haired spiders attacked them as well they could manage to dodge and get away.


    "Su you go help those spiders, they are struggling against the small slimes. They can''t get them to be still so you will take care of that. Remey and Gil, you two team up against the medium slimes. Gil can pierce the core while Remey keeps those goblins from being swallowed. I will see what I can do with that goblin riding a spider, it looks to be struggling against the giant slime."


    ''The requirements to learn the great tactician passive skill from the general''s system have been met. The user had joined and formted a n with a cavalry unit, a foot soldier unit, and a specialized soldier unit.


    Grand tactician- passive


    The user has a more fluid ability to formte ns on the move. Their tactics will be much more easily understood by the forces they join andmand. When giving orders to a unit their morale is boosted adding +1 to all stats.''


    Walker started forward in to a running pace. He had no time to pay attention to the system now. The goblins and the grey haired spiders saw the new enemies join the fight. Walker sprinting past them heading for their strongest member made the others on edge, however, their instincts screamed at them to focus on their own enemies.


    The goblins fighting the medium slimes were distracted enough for the slimes to roll closer and try to devour their prey by epassing them in their bodies. Yet the goblins didn''t feel the pressure of death, instead, arge wind gusted around them sheering off pieces of the slime''s bodies. They could only see Gil standing at the edge of the clearing with another arrow in his hand.


    "Snap out of it you smelly monsters!" Remey dashed in and pushed one of the goblins away from the other medium slime. She had made herself the slimes target by doing this, they started to troll toward her stretching out small parts of their bodies to catch her. However, Gil''s wither spike arrow was still causing wind to separate parts of their bodies.


    "Blobs of jelly like you have nothing on my hields!" Su was not sure if her taunt skill would have any effect on the slimes. However, when she shouted the small slimes started to roll after her. She used her shields to bash at them pushing them away and making them easiwr targets for the grey haired spiders.


    The spiders had lower intelligence than the goblins but they had the instinct to understand that Su was not showing hostility for them. They focused on the predator they were fighting together instead. They shed out with their spiked legs trying to cut away the slimes. They were taking damage because they could not resist the decaying effects of the slimes body. However, Su saw one of them get lucky and pierce a slime core. The result was a puddle of purple slime and a broken purple rock falling in to two.


    Walker was the most dramatic of the party as he entered. He lept in to the air as high as possible and took his draconic crusher from his inventory. He channeled his mana in to the hammer and attracted the water element around him. His goal was to freeze off chunks of the giant purple slime so he could either collect the giant slime''s core or break it.


    The goblin riding the spider saw the iing Walker and moved away to avoid a possible blow. But when it saw that the target was the slime and not itself it was left cautious and curious. Walker hade down mming his hammer in to the slime, his elemental smash skill sent the gathered water mana in to the slime''s body.


    There was a moment where the hammer just hit the slime and made a soft dent in it however, after a few seconds the water around the slime gathers and attached to its body. It froze and became sharp spikes trapping and freezing arge chunk of its body. The chunk for frozen slime did not move with the giant slime and instead slipped down to the ground where it broke in to countless pieces.


    The goblin on the spider looked at the scene of Walker standing with arge hammer and quickly gathering a frost whip. Walker could tell that Ice would be the perfect way to cut down this giant slime''s size. He quickly sent a pulse of energy in to the frost whip he created from the high amount of water around him. The ice needles sped toward the slime and pieced it fairly deeply. The frost that formed was less than what the hammer did but it was still a noticeable piece of ice that fell to the ground and broke in to shards.


    The goblin on the spider did not hesitate any longer seeing this, it rushed in and let the spider choose its path. The goblin brandished itsrge sharpened branch and stabbed constantly at the giant slime trying to reach the core. Every time it made contact it would cause more decay to the sharpened branch. With its weapon failing the goblin pulled out a sharp rock and grabbed a branch from the nearest tree. Walker watched as it crudely cut the end of the stick in to a point and started to stab at the giant slime again.


    This dance of retreating from the giant slime and sending ice at it while the goblin on the giant grey haired spider tried to stab it conbtinued for some time. The slime had slowly started to lose its mass and surprisingly get faster. With less of its body to control it had the ability to move faster, the downside to this was that Walker and the goblin on the spider were able to predict its simple movements and still avoid it. The core of the slime was also now vulnerable with less protection.


    Walker could hear the growls of Midnight from nearby and when he retreated from the giant slime next he was able to catch a glimpse of Su and Midnight teaming up on thest small slime while the spiders retreated near each other. They had lost a few limbs to the rot and needed to avoid the remaining slime to survive.


    When he looked toward the medium slimes he saw that the goblins there were jumping and shouting their scratch shrieks in victory. Gil had shaved off a lot of their bodies with the wind elemental wither spike arrows. This gave Remey the ability to let the goblins get in close and destroy the cores of the two slime. She had already grabbed the broken cores to bring to Walker as soon as he finished his own enemy.


    Having less of a slime body to protect its core of the giant slime was very exposed. Walker created a frost whip while the goblin and spider duo retreated yet again. This battle of attrition was finally ending. Walker used the whip not to shoot out ice needles but instead to pierce the slime and wrap around the core. He jerked backwards on the frost whip and pulled the core from the body of the giant slime.


    With the purple core fading in to a dull purple color, the slime core went dormant since it had nobody to supply itself with nutrients. The slime body fell in to a puddle of purple slime. Walker looked around seeing that the spiders were now wary of Su and Midnight. The celebrating goblins were now silent looking at the one on the spider. It was making a confused face, Walker was curious if it would attack or if it would run at this moment.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 326 - 326. Respect

    The silence in the clearing was more than the party could handle. The goblins were looking to their strongest and the injured spiders were frozen in fear. The humans that had shown up out of nowhere andpletely changed their struggle should be attacking them. This was an instinct that they had long developed through many generations as monsters.


    Walker looked at all of them and finally rested his eyes on the goblin riding the giant grey haired spider. He knew that if he moved he could start another fight, but if nothing happened they would stand frozen forever.


    Walker returned his hammer to his storage causing a small flinch from the goblin and spider. As his frost whip melted back to water the spider started to rx a little. It could feel the threat fading since it was much closer to its instincts than the goblin. However, the goblin was not rxing, it was tightening its grip on the decaying pointed stick.


    The goblin started to let ut small quiet screeches and hissing sounds. It was speaking to the other goblins who were responding with simr sounds. There seemed t be no rhyme or reason to the way they spoke. Walker could tell it was not an actualnguage but more of a feeling that was tranted back and forth.


    The goblin eventually looked back at Walker and each of the other party members. It looked at Midnight with more fear in its eyes since every minster could feel the difference in strength when it came to the bloodline she had. It thrust its decaying stick to the ground and hopped from the spider. It took slow steps towards Walker and looked at him dead in his eyes.


    Walker did not hesitate and puled out four of the antidote potions he had in his inventory. This was a risky move since it caused the goblin to take a few steps back and appear to fall in to a fighting crouch. Yet when Walker ced them on the ground and stepped back. He wanted to make sure hepleted the quest, but he was also started to realize that these monsters might not be a real threat.


    The goblin carefully lifted the antidote potion and pulled the cork from it. The sniffing made it grimace at the smell. It did show that it recognized what the potion was for and make some shrieking sounds at the goblins. Soon another came over and took the potions towards the grey haired spiders that had decay on their legs. The goblin started to pour some of the potions on to the spiders and the decay visibly started to recede.


    This seemed to remove a lot more of the goblins'' stress and fear of the party. This moment made Walker wonder why they needed to fight monsters like this in the first ce. However., he had heard all too often of the goblins that had be powerful and lead by a hobgoblin to attack viges. It was part of their instinct to survive yes, but they were lead in a way that put their species first. They were no different from humans.


    The goblin fiddles with a ne it had strung together of animal teeth. There were some fangs evidently from a snake and what seemed to be a forest wolf. This goblin had been very sessful in its hunting and disyed this as evidence.


    It ced the ne n the ground the same as Walker had ced the antidote potions. Walker did not hesitate to pick up the ne and wrap it around his wrist. He used his all around appraisal skill to see what it could mean.


    ''Emblem of achievement


    This is a piece of jewelry made by an aplished goblin hunter. Only the strongest and wisest of goblin species are able to create jewelry using their best hunted materials. They wear it to show their strength and earn respect from goblins. This is something all goblins of the world will recognize no matter their species.''


    Walker nodded at the goblin that was still looking at him. Seeing that Walker had epted it the goblin started to walk back towards the spider and mounted it like they were meant to be one monster instead of two. Out of curiosity, Walker checked the Goblin and spider with his all around appraisal skill as well.


    ''Goblin Spider Rider


    Level:???


    This is a unique ss of forest goblin that has spent many years thinking and evolving its mind. It has learned how to befriend the grey haired spiders that naturally live in the forest and work together to thrive. They stand above any other forest goblin and will often attempt to forge rtions with other species.''


    Walker was surprised that he was unable to see the level or other information, but he remembered that the all around appraisal skill was not a mastery skill and could not tell him everything every time. Seeing that the goblin was a unique ss that had learned to live with another species that would normally be an enemy was also very interesting. Furthermore, it was a type of goblin known for creating rtions with other species instead of trying to kill them instantly.


    The other goblins started to shriek and hiss as they went to the injured spider s and started to carry them away. The goblin on the spider moved toward the edge of the clearing and stopped looking at the party waiting. "I think it wants us to go with it. Stay on alert and let''s go, this goblin is different than the usual." Walker was going to exin what was different but first, he wanted to make sure the rest of them knew his intention.


    Gil was already right by Walker''s side ready to go but Remey was holding back behind Su. She was naturally more uneasy where su was putting her faith in Walker''s decision. Midnight felt that she could get rid of the goblins and spiders without worry and instead raised her head to show off her might. The party followed behind the goblin spider rider.


    The path they followed was easy to see, there were plenty of patches that the purple slimes had started to decay as a food source. Walker could feel that the giant slime core in his hand could cause a lot of damage if it gained a body back. He was careful to hide it away in his cloak, wishing that he could store away living creatures in his inventory.


    "So why are we following them?" Remey whispered in to Walker''s ear not wanting to cause any problems with the goblin they were following.


    "That goblin is a rare ss and species. It is known for forging rtionships with other species, that''s why it is able to ride that spider. It gave me this ne that makes other goblins respect it. We should be safe taking both of these things in to ount." Walker did have some lingering worries but the system was about to back him up.


    ''Heroic quest: protecting nature''s bnce-pleted


    Join the natural monster species in defeating the invasive species of slimes.


    Requirement:


    Defeat three small purple slimes


    Defeat two medium slimes


    Defeat one giant slime together with the natural monster species


    Reward:


    200 exp multiplied to 2000 exp.


    Free travel through goblin territory


    Respect of natural monster species with intelligence.


    1 heroic quest point''


    The party saw this notification in their systems and felt that having the confirmation that they had respect was better. If they had not seen this they would have been so on edge that they would have jumped in tobat at the slightest sound.


    Walker was watching how the spider reacted to the way the goblin moved. The two were perfectly in sync like they had been together forever. This was a level of teamwork that anyone could praise. Even if it was a monster no human Walker had seen yet was this perfect in their teamwork.


    After following for a little more time the goblins reached a small cave that they brought the injured spiders in to. There were webs all around showing that this was their nest. The outside of the cave looked to be where the goblins would rest since there were poorly made beds and even a small fire pit. It looked like this had once been a temporary adventurers camp that had been left to rot away. The goblins had managed to make it their home.


    The goblin spider rider let the giant grey haired spider go to the cave to be with the other spiders while it started to pick around the ground and move things toward the empty fire pit. "Gil, can you and Remey get some wood? I want to start a fire here." Walker had an idea that the goblins had never managed to start a fire in the fire pit, but he could start one and use it to cook some of the wide mouth frog meat. The party would not rest here but they could show their own prowess and cook.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 327 - 327. Cooking For Goblins

    Walker pulled out of thergest legs of the wide mouth frogs. The goblin spider rider was visibly shocked at the meat that hade out of nowhere. It retreated away from Walker unsure what the human was doing. Seeing that Walker had pulled a small knife out as well and started cutting the meat in a diamond pattern it was even more curious.


    Walker was using a cutting technique he had seen his mother use plenty of times. He could hear her saying "This is how you get the skin to be extra crispy" In his head like she was there next to him. At one point he remembered that he had wished to be some form of chef when he unlocked his system. When he was very little and needed to be watched he was always watching his mother cook. To him it was like watching a miracle at work.


    ''Skill knife skills have been taken from the master chef system. The skill knife skills has been automatically learned due to user action.


    Knife skills- passive


    When using ded weapons for cooking the user will naturally move in a way to avoid self harm. The cuts will be more exact. The chance of damaging the product the user is preparing is greatly reduced.''


    Walker almost ignored this while he was starting to cook. But when he saw that his preparation of the meat would be more exact he became curious and grabbed the second wide mouth frog leg. He started to work on it with the same technique and found that the two legs looked like they were night and day.


    "Leader, did you just gain another skill? Your knife work looks pristine now." Su had been observing him while he worked just as the goblin spider rider had. Su wished to protect Walker if anything were to go poorly while he was distracted.


    "You guessed right. I just got a skill that helps me with using a cooking knife. Actually, I think I got a skill from that battle." Walker looked through the system notifications while pulling out various spices his mother had insisted he put in his inventory for while the party was traveling.


    At this moment he was happy his mother had cared so much since the smell of the spice had brought the other goblins out of the cave. Instead of pouncing on the meat and eating it directly, the goblin spider rider had shrieked at them to stay back as it observed. The goblin spider rider was smelling the same delectable scent but was not allowing itself to be controlled by it.


    "I gained a skill that helps me with battle strategy. It needed me to deal with different types of troops in a joint battle. I guess the goblin spider rider is a cavalry soldier. Regardless when I give orders to follow my n you all should receive a boost in your stats. This skill is great." Walker was very happy to read the skill. It would prove very useful when working with others to get a job done.


    Gil and Remey returned with fire wood after a short time and piled some up in an ideal shape to allow airflow to create hot mes for cooking. Walker used some basic flint and steel he had in his inventory as a basic survival gear to start the logs aze. The small twigs he used to start that were scattered about the camp so he didn''t even need to go hunting for any as tinder.


    Looking about Walker took two of the pointed sticks that were leaning against the cave causing the goblins to hiss slightly at him. However, the goblin spider rider did not stop him from using them. When Walker used them to stab through and hold the wide mouth frog legs the goblins werepletely lost as to why.


    The simple fact was that goblins would just eat meat and any other edible things they found raw. They could not normally create fire to cook, it was just not in their skill set unless another specialized goblin with the ability was around. When Walker set up the skewers to cook the smell that hit the goblins made them drool even more than they already were.


    "Don''t tell me you are going to try and find a way to tame goblins with food. I know you have some tamer system skills to contract monsters but this is just weird¡­" Gil was worried about why Walker might be doing this.


    "I am more curious about the nature of the goblins. The books and everything we have read paint them as vicious creatures that try to destroy everything they see. But that goblin right there seems to be teaching the weaker ones differently. They even worked together with other monsters. It may sound weird but I would like to see them grow."


    "If the books are wrong and these goblins grow they might change the entire species." Su had grasped the thing Walker was looking for. She would also like to see the evolution of a kinder monster. She had already seen the proof that not every monster was bad in Midnight. Now if it was seen in a creature notorious for being cruel then it could mean much more.


    "Honestly I am getting over the whole goblin thing right now. I think Midnight and I deserve the first bite of that wide mouth frog leg." Midnight bobbed her head in agreement with Remey.


    "Weren''t you the one saying that frogs were slimy before? Maybe we shouldn''t give you any and just keep it for those who don''t think frogs are slimy." Gil''s retort earned him a solid hit in the arm From Remey. Midnight also looked ready to pounce on him since she took this as a threat. No one would take her food from her.


    "Gah, no Midnight I would never take your food. Don''t look at me like that." Gil had seen the look in her eyes and quickly tried to talk himself to safety.


    "Cut it out, the food is almost done. Now what I am thinking is if these goblins are indeed different we should helo them a little. I have heard stories of the desert goblins attacking viges and even the forest goblins doing the same in rare cases. The mountain goblins are known for ambushing travelers and dropping boulders on them." Walker''s face was sour while talking about these things he had read.


    If the right goblins thrive and share their mentality maybe they could start on the path of the ancient dragons. I know they are very different and live above other species, but they still live side by side with other species. They are technically monsters too. So what if goblins can walk that path too? I would not have considered it but with the system giving us the quest to help the natural species, it made me wonder." Walker spoke while gazing off in the distance.


    He had hope for a better future when it came to monsters, however, he did not let his hope run away with his heart. He needed to be realistic in how long such a thing would take. He also knew that some monsters would never live peacefully and instead remain shackled to their own instincts.


    "Leader, I am not sure if that is possible but I would love to see it one day." Su could feel her heart warming as she thought of the possibilities of this happening. Se had also studied the cases of goblins and their cruelty. She would not have thought it possible for the species to be kind or have respect, but those ideas had been shattered in one battle.


    "Don''t et your food burn Walker!" Remey had be distracted by Walker''s ideas and drifted in to thought, but the smell of browning meat had called her to reality.


    "Ah, you''re right. I almost let it get over cooked. Walker pulled one of therge legs off and used a stone as a table. He cut in in to perfectly sized strips to share. The second leg of wide mouth frogs had the same fate and was cut to serve everyone. Walker waved for the goblin spider rider to tale some of the meat to share with its'' fellow goblins.


    The goblin spider rider approached slowly but was soon propelled forward by the shrieks and hissing from the other goblins who were losing control of their huger at the delicious scent. The party was already digging in and eating while keeping an eye on the goblins. The only one who paid no one any mind was Midnight who was busying herself with eating the entire leg, bones, and all she would refuse to leave even the smallest scrap uneaten.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 328 - 328. Goblin Creation

    The goblin spider rider grabbed the meat offered to it and rushed back to the other goblins. It made sure it was the first to take a bite before distributing it evenly. The look of hunger that came over the goblin spider rider as the meat touched its tongue was visible from the cave entrance. It started to devour the meat making the other goblins jump in and fight for it as well. The chance to divide it up heavenly had been thrown out the window.


    Walker smiled to himself knowing that he had cooked his best to try and make the goblins want to learn these things. If they were left with this great of an impression they just might keep pursuing a peaceful rtion with other creatures.


    Walker and the party finished their little meal while the goblins looked at them in hopes of more food. They had all been hooked enough to want to find a way to ask for more. In response, Walker took out the remainder of a wide mouth frog body and left it to see what would happen.


    The goblin spider rider was the first to start putting the puzzle pieces together that it was given. Walker had made a big show of how he prepared the meat and cooked it. The goblins had wanted every second of it with eagerness. Now they had a chance to figure it all out themselves.


    With this clicking in to ce the goblin spider rider started to cut apart the meat with the crude sharpened rock. The pieces were not even at all but they were better than cooking ti whole. The other goblins realized this and joined in to the cutting process.


    Walker and the party were watching as the poorly made skewers came in to being. Walker just smiled more and more as they started the skewers cooking. They had not added spice but that was fine. Walker had them stored away anyways.


    The smell of cooking meat became the smell of burning as the goblins started to learn about cooking temperature. Some had ced the meat way too close to the fire while others feared the fire and ced it way too far. Either way there was only one goblin that seemed to be having sess.


    The shortest goblin out of the bunch was cooking three skewers at once and continuously turned them. This was something Walker had done himself while cooking that he was sure the goblins would not use. Instead one of them was.


    The goblin spider rider took notice of the shorter goblin and made some noises for the meat to be handed over to it for cooking. This move was another thing Walker had hoped for, if they could learn then it was only a matter of time before they started to see the benefits of peaceful rtionships with other species.


    The goblins were more sessful after relying on the shorter one to cook for them. The result was less burned meat and a lot of happy eating. The goblins quickly eat their fill and started to fall asleep strewn about the ground in their poorly made beds. The only one that remained awake was the goblin spider rider.


    The arty was starting to prepare to leave when the goblin spider rider came forward and stood in front of Walker. It hissed a few times along with a few grunts before turning toward the cave. It looked back waiting for Walker to follow it.


    "Do you think it''s safe to follow it?" Remey was worry that if Walker went he would not return.


    "Don''t worry, Midnight can use her shadow wrapping skill to follow me unnoticed." Midnight looked at Walker knowing that her job would be to protect him if the worst happened.


    After taking a deep breath Walker followed the goblin spider rider in to the cave. He found that it was much easier to see because there were glowing green crystals in the walls. The spider webs hid them from the outside making it seem like any old dark cave.


    The walls had some crudely drawn images of spiders and goblins battling against each other before two came on contact with each other and didn''t fight. Walker was able to tell this was the meeting of the goblin spider rider and the giant grey haired spider.


    The cave was a little deeper than Walker had expected it to be. The green crystals that he thought could be wind elemental crystals were most certainly not. They gave off a strange mana that seemed to be a mixture of mana elements, some Walker could not grasp.


    The farther the goblin spider rider lead him in to the cave the stronger the mixture of mana. Walker found that the injured grey haired spiders were in the webs against the walls shrinking back as he walked past them. They did not attack but carefully watched the two.


    The giant grey haired spider came in to view as the cave opened up in to a small round space. In the middle was a veryrge green crystal that seemed to glow with the beat of a heart. There were grey haired spider eggs all around it but for the front face if the crystal.


    Walker wished he could ask about the crystal and the eggs but as soon as the goblin spider rider stopped in front of it the glow intensified. The pulsing light seemed to be stranger and a shape formed within the crystal. Walker watched as the elements converged in to the shape of a young goblin.


    The crystal started to crack and fall to pieces leaving a goblin on the floor of the cave. Walker was standing there with his jaw on the floor. He had never expected to see such a thing. Most monsters were different from normal animals because they would be birthed through eggs, it was just how the world worked. There were some cases where monsters like slimes were created through natural means, and then there were cases that were still a mystery. Goblins were one of those mysteries.


    Walker was the first that he had ever heard to see a goblin birthed, and in a way that no one had expected. The crustal that had shattered seemed to melt in to the floor and form in to a much smaller crystal that pulsed very slowly. The green light became very soft and the goblin spider rider moved the small goblin to the back of the room while looking at Walker. This was an act of trust and respect, there was no other way to interpret it.


    Walker just nodded and did not move at all. He did not want to overstep his boundaries and interrupt what he was being shown out of trust. This was the start of a new path for the goblins. Walker wished he could return this gesture.


    At the moment the only thing he could think to do was to pull out more food from his inventory. He pulled out some of the horned rabbits he had left and ced them down in the cave. He also left the other body of the wide mouth frog.


    The goblin spider rider had wide eyes seeing this because it knew with this much food it would not need to go out hunting for a while. Since the grey haired spiders were injured and healing after the use of the antidote potion, they would need a few day''s rest.


    This was a huge boon for the goblins since it would help them recover and even be stronger. The goblin spider rider made some grunting sounds and a small shriek at Walker. It was clear that these were words of gratitude. Even the giant grey haired spider had reacted by snapping its fangs together to make a small clicking sound. The two were still perfectly in sync.


    ''Hidden quest: Goblin friends has beenpleted.


    The user has befriended a monster species thought to be hated by their own species due to their naturally evil tendencies. Having discovered that these were falshoods based on singr experiences the user has assisted the goblin species. The goblins now have the chance to change their fate as a species destined to go extinct to a species destined to stand equally with all other races.


    Reward:


    Title- Friend of the goblin race


    The title friend of the goblin race has been absorbed in to the title true hero. The title true hero has gained a bonus effect of +1 to charisma, +3 to magic attack, + 5 to agility.


    The user and their party shall receive the benefits from the title- a friend of the goblin race and gain the effect- safe travel in thend of goblins. The user will be seen as any goblin theye in contact with a friend and brother.''


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 329 - 329. Ecosystem Crash

    Walker almost dropped to his knees in surprise. The only thing he could ask himself was if titles were so easy toe by. Had befriending the goblins who were usually killed on sight that big of an achievement? How lucky were they? They had just happened upon a goblin that was more known to make friends with other species in their time of need. Walker struggled to regain his calm appearance before the goblin spider rider motioned for him to walk back out of the cave. It was clear that it had shown him the respect he wanted and also was happy to gain more food for them.


    When he exited the cave he saw that the others were all closed up in a huddle discussing what was happening. They werepletely stunned by the second title. They were stunned yet again when they saw their systems saying that their hero title had absorbed it and gained the benefits from the friend of the goblins title. It was just too much for them. They had already learned to live with one title, and that was still a daily struggle.


    Once Walker had reached the fire and stepped over the sleeping goblins he sat down looking deep in to the embers. The goblin spider rider sat next to him like it was the mostmon thing in the world. The two sat there just warming themselves and thinking about the events of the day. Anyone who wandered by would not be able to understand this scene.


    "Brother, you finally lit a fire to help me warm up. It was so cold with the rain that I didn''t dare toe out until it was warmer and drier." Walker was surprised that Onyx had finally decided to grace them with his presence. However, it did make sense that Onyx had not wanted to risk being out in the cold rain and falling asleep in a dangerous ce.


    "Perfect timing, we actually are in a very interesting situation and your trantions would be great." Walker could only hope that Onyx could trante with his mental ability. He wanted to make sure the goblins knew the dangers of talking to other adventurers and that their best path to safety would be to avoid conflict.


    "Brother I could see the title we got. I am like you now. I am a title holder. When you were fighting I was wrapped around your arm and helped you hold on to the hammer tighter." The voice of Onyx in his head was boastful and arrogant. He had been learning too much from midnight as was not very prideful when he acted, especially if the things he did were able to help another party member.


    "Don''t let Midnight rub off on you too much, but thank you for joining me. I really am d things went well." Walker gave a small shake of his head at this. His party members were still silently watching him as he spoke to Onyx waiting to see what would happen next. They wanted to ask a million questions s but had a firm grip on themselves.


    "Hello, I am Onyx. Brother wanted me to try and trante for you." His words were open to Walker and the rest of the party as well. Onyx was doing exactly as he usually did with midnight to the goblin spide rider.


    The goblin spider rider jumped in to a fighting stance and shrieked slightly while looking for the source of the unfamiliar voice. It quickly locked in on Onyx before shrieking and grunting a few times.


    "Brother, it says I am a weird worm." Onyx sounded a little insulted but Walker just brushed it off.


    "You know they are not the same as humans, just cut them some ck for now." Walker was still resisting the urge tough after Onyx had been called a weird worm. "Please ask out goblin friend what their name is please."


    "Brother would like to know your name. His is Walker and he is a human." Walkernwondered why his species was brought in to this but if it was said in a way for the goblins to understand it was a good test of possible hostility towards humans in general.


    The grunting and hissing of the goblin spider rider were met by Onyx bobbing his head before finally speaking. "Brother, his name is Kroll and he says he is a wise goblin." This information was interesting since Walker knew this species of goblin to be called forest goblins.


    "Why does he call himself wise." Remey had surprisingly joined the conversation breaking the silence between all of them.


    "That is Remey, she would like to know why you call yourself wise." Onyx was again listening and speaking within the goblin spider rider''s head. It still flinched as he did so.


    "Kroll says that only wise goblins can lead. That he has a different skill than the normal goblins so he is wise." This did make sense. It wasn''t wisdom in the way humans would think when they heard the word but wisdom to do things other goblins did not. It was in facrt rare for goblins to ride a spider or anything for that matter as a mount.


    "Brother, Kroll wishes to know why you decided to join their side in the fight against the killing blobs." Walker was amused by the name the goblin had given the purple slimes that decayed the forest.


    "I chose to join them because they were the species that belong in the forest. The slimes are here to cause trouble and pain and should not exist here. The need to go back where they came from or bepletely wiped out before the forest is destroyed." This was an undeniable fact, even the monsters that naturally existed here had begun to fight them at this point.


    "Kroll says there used to be many tribes of goblins here but after the pointy eared skinny ones attacked the tribes lost many. Then the killing blobs showed up and started to kill everything with their poison. They are thest of the goblins from the tribes in this area."


    The entire party drew a sharp breath at this, not a single one thought that thebination of what they believed to be elves hunting and the purple slimes destroying the forest could cause the goblins to shrink to such numbers.


    "Leader, without the goblins, won''t other monsters and animals in the forest grow out of control?" Su was already putting the pieces together and realizing that the species of green forest mice and scaled bats the goblins often hunted would not have a natural predator any more. This would make them grow out of control and further damage the forest by consuming other species and many nts. It would be a massive ecosystem crash.


    "I didn''t realize that goblins could be so important. Even I read the story books about how they were the worst of the weak monsters that should be killed on sight. But now that I think about it I have never really heard too much about them when I have spoken to other adventurers. Were the story books wrong and everyone has believed the wrong things for years and years?"


    Gil''s theory was the most probable out of any other theory.


    "If I remember right those books are mostly written about heroes that go after goblins that were minions to the demon lord right? Maybe they used to be like that since they were controlled and now they are at their natural state?"


    "Brother, Kroll says that we are very powerful and is d that we chose to join them in a good battle." Onyx had been chatting with the goblin while the party conversed. They had be distracted by their own theories and the realization that humans and other species had long been believing somethingpletely false.


    "Tell Kroll that I am happy to have helped when we found them. Also, let him know that we are here in the forest to find the cause of the purple slimes and that we would be grateful for their knowledge. Also please exin the dangers of adventurers and what to do if faced with travelers. I am trusting this to you Onyx." Onyx looked extremely happy to be trusted with such a task. He constantly worried that he was of no use to the party.


    With Onyx on the task, Walker joined the rest of the party again to put together what their next move would be. They had a lot of things to understand and sort out when it came to the new titles incorporation and the way the goblins acted. The simple fact that the forest goblins were nearly extinct was enough to bring in the adventurers guild or a kingdom''s royalty to issue a protection order.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 330 - 330. Protection

    Walker realized while he was talking to the party about the possibility that these goblins were really some of thest of the forest goblins, that he needed to contact ra. He had the ability to send a system message to their manager as the leader. He also remembered that he had yet to look at any quests he had been sent, but that would need to wait forter.


    Walker outlined the basics of what was going on and how there was a huge problem in the forest that they had not expected to be this far advanced. He tried to avoid the possibility of giving her a heart attack by mentioning a new title but Walker knew that she would see it somehow in the system anyways.


    Before he had managed to even focus back in the party''s conversation ra had sent a message in reply. "I have barrying with a group of monster researchers. Continue on your way and ask Onyx to let the goblin leader know." It was a very simple reply but Walker knew that she would want every tiny detail when they returned to the guild.


    "Well that was quick, ra already replied and is having monster researchers and Barrye to protect them. I wonder if the elves will be against this though." Walker''s worried leaned on the fact that the elves technically were in charge of the deep sun hollow forest territory but also did not control itpletely. It was a strange grey area between the two kingdoms.


    "Good, the guild has the power to keep them safe. I have heard that even the elf queen listens to the adventurer guild in their kingdom." Su had taken her time to ask around about the elf kingdom while she was going about her activities in the kingdom, she had heard a lot of rumors and useless information, but small things like this might just be useful so she remembered them.


    "Well, I guess that''s it for the stinky goblins. They will be safe, but we still have no idea what is going on with the purple slimes." Remey chimed in with this harsh reminder to keep the party focused on what they were really there for.


    "Kroll told me what he knows." Onyx rejoined their conversation at the perfect time. Walker was just feeling the need to make a game n for their travel. "Kroll says that the slimes we defeated fell off of one enormous slime. It has been traveling around and leaving pieces of itself to grow. It is currently moving towards thergest tree in the forest."


    "All of that sounds bad¡­" Gil said this and nothing else, he was convinced that a massive lime that could lose parts of its body to create small, medium, and giant slimes were something that would be incredibly hard to deal with.


    "I think what sounds the worst is that it is heading towards thergest tree in the forest. If I remember right that is one of the elven kingdom''s cities. They have a spirit tree in their center that the elves use tomune with nature." when Su said this Walker''s face became much more serious.


    "If the massive slime is heading there right now then it is a much worse situation than any of us believed. I will send another message to ra. Then we are getting on the move." Walker wanted to rush off that moment.


    "I''m not going anywhere. It is getting dark and we are in a forest we are not used to and we are tired. All of that sounds like we should rest then get going." Remey was putting her foot down here. She wanted to rush off too since there were many that could be harmed if they did not act in some way to at least warn the elves. However. She was not going to let them run around lost in the dark.


    "I really want to go, but I know you are right. I will take the first watch with our goblin friend here and you can all get to sleep.'' Walker wanted to see if Kroll would stay awake the entire night or rest as well. He also wondered what would happen if any other monsters came out of nowhere and attacked. It was better to have two on the watch than one.


    Midnight curled up next to Walker and stayed in the warmth. She looked at Kroll onest time making sure the goblin was not going to do anything. She may have realized what the new title meant but she was another monster. She would not trust as easily as the rest of their arty. However, she knew that Walker would not leave the, in danger and decided to rest nheless.


    Walker sat up for a long time. It seemed that Kroll and Onyx were getting along rather well. Onyx seemed to have a really good knack for getting someone talking, it was a wonder that he didn''t have a skill for it. "Brother, Kroll says that the elves use the same kind of magic arrows as Gil." Onyx had managed to get in the same topic as the magic arrow that arcane marksman used. This was a good point for Walker to wake Gil up.


    "Is it morning already?" Gil groggily mumbled as Walker gave him a few taps on the shoulder to get up.


    "No, it''s your turn to take watch. Plus Kroll is talking about the arrows the elves use. I thought you would be interested." Gil shot up and out of his makeshift bed. This was something he refused to let escape him.


    "And you waited to wake me up? This is super important." Gil rushed off to the fire and let Onyx on to his shoulders for a change.


    Walker just smiled to himself knowing that he had told Gil as soon as Onyx had told him about the arrows. Walker made himself his bed next to Midnight and let the night pass.


    Walker woke up when it was still dark to Su nudging him. "Leader, it is time to get moving Onyx got the direction of the massive slime and we are all ready." Midnight was also just waking up and gave Su a look that pleaded for more time to sleep.


    The two got themselves u and shook away the sleep. They snacked on a few pieces of no stale bread and even left some for the sleeping goblins. Kroll had been awake all night and so had Onyx.


    "Onyx, let Kroll know that we are going off after the massive slime. Also, remind him that our friends areing to protect them." Kroll looked to be happy to hear Onyx''s tranted words. The goblin spider rider was even happier seeing the bread that was left warming by the fire.


    "Kroll says that he will always hold great respect for you and that you will win your battle." Walker took this as a goodbye and the party also made gestures of goodbye. When the party finally started to walk away from the goblin''s small camp Walker could see Kroll falling to the side dead asleep.


    "Soooo we are now friends with goblins." Remey was not sure how to start the conversation now that they were walking away from them.


    "About that, what really made you want us to help them? The system gave us a quest, yes, but you already had your mind made up before that, I know you, Walker."


    "How would you feel if someone showed up and kicked you out of your home?" Walker''s words were much heavier than Gil had been prepared for when he asked his question.


    "The more people we meet and the more species of monsters we fight, the more I learn. My feelings that every monster is not evil are only enforced after meeting Kroll. I hope we have a chance to meet an ancient dragon one day. Maybe Midnight will meet some mentors and we can learn about how the world has changed." Su was speaking on these things casually. But the meaning of her words was much more.


    If the party learned more about the history of the world they might understand where the hate of goblins truly came from and why the wars had started in the past. The more they knew now the more they could understand now. This theory had saved many lives throughout all of history and using it was never a wrong process.


    "Maybe goblins aren''t that smelly. I expected them to be unbearable. But they more smelled like dirt than anything." Remey''s random out loud thought made everyoneugh. They all had realized that when they first met the goblins but Remey was finally saying it out loud now that they had left the goblin''s little camp behind.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 331 - 331. Iron Vines

    "So you took the entire night sleeping to realize that goblins didn''t really smell that bad?" Gil immediately saw the opportunity to tease Remey a little.


    "Psss I should have just made you take my watch too. You were like a fan girl who couldn''t help but talk about magical arrows more and more. That poor goblin is traumatized." Her words cut in to him pretty hard. It was true that he had gone on pretty heavily about arrows but by no means did he think he could cause trauma.


    "You at least gained some information. I tried to learn more about the monsters we needed to avoid in the forest but I didn''t understand any of the names that the goblins use. Even with Onyx helping us it was very tough to make the proper connections. The only monster I gained information on is the monstrous mushrooms." Su was just disappointed since she couldn''t put the face to the names when it came to the forest monsters the goblin spider rider spoke on.


    "Well something is better than nothing, I hope it is good news?" Walker had some small hope that this year the monstrous mushroom species were by chance slow growing and would not be around much.


    "Apparently the purples slimes have been eating the mushrooms too. Well most of them, apparently the ck spotted poison mushrooms are left alone. I am thinking it is because their poisonous spores cause decay just like the purple slimes. Pretty much they cause the same kind of damage to the forest." This was not what any of them wanted to hear. Knowing that there was another species of monster that would usually be kept in check by others of its species causing chaos was very bad. Especially with the decay effect they caused.


    "So two monsters that need to be dealt with. The slimes are still the focus but if we see one of the ck spotted monstrous mushrooms we should safely take it out and make sure the spores do not spread." Walker looked like he was shaken by this knowledge. It would normally be tough to deal with one monster causing decay. Now to learn of the second that would be growing unhindered he wasn''t sure how the forest wouldst the spring and summer.


    A small cracking sound to the party''s side caused them all to stop in their tracks. The rain had let up as they slept but the ground was still soaking wet and muddy. Walker was easily able to form a frost whip whale they all looked for the source of the sound.


    "There!" Gil released a normal arrow at a greenish grey fur shot away from a bush. The arrow was too slow to catch the running monster as the blur escaped.


    "What was that thing? It moved through the forest like it was walking through the trees." Remey was surprised at the speed she had just seen. She knew that if she needed topete in a battle of speed with such a creature then she would most likely lose.


    "It was wearing a small gold cor. I didn''t seemuch else but it was definitely not a normal monster." Su had seen the motion and picked out the defining detail as it had fled. She was not able to gain a lot but her new vision skill was really paying off.


    "Why would it have a cor? Is it a tamed monster do you think?" Gil was looking at the tracks it had left behind and found they were incredibly faint. "It looks like this is a track from a moss wolf. They only live in the deepest parts of forests. It should not be here at all. This is still too far out. We might call this the deep sun hollow forest but that''s our name. I think the eleven kingdom still calls this the outskirts."


    "So a monster that shouldn''t be here and it was also wearing a cor" Walker was putting the pieces together while Midnight gave the slight tracks a smell. She could give them a hand in tracking it since Gil could have more trouble following the minsters tracks.


    "Are we going after it? It might be someone spying on us." Su had reached a simr conclusion as Walker. He also thought this was someone''s monster that was scouting the area or watching them. It had run away because it identally let the party know it was watching.


    "If it is good news or bad, I don''t know, but it went that way, the decay is leading us." The un-surety in Gil''s voice was enough to tell that he was thinking this was an enemy. The intensity in the party jumped to a higher level at that moment.


    "We can stay on guard and look abut for trouble. But we need to keep following the slime trail. If the monster''s path goes away from the slime then we will ignore it." Walker felt the pressure of the massive slime threat of other''s lives. He did not want to waste any more time.


    With this, the party kept a watchful eye on their surroundings while they followed the decay. There were small puddles of slimes without cores developed on the ground that they kicked dirt on to keep from being exposed. If the slime puddle was exposed and gather the mana from the decay around it, then, it would definitely be a small purple slime.


    They were not seeing any active slimes which was very worrying. The decay, however, had increased in intensity showing that there was an increased amount of the minster there recently. Therge trees that had begun to rot and fall made the party worry more and more about the real size of the slime they had started to pursue.


    "Ah, stupid vines. I keep tripping on this thing." Remey was walking a little behind Su and had been caught up by the same vines they were passing three times now."


    "Just watch where you are going. It''s not that hard." Gil wanted to get mess with Remey a little since he knew she would find an excuse to hit his armter anyways.


    "Ugh, I am watching but they somehow keep getting tangled on my boot." Her annoyance was stronger and stronger as she struggled to shake off the thin vines.


    "Where are these vines evening from? They are darker than the other vines around." Su''s notice of this detail prompted some worry in Walker.


    He looked at the very dark brown vines that looked like they should be a tough solid bark instead of a flexible vine. He felt like something was off especially since Remey was having trouble getting the vines off of her boot. Using his all around appraisal skill he decided to give it a look.


    ''Iron vine trap


    The iron vine trap is a carnivorous nt based monster. It uses the sunlight as a heat source to speedily break down the bodies of its prey. It is known to slowly ensnare its prey with its vines beforeing out of the ground to swallow it whole. The vines are as tough as iron so most animals and weak monsters can not escape and are slowly crushed. The vines are a very sought after forging material for healing gear due to their strength and natural mana.''


    "Remey stay still!" Walker grabbed the vines on her boot and started to pull. "This is a monster, if we can pull it up out of the ground we can beat it!" His shout was enough to get the entire party to grab the vines.


    Remey was still tangled by the vine ut after hearing that it was a monster, she slid off her boot. She was not happy to have a wet foot but helped them pull the vine. The dark brown vine was soon under tension and a few feet away it dipped in to the ground.


    Walker saw soft mud around where the vine was in the ground and knew that they could easily pull it out. Midnight gave a harsh growl as she put in all her efforts to pulling out the vine. The ground around where the vine dipped in to it started to rise up. There was arge bulb looking shape being pulled out as the party tugged with all their might.


    There were other vines that were being pulled up from other directions that were visibly moving towards the parry. However, their speed was extremely slow and they did not worry about them while they finished pulling therge bulb out of the ground. Therge bulb had an opening at the top that revealed a stomach like inside. There was acid inside that definitely caused the prey it caught to break down and be nutrients. "Now that it is out we can chop off these vines!"


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 332 - 332. Small Slime Terror

    Walker pulled out the two smaller hammers the wandering cksmith had made him. He turned the ded side so he could use his double chop skill to cut the entangling vines from the nt. Gil pulled his dagger out and soon found that he was having a lot of trouble cutting through even the thinnest of the vines.


    "Remey and Su saw this and focused on the bulb shaped body. They were able to cause some damage and make the vines of the nt slow even more. Remey was throwingbos of punches at the bulb causing it to crack and start to fall apart. Su was using her shields to bash it and causing the bulb body to break even more. The iron vine trap was pretty much defenseless against them even though it had such strong defenses.


    Midnight was using her sharp ws to easily rend the vines. She shredded them at the base leaving the long iron vines for Walker to take awayter. She had seen that Walker looked interested in the monster as soon as he called for them to pull it up. She knew that they could have easily cut the vines and been n their way hut Walker stopped and had them pull it up.


    '' Iron vine trap defeated.


    30 exp multiplied to 300 exp''


    "I can''t believe a monster tried to steal my shoe. That''s what you get for making me get my sock wet." Remey berated the now defeated iron vine trap as she pulled her boot from it and motioned for Walker to give her a back up pair of socks.


    "Leader, is there any reason we pulled up the monster instead of just cutting the vine and leaving it?" Su had reached a simr conclusion as Midnight had but she still wanted to hear the benefits the monster had.


    "Ther vines that it has are really strong and great for forging equipment. My appraisal skill also said that they are really good for healers since they had a lot of natural mana in them."


    "Don''t tell me you want to give it to your girlfriend." Gil was giving Walker a disappointed look since he thought that Walker had just had them all put in work for a gift for Alice.


    "First she is not my girlfriend yet. Second, if I make a staff that can boost my affinity with every element it is better to have materials that have natural mana in them. That would make it easier to useall elements." Walker looked smug as he said this and started to gather up the vines.


    "Ohhhh so not your girlfriend yet? You have ns then?" Gil had heard only the first party giving him plenty of ammunition to tease Walker as payback for the extra work of pulling the iron vine trap from the ground.


    Midnight was huffing a little seeminglyughing at the jokes Gil was making. "I wonder when my scales will be stronger than those vines." Onyx suddenly spoke up after resting the majority of the morning since he had been asleep.


    "Sorry if we woke you up. We were just dealing with a small monster. It was not ideal for you to bind." Walker felt bad after putting Onyx to work all night and wanted to let him sleep as long as possible. As the youngest in the group, Walker was bing prone to babying Onyx.


    "I just felt themotion and wanted to see if I could help. When I saw Gil struggle to cut the vines I wondered if I would be that tough." Onyx was blunt with his desires and worries.


    "Well I can already feel you grew a few more inches, so give it some more time. You will be just as big as Midnight is now soon. Not that you will catch up." Walker tried to act more light hearted since he knew that Midnight''s growth was always going to be ahead due to her hero title. But this still seemed to make Onyx happy.


    "Then I will try to grow more and more." Onyx said this as he returned to his tattoo form and quickly fell back to sleep. He was still exhausted after using his skill to trante all night and it was too hard for him to fight off the chill in the air since he was cold blooded.


    "Do you think this part of its body is useful?" Remey kicked therge bulb and saw that some of the inner acids were dripping out.


    " I would say no, but maybe the guild will know something when we bring it back with us." Walker stored the vines separately then store the bulb. He was starting to think about how useful the iron vines might be if he could have them to bind multiple crystals to a staff. The real question would be how well it would work when the darkness element was added since it was a decaying element and the vines were not. How questions would need to wait since Gil stopped them from moving again.


    They had only made it a few minutes farther when Gil was pointing out some small purple slimes moving ahead of them. They were systematically absorbing the small nts on their path in to their bodies and decaying them into more of the purple slime.


    "We should try to get the cores out of those ones. They can be useful for the research since they are newly formed." Walker''s n was simple, they could easily pull the small cores from the slimes and even use some of the containers Walker brought to store the bodies. The purple slime could be kept for the research s well and hopefully act as a catalyst for an antidote against decay.


    Using slime''s bodies for potions was not new but the different slimes in the different environments would cause the potions to have different effects each time. Since this was the case they were a popr topic of research and often hunted for by alchemists. It was still surprising that Remey did not get excited over them.


    "They would be the best ones to catch. They are the closest to the massive slime. If we bypass the massive slime and head to the elven city then we might be able to give it to them." Remey came out of nowhere with this idea.


    "You might be losing your mind. We aren''t even supposed to travel in to elven territory since they do not like other races moving through it. And you just want to walk in to their city and say, hey I brought you some slime that is killing your forest. You''re wee." Gil''s tone was a little mocking but what he said was still true. If the party went too deep in to the forest from where they could be seen as an enemy of the elven instead of an ally.


    "But it could save lives if we head to the city. We have no idea on what they do or don''t know about the massive slime." Su was thinking that Remey''s idea was not so bad. They could easily reach the city before a very slow moving slime and potentially warn those who do not know of the danger.


    "I really think we should keep following the trail for now. If we find that something changes or bes more dangerous we can consider heading to the elven city. Now we should deal with those slimes though." Walker brought them back to focus on the small slimes that were still consuming the small nts on the ground.


    "Oh no¡­" Remey was cracking her knuckles and moving toward the slimes. She had seen something that pushed her in to motion faster than the others.


    "Follow Remey I guess." Walker did not see this as a bad thing since there were inky four small purple slimes. They could split the work and force their cores from their bodies easily.


    Remey was the first to a slime and using her gloved hand thrust it in to the small slime and forcefully pulled the core out. This brutality was something no one had expected. They were stopped in their tracks for a moment drawing Remey''s attention.


    "Well don''t just stand there, they are eating crystal ginger nts!"no one knew what the nts were but hearing the stress in Remey''s voice they knew it could not be a simple weed growing on the forest floor.


    They jumped in to motions getting in to the best position to get the slime cores out of the slimes without causing themselves harm. Gil used an old arrow to push the core out of the body of a slime without piercing it. He frowned as he saw his old arrow decay.


    Su was able to split the slime body and grab the core before the slime covered it again. Walker used his frost whip skill to grab the core as he had before. The party didn''t gain experience from this but it was still a good way to train their precision.


    "So what is crystal ginger?" The question drew Remey''s full attention.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 333 - 333. Crystal Ginger

    "What is crystal ginger? You really need to ask?" Remey was shocked that Walker had not heard of it before. She knew he had read a lot of the books in the library, especially the ones that were left from the previous alchemist owner of the mansion.


    Walker''s look said that he wasn''t going to deal with the sarcasm as he took the small slime cores from the others. "Pssh, Crystal ginger is a species of ginger that absorbed too much mana while it grew. It stops being a cooking ingredient and instead develops a special property for unique mana potions."


    So it just makes better mana potions? If that''s it then why did you run so fast? We could just buy it then." Gil waspletely lost in why having one better ingredient was so amazing. Remey could already make high mana potions without this crystal ginger and they worked fine. They didn''t need rare and fancy ingredients when they could make do with what they had.


    "If you listened and let me finish you wouldn''t sound sooo dumb now." Gil managed to tick off Remey by interrupting her with his opinion.


    "Please just ignore Gil. I have never seen you rush so fast. What makes it a unique mana potion?" Su stepped in as the mediator for this situation. She had no problem pushing aside any tension to find the facts in the situation.


    "Crystal ginger is unique because it basically formed super small mana crystals out of nt material. Meaning that the potions it is made in to have a chance to permanently increase the consumers'' mana. It is also one of the only medicines for someone with mana bleeding disease." Remey had only even heard of this herb since it was so rare.


    "When I was little I saw the old man exining that if his apprentices ever see any of this to spend their entire life''s earning on it then whatever they have in them. The fact that these slimes uncovered some is enough to cause a stampede of alchemists toe digging. They even ate some."


    Remey looked like she was ready to shed tears seeing that some crystal ginger roots had started to decay. Her hands began to swiftly harvest the roots that were still undamaged. "Can we save pieces by cutting off the decay?" Walker now understood the rarity and reaction Remey had when she realized what it was. He could only think of trying to get as much as possible.


    "Well you can but if you do that you are going to cause the mana to bleed out. It pretty much makes it useless anyway. Just dig up the roots that are here. Leave the regr ginger, they might be crystal ginger in a few years." Remey was still digging up roots looking for remaining crystal ginger roots.


    Walker joined her along with Gil and Su. Midnight prowled around keeping watch for more enemies. Onyx seemed to be staying in his tattoo form resting more and noting out. Walker had half a mind to wake him and as for help but realized that onyx would have trouble digging for the roots so he shook the thought from his head.


    "Oh, I found one." Gil held up a shiny tan root the size of his thumb and quickly buried a regr ginger root back in to the ground. Reney grabbed it and gave it a hard look while turning it n her fingers.


    "Walker, store this and this." She tossed the two roots she had to Walker revealing that she had found one the size of her open palm.


    Unfortunately, they started to dig around but only found some decayed pieces and regr ginger. If Remey had not seen the crystal ginger when she did it was sure to have beenpletely dissolved by the small purple slimes. "I am going to store the purple slime bodies not. I will use an old coin bag for the cores, I feel like our collection is going to get bigger and bigger as we get closer to the massive slime.


    After looking for a short while more Remey was finally satisfied that they had found the only crystal ginger there was to be found here. She was already going over potion recipes and thinking about the possibilities the party could have if they drank a unique potion.


    Su had been curious about something since Remey said it in the first ce. "Remey, what is mana bleeding disease? I have never heard of it and we had many healers try and diagnose my mother''s illness. Not one ever brought that up."


    "Well, I am not surprised. Mana bleeding disease is where a person''s body can''t hold on to the mana they produce. Those that have it will have their mana bleed from their body at all times. If they don''t live stationary life they will end up low on mana and nevere out of aa."


    "Wait so they would need mana potions at all times?" Gil heard Remey''s exnation and started to add up how much gold it could cause to afford to fight such a disease.


    "Something only they very rich could survive. Not to mention the people who don''t have a system and can''t even control their mana." All Walker could hear was that this was a disease that could easily end a life. Not only that, but if someone wanted to function they needed to constantly throw gold around for mana potions which was a whole mess in itself.


    "Exactly. It is very rare though. The odds of meeting someone with it are less than once in a lifetime. I am sure we will never meet someone with it." Remey brushed it off making it seem like aplete impossibility.


    "I guess it''s good that such a terrible disease is rare. If it wasmon then it would be a huge problem for a kingdom." Gil could only imagine how many people could fall to this disease. Even nobles would eventually turn out of potions of gold to buy potions.


    "Ugh, we are a huge mess after digging around in the dirt looking for all of that crystal ginger." Su was just noticing all the much she had gotten on her armor and shields.


    "When we find a ce to restter we can try and clean up. There is plenty of water to use my grand elemental maniption to make some water balls for cleaning." Walker thought it would be a worthwhile use of his magic if they could get a little cleaner at some point.


    Wow, the trees are really affected in this area." Reme realized that the path that the decay was leading through was bringing the party in to a scraped area. The trees were much closer together but the problem was that the passing massive slime had infected many of them with decay. The branches were starting to rot off and if they were not cut from the main tree then the decay would destroy it.


    "We should start to cut the decaying branches to try and save the trees. If we leave it like this the forest could lose thousands of trees. Look how close they are." Su made very good points. By slowing their pursuit they could take the time


    Not a single one argued with what she thought they should do, it was the right thing. If the forest continues to take damage as it was then many would lose their lives. Even more so than the goblins, they had just befriended would end up extinct regardless of being hunted or not.


    The party brandished any des they had to cut away the branches that were going to spread the decay. The smaller branches and sapling had already gone too far but the party still had the time to save therger trees.


    Walker saw that the decay was so powerful that it was infecting the very center of the branches. The decay was working from the inside out. He realized that some of the smaller trees were also too far gone and went in to chop them downpletely. This took the party some time but they were still able to make slow progress forward.


    Looking back after a few hours their path had a strip of decaying branches and trees neatly piled up away from the edges where the healthy trees grew. They had made a big difference in a short time. The worrying part was that the decay was very intense for the small number of slimes that had been there. "You guys don''t think another party hase through where and hunted anyrger slimes?" Gil spoke these words as he kicked some mud in front of him. He had found what seemed to be tracks, and they were not from a monster.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 334 - 334. Prisoners

    This looks like a hunting party of maybe six of seven have been through here recently. It is really weird though because the tracks look like they had heavy weight in their heels." Gil could see the heady indents in the heal of the foot prints and the light toe prints. This was strange for a hunter trying to travel carefully.


    "Maybe they just caught a good prey. It would make sense if it is a hunting party." Remey chimed in thinking it was all so simple, but Gil''s face showed that he doubted this.


    "The way it looks is they put their heels in then moved backwards. The only time a hunter does this is if they feel they are being followed and want to throw off an enemy or predator from tracking them." The second Gil said this the forest around them became erratic. Branches were cracking and the sound of some soft shouts.


    The party tried to tighten their formation but before they even knew what happened arrows were flying toward them. They trailed white ropes that exuded a smothering mana. "Dodge the arrows, they are trying to tie us up!" Walker''s yell of warning was toote.


    Midnight and Su were already being bound by the ropes as more arrows flew from all directions. Midnight tried to break them but found that her energy was being drained. Her strength had decreased. Walker desperately used his all around appraisal skill to try and find a way to break them and free his friends.


    ''Pure spirit rope


    Unique rope braided with the mana of a hundred year old elf''s hair. It has the unique spell to constrain mana and siphon strength for a short tie after activation. It is mostmonly used by the elf enforcers of the elven kingdom.''


    "Everyone stop resisting and raise your hands. It is the elves!" Walker knew that fighting would prove to be a disaster and tried to stop the situation from escting. They were not here to fight elves but instead to research and gather information on the purple slimes."


    The ropes continued to be shot from unseen bows until every member of the party was totally bound. The tight binding sapped away Walker''s strength and he could not even bring himself to try and struggle.


    "Humans, you are trespassing on the territory of the elven kingdom. You have continuously cut branches from trees for now reason. You have spread poison to the roots of the forest and shall pay dearly." This voice came from a very tall man wearing a perfectly camouged green cloak. There was a pure white bow in his hands that matched his pure white hair. The look of disgust on his face made it seem like he would have been happier seeing trash on the ground than the party.


    "We are not here to cause the forest harm. The branches are decaying from the slimes invadi-" Walkers attempt to speak out was silence by another rope being bound around his mouth. The other even enforces showed up out of the forest totaling to eight.


    "You have no right to speak after doing such harm. You and your little pet here will be brought to our prisons directly. The elders will have their words for you but do not expect to be coddled. You should know thews of where you travel." The words dripped with venom as the enforcer motioned for the others to start dragging the party members in to the forest.


    Walker''s eyey on the trail of decay they had been following getting farther and farther away. He could feel that the pressure of the massive purple slime would only increase as they wasted the time. But he had no choice, they were not listening to what he had to say and it would need to be done the hard way.


    Remey was the only one that seemed to be struggling while the others just heeded what Walker had said and waited calmly. Remey was looking more and more agitated due to being bound and unable to speak. Walker could only imagine the things she would say to the elves in anger if she was able to speak. The others tried to send calming nces at Remey but he was too roiled up to be calmed by them.


    The watershed at the forest grew thicker and the elven enforcers dragged them through. Their movements were simr to Gil''s. They were able to easily traverse the forest without causing much harm or even leaving much trace. Gil looked to be watching carefully and trying to learn even in the bound state.


    "Take them to the general prison and start up the mana absorption process. I will report this." The one that had first spoken walked toward what seemed to be a normal part of the forest. However, when the other elves brought the party through there was a ripple in the air. In front of them was revealed to be a massive tree with roots bigger than thergest of homes in their kingdom. The branches seemed to reach in to the sky and touch the heavens themselves.


    There were groups of elves around doing business, walking, and just generally going about their lives. Walker knew that had been taken all the way to the elven city. The branches were strong enough t hold massive tree house structures that seemed to be the center of their city. The party was dragged all the way to a small building that revealed a staircase heading downward. There were many magically made gates that caused roots to block their way. These moved away as the elves pulled them down the stair eventually revealing more of the path downward.


    After walking down the steps for some time they came to a veryrge underground space with massive crystal structures. There were more of the white ripesing off of the structures. The flow of mana from the ropes to the structures made it look like the very life of the people attached to them was being extracted.


    "More prisoners today? You already caught ten poachers this morning. Bring them to the empty pir over there and tie them up. I will go over and evaluate them." There was another elf sitting in a chair by the entrance to this massive prison basement. He had a few log books and some ropes with him but otherwise, he looked like he was not a form of guard at all.


    Walker eyed the man with curiosity and realized that he was waving his hand every so often. His gaze moved to the ropes that appeared to be moving every time the elven man moved his hands. Walker was amazed toe to the conclusion that the man was manipted the rope with his own mana from such a distance. It was a skill, he had never heard of.


    He desperately wanted to ask a million questions but found that he still couldn''t get rid of the ropes silencing him. Instead, he just settled for silently using his all around appraisal skill in hopes that he could get some form of an answer.


    ''??


    ???


    Arcane string master system


    ????


    Hold justice over everything and will strive for the ultimate protection of the elven way of life.''


    Walker was amazed that the skill had given him so little. But from what he could see the arcane string master system was something that could have exponential use. The level of this elf must be too high to let me see too much of what he is all about. Walker came to this conclusion since he could see the amount of control in the elf''s skills. It would also make sense that only someone very powerful would be guarding prisoners.


    The elves tied the rope ends to the pir and the party could feel their mana slowly being drained in to the rope. This was a good method for not only harvesting mana but also to suppress criminals in their kingdom. The elven enforcers left the party and headed out of the prison now that they had finished what was ordered to them. They still had man acres of forest to patrol in the day.


    The arcane string master moved in to look over the party. He saw that they were all very dirty being covered in much and small body of wood shavings from trees. He made small hmmms and oh sounds as he evaluated their possible motivations in harming the forest.


    "You all look to be naive children. Naive children with a youngling dragon but still children. Why are you in our forest?" He had seen no proper value in them and was not sure why they would venture s far in to the elven kingdom.


    The ropes around Walker''s mouth slowly unfurled as the man spoke. "We were projecting it and researching the decay. Those branches were affected by the purple slime sand would have killed the trees if we did not cut them. We need to research those slimes and stop them." Walker spilled this out of his mouth as fast as possible for fear that he would be bound again.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 335 - 335. Mistaken

    "Well, kids shouldn''t worry over those matters. You may be lying to me. But I do agree that you don''t look like those poachers over there." The elf pointed to the poacher''s ties up on another pir. They were much older and looked to be in a worse state. They had scars from various monsters and looked like shady individuals. Walker could not think but feel he would avoid them if he was walking down the market and saw theming.


    "We really did not mean any harm. We even have the cores of the slimes we gave fought in my cloak as proof. If you need more proof I have some of the slime bodies saved in my inventory. But with my body this weak I''m not sure I can use it right now." Walker could feel the resistance when he tried to get the slime bodies toe out of his inventory. It seemed like the rope was binding all of his skills as well.


    The elf looked at him for a little before epting Walker''s words and searching the dirty cloak Walker wore. He easily found the small slime cores and therge slime core. But he also felt the metal on the cloak that was covered by dirt. While he looked at the slime cores he used his other hand to brush the drying much from the medal affixed to the cloak.


    "What are these you have here¡­" The words trailed off as the elf dropped the slime cores and started to clean all of the symbols attached to the cloak. "Silver adventurers que...insignia from the demi-human kingdom...and the ambassador l medal from the human kingdom¡­" The elf was losing his will to look further in to the party that had been caught.


    Seeing these identifications he ran to each party member finding the same identifications all covered up from the mud. The rains had been strong and made the forest a rather dirty ce, but he knew that these kids must have somehow managed to dig something up to get this muddy. "Did you all jump in a mud puddle for camouge?" This was the only logical exnation for them to be this dirty and hide their medals.


    "We pulled up a few ginger roots for medicinal teas and also fought against an iron vine trap." Walker added a little white lie to his words about the ginger. Remey threw him a thankful nce having calmed down now that her mana was being taken by the crystal pir. She would lose herself again if they had to give up the extremely valuable crystal ginger. It was one of an alchemist''s greatest treasures and dreams to possess.


    "And what are you to your kingdom¡­" The voice of the elf trembles slightly knowing that if he was not swift in understanding these so called prisoners, then not only could he lose all of his standings but also cause a war in his kingdom. Matters involving ambassadors were never simple.


    "Well we are adventurer''s but if you really need the details of why we got this far, I guess I should just tell you the blunt way¡­" Walker was afraid he would drop too much al at once and cause the elf a heart attack. He also was afraid that he would start some conflict by admitting the details of the titles. But instead of worrying he only could think of getting his party members free of the rope and looking healthier.


    After a deep breath, Walker spoke with a steady voice, "My name is Walker and I am the leader of the Omnipotent party. We are silver tier adventurers, ambassadors of the crystal kingdom, and friends to the demi-human kingdom. We all hold the title of hero and I hold the title of true hero. We would like an audience with your ruler."


    ''The user has gained ess to the skill royal aura from the king system. The user has met the hidden requirements to use and learn this skill.


    Royal aura- passive skill


    The aura of royalty is unique to any royal system. The mana the user has will send out pulses that influence the mana of sentient races. This pulse will slightly deter and intimidate sentient beings.''


    Walker saw that the elf flinched as he received this system notification. His party members did not, they appeared immune to the effects of the royal aura. Walker wanted to think of what the hidden requirements were but instead, he knew that he was better off focusing on the situation at hand.


    "Of course, I see that our enforcers have made a grave mistake. Please allow me to apologize. I am a simple guardsman allow me to call for the proper elders t greet you." The fear in the elf''s eyes showed that he believed this to be one of the biggest mistakes one of the enforcers had ever made. Not only were they offending two kingdoms but they were also offending the entire adventurers guild. What was worse was that those prisoners in question had titles. Titles that would not allow them to be criminals at all, it wasmon knowledge for elves that if a user betrayed the title they were given it woulde with massive consequences.


    The elf waved a hand and the ropes instantly unbound them. Walker was already on the move picking up the slime cores that had been dropped on the ground by the elf. He handed out mana potions to his party so they could recover along with adjusting his own clothing. Remey was cracking her knuckles and stretching out after being ufortably bound.


    Midnight was making an intimidating show of things, her wings were fully out flexing and pping. Walker saw this and felt that Midnight could take her first flight any day now. The power in her wings had drastically increased over thest few weeks.


    Su was adjusting the shields that had been forcefully stuck to her sides when she was bound by rope, Walker quickly used a light heal skill on her since she was definitely bruised from the force used. Gil was a little more rxed. He was watching the ropes around the party magically wrap themselves up and move in to a pile across the room. He was visibly nervous but only Walker could tell.


    "Gil, I will hold on to your arrows, for now, let me give you the back ups to wear." Walker knew that the wither spike arrows would attract attention so he made sure to hand Gil a quiver full of steel arrows that he had gotten just for this kind of event. Nw if any of the elves inquired about his arrows he could say that these were it, or there was his bow''s skill. None would be the wiser about his system unless one of the elves could look at his system or appraise him.


    Walker did not see the elf that had unbound them go anywhere ormunicate with anyone but in a second there was a sound of steps rushing down the stairs toward them. The creaking of the magical vine gates was easily heard. After a few more moments a disheveled looking man in a yellow cloak was standing before them. There were lines on his face from serious thinking for years and he had many green runes tattooed on his head instead of hair. His ears were longer than the other elves the party had seen.


    "I apologize for your unfortunate encounter with the enforcers. They will be judged at the meeting with our elders and our almighty queen. If you would allow me, I would like to personally escort you to a more fitting chamber. The court is being prepared to greet you properly." The elf was much more eloquent than the party expected of someone who had just run down so many stairs.


    "You will not be wary of us if we remain on our guard, my party is naturally on edge right now." Walker used his harsh sturdy tone to show his disapproval for how they were treated. The effect was more than he desired as the elf staggered a little at the passive skill he had just received, Walker decided to hold back a little when speaking.


    "Of course. I would not expect you to trust us after our poor showing. We will naturallypensate you for any damage your party suffered. We elves are known as gracious hosts after all." The elf was wise and knew that he had to try and smooth things over before he brought the party before the elders. The enforcers had brought them on to a huge political mess.


    Walker nodded and started to follow the elf. Midnight was softly growling as they walked behind him, she was still unhappy to have been weakened and dragged around. She was a proud dragon and did not deserve such terrible treatment. In her thoughts, the elves should be bowing to apologize to her in all her greatness.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 336 - 336. Fair Punishment

    The bright sun nearly blinded them as they came back out on top. There were already visible differences from when they entered the prison just an hour or so before. The streets were more or less empty, but there were multiple elven guards standing along the path the party was taking. It seemed they were getting a very different wee now.


    "We took the liberty to bring out our most decorated guards to ensure the clearest path to the meeting." The elf smiled like it had done something amazing. However, Walker felt it was a way to hide some of their way of life from the party.


    "What a shame we can not see the beauty of a bustling city. This baron city seems so sad." Su unexpectedly spoke up with this sounding fairly bitter. She knew this would throw a little salt in the elves'' wound after treating them the way they had. She was not happy at all with the fact that she had been injured but even more, that the elves had not listened to them until they realized their status. It was uneptable to her.


    The elf just smiled a little harder. He definitely felt that one but was strong enough to hide it. The guards around their path were staring straight on and did not flinch at all. They were very well trained. The path they tread was put together stone and had obviously been done by hand. The market they traveled through was very basic but from where they walked they could see a high amount of potion stalls and very few armor stalls.


    Walker took note that this kingdom might be a treasure trove for alchemical knowledge. He also knew that if it was acetable he should get some special arrows for Gil. On Su and Midnight''s side, he knew there was almost nothing of value. The elves were more invested in mana and archery to have heavy armor or materials that would be beneficial to monsters. At most he thought they could have some high mana crystals or duel elemental mana crystals.


    "Please follow me this way. The main hall of the elders is up this way." The elf lead them to a veryrge branch that dipped in to the earth. Walker could tell it was part of the massive towering tree that made up the majority of the city.


    Their footing was much better than expected in the giant tree limbs and Walker had a suspicion that there was a magic spell at work. They were even keeping a firm footing on the slippery looking moss that was on most of the branches.


    Therge hall that seemed to be part of the tree itself had an intricate design. The vines from the tree had long been guided creating massive columns and murals. Only someone with extreme skill could build and design such a thing. The entire party stood in awe for a few moments before realizing they had fallen behind and should instead keep their serious mannerism.


    The moment they entered the elder hall any voices stopped and instead a silent intimidating feeling took over the room. There were the enforcers kneeling in the center of the room that had captured the party. On the siders were older looking elves that wore different colored robes. The ones that wore multiple colors appeared to be high ranked and those that wore gold embroidered robes an even higher rank.


    In front of the enforcers was a massive vine hammock that seemed to be swaying without a breeze. Walker started to notice that it was not swaying but the vines making it up were moving and changing. Upon this vine hammock was a pristine looking elven woman. She wore perfectly white robes and had many flower patterns embroidered upon them.


    The elf woman was there with closed eyes not moving a muscle. There was an aura about her that made it seem like her mana was infinite. Walker could clearly sense the high amount of mana that wasing from her and had the impression that if she were to channel it in to a spell it would destroy the entire city.


    "Queen, elders, I have brought the guests of our kingdom. " The elf that had guided them introduced them then scurried away anxious to be away from the trouble that was about to ensue.


    One of the elders with the gold robes stood up and looked at the party. "Before we proceed with a proper wee we would like to inquire about the incident that happened out in the forest. We have been sent details from the guard that recognized you standing and we would like to hear it from you. We have also heard the story from our enforcers and would like to hear your thoughts on them." The elder''s words held a lot of weight and the enforcers were visibly shaken by them.


    "My party has been following and hunting the purple slimes causing decay in the forest. After saving some of thest remaining forest goblins we gained information that there is a massive slime on a path toward your city. We followed the signs of decay and have gathered some slime cores. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done to the forest. We saw that the decay would spread if we did not prune the branches and decaying saplings." Walker spoke with as much firmness as possible under the gaze of every elder. The queen still did not react to anything said.


    Walker continued on knowing that he still needed to stress the danger this massive slime had. "We were attempting t follow the massive slime and in hopes stop it before it growsrger, Sadly these enforcers saw out pruning and mes us for destroying the forest. We did attempt to speak to them but they stopped us. On top of this, we did not fight back out of respect for your kingdom''sws. Unfortunately, this did not seem to matter since we were treated like worthless trash. If it were not for your guardsman we would be down in your prison waiting for a chance to cause an escape."


    The elders all murmured slightly at this. The human that was standing in the court was saying that they would have been able to escape the prison if they needed to. It was something they believed impossible with the mana draining crystal pirs they used along with the ropes.


    "As far as I am concerned that guardsman deserves some form of reward for using their intellect before just throwing someone to the wolves. So far they seem to be the only respectable elf we have met." This was enough to hurt the elves'' pride. They knew that the party was not in a good mood from this instance and that the news of this would be brought back to their kingdom without fail.


    "We understand how you must feel having such a rude greeting when you were attempting to help. We also know of the decay in the forest and have increased patrols for such reasons. These enforcers are on edge and have let the weeks of missed sleep catch u to them. We are willing to dole out any punishment you see necessary."


    This was the elder''s way to ensure that the party would be happy with what ever punishment was given. They needed to retain their political standing with the other kingdoms while they focused on their long battle with the demons. The two kingdoms had never seen eye to eye just in cultural differences. Unlike the demi-humans and demons'' hate based off of war the elves had hatred based off of the forms of magic they used.


    The elves were a nature based society that used natural mana and focused on elegance. The demons used brutal mana that they formed from various ill intentions and malevolent tendencies. The two were more or less opposites in every way. The tales of the two races butting heads were endless and went on longer than the record of the demi-humans and demon''s wars.


    "You want us to decide the punishment? Well, what if I were to kill them here in the hall?" Walker knew that saying this was a risky move but he needed to test just how important their standing was to the elves. The fact that they had been thrown in a prison was a huge effect and cold greatly change the rtionship with their kingdom.


    "We of course would not object. If that is what is needed to make things right, then go about it swiftly." The elder looked a little pained and so did the enforcers. None of them had expected such an answer from the young ambassador.


    "Then it is made up. I have the perfect punishment for them." Walker knew that the tree was still damp from the nearly constant rain. He used his grand elemental maniption skill to control the water around and condense it in to a binding form. He imagined the ice wrapping the enforcers the same way as the ropes had bound them. " I want them to stay bound by my ice magic for the same amount of time my party was bound by their ropes."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 337 - 337. The Queen Speaks

    There was a noticeable twitch in the woman''s eye who was resting on the hammock of vines. Su managed to notice this due to her skill, this confirmed that the woman was not asleep but in some form of listening meditations.


    The enforcers felt the ice take their bodies over and start to decrease their body temperature. They were shivering in mere moments since they were not prepared for the chill of ice. "Is this the only punishment you wish to dole out?" The elven elder was afraid that the human party would push form more. They had always been wary of those from other kingdoms.


    "No, that is all. We weren''t badly hurt. I am sure Midnight might want to cause a little trouble and drag them around but she is a dragon. Dragons are better than that, right Midnight?"


    Walker yed to Midnight like a professional. She raised her head and puffed up her chest showing off her stature. She was going to make sure every elders saw how upstanding she was.


    "It is a breath of fresh air to see the young of another kingdom being so fair." Another elder wearing gold stood up and took over the conversation. They had a few green lines on their cloak which radiated a mixture of earth and water elemental mana. Walker was keen to understand why this was but had the sneaking suspicion that the elder had a system that dealt with nts.


    "Now that we have taken care of the unfortunate meeting we hope that you would be willing to share your reasoning for being here. As you already have gathered your party has strayed pretty far in to the forest. Not many are allowed in this city." The elder had be much more serious and his face showed it.


    "As you know, the decaying purple slimes are causing huge harm to the forest. We also know you should have heard of the yellow slimes wreaking havoc in the dwarven mines. Our kingdom believes they are connected by a demon causing trouble. So here we are, researching." Walker held firm in his resolve and reasoning.


    "We are aware of the two problems. The problem in the forest began small and has be a littlerger. The problem for the dwarves started more recently and seems to be escting exponentially. We should be able tobat the problem here easily." The elder looked calm and unaffected by what Walker had said. It was clear the elves did not want any assistance.


    "Well, it is good to know that it is all covered. I am very interested in how you n to deal with the massive slime heading for the city. We were able to collect some slime cores and slime bodies that split from it as it carved a path in the forest." This froze the elder''s face in to a calm smile. This was obviously news to them.


    Su gave a slight nudge to Walker prompting him to continue since they had some momentum. "My party happened toe across some goblins and grey haired spiders. This may sound off topic but follow me for a moment." The confusion on the elder''s face was clear. They did not attempt to hide it since showing it would be their way to tell the party that they did not see the connection.


    "We did not decide to hunt them like most of you would. Instead, we joined them in battle and took care of the purple slimes that were about to cause the forest goblins to extinction." The looks of confusion were changed to surprise and anger. Some even showed disgust.


    "The elven people have long had a distaste for goblins, we know this. They were once minions of demons but are now scattered monsters. Since they are no longer minions we saw no reason to just let them all die, especially since one of them was a rare breed with a rare system. The goblin spider rider greeted us like a respected friend and took us to their camps. After some events, we were able to gain an understanding. My younger brother Onyx was able to have a nice conversation, we even slept there."


    Su saw the woman''s eye twitch a few times and even a small smirk form. To anyone else she had made no movements at all and had just been resting there listening, but to Su, she saw it all. Su leaned forward to Walker, "Address the queen, she''s listening." The whisper was only loud enough for Walker to hear with his enhanced hearing. No one else would be able to pick up on it.


    Onyx was curling around Walker''s shoulders wanting to join the conversation when ready. "Onyx please trante for me and the elven queen please, or should I say," Walker used his all around appraisal skill in the hope that he could gather the name of the woman in front of them.


    '' User is blocked by incredible mana''


    ''User is blocked by incredible mana''


    ''User is blocked by incredible mana''


    Walker gave it one more shot.


    ''User has been partially blocked. The user has been allowed a portion of the appraisal.


    Title: Queen of the elven spirit forest.''


    "Title holder of the elven spirit forest? My party and I greet you officially. Now Onyx, you''re up." The name queen of e elven forest was widely known, but the addition of spirit was the true name of the title never shared with any but the elders.


    While the elders struggled over their own moral dilemmas in calling in enforcers to deal with the human party that had just called out their queen''s title Walker had Onyx trante a direct conversation in the privacy of their minds. No elder interruptions and purely business between title holders.


    "As you may have heard my party and I have titles as well. I have the true hero title and recently gained the friend of the goblins title. They would not lie to us. The massive slime they spotted ising for the city and we would like to help. Just let us know how we can help. We have some personal ties to the future of the forest."


    The words went from Walker to the queen with Onyx''s help. Walker was able to see the vines of the hammock stoppletely as Onyx spoke to her. The elders all became silent knowing that this could be one of the very rare moments the queen spoke. "Brother, she will speak out loud." This was exactly what Waker wanted to hear.


    The vine hammock started to twist and turn slowly taking the shape of a solid vine throne. The queen sat within it still with her eyes closed. There was no movement yet, the only real change was that the elders all stood tall with their hands sped behind their backs.


    The queen of the elves'' eyes shot open and looked upon the party. They were a fierce emerald green color that radiated multiple forms of natural mana. Walker was having a hard time with all of the different elemental manas overwhelming his sense.


    "I have heard the information you have gathered. I respect the protection of two species on the brink of extinction in our homnd. The grey haired spider is not the same as the one you believe it to be. They have been evolving recently and have shown new characteristics. The children of the spiders you encountered will most likely be a breed we call, moss spiders. They are a unique species that use moss as a cover for hunting. The goblins are hated, yes. But they are necessary for the forest cycle to spin. Tha k you for befriending them." This was an honor for them and the elders could not believe their ears.


    The queen did not stop there and continued her speech. "My eyes can see much more now that I know what to look for. I have had my enforcers out looking for the root of the problem. This massive slime has finally been narrowed down. I can also see more humans on their way to your goblin friends. I will promise you three things. The goblins will survive and the elves in this forest will learn from the past. The humans on their way will be allowed to go to the goblins but no further, my enforcers will make sure of this. The massive purple slime that is currently consuming a fairy deer will have its core torn from its body and its creator in."


    The final promise from the queen held an air of pure rage. Her words made the vines shift again and Walker was finally able to see that the vines were connected to the queen. She was not just an elf but she was one with the forestpletely. The amount of mana that overwhelmed Walker wasing directly from the forest itself. The entire hall was silent seeing and hearing these things. This was a deration made by the queen of the elves, it would be followed.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 338 - 338. History

    It was clear that having a close connection with the forest was making her more agitated. The strange part was that it seemed that more than one voice was speaking with the queen of the elves. There was a soft harmony behind the tone she used. Walker began to be more and more curious as to what the title means and why she would be connected to the forest physically as well as spiritually. His thoughts were quickly pushed aside what the queen spoke again.


    "The human party will join our highest ranked enforcers to pursue this massive slime. This will be a moment of bonding between our kingdoms in the pursuit of natural life in the forest." This was another moment that surprised the elders. They were not able to understand why the queen was pushing it this far. The elves had taken care of their own problems in the past with no outside help.


    "Brother the queen wishes to tell you more." Onyx began to ry the message from the queen word for word.


    "You may wonder what is going on here, I will dly exin to the true hero, the memories shared with me give me hope and trust in you young one. The title I hold is usually only known of the rtion to the elven forest, not to the spirits. The spirits of every elf have long remained dormant in the trees, the soil, and the very air of the forest. But when I gained the title of queen it changed to fit my unique system. The forest spirit system. I am now connected to the very forest and the spirits that have rested within. Every memory of my people is open to me, but at the cos that my body is forced to always be one with the forest. I need to deal with the massive flow of natural mana and spend most of my days in meditation."


    The words that Onyx brought to him were a lot to take in. Having a unique title that no other queens of the elves had ever had was a lot for one person to take in. The scary part was that it connected her to every elves'' memories, this massive boon could help her make the best judgments for their people at all times.


    The drawback was heavy though, she was unable to move freely and go to protect her people herself. There was also the natural mana that would overwhelm her making it hard for her to act. Walker only felt the mana from her when she opened her eyes, but he knew that actually having a huge amount of mana would be much harder to process.


    "Brother she has more to say." Onyx was still tranting perfectly.


    "You must not look burdened by my title, I gained the gift to watch my people grow for generations. As long as this forest stands I will live as well. I have seen two hundred years of elves grow as queen. I shall have a hundred more after we deal with this problem. I also have memories from our long ago ancestors, the true hero title that you speak of is very rare and only recorded a few times. I believe you truly have such a title and will show the proof of it and your drive to my people. After all, in my memories, a true hero is one that stands for all."


    The queen was showing her aptitude for the memories she had ess to and drawing on them to understand the title Walker and his party had, more specifically she was able to use this knowledge and mana to guide her people in the best possible way.


    Onyx was not done speaking for the queen, he still had more for Walker to hear. "You must be interested in the goblin friends you have made too right? The elves have long had a hatred for them due to the demon lord centuries ago. The goblins were a species on the brink of proper sentience, but they were conquered by a young demon lord and made in to his minions. The title the demon lord gained was master of the goblins. In that title, the goblins were stripped of free will and only allowed their instincts. Their years of evolution were stripped from them and their lords were in. I can remember this tragedy but those around now can not. They know only of the story book takes on evil goblins that tortured elven prisoners and fought against heroes."


    Walker was stunned that a title existed. It was disgusting to him that a title could remove so much evolution from a species. This was the first time he felt hate for the world he lived in. It may have been an effect of the friend of the goblins title absorbed by the true hero title, but it was still there.


    "Now that the particr demon lord has been long dead the goblin race scattered and has developed again. If they truly are able to flourish they may be another string sentient race in our world. The spirits I can feel, weak as they may be from resting for hundreds of years, wish to see thise to be. I will dly write it in tow if you and the adventurers guild can assist them. The elven people will not harm them."


    This was too much for Walker to take in. There were so many possibilities if there was another sentient race added to the world. The elven queen seemed to speak on these things like they were just the same as flowing wind. Onyx was doing his best not to react and to properly pass on the grand words. He was also feeling the same amazement as Walker.


    The queen suddenly spoke out loud again, this time the force of natural mana was less because her eyes had again closed, but the fluctuations were still felt. "Bring the group of promising elves. Especially the one who studied under our elven pride." This made the elders scamble. One ran from the hall to do exactly as she ordered. "I need my scribe to write new things in tow. I expect that you elders can take care of the rest while I confer with the ancestors on the growth that shalle to the forest."


    The natural mana seemed to fade as if a cover was ced on it. One elder went to the queen''s side with a stack of papers and the one in gold robes with green patters faced the party. "Pleasee with me, our queen has recognized you as guests. We rarely have guests that are not from other elven kingdoms so pardon us for any strange actions."


    The attitude was wildly different from before. The elder was now acting incredibly polite, it seemed that more had been said to him than the party had noticed. While Walker was having his own private conversation it was very possible that other orders were being passed to the elders through some form of magic that the queen could use.


    Su was still right beside Walker as the elder guided them to a side hall. She leaned in to him again while her eyes drifted from the queen to the hall in front of them. "Did you see the small dots of decay on those vines she controlled? I think this is a much bigger problem than they let on."


    Walker had not noticed any decay on the vines, but after hearing that she was connected to the forest entirely it made sense that she would also be affected by the decay. If she was not active in stopping the massive slime she would also end up rotting away with the forest. In certain terms, she was the reflection of the health of the forest.


    "Please rest here while we wait for the elves that stand above the others of our race toe. The three you are about to meet are apprentices of the three great elven title holders. One has managed to gain a title their master had while the other two are thought to be closer than any other elf in thest two hundred years."


    The entire party became focused on the elder as they heard that another title holder would being to join them. They had met the royalty that held titles but those titles were passed down. Walker was still trying to understand the unique title that the elven queen had. It may be different because of her unique system but these elves were going to have titles given by the world just the title of hero the party had gained. It was even more interesting to hear that they had trained under the previous title holders. This was something that the party did not think to be possible, that someone could be trained to gain a title.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 339 - 339. Smell Of Poison

    "So what do you think they will be like? The queen said one already had a title like us right?" Remey was a little nervous but much more excited to meet another title holder. The party had only met royalty so far. The elf queen was different since she had a unique titlepared to other elf queens, but it was still one acquired through their bing royalty.


    "I would bet one of them should be after the speedster title. That is the most popr of the story books children read about elves." Su was recalling the story of the elf who had lost their family to a fire because they were too slow to warn the others for help. After the elf''s loss, they tried to be faster and faster so that they would never be toote again. In their pursuit of this, they became the fastest creature on the and was given the speedster title.


    "Oh yeah, that should be nice. They can distract the small slimes while we deal with the massive one." Remey could only imagine a speedy elf jumping around poking slimes then disappearing in a gust of wind.


    "I hope one is training for an archery title. I would like to try and learn a few things." Gil knew that he would be limited in the skills he could use since the elves still had yet to figure out his system. He wanted to keep it under wraps so he would not put the party at risk.


    Walker heard the hope and worry in Gil''s voice and wanted to try and cheer him up. But he knew that this would go on until they either werepletely trusted by the elves or they bound themselves to certain rules about Gil''s arcane marksman system.


    "Maybe one of them will be able to hide in the forest like an assassin. It would make sense that an elf who lived and trained in the forest would be able to somehow hide themselves to sneak attack." Walker was operating off of the fact that the enforcers had cloaks that helped them camouge in to the forest while they patrolled. There was surely an elf that specialized in this.


    The door opened while the party was chatting about their theories. Midnight looked at the female elf that entered and stepped back a little ways. She could smell poisonous nts and knew that it was best to keep her distance. "Sister says that the woman has something poisonous on her." Onyx let the others know what Midnight had smelled.


    "Hello, It appears I am the first here. My name is Alma and I will be traveling with you to take care of the queen''s request." Walker couldn''t help but wonder why someone so polite would have poisonous things on her, especially ones that made Midnight back away. "I have heard that you all spoke with the queen on a few matters, but I am not sure how she came to her conclusions. May I ask you to rify for me?"


    Her eyes were locked on Walker, she had not seen the party speak because the hall had been restricted to the elders and the queen, but she had been watching as the party entered. "That would depend on why you want to know. The queen and I had a rather private conversation to reach our agreement." This surprised Alma since she had already read the spoken words of the meeting.


    She had rushed to meet the scribe as soon as the meeting ended and read the entire encounter before it even reached the documents room. "I shall be the next queen trained by the current queen. I have a right to know any and all information pertaining to the elven people I shall protect." Her arrogance was not easily hidden in her words. She was standing tall announcing her position without shame.


    "So we are going to be joined by future elven royalty? That''s kind of cool." Gil smiled and nudged Walker.


    "I would agree, a future queen...should I take it you are training under the queen then? That must be a lot of hard work. She has a lot of natural mana at her disposal." Walker did not want to say anything insulting, but with what he had learned from the queen unless the firstpletely died she would live forever. This meant that the queen could stay queen forever. This elf girl could never ascend to the throne if the current queen did not want it which it to be so.


    "Of course, I was chosen for my system and began training at the young age of fifty." She sounded even more proud to throw around the high age she had begun. For humans, fifty was half their life, but for an elf, it was nothing but a moment.


    "Well If you would like to enlighten us on your system and abilities we can start to strategize. We will be working together of course." Walker saw that Su and Gil were waiting to jump in to the different strategies they could use together with their new addition. Gil wanted to figure out what skills he should or should not use and Su wanted to decide on how she would position herself to protect all of them.


    Alma looked like she was filled with even more pride seeing the humans before her being so eager to learn about her and the system she boasted. She did not hold back in the least, I am the user of the Forest whisperer system. I can make any nt I whisper to bend to my will. The vines that the queen controls will even listen to me if I am polite." She said this like it was a world breaking achievement.


    "That would exin the smell then. I take it you use poisonous nts with you to slowly defeat your opponents?" Su saw the connection immediately. There was no other way to connect the dots.


    "I smell?.." Alma looked like she had been pped, this human immediately insulted her.


    "Don''t be surprised that Midnight sniffed out the poisonous nts you have with you. A dragon has an incredible sense of smell. Actually I can smell it too, not as well though." Walker sniffed a little picking up a toxic bitter smell wafting from Alma.


    "I had hopes of surprising you with my new blue ivy. "Come out my friend." a blue green vine slithered from under her robes wrapping around her arms. "I have grown and crossbred this ivy for thest five years and created my blue ivy. It only poisons people when I tell it to." She cuddled a leaf like it was her pet.


    Seeing the poisonous nt treated this way put the entire party on edge. They all made a mental note not to identally bump in to her when they were out in the forest. This future queen could be a terrifying enemy to have, they would be defeated with just a touch and not even know it.


    The door swung open again, this time a taller elf man walked in dragging another shorter elf girl. "Sorry for beingte, this girl just can''t help but run away every time someone calls on her. It''s like some foolish game." The man was still shaking his head as the shorter girl tried to pry herself from his grip.


    "I swear Wade when I get free I am going to run all the way to the ocean. Then when you walk all the way to get me I will run back." Her threat just made the elf holding her shake his head more.


    "As she said, my name is Wade. I am d to see Alma has made it here ahead of us. Have you told them of our systems yet?" The elf by the name of Wade was ready to jump in to the main topic and get in the way after the massive slime. His can do attitude blew away the slightly creepy feeling from Alma and her blue ivy.


    "I was just showing off my blue ivy. It looks really cute right Wade? What do you think Calen?" Alma let the ivy slither towards the shorter elf girl.


    "No way are you touching me with any nts! Thest time you made me paralyzed for a week!." Wade released his grip and the girl named Calen.


    In the moment Calen was free she started to flit about the room with amazing speed. She was not quite a blur but keeping up with her was a tiring endeavor. "Now that stupid blue ivy can''t touch me." Alma''s reaction to Calen''s words were horror inducing to say the least. The blue ivy began to grow from under her robes. Small yellow flowers bloomed and dropped seeds as they wilted.


    "Who is worried you will run? You are still in the forest, are you not?"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 340 - 340. Dead Eye

    While the blue ivy burst in to life and stretched itself out to try and catch Calen who was busy running about the room to avoid it Wade came up to Walker and Gil. "You must be the leader I have heard about. You made a big ssh when you bound the enforcers with ice. I have never seen them all so angry. They are still running around telling people you were cutting the forest. It''s hysterical." Wade patted Walker on the shoulder enjoying the annoyed looks on the party''s faces.


    "Well, I would prefer that they didn''t do that, especially since they bound us first." The bitterness in Walker''s voice was enough to remove the sweetness from sugar.


    I am sure that is the case. So you''re the archer in the group, right? What kind of bow is that? It doesn''t look elven or human. Did you get it from those little monster dwarves?" The slight tone of Wade''s voice gave away the general disagreements the elves always had for the dwarves, Their temperaments had rarely aligned since the two cultures preferred to stay to themselves.


    The stubborn dwarves and the stubborn elves had reached many stalemates over materials. The elves making magical equipment that often used natural mana. And the dwarves making weapons often using the mana produced by a user. The simr but different ideals were enough to cause the gears to grind.


    "Ancient ruins. It is pretty useful. She''ll be my partner for the rest of my life." Walker nearly smacked himself hearing that Gil referred to his bow as a she and that he would spend his life with it.


    "Gil, you need a girl friend." Remey paid enough attention to what the boys were saying to throw an insult at Gil, but returned to watching Calen run about the room. It was more entertaining to her.


    "Ouch, your party is rough." Wade looked at Remey wondering how a human girl could be so mean to her party members.


    "Eh, she grows on you. Sorta." Gil just nced at her and showed off his bow more. He quickly fell in to a deep conversation about the strong tension and how he preferred to use silent shot over quick shot since he had good aim and a decent ability to sneak in the forest.


    "If you haven''t caught on I am an archer as well. More specifically a sniper." Wade opened his hand and a green bow appeared out of nowhere. "This is my partner, I was lucky enough to have it passed down from my master. It''s a living spirit oak bow. It has been with the elven people for the entirety of our existence." The bow seemed to pulse with natural mana while being shown off in its glory.


    "I can use its unique ability to create living arrows. They are basically just wood splinters, but when theynd they expand to three times their size. Just like the steel cedar trees tough branches. Pair them with Alma''s skills and I have a very serious attack." Wade was proud of his bow and hard practiced strategy.


    "I have to ask, what title are you trying to get?" Walker joined the conversation a little afraid that Gil would start talking about arrows and let slip his wither spike arrows.


    "I already had the dead eye title. I earned it from my master who trained me in archery since the day I was born. I want to say after hitting a target for the millionth time in a row dead center I was given the title. I can''t remember though. My system is the arcane sniper. My magic focuses on distance and physical attack boost. Sadly I won''t be letting elemental arrows fly. Sorry to disappoint." Wade looked a little sad but the things he could do were already amazing.


    "No way you are a better shot than I am. I can hit whatever you can hit." Gil sensed a challenging rival and couldn''t stop himself from picking a littlepetition.


    "You talk big for a human. You know that archery is born to us right? Most of our race unlock magic or archery systems. Don''t get too far ahead of yourself here." Wade tapped his bow with the opposite hand and a spike of mossy wood pulled from the bow and spun in his hands.


    "I have some tricks too you know." Gil pulled back his bow slightly and a small wind elemental arrow started to form. "My bow can take my natural wind affinity and make an arrow out of it, jealous?"


    "Gil I swear if you let an arrow fly in here I will deflect it back at you," Su said this without even looking at them. She had seen the curtains move slightly and knew that Gil was fooling around with his bow indoors.


    Gil released the arrow back in to the nothing it came from before he got in trouble. Su may not have been scary, but he did respect her ability to do just what she said she would do.


    "Calen over there thinks she will be able to steal the speedster title from the old man. But he had been retired for seventy years now and still refuses to give it up. She even tries to out speed him every day. You could say she forced him to be her master."


    Calen heard this and was right next to them a secondter. "Who said I forced who to be my master? I would never take someone so slow to be my master. There would be nothing for me to learn, I would just get slower." She just humphed as she went back to her game of blue ivy dodging.


    "Calen will deal with those I snipe from long range after Alma has the arrows grow and bind them. It is a very good partnership, how does your party operate?" Wade was done giving up more information and was now interested to see how well the two would be able to cooperate.


    "It is definitely impressive that you have a title. Nice to meet you, Wade, holder of the dead eye title. I am Walker, holder of the true hero title." Walker held out and hand and Wade shook it. He was sure that this was the start of a nice partnership since Wade acted fairly straight forward.


    "Su is our main defender. She has dual wielded shields for bashing, deflecting, and blocking. She has a special skill as part of her draconic guardian system which allows her to see tiny details in an opponent''s movements. Odds are she will block for you before you even know an attack ising. Su gave a nod to them hearing her name brought up.


    Remey is an alchemical brawler. She has a unique system that no other has. She can make potions and act as a front line fighter. Basically, she can heal you but also break you. Just be nice and she won''t punch you too many times.


    Midnight is a dragon, she was born with a skeletal dragon bloodline as you can see from her wings. She is tough defensively and can sneak around taking out an opponent from their blind spot." Walker left out Midnight''s new ss title and species for fear that the information might spread too much while here in the elven kingdom.


    "Gil is a ranger. He is more at home in the forest than any other human you will meet. He can travel through it pretty well and exceeds in tracking. He also is a very good shot, so you can feel free topete." Gil gave Wade a wink since he wanted to make sure the elf knew he would be gunning for the tile of dead eye.


    "Around my neck here is Onyx, Alma was just about to learn about his skills as an abyssal serpent." Walker left Onyx to surprise them.


    "Wee to our party. I hope to spend a lot of time chatting." Alma heard Onyx''s voice in her head and realized that this was how the queen and Walker had spoken.


    "That''s the best means ofmunication. You are never at risk to have things over heard with you around. How lucky!" She was so amazed by the skill Onyx had that he tightened himself on Walker''s shoulders out of embarrassment. Calen was able to get close and tag Alma while she was distracted.


    "Victory! Stupid vines will never get me." Before Alma could send out more vines, Calen was already on the opposite side of the room. Walker had been watching the two y their game out of the corner of his eye. He had made sure to familiarize himself with Calen''s speed, if he lost track of her in a fight he could hit her with a spell or his weapons.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 341 - 341. Detour

    "What about you? What system and role do you y?" Wade had seen how the party could fit together well. Onyx helpmunication, they had a guardian, front line fighter, scout and ranged damage, and finally an assassin type. The only one left was Walker who he knew could use some water magic to make ice.


    "Walker can do anything, not mastery skills, but everything." Gil summed it up in such a simple way trying to brush off his jealousy.


    "Anything?" Wade and the other two elves were all stopped in confusion when they heard Gil say this.


    "I have a jack of all trades system. Currently, I have been focused on elemental magic. I also know some sword skills, hammer skills, cooking skills support skills, healing skills¡­" Walker would have continued but the jaws of the elves would have hit the floor. The rumor spreading at the moment was that the leader of the human party was just a water mage and nothing more.


    "I thought it was the start of a children''s story book that was sent to us¡­" Alma was nearly at a whisper when she spoke.


    "And enhanced senses so I can easily say, no, I am not just a story book sent to you." Alma turned red with embarrassment and needed to stop herself from sending her vines to terrorize Walker next. "Honestly I thought your kingdom would have more information on our systems by now. We have made a lot of waves by getting the hero titles." Walker was plenty confused about how they were so in the dark.


    "The kingdom may know of aspects of your systems, but they tend not to pry in to the exact details. Most kingdoms would see that as a threat, including ours." Wade made a good point. It was better to pass on rumors and share small details than full out investigation and cause allies annoyance.


    Midnight was puffing up her chest due to the attention Walker was getting. She was proud to show off her family and all that they could do. "Sister says that you should use some magic as a way to show off your skill."


    "I don''t need to show off my magic. They can see enough of it when we go hunting for that massive slime. It is more important than fooling around." Walker was a little annoyed that Midnight wanted to waste time on that but more so embarrassed that she had said that he should show off immediately after meeting someone new.


    "I would like to see it. Literally anything." Calen was in front of Walker with an eager expression. She enjoyed watching the mages practice and seeing magic was always amazing to her. Shecked the magic most elves had with their systems in change for being able to learn speed skills. She also learned some closebat skills which made her stand out inparison to other elves.


    "I will get Walker to show you his magic if you give me some of those blue ivy seeds." Remey was analyzing the blue ivy the entire time and couldn''t control herself. She wanted to know what it could do in a potion or when made in to poison. It was crossbred by an elf and was dangerous enough to be used for battle.


    "That''s all you want? Sure, you can have a hundred if you want. I can make as many as I need as long as I feed it enough mana. But don''t think you can grow it so easily. You don''t have the skills to feed it your mana, so you will need mana crystals and about twenty years." Alma smiled knowing that it would be years before they figured such things out properly.


    "I can make Walker learn some skills. It''s fine." Remey epted some of the seeds from Alm and didn''t even consult with him for a moment.


    "What am I, just a circus act for you to sell off?" Walker tried to snatch some of the seeds from Remey so he could store them away and use his all around appraisal skill to study them but she was too quick to steal from.


    "I already made the deal so I guess you need to show off now." Remey was goaded on more by Midnight who was almost purring at the victory.


    "Fine then how about this." Walker used the lure orb and avoided looking at the blue orb that was formed. He carefully looked at everyone''s faces to find that they werepletely absorbed in the beautiful blue color. "Wanted to see magic huh?" Heughed in his own trick but realized he had fallen in to the trap of wasting time.


    Waker released the skill and watched as the attention was again on him. "Sorry, we should get going and figure out where the massive slime has moved on to." He felt a little bad but also shot an extra re at Remey who had caused him to fall in to the distraction.


    Su looked like she wanted to speak up, but when she noticed Walker had already seen his error she did not speak. " Wade, we will rely on you to guide us out in to the forest since you should know it better. But you and Gil should stay behind Su. Remey is fine next or in front of Su and Midnight will do her own thing. Calen, you are a little fast, please stay near in case we need to support you. Alma, with your system I think it will be best if you focus on the decay in the forest. You are the only one that can mitigate the damage."


    Alma appeared to already know this. She more than anyone knew of the adverse health effects the decay had on the queen. She would do her best to weed out the infected parts of the forest so that it could begin to heal.


    "I think it will be better if you stay close to Calen. Thest time you ran off alone you were lost for three days. Luckily you ran around enough to find the enforcers, but what if you had be exhausted and been found by goblins? You would be nothing but a head on a pike." Wade shook his head while Calen looked red faced and embarrassed to have her faults brought out to them.


    "The goblins wouldn''t do that to anyone. But just in case you can''t shake the stereotypes you should know that the goblins won''t bother us. We are their friends." Walker said this making all of the elves look more confused, but he decided to drop the subject for now. The odds of running in to other straggling goblins were low since thest of them were with Barry and protected.


    "Well, in any case, we should get moving. The longer we wait the more that slime grows and eats. If it makes it here I do not expect a good result." Wade decided to push on and guide the party out of the room and back out in to the branches of the giant tree. "Keep up, we are going to take a little detour." Wade started jogging on the branches and hopping from one to the other.


    Walker and the rest of the party watched as Alma and Calen followed easily. They knew that there was a magic used to keep their grip on the branches but that did not stop them from fearing the fall down to the ground. However, they were heroes and they needed courage.


    They followed along being as careful as possible. Midnight looked t be enjoying the experience since she was able to use it to practice using her wings to glide a little. She had been getting much strongertely and with this as practice, she could get used to being higher up in the sky.


    Walker hesitated as he was about to hop to another branch. He could see that the three elves were running and jumping freely from branch to branch and sliding down vines. He was jealous of them for having the ability to do so easily. "Walker,e on. We are going to fall behind." Gil gave a shout since he saw that Walker had gotten stuck thinking yet again.


    Walker got back on the move and tried to focus himself on his movements. He needed better awareness of where he was stepping. Unlike the dance of the wild rabbit skill, this was a more active use of movement. The dance of the wild rabbit used instincts to dodge and avoid a predator. This used the body to consciously move and find the next ce to jump.


    Wade was leading them higher in the tree towards a branch devoid of foliage. The party could only wonder why they were on their way there instead of downwards to the forest floor to ding the trail of decay and hunt the massive slime.


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 Chapter 342 - 342. Running Through The Trees

    Walker was trying to get ahead to ask Wade but this but his bnce and speed werecking. This was too unfamiliar to him. Gil was fairing better since he was used to walking through the uneven terrains of the forest while hunting.


    Su was the slowest but she had a much better grip on the situation because of her sight. She was able to see the best ces to jump to that would hold her weight and give her the most efficient footing.


    Remey was more or less just running around having a st. She was enjoying the rush from jumping above therger gaps and not stopping at all. It was a rare opportunity for her to run free so high above the world. Of all the people to be enjoying it so much Walker was surprised that it was Remey. He would have bet that she was unhappy to be off the solid ground where she could burst in to punches or kicks.


    The three elves reached the branch without the foliage and the party slowly made it t them. "So any reason we just rushed up here?" Gil was the first to ask what the entire party was thinking.


    Wade gazed at the view for a few moments before responding. "We three were kind of forced together when we started to learn the ways of the titles. I might be the oldest of us but our people always tiptoe around us, we share the same feeling of being kept on disy. So when we finally got sick of things and came up here we made a deal to be a party ourselves and use their own influences against them. Not much they can do to manipte three possible title holders..or well, one title holder and two potential."


    Wadeughed a little thinking about the control they had gained just by meeting in this spot. "The crazy part is, lightning struck this branch the day after we made the deal. Now wee up here every time we leave. It was lucky enough to be struck by lightning you know."


    Walker thought it strange, but if that was what connected them as a party then so be it. His party may havee together through the adventurers guild but there were many ways to meet your party. Some have a party with their family. Other meet traveling. Some retire with friends and create an adventuring party. Things just happened.


    "Well whatever the reason toe up here, it''s worth the view." Remey looked out at the vast sea of green in front of them. The forest could be said to go on forever from up here.


    "It is an amazing view. We could never see something like this from our kingdom" Su was right there with Remey wishing they could bring this view home with them.


    "Ready to do what we usually do?" Wade looked at the other two elves.


    "Remember Calen, no using your skills for speed. Just using what we have as elves." Alma gave her friend a knowing look.


    Midnight turned her head to the side trying to figure out what the three elves were talking about. She was asking Onyx but he didn''t know either."Since you three like to keep us in the dark, I might as well ask. What do you usually do when you are up here?" Walker had the feeling he already knew but he had hope that he would be wrong.


    "We run dow full speed of course. It''s our send off to the city, like a goodbye to the stress and hello to the freedom." Wade just smiled and immediately crouched down. "Go!" The three elves rushed downwards hopping from branches and sliding down "Well, I really had hoped we weren''t doing this." Gil sounded like he had a chore thrust upon him, but jumped in to action anyways.


    "Yes! This is going to be fun,e on Su let''s go!" Remey dragged Su along behind her trying to rush down the tree as fast as possible.


    Walker turned to look at Midnight but realized that she was already on the move. She had jumped in to action well ahead of the others leaving Walker alone onthe lighting stricken branch.


    Walker was hesitant to rush down from such dangerous heights but he knew that there was no other way if he wanted to stay with the group. Walker gave in and started running on thergest branch downwards. His steps got bigger and bigger as he realized that he was so far behind. Staying on the safer path was leaving him farther behind.


    Biting his lip he picked up his pace and made arge jump. His feet fell through the air with nothing below him. Walker''s heart started to pump blood through his veins at double the speed. When his feet touched the next giant branch his body seemed to burn, before he could understand the feeling he was already gaining momentum for the next jump. The fear of falling was all but erased.


    ''The unique skill tree dashing from the elven bloodline has been taken from the pure elf system. Due to the user action, the skill tree dashing has been automatically learned.


    Tree dashing- passive


    The elven people have the natural skill to jump through the vines and branches of the forest. Dashing through the trees and jumping from branch to branch is the same as walking through the forest to them. Pathways through the trees are clear as the sky to an elf.''


    Walker was able to feel the difference in his ability to move. The jumps were second nature to him. The rounded branches no longer looked tough to stand on but instead were perfect foot holds. A great smile spread out on his face while he picked up the speed even more.


    Walker''s daring jumps and slides down branches and vines made him surpass Remey and Su in just seconds. Gil was barely able to recognize that the blur going past him was Walker. Midnight gave a small whine as Walker passed her since she was unhappy to be outdone in such a simple looking way. Onyx was just enjoying the ride while coiled around Walker''s shoulders. He felt he had won out in this deal, never had he imagined Walker would have a burst of speed like this and fly through the trees like a real elf.


    "You''re right! This is a lot of fun!" Walker caught up to the three elves and gave them the surprise of their lives. "Try to keep up!" Walker passed the three leaving them dumbfounded. The fact that he didn''t know where he was going didn''t even ur to him. This intense feeling was not fading even as he neared the base of the tree. He could keep running like this all day of the tree was endless.


    Upon reaching the bottom he felt as if all the fire from within his body was suddenly quenched by icy water. He looked up at the branch he hade from while trying to catch his breath. The sheer height of where he hade from was too much to believe, even though he had just run from the very spot.


    "What in the spirit of the forest was that?" Wadended down next to Walker with Alma and Calen in tow.


    Walker smiled devilishly, "just a skill I learned. Tree dashing or something like that. Just the usual." His nonchnt attitude added more to the blow the three elves were feeling.


    Unlike his party, the three elves were not desensitized to the shock that came from hearing about the skills Walker would learn. They had been hit with so many bombs like this that they were nearly immune to the effect.


    "Oh, just the tree dashing skill." Alma waved it off before looking at Walker with hard eyes, "You mean the tree dashing skills that is unique to elves!?'' Her shout made Calen cover his ears and Wade shake his head. He was cursing her out in his mind for acting so much like a brute than in elegance as a future queen should.


    "With reactions like that, I don''t think you will be the queen for another seventy years or so." Wade''s words bit in to Alma hard but she still refused to remove her eyes from Walker.


    "Wait so are you a half elf half human?" Calen could only understand this if Walker was somehow a cross between the two species.


    "Nope, as far as I know, I am all human. If it helios I also have a skill used by the demi-human rabbit tribe; dance of the wild rabbit." Walker felt that this was not enough for them to understand and realized he would need to tell them more details.


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 Chapter 343 - 343. Going After The Slimes

    "As I said before, I have the jack of all trades system. I can learn any skill. I am not limited to racial skills like everyone else. Therefore, I know tree dashing now as a passive skill." Walker sounded so casual saying all of this the elves thought that it might be a daily urrence.


    "You know that the elven race likes to keep their skills to themselves. I rmend you avoid learning any others." Wade sounded serious while Calen and Alma actually appeared to be excited to know that someone other than an elf could use a skill they had. For them, it was a wild new idea.


    "I am aware that it is taboo for certain skills from certain systems to be used outside of your race. There is a lot of pride in them. But I can''t control the system and I have a title that allows me a little more freedom when ites to these things." Walker knew that with the true hero title he had more wiggle room when he learned unique skills. If someone was angered by it then it was on them, if they acted against him it could be seen as going against the heroes. This idea could start wars if done improperly.


    Wade thought for a movement that there was a little more meaning in Walker''s words, however, he couldn''t narrow it down. He just had a feeling. After some time he nodded and epted that he would be seeing Walker running through the trees like an elf. It was easier for him to pretend Walker was a half elf and report that to anyone asking too many questions.


    "Really? You got a new skill and you just left us in the dust?" Gil came up to Walker huffing to catch his breath. He was not too out of breath to give Walker a soft punch to the shoulder.


    "Keep greeting people like that and I''ll change your name to Remey." Gil''s response was yet another his ti the shoulder. When Su and Remey made it down with Midnight They found the boys were wrestling like fools.


    "We go all the way to an elven city and what do you two do? You wrestle right by the exit instead of focusing on the reason we are here." Su stared at Remey like she was seeing a ghost. It was like the roles had been revered. Remey was acting like a mom, Gil was fooling around punching people. And Su was the one thinking too hard.


    "Wade, how well do you do with scouting? I want you to pair up with Gil and get out bearings as we leave." Walker had not failed to notice that there were still no other elves around other than enforcers. It was clear that the elves had been ordered inside somewhere to avoid the eyes of the party. It was a very cautious action to protect their unique systems in case of war.


    "No problem. We will move out first then." Wade sured up his grip on his bow and smirked at Gil who was doing the same. "We might even see a good target to test your archer''s eyes.


    "My eyes? You''re the one who ims to have a title, I''m not sure about anyone else, but I don''t think you do." Gil was feeding the small rivalry that was starting.


    "Leader, are you sure we should send them off together?'' Su was worried they wouldpete and get in to trouble.


    "You don''t need to worry about Wade. He is pretty much an adult now. He was almost going to join as an enforcer but instead, he pursued sharpshooting and ended up with a title. He still has the strong sense of duty though." Alma looked at Wade like Lisa would look at him.


    "You guys are pretty close huh?" Alma didn''t even flinch at the question. She had always been close with Wade since she was little. Now that they were in the same party it was an amazing coincidence.


    "I n to make him my right hand when I be queen. I will need someone like him to make decisions with me. I won''t have the same benefits as speaking to the spirits of the other elves so easily as the queen does now." her face became slightly darker.


    Calen umped Alma''s side slightly, "We will fix this problem, don''t worry." She managed to get Alma to smile after poking her a few times but was then threatened with the blue ivy poison again.


    "I have been wondering, why are we going to deal with the massive slimes than the elven army? Of the enforcers around?" Su was confused as to why it was so easily epted that they were to defeat the massive slime. It was clear that the elves were put off by having humans around. But even with the hero titles, there should have been more pushback.


    "I know the answer to that!" Calen was quick on her feet and was standing behind Walker and Su before they had even noticed. "We have a lot of elves off at the borders. So we can''t spare the manpower to send out our guards." She looked proud to know the answer, but Alma looked horrified.


    "I knew you were slower, but you just told someone from another country that we don''t have enough troops in our city to defend it" She looked ready to let the blue ivy loose on them at the slightest provocation.


    "You and I both know that the hero title is just that, the hero title. Not hero of the humans, or hero of the elves. You can believe that we would help even if your kingdom was at war with yours." Walker was quick to calm Alma down. She was already catching on that Alma was not the most elegant person and could take things the wrong way too easily.


    "Psshh, I wanted to see the two of you fight while we walked. I need to see what that blue ivy can do." Remey grumbled while walking with Midnight. She wanted more information on what she would need to avoid if fighting next to them. Even more so what the poison could do to an enemy. There could be limits to the antidote potion she had made and if it didn''t work on the poison it was much more dangerous.


    Midnight was looking expectantly at Walker and Alma as well. She was also waiting for a good fight since they were just stuck slowly walking out of the elven city while Gil and Wade had already left to narrow down the start of their path.


    "Sorry, you all needed to wait. Gil is at the entrance we will be using. I met with an enforcer and found that they have reports of small purple slimes only a few hours walk away. The massive slime still has not been sighted." Wade had run up and pointed toward the edge of the road they were on.


    "As much as I want to say I am sad to be leaving, we aren''t seeing the real elf city. So this is the same as the ruins as far as I''m concerned." Walker''s words were part truth and part hidden message. He really was disappointed that he was not able to see the real beauty of the city with all its people out and about. But the mention of the ruins was to make it seem like the elves were weakening in the human perspective.


    Just saying these things would be enough to possibly change the way the elves worked. If he was lucky the little seed of idea might let the party walk through the proud elf city and meet its ever day people.


    "I want to argue with you but¡­" Wade looked at the empty streets and headed towards Gil. He was not in the mood to talk about the fact that the elves hid away everything for fear that their knowledge would spread.


    Alma had a pained look on her face again which prompted Calen to bug her more. By the time they walked through the illusion that hid the city the three elves were all back in to a serious mood and ready to head off in to the forest.


    "The reports said that small slimes had just started to form in this direction. The decay was minimal but got much worse as the enforcers followed it. Unfortunately, they needed to turn back since they were ambushed by one of the slimes and infected." This was bad news, if there were so many small slimes that they were able to harm the patrolling enforcers, it might be a challenge for them to get through. "I think just destroying the cores from a distance will be our best means to stay safe."


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 Chapter 344 - 344. Purple Cap Mushrooms

    "If it is a solitary slime and we can manage it I want to try and gather more of the slime cores for research. That is one of our main goals foring here." Walker was still trying to stick to the quest for the kingdom. Especially since they had not received another quest to actually defeat the massive slime with the elves. It was something he didn''t understand from the system.


    "I am not opposed to that. As long as we are in a safe position. The slimes are too slow to usually get someone unless they are surprised or surrounded. Well, and if they are just fooling around." Wade said this more of a precaution, the forest was no stranger to the mud slimes that ate rotting vegetation.


    They were alsomon in the nearby swamps. Many young elves thought them good training partners, unfortunately, there were too many that would rx and try out new moves on the mud slimes. The result could be injuries or the slime swallowing the foolish elf whole. Just because they usually ate the rotting vegetation of the forest or swamp floor, did not mean that they would not attack something living.


    "Calen, if we run in to a giant slime can you distract it with your speed? They can''t really see you, but they will feel your mana around so it will still try and attack you. Especially if you are running around it and appearing in different positions. It might think it is surrounded by food."


    "Annoy the giant slimes if we find one, got it." She held a thumbs up and smiled. She loved annoying people with her speed, it was like this job was made for her.


    "Didn''t Wade say there are only small slimes reported ahead? Do you think the report was wrong?" Remey was curious why Walker seemed to doubt the elves scouting.


    "Not that they are wrong, that the small slimes might have merged together."Alma frowned hearing Walker''s reasoning. If the slimes were forming together they could have another massive slime before they knew it. Her thoughts on the matter were bing much more negative, especially since this problem could be dealt with if they had more enforcers present.


    "I will be happy to have them as research materials for your kingdom as long as more information is shared with our kingdom," Alma spoke up, she wanted to make sure that there were bonds being formed. Thest few months she had felt that the elves were letting themselves be weak by folding in on themselves when other kingdoms were involved.


    "I would be more than happy to negotiate that when I return to our kingdom." Walker saw that this could be an avable step in the future. Start now with an agreement to share informationand in time it might be something more. He could only hope that it would lead to a more trusting rtionship.


    With their nned formation decided the group headed deeper in to the forest. They were seeing the untouched greenery that the first should be. When the party was walking and following thepath of decay they had missed out on the beauty of the forest. There were vines that hung from treetops and small nts pushing toward the light of the sun. countless small flowers or insects were moving around exploring their own little world.


    "That''s going to be a problem." Wade was the first to stop and look farther away in to the forest.


    Gil and Su were able to lock on to the thing he was looking at. "That''s arge spot of decay."


    "And a lot of mushrooms...all with purple caps." The two of them knew from talking with Walker that these were definitely going to be monstrous mushrooms.


    "Usually I would say I can run and deal with them then run back. But by the time the first one bursts I wouldn''t even be stabbing the fifth." Calen looked disappointed that she couldn''t just run up and deal with the problem before anyone was able to get in range.


    "How many can you count?" Walker was already putting a n in to action. His frost whip skill was already being created.


    I can see seven from here, but who knows what is behind some of the trees." Wade had an arrow in his hand ready to fire at the signal.


    "You and Gil can snipe them. I will use this to deal with the spores." Walker flexed the frost whip in his hand while another started to form in his opposite hand.


    "How is the ice going to stop the spores? They will be in the air, the ice will be too big to catch them." Alma could not believe that ice was somehow going to just solve a problem the elves always had with this monster.


    "I will just turn the ice in to a fine mist of water. That should make the spores sink back t the ground so you don''t breathe them in. Actually, can you influence mushrooms and fungus with your system? Or just nts?" This question hade to his mind while he was speaking. If Alma could manipte mushrooms then what about the monstrous mushroom species.


    "If they were normal mushrooms I do have a skill that makes them grow in different shapes. But I haven''t unlocked many of the skills like that, I am too low level, the queen said that one day I would be able to whisper to any of the creatures in the forest that weren''t monsters too."She looked a little sad saying this because she knew that she was not as helpful in the current situation.


    "I won''t send you vines over there wither. They have purple caps, so they will just kill the ivy vines." Walker was interested in the possibilities of Alma''s system but realized that it was useless to harp on what she could do if she was more experienced. "Just try and get the area around them pruned. You''re still the best person for that role."


    Hearing that she was the best for the tole made Alma happier. She did not want to deal with the purple cap monstrous mushrooms in the first ce. "Remey, Su, Midnight. Keep an eye for the spores escaping us. If they do I will use some wind to push them away.


    Walker didn''t want to use wind magic, but if he had to he would try and make a little wind tornado to capture the spores and attempt to deal with them. If things really looked to be going poorly he could burn them, but that was not his desired option. The forest may be wet from the rains, but if a single spark caught then it could be a huge problem.


    "Let''s go." Walker gave Gil and Wade the approval to start their arrows firing while he moved forward toward the purple cap mushrooms.


    When the first arrow hit the nearest mushroom Walker saw that the other mushrooms started to tremble. They had been still at first but that was their desired hunting strategy. They would stay still like real mushrooms then jump out andtch on to anything that let down its guard around them.


    The arrow that hit the mushroom went clean through it and the mushroom looked like it had started to dete. The defense of the monstrous mushrooms was notoriously low and even a baby could defeat one. If this was all they and then it would be much safer. Unfortunately, Walker could already see the body starting to release little purple fog.


    He started to swing the whips out and use his grand elemental maniption to make more water gather. The water that was pooled together flowed down the whip and made it much longer. It wrapped around the hit mushroom and started t freeze it. The other whip was still in motion towards the other purple cap mushrooms that had started to rise from the ground and move towards the defeated mushroom.


    There were small beady eyes that had blended in with the stalk of the mushrooms until they had sprung to life. Walker was sure that if he looked close enough he would find a mouth but decided that this idea was not a good one at all.


    The second arrow tore through another mushroom and Walker was already in action to start freezing it too. The water he had moved to the first mushroom to freeze it was slowly melting and soaking the purple cap mushroom body. Steam started to flow around it and any of the purple spores drifting from the purple cap started to be saturated and fall to the ground.Walker broke off the first frost whip and created another while he froze the second mushroom.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 345 - 345. Hidden Enemy

    The arrows pierced and tore through the purple cap mushrooms much faster than Walker was able to freeze them. Luckily there was water still in puddles around the ground due to the shade of the forest keeping the partly cloudy sunlight from drying them up. While he let another newly created frost whip fly out tond on two of the purple cap mushrooms bodies, Walker channeled his mana to draw in even more of the water elemental mana around.


    The water reacted and started to freeze on the ground. His mana was being used up much faster than he expected but he knew that he had enough to do what he was trying for. Thankfully the area was devoid of other nts due to the purple slimes moving through so his use of water magic would not harm the forest.


    "Come on and Freeze!" He gave this shout as a warning to Gil and Wade who were advancing behind him. The rest of the group was holding back in case the spore spread out due to the three boys missing a purple cap mushroom.


    Gil motioned for Wade to stop since he knew that Walker would not shout out unless it was a warning. He was proven right as the temperature decreased and Walker poured more of his mana in to the frost whips.


    The frost whips snaked out across the ground almost like tree roots. Walker had this idea while observing the forest and had used it in the spur of the moment. The frost whip spread and covered the purple cap mushrooms and causedyers of frost and ice to cover the entire ground.


    Walker was feeling the draw on his mana more heavily but this technique was working. It was not what he intended to do but since he underestimated the speed of two archers taking down the weak defense of the mushrooms he needed to give it his all. The ice on the ground and mushrooms covered them keeping the purple spores from spilling out and instead of freezing them in to the bodies of the purple cap mushrooms.


    "OK,e on up. I think I got them all." Walker was panting as he released the now frozen in ce frost whips. They started to melt in to water as he let go of his control over the ice.


    ''The user has learned the skill frost ring from the snow spites system through user action.


    Frost ring- 5 mana cost


    When the user is casting a magical skill of water element they are able to form a ring of frost around them. This skill can only be used when the user is already using another water elemental skill that causes water to form in to ice. Targets in the user''s ring of frost will suffer debuffs of; -3agi, -2def, -1h per minute within the frost ring. The frost ring consumes less mana for the user during colder climate.''


    '' nine purple cap mushrooms defeated


    18 exp multiplied to 180 exp.''


    "What? So little experience points?" Gil saw the amount of experience and was looking at how much effort he had put inpared to the reward.


    "Well, they do have almost no defense. They can be killed with a falling branch. The only danger is the way they spread their spores. We pretty much just helped them grow if we didn''t freeze them. Their bodies are useful though. A lot of different poison or potion uses." Wade was looking at the frozen purple cap mushrooms. He waspressed by the control of the water element.


    "It was definitely worth it. I think we can deal with them without having to fire arrows from a distance now." Walke was all smiles while looking at his first debuff skill. The magic he could use would have been great for the winter, but as long as he is in the cool shade of the forest and there are puddles he will have a great way to restrain opponents.


    "Ugh, you learned another skill didn''t you?" Remey was not surprised but instead wanted to hit Walker out of jealousy, but held herself back since she knew it would not make her feel any better.


    "Wait, is this really somon for him? How do you deal with it. I thought he just had water magic maniption and made it freeze with those whips."Calen was trying to decipher the skills Walker could have learned. This was bing an interesting game for her.


    "It could have been from the snow elf system. I have seen them use a frost whip and frost ring skills." Alma had met the snow elves when they visited from the north. They lived farther away past the desert but still remained close with their forest elf brethren.


    "The skill was from the snow sprite system, but it is pretty good to know snow elves can use the skills too. I would like to meet them one day." Walker kept this information for another time. Having another skill that a different elf people could you would make the bond with elves stronger. It could also earn him more respect overall from the elves.


    "I see, snow sprites are very rare around these parts. I believe they are even considered rare at the top of the mountains. You would need to go to the tundra to find them. The paintings I have seen of them are adorable." Calen had seen many of the paintings in the elven libraries as part of their


    "I am going to start to have the trees around her drop the decaying branches. While you all gather up those mushrooms. Don''t touch any purple ice or water, those spores are still able to grow." Alma gave them the warning before she started whispering to the trees. Her voice was not speaking any recognizable words but sounded more like wind passing through trees.


    The trees nearby started to wilt and drop leaves and small twigs that showed decay, the skills Alma used may not be huge forbat but they were ideal for growing and protecting the forest. Walker could only imagine the effect she could have on the younger growth or even the growth of herbs in the forest. When she reached a high enough level she would not be surprised to hear that she could grow massive trees like Hilda''s mastery skill.


    Midnight used her ws to break away some of the ice and drag one of the first purple cap mushrooms that Walker had frozen towards him. He was able to easily store it and found that it would be fine to store them away frozen. "Well, that was cool."


    Wade watched as Walker ced the purple cap mushrooms in to his inventory. The spatial magic was not something he was used to but had seen before. "My master had a spatial skill that allowed him to only store arrows. It was a pair with his mastery skill infinite arrow rain. He could fire arrows directly from his arrow storage. I only saw him use it once but it got rid of an entire giant ant colony."


    "I hope I can get an arrow storage skill. Walker has to carry all my arrows and it is such a pain. Actually, pass me one of my paralyzing arrows please." Gil reached out a hand as he caught some movement in the corner of his eye while they worked to get the purple cap mushrooms cleaned up.


    Gil pulled back the arrow that Walker handed to him. It was one of the wither spike arrows full of the horned rabbit poison. He pulled it back and let the arrow fly through the green leaves a distance away. "Midnight got after what Gil shot please." Walker knew that Midnight could move and get the monster Gil saw more easily than the others.


    "Nice catch, those things are a pain. But we are pretty high in number. I doubt it would have attacked."


    "I just didn''t want to risk it. I actually have seen one before so I knew about its color change ability. They make their way in to a lot of different ces because of it."


    "True, that''s why they are so good for rogue type systems though. Lot''s of personal guards also use the materials for their jobs."


    Wade and Gil were having a full on debate of what he had shot with his arrow. The problem was the rest of the group waspletely lost because they were not able to see what the two archers had seen. "Are you two nning gon letting us in on what you two saw?" Walker was a little miffed since they seemed to intentionally hide it even though Walker had just asked Midnight to go help since she would be excited to do so.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 346 - 346. Slime Cannibalism

    "Me too, I want to know what you saw." Calen was bouncing with excitement since she wanted to solve the muster. It was surprising that she had resisted the urge to run after the arrow and look for herself.


    Su and Remey held their curiosity in while they looked towards the direction Midnight wasing back from. She was huffing slightly while the sounds of dragging were made on the forest floor. The leaves were pushed apart and Midnight''s tail broke through the brush.


    "YYousaw a chameleon!?" Alma shroud in delight. She had only seen them a few times because they were so hard to spot in the forest.


    "We need to deal with it before the poison wears off." Gil pulled his dagger and brought it down with an even force on the neck of the green creature. The knife pierced through it and after a short moment it revealed its full form.


    The chameleon was about half the size of Midnight. It has scaly skin that was fading from grey without its mana flowing through its body to change its color. The curled tail was tough and used to hold on to trees while it waited for prey to pass by and catch with its quick moving tongue. The skin was a very valuable material for any system user that needed to sneak and the meat was considered a delicacy for its incredible tenderness.


    "Thanks for getting this for me Midnight." Gil gave her a pat on the head before returning to the field dressing the chameleon so Walker could more easily store it. Midnight just raised her head higher, she was very proud of her easy job to grab the prey hunted by Gil. Her excitement was evident in her eyes as she wanted to dig in to the future meal now.


    "We should save some of that for Mrs. Hilda. She would find it very interesting to cook." Su had instantly thought of Walker''s mother. She most likely had never cooked with such a rare ingredient.


    "Good idea, there is only so much we can do with it here in the forest. If we save some it will be a delicacy when we get home." Walker''s mouth was already watering at the thought.


    "It was a great shot. I wish I had noticed it. I would earn a decent amount of favors from some cuts of that meat." Wademented his poor luck in not seeing the chameleon move before Gil had. If only he had his head turned more to the side.


    "We can share some. I doubt we will need all of it. Food tastes better with more people anyways." Remey volunteered some of the food to be given to their new elvenpanions.


    "We aren''t that greedy, we would have shared it even if you didn''t want it." Gilughed a little as he set so,e of the meat aside for the elves. Walker took the cuts and stored them away making sure he would remember to hand them over when they were done with what they needed to do.


    "Yessssss" Calen ran in a circle full of energy when she heard they would have it for themselves as well.


    "Now that we have this all cleaned up, let''s see where the slime was heading." Wade looked at the trail of decay that Alma had started to straighten up. The damage seemed to be strange shaped. Some ces hadrge circr areas of decay that suddenly shrank down then expanded again. The trail did not make any sense at all.


    "This trail is like the slime is growing and shrinking randomly. Or like something is dropping from the sky and infecting the trail then flying away and dropping something smaller." Calen had run a little ways ahead and found that the trail was more or less like this the entire way.


    "Why does that make me feel more anxious?" Remey was looking at the decaying branches Alma was pushing to the center of the trail while trying to make heads or tails of the path they were walking down.


    The group was going to try and debate the reason the path might look like this but before they could they started toe upon some small slimes that were slowly building cores. They were not able to do any damage yet but if they were left for a few more hours they would be small purple slimes capable of spreading decay. "Cover these up with dirt to suffocate their rotting. They won''t for cores." Walker said this but the elves were already doing so. He realized he had said something too basic for them.


    "So since we are finding these soon to be slimes, we should be close to the massive slime right?" Calen was poking Wade to get him to spill how close they were, she was eager to deal with the problem and get back to her normal running about.


    "It could have passed through here yesterday and those slime puddles are just now starting to gather their own cores. You can''t tell how long it takes for them to begin to form until you actually see it. We still don''t even know how these slimes were created in the first ce.


    "That''s where wee in. We are here to research and gather the materials. If we can find the massive slime and gather some of its body we can bring it back to our kingdom to learn exactly that." Walker kicked more dirt over a slime trying to form a core before following the path more.


    "The slower it takes them to form a core the better. There is a lot more decay the longer we follow the path the slimes have carved out of the forest." Alma was visibly annoyed at the fact that things did not look to be improving. She hated that the forest was so easily taking damage.


    " The faster we move the faster we can find the problem." Wade gave Alma a firm look, he was going to make sure that the forest she was whispering to would not be in pain.


    "Well, we are n the right trail." Remey pointed out a medium sized slime eating away at a tree stump ahead of them. Calen had not run ahead to check out this portion of the trail yet and they had not realized there would be an enemy.


    "Wait. there are more." Alma held up a hand to the group who was about to jump in to action. She had whispered to some of the trees nearby and gathered that they had felt multiple slimes nibbling on their roots.


    While they were stopped the group witnessed a small slime move toward the medium slime. The medium sized slime reached ut part of its body and snagged the small slime. The medium slimepletely epassed the small slime body and spit out its core. The cores went dormant immediately and the medium slime had gained arger body. The core looked to glow with a denser amount of mana.


    "Leader, are slimes supposed to cannibalize each other like that?'' Su had never heard of this happening in the slime species she had read about.


    "Not that I have read."


    "I''ve never heard of slimes dong that either."


    "I have been told that the slimes kept as pets by alchemists will fuse together but they would take in the core of another slime andbine it to grow. They wouldn''tpletely throw out the core." Remey was the only one with some form of knowledge on this since the old master alchemist had once kept a pet slime during an experiment.


    With Remey''s input, they were all put on edge, if they were acting differently than any other slime it made them all think that there was an outside force controlling them. "I think we should proceed much more carefully." Calen had lost a lot of her energetic bouncing after seeing this.


    While they watched there were more and more little slimes drawn to the medium slime and many more cores thrown out in to a dormant state. Before their eyes, a medium slime had be a much darker purple giant slime. It proceeded to consume the entire tree stump in a few minutes before starting to move towards a sapling nearby.


    "That was not good." Alma looked at the newly grown giant slime in their way. Every single one of them was wearing faces of distress. If they were able to grow in such a way then the massive slime had the potential to grow simrly.


    "We need to get rid of that thing. I don''t know how many more slimes it needs to consume before it bes another massive slime." Wade tested his bow string and looked ahead. He didn''t care about the core of that slime or the research, he wanted to end this problem as fast as possible. There was no more time to move slowly, they had witnessed thergest threat in this purple decaying slime problem.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 347 - 347. New Skills

    Wade notched an arrow and shot it directly trying to pierce the giant slime''s core. His arrow was quick and covered the distance with perfect uracy. However, when it pierced the slime''s body it slowed and was trapped within the slime. The party just watched it dissolve in to food for the lime as it started to roll towards them.


    The slime whipped out part of its body like a tentacle trying to grab at them. "Su." Walker gave a shout to the already in motion Su. She raised her shield and clocked the slime tentacle that wasing towards them. Walker was d the equipment had decay resistance because he could see the slime that spilled on to the ground start to dissolve some of the dead leaves.


    "Alma have the trees pull back their branches so we can fight freely. "Calen, go annoy that thing." Wade was already setting up his group in to motion. Alma was frantically whispering. The sound was simr to a torrent of wind ruffling the leaves on a tree. The branched were creaking and twisting away widening the path around them.


    Walker had only a moment to witness the small vines that spread from the blue ivy seeds Alma threw on to the ground. They sprang to life and epassed the trees protecting them from any slime body that woulde off the giant slime. This made the fighting area tighter but would protect the forest from damage.


    Alma fell back behind everyone when the vines had grown, there was a pale hue to her face and she was visibly exhausted from the amount of mana she had just expended on the skills she used. "Nice job!" Walker gave a shout as he started to for a frost whip in one hand. "Remey, you join Calen and make life hard for that slime, when I freeze parts of its body move them away so id can''tbine with them again."


    Remey was already in motion, Midnight followed her knowing that she was also suited for this role. The giant slime would have a tough time keeping focus on the three since it was not a naturally intelligent creature. Walker left Gil with Su and Wade since they needed the protection to safely fire off arrows. The sooner they managed to pierce the core the better.


    His approach was swift and he sent a pulse through the frost whip hitting the giant slime and freezing a small part of its body. Calen had picked up a small stick and was poking the slime on the opposite side. The slime tentacles whipped out toward her but she had already moved to the left.


    Remey was the next to get to the slime and jumped in to the air. She used a hammer fist in her descent to the ground shattering the ice and forcing it to spread away from the giant slime. Midnight dashed around kicking dirt up on to the shards to cover them as they would melt. The two were perfectly in sync with Calen who was already poking the slime with a dead twig to get its full attention.


    Walker sent his frost whip at the slimeing in to contact with its body. He knew he didn''t have the mana pool to freeze it but he could still take a chunk off of it first. With a sizeable amount of mana, he sent arge pulse through the frost whip. The water elemental mana was drawn to the spot the first whip had contacted the giant slime and quickly froze arge chunk of its body.


    The chunk of ice was too heavy for the slime to keep attached and dropped to the ground. The slime sent out a tentacle towards Walker but he had already released the frost whip and was ten steps ahead. His draconic crusher was pulled out of the inventory and gathering the water element.


    With a swift swing, Walker came down with an elemental smash which crashed in to the giant slime''s body. It had almost no resistance but became lodged in side the body. However, Walker knew that the attack was not done. The gathered water elemental mana spread and caused anotherrge chunk deeper in the body of the giant slime to freeze and fall from its body. Walker easily freed the draconic crusher and put it in his inventory. The weight couldn''t affect him if it was in his inventory and with his fighting style evolving it was the practical maneuver.


    He backed off as the next slime tentacle came towards him and narrowly missed his arm. If he had been too slow he would have been affected by the decay and needed to use an antidote potion.


    While Walker backed off and prepared another frost whip he watched as Remey and Midnight each pursue one of therge chunks of frozen slime body. They were able to get near them without worry due to Calen''s distractions. Midnight and Remeuy had been training together in secret and had be a much better tag team of front line fighters. Unknown to Walker the two would train in the night to enhance their ability to see in the dimmer areas like the forest.


    Midnight made arge leap and swung out with her tail. The skeletal armor skill she had made her tail a much sharper and deadlier weapon. Walker nearly stopped in his preparations due to his surprise as Midnight''s tail seemed to gather a grey skeletal flow and shatter the chunk of ice. The shards were sent far from the giant slime so that it had no chance to recover them as they melted.


    Remey was right with Midnight and stepped hard with her foot. She twisted and shouted out loud. "Round House!" No one knew why she had shouted but in the next movement her speed seemed to double and he heel crashed in to therge chunk of ice. It shattered and flew far from the slime. With their attacks done the two retreated tandem returning to a safe distance.


    "Don''t think I won''t be asking about you twoter," Walker yelled this at the two who had kept new skills hidden from him. Walker may believe in allowing his party the privacy of not going through their skills constantly, but he was very surprised by these new skills.


    His frost whip was sending another three ice needles at the giant slime and Calen was already getting it to send a tentacle in the same direction as the needles. The needles his and froze the base of the tentacle causing it to fall to the ground in a narrow slime puddle. The giant slime had be unbnced and lost a significant amount of its mass.


    Gil and Wade had been waiting for this chance to fire their next arrow. The two arrows they released flew side by side at the thinnest part of the slime''s body aiming for the core.The dark purple core was thrumming with its mana as it tried to pull its body back together on instinct. The two arrows had less resistance and easily pierced through the body cracking the slime core. The built up darkness mana that caused the slime to have the decay properties was released and dissipated while the slime itself started to slowly melt in to arge slime puddle.


    "W aren''t done, let''s get that puddle buried so we can prevent small slimes from forming." Walker was already in motion using his grande elemental maniption to create a hole for the slime to pour in to. The rest of the group started to kick dirt down on top of it while Remey, Calen, and Midnight were covering up the melting ice shards. They had it all taken care of in less than an hour. The group was visibly tired but happy to have dealt with a quick growing enemy.


    ''Giant decaying slime defeated.


    75 exp multiplied to 750 exp.''


    Gil looked unhappy with this but he couldn''t argue since he knew the system was taking in to ount the fact that it had a massive weak point; its core. The only reason he expected more experience points was the fact that it had decaying effects in its slime body.


    Walker looked at Remey and Midnight who looked to be talking each other up after using their new skills to show off. When the pair felt that Walker had his gaze on them, they were instantly caught in a silent state. Su and Gil joined Walker in his hard gaze making the two look very embarrassed. Onyx had been facilitating the conversation between Midnight and Remey was also joining the staring contest finding it very amusing. "Fine fine fine. We will tell you about the skills. We didn''t want to make a big deal over it."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 348 - 348. Explanations

    "Well since you both came out of nowhere in that fight with skills I had never seen before, I would hope you two will share." Walker looked at them keeping his harsh gaze to make sure they knew he was serious. "I make sure I respect your boundaries and don''t pry in to each of your skills like a mad king, but those were pretty great and I think they will be very beneficial in the future." He decided to lighten up a bit since he had been impressed.


    Remey saw his slightly rxed face and knew that she was able to exin the things she and Midnight have been practicing. "Well, when we have finished at the forge or the alchemyb at night Midnight and I have had some sparring matches to test out some skills we noticed after the event we had." Remey looked at the elves knowing she should keep some things held back.


    "I see, but both of you should already have skills from your systems that use your tail or kicks." Walker motioned to Midnight''s tail and Remey''s legs.


    "We do, but Midnight realized that she had a better skill when she wore her skeletal armor skill. It became bone tail whip. She used it on a training dummy and it looked more aged and older after a few minutes. I am pretty sure it eats away at the health points of the skills target." Remey was patting Midnight on the head while she spoke. Midnight was loving every moment of attention, her pride was swelling.


    "Wait, so if I got hit with that bone tail whip I could look older." Gil was holding his face in fear.


    "Oh no, It would make me look older?" Alma had joined in his fear and the two were almost mirror images of each other.


    Wade just shook his head while watching the two be over dramatic together. "Not even a full day of traveling together and you two are already this close." He had long dealt with Alma being a little extra dramatic, but having another person feed her corny drama was going to make it worse.


    While the two giggled at theiredy Su had an idea, "That attack sounds like it is made tobat a defender like me. If it caused health points to drain it most likely also causes an armor or shield''s durability to wane." Walker was even more impressed with the skill after Su said this. She had seen an amazing quality he had missed.


    "What I don''t get is why you yelled round house when you kicked? Was some big explosion supposed to happen?" Calen was more caught up in Remey''s skill due to her shout. Calen had retreated a little farther just in case something would happen since when someone shouts a skill it was usually the warning for the party.


    "Uhh, not really. But shouting it gives it more speed and strength. I don''t really like kicking since I feel off bnced when I use them. But since Walker said I should use my palm strike more when I fight I wanted to try my kicks. I noticed the round house kick had changed and well, I needed a partner to help." Remey was a little red faced since she had forgotten how embarrassing it was to shout that skill allowed.


    "You did seem to be faster and hit pretty hard. I wish I gad a skill that boosted my agility when I yelled." Calen was in a sour mood hearing that Remey had such a nice bonus just from shouting her kick.


    "So what would happen if you didn''t shout it out loud?" Su had a mystery on her hands and needed the answer, it was something that would annoy her all day if she did not hear it now.


    "If I don''t shout it out then my attack is halved. Same with my agility. It''s superme, but if I use it right it is a huge surprise." Remey looked a little disheartened when she started but as she remembered how cool the shattering ice was she smiled.


    "In the future please try to share the skills you two practice. I know you wanted to surprise us and we were very surprised, but it might be a little offputting." Walker needed to give them the speech his mom would give them. It was his duty as party leader to act as a parent at times.


    "But they were cool. They get a perfect ten out of ten from me." Gil was there giving his support.


    "I am very impressed as well. The two of you must have worked very hard." The elves just watched as the party had its moment. However, after Su said her part and Onyx made his actions in the sparring practice known, they needed to get moving.


    Wade stopped and examined the shard of giant slime core. "This had a lot of darkness elemental mana condensed. It must have been force fed the mana by someone so it could grow this fast. The forest might have natural darkness elemental mana but not in such concentration." Wade''s face was showing the perry of what kind of enemy was making these slimes act.


    "I really did have hope that it was a very strange twist of nature, but it is for certain that someone is controlling these slimes now." Walker has still held a small hope that they were not going to deal with some viin trying to kill the forest.


    Alma who had just finished a low tier mana potion from a small bag she had carried with her was busy gathering seeds from the blue ivy she had grown to protect the trees. Her whispers made the trees slowly revert to their original shape and it appeared that she was using much less mana. "You know, just because I am not looking at you it doesn''t mean I can''t feel you watching me."


    Sorry, I just think it is really cool how you can ask the trees to change shape like that. My mother is a farmer and I have seen her guide nts and even use her mastery skill to make them grow in minutes. But this is a whole different level." Gil was more than caught up in the skill Alma used. He was having a lot of trouble finding the differences between a forest whisper system and a farmers system until now. This was perfect evidence of how the two were far from the same.


    "Well, a farmer nurtures nts in the way they should grow naturally. I as a forest whisperer, ask them to change and grow a certain way. If my mana isn''t enough to stimte the natural mana they have then they don''t listen. I am actually very bad at growing nts their natural way, I always end up whispering for them to change." Alma looked a little sheepish as she exined her nting tendencies.


    "So you can bring out the certain qualities already in a nt where a farmer can just grow them over many cycles. You pretty much have a sped up version of cross breeding." Gil summed it up making it sound a lot less simple.


    "I guess if you want to beme and call it that sure. But before I started ying with my blue ivy it only had poison in its roots. Now I can make it circte through the entire nt. Not that I get to use it, we rarely run in to goblins anymore." Alma had wanted to show this off but seeing that the purples slimes were all immune to poisons it was a pointless hope.


    "Hey, did you two hear us? We are heading out!." Remey shouted at the two who were still talking away ad had not even noticed the others calling for them.


    Gil jogged up to Walker. "Did you hear that? Alma can make the blue ivy circte its poison through its whole nt body instead of just roots. Think you could learn a skill like that for the garden?" Gil was in full on gardening more wanting to get home and tell his mother all about it. He was certain she would be amazed to hear about a skill like this.


    ''How could I not? We were all trying to get your attention, it was like you two were up on the moon and not down here on earth." Walker gave Gil a soft punch to the shoulder.


    "I was just learning about our fellow hunting group''s skills. It is natural for me to do this so I can better use my own skills." Gil sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than the others. Su broke her serious character and smiled a little while using one of her shields to hide her face.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 349 - 349. Slime Evolution

    "If the medium slime became a giant slime in just a few minutes, what do you think would happen to a massive slime if it eats a bunch of giant slimes?" Remey was trying to think of the worst case scenario. She knew that she was not very useful against the slime because of its decaying slime body.


    "If it does that we are going to be in for a much worse time. I know the brown mud slimes be a monster called a swamp thing. It basically lets water nts live on its body so it can absorb nutrients. They can be the size of a house and are nearly impossible to destroy since they can heal by making the nts grow faster. Not sure what would happen to a purple decaying slime though."


    Wade had studied up in the elven libraries before he went out. His main focus was the evolution of slimes over time. He wanted to be sure that he directed Calen and Alma properly to keep the slime from forming again. He also needed to hold himself to a higher standard since he was the only title holder in the group.


    "If we are going to deal with something like that we might need to retreat and figure out a better method." Walker could only want to air on the side of caution if the purple slime evolved in to a new type of monster. It was definitely not going to be turning in to a swamp thing.


    "I do have some special arrows my master gave years ago. They are made by dwarves and rarely make their way in to our hands. But if it is the worst case I will fire myst three at it." Wade was going to hold these cards until they needed them but had decided it was worth giving the trust to the heroic party.


    "I won''t go in to detail, but we do have our own trump cards. If worstes to worst we will use them." Walker gave a look to Gil who nodded. They both knew that if things were dire Gil would throw caution to the wind and use his arcane marksman system to the fullest.


    "I have been thinking about something," Su spoke up from a deep in thought state. "Remey made those antidote potions and they can heal decay. What if we coated our gear and weapons in it? Would it damage the slimes?"


    "It would be like water slimes and poisonous nts. If a water slime identally absorbs the oils from a poisonous nt it will slowly lose control over its body unless it is purified." Alma had be much more animated having this frame of reference to share with them.


    "Have you seen water slimes before? I read they are very rare because they can only form from very pure springs and will eventually be a water sprite." Walker was using his mental archive skill to reread the books he had found in the mansion''s library before they left. He had read a small passage on the water slimes but found that they were so rare that almost no information on them.


    Wade gave a harsh look at Alma making her smile in to a frown. "Well...I read about it too. Yeah, I read about them once in the library and they are very rare. They can only grow in pure springs with pure water mana. Even a little impurity and they stop growing and could die."


    "I bet they aren''t as cool as theva slimes in those story books. They swim inva and eat molten rocks. They can''t evene onnd!" Calen wanted to join in too, but she only had knowledge of the fairy tales she had read. Unfortunately, she had never gone to a volcano to see something like ava slime.


    "I don''t even want to know what ava slime would be if it grew big enough. They would be too hard to beat as a small version let alone giant or massive." Walker was letting all the new information seep in as he walked with the party. Alma was constantly expending mana to cause the decaying branches to fall from the trees.


    "Next time wee across a small slime we can drop some of the antidote potions on them and see if it does anything. If it harms them then Gil and Wade can have a modified arrow. I have some arrows that need to be filled with something." Walker gave Gil another look. This was an excuse For Gil to show off his arrows since Walker knew he would be anxious after only using regr arrows.


    Midnight had seemed to make a game of pulling the branches away from the trees and pile them up. She was having more fun than the party was. So much so that Onyx had left Walker''s shoulders and joined her on her back. Waker was secretly thinking about how he was morefortable with the heavy serpent off his back. Onyx was on a huge growth spurt and any day would need to start slithering around on his own.


    Calen ran off ahead of the group to scout out the path ahead, she was back in an instant with a frown on her face. "Things are a bit rough up ahead. There are a lot of grey haired spiders. The problem is they aren''t alive. They were partially dissolved by a slime but they weren''t finished."


    This made the entire group fall in to battle stances ready to deal with anything they may find. Midnight ceased her game and Onyx went on to Midnight''s shadow for safety. He was sure that his tattoo form would protect him and also make it easier for the group to battle.


    "Su, on your lead." Walker let Su take the lead since she had the best resistance to poisons and her shields had proven to be invaluable in thest battle since they had perfectly resisted the slime''s body.


    They moved forward with a much more careful and quiet approach. After a few minutes, the group started to find the remnants of what seemed to be a spider massacre. There were torn and partially dissolved legs and torsos everywhere. The grey haired spiders must have numbered over twenty. "There doesn''t look to be anything here now. I wonder why they left without finishing their feast?" Su was looking about and finding that the group was alone here.


    "What made them leave was most likely their master. It is normally impossible for a slime to be taken away from their food if they have epassed." Wade was ginning the remains of the grey haired spiders a dirty look. He knew they were dangerous monsters especially in arge group, but they were still important for the forest''s ecosystem.


    "The path we have been following appears to veer off towards the city again. The strange actions of the slimes might mean they are being made to attack the city finally." Alma said the one thing not a single one of them wanted to hear. If the slimes were going towards the eleven forest city that meant that the city was in grave danger.


    "Calen, go scout things out further. I want to know how far ahead the massive slime is." Wade''s voice held steel ad he took on a more serious role. He refused to let his home fall to any form of creature.


    "The spider body parts are still fresh. The slimes must have recently been here. My bet s we are catching up to it." Walker had examined the legs from the grey haired spiders and realized they had not started to dry out in the least.


    "Good, I don''t like the idea of showing upte." Gil was also bing more serious. He wanted to be useful to the party and show off his strengths. He didn''t need his skills to do his best.


    Walker and Su had caught on to why he was suddenly more motivated but kept it to themselves. They both knew that this was not the time to fool around and tease each other. Instead it was time to get themselves ready for action.


    "Walker pass out some of the low tier mana potions I made. We need to have full mana before we battle." Remey was right, the party and the elves were not fully rested and could not do their best if they came in contact with the massive slime at this second.


    Alma watched as Walker handed out potions and even helped Midnight drink one to get in to tip top shape. "Why didn''t Gil need one?" This question from her made Walker hesitate before handing three to Wade for him and his group. She was lost on why Gil would still be full on mana since he was an archer and not some form of mage that could refill their mana with skills.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 350 - 350. Trap Setting

    "I am already full on mana. No worries here." Gil just brushed it off looking away, he didn''t want to let them know about his skill to quickly absorb mana from his surroundings. If they found out they might start to draw some conclusions about his actual system.


    "But how-" Alma tried to pry but Wade noticed that the party was unwilling to share the details. He held up a hand to make her stop her prying. Walker gave Wade a thankful nod. They didn''t have the time to talk much longer anyways since Calen had juste back in to sight.


    Calen was breathing heavily. "They saw me. I don''t know how it knew I was there, but it saw me. There is a regr looking slime that keeps easting and shattering medium andrge slime cores ahead. Bit it''s not growing." She was in shock at this, she had no knowledge of something like this happening.


    "Minimize. It has the minimize skill." Wade had heard of this before. "Some special slimes raised by herbalists and alchemists get a skill called minimize. It condenses its slime body to be thicker and gain defensive prowess. It also keeps it small and able to go into smaller areas."


    "What you''re saying is that the massive slime is now minimized and most likely won''t get prated by any arrow we fire." Gil summed up the fears of the two archers easily.


    "I hate to have this thought, but if it condensed its slime body, then won''t the decay effect be worse," Su said this painfully slow, it was like she didn''t want to admit that the slime was more dangerous than the giant slime they had just needed to use a lot of effort to avoid.


    Walker drew in a sharper breath, "I am limited to the magic I can use. The water elemental magic I have won''t be able to do much if it has higher defenses. I would like to think that the freezing of its body will make it hurt more since it is condensed, but I feel like it will be the same issue as the arrows. It will om;y freeze a small looking fortune of the condensed slime."


    "That means and blunt attacks are also out of the question." Remey and Midnight were instantly depressed. This enemy seemed to bepletely covering all its weaknesses.


    "What if we took responsibility for the damage to the forest? Alma might be able to pull back some of the nts and regrow them." Wade was ready to hear the things Walker could do, he was already preparing to use his three arrows he had received from his long passed master.


    "I have a fire magic that can cause arge group of explosions. But it needs time to activate, it might not work within the slimes decaying body. It is a fire element and could be eaten away before it even activates. I doubt my fire bolt skill will work either. If I use my high earth sculpting I might be able to trap it, but if it has a smaller body then the chances are lower." He was getting ready to try fusing elements on the fly but worried that it would cause more trouble than good.


    "The earth magic sounds like it could work well for us. If you can make it spiky enough to shave off parts of the minimized massive slime then it could start to make a difference. We should set up traps." Wade was making a decent n, but it was not enough to change the oue.


    "Start with traps. Then make a stand before the illusion barrier the elf city has made. That''s the best we have for now. I doubt we will have time to test the theory Su had so we will soak weapons and the spike traps with the antidote potions. It is better to try than not do anything."


    "Calen, guide Walker to the path along with Alma. The rest of us will follow behind. Walker and Alma are the only two that can start off the n. The rest of us can prepare ourselves while we move to the final stopping point. I will go ahead from there and warn the enforcers so they can get everyone to a safe ce underground or in the trees."


    Calen was already motioning for Walker and Alma to get moving. No one argued with Wade''s n. It was all they had and the only way for them to attempt to end this without running to their death.


    Walker and Alma followed at a brisk pace after Calen who was not letting up at all. For her to hold up and keep her pace slower looked to be a chore. She was used to going full speed at all times to try and make it to a faster speed. "Hurry up. We are about to get to the first spot. We will only have a few minutes before the slime gets here. I don''t know if it is alone, but whatever is telling it to go this way might be around."


    "We areing. Just tell me when." Walker said this through heavy breaths. Alma was equally ragged as she tried to keep up. When Calen stopped the two were d to see the stationary elven girl.


    "Alma, here." Calen pointed to the space in front of them. That appeared to be the least full of older vegetation. It was clear she would try and go for a more open space that could harm the forest less.


    Walker pulled out a few lower tier mana potions knowing that Alma was about to burn a lot of mana. The same would be true of him as well. Alma grabbed one and started to use her whispering skills. The forest jolted to life around her as if it had just been shocked. Walker could feel roots underneath his feet pushing up the earth as they moved away from the area. When he felt the vibrations start to cease he started his own skills.


    Walker imagined the ground bing harder and stronger. Therge and small earth spikes that rose around him in the area were pointed like des. Any thing that moved through them would be cut and shaved apart. The best thing that he knew about the spikes he was making was the fact that they would not be decayed by the slime''s body. They were not organic or able to rot away, they were made of the earthpletely. They may not be tough enough to pierce through the minimized slime body, but they could do damage and that was the goal.


    Alma made the trees nearly bend over away from the trap of spikes Walker was creating. She backed away from the trap as she whispered since she had not realized howrge it would be. Walker also traveled away from the spikes as he made arger trap to ensure the slime would encounter as many spikes as possible.


    Walker finally stopped feeding the high earth sculpting skill mana right before he ran out. He pulled a light mana potion from his inventory and drank it down. The feeling of mana flowing in to his body refreshed his mind and pushed away the exhaustion. "No time to stop, catch." He tossed Calen and Alma the antidote potions and the three started to spread them on the spikes.


    The three repeated this process five times until they were nearly at the illusion barrier hiding the elven city. Alma and Walker were feeling like they had been put through a massive trial. The mental stress from using their skills to breaking point then suddenly recovering their mana was a lot to put on themselves. "I know that Wade said he would go and tell the enforcers, but they are still not here. I will go." Calen ran off and no sooner had she done so, did the rest of the group show themselves.


    "I saw Calen go. It is fine. I want to see what these wither spike arrows Gil has told me about work." Wade was ready to start preparing the arrows he had just been enlightened to. "He says they are made to store poisons. If we put the antidote potion in them, we can deliver a damaging dose to the slime."


    "That is exactly my thinking. If I can use my bow''s skill to add wind element maybe it can pierce deeper and the slime body will trap the antidote inside of itself causing more damage." Gil and Wade were having an indeed conversation. The two showed off their excitement as archers to have new arrows and strategies to try. Walker was a little afraid to give them the arrows that could still be filled with antidote potion. When he removed them from his inventory Wade''s eyes lit up as if he had just been shown a lifetimes worth of gold.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 351 - 351. Final Preparations

    Walker pulled the wither spike arrows from his inventory and ced them in front of the excited archers. "Gil can show you how to fill the arrow head with the antidote potion. I am going to make sure everyone is full on mana and health points before we get in to battle." Walker started to pull out some of the potions Remey had made and ced them around so anyone in need could take them.


    Alma grabbed a low tier mana potion and smiled at Walker, "That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But your earth magic can really create some great traps." She had been impressed since she had not met many elves that used earth magic. The simple reason being that earth magic could damage tree roots and was a frowned upon practice. Those who did develop the skills for it would usually leave the city to travel or dedicate their lives to small acts of earth magic for growing new nts.


    "It really wasn''t that amazing. I just did what I could." Walker thought for a moment as he also took another one of the lower tier mana potions to drink. He wasn''t that low on mana but he wanted to try and store one more mana in his body with his mana bank skill before the fight.


    The heat he had felt from the first attempt he had using the skill returned. His body felt like it was being forced in to a feverish state. The skill was still too much for him to handle and Walker felt as if he had been defeated. He had achieved the skill but could not properly use it with his body.


    "Are you training to store mana in your body?" Alma spoke up surprising Walker who had crossed his legs in to a meditation position.


    "Yes, how did you know?'' The curiosity was in on his face.


    "We have some elves who meditate andmune with natural mana in a simr way. They can absorb the natural mana flowing through the first by doing what you look to be doing. The thing that worried me is you don''t look like you have trained your body to hold it."


    "Wait, you know how the skill works and what I need to do to use it?" Walker was instantly enamored with the new information. This was a problem that had been on his mind he wanted to solve. If he was able to solve the could better practice the possibility of using thebo fighting style Remey wanted him to learn.


    "Of course I do. There are a few different races that use different methods, but they all stem from physical training. Your body is too young. It is the same training a lot of the enforcers do, but the key is to make your mana flow through your body as you do it. After years of doing this, your body will be able to store mana in every single part." Alma was happy to share her knowledge. She had long learned things like this that would end up being excess information because no one ever seemed to ask, but as he daily training she had strived to learn it anyways.


    Walker''s face dropped, he had hope that it would be a quick training method he could learn before the fight. "I see, well when we beat this minimized slime I will start to train like that. If I could bother you to share more details I would be happy to share some of my knowledge in return." Alma and Walker were having their own little meeting while Gil and Wade were focused on the arrows.


    "So when the arrow head is twisted open like that it can fill itself with liquid. Then when it hits a target the liquid seems out through small pin holes in the spike?" Wade was making sure he understood the principle of the arrow. He had some simr arrows but none that could be used in such an effective manner.


    "You got it. We have a cksmith visit and I asked for a special kind of arrow. This is the result. I think it is a master piece." Gil was happy to show off. He was the only one in the party that mainly used a bow. Oftentimes he would hope that Walker would take an interest but he knew that would not happen because Walker would not do something to unbnce the party.


    "And you used the wither wood tree as the arrow shaft? How did you manage to get them? They are usually pretty rare around here since they kill off any other nts around them to grow." Gil was surprised that it was a rare tree in a forest, however when Wade exined that they kill off the other nts around them this made perfect sense.


    "We went to an auction and I saw them. That was a long time ago. Coincidentally I also got the arrow head materials at an auction. If you want I can trade some with you after the battle." Gil wanted to be friendly and try to get some arrows made by elves. Even the most basic arrow was much more bnced than the ones he would buy in their kingdom. On top of that, he could experiment and try to add elements to them as well, it could be valuable experience.


    "Really? I would have expected you to hold on to these for dear life." Wade was surprised but very happy to make the deal.


    ''The skill trap setting has been taken from the trap master system. The user has automatically learned the skill through sessful trap setting activities.


    Trap setting- passive


    The user will have better luck when setting traps. The chance of damaging prey with a trap is slightly higher. The user will have a significantly decreased chance of harming themselves when setting traps.''


    "Everyone, I just got a trap setting skill, it looks like we are out of time." Walker notified everyone of the development. He was d to have a new skill but at this moment it was not a huge priority.


    "Really another new skill? How many do you have?" Alma was dumbfounded at the skills she had already heard of and even more so at the fact that Walker seemed to randomly obtain skills just by doing small things.


    "It happens. I think I gain them better when I learn them from people. But the thing is I need the time to ask someone to teach me. Maybe next time I have that free time I will ask around." Walker pondered this only for a moment as he could see Calen returning.


    "Just in time, Leader just got a skill that allowed him to know that the slime is in our traps. We are about to enter battle." Su updated Calen who was also ready to update the group on what was going on in the city.


    "Perfect, The enforcers are getting everyone to a safe ce. They will send who they can after that is done to help. The queen even said she would be asking for help from the forest spirits. I am not sure if they will help, if they touch the slimes decaying body they could die¡­" Calen trailed off in worry.


    "That just means we should get rid of the slime before they get here. The forest spirits should be ourst defense to save the entire forest. I would rather lose my life than them." Alma was pushed in to action since she knew that the forest spirits helped maintain the harmony of the entire ecosystem. If they perished then the forest could fall in to chaos. There would be predators killing just to kill instead of for food.


    Gil hefted his quiver in to ce with the antidote filled wither spike arrows. "No point in sitting here then. Let''s move in to position." He had a determined look on his face that he showd to Alma. He was going to y this slime if it was thest thing he could do.


    "Well I guess Gil is taking the lead, you heard him." Waker wasn''t unhappy at all, he was proud that Gil was stepping up and pushing the, to protect more. This was part of their title and they were living up to it every day.


    ''Heroic sub quest: defeat the minimized massive slime.


    The minimized massive slime is about to reach the elven city. It is on the brink of evolution and holds a lot of darkness elemental man within it. If it is able to enter the elven city it will consume the heart of the city and defeat one of the eight elven queens. This will throw the world in to chaos.


    Requirement:


    Join hands with the elves and defeat the minimized massive slime


    Stay true to the main quest and gather the slime body for research


    Stay true to the main quest and gather the slime core or slime core shards for research


    Reward:


    Two heroic quest points


    Insight in to the cause of the slimes appearance within the forest


    200exp


    Strengthened bond with the elven kingdom (forest elves)''


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 352 - 352. Attacking Slime

    Gil and Wade mirrored each other and held arrows at the ready. They looked more determined than ever. "Su, if the slime is minimized I am willing to bet that its slime tentacles can reach farther than it looks. Be ready to block." Gil''s inference was a sound one since the slime would normally have arger body without the minimize skill.


    "Walker, you are nning to use your frost whip right? I don''t want you running too far forward with the hammer, I don''t trust this slime. Calen and Midnight along with Remey, can distract it. But stay farther than the giant slime." Gil''s directions were simple but kept them on their toes. His fear that the minimized massive slime could hold tricks was a fair one to have.


    "What about me?" Alma was looking at Gil waiting for the order for her to take. She didn''t want to be left out in the least.


    "Protect the forest, keep the nts out of harm''s way and use your blue ivy to wrap them again. That was a great way to use the skill." He had been impressed with the idea to use the blue ivy to wrap the trees in a sort of natural armor.


    Alma just nodded and started to whisper to the blue ivy she held on her body at all times. It started to wrap around small saplings and protect them from the iing enemy. "Oh, Onyx. I want you to sneak about and see if you can find the one controlling the slime. If you can gather any information at all it will be more than we have."


    Onyx had been in tattoo form on Midnight''s shadow the entire time. At Gil''s notice, he appeared from there and melted into the shadows of a tree. He didn''t even need to send a reply, Gil knew he would be on the task.


    Wade raised his bow and fired an arrow in to the tree line. The group couldn''t see where it had gone but there was the sound of tearing foliage and dripping slime. "I caught a glimpse, we have one or two minutes until it is here. Time to put in the work." He raised another arrow to his bow and prepared to send it off at the slime again.


    "I can see it too from here, it is using slime tentacles to grab the nearest nts and drag them in to its body. It is trying to evolve not that it is here." Su was picking up these detail from her position at the of the group.


    "That is not good, Let''s fire more of the arrows." Gil could not pick out the minimized slime and fired his arrow. It flew through the air andnded right on target. However, when the arrow made contact it barely prated the minimized slime body. The antidote spilled out over the slime and an outeryer of slime melted away. Bit the slime was not deterred in the least.


    In response, a surprisingly long tentacle of slime whipped out towards where Gil was standing. Luckily Su was already moving and easily deflected the attack. "As I said, The slime has a farther reach than it looks," Gil mumbled this as he drew another arrow. Before he shot his, he watched Wade''s arrownd on the slime. The result was the same. The littleyer of slime that came off was not enough to make arge difference at all.


    Walker was forming a longer frost whip after seeing that the miniimized massive slime had a much farther reach than he had expected, even with Gil''s warning. His hope was that freezing parts of the slime''s body would have done more damage to it and allow them to slow it down and cust away enough of its body to do what they did with the giant slime previously.


    The frost whip was used first to send the ice needles at the minimized slime. Walker was having a challenge hitting the slime at the farther distance but still managed to seed. The ice needles were of the same effect as the antidote wither spike arrows. The outeryer of slime froze and was discarded.


    The slime again sent a tentacle out to attack, but Su deflected it again. Before the tentacle could recoil Walker used the whip to wrap it. The tentacle started to freeze but was pulled back leaving only a smaller portion of frozen slime body behind. "This thing is too tough for a slime. I need to try my frost ring skill."


    Walker was about to pull the hammer from his inventory when he remembered that both the skill and the hammer would need him t be closer to the minimized massive slime. If he got that close he would not have Su to protect him and he could be the catalyst for the slime''s evolution. He bit his lip in frustration and sent more Ice needles at the slime.


    "Watch out, I am using my bow''s skill," Gil shouted to Calen who had run closer to the slime to start the distraction game again. She heard him loud and clear and was soon behind Su''s shield again. Remey and Midnight had been feeling the new opponent out and had not risked getting closer yet, so Gil had a wide open shot.


    The wind elemental mana adhered itself to the wither spike arrow with the antidote inside. The twisting green wind elemental mana made the air furious. Wade was holding his gaze on the arrow that had be much more terrifying than he had imagined. It was reminding him of the elven army''s arcane marksmen.


    Gil released the arrow and it tore through the distance to the slime. It managed to lodge itself firmly within the slime but only about halfway. The minimized slime was angered as the antidote made threeyers of slime melt off of it. There were three slime tentacles sent towards Gil.


    Walker used his frost whip to stop one and Su managed a double block to deflect the other two. With the minimized slime''s retaliation, the group now knew that it had barely been attacking before. "Gil you should prepare another one of those. Walker do you have more of those mana potions?''


    Remey spoke up since she had been keeping hard track of the mana potion usage. "Yes, we have enough for Gil to freely use that skill. But it won''tst forever." She was worried that she had not done enough to prepare the party. Mana was always their biggest weakness when it came to a battle.


    "Already on it." Gil had another arrow notched and the wind elemental mana forming to it. He wanted to pierce deeper in to the slime and destroy the core. He poured more mana in to the skill this time forcing the wind to stir in to a gusting whirlwind around him.


    Wade shot three arrows at the same time at the slime making it attack him with the slime tentacles first. Su was able to defend the grouped up tentacles and leave Gil with a perfect opening.


    The arrow was moving much faster than the previous arrow andnded in the slime prating almostpletely. The wind elemental mana ran rampant and tore of drops of the slime. It was nothing major but enough to make a small difference. The antidote was spilling in to the slime and parts of its body melted away again. It was trying to respond to the threat but when it was about to send out more slime tentacles Calen was there antagonizing it with a rotting stick.


    Alma was busy making her blue ivy grow at a furious pace. She had drank thest mana potion she had taken from Walker and was using everyst mana to do the most she could. She would soon be low and need another potion, but before then she would wrap another tree in ivy. She continued to move getting slightly close to the slime.


    Calen poked the slime to distract it and cause a slime tentacle to whip out at her. She used her speed to get out of the way in an instant. Unfortunately, Alma was behind her and the slime tentacle was about to make contact. When she noticed this she was much toote to move herself. She was about to be hit with a full force slime tentacle.


    Wade had seen this and moved before thinking. He had only the thought of protecting the potential next queen of the forest elves. He could not allow her any injury on his pride as an elf. This was all that drove him as he dove to push Alma out of the way. The tentacle found a new target and mmed in to Wade.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 353 - 353.To Turn The Tide

    "Stay focused on the enemy! Alma get back to a safe distance. I will get a healing potion to heal him." Walker took charge and made sure that not a single person was harmed due to the shock of the attack taking down Wade.


    He rushed to Wade''s side pushing Alma to get back to her role in the battle. She was reluctant to move but Walker gave her a look that made her shiver to her very core. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to get back to protecting the forest. She knew that if Wade awoke and the forest was gone because they had fawned over him and shirked their duty he would be crushed.


    "Wade, can you hear me?" Walker was trying to get Wade awake but found that he was only able to open one eye and mumble a bit. His arm was twisted at a strange angle and The slime was slowly decaying the skin on his broken arm. "I am going to use an antidote potion on your arm first just tough it out."


    Walker knew that the pain from the antidote potion fighting off the decay would be intense, but if he did not use the potion on Wade then he could lose the arm he needed to be an archer. The potion Walker used easily covered the day, there was an intense amount of bubbling which caused the darkness elemental mana that caused the decay to steam off like a poisonous smoke.


    Walker realized that he would need multiple potions to get rid of the decay. The minimized slime body had been much more concentrated which made the decay more potent. He used three of the antidote potions before the wound had started to show its true depths.


    Wade had lost a lot of his skin on his arm but Walker could tell that he had acted fast enough and the muscles were still intact. While he had spent the time at the cathedral he had managed to pick up a lot of random, healing knowledge. He was able to take a pair of sticks and pull out some bandages he had prepared in his inventory. His mother had made sure that he had all the basic first aid supplies before he left.


    The splint he made was enough to stabilize the arm and he proceeded to use his light heal skill to make sure Wade had the healing process started. Next Walker slowly poured some of a low tier health potion in Wade''s mouth. Wade was still only semi conscious and was having a hard time with the pain from his injuries. Luckily he was still able to sip down the potion and recover some of the paleness that had set in.


    The potion and healing skill would not be an instant fix to the broken bone, Wade would need some time and multiple healing sessions. However, Walker could tell this was a worthy price to pay for protecting a valuable party member. Walker would have done the same if he were in the situation.


    "Walker, things are getting a little harder over here!" Gil was running low on mana and needed another mana potion to fire his arrows. The problem was that the minimized slime had begun attacking more. Calen was having a hard time dodging the now five tentacles it would sen out every time it was poked. Su was still able to block for Gil but Remey was helping deal with tentacles.


    Remey had her new gloves which protected her arms from the slimes decaying effects. She was using her hammer punch on some of the tentacles to either break their connection at the thinnest point to the main slime body. Some of the tentacles she attacked out only partially break and attempt to reform. Luckily Midnight who had a natural protection from the decaying effect. Her scales were very tough from eating the bones and the darkness elemental crystals. Since she had eaten other elemental crystals she had grown even tougher.


    The two were moving around at their maximum speed to avoid tentacles and also break them. The fact that they were still starting tog behind was a huge problem. Since Wade was not down for the count they were missing an important long range attacker. Walker knew that his ice would only do so much damage unless he was closer to use the frost ring skill, but it was too dangerous.


    Walker handed Gil a mana potion while he looked at Su. She was much more ragged than he had expected. She was sweating and breathing heavily since the attacks from the minimized slime had increased. She had been using both shields to block the heavy attacks that had left Wade injured. "Gil, I think we need to forget being safe. This is much tougher than I expected."


    "Understood. Can you give me the ice elemental wither spike arrows? I think wind elemental ones will help as well. If I can shave off some of the body then fire an ice elemental one freeze the parts that the wind elemental one sheers off." Gil already had a n. He had been thinking about it for the entire battle, especially as he saw things getting harder for everyone.


    Walker started to create two of the longer frost whips in his hands. He needed to increase his damage while Gil prepared to use his wither spike elemental arrows. Walker saw that Calen was about to poke the slime again then rush away. "Calen retreat here. Gil is preparing a big attack."


    With his shout, Calen retreated and was behind Su and her shields in a moment. She was confused to see the mana starting to radiate from the arrow tip that Gil was using. Alma knew all too well what this was. "How do you have an arrow like that? Only an elf should be able to make and use those." She was shakily saying these words, she knew that this was supposed to be impossible.


    "He has the arcane marksman system. He gained it from a special quest. We had it under wraps but now that Wade is hurt we need to go all out. Just try to help us convince your elders not to lock us down." Walker''s serious voice made Alma go silent. Between the seemingly impossible system that Gil was revealed to have and the fact that the hero title holders were hiding it made her lose any ability to question them.


    The wind element had caused a lot more mana to fluctuate around Gil. He was in apletely focused state as he locked on to the minimized slime. His bow''s skill melding with the wind elemental energy in the wither spike arrow had be a force to be reckoned with. It was his most powerful attack and could cause much more damage than was safe for anyone to be close.


    The arrow was released making the wind blow through the entire area. The trees and foliage around were whipped around and blew through the air more than anyone expected. There was dirt kicked up and the group hid behind Su''s shield. Su connected the two shields and used them to anchor herself to the ground. She was the protection from the whipping winds as the arrow made contact with the minimized slime.


    The arrow pierced the same depth as the one previously. However this one did not contain the antidote at all, The wind elemental mana that had been stored within the arrow head had a much different effect. The wind was manipted on to a wild form causing bits and pieces to be cut from the body of the slime.


    The slime was able to resist the damage slightly but ut ended up losing much more of its body than expected. The tentacles it tried to whip out were sliced by the wind as well adding to the damage. Before the winds died down a cooling air was forming around the group.


    "He has ice elemental arrows as well?" Alma could only whisper this in amazement. She was still processing the fact that a uniquely elven system was somehow with a human. The fact that Walker could learn a racial skill added to that made her head swim. These humans were too much for her to understand.


    The ice elemental arrow was boosted by the bow''s skill and sent full speed at the slime. The moment the winds died down was the exact second the ice elemental arrow pierced and buried itself within the slime''s body.


    The temperature greatly decreased and the water elemental mana which was prevalent in the area due to rain was pulled towards the minimized slime. The group watched as the ice elemental wither spike arrow started to work its magic. Calen and Alma were still in awe at the scene.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 354 - 354. Frost In Spring

    Walker felt that he needed to do more, while the water elemental arrow formed the ice he used his multi boost skill to improve the rate of attack and damage. He had been holding off for the right moment to optimize the time they had while boosted.


    The water elemental mana was being pulled in faster and faster, Walker used his grand elemental maniption and frost whips to push in even more. The mana was more than the wind arrow had just done and was already causing a significant amount of ice to form on the minimized slime.


    With the additional boost of Walker''s skill and the added water elemental mana the minimized slime struggles to shake free of the ice. It was constantly losingyers of its minimized slime body. The tentacles it tried to form to bring in anything it could use as food were also frozen and fell to the forest floor in shards.


    "Gil, I am going in. Cover me." Walker knew this was enough to slow the slime and maze a frontal attack. Gil prepared another water elemental wither spike arrow to keep the slime slow and stuck.


    Gil''s arrow was just ahead of Walker and drew in more of the existing water elemental mana. The slime was forced to nearly a full stand still. The tentacles had trouble even growing from its body. Gil smiled at the sight of the defenseless minimized massive slime. He knew that Walker was about to deal a devastating blow.


    Walker released the two frost whips he had after making them freeze solidly around the slime. He was within striking distance of the slime and jumped up to gain momentum. His draconic crusher appeared from his inventory channeling the water element now thick in the air.


    The hammer came down full force delivering the elemental smash right to the most frozen part of the slime. The damage was substantial as arge piece of the body chipped off and was sent a decent distance away. The water elemental mana made the spot Walker had just struck start to freeze again preventing any tentacles to form.


    Before he could set up another swing Remey was already there with a defense breaking palm attack on the way. She had also seen the opening and did not want to waste her best chance to attack.


    When her palm struck the minimized slime there was an ear piercing crack of ice and anotherrge piece of the slime fell from it. The condensed body was more frozen than the slime could properly defend. The dense state made the ice that cracked off breakingrger pieces and starting to show the edge of its core.


    Calen and Midnight looked to be teaming up and both attacked the ice on the slime''s body together. Calen came at break neck speed with a kick and Midnight was using her ws to shave away more ice. Walker had not needed to say anything due to the group''s intuition. They had seen the chance to use their strength and did not waste it.


    "Get back!" Gil waited for a second as everyone jumped back and another one of the water elemental arrows made contact. The spot that the slime had lost was still frozen and being kept that way. Its body glowed with the darkness elemental mana it had collected. It was trying to get rid of the ice that was stopping it from moving and growing. However, the slime was not able to get rid of the ice since the ice was made of its own body.


    "Don''t let up on it!" Walker was already making two more frost whips to keep up the ice while Remey and Midnight had already moved in for another attack. Their hits c=shaved off more ice exposing more of the core. The problem was that the parts of the slime''s body that were not frozen were moving to protect the core and keep it within the body.


    Su had made it to the slime behind everyone, but she knew that there was a chance for her to use the sharp bottom part of her shields. She used her shield bash skill to stab downwards and pierce the area in the slime''s body near the core. The ice cracked and the shield pierced the slime''s body forcing the core out even more. Her shield was resisting the decaying effect of the slime''s body and holding firmly even though the slime was trying to push it away.


    Walker watched as Remey and Midnight moved in to hit the shield as well. Remey came down with a hammer fist pushing the shield further. Midnight used her skeletal tail whip to m the shield downward. The minimized massive slime core was nearly dislodged from the slimepletely.


    There was a massive release of darkness elemental mana from the unfrozen slime body as it tried to protect its core in thest ditch effort. However, Gil was there already and using his dagger ha stabbed downward fully tearing the core from the slime body. The core fell in to a dull purple state along with the body starting to condense in to a crystallized purple form.


    ''Heroic sub quest: defeat the minimized massive slime.-pleted


    The minimized massive slime is about to reach the elven city. It is on the brink of evolution and holds a lot of darkness elemental man within it. If it is able to enter the elven city it will consume the heart of the city and defeat one of the eight elven queens. This will throw the world in to chaos.


    Requirement:


    Join hands with the elves and defeat the minimized massive slime


    Stay true to the main quest and gather the slime body for research


    Stay true to the main quest and gather the slime core or slime core shards for research


    Reward:


    Two heroic quest points


    Insight in to the cause of the slimes appearance within the forest


    200exp multiplied to 2000exp


    Strengthened bond with the elven kingdom (forest elves)''


    Walker saw the notification and breathed heavily. Gil was on one knee trying to stay tall in their victory. Midnight, Remey, and Su were leaning on each other for stability while Calen was sittingpletely still just staring at the dormant slime core. "Ha ha ha, that serves it right. Now it is nothing but two useless rocks."


    Wade''s voice shook them from their silence in victory. Alma had made it to his side and was holding him up while she made the blue ivy grow to make a firmer splint. Her mana was on itsst drop but from the looks of the surrounding, she had used it all to the best possible use. There was blue ivy everywhere covering every possible nt. There was nothing left that could be harmed.


    "Wade! Are you feeling OK? Don''t move." Calen rushed to his side worried that Wade was pushing himself to move while in this state.


    "Don''t worry, Walker got rid of the decay. He also set me up pretty well in just a few minutes. He must have practiced first aid." Wade gave Walker a happy nod. He was in a good mood to see that the slime was defeated. "Gil, you really surprised me there. When Alma sat me up and I saw thatst arrow fly I thought I was looking at my master. You really were something amazing."


    "Eh, sorry for keeping it from you. I just know that it could cause trouble. But I am d you know now." Gil had been worried the entire time he talked with Wade that he would not be able to form a proper friendship with this archer because of the secret he hid.


    "No, I understand. That was a great scene to watch." He grimaced as the blue ivy was made tighter around the splint. Walker made it to his side as well using some mana on the light heal skill to bring him closer to full health.


    Su had gathered the dormant slime cores and gave it to Walker to hold on to. They had gotten another valuable material in their quest for research. Not wanting to miss it Walker went to store the crystallized purple slime body. The group had persevered the odds and defeated the slime that could have caused the end of the entire elven city.


    Before they could keep talking and rx Onyx slithered out of the shadows. "Brother, I was able to capture the core of a strange slime. It was hiding around some trees as everyone fought." Onyx spit up a small clear slime core. It was different from all the others the party had collected so far. The clear crystal color gave no inclination to what the element it had was or what if could do. Walker took it and used his all around appraisal skill to get an idea.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 355 - 355. Beliefs

    '' Colorless slime core- dormant


    The core of a small slime that has had its elemental mana forced out and reced with a slime breeder''s mana. When the mana has been used up or the core has been removed from the body it loses all traits. The colorless slime is ideal for long rangemunications and observation. The colorless slimecks any other skills or strength and is easily destroyed yet hard to detect.''


    Walker read this out loud after he used his all around appraisal skill. The group looked as if they have been robbed. "Now we know that the one we are looking for is a slime breeder. But it really ticks me off that they weren''t even here in the first ce." Remey was kicking some dort with her boots, the one that had nearly caused the death of a new friend was nowhere to be found. They needed to be put on trial for their crimes.


    "Nice job Onyx. We have a nice lead on what system can do these things. Hopefully, things are not as bad with the dwarves." Walker was thinking of the yellow acidic slimes that had been reported in the dwarven mines. If they were the same source as the purple slimes it was sure that they were facing a simr if not worse, problem.


    "I hate to ruin this informative meeting, but the enforcers are here, and I am pretty sure they saw the skills Gil used." Calen sounded very worried. She could tell that they werepletely ignoring the defeat of the minimized massive slime and focusing on the human with an elven system.


    "I wish we could help, but I think you will be brought before the queen no matter what. I might have an idea though." Wade was trying to get up but Alma forced him down. Her eyes had yet to leave Gil though. The worry was more than clear on her face.


    Walker stood tall and looked at the elven group that had joined them, "We will meet with the queen and work it out. Don''t worry about us, it will be fine." Walker was having a hard time believing his own words, but he knew that Wade most of all needed to hear some positive words.


    Gil was sweating a little more than he had but when Walker sneakily handed out a mana potion he took it and turned around to drink it. Walker was not going to miss the simple fact that Gil was low on mana and very pale. The next meeting they were about to have was going to take a lot of their energy and Gil would need to be in tip top shape.


    "My party is willing to meet with your queen and elders again. The slime has been beaten and all that is left is to clean up the damages. There might still be small and medium slimes around but they don''t have anyone controlling them at the moment."


    Some of the enforcers split off and stood behind the three elves. They appeared protective but also tried to check and treat Wade''s injuries. Walker saw this and reported what he had done so far. "I splinted his broken arm and used an antidote potion on the decay left from the minimized massive slime''s attack. I used some healing skills and a healing potion but it will take a few more treatments over a couple of days to fully heal." One of the enforcers nodded slightly and used a healing skill.


    The green glow of healing magic made Wade''s arm start to heal at a rapid rate. The skin was being healed the fastest and looked nearly brand new in an instant, however, Walker knew that this was just a more advanced healing skill used on a very specific body part. There would still need to be more healingter on but any worry of infection was removed since there was not an open wound on Wade''s arm.


    Onyx quickly moved in to his tattoo form and wrapped around Walker for easier travel. He was also worried that the enforcers would separate them after the party''s first encounter with them. Onyx did not have the best impression because he had realized that they had been brought to a prison and he was stuck in his tattoo form without any way to get out and help the party.


    Midnight and Su tightened up next to Walker and Gil making sure that they were ready for the worst. Yet when they did so the enforcers just surrounded them almost like an escort. They had fully expected to be bound or chained to be brought before the elven court again.


    "My party will go with them. As a possible queen, I invoke my right to enter the court!" Alma stood her ground even though an enforcer was trying to block her. She knew all too well that the elders would want to bury this human that had gained the arcane marksman system that was unique to the elves. It was something they had never seen before and could be a threat if it escaped to another kingdom.


    One of the enforcers tried to whisper to Alma but was pushed away. "I will join the court and that is final. If you can not follow that order then I will make sure you are all exiled to the deserts." Her words held more weight than the party knew, the enforcers took steps back and started to guide Alma and Calen towards the elven city. Wade was carried by three of the enforcers. One was healing him little by little while two were carrying him.


    The group was escorted through the seemingly abandoned elven city. They climbed the same tree and entered the same hall. However this time there were enforcers lining the walls and blocking the exit. The elders looked like someone had just pped them awake. The anger on their faces was not hidden in the least. The queen still sat upon her hammock of moving vines, but instead of the calm natural aura around her was unsettled and chaotic.


    Not a single person made a move after they were all standing in front of the queen and elders. Even Wade who had been set down on a pillow to maintain his sitting up position while resting, since Alma had called for her entire party to be present than he was also brought to the hall. The entire group was together waiting for them to speak.


    An elder stood up and looked at each of them in the eye. "Alma, you have used your standing to demand entrance to this private meeting. State your reasoning for this. We shall decide then whether we allow you to stay after we have heard." The elder didn''t even properly look at her. The frustration of their intrusion was enough to set the elders off.


    "We were only able to defeat that danger due to the actions we took. Every single one of us agreed to the traps we made and the damage we did to the forest in our actions. It was all necessary to preserve the forest in its entirety." Alma had started off string making sure that they stood next to the party and not separately.


    "That is not what we are here to discuss, the actions were eptable. It may cause us pain that the forest took damage, however, the enforcers we sent out behind you have already reported that there is blue ivy covering many of the trees and saplings. Furthermore, we know your skills and the queen felt the changes you made."


    When Alma heard this she knew that the queen must have been watching the entire time. She had the power to be one with the forest but she was not an attacker by any means. She may have the power to change the forest as well but she could not cause harm to others using it. She would be going against the spirits of the forest and the will of those who have passed on that she couldmunicate with.


    "We worked together with them. We can''t just leave them to be hidden away. They are important to more than just our kingdom. The humans won''t just let their people be chained away to protect our fears. I am tired of living a fearful life. Elves have hidden our systems and our skills. Do you know what they said when we were leaving the city? They said it reminded them of the ancient ruins. Our city is deste whenever we have emissaries of another kingdom, our people are hidden away for days at a time, our history is locked behind walls. What is the point if we are hidden away? If we were to disappear then the world would forget us in a blink of an eye."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 356 - 356. Crossroads

    Alma stood her ground. She had said what she truly believed and there was plenty more. "I want to be queen one day. I want to lead our people in more than just protecting the forests. I wish for our people to see the world and everything it has to offer. I wish for others to see the beauty and brilliance of our city every day. And if we can not change our ways then I see no reason to remain in the home I love."


    The elder''s faces had be sour. They knew that Alma was on a path to be a queen and had been trained to take on the title one day. Hearing that she would self exile herself because she wanted the entire culture to change was an insult to the ways the elves had relied on for hundreds of years.


    Another elder stood and spoke, "If we must lose one potential to remain in safety then I see no downside. There are many in the future youth that could have the potential to be a queen." Alma bit her tongue at this. The words were true enough. However, hearing them said out loud was a harsh blow to any elf.


    "Then you can forget me staying here. I refuse to be part of a hermit kingdom that is afraid of its own shadow. Alma is basically my sister, without her here there is no point in staying. I will leave and go wherever she goes." Calen did not even see a point in staying. She knew her master would let her roam free just like he had in life.


    With Calen backing up Alma another elder was forced to speak. "The speedster title has not been passed on and we know you are far from the requirements. There are more that could take on the mantle in the elven race. There are many in the frost elves domain that hold such hope." Calen red at the elder after hearing this. It took all her energy not to shout out that there was no one else that could take the title but her.


    "Fine, none of you will get your courage up, then I will need to leave too." Wade forced himself to stand and walked to stand next to Alma and Calen. He was still showing that he suffered from his injury but stood taller than he ever had before. He had the strongest feelings for the way the elves existed. He knew they had amazing magic that could heal many. They had unique crafting techniques that were guarded from the world. They had So many potions and herbs they had hoarded in fear that others woulde to harvest them to extinction.


    "How do you think the surrounding kingdoms will view the elves if one of their title holders chooses to leave them. What will the demons think? What will the spirits of those who have passed think of losing one of the few archery rted titles our race has?" Wade''s response was more than any of the elders had been prepared to handle. If the other two left they could be forgotten and reced in their eyes. However, if they lost a title holder then there would be noing back from it.


    "I agree with the future queen Alma, the elves must change and remove our illusion barrier. I will pledge myself to be her right hand." Wade kneeled before Alma and used his uninjured hand to raise his bow to her. This was the same as offering up his soul to someone as an elven archer.


    Alma was moved beyond belief, she had seen many do this for the current queen and knew that it was one of the most important ceremonies for any enforcer that took up archery. Having someone do so for her and the ideals she believed in was an honor that could not be summed up with words. This gave her thest push to put down her demands. "The elven people will drop their illusion barrier. We will show the world who we are and bring about a change. There will be no more pointless war and no more hiding."


    The room was shaken. The actions of the three elves had been enough to cause cracks to form within the foundation of what the elders had believed for their entire lives. Everything they had been taught since they were born was to protect their knowledge from spreading and their people from being seen. The very idea of changing that was an insult to the culture they fostered.


    ''Optional kingdom quest- The elven kingdom''s future


    The true hero title holder is witnessing a great fork in the road for the elven people. The culture that has existed for generations has been challenged by the future leader of the elves. The true hero has the power to stand with the young queen and raise a new culture or they have the ability to step back and allow the elven people to remain as they are. The tree hero is supported by other heroes and the user''s decision holds the weight of the world.


    Requirement:


    Choose to step back and allow the current culture of the elven people to continue


    Or


    Step forward and assist in the change to elven culture creating a new culture for the elven people


    Reward or Punishment:


    Based on the true heros'' decision there is the potential for an unshakable bond to form with the elven people and the culture to evolve.


    Or


    Based on the true heroes'' decision there is the potential for a war between elven people and every kingdom to begin''


    Walker read this notification after hearing Alma''s words. He was being prompted with thergest quest he had ever received. Based on his decision the entire culture of a race could change. He knew that his party would stand with him and that he wanted to see the elves be a better and more fulfilled people. He would hope the same for anyone. He wanted to avoid war at any cost.


    The problem was that he could not see the future nor the possibilities they held. If he chose and caused war he could be responsible for the extinction of an entire race. His decision could not be made so lightly, but if he did not speak his mind at this moment then there would be no point.


    "Will you all stand with me?" Walker whispered to his party and instantly received nods from everyone. Onyx responded bying out from his tattoo form and coiling up next to everyone. This was all Walker needed to step forward next to Alma.


    "I stand with the future queen of the forest elves. As the true hero title holder, my self and the hero title holders support her beliefs. There is nothing more than I would like to see than the elven people flourish and make themselves known to the world. The beauty that is held hidden here pains me. It is something that every soul deserves to see in all the glory it possesses. I witnessed an enforcer heal in an instant. I have seen the forest from the highest point and been lost in a sea of green. And I have seen the courage of an elf that would put their life on the line for the future leader of his people."


    ''Kingdom questplete


    The true hero title holder has chosen to support the change in elven culture.


    The rewards will be shown over time.''


    This was a much different questpletion notification than he had seen, however, it was also a much different quest than he had ever known to exist. Walker stood still next to Alma mirroring their gaze as the rest of the party stepped forward. Every single one of them was ignoring the elders and staring right at the queen.


    The vines she rested on had long stopped moving. She was as still as a statue,pletely unmoving with her eyes wide open looking at the very depth of those who stood within her hall. Without any warning, she started to breathe heavily and the vines began to spread through the entire hall. The elders and the enforcers became tangled within them. Not a single person had the courage to move as the vines took over. The party and the three elves refused to budge even a step as all this happened. If they were to move everything they said could be disregarded.


    "May my spirit be born from the earth. May my blood be made from the purest of rain. May my body be crafted from the peaceful breeze through the trees. I beseech those who have long lived and long died. Dwell within my domain, pce of the spirit kingdom" The queen''s words sent a wave through every single being within her hall. She had just used her mastery skill for the first time in over a hundred years.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 357 - 357. Vine Spirits

    The natural mana in the room spiked higher than any of them had ever felt before. The three elves had only heard the stories of their queen using her mastery skill. Thest recorded happening was when they had the passing of the fire elf queen over one hundred and fifty years ago.


    The vines that had overtaken the room were forming themselves in to countless elven shapes. Some held bows. Others held crafting tools, even more held magical staffs and grimoires. These were the most notable figured and leaders of the forest elven people.


    "What is this?" Remey spoke for the entire party while falling in to a defensive formation with the others. The only ones that did not move were the three levels. Instead, Alma gave them a fearful look.


    "This is our queen''s unique mastery skill. She has used her mana to form puppets for the spirits of our ancestors. They will weigh in on what I going on here." Her words were slightly shaky, she was fixed on one that stood tall with vines flowing down as hair. Next to the vine puppet was a smaller vine puppet holding what appeared to be various pruning tools.


    Wade was using Calen to remain standing since he was still very weak from the battle. His body had used a lot of his energy during the healings and he should be resting. But when he saw that there were vine puppets forming he too was fixed on one that formed directly next to the queen.


    "I didn''t expect to see my master in this form. I would have expected him to avoid this kind of things even in the afterlife." His words were filled with sorrow. He had not been there the day of his master''s passing but he had still felt the pain of the bow he had received upon that day. It had cried out for its previous partner and its string had broken.


    The only one of the three elves that was able to function simrly to the party was Calen. She managed to rify what was going on by a slight margin. "The queen only uses her mastery skill under grave circumstances. This qualifies, our people may lose a title holder today and make enemies of two kingdoms. You know this well but still stood by us. Now those who once stood at the peak of our race will judge us¡­" She trailed off as the vine puppets stopped forming.


    There were more than thirty of the elf shaped vine puppets. They all stood around the room some in pairs and others alone. There were some notable figures that held certain tools made of vines that stood close to the queen. She was sitting with her emerald eyes on the group before her. She was looking in to their very being searching for their reasoning.


    Her words were filled with a spiritual echo and the natural man in the area vibrated with each word. "These elves have gained the backing of the heroes. They desire to change the ways of our race. What say you, those who watch and guide." Her words were simple but this was the catalyst for the vine puppets toe to life.


    With her words spoken the vine puppets were in motion. Some turned away and refused to even look at the three elves. There were two who raised their bows in support. They were directing their gaze at Wade. The short and tall vine puppet that Alma looked at was staring back at her. Alma was standing choking back silent tears when she suddenly straightened her back and held the gaze firm.


    "Mom, dad. I will change the way we are seen. The elves have hidden away and missed the world turn. I will make our wonderful history known. Our lessons and knowledge won''t rot anymore. I promise that all you have done will make the entire world a better ce."


    Her cries and promises caused the two vine puppets to shift. The shorter one holding many tools moved forward ever so slightly until the taller one reached out for its shoulder. A deep spiritual voice came from the shorter vine puppet, "You have grown up. You look just like your mother when I fell in love with her." The shorter vine puppet fell to pieces. The vines fusing with the taller vine puppet.


    Alma held back even more tears, she was waiting for the taller vine puppet to reply however, it turned to the queen and spoke instead. "My queen, the vote of the forest shaper snd the poison vine wielder has been cast. Please support the future these here wish to grow." The vines began to fave and Alma nearly crumpled to her knees.


    Seeing her weakness Gil stepped to her side and gave her an arm to lean on. Alma held on but could only stare at the shrinking vines, just before they were gone she managed to pick ut a whisper. "I look forward to the future queen." The tears she had been holding back were flooding her face. This was too much for her to handle.


    Gil did not dare to move, he saw many of the vine puppets had eyes on him. They knew what system he had and why it was affecting the elven people so much. Before one of them could speak out Wade held his bow and smiled widely. "Been a while huh?"


    The vine puppet holding a bow next to the queen held up its bow as well. "You know kid, I was resting pretty well. If you hadn''te to cause trouble I could have slept for another forty years before the queen needed my input again." The spiritual voice from the vine puppet didn''t sound angry at all. Instead, there was a yfulness within it.


    "Well, we are finally making the change we spoke about when I was first learning to shoot an arrow. I will stand beside my chosen queen and show the world what beauty we hide here." His words held no sadness, they held only promise and strength even with his injuries visible.


    "Still spouting your dreams to anyone that will listen. That''s good. You have stayed true to who you are. In turn, I will fulfill the promise I made you the day I passed that bow down to you. As the previous holder of the dead eye title, I support the current title holder and their ambition. My queen, I believe it the right path to take."


    The vine puppet fell in to nothingness after speaking while there was a flurry of movement from the others. Most of the vine puppets holding bows also fell away after expressing their support in a nod or by holding up their own bows. Wade could feel every action they took, his bow resonated with their trust.


    "Ludicrous. The elven people have been safe because of the actions we have taken. If we show ourselves off like some piece of art we will be attacked again. The demons will see us as weak ande in for the kill." The vine puppet that spoke held arge staff and stood near the queen. "The ways we have now are known to be safe. We are still strong and don''t need the world to remain one with the forest."


    Once the vine puppet''s harsh words were finished it turned to a mess of vines that faded away as well. There were other puppets that fell away showing their support of the current ways. The remaining vine puppets all holding some form of magical gear or items. Walker could inly see that there were many magic users that hade at the call of the queen.


    "Those who hold mana within your hands and shape it. Please enlighten me on your views so that I may guide our people." the respecting from the queen was more so than any of them had expected. The other three elves knew all too well the value of magic to their people but the party had not fully grasped the notion yet.


    Ther vine puppets converged and met in front of one holding arge grimoire made of vines. They all appeared to be having an unheard conversation while moving around. Some of the vine puppets looked to be angry as others spoke while some looked to be giving passionate speeches. The one holding the vine grimoire did not move an inch.


    After some time the one holding the vine grimoire raised a hand and all the other vine puppets began to fade. The only one remaining was the one holding the grimoire. "Now that I have heard the words of the others, allow me to hear some words from those who wish our people to join them in the open."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 358 - 358. The Queen Stands

    The gaze of the vine puppet holding the grimoire was on Walker and the party. He knew that this was meant for them, they were humans and a dragon who hade from nowhere and made such massive waves in their peaceful culture. "You act as their leader, the true hero title holder. Tell me, what will the kingdom you hail from do when we open ournds? Will they enter our forests for harvest? Will theye to steal away our crafting knowledge and magic? Will they demand we trade them our valuable items and resources?"


    The words were said in a way that showed the vine puppet already knew the answers, but Walker answered anyways. "Yes. Yes, they will. Humans are not all great beings. Some will stand firm and shake your hand while robbing you of your culture. Others will fight on your behalf when you do not ask. But some, will stand by your side and never leave it. I can''t prove that your people are different or the same. I will use the power I have to make sure that you are treated with the respect you deserve, and the forest will be treated with the respect it deserves."


    The vine puppet looked him hard in the eyes waiting for Walker to speak more. "Just because you release your illusion barrier and show yourselves to the world does not mean you lose the control of your domain. Your people have held control for a long time here, you can maintain that and slowly adjust to travelers and adventurers. Just partnering with the adventurers guild will bring many money driven individuals, but it will also bring those that wish to work for you and with you. It would be up to you to decide on who is who."


    "So you say that you don''t expect an immediate change? Interesting, and what say you, arcane archer, in human form? What is to stop you from offering up the skills you have to forge arrows for archers thatck the ability to properly use them? What is to stop you from using the skills against us and sharing out strategies with your armies?"


    Gil felt an enormous pressure on him as he was asked these things. He had his own ideals and beliefs, and would not be throwing them aside for such things. "I am a hero title holder, I could never endanger a people in such a way. You may look at me and see a human who could ruin your way of life, I know this. But do you see the ranger father that taught me how to walk through the forest without leaving a trace trying to get me to unlock a system? Do you see the mother that taught me as much as she could about growing nts on our farm so that I could gather the herbs from the forest safely so they would not die off?"


    Gil''s words held the steel of his beliefs and made the vine puppet shift toward the queen. "My queen, do you see merit in the future they have to offer? Do you see the loss of our privacy? Do you see the bond with humans that could change our growth, what about the insignia that the human party wears? The possible rtionship with the demi-humans we have long ignored. Can you feel the strength of that little dragon there? She is young, but she has the potential to bring us closer to the stone elves in the mountains who hide away from us, their cousins in the forest."


    The vine puppet with the grimoire''s words made many emotions sh on the queen''s face. After some deliberation, the queen appeared to reach an internal consensus and fell back to her calm and closed eyed state. "I see you understand now. It has been some time since I deemed it worth interfering. Grow well, and remember the day you met the spirit of the first forest elf queen, the holder of the title; natural mana saint."


    Thest of the vine puppets shrank away and so did all the vines that epassed the room. The elders came back in to view flustered after being isted in the vines. They had been trapped while everything happened and heard nothing of what went on. The enforcers were also thrown off since they had lost all sight of the one person they were required to absolutely protect, the queen.


    "My queen, have you and the spirits reached a conclusion? Should we have the enforcers bring these who choose to go against our ways to seclusion?" The elder that spoke looked at the group with disdain. He could not fathom where the three elves had gone wrong in life. All he did know was that the elven way of life was threatened.


    The queen''s vine hammock showed signs of changing. It pushed her on to her feet and held her steady. "My queen, please do not stand. The decay could spread and cause your illness to worsen." Another elder had lept to their feet seeing the queen stand.


    "I will not let the mana bleeding disease keep me from calling my people to hear my decision on this matter. I have used my system and queen title to feed myself mana to remain in a healthy state. I can afford to speak with them for a short time."


    Remey grabbed Walker''s shoulder, her grip tightening by the second. She was trying to say something but her words wereing out as shallow breathes instead of a full sentence. Gil and Su had also turned to look at Walker. They were remembering the herb that Remey had lost her mind over in the forest when they first arrived. "Remey, you tell her. You are the one who found it."


    The queen was moving slowly toward the group while the elders started to follow her in line. The group was still standing without any order to move, however, Remey stepped forward towards the queen. "Halt. You will not take another step." Every enforcer held their arrows on Remey.


    "If I do not take another step I could not assist in the problem your queen has. Walker pulled the crystal ginger from his inventory and handed it to Remey. "You see, we are young and new to being ambassadors." Remey tapped the travel on her clothing. "We forgot that when we meet the leader of another kingdom like the queen here that we are expected to present a gift. We are sorry to bete, but we harvested this extremely rare crystal ginger during our travels. Please ept this before you greet your people."


    Remey held up the crystal ginger which one of the enforcers quickly took from her and fully examined. It was clear they were using an appraisal skill of some form. When they finished their examination the enforcer showed emotion. Not a single one of the party had seen an enforcer show a smile like this.


    The enforcer approached the queen ad whispered within her ear. The vines around her body became a flurry as they twisted and turned upon themselves bing a solid vine walking stick. The vines twisted in to a branch of beautiful flowers and leaves. "It is customary for our queens to give up our names when we ascend the throne. It is a symbol of what we are willing to give away to properly represent our people. Many years ago my parents used to call me Reina. You may address me as such when you are here to visit in the future." Her smile was the purest thing they had seen from the queen yet.


    Alma was looking at the party with open faced awe. They had pulled an exceptionally rare herb out of nowhere and given it away. Not to mention the fact that they had brought the queen to such a state that she would reveal a name that her blood had given her. It was unthinkable for any elf to call her by her name, but the party had just received the honor.


    "All of you will follow me to the highest branch in the main square markets. The people have only gathered there in hiding and evacuation. Today they will gather for another reason." The group had started to feel what the queen had decided after hearing the opinions from the past elve''s spirits. The three elves had also taken a few hints and were quick to fall in to line behind the queen. The enforcers scrambled out the door of the hall. Many orders flew in the air as they made preparations to get every elf in the city possible toe and listen to the queen''s speech. It was an exceedingly rare moment for the queen to walk about the city.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 359 - 359. Elves Everywhere

    The party and the three elf friends they had stood behind walked with the elders at their sides. They felt that they were already being imprisoned. Not a single one of them could speak a word. The eyes of the elders nced at them showing pride and disdain. This was the struggle they faced in their ways versus the future they wanted to create.


    Walker thought that this was a lot to happen in such a short time. They had arrived such a short time ago and were involved in such a massive change to the elven people. Even if they decided to stay with their current values the elves would have felt this wave and begin to change in some form. Walker could only hope that the change that was going to happen would lead to a better life for everyone.


    The queen appeared to struggle slightly with each step. Her body was weak from needing to rest upon her hammock of vines for years at end. Her mana was always supplied by the forest and even now it still was. The tree sprang up branches and vines to help her along with every step, the party could tell that she was not working her magic or using any skills. This was the will of the forest itself, it wanted to protect and guide the one that had stood for it all these years.


    Walker lost any doubt that the forest spirits would have cowered in their failure to defeat the slime. Seeing the way the vines moved to give the queen a ce to lean or better footing made him realize the true depth that the elves and the forest spirits cared for each other.


    The noises the group started to hear wereing from many elves moving about the streets down below them. Some jumped through branches or stepped on the very air to make their way to the "Walker, did you see that elf? They were walking on the air." Remey had seen the elf stepping on the air to run past the other elves. She believed herself to have just seen something amazing.


    Alma was amazed that one of the party had gained the courage to speak with the situation they were in. But when she thought about it for a moment it started to make sense. If they were about to get imprisoned or locked away to keep the secrets of the elves, then it made sense to chat and enjoy thest moments.


    "Those are elves with the wind walking skill. They use mana to condense an air current under their feet and walk. Their system is the wind strider system. They are not abat oriented system, more like letter carriers andmunication experts." Alma gave in to the party and their amazement witnessing the number of elves on the ground.


    "Walker, you are going to learn that skill. You could be way stronger inbat." Su was firm. She had forgone the use of leader out of professionalism and decided that Walker would be learning the skill. He looked at her face and couldn''t tell if she believed it that valuable for the party or if she just wanted to see him walk around the sky himself.


    Midnight was giving a soft purring growl in agreement. She wanted Walker to be able to join her in the sky when she was able to fly. If the two of them could dominate the skies then there would be no monster of opponent that could stand in their way as a party. She was happily imagining Walker raining down fireballs from the sky while she swooped in to ear apart a weak enemy.


    "Look at those bracers," Gil pointed out a group of younger looking elven archers. "Those bracers have mana crystals attached. I bet that they make their elemental arrows as they fight. That''s amazing." Gil had not even thought of something like this. If he practiced enough he might be able to use his skills to make an elemental arrow at the moment he needs it.


    Walker saw this but was also caught on another fact. "Gil, you know how you wanted your dagger on your chest so you could use it to fight? Look where all of those elves have their daggers." Gil''s eyes focused on their chests where their daggers were fixed.


    "So I picked the right ce then. I just felt it was the best ce for it to add to mybat style, but seeing them means I made the right choice." He was happier than a kid in a candy store.


    A few of the elders were angered by the party''s information gathering while they walked. Others looked like they had wanted such things their whole lives. The fact that the party was in such awe over their people made their hearts swell. While the others felt threatened by the intrusion.


    Wade was being helped along by two enforcers and a third was trying to do more healing. They were rushing things a little since he was being brought before the people as a title holder. It was imperative he showed his strength to them to put every elf at ease. "You don''t have to try to heal me so fast, it''s exhausting. I need to be able to stay awake while the queen speaks." His soft protests were ignored, but Walker heard him.


    "I don''t think this is the best way to go about healing him. He should have a slower recovery to make sure everything is healed properly, but here." Walker pulled out three mid tier health potions and three mid tier mana potions. "Take them, I know Wade doesn''t need the mana potions, but you have been healing him since the forest, you must need them by now."


    The enforcer that was healing Wade had not realized that Walker had seen the difference between them and the others. They all purposefully dressed and acted the same so that they could be seen as an equally strong force throughout their people and the forest. If they showed themselves differently then it would allow theirmanders to easily be taken down or their weak points to be taken advantage of.


    The enforcer took the potions and gave them a thorough examination. It was natural not to trust them since there were many things up in the air at the moment, however, Wade chimed in while the enforcer did this. "I already drank a potion from them, it worked wonders." He smiled a little weakly at Walker.


    "Don''t tell that to me, tell that to Remey. She is the one who made them, didn''t I tell you about her unique ss? She is the only one with it." When Walker said this Wade directed his smile at Remey who couldn''t help but walk taller at the praise. She was definitely the one that was influencing Midnight to do this as well.


    One of the elders nearly tripped on their robes hearing that Remey had a unique system that only she had. He would have argued against this but was currently witnessing things that he had not believed would happen in his lifetime. "Human ambassador Remey, may I inquire to what system you have?"


    The other elders were doing a poor job of hiding their own curiosity. Even the ones whose gaze held disdain were now showing the all consuming curiosity for something new. "Well the hero title gave us a pretty intense quest and afterpleting it I got a ss upgrade. I have always had a passion for alchemy so the world fused two systems and created the alchemical brawler system." The way Remey spoke was a little arrogant but also slightly unsure.


    Walker gave her a nod that he supported her in sharing the quests they had received. There was no reason for them to hide such things. They were either going to be locked away or be very strong allies. If they hid everything they would only foster distrust between the elves and the humans.


    "Thank you, that is a very impressive feat." The elder that had asked the question was able to quickly hide his shock. The other elders were also in disarray. They wanted t stop and speak about why the world would do such things and why the system was so strangely made. To have a fighting and a natural healing based systeme together was unheard of.


    The noises of the elven crowd became louder as the procession reached an ornate tform. There were guided vines that created arge standing area for speeches like this. The vines rose up creating a ce for the queen to rest as the remainder of the elves funneled in to the trees and the square. The elders stood along the side and the group was brought to stand behind the queen. The three elves on one side while the party was on another.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 360 - 360. Chaos In The Castle

    The elves in the square and trees were amazed to see the humans and little dragon beside the queen. There were many pointing and murmuring amongst themselves. They had known that they had guests because the enforcers guided them in to their safe havens. However, they also knew there was a threat ofrge proportion so they just assumed that the guests were long gone and they had been evacuated just because of the threat.


    Every time Midnight would stand taller she attracted more attention. Some shouts of how cute she was or how there was a real dragon in their city could be heard. Walker made sure to keep a hand on her back so that she wouldn''t do anything too audacious to gain more attention, her pride as a dragon was a dangerous thing.


    On the exact opposite of Midnight, Su was semi hiding behind her shields. She had not realized how intimidating the crowd of elves would be. When they started toe this way she had been able to easily ept the possibility of the worst happening. But now that they were in front of an entire city''s people she was stuck.


    Walker was very amused to see the change in Su. She had faced down many monsters with a cool and collectedposure, yet now that she faced arge number of people who were not trying to attack her she was scared. Gil on the other hand had thrown caution to the wind and visibly disyed his quiver of elemental wither spike arrows. He was drawing a ratherrge amount of attention from some of the young elven archers.


    The only one that was keeping themselves back was Onyx and Remey. The two of them were standing out much less. Remey and Onyx had not bonded much, but faced with such a crowd the two were paired up in the back of the others. Onyx would have preferred to hide away in the shadows or on Walker''s shoulders while Remey preferred to be in the alchemyb. She had inherited the distaste for crowds from the old master alchemist.


    There was an arrow shot straight up in to the air and a small sh of light. One of the enforcers had used this to signal silence and the elves followed suit. The only sound that could be heard was the drifting leaves as a soft breeze blew through them. The queen felt the moment was right and the vines that made her resting space pushed her to a standing position yet again.


    The elves were murmuring slightly as their queen was about to address them. This was a rare urrence and they were amazed to see the forest assisting her in such a way. It only reinforced their beliefs and love for the forest that they lived in.


    The enforcers stood tall and the elders raised their heads high. Alma, Calen, and Wade looked worried but also held true to their beliefs. The party may also be in a precarious situation but for the three elves, this was a life changing moment. This was everything they had ever dreamed being crushed or being raised up.


    Natural mana surfaced and made the entire forest shiver, the queen opened her mouth to speak. "Today we nearly lost many things. We faced a threat that even I felt, but the forest felt it the most. Wecked the strength to leave our city and defeat the foe on our doorstep, but we were able to send our title holder along with two other promising youths. They joined up with the hero title holders from the human kingdom. Our bonds without allies have been reinforced through battle and today, despite some damage, the forest now has room to grow brighter."


    Her words made the elves agitated. Many of them had felt the slight damage to the forest through the natural mana around the city. Others had heard the whispers and rumors. The queen had just proven that they were indeed threatened along with the entire forest. What was more was the fact that they had needed the help of another kingdom to stop the threat. This was something the elven people had never done before.


    "With my standing as queen, I watched through the forest and witnessed not two races fighting an enemy, but instead one powerful force of protection. In the short time since these ambassadors came, they have grown a bond with the future queen, a potential title holder, and our current dead eye title holder. This is not something I can overlook."


    Alma felt the water in her eyes start toe as the queen addressed her as the future queen. It was a signal that she had not been taken from the position. Everyone standing beside the queen heard this cue and knew what it meant.


    "Today I conferred with those who have passed and those who stand with me now. As queen, it is my duty to protect the forest and my people. But I fear I have made us weak. We have hidden away for generations and missed the world grow. This has be so prevalent that the future queen, a potential title holder, and our current dead eye title holder were willing to leave our city."


    Her words had shaken the crowd of elves. Hearing that they may have lost the three that would stand at the height of their people was a radical notion. Even more so the queen was speaking as if she was in the wrong, something that did not show off her strength and elegance.


    "With the words of our ancestral spirits and the words of our future leaders, my eyes have been opened. The world had turned without out input for too long. As of today, we shall stop guarding our secrets and instead spread them. We will be remembered in the world''s history books. Not as stories to be forgotten but as the beautiful protectors of the forest. We shall join hands with the humans and the heroes that they raised. We will see the world and it shall see us."


    The queen raised her arms and a massive amount of natural mana surged through the giant tree they were standing on. The mana flowed through each branch and made the leaves rustle like they were in a torrent of wind. The illusionary barrier that had been around the elven kingdom fell and allowed the massive tree to be seen from outside the forest. The elven people were shocked by this.


    "We will wee the king of the human''s crystal kingdom and their city; Diamond. We will send letters to the demi-human king Rorick. The adventures guild will have a new home to begin bringing work and trade here to our home. We will maintain ourws but we will also start anew. Today The forest elves take a step on to a new path to spread our branches wide."


    Thisst statement made a shock flow through the elves. Many who had long supported their ways up until now heard of how things had happened with the threat and could not fathom the situation here now. They could not ept the fact that their kingdom had be weak and did not care how they would strengthen it. The younger elves heard her words and found that the entire world was now open to them. The dreams of visiting far offnds were not just dreams, they were paths that had not been walked for hundreds of years.


    The roar of the crowd overtook the group''s ears while the built up stress from them waiting for the queen''s decision dissipated. Meanwhile, there was a flurry of system notifications throughout the country.


    ''The forest elf kingdom has opened its trading routes to the human city of Diamond.


    The ambassadors of the human''s Crystal kingdom have strengthened the bonds with the forest elven city.


    The king of the diamond city has been invited to visit the forest elven kingdom.''


    The king nearly fell from his thrones seeing this, the castle was sent in to disarray.


    At the adventurers guild¡­


    ''Expansion quest- forest elf city


    The silver tier adventurer party; Omnipotent, has created an unshakable bond with the forest elves. They have secured a path for the adventurers guild to expand and create stronger ties with the forest elves.


    Requirement:


    Send a representative to build and foster the new forest elf branch of the adventurers guild.


    Reward:


    Upon sessful expansion, the adventurers guild will be able to deploy elven parties on quests.''


    Ibis spit out the tea he was drinking all over his desk. He swept the papers from it and screamed for every avable person toe and help.


    In the main castle of the demi-human kingdom¡­


    ''Kingdom quest- New allies and old friends


    The heroes that have assisted the kingdom in the past have taken another step in uniting the races of the world. Join hands with them and share the prosperity with the forest elves.


    Requirement:


    Send ambassadors to forge rtions with the forest elf city within the deep sun hollow forest


    Reward:


    Unbreakable bonds and trade routes with the forest elves.


    Increased binding of humans and demi-human people.


    Knowledge sharing between the traditionally magic oriented forest elf race and the traditionally physical oriented demi-human race''


    Rorick stopped in his sword stance, he had been wlessly training but now was frozen on the spot. "Scy, get Scy in here!" His yell held no room for argument and like the others, his castle was thrown in to chaos.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 361 - 361. Guests Incoming

    "What do you mean they managed to get the guild ess to the forest elf city? There is no way they would ever allow us to expand there." ra waspletely in denial. The elves had never let the guild anywhere near their acuity in years. Thest guild master that tried was imprisoned for a week, had mind erasing magic used on him, and then sent back with a letter to never return to the forests.


    "As I said, this is a quest, I will personally be heading to the forest elf city. The King has already asked for me to act as a body guard. Since Barry is assisting those goblins your party managed to save you are going to be in charge. While I am gone you will wield the full power of guild master."


    ra just looked at him with nk eyes as the system notified her of the title; adventures guild master. She had not expected to have such a weight dropped on her. "I know you can manage this. I will only be gone for the time that the king is there. No more than two weeks or a month. I will take the five younger recruits. They should have an easier time learning and adapting to the elves. I will also bring a few documents." Ibis was already moving about the room storing things in to a seemingly endless bag.


    "This is too much. What about helping those goblins? There are the horned rabbits that are finally calming down too, the dissection workers are on theirst legs. What about the approaching nting season? We will need to increase hunts for rats and night predators." ra was thinking of all the things she didn''t feel prepared for, she knew how to prep these things butcked the courage.


    "You have done things like this before. You just need a push. Think of it like a mother bird pushing the baby out of the nest so that it flies for the first time. You''re the baby bird. Good luck, if you need help you have the ability to literallymunicate with any member of the guild at any distance now. It''s only a few weeks." Ibis gathered some more documents then opened a panel behind the bookcase.


    Ibis retrieved a pure white wooden staff, the light element in the room suddenly rushed in to it causing a round pearl at the top to glow. "It''s been a few years my friend. We will visit the elves in our best state." ra watched as Ibis took up his most trusted magical staff. She knew that he would not be letting her get out of this once hemitted to this.


    "When you get back I am taking a week off for vacation. I will be visiting mother." Ibis frowned slightly but did not argue. He knew that he owed her much more than a week off, let alone for her to go visit her mother and his wife''s grave.


    "Then you will have it. Let your party know I am on the way with the king. We will be looking for their guidance when we arrive. I need to go find a gift for the forest elf queen. I think I have a rainbow pearl left from my visit to the merfolk''s beaches." Ibis rushed off leaving ra standing at the guild master''s desk.


    "Guess this is mine for a little while." ra sat down with a small smile on her face. Her system popped up in front of her as she started to adjust things here and there to make the guild run. She felt the pressure of everything but she also felt the rush. She could do much more now that she had full ess to the guild. Ibis was going to have a heart attack when he returned. She would have the heroic quest system they came up with fully implemented.


    While Ibis prepared himself to leave the King was having his own event.


    "Gather the strongest of my military for my trip. I also want the top ten students in the academy toe. We need to show off our youth. Ibis, he shoulde too, he should have received my quest for him already. A gift! Get a gift from the treasury. Markus! Get a gift fitting for the forest elf queen from the treasury. Choose one that would suit a being of nature!"


    The frantic scrambling that every single attendant was caught up in was all by the king''s orders. He would not let this chance fade away. He had already sent off their court scribe to prepare many magical contract papers. He nned to form the strongest treaty possible. He was willing to allow any ess to their knowledge the elves needed as they stepped in to the light so to speak.


    "Bring my grimoire from the archives. I need it so that I may share out knowledge. If I don''t have it we will be at a disadvantage." The king had long ago had a mastery artifact made for him. It was nothing brilliant in the means ofbat, but what it was, was a grimoire with the ability to save many lifetimes worth of information. Some of the most important of their kingdom''s knowledge could be read in it. But only when it rested within his hands.


    "My king. Would you like your golden armor?" One of his attendants was thinking of the traveling gear the king would need.


    "No! Of course not. If I was visiting the dwarven kingdom they would respect me for it. But I am visiting forest elves. I need something made of a forest creature¡­" His eyes zed over as he filtered through his memories for what he should wear.


    After a few short moments, he nearly jumped from his throne. "Bring me the moon silk robes." The attendant rushed off toward the treasury. The moon silk robes the king had received from a traveling merchant when he was a child were extravagant. They were much toorge for him all those years ago, but now they would be perfect.


    The moon silk robes were created from a very rare species of silkworm threads. The moon silkworm would only produce silk when under the light of a full moon. This meant that the silk would have the ability to absorb and harness moonlight. This gave it profound self healing abilities and a natural monster warding ability. The rays of moonlight it radiated would make the wearer appear to be a celestial being.


    The orders flowed more and more as the king made sure the queen was prepared and updated on what events she would need to work on in his absence. She was fairly annoyed that she was left behind, however she would not leave their kingdom without a leader. Meanwhile, in the demi-human kingdom, Rorick was hard at work.


    Scy, I know you took a liking to that party of ambassadors when they were here not too long ago. I have had some of my spies report to me and it appears they are the reason for the forest elves extending an olive branch. We could perfectly match our strengths to theirs. With them, the demons would bow to us and we would no longer be treated like toys by them."


    Rorick saw a perfect chance to guard the demi-humans'' weakness in magic. They were more physically oriented which the elves weren''t they would offer a perfect counter bnce. This was also a way for the two races to bond with each other and be stronger together. On top of this, the bond with the human kingdom would also increase.


    "You will take my letters to them, you will be allowed to take five warriors of your choosing. I expect one or two of them to be from that little tournament we held. Also, take that shield we asked the tamers guild for. We have no use for it here without someone who can use high amounts of mana. Make sure you spend some time with those heroes. I know they will be with the forest elves for some time."


    Scy eagerly listened to her king. She was not showing a single bit of emotion on the outside, but inside she was in chaos. She would be the first demi-human to set foot in the forest elf city. She would have the honor to represent her people, the ones who had taken her in and given her a real life. There was nothing that would stop her from forging the most powerful alliance possible.


    "I will ce my life on this mission." Rorick nodded at her words. He knew she would not fail him.


    "Onest thing, if you or they are in peril, use every skill you have to protect them. EVERY skill." His emphasis was not lost on Scy. She knew exactly what he meant. After this final order, she was off to notify her travelingpanions. She had certain young warriors to find.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 362 - 362. Finally Resting

    The forest elf queen had received a flurry of notifications at the end of her speech. She had stood in a daze while the elves murmured and cheered. Her enforcers were watching every one of the elves that showed distaste or anger were noted in case of any unjust actions were taken. The queen''s word wasw.


    After a few moments, the crowd had begun to stare up at the queen yet again. They had heard her speech but the soft pulse of natural mana that the queen had just sent out attracted their attention. "My people, prune the foliage, clean the cobblestone, and wash your fine linens. We shall have visitors within the week. They will marvel at our home and we will wee them with our best."


    With these closing words, the queen turned from the tform and started her walk back to the hall she hade from. She gestured for the elders and the party to follow her. The enforcers helped Wade along as they did before. The group quickly followed the queen and returned to the hall.


    The queen rested herself back on the hammock of vines and looked at the group. She gave nothing away as she thought before speaking. "You all have put the elven race on a new path. You are all now responsible for it and I expect a full investment." There was no way to argue with her words. However, Walker had a thought.


    "If I might be so bold to ask a favor." His word caused the elders to re at him. This human had supported the new path for the elves and acted as a catalyst of change. They would be extremely busy and being asked for more was a very greedy action.


    "That would depend on what you ask. But I may be able to guess what it is. I have received a few quests and notifications from my system." The queen smiled slightly knowing what she would be asked.


    "The pardon me for being greedy. Please refrain from hunting the forest goblins. They''recurrently with the vice guild master of the adventurers guild. They have intelligence and are friends with us heroes. We would like to see them join with more allies and grow to their full potential." He was afraid of the reaction he would receive when asking for the queen to back him in this.


    "While the goblins were once considered the enemy of my race, I know that they were bound by an elder demon lord. The title of goblin master has been lost from the demon race and can not be obtained again in this century. I would also like to see the potential of this once evolving race."


    The elders were slightly surprised by this, however, they knew the queen would not say such a thing without reason. "I received a quest some time ago to protect the future of the next sentient race. They are much closer to being on the same footing as the other races than you may think young hero." The soft peals ofughter from the queen brightened the room. She was very amused by the things this heroic party had done. "I will send some of my more epting attendants to assist them. I know some who are greatly excited by evolutionary changes."


    One of the elders stood and left the hall hearing this. Walker knew that this must have been a signal for the elder to leave and begin preparations for such an activity. "Thank you very much. They also have experience battling the purple slimes. They should be able to assist in getting rid of the remnants of the slime menace to the forest." This made the queen much happier along with the other elders.


    "Now, on to more things. I am very happy with the crystal ginger you have brought me. It is a wonderful gift that I intend to give to our most prominent alchemy master. The experience of watching a potion made with it should be very valuable. Your alchemical brawler will be joining him." Remey was surprised ti what this but was even more eager to rush off and start the potion making.


    "Gil was your name, correct? You are wee to join the young arcane archers and learn to your heart''s content. I expect you to do the elves proud, but you may not dishonor the role the arcane archers y in our culture." the queen held form with her decision. This was an important step in weing the other kingdoms to their city.


    "Of course, I am, honored to be allowed to do so within your beautiful city." Gil held back the excitement he was feeling in his very bones. If he was going to learn from arcane archers that had grown up with experienced arcane archers training them, he was sure to make a massive break through in his training.


    I expect your dragon friend and your serpent friend to find many friends in the monster stables. We have an impressive group of endangered unicorns that could share some knowledge." Midnight and Onyx were a bit intrigued by this. They could meet rare monsters and because of Onyx''s ability to speak with them. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.


    "Leader of the hero party, your guild master, and king are on the way along with an ambassador from the demi-human kingdom. You will remain within the court when they arrive. I expect your mediation as a true hero. Your defender Su appears to also be calm and will prove a strong partner in this." The queen was not taking no for an answer and Walker nodded to her. He had expected this.


    "Calen, please assist in making sure Wade heals properly. I want to hear of any action he takes that is not resting." Calen was standing beside Wade making sure he wasfortable. The enforces that had assisted him had returned to their ranks leaving no one to watch over Wade.


    "Alma, I am proud to see you standing tall. I worried you would stay the timid you elf forever, I can rest assured that you will continue to grow at an explosive rate. I hope that you can be a guide to the heroes while they are here. It is your duty as the future queen." Alma was out of tears to shed, she was full of pure happiness.


    The realization of their dream was too much for the three elves to handle. They had never thought it so possible until today. The three thought they may be in an illusionary spell or dreaming. But the more they tthoughtthe more they realized it was all real.


    "I must begin to coborate and prepare with my counsel here. Please make yourselves at home within our city, and try to keep the chaos to a minimum." The queen waved them away. It was not a rude gesture, she had obviously expended a lot of mana and energy in the day. Not only that, but she also had much to do now. Laws to rewrite and newws to birth.


    One of the enforcers came to guide the party away. The three elves were left there in the hall for more talking and exnations. It was sure that the elders would have questions. Walker only had the hope that Wade would be able to properly rest soon.


    "You are the same enforcer that healed Wade, and now you are guiding us. Is this on purpose or just coincidence?" Walker noticed that the enforcer was yet again the same that they had seen healing Wade.


    "I am one of themanders in the enforcer brigade. I have taken an interest in your party and will be responsible for sir hero and sir hero''s party''s safety while here in the city. Please feel free to ask myself or my subordinates anything." The elf''s voice was firm and could not show any emotion.


    "In that case, no sir hero or madame hero. you can call us by our names. That proper court stuff is too much anyways." Walker wanted to wave away the extra words and keep things simple. This surprised the enforcer who was impressed by the humbleness.


    "Understood, please refer to me asmander Sierra." The enforcermander showed their face to be that of a female elf and not a man as Walker had previously believed. The helm that they wore and matching gear had proven too tough to discern proper traits.


    "Walker, as much as I would like to chit chat more. Can we get some rest so we can all go off to the ces we wantter?" Remey couldn''t hold her excitement. All she wanted to do was rush off to meet another alchemy master. But her tired body screamed for rest.


    That sounds like a perfect idea. Commander Sierra, can you please show us to a ce to rest?'' Walker and the party followed themander away towards a smalled treehouse made for guests. This would be the first time it was properly used in years.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 363 - 363. Demons

    The party was soon left alone. Midnight looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet. She had run around a lot while distracting the minimized slime. "If you want to go to sleep first you can. There is plenty of room for everyone to spread out. But I think we should all talk a little first." Midnight gave Walker a little huff, she wanted to sleep but knew that she would miss some important things.


    "So should we talk about the fact that the elves are going to let and even help the goblins grow? Should we talk about the new training avenues we have here in the elf city? The adventurers guild expanding? The king visiting? The fact that we just backed up the future queen of the elf kingdom and somehow changed the entire way of life for a race? Oh, and the fact that they aren''t going to lock me away due to my system!?" Gil said these things getting more and more dramatic.


    "We are all trying to process it. The best part of all this is that It appears the elves and our kingdoms are safe." Su could think for hours about what had happened, but the current result of everything was too great to beat out everything else.


    "I just want to go and learn new potions from this elf alchemist master. The old man would kill to be here right now." Remey was giggling to herself whileying on her back trying to stay awake.


    "Speaking of potions, they said Midnight and Onyx would be allowed to go meet unicorns right?" Gil had caught on to this. "I thought they were extinct because of over hunting?"


    "As far as I know they are extinct, but they must have been hidden here. The real question is how in the world did the elves manage to keep them alive in captivity. From the books I have read they die when in captivity since there is ack of natural mana." Walker had skimmed over the part of the books on unicorns due to the fact that they were considered extinct.


    "Remember hearing the stories when I was little. When my mother was feeling well she would tell me about the pure white light element unicorns that would grow a horn of rainbow light. It was considered one of the most valuable monster materials in the country. The horn could be ground in to a powder that when consumed would permanently increase the mana pool of the one that consumed it. The problem was that a unicorn would take ten years to grow a horn, then shed it and start growing another."


    "I remember this too, gatherers used to go out and look for the horns during the breeding season. But then they started to go after the unicorns themselves. When the horns were cut the unicorns would lose the ability to use mana and pass away. Many kingdoms banned the hunting of unicorns but in the end, they were toote."


    Walker was thinking about how this would be possible but realized the answer was all around them, "They elves are the perfect race to protect the unicorns. They can thrive in natural mana and some even cause it to condense. We saw the queen do it earlier, if they have mages who can keep the natural mana around them then they won''t have a problem raising unicorns."


    The party had solved the little mystery of the formerly extinct to them, unicorns. Midnight and Onyx were both listening intently. They were both even more interested to meet them now. "I''m curious what else they have hidden away." Remey was yawning more every minute as she contemted the herbs she had heard only grew in the forest or were considered rumors and didn''t really exist.


    "Well between all of us we are sure to learn a lot. If you manage to get any seeds maybe you can bring some herbs to grow at the mansion." Walker couldn''t help but imagine the garden bing even more brilliant.


    "Mom would really like that." Gil pushed a little to encourage Remey as well. She just smiled more to herself while shey there. Her excitement could keep her up for hours and hours if she wasn''t careful.


    "Leader, did you forget that when everyone gets here we have been asked to act as mediators? We will be involved in long political talks. Don''t forget that the demi-humans are the opposite of the elves. They are physical and brutal. But they do have a knack for farming so we might be able to build on that."


    Walker saw this too and fully agreed. "They will be the perfect partners of they can get along. The only problem I see is that they both hate demons. If they hit it off over that then we will have a lot of racial hate. We should start to make a seed of possibility when ites to that. We need them to be able to put aside the demon issue and even think about making peace with them. The problem will be if the demons want peace and are in fact the ones who caused this."


    "I have a bad feeling about that¡­" Gil looked liken his gut was telling him the demons were in fact the cause. "We met two demons and it appears that the ones that follow their normal hierarchy are brutal and dominating. But the ones that live under them want to escape and be free of the hierarchy. If we do this right we might be able to change their culture and rescue those who want peace." Gil was trying to look in to the future, however, the system seemed to see this as well.


    '' Long term racial quest: Demonic Peace and Equality.


    The demons have long been at odds with the other races due to their brutal nature. But not every demon wishes to live in pain and suffering. Find the root of this hatred and foster peace and equality within the demon race and the world.


    Requirement:


    Learn more about the demon race


    Find the factions within the demon Race


    Unite the demon race and the other races


    Erase or defeat the hidden lord that drives hatred in the demon race


    Rewards:


    Unique heroic skill unlocked


    Continental peace


    50 heroic quest points


    10000 exp


    Locked''


    "Why did I need to say that?..." Gil saw the quest just like everyone else and felt he had jinxed them. This quest was a very heavy and difficult undertaking.


    "Su and I will try and speak about it when they all meet. But this will take a lot of time. It might be better to speak with other kingdoms first." Walker tried his best to make it seem like this was something that could wait. However, he knew that it was most likely a fast approaching problem they would have received a quest for anyways.


    Remey had already drifted off to sleep and wasn''t awoken by the quest, Walker knew she was going to freak out over it in the morning but he would deal with it when she woke up. "I think we should talk about the slime breeder too," Su remembered the things Walker found out from the slime core Onyx had procured.


    "That has been nagging at me too. That slime breeder was able tomunicate and order the purple slimes from who knows where, and even more most likely did the same to the yellow slimes in the dwarven kingdom." Gil was worried over this.


    "We still don''t know what is going on in the dwarven kingdom after all. If we can head there we could gather more evidence." Walker didn''t want to change their party''s travel ns, but if the dwarves were in a simr position as the elves, then the party should travel to help them as well. "How much would you all hate it if we gave the king and Ibis the information on the purple slimes then directly left to go to the mountains? We would pass home but then go right to the dwarven kingdom. We wouldn''t have time to stop at home. It would be a long grueling journey."


    "I don''t think we can avoid it. As far as we know, we have the most information on what is causing the slimes to attack and show up out of nowhere." Gil saw this as an inevitable event.


    "Leader, we should go and help them as well. We can be stronger and protect more people." Su only saw this as a way to protect more. This was her goal now when getting stronger. The more people she could protect them better.


    "Then when Remey and..well Midnight and Onyx wake up. We can tell them the ns." Walker looked at Midnight and Onyx who had also fallen asleep together.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 364 - 364. Walking The Elf City

    Walker awoke from his rest feeling invigorated. He had stayed awake muchter than the rest of the party thinking about the things that had urred thest free days. There were too many big events that he was starting to feel dizzy when he kept them in order. Not t mention the party had just received another long term quest, one that would affect their entire continent and even the world.


    The rest of the party were still sleeping soundly so Walker decided that he would head out for a walk in the morning to breathe in the fresh air. When he set foot outside the treehouse they were staying in he found that the entire elf city was glistening with morning dew. The light shown on every leaf and reflected back shining rainbows. The breeze was pleasant. Many elves were peacefully moving about the city grooming nts and cleaning small areas. It was calming to view.


    "Goodmorning Sierra, I hope you rested as well." Walker found that the enforcermander was at his side in the blink of an eye.


    "Of course sir Walker, I hard my enforcers guard your dwelling at night. I returned in the morning to assist in the tour of the city. It appears that the rest of your party is not awake. Should I wait untilter?"


    Walker was impressed by themander but he didn''t intend to force his party awake just yet. They deserved as much rest as they needed, and he just happened to wake up earlier. "No, it''s fine. They need to rest more. I just had hope that I could take a walk for a little bit?"


    He formed this in a question since he wasn''t sure on the rule she would need to follow, luckily Sierra answered him. "You are allowed to walk about anywhere you wish but for a few ces that only elves may go. I am sure it is the same in your kingdom as well."


    "I can respect that. If I start to head off where I am not supposed to be just let me know, meanwhile,{" Walker jumped to another branch and started to head towards the cobblestone road. "I feel like exploring a little"


    Sierra was surprised that Walker was able to move so easily, however, she had been briefed by the queen on what he was capable of to her knowledge. She pursued him closely since she was ordered to be one of his guards while in their city.


    Walker reached the ground surprising a few elves going about their day. They had seen him with the queen the day before and were shocked that he was walking among them so casually. Walker waved and offered a greeting which were hesitantly returned. The elves would need more time to properly adjust to having a human wander around the city.


    "Hey Sierra, do you know what this shop is?" Walker found that there was a shop that had all manner of strange looking materials and items. They appeared to be a mix of household and magical items in particr.


    "This is a general magic item shop. They are verymon here. We have specialized in magical craftsmen after all." Walker was excited to hear this and proceeded to enter the store through the front door.


    "Good morning. It''s rare to have a guest so ear- ah hello sir hero. Wee to my shop, I am honored for your visit." Walker was taken aback by the sudden change in greeting from the older woman behind the counter.


    "Please, just Walker is fine. I am sorry for interrupting your sewing, that is a lovely table runner. My sister is a seamstress and she would love to watch you work. I hope I can bring her to the city one day."


    "Oh, you are such a tterer. I am a general goods merchant. I am just making this with the basic sewing skillI to alter items for a customer. May I ask what brings you here on this beautiful morning?" She had rxed slightly hearing that Walker was not uptight about titles and standings. It had been a general worry of the people after the queen''s speech.


    "I saw the shop and wondered what it was. We have a lot less magical item shops in my kingdom so seeing one so full is pretty amazing to me." Walker was ncing at some items and found that there were many elemental mana crystals used in the creation of these items.


    " I may have a few interesting things for you then. Nothing ground breaking, they are for general use. This for example is a bowl carved from a stone that absorbs fire elemental mana well. When a fire elemental mana crystal is added, it can keep things warm until the mana runs out. Here we have a water spike, it is a water elemental man crystal carved in to the shape of a spike and then inscribed with mana writing. It can channel water elements in to the ground to keep the soil damp through the dry summer."


    Walker looked in awe as many of the items were exined. He saw a great deal of useful ones for around the mansion but the water spike had drawn his attention most. They were an item that he was sure farmers would use like they were more valuable than gold. "These water spikes, how much gold do they cost each?"


    "Well, we usually sell them five for fifteen gold. But they are so easy for us to make that we usually discount it to twelve gold for five." The older woman justughed since these were some of the less popr items they had.


    "I can tell you a good business trick then. When trade opens up with our kingdom and even the demi-human kingdom, you will want to sell them for more gold. We don''t have them in our kingdom and as far as I know, the demi-humans do not as well." Walker smiled calmly. "On another note, can I buy twenty?"


    The older woman was shocked but nodded her head and pulled out a case filled with twenty of the water spikes for him to purchase. Since Walker knew that he may encounter traveling merchants who may not have bank ounts with the guilds he had brought some gold within his inventory. He silently thanked his mother for telling him to do so and paid the woman.


    "I threw in an extra five. Thanks for helping out our forest. Hopefully, you can make your garden flourish." This was a sweet gesture and Walker gave the woman his best smile as he left and store the water spikes.


    "If ever shop owner is that polite, I may have to visit here more often." Sierra was honored to hear this from such a title holder. They had not received guests in this way as a race within her lifetime but seeing that there was already a good impression forming touched her heart.


    Walker and Sierra continued their walk through the cobblestone streets seeing many of the early to rise elven archer heading off to train. Some he recognized from their attire and quivers as arcane marksman that Gil would most likely meetter. Others looked to be shop owners or craftsmen leaving to open shop.


    When Walker made it to the square from the speech the day before he saw that the base of the massive tree was actually a substantial garden. The square just bordered the garden, which he had been unable to see from above it. There were many nts and flowers he had never seen in his life, but only a few elves tending them.


    "You''re bringing our guest here to early Sierra. How strange, I usually find you here to eat breakfast with the tulips." There was a voice but no body. Walker looked around and found nobody nearby.


    "Great water spirit, please be respectful of our guest. He can not see you when you are spread so thin." Sierra was keeping her poker face well, but Walker swore he saw a small twinge of a smile on her face.


    "Hehehe, I can show off a little." The water from the air started to condense in to a small doll like figure of a little girl. It changed shape constantly as if the water was still trying to find an ideal shape for it. "I am the great water spirit that resides in this garden. You may address me as such. It has been some time since I saw a hero title holder. Let alone a true hero title holder."


    The water spirit giggled to itself even more seeing that Walker had been thoroughly surprised by her statement and appearance. "This great water spirit has been alive since the nting of our great tree. Us forest elves only made our city here after it had grown to half this size. The history of the tree is not defined by our race."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 365 - 365. Full Water Spirit

    "It is my honor to meet you then. I am Walker." The great water spirit giggled more before starting to move towards the center of the garden. It turned around and made a waving hand to attract Walker to follow.


    "The water spirits that live around her are the reason we have so many water elemental crystals. We have other spirits but they are much fewer in numbers. The forest spirits are the bonding of multiple grand spirits. Sorry, you looked confused."


    The enforcermander had seen the curiosity and confusion bloom on Walker''s face while he stared at the great water spirit. "Well, I was going to start asking questions. I have never met an elemental spirit. Honestly, I don''t know what they really are. I have researched monsters but nothing in the way of spirit."


    "You don''t even have spirits in your kingdom!?" The grand water spirit rushed back over to Walker and looked at him from every angle. It was as if it was analyzing the way Walker could exist without having known another elemental spirit. "I can''t believe you don''t know one. They are usually everywhere unless they have gone in to slumber."


    Sierra waitied for her chance to speak again, she was very used to the way the grand water spirit would act. " Water spirits are in a term, living mana. They are formed through the will of the world and act ording to their elements. They don''t need a physical body but make one out of their element so they can interact with the world. The oldest will be-"


    "Great spirits like me!" The great water spirit cut Sierra off. "When we do that we are as strong as we can possibly get without creating a body, but that means little since it is a step back for a spirit. We can merge ourselves with other spirits. That is what most nature spirits are, not that they remember those times. When we do that we use all of our energy and lose our minds. But we be something amazing."


    "It is exactly as the great water spirit says. The forest elves are blessed to have such a spirit here." Sierra reinforced the lesson.


    "I hope this isn''t prying too much, but why are you still a great water spirit then? Would it not be natural to merge with a great earth spirit or great fire spirit?" Walker listed off other elements trying t discern why this particr great water spirit didn''t want to merge.


    "I could never do that. I made an oath that I would remain as I am until this tree dropped itsst seed. That day is very far from where we stand. I believe this tree will touch the stars before it drops a seed." The water spirit raised its watery arms toward the sky. "I also need an incredible amount of saved mana to merge, no other great spirit I have met has even been close."


    "It may sound rude, but I am thankful for that. If you left my breaks would be very dull." This was the first smile Sierra had offered. It made the bubbly giggling happen yet again from the great water spirit.


    "Nowe, I want to show off the flowers my lesser spirits are growing. They need the positive reinforcement to keep up the hard work." The greater water spirit led Walker and Sierra to a patch of flowers that looked like it was recently watered. There were small drops of water moving around the leaves. "These are my little lesser water spirits. Aren''t they adorable?"


    "Yes, they are. Adorable as ever, and making the flowers very beautiful" Sierra said this fairly loudly and looked at Walker.


    He realized this was the hint for him topliment the flowers as well. "Yes, these purple flowers are extremely beautiful I hope that I can grow them in my own garden one day. If they look half as beautiful as these then I will take it as a victory." Heid it on thick knowing first impressions were important.


    Walker could feel the increase n water elemental mana around them. "Ooo you really have a sweet side. You can sense their reactions, can''t you? The look on your face says you might even be able to see the way the mana flows around you."


    The great water spirit was right, Walker had the earrings that enhanced his senses, this had given him the ability to gain a spiritual sense which helped with mana. "I have a few skills and gear that help me out in that area." Walker could still feel the water elemental mana increasing.


    "Then you should be able to feel what is about to happen. This is a big day for some of these lesser water spirits." The great water spirit raised a hand and arge amount of water elemental mana flowed from it. Sierra was looking on wide eyed, she had only witnessed this one other time in her life.


    "These little ones have finally reached the right age to merge and be a full water spirit." The water droplets started to float up and smash in to each other. The water elemental mana that the great water spirit had given them was making them change faster.


    Before Walker knew it the droplets had all be onerge drop of water. It glowed blue with water elemental mana, and started to freeze solid. The frozen blue drop fell toward the grown, the great water spirit caught the falling drop of ice. "You can take this one while it sleeps. If the spirits are all dormant this one will wake them up. It may take a few years to wake the others, but this one should be awake in a year at most." Walker was surprised by the frozen drop being ced in his hand.


    "Are you sure? Aren''t the water spirits too important to this ce?" He was worried he might anger the elves by taking a spirit with him.


    Sierra heard his worried voice and exined, "The water spirits flow through nature. The new full water spirit would have left to find a new garden. But if it wakes up in a ce with a lot of sleeping spirits it might stay and try to wake them up. It would be overjoyed to have its own garden too."


    "Mhm, mhm. That full spirit will be right at home. Seeing it leave makes me sad, but it needs a new home. Take this as my trust in a true hero to foster the growth of spirits as well as the other races." The greater water spirit started to dissolve in to the air again.


    "Well, I can''t say I expected that from the great water spirit before they went back to rest in the air. That full spirit you''re holding has great potential. We have had four greater water spiritse and go here, not including the one you just met. The full spirits are two steps below them, but very powerful. It is imperative that elves learn the flow of natural mana, a water spirit will be of great use in that teaching. Maybe your kingdom could learn from it and our ways." Sierra sounded like she was dreaming a little and returned herself to her enforcer mask.


    Walker held the cold drop of ice in his hands and tried to imagine what the full water spirit would be like, This was a being that made no sense to him since it didn''t need a body to exist within the world. He knew that he could learn an untold depth of knowledge on all elements and not just the water element from speaking with it. The desire to get home and wait for it to wake up was too tempting, but he had other goals first.


    Shaking himself from his thoughts he tucked the ice drop in to his cloak. "We should get back. I am sure everyone will be awake soon or already is."


    "My enforcers reported they woke up a little after you had left. They are off to their respective areas. The girl Remey was nearly falling off the branches to get to the master alchemist we have." Sierra had somehow received a report without Walker knowing, he was amazed at this possibility. "Would you like to go to the stables where your serpent and dragonpanions are headed right now? They should arrive just before we do if we leave now?'' Walker only needed to hear this once before he nodded yes. The temptation of seeing a thought to be extinct species was too strong. He dly followed Sierra up a few branched and over to arger space of green grass. It looked like it should be much smaller bit the closer they got therger the space seemed to be.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 366 - 366. Unicorns

    "Is this, spatial magic"'' Walker was again amazed by the fact that a lushes green pasture was able to exist in such a small ce. It appears to him to go for miles and miles. There was even a pond and stream running through it.


    "Yes, it is made by one of our unicorn protectors. They have many skills that can do simr things. The downside is they are only able to use them in reference to unicorns. If the city is attacked they are powerful, but can only protect unicorns. If they abandon their post they are reduced to amon elf without a system."


    Walker could understand the uniqueness of the system and how it might be very restrictive. "So they can make spaces like this but only for unicorns. They can''t freely create."


    "Correct. They are very unique systems that are still hard to understand. Our people researches systems like this and tries to make the most of them. Remembering the journals I have read correctly, the unicorn protector system showed itself when a young elf saved a unicorn from a broken leg. If it had stayed in the wild a predator would have found it." Sierra sounded sad saying this making Walker believe she was more invested than she let on.


    "In elf terms, this system is fairly new to your people? To us humans, it would be old by now." Walkerughed a little at the difference in sense of time.


    "Yes, it is fairly new. But it is a very amazing system. They can go many things that others can do, such as light magic and spacialpression magic."


    Walker was in awe to hear this since it reminded him of his system a little. These unicorn protectors could learn skills that they could use to raise and protect the unicorns while he could learn any skill. But the skills needed to raise and protect a creature were widespread.


    "The only thing I am wondering is, where are they?" Walker could still only see grassy fields and small streams.


    "Look for the pinpoints of light. They are a skill called light illusion. The one who manages these unicorns uses it to keep the curious kids away. The unicorns aren''t always fans of being bothered, especially the young ones who have not grown any maturity."


    Walker focused his eyesight and realized that there were some small points of light that he had not noticed before. They were close to them and would be overtaken in just a few more minutes of walking. "Just a final warning, the man you are about to meet is very attuned to nature, he has refused to cut his hair in many years." Walker felt this was a strange warning but epted it anyway.


    The moment the two went past the pinpoints of light a portion of the trampled field was revealed, Midnight was standing with her wings open and Onyx coiled on her back facing off against a unicorn about the same size as her.


    The unicorn was young, but still have the pure white color over its entire body that the story books had always spoke of. However, instead of a gold or silver horn, it was almost like a crystal. It appeared that a rainbow was trapped within trying to escape, but instead, the light was pulled in more.


    "Midnight!" Walker shouted out worried that the two were about to fight the unicorn when he felt a forked stick across his chest.


    "Let''s let them have their fun. The little ones need to get their energy out or they won''t sleep a wink. The parents can barely keep up sometimes." Walker''s eyes followed the forked stick on his chest as it retracted. There was an elf shaped furball standing in front of him. The grey and blond mixed hair was frizzy and overtook almost all of the elf.


    Walker couldn''t help but think that this was much more than just not getting a haircut, this was letting their own hair be them. "I know I surprised you, but no need to look too shocked now. I take it you are the leader of the guests we have today?" A hand popped out of the mass of hair and stroked what Walker believed would be a beard if the elf had taken scissors to their hair.


    "That is correct, I am Walker and those ar-"


    "They already introduced themselves as Midnight the young dragon and Onyx the serpent. They are very polite, you should spoil them a little more. I gave them some light crystals to snack on." The heartyugh that followed made Walker picture a wrinkly grandpa under all the hair. "It''s rare for an enforcer toe and visit. I promise I haven''t let them out to run rampanttely." The tone made it sound more like a promise of what was toe than a promise to keep something from happening.


    "I am acting as a guide and guard at the moment. Miss Alma will most likely be here soon to join us." The unicorn protector moved around slightly as if surprised.


    "Thest time she came to visit I needed to spend hours trimming this grass back. She and that whispering." The grumbling was very muffled but Walker still made it out.


    "I hope this is not too rude, but how is this space made? From the outside, it looked like a small grassy clearing between the buildings, but now¡­" Walker just trailed off in awe of the huge field around him.


    "That is a verymon question, I do not find it rude at all. I have a skill called spacepression. This field used to be arge field many days travel from here. But I convinced it to be my own little pocket and brought it here. Of course, I grew more grass and reced the streams from where I took it. But the unicorns really love this terrain. They only came to the forests because they were chased, this is their natural habitat." The unicorn protector was happily sharing his knowledge and aplishments.


    "That''s really amazing, I can only use spatial magic called inventory. I got pretty lucky to get it but since then I haven''t happened in to any other spatial magic skills." Walker had wanted to try and get another skill like teleportation or shifting so he could better dodge or move through the kingdom. However, any effort to try had been moot.


    "Well spatial magic is very tough, not many understand it unless their system is made around it. I can''t say I know much more than what my skill does. Maybe you will meet a spatial magic system user one day. How wonderful would that be?" The unicorn keeper seemed like they were filled with unending positivity.


    Midnight jumped about dodging the young unicorn that had charged with its horn down. Theparison to a spear could easily be made. Onyx was looking for a chance to spring off Midnight''s back and wrap around the young unicorn. This dodging and chasing proceeded for a few minutes while other adult unicorns watched from nearby. There were a few other young unicorns that appeared to be energized seeing the y battle and wanted to rush up as well.


    "How about you go over there and help those little ones burn off some energy? You can use any skills you want as long as they aren''t darkness element. That would scare them a little since they are pure light elemental monsters." The elf protector was already giving Walker a push towards the other young unicorns before he could say anything. Sierra was right there with him, she had been pushed in to the task as well.


    Sierra backed off and let two of the young unicorns follow her leaving Walker alone with two more. The young unicorns were scraping up the ground in excitement with their hoofs. The light seemed to be drawn to them the more excited they became and Walker knew he needed to stay on his toes.


    Much faster than he had expected the fist of the two young unicorns charged at him with its head down. The pointed crystal like horn was just about to touch his chest when Walker turned to dodge. He had fallen in to the dance of the wild rabbit skill. He knew that he would need to push himself to dodge properly or else he would end up injured in the blink of an eye.


    The fact that the unicorn was considered a peaceful creature was attributed to stories and now proven to be a false theory. The unicorns were a force to be reckoned with as Walker saw the second young unicorn take on a white glow of light elemental mana. It was some form of buff making it move much faster. Walker couldn''t even think before his instincts screamed to dodge.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 367 - 367. Burning Energy

    The buffed young unicorn had dashed forward at nearly double the speed as the other. Ut''s crystal like horn nearly piercing Walker''s shoulder as he spun away. His hair blowing in the breeze as it passed by him. The dance of the wild rabbit skill was giving him the advantage, but there was still the fact that he needed to add in his own attacks. The problem was that he needed to do so without injuring them.


    "Stop being a baby, they may be young but they can take a hit. The parents will heal them if they get a few cuts here and there." The unicorn protector sounded as if he was going against his system by saying this, however, Walker had no time to think of this.


    The unicorn came at him again but Walker was more prepared this time. He pulled the scythe he had been neglecting from his inventory and used it to vault over the young unicorn. In midair, he put the scythe away and pulled out the dual swords. They shed downwards toward the second unicorn. Walker made sure to avoid the neck of the unicorn butnded a hid right on its side.


    The young unicorn jumped up in surprise, it had not expected a sudden aria attack. Walker''s dance of the wild rabbit was moving in to the dance of the rabid rabbit as the pace increased. He knew he needed to remain calm but the constant attacks from the two young unicorns were pushing him hard.


    In an act to calm himself, Walker switched to magic and started to create a frost whip in his hand while he dodged. When he made his dodge he realized that the whip followed behind him slightlygging due to the motions that he added to it. This was enough to restrict where the young unicorns coulde at him without worry.


    Feeling that he had found a way to gain an advantage Walker activated his frost ring skill and felt the mana in him deplete. The frost instantly started to build up around him from his feet. The air that he and the unicorns breathed out was visible to the eye. The unicorns were significantly slowed and Walker took notice of the frost on their hooves.


    He created another frost whip while the first one tried to ensnare the legs of one of the young unicorns. It was still fast enough to dodge him. Walker saw this problem and realized he could stop them in an instant with a skill he had not been able to use on the slimes.


    Walker took a deep breath and released his dragon''s intimidation skill scaring the young unicorns. The adult unicorns shifted slightly hearing the draconic roaring from the human boy. They all felt the strength in the roar and the power it came with. The young unicorns were stuck where they stood and Walker would make sure they stayed that way.


    Before they were able to even realized that they had been trapped the two frost whips had wrapped around their legs due to Walker''s careful elemental maniption. When he had them trapped he created a luring orb to keep them distracted. The blue orb that appeared in front of them had theirplete attention while they werepletely frozen in ce.


    Walker had not been able to test this fighting style out but was very happy to see how fluidly the skills connected. He was beginning to like the idea of makingmons like Remey more and more. The only problem was that he had yet to get thebo skill which would make it much easier to create them.


    "Well, well, well. You sure pulled out a lot of tricks to stop them in their tracks. That little blue orb shouldn''t work on an adult unicorn since it is light magic. But the young ones can''t absorb that with their horns yet, so they are in awe. This is a good lesson for them. Now watch the parents, they will show us something amazing." The unicorn protector hade to stand next to Walker since the little game had been finished.


    The adult unicorn came over to the two trapped young unicorns and touched its horn to the blue luring orb. The orb waspletely pulled in to the horn making the rainbow be full of blue within the crystal horn. The color danced around for a moment before returning to a bnce of all the colors. The young unicorns were shocked to find themselves trapped in ice even though they had not been a few moments ago. The adult unicorn used its hooves to start to chip away.


    Walker knew it would take a long while for it to break the ice like that and reach out a hand to touch the frozen in ce ends of the frost whips. The adult unicorn looked at Walker and lowered its horn. "I am just going to melt the ice for you. I promise I won''t do anything to harm them. I know we are done ying."


    The adult unicorn did not move but Walker had a feeling that he could move again. When his hands touched the two frozen in ce frost whips he used his mana to make them melt in to a water state almost instantly. The frost ring skill was also revered leaving a damp area of ground around them. The two young unicorns stretched and moved around getting their feeling back.


    Walker didn''t like the sight of the small cuts from his swords and used his light healing skill as well. The adult unicorn lifted its head and appeared to be happy with this.


    ''The user has used the light heal skill many times. The skill mid heal has been taken from the faith healer system. The user has automatically learned the skill mid heal.


    Mid heal- 5 mana cost


    The user will heal a target for 10-15 hp with every use.''


    Walker was surprised to see this skill pop up. He had used the light heal skill many times but never unlocked another healing skill. The fact that this was the case was strange until a thought entered his head. He had gained the skill by using the light heal skill many times, meaning that it must have been a skill he needed to gain an understanding of healing to learn. This would make sense since he had a muscle memory for using the light heal skill now. He was very excited to use this skill the next time he visited the cathedral.


    The young unicorn pranced around still full of some energy. But the adult unicorns were alling to look at the new guest they had. Walker noted that Midnight and the young unicorn it was ying with were still bouncing around. The funny part was that Onyx was wrapped around the young unicorn now trying to tangle it up but failing. This was a good chance for him to realize where his strengths and weaknesses would sit.


    The odd thing was that Onyx was also absorbing the light element from the young unicorn, it was trying to use a biff skill but would fail because Onyx would absorb the light elemental mana. Walker started to believe that Onyx would be the perfect counter to any light elemental skill in the future.


    Sierra was standing between two noticeably tired young unicorns. Walker had not had the time to see how she moved, but to make them tired and nearly stumbling about on their feet in such a short time was a notable aplishment.


    "You two really had some fun, it was very interesting to watch. Having light and water elements is fairlymon when ites to dual elements. I do have a feeling that you have more hidden away though." The unicorn protector was hinting that he wanted to see more, however, Walker had just used a lot of mana and he was feeling it. He would be better off resting.


    Since he felt like showing off a little he raised his hand suddenly and used a little mana to manipte the air. The wind picked up and a breeze pushed the unicorn protector''s hair to the side revealing an old wrinkled face. "You''re human?" Walker had expected to see an older elf but instead did not see the usual features that an elf would have.


    "Caught that did you? Not many of the elves seem to mind the appearance, especially since I don''t tend to cut my hair. I think thest time I shaved was ny. Again for us here that is like a blink of an eye." The unicorn protector let out a heavyugh, his amusement at Walker''s shocked face was very evident. Walker couldn''t find the right words to respond just yet.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 368 - 368. Love Story

    "Why must you do that when you meet someone new? You always try and act a little mysterious. Please just tell your story." Sierra had seen the unicorn protector act this way many times since she was often instructed to bring the younger elves here to see if they can unlock a simr or the same system.


    "If it was anyone but you rushing me on I would have sent them to clean up the fields." The unicorn protector sounded a little let down but quickly gained his energy back.


    "That''s because they would be here to try and unlock their system. I would not go and clean the fields anyways. I am not under orders to do such a thing." Sierra had a response ready, almost as if it was said often.


    "Fine, fine. In short, my father was a human that identally found themselves here in the city. He was hunting for a mushroom that was said to grow and feed on a gold ore vein. The mushroom would be the ideal ingredient for an elixir that expelled any toxin no matter the strength. He was chasing a dream though, it is a false tale spread by dwarves."


    Sierra was leaning towards the unicorn keeper listening to every word. Walker could easily see that this little story was one she did not tire of hearing. "He managed to walk well in to the forest without being noticed and even walked right through the illusionary barrier. When another elf saw him they were shocked. The enforcers that came to him were equally shocked and he was soon brought before the queen. Thanks to him a path through the forest that was not well patrolled was found. He had seen the city running at its normal life and he would be locked away."


    Walker had almost befallen this fate as well and was not entranced in the story. He did not even notice that Midnight and Onyx had joined him as well. "When he was told this he had one answer, sounds good to me. If I was alone there I can be alone here too." This, of course, made the elders a little more curious and they pried in to his life. His parents and siblings had lost to starvation in a horned rabbit outbreak, one from before your kingdom had evene together, long forgotten in your history books I am sure. I understand your kingdom yed arge role in preventing one though, thank you for that."


    Walker nodded finding the coincidence to be amazing. "They decided to put him to work instead of just leaving him in the prisons. He was not some poacher after all, and it was only fair to give another living being a chance." The unicorn kept paused for some time. He took a deep breath and started again.


    "My mother was an animal breeder for the endangered forest animals. Not many people in the world unlock systems that deal with regr animals and not monsters. Most of the time regr animals struggle to survive much like those without a system. My father was a treasure hunter system, hence the reason he had chased such a foolish tale. My mother saw the regr animals as treasures that persisted in survival no matter what, and my father hunted for them to bring to her to protect. They worked very well together and soon fell in love."


    "Every squirrel, every rabbit, every finch, almost every normal animal that you see in this forest is because of my mother. I wish she was still alive today, but she was very emotional. My father and she watched me grow faster than the full blood elf children, but my father was too old by then. He passed away and my mother''s broken heart took her to him. Luckily I get to live pretty long now, it''s a blessing given by my mother and father to stay with such beautiful creatures like the unicorns."


    Sierra let out a held in breath. She had heard the story many times and always fell for it, she was moved by the tale of love that she heard between a human and an elf. If she could find time away from her duty as an enforcermander she would be one of the first to visit the human kingdom.


    "That is pretty amazing. Of all the things to happen and all the ways to meet. It was a fairy tale treasure hunt." Walker hadn''t expected such a great love story to be hiding here, he had the feeling that if it was ever written it could move many people''s hearts.


    "It is pretty amazing." The unicorn keeperughed along. "I would say it is only my fifth best story though. Between the first unicorn I found and the time I went out to find an herb and managed to find myself face to face with a moss scorpion." Walker heard him mention a monster he had yet to learn about. The thing he did know was that any species of scorpion was a frightful foe that could catch someone off guard with deadly poison.


    "Have you ever thought about writing any books?" Walker had to ask.


    "Huh? Write? Why? No point in learning that, I don''t need it to take care of my friends here." Walker was stunned, this guy couldn''t write.


    "The more you speak to him the harder it is to understand. Don''t worry." Sierra was used to this. "We should leave things be as they are for now, your friends look like they are getting along pretty well over there." Sierra was motioning to Midnight and Onyx who were bouncing around the unicorns.


    "Looks like you have met all of them in the herd by now." Midnight just looked at Walker and gave him a huff.


    "Sister and I are going to stay here for the day. They have a lot of knowledge and said they can share some food." Onyx sounded excited when hemunicated in Walker''s head. He knew that this was motley because Onyx wanted the light elemental mana that they could provide, he had be a glutton.


    "Well in that case I guess we will try and find what Gil is up to. I am curious to see the other arcane archers working on their skills. It will help me know the new limits Gil has. I also have a feeling Alma will be there to act as a guide." Walkerughed a little at his own joke.


    Onyx gave Walker a knowing look before turning back to the unicorns. Sierra was a little confused by decided it was no problem leaving the field. "I thought you two would want to stay longer, I could use some help-" Before the unicorn protector could finish speaking Sierra had already pulled Walker away. She knew that if they stayed any longer the half elf would somehow make them do all his chores for him.


    Sierra pulled Walker towards the points of light again and before he knew it Walker was looking at the elf city again. He was pretty amazed by the spatial magic skill that the unicorn protector had. This made him wonder if this was how people would feel when they saw him using inventory. He would need to get better at showing surprise at amazing skills like that.


    "The archery range is thergest training area we have in our city. We grew the trees specifically so that they can protect the rest of the city from the magical attacks of the arrows from an arcane marksman. They aremonly known as hungry wood. They absorb any ess mana to grow making them very strong. The downside is that they will lose their strength when they are mana deprived."


    "If you have one for archery is there one using the same trees to make a magical training area?" Walker had already put the pieces together.


    "Yes, we have arge training area on the opposite side of the city for magic. It is the same tree species and the same set up. We have many more mages so it is a very popr ce for people to go." Sierra was already nning to take Walker there after hearing about the elemental magic skills he had.


    "There are so many ces to see, how am I going to get to each of them before I''m stuck with assisting everyone." Waker could see the growing to do list in his head and knew that he was much too limited by time. He also had the ticking countdown to when he would have the freedom to leave and go towards the dwarven city. If he didn''t stay focused he could end up spending months learning all about the new things that he could have never learned back home.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 369 - 369. Gils Quest

    Sierra led Walker toward what he had believed to be a massive tree root, however, he was surprised to find it was more like a wall made of thousands of vines. When he touched the wall of vines he could feel a small amount of his mana get pulled and absorbed in to it. The tree really did absorb the mana which surprised him. He had not expected it to be so strong.


    "I wouldn''t stay in contact for too long with those vines, they will keep consuming your mana. It is better to let them absorb the excess from training than from contact." Walker heeded the warning and pulled back his hand. He didn''t want to use any more mana and exhaust himself before he learned more from the day.


    Sierra stopped outside of the wall of vines and waited staring at them. Walker was just about to ask her what was wrong when the vines began to move away for her. This was another one of the magical doorways that they used to keep things properly secured. Walker was still amazed by this magic and he wondered if it was a skill they all had or if it was a spell left embedded in the vines that recognized elven mana.


    The moment that the vines had opened Walker heard the familiar twang of bow strings and thwacks of arrows. There were also sounds of metal on metal that he assumed were daggers. The massive space was more than just an open archery range. It was a mix of targets, sparing ts, and branches to run along. This was an ideal ce for an arcane marksman to practice traveling through the trees and aiming at targets. The use of daggers and the bow in partnership was the mostmon form ofbat here and it was evident in the training weapons on the nearby racks.


    Walker watched as the younger arcane elves rand from vine to branch trying to fire arrows without arrow heads at their opponents. Some were only using the daggers to try and sneak up on an opponent or to dodge an arrow and get in close. The remainder of the space had a range that went directly to the wall. This was where some elves were huddled around tables examining arrows for elemental arrow production and use. Walker was not surprised to see Gil there.


    "Good Walker is here. Come and show off more of the arrows. I have been telling them about the wither spike arrows but only had a few of the versions we made. They have a simr kind of arrow bit the arrow head is made directly from elemental crystals made by elemental spirits. They are a one time use but they have a stronger effect." Gil had been in a very in depth conversation in the arrow creation.


    Walker looked at the table and saw multiple varieties of arrows. There were some that ad a carved elemental crystal as an arrow head. Others had other rare metals that formed an arrow head that housed the elemental mana from an elemental mana crystal. The other was the basic arrow made of the same mana eating vines that the walls were made of. Walker could tell that the mana was avoiding it since the wood itself wanted to absorb the mana. The problem Walker had with this iteration of the arrow was that it would most likely make the skills used cost more mana.


    Walker pulled out five of each elemental wither spike arrow including the ones that could be filled with poisons still. The young elven archers that had been crowded around the table exining their arrows jumped for the arrows Walker took out and wanted to start to analyze them. One immediately held it and tried t remove the arrow head, only to find that it was perfectly attached and would not easily fall off.


    "Like I said, you should be able to use it multiple times since it is made from a tough minster material. The wither wood arrow shaft can also act as a tough but light material keeping speed up and durability." Gil made sure to point out the parts on the arrow head that could open and receive the poison.


    "Walker, do you have an elemental crystal I can use? I want to make one to show them." Gil was letting his excitement drive him and Walker could only go along. Walker handed him a light elemental crystal he had in his inventory. The elves weren''t even phased by the use of the inventory spatial magic. All that mattered in their eyes were the arrows.


    Gil began using his mana to draw in the light elemental mana to the wither spike arrow head. The elves watch starry eyed. They saw the small cracks start to form in the light elemental mana crystal and became worried that it would burst in to shards. Some stepped back knowing that it could happen at any moment.


    When the cracks started to be more prominent Gil pulled the remaining light elemental mana in to the wither spike arrow and let the shards of the mana crystal fall on the table. The elves grabbed them up to see what they were like. This was a very different reaction than they had excited. The arrow Gil had made in front of them didn''t leak any light elemental mana at all making them talk furiously with each other.


    Gil hade to learn something from them but it appeared he was doing more teaching. The fact that he had needed to figure out the skills to make the arrows on his own had taken him down a different path than the elves. "Hero Gil, please allow us to show you how we make an elemental arrow." One of the elves pulled out five blue water elemental mana crystals and ced them in the center of the table. Another elf grabbed an arrow with a silvery crystal tip. It appeared to be a shard of an elemental crystal carved and held in ce by silver.


    "This arrow is ideal for defeating the undead. It is made with elven silver that can disturb the darkness elemental mana that connects it to death. Then we add an element, in this case, water, and it will produce a violent reaction." The elf that spoke held the arrow above the crystals and started to draw out the water elemental mana.


    The process was slow and there were no cracks forming on the crystals at all. To avoid the shattering of the crystals the elves would use multiple and only take some of the mana from each. This was the main reason the process took longer but it was also safer for them to create an arrow. "That is it. We won''t have any broken mana crystals and we get an arrow. The water spirits will either channel more elemental mana in to the crystal or safely extract it to be made in to arrow heads.


    "The problem I have is that it is only one use. If I am somewhere far away without enough arrows or I can''t get to Walker then I won''t be able to restock my arrows. I will need to use them again and make elemental arrows on the fly." Gil was very frustrated with this fact. He had seen it as a major downside to the way an archer needs to either have a constant stock of arrows or rely on the dagger after. The [robem was that the dagger skills would always be less than the archery skills, significantly cuttingbat power.


    "What do you mean? You don''t have the weightless quiver skill? It lets you store multiple arrows in a hand made quiver with no weight and almost no limit. It''s simr to spatial magic but relies on your mana to create it though. We all get the quest when we first unlock our system, we go hunt for the monster materials and then need to use our arrow crafting skills to build our own quivers."


    The elves were talking like this was something Gil should have long done. "Nope, no quest. My system was a unique case that I didn''t start out with. The hero title really changes things." Gil looked frustrated but as he spoke his jaw soon dropped.


    "Should I take a guess that the second you were told about the quest then that quest showed up?" Walker had the feeling that the system was listening in and had been waiting to give Gil such a quest.


    "Is this how you feel when you get skills? Like the things you need are always within an arm''s reach?" Gil had gotten a peek at the way Walker''s system acted and he had to say that he was interested. "I have some hunting to do, anyone want to help me go after a...leather skinned fruit bat?"


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 370 - 370. Role Model For Remey

    The younger elven archers immediately started to gather up their gear. They had wanted to go on a hunting trip for a while, but the forest was deemed too dangerous with the purple slimes around. With the main slime defeated and the enforcers patrolling for any remnants, they had a chance."We just need to go and get the permission from an enforcermander before we leave, they have a guard station near the usual hunting trails." One of the elves chided as they put arrow after arrow in to their quiver.


    "That''s fine, I approve it." The movement stopped as all eyes rested on sierra. "I may be the guard of our guest and also their guide, but I am an enforcermander none the less." She sounded a little prideful of the position.


    The elves had not expected that amander would be in charge of their heroic guests and were understandably shocked. It was very rare for an enforcermander to differentiate themselves from a normalmander. Knowing that they were speaking to a much higher ranked elf was a lot for them to take in.


    Gil did not have a reaction like this. He had expected such things and was already adjusted to meeting higher ranking figures. He had already met three leaders of different kingdoms after all. "That''s perfect. Anything we need from you to go out?"


    "Take this token, it will allow you to pass by the enforcers guarding the perimeter. Remember if you see a purple slime send a light arrow in to the sky and alert the enforcers. If you are found to have tried to take one out by yourself you will be on arrow production fora month." The threat was not a new one, the arcane archers were known to push their limits and this threat was the only one that seemed to hold weight.


    "Hey Alma, are youing hunting?" Gil yelled upwards towards the branches snaking around the upper areas of the archery training area.


    Walker hadn''t even realized she was here but her voice soon proved her presence. "No hunting for me. I am changing the pathways for the training area. Next, I am going to lead Walker around to where Remey is. Then I promised Su and Calen we would meet for food." Alma soon popped her head out from a mess of young vines and used them to get to the main ground. "Hello, Walker."


    "What a surprise, I thought you weren''t here." He took notice of Gil''s slightly sad expression but would tease himter about it. He wanted a little revenge for the teasing about Alice.


    "Sorry for not saying anything earlier. It is part of my duty to guide the training of my future archers. If I don''t change the branches and create a new challenge we could fall in to bad habits. The queen changes things a little but it is only to help me learn." She was saying this with such confidence that Walker couldn''t help but believe that she would be a very dedicated queen one day.


    "Oh, what did you think of the unicorns? They are so adorable and fun to y with." She was gushing over the unicorns sounding like a mother who wanted to show off their children.


    "Midnight and Onyx are getting along with them well. We helped them burn some energy. I heard a pretty interesting love story from the unicorn protector over there." Walker said this looking at Gil and Alma. Since Alma was the only one that knew the story she was the one to turn red. Gil just looked at Walker nkly. "I''m sure Alma can tell you all about it after you get back from your hunt. You have plenty of hours before we would meet back up for dinner anyways."


    Gil shrugged after seeing Walker''s devious expression then Alma''s red face. He had no idea what the two knew but he knew if he asked it would mean trouble. "I see what you meant before," Sierra said this inly while Alma turned away from them. Walker swore he saw Sierra smirking since she was now in on the teasing.


    "Well, no point in staying here since they are leaving. Let''s climb the tree to the alchemist''s dwelling and see how Remey is getting on." Alma suddenly made a move to leave further confusing Gil.


    "Umm, guess I will see everyer." He waved to them as they left. The young elven archers became loud and talkative as Walker and Sierra followed Alma. Now that amander wasn''t around they could be more rxed.


    "Mind if we take the scenic route? I hope to take in the sights properly." Walker wanted to check other shops on his way in case he saw something amazing. This was mostly because he was thinking about the fact that the elves had many more elemental mana crystals than his kingdom. If he wanted to make a staff that housed all the elements then this was the ce to gather materials.


    "I wouldn''t take you any other way." Alma moved upwards on a low hanging branch. "I can''t believe that guy told you that story¡­" Alma muttered this but Walker still managed to what here.


    "Yes, that story, the one about the elf and human who fall in love and can''t survive without one another." His smirk had returned.


    "I swear you are as bad as Wade and Calen. They didn''t let up when I said I was going to change the archery training area. They know I need to because it is part of my duty." Alma had fallen in to a huff trying to rationalize her decisions.


    "Hey what are those over there?" Walker''s eye had been caught by some drying fabrics strung out on vines.


    "Those are fabrics made with the flowers in our gardens. The petals are boiled in water and the dye extracted. Then the fabric is soaked for a week until it gains the color. I didn''t think this would interest you." Alma had thought Walker to only be interested in magic and weaponry from the way he acted. But seeing that he had other interests was nice.


    "My sister is a seamstress. Even if the fabric is not magical, or study I want to bring her back as a gift. Do you think it is possible to buy some of each color?" Walker was thinking how happy Lisa would be as the first one to make a dress out of elven fabric. Not to mention she could send it off to the castle or any noble and jumpstart her career.


    "That''s so sweet, I am sure your sister would love it. They are dyeing the thin fabrics for the summer months, so they will be perfect for dresses and evening clothes." Alma was very happy to hear that Walker''s family could make use of something they made. She had worried that their cultures would be too far apart due to the elves'' istion. This was a small thing but it was enough to add some faith for her.


    Alma led Walker to a stall full of rolls and rolls of different colored light fabrics. Walker chose seven colors and paid for them along with storing them away in his inventory. The two women that ran the little stall were very happy to sell them to one of the city''s guests. It may not have been an elemental mana crystal like he had been keeping an eye out for but it was something great.


    "Now back up we go." Alma started to run up more branches. The three climbed higher and higher while following the trunk of the tree upwards. After some time Walker began to smell the familiar scent of herbs and dried cooking ingredients.


    Hidden around the trunk of the tree fairly high up was arge tree house with an even taller smoke stack. The entire thing looked to be made out of woven vines, Walker couldn''t help but think that making it would have taken hours.


    "Knock Knock, Alma is here with guests." Alma knocked on the door and walked right in. With the door open she revealed Remey who was sitting in a chair staring at a pot of boiling liquid.


    "Really, why do the young have so much courage. They always barge in here like they own the ce." A very slender elf stood in the corner grinding herbs in to a powder. She had turned to reveal a very youthful appearance,


    "So you are the leader this little girl mentioned? I am the eldest master alchemist in the elf city. You may call me Trish for the time being. But when we are not inside this room please address me as master alchemist, it is only proper." The woman named Trish sounded like a stickler for rules in the open but a very rxed person in her own dwelling. Walker had a feeling she would be a very good influence for Remey.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 371 - 371. Polite Conversation

    "It is very nice to meet you. I am Walker. Thank you for allowing Remey to join you." Walker made sure to be as polite as possible. He had the feeling that it would go a long way with this woman.


    The smile she gave in response proved his point, "I was happy to have a guest. It has been some years since I took an apprentice. Also, her system is fascinating. It is very rare for the world to create a new system or fuse them. I have only heard of it two times in my entire life." This was an exciting thing for all of them to hear. Remey was lucky enough to have a system that even long lived elves would see as rare.


    Remey was paying no mind to what they were talking about. Her full attention was on the boiling pot. Walker had expected to see a full cauldron but instead saw the pot. "Can I ask what you are making?"


    "Of course you can. This is the crystal ginger and a few other things mixed together. I call it the crystal mana potion. You might also hear it called a mana sealing potion. It has the ability to seal the body parts that are leaking mana. I call it a crystal mana potion because when it cools it reflects light like a crystal." She said this while adding some small handfuls of herbs to the pot.


    Remey watched intensely at every little change that urred. "I was pleasantly surprised when your friend here came. I had expected a very small knowledge base, but I dare say she knows as much theory as I did a hundred years ago." Thispliment was able to get Remey toe out of her focus and join in the conversation.


    "I grew up watching the old man y around with his theories. I know most ingredients and potions we can create in our kingdom. Thanks to the journals left behind by a previous owner of our mansion I was even able to learn some of the darker sides of alchemy. The practices are terrible, but the knowledge is worth knowing so I can apply it to other more positive experiments."


    "She is an official member of the alchemy building in our kingdom. They are not a guild like the adventurers or tamers. But she got to know many members and one of the current master alchemists. As far as I know, he is at the top of our kingdom''s alchemy." Walker exined some left out details to smooth things over.


    "Ah, so this old man was like your teacher then?" Trish was trying to find the connection between Remey and the master alchemist.


    "He is my family. I watched him but could never do alchemy. But then we got a quest and I got this new system and I love it. He has helped me turn the theory and practices in to realitytely. I could say I am an apprentice, but it''s more." Remey was getting a little worked up, her emotions ready to overflow again since she was so happy to be an alchemist in any form.


    "So a father passing knowledge to a daughter. You are right, that is much better than an apprentice. I hope to meet him one day. I have never met an alchemist from another kingdom. I spend most of my years away from even my elven brethren. I need to experiment and find the next breakthrough." Walker took note that she had the same mentality as the alchemists from their kingdom, it was nice seeing amon trait.


    "The old man does that too. He once locked himself in hisb for a week straight. When he finally opened the door I needed to feed him by hand and give him a mana potion. He was so dumb, what if I had stayed home?" She hadn''t talked about this story before and Walker was caught off guard by the lengths the master alchemist would go to experiment.


    "Of course, that is why you have apprentices, they can check on you while you create a tough concoction. The longest I have ever had to simmer something was a month. I didn''t move from that spot the entire time. I had an apprentice bring me something to snack on and some additional firewood."


    This brought a thought to Walker. "I may have missed it, but we are in a tree made of wood. How is the fire burning on it without causing a forest fire?" He was worried this was a dumb question, but Remey nodded her head.


    "I asked the same thing. It didn''t make any sense but Trish exined it all."


    "A wise observation, the woodyered on the floor is made from an aqua sapling. When they are about fifty years old they produce an oil that resists extreme heat. It will only produce this through its core for a few weeks before it spreads to the leaves. We harvest those leaves andyer them between the wood. The oils absorb in and you have apletely fire proof base." She was proud to share the elven technique that she had long used.


    The ideas were hitting Walker left and right, "How does it do against other elements? Is it resistant to them?"


    "Yes, most elements are resisted by the oil. The only element that it has an affinity with is the water element which is usually attracted around but but not absorbed. The earth element is usually a tough thing for the oil since it is absorbed. That is minimal though. The items treated with it are usually very durable against all elements, even darkness elemenent." She had studied the ingredient a great many times and was even responsible for a few crafting breakthroughs using it.


    "Is this an oil that I can purchase and bring back with me? I am slowly gathering materials for a special magical staff That I can make with my own two hands." Walker''s imagination was expanding the more he learned in the elf kingdom. He would need skills to make the staff but that woulde when he gathered the proper materials. He couldn''t practice unless he got to know the materials and learned about them to the highest degree.


    "Of course you can. We have plenty of it to make our homes fire proof. We grow the aqua saplings in a t ne of water. The growth process is a little slow since the oils are lower quality when we speed the saplings grow up. But after few years we started to get them in to a good rotation."


    "It became a farming operation. That is interesting. If you and your people sell it to other kingdoms you could make the elf people a lot of gold and respect. My party recently assisted with a fire in the kingdom. It was only one building, but the carpenters lost a great deal. I would be happy to see things change for the better." The thoughts of the children without parents or the families that had lost loved ones weighed on him.


    "Then that will be exactly what I do. I will speak to those in charge and have it sent to your kingdom as one of the first products we sell in trade. I work every day to improve the potions for my people. I would be proud to help other people as well." Trish nodded with each word.


    She had be an alchemist after trying to make a potion for her brother, that small gesture had set her entire future in to motion. If she had not thought to help him or even try then she would be a system-less elf and could not be the best she could be for her people. "That''s perfect. The old man will lose his mind trying out new things with it. I can show off what I leave here too." Remey became ten times more excited at this possibility.


    "You''re so eager to learn. If every apprentice I had was as eager I would have an army of master alchemists by now. I a sure you are told every day how studious you are." Remey avoided eye contact and pretended not to know what to say. Walker couldn''t hold himself fromughing. He knew all too well the arguments and insults thrown between the old master alchemist and Remey.


    "Back to this crystal ginger you brought me. I would estimate it was there for about eighty years. That makes it high tier easily. It will nearly finish the treatments for the queen''s little problem. She will be very thankful. She would be fine without it, but to an elf, it is annoying to feel the loss of mana, we are very attuned to mana." Trish said this full of seriousness, she knew all too well the lengths the queen had gone to try and solve the mana bleeding disease before epting the fact that she would always need the supply of natural mana from the forest.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 372 - 372. Cooling Skills

    "The longer the crystal ginger lives the more mana it absorbs. The high amount of mana is why it formed in to crystal ginger anyways, but it can keep absorbing mana and be harder and harder. That is why I have it boiling at such a high temperature. That is the only way for it to release all the stored mana and start to take on the properties of the herbs I have added." Remey was listening intently as the lesson being given.


    Walker Was not sure how all of this fit together since hecked a lot of the specific alchemical knowledge. However, he was learning slowly but surely the more Remey opened up to show off her knowledge. She was proving to be a lot more knowledgeable than anyone had expected. It was the same feeling that He had had when Gil started to demonstrate knowledge on farming or Su on healing.


    "Now the next step is to keep it from solidifying while cooling. The best method to do that is slow and steady control of mana to pull the heat away. Any cooling skill can be used but the control of your own mana is where it will affect quality. If it solidifies then it is a waste and we need to turn it in to something else. So will you two be joining me in this? It is a good learning opportunity."


    The two looked at Trish like they had just been asked to sprout wings and fly. The question of working on something so important was crazy to them. "Are you sure we could work on something like this?"


    Walker wanted to hear her reasoning. "Normally I can manage this myself easily, but if you two want to learn I can guide your mana to cool things properly. Just let your mana flow in your hands and we will see what you can do. My skill is called fire stealing. It takes the energy from the mes and potion. It is a slightly different ability but it works very well." She had other cooling abilities but the situation needed this specific skill for the best result.


    "The one I have is called quick chill. It stimtes the water elemental mana using mine. Then it will cool the potion." Remey had learned this from the old master alchemist when she upgraded her system.


    "I don''t have one, but my grand elemental maniption should do the trick. Maybe I will learn a cooling skill as we go." Walker shrugged his shoulders. He wasn''t sure if he would use a cooling skill often since he could just manipte the elements to make it cooler. But he had the feeling that learning a cooling skill would cost less mana than using grand elemental maniption to have the same effect.


    "Good, if you learn a skill then it should be easier. Mages have tried to do simr things by manipting mana but it is always harder and tires them out faster. Your quick chill skill is pretty rare, your family must have been very excited to pass it down to you. I have only had two apprentices who were lucky to have the skill." Trish was happy to hear that she had someone using the skill. To her, it was a lower level cooling skill. But for anyone at Remey''s level of alchemy, it was a massive boon.


    Trish held up her hands and Walker could feel the fire elemental mana weakening. She was pulling it away and making the energy flow out of the pot. Remey was very simr. As soon as she raised her hands the entire room seemed to chill just like the old master alchemist had done before.


    Walker was the one who acted differently. He only held up one hand and started to feel for the flow of mana. He looked for the way the elemental mana in the potion was moving and what different elemental mana was pushing what. He found that the fire elemental mana was pursuing the cooler water elemental mana. But this wasn''t causing things to cool. It was making things hotter.


    Walker added a little of his own mana to make the water elemental mana stronger. This had the instant effect of making the water elemental mana started to push back against the fire elemental mana. "Bold choice directly enhancing the water elemental mana, but what about the wind elemental mana at the top of the pot? There is a lot of steam there and it is much warmer than the pot because you are focusing on the bottom."


    Trish had caught his attention and directed him. He had been focusing on one part and not at all paying attention to the entire pot. "Remey, please lower your mana output. You are letting the room get too cold without focusing the skill on the pot." Walker felt an instant shift in the temperature around him. It seemed to pull inwards and try to wrap itself around the pot closer.


    "That''s it. You need to focus the mana in to one spot and use the skill. If you let it just expand like that then you will have a waste of mana and a harder draw on your body. It takes mental strength." Trish was guiding Remey like she was her own apprentice. It was a wonderful experience to watch, the skills in teaching from years of doing so were pristine.


    Walker imagined the entire pot and sensed the multitude of elements around it. The wind elemental mana had taken a lot of heat from the pit but was holding it and moving around crazily to each of the cooler ces. This was keeping the temperature higher when it should be cooling. He focused on the wind elemental mana and tried to change its flow.


    The result was a small breeze rotating around the pot and pushing the hot air upwards.


    ''The skill updraft has been taken from the sun racer system. The skill updraft has been automatically learned due to user action.


    Updraft- 1 mana cost


    The user maniptes the wind and forces it to flow upwards. Increasing the mana used can increase the strength.''


    "Oh, not that is the spirit. Dealing with the outside while the two of us are dealing with the potion itself will make things much more fluidly." Tris was happy to see Walker change strategy. She knew it was hard to assist an alchemist even as an apprentice of a master. Bit this was the exact thing she needed.


    The three were able to steadily cool the potion leaving a bright blue color. There were no solid pieces anywhere and Trish looked very happy about this. The amount left after the cooling process was enough for five vials. "This was a high yield. Normally it would lose so much liquid that it was only left with four when I am teaching this potion. It is usually just low quality and temporary. However, this one will be high quality, I can already feel it."


    Trish grabbed the vials she had prepared. They had pieces of the solid crystal ginger to help keep the quality up. She was very quick and had them filled and sealed in a moment. "Now they will sit under the natural light elemental mana from the next full moon. Coincidentally that is tonight. After basking in the moon light it will have enough mana to be an active potion."


    Remey was sweating even though her skill had made the room much cooler. She had learned how to use less mana when using the quick chill skill and she was very grateful for it. When Trish had given her suggestions she feltTrish''s mana pushing her in the right direction. "Thank you so much for your help. Your mana control is amazing, it was like you were guiding my hands."


    "It was nothing. I was more surprised by the change of tactics from your leader here." Trish was being honest. She had not met many alchemists in her people that would use the wind element to cool a potion.


    "I actually learned a new skill called updraft. I was just trying to make the wind element stop moving around as it pleased. When I made it go upward it formed a spiral and rushed upwards. I had a feeling that it would pull away from the warmer air and let the cooler air you madee near the pot to help."


    "It did help. Normally it would take longer because the air was adding heat as it moved around. That is why the steam was all over the ce. But with the updraft skill, it helped maintain an istion of heat." Trish was surprised by the new skill that Walker had learned, but she did not let him see it. It was amazing enough but the fact that the two had been able to adjust so fast trumped getting a new skill.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 373 - 373. The World Calls

    Trish moved toward a dark chest and ced every single vials inside."The less normal sunlight they absorb the better. The light mana given off from the full moon is more delicate and can be used for certain healing skills. This is why there are a few moonlight priestesses in our city."


    Trish knew that this would be something interesting for the party to encounter since they would be going along to ce the potions in to direct moonlight. "Where do you go to ce them? So we need to leave the forest?" Walker knew there were not many clearing that he had seen in the trip to the elf city. This fact alone made him curious.


    "There are a few ces we have set up around the city. When a full moones the enforcers are charged with expanding our range. We will take Trish to a specific tree taller than most which have a natural tform our people have grown over the years." Sierra jumped in to inform them. Alma appeared to be slightly jealous that she was beaten to the punch.


    "I''m d we don''t need to climb to the top of this tree. I feel like it is too tall, even though it will grow more." Remey was just happy to have the work a little easier. She also couldn''t imagine howrge of a tform would be on the top of such a massive tree.


    "This tree would never need to have such a tform, it would block the sunlight in the day. Instead, it houses most of the elves in the city in its branches. How could we ask more?" Trish was adamant about keeping the giant tree in the best possible condition for growth. This was more than just their home.


    "Now that we have finished the first potion, can you show me the way you make a low tier healing potion? Then a low tier mana potion?" Remeybwanted topare the potion making techniques and ingredients.


    "Of course I can. We can go all the way to the high tier as well. But I will need to have some ingredients gathered. Let''s go for a climb." Trish walked right out the front door and Alma followed. She appeared to be very excited by this.


    Walker and Remey were very curious and followed suit. Sierra took up the rear knowing exactly where they were going. They followed up a set of vinedders that pushed through different canopies and levels in the branches. Soon they had climbed to a much higher elevation. The strange part was that they felt the air was thicker.


    "It''s like the air is sticky, where are we going?" Remey didn''t like the feeling because she was starting to sweat much more.


    "One moredder and we will be there." Trish just sang a little motivation while climbing up again.


    Walker''s head breached the next level in the reward and found that he was immersed in another room of vines. Orange and yellow orbs floated around illuminating many nts and hanging herbs. The entire ce was warm and filled with the scent of the forest.


    "Wee to my hanging garden. This is where my herbs are grown and tended by some elemental spirits." Trish pointed abut at the countless orbs of light and some moving droplets of water. Walker could even see some small wisps of fire and wind circling each other.


    "This is the most amazing herb garden I have ever seen." Remey''s whisper to herself held true awe. She wanted nothing more than to spend all the time she had left looking at every herb she had never seen and every possible way to use them to create new potions. Her desire to somehow drag the old master alchemist here too was pulling on her heart.


    Walker was amazed at what he saw. The elements that the elemental spirits controlled were constantly changing the environment. Some herbs were held in an incredibly hot and nearly mable space, but right next to it would be the brutal bone chilling cold. They hadplete control over their elemental mana and used it to give the herbs exactly what they needed.


    "You are all so quiet. Even though you have seen these hundreds of times Alma, you are still silent as the spring winds." Trish was giggling at the faces they were all making. Even Sierra had broken her poker face and shown her amazement.


    "I can''t help but look like this. These herbs aren''t in my kingdom. I can''t find them in any book I have ever memorized. I can''t even pull them from the memories of fairytales that I have. I need to know them all. I need to research them/. I need to know how I can help people with them. I need to share this with the old man. I need to know." Remey was falling in to a mass of excited rambling.


    "Well, then get to it. You have the herbology log, don''t you? I have it as my high ss skill yes, but you should be able to unlock it if you are lucky. Worst case your system just gives you the herbalist field guide skill." Trish was speaking on skills that she had used to remember every herb she had ever touched and studied. The requirements took some time to meet, but once the information was seen and felt by her it was logged in to the skill. From that point on she would be able to recall every bit of information about the herb in question and even properly store and grow the seeds with the assistance of anyone with a farming type system.


    Remey was instantly frozen on the spot. "The old man said he has the book of herbs skill that he and his mother both had as master alchemists...I have nothing like that. Everything I know is in my own head."


    "You memorized everything yourself? This master alchemist has the mirror to my high ss skill. How interesting. Humans are proving to be more and more fun. I hope you can unlock this skill or even a new one. What will you do? Try to unlock a skill to learn everything and memorize it? Or try and memorize it all yourself?"


    Remey felt her will solidify in her heart. Walker could only see her fist and jaw clench before she raised her head with a clear goal in her eyes. "I am going to use my own power to memorize it all. If I get a skill great, but there''s no point if I don''t do it with my own two hands."


    ''Unique quest created: Alchemical brawler ss quest


    The alchemical brawler is like no other. They must create their own skill and bring it in to existence using the will of the world.


    Requirements:


    Examine and memorize every herb within the hanging garden of the elven city.


    0/524 memorized.


    Learn and analyze the fighting style of the elven races'' three major battle sses.


    0/3 analyzed


    Reward:


    Unique skill created- The alchemical brawler''s field guide.


    Description locked until analysis fo herbspleted.''


    Remey saw this quest on her system and nearly choked. She had no proper words to exin what she was seeing. Walker could only wonder what had gotten her so tongue tied. Trish and Alma both looked around for water thinking there was something wrong and she needed a drink. The only one that had a feeling something amazing was happening was Sierra, her gut was telling her to brace for what was about to be said.


    Remey''s eyes locked on Trish. " I need your help to create a unique skill for my unique ss. Can you help me?" Her eyes turned to Sierra next. "I need you to tell me the three major battle sses for the elves. I need your help to make this skill."


    The room nearly stopped. Even some of the elemental spirits seemed to be stuck for a moment before resuming the flow of the herb garden. "You are creating a unique quest...tell me what it will be called!" Trish didn''t waste a second. The words she had heard were history being written as she watched. "The alchemical Brawler''s field guide. A long name I know. But if I can memorize every single herb here and the three major battle sses of the elves, then I will be able to make it." Remey held nothing back. She could feel the strange influx of mana around her. It was as if the world was calling her to challenge.


    "Alma and Walker can leave us. We have work to do. Sierra, as the highest ranking elder in the elf city I use my power to order you to gather three of our warriors. Bring Wade, Elsa, and Ryan. They will be her teachers forbat. Get every scribe possible to record this. We are elves and we have long recorded the changes the world has through the centuries. Today we will record another without interruption."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 374 - 374. Skill Creation

    Alma pushed Walker to go back down thedder. "Wait, is this OK. What is going on with Remey? She isn''t going to be locked up?'' Walker had the misconception that this was a bad thing. To hear Trish using her power and authority as a higher ranked elder was a lot to fathom.


    "No, this is great. We live to study the system and the world. We are so rted to natural mana because it is the closest to the mana of the world. That is why we are so close to the elemental spirits. But Remey is a unique ss, as in brand new to the world. Those who get unique systems in the world have a chance to make their own skills if the world deems their will strong enough. The world will feel this through the system and gove a push. Don''t you see?"


    Walker was still taking in what Remey and now Alma had said. This was a big deal for any kingdom. But Remey had received a fusion system making it different than any before. Walker was jealous but also afraid. "She will be safe though." Remey was his family as far as Walker was concerned.


    "I will be fine, get your head out of the dark and wait for me. I will be ten times better when I get done here." Remey had heard the panicked voice of Walker and stopped everything to let her party leader know that she was safe and ready to go. "Just go and learn some magic, I know you have wanted to for the whole day. Su should be there too, she does have some skills she needs to practice."


    Walker heard Remey resume some rambling with Trish. He was full of energy and didn''t know what to do with it. The thoughts raced through his mind beforending on the fact that this was a new path the world had opened with Remey''s help. He may be walking the path of the jack of all trades system, but Remey had a unique system. He needed to expect some things like this would happen.


    "The queen is going to fall out of her throne at this." Alma was bubbly with excitement and happiness. She had only heard of the stories about unique systems in the world. Thest elf they had in the city had managed to unlock a unique system after falling in to an unfortunate circumstance.


    "Just so you know, thest unique system we recorded was the frigid me system. The elf that unlocked it identally fell in to a cask of pure alcohol in the winter. They were very cold and somehow managed to light themselves on fire. Just as they started to burn and also freeze their system unlocked. Their passive skill gave them full immunity to fire and water elemental damage. Their water elemental attacks were always in the form of ice. There are many books about their skills. The mastery skills that made them immune to fire and water elemental mana are the two most amazing through."


    Walker had started to fully grasp the immeasurable feeling that the elves had for the world and its'' systems. The fact that Remey would be zing a new path like this made him swell with pride. If that elf was able to have such a system and gain mastery skills no one else had ever had in unison, let alone passive mastery skills, then Remey could have the same dream.


    "I really need to work on my power face. I spend all my time shocking my party members and here I am losing it over something crazy like the will of the world having Remey create a skill." Walker had started tough at himself. "I need to remember this feeling next time I learn a skill and act so casual." He had a feeling that he would need to be more delicate in the future.


    "Your party is really crazy. You can learn pretty much anything. Gil is an arcane marksman. Su has a guardian system rted to dragons which are just unknown to mepletely. You have a dragon, a literal dragon. And a serpent that can talk in people''s heads directly. I can''t even figure anything out."


    Alma was mentally drained from everything that had happened recently. These humans hade in to their city offering help and managed to turn her world upside down. Mot only did they help her protect her people, but also change the way the elf people would advance. "Sorry. We are an odd bunch I know. But we are a bunch of kids who went out to protect some farms from locusts and then ended up saving some fellow adventurers. We didn''t n any of this, but now we are on the adventure of a lifetime. We wouldn''t have it any other way."


    He believed this more and more every day. The things he and his party experienced were amazing. No other he knew could speak of such wonder in every day life. Even when they were training or eating with family, there were amazing things that would happen.


    Two elves rushed past Walker and Alma. One walked on the air in an elegant dancing manner. He had never seen anyone move so perfectly in his life. It was like watching a dancer on stage. The woman that passed him has multiple thin swords of different colors on her body. They were all easily within reach for her in a moment.


    "There goes Elsa and Ryan. They are the other two warriors that Trish wanted. Wade will be there soon I am sure. He is still a little battered."


    "What kind of warriors are they?" Walker could not understand the need for warriors other than the fact that it was an alchemical brawler system. If it needed something to do with brawling then it made sense.


    "Ryan is the wind dancer. He uses needles and thin weapons that cut through the air. He is one of our best warriors and by far the most precise. His system isn''tpletely for battle though. He is mostly a talented dancer, he can walk on air in ways no one else can." Alma had a slightly dreamy look in her eyes. Walker could only guess he was somewhat of an idol to the elves.


    Then Elsa is our elemental spell sword. Shemands a group of spell swords here. She was injured recently and needed to return to heal. She has been teaching the younger spell swords until she can return to the battle. Every one of those swords is made for a specific element. She can use them without touching them and manipte elemental mana with them. She already has stories written about her." Alma showed a pride in the elf named Elsa she had not shown before.


    "So those three will be the top warriors that will help Remey." Walker memorized their systems since Alma had told him about them. He had actually heard about the spell sword system before but it was so rare in humans that it wasn''t worth thinking about. However, the spell sword system sounded much moremon to the elves.


    "You know, as much as you are shocked by my party, I am equally shocked by your city. Can you even imagine the new things I have seen?" Walker''s question caught Alma off guard.


    "Well, since I have never been to your city I can''t." Alma''s response was simple but unbreakable.


    "Then you need to visit one day. You are the future queen, right? Then I assume you will be like our kingdom''s queen and visit other kingdoms for events and peace talks. It is normal for other kingdoms"


    "I will do just that!" Alma saw the reasons for her to see the entire world in front of her. If she used the reasoning that she needed to go forge rtions with other kingdoms then she would be able to see it all as she traveled there. It was the perfect n.


    "I will look forward to your visit. I feel like when our king gets here he will be pretty shocked. You will need to support us a little. But it is alright, we will support you when you visit."


    "Deal." Walker and Alma were even more excited for when they would see each other''s kingdoms. Walker still had plenty left to visit. He had not even scratched the surface. He had been walking and Talking with Alma after his fears and anxiety had been calmed. He was throwing himself fully in to the tour since he couldn''t do anything to help Remey make a skill.


    Before he realized it there was another mass of vines that created a wall in front of them. "This is the magic training area. We have plenty of mages whoe here to test skills and use the spells to spar. Be ready for the unexpected in here, things get a little chaotic."


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 Chapter 375 - 375. Wind Halo

    The vines that blocked their path moved again. Walker was not expecting the training area for magic to be so different than the training area of archery. However, instead of tree limbs and winding vines to run on and spar there were multiple areas in therge interior. Each area was made specifically for a certain elemental mana and was set up in a circr pattern. This let them ovep which allowed them to be used by mages that had an affinity for multiple elements.


    The first thing that caught Walker''s eye was the elves walking around with swords. They were like the swords that the elemental spell sword elf had when she ran past him. However, most of these spell sword system holders only carried one sword portraying one element or even no element at all.


    "Those are the spell swords I was telling you about. Most will have a singr or dual elemental affinity letting them add that element to their strikes. But some are lucky to have no element or more than two elements." Alma followed his gaze and was happy to start to show off their strong elven spell swords.


    "Wait, why would a spell sword without an element be powerful? Doesn''t the element make them powerful?'' Walker had caught on to this and felt that it was a strange interpretation of power.


    "The ones without an element are not necessarily stronger in every situation, but they don''t have the weakness to a specific element. If a fire element spell sword went against a water element spell sword they would be at a disadvantage. However, a fire element spell sword against a spells word without an element would stand on equal footing."


    "So it is based on weakness then. So that elemental spell sword system has no weakness but every strength. I understand why that woman would be themander. She could teach or adjust it for every single spell sword shemands." Walker saw the value and strategy in her being themanding spell sword. It was onlymon sense to make her the leader.


    "Exactly. If we don''t let her show them the direct weakness and strength we would be shooting ourselves in the foot with an arrow." Alma used themon elf analogy and pointed toward one of the areas. "Those mages over there are the water elemental mages. They work very closely without water spirits. Based on your magic it might be good for you to visit them." Alma had only seen some of Walker''s magic and still didn''t fully understand his ability to use every elemental mana.


    "I think I will sit here." Walker took some steps in to the training area. He walked around mages that were practicing basic control of their elemental mana and drew a few curious looks. Some teachers were reprimanding students for getting distracted by the wandering human.


    Walker sat directly in the middle of the training area. He wanted to be in reach of every single kind of mana that was boosted within the training area. If he focused on one he could end up only practicing that one skill and leaving others out. So far he had practiced with the water, fire, and earth elemental manas. He needed to improve on darkness a little along with light. They were the next most practiced leaving wind elemental mana as the lesser of the bunch.


    His first task was to start to understand the wind elemental mana that was condensed in the space around him. He had the goal of either learning a buffing skill or creating an attack simr to Gale''s. If he was able to manipte the wind to such a degree, then he would be able to prevent arge amount of ariel monster attack or even be used to propel another attack.


    Walker reflected on the earth spike he had made and done just that with the wind. He had not practiced it and studied it, therefore, it had not shown itself as a skill. But it was a powerful attack that took some time to prepare. He had a pretty firm belief that if he managed to understand both elements better he would be able to get the system to give him the skill. Then when he go the skill he could use the attack much faster.


    Alma watched him sit dead center of the training area. The only other elves that ever did such things were ones that could use every single element, like the elemental spell sword system user. The other mages also slowed themselves to watch out of the corner of their eye. They had wondered what the leader of the human party could do and this was an interesting twist of events.


    Walker first started to control the wind element and make it rotate around his hand. The wind was very easy to make move but very hard to control once it became stronger. He had some good luck so far but as soon as he increased the speed of the rotation he found the wind would expand instead of staying in the one ce he wanted.


    Feeling a little annoyed by the wind''s betrayal, Walker used more of his mana in his grand elemental maniption skill. This time he was able to force the wind to stay in a tight spinning ring around his hand. The elves were surprised to see him practicing the wind element while sitting in the middle. This made them feel that he had misunderstood the purpose of the separate areas. The only mages that continued to focus on him were those practicing wind.


    To the wind elemental mages, Walker''s maniptions were a heavy shock. They had seen the wind break from him only twice before he reigned it in and controlled it. This was too fast of a pace for someone to start to understand the inner working of the element. They felt he must be using a skill to manipte it in some way, like their skills.


    Walker felt that he was on to something and made the wind form in to a tighter and tighter ring. It was pushing back much harder than he expected. Walker continued to add more mana to manipte it until the wind was forced in to a green spinning ring of pure wind elemental mana.


    ''The skill wind halo has been taken from the sky angel system. The user had automatically learned the skill wind halo due to user action.


    Wind halo- 7 mana cost


    Condensed wind/air elemental mana will create a rotating halo around the user''s specified body part. The halo will repel physical projectiles based on their weight in rtion to the mana used in the spell. The user can add this spell to a physical projectile to eitherunch it or increase its speed.''


    Walker read the system notification and smiled. He had managed to get a different skill than he intended but a very useful one. If he made an earth spike with his high earth sculpting then add this spell he couldunch it at high speeds. He was basically performing archery with magic.


    Walker started to use his high earth sculpting to form a spear out of the earth. The earth elemental section held a lot of earth and parts of stone from training, they began to move towards Walker and from in to a simple spike. However, Walker was not content with this. He wanted to do more than just a spike. If he made the shape different it could move better and even be aimed better.


    The high earth maniption began to work its magic as Walker imagined the spike gaining fins like an arrow. The points became a rounded arrow head that came to a point like a cone. The tougher rocks were made in to the earth spike solidifying and condensing it. In a matter of minutes and some extra mana, Walker had created an earth arrow out of dirt and stone.


    The earth mages training nearby felt the mana around them being pulled away and looked on. They saw the strength in Walker''s control and realized that they were witnessing him use two of the elements at once. The wind mages and the earth mages immediately came together to theorize on what was happening. This was an interesting topic that again drew the attention of most mages in the area from their studies.


    Alma was watching intently as Walker was bringing together the mages to speak to each other without the express intention. They would rarely work together on joint fusion magic for the simple reason that they wanted to increase their understanding of their own elements. With the earth and wind elemental mages trying to understand Walker''s intentions and Alma watching, Walker began to add more mana to the spells. This caused a murmur to go through the room.


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 Chapter 376 - 376. Fusion Skills

    Every mage in therge training area had begun to focus on Walker. Alma was also more focused than before. Not mana mages would demonstrate the multiple spells in front of each other. With Walker using the Wind halo skill and the high earth sculpting to make a fusion skill.


    This was not often done by one mage due to the understanding required of their elements. Even dual elemental mages would not be fusing their elements until they reached a very high level. Walker was moving the earth arrow he had created in to a position aiming for a solid looking wooden dummy across the training ground.


    He made the wind halo wrap around the earth arrow and even created another to wrap around it as well. He felt the strain and draw on his mana and mind. This was his absolute limit at the moment. He had wanted to create a third wind halo but if he did he wouldn''t be able to control the wind and it would break.


    In an instant, he released the arrow and the wind halo spells pushed it forward at an extremely high speed. The earth arrow moved faster than their eyes could follow and pierced directly through the wooden dummy. It sped still in to the solid vine wall burying itself nearly hallways. Walker''s jaw dropped at the fusion spell he had used.


    ''The fusion skill has been taken from the sand mage system. The fusion skill stone piercing arrow has been automatically learned.


    Stone piercing arrow- 8 mana cost


    The user creates a condensed stone arrow out of nearby earth and fuses it with strong wind currents. The arrow can be aimed and fired at high speeds while being propelled by the wind. The user can increase the speed and density of the arrow with applicable wind and earth elemental skills.''


    Walker was feeling his victory. He had used thisbination what felt like ages ago. Now he had a fusion skill that was slow to prepare, but very powerful. What was better was the fact that he had been able to gain another skill this time of the wind element. He could feel that his elemental spells were starting to bnce out.


    "What skill is that!?" One taller earth mage pushed through the group of mages and walked right up to Walker we was still staring at the aftermath of his skill.


    He focused on the tall earth mage and grew more excited. "It''s called stone piercing arrow! I fused the wind halo with my high earth sculpting skill and with a lot of mana and force I managed to make it. I almost tried to add fire elemental mana or water elemental mana, but I have no idea how well they would fuse with the earth. I am also not strong enough mana or mentally to do that yet. The only thing I can do with three elements is make lightning. But the two times I did it, I couldn''t control it or gain a skill."


    The mages were stunned yet again. This human had just admitted that they were going to add more elements in to the fusion spell when he was stronger. Not to mention they had created lightning. Their brains felt like they were full of slowmovinge slime. "May I ask...How many elements can you control?" The earth mage was afraid to ask, he had the worry that he was about to hear another crazy thing.


    "I can manipte all of the, with my grand elemental maniption skill. It makes it easier to manipte them so I can learn skills much faster." With those words said most of the eavesdropping mages started to approach him. They were still silent, but their faces showed their desired to learn everything they possibly could.


    We have plenty of mana potions. Feel like demonstrating a few more skills for research?" The earth mage was ecstatictoi hear they had skills they could research. Alma saw the looks from all the mages and called for one of the nearby young mages. "Please set up some more wooden dummies. I have a feeling there will be a lot of spells used." The young mage rushed off and started the task.


    While Walker was bombarded by questions and asked for meanings between skills the wooden dummies were set up. When they were finished Alma joined in and got everyone focused. "Now please don''t be too hard on our guest. I am sure he only wants to show off a few skills. Let him choose. Here is a mana potion." She handed Walker a mana potion and let him breathe for a moment.


    "Thank you. I was running low on mana after making that skill. Let''s do a fusion skill. I have a fireball that uses darkness elemental mana and a little light elemental mana. The best part is it is technically using three elements but it just pulls in the elements from the air and doesn''t use as much of my mana."


    Walker used his firebolt skill first and shot it as a dummy. The fire mages were happy to see the basic skill but were wondering how it was going to change. Walker smiled and created a fireball in his hand. It was much easier with the condensed fire elemental mana. He used his ck me skill and the fireball turned in to a darkness elemental manipted fire ball.


    "You can bnce the light and dark elements in the fire!" There was one mage that wore dark clothing and was standing the farthest from the mage wearing pure white.


    "I told you it was possible. But noooo you and you just didn''t want to put the effort in to bncing them." The mage from the fire side looked at the white and dark clothed mages and gave them a knowing look. Walker nearly lost his cool andughed. Instead, he threw the fireball in an effort to distract from theughter starting to break out on his face.


    The fireball caused the dummy to break in to a ck me. It slowly ate away at it until it went out leaving a slight rotting effect. The three mages that had been ring at each other now looked inspired instead of annoyed. Walker was willing to bet they would be trying to replicate this me after he left.


    "Oh, then this is a newer skill to me." Walker created his frost whip then activated the frost ring skill. The water mages were very happy to see this and even a few started to copy him to create simr water whips.


    Using the fire elemental mana Walker felt he could make a me doll without fuel. He still directed the skill at the wooden dummies just in case. The me doll copy he started to mold from fire elemental mana was simr to Alma butcked details. "This is a me doll. It can take basic orders and survives as long as it has fuel. When it is beaten it explodes to stun an enemy. Please go and keep Almapany." Walker directed the me doll to stand next to Alma.


    He was wracking his brain with more to show off. He proceeded to use the different light orbs and more of the high earth maniption skill. He knew he had some other skills like mana shot and some dangerous skills like mana destion, but he didn''t see the point in using them since they weren''t elemental skills.


    Walker was caught up in the exmations from the mages that he barely ran himself dry on mana again. He took another mana potion from Alma and sat back down. This was when the mage in white robes approached him. "Have you ever thought about condensing the light elemental mana in to a solid form?"


    This question was a little off to Walker since he had not yet been able to do such a thing. "I didn''t really think it would work that way. Is there a way to do that?"


    The mage smiled brightly, he wanted to teach their guest something since they had been making him show off for the entire time."This spell is called light de. It condenses the light element to its highest solid state and can leave a cut on the soul of an enemy. The physical damage is always small. But you will directly damage their mana reserves. This can end a fight with a mage much faster."


    That skill is very simr to darkness elemental skills like dark spear which can cause decay to the physical body."


    Walker heard the darkness elemental mage join in and saw a new fusion skill formin in his mind, he did not hesitate to speak. "What if we fused the two skills? We could cause decay to the body and mana bleeding to the soul. It would be very hard forrge tough opponents."


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 Chapter 377 - 377. Opposites

    "We were hoping you would say that." The two mages said in unison. There were murmurs from the other mages around Walker.


    "I can''t believe they are willingly working together."


    "Those two are always oil and water."


    "One kid shows up and now everyone is focused on fusion skills, it''s been years."


    These were just a few things Walker was able to pick out of the murmuring. He was impressed that they were all cooperating so easily. He had imagined from the set up of the room that they would all be at odds much more easily. "I am interested in trying it if everyone else is? Who knows what we can learn from the experiment." Waker had felt his curiosity grow, and much to the mages'' joy, theirs did too.


    "This kid is after my own heart, you came to the right ce." The fire mage finally found the desire to experiment sparking in the other mages and he was not going to let it fade.


    "I managed to get to high ss wind element spellsst year. It is only natural I work to fuse my skills with another." One of the wind mages had been staunchly against fusion skills since it wasmonly believed to slow the growth of the elemental understanding. But seeing the earth and wind fusion spell they could not argue the merits.


    Alma saw a chance to butt in and let Walker know the general standing between mages since he was stillcking details, "I know it''s weird that we watch the different elemental spirits fuse and interact because that is the natural order. But when ites to mages it is moremon to work on a solo path to a pure element than stop and figure out how they fuse. The only mages that fuse are the duel elemental system users'' and even they prefer to focus on one."


    "I can see how thates about, but at the end of the day I find myself learning more from fusing elements. I get to know how weak they are and how they react to each other." Walker was just saying what to him wasmon sense.


    "Yeah, but they are stubborn and don''t like to admit that, especially since most of them are too young tp go off and fight and actually learn that they need to fuse elements to cause real damage." A few mages who were older than Alma gave her res. They wouldn''t argue with her because of her standing, but they would not ignore the nder.


    "So what skill should we show you first? Want to lean light de?''


    "Or dark spear?"


    The light and dark mage seemed to bepeting over how to teach him the skill first, to them this was a form of superiority. "Show me both please, I want to see what happens with the touch if that is safe?" Walker''s want was enough to shock the two yet again. They would never usually let the two opposing elemental manase in contact unless it was a natural contact like the shadows in the sun.


    "Alright, those who want to watch the demonstration retreat and those who wish to participate stay in the middle." Alma took charge and made sure there would be no idental damage. She knew all too well of the explosions the mages could cause when experimenting.


    The mages all backed away. The only ones left were Walker and Alma along with the light and dark mages. One of the darkness elemental mana mages came to the center and reached in to his own shadow. Walker saw his hand disappear in to the darkness and nearly thiught it was social magic. He pushed this thought from his mind as he witnessed the hand resurface from the shadow with some solidifying shadow sped within it.


    The shadow in the mage''s hand was not the same as his own shadow. It had a darker color that seemed to be an endless void. His hand wrapped around it and came to a triangr point at one end. The rest of the dark spear was rounded and t on the end. The darkness elemental mage spun it a few times and attacked a wooden training dummy brought forward.


    Walker saw the fastest speed of decay he had seen yet. The wooden dummy started to crack and rot before his eyes. "This darkness spear is very concentrated and focuses on delivering heavy amounts of darkness elemental mana to the target through the spear tip. It is simr to an injection of poison. Think of a scorpion."


    Walker took note and thought that this would make a better base for abined skill. It could inject a toxic amount of the element andpletely decimate the body of an opponent. While he memorized these things the light elemental mage cam forward too. "The light de has less from than that spear. It is formed from any and all light in the area."


    The light mage held his hand high in the air and the light around them started to pull in towards him. It condensed much as the dark spear did but from the air instead of a shadow. The light seemed to be pulled inside of the mage''s hand instead of forming a shape. Walker was looking on confused.


    "After I gather the light element then I am able to trap it in a condensed state. This is the key to forming the de.'' The light mage opened his palm and a sharp de started to rise out of it. The pure white light was making the mana in the air vibrate, it was almost as if it was afraid of this de.


    The pure white de formed a rough pulsing shape. It was like a sword de without a handle sticking out of the light mage''s hand. Like the dark mage had before he turned to a dummy brought forward to him. "Now this is what happens to the natural mana we have stored in each of the dummies."


    The light mage shed at the wooden dummy and the reaction was instant. The color of the wooden dummy became grey and faded constantly. "This happens with an object starts to bleed out the natural mana within them. If this was a living creature it would be tired and pale. Eventually, it would lose consciousness and never wake without treatment. For this dummy, it is now a mana free piece of wood."


    Walker was engrossed in the two demonstrations. He knew that they were informative and would be the ideal training information for him. "Alight, I have memorized the results. Please show me their reactions with each other." Walker raised a small earth wall with his high earth sculpting skill and Alma whispered to the vines. They were both prepared for the worst.


    The two mages used their own protection skills that used their own elemental magic. They slowly approached each other and held out the two elemental magic weapons. The closer they grew the more tense the atmosphere. Not a single mage dared to speak as they activated their own protective skills. They were not stupid enough to risk going without a protective skill.


    The two weapons barely touched each other when a burst of light and darkness elemental manas flooded the training area. The blinding sh wasbatted by the equally blinding darkness. It was like two tidal waves pushing on each other. Those watching quickly noticed that they weren''t causing any damage because the two elements were canceling each other''s negative effects out.


    When the waves of mana finally depleted two pale and exhausted mages stood in the middle of the room. The other mages rushed to give them mana potions so they could hear the feelings and results of the collision. Not a single one of them wanted to be out of earshot when they spoke. If they missed it they could lose the chance to greatly increase their own elemental understanding.


    The two mages took a while to fully organize their thoughts. The force they had felt from the opposite skill had out a major toll on their minds and mana. They both had ended up exerting higher and higher amounts of mana to bnce things until the skills finally broke.


    "My light de was condensed so well, but as soon as it touched the condensed darkness element, it fell apart. I could barely keep it from whipping out all around the area."


    "I experienced the same. The dark spear lost all of its stability. I was unable to control, it even when I used almost all of the mana to hold it to some degree."


    The two mages having the same issue with their condensed mana was a very telling instance to every mage there. They had all felt this when they lost focus or when they had run low on mana. The only difference here was that the two mages had been surprised by the loss of stability.


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 Chapter 378 - 378. Light And Dark

    "Hold out your hand. You can manipte light already right?" The light mage saw Walker nod, "Then I will guide you the same way my master has guided me, and the same way I guided my junior apprentice." The light mage helped Walker attract the light elemental mana. With the assistance, Walker was amazed at the decrease in mana he needed to get the light elemental mana to move to him.


    The ball of light elemental mana was steadily condensing in to his right hand. He had a dangerous idea at that moment. "Do you want to assist me with the dark spear this way too? If I can bnce the focus I have on both with your help and his help I might be able to learn them both a the same time. If I do that then I might be able to learn something special." The mages were pushed again in to a murmuring gossip.


    "Can you handle the strain? The darkness mage was concerned that the strain of using two spells at once would break Walker''s mind.


    "I should be able to handle it. I was able to use two frost whips and the frosty ring skill at the same time earlier. If I can''t I will let you two know immediately." The darkness mage rushed forward, all he had needed was a yes to start. This was a great chance to experiment.


    The dark mage grabbed Walker''s hand and pushed it towards his own shadow. Walker did not expect the cool feeling that came with entering his shadow, but he understood that due to theck of other elements there was no other feeling that the shadows would have.


    The darkness element started to condense in much the same way as the light. Walker used some additional mana to equal out the two balls of light and dark condensed mana. He wanted to make sure he was in bnce the entire time so that he could more easily fuse them as he had done with the k mes.


    The two opposing elements grew in density until the two mages looked at Walker. This was their signal for him to start to form the de and spear. Luckily Walker had used both of the weapons before and could easily imagine them starting to form. However, he was hit by a massive amount of pushback from the two condensed elements. They were trying to escape his grip and ignore his mana all together.


    The watching mages saw his face twist in effort and prepared themselves for a rogue pell. Yet they saw that both the elements were starting to change, even though it was slow. The amount of mana the two mages were adding to the maniption was not small, it was making the shaping much easier as Walker divided his attention.


    The forming was taking some time but after a lot of effort, there was a ball of light that had sunk in to Walker''s hand and started to make a de. The same was happening on his left hand which now gripped a smaller dark spear. The system responded with his sess.


    ''The user has simultaneously learned skills from the light mage and the dark mage systems. The skills light de and dark spear have been learned automatically. These skills are opposing elements and have been equally guided by two high tier mages of the respective systems. The skills have been upgraded to equal the rank of the mages in cooperations.


    Pure darkness spear- 6 mana cost


    The darkness element is condensed in a pure form to the shape of a spear. The attacks inject a great deal of darkness element in to the target causing rapid decay. The user can make this spear appear instantly out of their own shadow. The user can only wield one dark spear at a time due to the user''s current body strength. This can change upon stronger physical and mental inclination.


    Pure light de- 6 mana cost


    The light element is condensed in a pure form to the shape of a sword de. The attacks sever the connection with the soul causing mana to bleed out of the target at a high rate. The user can make this de appear instantly as long as there is a fair amount of light in the surrounding light. The user can only wield one light de due to the users'' current body strength. This can change upon the stronger physical and mental inclination.''


    Walker was incredibly happy as he saw the system notify him. He was sure that this amazing oue was because f the hard work the light and dark mage put in to assist him. He couldn''t help to startughing out loud. This caused the two mages to release his hands and start tough as well. The entire room was soonughing at the great sess of the first step.


    Alma was stary eyed at the insane speed at which Walker had gained these skills, and at the same time. "How can you do that in only two hours!"


    "Wait, two hours? You''re crazy. It has only been a few minutes." Walker couldn''t believe that much time had passed them by as he was focused on the skills.


    Alma shook her head, she was very used to the mages losing track of time while they focused on nothing but magic. Many of the mages gave Walker knowing expressions, they too had been in his shoes many times. "If that was two hours...how long will it take to make the two skills to fuse," Walker mumbled this out loud as he released the two skills and stood up to stretch his stiff body.


    "Don''t worry, we have enough mana potions to stay here for a few days. The other mages are already learning a lot. Look at the earth mage over there, they are trying to copy your stone arrow shape and pair it with that wind mage''s wind gust spell. The two have been at it for half the time we worked and are already showing progress." The light mage had noticed the two other mages along with a few others practicing as soon as they had let go of Walker''s hands.


    "That''s great! If they can use it too then they can do so much more." Walker could only hope that they would start to experiment with more skills so that he could start to fuse them as well. If he could gain a huge amount of elemental mana understanding then he would have the chance to gain more advanced skills. If he did this he could fight well about his stats and levels, this was evident in the fact that he could only wield one of the new skills at a time.


    Walker and the two mages made sure they drank more of the mana potions that the other mages and Alma were providing. Walker could see the excitement in Alma''s eyes. He knew that she was witnessing the improvement in many aspects of her culture already and only one party of adventurers were there. "I thought you heroes would be amazing, but the more I watch you the better it gets."


    "Well, we didn''t n toe here. To be honest we were going to avoid it and hide Gil. But we ended up forced in ton the situation and in the end...It is the best thing to have happened." Walker was thinking of all the things he and the party were learning when he had the sudden realization that Su wasn''t here. "Wait, wasn''t Su supposed to be here?"


    "Oh, she should be at some point. While you were focused I asked around a little and she is actually busy. She ran in to one of our elven craftsmen and started talking about her shields and skills. Now they should be exchanging knowledge and from what I understood making a deal for some materials to be brought back with you."


    Walker couldn''t help but be even more surprised. While he had been busy Su was out gathering materials from the elves that he was sure his kingdom did not have. Not only would the wandering cksmith be in heaven, but they could also look forward to new gear at some point. It was like the party had shown up to a candy store and been given free samples.


    Feeling energized and full of mana Walker used his two new skills to create a pure dark spear and a pure light de. The two opposing elements in his hands made him look like a terrifying duel elemental mage about to enter a harsh battle." Now does anyone have any ideas of how to keep these two stable while I change their shapes to fuse them?'' Walker was going to lean on the elven mage''s knowledge to make this process smoother and eliminate wasted mana.


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 Chapter 379 - 379. Crystal Theories

    Walker''s statement made rge amount of conversation start within a second. He was hit with so many theories at the same time since every mage around wanted to test their own idea. This of course caused a lot of arguments as well. Walker soon realized that he was left with only three people still willing to have a normal conversation.


    "We rarely work together since our elements are opposites, but if you want to mix them I think you should keep them as equals." The dark elemental mage was trying his best to stay calm and not get overly excited.


    "I agree that we should keep them equal, but the light element will want to spread out and go back in to the air around us. We should use the darkness elemental mana to contain it." The light elemental mage agreed on the fact that the elements should bnce, but he wanted to see one element covering the other.


    "It is true that the darkness element is better suited for an outer shell. Shadows are a lot more stable being out in thesunlight but I can see the light element trying to break free and spread out in the sun."


    "Well the darkness elemental mana would spread out at night so we should use the light elemental mana as the outside in that case."


    Walker''s idea was added on to by the dark elemental mage. The three fell in to deep thought. "It sounds to me that you three needed to find a way for the two elements to switch ces with each other without a problem." Alma chimed in wanting to help. The three instantly felt inspiration in this. All they had needed was an outside perspective,


    "So we need an element to keep the two close and bnced but also trapped until we need them." Walker had a feeling that the two skills were perfectlypatible with a stabilizing element.


    "We can''t use the wind element mana because it would let the light and darkness flow through it. It is too spread out anyways." Walker agreed with the light mage theory.


    "Then we could say the same for the water element. To hide the light or darkness elemental mana would need a huge amount of water elemental mana. By that point, it isn''t worth trying to fuse the energy since the mass would be great."


    The dark elemental mage was speaking from experience. He had tried to make a fusion many years ago with the water elemental mages. The idea was a decaying bomb of water, but the darkness always seeped out. In the end, if they got enough water together to keep it trapped they were creating an attack sorge that the darkness elemental mana inside was overkill.


    "Well, fire elemental mana is out. It is tied with light elemental mana and could just throw it out of bnce. Trust me, I know after making the dark mes, they were tough to make happen without Midnight''s decaying breath attack starting to manifest as a guideline." Walker ruled out one of thest two elements.


    "Then you use the earth elemental mana. It can be dark or light easily by using a crystal substance." Alma had already reached the same conclusion as the other three. They would be forced to sue earth elements. The trouble was shaping a crystal in a quick moment.


    "Can any earth elemental mage make a crystal weapon or crystal shaping in just a few seconds?'' Walker''s words drew the attention of every mage again. Their theories were just thrown for a loop and he was again about to start another experiment.


    "I can do that!" One of the farthest away mages rushed up. "I am a crystal mage. I just unlocked my system a few months ago. I was almost toote when I broke a scrying crystal and tried to fix it." The young crystal mage from the earth side was very excited to be of some help. He was spewing too much information and the other mages felt embarrassed for him.


    "Don''t worry about him Walker, he is just a kid. He will help though. Crystal mage systems are rare in the earth side of magic. He should be able to help out even with just a small maniption skill." Alma apologized for the young mage''s actions.


    "It''s fine. I like the energy, just put it towards solving my problem." Walker gave Alma a nod of thanks before he and the other two mages'' focused on the crystal mage. "I want to ce these two elemental skills within a piece of crystal so that I can use their effects whenever I need to especially during different times of the day."


    The crystal mage scratched his head and went silent. After some moments of hard thinking, he had a few ideas. "You could try to learn the crystal pole skill. It is mainly to create a buff effect for healers though." This sounded like it was almost what Walker needed, but since it would only channel the light element to add a benefit to healers it wouldn''t work for the darkness elemental mana.


    "You could try to learn the crystal sword skill. It condenses and makes a crystal sword in only a few seconds. I am not sure if mana can be added to it though. I am too low level to use that skill, I just studied it in my books." This sounded the most viable so far, but Walker saw that the crystal mage was ready to say one more thing.


    "Lastly, I think the crystal crafting skill would work. It is a unique crafting skill that some crystal mages learn. If you can make a hollow crystal base in the shape of a pole or orb then you can make the elemental manas go inside. Then with your high earth sculpting skill, you can change its shape. The only reason you would need the crystal crafting is so the crystal would be tough enough to withstand the mana put inside, it would cost too much mana to force the crystals to change shape and hold another mana." Walker''s eyes widened.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 380 - 380. Crystal Ball

    "Do you have the crystal crafting skill?" Walker asked the question that every single mage listening wanted to know. A few of the earth mages were smiling smugly which practically gave the answer away. But most of them would not believe it until the words left the boy''s mouth.


    "Yes, it was one of the first skills I got. I think it''s because I was trying to fix the scrying crystal which helped me unlock my system." Walker released the two skills he had created as soon as he heard the confirmation from the crystal mage.


    Walker grabbed the boys'' shoulders and looked at him in the eyes, "You are going to teach me to craft with crystals." The crystal mage had no choice but to agree.


    "Alright, someone go get some crystals from the storage room. We should still have some left over from those crystal training dummies for the light mages to practice their skills on." Alma had made it a point to keep up on what the mages were studying in general. This helped her better understand the value and goals of mages in the city.


    "Perfect, we would have had to go all the way to the prisons for some crystals left over from thest expansion." The dark elemental mage was worried that they wouldn''t be able to proceed.


    "The real question is how fast do you think you can teach crystal crafting?" The light elemental mage was very invested in this study and could see the fusion possibility even with singr elements. If they could create a crystal that housed their elemental mana effects from the light de skill they might be able to apply it to one use weapons.


    "Depends on what shape sir hero would like to make the resting item to be. If he wants it to be an orb in the resting form it will be simple. If he wants a pole it could take a while, and if he wants something ornate it might take weeks or years." Walker was thinking speed would be the best bet for this.


    "I think we should make orbs. If I need something ornate I can do it another time when I am free. The poll sounds good but I can make one of those while I travel as long as I have natural crystals. So I choose the orb shape. It should be the easiest to make anyways." Walker''s choice made the other mages happy, They too wanted to see the fruits of the experiment today.


    "Then we will make a crystal orb, or moremonly named; a crystal ball. But we will leave the inside hollow for the condensed manas to rotate in. I think you should have the different elemental manas make a circle and chase each other to reduce the stress when we make and ass them to the crystal ball."


    "That makes sense. They will be too busy trying to catch each other than trying to escape the area they are trapped in." Walker couldn''t agree more.


    Alma and a few mages returned from a far off room at the opposite end of the training area. They were carrying threerge crystal training dummies. One was cracked and the other was in rough shape. The third was perfect and Walker could tell it had never been used before.


    "Here we are. This one should be good for a small item. This should be good for a medium sized item and this one is just extra, but I have a feeling you want all three." Alma had already started to catch on to the fact that Walker was always eager to gather new materials or gear.


    "You are starting to know me too much, I hope Gil didn''t fill you in on my weaknesses." Alma blushed at the mention of Gil since she had indeed talked with her about the party. However, she had only learnedmon sense things, like how Walker would easily be lost in thought without someone to pull him to reality.


    "Do I owe you anything? I don''t want to take without repaying you all. It wouldn''t be fair." The mages all looked at him with appreciation. They knew that a true mage would be respectful even in the heat of experiments with magic.


    "Those are the property of us light mages. You can have all of them and the remaining crafted gear if you are able to seed in your experiments. I want to see the results." This was great news to Walker who was more excited to try and learn another new skill. The process of getting the fusion of the two elemental spells was bing more and more involved by the moment.


    "Of course I will do just that. I will have this skill learned as fast as I can. Then I will start to make the fusion skill using this as a base. Earth magic is really something. I didn''t even think of using crystals at first."


    "I know it is hard for some people to understand that the crystals in the ground are really part of the earth. They are all condensed earth elemental mana or other pieces of the earth. Very simr to ores in a mine but smoother." The crystal mageughed at his joke a little.


    Walker was starting to see that shaping a crystal would be harder than regr earth. The crystals he had been shown were very dense and contained a lot of perfect t surfaces. The reason he knew things would be harder to shape the crystal was his feeling of the earth''s elemental mana in the crystal itself. It was very solid and unforgiving, if Walker tried to force it he knew that he would end up shattering the crystal instead of changing the shape.


    ''We have crystals now. Here are a spare set of tools for you to use. We can get started." Walker took the tools from the crystal mage and looked at the cracked dummy he was going to start with.


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 Chapter 381 - 381. Shaping Crystals

    "First things first, we need to use the chisels to break off thergest chink we can." The crystal mage went up to the dummy and took the chisel in hand. He then pulled out a hammer from under his tan cloak and smashed it down on the chisel. In one simple m, there was a head sized chunk for crystal on the ground in front of him. "Just look for a weak point and hit hard."


    Walker held the chisel he had been given in his hand and walked over to the same dummy. He looked at the dummy and soon found a small crack. He thought that it was the perfect ce to hit since it was already damaged.


    Walker readied the chisel and pulled one of the dual hammers from his inventory. He aimed the t side at the chisel and replicated the swing the crystal mage had used. However, the aftermath was wildly different. Instead of breaking in to a perfect chunk, the entire dummy fell in to tenrge shattered pieces. The sound of breaking crystal was almost like shattered ss.


    The amount ofughter that rang out from the mages watching this scene were too many to count. The sudden breaking of the dummy was funny to them, but the surprised jaw dropped face of Walker was even more hysterical.


    Alma came up and surveyed the remnants of the dummy, "You could have left it in fewer pieces."


    "Next time you can break it then." The two red at each other beforeughing too. Walker was just happy that Remey and Gil weren''t there to tease him about the damage to the dummy he had done.


    "It''s fine," The crystal mage wiped a tear from his eye due toughing. "We can use any of those pieces, they arerge enough." Walker grabbed the roundest looking chunk of crystal and had the hope that it would be easier for him to carve in to a round orb.


    "Now I can''t teach you to carve any patterns in to them since I am not a proper craftsman. I can only shape them to hold and expel mana which is exactly what we need them for in the city. But if you find certain cksmiths they could carve runes in the,m to assist in the magical functions." As the crystal mage said this Walker could only think of the wandering cksmith.


    He would be having a talk about making these orbs able to carry runes even when having their shapes change. But first, he needed to learn the crystal crafting skill. "Where are we going to start? Do I need to just start chipping away?'' Walker had no idea how this would work.


    "Nope, we need to use the edge of the chisel to mark out where we will be cutting. This will keep the spot that chips off when we di use the chisel to cut t and easy to smooth out. If you just go at it with the chisel you could crack the entire thing and need to start over." This was a simple lesson and one Walker took to heart. He would hate to waste so much material by not listening properly.


    Walker watched as the crystal mage used his tools to make scratches around the sharp pointed parts of the chunk of tan crystal. It was starting to look like someone had let it be a toy for a tough toothed beast until the crystal mage changed tactics. He was chipping away with soft taps at the base of every scratch he made. There were perfect slivers of the crystal falling off making the crystal more and more round with each soft hit.


    Walker started to make his own scratches finding that he needed to use a lot more force to make them. The crystal was a lot harder than the crystal mage made it look, Walker had the sneaking suspicion that the crystal mages'' crystal crafting skill made this so.


    Luckily the mages had grown silent so that he could work in focus, this was a very respectable thing since most other ces would continue to work or train around people. The mages in the elf city, however, knew the value of the experiments their fellow mages did, even if they were different elements. Therefore, the mages would hold to a silent mannerism when one mage was having a challenging experiment in the training area.


    Walker soon held a scratched up crystal. It had taken almost triple the time that the crystal mage had, but he was there. "That is looking pretty good for a first try. Now, remember, tap softly. If you tap too hard you might shatter the entire thing." Walker heeded these words and treated the crystal as if it was the most delicate thing in the world.


    He chipped away at it slowly but surely and managed to get a few slivers to fall. "Perfect, you are much better than I expected. Now I will just watch, if I see you about to hit adelicate spot I will stop you." The crystal mage proceeded to only interrupt to give advice or change Walker''s hands. Not before long, the two had a semi-smooth crystal ball in their hands.


    Now we can use the earth molding skills, or in your case high earth sculpting, to smooth the outside. Just be gentle and think of it as a process that should take longer than long." This was how the crystal mage had learned to polish and how the crafting skill preferred to work.


    The two spent over an hour of softly adjusting the smoothness of the crystal balls to find a perfect smoothness. Walker had a few moments where he was worried he had started to shape it improperly but was reassured by the crystal mage. His mana was steadily drained from using the high earth sculpting skill for so long. By the time the shine and smoothness they wanted was reached he was ready for his third mana potion in the entire process.


    "Thest part is the hardest. We need to use the earth elemental mana within the crystal to force the crystal itself to have a small hollow inside." Walker was worried about this part from the start. It sounded and looked challenging.


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 Chapter 382 - 382. Finishing A Crystal Ball

    "If we do that won''t it cause the crystal to break?" Walker thought that the crystal would be under too much pressure having its internal structure changed to store the mana and eventually have the entire shape changed to fit the pure light de and the pure dark spear skills.


    "You''re thinking of it in the wrong way. You have shaped earth before, so that means you know it has the strength to change with enough mana. So it is the same with the crystals. It can change shape and allow the two manas to intertwine and work with each other. If you need a light de then it can channel the light in to the shape you want the skill to take. If you want a dark spear it can do that as well." Walker was still confused.


    "The crystal will be a catalyst. It will still have its earth elemental mana, but it will fuse with both light and darkness elements. Once that happens it will be the bond between them. You can use the skills in most shapes and forms but will be stuck with a solid item containing mana instead of gathering it. There are ups and downs."


    The exnation was starting to look clearer to Walker. If he wanted to use the skills even faster than he could not, he would add mana to the crystal ball. This mana would be one with the earth element in the crystal. From there he could change the shape of the crystal using his high earth sculpting while maintaining the bnce in the darkness and light element.


    Furthermore, he would be able to add the strength of the earth element to the skills. It would be a wee bonus when he wanted to cause more physical damage in the skills. The fusion of the skills would be sparked by the item. Walker knew all too well it would be one of his first item required skills.


    Item required skills were very different from skills used with certain gear or tools. Those skills could be used on any of the tools of various sizes or any weapon with the same make, even when customized. But an item specific skill could only be used on a very specialized item, often crafted by the user of the skill that paired with it. Many of these skills were high or mastery tier, rarely would an individual have them.


    "Watch what I do with the earth elemental mana, it will push back a lot but when the crystal condenses it will make many small pathways. They are like roots that let the crystal be one with the other mana added." Walker watched as the mana flowed from the crystal mage and in to the crystal ball he had already smoother with his earth shaping skills.


    The ball appeared to be cracking but this was not what was not what was actually happening. The crystal was being forcefully condensed from the inside out. The cracks were actually little passages made hollow by the shaping. Soon a small marble sized bubble was easily seen within the crystal ball. "Ligh and dark elemental mana please." The crystal mage asked for the assistance of the dark and light mages.


    The two mages touched the crystal ball and slowly caused the darkness and light elemental manas to condense and flow in to the crystal ball. "Stay equal while I hold this. If one of you adds too much it will shatter." This was nerve wracking for everyone watching. One misstep and they could all be facing a failed experiment and some major injuries.


    The mana that flowed in to the crystal ball slowly decreased. The light and dark mage did not take their eyes off of the other. They were going to stop the flow of mana at the exact same time and leave the remaining finishing touches to the crystal mage.


    In the same instant, the two mages removed their hands from the crystal ball and the swirl of condensed light and dark mana was left. The small passage ways within the crystal ball were full. The center had rotating light and darkness elemental mana. All that was left was the finishing from the crystal mage.


    He sat there intensely focused on sealing the manapletely within the crystal ball. Walker watched as the crystal itself started to reflect the light and dark colors of the mana until it became a clear grey. The tan tint was very subtle, but when it gained this color the crystal mage released a long held breath.


    "That is that. The mana is fused in to the item and it is ready to be used. I can change the shape and with the help and training with another light mage or another dark mage, we can manifest the dark spear or light de in the item. Sadly we would need to be in contact with it so it is not practical. It is more or less useless because of that." Walker frowned knowing that this would be much harder than the previous steps. But he was going to give it his best effort.


    The light and dark mages used their own mana potions and stood at the ready next to Walker. They were prepared to see this through to the end, their curiosity was still strong but they had gained amitment to the fusion skill that would be created.


    Walker calmed his breathing and started to focus on the changes within the crystal ball he had seen in the crystal mages''. His goal was to replicate it and produce the same result, however, he was met with very strong resistance. His mana was almost pushed away immediately as he used the high earth sculpting. His face broadcasted his desire to push harder and make the change happen. He would not give up at such a small challenge.


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 Chapter 383 - 383. Unique Item

    The crystal ball reacted to his harsher mana immediately. Walker wasn''t sure how much of his mana he would need to influence the stronger condensed earth elemental mana within the crystal, but the high earth sculpting skill was taking a lot of the strain away.


    "You will burn through your mana in a second like that, I can help." Alma''s voice was close behind him and he felt a hand on his back. The next thing he knew was that there was an influx of natural mana being guided in to him. His body immediately adjusted and started using it to fuel his skills.


    Walker wanted to respond with a thank you and surprise since he didn''t expect that Alma would have such a skill. But it made sense that she would be able to channel the natural mana in some form due to her ability to manipte and grow nts in the environment around her.


    With her additional assistance, Walker could feel that he was able to shape the inside of the crystal ball in a much more efficient manner. The natural mana added to his own was a much better at changing the shape of the earth elemental mana than the mana produced by his body.


    The crystal ball slowly gained a bubble in the center and appeared to gain cracks. Walker already knew that these were the passage ways he needed for the elemental manas to flow. "Please add the darkness and light elemental manas." His cue made the dark and light mage act. They held the same intense focus as they added mana.


    Walker felt more push back since the crystal didn''t want to allow more mana in to it and tried to resist. But Walker felt this happening and utilized his high earth sculpting to hold back the earth elemental mana. This made the crystal ball able to take in the darkness and light manas.


    The color of the crystal slowly changed and before Walker knew it the light and dark mages removed their hands. Without their guidance, Walker now had three different elemental manas to deal with. He knew the crystal mage had just had the earth elemental mana submit and fuse, but he had a different idea.


    Since he could manipte all three of the elemental manas he decided to make them fuse in harmony. His mana was pushed back yet again since the strain of controlling three different elemental manas was more than he had ever attempted. But with Alma backing him up, it started to bend to his will.


    The three elements started to bond little by little until the crystal changed in to a sparkling tan color. There were multiple shades of dark and light tan blending like shadows and sun on the sand. This was the ideal bond Walker had wanted to make and as soon as he felt them bnce and work together within the crystal ball he let out his own held breath.


    ''The skill crystal crafting has been learned due to user actions. The skill crystal crafting has been taken from the crystal shaper system.


    Crystal crafting-mana user action dependent


    The user can more easily shape crystals with earth magic skills. The user will be able to more easily infuse elemental mana in to any crystal based item they create. The amount of mana used is dependent on the other skill used in tandem with the crustal crafting skill.''


    Walker felt that the effort had all been worth it reading this skill. It was a very general sounding skill but held a lot of promise for his future weapon making endeavors. His gaze theny on his crystal ball, the differences in his and the crystal mages'' were striking. He had not expected such an ideal result in his first attempt.


    "Thank you, Alma, you two as well. The three of us working on the crystal ball gave us an amazing result." Walker was happier than ever as he used his all around appraisal to check out the crystal ball.


    '' Moldable crystal ball


    This item does not add any benefit to any stat. This crystal ball houses three elements: earth, darkness, light. Due to the creator sessfully bonding three elements the crystal ball can be manipted by earth shaping skills. The crystal ball can disy skills with light and darkness elements. This item is mana bonded to the true hero Walker. No other can wield this item. This crystal ball can be used with a unique fusion skill.''


    "The appraisal says it can be used with a unique fusion skill!" Walker''s shout brought enthusiasm to the mages. They started to ramble on about their aplishments and learning abilities. They appeared to be entranced by the crystal ball that had been created.


    "Of course we make a crystal ball and they are different. Congrattions sir hero, you definitely learned one of my skills." The crystal mage had seen the change in the mana and realized that having a better understanding of the earth element would have given him the same result as the dark and light mages. He just needed to train a little more.


    "Thank you so much for your help. But now we need to see how to change the shape of the crystal ball." Walker was worried about this part and wanted to see if the crystal mage could demonstrate.


    "Changing the shape is easy. If I want to make a spear like the dark spear I just use my earth shaping and slowly change it."The crystal mage started to pour mana into the crystal ball that he had created. The shape changed slowly in to a spear shape. The mana inside stayed the same but now spread throughout the entire crystal spear. Walker jumped to his own and started to try and change the shape. He was about to use his mana when he realized he had no idea what the best shape would be for the crystal to take when being used for a unique item''s fusion skill.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 384 - 384. Fusing The Skills

    Walker held the crystal ball in his hands, he was frozen on the spot. He had no idea what to use his high earth sculpting skill to mold the crystal ball in to. If he used the pure light de skill he would prefer a sword. If he used the pure dark spear the only answer was a spear. This left him torn on how to mold these two skills and what shape they would need.


    "I think you should make the darkness the outer part of the crystal. Leave the deadly soul attack as the center de." Alma spoke up. She had been resting after using her skills to give Walker the natural mana.


    "I believe using the spear shape as the base is the best method." The dark mage mostly wanted to see the skill he had as the base since it would show off more of the darkness elemental magic.


    "I am fine with that. The decay effect from your spear needs to have more physical coverage. My light de just needs to make contact and damage is done to the soul to bleed mana. Make the light de the spear head." The light mage could care less about the looks. Instead, he just wanted to make sure that his skill was seen as the most important.


    Walker could see how the two would normally act when they weren''t cooperating over something they were both eager to see happen. He decided to go with their idea though, he followed the crystal mage''s idea and started to shape the crystal ball in to a spear. To his surprise, the crystal ball changed shape at an incredible speed. He only used a single manapared to what he knew the crystal mage must have used.


    "That was so fast! Is this what a unique item really does?" The crystal mage took Walker''s newly transformed crystal spear in his hands. He analyzed the shape and the feeling finding that it was perfectly bnced physically and in mana.


    "Well, the appraisal does say that only I can wield it as its creator." Walkerughed a little at the attention he got over the speed that the spear came to be out of the crystal ball and the fact that he said unique item.


    "The only one that can wield it? You fused the elements to it that well?" Alma had heard of this but hadn''t expected this to be done by someone who wasn''t an elven craftsman.


    "We can talk about thatter. Give him the spear and let''s get to manipting the mana within. The darkness elemental mana should be spread thin-"


    "And the light element concentrated in the center along with the entire spear head." The dark mage started speaking but the light mage jumped in to finish. The two were nearly bouncing in excitement.


    Walker took hold of the spear and started to do what he was asked. The mana inside the spear easily reacted to him but making the two different manas move to different parts and even though was tough.


    Walker knew he had to manipte both at the same time and also use the earth elemental mana to keep the crystal base stable. He knew that he didn''t need to keep the earth elemental mana bnced perfectly since it was acting as the stronger bonding agent of the three elemental manas. This led Walker to first use that to travel through the crystal and assist in its density.


    Once he had reached afortable ce with the earth element throughout the entire spear he started to slowly move the darkness and light elemental manas. He felt that Alma had started to share the natural mana with him. This gave him the strength to make the two elemental manas pass by each other without falling out of bnce.


    The darkness element took the surface of the spear while the light element took the core. The two elements were pushing on each other constantly. As much as the darkness element pushed inwards the light element pushed outwards. The only ce for the light element to be in front and open was the spear head that Walker allowed it to travel.


    The light element was at first, just a ball on top of the spear removing any of the sharpness from the crystal. But as Walker used more of his mana to shape the light elemental mana it became sharp again. The darkness slowly ebbed in to the spear head no matter what he did, but it felt natural to him so he did not stop it.


    The strange webbed light and dark look of the spearhead was radiating a terrifying feeling. Walker wasn''t sure if this was just the power of opposing elements being forced together or if it was the effects he knew they could have on a person''s body.


    The darkness element had covered the entire spear at this point and closed off the opposite end. The light element waspletely the core of the spear and the earth elemental mana acted as the buffer between the two. The crystal was holding up very well against the pressure, so much so that Walker thought that it could even hold up if more was added.


    The mages watched as the darkness elemental mana tried to hold a stable shape against the light elemental mana. The two were fluctuating and refused to stay calm. But with Alma and Walker adding more and more mana every minute they finally reached the turning point. Like a puzzle piece clicking in ce the spear suddenly became rigid and calm.


    Walker was efficiently making a pure dark spear and a light de while using the earth elemental mana and the crystal as a base.What was left was a silence of everyone present. They were shocked to see a triple elemental spell held together by a unique item just created. There were no words for such a feat in such a short time.


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 Chapter 385 - 385. Flipped Mage

    '' the user has sessfully fused the skill pure dark spear and the skill pure light de using the unique item; moldable crystal ball. The earth elemental moldable crystal ball is full bound to the creator; True hero Walker. The unique skill (crystal) de of night and day has been taken from the flipped mage system.


    (Crystal) de of night and day- 6 mana cost; ten strike duration


    This skill can only be used with a specialized catalyst. This skill can only be used when the user has learned the pure dark spear and the pure light de skill. This skill takes hold of the user specific catalyst and uses it as a base for the light and darkness elemental skills to manifest. The light aspect of this skill causes the soul of the target to be damaged upon impact, this causes the mana bleeding temporary effect. The darkness aspect of this skill causes the target''s physical body to be damaged upon contact, this causes the decaying effect. The skill can only be used for ten consecutive hits before it needs additional mana as fuel.''


    Walker held the crystal spear that had taken shape from the moldable crystal ball. He read the system''s notification over and over not believing what he was reading. This was an amazing skill that could damage even the toughest enemy. Walker didn''t even need to pierce that deeply in to his opponent. He could just scratch tough armor and at the very least he would leave behind the decaying darkness elemental mana.


    "Come on, tell us. Is the fusion skill finished? What does your system say?" Alma was the one to speak for all the mages. When Walker had stopped using the mana she was supplying she knew it was finished. Every mage was looking at him in the training room. He could feel their longing gazes.


    "The skill is called crystal de of night and day. The word crystal seems to be the addition since I have the moldable crystal ball as my unique item. The system says this skilles from the flipped mage system. I have no idea what that system is. But the skill is intense." Walker went in to more detail reading the skill out loud. When he finished the room was silent.


    Walker looked around lost to why everyone was so silent. Finally, he got the courage up to ask Alma. "Why isn''t everyone freaking out or jumping around or asking a million questions?"


    Alma looked a little troubled but also in a simr daze. "Well, we are amazed by the result and I am sure there are many questions. But you mentioned a very rare system. Actually so rare that we only know two who have ever had it. The flipped mage system you mentioned is almost a legend at this point, but the story is still passed down for mages." Walker had started to realize that this was an important system to the mages.


    "Let us exin, please. The system is most important to the light and dark mages here." The light mage looked Walker in the eye and stood next to the dark mage. "The flipped mage system was first discovered and recorded much before our time. We only know the story because this mage in specific was the first to sessfully fuse two opposing elements. Before them, it was considered taboo for our race, so much so that we had never even seen a system holder with such elemental standing."


    The dark mage spoke next, "The flipped mage was a young elf born during an eclipse. It was both day and night at the same time. It is considered a very unique time for light and dark mages since the two elemental manas we specialize in are in a natural harmony. It is the only time the two join hands perfectly." This made a lot of sense to Walker.


    The light mage continued'' "This child grew up normally and lived a normal life. Unfortunately, it appeared they would not unlock a system at all. However, we were blessed by theing of aet that blocked the sun in the same way an eclipse would. The sudden bnce of light and darkness mana caused the system to unlock, and more."


    The dark mage continued, "The child gained the ability to use both dark and light elemental spells. This was considered impossible to our elders. This sparked a massive amount of research with the child at its center. There was only one problem, a very unique passive skill."


    The two mages breathed deeply before they continued. The light mage started again, "The passive skill was called dual persona. This skill caused the child to change personalitiespletely based on the time of day when their elements were strongest. During the day they had great strength in light elemental magic."


    "And during the night they were nearly unmatched in darkness elemental magic. But he was more than just one mage. The only two times in a day when he had one train of thought like a normal being was the period when the sun was rising but it was neither dark nor light"


    "And when the sun was setting and it was neither light nor dark. This made it extremely challenging to understand everything and it took years to record things about the system. Unfortunately, as time went on their minds both fell under more and more stress. The passive skill kept their body from resting properly."


    Alma stopped them with a hand and finished the history lesson, "They tried to split their minds in to two separate bodies each based on their skill. The mistake they made in their actions was the fact that the light and darkness elemental golems they created were made improperly. The runes used, crystals, and everything else had been reversed. The mind of the dark side ended up in a light golem and the light in a dark golem. Their shared soul was split and they ceased to exist." There was only deadly silence.


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 Chapter 386 - 386. Skill Demonstration

    Walker sat in silence while he came to terms with how the elves must feel. He could tell that this mage was a very big piece in the evolution of their mana theories and understanding. They had seen nature use the fusion of elements but been purists themselves. This was even still seen today but just as a base for getting stronger before trying to fuse elements with another mage.


    He could also understand the pain of watching a pioneer of their own species fall from the peak to a tragic end could bring them great sadness. "I am sorry for bringing it up. But to me, this mage sounds like they did many things no one could have dreamed until it happened." Walker ced it delicately.


    The eyes of the mages sparkled with understanding and drive. They knew that it was a very unique situation and had been passed down for good reason. The meaning wasn''t to be stuck and sad but instead motivated to do what seemed impossible.


    "We know we brought the atmosphere down, but we wanted to share a story and history of what drives mages. Some don''t have the fire to experiment until they hear history like that. Others need to learn the lesson of understanding. We wanted you to hear it as well." The fire mage spoke up for all the mages. Alma nodded along to Walker so he would know she felt the same.


    "Now that the history lesson is over, I think it is only right for you to demonstrate the skill. As far as I know we never saw this skill written in the recordings." The crystal mage hesitantly spoke up, however, their words proved to be the right move. He managed to spark the curiosity again in the mages whichpletely changed the feeling of the training area.


    "Then bring another training dummy forward and let''s see what it does to the mana stored inside. This should be the best test of the two effects of the skill." Alma saw the chance to push the mages'' curiosity farther. In her mind, if the mages were given more inspiration they could start fusing other skills with other mages and possibly find better ones from one interaction with another kingdoms'' visitor.


    Walker wielded the crystal spear while the skill was active, he knew he had ten strikes before he would have to activate the darkness and light elemental manas again to create the crystal de of night and day.


    He nned to use the quick jab skill he had gotten in the demi-human kingdom of Ordist. He had noticed it well after the matches but never used it, mostly because he had not put any effort in to using a spear before. Now it would be different, he could use the crystal de of night and day along with the quick jab skill. This would be a devastatingbination attack to cripple an opponent, Walker would need to be very careful how and when he used it.


    The mages brought over a wooden training dummy filled with elemental mana. It was a special dummy the elves used to test mana draining magic skills on. Once the mages were clear Walker approached the wooden dummy with the spear at the ready.


    With all his might Walker used the quick jab skill five times. Each hit struck the dummy in the center causing deep piercing wounds. The next moment Walker witnessed the points in which he attacked turning grey and starting to crumble. The mana bleeding out of the wooden dummy spreading in the air.


    Walker took note that the spear could do a little more than just damage a soul. It could damage a non-living mana storage item. This coulde in handy if he needed to break a form of core or mana storage gear.


    The effects were strong and before they all realized it a hole had rotted in the dummy the size of a small pumpkin. This would be a grievous and life ending injury to any humanoid being. If it was a medium sized monster it would spell their death. Walker released the skill and used his remaining mana to make the crystal spear change back in to the crystal ball shape. He was a little fearful of this skill.


    "That is a lot to handle." Alma wasn''t sure what else to say. She could tell that the skill was dangerous and could deal with monsters above the level any of them would normally be able to defeat. She could even see it being able to do damage to some high ss monsters.


    "The light elemental mana appeared to use some of the mana escaping from the dummy as fuel for the decay the darkness elemental mana was doing. They were working together."


    The light elemental mage had kept his eyes focused as best as he could and had seen something he considered amazing. "The key to therge amount of damage wasn''t the multiple strikes. But the fact that as the mana bleeds away it lets the darkness elemental mana push in and decay more." The dark mage and light mage had both created their theory,


    "The earth element was there too. The spear head prated the wood much more than it would have normally. The spear was toughened." The crystal mage was happy to join in properly and received approving looks from the other earth mages. This was the first time they had allowed him to take the lead and he was presenting them well at his younger age.


    "So in the end the elements that were fused equally caused the damage and effects to be greater than if they were used separately. That result is exactly what we wanted. Not to mention it is new information to study." Walker summed up the little report happily. The negative feelings had been shaken away by burning curiosity within the mages.


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 Chapter 387 - 387. Spell Sword Experiments

    The mages all gathered in a circle and started to share other theories that could be simrly implements. The crystal mage became very busy exining the storage of mana and the creation of unique items versus what they made. One of the mages even passed the idea of getting an archer to try and make a few crystal arrows with dual elements, something that had been extremely rare in the elven history.


    "Excuse me, but we have been watching for a while and would like to ask some questions." An elven girl had made her way behind Walker without him realizing it.


    The mages quieted hearing this and weed the question, whatever it was. Walker turned to see an elf with two different swords on her hips. One was blue like the deep waters in arge pond and the other a pure white. "What do you need to know? I''m sorry I didn''t include you and the other spell swords more. I was a little caught up." Walker felt bad that he hadn''t invited them closer sooner.


    "It was no offense, we prefer to hold back and analyze a situation to test ourselves." The elf was very polite and held her head high. The other spell swords stood evenly lined up behind her. "If you were to make those crystal items in the shapes of swords and allowed us to channel pure elemental mana in to them, do you think they could be used for our battle skills?"


    "They might not be as strong as the tempered swords you use." The crystal mage wasn''t sure what they were getting at, but Walker had an idea.


    "I would say the elements would be easily sealed within them and bound. But if you are looking for one with light and water elemental mana inside I think that is also possible." Walker saw the look of surprise and excitement appear on the spell swords'' faces.


    "You are smart to see the elements I use. I am one of the few duel elemental spell swords here at the moment. I have some skills that use two swords striking at the same time. I would like to see if I can have a crystal sword that acts like my two together."


    This was exactly what Walker had thought they would want. The spell swords didn''t always use physical attacks and would also use magical. Waker couldn''t guess any other reason their systems were called spell sword.


    "Can I take a guess? You want to try and fuse your light sh and water de skill?" Alma had guessed correctly, she had made sure to remember important skills to those that were working hard to be stronger.


    "That is correct. We see that there is the chance to strengthen even our normal single element skills with these unique items. If we are sessful then we might get more range out of our shing elemental attacks. It could be a valuable experiment with valuable results for those leaving to join the defense at the borders."


    Alma looked a little unhappy, this was a constant focus for the spell swords. They were trained in physicalbat and some magicalbat. This gave them a more militant attitude focusing on the state of war or guarding borders. For this reason, many enforcers were spell sword system users.


    "We can start the experimentation, but it will be a long process." Alma made sure to emphasize this part. She knew Walker''s situation was unique due to his ability to use all elements.


    "It is faster than you think. We saw how fast a non-elf can do these things. If we put our minds to it we will seed." Walker saw the elf give positivity, but he knew that wouldn''t make the experiments go faster.


    "He has skills that allow for the use of every element''s maniption. The only reason that result came to be was for that skill and his mental strength. We would need multiple mages toplete the same thing. This means weeks or months of training together to fuse magic." Alma spelled it all out knowing that she would have to be as clear as possible.


    The spell swords did not look happy to hear this, but with the facts set out before them, they could not argue against them, "Please join the experiments though. Having spell swords to test the crystals'' breaking points is very important to us. We may find something new that we missed." Alma tried to reach a middle ground where they could still try things but would know not to expect instant results.


    The spell swords did not want to give up so quickly though. "We should start trying new experiments as soon as possible. It could mean many things for our people." Walker was able to chime in this time as Alma searched herself for another answer to what the spell sword just said.


    "Then tomorrow I wille here again. I have a feeling we have long missed dinner and even breakfast. Everyone here should get rest and think on their own theories, Tomorrow we can start fresh and work better since we are energized." his words struck a chord with them.


    "Why wait? We can easily proceed now." The spell sword didn''t want to wait, but Walker had a trump card to use.


    "I have other matters to attend to. I am happy to assist in this matter, but I am the leader of my party and an ambassador of my kingdom. I know that you would not shirk your duty in this situation and nor will I." His words hit the elf hard. She had no way to argue since he was right.


    Walker noticed Alma''s smile and guided him towards the door. Surprisingly almost every mage followed. There was not a divide between the mages and spells swords, but the mages did support Walker more than ever now. They saw a mage much like them with a passion for understanding the magic they possessed more every day.


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 Chapter 388 - 388. Found Su

    "Thanks for that." Alma was happy to avoid any further experiments for the time being. She knew all too well the fact that the spell swords could rush in to things to try and get more powerful and cause themselves harm. They were very dedicated to a fault, which made her worry.


    "Thank you for your assistance with mana. I had n idea you could borrow mana from the forest and send it to someone." Walker was still more than impressed by her skill. It was a huge boon for an elf who was always surrounded by natural mana.


    "That skill is called natural mana conversion. I basically be the conductor for the mana. It is really hard on my body. But it was worth it to see the spark in their eyes. Just look at them, they are all still going on about what to try next." Alma looked at the mages who were talking furiously with other elemental mages.


    "This reminds me of how I felt when I learned I could influence nts like the queen. I might have asked every possible question and still had more." Almaughed a little weakly, she was finally showing the tiredness she had gained from using her skills for so long.


    Walker knew that in her position she had to stand tall at almost all times. It was impressive the dedication she was showing. He was especially impressed by the fact that she seemed to take the time to know many aspects of her people''s lives and desires.


    "Well, as far as I can tell they are driven and that is a good thing. I will happily help, but only if you rest well enough. I can''t provide enough mana by myself for that long term testing. But if we make some crystal items for them specifically then I should be using a lot less mana."Walker started to think of his own theories as they walked towards where Walker was staying. Sierra made herself known again, she had been holding back to avoid any interruption.


    "Your party members have already left for their respective tasks. The only member that is nearby is your defender. Miss Su is currently strolling the markets."


    "I''m sorry that you were forced to stay with us experimenting all night and most of this morning. I''m sure you are used to it with your enforcer position, but it is still not easy." Walker had felt even worse realizing that he had been the reason Sierra had been stuck there guarding him.


    "There is no reason to worry. This is the task I have been assigned and I was able to view something very special to the mages I will work with for years toe." Sierra, however, was happy to have been there. She had not been bored or tired in the slightest. Instead, she had learned with them.


    "I am d that''s the case. Now I need to be off for a bit to rest. Walker, I will see you after you have rested as well." Alma was at her breaking point. Her tiredness had built and she knew she had to get home to recuperate her mana and rest her body.


    "I will see youter. Maybe Gil will be back from hunting with all the materials he needs by them." His slight tease made Alma rush away a little faster. Walker couldn''t help but be amused by this. He had been teased by Gil and Remey so much that now he really enjoyed being on the opposite end.


    "Can you take me to where Su is? I am interested in what she has learned from the elf craftsmen yesterday. I think she must have found something good." Sierra nodded to Walker and took the lead. He was tired, but with the constant supply of mana fromAlma and mana potions, he was not nearly as exhausted as he expected. He had a sneaking suspicion that there were other buff effects used on him through the process that Alma had not admitted to.


    Sierra led him through the trees and past the area of the markets that Walker had explored the day before and went farther towards some treehouses with many more items on disy. Walker only realized now that he had missed a huge area of the markets by leaving for other things the day before. Luckily for him, Su was easy to spot since she had both of her shields on her back.


    Walker managed to catch up to her as she browsed a stall full of forest edible nts. "Sorry for missing you yesterday. If you can believe it I was caught up infusing two spells, which turned in to a whole other thing." Su looked at Walker with knowing eyes.


    "Leader, if there is ever a day you don''t get caught up in something unexpected then that will be the day the world ends." Sheughed a little while paying for a bunch of pink grapes. "These are very good, they are only able to grow here in the forests because of the shade and natural mana."


    Walker took a few and was pleasantly surprised by the sweet and sour vors of the pink grapes. "Let me guess, this is something you found yesterday?"


    "Of course, while you were busy I decided to explore. It is really beautiful the way everything had been naturally shaped and crafted in to the trees. The elves are very polite and enjoy telling me about their home. I could see us visiting again just to rx." This was just like Su, she had always gotten along with the healers because of her kindness and dedication. Now she was making bonds left and right with the same kindness in the elf city. Eleven now Walker spotted a few elves looking at her with smiles.


    "Well, could I bother you to show me the ropes? I only visited two shops the other day and did not get the full experience." Su gave Walker a vibrant excited smile. She was happy to have another to walk with other than the enforcers that she knew were always around the corner.


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 Chapter 389 - 389. Rune Sewn Fabric

    Su started off by showing Walker all the food stalls she had browsed the day before. He had wildly underestimated her love for sweet breakfast foods and was soon stuffed beyond what he needed. The only positive was that he had missed two meals the day before and was actually very hungry.


    "The ce I found yesterday is very interesting. It is a shop that specifically crafts clothing. The trick is they weave patterns that attract mana in to the fabric. They make very beautiful and ornate designs that I think would be considered high ss at home." This was surprising to Walker who had not expected Su to take an interest in regr clothing.


    She practically dragged him to the shop which had many hanging swatches of fabric or shirts and pants hanging on disy. There were also some thin cloaks that could be worn in the summer. To Walker, it appeared these were mostly for show. But he started to sense that these were made in a way that attracted specific elemental manas.


    "This blue one is for the elves that maintain the gardens. It helps them bond well with the water elemental spirits. This green one has both earth and water elemental attraction to help those who nt the seeds and foster their growth. Oh, and this one-"


    "Is that our new friend Su back again so soon?" A very thin woman came out and smiled at Su.


    "Yes miss, I wanted to show my party leader the clothing you make. I thought he would find it interesting since his sister is a seamstress. I am not sure if she would be able to learn something like you do, but it can be inspirational." Su had more than just the benefits the clothing could give to them in mind.


    "Ah yes, a normal seamstress would have a lot of trouble doing what I can do with my elemental seamstress system. But it is not impossible. She might be able toy the foundation of the patterns then have some unique needles made that can infuse mana in to the fabric. Then there is a chance if they work hard enough for the same effects." The thin elf woman was very informative when it came to what she was speaking about. It was like a parent educating a group of children in kindness.


    "I do agree with Su, these are very well made. I am d she brought me." Walkerid thepliment down while memorizing the information to share with Lisa. He was amazed by how many things he was learning to bring back and share with not only his family but also the entire kingdom. "Can I ask you a question?"


    "Of course you can. I would fail in my job if I didn''t answer a customer''s question." The woman had already seen the sale in Walker''s future. She was running a business after all.


    "Are there any patterns that attract all mana and can be easily worn under what I am wearing now?" he was thinking that having a thin shirt that could attract all the elemental mana types to him would speed up his use of magic skills. Su smiled because she knew this exact question would leave his mouth.


    "I could make something like that. But it would be very challenging, the price would be a little high. The patterns need to be ced in a way that they won''t interfere with each other. But that is not a challenge for someone like me." The woman patted her arm muscle jokingly.


    "Then could I bother you for an undershirt? I would also be willing to purchase thin scarves with each elemental pattern on it." Walker thought that the scarves would be perfect learning material for Lisa along with useful essories for Gil''s mother when she worked in the garden.


    "I already have scarves like that. They are only twenty five gold each. They are basic essories for many who tend to the trees." Walker was even more surprised by the price. It was very cheappared to what he believed it would sell for in his kingdom. But it made sense since the essories were consideredmon essories here in the elf city.


    "That sounds fine by me. I made sure to bring appropriate funds. Would you like me to pay for the other item now?"


    "No no, just wait until youe back. I will need a day and a half to make it properly." The thin woman started to pack up scarves she had hanging around. She gave Su a wink that Walker managed to catch out of the corner of his eye. He knew that Su must have told her he would be doing just what he had done.


    "Now go and explore a little. I know you must be excited to see what we have built our city to be." The woman sounded exceptionally proud to have guests in the city. Walker could see her face brimming with Pride.


    Su pulled him along pointing to another food stall nearby. Walker wondered just how much more he could eat before he burst." I knew you would find that shop interesting. The woman who runs it very nice. She suggested a few ces for me to visit and even introduced me to a craftsman who works on essories. He has a system called the rune smith. I think it could be very useful to learn about."


    Walker heard this and immediately became interested. He had seen the wandering cksmith carve runes and knew it to be a magical addition to tools and gear. But he also knew that it was a skill only certain craftsmen could learn. The average cksmith would not be able to add runes to gear. But a magical or master cksmith would be able to without issue.


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 Chapter 390 - 390. Souvenirs

    After grabbing another snack made from berries that grow in the forest Su pushed Walker towards an average looking shop. Nothing really stood out about it other than the fact that he could feel arger amount of elemental manas surrounding it. He had a suspicion that this was caused by the very runes that were being added to items.


    "Eh, Su are you back to show off those mana storage runes carved on your shields again?" A gruff looking older elf man was scratching away at a small silver bell while sitting at a desk. Walker could clearly see the rune patterns being carved on it.


    "No sir, I have brought my party leader like I said I would. He is definitely going to like some of the things you have here." Su said this in a very bright and cheery tone. This made Walker more rxed in the new shop since Su seemed to have made decent friends with this craftsman in the past day.


    "Ah, so this is the boy you told me about. You''re the one that stood behind little Alma and got the ancestors to support a change for once. Nice job. Wee to my essory shop. I mostly take special orders but I do have some items for anyone whoes looking. Feel free to take a look and ask any questions."


    "So this is the craftsmen that I was told you got caught talking to?" Walker already knew the answer to be yes, but he wanted to see what Su had to say since she had been here already.


    "It is, I asked a lot of questions about the essories he made and found that some of them had a very useful rune that could recycle mana. I thought you would want to buy it." Walker was a little curious why Su had thought of him when it came to recycling mana. But her eager expression made him believe it was for a very good reason.


    "I already found something that can be a good souvenir for some of my healer friends at the cathedral along with my parents." Su held up small rune engraved charms of different animals. "These have the same runes that attract steady mana. It isn''t strong enough to help generate mana but because it is steady it helps the wearer stay calm and feel at ease. I thought that it would be a very pleasant gift."


    "Oh, I never thought of it like that. I only thought runes would be used for something like enhancing gear or adding effects. But small things like that are great for daily life." Walker hade to the conclusion that he had been too narrow minded. He had seen the effects of runes that the wandering cksmith used and assumed they were for this respective use.


    The problem was even in his kingdom he had only ever seen runes used for safeguarding doors or making enhanced defensive formations on walls or buildings. No one he met had used them in the way elves used them. This was the divide between a culture that used natural mana and studied systemspared to a culture that did not.


    Walker became more excited and went toward the row of shelves and tables in the small shop. There were charms that Su had shown him and even somerger items. He picked out ten charms so that he could give them as gifts as well. He was not ashamed of following Su''s lead since it was a wonderful souvenir item.


    His eyes soon rested on another silver bell simr to the one that the rune smith was already working on. "Can I ask what this bell does?"


    "Of course. It is amon item for shopkeepers to hang on their doorways. The runes I add to it make the sound travel farther so they can hear it from any ce in the shop." Walker nodded seeing the use for this item. In their kingdom, something like this could be snapped up very quickly by the shopkeepers or nobles.


    He looked through more items and found a set of child sized bracelets. There were multiple pieces of intertwined copper and silver. "These are different from the others, can I ask what they do?"


    The rune smith nced up before returning to work. "Those are bracelets for children who unlock systems with certain passive skills. I am proud to say that I made the one Alma actually used to wear before she could control her skill to whisper to forest nts. She would speak and her mana would be gone in a second. Many elves have the problem and will wear that. It will catch the mana and channel it back in to their bodies. That is why there are two different metals engraved with two different runes."


    Su was nearly bouncing she was so excited. "I asked the same thing and I could only think of how useful it would be for a certain someone at the cathedral who loses their mana every time they speak." She was trying to hint at something, but Walker already was consumed by the thought.


    "How much for one of these?" H held up thergest size which would fit Alice''s wrist easily.


    "You''re interested in that? I didn''t expect you to want it. You can have it for three gold. They are a dime a dozen around here." Walker was stunned. It was so cheap but would change someone''s life in such a great way.


    "Su, I owe you big for this." Walker could only think of how to imagine what Alice would think when he gave it to her. However, his face soon dropped. "It will be some time until we return home" He wanted to rush home and give this gift, but he needed to think of all the things he needed to aplish as a hero first.


    "Don''t worry. It seems like a long time, but it will be much shorter once you get distracted by some crazy skill or new friends. Just hold on to it. Also...hold on to mine too." Su sneakily asked Walker to store her souvenirs as well. Walker could onlyugh with her while his eyes turned to the other essories. Su had found a diamond in the rough.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 391 - 391. Accessories

    "So you''re telling me that this little ball attracts fire elemental mana and boils water?" Walker was holding a solid iron ball covered in white rune cravings.


    "Yes, if you add a little mana to start the run it will boil water for you without using fire. It is very useful for safe traveling during the dry season." The rune smith had be more and more involved the more questions Walker had asked. He was not used to having such curious customers and was enjoying it.


    "Then I will buy one too. How about this?" Walker held up a small metal zig zag shape. To him, it looked like scrap metal with multiple runes carved on it.


    "That is actually a very important building material. It has wind, fire, and light runes all carved on its small surface. I also add a little water rune to bind it. It has the unique ability to cause lightning to strike it instead of nearby trees, people, or homes. It functions like a miniature lightning rod"


    "So it can bnce the manas and attract lightning without being destroyed?" Walker had be much more serious. He had made lightning before but it was too dangerous and uncontrolled. He had given up until improving all of his elemental mana understandings.


    "Yes. It attracts certain amounts of each based on the rune length carved on it. Without the right ratio, it won''t attract lighting but be a producer of static electricity." This was such a wild difference. One made small dry zaps and the other brought brutal lightning to it? This question resounded through his mind.


    "Can you share with me the amounts of each mana needed? I think I could use it very much." The rune smith looked at him wondering what in the world Walker would do with this information.


    Walker saw and understood the confusion so he decided to exin himself. " I have made lightning before. But it was not controlled at all. I need to understand the ratios so I can make another fusion spell that I can control without the risk of harming my party. This item has the potential to do that."


    "So you wish to use it in battle, hm, you got it then. I''ll pass down my book on beginner runes. I never use it anymore anyway. I have another that I wrote myself that is much better." The rune smith headed to the work bench and grabbed a tattered book from under arge stack.


    "Are you sure that it''s alright to give me something so valuable?" Walker was worried that he would be taking something that could harm the rune smith''s business.


    "Of course it is. I could find a hundred copies of this book just by walking out the door and yelling for it. I don''t see why your kingdom wouldn''t be the same." The rune smith tossed the old book to Walker who barely managed to catch it at thest second.


    Walker opened the first page to see the basic rune formations allid out exining the rtions to the elements and the patterns they formed. This felt like Walker had just opened the mostplicated text possible, mostly because none of it made any sense. "Leader, are you nning on learning runes?" Su was curious if Walker would be trying to craft things too.


    "Well, I don''t see myself as much of a crafter. But if I learn the ratios of what elemental runes attract lightning then I might be able to understand what creates it better. Then I can gain control over the fusion spell I have messed around with before." Su understood immediately. She remembered the loud boom sound from when Walker had tried before.


    "Wait, you''re trying to make lightning? You know how crazy that sounds right? It could burn half the forest down in a few hours." The rune smith wasn''t ashamed to be listening in as he walked back to the essory shelving.


    "It could be a very strong attack for me to use., I also have a lot of fun experimenting with all of the magical fusions. I just need to do it safely." Walker looked like an excited kid the more he talked about it.


    "Well, don''t go testing this stuff in my shop. I don''t need to rebuild again. Thest time some wind mage fooled around my shop ended up half way in to the swamps." The rune smith was very dramatic and make Suugh, but Walker could feel this was a true story and not a joke.


    Walker looked at the stack of essories they had and wondered just how much they would end up paying, the worst part was that he hadn''t even looked at everything.


    "Sir, what does this green petal do?" Si held up a pin that was shaped like a founded flower petal. It was a smooth and light green color with leaf pattern veins.


    "I still have one of those in stock? I thought I stopped making those years ago. They never sell for anything." The rune smith looked like he was not happy having the failed business venture brought up. "That is called a falling petal charm, it has some wind runes carved in the veins of the leaf pattern. Pretty tough to make but it causes a greater effect." The more he spoke the more curious the two became.


    "With the multipleyers of runes, it is able to slow a high fall. The wind element will get pulled from the air and make a slight cushion. I thought it would be good for anyone that fell from the trees, but that was not a wise decision. I had the idea when I was drinking some berry beer and made one the next morning. But do you know how rare it is for an elf to fall out of a tree?"


    Walker and Su saw the immediate problem with this item, they had already seen the fact that elves would run and catch branches or vines like it was part of their own body.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 392 - 392. Future Advertising

    "I might have an idea for you." Walker and Su had the same look of understanding projected on their faces.


    "The elf city should have plenty of visitors soon and they are not elves. They won''t have the same skills to keep them on the branches or hopping the vines as an elf would." Su started off the thought and let Walker finish it.


    "So if you make these and sell them to the visitors they could be protected if they fall from the trees. Especially if you sell them to royalty and ambassadors thate visit, it could make your shop the most respected rune shop in the city because you care for the safety of every visitor."


    The rune smith''s eyes were wide. He had not thought of how valuable this would be for any visitors in the city because he had not thought they would ever have proper visitors. "They are only one use too, the mana that the runes generate is too powerful and makes them shatter, but it saves a life. I need to make more then."


    The rune smith started to shuffle around the materials and looked for everything he needed. Walker and Su were happy to be sharing this with him since he had been very informative and helpful when they asked questions.


    "How many people areing from your kingdom? How long? Do you think making fifty would be enough?" The rune smith had found the spark to craft and wanted to make as many as possible.


    "That will be a hard question to answer. The king might bring a few officials and guards with him. The guild master ising, then there are the demi-humans who will being but they might have wings or a flying skill but they also might not." Walker rambled on and was about to try and give an estimate when the rune smith spoke up again.


    "Who am I to just make fifty. I am a high ss rune smith. I can make a hundred in a day. What if someone falls multiple times? They will need one or five or even ten if they are clumsy. I will just craft until I can''t craft anymore." He was full of energy and had pulled more materials out that Walker and Su thought possible from underneath the work bench.


    "Sir, can we request a small bundle of them? We can give them as a wee to our kingdom members when they arrive. We of course will mention you and give out opinions. It would help them understand the importance of the charm so you don''t need to exin it." Su was trying to help but also knew that these were not something someone would go looking for without already knowing about them.


    "Advertising, how many years since I advertised anything? Yes of course, please I will make you twenty to take with you. Then I will head over to get a sign made and sell them in bundles of five, ten, and twenty." The rune smith was seeing possibilities that he had never used due to the fact that anything he made was considered amon ce item for elves, but with visitorsing there was an entirely new horizon for him to pursue.


    "Well then we can ce an order and leave you to it." Walker was all smiles because he knew that he had managed to find two dependable elves that made some unique items in a short time. He also had given them ideas on how their shops could change and evolve with the city opening up.


    "Yes yes, the order will be ready tomorrow. I will get my son over here to help too. Juste back anytime, and don''t worry about paying for anything, I need you to promise your word as a hero that my product is a safety measure fit for a king." This was a sly move, but a fair one. Walker and Su had already said they would advertise and help out when they purchased the items. But now he wanted to lock the deal in and make sure that they were willing to do so by making them feel slightly indebted.


    "Then we both swear. We would have without you asking us to through. We really believe that this will put many of the other races that visit at ease when they go up in to the trees." Si was polite as ever but Walker could see the joy on her face at being given these things for free.


    Walker and Su were able to sneak out of the shop while the rune smith was running from ce to ce. He had continued to ask them the same questions out of his excitement and they needed to be on their way. "When wee tomorrow I have a feeling there will be a lot of changes." Walker could already see the signs adorning the front of the shop in his mind.


    "He was very excited. I am d we are able to let him know that he would be able to sell something he thought was a failure. I noticed many things being sold that aremon here but will be rare and useful treasures back home." This had been prevalent to Su since she set foot in the market.


    "I agree. I haven''t told you about the water spikes I found yet, but they can channel water elemental mana in to the ground making the soil hold water. It will change the way farming is done for us and I can bet for Ordist as well." Su appeared surprised but quickly overcame the feeling.


    "I just can''t believe how many amazing things we have seen here. It really is a tragedy that the elf city has been locked up for so long." Su said this and Walker had no intention of arguing it. This was the in truth.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 393 - 393. Walking The Market

    Walker had many things in his storage that he had purchased and couldn''t wait to bring back. He dwelled on who he would give what to and how they would be amazed by the things he gave them. He had a feeling that the high priest would like the animal shaped charms that brought a steady calming mana to them. Mostly because he was always gued by the chaos of the cathedral and the healing matters he needed to attend to.


    "I want to give those animal charms to everyone we know. So many people help us out and I think having some calm in their life could help." Su was thinking of the people at the forge but also those at the adventurers guild.


    "I am sure ra would get the most use out of it. We might want to get like five for her, she might need more though." Walker could only imagine having to give her ten to deal with the stress from the daily insanity at the guild.


    "Yes! ra needs a really good souvenir, she deserves it for keeping up with everything. I know she must have sent plenty of quests for us, but we have been too busy to take them." Su was a little sad that she had been letting ra''s effort go to waste, but the party was not aware of her current duty as acting guild master while Ibis was away.


    "Well, then let''s keep looking. I feel like there are surprises around every corner. We might find something interesting to bring back. To be honest I think we should look for someone who wants to travel to the kingdom as a merchant to establish proper trade routes. If they can do that we could have the people we have met visit and sell their wares themselves." Walker wanted this mostly because he thought it would help connect the kingdoms more.


    "That could make things much easier for when elves start to adventure out and explore more. I expect there will be many young elves, humans, and demi-humans who see the chance to make a name for themselves in a new ce." Su could already see the new faces trying to enter the cities.


    "I think it will be a little crazy for a few months, but after things get established it will be like any other day. I am just interested to see how people adapt and our daily life changes. The elves will bring a lot of things we don''t have or can''t make in our kingdom. But we will bring plenty of our own things. I think our kingdom is more of a connecting ce. We aren''t particrly on bad terms with anyone which is the best way for us to be a mediator."


    Walker had started to look at the big picture. This was a point he was waiting to bring up when the king gets to the kingdom. Su was following along and would also be harping on the same thing. What the kingdoms had to offer were major advances in knowledge, but what was bigger was the fact that they could all improve the life of every citizen.


    "What about the enforcers? Do you think they will be able to maintain thews that protect the forests?" Su was a little worried that they might have some trouble if there was a major influx of travelers.


    "I think we should guide them toward a slow opening. Limit travelers on both sides so that they can adjust over the course of a year. First, start with higher ss businesses and officials toy ground work then start with the younger generations to tests things out. After that, we can start to let more and more adventurers since the guild should be established after a few months."


    The two could see the adventurers guild ying a major part in connecting everything. It already acted as a major bonding ce for all kinds of races that would form parties and take on quests. It was literally founded to help others. "I am very excited to see the guild that will be built here. I wonder how they will teach the new employees in regards to the elven culture. I could see there being many gathering quests."


    "That would make sense. The elves would be able to teach a lot when ites to herbs and fruits that grow in the area. Any new adventurer that came would be an expert before they knew it. Actually, if an alchemist came and took quests they could get ahead in that respect too." The more they spoke the more things they saw that would improve each of the races.


    Eventually, the two walked all the way to the square they had stood above the other day. It was filled with more elves who were all giving them curious nces as they passed by. Su and Walker had quickly be a gossip point for those that would usually wander through the market.


    "Should we check out that little shop there? It looks like it has some elemental mana crystals, I know you are looking for more with dual elements." Walker snapped to attention and locked his eyes on the shop Su was mentioning. He was realizing that the more he actively looked the closer he would get to have the materials he wanted for his new magic staff.


    "There is no other ce that I would rather check out right now." Walker couldn''t help but smile brightly. Su was right by his side happy to find another new ce to look at. She was greatly enjoying being one of the first to explore the elf city. The only thing she wanted more was to bring her parents to see everything too.


    "I can already see some light and water dual elemental mana crystals," Walker said this and picked up his paces.


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 Chapter 394 - 394. Spirit Mage

    The same bell that the rune smith had made was hanging on the door to the elemental crystal shop. Walker was pleasantly surprised by the soft ting of the bell as it rang through the entire shop when he opened the door. He had expected it to be much louder than it was. Now he was seeing the benefit of the bell and the high chances that it would be a high selling item at the start of the trading between the kingdoms.


    The amount of elemental mana that pushed at the two of them as the door came open was not small in the least. Walker''s senses were overwhelmed and even Su was having trouble standing it. It was not harmful in the least but it was a lot of stimtion.


    "I''ll be there in a moment, just let me get a few things in ce!" A sweet sounding voice came from deeper in the shop. Walker and Su looked at each other confused. They couldn''t figure out how a child would have been running a shop like this.


    The sound of rushing feet came from behind a few shelves and a short elf girl appeared. She was wearing a rainbow of fabrics which all had elemental runes sewn in to them. Her long hair was woven with colored ribbons the same as the dress she wore. "Hello, I had a feeling I would have visitors today. I am the spirit mage Bree, it is a pleasure to meet you."


    After the elf girl Bree gave a bow she stood tall and proceeded with the usual routine for a shopkeeper, "What can I do for you today? Are looking for anything specific?"


    She saw the looks the two were giving her and quickly realized what they might be thinking. "I forgot you were humans and weren''t used to spirit mages. I look like I am very young by human standards, however, I am one of the eldest elves in the city. We spirit mages have a passive skill called spirit body."


    "I would like to tell you that I am less confused...but." Bree had a feeling she had confused Walker and Su more, and Walker confirmed it.


    "Well spirit mages are special systems, not many of us exist at one time. We have the spirit body passive skill which allows one elemental spirit of each type to reside within us. This makes outr bodies age at a snail''s pace, even rted to an elf.We are responsible for the production of all the elemental mana crystals in the city."


    "I believe Alma mentioned this. She said that the water elemental spirits can make water elemental crystals." Su recalled a passing moment where Alma had said this fact.


    "Correct. I have a system that lets me bond with elemental spirits and then ask for their help to condense elemental mana in to crystals. The fun part is extracting mana from a crystal which is an earth element normally and changing it to be another element. Oh, but don''t let me bore you. What are you looking for?"


    Walker had to struggle to say something for a minute. He had just been given a lot of information on a system that he had never heard of and skills he had never heard of."I am sorry, but you really have elemental spirits living in your body?" Su was having a hard time wrapping her mind around this.


    "Yes, they are bonded to my soul. We are partners for life. If I perish they take my energy and use it to grow. It is a very natural moment for spirit mages. But that won''t be for a long time, I have maybe four or five hundred years." She said this while casually waving her arms.


    "You say that like it isn''t a big deal¡­" Walker was stunned beyond belief hearing this.


    "It is verymon for a spirit mage to live hundreds of years. One of my friends has lived for double my lifespan, and she still thinks she will live another hundred." Walker and Su felt they were suffering multiple blows every time this elf spoke. She seemed to have an endless supply of ground breaking information to upturn what the two thought was normal.


    "You know, I am used to shocking my party and those I meet, but you have outdone me so quickly." Walker could only admit the truth of what he was thinking at the moment.


    "I am used to it. A lot of young elves are sent by their parents to get the crystals they need and I am a veryrge surprise. They always ask where my mother and father are. They are so cute when they realize that I am ten times their age." Bree giggled for a few moments while she thought of how many she had confused when they came in to her shop.


    "Well, now that I feel like I have a small grasp on the situation, I am here for some dual elemental crystals. I am thinking of using them to make a staff that can enhance every elemental spell I use." Walker''s idea was not something crazy by any means and Bree instantly understood.


    "Then I have some of the best crystals for you. I even have a few triple elemental crystals if you would like them?" Walker had not thought that triple elemental mana crystals were possible, but was again surprised.


    "What elements are they?" Su and Walker had barely stepped inside the shop and they were already ready to spend whatever necessary.


    I have one that is earth, fire, and darkness elemental manas in onerge crystal. It is made for underground heating. It can make magma under the right stimtion. Then I have a light, water, and air elemental crystal which is ideal for making rain in a greenhouse." Walker and Su were amazed by this lesson.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 395 - 395. Elemental Crystal Shopping

    "Of course these triple elemental mana crystals are harder to make and cost a little more. But I assure you, my products are high tier." Bree nodded at every word in the sentence trying to bring emphasis to her skills in the deal.


    Walker could only imagine that this was going to cost a massive fortune. He was prepared to offer all the physical gold he had left, and if necessary make a request to have some made for his return at ater date. "If possible we would like to purchase them, but I am also interested in ones of other elements." He decided it was best to browse everything first then move on to the price.


    "Of course, let''s not speak on price just yet. I have some fresh high tier crystals with wind and water elements along with some of fire and light elements. Then over here we have the other elements. Unfortunately, the light and dark elemental crystals have sold out due to an experiment that the light and dark mages are doing tomorrow."


    "That would be my doing, I will ask them for one or two when I see them. Sorry." Walker felt bad to be the reason Bree was out of stock in her shop.


    "No no, this is great. I was holding on to them for a long time. I enjoy mixing the conflicting elements. The spirits need the challenge as well. They can achieve great things when fighting their very nature." Walker and Su thought this strange before he recalled all the times he had done exactly the same thing with fire and now with two opposing spells.


    "I hope I am not over stepping here. But would you consider showing us the way you make such crystals? I believe the mages tomorrow would benefit greatly from the knowledge." Walker had the idea that seeing theme together in to a crystal could unlock some of the missing pieces in their experiments.


    "Me? Of all people, the mages in training would learn from me? I could, but it would be very out of ce."


    "Leader just wants you to demonstrate. I know he made an interesting fusion skill today and the other mages will most likely try their own ways tobine the elements. You already understand how the bnce and could show them that." Su jumped in to help Walker gain a person with insight to his cause.


    "Well, if it is to help out and advance magic understanding I cane. I am not sure they will learn much." She thought that what she did was so basic, but she did not realize that she was able to fuse elements that other struggle with.


    "Perfect, I look forward to you joining us. I will make sure Alma knows and that we have everything ready to learn about it. I am actually very curious about how you make crystals and how you bnce the elements in your body."


    "Bncing the elements is easier than you would think. I just have to help each grow at the same time. The best part is this will happen in the natural life cycles of the world. If I let them absorb elemental mana through the day they will absorb the elemental mana of their own kind at the same rate. But that s because I am careful. Each spirit will grow the same amount every day, it is slow but very rewarding."


    "So they need the natural mana as well. Spirits seem to need more natural mana than any we provide. I feel like having that a long lifespan could still feel too short of a time to understand spirits." Walker was having a very hard time filling in factual information on the spirits.


    "Yes, they thrive with natural mana and dislike other mana from living creatures. That is why spirit mages have the spirit body passive skill. We be partially a spirit so they can bond with us. This means we also absorb natural mana to survive. But we still get to eat so don''t worry about me missing out." Breeughed at her own joke while smelling the air.


    "Oh, by the way, do you need any of these earth and water duel elemental mana crystals? I would like to sell them soon so I can make my next batch."


    "Yes please. I would also like to ask if you had any crystal shards for making mana storage gems." Walker was thinking of stocking up just to have the shards for the mana storage gem.


    "Why buy the shards? You can just purchase the actual mana storage gems. I have a decent amount justying around. I could even sell you some elementless crystals if you would like to just have those made directly in to mana storage gems of a higher quality." Bree was again speaking a differentnguage to the two of them.


    "I didn''t expect you to have the mana storage gems here, I, of course, am interested, but what are the elementless crystals used for other than you creating elemental mana crystals?" Walker was very curious what the crystals without an element were, mostly because he thought the crystal would shatter without the elemental mana inside,


    "I have them for my creation. I remove the earth element from a huge amount of crystals. They don''t break if that is what you are worried about. They are stable because of the skills I have used on them. But they need to be changed within a few months of me doing so. Some people bring them to low traveled areas to absorb the mana around and get unique crystals."


    Walker thought that this was a great idea. Having multiple unused elementless crystals would be something nice to gather mana on their travels. He could try to make a veryrge unique crystal. "It only takes about twenty years to fill. It is very efficient." With that Walker and Su were crushed.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 396 - 396. Full Elemental Spirits

    "I don''t think I will have twenty years to hang out and protect a mana crystal so that it can absorb the element I want it to." Walker had thought for a moment that the elementless crystal was going to be something that he could easily fill with his own mana or by channeling the natural elemental mana he wanted.


    "You could have spirits fill it then. But that would mean you have them residing in your body, and you were a spirit mage." Bree was a little smug saying this because it was her pride and joy to house a spirit with each of the elements within her body. They were just as much a part of her as she was a part of them.


    "I don''t think I will try to learn that skill. From what I have seen from the elemental spirits I do not wish to take them away from their desired homes. Unless it''s necessary...actually, I do have a full water spirit that is resting dormant right now. One of the greater water spirits told me to take it along with me. They said that this one could wake up the dormant spirits in my kingdom potentially."


    It was Bree''s turn to be amazed. She had never seen someone given a spirit like this before. This was abnormal. If someone was to meet a spirit and bond with them then it was possible for the spirit to stick around or like a spirit mage be one with them. But to just be given a dormant spirit to take on a trip was radical.


    "Why would you have been given a full water spirit that is dormant? That is just too much. If it is dormant it has either been so for many years after deciding to rest or newly formed. There is no reason anyone, not even a normal spirit mage would be given one." Bree was trying to figure this all out when Walker took the frozen blue drop from his cloak.


    "This is the full water spirit. I was lucky enough to watch it form with Sierra. The great water spirit said that I should take it with me because it would most likely leave to find its own garden when it awoke." Walker wasn''t sure why this was such a big deal but decided not to show it.


    "It''s so pure. It is newly formed. It''s alsorger than usual. T must have gotten more elemental mana from the greater spirit to speed up the condensing process. How interesting." Bree mumbled while looking at the dormant full water spirit.


    "The spirits I house are full spirits. One is near the greater water spirit evolution, but that is going to take another few years. If that full water spirit awakens and chooses to stay in the garden or kingdom you bring it, you will see arge change for sure. Just remember that you are blessed to have the presence of a spirit around you." Bree had started to ept that this human actually had a spirit with him and decided it was best to move on before she got too caught up.


    "Is there any way you can show us what the spirits look like? Or would that be too forward? I apologize if it is, we are not used to the culture and ways of the elves yet." Su was curious since she had not seen any spirit but for the dormant full water spirit, Walker had shown her.


    "It is not forward at all. We actually like showing ourselves off. It is rare that we have a chance to do so since the work with crystals is never ending. But that''s what happens when we have so many arcane marksmen, they all need the crystals for their arrows." Bree sounded a little sour but behind it was a lot of excitement.


    There was a slight fluctuation in all of the mana around them. Bree appeared to fade a little losing some of her shape. This was a shocking scene to them since it was something they had never imagined possible. Walker was even worried enough to start to step forward and ask if she was alright when he noticed that different elemental manas had started to condense around Bree.


    Much smaller pixie like figures started to appear around Bree. They were made up of different elements that had spontaneously appeared from the mana in the air that had condensed. The little fire spirit was the first to manifest and flit about. It looked at Walker very curiously before moving on to Su. It didn''t put off heat but Walker could tell what elemental mana it controlled even if his eyes were closed.


    Next the water, earth, and wind full elemental spirits came in to sight and followed the actions of the full fire spirit. Not a single one of them spoke which was not surprising. They were looking at Walker the most and he could only guess this was because of the skills he had to manipte all the elements.


    Before Bree focused again the light condensed in the room and a bright white colored full elemental spirit appeared. This was at the same time as the shadows on the floor condensed in to a full darkness elemental spirit. It was darker than any night Waker had ever seen and was very interested in Su for some reason.


    "They are all very adorable and powerful don''t you agree?" Bree was back to a solid looking form. "They seem very interested to meet you two, I wonder why that is¡­" Bree was curious as to why the spirits seemed to be fluttering around the two so much. Thest time they acted this way was when they met another spirit mage. She knew these two were not spirit mages, but maybe they had some unique traits or skills that the spirits liked.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 397 - 397. Information Trading

    The full darkness elemental spirit was now focused on Walker who it appeared to be even more enamored with. It was the only spirit with the courage to poke and prod the two. The full light element spirit seemed to just want to look at them from slightly higher in the air and avoid touching anything at all costs. Walker could understand that the darkness spirit was like this because of the fact that the shadows were always in contact with the one who casts it. The light spirit must be that way because the light normallyes from higher up and it''s morefortable.


    "It is nice to meet you all, I hope we aren''t disturbing you by asking you all toe out. My name is Walker"


    "And I am Su, we are here for some crystals but are very pleased to be meeting honorable spirits." Su and Walker teamed up in their introductions and let out a lot of politepliments. The spirits appreciated this and nearly swarmed them as they fluttered around them more.


    "All of you have so much energy. How are you so excited?" Bree was a little at a loss since she normally needed to encourage these spirits to work constantly.


    The darkness spirit went over to her and poked her a few times while its body flickered and changed a little. It was not speaking in the way the grand elemental water spirit had but, it was stillmunicating. "I see, so you are saying that her system is simr to an ancient species and he can manipte every element? That is indeed interesting. Thank you for telling me."


    Bree had heard these things from the darkness spirit and was now more serious than before. "You must be some sort of elemental mage to manipte all elements and you must be closely rted to one of the elder races." Bree was not trying to get some of her own information. She was curious and was not going to let it slide away from her.


    "I have a skill called grand elemental maniption, but I am not specifically a mage," Walker said this but left the rest unsaid as bait to get Bree to potentially spill more information on the crystals.


    "I was in close rtion to a dragon when my system was changed." Su was even more prompt and didn''t give away anything else. This made Bree even more interested.


    "What kind of system do you have then? Elemental craftsmen? Elemental watcher? Oh, do you have an elemental sage system? And you, do you have a half dragon system, or were you lucky enough to be a dragon breeder system?" Bree listed off systems that she had only ever read about of met once. To her seeing them again would make her very happy.


    "I am curious. How do youmunicate with the elemental spirits? I could be convinced to tell you if you exin." Walker was using this to see if there was a useful skill he could learn, speaking to spirits sounded like a massively beneficial skill to have when in areas with high natural mana.


    "I would have told you this if you asked, no need to hold back some information." Breeughed a little before she told him, she enjoyed the suspense. "The skill is called mana speak, it lets me send out specific waves of elemental mana and received these waves. It is tough to learn at first since I needed to be able to understand each elemental mana speak. But now that I know them it bes one skill instead of six."


    Walker thought it was amazing that it was six skills divided in to pieces that woulde together to make one all around skill. It was something that he would want to work towards if he had the time to do so. With Bree looking at him he realized he was expected to share his system now.


    "I have the jack of all trades system, as long as it''s not a mastery skill I can learn it." Walker was so used to exining it that at this point he had started to lose a little vibrato.


    Bree was a little surprised to hear that he was not a form of mage at all, but she was also still curious about Su''s system and held her words until after. Her eyes fell on Su so Su knew she could speak her own thoughts as well.


    "I am curious of the spirits you are bonded with needbat training or if they just live normal lives. If the spirit happens to cause trouble for Leader, I do not want it to be a surprise." Walker was yet again impressed by Su''s tact when it came to the things she thought to ask.


    "Normally spirits do not pursue any violence at all. It is against their nature since they wish to work within the flow of the world. But there are some spirits that have a strong desire to protect the flow of the world and will create a physical body made of their element specifically. They are called elemental battle spirits and can defend entire areas ofnd if they are given the proper time to grow. But if they lose their body then they revert back to a lower spirit and need to grow again." Bree was very willing to share these things since it was a fair worry to have.


    "Now your system, what is it? I need to know!" Bree had lost her patience and needed to know in that second.


    "I am a draconic guardian system user. Our party member Midnight is a dragon and I am very close with her. So I gained the system which has been a veryrge adjustment, but it helps me protect those I care for and that is all I can ask for." Su shined a little brighter for a moment and all the spirits looked at her. They could feel the slight strength of a dragon from her.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 398 - 398. Trouble Makers

    "Draconic? You are a guardian of dragons? Wait, the dragon in your party, is it a single elemental affinity dragon? Or multiple?" Bree rattled off these questions wanting to know everything.


    "She has a darkness elemental affinity within her." Walker left it at that and didn''t exin further. This gave Bree the misunderstanding that Midnight only had one affinity. It confused her since every spirit reacted to her in some way that would have signaled something to do with every element.


    "Well the darkness elemental spirit did react the most strongly, and if you spent a lot of time guarding a darkness affinity dragon then it makes sense," Bree mumbled softer and softer about things that made sense.


    "I''m sorry, but we are a bit lost again." Su was very confused about what this all had to do with the new system she had.


    "I should probably share a little more then. Normally draconic guardians are members of the mountain viges tasked with guarding young dragon hatchlings. They tend to gain elemental affinities that match the dragon they guard. I just can''t fully understand how you would have the system when you should have had the system before meeting a younger dragon. You also have the residue of multiple elements with the darkness element just slightly stronger. I am very confused myself."


    Walker and Su tensed up a little making Bree stop her thoughts in their tracks. She realized that she might not be getting the entire truth, but if she wasn''t she knew there was a reason. "I see, then I won''t bother with it anymore. Just know that from what I have read and learned from the rock dwelling elves who have long locked themselves away in the caves of the high mountains, that the draconic guardian system has elemental affinities. You should focus on learning about the elements as well as defensive skills."


    "Thank you for your advice. However, I will learn of the elements whether I like it or not. I have a certain party leader that experiments with elemental magic often." Su rxed a little but was far from dropping her guard.


    "That is good then. I hope I did not pry too much. It is rare to have those with information I do not know these days. Well, I guess the more races that start to visit the more I will encounter. How much have we been missing." Bree trailed off while the spirits realized the watchful eye on them had disappeared.


    They rushed to Walker and Su and the two of them could feel the constant poking and prodding. Walker could sense the small waves of different elemental manas but had no idea how to understand them.


    He watched as the full water spirit stopped and was looking intently at the dormant full water spirit. It was very intrigued by the spirit at rest and soon every spirit was looking at it. None of them dared to touch it but the constant waves of elemental mana made Walker feel that there was more going on, almost like they were whispering secrets to it.


    Bree snapped out of her dazed thoughts as she had just heard something ridiculous. "You all need to stop saying those things to that little spirit. It is trying to rest, how would you all feel being woken up by such things. It will go where it wishes and it can''t be forced."


    "Do we want to know?" Walker was a little curious but he wasn''t sure he should ask.


    "No they are just saying foolish things abouting here with them and traveling the world. They are just trouble makers." The spirits rushed and hid around the shop like scolded children, the waves of mana they let out toward each other erratic.


    "Let me finish your order and then I can send you on your way. For once I have some work to do with dual elemental crystals. I also want to think about the things we spoke about, I won''t go bbing about it but I will be here waiting for your next visit." Bree moved to box up the crystals while the two watched.


    The crates were soon filled and in front of them, there were many more than they had expected. "If you are looking for something that will act as a good material to bond all of the crystals you may want to have your eye out for some petrified wisteria branch. It is a little rare and useless for anything but small wands, but I hear there are some with skills to turn them in to unique staffs. Especially when unique crafting skills are used." Bree said this knowingly, he had an idea that the light and dark mages had spoken of his crystal crafting skill.


    "Then I will be looking for them before I leave or while I travel." Walker thanked her and stored the chests while pulling out his gold. Su helped him count out a much lower amount of gold than they expected and then headed out the door.


    "Everything that could cost thousands of gold only costs hundreds. Everything that could cost hundreds is tens. The city will be booming if we don''t hold people back." Walker could only express the worry of how many people would swarm the entire city for the low prices when it came to what they thought were exceedingly rare materials.


    "I am less worried about the gold problems the city will face than the fact that miss Bree was easily guessing things about our little dragon." Su could tell Bree grasped more than they caught in to. "How many others do you think noticed?"


    "If anything is a problem it would be the systems, for all we know there could be a dragon with a quest toe here and find her. But we need to justy low and wait. We can''t stress about it forever. We were lucky here, once we make it to the dwarven city in their small kingdom we can try to glean some information on the dragons since they are close by."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 399 - 399. Getting Rest

    "That is a risk I think we will need to take while there. More information on what others may think of Midnight could be extremely important." Su agreed on the idea that the party needed to gather more information. The problem was that every piece they found seemed to only be a tiny scrap. They were always behind in the information gathering game.


    "There''s no point in stressing out I guess, we should just wait for the king to get here and proceed. Then we can move toward the dwarven kingdom and see how their city is doing. I can''t say I''m excited to have to go underground though." Walker could only see the huge risks of going underground since there was less safety and the chance of cave copse.


    "You should rx about that at least. The dwarves are known for their immense strength in creating tunnels and caves. They wouldn''t allow even a single tunnel to copse let alone a city." Su only had a basic knowledge of these things but it was enough for her to try and ease Walker''s major worries.


    "I know, but I know even less about the dwarves than the elves and even less about dragons than the dwarves. I just feel less and less prepared. I need to train more." Walker had started to contemte the different ways he could continue to enhance his strength. He immediately thought of the fact that he had just created a hugely powerful fusion magic skills that he only had one other skill that worked with.


    "I think I am going to try and get Remey''sbo skill and learn more de and spear based skills. Then I can try to make attack patterns that could put me on the front line too." Walker could only think of this as a way for him to make sure that whatever would happen he could be right by Midnight''s side with his own power.


    "That sounds like a good n. But first, you are going to sleep and get some proper rest." Su said this in a factual manner.


    "I''m fine to keep going¡­" He only made it through half of his sentence before Su''s smiling face told him that there was no arguing with her. He had been defeated before he had even started the battle and was now being pushed towards the tree house they were staying in.


    To Walker''s surprise, Midnight and Onyx were already there asleep as well. It was clear that ying with the unicorns had tired them outpletely. Feeling a little better that he wasn''t the only one needing rest Walker decided to gove in and sleep. Before he knew what had happened he was waking up to the sun rising the next day.


    "Gil, you''re back. I thought you would be out hunting for the materials you needed for your quiver?" Walker saw that Gil was gearing up to head out again, but had not expected him to even be there at all.


    "I''m trying not to follow your example and miss all my sleep. But I already got my materials so I guess I didn''t need to worry. The other elf archers were a lot of help." Gil had found that the elf archers knew the ins and outs of the forest even more than he had imagined them to.


    "Hey! I still slept." Walker was about to argue that he was resting but Gil just shook his head.


    "Come on, I know Su made yu. We could lose you to exhaustion any day if we don''t drag you from an experiment to rest. You have even meditated all night outside." Gil wasn''t letting it go, but Walker saw that he had a few scratches on his arms and legs and was able to rebuttal now.


    "And you may have rested but you haven''t taken a healing potion or had healing magic for those scrapes? What did you fall out of a tree while trying to follow the archers?" Surprisingly Gil got flustered and Walker found that he was correct. Gil had fallen out of a tree.


    Walker used his mid heal skill on Gil and saw the scratches fade away almost instantly. "Of all the things to do you are trying to rush through the trees like an elf."


    "Whatever. You''re still no better. But t least I will have an awesome new quiver to carry my own arrows without having to ask you all the time. It will make me much more independent. Su told me that you have some new skills too and that Remey is off learning a crazy amount of herbs to make a skill? What''s that about?"


    Walker talked with Gil and filled him in on the things he had missed while he was out hunting. Walker was sure not to forget to tell him about the mana transferring skills that Alma had used. Gil of course became a lot more fidgety to Walker''s amusement. "Anyways I will head out and start to make my quiver. I will be gone the whole day, but Su said she was going to stop and pick up the things you guys ordered while you went to help out the mages again. See youter."


    Walker realized that bringing up Alma had made Gil rush away which was even more hysterical. Walker may not have admitted much about his feelings, but Gil was even more touchy. "Hey Onyx, Midnight. Do you two want toe with me to the mages'' training area? They have some special runes and that gather the elements. I figure you can take advantage and work on that growth spurt of yours while Midnight naps in the center. The center has all the elements equally so you can grow pretty well."


    Midnight and Onyx had both been pretending to still be asleep but Walker had easily seen through them with his connection to them. If they wanted to fool him they would need to try even harder.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 400 - 400. Tag Along With Me

    With the two pretending to be overly tired he knew he would need to give them a little more incentive. Lucky for him he knew that shing some of the regr elemental crystals would do the job. The real question was what would be more beneficial. If Onyx was at the mage training area then he would be able to absorb a constant supply of the Light elemental mana. Same with Midnight.


    This was a small worry that the crystals would be useless to them for a few days, but at the end of the day, they would need them when they were out traveling even more so if they were without other food options.


    "Sister says she would like roasted meat for dinner and she will go." Walker couldn''t help butugh a little at this, she had been eating very well from what he understood. However, she was going through a growth spurt as well and would be wanting to eat more and more.


    "Then count it done. I still have some of those frogs and horned rabbit. How about we make sure to finish up early and cook some. I am sure Wade and Alma would like to have some as well. I haven''t seen Calen aroundtely so I would bet she will show up as soon as there is good food." Walker just had a strong feeling that the speedy elf was a very food motivated individual, but what else would happen when there was a personpletely built on speed.


    Onyx stayed on Midnight''s back instead of slithering to Walker''s shoulders, Walker had the feeling that this was because he was trying to get used t the fact that he would soon be toorge to sit in his shoulders, but Midnight would almost always berge enough to rest on.


    The three headed out. Walker didn''t expect Remey to be around much since she was fine with locking herself away to study, especially with another master alchemist willing to teach her. He did worry that she was pushing herself too far, however, he was excited to see the results of her training.


    As they headed toward the training area Walker noticed a few elf enforcers following them. He was a little sad not to see Sierra but knew that she must be in charge of the entire party and not just him, he liked her surprisingly open and positive personality.


    The elf enforcers aside Walker was pleasantly surprised to get many waves and greetings from the elves that were out and about in the morning. He had not expected them to take so well to the new people in their city, but this only spoke to the fact that there were more who wanted to open things up than he had known.


    When the three reached the magic training area Alma was already there leaning against the vine door casually whispering to her blue ivy which grew slightly at every word. She seemed to be making it bloom to stock up on seeds for future use. "Good morning, you look like you are having fun so early."


    "Oh, well I already did a few rounds about the city and had some free time. My blue ivy has been growing much bettertely and I think it is because I gained a level after we beat those slimes. I''m d you brought Midnight and Onyx today. I am sure they will love the training area."


    The vine door opened up and they were easily able to enter. Onyx now understood why Walker had wanted to bring them here, "Brother, this is very amazing. The light mana over there is so concentrated." He was already slithering toad the light mages who were sitting in a circle and exchanging ideas while holding some light crystals.


    Midnight did exactly what Walker had expected of her and curled up in the middle of the room. He knew that she would benefit from the elemental mana there and he couldn''t wait to see the benefits. "Oh, you''re back already. We grabbed up plenty of light, darkness, and dual elemental crystals to experiment. The spell swords should be along any time now. They have morning training and usually finish up after the sun had broken the lowest tree''s branches."


    The darkness elemental mage was the first to greet him and waved a hand toward the pile of dual elemental crystals. About those dual elemental crystals. I actually went looking for some and found them sold out, is there any way for me to purchase a few from everyone here?" Walker felt bad asking right away, but he had the fear that somehow they would exhaust them all in their experiments.


    "Oh, no. Take as many as you want. Truth be told we might not even need half of them. We got very excited and couldn''t help ourselves. We rarely use our joint funds and just splurged.." The light elemental mage came over and had heard what they were talking about. With both mages now voicing approval, Walker stored four of the crystals away for his future staff.


    "What do you guys want to try out today? I know we will need to make some swords so the crystal crafting will be the main focus and then adding the proper elemental manas. Yet, I don''t see a spell sword s we can fool around a little before theye." Walker sounded a little mischievous but really he just wanted to take sure he was properly thanking the mages for letting him take the crystals he wanted.


    "I want to see if your skill is able to take form in to the shape of a sword, I know that the spell swords will want something simr. But if you make one and one side of the de is light and the other is darkness I think it could lead to an interesting attack strategy to record."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 401 - 401. Second Experiment

    Walker thought about this for a second before agreeing. He had no idea how the skill would manifest when he changed the shape of the mouldable crystal ball. The only shape he had tried was the spear because it was the base shape for the pure dark spear. If he managed to show off a sword then what else could he made it in to? An ax? The weapon possibilities flooded through his mind.


    "Let''s give a sword a try first then move on. Where is the crystal mage? I think he would be interested." Walker didn''t see any earth mages at all here yet.


    "Ther earth mages went to celebrate the breakthrough that their young crystal mage helped with. It was his first time working on afusion magic attack and they were all very proud of him. They must have been upte and need more rest." The light mage knew that this would happen, but it was only natural for mages to do this after a great day.


    "I see, that must have been a lot for one day too. From watching to helping in the blink of an eye." Walkerughed a little making him sound like an old man. The other mages alsoughed a bit but were also focused on something else.


    "That dragon and snake that came with you are you other party members right? Can we meet them?" The fire mage had stepped forward and hesitantly asked. He had yet to meet a dragon and found it very intriguing.


    "Sure thing. That over there is my youngest brother Onyx, he is an abyssal serpent. He feeds on the light elemental mana. And this here is Midnight, she is a young dragon who I wanted to bring here to gain some of the elemental mana around. She is having a growth spurt and needs all the nutrition she can get." Walker was always proud to introduce his party since he saw them as family.


    Walker noticed Onyx raise his head and look at the mages. He would usually greet them but for some reason was very reserved today. Walker worried a little but didn''t press that matter, if Onyx wasn''t feeling well he believed that he would speak up.


    Midnight however never missed a chance to show off. She stood up tall and extended her wings to show off her full might. Walker saw that her wings had gained even more muscles and had a few more inches to their span. He knew she was growing fast but this was a crazy speed. He knew this must have something to do with the new bloodline and the new system, but her couldn''t ask her a million questions here.


    The mages were impressed seeing her actions and wanted to examine her more closely. "Can I ask what kind of fire breath she has? I know most dragons have a form of breath attack which is very powerful as they grow."


    The mages grew more excited at this and Midnight was about to immediately use her decaying breath skill before Walker cut in, "She has the decaying breath skill and she isn''t going to use it here unless there is a target we can deal with before it spreads. Right Midnight?"


    Midnight stopped building up her attack and bobbed her head in ordance. She wanted to show off but was easily stopped since she knew it could cost her the meat that Walker had promised her. If she angered him and he didn''t forgive her right away she could miss out on the feast she wanted. She had yet to realize that Walker would still reprimand her and give her what she wanted though, it was just better for her not to realize it.


    "I knew that it was darkness element. I could see it from the stage when the queen gave her speech." The dark mage was acting very high and mighty since the other mages had told him that he might be wrong.


    "And what of the white in her scales? That has to be light elements." The light mage anted to argue it back and forth but the dark mage was having thest word and continued on the battle.


    Walker wanted to tell them that the white was bone but he realized it was better for them to think it was the light element since Midnight could not eat every elemental crystal instead of just the darkness elemental crystals like she could before the system upgrade.


    "Sorry I amte sir hero. It doesn''t look like I have missed too much though." The crystal mage had returned to the training area and immediately greeted Walker.


    "Ah, wee back. I heard you were celebrating. I hadn''t realized it was such a big asion. Congrattions." Walker said his piece which made the crystal mage act a little more sheepish, but soon enough he too was awestruck looking at Midnight.


    While the mages were again focused on her, Onyx was also making fast friends with the light mages. He was actively talking with them but Walker could still tell he was less active. He started in a tight coil and wasn''t moving much.


    After a short time, the spell swords returned with the light and water elemental spell sword. She confidently approached Walker and the crystal mage while her fellow spell swords carried in some of the crystal training dummies. "I brought a few of the older crystal training dummies for today''s experiments. I thought it was the least I could do since you appeared interested in taking the remaining pieces for your own experiments."


    Walker was a little touched that they had thought to bring so many, even if they were the older ones. "Thank you, I am not sure how many of the crystal swords we will make, and even if I can''t assist the entire time my friend from the earth side of magic will be open for orders." The crystal mage was shocked to hear this but couldn''t argue with the hero.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 402 - 402. Chip Away

    "While they are still focused on meeting my sister Midnight and little b Onyx why don''t we talk details? What design are you looking for and what elements?" Walker already had a good idea, but he wanted to see the current spell sword design to try and replicate.


    "This is the sword I use mainly. It is a water elemental sword but if possible I would like the crystal weapon to be dual elements like my affinities. I use the light element as a distraction but can also do damage with it. But the water element attacks are faster. I have an attack that uses both, but it is hard to use with two des. Please keep the design the same."


    The dual elemental spell sword unsheathed her sword and offered it to Walker. The design was simple and he felt that it was much lighter than he expected. The bnce was a little heavier toward the hilt but due to the length it was perfect. The shape of the de was thinner than a traditional sword almost as if it was a saber.


    "We will need longer pieces of crystal for this. Let me show you how I do it first. It has been some time since I made a sword like this. But I remember that the biggest challeneg is the straight edges. Getting it right requires a very soft touch." Walker saw the seriousness overtake the crystal mage which was perfect.


    The other mages took note that the spell swords had arrived and made arge open space so that they could witness the creation of the crystal weapons. Midnight saw that she was not able to show off anymore and curled back up in the center of the room to rest. She epted that she would benefit from resting here and decided to just nap while Walker worked.


    "Thank you for bringing me brother. I feel like I will be able to rx here." Walker was surprised by Onyx''s sudden mention of being rxed and he nced at the coiled serpent. He smiled seeing that Onyx was already drifting off in to a nap of his own. The light mages had left him alone to focus on Walker.


    The water elemental mages and the light mages were the most interested since the weapon would end up with their specific elements. "Light and water elements aren''t like the darkness and light elements. They are normally together in some forms and won''t need a strong earth element to help them bond. You also won''t be able to sue the earth element at all so you will need to depend on the natural strength of the crystal."


    The dual elemental spell sword understood what Walker was saying and didn''t argue at all. "I hope to use this for a mid ranged attack. For example I can do this." The spell sword pulled her light elemental sword from her hip and shed downwards. There was a thin beam of light that shot out and hit the crystal training dummy nearest to them. It gained a slight crack and the mana inside slowly bled out.


    "This is a thrown de skill. It manifests as the element we have an affinity for, but it is too weak in battle. My hope is that using a crystal sword with the mana on the inside we can release a stronger thrown de. We can use the elements to gather around our des and cause other effects, but throwing our des mana has always been like a distraction." The duel elemental spell sword frowned at this longsting problem.


    "So basically, if this can be a viable option you can use it for a mid range attack which could take down an enemy you can''t get near. In the worst case, you can have the crystal sword break and battle as normal. It would sublime t a weakness the spell sword system has in battle?" Walker saw these things clearly and was met with many hopeful looks from the spell swords.


    "Then we are wasting time. Let''s start breaking the crystals." The crystal mage took out a hammer and chisel from his toolbag and started to break awayrger pieces of crystal. The longer ones were put into a pile which he approved of while the shorter put aside for any other uses.


    Walker grabbed one of the crystal pieces and sat down in front of the crystal mage. The two worked in unison so Walker could learn as he went. They were breaking off very thin pieces of the crystal and even extracting some of the leftover earth elemental mana. The goal was to remove as much as possible that wasn''t fully bonded with the crystal so that it wouldn''t interfere with the water and light elemental mana that the light and water mages would add.


    Over an hour the two had made the rough shape of a sword. They had been following the shaping of the sword that the spell sword already used. The handle and the hilt were the easier parts to replicate. They wererger and didn''t need any fine detailing, just shaping for a hand to hold. The challenge was in the de.


    "The thing with the de is that it needs to be perfect on either side and straight. If it is chipped, curved, or unbnced then it could shatter or unevenly distribute mana. This could cause a rebound to the user." The crystals mage stressed these things because he had failed many times in this before seeding in a small dagger.


    "Then how do you go about it?" Walker had a few ideas but had a feeling that the crystal mage had found the best strategy while practicing the crystal crafting skill.


    "This might be a little scary but¡­" The crystal mage held the tip of the de to his face and looked directly down the de. He could see every tiny scratch and groove along with an area that needed slivers to be chipped away.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 403 - 403. Crystal Sword

    "Look down the de and make sure it ispletely straight. Even the slightest angle can ruin the entire thing." The crystal mage softly trailed a finger among the edge of the de making sure that the thickness was proper. Once he felt the differences he pulled out a very small chisel and started to tap away at the uneven ces.


    Walker copied his actions and found that the de portion of the crystal sword shape was much rougher than he had expected. The entire left side was ridged and had a very uneven feeling while the right side was smoother with only a few spots that needed work. The way the crystal had broken at first had helped out one side while making the other worse.


    Walker took another chisel simr to the one the crystal mage was using and started to copy the small tapping that shaved off slivers. The slivers of crystal piled up little by little as the two worked. One of the other earth mages used his own earth shaping magic skills to fuse them so that there were no idental slivers.


    "See how the de had a point but isn''t sharp at all? This is the best time to use some earth shaping skills. The point can be reinforced and sharpened without damaging the structure." The crystal mage ran a thumb and finger along the de while using his crystal shaping skill and made the te sharper. Walker could see the visible change.


    "I will give it a try too." Walker found that his high earth sculpting skill worked very well with this action and he made the de sharper with ease. He kept checking the bnce and tried his best to make it smooth. "Can you take a look at this too? I need fresh eyes." He handed his sword to the crystal mage.


    "Things look very good for your first try making a sword. Let me just smooth this out and this." The crystal mage made a few taps here and there to fix some minor points. If Walker hadn''t asked he could have missed them and caused a failed attempt. "Let''s focus on the grip and hilt. They need to be made more dense so that they can hold the majority of the water and light elemental man from some elemental mana crystals."


    Walker could see why the handle and hilt would be the best ce for the elements to rest. It was the safest because they would not have the chance to be attacked directly often. There was also the close rtion to the one holding it so that the elements could be guided with ease.


    The crystal mage made the hilt denser with his crystal shaping skills along with the handle. However, he also used his rounded chisel to make its grip better. The de had biome much more refined in thest hour while they straightened and sharpened it. The overall shaping was even better as well because the hilt and handle parts were matching the quality of the de.


    "Now for the hardest party of the entire production. We can easily add a space for the elemental mana in a round shape, but for the sword, we need to make it run from the hilt all the way through the de. Imagine a much smaller de on the inside." Walker chose to watch the crystal mage first.


    The crystal mage slowly channeled his crystal shaping skill and started to open up the space inside the crystal sword. Walker saw that there were not thin little passageways but instead a hollow space inside. This was the reason the crystal des wouldn''t ever reach the same strength as solid forged items. But it would allow for a magical attack.


    "I can''t let this copse and shatter, I need the water and light mages to start adding some of their elements. Please use the crystals provided." The crystal mage called for the light and water mage who had a handful of the elemental crystals in their hands.


    The elemental mana was channeled from the crystals and through the mages bodies. This helped them control the flow and slowly add the bnced light and water elemental mana to the crystal sword.


    The crystal mage was making sure that there were no weak points in the crystal while also sensing the changes that urred within. He felt few points where the crystal was too thin and adjusted the strength in those areas. The space in the center was easily filled and would need t to be topped off with mana in the future because the word wouldn''t be able to absorb mana like a regr sword with runes carved on it.


    "Stop!" The crystal mage had the two mages stop adding elemental mana and suddenly started to condense the crystal sword a little more. The two elements were not fighting each other but actually mixing in the sword. The hilt and the handle gained a soft sky blue color and the de looked to be made of a clearer crystal than before.


    Wiping the sweat from his forehead the crystal mage looked at the crystal sword in his hands. "This came out a lot better than I thought it would. The elements arepatible so they aren''t causing any disturbances, the crystal was of good quality even though it was older, and the process was smooth. All that is left is for you to test it and show us if it can handle the strength you want t to have." The crystal mage presented the sword to the dual elemental spell sword who took it gingerly.


    "I''ve got to say it is very beautiful. I feel like I am holding a ss that could break at any second. but I can feel the elemental mana inside and it is almost like an extension of my own arm." The spell sword was very pleased with the feeling so far and was looking forward to the next step.


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 Chapter 404 - 404. Error ...Found?

    The dual elemental spell sword made some practice swings with the new crystal sword to get a feel. She was nning on using her skills with it and wanted to give it the best tests possible. If she did not she could end up bringing a failed weapon on the battle field.


    Walker took this chance to use the all around appraisal skill to see what the crystal de was all about.


    ''Crystal magic sword (water and Light)


    +1 atk, +5 Matk


    This crystal sword is made to amodate the water and light elements equally. It must be filled asionally with concentrated water and light elemental mana. This crystal sword can enhance the power of light and water elemental attacks but is weak to physical damage and has the high chance to break.''


    Walker spoke the appraisal out loud so that the others could hear it. "I tried to condense the crystal as much as possible but It makes sense that it would still end up weak to physical attacks." The crystal mage expected this but was still a little bummed out over it.


    "You both warned me of this oue. I am impressed by the bonus to my magical attack. I am not worried about refilling the elemental mana either. I need to carry some elemental crystals anyway when I go to battle or training. I will give it a test and see how much the enhanced skills do."


    The dual elemental spell sword held the d in front of her and focused on one of the intact crystal training dummies. It had some mana inside and was able to demonstrate the damage done by the light elemental attacks. She was very focused and took on a matching facial expression.


    The mana on the inside of the sword started to travel up the de and cause the sky blue color to radiate around the entire sword. The light and water elemental mana s were fully in control of the spell sword. The mana reached a breaking point and was focused on the edge of the de. With a quick series of shes, Walker saw the skill activate.


    The de sent the water elemental mana aching out and gathered the moisture in the air. By the time the attack hit the crystal dummy a de of ice had been thrown and condense in to it. The de shattered on contact with the crystal dummy but managed to sheer off a small portion of the crystal.


    The next thrown de condensed the light elemental mana in the air and hit the dummy in the same way. Another piece of the crystal dummy was cut away again and the mana stored inside the dummy was forcefully pushed out more than before. The third strike was a fused elemental sh.


    The sky blue elemental color of the attack was the same as the crystal sword had. It attracted both the water and the light in the area as it was thrown towards the dummy. The strength of the attack was much higher than the previous two shes that were thrown. The ice that gathered and condensed from the water elemental mana was shining brightly from the addition of the light elemental mana.


    The thrown de with mixed elemental manas was about to hit the dummy when a bright sh caused them all to cover their eyes. Walker used his other senses to feel the mana in the air and was amazed by the mental image ha created from the way things felt. The crystal dummy had lost all the store mana and had been cut clean through. The ice that had formed from the thrown de had be sharper and finished off the crystal dummy.


    "That was a great attack against multiple opponents. You can blind those that see it and finish off one opponent making the overall battle easier." Walker said this mostly to himself but the dual elemental spell sword already heard him.


    "That is the decided goal of the attack, but normally I would need to wield both swords at the same time to make it efficient. Now I can use one then unsheath my other water elemental sword and finish off my opponents. This is very much stronger than the previous strategy." The dual elemental spell sword let a smile slip on to her face before she covered it up and ced the newly created crystal magic sword.


    "I don''t think I can ept a future making the mana storing crystals underground now. I think I have to make more swords. I may not be a crystal craftsman system user but this is the next best thing." The crystal mage had been inspired and so had many others. The mages were already rushing to the other spell swords'' to speak on the next weapons they could make.


    The bonds had been greatly strengthened between the mages and the spell swords just in this one instance. "I am very impressed. This is a much better result than we all expected. As the future queen of the forest elves, I deem this a day for the history books." Alma smiled widely as she announced this. Behind her, one of the mages started to record a huge amount of information about everything that had urred.


    "I feel like this isn''t over yet," Walker spoke while looking at his crystal sword that had not beenpleted yet. He had the strong feeling that the next test would be even more ground breaking than thest.


    "I would like to try out my elements in a crystal sword. I have dual elements as well but less experience in wielding them. Please let me have an earth and fire elemental crystal sword." The spell sword that stepped forward only had one de on them and looked a lot less trained. They were thinner and had less build than the other spell swords around.


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 Chapter 405 - 405. Magma

    "Earth and fire elemental mana in a crystal sword sounds interesting." Walker looked at the spell sword. He was much younger looking than the others and the spell sword could tell Walker knew.


    "I know I normally would need to get further in my training to get a second sword. But I want to be able to add this new strategy in to my style already and learn about it properly. If I can practice at this early stage of my training I think I can be much more adept with it than the other elves." This was the thinking of many of the younger spell swords, but this one had been the first to take the initiative.


    "You are already asking without my permission?" The dual elemental spell sword that had just tested her new sword and approved of it stood in front of the earth and fire affinity spell sword.


    "Yes, I saw the opportunity to improve and I wish to take it." He stood his ground but was visibly worried.


    "Good, then you will take this opportunity and I expect you to live up to your goal. Now stand here and watch the friend of your people work his magic." The dual elemental spell sword gave the younger earth and fire spell sword a nudge. With her approval, he rxed but also felt the pressure of what he had just said.


    "Earth element will work great with the crystal sword. It already has a natural earth element in the crystal that we can''t fully remove without destroying it. And the fire element bods well with the earth. Are you by chance the little magma spell sword that recently gained their system?" The crystal mage was young himself but still about ten years older than the spell sword that stood in front of him and Walker.


    "Yes, I only unlocked my system two years ago and have been blessed to earn my first sword younger than usual. I want to push to be on equal grounds with my older sister and refuse to let up." The magma spell sword was adamant in this pursuit.


    The fire mage came over and stood with them, "I have wondered what the elemental spell swords'' younger brother would be like. You seem to be very courageous to be the first to take this chance. I hope you can make the most of it." The fire mage smiled warmly and looked at Walker for the next step.


    "Well, we have a fire madge and an earth mage to add the elements and your sword to mirror after so let''s get going." Walker signaled his start and began to fine tune the design to what the magma spell sword was using.


    Walker slowly started to create an empty cavity within the sword that he would be adding the elemental manas to. His vision of a smaller sword within the crystal sword was perfect just like the crystal mages''. The idea to think of it this way must be the key to producing the proper effect.


    Once he had the inside prepared he called for the mages, "Add your manas please." Walker felt the fire mage and the crystal mage start to add their elements to the sword. He immediately felt the push of the elements as they filled the crystal sword.


    The crystal sword was being tested and beat by the pressure from the elements inside. Walker was quick to strengthen the parts he needed and also guide the mana to the proper points. This was a much harder test than he had expected but thankfully the earth mana that was flowing in to the crystal sword was making it easier for him.


    The fire elements mana was heating the sword more and more making it tough to hold but Walker was able to use his grand elemental maniption to deal with this. Before long the two elements had begun to mix and calm down. The red, brown, and ck colors rotated within the handle and hilt. It was like realva was trapped inside.


    "Stop the mana please." Walker felt the influx of the earth and fire elemental mana stop flowing. He made sure to go through the entire sword once more and repaired a few weak points and even made the manas bind with each other stronger.


    "That should be it. Please give it a try." Walker felt that he had be a sweaty mess but still handed the sword over to the magma spell sword. It had taken some time, but the crystal sword had beenpleted. The look of joy on the spell sword''s face was untouchable.


    "It feels like I am holding a dual elemental man crystal. This is amazing, It is a little heavy thug." The magma spell sword could feel the weight was more than he expected.


    "You are still learning to hold the swords properly. In time you will be able to wield it like nothing." The light and water elemental spell sword was quick to make this point causing Walker to breathe easy.


    "Understood. I do not have my duel elemental attack yet, but I can demonstrate my fire attack. Do you want to appraise it first like the other sword?" The magma spell sword was very polite and waited for Walker to be done with what he might want to do.


    Walker did not hesitate and used his all around appraisal skill.


    '' Crystal magic sword (earth and fire.)


    +3 atk, +5 Matk


    This crystal sword is made to amodate the earth and fire elements equally. It must be filled asionally with concentrated earth and fire elemental mana. This crystal sword can enhance the power of earth and fire elemental attacks but is weak to physical damage and has the chance to break.''


    Walker again read it out loud bringing surprise to many of the spell swords, and mages'' faces. He was also surprised.


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 Chapter 406 - 406. Tougher Crystal

    "Yes! I knew the earth elemental mana would work well. The sword is stronger than the other." The crystal mage jumped up from his sitting position in joy.


    "So anyone that gets an earth element in the sword will have a stronger one. It still says it''s weak to physical attacks but because it is bonded with the earth elemental mana naturally in the crystal it became tougher." Walker summed this up making note of the material and the added mana working together.


    The magma spell sword was looking at the crystal magic sword like it was an untouchable treasure. "Well, are you going to take it and use your thrown de skill to throw a fire sh at the dummy or what?" The fire mage nudged the magma spell sword whileughing slightly.


    The other spell swords alsoughed a little at the amazed look on the younger magma spell swords'' face. The teasing was enough to push him to reach out his hand and take the crystal sword. The mana inside reacted to his influence and it traveled up the de.


    "I might not have a fusion skill or an earth elemental thrown de, but my fire elemental thrown de should be powerful." The magma spell sword raised the crystal magic sword and the de grew red.


    Those watching could feel the heat build as the mana circted. Many stepped back for safety when they felt this. Most had seen the damage fire magic could do if it went out of control and instinctually retreated. When the de gained heat to its'' peak the magma spell sword shed downwards.


    The thrown de of fire elemental mana caused a red me to burst out in a slight crescent shape. This was not as powerful as the water and light elemental spell swords'' attack but when it hit the crystal dummy it was still able to cause some of the crystal to sheer off. The residual fire caused a small burst effect making the dummy take additional fire damage.


    "That should be a lot like the light elemental attack. It can harm or affect the other targets around the one hit with the skill." Walker thought this was also good to know since it could be used to distract other opponents while going in for a finishing blow.


    "It feels like I have used this sword my whole life. I can''t believe how natural it feels in my hands." The magma spell sword was practicing his stance and shed a few more times. The other spell swords looked on in envy.


    "I would say it is a sess. The real question I have is what would happen if we added more elements?" Walker was already thinking of the next challenge.


    "You want to add three elements?" The crystal mage was afraid that this woulde up. "That would be very dangerous to make. We would need three mages to keep things bnced as we lock things in ce. The most likely result is an explosion and injury."


    "I was actually wondering if we could make one with all the elements in bnce." Alma who had been standing idly and watching finally came forward to speak once she heard Walker starting to theorize.


    "I would very much like to see that. We do have our elemental spell sword in the city resting after a minor injury. I believe she would be honored to test such a sword." Alma was looking at all the mages who appeared worried about this idea.


    "You mean my sister could get one with every element in it so she wouldn''t need to constantly switch swords in battle?" The magma spell sword was beside himself with the idea.


    The crystal mage held his head in his hands realizing that he had no control over where this conversation was going. "If we even want to try this I need the higher quality crystals we make the beast chains from. If I don''t have those there won''t be any point."


    "Beast chains?" Walker had never heard of such an item and was very curious.


    "They are an item made by crystal mages and crystal craftsman. They have the ability to absorb the mana produced by powerful monsters we wish to capture and tame. They are simr to the chain that the prisoners wear. But are made from a crystal we mine at the roots of our great tree." Alma looked to the ground thinking of the depth of her city.


    "So they can directly absorb strong mana. So in theory they would be tough enough to withstand the pressure of every elemental mana being forced to bnce inside of it. Will we be able to shape it?" Walker worried that it would be too string to shape properly.


    "Shaping isn''t the problem. Getting permission to use it for an experiment is. We are only able to harvest a certain amount every year. T grows at a very slow rate and we need to wait for it to reach a certain size before we take it from the earth around the tree roots." With the crystal mage confirming that it could be used to craft all Walker was left with was the ability to get some from their experiments.


    "Alma, do you think you can work your magic to get us some?'' Walker tried to smile as sweetly as possible to get her to agree. The only problem was that Alma was wearing a perfect poker face.


    "If I do this I would like you to make me something too. I want some crystal arrows with hollow insides." Walker almost asked what for but he had a sneaking suspicion that Alma wasn''t thinking of using them herself.


    "Then it''s a deal. I will work on some hollow crystal arrows while you get us the proper crystals." Walker immediately got to work while Alma beckoned for one of the nearby enforcers.


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 Chapter 407 - 407. Bonding Over Lunch

    The enforcer left in a hurry while Walker pulled out some of the longer chunks of crystal from the day before. He looked at them and motioned for the crystal mage to help. "Are you sure you want my help?'' He was unsure about the process of making arrows. He had not made them before since the crystal craftsmen would usually make arrows.


    "Sure, you have the crystal crafting skill. Even if you aren''t used to it just think about it as training. You are a crystal mage and can shape crystals, the crystal crafting skill is just a refining method." Walker tried t support him the best he could while also taking out one of the empty wither spike arrows.


    "We are going to copy that?" The crystal mage saw how thing the arrow shaft was and worried that it would break the second mana was added.


    "Yes, but only make the inside of the arrow head hollow. The rest needs to be solid and stable. I know once mana is added and the arrow is used that the arrow will break so the best we can do is make sure it''s perfect to fly straight and hit its'' target." Walker was not going to make an inferior product.


    The crystal mage reached out and used his crystal shaping skill. The arrow shaft and the fins slowly pulled out of the crystal and condensed in to a very solid shape. "If we don''t need to chip away at the entire thing then it saves us time. The arrow head will be the only part we shouldn''t force using shaping magic."


    "Sounds good to me." Walker copied the crystal mages'' actions using his high earth sculpting skill. The arrow shaft and fins rose from the chink of crystal and was left at the perfect ce to chip away and cut an arrow head out.


    The crystal mage pulled out the chisels and started to dig in to the chink of crystal making a triangr cut. He was getting the rough shape of the arrow head so that he would be able to hold the arrow and get the arrow head in the ideal position for shaping.


    This was a much faster process than the sword and the two continued to do it until they were left with a chink of crystal too small to make a full arrow out of. They had pulled and carved fifty rough crystal arrows in a matter of two hours. The only problem was that they had depleted their mana and required a few mana potions along with some time to rest.


    "Don''t worry, I had some food sent here while you two worked. I think everyone taking a break and eating together will be a very pleasant change of pace." The mages had gone their separate ways and started their own experiments with elemental fusion spells. Many needed a rest from the grueling work.


    The spell swords had started to training and designing swords with the insight of their respective elemental mages. This had worked to bring the two groups closer than ever and even brought some insights into how they should fight while using the specific element. Walker was d to see this, he believed that the hard work would always pay off.


    "We have some wild fruits and vegetables along with the meat from a giant boa. Theye in to the forest to hunt when they don''t have luck in the swamps. They aren''t magically powerful or have any venom, but their bodies are tough. They can take a lot of hits before they go down, but their skin is ideal for crafting strong water proof tents and tarps." Alma gave Walker the run down of the dishes brought and he couldn''t help but start to drool.


    Midnight was right there with him eyeing the meat that she had never had before. When Alma saw this she giggled and had an enforcer help her bring over arge te. "I made sure to have some extra made for you. If you are still hungry there is even more. The giant boa was longer than this room by three or four times. It was a veryrge adult."


    Walker couldn''t imagine such a huge snake roaming the forest or the swamps. He thanked the stars that he had not gone to the swamps and risked meeting one. "Brother, I will be bigger than that one day," Onyx spoke up for the first time in a while and was confident he would be much bigger in time.


    "Onyx, you and I both know that you might end up growing even bigger than Midnight one day." Midnight huffed in indignation at this. She was going to be bigger and she would make sure of it. Naturally, she started scarfing down the meat in front of her at an escted pace. This just left the mages in awe.


    Walker looked at Onyx who had returned to his coil and silence instead of joining them. "It is very amazing how much light elemental mana your little brother can absorb. I have felt all my spells being weakened since he is absorbing at a very high rate." The light mage mentioned this as apliment But Walker immediately checked as well.


    He could feel the same thing and noticed that almost all the light elemental mana being produces by the runes on the floor was being absorbed by him. Onyx''s ravenous appetite was dwarfing Midnight''s at the moment and Walker wasn''t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing he knew was that if something was wrong then Onyx would have already said something.


    The group started to eat and rx, many of the mages started to share the new findings of their research making it sound like arge family together for a meal. Walker could feel that he was at home, it may not have been the family he was used to but the warm atmosphere was all he needed.


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 Chapter 408 - 408. Leech Crystal

    Midnight had skillfully finished off the entire portion of giant boa meat she was given and even managed to steal a skewer from Walker. She rushed off with her prize and made it disappear before returning to her napping. Walker was left in slight frustration but couldn''t help it, he loved her too much to be angry with her.


    The mages were eager to take the insights they had gotten from the break and start to apply them to their own experiments. Many of the spell swords had grasped new ideas when it came to crystal swords for them to use which was a huge motivator for them.


    The dual elemental spel sword had show off the attacks and new style of fighting that she could use which further encouraged them. The spell swords had set up an array of different dummies that resisted certain elemental manas and were practicing fervently.


    Walker looked at the pile of half finished crystal arrows and stretched his arms to get ready to start the shaping. He knew that he would need to make the arrow head sharp and bnced so he nned on using the same technique as he did with the de. Since the crystal mage was new to this it would be more challenging since he was learning with him.


    On the up side, Walker knew that the arrow only needed a smaller empty space in the arrow head instead of argerplicated shape. It would need some minor reinforcing bit not in the same manner as the weapon and mouldable crystal ball. Mostly because of the fact that Gil would be adding mana using his own skills which would be more gentle to the arrow than bonding and trapping elemental inside.


    They two took an arrow in their hands and started to softly chip away at the arrow heads. Walker saw that the crystal mage was using the smaller chisels to make the arrow head perfectly bnced. Walker followed suit and also used the smaller chisels finding that they were easier to manipte the smaller piece of crystal with.


    The small slivers of crystal that fell down were easily made to condense in to a pile by a nearby earth mage that was watching the crystal mage work. It was the same one from the previous day making Walker believe that he was a mentor of some kind.


    The arrow heads that took shape were rough at first since they needed more time and care than the entirerge de of the sword. This was a lot of small detail work that paid off in the end. The crystal mage was working faster due to hisfortable experience working with the crystals already.


    Walker looked as the crystal mage strengthened the edges of the arrow head making them smooth and viciously sharp. He was impressed by the skill even though it was the crystal mages'' first time making an arrow with the crystal crafting skill.


    The first arrow that was manipted to have an open space like the weapons had worked out nearly perfect. The crystal mage only took a few minutes to create it and showed Walker the ease it could be done. Walker and he spoke for a moment before Walker was able to catch up and create the space within the arrow head as well. The two were happy with their sess and quickly moved on to the other arrows.


    In the course of another two and a half hours, they had be more efficient andpleted a total of forty five of the arrows. Unfortunately, they had lost five arrows to imperfections or cracks. This was a very good margin for their first attempts and Walker couldn''t help but be proud.


    "They look great. I know they don''t have mana but I think they will work very well for what I want them to be used as." Alma had just finished speaking with an enforcer and had the crystal that was being held for them brought over. With the help of others, she had the crystal arrows carted off while Walker and the crystal mage looked at the crystal before them.


    "This is the crystal that the beast chains are made from. It ismonly known as a leech crystal since it absorbs the mana around it like crazy. This makes it very tough and great for items that need mana imbued within." Alma gave Walker an educational exnation so that he could better understand the value and what they were working with.


    "So why doesn''t this be some form of elemental mana crystal?" Walker knew that a simr thing would happen with the elemental mana crystals and couldn''t see what stopped it from happening with this crystal.


    "That i simple, the way the crystal is shaped down to the smallest facets stops it from permanently bonding with any one element. It is technically a defective elemental mana crystal. But it works perfectly for other items so it is an insult to say it is defective." The crystal mage was nearly vibrating with excitement now that therge leech crystal was in front of him.


    "So I can already imagine the shape of a sword, but do we have a more specific shape to replicate?" Walker knew this leech crystal was avable and rare due to the slow growth of their variation. He didn''t want to make a mistake in crafting the sword along with the crystal mage.


    "I thought you would ask that. I had one of the elemental spell swords used by themander of the spell swords brought over. She wasn''t happy to part with it, but she can''t say no to me." Alma said this with a sing song voice that made Walker flinch. He felt that Alma wasn''t afraid in the least to throw around her power as the future queen.


    "Then we are all set. We can copy the sword brought to us and make it perfect." The crystal mage watched as the high quality elements sword was ced down next to them. All the two could feel was the flowing air elemental mana from the air elemental runes carved in to it. The quality that they had topete with was very high.


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 Chapter 409 - 409. Sword Carving

    The sword that had been brought to them had a strong amount of air elemental mana around it, but that wasn''t the important part. The important part was that the de was slightly thinner than the other spell swords weapons thus far. This would mean they needed to be more delicate in their chiseling and especially when they made the hollow spot inside.


    "Here is my n." Walker got the attention of the slightly panicked crystal mage, "We both work on the shaping from the crystal here. Once we get to the fine details I will trust you to smooth it out and improve it. I will prepare the elemental mana and when we are both ready to make the hollow inside we will proceed together."


    The crystal mage nodded his head while he listened intently, "We will get the mages around to provide the condensed elemental mana but I will fully focus on bncing it with my grand elemental maniption skill. I can''t see any other way to make it work exactly the way we want it to."


    The elemental mages around heard Walker''s n and were eager to assist. If all they needed to do was focus on adding the mana they could make sure they sent even purer elemental mana to make a better quality crystal magic word.


    The spell swords had beenpletely distracted and came to watch the two work yet again. There was a lot of pressure on this one since it was infinitely harder to make but also for someone expecting a high quality. Mentioning the standing of the elf inquisition would just push them over the edge. Instead of focusing on the pressure the two started to chip away at the crystal.


    Walker felt that the leech crystal was pulling some of his mana while he was in contact making him slow down. This simple fact would make both of them work slower and more precisely but also need breaks to drink mana potions.


    Luckily, Alma saw this and was standing by to use her skill when necessary. However, she wanted to use the skill when they were adding mana to the crystal magic sword so that the process had a high chance of sess.


    "Watch out for that dent there." Walker was working when the crystal mage warned him of a slight blemish. If Walker hadn''t seen it and chipped in to it the entire crystal could have cracked. The crystal mage expertly saw this and moved to smooth out the issue. Walker couldn''t help but be impressed all over again.


    The shape of the sword gradually appeared while the pile of leech crystal slivers grew. The shape of the sword came out more rough than before but Walker attributed this to the tougher crystal overall. They two had drained a significant amount of mana at this points and Walker was happy to have a moment to refresh before the crystal mage would finish off the finer details.


    While he drank a mana potion he gathered the elements mages who all had their own elemental mana crystals to use when they channeled the elemental man in to the sword. "Remember that there is already existing mana within the leech crystal. It could disrupt your goals." The earth elemental mage wasn''t just thinking about the earth elemental mana that would naturally be in the crystal but also the personal mana absorbed from them as they worked.


    Walker was d to be told this and made sure it was at the front of his mind while he exined his part in the n. He wanted to make sure that the manas were not being pushed in to the crystal sword at improper rates. He knew that the opposing elements might try and force the others out and cause an explosion of crystal shards and elemental mana.


    His goal was to get the elements in a rotation like the mouldable crystal ball and stay in bnce. If he managed this then the elements wouldn''t be at risk of breaking the hard crafted sword. There was also the benefit that the elemental s[pell sword should have a better ability to refill the mana as they used their attacks.


    "That should be thest detail. Let me get my mana up before we make the hollow portion." The crystal mage was efficient as ever and had made the de straight and sharp. The hilt and handle were nearly exact replicas of the wind elemental sword that had been brought to them.


    The darker color of the crystal was still prevalent, but Walker could already see the rity in the thinner de. This made him worry about the strength of the structure but also wonder if the earth elemental mana would help make it tougher or not. It would be faced with its'' opposing elemental mana and might not have the same effect.


    Alma stationed herself behind Walker while the elemental mages each reached out a hand to the crystal sword. This was by far the most involved the mages had been with each other in an experiment in years. This was another amazing urrence topping the previous ones. Not a single elf in the area would believe the things that had happened if the hero himself hadn''t been involved.


    The crystal mage finished off their mana potion and ced their hands on the crystal sword as well. The mana flowed out of him and started to change the inside of the crystal sword. The hollow portion slowly formed and made the de look fragile like thin ice over a pond. Everyone breathed slowly and carefully as they were afraid it could break at any moment.


    "Start adding the elemental mana now." The crystal mage gave the call to begin and all of the mages and Walker began their skills. The focus rose to the extreme leaving no room for distraction.


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 Chapter 410 - 410. Perfect

    The entire training area had gone silent. It was as if sound had been lost from the world while they all worked. Walker waspletely immersed in the way the mana inside the crystal sword was flowing. He would not let it rest for even a second while the mana was added. If he did he could lose the hard work and injure the others.


    The mana was easy to control and guide at first. But the denser it became the more pressure started to rise. He knew that this was inevitable but pushed on. Alma was soon transferring natural mana to him since she sensed that it was the right time to use the skill to keep Walker making progress.


    With the natural mana from Alma flowing in to him Walker added more mana to his grand elemental maniption. The mana in the crystal sword was beaten in to his control. It started to flow in a vortex within the crystal sword.


    The bnce between the elements was being maintained as the pressure was rising higher and higher. Walker could feel the tension from the mages around him along with the crystal mage who was struggling to fully lock in the mana.


    Seeing that the pressure was building again Walker added more of his mana to force the process to be smoother. The crystal mage started to use his crystal shaping skill and close off the small cracks attempting to form.


    "No more mana, stop!" The shout from the crystal mage was instantly followed as a life or death order. The mages stopped adding elemental mana and retreated with worried looks.


    Walker, Alma, and the crystal mage still worked on the crystal sword. The elemental mana wasn''t yet bnced and the final touches on the core were not condensed.


    The elements appeared to be in their solid forms within the crystal sword while they chased each other. The three weren''t sure if it was a trick of the eyes or a magical urrence. But as soon as their bnce locked in ce there was a mystical feeling.


    All three immediately put the sword down and fell back gasping for air. Their mana dangerously low and the sword still thrumming with elemental mana. The mages feared that it was too early to approach but the slow calm waves of elemental mana that started to elongate from the crystal sword gave them the courage.


    The change in the crystal sword made Walker, Alma, and the crystal mage shoot up from the copsed position. Even Midnight had been drawn from her nap to stand behind them to look at the finished product.


    The colors of the different elemental mana didn''t fluctuate in just the center of the hilt and handle, it had spread through the entire de. It was simr to a rainbow but with the harsh strength of the elemental mana. Brilliant red and soft blues chased each other as the water and fire elemental mana bnced each other. The other elements moved to bind or bnce the two as well before another set would start the same game of tag.


    The leech crystal itself had lost its darker color and be a pristine clear crystal. The thin de no longer gave them the feeling that it was weak and delicate. There were not many intricate details or designs, but that only enhanced the shaping and appearance of the hilt and handle.


    There were many eager looks directed at Walker, with a slow realization he noticed what they were waiting for. "Sorry, let me use my all around appraisal skill,"


    ''Perfect crystal magic sword (earth, air, water, fire, light, darkness.)


    +5 atk, +8 Matk, +4 mana


    Due to the intense determination of multiple high and master ss mages, along with the user of the hero title a perfect weapon was crafted. The crystal sword has been perfectly bnced with the natural elements. This had given rise to the ability to enhance the wielders'' mana and magical attack. The perfect bnce of the elemental manas has given the crystal a strength that far surpasses the strength of a normal crystal sword. It is rare for it to chip or break. The perfect crystal magic sword is made of leech crystal and will constantly absorb the natural mana in the world around it to replenish its'' reserves.''


    Everyone who heard this took in a sharp breath. Hearing that they had all created a perfect item as like saying it rained gold, it was spoken of as if it were a myth. The insane rarity of the sword and the fact that they had all created it together was pulling at their hearts. Not a single one of them could find a word to say.


    After some time staring at the sword in front of them the silence was broken by the vines door being made to open. There was a taller athletic elf that strolled in taking everyone''s attention. "Elder sister! I thought you were assisting the other hero in her skill creation?" The magma mage immediately identified the woman as his elder sister. This was the elemental spell sword in charge of the spell swords of the kingdom.


    "I was, but I received a quest toe here and begin training to master a perfect weapon. The reward is the unlocking of my mastery skill." The room was again pushed in to silence. There were too many shocking things happening for any of them to keep up with.


    "Wee to our research Miranda, please meet the leader and true hero title holder; Walker." Alma didn''t miss a beat and introduced Walker who had managed to stand himself up.


    "Sorry about my appearance. We justpleted this perfect crystal magic sword and it took a lot of mana. But I''ve got to say, it is very beautiful." Walker knew the spell sword was already entranced by the sword. Her eyes grew wide as she gazed at the fluctuating mana within.


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 Chapter 411 - 411. Testing A Perfect Blade

    Miranda the elemental spell sword didn''t take her eyes off the crystal sword for a second. She had heard Walker''s words but had be too caught in the feelings of the elemental mana. Her hands brushed past the many swords on her hips and back. "I have always used many rune engraved swords, but could never have anyone due to the space and materials needed to have an all elemental sword. But this...feels like I have found something I have been missing my whole life."


    To Miranda, the perfect magic crystal sword was calling for her to reach out and grasp it. She was an elemental spell sword and was not bound by one singr element, therefore, using one sword had always felt as if she was missing something. The sword in front of her felt like it would make her whole.


    "I don''t know what is stopping you from picking it up. You said you received a quest, right?" Walker had hope that he could one day feel this way about a weapon as his partner. He could see the look of yearning on her face and didn''t mind at all that she was a little rude.


    "Are you sure? I know I may have a quest, but it would be inappropriate for me to im this as my own." She still had her manners intact and needed to set a good example for the spell swords present.


    "Come on, and show us what it can do!" One of the mages had started to lose patience and gave his own encouragement. This caused a few others to shout out as well. They had never assisted in the creation of a perfect item and wanted to see exactly what their effort had brought in to the world.


    Walker looked at Miranda with an unfazed face and gestured for her to take the sword. "It is part of my service to the queen to assist in such things, so I will do as you all ask." Miranda tried to hide her excitement but it was impossible. Everyone was equally excited and wasn''t hiding a single thing.


    Miranda reached out and gingerly grasped the handle of the perfect crystal magic sword. The elements within it instantly started to harmonize with her causing a slight pulse of natural mana to ruffle everyone''s clothing and hair.


    The mages stepped back and allowed Miranda room to aim at the targets in front of her. There were multiple crystal and wooden training dummies set up for her to try and attack. The elements circted through the perfect crystal magic sword making the entire room vibrate in elemental mana.


    The sword first took on the wind element and was shed down. The thrown de of air elemental mana was powerful and able to slice one of the wood training dummies in to pieces. The de did not dissipates however, it continued andnded in to the wall of vines causing damage there as well.


    "Ohe one!" Alma rushed over to the spot and frantically started whispering to the vines trying to repair and strengthen the wall. She grabbed a mana potion from a nearby mage and made rushed to make the wall even more solid for the next sh which Miranda had started preparing.


    With Alma stepping back Miranda shed out with a fire thrown de, then an earth thrown de, and even more a water thrown de. She had been able to gather multiple elemental mana while the wall was reinforced.


    Elemental thrown des impacted the dummies causing massive damage. The fire turned the entire dummy in to aplete pile of broken coal and ashes. The water elemental thrown de cause ayer of ice to spread upon the entire dummy and crack apart. The earth thrown de was equally interesting in the fact that when it made contact the dirt on the ground shot up and made a few needles to pierce the training dummy.


    "Her attacks are much more powerful than mine. If I were to use the same sh then the dummy wouldn''t have turned to ash and coal like that." The magma swell sword was in awe over the strength that was being shown to them.


    "It must be abination of the sword and her level being higher. But I believe that the effects are different as well." Walker was already making his own theories whenparing the thrown shes from before to these of an elemental spell sword.


    "I am going to use the darkness and light elemental thrown sh. I heard the news of your fusions magic skill and which to use the one that I have been given by my system." Miranda spoke with her words directed at Walker. This made the light and dark mages murmur in excitement. They would have even more information to go with their experimentation.


    The darkness elemental mana and light elemental mana condensed on the de making wisps of light and darkness swirl about. The heavy feeling in the room intensified much more than when Walkeralonghis fusion skill. This was the high amount of mana that the perfect sword was able to draw ong with Mirandas'' higher level.


    She raised the sword slowly while controlling the element and sashed downwards with intense focus. The sh traveled and shed extremely brightly while sending out waves of darkness elemental mana. The three dummies left were all affected and began to rot at an extremely high rate. The mana that had been stored inside had been forced out intensifying the decaying effect of the darkness elemental mana.


    The fire mages jumped in to action burning away the decaying training dummies to prevent any further spreading. The perfect crystal magic sword was noticeably drawing in the elemental mana in the room to replenish. With her strikesplete Miranda calmed herself and started to use her own skills to replenish the mana.


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 Chapter 412 - 412. Bonding The Blade

    "I just finished the first step in the quest to unlock my mastery skill. Please assist me in bonding this crystal sword to my body." Miranda looked at Walker and Alma wanting their assistance.


    Walker turned to Alma a little lost, "I have never done anything like that and I don''t know how I would help."


    "It''s actually easier on your side. You were able to control all of the elemental manas and your role in this would be to keep them from running amok while she adds her own mana to the sword. I would be there to make sure that you and her are able to remain in pique condition." Alma had seen this done a few times.


    "Can I ask what the bonding will do for her and the sword? I have not heard too much because it is not verymon in my kingdom." Walker was still a little lost and only knew that mastery level weapons that were made uniquely for a mastery level system user with a mastery skill.


    "It will make the weapon only able to be used by her. It will also speed up the use of skills with it. Her mana will be part of the sword so that it is literally part of her being. If the sword is damaged after being banded with her she will feel pain, but she will gain a better connection. It is easy to say that the benefits gained from the process will make this weapon a mastery level perfect crystal magic sword. It might even change its appraisal all together."


    Walker was impressed and absorbed this information. "So it will be the same as a mastery weapon. Is it because it is a perfect sword do you think? I feel like a regr item wouldn''t be able to handle the stress." Walker could already tell from the looks of the others that this was true.


    "That is exactly right. The other crystal mages have staffs that they had made that some have tried to bond to them so they can shape crystals better and they shattered during the process. But there was a master crystal mage that made a crystal staff that could hold mana he separated from crystals and distribute it to other crystals. He bonded with it after condensing the crystal to the hardest possible density." The crystal mage had his own goals rted to this exact urrence, it was one of his reasons to improve.


    "That is why I received a quest toe here, I have no mastery skill and thest elemental spell sword to exist in the kingdom never discovered theirs. I will be the first to disy the skill." Miranda had a strength to her words that the other elves could only respect. She had a rare system when it came to the spell swords and it gave her a chance to rise to a very high ranking member of the elves. But seeing that it wasn''t just the rarity of her system that determined her ranking, but the hard work, made them want to follow her to battle as well.


    "Then I see no reason to wait. Alma do you need another mana potion?" Walker drank one offered by the light mage and wanted to be sure that Alma was also full on mana. He had no idea how hard this would be to do.


    Miranda ced the crystal sword on to the center of the training area so that it was bnced inside and outside with the elemental mana. She sat down and waited for Walker to join her. Alma ced a hand on each other their shoulders while the other mages watched this eagerly. They had seen the binding of weapons a few times but it was not an every day urrence. For some mages it was a massive right of passage.


    "I will begin, please keep the elemental mana contained and bnced within." Miranda used a small dagger at her hip to prick her finger and let the blood drop on to the perfect crystal magic sword. The blood resonated with the sword as she pushed her finger to it.


    Immediately Miranda''s face paled. It wasn''t from the loss of blood but the heavy stress from the swords mana pushing back against her. Adding mana in to something that had stored mana or bonded mana was not an easy process, it was not weing to another form of mana.


    Walker could sense the restless elemental mana in the sword and used his grand elemental maniption to force it to maintain its calm rotation. The only problem was that Walker had no control over the mana that Miranda was pushing in to the de. Her mana waspletely unaffected by Walkers'' control.


    "You mana is the wild card in this and it''s making the elemental mana unstable. You need to bind it to the crystal and let it rotate with the elemental mana." Walker knew that if Miranda could manage this then he would be able to push the elemental mana to follow her mana easily.


    Her face twitched as she heard this knowing that what he was asking was not an easy task. The elemental mana was repelling her own mana. She may have a lot of it due to her higher level and longer lifespan as of yet. But it was still nothingpared to the pressure of the natural elemental mana that had been condensed and stored by multiple mages.


    "Alma sensed that Walker was getting low on mana already and started using her skill. She was still a little tired from before but she could push through the mental strain. She needed to make sure that this worked out because if it did it would be a massive gain for her people. On top of that, it would be an amazing aplishment for her kingdom to show off when the other kingdoms arrived.


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 Chapter 413 - 413. Audience

    Walker could feel the mana that Miranda was adding stop pushing on the elemental mana for a moment. It instead started to spread itself thinly over the entire crystal sword. This slowed the rotation of the elemental mana as if it was being weighed on. Miranda had started to sweat a little but her face was less pale. The pressure on her had started to decrease after she started to focus on the crystal instead of the elemental mana.


    Her mana slowly became part of the crystal aspect of the sword and in less than ten minutes it had be bonded. This allowed Walker to be able to speed up the rotation and flow of the elemental mana.


    Miranda flinched as the elemental mana pushed at her again but using her newly created bond with the crystal she was able to push back as an equal. The mana began to flow through the entire de and even exchange with Miranda herself. She began to feel that she was a true elemental spell sword instead of just one that used the elements.


    Walker took his hands away suddenly making Alma jump. She had not expected him to stop but he had felt it was the right moment. Miranda had no awareness of this and was struggling still. Walker saw that she was pushing more and more with her own mana as the elemental mana in the sword expanded.


    Within moments of Walker ending his influence, the perfect crystal magic sword changed appearance. It became full of more elemental mana than it had before by pulling it in from the air. The crystal resonated with Mirandas'' heart beat and she stood tall holding the sword in her hands. The blood on her hand melted in to the sword and her wound healed itself.


    With the training room returned to the natural order of calm everyone watched Miranda for her next move. Alma had also stepped back and was staring intently at Miranda, "Have you finished the process of bonding?" Her voice held a pressure she had not exhibited before other than when she spoke in front of the queen.


    No sooner had she closed her mouth did the elemental mana from the sword begin to fluctuate and demonstrate its power. Mirandas'' eyes shed open and a bright smile showed on her face, she almost looked hungry. "I wish to demonstrate my mastery skill that I have learned. Or would you like me to wait?" She looked for Almas'' approval since it was a devastating attack.


    "I am here children." The voice of the queen shocked the elves in the room and the vines began to form a dense wall. There was arge training dummy forming in the training room along with multiple enforcers entering. "I must thank you all for your hard work, I was notified that a major breakthrough had urred and I wished to see it." The queen was again walking with the use of the vines. It was an extremely important appearance.


    "You have been a constant surprise since you entered the kingdom, your friends as well." The queen was very impressed by Walker and his Party''s actions. Her gazended on Midnight who was close to Walker but then drifted to Onyx. It appeared that she was understanding something but didn''t speak.


    The vines the queen had controlled had made the toughest looking training dummy yet. It had pieces of the other dummies held within and could take any hit from any mage present. "I rmend all that are present retreat behind mymanding spell sword before she tests her new attack for the first time."


    The mages scrambled to follow the queen''s words and Alma rushed to her side. With everyone out of the way, Miranda started to gather mana around her. "This will take a little time and will be hard to use while in battle. But it will be the strongest attack I can use. I already know the requirements and draw backs."


    The queen was listening intently as small vines rose around all those who were watching. Walker noticed that Onyx hadn''t moved and the queen was encasing him in vines as well. He wanted to shout out to him but the queen was giving him a reassuring smile. Walker decided to trust the queen and leave Onyx as is.


    "I can use this as long as I have the proper elemental mana built up. I will need a full day to replenish it and during that day I can not move a muscle and will require a guardian." Miranda said this drawback and many of the mages started to whisper. This was very simr to the drawbacks they have heard about when a master elemental mage uses their skill.


    Walker wasparing this to the other mastery skills he had seen thus far and thought it was not a major drawback. She could be limited to the skill only being used once a month, but when he considered that Miranda was in essencepletely vulnerable for a full day he realized it was very dangerous. Any enemy could pick her off in that time.


    "My young mages and spell swords. Please use any defensive skills in front of us so that we are sure to protect our guests and ourselves." The enforcers that hade with the queen kneeled in front and presented their shields in a solid wall formation behind the vines. They were well prepared to defend againstrge magical attacks.


    "Let me help a little as well." Walker used his multi buff spell on those watching which increased their abilities to defend. It made them all look over and rx more. They didn''t want to get injured from the testing of a new skill but knew they couldn''t be reckless. The change in mana signaled that it was time for Miranda to activate her skill.


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 Chapter 414 - 414. Backlash

    Miranda held the sword above her head ready to strike. " Hear my call oh mana of the world. I ask you to blow away the ashes of those I burn. I ask you to bury those that I drown. I wish for the light to separate the soul from the decaying body of that which I see as an enemy. Repent upon your fate, perfect elemental sh!"


    Miranda shouted her mastery skill chant and a torrent of elemental mana burst from the de. Walker could see an untold variation of elementsbining and breaking avert. The de itself had be a source of creation and destruction. Not a single person watching could take in a breath under the pressure.


    Miranda shed down sending a de of fusing elemental manas. When it hit the massive training dummy the queen had created there was no explosion. There was no sound. Instead, there was only silent destruction. The elements reacted simultaneously freezing, burning, slicing, decaying, shattering, electrifying, building, and destroying the dummy.


    The sight was impossible to describe other than that of pure elemental wrath. The dummy was soon nothing but a cloud of dusty ash blowing away in the breeze from the attack. Walker couldn''t fathom what he had just seen. There was nothing that could exin what had just happened.


    The only one able to move was the queen. She made the vines move away from the clearing dust and saw that the attack had erased the very existence of the dummy she had made. Looking farther she also saw that the vines had been severed from their root and would soon die. The entire training area was going to need to be regrown. But this was not a major loss, they had gained much more.


    Walker soon tore his eyes from where the dummy had been and to where the queen was walking. She had stopped where Miranda had been standing. Alma and he rushed over to her side and were stunned by how Miranda looked.


    Where Miranda had stood holding the sword had been reced by a grey stone like a statue of her body and the perfect crystal magic sword. "She is a statue¡­" Alma was afraid that Miranda had died from the strike but as the enforcers surrounded Miranda and them, she realized it was not the case.


    "Walker, you can feel the elements. Can you exin what has happened for Alma?" The queen knew she could exin the situation but felt it was wise to allow Walker to get a feel himself. It was also another brick added to the road of bonding for the elves and humans to let him exin what had happened.


    "From what I can sense there is no elemental mana at all in her body or the sword. She has been petrified to some degree due to the loss of elemental natural mana and the mana her body produces. I believe this is what she meant by the fact that for a full day she wouldn''t be able to even move a muscle while she absorbs elemental mana."


    "So she is trapped there until she can absorb what she used. This is a dangerous attack both for the user and the receiver." Alma was terrified and worried.


    "Yes, it is. It caused more damage than I predicted and also puts the user out of any battle for a full day or for their life if they are harmed. It can end a war or cause the loss of a war. I do not believe this should be used unless the entirety of our race is at risk." Hearing the queen say this every elf present sealed away this memory. If the worst were to happen they would need to be ready to protect their elemental spell sword.


    I can''t think of any way to protect myself from a skill like that. There is no weakness unless I could make a shield using every single elemental mana and then fuse them in untold ways." Walker was trying to speak of what he saw but many of the mages also had the same struggle.


    "I saw a storm at one point in her strike but then I saw what looked like an earth melting. One part was a blizzard and¡­" Alma was having trouble speaking as well but they both agreed that it was an intense attack.


    "The world has manybinations of the elemental mana. It is called natural mana due to the fact that it is the dance of this elemental mana bncing itself at all times to make nature flow. We may manipte and change it, but we are also part of that bnce. I saw creation and destruction in one attack. The dummy I made was not destroyed in to nothing but changed. That dust that blew in the wind was the very essence of what was destroyed."


    The queen pointed out the exposed roots of the vines that made up the training area. They were covered in the grey dust but that wasn''t what drew their attention. What really caught them was the fact that they had already begun to sprout and grow when they should be too damaged to do so.


    "That''s amazing. It is like a fertilizer made of natural mana. The attack may have used all of Mirands'' mana and stored elemental mana, but it left behind the perfect material for new life to grow." Alma and Walker both marveled at this until the queen interrupted.


    "Now, I know this was a lot to take in and you may wish to understand what is happening better. But your party member is in need of your attention." The queen had waved a hand making the vines she had epassed Onyx with start to subside. However, Walker did not see Onyx at all, he saw a dense mass of shadow where Onyx had been.


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 Chapter 415 - 415. Young Adult

    Walker stepped toward the shadowy mass hesitantly. He wasn''t sure what had happened, this was not the usual skill Onyx would use to be a shadow tattoo or melt in to a shadow. "Onyx?" His voice was soft but easily heard through the silent training area.


    The shadows appeared to be shifting in response to his words. "Is that Onyx?" Alma came up and sounded her voice of worry. Midnight was right beside Walker equally curious. Her muscles were tense and she had a slight fire in her belly.


    There was a slight shift and Walker made out something that was not part of the shadows on the ground. "Look, there is a piece of his skin. I think Onyx shed his skin!" This was more exciting than he had imagined. Onyx had been ravenously consuming the light elemental mana for the past day and this must be the result. He had finally had his growth spurt.


    The shadows vibrated and Midnight stepped forward. Walker wanted to pull her back but instead decided to follow her lead. Alma was not as brave and didn''t know Onyx well enough, therefore, deciding to hold back.


    "Onyx, are you feeling alright?" Walker and Midnight were both worried at this point since Onyx had not replied at all. Walker checked the party status and still saw that Onyx was in the party meaning he had definitely not been harmed by the mastery skill.


    Walker did notice that there was a slight change in the species of Onyx, it read Young adult Abyssal serpent now. This was a good sign that Onyx had grown and might just need a little time to adjust. Midnight was sure to have the same issue while she grew.


    "Brother. Sister." The voice that filled their minds was much heavier than it had been but was undoubtedly Onyx. Walker and Midnight both had excitement flow through them as the shadows started to break.


    Onyx was not a smaller serpent any longer. His size had tripled, his head was easily the size of Midnights'', it was even a littlerger. The thickness of his body as it slithered out of the shadows was simr to a tree of some years. But what shocked everyone witnessing this the most was his length. Onyx could easily have wound himself around an elephant now if he so desired.


    "Hahhaha, I don''t think you can sit on my or even Midnights'' shoulders now." Midnight huffed and pped her wings a littleughing with Walker. The two had teased Onyx as soon as he had shed his skin and shown his growth.


    "Brother, do not worry I have a skill that will let me do so with ease." This made them both stop suddenly. Theirughter had been the only sound in the room.


    "Before that, why didn''t you mention that you were about to shed your skin and grow?" Walker had been a little worried the entire day since Onyx had acted strangely.


    "I was not sure I was going to. I knew I would need to shed my skin soon, but I was too hungry to tell if I would be full. I just continued to eat and store the nutrients on my shadow." This was a new fact that Walker had not known about Onyx. Surprising abyssal serpents would store their light elemental mana that they used as nutrients in their shadow.


    Midnight was growling slightly while adding some small huffs here and there. "No sister, you can not ride my back instead. I said before that-"


    Walker cut Onyx off, "Yes, Midnight it right. We can right on your back now so be prepared." He smiled a little mischievously at Onyx who was slithering away from them.


    "No, I will shrink myself and ride on your shoulder like usual¡­" Onyx tried onest time to argue against Midnight and Walker but saw that he had no chance of winning. "Just for the trip back to the tree house¡­" Onyx sounded a little pitiful, however, this did not affect Walker and Midnight at all. They had carried him around many times and it was only fair now that he was a young adult abyssal serpent with a massive size.


    Alma just stood in ce wondering what was wrong with these three. Not only had they just assisted on and witnessed a mastery skill with extreme potential, but now they were casually chatting about something silly like riding on each other''s backs. She had no words that could merge the radical change in topic.


    "Brother, I only gained one skill from my growth. But it lets me change my size. It is called shadow shrink. I can shrink my putting my body mass in to my shadow." Onyx started to demonstrate. There shadows he produces spread out around the room reaching the size he was. But his actual body seemed to melt in to the shadows leaving behind a hatchling sized Onyx.


    "Now I see why you said you can ride on my shoulders again." Walker justughed more to himself as the cute little hatchling Onyx slithered over.


    "Wait, and now he''s just a little noodle again? What is this? I have never seen such a skill." Shocking everyone the queen let out her own exasperated shout. Walker wasn''t sure if the queen had actually spoken of if the shock from so many good things had finally broken his mind.


    "My queen, please rephrase your question." Alma bowed slightly trying to remind the queen of her standing. With a slight cough, the queen hid away her curiosity and shock. Walker was happy to see that the queen was much like here people; interested in the curiosities of the world and the systems within it.


    "Ehm, please exin to me what you know of that little serpents'' species. I find him to be very interestingpared to the giant boas and wind gliding serpents we have in the forest." Walker smiled and started his exnations.


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 Chapter 416 - 416. Relation

    "So an abyssal serpent egg can be dormant for years on years if they can not gather proper light elemental mana to hatch and grow?" The queen had listened to what Walker knew and had an attendant write this down. The elves didn''t have any ravines near their forest and had never encountered such a rare monster before.


    None had asked any question about Onyx before due to their hesitation in conversing. But now that more information had been dangled in front of them there was no way that any elf let alone the queen, would not want to know everything possible.


    I did notice the control over the shadows and the fact that he was able to draw in the light element. That is simr to the wind gliding serpent. It is green and lives high in the trees. To travel it waits for a gust of wind then leaps up in the air and glides to another tree. It has the ability to feed on the wind elemental mana." The queen had seen these serpents her entire life and easily drawn the line to connect Onyx to them.


    "Brother, do you believe they are my distant cousins?" This made them allugh a little.


    "That could be the case. I honestly have no idea where either of your species had begun. If that is the case then it is pretty amazing that the change between elemental affinities could ur like this.." Walker pondered the many years that would be needed to make it to such a difference.


    "But wouldn''t Onyx perish if he isn''t able to eat enough light elemental mana? So why would they live in deep abysses or ravines?" Alma was curious about this fact. It made no sense to her.


    "I would bet that it has to do with predators. They may be able to hide in their shadows and manipte a shadow to a degree but I believe those skills were learned to specifically hide away. They also absorb light from any source so it is not required for them to be in direct sunlight, plus consume light elemental mana crystals. I think I read once that light elemental mana crystals actually grow better in the dark because there is a ce light and only light can influence them naturally."


    "Yes, it is usually a surprise, but the darkness elemental mana crystals will grow right next to them." Alma had also learned this fact and wanted to join in a little more as well.


    The queen having gained the knowledge and seen that her attendant recorded it looked at Onyx. "Congrattions on your growth spurt, and also for being the first abyssal serpent within the forest elf city. Now I must leave for some ceremonies to prepare for the full moon tonight. I rmend getting some rest if you are going to meet and assist in the potion refiningter."


    "Oh, no. I was too focused on the things happening here that I forgot about the full moon. Walker, I must leave as well. The lunar priestess needs my assistance for her healing preparations." Alma followed the queen out leaving Walker with the mages who had all be examining the effects of the various skills used today.


    After some time with the mages, Walker was able to separate himself from their theories and questions. It had been a great challenge since the spell swords had also been trying to ask him to hello make them a crystal sword. Some even requested he train with them to help them gain a new understanding of the specific element.


    "Brother do you have any more light mana crystals? I used the majority of my stored mana to grow and my appetite is still strong." Walker could only wonder just how much Onyx was going to be eating from now on. He was going to have to invest in more and more light elemental mana crystals as time went on.


    "I have a good idea. I have a lot of the crystals, but why don''t we head over to a shop that sells them and find a mid tier or a high tier light elemental mana crystals so that itsts longer?"


    "I would like that." With Onyx''s approval, the trio headed off towards the market.


    Walker!" Su''s shout caught their attention as they went by the same shop with hanging rune fabrics. Su was holding arge parcel which was the order they had ced. She had already beaten Walker to one ce.


    "Hello, I thought you would have long beaten me through everything." Walker stored away the fabrics so that Su wouldn''t be troubled by carrying them.


    "I was about to get to the shops when I ran in to Calen. She showed me to the best ces to sit and eat here in the city and we spent some time bonding. She has a lot of energy but she is very kind. I hope that she is able to slow down and enjoy the roses more." Su spoke like she had spent a little time babysitting as well. But her face was full of joy so Walker made noment.


    "So, when are you going to exin Onyx reverting back to his adorable baby state?" Su had seen this but didn''t want to force them to exin in the very first instant they meet back up.


    "Well, he shed his skin and had a growth spurt. It was after witnessing a mastery skill so I was terrified he had been hurt in some way. But I was wrong and he was actually a massive young adult abyssal serpent. He can even give us a ride on his back."


    "Brother, I amfortable here. Please let me rest. I am very tired." Onyx tried to be sneaky and pretend to be tired. But Walker knew better. Onyx had already asked for more food so he was not going to sleep anytime soon.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 417 - 417. Drawing Attention

    "Sister, I have said that I won''t let you catch up to me. I will be the biggest little brother." Onyx had decided that he would stay ahead of Midnight in size forever. However, Midnight had rejected this and currently argued with Onyx while Walker exined the entire story in detail.


    "I swear, if you two keep fighting I will make Walker hold on to your food for an extra hour." Su had rarely used the strict voice she was capable of. But she had be a master at mediating the disagreements between Remey and Gil. Stopping these two from fighting was child''s y to herpared to them.


    " Please reconsider. I am willing to give you a ride on my back if you do." Walker''s jaw dropped. Onyx was being so shameless. He had tried to get out of letting Walker and Midnight on to his back to bnce out the many days of him resting on their shoulders. But now he so easily offered it to Su.


    Midnight beat Walker to reprimanding Onyx and the two became much more intense in the arguing. Su was forced to watch as the two eventually came to a conclusion. "Sister and I agree that I will let you all rest of my back if we both get our choice of high elemental crystal."


    "Wait, but how does this work out that way?" Walker was about to make them answer when Su gave him a nudge to drop it.


    "They worked it out themselves, just do it. We have the gold and we are going there anyway."


    "That is agreeable. Then we should get going." Onyx was more excited than the others seeing that his and Midnight''s n had worked. He immediately started to return to his natural young adult size.


    The shadows pulled out and made his shadow appear normal for the size he was bing. The daunting young adult abyssal serpent soon rested in front of them. "When you have a growth spurt I did not imagine it was this major. How did you even survive being so small and then switching to this." Su was just gesturing with wide arms in amazement.


    To Su, this was an impossible growth all at once, but after Walker and Onyx exined that Onyx''s species could store away nutrients for growth it made sense. "I just can''t believe that he is already bigger than Midnight," Walker whispered this so he didn''t restart the sibling rivalry between Onyx and Midnight.


    "You did say they were once known as world eating serpents. That might be a myth for all we know, but if this kind of growth spurt happens it makes sense." Su remembered the myth from when they all first spoke about Onyx and researched his species.


    "I''m just worried that he will have a hard time growing now. I can''t imagine how much light elemental mana he will need to grow to an adult¡­or more." Walker thought that an adult Onyx could be too massive to imagine. However, why would happen if he could grow more after that?


    The four all heard this and pondered what an elder abyssal serpent would look like. It could be incrediblyrge, possibly enough to snap up the entire kingdom in one bite.


    "Sooo Onyx, would you like to lead the way to the crystal shop?" Walker slowly said this making Onyx recoil a little.


    "I did promis elder sister Su¡­" Onyx spread himself out so the three could hop on and be his passengers for once.


    "Your scales are much tougher now." Su felt that the scales weren''t as hard as Midnights but had significantly strengthened. They had started to rece the stat that Walker could see through the party leader function.


    "Sister, I am not big enough to see the world from my back. But when you can fly you can share with us the views of the world." Onyx was dismissing some of Midnight''s ims. This didn''t mean that his happiness at his size didn''t show.


    The three were watchers on Onyx''s back as they traveled the ground towards the market street. They drew a huge amount of attention since no elf had seen such a creature as Onyx before.


    A few jumped in fear that a strange giant boa had shown itself. Yet when they saw the heroes on the back of Onyx they were able to rx. Walker couldn''t help to kick himself a little since they had again put themselves in gossip''s grip.


    Onyx was able to safely make it to the market in no time t. He was happy that he was able to coil up in the sun that shown on the market during the day and decided he would wait outside.


    His massive coils of scales slowly shrank as he used his skill and soon he was resting on a nearby bench. "I''ll grab you the best light crystal I can. Don''t worry." Walker gave his word as the three went in to the shop.


    Midnight was eager to explore the crystals and pick out the one she wanted to eat. For here this was the same as a child going to a candy shop. The options were exceptional and the vors endless.


    "You''re back already?! I thought it would take you more time with those experiments." Bree was almost unhappy to see them, but seeing that she was just restocking the shelves with crystals Walker understood why.


    "Sorry foring back so soon. We were just too excited to purchase your and the spirits amazing quality crystals." Walker had learned that ttery in life was always a safe bet.


    "Of course of course. It has nothing at all to do with the hungry looking dragon sniffing all the dual elemental crystals." Walker had lost even when giving it his best shot. Suughed silently seeing the slightly depressed look Walker had.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 418 - 418. Poor Quality

    "Midnight,e meet Bree. She is the one who makes these elemental mana crystals with the elemental spirits she is bonded with." Midnight left the shelves of crystals and came to sniff Bree.


    "You''re cute, but if you keep eyeing my crystals like they are food I will have to kick you out." As mature as Bree was the response was still childish.


    "Miss Bree, we came looking for a mid or high tier light crystal for one of our party members. We are also looking for one that Midnight can eat to strengthen her scales. We hope you can assist us." Su just greeted Bree politely and tried to get the ball rolling.


    "Well, I do have some high tier light crystals that I recently made. I can part with three of them at the moment. But the others I have are for orders. And the other matter depends on the elemental mana affinities this little dragon has." Bree loosened up as she spoke thanks to Su''s words.


    "Then we will dly take those high light crystals. Midnight will choose them herself. She knows best." Su was smart not to admit that Midnight could consume any elemental mana crystal here. It was too rare for there to be multi elemental mana crystals that could give her system away.


    "Midnight, you have not eaten many earth elemental mana crystalspared to the darkness crystals. Maybe you should look for one of those?" Walker suggested this because he had not really gained these crystals for her to be able to eat them. He still had plenty of the elemental mana crystals at the forge in the mansion and in his inventory. But it was better to hold them for now.


    Midnight bounced a little as she received the permission and advice to go choose a crystal. Her nose was turned up to the air and she was drawn down an aisle of shelves. She soon stood in front of somerger earth elemental crystals, but one in particr glowed with wisps of shadows.


    Her soft huff from where she stood attracted the other three. "You want the mid tier earth and darkness elemental crystal? I can sell that no problem. It has been a while since anyone bought one of them so it is fairly priced to reflect that." Bree was curious how Midnight had zoned in on that specific crystal with only her nose. She has a suspicion that Midnight was using another skill or instinct.


    Walker pulled out the gold necessary and was about to store the crystal that Midnight had chosen, "If she doesn''t mind she can eat it here. I think the spirits would appreciate the learning experience of what the crystals can do for a dragon." Bree seemed to have her own curiosity as well but Walker saw no problems.


    "I would like to see the spirits again too. I feel like they could teach me something important. Midnight, how do you feel?" Walker was met with a soft nod from Midnight. She was hungrily ncing at the crystal.


    I will go get Onyx, he can wrap himself up with one of his light crystals while the spirits watch Midnight absorb the elemental mana from the crystal." Su left and quickly returned with a small Onyx on her shoulder.


    "Well aren''t you an adorable baby boa. I thought the regr boas had gone extinct when the giant boas had be the predators in the area." Bree was convinced that Onyx was a boa constrictor. "Why is he all ck though? Usually, there are patterns on their scales and they are a dark green¡­"


    "Miss, I am Onyx an abyssal serpent. I am not a boa." Bree smiled a little as if she already knew this. He had been ying with Onyx.


    "I see an abyssal serpent. How rare to see you in the forest. You must be struggling with the shade from the trees. Wrap up with one of the light crystals over there. I will have my friend help you with the light elemental mana."


    Bree let Onyx take a light crystal free of charge and used her skill to release the elemental spirits from her body. The light elemental spirit approached Onyx and started to force the light elemental mana to converge around him.


    Onyx basked in this light and Bree smiled while pulling a note pad from her clothing. She took a few notes and then looked at a regr light elemental mana crystal. "I knew the absorption rate was being slowed due to the imperfections in these crystals. I need to take more time to refine them or find a better crystal craftsman."


    "Are you looking for the same thing when Midnight eats the crystal she chose too?"Su was genuinely interested in the ws an elemental crystal could have. If Bree was researching them then that meant she was aiming to make a better one.


    "Yes, I know that monsters, humans, and even spirits have different ways to take mana in and out of elemental crystals. But the ways it is done depend on them. The quality taken in or out is dependent on the medium, in this case, the crystal." Bree was still making some notes here and there.


    "The crystals I use are grown in a manaless area so that I can have them at a better quality than the ones I remove and change mana around in. Buttely, I have noticed a decline in the quality. Naturally, I wish to figure out the specific defect and fix the problem."


    "If you can find the problem can you tell me what the difference would be?" Walker had found his interest had been piqued and wanted to know more about the princess. He didn''t even notice the elemental spirits crowding him and trying to examine him up close again.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 419 - 419. Only Seventy-One

    "That s a great question, I will be able to make the crystal much more usable if the imperfections are fixed. First, the crystal naturally bleeds elemental mana. It is unavoidable but the rate can be lessened. Second, the flow of the mana when being used can be smoother so that it doesn''t cause any damage to whatever it is being used by. And third, It can be made more sturdy so that it has less chance to break. For some elemental mana crystals, the possibility of breaking can mean death."


    Walker understood these points and how they could be good for anyone that possessed the crystal. In Onyx''s case, the crystal needed to let the mana flow out of it smoother. This would let him absorb the light elemental mana at a much better rate and safer.


    "If a darkness elemental mana crystal broke, would it cause decay in the area due to the elemental mana density?" Si looked to Bree for the answer.


    "That is exactly the risk. I take pride in never selling a crystal that has caused such harm. The fire elemental mana crystals breaking in certain ways could cause forest fires where water elemental crystals breaking could cause frost to spread and kill nts. The worst I have seen is a high earth elemental mana crystal breaking due to an imperfection and causing an earthquake."


    This was all terrifying to them, "Can this happen to a normal crystal? Or only if it breaks due to certain reasons?'' Walker was thinking of how Gil make his elemental arrows and worried that one day there might be an ident causing serious damage.


    "It is specific reasons, the crystal needs to be defective in some way and needs to be very condensed. If a proper crystal breaks the mana will just bleed out in mere minutes. Improper crystals will shatter and cause a huge pulse of mana."


    They were learning so much but Midnight was losing her patience. Her snack was sitting there mocking her while they all spoke and watched Onyx absorb the light elemental mana from a crystal. She nudged Walker a few times to get his attention.


    "Sorry Midnight, I got focused on other things. Feel free to enjoy your crystal. I can ask Onyx to take you to the tree house if you are too tired after eating it." Bree was privy to the information that a monster would often need to rest after absorbing high aunts of elemental mana so she did not worry about midnight falling asleep.


    "Yes, please eat eat." Bree pushed her on while Midnight opened her mouth wide. The sound of her teeth crushing the elemental mana crystal was not something Walker would ever get used to. It made his teeth throb in phantom pain. His skin crawled as the grinding of it reverberated through him.


    "I see, so the elemental mana doesn''t actually absorb in the beginning. It gathers in her stomach then slowly seeps in to here then moved towards her scales." Bree walked circles around Midnight making notes.


    "Here and here. Yes and there too. I knew those points were weak. But it was a mid tier crystal."Bree mumbled to herself for a while before writing notes at a furious pace. "I have theories!"


    Walker and Su looked on eagerly. Midnight and Onyx didn''t bother looking up since they werepletely focused on what they were doing. "There are some structural weaknesses in the crystals. The first possible reason could be the crafter. They could be inexperienced and not able to craft them properly. The second is that the crystals themselves are growing improperly and I should go check the underground crystal growth chambers."


    Walker and Su knew that they were being tempted. But the two of them easily folded to their own curiosity. "Is that something we could see?" Su''s voice was soft since she knew this was bait from Bree.


    "I am d you asked. I was nning to go there today. I have no problem bringing you two along." Bree smiled knowing that her offer was not easy to resist. "Onyx and Midnight are wee to rest here. They will need time to sleep off their absorptions."


    "There is no way for us to refuse. This sounds like a very educational trip and I wouldn''t have it any other way." Walker just smiled and went along. He was a little tired from the big events of earlier and didn''t want to rush off in to anything. But if he gave up this chance he would be cursing himselfter.


    "Ariel! Come up front for a while." Bree yelled and caused a shuffling toe from the back room.


    "Master, am I going to be watching the shop? Or do I have a new lesson?" The little elf girl that came up from the back of the shop looked to be the size of a human seven year old. But Walker and Su had learned that elves were deceiving. She was most likely many years older than them.


    "This is my granddaughter Ariel, she has the same system as her grandma. I will leave here to watch the shop while we are underground."


    "You can count on me!" Arial rand to a stool by the entrance and sat down. She fiddled with a handful of tiny elemental crystals. She had been practicing her skills in the back like her grandmother had instructed her, Now she could run the shop and be the face of their crystals.


    "Bye bye now. We will be back soon." Bree waved to Ariel as she pushed Walker and Su out the door. The two were still stunned by the fact that Bree had a granddaughter. "That girl will take over my shop one day. She has already bonded with three elemental spirits and she is only seventy one years old. Bree teared up talking about it.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 420 - 420. Down We Go

    Bree didn''t hesitate to lead them toward one of the openings in the ground by the base of the massive tree. She spoke the entire time about her elemental spirits which followed them the entire walk. She also couldn''t resist speaking about her granddaughter.


    "She was visiting me and was barely about to take her own steps when she was tickled by my elemental spirits. The next thing I know is she is trying to bond with one of them. She couldn''t even say anything but for mama and papa. It was a surprise of a lifetime." Bree was gushing over the stories of her granddaughter like any grandmother would.


    Walker and Su were still struggling with the fact that she looked so young to their standards. "So, I know we are going under ground, but what exactly are we going to?'' Walker found a chance to cut in and ask where they were heading.


    "Oh yeah, sorry I just get so caught up, you will be like this one day too. we are heading underground to the crystal smiths. They work near the roots of the tree so that the excess mana can be absorbed by the tree. Then from there, we can go to the underground crystal mines. They are more of a farm in a way than a mine though."


    Walker couldn''t help but get excited to see the crystal smiths. These crystal craftsmen were more specified than the crystal mage in creating things out of the crystals. Walker was sure to see the people who made the water spikes or even just shaped elemental mana crystals in general.


    "I think it will be exciting to watch these elves work. Our kingdom doesn''t have a crystal smith or craftsman at all." Su drew Bree''s surprise with this.


    "You really don''t have them? I would have thought every kingdom has them in spades. Without them, we would be missing so many things for the city. I couldn''t even do my job without them or advance my system level." Bree knew just how important crystals were to their city.


    "Now we head down here and we will reach the general working areas for crystal smiths and craftsmen. We will probably see a few crystal mages as well if you''re lucky." Bree beckoned for them to head down arge staircase. There were multiple groups of elves heading up and down towards the surface or the depths.


    "I actually already met a crystal mage. I was able to work with them and create some interesting things as experiments. It''s how I got the crystal crafting skill." Bree was taken by surprise yet again hearing Walker.


    "If you want you cane down here anytime while you are visiting. I am sure that another person with crystal crafting skills will be weed. If you could even take some work off of the ones that are growing crystals you might be considered a saint." Breeughed knowing that the crystals were always in high demand, even if they increased production the demand would mirror it.


    "I think we should at least look to see what we can do to help. It is only fair since we are guests to your people." Su was only hearing the fact that they might need some help. Bree smiled warmly hearing this, Su was full of intoxicating kindness.


    "I feel like these stairs are going on forever¡­" Walker was looking at the long staircase still stretching before them. There only things that made the view change were the elvesing back up to the surface and the light crystals put on the walls to radiate a faint light on the steps.


    "Well, the roots are very deep. We are only going to some of the medium depth roots. The deepest is in a ce much too dangerous for normal people to go." Bree was speaking about the chambers where fire crystals andva crystals were made naturally. There were some tough tree roots that would move in and out of pools ofva.


    "Miss Bree, we only have a short time until we need to be at the surface for the full moon tonight. That is why we are worried." Su was trying to keep their time which made Walker appreciate her much more.


    "There''s no need to worry. We aren''t going far down. The ce we need to go is fairly high in the levels. If we went all the way down it would take all day." She said this like it was a simple fact but Walker and Su had a hard time imagining the fact that they would have to travel all day to reach the lowest floors of the elven crystal growing operation.


    "These light elemental crystals are set in the wall, but they are attached with the same rope that they used on us when we were imprisoned." Bree coughed a little when Walker said this. She had heard of the incident and didn''t expect Walker to bring it up so casually.


    "You are right. It is a simr rope that can easily drain or transmit mana. It is made from some hair from the unicorns. I know you met them as well." Bree tried to divert the attention from the while imprisonment incident but Walker hadn''t been focusing on it in the first ce.


    "Does that mean that the mana gathered in your prisons is transferred to light elemental mana crystals to help keep them in working condition?" he could only imagine the benefits that this caused. It kept the city running without harming prisoners in a cruel manner. The only rough thing was that the ropes would need to bind them.


    "Yes, that is the case. It is one of the more safe and humane ways to do good for our people and not harm those we punish." Bree gave up on trying to sidestep the conversation and gave Walker the answer he was looking for.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 421 - 421. First Floor Crafting

    "My father is a guard in my kingdom and to be honest he has never told me much about what our prisons are like. I think we could use a simr system as yours if the queen allows it." Walker could only see this as a benefit for their kingdom. He also thought it would be wise to promote more human prisons in the world. It was his duty as a hero as well.


    "I know that there are trials in front of those who were appointed by the king to learn and debate thews. The judges are required to live in the lower tier but hold noble rank. It was done that way so they can fairly judge every crime from the view of a normal man." Su knew this well since her father had been friends with a judge.


    "I knew that part, but I never think about what happens after a trial. I guess not many people do in our kingdom." Walker was a little dejected but notpletely appalled by this, it was something that could change.


    "You wouldn''t believe how many elves try to avoid talking about prisons andws here. It is like a taboo sometimes. I think all the worlds'' races are like that." Bree saw that this wasn''t a negative conversation and chimed in.


    Even the spirits seemed to want a part in it and were sending out their little waves of mana. "I''m sorry, I can''t understand any of you. But I will choose to believe that you want the best for people too." The spirits looked at him and moved about with joy. They wanted his attention most of all.


    "They feel a connection with you since you have that skill to control all the elements. To them, it feels like your soul is closer to that of a spirits." Walker was very interested to hear this from Bree.


    "Does that mean he can form bonds with spirits too?" Su was worried that Walker was going to end up having to form binds with spirits and use the skill that Bree had used when they first met. If Walker looked transparent like Bree had for any amount of time it was sure to cause everyone in the party to worry.


    "From what I have heard from the rumors and my little spirits he can learn just about anything. I wouldn''t be surprised. But it is not as easy as you may think. Even a spirit and spirit mage that want to bond could not be able to if it is not the right time. It is rted to the will of nature itself. Sometimes there needs to be a time and ce."


    "So if leader and the full water spirit end up wanting to form a bond and he has the skills it could still not happen. You must have been very lucky to form all of the bonds you have." Su thought thisst part out loud making the spirits start to send out more and more little mana pulses.


    "Yes yes, I know. Each bond was a lucky and special asion. We should celebrate again sometime soon." Bree was being bombarded by the spirits to rx and y at some points.


    "Wow." Walker had just reached arge floor full of hustling elves.


    "Wee to the main floor for the crystal craftsman of the forest elf city. My supplier is stationed here and even has a small residence. Many of the crystal craftsmen wille up to the surface once or twice a month. Part of their system makes them feel more at home when they are closer to there the crystals grow." Bree was letting Walker and Su take in the sights.


    The floor was well lit and much bigger than either of them had expected. There were many doors carved in to the wall. Some had signs saying they were shops while others had residential markers. The high elemental light crystals in the ceiling let off a vibrant glow almost replicating the sun.


    "Are those high elemental light crystals crafted so that they look like that instead of white light?" Walker thought he already knew the answer but assumed he could glean more information.


    "Yes, they are specially made for every floor. They are set up with a special rune formation that allows them to have higher and lower mana influx. They will set at night and rise in the day so to speak." Bree was enjoying showing off to someone. She rarely had the chance.


    "That is very amazing, I could never imagine someone crafting an artificial sun like that." Su was in awe. "Oh, and it looks like there are work areas over there as well."


    "These are the general work areas. Many of the younger craftsmen use them before they are established. Once they find a master they will work at a specific shop or they will open their own. This is where they show off their talents." Bree walked them over and pointed out the array of tools avable.


    "So, you offer all these tools and resources for someone to grow and learn for free?" Walker had a hard time understanding this since it was most likely a huge draw on the elves'' financial state.


    "Of course we do/. If the crystals are broken or ruined they can be made in to other things. We would never waste a single thing. It is rude to throw away something that nature had provided us." Bree reprimanded him a little, but it was just a small lesson and meant no cruelty.


    "Look, leader. That one is making a sword like the spell swords have." Su pointed out a younger elf that was struggling to carve runes on to a sword that had a fine crystal de grafted ion to a solid metal body.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 422 - 422. Project

    Walker and Su moved closer to see what he was doing. Next to the elf was a pile of broken crystals that looked like they had been the des grafted on to the metal body of the sword. Walker was very interested to see the runes being carved.


    The needle that was being used to carve incredibly small runes on the metal of the sword was glowing with the elf''s mana. The patterns being carved on it were a mix of earth and fire runes that Walker was familiar with after seeing the fabrics and the training area.


    Walker was sensing the mana starting to head toward the sword and be absorbed by the crystal grafted on to the metal body. The elf was getting more energized feeling this but Walker could see a problem forming. "You are letting it absorb the elemental mana too fast. That''s why it keeps cracking like those."


    The elf boy was shocked by the sudden guidance but changed the design of the rune he was carving slightly. The mana absorption slowed and the metal body began to fuse with the crystal de better. There was a slight glow of mana before the crystal part of the de became the same red and orange color of fire.


    "Ha! It worked this time. I can''t believe all I needed to do was change the absorption rate. I have failed four times. I can finally offer this toa master to be an apprentice." The elf turned to look at Walker. "Master please ept me as an apprentice."


    Walker was stunned to see the elf boy offering him the sword. Bree was behind him stifling augh while Su hid a small smile. "I am very honored but I am not a master. I just have a very good ability to manipte and sense the elemental mana. I may be able to craft with crystals but I just learned the skill two days ago, I am more of a novice than you."


    The elf looked at him like Walker had just made him swallow a sour grape. "But how did you know that...you can sense the mana?" The elf was trying to grasp this concept when a free other elves came over. They had heard the elf get excited about sess.


    "You finally made the metal and crystal hybrid de? What elements worked? Let me try it out." One of the other elves wanted to try it but The elf that had just mistaken Walker for a master held it tighter.


    "I am using this to ask a master for guidance, please ask when I have made the second." the other elves heard this and gave up. They wouldn''t be able to study and gain a breakthrough if they couldn''t take and use the sword for inspiration.


    The other elves went back t their own work areas and the elf that had finished his sword sessfully turned to Walker, "Thank you for your help. I''m sorry if I assumed wrong. I just didn''t expect a normal mage to be able to have such a great sense...wait, are you the hero that is visiting?"


    "They have even heard about you down here. It is rare for them to have the same news since they are so focused on their crafting." Bree was openlyughing now. She found it hysterical that the elf had been assuming si much.


    "S-ssir hero, forgive-"


    "Walker, my name is Walker and this is my party member Su. Please no more sir or miss. It is a little draining." Walker enjoyed being called sir at first, but now he thought it was stiff.


    "Yes, I am Liam. With your help, I finally proved my hybrid sword ratio works. I can finally offer it to a master as proof of my skills and hopefully earn an apprenticeship." The elf was all smiles. He was almost brighter than the crystal on the ceiling.


    "In that case, you shoulde with us. I know a stubborn old elf that had been without an apprentice for thest ny years." Liam''s eyes bulged after hearing Bree''s words.


    "You really know one that has gone so long? Is he a hidden master?" Liam wanted to know all the detail at that second. His adrenalin was taking over.


    "He is my personal crystal craftsman and supplier. I give him a decent amount of work but he never wants to train another apprentice because he iszy. Don''t worry I will vouch for you. He had simr ideas as you when he was your age." Bree pointed at the hybrid sword in Liam''s hands.


    The young elf Liam smiled ore and dly put his things away and readied himself to follow. "So what were you trying to gain by fusing the crystal and the metal?" Su was curious and had barely beat Walker to asking this question.


    "Well, crystals are weak. They can be shattered by physical attacks and made useless in a battle. The metal swords are strong and can carry runes. So what if we had the magical strength of a crystal and the physical strength of a metal sword?" Liam was looking more and more serious as he spoke.


    "I took the design for the usual spell sword weapon and made it so that I could fit a crystal in as the points of the de. This way the rune will pour mana in to the crystal giving the sword the chance to use more powerful skills. Like the fire mana will be channeled in to make the me de skill more powerful." Liam was about to start ranting when Bree pointed to a door.


    This is where we have been headed. My craftsman Bart is in there. Let''s see if he is awake." Bree was about to knock on the door when she paused. She looked at Walker and Su with a mischievous smile and lifted her foot.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 423 - 423. Kicking The Door

    Bree kicked out and mmed the door open letting the spirits rush in and explore. "GooooodMorning!!!" There was a huge amount of shuffling and a few tools fell.


    "You damn spirits rushing around. I swear if you don''t put leashes on them I will craft a crystal that seals them away!" The loud voice of an older man crashed in to their ears.


    "I knew you were sleeping. I should have brought some cold water to help you wake up faster." Bree was going in hard on the crystal craftsman. She looked as if she would have kept going after him if Walker, Su, and Liam weren''t there.


    "This is my older brother Bart. He might be an old man now, but he is a pretty OK crystal craftsman." Bree elbowed him in the side to get him to look at the guests she had brought.


    "I am not just an OK crystal craftsman. I am an elemental crystal craftsman. I craft specifically with elemental crystals to make weapons and enhance crystals themselves." Bart held himself tall. He was drastically different than Bree who was still youthful in appearance. He was older and had a flurry of unkempt hair.


    "Sir, please ept this sword I have crafted as payment to be your apprentice." Liam didn''t waste any time and offered the sword in front of him.


    "Did you reallye down here to throw another kid at me? I told you I don''t want another apprentice. Just let me work and I will get what you need done." Bart was staunchly against having an apprentice.


    "This is why you let the elders go first little one." Bree gave Liam a small bop on the head before she turned back to Bart. "What did you do to your hand this time? I noticed that the crystals aren''t as good. You can''t hide things from me."


    Bart was frozen with his hands behind his back. Bree had called him out and he was unable to escape. "I didn''t hit it with a hammer if that''s what you think. It was those stupid glowing moles. They cause a small copse in the crystal bed I was farming. And this happened." Bart showed cuts all along his fingers and bruises in his arm.


    "You should have headed up to the top for a healer. I told you this over and overst time." Bre looked apologetically at Walker, "It looks like we are going right back up."


    "No, we can stay here." Walker held out his hand and used his mid healing skill. The wounds started to straighten and heal in front of their eyes.


    "So you can heal too, a man of many talents. I bet you have many people after your attention." Bree teased Walker while Bart gave him questioning looks.


    "I''m sorry if this old crow dragged you down here. A human healer being pulled all the way here for me." Bart clicked his tongue a few times not knowing what to do.


    "I didn''t bring a healer all the way here. But that is a good idea since you nevere up to the surface. I swear you are worse than those hermits who hide away. Now look at that sword and tell me what you think." Walker and Su were enjoying the interactions with the siblings. They had been worried about the injuries Bart had, but now it looked like they two were just catching up.


    "Fine, give it here." Bart took the sword and held it to the light, He examined it for a few minutes. Tapping here and there and listening to the sound of the metal and carefully inspecting the runes.


    "You changed the rune formationst minute resulting in slightly slower absorption. That keeps the crystal aspect from breaking but making it take longer to enhance a skill. The work isn''t bad but next time use a higher quality crystal with less crystal shaping and more old fashioned chipping away." Bart was letting advice go without even a thought. He was no longer worried about the people in his home but instead the quality of the item he held.


    "And brother dear, what would you say the item is ranked?" Bree was feeling very confident now that she had snagged Bart''s attention. She knew exactly what he was like when he got hold of something he likes.


    "A little lower than mid tier. I would say this is worth selling or having for any up anding spell sword." Bart looked at Bree and realized that she had tricked him again. "Every time youe here those spirits cause problems, you pester me about going back up top, and this time you brought an apprentice." Bart shook his head.


    "What''s your name kid?" Bart looked like he was about to use the sword on Liam.


    "Sir, thank you for your appraisal of my sword."


    "You start here tomorrow. Go and let your family know or celebrate or whatever. And take this.: Bart handed him a cloth with a rune pattern. "That''s my crafting rune formation. I am the only one that has it and it will identify you as my apprentice. Wear it on your arm."


    "Thank you. I will look forward to working under you as your apprentice master." Liam took the cloth and tied it around his arm. "Thank you miss Bree and Walker, and Su. I hope to see you again before you leave for more heroic duties." Liam rushed off to tell his parents.


    "Ohh, don''t you look so smug? If he wasn''t good enough I would have broken the sword in front of him and told him to start over." Bart was brutal but this was the very reason he did not have an apprentice at the moment.


    "Yeah yeah, so meet my new friends. They might be able to stop here and help you with those glowing moles." Bree pointed at Walker and Su, they just looked at her with confused faces.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 424 - 424. Fortune Teller?

    Walker and Su were thrown for yet another loop. Bree was volunteering them for cave-in danger to go after some moles without even asking for their consent. "These two will be able to defeat a glowing mole? The ones that eat crystals and metal ore? The one that is able to cause a cave in with a single swipe of its ws?" Bart was not believing it.


    "Of course they can. They are both heroes, it''s what they do. Plus I want you to get back to work and send up good quality crystals. They have a full water spirit that might need some high water crystals for when it awakens from its slumber."


    Walker wondered what the full water spirit would need the high elemental water crystals for. "Isn''t you confused face so cute. But you should already know why the water spirit will need it, how else do you think it will start to build a proper body and gain strength?"


    "The water spirit can''t gain experience like us?" Su started to grasp what Bree was saying.


    "Exactly, they are different than us, they are not really a monster or a sentient race. They are beings of nature. They get stronger the more they age and absorb their specific elemental mana. If a spirit is forced they can rise very fast but that is a whole other story." Bree brushed off the rushing part not wanting to talk about it.


    "So, I need the high elemental water crystals so that the water spirit won''t be sick so to say when it wakes up?" Walker wanted to be sure.


    "Yes, and the quality of crystals we need is in the little crystal farm Bart manages. If there is a glowing mole there eating them all then we will lose it. We will also have a much more dangerous mole on the hunt for a new ce to eat if it leaves there."


    "I refuse to believe that these kids could show up and beat something that we all struggle with. You show up talking nonsense whenever you are bored." Brutus was still acting stubborn over the matter. It was part of his pride, he couldn''t stop the monster and it had even injured him, how could he admit that a child could do something he could not?


    "Can you two tell us what a glowing mole is and can do first? I want to actually see what chance we stand." Walker became a little annoyed at hearing that he was doubted again.


    "A glowing mole is just that. A mole that glows due to the mana crystals it eats. The hair on its'' body lets off the excess mana in to the air. It is about the size of a normal bear and uses super tough ws to dig around looking for food. It is very territorial when it finds crystals to eat or metal ores to eat. Naturally it also can influence the earth with the mana it consumes and cause small earthquakes if it is so inclined."


    Walker and Su weren''t sure this was something they should deal with or not. On one hand it was a monster causing trouble. On the other hand it could cause an earthquake and cave in a tunnel on them. That would be the worst case.


    ''Heroic quest- liberate the high crystal mine


    The high crystal mine unkempt by Bart is under siege by arge glowing mole.


    Requirement:


    Defeat therge glowing mole


    Reward:


    2 heroic quest points


    8 high water elemental crystals''


    "I will even promise you the first eight water elemental crystals I get, wait, the first eight high water elemental crystals." Bree wanted her supply back very badly and was willing to pay the price she deemed worth it. Walker and Su however, had already seen this since the system had issued the quest as soon and Bree had thought of it.


    "I guess we have no choice." Su and Walker looked at each other with a slightly exasperated look. "We will help you get rid of the glowing mole tomorrow after we recover from the full moon tonight." Bart appeared to be a little skeptical still but wasn''t going to argue.


    "Perfect, then we have finished our main goaling down here. Bart will resume work with his new apprentice and we wille down tomorrow." Bree was happy as all else.


    The water elemental spirit had been focusing on Walker for a while now, especially at the mention of the water elemental mana crystals. It wanted to keep whispering to the dormant full water spirit as well, but it was afraid Bart might chase it away. Now that Bree had motioned for them all to leave it quickly rushed toward Walker and started up its'' games again.


    Bree paid no mind to what the spirits or Walker and Su were doing. She left out the front door humming in joy. Her problem was going to be fixed and she could resume her business the way she liked it. "Do you have the feeling that she nned all of this?" Walker looked at Su who shared the same thoughts.


    "I think she is actually a seer and just lied to use abut the spirit mage part." Su had the wild idea that Bree was some form of a fortune teller.


    "Or I am much older than you kids and know how to get people to do what I want. Don''t worry though, I didn''t set you up for failure. The glowing moles are much easier to deal with than you believe. They have some dangerous skills, but a massive weakness. They are blind as a bat and can only navigate by smell, so all you need to do is attack their nose and you have an easy target." Bree shared this with them making the two think that they did indeed have an easier time ahead of them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 425 - 425. Spirit Chatter

    The entire trip back to the crystal shop Bree would randomly interject with a fact or story about Bart and her working on crystals together. "Thest time I needed toe down here I found out that he had mmed his hand with his hammer. He was too embarrassed to go to the surface for a healer so he just closed the shop door and pretended he was taking a vacation."


    "Hey Bree? Can I ask why you wanted us to help with the mole?" Su thought that she better ask sooner thanter since they were fairly alone while climbing the steps back to the top.


    "Well, you two are guests and heroes. I would much rather ask you two than put another request for the enforcers who are already spread thin. I also know that the spirits like you, and to me, that means more than you know." Su was able to easily ept this response. It made sense and there was no reason to doubt it.


    Bree may have gone about getting their help in a strange way but it was just another lesson for Walker and Su at the end of the day. "Speaking of spirits, this water spirit has been trying to talk to the full water spirit and me for a long time now. Can you trante?" Walker''s curiosity had finally reached its peak. He couldn''t wait anymore and needed to know what the little pulses of mana were saying.


    "Didn''t I hear that you could learn any skills? You should just learn to speak to spirits too." Bree said it like it was an easy thing to do. Walker knew that he could learn skills through attempts, but where would he start with tranting mana pulses in to words?


    "Can you give me a ce to start? I don''t know what the mana the water spirit gives off means. If I could have a good point to focus on I might be able to slowly make progress." Walker was almost ready to just tell her that it didn''t work that way, but to be honest he didn''t understand the rhyme or reason behind the system either. He had gained skills from small things without trying but also gained skills through hard work and guidance.


    "You''ve already sensed mana in front of me. Do the same thing and ask some questions. Just keep practicing as we walk. You will start catching on, it''s how I had to learn." Bree was brutal. Walker was hoping for tricks or some secret ways to understand, but instead got told just to figure it out himself.


    Su gave him a knowing look and focused her attention on the dark elemental spirit that was moving around her. It looked to be ying a little tag game by touching her armor then rushing to get to another side of her body before she poked it. Every time Su managed to poke it before it got across her armor a few little mana pulses bounced out. Walker was sure this wasughter.


    Seeing that Su was doing just fine without even having a skill Walker had a better feeling. With his confidence rising he looked at the elemental water spirit that had been following Bree''s words. It was giving Walker some curious looks while the water that made up its little body flowed around.


    "Hello there. Are you enjoying the adventure so far?" Walker wasn''t sure what to ask but was greeted with a few small pulses of mana. The spirit appeared to be happy to finally be getting more attention.


    While the water elemental spirit twirled through the air it had started to draw the attention of the other spirits who have been chasing each other or looking at parts of the wall. The light elemental spirit had been looking at every single crystal on the wall that was lighting the stairs. Walker could only guess it was inspecting the elemental mana within.


    The fire and the wind elemental wind spirit used their own pulses of mana to speak to the water elemental spirit. The three were soon sending mana pules after mana pulse at Walker. He was feeling a little overwhelmed by the sudden bombardment since he was doing his best to also understand and sense the mana they were giving off,


    The only strange thing to him after some minutes of this was that the earth elemental spirit was nowhere to be seen. "Bree, don''t you have an earth elemental spirit too?" Walker was curious since he wanted to try and speak to all of them if possible.


    "Yes, it is wandering around the walls right now. I''m surprised it hasn''t yed any tricks on us yet. It''s mischievous and likes to turn little spots of the steps in to sand." Bree thought this to be a hysterical quirk of the earth elemental spirit. She even encouraged it often.


    Su and Walker both looked at the steps carefully and made sure that they wouldn''t fall prey to the earth elemental spirits tricks. Luckily Walker realized that he could sense its'' presence and that it was staying on the ceili g and sending little bits of dust down to fall on Bree''s shoulders for fun. Bree was ignoring it since she knew that was the only way it wouldn''t try anything else.


    Walker suddenly felt a little cold on his neck and turned to find the water spirit rushing away. When he touched his neck he found his hair had a little frost on it. "So I should have been wary of you and not the earth spirit. You are a sneaky little thing." Walker used a little bit of his grand elemental maniption to send a small breeze of frost at the spirit.


    The wind and the water spirit touched their elemental bodies together and send an equal breeze of frosty wind. They both looked to be giggling as they sent out to a chorus of mana pulses.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 426 - 426. Bombarded

    "You two think you can team up huh?" Walker wanted to use a little more of his elemental maniption but quickly caught himself. "When we get off the stairs I will really get you two with a good swat." His teasing made the elemental spirits more active. The earth elemental and light elemental spirits even came over to chatter now too.


    "You are getting them so riled up. I hope you can tire them out before you leave. If not I will have to add to the job I''m asking you to do." Bree was only teasing as well, but Walker made sure to nod anyways.


    Su was still ying the little tag game with the darkness elemental spirit but had also begun to watch Walker interact with the other elemental spirits. She thought it was interesting that they were all equally interested in him.


    The light elemental spirit was the leastmunicative of the group mostly because it always maintained a higher height. It liked being up above the others and this made it feel out of reach, but Walker was still making a point to look at it and give it attention. This made Su happy to have such a caring friend.


    "I feel like all of you are just trying to mess with me now." Walker tried to catch the fire elemental spirit that had just send a small spark to the front of his face. Waker of course wasn''t affected at all by this and easily reacted, the only problem was that the fire spirit was too nimble in the air and was already far away from him sending out many little pulses of mana.


    These little pulses of mana that were giggling from the spirits made Walker more motivated to get a little revenge. He knew they were just ying and he would be sure to go all out when they reached the top of the steps.


    The games and teasing went on and on and eventually, the darkness elemental spirit had started to y with Walker as well. When they reached the surface the light elemental spirit descended slightly and was pulling at Walker''s hair. "d to be back out in the sun?" Walker wasn''t sure what the spirit wanted but he had a sneaking feeling that the stronger pulses of mana were important.


    "Really? You are asking him that?" Bree looked surprised and Walker just became more curious. "You should really start to listen better. They are saying some uncharacteristic things." Bree smiled a little more and Walker got more frustrated that he could only make out when the spirits were giggling.


    "Leader, what is it like? Are you feeling a stronger connection when they try to speak to you?" Su was worried Walker was having a harder time with this than he was letting on.


    "I can tell when theyugh. But when there is more mana in their speech i am left clueless still. I can feel the mana that they use and it is all the different elements. It is really frustrating since this little light spirit wants me to do something and I can''t¡­"


    The light spirit sent some slower and more controlled mana pulses at Walker. Bree stopped in her tracks and nearly dropped her jaw to the floor. "You are singing the alphabet? I haven''t heard you sing in years." Bree was looking at the light elemental spirit that paid her no attention at all when she said this.


    The other spirits moved to do the same thing and soon Walker was feeling the multiple pulses of elemental mana from each spirit. Walker was sensing every single pulse of mana and felt that he was being overwhelmed. The number of different meanings they could have was more than his mind could keep up with, however, he could feel that his own mana was resonating with them.


    Feeling that his mana was being forced to keep up above his means Walker stoodpletely still and used his entire focus on the sensing of the mana around him. He slowly sat down in the middle of the road they were walking causing Su to be much more worried.


    "Just leave him for a few minutes. They decided to help him, I was waiting for them all to take a real interest." Su realized that the reason Bree hadn''t been helping Walker wasn''t due to any reason other than the fact that she was not the best person for the job. The elemental spirits themselves were the best ones to help him get the skill he wanted.


    The elemental spirits came to a stop and didn''t relesase a single pulse of mana. There was only silence in the mana around Walker. The rity that he felt in this moment flowed through him as he rxed. He felt enlightened by the constant bombardment of their speech.


    Bree was looking at him with a light in her eyes. She knew exactly what Walker was feeling since she had been through very simr urrences when she bonded with each individual spirit. The process was not as intense but Walker was being spoken to by every elemental spirit she had with her at the same time. She could only imagine that it was many times moreplicated.


    Su looked at Walker and Bree. The calm expression Walker had told her that he was passed the toughest part in theory. While the excited look Bree had made her wonder if something major was about to happen. The suspense of the silence was more than she could handle. The outside world had faded away from the three of them even though they were on a busy road toward the market and under ground.


    "Can he hear us?"


    "Tell him to y more"


    "I want to meet the archer they have"


    "That girl is nice, she knows how to y tag."


    "Tag? We can y more tag."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 427 - 427. Speech

    '' The user has been influenced by the fire elemental spirit speech. The skill fire elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill fire spirit speech.


    '' The user has been influenced by the light elemental spirit speech. The skill light elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill light spirit speech.


    '' The user has been influenced by the water elemental spirit speech. The skill water elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill water spirit speech.


    '' The user has been influenced by the earth elemental spirit speech. The skill earth elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill earth spirit speech.


    '' The user has been influenced by the dark elemental spirit speech. The skill dark elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill dark spirit speech.


    '' The user has been influenced by the wind elemental spirit speech. The skill wind elemental spirit speech has been taken from the spirit mage system. The user has automatically learned the skill wind spirit speech.


    ''The user has met the requirements to learn a high ss fusion skill. The previous skills will be fused to create the high skill absolute spirit speech. The user has automatically learned the high ss skill absolute spirit speech.


    Absolute spirit speech- passive


    The user has learned the spirit speech of each elemental spirit. This skill is thebination of every form of spirit speech. No matter the elemental affinity of the spirit the user canpletely understand their emotions and words. The spirit no matter the elemental affinity can understand the users'' emotions and words. This skill is the highest spirit speech skill gained by a spirit mage.''


    Waker couldn''t keep up with the system notifications. All he saw was the flurry of words and the words spirit speech over and over. When he finally was able to read the final notification his face bloomed in to a smile. "I can finally understand spirits that haven''t be great spirits yet."


    "You can hear?"


    Walker jerked his head to the side looking for where the voice came from and only found the light spirit above him.


    "Come y!"


    The fire spirit was repeatedly shouting this with its mana.


    "Show us frosty winds again!"


    The wind spirit was chattering about the grand elemental maniption Walker had used to make the first infused breeze to get at the spirits earlier.


    "Let me sit on your head!"


    Water elemental spirit wanted to get up to the tall height that the light spirit was and sit on top of Walker''s head. It looked like it was trying to y with the light spirit but acted slightly shy. Walker found this slightly cute since it was many years old and had known the light spirit for many of those years


    "Do you want to explore?"


    The earth spirit was pushing him to explore the depths of the under ground with it. Walker could only imagine this was because of the caves they had juste from.


    "can you use more light magic? Can you show me?"


    The light spirit chimed in with an even and calm tone. It wanted to see the skills Walker could use since it knew he had light elemental magic skills. He wouldn''t be able to hide any of his affinities from spirits even if he tried. They were too close too the mana they were made of.


    Walker was immediately bombarded by the spirits who all wanted the attention. He did notice that the light elemental spirit was the quietest but it was the one that had been the most focused on Walker thest few minutes. The water elemental spirit was the one that wanted to y the most and was insistent on tag.


    The spirits were much more child like than Walker had expected them to be. Their voices tranted using the skills were small and soft. Now to mention their actions as well. Adding it all to the fairy like appearance and there were just mana based children fluttering about the air and ground.


    "That must have been fun." Bree was watching the spirits try and get Walker to y. The only one that wasn''t moving around in excitement was the light elemental spirit that was firmly holding a piece of Walkers'' hair.


    "Sorry for stopping so suddenly. I had a little trouble grasping everything. But thanks to all of you I can use the absolute spirit speech skill."


    "You learned the absolute spirit speech skill? You actually learned every single spirit speech skill at once? I needed to understand them all over time until I got to thest element. It took twenty years to fuse all of them in to the one skill." Bree started to question why she put in so much effort.


    "His system is just like that, you get used to it. Leader, can you tell me what this little one was saying?" Su motioned toward the dark elemental spirit that she had been ying tag with. She had long gotten used to Walker''s absurdity and wasn''t even able to take excitement from other peoples'' reactions to it.


    "The talldy is fun to y with. I can feel her affinity. She shoulde more." The dark elemental spirit rushed to Su and poked her arm then tried to get to her other arm before Su poked it. Su just smiled and started ying tag with it again while Walker stood up. Su had gained the slight darkness affinity by being around Midnight so much along with the fact that she had upgraded to the draconic guardian system. The dark spirit could sense this easily.


    "To answer your question, I do know light elemental magic but not too much. Nothing as impressive as I am sure you have seen." Walker wanted to be humble since he felt that was the best way to get along with the light elemental spirit. "I did learn an interesting fusion skill with darkness elemental mana though, would you be interested in that?"


    Naturally, the spirits would have been interested to see any skill since they just wanted to y, but Walker had the idea that they would be more interested in the fusion skill since the elves had also been very excited for it. He also knew that this was a way to get the spirits to be more invested together. It kept the others from getting bored waiting for him to show them something with their specific element.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 428 - 428. Sus Story

    The light and dark elemental spirits both moved to float in front of his face. "Yes, show us" They were both visibly excited to see any skill they could.


    "Now you''re spoiling them. They hound every mage they meet to see their skills." Bree was shaking her head while she started off walking again.


    Walker pulled out the moldable crystal ball and started to change its shape in to a spear. The elves around gave him weird looks since he was practicing such skills while walking. But the looks were more out of curiosity than out of annoyance, it was verymon for mages to practice and wander the city. The only time it was a problem was when they caused damage.


    "I''m sure you two can sense the mana inside this. Now watch what I can do with my skill." Walker smiled as he started to manipte the mana on the inside of the crystal spear.


    The de of night and day skill activated without trouble and the darkness and light elemental manas formed the ck spear with a light elemental spear head. The fusion was perfectly in bnce and held a significant amount of pressure.


    "Cool!"


    "Strong!"


    The two spirits eximed these things while they poked and prodded the spear. They weren''t at all negatively affected as they touched it. They knew the dangers of opposing elements but could tell they were in perfect bnce in the spear.


    "Earth? You have earth control in there." The earth elemental spirit finally spoke up and looked at the spear as well.


    "Yes, the crystal it is made of will always have some earth elemental mana. I also needed it in there so that the two other elements would fuse properly and safely. While they continued their walk toward the shop Walker spoke of the process to create the moldable crystal ball and how they managed to add the light and darkness elemental mana to them.


    The spirits were captivated since they wanted to see and experience these things too. The other elemental spirits were less entertained since they didn''t see their elements at work and decided to y with Su. The only outlier was the water elemental spirit that started to whisper to the dormant full spirit that Walker was carrying under his cloak.


    He had dispersed the skill and reverted the moldable crystal ball again. The dark and light elemental spirits were still studying the moldable crystal ball he decided to use his grand elemental maniption to send another breeze at the wind elemental spirit.


    "Hey!"


    The wind spirit felt the breeze and rushed over to Walker trying to get him back. Su was giggling as they came up to the crystal shop at the elemental spirit. She found it hysterical that it was spinning about Walker trying to get him back.


    Bree walked in to the shop and found that Midnight and Onyx asleep in the middle of the floor. "How has the shop been Arial?" Bree found her grandaughter gazing at the pair of sleeping monsters while fooling around with some crystal shards.


    "The usual customers. We yed for a while but they were tired and fell asleep. Midnight said that she had to digest the snack and Onyx told me I can have the crystal shards to y with." Arial held up one of the shards and showed that she had started to fill it with the water elemental mana.


    "Honey, you know crystal shards won''t hold on to the mana you add to them. But it is good practice for you and the bonded spirit." Arial let Bree pat her on the head then rushed off back to the counter.


    Midnight and Onyx stirred having sensed Walker''s return. "Are you two ready to head back and get some real rest before we head off to meet for the full moon?" Walker knew that the potion the master alchemist Trish had made needed the light of the full moon, but he wasn''t sure if Remey would still be too caught up in making her skill.


    "Brother, we have been waiting for a long time. We have already rested some." Onyx had other things in mind, but it was mostly pertaining to Midnight. "Sister says she wants to eat some of the frog you have for her."


    Walker knew this woulde up again. He had mentioned it and he would be a fool to forget the food. "Well, it looks like we need to be headed out. I think we should have a few hours to rest before we should head to the master alchemist''s residence to view the moon."


    "You will be viewing the moon and witnessing the lunar priestess''s right? You should let the dormant water spirit rest in the moonlight as well. I heard that the moonlight can strengthen their consciousness while they rest." Bree was starting to show them out since she knew they would be in a rush.


    After saying their farewells the four walked peacefully toward the tree house they had been resting. "I have heard that water and the moon are rted. My father once read me a bedtime story about the moon controlling the waves of the ocean." Su recalled the sorry from her childhood.


    Do you remember the story well?" Walker was curious about how the two could be rted.


    "I don''t remember all of it but I do remember some. There was a little girl who would always see her father off to fish. He would often trade and work with the merfolk but that didn''t help him, they were poor and needed money. He decided to go out and fish on a day he knew could be stormy and ended up going missing." Su was remembering the sad look her father had made while telling Su this story. It had made her believe that it was more than just a in story and maybe a piece of history.


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 Chapter 429 - 429. Lunar Goddess

    Walker was intent on hearing everyst word. The beginning of the story had hooked him in and he was hopefully going to be able to hear it to the end while they make their way up the tree branches to the tree house they were staying in. Onyx and Midnight were also invested in the story as they walked.


    "The father was caught in the storm and the daughter found herself waiting on the beach every day. She feared her father had been taken by the waves and knew that as the moon rose the tide would change. She prayed every day for weeks for the tide to bring her father ashore." Su was remembering more of the story as she spoke and felt that her memory had most certainly improvedpared to before her system upgraded.


    " The more the girl prayed for the moon to send her father home the more she felt a connection with the ocean itself. After weeks of praying she unlocked her system. It was called the lunar goddess system. She used her skills to feel the tides and see through the light of the moon." Walker was having a hard time imagining how one would see through the light of the moon, but he knew that seers could see the future in the water of a me of a candle so he didn''t doubt it.


    "In just a few hours she had changed the tides themselves and a damaged fishing boat drifted on to the shore. She used her skills to heal her father with moonlight and bring him back to full health. Unfortunately for her, the system she had gained required her to always be bathed in the light of the moon. It is said that after she healed her father the sun''s rays breached the nearby mountains and she turned to stone."


    Midnight and Onyx were both shocked to hear this part of the story. They wanted the girl and the father to live happily ever after, but there was still more to the story.


    "Every night she would return to being the lunar goddess and travel the beaches bringing sailors and those lost at sea back. She would heal them and then as the sun came she would return to stone. The people who found her statue prayed to her thinking she was a totem. The story ended with the fact that she was a goddess who would live until the moon fell."


    Waler was sure that there must be more somewhere, but it sounded like the story was happy and sad at the same time. "She gained the power to control tides and heal with moonlight but lost the ability to walk in the sun. I feel a little sad about that¡­"


    "It was a great power, I know there is more to the story but I would need to find the book. That was just the story of her birth. I know there is more about deeds as a goddess. I wonder if it is real though." Su looked up at the treehouse and made thest few steps to open the door.


    "If it is real I hope she is happy. Who knows, maybe we will meet her one day." Walkerughed while Onyx and Midnight pestered them to find the story book when they got home. After some time they all managed to settle down and rest before they heard a knock on the door.


    "Sierra! What brought you here?" Walker was a little sleepy still from his nap but was very happy to see Sierraing to visit them again.


    "I will be your escort to one of the lunar ritual tforms outside the city. There are a few monsters thate out at night and it is better to be together than alone. Your party members are also being escorted there." Sierra was still surprised that Walker was able to easily tell apart the enforcers even though they were all almost identical.


    "Let me get Su and Midnight and we can head out." Walker could already feel Onyx in his tattoo form on his arm so all he needed to do was wake up the girls.


    The four were ready in just a few minutes and had shaken the sleep from their eyes. They saw that the sun had begun to set. Sierra moved very quickly but the group was able to keep up without an issue.


    "Finally you guys get here. I have been waiting forever!" Gil was standing at the edge of the forest with a green and ck quiver hanging off his shoulder.


    "Is that the quiver you have been making? How does it work?" Walker was immediately excited to see the creation but Gill turned away and hid it from him.


    "I need to have a lunar priestess bless it tonight so that the skill can work with it. The natural mana at night is rted to the materials I used to make it and will help it bond to me and me alone." Gil was a little over protective but it was understandable since it had been his full focus for the past few days.


    "I see, so you will have it all set up for your arrows after the blessing. Then I won''t be your arrow boy." Walkerughed at the fact that he would need to watch Gil put away every arrow he had in his inventory.


    "I thought Remey would be here already." Su was worried that Su had worked herself in to exhaustion but Gil immediately perked up.


    "She is actually ahead of us. The master alchemist said that she needed to start setting up the tform for the lunar priestess. I think Remey willplete her skill tonight since the warriors were all gone but for Wade. You would be amazed how well he is doing after he was healed by their best healer." Gil started to ramble on while Sierra tried to get the party moving again.


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 Chapter 430 - 430. Platform

    Sierra finally got the party moving outside the city. She wanted to make it to the tall tform on top of the spiritual cedar before the nocturnal monsters started toe out to hunt. "We are only a short distance away, stay focused so that we reach our destination safely."


    The party didn''t take this lightly and fell in to formation easily. Walker followed up the rear while the others were behind Su. The path they traveled looked well worn and Walker assumed it was amon patrol route for the enforcers.


    The trees around them started to thin out and be mostly saplings with small fruit bushes around. The soil still teemed with life but every tendril appeared to be guided. "This is the start to the tform we are going to. Our farmers only guide the natural fruits and vegetables to grow here. They keep the tree seeds outside using their skills."


    Sierra said a quick introduction to therge garden they had entered. The saplings were also showing signs of fruit growing and Walker could only wonder what they were. The garden was focused around what the party could see was a fairlyrge tree. Thie tree itself hadrge white flowers and a red and pink hue to the leaves and the bark. The area around it waspletely devoid of anything but a softyer of dried flower petals and leaves.


    There were vine stairs that curved around the trunk and in to the foliage. "We are going to head up that way and meet master alchemist on top. She is apanied by Miss Remey and a lunar priestess who will strengthen the moonlight." Sierra motioned for a few enforcers that were spread out nearby to ready themselves. She had an entire squad ready to defend the ceremony and those participating in it.


    "I can hear you all from up here, hurry up!" Walker and Su looked up at the top of the tree and were unable to see anything that even looked Remey shaped. But they heard her voice clearly.


    "I''m going to get up there first!" Gil was running up the vine steps with Midnight on his heels. Walker and Su both smirked and started to run up the steps too. Onyx just coiled around Walker''s shoulders more trying to hold on.


    The group seemed to climb forever as they weaved around the branches finding that the steps were bing less and less. The vines that extended from the tree were soon just branches they hopped on to get to the next level. The only thing that stood out were the slight hand hold like twisted branches.


    When Walker finally broke the foliage barrier he found that the tform was onerge t guided vine weaving. "This must have taken years to make." He turned around and soon found that there were clear crystal and obsidian pedestals resting in the center. Many carved runes led toward them slightly emanating natural mana.


    "It actually only takes about fifty years to grow the spirit cedar properly. Our farmers have spent many decades perfecting this art." Trish was enjoying the amazed looks that the party had.


    "Ha! I thought that an arcane marksman would be faster at climbing some tree than a little dragon." Wade was already trying to tease Gil who was threateningly notching an arrow in his bow. "Yeah yeah, do that and you can say goodbye to our priestess helping you activate the leather from those bats in your new quiver."


    Gil protectively held his quiver and red at Wade before walking over to give him a nudge. "You look pretty well, I thought you would still be resting." Walker was sure to greet Wade as well now that he was finally seeing him again after the injury and meeting the queen.


    "We do have the best healers around when ites to natural mana. I also was requested to help create a new skill so I was pushed a little harder." Wade frowned slightly remembering the speed healing skills used on him.


    "You are all giving Wade attention and not me. Don''t you want to know how my quest is going?" Remey had been the center of attention the past few days and she was missing her party quite a bit. She wanted their attention as well since she was finally the one shocking people instead of Walker.


    "Remey, it has been less exciting without you. Walker has been getting us in to all kinds of trouble. We have to go and defeat a glowing mole in the morning." Walker watched as Su threw him under the cart to Remey.


    "Hey now, you would have volunteered us right away if they had asked. Walker''s reply was met with no answer at all Remey had already started to tell Su of the herbs she had learned while in the master alchemists'' hanging garden.


    "You''re going under ground?" Trish heard this and came to give her own greetings now that the party had been able to see the tform and start to catch up. She appreciated the energy they brought since these ceremonies were often dull due to the low number of people present.


    "Yes, we will be master alchemist." Trish smiled even more since Walker had remembered to call her master alchemist outside of her own dwelling and hanging garden. She truly respected the young that would give the proper honors to elders in public.


    "Well in that case I would like you to look for the glowing bell mushrooms I need for my night vision potions. They are very important for the enforcers and I make arge batch of a hundred once every other month. I will need at least ten mushrooms. I would be willing to trade the ten for a few of the potions."


    "You are going to make night vision potions!" Remey heard this as clear as day.


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 Chapter 431 - 431. Diamond

    "Yes little apprentice, I will be. I thought I might try and make it earlier than usual so you could watch." Trish was starstruck with Remey''s love of alchemy. She too had her fair share of elves that would unlock the system but want to rush off and do other things. It took them some years to realize their hidden talents and joys for alchemy.


    "Walker, we are doing it no matter what! The night vision potions are incredibly hard to make because they need to be made using fire elemental crystals to heat the pot and can not be done in the light. If even a single sliver of starlight gets at it then the entire batch because poisonous and can kill in a few drops."


    "Sursure. We will look for glowing bell mushrooms." Walker was how excited Remey had gotten and knew this was a huge opportunity. He also had never heard of a night vision potion and thought that they would be great to have in case they ever needed to travel at night.


    "I would rmend you also take some to your kingdom. From what Remey has said they do not have ones as effective as the ones we make. So much so that it isn''t worth it for an alchemist to make them at all." Trish had already gotten Remey talking about human alchemy as she learned the herbs of the elves.


    "Midnight, don''t touch those crystals at the base of the pedestal if you do it can infect it with your mana." Remey was quick to catch Midnight sniffing at the crystal base of the pedestal and stop her.


    Midnight gave a soft huff and found a ce toy down and try and nap. She was a little annoyed that she had been reprimanded but Remey had already heard of the value of the ceremony and what the pedestal was for.


    "Speaking of all this ceremony, what is the ceremony?" Gil had not heard the details yet either and was just as curious as he knew Walker and Su would be.


    "I got this one. Master alchemist told me everything about it and since the priestess can''t speak until she finished the ceremony there''s only us." Remey pointed at an elf in pure white fabrics. There were runes sewn in to the fabric but they were also in white. Walker could sense the light elemental mana being attracted to them.


    "Go ahead, little apprentice. I will treat this as a small exam." Remey stiffened. She had been subject to these little exams nonstop for the past few days as she learned the herbs. Trish never let up and was drilling the knowledge directly in to her mind.


    "The spiritual cedar itself is a rare tree nurtured by the rare system user; spiritual farmer. They work as leaders to the forest farmers that cultivate the gardens. The tree helps natural manae in denser waves. This important for the unique natural light mana from the moon." Remey exined how the elves grew this garden which Gil took to heart. He wanted to share all of this with his mother and father when he returned home.


    "When the moonlight brightens the sky on a full moon there is a purifying effect that can strengthen and awaken certain aspects of elemental mana. The reason the potions need it is the purifying effect. The reason items like Gil''s quiver need it is that the monster materials are easily bonded to a living creature''s mana during it." Remey had said all of this like she was reading from a book. Walker was almost ufortable with how proper she soundedpared to the usual feisty attitude she had.


    "The lunar priestess can use a skill called silent chant paired with her lunar prayer dance to make the moonlight focus on the tform here. That pedestal is where the strongest moonlight will be focused to create enriched soil around the spiritual cedar. It will also fill the highest quality mana diamond."


    "Mana diamond?" Walker was even more curious about this item. He thought Remey was about to speak of an elemental mana crystal but was suddenly talking about gemstones which were usually useless to any form of magic or mana.


    "Yes, mana diamond. They grow in the base of the spiritual trees and can only be harvested once a year when they are released from the spiritual trees'' roots to purge impurities. Once the diamond is cleansed it will store the purest natural mana. This is a healer''s unique material for healing with moonlight. It is the only way they can use a mastery skill."


    Remey took a deep breath and thought for a second before speaking again. "The mastery skill they have requires incredibly condensed moonlight mana. It uses all of this unique light mana to heal those in arge area around them and can only be used once a year. It is one of the elves'' greatest feelings of pride."


    Gil was impressed that Remey had said all of this with such confidence and focus. He didn''t tease her at all and even asked his own question, "Why isn''t she able to speak again?"


    "The lunar priestess is preparing for the silent chant skill. She can only use it when she has not spoken for three days. The lunar priestess system has a lot ofplicated skills but because of the rules they have, there is an incredible ability to purify and heal. They also worship those who unlock the lunar goddess and lunar deity systems."


    Su nearly broke in to a happy jump hearing that there was a connection to the story she had been told as a child. However, she easily held herself back and maintained her seriousness. She was well practiced in this act and wouldn''t embarrass her party at an important time like this.


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 Chapter 432 - 432. Spirit Orchid

    "Very good. I am impressed that you memorized that in just a few hours. Your tenacity has outdone even some of my greatest apprentices. Are you sure you don''t want to stay here and keep learning from me?" Trish had offered this many times already. She wanted to learn more about the unique system Remey had and also be the first to hear of any other skills she was to create.


    "Thank you again master alchemist. But I have an old man waiting for me toe back. Someone needs to give him a heart attack when he finds out I can make potions he''s never heard of and I''ve used herbs he''s never seen." Naturally, Remey didn''t want to actually give him a heart attack. She was extremely excited to finally have something to give back to him.


    "Wait, don''t tell me you are going to bring the old master alchemist here?" Gil realized that Remey was making a slightly mischievous look.


    "What if I am? He would love a vacation to another kingdom. Especially one with a hanging garden full of tons of herbs he''s never seen."


    "I hope you have a revival potion of some elixir of immortality then. He will spend the rest of his life studying if you bring him here." Walker wasughing already. He had long caught on to the intense study an alchemist would put themselves in to learn something new.


    "We both know that if I don''t bring him here before he dies he would haunt me, you, and everyone in the kingdom." Remey didn''t doubt that this was a possibility in the least.


    "He sounds like an interesting man. I look forward to meeting him. Just make sure he brings his own notes to share as well." Trish said this like it could be an option but they all felt that it was an order from another master alchemist. She could not hide her own desires to study as an alchemist.


    "I think we should all begin to get in to position. The moon is going to be cresting the horizon any moment." Wade had been watching this exchange revolving around alchemy and knew that they would all soon be lost.


    "Yes of course. Thank you wade for the reminder." Trish moved and ced the potions she had made around the pedestal and motioned for Gil to alsoe. "ce your quiver here and make sure you are watching for the correct timing. You will know when to add your mana."


    "Understood." Gil kneeled next to his quiver in the ground and made himself look as small as possible. He knew that he could get in the way and wanted to be aspact as he could.


    "Don''t worry too much Gil, the dance is a wide one. It doesn''t get close to where you are. Just focus on how things feel and jump at the right moment." Wade had been through the same process for his own quiver and knew that it was a very important moment for any archer. The bond between them and their gear was something that words could not describe.


    "Is there anything that we can do?" Walker didn''t want to be rude and just stand around being useless.


    "I would rmend that you focus on the elements and how they react during a full moon. You might just learn a few things. Especially since I was told about your time with the mages while I walked over." Trish had been updated by an enforcer on what the other party members had been busy with. She was bing very invested in the human party.


    "I will do my best to sense the changes in the elements then. I assume I should focus on the water element and light elements in particr?" Trish nodded and moved toward the edges of the tform.


    "If you two would like to spread these seeds for me I would appreciate it." She handed Su and Wade two bags of small seeds. They were shaped like petals and would most likely float to the ground slowly from the height they were at.


    These are spirit orchid seeds. They need wind element and moonlight to start sprouting. After they hit the ground they will rapidly absorb the natural mana to take root. They will bloom in four or five years during a full moon. Anyone can spread the seeds but they need to be nted when the moon reached the peak so watch me for the signal to throw them."


    "What are the spirit orchids used for? Are they very rare?" Walker could tell that Remey already knew and asked her without hesitation.


    "Spirit orchids are the only flower that can be ground to create a soul healing balm. Most of the time if a soul is injured it can be healed by the body and soul itself. But when one is close to the end of their lifespan and receives an injury to the soul it can send them in to slumber until they wither away. There are also some skills and soul injuries that can only be healed this way. Out of the hundreds of spirit lily seeds nted tonight there might be one or two flowers."


    "Wait, out of all of the seeds in my and Wade''s hands we may only be nting one that flowers?" Su was stunned. It was such a low rate.


    "That is why I am going to nt this bag as well. Even out spiritual farmers can''t force them to flower. They have used mastery skills to no avail. The chances are just slim and the requirements incredibly rare. But that doesn''t mean the sights will be any less beautiful tonight." Trish held another pouch of seeds in her hands waiting for the first sign the priestess would move. "We are just lucky that the seeds form regardless of the flower blooming."


    Like a seer predicting the future, no sooner had Trish spoken the lunar priestess opened her eyes and began preparing herself to dance.


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 Chapter 433 - 433. Flowing Fabrics

    Trish shooed Walker to the side and made sure that Gil saw her wave. They all needed to be ready for the ceremony to begin. Not a single one of them spoke, Su, Wade, and Trish made sure they were ready to throw the seeds from different sides of the tform.


    Walker kept his eyes on the priestess. She could have been considered an average elf woman, but adorned in the pure white rune sewn clothing she waspletely different. The fabric flowed around her with every slight movement. There was no breeze yet her hair also fluttered about. Her eyescked color and instead held a pale white like the moon.


    She rose to her feet holding small rolls of fabric. They were an even purer white than the ones she wore and Walker could feel the incredible draw of light elemental mana toward them. The first ray of moonlightnded on them causing them to unfurl on to long steamers of rune sewn fabric. The runed that channeled light elemental mana glowed with the moonlight.


    These fabrics spread out in to the air nearly twenty feet long making it look like they were hands reaching for the moon. The priestess started to ce them around the tform. They were drawing the moonlight in to the patterns on the tform.


    Su motioned for Walker''s attention. She silently mouthed words at him until he understood. "The dormant spirit."


    Walker realized that she wanted him to take the dormant full water spirit out, he was struck by the voice of Bree telling him it was important for it to bask in the moonlight as well. With the dormant full water spirit out in the open the moonlight was able to easily wash over it. The crystalline structure of its dormant form shined brighter as the moonlight passed through it.


    Walker couldn''t sense any change in the elemental mana and wasn''t sure what benefit it would bring. He only knew that the moonlight would have a special rtionship with the water elemental mana. For this fact alone was enough for him to double his focus on the elemental mana around him.


    As the moon started to rise higher Walker noticed that the elemental mana in the air was stronger. In particr, the water elemental mana was rising from the earth to meet the light elemental mana in the sky. The slight mist around them made the entire tform feel as if it was a foggy morning. The sounds became muffled and the air became still.


    Walker was trying to focus on the elemental mana and the dormant full water spirit but the movements of the lunar priestess caught his full attention. She had ced all of the now enrolled fabric ribbons. They were fluttering in the air even though not a single breeze blew.


    The lunar priestess extended one foot and softly ced it on the carved formation on the ground of the tform. There was a soft pulse of mana and the ribbons started to attract the moonlight elemental mana. The formation lit up with the light elemental manaing from the moon and showed the intricate patterns carved in to the tform.


    The crystals that were part of the pedestal were filled with this light and everything on the inside of the formation also gained a small glow. Gil was looking at the priestess worried that his being there would be a problem. However, he soon felt that he needed this step to finish his quiver and focused on it.


    The next moment the priestess took another step and spun softly. Her flowing robes made no sound and the mana appeared to dance with her. The moonlight was dancing to wrap around her in wisps of elemental light mana. Her movements spoke of storied only seen by the moon.


    Every step she took caused this beautiful phenomenon to repeat and call down more of the light elemental mana from the moon. The mist had be a dense fog on the floor causing small water droplets to form on their boots. Walker could feel the water elemental mana trying to reach up to the dormant full water spirit and decided he would sit with it.


    This decision was proved correct in seconds. The dormant full water elemental spirit was pulling in the water elemental mana like a gluttonous miser. The icy feeling in Walker''s hands became nearly unbearable but he was able to use his grand elemental maniption to keep himself from facing any harm.


    "The dance of the priestess was slowing increasing in pace with more spins on her single foot met by low and hi jumps. Walker could only describe it like ripples in the water jumping up due to a breeze across ake. The way she moved made his very being tremble.


    Out of the corner of his eye, Walker saw Gil suddenly touch the quiver. The dense light elemental mana from the moonlight converged on him. Gil appeared to be a being of pure light for only a moment before the light elemental mana retreated showing that the seemingly normal quiver had be patterned with white vines.


    Gil was smiling and clutched the quiver to his chest like it might fly off if he released it. His face grew happier and happier as he felt the patterns that had developed in the sh of light when he added his own mana to it. This was the purest moment for an arcane archer. It was only equaled by the feeling of making their first elemental arrow.


    Walker only watched Gil for a moment before he returned to monitoring the elemental spirit''s consumption of water elemental mana. He had no idea when it would stop and what else woulde of this action. The only clear thing was that it showed no signs of stopping and that the moonlight was still visible inside the spirit and was giving Walker a mysterious feeling. This was not ordinary light elemental mana.


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 Chapter 434 - 434. Sprout

    Walker was intensely focused on the dance of the priestess and the full water spirit that he didn''t notice the moon rising higher and higher in the sky. No one else had moved at all for the same reason. Even Gil had returned t stillness as the light elemental mana left him and the quiver behind.


    When the moon reached the peak in the night sky the priestess stopped her dance and sped her hands tightly together. Her eyes glowed with the light elemental mana and the fog on the ground rose in pirs around them.


    Walker could clearly see the priestess''s mouth moving at a rapid pace, but not a sound was heard. This was the silent chanting skill he had been told about. The proof was in the dancing light elemental mana now being focusing on to the pedestal and epassing the potions.


    The purification had begun along with the filling of the spirit diamond. The moon needed to be at the highest point so that the best light would be used to create the best item. While the priestess focused the elemental mana Trish raised her hand and released the first handful of seeds. She was followed by Wade and Su who copied her actions exactly.


    Every handful of seeds tossed in the air were met with light and water elemental manas causing a white and slightly blue glow. Walker could already see the soft glow of a white root extending from the seed. He turned his head and looked down towards the garden below to find that the seeds would touch the ground and burrow in. There was no sign they had ever been there other than some turned up soil.


    Walker saw that there was another change happening below the tform. The spirit cedar had started to burst in to life. It hadrge buds forming on every branch. They were simr to the fallen petals and leaves below the tree and Walker had a feeling that the high amount of natural mana was affecting it.


    Trish, Su, and Wade had thrown their seeds and were now watching the garden below as well. The only one that was not watching the garden was Remey. She had found something to hold in her hands and was watching it intently. Walker was unable to see this and focused on the garden below first.


    There was a luminescent light in the garden that was spreading from the spirit cedar. The nts below were also taking in tube natural mana and having a massive growth spurt. The tendrils and leaves could be seen growing to double their size and flowers of many glowing colors erupting in to their own brilliance.


    Walker couldn''t help but drop his jaw. This was a sight he did not expect in the least from the garden. Even the fruits were glowing as if they were telling the world that they were ripe and ready to be picked. Walker had the feeling to run down and grab some but was reminded of the full water spirit in his hands. He needed to remain there and let it devour the water elemental mana as much as it needed.


    When the group all turned around to see the priestess she had returned to dancing. This dance was slower and had many more downward movements. She was signaling the setting of the moon and the closure of the ceremony.


    The only one that was not done with their actions was Remey. The hands she had held tightly together were glowing with the elemental light mana from the moon. It appeared she was holding a small ball of moonlight. Trish gave her a nod and Remey opened her hands.


    From them, a massive beanstalk burst out. However, it was madepletely of mana and had no physical form. Walker could sense that this was made from Remey''s mana and not just the elemental mana around them. He had no idea what had happened but was able to identify a small seed resting in the palm of one of Remey''s hands.


    Walker used his all around appraisal skill as soon as he locked eyes on the seed,


    ''Mana sprout seed


    The mana sprout is a nt that is and is not on the physical ne. It is part of the spirit herb family of nts and is mostly made up of mana. When a creature pours enough mana in to a seed it grows at an incredible speed. The more unique the circumstances the greater the benefit will be when it gives its singr fruit. The fruit can only be consumed by the being that gave the sprout mana, if it is eaten by another it will cause a breakdown in their mana system. The fruit can permanently increase the mana of the being that caused its growth by twenty mana.''


    Walker nearly choked on the air. He had not expected something so incredibly valuable to appear here. It was a seed that could birth a fruit that permanently increased a bodys'' mana but twenty. This was extremely rare and could even be argued as legendary. He wanted to ask a million questions but was instead caught by the bean stalk looking sprout bending over and leaning towards Remey''s head.


    The light and water elemental mana were pouring in to the corporeal sprout and illuminating Remey''s pale face. She was using every bit of her mana to let the sprout grow and would not stop until the fruit formed and fell in to her hand.


    The group watched as a solid looking fruit formed of the blue and white water and light manas. This ball took on a strange patter of grey which appeared to be the effect of Remey''s mana. The sprout bent more and more and separated from Remey''s hands all converging in to the fruit that was now falling in to Remey''s hands.


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 Chapter 435 - 435. Spirit Cedar Seed

    Remey was silent while she held the fruit up. She was letting the moonlight continually bathe it and the water elemental mana in the air flow around it. The process may have finished but there was still the end of the ceremony to make it to and she had been instructed not to move until she saw that the lunar priestess had stopped the ceremonypletely.


    With the amazing sight of the mana sprout growing and turning in to a fruit with an extremely valuable trait, Walker had trouble gathering his mind. Luckily, he was able to focus when he realized the garden had more activity below.


    Among the vibrant blooming fruits a few elves with tools had begun to harvest certain nts that could only be harvested at a time like this; the full moon. This was a rapid process since they had a limited time and needed to do it carefully. He was only focused on the scene for a moment though, the spirit cedar had finally reached the point in which all of therge buds would bloom.


    The buds had grown to the size of a normal child''s head and were the same pale white as the moon. Small drops of sparkling water dripped off them making it appear that they were rolled in the coarse sugar from his mothers'' kitchen.


    Without warning the priestess''s dance became more energetic and the buds split open to reveal vibrant blue flowers. The elemental mana that was released from every flower as it burst open was intense and condensed. The forest around therge elven garden seemed to shudder as it too felt this density of elemental mana. Walker could tell that all the growth of the forest was going to experience a renewed strength after this.


    The brilliant flowers that had bloomed were already fading and wilting. The petals dropped off the branches and fell toward the ground catching in the wind and drying in to the ideal fertilizer for the spiritual cedar. Walker couldn''t help but feel the depression in his heart knowing that something so wonderous onlysted for a minute at most.


    The spirit cedar lost all of the petals sooner than any of them wanted it to. Yet there was still something left. There was a small grey seed left at the site of each of the flowers. They were emanating a small amount of natural mana and had a ring of hard ice around them. Trish gestured for Walker to grab one since she saw his curious look. He didn''t waste a moment and used his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Spirit cedar tree seed.


    The spirit cedar tree seed is very delicate. When it is created the mother tree will fold it inyers of elemental mana to protect it, therefore, causing a ring of ice to cover the entire seed. This ice will be sustained by the water elemental mana for fifty years. Upon thest of the water elemental mana bing ice, the ice will melt and nourish the soul for the spirit cedar tree seed to grow. It will take four hundred and twelve years to reach maturity.''


    Walker couldn''t imagine being able to care for a tree like this in his lifetime. The elves had the time to dedicate to it but a human never would without some extreme circumstances. Trishmotioned for him to keep it which made Walker wonder why. He had a feeling it wasn''t actually for him but for Remey and that Trish was entrusting it to him since he would be able to hold it while Remey cared for the fruit that came from the mana sprout.


    Before Walker could focus on anything else again he realized that the dormant full water spirit had stopped absorbing the water elemental mana and was a much darker blue color. It was even colder as well and looked like it was under some form of change. Walker fixed it back in to his cloak so that it would be safe and so he could be ready with both hands to help with any cleanup.


    The lunar priestess was moving incredibly slow and returned to the spot she had started from in her dance. Her foot rose and she stepped away from the engravings in the wood tform. She silently grabbed the ribbons still fluttering as if there was wind in reverse order. They rolled themselves up without any effort from her and she knelt down closing her eyes.


    The moon was already setting and she had finished her duty. Now that she had stopped moving Walker noticed that her breathing became stic and sweat poured down her face. She had kept herself perfectly calm and collected through this long ceremony and was finally able to break character and show her true state.


    "That was even more spectacr than thest time. I can only see your improvement as time goes on." Trish said this while standing near the lunar priestess and offered her some mana potions. These seemed to help the lunar priestess calm down and return to a better state of breathing.


    "This moon was very pure. I have the feeling that we gained a little more than usual. I hope that the effects are as our gusts desired." The lunar priestess finally spoke to the party and smiled. There was a feeling of kindness and spiritual healinging from her words that was indescribable.


    "Yes! Thank you so much for your help. Without you, I wouldn''t have my white vine quiver." Gil had seen the end of his quest and realized the name of his new quiver. The white vine patterns that covered it were the namesake itself and furthered his love of it. He had long traveled the woods with his father and grown nts with his mother, this was the ideal quiver for him.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 436 - 436. Closer To A Goal

    Remey jumped forward as well while holding the mana fruit in her hand. "Thank you as well. Growing the mana sprout was thest thing I needed toplete my skill. I also have an extremely rare fruit that will assist in my growth. I have no way to repay you." Remey was extremely polite and was on the verge of crying. She had seen and done so many amazing things and was pursuing her dream with her friends in a way that she couldn''t have ever imagined.


    "It''s finished? Use it and tell me the details!" Trish pushed to the front, her alchemists'' curiosity took control of her body and mind.


    "It''s the alchemical brawlers'' field guide. It records the herbs and fighting styles Ie in contact with after I learn a certain amount of information. After I have done so I can recall it instantly and use it as building blocks for potions and in battle." Remey read this directly from her system but it lead the group to some questions.


    Gil wanted to test out his quiver but knew that he could switch the arrows over at any time. Hearing what Remey''s skill did was a bigger priority since they might need to do something to assist her in the future or even at the moment.


    "Well, the herb recording part is simple. I already have plenty memorized, but this skill makes it easier. The fighting style is much better." Remey was all smiles while delicately holding the mana fruit.


    "When I see and study a fighting style like Wade''s for example, my skill records the moves and skills he uses. I can''t recall the skills and identify them as a journal but I can see the fundamentals of why they are used in certain ways."


    Walker was at first surprised at first that the skill didn''t let her remember the skills systems used and gained. But when he thought about it the reasoning that certain systems used certain tactics and skills in an order was more valuable.


    "I can figure out the right time to dodge a long range attack or read a sword wielding opponent. I even learned a way to dodge some wide area attacks or minimize damage. It is aption of styles that will eventually mold my own style. I can even use it to guide others." When she said this Walker was sure that this aspect of the skill was a hidden gem.


    "So you are saying if you learn about more and more fighting styles you will eventually be able to perfectlybat all of them?" Su was not about to let this go, she needed the ability to do just that.


    "As long as I have the proper strength then I should be able to. I could also find the weaknesses of the systems I have learned and help them ovee that. The stronger people I train with and the wider variety of systems I train against the better."


    "Soo, teacher Remey?" Gil couldn''t leave the joke unsaid. He thought that having another person to critique their strategies during training was a good idea. Even more, if there was a skill that inlyid out their weaknesses it was a perfect path to strength.


    "And did you record the information of all the herbs we studied?" Trish wanted to make sure that all their effort was still locked away in Remey''s mind.


    "Of course it is. I had it memorized and now I have it lock in my skill. I n to work on my penmanship and record it all. I think I will make a few alchemists fall t when they realized how many volumes I will create." Remey was already thinking of making these journals to send around the kingdoms. If she did so then potion making could take another great leap.


    "Hey Remey, I think you have just gotten much closer to your goal of making a certain alchemist building a guild. You can lure them in with your knowledge and keep the alchemists to their word if you share it." Remey grew a devilish grin hearing Walkers'' sudden thought.


    Trish looked at Remey and Walker while thinking about what he had just said. She had never thought that there would be an alchemist guild ever due to the fact that the alchemy system was one that ended with arge profit. T was just a hard task to aplish since there would be a loss of profit. However, she also saw that information like Remey had would be a huge draw for those alchemists to follow such a guild.


    "Your idea is to tempt other races alchemists to join an alchemist guild so that knowledge can be shared and expanded? Do you also have in mind the fact that there would be a change in prices for every potion? Some could be more expensive while others would take a drastic decline. There are also the herbs being shared from other kingdoms which would be a huge change in herbalist systems and farming based systems. Not to mention the auctions in other kingdoms, here we only hold small ones with friends for fun, but I know other races make big events."


    Trish was already seeing the future while Remey and Walker got more and more excited. "Then may I be forward with you?" Remey couldn''t let this chance get away from her. She had started the night with the goal to finish creating a skill and somehow ended up speaking about her greatest goal after she had been given the dream of being able to act as an alchemist.


    Everyone watched in silence as Remey made her move. Walker was silently cheering for her while Su and Gil did the same. The lunar priestess was thankful for the break to rest and Wade was caught up in the moment. The only two that didn''t seem to notice any of this were Midnight and Onyx who had curled up together to nap the night away, Onyx absorbing the light elemental mana from the mood and Midnight softly snoring.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 437 - 437. What A Hero Can Do

    "You are already viewed as an apprentice in my eyes. You may have another master and alsoe from another race, but to me, you are the same as any other apprentice I have had. But you have already risen above them...Maybe you are more of a fellow alchemist, just a little younger and with less experience." Trish giggled a little at this. She had never imagined she would be calling a young human an equal.


    "Then with that in mind. Please sign a pact with me to be one of the heads of the alchemist guild when I can form it. I wish to have three heads to lead the guild one day and I already have the other in mind. I would just need one more. It is the perfect time to do it since the knowledge you have discovered in your life is enough to draw hundreds of hidden alchemists." Remey was confident in her request and Trish heard every word clearly.


    No one dared to speak while Trish thought about this. She was weighing the benefits and the downsides. "If I were to join then it would ferry my forest elf race to the top of the alchemy world due to our many years of unshared knowledge. Do you believe this would be safer for my people than just letting our alchemists act as they wish?"


    Trish was proposing the question not only to see what the answer would be but also because it was a veryrge concern. The elves were privy to the information on the outside world but they were not all well versed as those who had already lived it for many years. There were simply too many elves who had never left the city in their lives.


    The major worry was over those who did not have battle rted systems. Many alchemists, craftsmen, and merchants would be at risk to the new markets for their goods and skills. There could be a lot of maniption from unsavory parties and this could cause a huge injury to the elven kingdom. Many could suffer and it was thest thing anyone wanted.


    "I want the guild to for to prevent the shady deals that can and will start to happen. I am not a fool even at my age I know that there are those that abuse the free market that alchemists have. With powerful heads, the guild can regte the flow of knowledge and register those who wish to learn. This could also get rid of the rich elbowing their way to better standing so they can receive better potions." Remey was seeing the future in her mind. This was the future she wished to build.


    "If there are younger alchemists that need guidance then there would be a way for them to find a master to teach them. There wouldn''t be the self taught failures we hear about. No self poisoning by idental potion creation. It could be a safer environment as a whole. Esteemed master alchemists can even hold lectures for up anding apprentices."


    Remey was getting more powerful in her speech as he ideas became clearer. "The guild can work with an auction house to properly regte price so that an alchemist can''t over charge those in need. It can be based off of seasonal herbs and quality. Those who need certain potions for healing can request it as the adventurers guild does. And the alchemist guild could request quests from the adventurers guild for herbs and materials needed.."


    Walker, Su, and Gil all knew that Remey had massive desires to make the world of alchemy better. But none of them had realized the depth she had taken her goal. They saw a drive within her that was much stronger than they rerealized and could not help but resonate with it. Trish felt this as well and was already making up her mind.


    "I hear your goals and dreams and I believe it is possible. From what I have heard the alchemy in many kingdoms is based on the alchemist. We have even had plots to trap and use an alchemist in captivity here before our enforcers became better trained. It is a time in our history I will never forget, but one that was necessary for us to grow."


    Trish spoke of a time many years ago that had shaped her lifestyle. There were many reasons she lived alone high in the massive tree with her hanging garden, one of these reasons was that there had been these kinds of events. They had left a lifelong impression on her.


    "I Trish Root, Master alchemist and elder of the forest elf kingdom pledge on my system and very soul to be a head of the soon to be multi national alchemist guild. I promise to bring in the alchemists of the forest elf kingdom and foster a new era of alchemy." Trish made this pledge and an incredible pressure fell upon every one of them.


    ''The pledge has been heard by the world and the heroes of the era. International quests shall be issued to users who wish to pursue simr goals. Congrattions to the hero who has spurred the world''s first international quest in one hundred years.''


    Their systems all received this notification causing every single one of them to draw a sharp breath. They had just witnessed a system notification that spoke of international quests. These quests would span multiple kingdoms and nations. There were no limits to how these would change the world and those living in it.


    "Thank you so much for your support. I will do my best to bring those together. I will rely on you to begin with your kingdom and in time we can build an alchemist building here as the first headquarters." Remey wanted to burst in to tears of joy but forced them away. She needed to be strong at the moment and show the strength of a hero.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 438 - 438. Common Knowledge

    "International quests...This is...I don''t know what to do. I never imagined¡­" Trish had lost all of her calm and cool attitudes. Her mind was racing. She not only aided in the creation of a skill but she was also involved in major quests that would affect the entire nation and she was sure the world.


    "I would like to say we are all prepared for something like that, but I think it will still be some time before we actually receive those quests. I also think they would be chain quests for something like this." Walker was already pulling on his prior quest knowledge and had realized that there wouldn''t be a quest as simple as making a guild overnight. It would need to start small and branch out. Just the fact that Remey wanted to get three heads and multiple kingdoms was arge leap.


    "The timing is right for sure. We have the elves who are meeting with our kingdom and the demi-humans who I am sure will be here as well. We can put it in ce. I''m pretty sure the demi-humans will want safer potions after theirst incident." Gil chimed in to support the movement. He was only seeing the bonds that could form from all of this.


    "That''s right. The demi-human kingdom of Ordist was very apprehensive of potions. They had almost none to speak of when we were there. If they join this as the third party then we could bring back their feelings of safety in using potions and have their assistance in farming the herbs needed." Su found the logic in this and became more invested as well.


    "Then I will need to go and speak to the queen immediately. Please forgive me for taking my leave in a rush. One of those crystal mana potions is for you. I look forward to the conversations that ur in theing days." Trish collected the crystal mana potions that had been purified by the moonlight and rushed down the tree.


    "So are you nning to eat that fruit and gain your twenty mana or are you going to let it rot away?" Walker smirked seeing that Remey was still stunned by everything that had just happened. Even she had not believed she would be able to say and do things like this.


    "Pfft, you are just jealous that master alchemist likes me." She showed her personality and bit back, but she sounded too happy for any of them to believe the rebuttal held value.


    "Here leader, I collected the remaining crystal mana potion." Su handed the crystal mana potion to Walker who easily stored it away within his inventory.


    "So is there ever a normal day in your lives?" Wade had silently watched everything happen and was more than shaken. He could say that the world he had lived in his entire life waspletely changed.


    "I think the least exciting times in our lives is sleeping. But one time that happened I became an arcane marksman." Gil realized he had just admitted to his system upgrading in front of the luna priestess and Wade. His face dropped and he tried to look away in the hopes that Wade hadn''t understood.


    "Oh, you guys all got a system upgrade quest too? I thought only those with long lifespan or hidden quests received these. Well, you all are heroes, makes sense I guess."


    "Wait! Is this a normal thing for elves?" Remey was about to bote the fruit when she realized Wade had just casually said these things.


    "It is pretty rare, but it isn''t unheard of. I started out as a hunter system user. I wasn''t always what I am today. If I had managed to get a title as a hunter that would have been way cooler though." Wade was imagining how he would have rocked the world.


    "So you''re saying that we have been worried about saying it out loud all this time and it ismon knowledge¡­?" Gil just spoke slowly for the fear that this was actually the case.


    "I guess so. We have a lot of upgraded system holders. It is verymon in our spiritual based system sses and our healers. Some find hidden quests we have figured out how to activate and others just have precarious circumstances. When we live for so many years we manage to find even the rarest things." Wade was much more casual than the party. Even Midnight and Onyx had been shocked away by this fact.


    "Well, I did not expect that. Sorry for stressing everyone out." Walker apologized to them for his worry and rules to hide everything. He was still going to hide Midnight''s dragon champion system however. He was still confident that it could cause trouble to allow others to know about it,


    "I feel like I will get a headache from everything we learn and experience on the daily basis. I can''t even figure out what mighte tomorrow." Gil rubbed his temples trying to forget the events of the day. They were too much all at once, unfortunately for hun, Walker had another surprise.


    "Tomorrow? We are going hunting for a glowing mole. They are upying a crystal mine that one of our friends receives crystals from. Since the enforcers are busy we took the job. We will get some high elemental light crystals for it."


    " We also need to collect some herbs for master alchemist since she is teaching me the night vision potion. We have limited time here." Remey jumped in to finished Walker''s words and then bit right in to the mana fruit.


    The fruit didn''t drip any juice at all. Instead, it started to melt and absorb directly in to Remey''s body. She stood there eyes open wide while it became one with her. The group had not expected this result and stood as an audience to the rare fruit being consumed.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 439 - 439. I Forgot To Tell You

    "Oh and I almost forgot. Remey, you should wait until you are back in the city before...Where is the mana fruit?" Trish had returned just as thest of the mana fruit had melted in to Remey. She had remembered that she needed to warn Remey to get back to the city first.


    Remey''s face became pale and she could feel her body begin to heat up. Walker turned to Trish who was already moving towards Remey. "She just ate it." The fear on his face was clear.


    "I never told her the side effects of eating the fruit. It''s my blunder as a master. I let myself get too distracted from the crystal mana potions and the new national quests." Trish started to sift around in her bag for some things. "Drink this to reduce the fever and drink this to knock yourself out. You will get the worst fever of your life and your body is going to start to adjust to the new mana capacity. This is not a painless process."


    Trish had wanted Remey to do this when she was safely in the city so that she could be cared for while her body adapted. But due to her forgetting the warning was now about to go through the entire process on the ceremony tform.


    "We are going to need to stay here for the next hour. She will look worse and worse but I promise she will be fine. I was going to exin this but again, it is my blunder." The party was frozen on the spot while Remey followed Trish''s orders to drink the two small vials.


    "I got you." Walker and Gil both caught Remey as the potions took effect and caused her to fall asleep standing up. Theyid her down and used a nket from Walker''s inventory to cushion her head.


    "Why does it do this? Why doesn''t it act peacefully if it was her mana that made it grow?" Su was worried but didn''t have any knowledge to assist. All she could do was watch over Remey and hope that Trish gave them more answers.


    "It may be her mana that caused it to grow, however, there is also a very condensed mix of elemental mana that came in to being within the fruit. It is the catalyst of the mana growth. Any living body that consumed this will be under pressure to absorb it in to every part of their body. This is painful because of the speed at which it happens. It is also why someone can only ever eat one in their entire lifetime. The seeds are very rare and even I have only managed to harvest seven in my entire life as an alchemist."


    The party all breathed out heavily. They were still very worried but the fact that this would all be over in an hour was a blessing. "I guess we just need to wait. This shouldn''t be too hard, but I think my heart nearly jumped out of my chest." Gil was trying to rx the most. The idea of his party member being in extreme pain put him on edge to no avail.


    "I wish we had known. If we had we would have warned her too." Wade and the lunar priestess stood back giving them space. Wade had made sure to apologize since he knew how he would feel if one of his friends had felt this way.


    "I know. Too much has been happening. We were all distracted and caught up in the moment. I don''t me anyone. I am just thankful everything will be fine in an hour." Walker had no sooner said this when there was the twang of a bowstring from the ground.


    Every single hair on the group''s body rose as their senses heightened and they froze on the spot. " please just be someone testing their bow¡­" Gil said a silent prayer but was instead greeted by the system.


    ''Emergency quest- Resting hero


    Requirements:


    Protect the resting hero Remey from danger.


    Rewards:


    1 mana point


    2 heroic quest points''


    "Sierra what is the situation!" Wade moved toward the edge of the tform only to see that the enforcers were nowhere to be found. The only thing he noticed was nearby sounds of archers fighting. "It seems we have an enemy nearby. We should stay on guard and prepare."


    Midnight let out a soft growl as she stood up and walked to Remey. She used her skeletal armor skill and stood directly over Remey. She opened and cupped her wings to block her from sight not letting even a single sliver of space exist.


    "Smart thinking Midnight. You will be Remey''s exclusive guard. Su will back you up and keep watch of your back. Onyx, it''s time to show off your size, it might deter anythinging our way." Walker was impressed by Midnight''s quick thinking and could only attribute her actions to the feelings she had gained for Remey through their joint training.


    "Walker, I see some movement. I thought it was some kind of bat heading for fruit or something. But it looks like a moth or butterfly." Gil whispered keeping his voice low, He didn''t want to attract any more enemies than could already be near them.


    "They are butterflies and moths. Theypete for the nectar of the flowers that bloom during the full moon. The butterfly is called the azure butterfly since it stores its water elemental mana in its'' wings. The moth is called a twin tail moth. It has two long tails that generate two different elements based on what environment they grew up in. They are very troublesome." The lunar priestess was not a stranger to these monsters. This was the real reason that the enforcers were stationed here. They were to protect her after the ceremony when she was vulnerable.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 440 - 440. Butterflies And Moths

    "Any of these monsterse near us we go all out. We are not fooling around." Walker put on his best confident face and used his strongest voice. He was no longer trying to rx but had instead, been thrown in to adrenaline.


    "Not a single thing will pass me." Su was determined to protect Midnight and Remey from any possible damage. She would not allow them to even feel the wind of an enemy pass by.


    I will back you up. Gil can take the opposite end." Wade had an arrow notched and was tracking a fluttering shadow that glowed slightly blue in the distance.


    "I will remain near the guardian. Master alchemist pleasee and wait as well." The lunar priestess knew she was no use in battle. She could only purify and heal besides the ceremonies she could perform. Even if she had her mana she was basically useless.


    "No, this was a problem I caused by myck of follow through. I will be using some battle potions." Trish said this as Walker used his multi buff skill. She felt the power increase and pulled out many small vials of potions from her robes. She soon had eight between her fingers.


    "Whatever you do just remain in our guard range. I don''t want to see one of the heads of the alchemist guild hurt before she takes the position. We n to work you to death." Walker said this not to deter Trish but as encouragement.


    His encouragement hit her hard. She had put the very person at risk that had opened a new path for her. "I am stronger than I look. Just because an alchemist brews healing potions doesn''t mean we don''t brew poisons and explosions as well."


    Trish threw a potion in to the air toward a blue pair of pping wings. The vial broke open and a gust of wind was sucked away from the tform. "That''s called a sun re potion. The dried pine sap is the perfect fuel for the fire tongue toad bones."


    Trish spoke but none could hear her over the sh and bang of fire. The potionpletely destroyed the azure butterfly it hadnded on. The group was shocked. They had a ringing in their ears and were slightly blinded from the contrast of light and night from the explosion. Trish however, was already holding another potion bringing her total back to either in her hands.


    "You can take care of yourself then. I will take long range with Wade, you get mid range and Walker will work his magic." Gil was the closest to Trish and filled her in on the best strategy.


    "No one will harm my family," Onyx said this to all minds he could reach around them and started to let his shadows meld back in to him. He regained his true size and coiled in to a striking position. He was going to squeeze the life from the moths and butterflies or he would at least bite them to use his venom. He would not allow anything to harm them.


    Walker had a variety of weapons to chose from but went with the staff he wasfortable with. He needed to release long range magic and that was what he would do. He used the staff to channel the water elemental mana that had gathered in the area which made it the handle for arge frost whip.


    This frost whip was fat with water elemental mana making it perfect for longer ranged attacks. However, he was nning to use it as a constant source of ice needles. This would travel andnd in targets to slow them for the enforcers to defeat.


    The crack of hisrge frost whip made the nearer azure butterflies move towards them. They wanted to ensure that they could feast on the nectar of the flowers blooming in the garden without predators attacking. They were also able to sense the water elemental mana in Walkers'' skill making them agitated. They were the controllers of the water element where they flew in the forest.


    Leader, step aside." Su raised one of her shields and the sound of pressurized water hitting metal overcame his ears. "Those azure butterflies can shoot water bolts from a distance. They are like your fire bolt spell." Su moved to block another aimed at Midnight.


    Walker was not happy to see this. He tried to attack with the frost whip and found that he was only doing minimal damage. The azure butterflies were resistant to his spell because of the shared element. He had hoped that the solid ice would be stronger, however, it was melting too fast in the warmer forest.


    Walker saw one of Gil''s fire elemental arrows hit an azure butterfly and start to burst in to fire. Yet in just moments, the fire was extinguished and the arrow fell from the butterflynding far on the ground. "It resists fire too. No burning them away."


    Gil was not happy to see this. He pulled back a wind elemental arrow and fired it next. The problem that arose from this was that the wind elemental mana kicked up arge amount of wind. The azure butterflies were very light and were dawn toward the one Gil struck.


    This would have been good since the one he directly struck as being shredded by the sharp des of wind being created from the arrow. But it was not good at all, the azure butterflies pulled near it were not alone. There was a twin tail moth and it was stronger than the weaker azure butterflies.


    "One tail has some green so wind element and the other has apletely ck end so darkness element." Walker could sense the elements too but was thankful she could easily see them, He knew that this was the tougher opponenting toward them and it would need to be dealt with.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 441 - 441. Lightning

    "It can throw wind des when it has a wind tail. It can also add the other element to the wind de so-" The lunar priestess was sharing what she knew from previous experience when the twin tail moth did just what she was saying.


    The wind de carried darkness elemental mana and was sent directly at Gil who had just fired an arrow at it. The light exploded in their eyes but also forced the darkness element from the wind de. Su was able to more easily block the wind de and was only pushed back a foot. "Thanks Gil." She moved back in to ce waiting for the next attack to block.


    Wade released some arrows in quick session at the twin tail moth and managed to hit the tail holding the wind elemental mana. "Perfect!" Wade had hit the spot he was aiming for even though the twin tail moth was flying erratically.


    The wind elemental mana was not able to stay within the moths'' tail and erupted out of it causing evenm more damage. As it fell from the air the darkness elemental mana burst out and decayed the body as a repid rate.


    The group had reached a small lull and was keeping vignt since they could still hear the sounds of the enforcers fighting. "I hope they are alright. They sound like they are involved in some tough fighting." Trish voiced her concern as she opened a small vial and throw the contents in to the air. The smell was sour but bearable.


    "What did you just throw everywhere?" Gil was pinching his nose. The smell as disgusting to him and no one wanted to ask Midnight what she thought. If anything she just suffered through it silently.


    "It is a crystallized jewel bug blood. They are the smelliest bugs but they produce the smell to fend off predators. They are shiny and eye catching but not worth going near. Thus smell deters many monsters in the forest. I hope it helps." Trish knew that it might jot do much against the two insect monsters but it was something.


    For a few minutes the smell appeared to be working. This was the desired effect and they were all able to recover their whits. The sudden attack had been too much to handle on top of everything and was taxing their minds.


    "The sounds of fighting are dying down over there. Should we call out?" Gil was curious about what was happening with the enforcers. He wanted more than anything to hear another voice saying that the butterflies and moths were all defeated.


    The entire group had the feeling that things were too quiet. "The azure butterflies would usually be more chaotic than this. There were so few I am not sure why they are like this." the lunar priestess was just sharing from the previous experiences. Unfortunately, this was not a good sign for everyone else.


    The group saw a sh from the nearby forest and felt the hair stand on their necks. The loud book that echoes around them was extremely familiar to the party. After their ears recovered Walker was able to speak clearly. "That was lightning. Something just used lightning out there."


    "Brother, the enforcers are retreating to us. They say there is a mutated twin tail moth." Onyx was the only one that had been able to descend the tree due to itsrge size. He had been picking off the azure butterflies by himself from the ground. Walker had let him protect from there since he couldn''t imagine what it would be like if they came from under them.


    "Tri tailed moth. It''s a tri tailed moth." The lunar priestess had be deathly pale after hearing this.


    "They can have three tails and three elements!?" Wade wasparing the strength of the twin tailed moth and knew that adding another element was much more powerful.


    "It takes three elements to make basic lighting. Water, fire, and wind. This tri tailed moth will have those and be able tobine them. We need to get to the ground so I can make an earth wall to protect us." Walker knew that the earth was the only strength against the lightning that he could use.


    Su, don''t try and block its attacks. I don''t think your shield will block all the damage and you could be taken down after one hit." Su was unhappy to hear this but did not argue. "Now down we go."


    Trish and the lunar priestess both carried Remey while Midnight acted as their guard. Walker was also watching and used his multi buff skill again. This made everyone better able to get down the tree in an efficient manner.


    "Duck!" Su saw a blue sh from the corner of her eye and no sooner had called out than a water bolt had flown over Trish''s head.


    "Thank you for the warning. Now let me take care of this." The look on Trish''s face was pure rage. She had almost lost her head to some weak monster. She whipped two potions at it and instead of a ball of me this time the burning and sizzling of acid filled the air.


    "Acid from a swamp alligator species will always digest its'' prey." Trish had rarely used this monster material and was reminded of why. Its danger was too high and was dissolving a monster in front of her eyes.


    "Keep up, I will make some walls from the earth when we get down. I will use my high earth sculpting to keep us safe." Walker was shouting as she moved down the tree. He had taken Trish''s ce and carried almost all of Remey''s weight. The surprising part was that the lunar priestess was keeping up with him and lifting more than he had expected.


    As soon as they reached the ground they knew that they were in for more trouble. The flowers that had bloomed due to the full moon were almost all upied by azure butterflies.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 442 - 442. No Running

    "These things are everywhere. How are we going to get around them?" Gil was standing at the ready to snipe any of the azure butterflies that noticed them. Luckily none had done so yet.


    "How important are these nts?" Walker whispered this question to Trish who appeared to be shocked to even have him ask.


    "It took years upon years upon years to grow some of these nts. There are some that only bloom or give fruit after seventy or a hundred years." Trish may have known the danger but she answered honestly without fail.


    "Then we cant just do something to destroy them all at once. We will need to try and sneak by. The problem is that the enforcers are retreating this way and drawing that mutated moth here." Walker feared that they would not be fast enough to avoid the tri tailed moth which would most certainly attack them along with the enforcers trying to hold it off.


    "Silent shot," Wade spoke and joined them as soon as he reached the ground as well. He had trailed the rear in case any other azure butterflies made their way near them. "The silent shot skill can pick them off but we will need to start with the farther away targets first."


    The n was to systematically take out as many as possible to reduce the risk. The azure butterflies were only the size of arge serving tter, but their water elemental attacks could not be underestimated. Especially when the group could see ten around them at once.


    "A few look to have moved on when we came down here. I think the smell has worked for us a little." Trish was hopeful that this was the reason for a few moving away to a farther distance. It was even more surprising that the group was still unnoticed.


    Midnight had activated her shadow wrapping skill while she supported the majority of Remy''s weight. This made it much harder for Remey to be spotted along with Midnight. It was a very smart move for her to use against the azure butterflies in the darkness of the night.


    Walker saw that Su and Trish would bepletely caught up with helping to move Remeyalong with Midnight. This made it very hard to make a speedy retreat but much easier to hide them if Walker could get a distraction going to create time for him to make an earth bunker.


    After pondering the ns Walker decided to try and slowly manipte the earth under them to make a bunker while Gil and Wade used silent shot skill to snipe the farthest azure butterflies. This would clear the area slowly and prepare them for more azure butterflies arriving and even for the tri tailed moth which was following the iing enforcers.


    "Gil, snipe some of the azure butterflies with Wade while I prepare a ce to hide. When the enforcers get closer they can hide with us when I make the earth move. You will need to have a light elemental arrow ready to blind them when I give the signal." Walker ced both hands deep in to the first and slowly used his mana to manipte the earth.


    He was imagining the towers of the castle corners. They were made of sturdy stone and easily protected. His main goal in using this as inspiration was due to the fact that it had small windows created for the exact reason of firing arrows and spells. With a structure like this, the enforcer could still attack and slowly pick off the azure butterflies.


    Walker was still not sure how he would go about defeating the tri tailed moth if it decided to continue the pursuit of the enforcers. The earth structure he was making should block the lightning but if it attacked any other way it might not hold up. There was also the questionable power of the lightning it had used before, they had no idea if it could break through an earth wall.


    Wade didn''t hesitate and silently fired arrow after arrow at the furthest azure butterflies. Gil watched his skill for a moment in awe. This was the pinnacle of the elves'' archers. Just watching for a few moments was enough to learn how to slightly adjust his aim and improve his own archery.


    Gil looked to the azure butterfly that was on arge purple flower and took aim. His arrow easily flew through the air without a sound. The moment it pierced the soft body of the butterfly Gil received the system notification of defeat. He smiled and kept up his skill while keeping a light elemental arrow Walker had handed him at the ready. He would aim for the most central azure butterfly so that he could blind as many as possible.


    Walker was slowly changing the shape of the earth underneath them so that he could just make the small tower rise in an instant with a burst of mana. He made sure to change things slowly so that the shift of natural mana would not alert the nearby azure butterflies.


    While they prepared there was an increase in sounding from the trees past therge garden. Walker could see the enforcers fighting in the distance and aiming their bows upwards toward a darker shape fluttering between branches.


    This shape was double the size of the twin tail moth from before and the three colors of tails he saw were red, green, and blue. This was definitely the source of the lighting from before and it was much closer than any of them wanted it to be.


    "We are almost out of time. Gil let Wade take over and prepare yourself. Su and Trish, let Onyx shrink himself and help Midnight. He had been on the other side of the tree hiding since we started to descend." Walker prepared himself to use arge amount of mana when the enforcers got to them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 443 - 443. Reclaim

    The enforcers easily spotted the group who were at the base of the tree. The defeated azure butterflies gave them a path to rush over and join them. As they ran theypletely left the tri tailed moth behind due to its slower speed.


    The enforcers were able to take down the remaining azure butterflies in their way leaving only those that were slightly farther away. "Gil as soon as they reach us do it." Walker gave the signal and Gil started to channel his mana to activate the light elemental wither spike arrow.


    The azure butterflies felt the threat of enemies and saw the enforcers running towards the group. This was their sign to attack but they were not able to properly for their water bolt skills before Gil released the light elemental wither spike arrow.


    Walker saw the arrow leave Gil''s hand and immediately used half of his mana on the high earth sculpting skill. The ground cracked and twisted creating a tower around them. There were stairs up to three stories. They each had a small window to shoot from making the enforcers act quickly to take positions.


    "Shield your eyes. The arrow is activating the light elemental mana!" Gil shouted while they all closed their eyes and avoided the blinding effect of the arrow.


    The burst of light could even be seen through their eyelids but was not enough to cause them ay blurred or blind vision. However, the sounds of pping and chaotic fluttering was a different matter. These sounds were all around outside the earth tower that had just spring from the ground to surround the group.


    With the enemy in chaos, the enforcers did not hesitate to attack without fail. There were sounds of butterflies falling to the ground. The pping sound was dying down but now there was a shaking on the tower. The remaining azure butterflies were sending countless water bolts at the tower''s earth walls to break it and defeat the predators inside.


    The group was not in a good situation. Walker knew that he needed to use his full attention to sculpt the earth and repair any damage as it happened. He could not let anything break in and try to harm them. The problem was that the water elemental attacks were eroding the earth that made up the tower. This meant that Walker could either start to freeze the water but risk the azure butterflies manipting it or he could keep rebuilding the tower by pulling more earth in to it and risk the nts'' safety.


    "I need you guys to start culling their numbers. This tower can''t home forever without damaging the garden." This single shout from Walker made every single one of the enforcers push themselves harder. They did not want the hard work of the elven farmers to be thrown away. The fruits taken from these gardens were valuable sources of healing and food for their city.


    "Walker, I am supporting everyone. What is the status of your mana." Walker had not been able to focus on what enforcers had been able to return to them. Thankfully Sierra had been among them and she hade to check on him while the others were doing their best to battle the azure butterflies.


    "My mana is getting low. I am trying to replenish it but if I pull out a potion from my inventory I might not repair something damaged on the wall." Walker was breathing heavily while remaining focused on the task. He couldn''t stop repairing the damage even for a second.


    "Then I can assist you. I have a skill called mana reim. It has the temporary effect of pulling in the mana that dissipates when a skill is used. You will get half of your mana back from the air around you." Sierra reached out a hand and a strange light flowed over Walker.


    He instantly felt the mana returning t him and could more easily repair the wall. "I forget that you are a form of healer. You think I would have that memorized by now." Walker had first seen her healing Wades'' arm when he was hurt in the battle with the massive minimized purple slime.


    "I never told you my system. I am a user of the battle healer ss. My skills focus on boosting my targets'' skills and debuffing my opponent. I also get some basic health and mana absorption skills." Sierra ran toward the window and performed the same skill on Gil and Su. Su had been blocking the attacks aimed at the window when Gil was preparing arrows.


    Walker had been able to let out a stack of arrows from his inventory while he prepared earlier and Gil was quickly finishing them off. His speed had be much faster when firing arrows and Walker could only im that it was the result of the new quiver. This was not the time to think of this though.


    Onyx and Midnight were protecting Remey by covering her with their bodies. The two suddenly perked up as if they sensed something. Walker sensed the mana change as well a momentter. "Brother, something big ising," Onyx Warned everyone and they all immediately stopped their actions.


    Walker used his high earth sculpting skill to close the windows that everyone was attacking through, before a loud boom of lightning rang in the air. The entire tower shook and the pping of azure butterflies came to silence. The only sound was a single pair of wings pping kicking up a strong breeze.


    "The tri tailed moth is here. I can sense the three different elemental manas outside. That attack did a lot of damage to my tower. I can''t keep it up if it hits again." Walker could already feel the elemental mana gathering to create another lightning attack. All he could do was brace and hope that nothing got through.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 444 - 444. Arrival

    "Everyone get behind me and huddle close together!" Su was already in front of Midnight and Onyx whole were using their bodies as shields for Remey. Onyx had only reduced his size a fraction so that he wasrge enough to coil around Midnight and act as a first shield. The sight of the pair working so closely touched Walkers'' heart. But this was not the time for emotions like that.


    "I am going to use my wide guard skill. Just focus on staying behind me and my shields should block anythinging from the front." Su gave ast warning as Walker adjusted the tower to have a thicker front wall. The roof would be the problem due to falling debris.


    Using the high earth sculpting skill Walker moved the earth from the ceiling toward the front wall and thickened it. This was hisst ditch to deal with the more focused lighting attack from the tri tailed moth.


    "Here is the best method of attack." Wade was taking the close gathering as an impromptu strategy meeting. This was the perfect time to figure out how they would either retreat or defeat the moth. "The tails where they store mana are weak. But the wind elemental tail will stop arrows so we need to divide its'' attention."


    "Then we take out its mana sources and go in for the final blow?" Gil was already understanding the n.


    "Or we could stop its ranged attacks and retreat." Trish was more on the run away side because she knew that the size of the tri tailed moth was still enough to give them all a lot of trouble.


    "No, it is going to chase us. Those in the city can assist us but if we reach there and it attracts more of its species then we will be bringing a gue." The lunar priestess had seen the moths spread the pheromones on their wings and attract more moths before. Thest time they nearly lost a garden and spirit cedar. If it happened this time a garden could be the least of their worries due to the stronger effect therger tri tailed moth would have.


    "We will stay and fight, now cover your heads!" Walker braced everyone for the attack he felting. With everyone curled tightly behind Su, she used her wide block skill while mming her shields together to make onerge shield.


    The shield thrummed as she pulled the stored mana out to activate the skill. The runes carved t draw mana on them shimmered and a translucent dome covered everyone. She had learned this skill when she equipped the shields and practiced with them. It was currently her strongest blocking skill for the express reason that it doubled her defense and magical defense by creating a dome of her own mana. The only downfall was the cost of mana she paid.


    Therget boom they had heard yet reverberated in the air as the earth wall shatters in to pieces of hardened earth. The tower fell to pieces in a matter of seconds while Su''s skill and shields deflected the pieces of super heated earth. The damage was mitigated by her but the tower would not be able to be rebuilt before the moth was able to attack them again.


    "I am firing my arrows!" Wade yelled and so did Gil. They ran in opposite directions trying to draw the moths'' attention. The enforcers followed their lead and Walker realized that this was the best time for the newly created fusion spell he had worked on with the mages.


    The moldable crystal ball appeared within his hands and Walker started to manipte its shape in to that of a spear. He used the de of night and day skill causing the inner darkness and light elemental mana to re up and create the dominating spear he had tested before. He nned to let everyone distract the tri tailed moth and rush in to use his quick jab skill to start bleeding mana and decaying the moth.


    The arrows that the enforcers, Wade, and Gil fired were blown away by the wind elemental mana the tri tailed moth was producing. This was making it receive zero damage every time they fired. The fact that they were limited to normal arrows due to the possible damage to the garden did not help.


    Walker moved forwards and tried to get nearer. But the moth was very vignt and retreated. There was a water bolt sent his way that Su managed to deflect. She retreated to Remey again and gave Walker a worried look. She was protecting the one who couldn''t move but wanted to also protect Walker. It was the struggle of any shield user.


    They were having more and more trouble getting any hits on the moth as they fought. Only one or two arrows had pierced the moth but they were small wounds unable to be called real damage. "I need to use my elemental arrows again!" Gil yelled that he had to attack with all his might but he was met with a shake of Wades'' head. He had been lucky with the fire elemental arrow before because the azure butterfly stopped it. But now there was no such skill to stop the attack damage range.


    I didn''t think there would be such a great weing party for the ambassador of the demi-human kingdom orf Ordist. I have truly underestimated the forest elves." A familiar voice echoed around them making the noise of the battle fade away temporarily.


    "I''m d to see my little champion doing well. But where is that brawler? She looked at Walker then at Su. "I easily spotted the guardian that showed off a great dual wielding two shields but I am missing one."


    "General Scy!? Why are you here?" Walker shouted more in surprise than anything else.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 445 - 445. Defend To Win

    Scy had appeared out of nowhere all on her own. Not a single other person was with her making Walker and Su feel they were seeing things. This feeling was made even stronger as Scy was seemingly standing in the air near the tri tailed moth.


    "I heard the sounds of what I thought to be a celebration and when I get here, there is this little bug making noise. Should I deal with it?" Scy asked this like it was a simple task for her. But the group was willing to let her assist since they were currently at a disadvantage.


    Walker hesitated only for a moment as she saw that Scy had zeroed in on the defensive position of Midnight and Onyx. "General Scy. We are protecting Remey for some time. We would dly wee your assistance in dealing with these pests. They are trying to destroy this beautiful Garden."


    With Walker''s approval, Scy opened a fan in each hand and smiled widely. The air started to kick up around here getting the full attention of the Tri tailed moth. It had just felt the wind elemental mana in one tail lose strength and it was far from happy. However, it also felt that the water elemental mana it could control was also acting up.


    Scy had the two elemental affinities of wind and water. This made her easily fit the namesake of the monster she had traits of. The sea dwelling monster known to kick up violent typhoons was a master of the wind and water elements in general. Therefore, when Scy had started to control her skills she found that she was able t easily manipte both of these elemental manas.


    The only mana not affected was the fire elemental mana in its third mutated tail. This instead was being kept in check by the water elemental mana that was thick in the air from the full moon. The advantage the tri tailed moth might as well never have existed in the first ce.


    "I can feel the strength of the mana in the air, this is a very interesting spot of forest," Scy spoke as she raised both fans and shed downwards. There were two des of wind and water created that fused in to one. The water became further propelled by the wind making it sharper than a steel de.


    The tri tailed moth couldn''t react fast enough as arge cut appeared in one of its wings severing the wind elemental tail from the end. This caused it to p wildly in the air and start to spread a different pheromone in the air. This smell screamed danger and enemy to every twin tailed moth nearby.


    "No need to be unhappy. You will soon be gone from this world and unable to harm some of my favorite colosseum challengers." Scy was getting a little more serious since she knew that there would be more enemiesing due to the scent. She had gone against enemies that used simr methods when in danger.


    The group had been caught frozen for too long which made Walker shout t get them to move again, "Gil and Wade! Take this chance to load it up with arrows." Every enforcer reacted to Walkers'' shut and sent their own arrows in to the mix. Sierra returned to buffing them to increase their power as well.


    The damage to the tri tailed moth was mounting as it attempted to gather the elemental mana to properly attack. "Wait! Retreat!" Scy suddenly started to go backward in the air and touch the ground. Her face spoke of dangers approaching.


    Walker could feel the three elemental manas within the tri tailed moth''s mana converged toward the center. It couldn''t gather much elemental mana at the moment but this attack was still able to be used. "It''s going to use a lightning attack!" Walker tried his best to create an earth wall in front of him.


    The group fell in behind him with Su in front of all of them again. However, the difference was that Scy joined them. "I will finish this after we survive this attack." Scy wanted to defeat the tri tailed moth now but the problem was that if she did the mana the tri tailed moth had left in its'' body would act like an over filled pastry; it would explode.


    This was the final attack of the tri tailed moth that it could use before exhausting all of its'' mana. With a thick earth wall rising in front of Walker and Su using her wide guard skill they had hope it would not damage them. But they did not realize there were worse thingsing.


    The pheromones had been partially blown away by Scys'' wind based attacks. This was good because it had made it harder for more of the twin tailed moths toe and attack them in hope of gaining ess to the nectar in the garden. Yet there was still enough in the body of the moth itself to attract five more nearby twin tailed moths that were showing themselves at the edge of the forest.


    "Leader, we need to attack as soon as the next lightning bolt is done." Su gave the warning and everyone tensed up. The enforcers, Wade'' and Gil Had arrows at the ready. Onyx and Midnight sured up their protection and Sierra started to buff everyone again.


    There was a sudden feeling of static in the air that they all knew from the previous attacks. Feeling this they made himself a tighter defense against the attack before the sh of light exploded outwards from the tri tailed moth in a wave of lightning.


    The boom deafened the group again as the dense earth wall Walker was still creating fell apart. He was still working now with his high earth sculpting but it was crumbling and losing strength. Su prepared herself for the impending blow.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 446 - 446. Crushing Victory

    The wall fell apart and Walker was forced to stop putting his mana in to it. The lighting wave that had just hit it still had some strength but was significantly weakened. Su braced herself and felt the feeling of thousands of needles hitting her body. She had not imagined that the lighting would feel this way.


    Su was lucky to have raised her magic defense higher with her defense but she was still feeling the power of this attack. She grew red faces and had heavy breathing but the lighting did not take her down.


    "Su stay still, Sierra and I are healing you." While Sierra and Walker started to heal Su from the attack Scy jumped in to the air sending multiple wind des at the tri tailed moth. It had exhausted thest of the mana in its body and it was already falling from the air. This was not an excuse to stop though. Scy knew that unless the enemy was soundly defeated then it could rise again.


    The wind des sent forth from her fanspletely cut the tri tailed moth in to pieces. All that was left were three pieces on the ground that were once a single creature. "The bog one is dealt with, but the five friends it called still need a lesson." Scy''s smile became brutal as she went after the nearest one.


    Gil and Wade started to support her and aimed for the tails of the moths. They had the same water and wind elements stored in the tails of their wings making them very simr to the tri tailed moth. These were most likely from the same brood as the tri tailed moth but less lucky to mutate.


    "Onyx, go and help them. Remy will be safe here with the enforcers standing guard with Midnight." Walker made this call because he knew that Onyx not only needed the experience but he also needed to get used to his new body size. He had only recently grown so much and if he was not used to it he could identally hurt the party while fighting. This was a very important task for him.


    "Yes brother, I will be off." Onyx knew exactly why Walker wanted this and could feel that he would be stronger in following this order. He unwrapped himself from Midnight and left making it look like Midnight was smaller than before. However, this was just aresult of Onyx slowly absorbing his shadow again to show his true size.


    Now that Onyx wasrger he did not need the help of Midnight to get close to an opponent and bind them. He could use his size and strength to leap from a coil and bite down in to a moth. These smaller moths were easy for him totch on to with his fangs and bind. They also did not have tough exoskeletons like other insects and he could slowly crush them to death.


    The sickening sound of a twin tailed moth being crushed was lost to the brutality of Scy''s winds. She was jumping through the air slicing at three of the moths that had been victimized by the two archers'' arrows. Gil and Wade had easily gotten rid of the stored mana within their tails using their skills.


    The remaining fifth moth was trying to p near the group that Walker was part of and was now under siege by the remaining enforcers. They were sending arrows at it trying to cut its wins so it would fall. "I will deal with that thing now." Walker once again pulled the moldable crystal ball and changed its shape to that of a spear.


    He activated his de of night and day skill and felt the mana thrum to life. Instead of running to try and stab the moth, he knew he couldn''t reach he decided to throw the spear he had created. His shoulder cocked back and the spear felt heavy in his hand. Walker took a deep breath and then released the spear with all his might.


    ''The user has used his entire strength to throw a specific weapon. The skill piercing throw has been taken from the elite spearman system. The user has automatically learned the skill piercing throw.


    Piercing throw- 3 mana cost


    The user must use a spear or thin pointed weapon to throw from a distance. The mana used will form a barrier around the pointed end causing it to dig deeper in to the target. The defenses ites in to contact with will have a much higher chance of breaking than usual.''


    Walker paid no mind to the system as he wanted the crystal spear pierced through the twin tailed moth. The light elemental mana caused the stored mana to bleed out in to the air and the darkness elemental mana visibly decayed the body. The twin tailed moth was defeated before it even touched the ground.


    Walker saw the spear lose the de of night and day skill and fall to the ground behind the moth. Walker looked around at the rest of the moths that were all defeated. Onyx had released the body of the one he crushed to death and Scy looked like she did not have enough fun slicing up the three twin tailed moths she took on.


    Meanwhile, Gil and Wade were counting their remaining arrows since they were worried more may be on the way. "Leader, I should be fine now. That attack left me numb for a few moments but it has passed. I believe we should look for some gear that reduces the elemental effects of attacks in the future" Su was already trying to think of how to improve. She was strong willed and would never let one attack that hit her stop her brilliant mind from working.


    "That was fun. I''m d I went ahead of everyone and managed to see you all earlier." Scy returned to them hiding her face behind one of her fans. She was very pleased to see the young party again.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 447 - 447. Butting Heads

    ''Tri tailed moth defeated 250 exp gained


    9 twin tailed moths defeated900 exp gained


    17 azure butterflies defeated 535 exp gained.


    ''Emergency questpleted- Resting hero


    Requirements:


    Protect the resting hero Remey from danger.


    Rewards:


    1 mana point


    2 heroic quest points''


    The sound of Remey groaning from underneath the protection of Midnight made the conversation stop. Walker was looking at the sudden system notifications and smiled. "Looks like someone is finally awake."


    Midnight moved from Remey and looked at her with a worried expression. "What the heck was all that?" Remey appeared to be fully awake but she was not in the best of moods. "It was like someone had just lit me on fire." Her eyes drifted over the [party and the enforcers around her. She soon took in the slightly damaged area and the fallen monsters.


    "Yeah, a lot has hap[pened but you and all of us are safe so just ask whatever you need to ask." Walker made sure that Remey would have the time to adjust to the changes around her. Thest thing she remembered was biting in to the mana fruit and then feeling warm and tired from the potions that Trish had given her.


    "Alright, what happened while I was asleep." Remey''s eyes had grown wide after realizing that Scy was there as well.


    "The azure butterflies and the twin tailed moths came for the flowers that had opened during the full moon and the ceremony. Unfortunately, they caused enough trouble that they got past the enforcers. This would have been fine if the enforcers didn''t attract the attention of the tri tailed moth. This is a mutated twin tailed moth that isrger and has a third elemental affinity. It was able to use lightning." Remey''s eyes grew wide and her face dropped.


    "Thanks for protecting me¡­" Remey wasn''t sure how she would pay them back for thister.


    "It is my fault for not warning you about the side effects of the mana fruit. If I had not been so excited about the chance to create an alchemy guild I would have been able to properly act as a master alchemist." Trish averted her gaze and was ready to ept any form of punishment that the heroes would dole out.


    "Why would I be angry at you? I should have asked and learned everything first. It was one of thest herbs I registered in my alchemical brawlers'' guide and it is my failure topletely understand the fruit it gives." Remey was not taking anyone else at fault other than herself.


    "Well, it is good to hear that you are not injured. I would hate to miss a little trickster like you in my next tournament." Scy gave her fan a soft teasing wave at Remey to ruffle her hair.


    "I am also wondering when general Scy got here. Last time I heard it would take a week for our king to get here." Remey was even more confused now.


    "I came early of course. If I use my skills I can move much faster than anyone else. So, here I am. Want to give me a tour of the forest elf city and tell me about this alchemy guild this little elf told me about?"


    " Little elf? Child, I have lived many years longer than you or anyone within your kingdom. If you can not respect your elders I will not allow you the kindness of our herbal brews." Trish was easily offended when it came to things like this. She preferred those to give proper respect to their elders in public.


    Scy stiffened after being called a child. This was one of the things she hated to be called the most after monster. "You would threaten the future with the kingdom I represent based on one small misconception? And even after I saved your life and the life of a hero? The heroes that I believe were under your care and were put at risk due to your poor guidance?" Scy had be cold and her voice steady.


    The two red at each other before Remey interrupted them, "Why does it smell so bad around here?" She had realized that there was an incredibly potent smell in the air causing her nose to scrunch up.


    "It was a power to keep more monsters at bay. I will teach you to make it when we return to the city. That is if I don''t need to introduce this child to one of my acidic potions." Remey had hope that Trish had been distracted and stop her small feud with Scy, unfortunately, that was not the case.


    "We should settle this in the city, don''t you think? I can speak to your queen about the trade routes we will no longer assist you in building due to yourments." Scy was using her cards to their full advantage but Trish had the same cards to use.


    "Then we will just need to focus on the trade routes with other kingdoms. From what I have learned they would greatly like to use the rune formations and some of the crystals that my people craft. They also mentioned to someone that your kingdom would benefit from the water spikes we produce, however, we may not have a chance to sell any to your farmers. Such a pity.'' Trish and Scy were butting heads more every second they looked at each other.


    "And by the name of the hero, I demand both of you stop arguing or I will personally make both of you send the goods as pack mules to each other kingdoms." Walker stepped in with what he thought to be a good threat. He would hate to have to travel to the two kingdoms back and forth constantly. Instead, the two women startedughing at him.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 448 - 448. Remey Is Fine

    "Walker, I think your joke worked. They appear to be much happier now." Su whispered in Walker''s ear. He was just thankful that it hade off as a joke and that was what everyone thought.


    "I think you are funnier than I was lead to believe. I hope that you are still able to be serious in the heat of battle." Scy was still having a hard time preventing herself fromughing.


    "He was very serious. You should have seen the earth tower he made to protect us. It was not the strongest earth magic I have ever seen but it was formidable.


    to be able to create it in such a short time. I believe he could easily turn the tide of a battle with such speed and ingenuity."


    Trish and Scy had found somemon ground and it appeared that their spat from a moment ago was over.


    "I wonder if the two of them actually didn''t like each other or they were just testing their wills?" Gil had a feeling that the pair had been seeing what the other was like before they trusted them to speak.


    "Wee to the outskirts of my home. My name is Wade and I would be honored to escort the Ordist ambassador general Scy to our queen for an audience." Wade saw that this was one of the duties he would need to take on since Sierra was already assigned to the heroes.


    "Well, it is nice to meet you, Wade. I would like to walk with the heroes back to the city. Is that agreeable?" Scy was too interested in the party to just up and walk away at that moment.


    "Of course, we are heading the same direction. It is only proper for us to travel together." Wade was still very polite making the other enforcers stand taller.


    "And as you know I am the master alchemist and an elder of the elves. I was here to finish a very important potion and to guide the path of a young alchemist." Trish surprised Scy by saying that Remey was an alchemist.


    Of course, Scy had heard what Remey had said about the alchemical brawler field guide but she believed that Remey was just writing things down in a physical book. "You''re an alchemist?"


    "Umm, I''m an alchemical brawler. It''s a unique system¡­"Remey wasn''t sure what Scy''s response would be to this. She knew that the elves were much more used to hearing about the system upgrades through unique quests and circumstances, but had no idea about what the demi-human perspective would be.


    "Unique system you say? Then it is simr to a demi-human who gains the traits of an extinct monster or animal. Or even when they gain the traits of a monster or animal that has yet to be discovered." Scy easily made theparison.


    "That actually sounds pretty interesting. Is thatmon in your kingdom nowadays?'' This attracted Trisah''s attention along with every elf around them. Their curiosity for how they kept track of these new or unique systems.


    "Yes, it happens every few years. Sometimes there will be one like me that makes it to the kingdom and has the same system as an ancient monster or there will be arge number of children born who all have the same system with the same animal traits. Those who have the one and only traits and system are the wild cards. Most systems in the kingdom have simr traits of rankings for the most part, but those who are unknown can use their skills to catch others off guard. That''s what I was able to rise in the colosseum so well." Scy was sharing more than anyone expected.


    "So that''s why I was able to do better. I can sup[rise them with skills they didn''t know I had. Maybe I should go back when things calm down." Walker was more thinking out loud but when Scy heard this she became much more excited.


    "Yes, you shoulde and visit again. When the trade routes start having the heroes to walk them once or twice would make them much safer and epted by the people." This idea wasn''t bad but would be a long way out from where the kingdoms were now.


    "So, now that we are all up and you know standing around...can we go and get some food?'' Remey had unexpectedly chimed in surprising everyone.


    Midnight jumped up hearing that they were going to get food. "Yes, we can go get food." Walker patted Midnight on the head while looking at Remey. "Are you really feeling alright?" He wanted to make onest check before they were on the move back to the elf city.


    "I am fine. You''re as bad a Su and Gil. They have both been looking at me like I was damaged goods since I stood up." Remey showed some of her feisty attitude making them all rx. "I just feel really hungry all of the sudden."


    "That would be the side effect of the mana fruit. It changed your body to be able to produce and hold more mana than it could before. Now it needs more nutrition to recover what it used." Trish already had the answer ready.


    "So you''re saying that Remey might give Midnight a run for her money at breakfast today?" Gil immediately made the joke that got Midnight al;l riled up.


    "Oh, we''ll see who gives who a RUN for their money." Remey cracked her knuckles showing that she was fully back to her usual self and gave chase after Gil who was already sure she would hit him.


    "Yeah, I would say Remey is fine. Let''s walk and talk our way back to the city. I think everyone will need a good meal and rest." Walker started off towards the directions they hade in.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 449 - 449. Not Extinct

    The group took the ground back toward the elf city since most were too tired to run through the trees or hop branch to branch. The enforcers remained on high alert while Sierra constantly used her skills to help them replenish mana. Walker happily handed out healing and mana potions as needed.


    "And you''re saying she made all of those mana portions herself before evening here?'' Scy had been questioning the alchemical brawler system as they walked. She foiund it interesting that Remey was so adept inbat and a calming art such as alchemy.


    "Yes, she even made the healing potions too. I was pretty surprised when I found out she was an honorary member of the alchemy building at our kingdom as well. To be honest she is probably an official member now that she can produce potions and other such alchemic products." Walker was thinking about the qualifications and figured the old master alchemist must have made everything official the second he found out she had this ability.


    "Even if she was not the official member of this alchemy building she will soon be the first founder of the alchemy guild. What do you think about that general Scy?" Trish and Scy still had a little bit of a friendly head butting attitude, but everyone had started to realize that it was just two strong personalities colliding out of respect and fun.


    "I think that is an interesting move. It would certainly be safer to have it set up as a guild. The adventurers guild had an easy time recing the groups of mercenaries within our kingdom since they would be able to better handle the quests given. There was also a safety aspect of having a guild that could enforce rules and regtions."


    "That is why I want to form a guild for alchemy. We could protect those who are victimized from exorbitant prices for life saving potions. We can make sure that those with the alchemy based systems have the chance to learn and it is not just the richer noble families that have the alchemy based systems. Not to mention the flow of rare herbs can be better regted with new trading routes."


    Remey had heard them talking about the future guild she wanted to form and couldn''t help herself from chiming in. Walker saw the opportunity to test the water with the idea that the demi-human kingdom could be more open to using potions again. "If it bes a guild then there would be a very safe form of tested potionsing in to the kingdoms. Your kingdom could benefit greatly."


    Scy looked at Walker and understood the point he was trying to make. She had the same feelings over potions since they had the incident where there were many that were hurt and killed by the bad batches of potions from the demons. "I see where you are going with this and I can not say you are wrong to push for it. But you need to show the people of my kingdom proof before they trust it."


    "That is a wise choice. I have heard the problems you face and wish there had been a guild to prevent that before it had happened. Please ept my sincerest condolences." Trish had seen many young alchemists who had tested potions alone without guidance fail or perish due to their actions. She had always strived to make sure these things would not happen, but they were unavoidable as they were.


    "I believe a joint endeavor such as this would be a great way to bring the kingdoms together. With the addition of trading and an auction the three kingdoms could bond closer than they ever have." Su was exactly right on this note. If they did manage to agree and pursue these things the kingdoms would beying down a history that took all three of them instead of just one.


    "Then I will consider it well when I speak to my king. I am here to act in negotiations and see what possible futures we hold together. We may hold simr goals when ites to ongoing problems as well." There was an ominous feeling as Scy said this.


    Walker didn''t want to pry too much on this but had a feeling that it would being up when they all spoke together. He feared that Scy was casually mentioning the differences the elves had with the demons and the simr feeling they may have in line with the dem-humans.


    "We should focus on returning and properly resting. The political talks can wait until your other representative reach the city. You should enjoy it just as the heroes have been doing. I believe they will have much to show you." Scy appeared much more interested in what Wade had just suggested. Walker sent a thankful nce to Wade. he would make a point to speak to Wade and Alma togetherter.


    "Wait did you just say unicorns? Your little serpent said there are unicorns around!" Scy had been pulled in to a conversation with Onyx. "Unicorns are just a myth for us in the kingdom. They used to live in the great ins but were forced out. Thest time anyone saw them was many years ago. Now they are only in story books" Scy wanted to rush and see them right away.


    "Midnight and Onyx have spent some time with them and even made friends. I can assure you he is telling the truth. They are few in number but if they are treated right maybe the elves could foster the safe return of their species. That is if your kingdom forbids the hunting and selling of materials." Wade knew the exact way to y this situation. Scy quickly returned to her serious demeanor.


    "Yes, it is another thing to discuss. I can promise this thing, my king would happily send any that threatened such a species to their death."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 450 - 450. Mostly

    "That is a pretty serious position to take. I don''t mean this isn''t a serious matter, but it is pretty extreme." Gil was a little worried that Scy would be unhappy about him saying this so he got slightly worried.


    "To my king, it is very serious. More so than most people would think." Scy was still very serious but Walker could see a slight softness around her eyes. He could tell there was more to it than what she was letting on.


    "Can I ask why king Rorick would be so strict with this species in particr?" Walker knew he was starting to pry. He had just told himself he would not be doing this but he had a strange feeling that it would be something important to the negotiationster.


    "Didn''t you meet the future queen of Ordist?" Scy blinked, she had not expected them to be this lost after their visit.


    "Future queen? I thought that there was no queen?" Remey was sure that they had not met a queen at all and believed that the demi-human kingdom was still waiting for one.


    "I thought you all had met her. Let me ask you this first, what characteristics does our king have?" Scy was waiting for an answer.


    "He has lion traits. It is like the pictures on the walls. I believe it is long passed down his bloodline." Su and Walker both agreed on this. They had carefully studied the murals on the coliseum walls.


    "That is correct. To be more specific it is a monster trait shared with the golden lion. They are powerful monsters thought to be extinct before our first king appeared and brought our kingdom together." Scy made a point to emphasize this part. "The soon to be queen shares the thought to be extinct traits that our kings'' bloodline has. Future queen Rosalia has the white hair and light elemental affinity of a unicorn."


    The others stopped for a moment. They couldn''t believe that this was possible. It was such a powerful connection between them that they did not know was even there until now. "That is amazing. Your kingdom must have already known that there were still unicorns somewhere then, right" Remey was very excited by this.


    "We had hopes that it was the case. There were times when an extinct monster or animal would still have demi-human counter parts. But sometimes they would be discovered to still be in existence. We can not travel thergest oceans to check the entire world. We could never know the truth." Scymented theck of ability to travel and discover the entire world, but she knew that having that unknown mystery was better than knowing everything.


    The group got over their shock and continued walking toward the elf city. They had learned a lot in the past few moments. The party specifically felt a little disappointed at not meeting this future queen. "I am curious general Scy. Why is she just the future queen? Has the wedding date not been set yet?" Su was curious if the party should be setting themselves up as guests for a wedding. It was definitely an important event to attend, especially since they had personally met with king Rorick before.


    "The reason is not thatplicated. King Rorick is the most powerful of all in our kingdom. He has achieved a great many thingspared to past kings in this respect but he has a goal to first aplish. He wishes to remove the fear the people have faced for generations before he is to offer himself to the one he loves. He is putting the people first. It is honorable."


    "I believe the young king must be very respectable. I wish him the best in his goals, whatever they may be." Trish said this in a prompt tone to avoid any more conversation on political goals. It was also her way to bring the conversations to a close. They had just approached the edge of the forest elf city.


    "I could see the tree from the forest when I was traveling, but now that I am this close...I still can''t believe it." Scy had the same reaction as the party had when they saw the massive tree reaching toward the heavens.


    "If you think this is amazing wait until you have to climb it. I am sure Wade would be willing to take you to the top for the view of a life time." Gil was talking about the view from the thunderstruck branch. He had etched it in to his mind.


    "No, she needs toe and see the spirits in the gardens first. They have the most beautiful flowers and there are plenty of food stalls to try on the way there." Su was trying to choose the path Scy would take before Gil could take hold of the situation.


    "If you two wish to fight over me please do it after I have given my greeting to the queen. I also must give her the gift I have brought." Scy pulled a fan that was much different than the ones she used. "I brought her a fan that I personally made. It has no uses but holds all of the artistic skills I have. I know it is always a surprise when I say that I have the ability to create my own weapons. But it is the only way to use my long reaching skills..mostly."


    Walker wondered if there was a hidden meaning behind Scy gifting a fan, but he was more curious why she said that she mostly could only use fans to use her long reaching skills. It made him feel uneasy. The long and heavy cloaks seemed to ruffle around her even though there was no wind.


    "Then my friends and heroes, please excuse me while I escort our newest guest general Scy to my queen for a proper greeting." Wade made a gesture for Scy to follow him and the two were gone in a sh.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 451 - 451. Return To Rest

    The party went off to rest while the enforcers left to report as Well. The only one that stayed with the party was Trish who was still struggling with the fact that she had not properly exined the side effects of the mana fruit to Remey. "Master alchemist. Please stop putting it on yourself. My party and you yourself protected me. I am fine and even gained twenty mana stat points. I am much stronger than I was before and if a little danger was the price then I am d to pay it"


    Remey had been trying to get Trish to stop apologizing and it made the entire party wonder where the strict elf they had met before had gone. Trish was showing much more than she had before and was even offering to make it up to Remey still.


    "Master alchemist. I believe that Remey had already said that she holds no ill will. Please understand that as the leader of my party I must ask you to drop this. Remey still needs rest and so do we." Walker held a strict tone that seemed to shock Trish.


    "No one has ever spoken to me in such a manner¡­" Trish seemed to be thinking hard on the way Walker had just spoken. "But it was necessary and I will forgive it. I was not acting as a master and instead allowed my emotions to run away with me. I look forward to speaking with you on the future matters of forming an alchemy guild."


    Trish headed for her own dwelling and the p[arty noticed a few enforcers join her. It appeared that they had been waiting for her to have this time alone to speak to her about what had happened. "I can ce bets on the queen wanting to hear a report from us too after we rest." Gil was already predicting this because e this had been arger event than expected.


    "Well, she will need to wait. Su and I alreadymitted to helping with a mole problem in the underground. You should alle with us, it will be good training and we could find some rare items." Walker could only imagine what was down there to be discovered since the glowing mole had taken over the territory.


    "Oh you know I am alreadying. I need help getting those herbs so I can learn the night vision potion. I think it will have a huge advantage for us. I also believe that it will be better than any such potion we have in the kingdom." Remey had already said this but she shared again her thoughts on the potions'' quality. Her energy was still going strong.


    "I know you are excited but we haven''t slept yet." Gil was a little touchy since he had not properly rested in a few days. Knowing that the other ambassadors were already approaching put him on edge even more. This was simply because they would have less freedom to explore after they came.


    "So are youing Gil?'' Walker still didn''t hear a straight answer from Gil and wondered if he would turn it down. "I know that the under ground may be tough for you to fight in since you have a ranged weapon. I just thought you would want to practice with your dagger more."


    Walker''s words made Gil think more about what he was going to decide on. "I want to say no because battling in the underground will make my bow skills harder to use. But if I can get used to this sooner thanter I will already have experience when we go to the dwarven kingdom under the mountains."


    "Leader, Midnight might already be asleep but we both know that she will want to go just so that she might be rewarded with slime crystals. She is getting hungrier by the day." Su brought this point up[ after noticing that Midnight had been eatingrger andrger means.


    "Yes, I noticed that too. She is also pping her wings in battle more and I think this is the muscles naturally developing. She should be using most of the nutrients from food to build those muscles. If possible I hope she flies soon. Having these charms and an easy source of them means she can jump from tree branches and practice."


    Walker had realized that the charms he and Su had bought the other day held a much more practical use than just keeping them safe if they fell out of a tree. They could also serve as a fall back for Midnight while she practiced. It was not something she would always have but it was something that would be her greatest friend for the time being.


    "Brother, I wish to stay outside. I want to go and explore to findfort in my growth." This was unexpected of Omnycxx. Walker had expected him to say he could go with them since Midnight would be going.


    "Then I hope that you have a solid n in mind. I thought you did well with the twin tailed moths earlier." Walker said this but felt a sense of loss from Onyx through their connection.


    "Brother, I know I am weaker than all of you in level but due to my species, I am stronger. I fear I could hurt one of you by ident if I do not train myself with the same intensity as everyone in the party." Onyx had been thinking about this since the movement he had his growth spurt. Thest thing he wanted was to harm those he held dear to him.


    "That is a great idea Onyx. I think you are wise beyond your years." Su started to melt as she patted Onyx on the head while he was in his smaller form. She cooed over his cuteness and brilliance while the party decided it was the best time to rest before waking up to go and meet Bree.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 452 - 452. Blue Cave Grass

    "Walker, wake up already. We are all waiting on you!" Remey gave a shout to Walker who was still curled up with a nket. He had overslept out of all of them due to his significant exhaustion.


    "Hrmm?" Walker heard Remey but was still slightly in dreamnd. "Ah! Yes, I am awake!" He realized that he could feel the sunlight on his face and shot out of bed. He threw on his gear and smothered his hair trying to look like he had not just gotten out of bed.


    "I don''t know what you guys are on about. I was awake the whole time." He tried to y it off like he was already awake and just getting ready, but they could all see the hairs on his head sticking up every which way.


    "Oh? And your hair just happens to be like that after you gave it a rinse?That''s rough buddy." Gil couldn''t help but tease Walker. It was almost part of his job in the party.


    "We can make fun of himter. We need to go get the herbs I need for the night vision potion. Su, want to lead the way?" Remey was acting as the main motivation right now which was not surprising since she wanted to learn as much as possible before the king got to the city and they would be stuck in negotiations. There was also the looming fact that they would leave for the dwarven kingdom soon after.


    Su gave a slight nod. She wanted to meet Bree as well since she was always a punctual person herself. Midnight and Onyx were paired up and ready to head out themselves. Walker saw that Midnight was giving her a look and could feel she was still hungry. He pulled some meat from his inventory and let her have at it befdopre they walked out the door and descended the branches.


    "Other than the glowing bell mushrooms what eles should I have my eyes out for?" Gil wanted top keep a sharp eye out for anything that he could harvest and bring back. This was a valuable chance for him to use some of his foraging skills on new nts.


    "We can look for some of the red ore vines. They eat away at ores in the ground and look like rust. They are perfect for salves, There''s also some of the fluorescent moss that grows anywhere it is dark. It is prettymon in any mine or even some cers but it is great for filtering water. Many people bring it along on adventures. As long as it is not left in the sunlight long it can live for years." Remey was already falling in to her newly found lecture mode.


    Walker was sure that she was just happy to have the knowledge to share with all of them and he did his part to memorize what she was telling him. He never knew what would be useful in the future. "The only thing I know we must not touch is the blue cave grass. There are small blue thoughts of grass that look innocent enough, but they are loved by the rock mice and if you get the scent of it on you they will follow you everywhere."


    Su was curious why the rock mice were so worrisome, she had heard about them being small cute monsters that never harmed anyone. "Why would we need to avoid having them follow us?"


    "If they follow us in high number the other monsters mighte to hunt them and by them, I mean us too," Remey exined the exact thing she had been told by Trish before. It was the reason why Trish did not grow any of the blue cave grass in the hanging garden. The rock mice didn''t fear the highest if they could nibble on their favorite snack.


    "Not touching the blue cave grass. Understood." Gil was not setting the goal to have a following of mice, let alone a monster hunting for prey.


    "What would be hunting them in the caves?" Walker wondered if there was a monster that Remey wanted to avoid in particr. They may have been after a glowing mole but he was sure that they would run in to others as well.


    "I was told that they are the main prey of the sharp tongued bats. Trish said they wouldn''t bother with us as long as we don''t bother them. But they can definitely cause us trouble." Walker listened to this and was not excited about this risk. Remey had heard a lot from Trish but at the same time, he wasn''t sure how the crystal craftsmen were able to safely work.


    "I am less excited than before but it''s good to know." Gill looked a little worried. Knowing that he would be limited and unable to sue his bow the same as he usually would make him ufortable. He was going to face a flying enemy that would be an easy target normally for him, but now it would not be due to the terrain.


    "We will do great. We have someone to guide us there and we know what we are going after. The best thing we can do is mentally prepare ourselves so that we can stay focused and get the quest done." Walker said these motivating words as he knocked on the door to Brees'' shop before entering.


    "Hello?"


    "He''s here!"


    "Let''s y tag again!"


    "Show us more magic"


    "Who are these people?"


    Walker was instantly surrounded by the spirits who fluttered around like energized hummingbirds. "These are the elemental spirits that are bonded with Bree. They are excited to meet you all." Walker shared this and saw that Gil and Remey were still not acquainted with spirits just yet. Their faces showed the curiosity and small amount of fear that Walker was sure his had at first too.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 453 - 453. Spirit Crafting

    "Oh, you are back. I will go get Grandma!" The little elf girl rushed from the front stool toward the back of the shop.


    "They are here already? That''s why those little monsters abandoned me back here." Bree sounded like the spirits had just left her with all the work without any reasoning.


    Bree came out for the back of the shop with a few small crystal slivers on her clothing. "You''re just in time. I have already finished up a few things today and was just about to clean up." Bree brushed off her clothes and made a few res at the spirits which had left her high and dry.


    "Miss Bree, this is Remey and Gil. You have already met the rest of us." Su made the introductions and the spirits proceed to spin around checking out Remey and Gil. The little mana waves were only understood by Walker and Bree.


    "Gil, the wind spirit wants to look at your bow. It feels like it''s fun. Remey, that water spirit and the fire spirit say they can feel the mana from potions on you. My bet is because you use both the most while making one." Walker tranted a few things making the spirits more excited and the two to be surprised.


    "You like my bow? We managed to get it from an elite archer skeleton in the ancient ruins. It is my partner and I would trust it with my life." Gil held the bow sideways so that the spirit could get a proper look.


    The wind elemental spirit rushed around poking the bow here and there causing small bits of wind to flutter everyone''s hair. "Well, that is interesting. It''s like there is some form of spirit already in your bow." Bree shocked them all with these words. Gil had held this bow since the ancient ruins and had not noticed anything of the kind.


    "Come out friend. Don''t hide. You can y. Let''s y." The wind spirit sounded frustrated to Walker.


    "Bree, do you know why there might be a wind spirit within the bow?" Walker was the first to ask the question they were all wondering.


    "That''s a tough one. There are some magical staffs that spirits will fuse themselves with naturally. Sometimes a grand spirit will do this because they want to protect something or partner with a guardian of a certain area."


    Su and the others could easily understand this. "That sounds like a spirit p[rotecting a forest or guarding a sacred ce. It is very logical." Su had no problem underetsanding this. "But why might one fuse with a bow?"


    "That is the other option I know of. Spirit crafting. It is a system that we as elves do not allow in the kingdom due to the cruelty towards the spirits. None have gained the system here in many years and we prefer it that way since those who do are exiled. The spirits are the core of our beliefs and we can not tolerate them being harmed or abused in any way."


    The wind spirit was still trying to coax out the other spirit that it said was within Gil''s bow. y! You cane out and y!" the shouts and mana were getting more powerful as the bow didn''t react.


    "I feel like I don''t want to know what the spirit crafting systems would involve. But if it gives me insight to this bowie maybe it will be worth learning." Gil prepared himself to hear some of the worst.


    "A spirit craftsman would have the skills to forge weapons or create armors using regr materials. But they would also be able to fuse spirits in to them making them gain unique abilities and strengths. Let me guess, that bow has some wind based attack or boost, right?"


    Gil lookedat Bree and replied with honesty, "Yes, it lets me use mana to make a wind arrow that can pierce through and cause wind damage to a target."


    "That is the result from the spirit fusing with the materials within the bow. It was most likely forced to do so and became trapped. The spirit will not be able to keep growing naturally and require mana from the user of the weapon. This is unfair to the spirit and breaks the natural cycle. That is why we elves do not support it, but if this weapon is already made there is no going back. The only hope is that one day you can provide enough mana so the spirit can show itself."


    "So it is up to me to be stronger and give this spirit a chance at a little freedom...I understand." Gil clenched the bow in his hands and let his mana flow in to it while swearing he will do just that.


    The wind in the room kicked up making the wind spirit rush around more. It could feel that the spirit within the bow was stirring finally. However, just as the phenomenon appeared it faded away leaving the wind spirit sad again. "Why won''t you y?"


    "Gill will help make it stronger so it can y one day. Just give it some time." Walker tried tofort the wind spirit but was shrugged off as it rested itself on the bow.


    "Just wait it out. Spirits don''t like to feel trapped especially wind spirits. It wille around, just let it be and bond with the bow for a while." Bree didn''t seem very concerned about all this. Walker was just thankful that none of them were users of a spirit crafting system.


    The party had lost some of their fire learning these things about Gil''s bow. They had been so impressed by it and the skills it6 gave him, but now they were slightly afraid of him using it. "Stop with the sad faces, using the skill shouldn''t hurt the spirit so you can rest easy.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 454 - 454. My Cozy Shop

    Gil finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that he had not been torturing the spirit within the bow for this entire time. "I feel bad that the spirit had been trapped there for who knows hope long. It was being used by a skeleton¡­"


    "That sounds gross. I hope I never deal with any undead. I prefer my cozy shop." Bree shivered a little not wanting to ever smelly the rotting flesh of any undead.


    "Well, it wasn''t as bad as you might think. But we got so immersed in it that we got used to any smells." Remey was past the emotional talks of the spirits and was ready to get on the way to the herb harvesting.


    Su caught on to this while ying the little game of tag with the dark elemental spirit and decided to p[ush t6hings along. "I believe it is a timer to deal with the mole problem miss Bree." Bree was happy to forget the undead in her thoughts and grabbed her based from the counter.


    "I will be back soon. I will leave you in charge again."


    "I will do my best grandma!" Gil and Remey had already understood that elves aged differently than humans but were still surprised to hear the little elf girl call Bree grandma. This was a temporary hang up as they quickly left the shop with Bree in the lead.


    The spirits insisted on gaining the attention of every single one of them as they walked down the same steps as the previous time. Gil and Remey had not expected to have to walk down so many stairs and were less than enthused. Luckily Midnight and Onyx were content with the walk as long as Walker shared some elemental mana crystals with them here and there.


    The familiar sight of the crystal craftsman floor was soon expanded before them. This new sight to Gil and Remey brought some more excitement to their face as they immediately went toward the crafting area. Many young craftsmen were out and about today working on many things.


    Gil was soon watching one make some arrows and Remey had found an audience watching one create some crystal armor. Both were caught up in the activities before they even got to where they were supposed to be. "You two realized that Bree is taking us to the crystal farm that her bother owns right? We aren''t here to sight see." Walker teased the two who tried to wave him off. However, with the help of Midnight, they were dragged away after Bree who was heading toward a gated area.


    There were two enforcers standing guard at therge metal gates. "We are going to clean up the glowing mole problem within my length of cave. Please allow me to guide them to the area." Bree spoke and the enforcers readily opened the gate. They both appeared to recognize her and didn''t even need to ask her for any form of proof.


    The metal; gate creaked as the doors swung open to reveal a dimly lit cave. There were a few elves around making it appear almost unnecessary for the gates to be closed. "Why are the gates closed when there are elves on the other side?" Remey asked this question while the earth elemental spirit tried totch on to her foot.


    "These are the crystal growing areas we use, but there are many connections to natural caves. We would be fools to believe that we haveplete control of the entire area. If we were to deal with a monster horde then they could rise to the very center of your city. That is why we have many gates such as this spread through the entire cave system we use. I have heard that we could travel all the way to the dwarven kingdom and emerge out of the mountains if we traveled enough."


    "That sounds a little risky." Gil was a bit less enthused hearing that the caves could be sorge.


    "They are natural caves. They were made by the flow of water and nature over time. They are a maze that no one has ever mapped out. I don''t believe it would be a wise idea to try and travel that far. Bree agreed with him and pointed at the wall. "The area the elves roam is clearly marked out. My brother and I have a dead end portion of the cave, or at least it used to be a dead end portion of the cave."


    The elves around the entrance to the caves were chatting and trading crystals with each other. Many of them were speaking like they were old friends and sharing techniques. This was a normal meeting ce for them before they headed off to their own shops or to make deliveries.


    "It looks like this area is rtively safe." Walker made the basic observation.


    "Yes, the enforcers will do patrols of this area since it is so close to the craftsman. The farther away we get the more dangerous it is. There are also some areas that are abandoned due to money, crystal growth, and just in old negligence. Those are where some of the monsters and animals will make their homes." Bree gave this warning just in case the party decided to go exploring. She had no idea where the glowing mole had dug and what caves it had connected.


    "I do wonder where the mole came from and where it is now. If it is moving around in the area it may be invading others'' crystal growing areas. If it is in a natural cave we should be prepared for the worst. One of these glowing moles sounds like they have some tough defenses. I don''t know how multiple will be." Walker was trying to prepare himself for the toughest possible situation. He couldn''t imagine a glowing moleing from a farmed cave.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 455 - 455. Fork In The Cave

    The party followed Bree a fair ways away from the first gate, so much so that they passed through two more simr gates. There were fewer elves the farther they had gone and even some small underground nts. The pathways themselves were littered with more loose stone and dirt, unlike the busier ones that were kept cleaner.


    "This is the entrance to the section my brother and I own. It is a little farther from the floor but it is very high in natural mana sop it is able to grow crystals faster. Also, the reason that the glowing mole must havee here for food. I don''t know why it didn''t choose one of the abandoned sections though. There are plenty off that way."


    "I Would guess because this part is unkempt more than the abandoned ones. If you are growing crystals here it would mean it smells more enticing." Su made her logical conclusion as to why a monster that fed on ores would want toe here.


    "That is a fair point. It is most likely the best ce for it to find a snack around. The problem is where it came from. If possible I would like the entrance it came from sealed or at least marked so we can watch it." Bree didn''t expect this to be easily possible but thought she should put it out there.


    "I can do that if we can find it. I will use my high earth sculpting to make sure it is reinforced as well." Walker chimed in with an immediate response making Bree smile in surprise.


    "Then I will leave you all to it. Ick the offensive skill and will, be returning to the main floor. I would just hinder your duty if I cam." Bree was no fool, she did not have any battle spirits with her nor did she ever n on bonding with one. She preferred her peaceful life of crystal making and gossiping.


    "Alight, we will be back when we can." Walker looked in to the section that Bree had brought them to and did a final check of his gear. He made sure that he and the p[arty were ready to go. "Onyx, I want you to slither around on the ground. You are more sensitive to vibrations due to your species. I expect you to be paying attention to any strange vibrations."


    You can count on me brother." Onyx was more than happy to be asked to help. He never felt that he was assisting his family as best as he could and this was a chance for him to do better. Walker could feel that Onyx was more than determined so he let him take the lead of the party.


    Surprising him Midnight used her shadow wrapping skill and blended in with the shadows. This cave environment was an amazing ce for her to be able to sneak up on any opponent. Between her and Onyx they were sure to either surprise an enemy or predict when an enemy was near them.


    "Leader, there are some small crystals here that appear to have been broken by something." Su had noticed the small details on the sides of the walls. The crystals that she pointed out didn''t look like they were taken out of the wall whole but instead shattered off.


    "There are no pieces anywhere so it would be safe to say this was not an elf harvesting them." Remey chimed in after looking through some of the loose dust on the ground. She hade up with nothing but soon held up some greyish ck hair. "I bet this is from the culprit."


    Gil looked at the hair and jumped right in to tracking. Onyx was right next to him as Gilk followed the traces left by the glowing mole. He waved now and then to stop and have them move forward. He had started to see some slight scratches in the dust and dirt but not much hair. There was also no sign of the mole digging through anything in the wall or floor.


    Gil held up a hand bringing them, to a stop. "The cave splits here. There are traces of the mole going both ways...I think it is just one but it has traveled over this area so many times that I can''t even tell which way it has been going." The fact that Gil had said it had been traveled so many times he couldn''t tell direction was worrisome.


    "The mole isfortable here to travel through often. We need to figure out why that is." Walker looked down one of the tunnels and could feel a slight breeze. "I have a bad feeling that the breezeing from that way is bad. Mostly because there shouldn''t be a breezeing from a dead end."


    "Brother, sister says she can hear a strange noise from the other cave." Walker looked at Midnight who had her head perked up looking down the opposite tunnel. The party was torn. If they went to the tunnel that did not have the breeze then they could meet their enemy. However, if they went down the one with another entrance then they could solve the problem of where the mole came from.


    "No matter which way we choose to go we will end up with the possibility of being trapped on both sides. Either a monsteres from the opening of the right tunnel or the monsters in the left try to leave through the right tunnel." Su''s logic was sound, but Remey was having a brilliant idea.


    "Walker can just use his skill to block one path. Then when we deal with one we can unblock the other, then deal with that one." Remey said this like it was the mostmon thing ever. However, Su felt that her wisdom was being dashed. She hadpletely missed this logic.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 456 - 456. Ugly Flies

    "Great idea Remey. I am going to block the entrance with a breeze first. I have a feeling that it will take longer to deal with." Walker used his high earth sculpting skill and made spikes like prison bars rise from the ground. The stone spiked perfectly blocked the cave, even Onyx would have a hard time squeezing through.


    "With that done let''s go this way. The glowing bell mushroom likes areas without moving air." Remey said this making the entire party realize that her decision to go this way waspletely based on the fact that she wanted to go after the herb. Walker almost wanted to argue with her but he still had to give her the credit for realizing he could block the other entrance.


    They took a slow approach down the cave with non moving air. They knew there were monsters in this one since Midnight was hearing the slight sounds as they moved. The only question was what kind of monster there was.


    Gil was trying to take the lead but realized that he was not the best for the job. He let Onyx and Midnight take over since they were more experienced and better prepared for the environment. This was a move that the others silently praised him for since he could have insisted to stay up front due to his tracking abilities.


    Onyx started to be the trantor of the group so they could speak without alerting what was in the dead end of this cave. "Sister says that the sound is like an empty flour bag in the wind." When Onyx said this there was only one monster that came to all of their minds; sharp tongued bats. If they were in this cave then it was safe to say they were after some rock mice.


    The party fell in to crouch positions and moved slowly until an opening revealed itself to them. The cave opened in to arger area that had many ces to allow the crystals to grow in the wall. This was not the focus for them though, there were three pale grey bats pping around the ceiling. They didn''t appear to be intimidating but for the barbed tongues handing from their toothless mouths.


    Walker used his all around appraisal skill to see what he had to watch out for and let Onyx share it with the party.


    ''Sharped tongue bat


    The sharp tongued bat is apletely blind monster that requires its sense of smell and earth elemental mana to move around. They instinctually can sens the earth elemental mana and fly through the caves without fear, Their main tactic is to find arge prey andtch on to it to slowly drain it of blood over time using its sharp barbed tongue. Its/ favorite predy is rock mice due to their high nutrition valuepared torger prey. When in the mating season it can hunt up to fifty rock mice in a day to bring to its'' desired mate.''


    Walker thought this was a bit much for an exnation but still memorized the information. The bat was not much of a threat inparison to other monsters they could face and he was tempted just to have the party let them be. The only problem with that was the fact that there were small glowing mushrooms in the middle of the clearing. These were shaped like bells and Renmey had her eyes locked on them.


    Onyx was still sending the messages back and forth between everyone, " Gil can shoot one of the bats down and Midnight can be ready to sneak up and attack one when it swoops down at us. Thest one Su can block and I will finish off with Remey. Onyx stay on the look out for the mole. I don''t want it bursting from the ground to surprise us."


    Walker sent out his n for everyone but realized the only one he didn''t get a reply from was Midnight. He searched around the entire area and wasn''t able to find her. After a moment he felt a nudging on his shoulder and looked over. Midnight was pushing her nose against him and trying to draw his attention to a pile of glowing bell mushrooms piled in front of her.


    "Sister says the ugly flys didn''t see her grab them and she can go get more if we want." Remey wrapped her arms around Midnight and hugged her.


    "Sister says you are squeezing her to death but that you are wee and owe her a piece of your bacon at breakfast." Remey struggled not tough at the response but was very happy with how sneaky Midnight had been.


    "Well, since we don''t need to risk anything I will just use some magic to knock them down and we can easily beat them. Especially since we have the mushrooms we need." Walker stood up and released three fire bolt spells as fast as he could. They each hit a sharp tongued bat.


    The p[op of the fire bolt hitting them caused arge echo and the bets to fall to the ground crushing some of the remaining mushrooms. Gil sent an arrow at the one that was still able to move and easily defeated it.


    ''3 Sharp tongued bats defeated 30 exp gained.''


    Walker thought this was low for experience but thinking of how weak they were and how little threat they held for any of the party he pushed the thoughts from his mind. Walker stored the mushrooms away while Remey searched the area a little more to find that there were no signs of crystals at all. She did manage to find more mole hairs which spoke of how voracious the glowing moles'' appetite was.


    Walker spoke out loud now that the bats were dealt with. "Nice job, with those mushrooms gathered, we didn''t need to avoid damaging them when we defeated the bats. Now when people return here it will be safer." Walker helped grab a few more mushrooms then looked toward the other cave entrance.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 457 - 457. Lure

    "Does anyone see anything else around here we might want to grab or remember?" Walker had already stored the bodies of the sharp tongued bats along with any glowing bell mushrooms that had not been crushed by their falling bodies.


    None of them said anything and moved to get in to formation. They had only found more evidence that the mole had been around and that it had gorged itself on more crystals. They had sessfully found the herb they needed and Remey was exceedingly happy. One goal finished was more than two unfinished.


    With this mentality, Walker moved back toward the other cave entrance and felt that the breeze was cooler. "I think the cave leads toward a deeper part of the cave system. If the air was warmer it would being from higher right?"


    "That sounds correct leader. I think that we may have a mole that came from the deeper natural cave system to look for food." Su was having the same thoughts the entire time.


    "Will we go down in to a natural cave to find the mole? Or will we wait it out here?" Gil wasn''t sure if it was the best idea to go searching a ce that was unfamiliar andpletely uncharted.


    "Yeahhh I''m not going hunting in a ce like that. We should just lure it out with crystals, You should have enough in your inventory." Remey was all for Gil''s idea. She was against venturing in to another cave and risking any loss. The longer she was here the less time she had to learn a new potion.


    "Brother, I can feel the ground vibrating softly. I feel like there is a monster digging around below us." Onyx stopped the entire conversation with this one sentence.


    "We should move in and see if it wille up." Walker pulled a handful of elemental mana crystals from hios inventory and used his high earth sculpting skill to open up the other cave path.


    The party was slow moving but did not hesitate to move forward. This was arger section of cave and was clearly the main crystal farming area. The walls were scraped up and showed signs of being cut in to by various tools.


    Midnight had used her shadow wrapping skill yet again to hide herself away. As she had been growing Walker was worried that she would be outgrowing the skill due to her body size, but this fear was unfounded. Midnight appeared to have a denser darkness element wrapping around her than before hiding her even better. So much so that Walker was losing track of her if he even blinked.


    Gil motioned for them all to take a look at the path ahead which had much more dirt dug up around the walls. There had been some recent activity here which was even more apparent when they could see the small pieces of crystals still left in the walls.


    Using Onyx as a trantor to p[ass on the messages Walker made a warning, "The dirt is soft here so be careful of your footing. We don''t know where the entrance to the other cave is." Walker had an eye out for any pce a monster could have crawled out from and wasing up empty.


    The party heeded his words and allowed Onyx to maintain the lead. Every once in a while they would stop while Onyx felt for vibrations. He was still feeling the same ones below them and Walker had a feeling that the mole was bringing the crystals it had pilfered from this cave and brought it back to the natural cave to eat.


    "If the mole is bringing the crystals back to the natural cave below this then it might have arge amount to eat. We could end up waiting much longer than we think." He finally brought this theory to the rest of the party''s attention for fear that they would end up waiting for too long and need to abandon the quest all together.


    "I hate to say this, but that would mean we should go down. Can you at least sense anything about the shape of the natural cave below us?" Gil wanted to make sure that they wouldn''t be going on totally blind. If they could get an idea of the dimensions of the cave then they could try and prepare themselves for the battle against the glowing mole.


    Su slowed her pace making Remey bump in to her. "Su, what''s wrong?" Su was slowly lighting up, her face showed a brilliant realization.


    "The lure orb. Use it to attract the mole and we canunch our first attack. We can hold back while Walker waits for the mole. When he sees it he lets us know and we all jump in to battle. Gil can have his arrow ready to deal arge hit and Remey can follow up with her defense breaking palm. Before it can react I will taunt and then Midnight can get it from the back while it goes for me." Su had it all nned it all out already.


    "We will move with Su''s n then. Onyx, you will stay onmunication and look out while we prepare. If it even tries toe up here you sound the rm and we will go all out." Walker was not willing to take any chances. With their n, they were going to be able to take the mole down without major stress.


    The party moved in to ce and located the hole the mole had broken through. With Walker waiting at the edge he slowly channeled the light elemental mana to create the blue lure orb. As it came in to being above the hole he kept his gaze down and avoided the tempting blue light. He had hopes that the mole would still be attracted to it.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 458 - 458. Glowing Mole Battle

    "Brother, the vibrations are getting stronger." Onyx gave Walker the warning so he could prepare for an attack. Without hesitation, Walker had the mouldable crystal ball in his hands to transform it in to a spear shape. He wanted to make sure that he was well protected if the mole charged at him before the others attacksnded.


    Walker could sense the wind elemental mana gathering around one of the wither spike arrows that Gil had drawn. He was aimed at the entrance of the natural cave with his eyes closed. When Walker gave the notification he was going to open his eyes and aim as fast as possible.


    The sounds of scraping and scratching became louder along with small pebbles hitting the cave walls. Walker shivered at the sound of grinding crystals in the mole''s mouth once it was closer. This was not the cracking and crushing that Midnight would make but a high pitched scraping.


    The smooshed pinch nose of the mole made its'' appearance while Walker looked in to the natural cave. Soon the rest of the head followed making Walker finally understand why it was known as the glowing mole.


    The mole had spots on its body that were devoid of fur and had a crystalline appearance. It was more like its fur had fallen out and its skin was reflecting the glow of naturally growing crystals.


    Walker did not miss the chance to use his all around appraisal skill before they attacked.


    '' Glowing mole


    The glowing mole has extremely tough ws to cut through stone. It is very slow but driven by press and crystals it wishes to eat. The glowinges from the natural mana of crystals it consumes. The fur will fall out revealing its luminescent skin depending on the temperature. The more crystals it consumes the tougher its ws be. It ispletely blind but is sensitive to light elemental mana due to living in the dark throughout its entire life.''


    Walker was surprised that it was still very sensitive to the light elemental mana. If it was blind he had thought that the lure orb must not affect it while he read the all around appraisal. Knowing that even a blind monster can sense a foreign mana that it was not used to was valuable information.


    Since Walker was holding the elemental mana crystals in one hand to help attract the mole and the moldable crystal ball in spear from he waspletely caught waiting for the monster toe closer.


    With a quick thought, he willed the lure orb to disappear, "Now!" Gil''s eyes shed open at his sudden shout and the wind elemental arrow pierced the space between them.


    The mole felt the sudden change in mana along with Walker fully activating the de of night and day skill on the spear. The arrow and Walker''s quick jab made it try to rush backward, but Remey was alreadying forward with a defense breaking palm.


    The loud squeal from the mole spoke of the internal damage the attacks had done but it was not the end for the glowing mole. Instead, it was the start of its rage. Luckily Su was already in position, "Get your ugly dirt loving ws over here!" Su had be more colorful with her taunts which seemed to make the mole zero in on her more.


    The mole charged toward her and shed out with its'' ws. Su had her shields together and blocked that attack. While the mole recoiled from the hit Midnight revealed herself and used her own ws to shred the moles'' back. This was the final straw and the mole started to il in pain.


    Midnight was flung away but managed to use her wings to slow her speed before she bumped in to the wall and jumped back up. This had made her royally angry and she took a deep breath. Before Walker could say anything Midnight released a jet of decaying mes that ate away at the moles'' wounds. The iling was cut short as the mole lost its ability to move.


    Remey moved in and used herbo skill to deliver a series of punches with a final defense breaking palm.


    ''Glowing mole defeated 70 exp gained''


    The party looked at Midnight worried that she had been hurt. However, Midnight was prancing around in victory, She felt that the blood in her body was boiling and she could defeat any of the


    Monsters in the cave by herself.


    "Su, your n was great." Gil was amazed by how smoothly the n had gone. He could not have nned it better.


    "Su hit her face behind her shield in embarrassment. She had been lucky to connect the dots and remember that Walker had the skill that could potentially affect the mole.


    "Onyx, are there any more vibrations?" Walker wanted to make sure that there was nothing more in the natural cave.


    The party snapped back to attention with all eyes on Onyx. Gil realized that he had started to celebrate too early, the same was said of Midnight. The seconds ticked by and Onyx did his best to feel any vibration no matter how small. "No brother, there is nothing moving that I can sense."


    The collective sigh of the party made them all realize that it was now safer to speak. "I am going to store the body. Should I close up the natural cave now?" Walker wasn''t sure if they had any reason to leave the natural cave open for now.


    "We thought that it was bringing the crystals and ores down there to eat right? What if we collected some of them for Bree to start working on? It would be a nice bonus for here. I also think that if we brought it up to the surface it would make her brothere to visit as she wants." Su was already thinking ahead. Walker gave her a smile and readied the spear.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 459 - 459. Mole Nest

    Knowing that there were most likely no monsters in the natural cave below Walker started to climb down in to the natural cave. His spear in his hand for anything that could possibly show up and threaten him. He could feel the breezeing from deeper in the cave and had a feeling that he could spend days down here exploring.


    "Let''s stay close to the entrance here so we don''t get lost. I don''t want to risk anything." Walker made sure that the party heard him and moved farther down.


    The natural cave was misshapenpared to the ones the elves had used for farming crystals. This one had an uneven ceiling and many stones sitting around the floor that had been moved around by monsters over time. The stgtitghts and stgmightsd grew uinempeeded. The sound of dripping water echoed around as if part of the rhythm of a song.


    "Walker, I can see the way the mole went. Follow me." Gil saw the clear markings that had been made on the natural caves" floor by the moles'' ws. He was having an easy time following it toward a small indent in the cave that had arge amount of upturned dirt.


    This looks like the spot it would rest and eat." Gil motioned to the small shard of crystals and tiny chunks of ores.


    "So, we just missed out. It ate everything?" Remey was a little unhappy with the fact that she could not find the moles stash of crystals to take back with them. She had hope that it had not eaten anything and that the party would be better able to show off their skills.


    "No, wait." Su saw a slight shine with her eyes and moved toward the pile of dirt. She reached her hand in to it and dug away a small bit to reveal that there were ores hidden in the dirt. "It hid them like a squirrel hides a nut." She was happy about the find since she knew that Bree would be happy.


    "We can take the ores and sell them while we bring the crystals grown and rightfully belonging to Bree." Walker saw this as a huge win win situation for the party.


    "There is more here than just that." Gil had started digging as well and found some gemstones. This was a huge surprise to all of them since Walker had just learned of the diamond the lunar priestess imbued with elemental light mana.


    "We will collect those too and see if they can be our gift to the queen. The king most likely brought something but if these will help her kingdom we can help him make a better impression. It could also be our bargaining chip to get them to work together smoothing." Walker had been thinking a little too politically but saw this as a good card to have.


    "Sounds good, but what do we do with this thing?" Walker was about to ask what thing when he saw Gil pulling up a strange rock.


    "It looks like am rock Gil, just toss it aside," Remey said this full of sarcasm, but Walker grabbed his hand and held it. He had used his all around appraisal skill to check it just in case.


    '' Albino glowing mole egg


    Like all monsters, the glowing mole produces eggs. This fact sets them apart from the natural animals that do not produce their own mana. This glowing mole egg has a rare mutation that has caused it to develop an affinity for the light elemental mana their species rarely sees. Due to this, it has been lying dormant well after the others of its'' clutch have hatched. A glowing mole will not leave its nest until all eggs have hatched and will grow more aggressive in its searches for food the longer it needs to wait. Thisalbino mole egg can be hated by cing it in an environment full of light and earth elemental mana.''


    Walker read this out loud making everyone stop in thought. Onyx and Midnight were the first to move toward Walker and ask a question that everyone was thinking. "Brother, will this be sister and I''s little sibling?"


    Walker wanted to say yes but he knew that having another monster join their party would make them be much slower moving. It would also mean he had another mouth to feed as they moved towards the dwarven kingdom. "No, I think I should keep it in the dormant state and store it away. While it is dormant it is technically not alive and I can keep it in my inventory while we figure this out."


    "Then no new sibling." Onyx and Midnight showed pitiful looks but Walker refused to budge.


    "Leader, we are heading toward the dwarven kingdom. These glowing moles were able to sniff out rare ores and crystals. Don''t you think we may be able to gifty this egg to the ruler of the dwarven kingdom so that they may allow us to assist them more easily in their slime troubles?" Su had this idea which made Walker feel both good and bad.


    If they were to use it as a gift it could be seen as wrong since they were giving away a potentially living creature. But this was also a good idea since the dwarves could use this monster to benefit their society and grow more. "The real question, will we meet a dwarven tamer that could take care of this mole and raise it well? I would much rather give it to someone who will be family to it and not an owner."


    The entire party agreed and Walker stored the albino glowing mole egg. This was the most unexpected price for them. Out of all of the crystals, jewels, and ores, the eggs was the most valuable due to the mutation it had.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 460 - 460. Calming Lessons

    "Do you really think that the albino glowing mole egg will be able to find a safe home?" Su was worried that it could end up like Onyx''s egg which had been forced to stay dormant for years and years due to the fact that it had not received the proper light elemental mana to hatch.


    "Yes. We are heroes and if we need to can use all of our power to make sure it gets the best family we can find." Walker was sure that using their titles this way was in no way selfish. If they had the title and used it to gain fame and fortune while not helping others it would go against not only the title but their morals.


    On the other hand, using their titles to help a creature find a safe family where it would not struggle to survive in an environment that it was not perfectly suited for was better. With their backing, it would be able to not only find the elemental mana it needed to thrive but also a partner that could stand beside it for its'' entire life. This was just like the party with Midnight and Onyx.


    "Brother, are you sure that it can not be our sibling?" Onyx tried again. He and Midnight wanted to be the older sister and older brother to yet another monster. But if Walker was to use the blood contract with this egg things would get much moreplicated.


    "If I use my skill on it then yes you would be an older brother and Midnight would have another little sibling. I know that''s exciting. But look at the ce we are in our journey. We will be going somewhere that this little mole would be able to thrive in. The dwarven kingdom relies on rare ores and crystals to make their world shaking gear."


    Midnight and Onyx were listening intently to Walker speak, thewy hung on every word he spoke. "They will not only have a constant need for a mole that can search out rare ores but also be able to provide fresh and new food for it. It would be a beneficial rtionship. Not only this but they would both be able to see the value in each other making their bind stronger. If they stay with us we will not be able to give it the proper attention at all times because of our travels."


    Midnight and Onyx both started to think about the situation in this way and came to their own conclusion. "You are saying that if we were to act on a whim and gain a sibling that it could feel unloved?" Onyx said this as the culmination of his and Midnight''s thoughts.


    "That is one possibility, another is that the little mole could not grow to its full potential and always feel like it is weaker. I know you feel this way at times onyx and it makes me feel poorly as well." Walker was right out and open with them. Onyx still felt weakpared to Midnight and the others due to him being younger and less experience in battle. He had been able to help recently but he was not sure that he was doing enough.


    "Sister says she is alright with having a good person raise the little mole. But she says they will still need to call us big brother and big sister." Onyx had made the deal with Midnight that they would still be considered the siblings of the mole and would make Walker visit the future family no matter what.


    "Of course. Did you two think that we all wouldn''t be friends with someone who could be good enough to properly raise a soon to be family member? Even though they may be part of a different family they are just an extension of our family tree." Walker ced a hand each on Onyx and Midnight''s heads to show them that they had perfectly understood.


    '' The skill soothing touch has been taken from the family head system. The skill soothing touch has been learned through user actions.


    Soothing touch- 1 mana cost


    The mana gathers on the hands of the user causing them to have a perfectly even mana flow covering their hands. This mana flow resonates with the target''s mana and causes it to calm as well. Skills trained after the target has been affected by this skill will be easier to use along with strengthened understanding.''


    Walker blinked in surprise. He had never heard of a skill like this but felt it was one of the best he could have gotten. At first nce, it was not much of a skill at all. If it just calmed mana within someone it would just have aforting effect. But with the fact that it made skills easier to use in training and even had the chance to help someone understand the skills they used, made this skill priceless.


    "You gained another skill again, didn''t you?" Remey said this with a t tone recognizing Walker''s face.


    "He definitely did. He only smiles like that when he gets a good skill or reads a good appraisal. He just had it when he looked at that mole egg." Gil was also seeing the same thing as Remey and didn''t even hesitate to speak as if he wasn''t able to hear them.


    "Please, you two should be more respectful to the leader. He also looks this way when he sees his bed at the end of the day." Walker had not expected teasing from Su as well. He waspletely defeated.


    Walker red at the three teasing him, "If you three are going to be mean I will only tell Midnight and Onyx the awesome skill I gained. They will appreciate it." Walker ignore the three and proceeded to do just that as he started to seal up the hole to the natural cave they had juste from.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 461 - 461. What To Learn

    While the party traveled back toward the more popted area of the tunnels they finally managed to get Walker to spill the details of his new skill. It took a lot of apologizing and a significant offer of help in training. He had decided to take a more hands on approach in learning some defensive techniques, archery, and even was beginning to ept Remey''s proposal to learn a punch or two. This was all to make it toward thebo skill.


    "If you use the calming touch on one of us before we went to train a new skill then we should have a faster and easier time of it?" Gil was rifying this for the third time since he was having a hard time wrapping his head around something so great.


    "Yes, again, yes. It would calm your mana in your body so that you could more easily use skills. That alone is huge, but with the bonus of increasing your understanding of the skill you were learning you will be able to master it much faster." Walker only wished he could somehow use the skill on himself. But as he walked he had tried and found it was not sessful. However, he did notice that Onyx and Midnight were quieter and slower than usual.


    "How do you two feel? I used the skill on both of you when I got it so you should have a calmer mana running through your bodies." Walker was worried that it might not have worked properly since he had just gained the skill.


    "Brother, Sister and I have been talking about the elemental mana we absorb from crystals. She says she can feel it merge with her body where I can feel it turn in to energy then merge with my body. We are wondering about why and how this works. We feel like we can understand our mana flow much better now and want to keep discussing it."


    The entire party was in awe of this. The two had been taking advantage of the situation to understand their very own mana flow within their bodies. Since they could not just stop and start training this was a great idea. If they understood the very flow of mana within their own bodies then they would be able to make improvements in everything they did. Not only would they improve in the skills they used but they would also improve in their actions.


    Walker coughed slightly, "Sorry for disturbing you two. I''m d you are both getting a better understanding." He just watched as the two would make slight movements toward each other as they walked. Onyx was still sitting on Midnight''s back but could easily be seen flexing certain parts of his body. Midnight, on the other hand, appeared to be flexing the muscles in her wings to try and gain an understanding of how mana flowed through them.


    "Well, now I feel like we are missing out." Remey was fairly jealous of them for being able to improve while they walked back.


    "We can not rx yet. If there are any monsters around these abandoned sections of the cave we will need to be fully focused." Su was the voice of reason but this didn''t stop her nces at Midnight and Onyx. Her own jealousy was in to see.


    "Anyway, If you want to try and learn another archery based skill I am fine with showing you. But I think you should try and learn snipe. It''s one of the skills Wade has. He can shoot from long range and hit more urately with the skill than I would be able to. I have been meaning to ask him how I can get it as well."


    Gil had already done his own longer ranged practice but not gained the snipe skill he knew that his system could award to him. Fo him this would mean he could deal with threats that Walker was using dangerous magic on. If he used the fire flower attack spell Gil needed to hunker down even at his farthest range. Yet, if he learned the snipe skill he would be able to remain ready and standing to attack without worry about being injured in the st.


    Walker nodded along with this. It was a good idea to try and get Wade''s help with these things. They would only be able to see him for another day or so before the king and others got to the elf city. Once that happened they would be in a flurry of debates, trade conversations, and rushing off to the dwarven kingdom.


    "Leader, I would like you to learn the wide guard skill. If I am injured it is the best skill to protect everyone on the party. It is only a mid level skill but worth the time I put in to practice it." Su had been worried that one day she may not be able to hold both of her shields and would need assistance to guard the others.


    "I understand. I won''t mind learning that skill. You said it only costs three mana too so it is extremely efficient. I can also wield your shields too so I can make sure that they remain our best defense." Walker saw that Su lost her poker face and smiled a little. She was very happy to be setting the party up for safety in the future.


    "Why are you looking at me? You already know that you should work on thebo skill. If you practice some punches like me then they are the easiest to use in session. Thebo skill wille naturally using them." Remey was just stating amon sense fact. If Walker took the time to learn a jab or the hammer punch Remey used he might learn thebo skill faster. The only problem was his aversion to learning closebat punches. He liked weapons and magic the best. It was a hard decision for him.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 462 - 462. Crystal Delivery

    The party spoke on skills as they crossed the third gate and were graced with the sight of the crystal crafting floor yet again. "That was a nice walk, but now we need to find Bree."


    "Should we go to her brother''s home?" Su made this suggestion but none of them even had to wait for the answer because a familiar darkness spirit showed up behind her shoulder. "Hello there little one, can you tell us where Bree went?"


    "Home. She said to bring you home!"


    "The spirit said that Bree is at home and that it waited for us here." Walker let Su know what the spirit was saying.


    "Thank you for waiting for us. Want to y tag while we climb the stairs?" Su wanted to y with the little spirit since she had enjoyed doing so before. She also knew that the spirits like nothing more than to interact with others and entertain themselves. Walker could only imagine this trait came from their extremely long lives as elemental spirits. It made sense why some would go dormant and sleep for extended amounts of time.


    "Yes. I will win!" Walker told Su the answer of the darkness spirit and yet again he waved goodbye to the crafting floor. Hew had wanted to spend more time there but since he was limited to the time they had avable he decided to save it for another visit.


    While they climbed the steps the party encountered the remaining spirits making Walker wonder if Bree really left them to wait or if they had boycotted working on crystals for y. Unfortunately for Bree, the party was not about to tell the spirits to rush home ahead of them so instead, the spirits were allowed to join the party and y games the entire walk back to the crystal shop.


    The elves around the streets watched as the party yed with the spirits and were amazed. They had seen fellow elves y with spirits and converse with them as long as they had the proper skills to do so. Yet, the humans were a new addition to their city and had already adapted so well that they could y with spirits openly. It was even more of a surprise to see Midnight and Onyx joining in on the activities since they were monsters and not even considered the same as elves or humans. Even Midnight was not an ancient dragon so she was still close to a regr monster.


    As the shop came in to their view the spirits left the party and crowded around the door with hyper energy. Bree felt them on the other side and opened the door to see the party waltzing up with smiles on their faces. "It looks like you all had a nice time. I take it the quest wasn''t too hard?"


    "It was less of a challenge than we had expected. But since we had so much information and took things slowly we were able to safely defeat the glowing mole and three sharp tongued basts. We were lucky you avoid any other trouble. We also sealed the natural cave that is below your section of cave so there shouldn''t be any other problems for now. Oh, and we have this for you that we found in the glowing moles'' nest."


    Walker started to pull the crystals from his inventory to Brees'' surprise. They p[iled up on the floor equalling at least two months worth of crystals. She was so startled that she stumbled back and sat on the stool at the counter.


    "You managed to get all of this? That mole just has been feasting for weeks." She couldn''t believe her eyes. " Why didn''t you bring these to Bart? Hed is the one that will be working on this?"


    "Miss Bree, you said that he rarelyes up to the surface, correct?" Su saw Bree nod and continued, "Now he will need toe up to do his work. You can have him walk in the light for a little while and keep from being a hermit." Bree could only smile and shake her head at this.


    "You all do much more than I expected. I may have twisted you all to do what I needed but now I see that you would have helped if I just asked. I will remember this next time. Let me go and get the crystals I promised to give you as a reward." Bree went toward the back of the shop and retired with the crystals.


    ''Heroic questpleted- liberate the high crystal mine


    The high crystal mine unkempt by Bart is under siege by arge glowing mole.


    Requirement:


    Defeat therge glowing mole


    Reward:


    2 heroic quest points


    8 high water elemental crystals''


    "Thank you again for this. Now let me have this little earth spirit take a message to my brother for me." Bree wrote a quick note and rolled it up. She tossed it on top of the dirt portion of the floor and the earth elemental spirit rushed to it. Before any of them could ask what it was doing the spirit made the earth on the ground swallow the note. Then it sank in to the ground leaving no trace whatsoever.


    "It really enjoys traveling that way. It bes one with the natural earth mana so it is able to move very fast. I do envy it sometimes for that reason." Bree was falling in to her own dreand.


    "We will be off then. We could still use some rest and food. We will be fairly busy for the next few days and hope that we can see you before we rush off anywhere else." Walker and the party waved their goodbyes to Bree and the spirits. Walker had the feeling that the spirits just might try and avoid their work by finding them to yter, but he kept this thought silent.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 463 - 463. The Ores

    The group made their way back to the tree house they were staying. They decided that they were too dusty to do anything else and headed their own ways to clean up. Midnight and Onyx happened to be the dirtiest of the group due to how they fought and traveled.


    Onyx had been one of the keys to thisst quest due to his ability to feel the vibrations. If Walker had tried to do this he would have constantly been letting off mana that could have alerted the glowing mole ahead of time. Having Onyx who was naturally more sensitive really helped.


    Midnight was just dirty from being hit back by the mole, It hadnded a decent attack on her but the damage had been avoided with her quick thinking. She had been getting used to her wings more and moretely making Walker expect her to try and fly any day, it was amazing to him just how fast the two were growing.


    As he was getting his thoughts in order Walker realized that there was a small package that had been delivered without any of their notice. He picked up a note attached and found that it Was from Bree;'' "" For a job well done. I hope to see you all again soon.""


    Walker smiled and took a look at the high elemental crystals he had gotten from Bree for their quest. These would be a great snack for Onyx and Midnight but he was going to save the,m for a special asion. He thought that the two were much too tired for them to want this anyways.


    "So, what kind of ores did we get from the mole nest? You didn''t say anything about them when you looked at them so I figured that they weren''t that great." Gil strolled in to the main room and looked at Walker who had just stored away the crystals.


    "I didn''t really check them to be honest. They all looked like rocks and I knew it would take forever so I just stored them away. The only reason I checked the egg was that it looked strange and I didn''t want to throw away something good." Walker was a little embarrassed to admit this. It was not like him to just take and store everything without checking what things were, it betrayed his own curiosity.


    "Well, then pull it all out and show us."Su and Remey had been rxing with some tea that Remey had made and they were equally curious. The only ones that seemed not to care were Midnight and Onyx who much rather preferred toy around and watch from a distance, Walker had a feeling that they were still under the effects of the soothing touch


    Walker did as he was asked and a small pile of different shaped rocks hit the floor. Some were jagged and others smooth or round. They were all different from normal rockers, however. They had their own features that set them apart as ores making anyone able to tell that they would be worth picking up.


    Walker did not hesitate to pick one up and start the round of all around appraisals,


    ''Iron ore


    Extremelymon in the earth. Iron can easily rust and degrade in areas with high water elemental mana. Iron ore is tough and makes heavy but durable items.


    Copper ore


    Best when used for jewelry and small magical trinkets. Copper has the ability to be melded with many other ores and can even be used to transmit elemental manas when crafted properly.''


    The first two did not seem to be very special in general. Walker was reading the appraisals out loud and not a single one of them flinched in surprise or distaste. This was just an expected result so Walker continued on.


    '' Silver ore


    Silver is a rare ore found in the ground near iron ore. It is mostmonly used on the des of weapons. This is due to the easily channeled light elemental mana the silver brings to a weapon. This mana can assist in fighting undead type monsters along with other monsters weak to the light elemental mana."


    "That would have been good for when we were at the ancient ruins." Gil wasmenting thete find of this ore. They could have purchased it but silver was much too expensive at the time.


    "Well, we have it now so we should have it ready for the future." Remey wasn''t going to dwell on thete find. She would rather watch Walker appraise every piece, it was a great show.


    "Leader, we should save it and have weapons made out of it for an appropriate time. Your inventory is the perfect thing for us to have when ites to what we need. You could carry an entire armory or medicinal kit."


    Su was right about this. Walker had already been gathering many things that helped them in their journey. He was soon going to have something for whatever the party needed as they traveled. He smiled at the possibilities but chose not to let his mind run wild. If he started to think on it now he would end up talking about things all night. It was better to get to the main event and check the rest of the ores.


    "Blood Iron ore


    The blood iron ore is one that has developed for a long period of time. The iron ore was under great pressure while a living creature perished and bled on to it. Depending on the creature that bled on the ore and for how long then the ore will gain unique properties.''


    "I wonder what this is then." Remey wanted the answers but realized that Walker was done speaking. "There''s nothing else?" Unfortunately for Remey, Walker just nodded his head to support what she had already guessed.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 464 - 464. Midnights Snack

    "So you don''t have any way to figure out what kind of traits the blood iron ore has?" Gil was curious if Walker had any other skills or ideas to make the blood irons'' traits clear to them.


    "Nothing at all. If I could I would let you all know. It is definitely interesting." Walker could see the small red veins on the grey iron ore. If he could somehow understand what blood was dripped on it he might know the true value of the ore they had.


    "We will be going to the dwarven kingdom. We should wait until we get there and ask around. I bet there is someone who specializes in appraising ores." Su was right on with the logic. The party was nning to head to the dwarven kingdom so all they needed to do was wait and ask someone there.


    "Perfect. Then we will hold on to it until then." Walker stored the blood iron ore away and looked at thest few pieces of ore.


    ''Iron ore¡­


    Copper ore¡­


    Thousand year old amber


    This was once tree sap. After one thousand years of pressure, it has be a smooth clear stone the color of dark honey. Normal ambers are used for high ss jewelry. The older the amber the more qualities it has for a magical essory. This thousand year old amber was formed in the strong earth elemental mana making it a perfect enhancer for earth elemental mana based skills. When essories are made from it they will gain the effect of increasing earth rted skills power.''


    "This is a jackpot. We should try and gamble some time." Gil was convinced that the party had some crazy luck and thought they should go to one of the bars with gambling card games.


    "We might be lucky, but we aren''t gambling lucky. So get the idea of wasting all our gold out of your head." Remey and Su both Gave Gil some evil res. Walker could only shrug and support them.


    Gil looked down dejected. But Walker had other ideas for this great find. "Would anyone be upset if I wanted to keep this for my staff one day?" Walker was thinking that he might be able to find items that could increase the strength of every element to use on a magic staff that could channel every element. With the elemental mana crystals that he already had, it would be a perfect weapon.


    "Sure, I can''t use magic so I would rather you take it. Remey had no reason. Gil was also shaking his head since he was c9ontent with his wither spike arrows. He could imbue them with whatever element he needed anyways.


    "Leader, I would only want it if I had an earth rted defensive skill, but you are the one able to make earth walls so you should keep it."Su was very logical in her thinking. To her, Walker would make the best use of it so he should have it.


    "Thank you. I hope that when I have everything I think I need I can make something that can really make us the best party in the world." Walker could only let his ego grow until he realized that everyone was looking at him while holding backugher.


    "Fine, fine, let''s check thesest two." Walker picked up the jagged looking ore and used his all around appraisal skill,


    ''Fossilized bone shard


    This shard of bone has sat below the earth for hundreds of years. It is ideal for necromancy based systems and can be used to create powerful undead. The creature it was from has long been forgotten but the strength of the beast is still within.''


    "It''s not an ore at all! I never would have thought we would have found fossils down there." Walker was looking at the item and realized that it was giving off a unique darkness elemental mana.


    "I wonder why it was in the moles'' nest. Do you think it mistook it for ore and grabbed it anyways?'' Gil had this as the main theory but before he could keep speaking Midnight had stood up.


    "Brother, sister says that she would like to eat that. It smells tasty to her." Onyx was quick to trante Midfnight''s thoughts making Walker wonder if it was wise to let her have it. Hew was worried that she could be negatively affected but knew that she had eaten bones and every elemental mana crystal before.


    With a quick look at the party, he saw that no one objected to this and handed it to Midnight anyways. He knew that she wouldn''t try to eat something dangerous on purpose and expected her dragon instincts to stop her from eating it if it was not safe.


    Midnight snapped up the fossilized bone and crunched it in to pieces. She seemed to be enjoying the vor and had a soft growling almost like the purring of a cat. The fossilized bone was soon gone from sight and now rested within Midnight''s stomach. She looked to have filled herself and was getting very tired.


    Walker could feel the mana around them getting agitated as Midnight absorbed the unique darkness elemental mana from the bone. He also had the idea to use his soothing touch skill again on her to make the process smoother.


    The moment he used his calming touch skill the mana in the air also calmed. He could tell that Midnight was also resting moire easily while absorbing the bone. "Brother, sister is asleep but she said goodnight." Walker just patted Onyx''s head as a thank you. He also pulled out a light elemental mana crystal for him to rest with. He knew Onyx had earned it and he made sure it was one of the high level light elementnal mana crystals. With this, he looked at thest piece of ore on the ground.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 465 - 465. Last But Least

    "What''s thest one? You are taking so long to check it." Remey was the most excited looking to hear what thest ore was. But Gil and Sui both held expectant looks while trying to hide their curiosity. Originally they had all not expected much but had been greatly surprised by what they had found.


    Walker grabbed thest piece of ore and used the all around appraisal skill,


    ''Grey stone


    The mostmon form of stone in the world. It can be found everywhere and is great for stone pathways. Often used as a tform for artists to carve on or even create statues from. The grey stone is usually over looked and never appraised unless for roads.''


    Walker dropped the stone and realized that the party had saved the worst forst. He was a little devastated by this anticlimatic end to the ores they had found. "We used all our luck and now it''s the end for us." Gil started up an over dramatic rant.


    While Gil was being Gil, Walker thought about the others they had gained. He was happy to have the basic iron and copper ores since they would be able to easily fill in when they had gear built. However, the two stars of the show were the blood iron which held secrets, and the thousand year olf amber which could be used as an important material.


    The fossilized bone had gone to Midnight so they were happy to help her improve.No one was unhappy with this but it felt like it was there and gone so quickly making everyone feel a slight loss. Walker knew that these items brought with them some nice future crafting endeavors. He even nned to see if the wandering cksmith would be able to improve the gear they had when they finally returned home.


    "I know we can''t use much of what we got yet, but it makes me excited. These are all ores that we don''t often have or even know of. Imagine what the dwarven kingdom will have since it is specialized in crafting and living in the ground." Remey was enjoying the many possibilities.


    "I believe we will have a very fortuitous experience. We still need to go and speak to the golem builder as well. The golem cores have rested in leaders'' inventory for a long time now." Su brought up a major fact. Walker had held on to the golem cores and not been able to use them for anything as of yet. Now that he had the chance to learn about them he needed to make the best of it. When they got to the dwarven kingdom and dealt with the yellow slimes they could focus on other goals.


    "The real question I have is, will I be able to be a master of a golem? It''s not the same as a tamer I know that. But it could be cool if I had a golem that could keep up with me and be my speedy shielder." Remey thought that having another person in the party that could use a shield and wouldn''t matter if they were destroyed would be useful. A golem fit the bill perfectly.


    "I have no idea. It could be something like the builder of the golem had to be the one to use it or we need a specific Item?" Gil was equally lost but luckily Su and Walker appeared to have an idea of what the requirements were.


    "I know that more than just the builder of the golem can use it. I read in a book once that it requires some sort of magical rune circle and an item. Or the master of the golem would need some form of skill to link their mana to it. It is highly dependent on some mana cores made by the dwarves." Walker basically recited this from memory. His mental archive skill was showing its'' benefits.


    "The dwarves have an entire army of golems but never use them. They prefer to utilize their army to mine more and look for other rare items under the ground. They do strive to make the best golems possible so they are always looking for better materials. Their mana cores are only able to be made through the dwarves'' hidden skills. No one has been able to copy it before." Su had read a book called the mysteries of the dwarves and read these passages.


    "So if I can get an item to control the golem I can have my own little army of golems." Remey looked like she was trying to n out her own herb and battle farming operation.


    "If the dwarves could be less stubborn then I believe they could make massive advances in technology. The magical applications are also prevalent." Su stated thismonly known trait of the dwarven people making everyone sigh a little. They were worried that they would have trouble getting in to their kingdom and out easily. They would need to really pique the dwarves'' interest.


    "We shouldn''t have any problem since we are the ambassadors, right?" Gil had been following the same train of thought and came to the worry that they would have trouble even entering the city.


    "We will have a lot of things with us to help us pass through their gates. Worst case I can show off some of the weapons or the ores we found." But that is something for us to worry about another day. I think we should all rx a little and enjoy a short day off." Walker no sooner said this and had the door of the tree house burst open.


    "Hello! Hello! I am here to get a tour from the heroes." Scy was smiling widely revealing her sharper teeth. She had been waiting for the party to return from their errand so that she could find a way to learn more about their battle prowess.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 466 - 466. The Best View

    "What brings you here general Scy?" Su was the first one to be able to respond after the surprise of Scy showing up at the tree house.


    "Oh no. None of that general honorary title stuff. I came to see how well you could fight and what you have learned about this city. I know that all of you have been here longer and the queen gave me permission to roam the city." Scy didn''t want to act as the general of the demi-humans today. She had already brought the letters she needed to the queen of the forest elves and now wanted to explore.


    "Then I guess we can go out and explore for a little bit. Maybe we will find where Wade, Alma, and Calen have gotten to." Walker decided that his ns to rx were already out the window so he went with Scy.


    "If you are all tired please feel free to stay and rx. I am only looking to move around a little." Scy realized that most of the party was already set up top rest and wanted to make sure that she wasn''t too pushy. She did have themon decency to be polite.


    "Then I am calling it quits for the day" Remey was already sitting back down. She wanted to prepare herself for a long night with Trish to learn the night vision potion. If she did not rest now she knew that she would not be able to perform well enough and fail.


    Midnight only raised her head for a moment in a sleepy stupor. She was not going top be moving anywhere especially after she had just eaten the fossilized bone. She needed to rest and slowly absorb the mana within it to understand what it was and could do. On top of that, she was also going to let her body adapt to what the mana was capable of.


    Onyx was the same way. Now that he had a light elemental mana crystal to consume there was no way he was going to leave. He wanted to get used to his body more but if he went to explore and did that he would miss his chance to keep getting stronger. The more light elemental mana he consumed therger he could grow and the closer to adulthood he would reach.


    "General Scy, I am sorry but i need to rest as well. I feel like I have been running myself a little too hard." Su had been exploring the majority of the city while everyone else had been busy. She had even traversed the same areas multiple times with Calen and then Walker. Not to mention the quest with the glowing mole.


    "Then it looked like it will be Walker and me. Want to go see a nice view?" Gill had already roped Walkers'' arm in his own and was pulling him out the tree house door. Scy was ecstatic to leave. She was very curious about Walkers'' skills and what Gil had hidden since he had not participated in any sparring or fighting when he was in the demi-human kingdom.


    "Where is this view you want to show me? Are we climbing this massive tree?" Scy was wondering if it was even possible to climb to the top. The height might reach taller than any of them could have imagined before seeing it but the branches at the very top were sure to be smaller and weak.


    "Almost, it is a branch that Wade showed us. If we are lucky then we might find him or his party up there." Walker filled Scy in and watched as the two started to climb the branches. She easily kept up but was not as advanced in her technique as Walker. The only thing she did exceed at was her long jumps. She seemed to effortlessly glide through the air.


    The three crawled and lept their way towards the thunderstruck branch. It was only a short while before they were nearing it when a familiar blur ran past them. "Was that Calen? If she was up there does that mean she is leaving the city?" Gil remembered that Wade told them that when they went to the branch it was their way of saying goodbye to the city for now.


    "Not sure, let''s ask him ourselves. He is right there." Walker easily spotted Wade and Alma sitting on the thunderstruck branch. They looked like they had just finished a lengthy conversation.


    "Fancy meeting you two up here. We were just bringing Scy to see the best view in the city." Gil made his and the other''s arrival announcement so he would not scare the two elves.


    "Oh yeah? Well, General Scy, you won''t be disappointed after seeing the view from our thunderstruck branch." Wade motioned for Scy to look out from the end of the branch.


    "This is indeed spectacr. My chosen home of Ordist does not have a view like this. Even from the top of the coliseum, I can only see fields and small towns in the distance. Scy was smitten with the view and moved to the edge of the branch to take it all in.


    "We saw Calen, is she leaving?" Walker asked this a little quieter so that Wade would feel he was having a more private setting. Walker was a little off put by prying like this.


    "Yes, she had been given a quest from the queen to visit the other elf cities throughout the continent. She has the speed to get it done the fastest. If we are branching out to share our knowledge then it is only fair that we wee the others to do it as well." Wade sounded extremely happy with this. He knew that more elves would lead to a better future.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 467 - 467. You Beat Me?

    "That sounds like a lot of ground to cover. But since I have seen her speed then it might not be that big of a problem." Walker looked off in the direction Calen had run. He had the feeling that she would have the quest done before anyone realized it.


    "It is her first major quest for the city. She wasn''t prepared for the stress but she will rise to it. I know she will." Alma had always fought with Calen a little, this was their friendship dynamic. However, Alma still worried for Calen''s safety away from the city. There was so much distance between them and the rest of their elven cities along with radically different rules and formalities.


    "I am sure she will do great. She seems trustworthy and very positive." Gil had learned that Calen was not the kind of person to give up. She was always in full speed mode and would not let anything stop her. The only disappointing part about her leaving was that the party wouldn''t be able to say their goodbyes after the negotiations were finished.


    Alma nodded along with Gil and even gave him a smile. She was d that Calen had at least been around for some time while they had guests. It was just a shame that she was given such an important task when things were just starting to change. However, it was her role to y and she would be helping that change.


    "So what are you two doing now? Want to help us give Scy a tour?'' Walker felt a little odd using just her name and not a title but that was what Scy had wanted.


    "Sure thing. I know that she will be interested to see the span of our sparring and training areas. I gained that bit of insight when I spoke to her the first time." Wade had already seen the passion for battle study in Scy, it was a trait he expected the others from the demi-human kingdom to have.


    "I will join you as well. I have a ce to stop as we travel. It is perfect timing." She looked at Gil, making Walker wonder if the stop she needed to make was somehow rted to Gil.


    "Then it sounds like we are following Wade. After you." Gil made a dramatic gesture to let Wade take the lead, however, when Wade took a step forward a devilish smile crept on to his face.


    "We might not need to rush down since we aren''t leaving. But I think it would be a shame to waste the chance to race a little. Right, Alma?" Alma mirrored the look Wade had and slightly bent her knees.


    "Race? What are we racing to?" Scy sounded very interested in this. It was the prospect ofpeting in any way that excited her.


    "They usually race to the ground when they are up here. But I think we should just head down slowly. I am the only one without some skill that makes running through the trees easier. Even Scy will have that skill that lets her nearly fly through the air." Gil was trying to protest but Scy made him stop.


    "Oh no, I can actually fly in the air if I want to use the mana. It is very useful at times but not worth the mana. Ites from one of my bloodline skills. But for some reason, it is incredibly taxing on my body so I use the air step skill. It can''t fly but I can run on air if I want." Scy sounded like she was stating the obvious to them.


    "I still found that pretty amazing. You were nearly flying when we saw you take down that demon that was cursing the items in the market." Walker instantly recalled the event even though Gil was still trying to get them not to race.


    "You were able to fight a demon? I have not done so before. If you can tell us after our short exercise I would very much appreciate the lesson." Wade was hung up on this fact. Scy however did not look like this was a topic she would desire to speak about in length.


    "How about this. If you beat me to the ground I will answer any question within reason about my battles with demons for five minutes. If I win and beat you to the ground you will need to take me somewhere where people can spar and challenge each other." Scy didn''t want to just go to training areas. She wanted to go to the best sparring area the elves had avable.


    "You have a deal then. I will beat you down and then you will spend five minutes telling me the best ways to beat a demon in battle. When I go to the border I will keep the forest safe." Wade had some of his own goals in mind while proposing the challenge.


    Scy smiled and readied herself. Gil was past his desire to avoid the run down to the ground and instead looked at Walker for support. "Don''t look at me. I am going to try and beat all of them too. I want to ask questions about demons so we can make sure Marie is properly limated to the mansion. I am sure there were some good things in the demonnds." Walker was more invested than Gil had expected.


    "You mean you don''t want to race me down? Is it because you are going to get beaten by a girl?" Alma directly challenged Gil which made him more apt to show off.


    "You beat me? No way that is happening. I was just being nice and not wanting to make you all feel bad that I won so easily." Gil started to stretch his leg while Alma giggled at him. Walker could barely contain his own amusement.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 468 - 468. Falling In Place

    "Run!" Wade shouted out once everyone had gotten ready. Since he had ced a bet on the results he made sure to start even and fair with everyone. He wasn''t going to y any tricks and win with his own skills.


    Walker was able to stay on par with Alma to some degree but found that Wade was moving much faster than he expected.


    Unfortunately for Gil, he was watching everyone rush away. He needed to be more careful due to the risk of him falling. There was also the fact that he didn''t have any skill that allowed him to run through the trees. The elves had their natural born skill which Walker had learned and Scy was literally running on the air in some ces to make it top the next branch faster.


    Alma wanted to try and stay behind but she also knew that the demi-humans had valuable knowledge on the demons that they themselves did not have. They both had a history with demons but the demi-humans had seen some of their cruel trucks. This alone was enough to entice her as the future queen of the forest elves.


    With Gil trailing the group Walker pushed as hard as he could to catch up to Wade. He knew that Wade had much more experience running through the tree than he did and that this was the main advantage he had. The other problem was that Walker had not trained much with the skill and he had to make his body adjust.


    While he was moving and trying to get past some of the smaller and weaker branches he realized that he was using some of the dance of the wild rabbit skill. The two skills seemed to work hand and hand with each other.


    Feeling that this was a possibility Walker focused himself and saw the rhythm to his actions. He took note of Alma who would slide sometimes before kicking off again to reach the next branch better. Wade was also doing this, his feet would be poised to jump forward or backwards and his knees would be bent in to an archery stance.


    Witnessing these fluid motions Walker had the inkling that he was only using the most basic of skills to traverse the trees. He was also only using the most basic version of the dance of the wild rabbit at first as well, he hadter learned the dance of the rabid rabbit through training in the rabbit demi-human vige.


    With his thoughts bing more and more focused Walker was soon forgetting the fact that he was supposed to be racing to the ground against the others. Almas'' noticed that she had easily surpassed Walker. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she slowed as well.


    "Hey, what is going on? I thought you were faster than mew?" Gil asked this of Alma who was still focused on Walker.


    "Walker is acting strange. I thought he was racing too but now he is trying to copy some of our motions, I think?" Alma saw Walker use the slide that they had which kept their momentum when they tried to move to the next branch. It had been an instinct most elves had and developed over time.


    "He is doing exactly that. I bet he can''t even hear us. He gets really focused and ends up learning something amazing. I thought you watched him practice magic? You should have realized this a little unless you were too focused too." Gil teased a little since he knew that Alma was most likely caught up in the new skill Walker had made.


    "He had the mages assisting him the entire time. It was a different situation. Now there is only him and us running." The pace was much slower than before but Wade and Scy were still in view. Alma and Gil knew that they wouldn''t be able to catch up and decided to witness Walker''s advancement.


    Walker himself was too focused to notice anything and had started to feel the rhythm in the way he was running through the trees. He let the instinctual feeling from the dance of the wild rabbit merge with his feelings for running branch to branch.


    ''The skill jungle step has been taken from the high forest elf system. The skill jungle step has been automatically learned due to instinctual training and the use of multiple movement skills based on specific species'' bloodline.


    Jungle step- passive


    The skill jungle step is the instinctual traversing of any forest environment. There are many ways tond and jump through the trees or over roots. Having the ability to do so is natural to those with a pure elf bloodline; high elves. The user is able to easily move through the forest using the natural instincts. The ability will far surpass that of an average elf.''


    Walker opened his eyes wider as he felt the puzzle pieces click in to ce. His body immediately started to adjust the way he was running. He could now move more efficiently than he could before along with adjusting himself for even the slightest angle of the tree branch he wasnding or jumping on.


    Alma and Gil watched as Walker suddenly changed the way he was running. The two were amazed at the advanced movements that not even Wade or Alma were capable of. Before either could say a word Walker was using his agility in the most efficient manner and was catching up to Wade and Scy.


    Wade saw that Walker was suddenly behind him and was about to surpass him. "How did you get here!" Wade pushed to move faster but realized he had already reached his limit.


    "So you figured something out. Then I will need to work harder as well." Scy felt the fire within Walker grow. She wanted to push the challenge as well and began to use her skills to their fullest. The steps she took in the air became more and more and she was soon passing Walker. The race may have been nearing the end but it was not boring in the least.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 469 - 469. On The Ground

    Scy stepped on the air effortlessly keeping up with Walker who was dip[ping under branches and sliding in to great leaps. It looked like Walker had done this his entire life, more so than any normal elf. Scy could only look on in amazement as she saw that he was still improving.


    However, the ground was too close and the race was about toe to an end. Scy was not one to let others win unless it was due to their stronger ability and talent. It would have been insulting to someone to hold back when facing them. "You may watch my strongest wind based skill."


    Scy said this just loud enough for Walker to make out. The next thing he knew Scy had called up a small whirlwind of concentrated air and had stopped stepping on the branchespletely. Sher sped down to the ground stopping just about the dirt and softly settled on to it. The only thing she showed was a small smile that taunted Walker to move faster.


    Walker did not even hesitate seeing this, instead, he pushed off the next branch harder than before and lept toward the branch that leaned downward. He managed to slide down it and push off in to a roll. Once he lost his momentum he kicked back up and stood in front of Scy panting. "Made it. Second ce, but still not bad."


    He was proud of his speed and was happy to know that the different movement skills he had could push each other to be better. It was a great trick he would be meditating onter. The possibility that there were many battle and non battle rted movement techniques like the dance of the wild rabbit and the jungle step was extremely high. If more and more of those could work together to make an even better one Walker was sure to set it as his goal.


    "I was sure you would end uping down closer to the back of the pack. But you suddenly overtook Wade and I and I would have been a fool to wait back." Scy could only admit her opinion of how impressed she was. It was always a joy to see someone younger understanding someone, it was just the fact that it had happened so fast in this case.


    "Walker, what did you do? That was way faster than any of the elves I have seen around her run through the trees. Didn''t you just learn how to do it too"'' Wade had just slid down from a branch nearby while Alma and Gil trailed behind him by some distance.


    "Yes, but I just understood a different skill by trying to dodge some of the branches I ran past with the dance of the wild rabbit. The skills kind of worked as two parts fitting together and I learned the high elf system skill jungle step." Walker said this in a matter of fact way making Wade think he had just been read to from a book.


    "You said HIGH ELF!" Alma heard Walker as she and Gil took a step on the ground as well. "We have not had someone who was considered a high elf in forty three years. It is incredibly rare for the blood to be so pure. Thest high elf wasn''t even an elf from here. They visited from the motherke in the far south."


    Wade turned to Gil and looked at him then to Walker and back. "You all deal with this all the time¡­? I can''t even imagine what your hearts must be able to handle." Wade had just recovered his shock and was instead looking at Gil for the reaction, but Gil just shrugged.


    "I wonder if you could learn some of the same skills that I have. My demi-human traits are from a monster and an ancient one at that. It would be interesting if you were able to learn them. Although some of theme with some very strict requirements."


    Scy was musing through which skills Walker could potentially learn from being around her.


    "Honestly, if you ask Remey and Gil, they would tell you to teach me that air walking skill. I can''t say I wouldn''t be interested. There are elves around that can do the same. Wade called them air strider system users?" Walker looked at Wade who was whispering with Alma over the mention of the high elf skill still.


    "Yes. We have wind strider system users. They have a skill called wind walk, air step, and wind dash. Not many of them gain the system but they are excellent for scouting and delivering messages." Wade was still a little caught on the jungle step skill but he was forced to change subjects.


    "I would definitely like to see that then. I assume they do not use it forbat at all but it would still be nice topare my skills and ability with them. They wouldn''t be able to try somebat would they?" Scy was already gettingbat hungry. She wanted to head out at that second.


    "It sounds like it is time to head to the main training area for the enforcers. Not many are allowed to go there unless they are like myself or Alma have the permission. It is hard for normal elves to even witness the training due to our secrecy, or former secrecy. Now, having guests, there will be a little bit of amotion but it should bring about some nice advancement." Wade was already prepared to lead them to the main training area.


    He motioned for all of them to follow him and the group headed down the familiar market path. Walker wasn''t sure where the training area was since Alma had only told him about the magical and the archer training area. He had no idea how another one would fit within the city, especially one that wasrger.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 470 - 470. Generals

    Wade was leading them down a separate road off of the market area. "Are you sure we aren''t going to walk down that street? It looked like a nice market to explore." Scy had a slight interest in the items made with elemental mana crystals that she had not seen before. Sadly it was not the direction that Wade needed them to go.


    "Oh, you would love the water spikes they have. They are made from water elemental mana crystals and when ced in the ground cause the water in the air to rest in the soil. It would help very well with gardening, especially in the hot months." Walker said this mostly to pique Scy''s interest. He also wanted to have something that would make him want to negotiate more. It was the start of his base for the politics talkster on.


    "Really? They even have important things like that here? I am sure it must cost a hefty amount of gold to create." Scy could only see such a useful item as something that would be expensive. She had many of the same thoughts that Walker had had when he first heard of the water spikes.


    "They are surprisingly low priced. Here they are amon item since they do not trade. I believe there are some other items that would really impress you as well." Walker gave her the small hint making Scy want to abandon the thought of the training area entirely.


    Yet, as they started toe in to view of a round open space with stairs that led downward Scy became interested in battle once again. "This is the entrance to the underground area for training. We need to keep it underground so that we can regrow the necessary obstacles and safety vines." Wade made a lot of sense exining this.


    "I can only imagine how often you need to rep[air things. The elemental archers I use can destroy decent chunks of any sparring area." Scy listened intently since she had not seen these elemental arrows in person. She had read up on them and knew that they held a lot of power but other than that she waspletely lost to how they worked and even how they were made.


    "Will I be able to see the elemental arrows in use here? They sound like a formidable attack to deal with." Scy was pushing for more but Gil was just smiling like a fool. He had not had many people interested in his own skills because of Walker. But now he was going to revel in the attention.


    "Yes. The enforcers have many that have different systems. They mostly have archery based systems buttely, there have been many spell swords that have been participating in the joint training. That was all due to Walker and the crystal swords he helped to make." Wade casually brought up the crystal swords which again attracted Scy''s attention.


    "The more I listen the more I am surprised by what you are capable of. You can also craft weapons that can be used in real battles at such a young age. You know that a cksmith at your age would still be making the most basic weapons with the most basic materials. I believe even the ones that advance past the basics only do so because they have higher tier systems."


    "I feel like you could stay here all day and still be trying to get more information on battle. Are you sure you are not some form of librarian or archivist system user?" Walker made the joke andughed a little. Scy just smiled while shaking her head.


    "I wish I had such abilities. They would make my job as one of the generals much easier I happen to have a knack for remembering things and go out of my way to learn these things. I am normally the general in charge of the front line battles." Walker and Gil were now the curious ones. They had not inquired about the exact reason for the four generals in the demi-human kingdom and saw that this might be the best chance to learn.


    "Can I ask what the other general would do? I don''t know much and I don''t mean to pry." Gil was the one to beat Walker to the question. Alma was also listening intently since she had been fairly silent. Wade was less caring about this since he just wanted to get everyone where they wanted to go. He had a feeling that the training with the enforcers was going to be incredibly interesting today.


    "Oh, it is not prying at all. I thought you already knew. I am the general of the front. I will lead war efforts and be the one to make orders on the ground. I have a counter part named..well you might meet him one day. But he is the general of the back and he does all of therge nning. He will direct the army as a whole. I do not just take his orders but I make his strategy possible."


    This sounded like a good bnce for an army to have. Without a general at the front then there would not be a propermunication to the leaders. It also took the stress of the nning general with one person at the front. This was because the general at the front could give orders while the general at the back formed ns. Ideally, the general at the back would be able to send a n when the general in the front needed help. It was a bnce.


    "I see how the general of the front and the general of the back can work equally. But what are the jobs of the other two if not war?" Walker was now more invested in this conversation than before. This was his first real learning experience with how a kingdom would properly divide it''s general and higher ranking officials.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 471 - 471. Minotaur

    "So what about the other two generals? What would they be doing?" Walker was not hiding a single bit of his curiosity.


    "Your thirst for knowledge is rather ravenous. I think you will do very well in the next few days when we start negotiations." Scy was slowing the conversation and enjoying Walker''s obvious impatience.


    "Sorry, I don''t mean to be rude. I have not learned much about this so I am very interested." Walker looked a little down but he had not lost the curious glint within his eyes.


    "I understand. Well, the second two are notpletely dependant on war. We have the guardian general. They deal with all defense and protection of the kingdom borders and in the most importance, our main city."


    This made sense from the moment Scy said the name. Walker didn''t need much background since having someone whose job it was to properly protect the city was very important. The ranking of general was the only surprising part, he knew that his kingdom did not have their leadership divided this way.


    "You met him I believe, he escorted you from the tamers guild to the coliseum the first time." Scy thought she remembered hearing this which made Walker think harder. His eyes became focused as he remembered that he had been guided by a demi-human with gori traits.


    "The gori traited demi-human is a general?" Walker said this tentatively due to the fact that he did not know if Scy would be forgiving if he forgot.


    "Yes. Benson rarely speaks and is always a little intimidating. He is a sweetheart though. You should see him training the kids." Scy spoke like she was a gossiping girl. It was a strange personality change that none of them had expected. It did make sense, if this general Benson was the defender of the city then it was just easy to guess that he was a kind person.


    "Lastly we have The general of harvest. They are responsible for every and all things revolving around the production of food and the development of crops. General Rita is very peaceful until something happens with the fields. Not a single general let alone all three of us together can beat her. King Rorick was just barely able to defeat her the first time they trained together."


    This was a prettyrge piece of knowledge to drop. The strongest general was apparently the one that had to deal with crops and produce. Not a single one of them would have guessed this. Those that dealt with crops were often the ones that were expected to be weak since they would seldom learn a singlebative skill.


    "What would make her the most powerful general? My mother is a farmer and she has never learned a skill to bebative with anyone, I just want to understand." Gil made it clear why he ould question this and Scy nodded along. She had always wondered this as well until she had been soundly defeated. After that day she had never referred to anyone else as the most powerful general.


    "She may be the general of the harvest, but what would a farmer do when they needed to protect the continent''srgest fields from monsters, pests, bandits, and other things?" Scy had brought the idea that the general of the harvest wasn''t just out growing food.


    She looked around and gave her own answer, "most would send for a quest. The adventurers guild or the city would send some aid. But instead, the general of the harvest takes care of that. She is always sending her own small army to patrol fields, report disease, fend off monsters, and much more. She is the very foundation of the kingdom. She doesn''t even have the ability to grow anything too." Thest part made all their jaws drop.


    Alma finally broke her silence, "Now please do not take offense, but how in the holy world can someone who can not grow things stay in charge of all of the fields and growing productions?" Scy had expected this but didn''t expect Alma to be the one to break and ask first.


    "General Rita is like me, she is an ancient monster trait demi-human. She and I would be closer friends if she liked the idea of being within ten feet of a demi-human with carnivores traits." Scyughed at her own joke for a little then continued. "She is an ancient minotaur trait demi-human. I know minotaurs are normal demi-human traits along with minotaurs being amon monster in the underground. But an ancient minotaur is a much higher existence."


    The group had fallen in to Scy''s bait and were notpletely immersed in the true story. "This makes her more powerful, and when she decided to protect an area she has many skills to do so. She also does everything she can to learn what she needs to do so. In this case, she knows everything about farming at the highest level of farmer would. If you have ever read the book about the minotaur that guards a livingbyrinth then you will understand."


    Walker could recall a simr book. It was an older story that some thought to be false but others imed to be real just lost to time. "The book was about a master dungeon maker, a system no one is sure exists. They used a mastery skill that gave their best dungeon a name and life. In this case, it was called Labyrinth. Then thebyrinth created a single monster instead of many, a minotaur. It was adept in traps,bat, tracking, building, and most of all protecting."


    Walker ryed this story to the others who had appeared more clueless. If Walker had not taken the time to read the books in the library and keep the memory in the mental archive he would have been lost as well.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 472 - 472. Heroic Questing

    "That is the story I am speaking about. Rita is generally a kind person. But she has a strong desire to protect and creates ways to do so. She is not the guardian general due to that reason. If she was in the city she could turn it in to something simr to abyrinth. Yet the things her mind hase up with to trap pests and deter bandits have been astounding." Scy had great respect for the harvest general Rita, this showed on her face in as day.


    "I don''t really understand, but if I can read that story about thebyrinth then maybe I will have a better grasp. I just hope that I can meet her one day." Gil was blunt with his understanding which was always the best case with Scy. She understood that he would have a tough time with this as most would when ancient monster trait demi-humans were concerned.


    "I feel like I still know too little. Maybe we will need to n out another trip to Ordist." Walker mumbled this while thinking about how he would manage this after they went to the dwarven kingdom.


    "Don''t go nning out other trips so soon. We have other things to do, stay focused." Remey was the first to reprimand Walker who needed to be nudged back to reality.


    "Now that our little lesson hase to an end, shall we move on from the basic information and get our blood pumping?" Scy was eager to join the training area and learn about the battle styles she had never seen.


    ''Heroic quest: Push the expectation


    Many of the younger elven enforcers and trainees have gone astray while their masters are out at the boarder. Show them the strength of a human below their level and instill the desire for strength in their hearts.


    Requirement:


    Train with as many elves as your mana allows


    Reward:


    Exp dependent on those trained and taught


    Heroic quest points dependent on those trained and taught


    All Party members will share these rewards.''


    Every single member of the party received this quest. In rtion, Scy and Onyx received a slightly different version.


    ''Allied quest: Assisting the heroes


    The heroes are training those in need and require the assistance of those they call friend.


    Requirement:


    Join the heroes in training to spur growth within the elves who have been cking.


    Reward:


    100exp for each assist


    Unique one use skill- Call for a hero.''


    Onyx immediately told this information to Walker. The party was surprised by therge reward. If they managed toplete this quest and train with multiple elves then the party could be looking at gaining many levels all at once.


    "So the heroes can cause others to have quests rted to their goals...How interesting." Scy was very surprised and was hiding her face behind her fan to avoid detection. She wanted to just watch and jump in here and there but was not ready to go all in on training. She would not let such an opportunity escape her.


    "Wade, Alma. We have a quest to train with as many elves as possible. We will all be exhausting every single bit of mana we have. Please watch over us when we reach our limits." Walker said this as he started to pull out all of the mana potions from his inventory.


    "Please do not use your mana potions. We have plenty to aid you. I also received a quest to provide for the heroes'' needs. You can trust Alma and me to make sure you can train to your upper limit. I will not dy you any longer." Wade knew the seriousness of quests like this.


    Alma was equally serious in her appearance. She knew that quests caused by titles were never simple and often came with great needs. She was already trying to decipher why the world would push the heroes to train their young warriors. Her first thought was that they would be too weak to protect the city as it opened, however, this was a slow process.


    The fear Alma had was that there was something more to this quest brewing the way that it was. She already was worried that the purple slimes were still around since the patrolling enforcers were still finding small ones around. They were causing minor damage but were rarely destroyed fully. They were somewhat under control.


    "Thank you, I am happy to save the mana and health potions then. We would have needed to purchase moreter and now can save that cost," Walker was very appreciative of the elves providing the potions.


    "Please, we exceed in potions and herbs here. It is only right for us to aid you and your goals. The only thing I ask is that you guide them well." Wade did not hesitate after his words. He instead moved toward the entrance and activated a few small rune formations to allow them entry.


    "Finally the training will start. I have wanted to see something like this for my whole life. It is like discovering the demi-human kingdom all over again. Everything is new." Scy was not wrong. This was the same feeling every member of the party had felt and was still feeling now.


    "I didn''t expect a quest like this. Leader, since the quest for us, is the same reward for all of us it is better for us to split up. I hope to find some others who know how to use shields. " Remey was nodding along while double checking her gear.


    "I agree. We should find those that we can properly challenge and guide. Onyx, will you be going with me or with Midnight?" Walker wanted to make sure that Onyx made the most of his quest as well.


    "Sister will not need my help. I will try to ensnare some of those long ranged fighters. I believe that will be my best ce. Especially those with the light element affinity." Walker approved of this and didn''t argue at all. He was d that Onyx had made his own decision.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 473 - 473. Squads

    The group entered the stair way and traveled down a long winding staircase of vines. They were wide enough for multiple people to walk shoulder to shoulder making them realized just howrge this third training area was.


    By the time they reached the bottom it was clear that training here was nearly the same as outdoors. This training area was simply put; massive. The ceiling could easily reach as high as the tallest building in the entire city and then some. The walls were so far apart that it must span most of the underground below this portion of the city. And the number of different magics in the air was astounding.


    "This is the major training area for every enforcer in the first elf city. Wee." Wade had never shown this off to an outsider and was exceptionally proud. "The ceiling is made bright with many light magic skills and the roots of our great tree form the defenses. It soaks up all the mana from us and grows with us. Even if small damage is done these roots are the toughest and can recover from nearly any injury. Even decay fades away in second."


    Wade was still ready to gush about the training area more but Alma saw this and stepped in to spare the party and Scy who were eager to train. "I am about to issue an order to the elves present here to form up. I will allow each of you to take your pick and spread out. There is enough space so that you can all focus on what you desire to. You will not need to worry about bumping in to anyone and I will have fully fledged enforcers ready with potions for all of you." Alma said this with confidence and promise.


    "By name of Alma the future queen. Trainee enforcers form up and greet the heroes!" Alma''s voice was not overly loud. But it resounded through the entire training area causing arge number of footsteps to echo back.


    Many trainee enforcers found their way to the space in front of them. Three were rows and rows showing that this space had been holding an army within. There were some that were dressed in the exact same gear as the real enforcers where the traineescked the enforcer headgear.


    "These are the trainees and some of the off duty enforcers. It is normal for them to spend their time here to improve and attempt to rise to a squadmander. The enforcer Sierra you have met to spend arge amount of time here to assist in their training. She also works as one of the healers here to maintain safety in the training area.


    "Guard trainee squad reporting"


    "Arcane archer trainee squad reporting"


    "Mage trainee squad reporting"


    "Support trainee squad reporting"


    "Closebat trainee squad reporting."


    "Reporting trainee squad"


    There were a few other squads that reported the same as the others but only one small group of five that only reported in calling themselves, trainee squad. They did not give any specification which caught Walker''s eye.


    "Here are our trainee squads. They would normally have a few more hours of training but," Alm stood in front of the group and looked at the squads. "Training has been extended until exhaustion. The heroes will remain here as long as possible to train with you. If there are any problems you may take it up with the full fledged enforcers you call masters. They will be the first to judge the training you gain from today."


    Alma knew that forcing them with her word as future queen was not enough. Each and every one of the trainees had an enforcer they saw as a master to them. They held those masters in very high regard due to their guidance and the fact that the trainee and the master needed to choose each other instead of one over the other. This joint respect made them train harder than any other method they had tested.


    "How would you like to divide the squads up?" Wade was waiting for Alma to finish her speech and took the chance tomunicate with the party and Scy.


    "Closebat squad can join me, I have been busy with potions and need to keep up with me kicks that I have been practicing. I can''t flow them with mybo skill yet." Remey had her own training goals and decided to work together with the trainees to improve.


    "You know I will be with the archers. I can show them some tactics and how I make my arrow heads." Gil was already walking toward the trainee squadmander.


    Midnight huffed a little, "Sister wants to train with one of the mage squads. As do I. We both can resist and battle with their skills. I will train with the light elemental mages." Onyx had already expressed this and Walker expected Midnight to want to train against multiple elemental magics.


    "Leader, I will be training with the guards. I can see some shields there and expect some interesting things." Su was curious the moment she saw the flimsy shields that appeared to be mostly for deflecting arrows instead of closebat.


    "Walker, what are you eyeing?" Scy was asking out of politeness since she was grateful for the chance to gain a quest like this.


    "I want those five who didn''t speak a name for their squad. They seem different. Since we don''t have an idea of their skills I think I can be their best choice." Walker had a system that allowed him ess to many skills and it was ideal for him to train with an unknown.


    "Then I will be teaching the supporters an important lesson in keeping an enemy at bay." Scy smiled faintly. Walker could only imagine the harsh training Scy was about to unleash upon them.


    "Those of you who have been met by a hero or guest may proceed to your normal training areas. Be vignt in your attacks and strive to improve." Wade gave this order and the squads started to disperse.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 474 - 474. Elite Enforcers

    Walker moved toward the five who were still standing in ce. They had not heard which of the heroes or guests would be training with them and did not want to head to their own area without them.


    "My name is Walker. I am the leader of the omnipotent party. I will be training with you, are you all ready?" The five looked at himpletely expressionless. Walker was slightly put off since they didn''t even react.


    "I am the squad leader. Please follow us to our respective training area." The squad of four followed the fifth who was apparently the leader. Walker was also quick to follow and was not deterred when the group headed up a series of vines on the wall.


    Walker''s jungle step had him right next to the unnamed squads'' leader who was still expressionless. They had trained for a long time to hide their expressions and were not easily shaken, however, this did not mean they were calm within their minds.


    After climbing the vines for some time Walker was surprised to find that the ceiling had a criss crossed vine pathway going over the entire training area. Furthermore, there were vines that held tforms in ce making it a very tough course to maneuver. This would have been an impossibility for anyone but Walker and Scy who had the best skill in moving on uneven terrain like this.


    "This is where the elite enforcers tasked with bing the queens'' personal enforcers train." The squads'' leader was looking at Walker with a lot of seriousness. They had not weed anyone up here other than the current elites that guarded the queen herself. They would one day be responsible for any quest the queen spilled out.


    "So that is why you did not announce your name. I assume you all keep this as a secret to protect the queen and her goals?" Walker saw the five trainees nod in unison. He could tell that their training was the harshest and would need to be more geared toward challenging quests.


    "What do you all feel weak on at the moment? I won''t pretend to know what you have all done and what you need without understanding where you are now." Walker was nning to teach them what they needed instead of what they had already done.


    "Our masters are not currently around and we have been unable to take any notes from them. They are busy with their positions and will usually give us tasks. We each hold a different system to cover our weaknesses." Walker was d to hear this. That meant that they all had their own weak points and knowing them would be the best start.


    "Then how about I make some fire dolls for us to battle against. We can then train against each other and them. This will be an everyone against everyone battle." Walker thought that starting off this way was best. He immediately asked for some burnable items which the trainees rushed off to grab. He began making one me doll from the wood and straw he had in his inventory while he waited for them.


    Meanwhile, Gil found himself with the other arcane marksmen. He had ended up in a training area nearer to Scy than he expected. This wasn''t a major problem since there was plenty of space but he was sure to keep an eye out for new things he could learn. Scy was doing the same.


    Some of the familiar faces Gil saw were those that had been in the archery training area before. He was happy that he wasn''t meeting all new elves but couldn''t help but feel slightly intimidated by the thirty that were there.


    "First things first. As some of you may already know I am an arcane marksman as well. I gained the system from a quest to upgrade my previous system. I have seen how you are able to make arrows and I want to show you how I make my mine. Then we will fire them andpare results. The more the better.If anyone starts to get bored we can have a one on one sparring match to wake up." Gil said thisst part was a small threat to those whose eyes were already zing over.


    Now that Gil could see that there were indeed some ckers here he wanted to push a little harder, but he first had to gain their attention. " I have a water elemental mana crystal here. Most of you require multiple to safely make an arrow. But I just need one." This was enough to draw their attention.


    Gil proceeded to take a normal wither spike arrow and begin to infuse the water elemental mana in to it. He shocked every elf but for those that had already seen this when the crystal fell in to small shards and the water elemental mana was perfectly kept within the wither spike arrow.


    He looked at their faces and notched the arrow, they all watched as the water elemental mana was heightened before he fired it at a nearby training dummy. As the water elemental mana cause arge ice spike to expand and pierce the dummy they were all shocked. "Now my wither spike arrow may not allow the strength that your arrows do. I will give you that, but can your arrows be used again?" Gil went and pulled the arrow from the ice.


    The arcane marksmen trainees were shocked to watch him start to channel earth elemental mana in to the wither spike arrow next. They never were able to use an arrow a second time due to the way they made theirs. It was a huge w for them but since they had the resources it was never an issue.


    "The question I present to you, how can you make an arrow that willst for more than one shot?" Gil fired the newly formed earth elemental wither spike arrow then walked to retrieve it. The third time he infused it with fire. The elves had their jaws on the floor.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 475 - 475. Supporters

    Gil''s question had caused a buzz within the archer squad of trainee enforcers. They had all just went along with the single use arrow method due to the fact that they always had the resources. "With the city open there will be a lot of trade. This means the material you make the single use arrows out of might be rarer. Of course, the queen could order them to be held at all times. But do you want to take that risk and lose a valuable resource to bring your kingdom to an equal with others?''


    Gil had used this as motivation to get them thinking. He had been lucky to have an exceptional cksmith to craft them for him. But, these archers would not have such cksmiths ready. They needed to use their own skills to find a new material to carve arrow shafts and arrowheads from.


    From there they needed to make sure they could infuse the arrow with the elemental mana of choice which might require them to use different materials or even create different shaped arrows. "I believe we are up to the challenge. We will have prototypes for you within the hour sir hero." Gil was surprised that the squad had split itself in to different elemental groups. They had leaders that ran off to gather materials while the others pulled out papers to sketch.


    "This will be a lot more fun than I thought." Gil started to make rounds to assist in the sketching and also learn from them. He found that for every ce he helped them improve he also was learning something new himself. It was the best possible situation.


    While Gil did this Scy had been watching from the corner of her eye. She easily noticed that Gil had the same system as the arcane marksman in the trainee enforcer squads. She wanted to hear the reasons for this since she was sure this was not the case prior. Sadly, she could not abandon her quest for her personal curiosity. She had things to do.


    "You''re all supporters, correct?" There was a chorus of yes and we are''s from the group of supporters system users. "And I believe you are mostly healers and those with buffing magic? I doubt many of you had debuffing or attack skills."


    Scy had not asked this final phrase in the form of a question. She had already known. "I will expect all of you to die in a real war. You are weak and as far as my kingdom would be concerned you would be cast away from the army." This caused many angry looks towards Scylk. They were still important people top their kingdom.


    "Fine, fine, then I wonder, will you survive any attacks from me? If my kingdom were toe here and wage war, would any of you live?"Scy raised a fan and just the action alone kicked up a torrent of wind. She raised another fan and water started to flow and form a puddle below her. The elves looked at her in fear due to the extremely concentrated water and wind elemental manas.


    "I am a dual elemental affinity ancient monster trait demi-human with the rank of general of the front. I am one of the most powerful people in my entire kingdom and if I so choose I can crush every one of you with a single wave of my fans. I would not even need my true skills." Scy had scared the supporter squad to the point that most had fallen to their knees or bottoms.


    "Those still standing are with training. Those that are not standing need to gain more courage. But you will be allowed to train and watch while I guide these twenty that stood strong." The elves that stood were made up of fifteen trainees and five off duty enforcers.


    "The twenty of you must have different systems. I heard one elf mention battle healing while they shouted before. What else?" Scy pointed her closed fans around to the twenty.


    "I am a user of the light shield system. I focus on creating light based support skills."


    "I am blessed to be a user of the prayer system."


    "...war priest system"


    "...spirit hex system''


    "...elite healer system''


    "...wound devourer system."


    Scy was happy to hear about these systems. Some were very rare where others were extremely rare. These elves all had support based systems but they were amazing nheless. "I believe that your systems have pushed you to be able to handle m,y pressure. That is why you will all be the pirs that hold up your front line."


    Scy paused while looking at every single member of the support squad now with the twenty in their front. "These twenty will be the reason your brothers and sisters will stand instead of fall. I would not want anyone else to hold me up. Now give me the reason why." She demanded a response.


    "We would not fall when faced with death." The one who called themselves a war priest system user stepped forward and spoke.


    "Yes. Now, who here thinks they can raise up a soldier that I have stuck down?" This final question caused many of the support squad to steel their will. This wasn''t just a threat to their life but one to their entire people.


    The elves that couldn''t find their steel hearts stepped back and walked away from the training. They realized that they had taken the wrong path and were better suited for healingmon injuries or boosting the craftsmen. This was a small number and left only those who desired to be able to stand behind those willing to throw their lives at a great enemy.


    "Now stand proud, you are all real supporters from this moment on. My first training will be simple. Keep those who stand next to you alive with your skills while my family tests you."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 476 - 476. Weak!

    There was a small leviathan that swam through the air and chomped down next to the nearest supporter. The wounds left were a small grace but enough to cause a few drops of blood to fall and terror to reach the supporters'' hearts. "The ancient monster Scy was known to have twelve feet and six leviathan heads. When I was born I had a connection with six leviathans who hatched at the same time. I did not know this until I unlocked my system and began to exhibit traits of the ancient monster."


    Scy''s clothing fluttered and five leviathans snaked in the air around her. "They are my family and part of my very soul. I may only have found five so far but when the sixthes home we will finally beplete. Until then they had the skills to swim in the air as long as I am around. Good luck."


    Scy had exined this to them but her words fell on mostly deaf ears. The support squad was terrified of what they saw before them. The small leviathans could control their size and were now doubled. Every single elf could feel that they could grown more but chose not to. Scy just smiled as she watched the squad fall in to chaos.


    Her leviathans always missed their targets by a sliver, they only grazed them making it required for healers to use their skills. Those with buff skills needed to boost those around them so that they could avoid attacks and tail whips while those with debuff skills slowed and tried to stop the leviathans.


    Scy had chosen these elves because she knew how easy it was to crush an army by targeting its healers. She had used this strategy a few times in her life against small demon attacks. These were mostly due to the younger demons running away to try and gain their own fame, but inevitably it led them to cause trouble elsewhere. This was also a verymon tactic taught to any who studied war strategy.


    As Scy pushed the supporter trainee squad to their limits to guide their strengthening, Remey was taking a much different approach on the other side of the training area.


    "You all have these amazing training dummies made from rubber root trees, yet you can''t hit for the life of you!" Remey had challenged a few tond some hits on her but every single elf that had was brushed off like nothing. Remey had either dodged, blocked, or taken the hit right on. "Have any of you even given a single thought in your punching techniques? You all just use your skills without body training to back it up."


    Remey''s apparent anger made all of the elves feel like they had failed their own family. She was looking down on them like an older sibling who had found out they had broken their favorite toy. "And you over there with your daggers and short sabers. You think you could cut anything with a shaky arm like that? Ha! Trying to join the spell swords is only a pipe dream for you."


    The mocking tone shattered the hope of every single one of them who did not realize their guide would have such cruel words. "All of you will be using the first skill they every learned that has to do withbat fifty times in a row. Anyone who can not do this should go and level up because you are not worth training." Remey couldn''t do this herself but knew that if she did she would pass out multiple times.


    "Lady hero, we are limited by the amount of mana we have at our level-" Remey cut the elf offpletely.


    "Then you use mana potions and keep training! I have created potions above my level using such a method. I have trained the same punch and kick over and over again until I know exactly what it means to move that single body part andmit to that action. I don''t even think when you attack me." Remey had harsh words but spokerge amounts of truth most brutally.


    Remey knew as a closebat system user she would need the heat from the fire of anger to truly bring out her strength and determination. It was something that every single closebat system user learned early. However, these elves seemed to ck in their own mental training. Remey had a huge headstart from watching the old master alchemist for hours and hours. She had toughened her mind to resist falling in to blind rage and lose her technique.


    This was not the case for many that she looked at now. They had poor technique and obviously attacked with unbridled anger which would only harm their own bodies and minds. "We are the elf race thaT stands at the pinnacle of nature. How can you belittle us like this? You call yourself a hero?"


    On elf stepped forward to argue back at her. This was what Remey wanted. "Then show me how you can actually harm me. Or are you too untrained since elves only rely on magic and archery?" Remey finally brought her point out in the open. This was a truth that many elves that had closebat systems dreaded. They were always at a disadvantage and only had each other to train with. Even the spell swords had magical ability once they got far enough in their system quests.


    The elves had nothing to say against her words since they struck the heart of their slow advances. "Fine, then we will do this trial by fire. We will make a ring and battle this out until one person stands in the center. once that person is decided they will get to rest while we all start again. This will repeat until every one of you is out of mana and health potions and copses." Remey spoke words that emanated death. If the elves thought their training was hard before today they had only been dreaming.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 477 - 477. Shattering Arrows

    Su could hear the distant chaosing from Remey and Scy but remained calm while she looked over the smaller squad in front of her. These were the guard trainee enforcers and some held thin shields made for deflecting projectiles. "I am Su and I am a draconic guardian. My system allows me to be so and I prefer to wield two strong shields instead of one."


    Su was calm and slow about introducing herself. She aimed to make sure that a guard always needed a calm mind to properly make decisions on a battle field or in the market. "Exin the shields some of you hold and why you are effective as a guard. That goes for those without shields as well." She wanted to know as much as possible before she proceeded with any training at all.


    "Mydy hero, we have these shields to deflect arrows of all kinds from any who fire them. Some of our skills even deflect magical attacks." The elf that answered had one of the flimsy looking shields and showed a few motions that could easily deflect an arrow.


    "I do not have a shield but I instead guard with my short swords. I can block in various ways and also counter attack." The elf showed two smaller swords that also looked flimsy to Su.


    "How do you defend from a melee attack then? Can you withstand a great sword or a heavy fisting at you?" Su knew the answer just from looking at the elves but wanted to hear what they thought.


    "Yesdy hero. We have tested ourselves against the closebat squad and also the spell swords at times. We are often sessful unless we go up against the strongest they have." The elf looked proud as he said this and Su felt bad for what she was going to do.


    "Please ready yourself. I will be attacking you next." The elf thought that Su had spoken wrong. He knew that a shield user like himself couldn''t attack so why would someone who only used a shield have attack skills. The only elves that thought this possible were those who used weapons to block attacks since they had many counter attack skills.


    Su only raised one shield and came forward with much greater speed than the elf expected. Before the elf even had time to think about how he would deflect Su''s shield she had used her shield bash skill to m the elves '' shield and consequently the elf. The elf was thrown a few feet away and their shield flew from their hands.


    "You call that deflecting? You couldn''t even withstand a soft shield bash. It is clear that none of you actually have the power to block an attack." Su had an idea and looked around. She spotted Wade from a distance and waved to a nearby enforcer who was holding a mana potion. "Have Wade fire three arrows at me from his distance please." The enforcer did not question her and dashed away.


    "Watch how I can do what any of you can with this shield." Su held both at the ready and could see Wade''s silhouette notch and fire three arrows in quick session. The first was close to Su''s head when she ducked and used her right shield to swat the arrow upwards and toward the ceiling., The second was pped to the ground by the left shield and the third was left heading right for her.


    She knew that it wasing due to her eyes being able to easily follow the small shape in the air. Su mmed her shield together and pushed straight forwards causing the arrow to hit thebined shield and shatter in to pieces. "Thank you Wade!" Su gave a wave and turned around to face the guards, "Pick up my shield and tell me why I can do what all of you can and block melee attacks."


    The elves came one by one and found the shield stop be extremely heavypared to the weapons and shields they used. "Lady hero, you must be very strong to use these. I did not expect you to have great strength." Su was shaking her head at the elf.


    "My strength is not what gives me the ability to wield these. I am able to because I have always trained with heavy shields. My agility is low but I can anticipate my opponents'' movements. With this, I am moving sooner than my opponent so that their attacks are blocked. I am not actually moving faster, just sooner." She knew that this was only part of her advice but the elves felt she had much more wisdom to share. They had not realized they had been holding themselves back for so long but only trying to deflect and change the direction of an attack. Even against closebat, they tried this instead of other methods.


    "We will build you the rest of a proper guards strategy. Those of you with shields will need to learn to do more than deflect and those of you with weapons will need to learn to attack first and read your opponent''s movements." Sui started to get them split in to groups and test their prediction.


    The progress was going to be slow since she was changing their styles but it would be worth it. She was already nning to send them to train against the other squads once they got a feel for it. This would put them right in to the heat of a battle where they could progress faster due to adrenalin tempting their minds and skills. However, she first needed to show them how to do it.


    Su was upied with strategies, Walker with creating me dolls, Gil with prototype arrows, Remey with mental strength, and Scy with horror. This left Onyx and Midnight to train with the two remaining mage trainee enforcers.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 478 - 478. Tag

    "Hello, I am Onyx and this is my elder sister Midnight. We will be training you today. Please prepare yourselves." Onyx was in charge of the speaking since Midnight could not portray things properly herself.


    "So we are being trained by a snake and a dragon...What is going on?" The mages here had not been in the mage area nor had they witnessed the strength Onyx and Midnight possessed. Instead, these were trainees that appeared to shirk their training often enough that they had barely even heard of Walker''s magical fusions. It was a massive fault for them.


    "I am not a snake. I am a serpent and I will not tolerate any negative thoughts about my sister." Onyx was still showing off his ability to speak within their minds. The many younger elves that heard him shivered slightly. It was like a void had just opened up nearby.


    "I will train with the light affinity mages and spell swords while sister will train with the others. Do not worry about us since we are tougher than you think." Onyx wanted to make sure that he and Midnight were also able to train well. This was also going to double as a way for him to consume more light elemental mana. It was a nice benefit for his growth.


    "A little thing like you is going to resist all of our spells?" The mage that had spoken the first time chimed in again. He looked fairly arrogant and was definitely used to being treated better due to his magical skills.


    Midnight started to growl slightly causing the elemental mana around her to be agitated. "Sister do not worry. I will show him my true size."


    Onyx slithered off of Midnight''s back and on to the same level as the mages and spell swords that made up the mage trainee enforcer squad. "You believe I am small which means you have not been paying attention to recent events within the kingdom. I may not hold the title of hero like my family does but I am equally powerful." Onyx felt himself bing slightly angry since he was able to hear the tant disregard for his and Midnight''s words.


    The elves soon felt the elemental mana change direction and therge shadows beneath their feet slip away. They didn''t realize that this was not the amalgamation of their own shadows but the shadow of Onyx himself. Once it started to show that they were moving towards Onyx and covering him they were all frozen in ce. Therge body with pitch ck scales that now rose above them was only to be described as a monster that could use every single one of them as a snack.


    "I told my sister that she did not need to use her decaying me breath on you since you would listen to me after I showed you my true size. I hope that you will cooperate properly now." There was no reply from the other elves this time. They fully realized that it had been unwise to push the monsters due to their appearance.


    "Sister says that she saw many of the elder elves and apprentices at the mage training area when she was with elder brother. But she did not see any of you there. We will aim to make up for lost time. Light affinity mages and spell swords pleasee at me with all your might. I have a new skill to learn." Onyx was going to use them as a means to test his new tail m skill he had understood after Walker used the calming touch on him.


    While he and Midnight had thought about the flow of mana in their bodies Onyx had realized that his size was guiding him towards his first real physical attack. Unlike his skill to bind an enemy, this was a physical attack that did not leave him open to damage.


    Midnight6 let out a soft growl towards Onyx since he was getting ahead of himself. "Sorry sister, I was too excited." Onyx made sure he first spoke on her behalf to the remaining mages and spell swords. "Sister says she will y tag with all of you. You may use your spells to try and tag her back but that is if you can catch up with her." While Onyx ryed this Midnight was already using her shadow wrapping skill.


    Midnight had felt that she was able to better hide herself from others after absorbing and understanding the fossilized bone. This made her shadow wrapping skill all the more powerful since she now appeared to have disappearedpletely. This was a terrifying feeling for the elves left behind since they could feel they were being stalked by a preditor.


    Their instincts screamed that death could appear behind them, at any moment, and just as they thought it would nevere a single elf cried out in fear. Midnight had pounced out of the darkness and knocked one to the ground. Before any of them could react she used her wings to push away and wrapped herself in darkness again.


    WShe yed this game over and over before the elves were able to begin to react. She had the same strategy she wanted to improve upon and push to its'' next level. While she had been with the party she was always one of the front line attackers, but she realized that her strengths were always in sneaking and defeating opponents. She was their finisher and wanted to enhance that ability.


    "She ising from behind again!" One of the elves had realized he could sense her darkness elemental mana before she attacked and was tasking the lead in guiding his fellow mages. Unfortunately, they were still too slow to use a spell against her.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 479 - 479. Light Magic Attacks

    Onyx watched as Midnight toyed with the squad and looked at those who had gathered before him. He knew that he had already given his sister enough time to give her message and he could do what he needed.


    "I am an abyssal serpent and I feed on the light elemental mana in the world. Therefore, light elemental skills will not do much to me but feed me. With my tough scales, you will have a hard time harming me. Do not hold back or else." Onyx collide his body and prepared himself.


    The elves felt that everything had started and immediately got in to their own formations. Before Onyx could even attack there was a small sword made of light arching toward him. He expertly dodged it while pulling the light elemental mana toward him. The de of the sword dimmed as it missed him but a faint light spread through his scales.


    "That was a good attack but too slow to catch me even though my size isrger," Onyx spoke up to the youing spell sword to push them to move faster. Unfortunately for the spell sword, Onyx had sensed the light elemental mana and dodged out of instinct. His agility had yed no role in this at all.


    Ignoring the light elemental spell sword Onyx used his tail to m down in to the middle of the group of elves. They were quick to avoid his attack directly but there were not able to avoid the shock that it caused. This move was more dangerous due to the stunning effect it had. This reason was why Onyx felt the need to test it more than any other skill he had. If he could use it properly he could set the others in the party up to get some safe attacks in on an enemy.


    This attack also protected him from direct counters since it would stun those that were too close to it. Overall it was the perfect move for him as a supporter of the party since he was not a major attacker yet. This was slowly changing and he had the hope that he would be able to stand next to Midnight sooner than expected.


    The elves reacted by stabilizing themselves and creating a distance from him. They were all readying their spells while the spell swords tried to get nearer to attack. The mages with the longer ranged attacks wanted to let Onyx be distracted by the spell swords then deal a heavy blow to prove that they were stronger than Onyx was led to believe.


    This did not go as they nned though, Onyx mmed down his tail yet again stunning every single spell sword before they were able to even throw a light de toward them. This was followed by him springing out of his coil andpletely surrounding a small group of light mages that were boosting one mage''s spell.


    The spell was forming a spear of light and the others were adding their light elemental mana to it. This would have been a strong group spell if Onyx had not surrounded them and begun to pull away all the light mana from them. Before they knew what to do the light elemental attack had been reduced to nothing. Onyx was just waiting menacingly.


    "You were easily surrounded and need to think of ways to escape a situation like this. If I was a real monster in the wilds you could be dead right now." Onyx spoke quickly since he felt a magical attacking toward him.


    There was a spell sword that had avoided the effects of his tail m and had sent three thrown light des at him. It was an impressive aplishment since two of them were heading perfectly on target of where he would have moved to dodge if he did not absorb the light elemental mana first.


    When he turned to look at the attacker a very thin and frail looking spell sword was still rushing at him. He proceeded to change his size to a more agile form and charge her as well. He was interested in how she managed to use the skill without him realized it until it was already heading toward him.


    The two were on a collision course when the spell sword let off another three thrown light des. Onyx was unable to dodge them and felt the contact on his scales. He was able to absorb the light elemental mana but also could feel the force of the attack. It was the first that had hit him and he could only be impressed.


    "I can not sense your elemental mana as you prepare your attack. You are the most promising out of all of these elves here." His praise went a long way as the spell sword began to push her agility even more. This time she sent four thrown light des at Onyx who was quick to dodge.


    His counter attack brought him springing on to her back and beginning to bind her. She could not use her sword like this and waspletely trapped. Onyx realized that the other mages had not stopped their spells and saw that there was only one result in this situation.


    "Please hold fast and let me protect you now." Onyx let his size return to thergest possible andpletely wrapped around the frail looking spell sword.


    The light elemental mana attacks were being formed all around him and he would not be able to dodge or they would hit the spell sword he was wrapped around. If he did this he could not be considered a member of his family who strived to be heroes in their daily lives. Onyx braced himself to feel the force of the spells about to hit him and try to absorb all of the light elemental mana at once.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 480 - 480. Sisters Protection

    Onyx was prepared to deal with the attacks he was about to receive due to hisck of battle experience. He could only me himself for the damage he would take but knew he could handle it. His coil around the spell sword showed no room for any damage to make it to her and that was all he could hope for. He knew the spells were about to be sent towards him as he had ordered by the feeling of the elemental mana in the air.


    Midnight came out of his shadow and unleashed a wicked roar causing the entire area to be chaotic with different elemental mana. Her draconic aura seeped in to the training space near her causing almost all the spells to fail or dissipate. She had been watching Onyx the entire time and came just in time to avoid her little brother being harmed.


    "Thank you sister. I was not paying attention and set myself up for this. If I had moved this spell sword would have been harmed. Your dragons'' intimidation was the perfect way to pause the training." Onyx was sure to show his gratitude. He did not want to stop for a health potion so soon in to the training.


    He uncoiled himself and released the worried looking spell sword, "I apologize for putting you in that situation. It is my downfall when ites to experience. Next time I will be more careful and keep my training partners out of harm''s way."


    "No, no. I am the one who rushed at you. It was a natural reaction to challenge me head on. I appreciate your guidance." Onyx was impressed by the frail looking spell sword. She had been in harm''s way but could only apologize herself.


    "Since we are at a resting point, can you tell me how you hid your skills from me? I am very sensitive to the light elemental mana and was not abv to sens your thrown des in the slightest." Onyx had been wracking his brain over this question. For him not to sense the elemental mana that he was most in tune with it was a huge worry.


    "Yes, that is due to a skill called sealed light. I am able to seal light elemental attacks in to my body and weapons. All I need to do is release them when I desire and I will not need to gather the light elemental mana in a moment. Instead, I have a speedy attack to catch my opponent off guard. I received this skill from a special quest."


    Onyx pondered this for a moment and realized it was extremely useful. He wished he could get it and teach it to his entire party, but if it was from a special quest it would not be so easy to obtain. "That skill sounds like it could put you much higher on the enforcer ranking than any other. The only question I have is, why aren''t you a full fledge enforcer yet?" Onyx was wondering how she could not have moved up already if she had this light sealing skill.


    "My body is weak due to an illness as a child. I am trying to be strong enough to stand alone. That is why I decided to go all out in training today. Sealing the thrown des takes me some time but it has proven a very effective strategy for surprising opponents. I will be training it from now on." The frail looking spell sword gave Onyx a small bow and walked to the edge of where they were training to rest.


    With Midnight returning to her own area to y more tag and try to catch the slow learning mages and spell swords by surprise, Onyx was also able to return to training. He learned a valuable lesson when battling along and was not much more vignt of those around him. His own improvements were not only in the skill he had understood but also in his strategy as a whole.


    While Midnight continued to carefully watch Onyx and Onyx gained valuable experience, Walker was finishing the final me doll.


    Walker had managed to make five of the me dolls from the burnable materials he had in his inventory and the many small branches the elves brought him. He estimated they would be able to burn for over an hour before they would fade out.


    "These me dolls are various different forms rting to people I have met through my adventures so far. You will notice one is simr to an archer like Wade and Gil. There is one that is simr to Su who wields a shield. One that is simr to a very powerful demi-human with rabbit traits. Another that is simr to general Scy. Finally, I have one that mirrors the adventurers guild''s vice guild master."


    Walker had the goal to bring many different fighting styles in to this training area. Since the me dolls didn''t need to stand on the ground they could remain in the high up training area to test the elves along with himself.


    "Your goal will be to stay in battle against each other and these me dolls. Not to mention the attacks I try to chain together against you as well." Walker was going to start using some of the random basic weapons he collected and switch between them as fast as possible while battling.


    He thought that he would be able to use his new jungle step skill along with all of his closebat skills. He might try to add in magic if possible but at this moment he wasn''t sure he should be focusing on it. His magical ability had begun to overshadow his ability to use closebat skills. This would have been fine if he was a pure mage but as an all arounder it was going to limit him.


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 Chapter 481 - 481. Elves Against Flame Dolls

    "Now that everyone understands, let''s get to training." Walker jumped up and so did the fire dolls. They were all fighting each other and that meant that everyone around them was a target.


    Walker was the first one to make a move and naturally, was the first one to attack. He started off with arge swipe of his hand to make arge gust of wind to push all of the elite trainee enforcers off their feet. He wanted them to start at a disadvantage against each other and the me dolls. His thinking was that they could learn to adapt to tougher positions and make better breakthroughs.


    Walker did not expect all of them to roll with the wind and return to their feet. They had been trained already to the point where they could adapt to the high winds at the treetops when necessary. This was a training that not every elf would receive but was thought of as a requirement for those that would be the queens'' hands.


    Walker had already pulled his hammer out of his inventory and charged it with the wind elemental mana in the air as well. He thought that even when he missed the elves he could use the wind made to continue to throw them off.


    With his hammering down on one of the tforms he realized that he had used more force than necessary. The tform itself broke away and forced him to retreat. The wind produced from the elemental smash caused shrapnel of wood bits to fly around and impact against the elves. The me dolls were unaffected and even used it as fuel.


    He was not thrown off however, he saw an iing elf with a dagger and quickly switched the hammer for one of the swords in his inventory. His other hand came out with the short hammer and used the chop skill.


    Thisbination of a sword to block and a hammer with an ax head to chop was not amon style for any race. It was enough to greatly throw off the elf who was grazed by the de of Walker''s weapon. This was not the end though, Walker switched the short hammer for the other sword and unleashed the cross sh at the elf. In second the elf looked like he had lost the battlepletely. "Heal yourself and start again before I get back here."


    Walker left the elf with the dagger injured and with the harsh words. He Had already grasped the fact that these elite enforcer trainees had endured much harsher training. The thing theycked was battling against the unexp[ected. Luckily for them, Walker was full of unexpected weapons and skills. He could continue to surprise them over and over until they were fully adaptive.


    While Walker aimed at an elf that was conjuring spears of wood from the vines around him a me doll had already reached the elf mage. This was the fire doll modeled after arge and familiar looking rabbit trait demi-human. The overwhelming physical might was more than enough to counter the elf mage as they made their wood spears to throw.


    Walker was able to jump in and unleash a gust of wind that pushed the me doll back. "You are helping to feed their mes. Change your strategy or next time I will sh your back." The elf did exactly as he was told and started to make intertwined vines with ice wrapping around them. Walker realized that this was some form of water and earth elemental affinity.


    The elf was angry due his obvious weakness andck of adaptation and threw the spear toward the me doll. Unfortunately, it was met with a sharp kick snapping it in half. The frozen vine spear did not stop though. It continued to fall causing a loud shout from below. "I guess you are adding to the others'' training." Walkerughed and started to look for another that was struggling or not adapting. He had a clear idea that the mage before was a forest mage or simr system user.


    Before he could even take another step among the vines he realized that the area he was in had gotten much darker. He could feel a strong amount of darkness elemental mana behind him and turned just in time to block with his two swords. There was another one of the elite enforcer trainee elves wielding daggers. The difference this time was that they were using the shadows to hide themselves.


    "That was a perfect attack, but you did not conceal your darkness elemental mana and gave yourself away." Walker said this as he pushed the elf back and pulled out the scythe he had not used in some time. The longer range of the scythe gave him the ability to keep the elf at bay since the elf wouldn''t have the range to get closer to him.


    Unfortunately, Walker didn''t expect the elf to know the dagger throw skill and there was already a dagger flying towards his head. Thanks to the instinctual actions of dance of the wild rabbit Walker was able to duck and jump. The spin he did looked like a dancer''s jump and the downward sh of the scythe made it seem like he hadpletely expected the attack.


    The elf did noit prepare for this since they were used to their first attacks always working. If their first did not they finished their matches with the second. Their master had always told them to thin k of the third, fourth, and even tenth move. He was not learning why.


    Walker''s attack came down on the frantic to dodge elf. There was a hard impact and one of the elves'' daggers was shattered in two. Walker''s scythe also broke and not had a massive dent in the de. However, this did not stop Walker''s advance.


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 Chapter 482 - 482. Rare Systems

    Walker pushed forward while gathering the water elemental mana in the air to cover the de of the scythe. It soon began to freeze and show a fully encased ice de. "You made me break one of my oldest weapons, but it is fair since yours broke as well." Walker was trying to push the elf in to a corner so that they could think on their feet.


    The problem was that When Walker began to approach the elf pulled a handful of needles from his waist. This was another thrown weapons skill and it made Walker wonder just what this elves'' ss was.


    There was no time to think, Walker was still using the jungle step skill with dance of the wild rabbit and began to twirl the scythe to fall in to the dance of the rabid rabbit. He wanted to pursue every enemy including the me dolls. He was pushing himself to the extreme as well as the elves.


    '' The skill twirling de has been taken from the de dancer system. The skill twirling d has been automatically learned due to multiple rted movement skills.


    Twirling de- 1 mana cost


    +2agi, +2 atk


    The user twirls the de they carry in their hands while moving with any movement technique. This increases threw agility by adding more momentum to their movement technique along with additional attack strength. This skill can be used with almost any de as long as the user is at the beginner level in using the said de.''


    Walker smiled seeing this and let off a stronger elemental mana disruption around him. His mana was causing the air to feel heavier to the fact that he was starting to try and manipte the elemental mana to increase the size of the de of the scythe again.


    The elf felt that there was a change and that they needed to attack as soon as possible. He threw five needles that were coated in a paralytic poison. This poison was made from one of the monstrous mushroom spores and could make anyone stuck with them paralyzed for hours.


    Walker twirled the scythe with more force and spun on his heels to dodge and deflect the needles. He could feel that he was making the breakthrough he needed to progress in his training with closebat.


    "I don''t know what system you have but it is very good for sneak attacks. You fail when ites to following through and nning." Walker arched the scythe at the elf and stopped inches before his neck. "Try to improve on your nning." Walker was about to back off when a me doll modeled after Scy rushed at him with a me fan shing.


    He had no choice but to block with the scythe and felt the ice melt. The rest of the de also broke apart making the weapon useless. "Goodbye to you one of my first weapons. I will always remember you." Walker said his goodbye while another weapon fell below. There was another shout as it hit the ground but again Walker just brushed it off as a surprise for the other elves training.


    With the me doll stilling after him Walker was forced to pull out his next weapon. It was a basic spear that he could use to practice his quick jab skill. It was not the highest quality but the wandering cksmith had made it along with the many other basic weapons Walker had requested. He was a walking armory of sorts with all of these weapons.


    Just as he was about to use his quick jab skill and most likely destroy the me doll Scy the elf appeared behind it. With a single dagger, the elf struck downwards on the base of the me dolls'' neck. There was only a second of calm before the elf shed the dagger out and cut off the me dolls'' head. There was a concussive bang that forced Walker and the elf apart.


    "I am one of the few assassination system users in my kingdoms'' history. It is not usually one that is weed but the future is full of uncertainty. Past users of this system have taken care of grave threats to our people." The elf told Walker this and gave a slight bow. He then used a skill very simr to Mifnights'' shadow wrapping and blended in with the darkness again.


    Walker was stunned by this. The attack had been perfect with the single dagger and easily destroyed the me doll. Not only that but the else also immediately hid themselves before moving on. It was a sound strategy he had seen Midnight use and he was excited to see it used elsewhere. He just had the hope that the elf had learned a good lesson from theirck of nning ahead.


    There was not one less me doll around to torment the elves but Walker knew that it would not change the difficulty of their training. He had already met three of them in battle leaving the leader of the trainee elite enforcers and one other he could not see anywhere. This made him worry for another assassin system user but was quickly proved wrong when he as and heard the explosion of a certain rabbit eared me doll.


    The elf that had caused it was flung back on to one of the tforms barely able to grab the edge and not fall. Walker wanted to rush toward them and make sure they did not fall when the elf suddenly jumped up stepping on the air like stairs. Walker was su[prised to see that there was a wind strider system user in the elite elf trainee squad. He had been led to believe that these were elves that only filledmunication based jobs in the elf city. He was excited to challenge them and see what tricks they were hiding.


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 Chapter 483 - 483. Wind Fist

    Walker used one hand to hold on to the spear and prepare himself to throw it. He used the other to start to create the frost whip. He wanted to incorporate his magical spell that acted as a weapon and the basic weapons he used in to the same style so that he could be more fluid.


    The elf with the wind strider system had just recovered from the end of the me doll but already saw Walkering. They managed to step in the air and jump over Walker''s thrown spear which sadly plummeted to the ground as well. "That''s another surprise for those training down below." Walker almost felt bad for losing three weapons down to the ground but decided that he shouldn''t worry so much since he would always have other things to fall back on.


    The elf pushed off the air and came down at Walker with a fist. This would have been strange if Walker did not realize that the fist had a wind elemental mana around it. When Walker dodged it the wind that came off of the elfs'' fist andnded on the nearby tform making a sharp cracking sound.


    Out of the corner of his eye, Walker saw that the wind from the elf''s punch cause some pieces of the tform to shatter off. The fist itself may not appear to be dangerous but the wind elemental mana around it was the real danger. "You aren''t the average wind strider system holder, are you?" Walker said this whileshing out with the frost whip to try and capture the elf and freeze them in ce.


    "No sir hero, I am a wind brawler system user. I am a rare system holder that has the same skills as a wind strider but battle oriented." The elf replied while ducking under the whip and sending another punch at it. The whip was broken in half making Walker add more mana to try and build it.


    The elf believed that with the whip broken Walker was now at a disadvantage, he was wrong. As soon as the elf turned away from the whip Walker pulled it back towards him and managed to fire off a series of ice needles. This was added by the fact that Walker had been inspired by the assassination system user.


    Walker pulled out the almost never used throwing needles from his inventory and threw one at the elf. There was no skill with it but Walker knew that having the ice needlesing at his back and the thrown needle from the front was adding major pressure to the elf.


    There was a sudden burst of wind all around the elf causing the ice needles and the thrown needle to be pushed away. The thrown needle impacted the vines near Walker with more force than he had used to throw it. The elf should have been going after Walker now but when he prepared himself for the iing attack he found the elf on one knee panting hard.


    "You need to train that skill more. You are not able to follow up and are now a sitting duck." Walker stated the obvious. The elf just looked at him with a pale face already expecting the next attack toe down on him.


    "The skill is called wind burst and it forces a lot of mana from me at once. I used to pass out from it, this is all I can do for now." The elf admitted this knowing that it was just the way things were until he improved himself more.


    "Then you should use it over and over again until you can do it while following up with any attack. You have the mana potions to try right?" This made Walker sound like a devil to the elf. With a worried expression, the elf nodded.


    "Then go do that." Walker''s smile made the elf shiver. In a second Walker was already leaving the elf there to think on his skill. Walker wanted to find the leader of the elite trainee enforcer squad. They were the only one that he had not tested in any way.


    Walker easily found that thest three me dolls had ganged up on the leader elf and were being held back. Walker did not expect the leader to be able to do this and held himself back to watch. The elf was using strangely hooked swords that rounded in to points at the ends. They could easily hook and let the wielder hang from a branch or catch an opponent''s neck.


    The exact movements of the elf made Walker feel like he was watching a simr skill to the dance of the wild rabbit. Seeing that the elf had a movement skill that worked in tandem with the strange des, Walker was bing even more curious about what kind of system he had. Before he could jump in to the battle and start asking he watched the elf duck behind the me doll and sh it in half.


    The explosion forced the other two me dolls back and gave the leader an opening to sh both of them as well. The elf retreated and the other two me dolls exploded. This left him wide open for Walker and his newly formed double frost whips.


    "What system do you have? I like your movement skill, it is like one of mine." The frost whips crossed and managed to wrap around the leader elfs'' leg. They began to form ice around him. The elf leader didn''t show any surprise and instead cut through the frost whips to retreat. The ice was easily hacked away with one sword while the other was held defensively.


    Walker didn''t expect a perfectly calm reaction and rted this elf to how Su acted. The calm demeanor was definitely the reason this elf was made the leader of the elite strainer squad.


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 Chapter 484 - 484. Ceremonial

    "I have the ceremonial sword system. I can use any ceremonial sword for more than just ceremonies. They are as deadly and if not more deadly as any sword made by a master. The more important the ceremony the stronger my sword."The elf was saying this while he was running at Walker. There was no hesitation in his attack and Walker easily realized that this elf was the most experienced out of all of them in the squad.


    Walker was interested in this system due to the fact that it sounded weak but was actually very powerful. If this elf was able to use ceremonial swords which were often made for decoration and not for a real battle in a way that they were sometimes more powerful than a normal sword, then it was a huge surprise for any enemy. This also meant that there would be a huge advantage if they had a more important ceremonial sword.


    "So the two hooked swords you have are for a ceremony? They appear daily powerful, but I am sure you have better." Walker wanted more information and sent the frost whip to intercept the elf.


    "You would be surprised how valuable a small ceremonial sword is. This one is" The elf cut away the first frost whip and then jumped over the second, "for a ceremony of harvest. The hooks at the end represent the change from battle to fostering life. It is important only during the harvest season. It is better I use these now than the winter."


    Hearing the details on how the weapons could be stronger or weaker during the times when the ceremony was more prevalent was news to him. This meant that the time of yeard could drastically change the strength of the system and the user. "How about a demonstration, since this is the ceremonial sword of the harvest then it lets me use this skill."


    The elf was a little arrogant but excited to show off his skills. The ceremonial sword glowed with a brown earth elemental mana and had hints of blue water elemental mana. Once the elf leader shed the sword in front of him there was a sudden shaking in the vines around him. "It may cost a lot of mana, but have fun with the vine frenzy."


    The vines split out of therger intertwined vines and began to move toward Walker. They were like vine whips going after him without mercy. The elf leader was standingpletely still not even flinching. Walker could only guess that therge amount of mana used on this skill from the ceremonial sword was keeping the elf in ce.


    Since the frost whips would prove useless in this situation walker decided to try and use the first ring skill to slow the vines around him. The elemental water mana gathered around him and started to work its'' magic. There was ayer of frost forming everywhere he stepped and slightly on the vines that got too close to him as he evaded them.


    This skill wasn''t strong enough though and could not slow the vines enough. He was left with no choice but to take out the moldable crystal ball which the leader of the trainee elite enforcer squad appeared to recognize. "I heard that you made a unique weapon out of crystal. Is that it?" This was one of the few elves that were always up to date when it came to the kingdom activities. This was one part of the elite trainee enforcers'' training that they had to keep up on.


    It was a clear fact for them that they would not be able to act as the best hands for the queen if they were lost to what was going on in their own kingdom, or the world. Since they were always up to date on activities it greatly separated them front the other elves that had been cking in training. Walker had been lucky enough to go against the elves that were more forward in their studies. The only thing theycked was experience.


    Walker used his high earth sculpting to change the form of the moldable crystal ball in to a shape that was different than he had used it previously, Instead of a spear, he made it in to the perfect bnced sword he wanted. He then used the de of night and day skill to activate the light and darkness elemental mana within.


    The elf drew a short breath as a sword was formed from the crystal ball and that the two opposing elemental manas had formed the de. The sword had be a double ded sword in perfect bnce. The light elemental mana had imed one half and the darkness elemental mana had imed the other. They slightly bled in to each other in the center making the elemental mana in the air unstable. This was the cause of the elfs'' sharp breath. He could feel the dangering from this unique weapon.


    Walker smirked and shed at the vinesing at him. He had been using multiple weapons the entire time he sparred against the elves and was now using a different variation of the moldable crystal ball to attack. Due to the lowed vines, Walker was able to slice them up at a much faster rate. This continued topound in to a rain of cut vines from the ceiling falling on to the training elves below.


    He had no mind to pay to those below since he had be immersed in the shing attacks he was performing. The vines were bing less but he was feeling the need to continue to push on attacking. The mana was being bled out of the vines and other times they were decaying away. The image was slowly burned in to the elfs'' mind as he watched the sheer damage from the unique weapon.


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 Chapter 485 - 485. Swordplay

    Walker was quickly eradicating the small vines that wereing at him. So much so that he had stopped using the frost ring spell. He felt that it was actually holding him back from reaching farther in to his sword attacks.


    His eyes fell on the leader of the elf squad at the moment when the vines had nearly stoppeding for him since the mana that the elf had used was nearly exhausted. This made a shiver run down the elfs'' spine since he was not p[repared to deal with the speed Walker had suddenly disyed.


    Since he had no choice but to try and defend himself the elf pulled another sword from his back leaving the two ceremonial hooked swords on the tform he had been resting on. The new sword in his had had a much deeper green and brown color mixed with some blue. It was almost as if it was somehow alive with the nts of the forest.


    "I am not very in control of the spirit cedar ceremonial sword. Please forgive my rampage." The elf said this and took arge breath of air. The water and earth elemental mana started to thrum in reaction to his use of the sword. For the elves, the ceremony of nting a spirit cedar was an important cultural benchmark. Not a single elf did not know or attend a ceremony in their lives.


    The elemental mana that was being kicked up around him made therger vines start to tremble as if they were trying to reach out and touch the ceremonial sword. The elf released almost all of his remaining mana in to the sword which caused a more developed attack than the two hooked ceremonial swords before.


    This time the vines were braided and held more force. There were also translucent vines made from elemental mana condensed that were aiming at his very spirit. Walker could feel that this attack was much more dangerous than the previous one and took on the stance he wasfortable with. He was able to flow directly in to the dance of the rabid rabbit as the adrenalin ran through his body.


    He was so consumed by the shing and hacking of vines paired with the dodging and spinning of the dance of the wild rabbit and jungle step that he didn''t notice the system notifying him multiple times.


    ''The skill lightning swordy has been taken from the master swordsman system. The skill lightning swordy has been automatically learned through full use of agility stat and sword movements.


    Lightning swordy- 1 mana per minute cost


    +15 agility


    The user consumes mana to speed their body up by a massive amount. The body of the user can force the sword they use to cut through the elements at such a speedy rate that lightning will appear to be generated. This style has a chance to cause burning, paralysis, and extreme bleeding.


    The skill sh zone has been taken from the battle system. The skill sh zone has been modified to fit the user due to physical body differences. The user will receive the unique skill sh zone automatically.


    sh zone- 5 mana per minute cost


    The user uses their senses to create an area directly around them that they can feel any change in mana. When a foreign mana enters it they can sense it and attack with applicable agility based skills. This skill can only be used in reference to advanced sensing skills and advanced attack skills involving some form of de or created de. The user can sh all around themselves from any angle as if it is a natural movement.


    The user is manipting mana at an extremely high level with grand elemental maniption and other applicable skills. Due to the high rate of mana consumption and attempted absorption the skill voracious mana consumption has been taken from the sin demon system. Ther skill has been forcefully learned.


    Voracious mana consumption- contingent on circumstances per activation


    The user must be in a battle frenzy state to cause this skill to activate. This skill will leave the user with one single mana point at the end of use. This skill will consume the mana from the air directly to use as fuel for any skills or actions. This skill is a unique trait of the sin demon system, specific title holder; gluttony.''


    The system notifications were something that would make any normal person shudder. These skills would never normallye together but in Walker''s case, they had done just that.


    The speed of his sword y began to cause small shocks of lightning to spark out. Even the translucent spirit vines were being sliced to pieces. Any vine that came near Walker was shed almost faster than the elf leader could see. He knew that he needed assistance to deal with the monster of a humaning at him. "Form up and defend!"


    His shout brought the other elves from the periphery of the battle. The elf leader had a minimal amount of mana along with most of his squad. Not to mention the one elf with a missing dagger which was broken somewhere below them. "He is having some form of frenzy. We need to keep him distracted until he returns to normal. This will be harsh training, be ready."


    The other elves knew exactly the depth of what their training could be and had a feeling this was going to break the record for toughest yet. They were faced with skills they did not understand, an opponent who did not seem to need to replenish their mana, and worst of all a brutal weapon that could cause massive damage in a blink of an eye. Things were not in their favor, however, the disruption to the mana had done more than affect the five elves up above.


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 Chapter 486 - 486. Peak

    The elves below the high up training area had all stopped their motions. Every single one could feel the mana being forcefully taken from the air and it made their skin crawl. There was nothing they could do and they had not a single clue as to what the cause was. "I think there is something fun happening up there." Scy wanted to find out who was causing this and immediately left the supporters she had been tormenting with her leviathans.


    She stepped on the air all the way through the vines above her and found an amazing sight. She stood by impressed by Walker''s lightning fast movements to sh at every vine and elf that came at him. His defenses were better than his attacks since any little needle thrown or burst of wind sent at him was shed away before it even neared his skin.


    She too felt that the elemental mana she would normally be able to feel was being pulled by force toward him. She wanted to know what these skills were since she had never witnessed them before. However, there was no way to ask him since he was moving in a strange and fluid dance of attacks and defense.


    '' User has pushed the dance of the rabid rabbit skill to the peak of the high level. The skill dance of the rabid rabbit can not be upgraded in to dance of the golden rabbit due tock of appropriate bloodline of a rabbit trait demi -human and rted system.''


    Another system notification appeared as Walker pushed his body even further. He did not stop his movements and even became more vicious in his attacks as he focused his mind more. He could feel his instincts in full throttle as his heart beat sounded like a hammer in his chest.


    ''User has pushed the skill jungle step to the peak of high level. The skill jungle step can not be upgraded in to the spirit walk skill due tock of appropriate high elf blood line and rted system''


    These system notifications would have made any demi-human or elf fall to the floor in shock. Yet Walker continued to push even as he felt another persone up behind him and attempt to attack. His sh zone skill was keeping him protected with his enhanced senses causing him to sh out.


    His momentum suddenly halted and he felt pressure on his wrist and a hand on his head, "That is enough for now, you have already pushed your trainees to their limit." Scy had used her skills and much higher level toe up behind Walker and swiftly catch his wrist. She had immediately attempted to calm him and the adrenaline coursing through his body.


    She had used this tactic many times since some demi-humans developed a berserk quality due to their traits. This caused many to run out of control in battle and need someone to stop them. At this moment she could feel the mana around them suddenly be still and stop being consumed by Walker. "Looks like that skill is ending. I hope it was worth using."


    Scy said this more to herself since she could feel Walker weakening and barely remaining conscious. The elves around him had all found tforms to copse on and were trying their best to breathe freely while they calmed themselves. "H-humans..are...monsters!" The elf leader of the elite enforcer trainee squad was currently trying to get this single phrase out. He couldn''t imagine any reason why the queen had weed these humans in. They were terrifying to him now.


    Scy just smiled with mischief. She loved what she had just seen and knew that it wildly topped the things the geniuses in their kingdom could do inbat. Not to mention she had already picked Walker out as one of her favorite and wanted to see him rise in the demi-human coliseums to challenge her and the other generals one day.


    "I rmend all of you take whatever potions you need and rest as soon as possible. The training is over for you and you will need to reflect on what happened through the session. I will take this young champion to the lower area for some potions and rest as well."


    Scy left the same way she hade but with Walker barely conscious in her hands. He was groggily watching her trying to understand what had just gone on but he was too dazed. This entire feeling of only having a single mana left was nearly as bad as passing out from not having any.


    He realized that Scy had brought him to the ground where he was met by some of the enforcers tasked with providing him potions and healing. The flush of skills and the taste of mana and health potions soon brought his mind back to a clearer state. Unfortunately it did nothing for the soreness he now felt all over his body from the training that had just urred. It appeared he had pushed his body too far in the time he was up there.


    As soon as he noticed there were system notifications he nearly choked on the air he was breathing. He didn''t know that he could push skills to their peak and be denied the upgrade due to not having the bloodline and proper system. This exined why he could not get some mastery skills.


    On top of this, he had learned three ground breaking new skills, one of which came from apletely different being than he had ever heard of. Seeing the skill from the demons next was even more heart stopping. He almost shed a tear at how normal the master swordsman system was. He had never thought he would be that happy to only see a master level system in the system notifications. Just so that it seemed normal. "Add a little potion and some healing magic and you have a whole new look about you." Walker could only nce at the intrigued Scy.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 487 - 487. Grilled For Details

    Walker sat there just staring at Scy for a few moments. His mind had frozen and slowed after the shock of reading all of the system notifications and being pushed to the breaking points. "What? Did you melt that brain of yours when you were moving like a monster? I was very impressed with that sword style you were using. I can''t say I enjoyed that trick with the mana though."


    The elf enforcers that had run to look over Walker also nodded at Scy''s words. They understood that the strange phenomenon of the natural mana being dragged upwards was from him. They were very sensitive as elves to such mana and having it being forcefully pulled and taken was terrifying. Even those who manipted it did not do so in such a violent manner.


    Hearing and seeing the worry in the faces of those around him Walker finally mustered some words, "I am sorry for worrying you all. I didn''t have my head about me as I went all out. It was like I was taken over by my instincts and just continued to push." He wasn''t sure if any of them could understand what he was saying.


    "That does tend to happen when one pushes themselves beyond their limits. I deal with it while training the young in the coliseum all the time. Especially those who hold the berserk skill." Scy wanted to calm Walkers'' uptown worries since she was seeing the stress start to form on his forehead.


    "Things like that happen often?" Walker wasn''t fully sure if Scy was telling the truth but what she said next more than made him a believer.


    "You should see an elephant trait of a tiger train demi-hum get angry. The berserk skill they use sacrifices their intelligence for doubling defense, health points, and attack. This naturally creates some trouble. I have had an entire training area of students defeated in a rage and had to step in to stop any unnecessary death." Scy was shaking her head like it was something a bad pet would do if not properly trained.


    The enforcers and Walker rxed significantly as they heard this. The training area also started to be filled with the sounds of intense training yet again. Everyone else was still far from their limits and needed a lot more time to get to the end of what they could do.


    "Now, tell us. What skills were you using?" Scy looked like a hungry monster eyeing her prey as she asked Walker. It was eating away at her that she did not identify any of them after she had been in the coliseum and seen so many system users that could wield a sword.


    "The sword skill was from the sword master system. It is called lightning sword y and it makes me use my sword much faster than I can normally. It gave me a fifteen point boost in agility." Scy raised an eyebrow at this.


    "A high ss skill from a mastery system. I have many master swordsman in my kingdom but none who have that skill. I have seen beastly swordy, serpentine swordy, and even starlight swordy but never lightning swordy. I wonder if it depends on the users'' statyout of the user themselves," Scy wanted more information but this was too hard for her to test. Someone with a master swordsman system was too rare anyways.


    The enforcers weren''t sure if they had just heard Walker''s word correctly, it was just too rare for a high ss skill to show up and offer such benefits. Having any stat enhanced by ten points was already a huge benefit. Having a skill boosted by fifteen would mean a radical change in the way the battle flowed. It could be a life or death battle put in its'' head.


    "Sir hero, we have heard of many skills but will you allow us to take notes so that we may bring them to our archivists?" One enforcer was eager to save this information for future elven swordsmen. It was clear that this was a rare skill that they could one day hope to have within their own kingdom.


    "Of course, just promise you won''t tell Calen that I got a skill that boosts agility so much." Walker joked a little knowing that Calen would kill to have a skill that improved her agility anymore than she already had.


    "Yes, of course sir hero. This will be strongly guarded against Calen." Walker heard the reply and realized that his joke had been taken seriously by every enforcer that hade to check on him and use their skills.


    Scy was thinking more and more about what she had seen and still could note to a conclusion on what the skill Walker had used to sh at the strange angles all around his body was. "I Can not discern how lightning swordy skill can attack all around you. It was like you knew every ce an attack wasing from."


    "That''s because the lightning swordy didn''t, well, technically it didn''t. The lightning sword y let me react fast enough but the skill is called de zone. It came from a system called the battle system. I have no idea what a battle is but it could mean anything. There is a dimension traveler system so I''m afraid to try and look in to such things¡­"


    Scy appeared very understanding of this. "I am not religious and I am not a philosophical person. I agree that there are things we are better not to understand and just ept as they are." The elf enforcers did not seem to agree but even they were lost on such systems and what they may mean. Scy was still looking at Walker waiting to hear the rest of the skills'' exnation. She would not let him off so easily.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 488 - 488. Poor Supporters

    Walker let a few nces fall on the enforcers who were whispering and scribbling down plenty of notes already. He wondered just how many they would write when he exined the sh zone skill. But since Scy was staring him down he knew he could not hold the information forever.


    "The skill sh zone is interesting. The system said it was adjusted for my body so I think it is made for a different being than us. But other than that it costs a decent amount of mana for a limited time effect. Paired with my senses I can feel anything enter a certain area around me and react to sh at it not matter what."


    "That exins the weird twists and bends added in to your movements. I was wondering how you managed to sh at the throwing needles from behind so easily." Scy had witnessed multiple attacks from many angles and Walker had shed or dodged them all in odd ways.


    "This is amazing." One of the enforcers writing notes nearly shouted after another whispered to him. "I apologize sir hero. We became too excited." The quick apology was to show that they were still somewhat in control of their emotions.


    "It''s fine. I am still shocked as well. I never heard of a skill like this and did not expect I would get it to say the least. Please record what you need so you can properly archive it. It mighte in handy one day." The enforcers were filled with renewed vigor after hearing this. They believed that if they were supported by the hero then their efforts would mean more to their kingdom and even the world.


    Scy looked like she was please with these exnations. Walker had the hope that no one would be asking about the third. Mostly because she knew that bringing up a skill that came from a demon system let alone one learned by a specific title holder would cause many waves. However, as he thought this all eyes returned to him with an expectant look in them.


    "You all would like to know about the skill that caused therge disturbance in the natural mana? Am I right?" Walker knew it would happen as soon as he had finished hisst thought, but he still could have a little hope that they would leave him be.


    "I think you are trying to hold back. Please don''t tell me it is one of those brutal skills that costly some of your lifespan or a decline in stat points after use." Scy was imagining the worst case scenario and that Walker was now suffering from such a case.


    "No no, it isn''t one of those. I just know that I should keep this skill under my belt for when we all have the kingdom meetings. It is rted to another race and I believe it will be somewhat sensitive information. To be honest I would prefer not to tell anyone. I worry about the ramifications." Walker looked at Scy with a steely gaze. He tried to convey his desire to remain silent for now which she nodded and epted.


    "If that is what you desire sir hero. But please remember that any enforcer will record any skill for the archive at any time. The enforcers knew they needed to ept his desires but also wanted to make sure that if he changed his mind they would listen. It was almostedic how knowledge hungry they were to study the systems of the world.


    "In that case, I should see how my little leviathan brothers and sisters are doing against the supporters. I have been teaching them to have courage in the face of a terrifying enemy and it seems to be making them much tougher." Scy let out a soft but evil sounding giggle. This made the enforcer straighten up since they had seen the training tactic themselves.


    "I might as well get over there and watch. Maybe I can learn something from watching." Walker knew that he was not in the best shape and his body was way too sore to actually train more without causing the opposite effect, However, he still wanted to let his mind grow and adapt to new sights and skills. It was one way to expand his strength while not training his body.


    "I would dly wee you to do so. It will also help our enforcer friends to watch over you in case you require additional care by having you stay in one ce." Scy started to step on the air toward a group of far away enforcer trainees. Walker could only make out their movements seemingly avoiding those of a levitating snake.


    When the enforcers assisted him in getting closer, Walker finally saw the small leviathans in their full horror. The long eel like shape matched with the vicious needle like teeth was the face of nightmares.


    As he stopped and stared at the attacks Scy jumped in with a very slow but concentrated sh of her fan. It was always toward a group of supporters. They would group up while using skills and start to lose focus on the battle itself. Therefore, Scy would teach them not to in the slow and easy to predict move.


    The secondary bonus was that the supporters or mostly healers would need to move the injured at a second''s notice. The benefit of this would be immense in a real battle. There would be less loss on either the supporters or the injured. This would also make an army''s might greater over time but that was not what Walker cared about when watching this. He could only think about how many more people would avoid pain and death.


    The most impressive thing Walker saw as this training went on was the development of paired supporters. Those that could buff and heal would pair with debuff supporters to maintain a bnce in their own protection. It was an ideal strategy.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 489 - 489. Unique Strategy

    The supporter squad was rushing around and falling like flies. Scy was still increasing her attacks though, she was determined topletely exhaust the elves to make sure that they were thoroughly trained. When Thest elf fell and the enforcers around saw this they rushed in to check for injuries and anything wrong.


    "Your strategy is very unique," Walker said this as Scy walked over to him and sat down next to him.


    "Yes, my family is very interesting. I told those little elves some fun facts but since you shared I will tell you too. These leviathans were all born at the same time as me. We managed to find each other over the years and I know there is one left out in the world. We are bonded due to my monster traits, just like the ancient monster Scy. You can tell where I got my name."


    Walker took this information like it was gold. Knowing things about such a unique system was a blessing even if he never met another person with it in his entire life.


    "You know, I spend my time shocking myself and others with my system and how strange it is, But I find myself much more interested in others'' systems. They all seem to have their own paths that lead to the very top of what they are talented in." Walker was thinking about all the mastery skills he had seen before and all the amazing things they did.


    "Have you heard the phrase, the grass is always greener on the other side? You sound like you want the grass you don''t have in your pasture. Yet, there are others that feel the very same way about your grass." Scy used the phrase that many of the farmers in her kingdom would use. They often would fight overnd that they thought was better than others just to grow the same quality and amounts of produce.


    "That''s a good saying. I know that I would never give up[ what I have. I was pretty lucky to manage to hit the requirement to unlock this system. But I still wonder if there will ever be a real mastery skill for me or if I will just need to reach the highest level possible." Walker would still


    think of this for some time but he could focus on the training that he was watching around him.


    "If it helps. I have not been able to use my mastery skill. I have it but it is locked behind a quest. I Need to find my sixth leviathan sibling so that we can all have our mastery skill. That wille in time though, it is something I can feel." Scy had only told this a few times but since she got here and spent time with the party she was feeling much more rxed than her usual days in the demi-human kingdom. She could only attribute it to the excitement of finding and seeing new things paired with the distance from the demon worries at home.


    "Then I will keep an eye out as I travel. The only thing I wonder is if it will really be as small as the others." Walker was saying this while he watched the leviathans shrink smaller and smaller in size to hide inside Scy''s flowing robes.


    "They are most likely their true size since they can only swim in the air and change their size when in a specific area around me," Scy admitted this because she believed that the party would be lucky enough to find herst leviathan family member. They just seemed to have a knack for running in to things like that.


    "So it could be massive. That is a little scary but if it is family with you I am sure someone would be able to reason with it." Walker''s hopeful theory was defeated with one look at Scy.


    "Only those who I see as friends or are marked with my scent are usually left alone. I have yet to meet this one so they may be more wild¡­" Scy was wondering how she had managed to not hear a single word of where this leviathan was. She could feel the connection but never knew where to look. It was frustrating for her.


    "Well, never mind all that. We have plenty of other training groups to check up on." Scy pulled Walker from the ground and dragged him through the air toward a group of archers that had a myriad of supplies and tools around them.


    "Look who made it over here. Did you force your groups to train and pass out so fast? It''s only been about three hours." Gilughed like he had been here for only a few minutes. In rtion, some of the archers were pale as they tried different variations of materials to make a reusable arrow.


    "Have any of you even trained? It looks like a children''s craft hour." Scy had hoped to see the elemental arrows flying and causing massive attacks and area of effect magic. But instead, she was watching elves y with materials like crafters.


    "They saw my reusable arrows and are trying to do the same. I told them that with trade being opened they me export more crystals and not have the materials. This means they need to train their arrow making skills to create arrows that can be infused with elemental mana which can be used multiple times." Gil was very proud of his sound thinking. "So far we have three promising prototypes." Gil led them to the center where there were three arrows with different materials used in the center of a sheetid out.


    Walker couldn''t help but wonder what materials had gone in to them. He also noticed that Scy was much more interested now that she could see the progress of this kind of training.


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 Chapter 490 - 490. Prototype Arrow One

    "My first idea was topare the arrows each of us made in a shoot out against some dummies. But then I realized that they all would only be able to use their arrows once which is a huge waste of resources. So, I had them get materials and begin to experiment after showing them my arrows." Gil wasying one of each version of the elemental wither spike arrows from his quiver on to the sheet.


    "Those are the arrows he had made with the monster materials we received from auctions and the assistance of a unique cksmith." Walker gave Scy the basics so that she would understand where the arrows came from.


    "Then what results do each of your arrows have? Are they more powerful than those crystal ones that they have in a row there?" Scy could tell that the crystal arrows which were in a row next to the ones Gil hadyed out had slightly more elemental mana than the ones that he had ced.


    "Theirs have more of a punch than mine but can only be used once so they drain the resources much more. Mine can be used two to five times depending on the element they are used with. If they are used with the light elemental mana five times. If they are used with the fire or darkness elemental mana two maybe three."


    Scy took this information with a serious look on her face. She was thinking how many times it would be applicable for an archer in a battle to call for more arrows. Most of the time they would end up needing to salvage them from the frost line of a battle to make sure that they were not running out of their stock. "In the end, it wille down to longevity versus instant power."


    "Exactly and since we have these three we can see if the elves have struck gold." Gil grabbed the three arrow prototypes and then drew a deep breath. "Bring any other prototypes to me now! We will enter the testing phase then move to mass production of sessful creations!" Gil''s shout made Walker''s ears hurt but got his message across.


    The elves all jumped in to the hustle and bustle of clearing the archery range they had made at their desired training location. Gil moved to the frost along with three elves that must be the creators of the arrows. "Sir hero, I have one more please test it for me." An elf rushed up while affixing the final bit of twine to the arrow head to get the arrow finished.


    "Alright, four arrows. In order ofpletion will use this one. Please exin what you used and why it should survive." Gil said this and an elf came forward.


    "That arrow is made from foxwood and spark stone. I believe it will be a reusable fire elemental arrow that we can easily carve and assemble even when we are not in the city." The elf had chosen these materials for their affinity for fire elemental mana along with theirmon status throughout most of the continent.


    "It is well bnced and holds a red coloration so it will be easy to differentiate in battle at a nce. However, the spark stone looks like it might be brittle so we may need extra arrow heads. Lets''s test it out." Gil drew the arrow which had already been infused with fire elemental mana.


    The arrow began to glow with a fiery mana before Gil released it. The arrow managed to travel smoothly and near the target, however, before it reached the target it burst in to mes. Therge fireball spewed the shards of the spark stone which popped in their own small fireballs around it.


    The elves let out a sad sound of disappointment as they began discussing the reasons for the failure. "This arrow is sessful, just not for our goals. This is ideal forrge groups to burn them and tormenting them, but poor for ending an enemy. This can help break up the front line or oing attacker." Gil looked and saw what was left, "Just as I had feared the only part left is a singed arrow shaft."


    The elf that had made the arrow was sup[rised that Gil hadbled it a sess. He didn''t realize that the arrow could still be useful for a different situation than he had intended. "I will make sure I properly record the design and look to improve it. Thank you sir hero." The elf backed away and allowed for another toe forward.


    "My arrow is made from marsh log. It is a soft wood that growspletely underwater. The arrow head is made from shell stone, it is found inke beds." The elf was motioning to the white and grey arrow that looked like it had been petrified under the water for years.


    "So water element, not easy to tell if it is water or light but It sounds like it will pack a punch with the affinity." Gil had heard of shell stone and knew it wasmon. However, he did not know how well the marsh log would do since it most likely was gathered from the hard to explore swampnds.


    Scy was eager to see this next arrow as well. She had bepletely absorbed after seeing the elemental mana within the first arrow and now couldn''t wait to see the second. Just the knowledge that there were so many options for the arcane archers made her wish she had a simr system. But that was only for a moment since she knew she could never stay far away and fight with a bow.


    Gill took a deep breath and notched the arrow, After taking aim and channeling some mana the blue glow of the arrow showed that it was ready to take off.


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 Chapter 491 - 491.Arrow Two And Three

    Gil let the arrow fly off toward the dummy. Unlike thest arrow, this one flew and easily impacted the training dummy. With a slight burst of water elemental mana the dummy was suddenly coated in dripping water. These drops began to solidify and create very thin needles of ice all over the dummy.


    Gil ran up to the dummy and inspected it. "The ice needles prate only in to the topyer of the dummy. The arrow looks fairly intacted. The power may be lower but the durability against the water element is very good. It has nearly no damage to it and could be used seven or eight time by my guess." The elf jumped in joy hearing this.


    "Sir hero, I will immediately record this and request that one of the arrow smiths take it for production and improvements." The elf was overjoyed that they had managed toe uop with this new arrow. It may not be powerful but it was great for single target strikes and reusability.


    "That arrow will be great for taking prisoners or even stopping thieves." Scy saw the strength of the arrow for what it really was. It was not a killer but instead a way to easily stop an enemy in their tracks.


    "I believe that will be very helpful for when crime jumps due to the city opening," Walker said this and saw many of the worried looks from the levs around him. "It is an inevitable part of travelers. Don''t worry it will be spoken about with the queen and such arrows will assist in preventing things." His reassurance made them rx again and focus back on Gil.


    "Sir hero, my arrow is made from thetle vine and the arrow head is taken from the horn of a moss deer. They shed their horns once a year and are rarely used for anything but jewlery. But they are great for enhancing earth elemental mana." The elf had created an arrow with a green and brown coloration leading to an arrow head that appeared to be growing some small pieces of moss.


    "The arrow head appears to be durable but if it grows moss too easily it could throw off aim. Overall it looks good though." Gil was happy to see themon materials that had been repurposed in to the arrow. If this worked then the material that was thought to be only usable for jewelry. This meant that there would be plenty to make arrows out of and not much trade for them.


    Reading the bow with this third prototype arrow Gil used his mana to activate it. The earth elemental mana started to grow dense in the ara making every elf focus immediately. This was more powerful than normal and they all knew the reaction would be as well.


    When Gil released the arrow there was a slight shift in the earth on the training floor. The earth was slightly uplifted in the path that the arrow had traveled and when the dummy was struck they all witnessed one of the fastest movements of earth they had ever seen.


    The earth jumped up and began to reim the arrow while also dragging the dummy underground. In a matter of minutes the arrow, dummy, and their breath seemed to be pulled under the earth. "I would say that is a sess. The arrow is lost underground, but the dummy is alsopletely destroyed. Congrattions on this. Still one use arrow but it can deal with an incredibly strong enemy." Gil could only praise the elf for his creation. It was a massive boon for the arcane archers.


    "Yes, thank you very much for evaluating my creatin. I will do my best to improve it for the future of my people." The elf was nearly in tears seeing that his prototype arrow had performed so well. This was something that any of the arcane marksmen would remember for generations. It was not every day that a powerful new arrow was sessfully created, But it was also rare for them to be able to solely focus on making them.


    "Now for ourst and final arrow." Gil had waited for the trainees to move another dummy in to ce and return to a safe distance.


    The elf that had rushed up with their arrowst minute came forward again. "Sir hero, my arrow is made from the white pine tree that requires high amounts of light elemental mana to grow. The arrow head is made from silver quartz, it ismon and only forms in the sunlight as well. I tied them together with a single strang of unicorn hair from my bow," The elf appeared to be nervous.


    "Are you sure they can even hold the light elemental mana? Those materials are for channeling it not storing." Another elf was worried that the arrow wasn''t going to do anything.


    "I don''t want it to store it. I want it to gather from the air as it travels." This was an interesting change of ideals. The elf had given up the idea to store away the light elemental mana for one that would gather it in transit. "It only needs a little of the user''s mana to start drawing the light elemental mana toward it." The elf had their theory and the others started to ept it slightly.


    "So you have tried a different path altogether. Isn''t this like the light elemental rune formations then?" Gil made the rtion and the elf nodded in reply.


    "I think if they were carved with light elemental rune formations that the arrows could be even stringer. But it needs to be tested." The elf was excited and visibly biting their tongue to keep from rushing off on their theories and tangents. Seeing this Gil decided that it was best for him to move on and give them the final tests they needed to prove or disprove the creations and theories they wanted to pursue.


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 Chapter 492 - 492. Best Arrow Number Four

    Gil released the arrow after giving it some of his mana. Unlike the other arrows, when Gil added his mana to it there was a sudden pulling of light element around them. It wasn''t powerful but it was a much different sensation. Everyone could tell that the arrow was much different than any they had used before.


    As the arrow traveled through the air it was clear that it was gaining more and more of the light elemental mana. The shape and color were changing in to that of a bright white arrow of double the size. The light was manifesting all around the arrow as a physical attack.


    Before anyone could speak on this amazing phenomenon the arrow hit the dummy dead center. The surprising part was that it did not stop. It pierced through the dummy and embedded itself in the wall. The light elemental mana slowly faded from the arrow after it was stopped and the entire room held a deep silence.


    Gil walked to the wall and pulled the arrow out from it. He examined it slowly and carefully then returned to everyone that was waiting. He slowly held the arrow up, "This arrow has properly survived the use without a single scratch and performed better than most other arrows we have!" The trainees were instantly roused in to cheers and shouts.


    Gil smiled while handing the arrow to the stunned elf that had created it. "If you can make this work with other elements I believe we will have a revolutionary new form of magic and physical arrows." Gil patted the elf on the shoulder and spoke to Walker and Scy next. "That went well, I almost feel bad telling them that now they need to experiment and produce these new arrows."


    "Yes! Make more of them. I want to see what every element will do. They are all different correct?" Scy had lost he usual calm self and was fully taken over by her curiosity. She could simply be described as a battle maniac who needed to see the new ways to attack.


    "Yes yes, Of course there will be. Once they are done if any elves can still stand we will test them out." Gil was afraid of Scy acting this way. She was already a domineering person due to the monster traits she had. However, when the energy of curiosity and excitement were added she became downright terrifying in his eyes.


    "I think you should break the news to them, Gil, they might rush off to celebrate in the streets." Walker was trying not tough at the elves who were basically dancing and getting ready to leave after apleted day.


    "Listen up!" Gil''s voice reached the loudest it could yet again. The elves were excited to hear his continued thoughts on the arrow and had no idea what he was about to say, "We will now work together to produce every single elemental version of these arrows. Then if you can stand after making ten each, then we will test them. Please consult with the expert that made the prototype on what materials should work for the other elements!" Gil stepped back and watched the elves fall in to the abyss.


    Walker knew that their mood would fall so far but hearing the potential for the other elemental arrows using different materials made them a little excited. Gil hadn''t even needed to mention that he thought they should look in to adding runes in to the arrows so that they might build the elemental mana faster.


    "Look at the one hebeled as the expert. His face is redder than any fruit but now he is being hounded by all of the others. He will have a bright future ahead after this." Scy had noticed the promising elf that had created the arrow. She always had a soft spot for those that were so young and full of possibilities.


    "I think they will be busy for a while over here. Think you can help me take a look at the other training?" Walker was a little interested to see how Midnight and Onyx were getting along with the mage squads. Unfortunately, the training area was toorge to easily pinpoint where they were and he was not ready to use his mana to try and reach his senses out farther and figure out where the mages were. His mana and health may have been recovered but the mental and physical exhaustion was still prevalent.


    "That sounds like the perfect way for us to kill the time. I knew you were a smart warrior." Scy didn''t hesitate to grab and drag Walker toward another group of elves training. This group was easily discerned from the shields and blocking techniques they were using. There was also Su in the middle of them showing her shield bashing and deflection skills. The elves were trying to copy her and apply them to their own skills.


    "Leader, general Scy. What brings you here? Have you two alreadypleted the training?'' Scy had already said she didn''t want to be called general until the others arrived but it appeared that Su was just too formal for her. She even addressed Walker by Leader.


    "We have exhausted our squads. The supporters I trained were a little worse for the ware but should have gained valuable insight."


    "And I may have gone too far but the enforcers came and healed me up, full mana and all."Walker knew that Su could see right through his tiredness around his eyes. He did not dare to lie to her about it.


    "Leader, if you need to rest please take a seat here and witness these trainees'' growth." Su worried for Walker but knew that he could handle staying awake and learning so she insisted he at least sit. She had been showing the elves a decent amount and it was nearly time to put them to the tests.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 493 - 493. Lacking

    "Leader, I learned that the defenders of the elf city are more used to projectiles and blocking magic. This is mostly because that is their strength inbat so of course, they will learn to defend against it." Sui started out by reporting her findings. "My conclusion was that the elves would not be able to defend against physical attacks and also not be able to use their defensive moves to attack themselves. This was true."


    Walker could already see this in the training around them,. Su had show then her shield bash skill and each and every elf was trying something simr. Most would attempt the skill and end up using one that was more like deflecting. The problem with this was that if they only deflected the attacks could still hit someone to their side that wasn''t properly covered by the shield.


    "The training has progressed slightly but they are having trouble mastering the frontal attacks I wish to show them. I n to have them work on their strength somehow as well. They can hardly move a heavier shield so when they need the higher defensive stats they are unable." Su was very unhappy with this fact. The elves were not made for heavy physical attacks in the first ce, add that to theck of investment in to their defense and attack stats then they were leftcking.


    "I think you should have Remey switch with you then. She could put them through some harsh lessons." Su had not considered switching. She knew that Remey had taken those who are able to attack in closebat and that they would have a simr weakness to the defenders. They had most likely not gone against someone able to properly block their attacks and even hit back in a proper counter.


    "I like that idea. I am going to go recruit the squad." Scy stepped through the air to get Remey and her trainee enforcers. She saw that there was a chance to get some sparring running and wanted to push it.


    "Leader, are you really alright? I can tell you need to rest. If you want to we can wait some time." Su was noticing the slow motions which were very unlike Walker. She knew his mind was still clear but he was slow and not in the proper shape.


    "It is just the mental stress. I have a lot to update you guys on tonight. I only hope that the king is another day away so we can n things a little more." Walker''s hope was simply to recover and be in the best possible shape for the meetings. He also knew that he had been holding on to the moon silk robes until the king was there. It was the king''s gift for the queen and not the party''s.


    Su wanted to push Walker to rest more since she was always wanting to help someone heal better. There were many reasons she was always so willing to go and help at the cathedral. One was her general care for others, one thing that the entire party saw at the core of her being.


    "Look, Scy already got them to head over. It looks like Remey has already pushed them pretty far so they might have a lot of pent up annoyance to throw at your shields." Walker''s assumption was correct. Remey had been suppressing the trainees nonstop for the past few hours.


    "You look like you have already been put through the wash twice." Remey also saw the look of deep tiredness in Walker''s eyes.


    "Just a few times. I am pretty sure my squad still needs a few hours until they can walk again though." Walkerughed a little to try and make the two feel morefortable.


    "Remey, I would like to switch ces and have your squad teach my squad how to take a hit and also let them learn to attack with their shields." Su was right out and in to the nning. She didn''t want to waste even a second if they could be working toward the goals of the quest.


    "Sure thing. I just can''t promise that any of them can actually hit. They have all their fury bundled up and put away. I doubt they have it in them to release any strength. At most, you will feel a light p and that''s if they trip while attacking." Remey said all of this in the most brutal and disgusted manner she could. Seeing the elves'' skin crawl as they became angrier was what she wanted.


    "I think Remey has warmed them up enough. You two should switch." Scy pushed them on and Syu made the announcement.


    "Listen up. We have joined together. Attackers with closebat skills will target those with guarding skills. The guarding side will attempt to defend and then attack as well. Those who dodge from my side will be punished by taking a hit from Remey." Su was serious enough about this training to allow Remey to be the fear that drove the elves farther.


    After Su added the punishment it was clear that the elves had been told of Remey''s brutal nature. She may have only shown her squad her might but the other had been educated by Su who had used Remey as an example in her exnations. They all knew that Remey could knock them t with her weakest jab.


    Su and Remy watched as the elves started to pair up and train against each other. This was slow and it was clear that the training was still below an eptable level. "General Scy, would you like to join Remey and me in the training. It appears that they are still not grasping the feeling of attacking and defending with all their might." Su said this calmly, but Walker could tell that she had a great deal of determination.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 494 - 494. Fist And Shield

    The four were watching very carefully for those that stood out as needing additional incentive. Walker wasn''t going to participate but he did not have any problem with pointing someone out to the girls. "See the one with the green and brown thin shield? They are doing well but their partner isn''t hitting well." Scy spotted the first that was not giving it their all or had not fully grasped the training.


    "General Scy, please allow me to show them a taunt from a real shield user." Su moved in to the group and easily avoided the chaos of the training. She dodged around the elves with her eye for details, every small movement made her slightly adjust to often narrowly avoid an oing pair.


    She raised her shield and fixed her gaze on an elf attacking the shield user with a set of small daggers. This elf was constantly letting their attacks be swatted away without any resistance. This was eitherplete disregard for the training or the elf was unable to tap in to the anger that most closebat types like Remey used to fuel their hard hitting attacks.


    "You spineless worm! Do you think attacks like that will do anything against an opponent? You are lucky to even be breathing right now." Su had been taking lessons from Remey on insults so she could taunt better. The change was still very strange since Su was always so calm and level headed.


    Walker realized that he had never been affected by Su''s taunt and didn''t know what the effects would feel like. However, as he watched the elf turn red with anger he had an idea that taunt was a skill that would in essence increase the anger from the insult used.


    "First that girl tells us we are all weak over and over and now youe over to tell us too?!" The elf had flown in to a rage and charged at Su. The dagger that struck now meeting her shield and produces a harsh metal scraping sound.


    "You call that a dagger strike? The undead hit harder than you and they don''t have muscles." Su''s taunt wasn''t necessarily wrong since the undead were actually fairly powerful. The party had learned this first hand by meeting certain undead that they were very powerful. But the elf didn''t know this and was pushed even further by the taunt.


    A few of the other trainees were watching this and took note of the situation. "Looks like they are distracted. Time for me to jump in." Remey cracked her knuckles and ran in towards a shield user who was standing stationary watching the taunting happen.


    Remey clicked her tongue looking at the eld barely holding a shield in front of her. "You look like a scaredmb after a soft hit. Pathetic." The shield user felt their blood run cold as they processed being called weak after being knocked off their feet. "I at least thought you would go farther but I guess I was wrong. Useless."


    Remey''s words were heard by others around and caused a few trainees to move with more purpose and force. Scy had gotten restless and was moving in to the area herself. She had been watching very carefully to pick out the areas that were missed by Remey and Su. This brought her dead center of the room to let her leviathans out to y yet again.


    "Think you are all too rxed so I am asking my siblings to join you for some exercise." Remey and Su hesitated for a split second while watching the small leviathans swim through the air and try to chomp down on shield users and closebat alike. This was terror in true form for the elves.


    This addition brought peals of evilughter to Scy as she watched the trainees be double as intense. They did their best to avoid the needle sharp teeth of the leviathans which were softly and slowly attacking those who were distracted. If Walker were to tell the elves that the leviathans were not using their real strength at all he was sure they would faint or quit on the spot,


    Once Su and Remey had grasped the situation they felt more excited. This alone spread on their faces and Su began to taunt multiple elves and Remey was knocking over shield users like they were dominoes. The three added to the training and the two squads together had increased the pace and intensity almost triple what it was just moments ago.


    There were still moments where an elf would get tossed aside by Su''s shield bash making the elves jump back in shock. It was very amusing but nice to watch them begin to learn the unique situations that the shield could be used to attack. This was still a foreign style to them, it would be for most who defended and were not using a weapon as a counter skill.


    Remey was shaking the foundations of those defending. This was forcing them to adopt stronger stances and better style overall. She was even pushing their emotions higher and higher which was making them work to remain calm and use their skills under stress.


    Scy was just terror. Her attacks with her fans would wildly change the partnerships due to how the elves needed to dodge and shift meaning that they were now near different elves. This made them expand their training partners and adaptations. The leviathans were the wild card that chomped down near anyone that let themselves slip. This alone was a major factor in keeping everyone''s awareness up.


    Before Walker knew it he was starting to drift off while watching the battling between the elf trainee squads. The next thing he knew he was waking up from his slight nap to a bunch of worn out elves who were equalled by the nearly passed out Su and Remey.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 495 - 495. Hidden

    Walker pushed himself up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was kicking himself mentally since he hadn''t meant to drift off in to a nap at all. The fact that he had missed some valuable training made him angrier than anyone else could be at himself. But that wasn''t what was the most important to him at the moment, he wanted to check on Remey and Su who had both lost their fire.


    "You two look like you''re ready to sleep and be done for the day." His words were met with tired nces and Walker wondered if Su would even be able to lift her shield.


    "The enforcers gave us mana potions, but they are still not fixing this sore feeling." Su knew the potions could only heal injuries and not remove the muscle soreness that came with long term training.


    "I wish they could but if they did it would undo any growth in our bodies. Why is the world like this!" Remey stretched out on her back in a huff since she knew she could never beat the world. This was just something that everyone had to ept in their lives.


    "Well, I am d you guys finished up. I hope I didn''t get in the way the entire time." Walker was a little self conscious of him being too worn out himself to jump in.


    "Not at all. I had a great time bonding with some other storing women." Scy walked over still appearing to be full of energy. "I rarely get to be partnered with any due to the majority of our warriors being male, it is just the way of nature when ites to most demi-human traits." Scy had also epted this. There were a decent amount of powerful female warriors in her kingdom, but they were vastly overshadowed by the male warriors.


    "Why do I have the feeling that you could still do the training ten more times and still be just as energetic?" Walker was more speaking out loud than anything but his words still managed to bring a smile to Scy''s face.


    "On the contrary to appearances, I have used two thirds of my mana since we began the training." Her words came out in a tone that spoke of exhaustion but in reality, it was nothing. She might as well have been bragging about her massive mana reserves.


    "I would hate to know how much mana you have or even what level you are. There are reasons I don''t use my all around appraisal skill sometimes." Walker was trying to cover his eyes since he was afraid he would be tempted to use the skill. If he did he would spend all of his time potentially knowing the true strength of a kingdoms'' general and live with minor fear towards her.


    "You shouldn''t be able to appraise me at all. I have a nice essory that prevents it." Scy shed a pure white ring that had the word Ordist engraved on it. "Every high ranking general,mander, even elite soldiers get one of these. It is specially made from the bone of a certain species of monster. It naturally hides its identity." Scy only showed them for a second but it was an amazing item.


    "Leader, we may want to gain one of those in the future." Su was thinking about how useful this could be when they were traveling. There may be a day when they were trying to hide their identities and remain hidden. This essory would be just the key.


    "I can see if we can send some to you. We protect these monsters'' territory but are usually able to spare some of the remaining bones." Scy said this as if she was dangling a steak in front of a hungry dog. Walker did his best to hold back and keep from taking the bait.


    "Where are Midnight and Onyx? Shouldn''t they be done already?" Remey had realized that the entire training area was a little too quiet and that might mean that all the training had beenpleted.


    "Oh no, I believe they are still making the mages work for it. That squad was already double the size and they had two of them." Scy had expected that the mages and the archers would take the longest to exhaust themselves and was being proven correct. "Look over that way. You can see small shes of white from light magic. Then I can sense the mana being pulled that way where the archers are still messing with their arrows like children." Scy was shaking her head but they all knew she wanted to see the arrows when they werepleted.


    "Well, since our bodies are healed let''s go over and watch. I am sure you have been dying to see the mages." Remey wanted to just sleep but felt that she would be letting everyone down if she did not watch and learn something more.


    "I didn''t expect you to want and go check it out. But I really do want to watch the magic." Walker was honest in his desires and also his thoughts.


    "Just because I am tired doesn''t mean I am going to bail on everyone." Remey stood up and stomped toward the mages in a huff and mumbled under her breath.


    "Leader, I believe Onyx will gain the most understanding from this training. Hew has the least battle experience and has been testing himself for some hours now." Su was trying to predict just how much Onyx would change through this.


    Once he had heard Su, Walker knew that they were in for a great show. If Onyx had adapted well his style will have shown itself and he could better fit in to the party. There was the sneaking suspicion that he wouldn''t be as much of a supporter as they had all believed, especially with his size.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 496 - 496. Sealing

    Walker was d that Scy couldn''t pick up and drag all of them in the air to the mage training squads. He didn''t feel like he could handle more of the sudden agility she had when running through the air. He also knew that in her excitement she might justnd too hard and knock him out.


    "They seem to have pushed all but one tenth of the mages to exhaustion. It''s impressive that the little snake is sorge and domineering now. I would love to watch some of our young warriors take little Onyx on for a match." Scy adored the terrifying possibility of giant monsters and the pressure put on warriors that face them. If she were to have it her way she would have many monsters to assist in training every single young warrior.


    "I think he will need a break after this. I have a feeling that the only reason he is still moving is because he is absorbing their light elemental mana constantly."Walker was watching some of the weaker spellspletely dissipate as they reached Onyx.


    "I see that but who is that with Onyx?" Su was curious about the female elf that was throwing out light des here and there. "Her attacks are nearly instant which is much faster than the other spell swords. She might not be a spell sword." Su made this decision after seeing yet another thrown light de in an instant.


    "I think Onyx made a friend! It''s so cute." Remey was instantly infatuated with the fact that their youngest member had made a friend while training. "I can''t wait to see him introduce us. Do you think he will be shy?"


    Walker tried to ignore Remey being dramatic but found that he was bing more and more curious about the skills that allowed the elf to use the thrown de skill that would normally take some time to build up, even if it was a short time.


    "I have seen something simr before but with water magic. It was when I was just entering the kingdom and learning about the water affinity I have. I tried my best to seek out a magic teacher since I do have some magic skills. The man I found used skills in an instant as well." Scy was reminiscing a little but realized that she had drawn the group''s attention.


    Realizing this Scy coughed and stood a little taller, "The mage was using two different skills. He could use instant cast which would automatically prepare a skill as if he had a second mind. That skill though still showed the mana being pulled toward him. What that elf is using and what the man I called master used was from a set of sealing skills."


    "Of course! If she is sealing the thrown light des then she is able to release the seal at a moment''s notice and send them at an enemy. It would be a brutal surprise attack with nearly zero chance to miss." Walker was feeling enlightened now that he knew what he was watching.


    "That is rather amazing...I heard that sealing skills are normally in the exorcist system or the high priestess systems." Su had heard of these systems and the fact that they could also seal things while she was peaking to the healers at the cathedral.


    "So, that elf will seal away a light elemental attack somehow then use it to destroy an opponent." Remey was looking down at her fist wondering if she could find someone that could seal her punching attacks but quickly thought that it might make her unable to use her hands.


    "If I could seal some of my magic spells then I might be able to bring them all out at once when we are in trouble." Walker had begun to think out loud and didn''t care that the others were looking at him. Scy in particr was wondering just how knowledge hungry Walker was. She had already known that he gained three new skills and was trying for more already.


    "I wouldn''t try that if I were you." Wade made his reappearance after having done some of his own work with the trainees that had fallen. He and Alma had been in charge of moving them to a better resting ce while the party and Scy continued the training.


    "And what makes you say that?" Scy was curious why Wade would try and stop Walker from learning another skill that could be very valuable in the future.


    "Not only does sealing the spell require you to have that elemental affinity you will fail immediately. The skill wouldn''t even work. On top of that, you need to use elemental mana crystals or another catalyst with double the elemental mana to seal the skill. That means the strongest spells usually can not be sealed at all unless you have a mystery sealing skill." Wade had once thought that the sealers in the world would be an untouchable system user but when he found the price to use the skills he realized they were harder than expected.


    "I see, so I could get double as strong as my strongest spell and still struggle to seal it properly." Walker was slightly dejected but d to have Wadee to check on them in such an opportune moment.


    "I also don''t want to see you take the risk of sealing a spall and having it run out of control. Once you begin a sealing skill the thing being sealed fights back. Whether it is mana or monster or human, it will try and stop from being bound. The natural mana, in particr, will try and spread out as much as possible." This was another reason Wade did not try to encourage people to have skills or other things sealed.


    "Well, that girl is doing great with her sealing skills." Remey pointed out another thrown light de that appeared to be building up."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 497 - 497. Tag?

    The same elf with the sealing skills had used three sealed light thrown des in a row. These were easily countered by Onyx who tried to m his tail down at her. The fact that they were thest two in the group Onyx was sparring with that could still stand was attributed to Onyx absorbing the light elemental mana constantly and the fact that the elf girl had been using her sealed attacks with cost less mana to release.


    "Onyx is really going all out. He is using his size to keep the girl cornered by also changing his size slightly to make that tail attack harder to predict." Su was watching very carefully and was catching on to Onyx''s shadow growing and shrinking between his attacks.


    "He is also trying to use his size to wrap around her while they move. She is smart to keep moving in sharp motions instead of long rounded ones." Scy and Su were slowly starting to fall in to a habit of sharing their thoughts on battle strategy and natural movement. Walker could only hope that this would not mean Su would gain some of the horror that Scy could show.


    The elf that Onyx was against suddenly waved a sword ten times all in the same spot. The instant reaction of piled up thrown light des stuck in the air made everyone be hyper focused. The elf then thrust her sword in to it and ran forward. The de had taken in the elemental light mana and was now making the sword much more powerful.


    "That is a high level skill. To release so many seals then fuse them at once? There is no way that isn''t high level." Wade was not familiar with this specific skill but knew it must be tough to use especially in battle.


    "That is the final attack. She is clearly low on mana and used that as the final trump card." Scy could tell from the slightly sloppy movements that the elf was about to pass out on her feet.


    Onyx started to wind up and prepare arge tail m at her. When the two were near enough the pull of Onyx trying to absorb the light elemental mana was not enough to get rid of the elemental light mana on the sword. Instead, the girl was able to sh down on Onyx''s tail dealing the first real damage to him the entire training. This spell had made the de sharper and tougher which stopped him from being able to absorb the light elemental mana as well as also cutting his scales.


    Before Onyx could push through the pain the girl copsed causing Onyx to hurriedly shrink himself. "Let''s go meet him and see if he will tell us about his new friend." Walker was trying to remain calm but he had felt his heart stop when Onyx was hurt. His worry was that of family and also the fact that he had never seen Onyx injured.


    "Looks like you really did a number on them." Walker greeted Onyx softly so that he wouldn''t startle his obviously exhausted little brother. He also ignored the head ache he gained as he used his healing spells to fix up the small scratches and the final sword attack from the elf. "It looks like you made a good friend while training today."


    "Brother, thank you for healing me. I did make a worthy rival. This elf is able to hide her elemental attacks from me making me react faster. I have improved a lot with her assistance." Walker was impressed by how well Onyx was holding up, He had expected him to want to rest as well.


    "Brother, can you please leave her some light elemental crystals? I can feel that she will need them to replenish the mana she stored up in those items." Onyx didn''t know the details of the sealing skill but could sense that there was not much light elemental mana left in her sword and clothing. This alone was enough to tell him that the elf would need more light elemental mana to fix what she used.


    "Sure thing, I am happy to see you getting along so well. When she feels better you should introduce us." Walker gave Onyx a soft smile and made sure Onyx could feel how proud he was.


    "Has sister finished her game of hide and seek tag yet?" This made everyone curious, however, just in the distance, they could see a small group of mages standing with their backs to each other on high alert.


    "Wait, what has Midnight been doing?" Remey was sure she was missing something fun and was heading toward the group of remaining mages.


    "Onyx, allow me to care for the elves here. The enforcers wille to assist." Wade made sure Onyx wasfortable leaving. Seeing that Walker had already dropped off some of the light elemental crystals near her he gave a slight nod while shrinking more and getting on to Walker''s shoulders.


    "Brother, sister had been watching me the entire time. I was in a little trouble in the beginning but she came over to help. She is the best big sister I could ask for." Onyx wanted to brag about Midnighting to save him. This was a big moment for Onyx in Walker''s eyes since Onyx rarely showed emotions. Hearing these words was enough to possibly make him cry.


    "Promise me you will let Midnight know that when she is finished training. I am d to hear it but she will be the happiest out of everyone to hear that." Walker gave Onyx a few pats on the head which was returned by a slightly tighter grip on Walker''s shoulders. In moments like these Walker could forget about the entire world and just think himself d to be alive.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 498 - 498. Zombie Elves

    Remey was the first to get a proper glimpse of the torture that Midnight had been causing. She was constantly attacking from blind spots and wrapping herself in shadows. Sometimes she would show up in front spread her wings then curl them and dash to either side attacking.


    "The little dragon is an assassin. That is not expected. She would normally be a frontal or magical attacker like other dragons. Yet she has somehow be an assassin, or maybe rogue is a better term." Scy was pondering this as she watched Midnight push a mage who missed three consecutive spells copse.


    "I think she is using the best strategy possible against a mage. The movements are hard to lock on to so they need to continue to adjust spells which slows them down. Then she attacks just enough to deal slight damage and make them unsteady. This will work well while we travel." Su was extremely happy to see the tactics that Midnight had developed through this training. She had a feeling that this was always there and waiting for the chance toe to fruition.


    Midnight was sneaking behind one of the mages after forcing them to split up with a threatening punching motion. The mages knew all too well that they could not block her physical attacks and stayed at a distance. This made them step back and separate leaving them in the position they were in now.


    Midnight quickly goaded them in tpo surprise and they released multiple spells. This quick unthinking attack made them drain more mana than they wanted and caused thest few elves to hit the groundpletely losing consciousness.


    Midnight took a few steps and they fell t too. Her breathing was heavy and she appeared to be more timer than ever before. "Sister never stopped moving the entire time. She said that if she stopped she could get hit." Onyx shared what Midnight had been thinking.


    "I bet that is from the slime attacks. They were deadly once they hit us and that was motivation for me to want high agility." Su spoke out about her own fears after being in that situation. Su already wanted faster agility due to the fact that she had not improved it enough to properly block for everyone easily. After battling the slime she had another reason on the list.


    There was a flurry of enforcersing to heal and fix up the remaining mages only to find that Midnight had not actually harmed a single one. She had spent the entire time exhausting their mana slowly until they fell unconscious of their open ord. "You look like the rest of us. The only one left is Gil now." Midnight let out a soft hiss hearing that it wasn''t time to sleep yet.


    "Actually, he should be done soon right? Those elves can''t have enough energy to keep up making arrows for long." All eyes nced toward where the archers were. Scy in particr wanted to head over and see what they had created.


    "I will pull out some snacks for everyone while we watch. I have plenty of jerky from the horned rabbits that my mother made." Walker was happy to share the snack which also got Midnight back up and moving. He was d to see her well andpletely uninjured. "I heard you kept a good eye on your little brother. Nice job." Midnight was nearly purring as Walker patter her head too. Even more so when Onyx slithered down to her back and spoke to her.


    Walker already knew that the two were sharing a moment so he let them walk in peace. He couldn''t imagine their bond being anything but this way. It was stronger than anyone could ever know. Their different monster species could not matter in the least because at the end of the day they were family and that was all they cared about.


    "Is it just me or did the ground just shake?'' Remey and Su were both standing very still looking toward the archers. They could already see many who had fallen down due to theirck of mana. The only thing was that they were all fallen around the area where they were testing arrows before.


    "I can''t believe they would test those new arrows without me there to wat!" Scy shot from where she was at high speed to see what was going on. She was just in time to see Gil release an arrow radiating darkness elemental mana. "I can''t believe you!"


    Gil was too focused on his arrow in the air to look at Scy, however, Scy was also focused on it and was not looking at Gil either. The arrow was slowly dipping toward the ground even though Gil had shot it straight. This would have been odd but the shadows suddenly jumped up and the arrow disappeared. In the next moment, the shadow appeared under the dummy and pierced it.


    "Darkness elemental arrow using ebony oak and rock scorpion stinger as an arrow head is sessful. It is the best version yet." Gil said this like it had been repeated a hundred times. "Oh, hey. I didn''t think you would all be back so soon. You were here just a minute ago."


    Gil had lost all track of time after they had left. "Umm, yeah...What have you been doing?" Walker saw the dark circles under Gils'' eyes and realized that Gil wasn''t running out of mana due to his absorption skill. This meant that he was piling on the mental stress the entire time.


    "Well, we all tried to make new arrows. The enforcers brought more materials. Some elves made it to the fourth round of testing but most didn''t and these ones here have the same skill as me." Gil pointed to a group of elves that appeared to be more like zombies than elves.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 499 - 499. Go Rest!

    "I think you and your archer friends have tested enough arrows¡­" Walker felt like he was looking at those beyond the grave. The elves that shared the same mana absorption skill as Gil were also arcane marksman. They had been the ones testing the arrows and ruing the mental stress of using their mana over and over. This training had not been like the other squads but opened the elves'' eyes to ideas they had never tested before.


    "If we stop they might lose their fire for invention! They were only making arrows out of crystal because it was easy, now they are using so many different things and it''s working." Gil was too far gone to realize that he needed to take a break. As if to prove that he was still ready he notched an arrow that was giving off slight amounts of fire elemental mana.


    "This arrow was an earlier sess but now it has been made in to the best version of itself. It costs a lot of mana but watch." Gil let the arrow fly and it burst in to a wave of me that spread out in front of him. The size and length was enough to epass five training dummies instead of one and cause them all to have minor burns.


    "Heroes, this one was made by my brother who is resting over there. We named it me wave arrow. It is magnificent!" The elf behind Gil was holding five more of the same me wave arrow and repeatedly smiling at them. He had clearly lost his mental state due to the mental stress of constant mna output.


    "No, my frost ring arrow is better. It can freeze an enemy''s feet and slow them like the snow elf skill frost ring!" A female elf was holding a set of paler blue arrows and arguing what was better. The two proceed to fall in to arguments on what elemental arrow was bet for what situation.


    "Do you see now? The elves have had their creativity all bottled up and it is finally time for it to shine!" Gil was looking at all the arrows that he had yet to test that have been improved in multiple rounds of testing. Juts this training session alone had brought out ideas and new inventions that would have never been done if the city wasn''t opening up to the world.


    "And since you have helped open that door you are all going to rest. That is an order from not only the title holder and highest ranked archer in the kingdom but also the future queen." Wade strolled up with five enforcers behind him who started to take the arrows andy them out in another area away from the still conscious elves. Not a single one refused his order due to the fear that they could be forced to stop for longer.


    "Well, if this is how it needs to be done." Walker epted that Wades'' strategy was the best to get the proper results needed. "Gil, as party leader I order you to get rest with the party and stop training. You have far surpassed the expectations." Walker knew that some praise would also help and saw that Gil''s face was still bright even though a twinge of sadness was there.


    "And you are giving Walker your bow to keep from temptation," Su added to this taking the bow from Gil who was slowly reaching for one more arrow nearby.


    "And you are going to give me your dessert at dinner tonight." Remey tried her luck but was instead met with multiple res. "Or I will just sit over there with Midnight." Remey backed off knowing that she shouldn''t have threatened anyone''s food. Every party member had been victim to Midnights'' attempted thefts so they had grown slightly cautious of their food.


    With Gil having given in and the elves that had still been awake forced to sit and rest the party sat with Scy and Wade. Alma soon approached looking fairly worn herself. "You have all continuously amazed me and today was no different. The elders are already in an uproar after hearing about what you did to the squads without higher permission. I needed to throw around my weight today. I even threatened them with my ivy to no avail."


    Alma was joking about the ivy which was clear to see but the others knew that they had unintentionally brought a lot of work on to her today. "I will take some of that burden. I encouraged them and even lead them there. I still don''t understand the sudden quest for improving the trainees though. It is good overall but feels off."


    Wade had felt this way the entire time but didn''t want to say it.


    "Are you sure it isn''t because we were left out of the quest? I didn''t expect we would have it since we were acting as guides but you should have still gotten some experience from assisting those who exhausted themselves." Alma was sp[eaking like a mother scolding a child.


    "Maybe, I guess it could be." Wade epted it slowly while looking at the party and their tired expressions. "The training you all came up with on the spot was pretty intense. Please don''t tell m,e you are always training like that?" His face showed the disbelief that it couldn''t be true.


    "Our training is usually weird. Sometimes we pair up or do group battles. We were once training against some tamed monsters. Oh, we trained with some demi-humans and a coliseum tournament." Remey listed off just a few instances of training, "And Walker trains al out by himself. He once even spent the night on the front step meditating." Remey giggled remembering the day they found him there.


    Scy took their words with heavy belief. She wanted to restructure her training methods to be more rounded and random like the party''s "Oh, I think the quest should bepleted now." This realization made them all open their eyes wide.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 500 - 500. (Wow) Experience Flood

    The group heard Scy say this and was immediately bombarded by system notifications. Wade and Alma were the only ones not being bombarded at the moment and were trying to understand why the faces of the party and Scy had grown so frozen and pale. This sudden change not only worried them but also made them realize that the entire area had be heavyu.


    The natural mana around them was nearly shivering. This was a rare urrence in the history ofd the elves and could only mean one thing. "This is the world shake." Alma was feeling her own mana cower in the reaction to this.


    "How many elves were there training in the squads? They shouldn''t be causing this with all of them...would they?" Wade thought that the experience gained from this quest would not be enough to cause such a historic reaction known as a world shake. This was reserved for the massive amount of experience points being given in a quest.


    "You don''t think the hero title they have is like the limit break hero title we have recorded in the archive, do you?" The title that Alma had recalled was thest recorded world shake in elf history. It was a title that the snow elves had once imed as their own.


    The snow elves had a member that had be lost in a blizzard while too young to survive on their own. Naturally, they found a monster they shouldn''t have been able to defeat and managed it somehowpletely breaking the limit of what a child should have been able to do.


    "If I remember they receive five times the experience points from every quest. They defeated a berserk ice dragon and the world shake came from the experience points and the survival quest they gained." Wade was feeling weakpared to the dense natural mana surrounding them. He was sure that the entire kingdom was feeling this at the same time.


    "Then...the hero title must be the same. If they assisted all the trainees here and were rewarded the proper experience points." Alma couldn''t speak anymore as pained expressions overtook the party members'' faces. Scy and Onyx were the only two that appeared fine. Surprisingly so did Midnight which was another strange urrence since they knew she also had the hero title.


    "Sister, we received a great amount of experience but our family is not the same." Onyx wanted to try and findfort with Midnight but realized she was alson extremely worried. The party had receivedreg amounts of experience before and not had a reaction like this. However, this was before the system umpgrades and the addition of the heroic leveling system.


    The party had just received not only heroic quest points but also experience points. Thesebined were radically changing their levels and affecting their bodies. This sudden change was not only a shock but causing their minds to be put under intense stress. Inparison to the passing out when they received the system upgrades this was much worse on them.


    Scy forced herself from her stunned state and looked at the others. "I know you can not hear me properly but this will pass soon. Just hold strong through the worlds'' touch and experience flood." Scy had a different name for what was happening due to what the demi-humans called it. But it was still the same urrence.


    "They need to have plenty of food after this to nourish their exhausted bodies and will need rest. We will not require them to move." Scy took charge immediately to get Alma and Wade moving. "The experience flood is a once in a generation achievement, get those who wish to record the information here. I canpare what I gained with assisting since it was simr experience points. That may help us understand what is happening to them."


    Alma was the first to issue orders. There were many enforcers that had started to sprint toward them who had been tending the resting elves. They knew that this was an important moment and felt they should be guarding it. They had trained in many situations but never in such dense natural mana as this. They could feel that using their own skills would be nearly impossible.


    ''Heroic quest: Push the expectation-pleted


    Many of the younger elven enforcers and trainees have gone astray while their masters are out at the border. Show them the strength of a human below their level and instill the desire for strength in their hearts.


    Requirement:


    Train with as many elves as your mana allows


    Reward:


    Exp dependant on those trained and taught


    Heroic quest points dependant on those trained and taught


    All Party members will share these rewards.''


    ''The world had reached out a hand to touch the users'' existence. The rewards are being adjusted.''


    The world shake or experience flood was due to this. The experience had been dependent on those that were trained. So were the heroic points. This made the system need to dole out a massive amount causing the world itself to react.


    ''User''s have exceeded quest expectations. The system has discerned those trained and taught as;


    135- low tier system users


    79- mid tier system users


    22- high tier system users


    19- master tier system users


    8- unique system users.


    The reward has been discerned by these specifications.


    Reward:


    263000 exp. After title multiplication.


    263 heroic quest points


    The users will experience the touch of the world. The rewards will be distributed. The title Educationist has been granted to system users: Walker, Su, Remey, Gil, Onyx, Midnight, Scy.


    Educationist


    This title is bestowed upon those who have made exceptional achievements in the education of those around them. The title will allow the holders to more easily share their knowledge. Those taught by the title holders will have a slightly higher chance of causing those taught by them to have an epiphany. The unique skill information exchange is automatically granted to the title holders. This title is held by twenty three individuals in existence.


    The skill information exchange had been automatically learned.


    Information exchange- 1 mana required


    The use of this skill is restricted to one use every month. The user is able to take a portion of their own knowledge and exchange it with a portion of a students'' Knowledge. The information is copied and sent to the other''s mind. The information can then be learned over one week period before the mana imprint is lost. The user can not exchange methods on how to use mastery or unique skills or gain titles. Other information may be restricted depending on the will of the world.''


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 501 - 501. Level Up

    As much as Walker wanted to read the notifications he knew that the feelings of his head being full of pressure was too much already. The feeling of his body being all pins and needles but also numb at the same time also consumed his focus. The only ones able to react were Scy, Midnight, and Onyx who had just read that they had received a title that was held by many people in existence. This was Midnight''s third title and Onyx''s second. Scy was trying toprehend it as her first.


    Reading the unique skill that the title came with was a massive boon. The fact that it could only be used once a month and be effective for a week was nothing. The skills that Scy could pass down to those who she saw as promising warriors were immeasurably valuable to the kingdom. Many would fight to the death just to be able to have the knowledge of a skill she possessed within their minds for a day let alone a week.


    Time passed as the four were slowly feeling the pins and needles fade away to refreshing cool mana flowing through them. Their mind became clearer and they could feel that they were reaching the end of the experience floor. As soon as it was possible to read what the system had been saying Walker did and was so shocked that he felt his stomach churn.


    Onyx


    Level: 10


    Exp until next level: 15080/102400


    Species: abyssal serpent system


    Hp-80


    Atk-70


    Matk-100


    Def-70


    Mdef-90


    Agi-80


    Mana-106


    User Onyx has reached a level cap due to low age. Level up is currently locked until growth is achieved.


    Midnight


    Level: 17


    Exp until next level: 63000/100000


    Heroic quests until next level: 163/50


    Species: True dragon champion system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-200


    Def-130


    Mdef-130


    Atk-155


    Matk-155


    Agi-110


    Mana-131


    User Midnight has reached a level cap due to low age. Level up is currently locked until growth is achieved.


    Gil


    Level: 41


    Exp until next level: 3000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 5/10


    Arcane Marksman system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-52


    Def-52


    Mdef-52


    Atk-58


    Matk-58


    Char-48


    Agi-54


    Mana-52


    Stat points for distribution- 130


    Su


    Level:41


    Exp until next level: 3000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 5/10


    Draconic guardian system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-58


    Def-61


    Mdef-61


    Atk-53


    Matk-41


    Char-41


    Agi-53


    Mana-53


    Stat points for distribution- 130


    Remey


    Level: 41


    Exp until next level: 3000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 5/10


    Alchemical Brawler system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-58


    Def-57


    Mdef-49


    Atk-62


    Matk-43


    Char-40


    Agi-60


    Mana-66


    Stat points for distribution- 130


    Walker


    Level: 41


    Exp until next level: 3000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 5/10


    Jack of All Trades system


    Title: True hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-50


    Def-50


    Mdef-45


    Atk-50


    Matk-55


    Char-43


    Agi-54


    Mana-60


    Stat points for distribution- 130''


    '' The world mana fades.''


    "Hey!, Hey!" Wade saw the look in their eyes bes more lively and realized that the four had recovered. The natural mana also faded away leaving them able to move and breathe freely. "What happened, are you safe?" Wade was having a minor panic attack due to the fact that the party was still pale and showed that they were unable to process what had happened.


    Walker was the first to grasp the situation and looked at Wade calmly while swallowing down his own shaky nerves. "We are fine...it is just too much to take in right now." He paused for a moment before he continued, "That mana was from the world because we exceeded the exp[ectations of the quest. Apparently, we helped over two hundred and fifty trainees. Who would have thought there was that many divided up in the squads." Walker smiled a little still trying to grasp the entire number. It was just too many.


    "Brother, sister and I are at a level cap. We can not level up until we grow!" Onyx was slightly on edge seeing that he and Midnight could not get stronger." Scy listened and responded first since she was very used to seeing this.


    "You two must have out leveled your ages. I see it in the young warriors in my kingdom often. Your bodies can only grow so fastpared to your level. If you leveled up now you may risk your body being overloaded in some way. I am surprised these four have not reached it yet. The amount of mana I received was fairly high but it looks like they received more." She waited for an answer to what she had been wondering the entire time.


    "Our hero titles grant us a multiplier to experience points, right now we are...level forty one." This caused Remey, Gil, and Su toe back to their sense. "We have one hundred and thirty stat points to spend! If I put them all in to attack I could break anything." Remey was not actually going to do this but she felt that she could have unlimited power.


    "My ability to defend will greatly increase¡­" Su was whispering to herself as she decided how to distribute the points.


    "Walker, I am going to need some time to think on this. We should all have a meeting and discuss these points." Gil was the only one able to look outside himself after reading these things.


    "I believe humans around sixteen are level capped at fifty until they reach the end of puberty. There was one book that exined these things for races." Alma sounded proud to remember this fact.


    "I see, that does make sense. Humans are less forceful in pushing the younger generations to find their systems and level up." Scy knew that in her kingdom the young were dragged everywhere to try everything as soon as possible. Humans would have more freedom to just find what they could do. There was some pushing from parents but it was moreckadaisical.


    " Brother, I also gained a skill from the quest to assist you. It is called, call for a hero." Onyx was still not done sharing what he had also gained. Whether the setting was right or not they were going to have their meeting.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 502 - 502. Call For A Hero

    Onyx was excited to see the new skill he had received from the quest. His feelings were jumbled since it said he needed to grow more to level up but this was eptable since he knew that he could perish if he was able to level up above his body''s means.


    "I also received the skill, should I read it or would you like the lead since you are your partys'' leader." Scy was willing to let Walker read the skill allowed after he looked at Onyx''s information. This was a respectful nod to him since the party was jumping right in to a meeting about what had just urred along with the fact that she was sitting in on it for the moment.


    "We will step back and allow you the privacy you deserve," Wade spoke after grasping the situation and pulled Alma with him. The two ordered the enforcers to return to those trainees that had overexerted themselves and make sure they had not been affected by the dense natural mana that hade from the world shake.


    "Thank you. I will take the lead then." Walker was d to be allowed the lead on this since he was going to look anyways. He also was proud to be held in high respect by a powerful being like Scy.


    ''Call of a hero- 0 mana (dependent)


    In a dire situation the user may call upon the natural mana of the world to answer their call. The natural mana will gather and cause the necessary actions for a hero to be guided or transported to the needed location. This skill will only be answered in the most dire situations and can not be used to any effect unless this condition is met.''


    "Does that mean we could be magically teleported to some ce if needed?" Gil had heard that teleportation magic existed but thought it was an impossible thing, however, this skill sounded like it could cause the world to do just that.


    "It could just be something that sets quests in motion to get a hero to the ce we are needed. That would make more sense." Remey chimed in remembering the quests the party had caused and saw this skill as a start to a chain of quests.


    "It sounds like it will be a great trump card for anyone that gets it. Calling one of us to join a battle could greatly change the tide. Even if we are weaker than opponent or opponents we can assist ion buffs, strategy, healing, and many other aspects." Walker could only see this as a good way for them to save those they made friends with in the future. "I actually wish we could give this skill to people. But that doesn''t look to be possible, maybe others will receive this skill from quests caused by us."


    "That sounds very possible. I am just d that I received it. I will hope never to use it." Scy smiled and stood up from her resting position. "I will refrain from prying in to what you do with your new levels and stat points. I look forward to what you can do now." She stepped away with the desire to explore the market while the party is busy. She had reached her limit of amazing things seen for the day and had some hope that she would be able to rx a little while browsing the new items.


    "Do we even need to talk about the new educationist title? It sounds like it is too amazing." Remey was looking at it and only saw one great benefit.


    Su also had the same thought as Remey and vocalized it, "Walker can learn every single one of our skills if we use the information exchange skill." Su didn''t hold back on this at all. It was clear that she was going to try and make Walker learn all of her blocking skills as soon as possible.


    "I know there are limits to the skill but we should try and be careful with how we use it. Expanding Walker''s skills is great and all. But we should try and pass skills to others besides us. Walker can naturally learn new skills and he can probably learn better than what we share unless the situation needs it." Gil was thinking of how many people they could help as they traveled who would need certain skills to improve.


    "I see this as a way for us to pass on skills to people who would not normally have them. We can make those that are in need strong enough to aplish their goals." Walker also followed Gil''s train of thought and wanted to use this new skill to pass on skills that the less fortunate could use.


    "With that aside, Midnight and Onyx are stuck at their levels. I don''t think we should be worried but we might also hit this around level fifty as Alma said. But we might now. I''m not sure. We are already much higher level than most guards in the city and the average person." This wasn''t a huge problem because Midnight and Onyx were more powerful due to being monsters. However, if it was one of the party it could severely limit them.


    "No leader, we are at the perfect age. The level cap should stop us temporarily while we grow but we may not reach it at all since we should have our own natural growth spurts." Su was very adamant about this. In her mind, they would grow before their level hit a cap. It was the perfect bnce for them.


    "That does make sense. Then the only thing we need to decide is how to distribute these stat points. I believe we all have ideas and desired. But the thing we need to focus on is what weck. Personally, I need mana and more attack and magical attack stats. I will also add some to my defenses and agility. I have the all around ability to change what I am doing and that should reflect in how I distribute them." Walker already had his n outlined and was prepared to put it in to action.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 503 - 503. Stat Points

    "Leader, I believe you should try and focus on magic more. That is where you always lean and shine. You are able to make great physical attacks but your magic is where you exceed in the party." Su made a sound argument and no one else could argue it.


    "Then I will add additional points to magical attack. This should make my attacks stronger and keep everyone safer." Walker proceeded to add the points as he desired.


    '' Hp improved to 54


    Def improved to 70


    Mdef improved to 60


    Atk improved to 54


    Matk improved to 80


    Char improved to 45


    Agi improved to 74


    Mana improved to 100 (not including gear)''


    The system echoed the changes that he made making him feel like the flow of mana in his body was about to run amock. This was many more stat points being distributed than anyone would normally have making this a heavier toll on the body.


    "It looks like this will be harder than I thought. Let me mentally prepare myself to go next." Gill pped his face and stretched his arms. He knew he wouldn''t be ready immediately to deal with the feelings that woulde with these changes.


    "Hasss! Alright. That is that. It was a little rough but I have mine all set up." Walker had let out a loud hiss to rx from the tension he had felt while the points were applied. He now could tell that the changes in his body were fairly major.


    "Gil is just going to pour everything in to magic attack and attack if we don''t watch him. Or wait he might put it all in to charisma." Remey was trying to tease Gill a little but realized her words might end up being more true than they wanted.


    "No, I will try and make my defenses and health higher too. I have been cking on them since I am always in the back. Maybe you should add to charisma." Gil retorted without hesitation.


    "Then if you already know what you need go for it. I believe you had a good grasp on things." Walker pushed Gil to make his move.


    '' Hp improved to 82


    Def improved to 67


    Mdef improved to 67


    Atk improved to 70


    Matk improved to 70


    Agi improved to 80


    Mana improved to 72 (not including gear)''


    "See I didn''t even touch charisma because I don''t need it any higher. I am an arcane marksman, not a salesman." Gil spoke like he was a high and mighty god which the rest of the party ignored.


    "I will be going next. I will improve my agility along with my defenses. I will not improve attack and charisma since they are not needed." Walker was d to hear that Su had already made the logical decisions to avoid the stats that she did not use.


    '' Hp improved to 90


    Def improved to 86


    Mdef improved top 86


    Agi improved to 73


    Mana improved to 81 (not including gear)''


    Su''s stats were more simple since they did not require her to focus on Attack stats. This was simply because her defenses would do the manga in any situation. Her main attack which was shield bash relied on her defense being powerful.


    "Leader, I also received the skill magic barrier. It uses my magical defense to block spells. It takes the shape of my shields and acts the same." Su was proud to report the skill that showed up from leveling up only. The others had not been so lucky and needed to discover their skills through training.


    "That will really put us in an advantage in battle. You will be able to crush any magic attacks thate out way." Remey was ready to jump in to battle before she realized that she was still exhausted from all the training.


    "Congrattions. I don''t think any of us expected skills from a level up like this. But I thought you would have gained a skill like that much sooner. I am going to be able to rx a lot more now." Walker made sure to give Su the proper praise since the skill only meant the party could be safer now.


    "My turn. I am going to put fifty in to mana. I had that fruit that gave me more mana but that is not enough to properly make advanced potions." Remey was dead set on improving her ability to make potions at the moment.


    "Would improving your magical attack affect the potions at all?'' Walker wasn''t sure if this stat would have any effect on how well Remey could make potions.


    "Yes, I should improve it now that I am able to influence mana within the potions and the herbs used. I just don''t want to lose my strength as an attacker." Remey''s worry was fair since she could easily distribute her stat points in a way that kept her from her goals.


    "The magical attack, attack. Mana, and agility. The rest just splits between defenses and health points?''[ Gil sounded like he had things understood. Since he was the most bnced between the magical and physical aspects listening to his advice was a good idea.


    "Sold. Let''s do it."


    '' Hp improved to 63


    Def improved to 70


    Mdef improved to 60


    Atk improved to 77


    Matk improved to 74


    Agi improved to 75


    Mana improved to 106 (not including gear)''


    "That is everyone. We need to do some training after we rest to understand what changed. I would hate to identally use a spell that is too powerfnd harm someone." Walker was already thinking ahead to the fact that he was now not aware of his full strength.


    "Leader, we should rest first then we can worry about all that. Midnight is already asleep." Su motioned to Midnight who had drifted off to sleep in a matter of seconds after the party started speaking. She didn''t have stat points to distribute and needed to sleep. Onyx had used her as a pillow and was equally asleep. He had realized he wouldn''t be needed for the conversation and followed his sisters'' lead.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 504 - 504. Familiar Faces

    "Wait, we are setting up camp right here?" Remey wanted to go somewhere better to sleep but waspletely defeated after she had seen Walker taking out bed rolls for them to sleep there. He also pulled out the food he had stored so they could all eat. Without any interruptions, they were all able to rx and rest for some time.


    Walker was not the first to wake up. Once his eyes opened he realized that Remey had already taken her leave. He found a small note next to her bed roll that said she had left to go and made night vision potions. She had the stats of a level forty one and was excited to put them to use.


    "Morning Gil." Walker moved to sit next to Gil who was sitting in front of multiple piles of arrows.


    "Morning. Look what the trainees left for mew. They made sets of twenty of each of the arrows we made. I think they might be my followers or something now." Gilughed but Walker could tell he was very touched by this gift.


    "You were one of the first people that forced them to change their way of thinking and be creative. I am willing to bet that the next time we visit those arrows will already be considered old news. But the feelings left behind will be strong so don''t worry." Walker gave Gil a soft punch to the arm and Gil returned it. They had be like brothers through their travels since Gil was an only child and Walker was the only son in his family.


    "You two should try and be more quiet when you bond. If I was Remey you would need healing." Su was stretching after waking up and finding the two in front of the arrows. "Will we be training today or will we make other ns?'' Su was right to business after waking up which did not surprise Walker in the least.


    "I think we should do our own things. We have a lot to adjust to and I don''t see a single trainee around. I bet they rested much longer than us. I also think we should go and see hope the elves are doing. That world shake or umm experience flood really must have surprised them,.'' Walker already knew that the elves had intentionally left them to rest but now they would need to answer for the things that hade of their training.


    Like a ghost showing up an enforcer was walking up to them. "Heroes, the queen would like to request your presence in her hall. The remaining demi-human representatives have arrived and the king of your kingdom has entered the forest and will arrive within the night." This news was enough to get Walker''s blood pumping. It had been some time but they were finally going to have the talks necessary for a brighter future.


    Gil, You want to get Midnight and Onyx moving while Su and I head to meet with the queen?" Gil gave a nod and began to ce arrow after arrow in to the quiver. It was still amazing to watch them all fit even though there were so many.


    "Then please show us the way." Walker stood tall after storing away the things the party had left out after sleeping. This was not much hut enough for him to get moving before he needed to act his title.


    The enforcer was silent as they walked the long way to the hall where the queen took her guests. The same elders were present as the two came in to the hall along with the queen still resting on vines. There was a noticeable difference in the vines and the appearance of the queen.


    "Wee back young heroes. Before we begin I must congratte you on causing a world shake. It has been many years since this happened and we are honored to have witnessed it. The natural mana did wonders to heal the decay from the slimes." This exined the change in the queen and her vines. The decay was nearly nonexistent now.


    "We did not expect it ourselves. We apologize for any shock that came to your people." Walker knew that this was a great happening but also shocking and could have negatively affected the people.


    "There were only some minor injuries from those who passed out from the dense mana. Other than that things are well. Please do not dwell on what you did not expect to happen." The queen brushed things off as neatly as she could. There were other matters that needed attention.


    "The remaining two representatives came from the demi-human kingdom to greet me. I will have them brought in with their representative General Scy." Two enforcers opened a side door and wee in Scy who was leading two familiar demi-humans.


    "I general of the front; Scy. Greet you. These are two of our promising warriors here to represent our kingdom of Ordist. Monty the rising star of staff battles, the second rank genius, and Serius the dancing saber and the first ranked genius warrior. I hope they may learn a great many things while in your care."


    Walker recognized the two from the small tournament that had happened while they were visiting the demi-human kingdom. The one names Monty was the one with monkey traits and the one name Serius had leopard traits. These were the two that had fought each other to a draw and both dered the losers of the tournament because of this.


    Walker was d to see them since he had wanted to meet them but wasn''t able to. Now he would be able to extend a hand to them while they were here. The two knelt in front of the queen while holding something wrapped in fabric. From what Walker could see it was a small box.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 505 - 505. Gift For Your People

    The leopard trait demi-human now introduced as Sirius unwrapped the small box while kneeling in greeting to the queen. "Queen of the forest elves, I allow this young one to present you with a gift from our kingdom to yours." Scy motioned for Sirius to present the gift they had brought and exin it.


    "Your majesty. My kingdom has granted me the chance to share our most prized agricultural development. Our farmers have worked hard to develop a new species of radish. We have named it the replenishing radish.l It not only gives the body a great deal of nutrients but has the ability to replenish mana to the one that consumes it. We hope this helps bring greater prosperity to your people."


    This gift was a sizeable amount of extremely small seeds within a in wooden box. To any untrained eye, these would be a basic item found on a farm not worth even looking at. However, to the elves, this was a wondrous gift.


    "That is a spectacr achievement for the demi-human kingdom known for their booming agriculture. I am happy to receive such a gift which will bring health to my people and excitement to the spiritual farmers.'' The queen showed a brilliant smile since she knew this gift was a valuable crop. If it truly replenished mana then it could be a staple food for every single elf in the forest.


    "I hope that you three may find yourself some rest after the long journey here. The human king should arrivete tonight and will have an audience in the morning. Until then please see the sights of our beautiful city. The heroes will attest to the beauty it holds." The queen spoke and enforcers stepped forward as guides. She let onest quick smile show to Su and Walker before she started to speak with the elders. It appeared she was extremely busy.


    "I was not sure what to expect but it was just a greeting after all." Su was d that it had only been a greeting, if it was any more than that she ould have needed more time to prepare.


    "I have a feeling that this was more of the queen''s way of warning us that we would also be busy soon. Once the king is here the adventurers guild will begin set up, we will need to guide the meetings, and we will assist the king in presenting the moon silk robes to the queen. We will have a lot to do all at once.'' Walker''s words made Su be silent and serious.


    "What is on your mind? We will do fine. Just breath." Walker was worried seeing that Su''s face had be wrinkled.


    "I know we will do fine but are we really dressed properly for this?" Su looked at Walker and her gear realizing that they looked like they had just been pout on a quest, No matter how much they polished or cleaned that was just the style of their clothing.


    "That is a good point. Let''s get some proper formal attire for everyer. Before that though, want to go meet those two from the tournament?" Walker had wanted to meet them for some time and this was the chance to do so and speak freely before everything was in motion.


    The two moved a little faster and got ahead of the enforcer that was guiding them. There was no movement to stop them since they had overheard Walker''s desire to speak with the demi-humans and this was more than allowed since the heroes would be speaking as moderators in the future meetings.


    As soon as they were clear of the hall and reached a side room that the demi-humans had been guided to, Walker knocked on the door. Without any dy, Scy opened it and looked at the two as if she knew they woulde running. "Scy, we cam to meet the two who were in the tournament with us." Walker was shameless in admitting why they hade. This only made Scyugh at them a little.


    "You should not address the general as such. She is an honored member of our kingdom." The monkey trait demi-human Montey spoke out immediately.


    "Then you should address me as the True Hero, Friend to the goblins, Educationist Sir Walker. And my party member, Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist Su. Also don''t forget to address Scy as The general of the front, educationist, Scy." Walkers'' addition of titles made the two demi-humans choke on the air they were breathing.


    "Yes, they do hold multiple titles and I have gained one as well. You can breathe now." She was enjoying their shock immensely. She had not nned to throw her title around but now felt that it would be much more fun to do so, especially when she returned home to the kingdom.


    "If that is what you desi-" Walker held up a hand and shook his head.


    "I was just messing with you a little. We don''t need to be serious when we are not in the hall. We are all guests here and have a limited time to speak frankly and get to know each other. We can show you around a little and introduce you to some friends we have met here."


    "He is right, you are slightly older than them. Go explore and act your age. Still walk with respect but feel free to roam. The elves have been nothing but weing since they have, for the most part, desired this openness. However, do not spend all the gold you bought right away. I have ns for us to bring some things back home to begin trade." Scy made sure the two knew her nks and was met with a sharp nod.


    "Then I will properly introduce myself. I am sorry for the poor greeting before." The monkey trait demi-human Montey bowed his head as he apologized before officially introducing himself.


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 Chapter 506 - 506. Young Warriors

    "I am Monty the second ranked young warrior. It is my pleasure to meet two heroes." His hand reached out to shake Walker''s and Su''s. He looked apologetic still for his earlier actions but Walker did not let it bother them.


    "Sirius, no lone predator sulking. You need to be more outgoing." Scy scolded Sirius who instantly followed her order to speak to the two.


    "I am Surius the first ranked warrior in my kingdom. I hope we can train well together." His greeting made it seem that he was only interested in getting stronger. It wasn''t a bad mentality to have but Walker knew it meant that it would be harder to get him to enjoy the sights of the forest elf city.


    "I had a great idea, do you remember the monster that you told me about? The one I thought to be extinct but you proved was here all along?" Scy was heavily hinting to Walker and Su.


    "Oh, yes. Them. If we go and meet up with Midnight and Onyx they can introduce us if you would like?" Walker had realized exactly what Scy wanted to do and where she wanted to go. The other two demi-humans appeared much more confused by this.


    ''Don''t worry it is a great surprise. Leader will show you the way. I will actually leave to try and find Alma and Wade. I want to introduce them while we can." Su had her own thoughts and started to head out the door.


    "You know where we will be. If anything changes we will probably end up in a training area." Walker was already expecting to head to a training area just looking at the two demi-humans. He knew that they would want to test their strength against him and the elves around.


    "Alright, let''s head out and find my other party members." Walker decided that heading back t the treehouse that they stayed in was the best move. This was because he had some elemental mana crystals there and he had a suspicion that Onyx and Midnight would head there to indulge themselves.


    By the time he and the three demi-humans reached the treehouse a familiar crunching of crystal could be heard. "Midnight, Onyx. I have some people here for you to meet." Walker called out as he entered and let the other in behind him. He easily found the two at the edge of the main room rxing and snacking.


    Midnight perked her head up smelling the new scents and Onyx focused his eyes on the two. "This is Sirius and Montey. They are two young warriors that represent the demi-human kingdom."


    "Hello, I am Onyx. Sister says she will remember your smell." The surprised looks of the two came from the fact that onyx could speak within their minds. It was enough to shock most people but even more so the demi-humans who were not used to magic since it was less used in their kingdom that valued non magical attack styles.


    "They are hoping that you two can introduce them to the friends you made. The ones that you and I trained with. In the field." Walker was careful not to drop any hints which onyx picked up on.


    "Brother, you mean the unicorns correct?" Onyx spoke only to Walker making sure that this was the thing he was mentioning.


    "Yes, you got it. Scy is the most excited though." Walker could see the eager expression that Scy had which was mostly because she would be able to brag to her entire kingdom about meeting a unicorn.


    "Sister says she wille too. We will lead the way." Onyx slithered on to Midnight''s back and let her take the lead. Walker couldn''t help but find the two adorable as ever before he quickly calmed his thoughts. He was a proud older brother with two very exceptional younger siblings.


    "Here, I have bought some falling petal charms for everyone thates to visit the elves. If you happen to fall off the tree they will activate runes carved on them to slow your fall. They can only be used once but are worth the saved life." Walker handed the charms to Montey and Surius.


    "Thank you for the thought. We will rest much easier. I may have monkey traits, but it is rare for me to be this high.'' Monty was constantly looking down since they had climbed the branches of the tree. Sirius looked morefortable though.


    "It''s no problem. There are plenty of other interesting charms like this. I will show you the store on the way since we should pass it." Walker said this because it appeared that Scy was slightly sad to not have a charm at all, however, Walker thought it silly to give her one. She had the skill to fly through the air if she so desired having a falling petal charm would never be useful to her.


    With the safety measures in ce, the group followed Midnight and Onyx through the city. The looks from elves out and about grew even more not that there were both humans and demi-humans within the city. The feeling of being on disy made them a little ufortable but for the young warriors, it was nothing. They had grown up in the coliseums and were used to being watched by many.


    That is the shop that sells the charms, and down there is a ce that sells basic goods. Both have plenty of things that are worth the time asking about and buying. Oh, and up in the tree a few branches along is a fabric shop which sews ruins in to their fabric. They would be great for farmers who need water elemental mana in higher amounts." Walker shared this small amount of information to entice the newly arrived demi-humans to purchase things from those who had assisted him already.


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 Chapter 507 - 507. Guidance

    Soon after they had seen the sights of the market Onyx and Midnight led them down a familiar path toward an open space. "Where are we going? I can not see anything that looks mysterious like you spoke before." Monty was the one who was willing to vocalize his curiosity over Sirius who just showed it in his face.


    Scy had yet to lose her excitement and was just eagerly following along. She knew that she could trust Walker and his party to lead them properly and did not even question the odd way they were traveling.


    When they entered the small field and were instantly shown the massive field the shock was immeasurable. "How did we get here? Was that teleportation? Isn''t that impossible magic just for story books?'' This was the first time that Sirius had spoken which was making Walker want to finally engage him in conversation. Unfortunately, as soon as he gave the leopard demi-human a look the silence grew stronger.


    "This is my space for the unicorns to grow safely. Little dragon and little serpent. Who have you brought with you?" The elderly half elf man was already walking around the demi-humans with curiosity. "So they have opened the city up to more than just humans huh? interesting. "


    "And by the way, it is a condensed space of sorts made using my skills as someone whose sole goal is to raise and protect the unicorns here. If any of you dare to do anything I do not support or they do not like I will end you." This attitude from the old man was much more intense than previously. Walker was taken back.


    "Yes sir. If my two young warriors act out of line I will not halt any punishment and even add my own. Thank you for protecting such a species. If I may, can I please ask some questions so that I may bring back some information to assist our future queen in her personal growth?"


    Scy was acting exceedingly polite on this front making Walker even more confused. "Brother, our friend is using a skill that shows his level to those he wishes to intimidate. We are not affected because he trusts us." Onyx answered the curiosity Walker had on his face.


    "And young hero, the little ones have been waiting for your next visit. I listen to the gossip and hear you have an interesting sword skill. If you decide to use it you may help them burn some energy. They had been eager to use their charging horn strike skill." The man spoke with warmth and guidance towards Walker. "Of course your two demi-human friends may watch, but they may not participate. I do not forget which race forced the unicorns out of their homes first."


    This sudden fact made Walker understand the treatment that the guardian had been showing the demi-humans. If they were the race that had started to hunt the unicorns so strongly that they fled their home grasnds then it was the start of their near extinction.


    Walker nodded and followed Midnight who had ran ahead to y with the unicorns. The young ones in the herd ran towards them and circled them obviously excited. The two demi-human warriors were frozen in ce watching this, they couldn''t move due to the fear they had just felt after meeting the elder that was watching over the unicorns. Even more so they didn''t know how to process the fact that there were a species of monsters in front of them that had been believed to be extinct. It wall all too much to handle at the moment.


    Scy readily exined the reason behind her wanting to know more information on unicorns and their lifestyle. "I understand that I am asking a lot from you. If you are not able to share because you do not trust us I will stay as long as needed to earn that trust. But our future queen would greatly benefit from this information. Her unicorn traits are rare as it is, but if she continues this way we believe she will be without mana for life."


    The situation had been much different from what Scy had told Walker and the others. King Rorick really did not marry her yet due to his goal and pride to make their people safe. But the future queen having the unicorn traits and staying inside away from others was just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem she was kept inside was due to her weak constitution.


    The future queen often held very little mana within their body to no avail. This was made worse when she was moving around and tried to use her skills. "I can tell you have never properly learned about unicorns. They must not be kept inside and sheltered. They are a wild and free creature that gains their light elemental mana from being bathed in it from all sides. They should be in a field of open grass. Even in the most brutal storms they stand out and enjoy the space. Lightning can''t even fell them in the fields."


    The guardian heard Scy and saw the reasons for the weakness as clear as day. It wasn''t growth problems or anything like that, it was the wrong environment for the traits the future queen possessed. "Could it really be so simple? Have we really been harming her by keeping her inside?"


    "Of course you thick headed demi-humans have. Send her to those farming fields your kingdom is so proud of. I hear they are expansive and you even have a general to guard them. There should be no problem letting her roam them and heal." The guardian was in a huff over this. He hated that they had not even learned anything about the unicorns they nearly forced to die out.


    "Thank you for your guidance. I will use an item to send a message to my king regarding this immediately. I hope that we may rely on you if her health ever declines." Scy bowed low to show her deepest respect for his assistance.


    "Hmm, I guess their people have grown slightly in the past years." The guardian watched as Scy walked a little ways away.


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 Chapter 508 - 508. Cool Skills

    Walker saw Scy holding a clear ss ball that appeared to fall in to sand after she spoke to it. "What was that?" He had never seen an item act in this way and was incredibly curious.


    "Oh, I was using one of the crystal balls our kingdom created to send a message to the king. I believe your kingdom uses a form of expensive crystals to do the same." Scy easily rted the item to what Walker was used to bringing a look of understanding to his face.


    "I might need to think about getting some of those. I haven''t needed to send a message yet but I have a feeling that we have been very lucky." Walker was thinking out loud but had hit a note with Scy.


    "Herre, I carry ten or so with me at all times. Take these three so that you can contact me or our kingdom if you have the need. Just channel your mana within and saw the name of the one you wish to speak with. Then say your name and speak as fast and efficiently as possible. The mana can only hold your words for about a minute."


    Walker listened intently to the requirements to use the small cherry sized ss ball. It was perfectly clear but he could tell just by touching it that his mana could easily form within. "Thank you very much. I will keep this with me at all times." Scy had aplished a minor goal of hers here.


    She had wanted to make sure that the heroes werefortable contacting her or others in the kingdom, when necessary. She understood the prosperity that they could bring to the kingdom at any time. Even further, she knew that the heroes would visit again and she would want to prepare.


    "Now, where are the adorable unicorns I have heard so much about"Scy knew very well that the elder was watching her carefully. She was sure to let Walker lead her and stay at a distance. He had already been greeted by the young ones after all and it was he who was able to interact with them.


    "Thest time we were here the young unicorns needed to burn some energy so that their parents could have a rest. So I figure it is the same. Look, Onyx and Midnight are already ying with them." Onyx had changed his size to one that easily dwarfed the young unicorns. Instead of fear, they appeared excited at this change from thest time they had visited.


    "The stories do not do them justice at all. They are much more majestic than I could even imagine when I first read of them." Scy was watching them run and chase each other. The pure white hair that they had was not matched by any other creature she had ever seen. Even the soon to be queen had slight discolorations due to her heritage. This was normal for every demi-human, they would only have some traits of the monster or animal and not everything.


    "They are just having fun. Their parents have some pretty amazing healing capabilities so they are all for training. Just sit back and enjoy the show. I bet you will see some pretty cool skills." Walker was more speaking of the skills the unicorns would use but Scy took this as the skills that he would use. "I heard that there was a charging horn skill that someone needed help practicing?"


    Walker said this to instantly attract some of the younger unicorns. His theory was that they would be eager to show off the skill they had learned to the ymates they had been waiting for. His words also drew the looks of the adult unicorns which were now standing and watching. They had enough ability to sense that there was a difference in Walker''s strength and that they would need to be on guard in case his strength was out of control.


    Walker nodded to them out of respect which was mirrored. These were not mindless monsters but very intelligent creatures to him. It was clear that they more than understoodnguage and intention. They could even feel how the natural mana around them reacted to the beings nearby. It was something only very pure monsters or elemental base systems could do.


    Seeing that there were two tongue unicorns gathering light on their horns Walker did not waste any time taking out the twin blitz swords. He had used the lightning swordy with one sword and now wanted to see if he could use it with two. The inspiration came from the defensive elf who used two swords to deflect and attack at the same time.


    His goal was to learn the skills necessary to booth defend and attack like that elf. He knew that he would be able to do a little better since he was not trained in weaker situations and had felt heavy attacks before. This simple fact alone was going to put him at an advantage overall in training defensively.


    The young unicorns began to move towards Walker building up more and more momentum. All the while their horns gained even more light elemental mana from the space around them. This was simr to the light elemental arrow that had been tested by Gil while they trained the day before.


    Walker held his twin blitz swords in the same stance as he had seen the elf doing before. One was forward while the other was back. This allowed one to deflect and block attacks while the other couldunch a counter attack. "He is using the swords the king gifted him. Watch how he attacks closely. His skill that he will use is from a master swordsman system." The one that paid the most attention after hearing this was Sirius. His weapon of choice was a thinner sword after all.


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 Chapter 509 - 509. Perfect Pair

    Monty did not want to focus himself on watching Walker since he wanted to see staff skills, yet when he looked at Scy he knew that there was no choice. He was going to learn from what he saw or he would be pushed in to an extreme training regiment. He also saw that his rival sitting next to him was already processing the stance and the possibility of taking knowledge from a high tier skill.


    Walker was readying himself and had begun to talk himself through his movements. He may have been too far for anyone to hear him but that was the very reason he did it. He wanted to understand his motions and his changes so that he could apply any of them better. To do this he spoke out loud, thought on it, and acted on it. These three things would make him forever remember it in his muscle memory. All that would be left waster repetition.


    "With an iing attack, I saw that elf push the sword to the side so that the attacking de also went to the side. Then the other sword needed toe down and sh." Walker stepped in to the iing horn of light using the sword to try and push it away. However, he was not used to this motion and was pushed to the side himself. He had avoided the attack but instead left himself open for the second.


    "Then that elf also crossed them both and pushed up to force the de out of his enemy''s hands. Will that even work?" Walker questioned his own theories and gave it a try.


    When the unicorns'' changed horn skill came close he lowered himself and crossed the swords. He pushed up catching the horn and sessfully forced the young unicorn up and to the side. He had perfectly blocked and pushed.


    "And now I counter!" Walker did not let the chance escape him. He shed out with one sword then turned and did the same with the other while following some steps from the dance of the wild rabbit.


    In doing this he felt that the lightning swordy skill and dance of the wild rabbit were verypatible. His face lit up due to this feeling and he started to push in. The shes were strong but easily avoidable by the young unicorns with their naturally high agility. Many monsters in the fields needed to rely on speed to properly survive.


    Walker patted himself on the back for the things he had managed to witness from the squad that Su had trained. If he had not seen them then he would not be able to copy and attempt to learn another strategy like this.


    Feeling that he was able to grasp these moves and train them to the point that he may develop a skill Walker pushed more. His speed had begun to show as he had increased his agility and also used the lightning swordy to its'' full potential.


    The unicorns charged at him over and over but were continuously met with different blocks and deflection styles. They tried their hardest to break through Walker''s attempted attacks only to narrowly avoid them and not even touch him. This brought about an energetic frustration from the two young unicorns. They were too young to realize that they were going against a more powerful opponent and instead attacked without holding anything back.


    The charged horns gained the shape of a pure white horn made of light. Walker could sense the elemental light mana within it had condensed. That wasn''t the full skills then? Bring it on." Walker was d to see the two unicorns taking their training so seriously. It had long surpassed a simple game and was now a full on sparring match. There was no way they could all hold back.


    The first unicorn charged at full speed making Walker dance to his heart beat using the dance of the wild rabbit skill. Before he had even stepped again the second unicorn had forced him to move in to the dance of the rabid rabbit.


    The adult unicorns shifted nervously watching this. They knew that the game had surpassed what was supposed to happen but seeing that their guardian was not stopping them decided to trust in his actions.


    The danger had increased and small sparks of lightning started toe off of Walker''s twin blitz swords as he moved about. This was the full use of the lightning swordy that he had learned. However, there was a nagging feeling that he was only scratching the surface of what was meant to be there. It was like ha had learned step five before he had even learned step one. His body was telling him that there was a certain thing missing.


    Walker let his senses reach out and found the fire, water, and wind elemental mana to be in turbulence around him. This simple fact alone brought him back to the idental fusion of elements to make a lighting bolt that he had been unable to control many weeks ago.


    There was also the tri tailed moth that had also used the three elements to develop some lighting attacks that made it a huge nuisance to deal with. It was almost like he had returned to both of those times.


    "Then let me try something new!" He started to control the elemental mana around him to move toward the swords. The small sparks that had been caused due to his high movement began to take on a different shape.


    His audience saw the sparks bing more and more frequent until they were small arcs of lighting itself. The elemental mana in the air became charged as well. If Walker hadn''t kept a strict control of this using his own mana he would be affected and most likely injured. But this skill that was forming was a perfect pair with the lightning swordy.


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 Chapter 510 - 510. Inspiration

    '' The skill Lighting de skill has been fused by causing three elemental manas to be erratic and bound. The user has automatically learned the skill lightning de from the lightning lord system.


    Lightning de- 2 mana or 10 mana


    The user can ovey this skill on a metallic de using a minimal amount of mana. If the user wishes to create this de without a metallic vessel then they can form it out of the natural mana in the air with a significantly higher mana cost. The skill lightning de is an incredibly fast sh that can cause stunning and paralysis to those stuck. There is a small chance the lighting from the de can roll off to nearby targets and paralyze them temporarily.''


    Walker already felt the skill happening and was too excited to stop and read the system notification. He shed toward the closest young unicorn leaving a small cut. This didn''t matter though since the lighting that had covered the de causing the young unicorn to stiffen and fall.


    The second young unicorn was moving with too much speed and had no way to avoid Walker. It even tried to stop the charged horn skill it had created but couldn''t. Walker spun to dodge the iing attack and was about to strike when a small arc of lighting came off the de and hit the young unicorn.


    The young unicorn floored the first and stiffened falling to the grounded. Walker was left standing there panting while looking at the two unicorns trying to regain control of their bodies. The adult unicorns rushed over to discover that there was nearly no harm at all to the young unicorns but still used their healing skills.


    The unicorns'' guardian came over and stood next to Walker with a pensive look on his face. "You are like night and day with the strength you hadst time you were here. I could feel the natural mana shift slightly but that must have been the world shake the others spoke of. It is very impressive to see your improvement." The elder pped Walker on the back a few times in congrattions.


    Scy slowly came forward, "You did say we would enjoy the show and I can''t say that was a lie. I did not know you had another skill that worked with the lightning swordy you spoke of before." She felt like she had been tricked since Walker had demonstrated another skill using lightning.


    "Oh, I just learned that now. I havee in to contact with the fusion of the elemental that caused lightning a few times and I finally grasped it enough due to the lightning swordy. I just needed to look for what I was missing." Walker was slightly embarrassed to say this since Scy had so confidently said that he had shown off a skill she had not expected.


    "There is no way you discovered such a powerful new skill without any previous training in it!'' Sirius finally spoke out with a loud voice. He could not believe that Walker had managed to learn such a powerful skill that worked so well with a newly learned sword style right before his eyes. "I have trained myself for years now and needed at the very least a year to learn a new movepletely. You could not have done so in an instant."


    "Well, it was multiple experiences that led me to the proper fusion that made the skill. All I needed to do was grasp the full effect and meaning behind it to put the pieces together." Walker had always looked for the things his skillscked and that was the key to his growth. When he practiced a skill or a fusion he was ying a mental puzzle game, he just never realized it since he had never said it out loud before.


    Sirius was at aplete loss for words. He had been praised as a genius for his rapid growth and stood above the other warriors his age because of it. This moment was one of the few he found himself feeling inferior. "There is no reason to let it bother you. He is a very unique case. Just remember what you saw and apply it to your own training." Scy saw the mental struggle within Surius and made sure to speak to him carefully.


    On the other hand, Monty was finding that he loved the lightning Walker had used. It had made his hair stand on end and his heart beat faster. The current rush of blood he was experiencing brought about an excitement he could not ce a finger on at all. "Please give me the chance to learn that lightning skill. I use a staff but I believe I can learn to use lightning too."


    Walker found himself on the surprised end this time. He did not believe that the second ranked young warrior who did not use swords at all would find the most inspiration and drive to improve. He had expected Sirius toe out with new knowledge for sure, that was just to be expected from watching another use the same weapon in different styles.


    Scy was also intrigued by this. She could see that Monty was not acting as himself but instead with his instincts. There was a strange drive powering him that she could only feel was like an elemental affinity. "I think that is a great idea. The young unicorns have be tired and they deserve a little show to send them off to rest. Would this be eptable?'' She looked for permission from the unicorns'' guardian before pushing any farther with the idea.


    "I will not stop you. Just keep the sp[ace far from the herd so that they will not be caught in the attacks. Other than that I will be watching as well." The elder was met by Midnight and Onyx who had also witnessed Walker''s new skill. They too wanted to see what woulde of such a moment.


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 Chapter 511 - 511. Drawn To Lightning

    Sirius had stepped back recognizing that Monty was in the midst of a breakthrough in his own understanding. It was rare for a warrior to feel this intense desire for knowledge which was normally found in a mage studying their elemental affinity. Yet, it was not unheard of since warriors could have an epiphany when it came to their styles or styles that may fit them better.


    "I will leave things to you Walker. Please allow him to properly understand Lighting. I am not asking you to use the skill. He should learn it naturally." Scy wasn''t sure what woulde of this since she knew that Monty did not have any elemental skills nor did he had an elemental affinity that stood out.


    "So, you more or less just want to understand what the lightning is? Right?" Walker wasn''t sure how he would teach this and began to form some theories.


    "Yes, I could feel it in the air when you used that skill and I just can''t let that feeling go. It is screaming that I make it my ally." Monty was doing his best to describe the feeling he had in this moment. It was strange but Walker had felt this way before about spells he had been working on and made a breakthrough with.


    "In that case, we should start with what elements make up the lightning I created." Walker pulled out a bundle of straw and some small pieces of wood he had stored in his inventory for when he needed them. He also took out a shovel. "Dig a small hole next to the fire I am going to light."


    Monty did not refuse. He didn''t even look like he was questioning what Walker was asking of him in the least. He started to dig a hole about the size of a dinner te. "You can stop there." Walker had Monty return the shovel as he lit the fire. He then used his elemental maniption skill to pull the water from the air and gather a small puddle in the hole that Monty had dug.


    "What elements do you think make up lighting?" Walker knew the answer should be obvious but wanted to see what Monty thought.


    "Since you made water and fire I think it should be water and fire." This answer was exactly what Walker expected. It was only what Monty could see. He wasn''t adding the air in to the equation. "But I don''t know what would make theme together and move like lightning." Walker was d to hear that Monty was able to admit hecked the knowledge. This would make sharing the things he knew easier.


    "The water and fire elemental mana is key, yes. They are opposing elements and cause a lot of turbulence in the natural mana when forced together. But watch." Walker forced the two together with his skill making the water in to steam and the fire to go out. "The only thing created is steam. There is another element missing."


    Monty was deep in thought when he realized that the feeling of his hair standing on end must havee from the skill somehow. If it traveled all the way to him it must havee through the air. "You need wind elemental mana!''


    "Exactly. So when I add the wind elemental mana to the water and fire, I get this." Walker made sure to exercise the highest control he could when mixing the three elemental manas. He had not had control before and made sure to only mix a very small amount of the three elemental manas.


    There was a small arc of lightning top the ground and a nearly silent pop sound. "You will get lightning. The more of these three elemental mana you can control the more you can use. But this is all the same elements that make up a storm to some degree. This means that if I change the amount of each elemental mana I can get a different result. It''s best to look at nature."


    Walker realized that as he spoke his thoughts were much easier to get out. The educationist title wasn''t just for show but was also able to help him teach his knowledge better. "I have seen lightning in the fields but never felt that it was obtainable. It is just a wild thing that gues the farms at times." Monty was recalling the massive lightning storms that could bring rain and damage to many of the farms in the fields.


    "Then you should already know. But do you have any skill in manipting elemental mana?" Walker had already exined the things he wanted but couldn''t let Monty get too far ahead of himself. He knew that if he got his hopes up and then failed he would be in a worse situation than before.


    "I am not sure as of yet. I spend all my time training with my staff skills, but when I saw your lightning skill I had a feeling. It is pulling at me and I want to learn everything about it." Monty was still feeling the desire strongly. So much so that he thought it would consume him if he did not slow himself and begin to learn.


    Scy was still a little away from them and had seen the demonstration Walker had used to show what elemental manas are needed to create lightning. T was very informative for those who were not very familiar with elemental mana and also for those who may need to learn all together. She did have a thought that was nagging at her and stepped forward to bring it up.


    Sorry to interrupt, but can you use your all around appraisal skill you are so fond of on Monty? I have a feeling it might give us a little guidance to why he is so hung up on the lightning." Walker also thought this was a great idea and went ahead with it.


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 Chapter 512 - 512. Zap

    After Scy had mentioned that Walker should use an appraisal skill on him, he looked down questioning himself. "This has nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with why you have this feeling of attachment to the lightning you saw being controlled. I have a feeling about it." Scy stopped there motioning for Walker to do what he could.


    "Let''s not waste any time then," Walker instantly used his all around appraisal skill,


    ''Monty


    Thunder haired monkey trait demi-human


    Level: 22


    Bonded staff system


    The target had long trained in the staff battle techniques since they spun a broom as a weapon to tease their friend. The bloodline of the thunder haired chimp is rare in their family and thest urrence is over sixty years ago. This bloodline is currently awakening and showing the true demi-human traits inherited.''


    The system gave Walker a lot of information that was very valuable. He sometimes wanted to curse the all around appraisal skill since it was a little strange in how it gave him information. Some people or things would not be able to give additional information at all where others would give these extra tidbits of knowledge.


    "I would say you are feeling this way because your true demi-human traits are showing themselves." Walker then read exactly what the appraisal had said. He smirked a little reading about spinning a broom handle as a weapon but was very serious mentioning the bloodline and demi-human traits.


    "I thought the picture of our great great grandfather being struck by lightning was for dramatic effect in the art. But it was really because he had awakened the blood of a thunder haired monkey? I haven''t even heard of that monster in my life!" Monty waspletely surprised by this where as Scy, was much more calm.


    "I thought this would be the case. I have found five or six other warriors that had monster traits and not animal traits. Sometimes the monster side doesn''t show itself for years or never at all. I assume it was lost to your family history when it didn''t show up in your grandfather. These things happen, it is all toomon for these misconceptions to happen."


    "That means you have been missing training for years. I will need to retrain you from the start." Scy''sst thought caused Montys'' blood to run cold. The training he had already undergone was enough to drive anyone mad. Thinking that it was all going to repeat made him that much more terrified.


    "Well, first I need to awaken the traits and take care of my duties here. I couldn''t possibly retrain right now." He had thought that this would save him but Walker chimed in with an answer.


    "I think they will only have my king, Scy, the elf queen, and my party at the meetings. You will be free to train. I also think we can find a way to help you awaken the trait fully." His words were like daggers stabbing Monty but Walker didn''t notice at all. He was just starting to get excited to be part of the lost family historying to light.


    "Exactly my thinking. The awakening started when he saw and felt the lightning so the only logical thing would be for him to experience it. Zap him with a lightning bolt." Scy didn''t hold herself back and asked Walker right away to zap Monty. Her thoughts were that it would be the most efficient way for the traits to be awoken.


    Walker didn''t see any problem with this. He had his own revtion about the fusion of elements needed for lightning and would train it when he had the chance. Making a smaller lightning bolt wouldn''t be an issue in the least. It also gave him a basis for what control he currently had since making something smaller was much harder due to the fact that he needed much finer control of the mana.


    "Here we go. Brace yourself because I have no idea how this will feel." Walker started to manipte the three elemental manas before Monty could even speak. The slight crackle and raising of hair made him nce quickly at Scy who had started to step away.


    Monty released a small whine as he saw that Walker was ready to send the lightning at him. "Wait, maybe we can-" Walker held out a hand which was grasped by Monty just as he used the elemental mana to form the little lightning bolt.


    Due to Monty distracting him and causing the minor shock Walker couldn''t stop the mana and pull himself free from Monty. He was consequently shocked and felt the pain of thousands of needles all through his body. This feeling didn''t stop and continued even after the little lightning bolt had dispersed. Walker hadn''t even heard the small pop that it usually made because he was too distracted by his muscle tightening and the feeling of pain.


    Scy was the only one that maintained her calmness. She had seen Monty reach out for Walker and knew she couldn''t stop him so she had remained still. The only thing she did not expect was that Walker would also be shocked y the lighting. Altogether it was an unexpected situation that left two twitching and gasping young warriors on the ground.


    "I may be a hero, but if I have it my way I will be making your training ten thousand times harder.'' Walker managed to say this through gritted teeth. He was not the happiest to be surprised by this amount of pain nor the fact that his own magic was being used against him in this way.


    "Oh, don''t worry. He will be training for a few hours today and I will leave him with a long list of tasks to do tomorrow during the meetings. If he thinks he has earned any rest he is wrong.'' Monty appeared to be in a little more pain hearing this from Scy''s lips.


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 Chapter 513 - 513. Splinters

    '' The user has been under stress due to a fusion of three elements. The skills fire resistance, water resistance, and wind resistance have all been taken from the forsaken system. The user has automatically learned¡­''


    Walker read the skills as soon as he felt the pain start to fade. Scy noticed the sudden change and looked at him then top Monty. "I didn''t expect having a higher level to allow you to naturally recover from attacks like that." Her face showed the exact confusion since she was much higher level and did not have such ability.


    ''I actually just gained three resistance skills. The system says that I can resist attacks from water, fire, and wind elemental mana to a slight degree. It also says that they will mitigate small amounts of damage from water, fire, and wind elemental mana.'' Walker shrugged thinking that he loved his system more than anything.


    "You are lucky then, I could have told the king that Monty harmed one of the heroes. But since you gained a skill I guess Monty can keep this a secret." Scy was saying this just tease Monty because of his actions. Walker did not see it as a huge thing to stop. He was a little annoyed that he had been pulled in.


    "I think he could do with the pain tolerance training but there is something more we need to worry about. If this was sessful then he will have fully awakened the thunder haired monkey bloodline and have a few new skills to use. Can you please check after healing him slightly?" Scy was not in a patient mood since there was the chance her kingdom was going to have an even more promising young warrior.


    Walker held a hand out a little fearful to tough Monty since thest time he had been zapped as well, but he still managed to use his healing skills without issue. "I know you didn''t mean to shock me too so I won''t hold it against you. But if you get some really cool skills I want to see them." Walker couldn''t help himself after healing Monty and wanted to know what had changed.


    "That was not fun...I thought I was dying. Even my blood hurt." Monty was still breathing heavily which worried Walker. However, Scy nodded like this was normal.


    "When I first felt the connection to my brothers and sisters I had the same reaction. It is the monster bloodline traits trying to exist with other blood. For some reason, they do not mix easily. The world works in mysterious ways. Now for the important things, what does your system say now?" Scy was asking but Monty had already grown wide eyed reading his own system information.


    He struggled to say everything at first but finally got the words out, " My system isn''t the bounded staff system anymore, it''s called lightning staff system!" He had always thought that the bounded staff system was called this because the staff he touched and used felt like his own limb. But now he could still feel that, instead, there was the feeling that he could fill any staff he touched with his mana to manipte the elements.


    "If I want...I think I can make a staff thrum with lightning." Monty pushed himself up and grabbed his wooden staff. His hair stood up all over his body and the air grew slightly heavy. To Scy and Walker, it was like the moment before a storm broke over them. But to Monty, it was theing of the mana he needed to use his skills.


    There was a slight pop that built in to a chorus of strong p[ops and zings. Before they knew it the wooden staff had started to burn ck while lightning slowly sparked off of Monty''s hand. There was a loud bang and wood splinters shot across the area bouncing off of Scy and Walker.


    "It exploded! My staff, my friend! It''s gone forever!" Montey felt that he had just done something unforgivable. The lightning he was calling to himself to add to the staff had caused the staff to be too full of the three elemental manas and explode in to splinters. "How will I fight without it?" His tearful eyes met Scy.


    "I can''t say it is umon for someone to be so attached to one of their weapons but I am a little worried for you since you are so crushed by it." Scy just shook her head while Monmty felt even worse. "But I will ask the elves if they have anything that can handle the three elementsing together to form lighting. What skill was it you were trying to use?" This fact made Scy more interested than the reaction.


    "It was the static infused staff skill. It would have let anything I hit get zapped and do minor magical attack damage. It also had the chance to paralyze my opponent. It''s the only skill I awakened but I also got the quest to meditate on the bonding of the three elements." Monty said this which made him regret it.


    "Then you will meditate until youplete the quest. I expect there to be more like that until you can use many more skills. Walker and I will return to check on you and the progress you make. There are no breaks allowed and I will ask Surius to discipline you if you fall asleep." With this Scy grabbed Walker''s arm and began to drag him away.


    "That was intense¡­" Walker thought he would have more words but it was fairly amazing that such a thing had happened in front of him.


    "I would like to hear what you felt through all of that. I could only tell the mana became dense but I know you are more sensitive than I when ites to such things." The real reason Scy had dragged Walker was so that she could hear his thoughts before deciding proper training for Monty. She had switched in to full training mode.


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 Chapter 514 - 514. How To Meditate

    Walker thought for a moment on how the mana had moved through the air around them when Monty had tried to use the skill. "I think the wind elemental mana became the strongest at first. The fire and water were drawn but not as dense. That gave me the feeling that it was about to rain or a big storm was on its way."


    "I had that feeling too. I have a decent grasp of the wind elemental and the water elemental mana. But fire is a weak point since Ick the affinity. I believe thaT is also where Monty will struggle. The fire elemental mana is not very prevalent within a forest such as this."


    "Then he should meditate next to a fire. When I was trying to understand the dark mes that bnce light elemental mana with darkness elemental there was also the fusing elemental mana; fire. I only started to truly catch on to hope to bnce it when the shadows of the mansion retreated to a certain point." Walker was recalling the natural flow of darkness and light within a day. Doing so had given him insight.


    "That should be a good way to train. But wouldn''t it be too low intensity? I believe that you should use some of your magic skills to add a little extra heat." Scy was a fan of extreme training and didn''t want to see something so simple as meditating the entire time.


    "Maybe leave it at meditating near a fire. I made my best discoveries in the peace while meditating and not the chaos. You could make it two or three small fires though. That would increase the fire elemental mana but it might make the water elemental mana harder to find." Walker did not like the look in Scys'' eyes.


    "Then we will have three pools of water and three fires. Then I will send small gusts of wind with my fan to help him feel the three interacting naturally." Walker was beginning to have fears that a massive fire tornado would surface.


    "Just try not to break his focus. If he gets in to the proper setting then he could stay like that for hours. I once meditated all night and in to the morning. I felt like I wouldn''t be able to move my knees ever again" The feeling of sitting in a mediating cross legged position for hours was not one Walker had enjoyed.


    "Hours?" This was another look that made Walker think that he had told Scy the wrong thing. " If he can mediate for hours it is all the better. He should be able to fully understand what he is capable of before returning home." Scy looked like she had been thinking about something else while speaking.


    "Surius,e over here," Scy called to the nearby Surius who was still observing Monty. "You should train with the spell swords to betterbat magic while also working on your sword skills. This will be the best use of your time. Many of the other kingdoms have magical attacks and you will need a way to counter them in grand tournaments." Scys'' vicious smile made Walker worry about what these grand tournaments could mean.


    "If I had to guess...these grand tournaments are a way you will suggest our three kingdoms bond?" Walker could tell that this was the direction the meeting would go if he let Scy take the lead. This was a good heads up for him to prepare to keep the topic on more important things.


    "Of course. How will we be able to judge the quality of youth and our toughest adult warriors? We three kingdoms cane together and show off our strength while also offering rewards to improve those who work the hardedst. It is a win win situation.'' Scy had made it sound like it would be the best all around event possible.


    "I can''t argue that it would be beneficial. But there is much more to do at first than for everyone to jump in to a tournament." Walker tried to get her to hold off but the way she was acting he knew that not only her will but the will of king Rorick was behind the idea.


    "We can do both. The demi-human kingdom would be hosting the first one. How could we suggest an idea to the other kingdoms that we weren''t prepared to back up?" Walker decided it was best for him to just let this be and wait for the actual meetings when he would have back up from the others in attaendance to stop this idea from running rampant.


    Thinking that he had to find a way to get out of this conversation Walker decided that he should try and get to the tree house where he could say he was preparing to receive the king. Which wouldn''t be a lie since he needed to make sure that every one of the party was together.


    "I need to head out and prepare for when the king gets here. Please be polite to the unicorn''s guardian in my stead. I will head out now." Scy didn''t even try to stop Walker since she had already gained the ns she needed to add training in to Monty''s day.


    "Do you mind if I follow you? I will need to find the spell swords training area and train harder than number two over there." This was one of the first time that Sirius had directly spoken to Walker and it was about his very own rival. This made Walker feel like Surius was lessplicated than he made himself out to be.


    "Sure, stick with me. Midnight and Onyx are over there so we will grab them and say farewell to the guardian." Walker headed toward the herd of unicorns once again to see all of the young resting and the adults now entertaining themselves with Onyx and Midnight.


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 Chapter 515 - 515. Sharing Strategy

    "Leaving already? I thought that you would be staying longer." The elder came over as soon as he saw that Walker looked to be ready to leave with Sirius.


    "I should start to prepare for the kinging. My party should be ready to speak with him and the others he brings with him before the meetings. I also said I would help Sirius get to the spell swords training. He has some sword skills that he wants to train." Walker felt bad that he was leaving after such a short while but with another nce at the young unicorns, he knew that they were already tired out.


    "The unicorns have been very happy to see you and your siblings over there. I believe that you would be wee to spend time here whenever you want. Just make sure that you hold back from now on." The unicorn''s defender decided it was best to let Walker head out. He was also trying to keep an eye on Scy and Monty who were training some distance away.


    "I hope you are not too bothered by the demi-human guests I showed here. I should have asked permission." Walker realized that he had basically barged in with those that had not been invited.


    "That is what you are worried about? I have no qualms with anyone you bring. So far they have followed my rules and have yet to give me trouble. It is nice to have something new to see sometimes. I will keep an eye on them and make sure that the young ones do not bother them when they wake up." The elder justughed as he walked toward the herd.


    "Onyx, Midnight! We are heading out to get everyone else together." Walker''s shout caused the two to stop their ying and head over. The adult unicorns looked at them strangely before returning to those that were resting and watching the four head out.


    "Brother, they said that your skills are very misleading. They thought you had hurt their children but found that they were perfectly fine." Onyx was sharing what he had been speaking to one of the adult unicorns about. He had spent the time ying while also gossiping.


    "I wasn''t sure what would happen until I read the skill. I was very d that it could do something like that though. I didn''t need to worry about using too much strength in a sh. I didn''t even think about trying the cross sh skill. It would have been too dangerous." Walker had known that this skill would have caused severe damage to the young unicorns and avoided it as best as he could.


    "I am a little sad I wasn''t able to get a blocking skill using swords or a deflecting skill. I think I should train with Su to try and get them. They would be great to have in my repertoire." Walker wasmenting this as they stepped out of the unicorns field space. The familiar trees of the elf city took up their view and they moved in the direction of the training area.


    "We were at this training area the other day with Scy helping to train some of the trainee elves. We should be allowed in to train. I figure there is a least a small group of the spell sword trainees there." Walker made sure that Sirius would know why and where they were going. It made sense to let him know just in case no one was able to lead him back to where they were stayingter.


    ''That would be ideal. I am very curious how their sword skills will match the leaping sword style I have been training. The leaping sword y skill was one that my father taught me and I have taken most of my years to learn." This was a better reply than Walker expected sin Surius appeared not to be a conversationist.


    ''That is why you have those jumps and elegant airs about you when you fight. I remember the match between you and Monty in the little tournament. I wasn''t sure how I would have countered you at the time." Walker admitted that he had not had an idea of how he would have gone against either him or Monty. This was true of his lower level and lesser skills at the time.


    "From what I can see you are a different warrior than you were back then. I am sure if you used your magic then we would not have been able to even stand near you.'' Sirius had already seen through this fact. Walker may be a decent warrior but it was too easy to see that he excelled in magic more.


    "But the rules were not to use magic to attack. That''s why I made those earth swords to attack. They were both a distraction and a means to attack." His idea had worked fairly well and he had wanted to practice making more weapons from elements. The only problem was that they would not be strong enough to hold up against forged weapons.


    "It was a very impressive use of magic. There are mole trait demi-humans who can do simr things with earth based magic. They will often change the terrain in a battle to sand or another way to make things hard on their opponent.'' Walker felt like he was gaining valuable future strategies for Surius and almost didn''t want to reach the training area.


    "I believe that doing so is good if they are alone or with others of the same skill set. But I am with my party and if I change the terrain then they could be put in a worse situation. I do make some interesting bunkers though. It came in useful a few times." Walker recalled the temporary tower and bunker he had made when he was in battle. This statement surprised Sirius more than Walker had expected.


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 Chapter 516 - 516. Man Eating Trumpet

    "You can create military structures with your earth magic? While in battle?" Sirius thought that this was something that could only be done by master earth mages. The idea that Walker could spontaneously create some form of wall or tower would mean that he could create a war front line in a battle to hold ground.


    "Well it takes a lot of mana and time so I need someone to defend me while I get it ready. My imagination is key though. I use the ideas of structures around me then imagine them forming out of the earth with my high earth sculpting skill. Then I have them start to form underground. After that I make it rise. It works pretty well." Walker was letting himself brag just a little since no one seemed to talk about this use of his earth magic.


    "That sounds like it should be a focus in a battle. You could push the border walls and hold them in the blink of an eye." Sirius was already seeing this as a permanent structure which Walker was sure to fix.


    "These earth structures can''t stay forever. They aren''t really stone or brick. They are just earth. As soon as enough water or attacks, in general, hit them they begin to fall back in to dirt or sand. It''s all temporary." This seemed to take a little excitement from Surius but he still saw this as a huge bounty to a battle.


    "Brother has used this skill very well before, but he is not able to make incrediblyplicated structures. The tower was simple but do not expect a castle." Onyx had grasped the meaning behind Walkers'' words and backed him up.


    "Even temporary structures can set a line for an army or start a defensive formation. The ability to use this would save many lives and keep an advancing front steady. I also believe it could serve as perfect for fixing border walls or even holding a bridge." Sirius was still thinking of the many uses a skill like this had. The only thigh was that he couldn''t just go out and use this skill. That fact made him wish he had some magical ability.


    "I am not sure I would ever go to participate in a war. I prefer peace to be honest. And that is what I will try and aim for. Anyways, this is the training area that most of the elf trainees use. I will ask the enforcer that guards it to take you to the spell swords." Walker waved top one of the nearby enforcers who dly took the position of guide to one of the demi-human representatives.


    "I hope that you never need the skill for war then. Thank you for giving me some inspiration and leading me here. I will try to be more powerful as fast as Monty will." Sirius took his leave and descended in to the training area leaving Onyx and Walker free to go and find the other.


    "Hey Onyx, where did Midnight go? She was with us when we left¡­" Walker had been too focused on the conversation with Surius that he had missed the fact that Midnight had wandered off. This would be fine if it was anywhere else but since they were in a city that no one knew and that they were guests in Walker was worried that she may be getting in to trouble.


    "Brother, she saw some snacks and decided to stop on the way. She should still be there now." Onyx moved to lead Walker back the way they came and soon the smell of roasted vegetables came to his nose.


    "Midnight, I didn''t realize you had stopped for food. What did you find?" He was equally hungry seeing this assortment of vegetables here. For some reason, the smell was very simr to roasted meat but there was none.


    "Hello sir hero. I was just about to serve your fellow hero a serving of the new menu item I have made. I am trying to prepare some things for when new racese to the city." The elf in charge of the food stall was in the midst of sauteeing some of the vegetables before they put them in to an oven to roast behind them.


    "I have to ask, what is that smell? They smell like they have roasted meat in them but I can not see any." Walker was feeling like he had found another amazing ingredient to bring home to his mother.


    "That would be the man eating trumpet nt I am using. They are nt type monsters but they have very soft vines. They are perfect for making a faux noodle and they release a lot of liquids to make a sauce with. I was curious if I could make them in to a street food and here is the first try." The elf handed a small te to Midnight who took it in her mouth and sat next to the stall.


    "Can I try some too?" Walker couldn''t hold back and pulled out some gold.


    "You think I would take gold from a hero who helped our people survive the slime menace? Please just take the second ever potion for free." The elf seemed very offended but Walker knew better than to eat free.


    "I wish to invest in your business. Please ept this payment for the future orders I will ce when I visit your city." This put a smile on the elf''s face because he knew that the hero was more than just a name. The title was well deserved. Walker also said this because he saws how fast Midnight was eating the dish and was d she was finally eating things other than meat.


    Walker leaned in and whispered a little, "Can I buy some of those man eating trumpet vines from you? I think they will be very good for my little sisters'' diet." The stall owner discretely packaged up some of the vines and let Walker store them. Walker slid a few more gold over before sitting next to Midnight and sharing the impromptu meal. Onyx even decided to join in on the snacking.


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 Chapter 517 - 517. Crystal Arrows

    The three had enjoyed their meal and Walker bade farewell to the elf that had set up shop with his new item. He was sure this would do well when other adventurers and merchants came and made sure to let the elf know.


    "Alright, let''s go find the others. I have a feeling that Remey will be done with the potions by now but who knows where Gil and Su are. They could have moved on anywhere." Walker genuinely didn''t know if Gil and Su would have made it back to the temporary home, the tree house.


    "I believe that they would be home brother, Gil was cleaning up his arrows but mentioned that he was going to see miss Alma before the meetings." Onyx had been paying attention to everyone earlier in the morning and heard that Gil was thinking of showing off his new arrows to Alma.


    "He''s going to show off then? Well, he should be back soon anyways. I just hope that we can all get cleaned up and that we will have decent clothing for the meetings. I feel like Su would have already found something though. She had a knack for this kind of thing." Walker had been worried that they would not look the part as mediators to these kind of bonding meetings.


    " Sister says that she will make sure her scales are the shiniest there are." Onyx tranted Midnights'' words wlessly.


    "I am sure that your scales will be the best and brightest out of any there.'' Walker didn''t have the heart to say this would be because no one else had scales really but he let Midnight puff up her chest and walk tall on the way back to the tree house.


    By the time they made it there Walker could already hear a soft snoringing from inside. The moment he opened the door he was met by the sight of Remey asleep at the table with a half eaten meal next to her. Gil had taken up the floor with some newlyid out crystal arrows in front of him.


    "Those arrows look pretty interesting, were they a gift?" Gil started to turn bright red without any other words making Walker want to tease him more. But he thought better of it and sat down to check the arrows out himself.


    '' Crystal arrow (empty)


    The crystal arrow is a staple arrow made by many different elves. They offer the unique ability to store high amounts of a single elemental mana. They will cause various effects when infused and shot with a bow. They will shatter upon use making them a single use attack.''


    Walker had already expected this kind of appraisal but had wanted to see if there was anything additional to the arrows he had not known.


    "Alma thought that these would be useful for me since I am an arcane marksman and have never used this kind of arrow. She said she knew my arrows and the new ones the trainees and I tested are better but I think these will be great too. I have arrows for every situation now." Gil was like a kid who had just been handed a mountain of candy and was trying to eat one of everything.


    "These would have been great for the hordes of horned rabbits. If only we hade here sooner." Walker could onlyment the fact that they hade to the forest elf city toote. At the end of the day, they would have never warned anyone of the hordes if they hade somewhere like here earlier.


    "Well, now I have them for the future," Gil affirmed that he would be saving them for when they needed them most. "Remey brought that bag over there full of the night vision potions. Apparently, she was able to fully master the recipe on the second try. She said that she had much better luck than she had expected." Gil had only spoken with Remey for a few moments but had gotten a decent bit of the information about the potions.


    "Let me check them out then. I have been pretty curious since she mentioned them simply because we have never really bought them or heard of them in detail."


    '' Medium tier Night vision potion


    This potion is able to give the consumer the ability to see in the dark as any night time predator. The effect willst for six hours. The potion has one minor side effect of making sleeping harder. This can also be used in small doses to help one stay awake during the early hours of the morning.''


    "Oh, this will be perfect for the long night shifts when we set up camp at night. Plus if we add it to the soup at breakfast it might wake up a little faster." Walker could see some minor and major uses. The fact that it would be perfect for the night watch was a huge weight off their shoulders. It is amon fear for every traveler that at night they will be ambushed by monsters who hunt in the dark.


    "I want to use them for night hunting. There are animals and monsters that onlye out at night and this will be my key to getting them." Gil had an entirely other thought on what he would use them for.


    "No, we should save them for when we are in the dwarf city. Since they are under the ground in caves there may be some ces where it is too dark to see. Onyx and Midnight may not need them but we will." Remey had been awakened by their conversation and was stretching while she gave her own ideas.


    "I would say good morning but it is nearly night again. How was the potion making? Was it all you had wanted it to be?" Gil had already slightly filled Walker in on these things but he still wanted to hear Remey''s thoughts on the matter.


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 Chapter 518 - 518. Herbalist

    Remey finished her stretching and looked at the potions. "The first attempt at a small batch was aplete failure. But Trish made sure that it was. She wanted me to be able to tell the difference between a failing potion and a sessful potion." Walker grew confused as he heard this because it sounded like it was a huge waste of materials.


    "Wouldn''t you be able to see from the final result? Wasn''t that just throwing away the herbs?" Remey looked to expect this answer from him.


    "It was a waste to a degree, but I learned a lesson. With some potions, I can use my ability to feel the mana within the herbs to tell if they are properly infusing their properties. Since we all leveled up I am able to feel it a lot better too. I actually think I unlocked a skill¡­" Remey was searching through all the system notifications she had received.


    "Here it is, I got a quest to learn the night vision potion when Trish said that she would teach me the proper way. The reward was the skill Alchemical sense. It lets me feel the natural mana within the herbs at a higher rate and also gives me a better chance of predicting how they would interact with other herbs." Remey was incredibly proud of this and wore it all over her face.


    "That actually sounds pretty cool. I would love a skill like that for tracking. If I have a skill that helped me guess where a minster or animal had gone it would be so much easier." Gil was already jealous and he had only heard the basics of the skill and not even how Remey was using it fully.


    "I agree, that sounds very useful. I bet that you will have way fewer failures in the future." Walker couldn''t help but show how impressed he was. This skill sounded like it was perfect for any alchemist or alchemy type system. The user with the skill would exceed the expectations of anyone who bought their potions or brought herbs to ask for an order.


    "That''s not even the half of it. I can use the skill to start mixing and adjusting my own potion forms. I am going to have potions that I have created and can market as Remey''s potions. That old man won''t know what hit him when I get back." Remey could only dream before hof having her very own forms. Now she would have more than that by just looking at the things she had already learned with all the new elven hers she had at her fingertips.


    "Oh, by the way. I have three bags of various seeds, herbs, and dried herbs over there in the other room. I asked Trish for some things and before I knew it she had filled three bags with way too many things." Remey looked too happy saying this even though she was slightlyining.


    "Walker, just listening to all the things that Remey has makes me think we will need more help on the growing end of things. My mother can grow most things and with the help of the old master alchemist a lot of herbs too. But we have too many herbs to keep up with let alone have the skills for. We should think about hiring an herbalist when we get back. We have the space in the mansion to house and employ one."


    Gil spoke with a brilliant idea. Walker had worried that they would not be able to keep up with all the new herbs that they were getting and hiring an herbalist would be perfect.


    "That is great! Herbalists can make basic teas and drinks that will fit in to daily diets better. Your mother can cook with them while Gil''s will have help with the garden. We could even have the herbalist open a small stall selling some of the herb blends from the garden since the odds are pretty high that we won''t need them all. I will be able to teach them about the elven herbs too.'' Remey was most excited by the tea blends since she and Su would often sit and enjoy tea by the fire after their training when they were home at the mansion.


    "Then it''s settled. When we return after our long journey we will post an ad at the adventurers guild that we are hiring an herbalist. We should probably look for one that has traveled though. It will work better if they understand how the climates and such will affect the herbs they are growing." This was the only requirement Walker felt stood out the most.


    The three sat with the idea of the herbalist joining their staff and realized just how involved their mansion was bing. They had furnished it after meeting the carpenters after an unfortunate event. Gil''s mother worked hard to rebuild the garden. And they had all put their strength in to cleaning a polishing the inside and outside. They had quicklye in to ownership of a mansion that was soon to surpass any nobles'' mansion.


    There was a tter at the door of the tree house making everyone including Midnight and Onyx jump to attention. "Open the door. Leader, I know you should be back by now!" The voice was Su''s and Walker did not hesitate for a moment to open the door and reveal the pile of cloth that had be Su.


    "Su was eaten by a fabric monster! Everyone get ready for battle!" Remey and Gil started up their open skit while Su dropped the pile of fabrics on the table.


    "If there really was a fabric monster we all know that Lisa would have tamed it by now." Su shook her head at their jokes but Walker couldn''t help but imagine that his sister Lisa would indeed be the one to find a fabric monster and tame it if it truly did exist. "I have found us formal clothing for the meetings."

 Chapter 519 - 519. High Fashion

    "Did you need to get so many?" Remey was already pulling through the different clothing and realized that there were at least three options for everyone.


    "We need one that fits us and our tastes. I would have failed us if I did not find the best for us to wear during such an important asion. Remember, you and Gil will be in charge of the attendants and others that are meeting with each other while Walker and I will be with the Queen, Scy, and King." Su nced at Onyx and Midnight. "You two will need to be sure that everyone does not argue. You are both intimidating naturally and can keep tempers down."


    Midnight and Onyx liked the sound of their job and had already gotten to cleaning themselves. Midnight in particr was very excited to act as the intimidation. In her mind, she was the most powerful dragon in the world and it was only right that she acted as a guard to the peacefulness of the meetings.


    "I am d you already tightened up their roles," Walker whispered to Su since he had not had the discussion of what Midnight and Onyx would be able to contribute to. This alone saved him a lot of trouble.


    "Of course, now look at what I found." Su began to toss clothing at everyone leaving them with the proper fitting selections.


    "How did you know my size so well? These are perfect." Gil was incredibly surprised that Su had so easily found all the perfect sizes for everyone in the party.


    "I spend a decent amount of time with Lisa. She has all, of our measurements written out and I memorized them for times like this. Do you think that you will always have Lisa to make your clothing or be able to buy them yourself" Su was always thinking ahead and just proved how valuable the little things like this were.


    "I think I should pass on the brown leather look." Gil had tried on a shirt in the other room while Su was speaking and found that the leather on him made his appearance that of a hunter and less like an esteemed hero.


    "I thought you would like the look since it is very rtable to archery. But you are free to try the green vine print shirt with the rock pattern pants. They should fit well together and make you look like you should blend in to the forest as a real arcane marksman would." Su had thought Gil would like these but wasn''t sure and gad grabbed other things too.


    "I think I got the best choices." Remey was already in one of the vests she had gotten from Su. It was well made with a ck kind of leather and perfectly fit over the red and white shirt that she had also gotten with it. "I can even punch in this if I want." Su''s face dropped slightly hearing this since she knew Remey might actually try and go to battle wearing this.


    "I think mine is the best." Walker was showing off the blue and white shirt he had just put on. The way the pattern was set made it appear this it was a foaming brook moving through the small rocks. His pants were simr in style making it all appear to be one flowing pattern.


    "What, that is actually pretty cool. It even fits the flow of your dancing skills." Gil couldn''t help but make the rtion to the dance of the wild rabbit skill since it appeared that Walker was flowing to the music when he used it. The two fit very well.


    "Umm, Su. Why are you wearing grey?" Remey was looking at a in grey robe that Su had tired on over her clothing.


    "This is the color of tough rock. I thought it would make me look strong¡­" At this moment alone the entire party realized that Su was wise beyond her years, but slightly lost when it came to her own style.


    "Nope. You are wearing that flower pattern one over there. Then you will still carry your shields on your back so that there is the show of strength." Remey had forced Su to the other room to change in just a moment.


    When the two came out Su was wearing a pink and white floral pattern dress that would flow in the wind. The stark contrast of the shields on her back made it seem like she was a flower with thorns ready to stand strong. It was a very surprising standard to set since normally shields and dresses were not known as pairs.


    "I would say that will rock the views of all the nobles back home." Walker couldn''t help but see this as a future fashion trend in the kingdom if Sui made it a habit to wear this any more than just important events that required a higher level of fashion.


    "She will definitely make waves when she arrived at the meeting. You should make sure that there are not any attempts to interrupt her." Gil joked knowing that no one would dare act that way in front of any royalty. But it was enough tough at.


    ''I can''t wear this. I will be aughing stock." Su covered her face in embarrassment. She had the fear that everyone would be looking at her when she wore this and that was going to eat away at her.


    "You are the very front of our defenses. How can you be so shy when ites to this. You literally face the strongest attacks of monsters in battle but when people look at you this happens." Remey was defeated. She knew that Su could stand up to anything. However, after the elves had looked at them during the queens'' speech it was clear that Su did not do well in crowds.


    "I will change!" Su rushed in to the other room again.


    "Oh, no you won''t," Remey chased after her to hide away the other clothing that had been bought.


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 Chapter 520 - 520. Quest Complete

    The party tried on every single possiblebination finding their favorites and what they judged each other to look best in. They even found time to help Midnight and Onyx scrub the nearly non existent dirt and dust from their scales. Through the careful work of the party was in fine form to great the king and begin the meetings at any time.


    There was a knock on their tree house door after a few hours of their waiting and speaking amongst themselves on what important subjects should be focused on and what should be avoided.


    "Oh, Sierra. How are you." Walker again recognized the enforcer squad leader which always surprised her.


    "I will always find pride ining to assist you. Sir hero andpany. The king of the human kingdom has arrived. The demi-human representative is being notified and our queen is ready to receive them. I will bring you to him for the introduction." Sierra was more professional than she had been previously causing everyone in the party to also be much more focused.


    "Alright, everyone knows what their duty is. Midnight will remain with Remey and Onyx with Gil. You two are the peace keepers while Remey and Gil will focus them on topics rted to trade and opening the guild." This was thest order that Walker gave before they followed Sierra.


    Walker had all of their belongings stored within his inventory so that he could distribute them at any second. The only exceptions were Remeys'' gloves which she wore and Gil with his bow and arrows which he also wore. Naturally, Su had been convinced to wear the shield on her back with the pin floral dress to show off her strength and beauty.


    The party drew many looks from elves who were trying to get a peek at the king and other humans that came with him. They were instantly stunned by the change from the adventurer mode to noble mode of the party.


    "Good luck today heroes! Bring us prosperity!"


    "We believe in our slime vanquishers!"


    "Fight for our future!"


    Some elves felt bold enough to shout encouragement which the party met with waves. This kind of embarrassing moment was not one they were prepared for. The only thing keeping them focused was their own will.


    "This is the temporary resting ce for you king and those that traveled with him. Please head inside. If you are in need I will be guarding the door with my entire squad.'' Sierra stepped away after pushing the door open to show a row of knights, the king, guild master Ibis. and some notable nobles, including Markus Raven.


    "Please enter heroes of our home kingdom. We have already discovered many things since arriving and look forward to what you have discovered." The king wasted no time. The party couldn''t see any sign of weariness from the travels making them believe that the group must have rested a day beforeing in to the city at this time.


    "First we must report on the purple slimes that are still slightly guing the forest. " Walker looked at Ibis as well, "I believe it will be a sign of good will to first as the guild to send quests with rewards to exterminate the slimes. Also, give them rules from the elves to treat the forest in a certain way pertaining to theirws."


    The king nodded his head and motioned to Ibis, "I will entrust you with this. I believe it is a good sign for us to begin with protecting their very lifeblood. The forest is important to us as well since many natural herbs grow on the outskirts." The king had long wanted to make a move of this sort and saw no reason to hesitate any longer.


    "We have gathered slime and cores separately from the slimes for research purposes. We also discovered a slime that was made with no element which was used to control the slimes from a long distance. The information on it from an appraisal spoke of a slime breeder system. They are also guing the dwarves and we fear they may be in worse situations than the elves." Walker did not falter in his words.


    "I have brought some monster researchers with me. Knights, gather the items the heroes have procured, and please show them to the three researchers I chose. I hope for speedy analysis." The king had been sure to bring these researchers so that he could have some immediate answers pertaining to the slimes.


    "You have all done well on the quest I have sent you on. You have even assisted the elves in defending their home. I was notified by Ibis who saw the information of a massive minimized slime. I apud your great strength." The king had no other words but these. He wouldter reward them but felt he was not prepared enough to do so at the moment.


    '' Royal rtions: slime trouble-pleted


    The king of the Crystal kingdom has asked the party to investigate the source of new slime species causing damage to important ecosystems.


    Requirements:


    Travel to the deep sun hollow forest in one month.


    y and investigate the new slime species.


    Discover the cause of the slime invasion.


    Build connections within the elven kingdom''s deep Hollow forest territory.


    Rewards:


    Slime samples from various species.


    900exp multiplied for applicable member to 9000exp


    Additional rewards determined atpletion from the King''


    "I feel you and your party have gone beyond the call of my quest. I must take time to think about a proper reward. I may need to open the kingdoms'' vaults for a unique item." The king was considering opening the sealed vaults that only ever opened to honor those who do great things in the kingdoms'' stead. Begin ing rtions with a once sealed kingdom was more than meeting these standards.


    "Now on to other matters. I believe you all will be acting as the mediators of our meetings? I received my own quest as the king of the human kingdom to travel here and participate. I did not expect such a quest to ever ur and have prepared myself. However, I will need to greet the queen first." The king stood up and all the knights snapped to attention. "Please lead us."


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 Chapter 521 - 521. Parade

    The party had already expected this and made sure to hand out the falling petal charms. "The roots and branches of the tree are very high up. If you start to fall this should save you and lessen the blow. Be warned that there is magic to help you stay on them but it is not perfect." Walker made sure that he and the party exined this danger three times to every person they handed these to.


    "This is indeed a danger I did not expect. However, I trust that my body guard would be able to save me."


    "You always tter me, my king. But it is nice to have an additional safeguard. I did notice the charms on the heroes when they arrived and was very curious." Ibis was very professional and had been close to the king the entire time. He was constantly using his magic to make small birds fly here and there to check the surrounding of the walking group. They were made of light elemental magic and show just how powerful the guild master was to summon so many.


    Beyond that," Walker took the moon silk robes from his inventory, "I did not feel like I was the proper person to give these. A true hero is impartial to race or kingdom. Please give these yourself." Walker feared the anger of the king however he was greeted with a slight pat to the shoulder.


    When Walker looked up he saw some very tense knights and more importantly the king himself taking the robes from him. "You made the right choice and I hope that you remain this way. As a child, I too believed in heroes from fairy tales, and I must say, you are living up to the title so far."


    This prase was unexpected and made the entire room stunned. The knights never let the others near the king unless the king expressly wished it. This was a rare asion and it was even rarer for the king to approach someone. They were much more used to the queen doing such things.


    The king ced himself back in the center of his knights with Ibis at his back. He openly carried the moon silk robes which would reflect the moonlight showing the elves his gift in all its'' glory. This was not just a political move but also one that showed his true intentions of peace and good faith.


    "Alright, we will form up around the kings'' guard. We should have a decent amount of interested elves and the enforcer will also be guarding us. But be ready for those that don''t know how to keep their distance. There are bound to be bold curious elves." Walker knew that there would be some children that thought it fun and interesting to rush up and try to see a foreign king.


    Su took the back while Gil, Midnight, Onyx, and Remey spread out on the sides. Onyx had taken on arger size surprising the knights and also the King. However, this was not the time to ask questions that could be held forter. Walker took the lead and was met by Sierra who walked next to him. The other enforcers were hopping branch to branch or hidden in the shadows.


    The entire ensemble traveled slowly from where the king had been brought to rest toward the queens'' hall. Many elves came to look and see what they could. Walker could hear the whispers about the moon silk robes along with the proper and royal stature of the king. They were very impressed with the matching knights in armor and the nobles brought in their fin clothing.


    The ensemble came to the queens'' hall and Sierra stopped at the entrance. "Elite healing squad. By my appointment as captain of the elite healing enforcer squad. Form up and greet our guests." There were twenty elves in total that came out to kneel at the sides of the entrance to the queens'' hall.


    Sierra leaned close to Walker, I owe you this promotion, I hope to work with your party for years toe." Sierra knelt herself at the entrance to the hall and allowed the ensemble to enter.


    "Walker wanted to speak to Sierra on how she had been promoted but knew that it was not the right time. However, he did have the feeling that it was due to her growing connection to Walker as the leader of the heroic party. This simple fact made the queen want to have someone who could get along with the party as one of her hands.


    The hall was full of the elders along with various merchants and higher ranking elves. Trish was standing tall next to the queen. Alma and Wade also held positions nearby. There were a few other elves nearby but one that the party had not expected to see what Bree who was adorned in multiple colored clothing stitched with runes. The spirits floating about her in slightly different forms that showed off their elements.


    Walker couldn''t help but feel this was the extreme of the forest elves'' greeting and he should be more honored to witness it than he had been before.


    "Wee King August Diamond of the crystal kingdom. We have long awaited your visit and are d to see you healthy and well!" The queen spoke out in an echoing voice. Every single elder and elf around bowed slightly to show respect before raising themselves back to present their own strength.


    "I am honored to set foot in this glorious city. I have never in my life nor any art such as this magnificent tree. It may even reach beyond the clouds." The king paused and made a motion for his guard to step back and kneel. "I would not be a proper guest if I did not bring a fine gift. I hope to present you with these moon silk robes. A rare and majestic item that my kingdom has long held."


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 Chapter 522 - 522. Mediator

    Alma stepped forward, she came to the king slowly and took the moon silk robes from him. "I Alma future queen thank you for your gift. Please allow me to show them to my queen." This served as her introduction and also the showing of her rank in the kingdom.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you." The king gave a slight nod to show his respect toward the future ruler. This was amon gesture for all who were to meet those that would one day represent a kingdom or people.


    "I am unsure if you know this yet, but the moon is sacred to some of our elves. We have a master lunar priestess that could use these robes to better heal our people. I thank you for this gift." The queen appeared to be happy with this and did not hesitate to speak on why she approved of it.


    "I havee with my treasurer and three of my kingdoms'' leading merchants. I have also brought the adventurers guild master who wishes to establish a branch of the adventurers guild here. I hope we may enter a private discussion on these matters to bond our two kingdoms closer than ever." The king made his move to officiallymence the reasons that he had traveled here.


    "I wish to ept these meetings. However, we are also joined by a representative of the demi-human kingdom of Ordist. Pleasee forward." The queen made sure to open the floor to Scy who came forward without Monty or Surius due to their current training.


    "I am pleased to represent the warrior king Rorick. I the general of the front will be speaking on his behalf and representing my great home Ordist." Scy had changed in to slowing robes of purple and blue which made her stand well apart from the others in the room.


    The king gave a nod and spoke once again, "I do not object to their joining of our meeting. I hope this is the start of a strong bond between old allies and future allies." The king did not see any reason to hold back any longer.


    Walker stepped forward with Su. He had already prepared himself for taking over this role and knew that he needed to act his best to make sure that things would progress. "Wee three representatives to the peace meeting of the forest elves, Humans, and demi-human kingdoms. I am Walker the true hero, Friend of the goblins, and educationist. I will be the representative mediating this meeting. My fellow heroes will assist myself and guide those who have traveled with you."


    He felt as if his heart would explode. But he knew that he was the one that must step forward to speak in this way if he wished to represent the heroes and their goals to push for a more fortuitous future for everyone.


    "I king of humans acknowledge the true hero, Friend of the goblins, and educationist as the mediator."


    "I Scy, representative of Ordist. Acknowledge The true hero, friend of the goblins, and educationist as mediator"


    "I the queen of the forest elves acknowledge The true hero, friend of the goblins, and educationist as mediator."


    The three all verbally acknowledged Walker as a mediator to this meeting. There was profound mana that started toe between the three and form shimmering phantom chains. These held no weight but connected their very beings.


    ''Temporary bond created. The mediator is set to Walker the True hero. Those under his watch shall have every skill attack and magical attack skill sealed. The mediator will know of any attempt at ill will. The mediator can seal additional skills if necessary. The mediator will have their skills sealed as well. The mediator can forcefully stop the conversation if necessary. The mediator shall gain additional powers if required.''


    The systems reacted. Walker did not expect this but it appeared that the others were very used to this. Walker was sure to hold his own poker face. "Queen of the forest elves, please guide us to the room prepared for this meeting. I will be leaving my fellow heroes with the exception of Su to assist those left here to sort out trade, the guild, and other matters."


    The queen with some assistance of the vines she rested on moved back toward a door that Walker had not noticed previously due to her blocking. "Follow me if you will." Scy and the king followed while Walker came up behind them.


    The room they were brought to was fairly small but held a round table with arge map and threerge chairs. "I hope this is enough for us to begin. I have other materials for writing and recording if needed."


    "I believe this is perfect for our current needs." The king stood by a chair closest to their kingdom on the map. Scy followed suit and so did the queen. They all looked toward Walker for him to speak.


    Su closed the door and Walker gave his approval to sit. "Thank you for all gathering here. Today we will speak on the matters of the kingdoms and how they shall interact. Please begin with essibility. I believe the queen has her own rules for who will be allowed within the city in the beginning." Walker knew this was one worry every elf had.


    If anyone was toe in to the city and cause trouble it would not only reflect on the kingdom they came from but also the race they were. It would foster negative feelings and cause more trouble than good. This was Walker''s reasoning for beginning with it.


    "Please also add in the additionalws they will need to follow to begin with." Su perfectly added to Walkers'' words further enhancing what the three were starting with. The two focused on the queen who had already taken a deep breath to prepare for this.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 523 - 523. Guild Idea

    The queen had prepared herself for such a question and did not wait to answer. "Thews my people uphold are strict. The forest is the gift of the world to us and must be protected. We do not take kindly to any that harm it without any reason or permission. There are many who havee to hunt protected monsters and animals in the past who have been jailed by us. Not to mention the herbs that were nearly hunted to extinction because of greedy adventurers or other races."


    Walker saw the queene out powerful and did not want to see this take a negative turn. He kept his eyes locked on her waiting for her next words. "I would like to require strict regtion on those that enter the forest until the ways of my people have been properly taught."


    The king had expected this to a degree and already had a solution he believed would aid this learning. "If you are willing and able to provide some of your enforcers as guides it could go a long way to teach the merchants and travelers how to properly traverse the forest and hunt within it. I also have no problem with limiting those who can move within the forest for some time. I believe the adventurers guild master is having this same discussion with your attendants."


    "The demi-humans people will have no issue following thesews as well. We rely heavily on the food grown in our fields and guard it with simr fervor." Scy had nothing other than this to say. It was clear that she would not allow any of her people to disrespect the forest.


    This seemed to please the queen enough for her to move on to the next topic. "My people need time to adjust to other races and the change of culture. There will be merchants, adventurers, and other professions that aim to take advantage of them. I will not allow my people to be bled dry by such individuals."


    Walker was impressed that the queenbeled these as individuals it spoke to her knowledge and wisdom in realizing that these kinds of people were not the normal of a race or kingdom. "That is why I hand picked the leading merchants from my kingdom. I have brought them here specifically to stay and assist in the growth of your industry. They have been given the orders to teach everything they know you your people within the span of six months. Until then they are not allowed to return to the kingdom without a letter written by your hand."


    This was more than any of them had expected. Sending three prominent merchants let alone leading merchants away could greatly harm a kingdoms'' industry. Scy had no way to rival this and remained silent. The queen on the other hand saw that there may be more to this than the king was letting on.


    "You must want something in return, correct?" The queen knew that this move was much more than just a way to build rtions.


    "Of course, your kingdom has knowledge and system users that minecks. I hope that some will travel to mine when I depart and spread their knowledge so that a seed may be nted. More specifically I wish to see if we can learn the ability to craft and manipte mana crystals as your people do. It is a great strength we could never rival an elf in, but the dream may be there for some future generations."


    This was a wise trade. The elves would always stand above other races when it came to natural mana and the elemental mana crystals. Asking for artisans toe to the kingdom with that in mind would make these systems and craftsmon knowledge which may assist in the elves'' culture spreading. It also helped smaller merchants to have a better idea of future trades and business ventures.


    "If they are going to have some artisansing I would like to request some of your warriors toe and participate in the colosseum. It would be a great benefit to our people to see the strength of an ally. It would also make them excited to travel to your city when they are able. Of course, we will also send a small number of merchants with goods and mostly agricultural products."


    Scy didn''t waste any time trying to bring the warriors in to this since she saw the opportunity to make sure that Ordist would be able to see the elves in battle. She knew that they had styles, especially ones that used magic, which could cause a revolutionary growth in the kingdom''s strength. Many young warriors could be influenced to surpass their limits and be greater.


    "These two things are not a problem for us. I believe that having guides and some elves leave to represent my people would begin a grand sharing of knowledge. The creation of an adventurers'' guild would be the start. If I am not mistaken there is also a hero lead creation of a guild in the works." The queen looked at Walker and Su who were slightly surprised to hear thising up now.


    "I have not heard of such a creation. Would there be some form of heroic guild?" The king was thinking that this would be some form of a guild that would put those in need over others, but there were already groups that did this such as the church and often the adventurers guild.


    "I am also very interested. I did not imagine a hero would want to form a guild in such a way." Scy had her interest piqued. She was constantly surprised by the things the party did and this was not going to be an exception to the current trend.


    With all focus on Walker and Su, the two prepared themselves to speak on Remey''s idea to form her own guild. This was going to be a fairlyrge matter in the future.


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 Chapter 524 - 524. Alchemy Guild Future

    Walker wished he had brought Remey with him but also knew if she was the one to exin this she would get out of hand. The fact that this idea had already reached the ears of the elf queen was a slight surprise. But if Trish had fully supported the idea then it only made sense that she would report it to the queen because it would affect the future of their alchemists.


    "My fellow hero Remey has a unique system called the alchemical brawler system. This allows her the best of both worlds when ites to battle and alchemy. She grew up very close to the master alchemist in the alchemy building of our birth kingdom. This spurred the great desire to pursue alchemy within her." Walker introduced the subject as best as he could.


    Su took the conversation from there since Walker had already begun, "Remey has seen that potions and other medicines created by alchemists are greatly over priced or held in only a few nobles hands. There are also herbs and rare medicinal nts that have the same problem. To put things simply, Alchemy is a money based profession and not one that is equally avable."


    "There are also issues with safety. My home of Ordist does not support alchemy much due to past incidents revolving around curses and poisoning. We will not be trusting so quickly of a normal alchemist." Scy took the pause to voice her own position which the others acknowledged.


    Walker picked up again, "Therefore, Remey wishes that an alchemy guild would be formed between many other kingdoms. This would give those who wish to study an equal footing to attend lessons from masters or established alchemists, protect the trade and regtions of the herbs and potions, along with regting the quality and standards for the entirety. This would also cut down on cost which stops manymon people or those without systems at all from getting the medicines they need."


    These reasons spoke volumes of what a hero should advocate. Not only this but it also showed the fault in each of the kingdoms'' handlings of alchemy as a whole. They had not ced their hands in to the subject and let it run wild in multiple ways. The elves had a challenge in guiding their young alchemists, the humans had pricing issues, and the demi-humans lost trust in potions all together.


    Su knew that the clincher to this would be the support of the current master alchemists they had met. "So far the current master alchemist of the alchemy building in our home country would support this due to his rtionship with Remey. She has also spoken with master alchemist elder Trish and gained support as well. This is something very possible future for alchemy in our era."


    "It would also be a massive boon for the alliance of three kingdoms. Not only would it set an example for the other nearby kingdoms but also foster goodwill if we extended a hand to them as well." Walker finished the topic and waited to see the responses.


    The king was the most surprised by this. He had not wanted to intervene in the matters of alchemy due to the noble influence on it. But if he used it as a reason to unite the kingdoms and make a better overall existence then the nobles would be unable to argue it.


    "I would like to support this agenda. I know it is going to take some time but when your fellow hero is ready please allow me to supply the funding to build an alchemical school and fields on our borders." The king wanted to be sure that this would even be shared by the kingdoms so that it would not be forcefully taken by one or the other.


    "My king will need more information to make a proper judgment. Yet, with the heroes backing, I believe that the people would have a stronger support. You did assist in capturing a demon that was selling cursed items to them and causing many deaths." Scy saw a new path open t them and could only wonder what new things coulde of alchemy within their kingdom.


    "I have already made the decision to support such a future and can only see it being prosperous for the many herbs my people grow that are not outside this forest." The queen was mostly supporting this to fix current issues but also to have a future selling herbs that were unique to the forest.


    "Then we shall support it as well."


    "I will await my king''s word. But I do see support as a possibility."


    This was a great step for them. They had already decided on something that would assist in the bonding and growing together as kingdoms. Walker and Su could not be happier that the conversation had moved this way.


    "There will be many documents to sign once our attendants, elders, and merchants have reached consensus." The queen knew this and was ready to move on to a more pressing matter. "On the next subject...The demons have been aggressivetely. My people are struggling at the southern border. The demons even sent this so called slime breeder to cause trouble."


    The queen had brought up the most touchy subject, one that Scy had been waiting for specifically. The looks in their eyes had be sharp and full of cold.


    "I am also here to speak about this. My king wishes to form a joint army and end this demon issue forever. There should not be such a race that causes so many issues. They are nearly monsters and are always on the cusp of bing them." Her words hit hard for the elf queen but brought a different feeling to the king and the party members.


    "I am not sure I can support such antics. My kingdom may not have the greatest rtionship or history with the demonnds. However, we do not have any reason to take thends and end a race." These words made Walker and Su hopeful, but it was just the start.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 525 - 525. Banned

    "I am sure you have seen the hateful things they do just ti entertain themselves. They are a cruel race that even treats their own as trash. It is a blight on the world to allow them to exist." Scy spoke without holding back. Her voice was steady and cold.


    The kings'' forehead wrinkled as he heard this and was not sure how to proceed. Luckily Walker had his own thoughts.


    "I would not want to get rid of a race. There are some demons who do not follow the ingrained survival of the strong over all else methodology. I believe there is a change that needs to ur in the way they live. One that could save those at the bottom who are tortured and beaten down while removing the corrupt and power hungry. But to do so three kingdoms may be too small."


    Walker did not want to see the absolute destruction of the demons by any means. He had personally met Maria who was forced to bend to a stronger demons'' will just because she could use the light elemental magic.


    "I can agree with Leader, if there is ever a movement to do something so cruel as to condemn an entire species then any hero would stand on the side of the species being attacked."Su made sure that this was a statement that every single person heard. Not a single one of them could expect a hero to let a peoplee to such an end, especially when there were some who still valued the good in the world.


    The king looked about the table and came to his own realization, "If we wish to change their race in to one with the possibility to exist with our kingdoms we need to remove the corruption that guides them. We will need power to do so and strong will. If we follow the heroes'' way it will not be easy. Would you both prefer that over yet another bloody war with many losses?''


    This question silenced them. Not a single person had believed the king would utter such a strong desire and question. They found themselves asking their very being what was right and if they could rise to such a challenge.


    "My king wants the demons gone so that they will never harm our people again. And as a victim of the way the demons live I can not support saving them at this point. However, I have seen things I did not expect from the heroes, along with gaining quests I did not think possible. I am even a title holder of the educationist title, something that may assist in my guidance of the young. I can learn to ept demons if enough proof is provided."


    Scy had used much of her strength and will to say these things. Her heart screamed for her to ignore the desires of the others at the table and push to ughter the demons who had tortured her and taken away any family she could have had. She also knew that many in the kingdom had generations of built up hatred for any of the demon race. This alone would push them for war.


    "I have many of my people at our boarder to stop those controlled by the current demon lords'' minions. The demons used to be unorganized and ruled by their title holders in territories.. But now they organize and push the weak down while trying to expand their territory. This can not continue. "


    The queen looked at the map and pointed to the demon territory, "I am willing to hold out as long as we need to gather allies and take down those corrupt individuals leading the cruel on the top. We can unite and take down their generals and at the very least return the demons to their territorial disputes. If not we will give the weaker demons the chance to rise and choose another path."


    This was the n the queen would follow whether the others supported her or not. "I agree and will offer the full support of my armies. There will be much to do to prepare but we have the time you can buy us. I will first assist in supporting your borders." The king pledged his men and would be issuing the order as soon as he possibly could.


    "That would take a great deal of stress from my shoulders and the hearts of my people. Some elves have been away from the city for a few years." The elves had always patrolled their borders but over the years the demons trying to cross it began to grow to the point they were at now. It was so consuming that the elves could no longer make trips home to see family and properly rest.


    "I will send a message to my king detailing everything. I may take some time but I can not proceed on this matter¡­" Scy had reached the ends of her authority. This also showed the end of what the conversation could bring without speaking in circles.


    "As a hero, I am proud that the decision for murder and brutal war was not made today. The strength of will to choose the harder path is something to be said, not only for you but for the kingdoms you represent." Su could not help but speak. She had wanted to say this for some time but it was most fitting now.


    The king was unsure of how to proceed but cleared his throat, "I believe we should look to contact the other races, the ancient dragons could care less. They could snuff the demons out of existence easily. The merfolk also may join but it is doubtful. They deal with their own troubles within the oceans and have no reason toe uponnd"


    "Then we must look towards the dwarves...I recall anotherw of my city. Spirit crafting is forbidden within the forest no matter the reason. Anyone with a spirit forging system will be banished." The queen made this memory surface as she realized that many dwarves had crafting systems. Some of which used elemental spirits to fuse in their creations; a sin to an elf''s beliefs.

 Chapter 526 - 526. Impasse

    "This will not be an issue with my kingdom. The crafters there do not know of spirits in such away. I have also never had a form of spirit system in the kingdom to my knowledge. If we have, they most likely left to pursue a better environment. I Can easily uphold this." The king was worried though, he knew that the dwarves used these methods often and even went out hunting for elemental spirits to add to their various crafted items.


    "The kingdom of Ordist does not rely on such things as well. We rely on physical strength and battle prowess. Our craftsman have not used spirits but instead, use fires created by various monster trait demi-humans or monsters themselves." Scy was referencing the crafting methods that the party had seen. Walker was still mesmerized by the crafting with dragon fire. Even with his experience with Midnight, it was only a small act inparison.


    Walker realized that this would mean the dwarves could almost bepletely banned from the elf city as a whole. "I believe the dwarves do not leave their kingdom often. However, if they are to express interest in the city it should be an agreement reached with them and not aw keeping them from herepletely."


    Walker said this because if it was aw from the start then the dwarves maypletely toss aside the idea that the elves and them should be allies. Simply because anyone who is told that the majority of their people are not allowed to do something could rebel.


    "I believe this will be an issue that should be spoken of when we are able to get one of the dwarven kingdoms'' rulers here. From my memory, they currently have three kings who rule different factions. The ruler of the surface. The ruler of the depths, and the ruler of the people. They all work as a joint council to expand their people and kingdom." The king spoke sharing thismon knowledge just in case the elf queen had not been fully up to date during the period of time the city was closed.


    "This is aw that has long been [art of my peoples'' culture. We believe that the spirits are the closest beings to natural mana and the world. If one is harmed by being forced in to one of their golems or in to a weapon it is a sin." The elf queen did not want to budge on this. She wanted to have another ally but within her city here many spirits lived in peace, she did not want to ruin it.


    "It sounds as if we may need more information on the dwarves... Possibly a meeting to first establish what would be their standing and what these spirit craftsmen do. We may not know everything we need toy down our judgment." The king had the feeling that he was missing something in all of this.


    "I agree that we do not have a full strategy. Without the proper information, we could be signing off on many failures." Scy saw this as a war fought in ignorance. Top her, judging the dwarvespletely and not epting their craftsman would be foolish.


    "Then we need to find the information. Until I am told otherwise I will not allow their spirit craftsmen anywhere near our kingdoms'' spirits." The queen took her stance, but Walker was d to see that she would be able to be reasoned with.


    "We are nning a quest to the dwarven kingdom. There were purple slimes here that caused significant damage. We also know there were yellow slimes there that posed a simr threat." Su chimed in making all three of them fall in to deep thought.


    "Then the heroes can not only look to assist the dwarves but extend an invitation for further meetings. They may stay hidden within their under ground city. But if they bring their golem armies they could more than protect the borders."The king saw this as an even better way to solidify the safety of all people and work toward their goals.


    "I agree. Let the heroes take the lead while we move forward here." Scy had no sooner agreed than there was a sudden roar from the other room.


    "Leader, Midnight sounds like she has had to be strict with some of those speaking." Su knew well that some of the talks could be heated. Midnight was acting as she should but it was still worrisome for them to not be there and see what was going on.


    "I believe the three of us should take a moment to breathe and think on what we desire toe of this in the end. The matter with the dwarves and demons is already settled. All that is left is when the merchants from the demi-human kingdom wille when we wish to have an adventurers guild open, and when we will send out our own merchants. Please check on your party members'' situation."


    The queen needed time to think and this was the perfect chance to do so. "And we can speak about a grand tournament to foster and show off our kingdoms'' young growth." Scy had an excited grin as Walker left the room.


    "Su, please keep watch on them while I am gone. If they try to move forward do what you must." Walker knew Su could just taunt them as a distraction or even wors ce her shields between them and use other applicable skills to interrupt their conversation. However, he still knew that they were bound by their promise to a mediator. This should keep things on even and safe ground without him even there.


    Walker turned his attention to the hall where he knew all the other conversations were taking ce. His fear that arge disagreement had caused Midnight to take action was at the front of his mind.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 527 - 527. Trade

    Walkers'' return to the main hall was not unnoticed. Many of the elders, merchants, and enforcers looked at him for a moment. Gil and Onyx were looking over a round table that had been brought in. The table was covered in documents that guild master Ibis was exining to enforcers.


    "This rule here is one that controls the rankings of the adventurers. They are only able to take quests at levels applicable to their ranking within the guild. A stone tier adventurer would bever take a gold tier quest. However, the guild master must sign off on any exceptions. This is not a rule that can be changed or ignored."


    Walker saw that this was an important exnation as the enforcers were also speaking here and there in the hope it could rte to their own rankings and what they would add or subtract. It was also clear that there would be another guild master unique to the forest elf city.


    For the moment Walker chose to bypass Gil and Onyxs'' group and looked at Midnight and Remys''. This was due to the roar he had heard and the looks of frustration that were on the merchants'' and elders'' faces.


    "I am in a short intermission. Since you are all having some disagreement maybe another set of ears could set things straight." Walker casually walked over to the other table which had many proposals for the items and times of trading. It appeared that there was a disagreement on who would bring what first.


    "We believe that it would make more sense for the elves to send their merchants with the king to journey back to the kingdom. It would be safer and begin trading early."One of the leading merchants spoke out.


    "And we believe that this could slow the merchantsing here to get new items. They shoulde and learn about the culture behind the items before they are brought and purchased blindly by human nobles."


    The elders seemed to be afraid that the elven merchants would be ignored and the items purchased as simple trophies. This was an understandable worry since it was likely to happen.


    "You see ourproblem then?" Markus Raven had remained silent since his main purpose was finding the middle ground for prices since the two kingdoms would value different things at different prices.


    "The way it sounds is that you all speaking about every single item that the elves have here being sent at once. That is a poor idea. The merchants should first take a small number of items all that are valuable to the growth of a different aspect of the kingdom." Walker''s idea was enough to get them all thinking.


    "Like I said. Bring that water spike and the clothing. The clothing would attract mages and the nobles. The water spikes the farmers and alchemists." Remey spoke again. This time there were those that listened to her and Midnight rested her head back on her front legs.


    "What of the other crystal items? We could sell them for high prices at auctions. Or we could make them a studied resource for a few months." The merchant wanted these items to be sent first but Walker was shaking his head.


    "Those should be saved untilter. By the looks of Remey''s face she was already saying this but you ignored her." Walker looked to Remey, "Remey, why do you believe this?"


    "The crystals crafts and weapons are something unique to the elves and the longer that stays that way the better. Too many at once could shock the people and change the way people value other things. It would be like selling a high potion at the same price as a low tier potion. The low tier potions would be seen as trash."


    The idea was fair and made more sense now that the merchants and elders were listening carefully. Having their full attention Remey continued her role as the watcher of this group.


    "Bring the dual elemental mana crystals first. They are valuable within our kingdom and are seen as such. This would establish a very solid foundation for the high quality of goods from the elven city. From there the crystal weapons and items can be discovered by merchants thate here and can properly learn about them from those who create them." Remey stopped and looked satisfied at the expressions of the merchants.


    ''Ui agree that it would be wise to start with something that we already know the value of. Fonding a proper price with a dual elemental mana crystal is a simple matter inparison with a weapon or item never before seen in the kingdom." Markus Raven was also supportive of this while he began calcting a price range for dual elemental mana crystals that were a rare auction item currently. Having an influx of them would make a ssh but it would bring about a positive and open change to the kingdom.


    "Well, then what should your kingdom, be bringing here? That is a bigger question?" The elder was sure that there was a great many things that would leave their kingdom. However, the things that woulde also needed value.


    "We have items from the demi-humans that can jump start your knowledge of their culture more. There are also goods we receive from the opposite side of the swamp. I believe you do not trade with the merfolk?" This was enough to make the elders incredibly interested.


    Walker started to head away. He was d to see that there was a focus on Remey now and what she was suggesting. Walker had not expected her to be ignored in such a way but was proud of her for remaining calm and leaving it to Midnight to stop the arguments and stop the conversation.


    He turned his gaze from this group and back to those discussing the guild. There was a great deal of information being shared and he could not say he was not curious.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 528 - 528. Another Guest?

    Walker made his way to Gil who was still standing a slight bit from the table with Onyx on his shoulders. "How are things here?"


    Gil smiled and was proud to report, "The enforcers are confused at some points when ites to some of the duties of the various staff. But they are adjusting those things as we speak. I have a feeling that by the end of the week there will be a draft of the guild rules and positions for hire."


    This was great news. If the formation of an adventurers'' guild could progress faster then there would be a quicker growth in the entire opening process of the forest elf city and kingdom.


    "I believe the king has already proposed this to your queen, but the guide position would be unique to your guild. There would be enforcers that are required to apany those without proper certification from your guild. That would mean your patrols need a badge of some sort to give those who pass your standards to safely traverse the forest. It would be mana imprinted like the guild ques we already use but affix on to the traditional ques to show this."


    The Ibis had already decided that this would be necessary even if the queen and king did not agree on it. If the adventurers guild made it a position then it would be so. These guides would train adventurers and issue a certification to traverse the forest without a guide. Once done it would greatly protect the forest.


    "I fully support this position. The trainees could act as the guides as part of their training before they leave the forest. It would familiarize them with those outside the forest and eventually assist their social skills when needed." The enforcer that spoke was already writing these things down so that he could develop an applicable training n.


    "We would need more outposts for adventurers to stop and show identification. Or more patrols." The other was already looking at a map to decide the best ces for such things.


    "How do we control the hunted monsters and gathered herbs? Should we have patrols checking them?" The enforcer that asked this question had their own stack of personal notes and was still writing more.


    "We have a dissection area in the basement for adventurers to bring their monsters. The guild staff and party managers are also required to check such items. That does not mean your enforcers can not check them but they will need just cause to search an adventurer. Of course, the rules will push the adventurers toply with enforcers anyways." Ibis had already thought of this and was d to share the process that worked for them.


    "Good, then we will easily be able to track the information ofnearby monster species and poption." This was the goal at the end of the day.


    "The adventurers guild also works alongside the kingdoms'' monster researchers. This means the data we gather is sent to them and analyzed. We have discovered many poisons and venoms that alchemists can use or produce antidotes for. This has helped greatly in healing."


    "Oh, so it is simr to a foragers system users. Just every adventurer would participate in it." The other enforcers all understood this and were in support.


    The progress was smooth and Ibus had nothing that was standing out as a problem. Walker was ready to head back inside and move on when he heard Inius calling for him to wait.


    "Walker, from your time here do you believe more duties within the city or without the city will be quests at their guild." This question would also be to the elves but Ibis wanted Walkers'' input as well.


    Walker was d to give input here, "From what I see there are many tasks that can be quests for younger adventurers and those learning thews of the elf city that can be done within the city. In the beginning, there will also be many merchants guarding quests. Butter on, there may be a way for the experienced adventurers to assist the enforcers in some way. Especially when ites to the remnants of the purple slimes. There could be a nice reward for ying them."


    This was what Ibis had hoped Walker would exin. Having another adventurer''s words on the matter showed how the humans would think and how the elves'' thinking would also change over time. The enforcers scribbled down notes that could help them with this and how to enforce theirws on top of these values and quests.


    "Thank you for your input. I also need to let you know that Barry will be arriving soon with another important representative." Ibis spoke as if he had just received this information a moment ago.


    "Can you tell me more?" Walker was hesitant to ask this because he was sure another race had not been invited or spoken ofing. Also, Walker believed that Barry was too busy with his current tasks toe here at this moment.


    "Oh, yes. Barry has reached a point in his current task that needs the approval of the elves. It would also benefit him to have the support of other kingdoms as well. Technically I believe everything will fall under the elf kingdom but it should be noted that they are technically separate matters."


    This only made Walker be more confused. He couldn''t figure out what the elves would be in control of but also not in control of within their forest. To him, it sounded like Ibis was describing a wild monster or herb. "I see you are still confused, but the answer is walking this way as we speak. I received the system notification from Barry just now that they are being led here for the meeting." Ibis closed his mouth as the doors to the hall opened.


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 Chapter 529 - 529. Kroll And Ventus

    Walker''s full attention was at the door. It swung open slowly and more than a few enforcers made their way in to the hall. They appeared to be on edge and Walker picked this up immediately. He also held himself in a much stronger stance.


    "You all look so worried. And here I thought the elves would hold themselves with more grace." The familiar voice and silhouette of Barry came in to view. However, as Walker rxed he saw another silhouette. One of a spider with an equally familiar goblin on its'' back.


    "There''s a goblin and arge grey haired spider here. How could they tame both?"


    "No, this is the one that the hero spoke of? Is it not?"


    Where are the knights? The goblin could attack at any second."


    The merchants and elders were falling to pieces over the entrance of the goblin spider rider and Barry. They had been so shocked that they didn''t even hear the words that Barry had said.


    "Rest easy! This is my vice guild master and a newfound ally. They are weed by us and if any dare to act against them then I shall be the one you face." Ibis was not having any of the fear and distrust. He released some of his mana and the force caused any of those nearby to shudder.


    "I second the words of the guild master. The heroes recognize this goblin as a friend and any that oppose them will meet the consequences." Walkers'' words drew their attention and slightly rxed those who were voicing their worries. The elders had known that Walker had encountered the goblins but had fallen in to an older methodology of fearing the goblins instead of weing them.


    "So you are acting so adult and grown up. I thought you would be taking a backseat approach to all of this political speak. Actually, shouldn''t the king be here?" Barry had realized that the groups of people and elves were too small. There should be more important figures as well.


    "They are resting. I was going to return but it appears there is something else I must deal with first." Walker was still putting on his best bravado and mannerism due to his current position. This shocked Barry who had looked at them as children in the need of assistancest time he had been with them.


    "In that case let me act a little more proper." Barry cleared his throat and straightened his back. "Sir hero, I have brought the forest goblin chief Kroll and the Patriarch Grey haired spider Ventus to meet with the elf queen andpany. Please guide them." Barry lowered his head and motioned for Kroll toe forward.


    "Sir Hero...Kroll has arrived to speak to Queen of elves." This was a shaky start for Kroll who had always known the elves and humans as creatures that had hunted them. Yet, Barry and Walkers'' party had started to change that. "Champion Barry has guided us here."


    "It is good to see you again Kroll and Ventus. You two look to have prepared yourselves well." Walker could see that Barry had taught them to clean themselves very well. Kroll wore clean leather armor and Ventus had every hair on his body clean and trim. It was the world''s cleanest goblin and grey haired spider.


    Walker thought for a moment and realized that all the things the guild master had spoken about were rted to this. The goblin was here to meet the queen and most likely establish properws and other things when ites to the goblins.


    "I believe it will be a good time to bring you in to the conversation. Barry will be staying here to assist the guild master though. So prepare yourselves for this." Kroll gave him a nod to show that he had been ready since the time they left the goblins'' cave.


    "Things have taken a change at that cave the goblins and spiders were hiding in. I gathered some trustworthy adventurers and we built up the space around them. They have small homes made from fallen trees. I assumed that it was better to reim the materials than to use anything fresh." Barry had taken note of the location and the elves'' feelings.


    "They also have one goblin that showed great strength in cooking along with another that is a very talented leather worker. The spiders are also amazing at creating threads for various uses. I believe they have a future as a race as soon as they are given the chance and protection."


    Walker couldn''t help but be impressed by Barrys'' report. He knew that the goblins had been working to improve themselves since he left and that was one reason that the guild master was sending barry to deal with the urrence. However, this was at a much faster rate than expected.


    "I believe that is more than enough to make Krolls'' presence justified." "Kroll, Ventus, Come with me. The break is over and the rulers you will be meeting will be your equals." Walker said thisst part for a few reasons. One was because it would make Kroll feel a little more at ease, but this was not the most important.


    The most important was because it would let Kroll know that the p[eople he was about to meet were incredibly important to his future. They would be the ones that would stand beside him in the fight for the goblins to rise and find their other brethren. If this was done they could step away from monster hood and be a full fledged race.


    The two opened the door to the room the queen, King, and Scy were waiting in. Kroll rode Ventus through the grand doorway to face those that he had once feared the most and would now be able to regard as equals.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 530 - 530. Standing Equal

    "Su,e here for a moment," Walker called for Su as soon as the door had opened and he had stepped through. He was lucky that the others could not see behind him because he wanted to present the topic of the goblins then he needed to warn Su so that she was prepared.


    "Barry arrived and brought Krol with Ventus. The two have been named chief of the forest goblins and patriarch of the grey haired spiders respectively. This is an important step for the goblins to be their own race and the grey haired spiders by rtion theirs as well."


    Su showed a look of surprise for just a second before she nodded and became determined. "I will p[repare myself to act if necessary. I do n it believe Scy knows of the goblin and grey haired spiders bing friends. She has heard our title but not the exnation."


    Su had made the correct decision since it was one of caution. This could avoid any unnecessary fighting. She stepped back toward the table obstructing the threes'' view as Kroill entered with Ventus. Walker cam forward to stand next to her.


    "I present the fourth and fifth guest that shall be joining us today. Krol the chieftain of the goblins and Ventus the patriarch of the grey haired spiders. Do you acknowledge me as the mediator of this meeting?" Walker said this causing every single one of them to straighten in their seats.


    Scy was the one most affected since she had not drawn the line between their title friend of the goblins and the fact that the goblins were not just monsters. the king had a more mild reaction but still feared the monsters being introduced since he had always been far from monsters. He had been able to handle Midnight and Onyx since they were contracted with a hero.


    The only one to have a positive reaction was the queen because she had already chosen to give the goblins this chance and aim for their protection. She had even made it against thew to hunt them within the forest unless absolutely necessary for survival.


    "Kroll and Ventus ept." The goblins'' voice came through from behind Walker and he and Su moved away to reveal the perfectly clean and groomed pair.


    "Then I wee you to this meeting. Please be at rest and meet, King August Diamond of the crystal kingdom. The queen of forest elves and the elf city. Scy the general of the front and one of the strongest demi-humans representing the kingdom of Ordist and their king; King Rorick." Walker made the introductions and Kroll was obviously shaken.


    He was able to easily see this fact and made a moved to stand beside the goblin which was afraid to step off Ventus''s back. "Come down and stand even with them. You two are an inseparable pair, but need to be able to stand side by side." Walker made it deem as if this was a powerful stance to take which spurred Kroll much more.


    "So you have brought the goblins you have befriended here." The queen spoke softly and evenly. "I greet you as my own people. From this point on do not fear any elf you see. I know your peoples'' history and I hope for your future." This statement was more powerful than any other had made today. It showed the other two representatives that this was not just a monster but a being in which the elves would defend with their full might.


    "Then, in that case, I wee you Kroll and Ventus. I have only ever met two others that would be known as monsters. A little dragon still growing who became a hero and a very inspiring being and a small serpent that is muchrger than any would know. You two are the next for me to meet. I hope that we will learn a great deal from one another." The king did not hesitate to also support the two and their endeavors.


    The pair felt strong and Kroll stepped off the back of Ventus. The two looked at Scy who appeared to still be processing the situation.


    "I can not say I can fully support this without my kings'' permission. However, in the demi-human kingdom, it ismon for monster trait demi-humans to find sce and lead groups of monsters they share traits with. This being said, you would be wee within our borders at any time." Scy wondered what would happen when the goblins were considered their own race. If they would still have goblin monster trait demi-humans or if they would just be known as half goblins.


    "We thank for the greetings. Please let learn the way to stand beside all." Kroll did his best and was met with approving nods. Walker took the lead from here yet again.


    "As you all have known, the goblins were once victims of a demon lord with a particr system to enve goblins. Now they have been free for many years and are able to progress forward. I hope that you can all assist in this starting with Kroll and his partner Ventus. Kroll is a very rare system user. The goblin spider rider. He and Ventus are a pair. This has birthed the grey haired spiders that do not mindlessly attack and fight."


    "This is very amazing. Yet, I wonder if this means there are other monsters in a simr situation. How many potential allies have been in for our misgivings?'' The king came to this conclusion instantly. It made everyone fall in to deep thought yet again.


    "I believe that is where my kingdom can assist." Scy was the one to speak up. "We have a harpy queen, naga maiden, and ogre lord residing within our walls right now. We believed them to be demi-humans but found them to be monsters. They are obviously simr to Kroll and Ventus." These words were enough to throw both the king and the queen in to a loop.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 531 - 531. Capital City

    The king had moved his hand to his bearded chin and was trying to think of a proper response but could not found it. "Ick the words to express the amount of surprise I feel. How long have there been other monsters reaching this point?"


    They were not sure they would receive a proper response from Scy since it seemed like this information was delicate. However, Scy readily replied, "It has been for about seven years. For some reason, the harpy queen came out of nowhere and flew directly to the main coliseum to speak with the king. She had figured out she was not demi-human and fully a monster. Her intelligence was enough to make any harpy that did not mindlessly attack others a protected species that was guided to our kingdom."


    "That exins why we have seen a decrease in the harpy migration every year. They used to stop in the forest to hunt and rest but now they are so rare that we could go all year without seeing one." The queen had worried over this change and believed that it was another monster starting to go extinct.


    "I have a friend with a very intelligent harpy as their tamed monster. However, it is better to call them sisters since that is how they act. I fully believe that they can have the intelligence to stand as their own race as well." Walker was recalling his time with the three tamers he was lucky enough to call friends.


    "We do not believe it to be amon urrence for a monster species to suddenly be more intelligent. I doubt monsters like orcs, rabid crabs, or horned rabbits will ever be able to do this. I think it is the simrities to other intelligent races that put them aside. A harpy is simr to a demi-human so much so that we have confused them as demi-humans before."


    Scy''s words made sense. There were some monsters that could be confused as demi-human or in some cases as humans themselves. The more intelligent they were the more they seemed to gain forms close to humans. Even the ancient dragons which had massive and powerful forms were known to have human forms.


    "Then we may have more than just the goblins tom narcissist. I believe uniting and protecting these future races should be arge part of the alliance here." The queen spoke her own thoughts on the matter. "The goblins were once a step away from being their own race. Now they are once again on that path. I would like to live in a world with more such races."


    This was information that the elves would die for. They would record this phenomenon in their records to immortalize it for generations. They would search the entire world to find these growing races and do whatever they need to let them rise.


    "Kroll thinks, we should help and not beat new races. We want meet more like us." Kroll was slowly understanding that he would not be alone in this groundbreaking path. He wanted to meet these others that had started to rise as well.


    "You all know that there is a massive stretch ofnd with nothing on it. There is an intersection right here where the forest, the ins, and the human kingdom intersect. What uif that spot became the future of the alchemy guild, the rising races, and the heart of trade for every single nation?" Walker suddenly ced a finger on the map bringing this idea up.


    "You would like us to create a city together?" The elf queen was wide eyed at this proposal.


    "Leader sees this as a way to better create a future linking the three kingdoms. If all of you ept this there will be an evesting bond. Not three kingdoms but one kingdom with three founding cities and a capital city." Su spoke making the three even more consumed by Walker''s previous words. The only one that was behind was Kroll and Ventus who soon caught on and showed equal amazement.


    "I can not say anything for sure, but in my opinion, there would also be a grand coliseum for our tournaments. We would be able to share knowledge with our most promising young warriors!" Scy saw this possibility and wanted to start building at that moment. "Actually. Can we please take another intermission for me to send all this to my king? He will want to make his stance open this heard. I believe it to be of the utmost importance."


    "Please do. I think everyone should take a moment to think. Walker looked to Kroll, Ventus, and the elf queen. "I also believe the queen will want to speak to her neighbors in the forest," Walker said this while he also watched Scy rush to the side of the room and sent many messages with the little crystal balls.


    "I believe this will change everything¡­" The king came out of a daze and said this while looking around the room. This meeting had been going on for longer than they knew. But one thing was clear. That the three kingdoms would be stronger than ever before if they all moved forward with this. The humans were not specialized in anything. They instead spent their time on tactics, strategy, and growth. The demi-humans were more of a physical powerhouse with low magic knowledge. The elves were masters of magical and natural mana.


    The three would bnce each other and give birth to a brand new future that no one had ever seening. This decision was not small and was taking precedence over all others. So much so that if it did pass the other races would be forced to recognize and send representatives to make new treaties and trade agreements. This was no small matter.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 532 - 532. Bring Him Here

    The king said this peace and started to map out things on a separate piece of paper. He dedicated himself to created roads and merchant paths so this capital city could be built. He wanted to make sure that there would be a way for this all toe together and be one. He also knew that this would be the job for his kingdom to take over. They had many architectural structures and ideas that could be used here.


    The most interesting conversations was with the queen, Kroll, and Ventus. "Kroll can hear my brothers'' voice in heart. We are one." This was the way Ventus and Kroll were able to exist as such. The goblin spider rider system gave Kroll the ability to hear andmunicate with Ventus within their minds.


    The queen found this fascinating since her people rarely gained any form of beast taming system. There was also the fact that the knowledge of the goblins'' systems were almost all war based because they had been unable to share the proper knowledge with others due to their status as monsters.


    "You also said that you have a leather working goblin and one that cooks. Is that a unique goblin system or are they just general systems?" The queen wished she had her own attendant here to archive this but made due with the fact that the goblins would be protected with her and her people.


    "Krolls'' brother is goblin armorer. Other brother is wilderness chef." This was one goblin unique system and a general system. Both were important facts to show that the goblins really were bing their own race.


    "We will need to make the city known as one built by four races than built by three...or wait. One built by the seven races if those under the protection of the demi-humans would like to make themselves known." The queen realized the massive undertaking they had begun already. The excitement made her curiosity begin to consume her.


    Due to the elves'' strong thirst for knowledge Walker could already see that they would be pushing the most for this new city. Not only would it make a show of their power while they helped top create it, but it could also show that they were ready to be out in the open.


    Scy held a glowing crystal ball and instantly stood straight. When it fell to sand in a pile with the many others she had used she had received her orders from King Rorick.


    "Sir hero Walker. My king is preparing toe here. He requests permission from the elves to allow him to use one of the eldest relics of the demi-human kingdom to instantlye here."


    This silenced the room. Such a relic was something that would cost a massive amount of mana from the people of the kingdom and was often only used in the most serious of cases. "You have had this weapon with you the entire time? Did you bring it here in case you heard something that you did not like?" The queen became cold hearing this. The kingdom had been under threat the entire time.


    "Not at all queen of the forest elves. The artifact is two parts and required the eptance of the current ruler of as territory. It was created by a wandering space lord when they appeared in our city at the founding. They rested there and gave it as a gift while the demi-humans rose to power." Scy pulled half of an amulet out from her clothing. It was a slight silver color and had rune upon rune ovepping. The small blue and red jewels embedded within shown with a strange mana that none of them could identify.


    "You must voice your approval while channeling mana within this. If you ept only the other holding this can travel through space to meet this other half. The king would be the only one able to use this as the current ruler of the demi-human kingdom. I beseech you to allow this so you may hear his decisions on these matters." Scy went so far as to kneel and offer this to the queen. It was yet anotherrge matter.


    "This could be the final decision needed to move forward today on this matter. We could also stop skirting the remainder of the demon issues. We could have everything set up now. However, do not expect instant results." Walker voiced his opinion which made the king want to also ept.


    "I would like to have these things settled sooner so we can begin to create such a future. I believe this is something that we can all support. Even if we may not agree on the other issues, this is something we all need to bnce out people and futures." The king could only see merit in this alliance founding a joint city and even taking a new name.


    "We believe we need to join the others like us." Kroll also voiced his opinion to the queen who was still thinking about this move. It was up to her now to make the final decision.


    "I will allow your king toe here. If this is for the future I see it bing, then I will take the risk this one time." The queen reached out and took the amulet half in her hand. Scy lowered her head before standing up to give the queen the space needed. "I the queen of the forest elves wee the demi-human King Rorick toe here before me for this meeting of rulers."


    The words made the mana within the room vibrate. The amulet began to glow in a silver luminescence that made everyone feel as if they were standing in the room but also many miles away. This out of body experience was met with the light bing so bright that none could see at all.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 533 - 533. Rorick Enters

    "Thank you for epting my proposal. I the king or Ordist have arrived and am d to see all in health and strength." King Rorick broke through the fading light with his voice and appearance. He wore simple robes and held no weapons. It made it look as if he had not been ready to leave on such short notice.


    "Allow me to apologize for this abrupt appearance and joining. I felt that things were warranting my immediate input and that I had greatly underestimated the power of these meetings. Scy, please stand down and join the other talks on my behalf." Scy nodded and looked to Walker.


    "I Scy relinquish my presence as the speaker of the King of Ordist " The bond between Walker and her was severed while she left.


    "I King Rorick of Ordist recognize the Hero Walker as the proper mediator of this meeting." The same mana fluctuation happened as before linking Rorick in to the meeting.


    "Wee to the meeting, King Rorick. I hope that you have been made up to date on where we stand?" King August stopped drawing out his ns for roads and trade routes waiting to hear the response.


    "Before we begin, may we please drop formalities. We are all equals and I wish for us to act as such. I have heard this n to form a new capital and unite our kingdomspletely. The other matters are not as clear as of yet. But this is one I wish to pursue. So much so that I used a relic that will take five years to recharge."


    Thisst statement made them all realize just how much the demi-human kingdom was willing to invest in this. The words King Rorick spoke more than convinced the others that he was there to join them together.


    "I second that."


    "I agree as well."


    Kroll and Ventus agree."


    Rorick did not even flinch at the fact that there was a goblin and a grey haired spider in the room. Instead, he smiled warmly. "I am d to meet another monster that has taken the step to be a race like mine. You are wee to visit my coliseums when you are grown. I have many for you to meet." Rorick was d to see them.


    "Kroll would like to see world one day. Will remember this for then." Ventus scratched at the floor slightly showing his own excitement.


    "Then since we are dropping formality¡­" The king uncrossed his arms and stretched his back. "I hate these chairs. They are notfortable.


    "I have been cursing them myself but they were made many years ago and we would never change them." The elf queen supported this greatly changing the rooms'' atmosphere.


    "Kroll and Ventus want to make these for home. Can learn?" The queen smiled and nodded.


    "Of course I will send over an elf that can work with wood. TI will also add your home to the patrols of enforcers so you can learn even more. I expect you to be a full fledged race recognized by the world sooner than expected." The queen was full of hope and positivity.


    "Those that are on the same path as you in my kingdom are trying to grow as well. But they fear the world a little too much. They have yet to fully take control of their own vie and rely on demi-humans too much. I rmend you learn fast and then take full control." Rorick spoke with this advice wanting the goblins and grey haired spider to lead the other monsters in this way.


    "So on the present topic. We all agree that we will form this new capital? We can wlessly unite our kingdom and create a better future. No requirements other than equal representation." August was making sure that they all agreed. The nods and from the others made him rx yet again.


    "I have one condition. Every race will be allowed ess to the city. Dwarves, Merfolk, other elves, demons, dragons, monsters bing their own race, and any others that we find or that journey there." Walker did not wish this to be just for the races in the agreement. He was a true hero and to him, that meant that he was a hero to all races.


    "I agree with leader. Some races may not be in a position to stand next to all right now, but one day they will and should not be pushed away." Su spoke up for the first time in a little bit believing that more support for another hero would make it clearer that the requirement was not an option.


    "The demons will only be allowed when they have paid for the sins they havemitted. My father was a victim of theres and I do not have the right to move on from where I stand until that is done. However, I do see the reason you all wish to go about it by removing the corruption guiding them. So I will support that movement until it is a failure. At that point, I will personally enter the demon territory and end the threat one way or another."


    This was enough for them to work with. Having the demi-humans'' support in this matter was more than enough for them all to move forward and meet the dwarves. "Then we have an agreement to do things the hard way first. We remove the lord of the demons and their sin demon generals. From there the bad will be weeded out by those oppressed." August summed their n up.


    "We have an agreement and can draw up the magic contract and bond our souls to it. Kroll and Ventus, do you agree?" The queen made sure to include the final members in the decision.


    After a little thought, the two stopped looking at each other and looked at them all. "As long as all weed. Goblin and Grey hair support this." This was the final say.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 534 - 534. Stopping Point

    Before Walker knew it he and Su had watched many ns drawn up for road ways, materials, construction,nd, and many other things. Every single one went in to details that he had never learned and never understood. All the two knew was that they were witnessing history.


    After many hours in the windowless room the kings, queen, and other pair of representatives showed weariness. "I think we will stop here for the night. We have the start of the city n and orders to our armies to reinforce the elven and demi-human borders." August felt that his decisions would not be as clear and cut if he did not rest.


    "I agree. We may be used to sleepless nights but if we do so now we could miss an important detail." The queen agreed. "I will have rooms made for each of you and also have my scribes prepared for tomorrow unless you would like someone else.?"


    "Walker hasn''t learned any scribe skills yet¡­.right?'' Rorick was hoping that Walker could act as the scribe but saw that Walker was shaking his head no. "I had hope that it would be easy and we could stay a little more casual. I feel like I have gotten more done today ignoring formalities than ever." Rorick had not been one for formalities but even the demi-human kingdom hadws and rules to follow.


    "You''re telling me about it. The nobles always stand in my way for the smallest things. I wanted to build another orphanage and they were up in arms about funding. But I say that I want additional street cleaners and they praise me." August shook his head. He had many instances of skirting nobles to achieve his goals.


    "Try elders. They always say that things need to be a certain way. I literally have a skill that lets me speak with our ancestor''s spirits and I am still told I am too young. I even find myself telling this to my sessor. We all be elders one day." The queen was skating her own head at herself.


    "Krol and Ventus are not enjoying proper talk. We like blunt to understand. Words are many when there is nothing to say." Even Kroll and Ventus had the feelings that there was too much in the way of progress. It was a stunning scene for Walker and Su who had never seen rulers as anything other than powerful figures of royalty and perfection to some degree.


    Walker and Su had a devilish grin at each other before they spoke as well. "Su, do you wonder what it is like to be suddenly told you are an ambassador when you thought you had just been handed a travel medal?"


    "Yes I do leader. Do you know what it is like to be added to a tournament as a test for a king who likes battle?"


    "Su, of course I do. What about when you find elves that are stuck in their ways that they need hero title holders to make a change most of them want?"


    "Leader, I understand that pressure. I am sure it is the same as the hero made to be a mediator without much knowledge."


    The two were starting to have trouble holding back theirughter while the kings and queens stared at them slightly pale. They had been the ones to cause all of these things without any thought on how the party felt.


    "I do need to say. There are way too many words used. Having to appear in a hall and talk everything through takes a lot of time. I feel like this isn''t the kind of adventuring I imagined." Walker sighed slightly but remembered the ces he had explored and shrugged it off.


    "Leader, I think we may have taken the joke a little far¡­" Su had noticed the others'' faces and was worried they had offended all of them.


    "It''s alright. They just need rest after they agree that we will have a resting ce in the new capital. It is important to have the mediator there sometimes. Meaning that the mediators'' party would also have somewhere to stay." Walker was sneaky and threw this in there. He wasn''t after a mansion but knowing that there would be a small house to sleep when they passed through the area was a perk.


    Walker saw the other nod slowly epting that. "Alright then. We will close this meeting here for now. Tomorrow we will discuss further construction such as another adventurers guild building in the capital, a tamers guild location, and finally the joint work force that will greatly bring the working sses together. Until then we shall rest."


    Walker closed the meeting officially. "Ehm, yes. My enforcers will guide everyone to the proper resting ces. I look forward to having you all for breakfast in the morning to try some of the natural fruits and herb teas from our home."


    The queen stood and opened the door for them all to move out. The sound of them walking out made the fairly tired merchants, attendants, elders, guild master, and Scy stand tall. With a few words they were also pausing their conversations and heading to rest.


    Walker and Su browsed the tables to find trade agreements and the guild decisions making amazing progress. "Finally we can go and sit. They started to argue about what materials the curtains were made out of and I have no idea why it mattered." Gil looked like he had been pushed to the limit.


    "At least they listened to you. They tried to brush me off as if I was a know nothing. Luckily Midnight just had to pick her head up and they learned to use their ears." Remey patted Midnight on the head while she puffed her chest up. Midnight was very proud of her job thus far. But now they had earned their rest until the next morning.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 535 - 535. Specifics

    The night soon was breaking way in to morning for the party. This brought them to the second day of decisions when it came to the meetings. So far there had already been a huge amount of growth, not only had an up anding race been added to the mix to join and learn through experience but there was also the new capital being formed from the three uniting sharing their strength and knowledge.


    "Midnight, make sure they listen to Remey more today. They should be speaking about the things that were more or less were building from the decisions of their kings and queen from the previous day." Walker had filled in his party members on what had urred.


    "Leader, will you want me to work as a middle man between the groups today? The groups may begin to work on things that affect their progress and need to be shared between each other." Sui was already thinking of what would happen through the day and Walker could only nod in approval.


    "I think today I might have a little trouble. They should be speaking on locations and criteria for hiring staff members." Gil spoke up wanting to make sure that Walker remembered the worries he had.


    "That will be an important standard to set for an adventurers guild. If they are too rxed they could end up with a guild that does not function properly. But if they also end up with a poor design or location they could end up with not enough room to do what the guild does." Walker had already bounce ideas off of everyone and referenced their guild in the kingdoms to the demi-human adventurers guild.


    "I remember, We thought that a space above theirrgest training area would be best since they could build a proper dissection area and allow for training spaces at the same time. All that would be needed is arger above ground building." Gil reminded himself of the best idea they had and how he would introduce it.


    Midnight was following Remey closely and Onyx had already taken a space on Gil''s shoulder. The pairs were set and the party returned to the queens'' hall to find the others already there just arrived. "I believe we can begin the second day!" Walker said this and caused everyone to fall in to motion.


    The next four days went in a flurry of debate and magical contracts. Thews revolving around the adventurers guild became signed and written. There were trade routes to be created and tradews to be brought and taught to each kingdom respectively.Most importantly the details of how and when the new city was being built had been decided.


    The three kingdoms were to begin sending builders and resources in less than a month. They had already sent mages and soldiers to protect the area along with sending soldiers to the border to sure it up against the demons.


    Thews for the new city had been a tough topic since each wanted them to follow thews of their own kingdoms. However, with a significant amount of guidance from Walker, the rulers were pushed to make them include everyone. There would be free trade that weesrge auctions of multiple items to give everyone a fair chance at rare goods. Thisw greatly pleased the rulers since they feared an unfair advantage.


    Kroll and Ventus found that they could speak on thews revolving around monsters and hunting. This was mostly due to their fast expanding knowledge of the other monsters that had begun to form their own races. The demi-humans had not been able to guide those under their care to this stage but it was clear that the goblins and grey haired spiders would reach it soon.


    To this end the final day, Kroll and Ventus left to return to the ce they had begun to build their own vige. They took craftsmen and a few other notable p[roffessions to attempt to teach other goblins. Before they left Walker found out that their numbers had reach seventy goblins and over a hundred grey haired spiders. More had sensed the growth of their races and found the little vige.


    One set ofws that was hard pressed for Walker and Su was that there be a set of regtions and processes for a being of another race seeking shelter from oppression and war. This was mostly due to the demons and their treatment of their own people but could apply to any of the races in the world. It was a section ofws that had never been in existence to their knowledge and radically changed how races could be cared for.


    When the topic first arrived Walker saw the looks of distaste and frustration on all of the rulers'' faces. Yet, as the conversation went on they turned to excitement since they were breaking new ground on a set ofws that would make life better for everyone. Building an epting environment to not only strengthen their people but all others in the future.


    The development of an inter-kingdom education system was another break through they hade to. There were many newws and culturesing together. They all agreed that they would need somewhere for the young to go and learn how the world would work. It was also a good way for many different system users to attend and try and help the young to gain their systems earlier.


    This would cut down on those without systems in life and also unite the people more. On the topic of people without systems, there was a new way for them to find work. Many would choose the lower no skill jobs to scrape by. But in the new city, there would be a huge amount of jobs and careers that they could take to assist inmunications between the various facilities there. It was more than just a new hope for system users.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 536 - 536. Final Signatures

    The three groups working on their respective tasks came together for a final meeting. Walker stood tall from therge round table with many maps and ns upon it. "Today will be the final signing of contracts. We can start with merchants please."


    Markus Raven stood up as the representative of this group. "We have set up price points for various potions, created items, and even magic services the other kingdoms do not possess. However, the price of herbs and potions will be dictated by the current head of the alchemy guild which shall take effect in exactly one year."


    This was the date set for the guild to establish itself. This seemed like a long time but in the ns that had been made, it was extra. The guild could begin operation as soon as the buildings and heads were established. The sooner the better.


    "The Ga family shall establish a joint auction branch with the Demi-human group known as collectors. They both have many years in the sale of any and all goods."


    The collectors were a group that collected rare items and materials for the Demi-human kingdom and held auctions to sell them. It was an equal to the human kingdom''s Ga family and operated just as well.


    "Furthermore the new trade paths and guides will begin within one week for those still here. This training period willst an additional two weeks. The roads will begin construction immediately from each kingdom with the great assistance of the earth elemental mages from the forest elf city."


    Markus sat back down after highlighting the greatest things and signing a final document which was then brought to Ibis.


    "The adventurers guild had taken on to itself the privilege to extend another branch in this city and one within the new unarmed city. Thews applicable and regtions have all been taken in to ount. There are two documents for the conduct of both branches."


    This had taken some time and a few sleepless nights but Ibis still felt his energy was limitless. "We will begin recruiting here tomorrow and education will follow. There are top staff of the human branch that will assist with all effort."


    "We will also issue quests for adventurers to venture to the new city and work asbor along with hand picked adventurers toe here and begin the training by guides. After they have learned they will be able to teach others in the respective kingdoms theye from."


    "Locations for both branches are already established and blueprints are waiting for approval. Thank you for this opportunity." Ibis signed the paper as the guild master of the adventurers guild. The pride he felt in the moment was immeasurable.


    The signed magical contract finally came to rest in front of their rulers. The three were looking at those who had been deliberating just as much as them with an air of confidence. These three had never done something sorge in their entire lives nor in their kingdoms'' histories.


    "First of all, I thank the human king and the demi-human king for reaching out to us with the same kind hand as we extended. Furthermore, I am grateful to find that our forest home held two new rulers on the path to bing their own equal races. These things bring pride to the world."


    The queen was absolutely beaming. She had not shown such joy to any since they began but it was clear now that there was nothing but pure joy. "I am blessed that we will also be recognizing others treading the path to bing a race and hope for their futures. My home has finally opened itself to the rest of the world and we will use all of our might to create a ce that can bring everyone closer and stringer."


    The queen signed the contract in front of her then passed it to king August. "I have seen many things I did not expect nor could fathom. The heroes who were birthed in my kingdom have risen above it at such a young age and I believe that the joint city we create will be a ce for many equal geniuses to rise. We have taken the time to decide on a name for the capital we shall build. We chose a name that means toe together and create something new; the city of Genisis."


    King August said this and a murmur swept through the room in approval. They had all been wondering the name of their new city and were impressed with the hefty name. King August did not see any reason to dwell on any other topic since everything else had already been exined.


    "I would first like to apologize for the fact that I did note personally at the first word of this meeting. I wildly underestimated the importance and found this out early enough to arrive here in time to make this leap forward." King Rorick wanted to make sure that they all knew he valued this alliance and was ready to put everything behind it.


    "My people are on edge due to current times and we will be able to find further growth and sce in this new city. My people will take full responsibility for creating the fields to feed those who wish to grow there. My people will also shoulder the heavy materials and assist every craftsman we can, it is something we are able to do that humans and elves can not. This is the reason we shall all grow, we are able to protect each others'' weaknesses."


    King Rorick looked down at the magical contract below his hand and signed it immediately. He refused to let this chance pass by. He may not be going to war any longer but had found a new path. He had found those which would push his people beyond the limits they had found. The walls would be broken to foster this future.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 537 - 537. Waking The Continent

    The magical contract once signed resonated with the mana of each of the signers. Walker came forward from his seat and took it. Each of his party had already signed it and he was thest. The recognition of the heroes was the greatest backing such an undertaking could have. Not only for the fruitful future but also for the eptance of the peoples.


    As Walker signed the magical contract himself he felt that some of his mana was being absorbed in to it. This was something he had nevere in to contact with and learned about here in the elf kingdom. Many races would use these contracts as a way to hold each other ountable but they were mainly used by rulers and nobles.


    When the magical contract is broken then those involved would be notified by the systems and penalties would be doled out. Not only the kingdoms or races affected would be punished by each other but also by the world.


    Thest pen stroke Walker made caused the contract to be enveloped within blue mes. This wasn''t fire in the traditional sense because the natural mana did not reflect this. Instead, it was the world iming the contract and pushing it in to the systems.


    ''The contract of three kingdoms; Forest elf, Human, Demi-human. Has been signed in tow. The races shall be united in the creation of a grand city; Genesis. The three rulers shall unite their people and foster growth. War is not permitted. Territorial disputes are not permitted. Laws will be adjusted.


    The world recognizes the support of those who hold the title of hero.


    The world recognizes the True hero title holder.


    With the will of the races and the will of the world, the bond has been made. If the contract is broken then the world shally down its greatest punishment to those that have failed to uphold such contracts.''


    These punishments were outlined but as soon as the world took a hold of the magical contract written by the arcane scribe, it changed the punishments to those put down by the world itself. This made them all realize that they were much more bonded to this future than expected. If they so much as strayed from the path they had chosen then they would be looking at the world and not any other enforcing its'' punishment. This was terrifying but also invigorating.


    "The world has acknowledged our bond and we will celebrate this." The queen stood up and called for her people to celebrate this day. "Today is to be our first multi-kingdom holiday. The day of Genesis!" With the queens'' ruling the others in the room gave a shout. The elders quickly sent work out of the hall to the people.


    There were many in the respective kingdoms that were receiving the kingdom notifications of what had been dered and what was in motion. The amount of quests sent out at once to begin preparing materials, training, traveling, and many other things was almost an uncountable number. This was the singlergest movement for any that had lived in this age.


    There were also many quests and notifications sent to the other kingdoms about this. Deep underground the three dwarven kings had their monthly meeting and were receiving their own notifications.


    "What is this! City of Genesis?" One gruff voice shouted in seeming anger.


    "Why were we not included within this? Actually wait, we have a quest to receive the heroes? When are theying? I need to return to the surface to prepare." The second gruff voice was full of stress and excitement.


    "Who cares about their little tea party up there. I still have things to talk about. Get your fat self back in your chair and read through the materials we are sending up! The numbers are too low and we need to deal with those yellow pests." The third voice could care less for what was happening and only wanted to focus on the task at hand.


    Deep within the waters of an ocean in turmoil, the silence of the water was broken but a melodic voice that was not disturbed by the water at all. "Do we dare set foot on thend to deal with such small matters? We are busy with the demon spawns of the water and nothing else. If they can note to help us, why would we go to greet them?"


    "Father, please allow me. I have not ventured onnd in my life and need to partake in the trial to earn my rite of session. I will carry your word of greeting and establish rtions yet again." The melodic voices of other males and females voiced their agreement.


    "Then gather your siblings and go. I need not the assistance of those without their ritepleted. When you return you will be allowed to swim through the battle field against the demonic Kraken and their spawn."


    In the demonnds, the earth rumbled as a fist smashed the ground. Demons felt this anger and annoyance and cowered. The only ones to stand up and begin to ept orders were seven title holders of sin. These demons began to bolster their own armies.


    In the highest mountains, the small viges were full of peaceful events and calm demeanor. There was not a worry within their little world of mountains and sky, but as the world turned these actions that came with it caused the end of slumber for a great many of the royal dragon kind. Sleeping giants had begun to awaken.


    The light of the sky grew brighter. If any of the world were to look up they would swear they saw through the clouds and in to yet another city. However, this was cast off as the imaginations of children and drunk ramblings of fools. The height of the sky may have trembled slightly but the flutter of wings was enough to cause some of the most sensitive to look up in curiosity as well.


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 Chapter 538 - 538. Celebrating

    The events of the world went unnoticed by the party. They were caught up in the celebration the forest elves had begun. There was music that filled the streets along with many of their traditional dances. Food was freely brought from every corner and shared among them. "I haven''t seen this kind of celebration sincest year''s eclipse celebration." Wade was sitting at a table with the party and rulers, enjoying the festivities.


    "You should all visit again during the next eclipse. I will be part of the ceremony as I follow my duty as a future queen. It will be a sight to see." Alma had taken a seat next to Gil which kept Gil a little more silent and red faced than usual. Remey had tried to make fun of him but had been dragged away by Midnight and Su to try every possible sweet they could.


    Onyx had curled himself around a high light elemental crystal and was resting. He had been highly focused on the entire process and was mentally exhausted. This was one reason that Walker had not pushed for the party to leave immediately. If they had he could not guarantee that they would all be able to properly travel to the dwarven kingdom. Not to mention over the course of the weeks it would take.


    "I expect that you will all be leaving in the morning?" Alma had raised the question slowly. She didn''t want to see those that had supported her leaving so soon. That and she couldn''t help but want to go with them and continue to see the amazing things they caused with every step. Unfortunately, she was bound to the city and would need to uphold her responsibility.


    "Yes, we need to head to the dwarven kingdom to see how they are fairing with the yellow slimes. I have a feeling that they are dealing this the same problems as your city was." Walker had been worrying about how bad this problem may be getting and how much worse it would get while they traveled there.


    Alma looked a little sad at this but knew that it was better to help those in need and did not push them to stay. "I think we will be visiting here again. But it would be even better to see you all in the new city. I think that will be the best ce for any future leader or representative. Plenty of things to learn." Gil wanted to make sure that he would see Alma again but also made it about seeing everyone again.


    "Hey Walker, want to take a walk around? I am sure you want to say a few things to the others before you leave in the morning." Wade had read in to the situation unfolding in front of them and decided it was best to let Gil and Alma alone to speak. He also wanted to make sure he had plenty of things he could tease her aboutter since they were their own party.


    "Sure, I want to make sure I say goodbye and allow for the queen and kings to give me somest minute advice on what to do when we arrive in the dwarven kingdom." Walker was a little worried about these things but knew that he could use some heads up on what he would need to do and act like there.


    The two stood and moved toward the table center where the three rulers were speaking freely. They had been sharing their woes as rulers and also bragging about their kingdoms equally. It was rare for them to be able to rx in such a way and wanted to do so before they needed to return and bolster their strength towards the new endeavors.


    "Ah,e to see me again? I thought that you would be rushing away or resting after all these deliberations. I am d you have some fight in you yet." King Rorick was d to see one of those he had seen battle before and enjoyed.


    "I will n to visit the demi-human kingdom again, but I am not sure when that would be. It sounds like I will sooner see you in the city of Genesis." Walker smirked as he said this. The city was definitely going to be built faster than he was estimating due to the joint effort of all three kingdoms.


    "You should see us there. When the main structures are built I will attend and make sure things are progressing smoothly. It will also hold as the main summit for the other kingdoms'' ambassadors." The queen had already decided this with the other two. She was looking forward to standing in line with her fellow rulers and show off their joint effort.


    "Yes, a meeting such as that will require the heroes that have spent their time and hard work to assist in the citys'' creation. It will also give you the chance to meet many other rulers and their representatives." King August was sure to add this so that Walker would know the gravity of being there.


    "I will be sure to n that out. I believe we will end up there anyways. The city is going to be a ce for people to thrive and we will all want to see it rise properly." Walker assured them that the party would be in attendance. "Now, my party will be leaving in the morning for the dwarven kingdom. We are sure that they will need assistance with the slimes that gue them. I also want more information on the slime breeder most likely causing their issue as well."


    The reasons did not escape Walker as he spoke his nned leave. "Then as the three rulers of the Genesis alliance, we issue this quest. Investigate the danger of the yellow slimes to the dwarven kingdom and take our greetings to the dwarven kings." The elf queen said this with affirmation from the other two.


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 Chapter 539 - 539. Dance With The Wind

    '' Genesis alliance quest: Visit and assist the Dwarven kingdom.


    The dwarven kingdom is not currently allied with the Genisis alliance. The kingdom is also facing a threat in their depths. The yellow acid slimes are eating away at their mines crippling their production and education. Assist them and their people to rid this pest and extend an olive branch.


    Requirement:


    Assist in the extermination of yellow slimes


    Meet with the three Dwarven kings and invite them to join the alliance.


    Invite them to a summit with the Genisis alliance


    Rewards:


    1000exp


    Unique privileges within the city of Genesis.''


    "I also have a gift for you. Whenever an elf leaves the forest they are required to wear this." The queen ced down small green metal leaves in the shape of a wreath. Each one glowed with small runes that symbolized the forest elf kingdom.


    "They have a unique rune on them that proves you are rted to this city and this kingdom. If any are to send mana through them they will feel the flow of natural mana for a moment. That is our way of showing our standing." The queen was proud to be handing these out to Walker. She had not met any other race that was deserving of this symbol in her lifetime. For her, it was a heart warming event.


    "Thank you. We are proud to wear something so important. I hope we can visit soon. But I think it will be even better to meet at the new capital." Walker was impressed and excited to be given these identifications. The party held three identifying symbols from three different kingdoms which held their friends. Nothing was more fulfilling.


    "Come on and stop that serious talk. I want to see that foot work you have learned. Scy told me you have two different skills that you use together and that it was rather inspiring." King Roricks'' voice was a little too loud. However, this seemed intentional to make the center of the floor clear and music to start up.


    "I don''t think you can tell a king no." Wade pushed Walker forward earning him a harsh embarrassed re. But Walker was not a spoil sport.


    "If I am going to push this to the maximum I can I will need a partner." Walker wanted to have someone share the focus with. Surprisingly a slim elf stepped on the air down from a branch to rest in front of him. Her long hair shimmered in the light of the crystal bringing many elves to look at her without reserve.


    "My nickname is Light, like a feather. I am the one in charge of every air strider within the city and I hold the wind wanderer system. Let''s see if the esteemed hero can match my dance of the wind skill." The elf smiled and many others were attracted to the scene. This elf was long known for showing off her ability to twist through the air in an elegant fashion. Not many could rival her with their skills even though they were a proper attack based system.


    "Then I guess it is only right for me to lead." Walker felt his blood start to pump and he jumped forward. His stride fell as he lowered himself and bounced but up with a spin. The elf matched him but didn''t even step a toe to the ground. She did sopletely in the air while floating just above the ground.


    "Pick the beat up!" Walker yelled for the music to increase and was met with a change in tune. The flutes and wind instruments grew even louder and nearly frantic. This pushed his heart in to an overdrive of adrenaline and speed. "I hope you can dodge well. I can''t stay too calm with this."


    The dance of the wild rabbit lost its'' rationality and Walker fell in to the dance of the rabid rabbit. Hepletely ignored where the two danced and followed suit. He had no reason to worry over the elegant elf that flipped in the air and flung her arms about by him. He was doing the same.


    The real awe started as the two approached the branches and vines of the tree nearby. Walker did not hesitate to jump through and on branches causing those watching to fall further in to the spectacle before him. Light was surprised and pushed her movements to their furthest pique while Walker was using the dance of the rabid rabbit and jungle step in tandem. He was bouncing branch to branch as he had always done so.


    The queen had stood up with her jaw dropped while watching this. She had never seen an elf move in such a way as Walker nor had she seen the one nicknamed Light use her full skills. It was a show that shook her curiosity to the very core. She couldn''t help but wonder what else this hero in front of her would be capable of the next she saw him.


    "You are fast and quick. But you can''t dance where I can!" Light had be frustrated and suddenly left the branch for the open air. She wanted to steal away the focus and show that she was the dominant power in the air. She had always been the one to deliver the important information around the city. She had guided many wind striders to their duty and even some others with simr skills. But now she faced a challenge she feared to lose.


    Walker couldn''t control himself with rationality. He stayed to the intense beat and lept straight in to the air without a single hesitation. The crown watching felt their hearts jump out of their chests at this sight. The only calm ones were Walker''s party who had seen many more amazing things and had a feeling tugging at them. They knew something was about to happen.


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 Chapter 540 - 540. Ripple

    '' The skill wind ripple has been taken from the sky god system. The user has automatically learned the skill wind ripple.


    Wind ripple- 1 mana cost for every fifty steps.


    The user uses a single mana to create waves within the air. This ripple gives the user fifty small waves to step over as if they were solid ground. The ripples cause a small disruption to any wind elemental skills nearby. This skill can be used as long as the user consumes mana to increase the possible steps.''


    Walker did not focus at all or have the chance to read this system notification. He was consumed by the dance of the rabid rabbit and stepped through the air using the wind ripple skill continuously.


    Light was shocked and found that her steps had be shaky and hard to bnce. Before she knew Walker was within an inch and was swinging an arm out to her. The music came to an end in this instant as if someone had ordered it and Walker felt his rhythm interrupted. He felt the slight tired feeling and noticed that Light was starting to snake in the air.


    He acted as smoothly as possible and started a walk down to the ground using the air ripple skill. He guided Light down and raised his and her hand high before bowing. After the watching audience had shouted their praise he separated from her. "That was a lot of fun. Thanks for helping me learn a new skill." Before she could reply he was already gone towards the musicians who had been stopped by Su.


    Walker smiled with a slight bit of embarrassment. He didn''t like how the dance of the rabid rabbit skill would keep him moving without his full focus and consent. The instinctual drive was a little too much to handle. However, he was not afraid to use the skill when his party was around since they were able to properly keep him in check. He knew he could always rely on them and they could for him.


    Light just looked in awe at Walker since he had just said that he had learned a new skill. To the elf that had been the master of walking through the air, it was something impossible. However, before she could get anywhere near him to ask for more information Walker was crowded by the other wind striders that had been watching from around him.


    "Scy, you didn''t do him justice in your description of his skills. That movement was more than any of us could replicate." King Rorick was amazed and brought to a more serious attitude after seeing Walker step through the air in such a manner while using other movement techniques.


    Scy who stood behind him was equally shocked again by Walker and his change in his dance. "My king, I believe he just learned yet another skill. He could not walk and cause those ripples in the air before. I believe we witnessed him get stronger yet again."


    "I can say, the difference since Ist saw them to now is extreme. I feel that their is an aura of power around them that theycked. I know we may have higher levels and different systems...but I do not believe that would matter." King August had listened in on the conversation between the two and could not hold back.


    "Just from the moment they stepped in to my city and now with them preparing to leave, it is very different. They caused the world to shake due to the experience they gained, brought new ideas to my archers, trained young enforcers in ways they had been missing, showed my people the value the world would have for their products, and they even stood behind my own sessor to change ourws." The queen also joined in. This was the problem with sitting next to other rulers.


    "You forget that they also are the only ones recognized as friends to monsters, right? I did not miss the fact that they gained more titles. They even helped one of my own gain a title. It is very exciting." Rorick paused before continuing. "I thought this would go very differently, but this may be the first time I have not wanted war with the demons in my life."


    There was a look of rxation on Roricks face. He had long been stressed by this notion and even more so after the recent events with potions and cursed items. Having this situation was unprecedented and utterly amazing. "Do you think they will bring those dwarves from under their rocks? It has been many years since they traveled out of their own kingdom in flesh and blood. They are too attached to those golem soldiers."


    King August didn''t even hesitate to respond to king Roricks words, "Yes. If they go there I can almost guarantee that they will want to join this alliance and venture to the city. If the elves and dwarves can somehowbine their forging and magic¡­" The words alone were powerful.


    "I can not see such a thing happening now. But you are correct. These are the people to do it." The rulers fell in to their own conversations on the food and futures they wished to see while the party finally rescued Walker from the onught of questions the wind striders were giving him.


    "I thought I was going to be talked to death, I couldn''t even answer one." Walker was breathing heavily while Su and Remey had released him after pulling him away.


    "That''s what you get for showing off a new skill. You should have told us that you could walk through the air though." Remey was excited to see that Walker had the skill but wished to have seen it sooner.


    "Remey, he just learned it. I saw the way he changed his tactics in the middle." Su had seen it all clearly and began lecturing Remey and Walker on the small changes in his movements.


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 Chapter 541 - 541. Final Goodbye

    "Su is right. I just learned it but it was not really intentional. I reacted on instinct and the next thing I knew I was stepping on the air and making it ripple. Thank you by the way Su, I was a little unfocused." Walker scratched his head but Su just showed a storing smile.


    "It''s my job to protect everyone around me." She was proud of herself for her ability to sense the situation and act.


    Remey tried ti get Walker to keep showing off the skill but the night was getting towards the end. Walker managed to find Midnight and collected Onyx. Gil and Alma were still caught up in conversation and Walker decided to give her his farewell while leaving the two to say their own.


    "He looks so gooey and lovey over there. Do you think he even realizes he likes the future queen of, you know, THE ELVES?" Remey was gossiping with Su and Walker as they headed to rest for their leave in the morning.


    "I think it is romantic. At first, he looked afraid of her and the blue ivy she grew around her. Yet now, they can''t stop talking and he looks more at home than ever." Su was much more the romantic than the other two whereas Midnight and Onyx were the ones who were farthest from such things.


    "He is happy here since he has a lot of others with the same system. I think he has never been around so many people that let him explore his own system as he has here. He also may be letting the fame go to his head." Walker ended with augh while thinking about the elven archers that had used all their mana to create arrows with him.


    "You don''t think¡­ he would stay here." Remey has slowed down considerably when this thought hit her. She saw the party as her family, sometimes even more than that. To her, there was nothing that would bring her more pain than seeing any of them hurt. The idea that Gil might try and stay here while they went on to other adventurers caused a sharp pain to pierce her.


    "Never, he would lose his mind worrying over the things he missed. I also think he will want to tell the stories to a certain future queen." Walker was easily able to mitigate the worry.


    "We will see them in the new city too. I have a feeling that future rulers and other influential figures will flock there." Su knew that this was a guarantee for the future of the city of Genesis. There was no other way for them all to interact and grow unless they traveled individually to other kingdoms. But heading to the one city they could learn many new things to grow.


    "I''ll still give him a punch to make sure he knows that he needs to stay and adventure with us," Remey said it as if it was something that would make her feel better more than it would make Gil stay. But Walker and Su knew they couldn''t stop her from doing so and just went with the flow.


    By the time they had finished their conversation they had arrived at the tree house and were feeling the built up tiredness. Sleep was the only thing on their minds and that was exactly what they did. The sounds of Gil entering just minutes after them weren''t even noticed.


    The dawn broke through the leaves of the trees and pushed the party in to the world of the waking. They had already gathered their items the day before and only had the basics to deal with.


    The elf city was surprisingly silent in the morning due to the celebrations of the previous night. The sun and soft breeze caused the dew to shine on every leaf and de of grass around. The vines shimmered in their own elegance making all of them sad to leave such a beautiful ce. "I think we should go see that view again before we leave. Plus we have adopted the tradition already." Walker pointed up to the lightning struck branch and began to climb higher.


    Midnight was the most excited for this since she wanted to burn off some of her open energy in the morning. The others had the feeling that Walker would be the winner as usual but they would get topete with each other. "I thought you would all follow our traditions." Wade was at the top waiting for them when they arrived.


    "I know Calen would be here to send you off herself as well if she wasn''t off on her own quests. And Alma was stubborn in saying that she already said goodbye and couldn''t possibly say it again." Wade shook his head knowing full well that Alma was too afraid to cry seeing her new friends leave.


    "I had some hope we would say goodbye to you too. I have a feeling that you might be one of the first to be at the new capital city." Walker arm bumped Wade out of respect for another party leader.


    "You should wait for me there. I will be bringing as many of the trainee enforcers as I am allowed to see it and learn from the other kingdoms." Wade smirked while making sure to say his farewells to every single member of the party. "Oh, and Gil. Don''t you dare try and take my title too." With this Wade hooped down to the next branch and was heading back down.


    "He didn''t seem like one for goodbyes, but I am d we saw him." Walker nodded at the leaving Wade. "Well, we should get going, Run!" Walker was the first to start the run down from the top branch. He left with the flurry of the wind and the smile of his face.


    The other rulers had equally left or were preparing to leave. They had many things to do in their own kingdoms and some even watched as the heroes left the city.


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 Chapter 542 - 542. Escorted

    The forest was full of life and wildly differentpared to how things were before when the party had arrived. The purple slimes had mostly been eradicated and although some small ces still showed some of the darker rot, there was more new growth everywhere the party went.


    They were still in their formations but every once in a while there would be a glimpse or the sound of a nearby enforcer patrolling the area. Walker knew this was the way for the queen to send them off safely and also had the feeling that Sierra would have personally volunteered her squad.


    "Hey, bury those piles of purple slime body. We can''t just walk by them without doing something." Su had been on a keen look out for such ces as they went. They were few and far between but every time there was even a drop of purple slime they would stop to cover it. They knew just how fast a small slime could grow in to a massive problem.


    "Have you noticed there are almost no signs of any grey haired spider anywhere? I bet most have moved to the goblin and spider vige by now." Gil had been worried that they would need to fight some. But luckily there had been no sign or even a single thread.


    "That is a good thing. They will reach their own race sooner with more to help them build and grow. I just wonder if any more goblins havee." Walker had been worried that the spiders would take over the vige due to theirrger numbers.


    "I expect there were other goblins hiding away like Kroll was. It is to be expected that they will find the courage toe out and join their brothers." Su said this with such confidence that not a single one of them doubted this.


    With everyone at ease, there was not much else to say other than wonder what their ns were for getting to the dwarven kingdom, "Are we stopping at home between here and the dwarves?" Remey was the one who wanted to stop the most. She was just itching to tell the old master alchemist all about their discoveries and the alchemy guild.


    "I don''t think we should. We spent more time in the elf city than I expected and we need to get to the dwarves sooner thanter. If their slime problem is growing as fast as the elves then I have a feeling that they may need some assistance." Walker really wanted to stop himself and deliver his own gift to Alice. But he needed to stay focused.


    "I agree with leader, the dwarves could be in much worse shape than the elves were. They may have taken a heavy loss to their own people by now." Sui knew that the dwarves rarely left their underground city making the state of their well being very hard to guess.


    "As long as we can let loose and see what we can do with our new levels I am all for it." Remey had been wanting to stretch and get in to some proper fights. Shre had some more hope that they would encounter some more monsters in the forest on their way out but with the enforcers not so secret escort, there was a slim chance they would see even a single monster.


    "Since we are passing the city we will be able to see it. But we will remain to the east of it and stay north. When we are at the base of the mountains we will be able to find the smaller city at the surface which will lead the way to the underground. Remember we will need to greet all three of their kings that work to govern the dwarves." Walker wanted to be sure everyone knew the n fully.


    The fields shouldn''t have many horned rabbits left by now, but if there are any I will use some of the new arrows I got." Gil was also excited to try to use the different elemental arrows that they had created. He knew that there would be an improved version in the future but right now the ones he carried were very dear to him because of the work that he and the elves had out in.


    "What!? No! You aren''t allowed to fire your arrows at everything before they get here. How will Midnight and I show off our strength." Remey spurred Midnight to give a huff with her. The two wanted to team up again against an opponent.


    "Do not forget me. I will show my size and take down any enemy that tries toy a finger on you." Onyx did not want to be left out and was falling for Remeys'' words.


    "Come on, you have Onyx starting to sound reckless too now. Don''t corrupt him." Gil attempted to scold Remey but only received a hit to the arm for his trouble. "I should have put all those points in to defense!"


    Gil was rubbing his sore arm while looking pitiful. But Walker knew too well that he would be fine in a few minutes. "Leader, do you think we will need to be worried about the orcs? We will pass by the river this time and they are known to live near the waters in the fields." Su made a good point.


    "I might not want to fight orcs. I hear they are ugly and pig like. If they are like that they definitely smell." Remey was already backtracking on her words.


    "I think there is a high chance to encounter them. The summer had gone on long enough for them to need to gather by the water inrger groups. If I remember right they travel in groups of ten or fifteen looking for food and fights." Walker recalled a book he had read in the library. This was the warning that it stated at first.


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 Chapter 543 - 543. Orc Counter Strategy

    "Can I get a run down on the orcs and what they look like? I actually never saw them living in the farms since the patrols would deal with any that strayed too close to the city." Gil had never seen them and not even bothered to learn about them for this reason It was a gap in his knowledge he didn''t want to have when he might encounter them.


    Walker took the lead recalling all of the passages he had read in the monster guide. "The orcs are monsters that tend to travel in small groups. They stand double the height of a human but still not taller than an ogre. Their heads are the same as a stretched out pigs and they have the same thick skin. That makes their defenses high along with the health points. But they are slow and easy to anger so they don''t strategize." Walker paused for a moment while Gil absorbed the information.


    "They are strong so it is better to dodge them and will eat anything alive. Literally anything. They even eat each other when in need. They have a habit of picking up heavybranches or evenrge rocks to use as clubs if they can but prefer to just crush things in their hands." This made Remey and Su flinch a little. Su was d she increased agility so that she would not easily be grabbed by such a monster.


    "I am sure that I won''t need to face them head on¡­" Remey was already making strategies to circle them and hit them in the back if they encountered them. The real test would be when they actually faced one, or a few.


    "Midnight should have the advantage since they won''t be able to catch on to her using her shadow wrapping skills." Walker had this realization. He was already thinking that she would also be the best one of them to cut down some of the orcs defense when they bumped in to them.


    "It is sounding more unavoidable. But if it is the fastest way for us to get to the dwarven kingdom I guess there is no choice." Gil sighed while fully epting all the information and the possibilities that came with it. "I will mainly need to use the earth elemental and the wind arrows to damage them then."


    "I was going to ask if you nned to do that. I feel like the fire arrows will just anger them, which will be fine if they are in a group. The water elemental arrows might cause them to be even slower but that might not be what we need since they are already slow monsters to start with." Walker joined Gil in his nning. They both preferred the rangedbat.


    "Does that mean your frost whip will be more or less useless? What about your meleebat weapons?" Su was trying to gauge whether Walker would be risking the attempt to even go near the orcs if they encountered them.


    "I am not sure. I know using regr arrows is useless. Most of my weapons aren''t super strong. I think the hammer would be a good option if I can manage to get close but it is too risky. The twin blitz swords might be my best chance at doing any real damage to them. However, magic will be the safest option."


    This was bringing many ideas to him. He wanted to focus on a magic that couldpletely stop the orcs in their tracks and safely give the party the time and opportunity to strike continuously. "I could try and use earth magic more. I know it is a little slower to cause any sort of effect. But if I manage to make some sort of trap hole or fissure in the ground we could have an easy time of trapping them and attacking their heads."


    "That actually sounds like the best strategy. Are you going to try and learn a skill like that while we walk?" Remey was curious if Walker would be able to do this. If he did she would be able to attack up close and personal without the worry of getting grabbed and crushed at all.


    "I can give it a try. But you all know how I get way too focused and lose the world a little." Walker was watching the rest of the party who had already started to set themselves up around him.


    "We''ve got you. Just focus as much as you can and if you slow down we will let Midnight give you a push." Gil took the spot right behind him with an arrow at the ready for any monster that dared toe anywhere near them while Walker was vulnerable.


    "Then, I guess I should give it a shot." Walker was worried that this might not be possible since he would end up being focused on walking instead of the earth elemental mana.


    "Just stay walking and if anything happens we will snap you out of it. Trust me." Su was grasping both of her shields at the ready to guard against anything that coulde their way as they neared the exit to the forest. This put Walker in a much more rxed state. Even more so after he looked at the rest of his party members who were fully focused on the surroundings.


    His words on the dangers that came from the orcs they would most likely face in the area were not ignored. The party wanted him to have this skill they would need to properly deal with future threats and disy their strength properly. "Alright. Let''s try this out!"


    Walker hyped himself up with a slight stretch to his arms as he walked. With his head bowed and his eyes closed he continued to walk forward while grasping at the earth elemental mana below his feet.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 544 - 544. Trench

    Walker was stumbling here and there with his eyes closed but he couldn''t properly grasp the earth elemental mana without doing so. He struggled on and felt a soft nudge from Midnghts'' nose here and there to keep him from going astray. His feeling of safety increased all the while knowing that his party was always doing their best to protect him.


    He knew that he would need to focus more on the earth elemental mana but was having trouble letting the feeling and worry of falling. The fact that he was keeping his eyes close was not helping this and he felt that every time his foot would lift it might be caught or he could end up ying it improperly on a stone or root.


    However, Walker was not one to give up. He persisted to take a step over and over and soon found that he was noticing the nudges from Midnight less and less. He wasn''t sure if this was because he was staying on the path much better or if he was not noticing the feeling any longer.


    He also could feel the earth elemental mana beneath his feet had some form of vibration every time he took a step. It was as if it was reacting to his own body''s mana when it came in contact with the earth.


    Realizing that this was how everything world work Walker began to try and feel the same in the air. This was much like sensing the natural mana but instead, he was seeing the specific elemental manas and their movement around his own mana as a human being influencing it.


    Stretching himself even more he could feel the elemental manas being pushed or shift to fill spaces that his party members were previously in or just entering. The earth would slightly vibrate with each of their steps while the wind would shift to fill the spot they had once been. This was bringing many ideas and thoughts to his mind as he realized that he had been neglecting this form of trainingtely.


    Walker had been focusing on all natural mana changing and flowing instead of each specific element. Knowing how they each specifically changed when another mana source was added or when they were manipted by an outside force would serve to heighten his own understanding.


    The more he felt the earth vibrate the more he began to understand the rare time the earth would quake under food. He could tell that the entire world must shift here and there when other events happened. It was only normal that there were times that those on the ground would feel this quaking.


    ''The skill trench has been taken from the earth battle mage system. The user has understood the shifting of the earth and automatically learned the low tier skill trench.


    Trench- 2 mana cost


    The user influences the earth elemental mana to shift the earth to a different location. This creates a small trench in the user''s desired sight line. This skill can be used in cooperation with other skills to change the depth and size.


    The user has the skill high earth sculpting which easily influences the low ss skill trench. The user has not perceived the earth elemental mana enough to upgrade the trench skill to the high tier skill fissure.''


    Walker was stunned at the feeling he had. It was like a damn had just been removed and a flood of information came crashing in. He was understanding that there was a way to shift the earth which would cause a natural trench or crack. He wanted to use the skill immediately but when he went to try he could feel that there was more knowledge hiding in the darkness of the earth.


    He wanted to pry at this feeling more and more but it was tough and he was losing his focus for some reason. Before he knew what was wrong he stumbles heavily and forcefully opened his eyes to a world of darkness. "Umm, where¡­?"


    "We have been walking for hours. We already left the forest and made it in to some of the tall grass of the fields. You didn''t stop walking when we said anything so we kept up. Finally! We can rest!" Remey was the most annoyed but Walker saw the looks of worry she shot at him. It was clear he had caused trouble for the party for hours.


    "Oh, holy lord. My legs feel like they are fire!" Walker noticed that his legs were burning in pain from walking constantly without a single second of rest. He quickly used his healing skill to mitigate some of the small damage but knew that most of it was going to need to heal naturally because it was muscle soreness.


    "That''s what you get for having us walk in to the night. Look, the moon is halfway over head and we are in the fields. The forest is almost out of sight." Gil was fair in his annoyance but he also was saying this out of sheer amazement that Walker had somehow meditated so well while walking.


    "Sorry¡­ I did learn how to do this though." Walker tapped his foot on the ground using his mana to activate the trench skill. The entire party felt a slight shake as the ground shifted and a trench of about seven feet deep and ten long appeared before them. "With my earth sculpting skill I can make it bigger but it will cost me a lot of mana. If I can understand the earth elemental mana I might be able to learn a skill called fissure. But there is a lot to learn." The party just looked at Walker with a hopeful expression. They wanted him to push even farther but were too tired to express it at the moment. It was time to rest and Walker was saddled with the first watch.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 545 - 545. Crumbling Earth

    The night was uneventful and the only noticeable event was that the wind had picked up in to a light constant breeze. This was enough to cause the party members sleeping to pull their nkets around them tighter, unfortunately, it was already time to get up and get moving again.


    "Leader, are you sure you are fine to walk right away?" Su was voicing her worry that Walker was going to be too sore to move again as they had before.


    "No, I should be fine. I just worry that you might need me while we walk and I will be too focused on discovering more about the earth elemental mana." Walker had wanted to ignore training the skills more and understanding them but the others had argued against this while they ate.


    "If we need you I will hit you hard enough to get you to focus. Sound good?" Walker stepped a little bit from Remey who was cracking her knuckles. They had already decided on what they would do but she was not having Walker constantly worry about it when he could be improving himself to prevent danger for all of them.


    "Fine, but just be warned I think I will be trying to make things around us with the earth. I have a feeling that I will need to see and feel how it acts." Walker was going to change his style of meditating this time. He wanted to try and feel the changes he was making to the earth elemental mana and what that would cause nearby.


    His idea was to first try and use the high earth sculpting to change some of the features of the area around him. If he could do this then he would be able to not only use the earth magic skills faster but also see the direct changes in the earth elemental mana around them. It would be interesting if he could somehow chain the skills together to cause each other to be stronger.


    This theory came from the fact that the trench skill said that it moved the earth. If the earth was moving then it was expected to go somewhere else. That meant that there may be a spot that if Walker used this skill on it could cause the earth to be higher somewhere else. That would be the ideal situation to make some sort of earth spike or earth wall.


    The party had already gotten rid of their fire and the camping gear they had used. Their breakfasts had energized them and they fell in to the same walking formation as the day before. This time though they were starting the journey in the fields. The forest was long gone in their view but there was a slight reflection of light way in the distance which they could tell was the river from the maps they had seen in the past.


    Walker quickly began to look way ahead and use the trench skill. He could feel the earth shift and vibrate but he wasn''t sure where all the vibrations were heading. The feeling was bouncing off of other things in the earth and also interfering with the partys'' steps. It was making him feel like it might be an impossible task to track all the earth elemental manas movements.


    Yet as he realized the mana was being influence in this way he felt it was more natural for this to happen. Instead, he tried moving two trenches at the same time and paid attention to the vibrations in the earth elemental mana between them. This resulted in more shaking and the small space between the two trenches to give away and partially fill in the two trenches.


    "I get it!" Walker stopped and spoke for the first time in four hours of walking. The party had been silent for most of it but for a few random conversations and a moment where Gil spotted a regr rabbit to snipe and collect for their lunch or dinner.


    "What did you get?" Remey was the only one to ask this since the others had figured that Walker would just end up telling them anyways.


    "The vibrations in the earth elemental mana make the earth unsteady. So when the two skills are used next to each other it doesn''t matter that no skill is used on the earth between them. It loses its'' strength and falls in to the trenches I made. That means the same will happen to anything on top of what I made."


    Walker was already building strategies within his mind to use this phenomenon. He may not have gained a new skill but knowing this was going to make trapping heavier monsters much easier for them.


    "So you will use two trenches to cause an orc to fall and get stuck?" Su was confirming this since she would be able to move forward and use her shield bash to force an orc in to the p[erfect spot for this strategy.


    "Yes! Then I can try my hand at using the high earth sculpting skill to harden the earth and forcefully trap the orc. If they hold for even a few seconds we will have the time to deal the final blows." Walker was proud of this breakthrough that had taken him a decent chunk of time to understand.


    "Then what about four orcs? Would it work on four?" Gil chimed in with this simple question.


    "Well, yes. It should work since they would just destabilize the earth they were standing on even more, why four though?" Walker found it strange that the number was so specific.


    "Well, mostly because there are four of them heading this way right now. Right over there." Gil pointed in to the distance at fourrge figures steadily making their way toward the party from the river which had gotten much clearer as they had gotten closer.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 546 - 546. Trapping Orcs

    "Oh, so just casually point out the four giant pig thingsing to eat us like a snack." Remey was not the most impressed with the causal mention that the orcs had spotted them and were moving in a direct line toward them.


    "I feel like I underestimated their size." Su was worried that she would not be able to block the blunt attacks from one which was carrying arge branch in its hand.


    "If my strategy works we won''t need to worry about them attacking at all. My goal will be to get them trapped in a hole then harden the earth around them so we can easily deal with them. Onyx, I know you may want to bind them but if you wrap around them I am afraid they are strong enough to break freehand cause you a lot of damage." Walker made sure to say this to Onyx who he already noticed was preparing to attack.


    "Brother, I will use my tail m to push them in to your trap. Sister Su won''t need to risk it." Walker and Su both gave him a nod. It was a good idea since he could pull his tail away much faster than Su could retreat.


    "I will see if I can shake them up with a few arrows." Gil was already drawing one of the wind elemental arrows the elves had given him. He knew that its'' piercing power was strong and could do some minor damage to the other orcs around the one he targeted.


    The arrow absorbed and activated with Gils'' mana. He took a slow breath and as he let it out he released it. The arrow was flying much higher than the party believed that Gil should have fired it. But as they watched the arrow arched and fell right in to the eye of one of the orcs.


    The reaction was more than just an angry jump from the orc in the center of the other three. There was a burst of wind that tore at the orc that was struck along with the three around it. The party could clearly see the orc was blindedpletely and suffered a major fascial wound. The others were just annoyed with some small scratches to their surface skin.


    "Was that the snipe skill? When did you learn the snipe skill?" Walker realized that Gil had officially learned the snipe skill he had been trying to learn for so long. He had practiced distance shooting and was able to hit farther away, but sniping from a long distance was still something he hadcked.


    "I may have learned it from Wade one night." Gils'' smirk said that he had been waiting to show this off to the party for some time. It was only to be expected that he was trying to improved while he was dealing with his own things in the elf city. But such a skill would be great for the group when trying to take out enemies from far away.


    "I am going to need to practice my long distance magic then." Walker knew that some of his spells would dissipate before they reached a far off target. This meant that he would need to use more mana to force the distance.


    "You two can fool around with thatter, they are getting pretty close." Remey was warning them since she was starting to feel the orcs were too close forfort. The smell of wet animals was overpowering as the tind pushed it from the orcs to the party.


    Walker had already prepared himself and used the trench skill twice ahead of the party. The orcs had reached the perfect ce for him to set uprge trenches on their sides. He went further to create another behind them and in front of them draining extra mana to make all four of them deeper.


    The ground shook making the party stand at the ready and looked around with a flurry. "That should do it." Walker gave them the heads up as the ground shifted and they watched the nearby ground open and a center column of earth begin to crumble in to the newly split hole.


    This was right behind the orcs that had grown a little close forfort, however, Onyx had been slowly reverting to hisrgest size and waited for this moment. He whipped out his tail mming in to the three that were leading the group. The orcs were too slow to catch Onyx''s tail and were send falling backwards in to the tench trap Walker had created.


    Meanwhile the fourth had already gotten trapped inside due to its'' damaged vision. Walker did not waste any time and was using his high earth sculpting to cause the loose earth to rise around the orcs and harden as much as possible. This was not as easy as he had hoped but it was looking sessful.


    "Try and get some attacks in safely! I will have them tied down as long as possible." Walker said this as Midnight and Remey darted forward. They were right at the edge of the solidified earth trench ready to unleash attacks on the stationary orcs.


    Their grunts and struggling noises were a mix of a pig and what sounded to be dyeing man. This was unsettling but neither Remey nor Midnight hesitated at all. Midnight used her decaying breath on two of them to try to cause them to rot away and weaken. It was working wonders on their outer thick skin. The party could see the mes burning it away while she focused them more and more.


    Remey was in the perfect position to use the defense breaking palm attack. This was not her usual go to attack but with the high defense of the orcs, she had a feeling it was the best way to get damage through. When her palm made contact and she jumped back she saw that the orc had nearly crumpled on its'' side and allowed Walker to trap it even more. This strategy was working!


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 547 - 547. Thicker Skin

    Remey was not letting up and ran around the trap letting off her defense breaking palm attack as much as possible. The party watched as she used the skill in the weakest ces on the bodies of the orcs. "I''m backing out!" Remey gave a shout as she backed off from her attacks. She had used a decent amount of mana and needed a minute to breathe.


    Midnight did the same and fell back since she had used her decaying me breath consecutively. This did a huge amount of damage to the outside of the orcs weakening their defenses.


    Walker was already prepared to rx his hold on them since they were incredibly damaged. This allowed him to begin forming multiple spikes of earth that he slowly manipted from the sides of the trenches. "Leader, I will keep them from trying to climb out!" Su saw one of the orcs trying to reach a hand up and used her shield bash skill to knock it back down.


    Gil took on the same job and was firing the earth elemental arrows now. The mana fluctuated around him as he released a different version of the prototype he and the elves had made. The arrownded in the least damaged orcs neck which had been weakened by Remey and Midnight.


    This time instead of enveloping the target in earth, the earth elemental around the orc shivered slightly. This caused Sui to sense some change and back away. The next instant,an earth spiker shot from underneath the orc and right through it. This was a single spikepared to the multiple Walker was preparing.


    "Here it goes!" Walker saw the opportunity and used his mana to force the many smaller earth spike he had created forward. The sounds of the orcs squealing as the spikes depleted thest of their health was worst than any butcher the party had heard.


    '' Four orcs defeated. 360 exp multiplied to 3600 exp.''


    "I had to hit them so many times!" Remey had not expected that she would even need to use her defense breaking palm attack multiple times.


    "There skin is very tough. I felt that my shield bash was just a way to push them here and there." Su also felt that the orcs'' skin was much more thick than they had expected.


    "Midnight''s mes were a huge help to get their defenses down but I think we will need a better method. It looked like Gils'' arrow to the eye caused a huge amount of damage to the head of that orc." Walker pointed out the massive cuts and scratches in the one orcs face where the arrow was still sticking out from.


    "But if we do too much damage to their skin it can''t be used as material for the bottoms of boats and coverings of lighter armor." Walker had already argued against himself. Knowing that the orcs skin was sold on merchant caravans to viges near the water and that the skin was also very useful for crafting lighter but decently durable armor.


    "So we should try and focus on weak point attacks. I will try something out next time. I believe the pointed end of my shield can be of use." Su had been working on an attack in her own time and was ready to make use of ite another battle with orcs.


    "I can keep sniping them with arrows like that. If I aim for their necks, eyes, and even mouth then I should be able to do a major amount of damage." Gil was already moving to try and take the arrows he had used from the orc bodies.


    "Again, the snipe skill was a decent surprise. I think you will be the main attacker while I prepare the trenches. Just made sure you don''t use too much mana in one shot." Walker was worried that Gil may get a little excited and fire off too many arrows. He knew Gil could replenish his mana faster but it was always a worry to run out of it.


    "You got it, but can you help me get this arrow out? It is stuck." Walker headed over to find that the arrow had pierced the orcs'' eye and lodged under the skin of the eyelid. This scene was not the most pleasant, however, it was educational.


    "Gil, when your arrow pierced the weaker part of the orc it caused the wind to go unchecked inside the orcs'' head. That severely weakened it. You should aim for this too."


    "I hope he doesn''t want our help. Those orcs smell like they have never bathed¡­" Remey and Su were watching this and were not too keen to get close to the monsters known for their brutal actions.


    "Leader is going to store them away. We should let them handle the arrows." Su supported staying away from the orcs. She also didn''t want to get covered in their scent and somehow attract more orcs to them.


    Walker and Gil had looked and learned the way the arrows had damaged the orcs while Walker stored them away. "The earth arrow version two was pretty great but I think it lost a lot of power due to the orcs skin." Gil pointed at the spike that was now free of the orc. He highlighted the broken end which had been sharp but became blunt on contact with the orc.


    "Definitely a weaker attack but I think it was very effective once I had them trapped. We should see if you and I can work together. I may be able to condense the earth which will make your spike even tougher and sharper." The two were already preparing themselves for this next testter.


    Walker looked at the spikes and the trench he had created. With some of his mana and a little effort the earth partially closed leaving a soft slightly indented space on the ground. "Now the grass can grow back without a problem."The party checked their gear and drank some water before heading back on their way. They now had more focused eyes on the direction of the river.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 548 - 548. Herder

    "Those orcs were at the river drinking or may have crossed it to get to this side. I am worried that more might be around." Walker voiced his opinion while looking toward the water shining in the distance. It was close enough to see but not enough to see any small details with his eyes.


    "Leader, I can not discern details. But I can see that there are smaller shapes around the water." Su was able to glean a small amount of information, which was better than what Walker could grasp.


    "I hope they are just animals. You said there was a bend in the river that was bridged up ahead right? If we pass it we could be in for some trouble." Remey was trying to think ahead. She had taken on this trait more while she was at the elf city which was a nice surprise to her battle strategy.


    Walker had already figured out that it was a result of her alchemical brawlers'' new skill. Since she was always recording new information within it on battle strategy and tactics about certain systems, it would only make sense that she was able to see further ahead and try to n more.


    "The bridge should have a group of strong guards protecting it. They are stationed there all year round just in case there are any problems." Walker was confident that there might be less trouble up ahead.


    "The merchants that are heading in the direction are also often guarded this time of year. The adventurers guild issues many quests." Su followed up with her own knowledge making it feel that the party would have a nice ce to rest for the night when they arrived.


    "Then we could try and get some trading in too. We will have a few things that would make them pretty shocked." Gil was thinking about the extra water spikes and charms they had picked up from around the forest elf city. However, he already saw Walker shaking his head.


    "The merchants from the elf city haven''t begun to sell things yet. If we put things in the market then they may take on an unintended price or draw people to the elf city that we don''t want there yet." Walker was thinking more on caution than anything else beacause there could be some unsavory people that try to take advantage of the elf city opening.


    Midnight huffed a little and raised her nose in the air, "Sister says she can smell a lot of animals and people up ahead." Walker turned his gaze farther away and saw the area Midnight was catching the wind from. It was the direction they were aiming for.


    "I bet that is a herding group. A lot of times when farmers need to breed their cattle to make them stronger in future generations they will trade half with another farmer from farther away." Gil was right in with this making the entire part nod in understanding.


    "Do you think they might want somepany?" Su was first to suggest this.


    "I don''t see why not. We will need to pass the bridge anyways and it is our goal to rest there. I also think it will be cool to meet some different system users." Walker had not met anyone with a herding based system or an ability to herd animals. This was a new experience for him.


    "I have met a few. My family didn''t have animals because we didn''t have the systems or skills for it. But there was a retired one that took over the small goat ranch near us. He was pretty nice and said his sons had gained the sheep sheperd system and the great herder system. I can barely remember them from when I was little though." Gil was a little embarrassed to not remember the two.


    "Is it amon system to have? I feel like I have not heard of many herding based systems before." Remey was also wondering just howmon this was. She could see some white masses in the distance and believed that they were in fact sheep.


    "Leader, I think we should move a little faster. They will get away before we join them." Su brought this to their attention and the party stopped their idle chatter. They moved at a faster pace slowly bringing the animals in to clearer view in the course of an hour.


    There was a taller man in rugged leather armor with two whips attached to his belt. He was riding the back of arge white bull. "Heyo little adventurers. What brings you around my current operation?" The greeting was kind enough but they all saw the tension in his eyes.


    "Just trying to catch up with you actually. We assume you will pass the bridge and we are heading the same way. Traveling with morepany is much better than less." Walker extended a hand outward to show that he wanted to shake and wee the man.


    This changed the mans'' attitude greatly and he hopped off the back of the white bull. "Well, I can not say I would ever turn back an open hand. My clients just call me herder and I enjoy that nickname so feel free to use it as much as you want. I am indeed, leading these cattle across the bridge but will stop to rest there first."


    The man had begun to recognize the multiple ques and badges the party wore. He was also impressed to see that they were currently identified as a silver tier party of the adventurers guild. "Then call me leader¡­.actually, please don''t Su calls me that only. I am Walker. This is Gil and Midnight. The little snake here is Onyx." Walker pointed out Su first hut realized his joke was a littleme and blushed.


    "Wee to the herding life. If you have any worries of where to walk just shout. My father did this and so did my grandfather. My friend over there is the one in charge of the sheep though. He is actually from the city over that way. So you might be able to chat with him more." The man lowered his had to block out the sun and hopped back on to the white bull.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 549 - 549. Patrol The Heard

    "So, a herder named herder?" Remey was on edge about theck of name the man had given them. She thought that there had to be something suspicious if he was just going by his jobs title.


    "He probably just gets a lot of farmers that call him that instead of bothering to learn his name. It''s the same with carpenters who build the fences or adventurers thate to exterminate pests." Gil had already gotten used to that. He had been called hunter along with his father when they had shared meet with neighbors.


    "So it is amon greeting then? Interesting. Herder said that there was a sheep Shepard over there. Do you think it is the pone that you knew?" Su was curious if Gil had gotten lucky to bump in to a familiar face.


    "Nope, he herds ck sheep. He found an injured herd of six ck sheep one day and that is how he got his system. No one knew where the sheep came from so he was allowed to keep them. Pretty weird day now that I think about it." The others agreed. It was strange that the man had been lucky to find an injured herd of sheep as a child and manage to unlock his shepherd system.


    "That sounds extremely lucky. But it is a good thing he managed to find and resume the sheep. If he hadn''t I am sure monsters or the elements would have defeated them." Walker was more concerned about the sheeps'' lives.


    "So do you think we should look for this shepherd and meet him? Or wait until we stop?" Remey wanted to make sure that she was headed in the right direction now that she was following the path of the herd of cows and sheep.


    "We can wait until we stop. It would be better for everyone. I think they will want to keep an eye out for any dangers instead of talking to us." Walker had noticed the herder was moving around the edges of the herd to keep the cattle in line but also looking out at the ins around them. If he saw even a small bird fly by he head his head u and hand on a whip.


    "Then walking we go. If we see anything we should deal with it though. That might help us a littleter." Remey had the feeling that the party should take the lead with monsters. She knew that these kinds of actions could go a long way with people always on alert.


    "I agree, if they are willing to share theirpany we should be nice enough to help them with protecting their livelihood." Su tapped her shields together slightly as she readied them. "So we should deal with that horned rabbit over there."


    Su had seen the hod poking out from the grass as the rabbit hit. The horned rabbits had been hunted a lot in the recent months and were down to a low number again. This made them more apt to hide instead of rush out and attack someone. But that did not mean they would not attack when something passed.


    "Who wants it?" Walker asked this because he knew it would not take all of them to defeat a single horned rabbit, especially now that they had leveled up so much.


    "Leader, I actually want to show you the new skill I have learned. It is simr to shield bash, but it can use both of the shields I have along with the pints bottoms." Su surprised them all by volunteering.


    "We will wait here, if you need help just let us know." Walker was unsure if the horned rabbit was one with paralyzing poison in its'' horn or not. Just that fact made him still worry for Sus'' safety.


    "Watch me," Su said this and moved toward the horned rabbit in the grass. She walked like she was just going around patrolling the herd.


    Herder was nearby and also saw the danger. But he had noticed the party pointing things our and then Su walk as if she was patrolling. He had already picked up on her n and was watching intently. He was uncertain as to why the party had taken action but was d to not need to use his own skills since he was sure they would encounter a few more monsters when night came.


    The horned rabbit sprung from the grass as soon as Su had be near t it. She was prepared and used one shield to deflect it and the horn it pointed at her. She used her shield bash skill to stun and m it to the ground.


    She parted her two shields and raised them over her head. It was a strange stance but the stunned horned rabbit couldn''t go anything about it. With a loud shout, she used all he forced and drove the pointed ends of the shields downwards.


    There was a slight fluctuation of mana that Walker could feel came from Su. Walker knew she was using a skill and the shields were the focus. The pointed ends split right through the horned rabbit and it released a slight squeal and fell still. The horned rabbit had not stood a chance at all but Su had perfectly demonstrated the new skill she had been wanting to test.


    "Leader, that was called shield w. It uses my defensive power as attack power and as long as I have a sharp point or spike on a shield I can use it to attack." Su was standing tall exining her skill as Walker stored away the horned rabbit.


    "I have to say that the skill held a lot of force. Your defense is very high and having it act as attack is a little scary." Walker was very impressed that the skill had been powerful enough topletely split through the horned rabbit. He had a feeling that it could hurt a much stronger opponent as well.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 550 - 550. Dinner Ingredients

    "Hey Herder, My party member just grabbed us some dinner if you are interestedter?" Walker saw Herder patrolling in their direction with an eye on Su after she had defeated the hiding horned rabbit.


    "Who am I to say no to a fresh meal? Of course, I will need to get the cattle settled then I will join you for a break." He smiled and weed the offer. However, he was smiling only for a second when he heard Midnight growling. "It looks like there are two more of those pests."


    Herder took one of his whips from his belt while Midnight charged after one horned rabbit. She had seen Su take one down and it had made her much more alert. This led to her finding that there were others hiding nearby and she took her chance.


    Herder whipped out with a single whip causing it to unfurl andnd in a pile of grass which revealed another of the horned rabbits. He had seen the other one Mindoght had sniffed out try and hide again but was able to easily track it after so many years of watching for enemies.


    Midnight had already closed the distance and was trying to pounce on the rabbit she was targeting. It was fast enough to avoid her ws but as soon as Midnight opened her mouth and shot out decaying mes it was caught unaware. The mes burned its legs causing it to fall and be victim to Midnights'' shred skill. The cries of the defeated horned rabbit onlysted a second.


    Herder was demonstrating a skill that made his whip arc back and forth striking the horned rabbit constantly. This was mostly made possible by the small triangle tipped de on the end of his whip. The white bull had also changed color slightly, with small red spots appearing on it that appeared to be growing as it jumped back and forth.


    The tactic was continuing on until the horned rabbit was caught on a leg by the whip. Herder finally removed his second whip andsed out catching the horned rabbit tightly. With switch movements, it was defeated. The sharp and binding skills herder had disyed were much faster and more efficient than any of the party were capable of. Their faces showed their amazement.


    "I have been around the fields a little while," Herder said this and nothing else. Until he was about to return to patrol, "We can roast min up too" The whips had already been returned to his belt so he gave a wave. The entire situation had only taken a few moments, but it had shown them all a degree of their skills.


    "That was something interesting." Gil was trying toe up for words with how the whips moved in Herder''s hands. It was as if they had somewhate to life when he started attacking.


    "I didn''t expect his whips to have a form of d at the end. It added to the damage significantly." It was Sus'' first time seeing the skilled use of a whip and at that, a whip with a unique build on it to cause more damage. The tactic also made her wonder if she would have been able to block every small movement of the whip.


    "It was like the head of one of my arrows but a little longer. I wonder if an archer helped make it?" Gil and Su fell in to a debate while they continue to walk along. Walker and Remey just let them go on and on while they kept an eye out for any other dangers. Onyx had decided that it was the best time for him to curl up on Midnights'' back and nap.


    "I am pretty sure I have not been able to use my frost whip well at all inparison." Walker finally spoke put to Remey who was walking next to him.


    "I started t record some of his fighting style and I have almost nothing. The system recognized it as being called pointed whip herding style. It doesn''t look like it is supposed to be used to defeat anything but to deter and guide things." Remey had gained this much insight but was more or less lost on anything more. The details would take much longer to learn.


    "I can see that. Whips aren''t supposed to be for killing usually. Tamers use them to train monsters sometimes but that was a little different. The bull he was riding is also strange. Did you see the spots that showed up as it moved around?" Walker had been caught on this too. The bull had acted in a strange manner but even stranger were the red growing spots all over it.


    "Use your all around appraisal. I bet it is a monster of some sort. A herder needs to keep up with the things they heard, right?" Remey was just assuming that Herder had tamed a monster as a mount. It was normal for system user that needed certain partners of mounts to have a few taming skills. Mail carriers would often get a small bird that could assist them in delivering certain letters.


    Walker nodded and followed Remeys'' advice. They were both very curious what Herder was riding now that they had seen the odd urrence.


    '' Fury tainted bull


    The fury tainted bull is normally amon and peaceful species in therge savannahs across the ocean. When goaded in to anger it will build until the bulls'' coatpletely turns red. At this point it bes enraged and attacks without any effort spared. The fury state will double the attack it can use making it a very dangerous opponent.


    Fury tainted bull - "Bully" is bound to one rider.''


    Walker showed great surprise making Remey wonder just what had caused it.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 551 - 551. Bridge Block

    Walker was thinking and left Remey in silence for a minute. Her patience ran out and she tapped his arm with her fist slightly. "What are you thinking about? Tell me what the deal is." She looked like she was going to actually try and hit him if he kept holding it all to himself.


    Walker Wanted to hold off a little more to tease her but was a little wary of her next real punch and the force that might be behind it. "The bull is called a furry tainted bull. Ites from over the oceans in a ce called a savannah. The spots of red were it building up to a skill that doubles its attack due to its anger."


    "So it would have be totally red? That sounds like it should be called a red bull or something. Hmm, I guess its white fur is tainted by the red." Remey was caught on the name but found that it was more fitting than she thought.


    The two looked at the white bull a few more times before they realized that the red hadpletely faded from the fur. "I think Herder might have a pretty interesting story to tell when ites to how he got his partner." Walker was sure that he could ask about it while they ate and was looking forward to it.


    "I am surprised Gil didn''t say anything about it. He is usually the expert for us when ites to these things." Remey was looking at Gil and Su who were talking ahead of them. The party had always let Gil exin the things rted to farming and rted subjects. Him not knowing the details and catching that the white bull was not a monster from around here was a surprise.


    "I am sure he would have said if he knew. But he seems like he was more focused on hunting and nts than herders. He is learning just like us." Walker easily exined the why and how of why Gil would be on the same situation as them. It just made sense since his farm didn''t have animals at all.


    Remey and Walker kept up their conversation for a little while longer before they decided to try and patrol around the herd as well. This brought the party face to face with a few more horned rabbits throughout the day but nothing other than that. They had more than enough horned rabbit to roast on the fire for anyone that needed a hot mealter.


    "Leader, the bridge ising up soon. It looks like there are a significant number of travelers and merchants waiting by it." Su reported this to Walker as soon as it came in to her view. There were easily twenty or thirty people camping out on one end of the bridge.


    "That can''t be normal. I doubt many would stop there all at once." Walker was looking for any indication that there was something wrong while they walked toward the bridge.


    The river bend that the bridge was built over flowed fairly smooth and none of the party could see the bottom. However, the water was strong and could easily sweep away any orc or evenrger monsters that tried to cross. This was why it was moremon to see them crossing the river down stream where the water thinned out in to rapids.


    "I see a lot of merchants that are held up here in camps. The guards are blocking the gate on the bridge too. Should we head over there and check it out?" Gil was already looking around to search out the issue as well and decided that the guards should have the best answers for them.


    "Yes. We can go and see what the issue t. I have a feeling that there is a good reason for them not to allow us to cross." Walker waved to Remey and Midnight toe over. "Herder, we are going to see what is going on at the bridge. We will start roasting dinner after!''


    Walker made sure to include Herder since they knew he would be staying with his herd of cattle and settling them. The party pushed their pace ahead passing the snow white sheep and finally noticing a man wearing a powder blue cloak and carrying a carved wooden walking stick in the middle of the sheep. Walker waves as they passed but didn''t stop to speak since they were of to do something first.


    The shepherd raised the walking stick in greeting and showed a bearded face full of age. The man looked like they had been wandering with sheep for generations. However, Walker saw that there was a great amount of energy within his eyes. They may have had the same color as the sky which made him feel that the shepherd was the freest person here.


    The guards noticed the party approach ahead of the hedrs of sheep and cattle. They had expected those guarding it to stop and check in. However, they were genuinely surprised to see a silver tier party taking such an escort quest. "Silver tier adventurers. Wee to the bridge. It is unfortunate that we can not allow any to pass at the moment. There are multiple groups of orcs beyond the bridge that have been hunting the road."


    This was what Walker had expected to hear in some form. It was clear that the guards would not block travel for no small reason. If there were multiple orc groups then it was way too dangerous for even guarded merchants to travel through. "Hello, and thank you for the warning. We are not crossing here but those we ran in to on the way will do so. If you would like we can try and clear the way a little for you?" Walker did not hesitate to propose this idea. The guards stopped to think for a moment.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 552 - 552. Orc Slaying

    "We appreciate the offer but word has already been sent for the guild to offer quests to multiple adventure groups." The guard still thought that they would be taking Walker''s party off of another quest and knew that could hurt the standing of a young party no matter the level of the party if they gave up a quest.


    "Let me check with out what quests our manager sent us," Walker said this and started to check out the system to find that the rewards for the quest issued were low. The funds needed toe directly from the guards'' funds.


    Walker found that ra had strongly suggested this quest. It was partially because she knew that the party was traveling in this direction. The other reason was because it hit the identifies as a heroic quest which she was separating and making them more valuable for parties to take.


    "Alright, I just selected the quest to y five orcs. But there are additional rewards given by the guild for ying more. " Walker said this to the party behind him then looked at the guards, "The Omnipotent party is here to y some orcs. We will cross the river in the morning to y a few."


    The guards were stunned, the party in front of them had just contacted their manager and taken their quest without a blink of their eyes. Not only that but they had introduced themselves as the omnipotent party. "You are the party of heroes? Wait, I did see a little dragon with you." The guard was speaking without thinking and immediately ran inside shouting for his captain.


    "I think you just sent that guard''s heart in to the fastest it can beat." Remey had a smirk on he face while she watched the guard go running.


    "I think he has to get the captain because someone who epted their quest came. I doubt many other will ept it but it is natural for them to take it if there are good rewards from the guild. So maybe we will be the ones to prove it is worth taking. While the guard gets his captain let me read the quest to you guys." Walker pulled up the quest and read it from his system.


    '' Guardsmen quest: y orcs


    The orcs are troubling the travelers that cross amon trade route bridge. The guards have requested adventurerse to y them and make the route safer.


    Requirements:


    Skay five orcs


    Additional orcs in will be calcted by the adventurers guild.


    Rewards:


    15G per orc head


    (1 heroic quest point for every 2 orcs)


    Additional guild reward to be determined.''


    "I see why there is a hard time to get adventurers to take it. The orcs are a dangerous monsters and the price on their heads is super low. But these are guards issuing the quest and they can''t pay as a kingdom can. I bet this hasn''t been processed by the castle yet and that is the reason." Gil was looking for the reason that this was the case and could only see it as this way.


    "Makes sense. It is pretty lucky we decided to rest here then. We can easily trap and defeat a few of the orcs before we head out tomorrow. I also know we can cross the river a little more north at some rapids so we could stay on that side of the river and still be on course." Walker was recalling the image of the river from the maps he had read.


    "Leader, that appears to be the captain." Su saw a taller man with slightly heavier armore from inside the bridge barracks.


    "I hear there is a party here to report for the porc ying quest." The man came up and shook Walkers'' hand firmly. "I am the captain of this guard unit and the bridge. I am pleased to meet you and thank you for your assistance." The captain was fairly polite and business like. He appeared to want to have this issue dealt with as soon as possible.


    "My guards can not leave the bridge and we have in a few orcs with the weapons at our disposal. That is the normal happenings of this position since many monsters will attempt to sneak across the bridge. However, we can do nothing to protect travelers on the other side. Therefore, I issued the quest with the finds that are allocated to us guards for such reasons."


    "Then let us assist you. We should be able to deal with the orcs on our way north. We will just change our route slightly while dealing with them." Walker was happy to say this and felt the agreement of his party at his side. "We n to leave early in the morning and will try to y as many as we encounter. We will check in with you before we leave for more information." Walker said this and shook the guard captain''s hand again. The guard captain was d to see them resting first since the night was nearly upon them.


    "Well, we have another quest to do. I hope we can manage to help them a lot." Walker said this more to encourage himself than anything.


    "We will crush those smelly orcs in to the ground. I bet you can trap hundred if we need." Remey was all fired up since she would be able to keep using her defense breaking palm on the orcs to find their weaknesses and improve her use of it.


    "Don''t get too worked up. We may face more than we did earlier today. If we encounter five or six at once we will need to focus." Su was already thinking ahead to what they would need to do if they encountered many.


    "We should rx for now. We have a fire, some roasted horned rabbit, and some new friends to talk to." Gil took the lead and changed the subjectpletely. No one knew if this was because he was hungry or because he wanted to sleep. The only one who didn''t care was Midnight who wanted food.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 553 - 553. Roasting

    "Sorry for getting held up. We were doing a little investigating on why people aren''t crossing the bridge." Walker greeted Herder who was already resting by the fore with the white bull behind him.


    "I thought you would find the answers, so what is the damage? Will I make my delivery on time?" Herder was worried that he would not make his deadline and lose out on the full payment he needed.


    "We should be fine, my party took the quest to y the orcs that are causing the problem. But if you want to wait a day or so I won''t push you to go. I am sure that my party will miss a few of them so there will still be a danger." Walker didn''t want Herder to be convinced that it was a perfectly safe trip.


    "Then we will leave out with you. I can handle myself fairly well. I am more interested in why you took a quest when it was out of your way. You look like you have other ces to be." Herder had noticed that the party was very motivated in their pace and was always moving.


    "We have a ce to be but it is to be expected that things wille up. The slight detour we take for the orcs will still allow us to be on the same path and trail changing absolutely nothing to our ns." Walker was quick to let Herder know that this was not at all influencing their trip.


    "Well, I will let you be then. Now about that dinner, we talked about." Herder was eagerly awaiting the horned rabbit and Walker was ready to oblige.


    The party sat themselves around the fire while taking turns spinning the meat over the fire to cook it evenly. Walker was actually enjoying the experience because the more he cooked the more it made him feel like he was back at home with his mother.


    ''The skill expert roasting has been taken from the smoke master system. The skill expert roasting has been learned due to the users'' actions.


    Expert roasting- 1 mana cost per hour.


    The user can expend mana to assist the roasting process. The user will be able to more evenly roast the ingredient. The user will have better control of the heat being applied to the ingredient. The roasting time will be decreased slightly depending on the users'' knowledge of the ingredient.''


    The skill that Walker had learned instantly showed its'' strength. Walker suddenly began to more efficiently cook the horned rabbit. "How did you get a skill from making dinner? It should have only been a quick meal. You have done this before." Remey was up in arms about the skill. She had seen him do this before a few times and Walker had not gotten a skill before.


    "I have no idea. It is probably because I have started to get to know the ingredient and also the process. It says that I am able to speed the process of cooking up if I understand the ingredient in the skill description." Walker tried to read it out but Remey was already done with the conversation out of frustration.


    "Wait. you''re saying that you just learned a new skill? What kind of cooking system do you have that you just learned a new skill?" Herder had watched this conversation and saw the change in Walkers'' cooking.


    "Oh, sorry, my system is called the jack of all trades system. I can learn pretty much any skill as long as I take the time to understand it and learn." Walker said this with a casual tone which made Herder even more amazed.


    "He learns new skills often. It is always a little much to handle for everyone around us. But we have forgotten used to it." Gil thought someone should let Herder know that this was normal.


    "Well, ehm, that is interesting. I hope that means the meal will taste better. Let me go and get the shepherd so that he can eat as well." Herder stood up and walked off a little shaky while trying to catch on to the fact that Walker could just learn any skill he wanted.


    "Maybe I should start exining this stuff a little earlier when we meet people." Walker felt a little embarrassed to have surprised Herder so much.


    "Eh, at this point if we don''t shock people it is not as much fin." Remey just shrugged as she rejoined the conversation.


    Midnight nudged Walkers'' side looking toward the food. "It should be done in another minute or so. Just let me start to cut it." Walker grabbed one of the carving knives he had in his inventory as part of his basic gear.


    "Alright, this is the shepherd that joined me for this trip. He doesn''t really talk since he was born mute. But he is pretty greatpany. He also can take care of an orc in his own right, so when we leave don''t worry too much about him." Herder surprised the party on his own by exining that the weaker looking man was somehow able to defeat an orc easily.


    "Wee to dinner. Today we have roasted horned rabbit freshly gathered by our new friend with the whips there." The shepherd smiled and raised his walking stick. After tapping it on the ground five or six times he nodded and waited for the food.


    Walker sliced off pieces for everyone and set up arge piece for Midnight. In a matter of seconds, Midnight had already scarfed down half of it. Walker just smiled as he added a little more to her te and grabbed a piece for himself.


    "So, I used my appraisal skill on your bull. It is very interesting to see a monster from across the ocean. How did you meet?" Walker was starting a conversation that he had hope would get an interesting story.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 554 - 554. Salt Lizard Herding

    Herder stopped eating. He did not expect this question to arise or that Walker would have an appraisal skill. "Well, that is a less exciting story than you might expect." Herder looked around the fire and found that all the attention was on him. Even the small ck serpent had raised its head off the dragon''s back to look at him. Herder realized that he had be the designated story teller for the moment.


    "When I was half my age I was herding a group of salt lizards to the coast line. I went along the mountains then south to avoid the swampnds. It is safer that way for myself and the salt lizards. My client wanted the salt lizards so he could train them to consider the salt that came from the ocean breeze. To be honest I thought it was strange that someone would specifically train salt lizards for this reason but I did it anyways."


    Herder remembered the request fondly. He had not herded lizards before and found that the dog sized salt lizards were extremely docile. Their only focus was to find salt in the earth and roll about in it while eating. They had lived a very rxed lifestyle and were not considered a dangerous monsters in the least.


    "Once I have made it to the coast I visited an ocean side vige. Many of the people had close ties to the merfolk and survived on the waters by hunting fish and other natural resources. The old man that had put in the request greeted me and took me around to show off their vige."Herder paused while taking a sip of water and ncing around the area quickly to make sure nothing sketchy was going on while they rested.


    "I saw one of thergest ships in my life. It was taller than any monster I had met and I swore one could get lost underneath the deck if they were not careful. The old man that hired me said that he had struck a deal with the captain who was taking half the salt lizards I herded for him." Herer remembered that at this moment he had let himself get frustrated because he didn''t like the dual payment method.


    "I was escorted on to the ship and the old man pointed out many things I could take as payment. However, when I saw the small white calf I had a feeling that he would one day be a ferocious partner. I couldn''t even take my eyes from him. Now I may still curse not being paid in gold, but gaining my partner has made me a much better herder." Herder was very happy to share this part of the tale.


    "So you two have been together since the fury tainted bull was a calf," Walker mumbled this under his breath while thinking about the story.


    "Fury tainted bull? I was told this is known as a fur changing bull. Maybe that is more of its natural name than the official name." Herder was pondering this because it would make sense. The bull calf hade from a different continent all together and would never be known as the same thing to every single race in the world.


    "That is pretty amazing that you were able to raise it and keep herding. I bet that is why it is able to work so well together. Every time you whipped out we saw the bull change footing. The two styles you both used were perfectlybined." Remey let them have a little insight in to the way she saw things with her new skill. She had not only recorded Herders'' style of battle but also the supporting style the bull used.


    "We do feel like we are one in a fight. But sometimes he lets his emotions run wild and he takes things a little far. I once got cornered by a group of frost imps while herding some young icicle elk. Before I realized it, he had bucked me off and started to crush the imps by himself. I had not realized his horns had such strength. His fur was totally red and I thought he would never calm down. Luckily all it took was for me to mention a few sweet words¡­" Herder trailed off looking at the bull.


    "So he packs a decent punch too. I bet his attacks style is simr to his supporting style." Remey started to mumble herself while she tried to add to her alchemical brawlers field guide. For her, this was a constant aspect of her new skill. She would always need to add more and more toplete the battle styles and improve her own battle style while also being on the look out for herbs to add to the guide as well.


    "That is a pretty great story. I have only met two other herders before since I grew up in the fields outside of the kingdom. I thought that I might be lucky and met one of them but you''re sheep are white and theirs ck. And the other definitely does not ride a white bull." Gilughed while changing the subject slightly.


    "ck sheep?" Herder turned his head in acknowledgment. "I have met a shepherd with ck sheep. They were some interesting monsters for use. They looked like normal sheep with ck wool. But, when I got too close to the herd I found that they could actually use fire element attacks. It was pretty strange. Lucky for me the shepherd saw me and stopped them." Herderughed himself as he recalled the blunder.


    "Wait, they weren''t ck sheep, but monsters?" Gil was taken aback by this realization. If the ck sheep were actually monsters then it would make way more sense how they would end up lost and abandoned inparison to normal ck sheep. "Who would have thought that someone I knew was actually herding a rare sheep like monster."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 555 - 555. Smoldering Sheep

    Gil was in his own head thinking about these sheep monsters that someone he had met before was herding. It was an interesting fact to learn and showed just how little he knew about this aspect of farming. He had only even memorized the information about nts, now that he was seeing another aspect he was bing much more interested.


    "So there are sheep that breath fire? That sounds pretty hard to believe." Walker had not heard of such a monster before. However, he was not closed minded about this since he knew there were many things he had not heard of.


    The sheep Shepard heard this and rummaged around inside of a medium sized satchel around his waist. After a few moments of this, a small leather journal was brought out. He flipped page to page to find what he was looking for before finally stopping and turning the journal around.


    "Oo, so that is what breed of sheep it is. Interesting. Thank you for sharing. I might encounter them again one day on the trade routes." Herder was the first to read the passage in the journal. Walker was the next and read it out loud.


    " Smoldering sheep. Beware of the ck sheep that has red and orange light in its'' wool. The smoldering sheep gathers the fire and light elemental mana from the sun and uses it in a devastating me breath to deter predators and hunt prey. They are known to eat nt monsters and often ignorant animals that attack them. Do not directly approach them or else they will see you as an enemy. Instead, allow them to approach you and they will remain docile. Once a year they will shed all their wool so that they may grow new wool. The smoldering sheep wool is incredibly fire retardant and is ideal for desert clothing and forging gear."


    Walker felt like he had just read a mouthful. He read it again silently to make sure he would memorize it before looking back at the shepherd. "Thank you for the knowledge. I have never heard of smoldering sheep, but they sound like a very interesting creature." The shepherd looked at the journal and then pointed to his sheep. He stopped on a page again.


    "Dreand sheep


    Thought to be sheep that were pulled from the dreams of children and be reality., the dreand sheep is incredibly docile. They do not require any food at all and are incredibly resilient to all the elements in nature. Their wool holds an oil that they can disperse in the air when frightened causing all within a certain area of them to fall in to slumber. Those that fall victim to their slumber will be unable to awaken from their own dreams unless they realize they are dreaming or they are awoken from an outside force. Dreand sheep wool is often used in pillows and baby clothing to prevent nightmares and assist in proper sleep."


    Walker read this one out loud too. "I wish I had some of that for the orphanage! That would have kept everyone in bed way better." Remey waspletely floored by such an effect. She would have given anything for this when the kids at the orphanage were acting up and refusing bed time. Or when there were nightmares guing their sleep.


    "The oil they make sounds very useful. What if I made an arrow that dispersed it when I fired it over the head of an enemy?" Gil was already fining utility in this and wanted to try and craft an arrow that could don something like this right away. It was a challenge he wanted to give to himself.


    The shepherd heard Gil and started to sift through his bad again. Surprising them all the shepherd pulled a bottle that wasrger than the bag and handed it to Gil with an enthusiastic nod. "From what I have learned so far he really doesn''t like when people get hurt or die. He even flinches at monsters getting hurt. I think he really likes your idea to put an enemy asleep instead of beating them." Herder tranted the actions since he had caught on to this trait.


    "I think that is wonderful. I prefer not to hurt anything when I can either. I may not have chosen my system but I became a guardian none the less. I find it important to protect those around me." Su was starry eyed hearing that the shepherd valued life to such a degree.


    "It''s pretty amazing that there are monsters that appear to be normal farm animals but are actually, well, monsters." Walker had always thought of monsters as being dangerous. He also only ever read the books about the dangerous ones that could harm them as they traveled.


    "There are many animals and monsters that are like mirror images of each other. I see it pretty often. I have a feeling that the world used to be pretty boring before animals became monsters and mana flowed freely." Herder was referencing a well known story of how the world was thought to be before any of the races had been born. But there was never any proof to this since there was no proven history to showcase what it was like before the first kingdoms and such were formed.


    "If the world didn''t have mana then I wouldn''t be able to make potions and help people with my fists. I like it the way it is." Remey surprised everyone by chiming in with this. It was clear that she had more joy and happiness for the life she lived now than they saw.


    "Well, I agree little miss. On that note, I think it is time for me to take a walk around to patrol. I will rest when my partner here has slept. Goodnight." Herder stood up and wandered off to patrol the herd and make sure everything was at ease.


    "I think we will follow his lead." Walker turned to the shepherd. "You are wee to sleep here since we are keeping watch." Unfortunately, the shepherd shook his head and walked toward the sheep herd where he disappeared in to the mass of white wool.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 556 - 556. Styles

    The night went by without any interruption. Walker took the first watch and was keptpany by Gill who was taking some of the regr wither spike arrows and slowly poking holes in the arrow heads. His goal was to set them up so that the holes would be opened when he fired an arrow to release the sleeping oils from the dreand sheep.


    This was a time consuming task but Walker got the chance to see Gil at work and shaping an arrow. It was also a good way for Walker to learn what Gil could and could not do while they traveled. Since Gil could make an arrow that could spread a poison like the sleeping oil from the dreand sheep, then he should also be able to spread other things.


    Walker knew that the paralyzing poison was something that needed to make blood contact. But there were certain poisons that they may encounter that could be used in the same way as the sleeping oil. It would be an ideal option forrge groups of monsters or even to throw off a dangerous single monster.


    Gil and Walker had easily grown tired and switch with Su. She was more than happy to take over after the two had spent their time walking the area and also working on the arrow head. Little did they know but Su had also stayed up to watch the progress. She was very interested in the opportunity to be able to settle some disputes without a battle in the future.


    Walker woke up to the smell of roasting horned rabbit and a nudge from Midnight who was eagerly awaiting someone to cut her some breakfast. Remey? What are you doing up before the sun?" Walker knew that Midnight and Onyx had taken thest watch so it was normal for them to wake him up. But seeing Remey awake was a slight surprise.


    "I was thinking about the style Herder used with the whips. I gained such a small amount of information and can''t fill up the journal entry. I know you use that frost whip so¡­" Remey trailed off with her face turning a little red.


    "I bet knowing a style to partner with my frost whip[ would make me much stronger." Walker pretended that he didn''t see Remey getting red faced. He knew if he pointed it out she would deny itpletely.


    "Exactly. If you used a style it could make things easier. I was thinking that if I learned it and it was in my alchemical brawlers field guide that I might be able to use the educationist title and the knowledge swapping skill to teach you the style. But I need to test it." Walker was surprised that this was the direction Remey was going with this.


    "I thought you were going to tell me you could give me details about it so I can learn by myself. But this is way better. If you can share styles and other information from your alchemical brawlers field guide then that opens so many different possibilities." Walker was


    Intrigued by the possibilities before him.


    Remey lit up even more while she roasted some of the horned rabbit for the party. "I also wonder if Su could teach you how to use her wid block skill. If she can you can have simr shields made that you can pull out of your inventory." Remey had really been thinking about all this and Walker was unable to disagree at all.


    "I can definitely do that. I actually think I should look for information on a battle master system user. If I can learn how to chain attacks together better using multiple weapons then I would have a style simr to theirs. The only difference is magic. I thinkck of knowledge is why I haven''t learned yourbo skill." Walker had also been thinking about this.


    "You focus on your fists and have a very clear understanding of them. Therefore, you canbo your skills together more easily than I can." The theory was simple and based on the understanding of weaponry and fighting style.


    "I was wondering why you hadn''t gotten it. You use so many different weapons all the time and never seem to wlessly chain your attacks. There is always a slight pause in how you attack when switching." Remey had seen this and recorded it in her skill, but she knew that this information could change as Walker gained more skills.


    "It''s a little weird to think I have a style in your alchemical brawlers field guide." Walkerughed nervously since it felt like there was a book about him being written.


    "There is one for every system user I have seen. Mostly only those that can attack. Yours is the least filled out because it is changing a lot. Su''s is the most and Gill''s a close second. Mine is actually pretty barren since I am still learning my own style. I also am changing it based on what I see." Remey was unusually talkative this morning and Walker could only pin it on the fact that she was excited for the new scenery they would find when they reached the dwarven kingdom.


    "Well, if you see anything you think I should learn just let me know. I will add it to my skills and keep getting stronger." Walker said this as encouragement and also to end the conversation. He saw that Midnight had started to lose patience and wanted breakfast. "Thank you for breakfast by the way." Walker started to slice up the meat which threw Midnight in to an excited frenzy of hops.


    "Ahh, the smell of freshly roasted rabbit in the morning. This is why I love the road. So much fresh food. How did your three rest? Ready for some orc ying?" Herder had walked the herd and returned for some food too. He couldn''t help but test the waters for any anxiousness.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 557 - 557. Final Check In

    Walker looked at Herder who appeared wide awake and ready for the day. "You know we are ready. This is adventuring at its'' finest. We are adventurers to help those in need and you need to be able to cross that bridge safely so we will help." Walker answered him perfectly which got augh from Herder as he grabbed some roasted horned rabbit.


    "In that case, I will let you do your job and make sure the path is safe. Just let me get some action so I won''t be bored." Herderughed even more as he ate.


    "I am going to wake up Gil and Su. Hopefully Onyx is somewhere around here too." Walker left the fire and snake don his own piece of meat for breakfast. He did not forget to pull some fruits from his inventory before heading away though, he knew they would need more than roasted rabbit to make it through the day.


    Walker nudged Su and Gil until they were both up and getting ready for the day., They made their way to the fire easily but Walker could still jot see Onyx anywhere. His eyes drifted toward the sheep where he could see the shepherd standing tall above the herd.


    "Good morning. Have you seen the little ck serpent that was with me? His name is Onyx and I want to tell him that we are getting ready to head out." Walker made his way to the sheep that did not pay him any mind at all. once he had made it there he called out softly to the shepherd as not to bother the herd of sheep.


    "Brother, I have been speaking with my new friend. He says it has been years since he was able to have a proper conversation." Onyx had found a spot on the shepherd''s shoulder and had been speaking with him for who knew how long.


    "I am d that you managed to find a friend. If both of you are hungry feel free toe over. I wouldn''t mind hearing more about the sheep your friend has herded." Walker was very happy to see Onyx befriending others and making it possible for the shepherd to have conversations even though he was mute. It was a heart warming moment.


    "We will be there in a few moments. He said that he will dly share what he knows so that you can properly befriend all the sheep you meet in life." This was a nice proverb to live by for s shepherd. Befriending all sheep sounded like the exact goal that woulde with the shepherding system.


    "Leader, did you find Onyx? Remey said you didn''t know where he had gone." Su was worried but knew that Walker would not havee back without finding Onyx anywhere.


    "He had made friends with the shepherd, apparently they have been talking for a while. I bet the shepherd will have plenty of stories to share after being mute his whole life." Walker confused Herder since he did not know that Onyx had a skill that let him speak within someones'' mind.


    "Onyx canmunicate with anyone through their thoughts. That is why Walker said the two have been talking so long." Gil realized theck of information and readily shared the important fact.


    "That little snake can talk? Well then." Herder was understandably surprised at this as well.


    "Oh, he just looks small now. He is much bigger, just check out his shadow." Herder looked over at the shadows around the approaching Onyx and shepherd. His eyes grew wide at therge shadow stretching out behind him.


    "Ehm, yes, I see. Your party is very interesting. I didn''t want to say too much because it was already strange to see a dragon but, now it is another level of strange." Herder was finally speaking out about how odd he found the group.


    "This is just how things ended up for us. It is all a long story. I''m surprised you didn''t askst night. Although, It sounds like you didn''t want to be rude so, thank you for that." Walker realized the reason already but still felt like speaking out and telling a little of their story. By the time breakfast was over and they had all prepared Walker has shared some of the partys'' history and Walker had also learned more about the shepherds'' sheep herding experiences.


    "We will lead the way and cross the bridge first. It looks like there are other travelers who saw us speak to the guards, or maybe the guards told them that an adventurer party showed up. Anyways, we will have more people behind us." Walker could see the many that were watching them and already packed up as well.


    "Leader, we should take this more seriously if they are following behind us. They will be at risk." Su was sure to remind Walker. He nodded and looked at Gil who readied his bow as they started to near the bridge.


    "We are here to start off the trail clearing. Is there anything your captain may want to say?" Walker found a guard at the gate of the bridge immediately so that they could do a final check before heading out.


    Like he was waiting on them the guard captain approached. "Good morning. I wish I could send some guards with you but we are not able to leave this post. The only thing you should watch out for is the group of orcs with the one carrying a piece of stone as a club. It picked it up from the end of our bridge and now has it as a weapon."


    The guard looked a little embarrassed that the orc was able o steal a stone from the bridge and no less, use it as a weapon. "Thank you for the heads up. We will be off then. I think we will have many following behind us after the herds. Good luck." With that, the guards opened the gate on the bridge and the party began their crossing.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 558 - 558. Baiting

    The bridge looked very clean on the side the guards were currently. But as soon as the party crossed the gate they could see remnants of battles and broken stones. It was clear there had been multiple monsters that had tried to cross and had been taken down here. By the time the party crossed fully, they found the end column that was missing a piece of carved stone as decoration.


    "I have a feeling that the orc that took this is a little big."Remey was examining the missing stone and realized it was nearly double her height.


    "I would say it is too. But the guards were able to scare it off once so we should be able to finish the job." Waker turned around and saw that there were multiple ballistas and other traps set up on the higher parts of the bridge to deal with monsters trying to cross. "I would bet that it is injured somehow so that should work in our favor."


    "I wonder why there are no signs of any of the orcs that the guards defeated?" Remey was looking around and found no signs of any defeated orcs. There weren''t even bones or bits of broken parts.


    "The other orcs ate them. They are said to eat anything and everything, even each other." Su reminded Remey of this causing her to make a slightly sick looking face. However, the entire party agreed with how she felt.


    Walker turned to see the Herder guiding the first of his cattle slowly across the bridge. "I know we have some people behind us so keep an eye out. I think it will be a good chance for me to move a little ahead and use the luring orb skill." Walker didn''t want the orcs to attack the cattle on the move and decided that it would be better to lure them in to one ce that he could trap them and take them out. Or at the very least stop them from having a chance to attack any of those behind the party.


    "I will keep an eye on you and send an arrow over if anything tries to sneak up." Gil decided that he was the best to watch Walkers'' back while he moved up. This would make Walker appear to be an easy target but in reality, he was actually baiting them in with a magic that wouldpletely capture their attention while he trapped them.


    Walker nced at Su who was slightly ufortable with this strategy but she also knew that she was the best defense to protect the innocent people behind her. Other than that she also knew that Walker had his own methods to avoid attacks and at least retreat.


    Walker moved up and get a decent distance from the party. It was far enough away that Gil could see him but would not be affected by the blue luring orb. Walker pulled his staff from his inventory and used the luring orb skill. It was formed fairly fast due to the brightness of the sun and the multitude of light elemental mana in the air.


    Walker kept his eyes averted so that he wouldn''t fall victim to his own skill. So far he had not seen any sign or had any feelings that there was a monster around. This was strange since he knew that there could be arge group of orcs around. The only thing he could see was a very worn path from the many travelers that had taken it. However, there was a strange drag mark in the dirt of the trail that stood out.


    This aside, he continued the walk keeping a careful eye on the tall grass andrge thorny bushed that lined the path. Walker was keeping the luring orb ahead of him just above his head to make it easier for him to look around without seeing the orb identally. He noticed that a few birds had taken to flying around above him because of it and was sure that it would also work to attract the orcs. He also knew that they could easily flee from any danger that showed itself.


    The chirping of the birds that were trying to fly right next to the luring orb and evennd on it was slightly distracting, but not enough when Walker started to hear some of the cracking of twigs nearby. He could not see anything yet but he could hear the bushes being crushed as something push through them.


    Walker fell in to his stance and started to form the trenches as he had before a little ways ahead of him. He stopped movingpletely to focus on this task while the sounds around him grew in volume. He could hear many more steps crushing therge bushes but still did not see past them.


    He made the luring orb move above the ce he was creating the trenches and noticed the shift in the soundsing toward him. Now the sounds were moving a little away from him which made him rx a little more while he focused on the trenches.


    Secondster the first orc burst through the spiky bishes like it was nothing and was trying to reach out and grab the luring orb. Walker had expected the orcs to lose themselves in staring at it but instead, it was like they wanted to eat it. This was a normal aspect of the orc''s character but still made Walker shiver slightly.


    There were three more orcs that burst through the bushes and began pushing and fighting over the luring orb. Walker was d he had let it move ahead of him while he watched the heavy blows that could seriously hurt him.


    Walker felt something to his side and noticed Midnight revealing herself after using the shadow wrapping skill she had nearly mastered. "We are going to trap them as we did before, please get everyone up here and also, stop the cattle from behind." Midnight rushed off with Walkers'' orders just in time for another two orcs to burst from the bushes. This group was muchrger than he had expected. Yet, what worried him most was the absence of arge orc carrying a carved piece of stone.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 559 - 559. Fat Orc

    Walker kept sharp eyes as he watched the orcs grow in number. They had started to fight all out with each other over the luring orb making him worry that there would be even more problems. The sounds and squeals they were making were much worse because they were attracting more orcs over. This group was numbering up to seventeen now which was many more than the guards had expected to be out there.


    "Leader, the battle has been stopped. There seem to be no disturbances over there but they can hear the ones here." Su was the first to make her way to Walker. She was sure that the travelers and Herder had stopped moving so she wanted to make sure Walker was safe.


    "There are way more of them than expected. They are literally attacking and tearing each other to pieces to fight over the luring orb. I have just been waiting to see what happens." Walker was afraid to act right now since he knew it could stop them from their focus on the luring orb. It was better to let them deal with each other than for Walker to draw all of their attention right now.


    "Do you think you can use the fire flower magic? I believe that could deal with most of them." Su was suggesting one of Walkers'' strongest attacks because she knew it would cause serious if not fatal damage to the orcs.


    "That would damage the path and possibly attract more orcs from farther away. I know they are making a lot of noise now but it is in a small area instead of a wide range." Walker knew that causing a massive book could lead to a huge problem. If multiple orcs from far away were attracted to the path then there could be a growing problem of orcs instead of a declining issue.


    Su was crouched by Walker averting her eyes from the brutal battle of orcs when an idea urred to her, "Why not use that crystal ball to make the speak you used. Midnights'' decaying mes worked well against them, so your spear should too." Walker had not thought of this yet since he was putting close ranged attacks out of his mind.


    "I could do that, I have the trench skill more or less prepared. When they fall I can use my speed and try to get some good hits in. But I think I should manipte the mouldable crystal ball in to a sword and use it with one of the twin blitz swords. I can use the lightning swordy skill and get a lot more attacks in." Walker knew the twin blitz sword would most likely not do any damage but it would just be there to assist in the style and speed of attacks.


    "Actually, if the decaying effect works well then Gil may be able to use less powerful arrows and less mana to attack. Then Midnight can also help break their defenses down." The two had started toe up with a safe n to proceed.


    "Leader, do you feel that?" Su could feel a slight vibration and hear a soft thud of heavy footsteps.


    "I was worried that therge one wasn''t going to show. Let''s keep our head down while we watch," Walker and Su backed away a little as arge carved stove mmed the bushes aside along with two other orcs.


    The orc that walked out through the bushes was slightly taller than the other orcs. But where it truly stood out was how fat it was. "That orc might pose a problem. I am not sure any of our attacks will pierce its skin." Walker could already tell that the orc would pose a massive problem for the party.


    "I will get Gil up here. He should be able to see me waving for him. I think the darkness elemental arrows he had will help us in that aspect." Su said this while Walker watched the fat orc m the carved stone down and crush another orc. The only good thing was that it was defeating multiple orcs in its own bid to get food. However, there was a terrifying aspect of the entire situation. It was also eating the other orcs that it crushed.


    Walker heard Giling up behind him, "Holy lord, that orc is fat!" Gil exined this a little loud prompting Walker to cover his mouth. Luckily, there was no reaction from the orcs who were too busy fighting each other.


    "We need to weaken its'' defenses so we can defeat it. Sooner orter the orcs won''t have anything else to fight. When that happens we need to move in and deal with whatever is left." Walker was getting Gil up to date when the fat orc turned and revealed its other side.


    "Leader, that must be the ballista bolts the guards fired. They are lodged in its skin. They are madepletely of iron. Do you think you can use that?" Su was brilliant as always and had found the best possible way for Walker to do some major damage.


    "Change of n, I am going to try and make lightning to aim at that ballista bolt. But we still need to weaken it and the other orcs. If Ind a major hit on the fat orc then we should be able to deal with it and what others survive from there." Walker had understood Sus'' intentions and prepared himself to activate the prepared trench then use the elemental maniption to make lighting.


    This would take a toll on him since he was using a significant amount of mana all at once, but it was much safer than running in to the battle and risking the blows from arge piece of stone. He also wanted to see what would happen if he tried to create multiple bolts of lightning in a row. This would double as harsh training and the solution to their problems.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 560 - 560. Lightning Rod

    "Gil, when you fire that new prototype darkness arrow, what will it do?" Walker was looking at thepletely ck arrow. It had a few rune carvings that drew in the darkness elemental arrow. However, it looked like it had been carved from a single piece of burned wood which made him wonder.


    "This is made from rot log. Apparently, it is a tree that grows in the swamp. It will grow really fast andrge then die and absorb poisons and such as it decays slowly. One of the elves asked a dark mage to help him carve it. It always is absorbing darkness mana so when I fire it, it will release what is built up inside. I can use it again if it isn''t damaged but it takes time to naturally absorb more mana."


    This was an interesting arrow to Walker. He could tell the runes were speeding up the darkness elemental absorb[tion but he didn''t expect it to not need elemental mana crystals to charge up. " Alright, there are only eight left alive and the fat orc. They are all injured. Here goes the quad trench."


    Walker had let Midnight, Onyx, and Remey stay back to guard the merchants, travelers, and herds. He knew that they would want to be involved with the fight against the orcs but if one escaped them there needed to be someone to back up those behind them.


    The ground started to shake and the luring orb disappeared. The orcs were in disarray as they started to fall deeper in to the forming pit. The earth fell around them and the fat orcshed out all around it in anger. The other orcs took ncing blows from it and were severely injured.


    "Gil, Now!" Su was in charge of timing since Walker was already starting to gather as much of the natural fire, water, and wind elemental manas as possible. He had an idea of what he wanted them to form and was not able to focus on Gils'' timing.


    Gil released the darkness elemental prototype arrow. The shadows slightly bent as it flew through the air making the arrow appear to be both there and not at the same time. This was very different from the first prototype that shot through the shadows and in to the target.


    The arrow hit the fat orc since it was the biggest and most important target to take down. There was a burst of darkness elemental mana and the orcs were covered in a dark mist. They could all feel the danger of the dark mist and the decaying effect it had on the orcs.


    The chorus of angered and pained squeals from the orcs was matched only by the sound of the carved stone being mmed around on the ground in the dark. Su and Gil were certain that it was a much safer choice to remain at a distance since the erratic behavior of the fat orc would have been deadly for them. This was not a set of attacks that could be easily blocked, deflected, or dodged.


    Walker had gathered a significant amount of water, fire, and wind elemental mana. He was forcing them to condense in to a small rotating form. The formation of a grey cloud was what he was aiming for and what had begun to show between his hands.


    He was imagining a storm and how it would look if it was somehow confined in to a crystal ball. This imagination was proving to add more energy to the elements that were fusing and rotating at a great pace. Just like the hair standing on end before lightning struck Walker knew that the orb he had created was nearly at breaking point. He would not be able to hold it back if he poured any more mana within it.


    Walker forced the built up elemental manas to leave through one point in the sphere of swirling elemental mana he had created. The result was a terrifying crack of lighting that echoed through the entire sky. It echoed to the mountains and back keeping the sound from having a discernable starting point. This was the perk of lightning because it wasmon in the fields.


    The lightning was not a simple single bolt. It was a bright yellow series of bolts that constantly shot from the orb Walker had created until all the rotating mana had dispersed. The sound had deafened Walker, Gil, and Su making Walker rush to use a healing spell on all of them. Luckily, they recovered their hearing to realized that there was still a deep groaninging from the dissipating dark mist.


    With a solid thud, the carved stone fell out of the mist, and behind it the fat orc which appeared to be burned from the inside out. The metal ballista bolt was glowing orange and even dripped some molten iron. Walker also fell backward with the effects of therge amount of mana he had just used. The fusion of elements had taken a full thirty of his mana at once to form but it had done major damage. The only problem was the gathering time of the mana.


    Su rushed forward and used her shield to stab through the orc''s neck. Its defenses had been severely weakened and it was barely hanging on to life. Su managed to deal the final blow without a single bit of resistance. "Walker, are you alright?"m Su used Walkers'' actual name showing her worry for him. When someone was hurt she would lose her normal calmness which made everyone feel that much more important.


    "Yes. I am fine. Just used a lot of mana at once. It looks like wepleted our quest." Walker was looking at the two different system notifications he had received. One about the quest, and the other about the skill he had just gained.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 561 - 561. Intense Skill

    '' Guardsmen quest: y orcs- Completed (Ongoing)


    The orcs are troubling the travelers that cross amon trade route bridge. The guards have requested adventurerse to y them and make the route safer.


    Requirements:


    Skay five orcs


    Additional orcs in will be calcted by the adventurers guild.


    Rewards:


    15G per orc head


    (1 heroic quest point for every 2 orcs)


    Additional guild reward to be determined


    Current orcs in: 9


    Rewards will be distributed upon party leaders quest end notification.''


    Walker didn''t see any reason to end the quest now. They had alreadypleted it and was sure that they would find additional rewards. He also knew that the party were the only ones that could gain heroic points from the quest, however, he did note that the heroic points were definitely visible to anyone and not just his party.


    It was the way the system had it added. It was normally there for the hero title quests and would show up differently. But here it was for a quest issued to the adventurers guild which was odd. He couldn''t dwell on this long thought, because Gil and Su were already surveying the area for what may remain of the orcs.


    "That attack you used was intense. I thought the sky had opened up and shot down lighting itself." Gil was still reveling in the constant sounds of the lightning even though it had harmed their ears.


    "Leader, it may not have given away our location to other monsters. But it was very dangerous to test an attack like that. It also harmed us so please do not use it without warning." Su was trying to cover the safety aspect first. Yet, it was clear there was a glint of excitement in her eyes when Gil asked about the magic Walker had just used.


    "Well, I tried to pull in a lot of the fire, water, and wind elemental mana like I have done when I made lightning before. But this time I forced it in to one spot which I have not tried. Then I realized that this would happen in a storm cloud and thought of a raging storm trapped in a bubble." Gil and Su were hanging on every word while they examined the broken fat orc. It was still intact which was a great surprise.


    "I bet we could use this for something. Not many orcs should grow this much, right?" Gil interrupted as he took a harder look at just how thick the skin on the fat orc was.


    "Yes, leader can store it and we can see if armor can be made from it or if it is valuable elsewhere." Su looked at Walker who stored it away in his inventory. "Leader, you were saying?"


    Maybe it''s better if I just read the skill from my system." Walker looked at the system notification again before reading out loud, what he had seen was:


    '' The skill lightning tantrum has been taken from the living storm system. The skill lightning tantrum has been learned through the users'' knowledge and experimental actions involving three elemental manas.


    Lightning tantrum- 20 mana cost


    The wind, fire, and water elemental mana are forced to condense in to an orb of storm clouds. This storm grows and condenses until the user can not contain it any longer and must release it. The lightning will escape to deplete the energy within the condensed storm cloud. The series of lightning bolts causes significant damage to the target or the targeted area. The user may suffer from the sonic effect of the attack. The enemy can be stunned and deafened by this attack. The target may also be burned, paralyzed, and affected by ruptured due top steam escaping the body.''


    This skill sounded fairly terrifying to them since it could cause damage in a multitude of ways. Even if a target survived they would be left with major issues that could put them out ofmission permanently without immediate healing. "The mana cost and cast time are pretty high. But I think this is useable if we all get ear plugs and rely on Onyx."


    Walker wanted to be able to use this skill on a group of orcs or enemies again., It was very strong and a safer attack than getting up close. The only solution they needed was the sound damage they would take by being too close.


    "That is not the best skill to show off...maybe hold on to it for when we really need it." Gil was a little put off but he couldn''t say anything against the strength of the skill itself.


    "I agree." Su didn''t hesitate in agreeing. "Leader, do we take the piece of stone back?" Su was pointing at therge stone.


    "I think the guards can find a new one. This one is damaged." Walker tapped it with his foot and saw it start to fall to pieces. It had been mmed around too much for it to remain in one piece any longer.


    "Understood. Then let''s head back and let everyone know that we can proceed again." Su nced around and saw that there were still many p[artial bodies of orcs and decided to return with the news alone.


    "I will have this cleaned up before they get here." Walker began storing what he could and Gil tossed the unusable monster parts in to the trench he had made. After clearing what they needed to Walker used the high earth sculpting to repair the path and Gil retrieved his arrow. The darkness elemental mana had already begun to feed in to it.


    "That arrow was pretty amazing. I hope you can have it ready if we meet anotherrge group." Gil just smiled at Walker while the two headed to meet the sounds of cattle being herded.


    "I heard a mighty ruckus. Don''t tell me that was all you three?" Herder was the leader of the herd and saw the two first. Su had yet to tell him what had happened.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 562 - 562. Hidden Aces

    Walker waved his hand at Herder as a greeting before speaking. "Sorry about that, I tried a new skill and it was a little too much on the ears." Walker was feeling slightly embarrassed because he was sure that the entire surrounding area had heard the chorus of thunder that came with the lightning tantrum skill.


    "It really was you! I thought some divine judgment came down. I need to see this." Herder rushed forward to get to where the battle had taken ce. Walker almost felt bad that he and Gil had already cleaned the area up.


    "Seriously, you three go ahead and leave us to guard the herds, and merchants and the next thing we heard is lightning all around us. My ears are still ringing!" Remey was not as angry and she made it seem when it came to her staying back. She was really more than happy to be guarding the merchants. However, she was a little annoyed that she had missed such an impressive sounding skill.


    "Brother, sister and I want to see your new skill when it is safe to do so. Sister says that it hurt her ears from here." Onyx and Midnight were together as always and came to greet Walker.


    "Sorry about your ears. I had no idea that would happen. I will prepare ear plugs for the next time we use it. That means we will rely on you, Onyx, formunication."


    "Of course, I will help wheneverI can." Onyx was eager to continue this role in the party. It made him feel that he belonged and that he was holding everyone together in his own way. He had started to forget the feeling of being weak after his growth spurt and had realized that he could fight when needed but his specialty was in supporting the party inmunication.


    "I went all the way ahead and only found a few pieces of orc fingers and some soft dirt. Are you sure some god didn''te down from the sky and help you with an insane magic skill?'' Herder was having a tough time grasping the fact that Walker had actually in the goblins with Su and Gil.


    "I promise that if you stick with us for a little longer you will see something that will shock you again." Walker couldn''t hold back hisughter any longer. He felt bad for Herder who was trying to understand what had happened.


    "Su, do you want to take the lead with me? I am going to do the same with the luring orb until we get to the next intersection in the trail. From there we will part ways with the cattle and the merchants. We will rest there for the night though. It will take all day to get there."


    "Yes, I will walk ahead of you." Su was ep[ting of this since she saw that Walker had a familiar look on his face. "What do you want to test?" She knew already that Walker was looking to try pout another magical skill before they rested for the day.


    "Was I that obvious?" Walker had thought he made it look like he was trying to keep everyone moving safely. But instead, it appeared Su had seen right through him.


    "We will stay back here. I will also keep an eye out like before." Gil motioned for Remey, Midnight, and Onyx to spread out again. He also held an arrow at the ready since he was a little on edge after thest batch of orcs.


    Su and Walker took the lead while still staying in sight of Gil. "You know how I was going to use the moldable crystal ball and a twin blitz sword along with the lightning sword y skill? I want to see if wee across a single orc so I can test out the effect of the darkness and light elemental mana in the de of night and day skill. If it defeats the orcs faster it may be a better strategy than before."


    Walker was mainly looking to conserve mana since he had used a lot and it would take a little time for it to replenish. "I understand. Will you be using any other skill you gained recently?'' Su was a little worried that Walker would push himself too far. The party knew of the skill from the demonic system which he had held back from telling the rulers to avoid additional stress.


    "I might try to utilize the sh zone skill but to be honest I think it will be another drain on mana that I do not need. I want to use that skill when we meet arge number of enemies." Walker was sure that the skill would be a hidden ace for him.


    He had stocked up on a few skills he would not use unless absolutely necessary. Some because they would cost too much mana and others due to their danger. But this one was a skill he could use and sock an opponent while in battle withoutpletely incapacitating himself after. He alsocked a full understanding of how the skill fit in to his current style and didn''t want to risk too much by using it constantly.


    "I think that is wise. We should avoid testing too much though." Su said this because she could hear some cracking tigs from the bushes already. It was clear that the orcs in the area were still notpletely cleaned up. "I believe you should release the orb you created"


    Walker followed Su''s advice so he could go one on one with the approaching orc and not attract another. He pulled the moldable crustal ball from his inventory and influence its shape in to that of a sword. It was a mirror image of the twin blitz sword.


    The orc stepped in to the open revealing that it had also been struck with a ballista bolt in the arm. It was already weakened which helped Walker greatly.


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 Chapter 563 - 563. Thrown Blade

    "It only has the use of one arm so I should be able to easily evade it." Walker put Su at ease before he pulled one of the twin blitz swords to fill his empty hand. The moldable crystal sword with the de of night and day skill in one hand and a twin blitz sword in the other made him ap[pear as a powerful magical swordsman.


    Su had a close eye on him but couldn''t help but think to herself that he was looking the part of a powerful swordsman. It made her rx slightly and remember that she also needed to watch the surrounding area for any other orcs trying to butt in. She knew that they were driven by instinct and would not hesitate to charge at Walker or even the other orc.


    Walker was feeling that he could easily take down the injured orc if he used the trench skill. But that was not what he was after. He was already faster than the orc and with an injured arm, the orc would not be able to deal heavy blows to him.


    The orc lost its'' desire for the luring orb and was instantly enraged that its'' food had escaped. This rage was turned on Walker as it lumbered forward making growling and grunting noises. Its'' first swing was slow and Walker just halted his steps to let therge hand swing past him. He knew that he could easily dodge any other attacks with this first one proving just how weak the orc was with its'' injury.


    He fell in to his crouched stance to start the dance of the wild rabbit while preparing to use the de of night and day to make the first sh. However, he had the idea to use the cross sh skill instead. It had been a long time since he had used it and he wanted to see just how powerful it was with his current level.


    Walker crossed the two swords and felt that the light and darkness elemental mana were reacting to him using the skill. He had not expected this but went forward with the attack anyways. When he released the crossed swords in a shing motion there were two different thrown des ovepping each other.


    There was one that was the normal d from the twin blitz sword thrown at the orc which cut slightly in to the thick skin but was not doing my damage. But the one that was noticeable was the thrown de that ovepped the other.


    The thrown de that originated from the de of night and day was a swirl of darkness and light elemental mana. When it made contact with the orc the damage was the same as the other but immediately a ck decay started to rot away at the skin of the orc. There was also a faint light that made the orc appear to grow paler and paler.


    Walker knew this was the decay effect of the darkness elemental mana and the mana bleeding effect of the light elemental mana. The two had been released within the cross sh skill showing that the de of night and day had much more utility than he had expected.


    ''The user has used a fusion skill cross elemental sh from the elemental saber system. The skills light thrown de, dark thrown d, and cross elemental sh have been learned.''


    Walker skimmed the notification and found that the light and dark thrown des were exactly as he expected. They were thrown des that sent a de of the specified elemental mana at the target to do damage. Furthermore, the cross elemental sh was a skill that allowed multiple thrown des to be used at once. It was a fusion skill he had not intended to learn.


    He let his excitement take over and he used the elemental cross sh twice more marking the orc with more decaying and mana bleeding shes. Even though he had not cut in to it and done major harm the orc was experiencing significant damage. It was bleeding its mana out faster than it could get to Walker and attack while it could feel its'' skin bing weaker and even breaking away in certain spots.


    Walker dodged its now frantic attacks while he prepared to use the darkness thrown de by itself. He made a simr motion as cross sh but with one sword. The de shed down and the darkness thrown de flew from him. Thisnded with more force on the orc causing it to stumble slightly while also causing the decaying effect to rapidly increase.


    Walker took note that the single elemental thrown de had a greater effect due to their focused nature. The cross elemental sh was less due to the fact that it was bncing two elements that split the mana needed to boost the power of the attack.


    Su was watching Walker used skills she had not seen him use before in multiples. She was amazed that he had started to improve at an insane rate in front of her. It gave her the feeling that she was falling behind and needed to improve more.


    Walker''s attacks stretched on for a few moments more before the orc copse and lost the remainder of its life. Walker stood in front of the rapidly decaying body and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Leader, those were more new skills," Su stated this as a way to get him to tell her what they were.


    "Yes, But it looks like they are not the best to use on a monster." Walker pointed at the orc body that was decaying away. It had lost all the natural mana within it and was not staying together. The decay made it all the worse since the skin was also rotting away. "I think this body will need to stay here since it is useless to try and sell." Walker used the trench skill to bury the decaying body for safety before he returned his gaze to Su.


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 Chapter 564 - 564. Thrown Blade Strategy

    Walker knew that Su was already analyzing the skills and trying to see how they would fit within their partys'' team work and strategy. "The thrown des will be invaluable againstrge opponents. You can hide behind my shields and attack without leaving my protection." This was the most important part of the skills she had seen Walke use.


    "I agree, it will be a good strategy to save mana and also dedal constant attacks while Remey and Midnight get in to position and Gil is preparing another arrow." Walker also saw hope it would keep the focus of an opponent while his party prepared their own attacks.


    "There will also be the benefit of the light thrown de bleeding away mana. That will hugely weaken a monster." Walker wanted to focus on using the light thrown de over the darkness thrown de. It was mostly the aversion to the decaying effect that he had seen gue the forest.


    "It looks like it was making that injured orc much weaker. I didn''t see it use anything other than its fists. No charging attacks or grabs. I wonder if that was due to the mana draining away?" Su had already seen the pattern that was different from the other orcs she had watched tear each other apart.


    "That makes sense. I think it will make a huge difference in the future. The only problem is that I am pretty sure that it won''t always work. Especially on a light affinity monster or one that has skills to absorb mana." Walker was thinking this due to the fact that there were skills that helped absorb anna faster such as Gils'' and the sin demon of greed skill.


    "That is why you can use other attacks." Su was t when she said this knowing that Walker was worrying over nothing. When she saw him nod his head she returned to her walking pace and waited for Walker to resummon the luring orb.


    The two traveled ahead on the path without much attention. Every so often Walker released the luring orb so that the attracted birds would flu off and he could resummon it safely. Having the birds was nice to attract nearby orcs to the sounds they made, but too many had be a nuisance.


    They managed to proceed down the path for hours without seeing another orc. Walker was sure there were more in other directions but for the time being, it seemed that there were none that would pose a threat anywhere near. This was perfect as they reached the split in the trail. The split in the trade touts had arge open area due to the high volume of traders and travelers that would pass through and rest here.


    "We will stay here for the night. It should also give us the time to say goodbye and part from Herder and the shepherd." Walker wanted to make sure he said a prepper farewell since he had enjoyed seeing a new way to use the frost whip along with meet another system user he had not before.


    Walker imed a spot near the perimeter of the wide space so that the party could easily patrol at night. It also gave them the ability to leave in the early morning without disturbing anyone. "You seemed to take that orc down in an interesting way." Gil was the first to arrive before Midnight, Remey, and Onyx made their way to the camp Walker and Su were building.


    "I thought you would have something to say about it. I know you can see from pretty far away." Walker knew that Gil would say something as soon as he made it to the resting ce.


    "Of course I would. Hearing all the new skills you get is kind of a ritual now. If I miss it I feel kind of left out." Walker and Gilughed over this before they received a re from Su who wanted help setting up some tents. The two did not hesitate to jump in to the camp set up as the herd was rounded up in to a resting space.


    "You all did very well today. I was about to deal with thatst orc but your dragon party member was quicker than anything. Before I knew it the orc was on fire and fallen to the ground." Herder hopped off the white bill andughed while offering Midnight a slice of dried jerky he had been snacking on while setting up the herd for rest.


    "Wait, you guys had another orc attack you?" Walker had not even realized it. He was worried that they had struggled without Su there to defend them.


    "It couldn''t even be thought of as a threat. There were two ballista bolts in one leg and the other looked like it wasn''t even attacked to the body properly. I have no idea hope it didn''t die." Remey had also seen the encounter and felt pity for the orc.


    Walker rxed after hearing this. He had also looked Midnight over and seen that there were no visible injuries so to speak of. He knew that she was capable of defending herself but he would always worry.


    "Are you up for another horned rabbit roast?" Walker made sure to offer this to Herder since it would be thest night they would be on the same p[ath.


    "If I ever say no to food I have been taken by a body snatching spirit," Herder sat down as the while bull walked around the herd to patrol it.


    The shepherd walked up and also sat down after settling the sheep. Onyx was quick to slither over and start up a conversation. The shepherd was overjoyed to have a conversation partner and was not holding back at all it seemed. Waler couldn''t help but be amazed at hope well Omnyx always made friends with someone when they went somewhere. It was a surprising skill to have. It made him feel even worse for having to leave them to another path.


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 Chapter 565 - 565. Rocky Path

    The group followed the same pattern as the previous night, however, there was one difference that surprised everyone. "In the morning we will be off early. So it has been nice getting to know the both of you." Walker had been worried that leaving them woulde off poorly but knew it was inevitable.


    The shepherd bug around in his satchel looking for something whole the party looked on in curiosity. After a short moment, two leather bond notebooks came out. One was old and matched the one he had shown the pages from before. The other was newer and smelled of ink.


    The shepherd handed the notebook to Walker and Onyx tranted his message, "This is for you so that you can bond with any sheep you pass." Walker had opened the second journal to find that all the sheep had been copied down. The information of feeding them and their predators was also added.


    "This is amazing, are you really sure you want to share this with us?" Walker felt that this was too much. These writings were from the shepherds'' hard work of years and years of herding sheep. It felt unfair to just take them without giving something in return.


    Onyx trante again, "I believe you will be able to use the information wisely. I also wish to repay the effort you put in. I did not need to worry about my sheeps'' well being with your party on the job." Walker felt pride hearing this and came forward to shake the shepherds'' hand. It was the least he could do to show his respect for this gift.


    "Ah, in that case, take one of my coins. It seems like it is only wood, but if you bring it to any adventurers guild branch they can contact me with herding requests. I''m not sure you can use it but it would be nice to see you all again." Herder flipped a wooden coin toward Walker. The coin was carved from basic wood but had the symbol of a man on a bull upon it.


    "Thank you! We will make sure that if wee across any who need a herder or if we need one ourselves we will request you." The rest of the party became much more lively after Walker had taken the lead and everyone was sure to say their piece on farewells and thanks yous.


    The remainder of the night went as usual. They rotated their watch and rested well until the sun was about to break the horizon. They managed to wake before many of the merchants and clean up camp. Walker left a small amount of wood next to where they made a fire for the next traveler who came there. This was hisst act before they all stored the camping gear and set out on a new day.


    Each of them looked back sad to lose theirpany but it was inevitable. They were going north toward the mountains where the dwarves tunneled and the others were headed more to the east. However, they were able to rest easy knowing that they had methods to contact or remind them of their new found friends.


    "I wonder if we will need to use that coin." Walker was wondering this while they walked.


    "I am sure we will. We meet many people that require many things." Su felt it was a matter of time before they ran in to someone with the need for a herder.


    "I am just surprised the shepherd shared his knowledge with us. Although, he seemed really happy to talk to Onyx." Gil gave Onyx a things up for the job well done.


    "It was nothing, he had many stories that I was able to listen to and enjoy." Onyx had heard many of the shepherds'' travel stories and was still dwelling on them while he rested on Midnights'' back.


    "I didn''t get to see Herder use his style again so we need to contact him soon." Remey was frustrated to see the unfinished block in her alchemical brawlers field guide skill. She wanted to find a reason to meet Herder again as soon as possible to remedy this fact.


    "I am sure we will get to see him again. But aren''t you going to have this problem with many of the systems we see in passing?" Walker thought she was being a little ambitious if she thought she would have every style she saw recorded fully from every system the party came across.


    "No, I can''t let it get away from me now. The more I fully learn the better I can pass things on to everyone and the better we can strategize." Remey had a look of determination on her face and Walker couldn''t bring himself to say anything opposite to what she believed and let her be.


    "Leader, the path is opening up here." Su had noticed the change in the path they were traveling. The area had be less grassy and bushy over the few hours of the morning after they set out from the resting point.


    "ording to the maps, we should be hitting the rocky terrain that leads up to the mountains. The patch will be rough but we are much closer now." Walker looked ahead to see the mountains which seemed to grow with each step. They always appeared small in the distance but now loomed above them with a presence of mightiness.


    "It''s crazy to think there are dwarves under the ground. Rock elves hidden away somewhere. And ancient dragon viges up there. Who knows what else." Gil was thinking about all the mysteries to him and the party that resided in this area. None of them had ever been to the mountains or even this far north at all. They were all treading new ground together as a party and would be learning many more new things.


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 Chapter 566 - 566. Strange Rocks

    "Alright, before we venture farther in to the rocky area, a few things to look out for." Walker wanted to brief the party on the dangers in this area that they would face while traveling. He had some knowledge of what monsters inhabited the area and how to avoid or fight them. But more importantly, he wanted to share the dangers each possessed so they all acted appropriately when they came across them.


    "The diamond fang snake is fairly rare. But its'' fangs can pierce armor easily. This means being poisoned by its'' venom when it bites is guaranteed unless we are protected from it like Su." This was the least threatening monster for them but Walker still spoke of it. Just because it was rare didn''t mean they wouldn''t face it.


    "The rubble goats are another monster we will see but can easily avoid. They are territorial but will prefer to let an enemy pass by than fight unless you stare it down. Then it will charge head fist at you and try to break you. They test the horns on boulders breaking them to rubble, hence the name, rubble goats."


    This monster was much moremon but a minor worry since they usually preferred not to fight. Thest monster was more troublesome. It was lessmon but still posed a threat.


    "The bone beak vultures are a huge pain. They are known for picking up rockets to drop on prey until they are defeated and can feed on them. They fly very high and are hard to defeat. Not to mention they will follow prey night and day circling them until they are beaten."


    "Those do not sound like the nicest monster out there." Gil was worried that the bone beak vulture would fly too high for his normal arrows and require him to use a lot of mana. He also worried that they would still be too high in the sky.


    "Actually, you will probably be the best counter to them. You have wind elemental arrows that could topple them from the sky." Walker made this point causing Gil''s face to light up.


    "I am d to hear that. I would have trouble looking up and blocking stones constantly." Su felt a relief off of her shoulders as well from this. She had not wanted to attempt to block and watch the ground while also blocking and watching the sky.


    "We might encounter a few other monsters but none that should pose a threat or aremon enough to worry about. I just hope that we can traverse the rocks well." Walker was already starting to think he should have gotten extra pairs of sturdy boots for everyone. The rocks were rough and sometimes jagged along the path they were taking and could cause a decent amount of damage to their shoes.


    "Leader, you have materials to repair our shoes, correct?" Su thought she recalled Lisa forcing some sewing and repair materials for clothing and shoes before they left.


    "Yes! She did. I can try to repair any damage when we rest next. Hopefully, the skills will show up easily." Walker would need some leather working skills and the sewing skills he had seen his sister use, but it would be worth it for this part of their journey and well in to the future.


    "Walker covered monsters so I will cover herbs!" Remey took over and was already looking around with a piercing gaze. "If you see a red moss that looks fluffy let me know. Don''t touch it because it is very poisonous but it can be used for other things."


    Remey looked around a little more, "If you see arge patch of tiny green grass with purple flowers the size of droplets then we can try to pick them without rushing the flowers, I''m not sure who named it purple drops but whoever did made it easy to identify. It is a high ss mana potion ingredient but very hard to pick and protect in transport. Unless you have a Walker with you."


    Remey was all smiles saying this because she knew that Walker could use his inventory to store the purple drops herb away safely. It had been proved multiple times that it was a safe way to transport even delicate things and it made her much more confident in the fact that she could take some home for potions.


    "Unfortunately both herbs are only able to grow out in nature. The red moss dries up with the sun and it shouldn''t be brought home because it released poisonous pollen that''s safe outside but not inside. And the Purple drops are too delicate. If it is taken from the natural mana it will die right away. It also doesn''t produce seeds and grows directly from the roots. Meaning that the patches we find are most likely many years old."


    "Three monsters to watch out for in particr and two herbs. I got it. I will keep an eye out." Gil was d to have all the information since it would make things much easier for him while he was keeping an eye out in general. He would dly point these things out while they traveled.


    Midnight released a loud snort from behind them followed by a slight hiss as she pulled back from something. "What''s wrong?" Walker was immediately on alert since this was not a reaction that he was used to from Midnight.


    "Sister says there is something that smells bad and hurts to sniff," Onyx replied instantly while Walker examined Midnight who was shaking her nose in annoyance. He used a healing spell on her just in case which appeared to relieve the annoyance.


    "What bothered you?"Walker looked at the area she had been sniffing and found some strange patterns on the rocks. "It almost looks like these rocks were, melting?"


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 Chapter 567 - 567. Acid Slime Signs

    "What is it?" Su came over and gained the same confused look that Walker had. "It smells sour almost?" Su was sniffing the ait slightly and finding that it was a sour burning smell that wasing from the area.


    "Walker, look at the base of the rocks right there. Do you see what I see?" Gil was looking at the base of rocks where the ground met the edge and had discovered small yellow droplets.


    "Let me use my all around appraisal, although I have an idea of what it is." Walker had hopes that he would be wrong on his theory.


    ''Acidic slime residue


    The remains of an acidic yellow slime that has fed on the natural ores within a rock. Their body is made of an acid that is perfect for melting and burning stone and valuable natural ores.''


    "It''s yellow acidic slime residue." Walker felt the air leave his lungs as he said this. He had noped that they wouldn''t find much in the way of evidence for these things.


    "Good, I want to try a few things with it for potions and herbs. If we had found an entire slime it would be better. But this slime may have some usepared to those purple ones." Remey was already motioning for Walker to get a vial from his inventory.


    "I know it is dangerous and bad that the yellow slimes are already out here but they may prove useful if we can capture some." Walker stopped looking at Remey like she was crazy. He would much rather see something goode from the yellow slimes which would be unlike the purple slimes which only brought the decay that harmed the forest.


    "I might be able to use the acidic qualities in the slimes'' body to break down certain herbs and use them better." Remey was already nning out the tests she would do. It was not umon to use certain slime body species as potion ingredients or to nullify certain properties in herbs.


    "If it is useful that will be great, but will you really be able to test things if you have so little?" Gil was doubtful that the small yellow droplets that Remey was gathering off the ground in to the vial would be useful at all.


    "Just a small amount can give me enough information. If I get ahold of some steel seed palm nuts I can see if it will dissolve the toughy outer shell and make it easier to extract the seeds oils. All I need is a few drops to coat the seed and tests it instead of the normal process where someone has to smash the seen and get minimal oils from it." Remey was swift with her response making Walker start to think as well.


    "I did not know such things were a problem to be solved. The world of alchemy is veryplicated." Su was opening her eyes to new possibilities she had not considered before. She had always just assumed the herbs would either be dried or used whole. The process of removing shells and creating oils was foreign to her.


    "In any case, this is a sign that from here on out we will need to worry about yellow slimes with acidic bodies. Su, I think your shield can withstand the attacks because of the materials it is made out of and I think Midnight will be fine with her dragon scales. But everyone else will need to be on high alert for acid attacks."


    Walker made sure to focus everyone on this danger. If someone were to get harmed by acid he knew that healing would not be the perfect solution. He would need to remove the acid with water and then heal it. This much he had learned while reading about a snake type monster in the swampnds with acidic venom spray attacks.


    "I will be staying as far as I need from them. I wish I could say my arrows will be too since I am sure they can dissolve those...but I still need to attack." This was something Gil had been worrying over. He knew that this would drain a lot of his arrows since even a drop of the slime bodies could ruin the bnce and make the arrows useless. Let alone ruin the ability to store elemental mana.


    "If we don''t encounter them here we may in the dwarf cities'' underground. They may sell something that could defend against these effects but it is a long shot." Walker wished they had more time to prepare, but they had already waited too long toe this far.


    Having warned everyone and spoken on their strategy the group started to move forward again. They needed to make up more ground but were sure that they would not make it all the way to the city today. It would take them another day of nonstop traveling at the rapid pace they had been setting.


    "You know, I feel like we have been moving a lot fastertely." Walker was looking at the map in his head that he had memorized with the mental archive skill and realized they had traveled a great distance in such a short time.


    "It''s our agility and health points. They are much higher now and allow us to move faster. I have been taking note of just how fast we move as we have been going. The orcs all looked so slow but I am sure if we faced them earlier we would struggle." Su had beenparing herself to the way she was before the elf city and after. She had noticed the many small changes in their daily life that none of them had mentioned.


    "You know, I did notice that lifting the camping gear and walking so much was not making me as tired or stressed." Gil started to think on this too and so did everyone else as they continued their walk along the rocky path.


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 Chapter 568 - 568. Falling Stones

    The rocks were gettingrger and making travel even harder for the party. The only one that appeared to be having a simple time of it was Midnight who was using the time to attempt some flying practice.


    Walker had been keeping an eye on her as she climbed the taller rocks then jumped from one to the next while trying to p her wings or hold them out to glide. She still fell fairly quickly but it was not the same with her wings folded. She had made a lot of progress ins strengthening them to this point.


    Not wanting to be left out Onyx had let himself grow slightly and was reaching the top of rocks then trying to coil up and spring forward. This was the same motion he would use if he were to ever bite someone but in this instance, it worked well as a movement technique.


    Walker found that since there were so many forms of earth around him that the earth elemental mana had grown much denser. This meant that he had been able to easily keep watch of everything around him and also grasp some additional understanding of the earth as a whole.


    He could feel the ever slow moving rocks pushing upwards to the surface to create a mountain while there were others that pulled apart causing small streams to form and one day ravines. It was all part of the way nature flowed but was a great learning opportunity.


    "Everyone down." Gil had spotted something in the distance and ordered everyone to crouch behind arger rock that was jutting out of the ground. He pointed in to the sky some distance away toward somerge birds circling the sky. In total there were three.


    The three birds had curved bone white beaks, Bald heads, and wide ck feathered wings. The long talons they had looked powerful enough to crush stone. " There are three of them and every once in a while one will swoop down and grab at something on the ground." Gil was watching this happen as he spoke.


    "They must have found a target to go after. Should we go and see what they are after?" Remey was the first to ask this question. She had seen Gil freeze up and point at the distance.


    Walker turned and looked at Midnight, "Can you scout up ahead and hide in the shadows of the rocks to see if that is a human under attack? If it is we will head forward to rescue." Walker knew that Midnight could hide the same as Onyx when it came to this, but she had more experience whening to this. He also knew that Gil might end up giving himself away and be a target as well.


    She snorted and snuck off toward where the three bone beak vultures were circling. "Leader, should we intervene if it is not a human?" Su was wondering if they should protect another animal or monster from these three monsters of it they should let nature continue its course.


    "Depends on what it is. If it is a normal animal we can put it to a vote. If it is another monster we can leave them to fight. It won''t be worth the danger of fighting a monster on the ground and in the air." Walker didn''t wish to see them take any unnecessary injuries on their way to the dwarven city.


    "They are bigger than I thought they would be. And their feathers might be perfect for arrows." Gil was contemting hunting the three vultures for this reason. He wanted to keep his arrow materials high in case he did battle the yellow acidic slimes soon. The more arrows he had the better.


    "We shouldn''t hunt them just for your arrows. It won''t be worth the risk to us." Su shot down this idea instantly. If it happened that the party could rescue someone then Su had no problem with Gil taking the feathers. But attacking them just for that reason when they were not in need was foolish.


    "I think we should avoid them. I don''t want to deal with monsters I can''t do much about. I have never tried making explosive potions or any poisonous ones like Trish. Those would be my only attacks against them If I even had them." Remey also chimed in stating that she wouldn''t want to fight them if possible. At the end of the day, it was only Gil and Walker who would be able to damage them,. Midnight and Onyx could try but they would have a very tough time of it.


    It was clever that the party would be better off avoiding them, Walker was about to speak on this fact when Midnight returned. Onyx spoke up on her behalf to report the scouting, "Sister says that they are attacking a horned rabbit."


    "What is one doing out here?" Gil was curious why one left the fields and would be in all these rocks.


    "Sister says that every time the vultures drop a rock itnds near the horned rabbit and not on it." Onyx ryed this making everyone think the same thing.


    "The vultures are guiding it. I would assume the nest is that way and this is easier for them." Su was the one to state their theory out loud. "It would seem the bone beak vultures are smarter than we believed." This was a worrisome development.


    "Then we are not fighting them. We will proceed slowly and stay out of sight until they are away. Just stay behind rocks and avoid standing up fully." Walker gave the orders and led the way as the party p[ushed on. Their movements crouched and much slower since they dared not draw any attention from the predators of the sky.


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 Chapter 569 - 569. Holes In Stone

    The party''s speedy travel had taken a hit since they needed to avoid the gaze of the vultures in the distance. Walker had not expected to see them in such a short period of time after walking the rocky areas.


    They were about to make a dash from onerge boulder to another when Remey froze up, "What''s wrong? Is there another vulture?" Walker didn''t see any reason for them to stop moving.


    "I want that little dried weed there. It looks worthless, but inside the stems there are seeds. They will grow in to a bell bush. It is very valuable to alchemists who need to maintain mana control while they use skills." Remey was looking like a small round bush in the open area that was dried up and withered away.


    "Is it really that important? The vultures might see us." Gil couldn''t find value in something that was dried up and nearly falling to pieces.


    "It is a dried bell bush. The flowers that bloom, are shaped like bells and have a pollen that when eaten assists in mana control. It calms the nerves and will make it much easier to create high quality potions. Actually, Walker could use it to train magic more easily too."


    Remey knew that Walker might jump at this but she saw that he was considering the pros and cons carefully. It was a risky move to rush out and grab it while the vultures were still in the air. But it was also tempting since they would grow an herb that could make them all stronger and safer over time. Walker and his magic along with Remey and her potions could both do this.


    "Brother, I should be able to get it safely. Just trust me." Onyx spoke up which surprised them. He rarelymitted himself like this and they were all inclined to let him attempt this.


    "If you are sure then give it a try. We will run to the other hiding spot so follow us when you can." Walker counted out the run and everyone dashed unseen to the next boulder. Onyx did not. He instead melted in to the shadows around the boulders and the party watched as he slightly rose from them to drag the bush from the shadows with his mouth.


    The bush easily snapped and disappeared in to the shadows and soon reappeared next to Walker. "That was perfect. Onyx you are the best!" Remey was praising Onyx heavily for getting the bell bush for her. She was already snapping the base branches open to pull out tiny oval seeds that would grow in to bell bushes.


    "How did you even know that was a bell bush?"


    Walker was curious how Remey had identified it when she hadn''t even mentioned it to the party before hand.


    "They usually aren''t found this time of year. They actually grow in the winter because they like the water elemental mana and the cold. They should all be broken down and the seeds in hibernation, but this one is still there." Remey pulled a branch of the small bush and showed Walker. "The pattern of growth is made so the bell flowers don''t touch other parts of the nt, so I can see how they fit there and there."


    "You were able to see what nt it was just from that?" Gil was equally impressed that Remey had such sharp eyes. He was beginning to wonder if he was only good at spotting monsters while Remey had a huge knack for nts even without the alchemical side of her system. This was mostly her upbringing around the old master alchemist though.


    "I think those vulturesnded." Su had been the one watching them at the moment and saw all three of the vultures swoop down at once.


    "Then we can move faster as long as we watch what is going on. We will remember the area their nest might be." Walker wasn''t going to blindly head toward a nest f vultures if he could avoid it.


    The party resumed its travel speed and found that the first had given way to mostly pebbles on the ground. Besides the boulders that jutted from the ground, there was no dirt anywhere but the high earth elemental mana would still allow Walker to use the high earth sculpting.


    He could feel the rigidity of the stonepared to the softer earth but also that this was one reason why the earth elemental mana was higher. The stone was more dense and had more of it stored within due to this. His realizations wereing very easily in this area too and he had a feeling that if he spent time meditating on itter he would be able to reach a better understanding.


    "Walker, you know that steel skinned worm skin we once got from the auction? Do they happen to live in rocky areas?" Remey asked this simple question confusing Walker but he answered nheless.


    "I think they live deep underground. Usually in mines and the mountains. Why?" Walker had just asked why but when he focused himself he could see the disturbances in the ground and a few holes in the stones around them.


    "Well, because Remey and I can''t figure out what made holes in the stone like that. And it looks kind of like a worms digging hole but way bigger¡­" Gil and Remey had noticed this and were put off so they consulted each other first with their ideas.


    "They wouldn''t be this close to the surface though. They are steel skinned worms because they eatrge portions of rocks and ores to develop their defenses." Walker couldn''t understand why the worms would have moved to the surface.


    "I have a theory one what they may be up here." Su had rounded a boulder and discovered a very good reason fr them to leave the depths.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 570 - 570. Fire Or Ice?

    Su wasying sight on a smaller steel skinned worm that had at some poi t crawled its'' way to the surface. However, it had not survived its'' injuries long. "It has some of the yellow slime bodies on it and it appears that it did not counter that well."


    The party moved towards one of the holes made by the worms and found one that had mostlye out of the ground. It was significantly small than the long skin they had purchased in the auction. Yet, it was still many timesrger than any normal earth worm.


    "Walker, you should store it away. It might be damaged but I am sure there''s is still a use for it." Gil was thinking that the pieces of damaged steel worm skin can be used for repairs or just sold in general.


    "Good idea. We can make use of it. It does worry me that the slime sare obviously the reason for the steel skinned wormsing up to the surface where they would never normally be." Walker tapped the worm body to store it away but found that it was still there. "It didn''t store away¡­"


    His quizzical look started to let way for understanding as he could see some parts of the worm moving as if something inside was moving. "This might be gross, but what would happen if a steel skinned worm which is blind identally ate an acidic slime along with the rocks and ores?"


    His question put everyone on guard. They could hear the slight sizzling sound of something within the steel skinned worms body and also saw the strange motion of the body. None of them needed to answer Walkers'' question. They already knew the answer.


    Before any of them could move to attack The skin of the worm started to be thinner and thinner until a smaller yellow slime melted its way through. It was followed by two more that were trying to epass the entire steel skinned worm.


    "Everyone back! We need to stick to ranged attacks." Walker shouted this but Remey and Su were already retreating since they had spoken about this possible danger.


    "What do you think will work on them? Fire? Or should we try water elemental attacks to freeze them?" Gil wasn''t sure what elemental arrow would be the best to attack. He knew that Wind could cause acid to fly in the air and harm the others while earth would just temporarily stop them. These slimes were enemies of the earth in the sense that they ate away at the ores within so he knew that trapping them or stabbing them with an earth spike wouldn''t be as effective.


    "You try one of those fire wither spike arrows. We will retreat far enough to stay away from the attack." Walker knew this was risky, but since there was no dry grass or trees they were able to take a shot at burning the slimes.


    "Sorry Remey, but these things should burn away." Gil said a quick apology to Remey since he was not sure he would avoid defeating all the slimes with this arrow. The wither spike fire elemental arrow was arger area attack after all.


    The retreat was smooth since the slime had not noticed the party due to their fixation on the steel skinned worm they were eating. Walker knew that the body most likely had a lot of ore within it and that was what they were after. Not to mention it had absorbed the ore for its entire lifetime.


    "Ready," Gil gave the warning before releasing the fire elemental wither spike arrow. It threw off heat as he used his mana to activate it and let it fly through the air.


    Gil had aimed for the center of the steel skinned worm so that he could burn the entire thing. This proved to be the right move because as soon as the arrow made contact it burst in to a ball of mes.


    Walker watched this and saw that the yellow slimes were contorting in to strange shapes as they realized the danger they were in along with the slow disappearance of their food. He took the chance to send off three fire bolt spells to make them burn more.


    The fire bolts were right on target and hit the slimes and steel worm with three loud bangs. "They are still moving in the mes. They seem agitated." Su was making sure she had the shields ready for the worst case scenario of an acid spray attack.


    However, instead of an acid spray attack, the three slimes burst out of the mes and were moving as fast as their bodies could roll at the party. They had lost the ores they wanted to eat inside the worm due to the burning fire and could feel the metal of the partys'' armors and weapons.


    "Gil, use the water elemental arrow now!" Walker yelled and Gil fired the arrow he had prepared. The two were a perfect team since they were already prepared without needing to say anything before hand.


    The water elemental wither spike arrow made contact with the leading slime which seemed to be fusing with the other two while they moved toward the party. The arrow immediately started to break down in the acid of the yellow slime''s body but this only hastened the release of the water elemental mana.


    The mana that gathered brought with it the moisture in the air and in a few seconds a series of ice crystals had sprouted from where the arrow pierced. Without the arrow being intact properly it was more of arge ice crystal that spiked out and pierced the slimes acidic body in multiple ces at the same time. The loud sounds of sizzling acid were the only thing the party heard while holding their breath for the result.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 571 - 571. Pondering The Yellow Slimes

    The arty watched as the ice was melted away. Walker was prepared to use another set of firebolts when he noticed that the limes were also fallingin to a puddle. The cores had been punctured by the ice. "Ice is the best bet to beat acidic slimes so far. Note taken." Gil had another of the water elemental arrows already notched and released it to put it back in to the quiver.


    "I thought fire would damage them more. But it seems that it only helps burn off some of their outer body." Walker was examining the damage the slime bodies were doing to the ground and Ice. "I think they have a unique sense for the earth elemental mana within the ores and that attracts them. They went after us as soon as there was more metal on us than in the steel worm skin."


    "That should mean they can be lured and defeated easily. If we get enough earth elemental mana together." Su was already deducing a n to gather them and defeat every single yellow slime possible.


    "That will be tough. There is a lot of earth and a lot of earth elemental mana. Especially down in the city which is underground and full of different ores and metals. All being used by the dwarves, or mined, or traded." Walker could already tell that this would be a problem. There would need to be a better way to deal with them.


    The party was silent while they looked around for more slides that may show themselves. "At least give me something to store more of their bodies. If we can ever get a core too, that would be nice." Remey was still looking at the possible silver lining and trying to gather some more of the yellow slimes'' body.


    "Sure," Walker pulled out some of therger vials and watched as Remey very carefully gathered the slime body. He moved toward the steel skinned worms'' body and looked at what had happened to it in the fire and acid. All that was left were the tougher pieces of ore that had not been broken down by the slimes or the worm. Walker did his best to store them away for any possible useter but had some doubt that they could be valuable at all.


    "Something I have been thinking about, if the slimes are already underground and in the mines, what''s to say they aren''t in the main city yet?" Gil had hit on a tough subject. If the slimes were already within the city then it would be extremely dangerous for the dwarves. They would need to fight and escape their very own homes.


    "We should speed up then. But I have a feeling that they aren''t that far gone yet. If they weren''t I don''t think that smoke over there would still be burning." Walker pointed out the cloud of ck smoke in the distance. This was the smoke from the ever burning forges of the dwarves.


    The party started to travel again after Walker was sure that there were no embers left from the burned work body. He wanted to make sure that there would not be anything that could blow away in the wind and start a fire somewhere. It was the same principle of extinguishing the campfire they used for their camp at night.


    "If I can learn some other water spells maybe I can dilute the acid slimes'' bodies and make them unable to hold together just leaving the core?" Walker had this idea while they were walking. He had only learned to make water in to ice more or less and not used it in the liquid form as often.


    "That would need a lot of water though, right? Where would you get enough in a battle?" Remey was sure that this was not some easy task that Walker could just perform like nothing.


    "That''s the question. Leader could somehow control it toe with us. But I think he will need to use the flooded mines from the rainy season." Su knew that the rainy season was the biggest issue for the dwarves. There would always be a decrease in trade due to the rain naturally flooding caves. By the end of summer and the start of fall, the dwarves would go in to their busy season and mine more and more as the caves dried out.


    "Then it might be possible to deal with them in the lower parts of the city which is good since that is where the majority of the ores will be." Gil already saw the ning together. He had so,e of the failed prototype arrows just in case and some only made the ara slightly misty of foggy with the moisture in the air. He had thought them failures but jow they would have their uses.


    "If we dilute it and obtain the cores then we might be able to find someone with a unique system to make the acid slimes less dangerous. Maybe another slime breeder or something. I just want them to be used for alchemy." Remey was sure that these slimes could be a massive benefit in the world of alchemy. She had been thinking about this since she saw how fast they dissolved the steel skinned worm.


    "Alright, so we have some small personal goals like gathering yellow slime cores, meeting the golem builder, and looking for better ways to deal with the slimes. Add those to our main goal of helping the dwarves and getting them to join the Genesis alliance and we have a full schedule." Walker felt invigorated and picked up the pace. He liked having these solid goals to keep moving forward. He was also more confident now that they knew the slimes'' weakness and could do more to them than just retreat.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 572 - 572. Deeper In The Earth

    The party felt that having their goals all set in front of them was a little daunting, but they also could feel that they were ready to push on them faster. With their morale higher than usual, they were able t cover a significant distance on the rocky trails.


    "I feel like we could walk through here forever and still not make it to the mountain." Remey could swear that they were not making any progress in thest hour. She thought that they would never reach the mountain in their lifetime.


    "We do not need to get to the mountain. We just need to reach the smoke which is near the entrance to the dwarven city." Su assured her that they were not actually going all the way to the mountain but actually in front of it.


    "The entrance to the city should be above ground. It will be smaller than what is below but that is also the center of the trading for the dwarves. Not that we will focus on buying things." Walker was sure that they would see some amazing gear and materials. However, he knew that they could not stop and focus on them or they would end up losing even more time.


    "I doubt we will get the chance to wander and check things out. Every time we enter another city someone catches us and drags us somewhere." Gil was speaking a fair truth since this did indeed happen. All of them were thinking that and dwarven guards they met would whisk them away to a king the moment they were in sight.


    "I just hope that when we reach it tomorrow we can get a clear view of how the dwarves are handling the yellow slimes." Walker was focused on the major problem that he believed the dwarves were facing at the moment. However, he was not very sure what their real state would be.


    They had walked for most of the day and again covered a major distance. The party had not encountered any other monsters on the way. There were many remnants of risen steel skinned worms along with a few signs of the yellow slimes. But nothing alive.


    "I am going to stay up with Gil for the first watch. I want to try and meditate on the higher earth elemental mana around here. Maybe I will try and focus on water too if I don''t have any luck." Walker had been thinking about this in the back of his mind while they traveled and decided that it was time for him to start to y with the elemental earth mana to learn more.


    "Just don''t go making too many things and waking us up." Remey gave a warning as she bundled herself up in some nkets and quickly fell to sleep.


    "I will take a walk. Just to patrol a little." Gil Was already prepared for the first night shift and watched as Walker sat down to experiment with the earth elemental mana.


    Walker was already feeling that it would be easier to manipte the earth below him due to all the earth elemental mana. He could even tell that the earth wall he could make would be mostly made of harder stone due to the surrounding rocks around.


    The first thing he tried was to raise a small round pir. It was notrge and was only the size of his twin blitz sword. The earth had responded to him much faster than he was used to and this made him wonder if he would be able to create more in depth structures faster. He was thinking back to the tower he had made and decided it was best not to make such things for no reason.


    He could feel that there wererger pieces of stone slowly moving through the earth. If he had topare it to anything it was like watching a fruit sink in a cup of honey. He had seen his mother mix these things in the kitchen and theparison was still faster than how the earth moved of its own natural volition. However, it was an easyparison for him to make to better understand it.


    This realization made him realize that the earth was always moving and most people never noticed it. The air would move quickly in bursts which always brought it to mind. Fire could be seen moving and so could water. The only thing that was rarely seen moving on its own was the earth. Therefore, Walker began to feel that movement below him.


    He let his mind delve deeper and deeper fonding that there was also hidden water and fire elemental mana below him. This was a shocking discovery that he easily exined. He had seen wells dug in to the ground and knew that the water would somehow get trapped underneath the ground in its'' own ponds.


    The fore elemental mana was something that he only exined through the books he had read before. He knew this asva, magma, and volcanoes. For some reason the deeper in the earth he felt the more fire elemental mana was mixed with the earth elemental mana. This made him wonder just how well he couldbine the earth and the fire elemental manas together to make a fusion attack.


    This raised the question, water elemental attacks would eventually dilute the slimes acidic bodies, but what of a fusion elemental attack using fire and earth elements? Walker was eager to try this out and gather a small ball of rock in his hand using the high earth sculpting skill. Next, he used his grand elemental maniption to pull some fire from the campfire.


    He guided the two together in front of him and watched as the stones began to take on the heat and easilye together. There was little effort inbining the two elemental manas. Walker could tell they easily worked in harmony with each other. It was the perfect start to his experiments.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 573 - 573. Earth And Fire

    The bnce that Walker had needed when fusing the light and darkness elemental manas was not a huge requirement for the earth and fire. If there was more fire elemental mana he found that the earth would be more liquid. If there was more of the earth elemental mana he found that the earth would slow and have more heat before beginning to beva.


    This was an interesting urrence that guided him to the realization that he could manipte the two at the same time in the same way he did water if he had the right bnce of elemental manas.


    Walker decided to use the space in front of him to continue his experimenting. He isted a portion of the stones and dirt to gather more and more of the earth elemental mana. This caused it to solidify more and more in to a very condensed circle of stone.


    Next, he pulled on the fire elemental mana left from the day that heated many of the surrounding rocks. He also pulled a great deal from the campfire he and his party had started. Before he knew it he had done so to such a degree that he had left the campfire a pile of smoldering ash.


    In front of him, there was a quickly changing sight. The Earth that had been condensed in to a stone like substance was turning red and orange. Before long it had be white and seemingly melted. This brought the substance in to a molten churning hole ofva. Walker had managed to create this in the course of an hour using e decent amount of mana.


    He could feel the heat in front of him nearly burning his skin but he held on through the pain to experiment more.


    ''The skill fire resistance has been taken from the magma hound system. The user has automatically learned the passive skill fore resistance due to their prolonged exposure to fire elemental mana.


    Fire resistance- passive


    The user can more easily survive within an area with high fire elemental mana and heat. This will prevent the user from bing burned easily and overheating. This also prevents the user from overheating. The users'' skin also gains the ability to touch and hold hotter materials''


    Walker wasn''t paying attention to the system but did notice the sudden coolness instead of heat. This prompted him to add more and more fire elemental mana. But this was not the end of his experiment. He wanted to test if he could fuse this pool ofva with an existing skill. One, in particr, was almost calling out to him.


    He used the trench skill underneath the pool ofva he had made and opened his eyes to watch the earth split and theva fill it. This result made a rectangr hole in the ground filled withva. It radiated the heat that could burn away anything that fell within and Walker could tell that he could easily manipte it if he desired.


    His testing of the skill and theva creating seemed to go hand in hand and when he pushed theva to grow it started to pull more of the fire elemental and earth elemental mana towards itself of its'' own volition. Walker could feel it rising from deeper in the earth to meet the pool he had made.


    With a slight shake beneath the ground, Walker felt something click in to ce as the tranch widened and theva inside started to bubble. He knew that he had made something that could defeat string opponents if they were to fall in. But more importantly, he could feel that he had the control to make this happen much faster.


    ''The user has taken two skills from the volcanic lord system. The skillva maniption and the skillva fissure have been learned automatically.


    Lava maniption- cost dependent on user action.


    The user can freely manipteva as if it were water flowing through a stream. The actions the user takes to change and shape theva will cost greater mana the more the action requires movement. The user must expend mana to retain the heat and solidarity of any shapes made. The more fluid theva is allowed to be the less mana it will take due to the less control avable to the user.


    Lava fissure- 15 mana cost.


    The user calls to the earth and fire elemental mana deep within the earth. They answer in a brutal burst ofva that splits the earth and creates a deep fissure full ofva. Thisva willst for an hour before cooling and the fissure will copse upon itself. Any and all things that fall within will be subject to the high temperature and churningva.''


    Walker could feel that these things were like second nature. He freely used his mana to cause theva within the trench to move side to side like small waves. He even was able to make smoldering spikes ofva that burst on contact when he had the air elemental mana push them in to a nearby rock.


    ''The skillvance has been taken from the natural magma golem system. The user has automatically learned thevance skill.


    Lavance- 5 mana or 20 mana (dependent on the situation.)


    This skill is only able to be used when the user has theva maniption skill. The user can freely use existingva to create avance and fire it through the air. If there is no existingva the user must take longer to form thevance and attract the elemental mana needed. This wille as a higher mana cost. Thevance will burst on contact and cool, leaving the target burned and also partially bound by cooling molten stone.''


    Walker was overjoyed seeing these skills. He was about to test more when he noticed a few sounds behind him. He looked back at the entire party awake and watching him with careful looks.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 574 - 574. Interrupted Sleep

    "Erm...why are you all awake?" Walker knew that he was most likely the cause of everyone being awake but he also didn''t see the reason for all of them to be watching him.


    "Well, I was taking my walk when I saw a weird glow and found you." Gil was sure that there was nothing in the immediate area so he decided that this was a safe time to check up on Walker.


    "It was too cold to sleep...So I was going to punch you for putting out the fire. It''s warm here now though." Remey was a little annoyed to have been awakened from her sleep, but this was a cool way to get warm.


    "Leader, your skills look very strong. I want to know more." Su was woken up by Remey when she was cold and grumbling about the fire. However, when she saw Walker had started to seed with a new skill she wanted all the information. She wanted to make sure that she would be able to think about how it would change the strategies of the party and her defense.


    "Sister and I want to see what you can do. Sister says she wants to sleep near the pool of warm rocks." Onyx and Midnight had paired up and were enjoying the warmth f the nearby stones.


    "I''m not surprised that you want to sleep here now. You always sleep by the oven." Walker knew he should have expected this from Midnight. "Sorry for disturbing your sleep. I was having some interesting realizations about the fire and earth elemental mana." Walker did feel a little bad about it.


    "So spill it, what is the deal with you making a pit ofva? It''s definitely different than the drawing in the storybooks about the dragons living in volcanoes." Gil was mesmerized by the coolingva. The colors of yellow, orange, and reds were slowly changing as they faded to the ck hardened stone they had be through this entire process.


    "I was trying to learn more about the earth elemental mana. I wanted the trench skill to be the fissure skill so I could trap or take down a lot more monsters if I need to. But I realized something else." Walker was sure that he could feel the fire elemental mana more easily leaving theva pit he had made. It was another thing he took not of due to the nights''ck of sun and heat sources.


    "I found that I could find the fire elemental mana very deep in the earth and that the earth and fire elemental manas were mixed together without any negative effect. They can change the more or less of each one in the mix and end up in different forms. When I learned this and added a ton of the fire elemental mana to the earth it madeva."


    Walker gestured to the pit, "Then I used the trench skill and tried to make it blogger by adding more earth mana. Then the mana from deeper in the earth pushed up and I felt the trench widen and I had a new fusion skill;va fissure. It would be really useful for stopping the progression of enemies or defeating them if I make it under them."


    "What about that long arrow like attack?" Gil was more interested in thevance attack. He wanted to see if Walker was trying to learn some form of magical archery.


    "Well, I got theva maniption skill. It is pretty much like the other skills I have to manipte the elements but specific tova. That and the shape of theva with a little wind elemental mana, " Walker manipted theva in the pit and fired off another of thevances. It mmed in to a nearby rock and burst.


    "The skillvance became another long ranged magic attack in my arsenal. I think that it will be able to stay strong enough to pierce the yellow slimes'' body then pierce the core. By the time the basic earth attacks get to the core, they have dissolved in the acid. And the fire attacks only burn off some of the slime. Butbined the fire elemental mana burns away the acidic slime body while the hardening earth spike pierces the core."


    "So we can fight the yellow slimes easier. But I thought you were going to try and use water?" Remey was d that they wouldn''t need to worry so much about fighting them But she was also interested in why Walker had not tried water since he had said it would get rid of the acid aspect of the slimes.


    "I tried to think of theva as water and that let me shape it better. If I add enough fire elemental mana It is harder to control but in theory if we make enough I could make a wave ofva or something." Walker knew that the amount of mana needed would be much higher than he had. But it was possible in theory.


    "That attack could also break through tough defenses. If I still had an iron shield it could melt it and pierce it."Su was seeing that there were great ways for this skill to be used against tougher enemies.


    "Then it should be a pretty good skill to have around when we go underground. We all know that the slimes won''t be the only thighs down there." Gil was sure that the earth elemental monsters underground would be tough in general.


    "It took a lot of mana but it was a lot easier to get this skill than I expected. It was like the earth and fire elemental mana were meant to be this way. I think I should focus on nature a little more when I try to learn skills." Waker had a much better idea of how fusing elemental magic skills came together. But he also was much more tired than before. After talking for a little longer he took his turn to rest after he was made to restart the fire.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 575 - 575. First Sight

    "Finally you''re awake. We already have camp just about cleaned up." Remey was the one to catch Walker when he first opened his eyes.


    "Oh, sorry. I didn''t realize that I was sp tired." Walker had not noticed he was so tired that he had slept right through the rest of the night. He must have used more mana than he expected and his body needed the sleep.


    "It''s fine, I took your shift andted some rock finches for breakfast. They aren''t super meaty but they are perfect for bird soup." Gil was happy with his catch and offered Walker a bowl which was dly taken.


    "This is pretty good. Why haven''t you made it before?" Walker had not expected that Gil had such a good soup recipe hidden away.


    "I haven''t caught many small birds recently. It''s one my mom and dad taught me and I used it a lot when I was younger and hunting with my dad. Plus, we always have rabbit around so no point in making something else." Gil shrugged as he made himself another bowl before getting up to start putting the fire out.


    Walker thought that this made sense while he finished the bowl and got up to clean the rest of camp. "We are ready to head out. We should reach the dwarven city today, right leader?" Su was sure that they would arrive today based on their current pace.


    "We should get there just as night falls. I assume we will want to camp outside so we can avoid any meetings with officialste in the night." Walker knew that the party would be tired and that it was not very respectful to any leader of a country to show up in the night. It would set them up on a very poor start.


    "Does that mean we will be entering the areas they patrol soon? Do you think they have been finding the steel skinned worms and yellow slimes like us?" Remey was sure that the guards that patrolled the area around the city would have found evidence of the yellow slimes and have increased patrols.


    "They have to have found them. There are ces all over here that show the wormsing to the surface. I bet that they have guards all over the ce." Gil was almost certain that they would encounter dwarven guards in their journey as they walked closer to the smoke and entrance to the dwarf city.


    Midnight huffed to get everyone''s attention, "I don''t think it is real dwarven guards that patrol the area." Walker was watching a group of five things that were definitely not fitting to be called dwarves.


    "Those are the hand made dwarf golems. That is their main military force. I didn''t think they would be so big." Remey was very excited to see them. She had seen in many books how big and domineering the dwarves would build their own golems to be.


    "So their hand made golems patrol the area and the dwarves are in the city. Look at them. They are made of metal and spew smoke. That is incredible. I wonder if they are also powered by mana?" Walker wanted to know how the golems worked.


    The seemingly sentient shape of the dwarven golems were contradicted by the des at the end where hands would have been and the thick metal tubes that coiled around the arms and legs. There were multiple blue crystals that appeared to be controlling them as they walked through the worn paths.


    "Wait, look. There is a bone break vulture headed this way." Su had noticed the singr vulture flying towards the golems. There was a sizable rock in its talons and it was definitely aiming for the golems.


    Before the vulture even got near the golems one raised its ded hand and fired it through the air. The de shed the vulture in half without any resistance. The next moment the wire that was attached to the ded hand was retracted and the golem was heading to pick up the in vulture.


    "So, avoid getting on the bad side of the golems. They are pretty powerful." Gil was rethinking just how cool he thought the golems were. On the other hand, Remey was full of even more energy seeing this attack. The two were opposite sides of the spectrum.


    "We should continue on. We may not enter the city today but it is better to be closer." Su pushed the party on and they soon saw the aboveground portion of the city.


    Therge smoke stacks that towered in to the air let free constant bouts of smoke. The ground was made up of manyrger stone buildings that housed a myriad of dwarven golems. There were a few armored shapes running about from building to building but the party wasn''t sure if they were dwarves or another form of golem.


    "I wouldn''t say this is an above ground city as much as a military camp." Walker was sure that there was more to it than he could see from their distance but it was still hard to tell.


    "That is what their main city is. It is for merchants and military use. We will need to pass through to be allowed entrance in the morning." Su had remembered the warnings from the merchants and other rulers when they came. It was sure to be tough entering in the morning.


    "Then we should rest up and prepare. We should be able to get inside without an issue but I am worried that we will need to go through so many military buildings." There was something about having so many golems built for battle around that put Walker on edge.


    "So that means Gil is making more soup!" Remey was already volunteering Gil to make dinner and Mifdignt fully supported her. The day had passed again without any issue and had been full of a few small learning opportunities. They needed to fully rest and prepare to act their part as ambassadors of a new alliance.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 576 - 576. The Surface City

    The party was ready to go again early in the morning. They could tell there was a lot of movement from the aboveground portion of the dwarven city. There were many of the golems moving about and transporting supplies to the designated areas for the day. "Let''s go and see what they say at the entrance."


    Walker was excited but also nervous to be entering the dwarven city. It was an intimidating military force on their continent and was only held back by their own desire to work on their forging instead of war. These feelings only increased as they drew nearer to the stone walls and massive steel gate.


    "Halt. ce proper identification underneath the verification orb." A strange echo like voice came from one of the nearby golems as it raised a pointed hand toward an orb glowing with mana and runes.


    "We are from the Genesis alliance. Will our symbols work?" Walker was sure that he could use the various ques and pins could work as identification.


    "Any and all forms can be scanned by the verification orb." The golems strange voice replies and the party began to gather their forms of identification. After each had held them under the orb the glowing increased and then stopped.


    More golems came to the gate worrying Walker since they were not speaking like the two at the entrance had been able to do. The party was holding close together for the worst when a more normal voice came to them. "Ambassadors here to see us? What could you need right now?"


    There was a shorter armored being in front of them. The gold iy on the helmetpletely obscured a face of any kind. But Walker was able to tell that this must be a real dwarf beneath the armor. Walker responded carefully knowing that it would be best not to offend the first dwarf they met.


    "We havee from the newly formed Genesis alliance to extend an olive branch and an invitation. We are also here as the heroes known as the omnipotent party to assist in the issues surrounding the yellow acidic slimes that are tormenting your people. Furthermore, we are also here to share knowledge and grow."


    The dwarf paced around for some time before stopping and waving at a few of the golems. "You are wee toe in but you will first hear the word of the surface king of the dwarves. It will be up to him if you are allowed to proceed further." There was not much else said. Golems came and nked the party to lead them.


    The dwarf was sure the party was in a strange fearful quiet but that was just because the dwarf did not know that Onyx was tranting for the party in their minds.


    "What is with the harsh treatment? I thought they would be a lot more of a trading hub than this?" Remey was the one lost on this. She had thought there would be many more merchants and travelers around the entrance than golems.


    "I feel like they are on edge. One dwarf and tons of their golems. They are all working too, there has to be more going on." Gil was taking note of all the metal parts he was seeing on the surface. The sheer amount of parts was more than he could count just looking quickly.


    "I agree, there appears to be trouble. If they are bringing so much to the surface it may be ab effort to protect them from the slimes." Su had already drawn her own conclusions as to why there would be so much movement in this area.


    "I think Su hit the nail on the head. There are multiple stone buildings that seem to be converted for storage or are new. My theory is that Su is correct, and more so that they are changing the way traffic flows in to their city due to the issues they are having." Walker was sure that there were more merchants and such elsewhere but they had not been left on the surface.


    "Brother, there are a lot of vibrations from under the ground." Onyx had been having trouble focusing because he could feel the constant vibrations from underneath him.


    "That is going to be the normal here. There are many caves and such of dwarven homes, buildings, forges, and even more below us. And even more, there are the mining caves. I have a feeling that the ground is calm up herepared to what is going on down there."


    This made Onyx slither up and find refuge on Walkers'' shoulder. He was not going to have the most pleasant time being underground let alone around the many vibrations. "Don''t worry, I have plenty of light elemental crystals for you to snack on while we are under ground."


    The party was being guided to a slightlyrger stone building. There were many different versions of the dwarven golems around it and some even opened the door for the party as they entered. "Surface king, I have brought those who havee to speak to the three kings about the new alliance and the slime pest." The dwarf that hade to meet them spoke up first causing a dwarf at a table full of maps and documents to turn his attention on them.


    Unlike the other dwarf, this one was wearing a basic forge attire and was bolstering multiple tools and hammers on his belt. He looked nothing like a king in their eyes from what they had seen thus far.


    "So, youe all the way here when we are busy to talk politics? Give me one good reason why I should allow you to go down any further?" The dwarf may have stood shorter than them but the entire party could feel a pressing force above them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 577 - 577. Proven King

    The so called king looked at the party waiting for proof. They were feeling a mountainous auraing from him. It was as if his very presence held the weight of all the stone on a mountain."No words to exin why I should trust you and allow you further entry? Do you doubt that I am king of the surface? Looking for the shiny jewels and luxurious fabrics your kings and queens adorn themselves with to appear important?"


    The so called king was rambling on about appearance and respect while standing in front of them. The pressure of their mana ever growing. Walker was not sure what to say that would give them proper ess to the city. However, he was sure that there was something that would tempt the dwarves, something he could say to hook them.


    "I came here as an ambassador to foster peace between our people and the people of the newly formed Genesis alliance. This is an alliance crafting a city that wees all races to share knowledge. If you, a dwarven king, are not interested in the rune and forging knowledge of other races to add to your own to make you better forgers then I see no reason to go farther."


    Walker met the so called king head on. His words directly pping the pride of a dwarf who would pursue the knowledge of crafting and forging above all else. He also knew that the dwarves were known to be strong willed and face many challenges with force. They were very used to stubbornly dealing with the heat of a forge and bashing on to a sessful creation.


    "So you woulde here and throw fire at a dwarf? Tempt us with knowledge? Look for a way in to our city for more knowledge as well?" The so called king looked Walker in the eye as he stepped nearer to him. "Then I wee you if you are so stubborn to argue against a dwarf. But I am indeed the king you search for. I just have no reason to hold grand court when I am busy with more important tasks."


    The pressure fell away from the party and the so called king returned to his table. "So you havee to look in to our standing with those pests because you are the heroes we have caught word about? And you alsoe representing that fancy new alliance. On the matter of the pests, you may join the extermination in the lower halves of the city. We can use less metallic manpower."


    The king of the surface observed a few documents then continues, "On the matter of forging knowledge, I doubt that you will be able to satisfy us. We have been tantly banned from ever nearing the elves because they do not enjoy their elemental spirits being used to create works of art far superior to anything they can craft."


    "That is something I believe we can help solve. I have a feeling that there is more to this than we expect. If you allow us to do some digging around we may be able to find a middle ground. If I can not then I will not push any longer." Walker made this deal allowed and right in front of the so called king. He did not want there to be any room to go against this in an agreement.


    "Is that a bet? Are you betting with a dwarf? Fine, then revel in your own loss. I ept your bet. I the king of the surface will dly aid my support to this new city and alliance if you are able to resolve the issues the elves and dwarves have with spirit crafting. Mark my words." The air seemed to shiver slightly as the system responded.


    '' Alliance quest: spirit forging


    The king of the surface had agreed to give their full support upon certain requirements. To garner the full support to the Genesis alliance the heroes must,


    Requirements:


    Learn more about Spirit crafting


    Find the middle ground between spirit crafting and spirit speaking


    Rewards:


    Unconditional support from the surface king of the dwarven kingdom


    Unique effect on all spirit crafting systems.''


    "Ha! Even the world wishes to test you. I see this quest visitors and I will await the answer. You are allowed to pass to the lower city. But know this. There is more danger down there than here. We have managed to move a lot up here for safety reasons, but those pests are still after anything d in metal." The party felt this warning was more than sufficient.


    "I am sorry for doubting you as king. I was just very caught off guard by the appearance." Walker made sure to apologize for any rudeness since he was just shown that this was in fact the king before him.


    "Here we do not dress elegantly like the other kingdoms. King is a title given by those pushing the dwarves forward. I control the surface and that means I control whoes in and out. If we send our soldier golems out, I make the final order. But I am not in charge of the entire city. I have gained this from my own aplishments and can lose this title at any turn."


    This was an interesting way of choosing and king. It would exined why there were three kings. Due to the levels, there were different needs for each king and they had an equal chance to lose or gain their titles. It was a veryrge motivating factor for any who would like to rise to royalty.


    "Guards, guide them to the grand stairs we use for therger merchant orders and deliveries. See that they reach the main city safely." The king of the surface called and five golems answered. "I expect to see this questplete in a timely manner. A dwarf that can not keep up with the times is a dwarf forgotten in history."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 578 - 578. Quiet Descent

    The meeting hadsted minutes and been filled with ups and downs. So much so that the party could only read over the new quest they had to wonder if it had really just happened. "Leader, the king was very...different, than what we know." Su was the first toe out of her own head and speak.


    The golems were leading them toward an opened downward staircase that appeared to be well traveled. There were even rotating hooks on the ceiling to attachrge bags. The mechanisms were hidden from view as they rotated downwards and upwards.


    "I did not think he was actually king at first either, but he proved it with the quest showing up. It is strange that they act this way but it makes sense. The way the pride of a dwarf works does not seem to be in their standing but in their ability to craft and lead." Walker was actually d to see this. If this was the case they were going to meet many more honest dwarves than he expected.


    "I thought he was going to keep us at the surface longer. It looked like there was almost nothing up there to do, even the inns were changed in to storage areas." Gil had been worried they would have been required to stay on the surface for much longer and not make any progress at all.


    "Has anyone else realized that we have to deal with this spirit crafting thing? You know, the thing that the elves hatepletely?" Remey was the first to bring up the main problem they faced.


    "Yes, we need to figure it out. But I have a feeling that there is something missing between the elves and the dwarves. They both have spirits as part of their culture. The elves speak to them and use them to understand the world better. The dwarves guide them in to weapon forging and create powerful weapons. But both require them to better their people. The real question is how can the two meld together safely?"


    Walker posed this question while they followed the golems down the steps. The unending darkness below them was only broken by thenterns holding crystals that illuminated the stairs. "There has to be a way for them toe together, I can''t imagine that the dwarves can''t even speak to spirits they use in their crafting, right?" Gil had a feeling that he was speaking the opposite of the truth but wanted to see proof.


    "We should not draw inferences before we know the truth. We will need to meet spirit craftsmen and see how they operate their craft." Su made sure to slow the assumptions Gil was making. She knew that they werepletely in the dark when it came to these forging methods.


    "I think I am also more worried about the pests they keep calling the yellow slimes. He even went as far as to warn us that they go after the metal more. We have a decent amount in our gear but not as much as the golems. That could mean their armies are being devoured as we speak, along with tools, everything they craft, and their ores." Walker felt that this was not a small problem for the dwarves and that it was worse than expected.


    "Well, if we saw them on the surface chasing after the steel skinned worms then I bet they are prettymon down here. We even saw them start to melt together to attack us. So gross." Remey was afraid that they were about to encounter many more of the slimes this way.


    "They could definitely form together more easily than the purple slimes that needed to devour each other to grow. It seems that since their bodies are acidic and they break things down inside them that it is easier for them tobine together. It worried me that we will find a massive slime more easily, or even worse something further grown."


    Walker fell in to silence with this worry. He knew that there could be something that had grown past the massive slime stage and possibly to a lord slime. If this happened then it would take a serious amount of effort to defeat a slime like this. He was not sure the party would manage in such a different environment like the caves.


    "Leader, we havee this far and have a duty to protect people. I believe we can do whatever we require and stop these slimes." Su was full of confidence still. She had no reason to doubt the partys'' power and the things they could do with it. Her words were enough to focus everyone.


    "I''m surprised he didn''t say anything about Midnight and Onyx. They are both sure to be monsters that they don''t see here, right?" Remey spoke up with something she had just realized.


    "I would assume it is because they are used to living near dragons maybe? They are the only race that I am sure has spotted theming and going from the mountains. It might be something they are used to." Walker could see this as a possibility. On the other hand, Midnight was making dramatic huffing and slight growls in annoyance since she had not received more attention while the king spoke. She was used to the reactions of the kings and queens thus far being more grand than the surface kings.


    "Sister says she will get more attentionter when she defeats all the slimes. The kings will need to show her their acknowledgment." Onyx shared Midnights'' thoughts and made Walker smile despite the dangers toe. He knew that having Midnight motivated like this would only help them as they went on towards their goals. The only thing that was nagging at him was the fact that he couldn''t hear any hustle or bustle from below them, a clear sign that something may be wrong.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 579 - 579. Steam

    "It seems way too quiet. I know Onyx could feel vibrations up on the surface but for the ground to be vibrating it seems...too quiet." Walker finally broke and said it out loud. He felt that there was something more to the silence.


    "So what, it is getting way too hot." Remey wanted to agree with the silence being the issue but she was having too much trouble with the growing heat.


    "Oh, is it hot? I can''t really tell much since I gained the fire resistance passive skill." Walkerughed nervously since he realized he had not exined that to the party.


    "Leader, you must teach me that skill. It is imperative to my ability to defend the party!" Su was suddenly right next to Walker wanting the knowledge as soon as possible. She was sure that she would be able to block all manner of fire elemental attacks with little to no damage to herself or the party.


    "Sure sure, after we get our bearings on the underground portion of the city." Walker had not expected such a storing reaction from Su. He knew she had been thinking about how to best use the educationist titles and this must have hit what she believed she needed most.


    "Walker, you do not understand. If I can gain all the resistances from your teaching then I will be the best guardian any party will have ever had." Su broke her formality showing just how much she wanted this skill.


    "Alright, I promise I will use the educationist knowledge swap skill when we find a ce to restter. I swear it to you." After Walker made a solemn swear to her Su appeared to rx and be much more joyful.


    "That is great and all, but we are literally going to melt down here, aren''t we." Gil was visibly sweating and had removed some of his more minor armor to try and keep cooler.


    "Look at those pipesing from the walls. I bet they are the source of the heat." Su pointed out the many small andrge pipes that had begun to show in the walls. Some had writings and numbers next to them showing that they were some form of power source.


    "I wonder if my all around appraisal skill will work on that?" Walker was curious and gave it a try on thergest pipe.


    ''Exhaust steam pipe.


    Thergest pipe for the exhaust smoke and steam used to power the majority of the underground dwarven city. Crafted from extremely dense and heat resistant metal alloys to withstand rusting and heat.''


    "They are for steam!" Walker knew that some small golems and machines made by dwarves had been said to run on steam but this was more than he expected. He had no knowledge of how it could power an entire city let alone the small things he had heard about from travelers.


    "Wait...is this for real? I thought that was all gossip from merchants." Remey was falling in to thought wondering if this was truth or some fantasy they were walking in to.


    "If this is true, then it means the steam powered forges whispered about by merchants are real. That will be a sight to see." Su was feeling more excitement than usual, however, the silence was still nagging at them.


    "If there is so much steam that exins the heat. But it should be louder, right?" Gil was bing worried. He was imagining the loudness of a teapot on a stove screaming that it was done.


    The party increased their pace down the stairs following the dwarven golems. They wanted to see the things that they had only ever heard about in rumors and gossip. It was not a hidden secret like the elves but it was a harder to explore ce. The caves and forging methods of the dwarves were rarely seen by travelers and easily exined. They were things that other kingdoms did not have and could not easily rte to, therefore, the tales were hard to understand.


    As they reached closer and closer to a brighter light there were some sounds. However, they were mostly of golems and some hammering. Other than that there was a rhythmic clickinging from lower. The silence they had heard was still there. It wasn''t actual silence, but theck of voices and rolling carts. It made them feel as if there was silence.


    Their rushing brought them to arge round room that held multiple paths and gates. "Wee to the inner city. What business are you here for today?" There was a series of golems at each entrance and in the very center of the room stood a pir that had just created the voice they heard.


    "We are ambassadors here to see the king. Please allow us guidance and passage." Walker tried to speak properly to the pir but felt awkward doing so since it was not a real person.


    "Your message has been received. Please wait while I contact those above me." The voice was definitely a female dwarf. Walker was amazed that the weird pir was able to transmit messages across distances unknown to him. This was much better than themunication orbs that Scy had relied on.


    The party waited eagerly while looking around the room. There were many pipes leading through different passages in the ceilings. There was also arge clock in the center. Walker was able to make out the words on the gates exining the directions. "So that gate is outgoing merchants. There is an iing merchant''s gate. That says mines, and the other says forges. Thest is...administrative buildings?" Walker had not seen the term used before in a city. Normally it would say something like the castle or the queens'' hall. But here it was administrative building.


    "The safest route is through the merchant streets then through the secondary tunnels to the administrative buildings. Please follow the guide golem that will be provided. Weapons are allowed to be drawn under the current city alert. If danger approaches call for reinforcements." The voice gave them its warning and a small golem on wheels rolled to the front of the party while therger ones returned to the stairs.


    "I guess we follow this golem now." Walker stepped behind the small round golem on wheels and watched it begin a slow travel toward the gatebeled iing merchants.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 580 - 580. Gears

    As the party headed toward the gates there was a series of clicks and they watched as the gate opened by itself. They also witnessed some small gears at the sides that appeared to be the cause. "There is a little steam escaping from where the gears are. The steam makes them move! That is amazing." Walker was finally seeing the truth from the many tales told of the dwarven city.


    "That is what the merchants meant by self opening doors. It isn''t magic but steam and gears." Gil felt that a huge puzzle had been solved. This was something that many just assumed was magic that the merchants had not understood.


    "They rely on mana powered and steam powered golems along with other things. This is a very wondrous city already. I just fear what this empty space means." Su knew well that this reception area was mostly for travelers and merchants. Seeing it empty was a foreboding of what dangers the city must be facing.


    The tunnel they were in was filled with neatly organized steam pipes on the roof and a lot of space for many different sized cargoes. There were also some gears that protrude from small spaces that seemed to have crystals iid in to the walls.


    Therge space soon opened up in to a massive area easily the size of the Crystal kingdoms'' city of Diamond that they were from. There were massive metal arches arching all the way up to the ceiling where a massive metal and crystal creation was constantly releasing light that mirrored the sun.


    "How can this exist just under the ground. It''s like a whole other world." Walker was turning around examining the massive area. From his view, he could see many shops and small forges set up to make modifications to different gear and items. There were even storage buildings with different merchant groups markings along with some personal crests used by those who forged goods.


    "The roof is so high. Those metal braces must have taken years to forge. I wonder how they managed it." Su couldn''t help but be caught by the massive supports that were keeping the ceilings held above their heads.


    "I see why the city is in a state of danger. The acidic slimes could easily be eating away at those braces and risking a massive copse." The moment the words left Walkers'' mouth he knew he had just piled on a massive amount of stress.


    "At least we will get used to the heat down here¡­" Remey knew that the sheer size of this portion of the city was going to take a long time to traverse. This meant that they would need to get used to the heat no matter what. She also wanted a distraction from Walker''s words.


    Midnight shook herself and stood taller than usual. "I am sure you arefortable as ever. You like to sleep in heat like this all the time." Walker found her actions adorable and couldn''t help but give her a few head pats.


    "Some of these are homes. This may be a merchant area, and it is massive. But there are people that live here." Gil easily spotted the buildings that appeared to be homes and knew that this was a much worse situation than expected.


    "I can see that this will need more attention. We should pick up the pace and get to the administrative section as soon as possible." Walker took the lead with his staff at the ready. He was sure that they may encounter some danger as they moved through therge market streets between the many mercantile buildings.


    Seeing the boarded up and sealed doors made the entire party feel that there was already a loss. This was obviously the hub of their entire city and should be full of merchants looking to export goods or buy materials. However, there was only silence with the clicking of gears or steam.


    "Look, there is a line of golems blocking this route." Remey found that the little golem was guiding them down a side street around a group of golems with significant damage. They had multiple limbs that had been melted by acid and it was clear that they had tangled with the acidic slimes.


    "I have a feeling that beyond there is a mess of yellow slimes they are dealing with¡­" Gil could only imagine the issues that were behind the blocked street.


    "We need to find a way to solve this problem. I wonder if there is a way to make some sort of poison or liquid to break apart the acid bodies of the slimes?" Walker was thinking that Remey might have an idea on how to do this. She was their resident alchemy expert and if there was any way to oppose the slimes with a potion she would figure it out.


    "I might be able to make something. I need a ce to start experimenting though. They are acid slimes and will dissolve just about everything. But if I can find something that is the opposite of their bodies acid then it might break their structure." Remey began mumbling to herself with this new focus.


    The party formed up around her so she wouldn''t need to worry about defending herself while walking and thinking. This was much the same tactic that they had used when Walker was meditating on the earth elemental mana and walking. Walker couldn''t help but feel strange to be on the other side of things.


    "You know how we felt now walking with you like this." Gil gave him a nudge in the arm as a joke to lighten the mood. Walker was d that Gil was trying to relieve some of their stress. It was clear that Walker would not be able to use his new fusion spells here due to the damage it would cause. He was hoping that Remey would pull through with proper results.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 581 - 581. Soaked

    There were many turns and twists that the party was guided through. Many roads were blocked off by the golems which all appeared to have some acidic damage. The party even passed one that hadpletely broken down while blocking a road due to the parts of the yellow slime body still on it.


    "The golems are not doing well. They have to be barely taking care of the problems here. But I have a feeling things are much worse below ground." Walker was beginning to spread his senses out and realized that there was much denser earth elemental mana below them.


    These were the mines that the dwarves constantly searched for more and more ores to craft with. Yet, this also meant that the yellow acidic slimes were attracted there most of all. This was good for the city so that there were fewer dangers for the residents. But this was very bad for how the dwarves would provide for their people.


    If the dwarves could not continue their production and allow merchants back in to the city freely they would lose the goods they bought from the many merchants that left the demi-human kingdom with food. They would also lose the revenue their merchants made from selling their forged and crafted products. It was a massive loss for their entire kingdom.


    "Danger up ahead. Please return from the direction we came." the small golem spoke up to stop the party but Walker had alreadyid eyes on the three slimes that were ganging up on a golem.


    He immediately began to form a frost whip from the moisture in the air. The perks of the steam being somon meant that there was a lot of moisture in the air and the frost whip formed almost instantly. "Gil, prepare an ice elemental arrow and try for the slimes trying to wrap around the golem. "


    Gil was already reaching for the arrow as Walker sent the whip out and made contact with one of the yellow slimes. There was a hissing sound as the slimes'' body caused the frozen parts of the frost whip to melt. However, Walker saw that the water diluted the slime body and some small pieces fell off of the slime.


    Gil managed to fire an arrow over Walkers'' shoulder and made contact with one of the slimes. The result wasrger than expected due to the high amount of moisture in the air. The moisture was pulled toward the arrow at a rapid rate and arge crystal was formed which immediately started to dissolve in the slime body.


    This would have been bad if the water was not diluting the slime''s body cutting it down to nearly a tenth of the size in a matter of a minute. "Nice shot, try for more. I will try to defeat the slimes you shrink." Walker and Gil were a perfect team as they fired arrows and whipped out. Before the small golem could yell at them to retreat again they had diluted the slime bodies to the point that there were only three puddles of acidic water and three yellow slime cores trying the hardest to pull up the bodies they had lost.


    "Remey, collect the slime cores before they can gather their bodies. Su, push that golem away from the slime bodies. I will gather more water to wash away the acidic slime bodies and acidic water." Walker was already condensing water from the air while Midnight and Onyx had taken up positions blocking the roads on the opposite sides. They were n the watch for innocent bystanders and more slimes.


    "The threat has been neutralized. Thank you for the assistance. Please follow the guide golem to the administrative buildings." The golem voice changed and it was obvious that it was someone different taking control.


    The party was quick about their clean up and Remey was studying the three slime cores in arge ss sk. She had not expected that they would still be actively trying to control their bodies up to the point that they were fully isted from them. This was an interesting note in her alchemical brawlers guide since it could influence how the acidic slime body was used for potions.


    "Midnight, Onyx, take the back and watch for any slimes iing. There are bound to be more around." Walker watched as the golem that had been damaged was slowly limping away. He used thest of the water he condensed to wash away more of the slime body on it and saw that this showed the magnitude of the damage the slimes did in a short amount of time.


    ''The skill soak has been taken from the magical washwomen system. The skill soak has been automatically learned.


    Soak- 1 mana cost


    The water from the air is called to condense and fall upon a certain target. This soaks the target with the condensed water assisting in the washing process. This skill is unique to the magical washwoman system due to the fact that it uses mana to condense water from the air. This is a simr skill to the soaking skill of the washers system which enhances the cleaning ability of soaking items in a cleaning agent.''


    "Huh, I learned a skill called soak. It''s'' for cleaning clothing¡­" Walker wasn''t sure what to say about this skill. It was not in the least what he had expected when the system sent a notification. He had expected some form of water rted battle skill only to find he had gained a cleaning skill, but he couldn''t argue that it made sense.


    "Then you are on cleaning duty when we face more slimes. I will take care of them with my ice elemental wither spike arrows...or what''s left of them." Gil was mourning the loss of three more wither spike arrows to the yellow slimes.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 582 - 582. Building Morale

    The party made their way to a smaller tunnel that was gated liken the previous entrances. However, this one was already open and allowed them through without waiting for it to be opened or a golem to guard it. Walker easily read administrative buildings off the open gate before they walked through.


    "This should be the ce we can meet with the king of the main level of the city. Everyone prepare yourselves. I am not sure what to expect at this point." Walker could hear a great many voices from the end of the tunnel which was a drastic change from the mercantile area.


    When the little golem guided them through another set of gates they were weed with another veryrge space. The difference here was that there were many more buildings that appeared to be homes and other crafting buildings. "Look, that should be an adventurers guild building. I wasn''t sure if there was a branch here or not since it is all underground. I bet they deal with most of the cities'' needs and some of the monsters in the mines." Gil was d to see something familiar.


    "I have a feeling that therge building in the center is where we are headed." Walker could make out arge building carved from stone and turning gears. It was clear that this was the focal point of the area.


    Many dwarves were sitting idly in front of homes orrge crafting buildings. It appeared that many had retreated to this section where there were many golems and a lot less evidence of yellow slimes. "I feel that these people are unhappy with being cooped up here. Many are pacing or fidgeting with their hands." Su noticed themon traits that the dwarves had.


    "It is to be expected. They are being kept from their work which I am sure they are used to doing in all of their free time. They went from a busy life to aplete stop." Walker felt bad seeing the many who were looking a lot less proud than the dwarves were spoken of by merchants.


    "I am d this area seems safe. That means I should have some peace to experiment." Remey was still thinking about what she may need to make a poison against the acidic yellow slimes. Her entire being was bing dedicated to this since she knew that she would be unable to help in battle against the acid in the slimes'' body. If she were to punch one she knew it could spell her end.


    "How''d ya get in here humans?!" A dwarf sitting on the steps to a home called out to the party wanting to know how they managed to make it to their area safely.


    "We came to assist your people and offer a new future. But first, we will start by getting rid of the pests that gue you. So far we have dealt with six. We aim to deal with many more." Walker''s words attracted a great deal of attention and soon there were many dwarves following them toward the main building.


    The party could hear phrases like slime yers and wannabe heroes being thrown around. Yet, there were also those that recognized the ques, pins, and travel medallions on the party. They had begun to gossip and inquire about their purpose.


    Walker wanted to push their morale a little and turned before them once they had reached the main building, "By my title of true hero my party and I will be assisting your kings to free you of these pests. Please rest easy. We will be by your side." He knew this was not much but it caused a murmur through the crowd. Walker wasn''t sure that his words had caused so muchmotions but he realized that some had started to move much more.


    "Leader, some appear to have gained quests after your words. I believe that we have already begun the process to free them." Sui could hear and read the lips of some dwarves. There were many that had be active and said the word quest and heroes. She took this as the beginning of their moves to deal with the slimes.


    "Please proceed within the administrative building. The attendant will guide you." The little golem gave thisst message before rolling off on its wheels.


    The party climbed the many steps to the entrance which was already open. They found that a female dwarf was waiting for them. "Wee to the administrative building. Here is where all major decisions for the people and the race are made. We are honored to have ambassadors here from the newest Genesis alliance and we hope that despite the current state of the city, you have a pleasant time. Please follow me to meet the acting king of the middle."


    The attendant walked through many of the open doors which lead to a grand hall. The floor itself was made with ayer of gold and the pirs were intricately carved stone iid with various gems. The ceiling was host to a great many paintings of dwarven history and discoveries. The party could see that the craftsmanship of the dwarven people was more than any story they had ever been told.


    "So these are the ones that havee to invite us to the new alliance. You have made my people some very big promises, especially the one just now. Even I received a quest to allow your alchemical brawler ess to our herb stores and alchemy devices. I believe you have a lot to exin."


    Sitting upon arge throne made from a patchwork of many different metals which showcased the many things the dwarves had used to create their goods, was the king of the middle. Arger dwarf with artwork for armor and a veryrge hammer at his side. His words were filled with steel, but Walker knew that they were full of hope as well.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 583 - 583. The High Forge

    "Hello, we havee to greet the king of the middle. We are here mainly to extend the invitation of the Genesis alliance. But we are also here to assist with the yellow acidic slime issue. There is more to the Genesis alliance that will take time to sort out, however, we can not worry about that until the people are at ease." Walker paused and motioned for Remey toe forward next to him.


    This is Remey, she is our alchemical brawler and she is theorizing a potion that can act as a poison to the acidic body of the slimes. Water may be able to dilute them but it takes more than water easily created without causing issues below this level. So a potion to neutralize the slime''s body would be more valuable."


    "So this is a system that values brawling and alchemy? Strange. But I want to see the proof of your words. You may have the ess you desire and I will provide anything you need. But my people are waiting to return to their work and homes, do not make them wait." The words were full of weight but Remey looked ready to rise to the challenge.


    "Just show me where I can work. I will start immediately." She looked like she was ready to fight which made the party all the more at ease. She would only look like that if she was ready for what she was about to do, and they knew she would not be giving up. Remey would destroy the very thought.


    "Follow my attendant." The king of the middle beckoned for an attendant to take Remey toward the side hall where they could tell were multiple connecting passages. "Now, what of the rest of you. Are you here to wait for your alchemist or will you do more?" These words were again filled with pressure.


    "In the meantime, we can assist with whatever is needed. Su is our guardian, but she is very well versed in healing so she can assist healers with supplies and such. Gil should take on some slimes with his arrows. Onyx should go with Su since I am sure some of the injured you have may be unable to speak. I know the acid is dangerous. Midnight, well. She will probably stay by my side."


    The king listened and motioned for more attendants, "Your guardian and snake will go with my right hand to the infirmary. As you assumed, there are many who have been injured, and having another set of hands is wee. Many of the children fleeing from the high forge were injured and require care." Su heard this and grew exponentially more determined. She hated to hear that children were harmed.


    "Leader, I will be giving it my all. Please give me some of the potions we have stored." Walker didn''t hesitate to pull every single potion he had in the inventory for Su to take. He had many from the elf city and that Remey had made. But to further Su''s goals of healing he did not bat an eye at giving them all.


    "Brother, I will be helping where I can." Walker could feel a tremble in Onyx''s voice when he spoke in his mind. There was a sense of paining from Onyx that Walker knew was because of Su''s worry. The two were a perfect pair when it came to how far they were willing to go to help the injured.


    "I will see you twoter." Walker watched as a few more came to help carry the many health potions Walker had taken from the inventory. The king of the middle was watching with a cold re, however, Walker knew it was not cruel but serious.


    There were five guardsmen that came forward holding what appeared to be a form of bow. Walker recognized it as a crossbow which was rarely used by humans due to the tougher reload time and strength. "Your archer can assist my crossbow guard in holding back the slimes that attempt toe here from the merchant district. They are constantlying from the mines and we have lost contact with my fellow king of the mines and underground."


    There was a slight pang of worry in the king of the middle''s eyes. It was clear that he was ufortable with theck ofmunication. "Now, what will you do?" The king looked at Walker with an expectant gaze. He was waiting for the leader and the little dragon with him to tell him how they nned to help.


    "You mentioned children fleeing from the high forge? I happen to have met someone at an auction named Grey. I was hoping to meet them after we dealt with the slime problem but it sounds like the high forge he told me to search for is in trouble. Would I be able to assist with that?" The king stood up immediately.


    "The high forge is where the young get the chance to learn any and all crafting skills. Many of the masters that teach there have their own forges there to teach and experiment. Currently, our brightest and most innovative are barricaded there. I will personally head there with you!" There was a flurry of attendants al trying to speak and reason with the king.


    "How could I stay here when our future is trapped by some yellow pests. I can''t have them snuffed out before they bring glory to the dwarf name!" The king was not having any of it and was already pulling armor from behind the throne to put on over his robes.


    Walker felt that he had just set off a very dangerous trap. There were multiple attendants calling for guards and golems. It appeared that Midnight and him would have a full escort and a king with them. "I have been waiting for another chance to get rid of those things trying to eat through our prized high forge. If we can liberate it today then we will shake the earth with our hammers!"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 584 - 584. King To The Rescue

    Midnight was giving Walker skeptical looks. She was doubting the sanity of the king of the middle since he was spouting grand phrases as he adorned himself with armor and wielded hisrge hammer. "Ready yourself. We are leaving to the high forge in the merchant district!" The king of the middle shouted at Walker and Midnight who didn''t hesitate to follow him.


    "Can you tell us about the high forge? Unfortunately, we have yet to tour the city you and your people have spent their hard work and time to create." Walker felt that adding a little sugar coating to his words would do much more when speaking to the dwarves. It was clear they valued the intricate and beautiful details in things.


    "It is a shame you have not. As soon as we deal with these pests I will have a grand festival to showcase the true might of my people. If you prove that your worth is as great as you speak then I will be d to put in a word to the other two kings to join your alliance. Not that I believe it will work out, those elves are a touchy group and all." The kind waves a hand idly as more guards gathered behind him.


    "Well, I hope to learn about the spirit crafting your people use while I am here. That seems to be a very tough subject between your two races and I feel like I may be able to find amon ground between the two schools of thought." Walker wanted to nt this idea in the king of the middles'' mind early. It would be beneficialter when he made a move to learn.


    "You can learn all you want. But I can''t say any will change. We find spirits and use them as forging materials. That is it. They are valuable to creating many types of weapons. One day they will be the key to a sentient weapon. But that is one of the many goals my people stivers for." The king of the middle made a sour face since he couldn''t help but think of how behind everyone was due to the yellow slimes impeding the many


    "That is a pretty high goal. I have only read fantasies about sentient weapons. It would be a veryrge feat to create one." Walker couldn''t help to think exactly this. It made sense that the dwarves would aim themselves at the elemental spirits which were sentient themselves. He remembered that the problem was that the spirit became trapped in the weapon and would need a huge amount of mana to separate from it.


    However, Walker knew that it was possible for them to have a separate body from the weapon because that was one of Gil''s goals when it came to the wind spirit that had been fused to the bow he now used. It was one mystery from the ancient ruins since it was a bow that consumed the soul of the crafter to create.


    "Here we go! We are off. Do you want the lead or should I rely on my hammer to smash the worthless slime cores." The king of the middle snapped Walker from his thoughts and proceed to point toward the open street. There were multiple golems that were awaiting orders while the other dwarves looked on.


    "If you would like I have some water elemental attacks that could assist us in defeating them." Walker took the lead and realized he didn''t know where they were going. "If you could tell me where to go I would greatly appreciate it."


    "Ha! Yes, of course. Head straight and prepare yourself. We are going right through and leaving nothing but crushed slime in our path." Walker was quickly learning that the stereotype that the dwarves were on the violent side was very much true.


    There were many that watched and gave shouts to the king of the middle as he marched with Walker. It was very clear that he was well liked and from the way he became angry and jumped right in to a n to take back the high forge, Walker could only agree. What was worrying though, was that the king had failed before and that there were more dwarves barricaded within the high forge against the slimes that were trying to get in and consume whatever was there.


    "My people! The heroes and I journey to the high forge to retake the school our children bring honor to. One works to concoct a miracle poison for the slimes. Another holds them from entering the merchant district. And yet another is healing the wounded. Now witness the greatness they will bring by our side!"


    The grand words caused a loud murmur which turned in to chanting as the King pushed Walker toward thergest tunnel to the merchant district. Four golems lead the way ahead of him to clear the path if they were to meet any slimes.


    "I am going to prepare a frost whip with magic. There is a lot of water elemental mana in the air to help me condense the skill and it is fairly effective against the slimes. But I mostly want to use it with a skill I got called soak. Itpletely ,well, soaks the target which dilutes the slimes'' body." Walker was careful to exin his strategy to the king of the middle.


    "Fancy magic skills? Then that is the way we will go. My hammer is the hammer of kings. Every king of the middle has improved it in some way. My father added a mana core to project a protectiveyer on it and I have added a secondary core to do the same. I can crush any slime that crosses my pathand maintain my partner."


    This was an interesting piece of history and skill that Walker learned from the king. On the other hand, was brandishing the hammer with glee. He was ready to charge in as they stepped back in to the merchant district.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 585 - 585. Hidden Slimes

    In total there were ten armed and at the ready dwarven guards spaced out behind and to the sides of the king of the middle and Walker. Midnight had taken the chance to walk slightly behind and examine the ten dwarven golems that were walking with them. She had an insatiable curiosity since she knew they were created from metal and mana, but couldn''t figure out how they worked. It perplexed her, especially since she could not eat it.


    The area was fairly quiet and clear. The only signs that anything had happened on the roads that the king and Walker traveled were small bits of slime bodies and melted golem parts. "This is the path I took in thest attempt. My golems were overpowered and I was forced to retreat. This time I expect it to be different. We have more golems and more guards. Not to mention a dragon and hero."


    The king was less grand and more calcting now. He was showing the great desire to liberate even one single ce from the pests that gued their city. "I think it would be wise to get them tobine or start tobine. I have seen it a few times but they stop moving when theybine for a split second. That is when I can hit them with my soak skill and then freeze the water with my frost whip skill. Then, you can smash it."


    Walker saw the king of the middles'' eyes light up as he said that the king would have the final blow to smash the slimes they encountered. "That is an ideal n. I can not sit idly by as king. I must push forward and defeat my peoples'' enemies." The king lifted the hammer and looked to a grate in the ground. "They are there. By the stone grate."


    Walker saw the slight motion of the slimes and found it amazing that they were lying in wait. However, when he got a few steps closer he could see the half eaten away pipes underneath the stone grate. "I think we can mess with them from here," Walker said this to stop the king. This was met with the entire group stopping while Midnight excitedly ran to Walker''s side.


    "I am going to use soak but add some extra mana to it. Think you can head in with the king and finish them off? Your ws and scales will be fine right?" Walker had a little worry for Midnight still but seeing her huff and raise her head he felt his worry was unfounded.


    After Walker spoke all the golems and guards went on high alert. They watched as he stretched out a hand and began to condense the water from the air in to a floating pool above the stone grates. The king was looking on with focus as he lifted the hammer slowly. Walker was demonstrating great control over the elements and was preparing an attack that was going to severely harm the acid slimes.


    "Now!" Walker used the soak spell that he had added a lot more mana to which dropped a heavy amount of water on to the great and also the acid slimes. There was a loud hiss and bubbling as the slimes tried to crawl away from the water and above the grate.


    Midnight leapt out ahead of any guard and shed her ws through one of the slimes which had started to lose arge portion of its body due to the dilution. The king was right behind her smashing his blunt hammer on to an equally damaged slime crushing the core in to unknowable pieces.


    The remainder of the slimes that crawled out werepletely eradicated by the guards and dwarven golems. Walker looked on at the melee strength demonstrated and realized that the dwarves were very simr to the demi-humans in the sense that they valuedbat over magic. The only difference was that the dwarves highly valued crafting and the demi-humans agriculture.


    "These slimes fell apart at the sight of us! We will crush more. Move on!" The king of the middle was full of energy as they pushed on song the road. This had been a road block for him before but was not a victory against the pests.


    Walker was sure to use the soak skill once more before leaving so that it could wash away any remnants of slimes. He didn''t want to see them trying toe back in to existence here. He also used it on Midnight''s'' ws to avoid any damage from the slimes even though she appeared fine. "I think you and your people would fit in well at a demi-human tournament. You could show off weapons and fight tough battles." Walker was still nting seeds to encourage the joining of the Genesis alliance.


    "Would this be another benefit of joining the alliance you came here for?" The king saw right through Walker as he nodded his head. "We do want to show off our greatest creations. I will remember this. It has been some times since I visited another kingdom. Maybe the demi-humans want a guest."


    This was a surprise, the king had not visited a kingdom in a long time meaning that he had most likely been underground for years. "They would wee you with open arms and maybe a good challenge. I had an interesting time participating in a tournament while visiting." This interested the king but it was not the time for stories.


    Turning the attention forward, the king of the middle pointed out the tallest structure ahead of them which had many different metal pipes leaving and entering it. "That is the high forge. That is the very center of my people and the merchant district. It is not the area around it that is dangerous. It is the fact that the slimes are condensed together on the doors trying to eat through."


    The king pointed again as the wall of yellow slime covering the massive door to the high forge. Which caused Walker and midnight to freeze in ce.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 586 - 586. Wave

    "These doors were made with some of the highest fogging ability this kingdom has to offer. It was made to hold back the heat of the many forges behind it and wee the new generations in to the high forge. Those pests are eating it away." Walker swore he felt the ground slightly rumble as the king of the middle grew much angrier.


    "That soaking skill you used, can you do it again? Can you make it hit those slimes and get them off my priceless high forge?" The words were less of a question and more of an expectation. Walker had demonstrated his strengths in front of the king of the middle and he was now being called on to use them.


    "I can create a lot of water because of the steam that is all around us. There is a lot of water elemental mana in the air too. But once the soak skill is used it just falls on whatever I target." The king of the middle was about to ept this as the only thing Walker could do.


    However, Walker spoke up again, "But I have the grand elemental maniption skill. That means I should be able to target the ground in front of us for the soak skill then use my maniption skill to move the water again. If I add my frost whip I can hold them frozen for a few seconds if you would like?"


    The king of the middle trembled with energy. "That is exactly what I would like." He readied his hammer while watching Walker pull a muchrger amount of water from the air. "My guards and golems. Prepare to guard the entrance and deal with any slimes thate near. There is no excuse for failure. If you fail then you are insulting our very history."


    These words caused every single guard to thump their chest in response. The metallic ng echoed louder than the sizzling of the slimes on the doors. "I expect that there will be moreing as soon as we open those doors. They seem to want the materials we have inside. But those are the property of the young and must not be lost!"


    The slimes on the doors were nothingpared to what the king expected was about to rush through the streets. Many of the slimes he had seen before were off devouring pipes, tools, and other misceneous metals. The closed doors of the high forge were tough and rune engraved for protection, they had held off the slimes for s long time but were not unbreakable.


    "Herees the water." Walker released the soak skill and a torrent of water he had built up hit the streets beginning to wash away. "I will be using a lot of mana so I will need you to cover me," Walker said this as he began to manipte the water elemental mana and control the water he had gathered from leaving the area.


    The water was up to their calves and standing till without running any where at the moment. The guards and the king of the middle were at the ready while the golems slowly spread to the side streets that would be the path for any slimeing their way. "Here we go!"


    Walker channeled his mana to manipte the water in onerge wave. He had seen the ripples of the water in puddles and imagined this happening on a muchrger scale. He had never seen the ocean or a body of waterrge enough to have waves and unknowingly y had created arge wave of water heading at the acidic slime covered doors.


    The massive shape of the doors and the ttened out slimes had not been at all prepared for the impact of water. They were hit and their spread out bodies began to dilute in therge volume of water. Walker was forcing the water to m against the door constantly so that the slimes would wash away more.


    Just as it looked like the waves would never end Walker poured more of his mana in to the maniption and forced the water to start to freeze. Now that it was forced against the slimes their acid was dissolving and melting the fast forming ice back to water.


    The temperature around them grew cold and a mist came from the ice that had freshly formed around the door and slimes. Walkers'' harsh breathing was clearly due to therge amounts of mana he had used to manipte and freeze the water here.


    ''The skill freezing wave has been taken from the arctic mage system. The user had understood the condensation and control of water elemental mana to automatically learn the freezing wave skill.


    Freezing wave- 8 mana ( increases based on volume)


    The user can control a body of water in front of them to create arge wave. When the wave reaches the desired target area it can be frozen in to a mass of crystals that freezes and has the chance to cut the target. This skill can be maderger based on the mana used and avable water in the chosen body of water. This skill relies on the knowledge of the water elemental cycle to properly be utilized. ''


    The king of the middle lifted his hammer while the guards allowed him toe forward. "You have caused my people harm and I will not forgive it. Feel the wrath of my forefathers. The kings'' hammer strike!" His words caused mana to course through mana carvings on the hammer.


    It was clear that the king of the middle had activated a skill of the hammer made by the many dwarven kings. The falling force of the hammer seemed to increase by ten times andnded on the mass of frozen slimes. Pieces of ice shattered and flew through the air while the doors were forcefully knocked open. The slime course had been shattered in an instant and no enemy remained in front of them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 587 - 587. Full Offensive

    "Brace for the iing! This is not over!" The king of the middle lifted the hammer again and turned to guard the door. Walker had no choice but to retreat to where the king stood and prepare himself for what was toe.


    "Can you melt that ice and slow the slimesing here?" The king of the middle had seen the degree that the water had helped and knew that even if Walker could not use the same skill again that just having a lot of water on the ground would weaken the slimes.


    "If worstes to worst then I should be able to use that skillbination again. But yes, I will melt the ice. I would rather conserve mana in case arger slime shows." Walker was very skeptical since he had only seen the smaller slimes. It was even more so since he had seen that the slimes could easilybine at will, meaning that there were most certainlyrger slimes somewhere.


    "You mean like the one that is trying to swallow my personal golem?" The king of the middle knew this was a possibility as well and did not flinch at the sight of arge slime wrapping its'' slime body around the entire golem. The golem was trying to move and sh at the core while inside the slime but it was moving slowly and already starting to break down since the acid was eroding the smaller mechanical bits.


    Walker had a feeling that there were eyes on him and in a blur he saw an arrow pierce therge slime. The water elemental mana converged and arge spike of ice grew from the slime. The arrow broke down causing multiple ice spikes out from creating arge ice crystal.


    "Where did thate from? Was it another of your skills?" The king of the middle was ready to praise such a sneaky and powerful skill. However, Walker turned and pointed a significant distance away.


    "That is Gil, the archer you met earlier. It looks like he found a good birds eye view on top of that small tower. He seems to be sniping with the water elemental wither spike arrows. That should help reim the mercantile district." Walker said thispletely calm. He was focused on the small slimes crawling from the small side streets.


    The king of the middle smirked at this since he had always thought of himself as humble and could rte to Walker who was humbly giving the full credit to Gil instead of taking it for himself. Walker didn''t say another word and focused his gaze on the pieces of ice in therge slime.


    Using the grand elemental manipting he caused the ice t start to melt and watched as the giant slime body started to melt apart and a cracked core came to sit on the ground. He did the same with the other ice shards and saw that the slimes began to avoid the many puddles of water around.


    This allowed the kings'' guards and remaining golems to attack with their full strength and begin to crush the weakened slimes. Walker would sense the water elemental mana nearby every so often and knew that it was Gil firing arrow after arrow. Having eyes on the situation from so far away was incredibly useful.


    "Ahhh! The thing! It''s on me!" There was a very small weakened yellow acidic slime that hadtched on to one of the guards who was trying to tear it off desperately. The slime was refusing to leave the armor since it wanted to dissolve it and grow again.


    "Sorry about this!" Walker used the soak skill and dropped a high amount of water on the dwarf. The slime dissolved leaving a core on the ground in front of the dwarf who stomped his foot on it over and over.


    "That was good work. These men have been with me for fifteen years as my guard. If I lost one it would be akin to losing a blood brother." The king of the middle refused to leave the door he was protecting but the pain on his face when his guard was in a dire situation was clear as day.


    "Fight to the death!!!!!!" There was a chorus of shouts from behind the king of the middle and Walker. The sounds of footsteps and sudden appearance over thirty younger dwarves lead but seven adults and one older dwarf brought a fire to the king of the middles'' eyes.


    "We havee for you. The king and his guards are here with our guest. This hero says he knows you, Grey. But that is forter. Now we are retaking the merchant district." The king of the middle said this before taking a deep breath. "I order ever golem and able bodied fight to take up weapons and buckets. Soak the streets and wash away these pests. Crush their cores and rise up!"


    The entire ara became loud with metal grinding and shaking. Walker could feel and hear multiple golems being spurred to movement in the roads by these words. This trek to rescue those in the high forge and reim it had turned in to aplete offensive against the slimes.


    The king of the middle had seen the strategy of washing away the slimes'' body. They may not have magic but because of the steam, they had plenty of stored water that could be used to slow and damage the slimes. The roars of the dwarves that came through the various connecting tunnels caused even more noise along with an increased feeling of water elemental mana.


    "Hear that? There may be many magic users you have met, but magicalmunication is owned by themunication orbs we build in to our golems. They give us the immediate responses we need." Walker was amazed that the king could brag at such a moment.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 588 - 588. Rush To The Mines

    Walker looked toward the rooftops where he began to see dwarves here and there. They were setting up tripods on the roofs and connecting them to the pipes. He had no idea what was happening until he felt the surge of water elemental mana.


    He began to feel drops of water on his face almost as if it was raining within a ce without a sky. It was a wonder to him until he realized that that the tripods were a form of watering device. The water from the pipes was being sprayed to soak massive areas with water as if it was really training.


    "We only do this when we are on higher volume periods and the heat causes things to melt or catch fire. I never nned for this system to be used t defeat slimes. Let alone, a species I have yet to see in my life." The king of the middle was still bragging making Walker worry even more.


    Yet, when Walker surveyed the area he found that there was almost nothing left there to deal with. The guards were cleaning or discarding weapons and armor so that they would not be hurt by the remaining acidic slime bodies.


    Midnight came to Walker''s side from the shadows and opened her mouth. She let seven slime cores, both whole and cracked fall in front of Walker. "Nice job, I am sure you managed to keep the guards very safe and watch their backs." Walker praised Midnight while keeping an eye out still.


    He knew that Midnight had used her shadow wrapping skill to hide way and attack the slime at her own pace. He could tell she was also the reason why the slimes had not been able to get anywhere near him while he had prepared his skills and focused on melting ice in to water.


    "You slew that many from your shadows? How great you are dragon. You are wee to stand with me at any time!" The king of the middle was very impressed with the party so far and was beginning to see them as indisposable allies. It was yet another reason for him to join the Genesis alliance.


    The sounds of victory were constantlying from the many streets around them. The king only stood taller and taller as they increased and eventually came to a stop. The only sounds left were the golems marching through the merchant district looking for nay slimes to destroy.


    "You have shown me your strength. Wee to the high forge and the merchant district of the dwarven city." The king of the middle gave his official greeting. "But I will need to ask more of you. I need you to depart and assist those in the mind below. The king of the deepest parts, of the mines, is dealing with the water running off from here but also the west of this infestation."


    Walker nned to help more anyways, but having the king ask him, motivated him even more than he was previously. "I will be on my way. I will return to the high forge when I havepleted this task. I do have business with you and the high forge." Walker found that the guard, who he had saved, was waiting for him.


    "My king, allow me to repay this hero and guide him to the depths. I was born there and can not call myself a royal guard if I owe a debt to another." This was a very serious ask of the kong. Losing a royal guard was normally a taboo, yet, when Walker looked at the king of the middle there was no surprise on his face.


    "Go and pay the debt you owe. As the king, I believe you will uphold the order and prosperity of the dwarven name." The guard stood up and stepped in to a forward position for Walker to follow.


    "Hero, follow my lead and I will have you at the entrance to the mine and the source of these terrible things." The guard took a heavy step forward. It was as if he had never chosen to head down his own path.


    There were no reasons to make Walker hesitate. He hade to this city to do exactly what he was doing. He had not expected to move so fast through things but had the feeling that the dwarves had much more information in the party than they let on.


    Walker knew that this was an important moment to contact his party and pulled up the party chat function he rarely needed to use. "I am heading to the mine entrance. I believe Gil, You are already there. Remey, what is your status on the slime poison? Su, will you join us or remain healing? Onyx will stay with you regardless while Midnight is sticking we me."


    Walker sent this to all of them and instantly was met with Su''s response to stay and assist with healing. He had not expected any other result though. Gil was the next to contact him, "I am waiting at the entrance. I used most of my water elemental wither spike arrows and some of them can be used again since they were very small slimes. I will wait for you."


    Thest reply from Remey was a greater surprise. "I will have results in three hours. I will be there soon. Just wait. I found a solution." Walker felt that this was more important for the lower mining level. The reason being that the slimes were much more likely to be in higher numbers due to the more ore to eat. Walker crossed his fingers while setting off with the dwarf royal guard, Midnight at his heels.


    The party was using a lot of their resources and had bolstered many of the dwarves on to action. However, Walker felt things were too smooth. He had yet to see one of the colorless slimes that had controlled the purples slimes. It made him worry while he walked toward the mine entrance.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 589 - 589. Slime Poison

    Remey had replied to Walker''s party chat as soon as she received it since she had been exploring the dwarven alchemyb. It was much more in depth and filled with strange tools she had never used before. Not to mention the few herbs she had yet to record since they were unique to the deep caves and could almost never be found above the ground.


    "Ugh! Why is everything so weird. And why did that dwarf that showed this to me ditch me." Remey stomped her foot in frustration while speaking out loud. She had not expected to be ditched with no assistance or any guidance to theb at all. It was all foreign to her since thebs she would use were ssic and not at all steam powered.


    "I might as well check out these books." Remey had eyed the single book case in the room when she came in but opted to explore first. She had found a few mechanisms to open and close steam pipes and fire pits underneath therge cauldron in the center of the room.


    Other than these different mechanisms she was able to discover the stores of herbs which were incredibly well preserved. Many of the ss jars and vials were inscribed with incredibly detailed and unique runes. The elemental mana that was attracted to them were preserving some of the herbs so well Remey would have expected they were harvested that day.


    There were also many other tools that she had not ever seen or used that she quickly located within a book titled, new alchemy gadgets, and their uses. "This should be what I need," Remey mumbled as she started to recognize some of the mana powered items for extracting oils and grinding herbs in to fine powders.


    "So that pestle over there is rune and gear powered so that it can grind the herbs while I focus on other tasks. But it doesn''t add mana to the ground herb¡­" Remey found that these tools were very good for those that were learning alchemy but not for those that were talented.


    It was verymon knowledge to the human and elf alchemists that adding the alchemist''s mana to the ingredients would give them better control over the entire process of potion making. Using these machines caused the process tock the alchemists'' mana and therefore, have a higher rate of failure due tock of control.


    The only tool she found to be incredibly useful was a very simple device that would scrape and stir the bottom of the cauldron forcing the liquid and ingredients to remain evenly heated throughout the entire process. While she browsed the books on the herbs found in the deep caves Remey set the cauldron up to heat. She also set up the automatic stirring tool.


    "Bursting fungus pod? This is a new one." Remey found the drawn picture of a ck and brown steaked fungus pod the size of amon tomato. She was pretty impressed that it was safely harvested in the first ce since the description said t was prone to exploding on any contact.


    The side effects of the spores were fairly dangerous. They could cause those that breathed them in to fall in to a long term sleep which was n ly make worse by breathing in more and one of the spores. Yet the interesting part of these bursting fungus pods were the fact that they could help stabilize certain potions.


    "If I were to mix this with a few other ingredients I could make a potion that won''t dissolve right away." Remey was mumbling out loud again while she began to grab arge number of herbs and fill the cauldron in the center of the room with purified water. She opened one of the valves and allowed the heat f mes to begin to heat the cauldron to an even higher temperature which she needed to dissolve the bursting fungus pods in to the water.


    The liquid began to bubble more frequently and an acrid smell filled the air. "These bat wing vines should be perfect to bnce the whole thing out," Remey added some leaves that were reminiscent of bat wings to the cauldron which had been bubbling for over an hour straight at this point.


    Remey grabbed a few normal looking pieces of herbs and dropped them in watching them cken and dissolve away. A dark grin spread on her face at this reaction. Now let''s see what happens when an acidic slimes body is added." She was speaking slowly and powerfully to herself while she opened a vial she had kept some of the acidic slime''s body in.


    One single drop fell in to the bubbling liquid and there was no reaction. The liquid she had made continued to bubble. The only reaction was a slight change in color before reverting back to a greyish white. Remey knew at this point she had seeded. Furthermore, she also noticed that the automatic stirring tool was beginning to show signs of deteriorating in the potion she had made.


    This made her smile even more. She had read that there were rines in ce to cause the tool to repel highly toxic ingredients that would normally cause metal to dissolve. Yet the material the tool was made out of was not metal. It was a more organic piece of monster bone that gave the tool the over all ability to resist certain acidic qualities of herbs in potions.


    "Hey! Whoever is around. I need help bringing this acidic slime poison to the mine entrance. I need somerge metal buckets and they can not be made out of wood or monster materials!" Remey knew that there had to be a dwarf watching her somewhere. It would only make sense that someone would be keeping an eye on her.


    With a shuffling sound and a loud bang, she found the door pushed open and a dwarf forcing an air vent open while coughing heavily. "Good, you will help me deliver this." Remey appeared to be some form of monster in this dwarfs'' eyes as she looked at him.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 590 - 590. Guardian Or Healer?

    While Remey recruited dwarves to carry her new slime poison toward the mine entrance. Su was hard at work in apletely different area away from where Remey had been experimenting. There was no way for her to know that Remey had just created a currently unknown potion to battle against the acidic yellow slimes.


    "This child says they are thirsty and wants water," Onyx spoke to Su after having a short conversation with a little dwarf boy that had been burned on the throat by the acidic slimes acid. Unfortunately, the boy had worn a metal ne the slime had attached to, therefore, causing the injury that stopped him from speaking.


    There were many simr acid burns that the dwarves had suffered due to their many metal tools and essories. It was all toomon in their kingdom to adorn themselves and give each other gifts with rare gems and metal in them. It was just part of their life as crafters.


    "Thank you Onyx. Here you go, drink slowly, and make sure you breathe between sips." Su gently lifted the little boy''s head and let the water trickle in to his mouth. Su had been performing simr tasks since she showed herself to the massive medical area.


    The dwarves had very few that knew healing magic and relied on skills from doctor systems, or nursing systems. These were rarer for the humans since their church had mostly taken over the healing in their kingdom. This difference led to humans relying on potions and healing magic where dwarves relied upon knowledge of their own bodies and the tools they made to assist in their natural healing ability. There were also some alchemy potions mixed in but to a much smaller degree.


    The knowledge Su was gaining by watching those with doctor systems and nursing systems was immense. She saw new ways to bandage injuries and even a skill that the dwarves used to stitch togetherrger cuts. Furthermore, she heard that some dwarves gained the surgeon system and would purposefully cut a dwarf open to remove internal injuries. This was something that a healer would never do since they could just heal an internal injury with magic.


    "There are moreing in. One woman has very bad burns." Onyx had been keeping track of thoseing in and out of the medical area. He had taken it upon himself to direct Su to those who needed the most help.


    Su may not have been knowledgeable in the dwarves healing methods and their differences, but she knew how to hand off the required bandages and salves. This alone made her perfect for assisting those working. Many of the volunteers from the general poption had even less know how and without the guidance of Onyx who was constantly gathering information to pass to Su they could not stand equal to her.


    "Little brother Onyx, what is that clear green jelly used for. Can you ask around?" Su saw a bowl of clear green jelly being put used to treat one of the dwarves with visible burns.


    "This woman was too close to a steam pip when the slimes ate threw it. She must have been caught in the steam for at least ten minutes. She may lose her arm. Do we have more of those potions that heor brought?" Su heard one of the nurses say this and didn''t hesitate to rush towards them.


    "I have a mid tier healing potion right here. Please use it on this woman. If you need more I have bandaged soaking in high tier healing potion." Su had acquired a backpack and cart that she stocked with as much necessary equipment.


    "Thank you. Please mix some aloevera in to the high healing potion bandage mixture and allow a nurse with the elerated healing skill to use it." The nurse that said this rushed off to another and pointed them in Su''s direction.


    "The green jelly is called aloevera. It is an herb that grows around the mountains near the deserts. Apparently, it heals burns at an elerated rate and feels cool to the touch even in the hottest heat." Onyx had asked nearby nurses and a doctor who readily gave the information.


    Su grabbed the green jelly and mixed it in to the bandages that had been soaked in the high healing potion. There was a smell to them but when the nurse took them from her hand and applied them to the womans'' arm, the burns began to heal visibly.


    "The high healing potion, aloevera herb, and the nurse''s skill to heal others faster is an amazingbination," Su mumbled out loud as she pushed on to the next person. Many of the nurses had been mumbling about her though.


    They had heard that arger hero with shields hade and expected her to be useless in the healing realm. They had expected her to be their guard from slimesing in and attacking them. To them, she had been left as the guardian of those left behind when the king left to take nack the merchant district.


    However, they were wrong. She had run about and immediately handed out many healing potions that apparently came from her leader''s spatial magic. Then she prepared bandages, salves, and even started to assist others with the help of a little snake on her shoulder. The speed and efficiency she had while doing this was very amazing to the nurses who had done these things for years.


    "Onyx, what are those tools, and do I need them?" Su asked Onyx to find more information. Thisbination was proving to be better and better. Onyx and Su were filling the role they took and amazing the dwarves. In the next moment, Onyx had responded with information and Su was rushing off to grab tools and bring them to another dwarf. If anyone did not know better, they would believe her to be a form of healer.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 591

    "What are ya doing up there archer kid? You are firing arrows in to the merchant district for fun, but not even helping out here!" One of the dwarves with Gil had be annoyed seeing that Gil was standing on top of one of the heist buildings. He also thought that Gil was firing arrows at apparently nothing.


    "Eh, firing arrows for fun must be a human trend. I thought a so called hero would be a little useful." The other dwarf was setting up his crossbow with a new bolt while shaking his head.


    "I just had to help out my part leader for a moment. There was arge slime that didn''t want to go down easily. Let me fire a few more at some slimes that are going after some golems." Gil didn''t even flinch at the dwarves'' words. He just fired a few more of his eater elemental wither spike arrows from a long distance at the slimes.


    "What does he mean helping out? There''s no way that he is hitting anything from there. His leader went with the king to the high forge. It is halfway across the entire district." The other dwarven crossbowman was shaking his head even more annoyed at the notion that Gil had such pristine aim that he could hit a target from so far away.


    "Unlike your bolts, I have some fins on my arrows so that the direction stays a little more on target. Not to mention I have a skill to snipe a target from a long distance. You should try and make a crossbow bolt that can go farther than mid range attacks." Gil spoke as if he was just lecturing a younger archer. It caused the crossbowmen to get fairly angry.


    "If we wanted to use a ballista we would put one on wheels. But even if we did that the speed of the bolt is too fast. You think you know everything but you are just a babe to those experts in the high forge. Let alone the masters." The dwarven crossbowman that appeared to be the leader looked at Gil with a hard re after these words.


    "Then why haven''t they fixed it? Or do you just ept the weapons you''re given without questions? I helped to make these arrows and I know their capability with my own skills. I am sure you know your weapons with your skills as well. But why not push for more control? Humans may not use crossbows often because of the strength required and the challenge. Yet, dwarves can so why not be the best at it? Not to mention I have bonded with this bow more than any other I have ever held, apparently, it is one of the spirit forged ones, I learned a lot about spirits from the elves. I hope to free the spirit one day."


    The words Gil spoke made them angry again, however, they made the crossbowmen angry at themselves this time. They had been disbelieving Gil when they had not even turned their gaze inwards. Their blunt nature had always let them take what they could and use it no matter what. However, Gil had said something that caught the dwarves off guard.


    "You have a spirit forged bow? How? The cost for one is too high. Our master cksmiths need to burn a lifetime of mana to even make one. How can you have it?" The dwarf that spoke had begun to shake slightly. A spirit forged weapon was seen as the closest to a sentient weapon in their eyes.


    "The ancient ruins. There was a skeleton archer there that used it. I thought it was a special bow that allowed a wind elemental attack and so did my leader. But through our journey, we met the elves and they knew more. Now We are here to help your people and hopefully mend the tension between your race and the elves along with add you to the Genesis alliance. Our goals arerge, but we believe there can be many new paths created."


    The dwarves had gone from annoyed and angry to awestruck and silent in seconds. There were too many things they needed to think about and understand before they were able to properly reply and say anything anymore. Gil may have had a slightly more condescending attitude but for the situation, it appeared to be the perfect way to handle the prideful and hardheaded dwarves.


    "Can...can I hold it? I have never seen a spirit forged weapon or armor. Thest one made is in the kings'' personal armory. The master that made it said he felt that his life was about to end so he forged his greatest work. I don''t think anyone has even made a spirit forged ranged weapon and I would like to say I have held one before."


    The dwarves hade to a standstill since the tide of yellow slimes had been held back for a bit. Since they didn''t see any around there was no reason for them to hold back any longer. They gave in to their curiosity and tossed aside their negative feelings and skepticism.


    "Oh, and my leader is on his way with some other members of the party. We are going to push down to the mining level and help them. Our alchemical brawler said she would have something to help us in three hours so we might want to prepare too." Gil was a little ovee with the sudden attention from the dwarves. He was sure he should be readying his arrows but also wanted to give in to the newfound attention.


    Everything had happened so fast in this situation but it had actually taken longer than expected. The dwarven crossbowman had taken care of the small slimes and could keep them at bay with Gil''s assistance. Walker and Midnight had partnered with the king to clear and begin aplete retake of the merchant district. And Remey was making a slime poison to bring to the lower level. Su and Onyx were still healing as many as they could. The party was in their elements and full of motivation for the more dangerous mining level.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 592 - 592. Spirit Forging Clues

    "Walker!" Gil shouted to Walker and ran over. He and the crossbowmen had reassured the barricade on the path to the mining level and had been waiting for Walker and the dwarven royal guard. "You''re finally here. I have been stuck forever."


    Gil had been constantly bombarded by the questions about the bow he used and how many times he had used it along with the attempts to hold and use it by the crossbowmen. They werepletely infatuated with it even though theypletelycked the skills and ability to use a proper bow. They had crossbowman systems and were trained to use crossbows.


    "I managed to learn a few things but I think I would go crazy if I am left alone with them any longer." Walker could see the crossbowmen fall in to an orderly line and begin to report on what had happened to the royal guard. It was clear that the royal guard ranked much higher than them in their military and this was an expected urrence.


    "Well, we have a little time before Remey gets here. Why did they find your bow so interesting? What did you learn?" Walker felt that Gil being paired with the crossbowmen had worked out better than expected. There was plenty of time between the dwarves and golems taking over the merchant district and Walker meeting back up with Gil.


    "So, they know about the spirit forged weapons and said they have never heard of a ranged weapon one. So my bow is pretty rare. But they also said that they are so rare that they only know of the kings'' armory having some really. But they also said that masters don''t make them because it uses all their mana for the rest of their life meaning; soul burning."


    Walker listened intently and knew that the soul burning was a very terrible way to perish. But the dwarven forging masters had done this before and would mostly do it again to create the spirit forged weapons. "So the spirit smith or spirit forging systems might not be what we think if they cost the user to burn away their soul to make a spirit and weapon fuse together."


    Walker felt that this was a huge puzzle piece when it came to the ce learning this. He had a few theories on why their systems would require the fusing of a spirit and a weapon to burn away a soul as fuel. "They also kept talking about how the spirit forging process always required unique and rare materials and often certain days of the year to work. I feel like the elves would know more but it reminds me of that lunar priestess and the forest elf rituals."


    "Maybe the spirit forging process is missing a few things then? It could need more than just materials and time of year. Maybe it is the spirit that''s the problem and the way they try to fuse it with a weapon?" Walker wanted to delve more in to this and speak with Gil further but he noticed that the crossbowmen and the royal guard had finished their briefing and were currently preparing themselves for the next endeavor.


    "Check up on your arrows. If you can fill more with water elemental mana do it." Walker brought out a significant amount of ware elemental mana crystal from his inventory. He also tossed a few towards Midnight and watched her excited movements while chomping down on them.


    "Hero, the men are preparing and I will watch over the barricade. There were a significant number of slimes behind the barricader but they were forced back by yourpanions icy arrows." The royal guard was unfamiliar with the elf skills that came with their unique arrows and had deemed it an icy arrow.


    Gil caught him while making the arrow and began to exin while Walker began to formte a n for when Remey got there. They would need to immediately defeat the slimes on the other side of the barricade and Walker had the firm belief that Remey had something that would help immensely. He just needed to wait for a few hours.


    Meanwhile, Walker began to send the crossbowmen to get materials that allowed them to floor the entrance to the mines with water. If Remey didn''t have a solution to the slime problem he wanted to continuously keep the entrance open for them to enter and escape if necessary.


    The crossbowmen managed to gather some of the general popce who had volunteered to join the retake of the merchant district and set up hoses and pipes. After another hour of this, the royal guard came to report what was going on. "Hero, We have managed to prepare a series of temporary piping we use for fires. This can flood the stairs and deter slimes."


    "Sounds perfect. But just because the water dilutes their bodies that doesn''t mean we will rest easy. If the water evaporates then the slime cores should be able to pull their bodies back together and keep eating the city away. I am sure some small slime cores will escape our attacks.'' Walker knew they needed a more concrete way to defeat the slimes.


    "Then forget the water and use my potions! I have a much better way to beat the slimes." Remey had finally made it to the entrance to the mines. However, Walker was confused and curious as to why there were four dwarves each carrying small barrels behind her.


    "It took me much longer to find the ingredients and read the notes on what herbs the dwarves had. But I have finally made something that should help." Remey was smug as the dwarves helping her ced the barrels down and Remey opened the top of the barrel while also taking a vial with a small slime core out of it. She was ready to demonstrate her creation.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 593 - 593. Remeys Brilliance

    Hey, ummm, why are those dwarves with crossbows pointing and looking at Gil like he is some minstrel?" Remey was about to demonstrate what she had created when she realized that there were crossbowmen staring and watching Gil like a hawk.


    "It''s nothing. Just show off already." Gil was a little red faced but still managed to use a decent amount of sarcasm on Remey. ??


    "Oh yeah, alright. So we have an acidic slime core. It is still acidic itself and can melt through metal. It could easily form its body again. But the question is, what happens if it meets its opposite?" Remey was pointing to the barrel of potion she had created.


    "This is not acid but if you touched it you would end up burned just like acid. That means it is equally dangerous. I used a mix of herbs natural to the caves along with a few that dwarves bring in. After being mixed it bes incredibly basic. The very opposite of acidic. When mixed with something acidic."


    Remey dropped the slime core on the ground and the party watched as it tried to pull some of the bits of yellow slime that had yet to be watches away orpletely diluted in the water. "The slime has its body and the basic potion meets the slime." Remey dripped some of the potion on the slime and they all saw the slime body melt away bing clear.


    The slime core melting as well was what really grabbed everyone''s attention. "The slime core melts away because the slime is bnced out and." Remey pped her hand in the clear water like substance left over by the slime and potions bncing. "We have salt water!"


    "What? Really?'' Walker walked over and touched the water left behind and well. After feeling that there was no burning he used his all around appraisal skill on it to be sure.


    ''Salt water.


    An equal mix of salt and water. Created through the bncing of an acidic substance and a basic substance.''


    "It really is just salt water. Remey, how did you figure this out?" Walker waspletely lost as to how Remey learned that this reaction was possible. To him, the only way was to use water to dilute the slime body and make it weaker. However, this wasn''t a way to beat the slimes since the cores still remained.


    Well, I was ditched. They led me to the alchemists'' room full of a ton of equipment I had no idea how to use. There were pipes that brought fire and steam to the cauldron. Automatic stirring spoons. Other word tools to separate and to grind things down. I had no ideas, but I could read the books on the shelves."


    Remey shook her head because she was still annoyed that she had been left with out anyone to show her how things worked. "I read up on the tools but found out that the tools were made to resist the different strengths of herbs that would cause them to break down. From there I found research on acidic and basic herbs that could cause metals to rust or even dissolve. Then I wondered what would happen when mixed so I started to mix. Next thing I knew I had a cauldron of hot salt water." Remey was exining this at her fastest talking speed amazing everyone.


    "So I took some bat wing leaves and a few other herbs and they created a basic liquid. From there I heated it and condensed it in to these barrels and found that it melts acidic slime cores and bnces the acid out. We just need to use this to clear away the yellow slimes now." Remey stood with her hands on her hips in victory next to the barrels.


    "Sounds like you had a lot to learn in a short time¡­" Gil was fairly impressed. He had been stuck with the crossbowmen and felt that all he had down was watch over those taking the district back. He hadn''t actually done much. But Remey had studied something new and made a potion thatpletely eradicates slimes. He had been outdone.


    "Well, I may have taken one of the guides on the herbs found in the deep caves. But I did ask permission...I just need to learn them all and maybe get a few to bring with us. Maybe some of the tools too. Actually, I want to meet one of the dwarven alchemy masters too. We need to get rid of these slimes fast. I have so much to do."


    Walker watched as Remey fell in to a slight panic at the piling up to do list, "I think we will have enough time after we deal with this issue. Remey, can we use water to dilute the basic potion you made? If we can and we run the basic water mixture down the stairs we could beat all the slimes with out having to battle and crush their cores." Walker wanted to make their entrance in to the mining area foolproof.


    "That should be fin. It''s why I condensed it and made so much. The cauldron there was huge so I just made a massive batch. They need to restock some herbs but that is fine. Use half of one of these barrels with ten barrels worth of water and it should do the trick." Remey had been waiting for Walker to ask how he could use his magic with her potion.


    "Perfect. Then all I need is a mana potion to replenish the rest of my mana and we can manipte the water here." Walker said this as the royal guard came forward and handed him a low tier mana potion. They had been waiting for the opportunity. They had the feeling that the hero would need one of their items to finish up.


    Walker drank the mana potion and stretched his arms before preparing to delve deeper in to the dwarf city.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 594 - 594. Clearing The Way.

    "Alright, is everyone ready to release the water?" Gil had taken the lead in organizing those who would be opening water valves on the pipes.


    The n was simple, the water pipes would be opened and Walker would use his maniption skills to hold it in ce in front of the entrance to the mines. Remey would add half a barrel of the basic potion to the water making it poison to the acid slimes behind the barricade. Then when the barricade was removed then the water would rush down the stairs and destroy the slimes along with clearing a path for them to go downwards.??


    "Are you sure that you will be able to remove the barricade in a few seconds?" Walker double checked with the royal guard to be sure the n could move wlessly. If the barricade wasn''t removed as soon as he released the water there was a risk of slimes or basic water harming those around.


    "Yes sir hero, the dwarves can craft things to a very high caliber I am sure you wille to know. We build our barricades with hidden pins that when removed can cause them to fall apart. It will fall away down the entrance with the water." The royal guard was full of confidence in the work of his fellow dwarves and it put everyone else at ease.


    "Foward!" The voice of the king of the middle echoed behind them with the mechanical nking of fifty golems. They were lined uping down the streets while dwarven citizens followed behind in a ruckus.


    "I didn''t want to send you down without a proper escort. These golems will follow you and assist in the mission to recover the mines. They will listen to you and your party''s orders. This is all I can do without intruding on my fellow kings'' rule." The king of the middle had been wracking his brain on how to help without overstepping his boundaries, sending golems to assist was like gifting the third king with more assistance and would be seen positively.


    If he ventured downward as well it would be seen as an insult. The three kings came from the best of the best of their areas of expertise. The king of the surface exceeded the skills to properly take in merchants and send out armies and was the inn charge of all surface affairs. The king of the middle garnered the peoples'' trust and led them t future strength in their systems. The king of the deep caves and mines was the best of the best in terms of mining and finding resources.


    "Then I will thank you for the assistance. Please hold back. We are about to start the attack on the slimes in our path." Walker said this as he waved to Gil. The shouts to start the water were heard over the voices of the dwarven citizens who had volunteered to push in to the mines themselves. It was clear that there were many who had fled the mines as they wielded pick axes in their hands.


    "Walker, Here ites!" Gil gave Walker a signal as a torrent of water came from every pipe directed at the barricade. Walker breathed out as used his full concentration to force the water to build up in a rotating sphere in front of him.


    This was the only way he could think to deal with the force of the water as it rushed to him. However, he could feel the weight pushing back at him. He knew he could not keep all of the water elemental mana in check as it grew and grew.


    "Remey, add your potion!" Remey lifted one of the barrels and poured the basic potion in to the sphere of water that grew by the second.


    "My slime poison is mixed in. You are all clear! Crush those slimes!" Remey backed off since the sphere had been made in to a basic potion and water solution. The size of the sphere was nearly up to ten feet tall which was close to the top of the barricade.


    "Here we go!" The royal guard pulled a hammer from his belt and struck the barricade on an unassuming bump.


    The entire barricade shook and cracks appeared as the materials fell away. Yellow slimes oozed out showing just how many had started to eat away at the barricade to get at the food they knew was on the other side.


    Walker saw this and counted to three in his head. He was told that the barricade would fall away in three breathes meaning that was the perfect time to release all the water.


    The yellow slime was letting the barricade fall through its body and began moving forward, but unfortunately for it, thebined mass it had was not enough to hold back against Walkers'' attack. Walker used a massive amount of his mana to force the sphere of water he had held in ce forward in to the now massive open passage way to the mines.


    The water came in to contact with the yellow slimes that hadbined while eating away the barricade and promptly pushed them back down the passage. There were slime cores being dissolved by the second but this was all far from seen. The torrent of water waspletely forced down the passagway leaving nothing at the entrance.


    "Done¡­" Walker fell to his knees unable to keep his breath. The mana he had used all at once would have made him pass out for at least a day before he had gained his recent levels. He could only nce ahead and view the now clear dark passageway before them.


    "Now that was some good work. The mananterns may have been extinguished by the slimes and waters but do not worry. My golems will light the way." The king of the middle turned to the golems and the dwarves in arms behind him. "Follow these heroes and retake what is ours!"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 595 - 595. Dangers Of The Deep Caves

    Remey ran over and helped Walker back to his feet while handing him a mana potion. "That was kinda cool. That was technically my first attack potion made with my alchemy skills." Remey had been infatuated ever since she saw what Trish could do with her skills in alchemy.


    "I''m d it was something I could help with. If you came out of nowhere with exploding potions I think I would have been shocked to death." Walker and Remeyughed for a moment at this because Remey hadn''t even had the time to try and make such potions. ??


    "Hey, let''s go and get down t the mines!" Gil and Midnight were standing at the top of the entrance to the mines. They were both ready to head out along with all the miners, golems, and crossbowmen waiting to follow.


    "Hero, I am ready as well. The stairs may have been damaged so please be careful as you lead us." The royal guard was ready to stand beside the hero that had saved him from the small slime that spelled his death.


    "Then we have waited long enough. If anyone feels their shoes are being damaged by Remey''s potion then alert me. We can use more water to make it safe." Walker knew that this was a low chance since there were so many slimes that had been behind the barricade. He was actually worried that the entire passage had been full, luckily this wasn''t the case since the only sounding from the passage was dripping water.


    Walker took the first hesitant step in to the tunnel after being handed antern with a green glowing crystal. This was apparently a minorsntern that could emit light for months without the need for additional materials or mana being added. They had once lined the walls of the passageway but had been devoured by slimes or washed away by the water.


    The light illuminated the steps which did show some smoothing and melting from the yellow slime being there for such a long time. This made the progress slow as Walker moved down the steps.


    Gil and Midnight were following behind with the golems. The golems were made for multiple terrains and had no issue with the damaged footing on the stairs. This was just another demonstration to show off the quality of the dwarven crafting abilities.


    "Can you give us a heads up of the mining areas while we walk?" Walker looked to the royal guard for the information they may need. They still had not heard much about the mining area so having anything more would be very valuable.


    "The depths are where we pull all we need to craft. There are many different veins of ores that we discovered generations ago below the surface. Our people have long dug deeper and discovered natural caves that help many new treasures." The royal guard began with a little history which wasn''t bad but Walker was waiting foryouts and possible dangers.


    "The mines areplicated. They have a maze likeyout that not many know of. There are many caves and tunnels that have been carved out by miners in secret while they attempt to find something precious. The surface and the mines are more closely rted when ites to dangers."


    "They main district where most of the miners rest and the materials stored before theye to the merchant district is also where they are processed and cleaned to a degree. On top of this, there is also the safety thates from the many golems and miners there. That means less worry about steel skinned worms, natural golems, natural undead, sometimes a troll or a cyclops when we dig closer to the surface or a natural cave, oh, and not t mention the monsters that live in still cave water."


    Walker was slowly taking this all in. This was much more than he had expected of the underground. The underground with the elves had been nothingpared to this. Having the tree roots from their cities'' tree had been a major blessing since the mana it generated must have deterred some of these tough to beat monsters.


    "There are also cave in dangers, it is better to use less dangerous magic that may cause explosions or damage supports on tunnels. Many dwarves have been lost to idental copses." Walker was very d to hear this. If he had not been warned he could have used a magic spell that caved them all in.


    "I will need to restrict my arrow usage down here too." Gil was speaking out loud while organizing his quiver slightly. He wanted to make sure he didn''t use any of the fire based arrows since they had the highest chance to cause an explosion.


    "Also, be warned about the air. If the air is ever still retreat from where you are. The miners work hard to get fresh air to flow constantly down in the depths. But there are natural caves and abandoned areas that have toxic air build up." The royal dwarf could go on longer with many more small daggers but saw that if he did he may scare the heroes away.


    "Then I will have to be prepared to manipte the wind elemental mana. If anyone feels light headed or notice the air is still, warn me." Walker said this while summoning his inner strength. He knew there was more to worry about but for now, he would take what they were told and what they came across as it happened.


    "If we find any still water, besides monsters, I want to check for herbs. There are algae that can be used from some detoxifying potions which use such herbs." Remey was looking at the upside of the mines since she could do many things with this algae.


    "We can keep an eye out, maybe we will find some rare ores and monster materials too." Walker followed Remeys'' lead as they began to hear the sounds of shouting and fighting.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 596 - 596. Right To Battle

    "We should probably move faster. It sounds like there is a lot of fighting up ahead." Walker turned for a second and yelled behind him, "Prepare for the battle ahead. We will assist the miners!" The dwarves and golems behind thumbed their chests in response.


    "I can''t do too much when ites to breaking them so I will be supplying any water attacks you use with my potion. I will also find someone in charge that can start to direct water at the slimes. Maybe there is some kind of holding pool that I can add my potion to so that the water they use can be a weapon against the slimes." Remey had the best idea for the situation they were in.??


    "I agree, you shouldn''t be risking your safety against the acid in the slimes. I think weaponizing the water against them is best. Gil, I will need you on the look out for therger slimes that we may have trouble with. Midnight, do your thing. I want you to help those on the edge. Remey, pass me some of the potion please." Walker stored away one of the barrels of the basic potion while the others fell in the line.


    The royal guard took the lead of the crossbowmen and they moved much faster down to the mining area. When Walker reached the bottom he saw an expense in front of him. There were multiple carved stone buildings with dwarven machinesing out of them. They were all stopped and many gears were half eaten away by the slimes. This was a huge stoppage for the dwarves who would normally run their mining operations all day every day.


    There were multiple slimes that had melted in the puddles of water which caused dwarven miners to rush out of the stone buildings and begin battling them. "Let''s go and help them!" Walker rushed forward with his hands free to create a frost whip. He knew that the ice needles he could fire from it would be the best use in the situation. He would be able to use the needles to freeze portions of the ground and make the slimes dilute their bodies or even melt thempletely.


    "Who are you!? Get outta our mines!" One of the dwarves in front of Walker realized that there were those that were not miners or dwarves around and reacted instinctively. They did not usually allow any others in to the mines, especially at this trying time.


    "I am one of the heroes here to assist your people. The king of the surface and the middle have both sent me here. Now, look at the help we have brought after taking back the merchant district!" Walker gestured to the golems that were spilling from the passageway to the merchant district.


    "Ha! Boys! The fight is on and the mines will run soon. Crush these goo blobs and get back to work!" The voice reverberated off the cave walls making the mana vibrate slightly. Walker could tell it was some form of skill that made the words echo everywhere.


    However, the sound was not what was most important. It was the fact that every dwarf in the area seemed to be more energized and begin to move quicker. "Nice skill. I think I should help as well." Walker used his multi buff skill sending a wave out that added even more boosts to the dwarves and even the golems fighting.


    Walker was surprised for a moment that the dwarven golems had even been buffed by his multi buff skill. It was a good thing to know for the future since Walker was nning to meet the golem craftsmen in the high forge.


    Realizing this was not the focus of their current quest though. They needed to get rid of the yellow acidic slimes frost. Walker whipped the frost whip in to action and fired off the icy needles. They impacted in front of multiple slimes freezing the basic water below them. These puddles were mostly Remey''s potion and water mixture but were quickly bing all salt water.


    This meant that the slimes were avoiding the puddles making it easier for the dwarven miners to crush their cores. Walker witnessed multiple pick axes pierce through the slime bodies and pierce the cores with precision. This only spoke to the great skill that the miners had when it came to their mining.


    Gil was doing exactly what Walker had asked of him. He had found some of the medium andrge slimes that the dwarves couldn''t fully pierce with their pick axes or crossbow bolts. This was causing them to lose their tools and ground in the battle. However, Gil was sending the water elemental wither spike arrows out one after the other. There was a constant stream of attacks from his point of the battle.


    The arrows caused many ice crystals to pop up and cause the slimes to dilute while melting the ice crystals. This broke down their bodies enough so that the dwarves could easily pierce the cores in one or two swings. The rate of defeat when it came to the slimes was always increasing.


    Whenever a slime neared Gil they would be ambushed by Midnight from the shadows, her ws shredding through the slime body and tearing the cores apart. She was being careful to run through the puddles which washed off any of the slime body left on her ws and keep her scales from taking any damage. Walker only nced at her for a moment before looking for Remey.


    He was d to see Remey had made it to therger stone building where there were multiple miners rushing in and out. Her yelling could be heard for a second before a stream of dwarves rushed out in to the battle making it easier for everyone. Walker knew that Remey had just taken charge and sent out more dwarves, he just hoped that she was able to get the water attacks ready since the barrels of potions she had were the key to defeating the slimes.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 597 - 597. Voice Of A King

    Walker spotted arge slime that had an ice crystal and a dissolving wither spike arrow in it. Gil had managed to strike it and do damage but the slime had been toorge to be defeated after. It was currently slowly losing pieces of its body as it moved to try and attack the nearest golem.


    Walkershed out with his frost whip shooting more of the ice needles at the ground in front of therge slime. The ice froze on the ground causing the slime to be temporarily stopped. The ice had formed sharper crystals on the ground stopping it from moving but not getting close to the core. ??


    "Youzy dwarves. Move your sorry bodies and grab the fire hoses. As I the king of the deep caves orders, turn these enemies in to the dust beneath our boots!" The shout shook the caves around them and every dwarf appeared to be even more powerful as they retreated and rushed in to different buildings.


    "You''re the hero leader that blunt girl said was out here? You may be using water to attack but you don''t seem strong at all." The dwarf that spoke and had yelled was the most muscle bound and strong dwarf Walker had seen yet.


    The dwarf wielded thergest pick axes he had everid eyes on. The two were easily held in each hand by the dwarf making them appear to weigh nothing. The boots and heavy metal gear were perfect for knocking aside the rocks that would fly up with every strike of these pick axes. The dwarf himself had no facial or head hair and instead had an intricate rune pattern tattooed on him.


    "Think I can use something other than water then? Wouldva be too much?" Walker was annoyed but also felt that the words of this king of the deep caves were echoing through him.


    "I don''t care what you use. Those who fall under me work for their lives every day. If you are here to help then you will work too. Use everything you have and hold nothing back. I wouldn''t have listened to that girl otherwise. Her punches were straight and true, a good kid for sure."


    The dwarf king of the deep caves was flexing his neck. Walker didn''t even pause after hearing that Remey had punched him. To be fair he knew Remey might act this way if there was a dwarf that pushed her, but he couldn''t have expected her to punch a king.


    "I will show you some heat then, I hear dwarves are strong enough to tolerate it." Walker used hisva fissure skill and the ground began to shake. He was able to manipte it so that the cracking ground was not too destructive but it was stillrge enough to allow therge slime to fall in.


    Theva was not present right away but in a few moments the heat became clear and theva burst in to the fissure. Walker manipted it to burn hotter and hotter until therge slime had started to flex in to many different shapes trying to escape. The slime tried to thrust parts of body back up but failed due to the heat burning away its body constantly.


    As soon as the core was visible it cracked and fell in to theva itself. "I have more though!" Walker felt that his mana was running low but refused to stop. The golems were still holding back the slimes and Gil was nearly out of arrows at this point.


    Walker sent some of thevances flying from theva fissure. It cost him less mana due to the existingva which allowed him to use more at once. Thevances he sent flying from the fissure pierced through anotherrge slime causing more damage than the ice from another of Gil''s arrows. The burning scent covered the area as theva cooled while in motion and pierced the giant slimes core.


    "All golems retreat and make way for the hoses!" The dwarf king called out and the golems headed his orders. Gil and Midnight rushed to meet Walker along with the crossbowmen and the royal guard who had taken minor injuries so far.


    The miners had ced down their pick axes and looked to the slimes that were left in the immediate area. The raisedrge hoses that could easily make any fire die out and opened valves.


    Water mixed with a full barrel of Remey''s basic potion drowned the slimes around them causing almost all of them to dissolve and melt away. Theva fissure rapidly cooled and turned in to a pool of basic potion water.


    Walker retreated with the others farther back along with the dwarven king of the deep caves. "I liked your fire better than your water. It was much more like a forge than ice. Stick with it and I might let you stay around longer than this fight." The king turned and entered the same stone building Remey had gone in.


    The basic water had ended all of the struggles and the golems were face toward Walker awaiting orders. "All golems, patrol the perimeter for more enemies. If any are found sound the rm!" Walker''s voice was enough to cause all the golems to move out and the remaining dwarven minersing from the passageway to rush to the mining base.


    Many of those with hoses stopped the flow of water and carefully looked over the area for any remaining cores to crush. "That was a loud wee. But I think we still have a lot more to do." Gil looked around at the base of operations and out at the massive expanse of caves. It was clear that there were many passageways and mines that would need to be cleared. They wouldn''t be done with this as fast as they hoped.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 598 - 598. Sarcasm

    Walker felt that all the air had just been taken out of him, he looked at the chaos as dwarves rushed to check their loved ones along with those that ran to search for their precious materials. Many of those who had run had left behind their life''s work or the things they had spent their life mining for while others had been separated from family.


    "Think you can walk to meet the king of the deep caves? He seems pretty hard headedpared to the other two, but their attitude just seems like it''s that way." Gil hoisted Walker up to a proper standing position and threw an arm around his shoulder to stabilize him.??


    "If I can catch my breath then I should be fine. It seems like I keep using mana faster than I can get it." Walker shook his head and steadied his feet. Midnight was looking at him with worry since she felt that he was on the verge of copse.


    Gil whispered close to Walker''s ear, "You could have tried that demon title skill you got, right?" He wasn''t sure if this was something that Walker would have wanted to be said out loud.


    "No, it would have left me with a single mana. I do wish I could have used swords and stuff though. The I have a lot of skillstely for dual wielded swords, and the sh zone would have made quick work of them." Walker shook his head because he was annoyed that he had been so limited.


    "But you could use your newva magic. It looks like they won''t mind if you go around making some dangerous pits of fire and molten rock." Gil was trying to keep things on the bright side since he knew that Walker was kicking himself. The interaction with the king had put Walker off his game.


    "You''re right, I should be able to use those skills. If we encounter arger slime theva fissure is able to swallow it whole and then I can makevances to take down the others. I should have used theva as soon as I came down but I was worried about others around me even though I could control it. Gil, I have a lot to work on." Walker was solemn as he thought about the way he had fought.


    "We all do, but that means we have a lot more strength just waiting to be shown off." Midnight huffed along with Gil as Walker stepped forward and let Gils'' arm fall off him. He breathed slowly and stood taller. He knew that worrying over how the battle went would just waste time. He had the third king of the dwarves to meet.


    Gil watched Walker take a stronger stance and was d to see that he had managed to shake him out of his own head. Gil knew that Walker often got caught up this way and had long adapted to situations like this, but it was still worrying to see just how much it affected him.


    Walker became moreposed with every step until he came through the opening of thergest stone processing building. There were many work tables and tools used to identify ore quality and examine other things found while mining. The long machine that was attached to the roof appeared to be able to take the dirt from inside and out behind the building.


    "Walker! Over here." Remey yelled for them toe over to where she was standing with the king of the deep caves. "I was able to get in here and force this guy to let me near their water storage area. They have a ton of water for when the machines get too hot so I just dropped a barrel of my basic potion in it and told them to spray it at the slimes."


    "Yeah whatever you say girl. Whatever you put in the water worked so I will let you stick around. If you want a job you can have it. So, what else are you here with troops for? Did that people pleaser finally decide to help out? Isn''t he afraid he will lose all his golems and that surface dweller won''t give him more to y with?"


    The king of the deep caves appeared to be the most hard headed and blunt of all the kings. "The surface hunting the slimes and dealing with the steel skinned worms forced there due to the slimes. The king of the middle was able to take back the merchant district with our help and we will be able to take back the caves as well. That is why he sent golems." Walker summed things up as best as he could since the kings all seemed to prefer short and sweet.


    "Good, then go do that. I would say it will take fifty to sixty years to get to every inch of known caves. Then another two or three for all of the discovered and mapped natural caves. And then for those, we don''t know maybe a hundred or two hundred. Then you can move to those that connect to the surface and everywhere else."


    The sarcasm that was in the king of the deeps voice was easily the strongest Walker had ever encountered. The sarcasm Remey had used was nothing inparison. "Well, we did bring you a basic potion that our alchemical brawler made to help you with the slimes. If you just want to deal with them yourselves we can let the golems get eaten along with all your ores so they go to waste. I am sure that is for the better." Walker was in and blunt looking at the king.


    "Huh, you do have some back bone then. Good, a weak hero is a useless hero. We can''t flood the entire cave with water mixed with your potion. Tell me a better n." The king flipped the script and began speaking as an equal to Walker instantly. It appeared that his harsh words were only to test him.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 599 - 599. Silver Mine

    Walker was slightly stunned at the change from the king of the deep caves but understood that he had just been tested. He took a moment to readjust his thinking and decided that there were a few ways to stop the slimes in their tracks. "Remey has the form for the potion and we can provide it to those who can make it consistently. I am sure the ingredients can be harvested and even grown in the caves, right Remey?"


    Remey turned her head surprised that she had been included so soon, "Yes, the rarest ingredient is the batwing leaves but they could be farmed down here in the mining area." She knew that they were possible to farm with the correct environment and attention. Since the dwarves were always underground it would be ideal to farm them. ??


    "The potion can be diluted well in to the water and stored. If there is a way to make an easy to carry bag or pack that can spray it then it can be carried by miners to deal with slime when they are found." Walker knew that this was not a long shot since the dwarves could put their minds together to create something like this.


    "Sounds like you want the firefighting gear. Let me get a pack." The king stood and walked to the opposite side of therge stone processing building and pulled a heavy looking pack off a shelf. "Here is the water tank and the gauge we made to check it. We use this part here to add air and force there to be pressure. Then this hose is attached to a trigger and sprays water."


    The king of the deep caves demonstrated this and also how well it fit on anyone''s back. "It slows some of the miners down but there are often small fires in the machines or even parts that need to be cooled constantly. Not to mention some materials we mine can catch fire with a single spark."


    "If that holds up to the basic potion then it will work perfectly. We can start filling them now." Remey rushed off to recruit some miners to begin doing exactly that leaving Gil and Walker alone with the king of the deep caves.


    Walker wanted to find where Midnight ran off to but had the feeling that she was getting in to some trouble and if he went to get here now he would be caught up for a while. "We have a particr dead end cave that had a very high concentration of silver ore that we were very excited to mine, that is where some veryrge slimes havee from. Want to take a shot at it?"


    The king of the deep caves was particrly worried about this cave. It had been a massive discovery but had been abandoned as soon as they found it. There were many instances where the dwarves needed the silver to make their weapons or certain parts of the golems. Having more would only help their people. But the slimes had grown out of control and made the cave too dangerous.


    "We thought there was such high density silver there that a silver golem might spawn from the ce. If it had that would be the first in thest fifty years, a very good material I promise you. But now we can''t even get near it," The king was showing a slight shake of anger at this.


    "Large slimes keeping from the cave?" Walker was worried as soon as he heard this. If the cave was a dead end and had nowhere to go then it would only make sense that the slimes that left the cave would have piled up then left. If they wererge then they had to be from an evenrger slime.


    "Don''t tell me there is a massive slime here too." Gil held his face in his hands knowing the danger that came from this.


    "Massive slime? I take it you have faced one before? What was it like and why do I have the feeling that it makes you two wish you didn''t have to deal with it?" The king was intrigued but also unhappy to see Gils'' reaction.


    "The massive slime we faced was purple and caused decay everywhere it went. If the slime is yellow this time then it can melt a lot of things with acid much faster. But what we are worried about is that it went even further than massive. How long has it been left alone?" Walker felt that they were speaking about something much more dangerous than they had expected.


    "It was one of the first ces the slimes were spotted. Then all hell broke loose and we have slimesing at our store houses and equipment rooms, and our processing facilities." The king threw his arms up in exasperation.


    "I bet the slime controlling the others is down there. And I have the feeling it might be passed a massive slime now...it might have be a lord slime¡­" Walker was hard pressed to say it out loud. He knew that a lord slime was written as the absolute top of a slime species. They could condense their body and use it in many destructive ways. They would also have the most potent traits of their specific species.


    This meant that the yellow slime lord would have the most toxic and acidic body possible for all the slimes and be able to fight the best using it. Simple water and basic potion would not easily defeat it even if it waspletely submerged. The party would need to destroy the core no matter what. The only problem was that its core would be stronger than the other slimes due to its strength. The lord slime was incredibly dangerous.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 600 - 600. Fire Fighting

    "Slime controlling the other slimes? Exin this to me." The king of the deep caves gripped one of his pick axes harder making his knuckles show white. He had thought that this was some form of new monster that had been birthed due to the slimes not having proper food and evolving over time to eat the ores like the steel skinned worms had.


    "The elves faced a purple slime. It decayed their forest and caused severe harm to them but in the end, we showed up and assisted them in defeating a massive slime with the minimize skill. One of my party members discovered a colorless slime that is used by the slime breeder to control the other slimes. This is why they attack constantly instead of mindlessly eating." ??


    Walker saw as the king of the deep caves'' face grew more and more red. He had been willing to ept the ways of nature since the caves were brutal and unforgiving. However, having someone attack their caves and livelihood infuriated him.


    "The slime breeder is thought to be a demon spreading chaos for unknown reasons. But we have yet to track them down since they use the colorless slimes to send their orders. But the demons have been under themand of a so called demon lord along with generals. However, the Genesis alliance will strive to rescue the oppressed people and remove the corrupt from power."


    Walker threw in thest part to continue to build up the seed that the Genesis alliance is the way to go. "I could care less about some alliance. I will have the demons head for their attacks on my mines! Any who dare cause us trouble deserves death. I want that mine and I want it now. How long to prepare?"


    The king of the deep caves was done waiting for results. He wanted to have things settled up now. There was no more waiting and fighting, just reiming what was theirs. "If we can defeat the colorless slimes the other slimes should return to a normal state of mindless wandering and eating. They will be much easier to defeat. We also might be able to gather more information on where we can locate this slime breeder."


    "Normal state? These slimes were created to cause trouble and destroy the mines! How is that normal?" The king was not happy to hear that they would still be around but had somewhat been calmed knowing that they would be easier to defeat when the slime controlling them was defeated.


    "There is a chance they could have existed in nature and no one knew them or that they were going to evolve that way one day. But from what we know right now is that they were created by the slime breeder. Remey did say that the acid slimes may have a use in alchemy to prepare certain ingredients to make better potions." Gil did his best to chime in with some silver linings.


    "You think we care about the alchemy uses of such pests? If there is no use if forging or mining there is no worth in it." The king of the deep caves held stubbornly holding to this ideal.


    "Actually, wouldn''t acid have a use in forging? I am sure there are ores that are tough to shape and cut and might be resistant to acid. So wouldn''t acid be useful in the processing of the ores before they are made in to ingots?" Walker had been looking around the processing area and located many tools for cutting away stone and other metals from the ores so they could be sent to the merchant district for forging.


    "That¡­" The king of the deep caves was about to refute this when he realized that Walker might have a point and held his tongue. He knew that if he went back on his thoughts now he woulde off as undisciplined. "We will take back the silver mine and deal with whatever is spawning the slimes. Then we will consider alternative uses."


    This was more than Walker and Gil thought they would get. "Hey! Come over here and check out what we are setting up." Remey popped her head in to the processing building to yell and gain their attention.


    "I bet Remey has some of that fire equipment all set up. It probably needs the kings'' approval before being used." Gil was trying to get the king to feel he was a little more important to this process so that he could go out and inspire his miners to fight back more. It also was a way to get the king in to a better mood before the partymitted to another battle fully.


    "Let''s see what that girl has made up for us. I have high hopes for her in these mines." The king appeared to be very stricken by Remey because of the impression she had made and the work ethic to create tools to battle the slimes. As far as he was concerned she was acting more like a dwarf than some of his men.


    "I managed to recruit three of the cksmiths from the merchant district that came down looking for their family members. With the help of their family, we have ten of these fire fighting tanks we filled with basic potion mixture. And even better, it can be used by anyone who can pull this little trigger and push this pump. But, they told me that these five volunteers here, are firefighter system users."


    "Ha! I was hoping that you would step up. Firefighting dwarves bing slime defeating dwarves! What a day." The king had always thought of the fire fighting system dwarves to be nearly useless but for keeping the gears cool. However, now he saw them as a much more valuable force.


    Naturally, the firefighter system dwarves had jumped to show off their strengths and refused to allow the slimes that had endangered their families to remain. Overall they showed that they were ready to wield these new weapons and start hitting back for a change.


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 Chapter 601 - 601. Golem Knowledge

    Walker was d to see the king so happy that the fire fighting dwarves were finding a new way to fight with them. There were also many proud looks from the fire fighter dwarves that Walker could easily see. This was also a nice change the dynamic the dwarves would hold. There would be more value ced on the system users that dealt with the fires in the future.


    " My fire fighting dwarves can clear the way and allow your party inside the silver mine. I expect you have some ideas on how you will deal with this lord slime?" The king was eyeing Walker with a challenge. It was clear the king wanted a well nned attack to ensure victory and the retaking of the mines. ??


    Walker had expected this and had already begun nning. "If the mine is on even slope with the rest of the caves then we won''t be able to flood it with the water and basic potion mix. Instead, we will need the fire fighters to deal with the smaller slimes around while we find a way inside. Gil can fill some of his wither spike arrows with the concentrated basic potion to make a poison arrow specifically for the slimes."


    The king nodded along with this while Gil pulled out an arrow and took some of the potion from Remey. While Gil did this Walker continued, "The arrow will be a serious damaging weapon against the slimes inside while I can use the ice andva magic to slow and break their cores. But what I am worried about is that you said the cave might spawn a natural silver golem? I am not knowledgeable on natural golems or dwarf made golems, can you exin?"


    The king looked pleased that Walker was willing to ask for this information without rushing it. He was also d that Walker had been listening to his words from before. "The natural golems are often a rare urrence based on the materials theye from. Many will show on the surface near the mountains of rocky areas eroded by water."


    This made sense since Walker remembered the steel golem core that Barry had gifted the party. "They spawn from very dense ores and stone. A rock golem will be caused to spawn when the dense rock gathers enough earth elemental mana. Instead of forming an earth elemental mana crystal the core will form. It will then pull more rock to it forming a humanoid shape. Over time the golem will gain more mana and berger."


    Walker was memorizing every single word as it was told to him, " Some golems will fuse with an earth elemental spirit and gain sentience. We can not hold a candle to them because they can manipte the earth at will. Those that do not can grow asrge as a mountain, thergest we have ever found made a dragon look like a chicken."


    The thought of a golem sorge was scary but awe inspiring. "The cores are ideal for making our own golems or creating powerful scepters or staffs. Some can be used for armors but those are dependent on the material the golem is made out of. The reason a silver golem would be so powerful is because we could use the silver golem core to create an undead ying golem. One that has unique properties from the silver to clear the undead crypts we sometimes find while digging."


    This caught Walkers'' attention. He wondered if this was at all rted to the ancient ruins. "We have found many small natural caves that many races used before kingdoms formed as a ce to leave their dead. The world changed by those dead gathered the natural darkness elemental mana and became undead. They are a huge pain since they are much stronger than normal undead but that is another matter."


    The king of the deep caves finished his exnation and looked at the studious face of Walker. "Thank you. I will remember that. If there is the chance that the silver was so dense there it would exin why so many slimes have been spawned from there. The silver mine sounds like an ideal food source."


    Walker reassured his determination to go and clear out the silver mine. To him, he knew that it was an ideal ce to start a slime outbreak. It would not be far to say that the slime breeder had somehow gotten a slime there to start everything."Walker, the fire fighting dwarves are all set. Gil has his arrows, and Midnight is ready to go too. I have some smaller ss vials full of basic potion I can throw. I want you to coat the ground in water too to make it easier for us."


    Remey had waited for the end of the exnation and had even prepared herself as well. There was no way she was going to leave herself out of this fight. It was a dangerous battle but one that she needed to be part of. She also knew that she could assist those using the basic potions and even tell them the best methods to attack with it.


    "Then I think we are ready. All we need is a map." Walker knew that it might be tough getting around to the silver mine without experience in cave crawling. However, he was ready to learn and get where he needed to be.


    "Ah, screw it. I will go with you. You, Guard. You''re in charge along with those crossbowmen. Protect this ce with your life. The hero you seem attached to will need a ce to rest after he''s done working for me." The king of the deep caves stood up and grabbed his pick axes. "Let''s go to me silver mine and take it back." The growl in his voice was harsh but determined.


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 Chapter 602 - 602. Pets

    Walker was a little shaken that the king of the deep caves had decided to just go with them like that. Even more so that he had pointed out the royal guard and forced protecting everything on him and the crossbowmen. However, it was amon theme with the dwarves and he had no reason to argue since he had the feeling he would not win the battle anyways.


    "Are you going to follow me or what? I can move faster than you in the caves so try and keep up kid." The king had his tworge pick axes over each shoulder as if they were nothing. He was already headed away from the processing area and stone buildings. There were multiple passageways and cave entrances all situated along the walls. ??


    "We will head down route be section thirty one until crossroads forty three. Then we will cut through the murky waters and that should bring us near the entrance. Follow quick." The king sounded like he had every single inch of the cave memorized which made Walker and Gil more at ease.


    "You said murky waters right? Can you tell me about the area? What is there and what makes them murky?" Remey sensed that the king was bringing them to a ce that could hold many herbs for her to pick up on the way. Ideally, she wanted the different cave algae that grew in still water because they had many uses and could easily spawn different strains.


    "There are a lot of those pale smanders living in there. They eat that green scum from the bottom. And then the rock horned vipers eat them, and then the armored moles will eat those. We used to see armored moles a lot more but they are in a hibernation cycle right now meaning there are many more rock horned vipers around."


    Remey''s eyes lit up and focused on Walker, "you still have some vials and ss containers right? If we get there I want to store the water and algae and maybe some of the pale smander eggs if we see them. They are all great ingredients for potions. " She was already thinking of the experiments she could do once she was home with these ingredients.


    "The more you do the more I believe you are some master alchemist looking for unique ingredients. But I''ve never met an alchemist with a punch like yours. Ha! You should get a rock horned viper as a body guard. They are pretty fun to tame, they don''t even have venom." The king sounded very used to this kind of activity.


    "Wait, do the dwarves tame the underground monsters?" Gil was surprised that this would be the case since they seemed to focus on their crafting and golems instead of living monsters.


    "Of course we do. The monsters down here are great for finding rare ores and new caves. The rock horned viper is a very sought after pet when ites to younger miners. We have a few tamers that can send their tamed rock horned vipers as guards." The king was saying this like it wasmon knowledge but when he looked at the party realized that this was all new to them.


    "I''m not sure Onyx would be happy to have another serpent like monster around. He wouldn''t say it but I know he would feel like we were trying to rece him a little." Walker spoke and Midnight shook her head a little.


    "Then get one and keep it fed as a live in pet. They shed their skin once a month leaving great materials from armors. Plus, they are very docile once broken a little. They have even been known to befriend a dwarf or two when they are younger. Just don''t stand between them and a pale smander. Those things are like candy to them."


    This was an interesting lesson. The rock horned viper sounded like a tough monster but was actually known to be friendly at times. The only factor that sounded to make them aggressive was the food they ate. Walker started to seriously consider bringing one home if he could since he could leave it at the mansion to live and shed its skin for forging materials.


    "If we get one that means Su would have new materials for armor. Just saying." Remey was liking the sound of this monster bing a pet. To her, it was the same as trying to keep a chicken or a cow.


    "Let''s see what happens as we go. We have a lot more pressing matters to take care of. But if it''s meant to be we will. As soon as we speak to Onyx and Su about it too." Walker threw in thest part so that he could hold Remey off.


    "I''m just thinking. If the slimes needed to cross this murky water area, how do they not dilute their bodies before reaching the other end?" Gil had this single thought. It didn''t make sense that the slimes could easily cross so much water that the king was speaking about.


    "That is a mystery we will need to solve on our own. But for the time being, we have some in front of us. Fire fighters, this is your duty." The king called to the fire fighters in line behind them. They sprang in to action immediately and headed forward toward a group of ten small slimes eating away at a metal beam holding the roof in ce.


    The fire fighters paired up and pumped the tanks they carried before alternating. One sprayed the basic water while the other pumped. This caused multiple streams of water to flow through the hose and nozzle easily hitting the slimes. Walker was impressed by the teamwork which easily dissolved the slime in front of them leaving a safe path. The king nodded his approval as he took the next steps forward as the leader of the group.


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 Chapter 603 - 603. Still Water

    The small slimes had easily been dissolved in their path leaving only some medium slimes that were following the small slimes just a little slower. The king came forward and with a slow swing of his pick axe ended three medium slimes and allowed them to melt away in the basic water mixture puddles below them.


    "Keep moving. We have to cross the intersection that way." Walker followed the king and saw that the intersections were not some small crossing of caves. They were instead, massive caves that meet in a veryrge rounded chamber. ??


    The ceilings were enough for birds to easily fly and the space wide enough for at least twenty golems. "You said intersection but this looks more like a work space." Walker could see parts of the rocks walls that had been shaped along with set up for tools to be hung.


    "This is amon resting spot. Those two passageways lead to an iron mine and one of the alternative processing hubs. It was abandoned about ten years ago so now it is just another ce to rest." The king waved it off like it was nothing.


    "So there are other processing areas near other mines that you discover? That must be a lot of work to build them." Gil was surprised that the dwarves would constantly build new processing areas as they discovered more to mine.


    "Of course we do. Transporting all the ore is a pain. We would rather dig all the way to the surface than walk back through carrying hundreds of pounds of ores daily. Even the golems would burn out like that." The attitude of the king basically asked if Gil was stupid. To the dwarves, this was always amon sense move to allow them to more easily carry back cleaned ores and better quality items.


    "Wait, do you need to change what golems carry the ores and patrol the mines?" Remey was feeling an ideaing on that could make things much easier.


    "We have many versions. The high forge is currently working on some for water mining and even suits for us miners to wear underwater. Why?" This had piqued the king''s curiosity.


    "Why not add gear that the firefighters are using to some of the mining golems and have them fight off slimes around the clock? It would give the alchemists a lot of work and the fire fighting dwarves a lot of work. But it would let you all rest easier and keep the slimes down to a controble number." Remey watched the kings'' face brighten at hearing this.


    "I have yet another request to make for the high forge. They can''t shirk this one though. They can use this on the surface all the way through to the mines. I will have it sent over when we finish here." The king pointed to the next section of the passageway.


    "Not to be down on everyone, but I saw some melted stone back there that looked to be eaten away by acid. Should I take it that there was once some tools hanging on the walls there?" Gil felt that the answer was yes but waited for the king to nod to support it. "Then the slimes are active enough around here. I still can''t figure out how they get past the water without issue."


    Walker had also thought on this and was bing more stuck on it as he heard the soft dripping sound of watering from farther down the passageway. "Walker, try not to freeze all the water. If you do it will ruin the algae or anything living in it. If we don''t have anything that will attack us let''s not attack it." Remey wanted to preserve the herbs and the future harvesting ground in the caves.


    "Don''t worry. I know you want to gather what you can as we pass, but it might be best for us to gather it as we leave. Then we won''t be caught up and waste energy." Walker wanted to be sure they fought everything in the cave at full strength.


    When they came to the open section of the passageway they were met with arge underground pond ofpletely t and ss like water. They could see right through to the bottom to find that there was green algae coving the rock under the water and every once in a while a small cat sized pale smander would sneak in and out of bunches of algae.


    Water dripped down the sides of the chambers'' walls and slowly trickled in to therge pond without causing any ripples in the least. "This is actually very beautiful. I feel like I could rx here for a while." Gil couldn''t help but see beauty in the peace of this cave.


    "The caves are allways full of wonder. You shoulde to the caves that grow crystals and gems. They are much better." This was one of the moments where the king did not butt heads with anyone. He took Gil''s words and agreed wholeheartedly.


    "Alright then. In to the water. Here it only reaches up to about a foot so we can walk through it with no problems." The king stepped right in to the water without even a single flinch. Walker on the other hand felt his soul attempt to leave his body due to the frigid temperature. He was left in awe wondering how the dwarf didn''t feel the cold at all.


    Midnight followed Walker with a sharp exhale but she soon adapted and even used her wings to push her forward faster. It was a good way for her to get a little more exercise for them since they had been too busy for her to stop and do her normal training.


    "What''s that weird sound? It''s like there is something else moving that isn''t water?" Remey picked up in the sound and Walker focused on it. His eyes looked upward to the horrors above.


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 Chapter 604 - 604. Ambushed

    Walker had followed the sound and raised his head upwards to the ceiling of the cave. What he saw was a terrifying answer to how the slimes had been getting past the water and not diluting their bodies. "The slimes are on the ceileing. Gil at the ready!" Walker knew that the slimes could drop down at any point and was readying an attack himself.


    Gil reacted as fast as possible but the slimes had already noticed the metal that the group wore. Not to mention the metal that the fire fighter dwarves and king had which were much more than the party members. "Ambush! Die!" The king swung his pickaxes and tore two medium slimes falling from the ceiling in two. The cores couldn''t even be said to exist any longer.??


    Gil was the fastest as he drew and fired an arrow directly upwards. He had grabbed one of the basic potion filled arrows in his rush. The arrow pierced through therge slime and sat inside its body. When the slime was about tond on the fire fighting dwarf next to Gil the acid ate through the wither spike arrow the basic position was fully released.


    The slime instantly fell apart as the core it had desperately protected was dissolved and turned in to salt water while the rest of the body broke apart and diluted in the still water around them. There were many other small slimes that were trying to fall down but continued to find obstacles in Gil''s arrows and the kings'' pick axes.


    Walker was using the still water to create spikes of ice that the slime continuously threw themselves in to while trying to get to the metals on the dwarves. "Walker, can you freeze my hands in to spiky ice gauntlets?" Remey was tired of not fighting and had a brilliant idea.


    "It will be cold and your gloves will be wet but yes, brace yourself." Walker did as he was asked without another thought. The water moved from around them andtched on to Remeys'' hands.


    She let out a sharp breath as the water froze making her fists in to icy points. "Finally, I can punch these stupid slimes!" Remey had not wanted to use the concentrated basic potions since they would be more valuable when facing the tougher slime they expect to be in the silver mine.


    Remey punched out and her fists pierced any slime that approached the fire fighting dwarves, "How dare you try and defeat my basic potion fire fighting dwarf friends!" Remey was blowing off arge amount of pent up annoyance since she had been holding back due to the acidic slime dangers.


    Walker wanted to make more ice spikes to protect everyone but by the time he raised a hand to do so there was only silence in the area. "Where are they? Shouldn''t there be more?" Remey was still energized and ready to fight.


    "Now I think I am beginning to like your ice. That was a very interesting use. I have seen some ice gauntlets before but none like those." The king was examining Remeys'' hands with great interest.


    "You''ve seen ice gauntlets?" Gil was the first to speak up after the battle and seeing the situation.


    "Yes, we had a frost forger once upon a time. He left the caves to journey to the dragon viges where there are longer winters with better materials for him. It was a very unique system." The king had remembered this well since he and the other kings made note of every rare or different system.


    "Well, that sounds pretty different for a system. Instead of forging metal, they forged ice. I know a certain wandering cksmith that would fin that very interesting. But on another note. We should make our way to the min. While keeping an eye o the ceilings." Walker was scanning the ceilings constantly. The cave roof could hold more ambushes.


    "I believe you about something controlling the slimes now. The actions were already too intelligent. But I wanted to believe it was a new species and that was why. However, no slime is smart enough to use the ceilings to avoid water." The king was furious and charged towards the cave which appeared to have no other slimes near it at the moment.


    Walker was not going to let the king get too far ahead and rushed as well with Midnight and Gil on his heels. Remey had checked with the fire fighters to make sure they were safe and also noticed that Midnight had appeared from the shadow wrapping skill. It made her smile slightly that Midnight would disappear for moments at a time to defend their backs. The ambush was the ideal time for her to use the skill.


    "We need to make sure everyone is prepared. We were just ambushed and Gil should prepare his arrows, Remey should check the basic potions, Midnight will use her skills to hide in the shadows, and I should prepare myself with ava fissure so I can use thevances." Walker managed to reason the king in to halting his movements.


    "You have a buff skill as well. I want that so I can continue the destruction of the slimes.m" The king had not forgotten Walker using his biff skill.


    "I saw you use a buff skill too right?'' Walker had been curious about the details the entire time as well. The king had shouted and buffed the dwarves around him.


    "Yes, as the king of the deep caves I can use an echoing shout to push my miners in to their best state. Their forge fires will burn and they will crush any stones in the way of their goals." The king acted like this was the only natural exnation to his buff skill which confused Walker since he had hope for more specific information.


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 Chapter 605 - 605. Special Colorless Slime

    Walker considered asking for more information on the kings'' buff skill but made the decision not to. The reason being that if he learned it the skill would be useless to him since the party did not have dwarf party members or dwarf miners to be specific. There would be no point.


    "I liked the ice gauntlets but I will not need them in the silver mine. I have the basic potion vials that I can throw at the slime. I believe the ss is thin enough that the acid will melt it down the rest of the way and cause it to open inside the slimes we fight." Remey was very excited to fight like Trish had and act as a real alchemist. ??


    "Sounds like a n. Midnight, that means you are on Gil and Remey guard duty. If they are in danger push them out of the way as much as possible." Midnight stood taller and narrowed her eyes. She was ready to take on this challenge with all her might and refused to see any harm to her family.


    The king had given some orders to the fire fighting dwarves who were making sure they were ready to use the basic potion water to clear away any slimes that were around the edges or ceilings. This would allow Walker and the others to focus on the worst. "Walker, don''t forget to flood the floor so it makes things a little easier."


    Remey reminded Walker who was just about to begin pulling water from the still water and in to the cave they were walking to. He manipted the still water and made it flow over the stone banks that had held it as a pond for so long. The soft trickling sound of the water moving was standing out of their silence before walking in to the silver mine.


    Walker built up a decent amount of the water then pushed forward creating a wave. He used the icy wave skill to push the water all the way in to the silver cave. They waited for a few moments until they heard the crash of ice against walls and falling ice crystals.


    "Well that was rude. But I don''t mind, hahahah." This slightly warped voice was the only response other than that which caused everyone to freeze in ce.


    "An enemy in my caves...despicable." Walker couldn''t stop the king from entering the silver mine at that moment. Walker knew that this was not good news at all because he had not heard the icy wave hit anything other than the walls. He had his eyes firmly on the ceiling where he expected another ambush.


    The other followed with the fire fighter dwarves extremely focused. They could all see that the ces the ores used to be in the walls have been dissolved away by acid leaving melted burns in the rocky walls. There were some little pieces soaked in the water on the ground meaning that the slimes have not been traveling on the ground at all.


    The king raised a hand and stopped them all. His eyes were on the ceiling where a very strange sight had manifested. There were pieces of a grey and slightly shiny silver ore all over the ceiling. The amount of silver ore was more than what any of them had expected especially since they imagined the slimes had eaten it all.


    But what was more disturbing was the humanoid shape apletely clear slime had taken while attached to the ceiling. "Finally, you''re some of those that got rid of my precious minimized slime. Do you realize how many slimes I had to breed to get one of those with the minimize skill? I waited in the forest for a month." The warped voice continued to speak.


    "Then I had to rush all the way here and nt ten miniature yellow slimes I cultured for a year. I am just d I was able to create a few lord slimes before you annoying pests showed up. I would have hated to lose them when they just reached maturity. But that is something for another day. For now, why don''t you all just enjoy my special colorless slime and the skill I forced it to have." Distortedughter filled the cave as the colorless slime lost the humanoid shape and began to melt in to the ceiling.


    "Back, get back! This was all a trap. There are no lord slimes. The slime breeder already took them and left a trap." The cracking stone was the next sound that assaulted their ears. They could all see the silver ore being shaped and falling from the ceiling.


    The entire group retreated but found that behind them were yellow slimes converging on the silver mine. "Fire fighters take the yellow slimes. We will finish whatever this thing is!" The king took the lead and gave the orders, however, this was all already happening.


    Walker Grabbed Remey because he had the feeling that she was going to be needed in the fight against whatever the colorless slime was doing with the massive chunk of silver. "It''s falling, brace!" Walker said this as the massive chunk of silver fell to the floor and unfurled.


    Two club shaped arms and two club shaped legs unfolded along with a shiny silver head. All this was held together by rough and unprocessed silver ore body. The colorless slime had be the joints that fused the entire golem that stood before them together.


    "What in the dark caves did that demon make!? This is not a true golem!" The king was beside himself with rage seeing the monstrosity that had been made. He knew there was the potential for a silver golem but seeing it ruined in such a way was the same as kicking a dwarf in the heart.


    "Walker, what can you tell us? Does your appraisal skill work on it?" Gil hade up behind Walker and Remey with Midnight wanted to choose the best arrow for the job. He was ready the moment Walker spoke.


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 Chapter 606 - 606. Golem Possession

    Walker didn''t hesitate to use the all around appraisal skill on the strange golem in front of them.


    ''Unnatural silver golem??


    A golem forced to life before the proper build up of natural mana. A lord colorless slime with the body possession skill has fused with the premature silver golem. The lord colorless slime is only able to follow the basic orders of its'' creator and the golem''s innate consciousness has been destroyed. The premature silver golem core and the lord colorless slime core have fused creating an extreme weak point for this monstrosity.''


    The appraisal that Walker had read out, put everyone on edge, "Where are golems'' cores usually?" Remey was sure that they would need this information to defeat this monster. She also knew that they would not be able to escape until it was defeated because of the yellow slimesing back to the silver mine.


    "Dead center of the chest. But that''s the problem. That is unprocessed condensed silver. We need to break it. I can''t just jump up there and swing once. I need to use both of my pick axes at the same time using one of my heaviest blows." The king said this as the silver golem stood and set its'' sights on them.


    "I don''t think my arrows will be piercing it. But those joints are another thing." Gil was already notching one of the water elemental wither spike arrows. He wanted to try and break off the golems'' limbs so that the king could start to chip away at therger body of the golem.


    Gil released his arrow and it easily came in to contact with the slime between the joints of the golems'' arm and the body. With a pull and burst of water elemental mana the arrow caused ice to build and arge crystal formed. However, the golem just raised its'' other hand and smashed the ice.


    The arm joint that had been shot had held on with enough slime and was already being repaired since the lord colorless slime was muchrger than a normal slime and could easily absorb small damage like the joints of the golem. "Damn, no luck. What now? Fire?" Gil was looking to Walker and found that Walker was having other ideas.


    "Will a golem be able to repair a shattered limb or body? Or will it stay broken?'' Walker was thinning of a strategy he thought would work better and was already pulling out the elemental crusher. The hammer he had the wandering cksmith make had not been used often but could aid them.


    "No golem I have ever seen can do that in a short time. That hammer ya got there should do the job. But can it work?" The king was ready to charge in but instead opted to jump back from a slow moving golem arm.


    Midnight had already begun to distract the golem while Walker and the others prepared. She had moved without anyone needing to tell her. She recognized that she was the ideal party member for this role and was not going to allow the golem a second to look anywhere but at her.


    "Remey, you and I need to get on opposite sides of one of the golems'' legs. I will use an earth elemental hammer smash and try to break it from one side. You use your defense breaking palm from the other side. We might be able to get it off bnce while the king goes after the other leg."


    Walker looked at Gil for the next part of the n, "I will need you to fire your water elemental arrows all around it so I can manipte the ice next and get the golem restrained. Then the king cane in to attack. Ready?" Walker knew that the longer Midnight needed to distract the golem the lower she would run on energy. It was only a matter of tike before a wild swing clipped her and injured her.


    "I will do my best." Gil looked on in determination. He had not gained many new archery skills de to his focus on the creation of elemental arrows. This pulled at him while he set up all his water elemental wither spike arrows to be fired as fast as his body would allow.


    "Then Let''s get to it. We have some mining to do." The king ced the two pick axes together making the alreadyrge pick axes appear to be one single massive pick axe of terrifying pressure. He held it back in waiting while watching Remey and Walker join the running around.


    Midnight saw the twoing and used the chance to dash in between the golems'' legs and confuse it. This allowed Remey to make a wide arc and get around the golem where Midnight had ended up.


    The golem responded by mming its tworge club like limbs down at the two as they separated from each other in opposite directions. The impact of the golems overhead attack caused the silver mine to shake and small stones to fall from the ceiling. There was also a sizeable hole left in the ground showing how much power the golem had at its disposal.


    "The mine will copse at this rate! Be quick and let me get a good hit in!" The king was worried seeing the cracks in the ceiling bingrger and the small rocks falling. He knew from many years of experience that this was the sign of a cave in. There should have been supports built to prevent this but the slimes had taken over.


    "Remey, now!" Walker wanted to move in to attack since the golem was lifting its'' arms for another attack and left itself wide open for them toe in and break its'' leg. Remey did not hesitate and the two pushed forward with their attacks ready.


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 Chapter 607 - 607.Gils Archery

    Walker channeled the earth elemental mana in to therge hammer. He felt the mana circte through it and could sense the strong surrounding earth elemental mana rush towards him. The mine was deep in the ground and already had strong enough earth elemental mana to spawn a golem. Walker could tell the attack would be more powerful than it normally would be.


    Remey had been waiting to seriously test out the strength she had with her additional levels. She knew the defense breaking palm would be more powerful than any other attack because the golem had a powerful defensive strength. This to her meant that her defense breaking palm could cripple the golem. ??


    The two used their agility to their maximum to rush in and deliver their attacks. Remey made contact with the golems'' leg causing a loud crack. She left a palm sized indent with many small cracks s[ier webbing from it.


    Walker came in at the same time and swung the hammer with his full strength. The sound it made was a gruesome mix of metal gnashing together and a strange broken vibrating metal sound. The hammer struck directly behind where Remey had which warned Remey to back away quickly.


    The earth elemental mana surged from the hammer and caused an unexpected effect. Walker had not expected the earth elemental mana in the hammer to affect the golem. However, since the golem had high earth elemental mana and also was made of silver it was affected.


    The leg shatters in to two pieces and began to warp and twist upon itself as the earth elemental mana forced it to absorb more mana than it normally would have. The group watched as the entire leg became misshapen and was impossible to be stood upon or even repaired in any fashion.


    "My turn!" The king rushed forward and swing the two pick axes together at the other golem leg. At thest moment before contact, the king flicked his wrists and a slight brown light was given off from the pick axes points. Walker could feel the earth elemental mana shift because of this.


    The king''s pick axes pierced the golem''s other leg like it was warm butter. The golem was still trying to raise its arms fully to swing again but found that it was now falling sideways toward the ground. The leg the king had struck had a massive cut out crater in it and the king had a foot on top of a silver chunk he had just mined from the golem.


    "Gil! You''re up!" As the golem fell to the ground with its'' arms trying to catch itself Gil began to charge and unleash water elemental wither spike arrows. Unfortunately, the golems'' movements were erratic and were breaking the ice as it formed. Gil knew he needed to fire the arrows faster or more.


    With a slight shake, he allowed his instincts to take over and felt two arrows in his hand as he drew the bow back. He let them go with out blinking and reached for more. However, this time he grabbed three and did the same. The thought of aiming disappeared since the rest of the group had retreated and Walker was attempting to manipte the forming ice in to some form of binding for the arms.


    Gil''s adrenaline was higher than ever as he grabbed four arrows at once, something he would never even think he could do, and pulled them back at the same time. He released the arrows and felt a slight breeze at his back as the bow reacted to his feeling. He knew he was not strong enough for such an amazing skill yet but he tried it anyways.


    Again and again, Gil copied this and pulled the arrows back in groups of four. Every single time he felt closer to the bow and the wind around him picked up. The next time he reached he found there were no longer water elemental wither spike arrows to grab. Instead, he pulled out four different prototype arrows without a care to what they did as long as they were water elemental arrows.


    The arrows notched and flew from the bow hitting thest ces that ice had not formed around the golem. The wind blew from behind Gil and the arrows burst in to an ice cold aura. Frost covered the entire golem and the ice turned a deeper shade of blue. It became much more solid and arrested the golems movementspletely.


    Gil let out a pained breath as he realized his mana was on itsst points. He had lost himself to the focus. The bow glowed with green air elemental mana until it slowly faded, yet Gil could sense that something had changed. It was like knowing that someone sleeping next to you had just rolled over without waking up.


    The only other thing that caught his attention while he tried to clear his mind were the skills disyed on his system. He had learned triple shot which he had long wanted. But even more than that there was a skill he had only ever dreamed of having; quad shot. He now believed with his entire being that the multip shot skills were within reach and that one day he would be able to reach higher. He had just been missing the pressure of battle and some levels to get the skills unlocked.


    While Gil wrestled with the exhaustion and shock of seeing the new and unlocked skills Midnight moved in to guard him in his weak state. They were both able to see Walker shoring up the ice around the golem and ever opening a portion of it around the center of the golems'' main body so that the king could attack the core. The only issue now were the lord colorless slime tentacles that had peeled themselves from the golems'' body.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 608 - 608. Pin It Down

    While Walker was fully focused on manipting the ice, the king was rushing to get on to and attack where he believed the core of the golem and the slime fusion was. The slime tentacles that had peeled away from the golem would normally have whipped around at the king, but they were slow from the col and partially frozen.


    "Walker, make me some spiky gauntlets again!" Remey was the only avable person to push up and help the king. If she drew the attention of the slimes'' attacks she knew that the king could attack the core and finish the monstrosity they fought. ??


    Walker manipted for the ice to wrap around Remey''s hands as she climbed up the golem and stood on top. The slime tentacles noticed her and attacked her instead of the slower moving dwarf king.


    The tentacles arced down at her and she used the icy gauntlets to strike at them. Their slow speed was easily countered by Remey since her own agility was so high. She managed to slice a piece of the first tentacle off easily and dodged the second. She could see some ice crystals forming in the tentacles of colorless slime slowing it even more.


    Walker also noticed this and increased the water elemental mana around the ice trying to freeze the lord slimes tentaclespletely. However, they were proving more resilient than expected. He poured more and more mana in to the ice and still the tentacles were not freezing. The only good part was that the slime could only seem to manage two since its'' body was fused with the immature silver golems'' body.


    The king had had enough time to get to the open portion of the silver golems'' chest and held his pick axes high above his head. He didn''t even look at the battle going on right next to him since it would take away from his mining.


    The king brought down the pick axes at the same time with tremendous force. The crack that reverberated through the golem continued to widen as the king brought his pick axes up and down over and over causing chunks of unprocessed silver to fly in the air. Walker could onlypare him to the machines they had seen in the processing area.


    The tentacles the colorless slime lord was using to attack were bing more and more frozen to the point that they were almost coated in ayer of crackling ice. They tried to change direction and attack the king but Remey was there before they could change direction.


    The king uncovered an extremely dense silver ball with a slime core partially fused on it. "Let''s be done with you!" The king pierced the slime core then immediately pried the golems condensed silver core from its'' body. The sight movements the golem had been making ceased and the slime tentacles instantly froze to solid ice.


    "This is our mine! We own this and those worthless pests will never touch it again!" The king shouted in victory. Shouts simr to his also came from the silver mine entrance where the fire fighting dwarves had just noticed the actions of the yellow slimes be disorganized and uninterested in them. Within minutes they had fended off and defeated the yellow slimes in sight.


    "Gil, was it? Never prove what I think of archers wrong again. I prefer to keep my judgments the same." This was a hardheadedpliment from the king. He had been extremely impressed by what he had seen here today. "Now, if you are able to carry this body with you I will let you keep the core. It is more valuable than you believe and we can afford to separate from the core if you do the lifting."


    The king asked this from Walker who had just released the ice in to water all at once. The main reason being, because he had seen Walker using the inventory and was sure that Walker could store the silver golems'' body and carry it up to the processing area without worry.


    "I will take that deal. But can we rest first? I think Gil and I just used all of our mana." Walker sat and leaned against the golems'' body. "I can''t believe we just ended up in a trap like that. The slime breeder expected us. He must have learned from the purple slime incident and called for the slimes he had developed to leave and return to him."


    "That means there are more yellow lord slimes. That makes me feel less good." Remey was less than happy to say the least at this realization.


    "That slime had the body possession skill. If it were to do that to anything else¡­" Gil caught his breath and reflected on what Walker had said to them when he had appraised it all.


    The release of stress as audible in every single one of them who they rxed and breathed out.


    "Now the dwarves should be able to exterminate the slimes easily, but I think you may end up keeping some." Walker nced at Reney.


    "Of course, they will keep some. The acid in the yellow slimes'' bodies is super valuable for alchemy and maybe even some forging techniques. I think the alchemists will learn this soon." Remey was not going to allow the slimes to go to waste. She looked at the king of the deep caves with all seriousness.


    "I can make a vote on that. But first. I would like to explore around a bit. I have the feeling there is more here." The kings'' smile showed that he had investigates simr mines often. He was already walking around chancing fallen rocks and the dents from the golem''s arms.


    Sooner than they expected the king let out a surprised grunt and knelt down on the ground. "I told you there would be more. I just found a very valuable treasure." The kingughed as he looked in to the small crater left by the silver golems'' arms.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 609 - 609. Dwarf Honor

    Walker gathered his energy and stood up again, He was a little wobbly on his feet since he could still feel the bacsh from constantly putting out mana to manipte the ice. He stopped using the golem body like a back rest since he had stood up and stored it awaypletely. He went to each piece of the limbs and did the same until he finally went to the crater the king was so intrigued by.


    He found that the crater had broken in to a silver vein that had a lot of strange silver balls around it. Walker didn''t even hesitate to use the all around appraisal skill to see what it was all about.??


    '' Silver skinned worm egg


    The steel skinned worm is aptly named steel due to the ores it has mixed within its'' body through its'' life. The silver skinned worm is a much rarer species of steel skinned worm that has only ever fed on silver. One out of a thousand eggs will survive incubation to then slowly grow from the size of a normal earth worm to a massive silver skinned worm. Unlike normal steel skinned worms that shed when their outer skins begin to rust the silver skinned worms will shed very fineyers of tarnished silver skin. Raising a silver skinned worm is considered a great honor and show of wealth to any dwarf.''


    "They only survive one in a thousand eggs. That is really tough¡­" Walker was amazed that such a species was so rare. However he remembered that Onyx would never have even hatched if he hadn''t been exposed to light elemental mana properly.


    "There have only been three in thest two hundred years and this mine could feed one for half of its'' life at least. I will be keeping that golems'' body for these possible silver skinned worm beauties. I will make it work your while to carry out the silver ore I am about to mine. Take your rest." The king was smiling like a crazy person. The inner miner within him had be fixated on the silver and possible pet that would make him the most prominent king let alone dwarf in the entire kingdom for at least a hundred years.


    Gil watched the interaction and witnessed the look of worrye over Walkers'' face. "Just let him be. He seems like he has boundless energy like a certain alchemical brawler we know." Remey red at Gil but remained focused on the colorless slime body parts she had begun to gather from the ground.


    Shepletely ignored Gil as she brought them to Walker who was able to store them away since some of the parts had been frozen andpletely destroyed. The only properties left would have to be discovered by Remey.


    "I want to try and figure out what made that thing work. It had no elemental affinity like the other slimes but it still had its'' own mana to use skills andmunicate with that slime breeder." Remey had a feeling that the slime body was able to use and put out all forms of elemental mana which would make it the best possible stabilizer for very reactive potion ingredients.


    "If it could do that why was it only using those skills? The other slimes had much better than that...It might not be a slime that can possibly exist without being specifically made by a slime breeder. Think about it, the purple and yellow slimes can probablye to being naturally. But a colorless slime? No chance." Walkers'' theory gained nods from Gil and Remeu who were bothing to a simr conclusion.


    "Midnight, what are you dragging?" Remey noticed that Midnight was lulling at something round and silver.


    "That''s the golems'' head. It must have fallen off without the slime to hold it together. Man, it looks so weird. It never had eyes or a brain or anything. It was just a weird head shaped ball of silver." Gil poked at the head with the end of his bow curiously.


    " I wonder if there is anything unique about it?" Walker was very curious about the golems'' head. It was strangely smaller than it had been on the golem as if it had shrunk and condensed somehow after being defeated.


    ''Condensed silver golem head


    The lost head of an immature silver golem. It is partially hollow on the inside making it perfect for armor. Only a skilled forge master has the proper ability to turn it in to a nearly unbreakable helm. The silver condensed to a significant toughness and runes can easily beyered upon it to lighten the weight to nearly zero. With proper care, the golem head can be fused with a mana gem to store mana gathered from the air.''


    Walker read this out and all four of them thought about this with one person in mind. "Do you think Su wants to wear a helm?" Gil looked at Walker with a wide grin.


    "Even if she doesn''t we need to find a forge master to finish it so we can use it when we need to. Protecting someones'' head in battle can really make a difference." Remey could only remember all the times she had hit a monster in the head with her fists and knew that this was a huge safety boon for the party.


    "The wandering cksmith...have we ever actually asked him what system he has? He can use runes and make mana crystals which I have never seen a normal cksmith do." Gil was running through all the memories he had of the cksmiths they had met.


    "Hey king, can cksmiths use runes and make mana crystals along with craft with any materials?" Remey didn''t hesitate to shout the questions at the king of the deep caves who was busy digging through stones and silver.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 610 - 610. Slime Core Collections

    "Huh? What kind of question is that? A cksmith can only work with materials dependent on their system. Rune smith, crystal smith, we even have a gear smith. But using all of that you would need a master system like the forge master system. They can do all that and much more. It is basically mastery over anything that can be forged." The king didn''t even pause the process of separating the silver skinned worm eggs from the silver vein to answer.


    "Huh, so the wandering cksmith must be pretty special then," Remey smirked at her choice to ask the king. Walker and Gil both felt that if they had asked they would not have received such a prompt answer. Instead, they would have ended up waiting for an answer that would not havee. ??


    "Alright then, let''s store this away. Great find Midnight." Walker went to pat her on the head but found that she pulled away and looked at him hungrily. "And I have to reward you of course because only a wise dragon like you would have found such a useful crafting material."


    Midnight reacted by puffing her chest and closing her eyes. She was weak to the praise but even weaker to the pieces of cooked horned rabbit Walker pulled from his inventory. She immediately settled in to devour them.


    "You''ve got food!? Get it out then!" The king dropped his pick axes in an x shape over the hole he was digging and grabbed a piece of meat from Walker. "I swear. Those surface buffoons never send down the good stuff like this. They always say that we should hunt our own down here. They know nothing of how bad the monsters down here taste."


    Walker was sure that the monsters didn''t taste as bad as the king made them sound since some of them appeared very soft and easily seasoned like the pale smanders. Yet he also understood that someone could only eat so much of one thing for so long before bing very tired of it.


    With a loud moring, the fire fighting dwarves came in and dropped their gear down to sit with the rest of them. They had somehow heard and smelled the food forcing Walker to pull more from his inventory. It wasn''t that he didn''t have enough since he had a great deal saved for when he was able to get back to the guild to sell it. But he was taken so off guard that he wasn''t sure what to do.


    "I''m pretty sure dwarves are gluttons. They can eat like three times their body weight in food." Gil whispered to Walker since this was a rumor he had heard about dwarf es that appeared to being true.


    "Bah! Stop talking nonsense. We just need more energy to mine all day, unlike humans that are trapped thinking instead of acting." The king easily disputed this but Waker was sure that they had some special ability to eat more.


    The dwarven fire fighter exined how they had noticed the yellow slimes suddenly lose their focus and start to fall from the ceiling and in to the water. They had wisely gathered over thirty of the yellow acid slime cores from the water and held them within a tough fire proof bag they carried. They were kind enough to gift these to Remey who told them about her ns to experiment with alchemy and how their endeavors would aid in them.


    After some time the king eventually decided he had gathered all he needed and returned to the group resting. "Let''s head up to the merchant district and meet my fellow king at the high forge. I need to have equipment made to fight off those slimes and order for the alchemists to begin making more of the potions to fight off the slimes. Just because they are not controlled does not been they are safe to be around."


    The king was not stupid and knew that this may have been the only rest he would get for some time. He had used it to procure a dream of every dwarf and mentally prepare for the tasks toe. Since the slimes were useful for alchemy he would notpletely exterminate them, however, he was nning to eradicate as many in the underground as possible.


    "Oh, I am going to gather a few things as we go. But I was wondering if you would use your authority to set aside space to start farming the herbs needed for the basic potion before we went up to the next level." Remey was sure that the king would start this and was d to see his nod to her. He had no reason not to but he couldn''t help himself to think about how wise Remey was for getting it started now instead ofter.


    The main reason she wanted this was because she wanted to make sure that the dwarves could easily make her potion before the party ended up leaving the city and heading back home. There was also the fact that she didn''t want it to be something that got caught up in some political argument for power.


    Walker was a little surprised by Remeys'' actions but knew that they were the right course of action. When they got back to the still water Remey had Walker take out many vials and they all began to fill them with algae. "I have no idea how these are monsters. They are too small and harmless looking." Gil held up one of the pale smanders he had found hiding in the algae. It met him without resistance and just let him hold it.


    "Hm? That would be because they have the ability to create mucus with many different effects based on the algae they eat. One can even knock you out to sleep for days at a time." The king said this as Gil dropped the pale smander back in to the water swearing he would not touch one again.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 611 - 611. Smiths

    As the group slowly made their way through the same passageways and crossings that they had gone down before they managed to encounter some lost yellow slimes. The reason they were being ssified as lost was the fact that they all seemed to be aimless in their movements.


    The slimes had been ced in the caves by the slime breeder and now left to be alone and do anything their instincts told them to do. They wandered looking for metals and ores while some were able to be gathered and corralled by the miners and merchant district citizens. They were easy targets to get rid of and the fire fighter dwarves were able to defeat any that even crossed their paths.??


    "So, what were the skills you used to fire all those arrows?" Walker finally had the chance to ask Gil this while they walked through the intersection from much earlier.


    Gil had been waiting for this since he was very excited himself about the skills he had learned. "I got some multi shot skills, triple shot, and quad shot. I just kept going while letting my body take over. The weird part was that the bow was reacting too." Gil was still very confused about what had happened with the bows'' reaction and felt that it was best to just t out tell Walker what he had felt.


    "I noticed some of the wind elemental mana while you were firing the arrows. I thought you had used a new skill but if it was the bow that''s even better. We were told that eventually with enough mana, you would be able to help the spirit inside wake up and make their own body again." Walker thought this was the best case scenario for the bow. He wanted the spirit to wake up and speak with them.


    "That could be why I felt so drained of mana. It really doesn''t take a lot of my mana to activate the arrows before I fire them but after the battle I was really on myst points¡­" Gil was realizing that he had most likely supplied a lot more mana to the bow than he had meant to while he focused and fell in to his trance. "Oh, and I am out of water elemental arrows for a little while. I need to make more."


    "We should have time for that no problem. I''m sorry you didn''t have the chance to use the wither spike arrows you filled with the basic potion. I know you put all the work in just to watch a different slime fuse in to a golem." Walker could only think about how much of a waste it was but at least Gil would be able to empty them.


    "I think I can still use them. The yellow slimes are still around and with our luck we will run in to a few more. Plus they might be useful as some kind of poison arrow anyways. Your potion causes basic burns to most people when concentrated, right Remey?" Gil looked at Remey who has just joined them again after grabbing some bat wing leaves she saw while they walked.


    "Sure. I don''t see why you can''t. They would really mess up anything you use them on, especially monsters with tough skin but weak insides." Remey was thinking of the orcs they may run in to on the way out of the dwarf city to return to their home.


    Gil was d to hear this and decided he would let the arrows be. "Speaking of crafting, we need to learn more about spirit crafting now, don''t we." Gil knew that this was a goal they had so they could mend the issues between the dwarves and elves.


    "Yes, I was going to ask at the high forge when we went to talk to grey about golems and the cores we have since we somehow ended up with a few." Walker was assuming the high forge as the center of all forging would be the best ce to gather the most information about the spirit forging systems and understand the reasoning why the dwarves used spirits forcefully.


    "You mentioned ya were going to the high forge again. If it''s to see Grey that makes sense. He had a decent number of apprentices since he is the current master golem builder. He sends those apprentices out all the time to gather materials. They hate it since they can''t just stay and learn, but it is the price they pay to learn." The king had been listening as they walked and found it interesting that they were speaking about Grey.


    "We have gathered a few golem cores unintentionally through our travels and have nothing to do with them. I was going to sell them for the party to have some gold but with all the things we have done it is not the best use for them and we have a decent amount of gold anyways. Not to mention, we met one of the apprentices at an auction. Well, they bought some things and then left but I caught them on the way out."


    The king smirked a little, "That sounds like the apprentices. They rush out get the materials and rush back to their own projects. They make some of the golems but that is how we get new things around here. That little annoying golem that guides everyone around is a creation of one of the younger apprentices. He specializes in smaller gears, I think his system is the shrinking gear smith?" The king tried to remember for sure.


    "That sounds like he is shrinking himself. Although, it probably means he is shrinking gears." Remey was more than amused by the way the system sounded however, she was soon back to being confused. The entire gear smithing aspect of the dwarves was more than confusing for all of them since they were not used to the concept of the dwarven machines. It would be a long lesson in the high forge.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 612 - 612. Rare Treasure

    "Sir hero, We have been able to repel any slimes that havee near the processing facility. They appear to be less aggressive." The royal guard saw The group as soon as they came in to view of the processing area. The golems that had been patrolling also appeared to be expanding their patrol range.


    "That''s because we dealt with the pain that was making them that way. Head on up and report to your superior that I aming to the high forge. I want that surface dweller there as soon as possible. We three are having a meeting. And if they dare say that we can''t tell them that it is my authority as king of the deep caves." ??


    The king of the deep caves spoke as if he were ordering the movement of an army. The royal guard stood taller and did not dare say anything other than yes before rushing away toward the passageway to the merchant district. "That''s the first time I have ever called a meeting. It is always that king in the middle there. He thinks he is way more important than anything else."


    "Why the meeting? Don''t you need to be here to repair the processing facilities and continue taking back mines?" Remey was interested in what would push the hard headed king to do something it was clear he didn''t like.


    "Your party has an alliance you want us all to join right? And something about mending ways with those stingy elves? I also have to make sure I show my face after those golems were sent here. They are already moving off to take down more slimes. Do you think any of us told them to do that? It was an order from the middle king."


    Walker could tell the king of the deep caves was not the most excited to head upwards since he enjoyed the mines. However, it was kind of him to think of them and the things they needed after helping them. "Thank you. I remember hearing that you three rarely had meetings and it is an honor that you would make an exception for us."


    "No exception, just good reason." The king walked away on to the processing area where a lot of nking and banging was being made.


    "Huh, so we dealt with that crazy thing and now we are right back in to something else. I wonder if dwarves sleep." Gil had realized that they had yet to see any resting dwarves or even been told about the possibility of rest.


    "I heard that they are always working but I thought it was a rumor." Remey was starting to believe the stereotype that she had heard as a child.


    "Well, I think it might be harder for them to have a normal body clock since they don''t really go to the surface. I wonder if they just work until they are tired then sleep." Walker had also noticed this and just assumed that they would work until tired then sleep without any set aside time to rest.


    "Are youing? I want to show off our prize!" The king yelled for Walker toe in to the processing area.


    When the group entered they found that Midnight had rushed past them and was helping push aside arge work table with a group of dwarves. The other three hadn''t even noticed she wasn''t with them because she had been taking advantage of the case to better practice her shadow wrapping skill. Even Walker would sometimes lose her when he was using his ability to sense mana. She was very good at using the skill as ofte.


    "We cleared the space here. Put it here and let them all see it." The king gestured to the miners, processors, and families of miners who were moring for a view of what Walker was about to show off to them. Not many had seen spatial magic since only a few had items capable of spatial storage which was expensive and very rare.


    Walker couldn''t help but start to get energized seeing so many people were waiting to see their victory. He stood at the edge of the open space and removed the immature golem body from the inventory. He also took out the arms and legs even though two were very damaged and hard to recognize as the limbs other than that they were made of condensed silver.


    The group of miners had many shouts and gasps seeing the pure silver that hade from the mine. They had all been eager to mine the silver mine since before the slimes took root and now they would have the chance to go and explore it. "That''s not all, I have something better!"


    The king stood atop the golems main body and ced a bad down. "The golem broke in to a vein of silver. Inside were these rare treasures!" The king spilled the bag of tiny silver skinned worm eggs. "Grab the stock of pet contract scrolls. Every miner will be allowed a chance to raise one. Any who are lucky enough to have pone hatch will be allowed to mine the silver mine. No other will be allowed inside!"


    The massive boost in morale was a very wise decision from the king. He had just taken many hard hits from the slimes and the monsters were fearful and hurt. They did not want to return to the new dangers in the mines which had imed some of their brothers and sisters. The king grabbed one and pulled a scroll from his belt.


    "I activate this pet contract in the name of Reinhardt the king of the deep caves!" The scroll glowed and faded to dust while the egg in the kings'' hand took the glow of mana and a small silver worm tattoo appeared on his arm. This was the partys'' second time seeing a scroll with stored magic.


    "That''s right, the dwarves make almost all the scrolls that can store magic in their city¡­" Walker remembered this as he saw many dwarves rushing to im their eggs and to go grab scrolls.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 613 - 613. Secrets And Support

    "I see I managed to cause all of you some surprise." The king of the deep had allowed the other dwarves to grab their chances at fame and honor. While he had already formed his own pet contract with the egg of his choosing.


    "That may have been one of the wisest decisions we have seen a ruler make. You found the perfect way to encourage the miners to go out and explore along with giving them a chance to rise well beyond their current standing in the entirety of their people. You won''t need to worry about the fact that they won''t begin to return to work."Walker couldn''t stop himself from speaking his mind.??


    "Ya think I would be a king if I only cared for myself? I may be a dwarf but I do hold pride in dwarves and not self interest. But I did choose the best looking egg." The king held out a slightlyrger egg that Walker used the all around appraisal skill on.


    ''Contracted silver skinned work egg


    This egg is part of a pet contract with the dwarf known as the king of the deep caves; Reinhardt. The silver skinned wormrva inside is close to the hatching phase of its'' lifecycle and requires dense earth elemental mana to condense its'' first skiing and break the silver egg shell. This specificrva has a unique bloodline within its'' body; Cave carving worm.''


    Walker didn''t say a word but instead looked at the king. "Can the dwarves appraise monster eggs or monsters like this?" The king narrowed his eyes at this simple sounding question that had nearly no rtion to what they were talking about.


    "We do have some tamers and breeders system, but they can not appraise the eggs normally. They need the egg to hatch and at the very least can appraise the species of the egg along with helpful hints as to how to hatch the egg faster...why?"


    This was what Walker wanted to hear. He had a feeling that the all around appraisal skill could tell him more because it was not a specified or appraisal kill. Sometimes it would give him little information. He had used it on an apple before and received a fairly basic response from the system. But now he used it and got a very unique response that a very unique appraisal system would need to receive.


    "If I told you I knew a secret about the worm within that egg and also a way to hatch it, what would you give?" This was a dangerous gamble to make. The king had already called for a meeting which he disliked immensely. But now Walker was pushing him with something that he would want more than anything, it was a dwarven dream to raise such a rare pet. Even more, Walker had said there was a secret.


    The king of the deep caved pushed Walker and the others a distance away from the dwarves that were raving about their eggs and how they would be the next masters of silver skinned worms. They needed a ce slightly out of the way to speak. The other dwarves wouldn''t dare to bother the king when he looked busy.


    "Name your price and I will decide if I find it worth it." The king said this in a deep and harsh tone that showed how careful Walker needed to be with his demands.


    "For the hatching method and the secret I want to ask for something I feel only a king would have power to help us with. I want to full the process of making a spiritual weapon or armor along with a spirit cksmith or forgerer. I also want to have your unconditional support to change this process."


    "These are within the power I have. But are you prepared to push back against nearly every dwarf here?" Walker understood that the king was saying this because the spirit forging process was considered one of the greatest secrets andbined goals of the dwarven race. It would eventually lead them to a sentient weapon.


    "Yes, if I can change it, it could lead your spirit forging methods to the end goal along with uniting elves and dwarfs. I have a theory that I wish to apply. One that I think dwarves are too stubborn for and elves have been too cautious to attempt." Walker had felt an oveing revtion about the spirits and what made dwarves and elves different. He was sure he could at the very least change the way the dwarves went about spirit forging.


    "Then I agree on my title as king of the deep caves, now, I swear on my soul and my system."


    ''Reinhardt; King of the deep caves has sworn upon his soul and system to the true hero, Walkers'', proposal. This is upheld by the will of the world and can not be broken.''


    Walker and the king saw this system notification and Walker held a hand to the king to shake. The two gave each other the respect of brothers in this moment. It was not something one would take lightly. The king was pushing for his people and his very standing with them, while the hero had their own goals for the good of all.


    "You need very dense earth elemental mana. Therva inside is trying to make its first skin to hatch and without the mana it will fail to break the silver shell of its'' egg." The king shed a look of wonder and nodded carefully while holding himself back for Walker to exin the secret he had mentioned.


    "This silver skinned worm, in particr, is more than that. It has the blood of an ancient cave carving worm. I may not know what king of ancient monster that was but I have the feeling that as a dwarven king of the deep caves you know much more than I do."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 614 - 614. Cave Carving Worm

    The king started to stumble back slightly causing Remey and Gil to grab his arms and stabilize him. They had a slight bit of trouble since it felt like they had just tried to pull a bolder. The king had a significant amount of muscle from many years of mining and he was hard to budge intentionally.


    Walker watched as the kings'' mouth moved but no words came out. Just rushed air and slight wheezing. "Walker, you broke a king. You aren''t supposed to break the rulers that are helpful to us. I don''t even know any mind clearing or mind mending potion recipes since they were always so rare to need and the old man never taught me." ??


    Remey had be extremely worried. She was confident when Walker and the king came to an agreement. However, now she worried that the king who had favored her and even be friendly with her waspletely mind broken. Walker, on the other hand, could tell the king was processing his words and was too focused to care for reality at the moment.


    Midnight came rushing over due to themotion and pushed the king forward in to a proper bnce standing. "Don''t worry the king is just thinking a lot. I shocked him a little with a surprise. You looked like you were having fun with the dwarves who picked out their potential pets."


    Midnight rxed and nodded her head, However, Walker saw her longingly eyeing thest few eggs yet to be chosen. "I know you want to have another sibling like Onyx, but these need a very unique care and time to raise. They are more at home here in the dwarven kingdom. Plus, you already have Onyx and everyone at home, and the party." Walker knew she wanted another sibling.


    "Should we be worried that Midnight always wants another little brother or sister?" Gil had started to catch on to a trend.


    "Wouldn''t you? Su and you are both only children. I''m sure you wished for a sibling at one point. Onyx is a great little brother but he grew up really fast and often guides us all in a way. Midnight probably just wanted to have a bigger happier family with a younger sibling she can protect. But she can do that with Lisa to a degree since Lisa might need an escort to look for some materials one day."


    Walker knew this was a very probable possibility since Lisa had a lot of energy and would one day need certain materials toplete quests. This was what had happened to some of the cksmiths they had met before who needed to craft with dragon scales to move forward in their system quests.


    Midnight shook her head a little with a huff as she had more to it. Unfortunately, Walker couldn''t try and guess because the king came back to reality.


    "The first dwarf ever was thought to have raised a worm sorge that they created endless cave systems that brought treasures from the core of the world when it dug. The blood you just named is from that very species of worm. Do you know what this could mean for my people? This is something that hasn''t been seen in too many years to count." The king seemed to be out of breath as he spoke. His heart was racing wildly.


    "That exins the reaction then. I guess the all around appraisal skill really showed me something good." Walker was very happy to find that it was such a valuable piece of information to the king.


    "Those slimes may not be pests after all. I need earth elemental mana crystals now. I need as many as I can get. The stores were eaten by slimes though. How long do you think it has?" The king was in a rush to make sure the worm was not dying as he spoke.


    Walker moved his hand and a small crate of earth elemental crystals appeared. From his inventory. He had kept them for Gil to make some arrows out of if the need arose, but this seemed to be a more valuable situation. "Perfect, then I will also factor this in to our deal. I will pay you back in full and then some."


    The king ced the silver skinned worm egg inside and there was a slight fluctuation in the earth elemental crystals. The mana was seeping out and heading in to the silver skinned worm egg. The process was slow but it was clear that this was the correct judgment. "I will be taking this with me everywhere I go until it hatches. Now, we should head to the high forge and take care of business."


    The king had decided that it had been enough time to stop and rest for them all. There was a great deal of thinking that needed to be done and he wanted to leave the miners to their own ends for a while. They were all too distracted by the silver skinned worm eggs and seeing their families again.


    "Perfect, we can go up and see what Su has been up to. I bet she had a lot to share with us." Remey was d that she and Midnight would be able to get Su back with the group. They both had missed having her around as the third female group member.


    On the other hand, Walker and Gil were d to head back toward Onyx as their third male group member. At the end of the day, they were all d that the full party would be in one ce again. It was a strange feeling being apart and going to battle. They had been together constantly for months now and already considered each other family. It was as if they were missing a part of their own bodies when the others were not around.


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 Chapter 615 - 615. Leg Up

    "The guards and golems are reporting that the slimes are disoriented! Any able bodied dwarf is to join the extermination in the living quarters and side tunnels!" One dwarf burst in to the medical area and shouted. Many of the injured that only had minor injuries moved to their feet and rushed out.


    "My party must have found the colorless slime that had been controlling them. They should arrive soon. Do you think you can handle things? I will assist in preparing from more injured whoe back from fighting the disorganized slimes." Su had realized instantly that there would be newly injured in a short while. ??


    "Of course. You have been a savior here so far. You may not have a nurse system or a surgeon system but you are sure to be remembered as one here." One of the dwarven doctors Su had been assisting for thest few hours was already reliant on her. He had found Su was there with every tool or bandaging material needed.


    There was a loud movement as one of the royal guards rushed in, "I am looking for the two hero party members!" The royal guard had been shouting this through most of the medical area since the king of the middle had ordered him to find them as soon as possible.


    "Yes, is everything alright?" Su knew that if anything happened Walker would have contacted her and Onyx as soon as possible.


    "The king requires your presence as soon as possible. There have been developments that would require your presence." Su had a feeling that this was directly rted to the slimes change in behavior and was a little more rxed to hear that there wasn''t an ongoing emergency.


    "Please lead the way." Su made sure Onyx was firmly on her shoulder and headed out of the medical area. She still wanted to help with the many that were suffering from the slimes acid burns but she knew that those working on the tasks now were the best the dwarves had to offer.


    She followed the royal guard out of the medical area and back to the main section of the building where the king had returned and was checking various orbs that gave him sight in to what the golems were doing. "Good, you made it back. I received a report that your fellow heroes were returning. They are also returning with the king of the deep caves who has called a meeting of the three kings. That cave rat never calls meetings so it should be important."


    Su could only think that Walker had found something incredibly important and convinced the king of the deep caves. However, as she began to formte her response she saw the party chat function sh and give her a message from Walker. She quickly read it and understood what had happened along with a few details.


    "My party is returning since they were able to defeat the slime controlling the yellow acidic slimes. Remey also has joined with the dwarven fire fighters to create a way to consistently battle the slimes. However, I rmend that some are detained to be materials for alchemy potions since they will help immensely." Su knew giving this information to the king would put her in his good graces even further.


    "That sounds like a very good idea for our merchant district to make new alchemists our acquaintances." The king was d that the hero would share this with him. It was a gift that he could use to rebuild many damaged parts of the merchant district and the entire city. It would generate a massive amount of gold from other kingdoms.


    "The king of the surface will be down here shortly. We will meet at the table of diamond and have our meeting. I have received a quest to prepare the room and listen to your words first." This was a slight surprise for Su and she began to believe that there was the kings'' ploy to get information before the other kings.


    "I can request a few things but you already know the overall goal of the party. We want you to join the Genesis alliance and make amends with the elves through any means necessary. That would be the ideal situation for everyone." Su didn''t even flinch after realizing that the king wanted to have the leg up on the other two kings. However, only she knew that Walker and the king of the deep cave had a world approved deal.


    "Then follow me. They will arrive within the hour." The king moved toward a wall and lightly tapped his hammer upon it. The wall started to click and groan as it opened up to reveal a normal entry way.


    "See I knew you would be trying to steal away one of the heroes. If I had not had one of my golems carry me down at the fastest speed I would be left in the dust. Where is that miner? He called a meeting interruption my new patrol ns. I have slimes to destroy on the surface." The king of the surface arrived at the same moment catching the king of the middle in the act.


    "Of course you rushed here. Well, he''s not here and neither are the other heroes. We don''t know why the meeting is called and the slime sare in disarray now. Apparently, their controller is defeated. Now we can meet. Hurry in." The look of annoyance from the king of the middle was clear. It was easy to tell that the three kings governed different parts of the city for a reason.


    "I knew gambling on your party was with it. You have some respect. But if this meeting is not worth the time I lose I will have to ban you from the entry to the city." The king of the surface said this in a monotone voice.


    "You ban so many from the city every year. How do you even keep track." Su had the feeling that this was going to be the normal bickering from the kings for the entirety of the meeting.


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 Chapter 616 - 616. Harsh Terms

    Su was instantly understanding of why this was called the table of diamond. There was a table carved from thergest diamond Su had ever seen. The triangr table was made so that each of the kings would be able to equally look at the others. It was a way for them to stay on equal ground.


    The room otherwise had painted pictures of past kings along with a few disyed ores and armors that marked the historical milestones of the dwarven city. "This is where we kings meet. It is more of a tradition than anything else. But it means a lot. Not many havee within these walls that were not dwarves."??


    The king of the surface was sure to point out the rarity. It wasn''t to be cruel but to make a point that a hero was a presence the dwarves saw with respect. "Thank you for your trust." Su made sure to respond with her own respect. However, she was lucky not to be kept entertaining the two other kings for long.


    "Su, we are back." Walker was being pushed in to the room but the king of the deep caves. Gil, Remey, and Midnight were right behind them. Su was curious about the item that Remey carried with her.


    "You two inferior kings must have been bothering this youngdy and honorable serpent. But don''t worry, I can make this quick. We are joining the Genesis alliance and giving the heroes full ess to the spirit forging process and if they so choose they may change the process." The king of the deep caves instantly brought anger and rage to the faces of the other kings.


    "They are not allowed to do such things. That is against ourws. They are not even dwarves!" The king of the surface was very set that they would not change any forging processes. It was a respect privilege of the dwarves that invented and learned these processes.


    "I have not spoken to the people or even made a final decision. You are just some miner. I represent the merchant district and the interests of the people. You do not stand above me!" The king of the middle was extremely angry at this. He liked to believe he was the most dominant king due to his standing with the people.


    "Fine. Then the mines will cease work indefinitely and we will begin our own mercantile operation to the Genesis city. We have our own golems, processing nt and the heroes have a personal deal with me as king. Not to mention the only experienced extermination squad using uniquely altered tools to exterminate the acid slimes. Ah yes, and the silver skinned worm that will be hatching from this egg here. Don''t worry, it has an ancient carver worm blood line so I will be named the king above all dwarves soon."


    The other two kings found themselves more than just backed in to a corner. The king of the deep had called a meeting which was extremely rare. Furthermore, he had spoken words thatpletely pinned them down. The threat topletely separate from the other two levels was even more intimidating. Each king had the right to do this and there was once a major dispute that nearly caused this in the past history.


    "If you are on edge about joining the Genesis alliance there will be a summit soon. The dwarven kings are all wee. The great respect that the king of the deep caves has shown us while joining in the battle against a lord colorless slime with the possession skill has proven to be a valuable life experience." Gil and Remey mirrored Walkers'' nod to the king of the deep caves. Midnight even lowered her head slightly to make the point even greater.


    "I will go to the summit then decide my final decision there. But why would you want to change the spirit forging process?" The king of the surface was the most logical of the two. He constantly designed the safety precautions of those that could and could not enter the city. The paths the golems took to patrol for monsters. And so many more aspects of safety for the entire dwarven people.


    "Let me ask this question based on a theory I have. Can any dwarf speak to spirits and understand what they say?" all three dwarf kings'' eyes grew wide. Not a single document or record ever spoke of a dwarf that had a system that allowed them to speak to spirits. They had always believed this as the elves'' fantasy.


    "I take it as a no. The elves have issues with the dwarves crafting spirits in to weapons. It may be a rare urrence that costs a soul to be burned but I think that is where things are wrong. The spirits are forced in to it. Why not change the process? The dwarves never worked with the elves due to their personality differences and had never tried to forge something together.


    "You want us to wee in those hermits from the forest to our forges so they can whisper to a spirit and attempt to let us forge something? Are you from this world? Elves are not part of this process which dwarves have practiced and refined for many years." The king of the middle was still stubborn.


    "And as a result, I now wield a bow with a spirit trapped inside. No freedom and no way to express themselves. All I can do is hope that one day I will supply enough mana for it to have a body again and some freedom. Do you think a wind spirit deserves to be trapped?" Gil wasn''t able to hold his words and feelings in any longer. After feeling the bow stir in his hands earlier in battle he needed to speak out.


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 Chapter 617 - 617. Many Quests

    Walker ced a hand on Gils'' shoulder. He knew that Gil had been bonding with the bow more and more every day. It was clear that it had reached a point that even he had not expected it to.


    What Gil is conveying is, how would you feel to be trapped and need to hope that someone else provided you with mana?"??


    Walker paused while the kings who were a little shaken by Gils'' outburst thought. When he continues he decided to be a little more held back, " When we were with the elves we learned that the elemental spirits can freely influence elemental mana of their type. If they can do this, wouldn''t it be wise to speak with them and work together with the spirit smiths to make a weapon? Then maybe someone wouldn''t need to burn away their soul to fuel a weapon?"


    The kings were again silent. The king of the deep caves had ex[pected a lot of things but the details in which the heroes were trying to change was not one of them. The way he had taken it was that they could partner with the elves andpletely change the way they went about forging. However, this was a lot more bonding anding together than he expected.


    The king of the surface ced a hand on the diamond table and looked at Walker and Gil. "I will support this. But I want you two to work with the spirit smiths personally. I want you alchemist to teach that potion and exin the tool you modified there. Also, I have heard that dragons can assist in some crafting. It may not be my expertise, but I believe this people pleaser does."


    The king of the middle was red faced and furious but he did not stop listening. He knew that if he let himself fallpletely to his emotions then he would end up being a bane of his people instead of a pir. " I will agree to a summit. I will not join so fast. I do not want to allow you to change the process. The smiths themselves have that respect right and THEY can change the process. If the potion and tools are given then I will allow you to work with them."


    This was a very slow spoken sentence but it was only a portion of what the king of the middle was saying, "The dragon fire idea is pleasant. The dragons used to visit and assist in forging when they needed something. But that is few and far between. Having a little dragon to help would not be bad, that is a requirement I ask of you." The kings all knew how different the fires used to forge something could make the oue of the forged item.


    Midnight was standing taller and taller. She like the sound of the dwarves needing her and wanting her skills to create something they could not. It perfectly yed in to her pride as a dragon.


    "Also, your fellow hero Su and Onyx have been requested back at the medical area. Apparently, she is better hands than some of the new nurses. I am not sure how she managed it but they seem to think she will save more lives by their side than doing anything else." The king of the middle said this with arge amount of disbelief. However, he could not argue what his system notifications were telling him.


    '' Genesis alliance quest: Visit and assist the Dwarven kingdom. -pleted


    The dwarven kingdom is not currently allied with the Genisis alliance. The kingdom is also facing a threat in its depths. The yellow acid slimes are eating away at their mines crippling their production and education. Assist them and their people to rid this pest and extend an olive branch.


    Requirement:


    Assist in the extermination of yellow slimes


    Meet with the three Dwarven kings and invite them to join the alliance.


    Invite them to a summit with the Genisis alliance


    Rewards:


    1000exp multiplied to 10000 exp


    Unique privileges within the city of Genesis. To be given by Genisis alliance leaders upon the construction of Genesis city.''


    Walker knew that this was the full eptance of the king of the middle. He had epted the summit and they had fulfilled the quest requirements.


    ''Race quest: Dwarves and Elves


    The dwarves and elves are two opposing races. They do not harbor hate but they do not work together. Due to the creation of a new alliance, they will be brought together and have the chance to be bonded.


    Requirement:


    Find the true path of spirit forging


    Rewards:


    500exp


    Unique True hero quest


    Unique hero quests''


    Walker was d to see thepleted quest but was taken back by the fact that another quest had been issued immediately after. He thought that there would be a quest but not a quest that would directly reward them with unique quests. He could tell that the rest of the party was also a little stunned but recovered fairly quickly. What was more interesting were the looks on the three kings'' faces.


    "Well, it appears I need to return to the mines and begin to work a little harder. I will have the materials you heroes need." The king of the deep caves thought that the party had received a quest notification about the quest he got.


    "I will allow you the ess you need. Please work hard with our cksmiths. I can not fight the world if it desires me to assist you." The king of the middle had received a quest to allow them all ess and assistance to the spirit forging. It was due to the future of his people and he could not argue against it.


    "I have no idea why you heroes require three hundred golems but I can make that happen in a month. They wille with us to the city of Genesis as you and the world desires." The king of the surface was already out of his seat and heading out. All that was left was the confusion the party had.


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 Chapter 618 - 618. What Quest?

    Walker relied on Onyx to pass on the conversation without alerting the two remaining kings. "Why did the system send them a notification to gather materials and build golems?" Walker could tell it must be for a big reason but it didn''t make any sense at the moment.


    "We are going to be forging with them so we might need some materials for that. I think the miners will be the main providers." Gil could make this part out easily. The king of the deep caves would be the best person to ask for materials whether they were rare or not. ??


    "I can make a theory for the golems. If they are attending the summit having golems do the work is faster than having soldiers and other craftsmen that need rest. Golems also can lift more without danger." Su saw this as a great benefit. "The Genesis city building projects will progress much faster."


    "Well, there is still the sudden change that the king of the middle had. He was so easy to calm down after they all received some of the quests. I think they are more than we know." Walker wanted more information. The two kings they had theories for were easier to deal with but the king of the middle was the most stubborn.


    Before Walker could formte what to say Remey spoke out, "What quest did you receive? We know what the other two kings have but you are the one that is leaving us in the dark." Remey was blunt and forward with her words and even surprised the king of the middle.


    The king of the deep caves who was already up and about to leave stopped and smiled, "You see why I like this one? She is just as much a dwarf as we are." Theughter was deep and hearty which pushed the king of the middle even more.


    "You show up and make demands of me and my people but you also rushed in to danger and assisted us without too much question. I can bend a little here" The king of the middle seemed ready to give in. "The quest I received is called, the path to sentient weapons."


    This was the dream of every dwarf. It perfectly exined why the king of the middle would suddenly change his tune. There was no other way for him to suddenly switch his feelings. Walker was also surprised that the title of his quest was directly rted to the sentient weapons the dwarves wanted to achieve so badly. If that was the case then that meant the party would be able to make major advances in the pursuit.


    "Well, you can all go your own ways. I expect to hear some good news soon." The king of the deep caves walked right out of the room and was making a fast paced line right for the caves. Walker wanted to ask him what specific materials they were getting for them but he didn''t want to stop the king from making progress.


    "Agreed, please head out to where you desire to be. I have called every alchemist to the main alchemybs. My guards will escort you there." The king of the middle gave Remey a nod and a royal guard appeared at the door.


    "Sounds good to me. Here you go. This is the altered fire extinguishing equipment. I think Walker and Gil can bring it to the forge so that the dwarves can make more or even add them to your golems." Remey left the room as well.


    "There are many still injured that need me. Onyx, can youe with me again? The injured that couldn''t speak are your patients and can not be helped with out you." Su had grown to rely on Onyx in their healing efforts had yed arge role and moved tighter around Su''s shoulders.


    "Of course I will assist you. I believe there is no where better for me to be." Walker was proud of Onyx taking this position. He was sure to let Onyx feel this as well. Midnight also was showing Onyx a great amount of pride from her looks since she knew her little brother would rise up to do the best he could.


    "That leaves us." Gil was ready to head to the high forge after Su and Onyx headed out as well.


    "If I remember right you asked about Grey, right? There are a few things you should know about how he acts and the apprentices he sends out." The king of the middle was ready to send them on their way too but decided a warning was appropriate.


    "Is there something wrong? I am p[retty sure we saw him for a few moments?" Walker was sure that there wasn''t anything that appeared wrong with the dwarf golem builder when they saw him.


    "He is a normal golem builder. But when he gets in to something he has a very strange tendency to get out of hand. Thest time he was caught up with inspirations from some spider fangs he ended up creating a spider golem that spun copper wire as thread and created copper fabrics. It was an amazing creation but...It was also exactly like the spider it came from and often caught other golems in a web it made."


    Walker and Gil understood now. The golem builder Grey would make unique golems for sure. However, he would make them act realistically which could cause some harm. "Thank you for this. We will maintain our awareness around his unique golems. In the worst case, we will have Midnight nearby to assist us in keeping one at bay." Walker assured the king of this as he walked out as well.


    Midnight was very energetic and almost pranced her way out the door. She wanted to be the amazing dragon that came and shook the forge with new creations. Her memory of the tamers'' guild cksmiths echoing within her mind.


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 Chapter 619 - 619. Grey

    Walker, Gil, and Midnight followed a simr path they took all the way to the high forge. They noticed that there were many dwarves at work in the streets and buildings. Many were repairing steam pipes or fixing gears. The homes that were under repair mostly were being fitted with new metals doors after slimes had consumed them.


    There were even some dwarf children allowed to y out and about which made them much happier to see. The children were ying with small golem toys or even building things themselves. This was a much more normal activity for them than many would have guessed. Compared to the human kingdom the children would often spread out and do many different things. But here they yed with gears since they made up many of the tools they used. ??


    The high forge appeared to also be more active from the outside. Many younger looking dwarves were carrying various parts and tools from the outside. Walker could easily see that they were in charge of repairing a great deal of what had been damaged. It was also clear that many golem parts were being brought out and up to the surface for the king of the surface to use in making the three hundred golems.


    "Miss Midnight. My king has instructed me to lead you to the lower forge where the fire breathers and coal miners stoke the fires." The royal guard that had been left to wait at the entrance gave Midnight a high amount of respect which caused her to be even more joyful in her walk.


    "We will head inside first Midnight. I know we need to deal with the spirit forging, but I n to see that Grey who builds golems first. We did meet one of their apprentices." Walker had taken what the king of the middle had said seriously and knew that bringing the golem cores they had to Grey could lead to something very interesting.


    "Finally, I have been waiting to see this golem builder. You brought up the golem cores and the guy you met at the auction and it''s been killing me with curiosity." Gil was equally excited. Walker had made many attempts and remarks on the golems and the cores they had.


    "We have an undead golem core, steel golem core, snow golem core, and now this immature silver golem core. All of these have to be useful to someone who literally builds golems." Walker stepped in to the chaos that was the high forge.


    Everywhere there was someone or something moving. The dwarves were yelling and following multiple orders at once. Neither Gil nor Walker could tell how any of them knew what to do over the noise. The only thing they could tell was there there were many dwarves organizing the many repair projects needed for the city.


    "What are you standing around for!? If you have a job get to it, if not get out!" One dwarf holding a stack of papers shouted at Walker and Gil to get them to move again. They had be caught up in the dights and sounds of the main area of the high forge that they were frozen in ce.


    "Where is the workshop of the golden builder Grey?" Walker spoke after regaining his mind.


    "Grey? There. Now scoot!" The dwarf was in a rush and pointed out arge doorway that any golem could fit through. The main floor was mostly for processing leaving areas that branched off in to the workshops and apprentice areas.


    "Back there is insane. I don''t know how they knew where they are going r what they are doing." Gil was still looking back stunned as the two entered therge passageway and came face to face with a massive mess.


    "No! I said you needed to get the illusion thread from a night weaver. This is from a sun weaver. How do you expect me to teach you a thing if you haven''t even studied enough to know the difference in these materials." There was a spool of red and yellow hued thread thrown on to a table as a younger dwarf rushed away in fear.


    The man that had yelled was familiar. He was the Grey that they had been told about and they were officially going to meet him.


    "Why are you here and what do you need? I am working on a new golem and need absolute silence." Grey saw the two and was unhappy that he was going to be interrupted again. Walker and Gil knew that this was due to the failure of the apprentice not knowing the proper materials. However, they were still a little annoyed at the attitude.


    "We are here to offer you some things we have found on our journeys. Some materials that may be of use, that is if you want to see them?" Walker left it more mysterious on purpose. He wanted the golem builder to want them around instead of buying the cores then pushing them away.


    "Hmm? I sent my apprentices out for all I need right now. What could you have that is worth my time?" Grey was fiddling with some parts and while they two watched assembles a small golem mouse that he added a small mana gem to. Hos deft hand released it to run in circles in only a few moments.


    "We have some golem materials you may like. We thought you would be interested in golem cores. If not then we will see ourselves out." Gil took the lead with a high and mighty tone. It led Grey to believe that the materials would be sold to someone else if not him.


    "Show me what you brought. If it isn''t worth the time I will send you to y with the broken golems." Grey was much more focused now than just a few moments ago.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 620 - 620. Golem Core Uses

    "We have a few golem cores. I hope that they are useful?" Walker posed this as a question without removing any of them from his inventory.


    "If they are from crafted golems then I could care less. I can make better golem cores than anyone else and prefer them tweaked to my specifications. The rune work I add is pristine." Grey knew that many would bring him their golem cors so he could fix them. It became such a problem that he refused to touch other golem cores any longer.??


    "Oh, so you don''t care about the golem core we received from a snow golem?" Walker pulled out the snow golem core, "Or an undead golem, or a premature silver golem, or even the steel golem core we were gifted?" Walker pulled the others out as he spoke.


    The two saw that Grey became excited after the indeed golem core. This was much rarer than he expected to be shown. "Snow golem core can be sent to the food storage caves. We use those cores to make chilling golems that keep food cold. One core can be used in the same golem for two hundred years. It is worth a bit. That steel golem core is nice. It will make a perfect guardian golem for the vaults. This silver golem is notplete and needs to be modified. It''s a shame because if it was fully grown it could have been a light food golem for exterminating the undead we run it to from time to time." Grey rambled off the uses and he insp[ected each core. Thest he came to was the undead golem core.


    "This is the great prize here. We may find some ancient burials from time to time while mining. But the golems we find lose their flesh and be bone golems. Their cores are dried out brittle bone. This is a real undead golem core. It is tough andyered. I want it." This got the attention of Gil and Walker who were processing the uses of the other golems'' cores.


    "I can use this to make a few unique golems. My new design I was going to build if I even got a core like this is called a shedding golem. It would have multipleyers of defense that when broken would detach making the golem faster until it reached the lowest possible threshold for defense. Then its speed would be untouchable and its attack unavoidable."


    Grey shared the ideas making Walker feel that such an enemy would be tougher than most would expect. The more damage done to such an enemy the harder it would be to beat them and hit with another attack. That and the fact that the one fighting such a golem would lose their mana and stamina well before they had to face the strongest attack form of the shedding golem.


    "Of course I could make a bone armored golem but those are worthless unless I have ancient dragon bones. But those are better for crafting than golem building." Grey had mused on this for a second before sharing the third option he had.


    "I could just use it to make a bone carapace with self repairing capabilities. But it would constantly need to be left with monster bodies to absorb and repair and it couldn''t get stronger. Not to mention the long repair time it would have." Grey looked to be at odds with this decision.


    Walker was surprised that making a self repairing armor was possible. However, when Grey exined that it would take a lot of time and also repair along with the fact that it would require monster materials Walker realized it was a very inefficient piece of gear.


    "I think the shedding golem sounds the best. It could take on multiple dangerous enemies and push through the attacks. If it is hit hard it just drops a piece of armor off and continues. It sounds like you can easily repair the armor too." Gil could only see the upsides to this golem and Walker wasn''t going to disagree.


    " Then you two are allowed to stay for a bit. I will show you some interesting things. These cores aren''t bad quality. I wish the silver core was perfect but I already know those slimes must have caused it. They have caused a lot of bad thingstely. I lost five prototypes to them." Grey was clenching the undead golem core in his hands showing his annoyance.


    Walker and Gil were very interested to see more of the work shop that Grey used. However, there was the fact of payment for the golem cores that was eating at them. "The cores are all hard fought battles. I wonder what price you would put on them?" Walker tried to make it sound the best he could without insulting Grey.


    "Price? Oh, you don''t want to be an apprentice? I thought you two wanted to try and ignore your systems for golem building. Hmm, price. I can make you some golems. The undead core is more of a toy to y with anyways. Give me the other three and I will make you a shedding golem."


    Grey didn''t care much for exact process or reasons. He just wanted the materials so he could build what he wanted without restriction. "Actually, forget the shedding golem. You had a dragon with you, did you not? I can use her for a temte design. That will work. I can make a shedding dragon golem."


    The look on Greys'' face made Gil and Walker shudder. He had be full of smiles and was nearly shaking with enthusiasm. The madness that overcame him while he nned out a new experiment was on par with no other. This was a genius that could create many entric things as the king of the middle had warned before.


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 Chapter 621 - 621. Silent Flames

    Midnight had watched Gil and Walker leave her behind and she focused her attention on the royal guard. She was very happy to be calleddy and miss by the royal guard since she had not been called these fancy titles before. Most others would just call her little dragon or the dragon or just use her name. The new titles gave her pride a boost.


    "I''m unsure if you are able to fully grasp the process, but our cksmiths have been working on many things, and testing a new form of fire on them would be an incredible boost to learning and forging processes." The royal guard walked toward a staircase that descended toward a very hot area while he spoke. ??


    Midnight enjoyed the heat that wasing from the space since her dragon blood preferred warm temperatures. The lower they descended the more the heat grew and she began to wonder how the royal guard was not over heating. She had learned that humans and other races did not have the same hot and cold tolerances as she did and that they would be sick.


    Her worry must have shown in her eyes so much that the royal guard began to fish around his neck. "This is an ever cool pendant. We make them from ice jade. It only forms in very cold caves over many many years." The pendant had water runes carved in to it and appeared to be a snowke shape. Midnight could feel the water elemental mana radiating around it.


    This charm would work wonders for many of the party and Midnight wanted to get some forter, "Miss Midnight, if you require it I can have some retrieved. Would one be enough?" The royal guard understood that her gaze was saying that she was interested in it. He didn''t expect a dragon to need such an item but didn''t want to offend her.


    Midnight stopped for a moment and scratched six lines in the ground with her ws. "Does-does that mean you would like six pendants?" The royal guard was surprised to see how Midnight went aboutmunicating this. When she nodded her head and gave a huff he knew that this was exactly what she wanted. "Then I will have them prepared for you as soon as possible."


    The two continued the descent and the royal guard pulled an orb from his belt tomunicate the needs. Midnight was very pleased with the discovery since she knew it would make her family morefortable when in the forge. She had seen the many beads of sweat drip from Walker as the two had worked with the wandering cksmith.


    When the two finally came to the bottom of the steps there were many sounds of shoveling and even a spraying sound. The reaction to these sounds was always one exactly like mes in the wind. There were alsorge grinding sounds that Midnight rted to the gears she had already seen and heard. Other than that she could feel the heat and steam had be much more dense around her.


    The First dwarf she saw rushing around was covered in coal dust. Completely from head to toe looked like they belonged within the shadows themselves. Midnight almost mistook them for someone using the shadow wrapping skill that she had but quickly smelled the coal. She looked further to find that the dwarf was rushing towards a mine car full of coal.


    Looking further she saw that the entire area underneath the high forge was supported by massive stone pirs. The floor was covered in metal tracks that allowed the mine cars the ability to travel unimpeded. Many dwarves were pushing the mine carts here and there to differentrge furnaces. Some were attached to massive tanks to which water was provided to while others were just fire and exhaust pipes. This was how every forge received the steam, fire, heat, and any other source of energy it needed.


    "Miss Midnight, the furnace we will ask you to assist with is over to this side." The royal guard pointed out a reinforced furnace with much more material and runes carved upon it. "I will leave you in the care of the fire breather in charge of this furnace." The royal guard motioned to a dwarf covered in less coal than the others near the furnace.


    "So you are the dragon hm? Come show me that dragon fire your kind is famous for and I will show you what I can do too." The dwarf smirked in arrogance and it made Midnight want to breathe mes at him at that moment. Instead, she huffed and stood taller, she knew that Walker would not be happy with her if she did something foolish like that.


    The other dwarves that had been feeding the furnace were caught up for a moment looking at her so Midnight pped her wings a little to show off her scales. It was an action that caught even more attention from those running by and she loved every second of it. She was a dragon and her presence should be known.


    "So, show me what you''ve got." The fire breather motioned to the open furnace. "No more coal, back away you stokers and make way for the dragon fire! Alert testing for thirty two that there will be a unique me!" The fire breather gave these orders and any around that were watching instantly fell in to their given tasks.


    Midnight moved toward the mes while building up her own. She could feel the mana she had control of condensing in her so she could use her decaying mes. Chest puffed up with therge intake of air as she breathed in and the sounds around her seemed to lessen. When Midnight paused it was as if the entire furnace area had be silent.


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 Chapter 622 - 622. Fire Breathing

    When Midnight released the built up mes the entire furnace area came back to life. The darkness that came with the fire she breathed changed the color of all the mes within the single furnace. There were many surprised to see the mes be a mix of ck and orange along with many who kept their distance even more.


    "Ha! That is spectacr. Decaying mes? I haven''t seen these since I was a child. No dwarf could ever breathe these. I love when dragonse and show off their mes." The fire breather was ecstatic to see the decaying mes. "Let the testing forge know they will be making darkness element resistant armor and weapons. We can fill an order for the swamps."??


    The fire breather knew that the poisons and decay in the swamps would be a massive danger to most. This was why there was also an outstanding order for any armor or weapons made that could resist some of these things. The adventurers and travelers that needed to go through the swamps would pay a hefty price for them.


    Midnight had breathed a full breath of me out and stepped back as the furnace was closed. She was very proud to see that the dwarves were all in awe of the mes she added to the forge. However, she was still a little annoyed that the fire breather was not as amazed as the others. She could tell he was more stubborn and wanted to show off too.


    With a huff and a simple nod to the furnace, Midnight showed a look of challenge to the fire breather. "You want to see what I can do? Are you sure you are ready to see another race breathe mes? I bet you won''t even know what hit you."


    The dwarf pulled arge canteen from his hip and took a deep sip. The liquid he had consumed puffed in his cheeks and the furnace was opened to show the brilliant ck and orange mes. The fire breather lifted a small stick like object with a red fire elemental mana crystal on the end.


    Without any warning the dwarf breathed out, spitting the liquid he had drunk a moment ago. The mist caught fire with the help of the fire elemental mana crystal and caused a brilliant yellow and orange me to spread out and in to the furnace.


    The mes danced and mixed bing brighter and increasing in temperature. The mes escaped the dwarfs'' lips for a solid minute before he ended them and the furnace closed again. "What did you think of that? Dwarves can breath some pretty interesting mes huh?"


    Midnight had to admit that the dwarf had just breathed some brilliant mes. Luckily for her, no dwarf could hear her thoughts without Onyx there to speak for her. She was able to keep this to herself and act indifferent.


    "Us fire breathers use our highly concentrated alcohol brewed in some unique caves to make our own mes. The mana we add to them pushes the temperature many times hotter and is perfect for forging. There are even fire breathers that can add other elements to their mes. We once had a frozen me breather system. That was wild."


    Midnight was intrigued by the idea of breathing icy mes. This would be incredibly useful when she fought since she would be able to use them more easily around her party members. She could also use them to stop an opponent in their tracks or change the terrain. If she did this with the decaying mes then she would cause massive damage to the area around her along with the party.


    Seeing that Midnight began to be interested, the fire breather knew it was because he had mentioned different kinds of mes and continued, "We have had dwarves with elemental affinities that changed their mes. The earth fire breath that one dwarf had was incredibly strange, it was silver like metal and caused things to rust faster. Even organic materials seemed to be slightly rusty."


    The dwarf thought harder for what he knew of the breathed mes, "There were light elemental mes that gave armors the ability to sh with light and blind opponent. Oh, the wind mes were interesting because they were abination of two manas. The fire elemental mana was pushed to a higher temperature due to the wind elemental mana added. That was a sight to see."


    Midnight was soaking all of this up. She had only learned the decaying mes and was sure she could learn more. She was adragon champion and there was no elemental mana crystal she could not consume. It only went to say that if she trained she would be able to breathe every kind of elemental me. Thinking of this she made note to ask Walker about this kind of training when she was able to do so.


    She fell in to a rhythm with the fire breather and ended uppeting for a little while to see who could breathe a me the longest. Midnight was taking it as training since she had not used her mes that much due to the dangers. However, here she could use them as much as she wanted without any worry.


    "Miss Midnight, you have been requested in the forge. Could you pleasee with me?" The royal guard appeared yet again only two or three hours after she hade down. She was a little unhappy to be taken from the fire but she also saw that the royal guard came with the ice jade pendants and was able to forgive him in a second.


    "What? The work day isn''t over. We need her for more mes." The fire breather didn''t want to see her go.


    "I see the mes have been added and are mixed well. You should be able to keep those ck mes burning for another ten hours with the right care. Continue your work." The royal guard shot down the fire breather and began to guide Midnight again. The work continued without any dy, there was too much to focus on, and arguing would only interrupt the process.


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 Chapter 623 - 623. Like Minds

    Walker and Gil had been receiving a tour of Greys'' forging area. There were many models and ns up on the walls. The spider golem they had been told about was in pieces and there were mana smaller spider golems around it that were not active. Walker could tell that it would be able to take a piece of copper and carve it in to wire but he wasn''t sure how it would do this. He just knew that it could because of the shapes and designs.


    "You like the spider golems? I have a decent amount made for copper threads. They keep getting denied because they are too life like but that is what makes them better than other golems. They can catch those pesky cave rats that try and burrow in to the food stores. And when we clean up the webs we can use them for many other things." Grey had a good point.??


    "Wouldn''t they still cause some trouble if they got in to anyone''s homes? Why not find a way to restrict them so that they stay in one ce all the time?'' Gil wasn''t sure why Grey wanted them to be so life like and follow a normal spider''s actions.


    "That would take away from the feeling they have. They would just be machines. That is pointless. I want a golem that you can''t tell is different from you or me. Add a sentient weapon to control it and then you have a real life sentient golem able to think for itself and only needs mana to survive along with basic repairs, How could I not want that?"


    "That would be pretty interesting. I know that the dwarf pursuit of sentient weapons and armors is the main goal of every crafter but making a sentient golem sounds like it would be able to stand next to you rather than just follow orders." Walker was very interested in this idea. He could get a lot more done with another thinkingpanion than one that could only follow an order and nothing else.


    "Exactly. Imagine what that would be like. It wouldn''t need food sp it could fight and build for as long as it needed. It could learn to repair itself and return to battle. Or it could store memories and advise on things properly based off of past events." Grey was bing much more animated as he spoke of his dreams and goals. It was a look in to why he was so excentric of a crafter.


    Grey scooped up some round balls the size of fists. "Here here, these are some of the better spider golems I made. They can be set to live in a certain area and can gather mana from the air to fuel themselves. I''m sure you will enjoy having them around. Just make sure you drop some blood on their cores so they recognize you as their master." Grey was d to find that Walker understood his goals and wanted to share his brilliance.


    Walker couldn''t say now and took the three spider golems, when he stored them away he saw a glint in Greys'' eyes. "That spatial magic you have can hold a lot right? Like, multiple golems?" Grey was beginning to think of the possibilities Walker had.


    "I really haven''t pushed it to the limit but I can''t just empty things in and out easily. The process of storing things means I need to touch them. The process of taking things out means I need to actively think about it and touch them as well. So I can pullrge items in and out but it isn''t like I can just open my inventory and pour everything out. If I don''t group things like coins together or bones then I would have to take every single one out separately." Walker had long realized this and always made it a habit to group items together.


    "So taking a few more golems with you would be fine as long as you took them out separately. That is very interesting. I may have more for youter." Grey was thinking about giving Walker an army of golems but knew that it wouldn''t work the way he envisioned. Walker would need to be stationary to slowly pull them all from his inventory. However, if Grey gave him a small number then they could be taken out when necessary.


    "I see what he''s getting at. You could carry aroundpanions basically. If you have golems then they can jump in to battle in an instant making us even stronger as a group. Or you could transport them so they won''t use any mana and can function longer where you bring them." Gil was seeing the world of possibility that Grey was seeing and wanted to add to it as well.


    "You two know what I am talking about. Come meet some of the apprentices. They could learn a thing or two about how to think from you." Grey was ecstatic to have intuitive minds even if they were not golem builders.


    Grey stopped fiddling with things on the table and stuffed a few parts and tools in to his belt before he rushed deeper in to the golem forging area. He led them to arger open space where many younger dwarves were working on their own projects at work tables or at smaller forge fires.


    When grey entered there was a visible tension that came through the room. They all knew that when he appeared they were most likely being sent for materials. Grey would often go to an apprentice with a slip of paper that would send them on a journey to a different kingdom or area to harvest or buy materials. It was a constant fear since it would mean their project would need to pause for them to return and they would lose more time to learn.


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 Chapter 624 - 624. Prototypes

    Walker and Gil had their head on a swivel. They saw that many of the apprentices were working on unique golems. Unlike the same mass produced golems they had seen as guards and patrols on the surface and so far in the caves, these were all prototype experiments.


    "My apprentices are not allowed to use any existing design without building it themselves and modifying it. I hate the same thing done over and over, there is no point and it creates a stagnant future." Grey looked like he was about to spit at the idea of making the same golems over and over. It was clear that there was another ce in the high forge that created the parts for the normal golems. ??


    "Walker, look. That golem over there is being made in to a serpent." Gil had spotted a golem with many interlocking segments. Therge head of a snake at the front gave it away and made it very interesting.


    "You found that interesting? It is amon challenge to take on since the apprentice needs to perfectly build each [art to lock in and flow properly. Only five or six have apprentices attempted and seeded all based them on different serpent or snake monsters. That is a model of the giant swamp python. I believe an adolescent model to be exact." Grey had posed the challenge a long time ago since it was a good chance to learn about how parts needed to mech perfectly to get the optimal design.


    "I really don''t get how all the gears and partse together. I am a little out of my depth since we don''t use things like this in our kingdom. But we also rely on magic more. I wonder what else you could make in to a golem like that." Walker was looking at many other golems and found that an apprentice making a small bird golem was working on the wings.


    "How are the hollow tin feathers going? Are they light enough?" Grey knew exactly what the apprentice was working on and the apprentice jumped when being spoken to. They had believed they were going to be told to go get materials but instead were being asked about their work which brought a serious and business like demeanor to them.


    "The feathers are light enough for flight but are easily bent by force. I want them to be stronger but I can not find a way to do it. I also don''t know if they will work in the strong winds of ins or mountains. Using them formunication could be challenging." The apprentice had been testing multiple ways to make the feathers stable for flight but found they were too heavy, brittle, light, or even mmable.


    "Try adding more iron to the alloy mix. They ovep the feathers to give them support and tell me how they work. I expect you to have the problem solved in a month. You have the ability." Grey walked on but the look of determination the apprentice had after receiving advice was more than he had prior.


    "I didn''t know you have golems that could fly. I think that would be a sight to see." Gil was imagining the small clicking gears in a tiny bird as it pped through the air.


    "We have made some but they always fail sooner than others. There are higher mana requirements for flight than for those on the ground. Ites down to the faster movements required to keep something in the air. The golem that apprentice is making is the most efficient yet if it can fly and survive the process." Grey spoke like this was an average thing but in reality, it was a breakthrough that could help the dwarves with theirmunication to other kingdoms and merchants.


    "Miss Midnight, your party members are over there touring the apprentices with master Grey. Thank you for your assistance in lighting a unique forge fire for us." The royal guard gave a slight bow to Midnight after putting the six ice jade charms around her neck. She proceeded to prance through the work area drawing attention from nearly every single apprentice who had been at work just a moment ago.


    "Sorry to call you away, I know you were probably having fun with the fire down there. But Grey has decided he needs a model to craft a dragon golem after and you win as the best dragon around." Walker made sure to praise Midnight so that she would be happier to help. Yet, it didn''t appear that it was needed because Midnight was already in an outstanding mood from the experiences and learning at the furnaces.


    "You look like you found some nice jewelry. You will need to have Onyx exin them to uster." Gil was examining the ice jade pendants around her neck and could feel the cool feeling around Midnight. He knew that there was more to them than he could see and wanted an answer right away, but he held himself back since there was more to do at the moment.


    "Yes! You will be the perfect model. I can copy the shapes of your scales and allow them to fall away when damaged. Your wings will be perfect for my experiments if I want the golem to fly like a real dragon. I wonder if I can add elemental mana crystals to add mes like you can breathe. This will be a lot of fun!" Grey saw Midnight and knew that his decision to make a dragon golem with the qualities of a shedding golem was correct.


    Midnight was confused but knew that this was a good thing. She could tell that Grey was impressed by her and that was really all she needed. "The golem he is making is something that would be unique due to the model he makes it after. Meaning it will almost be as brilliant looking as you." Walker made sure to get Midnight fully invested in this before Grey tried anything else. Seeing her head raise higher he knew he seeded.


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 Chapter 625 - 625. Apprentice Errands

    Midnight stood tall and extended her wings. She was proud to show off how she looked and what she could do. "I see, wings span may need an increase due to age. Scales are singleyer but higher toughness. I can make it a doubleyer of less toughness with a base. Tail is not segmented but can be if hidden with scales." Grey began to mumble constantly.


    "Paper and quills, Now!" Two of the apprentices scrambled for the items Grey needed. They rushed to him handing them to him and a third pushed a rolling counter top to him. They knew that they could work even longer without being sent off if they were in good standing with him. It was always those that made him annoyed or angry that would be forced to fetch materials first.??


    Walker examined the incredibly detailed blue print that Grey was writing. "You have a skill that measures things just by looking at them. My younger sister has one too. That''s amazing. I didn''t expect a golem builder to have it, but it does make sense." Walker knew that he was basically speaking to himself but he said it out loud anyways.


    The diagram being drawn out was alreadying together and showing the cross sections and possible sizes. Walker had the feeling that the skill that Grey was using to draw detailed blueprints without any tools was much more powerful than he would expect. The simple fact that Grey could just create it and hand it out in a few minutes was enough proof of this.


    "Hmm, that''s the outer design. I need to work on the mechanical insides. The core would be at the center and iys for the elemental crystals along the neck. It is all pretty simple so far. I will take another day or so to get it better." Walker and Gil were already stunned with what they saw. As far as Midnight knew she was looking at a drawn sketch of herself with a few differences here and there, the quality was superb in just a few moments.


    "That was way faster than I have ever seen anyone sketch out a basic n. Not that this could even be called basic, It''s art." Gil had only seen such great quality drawing on walls.


    "Art? This is nothing. You saw the designs on my walls. This is all necessary to the building process. You should see the models of the insides. They are much more detailed." Grey just shook his head at them and rolled the basic diagram up forter.


    "Now I will need materials. Let''s see if anyone can impress me and earn the right to go looking for materials." Grey stood in the middle of the work shop for his apprentices which had gone silent. Not even a single apprentice dared to move for fear that it would draw attention.


    Grey surveyed the room for something that appeared interesting. "What are you working on there? Is that a normal golem?" Grey saw a golem that appeared to be a base of the usual patrol golems.


    The apprentice dropped his tools in shock and was scrambling to grab blue prints and drawings. "Well? Is it? Or is it now?" Walker and Gil were equally silent at Greys'' outburst. Midnight just pranced along behind them in her own world since she had been pleased by the drawing of her.


    "No, Master builder. It is my prototype for the new fire extinguishing and now slime extermination golem. It would be for the mines specifically. See, there are tanks to hold potions or water and mana powered nozzles to spay a hundred feet. The key is pressure from the moving gears."


    The apprentice was opening multiple drawings and designs to show Grey what he had aplished. "You want this in the mines? And what of the release of the pressure when it is not being used? Or will it always spray water nonstop? Start over and fix the problem." Grey was unforgiving. He was not going to let something that could blow up in to the mines under his name.


    "Holy lord, that would have caused a cave in for sure." Gil had been warned by Walker not to use fire elemental arrows in the caves in case they caused some form of an explosion which would cause a cave in as well.


    "Exactly, it would have ruined a perfect;y good golem for no reason if I let this out." Grey made Walker and Gil double take hearing this.


    ''What about the miners'' safety and the materials lost?" Walker spoke curiously, but Grey had already moved on to the next nearby apprentice. "I think this is where the entric thinges in." Waker knew that he wasn''t going to make much more progress and just followed Grey onwards.


    "This thing is?"Grey motioned toward a strange model in the shape of a turtle shell.


    "Ehm, Master builder, this is my idea for a fortress type golem. We can build it hollow on the inside to house many small golems. If possible insect type. The shell is the shape of a turtle so that it will have high defense and can dispense its'' army anywhere. I need to work on the limbs to strengthen them to carry the shell. It costs a lot of mana but can use elemental mana crystals in spikes on the shell to draw it in."


    The apprentice spoke slowly as if they were giving themselves a pep talk as they went. Grey waspletely silent while circling the model on the work table. He opened some ns for inner designs along with the suggested insect type golems for the inside to carry as a portable army. After some hmms and mhhms, Grey appeared to finally have found an answer for the apprentice.


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 Chapter 626 - 626. Sent For Materials

    "The legs will need to be filled with many supports. They will have to be the toughest possible alloy we have if you want it to go in to battle. Elemental mana crystal spikes are easy enough as well. We have plenty to fashion in to spikes. The mana core will be tough. We will need to design awork of them so they can power every aspect." Grey was looking at the designs and blue prints much more carefully.


    "Why not just use runes to speed up the mana attraction around the spikes. I might not know how runes work since I haven''t started to learn them. But I know what their purposes usually are." Walker wasn''t sure why carving them all over arge shell would be a problem. ??


    "That''s what we will do. It will take weeks to carve one properly over the curved surface but it will be worth the efficiency we gain." Grey pped Walker on the shoulder sending him stumbling to the side.


    "You can head to the mines and request a list of refined ingots for this project and what I will need." Grey scribbled a long list down and gave it to the apprentice to take with him. The look of joy that the apprentice wasn''t being sent away from the city was all too in on his face.


    Gils'' attention had been caught on something from across the room. "I have never seen a monster like that. What is that golem based off of?" Grey turned around and saw what Gil was gazing at.


    "Come and look what we have. It could be the lucky apprentice who gets to travel the world." Grey knew that Gil had just found something interesting but wanted to wait for the heroes to make their opinions now.


    "I haven''t seen a monster like that either. Is it from farther away?" The apprentice that was hard at work on their creation found Grey and the three heroes looking over his shoulder.


    "Um! Hello, Master builder. Is there anything you need?" The apprentice had been so deep in focus that he could not have noticed them. However, his work was so detailed and minute that each tiny touch didn''t make a sound.


    "If I remember you started this project seven months ago and you have only created one thing. Exin to our guests the details." Grey gave a small push and let the heroes take the lead.


    "Yes! This is modeled after a night stalker panther. They are very rare monsters that reside in between the swamps and the ruins. They are very secretive monsters and kill in an instant. They would be assassins in animal form." The apprentice shared a few drawings of these night stalker panthers.


    "The ws are incredibly sharp and the teeth are very sharp as well. They could tear apart any prey defeating them in an instant. They also normally have dark fur that hides them away from the naked eye. Many hunters can never get a sight of them." This interested Gil very much. He had hunted many animals and monsters but never one that he could not see at all.


    "The scariest part about them is the fact that they have very dense bones for something that moves so quietly. They can cut and tear through very tough defenses and take a hard hit because of this." Thest part summed up an ultimate predator. This night stalker panther was clearly a very tough opponent.


    "I spent most of my savings on the bones to use as the base before I coated them in metal alloys. It allows me to build in the gears and mana systems without sacrificing the proper design. The rest of the parts are small gears. The ws themselves have forty parts each so that they can shred through something more easily."


    Grey was pondering all of this. "The design and detail required to make it worthless as a mass production unit. However, it is ideal for special assignments that other columns could not do. Can a pelt be fitted over it and darkness elemental runes carved in to it to add more to its'' sneaking abilities?" Walker and Gil had thought Grey would actually let them ask questions but this was already out the window since Grey had be interested.


    "I should be able to carve the runes on therger [arts and the pelt can be stretched over it with some proper designing." The apprentice confirmed this and waited for the response.


    "Then you may leave and find this pelt. I also need some other materials for my projects. I have a list on my work bench. Be back in two months." The apprentice looked like he had been scolded and sent away. However, Grey saw this as a valuable real life experience yet, others did not.


    "How far will he need to go that he is getting two months?" Walker couldn''t help but think this is way too long to be sent out for materials.


    "That panther pelt he needs is only sold by one merchant group that travels through the swamps instead of around. They are incredibly hard to get. He''ll need a month to find them and might need to travel with them for a time to get the materials needed." Grey had this memorized due to his many years of material hunting.


    " I don''t'' think we would be doing such a thing. That could be extremely dangerous. The swamps are not a ce for anyone to be. It''s surprising that you know a merchant group that travels through there." Walker was curious how this would happen. Grey somehow knew the only merchants that went through the swampnds directly.


    "Well, I was not always cooped up here. Before I invented a new golem I was always looking for a new material or a new design inspiration. I traveled." Grey had long retired from traveling but it was still a fresh memory.


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 Chapter 627 - 627. Inspiration

    "The best ce for inspiration was the ocean side. Do you know how many weird shaped monsters live on the beach or in the water? They arepletely different from those underground or the surface. The mountains can''tpare either." Grey was feeling the memories flow as he spoke.


    The apprentice realized that grey was caught up in his memories and began to carefully work on the small details again. This was unnoticed by Grey who continued on with his inspirations, "The ocean was amazon. It was terrifying since it never looked to end but after I developed some basic pressure gear with elemental mana crystals I was able to sink to the bottom and explore. We use simr suits to mine underwater ore veins." ??


    "I was wondering how you would deal with flooded caves. I bet there are a bunch of ores that only show up in underwater caves." Gil thought this was pretty cool since he had never thought it possible to go underwater and be able to explore.


    "Of course there are. How do you think we make the weapons with high water elemental affinity. My model here even has ice jade around her neck. That is mined in very cold caves. Often underwater and frozen in ice." Grey pointed to the pendants and shared more information that Walker greedily memorized.


    "Anyways, I went in to the shallows to explore and found a world I had never seen. nts called corals and fish with spikes. I saw spiders called crabs at the bottom crawling under rocks. The legs are what I modeled the spider leg design after. They are very useful. But what was the main inspiration to my first major creation was the hermit crab. Have you heard of them?" Grey was eager to see if they had the same mind set as him yet again. He had a good feeling after they had spoken about his spider golem before.


    "I actually have. I''m not sure what they really look like but I was told by a traveler that they carry their house on their backs. The merchant shared a shell he said was its house and that they were everywhere at the beach. I wish I could go there." Walker recalled walking the market with his mother and meeting this merchant. It was a very fond memory he had since he had seen that the world was full of many things he had yet to see on that day.


    "In a way they do. The shells are their defenses from things that would eat them. They crawl in to it when they are afraid and nothing can hurt them. I took that theory and created a golem simr to that for the dwarven army. It is called the hermit guardian golem." Grey smiled with great pride.


    The apprentice had let go of the tools he was using and be enamored with the story., This was the first time he was hearing of the first creation his master had built. "I know of the guardian hermit but I did not realize you based it off of a real animal." The apprentice sifted through a stack of old blue prints and designs. "I have the design here. I always wondered how it came to be."


    "You''re my apprentice for a reason I see. This is it." Grey took the design and showed it to Gil, Walker, and Midnight. The three looked through every inch in amazement.


    "I created it so that all the parts fit within the hard metal shell. The legs alle to sharp points so they can attack. They detach easily so that the main body can hide within the shell even if it gets stuck. Then there are the orbs on the eyes used to evaluate and send images to other orbs. It has explored some very dangerous ruins and crypts we have dug in it. Not to mention braved the mountains at one point." The uses Grey gave them all sounded very valuable to the people.


    "Wo when you say it joined the army it doesn''t mean for wat. It means for the good of the dwarven people. Is it water proof as well?" Walker was more curious by the second.


    "Yes, well, the smaller guardian hermits are. They are for the exploration of underwater tunnels. We need to make sure they are not attached to rivers where some older monsters may live. Therger ones are for surface use only."


    "Underwater rivers? That sounds even more dangerous than still water or anything that might live in it." Gil couldn''t imagine what terror he would face if he fell in an underwater river that would sweep him away to who knew where in the underground.


    "Many miners have been lost in the past. That is why I went so far to look for designs. The models we had made based on river monsters and river animals just couldn''t withstand the pressure from some of the strong underwater rivers in the mines. I needed something more and I went looking in the ocean. There are only strong things there. I had hoped to find the merfolk but that wasn''t what I found, I still got my inspiration though."


    Grey paused for a moment then came to a realization, "you should have headed out. Every second you waste here is a moment the outside world run by you. Do you think you will find a design for your next golem in here? Will you find the materials we need in here? Or will you choose to let your mind rot away like so many failed golem builders before you?" Grey did not hold back and caused the apprentice to run away toward the apprentice''s living quarters.


    "Now to clean up a few things so this is safe for when he returns." Grey too out a piece of white chalks and outlined the table. Next, he took some small mouse shaped golems from his pocket and ces them down. "Guard this area." The small mice came to life and roamed about the work bench. "Sorry about that, some apprentices get jealous and try to y some pranks. If I like the work I will let some small security golems watch over it."


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 Chapter 628 - 628. Slack Jawed

    Grey saw Walker''s gaze fixed on the chalk and the golems. "Interested in how I made them work this way?"


    "Was it too obvious?" Walker knew that it must have been written all over his face. "Believe it or not, I do try and hide my curiosity a little at times."??


    Gil gave Walker a quizzical look, "When have you ever hid your curiosity? You would need a master level skill to hide it and even then I am pretty sure we would all catch on." There was a short pause, "But I am also a little curious as to how the mice golems know not to fall off the table."


    Gil tried to hide his words by saying them quieter but it just made it more obvious that he wanted to know.Grey could only smirk a little before he gave them an answer, "I like those with a thirst for knowledge. Usually, you would need the golem control skill if a golem isn''t made with a core that bonds to a master with mana or blood. There are also other orbs that are designed to control them. These are different though."


    Grey pointed out a series of small mana gems, "Those mana gems are inscribed with runes and enchanted with a magic skill. Theyers given to them make them act a certain way when disturbed. Specifically, they let out a high pitched squeaking that will alert a few other golems I keep on patrol nearby." This made it sound like there were more golems that Grey had made waiting in the shades. However, Walker could not doubt this thought as it entered his head.


    "The crystals also allow it to roam free since it acts on its'' own. The only restriction it has is when it encountered the white lines of mana chalk. Mana chalk is just chalk infused with mana. We mine a lot of it and it is ideal for measuring and marking since it washes away with water."


    " Huh, I knew that most of the chalk sold to the kingdoms was from the dwarves but if you also use it I am surprised there is enough to go around." Walker was sure that the dwarves must use a substantial amount of chalk every single day. However, they still managed to sell a great deal to other kingdoms.


    "Crafters always need it and there is a lot of ash from our forges. We mix that with a few other minerals that we mine and the natural chalk that would fall to brittle pieces is mixed and bes this. It''s very simple but takes time." They were amazed that this wasn''t the exact chalk mined from the earth but instead, a mixture to create useable chalk.


    "Hmm, maybe I should send out another apprentice to gather more materials. But do I really need them?" Grey began t ponder out loud while Walker and Gil thought on their own. "Well in any case, what else are you two after here in the high forge? Looking to have weapons of armors made? We can have that done in a short time. You don''t need to beat around the bush. I can introduce you to the best smiths we have."


    Walker and Gil wanted to keep exploring the golems, but they had already spent too much time with them and needed to focus on their main point. Spirit forging.


    "We would like to meet the best spirit forger in the high forge. We have to learn the process and try a few things with them to see if there is a way to meld the elven ways and the dwarven ways. If possible that would solve any disputes between the two races and help the alliance grow stronger together. That is if the dwarves join after the summit." Walker said this casually. He and Gil were used to this now since they had been trying for the same things so often.


    With Midnight giving Grey a side nce and turning her head a bit, she huffed to get Walker and Gil''s attention. Grey had frozen slightly while looking at them. "Are...you serious? You have permission from the kings to see the methods and even influence them?" Grey''s voice was close to a whisper. He couldn''t believe this would ever happen.


    "Trust me, it took us a lot of effort to get here. We needed to meet each of the kings and help with the slimes. Not to mention the fact that we just came from the forest el;f city where we helped beat the purple slimes. They even threw us in jail for a bot thinking we were breaking theirws." Gil threw his arms up while recounting this fact. He was still a little annoyed with this but was mostly just saying it to show that they had been through a lottely.


    Grey was even more ck jawed now that Gil had spoken. The look on his face made Midnight worry even more that her party members were going to shock the dwarf in to an early grave. "Midnight, what''s that look for? We are just telling the truth. It''s a very important thing to do for a hero." Walker thought that Midnight was worried that Grey thought they were lying. However, it was the opposite, Grey was shocked because he believed them.


    "I can''t say that I will be allowed to join you as you speak to one of the oldest dwarves left alive. But I will guide you to him and the mithril forge." Walker and Gil watched as Grey turned away and walked forward. They could tell his movements were stiff and he was still grappling with their words. Walker knew that he was taking them somewhere important, but just how important was it to make Grey act this way?


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 Chapter 629 - 629. Greys Master

    "Hey Walker, Mithril is almost as rare and tough as Orichalcum, right.'' Gil wasn''t sure if he was confusing the two metals or if it was really that rare.


    "You''re right. It is one of the rarest metals and Grey just said there was a forge made of it. I want to see it." Midnight overheard the conversation and perked up hearing that they were going to a forge. She just wanted to find a spot toy and nap while Gil and Walker did what they needed.??


    Grey was still stiff and silent as they walked down a long stone corridor. The only notable features of the entire corridor were the gold iy on the floors in the shapes of earth elemental runes. This was easily recognized by Walker who had been sure to remember the most basic patterns for each rune.


    Grey stopped when they began to bare a in wood door that spanned the hallways'' top to bottom. "Just to prepare you two, the elder does not appear the same as most elders would. He had been alive a great deal of years for a dwarf and had augmented some of his body parts to better do his job. The surgeons all thought he was crazy and still do. Please do not anger him. He had been working for a few years on his current project."


    Grey said a few years but Gil and Walker could both tell that there was weight behind these works. A few years for them could be three to five. However, for a dwarf it could be fifty or sixty. If it is an elf it could be one or two hundred. Years were all rtive to the race that was being discussed. This alone was amon point for confusion in every race.


    Walker and Gil both nodded. The only one that didn''t was Midnight but she had no idea what any of the words had meant. She only cared for snacks and a napping spot when they would enter the mithril forge. "Good, now prepare yourself." Grey knocked on the door and it slowly creaked open. "Elder, the kings have sent these three to speak with you."


    There was an old but almost metallic voice that replied, "Kings? Grey? Why are you not a king et? Do you think I raised you for fun? Go steal that crown already." The voice was not connected to a body that they could see, however, the mithril forge was mostly dark and only lit by a small me.


    Walker wasn''t sure if they should enter, but the voice spoke again, "You three maye in. Grey, go and practice your forging. I want twenty golems made without any molds." It was clear why Grey did not want toe to the mithril forge. He wasing in to his own masters'' territory and was instantly handed a task. "Well, you two and the dragon shoulde in. You are letting the heat out and I need constant temperature for the wires I''m making."


    Walker and Gil didn''t hesitate. Midnight dly pranced in ahead of them looking for the perfect spot to take her nap. "So you three are here for what I assume is to learn something only I know? But none of you appear to be any kind of cksmith so how would you learn spirit forging from me?"


    The elder was not foolish. He knew that the only people that would ever be sent to him were those who would one day be able to spirit forge or those that needed to know the process for some reason.


    Walker looked about the room and finally narrowed his eyes on a small thin glowing orange wire. It was so dark he had not been able to locate where the elders'' voice wasing from. "Ah, yes. The dark is better so I can see the wire and how I am changing it. Let me activate somenterns to give us light. I made them especially so that they replicate sunlight. It is the best light for forging you know."


    Thenterns on the ceiling and the walls began toe to life. Gil and Walker were silent as they finallyid eyes on the elder. It was clear that it was a dwarf in front of them. But instead of arms, there were two very intricate metal hands. There was a mix of silver colored metals and bronze covered metal but both mixed together with a high amount of rune carvings. The small mana crystals embedded in it smoothed out the outer appearance along with a few spaces where they could see gears.


    This was what Grey had meant when he warned them about the elders'' appearance. "Like my arms ey? They were tough to make but I am the first to ever make prosthetics in the kingdom. That is why I have the ability to spirit forge if I so desire. I believe one needs to be closer to themselves and understand themselves to do so." Walker was surprised by the mentality of the elder. He had expected a hard headed older dwarf, not a calm and wise sounding dwarf that could make himself literal arms.


    "Yes, they are wonderful. I have never seen such a creation before. I think you could do a great deal with them for the injured. I can only imagine the people that can be helped." The elder turned his face to them finally revealing that the deep creases were smudged with coal and ash.


    "I like your thinking, I would mass produce these if possible, but sadly, each needs to be made to the unique user. Too expensive for many." The elder shook his head. This was one of the more depressing aspects of his creations. "Now, tell me your reason for being here. I haven''t received a quest in months and all the sudden I have some chain quest saying that I will forge the dwarves'' dreams."


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 Chapter 630 - 630. Speak

    Walker was surprised to hear that the elder had already received a chain quest. It was more than the kings had received from his knowledge. "We came to not only help with the yellow acidic slimes but also find a way to bring the elves and the dwarves together. That is the goal of the Genesis alliance. The demi-humans, humans, and elves are already preparing to build a united capital city."


    Walker looked at the elder who didn''t even flinch as he spoke, "There have been monsters discovered who are slowly gaining their sentient species status and we are helping them as well. One being the goblins who have once in their history almost reached this point. They areing back from near extinction and will be a sentient race alongside the grey haired spiders that have pushed past their monster instincts."??


    The elder finally reacted slightly. His face was stiff but the mechanical arms twitch a little and he stopped working on the wire. Before he could even speak Walker continued since he knew that holding back was not the best move to make. Grey had warned him not to anger the elder and if Walker held back he knew that it would anger anyone.


    "The elves are very close with natural mana and that means they are very close to elemental spirits as well. Since this is the case, it is an offense to them that dwarves craft weapons out of elemental spirits which traps them in the weapons. One of which Gil wields." Walker took a deep breath and Gil showed the bow off properly. Walker could feel the fluctuation of mana as the elder used some form of appraisal skill.


    "I believe that there is a way to properly work with the elemental spirits to create a sentient weapon. The elves can speak to them and dwarves can not. The dwarves have the forging skill and knowledge but elves do not. There is a partnership just waiting to be formed. However, I know that you will need proof to convince your people and the elves. So, I can speak to the spirits on your behalf and we can see what happens."


    The elder released a breath through clenched teeth. "You believe the elves can actually speak to elemental spirits? And you say you can speak to them? I want proof of this first." The elder stood and walked to arge cab made of metal and runes against the wall. "I have a few s[irits here. One of which is an awakened high earth spirit I n to use to create a weapon out of when I am about to perish."


    Walker held himself strong while the dwarf elder said this. He knew that they would burn their souls to create a masterpiece in this way before they were going to die. Yet, knowing this didn''t make hearing it any easier. Walker detested the loss of life for anything. He would rather see every monster gain intelligence than need to fight them. But for some, it would always be impossible.


    "This cage is rune forged and can trap spirits of any element. Let''s see what it has to say." The elder uncovered a small cage that housed what looked to be a small fairy made out of y.


    "Hello, my name is Walker. I came to speak to you about a proposition." Walker was soft toned and slow with his words. He knew that the mana fluctuating from him would be hard to understand. In contrast, however, the earth elemental spirit began to move erratically in the cage. It was shocked that someone was actually speaking to it. Never in its'' existence had someone spoken to it properly.


    "You talk! You talk! How! Elf? No, God? No, Human! Wait! Water spirit with you!" The flurry of exmations and mana came at Walker in mass. The earth elemental spirit had been alone whispering to the other dormant elemental spirits for a while. This was like a dreame true.


    "Yes, I have a water elemental spirit with me. I was entrusted with it in the forest elf city and n to bring it back to my kingdom and home. If it wishes to awaken other spirits there I will allow it and if it wishes to stay with me it can. But for now, it will sleep a while longer." Walker pulled the dormant water elemental spirit from his cloak. He had kept it close and safe the entire time and no one was the wiser but the party.


    The earth elemental spirit calmed down and looked at Walker carefully. "Proposition? Take me away? I don''t want to be trapped." The mana was somehow sad. The feeling in the entire room became heavy with slow earth elemental mana.


    "What did you just do? It has never caused something like this before." The elder was showing some surprise at this. He had never seen an elemental spirit act this way in his life.


    "It doesn''t want to be trapped. It asked about my proposition for it and if it can leave. However, "Walker sent the mana to the earth elemental spirit while speaking to the elder, "I hope that you two can work together to craft a weapon. Spirit forging has always been forceful. My question is, what would happen if you two worked together to create something? The strength of an earth elemental spirit to call upon the earth elemental mana to assist the forger. And the spirit forger who would normally need to burn their soul to create something so magnificent?"


    Walker let the two think for a moment before adding this, "Also, what would it be like if a spirit created a weapon or armor? Would they have control over it to some degree since they helped shape it? I doubt they would be forcefully attached to it like the older spirit forged weapons." Walker pushed even more leaving the earth elemental spirit and the elder staring at each other silently.


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 Chapter 631 - 631. Risky Forging

    "You want me, to work with an elemental spirit to craft. And what if this doesn''t work? I just lose my life for nothing? Without the mana I force from my soul I will run outpletely." The elder was stunned. To him, he was being asked to risk losing his life for zero results.


    "No! He''ll trap me again. Never!" The earth elemental spirit was struck by fear. It still believed that it would be the one that was forced in to a weapon or armor and trapped for years.??


    "Then use my mana as a test. I will be the one to burn their soul if it fails." Walker made this bold statement that made even Gil and Midnight freeze. Midnight had just started to settle down near the Mithril furnace when Walker said this. She could feel the slight tremble in his heart when he did. It was the fear of actually dying. Yet, there was more. Walker was feeling a massive determination. Determination to change something terrible in to something wondrous and good.


    "I may look like a senile old dwarf, but I would never do such a thing. You are too young to sign your life away like that. So much to discover still." The elder wanted to drop everything. He didn''t want to see this young adventurer give up the future he was sure to have for a simple weapon. There were reasons the elderly used the spirit forging methods if they could. Not the young.


    "No soul burning. I will help, You are nice. Water spirit will need you!" The earth elemental spirit had seen that Walker was not some harmful adventurer looking to trap it. It knew that Walker was there to help and push for the best possible solution.


    The elder watched the elemental spirit moved about with even more chaos and could tell that it was because of what Walker had said. He released a harsh sigh, "Fine, I will try it. Just tell me what you want me to do while I work. I n on making a shield. I was working on a new kind of form remembering wire, but it can be taken on by anotherter."


    The elder went to the cab and began to pull many different and some strange, materials. There were pieces of wood no bigger than coins. Small ss like beads that radiated elemental mana. Multiple metal ingots of the highest purity and density. Along with a blueish hued hammer which was engraved with many runes that intersected.


    "This is the best hammer in the entire dwarven city. I will pass it to Grey when I die. The other materials will be part of the shield. Now watch a master at work." The elder stoked up his me and added the small coin sized pieces of wood. They curbed different colors and released multiple elemental manas.


    The mes started to change colors periodically with the wood burning more and more. "Those are from different trees that grow in high density elemental mana. I needed to pay a fair price for every piece you saw me use." The elder was still a teacher and decided to exin everything as he went. He would need someone else to remember and pass on these tricks.


    Taking the different ingots to the fire the elder began to heat them so he could ford them together in to a powerful alloy. His goal was an unbreakable shield full of power and majesty. If possible he also wanted to make it so that the one that wielded it gained a strong defensive skill that would reflect damage back at the attacker. He wanted this even if it was a magical or physical attack.


    "I chose materials from magical and non magical species. They are perfect for melting in to the in ingots." The elder threw multiple materials in to the furnace and put on his thock gloves. The next thing Walker and Gil knew was that the elder had set a hunk of partially attached metals on an anvil.


    "This is where speed is of the essence. I need to basic shape it and add the monster materials. Brace yourself." The elder was continuing on. Midnight had an eye carefully on Walker and did not dare to sleep. She knew that Walker would try and save the elders'' life at a drop of a hat. Even if he ended up dead himself he would save someone.


    Walker was not worried. He was actually insanely impressed that so much work would be done right away. The elder was pouring mana in to each swing of the hammer. This made it clear to Walker and Gil that he would be out of mana soon.


    He was about to try to learn about a mana transfer spell when he noticed the elemental spirit had stopped. "No! Don''t burn the soul. I will help." The earth elemental mana began to condense in the room and Walker reached over to the cage holding the earth elemental spirit. The elder didn''t stop him but cast a sideways nce.


    The spirit that he had held on to for years and years was going to be released and run away. The elder had no choice but to deal with it to avoid the fact that Walker would burn his soul in the elders'' ce. The elder had already heard and figured out the importance of the party and was too wise to ignore the fact that losing anyone of such caliber would be good.


    Gil reached out and flipped the cage open ahead of Walker, "You worry about helping the two. I will worry about helping you." Gil wasn''t sure what exactly Walker was nning. But he wouldn''t let his family just go it alone. If He could help he would, especially in a situation where Walker was willing to risk everything.


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 Chapter 632 - 632. Spirit Forging

    In just a blink of an eye after Gil had opened the cage and Walker had given an appreciative smile, the earth elemental mana has surged. The release of the earth elemental spirit had been like a dam being broken. All the natural mana that had been pulled toward the spirit was finally under its'' control and waiting to be used.


    "Free!!! I can touch the ground!" The spirit was overjoyed to be out of its confinement and free to touch the earth it was made of yet again. And elemental spirit being separated from the element it was made from would be the same as someone not being able to feel their arms and legs. ??


    "Are you sure you want to help? I won''t force you." Walker did not want to force the earth elemental spirit to do anything. It had already been held in a cage after being found and that was already unfair. Asking more was cruel in its own way.


    "Yes! Water spirit is sleeping. I will help!" The earth spirit stopped moving around the ground in joy to focus on what it was about to do. Walker was sure to give the elder a hard look to make sure that nothing untoward would happen to the spirit now that it was acting of its'' own will.


    All the earth elemental mana converged toward the folding metal and hammer in the elders'' hand. There was a slight pause as the density became nearly tangible and the brown glow of earth elemental mana was blinding. "Go! Forge now!" The spirit sounded weak but it was able to move in to position to watch the elder forge.


    The earth elemental mana had an instant and obvious effect on the metals and hammer. The mithril hammer was covered in the glowing runes. With each swing the mana that was sent in to the metal caused the shape to alter and the shield to take from faster. The shield itself was soaking up earth elemental mana as if it was a desert getting rain for the first time. The process could shake any person whether they were sensitive to mana or not.


    The elder had stopped appearing pale and even looked to be more energetic than before. He was moving much faster in the process and wasn''t appearing to stop. Therge hexagonal shield was shaped to perfection in the matter of minutes. Walker had not expected the insane speed of a dwarf craftingpared to the humans they had seen. The elves were even slower inparison.


    Since the elder had arms made of mechanical metal he did not hesitate to take the shield and directly start to carve runed and details in to it. He pulled at some small monster spikes and began to attach them to the front of the shield causing the elemental manas to absorb even faster. "Ha! I knew that stone mantis needles would be perfect for this." The elder couldn''t help but show his enthusiasm and talk out loud to himself.


    The earth elemtnal spirit perked up a little having pulled more earth elemtnal mana to itself to replenish what it had used. "Faster! It will lose my touch!" The spirit knew that the effect of its skills would fade soon and that the elder needed to move faster or else the shield he was making would not be able to reach the proper absorbed elemental mana to be finished.


    "The earth spirit says you need to move faster before the skill it used ends," Walker repeated the word of the spirit as fast as he could. The elder didn''t even flinch as he started to pick up the pace.


    The amount of earth elemental mana around the shield just grew and grew with the elder worked. The mana gem on a nearby work bench was fixed in to the back of the shield along with multiple earth elemental mana crystals. They would allplete the rune formations that would fuel the shield''s skill and assist in its'' strength.


    Walker began to notice that there were slight cracks in the elders'' mechanical arms and that the sounds of grinding gears were ever increasing. The massive pressure that they were under from the high earth elemental mana density was too much and even a normal dwarf''s hands would be unable to handle it properly. Yet, the elder did not stop, he sped up.


    After fixing arm holds on to the shield there was a moment where all the mana in the room felt to freeze. The elder and the earth spirit locked eyes. "This would be the time I would have to force the spirit to bond to it. I don''t know what to do now. But I feel like I don''t need to force anything."


    "Right! I don''t need to be one. I can feel it!" The earth elemental spirit body of y crumbled to the ground in a small pile. Walker could sense that its'' earth elemental body was reaching up and touching the shield.


    There was a pulse of earth elemental mana that shook the room. The elder looked pale yet again and one of his arms fell to his side limply. The forging process had wrecked one of his arms. The earth elemental spirit was still without solid form but Walker could sense that it was around the shield if not also inside it.


    The look of worry and fear in his face gave him away. Walker thought the spirit had just went and bonded with the shield anyways. He felt he had let the spirit down and done exactly what he did not wish it to. He had created another forcefully bound weapon with a trapped spirit.


    "Walker, look at the mana gem. There''s something different about it. Actually, can you see the runed and elemental mana crystals? They are all different." Gil had a hand on Walkers'' shoulder while pointing to the hexagonal spiked shield. It was indeed very different now. So much so that Walker instantly used his all around appraisal skill.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 633 - 633. Forging Results

    Walker was still worried while he waited for the system to respond to his all around appraisal skill, what he saw pop up was enough to stop his heart for a moment.


    ''Earth dwelling shield (upied)??


    +25 def, +20Mdef, +35hp, mana storage: 50, Earth fortress skill


    This is a first of its kind dwelling weapon. This creation came from the union of a spirit and a master smith. The earth elemental mana is drawn to this hexagonal spiked shield constantly. There is a strong bond with elemental earth mana allowing an earth elemental spirit to freely bond and rest with the shield. The skill earth fortress can only be used by the wielder when the spirit is present. The earth elemental mana constantly enhances the shield''s defensive abilities and even adds to the wielder''s hit points through mana replenishment.


    Earth fortress- 5 mana cost from shields'' mana storage


    The earth will form near instantaneous walls in rtion to the elemental spirits activation of the skill. The walls willpletely epass the wielder. The earth elemental spirit can instantly crumble the walls when needed. Using this skill increases defense by ten and magical defense by ten. This skill is unique to certain systems that involve high control of earth elemental mana.''


    Walker ever so slowly read this out loud. His breath was caught up in his throat when he spoke of the elemental spirit being able to dwell within the shield at will for rest. That meant that it could also leave the shield when it desired. "Walker?" Gil saw that Walker had lowered his face. He had cupped it in his hands and was breathing heavily.


    After a few moments, Walker raised his head and showed a bright smile with only a few traces of tears. "We didn''t trap a spirit. We didn''t forcefully bind an elemental spirit. We didn''t burn anyones'' soul. We seeded in something new. It may not be a sentient weapon but we have something amazing." Hisughter started breaking away the tension. He was overjoyed that things had turned out in the best possible way.


    "I thought¡­" Gil shook his head feeling that his shoulders were free from all the weight he had not even realized. After scanning the room Gil even found that Midnight hade right behind Walker and was still frozen on the spot without moving. She was shivering slightly.


    "Sorry, I was just a little surprised. Then when I felt all the stress melt away I realized I had just risked my very being. But this...is amazing." Walker had put himself back together and realized he had let his emotions take control. Walker reached back and softly ced a hand on Midnights'' head. "I am sorry for worrying you. I know that I just stopped your heart. Please let me apologize properly."


    Midnight came back to life after feeling Walkers'' touch. She leaned in to his hand and shuddered slightly. She thought that this entire process was about to result in the loss of her family member. The person she held the most trust in out of everyone she had ever met in her life. The person that she held most dear.


    While Walker and Midnight had a moment to themselves, Gil was able to turn his attention to the elder who was still looking at the earth dwelling shield. It appeared that he could not believe what he was looking at. The look of wonder and awe was still in to see.


    "That is real you know. My brother is willing to put his soul up for bet if that shield means dwarves wille together for a better future. We may not be blood rted but we are family and share more than I can say. So what do you have to say?" Gil waited for the response that was sure toe.


    Hearing Gil the elder moved his working arm and looked at the other, "We really managed to live then. I can''t believe this just happened. I forged with a spirit and created the most powerful weapon I have ever held¡­." The elder was still partially convinced he was in some form of a dream. This may not be a true sentient weapon that he and the dwarves dreamed of but it was very close to what they had strived for.


    "I have been part of something that has brought my people closer to our goals. I still have more to the quest i was given. I must research more and craft more. I need you to stay, or someone who can speak to spirits at my side." Believing more that this was reality, the elder was already nning the next forging endeavors. Now that there was a new avenue to explore it needed to be done.


    Walker finished his moment with Midnight and it appeared that he had made some promises to apologize to her. She was much happier and wanted to stick right by his side while he moved to speak to the elder. "First let me check on the spirit. I am sure it is tired."


    Walker softly touched the shield and felt the earth elemental mana steadily being pulled in to it. This was the spirit bringing itself back to full strength after using a lot of its'' mana reserves. "Hey, are you alright in there?"


    There was a fluctuation in the earth elemental mana and a small y body started to build itself on the ground. Walker could feel the mana from the elemental spirit doing this. After some time the spirit moved from the shield and back to the y. "Yes! I have a ce to sleep!" Thank you! It is better than before." The spirit seemed much more pleased. It was amazing how natural the spirits could act even though it was just trapped. Spirits went with the flow of nature and that meant that they were not creatures to hold grudges


    .


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 634 - 634. Unique Questing

    Walker watched as the spirit flitted about a little here and there. "I can rest there! It''s better! Faster mana! Comfortable!" The earth spirit was overjoyed to find such afortable ce. Walker could only theorize that the runes carve on the shield were increasing the absorption of the earth elemental mana much more than it normally would with just the spirit dwelling within.


    On top of this, the earth dwelling shield had been made using the skills and abilities of the earth elemental spirit. It was simple to say that this specific earth elemental spirit would have the easiest time to enter and dwell within the shield. And most likely the easiest time controlling the earth dwellings shield. ??


    The elder had finished looking and epting the shield to focus on the spirit. When he moved to fully face the spirit and lower his head the spirit flinched slightly. "Please, I am sorry for trapping you. I did not know someone could truly speak to spirits and that you were so amazing. Thank you for helping me. Please do whatever you want."


    Walker was very proud to see that the elder of the dwarves was not hard headed and brutish. Instead, he was seeing the mistake for what it was and owning up to it. This was a veryrge step for them toe to terms with the elves and move forward. With this elder in charge, Walker could only see positive growth.


    Walker could tell that the earth elemental spirit understood, "I give! But you will help my friends when they wake up and make them homes like mine!" The spirit moved to the shield calling it a home. This instantly connected a few dots for Walker.


    "The spirit says this shield is its'' home to it and that when the dormant spirits wake up that you should make them for them." Walker was thinking of something but having hard time putting it all together.


    "Of course I will do that. I can further my peoples'' dreams and make up for the wrongs I have done to another sentient creature. I will prove that the dwarves are not spirit chaining monsters." The elder stood up and thumped his less damaged arm on his chest. "Ehm, I will also repair these arms so that I may do that better."


    ''Race quest: Dwarves and Elves-pleted


    The dwarves and elves are two opposing races. They do not harbor hate but they do not work together. Due to the creation of a new alliance, they will be brought together and have the chance to be bonded.


    Requirement:


    Find the true path of spirit forging


    Rewards:


    500exp multiplied to 5000 exp.


    Due to exceptional heroic actions the user has gained 2 heroic points.


    Unique True hero quest


    Unique hero quests''


    Walker was excited to soon find out about these unique quests but was amazed to see that the quest reward had been added to. He had been willing to put his life on the line so that no one else would be harmed in his semi forced experiment in spirit forging. This had earned him the extra heroic points to increase his level. It was a heroic action to take the risk upon himself but also a dangerous one that he would remember to think about more carefully next time.


    "Walker, I think you will want to hear this¡­" Gil was holding the bow he used regrly and looking at it in awe. Walker on the other hand was slightly lost. "I just received a quest to gather materials from the dwarven city and prepare to modify the bow...It will free the spirit and make it like that shield."


    Walker''s face lit up in to a brilliant smile, He could barely contain his joy for Gil who he knew was feeling more and more strongly about this bow. "It doesn''t list the materials needed but says that I need to find wind elemental materials that are within the city. I need to go¡­"


    "Yes! Go, this is what that spirit needs and what you have wanted. I won''t hold you back. If you need me I will be there." Walker didn''t hesitate to push Gil away. This was the best turn of events and he could tell Gil had solidified his resolve once again.


    The elder was surprised and showing all his emotions out in the open. "I must prepare myself. My arms were too weak. I wascent and did not improve my own body. How pathetic. I need orichalcum and sea stone. Ahh, I''m going to the treasury!"


    The elder jumped up and Midnight followed behind him since she was interested in seeing a treasury. Walker had the feeling that this was because she was thinking about the potential mana crystals there she could snack on with the elders'' permission and started to follow.


    "Ah! Take that shield with you so the spirit cane. Actually, take that shield. It will be my gratitude for showing me the right path. Also, if there is anything you need crafter you can request it of me at any time." The elder had stopped realized that they would be leaving the shield and the spirit alone ad didn''t want to continue his mistakes from the past.


    "Yes! Adventures! Show me the world!" The earth elemental spirit was getting just what it wanted. It had been trapped and now with freedom, would see the world as it desired. Walker was amazed that such an item would just be given to him. But inside the cab, the elder had taken the cake from there were many dormant elemental spirits. There was sure to be even more that wanted dwelling items like the earth elemental spirit from the elven city.


    "Thank you, I can promise that wherever you decide to go you will find adventure." Walker made this promise to the earth elemental spirit knowing that the world was once again open to it fully.


    ¡­..


    Just a heads up, a new privilege tier will open and begin to be filled at the start of the month. It may take a day or two to even out.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 635 - 635.True Hero Quest

    Walker back tracked and picked up the earth dwelling shield finding that it was exceptionally heavy. The weight really spoke to the immense defensive stats it could give. This item would make whoever wielded it much more powerful.


    He was sure that there were other shields that were more powerful just bused on pure defensive or pure magical defensive strength. Yet, having abination of both to be so high along with the benefit of adding health points, it was exceptional.


    Furthermore, the shield added a skill that the user didn''t need their own mana for. It used the mana that the shield stored from the spirit dwelling within. It was also a skill that the user didn''t need to activate. This meant that the wielder would have another pair of eyes guarding their back to activate a defensive skill to potentially save their lives.


    "Gil, if you see Su make sure you tell her she needs to speak to me." Walker wanted to speak with the spirit and introduce it to Su. If the spirit was epting this could be a third shield added to Su''s repertoire. The two she had were perfect for her. But this would be a shield that was ideal for single opponents. Her other two shields were ideal for groups and traveling.


    Seeing that Walker had picked up the shield the earth elemental spirit rushed around his feet. It was d to be leaving the room it had been in for so long. "Water spirit should get a home too. It should have friends. Every spirit!" The earth elemental spirit was ranting about wanting Walker to make dwelling gear for multiple spirits even though he only had one which was dormant.


    Like thunder crashing in the sky, Walker was stopped in his tracks. Many thoughts were crashing through his mind. "What''s wrong? Is the shield damaged? Is there a w? Tell me." The elder had believed that Walker had stopped what he was doing due to some problem with the earth dwelling shield.


    "No...I just had a thought that put everything I have wanted together." Walker pulled the water elemental spirit out of his cloak again and looked at the dormant ice like state. "The earth spirit said I should make a dwelling item for this spirit and get more so they can all be friends. I have been trying to gain materials to make a staff with an affinity for every element since I can use every element."


    The elder was understanding what Walker was saying, "So you wish for me to help you build a staff that all spirits can dwell within?" This question made the earth spirit stop and look quizically at Walker.


    "Why all at once? Just find a nature spirit. Grand spiritse together and make nature spirits. They were like me but not earth. They cane together to be a nature spirit. Every element!" Walker felt his eyes being opened. Elise had spoken of spiritsbining and losing their consciousness to form a new one of multiple elements. If every element wasbined together then it would make a nature spirit of the highest tier.


    ''True hero quest- chain quest: The ideal magical staff


    The true hero has long found that they are missing their right hand. The path of true spirit forging has finally been discovered and the world cheers to see the growth of all. The true hero is able to converse will all elemental spirits and is able to unite them together.


    Requirements:


    Gather one high elemental spirit of each element.


    Gather unique materials that have no elemental weakness


    Rewards:


    Insight on the way of natural elemental order


    Next link in chain quest''


    Walker was the same as Gil. He just looked at the dormant water elemental spirit and at the shield. This entire experience had unlocked so many things for him and given him a direct path to something he desired and was sure to need in the future.


    "I will be needing to see if you have any other high elemental spirits. I have a quest to gather one of each element. I also need to look for any materials that you might have that don''t have an elemental weakness." Walker spoke in all seriousness. This was a major development in his life that wasn''t directly rted to assisting a kingdom.


    The elder wasn''t fully sure what had happened but was able to grasp that Walker was following a quest like him. Midnight was also slightly confused but knew that she was still on the way to somewhere that might hold many snacks and that was all she wanted. She was nearly drooling thinking of the earth elemental crystals she had not been able to snack on often that were sure to line the walls of a treasury. The dwarves must find many while mining.


    "Then we will still head to the treasury. None of the kings have a right to tell me what I can and cannot take OR give away. That is a respected right of the eldest and most capable dwarf in the kingdom. That is why so many strive to reach the height of what they can do. If they be the number one then they have any resources they wish." The elder was not modest in exining this.


    "If that''s the case I will not hold back. But I don''t expect to take things for free. I will give what you need and I am willing to share what I find in the future. I am sure to find many strange materials and unique items that you might be interested in." Walker was already nning to bring things to the dwarves when necessary.


    "Oh, is there an adventurers guild branch here? If so I can ask the guild to send things through the guild." Walker realized he had never inquired about a guild branch here. The reason being that other things had been on his mind. Now was the first time he had thought of it actively.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 636 - 636. Golem King

    "Of course we have an adventurers guild branch. If we didn''t we would lose valuable ess to monster materials and trade routes. We have them guard many of the merchants we send out and many thate in. They normallye to the city in droves buttely we have not allowed them due to the issues we face. Not that the issue will exist much longer. We should be back to normal operations within the month from the things your party appears to have done."


    The elder had taken some details from what they had told him and began to assume the issue with the slimes had been more or less erased. He wouldn''t doubt the party at all since they had been able to assist him in changing something that had stopped the dwarves'' dreams for so long.


    "Then that will be perfect. I can have the guild bring the materials I find that you can experiment with. I can also have some sent to grey." Walker furrowed his eyebrows, "Why did you make Grey go and craft golems when he first brought us in?"


    "That? He is always cking and working on his experiments with monster or animal golems. He forgets that his job requires him to make golems for the city and army. Not that any would force him anymore. But I wish to see him more than live up to the expectations. I have a feeling he will make something amazing though. He wants a sentient golem capable of its'' own growth."


    The elder was guiding them down many corridors that seemed to be leading underneath many buildings. The passageways were not popted and somewhere in between the pipes from the furnaces and the forgeing floors. It was somewhere only a very experienced smith would know how to use.


    "Have you ever heard of the fairytail the golem king? It was written based on a dream a master golem builder had. He found a writer system user and had them create it. It''s one of the most popr children''s tales in the kingdom, sadly there is no truth to it. But there are those who wish to see truthe to be." The elder spoke as if he was reminiscing on old times.


    "I can''t say I have ever heard of the story. A golem king sounds interesting though." Walker wasn''t sure where this conversation was going, but had the feeling that this very story was an inspiration to Grey. Especially since Grey wanted to make a golem with sentience.


    "It is interesting. The story is mostly about a dwarf that creates a golem through mysterious forging methods. The golem is the average golem. Nothing bulky and very dwarf like in appearance. As the story is told the builder constantly tries to make it better but perishes in the process. Yet, the golem never stops moving even without the mana supplied to it."


    The elder paused as he opened another door to another passageway. The path they were taking was tougher to traverse but was much easier for the elder since he wouldn''t be stopped by the other dwarves. " The golem can gather its'' own mana and one day breaks its leg off. Instead of just stopping and awaiting repair it grabs tools and foxes itself."


    "Even more, it started to build another golem from the leg that broke off. Then another and another. By the end of the story there is a sentient golem that has built an entire gear city. There are golems that can do anything along with magic. It is an entire city just full of golems made by golems. All exactly like us."


    Walker thought that this was a very interesting tale. It was something that only someone who truly cared for golems could imagine. "I can''t imagine what an entire city made by and for golems would look like. But I am sure it would be an amazing sight."


    "It would be, but if it everes to be, then what of the dwarves? Would we still mine? Would we still forge? Or would a sentient golem even be possible? Personally, when the fairytalees up, I would prefer a tale of golem and dwarfing together. Exactly the same as the spirit and dwarves will soon be doing."


    The elder saw a different view inparison now. The fairy tale was a great one to inspire golem builders and infatuate children. But if they were together Walker could see a different future. If he was understanding the elder correctly then the dwarves might be able to work with golems on a way. Potentially riding and fighting next to the monster like ones. Sharing jobs or careers with the golems developed for crafting. They would be more like extensions of themselves than just mindless creations.


    Walker had fallen in to deep thought about this and how the golem building path would need to change over time. However, the introduction of spirits was a wild card. There was no precedent for what might be possible. Not only that, but there were also different tiers of spirits along with battle spirits that could potentially dwell within a humanoid golem. It was too much to theorize on.


    "If you stop like that in front of the side door to the treasury then you will be left behind." The elder had brought them to a dead end. The only thing that stood out were the multiple gears that appeared to make up the wall in front of them. "Well, ya didn''t think that it would just be some wooden door with a knocker, did you?"


    The elder showed great amusement on his face while Midnight and Walker just started at the slowly clicking gears on the wall. Every once in a while a small puff of steam woulde from between them. The elder himself started to push and adjust these pieces causing the rotations to change.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 637 - 637. Egg Eggs Eggs

    As the elder pushed and changed the different gears Walker was left to wonder how and what he was doing. Nine of the gears directly fit together before but as the elder changed them more and more started to move in sync. Before Walker could fly understand the intricacies of how the gears all came together they had be one massive moving wall.


    "Now that that is done, we can enter." The elder n sooner spoke and the wall began to open. With every turn of a gear, the door opened a little more. It only took a few moments to open up to a veryrge room with multiple others attached.


    Midnight was bouncing around in ce after seeing the entire wall had opened up to a disy room for ornate armors and weapons. "Come on in, we have everything organized by item and rarity." The elder casually strolled in to the treasury like this was just a walk down the street.


    "Is this really the first room? Everything in here looks like it should be on disy on a castle or museum." The armors were more than carved with runes. They were iid with multiple high elemental crystals and mana gems. Walker was sure that these were the best of the best the dwarves had ever made.


    "These are mostly decorative. We could never bring them in to battle. Sometimes the best items be just disy. If you think that is something amazing you should see the next room over." Following after the elder Walker found that the next room was the most shocking he could find.


    "Monster eggs! These are all monster eggs!" Walker and Midnight were caught in awe. There werebeled and documented monster eggs on shelves along the walls.


    "We have stone and steel mole eggs, rock horned viper eggs, a few cave spider queen eggs, we even have a section of gremlin eggs. Not that anyone would ever want to hatch a mud gremlin since all they do is make muddy holes in the ground to trap animals and dwarves." The elder was shaking his head.


    "I''m surprised you guys don''t have any albino or in old glowing mole eggs." Walker had searched the shelves and seen many monster eggs for nearly every species of monster he had been told about in the caves. There were even a few he had not heard of or that he had heard were extremely rare.


    "You''ve seen a glowing mole around here? They nevere near here because they like mana rich areas. We can''t even mine where they live since that is elf territory. Those tree roots are too tough to cut through to get to anything." The elder shook his head in disappointment before stopping and looking at Walker much more confused. "Did you say, albino?"


    "Yes, my party and I have an albino glowing mole egg. We were lucky to find it after we helped the elves clear out a crystal mine they were nurturing." This opened the elders'' eyes greatly.


    "The elves mine too? They nurture crystals underground? Wait, no, you said albino glowing mole egg. You know that albino minsters usually have a unique skill of some kind. We have some monster tamers that would pay years of their lives for a glowing mole let alone an albino one." This was a little of a surprise to Walker since he had not


    "Well, we did keep it with us to find it a proper home. Maybe we should look for these tamerster." Walker said this more in his own thought but it excited the elder even more.


    "Then you should visit the tamers guild branch here. They alwaysin that we onlye to them with jobs to hunt down new mines or to guard an area with breeding or nesting monsters. Having someone bring them something rare will be a nice change." Having said this the elder started to walk along the walls examining the eggs. "Some of these are found while mining and otherse from the nests the tamers guild members guard. Otherse from the pets in the city."


    "I''m surprised that there are so many here in the treasury. Is this normal? Or are there more in the tamers guild area?" Walker was trying to figure out if these eggs were just put here for disy or safe guarding. If they were for disy he felt that it was cruel to the monsters that have not been born yet.


    "It''s safer for them to be here. We started to guard them in the vaults after a younger dwarf unlocked a tamers system and identally contracted twenty rock horned pythons at once. He had no control over them and we had a tough time keeping them in control while he learned." This made sense. Walker could see how such an instance would influence how they stored the eggs.


    "Now, what was this about elves mining too? I thought they just lived in their trees and nothing else?" This was another piece of information holding the elder from moving forward. He couldn''t get the thought that dwarves and elves might be closer than he believed.


    "Yes, they mine elemental mana crystals underground where they can influence their growth with whatever elemental mana they need. It is fairly intricate since they also have their crystal craftsman underground between the tree roots." The elder appeared to be shaken. The dwarves relied on trade and mining to find elemental mana crystals. Finding certain ones was very rare since they only found ones with elements that aligned with the underground.


    "Well, I think that the dwarves and elves will have another thing to talk about. Not only trading with them but just mining in general. It might be wise for them to send some of their elves here to exin crystal mining and your dwarves can exin mining in general since I didn''t see much else for mining activity there." The elder was sold on this as Walker spoke and took it as a promise. The three moved on as Midnight had grown impatient. Walker knew it was better not to stay around monster eggs before she imed them all as siblings.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 638 - 638. Emerald

    Walker was reveling in the fact that there was another set of topics that the dwarves and elves coulde together to bond over. It was hard to believe that they would just be able to over the spirit forging since this had caused them tension in the past. Even more, Walker was thinking that runes would be a very good topic to discuss. The dwarves used them for armors and learned them to bring in mana to the gear. The elves used them from their natural experience and used them in a simr way.


    Midnight was smelling the air continuously making Walked understand that there were elemental mana crystals in the next room. She had a nose for the things she liked to snack on and he wasn''t fully sure if it was just a way for her to sense mana or if she really smalled them.


    "This room may not be as interesting as monster eggs, but these are the elemental mana crystals the kingdoms have mined or traded for. We hold on to the rarest and highest tiers so that we can use them for important forging. Many of the golems and unique gear made need dual elemental crystals." This was an interesting fact for Walker to learn.


    "I see that there is a lot of steam used so would it make sense that there are a lot of the water and fire dual elemental mana crystals used?" The elder nodded his head in response to Walkers'' assumption. He was d to see that the intuitive strength of this hero was strong enough to put all the pieces together without exnation.


    "Midnight, remember not to eat anything without the elder giving you permission." Walker saw Midnight try and rush ahead and quicklypose herself after his words. She was getting too excited about the potential of food and couldn''t hide it from anyone.


    "She has a taste for elemental mana crystals already? I thought that woulde when she got older. Maybe it makes sense, she does have very well developed scales." The elder was looking closely at Midnight''s scales which she began to proudly show off.


    "I have only see earth dragons before. The ones that visit us asionally are used to being underground. Those from the mountains usually prefer the sky to a degree. It has only been a few decades since onest visited but I will remember them every time. The swords we crafted for the golems to wield. The hammers we made." The dwarf speaking highly of dragonspletely distracted Midnight.


    "Midnight definitely would like to hear more about the visits. She hasn''t been able to meet many of her own species and it makes her curious about them." Walker exined the piercing gaze that Midnight was giving the elder bringing the elder tough heartily.


    "Well, stories do I have to tell. I used to be a lot more of a gear head than I am now. I nearly picked a fight with a dragon once. It was the strangest dragon I have ever seen. It was an earth dragon but its'' scales were all green. At first, I thought it had weird scales and in a heat illness I said it looked like tarnished silver."


    The elder paused for dramatic effect, "Next thing I know there are green mes around me and the dragon is proiming itself as an emerald dragon. It had eaten enough emeralds that its'' scales became emerald. With the light from its ''mes, we were all able to see the truth. Go figure that very dragon was here to help me forge an emerald sword for its'' mother." The elder was looking back at his younger self in wonder.


    "Heat illness?" Walker was uncertain of what kind of illness heat illness was since he had never heard of it.


    "I forget you aren''t a smith or crafter. Most cksmiths will fall prey to heat illness if they aren''t careful. Lack of water and some excessive heat are the main causes of a smith bing ill. They will act almost drunk as their brain bes too hot. It has taken some of the best forge masters to their beds for weeks." Shaking his head the elder walked in to the opened room of crystals.


    The rainbow of elemental mana crystals made Walker speechless. He could feel the density of elemental mnaing from them and was overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the elder was still speaking unaffected by the sight he had seen many times in his life. "The emerald dragon eventually forgave me for myment since I had worked hard enough for it to earn some respect. The emerald sword was going to be ceremonial for his mother to symbolize his respect for her."


    "Heter exined to the naive younger me that an ancient dragon like his mother was able to change in to two different forms. Of course, I was amazed at the time. I already thought a dragon to be spectacr. But hearing that they could take on a humanoid form simr to a demi-human, well, it was a lot for me to handle at the time. It also exined why a dragon would be interested in a sword."


    Walker had also heard this and nodded along since he was still trying to find the words to speak about the elemental mana crystals he saw. There weren''t just a few. If he could count them the entirerge room housed thousands. Not just this but they were some of the highest quality he had ever seen in his life.


    "You can have free rein over the lower tier crystals. We bring those in by the hundred if not thousands each day. Just leave the mid tier and high tier for those who will forge with them." The elder spoke to Midnight who eagerly rushed off from where she had stood listening to the elder about the emerald dragons. Her hunger had won out.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 639 - 639. Arms

    Feeling that he had been learning a great deal, Walker closed his eyes for a moment to organize the things he had learned. The elemental mana crystals could wait for just a moment.


    He was d that he would be able to meet some dwarven tamers in a branch of the tamers guild. It would be a very interesting and informational way for him to be closer to the dwarves and also to the tamers guild. He would also have a very good chance of finding a tamer that could properly care for and raise the albino glowing mole egg that was still dormant in his inventory.


    The knowledge of dragons was also interesting. Walker already knew that dragons scales reflected what they ate most. Since Midnight was eating multiple elemental mana crystals then she would have a very unique kind of scale. This wasn''t a surprise though since she was a dragon champion and that was a reason she could eat them all in the first ce.


    Knowing that the dragons had a bond with the dwarves was a very valuable piece of information. The ancient dragons were very hard to speak to or even get in contact with. This meant that the humans, elves, and demi-humans had never truly formed a bond with them. Having the dwarves to possibly offer a good work about the alliance could shape the future slightly differently. But time would tell if this was even possible.


    "So, what do you think? There are some amazing specimens here. Some that could be perfect for what you want to craft." The elder pointed at the higher shelves where there were multiple grand elemental crystals. These were mostly single elements but there were others that were dual or even triple.


    "I have some multiple elemental crystals already and I was going to try and get more. But there''s no way I could take something so valuable." Walker knew that these were incredibly valuable to the dwarves and if he took them it would be a hit to their people.


    "Then I will just grab one of each." The elder started to gather one of each other the grand elemental mana crystals. Before Walker could even stop him he had ced them in to a bag hanging off of his limp arm. Walker was still concerned about this but the elder had yet to say or do anything about it.


    Midnight had gathered a small pile of low tier elemental crystals andid down with them in the middle of the room. "Feel free to rest here and enjoy yourself. I am going to take this one to the more unique materials and the hall we keep elemental spirits in." Midnight gave the elder a soft huff and bowed her head in gratitude for the elemental mana crystals. She was happier than a kid in a candy store with unlimited gold to spend.


    "You know, you have spoiled her more than my mother has in less than an hour." Walker shook his head as he followed the elder.


    "I am old. I am allowed to spoil the younger generations when I am not teaching them." The elder showed a hard look making Walker understand that there was much more steel hiding within him than he showed now.


    "I can''t argue with that then. I guess I will need to ept it." The elder smiled and showed the deep wrinkles from years of squinting at fire and hot metals.


    "Come this way. I have a personal room here with spare arms. I can''t believe that they would never break. I just think I will need to finish the mithril or oricalum ones if I want to continue on the spirit forging path now." Hearing this was another surprise to Walker. It was amazing that the elder had made one pair of arms but having multiple was even more amazing.


    There was a door in this hallways that had a few markings. The elder pulled a key and unlocked it showing off that it was for his personal use. Within were many hammers of different quality and materials. Among some damaged armors and helms, Walker found that there were even more materials that seemed useless but for mementos from the past.


    When Walker saw a wall full of holders he realized that there were intricate arms made of many metals and rune carved variations. These were the sets of arms the elder had made for himself for when he was in need of a new pair.


    Walker was shocked to see the elder ce the bag of grand elemental crystals down and move a few gears on the broken arm. The sound of it hitting the ground was terrifying since all that was left was a metal section glowing with mana on his shoulder. Before Walker could fathom how this worked the elder attached a dark green arm and then detached the other and reced it with the opposite green arm.


    "That is much better. I hated only having one arm that worked. These should hold up better if I test more spirit forging. But for now, let''s go and see those spirits." The elder was casual and picked up the back of grand elemental crystals.


    Walker was at a loss for words and meekly followed. When the elder locked the door behind him he handed Walker the bag of grand elemental crystals. You can carry them. I realized that it is easier to just have the person who I am giving them to carry them." Walker couldn''t argue this and just smiled weakly while he stored them away. The earth elemental spirit had been quiet while resting within the shield but began to stir as it felt the fellow elemental spirits as they approached another room.


    "This is the hall of spirits. It is where we house most of the dormant elemental spirits we have procured and some of the active ones. I think...we will have a hard job of making amends here." The elder was worried about how the spirits would react but held his breath in hopes that Walker would be able to speak to them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 640 - 640. Freeing Spirits

    Walker was d that the first thing he saw wasn''t a room full of changed spirits but instead a small room with many dormant spirits. Most of them were earth elemental spirits that the miners had found while working but there were some of every element that the dwarves had purchased or found elsewhere.


    "These are the spirits we have. No one else should have any anywhere else in the entire city unless they were just found. The only room that is equipped for spirit forging is the one I was in and no one else has been there in years."


    Walker felt more at ease knowing that there was nowhere else in the city that could be attempting spirit forging. This meant that the spirits here were safer than he had imagined they would be. "Friends! More Friends!'' The earth elemental spirit was rushing to each of the dormant spirits whispering to them to wake up. So far none of them had reacted but Walker knew that eventually, one might.


    "We have some already active spirits held up ahead over there. You may want to speak to them." Pointing forward the elder held himself back. He didn''t feel like he had any right to be part of the conversation Walker would have.


    Walker had been carrying the earth dwelling shield with him the entire time and the weight had been pushing down on him. However, when he made it to the three cages spirits the shield seemed to lighten a little. There was a decent amount of earth elemental mana and Walker saw that one of the spirits was also an earth elemental spirit.


    "Hey, want toe meet another earth elemental spirit?" Walker called to the earth elemental spirit who was whispering to the dormant ones. The spirit rushed over and nearly threw itself at the cage with the earth elemental spirit in it.


    "Friend! Come out and y! Look at my home!" The spirit was trying to pull the cage apart and Walker reached down to open it releasing the silent earth elemental spirit. It was looking around lost before the earth elemental mana rushed towards it and brought more detail to the y like body. Soon the two spirits were dancing about with each other conversing rapidly.


    "Would you two like to be free of those pesky cages as well? I can exin how the dwarves are changing their ways and you can decide if you want a home like that earth spirit has or if you would like to leave?" The fire spirit that was next to a darkness elemental spirit both seemed silent and slow fromck of their elemental mana. But soon Walker caught them moving their heads to signal that they wanted to be free to hear him speak.


    The darkness elemental mana surged towards the dark elemental spirit causing it to dive in and out of the shadows in joy. The fire elemental spirit followed the same surge of fire elemental mana and consequently caused multiple little sparks in the air in joy. The two were much happier being free from the cages than they had been while trapped.


    "Now, the dwarves didn''t know you were able to speak or sentient at all. They believed you to just be the key to crafting sentient weapons. Unfortunately, they were following the wring process and they were burning their souls and trapping spirits. This was their mistake." Walker saw the three newly freed spirits slow down and focus on him.


    ''I worked with their elder and this earth spirit here to change the way things are done. Now there is this shield made with the help of this earth elemental spirit and the dwarf elder. It is called the earth dwelling shield and it is a ce an earth elemental spirit can rest if it desires. But it is not bound and trapped within it."


    The earth elemental shield proceeded to enter and leave the shield a few times to prove to the three that this was all true. Even more, it began to tell them that Walker was their friend and that they could leave and explore if they wanted. The fire elemental spirit approached Walker first out of the three.


    "The other spirits? What will happen?" This was a respectable question to ask. Walker knew that this spirit was putting the dormant spirits first before itself.


    "They will be here until they wake up. When they d they will have the same choice. I n to have some elvese here and assist the dwarves. Naturally. That is if they join the alliance the elves are part of. But at this point, I would say they will." Walker was almost sure that the dwarves would be unable to turn down the extremely beneficial alliance.


    Hearing this the fire elemental spirit moved closer to Walker and examined him. "How do you speak spirit?" That was also a good question to ask since he was obviously not a species that could normally speak to spirits freely.


    "I learned while with the elves. I met a certain elf that had spirits that dwelled within her and they talked to me so much that I learned to speak to every single element of spirit." Walker paused and looked to the spirits, "I am actually recruiting spirits that would want to join me on my journey. I have a quest to find one of every element to join me. That is an option for all of you. I also have a dormant water spirit with me." Walker showed the three newly released spirits the dormant water spirit.


    "Spirit guardian?" The dark elemental spirit thought that Walker had the spirit guardian system since he was able to carry a dormant spirit.


    "No, my system lets me have most of the skills though, and more." Walker waited as the spirits became energetic and talkative with each other. They all wanted to consider the things they could do now and where they could go.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 641 - 641. Rare Alchemists

    "We travel with the spirit guardian." The fire elemental spirit spoke for the other two spirits making Walker very surprised. He also wondered why the spirits insisted that he was a spirit guardian even though that wasn''t his system. He just assumed this was because he had skills that would fit a spirit guardian and that he might be acting like one.


    "Then you are wee to do that. If any of you want a dwelling item like this one then let me know. If you want to join me in my quest goal then please let me know as well. If you don''t want either and you just want toe along that''s fine too." Walker was doing his best not to pressure the spirits since he knew that they would need to be willing to participate in his quest.


    The earth elemental spirit stuck right next to the other earth elemental spirit and went off to whisper to the dormant spirits. The dark elemental spirit went in to Walkers'' shadow and hid away. Walker wasn''t sure why this was but had a theory that it was just morefortable for it to travel this way since it was one with darkness elemental mana.


    The fire elemental spirit was the only one to remain by Walkers'' side. It idly floated in the air looking about the spirit hall and eventuallyid eyes on the elder. "Is that the one that made the home?" It had not seen this elder before since the elder had focused on the earth elemental spirit instead ofing to the treasury and looking for another.


    "Yes, he helped make the earth dwelling shield. If you want to forgive him for being part of the reason you and the other spirits you can. If you want to ignore him I won''t force you to converse with him." Walker was sure that the fire elemental spirit would want to gather more information on the elder. The fire elemental spirit was much more curious than the other spirits and Walker had no idea why this was the case. However, he could sense that there was much more fire elemental mana with the fire elemental spirit than the respective elemental mana with the other spirits.


    "Will watch." The fire elemental spirit took up a position to Walkers'' side and decided that it would watch the elder and Walker as they went about their business.


    "So it looks like you are taking the spirits with you." The elder was not a fool and noticed the three additional spirits. He had even seen through the dark spirit hiding within Walkers'' shadows.


    "Yes, I gave them the option and I will see if they can help meplete a quest at some point. But first I think they just want to get out and explore." Walker was sure that the spirits would want to change their minds at some point. It was only understandable since they had been trapped for who knew how long.


    "I see. That is sad that they don''t want me to make them gear like that one. I had some high hopes. But you said the elves could speak to spirits too? Does that mean they may be able to wake these ones up and speak to them for the dwarven people?" The elder was looking at the future of the spirit forging process and how it could progress.


    Walker wasn''t going to judge him on this since it was his role as an elder to think of these things over other things constantly. "They never told me about causing the spirits to wake up. But If I had to guess, I would say they need to be around higher density elemental mana that coincides with their specific element." Walker had long thought of doing this to wake up the water elemental spirit.


    Yet, Walker had decided to wait until he was home. This was because he could give the water elemental spirit the option of living in the garden or even near the pond they had at the mansion. He wanted the spirit to have more choice and also possibly wake up the dormant spirits that were most likely dormant in the area.


    "We will need to avoid waking them until the elves arrive. There would be a gap in understanding unless you stay¡­" The elder was a little hopeful but realized that Walker would not be staying for that long. They had a quest toplete and a whole kingdom to return to.


    "I will be around for a little while longer. But we have a lot to do as a party but most of all want to take some time to spend with our families. We have been away from home for some time now." Walker was falling more and more for his homesickness. He was worried that everyone back home might be in need of feeling the same way. He also had the nagging thought of giving Alice the bracelet he had found for her.


    "I see. Then I will move on. We have the materials room next. It is attached to the herbs and alchemy room. I am surprised that we haven''t seen any of the alchemists arrive here. There may only be a few, but having another alchemiste in to the city is a rarity. They would most likely want to show off." Walker wondered why there wouldn''t be many alchemists around.


    "Is there a reason alchemists would be rare here? I heard from Remey that the alchemyb is amazing here." Walker could remember that Remey told him about the advanced tools and how she couldn''t even figure out how they all worked. Seeing that the elders'' face dropped Walker knew that he had asked a tough question. It appeared he had uncovered an issue the dwarves were currently having and that they might need more assistance when it came to this.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 642 - 642. Guess What

    "What do you mean there are only fifteen alchemists in the entire dwarf city!" Remey had just been told this by one of the three that came to show her the tool in the alchemy room and learn the basic potion form.


    "Alchemy had be less of a focus. Most of the young have unlocked doctors, surgeons, nurses, and other medical rted systems. Dwarves are not ones with much magic, to begin with. Having alchemists to make magic healing potions is rare in the first ce." The dwarf that was exining this was not the highest ranked and felt that he had been thrown to the monsters for this job.


    "Well, you at least have some master alchemists, right?" Remey was worried that forming the alchemy guild would be harder if there were no dwarven alchemists. Not to mention that having fewer alchemists as a whole would make it harder for the dwarves to heal their people overall.


    "Of course we do! He is standing right next to me." The younger alchemist dwarf pointed to the older dwarf who was peaceful standing to the side examining some herbs on a shelf.


    Remey sized the dwarf up. He had long brown hair that appeared to not have been cut for some time. Unlike most dwarves, he was thinner and had very little muscle. "He isn''t much to speak or talk or even make potions. But don''t get him wrong, he is very good and has helped invent many of the tools we use. He just things in strange ways."


    Hearing the younger alchemist exin this Remey realized that every other dwarf she seemed to meet was some strange genius in some way. The king of the deep cave was hard headed and forceful whereas this alchemist was reserved and intuitive.


    "Well, then let''s see what you can do. I have a proposition for you if you can prove you are worth bringing on board with it. I need the best alchemists I can get so that my dream cane true and change alchemy in multiple kingdoms." Remey was gazing at the older alchemists with intensity.


    The older alchemists finally brought his attention to her. Remey''s straight forward approach seemed to be the best way to get a dwarfs'' attention no matter the personality. It was a little refreshing since she didn''t want to jump through too many hoops to get the answers she was seeking.


    "My name is Rob. Just Rob. I don''t need master Rob or Alchemist Rob. That is all...extra. I have been in the city for a long time and have done my best as an alchemist. Rarely am I called on to assist in healing since I can not heal golems and the surgeons take care of injuries. I will take your challenge and I expect a fruitful experience."


    The response surprised the younger alchemist who was much more used to the older one rarely speaking and rarely taking action. He was standing there staring at Ron and then back at Remey before his curiosity began to take over his awe at Rons'' attitude. "What do you need us to do?"


    Remey didn''t think that the younger alchemist would want to participate but was d that he did. "I have made three potions over there. Each one had been made with the herbs in this room and without most of the tools since not every single one is required. I just want them identified." Remey knew that this could be a very tough challenge for an alchemist that was not well studied.


    Remey cleared off a table and ced three different potions down. The first she pointed to and waited for the two to examine it. "Can we open the top and examine it further?" The younger alchemist wanted to see what effects it might have and what it looked and smelled like clearly.


    "As long as you don''t drink it then it''s fine" Remey was expecting this and made sure that they weren''t drunk to see if it had certain effects. She didn''t need the exact names just what they may do or what they were made from. This was a challenge she was basing off of her alchemical brawlers'' field guide. It was her source of knowledge and any that would be able to stand next to her should be simrly adept.


    The younger alchemist opened the top and watched as the red potion sent off a slight red vapor. This was then sniffed and a little was poured on to the table. "This is a high tier healing potion. Is this really a test?" Remey didn''t even flinch as her eyes moved to Rob who was standing a little further away.


    "That is a modified high tier health potion that has better effects. The vapor that came off is the condensed ingredients starting to evaporate since they arepressed in the bottle to a degree." Rob easily saw through this and was met by a nod from Remey.


    "Exactly right. It was a modification to the traditional health potion that a master alchemist in my kingdom made. The old man is pretty smart and will be part of the proposal I will make if you can guess the next two." Remey left this as even more incentive for the two who were guessing the potions.


    The younger alchemists just chalked them up to experience and looked at the next one. He wasn''t going to guess wrong this time since he was already an alchemist of renown even though there were not many alchemists in the city. Compared to the master he was sure he would win this challenge because the master was not as active in the ways of potion making and chose to focus on making potion tools.


    "The next potion please." Remey gestured to the second potion she had ced on the table. She was eager to see what they said it was.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 643 - 643. Tricky Potions

    Remey was pointing to the second potion on the table. The ss and liquid inside werepletely clear. The younger alchemist didn''t even hesitate as a smile formed on his face. He thought that he had just gotten extremely lucky since this potion was guaranteed to be what he said it was.


    "I can''t believe you would try and trick us with a failed low tier mana potion. The mana drainedout during the mixing process and we are left with a clear potion that barely adds a single mana point in recovery."


    "Remey again didn''t say a word and looked at Rob for his answer. The younger alchemist was sure of the guess he had made. This time he had replicated Rob and just observed so that he would look even more dependable and professional. It was his pride on the line after all.


    However, in contrast, Rob grabbed the potion and held it up to the light. There were a few hmms'' and huhs'' as Rob ruined it multiple angles in the light to get a full depth of what this might be."This isn''t really a potion by traditional means. It is just salt and water mixed together." Rob spoke with confidence while setting the potion down and waiting for Remey to confirm.


    "That is exactly right. That is what is left of some slime body and the basic potion that will need to be mass produced to flight off the slimes constantly." Remey was certain that this was going to trip them up. It used to be a potion but was now a side effect of the potion.


    "Really? It creates salt water when the two mix? That will be tough on tools since salt water will rust metals faster. Thank you." Rob was thankful to hear how this would influence the tools he used along with the tools the other dwarves would use. It would mean that for a short time the slimes would still be doing unintentional damage to the golems that hunted them.


    "So that was a trick? Are you trying to make us fail?" The younger alchemist hit the nail on the head. Remey was exactly trying to make them fail. It was because she wouldn''t want anyone that could just mix and harvest. She needed someone with inquisitive and innovative ideas to make potions and teach others.


    "Now, we have one more potion left. If you can tell me what it is I might give it to you." Remey slightly tapped arger purple potion. It was the most difference between the three which made the other two more interested. The best was definitely saved forst.


    The younger alchemist looked at Rob but found that Rob was also lost. They were both slowly trying to get a single hint on what the purple potion could be and who it had such a thick ss around ut with rines carved in the bottle.


    The two took turns opening and sniff the potion while also holding it up to the light to examine what else it might be. The color didn''t seem to change when exposed to the light but Rob could tell there was something more about it. "What is making me wonder is the fact there are darkness elemental runes all over the bottle. If that''s the case then it is a light sensitive potion.":


    The younger alchemist took Rob''s words and began to run through everything in his mind about potions that needed to be closed in darkness elemental mana. Many different thoughts ran through Robs'' mind as he tried to figure out what Remey could be showing them. He looked at all the herbs and continued to realize that there were multiple that would cause a potion to rune possible and need to be store with as little light as possible. The only problem was that the potion that came to mind were not able to be made.


    "This was in no way made here." Rob used Remey and the younger alchemist froze with his jaw dropped. It was clear that Remey had actually done this when she smiled and nodded her head. "And what do you think it does?" She was eager to hear what Rob said about this.


    "It doesn''t replenish mana or health but boosts the body. From the fact that I can see everything through it but in a purple haze.This means it is used to the darkness elemental mana. I believe it to enhance vision in some way." Robert made this bold im.


    "You are correct. I did not make this here but in the forest elf city. It is a night vision potion and can be considered fairly valuable around here. Especially since it is made with elven herbs." Remey waved for Rob to take and keep the potion.


    "I will experiment on this but I would like to see the elven herbs and make a determination on what can be done with them and what ratios make up this potion." Rob had been caught by curiosity., The second he heard elven herbs was the second that he was sold on whatever Remey was nning.


    "Then you should join the alchemy guild as a master alchemists working with me. We are building the first building in Genesis city which is where the Genesis alliance will call home." Remey knew she had already sold Rob on this but was waiting for the official answer.


    "I would be a fool to say anything other than yes. I would like to join and be a founding member." With that Remey had aplished another goal.


    ''But don''t you need the kings'' permission for something like that?" The younger alchemist was shocked that this could happen.


    "The dwarves will eventually join the alliance. This is just preparation." Remey winked at the younger alchemist and began to gather ingredients for the basic potion she was going to teach them. She had adequately caught their attention and would be able to teach the new potion easily.


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 Chapter 644 - 644. Wind Material Hunting

    "Why did I rush off. I don''t even know where these wind specific materials would be for my bow." Gil had rushed off to look for the materials and realized that the ones he needed had no location in the quest. "They just say in the dwarf city, that could mean anywhere." Gil had rushed out of the high forge feeling that he needed to look for the materials his quest needed fast. All he could think about was finding a way for the wind spirit to have more freedom.


    Luckily there were some familiar faces outside the high forge taking rest after hunting down the slimes in the deep caves. "Archer hero!" The dwarf that was in charge of the other crossbowmen was pretty happy to see him since they had been talking about his sniping skills for a while.


    "Hello! Taking a break all the way over here now? I thought you would all still be down in the mines?" Gil was surprised to see them since he assumed they would be hunting slimes for some time.


    "Naaa, they had the golems take over since your hero alchemist showed them how to make those potions. We got sent back up here to work on well¡­.nothing right now." The crossbowmenughed together since this seemed to happen to them fairly often.


    "Well, how about helping me out then? I need to find some wind elemental crafting materials for my bow to be modified and I have no idea where to look." Gil thought that asking the only other form of archer in the dwarf city would be the best idea. He was right.


    "Boys, want to go on a search mission fr once? Should kill some time before we can head back to work?" The leader of the crossbowmen looked at his team of four behind him and smirked. They always needed something to amuse themselves since the crossbowmen was not a favorite group due to the fact that dwarves preferred to get up close and personal in battles with hammer sand axes instead of hold back with crossbows.


    The crossbowmen looked interested since they often found themselves bored. They had even volunteered as patrols on the surface until the golems took over fully. Now it was left to golems at all times and the only events that there would be actual dwarves patrolling were the monster breeding seasons when there was more chance of merchants being attacked.


    "So what are you looking for specifically. We can split up and hunt some things down. We all have our connections since we have plenty of free time." The leader of the crossbowmen was eager to put some of his connection to use since he had rare;y had a chance to call on the favors that he had built up by looking to kill time.


    "Well, I''m not really sure. The quest I have just says I need to gather wind affinity materials that can be used to enhance the bow I use. So in theory, I will need some kind of wood and ore or metal to add to the main body of the bow. Then I will need something to reinforce and add strength to the bowstring. I would also like to add some mana gems so that I can let the wind elemental mana build up on the bow but they would need to be small."


    The crossbowmen looked like they had just been given all they need. "I have the mana gems. My cousin crafts all sizes."


    "We have a few branches of that weird tree from the mountains. I can get the old man to give it over if we help him for a bit."


    The crossbowmen headed off separate ways with three heading one way and one another. "So we have to go looking for string and ore. Hm, I wonder if glider spider thread would work? They live in the mountains and use wind magical attacks to hunt prey instead of venom. They also use their spider thread to create ps between their legs to glide from peak to peak." The crossbowmen had been lucky to go on a trip to a mountain vige once and fought these glider spiders.


    "That sounds like it could be perfect. I never knew there were spider monsters that used their silk like that." Gil was pleasantly surprised and wanted to rub it in Walkers'' face a little since it was definitely a fact that Walker didn''t know. However, there were more pressing matters on his mind.


    "The ore will be a challenge, I haven''t heard of an ore that has wind elemental properties. But I''m no miner or smith so we will go and talk to the guy that makes our crossbows. He''s a bit of a jerk but he is damn good at what he does." The dwarf made Gill a little apprehensive about going to this dwarf but He had no choice. If they were able to find a wind elemental ore then it was worth any price.


    "I just wonder what kind of modifications the bow will have and if the spirit will actually be able to move freely. If this quest helps me with this then I will be able to apologize for dragging this wind spirit and using its power." The dwarf looked at Gil and realized that there was much more to the heroes than he had seen in the first nce. The heroes weren''t just powerful system users with unique gear. They were people who had a strong feeling and drive.


    "You can count on the people we are going to see. I promise that they will have some answers for you and if they don''t have the materials they will know who does." The dwarf felt his resolve strengthen. Today was a good day.


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 Chapter 645 - 645. Crossbow Crafter

    "Hey, so I know you''re helping me out to find materials. But this alley is a little...off." Gil was being led through a slightly cramped and dark alley.


    "I did say the guy was a bit of a jerk. He thinks it''s hysterical to make everyonee down this way even though there is almost no crime in the city. The golems kinda scare off thieves and bandits from slinking in and around here." The crossbowmen leader was trying to brush it off but the more Gil heard about the dwarf they were going to see the more he worried.


    "Plus, this alley is the best way to his spot. It is really annoying but he got a really good deal on his workshop. The way the block was built left a huge open space for a testing ground. Give it a look."


    The pair came out of the cramped and dark alley to reveal arge open square. There were wood and metal targets along with a forging area. The materials and tools were all set up along the walls and a small entrance to the indoors was the only hin that this was some form of home.


    "The pipes and whatnot underneath make the ground warmer than other ces so they refused to build homes on it. Good thing because this is now the best ce for any crossbowmen toe and practice. Plus we have our own crossbow crafter here." The leader of the crossbowman was very proud of this space and walked around target to target like he had known the ce his entire life.


    "Who in the deep caves is making noise! I said I am closed for a week so I can sleep and you brats show up again? I will beat the spunk out of you and teach you to respect you- ah, just you. Who''s the human? Aren''t we still closed because of those slime things? I never saw the big deal. They didn''t touch my string materials."


    The dwarf that emerged from the inside area of the crossbow forge was slim but well built. His hair was tied with multiple grey threads making it appeared that he was somehow trying to braid a bowstring from them. The only other defining feature was a dark red tattoo of a crossbow on each bicep.


    "This is one of the human heroes that came to help with the slimes. He helped us defeat a ton of them from far away. His bow hits harder than our crossbows. He even had magic skills that go with them!" The leader of the crossbowmen was too excited and did not realize the blunder he had made.


    "You brought some human kid here to show off and tell me my crossbows are worse than his bow? Are you serious? The next repair you need will cost triple! And you''ll be buying me some fire mead from the brewers guild!" Gil swore he saw steaming from the crossbow crafters'' ears. The red face contrasting with white and grey hair made it seem like he was truly going to explode at any moment.


    "Umm, actually, we are here looking for some materials that you might have. They told me all about how the best crossbow crafter in the city would have them. He mentioned glider spider string used to make the bow strings and maybe some ores I could purchase." Gilid on the tter thick since he thought it might be the only way things progress.


    The crossbow crafter seemed to calm slightly but still starred daggers as the crossbowmen leader. "Eh whatever, at least those fools know to tell you the right things sometimes. Show me this bow you have and I can consider selling you the glider silk and we can look at ores. If I''m impressed that is."


    Gil had a feeling that this would happen and that there would be some proof needed after but he just pulled the bow out and watched as the crossbow crafters'' face sunk. He had not known that Gil was about to pull out a spirit forged bow. It was something that every single dwarf crafter or forger could easily tell with their skills. If they couldn''t they would consider themselves an insult to dwarves everywhere.


    "So what Target should I hit?" Gil had already pulled out an earth elemental arrow since he wanted to show off the magic that the crossbowmen leader had just spoken about.


    "The middle target should be able to handle an arrow from a bow. It can deal with the power from the strongest crossbow I have around here. An archers'' bow would never equal it even with the bow being spirit forged or whatever." The crossbow crafter was trying to keep up his attitude and hide away his awe. He had not expected there to be a spirit forged bow anywhere let alone right in his testing area.


    "I was going to use an earth elemental arrow, but I think I should just use a wind elemental arrow. It will show you what my arrow can really do." Gil swapped the earth elemental wither spike arrow for a wind elemental arrow prototype that the elves had gifted him. He remembered the exact use of this arrow and only had a few, but they were very showy.


    "Are you sure that the metal target will hold? Is there anything on the other side of that wall that could get damaged if I fire it in there?" Gil wanted to keep himself ountable and asked the crossbow crafter just in case.


    "Ha! If you can fire through that wall and in to my kitchen then I will give you the glider silk for free. Not that you can, but I will enjoy theedy you prefer by attempting it." The crossbowmen thought that Gil had suddenly be too cocky. As Gil began to take aim and the wind began to stir the look of worry crept on to the crossbow crafters'' face.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 646 - [Bonus ]646. Killer Gil

    The wind elemental mana gathered and formed a slight spiral around the arrow. At first, the shift in the air made the crossbow crafter fearful. But when it seemed to calm he was sure that there was still zero chance it would even stick in to the target. "When it only dents the target, don''t whine about a broken arrow." Gil didn''t even hear these words as his focus had tuned the outside world out.


    He looked at the dead center of the round metal target that could take the fastest and hardest metal crossbow bolts and felt that it would never even scratch the arrow he and the elves tested over and over. His arm drew back and his breathing stopped.


    In the next heart beat, Gil released the arrow. The air shifted again and the spiraling wind became a torrent swirling around the arrow head. The speed was just as fast as any crossbow bolt the crossbow crafter had ever seen or made. The arrow head touched the metal target and a tearing sound pierced their ears.


    The three witnessed the wind carve itself through the target and then through the stone with a grinding sound. The pieces of metal and stone that were blown around in the wind made them all close their eyes until it had subsided.


    When Gil opened his eyes he was in time to see the crossbow crafter rushing towards the target. Gil looked and saw the perfectly carved hole in the metal and then to the perfectly carved hole in the stone wall. "My soup!" The crossbow crafter sprinted inside after looking through the hole and seeing the spilled in two pots of soup in the kitchen. It had beenpletely destroyed by the arrow which now sat on the ground by the stove without a scratch.


    "I killed his soup...maybe, I''m the jerk." Gil had not meant to kill the soup but knowing that it was hard made food he felt that he hadmitted a crime.


    "He might kill you. I know you''re a hero with a spirit forged bow and helped the dwarves. But our craftsmen really likes that soup. It''s his great great grandmothers'' recipe. Yeah, he might kill you." Gil flinched hearing these facts. He was sure that he had just wrecked any chance at getting the slider spider silk and any possible wind elemental ores.


    After some time there was a noise at the door and the crossbow crafter emerged with a bowl in his hand. "You''re lucky you didn''t take out both pots of soup. If you had, I would need to make you in to the next batch." The crossbow crafter slowly sipped his bowl of soup with a warm smile. "Also, what in the deep caves is this arrow? It isn''t even dented."


    Unsure of how the crossbow crafter had just casually gotten a bowl of soup andpletely ignored the fact that there was a hole in his home Gil just stood there frozen still waiting for the anger to drop. "Hey, kid hero? Bow boy? Windy? You there?" After a few random taunts from the crossbow crafter, Gil finally snapped back to reality.


    "The forest elves use a lot of arrows since they have some arcane archer system users. So they make a lot of their own. These elemental arrows use specific materials so they can take on the elemental manas that coincide with the materials. This is a wind elemental prototype arrow. I''m sure they have already refined it more. This one doesn''t even have runes." Gil knew that the next time he visited the forest elf city that there were sure to be many better arrows to try out.


    "So they are simr to how I inscribe wind runes and earth runes on to the crossbow bolts to make them move faster and retain their strength when hitting a target. Interesting. But how does the wind elemental react so violently?" The crossbow crafter was falling in to deeper and deeper thought as he explored this problem.


    "Well, we use a wind elemental mana crystal to fill the arrow with wind elemental mana. Some of them don''t need it due to the materials they are made of or the runes. But most of the time they need the mana from a crystal to be transferred to the arrow head. That makes the elemental mana crystals break when I use my skill but elves will use multiple."


    "So the answer is mana maniption. I can''t do that to that degree. Runes are the depth. Most dwarves can''t. If I worked with an elf though¡­" The crossbow crafter didn''t care who he needed to work with. He wanted to find a way to make magical crossbow bolts and nothing would stop him. "Anyways, about that glider silk. Come in and check my store room. I have enough to make a few hundred crossbows from thest expedition in to the mountains for rare materials."


    Gil finally entered the inside of the crossbow crafters home and found that the kitchen around the corner was a royal mess. There were kitchen utensils and food everywhere. Not to mention the second hole where the arrow had begun to burrow in to the next wall before losing the energy and falling to the ground. "Sorry...about all that.." Gil felt very bad for the damage.


    "About what? I challenged you. Come on over here. The store room might have some ores you want too. But I want you to show me how to make those arrows. I doubt I can copy it but I will know the process." The three went in to the storage room and Gil saw the spools of glider spider silk.


    "Take one of those. It will be useful for other things other than just bows. My clothes are even made of it." The crossbow crafter showed off his shirt while finishing his bowl of soup. Gil still wasn''t sure how he was so calm after losing an entire pot of soup.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 647 - 647. Breeze Gold

    "I think I know just the seamstress that will need this to work on some special fabrics my party leader found in the first elf city." Gil had thought of Lisa immediately and knew that she would be fond of it. "What do you rmend for bow string though? Do you braid it for the crossbows?"


    "I do, I usually use seven strands braided together to make one crossbow string. I would rmend less than that unless you are going to make the body of your bow stronger. I learned the string to body material lesson the hard way when I was younger."


    The crossbow crafter was thinking back on the time he had made a wooden crossbow that had a weaker wooden body due to the money hecked. When he had added the stronger bow string it caused the body to snack back and sprinter in his face. This was verymon for younger crafters when making equipment without proper guidance.


    Gil nodded knowing that any time he restrung his bow he had run the risk of tightening the string too much and breaking the body of the bow. However, he had not worried about it since he received the bow within his hands. It had already long withstood the test of time and appeared ready tost until the end of time itself.


    "I will try a few different braided strengths after I have the body of the boy strengthened first. Thank you." Gil knew little about the overall strength of this material and having a base to go off of wasvery useful. "Now, I am looking for an ore that would have a wind and only a wind elemental affinity. My friend here has his fellow crossbowmen looking for some small mana crystals and some three branches from a special tree. The ore would be for the main body of the bow."


    "That is a very strange request ya know. I have been asked some out there things. Like making bolts out of bacon. Yeah, some people have strange lives. Anyways. I have something but it is one of the rarest ores I have so it isn''t cheap." The crossbow craftsman looked away and Gil had a feeling that the dwarf had definitely tried to make the bots out of bacon when asked.


    Gil opened his eyes wide. He knew that things would be tough since the quest didn''t specify where he would find the materials within the dwarf city. However, the system must have assumed he would be alone searching for these materials. No one could have guessed that he would run in to the crossbowmen and that they would be bored enough to go off and do a little material hunting.


    "Gold is not something I have needed to worry abouttely. My party has a joint ount and we all work hard to fill it." Gil knew that Walker was usually the one to spend money for the party. But in this case, Gil was going t use the ount. He wasn''t afraid he would get in trouble but just felt bad he was spending the party''s gold.


    Then this is what you want. Out of all the wind based elemental materials. This is the only pure wind elemental material I have. It is created when the mountain erodes away and wind constantly bleeds out the earth elemental mana to rece it with wind elemental mana. After a very long time of this, you have breeze gold."


    The golden chunk of ore in the crossbow crafters'' hands was like any other gold. It was shiny and attractive to the eye. The only difference was that there was a slight movement of air around it the entire time. The gold itself was jam packed with wind elemental mana. It was like a strange elemental mana crystal.


    "I didn''t know that could happen to something...it''s beautiful." Gil felt that this gold was pulling him towards it. The bow was also slightly trembling but Gil couldn''t notice it since it was too slight.


    "It is, I could never use it for decoration on my crossbows. You see the kind of messy brats that use them. I might be giving them some thing too valuable for them." The crossbow crafter knew that this was also because there was just so little of it that as soon as he used it he would be mmed with those who wanted it but couldn''t have it.


    Gil began t barter for the breeze gold and eventually reached a consensus on how much gold was eptable. "I rmend you use this for any rune or just for filling in any carvings there is that will be added to that bow. It is perfect to enhance the wind elemental mana drawn to it while adding support." This was not the best metal to make entire weapons from due to the overall strength. But in small amounts t greatly added t anything made with it.


    When Gil''s hand touched the breeze gold he felt the wind elemental mana rush through and around him. It was as if the wind itself was weing him and the gold back together. "I can''t say that has ever happened before." The crossbow crafter was at a loss since such a phenomenon had not happened.


    Gil knew that it must be the spirit reacting to the wind elemental mana within the breeze gold. Thi pushed Gil to want t rush off and get the other materials. However, he knew that the other crossbowmen were hard at work getting them. He needed to trust in the dwarves to assist him and meet up again.


    "I can''t believe you just got glider spider silk for free and made a deal for one of the rare materials he has. You have already done more than me or my men have in years." The crossbowmen leader was in awe of Gil yet again. It was all a mystery to hod Gil pulled it all off.


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 Chapter 648 - 648. Wandering Surprises

    Midnight had snacked on the crystals to her heart''s content but still found that she couldn''t nap at all. For Midnight this was equal to a world ending event. Therefore, she decided to go and explore on her own insearch of a way to burn off the extra energy from the crystals and hopefully nap a little. Potentially even find another snack that wasn''t elemental mana crystals.


    She left behind the treasury and attempted to follow the path they had taken back outside the high forge so that she could search the merchant district which she was sure would have food. Unfortunately, the steam from the odd pipe or two ruined the scent trail for her to follow, and the next thing Midnight knew she was lost in the maze of tight passageways between the floors.


    Yet, this didn''t deter Midnight in the least. She could hear the sounds of metal shing and shouts from a distance. It was hot blooded and violent but for some reason that drew her in even more. So, she followed the noises.


    Ducking through some steam pipes she began to see a brightly lit area that had wide open space. The sounds of fighting had grown exponentially and it wasn''t just one or two dwarves. There were forty or fifty.


    She was still small enough to squeeze between the pipes and get in to the ce she was listening to. As soon as she escaped in to the open she was greeted by the sight of training dwarves. Hammers collided with heavy shields. Axes swung and caused sparks on armor and other axes. These were the training caves of the dwarven army. There were even dwarves fighting against brutal golems with sharp swords and heavy morning stars.


    Midnight felt that she had just found a great secret. She wanted to rush in and battle with them to burn off some extra energy and be able to nap sooner. It was the perfect solution for her. "Hey, where''d this baby dragone from!?" One of the dwarves training nearby noticed Midnight appear. It was hard to miss since she was very different from the surrounding dwarves and golems.


    Midnight looked at him and growled a little. She didn''t like being called a baby since she had grown muchrger than her baby size and even had her wings growing in now. The dwarf grew slightly pale hearing her growl but didn''t manage to dig himself deeper before a familiar royal guard came over.


    "Miss hero, what brings you to the dwarven guard training grounds? Looking for a little sparring?" Midnight huffed in response which made the royal guard smile. "Then please allow me to take advantage of this. I have not been able to properly whip some of these weak dwarves in to shape." The royal guard had not shown this side to Walker but he was much tougher than he let on.


    After stepping to the middle of the training area the royal guard pped his hand and all golems ceased movement. "Get your weak bodies together and prepare yourselves. You are lucky that a hero hase to train with you. Remember this day forever, thest time a mighty dragon came to us they came to work in the forge. This time one of them is here to kick you across the ash from the furnaces."


    Midnight felt that she was being looked at from every angle. Naturally, her first reaction was to flex her wings and ws while raising her head high. The royal guard pped and the golems became slightly more active in their attacks forcing the dwarves to fight harder. Midnight felt her blood boiling as she stepped toward a group of dwarves ganging up on a golem with tworge hammers as hands.


    Midnight thought that it looked fun to fight one that was moving simr to the otherrge monsters the party had faces. She also wanted to test her strength against the golems that were so highly respected in the dwarf city. Nowhere had the party gone had they not seen or heard about golems thus far.


    She wasn''t going to just slink around. She put the shadow wrapping skill on the back burner and rushed in. Her goal was to truly test the toughness of this golem to make her own opinion of them. The dwarves fighting it and working together were surprised when Midnight lept over their heads and was bringing her ws down on to the golems'' chest.


    Her ws tore through the golem''s chest but were not able to do any real damage to the mechanisms inside. Midnight could see the gears ticking away unimpeded as the golem targeted her. She had no trouble at all ducking under one of the hammersing toward her while a dwarf took the chance to approach the golem as well.


    Midnight turned to see the dwarf holding the hammer arm down while the other dwarves rushed in to attack the weakened side Midnight had tore through. In just a few shed they had disabled the gears inside and the golem fell to the ground unable to move. Midnight released a light growl since the golem was too weak.


    "Don''t worry, I have the real training on the way. It was just being repaired so we were using some of the new recruits'' golems to warm up. The real one is a golem designed by an up anding prodigy. They used it in the golem battlesst year and took first ce. Now it''s made for training. We call it Throat Ripper since the golem builder that made it designed it to go for the most sensitive weak points in a target." Midnight turned her head at this wondering what king of golem would defeat others in a golem battle. Even more, what kind of golem could earn the name Throat Ripper?


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 Chapter 649 - 649. Midnights Quest

    Midnight scratched at the stone and dust ground in anticipation. The name sounded like it was the best opponent for her. She had not met anyone with an intimidation name. The only other person that she could think of that evenpared was Barryu the vice adventurers guild master.


    The dwarves around began to get more serious and prepare themselves. The other golems had received an order to back to the alls and reach a resting position. "Remember you weak cave rats, This is one of the best golems made for the army in thest century. The golem builder that made it is only forty years old! That''s a record for our people. Make sure you give it a proper test that''s worth the dwarven army pride!"


    After the royal guard shouted this order every single dwarf thumped their chest in response. Midnight felt her heart beating and the feeling of fire in her chest.


    ''Unique hero quest: Golden mes


    What are the point of spirit forged weapons to an almighty dragon champion? As the top of the dragon species, it is expected that the user would show this in their battle prowess. Spirit forged weapons are of no concern. What dragon needs a weapon when they can use their body as a weapon?


    Requirement:


    Use the inner mes of the dragon champion to defeat the dwarven prodigys'' golem; Throat Ripper.


    Reward:


    Skill- Golden me heart''


    Midnight felt that the heat within her was building more and more and that her battles senses were sharper than usual. The feeling she would normally have before breathing her decaying me was consumed by an even stronger and hotter feeling. She had read the quest and knew that she was getting something much better than a spirit forged weapon that the others were working toward.


    Before she could keep focusing on the feeling of the new heat in her chest Midnight felt the shaking of the ground. There was somethinging and she knew it was the golem the royal guard had spoken about. She also knew this from the way the dwarf soldiers were reacting.


    Watching the soldiers form teams and rush themselves to get organized she knew that this was not just some easy to beat golem like before. It was one that would require all of the soldiers here to survive against in their training.


    On one end of therge training cave, there was a door holding the carved vows of the dwarf army. They would all pledge to it before their training on their pride as dwarves. It was a uniting factor for them as soldiers. However, at this moment the hard looks of nervous soldiers watched the door open.


    The golem that stepped through the open doorway was not small to say the least. It was easily double the size of an orc and just as tough. The armor ting on the body was greater than the thickets shields Midnight had ever seen. The hands looked as if they were made totch on and tear things apart. It was safe for Midnight to think that this golem was specially made to take hits and deal them out. It was a physical powerhouse.


    As if to demonstrate the incredible strength it had the golem showed off its nickname Throat Ripper. Therge golem grabbed the shut down and disabled golem that Midnight and the dwarves had used as their warm up. It grabbed the connecting part to the head where a mana core rested and tore it out dropping the parts on the ground.


    Midnight growled slightly while falling in to a crouch. She may not have noticed it, but the dwarves saw a small amount of smoke and sparksing from the sides of her mouth. Her growl grew as Throat Ripper moved toward the first group of golems. The most intimidating part of it was that it did not wield any weapons. This spoke of the power it hadpared to the other golems that relied on it.


    Midnight knew that her previous strategy wouldn''t work but refused to rely on her shadow wrapping skill. If she used it she felt that she would be acting like a coward. Instead, she decided to let the dwarves distract Throat Ripper and circled to the side. She thought the golems'' defense was too strong but she had to see how strong.


    Rushing in towards its'' leg she managed to get close and sh at it. The metallic scraping left only feint scratches in the shape of her ws. Throat Ripper already noticed her due to the multiple mana cores that were keeping track of its surroundings. One trait that made this golem above any other was the fact that it had four mana cores. It couldn''t be taken down by a single attack and could view all around its'' body.


    Throat ripper kicked backwards sending Midnight sprawling while also swinging an arm in to three of the dwarves who wielded shields. They were equally thrown away. The power Throat Ripper had was nothing tough at. Midnight refused to justy back and get pushed down.


    As she stood up Midnight couldn''t resist her instincts. She saw a tough opponent that her ws couldn''t scratch. She knew that she couldn''t use her decaying mes because the dwarves trying to attack Throat Ripper would get harmed. But she wasn''t able to hold herself back.


    Smoke wasing from her mouth more and more and the sparks that came with each breath showed like flecks of gold dancing in the air. Her entire body seemed to be releasing heat that even the nearby dwarf soldiers which had live around the forge fires for their entire lives couldn''t stand. Many backed away from her out of general instinct and fear. Being the only target nearby, Throat Ripper moved to attack her. Little did the golem know, but it was about to face a grave danger.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 650 - 650. Golden Flames

    Midnight had puffed up her chest with arge breath and felt the incredible heat. However, she was not aware that there was more to this than she knew.


    She released her breath and with it, a brilliant golden me of fire shot out at the Throat Ripper golem. The heat of the me was enough to cause many o the hit parts to glow orange instantly. The outside armor even began to melt.


    This did not stop Throat Ripper since the internal gears were still working properly. It reached Midnight and tried its best to attack. Its arming down from above its head at Midnight.


    She easily dodged while she ended her me breathing. She was in awe of her own attack but her instincts cried out to dash forward again while the golem was readying another strike. Miraculously the golden mes were still burning and Midnight had no choice but to sh through them to hit the golem.


    When she did sh out at Throat Rippers'' arm which was glowing orange with heat, she felt the puzzle pieces fall in to ce. She could feel the golden me still which was burning using her mana. It wrapped around her ws making them appear to be made of fire as well.


    When her ws made contact the heated armors fell apart like butter. Between the mes that were already affecting it and her ws wrapped in mes, Midnight was able to easily slice the armor it wor and even get to the gears on the inside of the arm.


    The feeling of being one with the mes didn''t leave her. They were still feeding on her mana to burn and she had no choice but to continue her attacks. Throat ripper was now more damaged than it had ever been. Its one arm was barely able to lift but had no face. This led the golem to make the decision to stomp on the ground.


    The heavy stomp caused a crack to form in the stone and direct floor shaking every dwarf and Midnight. This was one of the skills it had which separated it from the other golems. The genius golem builder had managed to add enough condensed earth runes on to the armor that made up the outside of Throat Ripper that it was defensively strengthened by earth elemental mana and it could cause a skill called quake stomp to happen.


    The stunning effect of the quake stomp affected the entire area. Midnight felt the force of another stomping, this time, right above her. Her reaction was to jump back with all her might and use her bone armor skill. The skeletal armor formed much more quickly than it had in the past.


    She rarely used the skill because she thought using it was against her pride. But at this moment she could feel that it was easier to create the bone armor and that there was more to it. The mes that were wrapped around her ws also traveled around the bone ar or that formed.


    There were golden mes that slowly rose off of her armor making the heat she radiated even more potent. Something told her that the next iing attack from Throat Ripper would not be able to do too much.


    Midnight jumped to the side and felt the other arm barely graze her. However, when she looked up she saw that part of the hand on the arm had be so hot it started to melt in to liquid metal. The arm had grazed part of the bone armor with mes on it causing this damage. Something that Midnight could capitalize on.


    After puffing up her chest with air she sent a small burst of more golden mes at the golem. Midnight followed up with an immediate sh with her golden ming ws to the chest of the golem which caused even more damage.


    With a heavy thud, the chest piece of the Throat Rippers'' armor fell off and exposed the many clicking gears inside. The entire dwarf soldier training cave became silent as everyone took in a breath. The roars of battle cries and cheers came next from the dwarves who had never beaten this golem in training since it had been created.


    MIdnight felt the mana in her burning out and used her will to snuff the golden mes while backing away to allow the dwarves their attacks. She knew she was not alone in the battle and was not going to steal the battle experience these soldiers and her were here to gain.


    While she stepped back she came to be next to the royal guard again, "I have seen two dragons in my life. Bith did not have mes as powerful as yours. I can tell that when you reach their age you may have the strongest dragon mes yet." This wasn''t some baselessplement. The royal guard knew all too well the strength of dragon mes and how they could forge very powerful items due to their strengths.


    Midnight let the bone armor fall off and back to nothingness while she watched the Throat Ripper golem fall to the damage from the dwarves. They had expertly stopped the gear from moving on the inside instead of breaking it in to pieces. None of them, of course, could live with themselves if theypletely destroyed a fine golem that was going to join the army with them. As of now all it needed was repairs to the melted armor that made up the outside of its body and reces hand and arm.


    While calming herself, Midnight found that her heart was beating at a slightly higher and more powerful rate. It was as if she had gained the strength he had from the mes and it lightened her body. While she felt this she noticed the quest she had been given wasplete and she eagerly tried to understand what it meant.


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 Chapter 651 - 651. Golden Flame Heart

    ''Unique hero quest: Golden mes-pleted


    What are the point of spirit forged weapons to an almighty dragon champion? As the top of the dragon species, it is expected that the user would show this in their battle prowess. Spirit forged weapons are of no concern. What dragon needs a weapon when they can use their body as a weapon?


    Requirement:


    Use the inner mes of the dragon champion to defeat the dwarven prodigys'' golem; Throat Ripper.


    Reward:


    Skill- Golden me heart


    Golden me heart-passive (unique dragon species skill)


    This is one of the rarest skills a dragon champion can gain. The mes a dragon breathes are produced by burning its own mana. When a dragon champion breathes mes they are able to control the elemental affinity based on the elemental mana crystals they have consumed to grow. The golden me heart is extremely rare to gain afterbining all elemental mes and returning to the true meaning of dragon fire. The heart begins to burn small amounts of mana at all times making golden mes course through the dragons'' body at all times.


    The dragon who possesses this skill will be able to breathe the hottest mes possible along with manipting them and withstanding their heat. The mes are able to wrap and act as damaging armor for enemies that touch it. The mes that wrap around the dragons'' teeth and ws allow them to more easily cut through anything they attack.


    The golden me heartes with the express ability to produce any elemental fire breath attack faster than normal and consumes significantly less mana from the dragon using the me breath attacks.''


    Midnight stood tall and roared in to the air with victory. She was incredibly excited about the new skill and could feel the strength in it. Her body was more powerful than before because of the golden mes coursing through it. She was busy flexing her entire body and trying to understand the effects of the skill.


    When Midnight directed her feelings to her ability to breathe fire she noticed that it was no longer something she needed to to focus on with great attention. When she had first breathed the decaying mes she was struggling the entire time and needed to train with Walker. However, now she felt she could just will it and she would be able to do so.


    This didn''t mean she could breath any elemental me just yet, she knew she would still need to have Walker help her train with the different elements to get to that point. But when they did train she had the feeling that it would not take the hours it had taken before.


    "You managed to melt away the high reinforced armor that Throat Ripper used to safeguard its'' gears. We can finally get that kid genius to build and improve it. He is smart and can figure out amazing things in golem building. But he iszy and would amount to nothing if we let him. It doesn''t help that the elder refuses to drag him and force him to sit down with Grey. But seeing his golem like this, that will motivate him."


    The royal guard had been part of the conversation that was had about their young geniuses''ziness. Now he would be able to report to the king that they had adequately motivated the genius golem builder. There would be a flurry of work to make a golem that could withstand the strong elemental attacks along with physical.


    Midnight was very happy to hear that she had helped them. However, she realized her search for something to burn some energy and even find another snack had taken a lot of time. She turned to the royal guard and huffed a few times. She turned and headed back toward the space in the pipes she had squeezed out of. The dwarves thumped their chests in parting since this was their traditional soldiers greeting. They had seen her strength and respected it like any other dwarf.


    Midnight followed the same path back to where the treasury was. She was sure to remember it. However, she was not thinking of the path she was taking on the way back since her mind was consumed about her fun battle and new quest aplishments.


    She had not wanted any of the spirit forged gear because she didn''t need it. The only things she liked were the scarves that Lisa would make her wear now and then when they were home. Lisa thought it was cute and Midnight didn''t have any problems trying them on since it got her more attention and bonding with the family.


    This didn''t stop Midnight from wanting to help crafting the future spirit forged gear. If she was able to use her mes it would be even better. She couldn''t imagine how amazing an item forged in her new golden mes would be. This thought alone made her prance down the narrow passageway and right in to the crystal room.


    Her entire adventure hadn''t even been noticed by the elder and Walker who were consumed by thor hunt for materials and other such items in the treasury. However, there would be many shared stories of the heroic dragon with golden mes. It was the beginning of her very own epic that the dwarves would begin to spread to many of the merchants that came to visit.


    Before anyone knew it there would be tales of Midnight fighting a fearsome dwarven golem named for its brutal attacks. This would also be a great way for the dwarves to continue to publicize their major military strength. None would be able to stand against them when the golem was improved. Genesis alliance would be able to recruit a major power to join them at the summit. Yet, Midnight was already snoring and didn''t think of any of this¡­


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 652 - 652. Strange Gem

    "This is the material room. We hold many monster materials here. Some of them are very rare and we can''t even craft with them due to their affinities or qualities. On top of this, there are also plenty of other materials from nts, mountains, and even some from across the deserts. Once we have a trader brought things from across the ocean. It was very interesting." The elder was speaking while watching the spirits explore the materials.


    "This ce seems like it is more of a disy instead of a treasury ready to gove out the materials." Walker wasn''t sure what to make of the many different disys. There were some familiar monster bones and materials. Many of them were from nearby monsters like orcs and the goat monsters that lived in the mountains. However, there were many that Walker couldn''t identify at all.


    "If you''re looking for materials that have no elemental affinity or all elemental resistances you need toe to this shelf. This is where we hold some stranger materials that not many can craft with. The reason we don''t just hand these out is the levels and skills needed to craft them."


    Walker had known that some quests and levels of skills were needed to get to a ce where some of the materials could be crafted with. This was clear when they had helped those in the cksmith building by allowing them to craft with their dragon scales. At the time it had been a very rare opportunity in the lower tier of the kingdom.


    "So, I should assume that if the right system user is around then the corresponding materials will be taken from here. Other than that this is just storage for some basic materials too?" Walker had understood why there was a separate area in the treasury.


    "Exactly. Many of these I can''t forge with. Especially there. This gem here is somehow able to absorb mana but never release it. We have found a few but can''t appraise them. Try it yourself. I know you have been appraising things since you came in. You get the same look as most dwarves with appraisal skills."


    It was clear that Walker couldn''t hide the curiosity he had and that the elder had seen through him easily. Walker attempted to use his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Unknown gem


    ??????


    ?????


    ????


    ?


    Absorbs all mana regardless of element. Breaks upon certain conditions.''


    "All it said is that it absorbs all mana regardless of element and that it breaks upon certain conditions." Walker was stumped. He knew that his all around appraisal skill was not a know all skill but this was the first time he had not been able to gain anything from an appraisal. He usually would just receive useless or very little information.


    "That''s all we can get too. We even had a master curator use his mastery appraisal skill perfect appraisal. The drawback was that he would be blind directly afterward but it would vary depending on the item he used it on. If he used it on a ruby he was blind for a few seconds. When he usied it on a person he was blind for months. But when he used it on this he was blind for an entire year. He still hasn''t told us what it is."


    The elder looked like this was something he had long given up on since it was a mystery one of their best appraisers had refused to speak about. However, Walker noticed that the elemental spirits were looking at the gem intently.


    "Do you four have any idea what that is?" He had a feeling that this was the best bet on getting immediate information.


    The four elemental spirits moved away from the strange gem not wanting to be near it but the earth elemental spirits looked like they did not like it the most. The dark elemental spirit spoke for the first time since it dipped in to Walkers'' shadow after he freed it.


    "Battle spirit...passed away battle spirit. Leave it to rest." The spirits went to the opposite side of the room before Walker was able topose himself. He was thinking about why the earth elemental spirits avoided it the most.


    "The dark spirit said it was a battle spirit at one time. Since the earth elemental spirits seem to be wary of it I think it is a passed away earth battle spirit. They said to leave it to rest. I think we should follow their reasoning. They are made of elemental mana, and if they get too close they may not be able to stay as they are. The elves may have better answers for you on this." His theory looked to be correct as he saw the spirits react.


    The elder lifted a small pouch and slipped the gem inside. "I will separate this far from the spirits then. I will personally safeguard the seven we have and the shards of the other two until we can speak with the elves." This was very reassuring for Walker since he wasn''t sure how the elder would react. But it appeared the elder was heeding his warnings without too many questions. Most likely due to the fear he would strain the rtions with the elemental spirits.


    "On another note. How about this rainbow elemental mana crystal. We have rarely gotten them but with that, we can never craft with them. We had a master cksmith attempt to make something with it but the mana within caused trouble. Not many pieces of gear we forge can withstand every single elemental mana permanently." The elder looked like he wanted Walker to choose this.


    "It would be perfect for the staff I want to make. But, this is way too valuable. I have only heard rumors they exist because they are so rare." Walker''s hesitancy was met with a steely look from the elder. Walker could tell he would be scolded.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 653 - 653. Elders Influence

    The elders'' face contorted in annoyance after Walker attempted to refuse the rainbow elemental crystal. "Do you know how rare it is for someone to be able to craft with this elemental crystal? Do you know how rare it is for an item or gear to survive without falling avert or breaking down after it is made using this as a material? You will take it and thank me."


    Walker realized just how much the elder wanted to see a material like this be something. It was the look in the elders'' eyes that gave him away. It wasn''t one of a person who was truly angry. The fire in the elders'' eyes was full of curiosity that could only be satiated by the crafting of rare materials.


    "Then I will ept it. I am sure that it will be a key ingredient in the staff I will have forged." Walker smiled and stored the crystal away. He had only dreamed of obtaining a rainbow elemental mana crystal. It was just too rare yet he had been given one so easily. Yet, hearing that it was extremely hard to craft and extremely hard to keep the gear made with it intact, he knew it was not a simple matter.


    "Anything else you see here that you want to use." The elder let Walker sate his curiosity by using his all around appraisal skill to choose some more materials. Since the mysterious gem had been put away the spirits joined them.


    Walker was interested to see all the spirits were attracted to a tree branch. This wouldn''t be strange but the branch still had green leaves on it and looked to be just cut.


    ''Immortal birch branch


    This branches from a tree known to never die. It grows to a certain size then never absorbs nutrients, grows, or changed unless something changes it forcefully. Immortal birch trees are exceptionally rare since dryads are the only creatures on the that can cause them to multiply. All immortal birch trees resist all elementals without any affinity. They can not be affected by elemental mana at all unless a dryad uses a unique skill on it.''


    "Taken a liking to the immortal birch branch? I see. We brought it here to try and grow it from this branch like the dryads. Unfortunately, we failed. It has just been here for about seventy years. If it was up to me we would have used it by now. But nothing ever stood out as being worthy. But your staff may be worthy."


    Walker was hiding his excitement over this material. If he managed to get this branch then he would be able to have a staff that wouldn''t be at risk for decaying, burning, breezing and shattering, being cut by the wind, and many more. He knew that physical attacks could do damage, but he had a party that could protect him and metals could be added to the staff.


    "I would very much like to use that for my staff. Is there a price?" The way the elder had spoken made Walker realize that this material was definitely not free in the least. There would be a price to pay.


    The elder smirked and looked at the spirits along with remembering that Gil was also on a quest revolving around the modification of a spirit forged bow, "I want to be the one spirit forging more. I want to see what can be made. I want to at the very least be present when the amazing experience takes ce. I want to learn more about the truth of elemental spirits that my entire people have been blind to." The elder had finally found knowledge that could fill the emptiness in him. He thought that he could spend the remainder of his life learning all of this and still only scratch the surface.


    "Then you can. In the Genesis city that is being built, the alliance will have more than just forges. There will be a new alchemy guild, sentient monster races trying to earn their full racehood. There will even be trade from every single kingdom and more. Just push your kings to join and you will be the dwarf at the front of the spirit forging movement."


    Walker knew that ying to the elders'' desire would be the best key here. If the elder put in a word the kings would have no qualms about joining and even more so, would push to join. If they went to the summit to sign contracts instead of just discuss things then everything would progress more smoothly.


    "There will be a ce for the dwarves? One that allows us to craft and trade? One for golems?" The elder tested this a little to wash away any lingering doubt.


    "Yes, there will. I wouldn''t mind seeing the crafting and forging guild be a full force in the city along with the alchemy guild. My kingdom only has a forge building and there is no guild for it like here. The golems would make an excellent work force and assistance t guarding the borders against demons until we can sort out the demon leaders corruption." Walker didn''t pull any punches andid it out clearly.


    "Then you may have that immortal birch branch. But please remember what my agreeing means to the alliance and you. I will make sure everything you have said happens as long as we are equal to each other." The elder handed the branch to him.


    Walker looked at the branch which could only be described as falling off a tree that day, However, he knew it had been cut long long ago. "In the Genesis city, everyone is equal. Even the goblins are equal. Even the grey haired spiders are equal. If monsters find their intellect and be sentient of their actions they will be assisted to gain their racehood and no longer be monsters."


    Thest words from Walker made the elders'' heart stir. It had been years since he felt the cold from the underground fade away. It was like a forge within him had been lit after sitting idle for many years.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 654 - 654. Dwarven Burials

    Walker looked for other materials after taking the immortal tree branch. He didn''t want to store away the branch because the spirits were so entranced with it. He chose to ho,d it and allow them to y and explore it instead, which was a delight to them.


    "These are some giant man eating m pearls but they are weak to wind elemental mana. These are phoenix feathers but they are weak to water elemental mana. These are the fangs of an abyssal serpent but they are only light and darkness elemental affinity. Bonding other elements with them are near impossible."


    Walker was torn inside. He had not seen the monster materials of an abyssal serpent before. He had Onyx with him in his party and was d that Onyx was helping Su at the moment. If he were here Walker would bepletely beside himself with what to say and do.


    "Why do you look so pale? I know humans have a hard time adjusting to the caves at first. You can head to the surface for some sun if you need to." The elder assumed that Walker was ill.


    "It''s just the first time I have been offered monster materials that are the same as a member in my party. My little brother Onyx is an abyssal serpent. I have used and seen dragon materials even though Midnight is in the party. But for dragons, it is normal that the weak dragons would be defeated. From what I have read it is part of their culture. But for an abyssal serpent...I''m not sure."


    The elders'' face shown with understanding. He turned from the materials and pointed toward the next adjoining room. "Follow me, I will show you something very unique to my people. It may make you understand our thoughts on materials and why we would use any material possible."


    Walker was still a little put off that he had seen some fangs from an abyssal serpent. He could only fear that this could happen to Onyx or Midnight one day and shiver. It was not something he had considered. He was a human and Midnight and Onyx would easily outlive him. This was a terrifying thought to have since he never wanted them to feel alone.


    As Walker struggled with this internal affair the elder walked him through a few storage rooms and to a smaller room. There were many pegs on the walls each holding an engraved ne carved from a white material. "This is the history of every upstanding leader or honored warrior. Those who invested their lives or soul are here. Those who have caused great growth. They are all here."


    Walker wasn''t understanding what this meant. He could feel traces of manaing from the nes, each was unique and different. The elder had paused with a sad but proud look on his face. "These are carved from their bones. It is a right if burial for a dwarf. The family, leaders, or even master craftsmen will take part of their bone when they pass away and carve a ne. Their mana will be bonded inside and they will have a unique rune pattern carve in to it."


    "But...is that really alright?" Walker was shaken that he was in a room full of pieces of dwarven bones.


    "Yes! This is an honor for what they have done in their lives. Families will feel the connection to their loved ones. The leaders will always be recorded and remembered. The bones are materials, but they are more than that. Dwarves value crafting higher than any other race we know. Being remembered in this way is something we take sce in." The elder was firm and spoke with power. He did not want any misconceptions about why the dwarves cared for their passed on members in this way.


    Walker nodded as he epted this, "I think it will take me time to think the same as you. But how I feel won''t matter. It would be up to how my party members feel about their bodies being used as materials. Midnight doesn''t care because of her culture. But I don''t know about Onyx. It is something I think is unique to every race and person." Walker''s statement was very true and the elder epted it without argument. This was something everyone would think about in their lives at some point.


    "Well, I do not expect a human to adapt to the dwarven ways in an instant. I am not a fool. Come, let''s return to the high forge and see if we can get a design made for your staff. I can not craft it since it will require some specific skills. But I can make the metal parts that will go with the wooden, elemental mana crystals, and other such pieces." The elder knew this would be a distraction from the deep thoughts that coulde with death and the dwarven burial.


    The pair slowly made their way through the treasury. The spirits had found hiding ces in the branch of immortal birch that Walker carried. Every once in a while they would pop out trying to distract Walker making him realize just how kind elemental spirits were in the world. Even they had been caught and trapped for so long, yet they were already bright and happy to explore and forget the misdeeds against them.


    When Walker saw the snoring Midnight he couldn''t stay in his head any longer. He instead gave her a pat on the head to bring her back to the waking world. "Midnight, where did that ash marks and dust on your scales?" Walker was worried that Midnight had gotten in to trouble and surveyed the room. Naturally, Midnight pretended not to know anything while Walker brushed her scales off to bring them back to the ck glisten they normally had. He had no idea of her adventures.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 655 - 655. Sus Quest

    "Unique Hero quest- Strong as a fortress


    The party leader has assisted the dwarf elder in spirit forging a proper earth dwelling shield. The elemental earth spirit involved is overjoyed to have a home and chance to travel the world. The earth spirit has a high respect for the party leader. Gain the same trust.


    Requirements:


    Gain the trust of the earth elemental spirit that calls the earth dwelling spirit home.


    Rewards:


    Elemental earth affinity''


    Su had been hard at work helping where she could. However, she had found that she was needed less and less as time went on. This prompted her to end up leaving with Onyx on her shoulder. "I thonk we did a lot of helping today. I learned a great deal about the medical systems the dwarves have instead of healer and priestess systems we have seen at the church."


    Onyx wasn''t sure what had stopped Su from walking away from the medical area. Her face was a mix of confusion. "Sister Su? What is wrong? Did we forget to help someone in the medical area? We can find the nurses and ask."


    "No, it''s not that. I just received a unique hero quest. It wants me to earn the respect of an earth elemental spirit and use a spirit forged weapon." Onyx was shocked just like Su. He knew that the spirit forged weapons were ones that had a trapped spirit in it.


    "That can''t be correct. The spirit would be trapped like the bow brother Gil has." Onyx was already drawingparisons to Gil''s bow and how this was something that seemed impossible.


    "If it wants me to earn the respect of the spirit then it must be free. Walker was going to work on the spirit forging issue between the dwarves and elves and he must have seeded. We need to find him so that I canplete this quest. The reward is earth elemental affinity. I am not sure why I would need it but it must be useful. I can''t imagine the system would issue such a rare reward without reason."


    Su had the feeling that having the earth elemental affinity would be extremely valuable to her in the future. If it was an earth dwelling shield and an earth elemental spirit she knew that somehow having the earth elemental affinity would benefit her. She also was wondering if having an affinity to an element could boost her defense to that element. If so it was perfect for her to have.


    "Walker must be at the high forge so that is where we will go." Su made this statement and hardened her resolve. She had her eyes on the high forge in the distance as she entered the merchant district.


    There were many dwarves around repairing pipes and cleaning away slime bodies still. The main areas that were damaged were the ces where there were grates that the slimes had been hiding under to eat away at groupings of pipes.


    "Ah, you''re that hero that immediately went to help the surgeons. I already talked to my neighbors and you managed to help all three of our stubborn husbands. They were all here trying to hold off the slimes with the guards and managed to get hurt by a bursting steam pipe. We already visited them earlier and found that you had been one of the biggest helps. The nurses were absolutely raving about you. That never happens."


    The dwarf woman that had stopped Su and Onyx was keeping two children in line who seemed to be trying to escape and run through the streets. "It was nothing miss. I just helped move the materials they needed here and there. My family here, Onyx, also helped me by learning what everyone needed. We couldn''t just sit around and do nothing."


    "Now that is what a true hero does. They see people in danger and go to help. Make sure you two learn that lesson well. When you both have your system you should do your best to make the dwarven name shine." The mother was putting Onyx and Su on a pedestal and it made Su feel slightly off. This was a new experience for her.


    "Oh, where are you headed dear? You look like you are a bit lost." The women saw that Su was looking around and seemed unfamiliar with the streets and paths but kept looking in the distance.


    Well, we are trying to get to the high forge. But due to the way the city is we have not been able to get a proper tour. We are actually trying to head there but I keep changing my path to avoid the construction and repairs." Su just decided to admit that they had changed routes multiple times. It was more than true since she saw a great deal of damaged areas.


    "Ah, It''s only natural. We might be organized and precise in our crafting. Yet, when we build out cities we make mazes. It seems to be a curse. The womanughed and caught the back clothing of one of her children trying to sneak off towards another alley to y somewhere. "Just follow this street straight then turn right at the intersection. If you keep straight you would normally go right toward the high forge but it is blocked by a fallen smoke pipe." The woman gave a wave and pushed her children toward one of the homes.


    Su and Onyx moved forward and soon reached the intersection. However, Su was curious about how bad the damage was ahead and took a look. She found more than just a fallen smoke stack. There was a huge hole in the ground exposing the maintenance passageways for the steam pipes. It was a huge repair job that would block the way for some time. "I am really worried that the dwarves will be busy with repairs for some time. I wonder if Walker can help with his earth magic." Su and Onyx chatted about how they would have Walker suggest his assistance when they met with him.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 656 - 656. Lingering Slime

    Su and Onyx had been chatting while taking the right path around the fallen smoke stack. They had a lot easier times since there were dwarves moving along with the same or nearby destination. Su marveled at the fact that every single dwarf was working toward the same goal at the same time. It was a great coordination to reim the fullness of their city.


    "Help!!! There''s one left!!!" The shouts of a woman came from a nearby doorway. Right after a dwarf woman d in light metal armor stumbled back out of the door. Following her was a small yellow acidic slime.


    "Onyx, calm the woman down. I will smash the slime." Onyx and Su had been working together all day if not more now. They had developed the best teamwork possible in a short time. Onyx had already been on the move before Su had spoken but he still replied with a yes as he moved.


    The woman was rushing away for the small yellow slime. Su could tell the armor wasn''t a pair for a dwarf in abat position and doubled her efforts to get between the two. Just as the slime waspressing itself slightly to bounce on top of the woman Su''s shield was there.


    The slimended on the shield with a very slight hiss. The shield easily resisted the acidic body of the slime but it was still able to slowly be dissolved if left too long Su pushed the slime away trying to get it off the shield and found that it was still attempting to move towards the dwarf woman instead of being focused on her.


    "It wants the metal you have on your body. Move back so I can get room to break its core." Su was going to put a little distance between the dwarf woman and the slime so she wouldn''t risk any pieces of the slimes'' body hitting the woman when Su used her shield m strike to break the slimes'' core.


    Onyx had shifted in torger size and was putting himself between the dwarf women and Su. He slowly pulled back making sure that he stayed coiled and ready to block any attack at all. As soon as Su saw this she stepped back and watched the small slime attempt the same movement to bounce forward again. However, she moved forward first.


    The slime had stalled itself to make the bouncing movement in attack which gave Su the chance toe forward and m her shields point down on it. The core was easy to locate and see. Su easily shed it with the shield and split it clean in half. Su surveyed the area and watched as a golem with a spray nozzle andrge tank arrived.


    "This is the small slime that was causing trouble. If you could please wash it away." She asked the golem which immediately started its work. Su had seen many of them performing these actions on the walk toward the high forge and knew exactly what to say.


    Onyx rxed, "Miss, you should be unharmed. I did not see the slime touch you." Onyx was quick to examine and assure the woman that there were no injuries.


    The woman looked at Onyx and Su amazed. She thought that she would be done for. "When that pest fell out of the pantry I thought that I was done for. I saw so many of those that had the slime touch them. Thank you so much." The dwarf woman had not expected toe home and find a slime in her pantry eating away at the metal containers her food was in.


    "We would never walk away from someone in need. It was lucky that we were here." Su was d that someone had been around to help the woman when she needed it.


    "I spend all my time mapping out the caves and sneaking round only toe home and almost get taken down by some blob of snot. I swear." The woman was getting over her previous fear and was now heading toward annoyance and anger.


    "You map the caves?" Su had not met many dwarves other than those with the medical systems. This was her first encounter with someone with a mapping system let alone a dwarf that mapped out the caves.


    "I do. Someone has to get through all those unexplored areas and find those mines. But we all pulled back because of those pests. I was finallying home to check the damage they had done and of course there was one here. I should have known to have a guard with me." The woman was scolding herself for her ownck of thinking.


    "I think it must be very exciting to explore the caves." Su wanted to part ways but her curiosity was grabbing at her.


    "Yes! I have found many iron mines, a few gold mines, and even helped with a team that found and mapped an ancie- ehm, yes I helped with a lot." Su caught that the woman was about to excitedly say something she was not supposed to say.


    "Well, actually. I may have a job for you if you and your hero party are interested." The woman had changed her mannerisms in a second. It was a shock for Su who had expected her to just want to go to her home and clean up. The woman rushed inside grabbed a backpack that had plenty of roled papers and a few scrolls. "If you''re heading this way I am willing to bet you are going to the high forge. I was going to speak to the elder about a time to return to the caves. But this is fated."


    Su and Onyx could only look at the dwarf woman confused with what was going on. Instead of trying to pry she decided it was better to have a guide directly to the high forge. She didn''t know what else would hold her up on the way.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 657 - 657. Meet The Dwelling Spirit

    "My name''s Zenith by the way. My entire family has always been map makers or spelunkers. We''ve been managed to make a decent amount of maps in all the years." Zenith had been chatting idly as they came to the high forge.


    "I am Su and this is Onyx. As you already know we are party members here on a quest for the newly forming Genesis alliance and to help with the yellow slimes. Now we are working on other things. But I am going to the high forge to see our leader." Su wasn''t sure if Zenith really needed to know the entire details on why the party was here. However, because she thought Zenith almost said ancient she thought that there may be something very important.


    "So that means you all may have a little time for an escort quest?" Zenith was getting at her main reason for wanting to have the partye with her.


    "I will leave it up to Leader, but I do not see why he wouldn''t help if you asked." Su didn''t make any promises but she was sure Walker would find it interesting.


    The three made their way to the front of the high forge when a familiar dragon came out of the front entrance, "Sister! Come and meet our new friend. She makes maps!" Onyx didn''t hesitate to slither over and greet his sister. He had been waiting to share with her the things he and Su had done while with the medical based systems.


    Midnight rush over to Onyx and Su, she was happier to see them than ever since she had been only with Walker and the elder who were consumed in their own conversations. "Su, I thought you were busy with the healing area"? Did you need a break?" Walker wasn''t sure why Su was outside the high forge when he walked out but he was d to see her. He wanted to introduce the earth elemental spirit to her.


    "Leader, I have a quest to meet the earth elemental spirit that is part of the earth dwelling shield. I will earn its respect." Su spoke with surety but inside she knew that it was not so simple to just go and earn someone''s respect It was often something that would take time.


    "That''s perfect, I wanted to have you use the shield since the elder said I could take it. The earth elemental spirit wants to travel too so it''s even better. There''s also another earth elemental spirit, a dark spirit, and a fire elemental spirit. These three will most likely join us for a while but are also considering helping to make a spirit forged dwelling gear." Walker was proud to introduce them since he knew the spirits would be interested in meeting someone new.


    The dark spirit was already partially out of Walkers'' shadow. It was clear that it was the first to take interest in Su. This was simr to the dark spirit that had met Su that worked with Elise. It was safe to say that Su had a knack for darkness elemental mana because she had bonded closely with Midnight who was originally a darkness elemental affinity dragon.


    The dark spirit slowly approached and examined Su, in just a few seconds its curious attitude changed in to happiness as it flitted here and there around Su''s shadow. This again reaffirmed that Su had an affinity with the darkness elemental mana. "I''m Su, nice to meet you. Can you introduce me to your friends over there?'' Su wanted to start off with the dark spirit introducing her to the other spirits because she thought they would be friends.


    The fire elemental spirit seemed not to care much about what was going on. It was more concerned with the furnace pipes nearby since they had a lot of fire elemental mana in them. The two earth spirits were next to each other semi interested. Walker approached them, "This is my friend and family Su. She uses shields already and I hope she would be able to use the earth dwelling shield. Would you like to meet her?"


    The earth spirit that had helped make the earth dwelling shield came forward, "Could be friends, but she doesn''t have earth''s favor¡­" The earth spirit looked a little dejected that Su didn''t have an affinity with its'' element.


    Walker was a little d that Su couldn''t hear the dejected spirit''s voice, however, he knew that this would make things a little harder for Su. He was going to try and push them closer when he realized the dwarf woman approaching them. "Hello there, elder, hero party leader." The woman greeted both The elder and Walker.


    "Zenith, back already? You just arrived from the deep cave. I would have thought you would be too busy repairing your home, that is, are you putting it off?" The elder seemed to have a better handle on Zeniths'' personality than the others did. Which made sense since they had just met her.


    "No no no, I would never. I just happened to have a little pest trouble in my home that this hero helped me with. I had the idea that if they were not busy then they may be interested in an escort job. To that new area, I discovered before the pests got out of control?" There was heavy innuendo in her words making Walker and Su know that there was more to the words that they knew.


    "You want them to escort you in to...that ce? I can see why. It would be a wise opportunity. It would also give me time to modify my arms for more forging and also prepare materials. Yes. That is a very good idea. Report to the king of the deep caves and let him know of the mapping expedition. Walker, can your party assist us with mapping out an ancient ruin we found? We believe it to be from many years ago. It has been inessible due to the slimes bit now we can explore it."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 658 - 658. Cave Exploration

    Walker heard this offer and was interested, to say the least. It was clear that the elder needed to prepare so Walker, Su, Midnight, and Onyx would be limited in what they could do. The only other thing Walker was going to try to do is to explore for more materials, but what better than exploring the caves to do that?


    "I think it would prove valuable for us to go exploring for a while. I think Onyx and Midnight can use a little exercise. But to be fair. Su and I will need some rest before that. We have been away for who knows how long." Walker had been fairlyfortable but could feel the nagging tiredness.


    "Ah, yes. Humans are not as used to the environment down here. We have that artificial sun made with endless rune carvings and some valuable gems and ores. It is fueled by elemental mana crystals and gives off an aura that can help keep us working longer. I can go for a month without rest. But a human...I''m not sure." The elder spoke as if this was just a small detail forgotten.


    "That''s amazing. You can really stay awake for a month? I never imagined there was something like that without using a ton of magic." Walker and Su were both having trouble hiding their surprise. Even Onyx stopped talking to Midnight and focused on the conversation.


    "It takes our best rune carvers and forge masters to keep it in order. It is not something that is easy to maintain. However, it is the masterpiece that many have worked on and it pays us back many times over. It is part of our culture." This was one reason why the dwarves had also be know as sleepless workers. They didn''t actually force themselves not to sleep they just invented an item to assist them.


    "I have actually seen something simr in the church. It gave off an aura of healing that assisted mana and health regeneration." Walker connected the two very well.


    "We have found items like that in ruins and mines in the caves. There are so many ancient artifacts that span before any of the other races have recorded. I once went to the surface ruins and even they are newer than the ones we find below the earth. It''s safe to say that the world history is a mystery." Zenith was showing a glimmer in her eye that exined why she would be exploring and mapping out caves in the first ce. It seemed that the systems always matched the person that used them.


    "Leader, I think we should go. It would be valuable to explore ruins like this and possibly discover new knowledge about the past. We may have had strange encounters in the ruins above ground but it is different now. We are different." Su was sure that they were still weaker than Immortal King, but this didn''t mean they needed the most extreme caution in everything.


    "I think we will go. It sounds even more interesting now. But like I said. Rest first."Walker would notpromise on Rest. Therefore, the elder left them to go and prepare. He mentioned he would be forging new arms from the best materials and it would take a full day of nonstop forging. Zenith showed them to a workman resting quarters. It was where the craftsmen from the high forge would rest if they were too exhausted to safely walk home. Walker and Su worried this was toomon but after they ate and fell asleep they could not worry about anything as sleep overtook them.


    "Brother, sister and I are ready." Walker was woken up by Midnight and Onyx working together to drag him from bed. It looked like they ahd already done this to Su who was just walking back after washing her face. The elemental spirits were flitting about in excitment since they had decided to spectate the adventure.


    "I know you four want to watch and see what we find. But remember it is dangerous down there. The only one that has a ce to hide is this earth spirit in their earth dwelling shield. So if something happens or you see something please yell for help right away." Walker lectured them as they prepared and he got up. It was one thing he wanted to be sure of.


    "Leader, I would like to carry the earth dwelling shield with me. Please store my two shields. They are hard to use in the mines anyways if things get cramped." Su had epted that using her dual shield style was not applicable. If she did then she could catch one on the walls and take a bad hit.


    "Show me! I will see what you can do!" The earth elemental spirit did not shy away from what Su wanted. It actually was even more exciting to see what she could do since the dark spirit had already started to speak fondly of it when it discovered some elemental mana from Elise''s dark spirit partner.


    "The earth spirit already agreed. It''s smart to stick with the single shield. I also think that it is a good chance for you and the spirit to bond a little." Walker grabbed thest of his gear and looked at the waiting Midnight and Onyx who were more excited to go exploring than either of them.


    They had agreed to meet at the high forge entrance after they had slept for a few hours. So when the group got there and saw Zenith with a smaller back pack and a few more pieces of protective gear the rest seemed even more valuable. "Hello again. Hope you four rested enough. I grabbed a few things from home. I also made sure I grabbed some more mapping materials, I have a feeling we will get a lot done."


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 Chapter 659 - 659. Clear Path

    "The caves we need to pass through should be well cleared since they are on a popr mining route. I''m certain that the golems have already cleared and checked the path. The only dangerous potion will be the unexplored route that we have started to map. It is smaller and we can''t get the golems to fit so it is all up to those we bring as guards." Zenith was exining the path they would be taking. It seemed like a maze to Walker and Su since they were not used to caves.


    "What are the dangers in the area that you know of? Any rough footing or monsters?" Walker thought it was best just to outright ask since Zenith seemed to have recorded a great deal of what she had already noticed.


    "Rock horned vipers. There is arge nest there. But we shouldn''t have a problem. We don''t have any pale smanders with us and they will more or less ignore our group. But if you see any eggs do not touch them or else all the rock horned vipers will go after you." This was very good advice.


    "Onyx, Midnight, did you hear her? Do not touch or approach the rock horned viper eggs in their nest. They will attack us all if we do." Walker wanted to be sure Onyx and Midnight who were slightly behind them heard and understood the danger.


    "Sister and I will be sure to remain careful," Onyx replied which put them at ease since they knew he would make sure Midnight didn''t try anything either.


    "What about the ruins themselves? Will we need to know about anything?" Su knew that the caves were filled with the rock horned viper but worried about what might lurk in actuality ancient ruins.


    "No. Not at all. They are a mystery. We located the entrance because of a small cave in. Then when we went to look we encountered some of the yellow slime pests. We needed to retreat after losing all our equipment. " Zenith looked like she was still not done mourning the lost equipment and paused for a moment.


    "The ruins we often find have some form of burials since they are below the ground. The most dangerous we have encountered are high tier undead monsters. However, we also have dealt with ghosts, some monsters that remain dormant until more air flows, and I even saw a golem that formed in a ruin." Zenith didn''t do much to ease their worries. It seemed that the ruins could hold any number of dangers.


    "If they are undead I think we can handle them. But if they are ghosts, I have no clue how to fight them. A golem will depend on its strength. Other than that I can''t say for anything more than that." Walker was worried that they would face a powerful golem and have trouble battling it in a tight walled ruin.


    "Oh, ghosts aren''t a problem. They just y tricks, hide tools, follow you creepily, and sometimes activate traps. They can be warded off by light though." Zenith spoke like having a monster set off traps was no big deal at all.


    "I know the path is easy now, but if we will be facing traps I rmend that I take the lead. My defense should be able to handle many traps even if they are poisoned." Su had the thought that her strength would be needed. At her words, the earth elemental spirit was showing interest. It liked the fact that she was willing to take the lead in danger.


    "I may be a map maker, but I do have some trap detecting skills. I would not be able to explore and discover new ces to map without them. But if you take the lead I will be a lot morefortable. You seem like you could block anything." Zenith already held Su in very high regard since she had saved her from the yellow slime. But having her take the lead again just increased the respect.


    Walker had brought up the map that Zenith had given him since she had long memorized all the maps she had seen. "I have no idea how you can keep all this straight. It says there are discerning markings on the caves but I can''t seem to find them anywhere."


    "Really? They are so easy to spot. Just always look up to the top right hand side of the cave. There should be a series of runes or marking that show theter and number variant of the cave." Zenith pointed it out and there indeed was a marking. However, Walker still struggled to head or tails of it.


    "I will just need to believe you on that." Walker decided he would just go with it since he didn''t understand the dwarves'' short hand. "Hey, weren''t we supposed to stop and talk to the king of the deep?" Walker realized that Zenith had mentioned that too but they had been directed down a different path.


    "I sent amunication to him while you were resting. I just needed to let him know that I was returning to exploration and that we would be going to the newly found ruins. He sent out golems to double check the path there for us. That''s why it''s so clean." Zenith appeared very proud of her forward thinking. This also made a lot of sense since the path they were on was exceptionally clear of any small rocks or debris from mining.


    Midnight and Onyx had been exploring the sides of the caves themselves and were slightly annoyed that it had been cleaned up. The two had been ying their own game of search since they wanted to bring back more items and treasure. The fire and dark spirit had been joining them in this game along with the other earth elemental spirit. Yet, when they began to approach the narrow cave that Zenith mentioned Midnight perked her head up.


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 Chapter 660 - 660. Breeders

    "This is the cave system we will be entering. The rocks here are very hard so it would take the miners some time to safely chop them down and add in supports. That''s why we are going to map the area first. Once they manage to get support in and golems can travel it will be mapped for them. It might be a breeding ground for the rock horned vipers. I know there are a few breeders that are looking to expand." Zenith was just chatting idly as she prepared her scrolls and ink.


    "Breeder? We know breeder systems exist but wouldn''t they just be the same as the tamers at that point?" Su had the thoughts of the slime breeder that was causing them and many other troubles, However, she didn''t think much of other breeders. The tamers guild seemed like it would be the ce for a breeder or any other rted system.


    "Oh, I''m sure your kingdoms'' farms have breeders for livestock animals. But we have them for monsters like stone horned vipers and even the pale smanders. When we find a cave with a hefty nest we will have a breederpete to purchase the cave and use it as a breeding area." Zenith thought that the humans would also breed monsters and was surprised to hear that they didn''t seem to.


    "Since there are many used for them and the materials they shed I assume that is why they are bred. I didn''t think that it was done like that." Walker knew that there was amon pet in the horned viper for some of the dwarves. But having them specifically for breeding was slightly unexpected.


    "Alright, I am ready. The cave will be tight for a little bit but it will open up in to the nesting area. Try not to step on the rock horned vipers'' tail. They will get angry but most likely not attack. I think." Zenith started to motion for Su to take the lead and they had no choice but to move.


    Midnight followed behind with Onyx since Walker thought it would be better to hold up the back. He also wanted to make sure that he could keep watch over the spirits that were still flitting about. The only one that wasn''t exploring and ying around was the earth elemental spirit which was intent on sticking to Su to watch her.


    The tonight walls were suffocating but they were able to squeeze through. It only took them about ten minutes to fully sneak through the entrance to arger cave. The signs of monsters were clear. There were snake like trails that carved their way in the dust at the floor. "This is a fairly dry cave. That seems good for us." Walker didn''t want to deal with the water from before. It also meant that they wouldn''t need to worry about any monsters in water.


    "Leader, there are weird round yellow mushrooms over here." Su had spotted the strange mushrooms as soon as they came in to the slightlyrge cave. It wasn''t the nesting area but it was enough for them to move around.


    "Let me check them out and see if we should bring them back for Remey." Walker thought that anything they found would be valuable and used his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Yellow puff mushroom


    This round puffy mushroom only grows in dark dry and dusty ces. It is harmless to most creatures as long as they do not let the spores touch their skin. When identally touched the spores escape in to the air and cause an itching sensation all over the afflicted creature''s body. This can only be alleviated by thorough washing. This can be used in special battle potions.''


    "Remey is going to like this. She can make a battle potion with it. She has been caught up with the ones that Trish used back in the forests." Walker took out a small back and softly covered the yellow puff mushrooms before closing it and pulling them up. He stored them away and immediately manipted some of the water from a sk to wash his hands.


    "I''m d I did not step on them. She wouldn''t have been able to use them." Su was thankful to be free of any itching effects but also since she was able to spot something to help Remey.


    "Sharp eyes! Sharp Eyes." The earth spirit thought that this was also a good find and was praising Su. Walker ryed the message and knew that it was a good step in impressing the spirit for Su.


    "Those are prettymon in caves like this but we don''t harvest them. Most of the time we just let the golems get rid of them. I''m sure we can have the golems bring them to you when this cave is cleared." Zenith didn''t see this as an extrabor and made a note to do just this.


    "That would be very nice and we would appreciate it." Walker was d that they had another kind dwarf with them as they moved ahead. He also watched Zenith sketch away making detailed markings of the kinds of rocks making up the walls and other features. The mapping was incredibly urate and he couldn''t help but be impressed.


    "This is right before the rock horned viper nest. Keep your eyes open and try not to step on to jagged rocks. Those are rock horned vipers." Zenith gave onest warning as Su stepped in to arger cave.


    The cave itself was double the size of the previous with many stgmites that had risen and dried to make things harder to travel around. However, it was clear that it was ideal for the rock horned vipers. The stgmites made round dusty crevices perfect for nesting and cing eggs. "Leader, I can already see a few resting around there along with some eggs." Su was pointing them put and the number of them around was amazing.


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 Chapter 661 - 661. Nests

    Looking around Walker began to see some grey and jagged looking egg shapes. They would easily be confused for some strange rock formations if he didn''t know this was a rock horned viper nesting area.


    The next shapes he made out were some points and curving formations. These were also slightly moving as if sleeping. This was clearly the rock horned vipers that were burying themselves under the sand and dust to rest or hide away. The spikes were a perfect camouge for them so that they wouldn''t be seen by prey or predators. Therge spikes at one end would be the rock horn that gave them their names.


    " I count at least twenty vipers and fifteen eggs. It''s a small nest but the rocks look to be higher quality so I would say they have been here for some time." Zenith was recording this without any fear that her voice was too loud. When she noticed Su and Walker giving her looks she exined more. "They won''t wake up so easily and even if you yelled they would just try and avoid you."


    This made Midnight and Onyx less careful and they started to explore a little. They did not approach the eggs or the vipers but they were excited to see what else was around. Midnight was sniffing constantly while Onyx kept a sharp eye out. Their sibling teamwork quickly uncovered some of the yellow puff mushrooms which Walker gathered.


    "This cave is much cooler than the one from before and I can feel a slight breeze." Su had been standing still trying to get a feel for things while also watching some of the rock horned vipers move now and then.


    "Yes, there are some small holes in the ceiling that we think leads to the higher caves where the rock horned vipers hunt. It would be ideal for them since not many other monsters can travel down them. If a cave rat managed to then the vipers would tear it apart before it even got here." Zenith pointed to the ceiling showing the smaller holes. It was good to know that there was air flow since if there wasn''t they would need to stop exploring.


    "Let''s go, I have most of this mapped out but it could be better to map this out after we have a breeder here to evaluate things. I have already marked the quality and size of this passage. I think it has been hollowed out by the rock horned vipers over time. The scratches along the walls match the horns and spikes on their backs. It is good because the most stable caves are where they make their homes." This was an interesting fact but made sense to them.


    Su led the way down the passage giving the rock horned vipers their space. The nests were smaller than they expected making it easier to avoid them. They were just about halfway through when Midnight huffed a little.


    "Brother, there is a strange rock horned viper over there. Sister says it smells like metal." Onyx and Midnight were getting Walkers'' attention. They were looking at a curled up horned viper that looked slightly shinier than the others.


    ''Mutated rock horned viper


    This rock horned viper has been alive for twenty years and was able to grow in to a unique skill. The ability to grow stronger rocks and horns ismon for a rock horned viper, but to create spikes and horns with quartz crystals is extremely rare. The crystals help the rocks bond and cause the viper to have stronger horns than others. This allows it to live longer and give birth to more over time.''


    "It has quartz crystals in the rocky parts of its horn and spikes. That is amazing. I bet it has much more use than the regr rock horned vipers do." Walker was sure that this was a monster that would make many of the dwarves jealous.


    "You''re right about that. Just having that one here makes this ten times more valuable to a breeder. Their shed rocks and skins can be used for household stoves and even some of the smaller furnaces. It will be a great find to report." Zenith was happier than could be to have this pointed out. She wouldn''t have noticed it without their help and she made sure to give Midnight and Onyx her thanks.


    "Then we keep moving on?" Su wanted to be sure and with a nod from Walker, she skirted the area with the mutated rock horned viper. She saw that the stones ahead of them were a bit different. "Leader, this appears to be the start of the ruins. There are some cut stones that make up the walls here."


    Walker examined them and could only agree, but before he could speak he heard a loud hiss. "Brother, there are five angry looking rock horned vipers starting to fight over there." Onyx directed Walker to a group of rock horned vipers fighting over a dusty round area. They were fighting for a nest.


    "This is a good show. They often fight for their nests and it is a rare chance to see it." Zenith pulled a different scroll out and started to record the scene. She knew that breeders would pay a nice bit of gold for this information.


    The group watched as the vipers started to rear up and strike at each other. One of them was able to instantly shatter the horn of another causing it to retreat. The next two ambushed another and tried to wrap around it. However, this action caused all three to lose a significant amount of their spikes.


    Seeing that the others were tangled, the one that had shattered the firsts horn attacked the intertwined and broke away their horns too. "Looks like that''s the dominant female there. They break away the horns of theirpetition making them less desirable for mating. It is a very intense battle but they can regrow their horns so none are actually harmed." Zenith recorded all of this until the vipers calmed down. It was a small spat but enough to bring light to the natural lives of the rock horned vipers. "Now for the ruins."


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 Chapter 662 - 662. Crumbling Bones

    Zenith had been excited to record a little extra information on the rock horned vipers and their actions. However, it was nothingpared to her desire to explore the ruins. She had already seen them but needed to retreat as soon as she got near. The only reason she had not snuck past the golems and slimes was the fact that the slimes had targeted her equipment she wore and she knew that she would need it to do her job.


    "Midnight, smell anything ahead?" Walker was a little warry of the ruins. He had the memories of the ancient ruins above ground and didn''t want to end up trapped again. It was just a precaution but a wise one to take.


    Midnight sniffed a few times then shook her head in disgust. Onyx convened with her for a moment and replied to Walker slowly, "Sister says she smells bones but nothing too rotten. But she says they smell a little burnt." This was worrisome since a fire in caves was a very dangerous thing.


    "I hope that there isn''t anything that can cause fire ahead. If so we will need to retreat ande with some golems that have water equipped." Zenith was not happy with this because it would mean even more dys in the exploration of the ruins.


    "Old fire. It is safe." The fire elemental spirit drifted through the air to Walkers'' shoulder and spoke. It could feel the residual fire elemental mana and tell that it was nothing recent or active.


    "The fire elemental spirit says it is older fire. We should be fine but if there is anything that can make fire we can retreat." Walker was thankful for the spirits'' input since even he couldn''t sense that the mana was older or newer. He could just feel the faint fire elemental mana and that was it.


    "Then on we go!" Zeniths'' shout pushed Su onward and in to the ruins. Soon the dusty floors were bing a stone passage with some sand and dust along the sides. It was clear some of the rock horned vipers had passed through here but the strange fact was that they only seemed to travel one way. Meaning that the viper didn''te back out. This put Walker and Su on their guard while Mindoight started to use her shadow wrapping skill with Onyx hidden away in her shadow.


    Walker wasn''t sure what to expect but was interested in the slots on the walls. There were some that were upied by stone coffins and others that just had parts of skeletons there. "This looks like a burial chamber. But the markings on the walls have me patterns. I wonder what kind of burial?" Zenith wasn''t certain she had seen the patterns before.


    "I have a skill that trantesnguages in writing and here I can read some of these things." Walker wasn''t going to hide this and saw that sharing the skill with Zenith brought a wide smile to her face. He didn''t make her wait while he looked at the writings on the top ends of the walls.


    "This is mostly unreadable but I can make out, followers of the great me mage rest here for eternity in service." Walker could tell that this was a burial for a mage that specialized in fire. It would mean that there was most likely a fire mage somewhere deeper that had passed on and been buried here.


    "Ah, we have found simr burials before for warriors and other mages. They usually have a decent amount of elemental crystals and ancient weapons buried with them. They are perfect for research purposes and for historical cataloging." Zenith was even more excited until they heard the scrape of bone on stone.


    "Leader, we have a skeleton iing." The skeleton Su had locked eyes on was one that seemed weak. It has some burnt and yellowed boens and carried a very damaged and rust sword. The skeleton also was covered in scratches most likely from battles with the rock horned vipers.


    Su stood firm and made sure the attention was on her, "Get over here you waste of space." The skeleton raised the damaged sword towards her and shed down.


    Su held firm and the sword shattered on impact with the high defense earth dwelling shield. The earth elemental spirit showed a worried action as it thought its home might be damaged, yet it was incredibly happy to see the strength of the shield.


    "Get the bad bones!" The earth spirit started to cheer as Su pushed it back. The downfall for the skeleton came when Midnight unveiled herself and pounced on it. The weak and burned bones crumbled under her ws.


    "It''s a wonder how the skeleton even stayed standing. It fell apart so easily." Walker looked at the bones which were crumbling as he watched. He couldn''t even take any as materials since they were so brittle and weak.


    "That''s verymon in these kinds of ancient ruins. They have been here for a long time and naturally came back to life after a certain time. The skeletons thate back rarely can fight the test of time. I''m sure they were zombies at one time." Zenith had seen this before and was sure that this was an older ruin since the skeletons were so weak.


    A cold breeze came through the passageway blowing some of the dust in to the air. Walker was surprised that such a strong breeze came through but was shocked even more when the sounds of more skeletons moving came to their ears. "Why do I feel like beating this skeleton was just the start?" Walker was certain that this somehow was leading to even more.


    "Leader, three more iing." Su move forward and used her shield bash skill to break the ribs of the leading skeleton. It fell and crumbled away like it was nothing.


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 Chapter 663 - 663. Worshiping Skeletons

    The other two skeletons fell victim to Midnight and Onyx. Walker didn''t even have a chance to use any spells. Midnight pounced on one cutting through the weak and burned bones in a single sh. Onyx coiled and jumped at the other to bind it but found that as he did the bones broke away and the skeleton fell to pieces.


    "I feel like the skeletons are not the most dangerous undead here. There are still some markings of the rock horned vipersing here and these skeletons don''t seem like they could easily beat them." Walker was sure that the skeletons would be defeated with ease against the rock horned vipers they saw.


    "I wouldn''t be too sure. The rock horned vipers are curious and weak when young. The newly hatched most likely came to explore and were ambushed by the skeletons." Zenith understood the rock horned vipers much better since she grew up in the caves. To any dwarf, this was amon knowledge fact. However, to Walker and Su, it was new information.


    Midnight was wing at the bones still and looked unhappy. She normally would have tried to snack on them but continued to find that they were crumbling away and weak. They wouldn''t give her anything she wanted. After the evaluation that there were no snacks to be had here, she was not the happiest camper prompting Walker to take a small piece of jerky out of his inventory to share with her.


    "Bigger ahead!" The other earth elemental spirit had traveled ahead to check things out. Walker was d that it had finally started to be a little more interested now that it saw the other elemental spirits speaking. The only other one was the dark spirit which appeared content with hiding in Su''s shadow.


    "It looks like there is an open space up ahead. We should be able to stretch out a little if there aren''t too many skeletons around." Walker pointed ahead and Zenith opened another scroll ready to sketch out what was there.


    "Midnight and Onyx can hide away. There may be more to this ruin ahead." Su wanted to have Midnight ambush any skeletons ahead likest time. For her, it was a great way to rx knowing that she could distract and attack while they attacked.


    The group moved forward but this time Walker prepared himself to use the twin blitz swords. He wanted to be able to sh through the skeletons if possible but also anything else that they encountered.


    When they came to the opening that the elemental earth spirit had warned them of, they were shocked by the designs. There were multiple fire elemental monsters carved in to the walls here along with multiple burial spots. The stone coffins were in the wall slots but some of them shook with skeletons inside.


    In the back of the chamber was a set of aged steps that lead to a tform. There were five skeletons surrounding arge coffin that had multiple chests around it. They were standing idly while moving here and there to make motions to the coffin.


    "It looked like they are worshipping the coffin. That must be the me mage buried here," Walker connected these dots as he watched them. "One of them has a staff though. I don''t think it will be as weak as the others." As if to react to his words they saw the skeletons all turn their heads to the group.


    "Zenith, remain behind me. This is not the same as before." Su was on high alert as she saw the skeletons break their circle and move towards them. Four of them had no weapons and shambled slowly. But the fifth one holding the staff was even slower but appeared to have a slight bit of intelligence. When Walker saw it raise the staff he knew it was intentional.


    "Magic attack iing. Watch out," Su lifted the shield as soon as a fire bolt came at her. This one didn''t have the same explosion as Walkers, but it still causes embers to fall around the group. Zenith hurriedly wrapped up her scrolls to protect them since they could get damaged. She hid even closer behind Su so that she wouldn''t be targeted.


    "I am taking the lead, guard Zenith Su." Walker shouted as he dashed forward towards the skeletons. He wanted to deal with the four weak ones so that they could team up against the mage skeleton that was using magic against them. The good thing was that the skeleton seemed to be gathering more elemental mana and would take time to form another fire bolt.


    Walker reached the skeletons and released a cross sh. It had been some time since he used the skill and he felt that it was very fitting since it carved through two of the weak skeletons. The other two were on opposite sides of him but they didn''t know that Walker was also using his sh zone skill.


    The skeleton behind him came in to his area and Walker shed backward without even looking. The skull of the skeleton was split in perfect halves and the body fell to pieces. The other skeleton was suddenly crushed as Onyx shot out of the shadows to bind it.


    This left Midnight sprinting at the skeleton mage ahead which was sending a fire bolt at her. Unfortunately, for it, this was a terrible match up. Midnight loved the warmth and was able to resist itpletely. When the fire bolt was sent at her it hit her and didn''t even leave a burn mark on her scales. The skeleton didn''t have time to attack again before Midnight mmed in to it crushing itpletely The staff fell to the ground that it had wielded. The group sat in silence while they looked for more enemies.


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 Chapter 664 - 664. Embers

    Everything seemed to be calm other than some of the stone coffins which would shake or rattle as skeletons tried to escape their burials. However, when the sound of arger stone coffin shaking was heard everyone moved their attention to the coffin that the five skeletons had been worshiping.


    "Everyone, be ready. This can''t be good." Walker was sure that the coffin that the other skeletons had surrounded held the me mage that this ruin was made for. Even more, he could feel the fire elemental mana reacting to another mage''s maniption.


    "Fire! Magicing!" The fire spirit could feel the mana it had been absorbing robbed from it. The magic was strong enough to over power its'' own maniption. This meant that the passed on me mage was not going to be an easy opponent.


    When the skeletal hand broke the side of the stone coffin Walker could see ckened bones. These were not the same semi burned and brittle bones. These looked to be me tempered and tough bones the same color as charcoal.


    "Midnight, take Onyx and hide away. This will be a tought fight." Walker was sure that he would need to use some stronger skills and magic. His strategy would have normally been to use water magic against a fire affinity monster. But the air was dry and the little water they had in sks in his inventory was not going to be enough.


    Su took up a protective stance in front of Zenith who was still sketching away all the details of the map and even the designs on the wall. Walker wanted to yell for her to hide away somewhere but knew that there was nothing he could do to stop her. This was her duty after all.


    When they heard the slight crackling of coals and the tter of bones on the stones Walker turned to see that the skeleton was much more than they knew. The skeletal bones were glowing like embers. These cracks were all over the entire skeleton making Walker feel like they were looking at something from another world. The red me eyes that had taken up residence in the eye sockets were thest straw that forced Walker to use his all around appraisal skill to hopefully discover just what this monster was.


    ''Ancient ember skeleton.


    Once revered by the people as one close to the gods, this me mage has left their body for the afterlife. The body has been worshipped by the undead fire mages that followed the previous me mage for more than a thousand years. After being disturbed the fires within the bones have been lit again. The fire elemental mana is contained within the bones giving the skeletal remains the ability to conjure fire magic without gathering mana. The bones are incredibly valuable materials for any fire elemental item. This skeleton is weaker than the me mage it used to be bit it holds the skills of the me mage.''


    Walker was not happy to read the all around appraisal result. This ancient ember skeleton was much more powerful than he expected. He wished he had brought an ocean of water with him to put out the fires within its bones.


    "Walker! It''s attacking!" Su warned Walker just as a fireball formed and rushed at him. Luckily, Walker was ready and dodged to the side. However, a second fireball was already on its ay. This made Walker dodge and roll from side to side.


    The fireballs made scorch marks appear in the stones as they were fired constantly. Eventually, the skeleton stopped firing them off at Walker since it could not hit him. When it lifted its ember arms thergest fireball Walker had ever seen showed up.


    "Walker, get behind me!" Su shouted and Walker dashed to get behind him. He knew the strength of this fire ball was a lot and that the attack would most likely get around the shield and burn Su regardless. He used his multi buff skill but with the feeling of fire elemental mana condensing he knew it would not be enough.


    "After this attack forget me and defeat it immediately. Midnight and you should be able to double attack it and take it down." Su knew that she was risking herself since no one would be able to heal her burns while the two attacked. Onyx had already left Midnight and started ti berger and coil around Zenith to protect her as well. There was no other option at the moment.


    Therge fireball became a deep red and the air was sucked towards it as the ember skeleton pushed the fireball away. There was a painful feeling of impending doom that slowed everyone''s thoughts. Walker wanted to manipte the fore elemental mana but found that it was too well controlled by the ancient ember skeleton that literally had fire elemental mana as its core.


    The fore spirit had rushed away to avoid being caught up in the attacks since it could be harmed by them. It was made of fire elements mana and beings that could manipte it stronger than the spirit itself was much more dangerous. The dark spirit was hiding away feeling useless while the other earth spirit had fused with the ground in hopes that a fireball would not hit it.


    The earth spirit that had been watching Su heard her words and felt her determination. It watched as Walker prepared to attack the instant the fore ball hit and how his swords started to sh with lightning. It couldn''t understand if Walker would be able to defeat the skeleton but it knew that the skeleton was powerful and would hurt those that had rescued it. There was no way it was going to let its freedom and happiness be taken away.


    Without any hesitation, the elemental earth spirit returned to the earth dwelling shield and started to pull the earth elemental mana toward it. In an instant, the stones beneath their feet rumbled with mana.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 665 - 665. No Snacking!

    The rumbling in the stones below and the influx of the earth elemental mana came from the earth dwelling shield. Walker could only smile since he knew this must be the new skill the shield had been activated by the earth spirit. He knew what this meant but had no time for words.


    The stones and earth rose around all of them just before the massive fire ball made in pact with the earth fortress skill. The explosion and heat was felt through it and the outsideyer of earth cracked and fell away leaving Su to shield the remainder of the me. However, the earth fortress was powerful enough to disperse most of the mes and deflect them.


    "Walker! Now!" Su wasn''t letting any of this distract her from their goal. He rushed out at full speed with the twin blitz swords ready. He was using the lightning sword y skill to increase his agility on top of the sword''s boost and the multi boost skill.


    He wound up with a cross sh aimed toward the neck of the ancient ember skeleton. At the same time, Midnight unveiled herself from the shadow wrapping. She had silently been hiding out behind the ember skeleton waiting for Walker to coordinate an attack. She knew she wouldn''t beat it in one sh unless Walker joined her. They all saw that the skeletons'' amber infused bones were tougher than regr skeletons.


    Midnight''s ws hit the skeletons'' spine causing Walkers'' cross sh to cut the skull off and Midnight to cut the legs off. As the three pieces fell to the ground they felt the fire elemental mana released from the skeleton. It had already been preparing another attack for them.


    "Mana!" The fire elemental spirit didn''t let this fire elemental mana dissipate. It rushed in and began to draw the mana to it. Walker just watched as it seemed to dance in the air over them pulling the fire elemental mana in and slightly growing in size. It was astonishing to watch the spirit be more powerful in seconds.


    Eventually, Midnight and Walker were able to take their eyes from the spirit and look at each other, "Nice timing. I knew you were waiting for me." Walker wanted to pat her on the head but he saw that Midnight was about to grab the ancient ember skeletons'' bones in her teeth and crunch down. "Hey! Wait, we need to save those. I have an idea for those."


    Walker started to pile up the bones realizing they were still ember like. He used his all around appraisal skill to check out what they could do since he wanted to see if he would be able to sue them for making a dwelling item for the fire spirit if it wanted one.


    "If they are not as good materials as I think they are, you can have them all. If they are useful I am keeping them. I will give you something else." Walker knew if he didn''t say he would give Midnight something he would end up angering her. He was a little too soft and wanted to spoil her even though it was all for a good reason.


    '' Ember bones


    The bones of an ancient ember skeleton. The bones have long absorbed fire elemental mana during life. After losing that life, the bones retained and even absorbed more fire elemental mana. This gives them an extremely high elemental affinity that causes them to remain warm and appear like coal in a fire. They are extremely weak to water elemental mana but can be used to create powerful fire resistant or fire elemental items.''


    "They are great for fire elemental items. Sorry Midnight, but these will be for crafting. I will hand over some orc bones if you want them?" Walker saw Midnight shake her head. "I will toss in some elemental crystals when we get somewhere to rest." This pleased Midnight and she raised her head nodding.


    "That was amazing! I never thought that we would encounter such a powerful skeleton. The others were weaker than ants. But that one...just woooww." Zenith was scribbling notes faster than Walker thought possible. She had sketched the walls and even a drawing of the skeleton before Walker and Midnight teamed up to beat it.


    "I was worried you would use that skill to walk in the air and get caught by the fire ball. I am d you and Midnight almost share one mind." Su was very d to know that Walker and Midnight had perfectly teamed up to strike the ancient ember skeleton down in one fell swoop.


    The group watched as the earth spirit materialized from the earth dwelling shield, "I was strong! I put out the fire like nothing!" Walker shared what the spirit was saying and without any hesitation, Su responded.


    "Thank you very much. You were the key to an injury free victory. I was very surprised to see your skill with the shield." She wasn''t lying in the least. She had not expected the fortress skill to be so dominant in the defensive skills. She had felt that she was perfectly protected in an instant. Any worries she had about the mes burning her washed away and she knew that there was nothing to worry about. The skill had even crumbled away to allow Walker to easily rush out an attack.


    The earth elemental spirit danced around her happy to receive the praise. Walker could only smile since he knew that Su was reading the system notification.


    "Unique Hero quest- Strong as a fortress-pleted


    The party leader has assisted the dwarf elder in spirit forging a proper earth dwelling shield. The elemental earth spirit involved is overjoyed to have a home and chance to travel the world. The earth spirit has a high respect for the party leader. Gain the same trust.


    Requirements:


    Gain the trust of the earth elemental spirit that calls the earth dwelling spirit home.


    Rewards:


    Elemental earth affinity''


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 666 - 666. Demonic Insights

    While the party was off pursuing their quests the demonnds were in a stir.


    "My lord, My slimes within the deep caves of the dwarf city have been eliminated. However, the mission was a sess. I have dealt a great blow to their production of golems along with created lord slimes for our own army." The demon that was on his knee in front of arge crimson throne looked as if he was part demon and partially slime.


    "Ha! Slimes are weak. I can eat those in a second. Some envy demon title holder is nothingpared to me. I could eat your pathetic slime breeding experiments and no one would ever remember them." The brutal yet pig like voice of a round and misshapen demon came from the corner of the room.


    This demon left nothing to be desired when thinking of a gluttony demon title holder. Its body was all fat and rolls. The horns were nearly sunken in due to the body being mishappen and the only definable feature was a massive maw on its'' stomach. It was arge mass of fat.


    "Weak? Ha, weak says the ball of b that thinks it can solve all the problems in the world by eating. It would be better to send me to just exterminate the dwarves and elves. I am naturally the best suited for any mission. My very pride is on the line so you know I can not lose." The demon that spoke was the perfect description of a demon. Two perfectly even horns curling around his head. Perfectly pointed and groomed ws. Two pristine ck and red swords. It was like looking at a perfect mirror image.


    The sound of snoringing from the back of the room increased for a moment causing everyone to freeze in the room. They all had their eyes towards the spot where a mass slept covered in furs. There was a slight sense of dread until the mass shifted slightly before resuming the soft peaceful snoring.


    "I will smack the next idiot that even thinks of waking up sloth. Thest time he threw a tantrum bigger than the damn demonized forest. I swear. Just thinking about it." The demon speaking was the tallenst and most muscr. He stomped his feet in annoyance while smoke drifted from his body. The fire elemental manaing from him severely heated the room.


    "I will take that. I needed more fire elemental mana." The small and sickly looking albino demon that sat in the middle of the room held a hand out. The fire elemental mana drew towards them and absorbed in to their hand. In just a moment the temperature had be cold and empty of mana. However, the albino demon became slightly red and looked healthier. "That was better. Now it is part of my collection. Wrath, you always know how to treat me with your presents."


    This made the demon known as Wrath angrier but it didn''t have the energy to stomp anymore on the ground. "Boys boys boys. How simple you all are. Arguing and chatting in front of our lord like you are at some party. We were called here to discuss my growing army of imps and subus''s." The female demon that walked through and took the front of the hall kneeled before the red throne with a flirtatious smile.


    Her figure was alluring and the whip of her tail from side to side was hypnotizing. It was easily said that even those who hated demons to their very core could fall in love at first sight with this female demon. "Please Greed, don''t try and take my charm away. I can only let you have it fro a moment before I need to take it all back." The female demon stood and toyed with Greed who looked happy to have another with him.


    "Always the same. You sin demons are much better than filthy humans and worthless undead. I can expect what you will do and deal with it." The voice that spoke came from the demon sitting in the shadow covered red throne. None could see the demon lord properly, but they could feel the strength and power emanating from every word.


    "We have set up those small kingdoms to fall easily. The dragons are sure to avoid conflict and the allies we have in the ocean have those merfolk tied up. Envy, I expect that mimic slime you have spent thest twenty years on will be ready for the uing battle. If it is not, you know what will happen."


    "Yes my lord. I am teaching it to copy me now but will have it copy sloth when it is finished training." The worry in envy''s voice was clear but that only made the demon lord grumble slightly.


    "Good, you all know the war strategy we will be using, but we will need to cause additional chaos before we take action." The demon lord gazed with piercing red eyes across the demons. "Pride, take your hand picked army and cause trouble. I expect there to be a significant amount of damage done before you return here. I want that human city to feel the first attack."


    The look pride held while he was given these words made him stand even taller. The perfectly fitting ck and red armor showed off his strength along with the spotless boots he wore to match. "I will take them with me immediately. There will be no one left. I will follow the strategy to the letter. Those humans will have no ess to trading or food on my watch."


    "Send the food to me. I will eat it and expand my mana pool again. The humans won''t be needing the grains or cattle since they will starve to death." The gluttony demonughed in joy knowing there was a bountiful feast that would be sent to him. With the departure of Pride, the demons were issued further orders to prepare their own forces for battle.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 667 - 667. Clearing The Way

    Back in the caves just after Su had read her questpletion she felt a change in her body. It was like something blocked had been opened for her. The earth elemental mana that was lingering around them due to the shield and elemental spirits skills, was now hugging to her. "I can feel it. The earth mana. I can feel it all around me now." That was well beyond what Walker had expected.


    He had thought that Su wouldn''t notice much of a change and wouldn''t be able to sense the earth elemental mana at all. However, she was describing the movement of the mana which was attracted to her due to the earth affinity she gained from the quest.


    "Zenith, that wall over there by those stairs seem to be strange. Have you sketched them yet?" Walker purposefully distracted Zenith so that he could have a secret word with Su.


    "Ah, no. I need to sketch faster so I can exin the dimensions properly!" Zenith rushed to get a closer look fully invested in the intricately carved walls.


    "I am wondering. Since you already have a dark elemental affinity and gained an earth affinity, do you think you could get all affinities? Midnight has the ability to eat every mana crystal and you are a draconic guardian. Your system is based on the dragon you are close to right?" Walker had this theory developing and was almost certain that is why Su had the earth elemental affinity as a reward.


    "I feel like I should have had this affinity all along. It is like discovering I can move my finger more than I thought I could." Su agreedpletely with Walker''s idea. She could feel the earth elemental mana around her and even the earth elemental spirit rushing around her.


    "I understand a little more what it is like for you to always sense the elements now. It is wonderful." Su was letting herself rx much more than usual. It was an enlightening moment for her as she had a whole new feeling and affinity.


    "Like me! You are like me!" The two earth elemental spirits said this in chorus while moving around Su''s feet. The darkness elemental spirit popped its'' head out of Su''s shadow to nod at her showing its understanding before it pulled back in to the shadows to hide again.


    "You will make me a home with those bones?" The fire elemental spirit finally stopped flitting here and there to absorb the fire elemental mana. Having finally ceased its'' movement, it was looking intently at Walker who it had already stored away the embering skeleton bones.


    "I can make you a dwelling item or weapon but you will need to help. It will be made to fit you. You could also join me on my adventures if you''d like?". Walker wanted the fire elemental spirit to choose him over other things so that he would have the quest requirement fulfilled but he wouldn''t force it.


    "I want a home! No higher spirits!" The fire elemental spirit instantly against the idea that it wouldn''t be able to reside in the home that was made just for it. It had seen how the dwelling earth shield worked and was jealous. That was all it took for it to be convinced that it needed a dwelling of its own. There was no way it would want to join Walker in his quest to make a staff.


    "Then that''s what we will do. I will speak to the elder and see if he can make a dwelling item for you. We can chat about what kindter." Walker just smiled a little sad he didn''t get the fire spirit he needed for the quest but knew that was just how it was.


    "Hey! You might need to take the lead here!" Zenith had bypassed the offerings and chests next to the stone coffin since she knew they could be examined for their contents after. Instead, she was right by the stairs that seemed to lead up further.


    "If that was the start and not the actual me mage skeleton we might need to get the others." Walker could still feel that there was more fire elemental mana around and that there might be more mage skeletons ahead.


    "There are traps in the walls of the stairs. Do you see the elemental mana crystals and the runes carved in to the walls? I have seen them before. They will make firee out of the mana crystals when someone walks by them. The only way to disable them is to alter the runes which could make them explode or to remove the mana and break the crystals." Zenithcked the ability to remove the mana and was not risking an explosion in a cave. Especially an old cave.


    "I should be able to do something about that. Hey, do you want the mana from the crystals too?" Walker could make the crystals bleed their mana using his maniption skill but he wasn''t sure if the fire elemental spirit would want it since it had taken the other fire elemental mana that the ember skeleton dispersed.


    "I will take it!" The spirit was even more excited to get more mana and replenish what it had lost over the many years of being stuck in the cage within the treasury.


    "Then here I go." Walker saw the first of six fire elemental crystals in the wall and tried to sense the mana. He could feel a small amount left that had not naturally bled away over the many years. "Oh, this is going to be easy. I''m not sure it could even make fire anymore since it is so weak." He pulled on the mana and the crystal cracked to release the fire elemental mana all at once. The crystal was too old.


    The spirit greedily took control of the fire elemental mana and Walker cleared the path of traps. Midnight looked at the broken crystals wantingly. However, Su patted her on the head and kept herpany while they waited for Walker to finish. "And that''s that. Think there is more above us?" The path was clear of traps.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 668 - 668. Second Room

    Walker was not going to leave the mana crystal shards behind. They were valuable materials to make mana gems that would be perfect for the dwelling items that were going to be forged in the near future. Zenith followed behind as Su moved to take the lead. She was still sketching out the rune designs that she was notpletely familiar with. "These are simr to other traps I have seen. I thought they were the same but they might be a little older. I wonder why there are so many though. Usually, the upward stairs should lead to the surface.''


    "Maybe there used to be another path. This wall here is mostly fallen rock." Su had a hand against the wall and realized that even though the wall was hidden in shadows that it was different.


    "I see. So those traps protected the tomb of the me mage. Then we have more to see up here." This was a pleasant surprise since most ruins that she had explored were just a burial chamber and maybe a small room with writings or pictures directly attached that detailed their life. "I hope that we discover some documents too." Zenith almost ran forward but Su had stopped on the upward stone steps yet again.


    ''This step has less dust around it. I think it has air moving around it." Walker decided that with Su''s input it was best to give the all around appraisal skill a shot to see what was what.


    ''False step


    Basic trap set by many trappers. The step will fall away to a pit underneath after a certain weight is put on it.''


    "That is a trap and we will not be stepping on it. We do not need to deal with whatever is down in the pit below." There were nods all around. Midnight gracefully lept over and Onyx found a home on Walker''s shoulder to avoid it safely. "You know, you could have just slipped in to my shadow like the dark spirit is doing with Su." Walker scratched Onyx''s head knowing full well it was just because Onyx loved to sit on Walkers'' shoulders and wouldn''t admit it.


    "Leader, we are at the top. It needs your input." Su had reached the top of a small square room. There was nothing to note of the room but for the walls and ceilings. They were carved walls in much better condition than the others of the ruins.


    "Oh my, bless the caves and their presents. Do you know what this is!?" Zenith was extremely energized when his eyes rested on the walls. Seeing that Walker and Su were lost along with Midnight and Onyx just ignoring her and ncing around she feltpelled to exin.


    These are walls that hold information important enough that the mostplicated earth rune we have even found was used. These are runes that canst millennia without fading away." Zenith started to attempt to sketch the runes but found that every time she did they would be slightly off. "They are the hardest to replicate without the proper system. I can only ask for a master rune mage toe here if we can recruit one for work." The dwarves had hired rune mages who were known to travel the world. Unfortunately, they rarely passed through and they were very rare.


    "That''s a little sad. I guess you will just need to settle for me using my skill to trante and read you what''s written on the walls." Walker was d he could be useful. He felt that he wouldn''t be able to do much with the runes since hecked knowledge in general about them. However, he could easily read and let Zenith record what was written.


    Seeing Zeniths'' eyes almost glowing with joy Walker started to pull out some snacks for Midnight and a few promised elemental mana crystals. He also made sure that there were light elemental crystals from Onyx to wrap around. "Leader, I am going to rest in the corner with the earth spirits." Su wanted to get better acquainted with her partner in thest battle and make sure she and the spirit were on the same page.


    "Sounds good. This might take some time anyways, so it''s better to get some rest." Walker was happy to see the earth spirit and Su starting to bond more than just in thest battle. He was sure that the two would be getting along in the future.


    "I think this is the start here. There is a mark of a me here with another on the opposite wall spelling the end." Zenith had located the start of the words on the wall. The strange shapes that made up the writings were tranted in to words that Walker could understand by his skill. He soon realized that this wasn''t just writings but a full story.


    "It says in the first line, beware, those who curse the world will have their curse fall upon themselves." The ominous feeling only increased as Walker scanned the wall. Zenith had a brand new scroll out to write it all down as he spoke.


    "Keep going. I will write it word for word." The excitement that Zenit had did not take away from the ominous tone Walker had in the least. He wasn''t sure exactly what would be written but since it began with a warning about the world he felt he was about to learn something dangerous.


    "Life may be hard and pull one''s heart to the ends. Never betray the world and curse the gifts it has given. The world can see your soul and dreams. The gift is the ideal it gives you to shape those dreams and guide you to your happiness." This sounded a lot better, yet, Walker lost the rxed feeling in the next sentences on the walls.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 669 - 669. Hate Filled Heart

    "It looks like it switches to a story after that warning." Walker could see the words had changed to someone writing an instance they had had and wanted to warn others about.


    "I need to know what they are warning us from. I know curses, but what curses?" Zenith was already trying to draw conclusions and find out what was really being exined.


    Walker didn''t leave her waiting and continued on, " I write this in memory of a great brother. I hope the world took pity on him and released his soul from torture."


    "I was blessed with the Great me mage system. It was a magnificent day for my family. Magic was highly valued and fire magic even more so since it could help the vige get through the winter. I would even have the chance to have a master teach me."


    This all seemed normal to Walker until he read the next lines, "My brother did all he might to unlock the gift the world gave him, and when he did there was another celebration. He gained the swordsman system. It was simple, but he was excited to explore the new avenue. He spoke constantly of the tricks he learned from the world''s gift and how he would impress the love of his life with it."


    "The months passed and we grew in fame. Yet, when the storm came, the monstrous eels from theke nearby came from the water and through the mud to hunt. This was normally easy for the vige to deal with but the storm went for days and we lost more men and women every day. I rarely had mana and my brothers'' sword was soaked in the blue blood they held within their bodies."


    Walker began to realize this may be a horror story written. The me mage had a rough life in the earlier days.


    "The children with their gifts were required to fight as well and that meant the girl my brother loved. This was a massive worry for him and a worry well founded. The same night an eeltched on to her and injected a mana eating poison. The girl perished before morning then, the rain stopped and the eels rushed to the water again for safety."


    " In my brothers'' grief, he forgot our mothers'' words and cursed the gift he had received. He cursed the world. The world heard him and felt the pain of rejection."


    "Our mother had warned us not to curse the world. It would issue the world''s curse and change the one cursing it in to the thing they were disgusted by most. For some that could be a slug. Others it could be a monster. It was whatever was within their hearts at the time."


    "The dark and toxic cloud of light enveloped my brother and when it left him there was something else. The skin was slimy and the hands webbed. The teeth were needles and there were fins on the arms and back. Not to mention the blue blood running through its veins."


    After calming himself, my brother spoke in a different voice. He cursed the world and was rewarded with the world''s cursed title. The system he had was gone. The gift was non existent. The world had turned him in to a mix of what he was disgusted and hated with what he was. His hate filled heart caused him to travel the vige in rage and defeated any who stood before him. Droves of eels followed him everywhere."


    "Many years passed me by as I worked up the courage to hunt him. I needed to make the wrongs his rage brought right. It was too long for me to ept that his curse had warped his body to the same as his mind was. I took up my hard trained magical power and earned the respect of five viges by defeating my very brother."


    "I nearly cursed the world as well that day. But I remembered the words. I mourned him and found that his soul was missing. I regret I was unable to do anything in my life after that. I saved viges and helped others. Yet, I felt nothing. I was empty and eventually found myself at the end of my life. I had my story written here to teach those who visit my burial chamber looking for answers."


    "Never curse the world. The consequences are great and the fall out even worse. Stand strong in the face of the worst. Time may test all. Losing everything is not worth bing something yu hate the most."


    Walker looked at the end. "Su, does this sound familiar to a story about a certain demon?" Su had be focused after hearing that the world cursed people. She remembered the immortal kings'' story about the boy and mother his people experimented on and how he had cursed the world only to be turned in to a demon and forced to have the fallen hero system.


    "Yes. We should take a copy of this as well." Su knew that may need it for their research in to the demons. Cosmos had cursed the world and ended up something he didn''t like in thest. Immortal king may not have been demons but it was clear to Walker that Cosmos had thought of the researchers as demons and he was turned in to one as a result.


    "This is by no means good to know. There isn''t anything about undoing it so it is most likely permanent. We need more information. Is there another ruin like this?" Walker thought that the other ruins might have simr stories if the dwarves had found any.


    "No, the ruins never had a wall like these. They were weaker and needed reinforcement. This is unique." Zenith was still entranced by the art, that was the carvings in the room.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 670 - 670. Undead Reasons

    Walker looked slightly dejected that there was not more but thought of this as valuable information. Cursing the world was never done and none of them could think of a time when it had actually happened. To the best of their memories, they had never heard of the world cursing someone in this way. It was a curse lost to time.


    "Let me adjust my question a little bit. Have you ever found anything on the worlds curse before?" Walker watched as Zenith reacted. He wanted to try to see if she would be hiding anything since this could be a very big secret that any kingdom may hide from their people. It was a dangerous notion that the systems they unlocked could be rejected for something else.


    "No. Not that I have found."Zenith didn''t appear to be nervous or hiding anything which put Walker at ease. "But, we have found pictures on walls and had some of the code breakers decipher scrolls that spoke of people bing monsters after bad urrences in their life.


    "That sounds a lot like the worlds'' curse then¡­" Walker was sure that it was the world''s curse or at the very least rted. "I think this was a very good ruin to find. But I think that is all there is for the reading- ah, there''s something small on the ceiling." Walker nced up to see a phrase.


    "What is it? What is it?" Zenith was again filled with energy since it was an additional surprise.


    "To any who wander to my crypt. I hope you find me in rest. I will have dies with great regrets and my body may attempt to rise and fill them. If such a thing urs my staff and robes are sealed away in the foot of my coffin. Please take them as a thank you for putting me back to slumber. Anything within my crypt may be payment to this end."


    "He knew he was going to rise up. His regrets made him rise. Leader, that is very valuable information. Many of the cemeteries are blessed yet some undead still manage to crawl from the earth. If they have strong regrets that could be what surpasses the blessings." Su had heard at the church that the undead would always rise in the cemeteries even without outside influences. However, it was all toomon for those that perished in idents or while young to rise. This made for aplicated burial and watch of the gravesite.


    "Brother, are you interested in the staff and robes? They must be fire elemental and very powerful since this is a crypt for a great me mage." Onyx had also started to pay more attention while absorbing the light elemental mana from the mana crystals that Walker had given him.


    "Of course I am. I would be lying if I wasn''t interested. They could be the best staff and robes I have ever found. But the problem is that I am looking for materials for an all elemental staff. Not just a single fore elemental staff and robes." This was bittersweet for him but he was excited none the less.


    "Then we should go check them out. I am interested too. If you do not like them and sell them to the high forge to research they would go for a very good price." Zenith spoke matter of factly.


    "I''m surprised you wouldn''t want to take them as a finding for this exploration." It was a sensible thought since the dwarves had found the ruins.


    "Since I''m the one in charge of it I can care less. I can''t use it and I don''t know of any fire dwarf fire mage in the city let alone ever. So, enjoy them. But if there are any ores or scrolls I want them. There are more than just a staff and robes in those chests unless the other two are empty. And before you ask, yes, I have found ruins with empty chests because it was a false burial to throw off grave robbers." Zenith looked more annoyed than anything exining that there were false ruins around that were used to hide others. It sounded like a major problem for a map maker like her.


    Walker pulled out a piece of jerky from his inventory and started to snack while he watched Zenith finish the sketches with propionate dimensions and even attempted rune copies. The rest of their group soon finished up their rests and snacks before the eager Zenith pushed for them to return to the burial chamber.


    "I have opened stone chests like this before and they are always full of things that rotted away. But look! There are the same runes as the walls so everything inside should be the same as the day it was put in here. These chests alone can make or break a merchant''s business." The slightly evil look on Zeniths'' face didn''t go unnoticed by them, yet they chose not to dwell on it too much.


    Zenith started by measuring and sketching the detail of the stone chests. They were sealed with a few runes but she easily cut through them releasing a small burst of air that had been trapped within the stone chests. "Now we can see what we have here."


    Zenith pulled out a bunch of books from the first chest. "Those look to be journals. They are all listed with various monsters and how to defeat them." Su had taken one and skimmed through it. Strangely they were readable for her.


    "They are also enchanted with magic. Even I can read them without an issue. Very valuable for sure. I will need to gove these to the archivists and researchers." Walker didn''t fight her on this. He knew that he would most likely be able to get a copy. "Next chest then!"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 671 - 671. Ancient Robes

    The second chest was opened just as easily as the first. What Zenith revealed was a very strange robe. "This must be the robes that were mentioned on the walls. But this seems more like a shroud." Zenith held them up so that everyone could get a good look.


    "Stong fire! A lot of mana!" The fire elemental spirit was the most interested in them and when Walker tried to sense the mana he noticed that the robes were radiating fire elemental mana.


    He used the all around appraisal skill and stood with his jaw dropped after reading it out loud.


    '' Lava silk robes


    Matk +18, Mdef +16, fire mana recovery


    Robes made fromva spider silk. The rare ancient monsterva spiders are only known to live in and around volcanoes. Their silk constantly absorbs mana and converts it to fire elemental mana. The robes allow the wearer to absorb fore elemental mana passively from the air and use it in their skills. This robe was crafted by the uniqueva smith system''


    "I didn''t even know that there were spiders that lives in volcanoes." Su took the new piece of information. She was confused about how anything could live in such a dangerous environment. The only monster she knew that could, was a dragon. However, Walker had said thatva slimes exist once.


    "I wouldn''t think that a robe would look this style but maybe this is more like the robes that were worn all those years ago." Walker felt the robe and noticed that it was even warm to the touch. The fire elemental mana was so powerful that it was even heating the air around them slightly.


    "I think it looks strange, but it is nice and warm. Even if it isn''t useful for you it could be an ideal winter coat." Zenith thought that this was a silver lining in the least.


    Walker noticed that the fire elemental spirit waspletely fixated on the robes. "Hey, let me see the robes for a minute." He took them from Zenith and rolled them up making a small nest out of theva silk robes. "Do you want to rest here for a bit? You still look like you want to absorb more fire elemental mana." Walker saw as the spirit vibrated in ce for a moment. He could only think that it was excited beyond words.


    The fire elemental spirit moved to theva silk robes Walker had rolled in to a nest and sat itself in the middle. The fire it was made of harmonized with the robes and the pull of fire elemental mana became greater. Midnight eyed the spirit cautiously since she could feel the mes within her stir slightly. It was a strong pull that seemed to please the spirit more.


    "There''s also some gold in here. Ancient coins but they are just gold. We can pick it upter unless you want it?" Zenith wasn''t too impressed since gold was a verymon find in any ruins that the dwarves would uncover.


    "It''s no big deal for us. We have been fortunate to make a decent amount and even have some monster materials we need to sell so we are alright on gold. Actually, that reminds me we should stop by the adventurers guild branch here to do that." Walker had been way too caught up in things and realized he had yet to even inquire about the adventurers guild in the dwarf city.


    "Really? You must have passed it a few times. It is right next to the high forge so that it is easy to find and the guild can work with those who use the forges. It just makes sense. It also means that the cksmiths and crafters have first grabs at the newer materials that the guild brings." Zenith tapped her head to show the brilliance of the location for the high forge members.


    "Leader, the third chest. It should have the staff." Su noticed Walker getting side tracked and brought him back to focus.


    "Thanks. I was getting in to other things. Zenith, the honors are yours." Walker motioned for Zenith to jump back in to the stone chest opening that she was so excited for. When thest lid popped open the fire elemental mana pushed put again. However, this time Walker swore he could see a slight bit of smokee with it.


    "Wow...this thing is intense. It''s like an eye." Zenith wasn''t sure she should even touch the staff because of the heat it was giving off. The small wisps of smoke were another sign that she shouldn''t touch it no matter what.


    "This is amazing¡­" Walker was caught in awe at the sight of the staff. He was joined by Su, Midnight, and Onyx who were all trying to get a look at it clearly.


    The staff was made from ck stone. It seemed to be taken right from the deepest fires of the earth. They led up to intertwined and nearly like vines of a tree even though they were made out of stone. The small carvings all over it were fire runes. But surprisingly there were some earth runes as well which Walker believed lead to the strengthening of the staff so that it could survive the physical daggers of battle.


    Therge round object set in the top of the staff was an orange semi clear eye. The predator like slit of a pupil appeared to burn with mes. Walker had never seen a gem like it and started to believe that it couldn''t be a gem at all and that it might be something else.


    "I''ve heard of this before. That is an eye. A cyclops eye. One of the only other monsters known to forge and eat their prey whole. They are extremely antisocial and hate any other living creatures. They chose to step down from being a recognized race and prefer to be monsters." Zenith spoke slowly and near silent. She was remembering distant tales that the dwarves told to children.


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 Chapter 672 - 672. Cyclops

    Walker couldn''t sit in suspense any longer and used hi sall around appraisal to check out what the staff was.


    '' Cyclops me staff


    Matk +25, Def +10, Mdef +14, cyclops skin skill


    The staff is hand carved from the hardest cooledva from the deepest depths of a volcano. The cyclops eye that has been used as the power core for this staff was taken from a seven hundred year old hermit cyclops. Cyclops have a major resistance to heat and can reach in to the hottestva without any damage. The staff has inherited the ability to absorb and withstand high amounts of fire elemental mana.


    Cyclops skin- 40 mana per hour


    This is a unique skill created upon the forging of this unique weapon. The skin of a cyclopspletely resists fire elemental mana. But spending the users'' mana the user can resist fire elemental mana just like a cyclops. The user will be able to reach directly in tova or forge fires.''


    "Cyclops are nearly extinct! And you will be able to use one of their skills if you wield this and spend the mana." Zenith was beside herself after hearing this. It was just amazing that something dwarves wished they could do was possible with this staff. "Why don''t we have any dwarf mages? Why are we all so caught up on crafting and digging." Zenith wanted to kick herself for being unable to use this staff.


    "It sounds like cyclops are one of the monsters dwarves idolize. Not that they sound nice. I can''t say I like the part about them eating their prey whole or that they are extremely antisocial." Walker didn''t want to encounter a cyclops in general after hearing that.


    "Cyclops are massive monsters that can eat a dwarf while. It could eat three and that is just a snack. They have been known to live in caves that pourva out of them regrly. I even read a story about one that used to swim inva for fun!" Zenith had many stories resurfacing and bringing her back to her childhood.


    "Leader, I believe that finding a fire mage to assist the crafting of items would be best. This staff would be their tool to greatly assist a cksmith." Su knew that Walker wouldn''t use the staff since he didn''t use only fire elemental magic.


    "You might be right. It would be more beneficial if there was a fire mage of sorts that coulde here and work with the elder at the high forge. That could work better and be more valuable. But I think it might be better to have them help out at the building of Genesis city. If they do then the forges there would have a better start."


    Walker and Su reached the same page and decided that the staff would be brought with them to Genesis city where they would seek out someone who could use the staff and assist in forging. "Just knowing that will make some of the cksmiths in the forge leave and go to the city you are talking about." Zenith was most likely right.


    " You know, if a new city is being built then there will be a need for someone to record the new roads and trade routes." Her words were holding a little smugness. She knew that she was speaking to people that could directly give her or at the very least put her in contact with someone who would hire her.


    "Are you not content in the city? Genesis city will be a little farther than a few other ces." Su was worried that Zenith would regret saying this since the city was so far.


    "Trust me. I am excited to get out of the city. Dwarves will often choose not to leave the city at all. My generation has many who have not ever left here to explore the outside world. I want to go make maps of more than just caves. That''s why I am excited to travel the ruins. They are different than just a cave." She was standing firm with this and wouldn''t budge.


    Su chimed in first, "Then you will have a job. The alliance is already working on things but it will take some tie for the road partys'' to join in. I can have a letter sent to our king that we are going to have a map maker there. He might ask you to join just to strengthen the rtion shop with dwarves in general.


    Walker wasn''t going to say anything. Su had taken over and he was going to offer the same to Zenia. He decided to add on instead, "If there are other map makers avable it would most likely be better to have a few to split up. I will make sure the king knows. It would be one less thing for him to worry about after all." Walker nodded while saying this. He ced a hand on the staff and store it away. Things had been side tracked but at the end of the day, they learned new things and were able to gather a valuable treasure.


    "I feel like things have just got more and more interesting since you heroes showed up. First, the city is booming over the defeat of the slimes. Then I hear there are heroes doing all manner of things. I was even told today that this dragon beat the most promising golem made by the youngest golem building genius in generations."


    Zenith was going to continue when Walker''s attention was grabbed. "I don''t know about Midnight fighting, anyone?" Walker gave a hard look to Midnight who was pretending that she had heard nothing." But if it helped in some way then everything is on the up and up." Walker could only think that Midnight must not have stayed in ce while the elder and he went to look at materials. He would be having a few words with herter about the importance of staying in one ce and not wandering off.


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 Chapter 673 - 673. Back Pack

    "I guess if you are done sketching we don''t really have anywhere else to go. The other stairway is copse and it might take a long time to dig out to see if the ruin is any bigger." Walker was a little depressed that it had been so small. He knew that the ruin had given them very important knowledge and some very amazing gear. But it was just sad that h wouldn''t have more to explore and look for.


    "Most of the time when we try and excavate the copsed portions of ruins it ends up leading to more copsed ces. We would end up just digging to the surface for nothing. You may forget how deep we are underground, but for some reason, it was normal to bury the more important people deeper in the ground. The going theory is based on strength. Look at that skeleton we encountered."


    Walker heard Zeniths'' words and started to realize that this did seem true. Every time they had heard about the ruins, they heard about them being deeper and found by the miners in the deep caves instead of near the surface.


    "I think that it is to avoid the undead that cane back. It''s a good theory. The ancient peoples would have been able to protect themselves if the powerful undead were deep down and away. The ember skeleton would have done great damage to the average people." Su put everything in a logical order and summed up the theory. It was all too true and Walker wondered why this act had disappeared through the generations.


    "I wonder if there were fewer priestess system uses or exorcist type system users back then." Walker thought that this would easily exin why there were also more ruins dug deeper and many more undeading back to life.


    "Could be. Most ruins only have pictures or documents that have been tranted showing small viges and small scale battles. There are much fewer grand cities orrge armies." Zenith had some knowledge on these things since she mapped out a few ruins or caves. However, she didn''t know everything because that would require one of the archivists or code breakers.


    "Well, I think we have rested and learned a lot. But we should head back. There are plenty of other things to do and I am sure that one of the kings is waiting for your maps?'' Walker knew that it was most likely the king of the deep caves and the elder that wanted to see what she had sketched out.


    "Yes! I need to tell them all about what we found. I want them toe and look at the walls themselves but that is really if the rune based system users allow them. Whenever we find a rune in a ruin they get a little possessive. Oh, and can you take the chests back with you? I know you have that spatial magic like my back pack." Walker nodded and stored the stone chests away.


    "What did you mean about your back pack having spatial magic?" Su beat Walker to the question.


    "Well, I received a quest to create it using certain monster parts. After I did I was required to leave it in a pitch ck cave filled with cold water for one week. I guarded that cave against any possible light like it was the end of my life if I didn''t. The result was a map bag that could store my maps, ink, quills, charcoal, really any of my tools. Weight and size doesn''t matter. It''s very useful. I just wish I could store food and potions in it. But it is limited to map making materials."


    Walker wasparing it to the methods Gil needed to follow to get his quiver that could store near endless arrows. The two items were specific to their systems and would help them make the best of them. "Sounds like you will be able to travel pretty much anywhere and be able to gather the information and create maps." This was another positive aspect of having such a spatial item.


    The group continued to chat a little as they headed back the way they came when Walker realized something, "Should we deal with the skeletons that are making noise in their stone coffins? They are trapped there so I don''t think they are a danger, but it still feels weird to just leave them." As much as he said he didn''t fear leaving them, Walker did have a slight worry that they would somehow get out and harm someone.


    "No, they should be fine. When the archivists and otherse there will be guards that are required toe. Normally I would go with guards as well, but they are busy with the reconstruction and slime hunting. I just didn''t want to wait and had the opportunity. I couldn''t just let it pass me by." Zenith looked at Su who had rescued her and presented the perfect opportunity for her.


    With the word from Zenith, they continued on. Onyx had taken a spot on Midnight''s back and was vignt as ever when they reentered the rock horned vipers'' nest. "Brother, things have changed. It looks like more were fighting. Some are even defeated."


    The sight was a mess of rocks and three rock horned viper bodies on the dusty floor. The mutated rock horned viper was coiled in the middle of them with its'' head held high. It was scanning the next for more challengers since it had been teamed up on for the nest it had guarded. Now it was certainly the most dominant of the nest and none would dare oppose it.


    "We shouldy low. I don''t think we should defeat it if the breeders are going toe here. We can sneak out wa-" Walker heard the crumble of stones and realized Zenith had tripped over a crumbling stgmite. The mutated rock horned viper did not even hesitate in its'' actions to attack them.


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 Chapter 674 - 674. Rocky

    Su did not hesitate. She stepped in front of Zenith and raised the earth dwelling shield. The mutated rock horned viper tail mmed in to it and barely managed to move her feet in the dusty cave floor. "Ha! That is nothing!" Su tainted the minster and held its'' attraction whale Midnight grabbed Zenith with her mouth and pulled her up.


    "You guard Zenith and get her out if here. Onyx, cover their escape." Walker gave the orders and used the multi buff skill to boost them up before they rushed away. The elemental spirits had cowered around them avoiding the fighting which they didn''t seem to light. Walker wanted to jump in to the battle but was worried about the fire elemental spirit which had curled up in the nest ofva silk robes he was holding.


    Su blocked the mutated monsters'' tail again and a small chip of stone and quartz fell off. She was worry that if she used the shield bash skill it would harm the monster or even worse defeat it identally. If that happened the breeders that came would suffer losses and they would have hurt the dwarves in the long run. She was not so weak as to let this happen.


    Walker saw what Su was avoiding and felt the same. He didn''t want to cause the monster any harm and knew that the rock horned vipers would not have attacked them if they had not been fighting amongst themselves. They were the ones that had invaded the rock horned viper nest in the first ce.


    "Su, I am going to try and manipte the earth to trap it for a few moments so we can leave." Walker''s n was simple. He would manipte the stones and hopefully trap the mutated rock horned viper long enough for them to leave. If things worked out well then it would stay in the nest and would not follow them.


    Su just taunted the monster again while blocking another hit from the tail. She flinched as she saw another piece of the monster''s stone and quartz fall off to the ground. She knew it was hurting itself to continue to defend its'' nest and territory.


    Walker on the other hand was using his grand elemental maniption. He was thinking about the blue ivy that Alma could control. He willed the earth to form stone vines just like the ivy. When he had gathered enough of the earth elemental mana he pushed the stone vines to entangle the mutated rock horned viper.


    This caused the monster to thrash around and Walker to create and strengthen more stone vines. "Leader, we are retreating." Su pulled Walker while keeping an eye on the other rock horned vipers that were hiding from the raging monster nearby. Walker created more and more of the stone vines since the mutated rock horned viper broke them constantly.


    ''The skill rocky vines had been taken from the sculptors system. The skill rocky vines had been automatically learned due to user actions.


    Rocky vines- 3 mana cost


    Depending on the rocks used the vines are stronger or weaker. The vines are able to be manipted and created from any form of rock. These are often used as artistic pieces but can have unique battle applications depending on the user.''


    As more of the stone vines sprouted and wrapped around the mutated rock horned viper''s body, Walker and Su began to run out of the nest and through the tight passageway they hade in. Yet, Walker noticed a few bold rock horned vipers going after the trapped viper. He instantly released it and pushed forward with all his might.


    The freedom the mutated viper gained was met with a severe battle that knocked the three regr horned vipers down. They had lost their chance t defeated the mutated rock horned viper and watched as the mutated viper mmed its tail on the ground to assert its dominance. It hadpletely forgotten about him and Su.


    "Are you sure they will be alright? That was a mutated rock horned viper. They are more dangerous than a regr rock horned viper." Zenith was pacing with shaking nerves. Ahe was fearing the worst had happened and that Walker and Su would not be returning.


    "As I said. They will be fine. My brother and sister would never let themselves be beaten by anything. Su can withstand attacks from anything and my brother will think his way out of any problem." Midnight and Onyx puffed p their chests in pride as they had both added the praise of their family.


    Zenith barely heard them over her running until there was a small sound of falling rocks from the cave they hade from. Walker popped out and soon so did Su. "Hey, thank''s for waiting. That was weird huh?" Walker attempted to brush it all off but Zenith dashed forward to examine Su and Walker for any possible injuries. "You''re fine! Completely fine." The stress and worries washed away.


    "Leader and I took longer because we did not wish to harm it. If we did it could have been defeated by the other rock horned viper. It was breaking off parts of its tail on the shield." The earth spirit had materialized from the shield nodding and pointing to the shield dramatically.


    "It was definitely harder to hold back. I needed to make vines from the rocks to hold the viper in ce. But I got a new skill from it so I think that is pretty nice. It was fighting some of the other rock horned vipers though, so I hope it will be alright." Walker was already reading the skill description with interest.


    "Learned a new skill? Hard to hold back? I just¡­" Zenith lost her words since she had not expected such a reaction in any form. It was all a little too much to process at once on top of the other knowledge she had about them.


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 Chapter 675 - 675. Become More

    Walker and Su were a little amused by Zeniths'' awe and trouble epting the fact that they had just had a little trouble with the mutated rock horned viper. Su also gave her a knowing pat on the shoulder when she was hit with the fact that Walker spontaneously learned a new skill. After some time she began asking a million questions which led to them telling her multiple stories from their travels on the way home.


    By the time they returned to the deep caves Zenith had fallen silent and was thinking very deeply about what she would do in the future. She had been offered toe to assist with the Genesis city building and that she would be able to explore and make many maps. She knew if she did this it would be following her personal dream and from the sounds of it, following the best path for her people to rise even higher.


    "I have decided. I will join the effort to build your city. I will make trade maps and even use my favors with the kings for my work so far to get them to send golem guards with me." Zenith burst out from thought just as Walker was about to interrupt her thoughts and ask what there was to do now.


    "Oh..ummm, that''s great." Su giggled seeing Walker surprised by Zeniths'' sudden reaction. "I will let the rulers know that someone from the dwarves wants toe and join the endeavor. I just hope that the summit can be held sooner since I have a feeling that there are more and more peopleing together." Walker had the sense that the summit would be sooner than expected since everything was running so smoothly.


    "Perfect! I will go and report now. I can walk you up after. Well...I might be busy for some time. Can you walk back yourselves? I''m sorry." Zenith looked a little sad to be leaving them alone but she knew that she would be dragged in to a room and questioned to exin every single sketch and map she made of the areas. It was always a long and tiring process but necessary for the safety and development of the ruin excavation.


    "We are alright with that. Leader and I will talk with the spirits on the way back. Midnight and Onyx will most likely run forward and wait for us at the top. Good luck with your meeting."Su bid her farewell for now and Walker did the same. They headed off while Midnight and Onyx lived up to Su''s prediction rushing off to the top of the stairs that led to the merchant district.


    "You and the earth spirit had some bonding in battle today. I''m happy for you two." Walker saw that the earth spirit had started to rest on the top of the earth dwelling shield which Su had stapped to her back. It was the perfect ce for it to rest while enjoying the walk back.


    "You don''t even know how it feels...or maybe you do better than anyone. The earth elemental mana is all around us here and it feels warm. It''s like I''m home. The darkness elemental mana is simr but that was there since the ss upgrade and I never knew that it was like that until I had thisparison." Su was still amazed by the feeling of the manas around her.


    "I can feel it with my elemental maniption and other skills. But I can feel them all. I don''t know if I really have an affinity for all of them or if I can just sense them. Regardless it is a very good feeling." Walker could tell the elemental spirits were interested in this because even the fire elemental spirit that had been resting and absorbing fire elemental mana had focused on Walker now.


    Walker was about to continue when he noticed that the darkness elemental spirit that had been hiding in Su''s shadow along with the earth spirit that had been in the treasury were in front of him blocking the path. They obviously wanted him to stop which they did. "Is there something wrong? Do you two need help?" Walker was worried that the spirits needed more mana to stay in their form since they had been in the treasurycking the mana for some time.


    "No." The darkness elemental spirit spoke softly. Walker was very surprised it was the one speaking. "We will join you. We wish to see the world and be more." This was a shock. Walker wasn''t sure he would get spirits to join him just yet since the fire elemental spirit had chosen a dwelling item instead.


    "Are you sure? The staff I am making will most likely require you and other spiritsbining to be another spirit. I know what that means for a spirit and I know that there are reasons spirits do not do so." Walker recalled the fact that spirits would lose their consciousness and create another when fusing.


    "We will join you! We want to be part of what you do." The earth spirit responded happily. The two spirits had seen and felt what Walker was trying to do and what his goals were. They had been listening carefully while they told Zenith stories and had judged Walker to be deserving of their loyalty. So much so that they would fuse in to whatever spirit he needed. They had been moved beyond their consciousness that had been trapped for years. This was also a small way to repay him for the freedom they would have for the rest of his and their lives.


    "Then I will thank you in advance. I know it means a lot for a spirit and I look forward to learning more about each other in the future." The spirits were very happy to see how touched Walker was with their decision and that he understood how valuable it was to them.


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 Chapter 676 - 676. Thinking About Spirits

    The remainder of the walk back to the merchant district the other earth spirit and the dark spirit were stuck to Walker like glue. They were very happy that he had epted and was even showing some joy himself about them joining him. In their minds, they didn''t care if they would fuse and lose their consciousness for another. They just wanted to be part of the wondrous journey they had listened to. Their time in the treasury had made them yearn for more.


    They two had attempted to convince the fire elemental spirit to change its'' mind and join the but it turned out that elemental spirits were more stubborn than Walker could have imagined. The three had begun to influence the mana around them in their arguing prompting him to end their conversation himself.


    Su and the earth spirit that was bncing on the earth dwelling shield found this interaction hysterical and proceeded tough themselves. Walker wasn''t sure how Su was bonding so well with the spirit since they couldn''t speak to each other. However, he had the feeling that the earth spirit not only resonated with Su''s new elemental affinity but also the fact that they both seemed to want to protect things.


    This made Walker consider it the reason that they bonded in the first ce and the reason Su had gotten the quest. They may have forged a shield but that was not some guarantee that Su would use it. He had been lucky that the elder had given it at all. Yet, the elder seemed more interested in the experimentation of the spirit forging process than anything. It was logical since he would be able to make new gear as long as the materials were there.


    This made Walker think even further about what would happen with the wind spirit and Gil. The bow was a spirit forged weapon that had cost a soul. Fonding this out had shaken Gil let alone the party. Now that Gil had been feeding it mana and bonding with it, there was more.


    Walker recalled the time Gil had said he felt as if something had rolled over and the bow had more power. There was also the fact that the bow had a skill to turn wind in to an arrow. Gil had used it and evenbined it with other arrows.


    The spirit and Gil already had an unspoken bond. It was able to exist even though neither had seen the other and was already powerful enough to share their emotions and strength. There was also the question of the strength of the spirit.


    If the wind elemental spirit had been absorbing mana for years but it had not gained the win elemental mana it needed for anything. Walker had the feeling that it was because the mana had note from a living being. The strength of the wind spirit could be either weak due to this or powerful because it still had stored mana but not the right kind.


    "Walker. Where are you going?" Su had snapped Walker out of his daze. "I asked you a few times but you kept walking so I just went along for a little. We have made it all the way back to the high forge and you were about to walk inside." Su had a worried expression in her face because of Walker.


    "Sorry, I was thinking about the elemental spirits. I am thankful for the newpanions who could help me with my quest and join us on our journey. I am excited to see what dwelling gear we can make for the fires spirit here. The fact that you and the earth spirit are very close in personality and look to be fast friends...And Gil and his wind spirit in the bow. I wonder about that too."


    Su immediately understood why Walker was so hard to pull him from his thoughts. The looks she gave him also showed that she worried about Gil''s bow and elemental spirit partner. They didn''t know what would happen if the spirit decided it wanted to leave when the bow was modified and it had the appropriate mana to move like a normal spirit.


    ''Unique quest- Changing the fate of a spirit


    The arcane marksman has carried a bow since their early journeys. This bow had be bonded beyond normal means to the arcane Marksman Gil. As the leader and family of the arcane Marksman Gil, lend a hand and free his bonded partner; ancient named wind spirit.


    Requirements:


    Assist in the modification of the arcane Marksman Gil''s bow


    Rewards:


    All party members gain a spirit type skill.''


    Walker blinked a few times while Su did the same. They both were not sure what to think when Midnight nudged them both reminding them that they were standing unmoving in front of the high forge. She gave a huff and pushed them toward the entrance. "Sister and I received a quest to assist Gil in modifying his bow. Midnight will breath the fire while Imunicate with the elder so he can hear over the forge mes and hammer."


    "I need to help as well. He needs someone to keep the earth elemental mana away from the area. With my affinity, I can help the earth spirit direct the mana." Su had received a more specific direction than Walker and sop had Midnight and Onyx.


    "I need to help as well. But we are going to get a spirit type skill. Do you think...actually, I have no idea what it could be." Walker was stumped and generally in awe. He had not expected to receive such a quest and only thought that it must be because Gil had acquired the materials he needed to modify the bow. "We should go inside." Walker was met with Midnight giving another huff and pushed him even faster. She was trying to get them moving the whole time and had run out of patience.


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 Chapter 677 - 767. Metal Bones

    Walker gave in to Midnights'' pushing. He wasn''t sure why she was reacting so strongly. He thought that it might have been the fact that she just wanted to help Gil faster. But then he heard the rushing of dwarves and the chaos.


    "Grey requested folded steel. Folded!"


    "Cut those wires and braid them you fool!"


    "You think steel vines is strong enough? Use giants hair!"


    The calls for materials while dwarves worked was constant. Su and Walker came in to a much more chaotic scene than they had before. Midnight had pushed them directly in to the ones making parts and preparing materials for Grey. "Brother, They are all receiving orders from Grey''s work shop." Onyx started asking around and easily found out what was happening.


    "Then I guess we are going to Grey''s work shop so we can see what''s going on." Walker was sure there was more than he thought but also remembered that he was making a dragon style shedding golem.


    "Leader, they just brought some metal tes that look like scales. I believe Grey recruited many to join him in creating the golem for us." Su was very shocked to see how well the dwarves were working together. They may have been arguing and shouting but they were also making a tremendous amount of progress.


    Walker was also trying to make sense of this. He was actively watching two dwarves fight over what tool to use for whatever task they had. Yet, they were still working at the same time on another thing. It was a multitasking skill that seemed to be pushing their progress through the roof.


    After dodging through many moving parts and dwarves the group finally made it back to the same work shop Grey had been in. However, the room had been cleared out and there were tools on the walls set up for an easy grab. The middle of the room had a slightly raised pedestal and wires on the ceiling holding up parts. Grey was moving around attaching parts together while using a tool with fire elemental mana crystals attached.


    The parts he was putting together were metal bones. Metal bones in the shape of a dragon''s. "You''re here early. I thought that elder said you were out. Whatever, these are the bones of the golem I am making. They will hold the gears and then eventually withstand the weight of theyers of scales. I was thinking of putting some of the fire elemental crystals in the throat so that it cloud breath fire p[rop[erly." Grey was talking without looking at them. They had no idea how he had known they were there.


    Midnight was the most interested in the skeleton of metal bones. She had seen some of the books Walker showed her and it had interested her a lot. She had not known that there were books that told just about dragons and humans and other monsters'' anatomy. She had also been intrigued by some of the different breeds of dragons in the world and had made a silent promise to herself to meet as many as possible in her life.


    "I also want to make sure that there are retractable spikes for the tail and that the ws can be retracted as ell. I used that on a lion golem a few years ago and it was very useful for avoiding damage to the floors." Grey was more speaking out loud than anything. However, as Walker looked at the walls he found an entire spot of blueprints.


    "These are all so amazing. I didn''t know you had to make apletely different design just for the joints between the legs and the body." Walker was feeling that he had truly underestimated how little he knew about golem building.


    "I need them for everything. I need to see and have it perfectly put together. If even one gear is slightly out of ce the entire thing could size up or worse, break in to pieces. You look like you don''t think that can happen, but I swear, I have seen golems topple over and turn in to a pile of useless parts because something wasn''t the right size or shape." Grey had paused for a moment to give Walker a confident look before grabbing another tool and fixing some small gears to a few ces on the metal bones.


    "You were all able to make this much faster than I expected. It is a great testament to how skilled dwarves are." Su hade to this conclusion and few times but felt it was best to say it out loud.


    "That may be. I had to yell a little to get everyone in gear. But show a dwarf a good blue print idea, and you will have them rushing to help and say they were part of the next break through. A dragon golem will do that." Grey had not admitted that a dragon golem had not been made in many years due to the past failures. However, this time they had a younger dragon modeling for them. They could see the ways the dragon would naturally move. This allowed them to get the golem to move more fluidly as well.


    "So instead of having just you and maybe your apprentices, you have managed to get the entire high forge in on this golem. I that really alright? I know you said it would be for us...but now that seems selfish." Walker had already made the assumption that the dwarves would be unhappy if they saw the golem left with others.


    "Ha! No, they want it wherever it will be shown off the most. With a hero who could pull it out of spatial magic and show it off to every kingdon? They loved that part. Why do you think we have so many merchants thate here? Just for materials? No, we love the attention what we make gets." Grey stood there hands on his hip absolutely beaming.


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 Chapter 678 - 678. Golem Home

    "By the way, do you know wha happened after you all left that old man here? He came and he started to raid my materials stash. I had a bunch of things all set up for when I would need them. They''re gone now. He said spirit forging this and spirit forging that." Grey did not look very happy at all after saying this.


    "Well, I am sure he told you that we managed to spirit forge a shield but the better the materials and a spirit is needed." Grey finally had looked at them enough to see that there were elemental spirits around Walker and Su. He had not expected this and was now a little lost on what to say.


    "No he did not! That old secretive...I swear, he only said that he was working on spirit forging. But if it''s sessful then why am I working on this? I could be making a sentient golem now!" Grey had misunderstood what they had seeded in.


    "No sentient weapons or anything yet. We managed to make a dwelling weapon for the spirits. The elemental spirits can help the forging process by providing elemental mana. Instead of burning a soul, it makes a weapon or item that a spirit can dwell within." Walker could see that Grey wasn''t fully understanding just how great that was.


    "That means that the spirit that dwells within the weapon can leave." Walker gestured to the earth dwelling shield and the earth elemental spirit showed off. "Then it can fill the mana crystal with elemental mana depending on the kind. Even more, it can act independently and activate the skill thates with the shield using that mana. Su, want to show off?"


    Walker knew that the floor was tough enough and since the area had been cleared it was no problem demonstrating. "Yes, I know the spirit likes to show off just how great its home is." Su readied herself, "The spirit can activate the skill while I am distracted. If I have an enemy in front then the spirit can activate the skill behind me." The ground shook and the stones jumped up creating the fortress to protect Su.


    Walker took back over, "The spirit can also end the skill at will." The stone wall that had just jumped up crumbled and fell back in to the floor. "That should give you a better idea about what you might be able to do with spirit forgoing. But in theory, the sentient golem you want to make might just be a golem controlled by an elemental spirit. But that could be better."


    Walker saw a light flicked in Greys'' eyes. "You''re saying. That if I swerve to spirit forge a core for this golem I am building. That I might be able to let a spirit dwell within it and control it?" Grey was nearly shaking with excitement. Walker wasn''t sure if he was looking at a dwarf that was many many many years older than him or a child about to go to the candy shop.


    "Mine! I want that. I will do it!" The fore spirit that Walker had been holding in the nest ofva silk robes chimed in with a loud shout and pulse of mana. "You will let me right? I can be like a dragon. I am fire. It will breathe fire. It is perfect for my home!"


    The elemental fire spirit was beside itself with desire. It wanted to be ankle to control the golem, yes, but it wanted more than anything to be able to show off fire as it did so. Since there was this possibility then it would be many times greater to control a dragon and show off the strength than just be part of a sword or armor.


    "The fire spirit says it wants to do just what we were speaking about. I guess I put some grand ideas in its mind." Walkerughed a little not expecting this reaction. However, it was a good one. This was a great start for Grey and the golem he was meticulously working on.


    "Where is that elder. I am dragging his wrinkly dwarf butt over here now!" Grey started toi scramble toward his masters'' room when he noticed that Walker, Midnight, Su, and Onyx weren''t following. "What''s wrong with you? We are about to start on the greatest golem ever made in the kingdom! Those bratty genius kids that think their new ideas are so great will learn what it means to tangle with experience."


    "Midnight, I think you started something pretty crazy. You modeled for a golem that is now going to be a dwelling item all on its own." Walker looked at Midnight who was just prancing along proud of what she was part of.


    "It''s happening? We are going to make my home." The fire elemental spirit was a little worried that they were not going to do so but Walker just gave it a look and smile telling it everything it needed to know.


    The dark and other earth spirit were interested but were still clinging to Walker. They were excited about their own future adventure and were just waiting to be part of this one.


    When they managed to get to the forge the elder was in they were met with tables on the walls leading to the door. There were materials that they had never seen along with materials that were most likely worth more than the mansion they now lived in.


    "Finally! I thought you guys were going to be busy forever. I got to the second link in my chain quest. I gathered a bunch of materials for the modification of the bow. Did you know there is gold that has high wind elemental affinity? I learned a ton too and even met the crossbow crafter." Gil was organizing the materials that would be used for the modification of the bow and looked like he was ready to fight the world.


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 Chapter 679 - 679. Golem Core Forging

    "Gil! When did you get here? Are all these materials the ones you have found to modify the bow?" Walker couldn''t imagine that every single material would be used. There was just too much. If they were all used Gil would end up with a bow that was ten times asrge as any bow was needed.


    "What? No. I have the ones I am going to have used in the forge already. There are only a few but I managed to get a bunch of them and was already guided by the crossbow crafter. He helped me make a new string for the bow out of the gliding spiders'' silk that lives in the mountains. I need the help of the elder here to modify the metal base and add other materials and a few runes."


    Gil seemed like he already knew everything he wanted with the bow. He also looked like he had learned to differentiate the regr materials by their elements. Something that he had most likely begun to develop without thinking due to his creation of different elemental arrows.


    "Leader, Midnight, and Onyx, as well as myself have received quests to help you. The modification should free the spirit and make you two much closer in bonding. We are really hoping for the best." Su was shown her curiosity a little more than before. Walker could only imagine what she had in mind for the future of Gils'' bow.


    "Do you know how hard it is to forge a core like that!" The group looked toward the entrance to the elders'' forge after hearing the elder yell out in frustration.


    "And I think Grey just told the elder what he wanted to do for the core of the dragon style shedding golem." Walker had a feeling that it was best that they had not directly followed him inside. They could have ended up as targets for the elder as well.


    "We can''t just leave him. The spirit is going to be left out of the conversation." Su reminded Walker that it was important for the spirit to be there and decided that he should enter the elders'' forge as well.


    The sight they came in to was Grey begging the elder to help him carve the ruins on to the core that he was going to use as the base for the golems'' core. "I will have a golem made that is controlled by a fire spirit. It''s the same as a sentient weapon bit better. The spirit ording to them will be able to leave the golem so it can be controlled or just act as it is designed." Grey was arguing his case while the elder poured over written ideas and blue prints of bows.


    "You want me to use hours to carve the runes with you then hope that it works. You know that adding this many runes to a golem core has never worked." The elder was very knowledgeable on what had and had not been done to cores.


    "I will help! I will help!" The fire elemental spirit flew to the air and was moving around the two arguing dwarves. The fear that Grey had had before waspletely gone. He was nose to nose with his master and the elemental spirit was on his side.


    "The spirit says that it will help. I think that will mean you guys will have more than enough mana." Walker looked but found that the elders'' thoughts still hadn''t changed.


    "It''s not about the mana so much as the core. The core can only handle so many runes before it won''t work anymore. If it overloads then the golem could never work or worse, explode." The elder had seen this happen before and injure young golem builders just learning to inscribe their first cores.


    "Is it possible to add more to the core? There is a great many materials outside. I''m sure that some could be added to boost the strength of a golem core." Su wanted to think on the best train of thought and push for a new discovery instead of just dropping the idea.


    "If Grey can find that material and a way to do it. I will help. Until then. I am about to try and modify this bow here. I received a quest that I can not refuse. I will gain the basic spirit speak skills." The elder wanted the skill to speak to spirits very badly. If he was able to gain it then he would be able to work on more and more spirit forging projects with ease.


    "If that is what you are trying to get then I could offer to teach you a highermunication skill. I have a title called educationist. It would let me swap information with you. You would be able to try and learn the skill I have to speak to all elemental spirits. You would have a week to learn it though so it may be better for after we leave for home." Walker realized that the party was still there just for spirit fogging. They had already aplished multiple goals and quests and the remainder was just to work on gear.


    "You have another title?" The elder was again shocked. However, the party was used to people reacting this way.


    "And another or so. That''s not important. I think that working on this core for the fire spirit will be a worthwhile decision." Walker spoke these words and watched the elder and Grey grow wide eyed.


    "I received a quest to help create a new golem core for the heroes golem"


    "And I received a quest to make the new golem core and the new golem for the heroes."


    The elder spoke and was followed by Grey. Naturally, they were both excited to continue their research. It was a surprise that the heroes could cause quests but they had already heard of this when the elf city had unveiled itself.


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 Chapter 680 - 680. Stoke The Fire

    Walker knew that the quests had a chance to show up if he ushed a little and supported what they wanted to make. He also knew that it wasn''t the fact that the elder had not wanted to make a core for the golem. Instead, it was the fact that the elder had known it would not work. The thing was, if it would not work, then why would the world give them a quest? This was a huge reason that they should persevere and create a core.


    "Alright, I will need the core, the pure ash, five fire elemental mana crystals, and I think the fire stalk will be best."


    "Fire stalk? Why would you waste time with that? Just use the ember seeds instead. They grow in to the same nt and are more potent." The elder and Grey immediately started to argue about materials. The only positive fact was that the materials were all spread out outside and they rushed that way to show each other the best ones.


    Walker was curious to see what all the materials would be to modify a core when he noticed that Gil was sitting there a little annoyed. "Sorry, I knew they would get distracted but I feel like fighting the way they progress would just slow things down." Walker was apologetic since he saw that Gil was very dedicated to finish the bow.


    "I know. Dwarves have some issues with what they want to make and bows aren''t really their thing. But it is important that we continue on. So let''s get this core out of the way so we can focus on the bow." Gil wanted the full focus on the bow and not just the distracted work fast to finish mentality. One mistake could prove the end for the spirit inside.


    Walker saw Gil pick up the ow and take a seat. Su decided to go over and show him the earth dwelling shield to exin a little more what the dwelling weapons were like. This seemed to cheer Gil up a little bit since he hoped the bow would be the same and the spirit would be free.


    Looking around the room, Walker realized he had lost where Midnight and Onyx had gone until his eyes fell on the forge. The two were curled up next to the furnace asleep. Onyx was definitely asleep but surprisingly Midnight was still awake keeping an eye out. Walker had the feeling that she was just waiting for the chance to help with the forging process. It made him wonder what she had to show off.


    Following the elder and Grey, he found that they were already setting up materials. "How about flint? It has the fire elemental mana and extremely tiny fire elemental crystals which make the sparks. It could add the ability to start a me then work with the fire elemental crystals I will add to breathe fire?." Grey''s proposition seemed to be epted as the elder discarded another material and lifted it.


    "You think we should use the glow stone? That had light elemental mana though. It won''t interfere with the fire elemental mana but it wouldn''t be helping." Grey had no idea why this was a suggested item to use.


    "Glow stone should help the golem absorb more elemental mana to fuel itself. A lot of the world''s fire elemental mana is close to light elemental mana. It will just speed up recovery if the right runes are used." The look of understanding in Greys'' eyes was all that the elder needed to see.


    "Can you use anything else?" Walker was using his all around appraisal skill as much as possible among the fire elemental materials. He finally rested eyes on one that he thought would be good to use.


    ''me light Silver


    This used to be normal silver until it came uncovered by the shifting of the earth. Theva mes that moved around it constantly added small amounts of light and high amounts of fire elemental mana to the silver. After some time the mana became stored within it. This is ideal for crafting dual elemental items with a string fire elemental orientation and a weak light elemental orientation.''


    "We need a material to house the core. The core will just be the base for some condensed rune carving." The elder was sifting through the materials as well when he saw Walkers'' hand reach out and grab the material.


    "How about the me light silver? It has light and fire elemental affinity and should work perfectly." Grey snatched it and held it in the light. He could still see the mes dancing across it even though there were none to be reflected.


    "Ha! Perfect. We both ignored it as regr silver because the light wasn''t showing us the truth. Good eye. Are you sure you aren''t a forge master in hiding?" The joke was small but they allughed anyways as they hustled back in to the forge.


    "I will grab the mold so we can start the process. You can carve the condensed runes on the core before we add the casing." The elder was in motion and so was Grey. The party all perked up to watch what they were doing.


    "Don''t just stand there. You have magic right? I want you to stoke up that forge fire with your magic so I can have a stronger me elemental mana. Ask that spirit for help too!" The elder yelled and the fire elemental spirit was already next to the forge. It was not being left out either.


    After seeing the spirit joining in, Midnight decided it wasn''t the right time to show off her new skill and fire. She would wait to help Gil to modify his bow.


    "Hot. we will make it hot!" The fire elemental spirit had absorbed a considerable amount of fire elemental mana. This was good because it was starting to bring it out to help Walker make mes. The forge would soon be stocked hotter than ever.


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 Chapter 681 - 681. Forging Skill

    Walker couldn''t help but fall victim to the enthusiasm that the fire spirit had. He knew that it wanted the best possible dwelling and the fact that grey wanted to make the golem core its'' dwelling only strengthened the enthusiasm. Now that they were actually going to forge it he would need to be careful that he didn''t use all of his mana so that he had some for helping Gil next.


    "Hurry up and get that fire going! I want to hotter than dragons'' breath!" The elder used this phrasemonly but Midnight seemed more interested in it since she literally had a dragons breath. It was very amusing to her and Walker looked over seeing her snorting a little which he knew was herugh. He had to take all of his strength not to call her cute in that instant because the fire spirit was waiting for him to help.


    "Alright, you can bring the fore elemental mana here and I will start to manipte it. Sound like a n?" Walker had the feeling that the fire elemental spirit would much rather be the one taking full control but it was better at gathering the fire elemental mana than actually controlling it. That was one difference he had learned between the spirits and the battle spirits other than the fact that battle spirits created a real physical core and could perish instead of just returning to the mana they had condensed from.


    "Condense the mana! Condense it and add it to the fire!" The spirit already knew the best method to add more mana without losing some to the air in the process.


    "Then that''s what we will do," Walker spoke, and no sooner had the spirit dissipated in to an invisible mana form. However, he could still feel it behind him manipting the fire elemental mana in the air.


    The fire mana came at them from all sides. A great deal of it had been stagnant around them from the many forging activities. The fact that dwarves couldn''t readily manipte mana was clear since they could have easily taken advantage of it to craft more items.


    When the mana drew near, Walker raised a hand and began to manipte the mana. He felt that it was loosely gathered around without any direction. He wanted to just guide it to the mes of the forge before him, but that wouldn''t increase the heat as much as they needed. Instead, he listened to what the spirit had said and begun to will the fire elemental mana to condense and gather.


    He imagined it simr to the fire bolt spell. Yet, he was also trying to make it different from the fire bolt spell. This was not something that was made for attacking but instead it was for forging. He also knew that the things being forged would need the light elemental mana as well since that was what the me light silver had for its own affinities.


    Walker felt the air around and could sense the faint traces of light elemental mana. They were closely nit to the fire elemental mana because of their simr existence in nature. The fire had given off some light elemental mana and so were the crystals in the ceiling that lit the entire room. These two sources were enough for Walker to gather and condense the light elemental mana with the fire elemental mana.


    When this started to condense, Walker realized that what he was doing was very simr to when he created the different orbs of light. Upon realizing this he was able to more clearly envision the condensed mana orb he was creating. The fire elemental mana and the light elemental manaing together to form an or that could heat a forge was a very good skill to have and also a good way for them to quickly heat the materials.


    The fire spirit felt the two elemental manas click together and proceeded to pull more fire elemental mana towards Walker. The mass of condensed mana increased constantly while the elder brought the mold in to position. It was perfect for a core to be suspended in while molten metal would be able to evenly flow around it and bond with the core. This was a way to protect the core from damage and also strengthen it to hold more rune carvings giving the golem more ability.


    "How''s that fire goi-" The elder was caught in frozen awe as he realized that there was a white hot ball of condensed mana formed in front of Walker.


    ''The skill forge orb has been taking from the sun forge system. The skill forge orb has been automatically learned through user action and fire elemental spirit assistance.


    Forge orb- 20 mana per hour


    The forge orb is created from ambient fire and light elemental mana. This orb can be used directly to enhance the mes of a forge or directly heat materials needed for forging. This skill also adds or takes the mana within it or the materials to influence the final result. Upon adding elemental mana the forge orb can take it and disperse it to the air or condense it. The elemental mana that makes up the forge orb can be added to the materials as long as it is not an opposing elemental mana that would cause the materials to disintegrate. This skill requires constant mana from the user every hour to maintain control and protect from dispersing.''


    Walker was unable to read the system description but instead felt everything click in to ce. When this happened he looked at the forge fire and pushed the forge orb forward. It drifted toward the forge and rested in the center of the mes. The reaction was instantaneous. The mes glowed white got and nearly erupted from the forge.


    "Now those are some real forge fires!" Grey saw this and couldn''t hold his amazement. He wanted to forge in those mes as soon as possible.


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 Chapter 682 - 682. Molding

    Chapter 682 - 682. Molding


    The elder watched as Grey was distracted and proceeded to p him on the back of the head. "


    You always let your eyes wander. You need to have those runes done double time so I can get the me light silver melting. Don''t you dare think that you will get out of this." The elder knew all too well that grey was easily distracted by other things and required a strict atmosphere.


    Walker rxed and looked at the mes. The fore spirit also consensed its body again to hover around the mes and enjoy the heat they had created. "I didn''t expect to get a skill like this. I can use it to forge anywhere if I have the ambient fire and light elemental mana. Even better it lets me decide what elemental mana to add to the materials." Walker was fairly happy about this but realized something.


    "I would need more skills to take advantage of the forge orb. This is just a heat source to create and bring with me. If I want to forge I need to be able to do everything." Walker was starting to watch and learn that he couldn''t make full use of the skill he had learned.


    "Leader, that orb. It appears that you can make it anytime right? Do you think the wandering cksmith would be able to use it?" Su was spot on. She had already thought of the perfect situation and person for Walker to work with.


    "That''s perfect. I bet we can make all sorts of things with this. He does want us to travel with him to the mountains to do some cold snowy forging and such. I bet this will help him set up a forge anywhere he wants." Walker was thinking of this in simple terms but knew that such an adventure would need to wait until the party had rested themselves properly.


    "Alright. These runes are ready." Grey had speedily carved the necessary runes in to the core that Walker had provided. "We will add that flint stone in to the me light silver right? If it''s spread out evenly in small pieces it should help connect the fire elemental mana that should be connected to it. I was thinking of having a total of ten mana gems. Maybe I should add more though."


    "Ten? You want arge golem that is mimicking a dragon and you think ten is enough? I would say you need a system of forty at least. Then the golem can breathe fire and use other means to attack without running out of store mana immediately. Not to mention op[orate without a spirit in control. Ah, we will need to add some mana gathering runes to the frame." The elder was already nning the build but Grey was ahead of him.


    "I have the bones made of metals already. They are going to have twoyers of runes. One set of earth runes for strength then we can to theyers of mana gathering runes. They will focus on the fire and light elemental mana though." There was a slight change in the mana as the core began to pull at the elemental mana in the air.


    "Perfect, let''s add the casing to it." The elder moved to heat the me light silver in the forge. He wore some heavy gloved and added the metal to melt it. "These mes will do the job in no time. I will have this setting up soon."


    The elder moved and took the flint stone to another set of tools. In a quick movement, he had shattered the stone in to small pieces. But he didn''t stop there. He scooped the pieces in to a round metal bowl and began to grind them in to a powder.


    "What is that going to do?" Walker wasn''t sure how the stone would be used if it was just going to be a powder.


    "This will be mixed in to the molten metal. That will allow the small fire elemental crystals that make up the flint stone to fuse with the metal. It is more apt to say that the crystals are shards or pieces like salt. They are tiny and hard to damage. But can be mixed like an ingredient." Walker understood what the elder was getting at and watched as the elder demonstrated this by adding the powder to the molten me light silver.


    The mixture turned darker but still held the silvery shine of mes. "Gey, bring that orb and mold over. I need it to move to the next step." The elder yelled and Grey didn''t hesitate. The mold was rolled over and the orb ced within. In just a blink the elder was pouring the metal in to the mold and a molten metal epassed the core.


    "Now we wait. Once it is cooled we can carve more runes and connect the fire elemental mana crystals. This will be the finalized core. But we will need to start the spirit forging process while carving these runes. I can not use the spirit forging skill just yet. Ick the skill. But my master can." Grey looked to the elder and saw that he was being praised for knowing his limits.


    "I would say you are the closest of my apprentices. The only other is that human that wandered in here years ago. I give you another year or sooner if you dedicate more time to it." The elder may have been nice but he was true to what he said. He genuinely believed that if Grey focused he could obtain the spirit forging skill within a year or sooner.


    "Then I will need to work harder. I want to be making many more golems than I have. My ideas overflow and with this path being built, I need to walk it." Grey had found a new motivation. He would be able to guide his own apprentices but stand taller now.


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    Repent now and go here, /afhAus

 Chapter 683 - 683. Core Cooling

    "So we will need the fire elemental spirit to help again? How will you spirit forge when the core is mostly done?" Walker wasn''t sure what the process would be once the core had cooled. He thought that the fire would be needed to forge but not that the core would be cooled already.


    "We need to add the elements mana crystals and shape the core properly. As it is now there are some rough surfaces that will hinder the runes we carve." This made more sense with the elders'' exnation. If they needed to iy the for elemental crystals in to the metal it would make more sense. They would need to carve and push the crystals in to ce using multiple tools and a lot of mana.


    "Also, when we say cool we mean holding its shape cool. But soft enough to mold and manipte still." Grey realized that the elder had left some things to assume and that Walker would be better off with more specific information since he was absorbing everything he heard.


    "Oh, I see. But would it be better if you could cool it faster and then work on it?" Walker was wondering if the cooling was important to the process or if it was just something they were forced to wait on.


    "Actually, if it was cooled faster it would be better. The more mana that it retains while cooling the better. But if we add heated oil or water to it to cool it then we would warp the metal with uneven cooling." This worry was one that any cksmith had and Walker understood well. If the item warped then it could be seen as a failure due to the weaknesses it would have.


    "I think I can help with that." Remey walked in to the room and stood in front of the mold. "I was teaching the alchemists how to make my basic potion and decided that the older one could join me in the alchemy guild when I received a quest to rush here and help with a bow. Now you are making some round ball and can''t even cool it properly."


    Remey had a skill that would allow her to cool the potion she was making. However, it was a skill that cooled the item she was directing the skill at. It would pull the heat out of it without directly removing elemental mana. It was a skill intended for potions but easily could be used in other situations.


    Remey held out her hands and began to use her mana on the skill. The room was instantly pushed down in temperature. Midnight shot her head up to find that it was Remey that was making it colder and held her growl back. If it had been someone else she would have been annoyed because she was enjoying the heat that Walker and the fire spirit had made.


    The group watched as the mold cooled and the elder kept an eye on it. He was sure that this was some form of perfect cooling that they had not ever had before. "This is an alchemy skill? Why don''t our alchemists use this in the forges? They would be much more useful." The elder wanted to force the alchemists to the forges immediately but was stopped by Walkers'' words.


    "This skill is for cooling cauldrons usually. Remey is just applying it here but I rmend you let the alchemists continue to be alchemists. They might not all have the same skills as Remey and they will most likely be part of the alchemy guild when it forms. I would rmend when that happens you put in a request to work with the guild." Walker wanted to help Remey with the future bonds the guild would need to work efficiently.


    "Alchemy guild? Why would anyone need that?" The elder was used to the fact that there were different medical systems that didn''t put weight on potions here in the dwarf city.


    "There is way more use to potions outside the city. It is a difference in culture, yes, but one that puts alchemy above medical practices when ites to healing. I believe that the two coulde together but in the end, that would mean the dwarves need to work with the other races more." Su heard the conversation and chimed in.


    "Alright stop!" Grey yelled for Remey to stop cooling the mold and jumped to start opening it. He soon revealed a rough orb of reflective silver metal that looked to be burning in mes constantly even without being directly next to them. The small dots of flint stone in the metal made it appear rough if looking from an angle which was what Grey would need to smooth out.


    "Watch this. I will show off a little." Grey was already pulling some tools to smooth the surface out. "I will pass this on to you master in justa moment." Grey was fast and precise to remove therger pieces of additional metal as the elder sat down in front of his working space. He had multiple tools at the ready and the first spirit hovered around him.


    "It looks like everyone is ready. Remey, just in case. Do you have some mana potions with you?" Walker knew that greeting Remey and asking what she would be doing wouldeter. At the moment they were busy and needed to focus on the task at hand.


    "Of course I do. Who do you think I am. I am always ready." Remey pulled a few low tier mana potions from her bag and ced them on the work table. She didn''t want to use the high tier ones just yet since she wanted to reserve them for Gil''s quest.


    "Alright, I smoother the core and it''s ready for the spirit forging process." Grey handed the smoothed and even more reflective orb to the elder. The fire spirit was already pulling more elemental mana towards them for the elder.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 684 - 684. Inspired

    Remey had not experienced this scene just yet and was amazed by what she was seeing. She could feel the mana condensing in the air and waspletely enveloped in it. She knew that having this much mana would be a great help to many of the alchemy processes she performed. In this moment she knew that she would need to look to the spirits for assistance in creating even better potions. "What if I can make a potion higher than a high potion? What would it even be called?"


    This thought consumed her while she watched the elder work with the spirit. The inspirationing to her as if she had never truly thought of how to make a potion before. The wonder and amazement that came when she had first seen the old master alchemist make a potion was back again with even more strength in her heart.


    The elder was moving with all his speed to push the fire elemental mana crystals in to the core. They were small but not inferior quality on the least. He was also carving out small pieces of the metal so that there would be room to add some smaller crystals shards that he had on his work table.


    Feeling the need for mana the fore spirit pulled more toward the elder who was burning through it much faster. The impressive actions were only made stronger whenWalker noticed that his arms had been modified to pull in the mana faster. This was preventing them from cracking under the pressure like thest time.


    Before they could speak or even move Grey was next to the elder handing him the tools he needed. It was an action that hade from many years of forging with the elder and it was something that would never leave his muscle memory.


    The tools the elder took were familiar since Walker had seen the wandering cksmith use them. The elder was carving runes. However, these runes glowed with the fire and light elemental mana the spirit was bringing closer. It was an impressive skill town watch them connect and resonate with the core before they were even fully done. It was definitely an effect of having a spirit assisting with the spirit forging process.


    The entire room was solely focused on the actions of the elder that they didn''t realize how much time was passing. Even Onyx had woken up and was watching intently. The fluctuations of light elemental mana had caused him to focus and hold himself back from trying to consume it. He knew that even the slightest interference by ident or not could harm the process.


    "That should do it." The elder leaned back and realized he was still full of mana. "You really know how to keep me going. The mana I have is much higher than before. Thank you for the help." He was very happy with the result but wasn''t sure how sessful it was.


    "The core looks to be holding and absorbing mana but I have no idea if it is viable yet. We usually need to add it to the golem to check but this core needs to be built in to the skeleton along with the mana gems. We won''t know until we have it all built."


    "Have Walker check with his appraisal skill. He should be able to get some insight for you." Gil spoke up and motioned for Walker to work his magic.


    "He''s right. This should be something I can help with. Although, I don''t know what my appraisal will tell me so if it says something useless don''t get angry at me." Walker said this disimer and immediately used his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Silver me dwelling core


    The most advanced golem core ever created by the dwarven masters. This core has a fusion of spirit forging and golem core forging. The core has been infused with fire and light elemental mana to create a dwelling for a fire and light elemental spirit. It is currently tuned to a high fire elemental spirit. This core had multiple runes oveyed to create fluid actions and mana flow. This core can assist in pulling mana and directing the golem that it is attached to.The silver me dwelling core will not be able to function unless used with a golem that can withstand high mana flow.''


    Walker spoke out loud and the fire elemental spirit instantly darted to the core. In the blink of an eye it had pushed itself in to the core to see how well it could bind with it. The others watched the runes glow brighter and the slight pull of mana increase before the spirit returned from it.


    "My home is perfect! I want to use it now! Let''s make the body!" The fire spirit was enamored with the core and wanted to push Grey forward without any break.


    "Well, I don''t need to speak spirit to know that it wants me to get to work. Thanks for telling me that we seeded. But I can not celebrate until it is part of the golem and works smoothly. I will be heading out, for now, to make sure of that. Please let me have some space." Grey held the core and the fire elemental spirit followed him out of the room.


    " Don''t be too deterred by his attitude. That is a sign he is taking this more seriously than before. He won''t let himself be happy until the entire golem is finished to perfection. I am the same way but I will stop now and give a little praise. That was amazing work everyone. We have just stepped on to another new path for the future of the dwarves." The elder smiled and began to examine how his arms held up. Walker and the others couldn''t help to feel aplished as well. They all managed to help in some way to get to this conclusion. "Now, how about that bow?"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 685 - 685. Dragon Hair

    "I thought I would have fallen asleep before we got to the bow!" Gil jumped up and rushed outside before quickly returning with some materials. "I already have a braided bow string using the gliding spider thread. Now I want to use this breeze gold as an additive to the bow base. There are also a few other pieces here I think will work. The wavey grass is supposed to release some wind elemental mana when bur ed so that would help with the forging process. But won''t we need a wind spirit to make modifications?"


    Guil had been watching and thinking about what they may need when they went to modify the bow. It was clear that they would be using spirit forging but without the right amount of mana that would fail.


    "I actually had some thoughts on that. Your leader over there seems to be well versed with elemental magic. He can take the mana from some wind element mana crystals and bring it out to the forging area." The elder looked at Walker with a smug expression stered on his face.


    "My new partner and I will be trying our best to keep the earth elemental mana away from the process. We should have it under control." Su seemed like she had more than warmed up to the earth elemental spirit. The two were next to each other giving off an extremely calm aura.


    "Well, I just came with mana potions. I know that Walker and Gil will need them. But I really doubt I can help anywhere else since cooling won''t really be necessary. I just don''t know what I will have to doter." Remey seemed like she wanted to add more but no one pushed her just yet. Walker had the sneaking suspicion that she may have her own unique hero quest but didn''t want to bring it up to everyone just yet.


    Midnight came forward. "I will be working onmunication, but sister will be adding her new mes to the process." Onyx spoke Midnoights'' will and everyone was a little shocked. Walker quickly looked at Midnights'' profile on his party leader system screen.


    "Midnight! You have a new skill!" He was ecstatic to see the golden me heart skill. It was an amazing addition to what she could do when it came to breathing mes. She had so many new things to experiment with and learn.


    "Sister says she wants to train with you when we get home. That way she can learn to breath better fire." Onyx ryed Midnights'' wishes and Walker went to pat her on her head. The two of them were excited for the future training of new types of elemental me breath that she could learn and hopefully that Walker could learn to manipte.


    Midnight proudly huffed and went to the forge. In just a second she had breathed in puffing out her chest. Walker could feel her pulling on her inner mana just before she released arge breath. The golden mes that rolled out from her mouth caused the forge to heat up slightly hotter than before but also change the way the mes looked. They all became brilliant gold and Walker could tell that the mes had melded with the remnants of his forge orb skill.


    "Let me add to that as well then." Walker did his best to create another forge orb which was a bit smaller than before since he didn''t have the fire elemental spirits'' assistance. Regardless, when the orb was pushed in to the forge mes they spread and increased in strength.


    "Kid! Give me that breeze gold and toss in that wavey grass. It''s time to prepare the metals we will use to bring this bow to its'' rightful strength. I expect you to start using whatever skills you have to add wind elemental mana to it. Where''s my crystal delivery!" The booming yell from the elder prompted a massive amount of yelling and scrambling from the outside of the forge.


    Many footsteps banged through the halls and toward the elders'' forge. Ten dwarves came in and dropped off crates of wind elemental crystals before exiting as fast as possible. They were more than used to the elders'' shouts for materials and would rush to get them instantly. "Use those and start up. The longer this goes on the harder it will be to keep the mana inside the bow of yours."


    The elder grabbed some other materials and mixed them with the breeze gold that was already melting. Gil tossed the wavey grass in to the forge mes and Walker felt the change in the air immediately. The wind elemental mana was being pulled in to the forge as if it had just found a lover it had missed for years. The strength and density increased by the minute.


    Without hesitating, Gil and Walker partnered up to start to pull the elemental mana from the crystals. Gil was using the same skill set that he would to pull the mana out and ce it in an arrow. However, he was now using it to bring the mana to the bow that was waiting to be modified. Walker was doing the same and watching for Gil to take control of the mana he pulled from the crystals.


    As they did this there were small cracking sounds as some crystals were unable to remain whole after having their mana taken. Yet, this was eptable since the bow was already reacting to the increase in wind elemental mana. The bow was glowing with ruins and ancient patterns.


    The elder was keeping a close eye on them as he took out a series of small brushes. "These are made from the hair of an ancient wind dragon. It was a gift from the dragons when they first asked for assistance from the dwarves. Every elder has found reasons to use this to paint runes. I can only hope it works as I intend." The elder steadied his hand and dipped the brush in the melted breeze gold.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 686 - 686. Rebirth

    Walker was very curious and nced at the brush in the elders'' hand to use his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Dragon hair brush


    This is a brush made from dragon scale and dragon hair. The dragon willingly gave hair from it''s body to create this brush as a gift for the dwarves. Thai brush can withstand extremely high temperatures and mana concentrations. The brush assists in the rune painting skill along with item improvement. If the user focuses on a single elemental mana exiting within the ink used they can maintain that mana in the painting process. These brushes can only be created by ancient dragons over the age of seven hundred years old.''


    The dragon hair brushes were extremely valuable and amazing. Walker had never imagined that an item could only be made by a dragon over seven hundred years old. Imagining that someone or something could live that long without some strange magic was just too much. However, there was the term ancient in the exnation so it had to make sense.


    Watching the elder dipped the brush in to the molten breeze gold they all knew how amazing these brushes were. The elder skillfully used the brush to go over the runes following each pattern that glowed with the wind elemental mana.


    The molten gold cooled and was absorbed by the bow. Everyone had imagined that it would just sit on top outlining the runes. But they were wrong. The bow was soaking up the wind elemental mana the entire time.


    Upon looking back to check on Su, Walker noticed that the earth elemental spirit and the other earth spirit had teamed up to rest on her shoulders. Su was sitting with the earth dwelling shield on herp. The earth elemental mana from the room was heading towards it and being stored within the mana crystal on the shield. It was not interfering with the wind elemental mana at all because of their close control.


    The elder added more and more of the breeze gold just for it to be absorbed with the wind elemental mana. Onyx was constantlymunicating the elders'' need for more of the mana to be pulled out of the crystals and before Gil knew it he was reaching for another crate. The bow was still absorbing the mana at a vast pace.


    "Brother, we need to increase the rate of the wind elemental mana." Onyxmunicated the problem that they had and Walker proceed to take a deep breath and stick two hands in to two separate crates of win elemental crystals.


    He willed his mana to manipte the crystals mana and start to rapidly pull at it. Thus wasn''t to extract it but to forcefully break the crystals. He wanted the explosive release of wind elemental mana that he and Gil could attempt to push toward the bow all a once.


    The cacophony of shattering wind elemental mana crystals was a slight surprise to everyone but the elder who was too focused to notice the sounds. Walker could feel the mana being pushed around in the air and used arge portion of his own mana to wrestle it in to his control. The wind elemental mana was forced to rush toward the bow and caused the runes to grow brighter than before. Gil also began to pull more mana from the crystals and even grabbed some high wind elemental mana crystals from the crates.


    The process became much faster and the two saw a gold glowing to the runes. This prompted the elder to grab another tool and began to add otheryers of wind elemental runes to the bow. The gold that bled from the bow solidified making the runes glow gold as well.


    "Brother, we need to cool the bow. It is overheating from the mana and the forge fires." Onyx spoke to Walker but in an instant, he had ryed the message to Remey as well.


    Walker nodded to Reme who handed him a mana potion then started to use her skill to cool the room. The bow glowed even brighter as the heat was taken away and more wind elemental mana was gathered. The elder stepped back and so did Remey at his instruction. The bow wasying on a metal table clear from anything else when the elder poured the remainder of the breeze gold over it then used a tool to flip it over and cover the entire thing. This would have caused the bow to be gold but instead, it turned a bright green with gold rune carvings along with it.


    "Grab that bow string now!" The elder knew that the bow would beplete when the string was added. Gil didn''t hesitate to grab the bow. Had no fear that it would be hot and found that it wasn''t. It was cool like a spring breeze.


    There was a moment where the bow seemed to stop absorbing mana before arge gust of wind came through the elders'' forge. The wind elemental mana was dragged out of the remaining mana crystals and the air directly in to the bow before it stopped and seemed to calm in Gil''s hands.


    The wind started to flow around the bow and ruffle Gils'' hair. The entire room was silent. Even a pin could drop and it would feel like the loudest thunder. The forge fires died down as if they had lost their reason to burn. The dark and earth spirits were frozen on the spot as they felt the change in elemental manas.


    As they all witnessed it the bow glowed before the wind started t take the shape of a spirit. However, this was wildly different than the poorly defined spirits that looked like fairies or pixies. This was a much more defined fairy like spirit. Butrger than a fairy. "Beautiful¡­" This was the only whisper to escape Gil''s lips.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 687 - 687. Grand Wind Spirit

    The moment that Gil let the word beautiful escape him there were giggles on the wind. The form of the wind spirit changed and became more human like. It was the size of an average human baby but had wings and could be seen as older in appearance. It had flowing green hair and was wrapped in green ribbon that Walker could tell was pure win elemental mana.


    The wings were made of swirling wind and its face was the color of snow in the breeze. It had well defined features, unlike the wind spirit Walker had seen before. Its voice was also clear to him more so than the other spirits. The giggles sounded like they were from any other person in the room and not a spirit using mana to speak.


    The spirit grabbed the ribbons that wrapped it and curtsied which surprised Walker, "hello, my name is grand wind spirit Zephyr. I have slept for quite some time after being ced within that bow. Can you please tell me which of you is the one who has held my hand recently?" Gil was standing stunned still. He knew that the wind spirit was speaking to him but he wasn''t sure why he could understand it.


    "I-i...My name is Gil...I''m so d you''re alright." He was taken by the emotions he had pent up. He could only imagine how terrible it must have been being trapped within the bow unable to do what this spirit wanted. Especially with how powerful it was now. It wasn''t just some spirit it was a named grand spirit.


    ''Unique quest- Changing the fate of a spirit- Completed


    The arcane marksman has carried a bow since their early journeys. This bow had be bonded beyond normal means to the arcane Marksman Gil. As the leader and family of the arcane Marksman Gil, lend a hand and free his bonded partner; ancient named wind spirit.


    Requirements:


    Assist in the modification of the arcane marksman Gil''s bow


    Rewards:


    All party members gain a spirit type skill.''


    ''Spirit mark- passive


    The spirit mark skilles from the bonds spirits make with a living creature. This skill can be learned by any and all living creatures. The spirits that choose to leave a mark on the user will be able tomunicate no matter what with the one it has marked. A spirit can only mark one living being in its existence. This required the will of the user and the spirit to form. The spirit mark serves as a bondto share mana with the spirit and living creature and without the spirit mark skill the bond is only superficial.''


    Walker read the skill they had all gained and noticed that Su and Gil had a different marking on their arms manifesting. Su had what appeared to be a slightly glowing brown stone and Gil had a green gust of wind marking. Remey was looking at her arm and poking it softly. "Walker, do you have that weird feeling that there''s something on your arm but you can''t see it? Is this that spirit mark skill?" Remey was confused but before Walker could speak up The wind Spirit did.


    "Yes it is. The spirit that bonds with you will cause the mark to fully manifest. Oh wait...you can''t hear me can you? My partner can exin it to you. I have been trying to listen for a while. I might have missed some things but I have been waiting to see all of you since I felt a hand around the bow." Zephyr was very happy sounding when it came to this. It sounded like a family member who had been receiving letters finally saw them in real person.


    "Wait! You could hear us the entire time? I thought you were dormant in the bow?" Gil was shocked and understandably embarrassed since Zepher could have heard every single word he said.


    "Does that mean you already know each of us?" Walker was the only other one that could understand Zephyr due to his spirit speech skills.


    "Yes, of course I do, Walker. That adorable dragon is Midnight. The littler serpent is Onyx. But I think I remember hearing he can berger now. That is Su and the high spirit is unnamed. And Remey likes to heal with potions and punch things. She is funny." Zephyr really had been listening and it was clear that she had been careful to remember as much as possible.


    "Well? What did she say? Su and I already know she pointed us out. So does she know who we are? Is she going to stay around?" Remey was clueless to what Zephyr had said but the question she posed floated in the air while everyone including Gil, looked at her.


    "Why would I leave? I finally get to be part of a family. Spirits usually live with each other tobine and grow. But we are rarely able to bond like this. I want to see see how high a hero title holder can fly." Zephyr exaggerated these words by flying to the ceiling and back to Gil. "And I will remain by your side. But you should probably know that this bow is different now. It won''t be sapping your mana like a vampire. Sorry for that¡­"


    "You don''t need to apologize. I''m d you are finally free to do what you want. And I can have Walker use his skill on the bow to tell me what''s changed. I''m sure you can too but maybe he will find something you might not realize. He tends to do that." Gil was embarrassed but excited. He wanted to rush to the forest elf city and show them the dwarves had learned a lesson and that he had helped to free a spirit forged trapped spirit.


    "I remember. He has a very good appraisal skill. Just don''t use it on me. Spirits need to stay mysterious you know!" There was a slight bit of childish pitch in Zephyrs'' voice that reminded Walker of the high spirits attitude. They were more alike than he realized.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 688 - 688. Zephyr

    "I can''t argue with that. I will leave you to your privacy and won''t use my all around appraisal skill on you, umm, should we call youdy Zephyr? You are a grand wind elemental spirit. And you have a name which id different than what I have heard of spirits." Walker found that hecked the knowledge on why a spirit may have a name to separate them from other spirits.


    "I can tell you after you look at the bow with your skill. Just hold on for a little. But just Zephyr!" Zephyr was as mysterious as all else and Onyx had started to ry what she was saying from Gil''s ry. It was a little tougher since Onyx couldn''t directly trante from a spirit since they spoke with mana and not with a physical body.


    "Alright." Walker had a feeling that they were going to delve in to ancient history so he wanted to exin about the bow first anyways.


    ''True spirit bow: Wind element


    Atk +24, Matk +26, Mana +60, Wind rain skill, wind surge skill, spirit bound


    Forged years ago in pain and suffering this bow has been given new life. The rebirth in wind elemental mana guided by the spirit marked individual and the great wind spirit Zephyr had yielded a unique weapon. The true spirit bow can allow only the grand wind spirit Zephyr to inhabit it. The bow is bound to the user marked by the grand spirit Zephyr. This allows the bow to manifest itself or store itself within the mana of the mark. Two unique skillse with the bow that grand wind spirit can control using the wind elemental mana stored within the bow at its own will. One skill requires both the spirit marked user and the grand spirit Zephyr to activate.


    Wind surge- 15 mana cost


    The wind spirit Zephyr can gather and condense the wind elemental mana at will. Using the mana within the true spirit bow the grand wind spirit Zephyr can increase the gathered wind element mana. When the condensed mana is released, a pulse of wind pushing from all directions from the spirit marked user. The wind forces any opponents away from the spirit marked users'' location avoiding the allies of the spirit marked user. If the opponent is too heavy the attack may deal slight damage in the form of wind de cuts.


    Wind rain- 50 mana cost


    Using the majority of the bows'' stored wind elemental mana and a small portion of the wielders mana the user and the dwelling spirit have ess to a higher tier skill. The wind rain will start with a highly condense arrow of wind created from the spent mana. The arrow will be fired in to the sky by the bows'' wielder and manipted by the dwelling spirit. The arrow will split in to sixty arrows made of wind that each deals moderate magical attack damage. The arrows will rain down over the specified area by the wind elemental spirit.''


    "Well? What do you think? Do you like the skill only I can use to protect you? Or do you like the skill that you can use with me to take down a bunch of monsters? It would have been perfect for those horned rabbits you were surrounded by. I wanted so bad to show you but I couldn''t." Zephyr pouted a little but still awaited Gil''s answer.


    "They are both amazing. I can trust you to protect my friends and I when we are surrounded. And we can take out the masses of enemies we might face if another hoard of monsters shows p somewhere." Gil was ecstatic. He even thought he might fall in love with this bow before remembering a certain elfs'' face.


    "Gil, I think you just won the spirit forging lottery. Grand wind spirit with a name, not that I know what that means yet, check. A bow that has two skills, check. Awesome stat boosts, check." Walker was almost jealous before he realized that he would one day have his own dwelling weapon in the form of a staff.


    "I am pretty amazing. That''s what a named spirit can do! Oh, I guess it''s story time. Not that it''s a long story, but you will like it." Walker was still amazed by the difference between a high spirit and grand spirit. The speech was much more evolved and even the facial features. It was like having a ghost right there in their faces.


    Gil started to take over for Onyx and repeated the words as soon as Zephyr said them. Walker was beginning to realize that sharing the skills that helped him speak to spirits would be a must in the future. "Oh, elder, I will help you with the spirit speech skills before we leave the city. I want to make sure you are prepared for a week of hard studying. Maybe we can as Zephyr how to awaken some of the dormant spirits too."


    The elder had beenpletely frozen to the spot. He could not imagine such an amazing things he was seeing and was trying to convince himself that everything he had heard and seen was true. These were things that he would never have thought possible, let alone the entire dwarf race thought possible. The elder just ended up nodding while staring at Zephyr and the bow back and forth. Walker decided to let him have some time.


    "That''s easy, but surround the dormant spirit with the correct elemental mana crystals and they will eventually absorb them and wake up. The elves mentioned this. Don''t you remember?" Zephyr flew through the air around Walker teasing him before settling back next to Gil and the true spirit bow. "Now for my name. As I said, I am Zephyr. The grand wind spirit named by the world when wind elemental mana finally calmed and took shape."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 689 - 689. Named

    "Of course. I think Elise said that." Walker shook his head realizing that he had been too distracted and forgotten some small details.


    "Now, the world gave me my name. I woke up from bing a grand spirit and did what any spirit does. I found the highest density of wind elemental mana I could. I needed it to replenish and stabilize myself." Zephyr was very animated which they all thought was because of the long slumber in the bow.


    "I went as high as I could in to the sky over the world where the wind mana was strong. When I reached there the system sent me a single notification telling them I was named Zephyr and I was the first grand wind spirit. I was confused by spent a great amount of time flying about in happiness. That''s it." They were all floored. That wasn''t a long story at all.


    "Heehehe, I know. That''s very boring. But I was mostly alone until time passed so I went to sleep and let the wounds blow me around. When I came to there were many races making viges. Those demi-humans were too loud in the ins but the wind was nice. The elves kept trying to convince me to stay near their many small viges. But they were hermits and I didn''t like staying." This input was interesting but a shame that Zephyr didn''t have a time frame.


    "But I was happy with the demons who just ignored everything and moved around by themselves. They never bothered me. Same with the dwarves'' ancestors. When I finally met one I thought it was a mole." Zephyr giggled before looking back at Walker and the others.


    "The merfolk and dragons were also a mystery for a long time. I met a baby dragon once and slept in their vige for some time. I only nced merfolk when I drifted in the wind of the ocean breeze."Zephyr seemed to be thinking for a bit before saying one other thing, "I also found a unique ce in the sky but I should save that forter. It wouldn''t make sense." The secret pulled at their curiosity but the absolute words were too clear. Zephyr would not say.


    "I eventually felt tired and wanted to rest again. Before that, I found a small human vige and rested there. The next thing I knew I had someone how woken up in a different ce. Strange magicians and forge masters came together to test things but mostly testing on humans. I decided that it was too much to deal with and rested again. I am made of mana, what could happen. Well. Being trapped in a bow could happen." She shook her head knowing that going back in to slumber had been the worst decision at the time.


    "That must be Immortal kings'' city when it was still full of people and not ruins." Gil connected the dots and realized that they must have tried spirit forging to find a way to gain the same immortality that spirts had.


    "I don''t know. But next thing I know I have almost no usable mana and some undead thing trying to use me and my skills." Zephyr seemed more and more annoyed as she remembered this. "The moment felt that gross undead release me and you touch my bow, i couldn''t help but try band break free. The time you used the blows skill made me lose it. I was finally getting the right mana and could one day break free." Zephyr affectionately cuddled in to Gil''s shoulder prompting him to lose all sense of calm. He was red and flustered.


    "Hey Walker, do you think that Alma will be jealous of an elemental spirit?" Remey asked this njust a little too loud to tease Gil making him even more red faced.


    "I want to meet Alma and all the other elves. I want to meet Elise and her spirit friends too. I need you to take me on a journey to see the world. I was asleep for way too long."Zephyr nearly whined while speaking. It had been too long of a slumber to be able to just say that it was fine to stay in ce.


    "You are part of our family now. You will see the world with us. There are way too many ces we have never been before." Gil regained his rationality and made this promise.


    "Hey Walker, I was wondering. You helped make that core for the golem right? I was listening but didn''t you say you had a material you wanted to give them when you showed up?" Zephyr swore she heard Su and Walker chatting about a material they found as they walked in to the high forge.


    "The ember bones! Ipletely forgot. I hope Grey can use them!" Walker jumped up and shot from the room towards Greys'' work shop with all his agility. The others justughed and decided to sit and swap storied while they rated. The elder finally came out of his daze and collected his reward from the quest. He was overjoyed by the low tier spirit speak skill allowing him to understand the lessplicated words Zephyr used.


    Gil was still feeling like he had stepped in to another world. He had wanted to free the spirit from the moment he had learned it was trapped. Now he knew that this spirit had heard everything their entire journey. It was too much to handle. On top of all this, the wind spirit was actually a grand wind spirit, with a name! His mind constantly raced the more he thought on this and he eventually leaned back to rest and have some time to polish up the true spirit bow in hisp.


    Walker burst in to Grey''s work shop area to find the apprentices in chaos. He had no idea what was going on.


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 Chapter 690 - 690. Surprising Material

    Walkers'' burst in to Grey''s work shop went nearly unnoticed by the golem builder who was too absorbed in his work. He only turned his head when Walker''s voice reached him, "I forgot! I have rare materials for the golem!" These were like magic words that caused Grey to drop his tools. Any crafter in the dwarf city would give the person who spoke these words their full attention.


    "What made you wait?" Grey was looking in Walkers'' hands to see nothing and was about to ask him why he was lying. But the fire elemental spirit started to fly around Walker in the air.


    "Nones! I forgot about bones!" It was clearly excited for the ember bones to be part of the dragon style shedding golem.


    Walker pulled the ember bones from his storage and presented them to Grey. "These are ancient bones from a skeleton in the ruins we explored earlier. They are called ember bones but they have a lot of fire elemental mana in them so I think they are perfect for this golem." Walker stood proudly as he watched Grey''s mind work.


    "The ribs can be used in the throat of the golem to enhance me breathe attacks. The skull is actually ideal to pair with the core since it uses the undead golem core as a base for the main core. Should bnce out the detachability and possibly allow me to add a small ember burst rune. The remaining can be used for...ah! The ws and teeth. They will need to be coated in metal but with those, they may be able to be enrobed in mes with less damage to the golem." Grey was already altering the design in his mind. This was a great material to add to make his build easier.


    Grey soon stopped and looked at Walker, "I do have one problem. Heat. The golem will be made of metals that can withstand heat. However, with this addition, it may get too hot and melt the scales together. I need a focal point that can add a reinforcement skill. Something that will affect the golems'' skin in a way." This was a puzzle to Grey, but to Walker, it was sounding like fate.


    "Is it possible to use a magical staff with a skill to possibly activate that skill? Can a golem have magical equipment as a part on the inside?" Walker posed the idea and Grey just stared at him.


    "What else do you think we use? We just made a magical equipment. That core is a magical equipment. We could make a golem with a ton of it if we had enough mana to provide it with. It''s safe to say with the right system users working together we could make a mage golem. Not that a dwarf ever has done that." Grey looked like it was an interesting idea but impossible since magic was so rare in their kingdom.


    "So you could use a staff like this one that has a skill called cyclops skin?" Walker pulled out the cyclops me staff and ced it in front of Grey. "I know the skill uses mana to form some sort of barrier around the skin to act like cyclops skin. It would be crazy if a skill actually changed the skin of the user, but the golem is a golem, not a cyclops. The only worry is that it takes a decent amount of mana to use the skill."


    "That''s not a problem. This entire golem will be covered in mana gathering runesyered with others. That fire spirit will also be able to direct more mana to the golem. I also n to have many mana gems inside so that it can have the mana it needs to run." Grey was admiring the cyclops me staff and thought that adding it to the spine was the ideal area so that it could be activated along a strong line of mana flow.


    "I really thought it would be a long shot to offer this as a material. But I think I have been missing the point of this the entire time. I still have way too much to learn. Even a lifetime might not be enough to learn half of what a golem builder knows." Grey was nodding along appreciatively. It was rare that someone admitted that learning all of this was arge undertaking.


    "The worst part is that this is always improving. We continue to model new golems and tweak parts. There is not a perfect golem yet and if there ever was this would all end. But until that day...we will add more things to learn." Grey said this while looking towards the room full of apprentices.


    Grey wandered to the open doorway and took a deep breath, "Any who wish to learn how to add a magical staff to a golem get your butt in here. Now!" The ruckus this caused was not small in the least. The apprentices wanted to see their master work and learn the tricks so they could add more to their own golem projects.


    "I think I will stay and watch too if you don''t mind?" Grey smiled as if he already knew Walker would want to watch this. The apprentices ran in and circled the golems'' bone structure.


    "Now, I already have the core in ce with the base gears. The runes are still to be carved but this potion of spine will have this staff attached and fixed in. Who can tell me how?" Grey had jumped in to full teaching more for his apprentices.


    "The longest part will be attached to the part of the spine that will remain straight at all times as not to damage the magical item." The apprentice that spoke received a thumbs up from Grey then he proceeded to point out the sections and why it would not move. Walker listened intently while Gil and the others were getting to know Zephyr.


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 Chapter 691 - 691. Battle Spirit History

    "I really am sorry for taking so long to help you escape the bow. As soon as I learned that could I did everything I could." Gil was finally able to take a little time to speak to Zephyr by himself. Midnight and Onyx had calmed themselves and were resting near the forge while Su and Remey were ying with the earth spirits and dark spirit. Apparently, they had stayed when Walker rushed out of the room after Grey.


    "I know. You never told Walker you were using your wind elemental arrows to give me mana. But I know. I know you hid it and stayed upter than everyone to try and give me more mana. I was so excited that you were trying so hard. That''s why I made sure to give you the spirit mark. Spirits can only do that once you know." Zephyr was convinced that Gil would have run himself ragged just to help her at the end of the day.


    "You knew that it was from my arrows?" Gil thought that he had been careful not to even say it.


    "Hehehe, you talk in your sleep sometimes. And you never let me leave your side. I also remember you saying something about how cute Alma was when she gave you some crystal arrows." Zephyr wasn''t afraid to teas Gil in the least. But instead of bing red faced and embarrassed he just nodded.


    Gil felt that he was being spoken to by part of himself. It was as if they were one at times, "Oh, you should try the spirit mark skill to store the bow in it. I want to see." Zephyr remembered this and thought it was the most interesting aspect of the spirit mark. Gil on the other hand had no idea how it worked.


    "Do I just think about it happ-" Gil felt a breeze and blinked. When he opened his eyes the spirit mark had an additional bow shaped next to the wind symbol. It glowed slightly and the bow that had been in hisp was gone.


    "It''s the same as when I would revert to mana only to dwell within the bow. That was very good." Zephyr was pleased with the spirit mark''s ability to store the bow away that could act as a dwelling.


    "You know, I am really curious about the differences between you and a high spirit. You look like a girl and you have real features. I can see how cute you are when you smile and you speak clearly. From what the other spirits look like they are just made of their own elements and don''t show their emotions on a face." Gil had been trying to fully understand the differences and decided it was best to just ask.


    "You''re right, I am cute." Zephyr swayed through the air smiling happier than any person Gil had seen. "But the difference between myself and a high spirit is only greater because of my name. The name lets me learn more. I don''t need tobine with other spirits to grow. I maintain my personality and memories as I gain mana. High spirits would lose that to be a grand or a dual elemental spirit."


    "So you can grow stronger and stronger as a wind elemental spirit and even go beyond a grand spirit? Is that possible?" Gil was wide eyed while imagining what could possibly be higher than a grand elemental spirit.


    "No, I doubt I can go higher. The only thing that would be higher than me is a spirit with multiple elements and at that point, they could be considered a full nature spirit instead of an elemental spirit. But a true nature spirit has all the elements and is very powerful. The elves called one that helped grow the forests the world spirit." Zephyr was d she could share some of her knowledge and stories with Gil. she had been wanting to for a very long time.


    "So, do you think your new spirit friend can take a trip down to the treasury with me? I want to see if I can have some help awakening another spirit. I want to learn to speak with them like you and your leader." The elder had gained the courage to ask Gil when it looked like he was at a pause in the conversation.


    "Tell him yes! But he needs to leave the pieces of the battle spirits here. The other spirits won''t awaken if they are around. The feeling is too...sad." Zephyr made Gil puzzled since he wasn''t sure what she was talking about. Regardless he repeated the message.


    "That''s what they are! I knew your leader said something simr but they are pieces of a battle spirit?" The elder paused for a moment and then quickly asked, "What is a battle spirit. I have not seen one."


    "He shouldn''t want to see a battle spirit. They have no way to grow. They choose to make a physical body to attack and sh with other elements or even those around them. It is a sad loss for a spirit. They will condense themselves so much that they form a gem like core which bleeds mana until it crumbles to dust." Zephyr looked to have seen this happen before sp Gil did not want to push her about it.


    Yet, she continued to speak. "Battle spirits used to fight before the tribes had built bigger homes and foughtrger wars. There used to be so many elemental spirits that the only way to get the mana we needed was to take it or grab it from unwitting spirits. Some would try and attack forcefully and identally became battle spirits. Even spirits are not perfect." Gil had no words for this exnation other than the fact that he could feel her sadness.


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 Chapter 692 - 692. Picking Dormant Spirits

    Gil recalled that the eves had a much more positive ideology for the battle spirits, "The elves seemed to think that they weren''t all that bad though? Why might that be?" He wanted to know and felt that if he didn''t ask now that he would never have a safe chance to ask again.


    "They acted as guardians. I''m sure there are some still around guarding a mana source or a mana dense area. They took territory like an animal and some could be reasoned with. But many ceaselessly fought. I can remember a spirit cedar being frozen and shattered by a water elemental battle spirit just because its roots grew close to the pond it resided in."


    "So they weren''t always the nicest. But they could be. It just sounded like the elves might be missing some information now." Gil felt bad that the elves were idolizing a kind of spirit that was harmful. "I wonder why the other spirits there don''t tell them?" Gil was very confused by this.


    "They most likely don''t have a spirit mark. The world only lets us share so much about how it works. Spirits are made of mana and can even be close with all mana. We know about how it flows and hod secrets we can not share with all due to the risk of natures'' bnce." Zephyr became serious when saying this. Gil felt more honored than before since he was being entrusted with this information.


    " Then I have another reason to be thankful for you. I wouldn''t imagine there are limits on what you can even tell people." Gil saw that the elder had locked away one of the pouches he had with him and returned. "Ready to lead the way? I think it will just be us since Su and Remey look busy and Walker probably won''t be back. If Midnight and Onyxe they might eat all the crystals." Gilughed a little and the elder gestured the way he had taken Walker before to the treasury.


    As the two walked the in between floors path the elder asked another question, "What is to be done with those mysterious gems they used to be battle spirit bodies? We never can appraise them and we''ve never found anything to do with them as a crafting material." Zephyr stopped and turned her head to the side while swaying slightly side to side in the air.


    Gil stopped as well and replied as she spoke, " return them to mna. They shouldn''t be used for anything. They are impurities that would hinder anything made. The mana around them is forced together. Battle spirits are force elementalpression versus natural mana density. Elementals fuse and interact with each other but those pieces reject all but one element. They should be ced in the appropriate elements and let to disperse."


    "So that''s why the experiments of the previous elder all crumbled and broke when they were used as materials. The mana is rejected. That''s good to know. I will attempt to follow your advice." The elder felt that he had been enlightened.


    As Gil and Zephyr reached the treasury the two were amazed by the number of items there. Walker had seen many of these things and the elder was long used to them. Gil wanted to rush through and explore but do found that the elder was grabbing a plentiful amount of crystals. He ced them in the center, "I will have others collect these to bring to the work shop. I want to bring one of each dormant spirit up to the forge so I can start the awakening."


    "Going to make a lot of different gear? That should be pretty good overall for your people. That many dwelling weapons that is." Gil was impressed by the initiative. However, he didn''t expect the response.


    "I want to have them help me learn the spirit speech skill your leader will send to me with his title. I can''t rely on others at all times to craft new items. The elves most likely won''t being here too soon and heading to the new city you all talked about might not happen for some time either. I''m needed here." Thus made a lot of sense. The elder was a keystone for the dwarves. If he just left a void would be left.


    "So many! Look at them!" Zephyr was amazed by all the dormant spirits that were in the part of the treasury they had just entered.


    "So the problem have is that I can not tell the difference between what is what. I know that is a water elemental spirit because of the blue coloring. But the others have nothing to define them properly." The elder had this in mind when it came to bringing the pair to the treasury. He had not had the reason to ask Walker earlier but now needed to know.


    Zephyr hear this and got t work. Gil obediently followed her directions and began to organize the spirits. After a short time, the dormant spirits were roughly organized along shelves. There was one of each that Zephyr had picked out to bring back with them. "These are the ones Zephyr says are closest to awakening based on their mana level." The elder grabbed what he could carry and energetically motioned for Gil to do the same.


    Gil wanted to explore the treasury more but seeing the look of curiosity and excitement in the elders'' eyes he didn''t have the heart to say anything. Zephyr could tell Gil wanted to stay but she was also curious about how long it would take to wake up more spirits and what they would want to do. At the very least she knew the wind spirit would want to stay near her since she was a grand wind spirit. "You know, I''m going to be the first dwarf to ever speak to a spirit." The elder said this as they left the treasury.


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 Chapter 693 - 693. Crystal Nests

    When Gil and the elder returned with the dormant elemental spirits Walker had beat them back. "It was really amazing Grey said that he could use the ember bones for the base of the teeth and the ws that the golem will have. It should make the attacks have even more fire elemental damage. But it would have heated up the golem too much and melted it. So Grey said he needed a solution that would make the body me resistant. I asked about the cyclops me staff that has that cyclops skin skill and he said that magical equipment is used in golems all the time."


    "That is pretty cool. Who knew golems could have magic. I wonder if there can be mage golems." Gilughed thinking he was saying something impossible.


    "Yes! There can be. Grey said the only problem is mana and that it drains quickly. My thoughts are that making another dwelling core would be the solution to that since an elemental spirit should be able to make elemental spells easily using a golem." Gil watched As Walker grew more and more openly excited about the possibility. It was clear that Walker was inspired by the conversation and learning he had received.


    "That is all well and good. But we would need spirits that desire such a thing." The elder knew that the spirits had minds of their own now and was adjusting his thoughts and treatments of them already. It was clear in the delicate way that he ced every single one of the dormant elemental spirits on the open work table.


    Zephyr went thought and mentioned to every single one of them which dormant spirit was wich. She also exined the way for them to awaken them faster. "You need to take the mana crystals for their element and ce them around their dormant state crystal. They will absorb the mana and awaken much faster. The wind spirit won''t need as many crystals since I will be here to help it. The high dark spirit, two high earth spirits, and the fire spirit in the other workshop should help too."


    Zephyrs'' exnation was simple. "That makes sense. Will I be able to speed things up with my grand elemental maniption skill? I could pull more mana in to the room for them to absorb." Walker wasn''t sure if this would be a help or a hurdle for the spirits trying to awaken again.


    "Yes! This will help a lot. Just stay high on mana so we can stop them from rushing away. They might get lost in the city. The light spirit specifically could get lost. They don''t usuallye under ground." Walker was surprised by this fact but undrstood that the underground was very far from the sources of light elemental mana it would need. It could just fall back in to a dormant state.


    "Where are those crystals! I set them up for transport ages ago!" The elder had just returned but he started to yell for apprentices and other nearby dwarves. The ruckus became loud and shouting was heard. The entire party was still a little amazed that the elder could cause this all with just a shout. But before they could say anything the crates were being brought in and lined up in an orderly fashion based on their elements.


    "Alright, now we will all take an elemental mana crystal crate and start to make the nest for the dormant spirits. The faster we do this the faster there will be more spirits around." The elder looked more excited by the minutes as he grabbed the water elemental crystals.


    Walker took the light elemental mana crystals since he would be able to keep the mana contained and give the spirit what is needed better. He understood that the light spirit would need more help underground. He also wanted to make sure that he would be able to ask them all to join him if they wanted. He knew that would make the elder unhappy but it was up to the spirits.


    "I want to speak with the fire elemental spirit. Do you think you could help me?" Remey came to Walker''s side and asked a little more quiet than usual. She was trying to hide this from the others since she knew that Gil would tease her.


    "No problem. But why do you want to talk to the fire elemental spirit when it wakes up?" Walker had a few ideas but wanted to get a full understating of what Remey was trying to aplish.


    "I think that it could help me in the alchemy I want to experiment with when I get back to the mansion. I already want to show the old man some stuff. I also need to start to solidify the alchemy guild. But I think if a fire element spirit helping with the fire and purification of some harsher ingredients. Then I might be able to make new potions or even a potion higher than high tier."


    This was enough to make Walker think. "I bet a potion like that would be perfect or at least shock the world." Walker was expecting Remey to go on to more detail but she didn''t she just busied herself setting up fire elemental crystals. She seemed like she was still missing some of what she wanted to do. But even if it was something small it is enough to be famous for.


    "I have the ingredients from the elves, knowledge from multiple masters of alchemy, and my new skill. All I would need is something to help me control the mes better. And what better than a fire elemental spirit that controls fire elemental mana. Remey ced the crystals carefully and watch as the dormant elemental spirits all started to absorb the mana from the crystals. It was a sight to see and hear as the constant cracking and eventually break them.


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 Chapter 694 - 694. Alchemic Fire

    "If you can really aplish a potion above a high potion, then I think you will solidify the alchemy guild in the first day of its'' establishment." Walker wasn''t holding back at all in this evaluation. He truly believed that the news of a potion above a high tier potion would put immense faith in an alchemy guild. "It would also pout any practicing alchemists out of a job because everyone would want potions from the guild instead of private alchemists."


    Remey had thought of that and was d to hear Walker supporting her. She was about to reply with her future ns for how she would make it and the potential ingredients she would use, but the system decided to give her a heart attack.


    "Gah!" Remey jumped slightly and looked like she was about ti pass out. The drastic change in her mannerisms also caused the group to be curious and worried.


    "What just happened. The fire elemental crystals shouldn''t be hot. Right?" Gil was the most worried since he had touched the crystals often and had never been burned.


    "No! But I can get a fire skill! Alchemic fire! Even the old man doesn''t have that skill. It''s not a normal alchemist skill. It only shows up once in a blue moon." Remey was nearly shivering now.


    "Remey, we don''t know what alchemic fire is. Is it just the fire you use to make potions?" Su was confused as well but was still remaining calm while trying to get Remey to fully exin what was going on.


    "No, not at all. It is so much better. It is like a fish in water. Alchemic fire is akin to breathing in rtion to alchemy. It makes the potion making process much smoother and easier. If I were topete making a potion against the old man while I used alchemic fire my potion could be better with less experience." Remey was practically shouting at this point because she was so full of emotion.


    "The old man said that his mother had the skill and that was one reason she was able to literally rule over the alchemy building as the best alchemist. He still hopes he will get the skill too but it''s just too rare." This was an interesting fact. If the old master alchemists'' mother had received the skill why had he not? It must have some sort of hidden requirement like titles do for a master alchemist system to receive the skill.


    "So, you''re saying that if you can forge a spirit mark with a fire spirit the system will give you the alchemic fire skill? Will you be able to use it right away?" Gil thought it sounded too good to be true. It had worked out that he had been able to form a bond with Zephyr and Su had bonded with a high earth spirit. However, Su and the earth spirit were very simr in personality. Gil and Zephyr had been together for some time. It might not be so easy for Remey to bond with a fire spirit.


    "Well, I don''t know about the spirit. But we can try ever dormant spirit here and then go back to the elves and try there. Worst case I send mail to Trish and Elise to see how that goes. But the real challenge will be the alchemic fire. I will have to learn to control the firepletely instead of just alter it by adding or removing fuel. It is a much different process."


    "Oh, Ipletely overlooked that the process would be different. You would be like me a little bit and need to manipte the alchemic fire." Walker drew the conclusion that Remey would be doing something simr to what a mage would do when working on their spells.


    "Exactly, and I am a fighter so it will be a little harder for me. The only good part is that I will have plenty of mana potions to learn. Maybe I will be able to find a way to add it to one of my attacks. Imagine if my punches had fire on them!" This made them all flinch except for Midnight who hade up to inspect each of the dormant spirits with Onyx.


    "Sister says that you can train with her to get ming punches. She can handle the heat." Onyx paused and Midnight puffed her chest and extended her neck. "Sister also says she has gifts for everyone." all of them took turned grabbing the ice jade pendants from around her neck and putting them on. The cool feeling instantly relieved the natural heat of the forge.


    "Thank you. These are great. Now I know how the dwarves are able to handle the heat so well." Gil had felt that he was melting at times and was the most thankful.


    Su was already hugging Midnight lovingly. She was very proud of her for thinking of everyone. It just reinforced the fact that not every monster in the world was mean and out to eat humans. Or even goes after them. However, it also brought a few questions about the dragon races that Walker had always had. But they would be for another time. He couldn''t find enough detailed information about ancient dragons just yet. They were too reclusive.


    "You know, I have the best family." Walker just spoke openly after a moment and saw Midnight''s eyes shine. She looked like she had just been handed the world.


    "I really have to say. I never thought that the heroes would be...like this. One moment I''m full of wonder at a new forging path and the next I''m grossed out by all the sweetness. Next, I imagine you are going to say or do something that will shock me again." The elder held his head in his hands trying to make sure his heart would keep up with everything changing in thest few days.


    "You mean how Zephyr is already starting to awaken the wind spirit behind you?" Walker caught it in a quick nce. Everyone had be too distracted.


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 Chapter 695 - 695. Awakened Spirit

    "While everyone had been distracted by Remey exining her surprise about getting the alchemic fire skill if she managed to bond with a fore elemental spirit, Zephyr had been directing more and more wind elemental mana to the wind spirit. She had pulled the wind elemental mana from the of crystal and called upon a great deal from the air itself. This was radically speeding up the awakening of the high wind spirit.


    "You were all busy but I wanted to wee another wind spirit to the fin." Zephyr sounded like a lonely child. However, Walker had the feeling that it was just because they weren''t paying attention to her, He gave Gil a meaningful nce which Gil understood as one that meant to tell him to stay strong.


    "Then let me helo at least." Walker began to also pull at the wind elemental mana around them. He was able to easily do this since there was so much being called by Zephyr already. But it was being absorbed at a much higher rate now.


    The dormant spirit was in a crystal like form just like the others. Walker already knew they took on an almost crystal like appearance since he had seen the icy cool dormant water spirit he was holding on to. He also knew that they would normally slowly absorb their elemental mana over time but here they were getting it faster due to the density they were gathering.


    Like light streaming through a window, the crystal like appearance began to crack and warp. The dormant green crystal like substance started to change in to swirling wind. It was something that none of them couldprehend in the least. Walker thought that even Elise wouldn''t fully understand this, let alone any elf.


    The mana in the room surged and the wind gusted around them, there was a soft giggle that Walker knew np one but he could hear. It was the high wind elemental spirit rushing around excited and absorbing mana freely.


    "Wee to the party! You''re so cute! You remind me of my other friends when I was flying in the clouds." Zephyr was chasing the high elemental spirit around in a greeting like game of tag. The two were causing a lot of wind but no harm came to anything even though the elder was doing his best to shield the dormant elemental spirits.


    Gil realized that the wind was starting to pick up a little more than he wasfortable with. "Hey, Zephyr, can you introduce us to your new friend? We want to meet it." This was the key thgat got Zephyrs attention and she stopped the wind in the forgepletely.


    "These are my new family! I have been traveling with them and they will have some very interesting options for you. Much better than flying through the sky." Zephyr surprised the high wind elemental spirit who thought that flying through the sky would be the best of the best in its existence.


    The high wind spirit started to examine all of them, especially Gil. "That is my partner. We are bonded together for life!" Zephyr floated above Gil like she was showing of her very own child. Gil turned slightly red in embarrassment and started to fidget. Remey and Walker stifledughter only to earn a re from Gil.


    "I''m Walker, I''m the one who has some interesting offers for you. Well, so does the elder of the dwarves here. He has an offer as well. But please forgive him in advance. I can speak with and understand you. He may have trouble, and the others can not understand you." The high wind spirit came to float in front of Walker.


    "Understand! What offers?" The wind spirit had calmed significantly.


    "The elder has crafted multiple items using a forging technique called spirit forging. It, when done with the assistance of a spirit, creates a home for a spirit to dwell in. Gil and Zephyr have a bow. Su and the high earth spirit have a shield. And a fire spirit in the other room has a golem core." The wind spirit turned to see Su and Gil showing off the earth dwelling shield and the true spirit bow.


    "Now that is one option. The other is to join me in my quest to gather one of every elemental spirit and materials for me to make an all elemental staff. So far I am honored to have an earth elemental spirit and a dark elemental spirit with me." The dark and earth spirit showed themselves around Walker and started to whisper to the wind spirit why they chose their choice. Naturally, they kept their voices too quiet for Walker to pick up on but from the way Zephyr and the wind spirit acted he could tell they were affecting the way the wind spirit saw him.


    While the wind spirit finished speaking to the earth and dark spirit Walker noticed that the elder was trying to organize more of the crystals and examine the dormant spirits. He was much more interested now that he had witnessed onee out of their slumber and he wanted to see another because he was constantly curious as someone who crafted new and unique items.


    "Stay with you!" The wind spirit got right in to Walkers'' face and spoke. The earth and dark spirit also seemed to cling to him even more which made him wonder just what they had told the wind elemental spirit.


    "If that is your choice then I am very thankful." Walker wasn''t sure what else to say. This had happened much faster than he expected.


    "Those two spirits really took a liking to you. I would say they are your fan club. You must have minstrels singing of you already so having one should be normal." Zephyr teased Walker but didn''t hint at what they had spoken of to convince the wind spirit.


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 Chapter 696 - 696. Ice Cold

    Walker felt strange having three different elemental spiritstching on to him. He had the dark and earth spirit sitting on his feet and a wind elemental spirit sitting on his shoulder. He could feel Midnight and Onyx ncing at him with a tinge of jealousy. It was strange, very strange.


    "What spirit now!? " Zephyr wanted to see all the spirits awaken but knew that she was not much help when it came to the others. She was only able to influence the wind elemental mana and none of the other elements.


    "Well, if you want to help. Why don''t we help the water elemental spirit? The air had water in it, right? Then if you have a soft cool breeze constantlying in we can attract more water elemental mana from the air you bring in." Walker had alreadye up with this theory when they first set up the dormant spirits. He knew that the elements had their challenges to gather but that was dependent on the situation. They just needed t make the situation more advantageous for the water spirit to awaken.


    The group as a whole looked to be impressed, "Oh, can I ask you and the earth spirit to take the dormant water spirit outside? I told Elise I would awaken it when we get home and offer it a chance to do what it wants or a home. If I identally wake it up early I will break the promise and also have to change the offer." Walker knew that the increased water elemental mana could awaken the water spirit slumbering under his cloak.


    "Of course leader, I will guard it with my life." The earth spirit and Su appeared d to be in charge of the water spirit that Walker handed them. He was worried that having the high water element mana inside, the spirit would awaken too early.


    When Su and the earth spirit left the room with the dormant water spirit Walker was that Zephyr was starting to call on the air to move about. He could feel a steady breezeing in. It was slight and constant like sitting in an open field. "This is kind of like the breeze in the fields at home." Gil felt his heart pulled on slightly while he realized just how long they had been away. "We should head home soon¡­"


    "I agree. I want to read and see everyone. We should have a big feast when we get back and check on the guild. I feel bad that we have been running around definitely making more work for ra." Walker was a little guilty that they had been rushing around making quests and not really participating in any that ra was sending them as options. "But for now, time to focus on the water elemental mana. Zephyr that is perfect."


    Walker focused his hands around the dormant water elemental spirit and began to pull at the water elemental mana from the air. He motioned for Gil to work on the crystals since Gil had his skill to pull mana from the elemental mana crystals. Zephyr looked very happy to receive praise and the wind increased slightly.


    The density of water mana was steadily increasing and the rate at which it was absorbed by the dormant water spirit was as well. "Walker, drink this." Remey handed him a low tier mana potion as soon as she saw that he was starting to get pale. He was using his mana constantly and even though it was a small amount at a time the process was enough to eat away at it.


    "Thank you, perfect timing." Remey graced them with a smile and returned to organizing the fire elemental crystals around the dormant fire spirit. She wanted to make sure she had the best possible chance to form a bond with it when it awakened. She also knew that it would be the next spirit they would awaken since she had a quest. The water was only because Walker hade up with a theory on how to awaken it faster.


    There were small changing cracks in the dormant water spirit along with some water droplets. Walker could feel a cool icy feeling in the air around him and noticed a smallyer of frost on his hands. However, something was different. This wasn''t the same as a normal water spirit. It was too cold.


    "Ice! It''s an ice spirit! I can''t believe it! Where was this spirit born?" Zephyr was so energetic that the wind stopped blowing and she was in front of the elder shouting.


    "Elder, Zephyr wants to know where this spirit came from." The elder pulled open a drawer and flitted through the pages of a journal.


    "My logbook says it was found in cave eighty four on line fifteen. It was one of the underwater caves with the ice jade ores." The elder was a little confused by Zephyr was even more excited.


    "This spirit is unique. Water high spirits are just water and could change it to ice but usually stays with water. This one is an ice spirit. It only grew up in an icy cold ce. It can manipte water but specializes in ice! It''s almost as rare as I am." Zepher was proud to share this information since she knew that she was sharing something new with them.


    As they watched, the dormant spirit cracked and the frost in the room caused the forge fire to dim slightly. Walker stepped back to avoid hurting his hands on the ice that had taken over a small portion of the table.


    With a sharp crack, the ice was shattered and fell to the floor. What was left was the most unique high spirit the group had ever seen. The elder was rapidly scribbling down this knowledge on spirits in a nk paper he would have used for blue prints. This was too valuable for the future.


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 Chapter 697 - 697. Ice Spirit Dreams

    The spirit that was resting on the frosty work table was very different than the water spirits the party had seen thus far. It was instead, a cool blue icy figurine. The features were smooth and shifted slightly like water, but clearly, it was ice. There was a constant frosty fog that drifted around it. Not to mention the small ice crystals that froze in the air and fell to the ground around it.


    "Hello, and good morning. I am Walker. It''s nice to meet you." The ice spirit changed its position and drifted in front of Walker. He felt the frost tickled his nose as the spirit examine him.


    "I sense your mana." The spirit could feel the mana that Walker had used to help awaken it and knew that Walker was the one that called it to the waking world. "You called." The mana that it used to speak was much more calm and slowpared to the other spirits. So much so that Walker was speechless for just a moment.


    "Yes, I helped awaken you. I wanted to offer you a chance to adventure with me or have a home created for you to dwell in. You could also leave and do what you wish. But the other spirits might try and talk you out of it." Walker looked as the other spirits slowly moved closer to the ice spirit. Even Zephyr was holding back a little. They had all been thrown off by the calmness in the ice spirits mana which was different than their more chaotic elemental manas.


    "Want to see snowy mountains." The spirit had never seen the snow on the high mountains but it had visions of them as it was awakening. It was as if it was being called to where it should naturally be. "Stay with you. See the mountains. Stay with you more." The spirit was thankful to be awake but knew it needed to see the snowy mountains. However, it did want to stay with Walker more than anything. It couldn''t even bother to think about other options. It had the feeling that it wouldn''t have awakened properly without Walker''s influence.


    "Walker. Walker. I know what''s happening." Zephyr moved to Walker''s ear to whisper in to it. She had an idea of what was happening because she had seen something simr before.


    Walker wasn''t sure what was going to cause the spirit to want to go somewhere specific even though they shouldn''t have memories of anything since when they fused and became another spirit they were forming a new consciousness. Walker nodded and waited to hear what Zephyr knew about the spirit.


    "Its uniqueness makes it want to do certain things. I knew a wind spirit that always had warm air. It was a spring wind spirit. It would gain more mana in the springpared to any other time and it would follow the warm winds across the continent before returning to the opposite end again. They are closer to nature and can be more powerful. That''s why they have locations they feel in themselves." Walker could understand this. It was simr to how a baby was born knowing how to cry for its mother. It was instinct.


    "I will help you get to some snowy mountain. I happen to have a friend who wants to travel to the mountains and learn some forging skills and materials. I n to head there after resting from my journeys at home. I can promise some adventure and new sights before we head to the mountains." There was a growth in the frosty fog around the spirit.


    "Yes. I like that." The calm mana was still very different but Walker came to understand that the growth of the frost was the ice spirit''s way of showing its excitement. It was the same as the wind spirit when it would cause a breeze around the forge.


    "Ready for the next one? We could see what that fire spirit wants? I think it will decide it wants something crafted." The elder was itching to n another item for crafting. Especially since Remey was a strange mix of fighter and alchemist. The elder could only imagine what he could make that would fit two seemingly opposing natures.


    "Leader, I already heard. While I waited I went to ask for the fire elemental spirit."Walker was always being impressed by how intuitive Su was. She was just too good at knowing how the party would move. However, this brought something to the forefront of his mind.


    "Remey, I don''t know if you''ve noticed it. But you really have a knack for knowing when someone needs a mana potion." Walker was watching as Remey became slightly bashful.


    "Everyone just looks a bit pale and it feels off. I don''t know. It''s the same feeling I have when a potion isn''t going right and needs something." Walker started to realize that it was most likely a learned feeling from the way mana flowed. It was simr to the way Walker could sense mana but Remey had learned it without a skill.


    "That''s actually pretty impressive. I know that the elves will train for years to get that feeling without a skill. I heard some of them talking about how they will meditate for days sometimes to even feel it a little." Gil was more knowledgeable;e on this than expected.


    "Well, I did spend hours just standing still watching the old man sometimes. He would make a potion and it was too interesting to ignore. I wouldn''t even realize it had been hours." Remey remembered going to the alchemy building in the morning and not leaving until the next morning. She would always be surprised when she got back to the orphanage and find that it had been a day and not an hour or two. "Anyways. Let''s wee my soon to be friend."


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 Chapter 698 - 698. Clip On?

    "Need help?" The fore spirit flitted about and looked at the dormant fore elemental crystal. It was sure that it could help but was more interested in the fact that it would have another fire spirit to speak with. It was clearly excited.


    "Yes, please. A little help pulling in the mana for the dormant spirit would be perfect." Walker could only smile until he heard Midnight taking a deep breath. When he turned she released more golden mes forcing the forge to return to the previous roaring state it was in before the ice spirits'' frost had cooled it.


    "That''s the way. I will call for more coal too!" The elder realizes that he could have more coal set to cause the fire to burn higher than before and started to shout out of the room. The ruckus started again. The dwarves must have ryed the message ever faster than before since the forge fire burst up even more again. The dwarves in the furnaces were working hard.


    "Leader, Gil. You two will need to split up." Su was sure of this and her reasoning was easy to see. "The dormant light spirit and the fire spirit are both starting to awaken."


    Gil rushed to Remey''s side and started to pull the mana out of the elemental crystals faster. Walker on the other hand realized that the light elemental mana that often came with fire elemental mana must have been enough to push the dormant light spirit to awaken.


    "I will have this covered Walker. I feel like the other spirit will still awaken first since the fore is pretty hot. Well, I can barely feel it anymore with Midnight''s gift." Gil was very d for the ice jade since he had been constantly sweating against the forge fire. Walker on the other hand was watching the ice elemental spirit nearly fasten itself to the ice jade since it was the coolest thing in the room. It was easy to assume that the ice jade pendants were going to be its favorite sport to hang out while with everyone.


    The fire spirit didn''t pay any attention to anyone else but for the dormant spirit. Remey was very cautious to watch it pull the mana from the air and couldn''t help but notice that with every motion, the forge fire would shift as well. "I want to be able to help¡­" She mumbled slightly but could only watch. This was the worst part for her since she couldn''t assist at all.


    "While they do their magic and whatever, I have an idea for you and these gloves. And knuckles in your pockets." The elder had easily seen the pieces of the knuckles Remey would wear to fight along with the gloves she wore. "They may already have been modified a few times. But how about I modify them again."


    "How do you want to modify them? Will they even survive another adjustment?" Remey knew that if a gear or anything was modified too many times that it would end up weaker and weaker. Eventually, whatever was modified would break or fall apart leaving the wielder without it.


    "Now this time. This is a better way. I have a blue print that most of the brawlers will use. Especially in pub fights. They are gloves like yours as the base. But they had metal iys and runes attached so that you can clip on different knuckles. It is very useful when fighting tough golems or monsters like shadow ants that are weak to light affinity metals."


    "Wait, shadow ants? Clip on? How does that work?" Remey was still keeping an eye on the slowly glowing and changing dormant fire spirit. But she was interested in what shadow ants were and how clip on knuckles would help her and not just fall off.


    "Ah, shadow ants are darkness affinity monsters. Very weak to light element metals and weapons. But they hang out here and there in colonies around the caves. Most of the time they just hunt monsters until they clear them out. We will exterminate them with golems but they will alwayse back. Insect type monster and all." The elder waves this off. He would rather speak about the clip on part of Remey''s confusion.


    "The gauntlets we make here for our brawlers have a glove base fitted with some reinforced metals and runes. They let the main damaging part attack and hold using a small amount of mana. Then you can change the materials of your knuckles constantly. Need a water element? Use the frigid steel knuckles. Need alight elemental? Use the holy silver. There are many more options. But you look like you could use it." This was bait for her. Remey knew this. But this was an offer she didn''t think she could refuse.


    "I will take it. But I want the fore spirit to awaken first." The elder smiled. Thus was exactly what he wanted. If the fore spirit wanted a dwelling gear he would take the mana crystals that modified Remeys'' equipment and use them to enhance the gloves to another level and spirit forge them. He would get to forge more and Reney would still get her bonded friend.


    "He wants to spirit forge again. But it''s a good idea since it will help you bond with the fore spirit." Walker listen in and asked Onyx to send this message for him so that the elder could continue to feel that he was sly and sneaky. It wasn''t a problem since the elder was just finding a way to craft more.


    "Wait, so that means the base of the gloves would be fire elemental oriented? How will it work with water clip on knuckles?" Remey found the problem instantly. The opposing manas might not want to work well.


    "I use runes to make sure their manas are separate. It''s a safety aspect dwarves worked out years and years ago." The elder just shook it off and started to prepare materials. Remey would have asked more questions if the fore spirit hadn''t started to awaken.


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 Chapter 699 - 699. Dancing Fire

    The fire elemental mana surged and a small me burst forth from the dormant elemental spirit. The leftover pieces were absorbed in to the me which took a familiar shape. It was almost identical to the fire elemental spirit that had already had a dwelling item made for it. However, there was a slight difference in the brightness of the mes.


    It was clear that the high fire elemental spirit that had already received the core as a dwelling item was brighter. It made sense to Walker since it had absorbed more fire elemental mana recently.


    The newly awakened fire elemental spirit only stayed still for a moment before it rushed itself in to the fire of the forge. "Is it...dancing?" Gil waspletely confused by the fire elemental spirit''s actions.


    "It''s even weirder that it is constantly chanting warm fire hot fire super hot fire." Walker was on the verge of giggling since the fire spirit was too adorable for its own good. He couldn''tpare it to Onyx or Midnight but it was still up there in the higher ranks.


    "It''s happy to be awake!" Zephyr couldn''t help but chime in and watch the fire spirit as well.


    "Remey, I think you need to wait a little while for the fire spirit to calm down and rx before you can speak with it. I think it is low on mana. But don''t worry, we can see what this light spirit is about to do." Walker was pulling the light elemental mana from the elemental mana crystals and also from the air. The amount was enough due to the constant fire and draw on crystals that the dormant spirit was showing the surge to awaken.


    The entire group changed their focus just in time to be blinded by a sh of light and feel the light elemental mana pulse around them. The forge may not have been dim but the light from the awakening light elemental spirit was much stronger than expected.


    When Walker finally regained his sight he found that the light elemental spirit had huddled itself against one of the crystals added to the corner of the room to provide light to the forge. "Hello. I''m sorry we couldn''t awaken you out in the light of day." Walker knew that the spirit was trying to get near the light as much as possible.


    He pulled out some more light elemental mana crystals and started to pull the light elemental mana from them. "I hope this helps you wake up and rx a little." The spirit greedily absorbed the mana as if it had never seen mana before. "You woke me?" The light spirit only asked this.


    "Yes. My friends and I woke you up so that we could ask you a few things. You can have something forged by our friend, he will make sure you have a dwelling item you can rest in and leave as you wish. You could join me in my quest to create an all elemental staff. Or you can wait until we finish our business here and we can lead you to the surface and you can go as you wish."


    The light spirit acted the same as the other light elemental spirit Walker had met and slowly floated above his head. "Why stay with you?" This was the first spirit that had asked and had not been bombarded by the other spirits'' whispers. It was clear that the light spirit could see the other spirits clinging to Walker, but they didn''t go to speak to it. This was a line that all of them understood when it came to spirits. Light spirits would decide and act on their own.


    "Well, I have some theories of what will happen when I gather the materials and the spirits. In theory, the staff will need to be spirit forged to make a dwelling staff that each spirit uses their mana to assist with. Then the spirits would either be able to dwell within it or they would be fusing to create a nature or world spirit. I understand what that means to a spirit. But if you would like I would wee you to the group." This was slightly nerve wracking since the light spirit was looking down on Walker like a higher being.


    "I will be more? Then I will join." The light spirit spoke and started to float above Walker refusing to speak again. It was clear that it had made up its mind and that it was to be more than just a light spirit. Walker could see that the desire to be greater was just part of how a light spirit thought and that this was a big deal.


    "FFFIIrrreeeeeee!!" The fire spirit burst from the forge energized and looking about at those who were outside it.


    "Well, look at you. Finally out of the fire? Want to be my partner and make the world''s first potion higher than a high potion? It will alsoe with a dwelling gear and the ability to punch some things. With fire of course if you help." Remey didn''t waste a single breath. She had worked up this sentence to bait the fire spirit and also to try and keep it focused on her.


    "Fire? Dwelling? Partner?" The high fire spirit was a bit confused by the fire spirit that had assisted in its'' awakening came over to whisper to it. Walker could tell that it was pushing the spirit towards Remey and also towards getting a dwelling item. He wasn''t sure if it was because it thought so highly of Remey that it would help her or if it was the fact that it liked the dwelling core that it had received so much.


    "Fire partner!" The fire spirit roared with mana andnded on Remey''s arm. There was a slight wince as she felt the burn but it faded away to show that she had received a spirit mark in the shape of a me. "Fire partner!" The spirit roared again but Remey now understood what it was saying.


    "Fire partner." She was over joyed but even more as she read the alchemic fire skill again, which was now hers.


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 Chapter 700 - 700. Changing Flames

    Remey was standing idly for a moment as she took everything in. However, she flicked her hand and a small dark red me began to grow in her hand. It wasn''t much and the fire spirit was clearly assisting the process. "This is alchemic fire. It''s best for making potions. I can make as much as you want now. Do you want it?" She had the feeling that the alchemic fire was a good gift to share with the fire spirit. She didn''t want it to feel that it had bonded with her for nothing since it didn''t have a dwelling item being made just yet.


    "My fire? Your fire? Our fire!" The spirit seemed to be even more excited than before and Walker wondered how it was interpreting all this so easily. However, when he nced at the other fire spirit he knew that this was its'' doing. It had shared more than he expected with the newly awakened fire spirit and pushed it to Remey with the promises of mes.


    The fire spirit moved to the mes in Remey''s hands and started to change its own mes. The color of its mes became darker and more red. The mana it released around it was closer to the mana that Remey released and the two became closer than before.


    As the change urred everyone could only watch in awe. Even Zephyr was lost as to what was going on until the fire spirit moved away from Remey having taken on all the characteristics of the alchemic mes. "Our Fire!" The mana reverberated through the room and Remey couldn''t stop smiling.


    "It absorbed my alchemic me! It''s just like alchemy fire. We are going to make the best potions and fight the best and be the best!" The two were in their own world and Walker knew that it was better to just move on than interrupt the two.


    "That was strange but really cool. I think that fire spirit is an alchemy fire spirit now. How awesome is that?" Gil nudged Walker to get his attention and found that Walker was already directing both earth and darkness elemental mana toward thest two dormant spirits.


    "It was a very big surprise. I''m pretty sure itpletely stunned Zephyr. She looks lost." Walker nced at Zephyr who was examining the alchemy fire spirit with curiosity. She had known about the ice spirit but now she was lost. She had very little knowledge on how a fire spirit could adapt and change its mes in such a way.


    The elder was already preparing and starting to heat some of the metals he would use to make all the different detachable knuckles for Remey''s modified gloves. He had made many of them and it would be faster than any of the previous forging experiences yet. Until it came to the glove modification of course. For that, he would need the new fire spirits'' assistance.


    Midnight, when did you bond with the fire spirit that has the dwelling core?" Su''s surprised voice broke through the room. The fore spirit was resting on her back now that it had whispered and sessfully helped Remey and the newly awakened fire spirit.


    Midnight huffed and raised her head a little taller. "Sister says it only makes sense that two dragons form a bond." Su was confused until she remembered that the golem that the fire spirit dwelling core was inside was going to be a dragon style golem.


    Suughed a little and shook her head, "It does make sense. I guess you two are a little more than just bound if you are both dragons." Su was wondering how they would get along since the golem was going to be slightly bigger than Midnight but at the same time, she knew that Midnight would one day dwarf the golem.


    The earth elemental and darkness elemental mana started to grow in the room. The earth spirit and dark spirit that were holding tight to Walker had started to help him awaken thest two spirits. It was clear that they would awaken just as fast as the others.


    Walker didn''t have any intention of asking these two to join him in his quest since it would be an insult to the spirits that he had already had ept his request of the same element. However, he did wonder if Onyx was going to reach out to a spirit to join him. It would make sense that a dark spirit would bond with Onyx since he could hide in the shadows at will.


    "Brother, the spirits." Walker was brought back from his thoughts to realize he had sent a lot of elemental mana to the earth and darkness spirit. The two dormant spirits were awakening at the same time.


    The room was turbulent with earth and darkness elemental mana making everyone unsteady. The ground trembled slightly as the earth spirit pulled the earth up to form its body and look about the room. The shadows arched as the dark spirit fell in to them and popped out here and there to look at everyone. The dark and earth spirits that were with Walker rushed to them and started to whisper to them. The earth spirit with Su went to them as well and did the same.


    "Hey, I think they might want to focus on what the elder can do for them. Unless they want to leave the city that is." Walker made it clear that those were the options so that the spirits wouldn''t promise them things he couldn''t do.


    Soon the earth spirit came to rest on the hammer next to the elder. The dark spirit, however, sank in to the shadows and Walker couldn''t find it. "Brother, it wille with us." Onyx spoke up and the darkness spirit he had lost track of was in Onyx''s shadow. "It seems to like my shadow and I will let it stay." The spirit had not bonded with Onyx but it was clear that it enjoyed the slightly denser shadows Onyx had because that was where he stored away his hiddenrger body.


    "Alright, just let me know if you need anything." Walker epted this but wondered what would be of the two befriending each other. For now, he would just chalk it up to Onyx''s unique skill at making friends with anyone.


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 Chapter 701 - 701. Speedy Building

    After Walker shrugged off the strangeness that came with Onyx''s ability to make fast friends he focused on the fact that the newly awakened earth spirit waspletely fixated on the elder. "I think that the earth spirit likes you and your forging hammer." Walkerughed slightly as the elder lifted the hammer.


    "Well, this has been my hammer for some years. I have a closer rtionship to it than anything. I add my mana to it constantly. It''s made from some pretty good materials, you know." After showing off the hammer the earth spirit again sat on it and watched the elder.


    "I guess you will have a partner for some time then. The earth spirit will most likely stay with you. Maybe you will modify your hammer to be a dwelling tool for it." Walkers'' suggestion ignited more fire in the elder but he shook his head.


    "First I need to make those littledies gloves. Then I will ask you for you to teach me to speak to all spirits. After that, you should make sure Grey is working well. I feel like he might get too caught up teaching those apprentices. Sometimes he gets very focused and has hours of lectures all at once. It''s either all or nothing with him." The elder knew Grey well and expected that he would still be lecturing.


    Walker knew that this was definitely the case since Grey had still been speaking when he left Grey''s work shop. He had learned something interesting but needed to return to the elders'' forge. "I feel like we will need to wait some time for the golem to be ready. But I don''t mind. If we do that we can rx and explore a little more here before heading home. I think we will be pretty popr as we introduce everyone to the spirits." Walker knew that this would happen no matter what. The dwarves were not familiar with spirits and it was best that the kings understood what was happening.


    "I think that Zephyr and I are going to the crossbow crafters'' workshop again. We want to see how the bow works. Don''t worry though. We won''t use the bows'' skills until we arefortable and absolutely need to." Gil saw the chance to head out on his own and Zephyr rested on his shoulder as they left.


    "If that is the n then I should go and check on those injured. I want to be sure my help is no longer needed." Su had been worried about those who were still unable to recover enough and wanted to be sure that she had helped enough. The earth spirit rested itself within the earth dwelling shield and they were off as well.


    "Don''t look at me. My new alchemy partner needs a dwelling so we can better make potions and punch monsters." Remey wasn''t sure if Walker was looking at her because he thought she was leaving too or just because he was going to ask her what her ns were. "After I will set up a n for the two dwarves who will leave here with tools and head toward the location the new city will be built. They and a few of their personal golems are going to map out the start of the alchemy guild building." Remey was proud of her forethought and Walker couldn''t deny it was smart to send the dwarven alchemists ahead since they would have the best input on how the alchemy guild could be built for potion making efficiency.


    Midnight and Onyx were currently enveloped in conversation with the fire spirit. Since Midnight could now easily speak to it, Onyx could also through her. It was very interesting for Midnight to y the role of trantor instead of Onyx and she was enjoying it. The shifting shadows under Onyx were only interrupted when the dark spirit would look about. However, Walker had a feeling that it was finding itself at home.


    "Do you guys need help with the forging?" Walker wasn''t sure if the elder would need help since Remey and the alchemy fire spirit were there.


    "Hmm? No no. Go and make sure Grey is working hard." The elder just shooed him away and with the spirits remaining closer than ever to Walker he went back toward Greys'' work shop.


    With that, Walker followed the path he had felt like he had gone back and forth between too many times now, to Greys'' work shop. He could hear much more noise and the sound of tools before he actually reached it. The fire spirit that had the dwelling core was still with Midnight but the spirits that had decided that they would go with him were hanging around him full of curiosity.


    The scene that weed him was radically different. Grey was rushing around taking part after part from his apprentices. There were multiple directing each other while looking at his blue prints and handing off the parts. Grey was moving so fast that Walker wasn''t sure what was going on. All he knew was that the dragon style golem had radically changed.


    Instead of a skeleton of metal bones, there were still cooling parts and gears that made up most of the body. Walker could see the cyclops me staff already in ce with multiple runes carved near it. The base of the tail had already been created and on the end, Walker found that a retractable barb was ced. Same with the ws and teeth.


    The scales were piled up on tables nearby. "Master Grey said that he was going to focus. He called all of us to watch how he worked at his full pace. If you want to watch you are free to but be careful of the movement. One mistake can ruin a part." The apprentice that stopped to warn Walker had a few small tools in his hands which were quickly snapped up by Grey as he carved some runes in to a gear. The entire process was mesmerizing.


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 Chapter 702 - 702. Hands On Learning

    It was clear that Grey was using some skills to move as fast as he could around the room and assemble the parts. The gears were being tested by the apprentices to make sure that they fit together properly and functioned. It was a process that Walker never imagined he would witness.


    The speed that runes were carved was also a surprise to Walker. He thought that they needed a significant amount of mana and time to be added. However, here they were being carved with speed and efficiency. Some parts already were inscribed with runes before they were handed. It was amazing to see how urately they fit together making a continuouswork of runes inside the golem.


    When the grand fire elemental mana crystals were brought out, the spirits all reacted with their own curiosity. They tried to move nearer to examine it and were shooed away by the apprentices. Their curiosity didn''t make them a danger to the process but distracted them. "Stay away ande watch with me. I know it''s interesting but if we mess them up we won''t see the fire spirit test its'' dwelling."


    The spirits heeded Walker''s warning as the grand fire elemental mana crystals were fitted in to portions of the dragon golems neck. These were paired with multiple ruined gears and mana gems that began to absorb the mana from the air. It seemed that the runes were going to fill the mana gems before the fire spirit even needed to worry about it.


    "Get me the outside armor! I want that tail to be linked and fitted as soon as possible. And I swear, if those retractable ember bone spikes aren''t ready in ten minutes I will send all of you out to the mines to gather more of the roaring copper I used to bnce the rune strength." Walker wasn''t fully sure what the materials Grey spoke of were but the threat kicked the apprentices in to a faster speed.


    The outside armor that was being fitted on the tail in just minutes were paired with small parts being added along the tail. The ember bones had been coated in this roaring copper alloy that Grey was talking about. The fire elemental mana was sticking to them very strongly and Walker was sure that when mana was pushed through them that they would cause some serious fire damage to an opponent.


    The spike at the end of the tail was being tested for retraction and Walker jumped a little when it retracted and then shot out again. It would make a very surprising weapon. Before he could blink, Walker was watchingrger andrger parts of the golem being brought out. The scales being ced were shiny and rune engraved but also heavy duty. They didn''t look easy to break and the thought that they would be damaged and fall off was just too crazy.


    "Get your ck jawed butt over here and learn to put on scales. I won''t be fixing this on your journeys." Grey yelled directly at Walker. It wasn''t that he was angry but Grey was in full master golem builder mode. He would not be letting anything stop the golem from always being in the optimal form.


    "These each fit in to these slots. The runes will be damaged and another will slide in to ce. That is what the core will dictate and how it will function. Collect the damaged parts at the end of a battle and slide a new one in like this." Grey showed Walker how he slid it in then handed him a scale.


    Walker slid them in as he was shown and then Grey continued, "These are all working properly and should flex and move with the inside gears of the golem. It will keep it fluid in movement. If a damaged scale is here it will slow the movements of the entire golem. Each part works together just like a real body." Grey wanted to be sure that Walker understood why he was being taught these things and how it would affect the golem as a whole.


    ''The skill gear repair has been taken from the fix it system. The skill gear repair has been automatically learned through taught actions and guidance from a master.


    Gear repair- passive


    The user can better understand the inner workings of basic gear, machines, tools, and most other crafted items. The user will be able to deduce the issues and work towards repairs. This skill is a learned skill through many experiences. This skill is a base skill for many crafting skills in the entire world.''


    Walker happily read the skill and continued to follow Greys'' directions. The skill he had received was not rare or extremely advanced, but it was a major step in to him gaining proper crafting skills in the future. He had only scratched the surface of many of the crafting skills. This made him too focused on battle and magic.


    "You know, I might need to learn to craft things more. Think you can show me a few tricks before I leave?" Grey raised an eye brow at Walker.


    "Well, I need to test this golem and adjust things with the fire spirit. You could leave but I rmend you stay anyways to take this with you in the end. So it works out that way. Feel free to learn what you can." Grey had no problems with Walker learning more. He had many apprentices and having another running about would only be better for the kingdom.


    "Then I will make sure I learn a lot. I think it''s about time I lifted a forge hammer and started to make some things." The goal was more in line with the crafting of his staff than he expected. Walker received a notification from the system almost immediately.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 703 - 703. Feel The Forge

    ''Heroic quest; side quest- Learn forging skills


    The true hero is learning many things from the dwarven masters. The user must look to themselves for the crafting of their future spirit forged weapon. Relying on oneself will grant greater boons for any weapon and most notable masters have made their own tools of the trade.


    Requirement:


    Learn three skills rted to forging and crafting 0/3


    Listen and absorb the knowledge of how these skills are used.


    Forge one item using all three skills learned


    Rewards:


    Material fusion skill''


    Walker felt more energized reading that he would gain another crafting skill by working to learn three. This also sounded like the perfect skill for him to fuse the materials he had received from the treasury to make a tougher staff. He might even be able to make it more than just a staff. The thoughts were running wild in his mind until he realized he was getting too far ahead of himself.


    "I need to learn three things. If I can do that I will have a much better chance to repair this golem in the future. Will you teach me?" Walker''s serious tone made Grey wonder what had changed. However, he also received a quest from his system and understood that it must have been rted to a quest Walker had received.


    "Then let''s get on with it. My chain quest here says you need to learn to hammer some super heated metal. Let''s see if those skinny arms of yours can even lift a hammer." Grey was still in full work mode. He was treating Walker like any new apprentice and it was catching Walker slightly off guard. The change in attitude was a bit tougher but would make him better.


    The apprentices continued to add scales and were left to work on the golem. Grey had very detailed blue prints and had given very specific instructions. If something went wrong the apprentices were trusted to deal with it but they were too careful to even let the smallest detail fail.


    "You have a hammer or do you need one?" Grey wasn''t wasting time as he sat down at one of the apprentices'' forges. Walker pulled the two dual hammers from his inventory to show Grey. "Those will work, you only need one. Don''t expect you can hammer and adjust the position without one hand on your mps."


    Grey had already slid a piece of simple iron in to the forge fire. He had mps to pull it and a hammer at the ready. He was sitting at an anvil inscribed with many runes that protected from heat and shattering. It was a basic anvil for any apprentice and would be the safest while learning.


    Walker was still surprised that grey had been so easily taken from the golem. However, he was able to deduce that if Grey received a chain quest to teach Walker then it muste with a valuable reward for his own crafting future.


    "Pay attention. This is the color you want iron to be. All metals will heat differently and you will need to be able to add monster materials in to it. For now, we will remain with iron as is. You need to be able to hammer it in to shape and remove the impurities. Most don''t realize that as the iron forms in the earth impurities and air is left in the ore. We hammer that out."


    Grey''s hammer glowed slightly with mana as he swung down. "That was the basic purifying smash. It is one of the mostmon forging strikes. It allows you to remove impurities and shape the metal as you wish. Watch some more before you try it." Walker did as he was told while Grey hammered down again and again.


    He had known that many ores and mined materials had impurities. They couldn''t be perfect since nothing was perfect in the world. This meant that he would need to be able to purify them. When Grey handed Walker the mps he didn''t hesitate.


    Walker took the seat that Grey had been in and pulled out the heated iron. The weight was fairly light and the metal put off a decent amount of heat. Walker raised the small hammer that the wandering cksmith had made him and struck down. He knew that he would not have the same effect that grey did on the first swing. But when he made contact he could feel the metal.


    The metals resisted the force of Walkers'' swing. It was as if it didn''t want to change shape and pushed back. "You feel it now? That''s the ore not wanting to change shape from what it is naturally. Use all your strength and focus on pushing it in to the shape you want. If you feel any string resistance that is an impurity. Hit it harder."


    Hearing this prompted Walker to raise the hammer higher. He copied the movements Grey used and mmed the hammer down with all his weight and force. He was rewarded with the familiar sound of vibrating iron. This was the sound of the forge. The feeling of the heat building and the molding of metal.


    Walker had felt these things before while heating and handing tools to the wandering cksmith. He had felt it even before when he had first gone to the forge to ask for assistance in creating gear. He had even felt it when he saw Rodney mending the gates of the mansion. Forging wasn''t just one aspect of molding metal but all aspects of working with metal.


    ''The skill purifying strike has not been learned. The user is currently undergoing the epiphany of metalwork. The user will gain skills depending on the users'' actions over the course of the epiphany. The past experiences will affect the growth of the users'' skills.''


    The feelings of the forge echoed in Walkers'' heart. He was no longer hammering metal but instead hammering away at his very soul.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 704 - 704. Sharper And Sharper

    Grey recognized what was going on right away. This was a step that every single one of his apprentices had been through at theiring of age. Most dwarves would experience an epiphany in their life based on what their crafting system was. It wasmon for them to finally connect all the dots between what they could do in the future and what they had seen. It was apletion of all of the processesing together to an end goal.


    "Hit the metal harder! How can you shape that if it pushes you back harder than you push it!" Grey didn''t let up on Walker in the least. He had treated every apprentice this way during the epiphanies they had in their training. This was a step that allowed them to push to greater heights in their skills and would help in their specific systems.


    So far he had managed to assist his apprentices in getting to higher levels of skills. Some had unique golem building systems which required higher hammering skills to create the final products. Just having skills that any cksmith could gain was pointless. They needed the skills that were higher and rted to their systems.


    "Feel the metal pushing. That impurity right there needs to be gone! Smash it and force the elemental mana out to give you a nk te. You decide on the mana that lives within the dagger you are making!" Grey shouted and added more heat to the fire. He also pointed out ces for Walker to bash with the hammer and shape the rough dagger.


    ''Through the actions and guidance the user had received, the user has gained the skill elemental purification strikes.


    Elemental purification strikes- 1 mana cost per strike


    This skill only works when used with a forging hammer. The user can add opposing elemental manas to the strike to forcefully purify the metal being hammered. Each strike will remove elemental mana from the metal and also shape the metal so that it may absorb the desired elemental manas. Warning: if the metal has an affinity for a certain elemental mana and all of said elemental mana is removed the metal or materials may copse and disintegrate.''


    Walker was barely paying attention as he mmed the hammer down again and again. He was not going to allow himself to lose the feeling he had of being one with the forge. He constantly followed Greys'' orders and mmed the hammer down. He started to feel the built up earth and fire elemental mana in the iron and tried to push it out.


    The hammer pulled some water elemental mana from the air toward itself and mmed down. The sizzle of moisture on the heated metalsted for a second as the fire elemental mana was forced out. The next strike had wind elemental mana that forced out some of the earth elemental mana. It was enough to change the color of the iron from a darker silver to a bright shine.


    "That''s the style! Keep it up. I want to see the de next! Focus on the edges and use force while flipping it with the sps." Grey''s instructions were simple and Walker mmed the hammer as instructed. This led to the rough ded edges of the dagger taking shape. "Now in to the warmed oil! Now!" Grey shouted instantly. "Feel the form of the de and know when to cool it. You should sense that hitting it again will alter the shape and ruin it." This was a learned feeling but Grey was pushing Walker to be better.


    As the de sizzled in the warmed oil, Grey grabbed some small tools. "Out on those gloves and be ready to sharpen. This stone will let you hone the edges. Add your mana to it and watch the de glide on the oiled stone. It is made for sharpening and refining the de." Grey had the stone on the anvil already and the coarse texture would clearly scrape at the edges.


    Walker already had the gloves on and took the rough dagger in his hands. He ran the de along the stone carefully, " Faster and more angles! Are you trying to remove the de you worked hard to make?" Grey didn''t hold back and forced Walker to change tactics.


    ''The skill sharpening has been learned through the actions of the master golem builder and user working in tandem. The epiphany has forced the skill sharpening to a higher level. The skill, efficient sharpening has been learned.


    Efficient sharpening- 1 mana cost per swipe


    The de is able to be honed with every swipe against a sharpening stone. The oil catches the burrs from the de and allows them to be used again to sharpen the de further. The speed and efficiency of this process will lead to a better and sharper de. The user can change the efficiency based on the focus they hold for the sharpening process.''


    Walker was pushing the de along the stone. With each swipe, he grew faster and had a more even push on the de. It was the speed of his improvement that almost made Grey praise him. However, right now he was teaching, and if he stopped to praise and distract Walker he would not grow as much as possible during the short epiphany that he had seen many times.


    "There, see that burr on the de? Make it smooth in two swipes!" Grey''s harsh attitude made Walker adjust his grip again and change the way he swiped the de on the stone. It began to take an even sharper appearance. Walker swore that looking at it would be able to cut him if he wasn''t careful.


    The razor sharp glint on the de brought Walker a full feeling as he swiped the de across the stone yet again. "Heat it again! We need to solidify this metal to the perfect state and make the hilt." Walker did as he was told and began to heat the dagger again. It was time to make sure the de was hardened before adding the wrappings to the hilt.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 705 - 705. Leather Grip

    Grey tossed strips of leather and a few small mping and pinching tools. "Those are from a storm bisson. They ravage the desserts during the rainy seasons and have incredibly tough hides, especially when processed in to leather. It is moldable after being soaked in water so you have to add it to the hold and shape it to your hand as fast as possible. Then you need to get it in to the fire without burning the leather but only drying it." Grey was sure that Walker would fail this part since most would burn the leather the first time.


    Walker on the other hand pulled the dagger from the forge again and ced it in the warmed oil to cool it slightly. After hearing the sizzle calm down he pulled the dagger out and mounted it in the slot of the anvil for wrapping hilts.


    The leather strips were thin but when Walker felt them, they were much tougher than expected, He had the feeling that he could use this for years before he would even start to wear away at the topyers. This feeling brought him confidence as he tightly wrapped the hilt and handle with the leather.


    Grey watched as Walker carefully and evenly wrapped the dagger. He pointed out the ces where it didn''t perfectly line up and needed adjusting. The pointers caused Walker to be even more critical of his work and learn what to look for when he made his own items. Without a master there to direct him he had a feeling that he would be radically different in quality. The dagger most likely wouldn''t even look like a dagger.


    ''The skill leather shaping has been automatically learned from the user actions and guidance from a master golem builder.


    Leather shaping- passive


    The user has the ability to shape and add leather to many items. This skill allows the user to more easily see ws in the leather and choose the higher quality leather for material use. This skill also gives the user an easier time cutting, shaping, and binding leather to items. The user will also have a higher chance of fusing leather to an item they have crafted.''


    Walker felt everything click in his head as he finished the rapping and cut the excess of leather. Grey watched carefully as Walker soaked the leather in water quickly. It was enough for Walker to shape it to his hands and make a better weapon for himself.


    ''Heroic quest; side quest- Learn forging skills-pleted


    The true hero is learning many things from the dwarven masters. The user must look to themselves for the crafting of their future spirit forged weapon. Relying on oneself will grant greater boons for any weapon and most notable masters have made their own tools of the trade.


    Requirement:


    Learn three skills rted to forging and crafting 3/3


    Listen and absorb the knowledge of how these skills are used.


    Forge one item using all three skills learned


    Rewards:


    Material fusion skill


    Material fusion - 3 mana cost per strike or heating influence


    The user has the ability to forge and heat different materials to the point that their manas will begin to fuse. This is an invaluable skill for any crafter to have as they create masterpieces from many materials. The user can heat metals with other materials and cause the metals to be stronger or even change properties. The user can also cause materials to partially fuse during a heating process so that they better mesh and hold shapes. The more mana used the more effective the fusion as long as the materials do not directly oppose each other elements. If this is the case additional skills or materials may be needed.''


    Walker read the skill and felt that the build of the dagger was not done. He had made it, yes. But he felt that the leather and the metal were not one yet. When he pushed his hand on the wet leather and changed the shape to fit his hands, Grey thought that Walker would just dry the leather and be done. However, when he saw that Walker channeled mana in to the dagger and leather he was shocked.


    Walked added his own mana to the dagger and thrust it in to the mes. The smell of wet drying leather was only matched by the slight burning smell of the firstyer of leather. Grey almost thought that Walker was bringing it away by ident until he saw the glow of mana and the fact that the fire was being held back from the leather but not the metal of the dagger.


    The heat was only being directed at the handle of the dagger and the metalyer melted ever so slightly to fuse the leather and the metal. When Walker pulled the dagger from the forge and dunked it in to water the sizzle was light but the result was spectacr. The leather had remained unburned and the handle was perfectly fused to the leather wrappings.


    "That was pretty great for a first try you know. If I didn''t know better I would say you have been an apprentice for some time and just didn''t know it." Grey wasn''t holding back in his praise, He genuinely believed that Walker had been learning and absorbing information for a much longer time than he himself realized.


    ''The forging epiphany has ended and the user''s soul no longer resonates in the way of forging. The user had gained a unique skill. The forge orb skill and the users'' current learning have allowed a skill from the wandering forge master system to be taken. The skill, portable forge has been learned. The skill portable forge can not currently be used. Requirements are not yet met.'' Walker bit his lip in amazement as he read this then looked down at the skill information.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 706 - 706. Portable Forge

    ''Portable forge- 30 mana cost per use


    The user of this skill has learned a great deal of forging and requires a forge anywhere and anytime. The portable forge skill is a high tier skill learned specifically by forge masters. The user has the ability to furnish and store forging tools bound to this skill. The user must have all tools and requirements filled to use this skill. When the requirements are met the user can pay a portion of mana to influence space and pull the forge tools and facilities from a different pocket of space to their current location.


    Requirements for use:


    Anvil


    Large furnace


    Fifty unique forging tools


    Fuel (coal, wood, mana crystal, etc.)


    Oil barrel


    Water barrel


    Sharpening stones


    Stone flooring


    Covered perg roofing


    Work table (stone or wood)


    The user must have the spatial storage skill or inventory skill to use this portable forge skill. Or have spatial magic affinity in rtion to a forge master system.''


    Walker''s breath was rapid and surprised. All he could think about was not the skill itself but the fact that there was a wandering forge master system. He had the wandering cksmith back at the mansion who most likely had this system. He just had never actually asked what the system was but Walker felt it had to be this system. How else could the wandering cksmith head to the mountains and learn cksmithing with materials there? Or head tova fields and learn. He had to have this skill as well.


    "Grey...I need some help to make my own forge." Grey wasn''t sure he had heard Walker correctly.


    "I know you have just finished your first weapon and it''s a great feeling. But don''t go building a whole forge. You''re young and have plenty of ces t see before you find a ce to settle down." Grey thought that Walker was getting ahead of himself. "You haven''t even used your fancy appraisal skills on your dagger either. I want to hear what it can do."


    Walker hesitated but decided to look at the dagger before he risked giving Grey a heart attack with his newly learned skill and asked for a lot of things to create a portable forge. Something he had heard and expected to be a mastery skill but was really just a very rare high tier skill.


    ''Pure iron dagger


    Atk +12, Agi +10, Def +6


    The creator of this dagger was extremely careful to remove the impurities from the iron used to make this dagger. The de has been sharpened to near perfection and boosted the attack stats of the dagger higher than most basic iron daggers. The fusion of leather and metal on the handle has allowed for better gripping and a strong er hold allowing for the defensive stats to be added to the toughened dagger. The creator of the dagger is known as Walker, this is the first creation.''


    "Not bad at all. This is top of the low tier daggers for sure. Normally those defense stats wouldn''t be there, but that was the fusion of the leather and metal. I really didn''t think you would be able to do that on the first try. It separates the low tier cksmiths from the mid tier cksmiths." Grey was impressed with this but continued.


    "The purity is from the hard work of smashing the iron over and over. You could have taken half the time to create this dagger but you would have impurities and a lot less strength. That agilityes from the purity of the metal. If it was impure it would be heavier and slow the wielder down. Since it is pure it can speed the user up because it is so light." Grey took the dagger and pointed to the near wless loom on the de, "But remember, it''s not done until we polish this up and show it off."


    Grey smirked and grabbed some cloths and metal shine to start teaching Walker how to do so. "You''ll need to know how to shine your weapons and the golem anyways. It makes themst longer and maintains their appearance when you are entertaining." Grey was not going to let Walker walk about with dull and ugly weapons.


    "So, what I was saying before¡­" Walker was a little worried to tell Grey about the portable forge skill but figured it was a good time now that Grey had heard the appraisal and evaluated the bald himself. He was also able to speak while Walker watched and learned to polish the de.


    "Yes? About a forge? I think you should build one when you are good and ready. Adventure a little more first." Grey had done this too since he had gone out to gather his own materials before joining the high forgepletely and bing an apprentice.


    "Well actually, I have the portable forge skill now and I need to gather the required items and materials so that I can create it for when I''m traveling. I thought it was a mastery skill but apparently, it is only a high tier skill that is pretty rare. The system says it''s from the wandering forge master system but It also says that it cane from any forge master system." Walker started to over exin as he watched Grey''s face be a mask of seriousness.


    When the dagger fell to the floor and ttered, Walker realized that he hadpletely broken Grey. His face was a little pale and his eyes weren''t focusing. The slight shake in his hands betrayed the fact that he was indeed still thinking and trying to process the impossible thing that Walker had just spoken.


    Grey stood up and shakily walked to the barrel of water used to cool metals. He took a hand full and threw it at his face revealing that he had a cleanerplexion under the soot and ash than expected. "Well, I think I need to retire. I''m starting to hear the craziest things." Grey could only think he was losing his mind now.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 707 - 707. Cursing The Depths

    "I really thought I would make it another sixty years before my mind went. But I guess that elder is still going to keep his sanity longer than I will. What a shame. I''m just another dwarf lost to madness." Grey could only manage to convince himself he was going crazy. There was no way that he had just heard Walker say that he had the portable forge skill. It was just too much.


    "Umm, Grey...you aren''t crazy. I really did get the portable forge skill." Walker stood up and looked at Grey in silence. He and Grey just stared at each other while Grey blinked over and over.


    "Oh¡­" Grey picked up the dagger that he had dropped and finished shining it. "You will need to get all the required materials and tools. I can help with that. But maybe, you should prepare others before you say that. It''s a lot for a dwarf to hear."


    Walker nodded until Grey handed the dagger over, "Actually, when you see that old dwarf back there, just let it fly. Tell him t out and watch him lose it too. It''s only fair." Grey had a slightly evil look on his face. Walker couldn''t help but feel a little mischievous as well and decided he would humor Grey as they cleaned up the forge.


    Walker and Grey headed back to the golem and found that the apprentices had taken seats around the room and were half asleep. "Hey, Grey, how long were we in the forge?" Walker always would lose track of time but this may be a little much.


    "I would say we were there for about five hours. It was a pretty decent amount of time for a first creation. I would say most spend seven or eight hours." Walker understood why he was now looking at the first version of the golem and why the apprentices had worked themselves to sleep.


    "The golem looks spectacr, but I think I need to get my party to rest again. We have really lost sense of time down here and been missing meals and sleep." Grey understood because this was verymon for those inexperienced with the dwarf city.


    "Well, let''s go to the elders'' forge. I will test this golem and shine it up for the real presentation. Just put it out of your mind since the appearance will change. I also want to see his face when you tell him about that skill, also, don''t worry about getting the requirements. I will have them set up in an open space for you. Just remember to have the proper amount of gold to pay the crafters for the items. Should be a few thousand." Grey couldn''t avoid the cost since the materials and tools woulde from multiple crafters. They would expect payment and he wasn''t going to put it on his tab.


    The sound of hammering was stilling from the elders'' forge. When the two returned they were greeted by the sight of Remey, Midnight, and Onyx asleep in the corner. The fire spirits were aimlessly floating about the room. The alchemy fire spirit was still burning a dark red me while the other fire spirit that had a dwelling core was even brighter than before since it constantly absorbed the fire elemental mana in the room.


    Walker took notice of the multiple spiked knuckles. They were detachable just like the elder said and had been modified from the pair Remey already had. It was amazing how they each had different materials and elemental affinities. The gloves that Lisa had made and that had been modified were not attached with metal and other parts. They had been strengthened significantly.


    "These are a lot more interesting than I thought. I wasn''t sure how they would work but they look like they can hook on to a belt or light armor and slide on and off without issue." Walker was impressed by the knuckles since he didn''t think he would ever have such an idea.


    "That''s the idea. They should be able to be slid on and off of the modified gloves easily in battle. It should only take a second. If not less." The elder stopped his work, noticing that Grey had also joined him in the forge. "Done with that golem already? Seems like you''ve gotten faster."


    "No, there are tests to run. I just wanted to be here when Walker tells you about his new skills since I taught him a little about forging." Grey looked at Walker knowingly. He was getting a lot of satisfaction already from this and Walker hadn''t even dropped the big news.


    "Well, I learned the elemental purification strikes. Instead of just purifying strike, so that will be great to make my staff in the future since I will be able to control what mana is in the metals. There''s the efficient sharpening skill that really speeds things up. And then there''s the leather shaping skill which helped me get a questpleted. I was rewarded with the material fusion skill. It seems to be extremely useful." Walker watched as the elder appeared more and more impressed that Walker had gained so much in such a short time.


    "And? Thest skill?" Grey pushed even more and caused the elder to show even more curiosity since Walker still wasn''t done.


    "I kind of feel bad for saying it now." Walker saw the look on Grey''s face and knew that he was all in now. "But, I also gained the high tier skill, portable forge. I just need the proper tools and materials so I can store them in my inventory and use the skill whenever I want." The elder stood frozen with a smile on his face. Grey waved a hand in front of his face to no reaction.


    After a moment the elder returned to reality and shouted, "What in the deep caves! How can you have the portable forge when I have been a forge master for more years than you have even breathed! What curse of the depths is this?!"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 708 - 708. Dwarf Tantrums

    Grey wasughing wildly at the elders'' anger. He had expected the blow up of emotion but not like this. It was just too funny for him after he had been forced to make golems and bend to the elder as his master so many times.


    Walker was trying to give Grey pleading looks along with the slowly waking up Remey, Onyx, and Midnight. The elder wasn''t doing anything other than cursing his poor luck and how he had not received the skill that was known to be used by forge masters and so rare that it was often thought as a mastery level skill.


    "Of all the things, a child received this skill. A child! Why must the caves forsake me? I just wanted the true skills of my passion and profession." The elders'' cries were mirrored by his actions. He threw tools here and there in tantrum which made Greyugh even harder.


    "Grey! Is this normal? Why did you have me mess with him? I should have just ignored this." Walker was regretting every second he had this skill now. It was turning out to be a huge hit to the elders'' respect, or so Walker thought.


    Grey managed to slow his breathing and wipe the tears from his eyes fromughing. "Dwarves throw fits like this all the time. You should have seen it when the hammer he had made cracked down the middle during the cooling process. He made every apprentice in the high forge tremble and make hammers until they could use a different one every day for a month." Now Walker understood why there was more than just a stubborn stereotype for a dwarf. There was also the brutal anger they could wield.


    The two fire spirits moved towards Remey and Midnight in excitement. They had been caught up in absorbing the fire elemental mana from the forge but now that the elder and Grey were acting so boisterous they were more interested. "Ah well, before the old manes back to his senses let me take that ire spirit to go and start testing its golem." The fore spirit was gone from Midnight in a blink. It was extremely excited to go and try out its dwelling core.


    "Midnight, the golem won''t be exactly like a dragon. You might be tougher than it and it won''t be able to level up like you. But we will do our best to improve and strengthen it. But sometimes we will need to leave it stored away or to protect the mansion." Midnight looked to understand well but Walker still felt bad to break this to her now. However, the size of the golem could limit what the party did if they were not careful of where they brought it. Walker also understood that the fire spirit may be unhappy but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.


    "Ugghh! The world is unfair and it mocks me." The elder slumped in to a chair finally having exhausted himself. "Who would have thought that you would go to check on the golem and end up with a skill any dwarf would give their soul for. I would even give my arms if I had them." The elderughed harder than Grey had making Walker rx now that the elder had returned to a more normal action.


    "Now, what do you n from here? I have these knuckles done and the mana gems in them were reinforced. Thanks to that strange alchemy fire spirit they becamepletely red and the mana gems are filled with some unique fire elemental mana." Remey was sliding on the gloves as the elder spoke making Walker unsure if the question was for him or Remey.


    The gloves appeared the same except for the metal parts added so that the knuckles could slide on and off. However, the silk that have been white was a deep me red like the alchemy fire spirit. Remey also appeared to fit in them much better along with the alchemy fire spirit that moved to dwell within as soon as it saw Remey putting on the gloves.


    Seeing Remey look at him, Walker knew the question was for him. "I was thinking that my party should head back. We helped where we needed to, have invited your people and all three kings to the summit, and also managed to solve a problem between the elves and the dwarves. I''m sure some elves wille to visit soon too. But it might be better just to go to where the new city will begin to be built." Walker thought that it would be better for Genesis city to be the ce the dwarves and elves meet to discuss spirit forging.


    "No, I think having more evidence to show them will be better. I will craft more and learn to speak with spirits better. When the summites I will speak to the elves on behalf of the three kings. They will only send one of them thought. Most likely that cave rat since he seems to be ready to throw his weight around and act like a king." The elders'' heartyugh was followed by more.


    "I will personally send my own golems to your city though. I expect they will be very useful for the clearing of thend." This was a nice surprise since the city would only progress faster with the more assistance they received.


    "In that case, let me use the knowledge transfer skill from the educationist title. I can only use it once a month but it should help you for a week. I trust that you will learn enough to at least speak the basics with the spirits. I know it may be tough since dwarves aren''t known for magic." Walker was a little apologetic for hoisting this trial on the elder but the elder appeared excited.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 709 - 709. The Elders Name

    Walker and the elder ced a hand each on each others'' head. Walker knew that he wanted to swap the knowledge on his skills that revolved around speaking with all the elemental spirits. This was much harder to grasp but even if the elder learned a little it would be something to go on as he worked closely during the spirit forging process.


    ''User wishes to swap the knowledge on spirit speaking with the elder of the dwarven race Elnum. The recipient is selecting knowledge to send to the user.''


    Walker didn''t realize that the knowledge swap skill would require the elder to send knowledge too but it was clear that the exchange was eptable.


    ''The elder; Elnum, has selected the knowledge on true spirit forging to be swapped. The skill rted to the educationist title shall activate. Both users will expend mana to ept and transfer the knowledge.''


    Walker felt a massive pain in his head. He couldn''t remember feeling such a massive headache even when he had been sick as a little child. The information was burning itself within his mind. But there was also something strange happening. Walker could feel that his mental archive skill was recoding all the information on spirit forging.


    As soon as the pain faded there was another system notification,


    ''The knowledge swapped will dissipate in seven days. The user will be unable to use this skill again for thirty days.''


    Walker knew full well what this all meant. However, his mental archive was the wild card in all this. He had memorized all the information on true spirit forging. All he needed to do was think about it.


    ''The user has fully memorized the techniques and feelings associated with true spirit forging. The skills true spirit forging, true spirit crafting, and true spirit rune carving have fused together in to the high tier skill true spirit creations.


    True spirit creations- passive


    This skill requires an elemental spirit at high tier or above to be used. The user is able to feel the flow of mana from an elemental spirit as they craft. The user can channel this mana and forge, craft, or engrave runes that create a bond between the crafted item and the elemental spirit. The user is able to apply this knowledge to any forging, crafting, and engraving skills they possess. The user can expend their mana to enhance the effects of the true spirit creations ability and cause additional skills to be created within the crafted items.''


    Walker had be able to spirit forge just like that. He felt like he had just cheated the elder out of valuable information. It didn''t make sense how he could so easily learn all of this. But at the same time, he was the only person that could have learned it in this way. It was more than worth waiting thirty days to use the skill again.


    "Your head hurt too eh? It was worth it. I can feel the knowledge there. I need to figure out to talk to my new forging partner here. It looks like this earth spirit will want its'' own hammer sometime soon." The elder gave a warm smile to the earth elemental spirit which was currently hugging the elders'' forging hammer.


    "My head hurt too. But now I can aim for the path of spirit forging. I hope that I can use it wisely in the future." Walker wasn''t going to tell the elder that he had just received a skill. He had already shocked him with the portable forge skill and this might be too much. Walker could barely contain himself about this.


    "Alright. While you two acted weird and shared some whatever knowledge this and that, I got these all set up. Midnight is awake and so is Onyx. I promised them that we would get some food with everyone and rx for a little while before we nned the journey back." Remey had already realized that they wereing to the end of their time at the dwarf city for now. They were sure to return at another time but they had family waiting for them back home.


    "Yes yes, get on with it. I will make the kings send you off at the surface tomorrow. Take your time and enjoy some of the roasted cave eels that the breeders cultivate. They are a specialty while you are here. I will start to awaken more spirits on my own and get to know my friend here." The elder could only see the bright new path ahead of him. He wanted to dive in to it head on.


    "I really can''t thank you enough. I learned a great deal from you and I can''t wait to see you at the new Genesis city. Please be well in the meantime." Walker used his most polite tone and received a firm handshake from the elder. The two were no longer just a visiting hero and forge master. They were friends on a path no others had traveled.


    Midnight and Onyx followed Remey and Walker out of the elders'' forge and towards the resting area that they had been shown previously. "I saw your face you know. What skill did you get from the elder?" Remey was too slick to have missed the obvious look of amazement and happiness Walker got when he learned a skill.


    "It''s called True spirit creations. It is abination of forging, crafting, and rune engraving with spirits. It is a passive skill so it works with my other skills. Basically, I can apply it to leather shaping and some forging. But I don''t have any rune carving skills yet so I won''t try it out. Not that I have a spirit to make a dwelling item for.." Walker felt that he would one day use it but he could not rush it just yet. He needed more knowledge to pair with it.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 710 - 710. Local Delicacy

    "You seriously learned it on the spot? Did you even have to think about it? The elder is going to have to work all week to hopefully learn some of how to speak top a spirit." Remey was just too amazed to make up her mind if she was angry or impressed.


    "I got really lucky. I already have the mental archive skill, so even though it says the information will dissipate in a week, I have it memorized and record with that skill. I can''t forget it if I wanted to." Walker was trying to make it sound like he had no control but his words sounded more like he was trying not to brag too much.


    "So you can make whatever staff or sword or whatever you want to make with all these spirits? You won''t even need help will you?" Remey was sure that Walker wouldn''t even need to go to a forge now to hunt down a cksmith. He could just use the mansions'' forge and create his awesome dwelling weapon.


    "I still need to learn a lot and find a fire spirit to join us." Walker watched as the spirits reacted to hearing this. They had also realized that Walker would need to round them out with a fire spirit and had been whispering about it. Unknown to Walker, but they had all promised not to mark him with a spirit mark until they had the fire spirit. This would allow them all to work together to create one that would exist even after they fused if they needed to.


    "Oh, I almost forgot. Su and Gil came back while you were away with the golem builder. They are already resting. Something about being here for longer than we realized because we have been underground and missing the rise and fall of the sun. Su didn''t exin it all.


    "I have the feeling we have been here more than a few days. My body has been unhappy with me since I haven''t properly eaten and rested on a schedule." Walker could feel his muscles and joints aching along with his stomach growling for food.


    Remey was swapping between knuckles to get used the movements while walking, "I think we have been here at least a week now. I saw that there are schedules for when the alchemists make potions since they need the shipments of herbs from the outside. There were a decent amount of days crossed off already." Remey appeared worried but the party was already preparing to head home so it wasn''t too hard.


    There was a slight breeze and a familiar grand wind spirit appeared in front of them as they neared the resting areas. "We have been waiting forever. Gil and I went to get food and found a lot of this weird eel stuff and some root vegetables and even some goat skewers!" Zephyr had spoken of food which made Walkers'' stomach growl louder.


    Somehow Midnight had already interpreted the growl of Walkers'' stomach as the fact that food was waiting for them and sped off ahead with Onyx on her back. The two disappeared in to the resting area along with Zephyr who beckoned for Remey and Walker to follow.


    "Took you all long enough. Su and I were losing it waiting to eat." Gil immediately dug in to some of the food spread out on a cloth in front of them.


    "You two could have eaten without us. We wouldn''t have been angry." Walker knew that Su wouldn''t allow this but still felt bad for the fact that he had been too slow to return.


    "We could never eat without the rest of the family. Not to mention all the new members." Su motioned at the elemental spirits. There were a decent number of them now with the only one missing being the fire elemental spirit that was testing the dragon style golem.


    "I think the spirits will be at home when we get to the mansion. There is a lot of space to explore and maybe all of you could awaken another spirit." Walker had a feeling that the elemental spirits would seek out other dormant elemental spirits no matter what. They all seemed to enjoy gaining new friends.


    The reaction of the spirits was small bursts of their respective elemental manas. Walker just smiled while grabbing one of the roasted eel pieces. "The elder said this was a delicacy here and that they are bred for food." Walker chomped down and felt the juices of the eel melt in his mouth. There was none of the rubbery or tough texture he expected. It was tender and roasted perfectly with a hint of fire smoke.


    Midnight was greedily eating arge portion of it. However, she did not forget to stop and use her ws to cut pieces for Onyx when he had swallowed one. The two were the perfect siblings if any had ever existed.


    "So, I think I will be the one to say it since Su was the one that thought to actually check and do the math. We have been here for almost twenty days now. We have barely eaten or rested. This city has messed with our bodys'' natural clocks way too much. It''s way worse than when we ended up stuck in the ruins." Gil made his point and Walker felt that they may have spent too much time.


    Then I think we will be resting after we eat and heading out. The elder said he would have the kings see us off and that he was sending golems to Genesis city to assist on building. It will be interesting seeing how it all goester." Walker was sure that there would be some form ofmotion. It seemed that this was only to be expected from the dwarves as a whole. It was just up to the dwarves what it would be. In the meantime, they all ate together and eventually, fell off to sleep which they desperately needed.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 711 - 711.Dragon Style

    Walker felt the familiar nudge of Midnight''s nose on his shoulder. He knew that she was most likely trying to get him up because he had overslept and jumped in to a standing position looking around. He found that everyone was still asleep and that Midnight had woken him up before everyone. "What''s going on? Are you alright?" He patted her on the head before she started to head out of the resting area prompting Walker to hurriedly get dressed and follow behind.


    Midnight walked all the way back to Grey''s work shop where Grey was asleep at his blue print table. Midnight proceeded past him and in to where Walker knew the golem was. Midnight had wanted him toe here for some reason.


    The sight that appeared before him was much more than what he had seen before. The dragon style golem had taken on a shine. The flecks of red that appeared within the shiny bronze scales on the entire body were more than enough to draw the eye. The teeth were a much darker ck color having been matched to the ember bones used as the base from them. The spikes on the tail and spike were out showing the same ck coloration and radiating some fire elemental mana.


    Examining this more, Walker found that the fire crystals were covered by a thinyer of super hard ss but still able to pull in more fire elemental mana. The followed the underside of the neck leading to arger mana gem to the base of the neck. This was how the fire would be generated like a real dragons'' fire breathing.


    Before Walker could say anything he noticed that Midnight was sitting in front of it waiting. He almost asked why until the golem started to move abut by itself. The fire spirit was dwelling within the core and controlling the dragon golem. "I need to appraise this¡­" Walker couldn''t hold back his curiosity about what his appraisal might tell him.


    ''Spirit golem ( dragon style)


    Controlled by the fire spirit dwelling within the core, this golem can act autonomously from the bonded hero. This golem has a multitude of functions; fire breathe, retractable battle spikes and ws, me wrapped teeth, hidden shield wings, dragon golem'' roar. These skills can be activated using the fire elemental mana pulled in by the many runes inscribed within the golems'' body.


    Fire breath


    Uses mana from the fire crystals along the neck to cause a line of fire to burn opponents.


    Retractable battle spikes


    Ember bone based spikes that can easily shred armor. These run along the spine and tail leading to arge point on the tail.


    me wrapped teeth


    Using the ember bones as base the fire elemental mana can be channeled to enhance the bite of the golem and melt through defenses.


    Hidden shield wings


    The golem is unable to fly due to its weight. The wings are hidden within the body and made of tough steel worm skin and other alloys. They can expand to cover the dragon golem in an instant and block many attacks. Very strong against long range attacks.


    Dragon Golems'' roar


    A golem is fundamentally different from a dragon. However, the roar holds metal and fire causing a small stunning effect and sometimes a burst of fire elemental mana.''


    Walker was sure that there was more to the golem. He knew that his all around appraisal skill was not perfect but it had already shown him some amazing things. The golem most certainly had the ability to moverger weights and possibly clear paths. Walker could see the golem swiping its'' tail through the brush or even smaller monsters already.


    The dragon golem stepped cautiously as if it was still learning to walk, "Oh, you are learning to walk. How is it? Can you still speak while in there?" Walker was a little concerned that the fire spirit would have some trouble maintaining its mana while operating the golem from the dwelling core.


    Instead of some normal spirit speech, Walker felt that the spirit was pulling more fire elemental mana from the room. The runes glowed on the dragon''s scales and neck showing that the spirit could constantly take in more mana. "That''s good. I don''t know what we would do if you run out of mana." The fact that the golem had the ability to pull inrge amounts of fire elemental mana to fuel itself was perfect.


    Walker was going to start to ask other questions when he watched as the spikes on the tail and spine retracted along with the ws. What was left were spots where ropes and other wires could be hooked. "You can transport an entire wagon if you wanted! That might be great for escort quests in the future. The client would feel safer and you can easily detach it to defend the cart even if something gets past the rest of us."


    The golem moves its head up and down slowly. The dyed reaction was just something that the fire spirit would learn over time. Until it had a better understanding of what it could do this would be how it acted.


    Midnight moved to ce her head on the golems and then stood next to it so Walker couldpare the two. "Wow, they really copied your scales well. The shapes and how they interlock are almost identical. I think it will make your dwelling very tough and well protected." Midnight was proud to hear that the dwarves had done well using her as a model. She knew just how tough she was and could share that pride with her new fire elemental spirit friend.


    "I hope you are ready to walk all the way back to our home with us. It will be good for you to learn how to use your dwelling core to the fullest. Just let us know if you need a break. I can store the golem away in my inventory while you rest with Midnight." Walker was using his kindest voice to remove any worries the spirit might have.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 712 - 712. Stacked

    Walker found himself with the two dragons showing off every aspect of the golem for at least an hour. Midnight made the spirit use the fire breath skill slightly. It was clear that there was not much control since only a small puff of fire came out of the dragon golems'' mouth. However, it was something.


    The ember bones in the ws, teeth, and spikes all had the ability to turn the metal red hot and almost melt them. Yet, that was when something interesting happened. The cyclops skin skill from the cyclops me staff would activate. A red glow would wash over the entire golem making Walker feel at ease but also that he was looking at something tougher than anything he had seen yet.


    The orange heated metal would instantly turn dull again while maintaining the heat and allowing the spikes, teeth, and ws to melt through the metal it would touch. This skill really bnced out a major issue with using the ember bones and the me spirit together. The golem could use the ember ones but there would need to be opposing materials to bnce the fire elemental mana which would cause a weaker overall golem to melt.


    The cyclops skin skill allowed the fire spirit to push the golem much farther than average and also allow for it to use its'' own mana more freely. Walker saw this in the fact that it could cause the mes to travel more than just to the teeth and ws. With a slow movement, the mes could be manipted from the mouth all the way down the spine and even most of the scales on the dragon golem.


    The biggest surprise, however, was when the fire spirit left the golem. "You look fairly happy. I''m d you can learn something new and have your own dwelling core." The spirit was appeased by this but for some reason, Walker saw Midnight looking expectant as if she knew there was more.


    "Not done yet. More." The fire spirit looked at the golem and so did Walker. He found that it was moving its'' head up and down along with swishing its'' tail side to side.


    "It moves without you in the dwelling core?" This was a shock that Walker was not ready for. He felt his adrenaline pump out of excitement since this was much more unique than he believed it would be.


    After staring at it for a few moments Walker knew that something was different/. The movements were stiff inparison to how the dragon golem acted before. "I see now, when you control it the golem moves as you see fit and fluidly. Yet, when it is left without you it moves on orders in a stiff and slow reaction." The fire spirit flitted about since Walker was smart enough to catch on instantly.


    "The golem was not extremely advanced without the fire spirit actively controlling it but when Walker made motions for it to sit or told it to raise a leg it did. He could trust it to take action when needed or help without the fire spirit needing to be around. This was ideal since Walker didn''t want to force the fire spirit to always be with the golem. There were sure to be times in the future where the fire spirit may need to do other things.


    Midnight and the fire spirit finally looked appeased now that they had shown off the golem to someone. Walker was sure that he was the first one other than Grey to see the finished and tested product. He was also sure that they would repeat all this over again when the rest of the party saw the golem out in the open. The only thing that Walker was d about was the fact that the other spirits were still off in the resting area with the others since they would have been causing some mischief after seeing the golem. It would be better for them to see it for the first time when they were outside and could enjoy the surface to distract themselves.


    "Want me to store away the golem for now so that you can surprise everyone when we get to the surface? I bet the golem would be pretty amazing shining in the sun." Walker knew just how to sweet talk the spirit in to his ways.


    "Surprise! We will surprise!" The fire spirit was even more energetic as it rushed around and ended up resting on Midnight''s head.


    Midnight was looking at Walker wantingly again and he knew he had just signed himself up for the task of shining her scales before everyone woke up. "Alright, alright, alright. Let me leave a note saying farewell to Grey and I will shine your scales and we can get breakfast for everyone. Sound like a n?" Midnight enthusiastically bounced around while she waited for Walker to write his note to Grey. Walker couldn''t wake Grey up since he knew that he had been working nonstop for days on end.


    Walker ced a hand on the dragon style golem and told it to sleep. The mana circting within it retracted to the mana gems and core before it was pulled in to Walkers'' storage. He had half expected it not to go in to his storage because he thought it was almost too lifelike.


    With Midnight and the fire spirit behind him, Walker left the high forge and made his way back to the resting area. He had been smart enough to store away some of the roasted eels from the night before and pulled some no stale bread from his inventory. He speedily made sandwiches for everyone. They weren''t anything fancy but they were filling enough to get them the energy they needed to travel.


    ''The skill sandwich stack has been taken from the sandwich king system. The user has automatically learned the skill sandwich stack''


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 713 - 713. Polishing

    ''Sandwich stack- passive


    The user has the skill to stack sandwiches in strange ways that seem to defy gravity. No matter what they add between theyers of bread, as long as it is thinly sliced food, it will stack. The user has the ability to keep the sandwich from falling over as if it was glued in ce.''


    Walker just read the system and tried to keep himself from bursting outughing. How would he exin that he received a sandwich based ability to his friends? How would he exin it to his mother? He couldn''t think of any way for his mother to be able to ept that instead of baking skills her son had learned something as weird as the ability to stack sandwiches better.


    After eventually shaking off his desire tough Walker pulled some of the rags from his inventory that he could use for cleaning. He had found that olive oil was perfect for shining and maintaining Midnight''s scales. He had helped her with shining and cleaning them a few times but always with the help of others or Midnight would do most of it herself since she was fairly skilled at cleaning herself.


    However, Walker was getting in to the habit of spoiling Midnight and she had developed a love fpr others shining her scales for her. So when heid down with her head in hisp, Walker just shook his head and began to get rid of the stubborn coal dust and ash. The dwarven high forge and city itself was covered in remnants of coal dust and ash. This wasn''t even including the dirt and dust that came with being underground. The only saving grace was that there were steam pipes that heated water pipes nearby to provide hot water for bathing.


    While he worked he found that Midnight had started a familiar purring like sound. It was a mix of a purr a cat would make and a slowly peaceful growl. It caused Midnights'' wings to vibrate slightly making her even more adorable. The sound was soon bing the background in the room over Gil''s nearby snoring.


    ''The skill polish has been taken from the maid system. The skill palish has been automatically learned due to user actions.


    Polish- .5 mana cost


    The user consumes a pitiful amount of mana to remove even the toughest tarnish marks from any surface. The mana willyer on to the polished surface for a short time to maintain the shine and luster. This skill can be used on many surfaces as long as they are smooth and safe to touch without injury to the user.''


    Walker nearly dropped the rag he was using to polish Midnight''s scales. Not only was he going to have to start over and use this skill to make sure every part of her scales were the same perfect shine, but, he would be using mana constantly again. It may only have been a small amount of mana but Midnight was a growing dragon. He knew that one day he would need to drink many mana potions t get all of her scales perfect.


    He also had the sneaking suspicion that he would be making her even more spoiled. Midnight would never let up about him making her scales shine better than anyone else. It was a curse he was going to have to live with now. There was also the fact that he may be stuck with shining every smooth surface within the mansion by himself. The chores would only multiply if everyone found out about this skill. He would need to swear Midnight to secrecy forever.


    "So you are awake as well. Does Midnight want to look her best as we say goodbye today>" Su had sat up and seen the sandwiches Walker had made. She was already helping herself to one while watching Walker shine Midnights'' scales. "I''m a little jealous since you are much better at that than I am."


    "Well, maybe you can catch up to me then. It just takes practice." The thought that Walker could teach this skill to everyone using the educationist title skillter would be his saving grace. He started to form a plot in his mind to slowly but surely teach this skill to everyone.


    "Are you alright? You look a little...strange." Su caught on to Walker''s inner evilughter causing him to quickly jump back to polishing.


    "What?" Gil had opened his eyes t see Su snacking. He stretched and yawned while staging a sandwich for himself. "That''s dirty. You were going to eat all the breakfast without waking me up?"


    "I don''t think you can look too betrayed when you are the one that snores here." Walker couldn''t help but throw a small hit at Gil Unfortunately, this talking woke up Remey.


    "I was dreaming of creating a potion higher than a high tier. It was going to be a mana potion using the best never before seen herbs and I was going to be crowned queen of the world. But now I''m here...hungry...and with no rare herbs." Remey would have definitelynded a hit on each of them for talking and waking her up if she hadn''t grabbed a sandwich for herself and started t eat.


    "Alright, all polished and ready for the day. Is Onyx awake? I might as well settle him as well." Walker found Onyx to be by his side already. He had snuck up trying to maintain his secrecy. Onyx had decided that he would try and use the shadows better after watching Midnight and the dark spirittely. It was just too appealing to sneak up and take an opponent down. "Thank you, brother. I would like to look my best as well."


    The polishing continued until everyone had eaten and changed in to their gear to head back to the surface. It was finally time to head home.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 714 - 714. Poor Timing

    The party found that there were royal guards awaiting them outside the resting area. "The king has sent us to act as your escort to the surface path. Please follow us so that we may avoid the construction and repair." The familiar royal guard gave a smirk to the party since he was acting very politepared to how he had acted before. The king had ordered him to treat the heroes with the utmost respect and then some. It was mostly in part of the spirit forging path expending.


    "Well, thank you for seeing us off." Walker found it funny that they were receiving escorts everywhere they went and was going to do his best to get out without anyone when he returned home.


    "Wait, don''t we need to go get that golem?" Remey hadn''t realized that Walker had already taken care of it.


    "Nope, I have it with me. Don''t worry. You''ll get a surprise when we get to the surface." Walker''s smirk said it all.


    "I''m surprised that none of the kings are seeing us off. But it does make some sense. There is a lot to do to return to normal here." Gil could already see the many repairs and modifications that were happening because of the damage the slimes had caused. "I have to say though, it looks like there are a lot of ces receiving upgrades since they needed repairs anyways." Gil started to point out homes being remodeled and piping systems being changed.


    "That is correct, the city living quarters and merchant district are both being heavily modified. The deep caves are being resettled and even the surface has gained additional buildings." The royal guard was still ying the perfect escort but managed to speak to them even so.


    Here and there a dwarf would shout their goodbyes or greetings along with some of those who had seen the party fighting slimes their thanks. It was a very nice way to walk through the city before they reached the endless stairs back to the surface. However, it was even more interesting than when they got to the hub where the iing merchants and travelers weren''t busy, to say the least, but there were many merchants with small karts orrge bags.


    "I guess the surface has started to let some of the merchants back in. That''s a really good sign." Walker almost wanted to stay for a moment so that he could see what the city looked like when it was full of merchants. The thought of all the rare things that coulde through the area was pulling at the corner of his mind before he shook it away with the desire toy down in his own bed and sleep for a full day.


    "I think it may be better for us to leave. I am sure the noise and chaos of sales would be very interesting on another day. However, I really want to go and see my friends at the cathedral to help them and have some tea." Su was looking off at the stairs to the surface with the desire to rush out.


    "I can make so many more kinds of tea! I didn''t even think of doing that with the herbs from the elves. I''ve been living a lie!" Remey was instantly caught in to her own thoughts. It was fairly funny to see her react this way over tea but Walker and Gil bit their tongues when they saw Su patting Remey on the shoulder encouragingly.


    "Brother, I do not sense the light as we get closer to the surface." Onyx should have been able to feel the light elemental mana from the sun as they got nearer to the surface but he didn''t. This made everyone realize that there was not any natural sunlight either.


    As they broke out of the stairs and headed out of the now open entrance to the surface they saw the endless stars of the night sky. "It''s night out! I swore it was day! We have been sleeping during the day!" The reaction wasn''t just Walkers. All of them were stunned that they had missed the day and somehow ended up sleeping during it.


    The elemental spirits didn''t seem to care in the least though. Before Walker could even say anything they were off. The wind spirit was up in the sky rushing about with the light spirit trying to get higher than it. The ice spirit was looking in a puddle attempting to freeze it. The dark spirit was right at home in the night and floated about in bliss. The only spirit that didn''t seem to have more energy was the earth spirit which was perfectlyfortable being underground all the time.


    "We might as well camp out here and then head out on the morning."Walker shook his head then turned to the fire spirit, "Don''t worry. Everyone can wait to see the golem in the morning. In the meantime how about we find a corner of the surface and set up a little campfire to roast some of the horned rabbits I have?" The fire spirit went from a little sad to much happier and energetic.


    Walker saw that Midnight was equally down about the time of day but perked up after the mention of food. "Hey! You are the hero group, right? Come on this way. The boss has some stuff for you." Everyone had not expected to be called out. They had spent the least amount of time with these kings than they expected. Mostly because there were three ruling the dwarves instead of one.


    "We were told you would be along but not sote in the night. It''s always a goodugh when merchants miss their leave because they think it''s the early morning but actually dead center of the night." The dwarf that caught them and was bringing them to the King of the surface couldn''t help but tease them. It was a favorite pastime for those who live on the surface.


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 Chapter 715 - 715. Dust Root

    The party was able to deal with the slight teasing and lighten the mood by joining in. The dwarf gave them a pretty good story about a merchant that had brought a full carriage of cheese only to realize that he had spent a week in the city instead of three days. He had fallen behind on his delivery and quit the job all together just to switch from selling cheese to soap. Apparently, the merchant now supplies the dwarves with the majority of their soap and never sets deadlines for himself as it is his own business.


    The party really appreciated the feel good story since they were wide awake and thought that their return journey was a bit sad due to the time mix up. "My king, I have brought the heroes." The dwarf didn''t use the term boss in front of the king but they all knew that the dwarves on the surface called the king of the surface this. It was some form of habit after many years.


    "Ah, good. I had all this stuff sent up here from the deep caves and the high forge. They piled it here and said to pass it on to the heroes when they left and that they would be paying the tab. But the fools have plenty of gold to pay themselves. Especially since it doesn''t sound like any of you had a choice in what they sent." The king was hovering over some maps and other documents but gestured to arge stack of materials and crates.


    "Well, the materials to build the forge were needed. Grey said that he would arrange for them to be ready for me." Walker wasn''t going to lie and say that he had not wanted them. He had made some very good connections while her and he did not wish t tint them with lies.


    "I see, still. You are our guest. We may be rebuilding but that is nothing when the cost is concerned. As you may have heard, dwarves are greedy creatures. It is true if you ever see the inside of the treasuries we have. And yes, treasuries, not treasury." The king of the surface held a sneaky glint in his eye.


    Walker felt that he had missed something and started to realize that every time the kings or even the basic people of the dwarven city spoke or acted to rebuild, they were not concerned with the cost of materials. He felt so stupid to have missed thispletely. He was still too naive for his own good sometimes.


    "Now, I have plenty of leftover in my budget. I was nning to hoard it away, but I have found some things that I find more valuable. Your materials are paid for. I would say you are building a forge?" This sounded like a question that Walker could not avoid answering. It was more of a demand in the tone of voice than just a question.


    Walker believed that the king of the surface was not like the king of the deep that found his purpose in mining and not like the king of the middle who found his purpose in the people. The king of the surface found his purpose in the acquisition of knowledge on the surface and growth of his protected territory, along with the army hemanded.


    "I have the portable forge skill now and will need these materials to use it properly. The wood and stone pieces should be able to fit together in to a flooring and roof type structure. Then there is the forge furnace. Although, I''m not sure what the other materials are or what those crates are." Walker didn''t lie at all and saw that the king of the surface was wearing arger smile than Walker, nor any of his guards had ever seen.


    "That must have caused somemotion. Those smiths in the high forge must be running around more jealous than a crow seeing a shiny rock in another crows'' beak. That also exins the myriad of crystals, monster materials, and ores in the other crates. Not to mention the tools for alchemy and the two alchemists that headed off toward your new city." The king of the surface was enjoying all of this very much.


    "Well, I was also asked to send that elders'' golems to the city too. I look forward to visiting it. But for now, please clean up my map room." The king of the surface finally rxed in to his normal mood and watched as Walker got to storing everything. "And if you want, leave the wood and stone. I will have it built in the next two hours so you can store it fully. You should all take some of the dust root powder in a ss of water. Fixes your sleeping habit." The king of the surface fell back in to his nning and maps as the guards led them out.


    "I didn''t think they would offer us dust root powder. It was thought to be left over from a dream god and grew. The root dries out and crumbles in to powder that blows in the wind to seed other ntster. But this dust also causes people to fall asleep. The area it grows is very hard to travel without the right potions to resist it." Remey had heard and seen the dust root before but this was a very good use for it that she noted down.


    "If Remey approves it and it will help us sleep I am sold." Gil took the small packet from the roayl guard and followed Walker toward an open area. The party decided they wanted to sleep under the stars. They had missed them more than they thought after being underground.


    Walker let the spirits run about as they wished since they could return when the sun rose. The light spirit was the only one that stayed near them since it preferred the daylight instead. The tea made by Remey with the dust root was bitter but worked wonders. All of them had fallen to their naps before they realized they no longer could see the stars.


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 Chapter 716 - 716. Golem Deterrent

    The dust root tea worked its magic and allowed the party t rest and reset their bodys'' natural clocks. They were woken up by the slow increase in light and the feelings of elemental manas around them. The spirits were all ying around and generally causing mischief between each other while the light elemental spirit looked to finally be happy.


    Midnight was the first awoken because the fire spirit wanted to show off the dragon golem. Midnight was excited as well and proceeded to wake up everyone in turn. The group was a little off seeing as they had just woken up but were brought back to their senses after snacking a little and checking all their gear again.


    Walker quickly stored the flooring and the wooden roof built for his portable forge skill. He still needed to prepare the fuel for the forge fire but that couldeter. He knew that he would not be crafting anything in the journey home but instead enjoying the adventure back and getting to know the elemental spirits that were joining him now.


    There was no trouble at all walking right out of the front entrance of the dwarven city. They were waved to or given nods from some of the dwarves but most of the golems that were hard at work didn''t have the mental facilities to greet them or even react other than t just move out of the path of the party. It was to be expected since the king of the surface had already spoken to the theme the night before and was most likely still at work with his own tasks.


    "Midnight, do you think this is good enough for you and the fire spirit to show off?" Walker knew that the two had been waiting for much longer than they had nned but it was necessary to wait for the sun to properly show off the brilliance of the golems'' body.


    Midnight huffed and the fire spirit nearly burst in to a full on fire ball. Walker didn''t need any other response to pull the dragon style spirit golem from his storage.


    "This is very remarkable. Almost like a fine art." Su was amazed by the incredible detail and thought that this golem was more than almost every statue she had ever seen. The runes carved on it alone were better than most art she had seen in her life.


    The fire spirit moved in to and fused with the dwelling core so that it could control the golem. "My friends and spirits. This is the spirit golem. It is a dragon style golem with multiple skills and our friendly fore spirit in control. Modeled after the fierce and beautiful Midnight." Walker put on an auctioneer''s voice to show the majesty of the golem.


    While he proceeded to exin the rest of the skills he knew the golem had, The others circled it and watched as it moved to demonstrate some of the skills. "These spikes are great! They can crush everything!" Remey was enamored by the spikes which was way too predictable. Any of the party could have called this but none of them dared say it out loud.


    "I just think it will be too shy. Imagine trying to sneak around, it''s not like Midnight who can hide in shadows with the shadow wrapping skill." Gil had praised it a few times but was not as happy with the shiny appearance. He relied on hunting without giving away his presence. This meant that he couldn''t be with such a shy golem.


    "That''s why it can separate and I can store it in my inventory." Walker just shrugged of Gil''s worry. "But it can also deter some monsters from attacking us while we head home. The orcs might still bother us but anything with half a brain should leave us be." The point was pretty good since they wanted to get home sooner thanter. They would be able to travel swiftly without much stoping them in the terms of battles.


    Midnight walked with a bounce in her step next to the dragon style golem. The golem was significantly bigger than her but everyone clearly saw the resemnce. Every time Midnight saw someone looking at the golem she would huff and a small amount of golden ms would leave her mouth. She was too happy to show off the golem more since it had been modeled after her.


    The party''s pace was exceptional. They didn''t take the route over the bridge and around the river this time. They were not required to do so since they didn''t need to worry about helping anyone. Instead, they followed a less used trade route.


    The fore spirit was controlling the golem to sweep its'' tail across some over grown grass and clear the way for them. It had been doing so for some time now and Walker knew that the merchants that traveled the area would wonder what had cleared the oath so well. There was a chance that it would be better traveled because of this.


    "Wait, did you hear that?" Gil was the first to pick up on some movement in the tall grasses that were being cut. He knew that it was not some animal since ot was doing too well in hiding. They were being stalked by a monster.


    "I can hear iy." Walker took note of the rustling of the grass even though there was o breeze at the moment. Midnight crouched before realizing that the golem was mimicking her. It was learning her behavior so that it could attack better. That was when everyone came to the same conclusion. The fire spirit was going to have to learn to flight properly like Midnight.


    Since this was the case, Walker made the executive decision to allow the fire spirit with the dragon style golem to hunt the monster following them. "You can show off even more by defeating whatever is following us. I bet you will be able to take down the monster like its'' nothing." This was even more fuel to push the first spirit to get serious.


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 Chapter 717 - 717. Wise Choices

    The party had left the rocky area around the dwarf city for the grassy ts again. They were greeted by a monster stalking them soon after. However, the fire spirit controlling its'' dragon style spirit golem was going to take care f the enemy to show off its strength.


    The party remained vignt as they watched the golem whip its tail through the grass clearing arge round area. The attack wasn''t to defeat the monster hiding near them but so that they could have a better ce to battle Forcing a monster that liked to hide and ambush in to the open could give them the advantage or even cause the monster to run away because it did not want to be in the open.


    After repeated attacks to the grass, the round area was open and clear for the golem to battle in. The fallen grass was nothing tt could hinder it and Walker would even be able to store it away as tinder for fireter.


    With a slight hiss, the rustling sound everyone had picked up on seemed to be getting closer to the golem. The actions of the golem had not scared it away but instead, it had instigated the monster. The loud and tant attacks were telling it that the golem didn''t even need to perry about the monster in the grass.


    When a yellow scaled snout emerged from the grass and reared up, the party realized it was a snake monster. More specifically a rare snake monster. "That''s a straw snake. It onlyes out in the hotter days of summer to hunt for any prey it can swallow in the grasnds. I didn''t think we would find one. Usually, they are not territorial but this one looks like it''s angry for some reason."


    Walker wasn''t sure why the straw snake would bother toe out and even appeared angry. It was arge snake that couldn''t swallow the golem but could potentially take the party as a meal. Yet, that brought more questions when Walkernrealized that the straw snake would rarely attack groups.


    "Wait, don''t attack it. This isn''t normal. Just keep its'' attention." Walker gave the order and saw the golem lower its head and raise it again. It was the same kind of nod Midnight would do. Walker couldn''t think about this though, he was using his all around appraisal skills on the straw snake.


    ''Female straw snake (with child)


    The straw snake often avoids groups and prefers to hunt giant rats or cave rats in the rocky and grassy areas. It has no venom but can wrap and crush its prey. The perfect straw color of its scales is highly valued by merchants as high quality crafting material for decorative clothing. When a female has an egg within them the straw snake bes incredibly aggressive and will fight any opponent that it poses is a risk to it and the home it is looking for. If one encounters a straw snake in this condition it is safer to retreat since it will fight to the end.''


    "We are retreating for now. Let the straw snake go. It isn''t trying to hurt us if it doesn''t have to."Walker would exin the situationter but for now, started t slowly back down the path away from the cleared circle of grass.


    Hearing the orders, everyoneplied. The straw snake had coiled so that it was ready to bite at any second. It was watching as the golem slowly moved back under Walker''s orders. Once the entire party had gotten to a distance that the straw snake could barely see them it sprang forward and slithered away at high speed in the grass. Walker swore he saw a bit of grass move near a boulder.


    "I think the area over there has its nest. It is going toy an egg soon and it was just trying to protect its home and itself. When I used the all around appraisal skill it told me that straw snakes get very aggressive when they are with child." Walker was breathing a sigh of relief. It may be a monster but he had read that straw snakes were very useful for the extermination of farnd pests.


    "It''s been years since I saw a straw snake. But I always thought they were tiny. That one is huge. Itmust have been an adult." Gil had only ever seen a very young straw snake which was waved off by his mother when Gil found it. After that, he had never seen it again.


    "Clearing the grass was a very good decision." Su made sure the fire spirit knew that clearing the grass was a wise choice to make when facing an opponent like that. She didn''t want it to feel like it had let them down since it had not been able to fight the monster.


    "I''m fine with not fighting another monster. It was better to just let it head away. I want to get home and see how that old man acts when he realizes I know so much that he doesn''t" Remey was fine with letting a monster pass by. She would prefer not to fight at the moment since she waspletely focused on alchemy instead of fighting even though she just received new weapons.


    "I thought you would want to fight something with your new knuckles?" Walker was too foolish and asked her about fighting.


    Unexpectedly Remey''s response was calm and thought ut, "I have n idea what skills I will be able to use with my partner here. It''s better to worry about alchemy and then train with dummies first. What if I can''t switch the knuckly I need while in battle and take a hit?" Remey took the lead on the path after this leaving the party silent and in awe at her calm decisions. Having the fire spirit with her had changed her goals for the time being.


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 Chapter 718 - 718. Midnights Growls

    The party had a fairly uneventful day other than the straw snake. They moved through the grasses at a fast pace due to their excitement of being home. Midnight and the fire spirit were testing the limits of the golem so any rocks that came in to view became things for the golem to jump on. Any trees became opponents to dodge around. And any perfectly t areas became a running track for them.


    The spirits that were with Walker decided to stick close to the party but rush off in to the surrounding area when seeing something interesting. There were a few times he heard them mentioning the odd strange rock or good mana to absorb. It was very impressive watching them all work together to help each other gain more elemental mana. Walker had the feeling that if the staff he was aiming to make didn''t end up needed them tobine in to a nature spirit that they would be the ideal team.


    Su had been carrying the earth dwelling shield on her back the entire time. The earth spirit had taken up residence sitting on it while watching her back. It didn''t seem to be as energetic as the other spirits but instead very calm and collected. The entire party couldn''t help but believe it was an exact copy of Su but in earth spirit form. Su didn''t seem to hate the idea since she felt a great connection with the spirit. However, the spirit would always react by getting closer to her when anyone would say it.


    The only spirit that hadpletely disappeared was Zephyr. She had rushed in to the sky and was only showing herself here and there. "I''m telling you, it''s fine. She is just getting more in touch with the wind up there. I have the feeling that she will spend a lot of time up in the sky like that once we get home. Hopefully the currents up there arefortable for her." Gil didn''t worry that he wouldn''t see Zephyr but instead that she wouldn''t befortable.


    "Hey Walker, I''ve been wondering something." Gil got Walkers'' attention as they strolled through the tall grass path. "You said you still need a fire spirit to join you to finish your quest right? How will you find one in the city? I never heard of one being around, but I know that humans don''t really go looking for them." Gil had a good point but Walker had already thought of that.


    "I was nning on asking the spirits to help me fiend others. I think that awakening the spirits around the city will only help the people out. There have to be a bunch of dormant spirits around that no one ever realizes are spirits. If we can wake them up and also bond with the spirits while we do it, it''s a win win. Plus, it should be fun." Walker also saw this as a way for him to improve his sensing of mana. He could try and sense the small amounts of mana being absorbed by dormant elemental spirits.


    "I agree. The spirits that were around the elf city were plentiful. I can imagine that there are many that have fallen dormant around the city. I wouldn''t put it past some nobles to have them as decorations since they are very interesting and beautiful in dormant forms." Su had thought of this as well and chimed in with her own thoughts.


    "I can help when I''m not busy. I''m sure my partner would want more alchemy fire spirits like itself. But, there might also be other kinds of unique spirits. We''ve met a grand wind spirit with a name, an ice spirit, and a fire spirit that changed in to an alchemy fore spirit. Who knows what there is.'' Remey made the biggest point of all. They had no idea what other unique spirits there were in the world.


    They were about to continue when Midnight stopped and fell in to a crouch. She growled softly and she summoned her skeletal armor skill. The dragon golem started to release its'' spikes forbat form. The two were on full alert and everyone followed suit. There was something wrong and Walker had begun to smell it.


    The party had higher levels now and they could move much faster. Especially since they did not get held up changing their nned path. They had reached the very edge of their kingdom and should see the first of the farthest and smallest farms. The operative term was, should.


    The smoke that was filling the skies and the fire that they saw in the field of what used to be wheat caused them to fall in to their own serious expressions. The elemental spirits covered behind Walker whole the others went to their dwelling items. This could be very serious.


    "Walker, can you make it rain?" The tone Gil used was pained but extremely serious. He had grown up in the farms and loved every bit of opennd full of food to support the people and help them grow strong. It was not a stretch to say he had learned the true basics of growing a kingdom through farming.


    "I never tried, but I will use every bit of mana I have even if it knocks me out for days." Walker was not sure if he would be able to affect that much, however, the ice spirit moved from behind him and rested in his hand. He felt the water elemental mana start to get pulled from the air around him and condense. The ice spirit was going to make sure that Walker had what he needed to help.


    The elemental spirits were the best at knowing the flow of nature. They may love the elements they are made of and what they can do but within reason. The fire elemental spirit loved fire. Natural forest fires would not make it unhappy. However, forest fires caused on purpose or that were not meant to bnce nature sickened it. The anger Walker felt from behind him as Remys'' partner and to his side as the golem shook, was intense.


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 Chapter 719 - 719. Make It Rain

    Walker was focusing all his attention on the water elemental mana that the ice spirit was pulling toward him. Not a single nce was sparred for anything else. He could feel the mana pushing back against him. No matter how much of his own mana Walker used he felt that he was missing some. He was pushing his body much farther than normal, even with his higher level.


    Remey was constantly opening the mana potions she had left and putting them to Walkers'' lips. She saw that he was burning away all of his mana to change the water elemental mana in to a dense ck cloud. It was just like a brutal storm cloud butcked the lightning that would cause damage.


    The fore elemental spirit in the golem left the dwelling core and was doing its best to force the fore elemental mana to calm down. But it was too much to control for two high elemental fire spirits. The mana was out of control and there was other mana in the mix. Demonic mana in the mix.


    ''The user has broken the limits of the mana bank skill. Mana is being stored above normal levels. The skill mana cells has been forcefully learned through user cations.


    Mana cell- passive


    The mana cell skill happens when a user is forced beyond the normal limits of mana within their body. The normal side effect is that the mana consumes would slowly leave the body and the user would pass out. However, the user has surpassed this and their cells have been forcefully altered. The user gains +50 permanently. The user will suffer constant mana leakage due to the mana cell skill.''


    Walker felt a burning in his body as the mana seemed to flow more and he was able to use more. The water elemental mana became more easily bendable to his will. He condensed it more and more to the point where it would push back even against the strongest master water mage.


    When the rain started it was not a simple rain over a small area. It was a rain that began t epass miles.


    ''The skill flooding rain has been taken from the rain dancer system. The skill flooding rain has been learned through the user''s interaction with a water spirit and the user''s action.


    Flooding rais- 175 mana cost


    The user condenses a massive amount of water elemental mana with the help of a water spirit at least at the high tier. The user forces the mana to be extremely dense rain clouds that hold the rain as long as possible over a massive area. The rain will fall in torrents causing floods to streams, tnds, and general areas. This rain does not cause instant harm but quickly causes flooding. The rain only happens for a short period of time.''


    Walker did not read the skills because as soon as he used the rain he passed out. The change that had happened to his body had not gone unnoticed and Remey along with Su took turns feeding him mana potions. Walker had the feeling of manaing off him but it was very small amounts.


    "The fires are dying down and the rain has pretty much soaked the entire farnds. None of it should be able to catch again. But what caused it?" Gil wanted to rush off but he was too conscious of the situation. If he left and something happened then his party could be hurt.


    The fire elemental spirits returned to Remey and the golem respectively. They had exhausted their mana stores since they were trying to oppress the mes ravishing the fields.


    Midnight was still growling and Onyx was in a coil ready to strike. He had reverted to hisrgest form. They could both smell the foreign mana in the air along with the dark smoke all around them. There were too many fields ahead of them that had been damaged and would need at least a full year to recover.


    "We can carry Walker now that we have gotten his mana some what replenished. We should keep moving toward the kingdom with extreme caution." Su took the lead and got Walker on her back. She was fairly strong and didn''t mind shouldering the burden to carry him. He had just given it his all and appeared to have changed himself just to stop the fires.


    "If there is anyone that was harmed I have some healing potions that were not in Walker''s storage. I can help them. They are high enough tier that we can use partial amounts diluted with water to heal minor injuries and burns." Remey was prepared and didn''t need to rely on Walkerpletely. Yet, she wanted to be able to carry more in case there was a need.


    The party started to move slowly. Gil ordered the dragon golem to follow behind them while the spirits were checking up on Walker constantly. They were much more protective of him nit than anyone had realized. They had begun to idolize his will especially after seeing what he could do with their help. The flooding rain skill that he had used with the ice spirit was a very powerful magic spell that they could not do alone and only a specific system could use.


    "The sooner we reach the kingdom the better. We have no idea what''s going on." Su stated this and started to move faster. The party had no idea what was going on in the kingdom at all.


    Unknown to the party, every guard, army member, and adventurer had just received a series of quests based on what they were able to do. The constant was that they fell under the emergency quest tab. Most had this system description before the requirements,


    ''Emergency quest- Title holder Pride Attacks


    The kingdom is being attacked by the title holder demon of pride. The army of two hundred hand picked and trained demons is currently attacking the fields and walls. Every adventurer, guard, and able bodied member of the army is called to defend the innocent.''


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 Chapter 720 - 720. Clara Takes Control

    {This happened slightly before The party came to the fields but will catch up to it.}


    "I have been back for a week and there is already chaos." The king could only feel that the odds were stacked against him. The mess that was building an entirely new city had brought him stress already. Now, he was receiving an emergency quest to mobilize his army against one of the generals from the demon army. "Call for my general and mobilize the adventurers'' guild. I want every guard on duty whether they are awake or not!"


    The castle was in full swing trying to contact every possible person it needed for the defense of a city. The first noble to make an appearance was none other than Markus Raven. "My king. My guard has locked down the treasury. It can only be opened with your and my mana and blood. What do you need of me?" This was his protocol when things of this nature happened. He would go and activate a special seal that would block anyone from entering the treasury no matter what.


    "Unlock the armory and bring out the weapons we need. I will be contacting the guild master so that he can send his high ranking adventurers to the walls. Gove them what they need to battle. I don''t care the cost of the weapon or the armors, and give his vice guild master the ax we received from the elves. It will help." Markus Raven did not hold true to any of the usual slow paced walking in the castle. He turned and sprinted to get the job done.


    The treasury and armory were held in different parts of the depths of the castle so that any breaking in could not steal the strongest weapons and the most valuable assets. Markus had already rushed from his quarters in the castle to the treasury then to the throne room. Now he was pushing himself to get to the armory.


    When he came to a solid iron door he tore a pendant from his neck and whispered a phrase. He had many skills that were able to lock away valuables due to his system and standing. One let him make mana infused keys like his pendant.


    The iron door glowed with hidden runes and creaked open. He motioned for his nearby guards to begin moving out what they needed. He on the other hand moved deep in to the armory passing some of the more beautiful and powerful weapons.


    When he reached a small circr room he looked at the most powerful and valuable items the kingdom had crafted or been gifted. One of which was a cloth wrapped Axe. He used all his strength to lift it and thanked the elves for the farewell gift as he ran ad fast as he could out of the armory towards the first walls. His guards were at his heels with a great deal of weapons and armors.


    "I sent some of my summons and they had reported the exact details directly to the king already. You know I may have some cards up my sleeve. But I will need you to deal with that sin demon title holder." Ibis was dead serious while speaking to Barry. "This is an arrangement I have with the king. You are my right hand but also one of the kingdom''s strongest.


    "I never wanted to do the armys'' bidding again. But I won''t lie...I love this kingdom. So let me crush the bastard that thinks they can burn out fields and force our farmers toe running. I didn''t protect them from the horde of horned rabbits just for their fields to be piged by some small demon army." Barry would have said no if it was an order from the king. But the guild master was asking and he couldn''t refuse the people he had already protected so many times.


    Barry promptly left the room while leaving ra and Ibis along, "I will be heading out and summoning my friend to help. It has been some years and I will need to rest for some time after. I expect you will help Barry. He is too strong to lose to just one demon general now." Ibis looked like he was feeling his old age creeping on him.


    "I understand. I will take full control of the guild and begin using my skills." ra had not had much reason to use all of her skillstely. She used them in daily life as a floor manager but now she had held down the guild while Ibis and Barry were gone. She had more experience and the ability to do it, not to mention the confidence to do so as well.


    "You gained the perfect system for it and you have the skills to do it all. I trust you. You are family after all." Ibis walked out of the room leaving ra to take control.


    She took a deep breath and looked at her system, "I was born a mess and that old man and old woman brought me here and raised me. Some dad leaving his daughter in charge just because I have the master of the guild system." ra had long loved Ibis as a father and his departed wife as a mother. They were family and every single person that came to the guild became family as well. This was where she was raised.


    "Guild wide emergency quest. Description; Defend our home.


    The guild master and vice guild master are leaving to face the demon enemy burning our fields. Every member that participates may be evaluated for advancement. Earn rewards. Will be allowed the use of armor and weapons from the royal armory. Move your feet and show those who dare our might."


    Cara used her skill to send a guild wide notification to every single adventurer. No matter where they were or what they were doing they would receive the notification. She took another deep breath and began to send orders to the strongest partys'' and the staff. Her job was just starting.


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 Chapter 721 - 721. Weird Feeling

    Walker was being carried on Su''s back and felt that he was being forced awake somehow. The feeling of mana leaving his boy was constant and he was confused about what was going on. However, the only thing he could see was the forced notification from ra acting as the master of the guild.


    "Wh-y why did ra send us.." He mumbled softly as he properly read the notification and realized what was going on. He then read the notification about the demon''s army and the pride demon general.


    "Calm down. The fires are out and we are moving toward the kingdom as fast as possible. It looks like we went right through the same path the demons did. Su, stop and let Walker down." Gil was the first to notice that Walker was awake and struggling with confusion since he wasn''t sure what was going on as he read all the system notifications.


    "Are you feeling alright? We can all feel the mana leaving you but it doesn''t seem to be making you ill. We used some mana potions to get the color back in your face." Remey was the most concerned. She has a better sense of the mana and could tell that Waker may have replenished it but he was leaking it as he absorbed it back in to his body.


    "I...gained a skill. It lets me have fifty more mana butes with some drawbacks. It feels like the mana that I replenish naturally leaks away so I will take longer to replenish. I need to be a lot more careful in the future. It may have been a poor decision to try and put that fire out all at once." Walker was regretting it a little. The flooding rain skill was a lot of mana at once but could be very valuable in droughts. But the drawbacks of the leaking mana was risky while out adventuring.


    "I am sure that we can find a solution at some point. But I do remember you mentioning a bracelet that may do that?" Su was clearer minded than Walker at the moment. He had totally forgotten the Gift for Alice and the ability it had. However, he didn''t have another and refused to use it himself. He bought it for her so she could have the opportunity to speak whenever she wanted. She wanted to be able to with her own power but a bracelet as a gift might be eptable to her.


    Before he could speak on it je was gripped with the worry for Alice. For his family. There were demonsing to wage war along with a sing demon title holder. "Where are we? Have we discovered what the demons look like and where they are?" He became serious as the adrenalin was clearing his mind.


    "Not yet, I have plenty of traces and we are following in their footsteps. I wish we could see them but they were ahead of us. I do know that it looks like the kingdom called all the farmers inside the walls." Gil looked a lot more rxed having seen the evidence of hastily left farmers. They had evacuated in time leaving no one injured or hurt that Gil could scout out.


    Midnight and Onyx were still very on edge but had rxed more now that Walker was back. He may have been unsteady on his feet at first but now he was getting used to the strange feeling of leaking mana. "Don''t worry about me. Let''s keep moving. We have some corrupted demons to take care of." The elemental spirits that had been holding back from him heard his words and moved back to their positions clinging to him.


    The party was reinvigorated with Walker back up on his feet. Every single one of them was worried that the hour he had been passed out was too much and that the drawback of his new skill would be too much for him to deal with. However, as they watched him move they noticed a strange urrence around him.


    "Leader, you know that every movement you make has mana within it now. Your steps and your body. It is very different." Su had felt it around Walker since she was still closer to him out of worry.


    "I sort of noticed that too. I''m just not sure what to do about it. I think I might be able to use it to develop new skills and maybe even manipte more of the elementals around me since my mana is around in the air too. It''s mixed with the elemental mana and it feels odd. But we have way more to worry about now." Walker pulled the moldable crystal ball and began to change its shape in to a spear. He had just sighted the nearest demon.


    "Why does it look so...perfect?" Remey was shivering. The demon was just too perfectly bnced and even. It was unsettling just how exact it was while holding two swords in hand. The two wings on its back were moving in unison and Walker swore that it moved its legs faster to even itself up every step.


    "They are demons under the pride title holder, right? What if they take pride in their appearance and actions? It could be some strange way to look perfect?" Su felt the difort and deemed it unnatural. However, she also knew that this couldn''t be something done of the demons'' own volition.


    "Don''t tell me you are saying that the two hundred demons will all be exact replicas of this sin demon¡­" Gil wasn''t ready to face two hundred of the same powerful demon.


    "I would say they have to be modeled after it at least." Walker could see that the demons were only in a small group. Some distance ahead closer to the walls in the distance were the others of the demon of prides'' army.


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 Chapter 722 - 722. Disgusting Balance

    "I would tell everyone we should watch and prepare. But they have already seen us. Gil, you''re up." Walker was sure they could have hidden for some time if the farmnds had not been burned. There was nowhere to hide in the soaking wet ash greyndscape.


    The demons that had noticed them did not seem to be very intelligent. Instead of alerting the other demons they each ran at the party alone. Even the three in the lead were almostpeting to get to them first. It was a good thing for the party but also disappointing for anyone to watch since teamwork was a major factor in any kingdom.


    Gil didn''t hesitate to draw an arrow. The demonsing were wielding the swords in perfectly bnced motions which made him want to keep them farther from the party. The earth elemental arrow Gil had pulled back and was about to release was targeting the nearest demon. The slow breathing stopped as Gil released an arrow and quickly grabbed another.


    To any untrained eye, the arrow would appear to miss. However, to the party, the arrow was going tond right in front of the running demon. When the arrownded there was only a moment before the earth elemental mana surged and a spike of earth pierced the demon.


    What followed was not an instant death. The demon proved to have higher defenses than the party expected. But that still was not the point. What had happened was horrifying. The demon pulled itself off of the earth spike that had shot from the ground to pierce him. When realizing it was no longer perfectly bnced and in pristine condition, the demon stabbed itself with its swords.


    "It just...killed itself with its own swor-" The massive explosion of mana and dark elemental mana caused all of them to stumble even at their far distance. The demon had not just stabbed itself. When it had lost its perfect appearance and bnce it had self destructed its own mana to cause an explosion.


    The horrified looks of everyone in the party were only calmed by the other demons approaching. Walker knew that the moldable crystal ball would not be the ideal weapon. Instead, he needed something that could withstand a brutal explosion and attack from range. What better than to use earth magic to create another wall and structure. He had the perfect example in the distance; walls and battle towers for defense.


    "I am going to make a wall with towers. It will take me a moment but we should be able to resist and the other demons that were alerted by the sound." Walker dug his hands in to the mud and felt the earth elemental spirit assisting in the gathering of the earth elemental mana. The ice spirit was exhausted but still pulled at the water elemental mana to assist.


    This made things easier and Walker felt that he could influence the manas better. He decided to use both the water and earth elemental mana to create his defensive wall and towers. Meanwhile, Gil was letting fly arrows at the now charging demons. He could count ten in total trying to get to them while the others were too far off and focused on the kingdom.


    Two more explosions rocked the ground as Gil found his targets. He learned that only major differences would cause the demons to lose their minds and forcefully explode themselves. It was sickening and he wished for a way to stop thempletely. However, when he used the earth arrow differently and a demon fell in a hole only to get stuck it imploded itself as well.


    The earth elemental mana and the water elemental mana werebined in the ground due to Walker''s flooding rain skill. Since he had the image of walls and towers in his mind he went with it and forced the mud to start moving up.


    ''The skill ice border wall has been taken from the ice fortress builder system. The skill ice border wall has been automatically learned.


    Ice border wall- 35 mana cost


    Using the assistance of an ice and an earth elemental spirit the user is able to manifest a special border wall. The wall consists of two towers and a wall between them. This border wall can be constructed multiple times together. The user calls thebination of earth and water elemental mana to change shape and rise to the defensive forms. The wall and towers can resist most attacks unless repetitive and focused. The wall will naturally decay over time without consistent maintenance. The user is able to dispel this and return the wall to the ground when they desire.''


    The mud rose up and began to freeze. There were two round structures that rose on the sides. Gil managed to hop on top of one and was still fairing arrows from his new vantage point as ayer of ice formed over the muddy interior. When Walker opened his eyes he was standing in the middle of a wall. One with an inside of frozen mud and outside of frosty ice.


    "Leader, that was great. Now we can attack without worry." Su was already in front of Walker to keep any sts away from him.


    ''Walker, I think I can drop some of the yellow slime body from the wall or tower. That should make them very unhappy." Remey looked evil saying this. But to her, this was the same as making a battle potion. The only difference was that she hadn''t made this one. She would be using the creation of a demon to beat a demon. It was a pure irony.


    With the n in ce, Walker did not hesitate. He began to open up holes using his trench skill. He didn''t want to use any fire orva rted skills since it could damage the wall. The strategy would work as a thirdyer of defense in front of them.


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 Chapter 723 - 723. Charge Ahead

    Su moved to cover Remey. The demons may have been wielding swords but that did not stop them from throwing both of them at the same time towards the ice border wall Walker had created. The swords were not exceptionally sharp and when Su blocked them some even shattered. One of the intact swords was carved and looked very ornate. Even decorative.


    "Thank you Su, now it''s my turn." Remey had one of the bottles of yellow slime body. She knew that this could be very dangerous to use as a weapon since it could harm all of them and not just the demons.


    Using the alchemic fire and the assistance of the alchemy fire spirit she made sure the bottle was well sealed. She started to heat it up and waited as the pressure built. The slime body inside was getting forced to expand but couldn''t due to the resistance of the ss that didn''t even melt away with the acidic nature of the slime body.


    When Remey had felt it was enough she looked toward the three demons that had gotten close enough and tossed the jar over the wall. She had the height to aim properly and watched as it fell. Just before it hit, she was covered by Su and the two heard the shattering of ss along with a chorus of hissing sounds.


    When the two looked next they saw that the pressurized slime body had sttered all over the three demons causing them to struggle in pain. However, the real attack was not to cause them to be defeated but to ruin their perfectly symmetrical appearances. The one that had been hit directly had lost most of its clean and pristine appearance. The clothing it had worn burning and melting away.


    The reaction to losing the perfection was instant. The demon stopped and pulled two daggers from its waist. The demon ended itself the same way as the other had and an explosion of darkness elemental mana rang out. The other two near it were the same. They felt that the damage they received ruined them. The followed the first and two more explosions rang out.


    "These demons can''t be doing this seriously. It''s just too¡­" Su gave Remey a pat on the shoulder. They both agreed. Remey just couldn''t help but see the terror of this too much. There was always the chance that there would be an explosion when making new potions or very dangerous potions. She would never want to be hurt or perish in such a way. However, these demons were doing it on purpose.


    "Walker! They areing towards us less. There''s someone that just came through the gate. Or, maybe they jumped from the top of the gate." Gil had picked out the person and watched them walk toward the mass of demons.


    When the burst of light took form above that person they all knew who they were. It was Barry and Ibis. The white summon of Ibis was flying through the air with wings like des. They sliced through seven demons as if they were air. The explosions that rang out showed the party that even without the demons activating it themselves, they would explode when seriously injured.


    "What does Barry have in his hands?" Walker could make out a glint in the distance. But he saw that the mana that left the demons was being pulled towards him. "It''s absorbing the darkness mana from the explosions!"


    Gil had the better eyesight and looked carefully. He could see the crystal appearance of arge ax. The darkness elemental mana was dancing around inside of it as if it was forced to be inside the ax or else. "It''s an ax made of crystals! It looks like it''s from the elves." Gil had no sooner spoken than Barry had released an attack.


    Barry was not in a berserk state but the swing of the ax was still powerful enough to take down fifteen demons. The shocking part was that the ax also let out a de of darkness elemental mana that took out ten more demons behind the ones that Barry defeated.


    The following explosion fueled the ax again and the darkness elemental mana inside was even more powerful. The party understood why the demons were no longer charging at them. Walker willed the ice border wall to melt away and the party was on the ground in minutes. "We are moving forward to help them. Midnight, see if the golem can join in. It should have the strength to resist the explosions by itself."


    Midnight huffed in response and the fire spirit came out to speak with her. Walker could feel the fire elemental mana surge and the spirit took control of the golem. When Midnight and the golem roared together the echo was enough to affect the far of demons slightly. Midnight and the golem started off on a straight shot toward the demons.


    "Walker, I will remain back firing arrows. These demons are almost robotic. They don''t even speak or roar. I don''t think they are really different demons anymore." Gil had been taking note of the actions of each demon and found that they were definitelycking consciousness and their own will. They were more or less monsters now.


    "I thought that would be the case. We need to take down the pride demon general. It has to be the cause of this." Walker moved as fast as he could to keep up with Midnight and the golem. He was nning on creating another ice border wall for Remey and Su when they were closer. It would allow protection to Remey who had plenty of the acidic yellow slime body to use as a weapon. Walker could even pull more out from his storage for her.


    They charged ahead with this in mind for strategy.


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 Chapter 724 - 724. Perfect Demon

    "Barry, the heroes are here. I have told Ibis that he needs to start splitting off and taking down the demons. You will take the one in the middle ordering them. That is their leader. The scouts have already tracked him." Barry saw the notification from ra. The system and standing as the acting guild master gave her the ability to send any adventurer messages.


    "I''ll see what I can do." Barry swung the ax with force and sent another group of demons to the afterlife. He could feel the power as soon as he touched the Ax.


    Markus had been waiting for him to arrive at the wall. He had the ax wrapped in a strange cloth. When unwrapped the crystal ax had begun to pull in all mana around it. Barry remembered clearly what Markus had told him¡­


    "This is an ax gifted by the elves. They rarely like to make closebat weapons but made one just as a gift for our king before he left. This is a symbol of the strength we have in our bond. It has the unique ability to absorb any elemental mana constantly. When it gathers enough of it, the ax will release a thrown de and start to gather mana again. Use it wisely and show off the strength of our kingdom." Markus had handed over the de then, letting Barry take full control¡­


    "That Markus was right. This ax is full of power. Now, where is your leader? Huh? Or will you just keep sending puppets my way?" Barry shouted full force and directed every single demon at him. The force of his shout had the same taunting effect as any guardian''s skills but had the added skill of adding anger to the opponent.


    "You worm. How dare you disrespect me! I am the perfect demon. The perfect bnce. The pristine ideal for all life!" Therger demon stepped forward. "Can you not see that I molded these specimens in to the perfect beings? Only I can shape the demons on to the perfect army for my lord. We are the most powerful"


    Barry looked at the demon who seemed to be an exact image of what a demon should be. Curling horns of equal side and shape. Wings spread perfectly on his back. And even the nails were exactly the same length and sharpness on each hand.


    "You look pretty weak to me. Without your puppets, I should be able to cut through you." Barry lifted the ax and charged.


    "This is why I hate other races. No elegance. No perfection. Just a disgusting mix of uneven ugliness. I am Pride, remember that after I defeat you and mold you in to a true being worthy to walk the earth." Pride pulled the two swords he had on his hips and held them in a perfect cross blocking the swing of Barry''s ax.


    Barry grunted as he pulled back to swing again. Unlike the other demons in Pride''s image, Pride himself was powerful. "You might have a little strength, but I am just warming up." The mana around Barry was being pulled in to the ax. Ibis was ying the demons around them constantly using small white elemental summons in the shapes of birds.


    The ax Barry swung a second time released the thrown de of darkness elemental mana. The mud and water kicked up by the attack made Barry jump back and wonder if he had done damage.


    The image of Pride stepping through the debris without even a drop of mud on him was shocking. "You believe a weak thing like you could beat me with my own mana? I ravaged their mana systems and molded them. Their mana is the same as my own mana. Pathetic!" Pride shed with both swords at the same time, cutting Barry equally in his arms. The shallow cuts bloomed with red.


    "Barry!" Walker held out a hand casting his healing skills at Barry and also using the multi buff skill on everyone. Midnight and the golem jumped in to the fray with Inis. Walker had told them to support Ibis since he was taking the majority of the demons down by himself. Walker knew that Midnight was tough enough to handle the explosions.


    Onyx slithered through the mud and wrapped around Barry, bing his tattoo form. "Brother will speak through me. We will attack the demon together. The others are helping Ibis and will support us when needed. This demon is troublesome." Onyx was the idealmunicator to get their thoughts to Barry without Pride knowing. Without any hesitation, Walker and Barry conversed about the things they knew about pride.


    "A hero? Oh, all the heroes. I did have minor hope that you might be a little more perfect. But you are not a real hero. A real hero would be like me, bnced and elegant. Strong and domineering. You are just...weak. I can fix you though. Just let me mold you." The venom and prestige that dripped from Prides'' voice made Walker shiver slightly.


    "I would never be like you. You''re just too, ugly. How could you think you are perfect? You just force others in to your own image to feel good about yourself." Walker was mocking Pride. It was clear that this would be the ideal way to damage the demon.


    "Now now, calm down. This demon is just too stupid to know that it will never be perfect. Imperfection is the only way to be perfect. Let me show you." Barry charged in with his wounds healed by Walker. The ax had been absorbing more elemental mana around them. This time it came from an ice border wall that had sprung up behind Barry and Walker with Su and Remey on top of it.


    Now that Walker had joined Barry the ax would not be absorbing the darkness elemental mana only. He could do more damage.


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 Chapter 725 - 725. Title Holder, Pride

    The swing at Pride resulted in a chilling st of water elemental mana creating an ice thrown de. This managed to grind on the swords that Pride used to block. He still maintained the perfect crossed X shape.


    With a sh, Barry was forced back and narrowly dodged the damage. Onyx was still rying the information to him through his skill from Walker. "This demon said he molds others. He attacks the mana system." Barry knew that this meant that if he were to fall to this demon that he would most likely end up fighting as a puppet and not as a dead man.


    "He is a title holder. The odds are that it is his skill to take over the bodies at some point or some way. It''s terrible. That means at least, every single demon here could have had their own lives and dreams. They were taken by him." Walker felt that he couldn''t just idly heal Barry. He needed to fight too. "If we take this one down we may be able to rescue some of the soldiers. I don''t know though."


    Walker and Barry nodded as Barry attacked again. However, Walker also attacked. He spun the spear he had made and activated the de of night and day skill. The light and darkness elemental mana red to life and he pushed off the ground propelling himself toward the distracted demon of pride.


    Pride saw thising and easily blocked the attacks of Barry and Walker at the same time. Walker tried to use the spear to attack with the skills he had but every single attack was blocked with the soft ting of metal. Barry was the same. However, the movements that blocked Walker''s attacks also attacked him.


    Barry was not a defender. He was an attacking tank of a berserker. This meant that every attack left its mark on him. Luckily he was not receiving deep wounds. But this gave him the feeling that he was just being toyed with.


    "Neither of you can stand up to me. My lord sent me here to damage your weak pathetic city. Although, that would be imperfect. I will perfectly destroy and erase this ce. I will take it for my own and build it better. It will be perfect." Pride smiled and the perfecting of his face stayed chillingly focused on Walker and Barry.


    The two swords he held shrieked with his mana and Pride rammed forward trying to stab Barry and Walker at the same time. Walker''s instincts pushed his body to move at the same time as the attack came. The dance of the wild rabbit skill was already activated causing him to duck under the sword. Barry managed to use the ax to swing and deflect the attack.


    The inequality of their methods infuriated Pride. He struck again and again attempting to wound them but only managed shallow cuts and missing shes. "You imperfect weaklings! My attacks are perfect. You must fall to them!" Pride was beginning to unravel. The more explosions from defeated demons seemed to affect his mind. He couldn''t help but want to attack more when he felt a presence.


    "Ahh Pride. I thought you said you were the most powerful. How sad you are. How imperfect. You thought that your form was perfection. But you never melded perfection with power. I sent you to weaken the humans and that is what you have done. Their farnds are burned. Now I am done with you." The voice of the demon lord rang in Prides'' mind.


    The bloodshot eyes of the demon known as Pride turnedpletely red. He had been cast aside. Only imperfect tools were cast aside. He was not imperfect. He couldn''t be. He refused to be. He was perfect. He was ideal. He was powerful. He would shape the world. He would mold everything.


    "I will show you all perfection!" The rumble of mana within Pride caused Barry and Walker to retreat. "I shake the world with my purity. I bnce the light with the dark. I hold all in my hands and show it the shape it should take. I am the perfect being that stands above any and all whoe to existence. I am Pride, god of the world."


    The mana caused Pride''s body to change. He started to twist in on himself and berger. His madness from being cast aside by the demon lord he had taken pride in and the insults that came with it were too much. All Pride had was his mastery skill and title to lean on. He would start his own domination.


    "This thing is losing it," Barry shouted out loud not waiting for Onyx to ry themunication.


    "That was a mastery skill. I don''t know what we should do but we need a big attack." Walker was worried that Barry would lose himself to the berserk traits he had to gain the power needed to defeat Pride.


    The hulking form Pride had taken had six arms holding gruesome curved swords. He had gained six horns evenly spaced on his head. The slicked back hair had be ck spikes like needles. His perfect clothing fell away to patterns of runes carved in to his body in perfect symmetry. All the demons he had molded fell to the ground with their mana seeping out of them toward Pride. "Feel the strength of a perfect being!" The roar that came through the brutal sharp teeth shook the ground.


    "Perfect being? A perfect being doesn''t rob their army of mana and let an old man like me fly on the back of my summoned partner to face you, does it?" Ibis had floated down and stood in front of Pride. "You two can back away a little. I think it''s time for me to retire as the guild master. Barry, my daughter will be in your care. I expect you to support her as the vice guild master for some time. Now, let''s see who has the stronger mastery skill. The title holder Pride, or the white Ibis that crushed puny demons like you with a casual nce."


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 Chapter 726 - 726. Pure Light...

    Walker couldn''t fully understand what Ibis''s words meant. He heard him trust ras'' protection to Barry and that he was retiring from the position. All of this made Walker assume that Ibis was going to die from his mastery skill usage. "Stop spacing out there and let''s get the hell out of there." Barry grabbed Walker and carried him farther away from the battle that was about to happen.


    "But Ibis...he''s going to die!" Walker yelled over the sounds of running.


    "Die? What do you mean? He is going to use his mastery skill. He will crush that monster." Barry wasn''t sure what to do but saw that the other party members had seen him take away Walker towards the ice border wall and hade running as well.


    "Are we leaving? What''s wrong? All of them seem to be passed out. Did we win somehow?" Gil was the least in the lop since he had been the farthest away. Midnight and the dragon golem were trying to figure out what to do and thought it best to return to Walker since he was the party leader.


    "Can you get rid of this damaged ice wall thin and make another two or three? The guild master is about to use his mastery skill. He may be a summoner and can control the light elemental summons but what he is about to summon will be a little too much." Barry had seen this skill only once before and he had never forgotten it.


    Walker wanted to ask many questions but when he felt the light elemental mana react he began preparing the ice border walls as asked after he caused the one that Su and Remey were on top of to melt and fall back to the earth.


    "Here, another mana potion. You need to focus on your mana loss more." Remey sounded like a nagging parent but she could tell that Walker was pushing himself to force the three ice border walls in to existence.


    "Vice guild master, what is happening? We could not hear all the details from the wall." Su was the one to ask Since Gil was still waiting as well.


    "The guild master is about to use his mastery skill. He summons light elemental creatures, yes, but when he summons this one it is a little intense. He uses all his mana and promises the creature his mana for a year. He will live for a year with only one mana and the monster he summons will protect the city for that year. It is an equal exchange but a dangerous one since it will only act against powerful foes like that thing over there." Barry pointed at Pride who truly looked like a demonic monster instead of a demon.


    "Then why did he say that he was entrusting ra to you and that she was taking over as guild master!?" Walker had started the raising on the ice border walls. They rose and left the group on the back on with Walker still looking at Barry in exasperation.


    "He has wanted to retire for some time. He only wanted her to be ready. We can talk about thatter. We need to be ready for this." Barry held the ax as if it were a shield.


    "If this will be as bad as Barry says then we need to be ready." Walker pulled Su''s shields out from his storage and Su held her dual shields in each hand while the earth dwelling shield was put on her back. The dragon style golem opened its wings and covered itself making a dome to protect itself. Walkers'' multi buff skill still protected everyone to some degree but the party and Barry moved behind Su.


    The light elemental mana surged away from where Walker was and the light elemental spirit looked panicked. It could feel the strength and control from whatever Ibis was doing and what was going toe. It would need to hide away itself to avoid what was going to happen. "Here we go," Barry spoke and they all heard Ibis''s voice as if he were right next to them.


    "Hear my call. I use the light of the world to create your body. The will of my mana to form your will. The strength of this sun to bathe your body. I ask for your protection and offer you myself. Come from your dimension of light and protect the light of ours. I call upon you, lord of light, Gryphon!" Ibis raised his hands in the air as a massive light rune circle formed beneath him and a blinding portal of light opened.


    The cry of an unknown bird was met with a pping of wings. The light elemental portal vanished leaving a massive white creature that shimmered in white. Barry couldn''t help but speak of what he was seeing and had seen before. "It''s just likest time. The talons that could cut through the darkest day. The body of a powerful lion blessed by the sun. The beak is strong enough to pierce the void. Feathers that shine like gems in the caves. That, is a pure light, griffin. The most powerful summon Ibis has ess to."


    The griffin that Ibis summoned pped its wings and came to stand in front of Ibis. "Ha! You feel the need to summon me against this weakling? I know you are old but I expected you to still have the strength to deal with this." The griffin spoke without moving making everyone confused but in awe. It was too powerful to ignore.


    "I had no choice great griffin. I was not able to shine bright enough in this old age and needed to call upon pure light such as yourself. Please assist this kingdom and bring the light to it." Ibis had learned how to respect such creaturs and properly asked for assistance. Unlike his other summons, he could not force this one to do his will.


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 Chapter 727 - 727. Annoying Me!

    Walker felt that he and the light elemental spirit could use all the mana they could muster and never pull even a little of the light elemental mana from the pure light griffon. The mana was more than just under its'' control. It was as if the mana was bowing to it.


    Barry was looking at the griffin knowing that it looked beautiful and calm but could unleash a devastating rage in the blink of an eye "Just stay close and be ready to fall behind the wall and the shield. Hold it up too. When the attacks happen we may be hit in the crossfire." Barry never showed his worry or stress, but at this moment his voice waivered enough to show the party just how serious this matter was.


    "Pathetic creature. You are not lion nor bird. You can never be perfect. I won''t even waste time attempting to mold you in to the proper perfection that I am." Pride had lost his mindpletely. He could not be called a demon anymore but instead a monster.


    The pure light griffin seemed to be infuriated hearing the insult. As much as pride was the embodiment of pride and even held the title, the pure light griffin was one of the strongest creatures that embodied light. They were proud and strong within their own right. To be insulted in this way by any being was enough to destroy a country.


    "Pathetic thing. You are full of darkness and can not even touch the light. I will erase you from this world so you may try again in another life." The words didn''t sound angry, however, they held an undeniable weight. These words crushed everyone that heard them and visibly make Pride shutter.


    Pride didn''t hesitate long, he drew the darkness elemental mana from his body and made the metal swords vibrate and hiss with the mana. The power of the attacks from the sword was sure to do major damage to anyone. Walker knew that if he was to face them he would not be able to block and would need to dodge just to survive for another second.


    The griffin just turned its head to the side and flicked a single talon. The darkness elemental mana on the swordspletely disappeared and the swords fell in to dust. "Weak. You are too weak. You know nothing of perfection. You haven''t even melded with an element properly." The griffin flicked again and a small beam of light appeared for a moment.


    When one of the arms on Prides'' body disintegrated he was frozen. He was no longer bnced and perfect. The gut wrenching screech that came from Prides'' maw was enough to deafen anyone that was not prepared for an attack.


    In a brutal effort to return to bnce, Pride tore off the opposite arm to match the other side. Once that was done he began to force the mana in his body to form swords again. These were made from pure darkness elemental mana. They looked to be much stronger than before and were only matched in color to Prides'' eyes which were bleeding darkness elemental mana.


    "Really? That thing has a berserker skill? It''s worse than mine it''s destroying his mana just to make him stronger." Barry had done a massive amount of research on berserker skills and had seen this one. "It''s the dark madness skill. Most demonic bears have it as a berserk skill that activates when it is down to thest of its health points. I needed to defeat one of them to purify myself and get the true berserker skill." This tidbit of information was interesting but none of them could spare it a thought.


    Pride rushed at the griffon swinging the swords of darkness down while screeching unknown phrases in his madness. "You annoy me!" The pure light griffin had finally had enough. It opened its mouth and light elemental mana was there to form an orb in the blink of an eye. None of them had ever seen such a fast gathering of mana in their lives.


    When they opened their eyes again the world was white. There was nothing but light. Pure light and some attached heat as the light ground against the other elemental manas of the world. The entire group was blinded by the light but they could feel it pushing them back. The border walls cracked and fell to pieces causing all of them to push against Su and the twin shields. Barry was behind all of them pulling them all close behind the shield and using his great strength to hold Su and the shield in ce.


    The light stopped and everyone only saw darkness. "Don''t worry. The effect will fade soon. Just don''t move and stay where you are. If you have healing spells use them, Walker." Barry gave orders and was able to sound calm even in the situation.


    Walker proceeded to remain in position and use his healing skills over and over on himself and everyone he touched.


    ''The skill area heal has been taken from the supporter system. The skill area heal has been automatically learned through multiple healing actions over a wide area.


    Area heal- 10 mana cost


    The user will expand a ring around himself of ten feet in diameter. Those within the ring will slowly gain healing as long as they are within the ring. The skill will onlyst for five minutes and is best used on minor wounds. Large wounds will take a great deal of time to heal. The user can expand this ring by spending double the mana for every additional foot.''


    Walker felt his eyesight begin to return. He no longer felt darkness and he saw the system notification instantly. He did not hesitate to cast the area heal skill. The group needed to see what was going on.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 728 - 728. Aftermath

    The scene that greeted them was not one they had thought they would ever see in their lives. The puer light griffin was pping itsrge wings to stay afloat within the air and survey the farmnds. The bodies of the demon army [pride had molded were undergoing a terrifying change.


    Some simply rotted away visibly to bones while others lost skin and even limbs to return to what they used to be. The normal demons they had once been before Pride had hijacked their mana system and forced them to change. They were not conscious but Walker could feel the need to go and check on them. Without even a flinch Su was in motion.


    The massive line of gouged up earth was all that could be seen for almost a mile. The pure light griffins'' attack has shred through the ground destroying every single piece of Pride. He waspletely defeated. It was such an easy thing for the griffin that Walker could only feel weak. He needed to get stronger faster so he could rival these corrupted demons.


    Walker was trying his best to think logically as he walked up to Ibis who was standing with the use of a cane he had never seen Ibis use before. The sweat and paleness only proved that Ibis was stuck with a single mana point no matter what. Walker had heard Barry and knew that the griffin would just take his mana so a mana potion would most likely not do anything.


    "Hell of skill, right? I have only been able to use it one other time in my life. It''s really wonderful." Ibis spoke as if he was showing off a cool toy instead of a massive pure light griffin that could eat all of them with ease.


    Losing his logic, Walker asked the first thing that came to mind in response, "Since you are making ra guild master does that mean that we need to get a new party manager?" Even Walker was stunned that this was what came out of his mouth.


    Ibis looked at him bewildered beforeughing, Ha! Kids these days. They see a mastery skill and can only think about is who their guild manager is. To answer your question, she will stay. I''m sure she won''t let you all get away. Now, help me get back to the city. I will need to take a year of rest before I get my mana back." The sigh came with a nce up at the pure light griffin. Ibis knew that getting the city a protector would cost so much mana. But it was necessary at the moment.


    Walker lent Ibis his shoulder and began to walk toward the walls where many adventures and guards swarmed. The moment thergest threat was gone, they had rushed out. Barry started to shout orders to gather the living demons to be healed and interrogated. He didn''t have much hope that they would remember much but even a shred of information was better than nothing.


    Su was treating those demons currently and the healers that began to join her were too business like to properly greet her. However, Walker took not that many of them were casting excited and happy nces at her. They were excited to work with the hero that had made a name for herself helping those in need even though she was not a healer type system holder.


    A group of adventurers came up with a stretcher that Ibis dly rested upon before they rushed him away towards the city. Then they said something about the cathedral to rest but Walker was still caught in everything happening around him.


    "You boy, I feel you are different." Walker was jolted from his thoughts by the same voice of the griffin.


    Unsure of what to do or say, Walker went with what seemed appropriate, "thank you for your assistance in protecting the city." He did a small bow toward the griffin that was able to hear and speak from so far up in the sky.


    "I was called. I could not allow anything to go awry in my presence. Especially against something so dark. It was not like you. It was dark and void of purity. You are different. A bnce of dark and light, and other things. Normally it would be beneath me to even look at another that is not pure but I believe you are close." The griffin flew further away and circled the city. It seemed to Walker that this was all it had wanted to say.


    Realizing he hadn''t taken stock of the golem and the others, Walker found that Midnight and the golem were checking the golem body for damage. Other than some dirt and debris it was perfectly fine. The ws would need some sharpening after cutting through some of the pride puppets.


    "Brother, Midnight wants you to shine the golems scalester." Onyx had made sure Barry was alright without him and started to slither through the adventurers and guards to help where he could. He was doing the same job as Su to tell the healers that might need guidance what the still living demons needed.


    "We will, and your scales too. Let me get ahold of things here first." Walker felt a hand on his shoulder and Gil revealed himself next to Remey who was waiting for Walker to pull health potions out from his storage.


    "Thanks, I will be with Su." Remey took more health potions and reached Su in an instant.


    "Now that Onyx is here, let''s see what he gathered from his stroll." Gil knew Walker was about to ask the same thing so he focused on Onyx.


    "The demons mostly do not have systems. From what some have spoken to me they were captured and forced to change using some skill. They lost control of their bodies and were forced to do Prides'' bidding. Strangely, the conscious ones say that they all have a quest now. It''s titled, free the demon race."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 729 - 729. Speculation

    "You mean they have quests but don''t have a system? How is that possible? I have never heard it happen before. I know people without systems usually end up doing smaller jobs and basically filling the gaps between professions. But, getting quests?" Gil was stunned to hear what Onyx was saying.


    "I know that when people don''t find their systems it is rare. But they still find lives. There are always some people that give up and fall down to poverty. But they can rise up on their own lower. They may not level up and have skills but they are needed. The city wouldn''t run without them. But if systemless people are getting quests, well, maybe they can get systems still. Maybe the age requirement just tells us that it won''t be easy to get a system anymore." Walker was openly guessing at this but it was enough to keep the silence of thought in the air.


    "Walker! Head to the city! The cathedral is gathering the remaining demons." Barry yelled out his order and Walker jumped to action. He released the remnants of the ice border walls and aimed himself at the city. The burned grounds behind him were worrisome and he wanted to try and fix the farms as much as possible. However, he needed to take every single problem one at a time.


    "So much for rcing huh?" Gil walked beside him and soon found himself on one end of a stretcher carrying an injured demon with Walker. The two didn''t see the point of not helping while heading back. It would be a waste to just head back without someone in need with them.


    The golem threw off the guards so before the wall the fire spirit left it and the golem went in to resting mode so Walker could store it away. The guards were shocked for a moment before mumbling things like, "That''s our hero." " The little guard grew up." "Remember when he was this high" It was kind of embarrassing but Walker was still sure to say hello and give a slight wave before continuing with the other healers and guards bringing in the injured demons. The guards were still required to stand at attention but because there were so many some were able to be more rxed.


    The city streets were a mess of guards and military rushing aboutmunication. Many adventurers were near the outer walls since they had been slightly damaged by the griffin and the demons. The explosions had corroded some of the protective earth runes making the wall weaker at one point.


    As they moved their path was expedited and every whaler or guard or adventurer carrying wounded was priorities. Walker began to notice some injured guards as well and realized that there had been those sent out to patrol and protect the farms during the evacuation.


    The cathedral loomed in front of them with a much more serious atmosphere than it had usually. The healing aura was still present and Walker used the skills he had to send a calming wave through the entire room and even started to use the area heal skill. Those around began to look much more rxed and those that had small wounds were healing much faster. Walker could easily pick out those who rushed away from farms and received scrapes and cuts from falling.


    The pair ced the demon on the stretcher down and Gil looked around, "I am going to make some rounds and check on those who lived around my and my parents. I want to make sure they are all safe and sound." Walker gave him a nod and Gil was off. Midnight was still on Walker''s heels but noticed the children nearby.


    "Brother, Midnight and I will go and y with them. They need something fun." Onyx had a big soft spot and so did Midnight for children. Walker couldn''t help but feel even more proud that they were so caring and showed a wide smile as they headed towards the group of rambunctious kids.


    "Sure chose the right time to get back huh? You need healing yourself." The high priest came out of nowhere surprising Walker with a healing spell. Walker had been too distracted and high energy to remember he had many cuts and scrapes from Prides'' swords. He was also still moving side to side as if he expected an attack any second. After being healed he finally rxed himself a little.


    "I''m sorry I can''t exchange stories and pleasantries. But for now, get all the demons to their own area. They all have a quest that I need to speak to them about. I have no idea what will happen but I might be making a very big announcement." Walker was worried that he would be announcing things to the entire kingdom soon. A quest to free the demon people was a big deal. But systemless people getting quests was even bigger.


    Shaking these feelings off. Walker saw Su carrying a demon in on a stretcher with the help of a guard. "Su, we are gathering the demons in their own space so I can speak with them as they wake up. If you see any nobles or such point them to me. We are going to be at the front corner." Su gave a nod and began pointing the other healers to do just what Walker needed. The high priest was also directing everyone and things progressed very fast.


    After some time passed Walker heard someone calling his name and raised his head to find none other than Markus Raven. "Ah! I didn''t expect you to be the one the king has here directing things." Walker was surprised but when he thought about the weapons he saw the adventurers and guards carrying he had already deduced that they came from the royal armory.


    "I heard that there would be some important information for the king to know. I came with the weapons earlier and have been rying information since the fires were first spotted." Markus looked worn and tired but he had strength in his voice. "What do you need?"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 730 - 730. Interviewing Demons

    "For now I am going to gather information and speak to the demons that wake up. I know some will have systems but apparently, Pride targeted demons that did not have systems and forced them in to his image. I don''t know what skills came with the pride title but they were bad. Very bad. Once I know where things stand I can give you more but as of now, there are demons without systems that received a quest to free the demons from corruption and such." Walker didn''t mince words and gave it to Markus t.


    "You''re right. The king will want to know. I will run there personally." Markus was not going to send a messenger with such important information. This could shake the kingdom, let alone the world.


    "And Markus, please drink a mana potion and health potion. You look like you need them." Markus smirked a little and rushed off. Walker was sure that he would be back soon.


    As if the demon was waiting for the right time, Walker heard one of them start to moan ande back to consciousness. They were all ced evenly apart on their own soft mats after being healed or currently being healed. Some had not been lucky enough to remain without injury from the battle and it had not been healed after Prides'' skill had worn off.


    Others were normal demons without injury and just a veryrge amount of exhaustion. Walker made sure to remain calm and kneeled next to the demon that was waking up. "Hello? Can you hear me? You are safe and somewhere you can heal. Just take your time waking up. If you have questions ask away."


    The man reacted to Walker and started to open his eyes and blink. Before Walker could hear what the man could say he had started to wildly look around and grasp at his skin. "You are safe. Pride is gone and so is his skill. You are in another kingdom and have been healed. You. Are. Safe." Walker put emphasis on the words to make the demon hear and focus on him.


    When the demon man looked at Walker''s eyes and saw they did not waiver he knew that there was really truth to Walker''s words. "Really? He''s dead? That general is dead?" The demon seemed to still question it but continued to mumble to himself. "Of course he''s dead. I''m free. I could only be free if he died. He would never let me go." The demon still patted his skin just in case. He still feared he would lose control and morph back in to Prides'' image again.


    Walker watched theplex emotions through the eyes of the demon. The man was more or less the same as any human walker had seen. The only difference was that the man has small horns and his eyes were red. Whatever kind of demon he was couldn''t be determined and it was just a lesser demon species.


    "This might seem an odd question, but do you have a system?" This was where Walker was going with every demon that he would speak to. He needed to make sure that this was real.


    "Actually...no. That''s why I was brought to general Pride. He said he would make me useful. It was horrible." Walker saw the demon man start to tremble before forcing himself to focus up. Knowing that Pride was dead now must be a major blessing to those under Pride''s influence. "But now, I''m just usele- what''s this thing?" The man tried to poke something in the air that Walker couldn''t see.


    "It''s like that countdown clock before I turned thirty. It says that I need to free the demon race from corruption? It says this is a chain quest! I have a quest! How? Wait, who cares? I have a quest!" The man was questioning and lost but excited and confused all at the same time.


    "Thank you, that helps a lot. My name is Walker. I hold the true hero title and a few others. What do you need to do for the first quest?" Walker was sure that this was a very big deal and his thirst for information was taking control.


    "Huh? Do? It says¡­" The demon started to read and try toprehend. "Umm, it says to follow my dream and learn the basics I have always wanted to know." This was very confusing and made sense to Walker why the demon would be confused as well.


    Before Walker could pry and little more the man who has gazed in to the distance spoke again, "When I was a kid I wanted to be like the other mages that used magic to make the earth shake. One passed through my vige and built houses with a p of their hands. It was amazing." The face of the demon showed wide eyes surprise, "It changed. The quest changed and now it says to learn the basics of an earth mage. Does that mean I can be an earth mage?"


    "You will need to pursue the quest to find out. Take some time to think and rx. I have others to speak to but I have a feeling they will join you in the amazement soon." Walker saw other demons start to awaken as they were healed. He began interviewing one after another and in the end found that out of the two hundred in the army, all had been without systems. They all had the same quests.


    The thirty eight that had survive Prides'' control were being given another chance by the world. It was something none of them expected. Walker also noticed that they all had system countdowns end at different years of their lives because demons had varying age ranges based on the species of demon blood they had within them.


    There was so much information that Walker began to wonder what the world was pushing them towards. The only thing that was clear was that they were all being pointed at the demon lord and the corruption that it caused to its own people.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 731 - 731. Humming

    Walker had taken a great deal of time to speak to each and every single demon that had woken up. His conclusion was that there was more to this than he understood. The world had the rules that every race had believed as true for all they could remember. That after a certain age gaining a system is impossible. However, there were demons who were being given another chance here if they helped toplete a major chain quest that would free their people.


    On top of all this, there was the fact that besides the will of the world, there was a demon lord who had sent a general to attack the humans just to weaken them. They hadpletely abandoned the demon general Pride and their army as soon as the job was done and now the kingdom had lost almost all of its'' harvest for the year.


    To add to all of this, Walker was stuck wondering how all of this would fit together and what he would do. He still wanted to rest and rx. He still wanted to go and help with the building of Genesis city. And he still wanted to train and learn more skills. There was also finding a fire elemental spirit to join him andplete the staff he wanted to make. There was just too much.


    Walker had been sitting in the same position staring at a wall for who knew how long when he felt a poke to his cheek. When he turned he saw the crinkled face he had wanted to see for quite some time. Alice was worriedly gazing in to his eyes wanting to know how she could help him.


    "Sorry I haven''te to find you just yet. Things are a little..plicated." Walker had told all of the information to Markus Reven when he returned and also to his party members. They were all very confused and unsure how to proceed and decided to do what they could for the moment.


    Markus had made an excuse that he could not report to the king just yet and was ordering his guards around to help where they could and also return the weapons to the royal armory. Some adventurers had fallen in love with the weapons and surprisingly, Markus had drawn up contracts with the help of some assistant to work out payment programs or even job ces with the castle or army. Walker felt that Markus was a much better person than he had thought even after realizing his first impression was wrong.


    Alice shook her head and sat down next to Walker looking at the same wall he was. She leaned against him slightly making Walker feel like he was finally back home. The stress seemed to melt off his shoulders in a way he had not realized. His body was heavy but he recalled that he had brought a souvenir for Alice.


    "I have been waiting to give you this since I found it in the forest elf city. It''smon there for elves with certain passive skills that cause them to lose mana through normal actions. Let me read the appraisal for you. I know you said you wanted to get the control of your speech by yourself and your own power. But I thought you might like a gift, for when you identally speak or just want to talk.."


    Alice was looking at Walker with a very serious expression. She still thought the same but depending on what Walker said from the appraisal she would choose to take it or leave it. It was not out of distaste that she would leave it, just out of the desire to control her own skills herself.


    "Ehm, I will read it word for word."


    ''Mana Locking Bracelet


    Inscribed with two unique runes. The copper and silver bracelet is able to lock mana within the body. The mana that would escape and influence certain things due to passive skills will be unable to leak out unless the user desires it to do so. This mana locking bracelet will also be able to keep the user from having their mana forcefully taken by other skills. This bracelet was crafted from elven silver and elven copper allowing it to absorb very small amounts of natural mana to boost the wielders'' ailment resistance minimally.''


    Walker didn''t stop looking in Alices'' eyes the entire time. He was not only captivated by them but also sure she was making sure he was not lying to her at all. She knew that if he was she would not be able to look her in the eye and that she would not ept the bracelet at all.


    When she held out a hand and raised an eye brow Walker was lost, "Um, do you want it?" Alice just looked down at her hand again prompting him to realize she was waiting for him to put in on her.


    Walker slid the bracelet on her wrist and felt a slight change in the mana around her body but nothing more. She leaned in to Walker again and closed her eyes while humming. Walker was amazed that this was what she chose to do first with it. However, he did not say a word. He leaned in to Alice as well and closed his eyes to enjoy her sweet humming. He needed the pure moments to organize his thoughts.


    Shortly after Alice had stopped humming, Walker noticed it was because she had fallen asleep. She had been running about healing the injured as well and she was more tired than the party was. Walker was d she had epted the gift and felt he was more full than ever before. Now he just needed to decide on what he would say to the king and the demons. His choice would change the course of history. Yet, that seemed to be every other daytely.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 732 - 732. Citizens

    Walker felt bad that he would have to wake Alice to move but it had been some time since she had sat down. Just when he was about to shake her to wake her up the high priest walked over and did it for him. He had been watching the two and was very pleased to see that their reunion had been purer than freshly fallen snow. He would want no one else to be his adoptive daughter''s friend and hopefully more in the future.


    "I may take the brunt of her annoyance, but let me help you out. You look like you have made a very serious decision." The high priest saw the resolve within Walker and knew that he had be ready to make the announcement he had been waiting for.


    "Thank you. I promise I will take time to visit properly. I do have other souvenirs for everyone that Su and I picked out." He wanted to make sure the high priest knew he would being back with gifts. This only made the high priest chuckle as he woke up Alice and received an angry look for it. Walker held back the desire to call her cute or say awe.


    When Walker moved to the middle of the area that the demons were resting and speaking they all slowly looked at him and grew silent. The entire cathedral followed suit and even Markus Reven who had fallen asleep himself was awake and standing toward the back waiting.


    The rest of the party moved to stand by Walker and make sure that he felt supported. The elemental spirits that had been moving about and causing small bits of mischief returned as well causing the elemental mana around to fluctuate and make Walker appear to be more majestic than he was. It was a scene right out of any holy book.


    "I can not say for what reason the world has given you a chain quest. I know that it seems impossible, but you all may be able to gain a system of your dreams. Congrattions." Walker paused as a lot of murmuring came through.


    It appeared that Markus was not the only noble that had made it to the cathedral. There were many that spoke in hushed tones after the confirmation and began to scribble down letters. This appeared to be more valuable information than expected.


    "I know it sounds easy. You have a chain quest, however, and that is not easy. It asks you to help free your people from corruption. The demon lord and his general. On who enved you, Pride, is part of the corruption I believe the quest speaks of. You must grow strong if you sit for this. I believe in every single one of you. As proof, I hope you all ept citizenship in the soon to be built Genesis city. It will be home to every single race no matter the standing. I can not imagine it without demons such as yourselves."


    The murmuring uncreased and the demons this time looked as if they had just seen light for the first time. Walkers'' words help hopes and dreams they had never been able to reach.


    "Things may be slow and there may be many obstacles, but we will reach true peace. I believe that is the only way to discover more and find the way of the world. There is one thing that I hope for as well, that this will be the start of something amazing. That the world is revealing that not finding a system at first is not the end. That there are other ways no matter how much time has passed." Walker''s im brought louder murmurs but this time they sounded hopeful and warm. None daunted this and instead began to support it.


    "For now, I am sure that the king would not turn you aside. You have a home in this kingdom and if necessary in the hero''s mansion." Walker ended his speech with this and decided that the rest of the talk would be with the king since he needed to speak about the farnds and the fact that war was breathing down their neck.


    "To add to the leaders'' statement, you all have tasks from what I understand. We hope to help you with them and you are wee to ask us anything." Su made sure she added this. It brought even more hope to the demon''s eyes.


    "Actually''" One demon raised a hand and stood. "I see one of you has a bow. I have the chain quest requirements that I need to learn basic bow upkeep. I want to build bows for my brothers to use." The young man stood and pointed a twin demons next to him. They both were already clutching arrows in their hands. It appeared they had already met Gil and had been given two normal wither spike arrows.


    Gil moved to him and instantly began discussing the subject. This broke the bubble and many other demons began to ask questions and walk to different party members. Markus Raven rushed off with a handful of other nobles. They had many reports to file and people to tell.


    "Leader, there is a group of mages over there. I told them you would speak with them." Su Had thought that the only one here with enough ability to manipte the elements was Walker and it would be the best way for them to learn something.


    "Good idea, I will teach them the basics. If you and Remey want to make a list f the other quests details so we can get them to the right people after today that would work. I will also touch base with the high priest. I think they will be able to stay here for a few days at least." Walker relished the fact that he would be able to teach some magic before having to go and speak with the king about solutions to their food shortage. Their harvest festival wasing up and they wouldn''t be able to even celebrate the bounty they had due to the fires.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 733 - 733. Change Of Clothes

    Walker was enjoying the teaching aspect of this situation. He rarely got to speak with anyone about meditating and sensing the elements to better understand them. None of the demons seemed to be able to sense the elemental they were trying to learn. But that was to be expected since they had just started trying to learn. Even for someone that had just received their system it would take some time to sense things.


    Soon, Markus returned. "Let me guess, the king is ready to speak to us about everything that is going on?" Markus nodded. "Alright, I will get my party and head to the castle." Walker was about to head away when Markus spoke up.


    "The king is here. He said he wanted to meet the demons. He said that he had not met one before and if he was going to be part of the Genesis alliance that he couldn''t be ignorant about an entire race." This was very unexpected. The king was not supposed to just casually leave the castle.


    Seeing the king walk in wearing clothing that the higher military official wore was shocking. They did not expect that he would be wearing anything other than the royal robes that he was shown in and wore when meeting guess.


    "Do not bow to me or kneel. Please. I am here to wee you to our kingdom." The king held up a hand. This was not a time for formalities and garnering favor. "I wish you hade to visit on better circumstances and apologize for the situation. I hope that the Genesis alliance can help you and your families in the future."


    The demons were in awe to see a kind leader. They had never met one that actually would stand on the same level as they would. It was moremon for the higher ranked demons to stand above or only step down to kick or kill another demon.


    "I know you have already been offered a home with the Genesis city. I also know the heroes have opened their doors as well. You will be surprised that you are not the first demon they have rescued. They managed to find a little demon girl in the demi-human city under the control of a criminal. I hope she can guide you all to the ways of the city while you rest here." The king was ying bis cards well. By mentioning that the party had rescued a demon before he put them on a pedestal. The party would be much more revered by the demons now no matter what.


    "I understand you have be shocked. The situation here has changed many things and the wheels of fate are moving. The world has changed from what we know and fighting the demons unfair treatment seems to be moving things for the better of every race. I have heard you all have been given quests to learn various basics. You are not the only ones. Humans here in the city have begun to reach out in this chaos. I even spoke with other rulers using a magic item to learn they have simr urrences. You are not alone."


    This was indeed shocking news. The party and every single demon was stunned. But this also brought a wave of calmness. Knowing that this was in theory, happening around their world was calming enough. "In theing days, I will spare no effort to assist you with the staff and guards I have within my power. If you need food, ask. If you need guidance, ask. Anything, just ask. There will be other races right by your side learning as well. I will have my officials go around and issue an identification. You may sign up as a Genesis city citizen today if you desire."


    The king backed away and many nobles and other higher ranked guards and military officials came forward to take over. It was an enlightening and pure encounter. Walker couldn''t help but feel impressed. The king had really outdone himself and put his best foot forward with this incident.


    "I know you may have questions, but I have little in the means of answers. The quests seem to be guided towards the freedom of the demon race. I feel that something has interfered in the world for many years and that is why there are age caps on the systems. Our oldest history books have pictures of children and elders dazzled in light that we assume is their system. We assume now that it was the world blessing them with their systems at any age. My schrs are reviewing the records with a new perspective. I mentioned this to other rulers and ancient records are not well kept. Even the elves struggle with the exact time this age cap became normal."


    Walker spoke slowly in response, "So we may have been wrong for generations because the world has been fighting off corruption. Do you remember the story I reported about the immortal King? He told us of an experimental subject born with a hero system. That person rejected the will of the world and was cursed. Maybe it''s rted?" Walker didn''t have evidence or even proof that could be possible. But his gut was telling him it was the right direction.


    "In the least, it is pointing us to freeing the demon race. I have received a letter ahead of the merfolk representative. He will reach the location of the new city in three months. We have t think about the dragons too. Apparently, there has been smoke rising from the highest mountains." The king looked worried but steeled himself.


    "I know you are going to want us to go to the city and be there for the summit. We will be. But we rushed back to be here for rest. Although, it seems like we will be out of food and will not be able to rest." Walker brought forth the main problem the kingdom faced.


    "Do you think of me that poor a ruler? The harvest festival is barely upon us. I have already solved that small problem." The king had a sneaky smirk that Walker was about to inquire about before he heard amotion at the cathedral entrance.


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 Chapter 734 - 734. Marked Path

    "Small problem? You already solved it? How could you have already solved it? The fields are still ckened and ashyQ" Walker was now questioning what the king was saying or if the king was actually the king at all. The change in clothing and the decree that he had already solved the food issue made him very suspicious.


    "Ha! I knew you would be skeptical." The king looked at every party member and saw the same confused and quizzical look as Walker had on his face. "Just go outside. Bt my estimate you should be seeing the first of theing deliveries. It cost us a decent amount but it is why we have allies."


    "What is he talking about?" Remey was the first to break the silence as the entire party moved out toward the open square of the cathedral. They had their attention drawn by themotion at the cathedral entrance but had just assumed it was ast minute injury. Now they were not so sure since they found a group of people looking straight up at the sky.


    When Walker looked up he found that he was not looking at the pure light griffin that had been taking everyone''s attention. Instead of the griffin, there was a massive hawk descending towards the open square.


    "You all see the giant hawk right? It''s not just me?" Gil had never seen such a massive hawk in his life and thought that he might be seeing things. The light from the griffin may have messed up his eyesight after all.


    "No, I see the goliath hawk as well. They are monsters that live in the deserts on the other side of the mountains." Su was still amazed by the sight but was able to answer with the knowledge she had. She hade out on top with her knowledge once again and Walker made sure to store it away in his mind forter use.


    Midnight let out a soft growl until she began to bounce aro d happily. She could smell something familiar and had already toldOnyx not to spoil the surprise. Walker looked at her but felt his attention pulled back to the goliath hawk.


    The wind was kicked up as the white belly of the hawk came lower and lower. Therge sharp sand yellow talons came down on the stone and the wings ceased to p. The person on the back of the hawk was all too familiar and perfectly exined why Midnight was so excited.


    Before Walker could call out another shape flew down andnded next to the hawk apanied by a very small shadow hopping out from under the goliath hawk. "You don''t know how much trouble you have caused me thest few weeks."


    Elise had hopped off the hawk and was standing next to Ste and the little crow which had grown muchrger than thest time they had seen it. "First I heard the heroes were at the dwarf city saving the from slimes. I gathered up a bunch of new tamers to try and contract one of those yellow slimes. Then I get there and find out you are already gone."


    Elise and Ste were walking over to the party while she rambled on, "Then I ask around and apparently you told them you would stop by the tamers'' branch there but ended up heading home instead because you were homesick. Next, I get back to the demi-human branch and get told to turn back around because I am marking the path for the goliath hawks to transport emergency rations from the store houses for the demi-human kingdom." Elise ended up right in front of the party with a massive smile stered on her face.


    "It''s very nice to see you again Elise and Ste. And you are still as adorable as thest time we saw you." The little crow cawed softly at Su while Su knelt to pet it.


    "I bet you all have some good stories to tell me, right? I want to hear all about them. But I need to head inside and give this scroll to your king. I was wondering why I was told to look for the cathedral but they are right. It is the best ce tond. Oh, and that griffon was beautiful. I wish they lived in this ce. But you know what they say. A summoner brings summoned monsters from elemental dimensions and a tamer bonds with existent monsters in their own dimension." Elise rolled her eyes and jogged inside the cathedral.


    Midnight and Onyx were next to Ste in a sh. The crow was a little more fearful since it was still young and not used to many people. Luckily, the crowd of onlookers was focused on the goliath hawk and not on Ste. She was a harpy and it was odd for one to be around but the goliath hawk was much more to look at.


    "Alright, that is that. He didn''t loo angry that I wanted toe back out here. Your king is pretty nice. He told me to make sure I was able to rest and spend time catching up." Elise was very happy to have met the king but happier to see her friends.


    "Gil, why are you looking at Elise so weird?" Remey had caught Gil staring at Elise a little lost. "You know Alma might get jealous, right?" Remey needed to tease him a little though.


    "No no, it''s nothing like that. I just realized we know two Elise''s now. One that is a tamer and one that is an elf who can speak with spirits. Pretty crazy right? If they ever meet we can just say hey Elise, and we will have both their attentions." Gilughed a little but he had caught Elise''s attention.


    "You met another Elise!? I want to hear everything about my elf twin!"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 735 - 735. Teasing

    "So you''re telling me that this elf Elise has bonded with elemental spirits like the ones that are with you and that they can lice with her? And that she is like a more than five times my age?" Elise was still shocked by everything they told her about the elves. "I wonder when we will get a tamers'' branch there. I want to visit!" She wanted to rush there and drag the party now but there was too much to do and she knew it would be wrong to drag the party out on an adventure.


    "If you think that''s wild, then imagine a tree a hundred times bigger than the biggest tree you have ever seen. That is where they live! Then they have tree houses and even under the ground they have ces to grow crystals!'' Remey had jumped in to a high energy rant that Elise was following perfectly. She was even managing to ask questions in between.


    The entire party felt exhausted just watching the exchange between them. No one dared to try and keep up. "So Elise, where''s the rest of the trio?" Walker was mostly wondering where Laurence was since he would expect he woulde instead of Elise due to is experience.


    "Both of them are at the border. They were send to assist with the monsters that were crossing and keep them from being killed on sight. The demons are chasing out some of the monsters around for when they bring in their armies." Elise was a little less energetic saying this.


    "I understand. Well, I''m d you came. Sorry for bringing up a weird subject." Walker felt bad instantly but Elise easily shrugged it off.


    "Why do you guys feel different? I feel like I''m talking to the master or a really strong tamed beast. There''s just a different aura around you that I can feel through Ste." Elise was picking up on the high levels the party had now than they did before they parted ways with the tamers.


    "We leveled up. We are a lot higher leveled now than we were. Plus we have been training like crazy. Learned new skills, and have a lot stronger gear." Gil was the one to speak up and showed off the true spirit bow where Zephyr was resting. Gil was still a little curious about how Zephyr would react when she met the pure light griffin in the skies above the city. It was clear they would have to share the skies while the griffin was present.


    "I see, and by the way, you didn''t give me the proper answer before. Again, Mr party leader, why didn''t you go to the tamers'' branch in the dwarf city." Elise was more annoyed that she had missed them than anything but decided that she would go all in on this aspect to tease Walker and maybe convince him to do some training with her and Steter.


    "We had reasons to stay, I won''t lie. There''s this albino glowing mole egg that needs a home. But we acted a bit impulsively and decided toe back. We have been away longer than ever before. But if other tamers areing it kind of works out since we can find a hole for the albino mole egg." Walker did his best to put a silver lining on the situation.


    Elise looked like she was ready to reunite until Walker said it was an albino mole egg. "You have an albino monster egg!? Do you know how rare albino monsters are? Has anyone told you they have special skills? If you aren''t raising it there are tamers who will give you anything for it." Elise pulled out a small scroll that had some runes on it.


    She hurriedly whispered in to it until the runes glowed and the scroll burned up. "There, I sent a message to someone I know wille running. If they aren''t on the back of a goliath hawk despite their fear of heights, well, that would mean the world had ended"


    "Someone really wants an egg we found that badly? Honestly, I wasn''t too worried since we could always find a home for it as long as the egg is dormant." Gil was able to speak up in his surprise. Elise had just used a scroll which wasn''t something cheap in the least.


    "I think we should just be thankful that Elise is here and she will be visiting for some time. We will even get to meet one of her friends." Su was keeping things on track and brought a brilliant smile to Elise''s face.


    After nodding a few times Elise returned to their conversation about the other Elise that had spirits for friends and sold elemental mana crystals. Eventually, the group moved on to the topic of quests appearing and systems showing up as a result of chain quests.


    "You know, it always felt weird that some of the people that worked in the monster pens cleaning or transporting straw were without systems. I once saw a kid who was really good, and I mean really good, at getting the monsters toe and eat even when they didn''t like the food that was offered. I swore he was a tamer but they told me he wasn''t a system user at all." Elise seemed a little downtrodden with this but then brightened up.


    "I bet he has a quest too. The king told us a lot of people were getting them. I bet there are some people in the city that want to be tamers of some kind one day and are looking for guidance." As soon as Remey suggested that, they all knew it was toote to just tighten things up and try to head somewhere to rest.


    "Then we need to go talk to the demons. What if they want to be an avian tamer?" Elise rushed towards the doors and Ste picked up the little crow in her arms following her. There was a small smirk on Ste''s face that she had expected this.


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 Chapter 736 - 736. Tamer!!!

    Everyone followed Elise inside while Walker held back a little ncing at the goliath hawk. He wanted to use his all around appraisal skill on it before he went on. His curiosity was too much for him even though Su had already told him what she knew.


    '' Goliath Hawk


    The goliath hawk hunts the vast deserts. It''s white belly makes it almost disappear in to the clouds while in flight causing its prey to be extremely surprised and taken off guard. They have very good eyesight and can see for a very long distance. They will live in the mountains making nests on cliffs. They prefer to roost in small groups of ten to fifteen. They are popr with tamers and merchants due to their strength in flight. Goliath hawks are able to carry three times their body weight in flight.''


    Walker was surprised by their flight strength but could only understand that it had to be true based on the size of its wing. The goliath hawk Elise had flown in on was already nestled with a head under a wing sleeping but Walker still remembered the fierce winds from the pping wings as itnded.


    After he had learned what he wanted he left as another wave of [people came to view the monster they had never seen before and most likely only see once in their lives. Little did they know that they would be seeing manying to deliver supplies in a few hours.


    "Active tamer here! Come and learn some taming! If you have a quest to learn taming basicse on over and meet a member of the highly regarded tamers'' guild!" Elise had fully moved in to her speech and shouting to attract a demon with a taming ability.


    "She''s been doing this since she walked in the doors. She scared a woman half to death when she started." Gil was barely able to hold back hisughter as he told Walker about it.


    "Hey Onyx, want to show off how much you have grown?" Walker was thinking it would be funny to let Onyx show off and potentially tease Eise a little. It only seemed fair since she was shouting so much inside the cathedral where there were people trying to heal and rest.


    "Of course brother. She has not seen me since I was very small." Onyx was a little too innocent as to what Walker was really after but he did it anyways.


    When Onyx slithered up Elise gave him a smile but slowly lost it as she watched therge shadow start toe toward Onyx. She was slowly dropping her jaw to stare in awe at Onyx as he grew. She hadpletely stopped yelling and Onyx reached his full size at the moment. Walker took notice that Onyx had definitely grown another inch or two. Not many people would catch the growth.


    "How did you get so big!!!!" Elise shouted in shock and many people were also curious. There were five or six demons that came to examine the situation. However, there was one female demon that was much more focused than all the others.


    Onyx lowered his head and looked at the demon girl who was holding a hand out, "I do not bite friends so you can see my scales." The demons were warming up to Onyx very easily. Some were even chatting around him mentioning how simr he looked to the tail their friends had in the demonnds. It was an interesting twist.


    "Brother, this young woman says that she is going to learn about taming skills. She wants to learn from my tamer." Onyx looked like he was trying not to say more because he wanted Walker to look as official as possible.


    Walker on the other hand wasn''t going to let it slide, "I''m d you appreciate taming. But to me, Onyx is a little brother and Midnight is a little sister. They have the same standing in the family and the party as any other member." Walker did not let his face show any emotion. He wanted to drive the point home that these monsters were not monsters but family.


    The demon girl was instant in her reply, "I apologize for myck of knowledge. I will remember this." She even went so far as to begin to get on her knees and bow as an apology.


    "Never bow either. You can''t possibly stand equal if you bow like that. It may have been the way in the demonnds but here everyone has the chance to rise. Especially since the new Genesis city will need strong people toe and build it properly." Walker did the only thing there was to do. He offered the demon girl a hand. She was too shocked to react as fast as before since this was too different than what she had been used to.


    As a few tears fell she took Walkers'' hand and wiped her face. The new look of strength that grew in her eyes was only matched by her question. "How can I be the best treant tamer ever?" Walker wished he had an answer, however, when he nced at Elise, he saw that she had one.


    "This is Elise. She has a lot of energy and has been with the tamers'' guild for a long time. She grew up with her sister Ste the harpy over there and she has answers to your questions. "Walker leaned in, "She even was given some training by the tamers'' guild master. She''s a good one." Seeing that the demon womans'' eyes grew wide he knew he had hooked her.


    "Elise came over and began to exin the thing she knew about treant monsters and how they grew. It was very informative and only rivaled by the fact that she had a friend that could bring a treant egg to them. Walker was amazed to see her use yet another scroll to send a message. There were plenty of things he would have to ask Eliseter. For now, his eyes rested on Ste. There was something he wanted to ask her.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 737 - 737. Harpy Feelings

    Ste was still cradling the baby crow in her hands. She knew that if she let it get away it would hide in her shadow for the remained of their time in the human kingdom. She was also in charge of teaching it how to fly. These two jobs were more important to her than any other since Elise had not even thought about finding a fourth monster to tame. The goliath hawk was tamed and trained to carry others by another tamer who lent it to them.


    "How are you Ste?" Walker knew that Onyx was preupied with helping Elise. He was still at hisrge size and all the demons and humans that came up would speak and ask him questions instead of Elise allowing her the time to speak more with the demon woman that wanted to be a tamer.


    Ste smiled and nodded a few times to show that she was doing well. He pointed at Walker with one wed finger and turned her head. "I am doing well too. d to be home and I can''t wait to see my family." Walker wasn''t really sure how he should ask his question but it was nagging at him and he knew it may be an important step for a harp.


    "I hope thi isn''t offensive. But, as you may have heard, my party became friends with some goblins striving to be their own race. I was curious how you felt about that and the fact that the demi-humans have befriended a harpy queen with intelligence that is trying for the same goal? I know that gaining the recognition as a race is a very big deal for anyone, not just a monster." Walker held a calm voice and face only mirrored by Ste.


    Ste held the calm exterior for some time. She was not very worried about the question Walker would ask and she was thinking about how she would reply to him. After staring at everything around her, Ste pulled Walker close. He was very surprised to hear her whisper in his ear. "I have always been the same as Elise. Nothing changes."


    Of course, this shocked Walker. He knew that a harpy that could speak was usually one much older than Ste. He could only guess that due to the fact that Ste had been around humans who spoke all the time that she had managed to learn speech mush sooner. This meant that she would be able to use the signature luby skill that harpys'' were famous for.


    "I understand. I guess that does make sense. You have never needed to be anything other than her sister. I hope that if it doese, you can guide them a little. You are kind of a harpy human rtions expert." Walkerughed a little and was d to see that Elise was too. "I assume you have only just got your voice since you whispered. I hope you can use it well. I have read that the skills harpies can use their voice with are very useful and beautiful to hear. Especially the luby skill."


    Ste nodded her head so many times that so many times in a row that he was afraid her head might fall off. After the two watched for some time more, Ste saw that Elise''s eyes had fallen on her meaning that she wanted Ste toe and help. She gave a wave to Walker and Ste went to Elise.


    "Leader, what were you two smiling about?" Su was curious about what had made the two so joyful while speaking to each other. Su couldn''t really stop and speak to her healer friends because they were caught up with their work. The healing may be done but they still needed to return the cathedral to its natural state.


    "Oh not much. Just asking Ste how she felt about a harpy queen working towards their harpy monsters bing a harpy race. She surprised me a little and whispered in my ear. She''s pretty ahead of any harpy I have ever heard of." Su was also surprised.


    Her face showed it for a split second before she put on an approving look, "I wouldn''t expect anything else from a harpy who has always grown up on the same level as humans. She is even thought of and treated like a sister. Even if they be a race, I doubt it will change anything between the two." Su hit the nail in the head. She had not considered Ste just a harpy and was not nning on it. Knowing that Ste was getting along well with the knowledge that there may be a time other harpies were the same as her, was pleasant.


    "Now what will we do? Everything is calming down here. The demi-human kingdom has sent supplies with the tamers, and the demons appear to be branching out. Although, they may stay in the cathedral for some time before they can venture outfortably. I believe that they will be out to explore for their quests sooner than anyone expects." Su also had an eye on the king who was still speaking with nobles and even the high priest.


    "I think we can stay here for a little while longer. Midnight looks like she is having fun ying with the children over there. It''s always funny how dragons are said to be fierce and powerful but as soon as Onyx and Midnight get to the cathedral and child around decided they are their best friends and ymates." Walker wanted toment on everything Su had asked. But at the end of the day, they were watching it all unfold.


    "You''ve got that right." Gil joined the conversation with three demons behind him. "These three are the ones from earlier. They are interested in arrow making and archery so I invited them toe to the mansion with me. I also promised them some clothing that isn''t given by their former general Pride." Gil rolled his eyes speaking of the demon and the three demons behind him didn''t even flinch. They had fully epted that Pride was gone forever.


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 Chapter 738 - 738. Off They Go

    Gil was the first to leave and head toward the mansion. He was already promising the three demons that they would love the ce to craft and practice. Although Walker didn''t miss the fact that Gil was preaching how amazing the garden and the food was.


    "So Gil is the first to get followers? Or is it students?" Remey was very amused with this urrence when she noticed.


    "Says the one that is going to have an entire guild with her soon." Walker returned a punch to Remey''s shoulder for once. Instead of punching back, Su and Walker were surprised when she did not react with anything other than some embarrassed mumbling.


    "Speaking of that, we have used a lot of your potionstely. Will you be able to produce more?" Su knew that the party must be very low on potions and that Remey would have already taken note of this.


    Snapping out of her embarrassment Remey was right to it, "Yes, we are low. I also want to start testing other potion ideas. But I need to get an herb garden nted. It will be very important. I think we should have a greenhouse built. I know a few from the alchemy building that will be able to find a crafter. But herbalists will be important too. I have a lot to do. Not to mention shock that old man." Remey was betraying her words. Her face said that she missed the old master alchemist and was not actually trying to shock him at all with all her new information.


    "I would say I will help, but you know how things go. I will most likely end up being dragged here or there. But when I see something interesting I will do my best to bring it to you. Not to mention that I have the herbs and seeds stored in my inventory for you." Walker was a little sad that he would surely end up being pulled off somewhere else.


    "Su, what are you nning to do? I know you have missed healing here at the cathedral." Remey realized that Su hadn''t said what her ns were yet. She had kept fairly calm for a while.


    "I know that leader is going to have to train with Midnight since she wants to learn of other elemental dragon breath attacks. But I want to learn more about my system. I am a draconic guardian. I am rted to Midnight and dragons as well. I feel like I have ignored it and need to properly understand the skills I can learn and use." Su was firm with her words and it made sense. She had a system that they were all lost to so far. Even Remey, who had a unique system, was a bit more knowledgeable.


    "That sounds like a pretty good goal. We have some time for things to figure themselves out so it will probably be the best time. Especially since the date of the summit appears to be three months now instead of one. They need to amodate the merfolk who are sending someone. If they went on with it without them then it would potentially sour the rtionship with them." Walker was sure that this was all going to fall in to ce. However, he did worry the demons may act again before this.


    "I think I will head out now. The more I think about all that, the more I want to make more health and mana potions." It was understandable that Remey was feeling a little stressed. If making the potions that could save lives and help others was her way to rx then no one was going to argue with her.


    "When I get back I will drop all the herbs off in the alchemyb. Then you and the master alchemist can work through them." Walker knew that Remey would need some time to speak with the old master alchemist before they could even get in to the herbs that they brought back. Knowing that she had that time was rxing enough.


    "Then I''m off. If you happen to see a demon that needs to learn alchemy, make sure you extend an invitation to the alchemy guild that will be built soon." Remey smirked as she walked away. She was going to have it all set up sooner than she ever imagined. She had believed her dreams would note true so easily but now, they were one after the other.


    "Hey, isn''t that your friend over there?" Walker pointed out a certain violin yer walking through the crowd with a few other musicians.


    Su looked away and found that there was no one that would tease her and realized she could just nod. "I should go say hello. It would be rude if I didn''t." She headed off leaving Walker who was smirking as well now.


    "Your party seems to have gone off on their separate ways. It makes sense now that you are all back again. Everyone seems to be thrown in to a lot of chaos thesest few months." Barry had returned from the fields after issuing quests to the adventurers to evaluate and patrol the fields. There were also escort missions for farmers to return to what was left of homes to collect valuables and begin to decide how the kingdom would rebuild farmhouses and barns.


    "They have. We all have some personal goals we want to work on since we are home. Thank you for everything. I never thought I would be able to fight beside you." Walker couldn''t help but let his amazement show in his voice. Fighting with Barry had been intense. He felt the power Barry had in each move.


    "I didn''t think you would be able to keep up so soon. You still have a ways to go, but you make up for your lower level with skills and knowledge. When you get up to my level you may just be unbeatable." Barryughed his heartyugh.


    "Actually, vice guild master Barry, what level are you?" Walker had to ask. He needed to know. He put on the best polite face he could to bait Barry.


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 Chapter 739 - 739. Bar Fight

    "Do you know how few people actually ask me that? I rarely get asked anything to be instant. I''m pretty sure everyone in the guild is terrified of me." Barry looked a little hurt by this but also fairly amused.


    Walker on the other hand perfectly understood that there were many reasons why Barry would be the person to avoid. He was known as the berserker which meant that he would give his mind away for strength in skills and battle. He was often sent to deal with powerful monsters or hoards like the horned rabbis and he would seed without many injuries if any. Not to mention, the look on his face when he battled made it seem that he was a monster in human skin.


    "I have no idea why they would think that. It would be way more beneficial to befriend someone with powerful skills and levels." Walker was trying to make sure Barry was happier rather than down. Even if Barry was just messing with him or didn''t mind he wanted to make sure someone said it.


    "Of course you don''t," Barry smirked even more than before since he found it even funnier that Walker was trying so hard to get Barry to tell him his level.


    The two stood in silence only for a moment before Barry spoke up, "I know you were told I was part of the military before I left to join the adventurers guild. I left after being stationed at the borders for some time. I can''t say it was enjoyable. Due to my system, I was thrown right in front of any demon that attempted to rampage or any group of monsters." Walker could understand why Barry would leave the army as soon as the required time period was up after he had joined.


    There were many people that would join the military and attempt to rise in the ranks. Often times, they would be stuck trying to surpass those that went to the military academy. It was normally a mary benefit of the merchants or rich nobles. However, there was a chance for promising youths to join without any fees. There were many scouting teams that would visit guards and sometimes children who unlocked vital systems to the army.


    "I''d say I spent about two years straight just fighting around the ins and finding towns or taverns to drink until I passed out. But due to all of that, I received the drunken brawler skill and managed to get in to a fight with a certain white Ibis, hero who defeated countless undead." Barry looked back on it with a smile. He had not told this story for a long time¡­


    "You bastard! You spilled my mead! That cost me.. Something¡­ just get on your knees and buy me ten more!" The entire tavern shook their heads watching the young man in his torn and dirtied military uniform pick another fight. This was the sixth time that very night.


    "I spilled your drink? And if I was to say that you stumbled in to me, what would you reply?" The wise man approaching the pique of his adulthood was aged and weathered by countless battles but was clean in white robes nheless. He had eyes that told everyone that interfering would be worthless.


    "Ha! Like a welp like you could be enough to block my path." Barry attempted to stumble forward and found that he had to grip a nearby stool to stay standing. "You use some skill to mess with me. You wanna go? Outside! Now!" Barry challenged the older man he was sure to beat. He was in his prime while the older man was starting to pass his pique and could be brought down.


    "This is what I get for stopping just anywhere. I wonder what I should summon to deal with this?" Ibis just talked to himself as he followed the stumbling Barry outside.


    When the two reached the front of the tavern Bary roared and started to charge. He didn''t waste his time with rules. He just fought like always.


    Ibis shook his head. "You know, I do find you familiar. Just like a certain rising soldier that suddenly gave up and disappeared after the end of their contract." Ibis had not chosen this tavern in vain. He had stopped there hoping to find a certain berserker that had made waves then disappeared.


    "Shove it!" The growl of Barry''s voice was discerning but before his first could touch Ibis a white mass appeared and blocked the hit.


    "My summon has a decent defense. The white striped emu is a very tough and heavy light elemental bord from..well, I don''t know where I summon it from yet. But it''s worth the mana I pay to have it here as a partner." The white striped emu that had blocked the attack also caused Barry to fall backward. It proceeded to kick out and push Barry even further. It may be too big and heavy to fly but it can hit hard too. Want to make a bet?"


    Ibis was sneaky and smirking. He was sure that Barry would ept. "Bring it on. If I win you have to buy me a full barrel of hiney mead!"


    "And if I win youe and work as my right hand at the adventurer''s guild. It would be a lot of work. But you wouldn''t have much choice." Ibis nodded at the white striped emu and it rushed in. Barry had been too drunk and the next morning woke up with a letter containing the details of his new position¡­


    "Yeah, it was a pretty strange way to get a new job but it really brought me a reason to live again. That bastard put me through the wringer at first but back then I was level fifty three. Now? Well, now I have worked my way up to seventy two. I think I am the third highest in the kingdom now." Barry smirked and walked right to the king.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 740 - 740. Help The Demons

    Walker just starred at Barry while he spoke to the king and reported what the guild had for information so far. He was diligent and also made sure to greet most of the nobles. The adult attitude paired with the perfect working mentality was too much. How could Walker ever believe that this man had been in the military, left, gotten in regr bar fights, and then was tricked in to the adventurers'' guild?


    On top of all this, Barry had just imed that he was the third strongest person in the kingdom at level seventy two. This was a level much higher than anyone could usually hope to get to. Walker had heard that some of the older and higher military officials were in the level sixty range with some of the generals being at seventy or close.


    There were rumors that the king had a personal guard that went out of the castle for special quests under the kings'' order who was higher than level seventy. But who would be the other top three people in the kingdom? Ibis had already told shown that Barry was stronger and even admitted it by calling for him. He was in the older years of his life and it was understandable that he was not what he used to be.


    With this information, Walker was sure that one day he could surpass all three of them. His heroic leveling was the best way to do that. A normal person was subject to the traditional leveling system or their own unique ways based on their systems. But it was clear that the party and Walker would still need to work hard. If they were higher level that was good, but if they could use their skills well to their advantage it was better. Their skills and use of them could surpass their levels.


    After thinking for some time on this Walker noticed that a guard had begun to usher those from the farms and the demons toward the cathedral door. From what he could hear, the king had tasked the guards to prepare every inn possible for the farmers and the demons. He had even made sure that the demon who he knew had suffered greatly were put to rest in the high tier inns at the noble housing areas.


    When they realized some were staying back Walker knew that it was his turn to head forward again, "It looks like some of you haven''t decided what to do just yet. Do you want toe to stay at the herpes mansion? I can take you all for a walk to whatever ce fits the quests you have tomorrow?" There were a total of three more demons that were there. On was a woman who seemed very skinny and malnourishedpared to the two average looking men. Walker could barely tell they were demons if not for the sharp nails and small red tails they had. It was terrible how Prides'' skill had been able to force men and woman demons alike in to his own image. It had to have left asting mark on them.


    "Lord hero, we have some quests we aren''t sure can be done¡­" The woman spoke up having a much stronger voice than he expected. She looked frail but her voice was strong and held a lot of steel. Walker could only assume it was the desire to get stronger and surpass those who had enved her.


    "Well, tell me what they are and I can start to think of ways to help you three out. My party members have already found some of you that need help, those three with arrows are with Gil. Our friend Elise has a woman who has taming quests. It''s our duty to help those in need." Walker was using the knight and shining armor tactic to help put the demons at rest. He knew that they needed someone to show them that the world isn''t all corruption and oppression.


    "My quests revolve around growing herbs. I have a very strong affinity for water and earth and that was why I was deemed useless by lord pride. It''s not normal for demons to grow nts or want to grow nts¡­"


    "You know, my party member Remey is an alchemical brawler. She makes potions from herbs. If you truly want to learn how to grow herbs and nts she can give you a ce. There''s also Gil''s mother who retired as a farmer. She has the entire garden under her control. You can learn from her as well." Walker saw a light shine in the demon womans'' eyes. The party would need someone to specifically tend to herbs and he would much rather find someone willing to grow in to their dream than hiring someone just with gold.


    "Is it really alright for me toe with you and learn from them? I can''t afford to pay any masters to teach me?" The woman had seen how things work before. She was not so foolish that she would expect something for nothing.


    "Then how about this deal, you work hard toward your quests and I pay you. Housing, food, and a wage paid in gold?" Walker watched as the woman struggled to keep her knees strong. This was not something any of them would ever see as a demon unless they were born powerful.


    "Yes! I promise on my life that I will work hard!" The demon woman was energetic and starting to lose herself in awe.


    Walker tinder to the other two men, "And what can I do to help you?" Walker felt that these two had to be siblings. They were both almost the same height and had the same features.


    "We are¡­ greedy. We want money around us all the time." The one man spoke calmly.


    "And we like to count it and control it, but that was useless since general Greed controls the demon lord''s wealth¡­" The other man spoke up and Walker felt a smile grow upon his face.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 741 - 741. Gold Mentor

    Walker was scanning the area where the king and the nobles were standing and conversing while giving orders to their guards or other attendants. His eyes narrowed in on the person he wanted to find. "I have the best person for you to meet. As you heard, Genesis city is being built. It is going to have many guilds old and new. Not to mention citizens and merchantsing to tour it and set up shop. It is a valuable new chance for those toe together and build themselves a reputation. We will need people who like money."


    Walker knew that liking money was not really the goal of the situation. It was to give the two who like money an outlet for that greed that fills them. Just because they had this greed did not mean they were in the wrong. It made them perfect for a certain position that every single city, kingdom, organization, or guild needed.


    With the three demons behind him, Walker approached the nobles. The king nced at him to keep an eye on what Walker might be doing. He was curious why Walker wasing up to them and with three demons behind him.


    "Sir Walker, I thought you would have gone to rest by now?" Markus Raven found Walker standing in front of him.


    "I will go and rest soon. But shouldn''t I be asking you why you are not resting?" Walker added a little smile and practiced hismunication skills here in front of the other nobles.


    "Ah, you know what they say. There''s no rest for the weary. I did manage to have some potions though and a nice tea to bring me back to focus. Thank you for the concern." Markus was only being polite mostly. He was very tired from the sudden assault of the demons and rushing about on the kings'' orders.


    "I know you are very important to the kingdom and its finances, so I will not trouble you too long. However, the Genesis city will need well trained ountants and treasurers. Knowing this, I thought that finding a mentor for these two demons would be ideal. They dream of gold you see." Walker was smiling while the two demons started to bow but were stopped by Walker. "Remember to keep your head up. You do not need to bow here."


    "They dream of gold? And you want to help them find a mentor who knows of these things? Well, I was torn on who I would train to send to the new city. I could never leave my home here. Especially with my hard earned collection resting in my little museum." Markus knew exactly what Walker was proposing and decided to draw it out a little.


    "I thought that there was only one man that could fit the bill as the ideal mentor for them. They could have a new start and a promising future. I know you must think the same?" Walker left out on Markus to decide.


    "Hmm, I have not taken two apprentices at once. But that is nothing to fear. You two may remain here. I will start small and we will work your way up. Wee to the kingdom, do your best and you will find yourself at the top in no time t." Markus watched as the demons were slowly processing this. They had notbelived that they would stand before a noble that could teach them these skills.


    "Just to tell you both tly, this is the man in charge of this kingdoms'' finances. He is also in charge of the treasury. He has a lot he can teach you." The two demons were done trying to hold their poker faces. The openly grew full of smiles and awe.


    Markus motioned for one of his attendants to show them the way to his mansion. "You two can feel free to go and rest. We will start early in the morning and I will expect hard work." The two demons replied instantly and followed the attendant as if they were being chased by a beast. They refused to let this opportunity get away. "I have to say, you always seem to find interesting things. Especially that set of silverware. I actually found that there are tes made by the same cksmith. I''m missing a few of the set if you happen to see them."


    "If I do, I will purchase them and make sure theye to you. I can''t think of how sad it would be for the set to remain iplete." Markus and Walker were able to chat idly while the kind removed his gaze. The king had still been giving orders and focusing on his task, but over the years he had grown a talent to listen to others around him. He was very pleased that Walker was able to think ahead and find valuable people for Genesis city.


    Seeing an opening, Walker decided to mention onest thing to the king before he took his own leave. He knew that the king would be leaving soon anyways and that the guards were in control of what was happening. Now he needed to be sure he saw his family.


    "I am about to head home, but I wanted to let you know that the alchemy guild building is being built by some of the dwarves soon. Remey managed to recruit them and they said they would build it better than any other. I hope that it will have your support." Walker thought it best to keep the king in the loop since the rulers would be the best backers to make sure the guild took control over the prices and trades of herbs in the beginning.


    "I see, that is very good news. I am very excited to see the brilliant new potions and methods thate from the alchemist guild in the future. I take it that the masters have been found?" Walker replied and went on to some details about who Remey had found and how well it hade together. The other nobles were eager to listen to it all since this was valuable new information for them as well.


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 Chapter 742 - 742. Baiting Nobles

    The king knew all too well that Walker was keeping him in the loop about the alchemy guild so that his party members would have a better and easier time when it was fully established. He also knew that his power would be needed along with other nobles to make it spread and grow properly.


    One noble with more courage than the others stepped forward, "I''m curious on what the price to join the alchemy guild would be?" The noble had risen from the military to be one of the assistant strategists. He had a daughter that gained an alchemy based system and he had paid arge sum of gold for her to be allowed to study with the alchemy building and a low tier master. It was a big hit to his family but he had to take it to further his daughter''s education and future.


    "Price? I''m sure there will be a small price to test whether they can join and perform the proper skills. But I do not believe there will be a price on the knowledge itself. Remey, my party member, has already spoken a few times about sses held by masters. The prices and such of herbs and potions may change and be more regted but the ess will increase. Throwing aside someones'' future forck of gold would be a loss for every race in need of potions." Walker stood firm on thisst statement. He was not one to let alchemists just run about and abuse their power. He had been fortunate not to meet such alchemists as of yet.


    "How impressive¡­" The man mumbled in a daze. The other nobles also followed suit. They were used to sending any family members they had to the alchemy building at a price with the hopes that valuable gold would funnel in to their family yearster after the family member learned alchemy. It was just the way it had worked so far.


    "I think that would be ideal, it sounds as if it will be much more supportive and reliant on the alchemist''s desire to learn than on gold. Is that fair to say?" The man wanted to hear it inly so he could begin to back it. The king watched with a smile. This was what Walker had wanted and what the king had in mind as well. Getting the support of other nobles that had wed their way to the higher ranks in the kingdom would only bolster the positive reputation of the alchemy guild.


    "Yes. knowledge should not be hidden behind a wall of gold and power. It should be free to allow those who desire it to take it and use it to grow." Walker also had many other ns but didn''t want to push things further. "I also believe that a good project toe together with the other kingdoms would be a grand library. I''m sure it would be a project the schrs from every kingdom could contribute to. But that is something I will leave to those with more years behind them. I don''t have enough to contribute yet."


    The nobles looked surprised and excited by this prospect. They all stored up books and records but the only real library of records was the castles. The king knew that the elves held many records and would fully support a grand library. The dwarves had many forging experiments they had recorded that could be added. The demi-humans held a massive amount of battle knowledge. And the demons had some rare ruins throughout theirnds.


    "I will take that in to ount. I feel it is a very good idea. If you could excuse me, I have a few meetings to attend today still." The king had heard everything he needed and was ready to start to make some progress.


    "I hope to see you soon. Thank you foring to help today." Walker said his farewell and looked for Midnight and Onyx. It wasn''t hard to find the two. Onyx had be a center for attention but now reverted to his smaller size and was curled up on Midnight''s back. The children they had been entertaining had been whisked away by parents when the guards guided the farmers to their temporary homes.


    "Are you two ready to head home and see everyone? It looks like Elise has already moved there with her new friend too. I''m sure we will have more to do when the supplies get here from the demi-human kingdom." Walker thought it best to rest and eat now while they had the time.


    Before he left he wanted to tell Su and the high priest but couldn''t see them anywhere. Walker assumed that Su had already left and that the high priest had taken his rest along with Alice since the two had already spent a great deal of mana. Walker couldn''t even find Ibis who he knew would be resting somewhere private. He had spent a great deal of mana and would not recover it for a year due to the cost of feeding the pure light griffin which would guard the city.


    Onyx took up residence on Walker''s shoulder and Midnight slowly walked alongside him. "I think you and I can do some training soon. I know you have been patient about it. Having the other elemental fire breathing skills could be pretty amazing." Walker knew that he could chat with Midnight about this.


    In reaction, Midnight huffed a few times and a slight ember came from her mouth. The golden coloration was her golden me heart skill showing itself and making Walker even more excited himself. He couldn''t imagine how strong certain elemental would be when fused with a dragon''s fire. Midnight would be one of the greatest dragons and little sisters there ever was. However, he knew that she would need to escape Lisa when they got him. She was sure to try and crush Midnight with a hug.


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 Chapter 743 - [Bonus ]743. Gifts For Lisa

    The three returned to the mansion seeing that the garden had radically changed. The strawberries were showing bright red fruit along every row. The oozing vines had taken their growth in stride and were covering most of the walls. However, the surprise was that they all had vibrant purple flowers here and there. They were notrge but they brightened up everywhere the vines grew.


    Walker was amazed by howrge the willow tree grown along with many of the other once small nts. There was also a sizable dragon fruit sapling that was almost taller than he was now. Besides this, there was a feeling of rxation that came from the garden as a whole. It was as if there was something stopping the worlds'' time and slowing it down.


    Walker spotted Ste flying about the mansion property and decided that he wouldn''t disturb her. She appeared to be happy to check everything out that had changed since thest time she was there. In the distance he could also hear that Elise was rambling and talking, this most likely meant that she was trying to teach the demon woman about taming.


    Midnight and Walker moved to the door and as soon as they opened it heard a flurry of foot stepsing from the stairs in front of them. "Finally! I have been waiting for you to get back!" Lisa was jumping in to a hug with Walker before he could even speak. Onyx was nearly knocked from his shoulders but wasn''t angry in the least. He and Midnight knew just how d Lisa was to see them back safely.


    Lisa moved to hug Midnight and Onyx too. Onyx felt he needed to let himself grow to arger size so she wouldn''t crush him which surprised Lisa greatly. "How will I make you a sweater to wear in the winter if you keep getting bigger?" She sounded aggrieved but was showing a concerned and warm smile. She was more or less teasing while working out the problem.


    "Sister, I will keep growing. It is only natural¡­" Onyx wasn''t catching on to the teasing from Lisa and everyone ended upughing slightly.


    "Are mother and father home? I have a bunch of stuff to give them. But first," Walker pulled out one of the charms that they had found in the forest elf city and handed one to Lisa.


    "It''s shaped like a rabbit! I love it. It''s so cute!" Lisa was gushing over the small gift and fixed it on to a bracelet she wore immediately. "Father is out helping with the incident. They asked him to head to the outer walls since he has experience managing one of the entrances to the city. Mother is working on bread for arge order. She said she would make as much as she could for those who lost their food to the attack and that dinner would be up to whoever cooked for themselves."


    "I thought it would be like that. They will be really busy for the next few days. But I will still head to the kitchen to drop off some of the frog and rabbit meat I managed to get. I don''t think they will want to cook with the orc meat. That''s pretty...gross." Walker knew that no one would want the orc meat and that it would have to be given to the dissection center at the guild.


    "Did you bring any fabrics or tools for me?" Lisa was too curious to hold back any longer. She wanted to know just how many interesting and unique things Walker may have found while at the elf city. If he had things she could use it would be great for her to try and make some new pieces of clothing for everyone.


    "Did I? Ohhh, you know. Just some fabrics that have elemental runes stitched in to them. I thought that someone like you might be afraid to teach yourself how to stitch them but even if you don''t learn they can be disyed on the walls or something." Walker pretended to think Lisa wasn''t up to the challenge to bait her a little.


    "Challenge? That''s nothing. I can learn one of them in a single week. Just show them to me!" Lisa watched as Walker took the fabrics from his inventory and Lisa grabbed them one by one. She had never seen runes stitched in to fabric and was amazed by the quality.


    "The materials all work with the affinity and element of the runes. They are way moreplicated than they look. Each stitch had mana to bind the rune to the material the fabric is made of." Lisa was losing herself in the green fabric with a wind elemental rune on it.


    "I was told that they don''t do too much to replenish mana and such but that they are great for those who garden or do daily activities. They will pull the elemental manas to them and can do a lot to assist the person wearing them. They are verymon in the forest elf city. I can see them being very popr here if you can request the proper materials." Walker saw his sisters'' eyes light up at this.


    "I can put a request in at the guild or I can buy them from merchants. I can make all of you headbands or even arm bands with runes in them. I bet a scarf or a handkerchief would sell well to gardeners or maids. I need to start drawing designs. You can make me dinner as an advanced payment!" Lisa shouted to Walker as she rushed back to her sewing room. Walker didn''t know yet, but Lia had recently expanded her sewing room to take up another of the bedrooms as a storage room. She had greatly improved over thest month.


    Walker headed toward the kitchen and Midnight rushed ahead of him. She wanted to see what His mother was cooking and see if she could steal away a snack.


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 Chapter 744 - 744. No Snacks...

    "Oh! Look who made it back. You look like you grew a little. And your scales are shiny as ever. I''m sorry I don''t have much good for you to snack on right now but there are some leftoverbeef bones over there. I was going to make soup but there''s no time now." Walker could hear his mothers'' excitement to see Midnight. He knew that she would have spoiled her rotten if she was able to.


    "Already giving her snacks and she hasn''t even been in the room for five minutes?" Walker saw his mother and was greeted with a flour covered hug.


    "You took your sweet time getting back. I wasn''t sure if you would even be able to ake it in to the city with that demoning to cause trouble. But we have very good protectors. I knew everything would be fine." There was not a single shake in her voice. She believed that they would have been safe no matter what.


    "I would havee back sooner but I had to stop at the cathedral. Elise and Ste are here to visit since they marked a path for the demi-humans to send supplies. There are some demons who will stay with us to learn a few things. And then I also had to speak with some nobles and the king. Not to mention even before all this I was at the dwarven kingdom too. I''m d to be back and smell your cooking, even if it''s not for me." Walker spoke in a flurry of words. He was more excited to be home than he had realized he was.


    "All the way to the dwarves? That is almost to the mountains! How could you have gone all the way there?" Hilda was stunned. She hadn''t imagined they had traveled to more than one ce. The king had already announced the forming of a new alliance and the new city but not that her son had left to meet with dwarves.


    "It wasn''t really nned. It was another demon causing trouble. I just hope that we solved the problem. Although, I am not too sure it will be solved very well at the moment. It will only be known with time." Walker shrugged a little knowing that he could only hedge some guesses for now. "Anyway, I brought you some ingredients. The forest elf city had some vegetables and there were frog type monsters around that taste really good. We managed to find some more horned rabbits. I will omit the orcs because they are gross. But other than that, I will just get them in the storeroom for you."


    There were countless dough balls rising on the counters and even another batch mixed and waiting for Hilda to start to divide it. Walker knew that there was no time for him to distract her since all of the tasks were time sensitive. "Thank you for bringing me new things to try cooking with. I will remember them when I go to experimentter. But for now, get your butt out of the kitchen and let me do what I do best. Oh, and take Midnight with you, I don''t have anything good for her right now." Hilda looked sad since she couldn''t feed Midnight. However, this was to help feed the farmers that had lost everything, it was eptable.


    Walker was shooed out of the kitchen to find that the mansion was surprisingly silent. He wanted to get everyone together but he knew that they would most likely be resting. In any case, he chose to head toward their dining hall. Midnight and Onyx would be able to nap in front of the firece which was their favorite spot. Walker could also have easy ess to the training field and throw together a quick fire to roast some meat and leave it for everyone who came by the dining hall along with some of the leftover bread and cheese from their travels.


    Upon entering the dining hall, Walker and Midnight found the old master alchemists sprawled out on a chair asleep. "Brother, it appears the alchemist was exhausted." Onyx could pick out the signs of exhaustion after working with Su. He had been learning a lot about healing and injuries which made home much more knowledgeable than most.


    "We won''t bother him then. I bet he sent off all of his potions to help heal people and now he is facing the fact that he was studying something and suddenly needed to rush potions away." Walker was d to have such goodpany and bonds with people. He could only imagine that Remey most likely found him this way too and was the one to leave the nket on him.


    Walker headed outside to find that Elise and Ste were both using a book on basic monsters and how taming was performed to teach the demon woman the ins and outs. Walker nned to ask Elise to show him too since he was also a little lost on the basics. He had just happened in to bing somewhat of a tamer and never truly studied the basics. This also reminded him of just how many books he had still yet to read in the library.


    In the distance, he could hear the hammering of the forge and knew that the wandering cksmith must have found something interesting to make. Walker knew he needed to speak with him about the trip to the mountains. It would be an interesting journey because Walker had not been to the mountains before.


    There was also the fact that the wandering cksmith wanted to go there so that he could learn and experiment with different forging methods in the cold of the snowy mountains. Not to mention the many different and unique materials that they held hidden whether it was a monster or naturally urring materials. It was sure to be something exciting.


    At the moment though, Walker started a fire and made his meal before heading off to rest and recover from his journey.


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 Chapter 745 - 745. Elven Item Wonders

    Walker found that he had managed to fall asleep sitting at the dining table. Midnight and Onyx were still asleep by the fire but there had been a change. The old master alchemist had moved to the dining table and was sifting through a small pouch of herbs. "You made it back and awake just in time for some tea. I made a new brew with some lemon grass and poppy seed." The old master alchemist had already gotten the hot water and was filling the tea bags.


    Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and stretching his sore back, Walker nodded his head yes. "I didn''t mean to sleep down here but I guess I was more tired than I thought." Walker noticed that the ted he had made some food on was already taken away. He hoped that his mother hadn''t been forced to clean up behind him.


    "Have you seen Remey yet? She''s been pretty excited to see you. Actually, I didn''t see that fires of theb going at all so maybe she just went to rest for a while. Anyways, I have a bunch of herbs you will find interesting. We should head over in a little bit and get things organized. It might make things a little easier." Walker wanted to lessen the blow Remey would drop on the old master alchemist because she had learned so much from the elves. Not to mention the alchemy fire skill and alchemy fire spirit that would be able to help with potion making.


    "I thought you would. I''m sure I will have enough to keep me busy until the day I die¡­" There was a somber tone in the old master alchemist''s voice.


    "You might be old, but do you think you will die just like that? You have a whole new city and a whole new guild to see before then. And after those are in ce Remey may never let you pass on." Walkerughed a little to reinforce the joke.


    "Ha! You''re right. I''m just letting my age show. I have an entire alchemy building to disband and change to fit the guild. I was thinking of putting one of my better apprentices in ce as the head and have them change things as we build the guild in Genesis. I can also take a lot of the promising apprentices with me. Should make a fine first ss." The old master alchemist was nodding approvingly as he spoke.


    "You''ve really put some thought in to this huh? I didn''t realize you had been nning this out while we were gone."


    "I had to. I have the quest to do just that and I found one of my alchemists selling a high tier healing potion for double the price! It was sickening. The woman had been burned in the forge and needed help but this...Monster! Had the nerve to charge her double." Seeing the anger and disappointment written on his face Walker wanted to support the future alchemy guild even more.


    "Let''s take out tea with is to the alchemyb. I''m sure Remey will make her way there in no time. I also have a demon who I showed to a room yesterday that wants to grow herbs. I will wake up Midnight and see if she can bring her here. She seems nice so far." Walker saw a little surprise from the old master alchemist.


    "A demon that wants to grow, well, anything. That''s really against stereotypes. I hope she is ready. I will bombard her with everything I know." There was an interest Walker could see in the old master alchemist. It wasn''t the new herbs but the demon that wanted to grow them that caught his attention. This was another new urrence that he would not have seen in his life that he wanted to see happen himself.


    Midnight was not very happy to be woken up but when Walker promised her and Onyx some elemental crystals to snack on, he was able to get them moving. Walker and the old master alchemist headed to the alchemyb but as soon as he was outside, the two found Gil''s mother pulling some small weeds on the garden path.


    "Oho, look who it is. The sleepy head at the dinner table. That was a good snack by the way." Walker had just found the person who had cleaned his mess but he was d she had also gotten a meal out of it.


    "Sorry for leaving the mess for you. It''s actually perfect that you are here. I have someone that needs some guidance in growing nts and herbs. Midnight is getting her so I can introduce you two." Gil''s mother looked pretty happy to hear she would have someone to teach. She had been hoping to take in an assistant for the gardentely.


    "Oh, I didn''t realize you had the alchemyb extended." Walker found that the alchemyb had been tripled in size.


    "Well, we kept getting more herbs and such. I thought there would also be new equipment so I had things remodeled. Don''t worry, I paid for it. But from what you are saying it looks like we will need arge greenhouse. Maybe we should expand again. I know a very good builder. We could make it out of stone with some fire elemental crystals in it to maintain warmth. Ah, but the soil might dry out¡­" The old master alchemist already had a problem with the n.


    "I have a solution for that. These are called water spikes. I got them from the forest elf city. They cause the water in the air to condense in the soil and continuously water nts." Walker handed the water spikes over to the amazement of the old master alchemist and Gil''s mother.


    "You haven''t even taken the herbs out and whatever else and we are already impressed." Gils'' mother was too amazed at this great solution.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 746 - 746. Two Teachers

    "I think they will make a huge ssh in the farming and herb growing world. I made sure to drop the hints when I was in the forest elf city so that they can make them for merchants to bring to other kingdoms. I''m pretty sure the demi-humans will buy them up the fastest since they have the most fields for farming." Walker already knew this to be true but just wanted to show off his knowledge on the water spikes future.


    "These will help a lot, I want to start putting them in the gardens'' dry spots but I can do itter. Right now it sounds like we have a gusting." Midnight was making enough sound to alert Gil''s mother of her iing.


    When Midnight burst in she went right to Walker waiting for the promised elemental mana crystals for her and Onyx. "Yes yes, how about some fire elemental crystals this time? Onyx can have the light and you the fire." Walker pulled out a handful of them and made note that he should just buy more when he had the time.


    "Lord hero? You needed me this morning?" The demon woman was a little shaken since she had not expected to be woken up by Midnight and Onyx. She was also told that she had people to meet and that managed to make her even more nervous.


    "This is a master alchemist and a retired farmer who also happens to be our archers'' mother. They are both extremely knowledgeable and are the reasons why the garden and the herbs that are there are flourishing brilliantly." Walker motioned for the demon woman toe in and meet the other two. However, before she could there was another person bursting in to the alchemyb.


    "Finally! Old man, you were asleep forever. I had to wait for you. Oh...Who''s this?" Walker was not at all surprised by the fact that Remey hade rushing over. He knew that he would be on her way as soon as she knew they were all awake and in to the alchemyb.


    "Wee to the party. I thought you would be asleep for dayssss" Walker exaggerated a little just to tease Remey a little. "This is a new friend who wants to learn about herbs. In particr, she is a demon that wants to grow herbs. I thought she could be a very good addition to the mansion staff one day." Walker saw that Remey grasped his meaning instantly.


    "You can be our herbalist. You can take over the herbs one day if you manage to fulfill your quests. What do you need first?" Remey wasn''t even going to hesitate and waste time bragging to the old master alchemist about the things she had learned in the forest elf kingdom. She wanted to secure someone who could grow herbs instantly.


    "Um-mm I have to grow a single herb from seed. It says that the first step is to learn to care for the beginning of life. I have never actually grown a nt. I was found to have earth and water affinity and that was hated by the demons. I was considered a waste and brought to general Pride." They all understood and Walker recalled her mentioning this the day before.


    "Well, we can do that. Maybe the elemental spirits Walker has around somewhere will help you out too. But they are a little excited so we might not see them for a little while. They went off exploring as soon as we walked in to the city." Remey was sure that this demon would be a great herbalist one day since she had a good affinity for growing nts.


    "Dear, what''s your name? I can''t just call you demon while we garden." Gil''s mother was sure she would need to call the name often and wanted to show respect as an equal and a teacher.


    "I was never worthy to have one. Most of us were taken as soon as we were old enough to get our affinity tested. Worthless things don''t deserve names¡­" This made all of their hearts twang in pain. Hearing something so cruel was just another reason for them to go against the corruption of demons.


    "Well, do you want to pick one? We have plenty of names that could fit someone with the desire to grow herbs and help others." Remey wasn''t just going to let the demon woman have no name. It was not how equals stood here.


    "I don''t...know." The woman had no idea how to name herself or what she would even like to be called.


    "Lewisia." The old master alchemist was looking right at the demon woman. "It is a flower that is symbolized as rebirth and new beginnings. It has red and yellow tones in these parts and matches the hair you have. I think it will fit well." No one had expected him toe up with a name. He had just been standing silently watching things progress.


    "It''s a beautiful name. I have never seen a flower like that. Can you show me?" The demon woman epted it graciously. She couldn''t imagine that a flower would ever be rted to someone deemed useless and weak. There was almost a tear in her eyes but she held them back. She couldn''t let herself fall in to a mess of emotions at the start of a new life.


    "Lewisia, wee to the mansion and the family. You''re going to learn a lot here." Remey was more excited than the others.


    "Well, let''s choose what you want to grow and the herbs you will have a chance to work with." Walker went to the main work table and began pulling the seeds, herbs, and other materials for alchemy that Remey had made him store away. The old master alchemists'' eyes grew wide as he saw so many that he had never seen before.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 747 - 747. Starting Herb

    "Think we made out well? The forest elf master alchemist Trish was able to teach me a lot. I might have even managed to create a new skill called the alchemic brawler''s field guide." Remey was looking away but she knew that she was baiting the old master alchemist.


    "Ha! Of course, you did. I wouldn''t expect anything else! When can I meet this Trish woman? I feel like she would be quite the alchemist if she was able to drag you to learn things." The teasing atmosphere gave up Remey and the old man''s rtionship to Lewisia, who was better able to understand the hidden parental rtionship.


    "They are grandfather and daughter? I didn''t think that they were rted." The question was quiet but Walker was able to lean over and exin a little.


    "Remey is an orphan but she always went to the alchemy building to ask for medicines and herbs. Eventually, she started to watch the master alchemist and they became like family. Not that they will admit it since they are both stubborn. It might be where Remey got it from."


    "Hey! I heard that! Don''t go giving away my past so easily!" Remey met Walker with a soft punch to the arm that just made the two smile. She turned to Lewisia and held out a seed. "These are rainbow sunflower seeds. They grow quickly and need a lot of light. But the petals can be used for a healing balm when they are ground with olive oil. Perfect beginning herb to start with and it will be very beautiful to show off to the other demons around."


    Lewisia took the seeds which appearedpletely white and void of any color. "These will really turn in to something so splendid and useful?" Naturally, she was lost as to how this would ur. She had never grown anything herself and this was the first time for her even holding a seed.


    "It is a rare herb here. But I had heard that they grow in forest clearings near the elf territories. I''m impressed we managed to get some. We can make a lot of the healing balm for a cheap price to any crafter. They always have small scratches and cuts that need healing." The old master alchemist was d to see the seeds. He was familiar with them but had never been able to grow them in mass.


    "They sound like the perfect addition to the garden. Rainbow sunflowers seems like they would brighten up any open spot. And I have the perfect open spot." Gil''s mother was already dragging Lewisia out of the door to the alchemyb.


    While Remey and the master alchemist were the only other two left other than Midnight and Onyx were too involved with their elemental mana crystals, Walker took the remaining herbs from his storage. "That is that. I also gave Lisa the fabrics with the rune patterns so in a few weeks she might have some clothing that can help with gathering certain elemental manas." Walker was sure that there would be a use for this kind of thing during alchemy.


    "Sounds good. Are you sticking around? Or will you head off elsewhere?" Remey wasn''t sure if Walker would want to watch the exnation of the new herbs. She partially wanted to ask him to leave so she could spend some personal time with the old master alchemist but was unsure how to say it.


    Luckily, Walker caught on and also had some ns himself. "I want to go and talk with the wandering cksmith. He wanted to n a trip to the mountains to try and craft in the ice and snow. I also want to talk to him about spirit forging. I have connected a few dots and think he already knows about it. I hope you two have some fun with your herbs. The alchemyb looks great by the way." Walker headed out with a wave and the two began pouring over the herbs and seeds. Walker could already hear the stories Remey was telling.


    Midnight and Onyx had stayed behind too enamored by their mana crystals. This left Walker alone for the first time in a while. Even the elemental spirits had gone off to explore so he was sure that they wouldn''t be back for a little longer.


    The sounds of the forge were different than the day before and Walker could tell it was the sound of a de being sharpened. When he entered the heat was still strong but the ice jade pendant kept him cool. "I thought I woulde and bother you today too." Walker made his presence known and the wandering cksmith greeted him with a smile.


    Having the de in his hand the wandering cksmith showed off the knife set he was making. They weren''t made of metal but instead a fusion of stone and metal. It was a very interestingbination that brought out the speckled grey stone and the shine of silver. They were very sharp as well due to the care taken when sharpening.


    "Those are pretty amazing. I bet any noble would pay a hefty price to have them disyed. But I have a feeling you would prefer them to be used rather than just tossed in a disy case somewhere." Walker was greeted with another nod before the wandering alchemist ced the de with the rest of the set.


    "So, I have a few things we should talk about. First, I remember you want to go on a trip to the mountains. I am thinking after everyone rests for a few weeks we can head out. The only requirement is we need to be back before three months are up because the summit will be happening in Genesis city then. Also, we need to talk about spirit forging, true spirit forging." The wandering cksmith showed a troubled expression before turning to face Walker with serious intent.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 748 - 748. Forging Future

    Walker took a seat as well so that he could be on the same level as the wandering cksmith. "I also heard that there was a wandering forge master system. I have a feeling that you visited the dwarves and that you know about spirit forging. But, that isn''t the truth anymore. There is a new path for spirit forging."


    The wandering cksmith grew even more serious. His face showed more wrinkles and his tapping foot stopped while he waited to hear what Walker had to say.. "Instead of burning the soul and forcing an elemental spirit in to a weapon, we did something else. We had the elemental spirit help us and gather mana. It created what we call a dwelling weapon. Su has an earth dwelling shield. It lets an earth spirit dwell within. It can leave whenever it wants."


    The wandering cksmith slowly opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out before he closed it again. "This isn''t the end. The earth dwelling shield has a skill called earth fortress I believe. The earth elemental spirit is able to separately activate the skill using the earth elemental mana stored in a mana gem in the earth dwelling shield."


    Walker paused letting the wandering cksmith absorb this information, "The skill allowed the spirit to put up earth walls all around the wielder of the shield and protect them. Even from the back where the wielder isn''t looking. We also gained a spirit mark skill that let the spirit dwell within us but that is just an added bonus. The point is, that the spirit forging technique is possible."


    The wandering cksmith leaned back and whistled. He wasn''t sure what to say. He had researched so many things and out of everything he had done he never believed that spirit forging would be a viable path.


    "Grey even made a dragon style golem that has a core which can let a fire elemental spirit dwell within. The fire elemental spirit can control the golem as it desires when dwelling within the core. It is very impressive." There was another moment of shock as the wandering cksmith processed yet another big piece of news.


    "Show ma." This was a simple pair of words. But Walker knew that it more than signaled he had enticed the wandering cksmith enough.


    "It''s too big for in here sp let''s go outside. The fire elemental spirit is off exploring so we can''t get it to control the golem and Midnight has the spirit mark for it. The golem can act on its own though as long as it receives orders. We found a cyclops me staff in sp,e ruins that we used so it could resist the heat of mes." Walker gave the details after they moved to the outside of the forge.


    When the shining golem came to light the wandering cksmith instantly began to examine it. Surprisingly, Walker watched as the wandering cksmith rushed inside the forge and came back to begin to draw up small blueprints and designs.


    "You don''t have to improve it. I just wanted to show you." Walker was afraid that he had somehow mimunicated the reason for showing the wandering cksmith the golem. Yet, when the wandering cksmith shook his head Walker somehow knew that it was because he wanted to learn and alter the golem and not because he was asked to.


    Walker didn''t see any reason to stop him so he grabbed his chair to watch the valuation and tell the wandering cksmith what had happened in the dwarven kingdom. The story went on and the wandering cksmith would look up here and there to listen or express an emotion.


    "Then I learned some of the forging skills, but the craziest part that nearly gave the elder and Grey a heart attack was when I got the portable forge skill." Walker would have spoken more but the wandering cksmith ad licked both hands on Walkers'' shoulders. "Yes, I said portable forge skill. I also know that you have to have the skill too with some form of spatial storage or something."


    The wandering cksmith released Walker and sat down in front of him looking at the blueprints and thinking. He eventually lit up again showing excitement. "I don''t much like to speak. It wastes time. Congrattions on the skill. I hope that we can both forge in the icy mountains to learn more soon." This was all the wandering cksmith said. However, there was a weight to these words that rang within Walker.


    "I am excited about it too. I can''t even begin to imagine just how much I will learn from you." Walker put the same strength of emotion and ended up shaking hands with the wandering cksmith. The two had reaffirmed their deal but also be partners in the world of cksmithing. There was a lot that Walker had learned but so much more he was ignorant to. The wandering cksmith could learn to spirit forge properly and Walker could learn the basics to go with what he had already gained.


    "I n to leave the golem here though. I think you will be able to do whatever it is you want with it. Just remember that when the fore elemental spirit returns you exin it even if you can''t hear what it is saying. The spirits use mana to speak and only myself and Midnight can understand it. But Onyx can trante what Midnight says so a conversation is possible."


    The wandering cksmith shook his head a few times before heading back in to the forge and clearing the table. It appeared that he had been consumed by the blue prints for the golem. Walker left him a few of the receable scales and decided to leave things on that note. He had to get ready for a trip to the mountains at some point. But for now, he was going to take a walk through the city to breathe in the air of home.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 749 - 749. Side Quest

    Walker had found himself leaving the gates to the mansion with a strange feeling eating at him. He was alone and about to walk off alone. This was the first time he had done so in a while. He rarely walked alone for long periods of time and now he was about to wander out in to the city just to walk about and explore.


    He pointed himself in the direction of the lower ss area. He had made the decision to head to the adventurers guild to see how ra was doing. He was sure she was in a mess of work because the farmers'' fields needed patrolling, cleaning, and homes rebuilt. It was only natural that the extra manpower woulde from the guild.


    Walker himself was not nning to leave the city because he just wouldn''t feelfortable without the party there. He also had the feeling that there would not be an exciting adventure without them. It was just not the way things were meant to be.


    "Get away from my stall! Demons'' like you are the reason children can''t sleep at night.. Don''t you know that we are just tolerating you? The sooner you leave the better!" Walker was frozen. He needed a moment to breathe and quell his immediate anger hearing this.


    When he looked up and saw the fruit vendor shouting at the demon man who looked to be much too thin, he knew that he could not keep walking leisurely.


    ''Side quest: Guide the people


    The demons have many traits that cause other races to be ufortable. Paired with their history and general fear for them, other races may react negatively. Educate those witnessing such an urrence.


    Requirement:


    Do what a hero does best; stand up for the weak


    Reward:


    Heroic leveling points- 3''


    "If what you say is true then every single human in this kingdom is cruel and mistreats other races. They can''t extend a hand to them and can not learn to live with those who have just escaped the tortures of a corrupted rule. Do you think that is urate?" Walker released his voice and let the mana around him fluctuate with his words. He still has many skills that effected the mana and aura around him that he could use at once.


    The small group watching the stall owner became slightly fearful, "Then there are the humans who can not even stand up for those races. How does it feel to know that every single person in the kingdom is the same? Even myself as a hero must be hateful to another race. Isn''t that what you are getting at."This made the group watching and the stall owner begin to cower.


    "What did you need? Apples? Or did you want to ask the vendor a question? I can find you a better ce I am sure." Walker held out a hand to the frightened demon.


    The stall vendor was still shocked and stammering words in response to Walkers'' words. He couldn''t get a proper exnation out and no one witnessing all of this was able to step forward due to their shame.


    "I want to be a merchant. I want to travel and see different things. I want to fairly trade for things instead of getting nothing but stolen from." The demon was obviously a victim of the hierarchy of the demonnds. They were not known for merchants but instead for taking what they wanted by force. This was thergest reason there were no merchants that would go there to trade. Any that had ever tried had been hunted and robbed.


    "Well, there are much better ces than a single fruit vendor. I know an auction house that has deep connections with many merchants. Would you like me to introduce you?" The demon man nodded. He wasn''t sure what else to say since there were so many others'' watching him.


    "Was that encounter informational for everyone? These are citizens of the Genesis alliance and the Genesis city. They are equal to you now. If you wish to sit on your neighbor then don''t expect anyone toe running to your rescue. The demons are an intelligent race just like us. They had their troubles but I have found they are much kinder than you may believe." Walker grabbed the demon by the arm and began to head toward the Ga family auction house.


    Behind him, the conversation broke out instantly. For a moment everyone tried to me the stall owner and then each other before realizing that they were just throwing around words. They began to feel sick. The hero himself had just told them that what they were doing was the same as spitting on each other. The hero had said that they were showing that every human was the same cruel creature looking down on another race, even the king was human too!


    Those who had stopped watched as the stall owner closed shop and proceeded toward the cathedral. Without any words, they followed him. They had a lot to learn about and the church was the best ce to begin.


    ''Side quest: Guide the people-pleted


    The demons have many traits that cause other races to be ufortable. Paired with their history and general fear for them, other races may react negatively. Educate those witnessing such an urrence.


    Requirement:


    Do what a hero does best; stand up for the weak


    Reward:


    Heroic leveling points- 3''


    Walker smiled as he pulled the demon along. "Here''s something to snack on. We have a few minutes to walk before we get there." Walker pulled a few strawberries from his storage and handed them to the demon. His ns had been changed but Walker felt it was for the best. He had made an impression on the people and hopefully, they would change their ways and ept demons more. However, he knew it would take time.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 750 - 750. Demons Awe

    The demon man''s face was staring in awe at the grandness of the Ga family auction house. He had never seen such a building and could not contain himself. The smile and light in his eyes were enough to make Walker know he had just brought the demon man somewhere he had not even been able to dream of in his life thus far.


    "Pretty impressive, I know. But you should see the inside. It is much better than the outside." The demon followed Walker up the steps. He was looking at each of the smooth and polished marble steps as if they were a magnificent treasure.


    "Sir hero, we do now have you listed for an appointment today. Are you here to schedule one or do you have other business?" The guard at the door recognized Walker. Every single staff member and the guards had been instructed to memorize the hero partys'' faces so that they could be properly treated with respect when they arrived.


    "I do not have an appointment.. If I need one I can make one now. I was bringing my friend here to introduce him to someone that could teach him about being a merchant. He wants to be one in the future. Of course, the best ce I thought of was the Ga family. This is the main hub of trading in the kingdom. The market may have some good itms, but we both know the bestes through here first." Walker knew that a little ttery would go a long way with the guards.


    As soon as he exined his reasoning the guard was able to put on a friendly smile toward the demon, "Please let me go inside and see if anyone is avable. If I recall the young mistress is avable currently due to a canceled appointment." The guard rushed inside while still maintaining the professional air about him.


    "They are a very refined daily due to their status in the city. But don''t let that put you off. They are very kind and will teach you more than you ever thought you would need to know." Walker was sure that the Ga family would take this demon in and teach him. He was sure that they may ask for some payment but that was nothingpared to the demon having a proper education and home for now.


    There was a slight creak as the door slowly opened again to reveal a smartly dressed woman with bright red hair and a sharp pair of eyes. "Sir hero, my name is Jessica Ga. Please address me as Jessie. What do I owe the pleasure today?"


    "Well hello, I am sorry to surprise you. I hope that it did not cause any problems for you. I know how busy you must be with everything going on right now." Walker first apologized, he knew that showing unannounced was always in poor taste.


    "No, it is very nice to have you here. I had a meeting with a merchant but they canceled to rush to the dwarven kingdom. Apparently, there was a set of heroes that helped solve a few problems there. Now all the merchants are rushing there to gather new items to bring here and there for sale." Jessie made a slightugh. "Oh, where are my manners, pleasee inside and have some of the elder fruit tea we just got in from across the desert. It is invigorating."


    Walker followed Jessie inside and guided the demon toe as well. It was hard to keep the demon man moving since thevish interior was another unknown sight to him. Walker managed to stop the demon a few times from grasping at the silk fabrics or touching the lifelike paintings on the wall. All of this was much to the humor of Jessie whoughed each time Walker was forced to catch the demons'' hand.


    "Phew, now that we have made it here. I was hoping that I could introduce this demon to you. I''m not sure he has a name just yet but when I met him he was trying to learn about being a merchant from the owner of a fruit stall. I could only think of this auction house as the best possible ce to learn." Walker made sure to throw thepliment in. It was true but he needed to make sure that he said it to improve the chances of the demon being able to earn here.


    "I see, it was wise to bring him here. However, why would we benefit from taking in one of the demons as an apprentice merchant? We can recruit from every noble family and even from outside the kingdom when we desire." Jessie was not going to just sit around. She was a huge fan of getting right in to the details of business and making progress. She believed that those who sat idle would end up wasting away.


    "I was expecting you to asl this. You see, I know that the Ga family will be very interested in expanding to the Genesis city as it is built. To be honest, I expect there have already been moves to make this happen." Walker noticed Jessies'' eyebrow twitch slightly telling him that they had indeed made their moves.


    "I believe having a demon merchant will be very useful. The races will find the Genesis city as a ce toe together equally. Having a demon as part of your family business before it bes mainstream so to speak, would put you ahead. Not only this, But the demons that join you will be pioneers of their race. They had not delved in to the world of auctions and trading. That means you will be at the forefront of this movement." Walker knew that all of it was sounding very tempting. He only needed to wait for Jessies'' response.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 751 - 751. Purchases

    "I should have expected the hero to be sly. I can''t imagine that you did not have this nned from the start. Using your tempting words." Jessie was smiling. She was hearing wonderful possibilities and wanted exactly what Walker was saying.


    "The Ga family has indeed made moves to create a grand auction hall double the size of this one. We n to forge contracts to sell what the soon to be established alchemy guild, forge, and adventurers'' guild brings in. We may even work out some special transportation deals with the tamers'' guild." Walker absorbed what Jessie was saying. There was just so much possibility in so few words.


    "Now, before I make any decisions. Why do you wish to be a merchant, Mr. silent demon?" Jessie didn''t have a name she had been told for the demon and so she made up a temporary nickname..


    "I have never been called something like that before. I wouldn''t mind being known as the silent demon." Walker nearly threw his face in his palms hearing the demon man say this.


    "Then silent it is. I am Jessie, the first rule of merchant sale, learn the names of important people." Jessie was already throwing in some of the lessons anyone that was buying or selling something should know. "Now, again, what do you want to be a merchant?


    Jessie repeated the question and Silent was able to answer much more easily this time. It seemed like getting a nickname even though it didn''t have a ton of meaning was enough to make him excited.


    "I want to see the world. And bring back amazing things." Silent was ready to go on and on. For whatever reason, he could feel that his energy was surging. This was the most alive he had felt in years.


    "Hat''s the same answer he gave me. I think it fits what a merchant does." Walker nodded approvingly.


    "Then let me also ask you this, would you be willing to sail across the oceans? Walk through the scorching deserts? Hunt through filth for a rare treasurer? If any of these answers was a no then don''t bother staying here any longer." Jessie was harsh but it was necessary. "Or do you have the savings and the smarts to buy valuable items and bargain for their price to be reduced so you can sell them at higher rates for profit?"


    "I do not know how to do any of that...yet. I will learn it all. I don''t want to just fight for what I can have or eat. I will find a way to trade and obtain it for myself." Silent was still determined as ever and did not back down.


    "Then you can start a basic apprenticeship here. For the first six months you will do nothing but item identification. You do not need an appraisal skill. You will record items, their quality, and their uses." As if they were waiting one of the guards entered the room and guided Silent out in to the hall.


    "I assume that you may want something else since you are looking at me expectantly?" Jessie was too clear that there was more than just one task Walker wanted to take care of.


    "You could say that I was not nning oning here today but ns change when someone needs her. Besides that, It works out. I am actually looking for some things. I was wondering if you had any items that constantly absorbed elemental mana? You have a fair amount of people that can appraise things. They are dormant elemental spirits." Walker was sure that the Ga family would havee across them and not been able to sell them.


    "Ah, we do have such things. They are a terrible sellers and have long been removed from the auction list. We can''t even awaken them in any form, so we have just stored them in the vaults." Jessie had memorized the contents of the vaults. It was part of her job since she was a main family member.


    "Then You should be asking me how much I am willing to buy from you. Although, I do not believe they would be bought at all but I understand you would take a loss just giving them to me." Walker knew that if he put it this way he would keep the respect of the Ga family while also receiving a lower price.


    "If you were to take them at five gold a piece it would actually be a great help. We want the space for the iing merchants and have had trouble clearing it. Is there anything else you may need?" Jessie surprised Walker by agreeing. He felt that he had eithere at the perfect time or that there was another reason.


    "Elemental mana crystals. I need three crates of each for a project. Also, if you happen to have any materials that have no elemental affinity or have all elemental affinities equally. I would like to buy them. Of course, if they are being auctioned I cane. I also have some orc materials I n to have dissected at the guide so I will have them sent here from there for sale."


    Thest addition to Walkers'' sentence was what won over Jessie. "I will have them ready for you and sent to your home. I hope that you have the space prepared. I will see what we have for materials and have you notified at ater date. I can have the appraisal experts begin evaluations to check if they meet your requirements We trust you will send payment when the items are delivered." Jessie finished her tea.


    "Then I believe that is all I could need right now. Thank you very much for your help. Also. I hope that you teach our new friend well. There are many people whocked systems that are getting theirs now. The world is changing and I wouldn''t mind seeing a fair merchant family staying fair and on top." Walker ced his cup down and stood to leave. He had achieved a surprising end to his visit.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 752 - 752. Energy

    Walker was fairly happy with the random encounter. He had been worried about the demon''s integration in to the kingdom. He was also happy with where it had taken him. He was nning on holding off with the search for the dormant elemental spirits. However, he had been in the Ga family auction house and been stricken by the thought that they may fiend them often. People were sure to find them and believe they were rare materials.


    On top of all this, he was able to resupply on the elemental mana crystals he needed.. This would help awaken the elemental spirits but also give him the ability to start to forge gear with the wandering cksmith. He wanted to work together on the true spirit forging path with him so that when they went on the mountain forging trip they could both forge together. It was an ideal adventure.


    Once he had left the Ga Family auction house he aimed himself back at the adventurers guild. He needed to make good o his deal and drop off the orc bodies for dissection. He was sure that the basement would be busy as all else with the pieces of therge orc. The skin was still very tough and sure to fetch a decent price when it came to an auction or just general sales.


    On his way, he kept an eye out and managed to see a demon helping with a courier delivery. Walker wasn''t sure why the demon would have a quest that would push him to learn about delivering letters but that wasn''t the point. The demon was standing with another apprentice who was helping get the demon up to speed. It was as if they were just another person that had joined as a younger apprentice under them.


    It may have been a brief sight, yet, it was enough to reenergize Walker as he strolled toward the adventurers'' guild and through the front door.


    Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of noise. There were party leaders signing up for field patrols andbor jobs. Walker was able to overhear that some of the field rats had started to im the burned out farm houses as their homes. This made the rebuilding harder because at night they had taken over the spots where supplies were left as nests.


    There was also the fact that the carpenters and crafters did not feel safe without guards and adventurers to watch over them. This lead to more escort and guard quests which the kingdom was funding. It was an expected reaction that they did not overlook. He could hear the positivements for conistent work and pay.


    ra was nowhere to be seen but that was to be expected as well. She would be way up in the guild master''s office. Before he went to see her he followed the steps he had descended before to the dissection area.


    The noise was significant since the workers had been forced to take over a lot of the butchering work. Many cattle and other farm animals had been taken by the fire and left to rot. These had been found and brought to the other butchers to be dealt with and preserved. Unfortunately, there was too much and it had to be dealt with before it rotted. The adventurers guild had no choice but to take on the additional work.


    "Hero on the floor!" The shout came from one of the workers that happened to be walking by Walker. He had made the call so that someone free would be able to help him out.


    "Hey there, sorry for the mess, We have a lot of work and are running on almost zero sleep. Come to drop off some things from your travels? I heard your fan club talking about a trip to other kingdoms. You should have a lot of monsters hidden away. As long as it isn''t any of those bone and zombies it should be fin." The man was talking a mile a minute. Walker wasn''t sure what was going on until he saw a brown looking potion hanging on his hip.


    '' Boosted coffee


    Made from beans grown in the demi-human kingdom, this potion is brewed using boiling hold water and roasted coffee beans. The process of infusing mana to the roasted beans causes the stored energy in someone''s body to be active. For three hours they will have enhanced agility and feel mentally energized. Afterward, they will be extremely sluggish and tired. This is one of the demi-humans''rges exports to other kingdoms. Not rmended for small children.''


    Walker had seen it before as a nobles drink. However, it was news to him that an alchemist could add mana to it and create an effect that boosted agility. The only downside was that there was a downside. He couldn''t imagine having such arge drop in energy after.


    "I have some Orc bodies and a few random other monsters. But mostly orc bodies and body parts." Walker followed the man that seemed to be running toward an open are.


    "Here we are. Just drop it here. I will take care of it. Were the orcs tough? If they are we can have them cut and set apart tomorrow. If they aren''t then they are for the pigs. Or if they are super tough we can sell them for a lot of money for you. How about it?" Walker had to blink and slow himself down a moment to understand the man.


    "They will be sent to the Ga family auction house. They will be selling them for me. There are parts of arger orc in there. Good luck." Walker proceeded to pull everything from his inventory. He knew he couldn''t actually feel the weight but he did feel lighter having them gone from his storage. "I will head up to the guild masters'' office. I need to check in with my party manager." The man was too consumed with the new monster to take apart that he didn''t hear Walkers'' farewell.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 753 - 753. The New Guild Master

    Getting through all of the people was a lot easier when Walker came up. The rush had died down as the adventurers had taken their leave to make it to their quests for the say. Some just stood around trying to build a party or waiting for others but this still left the main hall very open. There were a lot fewer quests on the boards that Walker could see and realized that it was because the uing harvest festival would change the adventurers'' quests.


    The harvest festival normally would have the streets full of people who were after unique foods that hade from the year''s harvest. However, it had begun when the city was founded. There were many stories and beliefs associated with the festival.


    Walker could have thought about it more but found a staff member staring at him. "Umm, are you alright?" The staff member blinked and looked surprised. He had been spacing out starring at Walker without realizing it.


    "Oh, no. Sorry.. I was just thinking about a few things. I am new to this position and have a lot on my mind." The man seemed very apologetic and a little on edge after the rush of adventurers that hade through.


    "Well, in that case, wee to the guild...or should I say congrattions on the promotion." Walker noticed that the man was wearing the outfit of a floor manager. This meant that he had taken ras'' position.


    "Thank you very much." The man stumbled through his words as soon as he saw Walker''s adventurer que. "I''m sorry. I didn''t realize you were one of the heroes. My name is Jean the new first floor manager. Please feel free to ask me anything." Jean was flustered but Walker just held a smile.


    "If I need anything I will. Actually, why do the quests look to be organized differently?" Walker noticed that the boards had been arranged in a different way and it was not only by difficulty. Normally the higher earning ones would be toward the top and the lower earning to the bottom. But now, they appeared mixed.


    "The guild master began changing them. She said that those who took the top quests would have a higher chance of advancing to a higher tier adventurer. She said that the qualification is highly secret but the heroes would understand if they saw it." Walker looked at the boards more carefully and began to understand just as he had seen.


    The quests that required escorting or helping those in the lower tiers had been moved up. They were also the quests that were less rewarding but also more helpful to people in the kingdom. The quests that were mainly for profit such as, turning in mined gem stones or performing at nobles events.


    "ra was right, I do understand. They are definitely better to take than the others." Walker smirked and headed up the stairs without hearing a reply from Jean. He knew all too well that these were the quests that would give him heroic points toward leveling up. ra was organizing the quests so that people were more likely to take the ones that would help more people. On top of that, the people that took more of them would be rewarded with a chance to advance their tier.


    Walker could hear ra before he even made it to the rows of desks and staff members doing paper work.


    "What do you mean they are trying to hunt for a storm smander? Those are tough for silver tier party to take down. Recall that party immediately and give them a talking to."


    "Post the rat killer quest again. The sewers are invested this time of year."


    "If that party takes the cricket catching quest again ask them if they want to specialize in insect monster catching. They are very good at it and they help feed many of the tamed monsters thate in to the city."


    When Walker saw her, ra was taking a very hands on approach. She was standing in the middle of the work area with her office door wide open behind her. She would get a system notification and dole out the popper response in an instant.


    "I heard there was a stressed out guild master I needed to meet with to congratte on a promotion?" Walker stepped on to the top of the floorpletely and was in full sight of ra.


    "Oh, finallye to see your party manager after traveling not only to one kingdom but two! And might I add, fighting in a small battle that the retired guild master had to finish with the most powerful spell he had." ra had some levity in her voice showing that she was smiling but she was still giving Walker a hard evaluation.


    "Yes, I know it was a longer trip than expected. But we managed to do a lot. We are back for some time though. I am nning a forging trip to the mountains before the Summit though." Walker was not about to lie and say he would be around for months on end.


    "Sounds rxing. Ice cold mountains and a forging hammer." ra giggled a little. "I didn''t think you would surprise me and see me in the middle of all the work. I have been trying to pull some adventurers back so that they can begin the travels and forging of new trade routes. However, there always seems to be another thing in the way. I have no idea how the old man did it all without having a system like mine that literally helps the master of the guild." Walker was shocked.


    He had never thought about what ra''s system was. Hearing that it was rted to running the guild was a big surprise, to say the least. "I guess that exins why you''re so good at it. My party was very lucky to get you as a manager."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 754 - 754. Sticking With You

    "Why did youe here to sweet talk? Is it because you know I might be angry about the fact that the party I managed went off and defeated two slime rted tragedies and then returned only to throw themselves in to a battle with a high ranking demon that had soldiers that exploded?" ra knew that Walker was trying to cheer her up before she got in to the main point of her conversation with him. She was not going to y around and let the party leader off the hook.


    "We did get stranger. Is wear. I didn''t just rush in without a thought." Walker attempted to get out of this but he knew that ra was seeing right through him. It may have been true that he didn''t just rush in without a thought at all but he did rush in and then think about it properly. He only had the fact that he had used the ice border wall to prove he had had a n.


    "And what if Barry was not there? I do not believe you would have had the ability to fight back alone. Tell me, what level are you and what level do you think that demon general was?" ra was pretending to let Walker speak but then she spoke before him, "That demon general was almost the same level as Barry but it was stronger. It was level seventy nine. The only reason it was beaten so easily by Guild master Ibis was because the summon he called on was one that exceeds level one hundred. It is a ruler of its'' realm.."


    Walker was still confused about how summoners worked and felt that he needed to understand his own world better first before he looked at calling others from another world or even tried to understand how and what it meant that there were other realms. "Now,e to the office for a break. I need one. Do you realize how many parties try to do crazy things since you got a title?" ra was shaking her head the entire time as they closed the doors to the office.


    When she sat down it was like the weight of the world had left her shoulders. "I have been at it since those demons showed up. I had no idea how hard it waspared to the first floor. Not to mention keeping up with your party that beats monster well above your level and gains huge amounts of experience. By the way, what was that while you were in the elf city?" ra did not forget the massive amount of experience the party had received while there.


    "That...well, if you saw the quest it was about us helping to train the younger elves and we gained experience and heroic points for every single one. There were a lot of them so we finished and gained more experience and heroic points than expected. It was cold a world shake or experience flood I think. But we gained so much that we were pretty much unconscious while it happened and we gained the educationist title." Walker wanted to go in to more details but he wanted to directly answer ra''s questions first.


    "I have read about it. You almost did that once before but this was more experience all at once. I understand." he had her head in her hand in wonder. He wasn''t sure how they managed to do these things over and over every time they went out to do something.


    "The title is pretty useful too. We can teach other skills to people. Well, they need to learn it in a week after we use a skill before the information disappears again." ra just slowly shook her head. It was another extremely valuable skill that she was going to have to somehow keep track of.


    Walker looked at her for a moment and he realized that she was waiting to hear the entire story. He recounted the details and even went in to how the treaty talks and Genesis city conversations went. Most of which she already seemed to know.


    "I will be attending the Genesis alliance summit. The old man won''t be able to make it because he needs to stay where he summoned the Griffin. He also only has one mana point for some time so it is safer for him to be here. I hope it won''t throw anything off but I can manage the guild from anywhere with my system. I actually hope to travel to the other branches for check ups soon."


    "I wasn''t sure what to think when he summoned the griffin. The master tier skill is amazon. But having to live with one mana for a year is a lot. He''s going to feel tired and drained for a year." Walker wasn''t really sure how he would feel being stuck with one mana for a year. He was somewhat rting it to the fact that he was currently losing mana to the surroundings but that waspletely different. He still had mana to use for his own protection.


    "From what he told me, he will be sipping mana potions while spending a great deal of time in the cathedral. It''s one reason he decided to retire. But as you know his level has been declining with his age. It''s an inevitable urrence as everyone gets older." ra had long epted this but also did not expect it to be so soon.


    "I was surprised that you became the guild master. We were all worried that we would lose out party manager." Walker was still nervous on this point and wanted to be sure.


    "Well, I n of keeping an eye on you anyway. I can''t let my only party go. Especially since it''s your goal to give me a heart attack. I can''t imagine what poor soul could manage you the same way I do." ra and Walkerughed and enjoyed the break from work and adventures. ra had needed the time to be a person instead of the almighty guild master.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 755 - 755. Do Nothing?

    "So, what are you and the party nning to do before the summit? Anything I should be worried about?" ra was slightly worried about the answer to this question but it had to be asked.


    "Midnight wants to learn different elemental fore breaths so I will help her with that. Remey is bolstering up her knowledge of alchemy and making sure everyone is prepared for the formation of the alchemy guild. Su is spending time learning about her system. She feels she is missing a few things. I expect Gil will work with Zephyr to better understand the wind elemental mana he used. And I want to try and awaken this new friend along with a lot of other elemental spirits while pushing forward in the true spirit forging path"


    It was a lot to take in. Walker still had other smaller goals but for now, they weren''t worth mentioning since he could see ra was a little overwhelmed already. "Do you ever n on just not doing anything?"


    Walker was sure that she meant just taking the day and rxing. However, for Walker, going out and learning new things was rxing. Going out and finding more dormant elemental spirits sounded exciting. His party going out to train and learn new things was exciting.. There was so much they could do, why would they just sit around doing nothing? Doing nothing was boring and did nothing to help anyone.


    "I don''t think doing nothing would ever happen. It''s fun and rxing to get out and do something. Heading to the cathedral to heal people is rxing. Seeing family and helping them is rxing. Even justing here to chat is rxing." Walker no sooner said that he was rxing bying here to speak with ra, that ra realized she had spoken a little haphazardly.


    "Well, I think pulling back and doing less wild and ground breaking things would be a better phrase. I don''t want to see you go out for a walk and end up discovering a hidden relic or meeting an ancient monster race." ra joked around but felt that the words she said could easilye true if Walker''s party pushed a little.


    Walkerughed going along with the joke. "We have those scheduled for another time. For now I will stick to getting stronger and preparing for the summit. Unless...the demons act up again. But I don''t think they will. It feels like they had just targeted all the kingdoms to y with them instead of actually attacking." Walker''s expression grew grim.


    "That is a general consensus with many of those in leadership. With all the information now avable to us from the other kingdoms, it is clear that this was a ploy to weaken every sngle one. It also leftsting fear. We don''t know the end goal just yet, however, we are going to be extremely vignt and send some spies to scout the demonnds." ra had already issued her own quests but looked at Walker just to make sure he understood the gravity.


    "I don''t know if you ever noticed them, but there are higher tier adventurers. Ones the guild master erases from our record. They are shadows. We send them to protect higher risk targets. Valuable assets to the guild. Or to dangerousnds like the demonnds to scout. I think you and your party is strong enough to know of them yet. When you all reach level sixty You will be moved to gold tier party. You easily fit it now. But you are too low leveled to justify it."


    It was a lot to take it. Walker could remember the strange shadows that seemed to follow him and his party when he first signed up with the guild and when they received the hero titles. "I remember strange shadows. But I never asked because I seemed to be able to focus on the memory. I will let everyone know of a promotion. It will be good motivation to get stronger over the next months. Not that I expect to get tp level sixty so soon."


    Walker had to hastily add thest part about not hitting the level soon. For a moment he had noticed ra''s eyes be wide as she feared the party would miraculously get all the experience overnight. "Ehm, I should return to the job. I was caught up on the paper work for the day. Although, if I blink, it is all stacked up waiting again." ra sighed and wished she could just sit with a cup of tea or sleep. But today was not that day.


    "I guess I took up too much of your time then. I will head home. I will be trying to awaken this water spirit tonight. Since the moon has something to do with water I think it will help. We shall see." Walker left off with that and opened the door to reveal a stack of paperwork on a table just like ra had said. As he waved he gave her a good luck expression.


    Another wave of adventurers had taken the guild floor by storm making Walker realize that it was well past lunch time and hade in to the evening. This was theter wave of adventurers trying to procure night quests or quests for the early morning. He did his best to get out the door and found himself standing in the open street again.


    The streets were full and had much less chaos nowpared to yesterday or even the morning. The only major difference was that there had been a change in most of the stalls and shops. There were people out setting up decorations and preparing for the harvest festival. It would be in two days and Walker was exceptionally excited about it. He let the memories of the harvest festival im his mind as he wandered home.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 756 - 756. Useless Item

    The sun was barely starting to set when Walker made it inside. He was surprised to see that the ice elemental spirit was hanging out in the dining room with Su and the two earth elemental spirits. "Wee back. Did you go out to see ra? Some items have already been dropped off with a payment slip." Su pointed to the letter on the table which Walker took and would deal with in the morning.


    "I did, she wants us to take it back a little and rx. I told her that we are all going to take care of personal things. But I really think we should all make a point to go to the harvest festival together. It will be a nice experience for everyone. We can start out with the family and then split up if we want." Walker knew that Su would pass on the message if he told her.


    "I wanted to suggest the same thing. I think the spirits would really enjoy the experience since there will be a lot to see and do.." Su was visibly excited. This was the first harvest festival her mother was going to be able to experience in a long time since she had been ill and bedridden.


    Midnight and Onyx also have never been to one. It should be very interesting. Midnight might eat the kingdom out of house and home if we let her but the odds are there will be enough food for her." Walker knew all too well that Midnight could always eat. He wondered how she didn''t have a skill that had to do with eating endlessly.


    "So, what did you buy today?" Su was curious since she had not gone through the crates. She did have her suspicions since the elemental spirits were very interested in the crates. She wanted to respect what Walker may have purchased.


    "I got a lot more elemental crystals since I want to awaken more of the dormant elemental spirits. Which look like they are in the longer crates. I just wonder how they moved themall the way in to the dining hall." Walker wasn''t sure why they made it here but realized that it was most likely because there was more room here than in the entry way.


    "Will you awaken all of them? Or just some?" Su wasn''t sure what would happen if there were suddenly arge group of spirits ying about the mansion and the city in general.


    "I was thinking I would awaken the water spirit I have carried with me and see what it wants to do. I think awakening the water spirits will be the best idea since the farnds need water to replenish what was burned up. Then I will work on fire elemental spirits since I want to see if I can find thest one to join me. After that I will see if there are other elemental spirits that we can awaken to help the kingdom. But if I find thest spirit to help me then I think it will be time to move on to the next part of the quest." Walker was still thinking hard about what the next steps would be but was willing to put his all in to it.


    "Well, I might as well help you out. We can leave the end of the table for everyone to eat and the rst for the spirits." Su was standing up and opening the longer crates first. "Just tell me what goes where." As Su opened them the dark elemental spirit came out of her shadow and was already looking around the dormant spirits.


    As if someone had summoned them the other spirits began to filter in from other ces in the mansion. The only one that was not ounted for was Zephyr who was either high in the sky or with Gil. "Now that everyone is here and the dormant spirits the Ga family auction house provided. How about we help this water spirit to awaken along with the others."


    The reactions of the elemental spirits were varied but all had a great deal of energy. The fire spirit was not as excited and Walker swore that the alchemy first spirit couldn''t have left the room faster. It was only interested in fire spirits because it wanted to get another alchemy fire spirit to help in theb. Remey was sure to want it nearby again soon anyways.


    Walker and Su popped open the crates that had the elemental mana crystal in them to find the water elemental crystals. She started to pull them out when she stopped with a confused look. "Walker, there is another note here. And a round crystal." She wasn''t sure what it was but knew Walker would want to see it.


    "It reads; I did not have any materials that did not have elemental affinities for every element. However, I have six notes with six simr round crystals. They were strange and we did not have any interest in them from buyers so I sent them along free of charge. Thank you for your support. One of six." Walker looked at the blue crystal in his hands and saw Su pulling one from the other crates.


    Walker used his all around appraisal skill to see what they were,


    ''Pure Water elemental crystal


    This crystal has a single point of pure water elemental mana. It has never bonded with another elemental mana and can be used as a crafting material for a pure water item or in bnce with other pure elemental crystals. This is extremely rare but can not be used or crafted by an average cksmith or crafter. These are often deemed worthless by most races due to this fact.''


    "So it''s often deemed worthless. I have a hard time believing that looking at how happy you are now." Su was almost blinded by the grin Walker had in his face. It spoke of ns in the future.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 757 - 757. Teeth?

    " There is no way this will be useless to me." Walker was happier than ever. He knew he needed materials for the staff he wished to make. The fact that the pure elemental crystals said they could only be used by certain cksmiths and that they could be bnced with each other was perfect.


    Su was still looking at him waiting for more, " If I use all of the pure crystals for my staff then it should be bnced. Meaning it would have an affinity for each elemental mana in bnce." Walker felt like he had just climbed to the top of amountain and was shouting to the heavens.


    "I believe that is ideal. We should wake the fire spirits faster then." Su wasn''t going to admit it, but she was very interested to see what Walker made for a staff. However, she also had the feeling that a staff was too simple for him.


    Walker didn''t notice her looks of wonder as he moved the dormant elemental spirits in to position.. There were five in total water spirits which seemed to be the least of the other elements. The only one that stood outpared to the others was the dormant spirit Walker had seen born and given in the forest elf city.


    The crystals were already on the table and the ice elemental spirit was moving the mana around the dormant elemental spirits. When Walker ced the final dormant spirit he noticed there was a difference, "The dormant spirit that came from the forest elf city, the one that was fused and born in front of me, isrger. A lotrger than the others." Walker didn''t see this as a bad thing but it made him wonder the reason.


    The ice elemental spirit looked at therger dormant element spirit, "mana. Lots of mana." Walker wasn''t sure how therger dormant elemental spirit could have lots of mana when he did his best to make sure that it stayed in the dormant state and did not absorb elemental mana.


    "Well, there''s no use thinking about how it happened. I will just see what it thinks when it awakens." Su watched as Walker and the ice spirit started to pull more and more elemental mana from the crystals. She noted that it was much better to be inside since the mana would not try and spread out and dissipate, therefore, making it easier for them to make the mana denser.


    The dormant elemental spirits were pulling the mana n fairly fast. Walker felt that it was because they had been in the vault and unable to gain mana. It wasn''t the Ga family''s fault since they were ignorant of how it worked and what the spirits needed. This was not a human specialization.


    Walker could feel the water elemental mana being pulled toward therger dormant spirit much more than the others and decided to increase the water mana heading toward it. "This spirit is greedy. I can barely give it enough mana even with the ice spirits'' help." Walker mentioned this and Su was already grabbing more crystals from the crate.


    The slow cracking soundsing from the other spirits caused the room to chill slightly and the ice spirit to move around them closer. The mist that filled the room was from all the water elemental mana causing water to condense. However, this seemed to make the water elemental spirits full awaken faster, and before Walker could blink there were five water elemental spirits conversing with the ice elemental spirit in an excited manner.


    Yet, when the first racks happened on therger dormant water spirits theypletely froze. Even the ice elemental spirit began to stop and watch. They could feel that the water elemental mana was much more dense than it was for the others and Walker had the feeling that he was about to see another unique water spirit.


    The cracks lead way to more and more water elemental mana being pulled in without Walker or the other spirits manipting it at all. The mist in the room also moved in to form a body for the elemental spirit.


    When the limbs to shape Walker realized that it was not the same shape as any other water spirit. It was more dense and instead of poorly shaped hands it had well defined paws. The snout that came in to form was also different and even teeth were detailed in the swirling water. The final crack released even more condensed water elemental mana that brought about the birth of a different water spirit than Walker had ever seen.


    '' Water hound spirit


    The water hound spirit is unique to certain areas where water spirits were developing near wolf packs or fox dens. They will take in water elemental mana from the wolves with said affinity and mimic their form. This allows them to uniquely channel the water elemental mana with strength that trumps a normal water spirit. They are known to be weed in to wolf packs of simr elemental affinity as equals. The lesser or low tier water spirits must have spent at least seventy years absorbing the wolf pack''s elemental mana. They have a knack for locating water and have been known to create fangs of ice to defend those it is loyal to.''


    Su and Walker just looked at the water hound spirit in awe. Their eyes were wide and they couldn''t help but think about how adorable and unique it was. Unlike the water spirits, it had fallen to the table in a much smaller form than expected. It was the exact copy of a wolf pup.


    The water spirits were still wary of it but after a moment they began to push more water elemental mana toward it causing the wolf pup to have more defined features. The ice spirit caused the water hound to freeze and form a fur like a coat.


    "I did not expect that¡­"


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 758 - 758.Water Hound

    "You are the most adorable puppy I have ever seen!" Su broke her calm demeanor and celebrated the unexpected appearance of the water hound.


    "It''s a spirit that took the form of a hound. But It definitely looks more like a little wolf than anything. Although, very frosty." Walkerughed as the water hound began to stuffy them. There were little frozen orbs as its eyes that made Walker wonder if it really saw through them or was using the mana around it to see.


    "Walker, we need to take any other dormant water spirits we find and make sure that they are absorbing mana from frost wolves or other water affinity wolves. It is only right for a hero to make sure that we are supplying the world with happiness." Su was imagining the entire mansion full of water hounds.


    "I think that would be harder than you know. I have never found a wolf pack that wants to just hang out and let people bring dormant water spirits near them. Or actually, bring anything near them.." Walker wasn''t sure if Su would try this or not.


    "Elise is here! I bet there is a tamer that has some water affinity wolves. I need to talk to her now!" Su moved faster than Walker had ever seen before leaving a curious water hound and questioning water elemental spirits.


    "Well, with Su aside. My name is Walker. I made sure all of you awakened. You are free to do just about whatever you want. You can go explore. You can stay here and we can see if we can make you a dwelling weapon. Or We can work something else out." Walker saw that they did not know what a dwelling weapon or item was so he borated.


    "The dwelling weapons or items are crafted items that you would help with and would let you rest in them whenever you want. But I rmend finding a friend to carry it for you. You will have a lot more fun that way." The spirits perked up at the sound of fun. They were not surprised at all that Walker could speak to them. However, the ice spirit had already started to whisper away to them.


    Feeling that he didn''t have much to do he started to gather up the water elemental crystals that still had mana within them. The ones that were broken from losing their mana were stored away.


    With a slight growl, he found the water hits had jumped and tackled a water elemental crystal. It was rolling around chewing on it and pulling the water elemental mana from it. "So that''s going to be your chew toy." Walker left the one crystal out while he moved to start the fire elemental awakenings.


    He decided to chat with the spirits while he set things up, "the kingdom doesn''t have many spirits that are awake like all of you. So you will shock people a little bit but that means you will have a lot of dormant spirits hidden here and there to help wake up."


    As Walker organized the fire elemental crystal he saw that the spirits were put off. "Don''t worry, I n to awaken some fire element spirits next. I was going to wait until the moon was out to awaken all of you but since Su was here and I thought she would like to help."


    "Awake!"


    "Fun! More friends!?"


    "Sooner better!"


    The resounding cries from the spirits reaffirmed his decision and Walker worked a little faster. The fire element may oppose the water but it was still part of nature. The elemental spirits would get along in their own way.


    "Alright, that''s the elemental crystals. Now we can set up the dormant spirits." Walker moved to the crates and took a look at what there was for fire elemental dormant spirits. "Only three fire spirits. I hope one wants to join me."


    "Walker! I brought Elise. Show here the most adorable water spurt she will ever meet!" Su burst back in to the roompletely taken by her emotions. She had fully given in to how adorable the water hound spirit was.


    "You were right! I want a million of them!" Elise followed Su and watched the water hound chew in the water elemental crystal. They both tried to reach out and touch the water hound but it started to growl instead.


    "You two know that wolves are usually territorial and protective of their food right? It has a lot of wolf traits so I assume that it will act simrly." Walker had already begun to notice the simr traits and was sure that it had absorbed the water elemental mana from frost wolves at some point before it fused in to a high spirit. Both of the low spirits must havee from outside the forest elf city.


    "But it looks so petable."Elise and Su appeared to be crushed by the fact that they couldn''t touch it.


    "It has ice as fur since the ice spirit helped it form a body after it awakened." Walker felt a little bad that he was breaking their dreams of fluffy fur but someone had to warn them before they touched the sharp icy fur that the water hound had created.


    "I guess we will need to make Walker tame some wolf puppies. Elise, can you help with that?" Su instantly began to scheme with Elise.


    "I know of a wolf tamer. I''m not sure they have any water themed wolf friends yet but I will ask when I see them." Elise was deadly serious, making Su ever more serious herself.


    "I don''t think I can win this one." Walker looked at the water hound that just continued to chew on the water crystal. "Yup, I''ll definitely lose today¡­" Walker looked towards the dormant fire spirits with hope.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 759 - 759. Just Too Adorable

    "If you two want to help you can. But I need to get these dormant fire spirits awake. I''m not sure if Remey''s alchemy fire spirit or of the other fire spirit wille in but we''ll leave the door open." Walker didn''t want to stop them froming if they wanted to. He knew that both of them were imperative to the spirits having simr friends.


    There was also the theory that if they used their educationist skill to trach more people the spirit mark skill they could have other alchemists that could use the alchemy fire spirits to control the heat. It wouldn''t be as good as Rmeey who could use the alchemy me but it was still fairly amazing in its own right.


    "Do you think another one will be a puppy spirit!?" Elise was already enamored with the animal like water spirit and wanted to see if this was amon urrence. She had note from anywhere where spirits were normal, as with most humans, and even the demi-human kingdom did not pay much heed to spirits. This left her as a nk te of knowledge ready to learn about them.


    "The appraisal I received from my all around appraisal skill said they were very rare. I don''t think one will show up just like that.. These fire spirits are all the same size too, the dormant water spirit wasrger than the others. There''s always a chance though." He couldn''t help letting them hope. Su and Elise had both started to make sadder and sadder faces while he had spoken.


    "Leader, I still believe we should tame this puppy and any others like it." Su was all in on having a water hound join their party since she had already decided it was too cute to let run off.


    "I don''t think we can tame it even if I wanted to. It''s a spirit, not a monster or animal. It could probably form a spirit mark with someone but the odds are low since it looks like it will act as if it is a wolf pup and most likely a wolfter." Walker was feeling more and more sure about this as he spoke since the water hound was now sniffing around the table on an exploration.


    The water spirits had lost all the fear and difort from before leaving them to y with the water hound as well. They had a more unique way to y with it since they were all made of elemental mana at the end of the day other than the water hound that had formed a more solid body closer to that of a battle spirit.


    The water elemental spirits would send a little water elemental mana to make droplets of water which the water hound would attack. First, it stuck its ice nose in the air and it would then pounce forward in victory. They seemed to enjoy this and the two girls fell in love all over again even though Walker had just said he wouldn''t be taming it.


    When he started to manipte the fore elemental mana in the room the water spirits moved to the far end and the water hound started to bare its teeth. This happened until Walker gave it a slight wave to make it understand that it was him controlling it. This put the water hound at ease and it started to try and catch up to the other water spirits to y more.


    "I can''t believe you scared it. You''re so much meaner than when Ist saw you." Elise feigned being shocked and heart broken.


    "Yes yes, I''m an evil viin. Fear me." His evilughter following it was a little too convincing making Elise look a little worried before Su burst outughing. She seemed to be full ofughs and joy today.


    "You''re really d to be home huh?" Walker''s question hung in the air until Su had calmed down.


    "I am. My mother has started to go about the mansion and has decided that she is going to be the family organizer. She wants to make sure that while we are home we can all get together for meals and spend time. My Father has been branching out since he used to work and be home all the time. He found a few of his merchant friends and wants to set up a stall." Su sounded expectant of thispared to other things.


    "If your father sets up a stall he can sell some things we make in the mansion. I know Remey will have potions she doesn''t want me to carry and there will be things while I experiment with the forging technique I lean. Not to mention, Gil teaching those demons how to make arrows and fire bows." Walker knew that a little stall with thair items as starting merchandise would be very good for business.


    Su was going to respond but the mana that Walker was pulling from the fire elemental crystals began to act up. It was being pulled toward the three fire elemental spirits faster than before. "I have a feeling they are hatching?" Elise wasn''t sure what to say about the cracks and bursts of fire elemental mana starting to show.


    "They are awakening. Some spirits go dormant after fusing together with others of their king to make higher tiers of spirits. They can also fuse with other elements to make unique spirits." Su was ying at teacher and telling Elise everything she needed to know while the spirits began to get even more active.


    The cracks gave way to small embers of fire that caused Walker to sweat slightly. Unlike the chill of water elemental mana, there was a warmth of fire. The three fire spirits that slowly rose in to the air and floated about curiously could only focus on Walker. They knew he was the one behind the mana. "Wee to our mansion. I''m Walker, and I was wondering if anyone of you wants to join me on my adventures?"


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 760 - 760. Second Link

    The fore spirits were looking at Walker curiously. They were all wondering why Walker had firstly invited them toe on adventures with them. "I should probably exin. I have a few spirits that have joined me on my quest and possibly to join me for a longer time than that. The only ce left is for a fire elemental spirit. If you don''t want that then we can let you go wherever you want to make something called a dwelling weapon. There''s another fore spirit that could exin that to you better since it can show off."


    They were still looking courteously but there was one that seemed more excited than the others. It was not at all worried about the water elemental mana from the water house and had rushed to check it out. Before it could even do anything the water house was looking right at it.


    "Friends!" The fire spirit said one thing and the water hound gave a small wave of its ice and water tail. "Adventure friends!" The fire spirit rushed to Walker and stayed in front of him. "Adventures?".


    Walker knew that it was the one that wanted to join him. Surprisingly the water hound had been the convincing factor in some form. This was odd but he was not upset by it at all. The other two fire spirits didn''t show any interest until there was another fluctuation in the fire elemental mana around them.


    The fire spirit that dwelled within the golem had moved the golem to the back patio and left the golem toe inside. "These are the three fire spirits that just woke up. These two should learn about dwelling weapons. This one has decided to adventure with me and the others." Walker was proud to announce this. However, he was also excited to see the system notification.


    ''True hero quest- chain quest: The ideal magical staff - linkplete


    The true hero has long found that they are missing their right hand. The path of true spirit forging has finally been discovered and the world cheers to see the growth of all. The true hero is able to converse will all elemental spirits and is able to unite them together.


    Requirements:


    Gather one high elemental spirit of each element -pleted.


    Gather unique materials that have no elemental weakness -pleted. Additional materials also have been gathered by the user.


    Rewards:


    Insight on the way of natural elemental order


    Next link in chain quest''


    Walker felt a sudden shift in the mana around him. All the crystals were in one room making the mana dense and slightly different. However, his sense started to pick up on the unique ways that they were pushing on each other. The small amount of water and fire elemental mana that was almost chasing each other was making the wind act up. This was forcing the other elements to react on return. The wind fueled the fire elemental mana causing more light elemental mana to appear and the shadows that caused made the darkness elemental mana show itself. The shadows often went hand in hand with the earth because they cast the shadows and blocked the wind. It was a miraculous flow of changing and evolving mana.


    This feeling was etched in to his mind and he knew it was the reward from the quest. However, this was not the ideal time to just stop and meditate on it. He needed to see the next link in the quest and also what else he would need to do.


    As if they were called the other elemental spirits that had decided to join him appeared around him as he fell in to thought reading the quest. Hey also knew what wasing but had to wait for Walker to reach his conclusion.


    ''True hero quest: The Ideal magical¡­ - Second Link


    The True hero has found unique materials that can change the course of the quest. The world has recognized this and moved their mana to influence this change. The True hero has the ability to change their weapon in to an even better fit for themselves.


    Requirements:


    Deicide the form of your weapon.


    -Staff


    -sword


    -shield


    -bow


    -other


    Elemental spirit fusion


    Rewards:


    Enlightenment on the True spirit crafting and forging skills


    Next link in the chain quest.''


    His system was basically telling him that he would be forging his own weapon with his two hands. It was exactly what he wanted. He had the wandering cksmith to assist him in his learning so that he was sure to make the proper finished product and not just ruin the materials he had found. If they were ruined it would be a crime against all cksmiths everywhere.


    "Umm..Walker. The spirits are acting strange." Su was shaky and looking around at the spirits. They had all moved to their respective elemental mana crystals and begin to absorb them as fast as possible.


    "Outside!"


    "Yes!"


    "We will go Outside!"


    They seemed to be agreeing on going outside. This was a little strange to Walker but they soon came up to him wanting him to move all; the elemental mana crystals outside. "Su, Elise, Can you help me move these outside?" He looked at the ice and fore spirit that looked unhappy, "I can pull more from my inventory for you." This cheered the pair up and he started to move the crystals outside.


    "Circle!" The light spirit floated above his head and made a circle in the training area. They wanted the crystals piled up so they were all in a circle.


    "I will." Walker was sure this had to do with his quest. Yet, he wasn''t sure why all the mana crystals were needed or why they would need them in a circle. He didn''t question it though. He would just keep on with it so that he could see the results.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 761 - 761. Spirit Fusion

    Walker had no idea why the elemental spirits were instructing him. However, as he started t pile up the elemental crystals in to ce he felt them beginning to pull the elemental mana from the crystals and erge their bodies.


    The other elemental spirits and the water hound backed far away from this. It was as if their instincts were warning them that they should not interfere under any circumstances. Su and Elise were right next to the water hound and had worried looks on their faces. "Are you two alright?" Walker was not sure why they appeared to be so worried and had grown worried for them as well. .


    "Walker, do you not feel it?" Su was worried even more by this. His shaky voice came out and she used his name to express her true emotions even more. "The pressure that they are creating with their mana?"


    The fire spirit that had been using the dragon style golem as it''s dwelling bravely came to Walker''s side and motioned toward the spirits. "Preparing. Dense mana." Walker was being kept from all of this mana because the spirits were preparing it for a quest that involved him. This was clear to everyone but him. He had not felt it.


    The fire spirit was forced to retreat again while Walker began to fully understand. The reason the spirits that had decided to join him were expanding was obviously the mana they were gathering from every single elemental crystal present. On top of that, it was also the reason for the pressure. Such dense mana rarely showed up anywhere for this reason.


    "This...is this like a storm? Do you guys feel like it''s about to rain or thunder?" Walker wanted to know sp that he could properly learn. Storms would use a lot of the natural mana at once which caused it to be much more dense and powerful.


    "Stronger. It''s ten times more than the lightning in the ins." Elise spoke up this time while inching away.


    "I thought I felt the wind shift. Let me help you out." Zephyr hade through the air after feeling the massive amount of dense mana. Walker had no idea where Gil was or if they had even been together. However, he saw that when Zephyr began to channel her own mana through the air and around the others they rxed significantly. "You should stand in the middle and let them take some of your mana. When they finish they will be resting in your spirit mark for some time."


    Walker was not fully sure what was happening but this was all that Zephyr offered. She instead fell back to the others and started talking to Su. Walker couldn''t hear a word.


    After stepping in to the middle of the circle he watched as the spirits began to fall apart. Their elemental bodies were not what they truly were and it was clear that they would not need them. Their elemental mana was the true core of their being and that was what form they had embodied. It was not something that could be seen but something that only those sensitive to the natural mana of the world could sense clearly. Even Walker could only feel where they were but not their exact shape and design. He was still too inexperienced.


    Feeling that he was being pulled somewhere he began to release his mana in to the air. It was greedily taken in by each spirit leaving a shred of it within them as they all began to chase each other around Walker. It was a strange urrence but through it, Walker could see the natural order of how the elementals worked. With the enlightenment, he had felt before it was a much clearer show of the way the world worked.


    Along with all of this, he could see the reactions of the manaing together and falling in to bnce. The strange bonding was also pulling small bits of every single elemental around him. The shadows seemed to split and the light of the setting sun was pulled in. Small pebbles and drops pof water came toegter. The wind swirled around pulling small embers from the mansion''s smoke stack towards them.


    Walker could feel the small parts of his mana merging together and a burning sensation on his hand. It was nothing he had experienced before. The burning was not necessarily physical. He felt that it was flowing through his very existence.


    He watched as a small marble start to form. It was ck with hues of each elemental color within it. He wasn''t sure how it was formed but he knew that it was the fusion of every single spirit putting their elemental and mana bodies together.


    ''The will of the world has expanded. The True hero has begun to heal the corruption of the world. The birth of a new world spirit hase to this era. Lesser nature spirit has fully formed. Spirit mark to the True hero has been established. The lesser nature spirit will slumber.''


    The system notified Walker but he had no chance to read it at the moment. The marble sank in to the spirit mark and Walker could feel something resting within his soul. His mana that had been leaking was now flowing directly to the spirit mark instead of out in to the air.


    "Huh, that solves that problem." Walker was surprised by the change but felt that it was a valuable assistance. He could also tell that the mana was assisting the lesser nature spirit to grow. He also knew that it would eventually grow to be the world spirit the system had just notified him of. It was sure to be a boon for the world and everything epassed by it.


    "Walker! Are you safe!?" Su ran up to him worried more than she had been. Walker was her family and she feared he had been hurt in some way.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 762 - 762. Swirling Mana

    Su was worried that Walker was harmed in some way. She couldn''t see the fading spirit mark on his hand until she had focused and started to pay attention to the details. "Is that round shaped mark the spirit mark? Did the spirits fuse together? What happened?" Su was still lost since Walker had been the only one that received a system notification.


    "I''m fine. The spirits fused themselves together and became a lesser nature spirit. If they can grow enough they will be a world spirit. The system said they are helping to fight corruption. I don''t know how but it''s a good thing. I still have some quest left but I made a huge mess." Walker was still full of his own thoughts about what had just happened but his daze left him wondering what to do with all the mess.


    There were countless broken mana crystal shards around him and there was a significant amount of mana left in the air. It was very dense and he had no idea how to deal with it all because he was sure that when Zephyr stopped helping it would all dissipate in to the city cousin g some trouble.


    "Don''t you have more dormant spirits? Su and Zephyr exined it. Also, no one introduced me to Zephyr. Even Ste met her flying in the air." Elise was puffing up her cheeks in annoyance but continued to point to the crates left inside.


    "Great idea!" Walker pushed his other thoughts aside and used the current issue to distract himself from the desire to mediate of just thinking through the fact that a world spirit had just been born. Or even to push off the thoughts on what he was going to make with the materials now that he wasn''tpletely set on a staff, even though he still wanted a staff at first thought.


    "Zephyr, if you can contain all the mana with your wind for a little longer I will start to use it to awaken the other dormant elemental spirits!" Walker gave the call as he went inside and dragged out the crates. Su and Elise jumped to action as well and pulled others from the dining hall.


    Ze[hyr had a snaking smile that said this was what she hoped for in the first ce. "I have been missing the years when there were so many spirits that I always had a friend nearby." She may have bonded with Gil and created a link unlike any other. But she missed the full feeling she had when there were unique spirits at every turn.


    Walker was quickly [ulling dormant elemental spirits from the crates and organizing them in to groups. He knew that the mana would be absorbed no matter what by them but decided to use his newfound enlightenment on how all elemental mana worked together to cause natural phenomena.


    He willed the different elemental manas to move toward each other causing a simr chasing effect on a smaller scale. This allowed the mixed elemental manas to flow past the dormant elemental spirits. The dormant spirits were able to pull at the elemental mana and separate them as it moved past them. The process was slow and taxing on Walker but it was the most efficient and safe way to deal with the elemental mana since the crystals that had housed it were broken.


    "He''s really gotten a lot stronger. I would hate to spar with any of you now." Elise could only watch in amazement at the higher control over the elemental mana that Walker was disying.


    "He has a long way to go. That spirit that came together was one of each element. It''s a nature spirit and it can use all mana regardless of the element. He can use the element separately but fusing them is still challenging to a degree. Fusing all of them, well, that is where things get fin." Zephyr still had mana secrets and Su could not hope to hear all of them.


    With Su and Elise being teased by Zephyr they were able to take the time to get a little more detail from her that they could help Walker with. Unfortunately, Walker was exhausted before they could speak to him. When the swirl of elemental mana stopped and there was none left in the air other than the basic amount everywhere else. Zephyr released her wind surrounding them. The dormant spirits had all cracked and awakened in turn.


    "Hellooooooo my friends. Waker is tired not so we will have a ss on what the world is like now!" Zephyr left Su and Elise taking control while the two helped Walker back inside and Su started to make up some tea that Remey had made.


    "Remey said this is made from the poorer leaves of some herbs used to make mana potions. She said that they are not as good for the potion but can be used for a regenerative tea mix." Walker was surprised by it but just drank it down since he was too tired toment.


    "So...the spirits are awake¡­" He looked up from the empty cup. Walker wasn''t sure what ton say on the topic.


    "I would say they are. It was the coolest thing I have seen in my life. I didn''t know you could do all that." Elise flopped in to a chair and just stared out the window at all the elemental spirits. "Oh, and how in the world could you tell what that cute pixie was saying. Actually. Why could I?"


    "You could understand Zephyr? What about the other wind spirits?" Su felt like the mysteries and things to explore had been doubling every moment.


    "Yes, those green wind spirits kept yelling about feeling wind and flying. But the other spirits were silent." Elise just looked at the pair questioningly since she was just as lost as they were.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 763 - 763. Spirit Adventures

    Walker rested his head in his hands since he could feel theck of mana making him tired. However, he pushed through since the tea was helping a little and he wanted to put forth his theory on how Elise could speak and understand the wind spirits without issue.


    "Have you been better able to understand Ste recently?" Walker knew that as a harpy Ste had a string wind elemental affinity and could even use some wind elemental magic skills.


    "Actually, I have. After we used our mastery skill I was able to feel closer to her even when she was high in the sky. Then one day she just looked at me and I knew she was hungry and wanted to go look for a snack. Justst week I stubbed my toe and she was able to tell and raised to find me to see if I was alright." Elise was creasing her forehead even more while trying to put the connections together.


    "And have you had any break throughs in your skills with Ste? If I remember she can use wind shes and stuff. Can you?" Walker knew this was thest puzzle piece in ce depending on Elis''s answer.


    "I can! I was able to use her wind magic skills after we used our mastery skill.. That''s why the guild master said I needed to train. He sent me everywhere and made me train with so many people. I was barely able to survive." Elise dramaticallyid her head on the table.


    "Then I think you were able to be closer to the wind element. So much so that you are able to understand wind affinity beings without needing to learn some skillspletely. I actually would bet that you will receive a skill soon since you are somewhat adapting to it now and the system you have just hasn''t shown it to you yet." Walker just had the feeling that this was correct. There were also the supporting factors that pushed him towards it.


    "That''s great! You can probably fight a lot better and if you can speak with the wind spirits you will have friends to help you fly around." Su was equally happy for Elise. It was a great skill to know of.


    "Then I need to go outside. I want to make sure I have the skill soon or finish learning it." Elise was out the door faster than they could imagine. She had been sitting then stepping outside in the next moment. Her enthusiasm was just too powerful.


    "So how are you feeling? Any better?" Walker knew that Su wasn''t just asking about his mana. She was asking about how he felt about what they were doing in rtion to his quest.


    "Well, the tea helps. I have a lesser nature spirit bonded with me. I need to meditate and understand how the elements work together to create other natural urrences. Then I also need to speak with the wandering cksmith. My quest says I need to choose a design for my weapon. I want to make a staff but it says I can choose other options. I might use some items I already have as inspiration." Walker was very torn about all of this.


    "I think Zephyr can handle the spirits by the way. She looks pretty happy to have them around. With our luck, they will begin to awaken the other dormant elemental spirits around and before we know it people will hear the rumors of true spirit forging from the dwarves. Spirits will make a return to the other kingdoms." Walker was proud in his small day dream of a spirit filled world.


    "First you need to rest. The day is just about over and everyone ising home to sleep. The sun has more or less set anyway. It will be easier to worry about all of it in the morning. And sleep can help you straighten it all out. Don''t forget we are supposed to be rxing and recovering from our journey." Su was staring Walker down until he nodded in agreement.


    "I wasn''t sure what to start with anyway. All I know is I have barely eaten anything today since I was too caught up in everything that has happened. Did I tell you that I found a demon that was looking to be a merchant?" Walker began telling the story as Su grabbed some snacks. She was d that Walker had agreed to rx before she had to make him stop running around.


    Zephy was outside with all the spirits. They were all extremely curious and were not sure what to do other than to explore as much ad they possibly could. "Listen listen! This is a human kingdom and they have no idea what we are. They are lost to the ways of spirits and we are here to show them just how amazing we are!" The spirits hearing this they became more energetic.


    "The best way to do this is t fix their fields. Bad people burned them down and nature was harmed. We can fix it and find other sleeping spirits to wake up! It is an adventure to fix it all and find more friends!" Zephyrs'' cry caused the spirits to start to push and move each other sp that they could leave faster.


    The sight of this small amount of chaos was soon gone and Zephyr was left with the odd few spirits that were trying to explore the training space and moving towards the gardens. "I can give you all tours! It''s night time but that''s fine!" She was excited and set off with a handful of elemental spirits in tow.


    Walker and Su had met up with Remey and the old master alchemist who were looking to eat and ret themselves after many experiments and testing. So far they had not been sessful but were sure they were close to making a grand healing potion. It was just missing something they had yet to grasp.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 764 - 764. Spooky Spirits

    The night went on as Zephyr cave a full tour to the spirits that remained behind. The fire spirits found a nice home in the kitchen iming the oven as their resting ce. Luckily, Walker''s mother had already been told what the elemental spirits were and would not to too rmed when she woke up to stoke the fires. However, she was going to find that the fire that normally would be down to embers might still be aze.


    The water spirits found the tranquility of the pond on the training area to be ideal. The lily that had been growing was still delicate but the mana from the water spirits seemed to calm it further. The party would be likely to find it growing much better in the future and even produce more flowers.


    The wind spirits had decided that they owned the skies around the house. Zephyr had made clear to them that she was the ruler of all the skies around here and the only thing they could not mess with was the pure light griffin since it flew in the skies as well.


    The only spirits that did not stick around were the light elemental spirits. They had gone directly to the pure light griffin due to the elemental mana they sensed from it. They could not leave that dense mana alone.. This was a slight annoyance to the pure light griffin but in its'' realm, it was used to these kinds of things.


    The earth spirits found refuge in the ground of the garden. There was a consistent amount of mana constantly flowing due to the care of all the nts in the garden. It made the soil easier for them to mold for their bodies and rx. They in turn brought more natural mana around to cause all the nts to begin to grow slightly faster and produce better quality fruits and flowers.


    The dark spirits followed the earth spirits. They enjoyed the shadows that were created from therge nts that filled the garden. It gave them many ces to hide in the shadows and bask in the cool darkness. There was also the benefit of the additional natural mana that they brought causing some of the dark affinity herbs and nts to grow more in the night.


    This was all very pleasant and the spirits would fit in around the mansion without issue. The story was radically different when it came to the spirits that had rushed to explore. Normally, people would be more epting of new things. The elemental spirits were not something that was necessarilymon knowledge, however, some people had read about them in stories.


    With the recent attack of demons that had already been exined as corrupt and now rescued, people were understandably confused and on edge. Most had been told that demons were evil and that ended with themon folk to be touchy. Add the spooky stories often told around the harvest festivals and there is added feeling of fear around.


    The darkness elemental spirits that had left the mansion found their enjoyment in the night guards that were watching the walls. They fell in to the shadows and caused them to be abnormally shaped. This led to the guards reporting abnormal shadows and multiple guard captains being alerted. They filed constant reports of this urrence until a guard reported a ghost leaving a shadow.


    The fore spirits found homes in many of the forge furnaces and were weed with a lot more fervor. This was because any cksmith would recognize the fire spirits from the constant stories that were told about them. It was just amon story in the trade.


    The wind spirits were causing mist with the water spirits. They made a game of causing the mist to take up entire streets so that the only thing heard was walking through them. There was no sightline avable. The people walking and transporting at night found themselves shivering with fear and worry every misty street they found.


    The earth spirits through out the city were much more calm and started to find gardens to rest in and help grow. The only issue this was that a little girl that could not sleep saw one of the spirits moving through the garden and began telling her parents that there was a mud imp in the garden. The guards were called who found nothing and the entire street was alerted to be safe.


    The harvest festival was only in a day but there were already many new rumors and stories traveling. It was just enough to cause a ruckus in the mansion in the morning which woke Walker up earlier than he had nned.


    "What''s going on? I heard you guys from my room." Walker was heading right in to the dining hall for breakfast only to find Su and Gil talking about what they had heard so far.


    "Walker, apparently there are ghosts and mud imps and living shadows roaming the city now. Some people are saying that the harvest festival ghosts areing back earlier this year because of the crops burning. But even crazier, the farmnds that had burned are already growing back a little. Some guards and adventurers said there ar harvest festival wild flowers sprouting." Gil was beside himself. He had grown up in the farms making the harvest festival a very big deal. He wholeheartedly believed many


    "Just because there are a lot of people out earlier than usual spreading seasonal stories doesn''t mean that there are ghosts roaming about the kingdom. It''s obvious that they are all because of the elemental spirits we awakened yesterday night." Su had already found the logic but Gil was not convinced.


    Walker grabbed himself something to eat and enjoyed the conversation of the two trying to convince the other of what was right and what was wrong. When Elise entered with Ste and the baby crow was then things got interesting. "What is the harvest festival all about here? I have never been around to see it?


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 765 - 765. Harvest Festival History

    Gil looked happier than ever hearing that Elise didn''t know about the traditions of the harvest festival. "Well, the basics. It happens every year after the first harvest. This brings a lot of merchants to the kingdom and many of the farmers celebrate. It''s all about food." Midnight was sleeping by the firece and instantly hot her head up to listen. She had not been to a harvest festival either. Onyx soon followed from his own spot on by the fire ce.


    "We will have a lot of the local delicacies o disy for adventurers, travelers, and even the nobles thate from the upper tiers. Many of the farmers that brew beer and mead set up their first batches to finish by the harvest so that they can sell them to taverns for extra ie. It is a big pay day for many in the city."


    Gil was sure that this was amonly known fact. "The season is ending and many things start to wither and die.. The cold winter air will just start to frost now and again so many people are chilled and on edge. It''s great for spreading the harvest season stories. Monsters that show up to try and steal away harvests. Ghosts and other undead moving to the city to visit rtives or fulfillst wishes. Even demi gods and gods visiting in disguise. They go on and on."


    The proud look on Gils'' face spoke volumes to how many of these stories he could tell. "So it''s food and spooky stories? I''m alright with the food but I won''t chase after any ghosts." Elise made it clear right away that she was not about to go ghost hunting and battling with the group against evil spirits.


    "That''s not all there is. There are games hosted by the shops to promote their items. The adventurers guild opens their training grounds for spear throwingpetitions, sports demonstrations, even a magic show using fire and water! The main square bes a dance floor and the fountain is dyed orange with flower oils. It''s all very festive and exciting." Gil looked like he was hiding onest detail and Elise took the bait.


    "What else?" She had to ask. The look on Gil''s face was telling her there was onest part that was better than all the other.


    "Some people even dress up in costumes so that they can y the part of a spooky spirit or a monster for the night. It''s to apparently scare off evil spirits but I''m not sure how it scares them away when most people look like other professions and cute things." Gil couldn''t help but remember the groups of children that roamed around dressed as their favorite jobs and adventurers from storybooks.


    "Then I will get a matching costume with Ste! We are going to be the best dressed!" Ste had been silent watching became much more excited. She had been waiting for all the information toe out for her to react. But when she saw that Elise was excited her walls crumbled and she showed her true feelings on the matter.


    Midnight and Onyx looked more excited about the food. Midnight was sure to eat every possible stall owner''s supply by the end of the night while Onyx would be the trante and most likely end up assisting Midnight in her food retrieval.


    "You didn''t tell them about the sweets! There are gourd and pumpkin shapes candies and cakes. Then the sunflower cookies are the best!" Lisa had heard everything while she walked in and was not happy that Gil had forgotten her favorite part. "I''ve already made Midnight her costume but none of you have even asked for one so I had to make some things up a little. Not that I think you will wear them anyways but I figure there will be the option." Lisa did her best to look angry but the smile kept creeping on to her face.


    "You made Midnight a costume already? Wait, what did you make everyone else?" Walker didn''t expect his sister to make everyone costumes for it. Walker had been nning to just put on a big hooded robe and walk around mysteriously as a mage.


    "I even made a pair of wings so a certain person can match with a certain harpy and be a pair of angles." Lisa was exposing too much but she knew that she would end up with Ste and Elise to try things on.


    "You did!? Walker, your sister is the best! I am stealing her to go and try things on, byeee!!" Elise pulled Lisa from the room as they two giggles and talked about the details. Ste had no choice but to follow behind. However, it was clear she was more than happy to join them in the costume trying event.


    "I think I need to give Lisa more next time we go out and visit somewhere. The rune fabrics were probably useful but now she''s made us all costumes." Walker felt a little like a bad brother for taking so much from his sister like this.


    "She does it because she loves to do it. I think that''s enough for her. Plus she gets to watch the fashion show when we all put them on." Su pointed out the details and Walker couldn''t argue in the least.


    "Hey Gil, what happened to the demons that you were teaching?" Walker realized that they were nowhere nearby.


    "Oh, I asked my father to bring them to a small group of hunter friends he has. They get together andpare what they hunt. I thought it would be a good ce for them to learn about archery and arrow making." Gil had been sure that the group would be epting but he also knew that the demons would fit in better with the small group than arge group.


    "That''s great! I''m d you found them a good ce to learn. I bet they will fall in to ce with no problem with some time to adjust and heal." Walker knew that many still needed time to heal from what they faced. However, the hope that the new jobs and quests would guide them to heal faster was strong.


    "Hey...what do you two think Lisa was thinking of dressing me up as?" Su sounded a little worried after this. It was as if she had a fearful premonition of giant orc costumes.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 766 - 766. Proper Challenge

    "Orc. for sure. Or maybe a troll? If it''s not a monster then a guard? Or wait, maybe it''s a cyclops." Gil rattled off multiple ideas making Su get visibly more annoyed with each one. Walker was sure that he was about to watch the end of Gil''s life.


    Su turned to Walker with a piercing gaze, "And what do you think?" He was not so foolish to fall in to the same trap as Gil.


    "Well, We already told Lisa about the shiny silver golem so she might try and make you look strong and powerful like that. Or she might follow the golems Remey told her about and make you look clean cut and efficient. But in all honesty, you will look great in anything that Lisa gives you an option for. I bet you could even add more dragon like equipment and dress as a dragon kin. Midnight might like that."


    Su seemed to calm down and liked some of the ideas.. The thought of matching Midnight was a delightful one that she decided she would bring up to Lisa as soon as she finished dealing with Gil. "So who said I would be dressed like an orc? A giant orc?" Su ced a strong hand on Gils'' shoulder making him wince.


    "Umm, no I just. Well, I was still too tired from this morning walk. I need to wake up and speak properly. I''m sure you will be in the strongest and most beautiful costume." Gil fruitlessly tried to dig himself from the hole he had dug.


    "Oh, I''m sure you will be dressed as a goblin or a gremlin. I will talk to Lisa about some green face paint or maybe even some smelly clothing to make it all fit better." Su left the room with Gil worrying in ce.


    "You know, you did that to yourself, right? Su rarely gets angry." Gil knew all too well that he had brought it on himself.


    "Well, you could have tried to help me out. I was just talking on instinct. We are supposed to be brothers now." Gil pretended to be offended. "Anyways, do you think the elemental spirits are really causing all the trouble? I didn''t see Zephyr this morning so I have no idea what has happened if you woke up more elemental spirits."


    "Well, I went to wake them up and we managed to awaken the water hound spirit that I had been given in the forest elf city. It was a surprise but I''m sure Su mentioned it since it is currently running around the training field chasing after the water spirits by the pond." Walker could see the cute water hound just enjoying the open space.


    "Su did mention it, and that you helped fuse the spirits that wanted to stay with you in to a nature spirit. Then she said that Zephyr helped contain the elemental mana left to wake the others. However, some must have stayed here while others rushed off elsewhere?" Gil had already figured most things out with Su but he wanted to confirm it all With Walker so he was giving proper answers to anyone that was asking.


    "Exactly, now I need to work on a few other things but I think letting more people know about the elemental spirits roaming about will be better. But I feel like the kingdom can adjust well without any issue. There are plenty of people getting quests now that never had systems. I''m sure some will get spirit rted quests." Walker was holding hope that this would happen and that the kingdom would ept spirits faster.


    "I am sure they will. Well, I feel like I need to go and spread some knowledge now that the spirits are around. I have a few people to talk to about arrow materials too. I used a lot the past month and really should stock up. Also, you used all the elemental mana crystals¡­" Walker looked apologetic as Gil left but they both knew that it was unavoidable for the situation.


    "Midnight, Onyx. I am going to see what the wandering cksmith thinks of my quest to make a weapon. I think I will wait until after the festival to meditate for a day and begin forging. So if you two want, we can check out costumes after?" Midnight was a little excited about what Lisa could have made her but she was more excited for the food that woulde the next day.


    Midnight followed with a spring in her step and Onyx curled up on her back to bask in the morning sun. He was content with the way things were going and had been enjoying thest day back in the mansion. It was much calmer and rxing than traveling. Plus he was able to spend time in the light getting stronger and napping. It was a habit he had picked up from Midnight and enjoyed just as much.


    The scraping sound that wasing from the forge was very intense but clearlying from the sharpening of weapons. "Hello!" Walker announced their presence and the wandering cksmith looked up slightly before returning to sharpening a small dagger that Walker recognized as Gil''s. "Looks like Gil needed some maintenance."


    The nod came again and the wandering cksmith finished with his task and gave Walker his full attention. "Alright, so I have a quest that I wanted to make a staff for. But it changed a little and I can make just about anything. I was thinking that I would make a staff anyways since I have materials that work well with it. But I have a skill that allows me to mold crystals and I happen to have made a moldable crystal ball." Walker pulled it from his inventory showing the wandering cksmith.


    "I was wondering if we could use this as a base and make something that could use every single element and possibly transform in to any weapon as long as I have the proper materials and skills to change it." The wandering cksmith looked like he had just been handed the greatest challenge of his life. "Oh, and when the lesser nature spirit awakens it will help us spirit forge it so that it can use it as a dwelling." The wandering cksmith felt another hit. This was more than just a challenge. It would take all his skills to master such an item.


    "Finally." This was all Walker received in response.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 767 - 767. Failed

    Walker was looking closely as the wandering cksmith examined the moldable crystal ball. The looks of attention and care he had while examining it was only that of a master. "Dark and Light¡­" The wandering cksmith saw the bnce of elements already in it and wasn''t sure it would work.


    "I was thinking we could remove the dark and light then somehow fuse these with the orb." Walker showed the pure elemental crystals next, shocking the wandering cksmith yet again. "These should be able to bnce each other without too much issue and would easily fill the space of the dark and light elemental mana." Walker felt proud of his n and the wandering cksmith nodded along.


    "I also have this branch from a certain tree that can be used for the base. Even if it takes a staff form that I can transform, that is fine." The wandering cksmith recognized the branch instantly. He had never crafted with something with such perfect attributes but could tell that the ageless attribute would let the weaponst well beyond what it would if it was made with any other materials.


    "With the lesser nature spirit helping the mana can be bnced, the moldable crystal ball can allow a change to happen, and if we use the branch and orichalcum we may have a very powerful and strong weapon.." Walker was sure all of it woulde together perfectly.


    "I will draw designs. Give me time." The wandering cksmith spoke all of this then took the materials to disy on the main work table. He was already building multiple designs in his head and found that they would all work. However, they were not the best he could do and he would need to branch out.


    "Just remember, the harvest festival is tomorrow. Please try to get out and rx while enjoying the food and such. I''m sure the forge will have a few cksmiths at the adventurer''s guild you might want to check out. Some might even have some materials you want to use." Walker didn''t want the wandering cksmith to miss out on the festival.


    He only received a nod but knew that he would not receive anything else. The wandering cksmith looked as if he had just been handed a new toy to y with. He only wanted to discover and build from this. The blue prints were already to be drawn and before Walker left he saw that the first prototype was being drawn. The skill the wandering cksmith had were far beyond what Walker could do anytime soon. It was a major boon to have such a friend around.


    Midnight looked around and seemed to want to help forge something with her new golden mes. But it was not the time however, Walker had the feeling that she would want to help and stopped for a second, "Midnight will also help with her dragon mes. She is going to learn other elemental dragon breath skills but has one that produces golden mes." This made the Wandering cksmith crumple his design and start over. Yet, Walker saw the wide smile on his face and knew it was a good thing.


    After she huffed in agreement, Midnight followed Walker out of the forge. The two knew it would be some time before they could forge anything and that the time would be used to strengthen the dragon breath skills along with Walker''s understanding of the elementals. It was a two birds with one stone scenario.


    "Brother, there is a great deal of dark smoke over there." Onyx had raised his head to find ck smoke billowing through the air. Walker knew this had to being from the alchemyb and rushed to check the situation.


    "I told you it was too hit! The spirit could have lowered the temperature of the mes and we could have added something to neutralize the impurity. But you just had to push on yourself without listening."


    "Oh, yeah? And what if the process had evaporated too much? What if we had half the amount of potion?"


    "Half? That would be better than the burned sludge we have now! We can''t even use this to fertilize the garden!"


    The argument between the old master alchemist and Remey was too loud to miss. Walker almost backtracked and left the extended alchemyb. But he had already been spotted by Remey who was gesturing for him to enter.


    "This is basically poison, think Gil can use it on arrows." Remey wanted to make the best of what their failure had brought them and did not hesitate to start in on the issue directly.


    "Umm, let me use my appraisal skill to see what it can do." Walker was a little thrown off by the prompt question but did not hesitate.


    ''Failed health potion


    The failed health potion has an incredible amount of impurity. The potion has been cooked too long and not properly condensed. This leads to the opposite effect if spread on the skin or ingested. It will force the afflicted to lose three health points per minute until the failed health potion is washed away and detoxified by the body.''


    "It''s a health poison. It can cause health to bleed away over time. I think Gil can use this pretty well. But I think the smell might tip off animals and monsters so it might be better to sell elsewhere." Walkers'' evaluation was helpful and the two began to bottle it up for sale in the Ga family auction house.


    "By the way, Lisa made some costumes for everyone to choose from for the festival tomorrow. Feel free to check them out. I''m sure you will have a lot to choose from that suits you two." Walker knew that the old master alchemist would not be left out. Lisa was too thoughtful for such things to ever happen.


    "Ah! Festival time already? I can''t wait. There are plenty of fall herbs that will be brought in by the merchants. I have a small fortune to clean house again this year." The old master alchemist cackled in his victory toe.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 768 - 768. Sprouted?

    "Huh, and here I thought that Remey would be more excited." Walker watched as the old master alchemist began writing down his to do list for the festival. The previous annoyance at their failed potion was nothing to him now.


    "Old man, if you steal all the herbs how will others get them?'' Remey felt that the old man had dastardly ideas for all the herbs and wanted to rescue them.


    "Aren''t you thinking? The alchemy guild needs a great deal of herds to make sure that we can regte the price and begin selling potions at set prices. If weck that then we are just some small time group that doesn''t have any weight to throw around. That''s how the alchemy building does it. We have money so we buy power with it." Remey was getting taught a valuable lesson. One she would need to know when she was part of the guild she was trying to form.


    "He''s got a good point. It would only make sense that as soon as the guild was formed that thepetitors would try and buy you out of herbs so that you couldn''t stop them from controlling the prices and movement of potions.." Walker could see it happening now. There would be a rush the moment the news spread to the markets for herbs.


    "So you''re saying we invest the gold on to this now so that we can resist the rushter? And after we have the potions and herbs stocked we will be able to properly regte and begin sses?" Remey already had a hand to her chin thinking. "We can pause our potion experiments for the day. We need to procure gold and prepare for a takeover."


    Remey was already starting to clean up. "Oh, Walker, I will stop by and talk to Lisater. If you see her first tell her I am looking for something formal and business like. I want to be noticed when I take all the herbs with the old man." Remey had a glint in her eye that was only seen in the old master alchemists as well. The two were going to take the merchants at the festival by storm.


    "I knew you were my family. We might not have blood little Remey, but we have more than that!" The old master alchemist was in higher spirits than Walker had ever seen. He wasn''t sure if Remey would react negatively to his words so he decided to push himself out the door.


    Surprisingly, instead of hearing a yell or a m of a punch or object falling. Walker only heard a soft thank you as he left. Remey seemed to be in a much better mood than he believed. It was touching how Remey had managed to find a family member like the master alchemist even though she was just a child with only the other orphans around. Out of all of them, she had made herself a family before even joining the party. Remey had thergest family out of all of them.


    "I''m d those two are getting ready for the festival. That just leaves Gil who I bet will end up a goblin or troll. He probably didn''t risk stopping at Lisa''s work room before he headed out to shop. Oh! Look, there''s his mother and Lewisia. I guess we should say hi before we head up and try our own costumes on." Midnight seemed to support this idea with a huff and even Onyx nodded. The two were enjoying the bright sun too much to leave the outdoors just yet.


    "Hey, how are the sunflowers going?" Walker was sure that there had not been much change but he wanted to see what had happened and what Lewisia may have learned already.


    "Oh, same old same old. They already sprouted and Lewisia here is a natural nt whisperer. Did you know that all the seeds she nted so far have grown without even adding her mana? It was pretty amazing. Could be luck or could be that she has a knack for this." Gil''s mother was pointing out twenty perfect little sunflower seed sprouts that had grown overnight more or less.


    Lewisia went to bow to Walker again but stopped halfway through realizing that it wasn''t necessary and she didn''t need to. "I''m d you are catching on. I didn''t want you to have to worry about bowing or anything. You are an equal here and we will tell you every single minute of every single day until you believe it." Walker sounded overbearing but knew that the demons needed a firm hand. They were used to such methods and if that was how they epted the freedom and released their past then that was what he would do.


    "They will be beautiful." Lewisia nodded her head constantly while promising this. Walker could only smile and look at the miraculous rainbow sunflower sprouts.


    "They will be the most vibrant flower in the garden. I am sure of it." Walker had to support her believes and saw that Gil''s mother also nodded along.


    "By the way, I spoke with the master alchemist and we found a good guy toe and build the green house. It will take a week to build after the festival but it will be the highest quality. I also think that he can add some self heating and cooling elements if we hire a mage." Gil''s mother had thought this all out properly.


    "I will leave it all up to you and the master alchemist. I trust your experience." This was met with a positive look and Walker knew the result would be perfect. "I am going to take Midnight up to Lisa''s room. She already has a costume for her and I need to try a few things on." Walker gave a wave and had a feeling that the garden was only going to get bigger and bigger as the weeks before winter went on.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 769 - 769. Costume Show

    Walker really couldn''t figure out what Lisa could have made for costumes. There was too much possibility for their to just be something simple like a cloak and hat. Especially since Lisa had been gathering materials slowly but surely since they had moved in to the mansion.


    When he and Midnight reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner to reach the work room that Lisa had been using, Walker noticed a change. "Onyx, does the work room seem bigger than before?"


    "Yes brother, it looks as if Sister Lisa had taken up three more rooms in a row." Walker was sure he wasn''t seeing things but he wasn''t sure if he was counting wrong.. Onyx confirmed that Lisa had taken up three more rooms, for a total of four rooms for her work area.


    Knocking on the door, Walker entered, finding that the first room was a full disy of different clothing and apparel. There were mannequins that Lisa had purchased to disy vibrant colored clothing and detailed dresses. They were all more than Walker had ever expected his sister to be able to create.


    The next door appeared to be a modification to the room to separate the disy area from the work area. Once he moved through there was a set of shelving and cubbies that stored all the threads, needles, fabric, and additional mannequins. From this, he finally found therge work table and sewing machine that had once been too expensive for his family to own.


    "Walker! Finally, I have been waiting for you three all day. What would you have done if I didn''t make the measurements final?" Lisa''s hard re made all three of them unsteady. She was measuring them with just a look and they were sure that she had many ns for their costumes.


    "Sorry, I had to speak to a few people before I came. I also didn''t want to interrupt Elise and Su. I can see the white feathers there, I guess the twin angel costume worked out?" The many white feathers Walker could seeying about the room made it too clear that the costume hade together very well.


    "That is something you will have to wait for tomorrow. I won''t be telling you what Gil and Su are wearing either and if any of you ruin it I won''t dance with you at the festival." Walker felt this threat was too real. Dancing was a big part of the festivities and it was a major loss if Lisa boycotted it.


    Well, Midnight, Onyx, and I can see each other''s costumes right? That would be silly to split up now." Walker saw that his bargain was epted and Lis pulled a sheet from the top of the table to reveal Walker''s costume.


    "I present the evil gentleman costume. Top hat made of ck sheep wool. The same with the pants and jacket. The shirt made with scarlet rose dye and the clear ss monocle is required no matter what toplete the ensemble. Not to mention the ck silk tie."


    Walker was impressed. The costume was fancier than what most nobles would wear and exuded an air of mystery. However, there was one thing, "Do I really need to be an EVIL gentleman? I''m supposed to be a hero. I thought I would be in some light armor and sword with lots of white and silver."


    "That''s so predictable. This is cool and aloof. You will get more attention with this because it goes against the personality you have. It also will look dashing." Lisa was dead set and Walker had no way to refuse. "Now, Midnight. It''s time to try things on. Come with me."


    Lisa pulled Midnight away to the final room which Walker was sure was a changing room if things were working the way he believed in the four roomyout. "First costume idea, Midnight and Onyx sibling costume, the chimera!" Midnight jumped out with a lion like fur around her neck along with a golden coat covering the majority of her body. Onyx had seamlessly taken a spot by Midnights'' tail in a red sweater like fabric that made him look demonic.


    "Not the one? Doesn''t shock you? I have more." Lisa pulled them away. A few momentter the door swung open again. "I present, Zombie dragon and the worm eating it,bo costume!"


    Midnight shambled out. Lisa had made a piece of fabric that had leftover bones on it along with green and brown cloth scraps. It definitely made Midnight seem like a zombie that had started to fall apart and show off her bones. Onyx was in a white sweater pattern now that made him look like a bone white worm.


    "Ooo, that one is really good. But is it wise to let Midnight walk around with bones?" Walker pointed to Midnight that seemed like she would eat the bones in the costume at any moment.


    "Alright alright, next try." Lisa pulled them back. A few momentster she opened the door again. "Princess Midnight and her faithful fairy Onyx!" Midnight had been adorned in pink and purple fabrics with a points ribbon had. Onyx had a simr fabric causing all but his head to blend in with Midnight. His head had been made to look like a floating fairy.


    Walker proceeded to nearly fall to the floorughing looking at this costume. It did not fit Midnight and Onyx in the least. It was the opposite of their personalitypletely. "Please- hahaha- just ahahahhh- stop!" Walkerughed until Lisa brought the pair back away again.


    "Fine! This is the final trump care I have been holding on to. You will be blown away by thisst costume. I swear you won''t be able to say no to it or even judge it a little. Lisa''s voice was strong and it snapped Walker from hisughter. He, instead, eagerly awaited this costume.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 770 - 770. The Magnificent...

    Lisa came out of the changing room first holding back a wide smile. She coughed a few times before starting her little announcement. "Today, I am here to introduce you to something truly wonderful. My friends and family. The magic is in the air on the eve of the harvest festival. I present the magnificent Midnight! The witch of dragon magic and mystery! By her side, the trusty familiar, Onyx the slithering warlock of cuteness!!!!!" Lisa dramatically threw her arms to the side as Midnight jumped out.


    "Holy lord...you even made a small witch hat for Onyx." Walker couldn''t help but feel his heart melting. Midnight was adorned in ck and purple fabrics sporting a pointed witch hat. There were even darkness runes stitched in to the fabrics making it seem like Midnight and Onyx were part of the shadows. Onyx was wearing a matching clock tied around his neck and a small pointed witch hat.. They were made in the perfect sizes just for them.


    "Sister says she liked this costume the best. She will cast magic just like brother does." Midnight let out a huff of golden embers to support what Onyx was saying, making the four of themugh.


    "Lisa, I''m impressed you managed to learn the darkness rune from the elf fabrics. I thought you would be stuck on it for a long time. My sister is a genius!" Walker was extremely impressed. He knew that she must have been up all night since they returned to make sure she could learn it.


    "I had to learn that one first. Midnight and Onyx like to hide in the shadows so it only make sense that I would make them things for it. It''s also starting to get cold again so they will need some new winter clothes. This year Onyx will have a rune sweater!" Lisa had grand goals for the partys'' winter clothing. Walker couldn''t argue with it seeing how happy his sister was.


    "I am looking forward to big sister Lisa''s sweater. It was coldst winter." Onyx was already thanking her even though they had some months of the harvest season before the winter would rear its head.


    "Actually, Lisa, I was wondering. I have a costume, Midnight just found hers. But what about you?" Walker had no sooner asked when Lisa had dropped her jaw.


    Her slight whispery voice barely managed to get the words out, "Ipletely forgot to make myself a costume¡­" It was as if she had just uttered a sinful sentence. She was the seamstress that made everyone''s clothing and yet, she had forgotten her own. "Walker...what do I do?" She wasn''t sure how to fix it before the harvest festival. She couldn''t stay up all night or else she would lose her energy and not be able to stay up to dance and celebrate.


    "How about we ask everyone for some of their extra gear? You can dress up as any one of the things we can do. I can give you my staff and you can wear a cloak and be a mage to match Midnight and Onyx in magic. Or you could borrow some things from Remey and be a brawler. I bet you could even find one of mothers'' old chef hats and be a cook."


    Lisa looked at Walker as if he was a saving angel. He had made multiple ideas ofst minute saves in just a few seconds that she was too panicked to even think about. "I am definitely going to be something awesome. But I am going to ask Su for help. She has some clothing from a friend that she said she can''t wear. I can modify it for me!" Lisa darted from the room leaving Midnight and Onyx both still wearing their costumes.


    "Want me to help you two out of those for now?" Midnight and Onyx both nodded and Walker also removed the top hat from his costume. He was even more excited now that he had a costume. He wasn''t sure if he actually looked evil or not but he definitely looked like a noble gentleman which he had never dressed as before. He had never even worn clothing as fancy as his costume would be. It really hit him just how much his life had changed.


    As soon as Midnight and Onyx had been freed from their costumes the two fled toward the kitchen. Walker could only imagine that they were heading to hound his mother for food since it was a little past lunchtime now. He pulled his own snack of jerky from his inventory and wandered toward the garden.


    Walker wasn''t sure what he should do with the rest of the day since he had the time to rx before he needed to sleep to prepare for an early morning at the harvest festival. He knew too well that the best time to check out what the merchants had brought out for the festival was right when they opened up their stalls. It was also the best time to get some of the breakfast delicacies sold during the festival.


    Feeling that he wanted to make sure he would see everyone he called for a messenger and sent a letter to the high priest and Alice. He also made sure to contact ra who he was sure would be busy but he wanted to ask her anyway. He made sure that they all knew the party''s ns to start together in the main square in the morning then wander through the festival all day. This would ensure he would see them and also get to show off the costume.


    Walker was also sure that he could buy some small snacks to hand off to the guards. His mother would normally bake off leaf shaped cookies with jam inside them but since she was busy with the additional break orders, Walker wanted to take over. He would get to the festival early and buy some small snacks to hand to the guards and send to the guard rooms. It was the least he could do since so many guards were assigned to keep the peace during the festival.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 771 - 771. Invitation

    Walker spent a short time meditating to pass the time. He wanted to take a walk in the city but knew that it was best saved from the morning. There would be a better effect when he woke up and saw all the decorations first hands instead of seeing the partial set up of man of the roads and market.


    "I''m telling you. The masked archer is way cooler than anything else. I put on a cloak. I wear a mask. And I sneak around proiming I am here to save the day." Gil was dead set on his idea for a costume.


    "It''s so duuummbbb though. You basically just wear what you always have on and add a mask. Why not try to, you know, actually put on a costume?" Remey was trying to talk him out of it to no avail..


    "Oh yeah? And what are you nning to wear as a costume? A sheet so you can be a ghost?" Gil had not heard of what Remey may wear yet and wanted to make fun of her idea in some revenge.


    "I actually worked with Lisa especially to make a prototype set of robes. Theyck the runes we can add but, they will be white green, and red. There will be a leaf on fire symbol to represent alchemy. They will be the robes we make for the members of the alchemy guild. I thought it was best to test it out during the festival. The old man is wearing one too." Remey tried to turn her head away from everyone but it was too clear that she was excited about all of this.


    "That sounds great! I hope that everyone likes it and I can''t wait to see it." Su was ever supportive and Remey couldn''t help but blush with pride at the positive feedback already when she had yet to even show it off.


    "Hellooooo!!!" Elise rand in to the room finding the party talking and tracing each other about costume designs. "I yelled for you all while outside but no one heard me. A royal guard came to deliver this letter to all of you." Elise handed the letter stamped with the kings'' seal to the party.


    "Oh! Thank you Elise. We would have never noticed since we were so caught up in our conversation. By the way, can''t wait to see you and Ste matching tomorrow." Walker was excited to see everyone in costume. However, he was curious about what the letter could be.


    With a quick pull, the letter was open and everyone was eagerly awaiting Walker to read it all out loud, "You are cordially invited for the social costume party in the castle grand hall as a special guest of the king and queen. Please wear any costume you so desire and feel free to bring one guest each. The party will begin at noon and go in to thete night. Guests are not required to stay for the entire duration but are required to be checked upon entry. We hope that the harvest is plentiful and full of new connections this year."


    "Sounds like the castle is going to be lively too. I bet we can make an appearance there before the dancing and bonfires will start." Gil looked to be the most excited. He wanted to attend the castle party and outdo all the nobles'' costumes.


    "I don''t think the masked archer can count as a costume if you go there." Remey didn''t let up at all and whale the two bickered Walker and Su continued the conversation.


    "I think I will see if Alice wants to go, but I bet the high priest was already invited. Maybe you should see if your friend from the cathedral wants to go. I bet he will have a good costume, although he might want to leave his instrument behind." Su showed a slight tinge of red on her cheeks but met Walker with a nod. She was nning to see her friends from the cathedral anyways but a castle party was very exciting.


    "Don''t think about asking me to go to dome stuffy castle party. Lisa already told me that she was going to take me to all the best spots." Elise knew that she had the chance to go to the castle since Gil and Remey would most likely not bring anyone. However, she would rather be out in the open air than stuck in a castle, if even only for an hour or two.


    "By the way, I told my brothers and sisters that they coulde and dance tomorrow night before it got too dark. Well, I sent a letter. I know It could get me in a little trouble but they will love it." Remey was excited to get her siblings out. She had snuck off to the orphanage to only get yelled at to go and rest after her journey. But the harvest festival was her excuse to be out and about with everyone.


    "I bet Midnight and Onyx can help you out when ites to keeping them in line. They both have a talent for watching children." Walker was sure that the two would do it even if they didn''t know the others from the orphanage were going to be at the festival with them.


    "Everyone is really going to be together. I can''t wait. It will be a very big day but we need it. All of us need it to unwind and rx." Walker listened to Su but had a sneaking suspicion that she had more than rxing on her mind. He knew that she was a major fan of the sweets that came with the food stalls and would most likely run off with Remey, Elise, and Lisa to grab a bunch. Not to mention Midnight who would be well ahead of them the entire day when it came to snacking.


    "Let''s go to sleep early. I want to be ready for anything tomorrow." Walker made the move toward his room. Sleeping early would be the best way to get to the harvest festival sooner.


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 Chapter 772 - 772. All Dressed Up

    It would have been nice to say that Walker woke up naturally in the morning. However, as the sun had just begun to rise he felt a heavy weight on his chest and legs. Unsurprisingly, when his eyes opened he found the head of a familiar dragon and a human sized serpent on his legs. There was no sleeping in allowed today. "Good morning you two. I thought you would be excited. Should we get ready?"


    Walker had only seen the two move as fast as they did when in battle. Their speed as they rushed toward Lisa''s work room was faster than any bird flying or rabbit running. "Midnight! Onyx! Wait for me!" Walker sprinted from his room tossing on a bath robe since he was going to be changing in to his costume as well.


    Themotion was enough to wake up anyone that had not gotten themselves moving just yet. Su and Gil emerged from their rooms to barely see Walker running down the hall after a dragon tail while Remey had already headed out to the orphanage to meet up with her siblings to bring them to the square.


    "Gil, did you decide on a costumest night?" Walker had to ask Gil as soon as he walked in..


    "I''m still doing the masked archer thing but I will grab the extra ck cloak and add some of the extra daggers so I look like a thief or assassin. I think there are even some ck gloves that Lisa made over here." Gil decided that just throwing the mask on was not exactly the best after he tried it the night before. He epted what the others had said and went more in to it.


    "Here, use the bandage around your arms too. I think if you rub some coal dust on them it will look like you have been sneaking around through the chimney and stuff to get after targets." Gil snatched them up with a grin.


    "Great idea! The more little things I add the better it will look." He reveled in the costumeing together and before Walker could even say anything he realized just how well it seemed to fit Gil.


    "You know, maybe you should wear this stuff all the time. It looks way cooler than the whole forest archer thing you had going." Gil looked ready to hit Walker when he checked himself out in the mirror.


    "I hate you and you''re right. But I want to stick with the whole forest archer thing. I think it will make me look more approachable when I visit the forest elf city." Gil was trying a roundabout way not to t out tell Walker why he wanted to go back to the forest elf city sooner.


    "You know, you do have the hero title and you are an arcane marksman. I don''t think there would be any issues." With this Walker headed in to the changing room to put his own costume on while Gil struggled with what he had just said.


    "And, the gentleman has arrived!" Walker jumped out to find that Gil had run off in his own head with Midnight and Onyx behind him. "Well, that wasn''t cool at all." He started to move toward the stairs only to find someone dressed as a healer outside the food of the work room.


    "I told you I was going to borrow something that Su''s friends gave her. It''s healing robes without any of the healing effects so they just look like healing robes. They are perfect for Su to wear when she is helping but with a little stitching they fit me!"


    Walker couldn''t help himself. He rubbed Lisa''s head and was even tempted to pinch her cheeks, "And the most adorable healer ever. Did you show mother and father? Or are they already gone?"


    "I''m A healer. We are important to helping the sick and injured. I can''t be adorable." Lisa pretended to pout as they headed down the stairs towards the front door. "But Mother and father already left. They are going on a date since the guards need himter in the night for the dancing. They expect things to be a little rowdy this year." It was understandable. Many people would be celebrating and be under the effect of alcohol.


    "Well, then we will let them do their own thing. They need some time to themselves since they both have been nonstop working." Walker was perfectly fine with the situation. "Wait...Su, are you dressed up like a dragon kin for real? How did you do that? It''s amazing."


    The sight of Su with scaly gloves and fake horns while wearing dyed armor was an intimidating sight to say the least. "You must have dyed the snakeskin gloves somehow, and the armor. It''s so cool." Walker was sure that this was one of the coolest costumes they had in the group. Add Su''s shields and she looked like a dragon kin guardian. "The term draconic guardian really fits now."


    "Lisa did all the work. But thank you. I think this look is very different and will surprise everyone." Su was trying to maintain her serious face as part of the costume but kept breaking in to a smile when she looked at herself.


    "Su was the one who had the idea to dye it all to match Midnight. By the way, where did Gil go? He was mumbling something about wanting to find a reason to visit the forest again? Or maybe he was saying he wanted to practice archery with the elves? I''m not sure." Lisa waspletely lost.


    "He was lost in his own world and wandered out the door. I have a feeling he will be waiting in the square when someone gets him toe back to reality." Su couldn''t help but release a slight giggle.


    "That was definitely my fault." Walker shared a secretive knowing look with Su as they left the mansion.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 773 - 773. Harvest Stories

    The three wandered down the street admiring the nobles'' mansions and high end shops. This was not the area where the main festivities would happen but it was grand nine the less. There were many orange, yellow, and green fabrics and ribbons blowing in a slight breeze. They hung from doorways and windows giving off the bright and cheery feelings.


    This was a tradition that hade to be to signify the winds bringing the changing leaves. Even though the colors had yet to change in their area, the harvested produce would mimic the colors. The days would go on with these brilliant colors until the night would fall. The colors would then brighten up the darkness and scare away the chill in the air, or at least this was what the tradition said would happen.


    "I think it''s weird seeing that the noble do the same things we do. But their fabrics are so much brighter thanthe ones in the lower tier homes." Lisa had expected a lot more than the refined and bright decorations.


    "It''s a tradition.. But the real decorations are where we used to be. The market decorates much better because it attracts business. Here it is more of a formality. Too stuffy and boring." Walker made sure to poke Lisa in the side to distract her since they were heading toward the markets.


    The noble markets had some of the best looking gourds and pumpkins along with a few giant ones. But there were no shopkeepers outside in costume shouting toe in or about the specials. Walker couldn''t help but feel like it needed a little bit more energy. However, he realized that most of the nobles would end up at parties or other social events so outer decorations and shopping were not popr. This left him d that he had only been invited to one such party.


    "Look, that horse and carriage are decorated like a fake prison cart. It has paintings of ghosts and other monsters on it." Su thought the cart was a nice twist to the scenery. When it stopped by the inner walls and started to hand out food to the guards it all made sense.


    "So that is what the guards made this year to deliver their lunches and additional supplies. It really fits the season." Walker was appreciative toward the guards who would take their free time to decorate such things to help them get through the long harvest festival shifts. It was always something the guards would mention to passerby''s as they worked.


    "I''m just d it wasn''t the cart that has monsters in it and driven by the evil magician that turns people in to monsters." Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. Her most hated fairytale went this way and it had always been stuck in her head. The worst time of year for it was when the harvest festival rolled around. Luckily, Lisa always got over the fear after one of two carts would pass her by or she would speak to one of the drivers.


    " I almost forgot that fairytale. I wonder how many more I forgot?" Walker was enjoying the nostalgia as Su managed to distract Lisa by saying she could borrow the healers'' costume longer making things a little better. Walker still felt it was a little funny that his little sister still believed in such stories.


    "Oh! What about the one where the girles back every harvest festival looking for a dance partner? She was attacked by a monster on the way and never made it but when her spirit got to the festival no one could hear or see her so she has been a wandering spirit every year. Always trying to dance with someone." Walker recalled this one just as a cool breeze blew by and ruffled all the fabrics along the houses.


    "That one was a lot more normal than others, the merchants will tell it a million times. I remember that there was one about the god of death walking around looking for lost souls at the end of the night to make sure they rest in peace. They say that those who see them will shiver no matter what, even when they are next to the bonfires." Su joined in and the three started to worry a little.


    "It looks so good this year! Everyone went all out and decorated so much more!" Lisa had turned the corner first to see the market and all the glory it came with. There were still a few merchants setting up but every single shop had decorations. Dried flowers, harvest season squashes, and even some corn stalks that survived the fires.


    "Looks like Gil got grabbed before he even got to the square," Walker was pointing to Gil who was speaking to a group of farmers that had yet to dress up. "Gil!" Walker ran a little ahead of the other two.


    "This is my party leader Walker. Walker, these are some of the farmers that lived around my parents. They lost their farm house but said someone is already building a new one. Since no one could have the big fire they usually do out at the fields they came and helped decorate here. It looks amazing, right?" Walker didn''t hesitate to admit it looked much more in depth and decorated than the previous years making the farmers very happy.


    They all chatted for a short time before the farmers were pulled away by friends and Gil started to talk to Lia and Su about their costumes since he hadn''t paid attention to them as he left in his daze. "So, where the dragon witch go?" Walker didn''t see Midnight and Onyx anywhere. However, he knew that they had to be after one thing; food. It was the only thing that could pull them away from the party.


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 Chapter 774 - 774. Out And About

    Gil Laughed at Walker''s question. "Do I need to say?" His finger pointed up the street since he had just spotted Midnight and Onyx at another stall. "That is the third one already. They tried a few things but that one should be the roasted butternut squash cubes with that sugar and cinnamon mix on it." Gil knew that it was a popr treat but he didn''t realize that it was someone''s favorite.


    "Let me just go check on her. I should be a good friend and check that it is safe for a dragon to eat. I am a dragon kin today afterall." Su made a straight path for the stall where Midnight and Onyx were without any hesitation.


    "Well, I might as well buy some for Remey''s siblings, you two want some as well?" Gil shook his head but when Walker looked at Lisa she was already trying to catch up to Su. "I guess that''s a yes." Walker bought out arge portion of the butternut cubes and they moved towards the square. .


    "Don''t look so sad, we are going to be here all day. Plus you get to show off your costume at the castle and I am sure there will be food there you can''t buy on the street." Walker''s temptations appeased Midnight while they entered the square.


    "Do you think the king and queen are dressed up? Are they allowed?" Lisa had always wondered but never received an answer.


    "I bet they do. They are humans participating in the festival too." Su couldn''t imagine what they would be dressed up as but she knew that it would be normal for the king and queen to participate.


    "Don''t look now, but Remey is surrounded by a mob of children and she might be taken out by them. Hoards of little monsters are dangerous." Gil was joking but the group noticed that all of them had managed to procure some horned rabbit fur coats along with home made horns.


    "OOOOhhh, that''s a great costume idea. I should have made some and sold them like that. Cheaper materials and I would have been able to easily make them since they were just furs." Lisa felt that she had missed a huge opportunity.


    "Now, Remey said I had to buy these snacks for some kids, but all I see are monsters. Let me call for some heroes or the vice adventurers guild master. We need to exterminate them." Walker used a little bit of mana to make a slight breeze causing Remeys'' siblings squeal. But that didn''tst long. The sweet treats Walker brought attracted them like mice to grain.


    "I thought you were all forgetting to meet here. I already saw your parents and Su''s parents. They said something about a double date. It was kind of cute to be honest." Remey couldn''t help it. The two sets of parents hade and gone, mentioning their day out.


    "I bet that''s why my parents were so stressed about beingte. They probably rushed out to meet your guy''s parents." Gil had also run in to his leaving as fast as they could.


    "Well, now we are together. Should we explore the festival for more snacks? I know that we need to do it now and check out the shops before the dancing starts. If we don''t eat while we can, everyone who gets hungry from dancing will eat all the food." Walker was just trying to tease the kids from the orphanage but Midnight took it seriously and huffed with annoyance. The kids found it more entertaining and Midnight found herself with quite a few new friends.


    "I think we should check the stalls. Some of the merchants have some weird looking items. They apparently crossed the mountain while the snow was light and came back from the deserts with some interesting things." Gil''s sharp eyes had already begun to find some things for them to check out.


    "Then off we go to explore. And we will STAY together!" There was a chorus of yes from all the kids that Remey had with her and they began to follow Walker. Su and Gil naturally fell in to the sides of the children to keep them together just like their formation when traveling. Midnight was the only exception because she would stay in the middle unless they saw something good to eat. In that case, she would rush off to grab some with Onyx and even share a little with the children when asked.


    "It was a little strange seeing that none of the boys were trying to pick a fight with Remey, Walker could tell that Remey had either put them in their ce beforehand or there was a rule that they would have to go home if they acted up. It was the only logical solution to how the they acted. But he also knew that they were d to have their older sister back around from the constant looks they gave Remey.


    "I''m going to check that stall out. The merchant has some of the spikes we used to make the wither spike arrows. I want to stock up." Gil was gone before anyone could reply.


    "Hey Remey, isn''t that Lewisia over there? I thought she would be staying at the mansion?" Walker was surprised to see the demons out and about during the festival. They were much braver than he thought they would be so soon.


    "That''s her. She is actually very talkative once she rxes. She asked me a million questions. Not to mention she likes that guy over there. They were neighbors before they were...well, you know." Walker couldn''t help but think about how small the world was. It was great for the pair to know someone when they were in an unfamiliar ce. It was definitely a deciding factor for how well they would adapt.


    Walker gave a wave in their direction and continued on. Just before he moved away he saw a sh of blue dress but when he focused it was gone. "Walker, you''re falling behind. Midnight will eat everything before you get to the skewered chicken stand!"


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 Chapter 775 - 775. Shady

    Walker shook off the strange glimpse as him just seeing the random mix of costumes. " I swear if you eat all the skewers and don''t save me one of the honey sauce skewers I will freeze everyone in an ice block!" Remey''s siblings thought this was a hrious threat and proceeded to copy Walker''s way of saying it.


    "You know they will use that as a threat for a month now, right?" Remey pretended to be annoyed but Walker could tell she liked it since she had done the same and taught them her threats to punch people way too often.


    "Hey, don''t me me if they take after the party leader. It just makes sense." Walker turned Remey and rushed ahead beating her to the stall. The aroma of charred chicken skewers was enough to get everyones'' stomach growling and before the others caught up he had ordered enough for them all to have one. Midnight had already mastered the use of the adventurers'' que and with Onyx along hermunicate she easily had already ordered herself two.


    "I''m surprised you two are holding back. I thought Walker would be going to the guild because we ran out of gold." Gil was reying theical scene he thought would happen in his mind. .


    "Sister says that she wants to try every stall here. It would be a waste to only eat at one." The knowing nod came from Su directly after Onyx tranted this.


    "A wise woman always saves room. That''s why I can eat so many desserts, it''s called nning." Su may not be the best influence when it came to food. Normally she was very level headed but on days like today, her adoration for sweets seemed to be winning out. She had asked the stall owner for double honey ze on her chicken skewer which made Walker''s teeth hurt just thinking about it.


    Since Gil had returned from his little purchase he had handed Walker the small box before getting ahead and grabbing a skewer with Midnight, "I really with that merchant had more of the spikes for new wither spike arrows. I want to show my fathers'' friends how to make them so we can all take advantage." Gil kept shaking his head since he couldn''t see any more simr monster materials nearby.


    "I think I should take a look around. Maybe I will find something. Is everyone ready to keep walking? We are searching for gifts for your house mother too so keep an eye out." The children all became much more energetic with this while eating their snacks.


    "You know you don''t need to help with that. We would have found something." Remey gave Walker a soft punch to the arm. Su also smiled slightly knowing that Remey was too embarrassed to say thank you for the thought.


    "What about those silver things? They look like eggs." Walker nced at the table and used his all around appraisal skill after one of Remeys'' siblings called out.


    '' painted chicken egg


    Painted with silver paint so that it looks like an expensive ornament. The merchant selling these ismonly kicked out of kingdoms and markets for selling false items.''


    "You have a very good eye. Keep walking with Remey and stay sharp. I will settle it." The children looked happy to help since Walker had listened to them.


    The guard walking by was surprised t see Walker since he recognized him. "Hello sir hero, I hope you''re having a nice morning. Anything I can help with?" The guard appeared to be one of the castle guards that must have been assigned to help with the festival.


    "Yes, actually we have a trouble maker that came in to the market ce¡­" Walker leaned in and whispered to the guard who called over another three and met the merchant. In just a few minutes the guards were escorting the shady merchant away and cleaning up the stall so that another person could take the ce.


    "Thank you very much for pointing that out. It''s hard to keep track of all thate and go on festival weeks. Little things like that slip through." The guard was apologetic for the mistake.


    "It''s expected. I''m just d I found you before he sold anything else. Maybe this time he will learn a lesson. My appraisal skill said he had been kicked out from kingdoms and markets before." The guard furrowed his eyebrows and said farewell while catching up to the other guards. He would make sure the fine and poster of the man was made public to prevent future incidents.


    When Walker ran to catch up he could swear a girl in a blue dress had been standing by the nearby empty stall. But when he turned he saw a few darkness elemental spirits investigating the empty stall. They were enjoying the space for now and amused by the worried looks of nearby shoppers who thought they were some mischievous spirits. Which was notpletely false.


    When Walker caught up the children looked sad that Walker didn''t have a silver egg so he put on his best face and started to talk loudly, "I can''t believe that guy was selling eggs that didn''t even taste good. He told me that they wouldn''t even hatch a silver chicken. Like what''s the point?" The children found this to be the most amusing thing in the world while Gil and Su had not missed the guards taking the man away.


    "Fake silver eggs?" Gil whispered to Walker.


    "Yes. But it''s fine." Walker then made an exaggerated movement to look about. "Does she happen to like tea? I see a tea stall over there. And knowing that Remey made tea for everyone a lot I can only think your house mother would like it too." This caught all of their attention and soon the group came before the tea leaf stall.


    "She does need some good tea leaves to mix with the botter herbs. She has been taking care of orphans for years and her joints are a bit stiff." Remey mumbled to herself a little while picking through the best leaves.


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 Chapter 776 - 776. Monster Materials

    The tea leaves were not necessarily medicinal herbs that could be used for healing. However, they were rare and unique tea leaves grown all over the continent. They were unique to certain areas and climates that made them tough to grow everywhere unless someone had the specific skills to pair with it.


    "Remey, they have lemon tipped tea leaves over on this end!" Su and Remey looked like two kids in a candy store. They were building their own containers of tea leaves while everyone else just watched. No one could understand why they were so picky and how this was such aplicated process.


    "I think I will check out the next table over." Walker inched his way to the table that started the next stall to find that it was assorted monster materials.


    "Come on up here and check out my spoils of travel. I have some tanned orc skin, not to be confused with merfolk; mermaid tails, harpy feather, and much much more." The old man and woman were calling out to people and had locked in on Walker who was already looking..


    "I have heard a decent bit about the merfolk but not too much about mermaids, what kind of monsters are they?" He had heard they were simr to sirens but a little more intelligent. However, he wasn''t sure what put them aside from the merfolk.


    "Ohh, I like it when we have a curious mind. The mermaids are fallen merfolk. They like other races sometimes leave their people and regress in to monsters. The mermaids will growrger tails and lose the ability to transform it in to legs. Their teeth be like needles and they gain poison nds. They can not speak and their scales gain an illusion effect when seen in the moonlight. They often lure sailors to a watery grave for food." The old man was very quick to give the description as if he was reading it from a book.


    The old woman started in next, "The materials can be used for a few things. The needle teeth can be used for ultra thin arrows or throwing needles. The scales from staffs of illusion or shields that resist illusion. Surprisingly, the gills are the most valuable part. Unlike the merfolk gills, the mermaid gills can be used to make a mask that gives the user the ability to breathe underwater, in fresh or salt waters." The old woman was very proud to recite the uses. She had not been able to show off her knowledge yet in the day.


    "How many mermaid gills do you have? I would need at least twelve." Walker wanted to have them to make sure the party could venture underwater one day. He also didn''t want to be in a situation where one broke and they were deep underwater and could not reach the surface safely.


    "Well, I will sell you the twelve no problem young man." The old man and woman boxed them up and exchanged the box for an equal value of gold while chatting with Walker.


    "We always enjoying to this fair. Our town is on the shore so we gather a lot on our walks here. Believe it or not, I am the merchant and my wife is the one that gathers the materials. But, we may be settling down soon. You know how it goes when bones get old." It was understandable that years of taking a long journey like that and gathering monster material was taking its toll in old age.


    "Well, in my day I could gather triple the materials and this old man could carry all of it without issue. But that was then." The womanughed while she leaned in to her husband.


    "Hmm, if you two are looking for a ce to settle down I would rmend the new city of Genesis. It is being built on the borders of the other nations and will be a veryrge trade city. It would be nice knowing there was an experienced hunter and merchant pair that could do some teaching with the Ga family. I can refer you, just stop by the Ga family auction house and tell them the true hero Walker sent you. They should take you in easily. I heard they would be expanding to that city and needed some teachers." Walker was sure that an experienced pair like this would make a nice addition to the new branch of the auction house.


    "We may just have to do that before we leave tomorrow. Thank you for the rmendation." The pair seemed very interested and smiled warmly as Walker joined the group again.


    "Hey Gil, that table has some mermaid''s teeth. They are poisonous and good for ultra thin arrows or throwing needles." Walker gave the heads up to see Gil rush over to check the arrow materials out. In the end, though, Gil had decided against them since he wouldn''t have s much use for a light and weaker arrow even if it would have poison and lightness.


    "Why are you staring off in the distance?" Gil came back from the old couple''s stall and found that Walker was just looking in the distance with furrowed eyebrows. His face seemed to be asking himself if he was crazy or not.


    "I swear, I have seen a girl with a blue dress following us three times now." Walker had a serious feeling that he had seen and felt something. But for some reason every single time that he focused he found nothing.


    "Or you are seeing the water spirits jumping in a puddle with the kids over there. Are you sure you got enough sleep? It''s great to be a little excited but you need rest sometimes." Gil pped Walker on the back just assuming that Walker had neem too tired and confused the blue water spirits with a person in a blue dress.


    "You might be right, I always look and see something else so I probably just need something to drink and to wake up more." Walker did exactly that and bought a cup of hot tea from the vendor that was selling the tea leaves while Remey and Su paid for four tins of tea. One of Remey and the master alchemist to experiment with. Two for the mansion and one for the orphanage as a gift to their house mother. "So, I hear someone made a small maze in front of the cathedral." This caught everyone''s attention. It was a game for children after all.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 777 - 777. Lady Luck

    The rest of the merchants tried to attract the group as they walked through toward the cathedral in the high tier. Festivals were one of the few days the cathedral was easily essed by all the people and most of those who came in to the city to be healed. The music and nuns were a huge attraction since they were said to be the best magical healers for miles. Those who traveled from viges nearly always preached the good faith.


    "The wooden maze is always built in front of it as a symbol of searching through everything to find your system. Remember, not all of you have your systems yet so try and get through the maze and pray to the world really fast. Maybe you will unlock yours today." Remey was reciting a verymon tradition to her siblings.


    "I used to do that every year. I would probably do it this year if I hadn''t gotten my system. Even if the timer was up." Walkerughed a little and the kids tried to tease him that it wouldn''t work, However, they had heard that those without systems were getting quests to achieve them so they silenced themselves pretty fast..


    "We can also see if you can use your calming waves to help with the healing songs. They split the musicians up for the festival so there is always a small group performing." Su had more knowledge than anyone else about the cathedrals harvest festival itinerary so Walker just nodded along.


    "It looks bogger this year!" Gil was the first to speak as they came in to therge open square that was the cathedral courtyard. The decorated wooden walls that made a child high maze was not overlyplicated but it was enough to attract anyone''s attention.


    "Midnight, can you go with my brother and sisters? You are the perfect size to race through with them and make sure they all get out." Remey whispered to Onyx and Midnight who dly took the job. As the other orphans ran for the entrance with Midnight and Onyx on their tails, Remey found herself a little more tired than expected. "I feel like I could sleep already." Remy yawned while stretching.


    "You have been watching them like a hawk since you were at the main square. I would imagine you are tired." it was too clear for Walker to see. "We should walk to the exit. The cathedral will be a good ce to rest and prepare for the rest of the day. I know you already said that you wouldn''t be going to the king''s party so you will need the rest."


    "If Remey could bring her siblings I''m sure she woulde to the king''s party too. But to be honest, I expect it is not that kind of event." if Gil had it his way the king''s party would just be in the square or the fields. It was easier to get everyone there in his mind. But that was the fact that he had grown up in the fields talking. He just liked the open space.


    "If you really wish to go I don''t mind staying with them. But if not then I will go instead." Su was alright with watching Remey''s siblings but was met with Remey shaking her head.


    "I signed up for bonding with them and making sure they all get to go to the festival and do whatever they want for the day. So that is just what I will do. Even if I need to grab a few potions to push me through it. " The potions were more of a joke but Walker was pretty close to pulling them out and handing them to her.


    "Come on over and take a shot! Pick the stick with the gold dye and you win a prize! Come and take your shot. Govedy luck the reigns!" The vendor shouting was pointing to a massive table full of cups. They each had little sticks standing in them.


    "What''s this all about?" the curiosity was too much to keep Gil from stopping and asking. He just had to know.


    "This good sir is the game of luck. Take a chance. The attempt is a single gold but if you manage to find the stick with gold paint on it then you are rewarded with a grand prize!" The woman working the game was full of smiles and wore an elegant green and orange dress to attract more people to try their luck.


    "You know, why not?" Gil tossed four gold to the woman who motioned for the group to take their chances. It was a good time killer while the children went through the maze.


    Gil pulled a wooden stick from the center only to show that there was no paint at all. "Well, I tried." Gil just shrugged and handed the stick over.


    Su moved to check hers and pulled the stick from the top right, "No winner here." She thought it was fun and didn''t expect to win either.


    "Let''s feel this out...hmmmm" Remey looked like she was trying to let the luck guide her and grabbed the one she felt was right.


    "Oh, not the grand prize but you won the low prize with the red mark. Here is your pumpkin shaped candy." The woman handed arge hard candy lollipop. Remey looked fairly happy to have won something and unwrapped it instantly.


    "My turn. Let''s see what I can feel out." Walker began to close his eyes and reached down toward the cups. With his eyes closed, he couldn''t pick just any so it waspletely up to just how lucky he was. As his fingertips touched one of the wooden sticks he felt a slight tingle and picked it up. His eyes slowly opened to reveal the surprised expression of the woman in charge of the game and a gold painted stick.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 778 - 778. Grand Prize

    "Grand! Prize! Winner!" The woman gave a jump and rang a handbell to attract more attention. Walker even felt that the over the top reaction was just to attract more business to the game. " Congrattions on the top prize. Only three people have received it today!" The woman was very excited as she reached under the table for a small box.


    "Ooooooo, what di you win?" Remey was more excited than Walker was at this point while Gil was pretending not to care out of jealousy.


    "The grand prize today is an orange ruby ne. It is a wed ruby that doesn''t fully develop. But, it is still valuable and very fitting for the season." The woman handed the opened box to Walker who couldn''t resist using his all around appraisal skill.


    '' wed ruby ne


    The red color has been lost due to small sand crystals getting mixed in to the gem while it developed. The orange color sets it apart from other rubies and it is easier to break than a normal ruby.. The refraction of light through the orange ruby miraculouslyes out as yellow making it an interesting addition to any chandelier. These rubies are rarely found in mines unless they are in desert areas. Often sells for close to a hundred gold depending on the area it is sold in.''


    "Who would have thought I would make back what we spent so easily. Thank you." Walker was pretty happy with the random game and the reward. He wasn''t sure who he would give it to since it was purely decorative, however, it was a pretty great reward for a single gold coin.


    "Please y again. Tonight the prizes change!" The woman tried to bait them in to another round since they had won but Walker and the others knew that the kids would be leaving the maze at any time.


    "I should have guessed you would get the final prize. If you didn''t tell us all the skills you received when you got them I would believe that our leader has a luck skill." Su was sure that Walker was just a generally lucky person.


    "I actually used my skills to sense the mana. The one with more water mana in it was the stick that had been painted. It was a really small amount more than the other wooden sticks but I wanted to test myself. I guess it worked." Walker was scratching his head slightly embarrassed since he was sure he would have failed.


    Gil gave a slight whistle, "That sounds pretty hard to do. Are you sure you aren''t some sort of hidden master mage skills you aren''t telling us about?'' Gil was only joking but it was enough to make Walker turn even more red than he was a moment ago.


    "Ha! I''m the first out! I told you I would win." One of Remey''s siblings broke out of the maze and spotted them in an instant.


    "Congrats, now we need to wait for everyone else. I hope Midnight and Onyx won''t chase them out here too fast." The smile on Remey was brighter than usual while joking around.


    "After you establish the alchemy guild I think you should build an orphanage organization and work on adoptions." Su was very blunt with this which stunned everyone. She was usually a little more reserved but it was exactly what everyone else was thinking.


    "That''s way too much for me. But...maybe when I retire." Remey knew it was many years away but it could be a very good gal to take on after she had her fill of the alchemy world.


    ''Like you could ever retire. I can see you being double the age of the old master alchemist before you even think of taking an apprentice." Gil dodged a quick punch for Remey as he spoke.


    "I might take an entire ss of apprentices. Not that apprentices will be a thing in the guild. The sses will be for everyone and there will be no divide of knowledge. If there are apprenticeships then it will limit what can and can''t be taught." Remey had already tossed aside the idea of apprenticeships. She would prefer to model things differently.


    "That''s how the military academy works then. They have strategy sses, sses for certain weapons, sses for healing. They can basically do anything. There are even military cksmiths. But the requirement to join the military is why most people don''t go to the academy. That and the gold cost is fairly high for most people." Walker knew all of this but had to speak his mind on the rtion.


    "They can assist us then. I won''t force anyone to join the military but it would be a good career option for some alchemists. The ones trained in the guild will be the best of the best." Remey proudly put her hands on her hips before she caught two more of her siblings running from the maze.


    With a slight growl, Midnight and Onyx chased the other giggling children from the maze. They rushed to Remey almost out of breath going on and on about escaping a monster trying to tickle them to death. "Alright alright! Time to rest and listen to music in the cathedral. Who wants to go meet Walkers'' girlfriend!?" Gil shouted and caused Walker to punch his arm this time. Gil was not lucky enough to dodge but his words had focused the children toward the cathedral while also making Remey and Suugh a bit.


    The moment they entered in to the cathedral everyone saw a miraculous change in the interior. The nuns must have worked all night to make the full switch from when the group was therest. "Oho, look who it is. I thought your letter told us to meet you in the square before the dancing began? I didn''t think you would be visiting." The high priest was by the door greeting people in the same robes as usual.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 779 - 779. Whats Needed

    "And let me guess, all of these little ones are Remey''s siblings I have been told about? I thought they were tamed monsters. I would never have guessed." The high priest motioned for a few of the nuns toe over. "I have a pretty good spot set up for some of the harvest festival stories being toled over there. We even have snacks." The high priest was whispering sweet words which made the kids follow the nuns without a single worry.


    "Yes! I love them, but break time." Remey fell in to the nearest seat. "The decorations are amazing by the way." Remey motioned to the entire room with a heartfelt thank you and admiration.


    The cathedral had been changed in to a slightly different atmosphere. The normal fabrics that would be on the alls had been changed out for orange and green colored banners depicting the harvest season. The falling of nts that gave fruits and the rot that lead to a bountiful spring.. The animals that would fly away to warmer parts of the world and those that would burrow in to sleep the winter away.


    "Yes, we found the old banners and brought some life back to them with a little help from some of the retired crafters here. The new benches were made to amodate more guests and we also set up a movable stage for the musicians." The high priest was happy to show off the improvements to the cathedral this year.


    "If you could excuse me, I want to go and show off my dragon kin costume." Su was a little too excited when she saw some of the healers resting on the side that she knew. They had not recognized her yet and she was about to make a surprising reveal of her costume.


    "Do not worry, go and enjoy yourself. I used to do the same when I was younger and didn''t stay cooped up in here." The high priest fondly remembered his own days running about dressed up as a spearman or healer.


    "You know, the harvest festival I dressed up as a healer was the day I gained my system." This was matched with a small smirk that made Walker and Gil fairly surprised.


    "I know a lot of kids try new things during festivals but that s a pretty great way to find out your system. Walker thought it was a strange way to find the system in the grand theme of things but to be honest it was not the strangest by a long shot.


    "Speaking of new things, I heard a rumor the other day about a kid losing an arm in a carriage ident and unlocking the one armed sword master system? Heard of it?" Gil wanted to see what else he could hear about the child since it was an off way to get a system.


    "Ah, he came here for healing. We healed him and a weekter he had decided to follow his father and be a swordsman. Imagine my surprise when he tried to learn the sword arts against the best advice of his father only to unlock his system. The world truly gives everyone what they need the most." The high priest looked to be sending a silent prayer to the holy lord.


    "You know, if there was that much time in between maybe the world really did bless him that way." Walker was beginning to think that the world was not so much a master of fate but instead just did what it could to guide people on a happy and blessed life. It was a topic he could think about for years and most likely not make true progress.


    "That makes the story even better to be honest. I might share that with a few people. It''s pretty inspiring for those who are looking for their systems." Gil made sure to memorize the story before he wandered through the cathedral to enjoy the decorations that had been refurbished.


    "Walker." A sweet voice at almost a whisper came from behind Walker and the high priest.


    "Alice! I''m surprised you are up and about. I thought you would be busy healing and would have tired yourself out by now." Walker''s statement caused a slight red tinge and puffy cheeks from Alice but she did not deny it.


    "I have been keeping my healers and nuns on strict orders to hold on to some mana. I don''t want them to lose out on the harvest festival activities for themselves. It would be a shame. Plus, they would call me a miser if I was to hold them all back all day and all night. You wouldn''t know this, but a lot of Su''s friends have some hidden dancing skills." The high priest acted as if he was telling Walker a massive secret.


    "I should thank you though, Alice showed me the bracelet you gave her and it has worked wonders for her to be able to practice her skills without wasting mana. She has already started to make clearer light shapes and heal a little faster. I can''t wait to see what she can do in a few years of training.'' The high priest spoke like a doting father bragging of his child. Which he technically was since he had adopted Alice many years ago.


    "On another note, you kids may have boundless energy but I am a little older and need to go rest. Greeting everyone really takes it out of me." The high priest took his leave and waved behind him since he would see Walker and the otherster at the dancing and bonfires.


    "I know I said we would see each otherter but Remey needed a break and her siblings needed a ce to rx a little." Walker pointed out the tired looking Remey and the mass of kids at the story time area. "Want to see the prize I won outside from the game?" Walker found a spot to tell Alice all about their short adventured and the merchants while the group rested. She was happy to hear them before they would have seen each otherter.


    Lisa had been pretty quiet the entire trip mostly following Su around but she finally made her way back to Walker to meet Alice. This had been her secret goal the entire time and the reason she had been holding back. She had a mission!


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 780 - 780. Finally!

    "Hello Alice! Do you remember me? You ate at the mansion before but we didn''t get to talk much!" Lisa was full of energy and was not going to let Walker hide away.


    Alis gave a polite smile and nod still not fully ready to speak out constantly. But Lisa was already speaking before Walker or Alice could reply.


    "We haven''t been to the adventurer''s guild to see the training fields yet and then we are heading to the kings'' party. After that, we will be meeting everyone in the square. You and the high priest were invited to the party, right?" Lisa was slightly worried that the high priest may not have been invited.


    "We were." Alice was very soft spoken and did not say much. It seemed she was holding back a lot since she was still trying to control her skills herself. But Every single word she said was like a perfect melody that caused Walker to feel like the world was a little brighter.


    "Then you should meet us there.. It would be a good chance to meet up before the square." Walker seemed slightly more nervous than usual causing Alice a bit of confusion but Lisa looked like she had the idea of what Walker was going to say.


    "I interrupted at a bad time. We can partner up with Su and Midnight to get the best deserts at the king''s partyter." Lisa ran off with a few smallughs towards where Remey was since she knew they could gossip a little.


    "Ehm, erhm...Sorry. She''s a little excited today." Alice shook her head at the apology from Walker since she truly didn''t mind Lisa''s excitement. It was a festival and everyone was in high spirits. "On the other hand, I was wondering if you wanted to be my dance partner tonight?" Walker was having a very hard time staying still since he had never been so direct before.


    Alice grabbed his hand getting his full attention, "Yes." It was all she said but it was a word filled with a little magic. Even though she wore the bracelet, The light around them made a slight rainbow hue. Alice was smiling just as awkwardly and wide as Walker but both were happy to have it in the open.


    Feeling his courage begin to well up within him and remembering Gil and Remey teasing him at times Walker decided that it was just enough of that and he might as well just say what he has been holding on to for some time. "Alice, I...well, I really do like you a lot. And I would like to be a little more than-" Walker was cut off by a hug from Alice in an instant. She had been hoping he would say something like this for a little while and had already confided in a healer friend her own feelings.


    "I do" Her words were soft whispers in his ear, this was meant only for him, "I like you too." It was all Walker wanted to hear for the rest of his life.


    "Then-n I-I look forward to dancing with youter. We can spend some time to-ogether after the festival. I will be home for a while." Walker was trying to keep his heart from leaving his chest but it was all too clear that Alice was the same.


    "Hmm, you two may be cute and at that age, but, this is still a cathedral and not a ce for anything more." The high priest had taken a fatherly tone as he walked up behind the pair. Their reaction was to jump far apart and sit opposite ends of the bench they had been on. "However, I do approve¡­" The high priest sounded like he had wanted to scare someone like that for his whole life. His fatherly demeanor was always going to be there and even though he healed and stood for the cathedral and the faith of the holy lords'' world, he was Alice''s father. He couldn''t just let his daughter run away so easily.


    Walker waited for a few moments and managed to break the awkwardness guing the two of them, "We should head to the adventurer''s guild to check things out before the time runs away. I will see you thereter." Alice smiled at the tension breaking and gave Walker another hug as a farewell. Walker did not is the gaze of the high priest as he left. It seemed that they were no longer a hero and a high priest but a man trying to steal away a fathers'' daughter.


    "You look like you have been in the sun way too long. Had a little talk with your girlfriend there." Gil attempted to tease Walker again and Su just shook her head while Remey was too distracted with her siblings.


    "You know what? Yes, yes I did." Lisa stuck her tongue out at Gil when Walker said this and started to follow her brother outside.


    "Wait¡­ you did?" Gil was a little stunned because he didn''t think Walker would make that move. He instantly fell in to his own thoughts on what he was missing out on and the things he should be working toward in his own life.


    "If Alice is going toe to the mansion more I bet that means my friends will too." Su just happily imagined having her healer friends over for tea while Alice and Walker spent time reading in the library. It was the perfect excuse for her friends to join them more often.


    "Come on, we are going to the adventurers'' guild. If all of you are too slow you won''t get to y the games there." Remey knew exactly how to motivate her siblings and saw the light in their eyes. "And don''t think I will let any of you win." Remey left the challenge in the air making her siblings even more determined to get moving. It was the perfect tactic.


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 Chapter 781 - 781. Matching Gear

    Walker felt the confidence in every step and was practically putting off a positive aura. It was a lot of emotion at one time but he was happy to have spoken out about what he felt and thought. It put him in the ideal mindset when the entire group made it to the adventurers'' guild.


    "OOOOhhhhhh loook. The heroes arrive to try and steal the show! Come on in and beat the heroes at any game and maybe you will win a prize!" Rodney was out front representing the cksmiths who had set up most of the games and also forged the tools. They were here to show off skills and even make some sales if possible.


    "Hey now, don''t go using us to try and get more people toe and try out your weapons and games." Walker couldn''t help but return a little of the attitude to Rodney who justughed along.


    "I have to do what I can to make my pay today. So far the games have not been pulling in too many people. But with the heroes here we can see a major increase instantly." Rodney had his arms crossed while nodding at his own master n..


    "He''s right you know. With me sweeping through the archery games and winning them all people will think they are easy and give them a try." Gil''s arrogant attitude took front and center before he ran to the training fields. He wanted t show off for a little while to get himself out of his own thoughts.


    "He''s just jealous." Su knew Walker would understand what she said and followed Gil inside.


    "Alright, who wants to try out a bunch of games and see if you unlock your system?" Remey had high hopes that she would be able to help one of her younger siblings to unlock their system since not many of them had done so as of yet. The chorus of yes and attempts to rush forward were blicked by Midnight and Onyx who began to lead the pack.


    "Have you see the guild master today? Or the vice guild master?" Walker wanted to say hello but was not sure if they would be around.


    "Vice guild master Barry is dressed up as a golem today and has already left for the day to spend time with some of the soldiers that returned from their posts at the borders. The new guild master is currently on the main floor helping to get interest in the adventurers guild. It''s the best recruitment chance due to the increase in quests with the new city and all." Rodney had been here all morning and was sure that the guild had recruited plenty of new blood already.


    "Thank you, Rodney, I will try out a few games too when I get there. Lisa, let''s go see what ra dressed up as!" Lisa was excited to see another costume.


    When the pair entered the first floor they found a sight that Walker never thought he would see. The guild managers were all dressed in different adventuring gear to make them look like wizards, swordsmen, shielders, archers, and many other positions in a party. However, Cara was the one that stood out most of all. She was wearing a bright red and white robe and held a matching book with many pages.


    "You''re the one who ced the private order for gear that matched the hero party gear!" Lisa recognized her own work instantly. ra had anonymously ced an order for this costume a month ahead of time.


    "Well, I didn''t think it fair for you to potentially give me a discount since I am the party manager. So I did what I needed to so that I paid a fair price." ra smirked at her sneaky move.


    "Even if you had asked I wouldn''t give a discount because of that. No one gets discounts because everyone is equal." Lisa was back to sticking her tongue out at people and Walker poked her side to get her to stop.


    "I wish I had worn my winter gear to match. It would have been a good look for the party to match with you one day. But maybe we can when it snows again." Walker hoped that ra would enjoy the sentiment.


    "That would be nice. Maybe we can have a painter create something for us to put in the office." ra would enjoy being able to look at it when she had the harder days. It would encourage her to keep working. "I assume you are here to try out the games? Recruiting really isn''t as fun as it looks. But we have weed thirty new members today so it has been sessful." ra boasted her recruitments.


    "Thirty sounds like a drop in the bucketpared to what I am sure you will have done by the end of the day. You are correct though, we are here for the games. Remey wants her siblings to try everything to unlock a system potentially." They all were familiar with the try everything tactic of unlocking a system, Walker in particr.


    "That has also been going well. We watched a child unlock a flying sword system earlier. It was pretty interesting since we have only seen it ten or so times. Thest person to have the system could ride on a sword using win magic to control it." The system did sound very interesting. But what was more interesting was ra''s next words. "We did have a few reports of a strange man with pale skin walking around in a dark cloak. Someone said he managed to slice a training dummy in half with one of the scythes that were on disy. It''s pretty odd to see someone use a scythe around here.''


    "Well, I was able to use one with my system. It might not be as rare as we think." However, even after saying this, Walker still felt there was more to it than that.


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 Chapter 782 - 782. Slash And Block

    The three shook of their ominous feelings as just part of the harvest festival. The stories and the slight chill from the harvest season would just make everyone feel on edge for no reason. "Well, head out back and check things out. I have plenty tp do here." ra motioned toward the group of younger people walking in and Walker knew that she would be trying to recruit all of them.


    "Alight, we will hopefully see youter. Good luck recruiting the next rising heroes." Walker said this a little louder to draw attention and saw the eyes of those who had just walked in light up. Hopefully, he had just helped ra out.


    "Do you think we can help Remey''s brothers and sisters get their systems today?" Lisa wanted to help out while they were here and was looking at Walker for guidance.


    "I bet we can, and even if they don''t today, we have time before we n to head out on another trip to help them." This was all Lisa needed to hear as she bumped in to her older brother in excitement.. She wanted to be able to help out and maybe find herself another seamstress.


    The training area had been turned in to a well organized walk through of tables and games. The weapons disyed near the archery area were new bows and throwing knives with the odd throwing ax. There was a cksmith running the space who was trying to get people to hit a target or to show off their skills and hit the target in the same ce twice for a prize.


    The training dummies had been changed out for one with a pumpkin head and it was the favorite for the swordsmen to slice in half. There was a man demonstrating blindfolded sword y with a wooden sword. The game was simple and the person ying could easily win if they started focused. The goal was to hit the dummy three out of fine times after being blindfolded and spun around. If you did there were small wooden swords to win ad if someone managed to hit it five out of five times they received a coupon for the next sword they had forged.


    Walker spotted Remey and her siblings in front of a shield disy with Su. Gil had already made his way to the bows and was going to be there for a while. Midnight and Onyx on the other hand, had found themselves a ce in the corner to watch. They had no interest in weapons since they didn''t use any. They also weren''t motivated because there was no food offered as a prize for any game.


    "Leader, this game is perfect for me. We get a shield and they toss balls at us to block. If you can block all thirty I can win us a discount forging coupon." Su was too excited that they had a game that having their own forge at the mansion had slipped her mind. It was funny seeing Remey give the knowing look for a change since their roles had been revered.


    "Anyone want to try and beat Su in this shield block game?" Remey was having a little trouble getting her siblings to try things since there were so many people in the training area. They were just a little shy since they had to possibly try and fail here in the open.


    "Well, if you can''t beat Su and Me then, I guess no one wants me to buy them one of the pumpkin candies they were selling at the entrance."Walker''s words were like fuel on a fire. The kids werepletely baited and rushed over to grab the small child sized shields.


    Walker had already equipped one of the wooden game shields and Su took the opposite end as him while the children that wanted to try were already in the middle. The small game started up with one of the cksmith apprentices tossing an easy to block ball at them. Before they knew it there were five apprentices all throwing at the same time. The children began to dodge as giglgle as they were bumped here and there while trying to win.


    Walker was not trying his hardest to y since he wanted to watch the children the mos. But he noticed that Remey''s little brother had also managed to get ahold of the wooden sword too. "Why would I get just a shield when I can block with a sword too?" Remey was shaking her head at her younger brother.


    "ElI! You always take too much. You were-" Remey was suddenly cut off as her little sibling Eli started to sh and block at the same time.


    The cksmith apprentices started to talk a little bit more and focused on Elis with their attacks. Each one was cked and it appeared that Eli was using a skill. "Ha! That was twenty two out of thirty! sh and blockbination is the best!"


    Remey ran up and grabbed Eli by the shoulders, "Did you just unlock your system and you didn''t say a thing!?" She was too d that it had actually worked that she was forgetting herself for a moment.


    "Whoooo, that''s the fifth person today! What system kid?" One of the apprentices had pulled a piece of chalk to go and write on a board. There was a record of who had unlocked systems fro someone and they were all keeping track.


    "Umm, I got the knight system. It said I can use a shield and sword to defend what I hold dear." Eli realized that all the attention was on him and his defiant and excited attitude began to fade.


    Gil had sprinted over hearing the shout, "Congrattions! We got one more system unlocked! Who wants toe and try the archery range to see if you can be an archer like me!" Whether it was because Gil was so excited or the children were excited by their sibling unlocking a system, no one knew. But they all followed Gil toward the range.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 783 - 783. Games

    Remey was caught up exining a few things to Elis since he was a little on edge now that he had a system. He wasn''t sure what he would be doing and how he would go about things. Gil had taken full babysitting duty since he had led the other children to the archery games.


    "Hey Walker. Do you think that the military academy will recruit a knight system user? You know, the kind of system known for protecting people as a body guard or defending those weaker than themselves?" Walker could tell that Remey was trying to get his help convincing Eli that he had a ce to go.


    "Oh, you know it. I would expect them to jump to get someone with a knight system in their ranks. I bet they could even have an entire group under them after spending years of hard work to get stronger." Eli looked much more calm after hearing another person speaking so positively about the future.


    Remey nodded as a thank you for the help, "But, we can head there and check it out. I''m sure if Remey and I use our weight we can get you an entire tour. Maybe my father will evene.. He had a friend that''s a teacher there. He teaches some sword arts and such but he''s pretty famous for using two swords in battle." Walker knew that his father''s friend was mostly a friend because the man had trained his father but that didn''t matter. A friend was a friend


    "Really? I can even tour it?" Eli was trying to pretend he was not excited about this. Yet, the more he saw that Remey and Walker were smiling he showed that he wanted to.


    "Well, now that we have a knight around I can take a break with the defending. As a congrattions, one of the apprentices said you can keep the wooden sword and shield so make sure you guard me well." Su had perfect timing. Elis was ecstatic to guard Su against any danger and began to walk in front of her toward the archery area where Gil was trying to show off how great bows were.


    "That''s a pretty big deal, right? I really wasn''t sure if one of your siblings was going to unlock anything. But the festival is the best time to try it with so many different people and activities around." The look on Walkers'' face was confusion after saying this making Remey look behind her at whatever he was seeing.


    "What''s with you? You seem really distracted." Remey wanted to continue the conversation but he wasn''t sure why Walker was so off.


    "Well, I don''t know. I keep seeing spirits out of the corner of my eye but I swear they are a blue dressed girl. Really throwing me off." The apologetic tone was enough to make Remey more at ease but she was still worried that Walker needed some rest of something and motioned for him to chew on one of the herbs she was carrying around.


    "That''s a mint leaf. It''s nothing too amazing but the vor is supposed to wake you up. It helps alchemists focus when we are making a potion that requires more attention. Maybe that will get your mind on track." With her hands over her head in a stretch Remey watched as Walker did as she had told him, "And yes, it''s a big deal. I will see about getting a tour tomorrow and speak to your father. He should be able to help, like you said, he has a friend that works there."


    With the help from Remey, Walker started to believe that he might just be focused and a little tired. The party had been on some long journies and the sudden slow down could be affecting his focus. Especially since he was not used to all the elemental spirits roaming about and exploring the city and festival.


    "Come check out the unique weapons demonstration! Plenty of odd weapons and plenty of unique creations!" The cksmith that was in charge of the space was motioning to arge number of unique weapons. There were multiple hammers, spikes shields, staffs with des on the sides, and even a few scythes of different sizes.


    "I wouldn''t mind checking that scythe out there. I tested one when I first showed up to join the guild and I managed to use it for a while. It did pretty well throwing off my opponents and giving me a nice mid ranged attack option." The man looked d to hear someone who had experience for a change rather than the peopleing just to try out something to unlock their childrens'' systems.


    "Come on over. I have one that fits your height. Please feel free to target the training dummies there and show off a little. I will reward you well if you can get me a good crowd." The cksmith had been hoping for this kind of thing to gain some traction. He had wanted to make some sales and was willing to invest a little if he could get enough.


    "Then I rmend you back up. I will probably break those dummies." Walker nced at the scythe as he took it and realized the weapon was much heavier than he had assumed it would be.


    ''Obsidian scythe


    Atk +11, Matk +14, Def +5


    Forged from the obsidian of a volcano, this scythe is able to withstand tough hits from an opponent and resonates with the fire elemental mana in the air allowing attacks that can channel the fire elemental mana. The attacks in general are incredibly strong due to the sharpness of the de. This weapon is incredibly durable due to the obsidian material it is made out of and willst a very long time.''


    "This is a pretty great weapon." Walker nced at the waiting cksmith and smiled a little. He figured a little experimenting with this could be interesting.


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 Chapter 784 - 784. Demonstration

    With Walker stopped at a booth those in the area had paid a little attention to what he was doing. It wasmon for eyes to be on him no matter what since he was one of the hero title holders. However, it was even more unusual for the fairytale heroes to ignore swords and take a unique weapon like a scythe. It was just moremon for a hero to have a shield and sword or a spear in themon stories.


    When Walker began to spin the scythe and move using some of the moves from the dance of the wild rabbit, he felt a connection. But what was even more odd was the fact that he could tell the steps were meant to bebined with this method of attack.


    Walker wanted to experiment a little but had been surprised that he was actually going to be able to understand something. With the feeling he had and the movements, he had already brought a few people forward to check out what was going on. The cksmith was making his moves to call people over and Walker was not surprised to hear that the cksmith was mentioning a hero using one of the weapons there.


    Since he had agreed that he would help and his own interest was piqued, Walker started to push himself to show off a little more by using the scythe to vault in to the air and sh down at the training dummy. It was an elegant dance of spins and attack that made him appear to be a reaper himself. .


    When he shed out next he pulled on the fire elemental mana in the air to do a little more. The mana gathered in the obsidian de making it glow with heat. When Walker shed out the fire that left the de and remained on the training dummy was exactly what the cksmith and Walker wanted to see.


    The shy attack was mirrored by the systems notification,


    ''The skill burning de has been taken from the obsidian swordsman system. The skill burning de has been automatically learned due to users'' actions.


    Burning de- 4 mana cost


    This skill can only be used with a weapon with fire affinity and resistance. The fire elemental mana will cause the de to heat up and leave a ming burn on the target. This not only will cause severe burns but also a potential fire.''


    Besides the fact that the attack had destroyed one of the training dummies and left the remains of it burning on the spot. The attack had also brought a small plume of dark smoke that was able to attract more people around. However, Walker did not want to stop moving since he felt that he could do even more.


    The attacks were more consistent and thest dummy was being shed over and over. Walker wanted to see how much control he could use while using the scythe. The small pieces of the dummy that were shaved off between spins and attacks were the reason most people were staying to watch. It was a demonstration that took up their attention and brought wonder.


    ''The skill dance of the silent reaper has been taken from the angel of death system. The user has gained the skill through the users'' actions.


    Dance of the silent reaper- passive


    Requires the use of a scythe weapon or a weapon that has taken the lives of over a thousand living beings.


    The user has the ability to silently dance with many spinning and twisting motions. The movements be elegant and hard to follow as if a spirit so roaming thend. With the silent movements, there is a very high chance to surprise an enemy but also the strong ability to slice through an unexpecting opponent. The motions are said to cause fear when being seen and respect of the one dancing.''


    Walker used the fire elemental mana onest time to slice what was left of the dummy in half. He watched the pumpkin head begin to burn then go out in a steaming pile. "Sorry, I got a little excited while I was learning some new things. I hope that is alright?" The cksmith had nothing to say. He had gotten exactly what he wanted. One of the morning stars was being examined by a guard off duty and even a few of the military academy students had been attracted.


    "No no, it was perfect. I couldn''t have asked for a better demonstration. You even used one of the hardest weapons I had here perfectly!" The cksmith had a wild grin that spoke volumes of his ideas.


    Before Walker could speak again the cksmith made a grand motion, "The hero was so kind to assist me in today''s demonstration that I could not help but feel giving him a meager few gold was eptable. Due to his amazing performance, I have decided to gift him the obsidian scythe made right here in this city. There are many more in the obsidian series of weapons and shields if anyone is interested. Please ask for Gram when you visit the forge and mention this demonstration. Now, anyone who manages to unlock their childs'' system here will receive my coupon free!"


    Walker smirked as the cksmith used his business experience to woo the crowd and gain a lot more attention. Before Walker even knew what happened he was nearly pushed aside by potential buyers and children that wanted to snag one of the forge coupons. Not to mention the military academy students interested in the obsidian series weapons.


    "I guess that went well," Walker stored the obsidian scythe and wore a bright smile while he moved to find the others. He wasn''t surprised to find they had moved on from the archery and towards one of the simpler games. He also was sure that they would be after the pumpkin candy he had offered before.


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 Chapter 785 - 785. Lisa And The Castle

    "You just had to go over and show off, huh?" Gil had to tease Walker.


    "Says the guy who went to show off the archery skills he has. I was expecting you to pull out one of the wither spike arrows to make a big show of it." It was a genuine surprise from Walker. He had thought that Gil would have been showing off a little more than he actually had.


    "Right, and who would have cleaned up the mess? Us? That''s what I thought.'' He knew all too well that if he made a huge mess the group would have left him to clean it up on his own. Even the cksmiths and guild employees would have left him to it since he had caused it.


    "I guess that''s fair. So, we should probably start to head to the castle. It''s better to be a little early thante." Walker was saying this mostly because it was a way for Remey to overhear and prepare herself for solo babysitting for the next few hours..


    "I think we will all just go back home and spend some time resting before we head to the square for the bonfires." The finger pointing at her siblingsnded on the ones that were falling asleep. Remey was sure this would get worse and they would all be asleep by the time the festival dancing and bonfires began.


    "Well, then I will go and buy you all something to snack on while you wait for the dancing tonight." Walker made good on his promise and bought a box of the pumpkin candies for Remeys'' siblings.


    "Is it really alright for me to go with you to the castle?" Walker hadpletely forgotten that Lisa had never been to the castle.


    "Of course it is, How else will I show off the person that made all of our costumes?" This was the best way for Walker to boost Lisas'' courage while they prepared to go their separate ways.


    "Will Elise and Ste be there?" Lisa had been missing them since they had gone off on their own earlier.


    "I''m not sure. But I feel like they will attend. Some supplies have already arrived but Elise is the only one representing the tamers'' guild right now. She should have toe with us even if she doesn''t want to." This was a sad truth that came with responsibility. Elise had to represent the guild she was part of since no one above her had appeared with the deliveries that were being made. Not to mention, Elise was still waiting on her friend who would look at the albino mole egg and bring something for the demon girl who wanted to be a tamer.


    "Good, then Elise will join you, me, and Midnight eating." Su made sure she supported Lisa a little and began to tell her what to expect while the group waved to Remey.


    The walk to the castle was a little harder than usual. The people in the streets had been rising as the morning went on and was now making it very hard to travel altogether. The guards also appeared on edge and constantly checked people who appeared suspicious. After they reached the castle gate a guard used a magic item to check if they were lying.


    "I have never seen something like that, can I ask about it?" The guard had immediately be more weing when he realized who Walker and the others were.


    "Of course sir hero. This is a magic mirror made with ss from the shifting desert. It has one slightly costly appraisal function. It tells me if the person reflected in the mirror is lying about their identity. We are proud to have them since it makes our duties much easier." The guard was exceptionally proud to show off how well he could do his job with the mirror.


    "That''s very interesting. So ss from the shifting desert. I''ll have to travel there one day." Walker followed the others inside after Lisa tugged on his arm. They were not the only ones entering and if they stayed in one ce they would hold everything up too much.


    The main door to the castle looked as it had before, however, this was the only same thing. The rest of the hallway had been intricately decorated to mirror the harvest season. Bright reds and oranges took over the group''s sights while they walked. Luxurious fabrics that draped down the walls made the room feel as if one were walking through a war, forest of harvest colors.


    The myriad of seasonal vegetables and herbs disyed made the smell in the halls and the main hall seem more open and free. The main hall itself was much more grand. Some of the tables were adorned with the same seasonal harvest food that they group had already seen. However, there was much more to it. They were made with a much higher quality and care. There was sugar spun to look like spider webs and caved vegetables to match the harvest season flowers.


    "Brother, we need to go look at something." Lisa was not next to Walker for a while. Instead, she was pulled away by Su and Midnight toward the food tables. Onyx didn''t argue and followed Midnight, Walker began to realize he was a little more gluttonous than he had been now that he shared food with Midnight so often.


    "Well, I knew the girls would ditch us but I feel a little miffed anyways." The reaction Gil had was the same that Walker was feeling.


    "I guess we will just need to go and bother Elise since she already made it here." Walker pointed out a pair of white wings stuck to someone''s back, "I am pretty sure that is one of the two angels we are looking for today." The pair made their moves toward Elise while the others ate. The hall was moderately full of guests but not enough t stifle them. It was a party and the atmosphere showed it. Yet, for some reason, Walker could feel a little tension.


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 Chapter 786 - 786. Big Announcement

    "Elise!" Walker spoke up a little to get over the sounds of the other guests. He kept himself just loud enough so that he would be heard over the other gusts but not enough to make a ruckus.


    Elise turned toward him and Gil with a surprised look. She had not expected them to arrive right at the start of the party even though they had said they would be attending. Her costume was much more than they had expected. Lisa had made a pure white dress with multiple patterns. They were obviously copied from her attempts at recreating the light elemental rune on the fabrics Walker had given her. However, they had made a very intricate and beautiful pattern that was perfect for a high end party like this.


    The wings that had been attached to the back of the costume were incredibly simple but elegant. There were white goose feathers affixed to the wire frame that allowed them to bend and not cause anyone harm if they were bumped. They stretched out just enough so that that added to the looks of the costume but not enough that it made her look odd.


    "Your costume really fits you well.." Thepliment caught Elise a little off guard since Walker had not shown any inclination ofplimenting her a moment before he and Gil walked up.


    "Shouldn''t Ste be with you too? The twin angel look would be pretty impressive to show off." Gil had noticed that Ste was nowhere to be seen.


    "She didn''t want toe inside with all the people here. I tried to convince her but she went back to the mansion. I don''t know if she will evene to watch the dancingter since it will be so crowded." This was a little disappointing butpletely understandable. Ste had not developed the ability to speak yet and that meant that she was not going to be able to maneuverplicated and busy streets as easily.


    "We should try and bring some of the food back for her. I know just the guy with spatial magic to store it away and do just that." Gil''s elbow hit Walker in the side and he immediately nodded his head.


    "I''m sure that Ste would love that." There was a slight pause as Elise recognized someone from across the hall, "I need to continue making the rounds and speaking with those who have ties to the guild. I will try and catch up to you allter." Just as fast as they had found Elise, she had run off again.


    "What do we do-" Walker was trying to ask Gil what he thought they should do now since the people all around them were nobles that did not really know. However, therge doors opened and two familiar figures walked in.


    The king and queen were led by their guards and a few of the closer nobles were wearing different versions of their royal robes. Their robes had been changed from the reds and purples in to reds, oranges, and yellows. The fabrics had many leaf prints along with pins that held the shape of pumpkins and gourds. It was an overall very fitting ensemble that matched the season.


    When the king and queen made it to their seats it was an instant silence. The roompletely focused on them and The king rose back to his feet. He motioned for the queen to stand beside him and smiled widely. It was a different action than the usual announcements that held serious actions and tones.


    "I know there have been many rumors and such since we were not in the room when everyone arrived. As the host of this event, we apologize, but we were preparing to make an announcement that we can''t help but make now."


    The queen spoke next adding to the curiosity that everyone else had, "My king and husband had to call many doctors and some powerful magic users from the church to finalize what has been happening these past days. It has been a blur and I know all on the castle have been even more on the edge. I am sorry we had you in the dark along with our loyal friends here."


    The two watched as the tension increased in the hall. A few of the guests whispered to each other expecting another bad announcement. With everything that was happening in the kingdom, it made some sense that this would be what they all thought. The demons had attacked and destroyed a lot of crops. Other kingdoms had been attacked in some way or another. There was too much bad for the king and queen to be saying something positive.


    Or so they thought, "We had hoped that we would be announcing this under a more positive light. But this is a season for celebration and this is something to celebrate. After consulting with multiple mages and health experts in their own rights, we wish to announce that the queen is carrying our daughter of our kingdom. The princess will be born in a few months!"


    There was a slight pause as this was taken in. The king''s joy was all too obvious in his words and it was infectious. Many of the nobles started to let out a cheer and some even ran to tell others outside the party. The news would spread like wildfire and cause many of the people in the kingdom to celebrate even more.


    The king and queen were met with a slew of nobles right away. They waved them off after some time and the guards took positions that told everyone to slow down. The party wouldst for some hours and there was plenty of time for them to speak. Right now they just wanted to take to enjoy the atmosphere.


    "I think we should head on up now to say something so that we won''t feel trappedter when we want to leave." The idea was nothing too crazy, but Gil was thinking ahead because he knew that they would want to meet everyone for dancing sooner thanter.


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 Chapter 787 - 787. Fabric Patterns

    The pair moved towards the thrones that the queen and King had moved closer for tonight''s events. They had not wanted their guests to need to move separately to greet them and since they had made their announcement, they knew that people would want to congratte both of them.


    There was a guard that tried to keep Gil and Walker back but with a small nod from the king, they were allowed forward to a great deal of jealousy from the nobles. "Well, I wish I knew that you two would be in costume. I would have dressed myself up like I did when I was younger." The king appeared as if he enjoyed the costumes very much..


    "Oh, what are you talking about? We are in these brilliant harvest robes. Look at my dress, it is elegant and the best costume we could have asked for." The queen was of a different mind. They may not have dressed up like the nobles or the average citizen but she truly enjoyed the costumes that had been made for them.


    "I agree. They are very fitting for the season and I am sure that the ones who created them will be sought out as soon as the party is over." Thepliment was not just for show. Walker believed that the person that made them would be gued with orders for the same leaf print for months.


    "Congrattions on the announcement. It will be pretty cool to wee a princess in to the kingdom while we are expanding and carving a new path. Just imagine, by the time she is old enough to understand there will be a whole new world for her to explore." Gil was uncharacteristically wise in his congrattion but it spoke volumes of his own hope for the future. He, more than anyone, was very excited for the city toe together.


    "Thank you two very much. We were thinking the same thing. When we first bring her there she will be the first to be able to call the city home. We will remain here but we hope that we can send her there for education." The king was expecting the city to be the best possible ce for the future education of all the kingdoms.


    "Let''s worry abouting up with a name before we start nning our daughters'' education. You and everyone in this room are getting far far too ahead of yourselves." The queen was mostly joking since she was also very happy that there would be a bright and new ce to send their daughter for the best education.


    "I guess we will need to work a little harder for the future then. A princess attending the city for education?" Walkers'' light hearted joke was more serious than he realized. He and the others had not been focused on the fact that a lot of royalty and nobles would be sending their children to Genesis to learn and grow. The fact that an alchemy guild holding sses, adventurers guild, tamers'' guild, and crafting groups would be there was just the start of the educational possibilities. Add on the Ga family auction house and merchants'' building and there was yet another boon for educational possibilities.


    "Ah, heree your other party members. Midnight looks all too adorable in that witch costume. But who is that girl next to her?" The queen was slightly curious about who was with Midnight, Onyx, and Su since she had not met Walkers'' sister.


    "Lisa,e over here quick." Walker was excited to introduce another of his family members that he had not realized how nervous she might be. "This is my sister Lisa. She is the one who made the costumes we all wear. She made the witch costume that Onyx and Midnight wear. The dragon-kin pieces that were added to Su''s armor. And she made the little bits and pieces to make Gil look like some archer assassin mix. Oh, and my fancy clothing. Plus, you might just see an angle roaming about from the tamers'' guild."


    Lisa was bright red with the praise she was receiving and she just wanted to hide behind Walker. "Well, it is very nice to meet you, Lisa. I have indeed seen the angel roaming around and it is a very beautiful pattern. How would you like a job making some baby clothes of the same pattern?" Lisa''s jaw dropped straight to the floor. She was almostpletely stunned and could not answer.


    Walker nudged her slightly and with a little bow, Lisa was able to respond, "Yes my queen. I would be honored. I was experimenting with the fabrics that my brother brought home for me and replicated an imperfect pattern. If I am given a few months I will be able to give you clothing with runes sewn in. They can help with the health and growth if I can properly learn." The king and queen were surprised that the little girl was so aplished that she was learning to add runes to the fabric as the elves did.


    "So, like brother like sister. Two amazing children of their own right within a family. I will have to step up a little. Lisa, you are wee to visit our personal tailor and seamstress masters here in the castle once a week for some guidance if you would like. They have beencking in apprenticestely and we have felt that they could use a little genius to assist them." The king had a slight smirk as Lisas'' jaw dropped again.


    "Please, my sister needs a little time to absorb this. You two don''t realize how powerful your words are." Walker tried to rescue his sister a little but the king and Queen justughed a little more.


    After the pleasantries, Walker mentioned the additional elemental spirits around the kingdom and that they were responsible for the growth of the damaged fields. The king made sure that one of his attendants would post a notice for everyone to respect the spirits and that anyone who found they couldmunicate would gain certain benefits. It was overall a pleasant conversation before they were made to part ways for another noble group toe and speak with them.


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 Chapter 788 - 788. Beauty Of Light

    "Brother! Do you know what just happened? The king and queen want me to make them baby clothes! I will have my designs on the body of a princess! A princess!" The energy Lisa had in her body was nearly uncontroble. She was not sure how she would be able to act or even handle all of this. "How are you and Gil and Su and Midnight and Onyx and Remey and and...how can any of you handle all this?"


    The question was enough to make them all chuckle a little. "Leader has a lot of different and crazy skills on a daily basis. The king and the queen asking for something like this is pretty tamepared to him." Walker almost felt offended after Su spoke but he had to admit that he had been given his own heartattacks when he saw his own skills.


    "Trust me, you should try and speak to the elf queen. She sits on a moving throne of vines that literally connects her to nature. Plus she talks to her ancestors'' spirits and stuff. Our king and queen are very rxedpared to the aura that she gives off.." The feeling Gil had when they were in the presence of the forest elf queen was definitely more intimidating.


    "You may have felt a little more than us. You know, since you were chasing after Alma, the next queen of the forest elves." Walker didn''t even hold himself back from teasing Gil. He was getting his own revenge from all the jokes Gil had made before.


    "Sister says that you will have a lot of fun learning more. She wants you to make her another costume for next year." Lisa instantly hugged Midnight around the neck after Onyx spoke for her.


    "Leader, we should check out the rest of the food while we have the time. If we waste too much talking it will all be gone." Su was supported by Onyx and Midnight. The group spent the rest of their time finding new foods to have Walker store away to bring home and show off to share with Ste and the rest of the family. The staff serving them was more than happy to bring out even more for them since the cooks wanted nothing more than to keep showing off their skills.


    When they noticed the sun starting to set in therge windows of the main hall the group realized that they should begin to head out. Walker felt it strange that he had yet to see Alice who was attending the party with the high priest. But both of them had not made it just yet.


    "Now, please quiet yourselves down for a moment!" The king shouted out to get everyone''s attention, surprising most of them. "I have arranged for the most gifted songstress in the cathedral toe and show you all the beauty of light."


    The guards cleared the center of the room and Walker understood why he had not seen the high priest or Alice yet. They had been preparing for the show for the party and Alice had kept it hidden very well.


    "Look at her!" Lisa forced Walkers'' head to the door and Alice walked in to the hall. She was wearing a much different attire than before that reflected the season very well. The draping yellow and orange fabric that flowed around Alice gave the impression of falling leaves. The red base for the dress was only visible in glimpses due to the other fabrics but it was enough to highlight the brightness and vibrancy of the entire ensemble.


    There were no words for Walker as he watched her stride to the open space for her to sing. The high priest was behind her and was able to locate Walker in an instant. His hurried motions made Walker wonder what he was needed for.


    When the high priest got ahold of his arm he leaned on Walker heavily, "I was hoping you would be closer to the door. I need a little help standing today since I am not in the cathedral as usual. Also, use that calming waves skill, you can add to the wonder for us." The high priest was elderly and did need the assistance but he was sneaky and wanted to add to the show even more.


    "How could I say no to you?" Walker immediately released the skill and waves of calming aura spread through the room causing all attention to be directed toward the center. Alice did not hold her smile back when she saw Walker helping the high priest and adding his calming waves skill.


    With one swift motion, Walker saw Alice remove the bracelet he had given to her so that she could more freely allow her skills to influence the mana on the air. She took a deep breath and let her song begin. The soft tune was enough to cause the light to shake and begin to change.


    The images of falling leaves overtook the room and everyone was breathless. Besides the music which was sweeter than anything, Alices'' voice lulled them in to a sense of wonder. The vibrant light of the falling leaves around them may have been an illusion but it was all too brilliant. Everyone had the feeling that they were in a forest of falling leaves.


    The first person began to dance. This was like a wave breaking and everyone around them was soon dancing. Midnight and Onyx were quick to move and hide themselves next to Walker and the high priest as to avoid the dancing feet. Gil was pulled in to the dance by Su since they didn''t have partners and surprisingly the king and queen also joined the dance floor.


    The song may not have been long but the entire hall was full of wonder and health. Many of the nobles could not break the peaceful silence after the song ended. Alice on the other hand looked a little tired but her smile soon returned as she ced the bracelet back on her wrist and walked to Walker and the High priest full of smiles.


    "This was a pretty amazing entrance." Walker shook his head while Alice and the high priest reveled in their small surprise.


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 Chapter 789 - 789. A Little Business

    "Well, we can''t say we didn''t hide it on purpose." The high priest was all smiles since he had seen everyone''s reaction. "I knew that the king and queen were announcing their daughter''s birth in a few months. Who do you think sent the healers to check and use their skills to tell them what kind of baby they were having?" The high priest spoke as if it was obvious.


    "And when they said they wanted their party to be the announcement since we had finally figured it all out, I said that they needed a worthwhile performance to celebrate it. Alice has been working on that song all month." The proud fatherly look radiated off the high priest while Alice wanted to shrink away in embarrassment.


    "The song was definitely one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. And the falling leaves were like a rain of harvest. I don''t know how you can imagine something so perfect." Walker was not hiding his amazement in the least. It was something that he didn''t ever want to understand and learn. He feared that if he did then the magic that he felt might be gone..


    Naturally, Alice became even more embarrassed and red making the situation a little awkward. "Do you want me to help you to a seat? I can leave some of the potions Remey gave me? I even have a tea blend I can ask the staff to make for you. Remey said it would soothe the joints and bones from traveling." The suggestions were brushed off by the high priest.


    "I won''t be staying too long. I have a few things that need doing even though it is the harvest festival. But, I would not mind if you took me over to the seat reserved for me by the king and queen. They have been waiting for me toe over." With a quick nce, Walker found that the king and queen had cleared their space, and a chair and small table was resting in front of them now. The guests had calmed and they had seated themselves. There was already tea steaming in the cups.


    "Then off we go." Walker lent a hand to the high priest as he sat down and lifted the cup to his lips. "Perfect as always. I am blessed to sit here today. I hope you do not mind my rudeness, buttely, my body has not been up to the task unless I am in the cathedral." Walker had expected to be dismissed as soon as the high priest sat down but he was not.


    There was a slight worry that he had ditched Lisa but soon found that Midnight and Onyx had pulled her toward another table with food. It was as if he had been totally forgotten inparison to a fluffy looking steamed bun. He couldn''t help but slightly curse their love of food before realizing he also loved food.


    "Now, your daughters'' performance was brilliant. It is always an honor to have you here with us." Alice gave a small bow and the high priest showed a loving smile. "I hate to rush this, but I know you are nning to retire. Have you thought of someone to take your ce?" The king had jumped right to business in the middle of a party.


    "Ah, I knew you would be asking. I am still looking for the right person. I would choose Alice, however, she deserves to be free of the binding thates with my position. There is a great world out there for her to see and I will not be the one to stand before thating to light. I do n on putting a hand out at the summit nned though. I have the feeling that the holy lord wishes me to journey there and find a pure healer."


    "I believe that is a wonderful idea. Many will be in attendance from all walks of life. I think you will be able to find more than one candidate. There will need to be one that opens the cathedral in the Genesis city, correct?" The queen had a small smile that said she was expecting this sort of answer.


    "I agree with you, my queen." There was nothing more to be said about the matter. The king and queen looked as if this was the best possible answer. It would only support the new city more and even attract more people there at the start.


    "Why don''t you two run off. I hear the festival is starting outside and I would hate to hold you in a stuffy party like this." The king could read the situation much better than Walker had expected.


    "This is a wonderful party. And again, thank you for giving my sister such an opportunity. I can''t wait to see what she learns." The king and queen nodded to Walker. Alice didn''t hesitate at all to turn herself to the high priest and give a slight hug before pulling Walker away.


    "Why the rush?" Alice was pulling him away much faster than he had expected. She had never been so bold. Yet, when he saw that she was pulling him toward the rest of the group at the door he knew. "When did everyone get over here? We''re ready to leave?"


    "We just got together. We saw Alice make a few waves to us and figured it was because we were just about ready. The festival is in full swing and it''s almost dark." Gil pointed at the window. He was right. The sun was almost set and they should be leaving. Walker hadpletely lost track of time after the song. It was time for them to head out in to the festival. The true harvest festival started after thenterns were lit and the ghosts were said to roam the streets.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 790 - 790. The Right Partner

    "Why isn''t Eliseing with us? She barely talked to us while we were there." Lisa and Su were both unhappy that they couldn''t bring their friend along and that Ste was missing.


    "She is representing the tamers'' guild tonight so she has to speak to a lot of people and make nice. She didn''t seem happy about it either but it is her duty. Ste didn''t like the crowding and decided to head home. We are storing food for her, remember." Both Lisa and Su remembered as soon as Walker said it. They felt a little silly to have been distracted so much from the party and what was going on around them.


    "So, Midnight, Onyx." Gil became incredibly serious. His face looked as if he was about to head to war against an enemy he could never beat. "Are you ready to taste the best delicacy of the harvest festival? Ites right from the fields, dried, popped with heat, caramelized with sugar, and dusted with a little salt. It''s kettle corn and it is only made this time of year.."


    Midnight and Onyx were frozen on the spot where they stood. If they had not been out on the streets someone was sure to have wondered what was wrong. Luckily, they were in their own group pulled away from others.


    "Sister and I would like it all." They did n it beat around the bush. They requested all the kettle corn in the city.


    "All of it? Do you know how much that would be? It would being out of your ears! Walker, Midnight, Onyx, and I are heading out to go food hunting. We will see you when we see you." This has been the n afterall. They were going to split up. It seemed that Gil wanted to have some time to bond with Midnight and Onyx anyway since he didn''t have a dance partner for the night.


    Lisa was giving Walker serious puppy dog eyes and he knew what it meant, "You can go with Gil if you want. I won''t stop you. But Gil is responsible for Walking you hometer and if he doesn''t then I will freeze him in a block of ice and push it in to a magma fissure." Walker''s perfect smile and piercing gaze got Gil to wave in eptance.


    "Yes! I will make sure I bring some home for you guys too. I love you!" At that Lisa hugged Walker and followed Midnight. She was bravely leading the group of four even though she had no idea where the food she was so set on trying was sold.


    "We are heading to the square now, correct? I have a friend waiting for me." Su was fidgeting a bit which painted the picture for Alice and Walker. She had made ns with her musician friend and she didn''t want to openly admit it.


    "We can''t leave your dance partner waiting. Come on!" Walker and Alice grabbed one side of Su each and dragged her toward the square. They were not going to hold Su up from her date that she was excited and obviously embarrassed about.


    "And here, we are!" The smell of fire smoke and the warmth of the bonfires was enough to set the square aside and brighten things up. The crackling of the fire was just barely loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the music and people starting to dance. "Now, go find your musician. I mean friend." Walker smirked when he saw Su reacting so strangelypared to how she would normally act. She was always so calm and cool that when she was flustered it was all too cute.


    "Look." Alice pointed to the far end of the square where some familiar faces were enjoying the music. Su and Gil''s parents were dancing and sharing drinks with a few other friends. They may have moved in to a mansion but they were not people to forget those that they were friends within the lower tier. It was just another way for all the people to be united.


    "It looks like the whole family will be here soon. I bet we will be way too caught up with everything if we don''t take the time to ourselves now." Walker extended a hand to Alice and motioned for her to dance with him. "I can''t promise I can dance very well with a partner but I will do my best."


    The look on Alices'' face said that she was not used to dancing properly as well so they could be fools dancing together to their own beat. With Alice''s hand in his, Walker moved to the square and started to dance side to side a little enjoying the warmth of the fire and the time they had. "A lot has happenedtely. It''s good to be home."


    "I''m d you''re back" Alice moved closer to Walker. At first, he thought she was making a move in the moment but he saw that she had goosebumps on her arms. His breath showed slightly too. It had gotten fairly cool all of a sudden.


    '' ??? quest- Assist


    ??????


    ????


    ??


    Requirement:


    Dance with the right partner


    Reward:


    One time use skill.''


    A small breeze drifted through the square and every fire flickered slightly. It was a strange moment and everyone around felt it. However, it was nothing to stop the joy and dancing going on. The sun may have fully set but the festivities were already here and there was nothing to stop anyone.


    Walker had no idea who he was supposed to dance with. As far as he was concerned, Alice was the right person. But the quest that had shown up was not fulfilled. It also was full of missing information only showing the requirement and the reward. He didn''t know who he had to assist until Alice stopped her movements and appeared sad. She was looking at a certain girl in a blue dress.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 791 - 791. No Dance Partner

    The pale skin was only blemished by the tear stains on the girls'' cheeks. Her brown hair was smoother and braided making her look perfect for an event like the harvest festival. The blue dress she wore was a powder blue. The girl seemed to be ignored by everyone who walked past, even the children about her age.


    "I think that''s the right person to dance with. Do you mind if I go and see what''s wrong?" Walker was given a nod of affirmation from Alice. She had stopped because she hated the sight of a girl crying during such a happy time. Alice just didn''t know how to fix it and pulled on Walker to do so since he was always able to fix things since she met him.


    As Walker approached the girl she looked at him then away. It appeared that she did not believe he was actuallying to speak to her and instead of going to walk right over her. "You look like you need a dance partner." His outstretched hand was met with a stunned look. .


    "But...no one has danced with me. My daddy said that everyone would dance with me but now there is now one. My mommy isn''t here to dance. And my older brother isn''t here. It''s just me." The tears threatened to fall again and Walker could not allow it.


    "Well, you see, I am here and so are my friends. We can dance with you as much as you want. Does that sound fun? Then We will personally walk you home at the end of the night." He swore he had seen this girl before but knew that the main issue at hand was that she was on the verge of tears. He could not rightfully leave someone alone without their parents to cry and be ignored by others.


    Alice had moved aside and was watching Walker carefully. She had a confused look on her face but Walker did not pay it any mind. He pulled the little girl in the blue dress to the side square and started to dance. Slowly she began to brighten up and the color in her face became rosy and bright. Her powder blue dress began to turn a vibrant blue simr to the sky. Her brown hair became the same as golden wheat.


    "We wereing for the festival and mommy and daddy said I could dance as much as I wanted. Big brother was going to buy me treats and a costume mask. But then...when I got here. No one was here. Mommy, daddy, and big brother were gone and it was just me. No one would dance with me. No one would give me anything to eat. No one."


    Images flooded Walker''s mind. There was an older woman and an older man speaking to the little girl resting in a moving cart. Many supplies and bottles of wine were in the back with her and an older boy was sitting on the back checking on the girl constantly.


    Walker had no idea what he was seeing but the images prevailed. There was a growling from the sides with a familiar snorting sound. Orcs. They burst through the grasses and smashed the cart to pieces in the ins outside of the kingdom. The wines stained the grass all around and a small whine was heard.


    The next images that ran through Walker''s mind were of the older boy striking out with a spear only to be mmed in to the grass. Walker couldn''t hear the yelling and he knew that it was telling the little girl to run.


    There was grass all around but nothing to properly hide in. The thundering footsteps came from behind the girl just as she saw the city. The goal they had. It was all there was before there was nothing.


    "Excuse me, do you mind if I cut in? I have been looking for this littledy for some time now." The man that had separated Walker and the little girl was skinny, unbelievably so. His face was taught and it was closer to say he was all bones. The ck cloak he had on drifted in an unseen breeze.


    There were no words to be said. The man took the girls'' hand and twirled her around. "Your family has been waiting for some time now. They asked me toe to find you. They can''t dance without you. But here you are, trying to dance with someone unlike yourself. If he hadn''t seen you and pulled out to the open, I may not have noticed a cute little one like yourself. Now, off you go."


    The man opened his hands and the girl drifted in to the smoke. There was a warm feeling that overtook the square and the voices that Walker had tuned out became loud yet again. "Thank you for the help. I hope we do not meet again. Normally, it is a sad day." The man was gone in the smoke as well, but there was a single skeletal hand that waved as the smoke drifted away.


    '' Harvest quest- Assist The lost Soul


    Tragedy is often the cause for a soul to wander. The young are more so than others. Fulfill the lost soul''s wish and dance with her so that a guide may find her. Worry not, her fate is not to suffer further.


    Requirement:


    Dance with the right partner- the lost wine merchant''s daughter


    Reward:


    One time use skill;


    The skill walk of the spirits has been temporarily granted to the user.


    The skill walk of the spirits can only be used during the harvest season.


    Walk of the spirits- zero mana cost, temporary skill- single use''


    The user calls upon the souls of those wandering the night of the first harvest. They will gain their bodies once again and join the warmth of life. Those who guide the spirits wille to take them on to their next path at the end. This skill can only be used by the seer of the dead.''


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 792 - 792. Passing On

    Before Walker could even look elsewhere or move he felt his body move on its own. "Come forth those who are lost. Join again those who walk the line of the living. Feel the warmth of life. Find your path."


    The feeling of cold was pushed out of the night air and the square became much busier than it was a moment before. The words Walker had spoken were not in his voice but one he did not recognize. It was almost as if he had used a mastery skill but he knew all too well that he had not used it. It had just been used through him.


    There were many figures he could not recognize dancing and walking around him. Many ck clothed people that found dance partners and seemed to drift off in smoke. Most people didn''t realize what was happening and Walker thought he might have lost his mind. But when he saw the people dancing and drifting off in smoke he could only feel that his heart was more and more full.. As if this was something finally bingplete.


    The tug on his coat brought him back to reality, "Are you alright?" Alice was standing next to him. Her sweet voice had broken his daze and caused his focus to return.


    "Umm, yes. I think so. I may have just seen a ghost though¡­" Alice just held him tighter and looked about. She had seen the girl in the blue dress but as soon as a man had interrupted Walker and the girl the two had disappeared. Then she had seen Walker raise his hands and the wind gave a slight breeze. She had worried something had happened.


    "I''m fine. I think I understand. It''s a lot, just another ghost story for the harvest festival I guess." Walker knew that if he tried to exin it he would just sound crazy. But Alice shook her head anyways and wanted to hear it.


    The two sat down by one of the fires and Walker told the story of a wine merchant and his wife traveling with their two children. The older son had gained a spearman system and vowed to protect his parents who sold and traded wine on their travels. Their daughter had be excited by the harvest festival and had been promised dancing and food.


    However, they had been mobbed by orcs in the ins just as they could see the city far in the distance. This led to the little girl''s spirit wandering every year in hopes of a dance partner. Never to be seen or noticed because of her existence.


    But for some reason, someone did notice. Someone caught glimpses of her and finally was pointed to focus on the lost spirit. They danced, finally bringing an end to the dream the girl had. A guide managed to find the spirit and take it away to where it belonged after many years.


    Alice listened intently to the entire story. She had no doubt that this was what had just happened. She had true trust for Walker and everything. However, she could not help but feel tears in her own eyes while listening to the fate of the family. But the ending was the best part. The finality of the spirit finding her path. The fact that there was hope for all the lost.


    The two sat for a long time watching the square slowly be less and less crowded. The bonfires slowly dying out. The embers bing dark and grey. They didn''t need to say anything and didn''t need to worry about anything. They felt the peace and calm that was unlike any other night before.


    "Can I escort you home miss?" Walker stood and extended a hand again. Alice took it and they walked the empty streets to the cathedral. There were a few sounds from inside that Walker knew must be those that had gotten in to mischief during the night being treated. He didn''t want to hold Alice from her rest.


    "I guess we are heading our separate ways. I haven''t said it properly, but you make that dress look amazing. I don''t think there is anyone that couldpare in the entire world." The sweet words were all too cliche but had new meaning when Alice heard them from Walker. They were new being said by him.


    "Close your eyes." Alice had a stern tone as she ordered him to close his eyes. Walker did not know how to react to the way she said it andplied.


    The tender feeling on his lips that followed was immediately met with a rush of air and the m of a door. Walker opened his eyes to find that Alice had rushed inside. He could only wonder if he had actually felt what he felt.


    His mind was muddled by the events of the day and night. He couldn''t even walk straight as he came inside the mansion and flopped on to his bed. So much had happened and not all of it could be exined. The world continued to surprise him in the mysterious ways it worked. He always found himself a little lost.


    When he finally drifted off to sleep the image of the family riding a cart to the harvest festival and dancing together took his dreams. There were many that joined them and danced as if they could float and fly. There was a warm and happy aura to the entire area they were in and many of them beckoned for Walker to dance as well. It was fulfilling and peaceful. The joy that could never run out or be lost. The dance of the harvest festival.


    The harvest festival had gone on through the hardships the kingdom had and a bright future had been outlined. There was no reason for anyone to frown as they awoke to find that the streets were cleaner and brighter than before. It was as if the city had been blessed.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 793 - 793. Adam

    The mornings after a festival or a holiday were n normally very silent. The entire city would slowly awaken halfway through the day because of their recovery from the night before. Some had made friends for the event, others had drank a little too much, and even more, still had just stayed up toote. Overall, it was the golden time for those who enjoyed the peace.


    Walker was one of the people who appreciated the early mornings and would take a walk no matter how tired he was after the festival. In all honesty, the only people he would see were some tired guards who would most likely give a wave and allow him on his way.


    The same was said of this morning. However, as soon as he reached the cathedral he found a familiar tamer tending to some of the feathered friends that had brought the food for the kingdom. "Good morning Elise. It looks like Ste is having fun up there." Ste was still wearing a small gold painted halo from the angel costume.


    "She is.. I''m not sure she even slept. Last night she went back out to fly around and watch the festival and she loved it." The only word to describe this was cute. Ste was definitely the cute one when it came to the sisterhood between them. "By the way, my friend arrived earlier this morning. He is super excited to see the albino mole egg. He also brought something for the demon girl that wants to be a tamer but I have yet to track her down. Maybeter she will be around." It was still early and since a lot of the demons had joined up to celebrate their own freedom the night before they were most likely tired as well.


    "I will head inside and meet him then if that''s alright?" Walker wasn''t sure who he would be meeting and was hoping that Elise would give him a little more information.


    "Oh!" Elise realized what Walker was waiting on and started to speak again. "His name is Adam, he is a dwarf and absolutely hates flying. But when someone gets his interest that goes out the window. He has an earth tamer system so as long and the monster is earth affinity he can tame it...in theory."


    This was more than Walker had expected but it was perfect. "Alright, I will head in. I''m just d I can meet someone that will really respect the albino mole."


    "He will, he might treat it like his own child so don''t worry too much about that." It was very high praise to hear and that made Walker think of how he viewed Midnight and Onyx as his own family. The rtion put him at ease as he walked inside the cathedral to find a few people who had definitely indulged a little too much in drinks, therefore, needing to recover after a few visits from a healer.


    Other than that there was a short man with a few strange pieces of gear on. It looked like parts of the gauntlets he wore were made to be able to move dirt like a shovel. The feet had spikes that looked to be able to retract ande out to assist in climbing. The most dominant feature was a helmet with a light elemental crystal embedded in the top which could easily be covered or exposed to show light in a dark area. This dwarf looked more like a prepared miner than the ones that the party had met in the mines of the dwarf city.


    "I take it you are Adam the earth tamer?" Walker didn''t really need this to be a question since it made sense that the only dwarf here would be Adam. However, just in case he had to pose the question. It would be foolish to believe that it wasn''t possible for there to be another dwarf here.


    "Yeah. That''s me. What do you need? Are you that kid with the mole egg? I want to see my new addition. It will need to hatch soon. How long has it been dormant? I doubt you know. What did flying girl tell you?" It was a slew of pointless questions before Adam actually looked at Walker and took in the full sight. Walker was wearing his usual gear but for some reason, Adam retreated slightly. "You''ve got some spirits around you there...is that normal?"


    Walker found that there were a few elemental spirits hiding behind him and one familiar fire spirit was sitting on his shoulder observing the whole situation. "Oh, these are normal. I helped awaken some and this one in particr has a dwelling at the mansion we live in. And yes, I have the albino glowing mole egg. I don''t know how long it has been dormant."


    Walker pulled the egg from bis inventory and Adam practically jumped to him without a single thought. The elemental spirits that had thrown him off werepletely forgotten. The only thing that mattered was the egg. The rest of the world around Adam was just something that happened to be there.


    Seeing all of this and how carefully Adam was examining the egg, Walker couldn''t help but believe how right Elise was. This person had so much care and focus for the earth affinity monster inside that it seemed as if it was his own child. "This little gal looks very well off. Not enough mana to get a heart beating just yet. Maybe four years of incubation with proper mana. Three weeks until it can move around on its own. And I would say it will have the unique albino skill light crystal w. You found a very beautiful glowing mole. How can I get it from you?"


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 794 - 794. Rocks And Eggs

    Adam had discerned a myriad of information just from an examination. It was much more than Walker had been able to gain from his own appraisal ability. Adam had even found that it was a she and not a he. It was an amazing skill that he must have used to find all of this. There was also the fact that he had found the unique skill that the glowing mole had because of its additional light elemental affinity and albino coloring.


    The light crystal w sounded as if it would make the mole a deadly force when it came to battle. However, Walker had no idea what the skill actually did and would have to wait some years before the mole had been hatched and grown to see something like it. He could always study it but it was most likely what the skill sounded like. ws made of crystal and light elemental mana.


    "How can you tell all of that? Do you have an appraisal skill?" It was clear that Adam did have an appraisal skill but Walker was curious as to what the appraisal skill was called. It might be useful in the future if it was some form of all around monster egg appraisal skill that was more versed and informational when it came to monster eggs.


    "Hm? It''s my earth beast appraisal skill.. Onlyes with the whole earth tamer thing. I thought some hero kid would have caught that. So, what do you want for it? I have a decent few things to trade. I don''t do gold." Adam poured out a bag of ores, small essories, and a few grand elemental crystals. "Gold is useless. It''s money and nothing else. But these, they have value. You can craft, make improvements, or even give them as food. Way better than useless decorative garbage gold."


    This was all true and Walker couldn''t argue. Yet, it was very odd that a dwarf was saying one of the ores were useless. Most other dwarves would probably have punched him right there. They collected all ores from the earth and gold was one of them. They found value in it all and were often only selective when they needed one specifically.


    Seeing the options, Walker used his own all around appraisal skill and was shocked to see the results,


    ''Pure moonstone


    Refined under the light of the moon, this ore has grown for seventy years before being mined. It is only found on mountains devoid of snow and close to the full moon. Incredibly useful for healing equipment or staffs.


    Vibrant Emerald ore


    The emerald gem is perfectly infused with an iron ore causing it to be an emerald colored metal. The armor made from this can channel the earth elemental mana much better and adds extreme strength when physical defense is concerned. Has a high fire resistance and is extremely hard to craft with.


    Tainted copper


    Tainted copper is only formed in an area full of darkness elemental mana. This was found in their of an undead dwarf cksmith that continued to craft even beyond death. Most items and ores were destroyed by the darkness elemental mana seeped in to this copper causing it to have darkness elemental enhancing effects.


    Natural adamantite ore


    The rarest ore in the world. It had no elemental weakness and holds whatever elemental affinity that is added to it. Only a master cksmith has a small chance of forging this. It is so incredibly challenging to work with that even dwarves find it useless. Only a master would even attempt to change its form or shape. Those that manage to forge with it will gain an item of unrivaled defensive and magical defensive strength.


    False adamantite ingot


    Created through a magical skill and a dwarfs'' forging skills, this ingot is easier to work with and boasts strength that rivals orichalchum. Unfortunately, due to its forced creation, it is weaker and does not hold the same magical defense. It is ideal for crafting defensive equipment such as shields.''


    Walker could look at the other elemental mana crystals or some of the moremon ores all he wanted. But he only saw one useful choice. He wanted the natural adamantite. The only problem was that it said it would be useless to even dwarves. If this was the case then, could the wandering cksmith even craft with it? If not, would this just be a major loss?


    After biting his tongue and shaking the worries from his mind, Walker reached out, "I want this natural adamantite. Is that alright?" When it was grasped in his hand, Walker couldn''t help but find it was incredibly tough to lift. It was heavy and dense. So much so that he felt strained lifting the chunk of metal. "How could you even carry this?"


    "I''m a dwarf kid. I''m stronger than I look. But if that''s what you want sure. Take the emerald ore too. It should equal out the value if you can''t do anything but leave that piece of rock as a souvenir." It didn''t sound like there was much hope in Adams'' voice that Walker would craft anything with the natural adamantite. But it was a nice gesture.


    Adam pulled arge back that had been lined with light and earth elemental crystals. He ced the egg inside and closed it. "Now eat up and start to grow. I will carry you around like this for a little while. But when youe on out if there we will dig to the center of the world." The goal may have been odd, but it was his own and Walker was not going to judge adam for it at all.


    "Elise said you brought an egg for a future tamer that we helped rescue. Do you think I can look at it? I''m a bit curious." Walker had to see what a treant egg looked like. It had been eating away at him since hecked knowledge about them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 795 - 795. Treants

    "That thing? Sure. If I give it to you can you deal with it? I have to leave and get back to other things. I really don''t want to waste the time." Walker was about to respond about how rude Adam was but remembered that dwarves tended to be blunt. It also helped that Walker could see that Adam was solely focused on the albino glowing mole egg. The soft eyes that Adam was watching it with spoke volumes of how he would care for it even though his rough actions seemed to betray the looks.


    Adam reached in to another bag set to the side and retrieved what looked like a rounded piece of wood. The brown and grey bark that covered it was the egg shell which encased the entire thing. Without any hesitation, Walker took it in his hands and started to notice the moss and small mushrooms on it. This was the same as a tree but it felt and looked younger. The feeling of natural mana was slight within it but there nheless.


    ''Treant guardian egg


    This is the seed of a treant guardian. It is a rare species of treant often growingrger and much more resistant to physical and magical attacks. Treants are a peaceful race and prefer to protect rather than attack. However, that does not mean it can not entangle and trap those with its vines and razor like leaves. This treant guardian does not have a contract and is close to hatching. Upon hatching it needs to burry itself in the ground for exactly one month before it is able to walk on its root feet and travel. It is extremely susceptible to ice and me attacks.''


    "A treant guardian? That''s amazing. I didn''t know treants had a sub species called a treant guardian." It was new information that Walker was careful to memorize for when he handed it to Elise who would be guiding the future demon in the taming world.


    "Guardians aren''t as rare as a treant sage. Those are tough ores to break for sure. Not that they ever leave the depths of a forest. They can create a forest themselves with their nature magic. Crazy things. At least be thankful that I didn''t bring a demon treant. Those things are aplete opposite of a normal treant. They create dark forests that nothing can live in. Demonnds are tough. I don''t go there anymore."


    It was even more of a shock to Walker. A demon treant was something violent? Walker was having a harder time imagining going to the demonnds the more he heard about them. It all made so much sense why there was such a hard life for the demon people. If the normally calm and peaceful monsters had violent and brutal species there it would make life incredibly hard. But that did not excuse the actions of those who ruled the demons and the corruption that was being spread.


    "Yes, I think a demon treant would have been too much for this ce. Thank you for your help. I will tell Elise that she can hand over this treant guardian egg soon." Walker bid his farewell and headed for the door.


    "Not a bad kid, he could tell what my ores were and that egg. Hope he does well with that rock. I carried it for fifteen useless years." The mumbling was missed by Walker and onlysted a second before Adam focused back on to the egg that he was going to raise to be a powerfulpanion.


    " Soooo? How was it?" Elise was quick to spot Walker as he left the cathedral. It was still quiet and calm outside so there were not many people around. Just the two of them now.


    "He was a little rough, but I think he is the best one to take care of it. Plus he gave me some pretty good ores I can use for a quest." It was all a fair deal in Walkers'' eyes. Even if he couldn''t use the ore he would be happy with the decision.


    "You''re lucky he didn''t keep you and try to convince you about the wonders of the underground and how the center of the world has hidden treasure and the true meaning of earth. He is a little crazy I think. He always tries to get me in to caves when I see him and that''s just never happening. How could I go somewhere where Ste can''t fly? It''s just ridiculous and insane." It was clear that Elise and Adam had gotten in to a small disagreement once upon a time but also that she had respect for him.


    "Are you finished up here? I was thinking of grabbing some eggs and cheese from the market to make breakfast for everyone. I know they should be waking up for ate, well, veryte breakfast soon." Walker changed the subject so that he could avoid the underground and flying talk that he knew could go on for hours. It was hard to avoid the topic since Elise enjoyed flying more than anything.


    "Oh, sure. I finished up a whole ago while you were talking. I just didn''t have anything else to do so I waited. I actually should get back to traveling but I have a week until I need to get back so I can wait a day or two. I think I will take my new tamer friend with me though. She would be one of the few that can tame treants in the guild."


    After seeing how happy Elise was, Walker gave her the treant guardian egg and exined all the details he had gotten from his appraisal and what Adam had told him. The two headed to the market and were back at the mansion in no time. The smell of bacon, eggs, and melting cheese woke anyone that had yet to stir.


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 Chapter 796 - 796. Option, Options, Options

    "Why is it that after all the food you atest night you can still eat so many eggs?" The innocent look Midnight gave Gil caused the entire table tough. The entire family hade down for the breakfast Walker had started cooking. It was crowded and full which was much more than they had experienced in some time.


    "Just leave her to eat, Midnight could probably eat all the eggs in the mansion and the kingdom if we let her." At Remey''s expression, Midnight looked up with longing causing everyone to burst in toughter again.


    "I do have to agree. She has been eating more. I wouldn''t doubt that she is going to grow more. I know we have a mansion but we might be outgrowing it already." The table was just so full and Walker was sure that it would keep expanding over time.


    "Why not find someone with magic that can just teleport the mansion to the Genesis city location and im a massive plot ofnd? At this point it is probably better since Remey will be at her new guild, Su has said she would help the cathedral start up, Gil has to be the advocate for the elves or something since he has connections, us Tamers'' will be there, and I don''t even know what else at this rate." Elise was joking more than anything but the entire party was just looking at Walker..


    "Stop looking at me. Some huge spatial teleportation magic would definitely be a mastery skill of some sort and we all know I can''t do that." He was almost feeling bad as he shut everyone down. But it was true, teleporting everything like that would have to be a huge mastery spell.


    "They are offering us guards positions to go there as wall guards. I culd even settle in to a new office and just watch over my own gate. A gate captain would be a nice rxing position." Walkers'' father was daydreaming out loud but it had sparked something that Lisa had been wanting to say.


    "I want my own shop with my own dedicated work space and show room. The mansion is great but this is home. They should be separate. I have the money to rent one ow but after I learn more from the castle tailor and seamstress I should have the money to build a shop." Lisa had dreams of wide show rooms and fully stocked work rooms to practice in. Not to mention a few employees to help with the reproductions of her designs.


    "That would be nice. I could use a new bakery. If I had one attached we could help each other out. I bring in pastries for your clients and theye to my shop to sit with tea made by Remey to snack and show off what they bought." There was a devilish grin on his mothers'' face and Walker was a little worried that she had secretly be a business woman.


    The wandering cksmith was at the far end of the table and normally would stay silent. He was waiting for the meal to end so he could speak to Walker and show designs. He had many ideas but also had one he wanted to show immediately.


    However, he had always been a wandering cksmith. He never had somewhere to call home in many many years. "I wouldn''t mind having a shop there too." The unfamiliar voice seemed to cut through the other conversations and everyone looked at him.


    "Ha! Finally, he speaks. I was beginning to think you were a mute and I was going to try and find the ingredients for a song bird potion." The old master alchemist was very d to hear the cksmiths'' voice since the two had crossed paths many times now. Unknown to Walker and the party, The old master alchemist had been giving up potions to the wandering cksmith in return for making unique tools to further experiment with new potions. Remey hadn''t even noticed the new tools yet.


    "What''s a song bird potion?" Walker was not the only one who was wanting to ask but he was the first to ask.


    "It''s very rare and made from the blood of a few different monster birds known for mimicking other sounds and voices to catch their prey. Normally that would be inedible but with the right skill and the correct herbs, it can be refined in to a potion that can free the voice and even recover it. There are monsters that can steal a voice or injuries that can take it away. With the potion, those are nothing. The voice would be recovered."


    There was a little murmuring around the table about how great the potion sounded and why it made sense that it was rare. Therge family continued to share small details for almost two hours. They enjoyed their after festival day of calm and used it to catch up.


    When they had finished there was a lot of exining of what everyone wanted to do and where they would go for the day. Most had their own ns to prepare frot eh next days and such. Nothing too major but enough to keep everyone busy. The master alchemist had pulled Remey away so that she could start to form some rules and regtions for the alchemy guild.


    Gil went to his arrows and to look for Zephyr. Su headed out with Midnight ti train. She said that she had wanted to get closer to the dragon aspect of her draconic guardian system. Onyx surprisingly went with Lisa, the two seemed to have ns for clothing to be made for everyone when the winter finally came to them again.


    "Look." The wandering cksmith spread out over twenty different scrolls of blue prints on the table. Each was a different weapon and all of them looked to be extremely detailed.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 797 - 797. Third Link

    Walker''s eyes couldn''t keep up with the designs. There were so many that he had to stop and take a deep breath before he continued. The sword he saw had lines of different elemental ore and would have the round pure crystals at the hilt to channel the elemental mana. The staff would have them as the base with the moldable crystal ball as the conduit for the mana to gather. There was a shield that could have elemental mana and other elemental parts adhere to it. Even a set of armor that had different pieces that came together using runes to channel every dingle elemental mana.


    "How can you do all this¡­? It''s just too amazing." The wandering cksmith just shook his head before pulling out a different scroll. One that took up a bit more room on the already covered table.


    "This will be one of my finest." Walker was listening but having trouble understanding. He saw that the weapon proposed was a very radical design..


    There were pieces of weapons that all seemed to be held together with different runes and all focused on the moldable crystal ball as a center. The pure crystals seemed to be the source of mana absorption and would need to be put inside the moldable crystal ball. The strange [part was that the weapons held together by runes were shown to break in to shards of metal.


    "The only issue is metals to hold it together." The wandering cksmith had made this idea and thought about it for some time. He intended that he would use a very strong alloy to create the shards with special runes. These runes would allow them to be manipted in a simr way that the molble crystal ball was.


    This would allow for the shards to cover the moldable crystal ball as a core and provide mana. The shards would be manipted and change shape to the desire of the user. In this case, Walker would use his elemental maniption skills to change the shapes as he did with other elementals.


    Once the crystal ball was condensed it could be the size of a marble that forcefully fused the elemental manas in to a natural pure mana crystal. Something that would allow a strong affinity for all elements.


    "I can see two problems. One, I need to be able to manipte natural magic. I can''t do that yet. I need to train. The second, I need the lesser nature spirit to awaken. That means I need a lot of elemental mana crystal. But I do have good news." Walker paused before a heavy thunk was made on the table. "That is natural adamantite ore. I think it could fit what you need?"


    The looks of shock and awe were rare to see on the wandering cksmiths'' face in his life. H would show smiles and evenugh but shock? That was a rarity. "Perfect." The wandering cksmith knew the challenges of such a metal and how he would not be able to work with it under normal circumstances. "Dragon fire is the key."


    Midnight would be the best chance they had at helping to melt this metal. She had her golden mes but also after learning Other elemental breath attacks she may be able to perfectly bnce the golden mes to be able toplete the weapon.


    ''True hero quest: The Ideal magical¡­ - Second Link-pleted


    The True hero has found unique materials that can change the course of the quest. The world has recognized this and moved its mana to influence this change. The True hero has the ability to change their weapon in to an even better fit for themselves.


    Requirements:


    Deicide the form of your weapon.


    -Staff


    -sword


    -shield


    -bow


    -other


    Elemental spirit fusion


    Rewards:


    Enlightenment on the True spirit crafting and forging skills


    Next link in the chain quest.''


    ''True Hero quest: The Ideal all around weapon- Third link


    The true hero has decided on the form of the weapon and even surpassed the expectations by finding the perfect materials and way to forge the weapon.


    Requirements:


    Awaken the lesser nature spirit


    Assist the Dragon champion in gaining elemental breath skills


    Assist in forging the necessary weapon parts


    Rewards:


    Final link''


    Walker could feel information pertaining to dragon fire and natural mana flowing in to him. It was nothing solid but the feeling he had made him know it would be important to crafting. This was the reward from the previous link and what he would need to push on. The world itself was telling him that he would need this. That he could do this. That he would hold the perfect weapon for him and his system.


    The wandering cksmith also had the same zed eyes that Walker was sure to have had a second before. They both had their quests and would need to prepare. Walker knew that the wandering cksmith would need to properly set up his tools and the forge to withstand immense heat and elemental abuse. There was also the fact that Their tasks would againe together to actually forge the weapon soon.


    "Come take the storage crystals.'' The wandering cksmith hurriedly gathered the blue prints and rushed Walker to the forge so that Walker could use all of the elemental mana crystals to awaken the lesser nature spirit sooner.


    "Leader, Midnight is acting strange. She pulled me here in a rush." Su was standing with Midnight who had pushed her all the way to the forge.


    "It makes sense. I just received my next quest to help with my weapon. I need to help teach Midnight thest elemental breath skills she needs. I think she brought you because knowing all of them would probably be useful for your training goals." The words brought a light to Su''s face. She was very d to hear of the potential growth she could have by joining them.


    "I will do my best."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 798 - 798. Natural Mana

    "Midnight, I think you will need to help forge new tools first. The metals we will work with require a lot more strength and endurance from the hammers and carving tools to mold." Midnight didn''t even blink as she moved to the forge furnace and help the wandering cksmith.


    "Su, I have to learn about elemental mana and how elemental manaes together to create natural mana. This is going to be tough and I think I will need someone to feed me the elemental crystals evenly and slowly to make sure the spirit gets what it needs."


    Walker''s n was simple. Su would pass the crystals to him and he would slowly and equallybine and fuse the manas in to natural mana. Through this, he would learn more and more until he could freely manipte the natural mana. Then he would feed it to the lesser mana spirit in the spirit mark with the hopes that the spirit would awaken and finally meet them.


    The process started easily. Walker and Su ced a single elemental crystal of each around Walker in a circle. They flowed in a pattern of what would naturally bond and be weak to the other of opposites.. It allowed Walker to pull the mana away in the same format he would make ite together.


    Su was curious about this since she would need to learn how Midnight was able to bnce her mes. This didn''t seem important at first, but for Su, she knew that being able to understand how the mes worked inparison and contrast toe together would assist her in how she would be able to defend against them.


    Watching Carefully and allowing her senses to rx, Su began to feel the mana a little in the air. It was nowhere near how strong a magic caster could feel the elements but for some reason, she had the feeling she would be able to. Her instincts had sharpened to a much higher level after she gained her draconic guardian system and she believed that it was part of the upgrade in general.


    When the elemental manas started to leave the elemental crystals they did to want to go near each other at all. They wanted to spread out and go their own way. They did not cooperate at all until Walker pushed them to move in a simr spinning motion and Su had seen when the elemental spirits awakened and the nature spirit had formed.


    The mana came closer and gathered above Walker and still did notbine. It was pushing away from each other and reminded Walker of when he formed the moldable crystal ball. It had given a lot of pressure against him so that he could not store the light and dark mana inside. The feeling being the same helped him more than anything.


    After expending more mana he finally reached the tipping point the elemtnal manas began to blur and bleed into each other. This was where the magma, ice, lightning, clouds, and many more natural phenomena came from. The mixing of mana was an intense urrence that changed the world.


    Slowly, very slowly, the small amounts of mana came together and Walker could feel he had fully fused the elemental mana. But when it happened he felt that he had lost full control of it. The change was definitely in to natural mana but his mana was having trouble holding on to it. It was no longer pushing back against him but it was slipping through his fingers like a ghost through a wall.


    The spirit mark began to glow and pull the natural mana in and absorb it. Walker could feel his connection with the nature spirit strengthen. His mana was also mixed in with the nature mana he had created so the feeling of it being absorbed was almost as if it was returning to him. His body felt full spiritually. It was nourishing his soul which in turn fueled his body.


    ''The user has seeded in creating natural mana. The skill natural mana fusion has been taken from the spirit sage system. The user has learned the skill natural mana fusion.


    Natural mana fusion- 1+ mana cost


    The user calls upon the elemental mana around them to pull close. The elemental mana will fuse together creating natural mana that influences and works with the world itself. Natural mana is profound and one of the hardest to manipte mana in existence. This skill can lead to many effects that mimic the way elemental mana naturally fuses in the world.''


    Walker felt that this skill was a little of an oddball skill since it was not very exined. He could fuse elements better as nature did? He held out a hand and pulled earth and fire elemental mana together. In second a small amount of heated rock melted with almost half the amount of mana as usual. "It helps me fuse them in to their other forms!" This was perfect. The skill would be the key to his new spells using multiple elements.


    The desire to experiment and try more passions was all too powerful but Walker resisted after checking his goals yet again. He needed to understand all of it better. He may be able to pull elemental mana towards him and fuse it but he could not harness the natural mana that was already around him because his mana was not part of it since he did not fuse it specifically.


    This was not missed by him as he started to pull more of the elemental mana at a faster rate to fuse it and create the natural mana. Su watched the change and started to grasp the concept that natural mana was just all elemental mana in a perfect bnce. She knew this woulde in handy but was not sure how. She felt she was missing a few pieces before she could utilize the knowledge.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 799 - 799. Awaken

    Was bringing the elemental mana crystals over at a faster and faster rate. At some point, she had given up on just bringing one or two and was now taking armfuls of them from the storage area attached to the forge.


    The spirit mark was pulling all of the natural mana that Walker fused in to it as if it had never been given mana before. The amount of mana that had already been consumed was by no means small, yet, there were no signs of it stopping.


    "Leader, that was thest of them." Su was standing with a stack of empty crates next to him. She was shaking her head and pointing to them along with the empty looking storage addition. "You used them all, we have shards though." Walker had not even noticed all of this. There were countless mana crystal shards around him.


    Midnight was using her tail to push them in to ce near the wandering cksmith who had already made a few mana gems while Walker had been creating the natural mana. However, this was not the surprising part.. What was really attracting his attention were the elemental spirits he had attracted to him by using such arge amount of mana and also turning it in to natural mana.


    The idea slowly formed within Walker''s mind as he saw possibility. "Would all of you like to help me awaken the nature spirit that is sleeping now?" There was no hesitation. The calm spirits all started to match the circle Walker had made with the elemental mana crystals. The natural mana he had been creating was something that they could resonate with and felt the importance. This was more than just mana and helping. This was the closest they could get to bonding with the world that had led to their creation. It was a chance to be one with nature and the world.


    Su and Walker were amazed. Over twenty of the spirits hade from around. Some that Walker could tell were unique like the ice spirit that had fused in to the nature spirit. They had all been exploring the city and like the fire spirit that had changed itself in to an alchemy fire spirit, they had also found changes. However, this was not something Walker could worry about.


    Before he knew it the spirits were exerting their force on their unique elements. The mana that came rushing was dense and hard to control, so much so that some of the mana gems the wandering cksmith and Midnight had prepared were instantly filled to the brim.


    The speed at which Walker drank a mana potion was the fastest yet. He could not waste this elemental mana and he knew it. Using all of the mana avable he began to drastically force the elemental manas together. The natural mana fusion skill was eating away at his own mana at a rapid pace that he wasn''t sure that the mana potions he had would be enough.


    The spirit mark had started to burn but Walker couldn''t focus on it. This didn''t stop the expansion of the mark. The round symbol was slowly bing more. The elemental symbols were branching off like a tree and the symbol was moving. The only ones that noticed this were Su and the wandering cksmith. Midnight was focused on her task and the elemental spirits were pulling more mana toward them.


    When the spirit mark finally reached his back a full tree was burning itself with white light. The elemental symbols and those ofbined elemental symbols became branches and leaves. The cent was the same symbol as before. Walker had long lost the feeling of pair and was instead trying to understand the feeling in the mana. It had changed. He could feel it.


    The mana wasbining by itself or as he soon realized that his mana was no longer manipting the elemental mana but instead the natural mana around him. The elemental spirits had stopped assisting and were almost all exhausted while falling near the ground to rest. Walker did not know when this change urred but felt the stress in his still joints.


    ''The skill nature mana maniption has been used. The user is influenced by the natural mana. The skill nature mana maniption has been automatically learned. The magic skills the user can learn now extend in to nature magic and nature spirit magic. The title; young sage, has been granted by the world. The lesser nature spirit has awakened.


    Nature mana maniption- 1+ mana cost


    The user is able to harness the mana within nature. Thebination of elemental mana is the very basis for natural phenomena. There are few able to manipte all elemental manas to create and shape natural mana but those that can are said to create beyond imagination. The potentiales with a great price. Natural mana is extremely hard to harness fully and has a wild aspect. No one can tame the will of the world.


    Title; Young sage


    The holder granted this title will have a sixth sense when ites to sensing natural magic. The one bestowed with this title is able to innately sense and find the path to learning nature magic and skills. This title has the ability to grow with the title holders'' understanding of natural mana.


    The lesser nature spirit has been granted a name. The name Fleur meaning young flower has been granted by the worlds'' will.''


    Walker felt the mana leave him and a single being took his vision. What rested in front of him was a fairy like being. Wings of each elemental mana stretched behind it showing the connections it had. The body was made even more detailed by the myriad of natural mana and if anyone didn''t know they would swear this was a real fairy and not a lesser nature spirit. Before Walker passed out he whispered the spirit''s name. "Fleur."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 800 - 800. Walkers Shadow

    When Walker opened his eyes he could still see the same fairy like figure. He realized that Su had been pouring a mana potion in to his mouth drop by drop trying to keep an eye on everything around him. The strength that had left him from using the mana was nothing new but this time it was stronger, much stronger. The natural mana he had created and begun to manipte was a much more challenging thing to do and took arger toll on his mind.


    Between the mental buzzing and theck of mana, Walker struggles to sit up only to see that the figure in front of him mimicked his slightly pained expression before following Walker to make a confused face. "Ummm" As he said this it was also mimicked. "Fleur?"


    "Umm, Fleur?"


    "No, wait. I''m Walker. You are Fleur."


    "No, Wait. I''m Walker.. You are Fleur?" Fleur was still mimicking Walker with even his words. However, everyone in the room showed that they could understand her. Unlike the other spirits, it seemed that the natural mana allowed Fleur to speak the same as anyone else without anguage barrier to do some form of mana speech.


    "The name the world gave you is Fleur. It fits you perfectly." Walker tried to slowly exin this but was met with more confused expressions from Fleur. It seemed that the resulting fusion in to a lesser nature spirit left herpletely lost.


    "I am here! Where is the world spirit!? It''s awake- Oh my world of windy delight! You look spectacr mydy!" Zephyr hade in with a gust of wind ruffling everyone''s hair.


    "Fleur!" Fleur eximed while motioning at Walker which only made Walker shake his head. It was obvious that intelligence was going to be a slow thing to build.


    "Oh, you already know your name. I was reborn with my intelligence but you are special. Walker. She will grow! Only nature spirits can grow through their tiers. Mydy here will one day outdo me by leaps and bounds." Zephyr was able to tell these things just by a nce. Since she was a named wind spirit that had lived extremely long, she was able to feel that these things were true. It was as if this was part of her.


    "Zephyr, why do you call her mydy?" Walker felt that he had a good idea but wanted to hear it.


    "Hmm, like humans nature spirits are well above even me a named wind spirit. She is royalty. That is why they are bowing. Or maybe they are tired?" Zephyr wasn''t sure on the other spirits around that had fallen to the ground but she was sure that there was a strong feeling that told her to respect this nature spirit as much as possible.


    "I understand. Well, Fleur, wee to the family." Walker held out a finger to the nature spirit. When Fleur touched his finger in a mimic of him he could feel some of his mana within her. They were linked by more than just the spirit mark that was now on his back. They were one and the same and much much more.


    Surprising them, Fleur yawned a little before drifting in the air to Walker''s back and melting in to the spirit mark. Walker felt as if he had been hit with a wave of drowsiness as well. "I think" Walker yawned as well, "We share some of our feelings because I''m really tired now."


    "Of course you do. You two are connected. Every real sage is connected to an elemental spirit. You just happen to be attached to a nature spirit." Zephyr could have said more but there was a slight breeze and she looked out the door before smirking and rushed outside in to the air.


    "I think spirits are very confusing. But leader, what happened." Su had done her best to make sense of all the action. Especially the actions ofFleur who had been copying Walkerpletely.


    "I wish I really knew. But, Zephyr did say that Fleur could grow and be more intelligent than her. So that must be the difference between a normal spirit of one element and a spirit of natural mana. I know this might sound surprising, but I can already feel her pulling in more natural mana to feed herself. I think she will need a lot to grow in to her next level." Walker was starting to fall deeper in to thought as the buzzing in his head faded away.


    "I also got a new title...young sage." After Walker said this the wandering cksmith sat himself next to them and Midnight did as well. They all waited for Walker to exin everything which only took a few minutes since it was a very straight forward title that affected natural mana and allowed nature spells to be used more easily.


    "It was only a few hours and all of this happened." Su was a little more stunned than usual. "Every time I think that we are getting used to what might happen I have this shocked feeling. Congrattions. The nature spirit is awakened and you have a new title." Suughed it off but she was sure the others would be just as shocked and she looked forward to seeing their faces.


    "Midnight, after I recover we can try and work on an elemental fire breath skill. I know we need to work on a lot of them but one today and another tomorrow. And, I''m sorry for making a mess of the workshop." Walker felt even worse that he had caused the elemental spirits to be exhausted and that there were elemental mana crystals all over the ground still.


    After some time cleaning and epting what had happened, Walker and Midnight moved outside while Su helped the wandering cksmith clean up. "How would you like to work on the opposite of the fire. We can aim for the water breath attack. I believe it''s known as dragon''s frost breath."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 801 - 801. Frosty

    Midnight could not contain herself, however, there was a look of worry in her eyes. She had only learned fire based attacks. Learning a water based breath attack that her golden me heart was still supposed to help with would be a challenge nheless.


    "I know it sounds hard, but water is going to be much easier than you think. The toughest will be earth and light." Walkers'' theory was that wind and light would be easy because of the abundance of their elemental mana around them at all times.


    The reason earth and light would be more of a challenge was simple, they had the hardest elementals to grasp in such a way. Earth would not want to move like a fire breath attack since it preferred to be slow and solid. Light was the opposite of what Midnight was sued to, however, the golden me heart already pulled on some of the light elemental mana for the gold coloration even though it was a mix of elements, so there may be a chance Midnight could pick up a light based breath attack faster than earth.


    "We are in the perfect season for it. The sun is still strong enough that you can directlypare the heat with ice." Walker had drunk mana potions so he had the mana to manipte the elemental mana to do what he wanted to help Midnight.. "I will make ice all around you and you can start to try and change your mana inside you to replicate it when you use a breath attack.


    Ignoring the buzzing that persisted in his mind, Walker started to pull on the water elemental mana around Midnight. As expected, it began to follow his desires faster than before he received the natural mana maniption skill and the young sage title. These skills and title were already paying off in a major way.


    The thin frost on the ground beneath Midnights'' ws continued to thicken in to a dull white ice while some of it spiked up around her. "Now, start to breathe in like we did when we were trying to change the mes from the fire in to decaying mes. The more of the water elemental mana thates in the better."


    Walker was not expecting Midnight to jump in with such fervor that she immediately pulled arge amount of the water elemental mana within her body. The reaction was an instant regret from Midnight and Walker who jumped up to ce a hand on her back and attempt to heal her slightly.


    "Slow down,st time it took you time to adjust it. If you force yourself you will hurt yourself." Walker could feel that Mifngiht was alright but she had definitely shocked herself. She was very resistant to the elements but not as much on the inside of her body as she had thought. It was a rude awakening but a necessary lesson. Walker could only imagine what things would be like if she rushed in to a more dangerous elemental mana like darkness elemental mana which she had started with.


    After Walker had calmed Midnight down and he had dispelled a lot of therge amount of water mana, Midnight started to slowly breathe in and out. Her breath had a bit of a mist which Walker could only hope was due to the difference in the warmer air and the cold breath Midnight was developing.


    Since she was busy with this, Walker started to meditate. He could feel that Midnight was following his advice and taking small amounts of the water elemental mana inside. However, there was a change in his sense. He could feel the elemental manas around him mixing a little more. The slight mixing of the earth and wind elemental mana when the soft breeze would blow over the ground. The water and earth elemental mana mixing as the ice melted and absorbed in to the dry earth. It was the fusion of all the elemental naturally.


    The more shocking part was that the natural mana was flowing with all of these things. It was like a shapeless thing touching all. Walker had been blind to this mana for so long that the additional sense of it was a shock. His body was sure that it had been there and he knew he had felt it before, but not at this level. It was much stronger than he thought.


    Yet, what was truly more shocking than all of that was when Walker focused on the nearby creeping vines. He could sense the darkness elemental mana being pulled in to the vines for them to develop the unique sap. That was not the different part though, he could also feel the nature mana being pulled in. It was flooding the vine and hardening it for the colder season. It was keeping the vine alive and even making it grow more.


    Everything was so much more than just the elemental manas. There was life and death epassing everything around him in the form of natural mana. Thebination of all the elemental manas was a small start to what caused the world to turn and Walker had been blind to it for too long.


    He may not have received skills but the more he felt this the more he could feel his understanding increasing. For an elf that had sensed nature mana their whole life, this was a drop in the bucket. But for a human, this was a major leap. It would have continued too if not for the st of mist that hit Walker in the face.


    Midnight was taking deeper and deeper breaths making Walker sense the flow of water elemental mana increasing towards her. She had be limated to a degree and she was now pushing herself. It was time for him to be of help and condense the water elemental mana even more for her growth.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 802 - 802. Sus Determination

    Since Midnight had begun to get limated to the water elemental mana, Walker noticed more of the misting from her heavy breathing. This was what he had wanted to see and knew this was a major bit of progress. Without waiting he started to condense the mana even more for her. She was at a critical step where her breath attack was pulling in the water elemental mana to change the mana inside and then breath it out.


    The mist was the sign that Midnight had grasped the concept of water elemental mana breath. However, it was not strong enough to cause anything but mist. She needed more condensed water elemental mana to make more progress.


    Su had made her way out to the space in front of the forge where Walker and Midnight were training only to find that the ice was expanding. When Walker puled more of the water mana towards them he was unintentionally making more of the ice he had started with but also allowing the water elemental spirits still resting nearby to have a slight boost back to their normal state. The other spirits would take some time. Especially the light elemental spirits that would rest until the sun of the morning.


    There was a sudden pause in Midnight''s breathing as she exhaled all of her breath before taking a very deep breath full of the condensed water elemental mana.. Su could tell that this would be the moment that the skill would click.


    When Midnight couldn''t hold her breath anymore she breathed out. The white mist was no longer mist but instead a flurry of soft snowy wind. Walker was now covered in a light powder. "I know you wanted to show off, but making me a snowman might not be the desired effect of the frost breath you are trying to learn.


    There was a small huff from Midnight in frustration. She had not gotten the desired effect but she was much closer. She knew how to make her mana create a cold breath attack that caused snow. Now she needed to refine it through practice and transform it in toplete ice. It was like the mes. She had to practice making the mes change and move before she could even create mes herself.


    "Leader, our friend is working on his tools now and the forge furnace. It will take some time but he seems very excited with the materials you brought." Su didn''t want Walker to interrupt the wandering cksmith since he was intensely focused.


    "I feel bad that he has to modify everything, but we are going to go all the way to the mountains with him and I think he will be d to have something amazing to show off as his work. To be honest, he is probably the best cksmith we have ever met." Walker was always amazed by the wandering cksmith and this was just another moment that he realized it.


    "He is. I hope that he can work on my armor for elemental resistance at some point in the future. I want to be able to withstand the different breath attacks Midnight is learning. I feel it is important for my system." Su was not wrong. She was the user of a draconic guardian system. It only made sense that she would be able to withstand all the elemental breath attacks that Midnight could use along with the elemental attacks of other monsters.


    "That sounds like a good goal to have. But it might not be as easy as it was for you to get the poison resistance. I know that I get skills from the actions I take, but you might have to rely on the rest of us to get all of the elemental resistances." Walker had a theory that they could use the educationist title to get the resistances that Su would need.


    "I think think that we are not on the right track of mind. Midnight''s scales resistant all the elements after she has started to grow with the dragon champion system and bloodline. I am a draconic guardian which is normally guarding a dragon that they and with. I already have the darkness elemental affinity that Midnight had. I think I will have the resistance and affinity just like her but I have yet to unlock them by growing with her. Please let me train with you two while you help her with her breath attacks."


    The unwavering determination in Su''s eyes said that she believed this was the best path for her to take. Since the rest of the party always supported her and she was most likely on to something if she felt so strongly, Walker nodded his head.


    "I was nning to meditate more and help keep the ice here while I did it. I''m learning how the ice is interacting with the earth and wind while this all happens. I think the main problem is that Midnight is also using some wind elemental mana while she using her breath attack causing the snow effect." Walker immediately became serious and focused on the issues. If he did not he would be disrespecting the strong motivation Su had.


    "Then technically she is making some form of storm cloud inside her that produces snow. It is a fusion spell like you would use." Walker was stuck on Su''s simple realization. It did make sense that if this was the cause then Midnight was subconsciously bringing in too much wind elemental mana when she breathed in.


    Midnight looked as if she understood and was trying to make a change in her next breath. The result was still the small amount of snow but this time Walker could feel the chill in the air from her breath. It was a very slight change that he could feel in the mana but a change that proved she was making progress.


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 Chapter 803 - 803. Fight The Cold

    Su was not shy when it came to how she wanted to train with them. She simply put herself in the position that would be most affected by the cold and frost; right in front of Midnight. Ar first, Walker wanted to warn her because he could see her shivering but when he realized she was copying him and trying to meditate he had a better feeling. Su was trying to understand why she was cold and the effects the elemental mana had on her body so that she could develop a mental resistance first.


    Every failed breath attack from Midnight sent flurries of snow and chilling air right on to Su. Each time Su would shudder with the cold that sapped away her heat and forced her joints to be stiff. Her armor was a good defense against the breath attack since it was technically a magical elemental attack, but the cold air was another thing. It was pushing through the cracks in her armor and hitting her real body.


    "Don''t change the mana or increase the temperature!" Su felt that Walker had started t change the mana around her so that it would be warmer. If that happened then she would not achieve what she was setting out to do. However, Walker was starting to worry more and more since Su was turning slightly blue in the cold. Her pale face was the only thing That even showed she was still breathing since she would let out a soft misty breath around the ice herself. .


    Before Walker could choose to argue with Su and try to convince her to be done since they had already been trying this for some time, Midnight took a much deeper breath that pulled in a lot more elemental mana than before. The water elemental mana rushed towards her as things clicked in to ce for Midnight. Every piece wasing together and the water elemental mana condenseing.


    When Midnight stopped for just a second before breathing out, Walker felt that Su had already steeled herself more than before. He swore the water elemental mana was trembling around Su as well as Midnight. The bind they had was different than Walker''s with Midnight. The bond that Su had was one that came from spending time and wanting to protect Midnight.


    The breath was released and Walker felt the difference. The mist and flurries were now a pure cold that spread through the area and caused the wind to shift. The ice crystals in her breath were fine and caused the ice in the area outside the forge to spread even more.


    When the breath hit Su, she became covered in frost and ice crystals which formed immediately. But this was not the part that shocked Walker. The part that caused Walker to jump up in wonder was when Su took her own deep breath. As she breathed out the ice crystals fell from her body. With each breath after there was a slow change in her appearance.


    Su became rosy cheeked again and her breath was not as weak as before. The frost was not sitting on her body and was even starting to melt off of her armor. Midnight breathed out arge breath of frosty ice again but this tike it moved around Su. It was as if it was afraid to touch her.


    There was a slight coughing sound from Midnight and the two of them focused on her. "I think it''s time to stop for the day. If you keep forcing it you will hurt yourself. But I think you have already learned the essence of the skill."The space of ice all around them had started to expand without Walker''s influence. It was the best result from the training they had done.


    "Leader, I have found a way to resist the ice. I have a cold resistance skill now and I can keep learning to temper my body with it." Su was not just looking to resist the cold physically. She had pushed her mind to the limit so that she would be able to hold out against the cold that forcefully ate away at someone. The cold was nothing to joke about.


    "I saw the frost rolling off of you. Thatst frost breath didn''t even want to go near you." The observations seemed to fit with what Su had been imagining while training. There was one thing that he was wandering about, "I wonder why I am not getting a cold resistance skill? I have been here the whole time but I can''t even say I feel too cold."


    "Huh? I thought you were using a skill. The ice and frost seem to bend around you as well. That is what I was imagining would happen when the frost came in contact with me." Su had seen the first around Walker move and flow around him.


    "I wonder if this is because I have the ability to manipte natural mana. I can feel the water mana pass by me but it feels like it is just there and not really interacting with me in the same way." This was another thing he would need t look in to. If the nature spirit resting in him caused the natural mana to always be close to him then he would better be able to use his nature mana maniption. However, there was also the fact that the natural mana was not weing just one kid of mana to fuse with it.


    This fact alone was good because it was an unintentional protection to mana rich environments. If the snow fell when he was with the wandering cksmith on the mountain he would be warmer than everyone else. It was a unique side effect of natural mana being around him and he was already nning to write it down in a journal all about natural mana.


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 Chapter 804 - 804. Writing Rules

    Walker looked up at the sky to see that they still had a few hours left before they would call it a day with training. The rhythmic tapping and banging from the forge was enough to make them sure that it would continue through the entire night. The water spirits hade to investigate the ice that Walker had created with Midnight and they were slowly cleaning up any of the water elemental mana around.


    "Since there is no more training for the me breath, why don''t you try and use your movement skills to give me a run got my money?" Su had wanted to test herself against Walker for a while. He was faster than her when it came to attacking and if he was able to push her a little then she could improve her blocking.


    The practice would be wee and soon Walker and Su were dashing about with the surprise attacks from Midnight here and there. It was a valuable experience since they had not often been attacked by surprise. This would be their remaining training until dinnerter and they would pick up elemental breath attacks the next day after Midnight had rested.


    Meanwhile, Remey and the old master alchemist had been hunched over the same table for hours. "We came all the way to the alchemist building and it''s been dead in here all day, what''s the problem?" Remey had finally built up enough curiosity to ask where the normal apprentices and alchemists were.


    "I told them about the guild forming.. If they wanted to join they were sent to the building being built in Genesis city. Those who did not were stripped of their rtion to this building and sent away. Almost all of them supported it and the apprentices were more than eager to hear some of the ns. Those who did not want to join feared the loss of ie. It''s sad to see them full of greed."


    The decision had been made while the party was away but Remey was not surprised to hear that the old man had been hard at work instead of just researching potions. "Then we will have plenty that can learn and be the first teachers for the basics. The masters and high alchemists that join up can teach more advanced sses. Personally, I would want to teach an herb gathering ss."


    The old master alchemist heard what Remey wanted and knew exactly why "You want to be able to take some of the apprentices out to gather herbs and they can be guarded by your party. You would be the only one that could do that without having to ce quests for the adventurers or guards. But it could be a good way to build rtions. The alchemy guild would issue a great deal of quests." This was a wise move because it could also lead to the guild getting rare herbs faster.


    "This building will be modified as well. I already have the contracts filled and the rebuilding will start. By the end of the winter, this will be the secondary branch of the guild. That will leave the demi-human kingdom and the forest elf city. Not that we need to worry about the elves since I am sure they are already building a newb for exactly that reason"m The old master alchemistughed. After he had seen the herbs and potions forms that Remey had brought back he developed a very strong appreciation for elves.


    "Knowing them they could have just grown another tree to make their alchemy building. But the founding branch will need to be the main testing branch. I wrote a suggested rule in here that all the main testing for any tier advancement or such would go on at the main branch and their instructors would make yearly visits to the other branches." Remey was using the adventurers guild as a bench mark for tiers. Their badges would be the same as the adventurer ques.


    "The members uniform you had made for you costume at the festival, that will also be a symbol. But you said something about runes being stitched in to them?" The old master alchemist was not ignorant of runes. However, he had never met someone or owned runed fabrics. The idea sounded very beneficial depending on what potion was being made and what elemental rune was being worn.


    "The fabrics will be part of a set. I want the basic uniform without runes to be what we give those who join. That will help show that they are an alchemist other than the badge. The badge will be identifications and work like the adventurers guild to be part of a gold ount. The rune fabric robes will be rewards for those that reach higher tiers in alchemy or those that contribute in certain ways. If we need a rare herb for some reason we can offer the robe for the herbs." Remey''s n was coining together and was all spelled out in close to a hundred pages of rules and regtions to go over with the founding members of the guild at the summit.


    "Speaking of herbs, I want the alchemy guild to have their own greenhouses that employ herbalists. This could be the core of our healing and mana potions. Along with fever reducing herbs and other simr herbs." The goal here was to make sure the main source of experimentation and learning for the guild members was always avable.


    "I agree. That will be the best. Low tier health and mana potions are the keys to a strong foundation." The old master alchemist looked pleased that Remey had remembered to do something so wise. "Now, about the opening. I want to fund a recruitment event. I have too much gold in savings and as a founding member with years of experience, I think it would be wise to start tests of all possible applicants. This would be the first before we switch to a monthly basis." The old master alchemist had a strange smile that told Remey that he was going to weed through and only take the best as the founding sses and members of the guild.


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 Chapter 805 - 805. Teacher Elise

    "You don''t want to partner with merchants to send our items on trade routes first?" The old master alchemist was too surprised. He thought that this was just the understandable path to take.


    "No, we will rely on the Ga family to open small stalls specifically to sell our potions with our seal on them. Then from there, the merchants will make deals through them. It needs to be a strong and trustworthy supply chain. The demi-human kingdom had problems with poisoned potions before and I will not allow that to happen with any potions from our guild." Remey was full of steel. Her words showed no room for negotiation.


    "Then that is what we will do. But what think you should realize is that there will bepetition at first from those who do not wish to be part of the guild." The old master alchemist was dead serious. He knew the risks of changing prices for potions and herbs and trying to change the very fabric of how alchemy sales worked. There would be many old masters like him that fought the change to the death..


    "They won''t be able to keep up. With multiple kingdoms and multiple alchemy geniuses, we will be on top. If there is push back the first year it will be jealousy the second. By the third, we will be on top." Remey was sure of this and did not seem to be looking at the present she was looking at the future.


    "You''re so different from the little girl that came looking for herbs to reduce a fever. Come with me. I have something I want to show you." The old master alchemist drastically changed the topic and his attitude. He walked out of his personalb in the alchemy building with Remey behind her. She carried the many pages they had written of rules and suggested paths. They weren''t final now but they would be as soon as they wrote the final draft at the summit.


    "I have never brought anyone here before and it is only for those masters in charge of the alchemy building. Some of these have survived the fires from long ago and others have been recovered through various magic skills and master scribes'' work." The winding hallways and manybs lead to a final stairway. One that didn''t look like it was meant to be seen and one you could not see from the end of the hallway.


    "What do you mean? Where does this go?" The old master alchemist did not even look back as he climbed the staircase hidden in in sight. When he neared the top he pulled out a small key and opened the door revealing the attic of the alchemy building.


    "This, is the archive. The journals of those who did not pass on their knowledge to an apprentice. Those who left the building or were kicked from it. All of their unfinished, finished, and failed experiments are here. This should be a good start for the main alchemy guild headquarters library." It was a surprise the old master alchemist had held for some time. This room was one that no one ever visited. It was a ce that experiments were put to rest never to be picked up again.


    Remey was no fool. She knew that this wasn''t just an archive as she was told. This was a graveyard of sorts for alchemists. A true alchemist would not care for their body or their grave. Their spirit would be in their work and what of it they left behind. Therefore, this room held their very being. Everything they spent researching, the hours of sweat and chills from brewing. And most of all, their goals and passions.


    "Thank you." There was not much else to say. Remey moved to the nearest shelf. "I will need some help categorizing it to be brought over. The archives should be organized to perfection." The two did not hesitate and silently began to work on a catalog. Since the alchemy building would change and a guild would be born, these records would be a core from the past that would form the future.


    "Alright alright! Ste and my little shadow are off ying. That leaves you and me to explore the joys of taming!" While Remey was away and Walker and Su were busy with Midnight, Elise was introducing the demon girl to taming.


    Elise found that the girl she had been introduced to was less of a talker than anyone else she had ever met. She wanted to put it all on the way she had been torn from family and turned in to some mindless soldier by a demon. However, it seemed that this girl was just quiet and kept to herself. This was a stark contrast to Elise herself.


    "Ooookkkk, well. Taming is more than just a master servant pact. It is a bind to your very being with a partner or in my case and Walker''s case, a sister. It is the sharing of your life and theirs and it will run deeper than blood." The usual aloof attitude Elise had be serious and powerful.


    "I-I understand." The demon girl knew that this was more than just a rule. It was something she had to acknowledge and live every single day.


    "Good. Now, my friend was kind enough to bring you a special treant egg. Or it can be called a seed. You have a quest to learn about taming correct? Well, you will learn then be a tamer right here." Elise presented the egg with brown and grey bark on it. "Walker was kind enough to carry this here for me and leave for today''s lesson."


    Elise had prepared a few gardening tools in a pile for today. "Treant are not the same as any other monster. Taming them is not best when they are in an egg or seed form. They will bond with someone who helps raise them." Elise grabbed a shovel. "Let''s dig."


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 Chapter 806 - 806. Holding A Life

    The two of them started to dig a hole in the corner of the garden. It was one of the few bare spots that didn''t have many things growing. "This should be deep enough. We don''t need to dig too far down, just enough to cover it." Elise was d to see her students'' determination since the demon girl had easily dug more than her.


    Elise watched as the treant egg was ced in to the hole. "The treant are not just a monster that grows simr to trees. They have a very strong tie to nature. This means that they are suitable for healing and the growth of nature. Therefore, they prefer to be peaceful. It is very rare in a normal forest for a treant to cause any trouble unless they find someone is harming the forest." Elise was using part of what she already knew and some of what she had heard from Adam and Walker.


    "I know, you are a demon and you have probably heard about demon treant species. Their forests are a ce no one should go because they keep living creatures silent. But here, they are not so cruel. This in particr is a treant guardian seed." The difference was what brought confusion since most demons would have been taught or learned to avoid silent forests and that treants were brutal nature spirits.


    "This treant would normally grow and protect a forest. But if you manage to raise it well and form a contract it will protect you. This would be the ideal and it is why you are going to make sure some of your mana is in the water we pour over it before we cover it up and water it again. I know you can not control your mana so we have to do a slightly more painful process." Elise did not like this but knew that there were some tamers that always needed to use this method with their skills.


    "Because of yourck of system and contracts we will use a few drops of blood in the water. Your blood normally carries your mana and that will start to bond the treant guardian to you even without a contract. I know someone that tames living vines and this is what they need to do every single seed they nt." Elise was surprised that the demon girl never even flinched at the fact that it needed her blood. The torture of bing some soldier must have made pain seem too small to care about.


    Therge barrel of water nearby was enough for what they were doing and enough to make sure that the treant would be fed for some time after it was nted. "Here, take this small dagger and drop three drops of blood in to the barrel. Then we will pour a bucket of that over the egg and cover it with dirt. While you do that I will tell you about treant skills and how you would feed them after they grow." The demon girl was already hard at work without Elise pushing her to do so. Elise wished that the girl had been more open to tell her some things about herself and what life she had lived before.


    Elise winced as the few drops pf blood fell in to the water. This was a method that she didn''t personally like but knew it was important for some monsters to bond with tamers. "This guardian treant is known for therge size it can grow to. It is very durable and will be slow in contrast. Other than That it can also control vines and leave from its own body to attack. They will blow in the breeze one moment then turn to steel at another. This is what makes them dangerous in a forest. They blend in with the trees then can attack those harming the forest without them knowing."


    There had been many stories of someone cutting down acres of forest only to be attacked by surprise by a treant. It was just the way things would go if people did not respect nature properly. "Normally treants are very weak to fire and water elemental attacks, well ice elemental attacks. This is normal since they are just like nts. However, there is a difference. While most nts go dormant in winter a treant of adult size will not. It can still move and attack but loses about half its strength. On the other hand, when a treant meets a forest fire and can not put it out, it burns itself so that its body will help bring back the forest. Treants often store seeds within their bark for this reason."


    Elise was proud of her knowledge and watched as the demon girl absorbed it all while she finished covering the egg. "And now, you will wait for it to spout after pouring another bucket over it. This treant should be able to walk from this spot in a month. That means in this month you need to protect it. Strong rain? You are here covering it from the wind. Snow? You push the snow aside. Heat wave? You are shading it and watering it appropriately. You are now responsible for the growth of this life." Elise walked away leaving the demon girl there to fully ept this.


    The tactic of leaving the tamer with their young tamed monster wasmonly used for tamers that awaken at a young age or ones that need to feel the weight of taking care of another being. In the end, it often brought the tamed monster closer to the tamer because the two had more personal bonding time. It also made the tamer more knowledgeable on what their specific tamed monster is like.


    "I hope she is able to tame it. She already learned what I know and everything else will be from herself." Elise was a little worried but had decided that she would remain here for that month and send a letter exining the circumstances. She couldn''t leave a young tamer alone.


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 Chapter 807 - 807. On Your Own?

    "So, you nted a treant in the garden and just left that girl out there with it?" Gil had returned for dinner talking about a small hunting trip with the three demons. However, the conversation had changed when he heard about the treant that was nted within the garden.


    "Yes, she needs to learn to care for it until it can walk. I can only hope that in that month she has finished her quests about taming knowledge and be a full fledged treant tamer." Elise was not going to budge. These were the necessary steps needed to properly understand the weight of being a tamer.


    "Gil, the spot won''t be taken p in the garden forever. Your mother already knows too. Plus, we get to see a treant guardian grow." Walker was the middle man making sure that Gil and Elise didn''t argue about it. He understood why Gil was a little touchy about something unknown to him being nted in the garden and also why Elise had chosen here and this time.


    "I''m just d Elise will be around for a little longer." The reaction from Lisa waspletely different and not really rted but lightened the mood.


    "What does everyone n to do tomorrow? Midnight, Walker, and I will continue training. Midnight might learn another elemental breath attack." Su was very excited about the training they were doing and was looking forward to the next day of training to learn more about her training and what else she could unlock by pushing herself further.


    "I will watch over the garden without my little student knowing." Elise was sure that the demon girl would be worried and notfortable yet. It just was a matter of time until she went looking for guidance and that was when Elise would step in. It was good to learn to search out answers to questions early as a tamer so that the monster grows properly.


    "I already said I would be out hinging for a few days. I will try and see if there are stories to tell." Gil was sure he had already said it but reiterated just to be sure no one would be worried that he missed their meals.


    "I''m going to the castle to meet the master tailors and seamstresses that make the royal robes." Lisa nearly jumped from her seat and was held in ce by Walker before the chair tipped.


    "You should find a way to hold back all of that curiosity and excitement. If you show up there you might end up running circles around them before they can show you anything." Walker knew that his sister would be very disrespectful but he just wanted to take the older brother role and be sure that Lisa was polite.


    Before Walker could say anything else, Lisa slipped from her chair and hid with Midnight, "Ha! You can''t try and tell me what to do with Midnight guarding me." Instead of ignoring it, Midnight puffed up her chest and joined the game with excitement.


    "Brother, I will go out tomorrow by myself. I feel that I need to do some of my own training." No one expected that Onyx out of all of them would speak up and want to go out by himself. He would normally spend time with someone everywhere he went.


    "Are you sure you are alright with being alone?" The entire party was thinking this. They knew that Onyx was alright with the fact that he couldmunicate with most of the sentient species in the world. There was also the fact that he was much more adult than most at his young age. He also had a decent ability to protect himself.


    "I am confident. I have gone many ces with everyone but I feel that I need to be alone to find out more about myself." It was a respectable reason to go off on his own. No one wanted to be a hurdle in front of Onyx''s growth.


    "Then all I can say is, be safe, and remember your skill call of a hero. You can always call for our help if you are in trouble." Walker gave Onyx a slight pat on the head. He knew that Onyx was strongly set on this and did not want to hurt him by saying no. He would still worry though. Onyx was family.


    "So, do you guys think that Remey and the master alchemist will being back anytime soon? I heard a rumor that they were remodeling the alchemy building and that a ton of the alchemists left with their apprentices. Some of them were even kicked out and went to the nobles'' households to look for permanent positions." Gil had seen a few people in the market on the walk home and decided to chat.


    "If they are leaving they might be going to Genesis city. The main alchemy guild building is being constructed. If I remember right. Remey said that the dwarf alchemists are in charge of building it. I would assume she is sending them letters. I bet anything that at the summit we will see the empty building that will be the alchemy guild." Walker was very excited about this since Remey had already told them so much about her dreams.


    "I may feel bad saying this. But I am more excited to see the new cathedral that is built there. My friends said that a master ss blower wille to make the rainbow ss windows." Su could only imagine the beauty and was not too shy about telling them that she wanted to visit there first.


    "Ha! The Alchemy guild and the cathedral will pale inparison to the awesomeness that the new branch of the tamers'' guild will have." Elise tried to stand tall and tease them about the tamers'' guild building their own building. However, the remainder of the dinner turned in to the wondrous ideas party had for the new city.


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 Chapter 808 - 808. First Awake

    The night had ended when everyone decided to head to sleep early to prepare for their day ahead. Onyx had taken his spot next to Midnight near the fire ce and found that she was worried about him going off on his own as well. He did his best to convince her that he would be fine but was happy to hear that she was worried too. They were the closest out of everyone since they were together the most.


    Normally Remey would be the first awake in the mansion other than Walkers'' mother and father who had to get to their work. But this time, Onyx was the first awake. He had made sure that he would wake up earlier than the sun would rise so that he could head out on his own. He wanted to practice his skills but also show that he was able to act alone as an individual member of the party.


    He had been feeling weakpared to everyone else since he did not have the hero title. By no means did he want to go out and throw himself in to a situation to get the title but he wanted to find a way to strengthen himself so he would not be left behind. Of course, Onyx was not so foolish to believe that the party would leave him behind. But that was the problem.


    If the party kept Onyx around while they became more and more powerful he would be a burden. He would be the weak one that could not help in battle and would just cause everyone to risk their lives even more. With the recent activities of the demons'' attack, Onyx knew that there would be more danger in the future. All of them would be fools to think that the corrupted demon lord would peacefully step down and raise his people up.


    With his thoughts organized Onyx checked to make sure the que he had tied around his neck was held in ce. He had been set up with one that had all the badges and other identifications attached but he wished he could somehow store it within his shadows with the rest of hisrger body. Unfortunately, this was something he had not managed to understand when it came to shadows. The positive was that there was magic in the que so that it would expand and fit him even at hisrgest size.


    "I will need to eat well today." Onyx was looking forward to a sunny day to absorb a lot of light elemental mana and grow. But he was also going hunting for some light elemental monsters. To be more specific if he was leaving to hunt wisps. These were normally ghost like monsters born in the swamps more than others. They would normally have light and fire attributes because they were created from gasses that caught fire. They would be one of the few sources of light in the dim swampnds.


    The library had many records on these due to their rtionships with souls. It was thought that a wisp was a trapped soul that learned to return to the physical world. Unfortunately, this was just an old wife''s tail. They were instead mindless monsters that came to be after proper elemental mana and gassesbined. They were not as adept as an elemental spirit and could never grow. Normally they would be ignored by monsters and sentient races alike.


    What Onyx managed to find out was that during the harvest season, many of the wisps would be caught in the winds that blew through the swamnds and end up in the ins around the kingdom. This fact alone allowed Onyx to hunt them. The light elemental mana he could reap from these wisps would be a major boost for his growth and experience.


    Onyx slithered out of the mansion as silently as possible so that he would not disturb anyone sleeping. The streets were wide open and he did not hesitate to allow himself to grow to hisrger size. This was also a way to show off his rtion to the party and not be stopped by the guards. Many had heard of the abyssal serpent that was always curled around Walkers'' shoulders or on Midnight''s back.


    "Halt, state your business. It is rare to see a tamed monster alone." The young guard that stopped Onyx was new to the night shift and had diligently been stopping everyoneing or going. They knew most tamed monsters would not be alone.


    "I am leaving to hunt wisps and strengthen myself. Please check my que." There was surprise on the guards'' face since he did not expect Onyx to speak. Instead, he imagined a master would show up to exin the monster''s business.


    "Oh! Sir Onyx. I have been spoken to you. I am d to see one of the heroes party healthy and well. But if I may ask, why hunt wisps?" The young guard had been told about many of the higher end passersby to show proper respect. But he had been further told to be more friendly with the heroes party. Most of the older guards had seen some of them grow up.


    "Wisps have a lot of light elemental mana. I eat light elemental mana and want to strengthen myself. It is also good experience for me to fight on my own." The young guard looked to understand.


    "I had my own solo training as a test to prove I was strong enough to be a night guard. I wish you luck." The young guard saw Onyx in a new light as the serpent slither away.


    "He was nice. If I find anything interesting maybe I will give it as a gift." Onyx knew he may run in to other monsters and if that happened he would leave them as a gift for the guards. It was a polite thing to do to thank them all for their hard work.


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 Chapter 809 - 809. Wisp Hunting

    Due to Onyx''s size and serpent form he was able to move much faster through the burned farmnds. He noticed that there were many guard and adventurer patrols along the way and did not hesitate to greet most of them. They more or less recognized him due to the que attached to his neck but had trouble understanding how such a small serpent was suddenly bigger. Onyx found it veryical when he needed to exin it all.


    After surpassing the farnds with his speed he was back in the familiar fields outside of the city. However, this was closer to the swamnds that contained dangerous poison type monsters. Onyx was not going to get close to them but he could still see the change in the terrain from where he was. If he was not careful and drew too close he could end up facing something he did not wish to battle against.


    The morning was still early and the sun had barely started to peek over the horizon. This was the ideal time for someone to see the slight blue white glow of wisps floating in the fields. Normally they just move along with the winds and if they were blown from the swamnds they would either dissipate or be eaten up by moth type monsters.


    Seeing that there was a small wisp about the size of a childs'' ball, Onyx blended himself with the ground as best as possible. He knew that the wisps were not sentient and could not move to avoid him. But he was going to treat this as if he was hunting a minister that could run away or even fight back.


    The results of his sneaking would show themselves in future battles. But here, he noticed that his tail would slip past the grasses making a scraping sound on his scales. It was a good thing to learn and he slowed himself to reduce the sound.


    As he neared the wisp, Onyx curled himself up a little. It was enough to allow him to leap out at his target. His goal was to leap forward with all his strength and swallow the wisp in one bite. He was resistant enough to deal with any fire elemental mana which would cause any small burns and the light elemental mana would rapidly be absorbed as nutrients.


    When Onyx made his move it was faster than he had expected. He thought he had used too much force and after mming his mouth closed around the wisp and swallowing it he looked over his body. He had unknowingly unlocked a skill that most serpents grew in to. "So this spring skill is to be med."


    ''Spring- 1 mana cost.


    The user coils their body in a certain way to generate force. With less energy than normal, the user springs forward towards their target allowing them to surprise and ambush prey. It is an extremelymon skill for any and all snake or serpent like monsters.''


    The system shared the details with Onyx who was proud to move on toward a small group of wisps in the distance. After deciding to take a more direct approach, Onyx rose up well above the grass. He whipped his tail down using his tail m skill and kicking up dirt and dust. One of the wisps was torn in two only to form two smaller wisps.


    "So a wisp can not be destroyed. They can be split in to smaller wisps." This was an interesting development that Onyx had not read about in any book or heard about from anyone. It was a valuable thing to know since he could still consume the wisps even after attacking them.


    Knowing this, Onyx proceeded to test multiple physical skills and ambushes to slice and chomp wisps in to pieces. The progress was consistent and he felt that he was developing his skills well. He had even started to keep an eye on his own back after he realized that his tail was always so far from him and his main sight.


    Meanwhile, the sun had been rising bringing warmth to the ins before the swamnds. The grass blew in a slight breeze that carried the rotting smell of the swamnds. However, the breeze also carried over more wisps. It also helped wake up the small monsters that waited in the dried grasses for the sun to rise.


    Onyx was hiding and trying to practice another ambush when he noticed the pping sound. It was not too loud but it was noticeable. He turned to find that the wisp he was hunting was already under attack. A purple winged moth was swooping down toward it and opening a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. This purple winged moth may only be the side of themon house cat, but Onyx knew all too well that the teeth and purple color spelled the word poison and venom.


    These moths were feeding on the wisps and would normally be attracted to any form of light in the swamnds. They derived their position from the poisonous nts they would eat as caterpirs and absorb while they were wrapped in their cocoons. The silk the caterpirs made was valuable as poison resistant threads but hard to farm due to the poisons in the swamnds.


    Since Onyx was alone he did not want to risk fighting these moths. Instead, he used it as a reason to practice stealth and shrank himself by putting more of his body in to his shadow. He had hunted a decent amount of wisps and he didn''t have to push himself too far.


    Yet, when he looked at the dry grass he realized he had been missing something very important due to the dark before the sun started to rise. The caterpirs had left the swamnds and made their cocoons here in the grasnds so that when they emerged they could hunt the wisps. Onyx had a great number of cacoon husks he could gather here!


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 Chapter 810 - 810. Friendly Adventurers

    Onyx had no way to carry these cacoons back with him. He had managed to make arge pile of them in his excitement to bring them back to Lisa. He had wanted to do something to thank her for making him part of Midnight''s costume for his first harvest festival. But now he was stumped.


    Normally people avoided the [purple moths because they would act aggressively to therger animals and monsters that came around. It was a natural territorial behavior when their food source might be threatened. No one could be angry at their instinctual actions. The problem was, that this reaction was preventing people from going near them.


    "The patrols must know that the moths are here and that''s why none have passed me by in a little while." Onyx was thinking out loud. It was a good way to get his thoughts to flow without getting hung up.


    "But the moths don''t care about me even though I am a real predator to their food source. Maybe it is because I made myself small and they do not see me as a threat. Meaning, I can sneak out the cocoons and bring them to someone to carry them for me!"


    Now that Onyx had his n he slithered silently through the tall grasses at great speed. His aim was a small group of adventurers he had never seen before. They were far away and obviously there to prevent others from getting too near.


    "I really doubt anyone doesn''t know not toe this way at this time of year. The purple moths don''t evene close to the walls as long as a wisp is near the swamps."


    "Well of course not. They wouldn''te close anyways because they could care less. Even without the wisps, they would just go back to the swamps to hide away from the sun."


    "Just stay focused. The moths might note close but it only takes one tond on you and bite and you are poisoned. We can only rush you so fast to the healers." The three that were standing and talking were adventurers. To be more specific, an adventurer with a spear, one with a sword, and a third with a magical staff.


    "Adventurers. I hope I am not disturbing you but I find I may need some help. Please do not be rmed." The three fell in to battle stances as soon as the unfamiliar voice met their ears.


    Onyx slowly revealed himself and they pointed their weapons. "It''s a snake. What do we do?"


    "I am not a snake. I am an abyssal serpent and my name is Onyx. I am out training and found some materials that I can not carry back. I can promise a good meal and some pay if you help me carry them all home." Onyx was sure to sh his que which caused all three to rx easily.


    "I am the leader here." The spearman came forward. " We are the adventuring party triple G. Is you master around?'' The attitude has shifted to one of business.


    "My brother is not currently here. He is home. What do you think of my proposal?" Onyx was trying to get this closed up tight so he could bring Lisa the materials he had found. The sooner the better since she would return from the castle in the afternoon.


    "We don''t have to stay here right? The quest just had us guard this area as a warning for three hours. We can head home whenever." The girl with the magical staff leaned in with the details of their quest.


    "In the light of our current situation, it is only right to help someone in need. We have some pretty great role models that always seem to be doing the same." The three showed proud looks but Onyx was a little too focused to ask who the role models were.


    "Perfect. I will start to gather the cocoons here so you don''t risk the purple moth''s attention. I will be back." Onyx slithered away and every few minutes brought another cocoon until the adventurers had filled an entire bag of them. Their bag had been stuffed so full that it couldn''t fit anymore even if they tried.


    "Little serpent. You are amazing t have found a way to gather these., I can''t wait to meet you master, and thank him for showing us a safe way to harvest these threads." The spearmanplimented Onyx a few times as they left the area. Onyx slowly grew to hisrge size again shocking them. Their faces began to show some realization as to who Onyx was.


    "You wouldn''t be the serpent that everyone talkies about. The one on the heroes'' shoulders?" eventually the swordsman asked the question while they entered the walls again.


    "Oh, I am sorry. My name is Onyx and my older brother is Walker. He is the leader of the omnipotent party." Onyx really didn''t expect the three to be so shocked.


    "Then you don''t need to pay us a single gold. Your brother was one of the people who saved our friends'' life at the risk of his own. We have tried to catch up to their heroics every single day since we were healed." The spearman had a shaky voice. The memory was still hard to remember as a jade locust had done them serious damage.


    "I could not ask you to help me for nothing. At leaste to eat with us for lunch." Onyx didn''t take no for an answer and chatted with them the entire way back to the mansion and to the dining room where he found Lisa had already returned and was setting up a meal for everyone who had been training.


    "Sister Lisa! I have my thank you for your wonderful costume." Onyx had to shrink a little to easily move around the mansion but grew again to be sure to rise up at Lisas'' height. "I also have three friends to join us!"


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 Chapter 811 - 811. Wind Attacks

    The three had be stunned and silent as they followed Onyx. They had told their side of the story of how the party had saved them before Onyx had joined them and how amazing the entire thing was. They would have been the party triple G''s heroes even if they did not receive the titles of hero.


    Onyx was d to hear this since he had heard it once but never from those who had been saved. It was a proud moment to hear how it had changed anothers'' life and put a fire in their heart to be better and live their lives as their own upstanding people.


    "Thank you three for helping my little brother gather these. I will make sure there are extra grilled cheese sandwiches for you to eat!" Lisa was firstly polite before she let her excitement take over. "Onyx! Do you know how valuable these purple moth cocoons are right now? The guards can''t patrol the area at this time of year because the poison moths are too dangerous. With all of this poison resistant silk, I can make at least five uniforms to protect them!" Lisa wasn''t even considering profit. Onyx had gifted these materials to her and she was going to use them to help protect the guards that walked the walls.


    "I was lucky to find them without the moths finding me as a threat. I just find joy in you liking them." Onyx could only revel in his sess. Not only had he trained his skills and eaten a lot of light elemental mana, but he had also found a great material and happened on a meeting with three adventurers who had known the party before they had done too many crazy things.


    Thisbination of events led to a very fun and interesting lunch. Walker, Su, and Midnight were too caught up in their training but the triple G party refused to interrupt. Hearing that the heroes were so caught up in training inspired them further to train hard and go take another quest. Onyx and Lisa could only rave more about the entire encounter. It was overall, a pleasant coincidence.


    Meanwhile, Walker has started to channel the wind elemental mana to condense around them. He had decided that Midnight would need help getting the feeling and the base of the elemental breath attacks. Once that was achieved that would be it. She would need to train by herself from that point because if he was always helping then she wouldn''t be able to produce the different elemental attacks without his assistance. Midnight seemed to agree with this.


    "What would the wind elemental breath attack be like? I have not seen it written anywhere yet." Su was in the dark when it came to this. She had tried to stay awake a littleter to study in the library but only had luck in finding the fire elemental breath attacks.


    "From what I understand It is a built up gust of concentrated wind that can even slice through trees and eventually forests. But I have no idea how it is condensed like that." Walker was sure that these phrases from books were true to a degree. However, it sounded more like a wind de skill than an elemental breath attack. "I think Midnight will need to follow instinct more for this one."


    The response from Midnight was a determined huff. She was holding herself upright in a small swirling of wind that Walker was creating. The wind elemental spirits had alreadye to examine the concentration of wind. They even added to it to make the turbulent air even more so.


    Midnight was breathing as she had when bringing in the water elemental mana to create the first breath. Unfortunately, it just seemed like she was taking a breath and not actually condensing the mana in to an attack. "I think you need to breath slower. When I breathe in I know that some wind elemental mana reaches my lunch. But my body naturally filters it out. Try to focus on the mana and condense it in a fast breath out after a slow breath in."


    Walker did not expect this to work as well as it did for Midnight. When she copied the method that Walker had suggested there was a pull of mana toward here much stringer than what it was with the water elemental mana. "Su, move away." Walker saw a defiant look in Su''s eyes but when she saw his serious face she moved away so that she would not be hit by an attack. It was already enough that Su was training against the wind he and the elemental spirits had made.


    Midnight opened her maw and a gust of wind left. However, this was stronger than expected. There was a slight gash of dirt carved out in front of her for a few feet. The air had most certainly condensed and was released all at once. This was no gale but instead a de. The wind elemental breath attack was not like the others and was more condensed and dangerous at close range.


    "The wind elemental breath attack is not to be taken lightly. I have a feeling that it was easier because you are always breathing in win elemental mana. Your body is used to it so it has a more concentrated effect." The theory was sound and Midnight was happy to have easily used a new attack. It was a nice change from the difficulty of the day before. Although, it meant that she would have a more challenge with the winds opposite; earth.


    "I know you are worried about learning the earth attack." Walker used his mana to calm the wind ad allow the heavy mana to return to its normal state. "But I have a few ideas from studying other monsters of the dessert in the library books we have."


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 Chapter 812 - 812. Sandy

    "Leader, are you sure that we should move on so fast? Midnight just grasped the concept of a wind breath attack." Su had worry all over her face. Not only had Midnight just learned to use the wind elemental breath attack but Walker was ready to jump right in to an earth breath attack.


    "Yes. She had already been bringing the wind elemental mana to her body as she breathed. She just had to focus on it to get the result she wanted. There is also the fact that this will be one of the hardest breath attacks to learn. The earth is not something thates easily and I have some theories on how it will work. If you need more practice gaining resistance to the wind elemental mana we can ask Zephyr?"


    Su was indeed worried about her resistance bit it was clear that training it with Midnight could leave her badly injured by a wind de. "I will ask Zephyr for assistance. I just wanted to be sure that Midnight would not overwork herself here." Midnight shook her head tobat Su''s worries. She was actually very excited that she had grasped the easy to learn wind elemental breath attack.


    "I know you are also worried about learning earth elemental breath attacks. The Theories I have are based off of the sandstone lizard and the yellow python. Both live in the deserts over the mountains. The yellow python will swallow and store sand in its body to shoot it out of its mouth in a controlled stream. But youck the organs to make that happen. I think the sandstone lizard will be the tactic that you use." Midnight and Su were both very focused on what Walker was saying and he felt that he was giving an educational lecture.


    The sandstone lizard does not take sand or any earth in to its body at all. It bathes on the sandstone cliffs of the mountain and will gather earth elemental mana inside itself instead. This let it condense arge amount which they use to attack enemies. When it breathes it out it causes a path of stone spikes to shoot from the ground. It can also cause a miniature sandstorm but kicking the sand in to the air with its breath."


    Both monsters managed to do something simr but Walker wanted to be sure that Midnight understood why she could not inhale earthpletely. She naturallycked the organs needed to store it without harming herself. But the sandstone lizard method sounded like it would fit here perfectly. The only thing Midnight would need to learn was how to properly gather and condense the earth elemental mana within her body. The more she practiced the faster she would be able to use the attack.


    "That would be a good attack for me to practice dodging. If it creates earth spikes I will need to not only dodge the main attack but also the growing spikes which I assume will not be perfectly straight in to the air." Walker didn''t even need to say a word for Su to figure out the best way for her to train with Midnight after the attack was learned. Both of them would be able to train their skills this way.


    "Then I will start to prepare the ground for the training. Just let me know when you feel that the earth elemental mana is enough to start." Walker saw Midnight nod her head to him. He did not want to risk Midnight training with the earth elemental mana without him being vignt. This was the most dangerous element to practice because if something went wrong it could be choking on earth.


    Walker ced his hands on the ground and used his skills to shape and sculpt the earth. Around him, he made a slightly raised earth tform which he slowly willed to be sand. The process was much much faster than it had been before. The young sage title was acting very well in rtion to his other elemental skills.


    The earth elemental mana started topress and the earth spirit that had been resting in Su''s earth dwelling shield came out to see what was happening. When it saw that Walker was condensing earth elemental mana in the area it jumped right to action. It wanted to be helpful and join the training too.


    The earth elemental mana became denser than it was by a significant amount and the earth spirit started to call out to the other nearby earth elemental spirits around the area to help. When they arrived Midnight had already given Walker a small huff as she began to breathe in a small amount of earth elemental manas.


    The reaction she had was not what she had expected. She started to cough right away. She felt a dry feeling in her throat and knew that this was from the earth elemental mana stopping the water elemental mana in her body.


    Walker had a close eye on Midnight who started to breathe a little fire out of her mouth to clear things up. She realized that this was not going to be as natural as the other elemental breath attacks had been and that she would need to use her own mana to somehow cover her throat to protect herself from the earth elemental mana before she easily breathed it.


    "Leader, I am going to practice using my skills with the shields skills. It would be valuable practice for my partner here." Su motioned to the earth elemental spirit.


    "That''s a good idea. There is a lot of earth elemental mana that can recharge the dwelling shield. It''s best to take advantage of it." Walker was d that Su was nning to train with the earth elemental spirit and the earth dwelling shield. The fortress skill would be a valuable skill when the party went up againstrge area skills from monsters.


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 Chapter 813 - 813. Dusty

    Walker could tell that Su training right near them by dodging and rolling while letting the earth spirit create the earth fortress was very distracting to Midnight. But this was even better. The training required her to have focus and having a distraction would help her sharpen this focus. It also helped Walker divide his attention and learn how to better focus on two different activities at once.


    Midnight had started to breathe in small amounts of earth elemental mana now. It was not a major amount that was able to affect her breath but it was enough for her to adapt to the feeling. Her mana was being circted to protect her throat and her golden me heart was starting to show its effects.


    The golden me heart was able to better allow Midnight to learn and use the elemental me breaths. This simple fact was why Midnight was able to breathe in the earth elemental mana and use it. There was also the fact that she had the dragon champion bloodline in her body which allowed her to use all of the elemental attacks anyways. But the time to learn it all was massively reduced with the golden me heart.


    That all came together to show Walker that Midnight had begun to learn the earth attack in just an hour of slow adjustment. This may have been missed by Midnight but the sand he had made was not to be breathed in. It was made so that it would react more easily to Midnight while she was breathing the earth elemental mana. Therefore, after this hour when Walker saw the sand start to shift he knew that Midnight had begun to grasp the concept.


    The earth spirit was getting more creative in how it created the earth fortress around Su as well. At one point Walker noticed a very smart tactic. Instead of creating the earth fortress around Su, it left a space for the shield to act as a wall. This meant that Su could walk out of the earth leaving the rest of the walls to attack. Therefore, the spirit didn''t need to use any additional mana to change the wall to let Su escape. Overall, it was more mana efficient.


    Walker did not say anything to Su when he saw this since she was so focused on being able to burst from the fortress without any trouble. So far it appeared that she hadbined this with her shield bash skill so that she could bash and knock away whatever was attacking them. It was a sound strategy that he was looking forward to seeing in the future.


    With his attention focused on the two, he did not realize that he himself was still using the earth elemental mana to tell how Midnight was doing. His senses were sharpening and he subconsciously started to move some of the sand himself to the rhythm of Midnights'' breathing. While he did this he ideally moved it and began to push some sand in the air until he noticed his fidgeting.


    Once he had realized his fidgeting, Walker started to train himself a little more. This may have divided his attention more but ut served as better mental training. The sand he was ying with easily rose in the air andbated the wind elemental mana. But when he started to mix the two it worked much better than he expected.


    The sand and the air were very cooperative with how Walker manipted them now that he had the young sage title. It felt natural that they wouldbine. The only ce he could think where these two elements would naturallybine was the dessert, or so he expected from the books he had read. Walker, or any of the party, had never been to a desert. However, they had read that there wererge sand storms that could be said to be very simr to the sand that Walker was now mixing with the wind elemental mana.


    ''The skill dust blind has been taken from the dirty fighter system. The skill dust blind has been automatically learned due to user actions.


    Dust blind- 2 mana cost


    The user must be in a dry environment with dry earth around. The user uses their mana to kick up a breeze that causes the dirt to be dust. This dust will billow up in an area blinding all of those present for a short time.''


    Walker was going to think this skill was a good one. Blinding a dangerous opponent would give the party a chance to attack or even just get in position. Unfortunately, the skill was not as good as it sounded. "Useless!" Walker exined when he saw the system. He would blind even his party members using this skill.


    His sudden outburst of surprise caught Midnight in exactly that; surprise. She breathed out sharper than before due to Walkers'' exmation and forced the earth elemental mana to be pushed in a more direct manner than before.


    "Sorr-" Before Walker could apologize he suddenly rolled back to avoid the small needle like spike of sand directly in front of him. They were notrge nor could they defeat a real opponent. But they would have cut his leg at least if he had remained in his sitting position in front of Midnight. "That was my fault for surprising you. But that was great!" Walker praised Midnight to make sure she knew he was happy to see her progress.


    This was enough of an ident for Midnight to know it was not entirely her fault. Yet, she had the feeling memorized now and she knew she could replicate it. She could breathe earth elemental mana and cause the sand to be little spikes. With further training, she should be able to createrge earth spikes from any dirt they traveled through. It was a major sess.


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 Chapter 814 - 814. Hunting Trip

    Su was drawn over to witness the next three sessful uses of the earth elemental breath attack from Midnight. She had seen the small exmation from Walker but did not worry too much about it since he was most likely practicing his own skills. Unfortunately, the wear of using the earth elemental mana sent Midnight in to a coughing fit quickly ending their training for the day.


    "You can practice more another day. Tomorrow we will try the light elemental breath attack. You already have decaying mes, the golden mes, you can make regr mes, a wind de, frost breath, and now earth breath attack. You are learning very fast and your body needs to rest properly." Walker refused to let Midnight tire herself out and end up injured.


    "After you seed in the light elemental breath attack we will head to the market and see if there are pigs to buy and roast as a celebration. It''s a big deal to learn all the breath attacks a dragon has." Su made a very motivating promise to Midnight causing her to prance about instead of bing dejected that she had been stopped from training.


    "How are you doing with your skills Su? I saw yourbination with the earth fortress and shield bash. I think it looked very smooth." Walker had to make sure he touched base on the skill Su trained. This would make it easier for him to train with her when the party was back together. Walker was sure that Midnight would want to show off the attacks she learned even if they were not trained to a viable attack just yet.


    "I feel much morefortable now that we have figured this out. But unfortunately, I have tired out my partner." Su motioned to the earth spirit that was slowly wandering about the sand that Walker had made to gather earth elemental mana. " If we use more of the mana in the shield it can be bigger. It will still be the same toughness but it can cover more than just the party."


    "That''s good news. Especially if we have an escort quest or we partner with someone." It would be expected that the party needed to protect others, so hearing that Su could ask the earth elemental spirit to make arger earth fortress was perfect.


    "I do wonder what would happen if I partnered with your earth spirit to make it. I can use my high earth sculpting to change it from a round earth dome in to something else." The idea was to copy the tower and wall like the ice border wall Walker had already made. But that would need toe another day when they were not as tired.


    "I believe that would be worth training. If anyone can work better with the elemental spirits it is you. The nature spirit is still resting, right? Maybe there are nature magic skills that could work to that ends." The theory Su had was spot on. Walker wanted to try to learn nature magic as well but refused to do so without Fleur practicing with him. He would not rush her toe out of the spirit mark earlier than she needed.


    Walker had not realized that he had the best of every single elemental spirit as his partner. The nature mana could potentially do everything that the elemental mana could do. However, the thought that was dawning on Walker now was about healing. He had some healing magic that was not the best of the best. However, he had seen the high priest use healing magic well above his own. One spell Walker had seen one of the healers at the cathedral use was regeneration.


    This spell may not have been nature magic bit if nature mana was used in tandem with this spell, wouldn''t it be stronger? Healing and nature were thought of in close rtion by many and that was why some with druid systems or forest mage users'' would be able to use string healing magic skills.


    "Don''t tell me you are going to meditate again? We should take a break. If we push nonstop we will lose all of our resting time like it was never there." The contrast of Su''s push push push attitude for training was bnced by the desire to properly rest and take care of themselves. This was something that her healer friends had drilled in to her. They had all seen the direct strain of traveling in their daily lives and wanted to be sure their friend did not suffer exhaustion.


    "You''re right. We should go inside and try to make something to eat. Maybe Onyx got back already." The three headed inside while chatting. The only party members that would be missing were Remey who was still at the alchemy building and Gil who was out on his hunting trip.


    "I''m back. I''m back. I''m bbaakkk." Zephyr flew around Gil in a swirl while singing about her return.


    "Shhhh, I am on the trail. Don''t forget we are hunting a lord boar. They live on the outskirts of the sun hollow forest and are very sensitive to sounds. If you scare them off the little mud boars will alert the lord boar."


    Gil had already said this to Zephyr but he wasn''t really sure if she would even scare the boar since she wasn''t a monster that would hunt them.


    Gil had said he was going hunting but when he met with his father and his fathers'' friends he found that they had all be busy. This left him and Zephyr alone to bond. The lord boar was thergest mud boar in a pack. They would often be triple the size of a normal mud boar from hoarding the food and were some of the best boar meat to catch. The only problem was actually capturing and defeating it.


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 Chapter 815 - 815. Stop Hunting!

    Zephyr looked as if she was annoyed to be told to be silent. In response she caused arge breeze to move through and push Gil back a little. Naturally, this was a huge stress to Gil who was worried the wind would blow his scent towards his prey. "Don''t look so worried about that. The wind went away from the lord boar." Zephyr proceeded to use the wind to make a few more gusts before she looked happy with her little revenge.


    "Are you done? Can we sneak forward more? The boars are still some ways away." Gil saw that Zephyr was pretending to ignore him so he stood and started to move forward inplete silence. The hunt was what he hade for and it was what he was going to do.


    This was his personal training. He was the one in the party that could best take the role of the scout. Walker had the potential but it was better to have Walker as a dedicated mage or healer. Of course, Walker would jump in to other roles as a main damage dealer warrior or even defender. But Gil could long range attack with arrows and magical arrows when with the party.


    The roles he could do were unique to him and he took great pride in it. The talk of taking the wandering cksmith to the mountains had just made Gil think more about his roles. He would be able to deal with monsters using his arrows without an issue. However, the mountains were going to be snow covered and dangerous. This meant that blending in and scouting would be a major benefit to the party.


    "I need to get better at tracking and sneaking." Gil was more so speaking out loud but he had hit a point with Zephyr.


    "Use the wind. It can blow you around sure. But you can use it to make yourself lighter and dampen your sound." Zephyr spoke as if she was a wise teacher dropping down groundbreaking wisdom to a student. However, Gil had not known any of this and was frozen in ce processing the possibilities.


    After gathering his thoughts, Gil asked the question. "How do I use the wind to hide the sounds I make and make myself lighter? I can be faster right?'' Gil was focused on the silence he would have no matter what if he could use wind elemental mana to sneak around. On top of this, he was also able to make his body lighter so that he could move even faster.


    "Of course you can move faster. Win elemental mana is all about fast. You should see how fast the air moves in a tornado. It''s a lot of fun!" This was something Gil did not want to expire ever in his life. Being in a tornado sounded like a terrifying experience that would lead to the end of his life.


    "You have my spirit mark. You have some of the skills to manipte mana already and put it in an arrow. You have two things that are perfect for learning how to use the wind to your advantage."Zephyr was amazed that Gil had yet to consider this. It would have been the first thing that she thigh of. Although, she was an elemental spirit and naturally knew more about the elements mana in the world.


    "You''re right. I can pull elemental mna from the elemental mana crystals and push them in to my arrow heads. But that is a very specific case that I have skills for. How would I be able to change the wind without items like those?"


    The way Gil was thinking this would happen was with some form of elemental mana crystal or item that could channel the wind elemental mana. He had no idea that he would be able to do it without any items and just his body himself.


    "I have seen Walker meditate for hours at a time. If you meditated for an hour a day you would understand. The wind elemental mana is drawn to you because of your affinity. Before you hint any board you need to sit your butt down and understand this even a little." Gil felt as if he was being reprimanded by his own mother.


    "I will, I will. But why are youparing us?" Gil was a little annoyed to bepared to Walker. He did not meditate like Walker because he was not interested in the magic skills that Walker was training. It was not like he could learn them with his system anyways.


    "You both have very strong mana flow. Yours is strong with the wind and his is changing. Bit the level is high. You two need to be some form of rivals." Zephyr was seeing much much more than anyone gave her credit for. No one would say anything about Walker and Gil having a rivalry. But that was not true. The two constantly pushed to be better even without knowing the other as trainingpetitions. Instead, it was just because they saw the other start to be stronger they did not want to be left behind. And in Gil''s eyes, Walker was getting way ahead of him.


    Overall, Gil started to sit down and looked at Zephyr, "How do I meditate? Just sit here and try not to sleep withmy eyes closed?"


    "Just breath in and out and let your mind expand. Focus on your own mana on your skin and then let it flow out. Eventually, you will feel the wind around you. The only other mana that will react strongly to you is the wind elemental mana." Zephyr guided Gil and sooner than he expected, Gil began to notice things about his very own body that he had never seen before.


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 Chapter 816 - 816. Wrapped In Wind

    Gil still wanted to head toward the prey he was hunting. However, with the possibility that he could be better prepared just by stopping to meditate, he decided to follow Zephyrs'' orders. His but was already on the ground and he was already mimicking the way he had seen Walker sit. Not to mention, he knew the mud boars were using this area as their territory. They would not be leaving the area any time soon unless something scared them off.


    "Your mana isn''t leaving your body at all. You should be able to do it just like when you move your mana from your hands to guide the mana for an elemental crystal." Luckily, Zephyr had seen Gil infuse mana from elemental crystals in to the arrows he used. This meant that she knew the way his skill worked better than he did himself. Zephyr had an innate sense for mana afterall.


    "I know, I know." Gil was not as frustrated as he sounded. He was just caught up in the challenge of moving his mana in a different way than he was used to. Unlike Walker, Gilcked any elemental mana maniption skills. The only reason he could guide mana from an elemental mana crystal at all was a specific skill he got from the arcane marksman system. Without it, he would have been even worse off.


    The results were not as immediate as Gil wanted and he was bing more and more frustrated. This made his heart beat speed up and his face to flush red slightly. Zephyr saw this and caused a soft breeze to start to constantly hit Gil to calm him down and cool him off. At first, Gil was annoyed with this. Yet, when he felt the breeze drifting through his hair he began to realize he had been feeling the wind elemental mana all the time.


    The very small feeling of wind moving through his hair had tipped Gil off. The air was all around them and that meant that his entire body was always in contact with wind elemental mana. The realization caused Gil to suddenly push his mana from his body and directly influence the wind elemental mana touching him.


    Wind elemental mana was pulled towards Gil and he knew that it was weing him. The feeling of being wrapped in the soft breeze he had enjoyed was not more than just through his hair. It was throughout his entire body. His system rarely notified him that anything had changed or that he had gained a skill. He mostly used the skills he had and he would not actively try to learn more other than those that went with firing the arrows.


    ''The skill wind wrapping has been learned and unlocked.


    Wind wrapping- 3 mana cost per minute


    Agi + 10


    The user is able to enhance their agility by making the friction between their body and the wind much much less. The user will also have a sensitivity to the fluctuations in nearby elemental mana. The user will feel lighter and more energetic. This does not erase the users'' scent by any means.''


    The moment this skill appeared for him, Gil pushed himself to stand and noticed that he was having a bit harder of a time seeing. "Finally, you were like that for hours. I swore you were asleep with your eyes open." Zephyr had originally tried to get Gil''s attention back. But, she had realized that Gil was having a small enlightenment and was very happy to just watch over him to ward off danger by releasing small pulses of her elemental mna. This basically kept many of the monsters away since they could sense a powerful mana.


    As soon as Gil looked at Zephyr she knew he had managed to get a skill. The main reason was that she turned her way without opening his eyes since he was now able to sense her presence better. It was clear that the condensed being of wind elemental mana was Zephyr.


    "Now I know why Walker meditates so much. If he feeling this close to elemental spirits and elemental mana then I need to start doing it more often." Gil was still ncing around a little until he finally managed to ask, "How long did I take? The sun is already setting." This was a little shock to Gil since it had been earlier morning when he had begun to hunt and then ended up meditating.


    "You were there forever! But I can feel your mana a lot better." Zephyr was very happy that Gil had a better sense of wind elemental mana. She could also feel the strength through the spirit mark. It was a great influx of mana and would prove to be useful for her when she burned out her own mana using the bows'' skills.


    Gil knew that it had been a few hours and didn''t fault Zephyr for not having an exact time for him. Just sitting around going nowhere was probably very boring for her so it felt like forever. Now he had to set up his little camp. "You know, instead of setting cam[p, we could go night hunting?" This was a very rare thing for most hunters to do. There was more danger in the night predators that came out. The party had not experienced many of the dangers of the forest at night since they had not traveled much at night.


    "It''s the outer edge of the forest so we can always flee to the open ins near the fields." Gil had his n out but also wanted to try climbing a few trees in a ce that looked well traveled by monsters. "We might even find a star fox if we are lucky." The star fox was a pitch ck fox known for its white eyes giving the impression of two stars in the night sky. However, they were dangerous predators of the night that excelled at stealth.


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 Chapter 817 - 817. Shot In The Dark

    Gil was by no means going to give up on the lord boar. He knew that the boar would be sleeping with the other mud boars and would not make an easy target at the moment. Therefore, trying his luck as a star fox was a pretty worthwhile test of his skill and would make him more familiar with night hunting.


    Zephyr more or less was silent making Gil think that she may have run off. However, he found that she was just floating in the air looking at him with some worry. "What? I have you here and we would never get beaten by any monster at night or in the day." Gil had full confidence and was sure that Zephyr would as well.


    "But, won''t you be cold at night? You need a fire." Zephyr had realized that the wind would get cold. She would not feel it because she was made of mana. As long as she had her wind elemental mana she was fine. But Gil was a human. He needed a fire to stay warm.


    This was unexpected. Gil knew that Zephyr cared about him because he had been with her for longer than even he had known, but this was the first time she had directly expressed worry for him. "Don''t worry, my cloak has doubleyers so that I will stay warm. It also helps keep any mist or dew out." Zephyr grew visibly more energetic with this answer and decided that she would take a spot on Gil''s shoulder while he started his hunt.


    Feeling like he had more foundations under him after learning that he had skills he was missing out on by not meditating and better understanding wind, Gil held the bow firm and moved forward. "I know a small clearing by the stream up here. It will be the best ce to stake out for anything roaming at night. We will climb a tree and watch." The n was simple but it could pay off very well.


    The area that the two came to was a slightlyrger than he had made it sound and the first thing he did was sneak through and check foot prints. "Looks like the mud boarde through here. They shoulde through for waterter. This is perfect. We will have a shot in the morning. Other than that maybe a forest wolf or two but some smaller prints. These might be start fox but could easily be prints from a grass fox. We will see."


    The tree that Gil chose to rest on was not thergest but it had a branch that came to the side and had plenty of room for him to sit and watch silently. The leaves were still bushy around him so seeing him would take an extremely sharp eye looking for him. He had brought one of his older cloaks that blended with greens and brows so he was very well camouged.


    It didn''t take long for Zephyr to feel a change in the wind, "I can feel somethinging." Gil could tell the wind shifted so whatever it was that was moving wasrge enough to cause a change. He could also tell that this was the difference in his new understanding of the wind. Through his connection with Zephyr and understanding the wind elemental mana better he could feel what she was feeling to a degree, if only limited.


    The footsteps of the heavy monster were not being hidden at all, Gil knew the sound of it and when it came to the clearing he could barely make it out in the moonlight as the monster headed toward the stream. "That was a bark bear. They are pretty fierce but they usually just eat the wood grubs under rotting tree bark. I can''t carry it back with the lord boar anyway, we can wait." The bark bear drank its fill and was off.


    The pair sat for some time watching as the moon rose in to the sky enjoying the stars. Eventually, a darting shape caught Gils'' attention. He drew the bow on instinct before he realized that what he was seeing was a thorn hare. It was a very tough rabbit that would make burrows in thorn bushes. However, this made it less valuable because the meat was too tough for anyone to want. Unless, you were a monster that enjoyed eating thorn hares.


    "Keep an eye out. That is the thorn fox''s favorite prey." Gil was looking everywhere while the thorn hare made its way to the edge of the stream to take a sip of water. Yet, the thorn hare did not get anywhere. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared. Gil and Zeper were both stunned. The slightly greenish rabbit that had been slowly hopping toward the water was suddenly lost to the darkness.


    The only sign that there was something in the area was the soft growl and tearing sound that was soon paired with the sounds of eating. "It''s behind the two trees over there." Zephyr alerted Gil before dwelling with the bow and gathering the wind elemental mana as Gil drew it taught. He was nning to use a wind elemental wither spike arrow with the bow''s ability to use the wind elemental mana. The goal would be to pierce through the tree and get the star fox.


    "Good." Gil could feel the shot and let it fly as silently as possible. He did not need to worry about damage. The start fox pelt was ck and would not be damaged by any blood so this shot just needed to wound or defeat the monster.


    There was a splintering sound that was immediately followed by a sharp yelp. One of the small trees was split and began to bend over without falling. There was a dragging sound that Caused Gil to jump from the branch and run towards the prey he had just injured.


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 Chapter 818 - 818. Mud Boars

    Gil sprinted toward the tree and jumped to roll around with an arrow notched. He released it even before he could clearly see his target. With the feelings of the wind around him, he was able to tell the general area of the star fox along with his natural intuition. Bothbined made him a much better hunter.


    The arrow was nothing tooplicated. He did not use a magical arrow and instead chose to use the wither spike arrow with the horned rabbit poison in it. This would cause the star wold to be paralyzed even if Gil did not finish it off with this arrow. Not that it was a problem, because when the arrownded the star fox crumbled to the ground and the star like eyes just looked out empty.


    "Got it!" Zephyr separated from the bow and moved to check out their rare prize. "It really haspletely white eyes. It''s so creepy." She was not impressed with the eyes that gave it the name star fox. However, she did appreciate the pure ck fur that the star fox had.


    "The fur is the real prize. It doesn''t have much use when ites to armors and such, but it is valuable for high end clothing. Either Lisa can sell it for us or keep it herself to make something. But it is a nice achievement for a hunter since they are hard to spot at night and impossible to find their burrows in the daytime. Plus, we have the bonus prize of a slightly damaged thorn hare. Maybe Midnight will eat it?"


    Gil was not sure if the thorn hare could be useful but he promptly started to butcher the two monsters while Zephyr took watch. With the jobing to a close, Gil buried the unusable parts while setting the meat and useful materials in to the bag he had brought.


    "This will pretty much fill the bag up so now we can move away and start a fire. I won''t be greedy and hunt anything else. Then I won''t be able to gather the lord boar in the morning." Gil started off a little ways before he grabbed enough of the smaller dried branches from the ground for a small fire. Zephyr floated about watching Gil began to roast some small pieces of the star fox.


    "The lord boar should be enough food for everyone to have a feast at the mansion. I know it is a tough prey to hunt but it would be a big aplishment for me. My father could only do it with two others helping to distract it when it charges." Gil was already ying out the battle and how he wanted it to go in his mind. The best he could do at the moment was mentally prepare himself.


    "Will we fight from the trees again? When you jumped down you were suuuuuper fast. It was like we were flying. You should learn to fly! Ste came to visit me and fly the other day." Zephyr had started a very good friendship with Ste. The two may not have been able to speak with each other but they were happier to just fly around the skies of the kingdom with each other and enjoy the air.


    "You haven''t had any run ins with the pure light griffon, right? I don''t know what it would do if you annoyed it even a little." This was a worry that Gil had but seemed to be unfounded.


    "It is only interested in fighting enemies and absorbing the light. The light spirits fawn over it all day really high in the sky and even at night. " Zephyr didn''t appear to like the way the pure light griffin operated. "I just don''t want to ever go to its home or a home for a wind summon like it." The attitude the pure light griffin had was enough to turn Zephyr off from venturing to other elemental realms ever.


    "With how strong it is, I don''t think anyone we know is able to venture to such a ce. Bit it is interesting to think that a summoner can pull another being from another realm entirely. I wonder what they are like since they are not the same as how our world works. Do you think they are bound by the same rules?" Gil felt himself getting deeper and deeper in to his curiosity.


    "Walker would be so proud." Zephyr saw the simrities between Gil and Walker at this moment and Gil just shook his head and grabbed his roasted star fox.


    The pair chatted their night away until the suns'' rays began to stretch over the horizon ad the sounds of birds took over the air. "Looks like it is time for us to go and im our tree to wait for the mud boars toe for their morning water."


    Gil and Zephyr started to head back while cleaning up any sign of themselves on the way. Gil had always learned not to leave a trace that he was there so that Nature could more easily recover. It was a secondary reason to bury the unused part of a monster that was hunted other than the fact the unused parts would attract monsters.


    "I can hear them already." The sound of bushes and twigs breaking was a sign of theming towards the stream. The mud boars would all be distracted by their water so that the lord boar would have less chance of receiving back up from the other mud boars. It would also help that Gil would scare them due to their rxed state when getting water.


    "I counted twenty three mud boars that I can not hunt. But I see the lord boar no problem." Gil pointed out the massive boar in the center of the other mud boars.


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 Chapter 819 - 819. Successful Hunt

    Part of Gil wanted to hunt all of the mud boars to bring back, however, he pushed those thoughts away. He knew all too well the damage to the poption it would cause. That he couldn''t carry all of them back. And furthermore, that when he made multiple trips he would most likely find another predator eating the ones he left behind.


    "Every monsteres for water when they wake up. It''s a normal instinct and a perfect opportunity." Zephyr dwelled within the bow again feeling that Gil was preparing for the lord boar to


    iste itself from the rest of the mud boars.


    Besides therger size, the lord boar was cleaner than the others. It had dirt and mud on it still but not all over its coarse fur. It also had fourrge tusks instead of two small ones like the other mud boars did. They were the main prize for most hunters due to their curled appearance being popr for certain bracers.


    Gil pulled out one of the shadow affinity arrows he had received from the elves. This was the one which could disappear and travel in the shadows when fired. In the dim lighting of the outer forest and therge shadow of the lord boar, it was perfect for a sneak attack.


    Knowing the lord boar separated itself because it wanted to drink without being challenged for its position as the dominant boar of the group, Gil watched it move to the side of the stream. Normally it would not be attacked by the usual predators due to its size. Predators would usually attack the small mud boars for easier food.


    "Here we go." Gil gave Zephyr the warning as he activated the mana within the arrow. The shadows seemed to wrap around it slightly as he released it.


    The arrow was gone in a blink of an eye and while it traveled through the shadows, Gil was already notching another arrow, this time a wind elemental arrow.


    The shadow underneath the lord boar shifted and an arrow appeared piercing its hind leg. Gil had hoped for better but did not worry about the darkness affinity arrow he needed to train with more. He had already activated wind elemental mana within his next arrow and released it toward the lord boar.


    Spiraling wind surrounded the arrow causing it to rotate a little more than a normal arrow would. This effect caused the arrow to pierce the hard skill of the lord boar as if it was nothing. The louder thud that came with the defeat of the lord boar was enough to cause some chaos to the mud boars nearby. They were usually more rxed even when one of them was picked off by a preditor. However, the lord boar was the one defeated with ease by a predator that was nowhere to be seen.


    The mud boars rushed off in chaos, some already fighting over the empty space that was left for the strongest in the group. Nearby animals and monsters were alerted to much of the dismay of Gil. "I need to settle this boar quickly." He pulled his dagger out and began to work as fast as possible to remove the useless parts of the lord boar and bury it.


    After he had fully cleaned it he set it up as his father had shown him and he began to carry it from the edge of the forest. There was still a decent amount of space until he reached the walls but he didn''t worry. Now that Gil had started to learn more and feel the wind elemental mana he could tell that Zephyr was constantly sending off an intimidating pulse of mana. It was akin to an angry mother.


    The soft smile Gil had knowing this didn''t leave his face until he reached the gates and was let in. A few of the passing merchants, adventurers, and guards shouted congrattions for his sessful hunt. This was always his favorite part of returning. It was a verymon trend for those that also hunted in some form or fashion to wee another hunter back.


    By the time he had made it to the kitchen of the mansion to find Walker and Lisa''s mother, Gil was by far the dirtiest he had been in a while. "Hello!?"


    "Oh! Gil, I would ask how your hunting went but I can see you did well. I assume that''s why you are back a little earlier than expected?" Hilda was excited for the chance to make such a good looking meal with the lord boar. She had many recipes she could make but right now the slight chill in the harvest season air was saying that she should make her boar stew.


    "It is. I managed to get lucky and find the mud boar tracks as soon as I got to my hunting grounds. I also managed to snag a small gift for Lisa since she helped with my costume. Just a star fox pelt. The usual." Gil smirked a little while he watched Hilda process this.


    "You know what? I think I will just ept that. All of you are always doing amazing things and a star fox should just be normal now." Hilda had be defeated by the constant wonder that came from just her sons'' actions. "But, give those star fox eyes to Remey, apparently they are used for some potion that can heal receding vision from old age." Hilda had heard this from one of her friends and not forgotten it.


    "I will do that. I also have some thorn hare meat that could be useful for Midnight. If you wouldn''t mind roasting it too." Gil watched Hilda get to work and he again realized his appearance of filthiness in the kitchen. He rushed off to wash himself and the star fox pelt for Lisa. His mind was already filled with hunger for the dinner he would haveter.


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 Chapter 820 - 820. For Me?

    "You really brought this for me!?" Lisa was so excitedtely with her gifts. Now that Gil had also brought her back something to use as a material she could experiment even more with her clothing designs.


    "Of curse I did. I couldn''t let the chance to hunt one get away from me. The first person I thought of when I decided to do it was you. It''s a pretty great fur for clothing and only you could make the best of it." The entire dinner table was impressed with the pelt due to its perfect quality and pure ck coloration.


    "You might be getting a little too good at the wholeplimenting people thing, Gil." Walker had a teasing look on his face after hearing what Gil had been saying.


    "What? You know it''s true. Lisa is getting lessons and experience from the castle''s seamstress and tailor now. She will probably be the best in the kingdom soon. Plus, she is the only one that is learning or even knows the elf stitched runes." Gil made a valuable point while he watched Lisa examine the fur in close detail.


    "Oh, Remey. Now that you are the master alchemist are back I can give you the star fox eyes. I was told they are good for a vision potion or something?" Remey and the old master alchemist had just walked in after finally returning from the alchemy building archives.


    "Reall? Star fox eyes? It has been a few months since I have seen a pair of them. They are a little young but I can make a very good position using the centers of them. It''s a strange ingredient for sure, but the results are great. They are the central ingredient to making a vision restoration potion for old timers like me." The old master alchemist didn''t let Remey even reach out a hand before he took it. "I will be sure to send some of my research potions to you. I have a unique one that should suit you."


    "What do you mean by your research? You have been working on a new health potion with me...right?" Remey was caught unexpectedly by the old master alchemist. She had not seen him working on anything other than the things he did with her. The rest of the dining room also wasn''t sure what he meant.


    "None of you would know, but while you were gone everyone here was improving too." Hilda unveiled the steaming pots of lord boar stew. The small filled the room and every single person began to drool. "Midnight, Gil caught this thorn hare for you to try. It had tough meat so I made sure to slow cook it with the bones still in it. If you don''t like it I will just give you extra stew." Hilda gave her an extra scoop of lord boar stew anyways though.


    "While you were all gone and off saving kingdoms and all that, we were working on our own systems. I managed to get a group together to train again and I n to try to level up in my spare time. I have started to ck off and I was pushed to apply as a guard instructor at the academy." Walkers'' father picked up where the others had left.


    "Really? That''s pretty amazing. I didn''t know that there were positions like that." Su had not expected that there would be such a teaching position avable.


    "There are a lot of new guards that need to be trained to go Genesis city. It is important to have them well educated before the journey there." It was an expected realization.


    "I have been working on my recipes and learned a new knife skill. It''s called speed carving. Just look at the vegetables. All perfect as they should be." Walkers'' mother was happy to see the look of awe on everyone''s face.


    "And as they said, we all have been working on our own systems. I took a break from the health potions and started to focus on something I have always wondered about. Can we enhance magical affinity temporarily to cause better control for a mage using elemental magic skills?" The old master alchemist had grown too excited and spilled his personal experiments.


    "That''s why you said you might have something I would like. Zephyr and I have a good connection for wind elemental mana and if I was to drink a potion that enhanced wind elemental affinity then I would be able to bind with her more and potentially use stronger wind skills." Gil looked much more excited than Walker had expected him to be.


    "What!? Why didn''t you tell me? I would have been helping with that after we finished our archives project!" Remey felt that she had just had a massive rock dropped on her. This was a big deal.


    "Hahaha, I have always wondered and with the free time, I have now I decided to put some work in. And let me ask you this, have you told me everything you have learned just yet abut your new knowledge on elven herbs?" The fact that the pair had some secrets from each other just made both of them question the other more.


    "Well, since all of you have been busy it shouldn''te with too much of a surprise that we have been working too. But don''t worry too much. You will all get used to it since you spend all your time surprising us too." Gil''s mother just smiled slightly waiting for someone to ask her about her new cross breeding skills. She had been waiting for a chance to tell them about the flowers she had bought.


    "...what did you learn?" Gil knew the look on his mothers'' face all too well and did not hesitate to ask.


    "Oooh, it''s nothing. I just learned a few skills and cross bred an icy blue rose with a pink rose to make a pink rose that blooms in the middle of the snow." The table was all interested in what it would look like and started to pry in to the thing every single one of their parents and friends have been up to.


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 Chapter 821 - 821. Light Resistance?

    After the dinner that centered around Gil''s sessful hunt of the lord boar, everyone went their own ways. Walker and Su made a deal with Midnight to wake up early and work on the final breath attack. They needed to work on the light elemental attack since it was thest one remaining.


    For a change, Walker found himself waking up Midnight who had been fairly exhausted with all of her training. It was clear that it was taking more out of her than he imagined. Yet, when he told her to slow down he was met with defiance. Midnight had no intention of slowing her progress and knew that if managed to get all of the elemental dragon breath attacks she would be closer to being the best dragon champion there ever could be. In terms of dragons, she was sure to be well ahead of many at her age.


    "I didn''t think you would be up so soon." Su walked in with a pot of hot water for tea. She usually would have sat for a little while she waited for Midnight to wake up Walker.


    "I just happened to be up so I decided to flip the script a little. Plus, the light elemental breath attack will be interesting so I wanted to see if Onyx wanted to help out. He might not have light elemental attacks but he does absorb and consume light elemental mana." Onyx was just waking up as well from his sleeping spot next to Midnight and appeared to like the sound of this.


    "Brother, I believe having me around may make it harder. I will absorb the light mana without trying." The look downward made Onyx seem like a pouting child who wanted to do something but was just told no.


    Seeing this reaction, Midnight shook her head and used her snout to flip Onyx on to her back. "As you can tell, she doesn''t seem to mind. It will also make her work a little harder for the attack. The challenge is always wee." Walker was also thinking about the fact that he would have to work harder to condense the light elemental mana for the area. He didn''t have many light elemental skills that had be physical at the end of the day. It was still an affinity that was mostly used for some forms of healing and illusion.


    "There is something I have been wondering." Su had a pensive look on her face while she poured herself the morning tea she looked forward to every day she was home. "If I gain resistance to light elemental mana, will the healing skills that use light elemental mana be less effective on me? Will the skills that cause illusions be less effective on me? I have yet to find any answers in books I have read."


    Walker brought his hand to his chin, he had no idea if this was a thing at all. " I don''t want you to get a resistance to an element that could cause you to be unable to be healed. It would be a terrible thing if you were hurt in the first ce, but if you couldn''t be healed? Much, much worse." There was no way that Walker could allow something like this. It would be incredibly risky.


    "Why don''t we visit the cathedral this morning first. There is a lot of light elemental mana there and it could be helpful to speak to the light elemental affinity healers." Onyx came to the best conclusion they would all have reached. The cathedral was the most concentrated ce for light affinity individuals. Mostly because they usually had some form of healing skill.


    "Then we get to go to the cathedral. It should be a fun day then." Su was more than happy to reach this conclusion. She would be able to see her friends and even had a few ideas of who to speak to.


    "Mhm, we should head out after breakfast. There is some left over stew and I know just where it is." Walker snuck some of the leftover stew from the kitchen and they all relished the meal for a second time before they left.


    "The streets seem busier today than yesterday. I wonder why." Su had taken notice of the many people and carriages out on the roads.


    "I think a lot of people are heading out for work at Genesis city today. Some have even decided to move there. Actually, I think there are a lot of people who received quests that had no systems that are leaving to go there as a new start. It could be a really big deal." Walker noticed many who appeared to be learning new tasks as well. It was a nice thing to see through their entire walk to the cathedral. A new opportunity was always a positive thing in the world.


    "Su!" One of the nuns outside the cathedral weed Su as soon as she saw her.


    "Good morning! How are you? Normally the others are outside. Why are you doing it today?" Su knew that her friend would not normally be the one greeting those that came to the cathedral in the morning.


    "Well, you know how we had a lot of people here after the farms were attacked?" The nun saw Su nod, "Most of them have been healed and it exhausted a few healers so we are taking small vacations before we begin education for the new cathedral to be built in Genesis." It made a lot of sense. The education of new nuns and healers for a new cathedral would be very tiring. Especially since the high priest was going to be in Genesis to find two people that would take over his position and the new cathedral''s operations.


    "But get this, Alice has been talking. Someone heard her say a full sentence yesterday!" The fact that this was gossip to the nuns and healers was not missed by Walker. However, it was amazing because they were so used to Alice rarely speaking a single word due to her skills causing the light to be affected. Overall it was fairly surprising.


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 Chapter 822 - 822. Light Lessons

    "We have all been trying to figure out why and apparently after we asked her for the tenth time she showed us this bracelet she had. No one has ever seen one like it before so we have a feeling it wasn''t made here." Alice had obviously not told everyone about the bracelet or her rtions with Walker.


    "I found that with the help of Su on the forest elf city. It is amon item there for those with systems that have a hard time controlling skills that use their mana all the time. But when I saw it Su and I knew it was perfect for Alice. I couldn''t help but buy one." Su''s friend was slightly surprised to hear that it had been a gift from Walker but she also appeared to look as if she had just been told a great secret.


    "Oh, by the way, is Jill here? We want to as a few questions about light elemental healing skills." Su changed the topic to keep her friend from fully embarassing Walker.


    "Yes! She took the morning to y and is taking a break now. She is tuning her harp right now. I bet you can catch her in the back of the seating." There was a little bit of confusion as to why Su was going to be asking about light elemental mana but it was overshadowed by the fact that her friend was able to get some good gossip to shareter.


    "We are heading in. Thank you for your help." Walker strode in to the cathedral with Midnight and Onyx right behind him. Su said her temporary farewell and entered too while looking around sharply. She had only spoken to Jill a few times but remember that all of her musical skills were light affinity. She had some of the most potent healing magic but at a high mana cost. But this didn''t matter. Because she also had songs that would boost elemental resistances making her a very good person to ask about resistance to light elemental mana.


    "I see her. She''s over there. Come on." Walker wanted to look for Alice a little but decided that it coulde after. It was mainly Su and Midnight that would benefit from the knowledge of light elemental mana and Walker was also sure that Su would want some time to speak to her friends before they left. There was no way they would just visit the cathedral then just leave after.


    "Hey Jill, can we ask you a few questions?" The petit blond girl cleaning her harp popped her head up and smiled when she saw Su.


    "For the honorary healer hero, anything." Jill recognized Su as everyone in the cathedral would even without meeting her. Su had a very good reputation as an honorary healer due to how much she helped out and the exceptional assistance she gave even without skills that allowed her to heal others.


    "Midnight, Walker, and I are doing some training with light elemental attacks today and found a small problem. You have a lot of buff skills for elemental resistance and we wanted to ask you, do people with light elemental resistances resist healing skills that use light elemental mana as a base?" The question caught Jill off guard a little since it was not amon one. However, she had once asked the same of a senior above her in the church.


    "No, they do not. I worried about this too and apparently the skills with positive effects will not be diminished as long as the users'' intention is still good. If someone made a sword of light and attacked someone with light resistance then yes, they would resist the attack. But if I also used a healing skill then the healing would work normally.


    " And would the resistance still help resistant illusion light elemental skills? I was wondering because they are technically not a physical skill that needs physical elemental resistances." The question was also easily answered by Jill who had partially expected it.


    "You would need a mental resistance skill. The illusions don''t usually attack you physically. I have heard of some systems that give the ability for illusions to cause physical damage but that is very very rare." Jill seemed to be enjoying the conversation and the educational opportunities that came to her.


    "Sister wants to know if gathering too much light elemental mana can have adverse effects on the body," Onyx spoke up. This question from Midnight was based off of the damage that she had received from hurridly gathering the earth elemental mana and causing her to cough.


    "It can. Unlike some other elements, the effects of the light elemental mana are different. Usually, they would heal someone with certain skills but I have seen healers that push themselves too much and gather a lot of light elemental mana at once. The effect is simr to purifying. But the problem is that everything should not be pure in the body. We don''t eat perfectly cleaned food or anything. There are always other elemental manas that the body needs."


    "That makes sense. We have our own mana in our bodies so if we gather too much light elemental mana out own mana could be purified and pushed out. That would most likely cause some form of sickness." Walker made the connection easily.


    "That would be called healers'' syndrome. It''s thea that some healers fall in to when they identally purify their own mana. It will take months if not years for their body to recover and rece their mana in every fiber of their body. During that time they will be healthy but unable to wake up and function. It''s very dangerous." Jill held a serious tone to warn off Su and Walker of this. Midnight and Onyx both nodded along with the lesson as well. It was valuable information that none of them had known. "If you could excuse me now, I have another song to y." Jill left them to think about what they had learned and soon the soft song of a harp began to y.


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 Chapter 823 - 823. Gather

    "Oh, there''s Alice. I will go and say hi, are youing or will you go and find your friends to talk to before we leave in a bit?" Walker already knew the answer but it was asking just for politeness.


    " I will go and see everyone. It wouldn''t be nice to leave without properly greeting everyone." Walker nodded and saw that Onyx and Midnight were already sneaking off toward a corner they had deemed perfect for napping. With a shake of his head, he went his own way as well.


    "So, I hear that you have be the center of a lot of gossips. Going around and saying full sentences to shock all of the healers?" When Alice hear his voice while she prepared the back up bandages for when they would need them she burst in to a bright smile.


    "Walker!" Her voice was still soft but it danced on his ears nearly stunning him every single time he heard it. There was surprise all over his face when Alice hugged him as her greeting which was different than usual, however, he had no problems with it.


    "We came to get some insights on light elemental mana because Midnight is going to learn a breath attack that uses it. Jill helped us with an exnation about what would happen with too much condensed light elemental mana and about light elemental resistances." Walker was proud that he was able to gather some information before talking to Alice so that he could have a little bit of a better understanding.


    After making a slightly pouty face Alice pulled on Walkers'' sleeve, "Ask me."


    The realization that she would have wanted him to ask her for help hit him, "I couldn''t bother you. I know you are always so busy. The cathedral relies on you and I can''t take you away from your duty." His attempt to y it off as if he was afraid he would bother her seemed to work a little. But she still pulled his sleeve a little harder and gave him a stern look. "But I can ask you for guidance now if you have time? Midnight, Su, Onyx, and I could train here under your supervision?"


    The idea caught Alice off guard since she had expected Walker to say that they were leaving soon. Her smile returned and she started to put away the back up bandages in an easily essible shelf in the corner of the cathedral with a multitude of other healing items. "Come on. "Alice Pulled Walker along behind her after she locked eye son Su from across the cathedral.


    Walker managed to overhear a fewments from the healers as he was pulled past, "I told you they were together!"


    "Shhh, the couple will hear you."


    "Ooohh shush, if you make a big deal you will miss their wedding."


    The red face that Walker had waspletely different from the determined Alice who was already grabbing Su''s arm as well, "Time for training." The healers that Su was talking to just giggled as they watched Alice try to pull Su away even though Alice was much less strong than Su. Naturally, Su allowed Alice to pull her toward Midnight and Onyx in their napping corner.


    "Training." The voice of Alice was not very familiar to Midnight since she had only heard it once or twice. Onyx had spoken to Alice in her mind so he was able to tell that it was her and greeted her quickly. Midnight on the other hand was slower to get up since she was not sure what was going on.


    When Midnight noticed that Alice was the one that spoke and was holding on to Su and Walker she became intrigued. "Midnight, We are going to the back garden to train. Alice will supervise s since she can use her voice to control the light. It will be better to train here in case we need to ask more questions of others as well." Walkers'' point was clear and Midnight did not object at all. She silently followed Alice in curiosity since she was a little amused by the smaller girl pulling Su and Walker behind her. Unknown to everyone else, Midnight started to believe that Alice was secretly stronger than Walker and Su to be able to drag them along.


    The garden in the back of the cathedral had not changed. It still held the pleasant gazebo that someone could rest under and the spot that Walker had practiced his water elemental mana maniption to create the frost whip spell.


    "Here." Alice stood in the middle of the garden and was giving Walker a harsh look. Before he could ask why she was looking at her he realized that she was waiting for him to begin to call on the light elemental mana with his skills.


    Alice nodded at him when he started to do this and Midnight fell in line so that she would be able to train as well. Onyx took a spot opposite Midnight so that he could constantly absorb the light elemental mana that she breathed out while practicing. Yet, when Su moved to sit too Alice stopped her.


    "Train with me." Alice was sure that Su would understand but when Su was looking at her confused Alice removed the bracelet that helped her keep her skill under control. This made Su even more confused until Alice raised her hand and spoke again, "Gather." The light elemental mana that Walker had been starting to pull towards them waspletely taken from his control.


    The light began to condense in to Alice''s hand in a pure white light shaped like a stick. It was a magic staff without any shaping or gem at the top. Just a in stick of light that somehow did not blind any of them. "You can make the light a weapon with your words?" Su was too stunned while saying this. When Alice had said she wanted Su to train she expected meditating and resisting what Walker and Midnight did, not that Alice could fight as well.


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 Chapter 824 - 824. Light Absorption

    "Alice! You can attack with light too!?" Walker was hit pretty hard with the realization that he had never actually asked or learned about Alices'' capabilities. He had only ever known her to heal using her skills and not condense light to a point that she was able to create something physical. Overall, this was a pretty big shock and lesson to him for not being able to pay attention well enough.


    The smile on Alices'' face showed that she was happy that she had surprised Walker, however, she was not going to let it cause her to lose her own focus. Her eyes were locked on Su, "No armor." She knew that Su wanted light elemental resistance and that her armor would cause her not to gain it as well as she wanted.


    Su was slightly confused still but since Alice was ordering it for the training she stripped down to her normal clothing that she wore underneath the thicker armor. It exposed her arms more which worried her since that was one of the thinnest ces in her armor anyways due to the maneuverability she needed for her shields.


    "I see now, Su. Alice might attack you but you need to block with your body more. That is condensed light elemental mana so you will be forced to resist it with every strike. If you armor blocked it-"


    "Then I would have lost out on the training and it would have been a waste of time and mana." Su caught up easily and Walker smiled while reaffirming his hold on the light elemental mana he could feel around. The condensing started again and the area felt and looked brighter. Event he nts in the garden appeared to perk up a little more to absorb the light they would normally during the day.


    Midnight was of the opposite feeling, however. She was naturally a dark elemental affinity monster because of her mothers'' blood. The dragon champion bloodline may have awakened and been upgraded by the system yet, that did not mean that Midnight was not ufortable around such high volumes of light elemental mana which was in contrast to the dark elemental mana she was used to.


    There was also the fact that she could tell that her shadow wrapping skill was unusable right now. The light elemental mana would leave her open for the world to see no matter what. Even if she hid behind someone in their shadow she would still be unable to disappear as well as she usually could.


    "Alight, light elemental mana is bright and we all saw how that pure light griffin used it to attack in a bright beam. That should be a good vision to have in your mind when you condense the mana and push it out of your mouth." Walker knew that having a solid vision when trying to train the light elemental breath attack would be all too valuable for Midnight.


    The worry that Midnight had was clear to Onyx and Walker prompting them to think of a way for her to be more limated to the mana that she was notfortable with. "Sister, brother, I will start to absorb the light elemental mana and try to share how I feel with you. We are bound together after all." Onyx had the smart idea to try and share the feeling he had when he would absorb the light elemental mana to eat. If he was sessful then both Walker and Midnight would be able to feel the same sensation without actually doing it. This could open their eyes to the way the light elemental mana would feel and flow.


    Midnight knew that she would gain the most from this. If she could feel how the light elemental mana would permeate a body, then she would be able to understand how to take it and hold it inside her body before expelling it in a breath attack. Paired with the memory of the pure light griffins'' attack, she would be able to much more easily use the light elemental breath attack. But this was all in theory, she needed to try it all first.


    "I will try to pull the elemental mana toward you specifically. Just hold on for a minute." Walker was sure that he could do this but light elemental mana was being pulled toward Alice who was striking out towards Su, who easily deflected every strike with a shield. However, Su was moving slowly to allow the might elemental mana to have an effect on her.


    The mana began to be pulled towards them and Onyx curled up into a coil in front of Midnight and Walker. He started t glow slightly between his scales as the light elemental mana was pulled in to his body. Walker was closing his eyes to focus on the feelings that wereing through to him from Onyx.


    Since Walker was the middle man, Midnight was in turn feeling what Onyx was doing through him. The feeling of a tingling warmth was the sensation that Onyx experienced when he pulled the light elemental mana through his scales. This was then met with the slight pins and needles feeling hitting his muscles. From there it would be warm and powerful. This final feeling was something that pushed him to grow and want more of the light elemental mana.


    The part that Midnight focused on was the way the mana traveled from the scales to the muscles to the bones. This would allow her to guide the mana in to her lungs and be pushed out when she breathed out and flexed her neck muscles. It would also allow her to understand how she would be able to allow the mana around her to fuel the attacks she used without directly condensing and breathing them in. She could pull the elemental manas in through her skin in the same way as Onyx. It was enlightening.


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 Chapter 825 - 825. Combat Basics

    Walker was observing Midnight''s attempt to absorb the light elemental mana simrly to how Onyx did and even attempted to breathe some in to absorb it that way. Meanwhile, Alice was showing off how she could attack with light that she personally condensed. Su had realized that the attacks were field by the mana in the air and not by Alices'' manapletely. This meant that Alice was using her natural stamina to attack and no skill was behind it.


    The thwacking sound repeated over and over as Su had dropped her shield to block using her own body. Alicecked strength and magical attack power. This was simply due to her weaker levelpared to Su''s magical and physical defenses. But this worked out. Su was able to avoid being damaged while training herself against random attacks and attempting to resist the light elemental mana that would burst from Alices'' attacks.


    The light elemental mana was proving to be the dangerous part here. Due to the fact that light had a purifying effect the attacks from Alice pushed away Su''s mana. The attacks would cause Su to feel like she was being burned slightly even though there were no actual injuries. This presented the challenge to control her mana when she blocked it so that it would be thicker and resist the light elemental mana more.


    Continuing the attacks, Su saw that Alice was bing more determined. She knew that Walker had once talked with Alice about going on an adventure and could foresee that the adventure would most likely be the journey to Genesis city for the summit. It would be the perfect time to escort the high priest and Alice there along with others that maye as well.


    "You want to travel with us, correct?" Su began to question Alice while they trained. She wanted to push Alice to show what she could really do and potentially enhance her strength. Even if Alice could fight a little it would mean a higher chance of survival and greater safety while traveling.


    "Yes." The light staff in her hands vibrated in response. "Gather." The staff thickened and changed slightly. "Heavy" The end of the staff became like a club and came down on Su. Su was forced to deflect it and roll to the side. The attack wouldn''t have done damage but it carried more light elemental mana than before.


    "If you want toe you need to be prepared to survive a monster attack. Instead of you just attacking and me just attacking, I will attack now." Su picked up the earth dwelling shield and prepared herself. Alice also changed stances and narrowed her eyes.


    The stance was that of a beginner and would not hold weight, however, it was a good natural stance for someone that had only ever healed and trained their attack skills in private. When Alice attacked again, Su ducked to the side and pushed Alice back with her shield. T was not a hard hit but it was enough for her to stumble.


    "Keep your feet under you. Bend your knees to absorb the force. Be ready to fall and roll back to your feet in an instant. If you fall you die!" The change in Su''s attitude was a shock to Alice but she clearly understood that Su was trying to establish a proper lesson. Alice had intended to help them but was now being helped as well.


    Su continued to push Alice after she attacked until Alice managed to dodge the soft shield bash for the first time. "Good, now try and counter. The moment an attack is dodged or deflected is perfect to attack the weak point." Su was slowing her movements so that Alice could learn more.


    The pair continued this over and over dancing around the garden not even realizing the high priest hade out to the gazebo to watch. He had feigned ignorance when Alice had started to condense and trained light elemental mana in to a staff. He had always known this was possible for her since her words controlled the light elemental mana. However, the mana cost was too high for constant use. Since Alice had trained and received a gift to assist the control of her mana and skills, then it was finally possible to safely condense the light elemental mana.


    The moment that Alice finally dodged and countered with a hard thwack to Su''s side the high priest jumped to his feet, "That''s my girl!" His excitement shifted to embarrassment as everyone looked at him. "Ehm, sorry. Please continue with your training. I was a little too impressed." Alice was pouting since she had not thought she was being watched. However, Su began to exin the benefits and took the pause to talk through further strategy.


    Meanwhile, there was a slight white air that was expelled from Midnight''s breath. It was a small wisp but it was most certainly light elemental mana. Onyx confirmed it when Midnight managed to breathe it out. "That was a small start but I can tell you adjusted enough to the light elemental mana to breath it out. Concentrating it will take time but remember not to absorb too much. You are not Onyx and can not consume it safely."


    Walker was sure to remind Midnight before standing up, "Now that you have grasped it we should take a break and clean up. If we stay here all day then we will end up falling asleep here." Hisugh made Midnight and Onyx both realize they had been training for four straight hours to get a small result. Onyx had also absorbed a very high amount of light mana and needed to sleep it off while his body processed it.


    Threw as a soft woosh as a pair of wings came down tond on the roof of the cathedral. A pair of pure white eyes watched the group from above.


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 Chapter 826 - 826. Praise

    The pure light griffin had felt the change in the light elemental mana and had moved to see what was going on. This was a strange urrence in this ce from what it knew. Normally there would not berge amounts of light elemental mana building up unless someone was making it do so. This realm was different than the one it came from which was flooded with light elemental mana.


    It watched as Walker directed it and as Onyx absorbed it. The fact that Midnight was trying to take it within her body and use it as an attack was interesting because it reminded the pure light griffin of itself learning to use the light as an attack when it was younger. However, what truly caught its'' eye was when it noticed Su and Alice.


    Seeing that Su was taking the attacks and resisting the light elemental mana was not unusual. It was a very good way to train and the pure light griffin had respect for the method. The fact that Alice could speak and the light would bend to her will even without her intention was amazing. The pure light griffin had grown in the light elemental mana and learned to use it as needed. But Alice naturally caused it to change and even condense.


    The thoughts of someone like her entering its realm and controlling massive amounts of light with a whisper was terrifying. It was also terrifying that Ibis had summoned it more than once now to ask for assistance along with the many other light elemental creatures for the realm of light. This world was different but allowed ess to other realms. A grand mystery of existence that the pure light griffin was touching upon.


    As the group it watched began to take their rest it pped in to the air again and rose back in to the sky to enjoy the suns light. The pure light griffin was not happy to meet the light elemental spirits again but they were constantly bothering it, however, it was just part of being in control of the most light elemental mana there. Not a single person noticed it had stopped to watch and learn from the training group.


    "I see that all of you have made great advances today. I just wish there was something I could do to help. I only have my healing skills though and even they are fading with my age." The high priest feigned being sad but the proud aura around him radiated too obviously.


    "Even a few words of wisdom are enough. I am sure there are a great many things you could teach all of us." Walker was ying the polite part but knew that the high priest was all too happy seeing them training in their many ways.


    "I believe that Alice will be protecting us if we let her train too much." Su was putting her armor back on while joking a little.


    "I definitely feel more at ease seeing her strength. All with a few words she can make light physical. The light of the church shines bright with her around." The praise made Alice blush since she was not expecting the high priest to be so happy. It also made her remember that he had jumped up in joy after seeing her.


    "I was surprised to see her do that too. I was foolish to think that all she could do was heal through song. She is much stronger than I was able to see. I can''t wait to see what else she can think up." Walker was still stricken by the image of Alice condensing the light in her hand. It was something he would struggle to do without a lot more practice.


    "Brother, Alice is very strong. She can take the light that I am trying to eat. Not many can do that that I have met." Onyx was praising Alice too causing her face to deepen in to a deeper shade of red.


    Seeing that Midnight was starting to droop her head and her eyes were looking foggy made him realize that she had long reached the end of her strength and needed to rest more than anyone had noticed. Midnight had been using much more mana than usual to try and breathe the light elemental mana attack. It was because she was unfamiliar and resistant to it due to her previous affinity. All of this put more and more strain on her that was beginning to show itself.


    "I hate to say it but Midnight looks like she should head home. I think it will be best of we call it a day here." Walker could see that Su needed rest as well since her armor appeared to weigh on her more than usual. As much as Su would not admit she was tired, her body was all too telling.


    "If Midnight is feeling tired it is wise to head home now." Su agreed a little faster than Walker expected but it was what they all needed.


    "It was pleasant seeing all of you in that case. I wish you could stay longer but I do believe it is nearly time to work myself. I may be old but I am not done running around yet." The high priest and Alice saw the group to the entrance of the cathedral and waved as they descended the steps.


    "Well, Midnight, you have felt every single elemental breath attack now. It will take a lot of practice but in time you should start to b able to use them faster. One day you might even be able tobine them to use them interchangeably." Walker could only imagine that day when it woulde. However, he also knew that at the rate Midnight improved it could be sooner than he expected.


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 Chapter 827 - 827. Morning Dew

    WhenWalker went to wake Midnight up in the morning he found that she was already off in the training field behind the mansion trying out the breath attacks. Unlike Walker thought, he saw that she was trying to switch through the different elemental breath attacks. The fact that she was starting to do this early made Walker proud. It meant that Midnight was thinking ahead instead of only thinking about the immediate learning of the skills.


    "I won''t bother her today. She is already training hard." Walker saw that Onyx was watching over his older sister from the side and gave him a pat on the head, "If Midnight gets tired or starts to cough tell her she needs to rest. You''re in charge." Onyx may have been a serpent but Walker could tell he was smiling when Walker trusted him with this task.


    There were not many things that absolutely had to be done right away and knowing that he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted was pleasant and rxing. His thoughts fell through helping the wandering cksmith who was still changing and adjusting his tools or to join Remey and the old master alchemist. There was also the future herbalist Lewisia who he knew was in the garden with Gil''s mother working hard to learn.


    "I should probably work with Fleur and get her the mana she needs." Walker realized that even with the wandering cksmith upied he would still be held up if he could not provide Fleur with the proper natural mana she needed. The weapon they were making required her assistance.


    Feeling the natural mana had be something that seemed to nag at his senses. This was not bad since he was used to feeling the other elemental manas around him, however, it was new that he could not feel thembining and mixing with each other at a moremon rate than he even realized.


    Walker could feel the small mixing of water and earth elemental mana as the dew from the morning dripped on to the soil of the garden. He could also feel the mixing of the light, fire, and water elemental mana as the wind elemental mana caused the water to evaporate. If he focused too much he knew he could end up lost in meditation for a long time. The way nature worked was much moreplicated than he had even realized when he focused just on single elemental manas.


    The natural manabining together was not the same as the natural mana that flowed around. The natural mana was a bnced mana that seemed to touch everything. However, there was also the feeling that more was working here that Walker still could not see or control. It was on the very edge of his mind but he could tell whatever it was, it was connected to the natural mana.


    Walker ended up sitting under the small dragon fruit tree sapling that was growing much faster than he had expected due to the perfect care it was receiving daily from Gil''s mother and the additional attention from the elemental spirits. Walker could only think that when it was able to grow fruit that Midnight would have another treat that she would convince everyone to give her.


    Before he could sit properly to meditate he saw a drop of dew falling from a leaf. This would not normally be something that would catch his attention so much, yet, for some reason it did. The drop of dew fell and slowly dissipated until a much smaller dropnded on the soil sinking in to the roots. Walker could understand that the dew evaporated and condensed again on the leaves keeping them cool in the morning sun. The dew thatnded in the soil was absorbed and the sapling drank it up as more nutrients. It was a cycle that would repeat every single morning to a degree.


    Feeling that this was something miraculous, Walker reached out a hand and tried to make the urrence happen again. Surprisingly, the natural mana responded instead of the elemental mana. The elements were all together in making this seemingly simple urrence happen every single day. With Walkers'' maniption the cycle sped up and before he knew it he had caused the sapling to absorb more nutrients and the dew to be pulled toward it from the other smaller nts.


    ''The skill dewdrop has been taken from the nature fairy system. The skill dewdrop has been automatically learned through the user action and the young sage title condition.


    Dewdrop- 1 mana cost per minute


    The user is able to manipte the natural mana to cause morning dew to speed its natural cycle. The nt being affected by this skill will be able to absorb ten times as much nutrients to be able to proceed to a growth spurt in the near future. The dew that other nts would have taken will be missing causing them to slow in growth for a short period of time. Excessive use of this skill in one area can cause unbnce in nature. This skill can be used to restore some bnce to certain damaged ces in nature.''


    Looking around, Walker saw that the soil and leaves of surrounding nts were dry. After he read the description of his new skill he was excited that he had a skill that used the natural mana around him. He was also happy to have helped the little sapling grow more. But, he knew that he could harm the other nts and that this was a skill that needed to be used sparingly. It would be best to look for the nt that was struggling to survive and use the dewdrop skill there.


    Without any other hesitation, Walker moved to get water to remedy the dry soil he had caused. It was a peaceful day to garden and he found himself spending a few hours going through and tending to some of the nts by pruning them.


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 Chapter 828 - 828. Necessary Materials

    While Walker worked in the garden he suddenly found a shadow hade behind him. "Oh, I thought you were working on your tools?" The wandering cksmith had a hammer in his hand and a serious expression.


    "This won''t work. It''s too weak." There was an unhappy and annoyed tone to the words the wandering cksmith spoke. He had been hard at work creating better tools and found that his hammer was not going to be tough enough to craft the way he needed to craft the parts of Walker''s weapon.


    This was not good news for Walker. He had realized what the wandering cksmith meant by this when he was told and that there would be an even greater challenge now that he could not use the hammer to create the parts of the weapon the wandering cksmith had created. It also meant that waking up Fluer was a pointless action since Walker would just be bothering her rest without a task at hand. He wanted her to rest and absorb as much natural mana as she needed before he asked her for help.


    "What do we do?" The answer had toe from the wandering cksmith since Walker was not sure about what they would need to improve or even make a new hammer that could take the abuse they would put it through while crafting.


    There was a pensive look on the wandering cksmiths'' face before he nodded a few times, "The cooling runes are not enough. I need centennial ice shards." The cooling that was needed for the forging process was not powerful enough. If they were unable to control it well enough then the weapon could have dangerous defects. Such defects in metal could cause there to be explosions or imbnces of mana causing wild spells.


    "I take it we need to move up your trip to the mountains then? That is the only ce where the ice and snow never melt fully." It was clear that instead of a learning trip to the higher mountain that they would be going there for materials instead.


    The wandering cksmith gave a sharp nod and waited for Walker to tell him the n. It was clear that this was unexpected and that they were not ready to push themselves forward just yet, however, he knew that most of the things that were going on with the party could be changed or adjusted as they went.


    "I will get everyone together and we will see about getting there. We might be able to ask Elise for some help with the travel to the base of the mountains. The giant hawks are still around and she is nning on being here for some time." Walker headed inside and found that Remey and Su were trying a row of new tea blends with some regenerative herbs. "Good thing you two are here. I have to ask if you two are willing to head on the mountain trip earlier than expected?"


    There was a silence in the room since Walker did not pause. He just opened with the serious portion of the conversation and jumped right in to it causing the two to think immediately.


    "Yes, I can go. I have no ns and it will benefit me to train in the cold of the mountains. They are also windy so I can work on wind resistance as well. It''s safer to go now than monthster when there would be too much snow to get there and back." Su saw the benefits of going there now and was willing to go as a training trip on top of their other goals.


    "I would say no if it was a monthter. I want to be at Genesis sooner thanter to help with the alchemy guild. This could be the ideal chance to bring down winter herbs so that they can be the first seeds to grow in the greenhouses during the winter. It would be a valuable start for the guild." Remey was worried that she would be needed but knew that the old master alchemist could travel in her stead. She was also one of the best people to get the herbs that grew there. Especially since the high mountain winter herbs were hard to acquire.


    The wandering cksmith lowered his head in thanks. "Thank you two. We need materials to improve his hammer and it will be better to get it all done earlier." Knowing that the two girls were ready and wanted to go sooner helped. "Have you two seen Gil?"


    "He has been training with Zephyr outside. He wants to get his double shot and triple shot skill to use the wind elemental mana. Something about his arrows being too weak and that he needed to grasp the wind element better." Remey had barely paid attention to Gils'' training rant but remember this part easily.


    "And Midnight is out there too, perfect. I will have a n by dinner." Walker left the two to the tea experiments and found that Midnight was still hard at work with Onyx watching.


    "Midnight, Onyx. We are nning to leave early on the mountain forging trip. Are you two able to go? Or would you want to stay here and train more?'' Walker almost thought Midnight would not want to. However, she was thinking about the chances she would see another dragon in the mountains and could not resist nodding a yes.


    "I will go, brother. But I will need to stay in the tattoo form during the trip. The cold is dangerous for me." Walker did not have any qualms about this.


    "Alright. I will make sure you can be protected with thickeryers whenever possible." Walker made a mental note to put more clothing in to his storage for everyone because Onyx could shift from person to person as he needed. At the end of the day, it was also smarter to have more spare clothing in case the mountains were snowy and wet. "Now for Gil." Walker looked toward the opposite end of the training area at Gil.


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 Chapter 829 - 829. Just Fooling Around

    Walker slowly approached Gil while watching the training he was doing. There was a lot of the wind elemental mna around that Zephyr was bringing toward the bow so that they could constantly test out their skills.


    The aim that Gil had was still perfect especially since he had done distance and moving training. However, the wind elemental mana that Gil was constantly adding to make the arrows travel faster was throwing them off their marks. It was a problem that would need to be solved with training and time.


    "You are too stiff with the way you guide the mana around the arrow. Zephyr gives you the wind to use on the arrow but it is shaped by your will and skill. If you just let it overpower you and push at it like that you will keep missing. You need to flow with the mana and let it guide the arrow. It''s the same as when the wind arrow that Zephyr creates with the bow is used. The wind spirals to create it."


    Walker''s advice was easier to say than follow. Gil needed to feel the wind more and since he had just begun to understand it he would need a lot of time to reach the same understanding as Walker. "I just want to get my multi shot eventually up to a multi wind shot. If I can do that I will be able to help against tough opponents without relying on elemental infused arrows. I nearly rand out of arrows against the yellow slimes and I can only imagine what would happen if I am in that position again."


    The worry was clear and Walker understood it. For the same reason, he would boost his supply in his inventory with more food, wood, and water than they needed. He always feared not being able to make a fire to stay warm and ward off monsters.


    "So, are youing to train with me? Or do you have that serious look on just for fun?" Gil knew that Walker hade over for a reason and was definitely not going to train, however, he had decided that Walker didn''t have a choice but to train and talk at the same time.


    "Wait-!" Walker bent back to dodge an arrow fired by Gil. It was a closebat surprise that Walker had not expected in the least.


    "Don''t tell me you can''t train and talk?" The taunting in Gils'' voice hit a nerve with Walker. Their boyish rivalry burst in to me as Walker manipted the earth to rise in to a sword the same as he had done in the demi-human kingdom tobat an opponent. He had wanted to train with his technique in the hopes that he could be able to shape metal if he was able to understand it well enough.


    This did not at all bode well for Gil who did not realize how close Walker was to him. The sh that came at him was a hair away from slicing through his clothing. The follow up attack he wanted to use could not be done because he would not have enough time to draw another arrow. Instead, Gil had to rely on the dagger he had on his chest.


    The glint of metal tipped Walker off and he strategically rolled back and hopped in to the dance of the wild rabbit that he relied on. As he did so he felt that there were many attack possibilities before him. He just couldn''t see them all perfectly yet.


    Feeling that he had a little distance, Gil still held the dagger while drawing an arrow. Holding both was a skill he had practiced very hard in the forest elf city since he saw many of the archers let alone arcane archers, use the skill in their training. "Looking surprised that I managed to get some closebat and mid ranged training hmmm?" Gil taunted Walker as he let an arrow fly.


    Walkers'' answer was a sh using his sh zone skill for a moment to instantly retaliate and break the normal arrow in half. "Maybe I am just toying with you before I ask if you areing on the mountain forging trip." Walker pushed forward and tried to close the distance while sliding on his knees to dodge another arrow. "We need centennial ice to make the hammer for forging better."


    Since Walker was attacking from beneath him, Gil had no choice but to sh down and block the earth sword with his dagger. His bow whipped out and tried to sh at Walker as well, but Walker had released the earth sword and jumped back. "I could be convinced if we are going to gather materials for some ice elemental arrows that are different from the wither spike arrows since weck materials to make more wither spike arrows."


    Walker and Gil stood face to face waiting for the other to make a move. Walker raised a hand and a de double the size rose from the earth. When he lifted it with both hands Gil realized that he had never seen Walker use a two handed sword. "Then we can look for materials, but first, let''s do what you wanted and train something new." The evil seemed to drip from Walkers'' words as he started to spin and try to hack at Gil with the two handed earthen sword.


    "Do they have to fool around like that? They could havee in here to talk and try the tea so we get another opinion." Remey was watching the two fight out the window.


    "They are just having some fun. They will test the tea when they are done and need something to drink." Su knew that the pair would be inside any moment now.


    "I could always go out and encourage them. I have been focusing a lot on Alchemytely." Remey smashed her fists together as she opened the door and walked outside.


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 Chapter 830 - 830. Unique Training

    "Feel my wrath mortals!" Remey came from the sky after arge leap punching the two in aplete surprise attack. Walker managed to twist just enough so that his arm was the only thing left but Gil was hit full on in the side.


    "What do you mean mortal!? You are the same!" Gil was already used to Remey''s hits at this point and had only been sent stumbling a little. It was clear that she was holding back.


    "Hahaha, you two thought you were here to train? No! You are here to be my entertainment after I reached immortality as the best alchemist in the world!" Remey was continuing her act as she jumped in to a flying kick that Walker had never seen her use before.


    Since she had targeted Walker first he was forced to react and block with his arms. "You just couldn''t let us be? You needed toe and see how weak your potion was. Ha! Elixir of immortality. What a joke." Feeling that the fin was just starting Walker gave in and began to join in the act. Gil in the meantime just looked at the two as if he had just been transported to another world.


    Unfortunately, the three had forgotten about a certain dragon and serpent pair that was also in the training field. A pair that had ess to the fire spirit which dwelled within a dragon style golem.


    There were two roars and arge serpent hissing at them from the other side of the training field. "Wee to crush puny humans. We are the mighty scaled trio!" Onyx delivered this line and slithered ahead of Midnight and the golem.


    "See what you two started? Now we are battling for our lives." Gil held backughter as he drew an arrow and finally epted the game they had made their training session in to. While they battled it out, Su had moved outside to sit and casually sip her tea with the wandering cksmith who had been forgotten as soon as Walker had a goal to get everyone ready.


    "We will leave tomorrow if that is alright with you. I know Walker will say that too but all of them might end up too tired to properly n." Su knew that this was the final result they would reach. Walker wanted to get his weapon done soon and the wandering cksmith was promised a fogging trip. If it was earlier there was no issue in going since the party had the connections to get it done properly and efficiently.


    The wandering cksmith smiled brightly and sipped a tea he had chosen from the table. "This is the best." They were small words but after Su looked at the tea she smiled and knew that it was the same in her cup.


    "Remey and Hilda worked together for that one. The lemon zest and fresh raspberries were from the kitchen and the blue clover is an herb used in mid tier mana potions but can be reused due to their toughness. The majority of regenerative properties are gone but they give the tea a slight boost when ites to regenerating mana. I think it will be a wonderful item to sell for the alchemy guild." The two enjoyed the show as they drank the tea that was easily deemed their favorite and warranted a second and third cup.


    "Watch out for the me breath!" Walker aw the fire build in the golems maw. He knew that it had a lower temperature than the golden mes that Midnight could muster when given time but they could still cause significant damage. The fire elemental spirit was also able to manipte the mes to be more urate adding to the threat.


    Remey charged anyway toward the golem only to be met with a ck tail swinging towards her. She barely managed to jump up and over the tail as it swept under her where her feet had been. "Onyx! I swear I will punch you if you sweep my feet again!" She charged at Onyx anyways and managed to kick out to push him back.


    "Sister Remey, you kick hard but not hard enough!" Onyx was ying it tough. He had felt the force of her kick and it was concentrated by a lot of time and effort training. He had always wondered why humans were able to beat monsters when they were not even close in statistical strength. However, after watching the group he came to the conclusion that it was experience. Humans battled and learned constantly unlike monsters that normally could not or would not do so. Onyx and Midnight were a rare case along with Ste and the other sentient monsters out there. But again, they were rare.


    The second kick was heading towards Onyx when Midnight tackled Remey to the ground. She had not used her shadow wrapping skill because she did not want to rely on it. Instead, she used her wings to give aburst of speed and knock Remey away. It was a sneaky trick but one that did its job well.


    Their "Training" continued for some time until Su finally walked over and looked at the exhausted party members. "Well, all of you look like you had fun. Care toe inside and help with dinner? And maybe clean yourselves up a little?" All of them looked at Su and did not argue. They had fooled around enough and were exhausted. Su had taken the role as a mom for the moment but they all knew she wanted them to straighten up a bit.


    "Oh yes, we have tea to try. Everyone needs to get cleaned up and try the teas so I can know what three I will sell first." Remey jumped up pretending to have the main goal in mind. The others followed her lead. They all tried the teas and gave evaluations while Su guided them to rest early to leave for the mountains. She had managed to speak to Elise while they "Trained" and they would borrow some of the giant hawks to be flown to the base of the mountain paths.


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 Chapter 831 - 831. Fly Away

    "Alright, Su already promised me some of the wild ice grapes that grow on the mountain when youe back. Avian monsters love them and to be honest, so do I. But they are too expensive so they will be more than goodpensation for borrowing the remaining giant hawks." Elise had gathered them in the square in front of the cathedral as soon as the party had awoken and prepared.


    No one had been overly happy to see them leave again but after being assured that they would return in only three or four days because of the hawk''s assistance, Lisa had epted it. "These hawks will help you there and know the route well since they travel it constantly to trade with the dwarves. All you need to do is hold on and refrain from falling or looking down." This sounded a little more terrifying than Elise looked with her smile wide.


    "Do we feed them or anything?" Gil wasn''t sure what their responsibility would be once theynded.


    "Not at all. They will hunt their own food on the way back. It''s safe to say you will not have them to carry you all the way back here from the base of the mountains. But knowing all of you there will be no time for rest and you will walk back in just a few days at most. Or you will find another monster to ride all the way back." Elise teased them a little before she started to point out the safety grips and foot holds for riders and goods.


    The entire party was very surprised to hear how simple everything was. The wandering cksmith appeared not to care too much and it made Walker believe that he had traveled in a simr way before. It was not a surprise since he had earned the name wandering cksmith and was fairly well known in multiple kingdoms for wandering here and there to forge with different techniques.


    "Well, that is that. You can even sleep during the ride if you arefortable enough. But I would rmend you do not. Also, Midnight. Do not do anything to scare them. You are a dragon and they are already feeling off about carrying you, if you make any sudden moves they may get erratic." Elise was very serious while she slowly helped Midnight in to a special harness for contracted monsters to ride the giant hawks. Due to her size and weight, she was the only one alone on a giant hawk.


    Walker was visibly nervous since he had never flown in the air before but he knew that this was the best way to get to the base of the mountains while saving the time they needed for other things. The summit was quickly approaching in a few months still and the party would most likely escort the high priest and possibly a few others there.


    Before Walker left he looked toward the cathedral where quite a few of the healers hade out to watch. The only reason they were leaving from this square was because the giant hawks fit in therge square much more easily than anywhere else that wouldn''t be in the way. Alice stood to the side and waved to Walker with a slightly sad face. He was off again and she was still not ready to travel with them.


    "Walker gave his own wave as the giant hawks jumped up and unfurled theirrge wings. The air rushed past their ears and before they knew it the city had be incredibly small. The city itself slowly disappeared from their vision bing a small dot on the horizon sooner than expected. Now Walker knew why flying was so great in Elise''s eyes. She was able to travel ces so fastpared to any other method.


    Gil was using this chance to use his sharp eyes to train and pick out targets from the high heights they were at. Meanwhile, Remey who was on the same hawk as Gil was closing her eyes and waiting for the time she would touch the ground again. This had quickly be her least favorite method of travel.


    Su was with Walker and could only look up higher. She knew that they would not fly in the clouds but could feel them tugging at her. She wanted to go higher and the feeling was the same for Midnight who was heeding Elises'' warmings because she was still not confident in her ability to glide down to the ground again let alone fly. The feeling was definitely something that Midnight and Su were sharing because of their systems.


    The wandering cksmith was on his own giant hawk and from what Walker could see he was asleep. He could only wonder how a cksmith who lived with heavy metals in the forge was so calm and peaceful while being so out of their element. It was a great mystery that Walker would never be able to answer.


    After only a few hours the small mountains had be triple the size and it felt to the party that if the hawks wanted they could fly right to the peak. However, the closer they got the more the wind would push them around making the ride nerve wracking. When the giant hawks descended all of them breathed a sigh of relief that turned on to a full groan when they jumped to the ground and found that their legs had fallen asleep. The sight was fairlyical and anyone else would have rolled aroundughing at the party and their client.


    "Thank you for your help." Walker was sure to thank every single giant hawk before it flew off toward their kingdom again. They still had jobs to do and now so did the party. "Alright, let''s decide what trails we will take up the mountain." Walker looked up at the mountain range before him. The daunting size only seemed to grow.


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 Chapter 832 - 832. Climbing The Trails

    "So, what one of the trails are we going to take?" Gil saw the multiple trails ahead of them. Many were obvious and led to different parts of the mountain a. Walker could make out some small caves partway up the mountain that must be small mines that the dwarfs had explored.


    The sound of rustling paper attracted all eyes to the wandering cksmith who was pulling out a map from his coat. They were all wearing an extrayer at the moment because the cool air blowing from the mountains spoke of ice and snow. Soon they would be in the midst of it and need a thirdyer of clothing to properly stay warm.


    "That''s great, you even have it outlined. This map is very detailed too." Su was impressed with the details and how well the wandering cksmith had outlined the route they would take. He had been nning the trip for a while now and it only made sense that he would be ready.


    "So this is marked as a ce to find centennial ice, but what are the icicle falls?" Near the ce that the wandering cksmith had marked as the centennial ice forging spot was a small river marked as the icicle falls.


    "I actually know this one." Gil stepped up, "I read about it when I was looking for information about water elemental materials to make an ice arrow. The icicle falls are a waterfall that often freezes in pieces causing ice to fall down instead of water. They usuallye down in sharp pieces that can cause a harsh injury. But it is also the ce where blue koi live. They apparently have the best scales for water elemental arrows. The bones might be useful for Lisa to use as a needle. And apparently, the meat helps resist the cold." The proud look that Gil wore was not one anyone could rebuke. He had been lucky to find the information and was d to show it off.


    "Then I guess we will investigate there. I have only been fishing once and I was not able to unlock my system so I never tried it again." The thought of fishing in a water fall pool was odd to Walker, but it was something that not many people would do in their lifetime and he had his heart set on it now.


    "How will you go fishing without any fishing gear?" Remey was certain that Walker had never bought fishing gear nor taken it from his inventory while they were out adventuring.


    "Well, there are two of us that have the ability to do some crafting here. Forging hooks, making a rod, and even braiding some string is enough for me to have my own fishing pole. Not to mention bait can be anything." The smug look on Walkers'' face infuriated Remey to a small degree prompting her to chase him around a little before they all started up the rocky path.


    "Remember, The path doesn''t have much ice or snow here, but when we get higher up it will be difficult." Su was taking the lead for this while Midnight and Gil were holding the rear.


    "Midnight seems pretty distracted right now. Do you think she is still stuck on flying?" Gil came up beside Walker and the wandering cksmith to chat about his worries.


    "Most likely. That was her first time flying and she has wanted to do it for a long time. But it takes a lot of time and effort to develop her wings. Compared to what she could do before she has made great leaps." Just the other day, Walker had seen Midnight pping her wings and managing to hover off the ground for a short moment. The muscles were being trained slowly but surely. Her ability to glide was there and he had watched as she jumped and glided a very small distance. It would alle down to more training and experience.


    "I think she must have learned something while flying with the hawks though. If she is that focused then she would have to be connecting some dots." Gil felt it in his bones. Midnight had learned something and would be making another big step toward her own flight soon.


    "Midnight, Let me switch with you." Walker let Midnight walk in the middle with the wandering cksmith and took up the rear with Gil. It was better to let her have her time to think than to stifle her growth in any way.


    The trail they were taking was not hard to traverse by any means and even seemed well traveled. This would make sense if there were multiple ces along the route to stop and gather materials or hunt certain monsters. What worried Walker was that they would eventually begin to run in to ice type monsters or potentially flying monsters. Both of which could cause them some trouble on the narrow areas of the trail.


    "Stop here for a moment," Remey called the group to a stop and knelt down by some of the rocks on the side. "These mountain thistles are good for fighting off the cold. We can add it to soup or water to help us through the nights." She lifted the small brown spiky ball that she named mountain thistles. The rest of them stopped to pick up a few and store them away for when they rested. It was a good find for Remey who had been carefully scanning the sides of the trails for such herbs since she knew they would grow in this areamonly.


    The rocks became slightlyrger and Su had to climb over a few that had fallen from the sides of the mountains down to the trails. There were scratch marks on them that caught everyone''s attention. They had not fallen naturally and had been knocked down somehow by a monster. It put them all on edge just a little more.


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 Chapter 833 - 833. Incoming Storm?

    "What do you think is strong enough to cut stone like this?" After running her fingers over the stone, Remey was left with the question that all were thinking of.


    Walker thought he might get information using his all around appraisal skill so he tried it quickly,


    ''Fallen boulder.


    Knocked from a cliff by a fighting monster. Too heavy for most to move alone. Common granite stone that can be mined in many ces. Does not hold any gems.''


    "I can''t say my appraisal told me much other than it was knocked from a cliff by fighting monsters. Also, there are no hidden gems in it." Walker could only frown seeing that he had not gotten the desired results of his skill use. However, he knew that the all around appraisal skill was not perfect and would not give him everything he needed when he used it. This had been proven whenpared to other appraisal skills that were specific to what was being appraised.


    "It was worth the shot. It''s better to let an arrow fly and miss than live not knowing if the arrow would have hit." Gil threw out a phrase his father had used before and patted Walkers'' back. "We can keep moving and avoid the cliffs though. It''s good to learn that monsters are fighting in that area."


    Gil made a good point. The party know knew that there were monsters fighting on a high up cliff. This meant that if they were near a cliff they should be vignt for falling rocks and boulders. Also, that they would be warry of any monsters they encounter while near a cliff.


    Midnight perked her head up and Onyx who was hiding from the cold winds in his tattoo form spoke up to trante. "Sister says she can smell smoke in the wind. But it is weak."


    "We have heard of smokeing from the mountains and possible dragon activity. But there was no solid evidence. If the smoke is weak we could be far from it so we will just keep an eye out." Su made the call based off of what she had heard and already knew for sure. It was always good to be cautious but she knew that they would be safe at the moment.


    The possibility that dragons could be around caused Midnight to look excited but also worried. Walker could feel the mix of emotions and moved tofort her before she put on a brave aura and moved to lead the way with Su for a while. She needed to support of her training partner along with Walker too. They both made her feel more prepared to deal with whatever came their way.


    "This wind has picked up a little. Gil, can you ask Zephyr to take a look around? We might need to set up a camp for a little while to wait out the end. It''s not safe trying to move higher if a storm is blowing in." Walker paused everyone while Zephyr left the bow she dwelled in. She had been resting until she heard Walker and was excited to jump in and y the scout role that Gil would normally take.


    The wind seemed to shift again as Zephyr flew in to the sky to check things out. "If it is a storm then we might be waiting things out a little longer than we think." This was looking to be some bad luck if they needed to wait longer.


    "Can''t we travel down a valley between the mountain to find the materials we need?" The herbs would be more plentiful in a valley between the mountain so Remey thought it may be the same as the other materials they were after.


    "The centennial ice is only found up higher. Even halfway up the mountain, we might not find it if it has melted over the years. The valley is just too warm and has too many travelers or monsters." If they could go to the valley nearby Walker would have preferred it as well since they would have more food sources and ces to hide if they encountered powerful monsters.


    "Swans! It''s a flock of silver swans! Come quick so you can see!" Zephyr came with another gust of wind.


    "Silver swans?" The group had a collective question in their mouths since none of them had heard or seen of a silver swan.


    "Juste on. Quickly!" With Zephyrs'' urging the group hiked up to the next small peak to find what she was pushing them to see.


    The sight that they found ahead of them was not what they had expected. There were hundreds ofrge swans. Their feathers were white with silver edges and every p of their wings made a small amount of wind flutter around them. When arger group would take off and move the gust ofbined wind which would flow through the mountain rocks.


    ''Silver swan


    The silver swan is a non aggressive migratory monster. They have strong wind elemental affinity and are known for causing unintentional tornadoes. They will travel once every five years to a new territory to breed and feed. Their fallen feathers are used for wind elemental arrows and they are not normally afraid of humans. They panic at the sight of blood tainting their feathers so it is best not to attack them under any circumstance.''


    Walker repeated the all around appraisal while the group gazed upon the seemingly endless flock of silver swans. "Gil, it looks like you have some arrow materials to collect while we head around this obstacle." Walker was not nning to walk through the birds but around. They may not be aggressive but the wind they stirred up was worrying.


    "Seeeeee, it''s amazing. So many of them. I haven''t seen them in years and years. I love them!" Zephyr was flying right toward the flock happier than any of them. Not a single one of them had the heart to call out to her and ruin her joy.


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 Chapter 834 - 834. Frostbite Flowers

    "How many feathers do you think you need Gil?" Su had already helped Gil gather a whole bag and he did not seem to be letting up on his collection spree while they walked.


    "There are never enough materials for arrows. These are wind affinity so they are even better. If you are willing to help grab as many as we can." The slightly wild look made Gil sound and feel as if he was going a little crazy. For an arcane marksman, seeing so many materials for his arrows was as if they had just been invited to take all the gold in the kingdoms'' treasury.


    "I may be able to carry a lot of them, but try to remember that I also have to take all of them out of my storage." The shout to Gil seemed futile but at least Walker tried to reign Gil in a little. However, it appeared that Remey was preparing plenty of teasing phrases to use on Gilter.


    When Walker found the wandering cksmith collecting the feathers as well he could only look in curiosity. He had not expected him to have any interest in the arrow making process. "Perfect pillow." After noticing Walkers'' looks the wandering cksmith spoke up his own intention causing Walker to finally pick up a feather himself.


    ''Silver swan fledgling feather


    The feathers from the younger silver swans are incredibly soft. Many people and monsterse to the area a flock used to reside to collect these feathers for various uses. One is the creation of pillows that are perpetually cool due to the small amount of rotating wind elemental mana within them.''


    Falling in to the same thought process as the wandering cksmith, Walker gathered himself arge amount of the feathers for some pillows. He would bring them to Lisa when he returned and they would have some new pillows. He could only praise the wandering cksmiths'' quick and creative thinking at the moment since most of them would have walked away without seeing this particr use for the feathers.


    A soft growl from Midnight alerted the party to danger. All of them fell in to a battle stance and even the wandering cksmith pulled out a one handed hammer. When the rest of the group realized that there were three frost wolves on the far edge watching the silver swans they knew they could be in for battle.


    "I don''t think they will attack. They are waiting for one to go off alone so they don''t alert all the others. I''ve seen predators do this with packs of boars in the forest." This was amon thing for a hunter to see and Gil had learned it from his father early in his hunting career.


    The party remained on alert as they walked past the flock of silver swans. The frost wolves didn''t seem to care about them since they would prefer to wait for easy prey to separate alone from the flock. This was an ideal hunting ground for them and going after a group of adventurers would be too much for the three.


    "The frost wolves probably won''t bother us but we should pay attention when we set up camp. If they don''t get a meal they mighte looking. At the very least we can hope that they do not cause the flock to fly all at once. The wind would make it very dangerous up here." The party may not have been on to the sheer cliff face or small rocky trails but the mountain path they were on was still close to some drop offs andrge hills.


    "It looked like they will be harder to spot up ahead." Gil pointed out some patches of ice and snow that began to pepper the rocky path ahead. This was where the journey would begin to get tough but also meant that they were nearing the areas they wanted to search for herbs and such.


    "Since we are right at the cusp of the rocks and ice I should tell you the main herb I want to look for. It''s called a frostbite flower. The flower is not the valuable part of the herb, what I want are the leaves. They are green with a purple and blue fade on them, just like frostbite setting it. Ironically, they are ideal for treating frostbite and can make medicinal baths for people in the winter. They are very valuable this time of year and we can process them to make a potion that can be added to warm water to treat frostbite victims." Remey stopped the group again and made her announcement. Since the group was vignt already this was just an additional thing to look out for.


    "My friends would find that very useful at the cathedral. I will have to ask you for some of the potions to bring them." This made Su a little more energized because a potion to treat frostbite would make her healer friends'' lives much easiere the dead of winter.


    "It''s really something that everyone should have that has to be out in the snow during the winter." Remey nodded her head while she spoke and searched. She wanted to make sure that she also gained some seeds for the herb while she was out. The frostbite flower would be a good base for the alchemy guild since it would be entering operation while it was cold.


    Soon the search proved to be fruitful when Gil found a single herb growing between two small rocks. Remey made everyone watch as she picked a few leaves then pulled seeds from the purplece flower. After she was sure to pour some of their water on it to assist in the return of the growth they had taken. It was a simple action but one that allowed the frostbite flowers to flourish still.


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 Chapter 835 - 835. Making Camp

    Walker had the feeling that the trip had been more beneficial for Gil and Remey than anyone else so far and that the wandering cksmith might be unhappy. However, the smile on the wandering cksmiths'' face as he gathered feathers and how the frostbite flower leaves was wider by the second. Just the fact that he had left on another journey to see new things and do new activities was what he needed.


    "The path ahead gets a lot steeper. We will need to watch out for rocks that we kick down as well." Gil had moved ahead to scout while Midnight had yed guard for the wandering cksmith.


    "Then Su should take the lead. She can use her shield to deflect and stones that fall and we can remain in a line to stay on the same path." Walker''s idea seemed safe and as they moved forward it became the only way to travel.


    The many small stones slid away as they moved and their actions caused some small ones to move at the top in chain reactions. Su didn''t need to do much with the earth dwelling shield but use one arm to hold it in front of them. Nothing that rolled down was any danger to them and anyrger rocks or boulders seemed to be settled in to the side of the mountain they were climbing.


    "Leader, there is a small t space up here." When Su made it over the ridge she found that the space was t with little stone around.


    "It looks like someone cleared this for a camp once." Remey found the small pile of ashes and even some holes that had been left from tent stakes. Someone had definitely camped here for a short few days recently.


    "Then this will be the stopping ce when we need to use the portable forge. Actually, it might be best that we stop and make the fishing pole now." When Walker spoke these words it was as if he had said a magic phrase.


    The wandering cksmith held out a hand to shoo everyone away and then mmed his hammer on to the ground. In the blink of an eye, a small forge had appeared in front of them. The stone tiles on the ground were made of a coal stained pattern and the roof was mostly decorative to block a little rain.


    "That was way cooler than I thought it would be." Gil had not expected it to be this magnificent and with the awe on his face, he showed Walker that he wanted to see it again.


    "Well, I have yet to use the skill, so here I go." Walker ced a hand on another part of the cleared ground and the same blink happened as before. However, this forge was a little cleaner and appeared to be fresh and new. The tools that showed up were on a shelf that was free standing and the roof was a littlerger.


    "Since you two are going to y cksmith and make whatever, Su and I are going to make camp and have some thistle tea." Remey pulled Su toward the edge where the forge furnaces were so they would heat the camp better at night. She hadn''t thought that Walker and the wandering cksmith would be storing them away.


    "Then I will scout around and make sure I have a good ce to keep watch. Want toe with Midnight? Or will you stay here with them?" Midnight shook her head and moved toward the forge. She wanted to try and help them create their fishing poles.


    "If you are alright with it, can you make a fishing pole and hooks? I will try my best to copy you and learn a few things. I doubt I can properly braid the fishing line either." Seeing that this would be a teaching moment the wandering cksmith handed Walker one of his older hammers. He then held a hand out so Walker could give him the materials.


    The Strings that Walker pulled from his inventory were leftover from what Lisa had given him to repair his cloak if it ever ripped. They were thin but tough so that they would hold up while traveling. There was enough to make five or six fishing poles if he wanted which he felt was excessive. Yet, when Lisa handed it to him he couldn''t find it in him to say no to taking them.


    The iron ingots that Walker handed over next were simple and cheap. Although, once the pieces were made they would work well enough and hold up against the koi fish that Walker was looking to catch when they got to the icicle falls.


    "Four pieces. Hooks. String." These were the pieces that the wandering cksmith was nning to make. He knew that he would be able to make a very good fishing pole with the materials and that they would work out for basic use. However, he was looking forward to getting blue koi scales because he knew they could be used as water and cold resistant armors. He justcked the skills to properly fish himself.


    "Understood." Walker watched as the wandering cksmith started the forge furnace and Midnight came over to watch. She knew that her fire was not really needed for this but since she was interested in helping in the future she was paying close attention.


    There was plenty of time to make sure Walker would learn the processpletely so the wandering cksmith took the time to sketch the four metal parts and the hooks. They were fairly simple. The rod would attach together in three parts allowing for bend without breaking. The reel would be simple and attached to the base. The string would feed through and a hook would hang at the base. It was a basic iron fishing rod.


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 Chapter 836 - 836. Fishing Rods

    The sound of fire and hammering soon echoed through the nearby rocks. Gil was being especially vignt of anything that heard the noises and came looking. However, it appeared that this area was a lot safer than he was worried about. Those that had camped here before must have taken care of anything in the area causing it to be an ideal camp area and forging area.


    Walker was currently watching as the iron ingot was cut and rolled in a specific manner. The fact that the fishing pole was made of iron would mean it was heavy. However, with the strength he had, Walker did not worry about this. At the very least it was a chance to get a little stronger or train his endurance more.


    The metal ingot that Walker was going to use was already heating while he watched the demonstration and as soon as the wandering cksmith stopped to work on the next piece, Walker had begun to hammer. This was watched by the wandering cksmith very carefully in case there were any imperfections.


    When Walker began to shape and cut the iron there was a moment of worry. But when he saw the wandering cksmith ncing at him he felt his confidence rise and he cut with force. Using the tongues to roll the metal in the same way that he had just witness, Walker felt that it was much easier to work with than he had expected. This was as if he was forging in his own home. It was a slight perk of having the portable forge skill.


    '' The skill iron rolling has been taken from the inventor system. The skill iron rolling has been automatically learned.


    Iron rolling- passive


    The style of rolling hot irones through experience. The more the user gets a feel for the iron and the purity of it, the better he will get at rolling it. There are many uses in the world for rolled iron and often it is in high demand. The user will be able to better roll the iron in to a perfect circr or round orb shape.''


    The skill didn''t sound impressive, however, when it came to precision crafting it would be ideal to have. It was also a passive skill that would help him feel how to work with iron better which at the end of the day would improve his forging skills.


    The wandering cksmith had begun to shape rings along the rolled metal so that there would be a piece for the braided string to move through and stay attached. This was the hardest part since the piece of iron was smaller and cooled much faster. Walker was not ashamed to say that he broke a total of fifteen rings before he managed to attach his first. The wandering cksmith managed to attack all of them on to each of the three metal rod pieces without fail.


    The reel was another challenge but after watching the wandering cksmith shape it, Walker found it was very simr to the first portion until the metal was forcefully warped to have a ce for the string to wrap. The small wooden handle added was even more simple. It consisted of a nearly uncarved piece of stick. It was as simple as it could get while still working perfectly.


    The hoods were much like the loops that Walker had broken. They needed to be evenly shaped and forged or else they would break and bend. This meant that after over an hour, Walker had a pile of broken or poor hooks in front of him with only a handful of sessful hooks. The few sessful ones were looked over and kept by the wandering cksmith to bepared to his which were all perfection.


    The braiding of the sting was the simplest part of the entire process. The wandering cksmith toed the strings on to the anvil and made sure there were six pieces of even length. Then he copied a simr braid t how Walker had seen his mother braid Lisas'' hair once upon a time.


    Due to his familiarity with the braiding actions, Walker was able to pick it up even faster than he the rolling iron skill. The wandering cksmith actually stopped and watched him when he noticed the speed at which Walker was braiding withplete focus.


    ''The skill swift braiding has been taken from the maid system. The skill swift braiding has been automatically learned due to past experiences and user actions.


    Swift braiding- 1 mana cost per hour


    The user has nimble fingers to efficiently and speedily braid the known patterns together. Minimal mana causes the user to be able to move much faster through the motions. The braid will always be firm and hold up well unless purposefully unraveled.''


    This was a skill Walker was sure woulde in handy elsewhere. He had seen many handmade swords with braided rope wrapped around handles. There were even smaller uses such as braiding Lisa''s hair or even just strengthening rope for multiple purposes.


    When Walker finished and assembled the parts he found himself looking at nearly two identical fishing rods.


    ''Iron fishing rod


    Atk +3, Def +2, Agi +5


    Made by Walker. This is a sturdy basic fishing rod for catching medium and small fish. There are chances to capture arge fish if used with care. The ability to channel mana through the fishing rod is weak but possible. The braided fishing line is handmade and much tougher than a basic fishing line allowing for a higher probability of catching any fish that bites. A very worthy first fishing pole.''


    Walker was proud of his fishing pole. When hepared it to the wandering cksmiths'' he noticed that his was called the strong iron fishing rod and had one more stat point in each stat than his. It also had the phrase, made without any imperfections within the iron. This was just to be expected due to the gaps in experience. But overall, a very great result.


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 Chapter 837 - 837. Tempting Fate

    "So all of that trouble for two fishing rods?" Remey was not as impressed as Walker had been. She saw the basic iron fishing rod and thought it was less than what would normally happen.


    "Not everything that leader makes is going to be magic." Su saw what Remey had been expecting and knew that they all secretly had the same thought. Walker would normallye out of nowhere with some amazing magical or extra effect item. Today, he had actually kept things normal to a degree. As long as the portable forge skill and speed of gaining skills wasn''t concerned.


    The wandering cksmith held the two fishing rods together and was happy to see the results of their work. They had stopped and worked thest bit of daylight away and in to the night a little but it felt worth the time. There was also some food and a warm fire for the night. It may not have been the hard days'' work that the wandering cksmith would normally do but it was the exact experience he had wanted from this trip.


    "You two are not allowed to store those portable forges away." Surprising them, Su was the one giving the orders. The cold breeze on the mountain was getting to her a little bit even though she had trained in cold resistance. She may have the skill but she knew overall it would not be good for their health to remain cold all night.


    "We won''t, we won''t." Walker did his best to convince Su while Remey also showed a slight re at him silently saying that she would be willing to brawl over theck of fire. However, He did need to agree that the warmth put off toward their tents was ideal for sleeping the rest of the night.


    Walker caught the wandering cksmith trying to take the watch from Gil and quickly reminded him that this was a trip for him. After a lot of convincing, he managed to get the wandering cksmith to go rest as their client should not be pulling all the work. The rest of the night passed by without any worry or sound. Not even the frost wolves could be heard howling in the distance while they waited for the silver swans to make a mistake and leave the flock.


    "The forge furnace is the perfect ce for warming bread in the morning." The discovery that Remey had made where the hot coals of the forge furnace were concerned was one that she would be enjoying whenever they pulled the portable forges out from their storage. They were the ideal temperature after the night to warm bread and even heated water for tea and soup.


    "So, do you two need to forge anything else?" Gil had been surveying the area and found that there were no threats in sight so now was the perfect time to head out. They had the sun, clear trails, and they had food in their stomachs.


    "Not that I can think of. I do think that this will be the best ce to stop on the way back down though." The wandering cksmith nodded vigorously wanting to make sure that this would be the descending camp as well.


    "Then you can mark your mental map." Gil watched as the two touched the portable forges'' stones and they blinked away as if they had never been there. The only remaining evidence was a little extra ash. "I don''t think I will ever be used to seeing things like that¡­"


    The party fell in to the same formation they had been traveling and aimed their path at another trail. However, this one had a significant amount of snow over it. They could see it increasing due to the winding path carved by many adventurers and those who dared to explore the mountains for treasures.


    "There are a lot of different side trails. I feel like everyone who travels here has carved their own." This was fairly true as Su looked at the side of their trail. There were many spots where stones had obviously been mined to test for ores or small ces had been excavated. Even more side trails appeared to lead to small t camping areas where there were even some ruined tents left behind for who knew how long.


    "I see why you wanted toe here. If so many people havee to try and mine here then it must be more than just ice based materials here." A sly smile spread on the wandering cksmiths'' face. He had wanted to get lucky and find some ores on the trip but knew he would not be able to mine them without another person. However, that would also mean he would need to bring a miner that would also need protection. Lucky for him, Walker could both fight and mine if necessary.


    This information hit Walker but he was not phased at all. He had expected such a thing and was d to do mining and escort duty to pay the wandering cksmith back for all the forging he had done.


    "We have bones over here." Gil had moved forward a little on the trail since he wanted to be sure their path was not too dangerous. He had ended uping across what appeared to be a long dead and frozen dwarf skeleton.


    "They must have been out mining and fell to the cold." Walker could tell that the skeleton was very old.


    "I''m just d it''s not some weird frozen undead. That would be so annoying." Remey sighed in relief just as a strange crackling sound was mixed with a creaking and snapping.


    "Did you really have to tempt fate that way?" Gil had already located the sound from up the path and drew an arrow so that he could aim at the skeleton ahead. However, the skeleton was not as simple as just that.


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 Chapter 838 - 838. Dead Ice

    '' Dead Ice Skeleton


    This skeleton has been frozen in the ice for generations. The desire to find and search for what it had set out for when it was alive had brought it back to partial life with a vengeance. The dead ice skeleton gets its name from the ice that permanently encases its brittle bones. Wherever the skeleton touches the bones will freeze and kill. Some may be able to use water magic spells in the form of ice.''


    Walker read this out as Gil fired a second arrow at the skeleton only to see that it barely pierced the ice that was surrounding the bones. It was indeed much tougher than the normally easy to beat skeletons than before.


    "I can''t punch that or else I will freeze myself." The entire party could feel the colding from the skeletons'' bodies as it came closer. Remey knew that if she dared to touch it even with her gloves and knuckles on she would take damage.


    "Can''t you use the fire affinity knuckles?" Gil thought that the fire elemental knuckles would be enough to counter the ice on the skeleton but unfortunately, Walker was shaking his head.


    The ice is too condensed and cold. We need some blunt damage to shatter it and break apart the skeletonpletely." The skeleton was taking another move towards the group causing them to retreat down the path to keep figuring out how to deal with it.


    "Blunt damage. That means Walker and myself can handle it." Su stepped forward and charged while holding her shield. The shield bash skill was one of her earliest skills but most useful. It never seemed to fail her and did not here.


    The sharp crack of ice and bone was enough to show off the strength Su had. The skeleton did not fair well under her attack and its arm fell to the ground unable to be reattached. Walker did not hesitate to pull out therger of his hammers and grasp it within his hands. He used all of his strengths to channel some fire elemental mana in to it and raise it straight over his head.


    The dead ice skeleton was not a wise undead and before it could react, Walker had mmed the hammer down in to the frozen skull. The small burst of me furthered the crackling sounds as ice shatters and bone cracked in a spiderweb pattern. But miraculously, the dead ice skeleton was still struggling to stand. It had not been defeated even after all that.


    When he saw this, Walker had no choice but to jump back and dodge the swipe of the skeletons'' only arm. The slight cold breeze it made was enough to put a small amount of frost on his hammer showing just how deadly and cold the bones really were.


    "If regr arrows won''t work," Gil let loose and Zephyr had charged with wind elemental mana, "I will use some extra strength." The arrow hit the weakened skull and the dead ice skeleton lost all control and life it had left. The tter of frozen bones on the rocks in front of the party was enough for them to finally rx a little and gather their minds.


    "So, are you going to jinx us again?" Gil gave a knowing look to Remey who denied any causality when it came to the skeletons'' appearance in front of them.


    "The water elemental mana in these bones is extremely condensed. It''s almost like an elemental crystal has been made inside of them." The mana radiating from the bones caused Walker to examine them more carefully.


    ''Dead ice skeleton bones


    The long period of freezing had left the bones of the dead ice skeleton with two very powerful effects. They had long been saturated with high amounts of water elemental mana to their very core making them an ideal water elemental material. Due to this, it has the second characteristic of freezing things in contact. This fact has made it known for the frozen mines it is often found in and around.''


    The wandering cksmith waltzed forward with his forging gloves on and started to pick the bones up regardless of what Walker had just exined. As the materials disappeared in to a small back everyone realized that this was the famed cksmith vault skill. This was a skill some master cksmiths would gain that stored all of their materials within a magical vault in their minds. It was very valuable to have since it reduced the need for a storage room.


    The forging gloves that were on the wandering cksmiths'' hands were incredibly tough and resistant to all elemental mana. It was a precaution that any cksmith would take and if the quality was high enough they would not need to worry about most materials damaging their valuable hands.


    Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that no damage wasing from the bones on to the wandering cksmith. "I will check ahead. There might be a mine as it says. Midnight,e and watch my back." Gil and Midnight headed up the path.


    Midnight had not been able to help with thest battle but it was alright since she would have taken damage due to her attacks on the dead ice skeleton. She had significant resistance to elements but notplete resistance.


    "If there is a mine up there, will we risk exploring it?" Remey was skeptical. She thought that one of the dead ice skeletons was bad enough. Multiple dead ice skeletons within a small cramped cave sounded much much worse.


    The look of desire in the wandering cksmiths'' face made Walker decide on apromise between the two, "If Giles back and there is one we can give it a look. But we will not go deep in to it since it has most likely sat vacant for a long time and will be at risk for cave ins." His decision was made and it was a fair point. They would not take a great risk when they did not need to.


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 Chapter 839 - 839. The Caves Secrets

    "What can you make with the bones? Aren''t they too cold to properly add to anything? They would cool the fires and lose most of their water elemental affinity, wouldn''t they?" Walker had a feeling that it was easier than he was thinking but he stillcked a lot of in depth forging knowledge so he had to ask what the bones could be used for.


    "Swords. Armors." The words were simple and Walker wondered how it would be done but knew that the wandering cksmith would most likely show him when they had gathered more materials. It appeared he was already drawing out designs in his mind and all too focused to borate. But that wasn''t new, he rarely spoke let alone exined things.


    The padding of footsteps put everyone on edge again but it was soon revealed to be Midnight ahead of Gil returning from scouting ahead a little ways. She appeared excited for what they had found and nearly grabbed Gil''s arm with her mouth to drag him over to the rest of the groups. "Calm down. Calm down. We will tell them."


    "I take it you found something interesting on your scouting?" Su was trying hard not to giggle seeing how Midnight was dragging Gil along. It was incrediblyical.


    "Yes, we did as a matter of fact." Gil was a little miffed that even Su was trying to hold backughter but he continued nheless. "There was a small rockslide ahead. But that doesn''t matter because we can easily get around it. But it seems that it uncovered a cave that had its entrance blocked by a lot of rock. There isn''t a breezeing from inside so I don''t think it is arge cave with a cave system connected."


    This was a small surprise but the mountain would change over time. It was very normal for the rocks to shift and the trails to need to be changed or forged anew. However, the cave was an interesting find. If it had been blocked and did not connect to anything then it was sure to have been mined out at some point years ago. It was also the best ce for a skeleton to be a dead ice skeleton over the course of years without being found.


    "I think we can investigate a small cave. As long as we are very careful I have no reason to say we can not. I can even use some earth magic to sculpt a proper opening if we need it. I wouldn''t be able to sure up anything if we were going in to a cave system, but a small cave is possible." After Walker had said this, the wandering cksmith was already on the move prompting everyone to hurry themselves in to formation.


    After five minutes of climbing the winding trail, the rocks showed themselves to block the trail. It was small as Gil had said and easily walked over or around. The dark wall to the left of the rock slide was the thing to catch their eyes. It appeared to be covered in shadow but when someone looked closer they would find that it was not a shadow at all and actually a cave.


    "Midnight, you guard our client while we head inside. If we shout out to you toe in it is safe. If not we will leave or you should head back down towards the camping spot and wait there." This was the safest bet in case another of the skeletons was inside.


    Su took the lead in to the cave because she was the safest to take and counter the attacks from a dead ice skeleton. Walker didn''t have room for therge hammer and decided to pull out his two smaller forging hammers. The entrance to the cave was surprisingly sturdy looking and Walker felt that if he used earth magic to stabilize it there would be no difference.


    "Leader, it appeared there are pieces of skeletons around." Su was pointing out bines on the ground that were definitely just old bones that had never risen to walk again. To investigate more, Walker used his skills to create a light orb that illuminated the small cave.


    "Gil was right, no way out once we are in. There are even pick axes left behind." Remey pointed toward a side wall left with rotting wood and rusted pick axes.


    "I hate to say it, but it looks like that skeleton must have torn apart these ones." The marks on the bones were faded but a pick axe had definitely defeated the living beings that had once been these skeletons. "Thest one must have gotten trapped due to the entrance caving in and perished here to be the dead ice skeleton." It was a terrible story but one that happened often when people found something valuable and let their greed take hold of them.


    "I think this used to be a chest. And this wall definitely used to be minded." Su was running her hands over a portion of the wall that had been carved out. The chest she found was made fully of rusting metal to protect whatever was inside.


    "It''s safe toe in!" Gil made the call and the wandering cksmith rushed in as if he was barely containing himself while waiting. Midnight was right behind him.


    "Sister says that the wandering cksmith is very excited to see what is left in a mined cave." Onyx had been sleeping in his tattoo form but finally spoke up for the first time despite the cold they faced. He had not wanted to because it was easier to sleep in the cold breezes and hide away under walkers''yers of clothing.


    "I''m pretty interested to see too. If it is something worth doing all this for it should be valuable." Walker still felt bad about what must have happened in the past but did not dwell on it since t was something he could not change. Instead, he focused on opening the rusted metal chest.


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 Chapter 840 - 840. Inside The Chest

    The metal chest was rusted shut and it took Walker, Gil, and the wandering cksmith together to get the hammer and a chisel the wandering cksmith brought in to the opening. The three held the chest in ce while Midnight and Si put all their weight on the chisel to pop open the top in arge cracking sound. Remey was startled since she was watching the cave entrance but did not freak out once she realized the sound. Instead, she stole small nces to see what had been found.


    " It''s just as I expected. It''s full of rocks." Gil was activating as if he had known a great secret all along. But in reality, they all knew it had to be ore inside the chest.


    "Gil, you may be a genius among men." Even Su couldn''t help but throw some sarcasm at Gil after his bad joke.


    However, what was really shocking was the face the wandering cksmith was making. His jaw had dropped and he was looking at the contents of the box as if he was afraid to touch it. Walker looked back and forth waiting for the wandering cksmith to react but found that he was totally frozen in ce as he processed whatever the ore was. There was no choice but to use his all around appraisal skill to check things out.


    ''Cold Iron ore


    Rare ore that is formed in mountains that experience extreme prolonged cold. Traces of water element mana seeped in to normal iron causing the change to ur. Due to the water elemental mana within it naturally causes frost to form even on the hottest days. It is ideal for traveling in intense heat. Many desert tribes trade for rings made of this material so that they can more easily cross therge spans of the desert.''


    "It should be very useful for forging then. I haven''t heard of cold iron before. Just normal iron mostly, so this is pretty different." Walker could tell why the wandering cksmith was so d to see it. He would be able to forge with so much of a rare material.


    "If that is cold iron then this must be moreover here in the walls. It looks the same, well, I think." Remey was not at all an expert in ores and metals. Yet, she had perfectly found a small vein in the wall that was of the same color and even had a bit of frost running along it indicating that it was the same cold iron.


    "I guess that means I get to mine." Walker knew that it was his job as soon as Remey had said it. There was also the fact that the wandering cksmith looked too greedy to just let the additional cold iron ore go.


    Looking at the broken pick axes, Walker knew that using them was out of the question. However, the wandering cksmith checked the metal part of the pickaxe and gave a nod after he found that it was solid enough to use. "Hmm, let me try something." Walker ced a hand on the ground and began to shape the earth. The small amount of mana he used was enough for him to quickly shape an ideal handle out of the stone beneath his feet.


    When he lifted the pickaxe on to his shoulder some rust dropped off but otherwise, it was good to go. He had never really done anything like this and was looking forward to a new skill. However, he was not excited about the soreness in his muscles the unfamiliar action would cause. Even more, he had an audience which didn''t help. It was the problem with him being the only one that could mine and learn how to use mining skills. If any of the others attempted it they most likely would damage the ore in some way or worse, cause a copse.


    With a deep breath, Walker swung the pickaxe against the wall. He had underestimated his own strength and a solid chip of stone shattered off the wall revealing more of the cold iron. It was not what he expected but gave him a lot more of a baseline to go off of for the next swing. After the twentieth swing, he finally started to see the piece of cold iron ending and where it grouped to a second piece further down the wall.


    ''The skill precise mining has been taken from the elite miner system. The skill precise mining has been learned through user action.


    Precise mining- passive


    The user has an innate sense of the best ce to smash the pickaxe while mining. This precise movement will often allow for a better and more intact ore at the end result. There will be fewer chances of a copse or a broken pickaxe while mining.''


    The party watched as Walker began to break away the stone in much cleaner swings and pieces. The movements even became more fluid showing off that he had learned another skill. Once therge chunk of cold iron fell from the wall, the wandering cksmith collected it with a small whistle. He was impressed with the effort and skill that came from this process along with how well the ore was left for him to moldter.


    "Is there more?" The sweat that had built up on Walker was easily manipted with his skills to evaporate and dry. However, when Walker looked at his system he was surprised that such a simple action was rewarded with a skill.


    ''The skill cleanse has been taken from the high noble system. The user has automatically learned the skill cleanse.


    Cleanse- 2 mana cost


    Very different from the skill cleansing from the exorcist type systems. The skill cleanse allows the user to manipte the dirt, sweat, and grime on their body to leave their person. This skill is a must for most nobles and is often the key to a good first impression.''


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 Chapter 841 - 841. The Falls

    The cleanse skill was not something super shy and amazing. It was a simple skill but a useful one. Walker couldn''t count the many times he had wished he could bathe while they had been traveling or how often he had wanted to be able to get home and sit in a bath to scrub away every piece of dirt.


    He even felt that he would be able to use the skill on the others which would be incredibly valuable for when they were adventuring and were about to walk in to a city. It would also save them some water that they had in his inventory for cleaning themselves before entering a city anyways.


    "Midnight and I gave a check of the other walls again and it looks like there is nothing else here." Gil was a little disappointed that they hade up short. He had grand ideas that they hade across a mine full of ores and valuable gems.


    "I think we got more than enough. Thatst chunk of ore should be enough to make a whole ingot and then some." The size of thest piece of cold iron ore had been thergest by far. However, with the amount in the rusted chest, they had enough to make a few sets of armor if needed.


    Once Walker had stored the broken pickaxes to be melted down and reused, he looked at the wandering cksmith who was standing waiting for the others happily. He had gained a lot here and wasn''t even at the centennial ice that they nned to harvest as well.


    "Leader, do we leave the cave as it is or will we close it up again?" When Su asked Walker, couldn''t help but think there was no harm in just leaving the cave as it was. It would be a good resting spot for any future travelers.


    "No, we can leave it. It will save us some time that way. I think we will get to icicle falls today. Then tomorrow we can get to the centennial ice. I would say we will get to both today but after fishing for a little while it should be dark."


    "Oh, good. I can look for more herbs that way too. I have an idea that there are more around the icicle falls than we think." Remey knew that there were plenty of herbs that would grow around such cold ces. The thought that all nts needed was sunlight and warmth to grow was amon misconception. Lots of herbs needed the proper elemental mana to get the grow that they need.


    Hearing the goals from the others, the wandering cksmith tried to take the lead before Su jumped in front of him. They were out of the cave and back on their journey up the mountain. The rock slide had not held them up in the least, it was a small one and with minimal effort, the group had walked around it.


    Midnight was fairly energized after she and Gil had scouted to find the cave. She had already tried to push Gil to go and scout again with her since she was feeling the need to explore more and more. It was a small addiction to the new things around them and the fact that the group seemed to be finding more and more new things at every turn.


    "Alright, Midnight, I need your help." Remey finally broke first and decided to tell Midnight about another herb she was on the look out for that she was sure that would be growing near the icicle falls which Walker had already said should be over the next ridge.


    Midnight rushed over to Remey ready for her mission. The seriousness in her eyes was alight with fire. "Ehrm, the herb we are looking for is blue and skinny. It''s called blue grass. The base is green like normal grass. It grows in small tufts here and there and only next to ice and snow patches." Midnight used her shadow wrapping skill and was off ahead of them in a matter of seconds. She had clear memories of what Remey had said and focused on the task.


    "What is blue grass used for? More cold resistance?" Su thought there was a familiar sounding herb that she may have seen before.


    "It is actually verymon to grow in the winter. It helps prevent colds and can be made in to a small vitamin pill of dried and added to soups and teas. I want to have some around for exactly this reason. We can get some ahead of the real snow which will be nice." Remey was trying to think ahead of what they would need for their trip to Genesis city as well. More than likely the snow will fall during or before their trip.


    "That''s a good idea. None of us can afford to get sick with all other ns we have." The entire group agreed with Walkers'' statement. They had a lot of ns they were very excited about in theing months. Being sick and missing something seemed to be a tragedy.


    Like a ghosting out of nowhere, Midnight padded up next to Su and was ready to pull her away. However, the group was about to clear the ridge and see what Midnight had already seen. She did not rush them since she wanted them all to experience the sight before them fully.


    All of them knew that something great was ahead due to Midnight''s excited actions. But they were not ready for the cold breeze to hit them and open up the area ahead of them. The icicle falls wereing from the next bit of steep cliffs ahead of them. The ice falling was adding to the crashing of water which the sun showed through making rainbow mists. It was elegant.


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 Chapter 842 - 842. Casting

    The entire space in front of them around the icicle falls was covered in small deep streams that branched from therge pool of ice and water at the base of the falls. There were also plenty of tufts of blue grass that pushed through the patches of snow that perfectlyyered the area. It was not an ideal camping spot but a beautiful sight to see and would be held in the groups'' memory for years toe.


    "Who needs materials and herbs when we can see things like this. Every day I am reminded of what agood choice bing an adventurer was." Su was the most touched by the view in front of her. She had originally wanted items and money to heal her mother. But with that goal more than met, she found that she was living a life she had never imagined and when moments like this urred she was stunned.


    "I don''t mean to ruin the mood. It is beautiful, but beauty can hide danger. Other than the blue koi I will fish for there could be other monsters in the deep streams around. Just be careful and don''t go off alone." Walker was sure that the blue koi could not be the only monsters around. It would be too simple if there were no predators to hunt them in such arge space of watery streams to hide in.


    "Midnight and I are gathering blue grass. Everyone else can do whatever." Remey and Midnight had barely held themselves back before they rushed off. Walker felt that his words had been lost to the wind.


    "You two can go and test your fishing rods. Su and I will walk around and see what is what here." Gil shooed Walker and the wandering cksmith off toward therge pool near the falls so that Walker could begin to try and catch himself some blue koi. He wasn''t sure if Gil just wanted him to get the koi for the materials he would sue for water elemental arrows or because he was trying to be nice.


    It did put Walker at ease knowing that there were people taking the danger seriously and checking the area for anything that could cause them trouble. "I think we can use some of the jerky for bait. I could use some of the leftover roasted meats we have but I would prefer to keep that for when we eatter."


    This seemed to be fine by the wandering cksmith since he was not one to go and fish at all. Let alone have any skills rted to fishing at all. It woulde down to Walker to really figure out what the koi liked and how to actually kook them. There was the added bonus that with a second person around Walker would have help pulling what he caught on to the shore.


    When the pair reached the edge of the pool it was hard to see the water since it was mostly ice on top. But because of the falls, there was a slight bit of ripples that allowed sight through the water. It was crystal clear and free of any sediment or nt growth that made vision hard. It was exceptionally deep and there was no way to see past the darkness to the bottom.


    There were also slight differences in the coloration of the darkness that Walker could see. The blue hue of the ice caused it to be harder to see, "They are the koi!" Walker caught a glimpse of one as it chased another and turned enough to see the white belly.


    With this sighting, the excitement reached its maximum and the two hurried to prepare the iron fishing rods. Walker knew that the wandering cksmiths'' was better but he had the feeling that using the one he had made would bring him more luck. After they made sure that the rods were properly prepared, Walker hooked a small square of beef jerky to the tip of the hook.


    "I''ve never cast this kind of fishing pole so step back. I don''t want to catch you." Walker gave his warning and the wandering cksmith stepped back a fair distance. It didn''t seem to matter though because as soon as Walker lifted the pole with the dangling hook it attached to his clothing and became stuck.


    The ensuing situation was a mix of trying to be unhooked and avoiding bing tangled in the braided line which seemed to pull out more and more as the two struggled. The second attempt was slightly better but went way too far andnded on arge piece of ice. After reeling it in and pulling the chunk of ice with the hook Walker finally managed to cast the line in to the water.


    The attempts had been difficult but it had finally worked and the small plunk sound was enough to bring rxation to the pair who stood there in silence. "I guess...we wait now." Walker had not expected that they would get a fish immediately. But for some reason, he found himself anxious while he waited.


    ''The skill cast has been taken from the fly fishing system. The user had learned the basic skill cast has been automatically learned through users'' actions.


    Cast- 1 mana cost


    Requires a fishing rod. The user is able to cast the line of a fishing pole with minimal danger to those around them. The odds ofnding the hook where desired are significantly higher the more the user trains this skill.''


    The skill was enough to make Walker happy since he would have less chance to get hooked or to hook a friend. There was also the fact that the skill would get better the more he practiced with it. If he followed some fishermen he might find that he could rx and fish peacefully if he ever had more free time. But that was for another day, now, he needed to focus on whatever was trying to nibble the jerky on the hook.


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 Chapter 843 - 843. Hooked

    Walker was holding the line with one hand and the other on the base of the fishing pole. He knew that if he managed to get a bite on the hook he might feel it on the braided fishing line before the pole itself. The same small ripples were pushing the ice from side to side and the pair could see the asional tail of a blue koi in the water. It was just a matter of time before something was brave enough to snap at the jerky on the hook.


    This proved to be the correct way t fish because Walker soon found that the braided fishing line was twitching slightly. Having seen someone fish before he knew he had to pull the line at that moment.


    The force he found pulling away from him through the line was much stronger than he expected. His response was a little slow and he nearly dropped the pole in surprise. He had never truly fished before meaning that it was going to be a tough learning experience through real action.


    He pulled back on the pole before he remembered to start turning the real they had made. The progress was much slower than Walker expected. Each time the koi would swish its'' tail the force against Walker would increase. There was a moment where it pulled more kine out in to the water than Walker could real in.


    This prompted Walker to put more strength in to it and regain the distance he had lost. "Come one one on!" His shout of self encouragement caused the wandering cksmith to grab the pole as well and lean back to put more weight on it. The pair managed to gain even more of the line back before a brilliant ice blue koi breached the water and fell again with a ssh.


    This was itsst attempt to spit the hook that had set itself deep in its mouth. Naturally, the two had seen the size of the blue koi and found energy they did not know they had. They heaved on the pole and turned the reel faster to get the now exhausted koi on to the shore. With so little line left out, there was nowhere for it to swim.


    The slight struggle it had left sent it in to contact with ice shards and pieces causing even more damage toe to it. By the time it was near enough for Walker to grab and pull on to the snowy bank, the blue koi couldn''t even flow and perished on the spot. Walker was amazed by the over a foot long size of the blue koi. The chill that wasing from it was even more intense causing the snow to be even more solid beneath it.


    "What do you think, do we catch another now? Or do we try and break this one down?" Walker was going to leave it up to the wandering cksmith since he was the one that wanted the scales as a material. Gil also wanted some but odds were they two would work together to make the arrows that Gil needed.


    "Stock up." There was no hesitation as the wandering cksmith handed the second fishing pole to Walker. He wanted Walker to have both set up and ready to catch at the same time to increase their chances after the first. It had not taken them a very long time to get the first fish but a decent chunk of time would be wasted if they did not use both to maximize their catching.


    "Alright, then let me set this up." Walker manipted the snow to form a perch for both fishing poles. This made him able to case one and set it inside so when another fish caught on he had time to grab it and begin the battle. If worst came to worst the wandering cksmith could assist in holding the other pole while he waited for Walker to assist in the catching process.


    The pole was again cast after Walker added a small piece of jerky on to the hood. He had stored the first blue koi already so he was ready to cast the second pole. Both were aimed at opposite directions to avoid tangling and there was a calmness to the falling water now that the pair had gotten used to it.


    They waited a much shorter time when the fishing pole that the wandering cksmith had made started to bend. Walker grabbed it and began to reel it up finding that there was a significantly lighter weight on the other side. "We might have to throw this one back. It feels very young." This was to be expected. They had gotten very lucky the first catch to get arge blue Koi.


    The pair had no issue reeling the catch in more and more. But they did not feel the strong struggle of a fish tail trying to escape. The entire line just seemed to vibrate side to side but give no real resistance. On top of this, there was no glorious jump from the water in a life and death struggle.


    When the line began to get tighter and the weight suddenly increased, Walker knew that there was something wrong. Their catch was not as simple as it could be. They could even see the top of the water freeze more and it worried them. The blue koi should not be able to freeze the water around it so much that it could make the line heavier.


    Feeling that they might need to let this one go, they shared a look, but in their eyes was a fire that refused to lose their catch. The pair grabbed the fishing pole together once again and pulled back with all their force. A sharp cracking graced their ears and whatever was on the opposite end of the line was forced out of the water and on to the shore in one full motion.


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 Chapter 844 - 844. Be Speedy

    The monster thaty on the snow was nothing that they had imagined would be at the end of the fishing pole. "This is definitely not a blue koi¡­" Walker was stunned to see the long snake like fish that was nearly clear as ss. The ice that was holding on to its body in chunks was simrly shaped like it and Walker felt that it had been starting to use some skill to resist them before they pulled it from the icy waters.


    ''Ghostly ice eel


    The ghostly ice eel is a very weak monster that is considered very dangerous. It can freely travel unseen in water causing it to be an assassin like hunter. The eel is often reclusive and does not venture out often. Yet, when it is out it will use its'' hallmark skill ice armor. This will cause ice to form around it in the same shape as the eel. The size of the eel doubles and it gains the ability to defend and attack stringer opponents than itself. The ghostly ice eel is considered a delicacy and a valuable material for crafting. The pendants made with their nearly clear eyes are able to ward off strong illusion magic skills. While its tender meat is extremely nutritious.''


    The ghostly ice eel did notst long out of the water and it was soon in the same state as the blue koi before. The uses that it had as an illusion resistant material were enough to make it double as valuable as the blue koi. The fact that its meat was supposed to be nutritious was a bonus that the group could enjoy at their meal tonight and possibly when they returned home if they managed to catch more.


    "This is really something. I wonder if there ae more. If there are we need to pull them up fast before they use their ice armor skill. I don''t think we will have a chance when that happens." There was surety in Walkers'' voice but the wandering cksmith didn''t hear a word. He was in his own world after seeing the material he had not expected in the least.


    The fishing pole was cast yet again, however, Walker had no time to rest because the second pole started to be pulled on by another fish. This time it was the same feeling as the blue koi. There was strength in the attempts to be unhooked and it took the two of them to pull it up on to the share after a few minutes of battling.


    T was smaller than thest but still close to the same size.


    "This might be very lucky, or, the blue koi are allrge in this ce and we have not been catchingrge ones inparison to what might-" The second fishing pole was being pulled on the same way as the one that had just been reeled in. There was no time to rest and the pair hurriedly pulled up a blue koi. This one was not the same though.


    There was a small chunk of scales and meat that had been bitten from the blue koi and it seemed to match the size of the ghostly ice eels'' mouth. "Let''s catch that eel that messed up our perfect blue koi." The determination led Walker to cast the fishing pole in to the same spot it had just been while the other pole went close to the area.


    There was no need to wait. It seemed that they had stirred up all the fish in the area and there was a pull on the line immediately. The battle that ensued was nothing like before. It was harder. The second fishing pole was being pulled on too but the pair did not have the ability to reel both in at once.


    ''The skill speed reeling has been taken from the deep sea fishermen system. The user has automatically learned the skill speed reeling.


    Speed reeling- 2 mana cost per hour


    The user uses their mana to flow through their body and in to the reel of the fishing pole. The reel can resist the heat created through faster reeling and the user can push their speed faster with less risk of damage to the pole. Small fish won''t know when they left the water. Large fish will bow to the speed they are pulled from their homes.''


    There was a flow that Walker felt as he sped up his reeling. This more than helped against the heavier weight on the line this time. Especially when they brought the blue koi onnd. It was easily half a footrger than the first two. But there was no time to marvel at their catch. The second line was being tugged and moved side to side.


    The pulling they felt was as if the line was being pulled from different directions in a frenzy. "I think something is attacking the koi. We should be able to get whatever is attacking it." Walker readied himself to pull a sword from his inventory and slice at whatever may be eating the


    The heaves and intense reeling brought up a blue koi simr to the size of thest. But it had been lightened by more than one predator. It had been bitten and torn up but five squirming ghostly ice eels still burying themselves within the blue koi. They were so in to their meal that they did not notice they had been pulled to shore when it was toote.


    "The blue koi might be ruined but there are five more eels for you. Should we keep it up?"


    The pair was going to cast again when they heard Remey and Midnight making much more noise than before.


    "Midnight, keep it steady. It ruined my herb so I''m going to smash it!" There was pure anger in Remey''s voice.


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 Chapter 845 - 845. Night And Day

    The pair looked toward where they heard Remey yelling and Midnight growling. The fishing poles were left without being cast as they ran over to the small steam that Remey and Midnight had been trying to harvest herbs from.


    "You really thought you could snap my herbs in half and get away!?" Remey wasnding a hammer fist on to the shell of a blue and green shelled crab. Midnight had clearly dragged it on to the ice and snow.


    There was not much exnation needed and no one intervened. Gil and Su arrived as well to find that Remey had just broken one w off the crab and Midnight was busy holding it in ce when Remey went after the other.


    Without the ws, Remey was able to get closer to it and defeat it with a defense breaking palm attack. There was no room to say the crab could have survived.


    ''Frozen blood crab


    Verymon in mountain streams, the frozen blood crab is known for the blood that ispletely frozen in its body. The crab still lived by using mana to move its blood through the body but due to this, it has very tough defenses. The crabs are used for a multitude of armors and their blood once melted is a desired potion ingredient. They often feed on the underwater herbs that grow along the rocks of streams. They are also known to eat perished fish that sink to the bottom of their habitat''


    Walker whispered this to the wandering cksmith who had already deduced that this was a great material for forging as well. He was happier with the trip than he had expected since he was able to gather so many materials in a ce that he had not traveled to before. There was also the fact that he had some rare materials that they hade across just by luck. It was something he was sure not to have found if he had hired a group of adventurers or mercenaries to guard him. Let along traveled by himself.


    "What? It cut the herbs Midnight and I were harvesting in half. We had to teach it a lesson or it would have kept preying on them." Remey was a little disheveled but she and Midnight were both fairly calm after their battle.


    The crab had managed to defend against Remey for some time and Midnight had to make sure she was not in range of the ws while she held it in ce. It was actually a very good training battle for the two and it just went to show that Midnight and Remey had skill when it came to working together in battle.


    "Sister says that she will enjoy eating cran for dinner." Onyx sounded fairly amused when he spoke to everyone about what Midnight was thinking. He knew that Remey was after the herbs but Midnight was in it for the food.


    "Well, crabs aside, we also have to ghostly ice eel for dinner. We will try to fish up more blue koi and eels for now and meet back at this spot." Walker knew that everyone still had things they wanted to do. Gil headed back with Walker while Su stayed with Midnight and Remey.


    "Su and I found a good spot away from the streams to camp for the night. But more importantly, how many koi do you have?" Gil wanted to hear about what he would be able to make arrows from. The remaining few hours before the sun began to set were filled with questions and ns between Gil and the wandering cksmith about arrows.


    The conversation had mainly been from Gil but it was useful to listen to while Walker fished up blue koi. He only managed to get six more ghostly eels but after losing two hooks he was able to pull up another twenty three blue koi fish. There were no other sightings of frozen blood crabs from Walkers'' side of things. But when they got to the camp that Gil and Su had found, Remey had three more there waiting for the wandering cksmith and Walker to help break down.


    The eel turned out to be fairly nd when vor came to conversation. This was not bad though, it was extremely tender and all of them knew that Walkers'' mother could turn it in to a roasted delight. The crab was surprisingly sweet and after having its blood drained for Remey to experiment with, in a potion, the meat turned stark white. Midnight relished every bite as she had an entire crab to herself.


    None of them wanted to try and eat the blue koi since it was somehow still cold even after being cooked. It made them all apprehensive about eating it and the decision to save it for another time was unanimous.


    Once the sun had finally set everyone went to rest while Walker took the first watch. It was not long before he woke everyone up again. "The streams are very lively. We should all stay up and take watch." His tone told everyone that it was not anything to argue with.


    They all agreed when they surveyed the streams. The frozen blood crabs hade out of the streams after dark to move and fight each other. The mist from the falls was bing a snowy flurry around making it easier for the aquatic monsters to be onnd. This was not only for the crabs, however. The ghostly ice eels also came to shore.


    The sight of arge icy body slithering over the snow and in to different streams was the main reason Walker had wanted everyone awake. There was also the fact that with the ice armor around the eels, they could much more easily defeat the crabs as a meal that they dragged back in to the waters. The eels had be the top predator in the area after dark when they could safely leave the water and maintain their armor.


    "This seems much more dangerous than it felt earlier today." Gil already had his bow prepared with an arrow if need be.


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 Chapter 846 - 846. Quick Thinking

    "Was this written anywhere? Did your appraisal mention this?" Su was sure that Walker had not heard or noticed this anywhere but she had to be sure in case there was other hidden information.


    "Nothing. I didn''t think they would be bold enough to leave the water let alone hunt the crabs. Their ice armor skill lets them pierce the crab shell so much easier than I would have thought." It was a very big change from how the eels acted before. The fact that they had been defeated before they showed their ice armor properly had been a small blessing.


    "I can''t believe I watched you pull those from the water over and over. They only had small chunks of ice on them before. Now they had full bodies of ice. They are apletely different monster." There was some doubt on Gil''s face whether this was the case or if these werepletely different monsters. The only proof was that the main body of the eel became more visible within the ice armor.


    "Trust me, if I knew they came out at night like this, then I would not have tried hunting them. I think it''s pure luck that one of them did not fully form the ice armor before we pulled it up from the water. They are really weak without it. But with it¡­" Walker stopped speaking when he saw another ghostly ice eel defeat a frozen blood crab and pull it to the depths.


    "How about you make a wall for us. You can do that, right/'' Remey was the one to suggest this. She had the feeling that all of the streams that snaked away from the main water fall of the icicle falls was surrounding them with potential danger.


    "Leader and my partner can work together to make an earth fortress." Su connected the dots and Walker couldn''t argue. The n was perfect for what they needed. As much as they could battle against the ghostly eels at night, it was better to focus on surviving and avoid battle in the dark.


    Walker could feel the earth elemental mana react after Su whis[pered to the earth spirit within the earth dwelling shield. The ground beneath them shifted and the earth below the ice and snow began to rise. It drew a lot of attention from the ghostly ice eels around that felt the shaking.


    The thought ofrger prey drew them toward the forming earth fortress that was slowly moving up around the group. "Gil put the fire out. Midnight, guard the top, it''s thest part to close. Remey, you are on deterrence duty, make them back away if I can''t close it fast enough." The n was set and Walker began to use his skills to manipte the earth elemental mana.


    His goal was to bring it in faster toward the shield so that the earth fortress could berger. Su may have been practicing to leave an opening for her shield but at the moment they did not need arge opening. They needed just enough to allow air in and out. Ensuring that the shape was there was what Walker was for.


    With his training, Walker was able to sculpt the earth fortress and also help make it tougher and thicker. The better it defend the more they could rx while they awaited the morning where they would not need to worry about the multiple monsters around them.


    There was a brownish green hue to the earth dwelling shield showing the high density earth elemental mana being channeled through it. There was a moment that Walker and Su worried for the safety of the earth spirit within but the speeding up of the earth fortress was enough to show that it was safe and doing even better than ever.


    Remey slowly moved to the center of the fortress until the entire top had closed and all that was left were small air holes for them. Su and Walker had been faster than the ghostly ice eels when they tried to attack them in mass. The dull thuds that came from behind the thick earth walls were enough to remind everyone that an enemy could break through at any moment.


    "I won''t be able to use this skill for some time." Su saw that the shield had be its usual coloration. But with her spirit mark, she could feel that the earth spirit was exceptionally exhausted along with the earth elemental mana stored within the shield.


    "That''s fine. Let the spirit rest. It''s up to me to upkeep the fortress while it rests. I can make sure that we are safe. Everyone else should try to take a nap. I will shout if anything happens." Walker knew that it was his duty to remain on watch as much as possible. He was the only one that could sense the earth being broken away or damaged in any way. He was also the only one that could repair it when needed.


    Their quick thinking had avoided a massive ident from urring. One that Walker was sure had happened before to unsuspecting adventurers or miners. The area was deceptive and seemed to be predator free. This was clear when Walker managed to pull the eels up with slight struggle. However, now that he saw them in their ice armor, it was clear that they were the apex predator in the area.


    The night was fairly smooth sailing for Walker. He only needed to repair some small portions of the earth fortress that were attacked. He had no need to wake anyone up but noticed that everyone would wake up from time to time to look around and check on him. Otherwise, when Walker felt that the light elemental mana outside was increasing he began to open a small part of the wall using his skills. The light that flooded in proved that it was morning and that they should be able to leave.


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 Chapter 847 - 847. Aftermath

    The party was slow to leave the earth fortress but in time Walker fully crumbled it back to the earth. The scene that they had witnessedst night was gone but not the same as the previous day. There were pieces of frozen blood crab shells and ws around the snow and sides of the streams.


    "It looks like this is the aftermath of every night." Seeing so many pieces of the monsters, Gil wasn''t sure how they wouldn''t have noticed this kind of thing when they first scouted.


    "I have a feeling that we happened toe upon arger huntst night. The sky was clear and there were arge number of crabs. The eels may havee out more because of that." The theory Su had made sense. It was most likely a night where more crabs just happened toe out for food or other reasons. The party just happened to be here.


    "Well, we have no point worrying now. Lets''s go grab the pieces of shells and see what else is around. I can''t believe we won''t find any of those ice eel things either." Remey wanted to get moving and away from the ministers that had ruined their night sleep.


    "I don''t even need to be told twice. Let''s gather the shells and head out. We caught a lot of blue koi and a decent number of eels. They should do well for materials along with what we have for the crab shells." Walker yawned as he said this and was met with a slight growl from Midnight.


    "Sister says you are going to take a nap while everyone cleans up." Onyx was backed by the looks from everyone including the wandering cksmith. He had no reason to argue against it because he knew a small nap would help him get all the way to the centennial ice that they wanted to gather.


    It may have only been an hour long task but when Walker felt Midnight nudge him awake with her snout, he felt as if he had slept much longer.


    ''The skill restful slumber has been taken from the sandman system. The user has automatically learned the skill restful slumber.


    Restful slumber- passive


    The user is able to release the stress of the material world and more easily slip in to slumber. Their body is able to rest and recuperate after the day at a much higher rate than the average being. This also gives them increased health points and mana points regeneration while napping. This skill does not apply to daydreams.''


    The system prompted Walker as if bragging about knowing why he had slept so well. Not that he had any qualms about it. The skill restful slumber may not look or sound impressive, however, for anyone it is a major boon. Not only would his health and mana regenerate faster, but that would mean he would be able to return to an adventure faster. Injuries healing better was always a good thing.


    Furthermore, Walker would always be well rested when he was out on an adventure. He might not sleep well on a bed but his mind and body would still be refreshed. Even after a small nap. "It looks like you got a good haul there." Walker patted Midnight''s head while he sat up from his spot and looked at the pile of crab shells that had been brought to him. Midnight had been guarding him and the pile while everyone else gathered it.


    "Have a feeling there will be some crab shell style armor soon. But I can''t say anyone here will ever wear it." There was a doubtful tone to Gil''s voice but it was clear that he had begun to feel the curiosity about what the armor and items would look like.


    "Water affinity." After tapping some of the pieces of crab shell the wandering cksmith spoke excitedly about the affinity of the shells.


    "A full water affinity armor would do very well in the hands of someone with the same affinity. You could have it as a very attractive disy armor in a shop at Genesis city." This seemed a little sneaky of Su but she knew that he had been interested in a past conversation about their goals for their homes in Genesis city.


    Since Lisa would have a shop and Walkers'' mother had expressed the desire for one, they all knew there would be two in the least. Opening an armor shop wouldn''t be an issue. At this rate, the party could take over an entire street.


    There was a sneaking smile on the wandering cksmiths'' face for a fraction of a second before he regained hisposure and looked at Walker with a serious expression. "Alright, let''s get this stored away and head to the centennial ice. The area it forms and stays forever is just up the mountain a little ways. It will be cold."


    There was not much left to clean up and by the time the party had finished breaking down the camp, the only evidence they had been there was the shifted earth that was already being soaked with mist from the icicle falls and would be ice and snow after the night.


    The hike up the mountain further proved to be much harder now than before. "I can''t believe the difference in the ice after one ridge. We have only been walking for half the hour!" Gil was not a huge fan of the ice that was causing every single one of them to slip asionally. The only two that were not having issues were Su and Midnight. Midnight because she dug her ws in to the ice and Su because the weight of her shield and armor was holding her firm.


    "It will be worth it. The centennial ice will be perfect for the cooling process when things are forged. The quality of everything our cksmith friend makes will be perfect." Walker was feeling more excited by the minute. The centennial ice was another step toward getting a weapon made for who he was.


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 Chapter 848 - 848. Centennial Ice Hunting

    The mountains were full of a constantly shifting breeze. This calmed down at times but was always there in some form or fashion. When they party crested the next peak of the lower mountains they had finally made it to the mid peaks. The change in the air became a bone chilling cold that could eat away at their stamina the more they were experiencing it.


    "Let me guess, that is the centennial ice up there?" Gil''s eyes were sharp and easily caught on to the ice that was on the rocks of the mountains. It was giving off a white fog that caused the surrounding area to beyered in frost and rough ice.


    "I would say that is what we are after. Everyone put on anotheryer so that we can stay warm." Walker was not letting anyone near the ice without being prepared. He knew that the cold was the most dangerous thing in the mountains and if they did not actively protect themselves then it would lead to death.


    "I am going to make a few torches for me to carry so that I can help keep everyone warm." As the leader of the party, Walker knew that it was best to use his skills to help keep everyone warm here. If he could provide heat then that was what he would do.


    Within his inventory, he was able to pull some of the smaller sticks that he would use to start a fire. He had plenty of wood and coal for adventures and forging. Luckily, there had been no limit found to his inventory so the storage ability he had only became more and more valuable.


    The guards in the city all knew how to make torches for the winter when they needed to patrol. This was one thing that just about anyone could make and Walker was thankful to have learned from his father when he was little. The value of warmth in the winter was invaluable.


    The trick he had learned was that using arge piece of wood or a group of sticks would allow air to flow better for the torch. Next using cloth scraps or thick rope to braid them together was ideal. A single lump of coal could then be set in the middle to keep an ember burning even when the torch me died down. This would make it easier to start up the me when needed.


    Midnight was the first to volunteer to carry one. She mped down on the end without the mes and carried it around. She seemed very happy with her self assigned mission to keep everyone warm and it made for a fairly amusing sight. Not a single one of them could say she was anything but adorable. Even Onyx seemed ready to leave his tattoo form to curl up on her back and stay with the fire.


    "We don''t want to harvest the newer soft ice. We need the tough older ice. That is the real centennial ice that won''t melt even when in the sun. That''s also another reason that we have the torches. We can test if the ice melts or not. If it does we leave it." Walker made enough torches for everyone but knew that they would only need two or three for their process. The others could be stored away forter.


    Walker half thought that he should just use his all around appraisal skill to keep looking for the centennial ice. But he ignored thezy feeling so that he could put the work in and find the ice themselves. It was a valuable experience that would help them identify simr materials in the future. The experience and learning were more valuable than a speedy solution.


    "How are we supposed to gather it? I don''t even think my knuckles will dent the sifter ice?'' Remey was the one that felt she was not well equipped for this. Gil was in the same boat. The only ones that seemed to be able to properly harvest any of the centennial ice would be Walker, Midnight, and Su. The wandering cksmith might but he was also a littlecking in the method of harvesting.


    "We just need to find it. I bet if you used the fire affinity knuckles you might be able to chip away at it. We need multiple sized pieces. Chips are good for smaller uses while arger chunk can be made for the hammers that will be reforged." There were already ns that the wandering cksmith had made and Walker had nced at before. They would need a decent variety of sizes toplete all the tools that were needed.


    The group avoided the white ice that seemed very new and pushed upwards towards the denser looking dark ice. It was giving off the majority of the white fog making it the coldest in the area. The feeling of the fog pierced their bodies with cold making everyone shiver even with the torches.


    "I have some melting away here. It''s a blue color so look for darker." Su''s shout was able to push them to move even further up the frozen rocks.


    "Here!" The shout was the most unfamiliar because it had been the wandering cksmith that called for everyone. They had never heard his voice so loud but since he was partnered with Midnight he had to be the one to shout. It was enough to make them all rush over a lot faster. When the group got to them they found the wandering cksmith and Midnight holding a torch to a very deep almost ck ice.


    "It''s not melting at all. That''s actually pretty cool. No pun intended there." Gil was turning his head side to side looking at the ice in awe. He had not actually expected the ice to be immune to the fire.


    "Let me at it!" Remey clipped on the fire affinity knuckles andshed out at the ice before anyone else could speak.


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 Chapter 849 - 849. Fists Of...

    The punch was not what any of them expected. Remey had been practicing with the different elemental affinity knuckles a little but not as much as she could have. She had been too focused on the alchemy side of her system to truly grasp the real effects that came with the elemental knuckles.


    Therefore, when the mes that were on Midnights'' torch jumped to Remey''s fist and the crack of the ice multiples, everyone was shocked. Even Remey. The shard of centennial ice that fell was muchrger than they expected. The spiderweb of cracked ice left behind was also a good sign for what their next hits could bring.


    "You just punched with fire! Fire!" The excitement Gil had was more than Remey had at the moment. She had not expected the attack to be used this way and she had been unaware that she had even learned a new skill rted to punching.


    "I have a skill called elemental fists now! It lets me use surrounding elemental mana to make my punches stronger as long as I have the appropriate knuckles attached." There wasn''t even a way for Remey to remain still reading this. Her energy spiked while she read through how amazing this skill would be. It was what she had desired in a way when she received the different elemental affinity knuckles to attach to her gloves. But it was even more than her expected effects.


    To actually channel the elemental mana around was more powerful than attacking with the affinity knuckles. The small damage the affinity would do was now going to be multiplied by the fact that actual elemental mana woulde along with the attacks.


    "I think that might just be your bread and butter attack now. You use the hammer fist a lot and even have some kicks mixed in, but changing elemental punches will throw any opponent in to confusion." There were only upsides in this skill that Walker could see. He wanted to have Remey show off every single attack but held back his curiosity.


    The shard of centennial ice was grabbed by Walker and stored. Hee only hold it for a member before the cold hurt his fingers and it made him wonder just how the wandering cksmith would be forging with it. The cold would seep through any gloves and be tough to work with. It was going to need a lot of time and patience to work with.


    The alchemy fire spirit felt that Remey was pulling fire elemental mana through her knuckles and emerged from the spirit mark to steal away some of the mana. When Remey released her next punch to the centennial ice the spirit danced around her cheering for her to punch again. The party witnessed this and decided to let her bond with the alchemy fire spirit.


    "I bet we can use the pick axe to chip away at the ice a little. Then we might be able to get a block of it." Walker was using some of the wandering cksmiths'' chisels and pick axes while Gil and Su held a torch for him. The wandering cksmith was using the chisels to carve a block outline and Midnight had stayed with Remey to provide a torch for her.


    The carved outline let Walker see where he would be striking away. His consecutive hits broke off small chips of centennial ice which would be ideal for the small rune carving tools. The block soon showed signs of breaking away from the wall of centennial ice. The noises that the group were making echoes through the mountains and came back to them. Their vignce continued to rise since they knew that noise could attract monsters. However, there was a feeling that none would approach because there was normally nothing to hunt and eat in this specific area. They would most likely head toward the icicle falls nearby.


    The block finally fell with a loud bang on to the ice and Walker was quick to store it away before it slid down the side of the mountain. It was thergest block yet and would be used as a modification for the anvil itself. The smaller blocks that were outlined by the wandering cksmith would be for the hammers. The rest were just chips and shards from the wall that were mainly broken by Remey as she practiced her newly discovered skill.


    She was not foolish enough to exhaust her mana and soon found that she had arge pile of shards and chips of central ice that Walker could store away. The alchemy first spirit had absorbed the fire elemental mana she had used and became slightlyrger before it decided to rest again in the spirit mark. Overall it was a very sessful surprise training session.


    "It was good work. You managed to get a lot. I doubt we will need it all but the more the better for what we are making." Once it was stored away, Walker knew that they would need to venture back down the mountain to reach their previous camping spot. There was no doubt that the wandering cksmith would get right to work. He had a glint in his eyes that said he could not contain his desire to forge.


    "Now we head back down, right? That should be easier than getting up here. I''m d that we don''t need to go to the higher peaks and try to hold on to those rocks there." The high peaks Gil was motioning to were t rock and ice faces that none of them wanted to climb. It would have been too tough unless they were all alone and had the proper skills.


    Before they could turn and speak about their thankfulness for not needing to climb the rock faces, there was a thud that vibrated the ice around them. The entire group froze as an icy breeze pushed all of them down the mountain slightly. The resounding raspy voice that broke the cold air around them caused them to shiver. "Whoes to harvest the ice I have made? What permission do you have to be here?"


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 Chapter 850 - 850. Appease Me

    Somehow, the massive blue and white scaled dragon hadnded right on top of the ice to look down on the group. Not a single one of them dared to breathe as they took in the sight. There were sharp looking blue and white scales that could easily cut through iron armor all over the dragon. The sharply pointed tail ended with multiple icy spikes showing off the strength of an ice dragon.


    The horns that grew from its head were equally spiked and made of ice. Even the dragons'' breath was made of the same fog that came off of the centennial ice. Yet, the fog appeared to be much colder and caused small ice crystals to fall from the air.


    "Were you not listening? Who said you could take from my ice? I made this ice and have been letting it mature for over a century. Now, exin." The demand in the voice was heavy. However, there was one thing that didn''t make sense.


    The wandering cksmith had gotten his map and it was clearly marked by whoever the map had been created by. This meant that the centennial ice was not just known by the cksmith who had circled it, but it was known by whoever else had this map as well. There was no way none of them knew the ice was the property of a dragon.


    Since Walker was thinking of the best way to respond, he used the all around appraisal skill to make sure he had everything he needed to say ready.


    ''Old Frost Dragon- Illia


    This frost dragon had reached the age to be called old. It surpassed four hundred years of life nearing the five hundred mark. When it reaches a thousand years it will be an ancient dragon. The water elemental mana affinity is so powerful that this dragon was able to be an ice dragon that could breathe extremely concentrated mist. The frost breath it breathes can freeze an opponent solid in a blink of an eye. This frost dragon is only thirty years from obtaining a dragonkin form.''


    It was not much information but Walker felt he could distract and throw the old ice dragon off enough to speak reason with it.


    "I apologize to you, Miss Illia. We were not aware that the map our friend purchased led to centennial ice that was created by a wondrous dragon such as yourself. If we had known we would not dare to harvest it from our forging activities. Since we have already taken some we should pay you properly for it. Does that sound eptable?"


    The entire party waited without even breathing. "How do you know my name? You aren''t even old enough to Walk and yet you know my name?"


    This was what Walker had hoped for. The frost dragon hearing her name was what distracted her from any anger she had right away. I was curious about how powerful the frost dragon in front of me was and I used an appraisal skill. I have a minor problem when ites to curiosity for spectacr beings such as yourself."


    Walker could feel that Midnight did not like that he wasplimenting another dragon. However, the pressure she felt from being near Illia was too much. She could not even move without fear that she would cause a fight.


    "You try to sweeten your words. But you have taken what is mine and I do not like it. However, I will not ughter you because I like the way you speak. I will take all the food you have on you. I am hungry and do not wish to hunt today." This was the best possible oue.


    Since Walker had appealed to the frost dragon Illias'' pride, he had allowed himself the path to get something for the dragon that she wanted. "Of course. Let me show off the provisions we have and I hope that you can take what you want."


    Walker began pulling out the myriad of foods he had stored. "You have spatial magic? You are an odd one." This surprised the dragon since she was not used to seeing such magic from humans. Instead, it was more normal for ancient dragons in their dragonkin form to have such magic. "Do not put fruits there. I do not care for them. But what is that cooked monster?"


    "These are roasted legs from frog type monsters. They live near the forests and even in the swamps. Next to them are jerky that was made from horned rabbits. There are also multiple boar and rabbit legs. Some have even been roasted with herbs. I also have some other bones if you want to snack on those for your meal?"


    The selection was not wide when it came to meat. The selection was bulky. Walker had constantly stored the foods that his mother cooked and gave to him. This would have been a small amount except for the fact that she made way too much for him since she was worried the party would not eat enough.


    Illia the frost dragon was bending down to try the food to see if it satisfied her when she caught a closer glimpse of the entire party. She could care less for the wandering cksmith, Gil, and Remey. Even Walker who was using a spatial magic skill was not enough to capture her full attention. However, Midnight and Su were enough to capture her attention.


    It was clear that Su was trying to guard Midnight. She had moved on her own without thinking. The draconic guardian system was making her instincts shout at her to defend Midnight from this dragon. "You are a guardian and she is a champion. I can feel it. How do you have a young dragon champion with you and how is a human a guardian!? I will be freeing this little one from you. Come to me!"


    There was not a second to breathe. The frost dragon grabbed Midnight in her ws and pped her wings in to the air heading toward the higher mountains. The party could only shout in horror as Midnight was taken away. Su copsed to her knees having been unable to stop it from happening. She had not even been fast enough to react.


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 Chapter 851 - 851. Rescue

    "Do not worry child. We will remove any pathetic attempt those humans may have used to enve you. Dragons are proud and mighty, they do not belong with ants." Midnight responded with growls and struggled. She knew if she could be free she could at least glide down from the air as best as she could.


    "Your mind is clouded by them. I will have you freed. Just try and resist until we get to the vige. Once there I will take some of the younger dragons to defeat them and teach them a lesson."These words caused Midnight to struggle even more.


    "Sister, I am with you. I will make sure that Brother finds us and that you are not alone. Do. Not. Worry. I am here. You will not be alone." Onyx had left Walker''s body and changed to a tattoo form on Midnight while the ice dragon Illia was speaking and throwing around her gluttonous desires for food. He knew too well that the dragon was not going to just forget the party.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "I don''t care what we need to do but we are going to get Midnight back!" Walker was not in his best state of mind. His rage had grown much stronger than it ever had. He couldn''t even think back to a time he had gotten angry in general. Between him and Lisa, the two had always been able to tough out any negative feelings they had. Their parents had always been there to help them get through things.


    "Damn right we are getting her back! Not a single person is allowed to harm my family. Midnight is my sister too!" The fury Su had was making her eyes slightly red. She was just as agitated as Walker.


    The sharp p that rang out silenced Walker and soon rang out again to silence Su. "Shut your mouths and listen well." Remey stood in front of them without any restraint from the wandering cksmith or Gil. "Midnight is our family too. You are letting your bonds with her rule your minds and push you in to a rage. Su, you are always calm. Yes, you are the draconic guardian that would protect Midnight, so we will go to her and protect her."


    "They didn''t even listen! We could have exined." Walker just mumbled slightly.


    "And we will go and make them listen. If we need to, we will use force. But if you get some berserk skill and head there, what do you think Midnight would think? If you go there and y a single dragon, what will she think?" All of Walkers'' and Sus'' responses caught in their throats. Remey was more than right.


    "Sorry, but we are taking you on a wild trip. No more chopping ice and gathering and chopping at stone. It''s time to be serious. If you have any hammers that are best for breaking dragon scales then be ready." Gil didn''t joke around at all when he told the wandering cksmith these words. He was serious. If the party needed to fight a dragon to get Midnight back then that was what they would do.


    Remey had managed to calm Walker down and he was slowly thinking of a n. He needed to be ready beyond what he had ever been and having every possible thing at his disposal was necessary. He stored away the food he had taken out and started to pull weapon after weapon out. His thoughts were simple, equip the best weapons possible before rushing in to the battle.


    "Onyx, we are heading right for where that dragon went. It was not an ancient dragon so it would have a vige with one. Maybe an ancient will be more reasonable. But you will need to share our thoughts when we get there so we don''t give anything away."


    There was only silence as a response.


    "I''m angry too Onyx. So much that my blood boils and I don''t want to defend. I want to attack. But we need to n. Let''s focus." Hearing Su struggle to hold herself in a semi calm state made Walker want to yell again. But Onyx, he, was still silent.


    "Onyx, what''s wrong?" Walker looked at his arms and shadow to find that there were no serpent tattoos showing where Onyx was supposed to be resting. "Where''s Onyx?"


    The question hung in the air for a few minutes. Everyone checked their body where they would have seen his shadow ink tattoo. Yet, they found nothing. "Walker, you can sense Midnight and Onyx through your connection, right? Where are they?"


    Gil knew that there was more to this and felt that Onyx may have made a very good decision. Walker instantly felt the two connections that were part of his soul. He pointed toward the higher mountains. "There. They are up there. We will be climbing." Waker began toward the higher mountains. He did not hesitate at all and nor did anyone else.


    The only person that was not part of the party was the wandering cksmith. However, his face was crumpled up in pure disgust. He had grown close to Midnight through the crafting and learning endeavors. The thought that she had been taken from the party, her family, made him feel sick and angry to his deepest depths. He may be a cksmith, but he was going to fight to get her back in any way he could.


    While the party headed toward the higher mountains, Midnightnded on the ground after being released in front of arger stone carved cave. It was carved out of the mountain but in an elegant way that would take anyone years and years to create. It was more easily described as a temple of sorts. The smaller buildings around were also carved from stone but had been set up to stand free. There was not a soul around until the frost dragon Illia roared softly.


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 Chapter 852 - 852. Midnights Fear

    "Lady Illia, you''ve returned. Did you find any more...You have a child now!?" The woman that rushed out was no doubt a dragonkin. Midnight could see the tail and small wings on the womans'' back. There were also small patches of scales that showed off a water elemental affinity. But what put her aside from a dragon that shifted in to a dragonkin form were the eyes. Dragonkin had human looking eyes whereas, a dragon retained the dragon eyes.


    Many other dragonkin left the stone houses and walked about seeing that Illia had returned. "This is a rescue. Poor thing was forced in to a taming contract after, no doubt, she was stolen from her mother and father. I will bring her to the elder for the filthy chains to be removed. Please prepare a small nest for her afterward. She has champion blood. I am sure you can all feel it."


    The dragonkin who heard these words were on the move faster than anyone else would have predicted. They were lower in the hierarchy of the vige because they served the dragons for their lives. This was not a new urrence and making a nest for a dragon was a simple matter. Besides serving they were also the ones known to be draconic guardians. The highest possible honor for any dragonkin.


    Midnight was still not let free. She struggle now and then when she would feel the grip loosen but soon found that it would tighten closed again and again. Illia was not a fool to believe that Midnight would just roll over. "Worry not. The elder will clean you up and you will have the true freedom to soar the skies. By the time you are my age, you will have forgotten this."


    The resounding growls from Midnight were bordering on rabid. She hated the fact that Illia had just suggested she would forget the memories she had now. There was nothing more valuable to her in the world than the time she spent with the party; her family.


    The carefully carved cave shook slightly as a growl reverberated along the walls. Seven dragonkin rushed out while Illia walked through toward the center of the cave. "Esteemed elder. Please pardon me for interrupting your slumber."


    The cave was dark but it was slowly lit by light crystals carved and ced in to the ceiling and walls. They had been uncovered to reveal a dragon with pure blue scales. The horns were not sharp like Illia''s but instead, they were smooth and sloped along with the dragon''s neck. The tails came to a round end and water seemed to flow around the dragon''s entire body.


    "You wake me to ask another question? You know I am a pure water dragon. I am not a frost dragon. I have told you many times yet you bother my sleep when nothing has changed in the vige. Go and bother that steam dragon cousin of mine." The growl resounded again out of pure annoyance after the elder dragon had been woken.


    "This is not something so small. I have rescued a dragon champion from filthy humans that forced her in to chains. I a here to ask your help and clean her so she may grow the way she is meant." Illia rose to her full height and released Midnight in front of the elder dragon.


    A single eye opened and slowly but surely, the elder dragon focused on Midnight. The pressure she felt was much more than any other monster or person she had met. This was not some small being but an elder dragon bordering on the ancient level.


    The eye closed and a rush of cool mist blew from the elder dragons'' nose. "You are foolish and young. Did you speak to them and ask about this little one?" The condescending tone was enough to cause real damage to anyone but Illia tried to remain tall.


    "Of course I did. They were stealing the centennial ice I created and did not even offer anything worthy of it when I found this dragon trapped. I rescued it and even left them alive to be punishedter after we have cleaned a dragon soon to grow in to a proper champion. You know how rare a dragon champion is. They are more powerful than the royal dragons!"


    "Silence!" The roar was barely even a word and more of a domineering order. "Ah, I am sorry little one. I can hold back more. I forget myself when a fool speaks." Midnight was visibly shaking and Onyx was ready to jump out at any moment.


    "This little dragon has a blood contract. You are old enough to be able to sense it. Not only that but this little dragon is also bonded with a guardian! You have taken her from where she was at home and forced her here for a belief you have no proof of." There was a lighter tone as not to scare Midnight but it was clear that there was a significant amount of anger in the elders'' voice. "Do you know the shame you have brought by doing so?"


    "I refuse to believe that a human and dragon are equal. Even the guardian was a human. It is disgusting. Humans only torture those they make their pets. They make them fight or chain them down. Worse of all they force them to carry them without rest. You know this and if you will not help then I will take this champion to someone who will free her!"


    Illia started to reach to grab Midnight again. The elder dragon was done with the tantrum of a younger dragon and shot up from theying position she had been in. The two caused the entire cave to shake and a few stones to crumble. "Sister, we can not wait for them any longer. I am going to use my skill." Onyx broke his silence and prepared.


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 Chapter 853 - 853. Call For A Hero!

    The noise from the tworger dragons trying to put their will above the other just added to the fear Midnight and Onyx held. She was too smallpared to the other two dragons that had lived for hundreds of years. She was also too weak. She knew that one of them could stomp down in their anger and she would be gone for good. She and Onyx might not make it out alive.


    Onyx had the same feelings. He had the skill and he was going to use it. He had been told by everyone including Walker, that the only time he should use it was when he was in major danger and far away from the rest of the party. The call for a hero skill. Onyx and Scy had gained this skill when they helped the party in the forest elf training.


    Onyx may have been a member of the party but he did not have a hero title and therefore, received the call for a hero skill. This was even better though, now he could call on the party from where they were and hopefully they would be brought here faster. If he remembered the skill description correctly, there was only the downside The situation had to be dire. For Midnight and Onyx, the situation of being stuck in between two angry fighting dragons was dire. The hope was that the world would see it too.


    The two screamed out with all their might. The drastically warped hiss and the loudest roar that Midnight could muster came together. The sound was small inparison to what the tworger


    Dragons still openly arguing. But Onyx had managed to use the skill even with the dependent requirements. The natural mana around them pulsed slightly.


    The party was on the move faster than they had ever climbed and ran. The wandering cksmith was just as determined as he pushed up the mountain. The hyper alert looks on their faces made them jump and prepare for battle at every single stone dropping. It was clear that they were on edge but even more so that they were expecting the worst from the dragon that had just solen Mindnight and Onyx from them. Not that it knew it had taken Onyx.


    When Walker, who was at the lead of the group, stopped, the party was expecting the worst. "Feel-" There was no time for Walker to tell the party about the pulse in the natural mana and the sudden feeling of spatial magic in front of them.


    "So you are the ones that have dragged me from my OWN pocket dimension to teleport you? Ugh, kids. I hate quests you know. But no matter what dimension or world I go to I have to be bound to the worlds'' system. Not that it''s a bad thing but it''s a lot of work getting levels up when you surpass four hundred."


    There was a seemingly faceless man in front of them. The only way that Walker discerned this was a man was due to the voice he had heardining. On top of this, the only thing they could see was a ck cloak. Nothing other than that could be seen. It was the perfect way to hide what he looked like.


    "Come on brats, I will teleport you all to that screaming snake and dragon then leave. And so you won''t bother me again take these scrolls. I hate being taken from my dimension. I am almost able to create a in my space. If I hadn''t been pulled away I could already be done with that!" The man threw a bundle of at least five scrolls at Walker and then waved a hand creating a white tear in space.


    "Walke through here and you will be at whatever is screaming in my ears. That stupid will of the world quest calls on me for the dumbest things. Penalty for notpleting the quest, screaming of the victims until you save them orplete the quest. Ugh, no one else seems to have penalties!" The man was rambling while the party was still frozen. However, Walker could feel that Midnight and Onyx were through the white tear in front of them. The man may be a mystery and so was the way he used his skills to create spatial magic tears. But that was worthless at the moment. Walker could only think about Midnight and Onyx.


    "Move it move it move it. Yes, I am the dimensional step baster. Yes, the stories are true. Yes, I have been alive for over four hundred years. Yes, I can step through dimensions. Yes, I am over level four hundred. And no you can not be my apprentice. Heard enough? Then MOVE!" there was anger in his voice and a force started to push all of them through the white tear.


    "Thank you for your service inpleting my quest. Never call me again and never let the world call me again. Bye brats!" The white tear closed and the dimensional step baster was gone. Nothing by a wisp of steam left in the air from his voice. Little did he know that the stories about him had been degraded so far that not even childrens'' story books had him in them. Only the oldest books spoke of him and they were rare after so many years since he had vanished from the world.


    While bastor left to return to where he had been before the system had interrupted his attempted experiments, the party felt as if they were no longer anywhere. The pure white that somehow seemed to be moving around them was suffocating. Both in the meaning that it felt too close and stifling and in the fact that there was no air.


    For a fraction of a second, they felt that they had been trapped somehow and would die themselves, but in the blink of an eye, everything had changed. They were no longer in front of a mountain, instead, the sight that greeted them was terrifying.


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 Chapter 854 - 854. Elder Water Dragon

    "Dragons." The whisper that escaped Gil''s lips spoke of more than just dragons. It was the sheer wonder that came with seeing not only one dragon but a muchrge dragon that towered over them.


    The entire party was struggling to take in this sight since they were witnessing two arguing and loud dragons which had Midnight right in between them. The mana that radiated from them in waves seemed to crush their spirits. However, this was nothingpared to what Walker and Su felt now.


    Su was off like an arrow, she used her maximum speed and mmed the dual shield together in front of the frost dragon Ilia. "Your pathetic ws will never touch Midnight!" Taunting a dragon much more powerful than she was not wise but for her family? It was a no brainer.


    Walker already had the twin blitz swords out. He moved faster and stepped in to the air to be at the same eye level as the water dragon elder in front of him. Midnight was protected on all sides but still, the others rushed to her.


    Gil had four arrows notched in his bow while Remey had her fire affinity knuckles gnashing together in her hands. The two forging hammers that the wandering cksmith had were two of his most durable made from a dark metal alloy he had created himself. When Onyx revealed himself coiled around Midnight at hisrgest possible size, it was as if they had all prepared for a life or death battle.


    The tension that escted by the second was tangible. No one dared to move while they looked at each other. It was inevitably broken by Illia, Therge breath she took in was cold but the aura that came off of her was even colder. "You will be frozen to the very core of your souls for enving an innocent child!"


    "Cease your mouth and attack or I will call you to the main vige to bow before the royal dragon court!" Therge elder water dragon focused only on Walker. "A human who dares to stand in challenge before me. I would say you are foolish since I feel how weak you are, but your reason is what makes you strong. Stand at ease, I will greet you a little better since you are family to the little champion there."


    The shifting of blue scales and flood of water that shrouded therge elder water dragon would cause anyone to lose their barrings. It was too much motion and everyone that saw it became dizzy unless they were ustomed.


    In a matter of a minute, the size of the elder water dragon had condensed and changed in to a dragonkin form. It was wondrous seeing the smooth horns before vibrant blue hair. The scales shifted to flowing blue robes. And even the wings became smaller and folded neatly behind her back. She was not old looking as anyone would assume an elder would be, instead, she was the picture of youth.


    "Now, you should be morefortable speaking with me looking this way. My daughter here has insulted and kidnapped your family. It has brought shame on our names and I do apologize. I understand what it means to lose family and can not imagine how you felt at that moment. I do not understand how you used teleportation magic but it is an impressive skill."


    The shift in the atmosphere was enough to cause any of them to feel beaten around. The frost dragon Illia had stopped her attack after the threat of the royal dragon court and then she had shifted to such a warm appearance and apologized. It was a lot to take in with their hearts beating like hammers.


    "I know you are a little flustered, but it is proper to answer an elders'' question and introduce yourselves. Especially when that little champion needs to learn some proper manners from another dragon." A small amount of the pressure that they had felt before slipped from the elder water dragon and caused them all toe to reality and focus on the situation.


    Walker had used his air ripple skill to step through the air and remain in position. He was burning mana and had been prepared to push as far as he needed to in battle. Bit now, he could feel the drain on him and he stepped back t the ground. "I-I, I am sorry for the slow introduction. My name is Walker, this is my family. Gil, Remey, Su, Onyx, Midnight, and our newer member who is moremonly known as the wandering cksmith. I do not have spatial magic skills but for a storage skill. Another teleported is through some white tear in space to get here because Onyx called for our help."


    Walker was very on edge saying all of this but it was clear that the elder water dragon expected politeness within its home. This was something that they could all feel would end their lives if they disregarded it.


    "Ah, how refreshing. That is more like it. Now, Walker, I am Adair. I am a water dragon and my father gave me that name when I was born between the oaks near the river. I am surprised that little dragon received a name with meaning as well, she most certainly has scales like the dark of midnight with stars peeking through. I should assume you are the one that names her? I can see you two have a connection."


    It was safe to say that they all felt naked in front of the elder water dragon Adair. Her eyes would focus on them one by one and seem to glean more information about them every single time. It was exactly the same as when Walker would sue his all around appraisal skill, but more domineering. It was something only the powerful could do.


    "If you have the time Miss Adiar, I can dly tell the story. However, can you please allow us to check my little sister and little brother for wellness?"


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 Chapter 855 - [Bonus ]855. (1) Dimensional Step Alabastor

    [some other time]


    The winter was in full frosty and snow outside the window. The entire home shook slightly with every gust of wind. Three children cuddled close to a roaring fire to remain warm while a tall man wearing a nket held a book. "I met this man once in my life, so I can tell you that these stories must be true to a degree. I had to dig for some weeks through the libraries before an elf friend of mine gave me a book about him. His name was the dimensional step bastor."


    The two boys and a girl nudged each other to stay awake to hear the story. They looked forward to their fathers'' stories every night. It was the thing they loved most, they heard plenty at school or out in the city. But hearing them from their father was more than they could ever want. The stories always felt more real and held hidden details that they felt more after learning.


    "The adventurer bastor had received his system in a time where the cities you know did not exist. There were ruins now which were in their prime when he walked the world. The adventurers'' guild which is very old now was non existent then. Instead, there were more mercenaries and hired muscle for those that tried to scrape out a living. Territories were less marked and more held by the strength of will."


    The three children tried to imagine the world in this way and could not find a way to properly see it. They had only known the hand crafted amazement of the city they grew up in. Imagining ruins and battle worn towns was not something they had ever experienced and were too young to even see them yet.


    "bastor had lost his parents to a territory war and found himself alone in a rundown vige. Without any path to travel, he made a decision on what he would do. He chose to be strong and create a ce for him to find happiness. This desire pushed him to ignore the system he had yet to block and find his vige chief."


    "After hearing bastors'' words, the chief had given his blessing. They were always short on food and hearing one boy ask to leave the vige to journey and be strong was a boon on its own. Every little bit of food saved could help them survive the winter in the vige."


    "bastor left that very day. He took what he could from his home and equipped himself with his best traveling clothes. He knew of arge town nearby that could hold the things he wished to obtain. But he found he could not hold everything he wished to take. That was when he saw a small burst of words in front of eyes and heard the single ding of the system activating."


    The man watched as the three children leaned toward him in wonder, "The story says he awakened his dimensional traveler system that very day with a skill like this," The man pulled three pieces of chocte from the empty air. "He gained the pocket dimensional storage skill. A little different than this but amazing still."


    "The second skill he had from his system was known as the spacial step. He could step through space and teleport short distances. When he met a group of travelers besieged by wolves he pulled a kitchen knife and used the spatial step to ambush every single one. In total his first act of courage was to y fifteen in wolves."


    There was awe painted on the children''s faces. ying fifteen wolves was something that none could do at level one of their system. But for bastore, it was simple. His skills had allowed him to do so with ease.


    "The merchant in the rescued caravan was stunned to see a young boy being so vicious. But what was even more was the use of spatial magic. Magic users were rare and known to be reclusive in those days. Many were physical fighters and in the eyes of this merchant, baster was a passing genius that saved their lives. He naturally offered a great reward if bastor would travel with them as a secondary guard."


    "None of the hired guards could oppose the idea since they had seen the battle prowess first hand. That was how bastor gained his first small im to fame. The merchant that had seen him and the spearmen that were hired as body guards spread his story like wildfire when they reach therge town of Lyre."


    "He was received by therge town merchants group one day to grow in to the merchants'' association and eventually to split over trade deals gone bad. The offer to be a body guard for their caravans was a job that most mercenaries and hired muscle would fight tooth and nail for. But when they heard the story of bastor, they did not grumble. Any who challenged him found that he would have a kitchen knife to their throats before they battle was even a minute in."


    "Of course he didn''t use a kitchen knife for long. The merchant that he journeyed with passed down a dagger made from a minotaur horn from the wild beats ins. Apparently, a demigod of tricks and forging had created a monster maze trapping wild beast men there. But that is a story for another day. baster had only ever used one weapon after receiving that."


    "The next years of bastors life were full of small tales. He would face bandit groups using his spatial step skill and cause them to flee in fear. Monsters were unable toy a hand on him and merchant groups flourished when he guided them. For a teenager, he had built up the experience and name of an esteemed bodyguard."


    "Is there more?"


    "Yeah, dad? More?"


    "He was a bigger hero than that, right?!"


    "Well, I can tell you more. But that''s if you will be able to keep your eyes open. He was still not known as the dimensional step bastor at that time." The smirk that the man held on his face made the three children want to prove him wrong and remain awake all night to hear the full story. But that would prove futile since their drowsiness took hold of them and they were swiftly put to bed with dreams of adventures in their minds.


    "I promise to tell you all the rest of the storyter. Sleep tight." The man walked back to therge library they had been in and ced the book back on to a shelf. "I wonder how many of these I can fill before I am old and grey. Maybe my friends wille to share some of their stories during the holidays. It''s been a little while." The man wandered back to his own room where a small snoring woman was dreaming away already.


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 Chapter 856 - 856. Safe And Sound

    "Of course. I was getting a little ahead of myself. Please, assure your little siblings are safe and sound. And you, Illia, leave and go think about your apology to these travelers. They may have touched your ice but I know you do not mark the area to warn off travelers. Nor did you have a proper reason to kidnap their family without [properly speaking with them!" The ice dragon Illia flinched from Adiars'' words and left the cavern as silently as possible. She knew that arguing would bring her only misfortune and pain.


    Having one less domineering presence in the carved cave was enough for all of them to rx to a degree and huddle around Midnight. She was no longer shivering in fear but she was far from alright. Her body had no injuries but she and Onyx had been shaken. "Brother, I am sorry for leaving without saying anything but I wanted to make sure sister was safe."


    "You did very well. You even called for us and the world heard it. I don''t know how that man was able to send us here but we owe him a lot. I''m just d you are both safe." Onyx and Midnight were not so weak that Walker could actually crush them but the two acted as if he was squishing them to death when he hugged them both. Onyx had been quick to change his size to a more manageable level after Illia had left the carved cave.


    "Sister says that she tried to escape but was trapped. She and I were sure that you woulde." It was good to hear that Midnight had not given up on trying to get free but hearing that Onyx and Midnight knew to wait for them was good. They would havee no matter what and everyone in the family should know that they would never be left behind.


    "A pure water dragon and a frost dragon. You all really know how to make it to amazing ces." Zephyr had left the bow as soon as Gil had retracted the four arrows he had notched and ready to go. Gil still had a firm grip on the bow but Zephyr waspletely rxed.


    "Aren''t you cute? A pure water dragon is very rare. When I was born they hadn''t even been able to fly yet. Now dragons'' wings are sorge. It''s wonderful seeing the world change. I love this adventuring stuff."


    "It is an honor to meet a grand spirit such as yourself. I hope that you feel at ease here. I know wind spirits prefer the open air." Adair was very respectful to Zephyr showing that she recognized the great difference in age between them. However, there was a slight twinge when Zephyr had called her cute. It was sure that the term was not her favorite but she would never react negatively to a being older and in certain ways, more powerful.


    Seeing the actions of Zephyr stunned Gil but no one made a move. Su was still checking over Onyx and Midnight before giving her own hugs. Remey was trying to look as if she waspletely calm but an asional quiver of her lip made them all know that she was just as worried at the others. She continued to do this until Midnight and Onyx both pushed their heads to her shoulder and received a small head pat each.


    The wandering cksmith had been lost since he heard Walker introduce him as family. It had not set in just how attached and close he had grown to all of them. He knew they were more than business partners and more than just friends. But he had not openly said what they were. But it was true, they were family now, and when Midnight and Onyx had been taken he knew that he might not be wandering far and wide anymore. He wouldn''t be able to deal with the feelings of loss he would have without them all in his life.


    "Safe" The rough hands on their head next was anotherfort. The emotion on the wandering cksmiths'' face also showed that he felt the same as the rest of the party. It was a touching moment that Adair did not interrupt. Her own heart was full seeing it and she was making mental notes to lecture her daughter in time.


    "Ehm, Thank you for giving us the moments we needed. I can tell you how we all came to know Midnight if you would like. But it has been a while so the stories of our adventures after that can take a decent amount of time." Walker faced Adair and saw that she was not perturbed at all by a long story.


    "You are so young and naive. Your long story is very short to me. I am almost an ancient water dragon. To tell my stories you would have to sit for years on end without rest." The amusement in her statement was not missed. She may be a very powerful elder dragon but she still had her own emotions. To her, these were nothing but newly hatched babies trying to act like those older than themselves.


    While Walker told the story the rest of the party would chime in here and there. Onyx eventually began to speak up as well when he had joined the party after hatching. The constant small growls and huff from Midnight were also understood by Adair while she listened closely. Every now and then she would as a question and glean more information. But after she had heard everything she had one question for the party and Midnight that was going to be the deciding factor in what she would do.


    "Do you believe that the little champion can grow safely and properly with you? Or should I take her under my wing and teach her the ways of the dragons?" The question floated in the air waiting for a reply.


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 Chapter 857 - 857. Dragons To Avoid

    The question put everyone on edge again. They could not imagine Midnight leaving them and staying with the dragons. It was clear that by the time Midnight grew up to the dragons'' expectations they would long have passed away to thend of spirits. There was also the fact that without her they wouldn''t feel like aplete family. Midnight was a very important part of who they were and they were a part of who she was. There was no removing one from the other.


    "Midnight is my little sister, even if we are not bound by natural blood we have a blood contract. She is as much a part of me and I am of her. I believe that she can grow stronger and safely with us. We have faced situations that put us near death but that has made us more powerful and resilient."


    Walker paused for a moment before speaking again, "But if she were to stay with you she could learn more about what it means to be a dragon. I can see the benefits to both of these things. However, it is not my decision to make. Midnight can choose what she desires to do and how she wishes to live. I will not force anything on her."


    "Little champion, do you hear him? Your older brother has said that you have a choice to make. But that isn''t really what will happen, is it? You already decided to stay with them forever, haven''t you?" Adair was smiling knowingly even before Midnight gave a soft purring growl.


    "I had to ask as a final test. You all seem well bonded with one another but I had to be sure. If even for a moment I sensed ill will toward this little champion I would take her away from you. Champions are very rare for dragons and represent a great deal to the royals who fight over thews that bind dragons and dragonkin."


    This was all information that the party more or less knew. The royal dragons'' valued the champions more than anything. However, there were many grey areas that the party did not know. "I have to tell you though, you will need to travel to the main vige. The royal dragon court will need to see the dragon champion and the draconic guardian paired with her. It is by ourws and even those who are not familiar need to follow them. But you have time before you should do so. The court will convene with the little ones like you in seven months'' time."


    It was a heavy announcement but Walker had the feeling if they did not attend there would be some form of loss or battle. The royal dragon court sounded as if it had an eye on every corner of the world where dragons were concerned.


    "Can I ask why they meet with the younger dragons in seven months?" This time Su was seeking the answers. She wanted to know why it would be necessary. This first encounter with dragons seemed to be setting a dangerous precedent when it came to Midnight and other dragons.


    "Yearly there is a time to meet the ancients and royals. The court holds that in seven months. It is for the young dragons to not only have their bloodlines tested and to find mentors but also for them to know who rules them. Not that this little one will need to worry much. Champions will be able to move independently once they have a royal dragon''s support."


    "And if Midnight does not want the support of a royal dragon?" The fact that Midnight would only be able to do what she wanted with the support of a royal dragon was not sitting well with Remey. She believed that everyone should have freedom and that extended to monsters like Midnight and Onyx. Even the goblins had their freedom, so why wouldn''t a dragon.


    "If she does not then she will be able to be stolen away as a champion for another royal dragon. They have a skill that bonds a champion to them to fight for them and stand for them. That is how they deal with theirw decisions and when different viges fight for territory. She has no choice." Adair spoke as if this was just a way of life. An unavoidable way of life that could not be changed.


    "Do you know what the skill is called? How it performs? What effects the skill has? How much mana it cost? What it is dependent on?" The flurry of questions surprised Adair. She had not expected Walker to be so interested. She had been told he had the jack of all trades system but to her, that just meant that he was able to learn a great deal of human system skills.


    "I do not know what you will do with the information but, the skill is called champions coronation. The royal dragon will recite an oath to the dragons and themselves. The champion will repeat it. Then they drop a single drop of their blood together and light it aze with fire breath from each of them, or the breath attack that each dragon has. My illusion mist breath and the frost breath Illia has as an example. This ismon knowledge most parents would teach their children." Walker was smiling, it sounded like there were no hidden requirements for the skill.


    "That is one thing that strikes me, you found this little champion with a mother who called out with a roar instead of words and no father in sight. It must have been a fairly young and impulsive dragon. If she was a dark dragon it sounds as if she was forced from the nest. The skeletal dragons are not the kind to settle down and the odds are her father took the mother on a journey then abandoned the two. It is amon urrence but if the little champion and father ever meet, do not fight a skeletal dragon." This was another minor shock. None of them had expected to be told not to fight a skeletal dragon.


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 Chapter 858 - 858. Just How?!

    "Miss Adair, why would we avoid fighting a skeletal dragon? Would it be hard to speak to them about why they made certain decisions?" There was anger painting Gils'' face. He had always feared that his father wouldn''te back from a hunting trip. This made him a bit more attached to the times his father returned home. The thought that a father could choose just to leave, even though a different species of dragon, made his heart shake with anger.


    Midnight on the other hand was not conflicted at all. She could tell that a male dragon might have left regardless. The dragons lived for exceedingly long periods of time and having both parents around at all times was a tough possibility. But she did understand that she would have not been with the party if he had been around?"


    "Speak to a skeletal dragon? That is an odd proposition. They prefer to speak with the undead over the living since they share some qualities. They are battle hardened wanderers who choose not to have a vige. The only time they are ever seen in the royal court. Even arrogant battle fiends will show face there. But, do not forget my words. I am much older than your elders, my advice has weight." The stern tone shook them a little. Her words could not be taken lightly. "And back to you, why did you need to know about the skill?"


    "Well, I can learn every skill. We may have set out to forge and gain materials to prepare to craft a dwelling weapon for a nature spirit. But I figure I will have to learn and use the skill to make Midnight my champion so she can have her freedom. Not that a hero should be bound to any race anyway. A hero should be free to stand for all life in whatever form it takes." The minuscule ripple in natural mana caused Walker to pause. He could feel his spirit mark react to his statement. A smile blossomed on his face feeling Fleur react.


    "Are you truly saying you can learn a royal dragons'' skill? I have never met another race that is so arrogant. It''s not even rude to say something as such. It''spletely ludicrous. You''re a human." Adair was awestruck by Walkers'' reaction and response. She was sure that the human before her was crazy.


    "If it is that unbelievable, then please listen and tell me if you hear what skill I am using." The entire party knew what was happening and Midnight jumped forward with Walker. The two took in a deep breath and before Adair could say a word they both let the breath escape them.


    The cave did not shake. But it did echo. Midnight''s roar was expected. But the loud sounding from Walkers'' mouth was the very same, if not louder. The dragon''s intimidation skill took the form of a domineering roar that would put others off for some time and even cause them to fall in apletely stunned state.


    "That''s impossible. You''re a human. That was a dragons'' roar. I have never- no that shouldn''t be possible. Even dragonkin can not perform a dragons'' roar unless they are a draconic guardian and have been granted a drop of the dragon they guard blood for their bloodline oath."


    "Miss Adair, I need a bloodline oath to guard Midnight? But I am already a draconic guardian." Su caught on to this and again Adair felt as if she was a youngling dragon just seeing the world.


    "You became a draconic guardian with a bond with this little champion without a blood oath!? I just- well- I don''t- what are you people? Are you sure you are human?"


    "Actually, Miss Adair, I am an abyssal serpent. I know it is odd but I am still Walker and Midnight''s little brother even though I am a serpent." Onyx knew he was being a little cheeky, but he couldn''t help it after seeing the previously scary elder water dragon acting flustered and shocked.


    With her forehead creased, Adair took a deep breath. "If you can somehow manage to make her your champion that would make you equal to a royal dragon. It would be a first for that to happen. The only thing close to that ever happening was a winged serpent from across the desert escaping from a tamer and awakening a dormant royal dragon bloodline. They became an ancient wind dragon and sit on the court as one of the purest wind affinity dragons there is."


    Adair knew that years ago that had been a world shaking urrence for the dragons. But now, if Walker managed to use a skill only royal dragons could use, then it would be even more chaos for the dragon viges.


    "Well, Midnight. Do you want to give it a try now? We can have you with the party and your freedom to do whatever you want. Plus we will still go to the dragon vige in seven months sp we should be even more prepared." Walker was sure that this was the right move to make but he would not push Midnight to do it if it was not what she wants.


    "Sister says you are too slow and she is already prepared for it. She says she would never leave her family or the food." It was touching until they heard the food part. Then every one of the party burst outughing. Even the wandering cksmith released a rare chuckle when hearing about the gluttonous dragon.


    "Su,e over here too. It will be better if you are next to us. It just feels right." Walker used some of his mana to manipte the earth and created a small pedestal with a stone cup on top.


    "You aren''t doing it now? Are you? Are you sure?" Adair was not sure what to say or do. On one hand she would witness something amazing and never before seen. On the other, it might fail and they were making a mess of her home that she had made her distant cousin an avnche dragon create for her with their earth and water affinity magic.


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 Chapter 859 - 859. Champions Pledge

    "Midnight, now?" There was a little questioning in the tone Walker used. But when Midnight nearly jumped on him he knew that she wanted to get it over with and be able to stay with her family with no dragon or person trying to stop her.


    "We are doing it now. The pedestal is already prepared with a cup. The draconic guardian is here. All I need to do is copy the skill methodology and hope that I get it and it works." The energy Walker had was too light hearted for Adair to handle. She was still expecting him to just bow out and say that it wasn''t possible. She would stay on that mindset if she hadn''t just seen a human roar like a dragon.


    "You just need to copy it? Is it so simple? It is a rare and important skill. How can it just be copied?!" For a powerful elder water dragon in their dragonkin form, Adair appeared to be close to fainting.


    "Trust me, Miss Adair. We have been shocked so many times by this kind of thing that our hearts don''t even react anymore." Gil attempted to reassure Adair but instead, she just looked at him as if she was crazy.


    "This happens often!?" There was a question there but both Remey and Gil shared a nod in response. They didn''t see the need to answer any further. If a dragons'' heart gave out and they were the cause it would spell disaster.


    For everything that was happening, the party was too rxedpared to what Adair expected. This was a ceremony that would have entire living bloodlines present to watch. Things like this were not so little that they could be done on a whim in an attempt to just copy a skill. "It will be alright. They are special." The simple words from the wandering cksmith were calm as a silent snow. He had developed this sense of peace from his determined years of forging. The unwavering aura that came over Adair from his words gave her stability.


    The feeling of powerlessness was not something Adair was used to, but she found herself feeling it as she watched the actions in front of her.


    "Alright, so first we need to make an oath. I''m sure that there is one for each elemental ancient royal dragon but we need one for us. And I think I have it." Midnight was facing Walker and Su was by their side. They were much more serious than they were prior and it impressed Adair to a degree.


    "Forever we shall be more than blood. More than just two beings. More than what we bring in to each others'' lives. If our power shall be greater than the seas we shall be equally still. If our lives shall fall then our souls will find each others'' side. Never shall we worry for we will always have one another no matter the time or distance. I promise you this, we are greater than family. We are without words."


    The words were more than they seemed. Mana flowed from Walker as he said them and he did nothing to stop it. His body felt as if it was not only his own. The bond with Midnight from his equal blood contract was reaching out to the two.


    Midnight raised herself to her full height and did not dare to lower her gaze. The small growls and huffs from her were not audible as words but Walker could feel them. The manaing from her was the same and the bond between them felt as if it was a steel rope being braided and strengthened.


    There was no hesitation when Midnight used one of her sharp ws to pierce her front leg and let the blood drop in to the stone cup Walker had created. He did the same as he pulled a basic dagger from his inventory and cut his palm. The injuries were nothing to them. It did not matter. It could easily be healed but at the moment there was only the bond between them. They couldn''t even see anything around them. There was nothing but the two at this moment. It was easier to say they had fallen in to their very own space.


    Midnight felt as if a hidden instinct had awakened. Her golden me heart was beating with heat and intensity that threatened to burst if she did not breathe her golden mes. But with this act, Walker realized he had no ability to breathe mes the same way a dragon could.


    The natural mana around them began to shake before being pulled towards Walker. The spirit mark on his back absorbed it as if it was a desert during the first rainstorm in years. "Sigh of life."


    ''The skill sigh of life has been called upon by the nature spirit Fleur. The bonded partner has been granted ess to the skill sigh of life.


    Sigh of life- 50 natural mana


    Natural mana is gathered within the user with the assistance of a nature spirit or greater. The user will breathe out condensed natural mana causing a soft ripple of natural mana. The area will gain new natural life and be more vibrant. All those under the effects of this skill will feel light and relief. The skill will slowly heal all affected in the area for an hour. Elemental spirits in the area will have an easier time awakening. This skill can only be used a limited number of times; once a month.''


    Walker felt the mana in his lungs and he breathed out letting the sound of a soft sigh escape his lips. The mana pulled and calmed around him like a mirroredke. The golden mes Midnight had breathed calmed in to a perfect ball that seemed to devour the blood in the cup. Golden me ropes lept from the mes and wrapped around Walker and Midnights'' necks before melting in to their very beings. The pair copsed as they regained their sight of the world around them.


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 Chapter 860 - 860. Royal Dragon...

    The sight of Midnight and Walker copsing was nearly enough to cause everyones'' hearts to stop. But Su was there and managed to catch the two who fell toward each other. She was quick enough to slowly lower them to the ground. The scene they had witnessed was a lot more than they felt it to be.


    Zephyr was nearly shaking when she watched Walker breathe on the golden mes that Midnight had created. It was her reaction to the strength the sigh of life skill had. It was not a battle skill or a skill that would cause any additional effects to a person. Instead, it was a skill that breathed natural mana in to the surroundings and pushed for healing and growth. Any and all spirits could feel the use of such a skill using natural mana. It was the reason that the alchemy''s fire spirit and earth spirit didn''t daree out of their spirit mark and dwelling.


    "How! That''s not. No. not right. I need. This is history!" Adair was looking much less majestic and powerful now. She was grasping at the air for something that was not there. Gil saw this and after ncing at Walker and Midnight who he had confirmed were sleeping now, he looked about the carved cave.


    There were surprisingly many ces for items to be disyed. It was best to call this a magnificent museum of sorts due to the older weapons, books, and even paintings on the walls. When he narrowed in on an open book with a nk page he ran and grabbed it with a quill next to it. "Miss Adair, I believe you are looking for this."


    "Yes! It is history. I must record it for the next generation." She grasped the book and began to furiously write. This was the first time anything so ludicrous had happened and she would be the one to copy and send the story to every single vige before the royal court convened to see the young of the viges.


    In the midst of the writing, there was a sudden pause and Adair rushed over. The mes became the bond but they already had a bond. It became sealed much more strongly. Will they share conversation or will they gain each other''s skills? What would be the cause? Little guardian, what do you feel?"


    The eyes thatnded on Su nearly made her shudder. Adair was extremely focused on what was happening and what she wanted to know. There was no room for lies or even for hesitation. "Warmth. I feel warmth. There is more there. It''s like she and Walker are more open now. I can feel more. I don''t know what more really, but more."


    The feelings that Su had were moreplicated. She had a sixth sense before about Midnight that she had not truly explored. All she knew was that the more she learned and trained with Midnight the stronger she felt about their familial bond. But now, it was different. She could feel more than just a bond with Midnight. It was a deep connection that seemed to make her blood sing. Not only this but she could also feel Walker in the same way and every movement of Onyx was echoing through to her.


    ''The user and Midnight have fully pledged an equal oath. The user will share many new aspects of their soul with the True dragon champion Midnight. The bond shall exist beyond life and death as per the pledge created.''


    Walker struggled to open his eyes. He could feel the spirit mark on his back burning slightly as it pulled more natural mana in to him. He stayedying on the cold stone ground processing everything that had happened. Most of his actions had been without his conscious action but he knew they were what he had wished to do.


    The system had left many things for him but he felt that the greatest changes would be in Midnight. But the more he pushed in to the incredibly strong bond that he felt the less he knew. There was a mystery to it that he just couldn''t crack, meaning that he would need to sit and try to understand it with Midnight for some time.


    The sigh of life skill was a little bit of a mystery as to what it truly did to those around. However, the natural mana in the room was radically higher even though most of it had been taken in by the golden mes during the pledge. Although he could see that everyone around him looked energetic but surprisingly calm. There was also the fact that some small green weeds had sprouted at the corners of the stone cave. He knew they had not been there before.


    The groan from Midnight drew attention to the pair. When her eyes opened Walker and Midnight both experienced a moment of loss. They could feel what each other felt and what the other was thinking much more clearly than the equal blood contract they already had.


    Midnight began to stretch and growl slightly. Her body felt the same but the additional emotions and small thoughts were putting her off. By the time she stood up and shook her head she knew that Walker was feeling worried for her. She nudged him with her nose in her own worry making Walker sit up. No one interrupted them while they looked in to each others'' eyes.


    "I guess you are a true dragon champion now. Who knew there was a final step like that." Repeating the same gesture they did when they formed their blood contract, the pair touched their foreheads together. For them, the world was at peace. The moment was enough to express everything they could say or do.


    "I can''t believe you did it. A human and a dragon. You''re the same as a royal dragon now. You''ll have to learn." Adair spoke as soon as Walker and Midnight had separated and reaffirmed their familial bond.


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 Chapter 861 - 861. Age Is Just A Number

    "Hm? Learn about being a royal dragon?" Walker was a little dazed still but felt that Midnight was just as curious. He could feel her desire to pull all the information from the current situation and learn about other dragons. There was nothing more that she wanted right now than to know what a dragon truly was. It was a lot more than Walker expected but it made sense. Midnight had been missing a big piece of her history and finally had it within her grasp.


    "Yes! You have to know what you are equal to now. I don''t know if you will get the royal dragon skills but if you encounter any dragon they will need to follow proper etiquette. You are entitled to have your own vige now!" Adair was beside herself. She couldn''t fathom that a human was not standing equal with a dragon and had the right to be a royal. It was all too much to handle and she was sure that she would perish before her heart could take much more.


    "I do not believe we want a vige. It would separate us from our families and we are not ready to be in charge of an entire vige of lives." Su was the breath of fresh air that knew there was a lot of growth the party needed before anything even simr to this could happen. Yes, Remey was starting a guild but that was with the assistance of many others. It was something she could grow in to instead of just having dropped on her.


    "You don''t want a vige...but...why? It is the highest honor a dragon can have. The dragonkin will have homes and directions to grow. You can train your element freely. With the knowledge to the draconic codex alone, the vige would be just as powerful as the others. I just have a small branch vige. Imagine what it could be!" Adair was not sure why the party did not appear tempted by any of these things. She knew that any dragon would jump for even a fraction of these things.


    "Dragon codex? That might be interesting. I have ess to that now?" Walker could think about expanding his knowledge if he were to read something like that.


    "Of course. It is a benefit for every single royal dragon. They spend their time focusing on a single elemental path bing the strongest of that species of dragon due to their affinity and training., The codex had thousands of years of study, information, and even history." The look of pride on Adairs'' face proved that this was a monumental opportunity.


    "Well, I know I may not be a dragon and it will probably be better that I don''t get a vige. Instead, I will ask for the dragons to be friendly with the new city and alliance cities we have. I will search the codex for information on natural mana. Also for information on champions so Midnight can know whatever she wants." Walker felt he had a sid n and would do his best for when they got to the royal court in a few months.


    "It''s just a shame. The young champion is too young to battle and be the strongest champion. The royal they represent will have ess to the dragon shard. But there are many years toe since you two are bonded. Dragons can live for quite some time. You have long lives together."


    "What, what''s a dragon shard?"


    "They have long lives? Isn''t that just Midnight since she is a dragon?"


    Gil and Remey were both curious what both parts of what Adair had said meant.


    "The dragon shard is something only the strongest royal has ess to. I am not old enough to know what it does but the royal that uses it gains an unrivaled understanding that makes them the pir of the next dragon they sire or birth. It is the key to a strong er dragon future. They also gain many years to be an ascended dragon. Many ancient dragons can only dream of bing ascended. You might be able to ascend one day little champion."


    "Oh, and you should live as long as your little champion here. You two had a blood contract as you said. That shares your souls to a degree. Now, with your bond, your souls havepletely mirrored each other. You can even share a lifespan. You may be one of the oldest humans to ever live."


    "Excuse me?" Su tried to speak louder but found that she was whispering. Everyone else wa equally silenced.


    "I''m d I got to shock you back. But your guardian will also benefit. A bonded guardian and a champion are inseparable. If you manage to hand down enough bloodline over the years she may be a false dragon. Not quite a pure dragon but fairly close."


    Looking at Su, Walker, and Midnight, Adair found she has thoroughly silenced anything they could say in return. The questions they had felt unimportant in the massive amount of ground breaking information. Knowing they could live for many times the years as a normal human was too much as it was. Having the possibility for Su to once day be close to a dragon was another.


    "Hey Remey, how do you feel about researching immortality?" Remey and Gil felt that they wouldn''t be able to leave their friends alone.


    "We saw in those journals from the mansion that research like that causes madness. But right now, I think I see why it can be pursued." The temptation Remey felt was too great at the moment. If she didn''t think of another way she had the potential of bing a mad alchemist trying to live forever.


    "Brother, My species is known to live quite long. You will be able to stay around for most if not all of my life." Onyx finally poke up sounding fairly happy.


    "Oohh, little serpent. You are contracted with the new royal as well. You will gain some years too." And that was how Adair brought everyone to a stop. All they could do was sit and think for a decent chunk of time.


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 Chapter 862 - 862. Etiquette

    "So, for the most part, something crazy happened again." Walker had finally processed the fact that he had gotten more than he bargained for when he used a royal dragon skill.


    "Crazy is an understatement. I can''t believe that you are now going to live for as long as a dragon. And you have that royal oath pledge whatever skill so you could do it again and again." Remey was still fairly shocked since the unknown benefits of what Walker and Midnight did were just too good.


    "Oh, he shouldn''t have the skill any longer. Royal dragons will only ever use it once. It is an unwritten skill. They know they can use it when they meet a champion and so they do. Then it is forgotten forever. The system ensures that. It is believed that the burden on the souls of those connected be too great if two champions ever served one royal." Adair was extremely patient with the group while they understood what happened.


    "Alright, but at the very least, we shouldn''t worry about any royal dragons or even dragons, in general, attempting to take Midnight away from our family?" Gil had asked the question twice already and so had the others. It was what weighed on them most of all.


    "If one attempts they will find themselves unable to use the oath. If they do and find out that they touched something connected to a royal without permission, they will most likely be sent to the court for a proper trial. If it still happens even with those possibilities, then the other dragons will go on a hunt to remove a dragon that does not represent our honorable ways." Adair was sure of this. It was one of the reasons why she had been so angry with Illia. There was just too much risk.


    Midnight made a few slight growls showing that she was still worried about meeting other dragons. Especially a skeletal dragon since there was most likely one flying around out there that was her father. "There are many dragons that go against the order. When they do they revert to monsters who can not speak, or grow properly. Some are exiled for their actions. That is why most dragons are considered monsters until they are old enough. You will never be a monster though. A champion has never lost their mind even after great pressure."


    There was another sigh of relief. "There is a lot of positive that I can see here. It means I will be able to spend more time with everyone in life. It is a good thing. We may not have expected it but when we weed Midnight in to the party, none of us could foresee what would happen from there. We''ve taken everything one day at a time and that is the best way to proceed." Su finally spoke up again giving her usual down to earth mentality.


    "Good. Now I can get you to learn about your duties as a champion, royal, and guardian." Adair had been waiting and was about to dump more on them before she realized that since they were human most of this did not apply to them. "Actually, the trials can only be done by a dragon. You may need to wait some years before you can attempt any of them. As royalty, you don''t need to do anything you do not wish and you certainly are not required to sit on the royal court since you do not have a single element. But you could sit as a natural mana user, it has been some time since we had a nature dragon show itself."


    "You Little champion, are the only one that should have anything to do. You will most likely have to participate in trials with the other young dragons and show off your prowess and potential. However, you must act like a dragon. No lowering your head unless you are attacking. No growling out of turn. If you make a mistake you are reflecting on your royal their own attitudes. You could cause a vige war. Not that you have a vige to lose¡­"


    The holes in what they could and could not do by not being dragons was too great. For Adair, this was a massive grey area that dragon history could not be prepared for. "I believe...that at the end of the day, you will learn more when you are at the court. I will give you the dragon etiquette book we use for the hatchlings. I have many copies. Just remember, you are a royal now. Even if youe face to face with an ancient dragon, if it is not a royal the same as you are, stomp on it. Make it know your presence. If it dares to even flinch in your face, mock it. You must show your strength of will over all else. There is pride in a dragons'' blood."


    Adair sifted through a carved stone shelf and brought two books over. "The history of champions and their guardians for the little guardian. The high head of the dragon for the new royal. That is all I can do for now. I will pass around the new history to the others as I can. It may just bring some new dragonkin and power to my little branch vige." Adair was not a fool. She knew that she would gain greatly from this encounter. Having another royal that favored water dragons was a boon. Especially when the ancient water dragon was nearing ascendance possibility.


    "Once you leave this cave, you will be acting as a royal So read up now or I will not allow you to leave. Also, prepare for Illia''s apology. She owes it even more now that your status even exceeds mine. I am breaking many etiquette traditions speaking and teaching you in such a frivolous manner. But I hope it can be forgiven, lord." Adair gave a slight bow which made Walker very ufortable but he could not stop her even if he wanted.


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 Chapter 863 - 863. All About Dragons

    There was an almost endless number of actions and ceremonies was hard to follow. Even more cultural differences made through the years stacked up making it tougher to understand. Walker would need to be very careful with his actions since simple little things might be thought of as disrespect to another royal. The only thing that seemed to really give him one up on the others was the natural mana aspect he had. Most dragons had singr or dual elemental affinities. Having multiple was rare and having three was considered once in a hundred years. Not that this totally limited them but it directed the path they traveled.


    The pressure Walker felt to read the book as fast as possible was the same that Su felt. However, they were also sharing lessons with everyone else as they read. "So you have to be taller than the other dragons? How are you going to do that when ancient dragons live to be taller than our houses?" Remey was trying to figure out why such a rule existed.


    "I think it is metaphorical. Walker should stand taller as in his posture and actions. But if he needs to truly show his strength then he will use his wind ripple to step up and above another dragon." Su found the answer simple enough for Remey but was still trying to figure out her own. "It says it is my duty to protect Midnight there. But my shields will be too small one day to protect her. I''m not sure if I can learn these magic skills that a dragonkin learns. Veil itself is a tough taunting skill that focuses on illusion magic to taunt an enemy."


    Su had never imagined that magic was within the realm of a draconic guardian to learn. She had never imagined to learn magic in the least to begin with. "I think you are trying too hard to imagine what you can''t learn. Look at metely. I didn''t pay any mind to learning about wind elemental mana even though it is my affinity, I have Zephyr and an archers'' best friend. When I did I started to learn much more about how my arrows fly. Zephyr said I might even be able to change their direction while they fly one day. So try to learn everything and see what happens."


    The advice from Gil was not bad. He had learned his lesson and was not d to admit his Mistakes even though that if Zephyr and the other elemental spirits hadn''t gone off to explore, she would tease him. "Armor." The wandering cksmithnded a finder under a paragraph of Walkers'' book. He had been reading along and found something important.


    "It says that only ancient dragons and royal dragons will ever wear armor. Champions may have armor if they desire it but royals are the only ones that wear armor to show status among other dragons. It even says that the armor can shift with them in to their dragonkin form when forged using special alloys and runes that only dragons have knowledge of." There was an excited look on the wandering cksmiths'' face.


    It was clear that there was new knowledge to him. No one in the party had known this. The only time an armored dragon was mentioned was in a story or heroes'' tale. Having written knowledge about runes used by dragons and even special crafting methods was something that would make the wandering cksmith sell his soul. "I guess we will be figuring this out together."


    "That''s right. I did not consider that you would need armor. Do you have any as of yet? You do not need any that shifts forms which is good but you will need powerful and fitting armor that befits your standing. Something domineering to match the scales of your champion would be best. It shows the bond, It makes a statement." Adair started to shuffle through to scrolls and other odds and ends.


    Walker was beginning to realize that there were many new things piling up in his inventory. There were new materials that he and the wandering cksmith would use, monster meats, and now scrolls from dimensional step bastor. On top of this, a new set of armor would bejoining them if they could craft it.


    "Use this. It''s a gem from a diamond golem and is enough to show your power as a royal. I have had it for two hundred years now when I sent a dragonkin on a mission to prove their strength. Now that I have it I have forgotten about it. It will be much more useful in an armor as a centerpiece than wasting away in the dust." This was a small ploy for Adair to strengthen her own rtionship with Walker and the party. She had to be sure that she had them well bound to her vige for a better future. She had the potential to be an ancient dragon and stand directly under the royal ancient water dragon.


    The fact that Adair was able to casually take out such a rare item was a mysterious action that made the entire party question what a dragon really was. The knowledge about dragons was too limited. Only a few adventurers had made leaps in researching them and even then, it was a drop in the bucket. However, the interactions between humans and dragons were still very very, rare.


    "Are you sure? This would be incredibly valuable. I hear that diamond golems are the rarest golem there is and much much MUCH harder to defeat." Walkers'' knowledge was based off of human knowledge. Therefore, Adair was quick to hold her tongue when telling him that it was a challenge for a young dragonkin warrior. There were many more powerful creatures in the world than a diamond golem.


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 Chapter 864 - 864. Serious Talks

    "That is is correct. To you and your people, this is very valuable and hard to obtain golem core. To my vige''s dragonkin, it is a young warrior''s trial. I have this and many other things like it. You can have this and you can pay me back when you get to the main dragon vige in the future. It seems that your family may sell their soul for it before you speak again though." Adair was interested in the wandering cksmiths'' excitement. She had some dragonkin forge masters in the vige but they did not make many things.


    "You are right. I have no reason to refuse and you have already done a great deal for us. Do you think I could ask more?" Walker was already thinking of themitments he had. There were those that they would guide to the Genesis city and the things that could be done here. There was so much that Walker and the party could learn. He even had the feeling that if he tried to bring the wandering cksmith home he would get caught in a fight.


    "It depends on what you ask. I am not here to give away the vige to a royal that just came to be. I do pledge loyalty to another." Adair was not saying anything that Walker shouldn''t know by now. But she did worry that her position could prove to be detrimental to the royal ancient water dragon she had pledged herself to.


    "I hope it is not anything that would jeopardize you or the vige." Walker was also worried that asking for more would hurt those that were currently apologizing and giving him a great deal of knowledge to avoid an unhappy fate. "I was hoping we could stay here for three or four days. Then if possible have assistance in returning home? If I were to leave now I feel that I would be failing Midnight who has never had anyone to teach her about her own species. Everywhere we have gone I had to see the difference in how people look at her and now she is somewhere that she is normal and we are strange. It just feels right to take some time before our nextmitments to learn things properly."


    The sharp toothed grin from Adair showed that even her teeth stayed simr when she shited to her dragonkin form. "I believe that is a very wise answer. She deserves everything we can offer. But we will not disclose certain information unless absolutely necessary. Your guardian will also be able to train with other dragonkin warriors. She will one day have more dragon blood than human after all. I also believe there is a forge that was left empty while a group of smiths went to gather materials in theva ins."


    Adair knew she was being a little sneaky to y to the entire group''s wants and needs. However, she also knew that she was at aplete loss when it came to Gil and Remey since she had not heard them speak much. There was also Onyx who was coiled up and watching carefully. From what she could gather he was more interested in knowledge than other things.


    "My small vige has plenty of other amenities for you to explore. It is exceedingly rare for a visitor so there may be somemotion. I''m sure you may want to tour some of the mountain paths we had carved or the gardens we have at the summit."


    "You have gardens at the summit? Are there herbs? Ahh, what am I asking? There have to be herbs. The growth at this altitude it is insanely hard for nts to grow and even basic grasses here have additional properties after evolving to survive. Walker, I''ll need to go and check it out so I can bribe someone for seeds." Remey was feeling like she had found a chest of gold. Her smile mimicked the wandering cksmiths'' from earlier.


    "Hmm, Zephyr would most likely like to go for a fly around the higher paths. I can also try my luck to hunt some of the flying spiders. They are what the new bowstring is made of after modifying and improving the bow." Gil was interested in having extra for a secondary bow or a recement string. He wasn''t going to pretend the string wouldst forever.


    "Come here and escort the vige guests." Adair raised her voice slightly and four different dragonkin came in to the cave as if they had been waiting there the entire time.


    Gil and Remey followed one of them who greeted them very politely. "Brother, I will go explore the gardens with Remey. I would like to rx in the light." With a nod from Walker, Onyx was gone with Remey.


    "Is there anywhere you wish to see? The warriors are no longer training today but you can use the space as you wish." This was enough to tempt Su. she needed to understand her system and her skills better. The fact that she had the book that exined the rtionship between a guardian and the champion was even more useful. It outlined a great many skills that she had not ever heard of or did not even consider. She followed the dragonkin out of the carved cave leaving just Walker and Midnight with Adair.


    "You two are thest left. It will be a little easier to speak here without any that are ranked lower here. You wille to understand the great stress on hierarchy in the dragon culture. It is simr to humans and kings so I believe you will understand. But it is very strongly tied to pride and loyalty. It will be a veryrge lesson since you, as a human, break those standards." Adair waved to the fourth dragonkin and a chair was brought over for her.


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 Chapter 865 - 865. Think Like A Royal

    "I can see that it is much more important than I think. But I am limited to what I have seen. You are much more open than the other dragons we have met. There was one bonded with a tamer and it was arrogant but very very good at forging and controlling fire. Then, umm, Illia, was not as, well, as open."


    "That right there is the issue. Say what you want without any fear of repercussions. A dragon is powerful and proud. Even if you are wrong you speak with force and stand for what you say." Adair had an angry tone in her voice that spoke to how important this was.


    Walker swallowed and watched as Midnight gave him some inquisitive looks. She was used to him being kind and had even seen him angry. But overly proud and forceful was not part of his normal personality. "To say the least Illia was not the best representation of a dragon. I would say she is better off starting overall together. You are nearly an elder dragon, you can teach her better."


    There was a small smirk on Adairs face before she became more serious. "I understand lord. I will do my utmost to educate her. The next time you meet her, she will be apletely different dragon worthy of walking your halls." Adair lowered her head for a moment.


    "That''s how people will respond to me when I am in a dragon vige? That''s even more proper than with our royalty." Walker could tell the difference. It was more stiff and each word carried a little of the energy and power Adair had. Walker would need to emte this.


    "That is exactly how every interaction may be when in the royal court. Outside of it, away from prying eyes between two royals or ancients and royals, well¡­ Let''s say that they will be more forceful. Strength and purity is a great aplishment for a dragon. That is why royalspletely ignore battle unless they must go. They will focus on their element to purify themselves and be a pure elemental dragon. That is what I am and will be. I am a pure water dragon and when I be a pure ancient water dragon it will be a major boost in my power over water elements and water elemental dragons."


    Adair looked very proud of herself but this was fair since it was a very tough process to do ovee. "The royal bloodline gives a major boost to the speed at which a dragon can understand the elemental mana. If I was a pure wind dragon I would be speaking to the honorable grand wind spirit there. Even if she is, a little childish." This was fair since Zephyr and every single wind spirit were more free and childish in their personalities.


    "You mayck royal blood but you have equaled the status. You can obtain some royal blood if you so desire. There may be a way that you have earned the right for. Being able to manipte natural mana is something that only one dragon ever aplished on our current records. They were thought of as a mutt. They had affinities with every element and could not purify in to one path. They were rare when it came to affinities but weak in each one."


    "Naturally, they were shunned. But after a sudden disappearance and five hundred years, they showed themselves again. They had made small visits to elemental havens for individual elements. They gained an understanding that equaled royals in single elements and found their true potential. They were the first nature dragon. The rarest we have to look up to. They created forests, razed armies, and even expanded the main vige. However, their life was short. The world even gave quests to keep them alive longer. But we are all destined for the afterlife at some point. It was inevitable."


    Walker was soaking the information up like a sponge. The fact that he could gain a better understanding by going to elementally concentrated areas was very good. He could make journies to ces that would make him and Fleur stronger at some point. But that would be for another time.


    There was also the fact that it was a rare urrence for a dragon. Walker had also learned that it is a rare urrence for most races. The elves had a higher chance to gain systems that used natural mana but it was not something that happened every day. Therefore, the fact that Walker could learn about and use the natural mana was a big deal. Or at least, he was not realizing how big a deal it was.


    "If I show up and can prove my power and such as a royal dragon even though I am human, what could happen from there? Would I be forced to do anything after that?" Walker had a feeling that there may be more expected to him.


    "Normally a royal is made to attend the court every fifty years at least. If they do not have enough for the meetings then they will go and drag another royal with them. It is not as dramatic as it sounds but it ismon since a royal may not want to leave their training. You are a human, you are easier to take to court if they can find you."


    "I see...I could be dragged to the court much more often. Even if it is not every fifty years I could be taken at a drop of a hat just to meet. That''s if they ept me. But if they do it will make things easier for them. There is also a chance they can throw their power around to get my vote on things." It was what some nobles did in the kingdom but not to such a degree.


    "Now, you are starting to think like a royal dragon." Adair was d that the point was made. She wanted Walkers'' favor since no matter what he did he was not ranked above her in a dragon hierarchy. She did find it pleasant to have someone speak to her eye to eye, however.


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 Chapter 866 - 866. Royal Practice

    "Now, bring Illia back in, and if she gives you any trouble tell her that I will be removing her permissions to fly from the vige for three years." Adair sent the dragonkin away. "I will show you a proper conversation and you will join when you are at the proper point."


    Walker knew that this was the best possible chance he would have to practice and did not expect Adair to be so forward with what she wanted to teach. He could tell the difference in age was making her look at him as if she was meant to teach. It was the same that an older dragon would look at a recently hatched dragon. However, he also could see the benefit she would gain having helped someone that was technically a royal. It was just the same in the kingdom when the nobles would vie for the kings'' favor. Although, Walker did not mind since Adair was helping him and Midnight significantly.


    "You are champion. His champion. You are expected to be at his side no matter what. Especially in court. Stand next to him and a little in front. You pave his path where he treads. Also, you should double any flight practice you do. The other hatchlings you meet will have been thrown from a mountain or two already." It was clear to Adair that Midnight had yet to fly.


    Midnight gave a small growl. She wanted to fly but she was too weak yet. But the fact that the other young dragons would be thrown off the mountains and forced to glide and practice was a good reason why they would learn sooner. There was a pressure to learn faster and progress so that they would not be harmed. Midnight was missing that, but she had gained a great deal more. No one had mentioned her multiple elemental breath attacks.


    "Head high. Pay attention." Adair gave onest order as the sound of Illia walking in to the carved cave came forward.


    "Elder, I have returned at your call." The attitude had greatly changed. Illia was acting much more proper. It was clear that the threat of not being able to fly from the vige for three years was enough to cause her to be as proper as possible.


    "You will apologize to the lord here. You will also apologize to his champion. If you can not do so you will no longer be weed by the vige. You have not only disrespected a champion. But you have also disrespected a royal." Adair had not told Illia that Walker was technically a royal dragon now. However. It was clear that she was doing so now.


    Illia did not speak a word against it. The dragonkin that had left showed that they were acting their best possible manners toward the other humans. This was enough to tell her that something else was happening. When she cornered one of them after bringing the guest to the forge the dragonkin had exined what they witnessed while waiting for Adairs'' orders. Illia, of course, did not believe it. This was ridiculous. However, now that she looked at Midnight and Walker she could feel that her blood and mana were suppressed. Exactly what happened when met with a royal and a champion pair. It was a sixth sense that came with a dragons'' instincts.


    When Illia hesitated, Walker remembered that Adair said to join the conversation as practice. It was also his chance to stabilize the act he would need when he met dragons properly. It may not be the way he preferred to act, but it was the way he was expected to if his opinions and will would be heard.


    "Do not make us wait. Every second of wasted time is an additional insult to myself and my family in front of me. The more you sit there the more you prove you are not deserving of the blessing you have to study under a pure water dragon." Walker had steel in his voice that he rarely used to in such an arrogant way. However, it caused Illia to show a visible break in her poker face.


    The face of a dragon would be hard for anyone to read, but for Walker, it was simple. He had long felt the emotions of Midnight and been able topare them to the expressions she made. Now she was able to share them much more so Walker didn''t even need to think about the fact that Illia in front of him was astounded. A human had never been so arrogant to a dragon. It was the opposite of what other races should act toward them.


    After the battle in Illias'' eyes had ended, she knelt slightly lowering her head. Walker didn''t bother to use his wind ripple skill to stand above her. He instead forced his face to appear disinterested in the frost dragon''s bow. It was how a royal should act and Adair was approving of it in her head. "I greatly apologize for the pain I have caused you, lord. I will spend my time doing anything I can to properly apologize. Whatever you may need I shall assist you with while you reside here." The tone had be proper and controlled. But Adair and Walker both knew the battle inside of Illia that was telling her to ignore these words and cast out the human.


    "Then you will atone by assisting me and those that havee with me. You will guide my champion with wisdom on flight and frost breath. You will share your materials with the wandering cksmith that came with me. If you find a flying spider you will capture it and bring it to the arcane marksman. If you find rare herbs you will hand them to the alchemical brawler with me. And finally, you will give your opinions on the battle style of my champion''s guardian. Later, you will carry us to the human kingdom and I will forgive your actions today. But do not believe I am forgetting a single moment of what you have done." This was the power that Adair wanted Walker to use. The domineering tone and slight growls from Midnight were exactly how a royal and a champion should act. When the champions'' guardian joined and held a defensive stance the full strength of the royal would be on disy.


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 Chapter 867 - 867. Frosty Apology

    "I understand. I will rise to your wishes, lord." Illia did not hesitate again. She may have only been witness to royals a few times in life due to her lower standing. But she knew that if the human in front of her was speaking in such a way and had Adair backing him, then he must be a royal now. Illia had never known Adair to cater to any dragon unless it was the ancient royal water dragon above her.


    "Good, you did very well. You will get used to being called lord in time. You requestedpensation without giving any room to deny it. Your voice did not waver and you also controlled your facial expressions well. I believe with practice you will be able to present yourself to the royal court in some months. Just remember, they will know of you and will have high expectations. You will need to be able to exceed those." Adair was not so foolish to ignore that whatever she said to other viges would be exaggerated to a degree. Therefore, it was important that Walker exceeded whatever fantasy the other dragons came to know.


    "Then I will do that. With armor, More training, and practice I should be able to. I did just gain a pretty good skill from this practice though. Although, I still expect Illia to do what she promised me. However, since we are not in a court and not in front of another ancient or royal, please rx. I am very unhappy due to your actions but Midnight and Onyx are safe. We have learned a lot. And you are not being unreasonable any longer." Walker was directing this at Illia because he hated the fact that everything would be stiff and full of grand acting.


    ''The skill poker face has been taken from the trickster system. The skill poker face has been automatically learned through constant emotional acting and interactions.


    Poker face- passive


    The user is able to better control the face they show to others. The better they practice this the better they will be better able to control their facial expressions and even the tone of their voice. This skill is often part of the demonic systems.''


    It was a simple skill but one that could be very valuable. Walker had long shown how he felt on his face and done a great deal to get better at showing his shock or awe. But now he was better able to hide away his feelings for the most part.


    "This was practice?" Illia was a little angry hearing that she was used for practice.


    "Your apology was real. His attitude and actions were practice. You are still expected by him and myself to assist his family that apanied him. They will only stay for a short time and what they learn will be the seed for their growth. I will also be attending the royal court in theing months. You will follow and learn. There will be a lot to see and witness." The thought process of Adair was simple, go to the royal court and learn as much as possible when Walker and Midnight are introduced.


    "I will do my best. I have some centennial ice I already gathered along with other things. It was going to be used for the gift we are making for our lord."


    "Then do not give it to me. We took what we needed from the ice we did not know was yours. If we ruined your rtionship with the ancient royal water dragon that allowed you a vige it would cause unnecessary tension before we even made it to court." Walker was not nning on starting a feud with the other dragons. To be honest, he was more interested in helping Midnight learn than actually bing part of the royal dragon court.


    "I have broken scales you can have for forging then. I do not need them and they are used to trade with the dwarves every few years. They have made some parts of royal armors in the past. The herbs for your other family are easier as well. There is a field of snowbells that are very good for cooling purifying potions. I am the only one that is able to use them for my training. The flying spiders are easy as well. I will have some dragonkin gather twenty or so from a nest we should have exterminated earlier this year. Flying is simple. I will show and guide." Illia was slowly rxing her voice and posture.


    "That all sounds good. Su might be hard to show any guidance in battle. She might be better off with the dragonkin warriors. But any idea from a fresh mind can spur a breakthrough." Walker didn''t expect Illia to act so proper still. It was a wonder the difference that was happening.


    "I will share my thoughts. I would be a better partner if I could find my method for shifting in to my dragonkin form. But I am still lost. I may still be too young to do it." Now Walker was feeling like he was seeing the true Illia. She was showing the weakness she had incking a dragonkin form. That and she was not looking down on him with scrutinizing eyes any longer. He could now see the frosty clear blue eyes she had that matched her scales.


    "You are a frost dragon. A unique form of water dragon. You have already exceeded the limits thought for your age. If you manage to gain a dragonkin form you will represent this vige as a symbol of the water dragons'' power. Remember that." It was both encouragement and pressure that Adair gave in this sentence.


    Midnight stepped forward with a lot of huffs and growls toward Illia. "I apologize again. I will swear never to take another dragon from its family before I speak properly. I was wrong." Midnight seemed pleased after hearing this. She had wanted to hear Illia admit the mistake since she had been sent from the cave.


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 Chapter 868 - 868. Dont Touch

    "Now that it is all figured out. Please allow for them to have a tour of the vige. They will need to know how a vige operates and you are going to give them the information." Adair moved to gather some papers and a dragonkin began to direct them out of the carved cave. Illia walked behind them with her head still lowered. Walker had a feeling that every dragon that was not a royal would take on this action out of respect.


    "It has gottente. Unlike the dragonkin, a dragon can stay awake for weeks if needed." Illia was going to suggest that Midnight take the tour and Walker sleep. However, Midnight responded with a few growls. "What do you mean you sleep every night with them? That is not normal, a dragon will be awake constantly in the first few months of life. The years after that two or three hours are needed at most."


    "I hate to tell you this, but Midnight sleeps more than any of us. Especially after she eats some of the bones and elemental mana crystals we gather." Walker just shrugged and thought about the blue koi that they had caught and if eating the water affinity monsters'' bones would help her with her elemental breath training.


    "How many? Does she need to so that she will process it? That''s not normal. What were her parents'' bloodlines?" Illia was surprised to hear this because normally a hatchling would eat and eat and eat without needing to rest too much. They would usually run around more curious than cats and the only way to get them to stop was when their parents were extremely strict.


    "I don''t really know, she east them pretty much whenever she wants. We have plenty in my storage." Walker proved his point by pulling out a darkness elemental crystal and tossing it to Midnight who chomped it to pieces in none bite.


    "Her father was a skeletal dragon and mother a dark dragon. We figured that much out but that''s clear on her scales. The champion bloodline was more of a surprise when our systems upgraded. It was pretty lucky that she had it mixed in to her blood. And yes, she does sleep every time she eats them. But one shouldn''t be too much for her." Midnight huffed a few times in agreement since she wanted to keep exploring and napping would stop her from that. There was a small growl though that Walker was able to interpret as her wanting more food. He couldn''t tell her no and tossed her some jerky which was gone faster than the darkness elemental crystal.


    "So her father was a skeletal dragon. That might exin it. That''s very rare. Dark and skeletal work well together but that would mean both are exiled dragons. A dragon was born with a remnant of champion bloodline from two exiled dragons. What a world." This was an amazing thing to Illia. She even stopped in her tracks behind the two.


    Both Walker and Midnight were unsure why this was so amazing but from what they gathered, skeletal dragons were lone wolf types that rarely interacted with other dragons. The fact that one had interacted with an exiled dragon made it a big deal. Not to mention that skeletal dragons were also very battle oriented. All Walker and Midnight could gather as that she had been more powerful than other dragons to start with her bloodlines. When the champion bloodline was activated by the system then she had gotten even more powerful. Overall, it was a win.


    "We were headed to the garden right?" Walker pointed at some veryrge and small carved steps. It was clear that they were mainly carved for the dragonkin who could not fly normally due to their wings being too small.


    "Yes, that is the way to the garden. It has been unkempt for seventy five years. It was the first thing to be built when the vige was founded. Unlike a main vige, we are a branch vige. We are here to grow certain herbs and procure certain materials from the main vige. But because of this, we have ess to them." Illia was very proud to be part of the branch vige. It also exined why there were only two dragons in it.


    "A garden that has plenty of herbs that only grow in high ces. Remey may be going crazy up there." Walker began to worry about the dragonkin that had guided Remey and what others may be witnessing.


    Illia was still in her own thoughts while they climes the perfectly carves steps. Wakker noticed a green blue colored moss while they climbed prompting him to use his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Creeping frost


    The is a moss that has long lived in cold climates. The colder the weather the faster it will grow. It is an attractive color that causes many to reach out and touch it. The poison it carries mimics frost bite and ispletely resistant to normal frost bite cures. The only cure for it is a purifying potion or a purifying magic skill. Water dragons often consume this so that they can temper their bodies against the cold.''


    Walker quickly withdrew his hand from the moss he was going to touch. He cursed himself for not heading one of Remey''s lessons with harvesting herbs. Never touch brightly colored herbs unless you know what they are.


    "I will have some of that set aside for you. Your champion will benefit from eating it." Midnight heard Illia and was a little excited at the potential for another new snack. Walker just shook his head and would wait to see Remey at the top. "We will also do flight training when we reach the top. The wind is soft today so it will be ideal." Midnight was even more excited t hear this. The potential to fly sooner was extremely attractive to her.


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 Chapter 869 - 869. Herbs Needed

    Midnight was growling and huffing at Illia trying to get more information about the snacks she could have in the vige. However, Illia was slow to reply and just Made Midnight more annoyed. "Leave her alone for now. She is already going to help you fly and I promise I will find out more about what there is to eat." The constant thought of food on Walkers'' mind was not from himself but from Midnight. He could feel that she was stuck on it and he always wondered why. But it was hard to wonder when he remembered that she was always growing and training at an incredible rate with the rest of the party.


    The steps had led them fairly high, but it was only a short distance when considering that they were nearly already at the top of the mountain. Walker could feel that he needed to take more breaths to remainfortable here and wondered if it was due to the air. But this wasn''t the time to experiment with elemental mana and try to condense it. He found that Remey was studying some spiny looking flowers.


    They were purple pom pom shapes that came from green and white stems and leave. The spines on them made it appear that they could jump out and poke you at any moment. However, Remey was easily handling them without any trouble. "What are those? Anything good?"


    Remey looked up a little surprised, she had only had one dragonkin up on top of the garden with her and even the dragonkin had wandered away when they realized that Remey was moving in to her own head. "These are false spine thistles. They are more closely rted to clover nts but with an affinity for the cold. They are terrible to grow for any herbalist because they only like the specific cold of the mountain tops. But they can grow without air so that is a boon for any herbalist."


    Remey seemed to have the knowledge already about this herb but she was still adding to that knowledge, "This one, in particr, ispletely useless. The spines are just for show so you can touch them, the leaves carry absolutely nothing that is useful for a potion. But the flowers'' pollen, that is where the good stuff is. When crushed and ground in to a paste it is perfect for drawing out any kind of venom. Potion ingredient, well, it''s not the best. But it is very useful for herbalists to sell as a paste to healers."


    "That sounds like a pretty good home remedy or something for adventurers to carry. Maybe we should have some since I haven''t learned any sort of purifying skills." Walker was sure that he could learn one at some point but it would take some more training at the cathedral with the healers. Something that he couldn''t do at the moment since he was preupied with everything else that seemed toe up whenever he had a free moment.


    "That can be arranged. I would say we should take the seeds too but I am not sure we will be able to grow them. Maybe when the guild building is built we can have a special greenhouse. I might need to get a bigger space to expand." Remey was thinking more and more that the alchemy guild would need to berger andrger and even have some locations outside of Genesis city.


    "I think at this rate there will be sections of the city separated for many things. The way it sounded when they were making designs and reviewing them they would build everything with a lot of space in between. There would also be a separate living district. It will be simr as to what we saw in the dwarf city but a little more spacious." Walker was worried about that too and had already heard the ns mirror such a worry. Remey just had not seen the final n that was to be sent to the builders and crafters. Of course, things would be changed as they went but space for growth was a huge point they made.


    "Anway, I have documents some new herbs that I need to study. The dragonkin that was here handed me bags of seed allbeled. One thing that we might need is something called draco root. It is an odd nt that can only be eaten by someone with dragon blood. The dragonkin eat it in small doses to purify their blood and allow them to grow at a faster rate. Su could need it since she is bonded by Midnight and apparently should receive blood from Midnight once a year to share strength. But that is a mystery to me. I just know we need it."


    Walker had put this together as soon as Remey had begun to discuss it. He had a feeling that there were more details in the book that Su had been reading. Unfortunately, Su was at the training area and he could not delve in to the matter at the moment. "How hard is it to grow such a thing?" This was what mattered most at the moment. Walker needed to see if he would even be able to provide them with the draco root.


    "They are easily grown and very poisonous to other creatures. The reason we dragons eat them is because our bodies can adjust to the poison and absorb its strength. You can take some dormant roots." Illia chimed back in after carefully watching the encounter. She had judged Remey as a know nothing human. But now, she was proven to be the one in the wrong. Remey was extremely efficient in examining the herbs and discerning their qualities.


    "That will be perfect. The dormant roots would normally start to grow in a back pack or bag but with your spatial magic, they will remain dormant." Remey was d to know that things could be held until the perfect time for growth.


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 Chapter 870 - 870. Future Trades

    "The herbs they have here are very rare. Some of them are even unrecorded by most people because they are only grown by dragon viges. Have you seen the snowbells?" Remey was ranting about the amazing herbs that were here on the garden. The field of snow bells was really a side of the mountain that was covered in them. Calling it a field was a tough sell but since that was the way Remey said it, Walker didn''t argue.


    "They even dry the herbs and harvest seeds. The stored seeds and herbs they have are amazing. It has taken years to get something like this set up. I believe that having a trade with a dragon vige would be an incredible boon for the alchemy guild. I wonder how I would be able to connect with them when ites to business." Remey gave Illia a side nce waiting to see if she would respond.


    Feeling that Remey was waiting for her, Illia actually spoke up. She mostly responded since her judgment of Remey had been proved wrong and she wanted to rectify this in her own mind. "The rtions we have with other races is very minute. But if you have things that dragons need we could consider a rtionship to make a trade. We do not value gold."


    "Do you need dragon fruit?" Walker felt that it was rude for him to butt in on the conversation, but he wanted to help Remey. He knew how important the guild would be for every kingdom and that Remey was putting her heart and soul in to it.


    "That would be an ideal trade. Dragon fruit is a rare fruit for dragons and can easily be traded vige to vige for any goods. It is much more valuable than the gold that other races value." Illia did not hesitate to mention this. She knew well that dragon fruit would be perfect to have stored for the hatchling dragons. There was also the fact that the main viges would store as many as possible to use as rewards for tasks and trainingpleted by young dragons.


    "We have a tree growing but can expand that when the guild is built. It can be an arranged deal for when we get an annual harvest. I will write that down as a note if you can confirm it with those of your vige." Remey knew not to make a solid deal before there was a proper product grown. But this was a very strong starting point.


    "I will dly share the news. We could open our minds and share our herbs with you for dragon fruit." Illia was slightly excited to show Adair what she had discovered. It would be more than enough to appease any anger that Adair had towards her.


    "Then it''s a deal. When things are grown and figured out someone wille to form a contract." Remey was very pleased as well. The herbs that the dragons grew would be a very strong rare staple for the guild in the future. She couldn''t control her smile since the growth of the guild was always showing itself not to have limits.


    "Have you seen how they water the herbs here? They use magic. There are plenty of water affinity mages in the dragonkin that help take care of the nts. They pull water from the air and mist the herbs through the day." Remey changed mindsets and started to describe some of the methods used to care for the herbs. She had been making note of these methods as well since she was sure that she would be able to use them in the guilds'' gardens one day.


    "I think you should be able to gather some herbalists that might be able to use simr magic skills. It will be a good test for them when you are recruiting and hiring them. Plus you can have the new members help grow the herbs. It would be a good bit of knowledge." Walker could see the vision that Remey had and that wasing together.


    "Exactly. It will be perfect and can show them the full lifespan of an herb to a potion material to a potion and finally to the person that uses the potion." Remey felt aplished while she moved to the next flower bed and began to examine another herb.


    "Well, it looks like Remey is going to be lost in her own head for a while. Maybe we should move on to the flight training." Walker knew that Midnight was eagerly awaiting and her patience was running thin since she was not as interested in herbs.


    "It must be valuable to have an alchemist in your party. It is a good choice for a human party." Illia had considered it and found that based on what she knew, humans would need potions much more often than a dragon.


    "Oh, she is an alchemical brawler. She can make potions but also punch and kick a monster in to paste. It''s a unique ss. That''s a whole other story." Illia just looked at Walkers'' straight face and wondered just how strange humans had gotten or if it was just the group that hade to the vige.


    Midnight came over to Walker and nudged him on his side, "Yes yes, I know I will stop distracting Illia. You can practice flying." She was bothering him to get the focus back on what they were supposed to be doing.


    "I will put this on hold for now. The world outside of the vige may be stranger than I thought. Now, flying is a very important thing for a dragon. It allows you to stand above all. Unless you are an earth dragon. Then you may not care for it as much." Illia walked to the side of the gardens where it dropped off near the steps they had climbed. "This is where we will start." Illia whipped her tail around throwing Midnight off the cliff and in to the air.


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 Chapter 871 - 871. Fly Away

    "Midnight! How could you do that!" Illia didn''t expect that Walker would rush and jump right off the cliff after Midnight. She was stunned seeing how reaction. She had pped Midnight off the cliff with her tail so that Midnight could be forced by her instincts to fly. This was a normal thing for a parent dragon to do to their hatchlings.


    But when Illia saw that Walker was stepping through the air seemingly without Issue, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was strange that a human could do something, but now she would not get in trouble for Walkers'' injury from falling from a cliff. Midnight, on the other hand, was a different story.


    The wind was whistling past Midnight as she fell. She had not expected this and a guttural growl was escaping her maw to curse Illia. It was fair that she would want to get back at her but she had to remember that she was falling.


    The feeling of the air hitting her scales was not at all unpleasant. However, it was calling her. For some reason, Midnight was feeling calmer by the second. Walker was shouting for her but the more she fell the more she was ignoring his voice. She could feel her blood boiling.


    Another second passed and she felt her body begin to move without her will. Her wings flung out and a pain caught every single muscle on her back. The resistance was more than she had ever felt from the speed she had been falling. However, the drastic change in speed caused her to glide forward at an incredible rate.


    "Midnight! You''re- oh holy lord. You are gliding!" Walker felt his stomach flip flop as he realized that Midnight was no longer falling but instead softly gliding down toward the vige. It was the first time she was doing so from such a height. Feeling his connection with her, Walker began to pick up his pace and sprint through the air using his wind ripple skill.


    When he neared Midnight he found that there both hade to the ground. Walker stepped down to the ground as if it was a normal walk in the park. Midnight, she lost her control and made an extra close rtionship with the ground. She had not pped her wings as a normal dragon would to slow theirnding and softly set ws on the ground.


    The thud that came from behind the pair was Illianding. Midnight was too dazed to hop up immediately but Walker was already ring at Illia releasing the royal aura skill he had only used once before. Illia felt ite from him and she immediately began topare him to the royals she had once seen. It was an extremely strange thought to have when looking at a human.


    "That was not too bad. You felt your instinct and opened your wings. I would have said you would break some scales but you don''t even have scratches. You are tough. But you did notnd with grace. We will need to repeat that seven or eight times more today. I will have someone heal your wings so you can regain your strength." Illia was already moving on to the next practice flight when Walker realized that Midnight was not moving her wings and had lost a chunk of her health points.


    The pain he felt through their connection was enough for him to start to cast mid heal on her over and over. "I''m sorry. I didn''t know she would jump in to it like that. We will show her and make sure that she knows you are even better than she imagines." Walker knew that Illia had not done something ridiculous. However, this did not mean he supported the methods of teaching she used.


    The response that Midnight gave after being healed and standing up fully was a slow calm growl of determination. No one needed to have Onyx around to trante. The feeling Midnight had was to prove her strength so that she could not be taken advantage of or even looked down on in any way. She would be the most powerful dragon there was in the world.


    The thought of Onyx caused Walker to realize he did not see him at the gardens. A quick search of the mountain steps revealed Onyx curled up in the perfect little cliff side. It was being hit by the sun as it angled down again toward the ground. This was a good sign for Walker since he wanted to keep tabs on everyone while they were in the unfamiliar and dangerous vige.


    Midnight nearly dragged Walker to the cliff steps. She was going right back to the top to prove she was better than Illia believed. Illia had already headed up with her own ability to fly. Remey was still standing at the top of the cliff. She had seen what happened when she nced up and rushed over in worry. After seeing the gliding and the roughnding she went back to her herbs. "I swear. They will give me a heart attack. Oh, winter buttercups. How rare." She was easily distracted again by the herbs.


    Themotion was nothing much for the vige. Yet, many dragonkin stopped what they had been doing to watch the champion rush up the steps only to be thrown from the cliff again and again. Walker would always run after her and heal her at the bottom. Then he would drink a mana potion while being pulled by the champion again. They all believed that a champion was a crazy existence. This was perfect proof.


    The respect for Walker also grew. They knew now that he was technically a royal which broke many of the histories they knew. But they also now knew that Walker was extremely determined to remain at Midnights'' side. It painted him in a valiant and powerful light.


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 Chapter 872 - 872. An Honor To Meet

    "Miss, may I ask you a few questions?" The dragonkin that had guided Su had taken the courage to speak up and ask Su a few things. She had heard what Su was to Midnight and Walker but they had never met a guardian before. It was a very interesting meeting for her let alone other dragonkin.


    "Of course, Just ask away." Su had no reason to ignore questions and she was led to their training area. She had been given so much information that the odds of her needing to ask questions were high as well. Both would be asking each other questions.


    "Are you truly a dragon champions'' guardian? That is a very highly coveted position to hold. To meet one is an honor." There was a softer tone in the dragonkins'' voice. It spoke of excitement and amazement.


    "That is correct. I am a draconic guardian. I used to be a shield bearer until I reached certain quest requirements and was rewarded with a system upgrade. Then I passed out only to wake up with the system I have now. I have been spending a lot of time training with Midnight and the system reflected that. It''s odd to think that some time ago we had just received a hero title and were recovering in a tent where Midnight and I had rested together." Su couldn''t help but think of all the times after that day where she and Midnight had leaned on each other during a quest or while resting at home.


    "It is an honor miss, I hope that we can learn from you during your stay here. The warriors should return at any moment from their hunt. I am sure they will be exceedingly d to meet you. If possible, I will stay as well. It has been some years since I was able to fight." The excited glint in the dragonkins'' eyes was more than Su expected.


    Most of the dragonkin had blue or green scales showing that they were right at home in these colder icy mountains. It also spoke to the species of dragon that they served under. However, the eyes that this dragonkin had were nearly sparking with lightning when they said they would be able to fight some.


    "Since you asked me, what system do you happen to have? I am unfamiliar with dragon kind and dragonkin kind." Su was not afraid to admit herck of knowledge. This was true for many of the races when it came to anything rted to dragons.


    "Of course miss, my system is draconic martial artist. I have one of the moremon systems for dragon warriors and have been honored to serve directly under elder Adair. I was personally appointed with my sisters and brothers by our lord." Su knew that a martial artist was simr to a brawler. They would use fists and kicks. However, a martial artist was more trained in a certain style. This would give them the additional strength and guidance to be more powerful than a brawler.


    "We have an alchemical brawler named Remey, she maye to train. As a martial artist, you may be able to battle with her a little better than some others. It could be very good for her training since she has been focusing on alchemy for some time now." Su saw that this confused the dragonkin martial arts and spoke again. "She gained a unique system when she upgraded from a brawler. It is very beneficial to the party and in my opinion, the world. She will aplish a great many things."


    "I believe you will aplish just as much, if not more. I have heard of a draconic guardian defeating an entire vige troop just to defend a hatchling champion after it had been threatened. There is plenty of history and stories of the draconic guardians standing above many other warriors. Even those trained to defeat guardians. The wide range of defensive skills marks them as ideal protectors of any and all things."


    Su couldn''t help but smile hearing the incredible praise for the system she had. This was unexpected since she still had a great many questions about it. Let alone the fact that she was just now reading through a book that gave her more information on what exactly her system was known for. However, she would need to find a ce to rest while at the training area she was nowing to.


    "Wee to the training area for dragonkin warriors. There is a weapon storage in that building. The training ground is smallerpared to other viges so I do apologize. However, the space is enough to battle in matches if you so desire." The space Su was brought to hadrge carved stone pirs along the edges. Some were wrapped with cloth to show they were for hand to hand techniques and skills. There were many scorch and frost marks showing that some breath attacks were used.


    What stood out most was the building with only three walls. It hosted a myriad of weapons all made of a strong looking alloy. Su was sure that this was simr to what the wandering cksmith was finding in the forge he had been brought to. For her, however, it would be a good chance to test her shields. She had her twin shield and the earth dwelling shield with her so that she could get the most out of both styles ofbat. Yet, she knew that there was plenty more she was about to learn.


    "I seem tock a training partner. Would you like to join me for now?" Su extended a hand to the dragonkin who seemed to be staying in the area as Su''s guide until she had finished training. It just made sense for Su to train with her if that was the case.


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 Chapter 873 - 873. Scaled Rat!

    There was no hesitation whatsoever for the dragonkin. She could only hope to one day spar with a draconic guardian. Even if Su was a human, it meant nothing. Even if she was a dragonkin the system and duty were the same. The honor that came with it was also the same. To protect a champion as they grew in to their power and to be by their side was the greatest honor for many dragonkin besides being under an ancient or even a royal.


    "I am very honored to spar with you. Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am Shay. I am one of the four dragonkin warriors sent to serve under the pure water dragon elder, Adair. I hold the draconic martial artist system. Please ept my gratitude." The introduction was something only done for a warrior below the one they were facing. It was honorable and a very important part of training when a dragonkin was going to learn something.


    "It is an equal honor to meet you, Shay. I am unaware of the proper formalities but I will introduce myself as well. I am Su, a current member of the omnipotent party, holder of a hero title and multiple other titles, and the draconic guardian of my little sister Midnight. May we learn more than we expect." Su have a nod and fell in to a stance.


    Shay stepped forward and her hands which had small ws shifted in to sharper and more scaled versions. Su raised an eyebrow and lifted her twin shields. It was interesting to see that the dragonkin could change their bodies simr to a dragon shifting in to a dragonkin form. It was proof that they had simr blood and traits.


    The w attack was swift and the steps that Shay took were nearly wless. There was no hesitation or pause. However, Su knew that these were not serious, it was a test of skill and not power. "Your footwork is very precise." This was ament of praise while Su pushed her shield forward and deflected the next w attack.


    "And your shields are faster than they look. Their weight must slow you. I did not expect you to use both." Shay had never battled against someone who used two shields at once. She was more used to someone that would use a shield and sword or a buckler and dagger. This was a strange change that told her she would need to worry about a lot of blunt force attacks.


    "These are specially made to protect my party. They alsoe together to protect a wider area." Su mmed the shields together to create arger surface area. Shay believed that this was going to be a demonstration of her defensive prowess and began to move in to attack and test it.


    What Shay didn''t expect was the fact that Su was waiting for her to move. In a sh of movement, Su used her full speed and bashed forward with her shield. The resulting blow was more than enough to send Shay stumbling. The only thing that kept her on her feet was her tail.


    "Lucky for me, I am a dragonkin warrior. I have another limb to hold myself up." Shay had always seen this as a benefit and was hard trained to use every part of her body to maintain her battle position. The tail that a dragonkin had were almost useless normally, But for a dragonkin warrior, it was something they trained to be able to hold them up, throw needles, or even grab opponents depending on their system and fighting styles.


    "Very lucky you scaled rat! Dare to fight me and I will crush your puny pride!" Su shouted with anger in her voice. She let emotion enter her normally cold taunt. This was a skill she had read in the book she had been given. The taunt she would normally use would direct attention. However, the skill she was using now was enraged taunt.


    The enraged taunt was very simr in how it attracted attention. But when it was used it would also caused aggravation and throw the target off. The mana in the area would also be slightly disrupted causing this.


    The reaction was not extremely powerful, but Shay was still reacting. Her eyes narrowed and her stance lowered. She dashed forward much faster than before and Su was forced to use a second skill she had read about. Shield drop. It was simple. Drop her shield when it was being hit. This seemed counter productive to the fight but was actually very tactical and cost no mana due to the skill being in the return of the shield.


    The pairing of shield drop with Su''s enhanced eyesight was what really made the skill better. When the shield was released, Su tracked her opponent''s motion as they moved further forward than they expected. Shay fell for the taunt enough to cause her to attack with force and the shield dropping made her end up next to Su unguarded.


    Su then kicked out with her foot which was boosted with mana due to the shield drop skill and kicked her shield up to her before it was blown away from her. The follow up to thisbo was a harsh shield bash to the back. Shay had not seen the moveing at all and fell face first. Her tail had no chance to hold her up and her anger had disappeared in a blink of an eye. She may not have used her full strength due to her much higher level and age, but she had been outssed.


    "Are you alright? I tried two new skills. I promise I do not harbor any dishonor or hate. Those were just an enraged taunt." Su extended a hand to Shay.


    "Now that, was a battle. I like you human. Spar with me next."


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 Chapter 874 - 874. Warriors Pride

    Su helped Shay up who was still fumbling for words in her head. She had not seen the moveing and was currently questioning her knowledge ofbat. This was a move that she had not had used against her and she could only see being efficient when she would face an opponent with high proficiency in shield attacks and defenses.


    "That was a valuable lesson. I may be immune to taunts to a degree, but that caught my attention and then your shield blocked your body movement further guiding me. The loss of force behind the shield was the same as if my leg gave way. I had no bnce for a fraction of a second which was used against me. I am used to falling back and not as often forward. I will train myself well on this lesson."


    When it came to power, Su was aching still. When it came to age, she wascking again. Even when it came to level, she wascking. However, Su had trained with shields since the day she unlocked her system. Furthermore, she had trained with her party constantly with the desire to protect in her mind. This reason was why she had higher tactical actions when using a shield than almost anyone else. She would exceed any expectations for these reasons.


    When the dragonkin voice called out, Su was met with a slightly bulkier dragonkin. The scales were still a bluish color but they were rugged and sharp. There were even some small spines on the edges of their elbow and neck. The tail also ended with some spikes that appeared to be sharper than usual. But what really stood out above all else, was the double ded ax that reminded Su of Barry.


    "I do have time for more sparring. We are staying a few days. I am training some new skills against new fighting styles. I would guess you have already witnessed the enraged taunt and shield drop I used for the first time." Su did not hide the skills she used. The more she said the better she would be able to get more information and analysis from her opponents with how she might improve.


    "Good good. I like to see new blood grace these training grounds. But first, Shay, how did a human get here?" Shay hade to her senses and showed a re of hostility to the dragonkin warrior that had shown up. The others behind him were also looking at Su with confused and questioning expressions.


    "You must greet this guardian with proper respect. This is a draconic guardian here to visit the elder. If you disrespect her one more time I will tear the scales from your body and have a new skirt made." The words were intense and surprised Su. She had not expected Shay to have such a fire within her.


    "Guardian? But she''s human. That''s not possible." The dragonkin warrior began to roll their eyes andugh until a ck shape shed before their eyes and skidded to a stop. The w marks in the ground were created until Midnight hade to a dead stop.


    "Midnight was that you gliding from up there! That was great! I can''t believe you are so close to flying already." Supletely ignored the argument brewing between Shay and the dragonkin warriors. She was much happier to see Midnight improving. Midnight also greeted Su with a soft growl and raise of her head to show off her skills.


    "You almost hit Su and her sparring partners that time. I know you were curious about what they were doing but it was dangerous." Walkers'' stern voice cut through the air as he stepped down to the ground using his wind ripple skill. "You are going to have to go back up. Illia said you should practice two more times. I will stay down here and you can aim for me this time."


    Walker knew that Midnight would do better with a target tond next to. He also pulled out an earth elemental mana crystal from his storage. "If you manage to stop right before me then I will give you three of these." Midnight looked as if she had won a lottery. Without any words, she was rushing towards the steps. "So, Su, who are your friends?"


    "Lord, I apologize for our disheveled appearances. Please have mercy on us." Shay immediately greeted Walker and even bowed her head to him. The other dragonkin warriors were speechless. Some realized that there was a major significance to Shays'' actions and copied her movements to bow. However, the axe wielding dragonkin did not even flinch.


    "Reed. this is the royal bonded with the young champion you just saw. Show proper honor or suffer the consequences." Shay gave a final warning. There was nothing left to say if Reed did not follow the proper procedure when greeting a royal.


    Walker leaned toward Su and whispered, "This might sound odd but I need to act my position." Walker strode to face Reed and used his wind ripple to look at the foot taller dragonkin in the eye. He stepped up slightly above him. "How dare such a weak bunch of lizards attempt to stand equal to me. If you are not on your knees bowing before my champion returns, then I will allow her to feed you to orcs on the return journey to our home."


    The other dragonkin warriors fell to their knees. They could feel the royal aura rolling off of Walker. However, Reed did not budge. He felt the aura Walker gave off but he couldn''t fathom a human somehow bing a royal. He didn''t believe Midnight was a champion either.


    Seeing that Reed didn''t back down, Walker waited with his eyes looking down on Reed as if he was nothing but an ant. His acting and poker face were perfect. Now they would see what would happen when Midnight came tond before him.


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 Chapter 875 - 875. Show Of Force

    Su had only heard so much of what Adair had been saying when it came to Walker having to learn to act like a royal. Now she knew what they had continued to speak about when she and the others had left the carved cave. Looking above Reeds'' head, she could see Midnighting.


    "You are a human. I have never heard of such a thing happening in the entire existence of the dragonkin or dragonkind. It should be impossible." Reed waspletely convinced of the impossibility here.


    "Hmm? Did I just hear you say something? Su, I believe you should take your friends to the side. I believe it will get a little messy in a moment. I have some orc food to make." Su began to motion for the other dragonkin warriors to move.


    Midnight was just about tond when Walker started to take a deep breath. Unknown to Reed, Midnight was doing the same thing. Through the multiple jumps that Midnight had done, she had begun to grasp the basics ofnding. She was by no means an expert, but when she was about tond she turned suddenly so she faced the direction she wasing from. She and Walker were now both facing Reed as she dug her ws in to the ground and scraped to a stop next to him.


    That second the two of them released arge breath. The mana around them shook with the additional mana they put in to their roars. Not only did they roar together, but they shook the mana in the same way which caused the air to vibrate around them. Small embers of gold me escaped around Midnights'' maw creating a terrifying scene. Walker manipted the mana around to block some of the sound from the other warriors to spare them the unbearable noise.


    The sound may still not rival a full dragon, but it was more than any warrior in the vige could hope to emte. Reed found himself losing the color in his face and his ax starting to fall from his shoulder. The big end move though was therge thud of Illianding behind after seeing that Midnight was not running toward the garden stairs again for thest practice glide.


    "What seems to be the problem lord? Is this warrior causing any issues? I can remove them if you desire." Reed copsed to his knees. Illia''s voice had confirmed anything he doubted. He was ready for the end of his life.


    "Oh no, for some reason this warrior decided that he preferred the name orc food for some reason. I gave him permission to be called that for the rest of the time I am in this vige. Strange traditions you have here but I am not one to judge. Midnight, onest time. If yound like you just did I will roast two legs of horned rabbit for you to go with the earth elemental crystals." Midnight let out a secondary small roar of excitement and raced off faster than she had before.


    Illia moved to the edge of the training area andy down to watch from the lower perspective of Midnight flying. This would be thest for the day since the strain on the wings constantly in a short period of time would be harmful. That and Illia was a bit interested to see Walker and Su spar. She had high hopes for them.


    "So, Su, sparing?" The other dragonkin warriors were now on edge but lined up ready for whatever they needed to do.


    "I was nning on more sparring, yes. Shay here is a draconic martial artist. She has a speedy w attack that Remey might be able to copy with her jabs. I would go and get her but she is too caught up on the herbs." Su wanted to spar with Remey too but there was not much she could do when Remey was hyper focused.


    "Then maybe I will take a shot at it. You can y with orc food. He looks like he needs to get his blood pumping. The rest of you should step back and watch. The analysis you give us will be taken in to consideration so be as urate as possible." The dragonkin warriors broke their lines and surrounded the four to have the best views.


    Shay started her introduction but Illia let out a slight growl. It was clear that she wanted the match to start sooner thanter and Shay immediately fell in to a stance without speaking. Walker pulled the twin blitz swords from his inventory. "I hope you are alright with me testing my sword skills. I have cked on a lot of closebat training for magic training and need to improve." Walker raised one sword and bounced side to side before he started the dance of the wild rabbit.


    The mobility that he disyed was surprising for a human. Shay stayed still as Walker danced around her. The small sparks starting on his de highlighting the use of the lightning swordy skills. But what really caught her was when he passed by the side of her and suddenly shifted to the side to swipe at her. It was an impossible angle, but one that Walker had managed to use.


    "Dance of the wild rabbit, lightning swordy, sh zonebo. Now let''s get this beat moving faster." He promptly told Shay who only recognized the first two skills. The third was foreign to her but sounded like it could easily cause the sh that had just grazed her arm. Shay could feel her own excitement rising since she rarely let loose in her sparring matches. It was rare to spar with someone new.


    "This is the footwork skill of the dragonkin warriors. It is called the scale step. Good luck." She was gone from Walker''s view in the blink of an eye.


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 Chapter 876 - 876. Melee Combat Training

    If Walker did not have the ability to sense the mana around him, then he wouldn''t have noticed a shift in the wind elemental mana behind him. Shay had used the scale step to speed around him and appear ready to sh with her ws.


    The only reaction Walker could make was to sh one of the twin blitz swords upward to parry the ws. He had been able to do this a few times with Gil''s arrows but it was a tough time based skill to learn.


    ''The skill parry has been taken from the fencer system. The skill parry has been automatically learned.


    Perry- 1 mana cost


    The user focuses mana in to sword, short sword, saber, or simr weapon. This allows for a lighter and faster sh with the goal to deflect and block an attack from an opponent. This skill works very well with counter attack skills.''


    It was a simple skill but Walker had no time to think about it. He proceeded to parry the sweeping ws that constantly attacked him. Shay was pushing her movements faster and faster. This would have been challenging if she wasn''t forcing the rhythm of the dance faster as well. Walker transitioned in to the dance of rabid rabbit. His attacks started to be more aggressive and Shay found that she was actually being outpaced now.


    Not only this, but when Walker would hop forward he would use the wind ripple skill to kick off the air and make a second step. This was the first time he had truly been using the wind ripple skillbined with his other movement skills. It was a nicebination and fit the style he had. But he was not making enough progress with the twin blitz swords.


    In his uncontrolled state, Walker dropped the swords and pulled therge elemental hammer from his inventory. Earth elemental mana gathered instantly and he mmed down from arge leap. The attack may have missed but the ground shook under the pair.


    When arge earth spike shot up it caused Sahy to jump back away from Walker. He met this additional space by dropping the hammer and pulling the nearly unused scythe from his inventory. Walker spun the scythe and sent a thrown de from where he was toward Shay.


    Surprising Walkerpletely, Shay blocked the attack with her body. She had done something simr to making her hands be tough ws in a partial shift. However, this time it was her scales on her arms. They became denser and sharper in a half second blocking the attack without even a scratch.


    The scythe disappeared in to his inventory again and the throwing needles that had Walker had received from the extra pieces of Midnight''s baby scales when Rodney Forged for the party some time ago appeared. Walker had never really used them but had remembered to coat them in the horned rabbits paralyzing poison. He had been holding them just in case but always had other skills he would use first or weapons he would use first. This was a chance to train with them and see how they would fit in to his style of meleebat.


    His aim had been trained by his minimal experience with the bow and arrow. This made him better off aiming in the distracted moment that Shay was moving her arms from blocking the thrown de Walker had sent at her before.


    ''The skill piercing needle has been taken from the grand assassin system. The user had learned the skill piercing needle.


    Piercing needle- 1-5 mana cost


    The user infuses throwing needles with their mana allowing them to pierce some of the heist defensive armors. The needle can pierce the defenses even if magical shields are used. This skill can be used for acupuncture and battle. This skill is only usable with throwing or acupuncture needles. It can be used with certain sewing or crafting needles if they are durable enough.''


    The needles seemed to shout danger when they neared Shay. She dove to the side using her true speed instead of holding herself back, however, she was toote. One of the needles had slightly scrapped her scales and pierced through them enough to leave the smallest of paper cuts. "Poison!"


    Shay knew immediately that poison had entered her system. It was the tiniest amount, but enough to feel her arm be less controlled. Dragons were normally resistant to poisons and environmental dangers. Unfortunately for Shay, dragonkin did not have this resistance. They were too far from the pure blood the dragons had.


    When Walker stepped forward again a de of earth formed in front of him and he dashed forward still following the confusing movements of the dance of the rabid rabbit skill. Shay had no choice during her recovery to use some of her real skills other than shing and the scale step. Her kick shattered the earth de in to pieces while her clenched fist began to hurtle toward Walker.


    Illia saw this and breathed a soft mist on to the ground. It froze Shay and Walkers'' feet in ce. Shay knew this was Illia stopping the match but Walker was still caught up in the dance of the rabid rabbit. He saw it as another attack on him and used his grand elemental maniption to melt the ice instantly. His hand held one of the small forging hammers spike down toward Shay.


    Illia did not attempt to stop him again since she knew better than to interfere with a royals'' will. Yet, as Walker mmed down a familiar earth dwelling shield shed in to view. The bash from Walker caused Su to slide back slightly but he waspletely stopped in ce interrupting his movements and studding him slightly. Walker had been stopped and Su was standing panting heavily. The sparring matches were over.


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 Chapter 877 - 877. Blocked

    Su and Walker stoodpletely still catching their breath. The moment they shared was enough for them to calm themselves. "Thank you, Su, I got carried away there. Shay, I did not mean to take it that far. You are a very impressive opponent."


    "I worried you would use that skill for your mana when you got low. I am d my shield burst skill came in useful. Although, I might need a minute before I can walk around again." Su had used a shield burst skill. It was one that she had heard of other shield wielders using with their systems and one skill that was highlighted in the book she had been given. She had just assumed she would learn it naturally but as soon as she decided to put the effort in to learning it, the skill showed up as if waiting for her to call on it.


    The shield burst skill was not a high mana cost skill, however, it was very physically demanding. The users'' muscles would be forced to their maximum and even beyond for a single dash and block. The user would then feel high weakness due to the amount of mana and sudden stress. It was temporary but a downside if the person using it was alone.


    After only a minute or so, Su was able to move freely again. Shay appeared not to be phased by the incident, yet, she continued to look at Su and Walker curiously. It was clear she had not expected Walker to have such a wide range of skills and Su to be able to block Walker so easily.


    "You do not have a main weapon. That is very rare I''m the world. A magical battle master?" Ilia had taken this entire spring match to ponder Walkers'' system. She had not been there when Adair had heard it and waspletely lost.


    Before Walker could reply, a familiar roar came hurtling at Walker. Su didn''t have a single hope of blocking at all. Walker and Su both became victims to Midnight as she hurtled toward them and knocked them on their backs.


    "Midnight, I think you missed¡­" the only response was a depressed huff and a slight whine. "Oh you know I wouldn''t withhold food. I just won''t make a ridiculous amount. We both know you wouldn''t have eaten both horned rabbit legs anyways." Midnight didn''t even try to argue. "Wait, Su, weren''t you in your own sparring match? How did you have time to block my attack?"


    Walker had been unable to follow Su''s match because he focused on his own. She had been sparring against the dragonkin that had given them a little trouble, now nicknamed orc food.


    "It was a fast match: I identally knocked him unconscious¡­or he may have done it to himself. I think he was nervous and unsteady after the roars." Su sat up and pointed to orc food. It was clear by the ax handle shaped lump on his head that he had knocked himself in the head with the t side of his ax somehow.


    "Ah, sorry again. I''m not really helping anyone today am I?" Walker gave a half heartedugh but felt he had caused a few too many problems since he came from the gardens. "And I have the jack of all trades system." He nced at Illia who was hiding her annoyance when she felt she had been ignored.


    "Lord, if I can selfishly request another match it would be my honor to spar again. I feel that I was pushed very well when ites to skills. I have not needed to think in a creative manner such as your fighting style in a long time. I hope to learn more if you can guide me." Shay was ready to kneel and ask.


    "Don''t bow or kneel. I can still train more. I want to slow down a little and focus on the movements. The way you moved was very fast and precise. Teach me while I teach you." Shay believed that there was always something to learn in training. Hearing Walker mirror that belief caused her to develop a major respect for him beyond that of a royal.


    The sparring continued under the watchful eye of Illia. She did not hesitate to ask questions to the other dragonkin warriors after they had watched and joined in. The rotation was more than any of them had expected and the new training partners brought them new revtion in their stagnant skills and strategy. It was easy for a long lived species to forget to make themselves ufortable to improve.


    "So this is what makes you fly so high. It''s amazing." Gil had climbed as high as possible on the mountain section they were in. The garden was the highest he could go that was t. The higher peak above one side was nearly impossible to climb.


    Zephyr had returned to him and given him the proper push with wind here and there to help. The two had made it up part of the mountain above the gardens that only someone with a climbing based system would get to alone. It was all thanks to their bond they had managed it.


    "It''s more than just the wide open feeling. It''s knowing you are free to go anywhere in the sky and more." Zephyr felt the bond between her and Gil. If anyone would have asked her years ago if she would bond with a human or even another sentient race, her answer would be no. Now, it was different.


    "Do you think I will ever fly? I was never born with wings, you know." There was a slight sarcasm that made Zephyr puff her cheeks and threaten to blow him away from the heights. The two stayed in silence before Gil began to take out some materials he had from a small bag on his shoulder. It was time to make a new arrow.


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 Chapter 878 - 878. Building Arrows

    "I told you there were wind elemental materials everywhere! This is the top of a mountain. The winds that hit every single pebble and the nt that survive the cold breeze are everywhere. This is the best ce to make the perfect wind elemental arrow!" Zephyr had felt the strength of the materials as soon as she had gotten near the mountains. She was sure that Gil could ignore his desire to make water elemental arrows for a short while.


    "I know, I know. I grabbed every single thing you told me on the climb up. I just don''t get why I need to be up here where I can fall to my death at any second to make a proper wind elemental arrow?" There was still confusion in his voice since the materials all seemed to be rocks or pieces of broken bushes or random dried nts.


    "They are wind elemental materials and this is the highest you can get. Wind spiritse up here to blow with the breeze and travel the world. The mana is being directed by nature and it can be condensed better. You will make the best wind elemental arrow ever!" Zephyr had no doubt that Gil would be making an amazing arrow.


    "Alright, I hear you. I will focus and see what we can do." Gil pulled out the piece of wood from the bush he had found dead and dried between rocks.


    "That has been in the cold winds its entire life. It even dried it out and started to fossilize it." Zephyr pointed out the fact that there was no way this broken wooden bush branch wouldn''t have wind elemental mana.


    As Gil began to cut off the small imperfections he could, he found that it was radiating wind elemental mana. The piece he had found was small and only able to be cut in to four pieces for arrows. However, there had been many other simr pieces around showing that the bush would have to grow seasonally then die off quickly.


    It did not take long for Gil to bnce the pieces and have four rounded arrow shafts. They were not very special but there were many hollowed lines within the wood. "I think the wind started to blow through where the water would travel in the bush this was from. But the constant dry air has almost tempered it." Zephyr was moving about excitedly now that she saw Gil was mumbling with interest.


    The next step was to shape the light rocks that Zephyr had insisted he pick up. The strange part was, that unlike the other rocks around these ones, were light and felt almost weightless. However, Gil had to use a lot of effort to smash and break them in to smaller pieces. The shards from them were what he would make his arrow heads out of.


    He used his dagger and a few other small blunt tools to chip away and create an arrow head shape. It was a rough diamond shape until he started to smooth it. The constant dragging against a tougher piece of rock was a little rough on the ears but to Gil, it was music.


    The rock itself was almost impossible to tell from another. The only factor was the weight, however, Zephyr had already told him it was the exposure to constant wind elemental mana that changed it. The fact that they were on the top of many other rocks was proof they were always being exposed to the windy mountains.


    It was much harder to shape arrow heads to perfection. Yet, when Gil had smoothed the rock and fitted it in to the arrow shaft he could feel an instant connection with the wind elemental mana. The mana was traveling through the arrow shaft and already collecting in the new arrow head. It was a wonder that it worked so well at storing wind elemental mana without any external prompting from Gil.


    His next movements were faster. Gil had be much more interested now that he was seeing how everything wasing together. "Be careful. Those leaves are sharp." Zephy was worried about the final material that she had felt was full of wind elemental mana. The leaves that would be the fins of the arrow.


    "I can see that, they are almost like razors. I can''t imagine what nt these are from and I don''t think I could grow it anywhere but a mountain." The extremely thin and stiff leaf could easily be confused for a piece of green and white striped metal. The edge could slice through his finger easily, but this was what made it a good material.


    The thin fin would cut resistance and Gil would be able to make the arrow fly through the air much more smoothly and faster using it. The method was simple. Cut the leave halfway up to the point and slide them in to a notch he had cut in the back of the arrow shaft. They would fit perfectly without the need for any additional materials. Even the arrow head was cut perfectly to fit in to the arrow shaft. This was a skill that only someone who had experimented with their own arrows could have.


    When the final piece came together, Gil felt he was looking at an off arrow. The appearance was not shocking but the powerful feeling of wind elemental mana was much stronger than any of the other arrows he had or the arrows that he had seen at the forest elf vige. The simple reason? The materials. These materials had given birth to the much stronger ability to absorb and manipte the wind elemental mana that would be stored within them.


    Gil did not hesitate to start pulling the wind elemental mana around him and focus it in to the arrow head. The entire arrow acted like a sponge to pull in more mana than he intended and expected. This wasn''t a problem though, it brought an excited smile to Gil''s face.


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 Chapter 879 - 879. The Winds

    "Alright, that''s it. Four new arrows done and ready to test. If everything world well then I will have a new arrow to use when I need it." Gil was not very impressed by the basic look. However, he knew the potential it had. He could let it absorb a substantial amount of wind elemental mana without him even needing to assist it.


    "We need to fill it with a ton of mana first. We need to see what it can do!" The reaction Zephyr had was much more energetic. She was darting around the air with a flip here and there.


    Zephyr didn''t even wait for Gil to be prepared. She started pulling the wind elemental mana toward them so that he could begin to store it in the arrows. This process was slightly different from pulling the mana from a mana crystal since the mana was all around instead of condensed already.


    The mana was cooperative to a degree. Just like Zephyr, the wind elemental mana was not easy topress and guide. It preferred to move around freely and spread out in a wide area. Therefore, Gil had to use a significant amount of mana to pull it in to the arrowhead. If it was condensed in to a mana crystal then the mana would easily flow out with his maniption.


    When the mana did not cooperate at first, Gil tried adding another arrow in to the absorbing space. When he finally added the fourth, theck of mana within them seemed to be enough to attract the wind elemental mana. In just a matter of minutes, enough wind mana had been forced in to the arrow heads.


    "It''s not full but I think it will work. I need a lot better understanding of the wind to be able to condense it more." The mncholy in Gil''s voice was soon washed away when he felt the slight breeze that was around the entire arrow.


    "It wants to fly. We should let it fly." Zephyr returned to the bow as she spoke. She could feel the mana within the arrow was enough to cause a decent effect. There was also the fact that her patience had run out. If she had to wait any more she might go crazy from anticipation.


    "Then here we go." Gil started to draw the arrow back. The string eas vibrating with the slight breeze it let off. The air around Gil became still. The only thing affecting the wind was the arrow. His breathing slowed and he focused much more than usual. He could feel the weight of what was in his hands and how much power was welling up in the arrow.


    As Gil pushed the arrow to life with his own mana a flurry of wind spun around him. It wasn''t enough to disce him but it was enough for him to know that he needed a stronger stance. Gil fed thest little bit of mana he thought it needed to fullye to life and on a single breath out he released it in to the seemingly endless horizon.


    The aim had been away from anywhere that might have life. Gil did not intend to harm anyone or anything by testing a dangerous arrow. He assumed that if he failed he would possibly suffer some bacsh or just watch the arrow destroy itself. However, the high pitched scream of wind was not what he had expected.


    The arrow was pinning as it shot forward at a ridiculous speed. The wind was split apart causing a screaming effect all around. The very air vibrated as the sound continued until a great distance away Gil witnessed a small tornado form. His arrow was by no means an arrow that should ever be used at close range or even mid range. It was a long distance sess that could decimate a small area.


    If Gil hadcked a skill that improved his vision he would have missed the small house sized tornado dig a chunk of earth out of the distant mountains and throw it in to a small rockslide. It was clear that the arrow was more than a sess. One could even say the arrow was an incredibly destructive weapon. Its effects did not show what a hero truly was. Instead, it showed the strength that came with high elemental affinity materials and uncontrolled power.


    "I definitely can''t use this too often...but¡­" Gil was finding himself at a loss for words. He had expected to be making water elemental arrows and now was looking at the best wind elemental arrow he had.


    "It was great! The wind loved it. There was so much movement and fun. I want to do it again. We should make a better one. A bigger one!" Zephyr was already pushing Gil to create more. He just sat back in to the previous carving position and started in on the arrow making process while Zephyr continued to exim her joy for their new creation.


    Onyx had been napping peacefully while enjoying the sun. He had been absorbing it well and maintaining most of his warmth since he had found a perfectly t rock that was a little darker than the others on the mountain steps. He was daily happy until Gil''s ear splitting arrow had sped away from the area.


    It was easy for Onyx to figure out what had happened and even witness the strength of the arrow, however, he knew that more trials woulde and that meant fewer chances to sleep. Since he had been rudely awoken, he made a mental note to make Gil take the night watch next time they were on the trails. But this did prove to be a good time to descend from his spot on the side of the cliffs and explore a little. He was curious about the dragon vige.


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 Chapter 880 - 880. Forging Passion

    Onyx moved down toward the vige. He was feeling the chill returns to his body but he had absorbed a significant amount of light elemental mana. This was a good thing since it would warm him for quite some time.


    The vige was still small so the little activities of the dragonkin would make it feel busy and bustling. However, he only saw a handful of dragonkin as he went around here and there. The stone houses were surprisingly better carved than he had originally thought.


    They may havecked real doors, but that was due to the dragonkin having higher resistance to the cold and water elemental mana. The water affinity they had was mostly because the elder dragons of the vige had this and they dragonkin would follow a dragon of simr affinity.


    There were a few with mixed color scales that made Onyx realize that they were multiple affinity dragonkin. The one he saw the most was a slight amount of green and white mixed in to the scales. This showed that the dragonkin was having a wind or light affinity mixed with the water. This wasmon because this was abination that could make ice or showed up in nature often.


    The strange part was that they were not very talkative. It seemed that they went about their actions of gathering food or crafting specific items almost silently. Walker had read Onyx some of the books about dragons and after the interaction with Illia and Adair this made sense, Dragons were not talkative and close creatures. They would often prefer to be alone or in pairs to study their elemental affinity and be more powerful.


    Of course, there were exceptions to this when it came to some of the dragons such as Midnight and the royals that would have some followers or other dragons in the same vige as them.


    While Onyx moved he noticed that even in his smaller form that the dragonkin took note of him. They have very sharp eyes and it made Onyx realize that Sun had the same trait. Each dragonkin would catch his movement and nod toward him. Every single one had already heard of who he was and why he was there. This put him at the advantage because he was able to better explore.


    The sound of hammering was what attracted him to arge stone carved building. The smokeing from it was clearly naming it the forge that the wandering cksmith had gone to. It was a veryrge forge made so that a dragon could waltz in and check the work being done. Therefore, Onyx did not hesitate to change in to hisrger form slightly and slither inside the warmth.


    "Hello, It got noisy so I decided to explore. This looks interesting." Onyx greeted the wandering cksmith who was testing the tools. Most of the tools and other items in the forge were made of dragon scales and other very tough materials.


    "There are different elemental affinity hammers for crafting other gear?" Onyx was surprised to hear how in depth the tools went. He was able tomunicate mentally which proved to be extremely valuable now and whenever he was alone.


    The row of hammers hanging on the walls were clearly a full set. Some radiated elemental mana and there were even two that hang almost no mana affinity at all. They were surely amazing tools to have ess to. The light elemental hammer seemed to glow in the darker corner of the forge and Onyx was tempted to curl up next to it. Yet, if he did so he could risk absorbing the light elemental mana from it and ruining something he could not tell the values of. These tools were nothing new and most likely had years upon years of use on them.


    The test hammering the wandering cksmith was doing was on a simple piece of iron. He had pieces he had used with every single hammer there to test what one would be best for the tools he would be making. He still needed to craft his hammer using the centennial ice. This meant that he would need one that didn''t bond with what he was making and didn''t interfere with what he was making. If the elements shed then he could just aimlessly be ruining his new hammer.


    There were also some carving tools that he wanted to rece. If he had them so that they maintained heat when he carved runes he would be able to better and more efficiently carve a rine. There was also the added bonus of being able to maintain the temperature of the metal while he worked on it, therefore, he would have more time to work if he needed it.


    The soft sound of thudding steps began to approach and Onyx knew it could only be one person or dragon. It was Illia that came through the doorway and looked down at them. "I made a deal to give cracked scales to you and here they are. Now I will return to the training I was watching." Illia opened her ws to show many of the broken and shattered scales. The wandering cksmith didn''t know how to process this or even speak. It was a prideful moment for Illia since she felt it was better that a human look in awe at her than any other way.


    After Illia had turned and left, the wandering cksmith began sifting through the materials. "Frost dragon scales. They look very good for crafting even though they are broken." Onyx was examining them too and noticed the touch but cool feeling they had. The air in the entire forge was colder now than it was before just because the scales were there attracting more water elemental mana and freezing the floor slightly.


    "You are using these for a hammer? I thought they would be for armor since they are strong?" This was a good material that could bond with the centennial ice, but it seemed that making armor would be a better use of the scales.


    "I see, if you fused the pieces that are here you would have a great deal of imperfections that made up the difference. I understand. Then this is better for crafting small tools and the slightly bigger pieces the hammer." Onyx grasped what the wandering cksmith was thinking at him easily. He was always able to catch on to things a little easier but this was a simple thing to understand.


    The pieces were the same cool blue coloration that Illia had on her whole body. The same toughness of the hardest ice and the same cold that surrounded her. The fact that they had broken was not a big deal. Dragons would train and get in tobat when necessary. It was simply a matter of time before they would break a scale here or there. The scales that built up would be saved if they desired and most likely end up right in the forge where they were now. The dragonkin cksmiths or crafters could always use them.


    The main focus of the dragonkin cksmiths was obviously making gear and other items to trade with other viges. There were some weapons and items on disy that had other affinities. They had been made out of materials from hotter areas or ces that had a lot of darkness. This proved that they were made using materials from other viges that had these elemental affinities in higher numbers.


    The craftsmanship of the armors was also very high. It would take years to get to the quality that was being shown here and this made the wandering cksmith be much more dedicated., Unlike the dragonkin, he was human with a little dwarf mixed in. That meant his lifespan was more or less the same as the average human. He would need to aplish double or even triple the amount of experience in his life to get the same amount of knowledge and quality as the dragonkin cksmiths.


    This was not a deterrent at all though. As Onyx watched, the wandering cksmith began to draw and n his own set of elemental hammers that he would make over time. The scales were also marked for the water elemental hammer and the centennial ace started to getpared and evaluated. The entire process was art in itself as the blue prints were made from scratch. The ideas that the wandering cksmith had appeared to be endless as the rolls of blue prints stacked.


    There were not just hammers and tools outlines, there were swords, spears, armors, and even cooking utensils. There was no end to the things he could do and the things he wanted to do. If there was anyone else in the world with a pure cksmith mind, then they would still pale inparison to the wandering cksmiths'' genius. These were the only thoughts that Onyx had.


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 Chapter 881 - 881. Spar!

    By the time the wandering cksmith had leaned back and let out a massive sigh, the stack of blue prints were the same height as him sitting at the table. There were so many ideas that would need to be forged when the wandering cksmith made all of his tools again and again. The different elemental affinity materials alone would force him to go and travel more. Or, the people that came to Genesis city might bring them. There were too many potentials.


    "Will you rest now? You have been drawing for over three straight hours after investigating the forge." Onyx had a slight tone of worry in him since he thought the wandering cksmith could be exhausted from the journey and the emotional rush when Midnight was taken. It was even harder to believe that the day had alreadye to darkness and that they were still able to function.


    "IO know you have stayed up for days at a time forging. But was that after you had traveled miles? Or after we had been magically teleported by a myth and legend to a dragon vige? Was it after not eating anything either?" Onyx had developed a great way of dealing with these desires to work without rest. He had learned well for Su when she activated her mom mode. It was actually very adorable whenparing the two.


    "Then off we go to get some food. I bet that sister is convincing brother to make extra." The pair left the forge even though the wandering cksmith seemed to want to run back. However, before they left Onyx watched the wandering cksmith put all the blue prints in to a slim looking folder. They fell in to it the same way that Gils'' arrows fell in to his quiver. It had a spatial element.


    "That folder is amazing. I didn''t know you had something like that. It must have an endless supply of blue prints by now." It was true. With how long the wandering cksmith had been forging he could fill a museum with his blue prints alone.


    Onyx was paying attention and listening to every thought that the wandering cksmith directed at him as they walked. "It''s amazing. The architect''s portfolio? I did not know your father had been an architect and had an item that could store blue prints like that. It''s even more amazing that it works for you since you share his blood. Passing it down to you must be a great honor." The sad smile the wandering cksmith had was enough to tell Onyx that it had been a moment that touched the wandering cksmiths'' very heart and guided who he would be.


    The two continued to chat until they found the small camp that the party had set up without them. "Brother, do we not want to stay in the stone homes here? I thought we would stay in one?"


    Walker looked up from the warming leg of the horned rabbit he had just ce on the fire. He had two more set up and Midnight was crunching down on some earth elemental crystals nearby. "Aren''t you cold? Ah, you were in the forge. I bet that was interesting. And yes, we could stay in the extra stone houses but that would force a dragonkin out of their home since they are built for every dragonkin. The extras are storage and we shouldn''t take those away from them. So, we will strengthen our mental resistance to the cold and wind. But that won''t stop me from making some earth walls."


    "I was going to ask you to create them. I feel the wind has been very calm and we are lucky here." Su was obviously cold but was trying to y it off while she neared the fire to ce a teapot to boil water.


    "It was bad enough that I was dragged down from the gardens since it waste, but if you make me sleep without an earth wall to block the cold I wille down and spar with you tomorrow. And I will not hold back." The threat was a little more powerful as Remey made a motion to equip her elemental knuckles.


    "If you doe down to spar you can test out some theories I have about those new knuckles. You have been focusing on herbs and alchemytely. We might just leave you behind." Walker knew that this would get Remey in gear to train more so than annoying her. She didn''t want to be thought of as weak and if she continued to ck on the brawler side of her system.


    "Oh? And what theories do you have all mighty master of all magic and nature and stuff? Hmmm? Want me to start growing trees on my hands? Maybe throw fire balls? Oh wait, I bet you want me to have fists of light orbs to blind people." Remey started to Tease Walker who just pretended nothing was happening as he set up more food to warm and roast by the fire.


    "Well, actually, I think you could have two elemental knuckles at a time. Use fire on one hand and water in another. That way you could do conflicting damage. Or even use the earth and fire knuckles in a hammer fist to do some sort ofva type damage. The mixing of the elemental could be pretty unique." There was not much Remey could say to counter it. She had begun to think of the exact same thing as she had been studying herbs and while they had traveled.


    "I guess I could think about it. As soon as That one over there exins why he tried to make me deaf while I was examining some hail fruit vines." The half hearted point at Gil and re was enough for everyone to remember the sounds from the air earlier. Gil just stood silent, he felt that he had a target on his back.


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 Chapter 882 - 882. A Big Deal

    Gil was looking for a way to divert the sudden attention. He wanted to talk about the arrow he had created but he needed time toe up with a name for it so he could sound cool. "How about you tell me what in this world a hail fruit vine is first." The smug look on Gil''s face made Remey instantly irritated. She was sure she had talked aimlessly about the vine at some point when she was telling the party what to look out for while they traveled.


    Unfortunately for her, there were so many herbs with so many different descriptions that none of them could tell her if they remembered. Walker had memorized them but he wasn''t sure if he was remembering them from a book or what Remey had said. There was just too much information about herbs that Remey had shared with them at different times.


    "Ugh, fine. The hail fruites from a hail fruit vine. The longer the fruit grows in the winter the blogger it gets. When it finally gets too heavy it will break off the vine and fall. That''s why they are known as the hail fruit. They are frozen solid like hail and fall like hail. They are a fruit that ice affinity monsters eat to strengthen their body and help develop their affinity. However, the old man is studying how to make potions that enhance affinities temporarily. It would be an ideal ingredient."


    "I didn''t think that we should be looking for those kinds of herbs. I will have to be more careful and use my all around appraisal skill on herbs more." Walker was amazed that the fruit could somehow be used to make a potion that would in general increase elemental affinity, even if temporarily.


    "If they are frozen, do they need to be melted to be used in a potion?" Su was having a hard time grasping how they would be viable in a potion that would most certainly need to be heated and cooked to get a proper result. It was the norm for every single potion.


    "They would be ground in to fine crystals. They will even stay frozen during some of the hotter summer days. The best part is that if they are used to cool the potion then they could stabilize it and add their effects. It has two uses that will create a better overall position." After standing with her hands at her hips, Remey was beaming with pride. This was one of the dreams she had always had about alchemy, helping the old master alchemist with a brand new potion.


    "Congrattions, I hope it works sister Remey. Now it''s brother Gil''s turn to tell us why he woke me from my nap today." Onyx threw some of his won sass at Gil. Lately Onyx had been a little more outgoing and when he would say things like this Midnight would always huff or growl slightly in approval.


    "Alright, so Zephyr and I climbed the rest of the mountain to see if we could find any materials for arrows. I would have gone to make some of the water elemental arrows but she said that the wind materials around were too good. Zephyr was right." Gil pulled the in looking arrow out. The only person that seemed to look at it with some wonder and amazement was Walker.


    The wind elemental mana that radiated from it was the same s having another wind spirit around. The feeling was much weaker than Zephyr but almost the same as a high wing elemental spirit. "We used some of the bushes that die and are constantly buffeted by wind. Rocks that are way lighter than they look. And finally, some of these leaves that are pretty much razors waiting to cut you." Gil showed a few cuts from the leaves and Walker proceeded to shake his head and heal him with a light heal spell.


    "Next time start with that when you get back so you don''t have to deal with cuts like those for so long. Or maybe bring one of Remey''s healing potions." Walker had be strict like a mother as he scolded Gil. " It does feel powerful though."


    "It is. It makes a small tornado that deals massive damage to a small area the size of a one room house. I want to call it a tornado arrow? A cyclone arrow? Or maybe a gale arrow? I could just go with a twister arrow?" Gil was still contemting all the names he could choose.


    "Walker can use the all around appraisal skill. It should tell him what you decided to name it." Remey stuck her tongue out at Gil who already knew Walker was doing exactly this. It wasn''t so much as seeing the future but more so him seeing the decision Gil had decided in his subconscious.


    ''Brutal winds arrow


    Created by the grand wind spirit Zephyr and the arcane Marksman Gil. This arrow is one of the most innovative and powerful area of effect arrows created using minimal materials. The breeze stone used as the arrow head allows for the arrow to store double the wind elemental manapared to a crystal counterpart. The de leaf as the fins allows precise flying and increased speed. The rolling bush branch acts as a bond between the other two materials so that they can share the wind elemental mana. This arrow is the first of its kind and has the potential to revolutionize the way arcane archers and rted system users create their arrows.''


    The group was silent. Each and every one of them realized that Gil had just created a major breakthrough that trumped the work he had done with the elves when it came to arrow making."I think I need to give these to the forest elf queen when shees to the summit¡­" Gil''s mumble just fell on silent looks before Walker stood up and patted Gil on the shoulder in congrattions.


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 Chapter 883 - 883. Today In The Village...

    "Does it really say all that?" Gil had a worried face. He was afraid that Walker was about to say that he was teasing Gil or trying to mess with him in some way. But as he felt Walker give him a pat on the back literally, he knew that this was the truth. He had actually made a significant breakthrough in how elemental arrows were crafted and refined. This was more than he had ever expected.


    The fact that this had urred was not small, but the fact that Zephyr had assisted was even better. When this arrow was presented as evidence of a new way to gather materials, the bond with elemental spirits would be showcased to multiple kingdoms. That being said, it was a great step forward for elemental spirits to fully return to every kingdom and actively be awakened.


    The potential for nature magic and natural mana to flow with more strength was too high. It was clear that every single day the potential rose. However, there was more to it. This gave the elves a chance to step up and educate the other kingdoms about their main fighting styles and bonds with elemental spirits. I


    On top of all of this, there was another chance for the dwarves to showcase their new methods of crafting using the assistance of elemental spirits. The true methods of spirit crafting would show themselves along with the strengths of the items created through them. There would be a revolution of new and improved items along with the new trade routes appearing.


    "So tomorrow, Remey will spar and show off her elemental knuckle attacks and Gil will work with water elemental arrows. I might as well try both too. I want to see what you do with the blue koi scales. But the testing of the elemental knuckles will be pretty cool." Walker was already torn as to what he would do the next day.


    "Leader, we have the entire day. Let''s just have the tea I made and eat for now. Recover from today first." Su was right and everyone knew it. That was why they followed her lead and began to cut in to the roasted horned rabbit legs and pour the tea. The rest of the night passed by peacefully even with the wind picking up on the mountain.


    When the sun rose again, the party was sure that they had somehow gotten to another mountain. A Single cloud had moved in and dropped a thinyer of dusty snow on the entire mountain. Even more, the wind was showing its true face and creating snow drifts everywhere to impede their movement.


    "I''m d I used the earth walls. If we hadn''t we would have been buried by the snow and wind." The temperature was a little cooler due to the snow but it was still mildpared to real winter.


    "I bet snow golems and ice wraiths will start toe out now that the snow fell around here." It had been a little while since the party had battled the snow golem, but Remey still remembered it clearly.


    "I think we could beat that snow golem much more easily now. But I also think that we might destroy it and get nothing from it. My new brutal winds arrow would tear it to pieces and we would have trouble finding all of it." Thus was a fair point. The snow golem had been a tough opponent and Gil had struggled the same as the rest of the party. Now, with their higher levels, they would need to hold themselves back slightly to avoid destroying itpletely or they would lose all materials.


    "You''re heading out already? I wille." Onyx saw the wandering cksmith grabbing one of the slices of bread Walker had warmed by the fire and turn to go to the forge. He could no longer hold himself back since he wanted to start working on a few things. Today he wanted the centennial ice hammer done before Gil came knocking for help making the blue koi scale arrows.


    "I guess that''s a sign I should go for a walk and see what I can find for some more materials. I want to make a few more arrows before I work on the water arrows. Walker, I will be at the forge after noon." Gil lept up and was on his way. Zephyr was already darting about behind him since she had gotten back from a night time exploration in the breeze.


    "Alright, introduce me to the martial artist you met. Su started to talk about itst night but she said it was better off as a surprise." Remey had not forgotten what Su had started to say about a draconic martial artist that could use kicks and punches to do the same things as her. It would be an interesting match because they might have some of the same skills.


    "Her name is Shay and it should be a good match. I just wonder if today will be a little more smooth than yesterday with that guy with the ax." There was a bit of worry when it came to this since Walker didn''t feel like proving himself with Midnight every single time he needed to do something. "Come on Midnight, you''re going to be left behind." Once she heard her name, Midnight left the embers of their fire and ran behind them.


    The four of them made it to the training area without much issue. The dragonkin that had seen then on the way nodded politely and even smiled showing them a bright morning. The sound of shing metal and hard work was already echoing around. The other draconic warriors had started their training earlier. The party was a littlete, but as they arrived so did Illia. She wanted to watch more of the skills that the party disyed. She was too curious now that she had been hooked.


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 Chapter 884 - 884. Mistake?

    "Lord, good morning and wee back to the training grounds." Shay was already at the training grounds waiting as if she had known they would be there when they woke up.


    " Remey, this is shay. She is the draconic martial artist you might be able to share some skills and experience with. I also wish she would just call me Walker¡­" More than anything, Walker had learned how much he hated the stiff titles that were used for those above oneself. He couldn''t help but think that the king might be driven crazy if he had not be used to it from a young age.


    "It is an honor to meet you. Please guide me well in our matches." Shay bowed slightly as Remey started to give her a once over.


    "Su said that you could punch and kick but I would rather hear what you can do with your ws." There was no hiding the ws on a dragonkin''s hands. They were sharp in general but at the moment Shay still had hers shifted in to the battle form that could tear through metal if need be.


    "I have the dragon w skill and the shift skill. When theye together they work very well to break an enemy''s defenses." The tone Shay had perfectly expressed the excitement of having another hand to handbat type system user around. The other draconic warriors all used spears, swords, or axes.


    "I can see that you have some knuckles that attach to your gloves. Can I ask what they are for?" Shay could already feel the different elemental mana around Remey and had her own theory along with what she had also heard. But it was better to hear it right from Remey since it might reveal some tricks of the skills.


    "These are elemental knuckles. They use different materials and attract different elements. I haven''t tested what they all do because I have been focused on alchemytely. I want to test out some theories whenbining two different elemental knuckles in the same hammer fist." Remey showed the knuckles that she knew already knew had certain reactions to her attacks.


    "I would be grateful to you if I an be the assistance you need toplete your battle research." Shay was more excited when she saw Remey punch with her elemental fist attack using the fire affinity knuckles. The heat that came off without mes was decent and she could tell that if done with more experience or an open me around there would be fire on the knuckles to burn the opponent.


    "I want to watch and see what you twoe up with. I might get some inspiration on my magicbinations if Remey tests something a little different. But first, let me make a fire and a few other elementally condense areas along the training field. It will help you use your elemental fist skills." Walker saw the training stop when he spoke. Unknown to him the other warriors had been paying close attention to their words. After the previous day, Illia had educated them on how to act.


    When a royal woulde around it would only benefit a dragonkin to pay attention and act ordingly. It was simple for a dragonkin to be ousted from a position or even a vige if they did not keep an open ear for what the royal wanted. Therefore, the training field was cleared.


    Walker made a fire in one corner, froze another, and made another more rocky. The shadows were brought up by the rocky ground he caused when manipting the earth. The wind was already blowing and the sun was out now so light and wind elemental mana were already there. The main thing Walker would need to watch was the fire that might go out if he ignored it. "We are ready. Let''s see what you can do with those knuckles!"


    Remey strapped on the first knuckles in a swift downward motion. She had been practicing this motion while they traveled so that she could clip and unclip them at a second''s notice. The speed she had was definitely going to result in some form of skill. However, what was catching everyone''s attention was the alchemy fire spirit that had shown itself and rushed to the fire to sit within it. Fire elemental spirits were not at allmon in a cold and high up mountain with dense wind and water elemental mana.


    "My partner might help me out," Remey smirked as she fell in to her stance and one of the knuckles pulled mes toward her. The alchemy fire spirit was giggling about helping out. It was a lot more fun than just doing alchemy even though the spirit had changed because of alchemy and learned to love it the same way that Remey did.


    "I do not mind my opponent having a handicap."Shay sounded calm but her eyes flickered with mischief. It seemed that the two were more like each other than they were letting on. Under Shay''s calm demeanor was a brutal martial artist that like to punch just as much as Remey did.


    "You know, we may have made a small mistake here," Walker whispered to Su since they were both standing and watching.


    "The two might have a little too much fun¡­" Su could feel the energy growing as well. The look on the sparring pairs'' faces was not just one that said they would spar. It was of two people looking to show off and use their skills to their hearts'' content.


    "Yes yes, I will give you a few mana crystals to eat while you watch." Walker could feel what Midnight wanted and promptly handed over some of the water elemental mana crystal she had in his storage. Midnight started to snack whileying down and waiting for the match to begin.


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 Chapter 885 - 885. Throwing Fists

    The peace was shattered by the crack of Remey''s jab on Shay''s arms. Remey had attempted to use the elemental fist and cause a burn to Shay''s block. Unfortunately, the mes were too weak to burn the scales that Shay had on her body. She had some resistance from fire and water since she was of the water affinity. The true strength she had was in her level which was well beyond that of Remey and the others. She had lived for quite a few years longer and had the chance to grow in multiple dragon viges.


    "Try that again with the hammer fist that the Lord told me about." Shay couldn''t contain her excitement any longer. She did not have the hammer fist skill and was going to try and grasp the skill here and now so that she could add it to her repertoire.


    "If that''s what you want then we can try it now." Remey sped her hands together and was ready to bring her hammer fist skill down. She was going to oblige Shay with the attack but had made sure to add a little extra heat.


    The one knuckle was the fire affinity one that was pulling the fire from where Walker had started it. With the help of the alchemy fire spirit the mes reached Remey''s sped fists easily. The other knuckle was not the same. Remey had equipped the wind affinity knuckle on to that one causing the air to be pulled in and the mes to double in an instant.


    The surprise on Shay''s face was enough to cause her to pause for a split second while Remey''s hammer fist came down on her shoulder. The hit would have done major damage to a normal opponent and left a decent burn. Yet, Shay was fine. She stood strong and took the attack without any apparent damage.


    "I think you scorched my scales on that one. I should show you the speed that surprised the lord." Shay jumped back and then stepped forward using the scale step. The speed was enough to cause Remey to blink more than once to try and process if she was actually seeing the change in Shay''s location.


    Naturally, Shay didn''t stay at the fastest speed. Se wanted to see what else Remey would surprise her with. Instead, she lifted her leg and kicked out from a very tight and close range angle. Most people wouldck the flexibility to attack like this but Shay had the draconic martial artist system and her high kick was one she had used for years and years.


    The kick wasing down on Remey too fast for her to be able to dodge so she did the next best thing. She blocked the kick. Her arms came together in the same cross armed block that Walker and Su had seen Shay use the day before. This was one of the many ovepping skills that the two had.


    When the kicknded Remey didn''t just let it push her to her knees. If she had she would have been down for the count and unable to keep up the b battle. Instead, she released her arms and let the kick fall to the side after she had slowed it down. This gave her enough time to step back and release abo of attacks.


    The fists that came at Shay while she tried to regain her stance were not the same as before. The speed at which Remey could swap the elemental knuckles was greater than any of them had expected. The dark knuckle had taken the wind knuckles ce and was jabbing forward.


    Shadows pulled around towards Remey and Shay knew that she couldn''t let it hit her. The darkness elemental mana would have the possibility of decaying effect and that was much too dangerous to let hit her even with her higher level than Remey.


    Shay dodged to the side and watched Remye''s jab miss her easily. However, Remey had expected this to happen and had her other fist moving toward Shay already. The water elemental knuckle reced the fire elemental knuckle and the ice that formed over it waspletely missed by those watching.


    As her fist hit Shay the warriors and party watched were not sure what had happened. "She swapped to the water affinity knuckle. That was smart. Especially since the snow fell end increased the water elemental mana in the areast night." Walker had to [raise Remey. The swap had been smart and unexpected since she had started with the fire elemental knuckle as the opposite.


    "The environment seems to greatly affect the strength of Remey''s elemental fist attacks." Su was just stating the obvious here. They were all looking at Shay who now had an entire arm covered in heavy frost.


    In a swift moment, Shay flexed and straightened her arm causing the frost and forming ice to fall from her. This was the exact surprise she was looking for in a fight. She had only ever faced warriors that could predict and force her actions in the royal water dragon''s vige. "Still thinking about using those fancy high kicks? I could due to learn another if you want to show it off a few more times."


    "I could be convinced if you have the gall to show me another hammer fist. It seems like one of those skills that could benefit my style when I need a little extra force." Shay and Remey continued their exchange while Walker and Su realized that they were no longer watching two opponents spar. Instead, it was two fighters bonding over new moves.


    "I don''t think we can learn anything from watching this. We should start training as well, leader." After watching for another minute, Walker followed Su and the other dragonkin warriors joined them. The entire sparring field had be noisy yet again while the soft pping of Illias'' wings came from above as she watched over the matches. No one had noticed her arrival some time ago.


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 Chapter 886 - 886. Chilling Training

    While the sparring continued, Midnight found that she was not having as much fun as she usually was. She wanted to get stronger but her training with the elemental breath attacks was something she didn''t want to show off to the dragon vige yet. If she did it might make more of amotion and she wouldn''t be able to get back home to her favorite spot by the firece.


    There was also the fact that no matter what they had already agreed to go to the main vige to meet the royal dragon court. This was both exciting and nerve wracking for her. These were dragons much more powerful than her and that could easily change the way the party lived. The only benefit was that she had found a way to bond with Walker more and protect herself and her family from other dragons'' wills.


    It didn''t take long for her to notice that Illia was again flying above the group while they sparred. She appeared much more interested in this than the actual matches so Midnight decided to start to climb to the gardens. Walker already knew she wanted to get stronger and fly sooner. He would never stop her from pursuing g her own goals to get stronger and realize her potential.


    After noticing Midnight was climbing the steps to the garden, Illia decided to fly there and wait. She spoke when Midnight reached the top, "Do you wish to train your flying more? Or do you wish to do something else?" There was curiosity in Illia''s tone. It had been a long time that she was able to speak as a human would and she went out of her way to always speak that way since most other races spoke thenguage. If she were to revert to growling and hissing it would feel that she had not grown up at all, but this didn''t mean she did not understand Midnight when she growled slightly.


    "I can tell you about my training with ice and water. But it was something I was born with. It may not be something you can learn." Illia was not sure if Midnight would be able to improve her control of water elemental mana while doing what Illia does to train. However, Ilia was extremely curious after seeing the party do things that she had not seen in a human before. They were some undiscovered treasure in her eyes after losing the thought that they were just lowly humans.


    The huffs and soft growls from Midnight sounded more like a child trying to convince an older sibling to sneak them food than a conversation. Walker even felt the twinge of desire from Midnight while he trained but knew that she was already up on the gardens. The bond they felt between them was giving them a general sense of where they were in the world.


    "I can show you, but it will be up to you. I have already been wrong a few times." Illia admitted herself to be wrong in her first evaluation. Upon doing so she walked to the end of the gardens and started to pull up some rocks to uncover some centennial ice. "I leave this here for the cold days when I can grasp more mana."


    The pieces of ice that Illia broke off were the same size as the food the party had eaten the night before. The horned rabbit legs would easily feed the entire party and the ice here would most likelyst them even longer if they attempted to eat it.


    "When I was just born it was the winter. That is normal for any water dragon. Instead of absorbing water as my two siblings did, I gained a small amount of wind in to my body. It was a very weak bloodline from generations ago. That caused the water elemental mana in my body to be colder and more potent to force out the wind bloodline. This ismon for some mixed blood dragons when they try to purify themselves for the first time. The result I had was not a pure water elemental affinity but a condensed water affinity."


    This was very educational for Midnight who had not studied many things in this field. She only knew the condensing of elemental mana due to Walker''s training and the results she had seen of it. He had been able to learn ice skills when he condensed the water elemental mana more and it was clear that doing the same here would give better shills.


    Making the rtion to her own training, Midnight realized that she would have had a mist breath if she had not condensed the water elemental mana more creating her own, weak, but one day powerful, frost breath. The enlightening moment she had was small but enough for her to begin to understand why Illia was differentpared to the other dragons. It would be harder for her to be more powerful because she had to have purity in the water elemental mana she used but also to condense it. Simply put, she needed more pure water elemental mana that a water elemental dragon would to do anything.


    "I have trained every day to be where I am now and I will soon be able to take my dragonkin form and represent this branch vige with the elder. My main training is to take a portion of centennial ice that I created in to my mouth and absorb the water elemental mana in it slowly. This allows for me to circte the mana through my body and condense it. It removes other elemental manas and cleans my scales. The strength I gained in my bones and scales is also note worthy." This was the same method as consuming the elemental mana crystals, but more specified for ice. Midnight walked to the centennial ice and wed off a shard. It was in her mouth in a moment and she began to try the training Illia did.


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 Chapter 887 - 887. Illias Goals

    Illia also started to use her training method with a muchrger piece of the centennial ice. The mana that she would bring in would also be from the snow and air around her because of herrge body''s demand for it. The training she had been doing for her whole life was also to me. She had increased her tolerance to the condensed water elemental mana making her need to get more and more to push her body to the limit. The dream of bing an ancient one day was hidden behind the true desire to be a dragon she had only heard about from historical records in the water dragon viges.


    The final goal of any frost dragon was to be an ice dragon and finally an absolute tundra dragon. The age could be less than an ancient of over a thousand years of life, but would rarely happen. It was the understanding of condensed water elemental mana and the gathering of it. This would push the dragon to form scales of ice over their own that were simr to the cold of centennial ice.


    To be an absolute tundra dragon, an ice dragon would need to understand water and ice as if it was more important than their own being. This would include touching the realm of spirits and most likely learning from the water and if possible ice spirits. The pure understanding would cause real centennial ice to be the dragons'' scales. The breath itself would be able to cause frost whereas the breath attacks would cause blizzards and change direct environments. The change was drastic but incredibly attractive. This was the goal that any frost dragon should have.


    Midnight had begun feeling the strength of the water elemental mana that had gathered in the centennial ice over time. She would not have taken this form of training if she knew just how powerful the mana was. It was dense and dangerouspared to the smoothness of the elemental mana crystals that she had eaten before.


    The mana tried its best to force its way out from her and back to the open air where it could return to the centennial ice chunk that was not being damaged. The cold feeling was causing Midnight''s mouth to be numb and she desperately looked at Illia for guidance.


    The sight before her was clear. Illia was pulling the mana through her mouth and using the centennial ice to condense and amplify the cold. It would then circte to her lungs and finally, to the rest of her body through her blood. The mana was able to cause the cooling effect and frost was even gathering on the ground around Illia.


    Seeing that Illia was able to withstand the cold made Midnight feel weak. She hated it. The feeling was gross and would eat away at her mental strength if she let it. The only way to get through it was to force herself forward again and again the same way she had when she would think she might fail at her training.


    The mana that came inward with the deep breath Midnight took was painful. It felt as if her lungs were being pierced by ice crystals and that her blood was freezing within her. Yet, there was a surprising effect when the mana reached the gold me heart.


    The same feeling Midnight had when she had started to properly use the frost breath hit here but multiple times stronger than before. Instead of just melding the mana with itself and creating the frosty breath, Midnight breathed out a normal breath and saw mist in the air. Her breath was colder than what was around now and the golden me heart was amplifying it. This was more than she had expected her body to be able to handle in the first few circtions.


    The only possibility exining this happening was that the golden me heart was true to its'' moniker. The speed at which Midnight could grasp different elemental breath attacks was not the only focus on the golden me heart. To use those breath attacks she needed to be able to handle and process the mana that made them up. To do so, the golden me heart would use the ability it had to make the mana flow more smoothly through her veins and in to her scales and bones. The entire process was the same that every single dragon would use to purify their bodies. However, for Midnight, it would allow her to have resistance to that elemental mana in the future and be able to adapt between changes in the mana she used faster.


    The fact that Midnight would be able to switch between the elemental breath attacks faster in battle was something she had not expected. Right now it took her time to gather the mana to attack. The future held the idea that she would be able to use frost breath and then switch to a fire breath in the next attack without pause. That idea excited her and became a slight distraction. The interruption of her meditative process caused a coughing fit and the centennial ice to fall from her mouth.


    The ground around her had a small amount of frost on it which was much less than the ground around Illia. The ground around her had be thick with ice showing that she was close to a breakthrough if she continued for some time. But there was also a few scales that were cracking under the pressure she put her body under. Midnight did not experience such a thing but she had not pushed herself to the extreme. It was clear that Illia would lose scales and grow new ones constantly because of the harsh training she did.


    Before Midnight could move and get Illias'' attention she was wracked with shudders. Her body was warming itself from the state she had been in from circting the water elemental mana in the centennial ice. This was the result she had to deal with after training her body in this way. But it was a worthwhile method to use in the future. The real question was, what other methods of training could she use that mirrored this but with other elements?


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 Chapter 888 - 888. In The Air Again

    By sitting in the sun the first slowly melted and the shudders stopped shaking Midnights'' body. She regained her normal body temperature in time to see that Illia was beginning to struggle. The distance she was pushing herself was much further than that of any other dragon Midnight had seen and it left a permanent imprint in how determined dragons were to train their affinities. For a dragon, levels woulde in time. But strengthening their elemental understanding and purifying their bloodline could make them much more powerful in the long run. That was how a dragon could be an ancient. Levels would not be enough.


    The scales that fell off were already showing their strength when it came to water elemental mana. The frost that formed around them did not leave them and traveled to the ground beneath them. Illia herself didn''t heed these cracked scales since she knew her body would rece them with stronger ones over and over as she trained. The safety of the vige gave her the ability to train to this extent without much worry.


    After another hour of watching and learning, Midnight witnessed Illia finally breathe out a deep breath of frost that precipitated in to a soft snow. The centennial ice she had in her mouth had beenpletely consumed and her body showed the cold ice as a sign. Unlike Midnight, Illia did not shudder after the training. She was a frost dragon and the cold was natural to her even though she had dropped herself well below what she was used to.


    "You appear to have taken the training well. For your first time, you were already ahead of where I was when I began. That is a champions'' blood showing. You are lucky not to have broken scales. It seems you were very adamant about strengthening them with elemental crystals before."


    Midnight growled a few times in response to Illia''s words and praise. "And bones? Yes, that''s right. Your father is a skeletal dragon. You can strengthen yourself with the bones of another creature. That would make your elemental training even smoother since the bones you eat will contain some of the mana they absorbed in their life time." The connections between this and how a dragon trained exined why skeletal dragons were thought of as very powerful wandering dragons.


    They were more of a lone wolf and would jump at any battle. The fact that they could process the mana within bones was why they were able to make leaps in strength and could survive without a vige or the traditional training of dragons. It was also why they were such a rare dragon species. They did not care to join a vige nor to have a partner most of the time.


    "You should use the bones of other monsters to jump in strength. Your body can grow much faster and you will properly grow in to your stats. I am sure you have noticed that you have higher stats than your family member and the lord. But that is because they are pushing your body higher than it should. For about forty levels I was not gaining a single stat point because I was pushing my body beyond the limit." This wasmon knowledge for most dragons when they were being raised by their parents or elders.


    The dragon blood would force them to have higher stats earlier so they could survive. It would spur their bodies to always be pushing themselves higher than they should so they would grow faster and stringer. It was one reason why the dragons were one of the oldest and most powerful races. However, it dide with a downside.


    If a dragon did not train and make their body grow in to those stats, then they would be weaker instead of stronger. It was one reason why dragons were always lower in numbers when it came to poption. The power and longevity was the reason that this was not an issue for them. That and the dragonkin race was always near them assisting and growing with them. As much as they were separate races, they were connected closer than any other two races.


    The dragonkin had once been a humanoid race simr to lizards. There were lizardmen in the world but they were unintelligent monsters. They found refuge with dragons and split off from the lizardman race following and learning through generations. Once they had done so they received the blood of dragons and changed forever. This brought an unshakable loyalty that never left them. Even the dragonkin that were exiled from viges would never betray or shame the dragons. It was something that even in shame they would hold true. Loyalty was more than just a promise to a dragonkin. It was a vow.


    Midnight considered this and understood that her level was capped for now because of her body''s growth. It also exined why she was always hungry and needed to sleep to absorb the elemental mana crystals. Her body was weak and she was not even close to being able to properly use her stats. She may be stronger but it was just on the surface. She could not actually use that strength to properly defend her family.


    If Midnight could strengthen her body more using different elemental manas and also improve her elemental breath attacks, then she would be able to grow in to her stats. The chance of her flying sooner would also increase.


    "We have rested long enough. I hope you were able to grasp a new understanding. I expect you to be able to battle against me in a few years. I wouldn''t mind saying I could defeat a champion." Illia was surprisingly yful now that she had seen Midnight was able to train the same way as her. It was a new urrence for her. "Time for you to try and fly again. I want to see you p your wings at least three times while you glide. You will do it ten times." Before Midnight could process the words, Illia swept her ice covered tail and knocked Midnight off the edge of the gardens and in to the air.


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 Chapter 889 - 889. New Hammer

    Midnight had started to train her flying again with Illias'' rude tactic to surprise her and force her dragon instincts to take over. It wasn''t a bad idea but Midnight had fully decided she hated it and would get revenge when she was more powerful than Illia. Meanwhile, The wandering cksmith was carving the pieces of the centennial ice he would be fusing with the metals he had. The cold iron ore, blue koi scales, and centennial ice would be his base materials with the cracked frost dragon scales from Illia as the melding material.


    He had drawn out the hammer and nned to allow it to have a cooling effect on metal. This would help when he was forging against Midnight''s golden mes to keep the metal from getting too hot and melting in to a molten puddle. It would also go to preserve the mana that was naturally in the metals and bnce the parts that woulde together to form the weapon that was being made for Walker.


    Walker burst in to the forge with a slight sheen of sweat on his face from training still. He had realized the time and rushed over to the forge so that the wandering cksmith wouldn''t feel forgotten. He also wanted to see the progress being made on the tools that were needed. It was also a good chance for the spirit mark to absorb the remnant mana from the materials used to strengthen Fleur who was still slumbering after awakening.


    "I made it. What do you have that you want me to work on? Just name it and it will be done." Walker''s confident voice was enough for the wandering cksmith to smile. He was d that Walker hade on time since he needed help preparing the smaller tools.


    Once the blue print had been thrust in to his hands, Walker was confused and curious, "Do you really want me to make this small carving hammer? It is one of your most used little tools. I don''t want to mess it up. You would be wasting materials on my failures." Walker feared that he would end u just throwing away the materials that they had worked hard to get. If so, he would be the worst kind of cksmith. One that did not result in anything.


    There was a slight wave and a smirk from the wandering cksmith before he focused on melding the frost dragon scales in to the cold iron. It was a process that required low and slow heat paired with an extremely watchful eye. This was a test for even the most experienced cksmith and Walker would need to copy the wandering cksmith here to make a smaller toolpared to therge forging hammer that was being made first.


    The materials were already set out of each other tools being made today in the table. They had been paired with their blue prints and even some hand written notes so that neither of them would forget the important details of each. It was a wealth of experience and knowledge that Walker was soaking up. He had started to create a small journal called the trick of the wandering cksmith. It was sure to be a journal that many would kill for one day, however, it was just a personal notebook for Walker to refer to when he was forging or learning by himself.


    The very low mes in the forge were not what Walker had be used to. They were just enough to heat and cause the cold iron to melt. This was a surprise to Walker since normal iron would need much hotter temperatures than this. The water elemental mana was causing the heat and iron to meld much faster and the cold iron to act like melting ice.


    What was more interesting was the fact that the first scales began to soak up the cold iron and fuse with it. This was simr to a sponge and water but the scales then began to change shape and glow like metal. This was the wide difference when it came to elemental affinity materials. Each would react differently and learning how they would be the key to working with them.


    The blue koi scales were the next added material. The wandering cksmith pulled the metal from the fire and added the koi scales. They were folded in to the metal and slowly became part of it. The result was a metal that became more dense and harder to fold over and over. When therge piece of carved centennial ice was added things became frantic.


    The wandering cksmith was moving incredibly fast to fold the metal around the chunk of carved centennial ice. The centennial ice was bing the center of the hammer while the metal was sealing it up. This would trap the water elemental mana and also the ice inside. It would then be carved with runes so that the cooling effect could be manipted as desired with the wielder''s mana.


    This was not the end though. The wandering cksmith pulled a round metal rod made from cold iron and hammered it in to the bottom of the piece of metal. This was the handle being attacked before the metal fully cooled due to the centennial ice. It was a process that used the most strength and finally sealed the centennial ice within.


    The heavy breathing was clear to Walker. It showed the great effort needed to make this new hammer and how much skill would go in to it over the next years. The work was far from done however, the wandering cksmith had to carve the runes and wrap the handle with leather. This left Walker to start on the small carving hammer made of the same materials that the wandering cksmith had just used It would be a true test of any skills that Walker had developed in forging.


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 Chapter 890 - 890. Test

    The wandering cksmith had moved away to give Walker room to move and forge. The small hammer that he was going to make was nothingpared to therge forging hammer that had just been working with. However, it might be a little more challenging in a way. The small amount of metal might cool even faster Which meant he would need to work even faster too.


    When Walker had put everything in to arms reach, he started to heat the metals in the same way. It was still a wonder how they melted like ice and absorbed in to the frost dragon scales. The cold iron ore was a great mystery in this aspect and Walker felt that the only way the wandering cksmith had learned it was through experimentation with the metal.


    "Pull it out now." The wandering cksmith wasn''t even looking at Walker but his voice picked up just enough to tell Walker that it had been heated properly.


    The metal was out of the heat in an instant and Walker had added the small number of blue koi scales. He was folding and following the shaping method that he had just watched and learned. It was much smoother since the metal was in a smaller amount than therger hammer. Walker was able to smash it t in a few swings and found that the warmed anvil from the previous hammer made it easier.


    "Now, the ice." The guidance was still an unknown since the wandering cksmith was hyper focused on carving and not at all looking at Walker. However, the piece of strangely shaped ic was set in the metal and Walker began to pull it up around the ice evenly. This was a lot easier than it had appeared.


    ''The skill casing has been taken from the butcher system. The skill casing has been automatically learned.


    Casing- passive


    The skill casing is a multi system skill. It is passive due to the innate knowledge that the user gains in creating ayer around another item. This can be used with metal work, wood, meat, and many other things. Themon use is sausage. The user is better able to manipte a casing to fit snugly and evenly on the desired item. This is an important skill for any making a sheath for a sword or dagger.''


    Walker felt that his eyes had just opened and he was able to better shape the metal around the centennial ice. The strange hooked part of the small hammer now made more sense. It could be used to carve and pull away pieces of metal from the overall creation. Then there was the handle. The wandering cksmith already had a metal piece for it and all Walker needed to do was hammer it in and make sure the ice was still sealed.


    The process was much faster than therge hammer. However, Walker was not sure if it would live up to the desired quality the wandering cksmith wanted. With a slight worry and tremble, Walker ced the small carving hammer in front of the wandering cksmith. He picked it up after a moment more of carving and examined it.


    His fingers traced the edges and the curves of the hammer. The spaces he felt were a search for the centennial ice that might be losing its mana through a crack. Or potentially finding a spot that was too thin and would break while in use. "You pass." The wandering cksmith ced the hammer down and unrolled an old parchment.


    "Wait, that was a test? A test for what?" The lost feeling was increasing as Walker tried to understand why the wandering cksmith would test him.


    "Brother, he tested you to see if you were ready to learn rune carving. He is showing you the elemental runes used in metal carving. He was given this forge and there were books about draconic runes that he will be learning and it made me wonder if you should learn runes yet. Your progress is fast enough." Onyx had been there the entire time watching. He had made a deal with the wandering cksmith to secretly exin every single detail while the wandering cksmith pretended not to be paying attention. It was a part of the test that any apprentice would get.


    " I, well. I am honored that you would show me. I know that cksmiths take years to refine their own rune designs. I hope that I can live up to any expectations you have." The response was a simple pat to the second work stool next to the table and a t piece of metal being ced in front of the unfurled scroll.


    There was no hesitation. Walker sat down and memorized the rune designs. They were simr to the way one would imagine the specific element. Fire was flowing but sharp whereas water was flowing and smooth. The earth rune pattern was jagged and t while the wind was smooth and curling. These were the four basic runes. The light rune was star shaped in many ways where the darkness rune was the same without the points and instead rounded like an irritated slime.


    Walker could tell that the elemental mana was attracted to them and that they would be the key to improving items beyond their limits. The small book that was ced in front of him was worn and looked to have been held on to for many years. "The working or runes and their rtions. This looks like a very old book. I can copy it for you when we get back. I don''t want you to lose something that''s obviously important to you" The response was a slow nod as the wandering cksmith slowly returned to his carving to let Walker read and learn about runes. This was a touching and valuable moment between cksmiths and Walker did not say anything that might take away from the awe he was now feeling.


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 Chapter 891 - 891. Runes!

    The metal te that had been ced on the table was scrap. Completely useless in any other terms. It appeared that the wandering cksmith had found scrap metal and melted it together. The result was a hammered t piece of metal with varying degrees of toughness. It would be absolute garbage if it was for armor or anything else. However, it was ideal for practicing rune carving.


    Carving runes on different materials was easier or harder depending on what they were. Soft tin would be the best but the rune would cause damage to it the longer it was there. A single fire rune would cause it to heat and melt making whatever the item was, unusable. If it was something tougher and more resilient, the carving was harder but more runes could be added.


    There was also the perk of being able to see how the scrap materials reacted to runes. Walker had zero experience when it came to runes and he didn''t have any knowledge or innate feeling for how a metal would hold up to them. The wandering cksmith had made sure that more various parts of scrap metal were in the te than would have been from the basic scrap metal. Once upon a time, his own mentor had done the very same thing to him.


    Walker looked at the table and found that there were multiple tools ced here and there. From what was written in the aged journal the wandering cksmith gave him, he needed to find the tools that fit what he was doing best. The fire runes did not need to be extremely detailed and would be fine with thicker tools. Same with the earth elemental runes. The water and wind runes were the ones that required the smaller fine tools.


    The wind and water patterns to the runes were very fine and swirled in different ways than the fire and the earth did. This presented a challenge since copying the runes would be harder. The shape had to be more exact than he was used to creating. Walker had little to no experience drawing, carving, or even shaping without using his high earth sculpting skill. He was out of his depth.


    "It says that I should channel my mana through the tools and it will create the runes. If I don''t use mana in the runes then they are just pictures. That must be the same for the patterns sewn in to fabrics." Walker spoke out loud and prompted a small smile on the wandering cksmith''s face.


    "These are very simple. There were veryplicated runes on some scrolls and books that we looked at before you got here. They are the draconic runes, but I don''t understand what they did at all." It was unfortunate that Onyx didn''t understand them. It was something that really annoyed him since he had been working hard to be able to properly read and understand things since he was born. The thirst for knowledge he had was too great and when he found something he didn''t understand it was constantly on his mind.


    Walker was curious as well and the wandering cksmith paused for a moment unsure if he should share. Walker was just learning the basic runes and knowing the more advanced runes too early could ruin an item or equipment. "So they are the body strengthening runes. The dragonkin and dragons royal armors use those to make their scales stronger and bring in certain manas faster. I didn''t think elemental runes could be changed and made to do those things."


    The wandering cksmith had decided to give up since he trusted that Walker would not rush his learning. The draconic runes were the product of years upon years of experimentation. One such scroll detailed seventy years to figure out how to make a wind condensing rune for a helm instead of arge piece of armor.


    "That sounds like it would be very hard to make. If they are moreplicated than that I don''t think I will be able to use them for some time. I doubt that I will even have the time to sit down and get a feel for these anytime soon. I need to practice this so my hands gain a muscle memory for how much pressure and flow to use. Not to mention fine mana control since I seem to be usingrge amounts of mana more often."


    The analysis was simple and made sense which was very appropriate for how Walker thought and what the wandering cksmith thought. Since he had already decided to focus on these elemental symbols he looked at the very simple star shaped light elemental rune. It was ovepped pointed stars and had a simple patter that Walker could make using one of the medium carving needles.


    When he picked up the needle he felt that his mana was easily pulling in to the tool and that he would have to focus much harder to be sure that it was going to be controlled. If he used too much he would carve out a bigger piece of the metal and create a weak point which could spell the end for an adventurer in battle. Too little and the rune wouldn''t work well.


    The reason the light elemental rune was useful were the myriad of effect it could have. Simply, it could attract light elemental mana and glow in a dark environment. It could counter some of the decaying effects from darkness elemental mana or even poisons and purify it. Finally, there was a minor healing aura it could produce. It all came down to how it was carved. This rune though, was the basic light elemental mana gathering rune. It was the simplest format and the first that anyone learning runes would have to memorize and be able to use perfectly because it was the base for all light elemental rune formations.


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 Chapter 892 - 892. Light Rune

    The time that passed waspletely forgotten. The wandering cksmith had moved on to another batch of smaller tools that he had forged in a matter of few short hours. On the extreme other hand, Walker was still perfecting the light elemental rune. It was the fortieth attempt at carving the rue and the feeling was finally getting to be normal. However, there was a constant ache in his fingers from holding them in the same position for so long.


    ''The skill rune carving has been taken from the rune smith system. The user had automatically learned the skill rune carving due to user actions and repeated practice.


    Rune carving- 1 mana cost per five minutes


    The user uses their mana to flow through a specified carving tool and carve away metal, wood, and other materials to create a rune. The rune quality is dependent on the users'' understanding of the rune. The more mana used when carving will cause the rune to be engraved deeper or shallower in what is being carved. When this skill is used in tandem with the rune sense skill the user is able to carve runes double the speed with higher quality.''


    Walker did not even look at this skill. He was too busy watching the newly created light rune on the piece of scrap metal start to glow slightly. He could feel the light elemental manaing toward it and attempt to gather. Since there was nothing for the mana to gather in to it just condense in the immediate area. Onyx found this very pleasant and began to absorb the light elemental mana. He had been watching and learning this while time while alsomenting with the wandering cksmith''s advice here and there.


    "My first rune is done. It only took half my life." Walker wasughing at his own joke as he tried to straighten and rx his finger. The wandering cksmith pped him on the back in congrattions. It was a strange feeling since theparison of the work they had been doing was night and day. Walker had managed to finally carve one rune in the time it took the wandering cksmith to carve many on to many new tools. This was the level of experience that separated them.


    " Now I understand why you are so driven. You must have practiced for hours on end t master these runes and you can use them to your will now. I can''t wait to see what you end up doing after you learn draconic runes." The pair were both excited by the draconic runes. But it would take a longer time for the wandering cksmith to learn them and put them in to use here. There was the potential that they would be used on Walker''s armor for when he went to the main dragon vige along with his new weapon if need be.


    There was no way that Walker could stay and keep working on runes for more hours. It also appeared that the wandering cksmith had more or less finished the new set of centennial ice carving tools. They all had a frostyer on them but more interestingly they seemed to be controlled and calm. The mana that they held was a very consistent water elemental feeling simr to a silent cool day of winter.


    "Calming snow set." Walker was about to ask the name of the tool set and the wandering cksmith had the sixth sense to say it out loud. He had long thought of the name while making the first hammer and was very happy with his work. This was much more than he had imagined he would be making when he was in the mountains. He even had goals now to make other elemental sets to forge with which would give him a better control when he made elemental items.


    "It''s a fitting name for sure.Can''t wait to see what you make with it. Whether it''s used to cool an item while you work orpletely create something water elemental, I know it will be of the highest quality." The praise was weed since they both knew just how good these tools were.


    The pair started to clean their mess and decided to call it a day. The night had already longe and they were feeling the drain of energy due to their constant work and training. When they left the forge they found that the clearing at the center of the dragon vige was now upied by the dragonkin carpenters creating something.


    "Lord, I am honored you woulde to see our work on your flying basket. Lady Illia told us that you would be carried by her, personally, home and that she would never touch anything makeshift and ugly. Therefore, we have created a basket to carry you and yourpanions. By the morning it will be ready to depart whenever you desire." The dragonkin was holding a few tools and appeared very excited.


    The craftsmanship of therge basket was truly impable. There were carvings that made it seem to be a piece of art instead of just a basket. The wood was definitely taken from a very old andrge tree to be this and Walker was amazed that they were able to find it to carve from.


    "This is a surprise, I didn''t realize you would make something like this just for us. Your hard work is appreciated. I will see if we can leave sooner so that we can enjoy this to the fullest." Walker''s words were like a shot of adrenaline. The dragonkin carpenters began to visibly move faster. This was one of the fastest works they had been asked to make and they were giving it their heart and soul. Not many dragonkin carpenters had the chance to make a single thing for a royal. It was an honor that they would brag about their entire lives.


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 Chapter 893 - 893. Dont Wake Me Up!

    "You three werete today. I thought at least Onyx would havee back first to rest and stay by the fire with Midnight." Gil had managed to shoot down some white sparrows and was currently roasting them on the fire. They were amon mountain bird that had pure white feathers to match the snow in the mountains. They were small and hard to hunt but had immense nutrition. The skills that the white sparrows had were all directed at camouge and storing nutrients for the colder months on the mountain so even a small one could feed two people.


    "I was warm in the forge. Brother also made his first light rune and I wanted to have a snack." The smug tone in Onyx''s voice as he spoke in to their heads was a little more so than usual. Walker could only gather that it was because he had the chance to absorb the light elemental mana from Walker''s sessful light rune and he thought everyone would be jealous.


    "Leader, if you are making runes then you should be able to forge better items by yourself soon, correct?" Su wanted to hear what he was nning if he had a sudden new skill in rune carving.


    "Not at all. I spent hours just to be able to carve a single working light elemental rune. It''s the most basic one and doesn''t do anything other than slowly draw the light elemental mana toward the area it is in. To get the results we would need on items, I would need months of training. But it is exciting that I will know how to do these things." There was a small glimmer of excitement as Walker imagined that he would be making near invincible rune carved armors and ming rune carved spears.


    "Well, while you were forging I decided to visit their alchemyb and discover that they barely use alchemy up here. They are slow and don''t have much need. They had stored potions that canst them years. The alchemists just preserve knowledge andck refined skill. I brought it up with Illia and she agreed but they would not need to force their alchemists to work and learn. I really wanted to bring a dragonkin alchemist to the guild." It was safe to say that Remey was overall, miffed. She had wanted to expand the guild and more importantly, connect the vige for it to trade more securely.


    "At least you have the deal with the snow bell flowers. You shouldn''t try and force them in to things they don''t want to do." Gil was still working on some of his arrow shafts while watching the white sparrows roast. But he had enough attention to pause and tell Remey that she had some good deals already.


    "Actually, when you open the alchemy guild you might attract some of their attention. They are alchemists that have not been able to fully study to their desired level. Maybe they are just waiting for the chance to let loose and try new things. Plus, there will be a lot of knowledge in one ce. The dragons would be foolish to miss the developments in any field that they could use." The logic Walker had made a lot more sense and was exactly what Remey needed to cheer up. Her face became less scrunched and a lot happier even though she did not openly smile.


    "By the way, did you see what they are making for us? I thought we would stay for another day but it looks like they are preparing for us to leave already." This made them all a little sad. Gil had asked about the flying basket as well and was sad that he couldn''t explore more of the small vige longer.


    "I want to say that they are preparing it too early, but since we said we would leave in three days maybe they counted the day we got here. Or there''s the possibility that tomorrow we will need to meet with Adair and say farewells. To be honest, there are a lot of royal traditions and this feels like one of them in the dragon culture." The party agreed and started to eat what Gil had caught. The wandering cksmith managed to have a few bites before he had started to fall asleep. The mana that he had used to carve the intricate runes was already exhausting him. Working with a new material and creating the new tool set was the final nail in the coffin that sent him to dreand.


    The rest of the party followed suit and stoked up the fire before they put their heads to their pillows. The only one that was still awake was Midnight who had taken it upon herself to gnaw on the bones and make them her dessert. She was spurred to get stronger and be able to fly sooner thanter and this was one of her small actions to make it happen.


    When the morning came, Walker found himself having serious trouble waking up Midnight. She had been awake much longer than she should have to practicing some of her elemental breath attacks. She kept things close to her and breathed only small amounts. Her goal was switching between elements so that she could one day do it instantly. The downside was, that she had not slept normally and was not fighting Walker at every turn.


    "Midnight, you are going to miss breakfast if you don''t get up!" Walker thought this would do the trick but instead, he found her burying her head deeper under her wing to avoid the light. "Fine, then I will just eat all of the food that Shay said they are preparing for us. It''s a shame you will miss traditional dragon vige dishes." Walker was nearly knocked to the ground when Midnight jumped up. Her enthusiasm had beenpletely renewed.


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 Chapter 894 - 894. A Proper Meal

    "Lord, the elder had requested you to visit her chamber before you are to leave. She wishes to have a final meal with you." Shay was uncanny with her timing having retunred again to lead them formally. The party had just finished cleaning up the ce they had used as their temporary camp and Walker had lowered the earth walls. He could only me it on the dragonkin that had impable hearing.


    "Then we shall follow your lead." It was a simple phrase but one that Walker was sure to act to the fullest. He was going to attempt to show Adair his best. He wanted to make sure that he had taken her advice and words carefully so that he could show up and act the part of a royal dragon when he went to the main vige in some months. Midnight''s learning then would depend on how they acted and he could not let her down.


    Seeing Walker acting and feeling his determination, Midnight followed suit. She walked to his front with Su falling in line in front of her. Su had her head high and the earth dwelling shield ready for an instant movement. Midnight was holding her head as tall as possible and even had her wings slightly outstretched to appearrger and more intimidating. She wasn''t sure where this posture came from but it felt right.


    As they arrived Gil took up the rear with Remey. Onyx left Walker''s shoulders and took the side while the wandering cksmith took another side. It was a strange formation since Walker would prefer the wandering cksmith with his weakbat abilities to be center. However, this formation made Walker who was acting as a royal stand out.


    The dragonkin of the entire vige lined the entrance of the carved cave that Adair called home. The scene was silent and powerful with every draconic warrior wearing armors. This was a show of power and pride as dragonkin that only would be presented when an ancient dragon or a royal dragon came to the vige.


    As Shay guide them, she began to glow with mana and an armor began to appear around her. The spikes along her tail and back became apparent and she looked closer to a dragon than any other dragonkin. The armor was made from an unknown flexible scale that seemed all too simr to a blue snakeskin. It flexed just right and it was clearly the perfect armor for a martial artist that would bend and twist during a fight.


    "Elder Adair, pure water dragon and appointed head of the fourth branch vige of water dragons. Your loyal Dragonkin warrior had brought the honorable royal and his champion to meet you for a meal." Shay was kneeling on the ground with her head down and palms on the earth. It was a symbol of utter andplete respect for the leader of the vige.


    "You have done well in your position today. You live up to the viges expectations as the most powerful dragonkin warrior. You may step aside." Shay stood and moved to the wall where she lowered her head to signal her movement was done. "Lord, I greet you on behalf of this branch vige and wee you to my home. I have prepared a meal fit for your prestige and hope to converse with you." The fact that Adair was in her dragonkin form and lowered her own head for a moment was different. Walker had expected her to be in full dragon form but had the feeling that it could be construed as rude of her.


    "Then we will eat. I expect good things from this meal. We shall see if my champion approves of this as a use of her time.'' Walker''s high and mighty attitude made him want to flinch and apologize. Yet, Adair moved to pull a chair at the head of a stone table. There were already many dishes around it with easy ess from Midnight to eat as well.


    "These dishes were prepared using the unique and high quality ingredients from the gardens and game around this vige. They perfectly represent the tastes of the vige." Adair watched as Walker gazed at the table and finally sat down after directing his group to sit. Adair was thest to sit showing respect.


    Walker had read that the draconic guardian would usually eat first as a test of the food and to show that they were the front line of the defenses for the dragon champion and the royal. Su had also learned this and reached out to the roasted meat she was sure you be the main focus of the dishes. After she took a bite everyone watched her for a moment and she started to cut and serve it. This was the signal for everyone to eat and freely speak.


    "That was a very good entrance. This is how many royals visit and expect a vige to respond. The main vige will be different but you will be weed by the court members that stay in the main vige. Currently, it will be the earth, light, and water royals. The dragons which stay changes with their whims. It is rare though that they leave ore." This was good to know. "I also rmend that the formation you have ces the rest of your party behind you. Having people on your sides shows you are standing equal with someone and is seen as weakness." Walker took note for the next time he would encounter dragons. "I hope you enjoy the food. Illia personally hunted the jagged mane boar for this meal."


    Midnight could barely control herself when she had been given a piece of the roasted meat. The jagged mane boar was proving to be a hidden delicacy. Not only was it roasted and seasoned to perfection, but the energetic feeling they had while eating it proved that it was a high quality and most likely some of the best they had ever eaten.


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 Chapter 895 - 895. Written Invitation

    The entire group ate to their hearts'' content. The food was extremely well prepared and was enough to fill their bellies. Midnight was even ready to try and nap if she didn''t have the mental strength to remain awake for more conversation. "It is eptable topliment the food. It is actually a very bigpliment to the entire vige. The chef may even be asked toe out and bow to you if you are extremely impressed." Adair had seen that everyone was happy and wanted to make sure they knew thatpliments to the vige and small details are very wee in the main dragon vige.


    "In that case, the food was exceptional and I hope that the chef is told that every single day," Walker spoke for all of them. The resounding mhm, and best food ever, from the group, just added to it.


    "Thank you very much. I have not cooked since I was younger." Adair surprised everyone by admitting that she was the one to cook. It was clear that Shay had known though due to her smaller smirk showing. It was interesting that Walker was able to see the smirk on Shay''s face even though she was fully shifted in to a warrior form. It was something he had a sixth sense for due to being around Midnight for so long.


    "I know you n to leave and I will not hold you long. The journey will take some time since I have asked Illia to take you on a tour of the mountains around here. She will also be teaching you about the trails for you to take when you travel back here in your lifetime. They are best visible from the air." Adair knew that the party may return one day and seeing the view would be ideal. This was also a good chance for humans who couldn''t fly to get a feeling of what it is like being a dragon in the sky.


    "We would appreciate that. I will memorize them as I look below. It will be very good for the travels in the future. I am sure we will need to go through the mountains if we ever want to go to the desert in the future." Walker knew that their quests and adventures may one day take them through the mountains. He was not foolish enough to ignore such a valuable chance as to see the shorter and more efficient trails around the mountain range.


    "Now for some final advice. When you go to the main vige, bring some monster meat as a gift. Many hunt monsters on their way there and give it to the vige so that the hatchlings can have strong meals." Adair pointed at Midnight who was still slightly snacking even though it was clear she was full.


    "Also remember this dragon saying, never fly too high in the sky. You may not be the only one with wings. It has been around for some time but it is to tell us that sometimes we must think of where we are going. Control ourselves. And avoid unnecessary risks. I wish I knew the origin." Walker wasn''t sure either because dragons were the dominant species in the sky. Yet, he memorized the saying anyways so that he might hold himself from saying anything foolish in the future.


    It wasn''t the most fluid saying but Walker remembered it easily. "Your hospitality has been appreciated. I still don''t know how you knew that Midnight and I had an equal contract but I''m very d you did." Walker believed that they had gained immensely from this meeting. He was both interested and worried about going to arger dragon vige.


    "When you get old enough you start to get some interesting instincts and sight." Adairughed a little keeping her secret. "I hope you know that you will be wee at this vige anytime as long as it is allowed by my lord." Adair would leave the invitation open but knew things may change after they visit the main dragon vige.


    "This may be a little forward since dragons don''t often participate in other races'' affairs¡­ there is a summit with multiple races in a short time from now. It''s based on a new city being built and is like to invite the dragonkind as a race. Do you see that as a viable option?" Walker had thought of this in some depth and decided it would be wise since Midnight and he would most likely be in genesis often. And with a trade deal for the alchemy guild, a dragon or dragonkin could visit the city anyway.


    "I can not promise a thing. However, I can send a letter to my lord. It is rare for the dragons to act as a race. We usually act as a species under our lords. If it is interesting enough my lord may send someone or potentially go themselves. I will give my best. It sounds as if having rtions with your future vige will be beneficial. Being rted to another royal''s vige is very touching."


    Adair was misinterpreting this as Walker''s invitation to his vige. Yet, as Walker thought about this, the Genesis city was his vige. He and his party''s will had pushed it in to existence. The other races and rulers also yed a part. Since he broke norms for most races what was another? The city could be his vige but run without him as a ruler. It was perfect to wee dragons and put the races on a more equal footing.


    "That is a good idea, I will make Genesis my vige but it will be different." Walker did not fail to notice that Shay began recording his words about the racesing together. Adair even seemed to smile wider hearing something new for the future instead of the same old secluded boredom.


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 Chapter 896 - 896. Proper Farewell

    "I will do more than just send your letter. I will put in a personal rmendation. I have been watching you and your family since you arrived. I do not see any reason to fight against you and I have been alive for long enough to be an elder. I like to believe I can judge someones'' character by now. " Adair was impressed by the depth of thought that the party and the other races had put in to a new city. It was even better that it would be a dragon vige because it could be seen as a boon for them. However, there was also the chance it could be a frowned upon happening. But the fact that Walker was considered a royal fixed that. Royals were absolute.


    "Thank you very much. I am very grateful. Midnight and I are very excited to see what the main dragon vige will look like. I am sure we will find too many things for us to learn in just a short time visiting there. Luckily we have plenty of time to prepare. I will have ornate armor for myself and if Midnight wants it maybe she will have it. But she can make her own armor so may e not." Walker was referring to Midnight''s bone armor skill that created armor of bones from the ones she had eaten. Any armor would just get in the way of that skill.


    "Ah, yes. Skeletal dragon skills. I see. Then she should use that skill consistently while in the main vige. It will show off her strength. I would actually rmend training it to be on all the time. A skill like that will make her stand out above the other dragons." Adair was sure that more than just one royal would be able to see this. "You should also be ready to stand in the air constantly. It will make you appear to have an endless mana pool. The royals might struggle to do such things after hours or maybe days. But if a human manages to constantly stand in the air with a skill, well, they will have to respect you more." This was a little touchy advice since Adair was telling Walker to outright do something to butt heads with the royals.


    "I will begin to train more as soon as I am back. Midnight on the other hand...well, she can wait too." Walker saw that Midnight was in no shape to begin harsh training. She had eaten way too much food and was forcing herself to eat a few bones so that she could get stronger. If she could not use her skills to process food the way she could, she would be a fat little dragon by now.


    "I hate to say this, but I believe that Illia has just finished preparing to escort you home. She has prepared a package of what was promised to you all with a few things from the treasure room from me. It should help your little alchemy guild to grow. I might even send my viges alchemists there to explore." Adair hinted this to Remey who became wide eyed and fidgeting with excitement.


    "Those arrows you made with the honorable grand spirit were very impressive. Even I would feel some pin pricks from that." Adair was very tough at her age and level. But Gil''s arrow used very potent wind elemental mana and could give her what was akin to a paper cut to a human. It was an impressive feat for someone at his level and age.


    "My warriors wish to see you again in the training area. Shield users are rare and you have broadened their minds with new style ideas. New people to train with are very rare and usually happens every few years. I was also told that you have a knack for the defensive skills in the book I gave you, please keep it. I would much rather see it going to good use." Su was quick to give a slight bow. She didn''t want to show how happy she was to be praised and able to keep the book she had not finished reading yet.


    "I never expected to meet an abyssal serpent again. It is rare for your species to roam around and have such high intelligence. I hope that you can follow the heroic actions of your family and avoid the false myths about your species. Maybe one day you will bring them back to a state where they could be a race. I do not know much about your species but I do know that you may live close to the same age as I will." Adair left that with Onyx which was a veryrge surprise for him since he didn''t think he had been noticed.


    "There is also something for your forging. I hope to see the armor you make the new lord." The wandering cksmith ced a hand over his heart and bowed. He had appeared before those with higher status before and found that this was an appropriate thank you. If he refused he knew that the worst could befall him.


    "Shay, please escort these guests to the edge of the vige." Adair grew serious and looked at Walker. She stood and bowed her head. "Lord, I thank you from the depths of my heart for your enlightening visit. I hope to see you well when we next meet." This was a proper goodbye and Walker was sure to memorize it.


    "Your hospitality was wee. I have seen your vige and feel it is up to standard. I will visit yet again Adair." The acting came back in to effect before Walker and the party left with the same formation they came in with. However, Onyx and the wandering cksmith were behind Walker this time. Adair just smiled as she felt that her race might just start to open up and look at those beneath them for once in their history.


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 Chapter 897 - 897. Memorize The Trails

    The outside of the carved cave had been changed. The dragonkin were nowhere to be found. They had done their duty and now were required to make themselves scarce as not to be in the way of the royal leaving. It was the normal measure taken when a royal left a vige. Mostly due to therge wingspan, a dragon would have when taking off.


    The carved wooden basket was now painted with brilliant blues and some gold highlights. The entire thing was much more than what the party had expected. They would have a lot of room to eveny down during the flight back. The dragonkin carpenters had used many of their finest skills.


    Walker found therge crate that had been left for them. Remey almost went to work opening it without thinning since she knew there were herbs inside that she could use and study. However, Walker had been faster and stored it away before she even touched it. There was a slight re from Remey but she understood that they would need to wait until she was at the alchemyb for them to really get in to exploring what herbs and seeds she was given. However, she had a sneaking suspicion that they were the ones she had been looking at and studying.


    "I shall uphold my deal with you, Lord. Please prepare yourselves for the journey back to your home. IO will show you the start of the trail to the main vige. It is only able to be seen from above due to the other trails around it."Illia was sure that she could fly to the human kingdom in less time than any other means of transportation. But if she rushed and did not do what Adair had told her, she would be in a poor position when it came to the guidance she would receive. She also had gained some respect for humans for the first time in her life, although, she was a little annoyed about the fact that they had touched her centennial ice. She now made sure there were markings all around the area to show it was hers.


    "Alright, Midnight, make sure you pay attention to how Illia flies. You can learn a lot from this." Midnight had already been paying very close attention to every movement from Illia''s wings since she met her. But after Walker told her to do so she came to the realization that she would be able to learn a much deeper detail of flying from directly underneath Illia. The response was a sharp growl of energy. "And Onyx, it will get cold up higher so you might want to slip in to your tattoo form to stay warm." Onyx had thought of this too and followed Walker''s advice.


    Zephyr had left the bow slung on Gil''s back and already rushed in to the air. There was nothing that he could do. Su''s partner the earth spirit had also returned to the shield to rest after exploring the carved cave with vigor. The only spirit that had remained around the entire time was the alchemy fire spirit that didn''t seem keen on leaving Remey or a fire nearby. Their bond seemed to be much closed since Remey needed its help consistently while making potions. The two were more like the same being than two separate spirit and human.


    Illia took off from the ground in a gust of wind while the group boarded therge wooden carved basket. It was easy to say that it was simr to a boat in some ways and would have been able to hold twenty more people with ease. Seeing that Illia was flying toward them in a speedy glide Walker shouted for everyone to hold on. The jerk that came next was expected of Illia since she was lifting the additional weight in the air. Yet, it seemed like this was nothing to her. The entire party knew she could easily lift up ten times the weight that they were at her higher level and age.


    The rush of wind was too much for them as they rose higher and higher toward the clouds, It was not as high as they thought but it was much higher than they had flown on the way to the mountains. Walker was the only one that forced himself to stand and look over the edge. "That path marked with ice on one side is the trail I have marked for you. Memorize the turns and small stone statues we ced there of those who built the vige."


    Walker could barely make out the statues. They were definitelyrger than a normal statue but nowhere near the grand size of an adult dragon. The key thing was that these statues were always at intersections and the tails that he could see pointed toward the proper direction to travel.


    From the height they climbed to, it was clear that the branch water dragon vige was far from any other vige and considered the outskirts of the mountains. The taller mountains in the range were nearly impossible to consider traveling to if someone did not follow the trail markedpletely. There was also the fact that the entire trail was not shown, just the part that passed by the branch vige. Walker would have to learn from what he saw now how to get to the main vige the rest of the way.


    When Illia glided over the ending of the trail at the base of the mountain range, Walker made out a small and still green forest. He knew it must be magic keeping it that way and wondered how he had never heard of it until he remembered the extremelyplicated draconic runes that had been mentioned. With so many years, it was clear that the dragons could make amazing things.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 898 - 898. Flashy Return

    After they had left the areas that Walker needed to memorize, he sat down to find that everyone had adjusted to the wind and the ride in the air. "I''m telling you, the water elemental arrow is close to being the best water elemental arrow that''s reusable." Gil had taken out the arrow he had been working on to show it off. He still wanted to show everyone the wind elemental arrow but this was his current project.


    ''Sea foam arrow


    This arrow has high water and a small wind affinity. When fired it gathers a great deal of water elemental mana and a small amount of wind elemental mana. It does extremely minor elemental magic damage to the target. It truly shines when ites to the form the water and wind takes upon impact. Foam will be created from the gathered water and wind to create a sticky and salty blinding foam all over a portion or the entirety of the afflicted opponent. Thissts until it is physically taken off. This is ideal for stalling and blinding opponents temporarily.''


    "So it can blind a monster that is attacking us. That could be great. You don''t like it because of the damage but because it could make a battle safer. A blind opponent could be easier to deal with than one focused on attacking and defeating us." Walker''s evaluation was perfect.


    "Exactly. So Su taunts it, I blind it, Midnight and Remey go in for attacks and you finish with magic." The proud look on Gil''s'' face was all too telling.


    "Are the fins made from the blue koi scales?" The find that Su was looking at appeared to be thin and carved. They were perfectly shaped and had the same color and patterns as the blue koi scales.


    "Yes. When we were experimenting with them we found that they were able to react with the tiny amount of water in the air and help guide the arrow. It gave me some insight in to the curve skill that can change the direction of my arrows after I fire them. Eventually, I might learn it and be able to change the directionpletely with wind." There was only pride in Gil''s voice. He was very proud of what he had discovered.


    "I''m pretty sure that your new arrow will be useless if we are in a watery environment." Remey was looking at the potential downsides. The party had never traveled to the Oceanside ports or viges. If they were there the water affinity monsters would not be affected at all by Gil''s new arrow.


    "That''s where you might be wrong. Yes, the monsters might resist it. But with so much water elemental mana around it might amplify the effect and cause a smoke screen, or well, a foam screen. Perfect for escaping in a dangerous position." This fact was up for testing but made much more sense.


    "Please hold on. The humans seem to have seen using and are very agitated. I willnd as carefully as possible Lord." Ilia spoke up and surprised everyone. They had traveled the distance I a quarter of the time it had taken them to get to the mountains. The speed of a dragon was not to be underestimated. Walker even knew that Illia had not moved at her maximum flying speed as to protect them in the carved wooden basket.


    "Walker, It looks like we will have a full guard squad at least when wend." Gil could see with his sharp eyes enough movement to understand that the guards were gathering as some rushed to prepare for whatever may be happening.


    "I can ce you anywhere you desire lord." Illia was waiting for Walker to speak up so she could drop them off. It was already well past noon and she wanted to return to the vige sooner.


    "I would say in front of the adventurers'' guild but there isn''t enough room. The cathedral is too far from the castle where the guards will want us to go." After a few mumbles to himself, the decision was made. "Drop us in the castle courtyard where the soldiers train. It will cause somemotion but it will be easier to exin things." Illia moved the distance in just a few ps of her wings.


    The party braced themselves as they carved wooden basket touched down on to the stones. "I expect you to be able to fly when I see you again. I will look rather different as well." Illia didn''t wait and pped her wings to rise higher and rush off.


    By the time the group exited the basket the guards and soldiers around were already around them with weapons drawn. "I wouldn''t think that any of you could record a letter and bring it to the king exining a few things? Could you?" One man with heavy armor came forward and motioned for the group to follow him to a receiving room.


    "That was a very interesting entrance. I will forgive the fact that younded in the castle this one time since you saved my parents. They were carpenters inside the carpenters'' housing when the building burned and you helped get them to a healer. That being said, I do not speak for the generals above me or the king. So speak." The man was nice enough and Walker soon found out that he was the son of two carpenters. His parents chose to remain in the carpentry building to pursue their passion while he became an elite guard directly under a general.


    The situation was exined to a degree and a letter was sent off. The group was actually lucky that the king was busy at the moment. nning a trip to a new city was more work than any would believe. There was also the fact that the queen would be having a child in some months and there were too many things to arrange. This allowed the group begin their walk to the mansion faster than expected.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 899 - 899. Home Again

    There was no surprise when the group faced the chaos of the streets. Many p[eople hade out of their homes and ces of work to view a dragon. This was something they didn''t believe would happen in their entire lives. The simple fact that Illia had just arrived at the castle sent even more people in to some minor chaos. Some yelled about dragons attacking and others praised the dragons. Overall, it was a nightmare for the guards who were looking for answers as well. It took the entire night for the word of safety toe down from above.


    "You think they would be used to dragons since Midnight has been here for like over a year." Remey was a little annoyed that she had to deal with the crowded streets.


    "Midnight isn''t as big as Illia and literally has frosting from her scales. She also isn''t big enough to cause wings with every p of her wings." If Gil hadn''t tried to rebuttal what Remey said he could have avoided the harsh punch to his shoulder. Unfortunately for him, he just had to try and argue with her.


    "We literally just got back and you two are already at it again. Don''t you want to rest and get a hold on what the heck just happened?" Walker was the only one seeing sense here. He had the feeling that everyone was just going over the fact they had somehow ended up with a dragon vige.


    "Leader, we have long epted that this sort of event may happen. Even though we have strange and wondrous things happening every day, we are still a little shocked. However, there was a great boon from this trip. We have a rtion with the dragons now. We learned a lot. We still have the goal to prepare and travel with everyone to the new city." For Su, this was all just another amazing event to add to the pages of the story they were writing. It was to be expected that Walker would be the most affected by this other than Midnight thought. He had just been tossed in to a position he didn''t know enough about and he had never thought would be his in the first ce.


    "I know you''re right. But I think we should all call it a day and rest early. Tomorrow we will organize those herbs and materials we have left. And I will go from there." Walker trudged to his room and fell in to bed to sleep without even thinking about cleaning up first. He just wanted to sleep for the time being and that was what he did.


    While he slept, Walker found himself in dreams of giant dragons flying through the skies. He also had many instances of food raining from the skies. When the sun brought him back to thend of the weakening he had the feeling that Midnight had some influence over his dreams. Especially because he could tell that she was hungry through their bond.


    He cleaned himself up and made himself presentable before heading downstairs to find Gil, Remey, and the wandering cksmith all in the dining room waiting for him. Su was out with Midnight in the training field trying to grasp some moves for blocking and defending. Midnight on the other hand was visibly trying to make her breath attacks do some damage. Both were working hard and it sparked Walkers'' own desire to grow more.


    "Sorry if I kept you all waiting. I was a little dazed yesterday. I managed to organize my thoughts. There is a lot to do¡­" A lot was an understatement. Between preparing to go to Genesis for the first time and making his own weapon, Walker would be fairly busy. There was also learning more about herbs and potions with Remey along with mentally preparing to see the rulers of the other kingdoms again. The simple fact that dragons may arrive also brought some added stress to the situation.


    "Let''s just focus on the most important and immediate things. The materials in the crate that could have use for my arrows." In fine fashion, Gil smirked and threw an arm around Walker''s shoulders. He had been much too excited to make another new arrow and now was the only free time he had to bulk up on them.


    "Oh yeah, right. That''s the most important part. Forget the seeds and herbs that I could use you, you know, create a god damn guild, Gil!" Remey nearly tackled Gil trying to take him down. The only thing they managed was an awkward dance of pushing and shoving before toppling over the couch with Walker being pulled down with them.


    Naturally, the wandering cksmith was the one tough loudly at the three. He had been a lot more animated since they went to a dragon vige and before Walker had gotten down from bed shared some words with Remey and Gil. They felt that he had be deeply bonded with their party and was truly part of their family now, more so than before.


    "I guess this is one way to start the day. But if we are going to open the crate we should move the table again. I think there is a decent amount of items inside and I don''t want to try to unpack it in a corner." The other two hefted Walker up with them and they moved the table. Therge crate was bigger than the ones that had been delivered to the mansion and it was fairly impressive. The wood itself would be a good reusable material since it was the same as the carved wooden basket that they had flown in. Walker also had stored the wooden basket away before they went to leave their letter with the elite guard.


    "Let''s open this thing!" Remey cheered while the wandering cksmith took the lead to pry open the top of the crate.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 900 - 900. Coal

    The floral smell that assaulted their noses when the wandering cksmith popped the top off the crate was overpowering. Remey was the only one unaffected as she plunged in to it to get to the herbs that she wanted to grow and experiment with. Before Gil and Walker could even make a move she had already ced everything on the table.


    "These are the ones I studied the most and should have a use in greenhouses. They also can be used in the experiments for making affinity boosting potions. I need the old man now!" Remey was gone with a few herbs clutched in her hands. Walker would have followed her if he didn''t have more to unpack.


    The wandering cksmith and Gil were already checking out the materials. Some were the same wind elemental materials that Gil had already collected. He was in awe at the amount of them packed in them. "I can make a hundred arrows at least from all of this." The sound of his voice trembled in excitement. Walker knew that Gil would be more than busy for the next two or three days.


    There were multiple cracked scales from Illia in the crate as well. Each appeared to be perfect for what the wandering cksmith was nning on experimenting with. However, there was still the matter of Walker''s weapon. They now had the centennial ice forging hammer that should be able to counter Midnight''s golden mes.


    What had been left in the bottom of the crate was a simple copied book. It didn''t appear to be special until Walker opened it to find that Adair had left him a second volume of dragon etiquette. The funnier part was that it was written by none other than Adair herself. "She made this just for me. I swear. She was really a lucky break." Walker had a great deal of respect for Adair and knew that this was more than just caring for a royal that could be powerful. It was a real friendship forming.


    "How about I get Midnight and see if we can start to work on my weapon? You need t show off your new tools and hammer right?" The wandering cksmith just gathered up the cracked frost dragon scales and made his way outside. Gil had already organized the arrow materials and nned to sit right there in the dining room to start his production. No one would stop him and Remey would be back to clean up and organize the herbs more. Walker had nothing to stop him from getting Midnight.


    The timing was lucky for him since it appeared that Su was taking a break to practice her mental strength. "Hey, I could use your help in the forge. Theponents need to be made for my weapon. While you heat the fires I will try and absorb some natural mana to help get Fleur ready. I''m not sure how it will go though." Midnight bounded over to Walker. She had been getting bored of the training and waited to find something else.


    "Good luck. I need to replenish mana and try to learn this calm mind skill. Apparently, it can be trained with the calm body skill so that I won''t panic and react on instincts to run or block something I shouldn''t." Su was struggling with the skill since it was a cooperative skill with another. Bncing mind and body would be a difficult task for everyone.


    "I know you will make it work. I will leave you to it." Midnight and Walker left Su who was slowly trying to find the center of her being and truly understand her own body. Both skills would be perfect for her overall strength and would make he a much better guardian.


    "I''m going to let you take the lead. I need to focus a lot on my natural mana absorption. If we can get the entire weapon done today then I will be able to train with it this week and be ready to use it for the journey." Walker was already thinking about what he would be able to do with the weapon that the wandering cksmith thought up. However, it was all going to depend on how well they worked. There was a chance this wouldn''t work at all.


    The pair entered the forge and were greeted with the entire inside being rearranged. There was ample space now to move and work along with a singr work table instead of multiple. The wandering cksmith had a pile of stacked diamond shaped tes the size of his hand next to him. Walker knew that they would be forged then engraved with runes once tempered using Midnight''s golden mes.


    There was also the moldable crystal ball which Walker would be responsible for altering to house every single elemental mana. The other materials were all around and had been prepared properly for an easier and more efficient process. The tools were also lined up in the order that they would be used.


    ''Burst stone coal


    This is a rare form of coal used in the desertnd to create tougher items. The coal is specially brought through the me mountain pass and sold to forge masters. This coal burns for triple the length of time and shatters when heated to a certain degree. This released condensed earth elemental mana which allows the item being forged to be more malleable before it cools and hardens stronger and much more dense than before.''


    "Burst stone coal? I have never heard of it before now. I assume you have a hidden stash for special items?" Walker couldn''t help but be impressed by how sneaky the wandering cksmith was. This burst stone coal was going to make their creation all that much better. There was only a small smirk as the wandering cksmith tossed some coal in tot the forge furnace and Midnight took a deep breath to light it. The process had begun.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 901 - 901. Waking Fleur

    The gold mes erupted from Midnight''s mouth and caused the burst stone coal to catch fire. The gold color dulled as the fire started heating things but instead of bing red, the color changed to a deep orange gold color. There was a significant amount of manaing from the mes too. Walker could onlypare the mana to natural mana. It was clear that Midnight was able to use all elemental dragon breath elemental attacks. If the gold mes were to be exined, then it would make sense that they used all the elements to create themselves. This was also why the golden me heart skill was so valuable to what they were crafting.


    Walker was tossing in pieces of coal to keep the fire at the hottest possible while the wandering cksmith grabbed the first diamond te. The space may have been open around them but it was quickly reaching hotter than the forge had before. Thankfully, the wandering cksmith had already prepared the anvil and forge furnace to deal with this kind of heat. Walker also had the ice jade charm that midnight had given them to counter some of the heat.


    The te went in to the heat and became red hot in seconds. There was not much time to waste so Walker began to pull at the natural mana around him. It was a very slow processpared to the other elemental mana that he could manipte. But he could also feel the spirit mark on his back absorbing it and increasing the draw towards him.


    The way he was doing this while the wandering cksmith started to pull out one of the first pates ced in the forge fires was ideal. Walker had to both focus on keeping the fires hot to create the best and bnced heat for the pates and he needed to manipte the natural mana he had still just started to learn. Doing both would help him in the long run when he needed the natural mana in an instance.


    Midnight would jump in and breath mes again here and there to keep the mana flowing. These additions were the reason that the wandering cksmith was able to fully focus on the runes he was carving in to each te after he changed their shapes to be smaller and more uniform. They had already been forged once but now were bing shape and small diamond shapes with runes that Walker had never seen on them. If he knew more about runes he would be able to tell what they did and how they would work. But for now, he was in the dark and couldn''t focus on figuring them out.


    The influx of natural mana seemed to be doing the trick. Fleur had already stirred in her rest to appear in the air behind Walker. She groggily floated over in front of him with a confused expression on her face. "I''m d you are awake. I was wondering if you could help me make a dwelling item for you and me to fight with?" There was even more confusion but Fleur was already exploring the forge and had found the materials ced on the table that they would use.


    The pure elemental crystals interested her greatly since she could resonate with them to a degree. "Those will be part of the item we make. I need your help to draw the natural mana in tot hem and fuse these in to the moldable crystal ball. Then we will connect everything using the runes and other spirit forging methods." There was no guarantee that Fleur understood thins in the least. However, Walker had the feeling that even if she didn''t understand the logistics, that she understood the desire for assistance.


    ''True Hero quest: The Ideal all around weapon- Third link-pleted


    The true hero has decided on the form of the weapon and even surpassed the expectations by finding the perfect materials and way to forge the weapon.


    Requirements:


    Awaken the lesser nature spirit


    Assist the Dragon champion in gaining elemental breath skills


    Assist in forging the necessary weapon parts


    Rewards:


    Final link''


    Walker was d that the third link had beenpleted through his actions in keeping the forge fires burning. Now there were only a few tes left and Walker needed to prepare the materials on his side for them to connect everything together.


    ''True Hero quest: The Ideal all around weapon- Final Link


    The true hero has decided on the form of the weapon and even surpassed the expectations by finding the perfect materials and way to forge the weapon.


    Requirements:


    Prepare the moldable crystal ball by fusing pure elemental bnce


    Use spirit forging techniques to connect the diamond shaped tes


    Use spirit forging to add necessary natural mana


    Rewards:


    None''


    Walker wasn''t upset to see that there was not a single reward after this. It was simple and easily exined. This entire chain quest had been to help him create the ideal weapon and item for him and Fleur. There was no reason to expect more than that. He would be able to bring out his full potential once it was allpleted.


    "Let''s bnce these elemental manas in the moldable crystal ball." Walker and Fluer copied each other and ced their hands on the moldable crystal ball. The crystals were all touching it equally in a circle so that they could more easily be fused in to it.


    The flow of mana was extremely easy to find with the help of Fleur. She was one with all elemental mana. The main difference this made was that through their bond, Walker and Fleur could more closely feel the elemental mana that was reacting to their will. The darkness and light elemental mana already in the moldable crystal ball for example.


    The removal and rebncing of this mana was the point that caused Walker the most stress and would be the biggest turning point for the possibility of sess.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 902 - 902. Raging Mana

    As Walker and Fleur worked together to slowly bleed out the elemental mana from the moldable crystal ball, they noticed the pressure on the crystal increasing. The removal of the mana was leaving the entire thing unbnced since it was created with the mana at the center to keep it all together. Removing the mainponent was asking for it to break.


    "We need to start to add the other elemental manas too. Let''s start to fuse the crystals with the crystal ball." It was a dangerous move but one that they had to do. Walker had the crystal crafting skill and he had to put it to use causing the moldable crystal ball to change andtched on to all of the elemental crystals around it.


    The crystals were pulled in to the moldable crystal ball and the feedback from this was heavier than Walker had ever felt. If Remey had punched him in the face, Walker was sure he would survive, but this? He was questioning if his brains were melting out of his ears.


    Walkers'' teeth were grinding together as he used his grand elemental maniption to force the elemental manas from pushing against each other at such an extreme. The natural mana around them was turbulent since Fleur was pulling on them with such a harsh grasp.


    ''The world has felt your will.''


    The system responding to him was nothing at the moment. He could not focus on it. Walker could not focus on anything. All that he needed was the bond with Fleur and the control of elemental mana and natural mana. They needed toe together and bnce to create the core of the moldable crystal ball. All of the materials needed toe together and fuse perfectly.


    In this battle of will and mana, Walker felt closer and closer to Fleur every breath he took. It only seemed to increase when the wandering cksmith had begun toy the diamond shaped te on to the moldable crystal ball. Not that Walker could notice this happening with his eyes forced shut to focus more. If he could he would see that they had all been rounded so they fit around the moldable crystal ball and bnced around the entire sphere.


    The runes glowed and connected the mana flowing in the moldable crystal ball causing it to ever so slightly. The immortal birch branch that they had received in the dwarven vault started to break piece but piece and get pulled toward the moldable crystal ball and metal rune tes. This was good because it was a material that Walker had wanted to be part of it all. However, the strange part was that more pieces broke and joined the others, it never fused with it.


    Instead of fusing with the item being forged, the immortal birch branch was changing shape and bing intertwined vines in the shape of a rotating ring around the entire creation. A small piece of it also formed a vine ring that wrapped around Walker''s finger. The slight prick that Walker felt waspletely ignored as it drew a slight amount of blood when ittched on.


    There were over a hundred of the rune carved diamond tes. The wandering cksmith was very efficient and had sped through thepletion not to slow the finalbination of the item. He purposefully had everything prepared for this speed to be possible. The runes themselves he had practiced in his mind and on scrap metal more times than he could count in his life, therefore, being able to carve them together at a much faster speed than many others could hope for in the world.


    Without warning the elemental mana began to surge around the entire forge. The mes that had been on the furnace were snuffed out as cold descended. The next moment there was wind and shadows dancing about them. The ground trembled and they were blinded by the light before they all felt the heat return and the fire burn hotter in the forge furnace than it had before. The wandering cksmith and Midnight were on the edges of their seat as they watched Fleur and Walker work together.


    The immense pressure that Walker felt threatened to crust him even though it was not a physical force. He knew that if he wavered even for a moment he would lose all progress and the material would be ruined. Fleur was also feeling the strain. She was still a young nature spirit and had not been able to attract a great deal of natural mana yet. Therefore, she was pulling more to the changing crystal ball than to herself.


    Walker knew that his mana would run out and there was no way for him to stop and drink a mana potion. Even someone pouring down his throat would be too much of a distraction and would stop him frompleting his new item. That being the case, He summoned all the remaining mana he had and used it in a move of force to change and bnce the elemental manas that were raging within the moldable crystal ball.


    There was only deafening silence. No one dared to breathe out or even twitch. Fleur was slowly drifting toward the ground before thest of Walker''s energy propelled him to reach out his hands and catch her. There was no way he would allow for her to fall. Luckily, Midnight and the wandering cksmith were there to catch him. His mana was rock bottom and he needed to rest. Knowing if they seeded or failed wouldeter. Now, the pair would recover.


    The wandering cksmith wanted more than anything to look at the new item before him but knew that Walker''s safety and well being was first on the list. He and Midnight were the only two that could carry him in to the mansion to rest. He promised himself that he would not set a foot in to the forge until Walker was able toe with and see the result.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 903 - 903. Result

    The small weight on his chest and the banging of his blood through his veins was what Walker came awake to. There was the smell of mint and lemons on the room along with a warm towel on his forehead. "He''s awake!" Remey and Su rushed over to Walker.


    As Walker opened his eyes and braved the light that caused his head to hurt more, he caught a glimpse of Fleur seemingly sleeping on his chest. He was fairly impressed that she had not moved back in to the spirit mark. However, he could feel the desire and curiosity she felt even while resting. Walker and Fleur had to see the result of their hard work.


    "Don''t rush yourselves. You both werepletely exhausted. You have been asleep for seven hours this time. Zephyr is still trying to understand how a spirit was able to exhaust all of their mana and still exist." Su spoke softly since Fleur was still resting.


    "We might have done a little more than we should have. I really hope it was worth it. I don''t want to check my quest. If it was wrong¡­" There was still a fog over Walker''s eyes as he rubbed them. Remey was already handing him a tea she had brewed for mana regeneration and pain relief. She knew it might help with the headache Walker had after pushing himself beyond what was normal for his body.


    There was no doubt that Walker was stressed to see the result. He could only think about what would happen if he failed. However, this was his first big task with Fleur. He would hate for her to even be slightly discouraged by failure. Adding on the fact that Zephyr believed that Fleur shouldn''t exist after using all her mana caused even more questions.


    Did Fleur survive because she is a nature spirit and different than other elemental spirits? Did she survive because she is bonded with Walker through a spirit mark? Did she survive because there was a high amount of elemental mana around them? Did she survive because the world responded to their will?


    The small system notification that Walker had seen but not processed until now seemed to be the most likely. It was something that he didn''t understand and would need to spend multiple lifetimes studying to even begin to grasp. The world was tooplicated and Walker would need to be much more than he is now to even get a hint regarding the inter workings.


    "I can''t sit here not knowing. Thank you for your help. But We need to see." This was it. Walker didn''t want to stop and worry anymore. All it did was make his head hurt more. When Walker began to stand, Fleur started to awaken again and focus on him. She held tightly to his clothing only showing that she was still too weak to float by herself. "You worked pretty hard. Ready to go see what we created?"


    Fleur was still not one with words or conveying her thoughts through mana, but her head nodded as Walker sat her safely on his shoulder. He could feel that she was just as curious as he was. The rest of the party, wandering cksmith included, walked behind him worried that his shaky few steps would put him asleep again.


    The forge was barricaded which was a surprise, "Not without you." The wandering cksmith spoke in a whisper as he undid the bar on the door and let Walker in ahead of everyone. This was more than just a gesture. It was an honor to be able to walk in before the cksmith that called this forge home.


    Feeling a pinprick on his finger, Walker looked down to find a small green vine ring around his finger. The connection between it was the same as the one between him and Fleur. Raising his head, Walker understood. Floating on the table was an orb of shifted metal tes. The rainbow crystal underneath reflected every elemental mana and attracted natural mana. The diamond tes were glowing with constant runes and shifted with Walker''s every breath. The small rungs that spun around it were undoubtedly the same as the vine ring on his finger. It was all made from the immortal birch branch which had definitely grown and changed.


    ''Unique nameless item ( Requires Name)


    +???, +100 mana storage


    This is the first of a kind unique item created by the nature spirit Fleur and the Jack of all trades, master of none system user and true hero Walker.


    Through the bncing of elemental affinities, this item has the potential to hold any elemental affinity depending on the user''s requirement. This item is made up of multiple materials that perfectly channel elemental andbinations of elemental manas including natural mana. These effects cause the nameless item to hold the unique skill Perfect multitool.


    Perfect multitool


    The item is able to speedily shift between forms based on the users'' desire. The mana usedes from the stored mana within the nameless item. The weapon can also be repaired through additional materials and the user''s mana. This is a unique skill that can only be possessed by an item created by the Jack of all trades system user. Stat bonuses change based on the form taken.''


    ''True Hero quest: The Ideal all around weapon- Final Link-plete


    The true hero has decided on the form of the weapon and even surpassed the expectations by finding the perfect materials and way to forge the weapon.


    Requirements:


    Prepare the moldable crystal ball by fusing pure elemental bnce


    Use spirit forging techniques to connect the diamond shaped tes


    Use spirit forging to add necessary natural mana


    Rewards:


    None''


    Walker and Fleur could feel it. The item they had created was more than just some item. It was an extension of themselves. Just as much as their souls were an integral part of their being, the floating orb was the same.


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 Chapter 904 - 904. Named

    "We get to name it." Walker felt that Fleur wasn''t really sure what he meant but she was excited anyways. However, she was still tired and was leaning heavily on his neck while still sitting on his shoulder. "Should we call it a nature orb? World crystal ball?" None of them seemed to fit properly.


    "What is that?" Gil was afraid to enter since he was looking at the time that had been created which was floating over the work table and constantly changing.


    "Whoa! That''s so cool it keeps changing and twisting. It looks like it goes on forever!" Remey was the opposite of Gil. Her reaction was more energetic and curious. Su had to hold her back so she didn''t rush herself too close to it.


    "Brother, sister says that she is d it didn''t break," Onyx spoke for Midnight and Walker could see in her eyes that she had been worried for him. She had seen him fall and helped to catch him and Fleur. Other than the rest of the party she had been the most worried for his health.


    "Names are important." This was true and the wandering cksmith had the mist experience naming items. He could only give that small advice since he refused to let himself influence the name of such an item. Every respectable forge master would avoid stepping on others'' toes when it came to naming something.


    What Remey had said when she first saw the item was enough to get Walker''s mind turning. If the forms it could take went on forever it was simple to call it infinite. There was also the fact that it had a resting shape of an orb. The crystal ball structure was still there but it had be smoother and more precise. It also appeared that it could constantly absorb natural mana without any worry.


    "The endless shifting crystal ball? No, the infinite world orb? That sounds a little odd¡­ The eternal shift orb, no wait, the eternal orb. I think that is short and sweet but is perfect to describe when it does this." Walker willed the eternal orb toe toward him and Fleur. As it did it shifted and changed in to a metal staff with vines wrapped around it. The rainbow colorations on a crystal at the top.


    "It can change endlessly with your will? You can use any weapon now!" There were too many possibilities running through Gil''s mind. He could imagine Walker summoning the eternal orb to createrge swords then switching to bow and arrows in a second. "You can''t use it like a bow and endless arrows. I have the archer position locked down."


    "I don''t think I could make arrows. It would lose parts of itself and I wouldn''t want that. But it can be a bow if I wanted it. I just wanted the staff since that was the first idea for when we started to think about it.


    "It may shift to different forms endlessly. But isn''t it eternal since it will always be by your side?" There was more to it than what Gil saw. To Su, it was an eternal partner. One that Walker would lean on to protect him and hold him up in the hardest of times.


    "It doesn''t have to be a weapon right? Can it be an alchemist tool too?" This was a whole new avenue to Remey''s mind. If this was able to change in to alchemy tools or other things, then Walker could be walking around with a portable everything.


    Walker willed the eternity orb to change in to a shovel just to prove that it could change in to anything. However, he felt that the mana inside had begun to dim. "It can store a lot of mana for me to use or to use itself. But it needs time to absorb it so no more switching around for now." He was worried he would use all of the mana inside and somehow damage it. The eternal orb was his child for all intents and purposes. He had followed the quests and finallypleted it.


    "Hey Fleur, why don''t you rest inside? It should be a dwelling item for you since we both crafted it and you used your mana." This seemed like a good idea. Fleur was exhausted and could use the rest to regain mana.


    This suggestion was greeted with a sharp shake of her head and the feeling of opposition. It seemed that there was nothing that she wanted to do more than stay out in the physical world. Walker''s theory was that she had been resting and felt that she was missing things. He mostly thought this because he would feel the same. There was also the fact that Fleur has seen Zephyrmunicate with them using her own skills. She must have the same desire and wanted to watch and learn. "Alright, then just hold on tight.Don''t want you falling anywhere while I meditate and try to recover some of the natural mana the orb used, and you used."


    This seemed to be agreeable for Fleur and she rxed again. "You know that you are training with everyone to show s what it can do tomorrow, right?" There was no way Gil would let Walker get out of it. They needed to see the limits of this new item and how it could fit in the style ofbat that the group used.


    The party gradually left Walker alone as he began to meditate and regain some of the natural mana. The only one that refused to leave was Midnight. She was more than set on remaining with Walker and Fleur until he went to bed for the day. She refused to let either of them fall again. Walker could only pat her in the head now and then while meditating until he finally gave in and went inside to his bed. He didn''t even care for the fact that he missed dinner.


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 Chapter 905 - 905. Training Can Wait

    Rest came easily for Walker. Fleur had stayed with him in physical form all night. Even Midnight gave up her favorite spot by the fire to sleep near Walker and keep him safe. When he had woken up and seen this he promised himself that he would go looking for something a little extra today for her to snack on.


    There were the training ns for today, however, there was one thing that he found very interesting. Thest form the eternal orb had taken was a shovel. Walker had left it that way for fear that he would exhaust the mana inside it even thug he meditated to draw in more natural mana toward it. Now, the eternal orb had changed shape again by itself.


    Resting on his arms and back was a new piece of armor. It had the simr diamond shaped tes but it was all tied together by the vines. The crystal was set in the center of his chest. Recalling his dreams, Walker knew he had dreamed of the armor he would need for when he visited the main dragon vige. The eternal orb had even responded to his desire to have an impressive armor.


    "I will need to see if we can match this then." His joy was partly because he would be able to walk anywhere with the eternal orb without it floating or being in a weapon form. There was also the fact that he would be able to theme the armor the same as the eternal orb. He did still intend to have some armor made in a chest te and along his arms so that when the eternal orb shifted he would not be left with no defenses. In theory, the eternal orb could shift andy over the other armor.


    Unfortunately, Walker had not realized he was sitting and day dreaming on the side of his bed. Midnight hade over and put her head in hisp waiting for him to snap out of his own head. Fleur was also giving him confused looks while pulling on his hair softly. "Sorry, I was just thinking about the ns for the day. Midnight, you should activate your skeletal armor skill and try to keep it on all day."


    The response was without hesitation. Midnight gave a soft huff and the skeletal armor began to form on top of her scales. It appeared to be more developed than thest time she had used it. Walker had the idea that she had been training it regardless of the skill being active by eating more bones and training in general.


    "And you, you''re wee to do whatever you want. But if you stay on my shoulder just hang on tight." The small pt to Fleurs'' head with a finger made her a little bashful. If Walker could see her trying to hide behind his hair he would have fallen overughing at how cute. Luckily for Fleur, there was no way for Walker to turn his head at such an angle.


    "Oh, look who made it back here. You slept the morning awake practically half the day is over!" Remey was snacking on some mixed fruits while sitting at the table. However, she was not the only one at the table.


    "Walker!" Alice jumped up and started to inspect him head to toe.


    "Alice came this morning. When she heard about the dragon she knew that there was no one else that could be connected. I guess that makes sense. Like, who else has a dragon as a family member, right?" Walker knew that Remey was enjoying the red face he was growing while Alice looked him over with a worried expression.


    "We are safe. I promise. Let me introduce my new family member, this is Fleur. She is a nature spirit and helped me make this." The armor Walker had on shifted in to the resting form. The eternal orb floated above his hand causing Alice to slightly yelp in surprise. It was understandable since the entire process of shifting was fast and very surprising.


    "This is the eternal orb. It is something I finally managed to make with a lot of help. But we had to go to the mountains to get eternal ice to properly craft the metal aspects. Then we ended up in a water dragon branch vige. I met some dragons and long story short I will need to go back to another vige in a few months."


    "Leader, you need to be able to exin these things with more sugar coating." Su had just returned to the dining room in time to hear how Walker had exined things. "Alice, it is less dramatic than you think. But to the dragons, Walker is now considered a royal since he was able to form an oath with Midnight who is a dragon champion. In turn, I am a draconic guardian that protects Midnight. The culture is very different and even we have broken the normality of their culture."


    The reaction that Alice had was much more normal than the rest of the party was able to act at this point. She just shook her head and sat down to drink the tea she had in front of her. The thoughts of her loving a royal anything was just too much to process at the moment and the tea seemed like the only solid things around to hold on to.


    "Ehm, so I n to train today. But I wanted to go for a walk through the market to find something special for dinner. Do you want toe with me? Of course, you are invited to dinner too." Su and Remey gave Walker a look of wonder. They had not expected he would be so bold as to ask Alice out on a date in front of them. To their surprise, Alice was already back up and standing with a small smile telling him she would be following him anywhere.


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 Chapter 906 - 906. Connections

    Walker had the feeling that if he hadn''t asked Alice to go with him he would have been digging himself an early grave. She hade all the way over to check on him even though he could see some small dark circles under her eyes. He was sure that she had been working hard to heal people and try to be stronger using the light elemental mana to battle. She wanted to go on an adventure with him and see the world.


    "So, you look like you have been working hard. Has everything been alright?" Walker watched as Alice''s face scrunched up and she debated how to respond. He knew that she still didn''t like to speak much since she wasn''t used to it. But she bit her lip and knew that it was unavoidable. She had his gift and it helped her so she would take advantage of it to speak with Walker more.


    "Injured soldier from the borders¡­" The sadness in her voice would have surely made the light change and reflect her emotions. It was only because of the bracelet that helped her hold her mana from leaking out with her words.


    "That''s not a good piece of news. I was hoping that things would calm down after Pride failed his crazy attack." The memories of Pride and his brutal way of creating an army flooded Walker. He had not wanted to deal with another corrupt and evil demon just yet. There were too many things going on and they needed to solidify the unions between all the kingdoms at the summit so that they could join together and rescue the demons from corruption. "Is there anything in particr that caused more injuries? The forest elf army should have gotten there to help us and even some of the dwarven golems." Walker knew that the dwarven kings had said after the summit but he would be a fool to believe they could leave the problem alone.


    "A big demon called Wrath. He attacked for a long time." This was all that Alice knew from the fevered rambling of injured soldiers from the border walls. That arge demon had walked up to them and begun to punch holes and cause general chaos for days on end. Then suddenly the demon had left while the soldiers were left to repair and heal. It made no sense.


    "I will try to go to the cathedral tomorrow and help. I am sure that Su is looking forward to seeing her friends and won''t be able to stop herself from helping anyone that is hurt." This made Alice look a lot more rxed. Having one of two extra hands was perfect. But having Walker and Su was like having fifteen to twenty extra hands.


    "Yesterday we exhausted ourselves a little too much and I had some trouble staying awake. Midnight and the wandering cksmith caught us and helped us inside. So, I want to make sure I find something special to bring back for dinner, do you have any ideas?" Walker wlessly moved on with the conversation after making his promise toe to the cathedral the next day. It was bing a habit to volunteer time there and he didn''t have any problem with that.


    "There''s a new stall in the market." The stall that Alice was mentioning as a new and popr food stall that popped up the week before. It had made a big ssh bringing foods from the deep sun hallow forest. This was some of the first imports directly from the forest elf city. The idea was to test the waters with something basic then slowly open up the market to more of the elven goods so that there wouldn''t be a flood and a rush of new items. It was a stable idea to protect the value of other items and avoid unnecessary panic.


    "Then that''s where we go. The market is a quick walk away from here." Walker grabbed Alice''s hand and pulled her along before she could even respond. He didn''t know where the new stall was but it was a fun little adventure to find it.


    Walker would have kept pulling Alice along looking if she didn''t suddenly stop in her tracks. "What is-" Walker looked up to find arge four table stall with four elves manning it. "You didn''t mention that it was staffed by elves. I didn''t know they would be here trading already. We must have our own stall in the forest elf city too." Walker was ecstatic to realize that this was the start of the trade route between the cities and that within the next few months trade should be fully open.


    This time, it was Alice that made Walker follow. She waltzed right up to the stall and stood there looking while the nearby elf finished with another customer and walked over. The elf looked at Alice and the arm attached and smiled widely seeing it was someone buying for someone else. His eyes finally fell on the que, pins, emblems, and the rest of the glowing assortment of identifications from multiple kingdoms and stand out gear on Walker''s clothing. He had never stopped wearing them out with pride. Everyone in the party did to respect their friends that they had made thus far.


    "The teacher and hero Walker. I have heard about you from a brother. He said that you gave him insight in his training. I thank you. I do not know what you did but you sparked a desire he has missed for some years. He said he would get stronger without limits. He sounded like when I was his age. Thank you very much." The other three elves heard this and also came over after finishing with their business. It seemed they all were rted to some of the party''s times at the forest elf city. They had all been awed and that spark of adventure had made it to others. Walker couldn''t be happier to hear this new connection bridging humans and elves.


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 Chapter 907 - 907. Giant...

    "I''m very d to see that the trading is going well. It''s impressive to see how many people are waiting around to try something new. Have you four been very busy?" Walker did have some concern for the four elves to overwork themselves. He knew how busy the market could get and how tough the work was dealing with customers.


    "It''s been very busy. We love it!" The elf that had greeted them was very energetic. "In the market back home it can be very dull. That''s why we focused on helping certain areas. The mages need materials we would find a way to get them. But here, we can sell what we want and how we want. We have more freedom."


    "That sounds perfect for you then. Once the adventurers'' guild goes in to full effect jobs like chasing certain materials or ingredients will fall on them. Every merchant should have more ability to sell what they want. That''s more or less how it works here." The reaction was a smile that Walker had not expected to get wider. The elves looked as if they had just been greeted by an angel.


    "Well, on that note, shall we return to our business? We have the time to assist you." It was clear what the elves sold but before Walker could begin to look with Alice, he wanted to make sure he wasn''t being rude.


    "Please, I only need one of you to help me. I can''t force all of you to help and ignore your other business. Many people areing through the market." The other three elves returned to their side of their stall with a nod. They respected that Walker was not going to demand their full attention because of who he was.


    "Alice brought me to check your wares out because I want to buy something special for my family dinner tonight. She heard about your stall and here we are. Do you have anything that would go well with slow cooked rabbit stew? Something a little lighter maybe?" This was what he knew they would end up having for dinner. It was a nice meal to have that weed people home when the weather began turning colder. It was also a good way to make use of the bones in the kitchen. They would be boiled to make a very rich soup stock or beef stew stock.


    "I have just the thing. I have plenty of cotton grapes grown wild and picked by elves. They usually only produce fruit this year but their flowers give off fluffy cotton like pollen. That''s where the namees from. But they are also a perfectly white grape with a sweet but sour vor. They are very good for cutting through rich foods and can be made in to juices if the skills are avable." The elf held up a bunch of white round grapes. The pollen he spoke of was still attached to some of the stems where the flowers had once been.


    "Do they pass the test?" Walker deferred to Alice. He wanted her to get something to try as well and did not want to take over the entire hunt for something good. She nodded looking very interested but then also pointed to a giant blueberry.


    "Ah, sharp eyes. That is actually a monster material believe it or not. We have many monstrous vine species and one of them grows blueberries. The monster normally uses them to attract prey but once the elves tamed them they became a producer of food. That single blueberry can make four pies. It is also at the pique of ripeness." It was a very interesting fun fact that neither Walker or Alice knew.


    "I spent time in the city and I never saw them. I can''t believe I was able to miss a blueberry the size of my face. I have to take one." Walker used his adventurer que to pay the elf and stored away the food. "I will stop by again sometime. Hopefully, you can set up a bigger stall in the future." The four elves waved to Walker as he and Alice left the stall. "That was a great idea. I can''t believe the blueberries are harvested from a monster."


    Alice was equally awed by this and nodded slowly. However, Walker caught her looking at him a little too much and realized that neither of them had tried the grapes at all. "I figure we can try a few of the cotton grapes first, right?" He had barely said any before Alice had taken one and held it in front of his lips. There was no way Walker could resist and ate it.


    The pair continued this way for their entire walk back to the mansion. Neither could exin to the other how they had eaten half of the cluster of grapes before they had gotten there. Luckily, Walker had bought a decent amount for everyone and no one would go with it being able to have one. "Are you staying here until dinner? Or do you want to go back to the cathedral?" The pair had been too caught up to walk near the cathedral.


    "No, I can stay." Alice didn''t feel like rushing away now. She actually had better ideas. She pulled Walker toward the library where she found the forging section. She didn''t know much about weapons but she did know that Walker owned books about them.


    After procuring somerge books about various weapons, Alice made Walker move the couch and table out of the center of the room. She flipped to a page and disyed the hand drawn image of morning star. "Show me." Her voice was still cute but demanding. Walker caught on to exactly what she was thinking.


    "You are going to help me train? I guess Fleur and I can''t say no." Walker used a finger to pat Fleur on the head who was still hiding in his hair after going out. She had been holding back since there were so many people. Now she could finally rx. Walker knew it would take time for Fleur to branch out, but it was good to start small with just Alice than go out a lot.


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 Chapter 908 - 908. Experimental Shifting

    Walker looked at the difference in the shaping of the morning startpared to the other weapons he had made. The handle would need to be a little thicker due to the fact that his level was higher. The weight at the end with the spikes would also need to be adjusted to match the size of the handle.


    Once a clear image had reached his mind, Walker began to will the eternal orb to change shape from the armor he had been wearing it as. The clicking and shifting metal sounds caused the diamond shaped tes to be the spikes and the crystal remained round and covered by the other tes. The vine rings changed and became the handles that also held the top of the morning star.


    In the end, Walker had a slightlyrger version of the morning star that was shown in the book that Alice had presented. She scrutinized it as if she were a teacher guiding a student. Theparison was weed since Walker was going to need to study the weapons more in detail to change the eternal orb in to better versions of each weapon. The fear of breaking the eternal orb by improperly changing it was also present within Walker''s thoughts.


    "Let''s try the next one." Walker was liking this idea. He was going to pull out the basic weapons the wandering cksmith had made him and try to copy them, but this method made the weapons he needed to change the eternal orb in to random. Not knowing would make him think faster and be able to better adapt to what would happen in real life. He would never have the time to look at the weapons he had in his storage before shifting the eternal orb.


    There was a glint of mischief in Alice''s eyes as she flitted through the pages and presented the next item. "That''s not a weapon." Walker felt that he would be shown only weapons. But Alice had presented him with a cape this time. It exined her face as she tried to hold back giggles. "Alright, a cape. Let''s see."


    The eternal orb began to shift again. The diamond shaped ted became the flowing fabric of the cape. The vines became what held them together and it moved around. The most surprising part was the crystal orb. It split in to two even round obs that rest on Walkers'' shoulders. Fleur yfully examined it and even stole away a little of the natural mana from the eternal orb to replenish her own.


    "It moves the way I want it and it boosts my magical defensive stats. I can use this to block magical attacks. This is so cool!" Walker twirled around showing off the cape which made Alice finally break down inughter. The scene of him liking the cape and showing it off was pure gold. "What''s next!?" Walker had found his excitement and wanted another challenge. The eternal orb was a mystery to him and he wanted to see what it could be.


    The next picture Alice showed was from another book. "Hmm, a double sword attacked with a chain in the middle of the two handles? I don''t even know how someone would use this. But¡­Let''s try it." Walker had never seen anyone use such a weapon but began to look at every detail. His focus could not be interrupted and he willed the eternal orb to shift yet again.


    The sword des formed from the diamond shaped tes easily. The handles again were the vines. The most amazing aspect was the chain between them. The crystal orb instead of being in the sword aspects changed shape and became the crystal chains. The elemental mana was surging inside. This was again beyond what he had expected.


    When Alice flipped to the other side and showed Walker more information about the swords he understood. "You showed me a magical weapon! This is too much!" It was a fire elemental sword pair that could absorb fire elemental mana from magical attacks or the atmosphere. Then it could store it in the chain and release thrown des made of fire elemental mana to attack. It was a rare weapon not used by many that was forged in the desserts.


    "I can''t believe that it can shift in to magical weapon forms. The runes even changed slightly to copy what is in the picture." The fact that the runes could change themselves too was an even more dominating fact about the eternal orb. This made it truly one of a kind and perfectly suited for Walker. It was exactly like him in every way; it could be anything.


    "Next!" Alice was enjoying this activity much more than she thought she would. She was also learning from the way Walker would manipte the eternal orb to shift. This could bepared to how she willed the light elemental mana to change in to the forms that she desired. Her skills had grown slightly while she trained them but she knew that she had not reached her true potential.


    Yes, Alice was mainly a healer. Her music could cause the light elemental mana to heal others. But since she was not only a healer she would be able to change light on to a weapon or if she wanted a shield. She could be the best supporter out there that used her songs to stand beside the person she looked up to most in the world. It was also one thing that inspired her to write new songs that could be used to battle monsters while traveling.


    "This one is¡­ I have no idea how it will shift in to a small bracelet like that, but I will try." Alice had forgone the book and presented the bracelet that Walker had given her as a gift. He started to imagine the eternal orb changing shape. However, he was surprised again. Instead of just one bracelet, multiple formed on both of his arms. The mass of the eternal orb was too great and could not bepressed in to one small bracelet. "I guess there are limits to how small orrge the eternal orb can be. I won''t be trying to make it so small again." The twoughed at the twenty bracelets that lined Walkers'' arms before finding another item to shift in to.


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 Chapter 909 - 909. Writing Songs

    While Walker ad Alice kept up their game. Fleur had been absorbing a small amount of natural energy that came from the eternal orb shifting. This was enough for her to be able to float again, but like Onyx, she had developed a habit of resting on Walker''s shoulder. It was the best spot for her to watch what was going on and learn things. She also had developed her own joy being around Alice since she had challenged the eternal orb that she and Walker had created. It was fun and Fleur wanted to keep it up in the future.


    "I think we should call it here. I don''t think we should push this too far. But I want to see you show off some of your skills too." Walker was sure that Alice had more up her sleeve than when he left for the mountains. He knew that she had been practicing enough to create some des from light. It may drain a huge amount of manapared to what she had been using her songs for. But it was also a great way for her to defend herself when they traveled to Genesis city.


    "Writing." Alice fished out a small journal from her pocket. The pages were all full of small songs she had written.


    "This looks like a bard book. Do you have the musical inspiration skill?" Walker had heard of this skill before from traveling minstrels and bards. They were able to take words and add meaning to them when sung. It was a skill only music rted systems learned and since Alice was a songstress it was natural that she may have the skill. Yet, actually using it for so many pages of songs was beyond what Walker could even imagine.


    The wide smile that Alice had shown that she had in fact crafted every song here. "Healing, defense, replenishing, attacking, and more." Her soft voice was enough to entrance Walker with every word. However, he was also focused on the songs she showed while she spoke her words.


    "You thought of all of that? I can''t believe you have just been training in your free time. You need to sleep and rest too. If you have been up all night training and writing then you will be too tired when we leave for Genesis." The worry was clear on Walker''s face but he also knew that Alice wouldn''t push herself this far if she didn''t have her own goals to reach.


    "I won''t fall behind." That was Alices'' desire. She wanted to stand with Walker and his party. She had heard and seen some of the amazing things they could do. It had only strengthened her own desire to get stronger and stand taller. Thus, she had pushed herself.


    "The amount of mana to use all of these must be high. I can''t believe you have songs that you can''t even be sung yet. This one, song of shields, it must use all of your mana twice over. And this one, song of fear, it scares away weak monster from the way it''s worded but you would need to sing constantly to make the effect stay." All the songs had arge drain on someone''s mana. Butpared to the healing songs, Alice could sing them when she was stronger. "You might just be able to shake the world with your songs one day." This was not an understatement. The world would recognize Alice and stories would be written.


    This new information about Alice changed Walker''s view yet again. She had so much potential and he wouldn''t need to worry over her while they travels. Of course, he would still worry since he had strong feelings for her, but that was nothingpared to how he would worry if she had not developed her skills. "I can''t wait until the others see you use some of these songs. They won''t know what to say." There was a slightly mischievous tone in his voice before he caught the smell of food. "It smells like it''s time to dinner. Let''s head there and show off what we found to eat today."


    Walker and Alice showed off the cotton grapes and the giant blueberry to everyone while exining the new stall in the market from the forest elf city. The conversation was lively and Walker made another point to thank the wandering cksmith and Midnight for their help the other day. After they had eaten, Su volunteered to walk with Alice home to the cathedral. She seemed to want to speak to her privately so Walker did not intervene and instead set his sights on the wandering cksmith.


    "I wanted to touch base with you again about armor. I know you have seen the use of the eternal orb, but I had some more ideas.'' Walker exined his experiments with the eternal orb and how the armor would work with it. He also decided that the eternal orb would best stay in the form of a cape when the armor was on. This way the appearance he would have would be all that much more when he walked in to the dragon vige. It would also show that he was someone a little more important when they traveled to Genesis and met the other kingdoms.


    When everything came together he would be able to better represent the image of a hero along with the party. Overall, it would inspire more people to stand tall and be a better version of themselves. Walker chose to believe that he could be a role model for many along with the rest of the party. He had still not realized that he was already one for many children in multiple kingdoms.


    His conversation went on for longer than he expected and there were even a few blueprints drawn out. The wandering cksmith seemed to be overflowing with ideas and was ready to rush off and start forging. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that Midnight was already asleep and couldn''t join him. But that didn''t stop himpletely. He rushed away and began to prepare the materials would use.


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 Chapter 910 - 910. Cold Season

    The morning was full of bright sun and calm skies. For everyone in the kingdom, it was a perfect day. At the mansion, the wandering cksmith and Midnight had already started to forge a little. They were not allowing Walker anywhere near the forge so that when the armor was finished he would be surprised. The only one allowed to enter was Onyx who was greatly enjoying the small secret from Walker.


    Remey had disappeared to the market so that she could speak with the elves. She had an idea that she might be able to get a letter to Trish for when they went back. She wanted to be sure that every one of the founding members of the alchemy guild would be there to begin the opening process.


    Gil was gone before the sun had even risen. He left a note on the dining room table saying he needed to test the new arrows. Walker and Su knew that this was Gill talk for going off to hunt in the woods again. He was bing more and more like the elves who enjoyed being in the forest. It was fairlyical since he tried to hide these facts a little.


    "Did you know that Lisa is working with the cathedral to make the new outfits for the new cathedral in Genesis?" Su had spoken to Lisa at the dinner table the night before and found that there were about fifty people with clothing rted systems that were making the garments.


    "I thought she would end up that way. She told me that she was being tested a lot by the king and Queens'' tailor and seamstress. But I think that''s a good thing. A lot of the businesses will need uniforms. I know Remey already ced an order for robes that can be made for different levels of apprentices and alchemy guild members." It only made sense that orders for such things would increase as the journey to the city came closer. Many craftsmen had already left for the new work opportunities building the city.


    "I think it means that the city will be finished much sooner than expected. I can''t estimate how great the dwarven golems will affect the building time." There were already a few small stories from the adventurers that had acted as body guards for the goods being transported. They were mostly about the different races already working together to build unique buildings in the city. Some rumors were fantastical but always seemed to be partially true.


    "Speaking of Genesis. I have been thinking about the time we leave." Walker had been constantly thinking about their departure and what they would do. "I have the scrolls from that dimensional step guy. I think we could use them to get back and forth if we need. But I need to study them with everyone. I don''t want to make the choice alone." He had been keeping himself from looking at them and attempting to pursue spatial magic. Walker knew all too well that if he chased after it he could end up with someplicated skills and a lot of wasted time without much progress. Spatial magic was not simple.


    "Those should be for emergencies. But I do agree we should look in to them. If they can help us grasp something important we may need them sooner." Su was thinking about the fact that they would most likely be traveling back and forth between the two cities often. Having a bit more knowledge on how to make that journey faster would help them immensely.


    "You mean you wouldn''t prefer getting a few levels higher to improve agility, then just run to the new city and back?" Walker couldn''t help but joke a little as they walked up the steps to the cathedral.


    "Su! Walker! I''m so d to see you. There are a lot of people today. The cold season is upon us and we have a lot of parents bringing their children for some healing and purifying. The alchemists have been bringing a steady supply of medicines. Same deals as the year before but with a few more gold. I did see Remey though. She came by and dropped off a lot of salves and pills that help with sleep and fevers. She said that the main alchemy building is being remodeled and by the time it would be done the things she brought would be useless. She is a gift to the world."


    Walker and Su had not known that Remey would do such a thing. It was good to hear she did not charge any gold for the items. It was better to see them used than to go bad sitting in some vault or on some shelf. It also improved the general public health and safety during the cold season where some of the weaker children and elderly would fall victim to fever or coughing.


    "Well, I''m d she had already been by. Yesterday Alice told me you needed some extra hands. We would be fools not toe and help. I even brought my new partner Fleur. She is a bit shy but I think she will get the feeling of healing soon." There was some hope that Walker would be able to learn the natures'' cure skill or a nature healing skill. Both would be a weed addition to his portfolio of skills.


    "It''s very nice to meet you, Fleur. If you need anything feel free toe ask me. I might be working at the door but I have every corner of the cathedral memorized." Fleur peeked her head from Walker''s hair to look at the younger nun and smile. It was adorable and the nun nearly melted on the spot while the three entered inside. The line waiting for healers was long. Walker and Su did not hesitate to jump in to the most swamped areas of the cathedral.


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 Chapter 911 - 911. Broken Bones

    There were some healers that were specifically dealing with the children that had fevers while others focused on those who had other issues. Some with weak constitutions were in cots or beds so that they could remain in the healing aura for longer. The small group of soldiers towards the front looked the worst off. They were mostly suffering from broken bones due to the attacks at the border. They had immediately been rushed back to the city so they could undergo long term healing for their injuries.


    The rush that Su seemed to be in came from the fact that she saw piles of dirty bandages and rags. She knew that this meant the general nuns and trainee healers were too busy to properly dispose of them. Her job would always be to support the ce that needed it the most.


    Walker used his calming waves skill as soon as he walked in to the center of the room. He had the feeling that the parents with sick children needed it the most. It wasn''t umon for a parent to get a little too stressed when their child was even minorly sick.


    "So you came just like Alice said. I''m d you made it. We are running a little short staffed since some of our nuns have gone ahead to prepare Genesis cathedral." The high priest was resting on a pew nearby Walker and didn''t hesitate to greet him.


    "When I saw Alice yesterday I could tell she was more tired than usual. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that there were injured from the border. I forgot it was cold season too. Both at the same time must put a heavy weight on your shoulders." There was only understanding in Walker''s voice. He would have tried toe earlier if he had realized since he didn''t want the cathedral to suffer or anyone to suffer.


    "Today we are actually better prepared. Your party member Remey came by with a lot of medicine. I spoke with her and set up a potential trade deal for the cathedrals and the guild when ites to operational status." There was pride in this decision. The high priest always needed medicines for those whoe and he would happily put some of the kingdoms'' donations in to procuring them.


    "I was told. She is preparing the alchemy building for it. I also think she is solidifying trade with the forest elves too. It will be a very good opportunity for many people and I hope it makes some of the higher health and mana potions more avable to the general popce." Walker''s pride shined through making the high priest chuckle.


    "Well, don''t let me distract you. I am just an old man resting for a moment. I will lean on you to help the soldiers with their broken bones." This was a heavy order but Walker could feel he would be able to help just enough.


    "Let''s go Fleur. There are some people that need help." Fleur responded by pulling his hair a little. She seemed to like the atmosphere of the cathedral and enjoyed the healing aura from therge crystal in the front. Walker could swear he felt her pulling more natural mana toward her than usual.


    After realizing that this feeling might not just be a coincidence, Walker felt the air around him and also found it was a little easier to draw in the natural mana in the air. Something about the healing aspect of the light elemental mana was aiding the absorption of natural mana. "Hey Fleur, do you think we can heal someone together?"


    Fleur arched her head to the side confused. She had an idea of what Walker meant but needed guidance. "Hello there, do you mind if we try to heal that broken leg of yours?" The soldier that Walker spoke to wasying t with his leg up. He didn''t appear to be in pain but he was most certainly ufortable.


    "Be my guest. It will be better than falling from a wall andnding foot first." The exasperated sigh spoke volumes about how annoyed he was that of all the ways he was injured it had been that way.


    "Alright Fleur, I will use my light heal skill and you try to add some natural mana to it with me. The pair of us might be able to improve the strength of healing and focus on the bones." This n seemed sound and Walker had a good idea of the positions of the bones in the body. He had read up about the human body in one of the books in the library. They were moremon due to the experimentation of the previous mansion owner.


    The light heal skill looked to have a slight effect on the soldier but not much. After Walker had used it, Fleur seemed to understand the point and pulled greater amounts of natural mana toward Walker''s outstretched hands. Walker could feel the flow and tried to control and add the natural mana in to his own.


    ''The skill focused healing has been taken from the natural healer system. The skill focused healing has been learned through user action.


    Focused healing- 2 mana cost 3 natural mana cost


    The userbines natural mana and their own mana to create a mic of focused healing mana. This can heal a specific area much faster than general healing. It can also repair scars and burns much easier. The healing rate of bones is also doublepared to normal healing spell.''


    Walker smiled as the feeling of his manabining with the natural mana caused a focused green glow. The soldier became instantly morefortable and he was visibly more energetic. The bone in his leg may not have been fully healed but it was weeks ahead of the normal healing time.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 912 - 912. Take Notes

    The soldier was fairly amazed. The difference in pain and difort was night and day for him. He wanted to get up and thank Walker but quickly felt his leg was still not healed as he attempted to get up. "That''s All I can do for you today. If I rush it your body could end up hurt more than it is healed." Walker knew the risks of forcing healing on bones. If someone suffered serious injury and they were healed back to the pique they could have severe scars or even weaker bones due to the rushed process.


    "I think you just saved me weeks maybe a full month of sitting on my butt. I hate not being out with my brothers. I can''t thank you enough." The soldier was more than happy with the result. He wished he was healed right there and ready to journey back to the border. But that was not possible. He would take this healing and be happy about it.


    Seeing their fellow soldier get healed and look much better, the others nearby started to ask for the same. Even some of the older and more experienced healers were surprised and a little jealous. Having a focused healing skill was very rare and would normally only be possible when a healer reached a fairly high level.


    The reaction from them was to let Walker begin to heal the bones while they focused on the general instructions of long term healing. There were also general wounds like scrapes, cuts, and bruises that the healers specialized in. Walker was only focusing on the worst injuries to make their lives easier and the soldiers rest easier.


    "Leader, there is a boy who hit his head when he passed out from a fever. Pleasee over and heal him." Su was already pulling Walker away from the soldiers before he answered her. It was of the utmost importance that the boy had his cracked skull healed to prevent any damage or further bleeding. "I will get water and more bandages."


    The three healers that were already with the boy were focusing on the severe cold he had. His fever had heated his body and dehydrated him causing fainting. The nose was bleeding from the constant irritation and overall the boy was in poor condition.


    "My son has always been weak but he will be fine right? He will pull through? He was just too warm." The mother was rambling on in worry while the third healerforted her to no avail.


    Seeing the cut on the boys'' head, Walker ced his hands over it and focused his healing skill on the obvious fracture that was underneath the skin. Falling for anyone was a dangerous event, but for a child, it was even more dangerous since their brain was still developing and their bones growing.


    The healers and Walker used their skills together causing the boy to heal much faster than normal. However, Walker did not force the bone to heal all the way. His goal was to reduce the damage and make sure that the healers could close the cut.


    ''The skill cooperative healing had been taken from the field medic system. The skill cooperative healing has been learned through user action with multiple other healers.


    Cooperative healing- passive


    When the user heals a target with the assistance of multiple other healers the effects of the healing are boosted. This effect has no chance to harm the target unless the same healing spell is being used consecutively. The user is also able to lower the mana cost of the other healers working with them.''


    The skill was simple but shined when Walker felt it take effect. The fever the boy had decreased significantly. The bone healed almost all the way. The cut on his forehead was a faint scar and the boy''s nose stopped bleeding. All that was left was to slowly give him water and allow him to rest for some time.


    As they all stepped back, the mother rushed to her sons'' side and broke down crying prompting one of the healers to calm her again. "That skill was yours, right? I have never felt my healing work that way. If you can use that again, stick with me." The healer that spoke was one of the more experienced healers in the entire cathedral. Walker recognized her from the multiple visits he had to the cathedral.


    "Then lead the way. The skill is called cooperative healing. It''s a passive that activates when I heal with other healers. It boosts the effectiveness." Walker exined the skill and was instantly met with apprehension since id was not a familiar sounding skill to the experienced healer.


    "If I could learn a skill like that I would solidify my spot in the new cathedral when it is finished. Keep using it with me while we help out in the emergency area. I will grasp it by the end of the day." There was no choice for Walker. Through the next few hours, he saw glimpses of Su and Alice while also bumping in to the high priest here and there. But the healer worked him to the bone trying to grasp the skill Walker had learned.


    "That''s it. I think I understand. Your healing spell influences mine because it is of a higher quality! Then your mana substitutes some of mine to cause the skills to blend together and increase the effects. I should be able to copy this. I just need to heal a few more people...or not." The healer fell to her knees exhausted. Walker helped her to the side of the room where she pulled out a notebook and recorded her progress. "Remember. Before passing out, take notes." The charcoal pencil fell from her hand and she was asleep just like that. Walker didn''t have any words for how determined the woman he had just met was.


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 Chapter 913 - 913. Potential

    "You know. I have multiple candidates for high priest. But she is the only candidate for high priestess. And out of all the people I have to choose from, she is the only one willing to push herself so far than force herself to take notes. The church traditionally has priests and is male led. But that may need to change for Genesis city cathedral. I would be a fool to pass up such a talent if she can learn that skill of yours."


    Walker had not even noticed the high priests'' watchful eye. It was as if he was already a ghost watching over him and his healers. "She is very impressive. I didn''t even think that she would be able to grasp the concept of cooperative healing. Mostly because ites from some field medic system. I have never heard of it." This was all too true. Ma y skills that Walker gained woulde from systems he didn''t know existed. This made him realize he should look in to some of the city library''s tomes about sses and potentially contact the elves about the same.


    "I think you are right. She dragged me on and on for hours just to learn something new. I feel like she would heal the world f she had the mana for it." The joke was still a joke but the feeling about it didn''t change in Walker. The woman was definitely going to be able to equal or surpass the current high priest.


    "I used to do that too. Believe it or not, in my younger days I traveled for a year to heal the smaller viges. I ran in to Ibis during that time. Well, before he was known as the White Ibis. He stayed with me for some time wanting to make sure I survived the outskirts of the poison swamps. I was there healing those who had been infected by the gasses during the windy season." The high priest was no longer focusing on reality but going through memories in his mind.


    Without a single bit of provocation, a giant python hade out to attack me. Without Ibis and his little dove summons, I would have been its meal. Luckily, he was on his own adventure and saw me. He imed the python as his won and I imed my life. It made me realize I needed a guard. He safely escorted me back to the city and we have been friends since then. You should have seen him. Before he summoned that light elemental Raven, his hair was bright red." This was nearly impossible to imagine. Walker could only imagine a white haired Ibis sitting at the adventurer''s guild.


    "Ah, it''s decided. I am going to have Laura journey near you when we go to Genesis. I want her to understand the pressure of traveling so that she can learn to focus more on every action. I have the feeling that it will improve skills before we get there." The high priest didn''t even give Walker a chance to say no. He was sure that the party would end up taking on the job anyways. The high priest had already been posted in the adventurers'' guild board and it just made sense since the party would be journeying there anyways. That did mean that the party would be the only escort group.


    After nodding, Walker took a moment to make a mental note of the skills that the healer Laura had used. She was definitely close to the high priest when it came to individual healing skills. "Are you going to teach her that area of effect healing skill? I know you have a few that I''ve seen you use." Walker was partially interested to see them so he might learn them but also because he wanted to try and expand his knowledge on the topic of healing in general.


    "I do n on doing some training while we journey. I have a test nned for it actually. The candidates I have will need to learn the multi heal and the multi cure skill before we get from here to Genesis. Only two of them will be able to move up higher in the church. The third will be sent to The demi-human kingdom." This was news to Walker.


    "There''s going to be a church in the demi-human kingdom?" If this was true it would only go to unite the peoples more.


    "Oh no. I am sending them to help expand their medical and healing knowledge. Apparently, they do not rely on potions currently and that makes their healers in dire need. Until a certain guild opens there, I believe it will be a good idea to send someone trained by me. I also will send a group of ten healers that need experience to realize their potential. Just the usual things for a healer to rise up." This was amon journey to send healers on to gain experience. Very simr to how the high priest wandered vige to vige once upon a time.


    This was enlightening for Walker. He had not known that being a healer required so much experience. But it did make sense. A healer needed to be tough in the face of gruesome injuries. Not to mention crazed families and potential monsters. Overall, healers were hidden bosses when it came to the unexpected hardships of life. "Leader, have you finished on your end? A lot of those that visited today said they saw you and Laura." Su caught up to Walker after finishing thest task.


    "Get going. I know you have plenty of things to explore. Alice is already asleep on a pew over there again. I will tell her you said goodbye." The high priest waved to them whileughing at his sleeping daughter. Alice had yet again healed everyone until she passed out on a pew and could sleep the night there if left alone.


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 Chapter 914 - 914. Moving?

    Walker and Su chatted idly while they walked back to the mansion. Neither of them had realized howte it had gotten. The sun had long set. "I can''t believe that healer Laura dragged me around all day. I have never been worked so hard when we came to the cathedral, I swear." Theints weren''t too real but Walker had decided to whine just a little.


    "The first time I met her she had been healing people for ten hours straight without any rest. She is very dedicated. But she told me she had the mana regeneration passive skill. Apparently, her family often has it and even used to have a me wizard many years ago. Now she is a healer and the first to cast magic in some years. She takes a lot of pride in what she does." This was news to Walker but it truly exined where a deep drive woulde from.


    "Oh holy lord, are they still forging?" Walker heard the forge hammer and Midnight growling slightly as soon as they went in the front gate of the mansion.


    "The alchemyb is putting out smoke too. Did you expect anything different?" The smallugh from Su told Walker all he needed to know. She hadpletely expected the mansion to fully be awake. "You know Lisa is awake too making something for an order or disy. She told me just the other day that she wants to have fifty finished dresses for her own store in Genesis."


    "I will have to make sure that actually gets built to her specifications then. Actually. I have been waiting to check these scrolls from that man named bastor. He said he gave them to us so that he won''t need to be bothered again." Walker took the scrolls from his storage as they walked in to the mansion and went toward the dining room to eat something before heading off to rest.


    "I have been wondering. He gave you different versions when he threw them to you, right?" This was a very interesting topic since the scrolls influenced spatial magic that could teleport the party across distances.


    "Let me read the all around appraisals." Walker pulled three of them out that had different patterns on them.


    ''Small space portal scroll- 1 mana activation cost


    The user of this scroll activates the stored magic skill, small teleport. The user is solely teleported randomly ten miles away. This can only teleport the user and no one else. It is an extremely fast activation that creates a space portal in front of the user.


    High group teleport- 3 mana activation cost


    The user and those directed by them are instantly teleported to a specified location. This can teleport up to ten living beings. The location must be known by the user or the user has to have traveled there before. There are exceptions depending on the user that activates the teleport. The restrictions are removed for the creator of the scroll.''


    "Thest one looks a lotrger. What does it say?" The excitement was all too in in Su''s voice. She had be a lot more interested than Walker had expected her to be.


    ''Grand area teleport- 10 mana activation cost


    The entire area around the user is teleported to the specified destination. The area must be marked with stones with the depicted rune carvings. The space inside these four runes will be teleported along with the space below and above them. The space will be teleported to a simrly marked out space. The skill is best used to teleportrge items, homes, creatures, and even small mountains. This scroll requires a ten minute activation time to secure the locations for teleportation. Living beings within the space can also be teleported safely.''


    There was a stunned silence after Walker read it out loud. "There''s only one of these¡­" Walker could only mumble this while staring and rereading the all around appraisal in awe. He couldn''t imagine they had something so spectacr in their hands.


    "Should we save this? Or should we use this for teleporting the mansion to Genesis?" Su had already spoken about what Walker was thinking. The party could teleport their mansion to Genesis and then add on to it, even more, to create a bigger forge and alchemyb if they desired. It would also bring the entire garden with them so it would be even better to expand there since they could not here.


    "I will set up the runes but we don''t need to use it if we decide not to. The picture of the runes are very simple and just need to be matched with mana from the one carving and using the scroll." Walker was not going to rush in to it but he had a feeling that the party would decide as a whole to teleport the mansion. Genesis would soon be the hub for multiple kingdoms and they would be very focused on developing it. They were hero title holders and fostering rtions between other races was one of their focuses as such.


    There was the potential to use this to escape danger as well. But Walker knew that if there was danger he wouldn''t flee for any reason. He and the party were not cowards that would run away and abandon those in need. It would not only insult their title but most likely lose their title forever.


    "I think moving the mansion will be a good idea. Lisa will have a shop near her home. The forge and the alchemy guild will be nearby. And even if he hasn''t said it, Gil wants to start a hunters'' club." Su made some good points but it was a decision that everyone needed to make together. The entire family would need to have time to discuss and vote.


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 Chapter 915 - 915. Onyx Dreams

    Since Su and Walker had missed their chance at dinner due to theirte arrival back home, the two ate quickly and made their way to their own beds. Walker found that Onyx was there waiting for him. "Brother, I left the forge when I noticed you hade home. I wanted to know if we could talk." This was rare for Onyx. He was usually more reserved.


    "No problem. Is it about another quest on your own to get stronger?" This was the first thought that entered Walker''s head. He knew that Onyx was not happy being lower level than the others and in general a little weaker. He had a big role model when it came to Midnight who was always growing at a rapid rate.


    "I want to get stronger but that''s not what I have been thinking about. I have been thinking about the goblins. They are on their way to bing a race recognized by every sentient race. I want to be that way too. I''m smart and there are records of others of my kind being smart. I want to bring them together and be recognized the same way you or sister is." The pang in Walker''s heart as Onyx said this only went to show how Onyx felt about this matter.


    "I understand. I think you can make that happen. It might take time to find more abyssal serpents but you will always have my support." There was no way Walker could deny Onyx this dream. If he did, he wouldn''t be able to call Onyx his family any longer.


    "I n to get stronger during the journey to the new city. Then I want to gather information about abyssal serpent nests. If I can, I want to learn when we go to the dragon vige. They have to know something." It made sense. The dragons had dark dragons and light elemental dragons. This meant that one of the two might know the whereabouts of abyssal serpents which hide in the shadows and absorb light elemental mana. "I just don''t know if I am the right one to do it¡­"


    Walker knew that Onyx had never faced such uncertainty. This was a veryrge undertaking to attempt and the pressure would be heavy. It only made sense that there would be doubt at first and even through out the entire event. It was also not an easy task. Bringing his race back from near extinction all the way to that of a sentient race equal to all races was terrifying.


    "Onyx. Ever since you hatched you have been watching and learning. I did not teach you that. You have bonded and made friends with anyone you crossed, even captured the hearts of children who would fear a monster like you. I did not teach you that. You do your best to lend an ear or bridge gaps for all of the party and anyone we meet. I did not teach you that." Walker was looking Onyx dead in the eyes as he spoke. The words carried a weight that Onyx had never felt before.


    "You are who you are and I will support whatever you wish to be and do. I can''t wait to see who you be." The silence between the two was more than enough. Walker''s words hung in the air still resonating with Onyx. He had never imagined he would feel something so powerful in his life. This unyielding belief in who he was and who he would be.


    "Then I swear to you. On the name you gave me, Onyx, I will unite my kind and be more than a monster. I will be an abyssal serpent that stands equal to you for all of existence." The mana between Onyx and Walker seemed to vibrate.


    ''The oath to the world and the true hero Walker has been heard. Species quest; Rise of the abyssal Serpent race, has been created.''


    Walker did not have the information on the quest but he saw the title due to the oath he had just witnessed. He was too proud in the moment to even speak. Instead, he watched as Onyx analyzed whatever the details of the quest were.


    "Brother, I must gather information. I have a chain quest to do." None had known an abyssal serpent could shed a tear until now. Walker only saw a single one fall but knew that it was more precious than anything.


    "Tomorrow morning we can search the library again to review any information on the abyssal serpents that is here. I will send a letter to the castle requesting their library to allow us to borrow any rted journals as well" The promise Walker made caused Onyx to rx and calm his racing heart. Onyx had not realized the exhaustion he felt from his day and the stress of thinking about his dreams for so long. The wave that hit him made his head fall on to the nkets.


    "Before we do any of that though, you are sleeping and we will not argue about this." Walker''s words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Onyx was already fast asleep prompting Walker toy down his head on a pillow and fall asleep as well.


    None of the night''s conversations caused Onyx to remain asleep as soon as the sun began to rise. He was already moving toward the window to snack on the rising light elemental mana when Walker also stirred.


    The pair made their move toward the library as soon as Walker had cleaned himself up. The letters were sent out early and the pair would eagerly await the response. Meanwhile, The alchemyb was full of smoke for the fifth time this morning. The old master alchemist had covered himself in bitter smelling soot and Remey was not much better next to him. They had disgusted expressions stered on their faces.


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 Chapter 916 - 916. Potion Problems

    "The snow bells should be able to stabilize the [potion. Every time they are the part that burns first. The temperature gets too high no matter how low we go! But if we go too low the crystals won''t form and start to dissolve when we add the pure water!" The old master alchemist was furious at the rash of failures. He had never had such problems with potions.


    "It has to be mana control. There is nothing to protect the snow bells before they begin to mix and stabilize the rest of the potion." Remey had been thinking this for some time but they had no solutions to fix such a thing.


    "Where is that slimes'' acid? You have it here right? Try dissolving the snow bells in this before. If the n is the issue then the flower petals and pollen can be dissolved first here then concentrated then added." It was a possible solution but Remey argued it immediately.


    "You know that it will damage the other materials no matter what though. We will have an inferior potion." There was nothing that would prevent her from giving the best possible result.


    "Do you want a potion or another failure? We can try with these blue koi bones. They should have concentrated water elemental mana in the bone marrow so they might prevent the snow bells from burning. The flower petals just need to survive but the pollen can stay too since we can mash them together in a paste." There was already motion while Remey spoke. The master alchemist was adding the ingredients and waiting for Remey to slit the very small bones of the blue koi fish.


    The two didn''t need to speak the same way that the other alchemists and apprentices would. Normally there would be constant teaching and sharing of knowledge. For Remey and the old master alchemist, there was only arguing and solutions. Their strife bred new ideas and their tempers pushed them to solutions they would not normally have. It was pressure.


    Once Remey had the small amount of koi fish bone marrow, she added it to the mortar and pestle that the master alchemist was using. He quickly mixed it causing a slight frost to general. "Gah, it''s too concentrated. Get me the sunflower oil over there so I can dilute it." This was a sneaky trick that some alchemists had learned. The sunflower oils had slight traces of fire elemental mana from absorbing so much sunlight while inside the sunflower. It could bnce the water elemental mana that could cause an entire potion to freeze solid.


    Just a drop of the sunflower oil was enough to prevent the freezing effect. "Perfect. The consistency is the same as cake batter. This should work well. Where is the other cauldron?" There were already three dirty cauldrons on the side of the room that they had ignored due to their desire to keep experimenting. There was nothing that could make them stop and clean before they finished their inspiration.


    "I have the base made. You know you don''t need to micro manage me. I will have it done before you can-" Remey watched the old master alchemist add the paste and start to mix furiously. She waspletely ignored. There was a fire in his eyes while he worked, Remey had a feeling that this was going to work even if it was the worst possible oue.


    "Heat it, low me and slow. I have the ingredients emulsified and they will start to separate if I stop. These old bones can get some work done today." It was all toomon for the old master alchemist to push himself. However, he had allowed Remey to take the heavybor today so that he could keep working harder. His age was showing more and moretely and he was worried that he would not be able toplete his potion today. But he was determined and he would push himself to the brink if he needed to.


    The color of the potion went from a white and grey mix to a slowly growing blue. "Ha! The koi marrow is bringing out the natural pigments on the other materials. A blue potion, no, a frosty blue potion!" The mixture was slightly bubbling even though it was still cold. The fire underneath the cauldron was just making it melt so the bubbles were the reactions of the different materials and manas.


    As if he was pped, the old master alchemist stopped stirring with a jerk and grabbed at the bottle of pure water on the shelf nearby. He added it drop by drop watching the position be a deep dark blue color. The white lines in it constantly changed showing that the mana was bing more pure inside the potion. "Get the frosted vials. As long as they are covered in frost they should be able to hold this without being damaged."


    The pair moved in furious speed to fill vial after vial. They had used some of the centennial ice to chill the vials they were using to store the potion. The frost would keep the ss from rapidly cooling when the potion was added. They had made the mistake once upon a time by adding potion that was too hot or cold and the vials shattered losing some potions.


    The dark blue potion reminds them of a frozen pond in the dead of winter. The frost over the ss hiding the deep cold ice underneath. The potion itself had not burned and was not separating as they watch carefully for any changes.


    "There are no lumps, burnt pieces, or signs of separation. I think¡­" Remey was about to grab the potion when it started to be lighter and showed the pure brilliant blue and white of centennial ice. "It worked! It worked!" The two screamed their praises to the heavens while dancing around theb like crazy people.


    "We need to appraise this!" The old master alchemist grabbed the vial and rushed out of theb with Remey at his heels.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 917 - 917. Affinity Potions

    Onyx and Walker had found the small journals and an old torn book with information about abyssal serpents. They had not been very happy since they were mostly myths and false tales. The real problem when it came to the torn journal was the fact that it was all about the possibility of creating an immortality potion from their body as a material. The sketches of the body were poorly proportioned most likely due to the previous mansion owners'' declining mental facilities.


    "Brother, I know this may sound odd, but these are very useful. The things we canpare here are very great. The belief that an abyssal serpent can swallow the worldes from my skill to hide away my body in my shadow. If someone saw the sudden growth it could be seen as a monster capable of growing to consume giant creatures."


    "I see what you mean. Then the thought that an abyssal serpent extinguishes light is the rtions to them eating light elemental mana to grow. Not that they can actually destroy light or anything" Walker caught up to Onyx''s thinking without issue. However, he still wished there was more information when it came to the small number of books they had.


    "You should write a book about my growth for future generations. No one that we have met has ever studied my kind as much as we have. I believe it could help the future generations understand that abyssal serpents are not evil." Onyx was very adamant about this and Walker could only move and grab one of the nk journals to make the first volume. He would dly work with Onyx to this degree and one day refine a set of volumes.


    "Come over here! We need your help!" The soot stained face of the old master alchemist broke in to the library shouting for Walker.


    "And this is thest time I think that the library should be silent and peaceful." Walker closed the journal he was just opening to start on what he and Onyx had nned to create.


    "Walker! Old man, calm down he will look at it. Just because you have an idea of the appraisal doesn''t mean he will have something different." Remey knew all too well that the old master alchemist could see the characteristics of the potion but had the worry that he has just seeing what he desired. It was amon issue for an alchemist to misread a potion due to their exhaustion or excitement. Therefore they would have it appraised by another alchemist or appraisal expert so that it would be proven to be sessful.


    "Alright, I will bite. What did you two make? Not a burnt pill or a charcoal potion I hope¡­" He couldn''t let the chance to tease them get away. The covered in soot and burned potion was an odd appearance and one that they rarely had.


    "No jokes boy! This is ground breaking potion making here. Appraise this and tell me what it says. I want to hear it word for word." The old master alchemists'' hands shook as he handed over the potion. He was shaving trouble containing his energy while he waited to hear Walker''s evaluation.


    "Alright alright, hang on." The potion was cold in Walkers'' hand and he could tell there was a unique amount of water elemental mana inside of it.


    ''Weak Water affinity potion


    This is a brand new potion created by a master alchemist and a unique alchemist. This potion has concentrated water elemental mana perfectly mixed within water elemental materials. The bnce of the potion is able to perfectly melt in to a living being to boost their affinity for one hour. The effects are weak but can greatly assist in the understanding or use of water elemental magics. After the potion loses effect the user will have cold sweats while their body adapts back to normal temperature. This potion will only be effective for one year before the ingredients degrade."


    "Weak!? How is it weak? It must be the measurements of ingredients. I need more. Maybe I will add some higher quality snow bell flowers. But I could directly crush some centennial ice in to it. Or maybe I- Ah, thank you. It was sessful. That''s the new water elemental affinity potion. We have twenty of them. The degrading over a year is poor as well but it is a very tough potion. I doubt it will improve even with higher quality ingredients." The old master alchemist rattled all of this off while throwing his hands in the air.


    "Calm down before your heart explodes. You seeded and haven''t even recorded the exact effects and statistics. We should think about selling five of them for an auction to start some rumors. The alchemy guild can sell these when we first open. But we need other elements too." There was a grand n forming in Remey''s mind. These could be the baseline for the alchemy guild to open and make a big ssh.


    "Ha! Other elements? We need more materials. Do you think getting the darkness and light elemental material for these things will be easy? I would need to sell my soul for such things. That''s even if we can make it work." The old master alchemist was beside himself but he did see the value in what Remey was saying.


    "I don''t think the materials will be a problem. When we reach Genesis we will be able to see the massive trade heading there. The alchemy guild will attract rare materials and the new Ga family auctions will attract sellers and buyers. Not to mention all the new merchants, shops, and stalls. You will have all the materials you can experiment with for your life and then some." Walker finally chimed back in while handing the potion back. He was impressed but knew this was just the beginning of what they would create over the next few months and years. He was excited to see more affinity potions.


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 Chapter 918 - 918. A Mess

    "Good, then we will need to make sure we get there sooner. I want to be ready to steal away every rare material. Those herb gardens need to be nted sooner too. Before the guild even ha apprentices it needs herbalists and herb grower systems." There was unbridled excitement and energy from the old master alchemist. If anyone were topare his real age to how he was acting they would believe he was secretly twenty years younger.


    "We already put a request for the guild with the date we would get to the city. If they are there at that time we will test their skills with the breeze peas as we decided." Walker had not known that Remey had nned these things so well. It was extremely impressive hearing the degree to which she had nned out.


    "What are breeze peas and how will they test herb growers?" Unfortunately, Walker found himself a little lost when it came to these things. Mostly because he was still verycking when it came to the alchemy world. It wasn''t that he didn''t try to learn enough, but it was the fact that there was so much that needed to be learned when it came to alchemy and herbs.


    "Breeze peas are a very fast growing nt that produces a wind elemental herb called a breeze pea. They are used to add wind elemental mana to a potion but they grow very very fast. One nt can grow in ten minutes and die in fifteen. The test would be to see if someone is experienced enough to grow and gather the breeze peas before they die and ruin the ingredient. It''s amon test but we will be judging quality and care."


    "So it is a test to see their actions and skills in speed? Or is it more so, the idea to see how well they react and solve the problems that arise during a fast growth process? I can expect that if they can do it speedily and properly then they can do it during a slower growth cycle?" Walker had more than grasped the idea and Remey gave a quick nod.


    "We can only have the best to start the herb gardens and green houses. If we have a poor start then the entire foundation of the guild will be weak. The herbs are the backbone of how potions will be made. If there is a single species of herb that fails then we will be at an overall loss. A healing potion is not a healing potion of it is missing certain key ingredients. It could be poison or worse." This was a hard lesson for many to learn and one reason that many alchemists found themselves stuck. It was verymon for an alchemist to be stuck waiting for one particr herb to continue their research or potion creations.


    "Now, back to theb. We need to have a mid tier affinity potion by the end of the day or we will be failures!" Remey was dragged away by the old master alchemist before she could argue. Not that she seemed unhappy. Walker caught a glimpse of her own smile showing. It was clear that she treasured the time she was able to spend with him creating new potions and learning.


    "Brother, I think those would be a very good potion to have when learning more elemental magic." Onyx had some desires to train himself as well and was going to first convince Walker to use them when they werepleted to make sure he would also be able to use them.


    "I will have them for all of us to train. But I think we should get a basic understanding first. I know you have light and dark elemental manas in your body but only use dark elemental skills. I think you should look in to using light elemental mana more since you consume it. Once you have a baseline for it you might be able to improve the affinity you have to a degree." Walker was no fool when it came to affinities. He knew Onyx was still young and had not even scratched the surface of what he could do.


    Onyx had mostly focused on the darkness elemental skills because he was able to hide in shadows and use it since he hatched. However, Onyx had avoided using light elemental mana. Instead, Onyx had chosen to solely focus the light elemental mana on growing and bing stronger. This wasn''t a bad idea but it caused his understanding of the mana he consumed to fall behind. "I understand. I will try to use some of the skills with light elemental manater. For now, I would like to return to the records until we hear a reply from the library."


    The two returned to their journal while Remey and the old master alchemist returned to the forge. All four of them pretended not to see the soot footprints tracked in to the mansion. It was something they all could pretend didn''t exist for a little while in the least.


    Unknown to the party, the castle was a mess.


    "If you are leaving then how will I take care of these affairs? The castle needs you to stay instead of leave for this new city. Also, who will lead this city? They can''t have a new king. They will need representatives." The queen was lecturing the king yet again. She didn''t want to see him go while she slowly lost the ability to traverse the castle while she carried their child.


    "We will put together a council there and I will rush back home. I swear we will. I am also leaving some of the best attendants and nobles here to assist you. You can also contact me at any time. If you wish we can leave sooner and attempt to return sooner." The king was on his wits end with this conversation that had been reyed over and over thest weeks. But this was not all that was going on in the castle.


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 Chapter 919 - 919. The Escort

    "Why is it every time I need to report that they are arguing?" Markus Raven seemed to be the unlucky noble that happened upon the king and queen every single time this issue came up. He had been focused on solidifying the financial affairs after the Pride demon had attacked. The work had been harsh on the treasury but he hadpleted it for the most part. He had even allocated funds for the field.


    "My king, I apologize for interrupting." Markus walked inside the room to find the two staring daggers at each other. "The final batch of seeds arrived and was stored away for the next growing season. The quests for travel have been finalized. The adventurer groups are already being briefed for their three weeks of guard training. The special arrangements you asked of me have also beenpleted. I believe the Genesis city project will be well ahead of schedule by the time you arrive."


    The King seemed to take this as the perfect chance to change the pace of his previous conversation. "Good to hear. You have done well. How have those demons been performing under you? Will they be ready to integrate in to Genesis? Also, the project I had you set up, did you add the requirement that open space should be left for expansions as needed?"


    "Of course. The expansions were factored in to the architectural drawings. The demons have taken a great grip on funds. They seem to be even better than the apprentices that I have trained for lesser positions. I believe that I can have them ready to take over the financial wok of Genesis within a month of trade starting there." All of this made the king appear happier.


    "Very good. You did very well when it came to the hardship of this previous attack and I look forward to seeing your hard work continue. Please take a few days to rest before we reach the final preparations for departure. If possible I want to be able to leave Genesis directly after the end of the summit to return here."


    Markus and the entire castle already knew why the king would rush back home. It had been a sorely discussed topic thest few weeks. "Yes my king, it will be done. I thank you for the praise." He did not immediately leave like he was expected to. "My king. I believe we should expect dragons at the summit. Based on the heroes'' previous actions involving the dragon that flew to the castle, it is highly likely they will appear in some form. The armor from the vault is being shined already for you."


    The king brought his hand to his chin. He had also considered this possibility. "Your forethought is very good. If dragons grace us with their presence then I should look my best. Thank you. You may leave." Markus Raven took his leave while the king turned to the queen. "As I said. I will rush home no matter what. I might even be blessed with an even faster summit if the dragonse and keep others from arguing." The argument started up again causing the castle staff to avoid the king and queens'' chamber for some time.


    The adventurers that were taking the quest to guard the king along with the guards had been gathered in the adventurer''s guild meeting room. Thergest meeting room out of all of them so that all of them could meet at once.


    "As you know I am ra the current guild master. Not only will you be escorting the king and other important officials, but you will be escorting me. As much as that former guild master says he is going he can not with his health. We will all be establishing a new main branch of the adventurers'' guild there."


    The room was full of murmuring. None knew that the main building would be made to be the one in the new Genesis city. "Shut up! Listen closely. You are all silver tier and represent some of the strongest in the guild. Two party''s here are gold tier! You are enough to show that the guild can have a main branch there. The staff is alsoing. Like you they are being trained now." ra was using a very harsh tone to be sure that every single one listened and learned.


    "You will all train with the royal guards for two weeks. They will show you how to properly escort a royal. This is not a negotiable term for the job. If you decide to bail now you will leave the guild." The harsh terms did not surprise a single adventurer there. They had already signed a magic contract to keep them on the job.


    "You are going to receive half of your pay now. Your equipment and other needs are on you so purchase wisely. You will also receive the proposed Genesis citizen card. It is being designed while the summit happens. It is an honor to receive it before most will. On top of this, you will all also travel with the hero party. I rmend you all make use of the free time when everyone rests. You can learn a lot. Any questions?" ra didn''t see any hands up but for one.


    "Guild master, what of any monsters we defeat while guarding?"


    "They are yours. Whatever party kills them keeps them. If anyone fights for them and loses sight of the quest, then they are expelled from the guild immediately. I will be there watching." There were shivers that went through the spines of every adventurer. No one had the courage to ask another question. "My secretary will answer further questions. I have work to do." ra left for the silence of the office. She wanted to get the stressful trip on the way sooner thanter.


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    ¡­.allnovelfull

 Chapter 920 - 920. Family Vote

    No member of the party was aware of the general chaos that was going on while everyone prepared for the kings'' travel to Genesis city. The fact that ra was establishing herself as a strict take no drama fluid leader was also aplete unknown to them. Especially since Walker had already epted the quest to guard the king on the way to the city. The only difference was that the party was not forced in to any training. This was simply because ra knew they would be preparing in their own unique ways which would outshine the guards'' training.


    "So, what do you all think about moving the mansion?" Walker had presented the idea to everyone officially with Su''s help. They had finished dinner and went right in to the conversation.


    "In all honestly I will be on Genesis more than anywhere else because of the guild. So will the old man here. We will have someone run the branch guild here after the remodel so we won''t need to travel back and forth often. It will only make use more at home." The old master alchemist didn''t need to say a word to show that he agreed with Remey.


    "As long as the garden is safe I won''t argue with it. The friends we have are spread out and might travel themselves after those fires. Plus this hunting fanatic will be happy anywhere he can go to hunt new game." Gil''s mother shook her head at Gil''s father who just shrugged. He was more than happy to go somewhere new and explore the hunting grounds.


    "I want the guard position there. They have better pay and will have more opportunities. I know I don''t have to work but I might actually be able to work my way up from just a wall guard or a gate captain in the future. I can finally show what an elite guard can really do." Walker''s father had already browsed and asked around about the positions avable. He had more than enough of a resume to get them and he knew it.


    "You don''t need to tell me twice. I could have my own separate kitchen there. Home is nice, but a chance to build exactly what I want to a kitchen? A bakers'' dream. So we will move." Walker''s mother was also happy enough. All she needed was the temptation of a new kitchen.


    The wandering cksmith gave a thumbs up instead of speaking making everyoneugh a little but nod. When eyes fell on Lisa, everyone was surprised to see her teary eyed. "I would be able to be the first seamstress to take the area with my name and clothing. I would have the best chance to be the best!" The tears weren''t from sadness by pure excitement overtaking her sense.


    "I think your mother and I will be more than happy to go. Su, we have seen you grow in to a fine young woman. With everyone''s help, we have just started to branch out and explore the city ourselves. We are enjoying life together with everyone here. Why not explore another city too?" Su''s father pulled her mother close and they both sealed their approval of the idea.


    "Brother, I believe it will be best to make that known to the dragons and other races. You would be a very important piece to tie everyone together. Our home should be there." Onyx saw the true value in how moving there would affect every race. Midnight even huffed in approval and nodded her head a few times.


    Lastly, Walker looked at the small group of staff that had be part of the mansion. They were the demon girl rescued in the demi-human kingdom. A few cleaning staff were hired by the parents, and the demon woman who was trying to be a treant tamer. It was unfortunate that Elise had taken her leave because it would be nice for her to know the n. But for now, the staff and guests were worried they would lose their home.


    "If you all want toe you are wee. I hope that you continue your training, work, and pursuit of your dreams. As far as I am concerned you are family too." There was nothing else to say. Every single one of them immediately started to reply with a yes to moving or a small hop of happiness. They had been happier here than anywhere else in their lives. It was an odd bunch but a group that fit the party perfectly. "I do have to warn you that more staff and guests will join us when we get there. I expect you all to show them around and wee them."


    "We are hiring more people?" This was new to Gil who had been more or less silent. He was happy with the decision from everyone and had no reason to argue it.


    "Remey will have herbalists to train and most likely stay here until the guild is set up, we will need more cleaning and cooking staff, Alice and the high priest will stay here for a while until the cathedral is ready, not to mention the three testing to be the new high priest or priestess, oh and-"


    "I get it, Walker, I get it. Let''s make a listter. But if that''s the case, we should prepare now. The next few weeks should be training skills we have, preparing provisions for guests, and any other odds and ends we need." Gil had decided to take charge of this matter and began nning with the entire family. It took a few hours but by the time they had finished speaking, they were ready to get started. The next weeks passed in a rush of preparation. But in the end, everyone had trained to improve their current understanding of skills, had the supplies they needed, and the wandering cksmith had taken everyone''s armors for an upgrade.


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    ¡­.allnovelfull

 Chapter 921 - 921. Funeral

    "A messenger dropped off the copied books and pages about abyssal serpents." Walker found Onyx who was greedily absorbing light elemental mana and meditating to understand the very thing he eats most.


    "Really? That was very fast for them to copy everything." This was a very surprising feat to Onyx who knew recording and even just searching through books took a lot of time.


    "I think you will be a little unhappy. It came out to three books about myths and one that seems to be a farmer''s ount of an abyssal serpent he killed at a very young age believing it was a ck coiled snake. I looked at it a little and the myths are all centered around the ouroboros thing. The whole, abyssal serpent that grew to be able to wrap around the world and then swallowed it. But, I doubt that''s real. We know that it''s because of the ability to hide in the shadows¡­" Walker was a little annoyed that there didn''t seem to be any new information.


    "I don''t mind. It will give us something to do when we leave for the city tomorrow. Even the smallest hidden detail can teach me something." Hearing the way Onyx viewed this made Walker proud. Instead of disappointment, Onyx still held his desire to learn more about what he was and where the others of his race may be.


    "Alright, we will read them on our journey. First though, we have a funeral to attend." Walker headed outside to where a few members of the church and some gravediggers had been waiting. "Thank you foring. I want to make sure that these two graves are relocated to a beautiful spot with natural flowers and peace. I think bringing them with the mansion to another location would be disrespectful." Walker had made the decision to ask the church for assistance moving the graves of the family that had once called this mansion home.


    "Calling us here to perform the properying to rest rights was a good decision. Their spirits may be unhappy by being moved but if we bless them and send our words to the holy lord, they should be able to rest even more peacefully." The man that came was sent specifically by the high priest. This was one of the three candidates for the high priest position. "Would you like to say some words before we begin?"


    The foot of the graves had already been dug in preparation exposing the rotting wooden coffins that had been undisturbed for some time. "I know you did not expect to be where you are now. Your lives were full of hardships and you did your best. The actions may have been cruel at times but I can not deny your actions in the name of love. I too care for my family deeply. I hope that you will be more at peace than ever before. Thank you for leaving such a magnificent home for my family to grow in, I have learned more than I would ever believe from you and your family." Walker followed with the rest of the party for the entire duration of the funeral.


    This was a very tough decision to make but in the end, they had decided it was better to move the graves. The family didn''t deserve to be forgotten and left in the garden forever. They were moved to a spot that Gil''s mother had prepared even though the snow hadyered on the ground in thest few weeks. The flowers she nted would bloom in the winter to bring even the coldest days color.


    Once the blessing was done and the graves were moved, the high priest candidate left with the grave digger and other members of the church that hade. Walker found the man very business like and prompt. However, this was not bad, it was a good thing since it showed he would be able to get more healing done.


    "Now that we have finished here, why don''t we see what our cksmith friend has so show off." Gil was pretty happy to be getting his leather armor back. His dagger had also been taken for an upgrade making him feel naked.


    "I''m also excited to see the modifications of my twin shields. I saw him using some of the gold trim before he forced me out." It was rare for Su to be so excited. But her armor was also being upgraded and she knew it would make her much tougher. There was also the appearance that she would be able to have when they walked through Genesis city. The party would be able to disy their standing and inspire those around them.


    "I would have preferred him not to take all of my armor. I was just getting used to the new elbow and shin guards he made and had me try for three days. But the boots he was making should be even better. Leather and metal together should give me a harder kick." The progress Remey had made in thest weeks was much more than recently. She had already set most things in to motion when it came to the alchemy guild. Thus, she was able to focus onbat again and managed to integrate some new moves in to her style.


    "Well, Midnight has been adding her mes to the fires there so it should all be amazing. I do have a feeling that a draconic rune or two might be added." There was only a smirk on Walker''s face while he said this. He had seen how hard the wandering cksmith had been studying the draconic runes and knew that he had fully grasped one of them. When they reached the forge they didn''t hear a single sound. It was unnerving knowing there was only silence from the usually loud and hot forge.


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 Chapter 922 - 922. Craftsmanship

    When they entered the forge they found it empty. Completely cleaned and spotless. "Sooo, we really had a wandering cksmith friend, right?" Gil felt that he was looking for a ghost.


    "Ummmm, I think he''s inside. Something about the note on the table says he went inside and is waiting for us in the dining room." Remey held a piece of paper to tease Gil a little. She couldn''t resist when he had looked around aimlessly at first.


    "I wonder why he chose to move everything to the dining room?" The only one asking the question was Su. Walker wanted to reply but he was getting too excited and began to walk even faster to see what was going on.


    The sounds of their fast moving footsteps signaled the wandering cksmith to open the door and wee them inside. The view was stunning. The wandering cksmith had set up mannequins with their armors disyed. Each had two sets now that could be worn. One was the improved armors they could wear while on adventures and quests. The other was an exact copy but done in an artistic and ornate design.


    Su ran her hands over the two gold ted twin shields that were the new copy of her ck twin shields. These had the same weight but much more carving and gold brilliance. The runes were also newly carved and incrediblyplicated. The patterns that had been on all the armor and shields were changed. Su could tell that the draconic rune added increased defense immenselypared to the ones that had been on the shields before. There were also more mana gems added in to the armor and shields. They may have been smaller but would still store a decent amount of mana.


    When Gil came to his armor, he found that leather had been mixed with a very fine chainmail. It would protect him better and only had a slight addition to weight. The copy of it was coated in gold and silver to push the look he would have. The dagger he had grown ustomed to now had wind elemental runes on it causing Zephyr to leave the bow and examine it carefully. She was too happy to even speak causing Gil to just look in wonder at the armor even more.


    "I can''t believe I have this kind of armor! It''s perfect for me." The wandering cksmith had some trouble with Remey''s armor. He had to watch her train for over three days to find exactly how the mix of leather and metal would work to protect her. The result became a set of shin and arm guards that attached to her gloves.


    The style of her showy gold armor was a little more detailed than others due to the addition of bendable leather at each joint and facet. Overall, Remey was getting thergest upgrade when it came to armor, She had rarely worn much due to her closebat needs. Now that she put on the boots she felt that she would be able to kick using her full force and even block using a kick or two. There were even set spots to attach the detachable elemental knuckles she used.


    Out of all the party, Walker was the most stunned. He had never worn full armor and focused mostly on robes and cloaks. He was a mage in all intensive purposes so it made sense. But the armor he was presented with was spectacr. The wandering cksmith had copied the diamond shaped te patterns from the eternal orb. They made the armor bendable but tough. There were many mana gems fixed in every defendable position to add to Walker''s mana pool.


    On top of all of this, there was a second set carved with the same runes and even a few coiling dragons. The markings were some designs that the wandering cksmith had found in the water dragon branch vige. The wandering cksmith had known that the royal armor he made needed to scream royals and that was what he did. It would even be easy for the eternal orb to attach itself over all of these armor pieces since it was streamlined to fit Walker perfectly. He could even wear the cloaks he had over it for additional protection.


    The wandering cksmith was watching as everyone examined the armor with awe. He and Midnight had been working nonstop for this reaction. Onyx hade in from time to time to help give him ideas or just to chat. But in the end, the results were even better than he had expected. The defense and magical defense that the armors boasted were all over fifteen stat points. The mana storage had increased to over one hundred extra mana for each party member''s armor. These were two goals that had been forefront in the wandering cksmiths'' mind as he worked.


    "They are called the royal dragon set and the heroic set." These were the only words the wandering cksmith spoke. They were soft but the entire party heard them and felt they were perfect. The heroic set was the armor they would wear on average. The royal set was the armor they would wear during important events but still maintained the same stats as the heroic set. They could brag as much as they wanted but any words wouldn''t be able to say just how perfect this armor was. No normal adventurer would have such a high quality gear until they were much stronger.


    "I would say you did above and beyond for this. But everything you make is a wonder. I can''t wait to see how the summit representatives react." Walker knew his words wouldn''t be able to adequately describe how he felt about the armor. The only thing he could do was walk up to the wandering cksmith and shake his hand in silence.


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 Chapter 923 - 923. Final Check

    "Alright, final checks on the armors!" Su had already left the room to put on the heroic set of armor. She looked perfect while wearing it and was waiting for the wandering cksmith to finish his evaluation. There were small parts he adjusted while looking but mostly he left things be. The rest of the party was already putting theirs on or were waiting behind her.


    "I can''t believe it. It''s like this armor is the perfect shape. I don''t feel any resistance. I''m a little heavier but that should be good for my attacks." Remey was already testing out some of her jabs and kicks while she waited for the once over from the wandering cksmith.


    "He''s a professional. An elite. The top of the barrel. I wouldn''t expect anything else. He was even able to help me with mass producing the sea foam arrows." There were too many praises for Gil to sing when it came to the things the wandering cksmith had helped him with recently. All together it was a significant aplishment.


    "I was going to ask him if he would be able to modify the armors as we grew more but look," Walker pointed out some almost invisible marks. "He already has that thought of. We will be able to add more parts in the joints to be able to grow with the armor. It''s more than perfect."


    The party took some time to be fully check over in the heroic set and the royal set of armors before the wandering cksmith had fixed any small issue he saw. Overall, the armors were so perfectly suited to them that only five small adjustments had been needed. The party wanted to thank the wandering cksmith for his hard work but before they could say a word they found he had fallen asleep at the table. No one dared to wake him up, he earned this rest hundreds of times over.


    The rest of the party had Walker store away the royal armor. Since they were going to be showing up the next day to the castle, they wanted to be in their heroic set of armor for travel. It was much better to be prepared instead of having to switch armor after leaving the city and being unprepared. They also felt anxious about ruining the perfection of the royal armor. They wanted to do their best to make sure it didn''t get a single scratch on it.


    "Should we train now to get used to this armor? I''m not sure I need to. It feels like I have worn it forever." Gil had no qualms about taking the day to adjust to the armor. But he would prefer to walk about and get the general feel. His every day routine would be better since he could also make sure he said his farewells to his hunting friends.


    "Go do your thing, also make sure you tell your friends about the hunting club you will start in Genesis. We can easily have a hunter''s building made." The smirk Walker had was no surprise to Gil. He knew that Walker would have caught on no matter how much he tried to keep things secret.


    "I was actually thinking of copying Remey after some years. Maybe an archer''s guild. Not that I have the power to do that, so I''ll start with an archery club and attract people who might have the ambition." Gil jogged off while Remey turned a little red.


    "I don''t know why he wants to copy me. An archers'' guild sounds weird. Wouldn''t it just be the same as the adventurer''s guild?" The mumbling was not really anything that could be offensive but Walker and Su both knew it was just because Remey was too proud to admit she was happy for Gil.


    "I think it''s just for the school aspect. He might be better trying to create an archers academy."


    "That''s actually a pretty good idea Su, I bet that would go over very well with the elves. Maybe the reason Gil is thinking about that. We should tell him that when he gets backter." Walker saw the value in an archers'' academy more than another guild.


    "I cleared my schedule today, everything is all set up for leaving tomorrow. I just need you to store the potions I made." Remey was pulling Walker toward the alchemyb. The old master alchemist had decided to stay behind at the mansion and avoid travel. The fact that they had all decided to teleport the mansion using the scrolls was perfect for him to avoid the dangers.


    "I have enough for us to start a small number of sales at the guild and also for us to heal anyone that needs it. I also tried my hand at those water affinity potions. I can only pull off the low tier ones. But the old man managed to make three mid tier ones." The pair had raced to try and make a mid tier potion first but the old master alchemist had beat Remeypletely. It hade down to skill.


    "You made all of these?" Walker was looking at over a hundred of each potion. The number was astounding since the pair had only been experimenting recently.


    "Of course we did. Do you not know why we have been up all night the past weeks? What if someone we are escorting gets hurt?" The sassy tone in Remey''s voice caused Walker to store the potions even faster.


    "In that case, should we get to the market and pick up some extra food?" I know we always have monster meat but we might want more vegetables." The idea was immediately snapped up by Walker and Midnight. Midnight had the desire to sneak some snacks from the vendors while Walker agreed that having something fresh would be better than dealing with only meat. The five headed off to get theirst minute supplies. In the morning before the sun rose, they would be meeting in the castle courtyard.


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 Chapter 924 - 924. Off They Go

    "Let''s go! Everyone else is ready!" The rude awakening came from Remey who was quick to whip everyone in to shape. She had made them stop by the orphanage on their way home only to discover that her siblings had decided toe with them to the new city. They had made the decision to pursue a new future where they would be more than what they were now. Remey had held back tears of pride when they told her they would take the future in to their own hands.


    They were barely old enough to take on small jobs alone but they had seen how Remey went out in to the world and seized what she needed for them. There was no way for her to tell them no. They all moved themselves in to the mansion by the end of the day. The building that they had once lived in would be empty for some time until another house mother and orphans came to exist there. Not a single one of them frowned when they left, there was more ahead of them.


    Thus, the fact that Remey was yelling for Walker also woke up her siblings who had long adjusted to Remey''s loud awakenings. The rush to send her off was loud enough to force Walker to run downstairs in the fear of some monster stampede. "I thought the mansion would fall down!"


    "Oh calm down. They just came to say goodbye. You gave your mother thatmunication orb thingy from Scy, right? They need to know a day ahead when we will teleport the mansion." The mom mode was fully activated as Remey hugged her usually rambunctious siblings. They would usually fight and try to take her down in a small brawl but now they were worried and sad. It was rare that they would get to see Remey off on an adventure.


    Midnight was standing at the open front door waiting. The rest of their families had surprised them with arge cake at dinner and they had said their goodbyes. They were worried about the spatial magic that would be used to teleport them to the new city but Walker had exined things as best as they could. After all the excitement and exnations they had decided to let the party sleep early to prepare. "Alright, I have Remey, let''s go."


    The party was in their heroic armor set. Onyx had curled up on Walker''s shoulders even though there was a slight cold breeze and the thin powdery snow threatened to be caught up in the breeze. He wanted to see everything as they left the city. Midnight had been diligent in her training and had her skeletal armor skill activated. The appearance of it had seemed to darken slightly and even looked thicker. Her hard work was easily paying off already.


    The announcement of the king leaving had been made the week before so that the streets could be cleared for the exit. It was strange not seeing any wagons orrge merchant groups around transporting goods. But it was even weirder to see the people outside their homes watching as the party walked toward the castle. Many people wanted a glimpse of the king and the guards leaving the city.


    It was easy to see that the escort had been well thought out. There were guards that would form the inner circle of protection for a series of merchants, nobles, and the kings'' carriage. The adventurers would be around the outer ring. Their responsibility was to deal with any monsters or possible bandits they may encounter. The positive side was that there were also some guards carrying torches with herbs prepared which would scare off most monsters with sensitive noses.


    Every carriage was the same so no one knew which contained nobles, the king, or goods. It was a simple deception so that safety could be upheld. "Good, you have arrived. The king has already boarded one of the carriages before every guard had arrived. Now with you here, everything is in ce."


    "ra, why do you have armor and a backpack?" Walker knew the answer already but didn''t want to actually hear it. Overall, it felt that the answer would cause a little bit of drama.


    "The previous guild master has been taken from retirement to represent the newly appointed branch of the adventure''s guild in this kingdom. The current vice master is preparing the new main guild building in the new Genesis city. The current master of the adventurers'' guild is about to travel to the city to officially open the new main building and offices." The look on ra''s face said that she felt only victory at this decision. There was not a soul on the that could argue against her.


    "Congrattions On the new main branch. I''m sure the new building willst for years toe." Thus was exactly what the entire party expected to hear. They had half expected something like this due to the importance of the city being formed with multiple racesing together. They also knew that Ibis was probably fuming mad at ra since he had stepped down to retire then found himself right back where he was before.


    "Your party will be rotating around the entire carriage line. I expect that you will act as necessary and help those around you. On top of this, feel free tomunicate any dangers ahead. I know two of you can specialize in scouting when needed." As much as Walker wanted to be the scout, Gil and Midnight could hide away much better with their skills. Therefore, Gil and Midnight stoop at the start of the carriages to begging the journey. ra took a seat on the front carriage to watch the front as well. She would be sendingmunications between every guild member there if she needed to. Their speed would be slow, but they were on the move.


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 Chapter 925 - 925. Familiar Trouble

    The party couldn''t help but feel emotional as they left the city. They knew that they would return and often travel here and there to many of the different kingdoms'' cities. But the fact that so many people were out shouting their praise or giving them a wave was too much to handle. The carpenters, cksmiths, and healers alone were enough to bring a tear to their eyes. But this was not the time for such things. They steeled themselves and responded with a smile while they crossed the walls and on to the fields.


    The burned fields had been covered with snow causing the endless nket of white to be all the eye could see. There were many nts hidden underneath and a few rebuilt farm houses. The patrols of guards and adventurers made sure to stop and send them off with a shout or two before they continued on their own jobs.


    "We are finally getting out of the fields. Let''s stay focused and watch for danger." There had to be some warning as Walker decided that the group should split up. They remembered the winter and what it brought. The monsters from the mountains would start toe down. The party had been lucky not to encounter many of them due to their closeness to the dragons. But now they would most likely run in to some.


    No sooner had Walker fallen to the right side of the carriage line did he hear a shout.


    "We have a monster! Be at the ready!" Walker turned and looked past a carriage to spot a group of four silver tired adventurers'' facing a small bluish white enemy. Walker''s first thought was an imp but the coloration wasn''t the same as he could remember.


    The knowledge that things were different spurred Walker in to movement. He used his wind ripple skill to step in to the air and over the carriages. His eyes trained on the round blue and white shape sending out small ice needles at the adventurers on the outer circle of protection.


    ''Ice slime


    This slime was specifically bred from the water slime. The water elemental mana was forced to condense and create a new species of slime only capable of growing and living in the cold snowy season. It has higher defenses and boasts the skill to throw needles of ice at an enemy. It has lost the ability to speedily wrap around and consume an enemy due to its icy state. The core must be destroyed to fully defeat this slime. They had the ability to pull ice in to heal themselves if given enough time.''


    "That slime breeder!" Walker willed the eternal orb that was currently blended in to his chest te in to a hammer. He was going to crush it in one hit. "Back away!" The silver tiered adventures did not hesitate to jump back as Walker fell from above. The force of the hammer that the eternal orb had changed in to caused the snow around to be a crater. The slime itself was smashed through and through.


    "That was a shy entrance. I take it you know that monster?" The adventurer that appeared to be the leader of the small group of four had a shield and a sword making him a bnced attacker and defender.


    "That was an ice slime. It was bred by a demon slime breeder. They have caused trouble for the elves and the dwarves. Now, they have let loose these ice slimes bred from water slimes. They will be troublesome for us to deal with. The core needs to be destroyed like any other slime but they can shoot ice needles and have tough defenses. Hit hard and crush them. I will pass on the message."


    Walker nced at the ice slime as it froze in to ice on the spot. It had beenpletely crushed causing the core to shatter. The result was the body freezing like normal water. It wouldn''t have any uses since they would need the cores if anything. However, that would be tough with the added defense.


    The entire procession only heard from Walker after they had encountered another three ice slimes. It seemed that every person Walked tried to tell, another slime would appear. But the message was finally passed on. Some of the guards had changed their behavior to be more focused hearing that a demon was behind the slimes. Unfortunately, Walker knew that they would not be able to deal with the slime breeder today for good.


    There was an instance where Gil had stopped and jumped up on top of one of the carriages. Many of the guards were wary of this, but when they saw him sniping the slimes from long range they didn''t cause a fuss. They may not know what carriage had people or goods but it was still unnerving having Gil fire arrows from the top.


    "Walker, we have arge group ahead. I count fifteen slimes. Maybe more under the snow." The guards that heard this readied themselves even more. If they were to try and go around slimes they would need to go off of the road that had been newly carved from the ground. There wasn''t even stone yet so the entire area was still rough grasnds.


    The call that they would be breaking through was made and some of the adventurers formed up at the front of the train. Su had her twin shields read to push through in the front. She may not have been the highest leveled adventurer, but with her shields and armor, she was the best defense. Once partnered with the other shield wielders, the group had seven people to push through the slimes which had already taken notice of the train.


    Wanting to make sure they broke through easily, Walker used his multi buff skill to give everyone the small boost they needed to beat down the slimes. It took effect just as the first slime shot ice needles at the shields.


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 Chapter 926 - 926. Tougher Slimes

    The ice needles shattered on impact against the shield. They were too weak to even cause the one holding the shield to know that they had collided with it. The sound of them cracking caused every adventurer and guard to stop their breathing for a moment. This was not a massive threat but it was enough of one for them all to hold their breaths.


    The first slime was close enough for Su to make her move. Her shield bash followed through and caused arge chunk of the slimes'' frozen body to crack and fall off. This exposed the core to Gil who fired an arrow and destroyed it.


    Midnight had used her shadow wrapping skill to sneak around the back of the ice slimes. She released a brilliant burst of red mes on their which caused their bodies to crack. The difference in the heat and cold was too much for the ice slime which preferred the cold to handle. Midnight''s attack signaled to the others that they needed to attack swiftly. The target was weak.


    Shouts echoed through the area as adventurers used their weapons to aim for the cores of the slimes. In the first minute, the slimes had been reduced to six remaining. They had been weakened by Midnight''s attack and were much easier to break. Their cores were the same weak core that every slime developed making them easy to defeat once exposed.


    "Gah!" One adventurer was pushed back without warning. The slime that caused this to happen had not fired an ice needle at all. Instead, it looked to be denser and a deeper blue color. The tendril it had formed was blocky and heavy, it looked simr to a hammer head or ice block.


    Walker knew this was a mid tier slime in an instant. The small ones were low tier and weak. But the defenses of this slime were higher and it didn''t appear able to shoot the ice needles that the smaller slimes could. Instead, it attacked slowly and heavily. These slimes were best described as walls.


    Walker started to think of a way for him to get to it and defeat the slime as quickly as possible. But Remey had already acted. She had clipped the fire affinity knuckles on to her gloves and wasing down with a heavy right him. The small sparks of mes on her fist collided with the slime causing a loud and terrifying crack to be heard by everyone around. The follow up defense breaking palm caused the crack to resound again but the slime to break in to pieces defeated. "Nothing special, let''s move on." Remey walked back in to the train without another word. The other adventurers had finished their attacks leaving only t frozen spots where the slimes had been.


    "From now on I want Gil on the top of my carriage spotting for the slimes in the distance. The shield wielders will remain spread out waiting for any call to defend the carriages!" ra was seamlessly adding orders here and there. Gil was fine with staying up high because it expanded his vision. The rest of the party spread themselves around the carriages the same as before.


    "Brother, I believe we should watch put for any slimes that are a darker blue than the one Remey beat up. They might need everyones'' attention." Onyx mirrored Walker''s worries. If there was a lord or giant ice slime then the entire adventure team would need to join with the party to beat it. Or allow the carriages to escape.


    "I will worry about that when it happens. Midnight had some good attacks with her fire. The ice slimes are very cold and don''t seem to have any fire resistance even though they''re technically water elemental monsters." This put Walker at ease. He could create fire spells as well and team up with Midnight t defeat the slimes faster.


    Midnight had moved back to the carriages and disappeared somewhere. Walker had the feeling that she had been hanging around the back to hold down the area. It was best that she was there since she had the strength to block any potential threats until others were able to fall back.


    The remainder of the day was slow. The snow caused the carriages to slide in some parts where the water had frozen in to ice. Luckily, the ice slimes were far apart and didn''t show up often. The group from earlier was a random urrence o far. It also seemed that the slime were not driven to attack and find prey making Walker realize that they were not being controlled.


    "I think it''s because the ice slimes are slow. They had a good defense but they can''t attack and defeat strong opponents. They should be seen as failurespared to the other slimes that were bred. They were most likely discarded and left to impede travelers during the colder months." This was the final conclusion that Su had reached before the entire carriage train had slowed to a stop. The carriages were pulled in to a circle which was easy to defend. The guards formed their own circle and then the adventurers.


    "That was nice shooting today Gil. I saw you get in a few arrows here and there between the shield wielders." It was a genuinepliment. Walker always found himself amazed by how precise Gil was when it came to the cement of his shots.


    "I''m just lucky my arrows could prate their ice. I was worried that I would need to start using the fire elemental arrows." Gil was constantly fiddling with his arrows making sure he was ready for whatever came in the night.


    "They are a little tough. But thanks to Midnight I knew that my fire knuckles could beat them down." Remey cracked her fists before the party set up their tents. They would have a night watch at some point but for now, they had the chance to rest themselves.


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 Chapter 927 - 927. Looking At The Moon

    There had been a little worry from Walker while they traveled. This was because Fleur was still resting herself on his shoulder next to where Onyx had be his tattoo form. He thought that she might had an adverse effect to the cold or fall off due to the travels, not to mention the battles. But he had found his worry was unwarranted. Fleur had cutely been poking Onyx in his tattoo form and giggling while holding on to Walker''s ear or hair to stay seated. The flow of natural mana toward her had only increased after leaving the city.


    Walker would have gone back to sleep after his portion of the night watch with the rest of the party, but Fleur was pulling on his hair for attention. "What''s wrong?" He wasn''t feeling anything strange around them and could not see any enemies. But Fleur was still trying for his attention.


    He took her in his hand from his shoulder and found that she was pointing up at the full moon. She made a show of crossing her legs the same way Walker did when he meditated to understand the mana around him. "Ah, we should meditate? I can do that, I already slept some so we can do that together."


    After finding a ce next to the fire, Walker sat down with his legs crossed and Fleur in his hands copying him. The flow of natural mana was definitely stronger now than before. Walker could only guess that it was the strengthened water elemental mana from the full moon causing the other elemental mana to be able tobine in to natural mana more easily. Therefore, he was able to spend a full hour absorbing natural mana efficiently with Fleur doing the same. Through this time they managed to absorb a significant amount of natural mana. So much so that Fleur began to show off her ability to float around Walker at will again.


    They two would have continued this in to the morning if they hadn''t been graced with the sudden howling from nearby. There was no need to wake everyone up because the howls were waking people up already. "Do you think that is a frost wolf pack? Or have there been sightings of the cial wolves already?" One of the adventurers had encountered a lone cial wolf before and knew it was a much more powerful special of wold than a frost wolf.


    "I don''t know. Those howls are much louder than they should be. Usually, there is one loud howl and some small ones. But instead-" Onerge howl echoed through the area cutting the other adventurer off. No matter what they were they were nearby and it seemed they had cornered some form of prey.


    The guards and adventures worked swiftly to make a tight circle around the carriages. "Listen here! Get the herbs burning to deter whatever monsters they are. My adventurers will build up the fires to scare them off. I don''t want a single thing getting near us tonight!" ra acted as if she had never been asleep in the first ce. Walker could only idolize her for a moment due to this prompt ability.


    Soon the herb infused smoke stung their noses and suffocated everyone slightly. But it was necessary. The strong smell was very hard on a human nose but even more so on a monsters. The only reason Midnight and Onyx could handle it was that they were used to being around stronger smells. They had been out adventuring around smellier monsters and even the human city for some time.


    The glow of the bonfires sparking up higher and higher illuminated everything around theirrge camp. This put some more at ease since they would be able to see the monsters of they came near. The loud howling continued along with some echoing growls. The monsters had most certainly found prey and were eating.


    The eerie silence that caught everyone off guard was enough to make them shiver. The sounds seemed to slowly resume as a breeze came through. There didn''t seem to be any danger this night as the sun began to peek over the horizon and push away the minor fear everyone had.


    The group sent Gil and Midnight ahead as soon as the sun had risen and everyone had begun to clean up camp. When Gil returned with Midnight at his side he did not look as if he had found anything good. "I don''t know what kind of wolf that was, but whatever it was had a veryrge paw. There were eight or ninerge wolf paws and one massive. Some kind of alpha. If I knew what a cial wolf paw looked like I would have a better idea. I would say it is probable though. I don''t have any idea about thergest one through¡­" It was a worry for them to know arger monster was in the area. Especially since it seemed to have control over seven or eight other wolf species monsters.


    "We will deal with it in time. Just keep a sharp eye and if we know they are around we will cat." Walker didn''t have much to say since he couldn''t spot them. He knew that Gil and Midnight could try and track them if the need arose, but for now, they didn''t need to.


    The information was passed on to everyone and they all started to speak about their own experiences with wold type monsters. Spoke myths and legends about giant wolves or other such creatures came out while the train of carriages left their temporary camp.


    "We have a lot of ground to cover today. We aim to get to the new city early! Stay in formation, walk fast, and I swear the next person that mutters a fairytale about wolves will get a demotion!" ra had no nonsense when it came to their travel ns.


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 Chapter 928 - 928. Plain Sight

    The threat from ra had kept everyone in line. It was the only way she saw that would immediately keep the soldiers and adventurers from talking themselves in to needless fears. This was not anything that she couldpletely avoid but during this trip, they needed focus. Their goal was to get through the hard build road to Genesis city as fast as possible. The roads were not patrolled and it was dangerous.


    "Eventful morning I would say." Walker did not recognize the guard that hade up to him but when a clear view of the mans'' face came to view it sent Walker in to a spiral.


    "You-"


    "Shh, keep it down. I don''t do this often if that''s what you''re worried about" The man had mped a hand over Walker''s mouth quickly and released it after Walker''s surprise had faded.


    "You should be safely in the carriage. You are in a guard''s armor, no one will know if you are hurt. You''re the king!" The king had equipped a guards'' armor and was walking around pretending to be a guard. It was ridiculous and dangerous.


    "Oh shush it. I am the king and I can do as I wish. It''s also the only way to safely speak with you without drawing attention. I could have made Markus do this but he doesn''t fit the guard armor well. It would have been like a child wearing their fathers'' clothing." While this was true, Walker still felt this was too dangerous.


    "You still should be safely inside a carriage. But I won''t force you¡­" There was a small tone of pride in the way Walker spoke. It was a smart way to disguise himself. The king wouldn''t stand out while rying what he desired to say. "What is so important that the king we are protecting has to leave the safety of the carriages?" It was also clear that the king was telling him something extremely important.


    "Well, as you know the roads have only been dug and cleared. They are safe for travel in the sense that carriages shouldn''t get stuck before the stone is ced in the warmer months. But that does not mean monsters and other troubles don''t roam the area still. I received a worrying letter from the demi-human kingdoms'' king Rorik before we left the castle."


    Upon hearing that the demi-human kingdom had sent a letter, Walker had begun to realize that this may be a little worse than he expected. "They had a certain demi-human that opposed the summit and alliance with the other kingdoms. This was fine since everyone had a choice to support or deny. The problem was that this individual raised a pack of wolves to fight for control. They were beaten but managed to escape with some of their pack. The problem is that they fled through the newly built roads and promised to y the weak human king before they ever arrive in Genesis."


    Walker drew a sharp breath. He knew that not everyone in every single kingdom would ept the alliance but this was a little too much. To attack for power may be normal for the demi-human kingdom, it was a huge insult to the human kingdom. Having someone forcefully exiled from the demi-human kingdom trying to y the king of humans was nothing ti take lightly.


    "The cial wolves that they have with them are powerful. But the guards and adventurers can handle them safely. The problem that arises is the man that was forced out. The demi-human with cial wold traits. In moremon terms, a werewolf. They are rare even for the demi-human kingdom. This werewolf is the reason I want you to take the night watch tonight. Last night they found our trail and started their fear mongering. Tonight I am sure they will attack. I will be passing out potions to everyone tonight when we set camp in an adequate ce."


    The n had already been made and the king had already met with his guard captain and ra. He knew that the threat was real since the werewolves were respected warriors even in the demi-human kingdom where there were many more powerful existences. "I will prepare my party. Ideally, we will trap the werewolf and send it back to go on trial. If worsees to worst¡­I will do what''s needed." Walker did not want to condemn someone to death, but knew that in the face of death he would do what was needed. He was guarding these people and it would be a failure to lose a single life.


    "Thank you. I will remain in safety until then. I hope that the other guards need not act." The king nced at a few carriages making Walker realize there were more guards hidden still. But that was thest resort, most likely when all hope was lost they would act as a final shield for the king to escape.


    As the king walked away toward the other guards, he saw them shift slightly to allow him toward a carriage. The next moment the armor had disappeared inside and no one was the wiser. Walker headed to his party members and exined the n and that they would be in for a fight tonight. They decided to get some food in their stomach now to have the energy they needed. Gil began to check the arrows he had and was deciding to use some of the light elemental arrows he had. "I will be blinding them. If I add too much mana to the arrows the arrow head will explode releasing the elemental mana inside. That will be the trick to blinding and beating them."


    Walker worried that Gil was getting too cunning now that he had so many options for his arrows. "You are sneaky but I think that is the perfect opening we need." It was a swift n but one that would work on anyone. Walker couldn''t be more impressed.


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 Chapter 929 - 929. Waiting

    While the sun was still up, Gil and Midnight began to scout ahead to make sure that they would be able to defend themselves better when it came to the night. "We only managed to find wolf tracks. No other monster tracks seem to be in the area. I would say they are also preparing." The manner in which Gil was acting was against his usual attitude. Normally Gil was more rxed andical. Now he was serious and harsh.


    "If they have nned this out we will have to be even better. I''m going to set up some bonfires tonight and create some me dolls. I think that will help us distract and deal with the enemy. I want you to hide on top of a carriage and shout when you overfill the light elemental arrow."


    Won''t that alert the werewolf too?" There was ack of knowledge for Remey when it came to werewolves. The myths that circled them were all most people knew. It was the reason most people were so fearful of them.


    "It definitely will but not by much. They won''t know what Gil is doing. I rmend we pretend that the fires are flying down before Walker makes me dolls and Gil attacks. It will lull the enemy in to underestimating us." Su was running the ns through her mind to develop one that coulde together better. They had pieces of a n but nothing fully yet.


    "Distraction and confusion are good. But you might need to use your earth dwelling shield. I know the earth spirit had been resting to keep mana full. The earth fortress could be detrimental to our defenses." Walker was sure that the physical strength of a werewolf would be beyond any other, However, there would be little to no magical might. From what Walker had learned that was not a myth, the demi-humans that were known as werewolves traded away magical might for strength.


    "Understood. I can take the front and taunt it. I think you will want to use your eternal orb in a mid range weapon. Something sharp. If you can incapacitate it in one sh we can detain it." This was a little more brutal than Su normally spoke. But she had also read the same books about demi-humans that Walker had which caused her to be wary. The story of the one armed bear trait demi-human was famous due to the feats of strength the demi-human had aplished.


    "I won''t hold back. But I want Remey to be ready to use potions on anyone. Normally I would say she should be the frontline fighter but she knows how the potions will work best and it is too clear that people will be injured. midnight, I want you to hide away and be ready for the worst case. If someone is going to be struck down, we will lean on you." This conversation came to a close as the carriages stopped for the night yet again.


    The small spot of clearednd they stopped was going to be a resting area for when merchants traveled. They would be unable to travel at the speed that the carriages and the party were able to. Most merchants did not have the stamina or the higher levels to do so. There was also the fact that the carriage train was pushing themselves very hard to make better time. The less tine spent in the wilds the better. No one wanted to tempt fate even if the king had secretly set them up to tempt said fate.


    The other adventurers had slowly been briefed by ra. Walker had made it known that they would have fiverge bonfires set up around them so that they would be able to light them with speed. The extra wood that Walker had taken from his storage was not too great to alert anything watching them but enough so that the bonfires would re up almost instantly. The trick was a bottle of alcohol from the storage carriages hidden within each of the bonfires. It would ignite and cause them to be bright and powerful.


    The ring of guards was sent to sleep a bit earlier than they normally would. The small tents they set up were made to keep out prying eyes. This was ideal so that the guards could remain prepared without being seen. The adventurers looked to be setting up a night watch but were really setting themselves in to teams of three so that they could deal with the cial wolf pack when they came. They had already been told that the werewolf would be left to the party since they had a n and more skills to deal with it.


    Walker did not hide himself at all. He was disying himself cleaning a small dagger. If an enemy were to look at him they would expect him to be unprepared. However, this was just a false face. Walker had the eternal orb as part of his armor right now. The dagger was just a basic weapon that have been made for Walker so that he could train with it.


    Anxious feelings weremon at the moment before the sun fully set. The cold also increased. There was dead silence in the night, even the crackling of the fires seemed to be silent. When Walker began to feel the presence of mana around him he knew that they had been surrounded. His eyes couldn''t pierce the darkness but the feeling of mana around him grew as movement sounds began t gue their ears. The crunch of ice and snow gave the wolves away while the moon started to rise.


    The same full moon that had been helping Fleur and Walker absorb natural mana was strong in the sky. It lit the area just to notice the glint of cold blue eyes. Walker stood up and waited. His breath steamy in the air and calm.


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 Chapter 930 - 930. Plans Pay Off

    The howls that erupted as soon as Walker had locked eyes with a cial wolf threw the guards in to chaos. Or at least, that was the intention. The cial wolves found their fear tactic to fail as the tents fell down revealing the guardspletely armored and drawing their weapons.


    Gil had spotted therger figure through the light of the moon and shouted his warning. Everyone lowered their heads and a massive amount of light elemental mana gathered. Walker had given Gil a light elemental crystal to fuel the light elemental wither spike arrow. The mana quickly filled the arrow head more than it had already been full. The cracks appeared as the entire arrow overflowed.


    There was a feeling of elemental shivering around that Walker was very sensitive to. He knew that the light elemental mana would burst any moment. Gil could also feel this because the arrow was pushing out the light elemental mana he tried to force in to it. This was his signal to let the arrow flu toward therge figure hidden in the darkness.


    When the arrow made contact with the ground it burst in to a blinding white light. This was not the normal effect of the light elemental arrows that would push healing or even a physical light elemental attack depending on the arrow. It was a burst of wild mana that blinded all the cial wolves and caused the werewolf to bellow out in pain.


    After the light subsided the bonfire burst up in mes while Walker poured his mana in to me doll spells. The skill quickly made five copies of me doll versions of Midnight. Walker had chosen her form for the speed it could use and the fact that she was close to the size of the cial wolves which snarled in agony and anger.


    They rushed at the cial wolves starting to attack them while the adventurers took aim themselves. Gil stood and aimed an arrow at the werewolf. The pure white fur all over its standing body was enough to blend in to the white snow. The sharp pearl white teeth were revealed as some aspects of wolf overtook the human traits. Hands were still covered in white fur but came to sharp ws instead of fingers. The legs were the same as a wolfs'' back legs giving the werewolf the ability to sprint forward with higher speed. The scary part for everyone seeing this was the size of the werewolf. It was easily double that of thergest man in the guards.


    "Su!, you''re up!" With the order, Su raised her earth dwelling shield and shouted taunts at the werewolf while the bonfires continued to brighten the area. The look of wild anger on the werewolfs'' face increased while hearing the shouts. It was still blinded but its'' other senses made up for this.


    The rush of speed that the werewolf used to attack her knocked her back a few feet. Su had been prepared but not enough to dig her heels in enough andpletely block all the damage. The shield held up but she could feel the pressure on her joints from the attack. Walker also saw this and released the multi buff for everyone around him. The added bonus to stats would put the battle in their favor even more.


    Utilizing the wither spike arrow, Gil added the horned rabbits'' paralyzing poison. Three arrows struck the werewolf in session but appeared to have no effect. "Gil, werewolves are resistant to poisons. Use the seafoam arrow and blind it further." Thebination of the light that had blinded the werewolf and the foam from the seafoam arrow would keep it blinded while Walker came forward with the eternal orb shifting.


    This was going to pain Walker to do, but the ws that the werewolf had at his disposal were too dangerous to risk. The form the eternal orb took was familiar. The curved crescent moon de glinted with light. The crustal became the base that attached a long handle to form a powerful scythe.


    The sight would cause anyone fear, but when Walker called on the fire elemental mana around Fleur also did so. The mes fused with the de of the eternal orbs'' scythe form and Walker shed down with all his strength. Since the werewolf was blinded it threw up its'' arms to try and block the attack it hearding.


    Unfortunately, the ming de of the scythe was too sharp and powerful. This as not some weak weapon. This was a magic infused attack with Walker''s full power behind it. The n was in full effect and the de sliced through the arms of the werewolf as if they were paper. The roar of pain was echoing through the ins around them. Simr cries came from the cial wolves which were facing an unbearable assault by the adventurers.


    "Finish the wolves!" Walker shouted to the adventurers and the mes dolls he had created. The cial wolves were monsters controlled by the werewolf which had just lost its'' greatest weapon in the fight. The wolves would be taken as materials while Walker manipted the earth below the werewolf to sculpt powerful shackles.


    The cries of pain and anger continued to echo while the werewolf was bound tightly. The only exposed part of its body was its head by the time Walker stopped. He stepped back and found Remey handing him a potion. "I know you have a lot of mana stored but It''s better to keep that forter." There was a quick nod as Walker drank the mana potion. Remey was quick to catch those that needed it.


    The fight had only been a few minutes. This was all due to the efficient nning from the king and the party. If they had been unaware, they would have lost many of the guards and adventurers. Instead, the small injuries were already being healed by the potions and a few healing spells from Walker.


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 Chapter 931 - 931. Continuing On

    The guards were astounded by the fact that Walker had created me dolls of Midnight. They were seemingly field by the bonfires but had made arge difference in the battle. The cial wolves had feared them and avoided their pouncing attacks. They managed to keep the cial wolves upied and even light the area better for the adventurers to attack.


    The blinding effect from Gil''s arrow was also a huge boon for their fight. The adventurers had been able to further surprise the cial wolves andnd attacks on their legs that stopped their movements. The guardian barely had to react since the adventures jumped for the killing blow.


    The only ones that had been injured were due to the wild swings of ws and bites from blinded cial wolves. However, this only left very shallow cuts on them along with damaged armors. Beating an opponent with sense weakened was easy for the higher ranking adventurers who had years of battle experience.


    The captive was surrounded by some guards so that it could be watched. Through the night the werewolf began to visibly change. Walker ha dread that the wold traits of a werewolf demi-human would change with the strength of the mood. But it was still a shock to see the heavily scarred and almostpletely human face. The muscles were overall more than an average man but the damage and chains on the werewolf kept him in control.


    "Humans aren''t meant to work with us! We are more powerful! The king has grown insane and does not know what should be done. This alliance is worthless. I will put my kingdom on the proper path! I will rise-" Walker manipted some earth to cover the mouth of the screeching werewolf.


    "He might have some issues¡­ But we will be able to give him over to the demi-human kingdom when we get to Genesis. Hopefully, he gets a trial and owns up for anyone her harmed." Remey and Su had checked the wounds from Walker''s attack on the werewolf. The fire attack had closed the wounds and permanently removed the chance of adding the werewolves'' ws back to his body.


    Walker felt a pain that he had permanently harmed someone. But from what the king had told him, this werewolf had not only gone against the kings'' wish for peace and cooperation. He had also attacked and fought many with the wolves he had gathered. Walker could not imagine how many such a dangerous person had harmed. This werewolf deserved punishment and a fair trial to put all his evil deeds to rest.


    "It all came together in the end. We are back on the move and this viin will face trial. Just focus on the good." ra came up for a moment and spoke before she kept on her way. She knew that she should say something to the party but didn''t see the point in a long lecture. This was a lesson they would encounter more in the future as Genesis was figured out. There was no guarantee that everything woulde together without a few bumps.


    The guards had split off and set the bound werewolf on a small wheeled tform. They hooked it to the back of the carriages and allowed it to be pulled. That was where it would stay until the city. Soon the shouts from ra came again about their timing and everyone pushed themselves back in to action.


    The rest of the day was fairly silent as they traveled. Most of the guards were still on edge from the nights'' attack while the adventurers had barely slept. The party took the lead and defeated any ice slimes and beat one ice wraith that stopped them in their path. To keep themselves on track the decision was made to travel right up until the sunset started to sink down. That turned out to be a very good thing for Remey.


    "Walker! Do you see that?" The two had been walking next to each other for some time and as Remey looked ahead she had spotted something.


    "What? The ice shining in the sunset?" All Walker could notice was some glimmering ice crystals in the distance.


    "Oh, right. Must be ice crystals. I would make a big deal about some ice crystals because i''m some sunset, obsessed girl." Sarcasm was strong in Remey''s voice as she gave Walker a squinty eyed look. "These aren''t ice crystals. Come on!"


    As they neared what Remey was looking at, Walker made out a shape that perfectly blended in to the snow.


    ''Frozen Rose


    This rare herb grows and blossoms when the seed is exposed to snow. The rose will grow over the course of three dayspletely mimicking the shape and appearance of ice and snow. This rose produces a single seed per flower. The leaves and stems of the frozen rose are cure alls for themon cold. The fever reducing potion made from the frozen rose is one of the best overall fever reducing potions ever created.''


    "We should be harvesting these." Walker was impressed that Remey had been able to spot them. It was really a testament to her alchemical skills.


    "Exactly, now what how I pull up the roots. I want to get all five of these nts so we can nt the seeds at the alchemy guild." Remey quickly showed the process up carefully separating the roots from the snow and ice. The flowers immediately drooped but not before Remey cut them off. "I will dry these flowers out and get the seed inside. The rest can be stored for potions."


    When they mentioned what they had found to Su a few momentster she was exceptionally happy. She had heard about the ice rose from her healer friends. It promoted everyone to keep a sharp eye for crystals sparkling in the distance before the carriage train set up camps for the night.


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 Chapter 932 - 932. Train The Moonlight

    The moment the moon began to rise, the werewolf began to gain more power simr to the power he had the previous night. It was not an unknown fact that the shifting of a werewolf was more powerful when it came to a full moon. That was why this was the perfect time to lure it out and capture it. They would be arrogant and easily fall in to a trap. Walker again was impressed by the king before he rushed to fortify the earth shackles that adorned the werewolf.


    There wasn''t even room for the werewolf to struggle which put many of the guards at ease. They knew that without the previous ns from the party that they would have been seriously injured. "Sir hero, my squad will watch over the prisoner for the night. Please rest." The guards were from the inner castle and did not know Walker''s father as the outer wall guards did. Therefore they showed a less friendly and more business like attitude towards him.


    "Thank you. I want to take advantage of the mana and meditate more." The real reason he decided this was because Fleur was still pulling for his attention to do so. The more natural mana she got ahold of the more she would grow. It was very clear to her that the party was always trying to get stronger. Since she was still learning things she took the chance to copy this mentality and absorb more natural mana at all times.


    "Brother. The moonlight might not be as strong, but I think I can use that to train. I will go a little way from camp just in case." It was not expected that Onyx would be leaving alone for a short time but Walker knew he would be safe. Onyx could always hide away in the shadows of the night if something dangerous happened.


    "Good luck. I think training now will make it harder but you will grasp the light elemental nature better." Onyx wanted to train his skills with light elemental mana. He had the darkness elemental affinity and this let him consume light elemental mana. But since he consumed it, Onyx had the ability to use and manipte the light elemental mana as well. He had just avoided it.


    Onyx slithered through the ice realizing that he was much too cold and would be unable to stop his movements or else he would be too cold and fall in to a slumber. This was one big downside of being a serpent type monster. Luckily, he had been consuming the light elemental mana all day while traveling and he could absorb enough from the moonlight to be able to function safely.


    His short travel gave him the discovery of a small clearing in the grasses and small trees along the main road. The area was at one point a small pool of water that froze over as the ice and snow came with the season. This was good for him since he needed the space.


    Some time ago, Onyx had learned to make a spike from his dark elemental mana. But he had not used it too much since he needed to be in contact with the shadow of the opponent. This attack was only good if he was able to take the enemy by surprise. However, it raised the question, can he use this attack with light elemental mana instead? Can he create a spike of light elemental mana?


    With this goal in mind, Onyx began to pull the light elemental mana toward himself. His goal was to use the natural pull of light elemental mana from feeding to condense the mana in to a form he could use as a spike or de. The process was much slower than in the heat of the sun but it was good. The smaller amount of light elemental mana forced Onyx to have more control over it.


    His body constantly moved in circles while gathering the mana. The fact that it was better for him to keep moving in the cold was an added challenge. He would need to keep moving inbat so training while moving just made sense.


    Light elemental mana began to get more and more dense around him causing the look of his body to glow. His ck scales had light around them and he could feel that if he didn''t consume the light elemental mana he would lose the control he had been working with. Onyx imagined the darkness elemental spike that would from shadows. But instead, he imagined it made from a piercing light that could force the darkness away.


    This process began to form in the air around him. Unlike the dark spikes, the light wasing from the sky and that was where they formed. The light naturally came down from the sun and moon sop it made sense as Onyx felt the light changing shape to form his will. The shadows normally rested on the ground so it also made sense that the dark spikes woulde from below.


    The process clicked in Onyx''s mind and he felt everything begin to form faster. His eyes took sight of five floating white spikes of light that he could cause to fall at will. The skill was already on his system. "Falling light¡­if I use this I can help everyone better." The night training was a sess in his mind. But the draw of light elemental mana was very high for him to deal with and only after a few hours he was forced back to the camp to curl up by the fire with Midnight and rest for some time.


    Onyx would have never known it, but a familiar face had crept nearby to watch over his training. "I told you that little cutie was going to train. I told you he would learn something amazing!" Zephyr had dragged Gil from his arrow carving to watch over Onyx. The things she said were indeed true. He was d to see that Onyx might be able to be a long ranged attacker with him on the battle field.


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 Chapter 933 - 933. Make Haste

    While Walker meditated under the moonlight, he suddenly felt a pressure on his back. His quick nce made him even more shocked. "Alice, you are supposed to be in one of the carriages with the high priest! Are all of you in there crazy enough to keeping out?" Alice didn''t know that the king hade out but she did know that Walker was just worried that she would be in a dangerous position.


    In response to him, she pushed her back against his again and used him as a back rest to sit up. "I will walk tomorrow." This was even more of a shock to Walker. He knew that she had trained herself so that she would be able to defend herself if worst came to worst during the journey. But he had believed that she would remain safely in the carriages without any risk to herself.


    "I-" He was going to argue with her but found that she waspletely stopped by her ring at him and turning her head. There was nothing he could do to change her mind. "Then, at the very least stay close to me or Su. I don''t want you to get hurt if we run in to any more of those ice slimes. I think they are everywhere in the ins."


    There was the bonus of having another healer to be able to keep everyone positive and safe from injuries. However, it came at the risk of having to defend against enemies. Alice might not be able to beat a monster at her level or stronger. This was because she had a weaker body than most others did. It was all toomon for healers to be weaker, thus the reason for them staying with the church unless they were a battle healer.


    What really convinced Walker in the end was the fact that he had not been able to experience the songs she had written just yet. Alice had been adamant about training alone so that she could better focus herself on what the songs would do with the light. Her skills made the light elemental mana react to her voice but getting control over that was very hard. Therefore, focused training was key.


    When Walker started to meditate again he was painfully aware of Alice drifting off to sleep while leaning against him. Fleur seemed to not mind and spread out on Walker''s shoulder and Alices'' shoulder. "You really are starting to learn from Onyx and Midnight too much. Next thing I know you will make the top of my head a pillow." His teasing was ignored by Fleur but still met with her rolling around a little while still trying to absorb more natural mana.


    It was good to see Onyx return and rest near Midnight. Walker had a slight worry that Onyx would exhaust himself with training to get stronger. He was very proud that Onyx had a goal to meet but it didn''t mean that he wanted Onyx to burn himself out to aplish it.


    "Leader, it''s time to get moving." Su was shaking Walker''s shoulder to wake him up. He had drifted asleep while meditating only to find that he was thest to get up and finish up the camp breakdown. Alice was standing next to Su with a smirk before handing him breakfast. "You should have told me that Alice would be walking with us. She can help boost our speed with her song of haste."


    "She showed you her songs?" Walker was surprised that this had somehowe up while he was still sleeping.


    "Yes, she showed me one. ra was very d to hear it this morning. It can cut two whole days from our journey with Alice singing her songs. Remey already prepared mana potions for her and even a honey tea for her voice when we stop for a break. Everyone else will need to toughen up and be ready for a hard few days." So much had happened so early in the morning. The sun had barely risen and they had already made ns for the next few days.


    After looking up, Walker found that Gil had taken Onyx on top of a carriage and was instructing him on how to look out for distant enemies. It was interesting seeing that Gil was taking a teaching role for Onyx. Although, it was clear that this was a good thing for Onyx to learn. Onyx was mainly a supporter for the party and being able to better spot an enemy and evaluate the situation would only make him and them better.


    "Midnight, how are you feeling about guarding Alice for me? It looks like she is going to sit with ra but I want to be safe than sorry." Midnight knew how Walker felt and nodded her head seriously. She also cared for Alice since she had seen the effort put in to healing others. Out of everything Midnight had learned during the visits to the cathedral, the caring attitude was one she took more seriously. Alice had this therefore Midnight would do her best to support and protect it. All other feelings aside, Midnight was ready for the day and her new task.


    "Walker, I need more of the stored health potions. The faster speed will be harder on everyones'' feet. We need to make sure that they are healed properly." Remey had taken full control over how everyone would be maintaining pace and health. He also noticed that the old master alchemist had left whatever carriage he was from and was also distributing potions. He didn''t know why everyone was ignoring the safety of a carriage but he decided to just ept it at this point.


    The moment that Alice opened her mouth and began to sing a slow song, a calming light reflected Around them. This brought energy throughout everyones'' body causing their legs to feel lighter than usual. Alice''s song of haste was more than what they had expected. "Alight, we are cutting two days from our journey today. Let''s push through!" ra shouted and the carriage set off at a much greater pace.


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 Chapter 934 - 934. Long Range Duo

    "Another slime!" One of the adventurers encountered a slime that seemed to be resting in a small frozen stream. It was just hidden enough that Gil and Onyx did not pick it up from the top of the carriage.


    The call prompted Gil and two other archers to fire arrows at the same time to break away some of the ice slime''s body. The follow up from a swordsman was enough to sh the core in half. The speed boost from Alice''s song of haste was proving to be better than any had known.


    The guards and adventurers were not only traveling faster. They were able to out speed the five ice slimes they had encountered along the road and better defeat them. There was even one adventurer that had shed down with his ax and managed to free the ice slime core from the body. He was the first to manage this even though it was an ident. Naturally, Remey had jumped at the chance and traded a mid tier mana potion for the core. She had a feeling that the ice slime core might be a key ingredient to a high water affinity potion.


    Seeing that she had been willing to hand over such a useful potion for their journey, the other adventurers made it their goal to get ice slime cores as well. The higher morale from this caused the overall attitude of the carriage train to rise.


    "Brother, we have three ice wraiths u ahead. They are just floating around trying to battle each other to getrger. Gil and I will take care of them so we can pass by before they form bodies again." Gil had taken care of some enemies before the group got near them, but Onyx suggesting that they do so was a new urrence.


    "Just be careful and make sure you work together." He could only encourage the actions they took while keeping a sharp eye on them. The sky was clear and the day was warmer which caused a lot of the powdery snow to begin to melt around the road. This was only a benefit to Onyx.


    The change in the light element mana did not go unnoticed by Walker. He immediately knew that it was Onyx doing this and put the pieces together. "He''s testing a new skill!" Walker was so happy that he said it out loud. Su and Remey heard him and focused on what Onyx was doing as well.


    "Focus on the targets you want. They are farther away now but will get closer as the carriage moves. Take that in to ount for your attack. When you release it make sure that you do so on a breath out. This will keep your aim calm and true." The archer tips were not usually the same for a magic skill but when it came to aiming, they were extremely useful.


    "Understood. Thank you.'' Onyx was very thankful for Gil''s exceptional help. He had not noticed that Gil had been watching his training the night before but when Gil began to seamlessly help him he had the feeling that Gil knew more than he said.


    The light spikes started to form in the air and as Gil had instructed, Onyx took careful aim and adjusted his vision of the three light spikes flying through the air. Onyx found that imagining them simr to Gil''s arrows was the best method for this and pushed them to flow through the air and down with more speed.


    The guards and adventurers watched impressed at the sudden attack heading out. The light spikes may have headed out of range for them to see but they heard the impact they made. The shattering of ice crystals was the damage done to the ice wraiths that were battling for a stringer body. Because they were weaker ice monsters in the first ce the single attack from onyx had destroyed all but one of them. The remaining one was left with a half solid body which was soon struck down by Gil''s arrow.


    "That was very good for a first try. Next time focus on one light spike. They have a good arch to them so it is better to slowly learn to aim them. If you want to use multiple then you need to have even finer control of the mana." Gil had learned this partially from Walker and also from Zephyr. He also needed finer control of wind elemental mana to make the arrows bend to his will.


    "Onyx, you didn''t tell me you had learned a new skill!" The excitement in Walker''s vice was not hidden at all. He was very happy to see the new use of light elemental mana in Onyx''s attacks.


    "Brother, I told you I would get stronger. I tried to change one of my skills to use the light elemental mana and this was the result. It''s called falling light. It can make up to five light spikes that fall on to an enemy. They are hard to control but I will master the skill all the way to five falling light spikes soon." There was no argument in what onyx was saying. He would master the skill and there was nothing that would stop him. Everyone around could feel the determination he had and felt themselves spurred to push on harder themselves.


    Alice may have still been singing to boost the agility of everyone but her eyes had still seen the attack that Onyx had used. She felt that she could also use such an attack by putting her feelings about it in to a song. She didn''t have the time now but she would be speaking with Onyx about itter. She was inspired and would make the best of it.


    "If Onyx uses that skill with Gil, then we might not see another m monster the entire journey." It was a small joke from Remey but they all felt it might be true. Onyx and Gil working together made a very impressivebination for long ranged attacks.


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 Chapter 935 - 935. Over The Hill

    Onyx''s attacks were the most captivating events of the next two days of travel. Alice and her song had also taken a bright spot in conversation. The small interruptions the carriages faced like ice slimes and the odd ice wraith were nothing inparison. There was one instance of the adventurers facing a sneaky imp hiding under the snow but it was defeated faster than it could attack.


    "With how fast we have been moving we should be there by tomorrow night. It is well ahead of schedule due to the song of haste. ra said she wildly underestimated the speed we would have." This hade to surprise everyone when ra notified them of their location. They had not only shaved off two days from their travel but five. The morale had been so high from the safety and agility buff.


    "You know, if Alice keeps singing she will end up being some kind of idol. She might have to perform in a theater instead of the cathedral." Gil firmly believed that someone would have the brains to chase Alice and invite her to a stage. It was already in the ns for an oprah house to be built in the city.


    "I doubt anything will ever take her away from the cathedral. Well, other than an adventure or two." Walker had wanted to say that Alice wouldn''t give up the cathedral for anything without question. But he remembered her desire to go on adventures with him. She had wanted to walk alongside him during this journey but had found that she was better sitting on the carriage to sing her song.


    "You two should sleep while you can. We are waking up earlier than usual to make it to the city as the sun sets." After Su scolded them they two gave in and fell asleep as soon as possible.


    The morning wake up call was loud enough to wake Walker sooner thanter which was a good thing since it was usually hard to get him to wake up in general. He was surprised to find he had be a pillow for Midnight who had her head on his chest. "You know you could have slept next to the fire." She growled softly in protest as he began to stand up.


    "Listen up, the Omnipotent party will be scouting head to clear the path the rest of the way. They are also going to meet the patrolling guards to send a letter ahead of us to prepare for our arrival!" This was a surprise but ra had nominated Walker''s party to head forward to clear the final bit of the road. Meeting with the patrolling guards was very important so that the city would be ready for therge carriage train''s approach.


    "You heard her. Let''s push forward faster than we have before." The push from Gil was due to his excitement to make it to the city faster than the others. He practically started to drag everyone away. Alice attempted to follow but she was held back because her song of haste would benefit the entire carriage train more than just the party. Not to mention the fact that she would not be able to keep up with the near constant jogging pace of the party.


    "Let''s get there before the sunset. I want to see it from the top of the hill." The map that Remey had seen marked a small hill that they would climb to see the city. It would be an impressive view before they entered. "Gil, on your left!" Gil saw what Walker had spotted and shot the small patch of blue exposed by the rising sun. The piercing screech of an imp quickly ended as Midnight followed up Gil''s arrow with a sh of her ws.


    "These things are despicable. They always try to ambush people. They should know that we are on the look out for them. This is a new road." Su was unhappy that they had found seven of the imps in thest hour.


    "We should be entering the patrol range at any moment. Once we are there we might be able to wait for the carriages." Walker had no sooner said this when he noticed a group of two men in armor with a single dwarven golem. "I guess I spoke too soon. Hello there!" The men in armor became ready for a fight before they noticed it was a party standing on the newly cut road.


    The two men recognized the ques and metals on their armor and clothing immediately. "Wee to the outskirts of Genesis. We will send notice of the approach immediately." The dwarven golem took these orders and began a brisk pace over the nearby hill. The two men in armor were staying with the party to properly greet the carriages.


    After just a short time, the rumble of wooden wheels came to their ears. The sound of Alice''s singing followed. There had been no breaks today and none of the guards or adventurers needed them. They were too excited to make it to their goal and check out the city. For the adventurers, this meant the first walk of the town to check out the pubs. For the guards, it meant they would have real beds in the guard quarters of the city. Both were happier than could be seeing the two armored guards.


    "Let''s get over that hill! The sun is setting and I want to be in my new guild building before it sets!" ra yelled her encouragement which made the carriage drives spur the horses even faster. Alice sang until they crested the hill. Her voice suddenly stopped as did any other talking. The tall shining buildings of the city were apanied by the flurry of snow beginning to fall. They had made it in record time before a snowstorm had begun to dust the city in fresh snow.


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 Chapter 936 - 936. Too Much To See

    The city was silent. The only sound was an asional snore from a tent nearby an unfinished building or home. The snow falling on to ice was also adding to the peaceful setting sun. It was almost sad to be breaking the silence with the sound of the carriages. However, the roads were already covered in stone and some of the dwarven golems were removing the fallen snow. It was a genius idea for them to work in such a way.


    As the carriage approached the center everyone fell silent yet again. There were threerge buildings that made up the center of the city so far. In the middle was a grand building in the image of the main adventurers'' guild. There were plenty of rooms and a massive training field stretched out behind it. To the right was a building set up perfectly for forging and disying multiple cksmiths'' creations. The road of shops along it also were set to disy forged goods.


    The left building was the one that Remey had been waiting to see for months. The space was not inferior to the adventurers guild building and training field. There were also an extra set of buildings all prepared to be converted in to greenhouses. They just needed the finishing materials. "It''s perfect!" Remey shouted and the old master alchemist burst from a carriage as well.


    The guards nearby rushed toward them recognizing who they were after being told by their captain. They had been told to report to the area with keys for everyone as soon as they received the notification of their arrival. Remey and the old master alchemist nearly fight to the death to see who got to open the door first. Walker could only catch a glimpse of therge sales floor and reception area before the door swung closed again.


    The adventurers were allied inside the adventurers'' guild by one of the builders that had been woken up at their arrival. ra stayed with one carriage that had the king and other nobles on it. Walker was surprised that she had known which was which the entire time. But the more he thought about it the more it made sense. She would need to know in case the worst was to happen.


    Walker tried his best to follow along but he caught sight of another building almostpletely finished. Alice had separated from the carriage ra was. She drank a mana potion quickly before following another carriage that opened a door. The high priest let a hand out to wave to Walker and the rest of the party for now since they were going to be staying in the cathedral which had their roomspleted already.


    Therger building behind this central strip was simr to a castle. However, the impressive part was that it had aspects of architectural design from the elves, dwarves, and the human buildings. This made for a veryrge domes structure with carved pirs simr to trees. The stone wall that surrounded it was constantly engraved with the city name, Genesis. It was clear that this was the very first building to begin construction since it was made as the central governing building for the entire city and the alliance.


    "I can''t believe they were able to build that¡­" The only feeling Walker coulde up with was stunned. He had no idea how hard people had worked to make this all happen. Not to mention the fact that the materials had been evenly provided by the dwarves, humans, and elves. This was a monumental undertaking that none of them had grasped to this degree.


    "Sir hero. Please follow us. We will take you to the Genesis castle. Rooms have been prepared for you and the other nobles." The guards were able to shake the rest of the party from their shock and get them moving again. The view of all the buildings could wait until the morning when they would be able to see everything properly. Although this didn''t calm their racing hearts.


    Therge gate that led them inside the Genesis building was made to depict the symbols that each kingdom used to represent its citizens. It had an empty space for other kingdoms symbols to be added after bars were removed. It was a very creative way to show off the alliances that would be formed.


    The gardens were clearlycking due to the current season but some portions were already dug out in preparation. Seeing the intricate carved wooden door that depicted the meeting that had brought the three kingdoms together made Walker want to shout out. He felt that it was the perfect representation for those that entered. It set the precedent that all races coulde together here. It was also clear that the wood hade from the elves due to the massive size f the trees needed to make such a door.


    The entrance was much calmer than they all expected. There was room for paintings and some furnishingster but overall it was more of a reception area with counters and other such designs. The stairway they were brought up led to the higher floors where there was avable rooms for guests and the officials that would be working there once elected by the governing bodies of each kingdom. It was clear that there would be those to represent each kingdom at all times to make sure any alliance decisions could be made.


    The room that Walker found himself in was only furnished with a bed and a few tables so far but he was still stunned. Taking all of this in was more than he had been expecting to handle. The saving grace was the fact that he, Onyx, and Midnight were too tired from the hard days of traveling and pushing themselves to move faster. They had gotten to Genesis fastener than expected due to their perseverance and now they could rest.


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 Chapter 937 - 937. Dragged Along

    Walker woke up to being pulled out of bed by Midnight and Onyx working together. "I''m awake! I''m awake! Let me get cleaned up and we will go to explore!" Walker fell out of bedughing like a fool while Onyx and Midnight tried to keep themselves still to wait. Onyx couldn''t even find the words to reply due to how excited he was. Now that the two of them had energy to spare it was time to find and explore every little thing in the city.


    Walker hadn''t even left the Genesis building before he heard the symphony of hammers and moving golems. Midnight and Onyx both grew even more restless as they rushed toward therge wooden door. It was a wonder how they were able to push it open with their smaller stature.


    Once they had made it out back to the streets, they were greeted with the brisk morning air and a bustling city. There were carpenters making measurements, golems moving materials, and many other forms of builders rushing around. The sight of the night waspletely different than now. It was silent and peaceful in the night but now the noise could raise the dead.


    "I have a map that was left in my room. Let''s go and check out the spots that are marked." Walker knew that therger plot ofnd marked on the map was for their dwelling. He was sure that it was still left empty so that the party could build as they see fit. But no one would expect them to teleport their mansion here. It would greatly shock the workers but would make the party at home.


    The part that caught Walker''s eyes were the other spots nearby marked out. It made sense that the mansion had arge plot ofnd nearby the guilds and forge buildings. This was mainly because the party would often have to go to these buildings along with the market area. But as Walker moved down the street admiring the shops being built he found that the finished shops matched the marking on the map.


    "Are these-"


    "Yes. These were apparently made after a certain king of ours gathered the information that our family members wanted to open shops." Su had been too eager to look at everything herself and just barely got there ahead of Walker. Her rxed and bright face showed how happy she was that the information had traveled around.


    "That is Lisa''s showroom and production area. That will be the private forge for the wandering cksmith. And that will be the kitchen that your mother can design and change in any way. Plus two small shops on both sides for us to sell general items as we desire. We even have the certificates of approval already signed by the king and waiting for the elf and dwarf representatives." Su was still having trouble believing this as she said it. But she had found the letter taped to their doors exining all of this and handed them to Walker to check as well.


    "So we all talked about it and it made its way right up to the king who made this happen. I guess we will need to thank him and think about how much we all talk outside of us about things." It was pretty amazing how this had happened but also made Walker realize he was a little more indebted to the king.


    "Brother, sister and I will explore around here." Onyx and Midnight were gone in a sh leaving Su and Walker standing in front of the shop that was supposed to be Lisa''s when she arrived.


    "I guess that leaves us to mark out thend where we will move the mansion to." Walker had carefully studied the scroll so that he had the runes necessary memorized. He was a little sad that the runes were only used with this scroll and would be useless afterward. But this wasn''t an issue. It was just how things worked and he was blessed to be able to use them once in his life.


    "They gave us a little too much. Don''t you think?" Su found that the space that the mansion took up would still be considered smallpared to what they had been given. There was enough room to build two more mansions here if they desired.


    "I think that is even a little stream frozen there. I think Gil''s mother will jump at that to use as water for the nts." Both of themughed at the future work they would be doing to change the garden to have a free flowing water system.


    "Alright, now to use thismunication crystal ball thing that Scy gave us. She said I needed to channel mana inside of it and make sure it''s focused on who I want to talk to holding another one of these." The pair huddled around the crystal ball and saw it begin to glow. "We will be teleporting the mansion in six hours. Be ready then." The crystal ball shattered and the dust blew away. The message had been sent and now they would set up their space.


    The pair was quick to mark out the best way for the mansion to be ced and still be able to ess the road easily. They also took in to ount the walls which would need to be expanded and the fact that the training field would more than double in size. If they really wanted they could also add an extra green house for odds and ends herbs that Remey might grow. Overall, it took them a total of two hours to justce markers.


    Walker spent the next three hours drawing the rune designs on parchment so that they could be posted at the four corners of where they would be teleporting the mansion. His hands were steady and his format sessful. Once all four were in ce, he and Su took their time to rx and prepare. They wanted to explore the city for the first time with their families, even though the city still had a lot of buildings left to do.


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 Chapter 938 - 938. Rush To Explore

    The hour was up before they knew it and Walker followed the scroll instructions perfectly. He stood by the space that would be teleported and channeled his mana in to the scroll. Su held part of it as well to add her mana. She knew that the spell was sealed within the scroll but she feared that the mana draw might cause Walker to pass out. It was a big spell and it might need a little extra mana to activate fully.


    When the scroll activated it burst in to cool blue mes before falling to ashes in the wind. Walker felt that he had been tricked before he felt the massive shift in elemental mana around him. The feeling made his stomach churn and he was forced to sit down. Su was the same and Fleur looked unhappy as well. The three of them were all messed up by the sudden change in mana. However, when they looked u they noticed a strange fog fading away and revealing a mansion where the tnd had just been.


    "It worked!" The relief in Walker''s tone was enough to cause Su to force herself to stand as well and rush toward the door. Their momentary feeling of weakness was all but forgotten.


    The mansion seemed to be out of ce in theparing buildings. It was much older with newer additions on it. But overall, the wonderful garden was what truly stood out. There were many things still green and growing even though it was cold. There was also the fact that there were a decent number of elemental spirits flitting about here and there. Of course, they rushed away from the mansion to explore as soon as it showed up. Fleur found this very amusing.


    "Walker! Do you know how weird that was!? As my son, I expected a warning!" Walker barely looked up before he was crushed in an embrace. Su''s parents equally rushed out of the mansion towards her. The experience of being teleported was very strange and odd. Most of the others were still putting their thoughts in order.


    "Brroooooother!" Lisa and their mother followed out of the mansion along with the wandering cksmith. They were also very excited and a little foggy at the moment but wanted to see Walker and Su.


    "Now where is my son? Don''t tell me he rushed off to go and build something already. The hunting grounds can wait too." Walker looked around finding that Gil''s mother and father were resting on the bench in the garden. They were the two that appeared less unsettled by the sudden teleportation.


    "I''m sorry. I have no idea where Gil or anyone else went. Even Onyx and Midnight ran off this morning. I was lucky that Su came this way to explore the ce we would build. Actually Lisa, mother, I have something to show you two." Walker also made a wink and nudging motion toward a building next door to the wandering cksmith. The smile on his face mirrored Walker as he realized it was a forge.


    Walker handed each of them the letters that Su had found on the doors. Next door we have Lisa''s work shop. And right next to that we have a kitchen just waiting to be changed and built to any specification." Walker stood proudly while his mother and sister read the letters and then looked at the two buildings.


    "They are so close to home! We have a front row seat to everything on the market strip! Are those the guilds up there? Where''s Remey? Is she living in the big guild building? Wait where''s Midnight, does she have a spot by the fire at the guild buildings? Or wait, should I- no I need- how many things can I bring over-"


    "Lisa! You have months to figure it all out. You don''t need to even open the shop to the public right away." Walker was quick to cut her short. Lisa was talking herself in circles due to her excitement.


    "While you take your sister for a tour, your father and I will go look at my new kitchen. I will cook up something special once Imission for a new set of tools from your uncle." Walker and Lisa''s mother headed toward the bakery that had been prepared while they put the pieces together. Their parents had started to refer to the wandering cksmith as their uncle. All the adults had decided this because of how close they were and the fact that he always helped the party. The adventure they had been on was the final piece in making their decision.


    "Come on!" Lisa dragged Walker inside and immediately stopped in amazement. There were already wooden mannequins so that Lisa could disy dressed and other clothing. The counter on the back set apart the employee and the main show room. There was also a set of stairs leading up to an office and storage space. Overall, it was an ideal shop for Lisa to begin to turn in to her dream of being the best seamstress there ever was.


    "I can help you bring things over if you want?" As Lisa''s brother, Walker felt it was his duty to help her get everything settled.


    "No! I will do it myself. I have to be able to run this entire ce by myself and you have to go and do other things. I need to talk to the treasury to set up an ountant for myself. Mother needs to teach me how to fill out all the forms since she has done them for the bakery. Alright! I can do this!" Walker found his sister to be more adorable than ever. He couldn''t help himself from grabbing her in a big hug to congratte her on starting her own journey. Before he could do anything else, Lisa was already sprinting to the mansion to get her first materials.


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 Chapter 939 - 939. Example

    It was odd that Walker found himself standing alone. He knew that his parents were exploring the new kitchen and that his mother would be telling his father every small detail of what she would do. There was also the fact that his father seemed to want to go right to where he had applied to work for the guards immediately to take on his job and learn about the new city.


    Lisa was also caught up and he was sure not to see his sister until dinner that day. Unsurprisingly, the wandering cksmith had already started work on adding runes to the forge furnace. From the sound of things, Walker could tell that very tough metals were used. The hammering sound on a chisel was rare due to the high quality tools the wandering cksmith used.


    The staff members had started to wander about and leave the mansion as well. Walker took extra care in cing the map he had already memorized by the front gate for others. There were so many people that would being and going through the days.


    "Oh" ra sent Walker a message to report to the guild building when he was prepared. This was surprising but not unexpected. She would be needing his help to get things set up since the employees that were there ahead of her were not able to fully set things up without her and others'' help.


    The walk was slow toward the guild. Now that the light hade to show off all the shops and small stalls already built, Walker couldn''t help but admire the high quality craftsmanship. There were elves, dwarves, and humans all working together on the partial buildings. Along with this, there was another group going around and preparing furnishings. The merchants that would move in to these shops or homes would be paying for nearly fully furnished shops and homes. Something that was nearly unheard of anywhere else. But for the Genesis city, the kingdoms did not spare a single thing. The money they invested would be more than paid back and funneled in to the future growth of the city.


    The hustle and bustle by the guild buildings were even more so than the streets around it. The adventurers that had joined the carriage train were all moring for jobs around the city to help with. There were even a few off duty guards trying to find an odd job for the morning. All in all, it was a refreshing sight to see.


    Just before Walker went toward the adventurers'' guild, he saw all of Remey''s siblings exploring the spaces around the alchemy guild building. They seemed to have some small tools that Remey distributed to begin marking out parts of different plots or greenhouses. They also threw the odd snowball at each other as children should do when out in the snow.


    As soon as Walker came in to the adventurers'' guild he was graced by the warm atmosphere. The floors were made of easy to clean stone and there were signs posted around for directions. The desks were all divided for multiple uses such as, dissection desk which was near the basement stairs, the registration desk, and the quest desk. The bulletin boards were three times the size of what they were back at the previous guild branch. There were many tables for party members to sit and wait for their chance to meet with someone or to gather with their party. One sign said that the second floor meeting rooms were rentable via the quest desk.


    "Ah, Guild master ra told us you would be arriving. Please follow me to the third floor. She is waiting in the new office." The woman that noticed Walker was a familiar face from the other guild branch. She was working behind the desk to organize paperwork along with ten or so other employees.


    The stairs were much wider than the other guild building. Walker could see that many parts of the building were maderger and taller to amodate different races andrger groups. He could only imagine howrge the basement was that would be used for dissection. It wasn''t hard to imagine howrge the rear entrance would be for therger monsters that would be brought in from time to time.


    The second floor was all rooms for meetings. Nothing different than what the other guild building head. The major difference was in the third floor. The rooms were open to the corridors showing that they were set up as living quarters for some staff members and also for guests. The final room was muchrger.


    "So, what do you think of the office? It''s made to entertainrge groups of guests when I need it and right through that door, is my own room. I can''t say I will live here all the time but when I don''t stay in my own home I can sleep here." ra was very proud of herself. This was the crowning achievement of any guild master.


    "So you called me all the way here to brag? And here I thought our guild master would want to ask me for help." The teasing tone that Walker took up almost made the staff member that was leaving burst out inughter. The woman managed to close the door before a small giggle escaped her lips.


    "I guess I should be serious then. There will be a flood of adventurers from multiple kingdomsing here in the next few months. I want your party to act as the prime example for those that are looking for fame and money. I want your party to show off your heroic tendencies. I have just the quests to do it too. The second I set foot in the building I started seeing quests from the system that I can pass down to members." ra was sure that she would be able to convince Walker of this. She knew that they needed the heroic points to level up along with the experience.


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 Chapter 940 - 940. Gils Letter

    "I think you already know this, but we all nned to work hard to make sure this city is ready by the time the rest of the guests get here. But if you are issuing quests, we could use some growth." Walker was very d to hear that ra was directing the adventurers toward the growth of the city first. It would go beyond what they could imagine when it came to the future of Genesis city.


    "Good to hear it. The other adventurer parties have already agreed to this. I will be setting up the quest boards first. I have figured out the heroic points system and will set the precedent that the more the deeds benefit the people and city, the more the rewards will be. I expect it to bring great things. I also noticed that my system has begun t recognize these points even without interactions with your party. I think it''s a good thing."


    The two finished their business with that. ra was d to reach this understanding about the quests that she could set the guild up with. It would breed a whole new generation of dependable and hard working adventurers. The goal was to make the main guild branch the most reputable so that any adventurer that came there would leave a better person and not just an adventurer.


    "When do you expect the guild to be fully running?" This was one thing Walker had wondered. He knew that the alchemy guild would take longer but the forge and the adventurer''s guild were a mystery.


    "I will have it started in one week. I have masters in most basic weapons systems and party positions. They will be given positions as teachers so that they can offer sses to any adventurer that needs experience. Like I said to Ibis, the guild is going to change for the better. We will have even better adventurers than ever before." Walker had nothing to respond to this with. It was even better than he had hoped. Instead, he gave ra a wave as he left. The quests were already showing up in his system and he knew that his party would be privileged to have the first pick. However, he also knew that the more tasks that were done the better it would add up to. He looked forward to what the party would look like when all the representatives of kingdoms arrived.


    "You''re telling me that you were able to arrange for this building and archery range to be built just by speaking with the dwarven crossbowmen? They really built all this just because you asked?" Gil''s father had headed out with Gil in the morning. Gil''s mother had stayed behind to keep the garden up to healthy quality and n the new paths she would buildter.


    "I did. I wrote a letter so that I could have everything set up. They didn''t believe that the bows and arrows I had would match up to a crossbow. I showed them though. I was able to convince them in a single letter to build this when they sent people here to work on the city. It''s the first ever training area for crossbowmen and archers alike." This was something Gil had kept hidden from everyone, even the party. The reason being, that he wanted to show off just like Remey.


    "The other day Walker was mentioning to me that I shouldn''t be thinking of just a club for hunters. He said I should think about an academy." Gil''s father grew wide eyed hearing this.


    "I always knew he was a smart kid. If this is an academy you can have every sort of hunter teaching. Do you know how amazing that would be? No one ever funds archery schools or even solo archery teachers. This could be the first real archery academy in forever!"


    The idea was running through the pair''s minds. It was a grand achievement for anyone, but for them, it was a shining dream.


    "I have met a lot of archers in the forest elf city. I think they have things no one can learn by themselves from all their experience. Then we have the rarity that are crossbows from the dwarves. Add in the random hunters who rarely leave the woods, and we have the best of the best. We don''t even need to worry about space. We have the wilderness to take trips to right outside the walls." Gil nced out at the walls which were nearly finished., he knew that they seemed far with a lot of empty space now, but that space would rapidly fill up as people moved to Genesis.


    The two found that there were even targets of different strengths and a very tough wall behind the range. "This wall might be my fault. When I showed them my bows'' strength I broke a wall and killed some soup, or was it stew? Eh, I ruined a wall. That''s easier to say." Gil''s father was looking at his son as if he was speaking another tongue. Never had he heard of someone firing an arrow through a wall unless it was a grand tale about a very high level master.


    Zephyr left the bow and fluttered around the pair before leaving to examine the archery range. She was shouting here and there about how fun things would be there. Archers and crossbowmen would learn to love the wind and she was sure that more wind elemental spirits woulde there to join the fun of archery with her.


    "Ah, so you and that wind spirit were able to work together? I think that would make sense." Gil''s father easily saw the connection. He had yet to see Gil''s true strength but could feel that his son had be an outstanding archer. "I think you have learned more than I could ever teach you. I guess it''s time for you to show me a trick or two." They pair hefted up their arrows and went to the far end of the range to test things out.


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 Chapter 941 - 941. Walls

    "If you were not a member of Walker''s party, I would recruit you to the cathedral in a heartbeat. I couldn''t ask for a more knowledgeable and helpful volunteer." The high priest had already been impressed multiple times by how well Su worked. Now that he was looking at the perfectly organized medical cab, he knew that she had learned just what the healers would need to reach for the most and easiest. This was only obtainable through close attention and time.


    "It is just what I can do to help. I enjoying to help and being able to y a small part in setting up the ce that will save many lives, is an honor." Su had seen the quests popping up and knew that Walker was epting them constantly. She was already at the cathedral and decided to help set up the rooms and storage areas with the few other healers and nuns that already arrived. It was part quest and part of her joy to do.


    "I spoke with the head stone mason over there and he told me that the rest of the wall and outdoor alter would be finished in three days. Then we have hopes to have another crystal brought from over the mountains for its healing aura. But that''s another matter."


    Su had noticed that the high priest seemed excited by the new crystaling for the cathedral. She had wondered where they came from and how they were made but didn''t see or hear any answers. From the way the high priest acted it was certainly a secret. But she did know that there was a harbor with the main cathedral over the mountains and across the desserts. That was where the head of all churches was; the pope.


    The title was mostly honorary since they were the same as a high priest. The only difference was that they were selected based on their high merits in the church and would be able to run the main cathedral. The main cathedral was the one that was first built and had existed for over a hundred years apparently. Since it was so far away and the human port city was so unknown to their kingdom, they just didn''t pry in to it too much. The only person that had real facts would be the high priest.


    "High priest! The pews just got here from the carpenters!" The shout pulled the high priest away from Su. He was pushing through the constant work but she could tell that he was tiring fast. He had been the high priest for many many years, but it was clear that his decision to mark a sessor was the right one.


    Since she had just finished the task at hand, Su decided that she would sit for a moment. The cathedral wasn''t fully open due to the current construction. There were the odd injuries from builders, but that wasn''t enough to stop the healers from working. Alice soon flopped down next to her looking just as tired as the high priest did. "You look like you have been working hard too." Alice smiled in response with a soft nod. Between singing during the carriage ride and starting to stock the cathedral, it was taking a toll on her.


    "Walker?" There wasn''t really a question there but Su knew that Alice was wondering if Walker wasing to help as well.


    "I''m sure he wille at some point. My best guess is he got caught up helping someone on the way and now he is building something or something we least expect him to be doing." The two shared a serious look before bursting in toughter.


    "That''s the way kid! Just keep up the rhythm and we will have that wall pulled up in a second." The dwarf carpenter was encouraging Walker as he and another pair of dwarves hoisted the third wall of a new building up. The structure was basic but a lot heavier than Walker had imagined. He had been walking past them and saw the rope slip from their hands. One dwarf had smashed his thumb with a hammer and needed healing. So, Walker helped to pull the walls up one by one.


    His next goal had been the cathedral then he would tour the rest of the city. The weight suddenly reduced and he felt that the rope was weightless. "Midnight!" Behind him was Midnight with Onyx on her back. The rope was clutched between her teeth as she pulled back to help. "I wasn''t sure what you two had gotten up to."


    The wall reached the spot needed for the dwarves to hammer in the nails. They had it done in just a moment and they were pushing for the fourth wall to be hoisted up. Midnight and Onyx helped with that one as well and it was up and nailed in to ce even faster than thest wall. "Brother, we went to explore the areas being built still. There are homes that have entryways on the second floor as well." This addition seemed to be confusing for Onyx. "Sister says it is for when the dragons move in, but I do not believe they wille to live in such small homes."


    "No. I don''t think they are the ones that will fly in to there. I would have to say it is for the harpies from the demi-human kingdom. Remember that there are other monster races trying to be considered a sentient race." Onyx felt he had been blind to something so obvious. Of course, they would amodate harpies if they were moving to Genesis.


    "I wonder if Kroll wille. He might be pretty shocked seeing this. But he is part of the alliance too" Walker felt that if the goblins came it would cause a stir with the other kingdoms''ing, but nothing too major. It would be an interesting happening.


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 Chapter 942 - 942. Pleasant Encounter

    "Brother, did you know that there are rain water collectors so that some homes can always have water and get water?" Onyx had been rambling about these things since he and Midnight had finished helping with the walls.


    "Believe it or not, but I did. I remember the dwarves have some rune smiths. Hey should be able to make some runes that purify the water and that help it gather there." These were runes that Walker wanted to learn at some point. But for him now, they were bound to be much tooplicated a design to attempt and learn. There was the minor fear that he would mess up a rune that caused it to explode.


    "What about the small channels by houses so that rain water can run off? They are only built where the ground isn''t frozen. But there is a team with an elf earth mage that are building them. It will make the city perfect even during the worst rains." Walker nced to the side of the street knowing full well that they were able to see one of such designs next to them. But he just listened to Onyx''s exnation anyways.


    "I can''t wait to get a good look at the cathedral. I have been wondering how they put those big colored ss windows up." Both Onyx and Walker were curious about this. The windows were clearly toorge to just move as a single piece. That meant that they were made on site somehow by a ss blower or artist of some kind.


    "Look who it is! The little hero!"


    "Ha! I told you he would be here. Now where is Garrett? I heard he applied to be an inner wall captain."


    "No way, he is going to get beaten out by me. I will be the boss this time!"


    Three familiar outer wall guards were walking by carrying some lumber with them. Walker had known them for years and they had been a big part of his learning. They were more than happy to help him ask as many questions and convince travelers to show him their system skills. "Did you three really need to follow me all the way here? I''m not a kid anymore. I don''t need babysitting." The tone was light hearted and all three of them stopped to shake their heads.


    "A kid is still a kid."


    "We raise him and he''s so cruel."


    "Well didn''t you hear what Garrett said? He''s got a healer girlfriend. That one that was raised by the high [priest. He doesn''t need us anymore for family."


    The three feigned crying and hurt feelings while Walker pretended not to hear thest one about Alice. "I can''t believe you would transfer all the way over here. It''s a big change."


    "Ha! Big change, my wife practically carried me all the way here. She said a new start is exactly what we need for our baby."


    "What? Baby? I thought we came for the elf women we''ve heard about?"


    "Elf women? No, you are both fools. There will be dwarven fire wine here! FIRE WINE!"


    The three began to argue as they walked in the opposite direction as Walker. After the small encounter, Walker and Onyx couldn''t help but to feel even more at home. The city had yet to be opened and running but it was an amazing ce already. Knowing there were three experienced and friendly guards around would put anyone at ease.


    Before they could begin walking up to the door, Walker noticed the massive bs of stone that were being used to create the walls of the cathedral. He couldn''t imagine where they had been cut from. All he did know was that they were definitely making the cathedral one of the toughest buildings there. "Huh, they didn''t make stairs for this cathedral. That''s a good idea."


    "d you like it kid. This section was up to my nning. I have three restaurants, four general goods stores, and the tamers'' guild to build next." The dwarf that spoke rushed by with a blueprint in front of his face. Walker and Onyx would not have believed that it was him that had spoken if he didn''t wave a hand in thanks. Midnight just looked excited at the mention of the tamers'' guild She wanted to see another dragon and possibly learn to breathe fire for the forge even better.


    Walker did have the sneaking suspicion that she also wanted to show off how good she had gottentely. Her dragon breath attacks had been improving every day with her constant practice. "Let''s go, I''m sure that Su and Alice are here waiting for us." He would be crazy not to expect to find Su here trying to help out.


    "Brother, they are over there." Onyx slithered away from Midnight and Walker toward Su and Alice who were resting.


    "I hope we weren''t toote. We got caught up helping out a little." The apology sounded a little forced since Walker wasn''t sure how he would have walked by and ignored someone who needed help.


    "Oh, we knew that you got caught by something. It''s pretty easy to guess." Su and Alice both giggled for a moment making Walker worry that they were getting too close. He would soon be on the receiving end of constant teasing if they bonded anymore. "By the way, there are a few earth mages that are resting but the masons still need concrete mixed. Can you help out?" Su already had a task for Walker before he even tried to sit down.


    The job wasn''t going to do itself so Walker jumped to it. Meanwhile, Midnight decided to explore the very problem that she had heard Onyx and Walker talking about. Therge ss window materials were in eyesight and she was curious as well. The ss blowers were also just starting to heat up some tools to begin work again.


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 Chapter 943 - 943. Making Glass

    There were many bags that Midnight investigated first. She couldn''t smell anything unusual from them but when she saw what was inside them she was confused. They were each filled with arge amount of colored sand. Each bag had a different color and the ss blowers would take some from time to time and ce it out on a metal frame. Then they would move fire under the metal frame to heat it.


    One ss blower took notice of Midnight watching them. "I heard you are the dragon that helped with those yellow slime bastards that tried to eat my sisters'' house. Thanks for that. Want to hear a lesson?" The ss blower was from the dwarf kingdom and specialized in all things ss. He had been out collecting the colored sand front he desserts over the mountains when he had returned to hear the tale of the yellow slimes being defeated.


    The small huff of affirmation from Midnight was all the ss blower needed. "Well, I know dragons are more well known for their fire. And since we are using fire, you are in for a treat." The ss blower lowered the mold for Midnight to watch the entire process better.


    "I gathered these sands from the sifting sands desert. The colorse from different minerals breaking away in to sand. It is very amazing to see when it rains. It''s also the best time t be able to gather the sand at the purest color possibilities." The deserts were a mystery to Midnight. She had not studied or been told about them. Walker had also avoided them since they were over the mountains and the odds of the party going there any time soon were slim.


    "I take this hard earned ss and wash away the dust. It would ruin the final product. Then the sands dry and I will ce it on a mold. This mold here is one is in honor of the world. The church might say holy lord, but no one knows who created the world or any of it. The world is just what we know is here so most people pray to it."


    The metal frame was hard to understand since it was just t with many pins popped up to separate sections. "I will first pour my sand in the ways I want. Some blue and red will sh here and there. I have yellow for the ring around the nts here and some green. Then you add the ck to divide and outline them around these pins. This is what will force the sands on to the pins as a permanent frame like the ones you see there." Midnight raised her head and saw exactly what the little pins were for. They were the same as the frame of a wooden window.


    "Now, I know what you are thinking. It''s just some colorful sand set on a metal mold. It is never going to be a window. Well, that''s where the best partes from. Have you ever seen molten ss?" The ss blower started to move the mold over the heat of the mes. Nothing happened at first but as Midnight watched, the sand began to melt the same way she had seen Hilda melt sugar for a caramel.


    "It will slowly melt and lose all impurities and air bubbles. If they had that dust in it that could trap air. It''s a very particr process that can lead to very dangerous burns if not careful. I even met a man that burned his shop down when he left it alone for too long. Now. once it has melted, we give it a tap here and there to remove air." The soft tapping on each corner and side echoed in the cathedral. Walker had helped mix the concrete already and saw Midnight watching the windows get made. He watched intently too after greeting them and giving his name.


    "See this? That is molten ss. It is glowing red and melting the frames in to it. We will have the design I made before but better. Let me just cool it with a skill." The skill the ss blower used was very simr to the one that Remey used to cool the potions. Overall, it was good to see the crossover in another system when it came to skills.


    "Once it is cool like this one over here." The ss blower popped off some molds from the outside of the stained ss he was showing them. "We will round the edges so no one gets cut. Then we install them with the help of stone masons since they would be able to seal them from the wear and tear of nature." The others came around and grabbed the ss. It was fitted in to a ce on the wall in just a few moments. The creation showed a blossoming white flower surrounded by a gold aura.


    Midnight growled slightly in approval. She found it amazing that someone had discovered to take sand and melt it in such a ways. This was a huge show of skill and imagination for every ss blower. "The final touch is oil from a sunflower nt. It makes things just a little shiny. I also like to snack on the seeds." The ss blower pointed out a bag of sunflower seeds. "But that''s enough. I can vouch that this ss willst tent years without being broken intentionally." The ss blowers all nced around at the work they had alreadypleted. They appeared very happy with their work.


    "Maybe you know the answer to this. Who will be painting the ceiling? It''s not carved or painted. I can''t wait to see it matching my sswork." The ss blower carefully watch the newly formed ss. Walker and Midnight were also at a loss for this question. Everyone began to have a sharp eye out for the high priest. He was the only one that might have the answer for the random question. But in the end, they all knew that is was not the most important thing in the world to know.


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 Chapter 944 - 944. Alchemy Guild Building

    The question hung in the air for a little before Walker shrugged. The multicolored ss windows were always going to steal the show when it came to beauty. But the rest if the cathedral did need to be decorated. Having the ceiling painted would just go leaps and bounds to improve the calm and peaceful feeling of the cathedral.


    "Eh, that''s not for me to worry about. I have too many more windows to do. You can watch all you want. It''s a lot of fun." The ss blower moved to the next metal frame and started the process over again. Walker and Midnight might not have learned skills or any grand lessons, but seeing the process and skill was enlightening.


    "I never would have thought they needed to be so specific with what sands they melted. I wonder if the entire dessert looks like that. I''ll need to study the dessert a little more when we get to the mansion again. I think there are one or two books about it." Midnight nodded happily. She wanted to head to the desserts at some point too since she could learn more about the earth and wind there.


    "Walker!" Su shouted for Walker and drew his attention to the other pews being brought in. "Come help. You and Midnight are strong enough to move them with us." The work didn''t seem to end. Over the next hour, every pew was brought from outside since the staining and smoothing had been finished. The smell of newly stained wood was strong even though it was already dried on the pews.


    "Perfect." Alice was bouncing in ce after seeing the new pews and colored ssing together. She was very excited to be able to perform here. She would have more space which meant that more people would be healed when she sang. The new furniture and other aspects just went to enhance the feelings.


    "Do you have anything else to do now? If not, we can take a walk toward the alchemy guild and see how Remey is doing?" Walker wanted to see what the inside looked at clearly. He knew that Remey''s siblings were hard at work ying in the field while marking out areas for Remey. So there was no way that Remey would be leaving the alchemy guild for any reason.


    "Yes!" Su and Alice shouted together. They both were getting too in sync with each other for Walker to feelfortable.


    "I swear, if I leave you two alone for too long you might be twins." The teasingment just seemed to make the pair happier while they left the cathedral.


    The sound of Remey''s siblings ying in the snow graced their ears when they approached the alchemy guild building. Neither of them could bring themselves to interrupt their fun so the group headed inside. The only one that stayed outside was Midnight who used her snout to kick up a chunk of snow. She had decided that she would be winning the snowball fight she was witnessing.


    "Onyx, it should be warmer in here. I know we have been in the cold for a while." Walker felt bad that Onyx wasn''t able to sit in front of a fire and remain warm.


    "Don''t worry brother, I am happy to explore. I will never see everything like this again. It will only keep growing." There was a deeper sentiment in this than Walker expected. It made his heart feel more full than it had before.


    "Oh, and here I thought that I wouldn''t see you until my queen got here. You know it takes her so long to travel due to her requirements, so I came ahead with a few others."


    "Master alchemist Trish. How are you? It''s been a long time!" Walker was very happy to be surprised by the familiar face.


    "Now don''t be like that. This is the alchemy guild. Not the forest elf city you know. Call me Trish and drop the master. That will be said enough when we start to take apprentices in and teach them." There was an air of energy around Trish as she spoke. She was extremely interested in what kind of people would be drawn to learn here once the city was fully opened and functioning.


    "It is an honor to see you again. This is Walker''s and my friend, Alice. She is the daughter of the high priest in the cathedral." Su took the chance to introduce Alice first so that there was no awkwardness. "This is Trish. She is a master alchemist from the forest elf city. She helped Remey a lot and is very kind."


    Alice reached out a hand to shake Trish''s " Nice to meet you." The bracelet around her wrist caught Trish''s attention. She nced at Su but realized that Su was shaking her head slightly. Trish''s eyes widened when she caught on that it was Walker that had given the bracelet to Alice.


    "Well, it is very nice to meet you as well. I like your bracelet. Someone that truly cares for you must have given it to you. It''s nice to see items from my home city helping others." Alice grew red faced as Trish spoke. It was all intentional for Trish who had long be old enough to enjoy teasing the younger generations.


    "You''re here! Howe you didn''t call for me? The old man is upstairs too. I need to introduce the two of you." Remey sprinted from the stairs down to Walker and the others. Her eyes were fixed on Trish who she had not seen in some time either.


    "Well, I would have but as soon as I walked in to see the main hall, these few came in behind me. It really was a coincidence but perfect timing. How about you all give me a tour." Trish was showing her excitement in on her face. She loved what she was seeing so far.


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 Chapter 945 - 945. Tour Guide Remey

    "Alright, a tour it is. We will finish up in the main offices." Remey jumped over and stood behind the counter. "I had all the shelves moved back here and to the storage room in the back. That will be where all the herbs are stored and disyed. The staff can present them to those who wish to buy at this counter. We will also buy herbs on this counter as well." Remey moved toward the middle.


    This counter we will have the general questions, registration for sses, test sign up, and pretty much everything else. I made slots for contracts, forms, and other things we might need. I also talked to the adventurers'' guild and they are going to help with the ques to identify tiers of alchemists./ We are following the exact same format as them and will not restrict membership. It would actually be better if an alchemist was also an adventurer. More rare herbs toe here." The devilish smile Remey had on her face was matched by Trish. They both could see the rare herbs flowing in the future.


    "Finally, this section with another storage area in the back is for potion selling and buying. I thought it better to separate the two on opposite ends. It will make things more organized. We also have the employee stairs back here for speed and safety. One thing I made sure of was having the stairs be made very wide. The alchemy building back home was too small and hard to maneuver." All of this was very well nned out. The glimpse Walker had gotten of the inner hall was nothingpared to how it had been organized.


    "I want to get some tables to sit out here but I think that might be unnecessary since people might start working. Maybe just benches for the test takers and apprentices to wait at." After nodding her head, Trish looked toward the hallway on the side.


    "Where does that lead? I know the stairs are here so¡­"


    "Those are the testing rooms. We have three. One for potion making. One for the herb identification. And another for those trying to be herbalists. I n to have the herbalists included here too, it will just make the guild better in the long run." When it came to alchemy, herbs would be needed inrge quantities. Only a fool would ignore the fact that the alchemy guild would be an ideal ce for master herbalists toe as well. Those that could grow herbs would have the chance to prove themselves and be great. Potentially breeding and growing the next best herb for any potion.


    "The testing rooms will be the most valuable ce for us. We will need to weed out anyone that just wants to float by. I have already looked in to the human alchemy practices and theck of dwarven alchemy practices. Between all three of our kingdoms, we have those that think alchemy is an easy way to tack up gold and live in luxury. We need to ensure that we have dedicated apprentices." Trish couldn''t say it enough. She had passion and did not wish to see passion leave the alchemy profession.


    "Ah, so this is the noise. I was working on myb and how I would want my tools set up when I found another one of those dwarven things and came looking for little Remey. I believe your reputation proceeds you. It is an honor to meet the person who taught so much to a stranger." The old master alchemist hobbled down the stairs the group was about to walk up. He has more than d to see Trish and introduce himself. The two were sizing each other up while speaking on the herbs that Remey had brought back and their potential uses.


    "I think we should head upstairs and show her that thing you made the other day. We have been working on it for some time now." Remey was trying to drop many hints. Everyone but Trish was able to understand what they were thinking.


    "Perfect, then up we go." Remey guided them upstairs, "This floor is all about alchemy ss rooms. They have everything to make potions easily copied. There are also shared storage rooms between each ssroom so that we can more easily share herbs and teach better. But the abs are on the third floor. Each one is separated for the masters while the fivergest are for the important figures." The stairs finally ended on the third floor.


    Therger rooms were at the end pf the building and also housed small offices which were walled off for the masters to work. "I have a main meeting room at the opposite end of the hall but theb is more important." Remey walked in to theb showing off the dwarven tools, herb storage, and multiple cauldrons that the master alchemist had prepared.


    "Yes yes, we will have plenty more to talk about but let''s show off what we have made."


    "Not yet, I want Walker to hear this. Then we can get in to it." Remey turned a little rad as she felt some anger spike up. She wasn''t done with her spiel and felt a bit annoyed. The look the old master alchemist and her shared was the same as any father and daughter silently arguing. It was less awkward and more adorable to those watching it.


    "The guild will have two master alchemists and two herbalists in charge. I changed theyout a little. The dwarven masters will be in charge of tools since they are better off in that area. The fifth member will be the overall master of the guild. The can be an off system user like me, or someone elected by every master in the guild." Remey had made this decision with the old master alchemist some time again and Trish easily agreed to it. "Now we can show her."


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 Chapter 946 - 946. Shocking A Master

    The old master alchemist went to the small wall of potions and took one off the shelf. Walker already knew what it was. It was clearly the mid tier potion that Remey had failed at making but the master alchemist had seeded. "Have you ever wanted to boost your water elemental affinity temporarily? Then this water affinity potion can do exactly that."


    There were no words. Trish looked as if she had been hit with a strong ice spell and frozen on the spot. She had heard many things, often from want to be apprentices, that didn''t make any sense. A potion that could enhance the water elemental affinity or a potion that could enhance any affinity at all was just too out there.


    "I did not believe I was getting to this age. But, I thought you just said water elemental affinity." Her small smile was still paired with worried eyes.


    "That is exactly what we said. We have managed to make low tier and a few mid tier potions. Once we open the guild for sales, this will be the most valuable potion until we get more herbs to make other things. I wouldn''t say it was easy to get the materials. We had to go to a water dragon vige to get them." Trish was hit again by Remey''s words.


    "You-...a dragon vige? What herbs? How is it made? What are the exact effects? No, wait. I can appraise it myself with my system skills¡­" Trish was running a million miles a second now. Her world had been shaken and it was amazing.


    There were many things in this world that had brought Trish wonder over the years. The first had been when she identally discovered her system and the alchemy nature of it. The next bing the new potions she had improved for her people and how they had helped them. When the party showed up and she had the chance to work on the cataloging of a brand new never before seen skill with a brand new never before seen system, it was a dream. Yet here she was, the dream starting yet again. She was standing in a guild uniting multiple kingdoms and holding a potion that she had never imagined would exist.


    "Do you know what the water mages in my kingdom would do to be able to grasp a new understanding of water elemental mana? This will be the most sought after potion in generations. I can''t believe water will be the most dominant magic in the world¡­Unless¡­ The are other elemental affinity potions?" Trish looked at Remey and the old master alchemist who did not so much as flinch.


    "Well, since Remey told me about her trip and showed the herbs she received, I have been enamored with the new knowledge. If you have the time to join me in my experiments, I do believe we can find other elemental affinity potion ingredients for all the affinities." The old master alchemist''s attempt to remain calm was foiledpletely. His smile burst on to his face and he started pulling down ingredients.


    Walker, Onyx, and Remey watched as this urred. He had nearly forgotten that Su and Alice were right behind him silently looking around in awe. It waspletely clear that Alice and Su had not been able to get the same understanding of alchemy as Walker. Their silence had not been due to disrespect or anything else. It was sheer wonder. Theycked knowledge and the more they listened the more they realized they knew almost nothing about alchemy.


    Su in particr was stunned. She had heard Remey ramble about potions and herbs so many times that she had begun to let it slide pasted her. But now that she saw everything, heard what the uses were, and the detailed n for the future, she had nothing else that she could say. It was too spectacr of an aplishment.


    Since Alice felt a little lost she pulled don Walker''s sleeve. He knew instantly that she was wondering what was going on and how the potion worked. "It''s a new potion made to boost the affinity for a certain time. Basically, someone who can use water elemental magic will have an easier time understanding and learning about it during the time they are affected by the potion. Not to mention an easier time using the water elemental mana. There might be one for light elemental affinity one day too."


    Hearing that she might be able to one day take a potion that would enhance her ability to use light elemental mana to heal, Alice smiled a little. She still wasn''t clear on how it all worked but she was clear on what it did. That was enough for her to be able to see how valuable it really was and how it would be able to change the world as they knew it. Many people would travel here just for this and only this.


    "Remey, that is very amazing. But I am curious if you will be able to create a potion that enhances earth elemental affinity. I would like to see if it can help my partner and I get closer." The thought that Su had had, was that she would be able to better understand the earth elemental spirit which was dwelling in her shield better. That would lead to a strong er skill and even more potential.


    "I don''t know but I wanted to test the same thing with a fire affinity potion for alchemy fire." The alchemy fire spirit drifted over from the mes beneath the cauldron and silence Trish. She was about to start rambling with a million questions when Walker spoke up.


    "So in theory, Fleur and I could use all the affinity options at the same time and get better at nature elemental mana?" Walker said this calmly thinking that it was a crazy idea. Fleur, who had been hiding in his hair, was finally noticed by Trish when Fleur moved to see the answer to this question. Trish was yet again stunned in to silence.


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 Chapter 947 - 947. Catching Trish Up

    "Well, if you drink all of those the different elemental manas and the ingredients might sh. Once I reach that point I will test reactions and measurements. If I canplete some form of nature affinity potions I will let you know. But I think I will need your help bncing the elemental mana inside it." The old master alchemist did not even look up while he was preparing the ingredients for the water affinity potion. He did like the idea though but knew it was far away at the moment. There was a lot still to learn and experiment with.


    "I thought so. It would probably be too dangerous for now. But it sounds like a fin experiment one day." Walker was very d to hear the hopeful response. If the old master alchemist had an interest in it then it would be experimented on in the future. He was not someone to let such a chance escape him.


    "Th-that''s a nature spirit¡­ I thought. It didn''t feel. How?" Trish muttered the question just loud enough for everyone to hear. For an elf, nature spirits were almost the same as being in the presence of the worlds'' will. In all her time in the world, Trish had not thought she could be in the presence of a nature spirit. "I felt more natural mana aroundbut, I thought, it was the area you chose for the city."


    "Yes, this is Fleur. She is my partner and she has helped me a lot. I was very lucky to find elemental spirits that were willing to join together and apany me in my adventurers. As far as I am concerned she is as much me and I am her." All of this was true to Walker. Just as Midnight and Onyx were bound with him and family, Fleur was a part of who he was and always would be.


    "This is my partner. We were ying with fire and stuff when I learned some skill to make alchemy fire aaannnddd they changed. Now they are an alchemy fire spirit and help me control the temperature of the mes. I would say the potions I make have gotten many times better with my partners'' help." Remey jumped to introduce the alchemy fire spirit as well.


    "Since everyone is doing so," Su gave a slight tap on the shield handing from her back. Walker had stored the twin shields away since Su didn''t need them at the moment. The earth elemental spirit appeared out of the earth dwelling shield and sat groggily on Su''s shoulder, "We are partners and we protect each others'' back. I know that we will be able to rely on each other for life." Hearing the praise the earth spirit leaned in to Su''s neck while still looking slow and tired.


    "How did it leave that shield!? How is that possible!?" The fact that Trish focused on was not that the three had spirits and spirit marks, but instead that a spirit had been inside a shield resting.


    "Well, we went to the dwarven city. Helped with the acid slimes. Then looked in to spirit forging. Found that it was wed, tested some things, and found that spirit forging is properly done with the help of a spirit adding its mana to the item being forged. The result is what I have and Su has; a dwelling weapon. Su has the earth dwelling shield and I have the eternal orb." Walker allowed the eternal orb to leave his chest te and take the orb floating form.


    "We can not say much for the failures of spirit forging in the past. But, what we can say is, that the elves can work with the dwarves to create such items. The knowledge about elemental spirits and the knowledge about high quality forging cane together to form a bond." Su picked up the conversation while pulling the earth dwelling shield from her back to show Trish.


    "You have my support." The response was simple. Trish was sold on the idea."It can make spirits close to us and from what I see, brings them joy. I will advocate for you after you teach me a little more. I will need to work a little harder in the next day before the queen arrives with some other elders." Trish fell deep in to thought while the old master alchemist returned to his preparations.


    "Well, how about you focus on the potions first? Remey has the basics she learned from Walker and I about spirit forging. But I know the guild is important and requires a lot of attention. We will let you be for now." Su pulled Walker and Alice away. She knew that they could end up there all night and that it wouldn''t be fair to Alice if that happened.


    "Amazing." Alice had never met an elf before but thought that Trish had an air of peace and awe about her. In addition, there were the new possibilities that would exist with spirit forging and the elemental affinity potions.


    "This stuff happens a lot with us. If youe on some adventures you might get used to it. Or not. I feel like I still get surprised more often than not." Walker took Alice''s hand to reassure her as they walked out the alchemy guild door.


    "Don''t let him lull you in to a calm state. That''s when he does something crazy and unexpected. Next thing you know he will be showing you a new magic that humans can''t learn or roaring like a dragon." Su gave her warning but just shook her head when Alice smiled in awe again.


    "I want to hear a dragon roar." Alice had not heard such a thing and felt like it would be amazing.


    "Well, I could do that but mine is a bit sadpared to a real dragon roar. Let''s see if Midnight had worked on hers when we find her again." The four headed toward the mansion for lunch while Walkerughed and told Alice about the dragons.


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 Chapter 948 - 948. Basements

    Once they had gotten to the mansion and eaten their lunches, Onyx had chosen to stay behind to rest in the sunlight and try out a few more things with light elemental mana. It was hard for him to hold himself back, but in the end, he knew it would only make him stronger.


    "What are you guys doing? I just came from the alchemy guild building, have you checked it out yet?" Gil had finished his business for the morning in the archery range made for him. He came back to grab a snack himself and had not realized everyone else was inside the dining room.


    "We checked it out this morning. Trish came ahead of the rest of the elves so she would be able to get some things done with the alchemyb first. She said they should be here in a day or so, just so you have a timeline." Walker smirked knowing that Gil would find this very helpful.


    Gil was trying to act natural after hearing this but was not the best actor in the world. Eventually, he decided that he was better off just walking with them towards the ce that was supposed to be marked for the tamers'' guild. It was the farthest and would be near the edge of the city due to the monsters that would be around. Not only would that make people feel morefortable but it would also mean there was more space for the tamers to spread out and properly do what they needed.


    "I wonder if they will have a lot of tamerse over here early. I feel like it would be a mad rush to get here and be able to train in a ce with fewer tamers." Gil had theorized this for the specific reason that they would want more space.


    "I do not believe that they would like that. They would have fewer people to train their tamed m monsters against. I also believe that they will send over those that know and work with the merchants that areing to the city to start a name for themselves. There are plenty of monster materials that some tamers harvest consistently from their tamed monsters." Su was mostly thinking of the sheep the party had encountered on a journey.


    "True, we might get a lot of tamers that bring monsters like that. It will be good to expand and build a base for a lot of shops and just the economy in general. It could really set the future for the city." The conclusion Walker and Su came to made a lot more sense.


    "I wonder if the merchantsing from the forest elf city will have some of the arrows I helped work on?" There was something about the arrows he helped create being sold that seemed so exciting to Gil.


    "You made arrows?" This was part of the visit to the forest elf city that Alice had yet to hear. Gil was not often volunteering in the cathedral so she had a very small base of knowledge when it came to him and his interests other than hunting. Unfortunately, her question brought her in to a long story about creating arrows and different materials. However, when Gil exined the light elemental arrows and how there was even an arrow that would heal wounds when shot with it, Alice was stunned. A weapon that would actually save lives was against the usual intention of a weapon.


    "I thought the architect said that they hadn''t started building this yet?" Walker was surprised to see that there were earth mages digging a section out for the tamers'' guild buildings.


    "Oh, the earth mages from the forest elf city that came earlier are making basements and other storage areas. The tamers'' guild will probably have some caves and stuff under it. I doubt there are natural caves but they can be made by magic for monsters to live in." The Idea was very simr to the already existing tamers guild buildings in the demi-human city. There would definitely be a nice branch in this city, but not a main branch. Mostly because the main branch in the demi-human city had too much history and roots there.


    The earth elemental spirit jumped from Su''s shoulder and rushed over to the earth mages. They were very d to see it and soon it was using their mana to direct the earth elemental mana itself. Su was worried that this was a bad thing and rushed to where the earth spirit was. Bit when she realized that it was using their mana to help it move the earth and uncover something she rxed and allowed her curiosity to get her to move closer.


    The soil that the spirit moved was notrge, but it still showed something very familiar to the group and the three earth mages there. "Ha, there are dormant earth spirits here. What a find. We might have missed the sleeping spirit." Walker jumped in to the dirt too and decided that with the help of the earth mages and the earth elemental spirit, they could have the earth spirit woken up in no time.


    Alice paid close attention as Walker and the earth mages started to pull the earth elemental mana around them without anymunication. The earth mages recognized Walker and knew what he was thinking. They had the same idea. In the shortest time yet, they had gathered arge amount of earth elemental mana and drawn Fleur''s attention. She floated down and tapped on the dormant earth spirit causing the mana to converge and awaken the spirit instantly. The ground seemed to tremble as this happened and Fleur moved back to Walker''s shoulder. All they could do was watch as the dormant spirit started to change and take a different form than any of them understood was normal for an elemental spirit.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 949 - 949. Foundations

    The sight that Walker had expected to see was the earth slowly pulling up and forming an earth spirit just like the one that was partnered with Su. This was not the case. Small pebbles started to get pulled instead of the softer dirt. They piled themselves up in to a simr shape as the earth elemental spirit. They continued to do so until they were double the size of the earth spirit. The small pebbles were forced in to a denser arrangement.


    "Stone spirit! That''s a stone spirit!. Who would have known? They are so rare. I knew that having a fellow mage around would bring us luck." The elf was happily pping Walker on the back while the other two earth mages practically jumped around.


    The stone spirit moved and look at everyone. The earth elemental spirit was already rambling off worlds to it exining things. The two spirits were soon bouncing around the basements giggling a little. Walker could tell that they were happy to see another simr to them but he still wondered why the major difference.


    "Am I the only one that doesn''t know what a stone spirit is?" Part of Gil felt stupid to ask but he knew that Alice and Su were probably in the same boat as he was.


    "Ah! Yes. Stone spirits are an earth spirit but it has a better control of stone. It must have been brought from a mountain or many many years ago this was a mountain. As time changed thendscape some spirits get left behind while sleeping. They are the best spirits to as for help when making tough structures or looking for some hard rock for building. If we can work with it we would be honored." The earth mage that had been pping Walker on his back in celebration calmed himself to speak. They the stars returned to his eyes and he walked toward the stone spirit. The other two mages followed and introduced themselves.


    "They are earth mages. It must be a very big event in their lives to meet a different variant of earth spirit." Su was not at all sad to see the earth spirit ying with the stone spirit. She knew it had been resting in the earth dwelling shield and most likely needed some time to enjoy the city by itself with a friend.


    "I can just guess how much it would be able to help build a city. I think I will try and help them speak to it." Walker made his move while Alice just stared at him. She had some trouble believing that Walker could just casually speak to the earth and stone spirit. but she already knew this was possible, it was just that he was able to do so without batting an eye. She knew that he was truly a wonder in the world.


    "Hello, my name is Walker. I hope you had a nice nap. We found you sleeping and helped wake you up. These are some of my mage friends. They are building homes. I hope you can be friends with them as well." The mana that Walker used to convey this message was enough to make all the earth mages turn their heads.


    The earth mana Walker had used was a little more dense than usual but perfect for speaking to the stone spirit. "Build?" The single word that the stone spirit caught was build. Walker looked as it began to understand what was happening. It fixed on the sight of a pile of rocks that had been moved before. "BUILD!" The shout was strong and Walker watched as the stone spirit moved toward the pile of rocks.


    It started to move the elemental mana and direct it to the earth mages. "I think it wants you to build with it. You will need to help it out." The shocked earth mages were slow to react but as soon as the earth elemental mana from the stone spirit neared them they got serious.


    The stones that had been piled up due to their digging and building of the foundations and basements of the tamers'' guild, began to shift. The earth mages were using them as the walls to the basement they were working on. It would sure up the foundations and make an overall better building.


    Alice had a hard time looking away from the three earth mages moving rocks and stones on to ces of walls without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, they were smoothing the rocks out using a heavy amount of earth magic. Walker had shown her his high earth sculpting but it was a much smaller scale than this. She could only look around and absorb as much of what was happening as possible.


    Walker would have kept on the way so that they could keep exploring the area that were open and waiting for foundations. But since Alice was so in awe, he decided to stay and watch as well. Fleur was also pulling on his hair. He knew that it was Fleur that had most likely pushed for the proper awakening of the stone spirit. She had the ability to manipte natural mana which means she can also manipte the individual elemental manas. The effect that she had over spirits below her was a mystery to Walker but in this case it appeared that Fleur had helped it be its true form.


    "I didn''t know this was how a foundation was made and a basement could be made. I know a lot of the time people need to dig it out. But if the architects and stone masons work with the earth mages like this, then they will be able to build much faster. I can see them partnering to make their own house building association in a few years." Su''s prediction was easy to seeing to be. The group watched until the earth mages had begun to tire and sit for a break.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 950 - 950. Early Arrival

    "So, I have got a pretty good feel for what everything is marked out for. But there is a space here that isn''tbeled on the map." Walker had realized that the area near the tamers'' guild was left nk. It was a fairlyrge space and was definitely not something that had been forgotten.


    "I don''t know. Let''s go check it out." Su waved for the earth spirit toe along if it wanted to. The stone spirit was lounging with the earth mages and the four appeared to have made a decent connection. Once the earth spirit came back over to Su, she watched as it melted back in to the earth dwelling shield. It had used a decent portion of the elemental mana it had gathered and needed rest.


    This was still something that Alice found amazing and her jaw dropped while watching it happen. "What''s a light spirit like?" Her question was soft. She had been worried that she would sound foolish asking something that the Walker clearly knew for a while.


    "They like to be high up above everything and look down. They follow the purity of light elemental mana and don''t interact much with the other elemental spirits. As much as they may not show it, they are the same as dark spirits. I bet they could do a lot when around you since your voice literally makes the light elemental mana react. Maybe I should look for one to meet you." Walker had not seen Alice interact with a light elemental spirit but the thought was now going to be kept in the back of his mind.


    "Wow, there really is a lot of space here. I can''t believe it will be left empty." Su was the only one paying attention to the surroundings. Onyx and Gil had been idly chatting about his archery range and how it would be the first ever archery academy.


    A soft familiar giggle started up behind them. Soon it was multiple waves of mana sending giggles to them. " Well, you should know that the space is set aside for the elves when they get here. Our queen wanted us to have a small park to rest in. How else would an elf feel at home?"


    The group turned around to find Bree and her elemental spirits chasing each other around. "Bree! What are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be at the forest elf vige with your crystal shop?" Of all people that Walker expected to see her of all the elves that would being.


    "Why wouldn''t we bring the best person to open the crystal shops? She is the best person to represent them. We also have her brother meeting some of those in the cksmith building. They are going to have a small conference about different crafting and forging methods. Apparently, some famous wandering cksmith will be there." Alma stood behind Bree and pretended that her showing up was just a casual urrence.


    "Alma, I thought you would be here muchter. The letter you wrote said you might not be able toe at all!" Gil ran over faster than they had imagined him. In just a second Alma was scooped up in a bear hug while she tried to hide her own smile.


    "Did you know that Gil and Alma had been sending letters to each other?" Walker whispered to Su who shook her head. She was just as stunned as Walker was. They would never have imagined that Gil was not only speaking with the king and a few other people using letters but also sending them all the way to the forest elf city so he could stay in touch with Alma. He may not often speak up and show off the connections he had, but Gil had many strong bonds.


    "Is this Gil''s girl friend?" Alice was worried she would appear to be out of the loop if she did not ask Su for confirmation. She also feared she would be rude to the girl she was about to meet. Walker and Su just looked at her curious themselves. They had no idea when Gil had been writing and sending the letters.


    "When you sent the letter about going to a dragon vige I almost had to get the enforcers and charge there myself. How could you go in to the mountains so close to the time of the summit? I received the letter the day before we left!" Once Gil had ced Alma down she began to reprimand him for his actions. Walker was quick to hide his face a little.


    "Walker. We should speak." Bree had lost her bubbly energy. She was straight faced and all the elemental spirits were waiting with her. They had finally noticed Fleur sitting on Walkers'' shoulder.


    "I thought you would want to. I assume that no one has really shared the news about spirit forging either?" This made Alma drop her rant with Gil and focus intensely. "First things first. Su, show them your shield. I will set aside some earth elemental crystals as an apologyter." Su brought the shield up and coaxed the earth spirit out of it to the shock of Alma and Bree. "As you can see. This is spirit forging. Not that you think it is. This is the earth dwelling shield. That is where the earth spirit can rest if it desires. It has a bond with Su. It''s the same as my eternal orb.


    Walker showed the eternal orb leaving his chest te and how it could change. Fleur understood the demonstration and melted in to it before instantly leaving to im her spot on his shoulder. "As you can see, spirit forging is a safe practice. It requires the forge master to work with the spirit to create a dwelling item. And yes, this is Fleur, a nature spirit."Walker just held his breath waiting for their response.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 951 - 951. Small Surprise

    Bree was looking at Walker with the same unwavering look. The elemental spirits were afraid to move an inch. Not only could they feel the power that Fleur had as a nature spirit, but they could feel the serious aura leaving Bree. It was exceptionally rare for her to gain such an attitude.


    "You have a nature spirit that can dwell within that orb and it is bonded with you through a spirit mark? Show me." Her rigid tone seemed to cut the air like a de. Walker and Su wondered if this was really the person they had met.


    The look that Walker gave everyone was a little skeptical. He knew the spirit mark was on his back and it was much more than just a small mark like Su''s was. It was the entirety of his back showing all the elemental symbols connected like a tree. If he were to show it he would need to take off his chest te and clothing. "We should maybe, go inside where it''s warm and not out in the open. I need to take my shirt off if you really need to see it." Walker had some hope that Bree would say no but instead, she just nodded.


    Alma followed as they all walked toward the mansion. Su and Gil were worried since this was a very different reaction than they had expected. Alma was just as serious as Bree was. "I know I didn''t go in to the details of spirit forging ad other things with you. But I did tell you I fixed my bow while I was in the dwarven city. I also told you about a wind spirit that was my partner. I wanted to surprise you but seeing how serious this is¡­" Gil held his bow out to Alma while they walked. "Zephyr was tired so she took a short nap in the bow after checking out the archery academy I am helping to start once I speak to some of the other elf archers."


    Zephyr materialized from the bow and look around. The wind spirit that was with Bree stopped and looked at her before rushing to Zephyr. "Oh how cute. You are so young. I wonder what you have done so far. Oh, you have a bond with an elf. Hello there little elf."


    "I think I just heard Zephyr speak¡­I usually can''t do that." Su was shocked. She could understand the earth elemental spirit because she had the mark to bond with it. But usually, Zephyr was a mystery unless Onyx and Gil tranted for her. But most of the time it was easy ti understand what she was saying when Walker would reply to her.


    "I gathered some extra wind elemental mana while I was on the mountain. I thought Gil told all of you. I am back to my pique state. I can speak to any living creature now." This was incredibly amusing to Zephyr since she had been so casual with returning to her pique state after benign ion the mountain. She had spent a lot of time high in the air gathering the wind elemental mana. Now she would be able to use her full skill set and restless.


    "It is my pleasure to meet a grand wind spirit. The world has blessed me with this honor." Bree knew very well what a named wind spirit meant. She also red daggers at Alma who was still processing this urrence.


    "I believe you when ties to spirit forging. As the future queen of the forest elves, I, Alma of the blue ivy, greet you. I thank the world for this great honor and wish for a wondrous future." Alma had been learning furiously since the party had left the city. She did not want to be left behind whenever she read Gils'' letters. There was a fire in her that pushed her to ask the queen directly for lessons. Not only had she been able to guide her blue ivy in to a stronger growth, but she had also learned many of the traditional ceremonies and costumes of the elves that she had not known.


    "Awe. I like her. Gil, you should marry her one day. You would have my blessing. Well, you would have my blessing to be with anyone. Unless you want to stay with me and only me. If you want that then we will fire arrows to the moon!" Zephyr poked Gil''s cheeks as they started to tinge with red embarrassment.


    Bree took a deep breath. "I see there is a lot more than I had grasped. I know that you would never force a nature spirit in to your control. The way Fleur is acting shows that she is happier than anything to be with you. Meeting Zephyr the grand wind spirit was another honor I had not expected. And since I know that that bow used to be¡­undesirable and now it is proper, I can ept it. But I will insist to see the spirit mark. It is not something I canpromise on as someone who holds spirits as if they are part of my very being."


    "I can understand that. Fleur is part of me just as the elemental spirits are a part of you. Let''s get moving so we can get this done. Then I will tell you the story of how the spirit forging came to be fixed, Walker had quests to gather spirits, and the eternal orb. All of this would take some time but Alma insisted that it was more important to have as urate information when she and Bree returned to the queen.


    "By the way. The space before. It will be a forest by the end of tomorrow. The queen is going to nt a spirit tree and twenty master herbalists are going to raise it." This little fact from Alma was pretty shocking. But it still paledpared to Fleur.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 952 - 952. Rare Spirits

    "You know, if you tell Remey that there are master herbalists in the city she will steal them away for the alchemy guild. She wants two master alchemists as part of the governing council." Walker shared some of Remey''s ns with Alma and Bree as they walked through the front door of the mansion. He knew that nting the seed now could go a long way when it came to Remey recruiting two masters.


    "Master alchemist Trish told us that she would be looking to have some here to help grow herbs with her. That was why we increased the number to twenty. Five of them have already volunteered to remain in the city for a year." It was very forward thinking of Trish and Alma for this to be arranged. It was also very clear that the elves were investing in Genesis just as heavily as the humans. The dwarves were the only ones hiding their investments y sending building materials and golems to build.


    "That should be perfect then. I have a feeling that in the next week we will see the true growth of the city before the summit." Walker reached the dining room and Su decided to make herself busy with tea. Alice would have gone with Su because she knew just how great the tea blends were and wanted to try to see what they were made of. However, she was more interested to see the spirit mark on Walkers'' back. She partly wanted to understand more about elemental spirits so she herself could find a partner.


    "I can''t say it was pleasant when this mark formed but it gave me the title of young sage." Walker dropped the chest te on the table and removed the cloaks and robes he work beneath it. In all honesty, his gear would be a strangebination. But those who knew him also knew of his ability to fight with magic and closebat weapons. Therefore, it made a lot of sense for him to have a mix of armor in such a way. Not that it looked poor considering it had all been designed for him.


    "Young sage? No, that''s not a title you just get. It has toe with years of studying and understanding natural mana." Bree felt that there was no possible way and that Walker somehow misunderstood this in his young age.


    "It''s young sage. I promise. Fleur and I are very closely connected. We can both manipte the natural mana around us. I''m pretty sure that is what helped the young sage title take root. I also have the fact I can use all elemental mana. How else do you think IO would have been able to help make the eternal orb? It has all elemental manas inside it. Pure forms at that." Walker was a little annoyed to be doubted but knew he was saying some radical things and put himself back in ce with a deep breath.


    When the spirit mark became visible he could hear Bree gasp. She had never seen such a thing in her life and only found it in very old records. The systems that would allow something like this to happen were rare and would not show up for years after. The elemental spirits were frozen in ce. They could feel the pressure on them from the high density of natural mana that dwelled within the spirit mark. Walker still wondered why Fleur wouldn''t rest in it but put it all on the fact that she liked to copy Onyx and rest on his shoulders.


    "When I first started to learn about my system I was brought to the archives. Then I was able to find the spirit mark records. I have one for every single elemental spirit that I am blessed to be bonded with. That mark that you have is unique to a nature spirit and only a nature spirit. I hope you understand that you could one day have a world spirit bonded with you. It is extremely important that you understand that." Bree spoke in a way that gave every single weight above what it would normally have.


    "Fleur is still learning a few things. She had not really spoken and seems that she is taking in a lot of knowledge. As you can see, she had already learned to find a favorite spot to rest just like Onyx. She was able to help with awakening an earth spirit today. It turned out to be a stone spirit. Besides these you have met Zephyr, Remey has an alchemy fire spirit with her, and roaming around the garden there should be an ice hound spirit." All of this was a lot to take in for Bree. She took a step and sat down in a chair to fully grasp this wondrous world of rare and unique elemental spirits.


    "Since this has been cleared up and Bree has a lot to think about, I believe we can spend some time speaking about other things." Alma would ask more questionster but for now, wanted to move on so she could let herself adjust to what these things meant for the elven people.


    "Do you want to hear the stories about true spirit forging? We can help you when ites to the dwarven kings arriving. I have a feeling they will be bringing their master cksmiths to take over the forge building. It was built just for them after all. It''s also why you see so many forges and cksmith shops set up." Gil knew well why there were so many of these along the market.


    "If you also tell me the details of your reforging of the bow in your hands." Alma wanted all the information that Gil had left out of his letters. She had epted that he wanted to surprise her but she was also hungry to hear it all properly now from his own lips.


    "Alright. I have Remey''s new tea blend. It has some fire elemental herbs in it to keep everyone warm." Su got everyone to sit and listen as Gil started his portion of the stories.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 953 - 953. Spare Room

    Bree let out arge sigh. "I understand now. I just don''t understand how it is your party that seems to attract all these things. It was a lot when you were able to help the city and now you push for a whole new city to be built." In the end, Bree had been able to ept and understand the spirit forging. She was impressed that it would open up a whole new way to bond with elemental spirits and also mend the tension between dwarves and elves.


    "Well, I think in the very least, our people will be very attracted to visiting here. Since we will have multiple merchants setting up shop here it will also make things very smooth. I know the cultures will be different but from what you exined, the dwarves have found a great number of dormant elemental spirits. We harvest a high number of mana crystals. Thebination will definitely cause a growth in spirit forging and elves working with dwarves." Alma was also imagining the different bows and staffs that woulde to be after spirit forging was exined and learned by the elves.


    "So you can all see how we were able to get where we are now." Walker had long returned his chest te and cloak to his body. He was d that everyone was able to sit and speak for a while. "I wonder what queen Reina will think about all of this." Bree and Alma were shocked for a moment until they remembered that they had witnessed and heard the elf queen give the party permission to use her name.


    "I believe it will be good information. I should actually leave to speak with her. I know I have not been to the Genesis building yet but I was told where it was. Not that I could ignore it. The size really stickers out as the main hub for everyone." Alma stood up and so did Bree. The elemental spirits didn''t seem to want to leave. They were looking for permission from Fleur and the wind spirit was looking at Zephyr who had been idly floating about listening to everything.


    "You can alle back any time. We moved the mansion here for convenience but you are all wee to take up a spare room. A lot are full with some demons, hired housekeepers, and friends stay in them temporarily. But it''s still toorge for us t fill." Walker knew that this would be a better solution. The elemental spirits were already pulling at Bree to stay there and Alma seriously considered it.


    "If it isn''t too much trouble I would like to stay here. I think keeping an eye on you is better than waiting to hear what else you manage to do." Alma looked at Gil since she also would be able to spend time catching up with him.


    "Of course you can. I will set up the room myself. You will need toe for a walk with meter though. I already explored a lot of the city and found some good spots that will open earlier thanter." No one said a word as Gil set up his own ns.


    "Unfortunately I need to begin setting up the six merchants that came with me. I have been honored to ept the leading role in bringing over the elemental crystals for the shops. They are spread through the city with a main crystal work shop near the adventurers'' guild. I also have to speak with the Ga family about auctions and contracts." There was a lot of Bree''s te when it came to her duty. But it was going toe together faster than she expected.


    "In that case tell them that Walker says hello. I haven''t been there yet to see what kind of auction hall they built. From what I expect it will be near the market but set aside so they can amodaterger auctions. I have a feeling that every industry and guild will have a part in it."


    "I will do that. Fleur, Zephyr, Thank you very much for allowing me to meet you both. I hope to see you again soon." The elemental spirits copied Bree as she gave a slight bow. When she left she wiped the sweat from her brow and rushed toward the Genesis building. Alma soon followed after she said goodbye to them.


    "So, Gil¡­You have been writing a lot of letters while you stand watch at night and when you are alone. Huh?" Walker held his tea up to his face and slowly sipped it while waiting for Gil to react.


    "Yes. And it''s been nice. But now I have to go set up a room as promised." He left the room much faster than Su and Walker had imagined he would.


    "I think you have embarrassed Gil a lot. He deserves it though. Since he teases everyone. But maybe we shouldn''t say this to Remey." Su and Walker both understood that Remey would jump on that as a way to tease Gil a lot.


    "Anyways. I think we should figure out what we will do next. There are a lot of quests and such from ra. I feel like we should try to push our level higher. We havepleted a lot of benchmarkstely." Walker was nning to get a lot of things done in the city before the summit approached. There were still a few days until the other races may show up and it was better to have everything looking its best.


    "I agree. We should have the best possible understanding of the city that we can have. We are the ones that represent it even if there will be a council in ce to govern things." Su fully epted that no matter what the party did that they would be seen as the face of the city.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 954 - 954. Level Update

    The next week passed in a sh. The party had put their full effort in to helping the builders. They had been so busy that they had not even had a chance to return to see the king or the elf queen. The passing hellos and how are yous had been the most they had managed. But in that time many more people hade to the city. Multiple merchant trains had show up to unload carriages and set up bases of operations. The dwarves had sent their merchants and forge masters ahead of the kings.


    Overall, the city was like night and daypared to when the party had arrived. Many new buildings had taken shape and even the fields were being prepared way outside the city walls for farming. It was going to be a very impressive sight when everything was done.


    Due to the party working harder than ever they had amassed a decent amount of heroic points and experience putting them at a decently higher level than most people. Onyx and Midnight had also leveled up but sadly not received any stat increase because of their younger bodies. It was a fact of life that they could not break themselves just to be stronger. But Walker was happy to see they were getting higher leveled and slowly growing. The rest of the party was nearing the same caps that Midnight and Onyx were because of their own age.


    Onyx


    Level: 12


    Exp until next level: 105992/409600


    Species: abyssal serpent system


    Title: Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-80


    Atk-70


    Matk-100


    Def-70


    Mdef-90


    Agi-80


    Mana-106


    User Onyx has reached a stat cap due to low age. Stat increase is currently locked until growth is achieved.


    Midnight


    Level: 20


    Exp until next level: 178000/800000


    Heroic quests until next level: 33/50


    Species: True dragon champion system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-200


    Def-130


    Mdef-130


    Atk-155


    Matk-155


    Agi-110


    Mana-131


    User Midnight has reached a stat cap due to low age. Stat increase is currently locked until growth is achieved.


    Gil


    Level: 50


    Exp until next level: 9000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 2/10


    Arcane Marksman system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-61


    Def-71


    Mdef-71


    Atk-73


    Matk-73


    Char-57


    Agi-67


    Mana-70


    Stat points for distribution- 0


    Su


    Level:50


    Exp until next level: 8300/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 4/10


    Draconic guardian system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-75


    Def-85


    Mdef-85


    Atk-62


    Matk-50


    Char-50


    Agi-69


    Mana-62


    Stat points for distribution- 0


    Remey


    Level: 50


    Exp until next level: 7600/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 7/10


    Alchemical Brawler system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist


    Hp-70


    Def-70


    Mdef-68


    Atk-71


    Matk-72


    Char-49


    Agi-74


    Mana-78


    Stat points for distribution- 0


    Walker


    Level: 41


    Exp until next level: 9900/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 6/10


    Jack of All Trades system


    Title: True hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, young sage


    Hp-60


    Def-65


    Mdef-60


    Atk-65


    Matk-80


    Char-54


    Agi-70


    Mana-70


    Stat points for distribution- 0''


    The party had spent most of a night speaking to each other about where to distribute points and how they had been able to level up a lot. Unfortunately, they did not have much time to show off their new strengths since they had gotten notified that the dwarven kings and the demi-human king would be arriving the next morning. There was also a rumor that a group of merfolk had been sighted traveling in their direction. The summit would officially be starting. What was even better though, was the fact that the part now held a stronger presence that took peoples'' attention. Their increase in strength was what the max was believed for their ages. But due to their rigorous training and intense adventurers, the party was a little above what was thought of as normal. They also were higher level than most humans in the world.


    "Walker!, are you awake!" Remey burst in to his room just in time to find Walker putting on his boots. "The dwarven kings just arrived. They joined with the demi-human group on their way and seem to be speaking already. Scy is also here to grab us. She said that king Rorick has been waiting to see us again."


    With this Walker headed downstairs as fast as possible. Onyx was resting in his tattoo form and had been upte in the night. Walker did not expect him to speak or act much in the day while he recovered. Midnight was using her skeletal armor skill and showing off her perfectly cleaned scales. Gil had put on the royal armor set that everyone else was wearing. "I can''t say I amfortable wearing something so shy. But I have to admit. We look good!"


    There was no doubt that the party looked better than anyone else in the city at the moment. This was the first time they were making an appearance like this to the other kingdoms along with their own. They were prepared for the reaction and mentally toughened themselves to act proper.


    "And here I thought I was dressed in my best robes." Scy was standing outside to witness the party leave the mansion. She was wearing ornate purple robes that hid away the leviathans that hid around her video. She had a very strong aura but it was not intimidation. Instead, it seemed to wee the party to her side.


    "It''s always good to see you, general Scy. I heard you arrived this morning. I hope you have liked what you have seen so far." Walker could already see a glint of excitement in her eyes.


    "I have liked the looks of everything. I just wonder where you will put a coliseum for battles. Not that I think you would build it anyways. We brought an architect with us to show off some designs." The sneaky tactic was exactly the king Walker had expected. There were no ns for a colosseum to be made but it was safe to say that the city would have one in the works before the night was over.


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 Chapter 955 - 955. Gather Up

    "The trip was a little slow because we needed to bring so many guards and others with us. It was a pain but they are trusted and were hand selected toe here and join the other guards. I heard that the enforcers from the forest elf city are also here. Once the three mix it will be nice having a tactical human mind, tough demi-human front line, and a sharp shooter elf archer." Scy had already been through a lot of joint battle tactics while traveling. They were ideal for wars and battle in general. She had decided she would be focusing on the adventurer''s guild in an attempt to build the perfectly bnced party she had in mind. It was sounding like her own personal project.


    "I bet ra will let you try to mentor some adventurers if you offer to teach sses of some sort. A lot of the guilds will have a ss system where younger people cane to learn. If the colosseum gets built you should work that in to it somehow." Walker was trying to curve some of Scys'' energy in to a positive outlet so she wouldn''t run wild.


    "That''s a good idea. I knew you were interesting. Who cares about all the magic stuff. You cane and work with the swords and other weapons with me." Walker had walked right in to this one and he didn''t look to have a way out.


    "That''s if you can steal him away. There''s so much to do that we might not have a free minute for weeks." Remey had dark circles under her eyes from working in the alchemy guild and helping build the grounds around it. She had received the help from the master herbalists that the elves brought with them. They had used most of their mana to create the small forest that was the forest elf park. But they still had the energy when it came to the alchemy guild.


    Seeing that Remey wascking in energy, Walker used a light heal spell on her to improve her drowsiness if only a little. "Remey, you should make sure you are properly rested. I bet you mana is almost zero." Su had already guessed the problem and Remey couldn''t turn away the mana potion Walker was handing her. She hadn''t wanted to admit that she was too tired.


    "I get why she is tired. I was busy setting up the archery academy idea you shared with me the other day. It is going way better than I thought. Alma already had two enforcers with archery mastery volunteers. Apparently, in the forest elf city, it is better to find a mentor, and general skills are learned through doing. It works for them but not for everyone. They were pretty happy to have a new archery range and to be able to take more than just a handful of apprentices." Gil had equally been upte and managed to get Remey to teach him some of the governing paper work for an organization like an academy or her alchemy guild.


    "That means you need to rest too!" Walker shoved a mana potion in to Gil''s hands while he felt Midnight tug in his clothing. "And a snack for you too. I know I can''t hide it from you. Here." Walker had grabbed some of the smoked chicken from the kitchen. His mother had been experimenting with different things she could bake to sell in her new bakery shop. The smoked and dried chicken was one of them.


    "Those herbalists and out farmers paired up. They had some good ideas for increasing food production. Not that the food will be grown herepletely. The city will rely heavily on trade. But that means everyone will want to support it and send goods here. The dwarves might lose some business."Scy found it fairly amusing that the Genesis city would shape up to outperform the dwarves in marketing.


    "I drag myself up to the surface for the first time in years just to hear some sphemy about trade leaving my city? I work hard to mine that ore." The king of the deep caves was wearing a very shiny silver armor and standing in front of the Genesis building with five royal guards wearing matching armor. They were the same guards that had apanied Walker while he was in the city and the deep caves.


    "Well, we are d that you were able toe to the surface. I thought you would still be busy mining silver." It was clear that the king of the deep caves was ufortable being on the surface.


    "Ha, we had that mined out in a week. Not it''s a personal training area for my new pet." The party knew exactly what he was talking about but they chose not to borate since they heard ra calling for them from inside. "It sounds like you should go in there. I know everyone will be in soon. I just wanted to admire the foundations. It was made deep in the ground to resist strong winds. Very good craftsmanship. The root design with our pir formations is ingenious."


    The party could tell that the dwarven kings would be impressed with the city and that they were already a part of the alliance whether they admitted it or not. Their heavy investment by sending architects and golems to build the city was evidence of this.


    "Walker, I need you to go and greet the merfolk representative. They are just entering the city now. The rest of you cane to the meeting room. We will be starting as soon as we can get everyone settles." ra had taken the job of getting everyone in one ce. If Walker needed to go and greet someone he didn''t have a problem with it.


    "I will be right back." Walker started to head out but Midnight tagged along behind him. For some reason so did Su. Neither of them seemed to have a reason but Walker could feel a slight pull in their bonds with each other.


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 Chapter 956 - 956. Merfolk Problems

    The three moved quickly to the ce that ra had sent them. The small group of cloaked individuals had stopped in the middle of the road when Walker came in to view. " I am Leon, first son of the merfolk king. I am here on my rite of session to stand as a representative of the merfolk and our home." The man that stepped forward was the first merfolk Walker had seen.


    Years ago the merfolk had been considered monsters like the mindless lizardmen of the swamps. But now, they were refined people that lived in and out of the oceans. The silver blue scales reflected the light and showed off the spiny fins on the man''s arms and legs. The webbed feet and hands proved more than anything that they were meant to swim. On top of their head instead of hair were longer finds that sprawled down the merfolks'' spines. They wore the cloaks as a practice when they came onnd since they wouldn''t normally wear anything when underwater. It would impede their swimming unless it was specially forged armor.


    "I am Walker. I came to meet you. I see you have brought a few others with you on your journey. I can get someone to show them to a resting area and beds. We can also have meals made if you need food before we meet with the other leaders." There was not even a flinch as Walker took in the sight of the merfolk uncovering their faces and hands.


    "That sounds agreeable. I apologize for our appearance. We merfolk have no issue with the cold, but the air is too dry. If you could provide wet towels for us, it would help." Walker knew that this was an easy solution and made sure that he would ask an assistant the moment they walked in to the Genesis building.


    "Follow me and I will make sure you get what you need. My little sister Midnight and party member Su will be able to help you as well." Sue and Midnight nodded in greeting before they tinder to head inside. There was a lot that Walker wanted to ask but he had no reason to pry in to the life of the merfolk just yet. First, he would make sure they had afortable ce to rest. Then he would start a conversation, He was sure the other leaders wouldn''t be ready for some time anyways.


    The walk was slow and silent since it seemed the merfolk were not as fast on their feet as a human. This was understandable since they spent their time in the water and not onnd. "I hope your journey here was smooth." The small attempt to make conversation seemed to go over Leons'' head until he eventually spoke up.


    "We had a little trouble roaming the swamps so we went around them. Originally we would have gotten here earlier. My father would normally attend thee events but there were pressing matters. I am proud toe and represent my people." There was an unspoken sense of confidence and strength when Leon expressed his pride in this task. Walker could only imagine how it would make someone feel.


    "If you ask at the summit some may assist you on your journey back. This is about joining together and making a better future. I know that this is far from the ocean, but there is a river nearby that we might be able to work in to some form of transportation. If I remember correctly your people work with a lot of port towns so boats are amon means of transportation." The solution that Su had thought it was very usible.


    Unfortunately, Leon looked downcast hearing this. "I would take pride in that bond my people have with fishermen and their boats. But we are unable to protect them now and they stay within their harbors. As you may know, the demons are acting up in the oceans. The gue the demonic kraken is toorge for us to leave guards around towns." This was the first Walker and Su were hearing this. It felt as if they had no knowledge of the world where the merfolke from.


    "There will be many kingdom leaders and new items from other countries here during the summit. If you present your problems there is a high chance that someone can help." Walker was wise not to immediately promise to help himself. He knew that he would need to n something like this out even if he wanted to. The true issue was the water which he could not breathe in. The issue was better pitched to a council.


    "I will make my plea in time. For now, I am impressed by this city. I have been lucky to receive education about the surface in depth. I know there are multiple races creating these buildings. It is rare to see such architecture. My people heavily rely on living coral which we grow in to our homes. I always rted it to the way elves guide nature in to their homes. But this is a mix of stone and what appears to be elven design." Leon was very well educated to gather so much. The merfolk behind him made surprised faces as they heard him speak on these topics. This was news to them as well.


    "You are correct. So far the demi-humans and forest elves are in an alliance with the human kingdom. But the dwarves sent a great deal of assistance and are most likely to join fully in to an alliance. It is just a matter of conversation. I hope you will do the same. There is a lot to look forward to in the future." The merfolk looked at Walker in awe. They didn''t know these things had already begun to take shape.


    They would have spoken further, but there was a strange sound shaking the air around them and Walker was put on guard.


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 Chapter 957 - 957. Backing?

    The group was close to walking in the Genesis building but were stopped by the sounds from the air. Walker had a feeling that it was not something simple. He was proven correct when he saw the shimmering blue scales of a dragon muchrger than any he had seen before.


    The fluid blue horns and sharp blue ws were matched only by the mist raining down with every p of the dragon''s wings. Midnight let out a soft growl before standing in front of Walker. Su moved to copy Midnight and stand in front of her. They had both felt the pressure from the dragon and the second smaller dragonnding in front of it.


    "It appears I have another guest to greet. Please see yourself inside and someone will assist you. I will be along momentarily." The focus on the merfolk waspletely gone. Walker had a much bigger event to focus on. One that he needed to equal no matter what.


    The next steps that Walker took were matched by therge dragonnding in the front area of the Genesis building. He stepped in to the air using the wind ripple skill and stoop at eye level to therge blue dragon. The smaller dragon was the same as therge dragon but had sharper and more pronounced spines along its'' body. It felt that it might be closer to a hedgehog type monster than a dragon.


    "I see my invitation was received. Wee to the city of Genesis. I am True hero, young sage, friend of the goblins, educationist, Walker. This is Midnight my champion and Su her guardian." Walker was not letting his gaze waver at all. He made sure that his face remained still and he did not shift from his position. He was demanding respect in this city and he would not allow anyone to look down on him. These were the costumes of dragons and he would act with them.


    "Your vige is looking very nice. Plenty of room for growth. I was not expecting the ounts of you and your champion to be true. Yet, I see that it was worth leaving my vige for the first time in seventy years. I am Current. I am the pure water dragon in charge of three branch viges. I am the flow of the water dragon bloodline. This is my champion, Ciel. Allow us to make things easier on you. I know this form causes many to fear us."


    Walker could make the connection that the royal dragon was named Current after the current that water had while flowing. It was a fitting name for a pure water dragon that reigned over and decided the flow of other dragon viges.


    The pair''s shifting scales and bodies changed faster than eyes could keep up. Midnight was still on guard along with Su since they did not want to stand down without Walker reaching their side. The forms the two had were very simr. They were blue scaled dragonkin forms withrger blue wings and flowing horns on their heads. Ciel had some small blue spikes on his elbows and back but other than that they were very simr to dragonkin.


    Feeling that they had performed a fairly proper greeting, Walker stepped down through the air to the ground yet again. "I will decide whether I am willing to recognize your vige today. It can help or hurt you when youe to the main vige to meat the riyal court." Current dropped this on Walker like it was nothing. His head was held high and he did not even show a single emotion.


    "I can promise on the world that this city will be more than any other before it. But you will need to be epting of the values I will build here. It is not primarily guided by a single races'' culture." Walker took a tone of voice that spoke volumes. The words were simple enough but carried a weight that said that he would be willing to flight beyond death for them. This gained a slight nce from Current and Ciel. Both knew what such a im meant for anyone.


    "Walker you-" ra was ready to start and had brought Leon the merfolk representative in. They had not managed to share the news that dragons had arrived.


    "Current, Ciel. This is ra the current guild master of the main adventurer''s guild here. She is responsible for a great many tasks and is acting as a moderator for this summit. She was chosen because the adventurers guild epts any and all races in any and all branches." The pressureing from both Current and Ciel was enough to silence rapletely.


    Current looked at ra as if he was examining a small jewel. "Hmm, you have some elf blood in you. I can feel it from here. You should be a fitting figure head for such a guild. One day I may allow you in to my vige if my people feel the need to travel beyond our territory." Current could see the value in knowing such a guild. Not all dragonkin would remain in the viges and being able to send them on tasks to obtain what they need would be more efficient with some attachments.


    The color returned to ra''s face as her mind was able to process what was happening. "Thank you very much for your words. It would be an honor for such a thing." She was d for the approval and was looking forward to a new connection.


    "Now, we should have some seats at the round table avable." Walker led them in to the main meeting room which was made specifically for grand meetings like this. Ideally, it would be the ce for every race representative to meet. The room was silent but held more faces than Walker had expected. The pressure of the two new dragons entering drew every eye and caused everyone to stand hastily.


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 Chapter 958 - 958. Kroll Speaks

    The familiar faces of Rorick and Scy standing together were serious and staring. As demi-humans, they had a much better understanding of the pressure that the dragons gave off. Their instincts told them that they would need to flee if they were in battle. But they had control of themselves and remained still.


    Those next to them, however, were not as familiar. There was a harpy with bright red feathers and green feathers on her head. It made a somewhat crown pattern making Walker connect the dots. This was the harpy queen that had gathered other harpies toe together and attempt to be a sentient race.


    Krol and Ventus were nearby with the forest elf queen and Alma. Bree was not needed at this meeting and most likely working with merchants. It was a surprise to see Kroll and Ventus but it was clear that they were dressed for their best ad had grown even more mature since thest time they had seen Walker.


    The king was watching the dragons and using a lot of his energy not to ask Walker what was going on. He had not been told that dragons would attend. He had looked past the dragon that dropped them in the castle grounds since the party had sent a letter exining things. But this was more than he could fathom.


    The most surprised were the three dwarf kings. They had met dragons before in their lives to assist in crafting things that the dragons and dragonkin could not. But seeing them join an even that might not have a reward for them was astonishing. From what they knew the dragons would only leave their viges if absolutely necessary.


    Lastly, the merfolk were the calmest. They had seen the dragonsing tond before they left. This gave them preparation to ept their presence. Leon may have only brought one of his group with him but it was enough for him to feel safer and not step out of line to push things along. He had an important job to do for his people.


    After showing Ciel and Current to a chair at the round table, Walker stood where he was to be seated. Gil, Su, Midnight, and Remey stood behind him. Onyx was still in his tattoo form but had started to shift and pay attention.


    "Wee. I daresay this is the most members of any race that has ever been together in this generation. You are currently sitting in the center of Genesis city. This is where everyw will be finalized. Every dispute will be recognized. Every race will have an equal say. I do not know how many will one day sit at this table, but today, I hope that I can invite those of you who have not yet joined, toe together and be part of the Genesis alliance." The opening was short and sweet but made an impact on everyone.


    The king stood up, "I was surprised to see the additional faces that have honored our city. My human kingdom, the forest elves, and the demi-human kingdom have joined ourselves together to build this city. We have a dream inspired by the heroes that every race will live together and no longer be divided. To that ends, the heroes left to help all of us and offer invitations to join us here. The dwarves had already handed me a written letter requesting a permanent seat at this table. I have no reason to deny it. They had offered manpower to build the very foundations we stand on. But it is not solely my decision. The three acting representatives must vote."


    The king opened with this because it would show the equality that the three kingdoms had in the decision. "On behalf of the forest elves, I would like to wee them to the alliance. I hope that we can put the past aside and learn from each other. I see a new future neither of us imagineding to form." Alma had a wide smile as the queen spoke these words. She had properly described the true spirit forging techniques and how they did not harm spirits.


    "My people would never say no to a dwarf. You make good weapons and can battle in to the dawn. Wee to the alliance." King Rorick could see the value the dwarves brought and did not see any fault with denying them.


    "Then that is the final decision. The three have now be four." The magic contract was brought out to the dwarf kings for them to read when the time came.


    "I would like to take a moment to allow a representative to speak. They have something that will change their future." The forest elf queen spoke up and Kroll immediately came forward and stood at the table. Ventus wasrge but managed to crawl forward to stand behind them.


    "Thank you to the heroes my brothers have found new paths. Thank you to the adventurers'' guild my family has a home. Thank you to the elves my intelligence has grown. I am here today as the title holder, patriarch of the goblins and Ventus is here as ruler of grey haired spiders to request recognition from the Genesis city council. We wish to join you as an equal race." The speech that Kroll had was much more eloquent now than before.


    Rorick looked at them with some shock and awe. This was exactly what he had hoped woulde to be with the harpy queen. Current was also ring daggers at what he thought of as weak low life monsters. This was the first time he had seen such actions and he was unsure of how to speak to them.


    "Well, I don''t see cave goblins anymore. So I would say you should join us. Maybe I will get more miners." The king of the deep caves spoke up and soon followed the other official members of the Genesis alliance.


    "Just mark these contracts and you will be recognized as a race by this alliance. Even if you are not yet by the world." ra spoke and ced contracts before the two. Everyone watched with bated breath.


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 Chapter 959 - 959. Intelligent Race

    Kroll had worked hard to learn to read, write, and speak properly. Thanks to the forest eves he had learned very efficiently and with great speed. Not only did he and Ventus put all of their effort in to tasks like this, they never stopped. They spent three days alone awake so that they could begin to understand the basics of reading.


    Ventur had specifically watched how quills worked and learned to use his wed leg to sign and write. From what anyone knew, he was the only grey haired spider that could even understand letters let alone read and write. Kroll was just as much of a shock because he was able to write his name in a decently legible fashion.


    ''The sentient monsters, goblins have been recognized as a sentient race by the world. The race will slumber for three days while the mana gathers.''


    ''The sentient monsters, grey haired spiders, have been recognized as a sentient race. The race will slumber for three days while the mana gathers''


    Just like that, the world had sent them notifications recognizing the goblins and the grey haired spiders. It was safe to say that when Current jumped up he was more than surprised. This was not something he had seen or thought he would see. A race being recognized was more than just a small matter. This was a world changing event that would make a mark on all of history.


    The elf queen Reina was smiling and not even attempting to hide her emotions. She had known that Kroll had received a chain quest the day that Walker had made friends with them and had been working with Ventus to make their goale true. They had called out to goblins all around the kingdoms and brought them together to make the first goblin vige.


    "Ventus and Kroll have worked very hard for this and the heroes were the ones that made this possible. My enforcers will bring them somewhere to rest while the world blesses them." Kroll and Ventus were currently on the floor seemingly asleep. Walker could feel the natural mana working on their bodies and see slight changes urring in them. It was clear that they would have many changes in the next days toe which they would be learning.


    "When my branch vige elder visited me personally I was going to punish her for leaving the vige I gave her. I never expected to be convinced toe here, and witness a race being recognized. I may not speak for all royals¡­The water dragon viges will recognize the royal vige of Genesis. I will allow my dragonkin toe and view it if they desire." This was not an admittance to join the alliance but it was enough for Walker to rx a little. The entire room seemed to visibly rx as well.


    "Following that should be a little harder. I am very honored to see something I desire for some of my peoplee to fruition. I have others like Kroll and Ventus within my kingdom. This is Ava, a harpy queen. She brought three harpies to my kingdom eight years ago. Now there are over seventy that call my kingdom home. I hope to allow them the same path as we have just witnessed. But I also believe they can serve an important role here in the city. They are the ideal mail, message, andmunication experts due to their flight ability and musical talents." Rorick had been invigorated after Kroll and Ventus gained their recognition as a race.


    The harpy queen stepped closer to the table. Everyone was able to see the timid personality of the harpy. Partially it was because of the dragons which were a true being of the sky having natural pressure over a harpy. But other than that it was the extreme pressure from all their gazes. Rorick whispered slightly to her to prompt her forward.


    "I am Ava. The current harpy queen. Thank you for seeing me today. I wish to be a member of this alliance along with residence of this new city." ra didn''t even wait for the rest of the council.


    "The adventurers'' guild will take you in if they do not desire you to join the alliance. You bring value to the city and to the way every guild and business can run. We would be fools to ignore your potential." ra had a slight look of fear when she realized that she may have just insulted the entire room. Fortunately, everyone was looking at her approvingly. This was the right move even if they had not spoken it first.


    Ava signed the contract quickly but no reaction of race recognition appeared. However, her eyes zed over and visible energy came from her. "I take it you have a quest now?" Walker wanted to know what it was immediately. He knew it must have to do with bing a sentient race recognized by the world.


    "Yes! Sir hero, the world challenges us to show a harpys'' might." He had not expected to be called sir hero right away but he didn''t mind. The timid personality gave way to a more honest energetic personality that showed how Ava would normally act. Rorick could only smirk watching this.


    "You might be some flying bird and not as good as a mole or two when ites to digging. But we will need you to contact our main city every now and then. Show us what you have." The king of the surface was d to have a new method ofmunication. The long rangemunication golems that they had attempted to make always failed and they were forced to use preciousmunication orbs.


    "I believe the table is free. My name is Leon and I am here to represent the merfolk. Unfortunately, my father is busy fighting for the life of my people. My sister and I are here on the rite of session to represent our people.I hope to ask for assistance as a condition for joining the Genesis alliance." All focus fell on the two merfolk in the room.


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 Chapter 960 - 960. Assistance

    "I did hear that the ports were locked down. As you know were are bolstering our forces to cure the corruption and mistreatment of the demons. We need the supplies that have been traded from far off cities and kingdoms of the north. Please exin why this is the case." The human king August looked carefully at the merfolk opposite him. He had received this news a week prior and had been waiting for this moment to hear the details.


    The other rulers had also found this happening. But had heardter than the humans due to their greater distance from the oceans and harbors."We too have trouble with demons. But they are not so tame asnd dwelling demons. You can speak with yours and understand them. Those that live in the water are monsters with no desire for sentience. They only desire to consume the oceans and expand their powers. I fear that they are seeding." Unhappy faces graced everyones'' faces while this was said.


    The demons were corrupted onnd because of the sin title holders and the demon lord but they were able tomunicate and feel. Imagining a demon without this made them realize that the merfolk were facing demons like imps which had some sentience but in an evil and twisted form. They were not and would never be a race due to their twisted ways.


    The room seemed to vibrate as pressure came for Current and a slight growl could be heard. "Despicable. Krakens dare to attempt and rise again? Those disgusting things were responsible for three eggs to perish. My branch viges will assist you in this. They do not deserve to roam any part of this world." The intense angering from Current only spoke further to how precious the dragon eggs were to the dragons. "Howrge has the mother gotten?"


    No one knew the ins and outs of the kraken species. The merfolk had an idea but they had partial knowledgepared to refined knowledge. "The problem has not been size yet. It is numbers. There are so many that are the size of myself that they overwhelm ships, armies, and even small inds. No one has seen their clutches of eggs or a mother. We lost our records hall to themst month along with many schrs. We were forced to relocate our main city and rebuild from scratch." This was devastating news.


    The growling became slightly stronger. "Calm yourself while you are here or I will calm you myself." The entire room looked at Walker as if he had just spit in their faces. It was suicide to insult a dragon in this way. But the reaction from Current was surprising. He forced the growling and anger down while looking at Walker in the eyes.


    "I see you learned very well." He paused to take a deep breath, "The mother should berger than this city at that point. It will take more than myself to deal with. If they are swarming in such high numbers then they will be attempting to get onnd and take over rivers andkes next. It will be a repeat of my youth. I will not allow it!" The shout was close to a small roar but made every single one of them know the hidden danger that had been in the oceans.


    "We may have our own demon problems, but if these are mindless and destructive creatures then they are the true demons. I may have some water mages that can use spells to breathe underwater. They will join the subjugation." Queen Reina stood up vowing her assistance at all costs.


    Everyone hade to the conclusion that the swarms of kraken were just babies inparison to the mother. But what was truly causing them to wrack their brains for every possible card they could y, was the simple fact that an ancient dragon had just said they would not be able to handle it alone.


    "My armies are focused at the borders and protecting the city. If I split any off I risk my peoples'' lives. But I can open the armory and vaults to provide materials needed. I am sure the water elemental mana crystals can be used." King August knew that he couldn''t offer much since it would be too risky.


    "I have a general that I can send. Scy, please." Rorick motioned for Scy to speak.


    "I have the ancient monster traits. They bring me close to the leviathans which I share my life with. I may be missing one for now but I have skills that are better utilized within water. I also have an elite guard that is specialized in aquaticbat." This was backed up by Scy allowing one of the leviathans she was bonded with to leave the sleeve of her robes and swim in the air. It remained in it''s small state. "They can reach about the size of a small merchant ship when on their full forms. If I wasplete I could be of more use." Walker remembered how Scy was not trulyplete as a being without all six leviathans with her.


    "We have golems specialized for flooded caves."


    "We can send three thousand along. We will keep the rest to maintain our ore production."


    That being said, we will ask for fifty assorted color pearls for crafting. We rarely receive them as ofte and have a need for them to produce a new golem." This seemed like a small amount that the three kings were asking but to them, it would make over five thousand golems.


    "Then it looks like we will also be joining. My party will need time to figure out breathing underwater but we will be ready. I can''t wait idly knowing that a member of this alliance could lose their home." Midnight backed Walker up with a snarl of anger. There were many other masters to discuss but this one had been decided.


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 Chapter 961 - 961. Building A City

    The topic was more or less finished for the time being. Leon and his sister behind him were looking much more rxed. They were able to take even a second away from the worry of the kraken attacking their home. They had more than found help here and were going to be able to return to their new home with an army to fight off the threat. Their father would never imagine a dragoning to help them. There might even be multiple dragons!


    "Now, having the fields around the river and streams over here sounds risky. It could flood corps. But with the right experts in the fields, we can pick them before it floods. When the fields do floor we will have a better fertilized plot ofnd meaning more food and also a more weing area for the merfolk to walk to the city from." King Rorick had taken charge of everything that was rted to farming. He was the most knowledgeable anyways and had sent most of the farmers.


    "I agree, the nts there will grow better. And might I rmend you visit the alchemy guild building before you leave after the summit ends in a few days. I hope to renew some of your feelings about potions." Remey was sure that she could convince the demi-human kingdom of the value potions had. They would not need to fear the potions made by her guild.


    "That can be arranged. I will give it a chance. That is the least I could do." King Rorick wanted to push back but he knew the elves and dwarves had been involved in creating the guild building and founding members. This was not something easy to corrupt and cause the same incident as his people had suffered before.


    "Since that is discussed, let''s speak on trade. My people have opened their doors for the first time in years. I have forty different merchantsing to their stalls in the next two days. They will have items never before sold. There will also be specialized mage shops. Besides that, the dwarves will be partnering with some of my elves to bond with spirits. Our market will be wild." The worry that Queen Reina had was that the prices would be unable to stabilize to see things safely. The elf goods would be too valuable and either sell out or be unobtainable.


    "That is where the Ga family auctiones in. They had a skilled group of appraisers that have signed magical contracts to be unbiased to any race and item. They will evaluate prices and walk the markets to ensure that no one is over or under charging customers. They will be apanied by the adventurers'' guilds'' unique adventurers. I promise no one will notice theming" ra had taken this upon herself since she knew it would be a fight over the issue. The shadows would apany the appraisers in the shadows for their safety and to end any potential fights.


    "Good. If it was not by magical contract I would question it. I approve of this. Before I let go of the attention, I have decided that Alma will be the acting forest elf representative here. Se is young and needs to learn the weight of a people. I have taught her the basics but she can evolve with the city where I can not. I also n to connect with the other hidden elf cities to bring them to the alliance as well. The rock elves and snow elves may be interested. I can not promise anything about the me elves in the magma fields past the deserts. They are an arrogant group."


    The news that Alma would be taking the lead as the representative appeared to be new to Alma along with everyone else. However, the other rulers were understanding of the reasoning. The queen could bring other elves whereas Almacked those connections. There was also the fact that Alma would be able to grow in to the position without changing her values. That was a very valuable quality to have.


    "Wee Alma, representative of the forest elves to the Genesis council." The rulers all greeted her with pleasant smiles. Current was the only one to remain stoic while witnessing everything.


    "This is not the normal governing of a vige. For a royal it is disorganized. That being said, it is not strange for a royal to have their own version of leadership. Those fire dragons decide their elders through ridiculous fights in magma. As such, I will have my best dragonkine here to witness the council. I am sure the other royals will do so once youe to the royal court." Current spoke as if the other rulers were just ornaments there. But this was how the dragons spoke.


    "This is my style yes. I believe that everyone will be stronger together. Have you never imagined the things you could aplish, the skills you could see, and amazing sights, and other things if you worked with other races for a change? I may be human, but I have met the conditions to be called a royal dragon. That is not something that any dragon will have expected." Walker made his point harshly and powerfully. His words held weight that caused the entire room to shiver.


    "Yes, the human royal dragon. The human draconic guardian. The dragon champion with a skeletal dragon as a father and a ck me dragon variation as a mother. What abination for the royal archives to record." The words sounded nostalgic but lessened the pressure anyone felt from Current.


    "Ehm, I hope to move on to the underground sedition of the city. The dwarves will carve it just as the elves are nting their trees. We wish to share the space with the elves and farm crystals if possible." The king of the middle was right on point with what they wanted and queen Reina smirked. The two could easily work out a deal for this situation


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 Chapter 962 - 962. Magic And Battle

    "Of course we can share our crystal farming knowledge as long as you openly teach and allow our elves in to the forges."QueenReina needed to ensure that the true spirit crafting was shared with the elves as well. Se wanted to see the dwelling weapons made with her own eyes.


    "That forge building was made just for that. We will only house the very best cksmiths and crafters there. It will be better than the high forge. It will be the low forge. Besides the iron below the ground here, there will be the best golem workshops." The king of the surface was happier than all else to bring this up. He was going to have a solid team of golems to guard and patrol the city as well. They would protect all races and show the true strengths of a dwarf.


    "I would hope that some of the dormant elemental spirits can be brought here so that the elves can assist in awakening them. They will be better able to assist than anyone else and the city will greatly benefit from their presence." Walker couldn''t forget the number of elemental spirits resting in the vaults.


    "That can be arranged. With the true spirit forging methods you helped us discover, we are able to create never before seen items. But they take time and a master to create. This is also matched by the understanding and desire of an elemental spirit. No dwarf can speak to them. Well, one dwarf can somewhat speak to them." The thirst to have this knowledge was clear on all three kings'' faces. Walker knew that they wanted their very own dwelling weapons or in the case of the king of the deep caves, he wanted a pickaxe.


    The conversation drifted in tows and how the guilds would function in the city. Many of them agreed that the city council had the respective right to temporarily close down any business or guild if they had adequate evidence that there was wrongdoing. The guards would also be required to train for a much longer time to get a position. This would make the guards able to handle all the races and with the rewarding pay, a worthwhile investment of time.


    Current was watching all of this and would sometimes hiss slightly or raise an eyebrow. Walker also noticed that Ciel was constantly ncing at Midnight and Su. It was clear that Ciel was much older and did not have a guardian. As much as Walker wanted to ask why he felt that he could be touching a very sensitive topic if he did.


    "I say we build a tournament held every year. I already organized for a coliseum. I don''t care if it''s used for theater in the off time, but the races deserve proper disy of strength. If we areing together we should be able to show off everything we excel at." Rorick didn''t appear to budge on this.


    "Then I will rmend we build a magic tower. I have seen a single one in my life before I was queen and it was something I can never grasp. Now it is nothing but rubble in the deserts. If we send a group to investigate one day we can build some rune formations that increase a mage or other magic oriented system user in training. The knowledge gained from the old texts there had described that there was an age extending effect there. Those that lived on average survived for ten years longer." This would be a small drop for the dragons, but for humans, it was a major benefit.


    "Since my people will be amodated by the entrance at the river and all kingdomsing to assist us, I support both ideas." Leon had no reason not to support them. He was going to be indebted to the alliance for life.


    "We can build anything. Runes or not, give us the right materials and we can make it happen." The king of the middle did not even blink hearing about the two projects that he would be able to join in on. It would just show off their skills more and more.


    "Well, it sounds as if it is settled. Both will have some merit. But there will be four tournaments split between level ranges. The magic tower will be protected by some barriers or walls in case of issues. Therefore it should be on the outskirts of the city." This was a fin evaluation from king August.


    Remey whispered to Walker a few things and it pushed him to speak up as well. "This would be perfect for the alchemy guild to provide potions to the injured and the new elemental affinity potions to the magic tower. Both can also be rewards for the winners along with other things. This would connect more people together. But in no way will the collision be used to air grievances. That will be a court of peers."


    Walker''s statements started another debate but it looked to have all the approval. This was a unique way to deal withwbreakers that the other kingdoms had not used. For some, it was just jailing or an evaluation from someone with a judge system. Now it would be multiple that would hear the facts and evaluate the situation. Overall it would avoid massive amounts of problems between races in the beginning.


    "That being said. I want to open up the city to the first potential residents and travelers in three months. That should be enough ti,e to finish building, make the merchants established, the guilds operational, and hopefully deal with the quest to save the merfolk." Walker made this point and everyone agreed.


    Through the next three days, thews came together and the moment came to sign everything in to being. These werews and values that would ho,d them all ountable and bring in a new and vibrant growth to the world.


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 Chapter 963 - 963. Get Ready!

    The pens that everyone took to sign were specially made with mana infused ink. This was a magic contract that would bind them all together. No one would be able to vite thesews and if they did they would need to suffer appropriate consequences.


    "For a reminder. We will help each other in freeing the demon people from their oppressors and n the corruption. They will be allowed to join us and thrive as well. Any sentient monster that bes a race will be weed. Until that point, they maye for assistance in bing a race. We are all equal here and no matter your status in your own kingdom you will not be exempt from anyws."


    The statement had already been agreed upon but Walker felt that reiterating it while the signed was the right thing to do. Their signatures glowed and every single member of the party signed. Onyx and Midnight used a small stamp on their adventurers'' guild que to mark their signature as well.


    "I will support your vige. Upon the decision of the royal court, I will sign. But until then, I will watch and see what shall happen. I can not say if this radical thinking will be epted by all my fellow royals, but you have something unique." There was no longer pressure in Current''s words. Instead, everyone could feel as if it was a father looking at their child. There was an unspoken tenderness that showed just how excited they were to see them grow.


    "I look forward to the final decision. But know this, if the court does not support it. That will not stop me from carving this path for all people. Even those that deny it." The party stood taller and narrowed their eyes in determination. Onyx hissed which was a very rare action for him and Midnight raised her head to huff out a small golden me of determination. They were more than just some adventurers that would try to do something. They were the omnipotent party of heroes that would cut the path to equality they saw in the future.


    "That being said. I believe three days is enough to prepare for all of us to leave and begin travel to the port towns." As much as everyone would like more time to prepare their aid, the rulers knew that it was a matter of time before the merfolk would be lost. Three days was the bare minimum that everything could bemunicated and sent. Meaning that those preparing would be rushed the entire time and push themselves hard.


    "I will leave and prepare some potions. I believe there are some that can boost stamina and healing." No one stopped Remey from rushing out. She and the other alchemists would be hard at work for at least an entire day.


    "I will follow her example and begin to make some arrows that will assist everyone. Any archers that cane can join me." Gil was sure that Alma and queen Reina would direct some of the enforcers to Gil. The mages may be able to make them breathe underwater while the archers can focus on the offense.


    "I will have my elder dragons here and give their young a chance to rise. Ciel, you will lead them while I focus on the mother. I expect you to perform your best." Ciel didn''t hesitate to leave the room. If he had stopped to speak he would have been insulting his royal. The one he had sworn to protect for his entire life. It was something that Walker and Midnight did not miss.


    "Rorick, lend us the assistance of your harpy queen ally. I trust she can make it to our city in less than a day? If that is the case we will have our golems and a few elite guards on the way while we stay here." The king of the surface saw a nod from Rorick to Ava.


    "I will personally carry your word. Please watch and see the strength a harpy queen possesses." The challenge from the world to be a race and follow the quest was a very strong motivator. But what really encouraged her was the fact that she would be able to make a home here without worry that anyone would attack her or attempt to take her feathers.


    "I will gather myself andpile a list of dangers and information for everyone. I will leave as soon as it ispleted to notify my father. My sister will remain here in my stead to act as representative of the merfolk." Leon stood as well and was met with one of ra''s assistants who guided him to an office.


    "I call this meeting to a close. My assistants will guide those that need it to the rooms for representatives. Food can be brought to you or found in the main event hall. I will also be cing a bounty on every kraken killed. As the guild master of the adventurers'' guild, I must call my members to arms." ra had made the decision before anyone had finished speaking but only had the chance to put it out to them now.


    Thews were set, and the buildings were being built. The city would grow with or without the representative for a short time. Now was the time to focus on the threat at hand and then return to their main goals and growth. The rest left the hall and went to their tasks. Walker was quick on his feet to make it to the cathedral. He wanted to stock up on bandages and see if any healers coulde with him. He knew there were a few retired battle healers with the cathedral who hade for the reason that they wanted to start new in a new city. The only hope he had was that Alice wouldn''t insist oning too. He didn''t want to see her in danger.


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 Chapter 964 - 964. No Argument

    The hustle and bustle in the cathedral was much more than it usually was. There were many dwarves that had been recruited to help set the massive crystal in to a stand. It was the mirror of the other cathedral but slightly shinier. The high priest was already sitting and enjoying the aura that came with it. "Come to see the finishing touches? It''s beautiful, right? I have only seen four of these in my life. I don''t know how they are made but the northern city passed the desert is a wonder."


    The mystery was going to have to wait since Walker had arrived with a purpose. "I am sorry foring off blunt. But do you have any healers or battle healers to spare? There is a problem that needs to be dealt with and I need brave healers toe with me to heal a special force that will travel to the harbors to save the people from a kraken infestation. Every kingdom is helping with this. Even dragons have joined." Walker''s words sounded too crazy to be true but the high priest had never known Walker to lie.


    "I have a few that can join you. They are used to the loud and chaotic monsters. Especially something as terrible as a kraken." The high priest knew well that a kraken was a demonic monster without any sentience. He had read of it before and even seen a very small one that someone had failed to tame due to the incredible violence it presented.


    "I also want you to make sure that Alice doesn''t try toe. It will be dangerous and I don''t want her to have to risk her life. She deserves safety." The two shared a look of seriousness. They both shared this feeling and desire to protect Alice.


    With a sigh, the high priest sat up taller. "I want to tell you I will lock her in her room and not allow her to leave. But you and I have seen that she is able to attack and defend in the worst case now. She had songs to boost those around her and heal. She is more of a wonder than I ever imagined she would grow up in to. But I do not control her. If she leaves then that is all she can do. I will tell-"


    "I a going. I will be your healer." Alice had overheard everything and knew the high priest was going to tell Walker he would convince her. Before this happened she was going to stand tall and tell Walker exactly what she was going to do.


    "Alice, it will be dangerous with a swar-"


    "That is final! I will go. I will protect you while you fight. Midnight won''t get hurt and the kids will still have an Onyx to y with when we return. Su is a member of the cathedral too and I will help her. I am not weak and the entire journey there I will show you my power." This was the most that Alice had spoken to him in the row without it being small one sentences or single words. This rant stunned him. Walker waspletely melted


    The exasperated look at the high priest proved that Walker could really do nothing. "I won''t stop you then. But you areing to the mansion to train with me today. We leave in three days and I will do everything in my power to make sure not a scratch gets on you. We are also having Lisa make you some light rune robes and maybe some light armor." Alice looked about to argue before she realized what Walker had said.


    "Also¡­that was the most you have ever said to me. You should talk more." Walker trailed off losing his steam. He was too embarrassed by this admittance of enjoyment after hearing her voice so much. Alice hadn''t realized she let herself go and was now blushing constantly.


    "In that case, I will pass this down to you. This pendant was given to me the day my father allowed me to live in the cathedral. It has a light elemental rune on the back and it attracts mana for you to use. It has been a constant fixture around my neck when I heal. But now, it will guide you to a higher standing." The high priest ced the small white stone fall around Alice''s neck. The light elemental rune was glowing and the light elemental mana slowly moved towards Alice.


    Alice was touched by this and was on the verge of tears already. She didn''t have words to tell him how happy she was to be trusted with this. As far as she was concerned she was now holding something from her own grandfather. The high priest had raised her and she was his daughter. No one could change that no matter what.


    After their moment, the high priest looked at Walker. "I will prepare my healers and some additional supplies. I expect that you will be responsible for each of them making it back here safely. Do not disappoint me." Walker knew the hidden meaning in the higher priests'' words. He basically had said to bring Alice home safe or else. This was a fathers'' protection.


    "Let''s go see the wandering cksmith first then to Lisa''s shop. Then we can train one of your songs. I want to see if you can attack and defend in the same song or by switching songs. I know you will be healing but I need to know if it will be safe enough for you to hide in the back." Walker felt bad saying this bluntly. He needed her to avoid damage and also to be able to recognize the danger. But for now, they were heading toward the cksmith building.


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 Chapter 965 - 965. Perfect Chance

    There were golems being repaired right outside of the cksmith building. Many of the dwarves working looked as if they were altering the golems for underwater or to carry materials faster. The sound of constant hammering from inside and the billow of smoke from the newly made smokestacks proved that the dwarves had done more than juste to the city themselves. They had brought plenty of materials and fuel for the fires.


    Walker had dragged Alice all the way there and walked right in to the building while some dwarves looked at him with a quizzical look. They weren''t sure why anyone would be dragging a girl in to the forges but they didn''t have the time to worry about it. "Rodney?" Of all the people to be there, Rodney was at the counter.


    "Ha! It''s me. You know I couldn''t resist getting here on the next merchant carriage here. How else would I get to work with the best of the best? Do you know who''s in this building? Master dwarf cksmiths! You even have the wandering cksmith around too. If I want to be better than great I have to be here!" The argument was solid but Walker was still amazed that Rodney had just up and moved at the drop of a hat.


    "Well, It''s nice to see you here. I didn''t expect you to be here."


    "Of course I am. I don''t have any reason to stay where I was and I can keep growing here. My family has spread out here and there too and my parents are retired. So I''m here." Rodney looked proud that he had been in the perfect situation to move at the perfect time. "So, what can I do for you? I memorized theyout of the building this morning." The same loud confidence that Rodney had was refreshing. This may be a new city but it had a lot of the things that made home, home. Friendly faces were one that the entire party would rely on.


    "I was looking for the wandering cksmith. I need to ask him for light armor for Alice. She wants toe on the quest." Walker was firm and did not let go of Alice''s hand the entire time. She was watching him carefully since she was sure he was angry. But in truth, Walker was worried. He knew he had to do everything in his power to make sure she would be prepared. The journey to the harbors would be dangerous as it was.


    "He''s been at the top of the building fiddling with this and that. He kicked everyone out and has it locked down. I have no idea why. I heard he has his own shop now. I don''t even know how he could have one since no one is allowed to purchase one yet." Rodney had gotten to the city and immediately heard that the shops were not avable for purchase for another three weeks since they were set aside for those appointed by the rulers of kingdoms. This meant that those who were there early needed to wait and make themselves useful by building the city for some money.


    Pulling Alice along, Walker went right for the stairs. He had barely looked at therge space with many tables for people to wait for appraisers or meetings. The counter with the ability to sell and buy materials along with applying for affiliation with the building wasn''t even an afterthought to Walker. He would need topletely revisit the building to learn more about it. If he had stayed behind for just a few moments longer he would Rodney would have started to gossip about the possibility of master cksmiths and craftersing together to make the building more than just a building and instead, a guild.


    Stairs were a flurry as the pair passed the forges, meeting rooms, and evenrge presentation halls. There were all perfectly made and being set up by multiple cksmiths. There were even carpentry workshops and ceramic kilns. Anything crafting and forging seemed to be represented in the building that would soon bring in until numbers of customers.


    When the stairs ended, Walker found himself looking at arger door that was sealed with a few runes as he had seen before. "It''s Walker!" The three loud bangs that followed were enough to cause a tter in the room. Someone was rushing to open the door and after a few more sounds of falling things, the wandering cksmith revealed himself.


    The room opened up to him showing off the chaos inside. This room was obviously meant to be a private forge and office. But it had been made a mess of while the wandering cksmith set up tool racks, carved runes in to the new furnace and even walls, and the materials he had were ced inside. "You have your very own forge and shopbination and you are here making this?" Walker had no idea why he would do this.


    "Not for me, for the future guild master of the crafting guild." This was a heavy phrase to drop. Walker had not heard Rodney gossiping about all of this so he was shocked.


    "This will be a guild too!? Well¡­I thought it should for a while but still. It''s a lot. So much is changing but this makes sense. The forges could be a lot better about prices and the flow of materials since the dwarves areing and the prices will fluctuate between kingdoms. It saves people from a monopoly and helps cksmiths with quests that require certain materials¡­" Walker started to get in to his own head until the wandering cksmith looked at Alice wondering why Walker had dragged her all the way there.


    "I need your help. Alice wants toe on a quest to defeat a mother kraken. She needs light armor that ideally can protect and help gather light elemental mana." Walker could only ask the wandering cksmith for such help.


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 Chapter 966 - 966. Already?

    Alice knew how valuable armor and such was. The cost could get much higher than she was able to afford. Yes, she worked and was raised in the cathedral which rarelycked funds, but they were not for her to use. They were to heal and protect people. Gold was donated to help others not to further and fill the healers'' desires.


    "I wish there was a light elemental spirit that wanted to form a dwelling weapon for Alice and partner with her but that doesn''t seem to be possible now. Maybe in the future. I just want it to protect her and be able to allow her to swim and properly survive underwater. I know that makes things more challenging." Asking forst minute armor was a hefty ask for any cksmith. But Walker trusted the wandering cksmith and knew that he would ept no matter what.


    "A good challenge." The wandering cksmith had been setting things up and was d to hear the challenge. He had worried that he would spend all of his time alone and bored while the city was set up. Unlike the other cksmiths, he was better with weapons and armors due to his experience. Building materials were less of his forte. Not that he couldn''t make them.


    Now that he had a challenge, he would be able to focus on something and potentially set himself up with a seasoned forge. He could wait on the project he had been working on in the future crafters'' guild''s guild master office for a few days.


    "I hope there is something you can do. We leave in three days." This seemed to be excited the wandering cksmith even more. It was a true challenge worth the strength of his skills. Thest challenge had been the eternal orb and nothing was ever going to top it. Mostly because this was something that required multiple participants to craft. But this was a challenge that the wandering cksmith could take on alone with his own skills.


    "I am also going to ask Lisa for some light elemental rune sewn clothing. Hopefully, she can manage but if not I will look for an alternative." There was part of Walker that told him he should not be bothering others with this. But another part of him screamed that he had to do everything in his power to make sure that Alice remained safe.


    "Send here here." The wandering cksmith wanted Lisa toe to him which meant that he had an idea. The idea must have been good because Walker could see his mind running.


    "I will, thank you." Walker stepped back as the wandering cksmith did a few circles around Alice to be sure he could make everything to the proper size and shape. After a moment he nodded and grabbed some paper to sketch. Walker knew this was his time to leave and let him work.


    There was a lot on Alice''s mind while they walked back down the stairs and out of the future crafters'' guild building. She wanted to tell Walker that he didn''t need to push so far for him. However, she also found that she like the drive he was showing to make sure that she would remain safe. It lightened her body and made her heart race.


    "I''m pretty sure that Lisa has been locked in her workshop since we finished moving everything over. Let''s see what she says." The first knock on the locked door brought nothing. The second though brought the sound of someone jumping p in surprise. There was a short fumbling of the lock and a blurry eyed Lisa greeted them. "Or she fell asleep and just never left her bed of fabrics for a few days."


    "Hey, I have a lot to do here. I am going to be the top seamstress in the city!" Lisa protested as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The show room that she had started to put together already had a myriad of elegant designs in multiple colors. The simple shirts that had rune designs were made in ways that they could easily fit under other clothing so that they were inconspicuous. There was even one pure white dress that seemed to be the centerpiece for the entire show room.


    "Wow¡­you have been working really hard. It all looks amazing." For just a moment Walker was stunned by the skills his sister had in making so many items of clothing. He remembered what he was there for and forced himself to be serious. Lisa did not miss this change in Walkers'' demeanor. "I was hoping you could make something with light elemental runes on it. The wandering cksmith wants to work with you since I asked him for armor that Alice can wear when shees with me to defeat a monster."


    Walker knew that Lisa would figure out what they were going to battlete but at the moment it was best not to share the details of what or why. She would just worry and stress herself out more. Not to mention she was very excited to start up and fully prepare her shop. "I already made Alice a lot of clothing. Isn''t she going to join you on a lot of adventures?" Both of them were caught by surprise. Alice and Walker didn''t realize that Lisa had thought of something like that. "I will bring them over to his forge. I will show off soon!?" Lisa pushed the two out the door.


    "She''s a good sister." Alice felt that Walker had won the little sister lottery. Meanwhile, Walker was thinking that he definitely had the best little sister there was.


    "I know I just pulled you around everywhere, but let''s go to the training field behind the mansion. There''s a lot we should try out." This was the final test to see how to best keep track of Alice in a battle.


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 Chapter 967 - 967. Sword And Shield

    The draw of light elemental mana around Alice had definitely improved. She had gained a skill that allowed her to passively pull it toward her when she was preparing to sing. It was amon skill called vocal warm ups that most song rted systems had. From what Walker could see it was very useful in rxing her vocal cords and increasing the mana she had an affinity for.


    Fleur had be very interested in all of this since she had not seen this sort of thing happen yet. She could also tell the difference in what kind of elemental mana was being pulled near them and she knew that it was light. This was not the same as when Gil and Zephyr used their skills with wind mana so she was even more interested.


    "Alright. I will make some earth dummies and I want to see your attack skills. Your buff skills will be very useful to everyone but I don''t care about those. I would prefer you are protected yourself." The idea that Walker had was that Alice might only be able to efficiently add buffs to the group battling around her. This was great for everyone that was in battle and would make things safer overall. Unfortunately, the buff skills would not defeat an enemy attacking her.


    When it came to her skills, Alice knew that Walker was not doubting her. She had been watching him and understanding his feelings long enough to know that he was trying to make sure that she would not be harmed in the least. But what she knew for sure was that Walker didn''t realize that she felt the same way whenever he left for an adventure. This time she wanted to be there to protect him and watch his back. As much as Walker was a hero with a creative mind, he was still thick headed.


    After a deep breath, the mana began to change around Alice. She could not sing a song creating many des of light due to the incredible amount of mana she needed. But, she could push herself to control three at once. The three des of light forced in to the shape of swords. Alice had been inspired by storybooks of long forgotten heroes and fantasy characters. The swords had doubles des and could float around here just like a sword saint with real swords.


    Walker channeled some of his mana in to the ground and after a short rumble, many earth pirs formed.


    ''The skill earth dummy has been taken from the magical trainer system. The skill earth dummy had been automatically learned through multiple user actions over time.


    Earth dummy- 10 mana cost


    The user can add their mana to the surrounding earth to create twenty earth dummies. The earth dummies are tough condensed earth that allows for multiple hits to take ce before it crumbles. The earth dummies are able to resist most elemental magic to additionally be used for stringer skills. The more earth dummies made in an area will decrease their strength. The shaping of the dummies is easier for the user as long as they have the applicable skills.''


    When the skill showed up Walker was not as surprised. He had made earth dummies or pirs multiple times before to help everyone train. This was just the first time that he had specifically made them for Alice. But he decided that it had been enough for him to get the skill.


    Alice had begun to sing a song about the sharpness f a de that sliced through all evil. It was a song that perfectly enveloped the idea that light elemental mana was there to push away the darkness and defend someone.


    While Alice sand about them pursuing her enemy and illuminating their souls, the three des danced around one of the earth dummies. They shed at the surrounding dummies showing Walker just how controlled her song was. They could perfectly surround the one using them if she so desired and defend them. But what made Walker look in awe was when the sing changed and became slightly lower.


    The swords were joined by a t circle of light acting as a shield. From what Walker could remember, Alice had created a song of shields that would make multiple. This had to be a variation of that and the song of swords that she was singing. Thebination made a rotating light elemental mana shield around her and only two swords shing around at dummies. Thebination was ideal for a battle with more than one opponent to protect herself.


    Feeling that she was using a lot of mana, Alice decided to stop both attacks and look at Walker. She knew that she would need to rely on the armor and clothing that the wandering cksmith and Lisa would make her to decrease her mana use. There would also be the number of mana potions she would use. Ideally, she would only need a lot of low tier mana positions to constantly regain her mana instead of drinking a higher tier mana potion as fast as possible. It was easier for her to carry around the slightly smaller low tier mana potions.


    "I have to admit. You have been working harder than any of us have noticed. That was pretty amazing. I haven''t figured out how to do any of that with light elemental mana." Walker was telling the honest truth. He found that he was jealous of how well Alice could manipte the light elemental mana with her words. If he could manage something like that he would be able to attack for a decent amount of time due to his mana pool.


    "On the journey, we are most likely taking the fastest route. That means through the swampnds. We are going to face poison. That means we will need someone to purify the poison. Can we rely on you for that?" Walker knew that Alice should be the best person to do such a thing and keep their travel at a faster pace.


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 Chapter 968 - 968. Stepping Style

    Alice couldn''t hold back her own smirk. Purifying someone was easy for someone with light elemental magic. But even more, she was trained as healer and had focused on songs that promoted healing and purifying. Not many people knew that she wrote her own sons the entire time that she had been in the church. The only ones she had not were the small songs taught to every child as they grew.


    The song might not do much since neither of them were in need of it, but it was one of the songs that Alice had used the most and she had perfected. The moment that she began to sing again, Walker knew what it was. This was the first song he had ever heard her sing. It caused people to recover their health faster and it purified them. Alice was able to sing this multiple times a day now without worry that she would run herself out of mana. Compared to when she had foist met Walker, she hade a long way.


    There was nothing that would stop Walker from listening to the entire song and even after Alice had stopped singing he was standing there looking at her with a soft smile. She finally gave him a push to get him back to reality. "Sorry¡­I don''t think I will ever get used to how beautifully you sing." Thepliment was one that Alice had heard many times. Yet, when Walker used it, she was thrown upside down with her heart racing.


    Fleur jumped up and floated over to Alices'' shoulder before giving Walker a hard look. Neither of them caught in to what she wanted until she started gesturing around with her hands. "I guess you are right. It''s my turn to show off what I can do." The assumption appeared to be correct since Fleur was leaning on Alice and watching carefully. The idea that she was going to see more magic and skills was exciting and Walker felt that Alice and he had been here to perform now instead of just train.


    "Well, I have needed to work on my footwork skills. When I use dance of the rabid rabbit I end up getting too focused and losing myself slightly. I wanted to try and learn the movements that I saw the dragonkin warriors using. They called it scale step and it was much faster. The only problem with that was that it didn''t focus on dodging the same way that the dance of the wild rabbit does. It is more of a brute force standing over your style."


    The images of the dragonkin using these movements had been burned in to his mind., Not only did it make them have a constantly tough base when they were attacked or attacking but it made them much faster. They were also able to faster react to Walker which made him wonder if it was some different way of using instincts. The dance of the wild rabbit reacted using instincts but the scale step seemed to act ahead of time and control the pace of battle with instincts.


    There was genuine interest in the idea that Walker would be using a skill that he had seen from a dragon. Alice had seen the dragonse in and rushed out of the cathedral with everyone else to witness it. But she had not heard much as to what had happened and why they were there until she had heard it from others. The party had not been able to leave the Genesis building much since they were so busy with the rulers andw making. Therefore, most of the information was gossiped about by the guards to others.


    Walker was talking himself through the motions he had watched all of the dragonkin warriors using. The food work seemed to be more bnced on the balls of their feet using their wed feet to dig in to the earth and propel them forward with more force. This was something that Walkercked as a human and not a dragonkin. But that was not his goal. He would not copy them exactly. He was considered a royal to the dragons and he had to look beyond what the dragonkin could use. Especially since he had never seen the movements of a real dragon fighting.


    The first idea was tobine the wind ripple skill, dance of the wild and rabid rabbit skills, and the scale step. If he could push them all together he would be able to carry the reactions of the dance of the wild and rabid rabbit skills while being able to step in to the air to avoid and attack. Then he would have the pure unrelenting force of the scale step.


    The furrowed brow Walker had told Alice and Fleur that Walker was extremely focused and had fallen in to his own world. The slow steps he had begun to take around the training field avoiding the dummies were odd and uncoordinated. Both of them tilted their head in confusion as they watched him softly strike forward while moving. There was no damage or hurry but for some reason, they felt that the air was getting harder to breathe in. Alice herself could tell that the mana she would normally be able to call upon due to the sun being high in the sky was harder to grasp.


    After half an hour of his movements, Walker felt his breathing start to align with his steps. For some reason, he was feeling unbnced while attempting this. His body was screaming at him to stop because of the awkward steps and strange angles he would move in to avoid the earth dummies he had made. It would cry out, even more, when he attempted to attack with even more force. After using the wind ripple skill to step up ande down a few times he felt that his muscles were beginning to cry out against him at a whole new level. He was moving unnaturally for what a human body was used to.


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 Chapter 969 - 969. Seasons

    Worried that he was pushing himself too much while forcing the multiple movement skills he had together, Walker attempted to channel some of the natural mana around him to help heal his body as he moved. The first thought had been to just use light heal on himself constantly, but if he did that he would always need to burn the mana he had to use a technique, it just felt wrong. Nut his instincts told him that he should be using natural mana. It was almost as if someone was whispering in his ear.


    The warmth that proceeded him as he did this was more than expected. He could tell that the muscles he was pushing to their limit were now being healed slightly. His joints were not aching as he forced himself to meld step after step and find his own rhythm in the middle of all the movement techniques.


    ''The user has bonded his body with natural mana properly. The skill natural regeneration has been taken from the Grand Treant system. The skill natural generation has been automatically learned.


    Natural regeneration- passive (requires ambient natural mana)


    The user is only able to use this skill when their body had epted and is able to use natural mana. The natural mana is the basis for all living creatures within and outside the world. The user is able to heal much faster without expending their own mana. The user is able to efficiently process natural mana in to their own mana as long as natural mana is around, this is a slow process. The user can better sense natural mana.''


    The feeling of heat increased and Walker was able to move faster and force the movements together better. He became more clear headed even though he pushed the pace faster. This brought him to the cusp of the dance of the rabid rabbit effects where his mind would be foggy and he would have a hard time controlling himself.


    However, he felt a force within him looking down on such a feeling. It was as if his very being was stomping the minor loss of intelligence in top dust. The difference made his moves sharper and more developed. No longer was he starting to stumble and bend at strange angles. He was wlessly dancing and swinging his arms in a method that allows him to nearly step through the air and ground while delivering heavy blows.


    Meanwhile, Fleur and Alice were feeling pressure around them. Every single time that Walker would move the mana around them would also shift. It was as if something muchrger was moving around them. The natural mana wasing towards him and also changing forms. There was a cool breeze that Alice would have thought to be from the colder weather. But it waspletely different.


    The next breeze felt damp and cool while the next was hot and dry. Followed by a cooler dry breeze. The air seemed to be changing with every movement that Walker made. But so was the style at which he moved. When the cold icy breeze came from around them, Walker''s moves were sharp and harsh. When the breeze was cool and damp, his moves became fluid and he dipped past the earth dummies.


    The hot dry breezed paired with Walker stepping through the air and attacking with powerful hits to the dummies nearby. The final breeze, cool and dry, was a slower movement that made Alice feel that any attack on Walker would result in him blocking and reversing it on her. All of this made her confused as to how someone would even be able topete with him.


    " The skill dance of seasons has been taken from the nature guardian system. The skill dance of seasons has been learned through fusing multiple movement skills with high amounts of natural mana.


    Dance of seasons


    First act


    Winter- passive ( requires natural mana)


    The user replicates the cold breeze of winter and mimics the ice. The flow of movements are sharp and precise causing the users'' attack to cause piercing damage through defenses. The user is able to better manipte the water and wind elemental mana.


    Second act


    Spring passive ( Requires natural mana)


    The user replicates the damp breeze of spring. The flow of movements is simr to flowing water. The user is better able to manipte water, light, and earth elemental mana. The user is able to fluidly dodge moves and remain in precarious positions more easily. The user has increased agility.


    Third act


    Summer- passive (Requires natural mana)


    The user replicates the hot and dry summer breeze. The flow of movement is fast and powerful. The user is better able to manipte, light and fire elemental mana. The user copies the furious moves of heat in the distance. The user finds inner strength and has increased attack and magical attack.


    Fourth act


    Fall- passive (requires natural mana)


    The user replicates the sorrowful breeze of fall. The user slows himself causing the opponent confusion. The user is better able to manipte darkness and earth elemental mana. The user moves slowly like a falling leaf and harnesses the strength of the earth before the frost of winter. The user has increased defense, magical defense, and a slight health point boost.


    Fifth act


    Symphony of seasons- passive ( requires user mana and elemental mana fusion)


    The user forces all seasons'' movements in to one symphony of elements. The user is only able to use this skill temporarily because it causes extreme stress to the body and the health points will slowly decrease with use. The user has a boost to all stats by fifteen points. The user gains increased sensitivity to natural mana. The user has a higher ability to manipte all elemental manas.''


    Walker felt the insane amount of information rush through his mind and he was forced to take a knee to catch his breath and calm himself. Alice rushed over full of worry seeing him in this state. But when she saw his bewildered smile she was only curious.


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 Chapter 970 - 970. Unknown Audience

    The reminder that nothing was ever the way it seemed hit Walker yet again in his life. He had tried to mimic the scale step to get a dragon style movement skill. Yet, he had used the natural mana to force his other movement skills together ande out with a style that was far beyond what he had imagined he would be able to use or understand.


    The information that came with this skill was mostly from the world around him. The natural mana slowly moved through the seasons constantly. But this was just the way of the world and the flow of nature. There was plenty of hidden information that Walker could perceive and learn from the way the natural mana was able to change and affect the world. Adding this to the way he could move to copy these, Walker felt that he was able to better feel the natural mana in general.


    The natural mana he had taken in to his body was being held by the spirit mark and for the first time, Walker realized that his own mana was mixed with the natural mana. It was normal for every living creature to hold some form of natural mana but having the awareness of it was rare. Now that Walker could feel it he knew just how the natural mana and his mana could interact under his control. Meaning he could pull it towards him to use the movement skill easier.


    The next surprise came as he read the effects of each movement skill. The dance of seasons was a magnificent movement technique with multiple acts. Walker could use any of these acts to his advantage. When he needed to defend he could use fall to block and be stronger but slightly slower. If he needed attack power he could use summer. The possibilities of confusing an opponent and beating them as much higher by using multiple acts.


    The fifth act was the one that shocked him. He was sure that the four seasons were the natural flow of nature. The fifth act even required his own mana to be mixed with natural mana. This meant that he would be acting to change the flow of nature around him. The four season acts were how nature properly flowed. The fifth act was how he changed the flow and pushed using his own mana.


    The fifth act also brought massive strain on his body which was most likely why he had pain at the start of his attempt to learn a new movement skill. The attempt was all four acts that strained his body, especially since he didn''t know how to use them properly. That was a blessing in disguise because it allowed him to learn the natural regeneration skill. That skill alone would make hum much safer in any battle. There was also the faster recovery from any injuries that would counteract the fifth act; symphony of seasons.


    A light tug on his clothes made him snap out of his hyper focused state. Alice was looking down at him in curiosity and worry. Fleur, on the other hand, was looking at him very carefully. She had seen exactly what had happened and she could feel the change in Walker''s ability to use natural mana. The mixed mana was also felt by her.


    Fleur had extreme sensitivity to nature mana being a nature spirit. She would one day be a real world spirit but for now, she was just the natural spirit bound with Walker. Now she and he would be able to better work together since she also had some of Walker''s mana inside her. Their bond was strong and they would constantly be able to share mana for their entire existence. Having him able to sense the mixing of mana was a prerequisite to them being able to bettere together. She could feel this.


    For one of the first times, Fleur melted in to the spirit mark on Walkers'' back. She had a sudden sense of lethargy and gave in to the rest. Walker was surprised by this but felt that she had been more tired than he knew. "Get a good rest." He looked at Alice and stood up after whispering this to Fleur.


    "Sorry. I was a little caught up. I just learned something I didn''t try to learn. I hope it didn''t take too long." The height of the sun had changed so Walker knew he had been moving for a few hours now. The feeling of his muscles aching was slowly improving but it was a telltale sign he was pushing himself without realizing it.


    Alice shook her head. She was not at all unhappy with waiting. While Walker had done his thing she had been standing in direct sunlight feeling the light elemental mana around her. Not only had she witnessed the way Walker had slowly changed his movements and pushed himself, but she had also worked on her own understanding of light elemental mana. Alice believed that she would need to be able to multitask anyway, so this was an ideal practice for it.


    "I discovered a skill using natural mana instead of a dragon skill. But I think this is better. I can change my movements based on the season I want and if I really need to I can push myself harder andbine them all at once." Alice was entranced by this. She had felt the slight breezes every time Walker had moved and now understood why things changed. He had been moving through the seasons.


    "Better than a dragon skill? You are bold to presume that royals such as myself do not have better." Current had been well above in the sky and descended tond in front of Walker. "I was curious about the mana I felt and came to see. I did not know you were actually a young sage. That title can be lied about if one can not sense the natural mana. I will ept that you are able to hold the position of a royal with such a title and skills." The sudden intrusion was not at all what Alice or Walker expected. But hearing the more rxed tone of Current told Walker that this was all because they were more or less alone.


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 Chapter 971 - [Bonus ]971. (2) Dimensional Step Alabastor

    [some other time] {Refer to chapter 855}


    "Yes yes, I promised to tell you more about dimensional step bastor. I won''t lie to you. Just sit and listen." There were two children yet again hounding their father for more stories. They had not stopped asking about the person since they had heard the first story.


    The words focused the children on him and the man swore that he could feel the intensity of their excitement growing but the second.


    "How about we talk about the time he saved his entire merchant caravan? He was very well known as the best guard for any merchant caravan to have by this time. He had shown off his prowess in defeating countless monsters and even some small bandit groups. His ability to step through space and defeat a dangerous attacker before they could swing a sword was outstanding."


    The children leaned in with now stered on their faces. " The merchant that had employed him had been able to expand their activist and now rand multiple merchant caravans. Thergest was said to set off for a far away city being built. It was an opportunity to make a base that no other merchant had yet. Naturally, bastor did not turn down the job. He had been working diligently to be more powerful and sharpen his skills. He was well known as a silent assassin that protected people without them even knowing they had been in danger."


    " The journey was said to be through a perilous dirt road with first on each side. It had been cut by an unknown monster and was used for years at that point. The problem was that there were always monsters waiting to ambush those that traveled it. The forest on either side made it perfect for ambushing the merchants and making snacks of them." The man tapped his fingers on the armchair he sat in. He gave the children an evil grin to try and spooked them slightly for dramatic effect.


    Many other guards had been enlisted to join them and nothing strange was said to have happened while they traveled from their current town. The merchants that went with them were experienced and knew well that the guards would protect them with their lives. But one merchant was younger and was slower at driving their carriage. That was the biggest mistake that had been made and is currently recorded in the merchant''s rules of the road. Never let yourself fall behind."


    "The forest had been darker even in the bright sun. The trees bent over the road and the carriage that fell behind waspletely unnoticed by the main group. However, it was picked out by a slithering monster that no longer exists in our world. It was watched by a green horned viper. They grew to the side of three carriages and could swallow one whole without so much as flinching. Their scales could grind the bark off trees and their venom was feared to be unsurvivable."


    The deeper tone of voice made the two children push themselves back slightly. A terrifying monster was one not able to be defeated by anyone. Or so they thought. "The carriage was being driven by the young merchant and he noticed he was alone. He tried to push his horses to move ahead faster to no avail. When he noticed the green tail ahead he fearfully tried to stop before he hit it. But he ever so slightly touched it causing the green horned viper to turn and attack."


    "The fear of death consumed the young merchant and it was said that he had aged ten years in that very moment. His soul couldn''t handle the pressure of the attack. But the attack he had felting never did. He was silently sitting with his eyes closed before he slowly opened them. The sight he found was one he did not expect to see in his entire life." The two children nearly jumped up to make their father tell them what happened after. The suspense was killing them.


    "The very green horned viper that had been about to take the young merchants'' life was on the ground. The head cleanly separated from its body and a single man standing over it contemting what to do. Of course, it was bastor. Having a merchant fall behind was nothing that he worried over. They were still within his protection. He had also noticed the green horned viper watching them. Therefore, the moment it had let its'' guard down and attacked, he had made his move."


    "The ying of that single green horned viper was the very thing that allowed alchemists to derive the very first antivenom to purify the green horned vipers'' position. The scales had gone to make shields for many guards. The bones were used to forge bows for many budding archers. bastor had put so many things in to motion with this one act. He had changed the flow of time and established a solid base for the merchant group he was guarding. It became known as one of his crowning achievements at the time. No other could have made such an impact so quickly."


    The two children were amazed to hear that so much hade from the simple act of guarding a merchant. There was an entire industry founded from this simple protection. "He was also known as a man powerful enough to defeat a monster that could swallow him whole like nothing. It was a decisive battle that showed off his use of spatial magic skills. The spatial sh he had used to sever the green horned serpents head was recorded as an unbeatable skill. Bards took up his songs and praises in an instant."


    There was so much more than the man could tell his children. He had found a great many volumes of bastors'' adventures. But for now, he would be sending them to bed to dream of adventure.


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 Chapter 972 - 972. Ritual

    "I didn''t think you woulde to watch me stumble through learning a new skill. To be fair, I was trying to learn the scale step or better. But here I ended up adding natural mana andbining the other movement skills I had. They all came together in pieces to show me the way to the dance of seasons." Feeling that Current was not here to throw around the values and strength of royal dragons, Walker also rxed slightly.


    "I see what my elder means. You are not conventional in the least. You were able to charm one of my elders so much that she personally came to tell me of your visit. I was surprised to see the letter she sent then suddenly show up. Normally I would have been full of fury to see her leave the vige without permission. But after she exined I wanted to meet you myself. But stiff meetings do not mix well. I am a pure ancient water dragon. I can flow in anyways. Remaining stiff and frozen is not my way." Current felt that sharing a slight bit of himself with Walker would help their rtionship. Knowing that he was willing to bend slightly made Walker feel closer to him in a way.


    "I do not mean to be rude, this is Alice. Alice, this is Current. He is a royal dragon. He came here to get a feeling for the city and decide on his stance when ites to joining us here one day." Knowing that Walker was casually speaking to an ancient dragons was too much for Alice''s mind. She waspletely shocked by his attitude. She had grown up knowing that ancient dragons were brutal and powerful. Having one so calm and cool was rare and against what she had thought.


    "You are much too young to have a wife. I do not understand humans any longer. Thest time I came down from my mountain to see them was when there were only small viges around. How things have changed while I train myself." There was a shallow sigh from Current while hemented his newly foundck of knowledge. Walker and Alice were in turn embarrassed by this but did their best not to show it.


    "Ehm, well. Things are different between cultures. I know I have broken many ideals of yours by existing in the way I do. But I hope that it can bond dragons and other races. I feel that together there can be stronger futures than apart." This was in no way a lie. Walker truly felt this to the very core of his being and Current was able to sense it.


    "Hmm, very different indeed. So much so that sending my dragonkin followers here may cause a shock. They had never broken the traditions and bending in such a way may cause strife. I would like to send a younger generation. The young dragonkin are not bound by oath to us royals until theye of age. If I send some young here you may be able to help them in a way I can not." This was an additional surprise.


    "I feel like you are willing to do so because you have benefit in doing this?" Walker couldn''t shake the feeling that Current was doing this for a reason.


    "Of course. Royals act with reason in everything we do. I am interested in what potential someone like you who breaks our values can do. If you did so out of evil then I would have erased you. But you do so with a purity that matches every pure elemental ancient dragon. I also remember the nature dragon before they passed on. I wish to see that again one day." Thementing tone brought Walker right in to a new understanding of Current. He was more than just trying to see something he missed. He was searching for a feeling he had long lost.


    "But that is not what I wished to speak with you about. I wanted some time away from the other rulers you invited here before we left to defeat that scourge. I know you have seen that my championcks a guardian. That was a grave mistake long ago. But I can ensure that another champion does not have such a future." The conversation became much more serious and Alice wanted to flinch away. But she felt Walker''s hand envelope hers and she was able to rx.


    Current saw that Walker was prepared to hear what he said and began, "Your champion and guardian have yet to bind their blood properly. The guardian is able to share some power with their champion. They are there to defend them after all. Normally the dragonkin guardian would take a single drop of blood from their champion once a year to bring them from a simple dragonkin to a higher being. It is slow and wondrous to see them grow in such a way. It makes them closer and allows them to develop skills simr to their champion"


    This ritual is watched over by the royal they serve and is more than just a simple binding. It is something that connects them all at a deeper level. If this is not done then the guardian will find they are unable to grow and protect their champion and even more their royal. Do not allow this ritual to be forgotten. If you do, you will find that your champion is without a guardian.


    The weight of this warning was heavier than Walker had expected. But this was very vital information that obviously came from experience. There was nothing but good intention from Current. He was there not just to warn Walker but to protect a champion from the pain he had witnessed. "Can you tell me more about this ritual?" Walker leaned in wanting to know everything possible. Alice felt a little out of ce but stood tall next to Walker.


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 Chapter 973 - 973. One Drop

    "One drop of blood. That''s all that is needed every single year. I would rmend doing this at night when the silence is the greatest. The royal is required to watch over and be there in case there is a rejection. You are not a born dragon. That is clear. But your champion is. There may be a rejection at first. But from what I can see with my eyes¡­well, I will keep that to myself." Current had taken a long pause before divulging any information. It appeared that he was looking at Walker with a simr way of thinking as a grandparent to a child. This wasn''t far off since an ancient dragon was many times older than a human.


    "Your champion needs to willingly offer a single drop of blood which is consumed by the guardian. This will strengthen a bond and cause the changes needed in the guardian. For a dragonkin, they will growrger wings and their elemental affinity might change or be stringer. For a human, it''s unknown. The only other species we have seen a guardian from is a serpent race, a starlight serpent to be specific."


    Walker took interest in the idea that there was a monster called the starlight serpent. But this was something to worry aboutter. He was totally focused on the ritual that he was being told about.


    "The process is full of pain but that is because the body will adapt. Mana will rush toward the guardian and both the guardian and the champion will have a moment where their minds are aligned perfectly. This is the development of a sixth sense where each can tell whether the other is in danger. That is how a guardian and a champion are able to battle and protect their royal so well. That is the end goal of a guardian. To bea lesser champion that protects their royal."


    All of this was news to Walker. He had read and been taught a lot while in the water dragon vige. But hearing more detailed information from a real royal dragon who had experienced was even better. "Lesser champion does not sound familiar." This was all Walker needed to say before the light in Currents'' eyes focused on him.


    "Lesser champion is a guardian that gains the draconic guardian skill, dragon transformation. It takes many years and an extremely strong bond. They are able to transform for a set time in to the same champion they protected through the years. It is the highest that the guardian can rise. Depending on the champion, they can be extremely powerful warriors." The look of sadness returned to Current meaning that this had been something the guardian to Ciel had never achieved.


    "During the ritual, the guardian will have to swear to protect the champion until they had reached their strongest state then swear to stand beside them. But this is just what my ancestors did. The pledge is different for everyone. I heard that your oath with your champion was different and even formed a more powerful bond. To think that a human could live to be an ancient like me." Walker had not told Alice that he would be living longer than the average human. Much longer. Her face dropped in to one of wonder and awe while looking at him.


    After they are sure to copse and slumber for a full day. The dragonkin guardian normally has tougher scales and experiences the gaining of skills or other things from their champion. One such guardian has even received a unique skill that only champions normally have. Just be careful. The champion will be ravenous afterward. This ritual consumes a great deal of their mana. Now, I have done what I promised after evaluating you and your city. I will leave to prepare. Unlike other royals, I happen to have battle prowess that can beat that disgusting scourge in the waters."


    Seeing Current p his winds in to the air made Walker wonder if this was all a strange hallucination. But he knew that it was not. Walker would have to do something to show his gratitude. He had not known these things to this amount of details and it could have hurt his friends. "I will need to get Su and Midnight tonight to do this." Walker began to fall in to his own thoughts.


    "You will be ancient?" Alice finally asked what the meaning was behind what she had heard.


    ''Well, when Midnight and I preformed our oath to each other and I became equal to a royal¡­Well, I kind of gained the chance to live the same as a dragon to a degree. I might live for a long time. Same with Su and Onyx." There was a sadness in Alices'' eyes. She had worried that Walker would leave her behind but in actuality, she might be the one leaving him behind.


    "I will live forever too." Alice made this promise without thinking. She had no way to do this and no knowledge of just how crazy this sounded. But she gripped Walker''s hand and promised it three times while looking in his eyes.


    There were no words to respond to such a pledge. Walker just pulled Alice a little closer and made sure to intece their pinky fingers, "It''s a promise then. We will live forever." The two giggled slightly as they shared their moment together.


    Some timeter, Walker and Alice had already made it inside and had cleaned themselves up for dinner. They had stopped by the separate bedrooms to remove some dirt and such from clothing after training. Alice had been able to improve and show off her skills which made her feel that she was better prepared. However, Walker had also learned a new skill which made him a lot morefortable having to protect Alice on the journey.


    The only thing that was worrying him now, was that her level was much lower than everyone elseing with them.


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 Chapter 974 - 974. Midnight

    "Walker. I would have preferred that you brought myself and Midnight with you to meet with another royal dragon." Su was understandably unhappy with Walker when he and Alice had found her and told her about what had happened. Midnight was also huffing in agreement with Su.


    "It was not something nned. But it was a lot of new information that I did not know. I felt like we were back at the branch vige. I think the water dragons are more open and flexible to the things we are doing here and were more than willing to help us because of that." This was obvious but Walker wanted to say it so that they would repay this kindness one day.


    Su released another long sigh before she took a deep breath, "And you made Alice stay with you the entire time you were speaking with a royal dragon?" Su had not said anything when it was mentioned that Walker and Alice were training. She had already expected Alice toe with them since Alice had been training and making it clear she wanted to adventure.


    "I didn''t make her. It was unexpected. She stood pretty strong if I could say so myself." Walker was sure that Alice would have left if she didn''t want to be there. But she had gotten more and more confident as she stood there.


    "I''m stronger than I look." Alice had used a very forceful tone which drew all of their attention. Midnight huffed a few times and nodded her head. She was proud that she was seeing Alice show her teeth.


    "I apologize. I know that the water dragons are more caring. I still worry though. Current is just like Adair. It makes sense that they are both impressive dragons with pure water elemental affinity. This ritual, do you believe we should risk it before we leave?" This was the crux of the matter. If they did the ritual and Su was weak or Midnight was weak, then it was risky.


    "It could give us a secret boost in power that we did not expect. For the first span of travel from here to the swampnds that we are crossing through, we will have carriages. They will be left near the swampnds. That means there will be some time to recover. Alice and I can also help heal along with the battle healers that the high priest is sending with us." The reassurance that Su and Midnight would be at fighting capacity or better was the real draw for her to ept things. "What do you think Midnight. This is a big deal for you as well."


    "Sister says that she is always getting stronger and that she will help Su be stronger too. They are a team." Onyx slithered in to the room looking slightly shinier than usual. "Yes, I had brother Gil help me shine my scales today. We need to prepare to leave and I want to be able to absorb the most light elemental mana possible before we get to the swamps where it will be dark." Onyx hadn''t even needed to hear them ask. He had known that they would wonder why he had polished his scales.


    "Then we will get stronger. Midnight, should we perform this ritual at midnight with our own twist on the oath?" Su and Midnight both appeared to have something in mind that not even Onyx could fathom. They still had a more unique bond that not everyone could understand.


    "I felt you training today. I believe you will need to improve your level while we travel. I will protect you." The room was silenced by Onyx making this promise to Alice. Walker had been waiting to make this point but now was left with it out in the open.


    "Walker, we still have one half of an experience boosting potion left. You should give it to Alice when we get on the road. Use your lure orb and we will help her as much as possible." There was not a question or an ask in this. It was aplete order from Su to Walker.


    "I haven''t known who to give it to since we are all leveling up at a different speed than the normal people around. I was thinking of giving it to Onyx but he has a better ability to hide away from danger so I held off. You are right. Alice, this is thest of an experience boosting potion we found when we moved in to this mansion. It is yours." Walker had held on to this for a very long time and not used it since it would have put one person well ahead of the others. But they also didn''t need only experience points any longer.


    Seeing the gold in the vial of potion made Alice shocked again for the day. She had only heard of the nobles that could afford to procure these potions due to their rarity and price. The church would never buy one with the hard earned gold that could go to healing more people. She wanted to argue but knew that the entire party would be more at ease if she became stronger before she got to the harbor towns. If she did not strengthen herself then she would be risking her and their lives. Not to mention anyone else fighting with them.


    "Thank you." The words were soft as a mouse. She was having trouble keeping her eyes from tearing up. This was something that showed how much they cared for her safety. It was hitting her all at once that she would be able to stand beside the person she cared for and the people she had begun to idolize. She was no longer someone incapable of adventuring to witness greatness. She would stand beside them and ensure they were safe herself. She would protect people. She would be more than she was and continue to grow as an example of what a healer should be to the world.


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 Chapter 975 - 975. Scratches

    Dinner was done in a sh while Gil and Remey never made it back to the mansion. Remey had be immersed in potions while Gil had recruited the enforces that would being with him to make more arrows. They were trying to work on arrows that would more easily speed through the water and maintain their damage. It would be a surprise when they came up with something.


    Most of the family had been too busy with the building of the city and their new interests. Gil''s mother had not left the garden since they hade to therger portion ofnd. She had somehow managed to befriend multiple elemental spirits without the ability to speak to them. Walker could only wonder how she had managed it. But the effects had shown themselves in the portions of carved out earth which would be a winding path for the garden.


    It had been good to see Lisa taking a break at the dinner table but even when Walker had attempted to pry in to her work she had shut him down. She was even keeping secrets from Alice and Su which made everyone incredibly curious.


    "Walker, Midnight and I are just about ready." Su had taken things a lot more personallytely. She had referred to Walker less and less by the term leader and more by his name. It was something that truly spoke to how close the bond they had now. It also showed that she had finally begun to see that true strength everyone had and focus on her own goals.


    Midnight and Su had cleaned themselves as well as possible. They had the feeling that they needed to be as perfectly clean as possible for the best results. Walker had decided to clear a ce in the training field for them to do this ritual in. He was going to wait for the waning moon to be directly overhead before they began.


    The air was still and cold as if the world itself had been waiting for this to happen. Su was toughing the cold air out with her resistance skills to cold and Midnight just shook off any child she felt. They were both clearly nervous but as they looked at Walker standing confidently with them they were able to brush the feeling away.


    " Midnight, I know it might hurt a little. But we need a drop of your blood for this." Midnight had prepared for it and knew exactly what this meant. She could already feel the connection between her and Su growing. But as she used one single w to draw a drop of blood her very being was vibrating. It was like someone had started to shake her very soul and it was crying out for attention.


    Su had thought hard about how this would go and what she would say. She was not going to breeze through this as if it was nothing. Thai was more proof of hermitment to her family and who she would protect. She never imagined she would be standing here in this way, but it felt right. It was exactly the ce she belonged and that feeling would never fade.


    Walker wanted to hear the things that they would say to each other, but what surprised him most was that they did not speak. Instead, there was a wave of mana from each of them. They were making their own pledge in a way that only a draconic guardian and a champion would do. Words were not needed to prove that they would be there to protect the other. Words were a worthless thing to a real dragon. Words could be dropped at a breath. But the core of somethings'' being could be shown and shared. The desire and pledge based on ones'' soul could be shown bare.


    The single drop of Midnight''s blood fell and melted in to Su. Her eyes seemed to glow with mana showcasing the skill she received when she first became a draconic guardian and realized the bond she had created with Midnight. Su had taken it on herself to rest with Midnight when they had received their hero titles. She had been there when Midnight could have been taken from this world of the living. The bond was small but had a foundation that nothing could shake. For any other draconic guardian and dragon champion, this would take decades.


    The mana around them instantly retired causing Walker to feel as if he was in a cecking all mana. The feelings he had before were gone. Now he could tell that Midnight and Su were much closer. But even more, he could feel an increase in the mana that Su and Midnight had within their bodies. Midnight began to copse in front of Su who tried her best to catch her.


    Su did her best to slowly let Midnight down as he lost her strength as well. The smallest piece of scales scraped Su''s face and she started to bleed slightly. Before Walker could cast a light heal spell it fell on to Midnight and seemed to melt in to her scales.


    The two were more than done for the day and just as Current said, they looked exhausted while they slumbered.


    "Zephyr said she felt that the mana around here was acting strange. I came as fast as I could but it looks like everything is safe. Let me help you get them inside." Gil had been waiting patiently trying his best not to interrupt. With the help of Onyx, the two managed to get both Su and Midnight inside to their beds. Walker could feel that there was a change urring between them and opted t keep them close by in the same room. But he couldn''t just walk away. He chose to meditate on the natural mana around him while he waited for them to wake up again, even if it took the full day like he had been told.


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 Chapter 976 - 976. Fever

    Walker had made it through a significant amount of time since Midnight. He was sure that Su and Midnight were resting peacefully in front of him. But the sudden change in the mana alerted him to the changes urring in Su''s body.


    Su had broken out in to a cold sweat and there was an odd flow to her mana. She was starting to toss and turn but not wake at all. Walker did the only thing he knew how to do which was use his healing skills and grab water to put a cool cloth on her forehead. He was sure that this was the result of the ritual that she and Midnight had performed.


    The pain that she was experiencing while unconscious was from Midnight''s blood changing her in some way. But Walker had no idea what way this was. However, he had a very strong sensitivity to mana now. He could feel the natural mana within Su reacting and spreading through her body. Since this was the case, Walker tried to pull the ambient natural mana and found that Su''s body pulled that in as well.


    Time passed in this way slower than Walker had ever felt before. He remained calm while he burned his own mana to control natural mana. What he didn''t realize was that Midnight was also absorbing some natural mana to rece what she was using in her won body.


    Both of them were using their own mana and the natural mana that they would not be able to sense that dwelled within them at all times. For anyone else, this would be the same as approaching the unspeakable act of burning ones'' soul. Walker could sense that this was because the gap was very far between dragon and human. Su''s body was being forced to change in an unnatural way and the natural mana was working to make it possible.


    By the time Su returned to a peaceful resting state, Walker had used nearly all of his mana and was looking in worse shape than Su. Midnight had also begun to stir slightly. Neither of the three had any idea how much time had passed.


    The next thing that caught Walker''s attention was a noise outside. He looked down and out the window to the training field where he saw that Remey, Alice, and Onyx were training together. Alice was using her songs to make shields around her and defend from Remey''s punches which were being held back. She had switched to a fire and a light elemental knuckle which produces a blinding white me.


    Onyx was acting as the buffer between these two and absorbed as much light elemental mana he could. But what was shocking to Walker was when Onyx would interrupt them with a shadow spike or a light spike. He had been improving his own skills to the point that he could perfectly aim with them now. It was a wonder how Onyx had figured out that he could use his own shadow to make a shadow spike and send it at an enemy. Walker felt he had been missing some important facts of darkness elemental magic.


    The soft growl that echoed through the room came before a louder yawn. Walker spun around to see Midnight trying to lift herself up with a slight struggle. She was slow but with Walker''s help, she was able to stand and perfectly show him the same look she always had when she was very hungry. Walker broke in an instant and pulled snacks from his storage. Midnight gleefully began to eat and regain her normal lively attribute. But for some reason, Walker knew she was different. Her eyes had lost a bot of their wildness and been reced with a more human like look.


    While Midnight ate, Su began to stir aw well. The difference though, was that she looked as if she was sick. Her eyes fluttered open and she grasped her head then her throat. Walker rushed to give her water which was greedily gulped down.


    "Thank you. I felt like my lungs and throat were on fire. All I could dream about was being exposed to everything all at once. One moment I was frozen. ThenI was on fire. Then I was in a sea of darkness before being blinded by light. On point I was underground buried alive, then falling forever. It was¡­ not as scary as it should be. It was¡­ enlightening." Su had realized that she felt a lot more than normal.


    The elemental mana around her felt friendly. It was as if she could feel it moving. Walker aw the way she was processing these things and was able to catch on to this. "Your affinities must have mirrored Midnights'' you probably have some affinity for all elemental mana now. I bet you are also more resistant to them." This was a good thing.


    Once Walker had said it a look of understanding grew in Su''s eyes. But what also showed were slightly sharper teeth that weren''t quite human anymore but still very simr. Su investigated her system and felt her skin to find that nothing had changed much. However, when she got to her throat she found something had changed that she did not understand until she found her system also different.


    "Walker¡­have you ever heard of a human that can breathe fire?" Walker''s jaw nearly hit the floor as Su said these unsteady words. She was feeling the parts of her throat right below her jaw. At the same point, he had read that a dragon had special organs that assisted in them being able to breathe fire and other elemental breath attacks.


    Midnight jumped up having finished her snack and moved right next to Su. She stood in front of her and held a proud stance. The two stared in to each other''s eyes for a moment and Su looked at Walker. "Midnight wants to teach me to breath fire." Su startedughing until she looked at Midnight again. She was the one whose jaw dropped this time.


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 Chapter 977 - 977. Get Out!

    "You need to leave the room now!"


    "Why? I need to make sure you are both alright." Walker was stunned that Su would force him to leave right away.


    "Just do it and I promise I will shock you in revenge for all the times you have made us freeze up." The fact that Su said she could breathe fire and even understand Midnight''s thoughts now was too much already. Walker had no idea how she would be able to shock him so much more now. "Go!"


    Walker was abiding by what Su wanted and left the room. The shuffling sounds that followed made him worried but he didn''t dare to burst in. He knew that if he did not follow what Su wanted then she was more than capable of teaching him a lesson.


    The sounds of shuffling became off. There was the sound of Midnight''s scales grinding and a slight growl that turned in to a high pitched sound. None of these sounds seemed normal but in a few minutes, things were silent. All that could be heard was the slight sounds of Su whispering in obvious amazement.


    The next sound that Walker could make out was tearing fabric. It made him wonder just what was going on and also just how bad they would get yelled at if anyone found a bunch of torn bed sheets and clothing around. There would need to be a very good exnation for all of it just to avoid Lisa''s wrath. She took great pride in the clothing she had been amassing for everyone to wear around the mansion and out on adventures.


    Another silent pause seemed to torment Walker, "Come back in!" Su knew too well that Walker had not gone far.


    Walker opened the door full of curiosity and enough worry tost him the day. But in no way could he have been prepared for what he saw. " That''s- but-but¡­How? She needs to be an ancient dragon to be able to do that. Even Adair said¡­ Midnight?"


    Walker stuttered through his shock. He was looking at a young dragonkin with skeletal wings. ck skin stretched between them to match the ck and white streaked scales that covered her body. There were two smaller bone colored horns that curved off of her head. Her eyes were the same as the eyes Walker had looked in to almost every single day. It was Midnight and there were no questions. Her growing smile while watching Walker think his way through his shock was too telltale.


    "I know. I had a feeling that she was closer to me and then I realized that she had the dragonkin transformation skill after the ritual. I can only imagine it has something to do with how we bonded. But she is well ahead of any other dragons." Su was right. Midnight had a dragonkin form that was a little more human than any of the other dragons they had seen transform. But what really made it stand out was that she wasn''t totally covered in scales. Midnight had some patches of wless skin matching Su''s.


    Before Walker could regain hisposer Midnight rushed over to him and tackled him to the ground. She rubbed her face in his chest while she hugged him. She was nearly purring while trying to move her mouth the same way she had seen them all doing so many times before. The tearing fabric that he had heard was therger shirt that Su had ripped to let Midnight''s wings through. Midnight''s tail was still very much there and had a simr form as it had before.


    "We will help you speak. I promise. Just stop trying to squish me to death. Lisa will want to make you all the clothes she possibly can. I don''t think she will be ready for this." He couldn''t help but chuckle to himself imagining how shocked the others would be.


    "That''s how I felt. I knew you would be stunned by the sight." Su felt that this was a wonderful surprise. She could feel her own mana in Midnight somehow and knew that the ritual had been different in some way. It was the same way that she just knew what Midnight was thinking even though it wasn''t a direct conversation.


    "Let''s get everyone else up here. I don''t know where Gil is but I know where Onyx, Alice, and Remey are." Walker opened the window and took a deep breath. "Get upstairs to Su''s room now! Hurry up!" The shock on their faces from the interruption caused them to rush inside. They believed something was wrong and they were not going to be slow about it.


    Su rushed to cover up with a nket since she was still in simple clothing and wasn''t used to just going around in it. She felt her armor was much morefortable. The symphony of footsteps reaching the door was momentary before Remey burst in. "What''s wro- that''s can''t be¡­"


    Midnight gave up on tackling Walker and jumped for Remey. "Midnight! You change and the first thing you do is try and take me down in a wrestling match! I can take you in training why not here!" The two started to roll about the room while Onyx and Alice watched in amazement. They weren''t sure what was going on.


    "What''s wrong!? I was in the dining room when I heard- what!?" Walker had not known that Gil was home and eating. The small pieces of scrambled eggs on his lip showed that he had been interrupted. But that didn''t matter. All that did was the fact that Remey was now standing equal with Midnight showing off her dragonkin form.


    "So, we did a binding ritualst night between Su and Midnight. It''s normal for a draconic guardian and a dragon champion. But somehow Midnight can take a dragonkin form."


    "And I have multiple elemental affinities and can breathe fire. Or at least my skills say fire breath now."


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 Chapter 978 - 978. Girls Only!

    "Walker, I expect this from you. I was d to help get them inside with you after. But you didn''t tell me that this could happen. Su, you are the new Walker now." Gil had named Su this since it was a bigger shock to hear that she could breathe fire and had such a major change in herself after binding with Midnight and her blood. Midnight on the other hand targeted Gil and ran to hug him next.


    Once Midnight had managed to tackle Gil to the ground too she managed to catch Onyx who was slithering for a closer look. "Sister, don''t let them teach you to talk. I will do that for you!" Just as any little brother, Onyx feared he would be unable to help his sister out any longer. But in return for his words, Midnight just hugged him tighter and they had a private conversation. "I can ept that. But when you can fly you will take me first." The agreement was made.


    Lastly, Midnight stood up and gave Alice a soft hug. She knew that this was more important since Alice was lower leveled than all of them and she could hurt her. But even more, it showed the difference in their rtionship. The party was family already but Alice was a calm and sweet person slowly bing family. But this was not a deterrent at all. Alice smiled warmly and patted Midnight''s head the same way Walker would. For Midnight, this meant the world. Alice was the first person outside of the family that had epted her surprise dragonkin transformation.


    It was clear that Midnight was just as excited as the rest of them were. She was walking around on two legs and standing next to everyone. Due to her still being young, she was the shortest, but this just hid her might. Without a doubt, Midnight could be the most dangerous of the entire party when she was focused. Let alone when she managed to surprise attack someone.


    "First on the agenda! We need to get Midnight some real clothing. But I will say it now. She will be the cutest in the entire party so Gil needs to ept that." Remey threw a teasing insult at Gil who was about to jump to his own defense when Midnight decided that this was a great idea. She had her skeletal armor skill but hated that she couldn''t wear the vibrant colors that the party did. She had adored the harvest festival costume and now she could wear things like that all the time.


    "And boys are not allowed. As long as Remey can help me walk there I am fine to go." Su was still visibly tired and there was nothing that anyone could do. Walker could cast as many healing skills as he wanted and Remey could feed her pitons until she popped, but Su needed the time to recover. Meaning she would be down for the count on thest day before they were leaving the city.


    "Yes. But you need better clothing too. I think your muscles got bigger." Remey was too excited to see that Midnight and Su had both gotten tougher and stronger. As far as she was concerned, they were both siblings anyways. "Alice, you areing too, right?" Alice had not expected Remey to reach out to her but with an apologetic look, she nodded and left Walker alone.


    "I think we just got ditched¡­"


    "We did. But that''s fine. Alice hasn''t really spent time with Remey and I think she wanted to because she was interested in Remey''s potions. She just never admitted it out loud." Walker was sure of this.


    "I wonder how everyone will adapt to Midnight being able to change forms now. Do you think it''s because Su is human?" It was only natural that Gil would be curious as to why Midnight gained a skill that Walker had been clear was very rare and took years to reach for a dragon.


    "Well, I had to heal Su when she fell after catching Midnight. I''m not sure if you saw it but her cheek got cut by Midnight''s sharper scales. Midnight is usually very careful not to rub her sharper scales on us. But I think that made her share blood both ways. It''s just a theory though. But this will be a good thing. It makes her look more impressive as a dragon champion. Exactly what she will need when we get to the royal dragon court."


    The point was valid and it made them both much more confident. "Sister will need to learn to speak properly now. She had been jealous that everyone could speak whenever they wanted. There was one day that she ignored me the entire time just because she wanted to learn my skills. But she didn''t want to lose the chance to learn something better with the educationist title skill." Onyx felt sad that he wouldn''t be tranting andmented it. Yet he was also proud to see how happy his older sister was.


    "Since the rest of us are alone, should we go and get some food?" Walker decided that since the girls were off bonding then it was time for the guys to do so. They had not done so in some time and it would be good to just rx. "By the way, how''s Alma?" Gil tried to be defensive and hid it away but before they even made it to the dining room he was spilling everything to Walker.


    Idly floating in the sky while pping his wings and absorbing the water elemental mana, Current watched the entire ritual and now saw Su and Midnight walking out of the mansion over a dayter. His eyes bulged and he realized that changing the dragon culture was more than just a maybe. It was going to happen for the first time in generations. He memorized the very image of what he saw and closed his eyes to focus on his mana absorption. He needed to separate himself before he dedicated himself to such a cause.


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 Chapter 979 - 979. On The Job

    "Lisa! We have a surprise for you!" Remey had banged on the door with a heavy fist to get no response at all. Su shouted next and still, there was nothing. Seeing this, Alice attempted to open the door and it pushed open with minimal effort.


    They all were walking in first to keep Midnight hidden behind them. Su had calmed her down before they walked in. But that didn''t mean the group was at all calm. They barely managed to held themselves back as they walked through the front showroom.


    "Lisa will make you new clothes. If you like something out here just make sure to point it out. You know she will be more than excited t make something." Lisa was just like Walker. She was a sucker for the pleading look that Midnight had mastered. But now that Midnight had a dragonkin form, she would be even more dangerous. It was also clear that she had been granted a charisma stat in this form whereas she did not have one in her dragon form because she was technically a monster and not an ancient dragon.


    "Let her be excited to look. Don''t you remember when you had the first chance to pick out your own clothes? I will never forget when one of my older sisters left to be an archivist in the noble library. She had been given robes to wear and passed down her clothes. I was the fastest so I managed t get her best shirts." Su couldn''t argue with this. She also remembered when her mother had offered clothing she didn''t wear anymore. It was a very special moment.


    "My favorite choir robe was a gift from my father." Alice was smiling softly. The high priest had found a robe when Alice was still very young and bought it for her as a surprise using his own personal funds. He had saved up for it and Alice had long outgrown it, but she had it nheless. It was the best and most favorite gift she had ever received.


    "Ha, I found here. And it looks like she had made a bed out of wool yarn again." Remey had found Lisa like this before. She had oncee to ask Lisa for help patching some clothes and even making new clothes for her siblings in the mansion. But when she went to the work room in the mansion she had found Lisa asleep just like she was now. "Thest time I found her this worked perfectly."


    Remey started to softly poke Lisa in the side causing a slight squirming until Lisa burst outughing and jumped up from her nap. She knew it was Remey immediately and pretended to throw some wool yarn balls at her. But Remey easily dodge them and tried to chase Lisa a little.


    "Why are you here? Did youe to wake me up or just because you managed to tear your clothes again?" Since Lisa was sleeping happily she had decided t throw some insults of her own at Remey in revenge.


    "No, we all came to as you to make your little sister clothes." Remey shrugged and so did Su and Alice. However, when Lisa was starting to look confused she noticed Midnight.


    "But who is this¡­" There were moments of confusion that grew with the silence. Lisa was having no help whatsoever from the other girls until Midnight jumped forward the same way she would normally do when she saw Lisa. "Midnight!!!"


    There was a flurry of wonder from Lisa. She insisted on evaluating every single angle to take in the change. "She gained a dragonkin transformation skill. It was a lot of stress for the both of us but now that she has it we thought it best that we bring her to Genesis city''s famous seamstress. I hear she is sister to one of the heroes, older sister to a dragon hero, and even best friends with the other heroes. Some pretty high and mighty rumors there." It was fun for everyone to see Su rxing so much. They had been worried she had lost her energy but it was clear that he body was tired and her eyes were full of life.


    Lisa suddenly pulled away from hugging and measuring Midnight. She slowed her breath, "I can make so many cute clothes for you now." It was a simple whisper but Lisa said it and was already moving. "What are all of you doing? Get colored fabric and check to see what fits her best! I need someone to help me get my threads measured." The work room was a mess but they all began to move. The only one that stood still was Midnight who watched from her new perspective in awe.


    Before Lisa could run past her again, Midnight grabbed her arm and pulled her softly toward the show room. "What do you want? Did you see something you liked?" The clothing disy that Lisa was pulled toward featured some basic clothes. But the one that Midnight tugged on when they neared it was something that would fit her perfectly. It was also one of the first of the darkness elemental runes she had sewn on to clothes.


    "Did Midnight see something she likes? Oh! That would be perfect for her. Especially if she decided to battle in her dragonkin form. It''s not really elegant but it is very practical." Su had followed and was sitting in the desk chair watching while examining the clothing Midnight was showing she wanted.


    "I would pick that one too if I could use the shadow wrapping skill. That is pretty cool." The choice was exactly what Remey imagined Midnight to want to wear.


    "Actually, Alice! This is kind of the opposite of what I made your clothing. You two can be light and dark twins!" Lisa had her inspiration and began to cut and sew, She was going to demonstrate her skills for everyone today.


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 Chapter 980 - 980. Timid Gil

    "I swear. She is literally the next queen of the forest elves. How can Ipete with that? I was just a hunter from the farms!" Walker and Gil had gotten in to it on their futures. Gil had suddenlye to the realization that he had been getting very close to Alma. yet, the thought of their different statuses hit him all at once.


    "So is being a hero title holder worth nothing? You are also an arcane marksman. Not even an arcane archer, but a step above, an arcane marksman!" Walker tried to drive this point home. These were two things that spoke to Gil''s status already. "Not to mention how many different kingdoms recognize us by the pins and ques we wear. And the adventurer tier we have. Oh, and founding members of the Genesis alliance, city of Genesis, and for you, the archer academy."


    "I know all that. But I still can''t make sure it would work out. I have no idea what is normal for elves. But she did write me back every letter. She even sent me home with blue ivy seeds so that I could grow them too and add the poison to my arrows. I just don''t know. What if she can''t because of the whole future queen thing?" Walker had not expected that Gil was actually feeling this way. Out of all of them, Gil had held back and hidden this sort of thing.


    "When we are leaving to battle the kraken, I am sure that Alma wille. You will have an entire journey to figure it out. Just be honest with her and yourself." This was the best advice that Walker had to give, he didn''t want to be the reason things went poorly so he had to air on the side of caution.


    "I know she will go on the journey to help the merfolk. She wouldn''t allow everything to fall apart as soon as it started. The alliance needs to defeat that thing. That''s the problem. She could get hur-"


    "You will be there then. Just like brother will be there for Alice. You will be there and no one will get hurt." Onyx had made the interruption just in time to keep Gil from getting back in his head.


    "You know how she can control some nts as part of her skills right? Why don''t you ask Remey for some underwater nts that grow fast? Maybe they can be of use to Alma in defense?" Gil grey wide eyed and nearly jumped up to hug Walker. He thought this was the perfect idea for him to do. It would ensure that she was safer and perfectly express his feeling.


    "I''m going to find something. I know the master alchemists are in the alchemy guild right now. Remey would make fun of me anyways. Well, I would make fun of her too so that''s fair though." Gil lept up after cleaning his te of the rest of his eggs. "I will see youter. I will grab my arrows and find a decent nt." Walker could only sit with Onyx and watch as Gil left in a hurry.


    "So, Onyx, I saw you training with Remey and Alice. You have gotten really good at using light and dark spikes. I didn''t know you could use your own shadow as fuel for a dark spike. It''s a good idea." The change in topic was mostly to avoid awkwardness. But it was also so Walker and Onyx could bond a little since thest time they had spoken one on one was when Onyx had decided to make his species a recognized intelligent race.


    "It has been tough. I learned that shadows may all be connected in a way that I have yet to grasp. But just scratching the surface made me able to use them more efficiently. I started to wonder why my body could hide partially in the shadows and out. I feel that I am somewhat bnced because I can consume and control light elemental mana as well. It is peaceful ina way." This was true, the bnce between normally opposing elemental manas was peaceful and could birth new understanding.


    "Well, since I have the time I might as well meditate on that thought for a little while then sleep. I''m sure today will be busy and Midnight will have a lot of energy even though she''s tired." The feeling of grogginessing from Midnight was not something Walker could just turn off. He knew she was feeling this way and also extreme excitement. In no time he was certain that she would be returning to sleep herself. He also didn''t know if she would want to remain in dragonkin form for so long.


    "I will find a spot in the sun too." Onyx and Walker headed off together to find their ce to rest themselves. While they did this, Gil had already just about made it to the alchemy guild.


    As he opened the door he found crate upon crate stacked up and blocking the way to walk. "Just put the next ones wherever. I don''t have room anywhere else." The old master alchemist shouted from the back and Gil was d he could find him so fast. "I swear. Those elves brought enough herbs to fill the guild themselves. How will we bring anything else over? I sai- ah, Gil. I was just organizing some things." The was a tinge of red embarrassment after the old master alchemist had been caught mumbling to himself.


    "I can see you have your work cut out for you today. I hope you have a minute for me to bother you?"


    "Of course, you can bother us. We have time. These crates have some runes on them to protect the herbs." Trish walked from behind a stack of crates more curious than ever as to why Gil was looking for them.


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 Chapter 981 - 981. Seaweed

    "If you need arrow materials I will need to send you away. Everything here is for the alchemy guild and has already been factored in to the starting budget. We won''t even sell anything yet since we need to properly ce and store these things." Trish was very firm on this. The herbs were mostly hand picked for quality and right now they were in need of attention.


    "Well¡­you see."


    "Come on. Out with it. I swear you are acting like a lovesick puppy. Timid and slow. I know you are at that age bute on." The old master alchemist knew Gil''s personality and didn''t hold back at all. He didn''t know that Gil was actually there for something like that but he had hit the nail on the head if only unintentionally. What he did know was that Gil would normally be more aloof and brash. Seeing Gil act timid was strange.


    Tris had caught on as well that Gil was not acting the same. From what she remembered, Gil was more driven and excited by arrows. She had spoken with many of the elves that helped him learn about his arrows and experiment. They had shared the same obsessive drive with high energy. "I don''t need some materials. I have already worked with the enforcers toe up with a few arrows. I''m actually looking for seeds or a nt." The surprise that Trish and the old master alchemist had was all too clear on their faces.


    "I need one that can grow in the ocean. One that can grow fast and might be simr to a vine or ivy¡­" This was the factor that made Trish understand why Gil would be looking for such a thing.


    "We have a few options. I think Alma will be able to use them very well." She didn''t even smirk when she spoke. She knew that Gil was trying to be as serious as possible and it must have been tougher for him to ask her. "I will help out with this. I can be back t keep counting in a few minutes." The old master alchemist threw his hands up in defeat as he was left to his own devices.


    "We could use the tanglewood kelp. It''s strong but it is more of a rope than a vine. I would say that we should use it for capturing something instead of dealing damage. There''s the razor whip weed. That''s very dangerous since the small patches of ocean it grows in are devoid of fish due to the razor sharp leaves. And maybe I can give you some green barnacle. It looks like a living barnacle but it''s actually a green kelp that stays small and dense."


    Gil was thinking about what he had to choose from. He knew that giving all three would be pointless. Alma wouldn''t have much time to learn how to use them and giving her one was the best idea. "I don''t think green barnacles would be useful. It could be a shield kind of but if it''s small then it won''t save her life. The tanglewood sounds good too but you said it is thick like a rope and could capture things. But Alma will need attack power instead. Razor whip weed it is. If fish avoid it then it could deter any ocean monsters." The decision was final and Trish started to show him up the stairs.


    "If you haven''t been around the alchemy guild this is the best time to take a look. We are expecting more alchemists toe and interview for positions soon. Remey has already helped us make the tests for them." Trish appeared very excited as she opened a door to arge storage room. "This is my personal storage. The razor whip weed seeds need to be kept in saltwater or they will die. Add a little mana and they will start to grow. Just let her know that they need to be cleaned up. If the seeds get away they are invasive."


    The small vial with a few seeds in saltwater was carefully taken by Gil. He knew that this was more valuable than Trish was telling him. "You can take it, but when you go to the merfolk territories keep an eye out for pink clover. It''s a rare herb that only grows in the ocean. It can be used for a personal potion of mine." For some reason, Gil had felt the conditioning but epted it nheless.


    "I will keep an eye out for it. If Remey knows about it she will have an eye out too. Knowing her, sje will im it before we even know it''s there." The joke didn''t go over well since Trish wanted toy im to is but she quickly shooed Gil out.


    "And before you leave, do me a favor. Tell Alma your intentions before you go to battle. Our queens will give up their names for their people. They struggle with such things and having someone around at that time gives them something to hold on to." Trish had softened her voice remembering when Reina the current forest elf queen had given up her name after her mother had stepped away from the position. It had changed her for a long time before she had grown in to the position.


    "I will. I just don''t want to see things end like the nobles do in our city. They marry for status. Not who someone really is." The crux of the issue finally reared its head. This had been what Gil was worried about.


    "Humans are very odd. I will never understand how you all ended up that way. Elves just look for those who are closer to nature why do you think we don''t get along with the dwarves who break things down to build instead of guiding nature?" Trishughed while she pointed Gil out the front door of the guild so she could return to her work.


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 Chapter 982 - 982. Look Like...

    "I didn''t even think it was possible for someone to sew that fast. She pretty much just made a shirt out of nothing!" Remey had visited many small seamstress or other such system users before. Her siblings'' clothing had always been ripped and she was always annoyed that she couldn''t properly sew them. The people with such skills could always make the patchesst longer whereas Remey''s patches would fall off in just a few days.


    "It''s called the speed sewing skill. Add on the rune serving skill I got after I was able to memorize the water rune, fire rune, and earth rune, then I am much faster. The crazy part is I just learned the light rune too and I think I might be able to get an elemental rune sewing skill. But I have a quest to do first." Lisa had found many side quests and new quests because of her sewing and jobstely. Walker had been the start of all of this when she made the partys'' first set of snow gear.


    There was a pause while everyone absorbed this. At the mention of the light elemental rune, Alice blushed. She knew that Lisa had made something for her with the wandering cksmiths'' help. But she was still unsure what it would be since it would involve both fabrics and forged materials. However, she did know what the light elemental rune would do. Having something passively drawing in the light elements mana would only make her stronger and her attacks faster. She would also use less mana who,e she sang.


    "Midnight, pick out some of those buckles over there please." It was a wonder watching Lisa work. This was the same way that they felt when they had seen the wandering cksmith forging or Gil making an arrow. It was an art and the skills they would never have were more amazing.


    "I should have guessed you would choose the ck steel buckles. They are tough so you can wear them longer. Plus they will match your scales. I will add some white stitching where they affix too." The fabrics and small amount of leather that Lisa was using were slowly but surely being formed.


    "I was wondering how you would make the wings fit. But adding the belt to that she just has to fasten it back together is smart." The spot that Lisa was working on and Su wasplimenting on was where Midnight''s wings would go. The shirt that Lisa was making hadrge slits so it fit over the wings. Then the belt would wrap around and close it around the base of the wings so that all that was needed to remove the shirt would be a flick of the wrist.


    " Remey, those boots over there match this perfectly. If Midnight wears them her ws on her feet should still fit." The boots were ck and white as well but were many timesrger than Midnight would need. Unfortunately, Midnight shook her head. She hated the idea of wearing any form of shoes. Luckily, even in the cold weather, they didn''t need to worry about this. Midnight was tough enough to handle many situations.


    "And that is a rune stitched shirt. I gave it the fore rune since I used some magma smander leather for the ent parts. There was a merchant yesterday that saw my shop and stopped to offer me some choices of monster materials. Naturally, I said I would look and I was proven that my first instinct was that the merchant was trying to scam me, but the materials were all real. I only wish I had more gold to buy more of the magma smander."


    Remey and Su shared a quick look saying that they would go hunting around the market to find the merchant. Ideally, they could provide Lisa with a lot that she needed. " Midnight,e over here." Midnight was holding herself back. The pants she had been given only took a minute to take on and off. The jacket slid on perfectly.


    Once Midnight had been taught to tie a belt, she was quick to put it to use. It was helpful that she had seen the rest of the party put belts on before and much easier for her to out on. The shirt which was simr to a tight fitting jacket was perfect.


    "I used some leathers to get things more flexible. But to be honest, I don''t know what will happen to them if you transform back in to a dragon. They might rip but that other dragon didn''t look like he needed to worry." Lisa was worried that Midnight would need more clothing than she expected.


    "You know that is amazing, right? You made that in less than two hours." Su''s mind was absolutely thrown upside down. She wasn''t sure how everything hade together but she did know that everyone was equally entranced by the skills.


    "We did see some dragons shift between forms though. Their scales shifted and shrank so clothing might be magically stored somehow. We should as Current. And by we, I mean Walker since I''m not really nning to fight an ancient dragon. Royal water scary thing."


    "Remey, I don''t think he''s actually that scary. Walker says he is very simr to Adair." Shaking her head, Su helped get the clothing on Midnight since she had to learn the basics.


    "Current is kind and flexible." Alice chimed in having made her opinion about him from the way he acted around Walker.


    Thest buckle came in to ce and the full sight of Midnight made them want to squeal in delight. The shift and pans were made of dark rune sewn fabrics. The leather was on the highest wear and tear areas making it feel like they were looking at an assassin.


    "It''s perfect." Lisa patted her own back as she looked over her adorable little sister in her first real clothes.


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 Chapter 983 - 983. Peace

    Gil had left the alchemy guild building in a rush. He was going to do just what Trish had told him. He already knew Walker had gotten the courage to tell Alice his feelings. Gil knew that he had been able to speak to Alma in letters and grown closer to her, but he had left so much open. He needed to stopzing around and show what he felt or he could lose the chance forever.


    The krakens were a major threat. For an ancient royal dragon to tell them that they had been a menace before that were admittedly exterminated, then it was worth listening to. There was no doubt that they would struggle and have a hard time reaching their destination. Then having to find and battle something thought to berger than any monster they had ever met, well, it made Gil face a reality he had yet to consider.


    The thoughts of Alma getting hurt seemed to scream at him louder than he ever thought they would. He had gotten closer to Alma and been able to watch her grow and fight for her desires. As a hero, he had supported her. But now as Gil, he wanted to stand next to her. He knew that he wasn''t an elf and that she was pretty much royalty. However, he let Walker''s words echo in his mind and he pushed himself to stand in front of the now forest park that the elves had created.


    The trees were not excessively tall but the feeling of mana around them was very high. Gil may not have the ability to feel all elemental mana as sensitively as Walker, but he could feel the wind elemental mana blowing around here and there. Zephyr had gone off on her own earlier and he knew that it was just him. The fact made him more on edge but also solidified his ability to stand on his own.


    "Sir hero Gil, We believed you were done making arrows today. Do you need to speak to the enforcer group again?" One enforcer came to see what Gil needed since most of them had already been to his archery range and helped to make themselves arrows.


    "Actually, I would like to speak with Alma. Is she around?"


    "Of course. Would you like me to show you where she is resting? I believe she just finished a lesson with our queen." The lessons that Alma had undergone since the party had been in the forest elf vige were long andplicated. Most revolved around the basic duties of the queen and how she worked with the elders. But some were on leadership and the attitude she needed to have as their leader.


    All of the lessons seemed to be exhausting to a degree because Almacked the innate skills that the queen had due to the different systems. But that did not mean that she wouldn''t be able to do certain things. Alma would still be able to control the first the same way as the queen but because of her system, she would never need to bind herself to the forest and have high costs to leave it. This was the main reason the elves had brought a spirit cedar toGenesis city. If they had not nted it and grown more trees from their first then the queen would be forced to leave and return to their home after just a few days.


    Walking through the small forest brought Gil a wonder he had not expected. There were very carefully cut paths that lead to resting areas. All would be perfect for an elf to rx and feel at peace with nature. There were also some elemental spirits roaming about enjoying the small forest as well. What really stood out was that there were already branches of the speedily grown trees being shaped for homes and other small treehouses. The process that would normally take years was sped up by having the right system users use the right skills.


    When Gil broke in to a small clearing, he found that Alma had sat down to snack on some berries that had been brought with them from the forest elf city. "Shouldn''t you be making arrows? I thought you would want to have enough to take down an army." This was not an understatement. Taking down an army was more or less what they were doing. The young krakens would be swarming and that was the biggest concern while the powerful members of the joint force took down the mother kraken.


    "I was. But I went to the mansion for food and to rest a little. But I was thinking¡­" Gil took a deep breath. "I asked for advice from Walker and even got some from Trish. I don''t want to see you hurt and I know using your blue ivy underwater won''t work. These are razor whip weed seeds. They are a very sharp seaweed that can cut most things in the water. I want you to be able to use them for your safety." Gil handed them to Alma and watched as her face remained calm.


    "I don''t know what would happen if you were hurt but I am pretty sure I would lose myself. I know I fool around and act dumb sometimes. But I am serious now. I care for you more than anyone else. Will you stand with me?" The silence was filled with a tension that Gil wasn''t sure his heart could handle. But when he saw Alma ce the seeds on the bench and stand up he saw shes of everything failing in his mind.


    "I have wanted to hear that since you walked out of our city to go and fight for others. If you didn''t say it I was considering tracking you down and saying it myself. I know we are different but you are goofy and untamed like nature. You have shown some of my people more than we could expect and I''m sure more is toe. But most of all, you were able to hold me up when I made my stand to change my people''s ways. And you never left me lonely. I looked forward to every letter you sent to talk. You better stand beside me now and for a long long time." The hug that hit Gil stunned him. He couldn''t think but he still wrapped his arms around Alma as well. Words weren''t needed from here. Just peace and quiet.


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 Chapter 984 - 984. Potion Checklist

    By the time everyone had returned to the mansion, the day was more or less over. The only one that seemed to have any energy left was Onyx who had managed to absorb a ton of light elemental mana. He was preparing himself for the trip in the dim swampnds which would be harder for him to gain the light elemental mana. Walker had reassured him that he would be able to use the light elemental crystals that he had for food. But Onyx wanted to be more independent to strengthen himself on the hunt for more of his species.


    "I have dinner ready!" Walker''s mother walked out with a roast she had made in the new kitchen she had been working on. She had walked it all the way back to the mansion to show itn off to everyone. However, she nearly dropped it all on the floor when she noticed the smaller dragonkin sitting at the table.


    "Midnight! What happened!?" She was a mother. There was no way she would forget a member of her family even if they weren''t blood rted. The food hit the table a little harder as she dropped it there and pulled Midnight to arm''s length to look her over. "You''re so adorable but when did this happen? These clothes are perfect too, they fit so well. Lisa must have made them. But how do you look like this? Is it permanent? Do you want me to cook you something different? Should I get you something to cover yourp so you don''t spill? Have they taught you to use a fork and knife yet? How about a spoon for the soup?"


    A million questions were rambled off causing Midnight to blink constantly in awe. She had never had this sort of encounter with anyone but she could feel the warmth in her chest growing. Even before Midnight realized it, she had wrapped her arms around Hilda and hugged her just tight enough so she knew how much she appreciated everything. There had been many early mornings spent trying to get her to give more food. But now, she could properly hug Hilda just as Walker and Lisa did.


    The reaction was more than anyone had expected. Hilda froze as if she was afraid to even move from the precious position. No one noticed Walker''s father smirking slightly and speaking. "That''s our girl." Whether Midnight had known it or not at the time. Both Hilda and Garret had epted her the moment Walker had brought her home. There was the chance that another creature could have grown up without a family and for them, that was something they would never allow.


    Before they could continue their meal, Walker heard a roaring from outside. When he dashed from the table and out to the back training area, he saw the dim starlit sky full of wind and the reflections of armored scales. Ciel had returned and was carrying arge bat in his talens. There were many armored dragonkin that had water patterns engraved upon them. The smaller shouts if battle echoed through the city causing many people to look outside as well.


    "I would say that we are just about ready to leave. I wish they would carry us there but I think we are being left behind. That should be good though. We will have a base of operation when we get to the harbor." The fact that the party recognized that the dragons leaving first was the best option made all the difference. That meant that any kraken swarming the harbors would be forced away and safe the port towns. This would in turn allow them to take the plunge and hunt for the mother kraken.


    "I know they just came from wherever their vige was, but they really showed off." Gil watched Cile disappear from in to the distance after Current took off and joined the flight.


    "I think it is a dragon thing. Look at Midnight. She always tried to sit up straight and show off."


    "Hmpf." The speedy response from Midnight bright everyone back to the reality that they had been eating.


    "On that note. I think I will finish up dinner and sleep early. Maybe we should leave a little earlier." The pressure had built up and most of the party hadpleted their tasks. The only person that wanted to do onest thing was Remey.


    "I nned to have Trish help me with a few things. If you are fine with me working in to the morning I can be ready to leave around midday." None appeared to object to this. Instead, they were all interested in what Trish and Remey would be working on. Unfortunately, no matter how much they asked her before she left the table to go back to the alchemy guild, Remey wouldn''t say.


    The cool air caused Remey''s breath to show itself in a white mist as she walked toward the alchemy guild building. She had been making mental preparations during the dinner. She had enough mana and health potions for the trip. Trish had even managed to get the ingredients to make some water breathing potions. The only problem was that they needed to be aged to activate the properties in from of the herbs used.


    Remey had tried to get the form for them but Trish said she would only give it up if Remey brought back some rare underwater potion materials to grow. It was a tough to give up and ept that she would be stuck with transporting them but it was what needed to be done. Now Remey could focus on her next goal.


    Trish had shown off the use of potions in a way that Remey had never known. Back in the forest elf city and forest, Trish had used battle potions to fight moths. Not many could do such things and Remey was one of the people who could not. But now that she had gained a higher system, then she was able to learn such things.


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 Chapter 985 - 985. Battle Alchemist

    " What? Couldn''t sleep with the noise out there? Or were you just listening to the calling of a real alchemist?" Trish found that Remey and wandered in to theb that she had imed as her own. They had all imed their own with Remey making the guild master''s office and alchemyb hers for now. But she was ready to step down if need be. She would not be some miser reigning over the guild.


    "No. I want to work on battle potions. We talked about it before and since the party wants to leave sooner to help out more, I need to be read. I have until midday tomorrow." Remey knew this was a lot to ask. But for an alchemist, long nights and harsh potion making was normal. They would often be consumed by research and end up lost.


    "We can get to work now then. Most of my herbs already arrived from the city and I have plenty for us to y with. Do you want some paralyzing gas potions, sleeping potions, explosive potions, maybe even some acid potions? I will avoid the rotting flesh potions made from the purple slime bodies. They could poison the water whereas the other potions would be safer to use in the water." Trish knew that poisons would end up killing the ocean life and the merfolk instead of helping anyone.


    " What do you think would be the most useful when facing an ocean environment? Do you think the explosion would hurt us more? I want to say defeating more enemies is good since they might be in higher numbers." The idea that Remey had was that there would be a densely packed baby krakens threatening everyone at all times. The mother would be dealt with by others so the babies would need to bepletely oppressed.


    "The explosive potions are the better idea. You can throw them a decent distance and allow for them to explode without worry. But they can also be strapped to an arrow and sent on their way. Both methods work. But since you are in the water I can share a strategy that I have read about." There was a wicked glint in Trish''s eyes.


    The tactic she had remembered hade from a book another battle alchemist had left behind. It was very interesting because unlike others they had grown up during a time when floods had been moremon. "The tactic is to use dense vials or even bottles to store the potion. It''s made sot hat mana activates the potion in to ex[plording over time. The dense bottle will cause arger explosion but also make it heavier. Drop the potion in deep water and allow it to sink. Then it had gotten further underwater to explode and take out further away enemies."


    This tactic would be very useful against the kraken since they could remain above the water and drop potions down before anyone dove underwater. It would also leave a lot of the young kraken defeated and injured. Overall making things safer.


    "I think that is a good idea. I want to learn how to make them so that I can use them in the future but knowing these tricks is even better. I don''t have any idea about what herbs to use though. Part of me thinks using some water or fire slime body might be necessary but the look you have on your face says it is not." Remey realized that this would be a lot more simple as soon as she started to speak again.


    "You need water, iron dust, some red star vines, and finally mana. That''s it. The red star vine usually disrupts potion making and the iron dust will react with it to pull out the dense mana that ruins potions in an instant. The water bonds the two. But the mana causes the reaction to begin. It''s simple. You don''t even need to heat it. Most people won''te across this issue though since the red star vine is eaten by a lot of nt eating monsters or located in a small area of the forests." Remey wasn''t sure what to say. It was really very simple to make a basic explosive potion. The issue she had was theck of red star vines.


    "I have three crates of red star vines that I brought with me to make some potions. I wanted to sell them but we will be growing theme the warmer days. They only take about a week to be grown enough for harvest. Let''s get to work making some quick explosive potions in thick vials." The pair headed toward a storage room that had been newly organized by the old master alchemist and Trish.


    The pair flowed in to their work and Remey was soon scraping the leaves off all the vines. Trish said that the leaves would release the dense mana first so they were made for the faster exploding potions and the vine stalk for the longer exploding potions. This made sense and Remey had a variation of the two. They all equally had thick ss vials from their storage though. The alchemy guild had personally hired a group of ss makers to provide vials monthly. It was one of the most important business deals for them at the moment.


    By the time the morning came and midday was approaching, Walker had found his way to the alchemy guild and climbed the steps to the floor that Remey was on. He had to pick up the remaining mana and health potions but also saw over a hundred explosive potions. He also managed to find Remey asleep and drooping on her work table.


    "She worked pretty hard to make these with me. If there is a carriage going with you, then let her sleep. If not, then give her this. It''s not a potion but a drink made from coffee beans that I personally condense." Trish Left Walker to it after handing him a small cup.


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 Chapter 986 - 986. A Fathers Love

    "Remey¡­Remey!" After shaking her a little and increasing his volume, Walker managed to get Remey to begin to wake up. He wasn''t sure howte she had actually been up but with the way she was acting, he knew that he needed to give her the coffee that Trish had made for her.


    "Hmm? What?" The lost look was washed away by a face of understanding as Remey pushed herself from the work table and chair. She tried to stretch but managed to just somewhat move her arms then see that Walker was holding a cup. "Good¡­" She drank the whole thing in two gulps. "Elven reduced coffee. Not bad. You got the- yup. Let''s go." Walker wasn''t sure how Remey would be able to make it but he pulled some fruit from his storage and handed it to her.


    The volunteers from the human kingdom would be on the move already. The king had sent his ownmunication forward and they should be setting off on their journey soon enough as well. The demi-human forces were being led by Scy that had left as soon as the meetings were over to prepare. Apparently, they would be getting there through safe river passages that would allow them to swim the entire way. For an aquatic trait demi-human, it was much faster.


    The dwarves already had most of their underwater golems marching. They had been set to obey orders of a select few elite guardsmen that the dwarves had sent. The three kings were not going themselves because of the massive undertaking in the city. If they were to leave then they would risk the future growth of the underground portions of Genesis city.


    "Walker!" The high priest was waiting with Alice in front of the adventurers'' guild. The rest of the party was already there. Walker was not surprised to see that Midnight was back to her normal dragon form. He had taken the time to speak with her carefully about the dangers of battling in the dragonkin form she was not used to. It was easy to make her understand and she willingly switched with a significant amount of mana spent. One thing that they had not expected to ur when the shift happened because the other dragons they had seen shift were unaffected in appearance when mana was concerned.


    "Sorry for taking some time. I had to store a lot of potions that Remey made." Remey didn''t even react when Walker med the massive number of potions that she had made for the issue that they had for noting faster.


    "That''s fine. But you need to swear that you will be right there in front of my Alice." The worried look on the high priest was one only a loving parent could have. It was embarrassing for Alice but it also made her know that she was loved even more than she thought.


    "You have my word that myself and the entire party will do our best to make sure that Alice is safe. I know that she had been training and is ready but I will still be there." Walker knew that he could use a lot of his mana to make the water around more dense if it came to it. This could act as an impromptu shield against attack. But it would be a worse case scenario since it would put Walker as a temporary sitting duck.


    "Good. Then be safe." The high priest knew if he stayed even a secondter he would not allow her to go. He turned quickly and walked back toward the cathedral. No one noticed the single tear making it down the side of his face as he realized that the little girl he had found on the cathedral steps had grown up before he even realized it.


    "You look pretty amazing in that." Walker looked at the white rune sewn fabrics that held together thing metal ting. It was a mix of a priest''s robe design and a so called pdin armor that was popr in the church during travels. The wandering cksmith had also added light runes to the metal causing the light elemental mana in the air to be drawn to Alice and cause a slight glow.


    She had what was seemingly an innocent wooden walking stick but as Walker examined it he noticed that it was more. He had to use his all around appraisal skill on it to sate his curiosity.


    '' Heartfelt Whitewood staff


    Mana+8, Matk+6, Def+4, Light mana affinity


    This is a special staff carved by a high priest. It is only able to be carved by someone able to manipte light elemental mana for healing. This staff is made by a loving individual and added additional bonuses by infusing it with constant healing spells during the process, therefore, the white wood this staff is made out of is able to store light elemental mana to a small degree. This staff is ideal for anyone that required light elemental mana to perform their skills.''


    Walker didn''t say a word about the staff. It was too pure and he felt that if he were to even add a word about it he would devalue how pure it was. The high priest knew how to show his love for his adopted daughter in more ways than anyone would know. But this staff right here was proof of just how powerful it was.


    "I have my arrows and the elf enforcers already left ahead of us. We should be thest leaving but that''s not a problem. We are the only group that will cut through the swamnds so we will get their first." Gil had spent the morning mapping the route again. He wanted to travel with Alma but had themitment to the party. He would be able to stand beside her again when they reached the harbor town.


    "Then it sounds like we are ready to go." The party nodded and prepared to head off again.


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 Chapter 987 - 987. Swamp Dangers

    There was not much to see as they left Genesis city. Those that remained were hard at work. The merchants that had shown up to im their shops and to start a new future. The golems were significantly less because the dwarves had put themselves in to water proofing mode to make them able to march to battle. It was incredibly impressive when it came to the speed and efficiency the dwarven golems could be adjusted. Not many armies could be changed at such a short notice.


    "We will basically make a straight line. We have avoided the swamnds because of the imagers and nts with pistons that could kill us. It''s avoided by adventurers for a reason. Walker Was sure that people wanted to keep avoiding the swamnds but they had no choice. "We have Alice with us and some potions from Remey. We should be able to manage even if poisonous mist shows itself."


    "I can help with that." The group was surprised to hear that Alice was able to deal with poisonous mist. It was the biggest reason that people would avoid the swampnds all together.


    "That should be good then. I don''t want to let Su and Midnight handle everything. They have resistance to poisons but I still want to get in to an all out brawl. It''s been a while since I got up close and personal in a fight." This was true. Remey had been focused on alchemy which was fair. It took a lot of time and effort to gain a better understanding of a single potion let alone creating new potions.


    "Just make sure that you are nearby. I know Alice can heal from a distance with her skills but I don''t want the worst to happen." Walker still worried that everyone would get away from the sound of Alice''s songs and moss out on healing.


    "Walker is right. I read up on the swampnds and there are poisons that you won''t even know are killing you until it is toote." The support from Su made everyone take Walker''s warning much more seriously. This was mostly because Su had been the person reading up on the swampnds more than anyone else in thest day.


    "It will only take us a short while to get there since we are using the fastest possible routes. But the swamnds arerger than you think. The streams and rivers thate from there never dry up. Even in the hottest of months." Gil had been near the swampnd and knew that they went all the way down to the forest. That was the main source of water for the forest.


    "Alice, if you start to feel tired let us know. We aren''t going to push you more than we should." There was some worry for Alice. All of them knew that she would struggle to have the same pace as them because of her lower level. It wasn''t that she had never been able to level up, but she was not able to have the same method of gaining experience as the party. Instead of minsters, Alice had relied on healing and songs to gain her experience. It was impressive that she was level in general but to get to the same level as the party she would have to sing for muchrger crowds and heal many more people.


    "I will let her ride on my back if she is tired." Onyx was sure that he could resist the cold for some time and didn''t mind letting Alice tag along. She was about to argue but Midnight took the lead and nodded her head with a huff. She wasn''t going to let Alice struggle either.


    "Good. Now, the monsters we should not fight at all. Swamp gators. Don''t touch them at all. They are tough and if we attack them they barely take any physical damage. They shouldn''t care about it at all but if we wander the wrong way we might have to deal with them." Walker remembered this single monster that could easily grow nearly the size of an adult dragon.


    "What about all those venomous snakes? Or even the poisonous ones that can kill you just by touching them?" Remey knew that most of these had very good uses in potions but she didn''t n on trying to harvest any. It was too risky and they had other goals.


    "I can scare them away. I am a stringer serpent." Onyx had faith that his presence would deter the snakes that were smaller than him. It was a difference in bloodline and monster hierarchy.


    "Then we should also watch out for the moths thate out. They are poisonous but in theory, will be sleeping away in dead trees because of the cold. But that doesn''t mean monsters are the only dangers. The nts can be dealt with by Alice. Don''t forget that the water and the mud are dangerous too. Some people will fall in to a mud pit or a puddle that seemed to be shallow but is actually deep. It is much moremon than you think. There are a lot of spots in the swamnds where there arerge pockets of water underneath the ground." The books Syu had read to prepare focused on this greatly. Many people had gotten lost to the swampnds this way.


    "If we happen to meet lizardmen, we will also try and avoid them. They normally avoid other living things unless hunting but they can cause a lot of trouble. They are not weak monsters by any means but the main strength they have is the use of rolls. They are far from the dragonkin when ites to intelligence. They often make rotting spears to attack people." This was the main danger in all the swamnds. It was why many wouldpletely bypass them and walk around.


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 Chapter 988 - 988. Sus Advice

    "Does anyone want a snack? I don''t think we should stop just yet. We have a lot of those herbs that the soldiers had carried to deter monsters. Add that to Midnight and Onyx acting as deterrents as well and we should be able to follow the trails at night." Walker had made the decision after thinking through the route on the map.


    "Skunk weed. It has the same smell as an animal called a skunk. Instead of being hunted it is ignored and avoided because the smell it lets off doesn''t go away for weeks. Basically, it makes anything that attacks it or eats it a target for every predator around for a week." Remey chimed in as they walked along the path and nced now and then at the sun slowly setting.


    There was a lot of open space as they traveled through the outskirts of the forest. They were going to pass by their home kingdom on the way but it would just be in the distance and barely able to see. So they were not going to need to stop for any reason which was good. They also knew the area leading toward the swampnds well since it was mostly farnd that was being rehabilitated.


    "The patrols in that area are still heavy. I think it''s the best chance. Alice, can you handle that?" Since Gil had grown up on the farnds he knew that danger that woulde with the farnd. However, he also knew that it was soft ground. It was harder to traverse for the average person and after the demons had attacked it was slightly harder to walk. The charred ground that had been rehabilitated by the elemental spirits but that new growth right before the cold set it caused the ground to shift and be harder to walk on.


    The entire group had kept Alice in mind which would have normally made her happier because she was cared about. But this made her feel that she was holding them back. It also didn''t help that the one time they encountered an imp it had jumped at her further proving that she was the weak link. Luckily, Midnight had been keeping an eye out and opened her mouth to spew fire over the imp and cause it to attempt to run away. Gil had finished it just as Alice had started to sing to create a shield in front of her.


    This was a good way for her to see her weaknesses which was time. She was not able to quickly begin attacks. To do that she would need to already be singing when something happened. But if she did so then she would be out of mana and need to constantly rely on mana potions. Of course, that was not usible because no matter how many mana and healing potions someone used, their body would still feel the mounting stress of using their mana constantly.


    Since this had be evident to the group, Su took the spot near Alice so that she would better be able to guard her. It would be the best ce for her to be for the time being. "Keep an eye on how Gil and Walker are scanning the area. They both have a better ability to see longer distances and feel the mana around them respectively. It will give you a heads up when something is going to happen. Gil will slowly fall in to his archery stance to pull an arrow and Walker will pull mana around him even if he will use a sword or hammer."


    It was clear to Su that Alice was not feeling the best about being unable to keep up with the party. Knowing the small tricks to be alert and aware when an enemy showed themselves was good for her. It was an aspect of team work that not many people spoke about but was just important. It was never one person on lookout but multiple. It was never one person reacting but multiple. Not a single one of them would react, the entire party would react and be prepared even when it was something small and easily dealt with.


    Having additional advice from Su as they walked made Alice begin to realize that even though everyone was looking at her, she was not their major worry. The only reason there was additional focus was because they knew she did not have a battle sense and the experience of being out in the wild often. The party was so used to being out and about on a journey at this point that even when they were home they would be somewhat on alert. Being able to understand and see how the party worked in silence while traveling was something that young adventurers either learned or failed to learn which in turn would lead to the growth or end of their adventures.


    "Why is Remey doing that?" The whisper was low so that Alice wouldn''t be heard by the others. She felt that it was also rude to be watching Remey so much.


    "Oh, Remey is running through different scenarios while she walks. Those knuckles have multiple elemental affinities and work with her elemental fist skill. You have seen the light and firebination so far. But if she fights certain monsters like the imp before, the fire knuckles are best. She is practicing shifting through them efficiently." Alice understood this instantly and even had some inspiration for what she could be doing.


    She remembered her songs by heart but she could not sing them with speed to make them work faster. Therefore, she began to hum softly. It was not enough to drain her mana while wearing the bracelet. However, it was perfect for her to make the notes and tune to be second nature just like the healing songs she would sing. The night fell on them and they only stopped walking for a shot moment here and there to drink water or snack quickly. The skunk weed was made in to a smelly torch that smelled but was warm enough to stave off a little of the cold.


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 Chapter 989 - 989. Noise In The Air

    "Stop." Walker had noticed that there was an odd sound in the air. The nights would normally be silent since the cold caused most animals and monsters to migrate or sleep somewhere. But the monsters that came in to take their ces did not make much sound.


    "What is that? If they are imps then they are terrible at hunting at night." Remey was standing in her battle stance but was stillfortable enough to mock the annoying imps that hid themselves in the snow and ice to attack.


    "Imps sleep. They don''t stay out at night. This has to be something else." Walker was wracking his brain for anything that could be what they were hearing.


    "I would say bats. But they leave the area in the cold and prefer the warmth. That''s why they don''t live in the mountains." As useful as this was, Su was not happy that she had only eliminated one potential threat it could be.


    "Owls. Ic w owls." Of all the people to speak up, it was Allice. The main reason she knew what this monster was came from a simple sight and question she had asked recently. There had been arge number of applicantsing to join the cathedrals so they could find their fame as a healer or receive a home there. One such applicant boasted healing powers that required them to use water to pull out toxins and speed up healing. They wore a very unique white cape.


    The white cape had been made from the ice w owl feathers that their bodyguard had defeated once upon a time. The healer was from a noble family so having such a material made in to a cloak wasmon. It was able to make their water elemental healing cost less mana which helped out immensely when they interviewed. However, it was a nobles'' attempt to get power in the church and the high priest had used their experience to make sure that things were smoothed out.


    "Seriously? If that''s what those pping wings are then we could be on a gold mine. They are night time hunters and they are about the size of our heads. But they have talons coated in ice that cause frostbite instantly. That doesn''t matter though. What is impressive is how useful their feathers are. A single one can make two arrows or a whole monsters'' worth of feathers can make some basic armor. They are perfect for water and wind elemental crafting." This was a treasure that Gil wanted to procure. The only trouble was that they could not see them in the dark.


    "If they are not going to attack us right in front where we can see by the stars and the moon, then I don''t think any of us can take one down." As much as Remey wanted to jump and punch in to an owl trying to attack them, it seemed too unlikely.


    "That is where Midnight and Walkere in. Midnight unleashes her dragon breath and Walker moved it to show us where my target it. Onyx can help by changing size and striking at it. Between our two attacks, we should be able to get at least one." Since Gil had a n it was easier to give it a try. "To think there are snowball mice around here. They are cute and fluffy white mice that eat literally any food stores. The fires destroyed their nests so I bet the ice w owls have been out feasting."


    SU and Alice would have done what they could to help but just like Remey, they were not the best to jump in with the situation. However, there was the possibility that they could just leave and not shunt the ice w owls. The only thing preventing them from that was how useful the materials were. "It''s a good thing we are finding this out before more farm houses are rebuilt. They are responsible for stealing away piglets and other small cattle animals." The head shake that Gil had was proof of how annoyed he was. It was clear that he had remembered a lot after Alice had guessed what they were.


    "Midnight, on the count of three." Walker started to count while Gil notched an arrow and held one in his teeth. Walker pulled at the mana around him and prepared himself to manipte the fire Midnight breathed out. "Three¡­two¡­one¡­now!"


    The bright orange and yellow mes brightened the night and The group finally saw the five ice w owls flying in the air. They were pure white and had ws that that glinted with orange light. The sudden light only expanded around them as Walker manipted the fire elemental mana to form a ring around them.


    There were more owls than Gil had though but that wasn''t a problem. He let loose two arrows then a third slightly after. By the time his hand had touched the fourth, the other owls had fled with fright. The three that Gil had fired hit their targets and loud screeching broke the silence of the night.


    Onyx saw his chance and struck forward to end the battle before it could continue. He was faster than anyone expected. The precise strike with his fangs were enough to show off just how powerful Onyx had be without them noticing. "Walker, get over here with me and start plucking feathers. The blood will ruin them. Do not touch the talons!" Walker pulled out a torch and let it burst in to mes.


    Remey took the torch and held it for the two boys who got to work plucking. It was a fast process and one that Walker had never done before. Gil was nearly an expert and was speeding along. In the time it took for Walker to learn and pluck one owl, Gil had done the other two.


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 Chapter 990 - 990. Blocked Path?

    ''The skill hunters dressing has been taken from the elite hunter system. The skill hunters dressing has been learned through multiple instances of breaking down game animals and monsters.


    Hunters'' dressing- 1 mana cost per hour


    The user is better able to see and follow certain guidelines while breaking down hunted monsters and game animals. The user is able to move through the motions with better speed and uracy. The user is able to better preserve the quality of the materials harvested over a longer time.''


    This skill was something that Walker had hope he would receive for a long time. Being able to properly help Gil out would go a long way to saving the materials that they used from monsters. It would also mean that Walker was now one more step ahead of being able to prepare the food they ate on the many journeys they had.


    "Huh, towards the end there you looked like a pro. Looks like I can leave more to you." The sneaky grin from Gil was just enough to let Walker know that all the work Gil had done on this front was going to be dropped on him. It was a fair price to pay though, Gil had taken the majority of this work as of now.


    "I gained a skill. But that''s not important right now. Let''s keep moving." Walker used some of the water he had manipted to gather for them to clean their hands. Having this ability was also a massive benefit when it came to properly dressing hunted creatures.


    "Sister wants to know when she can try some of the owl?" Onyx felt a little happy to be able to trante from Midnight to everyone. He couldn''t lie and say he wasn''t sad for when she would speak like any other person.


    "I can promise that we will roast them when we stop in a few hours. I know she is hungry but we need to cover more distance first. If we really push we can make it to the swamnds and make camp to sleep halfway through tomorrow." Walker knew that it was pushing things but was happy to hand out some of the food he had in his storage. It was better for the party to push themselves to get through the easy portion of their route before hitting the swamps which would slow them down significantly.


    "I think we should keep the torch. As much as I want you guys to catch more owls, I would rather see better." Remey had already refused to put out the torch and no one was going to tell her no. They had easily taken down the ice w owls and had no reason to draw any more towards them.


    "I doubt there are more around here after all that noise. To be honest, most predators and prey around us will be hiding for a while." It was a rule of hunting. If a hunter missed and made too much noise, then they would be stuck with the consequences. Everything nearby would be on alert and nothing would be easy to catch. Hence, most hunters would call it a day after they made argemotion.


    The night was more or less silent for the rest of the time. What Gil said rang true as the sun had started to rise up to light the way. Alice had grudgingly epted to ride on Onyx''s back for a while since he insisted that she rest. No one made a singlement when this happened because they knew that Onyx would be able to absorb the light elemental mana from the rising sun to warm himself. However, there was also the fact that Alice''s clothing and armor were gathering more light elemental mana toward them so Onyx was able to benefit from it.


    "Hey, does that look like a snowman up there?" Gil hade to a stop wondering what in the world a snowman would be doing out in the middle of the fields that no one was currently living in.


    "Ummm, yes. Yes, it is a snowman. Who built it?" Su took the lead since finding something like this was very odd. Especially since they could tell that there was no one else around within sight.


    "Wait, before we get too close let me appraise it." Walker was getting a strange feeling from the snowman. Mostly because of how odd it was to show up in such a ce and also because it was too perfectly made.


    "Good idea. I don''t want to waste an arrow trying to test and see if a snowman is actually some crazy snow imp monster." The slightugh from Gil was met with the small growl from Midnight. She wanted to fight a little since walking had been boring. Plus she was hungry still and wanted to be able to eat and sleep. Walker also knew that Su was fairly tired so he wanted to check things out first.


    ''Illusion slime- snowman form


    A rare water/ice and light affinity slime that learned the illusion skill instead of the mimic skill. The slime is extremely rare and often casts an illusion spell to hide itself. It will copy a form that it has seen before using its inherent skill mana vision. This slime has tremendous use in alchemy because its slime can adapt to stabilize almost any potion. This is the easiest slime to tame since it prefers to be around other creatures than the lesser evolved slimes that would try and consume its body for their own. It boasts a slightly higher intelligence due to its unique slime core. It is better rted to the intelligence of a dog or cat. Capturing it can be extremely easy since it is less likely to attack or break out.''


    "Alright, well. How about Walker captures the illusion slime for me and then we make camp here." Remey didn''t leave any room for argument. Traveling all night had tired them out and she was not foolish enough to believe that they would push on after finding something so amazing for her. She also made a nod to Su and Midnight who were still tired from their ritual and needed the rest more.


    "I will capture it for you but you will be carrying the slime core with you while I store the slime body. But you will have to find someone to tame it and join your guild." Walker gave in easily as he stepped forward to handle the situation.


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 Chapter 991 - 991. Slime Trap

    Walker stepped forward and pretended to be moving ahead of the group. He had the feeling that the illusion slime would not be willing to attack him but instead try to hide itself from him. It was clear that the intelligence the slime had over its'' lesser evolved slimes was enough to know when to and when not to attack.


    This proved correct as Walker neared the slime and felt the small amount of mana leaking around it. The light and water elemental mana the illusion slime used to create its snowman appearance was very well controlled. The affinities it had were able to unlock the path it had taken and was most likely the very reason it had be an illusion slime.


    Part of Walker''s mind dwelled on the slime breeder that has given them a massive amount of problems so far. Yet, the party had not encountered any ice slime since leaving Genesis city. Part of that worried him but that also mean that they may not have been set free as long as he expected. Not that the ice slimes werepletely unnatural. Just umon. But it also could be the reason why an illusion slime hade to exist. The high numbers of slimes in the environment breeding could have caused a rare slime like this to be born.


    All together, Walker was sure that bringing this slime back to hello Remey at the alchemy guild would be a massive boon for the city and the people. Being able to produce better potions would help everyone in need of healing, mana refreshment, and many other things rted to potions. It would also keep such a slime from falling in to the slime breeder system users'' hands. They already needed to worry about the acid slimes that the slime breeder had taken away from the deep caves.


    Standing directly in front of the illusion slime, Walker could almost feel that the slime was shivering, or at least the mana was. The illusion was just above the shape of the slime making it appear as a snowman when in reality it was just a slime holding the shape and the colors being a trick of the light flowering through the slimes'' body. This was the benefit of having a strong water affinity that could be seen as an ice affinity and the light affinity working together. No other monster would be able to copy this effect without having the perfect bnce of affinity.


    Walker started to manipte the earth below them and cause it to rise. The wall he made left no room for the slime to escape. Being able to mold the earth in to shape to a round sphere with only a small opening was enough to scare the illusion slime in to wanting to flee. Since this was exactly what Walker hoped he watched as the light faded around the slime and the body was exposed.


    The slime had a nearly clear body that reflected light like glittering gems. It was the ice crystals inside of it that were responsible for causing the illusions to be easily seen and used by the slime. Anyone seeing this at the first nce would be slightly mesmerized since it was an umon sight to see a beautiful slime. But this was not the focus at the moment.


    The slime tried to force its way out of the small opening to escape the danger it felt it was in because of Walker. This was what Walker wanted though. As the slime escaped, Walker found that it pushed the core forward first, exactly as he had hoped. The core left the small hole in the earth sphere that was created and Walked shed downward with one of his twin blitz swords. The core fell from the rest of the slime body and Walker scooped it up in to arge vial. Then he quickly gathered the rest of the slime body in to tenrge potion bottles and stored them away.


    "That was pretty impressive. I would have thought you needed to battle it and cut out the slime core." Remey jogged up beside him to hold the slime core as Walker had said. The body was already stored away and she couldn''t be more impressed.


    "The appraisal said it was less likely to attack s I went with an approach to scare it. The core is smaller than I thought but it might be better that way so that you can protect it while in battle. I just hope that you are able to better use it for the guild. Is everyone else setting up camp? I still have the tent." Walker realized he had not left the tents behind for them to rest in.


    "I will ask around to find a tamer to join the guild. If the worst case happens then I will bribe you to tame it and let it live in the guild. And yes, they are setting up the area. Su and Onyx are pushing some snow aside." The two chatted a little while walking back over to the group. Walker had cleaned up his earth sphere so that it wouldn''t hinder the fields when it came time to nt again.


    "Here are the tents. I will start up a fire so we can eat. I will also take first watch so everyone else can sleep." No one argued with this and Walker felt that Midnight was ravenous at this point even though she had snacked on some jerky.


    Alice was quick to help set up a tent. It was impressive that she had already learned how to do this but Walker had a sneaking suspicion that Su was the one that had taught her when he wasn''t looking. She was setting up the tent in the same way that Su went about it. Once the smell of roasting ice w owl graced their noses, everyone showed their hunger. The party didn''t hesitate to dig in when it was cooked even though it was a little too hot.


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 Chapter 992 - 992. Natures Peace

    Once everyone had gone their own way to rest, Walker took the chance to meditate a little. He knew that Fleur had been resting in the spirit mark for some time and it was because of the natural mana she needed. There was also the eternal orb that had filled itself with natural mana and was resting as part of Walker''s chest piece.


    A short nce aroundnded on Onyx and Midnight who and curled up in the sun by the fire. Onyx was wrapped around Midnight to protect her since he knew how tired she still was. Walker had decided not to have Midnight and Su act as a look out while they rested. The two needed more rest so that they could get through the swampnds and all the way to the harbor towns on the water.


    As excited as Gil was to use the ice w owl feathers for the arrow, he did not jump in to it. He wanted to use the time to rest so he could properly look out and craft a new arrow. He may have made some arrows to fight the kraken swarm but it was not enough in his mind, Having a water and wind elemental arrow would potentially give him an added strength. But he also wanted to preserve his own mana. Zephyr was also resting in the bow so that she could have a higher reserve of elemental mana. This was the same with the alchemy fire spirit with Remey and the earth spirit with Su.


    The only spirit that had not joined them was the fire spirit that paired with the dragon style golem. It was not suited to underwater battle and instead had made itself useful around Genesis city doing patrols to keep monsters that got too close at bay. Walker hadn''t even asked it to do such a thing. Instead, Midnight had used her bond with it to encourage it to do such a thing. This was just another boon for the city and the party. Having the dragon style golem around put people at ease and also showed the strength that the city had to defend the people that lived there.


    While Walker sat and controlled his breathing, he knew that the natural mana around was stronger here than in other ces. This was the simple fact that the elemental spirits had helped to rehabilitate thend and bring it back to life. Their mana was mixing and creating more natural mana. It was a benefit to healing the area but also for attracting more elemental spirits. This alone would make the human kingdom adapt to elemental spirits and facilitate the return of elemental spirits to every day life as they had been part of many years again. There would also be the connection with the forest elves which would increase due to the elemental spirits knowledge they could share.


    Therefore, the pull of natural mana flowed through his body and Walker could feel his breath lighten. His body had been processing the natural mana when he learned the dance of seasons and natural regeneration. Both were causing natural mana to always flow through him and mix with his own mana. It felt right to him and he could tell that the young sage title reacted with this process.


    There was natural mana getting denser around him and he could tell that the earth below him was reacting. The nts that had hidden under the smallyer of snow were reaching up and the light was getting brighter. Overall the air felt fresher and the world just a little more peaceful.


    ''The skill meditation has been affected by high natural mana density. The skill meditation has been changed in to the skill nature''s peace taken from the pure sage system.


    Nature''s peace- passive ( requires natural mana)


    The user is able to allow their consciousness to reach a peaceful state with high density natural mana. The user is able to better sense the flow of nature and also see around them at the same time. The mana around them will affect the world and cause higher growth for nts and animals. Rot and poison near the user will lessen in strength. The user will be able to calm themselves easily and clearly work through many trains of thought. The speed of gathering natural mana and separate elemental mana will increase. There are other benefits gained due to the high density natural mana.''


    Walker wasn''t sure what the other benefits would be but he just rxed and kept watch while meditating. He could tell that everyone else was rxing more and resting better the more natural mana he brought to him. But he could also tell that Midnight and Su had absorbed a lot of the natural mana. Their bodies had been through an ordeal when the ritual happened. Since Su had arge change in her body that now led her to gain a fire breathing skill it was clear that she would need to recuperate.


    Since Midnight had gained the skill to shift in to a dragonkin form she also needed to recuperate her body. The changes that urred were well ahead of what she would normally be able to do at her age. Knowing that the two were benefiting from his meditation was bringing a deeper peace to Walkers'' mind and body. However, he was soon looking at the sun rising higher than he had wanted it to. He still had to rest himself and he stood up feeling calmer than before.


    Gil had no issue getting up and looked more refreshed than usual. The high natural mana had truly aided his rest as he got up and prepared some of his arrows to be adjusted with the ice w owl feathers. Thest thing Walker saw as hey down to sleep for some time was Gil stretching and starting to cut the owl feathers for the fins of his arrows.


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 Chapter 993 - 993. New Songs

    Walker was literally dragged from his tent before he knew it. There was only one little dragon that could do this without causing any noise. "Midnight what-" She huffed slightly making Walker stoppletely. This was when Walker heard the sound.


    "Is that Alice?" The overwhelming nod from Midnight told Walker that Alice had been singing for a little while. "I wonder why she is up already?" Walker knew he couldn''t have been sleeping for long and that Remey would be on look out now. They were still going to rest for a little while longer before they would push to the swampnds.


    After he sat up, Walker found that Alice had moved a slight distance from where the group was resting. Remey was sitting by the fire and cast a sideways nce at Walker before nodding slightly. She knew exactly what was going on and didn''t bother to interrupt Alice.


    The song that Alice was singing was low and slow. It was drastically different than what she normally sang. The song of healing was uprising and powerful. It brought energy and joy. The song of des was energetic and even a little frantic. The difference was clearly what made the song have certain effects on the light elemental mana.


    As he came closer Onyx came in to sight. But what surprised Walker was what he also saw. There were chains and weights made of light fallen around Onyx. Onyx struggled to move around them and constantly absorbed the light elemental mana. The pair was training against each other while the rest of the group gained more sleep. It was always clear that Onyx wanted to be more powerful so he could stand next to everyone else in the party. But Alice was also behind in terms of level. She felt useless when it came to any danger and most of it woulde down to learning on the go. But this was training that she could perform right now to get more powerful.


    Alice was slowly letting beads of sweat drip down her nose and cheeks which showed just how hard it was for her to keep up such a song. But the results were massive. Onyx was in hisrgest form with almost no shadow showing. He would be able to easily cast off normal chains but these light chains and weights were keeping him pressed down. There was also the impressive rate t which Onyx absorbed the light elemental mana. If the sun wasn''t high enough then Alice would not have been able to create such dense chains.


    Sooner than expected, Alice finished her song and the chains began to dissipate back in to the air. Onyx slowly began to move again looking as if he had eaten more than he normally would. He was almost lethargic. "You two have been working pretty hard. Feel like sitting down for a while?" Walker pulled a small towel from his storage and offered it to the embarrassed Alice who had not even noticed him watching.


    "Brother, I am going to sleep for a while." Onyx no sooner said this than he took his smaller tattoo form and rested on Walker. It was clear through their bind that Onyx had exhausted himself in mind and body. Which was fine since there was time to rest and Onyx had been working hard since they left.


    "I didn''t know you could use a debuff song. It looked like it would be very deadly for an opponent to be trapped like that. Is it a new song you just wrote?" Alice shook her head. Walker had not seen the song in her book so he had thought it to be new.


    "I couldn''t because I was too weak. This is the first time." A brilliant smile spread on Alice''s face while she spoke. She had been working hard to be able to perform this song through an entire verse. Now that she could she would be able to do much more to help out.


    "I bet that will be perfect for holding down any giant alligators or giant vipers." Walker knew that these would be monsters better avoided. Beating them would be hard and take a lot of time from their travels. Therefore, having a way to slow them down and escape was the best possible way to keep moving without fear that they would catch up easily.


    The recognition made Alice a lot more confident. She was sure that she would be useful to the group because of this skill she had developed. It had taken her a lot of time and effort. "Come on and grab something to eat. I will pull a mana potion out too." The pair sat by the fire together while Remey finished her watch and woke Su, Midnight, and Gil up for them to eat as well.


    After the group had finished their meals and cleaned up their small camp, Walker was prepared to set out. He had gathered enough natural mana to feel even better rated while he could tell that Fleur was better prepared if she decided to show herself. "Can we keep an eye out for white mushrooms with small ants on them? They are used to attract bugs mostly but can also be used to make monster attracting potions. I want to try and sell them in the guild when we open everything." Remey knew that Walker was the only one that could safely store away such a thing.


    "Sure. But only if you keep an eye out for some dead wood, poison oak, and purple willow trees. They can be used for some interesting arrows." Remey and Gil made their deal while They eyed the slowly changingndscape ahead of them. The journey was just at its beginning now that they were about to enter the outer swampnds.


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 Chapter 994 - 994. Rotting

    The ground was lowing its firmness as the group began to walk along the nned trails. There were many trails that lead in to the outer swampnds because they were the best ces to hunt certain monsters and gather certain herbs., But when it came to the deep swampnds, there were no paths. The mud and changing water levels would wash away and change any trail carved through. That wasn''t even considering the warm seasons where the nts would overgrow everything.


    The benefit of traveling in the cold was that many of the nts had temporality died off due to the temperature. There were also some thinyers of ice that would make traveling easier since some of the mud wouldn''t let them sink in to it. However, there were some downsides. The water was cold and could cause more problems if someone fell in. The monsters that were aggressive would be able to spot them from further away. There was also the fact that some of the deeper water might be hidden by the snow and the ice built up on top of it.


    " Su is going to stay in the lead while Midnight takes up the rear. I know we aren''t in the worst of it yet but we need to stay prepared. Gil, if you notice anything just say so." Walker trusted Gil and Su the most since they had the best eyes for details. If they saw that there was a problem they could potentially save the group from the worst.


    While they walked they were very d for the water proof boots that they had for the colder and rainy seasons. If they did, it have them then the cold water that filled the muddy holes from their feet would have caused them to stop constantly. Where the party was used to some mud, they were not used to the swampnds mud. Every step they took was in ti deeper mud that wouldtch on to their feet more than the overused merchant trails'' mud.


    As they walked they did not take a single straight path. Su was changing the way they waked because she could see the areas where the mud was deeper. However, what made her stop from time to time was the movement under some of the snow and moss she could see. There were portions where she swore that she could step on them, but as soon as she got near she would realize that it was not safe.


    The swamnds had a great many species of moss that would grow year round. One type was able to grow over the top of deep water pools which was what caused people to identally fall in. Normally monsters and animals would fall in and get trapped. But sometimes there would be monsters that made these ces their homes and would wait for something to fall in to be their food. This meant that falling in could be a death sentence.


    Since Midnight was following up the back end, she was the one that needed to be sure that the rest of the party was following Su to the exact step. Her small growls were enough to warn someone that they were moving away from the path they were supposed to follow. Yet, there was an exception here or there.


    Midnight would need to move to push someone off of a spot that could make them slip. She focused on Alice the most for this kind of thing since it was easy for her to see the inexperienced steps that Alice took. No matter what, having the experience to step on firm ground took time. When Alice would try to follow Su she would often get caught on small roots and even the odd rock or two. Thanks to Midnight none of these ended with Alice falling in to a dangerous situation.


    "It''s good that it''s old out. If it hadn''t snowed we would have to deal with more of the venomous snakes and frogs." The idea that they were traveling during a better time of the year made Gil morefortable. However, he knew that this small victory led way to more danger. "But the trees up ahead seem to be moving." This would be normal if there was a breeze or there were leaves on the trees. Yet, there were none of those two things.


    '' Rotting treant


    This is a species of trant that has been part of the swampnds for too long. Often treants will grow in the forests and be able to be stronger over time. Unfortunately, some treants wander in to the poisonous swamps and can not return to the forests they know. Instead of growing string their wood rots and they be aggressive to anything they see. They are slower in the cold weather since their rotting soggy wood freezes but they are still able to attack with poisonous vines and heavy club like hands. It is rmended that these monsters be avoided at any cost since they can easily traprge creatures by controlling vines. They will eventually rot in to an extremely potent fertilizer that can grow a number of rare herbs and fungus.''


    Walker was quick to stop the partypletely. He had slowly read the all around appraisal so that everyone knew just how bad the forward path was. "We are going around them." Su bent her knees and did her best to sneak in a wide circle to avoid the treants. There were three that they could see swaying side to side while some moving vines went in to the waters around them.


    There was warmth on Walkers'' back and he felt Fleur show herself on his shoulder. Her eyes were trained on the rotting treants ahead of her and she started to pull natural mana from the spirit mark and air around her. She had a focused look and Walker could feel a sense of hate towards the rotting treants growing.


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 Chapter 995 - 995. Fleurs Anger

    "Walker, what''s going on?" Remey had a worried shake in her voice as she saw Fleur was making a move toward the rotting treants.


    "Fleur is angry. I think it''s because they are causing the poison of the swamps to spread. They are rotting treants. I would guess that they spread rot until they are defeated or turn in to the fertilizer the appraisal mentions." This hit the nail on the head. Fleur looked Walker dead in the eye and pointed at the treants.


    "Rot is poison, right?" Alice spoke up and made Fleur nod energetically. She took a deep breath and let a solemn tone out of her mouth. It was loud and triggered the rotting treants to look toward them.


    "Why did you do that!?" Gil notched one of his water elemental arrows with the goal of freezing the treants in ce for them to run. The song that Alice had started was one that the party did not recognize but had an uplifting tone. It started low and sad but rose to a pure and high pitch.


    "Wait, this is the purifying song that Alice sings when peoplee in sick from alcohol or other poison and venoms." Su recognized it and put herself between Alice and the rotting treants that had slowly started to hobble toward them. Midnight dashed forward and breathed out a distracting breath of bright orange mes. The dances in the ice crystals and made the treants hesitate before they pushed forward mindlessly.


    One treant raised its hand which was covered in purple and red vines. It whipped them forward at the party but didn''t even get near where they stood. Instead, a wall of earth rose from the ground and blocked them. It quickly crumbled away due to the heavy water content within it but it had done its job.


    "I will block the attacks. If Alice is going to purify them then maybe we will win this fight." Fleur was pulling natural mana toward her while floating above Alice. The light elemental mana appeared to be gathering more as well and the area around them seemed to change. The little puddles of water that had been cloudy cleared and the fungus mixed with the moss crumbled away.


    The part that made Walker shudder, however, was that Fleur was taking away the light elemental mana that Alice was gathering. The song which would have made some effect on the light elemental mana to travel from Alice and purify things was gathering with Fleur. Before he could focus even more the treant struck out again and Walker raised another earth wall in haste. It blocked the treant again but was smashed in to nothing by the second treants club like hand.


    "You said Ice slows them down! Let''s see how you like my light and water knucklebo!" Remey used her speed and dashed forward delivering a vicious five hitbo of jabs to the main body of the treant. The result was a cracking sound and a splintering of icy rotting wood. The light elemental mana that stuck to her light affinity knuckle made the splinters seemingly dissolve while the water knuckles caused the ice to freeze and be shattered by Remey''s other jabs.


    Just as the third treant struck out, Remey dodged backward and was covered by another me breath from Midnight. This one madeplete contact with the third treant and caused the smaller vines to burn away. There was no further damage but it was enough to make all three rotting treants pause before anger overtook their feeble minds.


    Walker wanted to attack and willed the eternal orb to change in to a spear form. He knew he would be able to channel elemental mana through it and use the spear skills he had to attack with speed and distance. But at the moment the eternal orb finished changing in to a spear he felt a connection. Fleur willed the natural mana in the light elemental mana toward the spear that Walker made before she fused with the eternal orb spear form.


    There was a shining if light and Walker felt unseen hands guiding him. He could tell that the purifying power of Alice''s light elemental song was channeled through the eternal orb spear form. There was the control that Fleur had used over it to move through it and to the tip of the spear.


    His legs moved on his own and Walker used the spear to jab forward in three insanely fast stabs. The light elemental mana reacted with the rotting bodies of the treants and there was a burst of light. The pulse of mana that resonated around them had no way of harming anything but for the rotting and poisonous swampnds.


    Before they could gain their sight back they heard the sound of falling wood in to water. As their vision returned all of them were able to see the purified broken bodies of the treants floating in a crystal clear pool of water. The snow had even been purified in to perfectly white snow. The moss was a lushes gree where it had been darker and covered in multiple forms of fungus. This scene covered arge area around where Walker had just attacked.


    Alice stopped her singing and braced herself against Su who had moved right to her side. She smiled while looking at the spear where a tired looking Fleur sat. "You really had to do something so reckless just because they were rotting away from of the swampnds?" Fleur didn''t respond but looked at Walker as if she had just aplished a great deed worth more than all the gold in the world.


    "So, we are never doing that again. Because the arrows I fired barely slowed them down." Gil had managed to hit two of them in the feet with water elemental arrows and watched as the rotting treants easily broke the ice that formed where his arrowsnded.


    "I can''t say it won''t happen again but for now, we should camp here a little while and drink some mana potions." Walker handed one to Alice before he willed the eternal orb back in to its previous form.


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 Chapter 996 - 996. Purified

    "So I grabbed the wood from those rotting treants and it''s not rotting at all anymore. I would say it''s almost petrified now." Gil help up a piece for the broken rotting treant wood. It was clearly purified but that had led it to be a dry and petrified wood that was tougher than usual.


    "Think you can use it for arrows? I won''t stop you if you want it." There was nothing else that Walker could use it for if it was good for arrows then he would let Gil have it all to himself.


    "I don''t think I can carve this well enough. It is too hard for me to make much progress on. We should just give it to the wandering cksmith. He should be able to use it better than us." The reasonable conclusion made sense since it could be used for handles to swords or other armors and weapons.


    "I want some of it. Some potions use wood to keep them from dissolving or to separate ingredients. Depending on how well they are at sealing certain ingredients maybe I will have boxes made from them." Walker knew that storing potion ingredients was very important but he had overlooked the how to when it came to them.


    "Alright, I will store it away." There was a surprising amount of the purified wood floating in the now crystal clear pool of water. If it was rotted it would easily sink down to the bottom. Walker could make out small fish and some bugs swimming in the purified water, however, he knew it would return to the original swampy state sooner orter.


    "You really went all out when it came to purifying this area. But that was reckless. What if we had not had Alice? We could have been hurt. I know you were unhappy and wanted to purify them from the rot and poison they would cause. I understand. But that was not okay to do." The lecture seemed to make Fleur shrink. Walker could tell she had not processed that there would be a threat that could hurt them. Ever since she hade to be she had been safe without much worry. Now there were threats and she had no way of knowing what was too dangerous or not.


    " We can share our feelings and wants with each other. Just get my attention next time and we will see what we can do about it. I don''t want the worst to happen to my family. That includes you." The soft pat on her head made Fleur brighten up slightly but she was still timid since she had caused Walker to be so unhappy and worried. It would take some time for her to learn more about traveling.


    "Walker, have you seen what happened to the moss? There is literally no mold or fungus. There are even small moss flowers growing now. This is great!" Remey was gathering the tiny white flowers as if they were some raremodity. "They never bloom like this in the winter. They should have a higher water elemental mana than when they normally bloom in the summer. That means they could be the best ingredient for the water affinity potions." The smile Remey had mirrored that of a child handed an entire bag of candy without parental supervision.


    "I have a fire going. Let''s eat something before we move on." Su had already started a fire and in a few moments Walker had roasted some more of the ice w owls and handed it out. Midnight had snatched up an entire one for herself making it the end of the ice w owls but for the valuable parts for crafting.


    "Alright, let''s get back to it. I want to see if we can make a decent cut through the deep swampnds before it gets too dark and any fog sets in." There was some worry about the toxic fog that usually roamed the swampnds. But the cold usually held it at bad since the rotting waters couldn''t evaporate in to the air.


    "If that happens will you be able to purify it Alice?" Remey knew that she could use her potions to a degree but if there was a magic that could work on it better then she would feel safer.


    "Yes." Alice was sure she could purify it as long as things were not interrupted. She did eye Fleur a little since she had her magic controlled and used differently. It was a mystery that she wanted answers for but knew that Walker would say something when he fully understood how Fleur was able to manipte someone else''s mana and the light mana with natural mana.


    "That''s good. I think some of my light arrows can do it too but they are kind of a double edges sword. They heal you at the cost of being shot by an arrow. Really an impractical arrow. Hence why I haven''t used it at all. I still have them though." Walker had nearly forgotten the arrow that Gil was talking about. It was a strange mix but had some potential.


    "You know, if we see any very bad rotting ces in the swamps maybe we can purify them. I can''t believe we didn''t think of it when we encountered the rotting treants. It might have been better than the water arrows." Walker pondered this while he took the lead of the party this time. He had the feeling that he would need to use his magic to make their path easier to traverse in the deep swampnds. There was the higher possibility that they would find rotting pools and overgrown terrain. Not to mention the monsters they were sure to encounter. The rotting treants were just on the outskirts. He couldn''t fathom what else there might be.


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 Chapter 997 - 997. Tough Shells

    "There are some pretty dark cloudsing in. I don''t think that will help u at all." Gil was looking at the distant sky through the dread branches of a few trees. There was also a small breeze that added to the chill they felt.


    "It''s definitely going to rain. I can feel the water elemental mana getting dense in the air. It will make things muddy and hard to walk through but I can try to freeze it a little." Walker''s suggestion helped but they all started to add extrayers on for the rain. The cloaks that Walker had stored in his storge were longer and covered most of their bodies but had been specially waterproofed by Lisa.


    "Avoid the low parts on the ground as we go through. They will start to fill with water and be the muddiest. I don''t want anyone to get stuck as we move." The warning from Su got a resounding yes from the rest of them. Midnight had huddled closer to Alice as they started to walk and the moisty rain began.


    It was not a powerful downpour but enough for them to know that they would be colder and colder. The torch that Remey had been carrying that burned the skunk weed was easily extinguished. "Let''s hope that the monsters stay in their little hiding sports because of the rain." She was clutching the water knuckles just in case she had to use them.


    "I hate to say it, but I think we will see more than we want. The misty makes it perfect for the water dwelling monsters to leave and travel in the open air." As if waiting for Walker to say this a small brown fish wiggled on to the cold icy mud before flopping to a nearby pool of water.


    "I forgot catfish lived here. If we can catch a few they are very good for energy while traveling. My father said that he used to make catfish stew when he was near the swamps." This was another recipe that Gil had in the back of his mind for the right situation. Walker took note ready to make it happen. However, Midnight didn''t seem to be excited about it as usual since she remained silent.


    Due to this, Walker looked for her and found that she was ring in the distance. The small brown shapes wiggling out of the water and mud were eclipsed by a muchrger muddy shape rising from the mud. "I think that''s a mud scale turtle. They won''t attack but they are very hard to capture and defeat. Their name might suggest their shell is weak like mud but the namees from the fact that they cover their scales in mud." Walker had seen one of two on the market. Many nobles would request them from the adventurers'' guild to be ingredients turtle soup.


    The main problem was, that due to their tough shell and dangerous environment many people would avoid hunting them. They were also heavy and hard to bring back to the city. Thus, it was the least hunted monster around. "I don''t see any reason to bother it. We can pass by and let it be. We have ground to cover." Su beat Walker to the call but it was the same one he had wanted to make. It would just waste their time to hunt a tough to beat enemy that wouldn''t normally attack them anyways.


    "Then we go around." Walker manipted a nearby pool of water to freeze in to ice thick enough for them to walk over. This allowed them to give the mud scale turtle a good amount of space to keep doing what id was doing. However, they encountered yet another just a few minutes deeper in to the swamps.


    "How many of these turtles are there around here? They are huge, you think they would have arger territory." Gil was used to the animals and monsters he hunted not wanting to encroach on each others'' territories. It was a normal behavior for any creature.


    "Gil, that one isn''t moving." Remey had fallen in to a stance as she noticed that the mud scale turtle ahead of them was not moving an inch. There was a also very strong scent of rot nearby. Walker also noticed that Fleur had scrunched her face in to the same angry disgust she had before.


    "Stay calm. We can''t risk fighting something in these conditions. Before we were lucky but whatever managed to beat that might be too much to handle." It was odd for Walker to make the group sneak so much. But he was sure that the monsters that had not been hunted and kept somewhat under control would be able to defeat the party. There were many very good reasons the swampnds were feared.


    "No, there is something moving." Su picked up on some movement in the mud around the mud scale turtle body. However, when she realized what it was she was not happy at all, her skin crawled and she was sure that they needed to move away from there immediately. "There are small purple worms moving in and out of the mud and in to the shell. I don''t think they ate through the shekel but they definitely ate the turtle."


    Sine Su had spotted the problem Walker used his all around appraisal skill and whispered out what it came up with.


    ''Purple blood worm.


    These are vicious dark affinity monsters. They hatch in clutches of a thousand and live for a week at most during any season. They will only hatch and feed during the night or cloudy rainy days. They use potent dark elemental mana to cause severe rot in any living creature before devouring the rotting corpse. They are extremely dangerous but hold an extreme weakness to any light elemental attacks. Even sunlight can cause them to die in minutes''


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 Chapter 998 - 998. Squirming

    "Walker, I want to try my light elemental arrow this time. We are far enough away and they are slower moving worms. We can run easily enough with your magic to get away from them." Fleur supported Gil''s n and pulled at Walkers'' hair. However, this was a risk. There was no way that Gil would take out all of them in one arrow. But there was also the chance to remove such disgusting monsters that only caused rot and decay.


    "Give it one shot. If the results are good we can use them in the future. But under no circumstances are we going over there." This was made clear as Walker put his food down heavily on the ice he had made. He was not going to allow even a single one of the purple blood worms near his party. They were dangerous and he was not sure he could protect thempletely from them.


    "If you can you should try and pull that shell over here with your frost whip. I bet you can store it away without any of those worms. To be honest, you could probably just freeze them all solid. But don''t do that." Gil was pulling one of the wither spike arrows he had charged with light elemental mana. It was clear that this would be a devastating blow to the purple blood worms.


    "Those arrows might not be very good for living and other elemental monsters. But for darkness elemental and undead, they are a poison like no other." Su spoke these words as Gil activated the arrow and let it fly.


    His aim was good as always. The arrownded right in the mass of squirming mud and rot. There were only a few seconds between the party holding their breath and the sh of light elemental mana. The purple blood worms began to squirm and ir as they started to literally melt in to mud. The light elements mana was dissolving their bodies due to their extreme weakness to light elemental mana. The smell of rot only increased in the area while all of this happened.


    Gil had notched and fired a second arrow even though Walker had been fine with one arrow. There was something in Gil that made him want to get rid of these things too. It might have been the rot reminding him of the undead ruins or possibly Zephyrs'' rtion to natural mana since wind elemental mana was part of natural mana. Either way, the second arrow hit, and the pulse of light elemental mana killed off even more of the purple blood worms.


    Ince the mana had settled the entire spot around the mud scale turtle shell was a dark rotting pile of mud. The best way to describe it now was high quality fertilizer. Three was sure to be a lot of future growth after the cold receded. Gil nced at Walker. "Yes, I will try with my frost whip."


    The frost whip froze in to the slushie familiar shape in Walkers'' hand. The skill formed much faster due to the rainy weather. With a simple flick of his wrist, the whip arched out andnded on the mud scale turtle shell. It froze on contact and Walker attempted to pull it back only to find that the shell was much heavier than he had ever expected. "Now I know why they are so tough. They are heavier than iron."


    "We don''t really need it. I mostly wanted to try my arrow out as a solution to the problem. We can leave it there." Gil was happy that the arrow had worked against the purple blood worms. Not being able to harvest a mud scale turtle shell that the worms had defeated was nothing that would ruin their day.


    "Let me give it a second try. It would be nice to get it on the way. Not many people manage to get one and we can give it to the wandering cksmith for his forging." A second frost whip formed in Walkers'' other hand and Midnight mped down on it with her hand. The two pulling together managed to release the shell from the mud and it popped in to the air. Just before it hit Walker and Midnight he touched it with his hand and stored it away. "See, no problem." There was a single drop of sweat that made Walker''s im seem false, but no one was worrying about that.


    "There are more¡­" Remey and Su had locked in on thicker looking purple blood worms. They had been underneath the shell protected by it and able to grow during their short lifespan.


    "And they look to have found us." Su raised her shield and looked to Walker for what to do. They all knew they had yed with fire since these wererger purple blood worms and had hidden under the turtle shell by instinct.


    "Another arrow Gil!" The arrow that Gil pulled seemed to slow down as they saw therge purple blood worms begin to open their small mouths full of razor like teeth and breathe out a dark purple mist. It was enough to rot some of the branches and twigs from swamp bushes and saplings around them.


    Fleur was already melting in to the eternal orb which was fusing in to a staff form in Walkers'' hand. He wasn''t sure if he would be fast enough to use the light elemental mana and get rid of the mist while also defeating the purple blood worms. It was all about speed on his feet since they had done something they knew was unnecessary.


    The arrow that Gil had just notched was still aimed at the worms but would have no effect on the mist. Walker could only hope that Gil would manage to take down the worms and he the mist. It was not something that Remey and Su could deal with. Midnight also was out of the running since her light elemental breath attack was too weak as of yet.


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 Chapter 999 - 999. Team Alice And Onyx

    Just before Walker conjured abination of wind and light elemental mana to send a burst from the eternal orb staff, He heard the soft melody begin behind him. Alice had started to sing with a powerful tone that said she would stand there for the rest of her life if need be. It was the song of shields that she had struggled with.


    The light elemental mana flowed around them as if it had been waiting for such a moment. Onyx had emerged from his shadow tattoo form and was currently wrapped around Alice. The glow of light elemental mana around his scales meant only one thing. Just like the shadow where he hid away his body using darkness elemental mana, Onyx had learned to store away some of the light elemental mana he absorbed forter use.


    '' The user has been affected by the skill; Chorus of light.''


    The eternal orb staff glowed brightly with light elemental mana and so did Gil''s arrow. A shield of light mmed down in front of the purple blood worms causing a sizzling sound. Gil''s arrow flew and impacted them causing the same reaction as earlier with arger burst of light.


    Walker raised the eternal orb staff and a gust of white wind gathered around before it flew out from Walker in a single gust. The mist that the purple blood worms had crated was blown away and began to dissipate in to nothing before their eyes.


    ''The skill purifying gust has been taken from the half born system. The skill purifying gust has been learned through assisted skills and userbination magic.


    Purifying gust- 8 mana cost


    The user is able to fuse light and wind elemental mana simr to a pure being of mixed blood. The wind carried the minor healing and purifying properties of light elemental mana to push away poisons and illness. The mana usage is high due to the wild nature of wind wanting to flow away from the light. This skill is best used when the light and wind elemental mana density is high.''


    "Brother, I am hungry." Onyx slithered slowly from Alice''s arm and Alice stopped singing. She looked a little pale whereas Onyx was sluggish.


    "Here, eat up as much as you can. Then make sure you nap for a while. We will push on out of here as soon as possible." Walker was done with the swamps but knew that his best chance to get out was to follow the water and potentially leave the swamps a little south of their desired destination. "I have a mana potion for you too. Chorus of light, that''s the skill you used with the song of shields? I assume that you and Onyx worked on that when we weren''t paying any attention?"


    The blush that Alice had was cute enough that Walker had trouble handling it. But when she hid a small smile he thought that he was about to melt right there. "Walker, those things look to be gone but I don''t think we should stay around here. Things are too quiet and that gust of wind and light did not do anything to hide our presence." Zephyr had finally left the bow and had been whispering to Gil about the changing wind she could feel around them.


    "I agree. We are going to double down on our efforts and follow the water to the beach. I don''t care if we end up too far down from the port town. We need to get out of here." The thought to follow flowing water was normal. If they followed the direct flow of water they would end up heading back toward the kingdom. Against the flow of water and they would find themselves heading toward the beach and eventually toward the marches. However, they could easily avoid the marshes since it was a very small space between the beach and the swampnds.


    There was some worry as Walker looked at Alice who definitely needed rest. But they didn''t have a choice. They had alerted every monster in the area to their presence by being reckless and it was the price they needed to pay. Midnight brought Onyx on to her back while he ate away at the light elemental crystal and Remey took the spot next to Alice. After Walker felt for the flow of the water by sensing the mana around him they turned and pushed forwards.


    There were ice paths being frozen in the ground by Walker so that they could walk unimpeded. He was pushing on with a speed that they had not carried for some time and it was clear that they were struggling. Alice was stumbling but at every step Remey was there. "I don''t like the sound of them. Keep pushing." Gil was taking up the rear and could hear a soft rumbling behind them. The sound of cracking sticks and sloshing mud reached everyone''s ears as well.


    "Just keep going and I will buff us." Walker was straining himself by constantly creating a solid footing using ice. The water elemental mana being around was useful and made things easier but it was still a lot of his own mana being used. The multi buff skill on top of that was a heavy strain but sped them up a lot more.


    shing vines and water became louder around them. Walker dared not turn and see what kind of monster they had awakened to pursue them. "Run!" Gil''s warning pushed them all in to a sprint. They matched Alice''s pace so that they would not leave her behind. The sounds grew even more intimidating as they broke through the dead trees and swampy ground to reveal sandy wet ground and overgrown sea grass with frozen seafoam around them. The beach had been so close without their knowledge but they were not stopping yet.


    "Go right to the water! The things that live in the swampnds don''t go in to salt water oceans!" This was one thing Su had read andmitted to memory just in case. It more than paid off as they reached the water''s edge and turned to see what had been following them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1000 - 1000. Wow Just Wow!

    The party turned and backed in to the surf slightly while looking at therge creature rising from the swamnds to re at them with beady red eyes. Hidden in a tangle of vines small scaly fingers with webbing in between held a rotting pointed stick. A sharp spiky tail waved side to side before the creature retreated back with a his and a grumble.


    "Are lizardmen supposed to be that big?" There was a shiver in Gil''s voice as he hoped that this was the end. But as he looked harder he saw there were easily ten or fifteen more of the monsters roaming around on the edge of the swampnds.


    "Su, that was a good calling toward the saltwater. They are lizardmen that are used to fresh water. Well, rotting water. The salt must be painful on their skin so they won''t evene over here where the ocean spray might get them." This was the simple conclusion for Walker to make while he helped Alice stand straight.


    Alice had run fr her life. This was the scariest thing she had ever experienced and she had no idea how they had survived it. Not only had she managed to use a skill that she was not able to fully master, but she had used the skill chorus of light with Onyx on top of it. There were so many things that could have gone wrong that she firmly believed that someone in the party had a hidden luck skill of some sort.


    "Just take your time and breathe slowly. It will be fine. We are safe for now." Remey said this as calmly as possible even though she was dying to take deep breaths herself. She had gotten used to controlling herself when her younger siblings had thrown tantrums then couldn''t catch their breath. Now was the same result but a different situation, yet, she still knew how useful a calm voice could be.


    "We are staying close to the water the rest of the way. As long as we walk that way we should leave the rest of the swampnds behind us and get to the port town¡­ huh, I never knew the beaches were so rocky." Walker hade to the beach for the first time. He was sure that he had been told about the perfectly clear sands that would soften each step. But from what she could see he would be stepping on and over rocks constantly.


    "Crabs." Alice shook her head while leaning a little more on Walker and pointing to one of the rocks.


    "Is it¡­It is! These are crabs? Rock crabs? I didn''t know they would be in their breeding season. There are so many!" There were some stories about the massive number of rock crabs that could be hunted during this time of year. Walker had totally overlooked that the timing lined up just right for them to see it while also leaving to the port towns to assist them. "Midnight, they are edible raw. That means you can eat as many as you want. Just remember to avoid the edge of the swamps until we are more north. I don''t trust those lizardmen."


    "Just because we can''t see them doesn''t mean they gave up. I have a pretty good feeling they are waiting ahead of us or they are blending in and waiting." This hunting prey and hiding to ambush them was what Gil had a lot of experience in. He was not going to let anyone he saw fall for a trap such as this.


    Midnight carried Onyx on her back while he consumed the light elemental crystal Walker had given him. She snapped her jaws over the smaller crabs and they were eaten in a blink of an eye. As much as Walker had thought her dragonkin form was cute, he knew that the real Midnight who was always eager for food and to nap in a warm ce was the true meaning of cute.


    "I will keep an eye on the waters. I don''t trust that we can''t tell what is going on under them. If there is a swarm of kraken how will we even know?" Remey had some faith that Walker would be able to sense iting. However, she had not realized just how vast the ocean really was. Part of her was whispering not to even risk going there.


    "We should. I don''t see any birds floating offshore or any ripples of fish or other monsters." Remey had a feeling that the crabs may not be there for breeding season and instead there so that they could escape the baby krakens.


    "Why do we have t keep nting red gs like that in life. I just messed up in the swamps and attracted the very monsters that could have ended out adventurers forever and you-" Gil was cut off by arger wave breaking on the shore. The entire party looked over at it to see pieces of wood being washed up.


    "That might be a part of a ship." Walker wanted to investigate but they felt the air get denser and pressure descend on them. It was the same pressure that came with the royal and elder dragons. It was the sign of a powerful creatureing near.


    "That is what turned the ship in to broken nks." Remey pointed a shaky finger at the massive tentacle that had extended out of the water and seemingly grasped at something else floating in the water.


    I think the mother isrger than a whale. Much much MUCHrger than a whale!" Out of all of the,m, it was Onyx that was freaking out about this. He had imagined that the kraken mother would be smaller than what he saw. Hisck of knowledge of the world came crashing on him. He had no idea how they would be fighting this even with a few dragons in tow.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1001 - 1001. Throwing Rot

    The entire group was silent. None of them had any idea how they would handle such a massive monster. Current had said that the dragons would handle the mother kraken but that was too much. It was massive and could easily gulp down an adult dragon in a moment.


    "If they weren''t water elemental dragons I would think we were doomed." Since Gil had food sce in this fact, Walker chose to as well.


    "They will be able to deal with a thing like that much more easily than fire or earth dragons would. I doubt they arecking a n. But we should push forward and try to get to the port town today. The sooner we are there to exin what we just saw, the better" Walker didn''t feel like leaving everyone in the dark. Even the smallest piece of information could change the oue of a battle.


    Even Midnight ha stopped her eating after seeing the massive kraken tentacle. They all knew it was able to reach right up on shore if it so desired. They would need to push on to a ce where they could be safer. The number of crabs was also increasing. The rock crabs were clearlying tond to hide from the kraken and her spawn. If they did not they would easily go extinct in this area if not the entire ocean.


    "Do you think it is heading toward the port town like us?" Su was sure that the way the tentacle was facing was indicative of the way it traveled. It was in search of food and there was an entire port that it could hunt. Especially seeing that there were pieces of s ship washing up on shore here.


    "Let''s just hope that the mother kraken being down here means that the merfolk city is safe as well. It might not have been attacked yet and we can handle the baby kraken before they get to it." The underwater was still a mystery to the party. They had maps of the surface but knew that the maps of the underwater were the same kind of mystery as the caves the dwarves roamed. They would need constant guidance when they went for the plunge.


    "Between the lizardmen and the kraken, we really have no choice but to move fast. I feel bad for the rock crabs. They are in the same position as us." Gil doubled his effort to move forward. He didn''t like the feeling of being trapped between two enemies. Plus the rock crabs were not exactly harmless either. Some of therger ones could easily take a snip at them with their ws if they so desired.


    "From what I can make out, that up ahead is the sand bar that starts the harbor. Around the bend we should be able to see the docks. I just don''t like that it seems too quiet around here." Walker was d that it appeared the party hade out near their destination. However, that meant the mother kraken was also near their destination and where she was her young would not be far. Overall they needed to be ready for a fight in an instant.


    "Duck!" Su jumped in front of Alice as a pointed rotting stick flew at them from the swamps. The marshynd hade closer due to the bend in the sand bar up ahead. This gave the lizardmen the chance to fire back at them.


    The rotting stick hit Su''s twin shields and bounce to the ground without any damage to her, However, Su knew that this couldn''t be the only one. "I will raise an earth wall as we go. It will be made of sand but it should work." Walker used the eternal orb staff form to channel the earth elemental mana faster and caused a sand wall to rise just as another pointed rotting stick was thrown near them.


    "I can''t even see them through their camouge. If I could see them I could snipe them down." The annoyance that Gil had was mirrored by Midnight who wanted to sneak there and take them out. But they both knew that they were not well equipped to deal with monsters that ad the swamps as their best possible fighting territory. The lizardmen could blend it almost perfectly to the swamps. They could also take advantage of them in any battle in any number of ways.


    "Walker, I am switching shields. We will make an earth fortress. You will need to move it while we go around the bend and getnear the port." Su swapped her twin shield on to the back with the earth dwelling shield. Alice and Remey were right next to her so that they remained in the range of protection.


    The earth spirit was pushed awake within the shield and used the stored up earth elemental mana to force the sand in to a round dome. With the push from Walker, it expanded more and easily covered the entire party. Alice had not been inside the earth fortress and was caught off guard slightly by the change around her. However, they still could tell where the rotting sticks were shitting. This encouraged them to move faster.


    "Fleur, I will rely on you to help me guide us. I can''t leave an opening or else we might get hurt." Since Fleur could sense the mana the best she was more than happy to help. She felt the urgency and hated the rot that was attacked to the sticks being thrown. She had no ill will toward the lizardmen except for the fact that they threw things that increased the rot and decay of the swampnds. Some rot was necessary for nature but the excessive amount in the swampnds was painful and ugly.


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 Chapter 1002 - 1002. Nature Spirit Mysteries

    "To the right a little more. We are getting too close to the water." Walker still had some sense of where the salt water was. But he was relying on Fleur to pull on his hair slightly. The rock crabs that they passed also added to their trouble. When they would be buried in the moving sand, which Walker found easier to move with his mana, they would break up the wall and cause there to be weak points. But if they got inside they would snip at their feet with their ws.


    "Midnight, Get those two crabs!" Gil had taken the job alongside Midnight of ending the crabs that got inside their earth fortress. Mostly because they became aggressive in the confined space. Also because Walker was still able to store them away with one free hand. Multitasking was a skill that not many could pull off but one that Walker was d he could manage.


    Midnight was dly taking care of the rock crabs because she knew they would be a meal. But more so she could feel the annoyance that Walker had with every single one that would interrupt Su and his focus on defense.


    It was not that the party wouldn''t be able to beat the lizardmen. But they would not be able to beat multiple in their own territory. The lizardmen wererger than the party had realized along with the fact that even Gil''s sharp eyes couldn''t see through their camouge. They were dangerous for that very reason. Being able to win in a fair fight was one thing, being able to win when there were only disadvantages was another.


    "Wait, I think the attacks stopped." The entire group stopped and listened like Remey was. The sand around them was not moving at all.


    "Su, take your shield and hold it to the sand. I will use my mana to open a small hole and you put your shield where it p[pens." Walker wanted to make sure they had defended against the danger. He had the feeling that as much as people said that lizardmen didn''t have intelligence, that it was false. They just weren''t intelligent like the other monsters or races around.


    Without any question, Su followed Walker''s idea. In just a second of opening the sand, a rotting stick hit the earth dwelling shield and splintered in to pieces. "I don''t think I would have been able to notice that and hit it so fast." Gil was astounded as Su pulled back and Walker fixed the hole at the same time. He was sure that his own skills with bow and arrows were higher than most people. Yet, these lizardmen were so urate that they had noticed the smallest start of a hole in their defenses leading to a perfectly thrown attack.


    "They have pure instinct. I wouldn''t be surprised if they follow us until we near the edge of the swamnds and begin to see the town. But we need to move faster. There is only so much mana that my partner can use." Su was feeling theck of mana in the earth dwelling shield. The longer they had to be in this position the more it would put pressure on the earth spirit. She didn''t want to exhaust it and end up getting any of them hurt.


    "I can try to pull more earth mana this way too." Walker put some of his mana to work and tried to help the earth spirit dwelling in the shield to fuel their skill. But before he could he felt that Fleur had begun to act with him again. She had caught on to the situation and knew that they were not going to fight the lizardmen. But that didn''t mean that she would just sit there waiting.


    There was a small pulse of natural mana and the earth elemental mana below them rose from the depths. It was a small amount of natural mana but due to the one using it and how concentrated Fleur was in her control, a lot of earth elemental mana responded. This was the difference between an elemental spirit and a nature spirit that would one day be a true world spirit. Not only was the potency of mana and control higher, but the results of their actions resounded much clearer in the area.


    In less time than they could blink, the sand walls became much more solid and easily moved with them. Su''s shield felt heavier and she could see small pieces of the sand forming bridges to it. Fleur copsed back on to Walker''s shoulder and he realized that his control was no longer needed at all. There were also muffled hissing sounds from the lizardmen at the edges of the swampy forest area.


    "We need to move now!" Su began to push forward at a voracious pace. She could feel the strength that the earth spirit was using and she did not want to stress it any longer. She could also tell that the earth spirit was absorbing all the excess earth elemental mana and she did not want any of it to go to waste. It was a feeling right in her gut that told her they needed to get to safety immediately.


    After about five minutes of nearly running in the moving earth fortress skill the sand copsed around them and Su dropped the shield to pull the twin shields out and defend the party. But instead of the edge of the swampnds and the beach, the group only saw the rounded bay along with the nearby vige guarded by many more people than they had expected.


    "That was crazy. I didn''t know Fleur could do that!" Gil and Remey were oddly in sync as they eximed this. But when they were about to start arguing the earth spirit from the shield materialized outside of it and quickly melted in to the spirit mark On Su. They were dumbfounded by the high earth mana that every single one of them could feel.


    "I think the earth spirit is growing to be a high earth spirit¡­Fleur¡­you can do that?" Walker was just as stunned as the others.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1003 - 1003. Wreckage

    "Fleur, you and Midnight need to learn to speak soon alright?" Walker gave Fleur a small pat on the head while also giving Midnight a slight smirk. He was most excited for them to learn how to speak themselves. Fleur was most likely going to be able to speakpletely whereas a regr elemental spirit would be able to speak with mana only. It was mostly a feeling but with all the elemental manabined in to natural mana, Walker couldn''t imagine Fleur wouldn''t be able to speak.


    Midnight just needed more time. She had long heard the party speak but she had never spoken a word. It was foreign to her since she had just gained the ability to shift in to dragonkin form. But again, she needed to get used to that form first.


    "I want to keep understanding what happened with Fleur, the earth spirit, and just everything but¡­" Remey trailed off while looking at the mounds of destroyed wood on the shore and even somerger pieces floating about the harbor. Every once in a while a ripple would show smaller tentacles from the kraken young.


    "I don''t think any ships are even left at this rate." There were none on the water from what Gil could see and the docks had been barricaded so anything inside the vige was obscured.


    "I wonder what the golems are doing?" Walker found that there were a group of golems digging a little ways from the water. They seemed to bemanded by one of the dwarven royal guard that had been at Genesis before.


    "I think it is some kind of trap maybe? I don''t know. Let''s go look before we enter the city." Su took the lead again in her curiosity after brushing off her thoughts about Fleur and the earth spirit. She was also trying to distract herself from the exhaustion she felt from maneuvering away from the lizardmen attacks.


    "Alice, how are you feeling?" Walker was sure that Alice was tired. She was walking slower but it appeared that she was still able to keep going. Her eyebrows were furrowed with determination and he could only hand her some water before he continued on. If he mentioned that he was proud of her or that he could carry her he was sure that she would be angry. This was her first real adventure with them and they were just getting to their goal. They had people to help.


    "Brother, sister says she can smell pepper and garlic." This was an off mix of smells but as Walker began to sniff the air as well he picked up on it. His eyes drifted to barrels floating in the water that were partially broken open.


    "It looks like the ships were carrying goods. I hope we can help any survivors. Maybe they cane to Genesis and grow their business again?" Walker wanted the best for people and knowing that there were many most likely hurt and at a loss because of the kraken spawn made him furious.


    "Alma!" Remey took off in to a run as she recognized the familiar face. "How long have you been here? I thought we would beat you."


    "Remey? I was surprised that we did beat you but we have only been here a few hours. The enforcers are traveling through the vige to help out with injuries and set up sentries. I was about to start growing some razor whip weed so I can seal off the bay. If I can manage that then we can prepare for the trip in the water." Alma had it all nned out but was thankful that the party was here to help as well.


    "We were wondering what the digging was about. You are making your own underwater greenhouse. Very smart." Thepliment was slight but it was enough to make Alma hold Gil''s gaze for a short while.


    "Did Current and his elder dragons arrive yet? I thought they may have already started the battle." There was no sign of any dragons around and it was worrying.


    "Not that I know of. But there has been some dragonkin that arrived and wandered down the beach to scout. I would assume they are preparing just like me." Even though Alma had just shown up, it was good that she had been able to figure so much out.


    "We are going to enter the vige and see what we can do. Alice, Onyx, and I need some rest after cutting through the swamp. Between the purple blood worms and lizardmen, we used a lot of mana." Su knew that they would need to be at their best and was forcing herself to rest. She could also feel the unusualness from the earth spirit residing in the spirit mark and needed time to rx.


    "I will scout a good vantage point and try to take a few long shots at the young krakens. If we are going to cut them off with the razor whip weed then we should be able to lure more in." The idea seemed crazy but with the help of the dragons, they might be able to take down arge chunk of kraken spawn at once. It was a simple work smarter not harder idea.


    "Good luck. My enforcers will help with whatever you need. The dwarven golems have been an excellent help. There are more inside the vige as well. Apparently, some of the kraken spawn attempted to get on shore but were forced back." This was a bad sign to hear but it could be remedied with the help that was arriving and still would arrive.


    "I will ask you about your new ntter. I want to see what alchemy ingredients there are around here. Maybe I can make something useful." Remey followed Gil ahead toward the makeshift walls that blocked off the vige from the danger in the waters.


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 Chapter 1004 - 1004. Makeshift

    The walls were roughly thrown together wood from shipping crates and other dock tools. There were guards patrolling it that were wearing various merchant symbols. This was normal for the hard bar vige since it was mostly owned and run by merchant groups so that they could send their goods farther away. The northern city across the desert was only essible through the desert and most people would not risk such a dangerous journey.


    There were many homes that had been dismantled to keep up the wall but more interestingly there were many ces where damage from water or force had been repaired. It was clear that there had been multiple instances of the kraken spawn attempting to get on shore to eat the residents of the port town.


    Another notable activity came with the people rushing around. There were many that were sailors or merchants that appeared very muscr from the constant work transporting goods and moving things around. With them, there were many merfolk as well. "I see you have arrived. One of the merchants'' guard came to tell me as soon as they saw a group near the port. I hope you can help us. Miss Alma had already begun her preparations." Leon rushed over brandishing a long blue spear with many carvings and a heavy sense of water elemental mana around it.


    "We ran in to some minor troubles in the swampnds but managed to make it here. We thought it would be faster but apparently, everyone else arrived about the same time as us." Walker knew that it was them who had left a littleter and had to push themselves to arrive on time. If they had not cut through the swampnds they would have been a day or twoter than the others and there could have been a worst case scenario they would have been toote altogether.


    "You are here and that is what matters. As you can see there are not many ces to rest. Please do as you wish. The merchant groups have banned together to protect this ce at all costs. Many can not take their families away to start over elsewhere. Too much is invested here." Leon knew full well that this was also one of the major points ofmunication with the surface for the merfolk. That and the merchants often hired the merfolk to help protect ships on their travels.


    "Some of the party will rest while I get a feel for things. Gil is going to meet with the enforcers and find a spot to start picking off and attracting more kraken spawns. But notify everyone that we saw the mother on the way here. There was one muchrger than a whale which seemed to be eating some parts of a ship it destroyed." The warning was important but cause a great look of despair to grow on Leons'' face.


    "We tried to stop them but there was one group that wished to flee back to their northern home. They left without anyone being able to stop them and their guards. If you came from the south beaches they were most likely driven that way by their fear. They didn''t even bring a proper captain." This was not something Leon was proud of. It was his failure not stopping them and as far as he was concerned their lives were on him.


    "It happens. We all have the choice to do what we want. If they had stayed who will never know the oue. There are more important things to worry about now." Walker gave his condolences before Remey split off from thempletely with Gil also leaving.


    "I will leave you to it. We are preparing to cut off the harbor altogether. My father has sent a small school of mages." Part of Walker wanted to go meet the merfolk mages but knew that he had to focus on other things at the moment.


    "Alright. Let''s go over there. It appears to be a small chapel. I doubt there are residents but since Alice can heal it might be best." Su and Alice both nodded. They could rest then start to heal those injured. It would be better for them to do this than just sit around waiting. "Onyx, stick with them for now. Midnight and I will take a walk around to figure some things out." The lethargic Onyx barely responded before slithering on to Su''s shoulders. He needed rest more than he expected after the swampnds. Using his newer skills was something he had not been ready for.


    Alice didn''t seem to want to wait but knew she would be a burden instead of a help at the moment. Instead, she chose to stick close to Su. She had a great many questions about some things she had noticed while they were traveling thus far that she had not wanted to burden Walker with. Su on the other hand appeared to know this wasing and had prepared herself for such a situation.


    "Midnight, I know it will be hard to resist while we wait, but don''t practice trying to breathe fire with Su and shifting in to your dragonkin form. I don''t know when we might be attacked but it could be very dangerous if you and Su are tired when something happens." The slow nod from Midnight was all Walker needed to know that she was taking his words with the utmost seriousness.


    There was a lot of tension in the air. Many people paced around and fidgeted through things they had with them. It was clear which families had used their homes for walls or given up their beds for some safety. Walker hated it. He knew this should be a safe and bustling town full of promise and growth. His resolve to save and protect only increased as he headed toward the makeshift walls that overlooked the waters.


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 Chapter 1005 - 1005. How To Sew The Seeds

    The view that Walker saw when he climbed to the top of the makeshift walls was not one he wanted to see or even remember. There was a lot more damage than he could see when they were nearing the port town. Many ships that had once been the pride and joy of merchant groups were now half sunk or broken and floating about.


    There was a heavier and heavier smell of herbs and spices for booking in the air. There was also a smallyer of oils from some of the torches being transported. But the most gruesome were the parts of animals and foodstuffs floating in the water. "This is not good.?" Walker could only imagine how much money was lost ad how many people had already lost their livelihood from this damage.


    "This isn''t even the least of it. We didn''t even know what was going on until the merfolk pushed through and warned us. The first attack was enough to take out the small fishing vessels. But they struggled for weeks before they started to disappear." The merchant guard standing at watch heard Walker mumble to himself and responded.


    "How have the attacks gone? What do I need to know forter when we close off the bay. Alma should be able to trap them and we can exterminate and make a safe area." Walker wanted the inside information. These merchants had been dealing with attacks and such for days now, if not longer.


    "The small ones are really soft and weak. We can easily chop off tentacles and their siblings will eat them. It''s a disgusting thing. But what they really have at their disposal is ink and water. They shoot blinding inky mist that makes you unable to see the water and even the air sometimes. Then they use water to shoot in a line like a fire breath. It can cut through the wood we use for the walls. That''s why there are so manyyers that have been patched." The merchant guard was looking exhausted from all the attacks and the stress of watching.


    "You have done well so far. Just give everyone time and we will start to get this problem under control." The guard gave a nid before he started anotherp around the walls.


    Knowing that the younger krakens could send out water spray strong enough to cut through wood walls was very important. Su should be able to block it with her shield but if it came from the mother kraken then they would have to dodge no matter what. But hearing that they had more attacks to stop them from seeing made the situation much more dangerous. The possibility that the mother kraken couldpletely blind the town without any issue.


    "Walker!" Gil called out from one of the higher points on the makeshift wall. In just a few moments Walker was able to run over and take a look. "There are a lot of them in here and they keep eating the food from the ships. If we drop in a little more we might be able to get a frenzy going. One of the guards said that when they sank therger ship with fresh cattle in it they were ferocious."


    Since Gil had gained his own information and was able to make a lot of progress on the n to attract more. "If Alma can grow a lot of the razor whip weed then we will have some passive damage. The with the dragons joining we might be able to do a lot more. But the few dragonkin I have seen around are surveying the area. They have not spoken much." Walker had not seen the dragonkin warriors much but was surprised that Gil had made out what they were up to.


    "It''s a good n but she needs the roots and seeds for them first. Once she has them you can fire them on your arrows to get them toe over." Walker knew that the wither spike arrows would be able to hold a lot of seeds if used right. Ten or fifteen of the arrows would be able to cover the distance." It was sure that Gil would be able to cover the distance in quick session. But with the enforcer''s help, it would be done in one wave of arrows.


    " We can work really well together. I am jealous though. They have some arrows that were inspired by the water elemental arrows I made back in the forest. They gather water elemental mana from the air and create a long ice javelin while flying. I want to know how it''s made but they refused to give them to me until I traded some of mine with them." There was a childish annoyance in Gils'' voice but it was lightheartedpared to the seriousness of their n.


    "It won''t be too important what arrows we use when things get messy. I have a feeling that the dragons and dragonkin will have some serious attacks that will start things off heavily. But we just need the path cleared so that we can head in to the water. I won''t lie, I am worried about benign able to swim and breathe. But there are spells that the mages can use on us." It was rare to be able to use underwater breathing skills and swimming skills but having said magic skills to cast on others was a massive boon for this battle.


    "At least I know I can take out enemies in the water." Gil demonstrated and shot one arrow in to the water causing a flurry of bubbles to rise. There were some tentacles that shot from the water proving the cannibalistic nature of the young kraken.


    "Well, Let''s see about gathering that food. I can use some from my storage but we might be able to take a lot more if it is offered." The next step was to get the bait they needed from the vige. Neither of them was sure how it would go since the merchants had already lost a lot.


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 Chapter 1006 - 1006. Head Merchants

    Walker and Gil had made the move toward therger group of families searching for those who would be in charge of the merchants. Leon was already there speaking with a group of five men and one woman that appeared to be guarded more heavily than others. "Ah, Walker. I take it you have seen the current state of the bay? What do you think?" Leon was sure that hearing Walker''s analysis would lead to a better n no matter what.


    "The mother kraken doesn''t seem able toe in to the bay. I guess it is her size. That''s good for us. We can lure in the young and trap them. Then we exterminate them and head toward the mother to defeat her." Walker was sure that the n sounded simple but that was because he didn''t feel the need to exin every little detail with the seeds and how Alma would make them grow perfectly.


    Excuse me. Sir Walker. How would you lure them in?" The man that asked was one of the ones that Leon had been speaking with.


    "Before that. These are the six merchant heads that own this town. They are responsible for the order and the trade here. They upkeep everything. There are no taxes here since everything and everyone is part of the effort to make a living." It was clear that everyone took pride in this too. Even those that seemed fearful and injured sat up straight when they heard these things. There may have been injured and fearful people around the leaders of the town, but they were still ready to show their pride.


    "It is nice to meet you and just calling me Walker is fine. I n to use food. They have been attacking shops for food. I was told that they even killed off their fellow krakens to eat a ship with cattle on it. If we have more food and start to attack them we will start a frenzy. We trap them and we can slowly pick them off until we are ready to march on the merfolk city to back them up." Walker was sure it would work and he looked forward to seeing the new merfolk city.


    "Just take our food to feed those things? That sounds great. We will have the children eat the water and drink the air. That sounds right, doesn''t it?" The woman that was part of the group was furious. She didn''t see it as the overall greater good to defeat the enemy. Instead, she saw it as taking from those in need. But Walker was ready for such an argument.


    "You''re right. It would be a shame if there was a small, investment in this [port town''s future. Who cares about the value of hundreds of trapped kraken young that could be sold for food and ink used for other things." There was an exaggerated shrug from Walker before he turned to pretend and leave. He had yed his card perfectly.


    "Now, don''t let one rude merchant ruin a good deal. The young kraken bodies are perfect to fund the rebuilding of the docs and boats along with many other things. How about I give you my personal food stores? That should work and I will deal with the bodies." This was the first falling piece that knocked over the entire tower. The merchants started in to a furious debate on using the bodies for rebuilding and money making.


    "It''s always like this when we have sent my people to make deals. Just give it a few moments and there will be an answer." This was a normal urrence for the group of merchants. They wanted the rights to sell the kraken and supply their stored food. But they also needed to hod some food for the people left behind in case this didn''t go well and they needed to flee.


    '' Chain quest: Kraken menace- link one


    The kraken have taken over a small portion of the ocean. The merfolk came to ask the other races who have joined together for assistance. The heroes have answered and brought themselves to the port which is the most dangerous.


    Requirements:


    -Defeat the kraken spawn responsible for destroying the docks and countless ships.


    -Create a safe area within the port to progress the mission


    Reward:


    -Second Link


    -9 heroic points


    - 15000 experience-


    The quest that Walker had known woulde appeared as soon as the merchants went silent and looked at him. Walker had expected the quest sooner but saw that there was a part about the heroes making the journey to the port. This could mean that the quest really had not begun until theymitted to saving the port and had met with the people that lived there and were in danger.


    "We ept your terms and will equally hand over food from our stores. But we will require you to abandon your attack on the kraken if it appears the battle will be lost. Weck the carriages to evacuate everyone. If the heroes can stand up and escort them on foot there should be a chance to save everyone while we stay and hold the kraken spawn off longer." The resolve in the merchants'' eyes was more powerful than Walker had noticed before. Each one of them was willing to bet their life on this.


    "That s what we shall do then. Gil will get the dwarven golems. They will carry the food and throw it in to the water when necessary. Please prepare the guards that will join the attack on the walls and with long range weaponry. I will get everyone else on the same page. We will attack in a few hours when everyone is properly prepared." There were collective nods as the merchants called over their head guards to begin the preparations. It had finally made it to their time to act.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1007 - 1007. Three Hours

    "Is there anything at all you wish to ask of me? I know you have taken a great deal of time toe here for my people. I do not wish to burden you constantly." Leon was swelling with pride after seeing Walker work so smoothly with the merchants. He knew that they hade to help and that the party would keep pushing with every ounce of strength.


    " I know we will enter the water shortly after the battle concludes and the port is cut off. Can you set up maps of where we will go and any supplies we may need asnd dwelling races? I want to make sure my party and the others that volunteer are able to do their best." There were many that hade to assist. Some dwarves were safe inside their leading golems whole other golems were autonomous. The enforces had some mages that would protect them but still, it was better to have more protection than none.


    "I will have another word with my water mages. We should be able to perform somerge spells after the battle. But we will perform some small water breathing and water pressure protection spells before as well." Leon had already thought of this but would double his process just to be safe and certain.


    "I will head toward where we saw the elite guard. There should be more golems around than we think. They can also be the first to enter the water and start the main extermination." Gil was off without a response from Walker. He already knew the gravity of the situation and that they had to split up to make sure every piece of the puzzle came together at the right time.


    Since Gil was already off, Walker decided that he should look for the dragonkin that Gil had mentioned were around. He knew that when they joined the little things would massively change. They were most likely the top warriors here and would be better able to take on the kraken spawn. He also wanted to let Current know what he had seen on the southern shore. They may not have spotted the mother again but Walker had the feeling that it was still around waiting for the right prey.


    "Midnight, have any idea where the dragonkin have gotten to?" Since Midnight had been fairly silent and carefully watching, Walker relied on her to guide him here. She hadn''t just been looking around idly. She had been watching for things that she knew would help them and wanted to take this as seriously as possible.


    It took her only a few seconds of looking around before she found the blue scaled dragonkin she had spotted earlier. Her head turned and she growled softly. The dragonkin seemed to hear this even from the distance they were at and stood up straight. They were examining the sword they had been carrying but now they were standing and waiting.


    "Come." It was a simplemand that Walker knew the royal dragons would use instead of being too personal. The seriousness and high demeanor needed to be used here to maintain the powerful drive for the battle that the dragonkin were used to.


    "What can I do to serve you, my lord." The dragonkin began to kneel slightly as he recognized Walker and Midnight from what he had been told.


    "Tell Current that the mother kraken was spotted off of the southern shore and that the first step is cutting off the bay. Then we will exterminate the kraken spawn here and move in to the water. It will happen in three hours." Walker turned away and left the dragonkin who jumped to his feet and moved with his highest speed outside of the town. He knew where Current was and would deliver the information without fail.


    "Let''s go to the chapel and let Alice, Su, and Onyx in on what we n to do." Walker hadn''t even entered the chapel before. However, he was sure he would be able to do some healing while there. The damages around the town were clearly more than they could deal with. The only problem was that he needed to conserve mana. However, he did not forget that the high priest had sent some of the battle healers with the enforcers. That would take a major weight off of him and Alice who would be joining the main fight.


    The chapel in the port town was much smaller than the cathedral. It was used for dock injuries and some illnesses. But most importantly, it acted as a safety for each ship. If someone were to be ill on a ship then the entire crew could perish because of it. The job of the chapel was to ensure that everyone was fit and well to travel for weeks and months on the ship. The reason the chapel was so small was because it was only a base for the healers that lived here. They would mainly be on the docks and ships to check things.


    There were tents put outside the chapel for the injured but it appeared that there were not as many as Walker expected. The door to the chapel was gone and most likely used for the wall. This was to be expected of the church pews as well. It wasn''t even a surprise when Walker saw that the long candlesticks were gone toward the wall effort.


    The hustle and bustle was the same as the cathedral though. Many people moved and the main injured were toward the front. There was a small crystal emanating a healing aura there that didn''t even extend to the entire cathedral. But it was enough for those that were injured and clearly pulled from the water at some point. Walker wasted no time sending a calming wave from the eternal orb staff form. He had healing to do.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1008 - 1008. Start Time

    "Walker. You should be saving your mana!" Su found him immediately recognizing the calming waves skill. It was not some small skill that just anyone could use. Her stern expression almost made him feel bad but he responded by drinking a low tier mana potion and looking around more.


    "How are things? Are Alice and Onyx resting?" They were the two who had needed rest the most. Walker had definitely been impressed by them but he also knew that if Alice was hurting she might not say anything so that she could keep helping others.


    "I forced Alice to sleep and Onyx said he would rest and watch her. Their joint skill on top of the traveling did more to them than I expected. Alice is not used to harsh travel like that." There was audible worry in Su''s voice. It was clear that she had seen more of the exhaustion than Walker had imagined would be there. But this was to be expected from constant moving with the minimal rest they took.


    "Some of the people that were injured have no way of escaping. They will be left behind. We can not let those things get in here." Based on some of the injuries that Su had seen she knew the dangers of the kraken spawn. Not only were there crushing injuries from the tentacles that grabbed at people but the injuries that came from the water they shot was too brutal. They needed to be exterminated as soon as possible. They could only fear what one of the fully grown adult kraken could do.


    "In a few hours we will be attacking them. Alma should have her seeds ready to be nted. It will take a lot of mana for her to control it all so I want you to be there to protect her. The water the kraken shoot should be blocked by your shields and your defenses." There was a confidence in Walker''s voice that made Su want to stand there right that second and defend everyone. She knew just how valuable protecting Alma would be since it was on her to keep the kraken trapped using the razor whip weed.


    "What about Remey''s potions? Will we use those?" Both Remey and Walker had forgotten the new potions she had made. Remey had assured that they would have a big bang simr to the potions that Trish had used. If they dropped them in to the densely packed kraken spawn then there would be a lot of them defeated.


    "Yes! I forgot about those! Where is Remey? I need to ask if we can set those up on the arrows too." Walker wanted to get them as spread out as possible. Remey had made a great many potions for their journey and they were ready to be used. The only problem was that there were limits to what could be used since this was just the start of the battle. They would need to head under the water and start the hunt for the mother kraken. This also came with getting to the new merfolk city.


    Before Walker could actually listen to Su he had run out of the chapel and was heading toward where Remey wasst. He knew that she must have been with Alma and entranced by the growing of the razor whip ween. Walker was so caught up that he did not notice that Midnight had stayed behind with Su. He also didn''t notice the flying figures in the sky.


    The water elemental mana had been growing in the sky for some time. The elder dragons had been maintaining their altitude above the clouds Current had been preparing to make it rain and increase their power before their dragonkin warriors entered and dealt with the spawn. The hope that he had was that the mother would be attracted by themotion and there would be a chance to get her on shore during rain. This would slow the attacks and also make the mother kraken believe that it was safe onnd.


    "Adair. You did well epting that boy as a royal, he may be a baby but the events that surround him are more than many royals like myself havepleted." This was high praise. Royals rarely ever told their elders such things.


    "Thank you for the honor my lord. I believe that they will aplish a great many things in their lifetime." There was no way for Adair to bow and ept the praise but she was sure to voice it. Mentally she wanted to go down and see just what Walker had done to get this much attention from the royal she served who rarely could be found anywhere but deep inside a pool of pure water elemental mana.


    "That little champion he is raising as family will exceed any champion ever to exist within our race. She has already discovered the way to shift in to a dragonkin. I expect her to be able to take a fully human form if she desires within another year or so. Then her guardian. Her guardian is more than meets the eye as well. Even I can feel that she would be able to defend against my attacks."


    The dragons flying through the clouds almost shivered hearing this from their royal that was much more powerful than them. They may be purely focused on water elemental mana and understanding so other ces suffered. Yet, they had power that surprised any water mages there were.


    Thest of the three hours passed faster than anyone wanted. But it was enough for Alice and Onyx to recover somewhat. Soldiers, guards, healers, dragonkin, enforcers, and even able bodied family members stood at the ready by the makeshift walls. The enforcers that had left with Su and Alma were the only exception. They would start their first phase of the n in moments.


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 Chapter 1009 - 1009. Save The Bay

    Alma and Su stood together as they looked out at the bay. They had snuck to the edges and could see the enforcers signaling with a torch on the opposite side. "Are you ready? It will be a lot at once but Walker gave me some mana potions to help." There was a lot of mana that would be required for Alma to grow so much razor whip weed at once.


    "I''m ready. We just need to wait for the signal that they have dropped the bait in the water." There was a tense aura around Alma. She was preparing herself to potentially pass out after using all of her mana. But she would need to make sure that the razor whip weed line was strong enough to hold while Su guarded her.


    A slight blue light was visible under the water as a symphony of shing began to sound across the water. "That is the lure orb skill and the bait. Here we go." Su raised a torch to show that they were on standby and waiting for the kraken spawn to be lured in.


    "They really are rushing over¡­" It was a scary thing. The high number of kraken that were rushing toward the bay. Between the two sides, they enforced could see there were smaller ones that had recently hatched and the slightlyrger ones that had been eating for some time. Luckily there was notrger one meaning that the mother kraken had not actually been able to have multiple generations of eggs.


    The bubbles that rose from the waters only began to increase. Some kraken spawn fought over the food while some just fought to fight. "Alright. It only took a minute but I don''t see anymore trying to push their way in." Alma could tell the water around where they were had calmed. Not a single kraken spawn had noticed the enforcers silently waiting around the waters'' edge to fire their arrows.


    "I''m ready when you are." Su felt a tap on her shoulder and waved the torch before dropping it. The enforced pulled back the wither spike arrows which had been filled with the tiny seeds of the razor whip weed. The process that Gil had set up was perfect. When the arrows hit the water the force would cause the arrowhead to fall apart. The idea to cut away the pieces just a little was what had spawned the seed releasing arrow head.


    Since Alma was going to be manipting the seeds as they grew faster than normal, she had infused them with her mana. She had also done some minor crossbreeding to make them sharper. This would deter the kraken spawn even more. Every single ocean monster and animal had the instincts to protect themselves. Especially from the painful seaweed that had evolved to be able to resist them.


    The pause while the seeds sank was making every second feel more and more tense. The enforcers watched as the kraken spawn attacked where the arrows had fallen only to find nothing there to attack. But the impressive part came when Alma raised her hands.


    A pulse of Alma''s mana went out in to the water disturbing the kraken spawn even more, But what resulted that everyone couldn''t look away from was not the kraken spawn, but the growth. Green razor thin pieces of seaweed sprouted up and were covering arge surface of the water between the two ends of the bay.


    The alight waves were enough for the seaweed to whip back and forth. The thin size of it made it move much more violently and made Su understand why it was known as razor whip weed. Alma stumbled a little and Su was quick to lift a mana potion to her lips. The process of making all of the razor whip seeds grow even faster than the blue ivy she had was fantastical.


    What was really drawing their attention was the new sounds of pained screeching and red water that wasing from the kraken spawn. It was clear that they were not happy to find that they were not able to escape the way they came with the food they had caught. But even more, they were starting to realize there was blood in the water. Food was food. The kraken spawn did not care about what kind or where the food came from. Now they were able to feast and rushed to get to the hurt and dead kraken spawn.


    Alma looked to have finished setting up what she needed and started to fall. Another enforcer came and held her up while Su prepared her shields. They were going to be rushing back to the docks where the main attack was beginning. The razor whip weed would be fine for now.


    Walker dismissed the lure orbs he had made to add to the attraction of the bait. He saw the massive amount of razor whip weed form and was d that Su and Alma seeded. "Gil, it is time to get Remey''s potions going. Remey! Now!" Walker shouted to the opposite side of the docs and saw Remey shouting in turn to some of the merchant guards.


    In the next second the sky was filled with arrows, javelins, spears, and even more or Remey''s potions. The calm set in for just a breath before they hit the water and the kraken spawn screeched out in pain. This wasn''t the end through. Remey''s potions burst in to an orange light that caused the saltwater to foam and froth. Large waves grew around and came up to the makeshift walls. Everyone ducked to hide from any retaliation that could being from the kraken spawn.


    Before anyone else could move for the second wave of long range attacks, there was a battle roar from above. A familiar pure water dragon elder plummeted from the sky with her mouth open and water elemental mana surging around her.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1010 - 1010. Organized Attack

    The onlookers did not expect an elder dragon to be diving from the sky. However, Walker knew exactly what was going on. The water elemental mana that had gathered and focused in Adair''s maw was enough to tell him what would happen. "Get down now!" The warning was loud enough that no one dared disobey.


    The concentrated mana left Adair''s mouth as soon as she neared the water. The small kraken spawn had sensed her and tried shooting beams of water at her. Yet they fell short as she used her powerful wings to arc back up in to the air.


    The breath attack hit the water and the reaction was instantaneous. The water began to bend and fluctuate causing sharp currents and spikes of water to dance around. The kraken spawn within the water were viciously torn to pieces while whirlpools formed. A simple breath attack had sent the entire bay in to turmoil and caused many of the kraken spawn to be defeated.


    This was not the end. Once the waters appeared to be losing their ferocious fluctuations the long range attackers started again. "Onyx, see what you can do with your new light spike skills." Walker knew that Onyx was waiting for Walker to give him permission to use the skill. The light spike sent in to the water would be a great way to illuminate any surviving kraken spawn.


    "I will sing too." Alice did not wait for Walker''s confirmation to begin her song of swords. She wanted to make the best of the situation. Walker had used his multi buff skill earlier which put everyone a little ahead. Now that Alice was actually attacking she was going to make the best. She had already been gaining experience since she had received a quest for ying kraken and healing others. Yet, this was nothingpared to the experience she was gaining now.


    Alice had helped to heal many people before thins. A lot of them had joined the battle so that they could take back their town. This connection was considered as part of Alice''s contribution to the fight the same way as the party would receive experience that was split between them since they worked together. Therefore, the fact that she had been able to drink the remaining experience potion Walker had given her before was all the more valuable.


    There was intense determination in her eyes as she matched Onyx and let des of light fall with her song. The growing experience she was gaining along with the light elemental runes on her armor and clothes worked to make the entire environment denser with light elemental mana. This further helped Onyx attack.


    The dragonkin warriors were using their skills to throw ice javelins that the water mages had created. They were sharp enough to pierce through the soft skin of the kraken spawn and the speed at which they were thrown often caused them to pierce multiple kraken spawn.


    The most impressive show was actually from Gil. He had realized that the kraken spawn were trying to use their ink to blind them but he had acted quickly. The seafoam arrows he had made were being fired at a rapid pace. The foam caught the ink before it was able to dye the water or be shot in to the air to blind anyone. The avoidance of this problem was enough to give the extermination a leap ahead.


    "All golems forward march! All Kraken spawn within this area must be destroyed and extracted!" The golems that had been at the edge of the water began their march in to the water. It was a sight, to say the least as their hands had been exchanged with ded axes and some spears. The kraken spawn remaining had no chance as the golems entered. Every few moments there would be a shift in the water showing the defeat of another spawn.


    The merfolk that were above the water entered aw well and the speed at which the bay was cleared only increased. The long ranged attacks were left to the enforcers and Gil who were better shots so they could avoid the damage that coulde to those in the water. The water mages started to cast spells on those that wanted to enter. One of which was a water breathing spell and the other a swimming speed spell.


    However, with the sheer amount of concentrated attacks, there was no need for anyone else to enter the water. Walker was soon watching as body after body was taken from the water. The merchants were not even cheering. Their job was not fone. They had made the deal that they would be processing the kraken meat and use it to rebuild the city after its sale.


    "Walker, can you help me get Alma to a bed?" Su came back with Alma and the enforcers that had gone with them. She had rushed as fast as possible to meet them and was met by Gil in just a few moments.


    Out of the sky came another water elemental dragon which slowed itself and changed its form in midair. Midnight watched carefully as Cielnded with a soft step. "My lord sends me to notify you. We have sighted the mother kraken offshore. She has caught an electrified eel. The bay attack did not draw her in. But she is distracted for some time giving us the time to prepare and enter the water. We will be ready in one hour."


    "I will notify the otters. The merfolk will be guiding us. The path is simple and we will be ready. Tell Adair that it is good to see her again. I will be sure to look for her in the royal court in the future." Walker was not sure if he would have the time to speak to Adair and wanted the message passed on before they were back in battle.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1011 - 1011. Time To Swim

    Ciel had taken off and Walker did not waste a single moment. He went directly to Gil who was about to run after Alma. "Gil. We have one hour. Help the enforcers get ready and tell them that the dragons are diving soon." Walker knew that Alma was the only one that was able to open up a path in the razor whip weed.


    "Understood. You make sure that we have healers ready. Those golems can''t stay with the merchants." Gil was still rushing away but gave a wave. He was sure that the merchants were trying to get the golems to move all of the kraken spawn on tond for processing. It was clear that they fully intended to use them as an unsleeping work force to make their money faster. It made sense if they were not part of the force sent to exterminate the kraken spawn.


    Before Walker was going to rush to tell everyone else one hour count down he knew he had to deal with this. One of the elite dwarven guards was stepping out of a golem they had control of. Walker made his way toward him which caught the guard''s attention. "I know you just got out of the water. But I need you to make sure the golems are at the edge of the razor whip weed and ready to dive deeper in an hour. Can that be done?"


    The guard knew better than to even say anything other than yes. He was clear on who would be in charge and who would not. Just because the merchants assumed the dwarven golems would help was not any reason to make it so. The golems had been sent for the respect reason of defeating the kraken and its spawn. Just because the dwarves were known for their trade prowess did not mean they would help any merchant beyond their orders.


    "Hey! The golems are preparing for the dive to the merfolk city. If your guards can, then they can focus on the clean up effort. But anyone that wants toe deeper to fight this infestation will need to be ready in an hour." Walker found one of the head merchants ordering a few people around.


    "But we need the help to repair the docs. We can''t just let them go." The look of annoyance on the man''s face made Walker get more serious.


    "This is not about one singr port town. You saw the dragons in the sky, right? They know these monsters. They said that they will eat all the food in the oceans. Then they wille onnd as they did here and eat everything else possible. After that, they will eat each other and die off. All that will be left is a dead rotting world. In one hour the joint force of Genesis is moving deeper in to the ocean." The slight shiver that went down the man''s spine came from the force Walker put on each word. It was no longer something that could be argued with. Instead, it was just how it would be.


    The man changed his orders and the other merchant heads eventually started to meet with him and speak. At first, they tried to convince each other to bargain with the dwarves but when Walker looked at them and they felt his royal aura, they lost all their will to argue. Their guards began to work and they even offered what money they had to the remaining uninjured viges to help. It was much better seeing the head merchants start to put the work in themselves, something that would normally never happen.


    "Alice?" Walker felt a pull on his sleeve and found Alice standing with Onyx on her shoulders. "Are you alright? You did very well, so did you Onyx. I think you two have some really good hiddenbinations." There was a look and feeling of happiness from Onyx. He too felt that Alice was a very goodbo partner for light magic. It was even better that she had the light elemental runes on her armor and clothing.


    "How long?" Alice wanted to make sure she was ready. She was in charge of the battle healers that hade with her. She nned to leave some on the healers in the port chapel so that they could help those still very injured. But most would being with them in to the deep waters.


    "Just an hour. But it is enough to get things ready. Here." He handed over a few healing and mana potions for her and Onyx. It was also for anyone injured that needed them but from the way, the attack had gone there as likely no new injuries.


    "Walker, get over here!" Remey''s voice rang through the air as she pulled a kraken spawn behind her.


    "What''s wrong? Why are you here?" Remey should be handing out potions at this point since she was the best one to do so. Yet, here she was with a kraken spawn behind her.


    "These things are not the same as a normal kraken. One of the dragonkin said that they shouldn''t have these little barbs on their tentacles. They are some evolved variants of the kraken. The mother might be what the dragons think, but her spawn are much worse." The pressure in the air seemed to increase. If the kraken spawn were really worse than before it could spell much more trouble.


    "I will tell everyone. Pass on the notice that no one should get caught by their tentacles. It will be important for us to avoid them in the water." Walker had shes of people being dragged away once they were in the water. Once everyone knew it would only go to keep everyone safer and keep fewer injuries from urring. But time was ticking down and he had more people to speak with.


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 Chapter 1012 - 1012. Just In Time

    The line of races standing at the edge of the water was more than impressive. There were multiple merchant guards that had seen the kraken spawn do horrible things and they had left their positions to make sure that it never happens again. The dwarven golems were on the front line and had already moved in to the water. Gil stood with Alma. He had made the decision to be by her side as much as possible when they entered the waters. She was still tired from using the massive amount of mana to create the razor whip weed barrier.


    Su and Midnight were side by side with Alice behind them. The three were ready to enter the water and Onyx had made the decision to remain on Alices'' shoulders. Theirbination was too perfect and heading in to the water where the light elemental mana might be a little harder to use. Their teamwork would make things much smoother.


    Remey had prepared some of her potions for others to be able to use. The exnations had been swift but she was sure that those around would be able to use them at their best. The idea was that if arge group of the kraken spawn attacked them the potions would be able to explode and stop them from overtaking the entire Genesis force. She also wasn''t sure how well she would be able to fight under water but had realized that equipping the water affinity knuckles made it easier to move her fists faster underwater. This small test had given her a lot of insight in to the added benefits of the affinity knuckles on her gloves.


    The dragonkin had paired up with enforcers. The dragonkin warriors were better off on the front line while the enforcers fired arrows urately to weaken the enemies. Thebination was ast minute change that would go much further and extend their battle prowess. There would be less stamina used by teaming up and things would be more fluid.


    The wind around them seemed to shiver as a lightlyrger kraken spawn fell to the beach. "I know I am a littlete, but do you even need me?"


    "General Scy. We just saved the bay and port town. We are going to enter the water and proceed to the merfolk city. Then we will march to retake their main home city. The mother kraken is veryrge and the dragons will focus on it. Where are your troops?" Walker had nothing to say about theteness of Scy. He could tell there had been a battle. She was covered in small scratches and the clothing she had on was torn here and there.


    "We exited the mouth of the river and went through the marshes. Those things had already infiltrated the river and were trying to get in to thekes. The aquatic forces were barely able to push them back. Luckily we discovered that they are weaker in the fresh water. I was able to get my troops to reserve some of their mana. They are making their way down from the northern beaches. They will be here in ten minutes." Scy was all business. She was radiating wind and ferociousness. She had been in battle and now she was ready to go in to the real deal.


    "Remey, give Scy the run down on the potions you made. We will have her forces scout ahead since they can breathe underwater and have better swimming ability." Remey went to meet thending Scy and exined what the small crate of potions were and how they worked.


    "The reinforcements are good to see. I worried they would not arrive." Since Leon had not seen the demi-human forces he was worried they would not show up or that they had been defeated on their way here. He knew they were leaving from the river and the potential that they would not make it was there.


    "Scy is trustworthy and powerful. She was going to get here even if she needed to defeat every monster in this world." The trust that Walker had in Scy came from her actions and how she held herself. She had been able to bring herself up from the bottom and be a powerful general that was greatly respected by her people. If she was anything less than an outstanding person Walker was sure that she would not have a position so high.


    "The mages we have brought with us can use their spells to give you and everyone else underwater breathing and swimming buffs. They are prepared to use their skills to their absolute maximum. You and everyone else will have the buffs for three weeks. It may be overkill but it will ensure everyone''s safety." Thest thing that Leon wanted to happen was that the people that hade t help him and his people would be harmed. If they even had a small injury then he would have to take that on his shoulders and ept that he had not done enough to protect them.


    "Thank you. That is what we need. There will be a lot of us that do not have the proper preparations to swim and battle in the water. Having the confidence to breathe and swim will make things calmer." There was a visible weight off of Walker''s shoulders before he was brought back to focus by the roar of dragons.


    The resounding shouts of other dragonkin and all of the genesis force soon became one. The merfolk mages started to cast their spells and the effects were gathering on everyone who could not breathe under the water.


    ''The spell water breathing has affected the user for three weeks


    The spell swift swimming has affected the user for three weeks.''


    The feelings of their spells activating made Walker rx and give a shout himself. They were moving forward and nothing would stand in in their way.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1013 - [Bonus ]1013. Scyllas Journey

    "General Scy. The two scouts have found that the entrance to the marshes is being blocked by the kraken spawn. There are more trying to enter and hunt the fish there." Scy listened and was visibly angry. The fact that the kraken spawn hade so far in to the rover and taken the marches was disgusting. There were too many species of monsters and animals that would suffer if they were to run rampant for too long.


    "Prepare the rest of the aquatic force to push forward. We will clear the marches around here before we go to meet the rest of Genesis army." It was a hard decision to make but if the kraken continued down the river they could cause untold damage many people and homes. The river ran through the entire continent. Not just one kingdom would be affected.


    "Understood. I will ry your information." The scout who had dolphin traits was very intelligent and had another partner with the same traits. They were very agile within the water and used some high pitched sounds to locate enemies. This quality put them well above other scouts for the aquatic division of the demi-human army.


    Scy took to the air and followed the path of the river to the marches. She knew they were taking longer to get there but danger was danger and they had a job to eliminate it. The water of the marshes grew and fell with the tides but that was good for them. Right now the water was lower and that would make taking down the kraken spawn easier. If the water was higher there would be more room for the fight to go on and more potential to get swarmed with multiple kraken spawn.


    Her eyes zoomed in on the kraken spawn taking down a bird''s nest and dragging it in to the water. This was how they had started to hunt here. The untold loss that came from these attacks was not something Scy wanted to think on. The eggs could be the next generation of an ocean bird that was important in the cycle of life here.


    Her return to where the aquatic division was waiting brought the multiple demi-human troops to her sights. There were many different traits represented. Some had shells that grew over their skin due to rtions to rock crabs and green spiked lobsters. There were also some that could be confused for merfolk due to the traits they shared with certain other fish.


    "We move forward now! Be ready for a battle. They are in the shallow waters. We have the advantage!" The shout caused the demi-humans to swim forward the lower tides were nothing that they feared. The rivers they trained in became low at times due to the season and they were ready to battle it out in such conditions.


    There was not much time in between the first demi-human shing with the first kraken spawn. The brutal attack was easily able to defeat the unaware kraken spawn. The green spiked lobster trait demi-human had tough defense and an even tougher w on their had that cut through the kraken like it was nothing. But this caused the attention of the other kraken spawn to be drawn to them.


    A few moments was all that it took for the demi-human troops to enter the more open marches. The low water forced some of them to stand but this was not a problem. They were sued to the mud and had developed ways to walk on it without getting stuck. A lot of the way they moved came from their instincts.


    The swarming of the kraken spawn was broken by their fighting but there seemed to be no end. Scy left the air and allowed her leviathan partners to leave her. They swam through the waters taking on slightlyrger forms but not their true massive size. Their teeth and sharper scales shredded the smaller kraken spawn until one encountered arger spawn.


    "I will deal with the big one. Clear the marshes in pairs and then get to the ocean entrance. We will double our speed from there." Her order was met with shouts from those above the water. They moved swiftly making short work of the soft skinned kraken spawn.


    Therger spawn shot out tentacles to wrap Scy. She managed to narrowly dodge the grab but was grazed by the barbs on the tentacles causing her to be much angrier. Fires seemed to burst within her eyes and she pulled one of her fans from under her flowing robes. The kraken spawn continued to whip its tentacles faster and faster but the low water stifled its speed.


    Scy dodged and felt her clothing being cut along with the surface of her skin. She felt her adrenalin rise and smiled while she moved in to the target of her anger. The single sh of her fan caused multiple tentacles to fall in to the water and be a distraction for the smaller kraken spawn.


    A single water jet sprayed at her but it was nothing to her. She turned her fan and deflected it before shing down again. Therger kraken had no chance of survival as she grabbed itsrger head and carried it out of the water. She could see the kraken swarming and leaving small cuts on her soldiers. She proceeded to rush forward and allowed her leviathan partners to help where it was needed. She had realized that if things were this bad here then the meeting point at the port town would be even worse.


    Her speed reached a maximum as she noticedmotion ahead. The river and march were near the port and she easily made it there with her speed. It only took a moment for her to spot Walker and drop therger kraken body to the sand. She smiled as she came within view to meet Walker.


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 Chapter 1014 - 1014. Crossing The Barrier

    Scy disappeared to the other side of the razor whip weed by flying over. She was meeting her troops on the other side so the rest of the joint forces could exit safely and begin their journey through the waters. They had also been given a copy of the map so that they could better scout our dangers.


    Walker moved near where Alice, Su, and Midnight were to move in to the water. As they marched in to the water there was a slight fear that they wouldn''t be able to breathe even though the magic skills were cast upon them. But Walker felt that even though the weight of the water began to press down on him he was lighter. The ability to breathe did not change at all.


    There was surprise etched on many of the human and enforcers'' faces. The enforcers had been living in the forests so they were not used to the underwater. Some may have gone so far to visit these kinds of ces in their lives but most were too young to know the times when there had been water elves that relied on thekes and ponds for their homes.


    "Brother, we are ready to move forward." Onyx was in hisrger size and Alice was holding on to him with a rope tied around his neck. It had been some wise thinning since Onyx could move faster than Alice. It gave the pair a better ability to dodge attacks and also to move to those that needed healing.


    "Alma will move the razor whip weed when we get to it. Stay close and be ready." Since he was sure there would be some issues, Walker kept his head on a swivel. He saw that Su was sticking to the bottom with the weight of her armor and shields. But she was not sinking in to the mud and sand as he would have expected. The water also seemed to be afraid to touch her.


    When he looked at Midnight he saw the same kind of reaction. This brought him to the conclusion that dragons like Midnight were resistant to water and that Su had the same kind of resistance now. The water did not perfectly adhere to the body of a dragon and in sharing blood with Midnight Su had gained the same phenomenon. It was another thing that Walker would need to write down and store in the library for future generations.


    The dragonkin warriors were swimming very well in the water. They were the same water elemental affinity as the dragons they served. That made them swifter and also morefortable in the water overall. However, from their movements, Walker was able to start to learn the proper way to swim and move. He began to move his arms and legs the same way they were and found it toe naturally. Not only was it due to the fact that he was under the effects of a buff but also because he was able to process the movements inparison to the way he moved all the time.


    Midnight was the next to begin to catch in to the way people were trying to swim. Unlike the heavier golems that required runes to rise and fall on their armoring, Midnight was able to shift her body. She quickly felt the differences in the water as it shifted with waves and used that to push her forward.


    The water was very murky due to the battle and still, floated with defeated kraken spawn. Yet, they found that it was already clearing and that sight was only bing better and better as they moved toward a wall of green. The razor whip weed was dancing in the waves but slowly began to stiffen. Walker saw Alma manipting it out of the corner of his eye. She was visibly pale and Gil was right at her side.


    The path she opened was perfect for five dwarven golems to enter at once. They slowly marched through while others swam above them. There were audible sshing sounds as the water dragons plunged in to the waters. "Merfolk representative Leon shall lead the way. Remain close together and do not impede progress. We will exterminate this grievous gue." Current spoke through the water and ordered the forces forward. He had made themitment to leave the skies and travel around the rest of the forces. As the royal dragon leading this effort he was not going to shirk his duty to return sessfull. Even though Walker was also there, this was the water. Current had the experience and the knowledge to lead much more than Walker did and there wasn''t any argument over that.


    On the other hand, Scy showed herself again but this time she had her forces with her. There were multiple demi-human soldiers that Walker had never seen before. Some he almost mistook for merfolk until he noticed they were too human looking. "Scy, we are following Leon to the merfolk city." Walker was not sure how his voice carried so well through the water but knew it must be a spell from the merfolk mages affecting them. They were able to breathe and swim underwater so why would it not affect their speech?


    Since the water was clearer, the entire group could see the kraken spawn in the distance that were being defeated by Scy''s force and the merfolk. Leon was right at the front with the blue spear. Every angle swing caused currents that would sh through multiple kraken.


    "He is really impressive. I didn''t know that water could be used like that." Walker mumbled to himself while he watched the actions. He had not asked what Leons'' system was but he could tell it had to be some form of spearman and water magicbination. Walker could only look forward to hearing itter on after they reached the temporary merfolk city.


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 Chapter 1015 - 1015. Temporary City?

    The open ocean seemed to stretch forever in a murky haze of blue. They had sunk down to the sandy bottom where the odd rock or two were. But the ocean floor appeared to bepletelycking in life. "This has to be this way because of the kraken spawns. There are [piles of broken shells and pieces of fish bone everywhere." Alma and Gil had moved to be near Walker. She was taking the help from Gil to swim along as she rested.


    "I agree. This is terrible. I don''t want to think about what was lost before we knew about these things. Even the demons would have been eaten up by these evil kraken." The slight shake of Walker''s head brought his attention to how some of the razor whip weed was wrapped around Alma''s hands. "Are you going to keep using it to attack from here?" The idea didn''t seem bad but Walker wasn''t sure how it would work.


    "Yes. I have used my blue ivy as whips before. Since this basically acts like a whip in the tide it should work even better." The thought was easily proved as Alma flicked her wrist and the razor whip weed stiffened and shot out forward. The thin stalk easily cut through the water and the leaves would definitely cut up a foe.


    "Huh, that''s even better than I thought. I might need to ask you to show me how to control nts one day. But for now, I need to keep up with everything else." It was easy for Walker to get hyper focused on a new skill or something he wanted to learn. But this was not the time and he was doing his best to keep on task. "I''m going to catch up to Leon and see what we are looking at for time. The kraken spawn seem to be few and far between here." This worry that there were so few of them made Walker believe that there would be more elsewhere. Most likely somewhere where there was more food.


    The blue wave patterned spear that Leon was wiping clean seemed to glimmer with blue energy. Walker could feel the water elemental mana heavily coated upon it. "I came to check up. How are we progress wise? Do you expect there to be more of the spawn ahead?"


    "Yes. There will be more. We are in a dead space right now between the bay and the reef. Once we get to the reef we will have to battle it out to defend the temporary city. From there we will have more forces with us." Leon was ha;f praying to the world that they found everyone alive and no kraken spawn. But he knew that he was better of praying for there to be as few injuries as possible. It was more realistic. "We should be seeing the coral in a moment or two."


    Just as Leon spoke Walker could make out the changing shapes in the ocean floor. There were no longer wavy ts of sand. Instead,rge rocks started to be mixed in. Most were just cleared of anything but others had small colorful growths on them. Others even had some seaweeds and other nt life left. "Stay away from the punk seaweed. They have stingers on them." The merfolk spread out and began to educate everyone on what was dangerous here. It was a wise decision for those that were vulnerable to such things.


    '' Pink stinger anemone


    This is a very dangerous nt that houses a small stinger in every single tendril it grows. The tendrils only affect certain fish and monsters. They have a very potent poison that paralyzes their prey and it is rmended not to make contact with them under any case. They are extremely hard to harvest but can be used for an underwater poison. The poison dies off as soon as it leaves saltwater.''


    Walker''s all around appraisal of the danger made him realize that the colors might be more of a warning than a pleasantry. This was easily a nt that could take him down permanently. Not to mention the fact that if it was sued as a poison for battle it could take down enemy after enemy with ease. Yet,. the risk was too great to harvest it. There was no justification that it would make anyone safer.


    "Walker. Look here." Su had found a way to use both of the twin shields to p hard enough to push her up in to the higher water. This acted like her own fins in a way and helped her move forward. What she managed to see by doing this was arge coral and shell wall that curved in to a cracked and broken dome.


    "Halt! You are entering the limits of the merfolk city second trident. You may not progress without Sir Leon. Your father has been waiting." The guard was covered in blue and pink shelled as armor. He had stopped the entire progression with a stern voice not knowing if this was help or not for them.


    "Rest easy. This is the Genesis force. They are our allies from other kingdoms. Take me, and the other leaders here to my father." The party swam themselves behind Leon. Current floated down from the higher up waters with Ciel by his side, they were both in their dragonkin forms to allow themselves entrance in to the city. Scy soon showed herself as well. These were the people that would be going with Leon. The dwarves chose to hold back since their forces were mostly golems and they were not here to build rtions. They were here to protect and exterminate.


    "Leon, we are still behind you." Walker pushed for Leon to bring them in. Therge cracked shell dome allowed them to swim up and in to a barely built city of coral and rock. The big picture did not appear to look like a ce anyone should be living at all.


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 Chapter 1016 - 1016. Aaron

    It was clear that the temporary city had been thrown together for the basic survival of the merfolk people. There were roughly assembled stone homes that had been made by clearing the rocky ground so that it was just soft sand. The coral and shells used were also poorly assembled to make shelters for those injured or those that wanted to be able to hide from another possible invasion of kraken spawn.


    "Our mages were able to grow the coral around us in a dome. Thest attack was enough to break the dome but when we left we repelled them. The same swarm of kraken attacked the bay. They go wherever there is more food." Leon knew that The group was viewing this as a ce in need of help.


    "How many forces did you lose to the kraken?" Scy was already running the strategies they could suggest in the meeting. If the merfolk had lost a great number then they would not be able tobat the amount of kraken spawn that would decimate an entire people.


    "The number was too high when they ambushed us. We had seen a few around here and there but it was nothing to the patrols. But when the mother attacked along with hundreds of her spawn¡­we have to vacuate. There are still some of our people hiding in the coral bunkers under the sand." No one had expected this. For weeks there had been merfolk people trapped and waiting for help.


    "We will do something about that. This is not the city I know you want to show to the world. We will reim your home city." There was a dark look in Walker''s eyes as he realized just how dire the situation was. If this had been thest of the merfolk then he would wee them to Genesis after they had defeated the kraken menace. But hearing that there were more people trapped made him angry and driven.


    "This is a pest that does not deserve life. They are the same disgusting things as when I first saw them. But now they have grown to be more horrid." The disgust dripping from Current''s voice made everyone feel dirty. His feelings were somewhat projected around him while he thought of the kraken that would threaten his people and all other people in the world.


    Leon was met by another guard who motioned for more to form around him. Walker took a stance next to Current while Midnight and Su matched the positioning of Ciel. Scy followed behind with Alma and Gil shoulder to shoulder. The rest of the group trailed behind. Alice wasn''t sure why she was being brought with but she did not stop Onyx from swimming along. Remey gave her a reassuring nod. It was enough to make Alice realize that right this second she was the same as the party. She was a party member for this journey.


    The roughly assembled building they were brought in to was obviously made by guiding coral to grow rapidly around stone. There were many merfolk mages standing around watching those that entered. They were the guards of the merfolk king and they represented the power over the environment that the merfolk lived in.


    "Hmm, I see you have returned. You look to have bright many with you. What did you learn."


    Current nearly started to growl when he was not addressed first. For a dragon, this was very disrespectful.


    "Please pardon us for the moment. I embarked on my first journey and we must follow tradition. It is the way of our people." Current was not so foolish as to ignore tradition. The dragons held their own with very high regard and to trample on anothers'' traditions would be an affront to their own kind.


    Therger merfolk stood and looked at Leon carefully. Compared to the other merfolk the kin had a deeper blue scaling that appeared much sharper. His teeth were even more pointed along with the ws and fin he had. Overall the description of battle king fit fairly well.


    "Father. I have joined through the dangers of the surface. I arrived and forged rtions with the Genesis alliance. Every single race associated with the Genesis alliance came to assist us. Some traveled the rovers exterminating the kraken. Others walked through the swampnds to get here. Others even flew through the brilliant sky to plunge in to the oceans to tear away the vermin guing our people. I have seen this and I have felt this. The waves they make will bring our people higher than we ever have before. You have my blood as backing to their strength. I return to you as more than I was."


    The king drew a three pronged trident and shed down in a vicious leap at Leon. He did not flinch as it neared his throat. Instead, he held the gaze of his father and even red at him. "You stand tall now. When you were a child you could not even meet my eyes. Wee these guests now." The look on the king''s face did not change. But the looks of every mage and guard around showed smiles. They had seen Leon grow up and had finally heard his father give him recognition. Speaking in the court was the final step to be seen as a potential sessor.


    "Wee to the temporary city of the merfolk; New Trident. The great king of the Merfolk Aaron sits upon his throne in wee. In our time of need, you have arrived and will receive the respect you deserve." Leon moved and stood beside King Aarons'' throne.


    "I have seen you. Wee. On this day, may it be written in our history. We shall take your hands and rise higher. Please find a seat and we shall speak eye to eye." The guards rushed in with chairs for everyone and arger group of soldiers came in with a table to ce right in the hall. King Aaron waited for someone to speak.


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 Chapter 1017 - 1017. Short Meeting

    "For the assistance, we are giving your people I expect to be thanked properly." Current was the first to break the silence. He was still off about theck of greeting and introduction. For Leon to speak with his father and act the way he did may have been their tradition then that was that. But afterward, they had been given seats to sit and no one recognized any of them. Let alone Current and Walker who were royals.


    "I have already made documentation that the pink pearls we have will be sent along with you as soon as the kraken is defeated. I represent every merfolk in the ocean. It would be wrong for me topensate for the losses the new alliance may incur." Aaron was quick to say this. He may have been living under the water his entire life but that didn''t mean he didn''t know just how powerful dragons were.


    "I need a rouge pearl. It is necessary for the uing event of my elemental counterparts. My fellow royal will require an indigo pearl. Is that clear?" Walker was not sure why these two pearls were so important. He had not heard of them before but could tell that they had some very important value.


    "A rouge pearl is created from the vent oysters. They rest on the hot volcanic vents under the water and mix fire and water elemental mana to create a rouge pearl. The indigo pearl is a very pure water elemental pearl thates from a drifting oyster. They drift in the tides without settling or floating on the surface. This lets them create pearls that are purely water affinity." Scy saw that some did not understand this and shared her knowledge. She had seen them used in many different weapons to make many different effects. She also knew how valuable they are.


    "We have the indigo pearls from our yearly hunting in the vaults of our main city of Trident. The rouge pearls are with me. We only found three this year as of yet. I would not part with it if it was anyone else in need." This was said just to make sure that Current felt he was on a higher pedestal than any other being there. Aaron knew how dragons felt and that ying to their pride always made things better.


    "Good. That is epted. Now tell us where your main city is. It''s been some years since I bothered to venture in to the oceans." Current had seen the maps but wanted to hear the marching ns of the merfolk. If they were not up to his standards then he would be changing things.


    "We will leave here with the forces we have. My scouts can sneak in to the coral bunkers and get a n in. It will only be safe for one to do though. They will notify them that they are to open the bunker so we can attack from inside and outside. I would like to focus on the market side of the city. It can be rebuilt but the homes on the opposite end carry priceless heirlooms." This was a method of taking the people in to ount. But it also was affected by the location of the coral bunker hidden under the city.


    "The mother kraken had been using the area near the city as a nest. It was unknown to us for longer than it should have been. But when we discovered it we were toote. Now we have intelligence that there is another clutch of eggs in the nest she set up. That is why she had been taking downrge ships, monsters, and even whales. The food she gathers will feed the next clutch of spawn."


    "We will focus on the eggs and the kraken spawn. While Current and his elders will take on the mother. Once we deal with that, we will join Them fighting the mother. But under no circumstances will anyone interfere until the rest of the forces can join. If we go in to it unorganized we will harm more than help." Walker used a very stern voice. He saw Current nod. This was exactly what the dragons wanted.


    "My aquatic troops will scout. They have the ability and I believe they will be able to work well with your scouts, if not better than with my own troops."


    "I will have my enforcers paired with golems. The will be the shields that draw the kraken spawn in while my enforcers attack them. The finishing attacks will be from Scy''s troops." Scy and Alma continued the conversation showing Aaron just how prepared they were.


    "Then I will not say more. My forces are prepared to leave this campsite and move on." There was nothing more than king Aaron wanted to speak on. He was all business and from this point on he would be taking charge of the battle ahead. "Be warned, nothing is patrolling the coral reef we will swim. If an electrified eel attacks you will be left to handle it yourself." No one doubted this to be the truth. Right now to king Aaron, the safety of his people was much more important.


    The break had only been an hour long so Walker was worried that everyone would not be prepared. However, when they started to leave it appeared that Alma had regained a lot of her energy. "The pearls are for the royal court as gifts. I owe that fire dragon a gift from some previous rtions. His daughter is a steam dragon and the rouge pearl is perfect for her to consume and strengthen her scales. You will be giving the indigo pearl to me. It shows your close rtionship with me and my elders. It also shows that I back you as a young royal." Current spoke quickly before taking the lead out to the second temporary city.


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 Chapter 1018 - 10.18. Beauty Of Night

    Not many of the forces that hade together under the Genesis name showed an ounce of tiredness. The only ones that appeared to be in need of a longer rest were the merchant guards. But they doubled down and took mana potions or health potions to continue on. They were all very motivated when they saw every single merfolk taking up weapons or rocks if need be to go and fight for their city.


    No one wanted to see children fighting but they were not going to stay in this temporary and hard to defend city. Even the king of the merfolk had called it just a camp. That went far to say that the people were not going to let their city fall forever. "It''s getting harder to see." Su had decent night vision but the addition of the water was challenging. She had made her way right in front of Walker while the merfolk began to lead the way in formations that Current had directed the in to.


    "I was just starting to wonder how they were able to see in such dim lighting. It might be some merfolk sight that allows them to see in the dark better." This was the only solution that Walke came up with. If the merfolk were used to this kind of change every single day then it was obvious they would develop better night vision.


    "I wouldn''t be so sure about that. I can feel the corals and other things getting more energetic. You should be able to feel it too if you focus on the natural mana." Alma was still backed by Gil since he was worried she would push herself too hard. She did not shy away from the shoulder to lean on while Gil pulled her long in the swim. However, it was easier for them to walk along the bottom where possible. But the coral was in the way of an easy and straight path.


    Since Alma had told him to focus on it, Walker reached his senses out to the natural mana around the coral. He was not surprised that she had been right and that it was increasing slightly by the minute The darker the water seemed t get the more it seemed that the natural mana rose. But even more than that, the corals and underwater nts seemed to be unfurlingpletely.


    "This is why I want toe back here and search for potion ingredients. Look at all the nts that show themselves at night. They even glow!" Remey saw the first of the corals starting to put off a soft glow. Many of them were showing this effect in multiple colors.


    "Surprised I take it? The nights here are much more beautiful than the days. Once the ocean is dark you see the true beauty of what grows here. That''s why my people strive to protect such things. Look at what those things have done." Leon had been swimming beside them as their guide since his father had taken over the lead. Some parts of the coral had been torn to pieces and obviously eaten. But worse off, the fish that emerged were few and far between.


    Theck of fish was a huge negative for the environment. Many predators would be unable to feed which would cause them to die off as well. It was a flow that had been interrupted. " A lot of the fish and the corals absorb light elemental mana just as nts do. Then at night, they release it to keep growing and breeding. Many of the fish are attracted by that and feed on each other and nts. It alles together to make this natural beauty that we take pride in. Our entire city looked like this."


    The idea that an entire city would take on this spectacr glow of colors and life made Walker want to see it in such glory. "Brother, I have decided that I like the oceans. I can eat even when it is night." This was much better for Onyx than the moonlight. He was able to easily swim in the cool waters and maintain his body heat due to the high amount of light elemental mana within it. Walker didn''t miss the sight of Alice giggling when she heard Onyx speak in their minds. She was the one attracting the most light elemental mana and Onyx was snacking like a glutton. It was adorable, to say the least.


    "I wouldn''t mind learning to control dome of these nts. But that might be better for the water elves. I think it will be good for us to reach out and reconnect with them. They have moved to thekes but who says they can not return to the oceans." Since Alma had the information about other elf cities she knew that in the past there were water elves in the oceans who had left for thekes once upon a time.


    "I would not mind hearing more stories of water elves. I have been told my entire life that a lot of our underwater magic came from them and grew in to our own forms of magic." Leon even supported it with his own history causing Walker to make a much more important mental note than he would have. Having more rtions with people would be better for Genesis and the world as a whole. "Look, that''s a light fin tuna. They have the best meat for any meal. And their fins gather light and water elemental mana so they make armor best for swimming in." Leon pointed out therge fish that caught their attention.


    "That is something to protect. This is all worth protecting. Having your beautiful home under attack is not eptable. Don''t worry. We will shield it from harm." Midnight and Su stood together. Walker swore there was a slight growl in Su''s voice.


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 Chapter 1019 - 1019. Tamers Arrival

    Swimming through the coral reef was not hard for anyone. The only ones that needed to move with extra caution were the dwarven golems which had been ordered to avoid damaging the coral. This was easier said than done since they would sink to the bottom of the ocean no matter what. But they were able to use runes on their armors to be able to jump and float temporarily at the cost of the stored mana they had within their cores.


    The enforcers were seemed to be the most in love with the coral as it glowed. Some were even moved far enough to pet the few fish that came to them to explore. The elves had a long history of being close to nature. Therefore, the fish and corals did not harm them or shy away from them. It was a testament to the dedication the elven people had to the world.


    "I know this is peaceful and beautiful, but it doesn''t make sense. Where are the kraken spawn? They should be all over this area¡­" Walker could tell this was a problem. The kraken spawn had swarmed the bay and now were just missing? Nothing made sense about this unless there was arge food source around.


    "The food that the mother is gathering. It has to be a lot right? I would bet that all of the kraken spawn are there trying to steal a piece from their mother and unborn brothers and sisters." Gil hit the nail on the head. He knew that the mother had been spotted fighting for food and that it most likely was continuing now. If the food was brought back to her nest then there would be a lot of it that couldn''t be protected from the kraken spawn. Thus, the kraken spawn had gathered there to eat it and grow while the mother continued to hunt. There was no way a kraken spawn that survive on instinct would give up a free meal.


    "Brother, I believe we will need to fight much harder. Do you think we could use Remey''s potions to hurt the spawn before they know we are there?" Onyx had been silently deliberating with Alice. Both of them had been awe when it came to Remey''s potions and theirrge range of damage. They may not have been powerful enough topletely defeat many kraken spawn but it was enough for them to be much weaker. It had made the fight for the bay easier and since the mother would be under siege anyways, showing themselves with a bang would not be an issue.


    "That''s a good idea. Remey,e with me. We will catch up with Current to organize it." Walker knew that the potions Remey had made were not infinite. But using all of them on this kind of attack would pay off in the long run. Even if a quarter of the kraken spawn were damaged then that was a quarter that would be sitting ducks just waiting for the joint Genesis forces to defeat.


    "Gil ising too. I want him to help with this. Su can protect Alma. Just look at her, she is already recovered a lot and doesn''t need your help." Alma was taking the help she was given but this was more than fair. Remey had long noticed that it was nothing more than Gil and Alma wanting to be closer. It wasn''t to be mean but since Remey had an idea she was not going to allow Gil to keep avoiding the real work there was to do.


    Current was in his dragon form much higher up in the deep waters. Walker, Gil, and Remey easily got there next to him and were watched by Ciel nearby. "We have a n to sneak up and weaken all of the kraken spawn. Since they are not around here we assume they have been attracted to therge amount of food the mother is gathering at the nest for the eggs. The mother is unintentionally helping with the extermination effort."


    "Then what will you do? Will you use those exploding potions from before?" Current had already connected the dots and was looking ahead to the attack more than anyone.


    "Yes, we will connect all the potions together in a long line of rope. Gil will attach some of his fire elemental arrows and with the help of the enforcers, they will overcharge them with fire elemental mana. Not only will my potions explode, but the arrows will explode and cause a muchrger explosion. It will damage the kraken, stun those that are not damaged, and cause the mother to fall in to a craze. Even better, it will kill off some of the eggs that we need to destroy." The energy Remey had was enough to sell Currentpletely.,


    "Then begin the preparations while we swim. I expect it to be perfect by the time we near the area. The scouts and enforcers will be in charge of it after you create it." Current easily moved forward with this n. It was perfect for what they needed at the moment.


    "Walker. The reinforcements I called on from the tamers'' guild have caught up. I gave them a crystal that allows them to easily track us. They only sent twenty tamers but they had sixty monsters between them. All of them are prepared to battle." This was more than any of them expected. For the tamers'' guild to spare so many tamers at once was astounding. "Once I had left them with the word that it was for Genesis and the protection of one kingdom aligned with them, the spared no moment in joining. You seem to have left a very good impression with their guild master." It was impressive in Scy''s eyes. But the multitude of aquatic monsters behind them now was even more impressive.


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 Chapter 1020 - 1020. The City Of Trident

    Walker first got the potions out along with rope. He watched as Remey began to string them together. Midnight took the role of pulling her along in the water while she worked. It was the perfect teamwork since Remey didn''t have much weight and Midnight had learned to swim the same way as the other dragons. However, Gil was the one stuck handing her potions from the crate while also adding in the fire elemental arrows he had created.


    The process was simple. The necks of the potion vials were tied in groups with the rope and every cluster had a wither spike arrow with fire elemental mana crystal within the arrow head. But this was not all, there was a lot of space in between these clusters so that when they exploded the wave would not affect the other explosions but instead create a continuous of explosions. The idea was presented by one of the dwarven elite guards that had once watched somerge mining projects in the deep caves using unstable mana crystals.


    The use of unstable mana crystals was not rare. For many of the races, the unstable mana crystals were damaged mana crystals that had started to release their mana at too fast of a rate, thenter forcefully refilled to their maximum capacity. These were normally disposed of by mages or brought to a safe ce and fully broken.


    Since the matter of creating the explosives was taken care of, Walker went to meet with those that came with the tamer''s guild. "Sir. I am the one in charge today. My fellow tamers have banned together under the orders of the guild master. We normally wander the tides to look for ways to improve ourselves. We gathered those near enough ande to meet you. We hope that this shows the support the tamers'' guild wishes to offer to Genesis city and the new base we will have there." The man that swam to Walker looked familiar. It was clear he had been one of the tamers in the demi-human city when they had visited.


    "Of course, we will wee the guild. I have some friends that I would like to have visit. If there is a guild branch there then they can''t say no." The joke rxed the man as he was prepared for a battle and had already encountered a few of the kraken spawn on the trip to catch up. "You have a variety of tamers and monsters with you. The n will be simple. The scouts and enforcers will attack the swarm of kraken spawn. The dragons will attack the mother. From there we exterminate every single one. When we near the nest be ready for battle at any moment."


    "Understood. I will ry to my high ranking tamers. Please rest assured. We are always prepared for a battle. The ocean is a second home to us. We spend more time in the water than we do onnd. I can only bond with my partners in the water." Just as Walker was going to ask what partners, he noticed a translucent shrimp in front of his face.


    "I tamed four ghostly prawns. They look rather weak but they are known as the assassin shrimp by those who have seen them in the wild. They are hard to spot, sneak up onrger prey, then use a very powerful water attack to finish their prey. I learned my lesson long ago not to tickle them on the tail." Theughter held a more serious tone since Walker had never heard of a ghostly prawn. But the power it had made him know that the unknown was truly more dangerous than one could ever think.


    "Besides this, we have some rock crab, electrified eels, a single vibrant ray, and even a few ck oyster tamers. We will fill whatever roles we can." The variety made them perfect for covering other soldiers'' backs and filling multiple roles just as the man said.


    "Then I will allow you to work as you need. Just remember who to report to and if you need to speak to any dragon be as respectful and honest as possible. Facts only." The warning was just that. A warning for those who were not used to dragons the way Walker was. The tamers only really know of the dragon that worked with the guild master of the tamers'' guild. If they treated Current and Ciel the same let alone the elders, they would end up nothing but fish food.


    The speed of everyone''s swimming had be much better over thest hour of preparations and following of king Aaron. They had adapted somewhat since they had been in the water and the current seemed to be going with them. The sudden stop was a surprise to everyone that was in the back. Yet the party who was in the front was able to see why.


    There were towers of colorful coral reflecting some of the glowing light. They seemed to break the darkness of the night underwater. But there was a lot of damage made painfully clear. There seemed to be a shell wall that had been made to defend against the monsters that crawled along the ocean floor which was shattered in many ces from the kraken spawn attacking with the mother.


    Some towers were already broken and what Walker could make out so were a lot of the buildings. What was even worse was the kraken spawn that could be seen trying to destroy more and hunt for food. Yet, this was still nothingpared to what they were looking at right near the city.


    What seemed to have been a cave at one point had been dug out in to arge ring of sand. But again, that was not what had everyone stopped. The remains of many monsters andrge round clear eggs were what had everyone stopped and wide eyed.


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 Chapter 1021 - 1021. Sending The Attack

    "This is worse than I believed it would be¡­" King Aaron was looking at the nest andparing it to his damaged city.


    "I see why you did not know of this. The kraken are known to hide away when they are alone. Small caves like that are perfect for the eggs to incubate for years and years. I would assume that is a single female that survived and hatched. Then she grew and found a male. Of course, like all female kraken, she ate the male and left the eggs behind. Now we have this problem. Under no circumstances will foolish tamers take them." The harsh words and force behind Current''s speech made everyone harden their will.


    "This doesn''t stop the n though. They are all focused on those monster remains and the eggs are not hatched. I don''t know where the mother is but we know she wille after we attack first. That leads her right in to an ambush. Not to mention attracting the remainder of the kraken spawn still in the city. That means you people can more easily escape ande join the battle. That nest will not exist after this battle." Walker was sure of this. He did not doubt thebined forces that they had.


    "Your city can be built back much better. Just imaging how much room you have to expand and create coliseums to show off your powerful warriors. Of course, they will never rival ours. But that will be fine. The point is getting stronger." As much as Scy was trying to be positive she was allowing her battle desires to show too much.


    "Walker, Gil, and the enforcers are prepared. It''s time." Remey had a single piece of the rope held behind her. Gil was standing behind her with a serious expression. The enforcers were holding five fire elemental crystals. They all had the same skill as Gil to fill the arrows with fire elemental mana. But the difference this time was that they were channeling it in to an already filled arrow to overcharge and force it to explode.


    "That''s that. Send your scout out and we will begin here ten minutes after they have left." King Aaron was already in motion sending a scout with very odd scales away.


    "That is my best scout. He has a rare constitution. His family has blood from our ancestors. They used to blend in to hide from giant underwater monsters. But they slowly grew organized and powerful enough to fight them off. Now it is very rare for someone to manifest the skills. He can blend in like thend chameleon to a degree." The rtion hade from one of King Aarons'' journeys as a child to the surface. It had been his very own rite of session.


    "Alma, are you prepared? Once the explosion happens we will have a short window of time to cause more damage. I think you should make a trap for people to lure therger groups of kraken spawn in to. It will be our fall back when we get cornered." The idea was perfect for Alma since she was not meant for closebat.


    "Alice. I need you to be ready to buff and heal. Use your best judgment and stay with Su. She is your partner. If you find yourself away from her forget everything and fall back to her. No excuses." The harsh tone not only came from his worry but also from the seriousness he wanted everyone to take.


    "Midnight, you can handle yourself but keep an eye on your brother. Onyx, you and Alice are a team today. Use your full size and crush anything that darese near." Onyx did not need to be told twice. He let his shadow shrink and fleshed his muscles in preparation. Midnight flexed her wings and growled slightly in preparation as well.


    "It''s time to do this. I will be using my full force and joining the dragons." Current was about to silence Scy since he believed her to be a weak demi-human. However, as the leviathans began to leave her robes and grow to therger sizes they were truly meant to be, he held his breath.,


    "You hold some ancient blood little one. I will keep an eye on you. But you are missing one leviathan if you wish to represent the one that bloodes from." There was a knowing aura around Current before he started to shift back to his dragon form and rise in to the higher water to wait for the mother. Walker and Scy were intrigued by what he meant, unfortunately, this was not the time to ask for more information.


    "We are leaving." The golems, monsters, tamers, merfolk, merchant guards, and dragonkin were all silent as they watched the rope with groups of potions float away from them. There was only silence as they watched the enforcers channeling fire elemental mana in to the wither spike arrows attached. The silence seemed to deepen as the enforcers and Gil gave therge of potion clutches a push.


    They floated through the water and were carried by the slight current. The nest was not necessarily close but the corral allowed the army to be slightly above the nest. Walker saw the mana building and how close the was to making contact with the monster parts that the kraken spawn were feasting on. "Down!" Walker knew the explosion would shake the water and motioned for everyone to hold on.


    The second before the contact was made, Walker could feel the mana around him almost freeze in anticipation. The water and air elemental mana underwater was going to react to therge amount of fire elemental mana about to release where it normally did not belong. It only needed one more second¡­


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1022 - 1022. Battle Call

    The eternity that passed between the of potions touched the kraken spawn subsided with an instant of powerful light. The sh of the explosion and the fire elemental mana reacting with the water and wind elemental mana in the water was drastic. The next moment everyone felt a powerful wave push past their bodies and knock them all back regardless of where they stood and how stable their footing had been. Even the dwarven golems had been knocked away.


    The water then rushed back to fill the voided space that had been created by the explosion and drastic release of mana. The heat from the fire elemental mana caused a bubbling mess where the explosion had taken ce. Every single member of the Genesis force felt the heat and energy around the explosion.


    Yet, the thing that drew their attention was the constant screeching of the kraken spawn. Not only was their food source destroyed and in pieces, but many were missing chunks of their bodies, not just tentacles. Some could not even swim any longer whereas others suffered from extreme steam burns. The force of the water returning to the affected area also crushed them in since they were not powerful enough to swim away from the area. Overall the kraken spawn that had been densely packed around the food were damaged much more than nned. They had expected a quarter to be damaged but it appeared that nearly three quarters had been brought to the brink of death.


    "Forward!!!!!" The roar came from multiple people but one voice was Walkers''. He wasn''t sure what hade over him but he couldn''t help but yell as he righted himself and changed the eternal orb in to staff from yet again.


    ''The skill battle call has been taken from the Top General system. The skill battle call has been automatically learned.


    Battle call- 0 mana cost


    The user shouts from the depths of their being to spur others in to battle. Those that respond will increase the flow of their blood and adrenaline. Due to the call being emotional the user does not expend any mana. However, when the call is echoed the mana in the air will begin to react with the joined will causing the swift movement buff to be applied to all that are affected emotionally by the shout.


    The user is affected by the swift movement buff. The user has gained +5 agility for one hour.''


    Not a single person looked at their system. The battle was on and the kraken spawn from the city had heard and felt the explosion. Their numbers were too many to count but everyone knew that they needed to attack while the kraken spawn were far away. If they did not then the swarm would be upon them before they could handle it.


    The enforcers and Gil returned behind the advancing dwarven golems. They had been firing arrows once they had recovered from the shock of the explosion. The merfolk mages were sending out powerful water des and some ice shots. Their long distance attacks were aimed at the kraken spawn which were not harmed in the explosions. This would save many lives in the long run since the injured kraken spawn were weak and would be unable to defend themselves.


    "Mages, joint spell ice shard blizzard! Now!" King Aaron yelled his orders to the merfolk mages. The reaction was perfectly enacted since it had been trained for years upon tears. The mages threw out stips of rune engraved paper made from seaweed. The mana around them began to condense and Walker took that as a sign to assist.


    His channeling of the water elemental mana around them was much more powerful due to his connection with nature. Not only thing, but Fleur on his shoulder fused herself in to the eternal orb increasing the condensation of water elemental mana. This sudden jump in mana caused the merfolk mages or chant out their joint spell. Walker had not seen such organized magic skills being cast and knew that the high tier skill being used must be considered a mastery skill due to the cooperation of multiple mages.


    The formation the mages stood in caused the mana to condense between them. Then the water began to rush in toward them and freeze in to jagged and brutal looking chucks. The moment the chanting stopped the water grew colder and a slight shiver fell upon everyone waiting for closebat to begin.


    The rushing kraken spawn found themselves suddenly bombarded. The ice that had formed shattered and rushed forward in an icy flurry of destruction. The area that was affected by the skills was not small. A great stretch of water in front of them had been turned in to an icy wastnd under the water. The attack had more than defeated the kraken spawn heading toward them from the city. Only a small handful managed to escape the attack that had frozen their fellow kraken spawn in ce.


    Feeling the massive drop in mana caused the merfolk mages to fall unconscious and need to be retrieved by the battle healers of the force. Dragonkin came forward to protect them just as the first kraken spawn got in range. Although, Leon was not allowing anyone else to have the frost attack. The blue spear he held caused the water to condense around it before he shed out and sent a powerful de of water at the kraken spawn.


    Many were sliced through before the charge forward continued. The dwarven golems met the injured kraken and began to hack away. Multiple other monsters revealed themselves and their tamer partners shouted and fought alongside them. The tamers had swum above to get a better a angle for attack.


    Walker only needed a second to see where he was needed. There was a perfect path carved out to the nest and the surviving eggs. He was going ahead with the demi-humans bear him to exterminate what he could.


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 Chapter 1023 - 1023. Reaching The Nest

    A nce back showed Walker the round patch of sand and coral that had been taken over by writhing razor whip weed. Alma floated in the water above it with her eyes closed. Three enforcers constantly shot arrows at nearby groups of kraken luring them in to their doom. The kraken spawn were not smart to say the least. The annoyance of an arrow harming one of them made the harmed one charge at the source. The others would chance the one that was harmed for food causing groups to rush in to the razor whip weed Alma controlled to il about and slice them up.


    Midnight Was easily tearing one of the kraken apart with her ws. Walker saw her use her wings to push herself forward much faster before she folded them and extended her ws to a finishing move. She had already developed a sound strategy in just a few moments of battle. Adding that to her swimming ability that had shown itself by copying the water dragons, she had be a force to be reckoned with.


    "I am with you." One dragonkinrger than some of the other growled slightly and a team of six other dragonkin warriors backed Walker as he swam forward. The seven of them shed out at nearby kraken. The eternal orb had mimicked the twin blitz swords but with a twist.


    The sight of Leon using the water as a thrown de had made him jealous. Therefore, when the eternal orb changed form, Walker channeled the water elemental mana in to each sh while he swam. The result was a powerful attack that easily cut through the kraken. But it was not the same. He was not like Leon who could cut through groups in one sh with his spear.


    The problem that Walker realized was that he was using the basic thrown de skill he had learned much earlier. He needed to condense the water elemental mana just like Leon''s spear did. "Stop!" Walker caught himself and the dragonkin formed up on him right before a slightlyrger kraken spawn whipped out a barbed tentacle at them.


    "Ohh, we have a fat one. That''s some good feasting meat there." The dragonkin were fired up and let out a chorus of growls. Walker couldn''t lie and say that he wasn''t feeling the energy end instinctual force. He knew that if he used the dance of the wild rabbit here he would end up in the dance or the rabid rabbit easily, Yet, this was the water. His movement techniques wouldn''t work. He couldn''t even fathom whether the dance of seasons would work here.


    The thought barely crossed Walker''s mind as he stepped forward after sinking to the sand. He pushed off and condensed the water elemental mana around the eternal or des. He raised the des above his head and shed down in an arc. The water elemental mana left the de causing the water around all of them to be turbulent for just a moment.


    "One hit one kill! Follow the royals to battle!" The shout from the dragonkin riled more up nearby until shrowls and shouts of victory were echoing around the nest. Walker had just cleaved therger kraken spawn in two with a single blow. He had felt the water elemental mana flow beneath his feet to be simr to a stepping stone. He had felt the water elemental mana condense on the des. He had felt it all work to flow properly.


    ''The skill de stream has been taken from the One with water system. The skill de stream has been partially learned due to unique skill restrictions.


    de stream- 1-500 mana cost


    The one with water system allows one being to reach a perfect bnce with water. Most beings with this system remain within the spiritual water domain. The user is able to manipte water using varying amounts of mana. The de stream skill allows multiple moves to be learned that mimic the flow of water and its cycles. The user can only use the skill at its lowest level. Mastery of this skill is impossible for the current user. The skill cost more mana depending on the move used.''


    There was what Walker would describe as an imprable wall that blocked his mind from understanding the all and what it meant. As much as he wanted to know it, this was not the time or the ce to understand it. Instead, Walker took it for what it was and focused on the kraken spawn around him. This skill could wait until he was able to look in to what being one with water and the spiritual water domain meant.


    "Push forward! The nest is ours to take!" Walker shouted then roared with all his might. The skill dragons'' intimidation did not consume a great amount of mana but had a wide effect. His actions caused the warriors around to freeze ever so slightly. But the greatest reaction came front he kraken spawn which became erratic and fearful.


    The translucent eggs thaty around the nest were the same size as Walker''s chest. They pulsed slightly with the kraken spawn waiting to escape and destroy the oceans. The mana around the nest seemed to be denser anding from the small cave at the very center. Walker wanted to investigate but the sight of hundreds, maybe even thousands of kraken eggs was making him focus more.


    The dragonkin warriors spread out and were viciously destroying the eggs as fast as possible. These actions attracted the kraken spawn nearby to try and eat the broken eggs, but the other forces had been working toward the nest as well and they were close enough to keep the kraken spawn at bay.


    "We are going to pick up the pace no-" Walker''s voice was drowned out by a screech that vibrated the water and his very bones. The mother kraken was back and she was livid.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1024 - 1024. The Mother Attacks

    Every single person fighting saw the massive tentacle heading toward them. It was trying to sweep through the densest grouping of Genesis forces. The mother wanted to swat away the enemies trying to destroy her nest and eggs. But she was not going to be able to. The dragons had been waiting. Scy had been waiting. Their roars of battle and multiple water de attacks came out of the farther reaches of the ocean to sever the massive tentacle from the mother kraken.


    The massive leviathans that were wrapping themselves around therge tentacle and tearing in to them with needle like teeth were just the start of the attacks. When Current showed himself there was a ball of hyper condense water in his maw.


    The release of the attack caused waves t rise on the surface and the ocean to appear in turmoil. If the sun had risen just a few hours earlier then the sight would terrify any that saw it. Tentacles iling while a screech of pain echoes through the ocean. The water seemingly turning in to giant needles to pieces through itself. It was a scene from a horror story no child would be allowed to read.


    The attack had cleaved arge gash in the mother kraken, yet, she still lives and even began to gather some of the water for her own attack. But what caused the most trouble was when her eyes dted and inky darkness consumed all light around them.


    "Water mages, use your spells and remove this darkness!" wherever king Aaron was, he managed to shout out the orders to the remaining water mages and those that had just begun to wake up after being fed mana potions from the battle healers. They needed clear waters to be able to attack.


    Walker could make out a sweet melody as the water began to clear slowly. The mana and the voice was one he recognized. Alice had started training her song of purification. But this time Onyx was helping bring in more light elemental mana that he had stored within his shadow. The reaction of thisbination was a much more powerful song that purified more of the water around them. Many were able to gather their bearings and strike down the kraken spawn that hadtched on to allies while the ink blinded them.


    As much as Walker wanted to rush over and protect her, Midnight and Onyx were there defending her while Su was using her shields to bash away a kraken spawn that dared toe after the person she was guardian. There was a ferociousness in Su''s actions that made Walker feel he was looking at a dragon in human form. She had truly taken on some traits that Midnight had, yet she controlled them to her advantage and used them to protect.


    Since the water was only going to be cleared to a certain degree, Walker made the eternal rob change forms yet again. He began to gather the wind elemental mana within the water. It was harder than he expected since it was perfectly bnced. But when he felt that it was too much to control, he forced it forward.


    This caused arge number of bubbles to fill the entire area. The result of this was the ink in the water being forced to the top of the water and more people being able to see. It also revealed Gil firing arrow after arrow in to kraken spawns that were trying to get at Alma. The other enforcers that had been with here somehow were dragged away and being rescued by dragonkin warriors. Alma on the other hand seemed to have lost herself to exhaustion. She was barely keeping herself floating above the trap of razor whip weed she had grown.


    Out of everyone nearby, Leon had shot through the water at an incredible speed using one of his skills. His spear became his forward point and sliced through multiple kraken spawn going after Gil. Walker turned away after seeing that. If he had needed he was going to use all of his mana to force himself over to Gil by controlling water. Yet, knowing that everyone was backing each other up regardless of race or standing was moreforting and helped Walker focus on the battle unfolding above and around him.


    The warriors that had been with Walker had only grown through the ink attack by the mother kraken. They had used their instincts to feel the flow of the water ande to the nest where the battle was raging. The injured kraken spawn were attacking with their final breath and the eggs were being split open constantly.


    These actions further infuriated the mother kraken which could see through her own ink. As much as she had wanted to destroy those attacking her nest, she was held and trapped by the leviathans and dragons. Unfortunately, this was not her only attack. She was the mother kraken and had grown to full adulthood. She had the full strength of the water with her when she brought it in to her mouth to shoot it out in a beam.


    When she began to prepare this attack the water seemed to still. A secondary roar caused every single person to fall t to the bottom of the ocean and hide on the sand. Leon pushed Gil and Alma down while Alice was covered by the earth fortress skill. Everyone knew what wasing and the attack needed to be defended against at all cost.


    Ciel swooped under the mother kraken and released a savage w attack wrapped in dense water elemental mana. It barely sliced through the mother''s skin, but it managed to force her mouth upwards just as the attack was released.


    The spout of water reached the clouds and the water that fell caused another burst of turbulence. But even more, the attack cleared away more of the ink. The mother kraken had yet again sabotaged herself through her actions and this inspired everyone to attack with further strength.


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 Chapter 1025 - 1025. Swirling Water

    While Ciel had protected everyone from the brutal water beam attack from the mother kraken, the rest of the army was still hard at work defeating the kraken spawn and eggs in the nest. The next roar did note from a dragon, however. This was the battle roar from the city as hundreds of able bodied merfolk rushed out from the underground bunker they had been hiding in.


    "My people are here, fight to the end! Stand Tall! Show the world your Will!" Aaron''s yell was echoed by Leon and every single merfolk around. This energy between them was nothing tough at. Every king had skills that would strengthen their people and this was one of them. The king had called them to arms and they would not allow their people to suffer. Their city was created to rise not to fall.


    The additional merfolk caused the battle to be even more efficient. All of those that were struggling soon found the additional help behind them and to their sides. Those that had been lost on the ink were being freed and looking at the merfolk mages that had been unable to escape their city.


    Walker had been reserving mana as he battled so that he could survive the long battle. But with the reinforcements and the way the battle with the mother was going, he channeled arge portion of his mana in to the multi buff skill. Normally he would not force the skill to a wider range due to therge amount of mana needed. But this was different. This would push everyone to the limit and finish the battle much faster now that they had the advantage.


    The wave of mana that left Walker was enough to boost everyone in the Genesis force. The closebat around the nest only went to help everyone in range. Even the dragons and Scy fighting above him received the buff. Walker had over extended himself slightly, yet it worked out even better because the forces that were still leaving the city to join them were affected as well.


    "The heroes stand with us! Finish this and help the dragons!" The shout came from the tamer with the ghostly prawns. He had been sneaking about the battlefield targeting therger kraken and helping where he could. His goal was to slowly weaken the kraken spawns'' overall strength until they had won ever everything. The sooner that happened the sooner he would be able to attack the mother and truly test his skills.


    There was a change in Alice''s song to the song of healing. She had done what she could for those that were trapped in the ink and the remaining ink was mostly on top of the water. She now had to help with those injured. The battle healers had already begun to create a small camp around her.


    Su and Midnight had taken up positions to fight off any of the remaining kraken spawn trying te near the injured as well. Midnight was also helping move those in heavier armor to a position closer to Alice to receive better healing. Onyx had risen from Alice''s shoulder and was keeping any debris froming near the injured. Walker could feel that Onyx was barely holding on to his consciousness due to exhaustion. He wanted to rush over and help Onyx but the battle was not yet over.


    "Bow to the royals. Be dust beneath my feet. Fall in to extinction. Feel my crushing pressure deep beneath the surface." The echoing voice of Current caused the water to be still. There was not a single wave while everyone continued to fight through the kraken nest. The mother kraken suddenly became frantic and attempted to strike out with her remaining tentacles. Scy''s leviathan partners released the mother kraken and rushed away.


    A single small bubble of condensed water shot from Current toward the mother Kraken. "Shredding whirlpool or pure Water!" The finished chant revealed the massive whirlpool which sucked in the mather kraken and any nearby kraken spawn. It was miraculous to see the mastery skill of an ancient dragon that could cause such a massive change in the ocean. Not a single ally was moved out of ce. The control of this skill was above and beyond any other skill that Walker had ever witnessed.


    The mother kraken tried to escape but it was fruitless. The battle was ended with this final move. The massive amount of water elemental mana that Current had used was too much to say he would be able to do anything for some time. Cile and Adair were visibly lowering him to the sandy bottom while the whirlpool faded revealing the battered and defeated kraken body.


    "Walker, Mana potion now!" Gil was there with Alma who was pale and breathing heavily. The enforcers that had escaped their battles surrounded them in protection as Walker cast a healing spell on Alma while also handing Gil the highest tier mana potion he had in his storage.


    It only took a few moments for Alma to begin to look rosy cheeked and peaceful but the shock that Gil had felt was all too real. "Stay here and guard her. She has proven her worth many times over as the forest elf representative of Genesis." The enforcers nced at Walker slightly when he had said this and he could tell it was out of respect. Gil on the other hand had totally missed Walkers'' words due to his focus and worry about Alma.


    "We charge home to clean up the city!" Leon had shouted using all of his might and adrenalin. His father had already started to move toward the city but Walker held himself back. The merfolk deserved the honor of taking their own city back. Nothing but respect from the other races existed as they watched the merfolk return to their loved ones.


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 Chapter 1026 - 1026. The Cause

    "Walker, what''s next?" Remey was the only one that was left to help Walker. She had already done her work with the potions and had been teamed up with a few dragonkin warriors until the battle had ended.


    "I would say we should help with the wounded, but it looks like the healers and Alice have that covered. The merfolk are busy cleaning up their city, and the rest are already going through their weaponry and clean up. I would say we should see what started all of this." The small cave that was at the center of the nest was still sending our high amounts of water elemental mana.


    "That works. I think keeping this problem solved longer is better. But we should also look in to how the city will recover. There are a lot of homes I can see damage from here." As much as Remey was focused on potions and fighting, she knew what it was like to worry about a home. She had grown up in the orphanage and never had a ce other than that to call home until she got to the party. She didn''t want to see others having to share a home with many people or missing their families. It was part of her job to help those people. Her love of potions wasn''t just for show, she could use them to heal and help people.


    "We will go there next¡­" Walker was examining the mana that wasing from the small cave. The size of the cave could definitely be for a single kraken egg. The real question was what would be able to provide enough water elemental mana through the years for it to survive and still hatch safely.


    "Let''s dig this out." Re ey started first but soon found that Fleur was right with her looking in to the cave. There was enough mana that she found it interesting. That and she had finally left the eternal orb to see the world again. She could tell the threat was over and was incredibly curious about where they were going to go next.


    The sand that they were pulling from around the small cave was much finer than the sand around. There were even small shards of water elemental crystals from what Walker could see. He didn''t hesitate to store them away so he could inspect themter.


    "I think there is something glowing in there." Remey reached a hand in to find an icy cold and smooth rock. She pulled and revealed a glowing blue stone with a smoothness unlike they had expected. There were also portions of it that were clearly fused with water elemental crystals. "Check it with your appraisal. This thing is weird."


    Walker didn''t hesitate to heed Remey''s words. He too was extremely curious what this odd object was.


    ''Water crystal geode


    This is a perfectly smoother water crystal geode. Over hundreds of years, arge stone with high water elemental mana has been beaten by the waves. The smooth shape has taken a great deal of time to properly show. This battering by waves has infused the crystal within the rock with extremely potent water elemental mana. It is simr to a water rune used by many people of the world. This is an item that can be used to craft various things but shines when ites to promoting the growth of water affinity beings.''


    "This think definitely attributed to the kraken mother growing so fast andrge¡­I think the dragons will want to see this." Walker stored it away so that he could hold on to it. Part of him thought to give it to Current now, but he realized that it would be even better to make a statement at the royal court. "Actually, I think I will give this as a gift when we got to the royal dragon court. Current said that I need to show that I have a rtionship with the water dragons. This will make that very clear."


    "Agreed. I just wonder how this was missed. Maybe it was caught up in the waves for so long that no one noticed it roll through where. But if that''s the case, should we look for more?" Remey wanted to be sure that nothing like this would happen again.


    "Fleur, is there another like this around that you can sense?" Walker knew that Fleur was the best to rely on. Her senses of mana were much bater than anyone else in the entirety of the Genesis force. She could sense the way nature flowed to such a degree that Walker could only hope he would learn from her in the future.


    Fleur floated around in the water turning here and there. She eventually pulled on Walker''s floating hair toward arge cropping of coral and rock. "There''s more in this rock? I will mark it then." Walker used his high earth sculpting skill to make the rock in to a g shape. It was perfect to show that they would need to go back to it and clear it. Preventing another possible monster was very important.


    "My lord wishes to speak with you." Ciel had swum over in such silence while in his dragonkin form that Walker nearly jumped out of his skin. However, he had Fleur and Remey with him so he was able to bite his tongue and hold himself still.


    "I was going to wait until he had recovered. But I won''t dy anything. I want to tell him we will need help bringing this rock to the merfolk city. It''s part of what caused the mother to growrger. It can also help them rebuild." Ciel looked curious but turned away to swim back to Current.


    "You go, I will check with Su to see what needs to be done. Well, maybe I will check on Gil first." Remey didn''t even make a joke since Gil was so seriously worried. She knew that she might be able to help a little calm him down.


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 Chapter 1027 - 1027. Ulterior Motives

    The dragonkin warriors had made their way to where the elders were resting around Current. They were in defensive stances and did not even flinch when Walker came over. Midnight swam up to Walker before he had gotten any closer to the dragons. She had seen him going there and did not want him to be alone. She knew that it was part of her duty to be with him when he met with the dragons.


    "You do a good job. I saw you protecting Alice and Onyx. I will make sure we find something good to eat tonight." Midnight leaned in to Walker slightly to show her happiness in his praise. She had been working hard and her ws and scales were in need of a tough cleaning.


    "You seem to be well off. The battle was easier than I had nned. That demi-human was very powerful for her young age. I will invite her to my vige one day." Current sounded slightly tired but still stood up tall when Walker came. Neither were sure where Scy had gone but what they did know was that she and the leviathans had yed a major role in the battles.


    "The reinforcements we received definitely helped. I was expecting the rest of the force to join you but I saw you didn''t want anyone to take your victory." Walker was mentioning the use of Current''s mastery skill. It was enough to put some subtlepliment with the fact that they had used a lot of power.


    "You should witness it above the water. Or maybe you would never want to see such a thing." The light hearted attitude came from Current being happy that the threat had been removed. The kraken threat had brought stress to him and every dragon that remembered or had been educated on such past events. "Now, tell me, what was the cause of the mother krakens'' rapid growth." Even though Current had been tired from the battle he had still easily taken note that Walker was investigating the kraken nest.


    "Water geode. I marked a rock for the merfolk toe and im. It gave the kraken mother enough mana to grow fast and powerful. It also is why the kraken mother made her nest here. The geode in the nearby rock should be enough to help the merfolk rebuild better than before. I think it is a small cost for them to be able to recover and join the genesis alliance. I do need to say, I believe you may have inspired their mages more than you expect." Since Walker had put out the fact that the rock he found would go to the merfolk, Current could not argue it. If he did argue it then there would be tension between him and Walker potentially carrying over to the royal dragon court.


    "I am d that their mages have learned a way to properly respect dragons. I did not believe they had learned joint spells to such a level. I was very impressed. I believe there are two or three young ice dragons under me that could teach them wonderful things." In all honesty, Current was interested in the merfolk mages. It had been some time since he saw such cooperation and it would go to inspire his own warriors and elder dragons. "My dragons will be taking back the kraken body. We will use them for food for my viges. The spawn are free to be taken by any others."


    "I would rather see it go to you and the viges for good food. If we just left it here we could poison the ocean with rot." Fleur floated about with an approving look. The word rot was enough to make her show more emotion and get more animated. "Should I take it you will be leaving? Or will you stay around to keep an eye on things?" Walker expected Current to want to leave immediately.


    "I will remain to collect the rouge pearl owed to me. Then I will return to prepare for the royal dragon court. I rmend that you think ahead now before it is too close." There was a lot of hidden meaning in Current''s words. But Walker couldn''t take the time to look in to it. He had a lot more to do and looking back at the nest, he found something that needed his attention.


    "That sounds good to me. Then I will wish you a safe trip. I see that I need to go have a word with the tamers." Current also saw what Walker was focused on. If Walker had not spoken up he would have gone to deal with the issue himself. If Current had dealt with it though, there would be a lot of force used and it would be a very big scene.


    Midnight huffed slightly as they left. Ciel was in his dragonkin form and bowed his head slightly. It was a respectful gesture to another dragon champion. As serious and cold as Ciel appeared, Walker could tell that he was very caring. It was a sort of sense that he couldn''t exin but just knew from the depths of his being. There was just something in his eyes.


    "Now, we have to deal with the tamers. I knew they might have some ulterior motives since they came with such a force. But there is no way they are leaving here with any kraken eggs. A single one of them left can cause so much damage. It is not a monster to be tamed." Midnight mirrored Walker''s seriousness. They both knew the risks of letting a kraken leave here. Even if it was tamed, that did not mean it would be controlled. Even if it was controlled, the tamer would need to have very high morals to hold themselves back from potential evil.


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 Chapter 1028 - 1028. In Your Place!

    The merfolk had gone to their city and the aquatic forces that hade with Scy were gathered around where Walker assumed Scy was. The enforcers had joined the healing efforts and were guarding Alma with Gil. This left the golems who had moved toward the city because they were needed to assist the merfolk recover. The problem with all of this was that no one had stayed in the nest to watch the tamers.


    The tamers had been fully aware of this and were currentlybing the nest. Walker spotted them sifting through the broken remains of eggs and even digging in the sand. "It makes me pretty angry to see them trying to find a kraken egg when they can see just how much damage that has been done." Walker was speaking to Fleur who could feel what he felt. Nature was a cycle, Fleur could feel this in her existence. But that did not mean she enjoyed the death of other creatures even though it was the way of the world. She was looking at the city and could feel the sorrow that the merfolk felt.


    Fleur pulled some natural mana around her and mirrored Walker''s anger. He knew it would be harsh but he was going to make sure that no tamer took an egg and that the remainder were destroyed no matter what. "What are your tamers doing?" This was the only chance that Walker was giving the man with the ghostly prawns. If he did not fix this then Walker was going to use his mana to enforce the rules that were set.


    "Just cleaning up. You know how it is. We are sure that some of the kraken spawn bodies and eggs can be fed to our monsters for sustenance and to make them more powerful." The casual brush off from the man leading the other tamers made Walker ready to snap.


    "So you are saying that the digging in the sand for the undamaged eggs and that tamer right there that has an undamaged egg in front of him are not trying to take them away and tame them?" Piercing gazes from Fleur and Walker were followed by Midnight growling softly. It would have been enough to scare anyone from going against them if they hadmon sense. But it was all too clear that the tamers around were thinking with greed instead of with their logic.


    "They are just a few eggs. They could do a lot for the world." The slight chuckle came with the tamer walking away.


    "Yes, they could do a lot. They could consume cities. They could ughter races. They could turn the world in to a barren wastnd." Walker''s anger had hit a pique causing the tamers to look at him. "If every single egg is not destroyed I will imprison every single tamer here and have the entirety of the tamers'' guild removed from Genesis, the city of diamond, the demi-human cities, the merfolk cities, and the forest elf city. If this is not enough for you then I will allow my fellow royal dragon Current to educate you in the dangers of the kraken species!"


    Mana flowed through the water and Walker''s eternal orb formed in to a staff yet again. The water elemental mana reacted with the natural mana that Fleur was pulling towards them. Walker was willing the salt water to freeze would them in a massive dome. It was an incredible amount of mana that was only possible with Fleur''s assistance. Midnight topped everything off by roaring with all of her might. The cracks that spiderwebbed through the frozen saltwater from her roar were enough to chill every tamer and their monsters to the bone.


    Fear flowed through the water and caused many tamers to instantly begin to chop at the eggs with any weapons they had. The monsters they had tamed were not foolish and followed suit. The man that led the tamers that had been sent stood on the sandy bottom frozen in fear. "Do you not understand the weight of my words? I want every single egg destroyed. The kraken will destroy our world if we let them. I will not allow it!"


    There was part of Walker that wanted to be light hearted and calm. Yet, the more he thought on the kraken spawn returning with more than one mother kraken, he could not be calm. This was a matter of safety for every race. These tamers were risking many loves just for a powerful partner in battle.


    "Now that is an interesting way to keep someone in line. I wanted toe and speak with you now that everyone is calming down. It also makes my lord a little more at ease knowing that one of his elders is able toe and keep an eye on things." Walker stopped his mana from freezing the saltwater. It quickly began to revert back to its liquid state. Fleur moved to examine Adair since she was very curious about the pure water elemental mana that seemed to flow about her.


    "Sorry for showing such an ugly side around you. I couldn''t let this happen again."


    "No, that was the right decision. These tamers are not following the orders that I heard them speaking about. They were told to listen to the heroes no matter the order. They are tantly ignoring their guild masters'' orders because of their own ego. This is the problem with such loose restrictions. I will pay a visit on my way home, I want to check up on that little dragon in the caves." Adair smirked seeing that Walker was stunned about her knowing that the guild master had a tamed dragon. "Of course, we know. That dragon was without family. How could we take a wild dragon from someone that cared for it? It would have never survived in a vige if we stole it away and gave it to a pure earth dragon."


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 Chapter 1029 - 1029. Adairs Backing

    There was so much that Walker wanted to ask from Adair. But he knew from the look on her face that she wouldn''t be sharing anything further. Yes, she had just shared some secrets of the dragon court but nothing too major. It just shed away some of the harsh strict rulings and brought to light some of the kindness that was hidden behind their pride. Even a dragon that had no family or connection to the viges would be protected to a degree if they were in a good ce.


    "I find it very disappointing that tamers would risk such danger. I thought for a long time that the tamers we invited to our viges were upstanding people. A guild that could bring many races together. I would hate to be proven wrong. It would go against my pride as a dragon." The soft growl from Adair made the water vibrate before she turned back to Walker. "I hope that helped a little."


    "I think it helped more than you believe." Walker watched as one of the electrified eels used electricity to fry a small group of intact eggs. The tamers had emptied themselves of anything they attempted to bury and hide. There was just enough fear to make them own up to anything wrong that they were going to do.


    The threat to remove them from cities was massive. They had already heard of the heroes that made an entire city possible. That had gone to every race near them and brought them together. The heroes that had risen from such a low level to throw their ideals around and spur change. They may not have been the most powerful beings in the world, but they had the voice to reach kings.


    "Sir hero, my leader has stepped back. Please feel free to give your orders to me for the time being. Just call me J. I am a sand worm tamer." The man had a single sand colored worm wrapped around his arm. The small tendril like fins constantly moved on the creature.


    ''Hatchling sandworm


    This is a monster that grows hidden from the naked eye. It possesses amazing camouge and had been known to utilize the water and earth elemental mana to attack. They are able to grow a hundred feet long and have been found to live in shipwrecks due to their ideal hiding ces. They actually have very sharp teeth hidden in their mouths to drill through their prey.''


    "Then I will do so. Please move the tamers to the merfolk city. I will finish the check of this area. I expect you to report personally to your guild master and report every detail exactly as it happened. My friend here will bending at your guild headquarters before you arrive to speak with the guild master as well." Adair smiled showing her sharper teeth and the man named J just nodded vigorously.


    "I will be sure to do so. Please allow me to help in any way. Move to the city to assist with clean up efforts. I want to see everyone working until they can''t work any longer. Make sure you get your amulets refilled with mana!" The orders went out and every single tamer moved as if a fire had been lit under them.


    "Huh, I didn''t even notice the amulets they wore. They must be what helps them breathe underwater. I wonder if I can get one of those made for my party." Walker spoke idly as he realized his adrenalin was long gone and he was feeling tired.


    "I''m sure you can find them in the merfolk city. They happen to provide them to most tourists. That is if they survived the attack. I do think they would wee the gold though." Adair knew it would take more than working bodies to get the merfolk city back to its glory. They would need materials and gold to pay for them. If Walker bought something here and there then they would be able to build back just a little faster.


    "I will have to help build their economy then. Feel like checking this area with Midnight, Fleur, and I?" Adair nodded and started in on the nest with them. They had some serious looking to do.


    "Gil, any improvements on representative Alma?" The enforcers had bonded with Gil and he had heavily leaned on them to just call him Gil. They had no problem following his orders after seeing the look that Alma had given them when he had asked days ago.


    "She is looking a lot better. She used way too much mana. I know she was worried and wanted to help but I need to lecture her after this. Of all the people to be so reckless. I expect this from Remey and Walker¡­" Gil shook his head while looking at Alma again. Alice was still singing nearby but he was still worried. Alma was still asleep after using so much mana at once.


    "Gil, you are pale and sweating. If you don''t sit down and drink this mana potion I will get Remey to force it down your throat. Trust me, If the person I like was here like this I would be the same as you." Su was calm as a rock but she wasn''t so stupid as to believe Gil would listen to her if she did not show she rted to him. She didn''t lie though. She would have felt fairly worried of a certain musician was on his back unconscious after a brutal battle as well.


    "I know. I just need to breathe." The enforcers also visibly rxed after Su gave them a few looks and forced mana and healing potions in to their hands. They may not have been injured but they needed the time to rest and focus their minds. Everyone did.


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 Chapter 1030 - 1030. Scyllas Favor

    "He really needs to rx. He is going to perry himself sick." Remey was shaking her head while watching Gil pace around in the water. He had barely listened to her and Su when they told him to sit down and just breathe.


    "It''s someone he cares about. If it was one of us he would be acting the same way." Su was right but that didn''t make Remey any happier.


    "Alice, are you doing alright? Do you need a break?" Since Alice was still singing in the middle of the injured, Remey knew that she was burning through her mana fairly fast. The slight nod from Alice was not enough to make Remey back off though. "The other healers are working hard and the major injuries are healed. My potions are also doing the work. If you don''t rest then you will end up just like Alma who needs to rest for some time." It felt rude speaking this way to Alice but this was a habitual tone Remey had learned through raising her orphaned siblings.


    "Don''t worry, she will stop in a minute. Walker ising this way with Adair." Su saw the two walking over looking pleased with their actions. "I saw you had to be very strict just now." As much as Su didn''t like the risk of confrontation, she recognized that the actions Walker took were necessary.


    "Oh, we did. It was quite exciting. Those tamers are very foolish. I have to make a stop on my way back to the vige because of them." Adair had a slight sneaky smile while speaking and shaking her own head.


    "They were going to try and take a kraken egg or two away. There was no way we could let that happen." Walker took the mana potion that Su held to him and drank it after speaking. Alice stopped her singing just as Su had told Remey she would. Onyx on the other hand slithered over and shrank himself to be his tattoo form. Walker could feel the exhaustion that was taking ce as Onyx rxed from the stress. He had pushed himself much more to help Alice and defend against anything that darede near them. "Rest well." The whisper didn''t get a response but Walker knew Onyx heard it.


    "OI think we should go and check on Scy. Then we can move those unconscious toward the city. That would make things a lot easier for the clean up efforts too." With Su''s guidance, Walker did just that. He could still see the demi-human forces gathered nearby and was still curious about Scys'' condition.


    As he swam over he gathered the looks from many of the demi-humans but was soon looking at the group part for him toe toward the center. Sitting in the center was a tired looking Scy surrounded by the leviathan she was partnered with. They had shrunk down yet again in to the form they would hide away in. "Ha, I know I''m a sight to see like this." This drastic change in Scy was very different from the way she would normally act.


    "I would say you look no worse than some of the others over there. The barbs from one of the tentacles got you, hm?" Walker could see therge scratch on Scy''s arm. She had tried to hide it but it was not something she could easily do. Before she could argue Walker had forced a healing potion in to her other hand and used a light heal spell on her. Scy had been stopping her soldiers from helping her since she was too proud, but she could not stop Walker who didn''t follow the normal actions of a soldier.


    The demi-human aquatic forces gave Walker looks of respect and honor. They knew that he had done what they couldn''t convince Scy of and were d. She had long trained with them and fought beside them when necessary. This was just another battle that they did not want to see her harmed in. This wasn''t just a surface level respect. This was years and years of respect to build a caring loyalty to a general they would never abandon.


    "I need to ask you something." Scy had bitten her tongue and drank the healing potion she had been handed. She then stared right in to Walker''s eyes with extreme focus.


    "Just say the word and I will make sure I do my best. But you need to rest or I won''t help." This was just a bluff since Scy was tired she didn''t pay it any mind. She knew what Walker was asking of her was for the best and not because he wanted to use her for anything.


    "I can feel myst partner. It''s in that city and I need to find it. You know what I mean and you know the importance. I don''t want to cause too many problems but I know that if you go in you may be able to figure things out." The rtionship between Scy and her leviathans was more than just a taming bond. It was something that they had since birth. Their souls were one as far as she and they were concerned. Being able to sens thest of their partners was easy. But getting them together was the challenge.


    "You have my word that I will search that city to the best of my ability." Walker knew exactly how serious this was and why. He turned his gaze to the ruined merfolk city and nodded. "I need the rest of your forces to help transport injured in to the city. Do you think they can manage? I would say they are the best off inparison to all the forces that joined together." It was not a lie. The demi-humans were simr to the merfolk. They were more ustomed to the water and had better handled the battle.


    "All troops. Escort the injured and set up a medic camp outside the front gates!" The order went out and the action was instant.


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 Chapter 1031 - 1031. Crumbling Coral

    The effort to move everyone that was injured or unconscious was simple. It only took a few hours to have a proper medic area set up so that the healers could work efficiently and set up their own resting rotation. Alice gave in to Remey and Walker and found her own spot to rest. Gil still wouldn''t leave Alma''s side so Walker just let him be. He knew that Gil was dead set on making sure Alma woke up safe and sound. It wasn''t a surprise that the enforcers were one and the same.


    Once everything had been settled, Remey had taken the chance to go and explore the outskirts of the merfolk city of Trident with a few of the demi-human forces. They were sure that they wouldn''te across anything dangerous but it was still better to have a patrol just in case of the worst case.


    Su had remained steady with her desire to help the injured, For the battle healers she was basically one of them just without the healing skills. But since Su had learned what was needed for certain injuries they had the perfect supporter for them. Su also still had a lot of energy. It wasn''t because she had not given the battle her all, it came down to her pure mental strength.


    This left Adair and Midnight who were heading in to the merfolk city with Walker. "These walls will need to be remade. But that shouldn''t be any issue for the mages here." Adair pinched part of the coral wall and watched as it crumbled. The kraken spawn had feasted on the living corals which caused them to perish. Therefore, the wall was crumbling away and would need a lot of new growth.


    "I know the walls can be remade, I''m more worried about the `homes." The gate was barely even a gate anymore. As they swam through they could see the damaged row of market shops and storage buildings. Here and there were some bones from food stores and even some broken shells from the living ms brought in for food. "It looks like the golems bypassed this area and went right to the homes. I wonder if they will stay to clean this."


    Walker was more speaking his thoughts out loud while walking through the broken market than anything. His head was on a swivel since he knew there could be some danger still hiding away in the city. But this wasn''t looking to be an issue. Manby merfolk had alreadybed through the market since it was the first ce they entered their city. The coral bunkers were close to the towers where the homes were.


    "I was justing to find you. My father would like to speak with you and your.. Fellow dragons." Leon was not sure if this was the proper way to put it and had hesitated for a moment.


    "Yes, lord Walker is a fellow dragon. He is a royal dragon to be specific. I am an elder, Adair, I will receive the rouge pearl on behalf of my lord. Show us the way." Adair had changed her attitude as soon as Leon came over. She was a lot less rxed and was acting the way a dragon was expected to. As much as Walker wanted to just remain rxed he knew that he now held a responsibility to do the same as Adair to a degree.


    Midnight was surprisingly silent to the point that Walker was looking behind him in worry that she had wandered off. But he found that she was carefully examining the broken buildings. It appeared that she was taking what Scy had said to an even heavier degree. She wanted to help Scy just as much as Walker did but she had given it her undivided attention since Walker needed to handle other things as well.


    It was not long before Leon had brought them through the market and to one of the fallen coral towers. "This is one of the entrances to the coral bunkers underneath the sand. It may not be the most luxurious ce in the world, but it is safe and where we will be operating from until the city has been better repaired." This made sense since it was the safest ce for the merfolk to be until they were able to repair what had been broken and put their own patrols back in to ce.


    The small surprise was that there were perfect stairs carved out of coral when the merfolk could swim. It was clear that the passageways had been made with potential guests in mind. This was a small fact that made the merfolk even more weing to other races. It was also why some merchants would go out of their way toe to the city and deal with them directly.


    The walls around them eventually expanded in to arge chamber where many merfolk were set up. Some had made bedding areas and others had set up close to the ceiling to sleep. But in the center was a vibrant coral throne with some of the few pieces of living coral shining brightly.


    "Wee to the city of Trident. I wish it was in better condition. You have aided my people in the rescue efforts we desperately needed. I have taken the items as rewards which you have requested from our city vaults." King Aaron motioned and two boxes were brought to Walker and Adair, one each. Walker stored it away while Adair took it in her hand.


    "It will take some time for us to rebuild but you will have the merfolk people''s support in your Genesis city effort. We can only attempt to bring more value to the new alliance that has shown just how important it will be to the world." These words affirmed everything that Walker wanted the Genesis alliance to be.


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 Chapter 1032 - 1032. The Leviathan

    "Know that the Genesis alliance will wee you when you are able to send a representative to sit at our table. I will personally request that trade routes are made to travel through the river for your city to have ess." Walker was sure that this would be the most agreeable way for the merfolk to travel between here and genesis city.


    "I will have my people patrol the mads near the river when the timees. I expect that the demi-humans and the tamers will also shoulder some of the opposability. But that can be discussed at ater time." King Aaron was already trying to see ahead. He knew that it would take some months to properly fix and grow their city of coral. Yet, he also knew that there would be able to gain from the new alliance with Genesis.


    "I shall take my leave. There are viges to run and we can not leave for such a long time. My lord has decided to leave some of our dragonkin warriors here to patrol the area. They will focus solely on exterminating the few kraken spawn that may still be around." As all of them knew, there were kraken spawn that had not been in the direct area during the fight. Even now it was easy to say that some of them would be attracted to the remains of the other kraken spawn and the mother.


    Walker watched as Adair left the bunker without another word. It was easy for her to walk away and leave Walker standing there. She did wish that she could stay and see what the party did but t was not part of her current duty. "On another note, I wonder what you may know about leviathans? Specifically one that is in this city." Since Scy had asked Walker about this, he was going to do his best. Asking the king of the city would be the best way to make progress at first.


    "There are some monsters held here in the coral bunkers. But they are not for the general people to worry about. They are lept for the taming of merfolk tamers and mages. They will help our people risee the right system user." King Aaron brushed off Walker''s question as if it was nothing. This was the difference between their standing in the king''s eyes.


    Since the merfolk had stuck to themselves and only heard little about the surface, they did not have the same opinions of the hero title holders or the journeys they had been on. For them, these were just grand stories that had been blown up by travelers. It was the same with any story. Many people believed the merfolk to be the same as the sirens on rocky reefs in the oceans. This was just a misconception but enough to make the merfolk hold some distaste whenpared to monsters.


    "The leviathan I am looking for can never be tamed. It is already part of someone''s soul since birth. If you can not show it to me and allow me to bring it to that person then I will have to go looking for myself." This was a t out threat. Walker didn''t see any reason to beat around the bush. King Aaron was stressed and focused on his people, which was eptable. Yet, do brush Walker off in such a way after he had helped them bring the Genesis alliance here was worse than a p to the face.


    "My king. I believe we should give the hero a chance. He has proven his loyalty to life and the safety of our people through his actions. If need be I will stand beside him every step." As Leon stepped in, King Aaron seemed to have lost the words he was about to shout. The look of annoyance and stress was all too clear.


    "You will take him and that demi-human general. They are not to take anything from the best cages. If they dare harm anything then they will be signing their death warrants." King Aaron red daggers at Walker and Midnight.


    "Midnight, go and get Scy. Tell her we are going to find her partner." Midnight swam off as fast as she could. She knew the gravity of the situation and also knew just how much faster she was able to swim.


    Since king Aaron was done speaking to them he waved over his attendants to begin putting out orders. There was a lot to do and he didn''t have the time to focus on Walker at the moment. "You really tried to fight my father. You know that the trident he holds was made by the very first merfolk king and that''s why the city was named Trident, right? Every single king has added their mana in to it and made it more powerful."


    "I was wondering about that. I saw him attack and slice through those kraken spawn as if they were nothing. It was even better than your spear." As far as Walker knew the trident in king Aaron''s grasp was one of the most powerful weapons he had ever seen. The pure water elemental mana that radiated from it demanded attention.


    "My spear is nothingpared to the trident. I was given this so that I may train the skills necessary to one day wield the trident. It is a weapon reserved for the king and only the king to wield. The only others I have ever seen wield smaller tridents were the armored merfolk. Unfortunately, they are a rare addition to my people." Leon seemed to be sad about this. He had grown up seeing said armored merfolk but it became less and less through the years. The pair stood chatting about such things until Midnight gave a soft roar to get Walker''s attention again.


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 Chapter 1033 - 1033. Whole

    "I assumed you wanted me toe here? I couldn''t do much when a little dragon was pulling at my robes." Scy was looking a little disheveled having been dragged along by Midnight. She couldn''t tell what was going on so suddenly but had hope it was what she had asked of Walker.


    "I spoke with the king. There are beast cages in the coral bunkers here. One may have the leviathan we are searching for." The light in Scy''s eyes seemed to focus as Walker said this. She nced back and forth between Leon and Walker waiting to hear more.


    "Follow me. Please do not touch anything. My father is very tense right now and I would hate for him to make enemies." Leon knew that Walker was in no mood to fool around with politics. The attitude of his father had already pushed away the hero he had pleaded with for assistance. Now Leon had to keep hold of the rtionship to make sure the future was still as bright as he felt it would be.


    Some merfolk with ded shell spears were standing guard at a closed doorway. They had already been told to allow them through and opened the strong coral door for them. "Stay close. Not many enter here without permission." Since Leon was using the utmost care, Walker and Scy followed the same actions. Midnight waszily swimming behind them sniffing the water. Her unique position as a true dragon champion had allowed her to smell the water the same as the air. She had caught on to this and had not stopped getting a sense of this new realization.


    The feeling of the water in this passageway was much colder than they had expected. There were also slight rumbling sounds from below them as they descended. Colorful coral grew on the ceiling giving them a pink and blue colored light that gave them sight. "Not many havee down here. We often capture rare and powerful monsters to be tamed by our people. There are some systems that are unique to merfolk. One such system allows the control of underwater monsters. It is simr to a tamer but also very different."


    "So you and your people spend the time to trap them and feed them until they are controlled." Walker did not like the sound of this. However, he was sure that the tamers also had such practices. That didn''t mean it was good for the monster thought. Midnight could easily have been one of those monsters if others had found her before the party had.


    "It is not as bad as it sounds. There are monsters like the goliath blue crab which could have grown and destroyed the city. Now it is under the control of one of our unique soldiers. They have guided it to protect the city from manyrge ocean monsters. It also helps deter the other goliath red crabs froming near the city." The goliath red carb was a monster that lived very deep in the oceans. For the merfolk to have control over one in the shallow waters they lived in was very impressive.


    "How do youe by some of these monsters? Do you raise them or just force them in to submission?" Scy was fearing that she would find thest leviathan partner harmed and barely able to join her.


    "Some need force, others are lured with food. We have others that just seem to care less about where they go. I hate to say it, but one of those that don''t seem to care is the leviathan we found. From what I know it was drifting in the water not eating, not swimming, just drifting with a dead look in its eyes." Leon did not notice it but Walker clearly saw Scy clench her fists.


    Bars of ck coral came in to view and Walker found they were in a room many timesrger than the higher floors of the coral bunker. "These are the beast cages. They were made many years ago when this was but a small cave within the natural coral. That is the crab I was speaking about before. There are also two giant sandworms, a lionfish, and that over there, is what you wish to see."


    Scy pushed off the ground and sawm with all her might directly to the bars of a darker cage. The light was dull there since the coral had been torn off the ceiling. "I am sorry I could not find you. The oceans finally brought you home." The other leviathans swam from Scy and started to open their mouths in a silent hissing. Scy reached a hand through the bards of ck coral.


    The water in the beast cages shifted and churned. Small pieces of coral and rock were kicked up around them. Walker could sense the mana around them growing denser. There even seemed to be a breeze through the water even though there shouldn''t be one in the water. "I know you felt empty. I know that you have been iplete. We are here now. Do not feel pain any longer."


    Part of Walker felt that he was witnessing something he was not meant to see. This was more than just Scy''s feelings. This was her very being on disy. The mana that was around them was hers. The water and wind affinity she had was powerful enough t cause the surrounding mana to vibrate and react.


    Arge head came in to view and cold eyes looked right at Scy. The staring contestssted only a second before the dead look in the eyes of the massive leviathan became energetic and mana began to leave Scy and travel to the leviathan. The size of the leviathan became less and less until it was the same as the others. It slipped through the ck coral bars and wrapped around Scy with the other leviathans. Scy was smiling just slightly before she started to slowly fall to the sand. "That''s not something I believe I have ever seen in my life." The stunned Leon just watched as Walker and Midnight retrieved Scy to carry her somewhere she could rest properly.


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 Chapter 1034 - 1034. Leons Thanks

    "Do you think there will be any problems with Scy taking back this leviathan?" Walker didn''t want any problems. However, he knew that this leviathan was the same as telling Scy she would have to remain there locked up as well. The two were just the same as anyone else but closer. Their very souls were connected and to say they were different beings would not be true.


    "No. My father may be stressed and is trying to show that he is a powerful and stable leader. But he would not stop something like this. I can exin it to him in private. This was not what he was thinking would happen in the least." Leon would do his best to exin what had happened. But he knew for sure that his father had assumed Scy would be taming the leviathan and not bing whole by bounding with it.


    "I don''t know if it is my ce to say this or not. But Scy is a very unique traited demi-human. She was named after the ancient monster Scy and has a very simr state of being. These leviathan wrapped around her share a soul with her. They are basically part of who she is and without them she isn''t a whole being. She has been searching the world for thest one that was born at the same time as her for a very long time. She could sense it in the city though, so she asked me to help. It was actually very lucky that it was kept in your beat cages. I''m very excited to see her in her full strength."


    Leon pondered this for a moment and eventually opened his mouth to speak again. "We have had some simr merfolk born with close connections to monsters. I can''t say that they are connected in the same way but there are merfolk born that can bond with the pink seahorses very well. They often be seahorse riders or even breeders. Even before their system shows they have a way with them." This was easily understandable. Walker had heard this about some tamers and other professions as well. There were sometimes signs of what system someone would have and that would guide them to try certain things. But again, this all came through experimenting with different things.


    "Thank you. I know it may not be said outright. So, thank you. You could have left us to deal with these things by ourselves and I know that if the dragons had not pledged their time to exterminate the kraken we may not have gained the help we needed. But I can''t just swim here without me saying it¡­" Leon had felt this would be the only time to properly ry how he felt to Walker.


    "My party would havee no matter what. If someone is in trouble I would like to think that we will run there as soon as we are able. We may have gotten the hero title by rescuing some fellow adventurers when we were not qualified at all. I even gained a skill that I will never use again, it''s too dangerous. But to me, that title didn''te from the actions we took. The titles came from who we are deep down and who we strive to be in the future." This was how Walker felt deep down. If the party did not hold the correct values he knew that the system and the world would never reward a title.


    The two continued to carry Scy out to the medical area in silence while thinking about what they had said. Midnight had respectfully stayed silent and just bobbed her head when Walker had spoken. Now that they had moved all the way back out to the main gate, Scy was swarmed by the demi-human forced she brought with her. "Stay calm. She is just too tired and needs rest. She found what she needed though, let me know when she wakes up." Walker didn''t believe that Scy would remain asleep for long. She was powerful and could easily recover from the battle even though she had been gued by a wound on her arm.


    "I will return. I think it will be better for my father to take the lead on this and work toward rebuilding alone. Merfolk are proud people. We are the only race that fights the ocean for a living. But I am sure our representative will arrive sooner than you believe." Leon was sure that his father would ask for help once he had swallowed his pride and gotten a hold of the situation.


    "Then we will not wait around. Just make sure youe and visit Genesis soon so I can learn to beat you using the spear." Walker managed to get one smile out of Leon before he swam off back the king.


    "You look like you are happy." Walker nced at Su who hade over when he had gotten through the gate.


    "Yes, Midnight and I were able to get Scy what she needed. Adair is heading home along with the other dragons. The merfolk will send a representative to Genesis, and It appeared the dwarven golems will stay since they want to solidify their trade future with the merfolk. U would say this has all ended much better than expected." Walker couldn''t say it any other way. It had all gone much more smoothly since so many people came to help. It was a true testament of how powerful Genesis was already.


    "And, Alma woke up. She told the tamers to leave when she heard they had looked for kraken eggs in the nest. You should have seen her. Gil had to hold her back." This was an amusing thought that Walker could hardly imagine. But looking at Su''s face he knew that she was holding backughter because it had actually happened.


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 Chapter 1035 - 1035. Incoming Threat

    "So Gil is finally resting"'' Walker found that Gil had fallen asleep leaning against a piece of coral. His quiver was his pillow and his snoring was a little louder than Walker could remember.


    "Yes, my enforcers are also resting. I told them all that they didn''t need to force themselves to stay awake and that I was fine. But it means a lot." Alma was still sluggish from her repetitive travel and high mana use. But she seemed more at peace than he ever had been.


    "I heard that you almost took a bite out of the tamers?" The question was enough to make Alma scowl.


    "You know I tried. They could have made this happen all over again. If they did that they would have made enemies of the dragons for sure and ruined the future of multiple kingdoms that had supported the tamers'' guild. The nerve they have. I also heard that you got pretty strict with them. Kicking every tamer''s guild member out of the city even though you have friends there. That''s harsh." The scowl turned in to a weing nod. Alma felt that Walker had handled the tamer''s actions much better than she would have.


    "It was a bluff. There was no way that every single kingdom would push them away. Although, if that meant making an enemy of the dragons¡­well, things may have gone my way." This was true. The dragons were powerful and well respected. The fact that they could take on monsters many times their size and leave unscathed was proof of this.


    "While I was resting, what happened?" Alma had been given a report by the enforcers but had wanted more opinions. Su and Remey had already stopped to speak with her and Midnight was currently checking up on her while Walker spoke.


    "Nothing much. The tamers were dealt with. The dragons left. King Aaron will handle things for now and send a representative to Genesis. Scy is resting as well but I think she will leave for her home soon after. But part of me thinks she will be sent as a representative for Genesis. Anyone else that they send won''t have the same rtionship with the city after this."


    "And that means a coliseum that my enforcers will need to battle in. I will prepare myself for that." Alma jumped right to that conclusion making Walker believe she had guessed Scy''s character much better than he first expected. "You know you should be checking on Gil and not me, Right?'' Alma teased Midnight a little but was just met with a soft huff showing that Midnight knew well that Gil was fine and she had worried about Alma as well.


    "You know, he really lost it a little when you passed out and started to float in to the razor whip weed you grew. Leon came to help him but Gil still pushed himself pretty far. I''ve never seen him firing arrows that fast. I don''t even know what ones he managed to use." Walker could clearing remember the actions that Gil had taken. It was a muscle memory movement for Gil to fire arrows in session. But using his skills so fast was more than that. He had fully focused every movement and every single arrow his fingers touched.


    "I know. My enforcers reported to me that he was well above their level of skill. I have never heard of a human being a better archer than an elf. Any elf. I believe he can do much more though. He still doesn''t have a mastery skill yet. He might beat me to a mastery skill at his rate. I hope he does though. He deserved to discover it. I know it won''t be the same as the other arcane marksmen that the forest elves have had in our history. He will be totally different." Alma''s eyes zed over while she thought about this deeply. She was certain of every word she said.


    "He will be the best. I would never stay with someone who was not going to improve beyond the limits set for them." Zephyr seemed to struggle through the water as she popped up behind Walker and next to Fleur.


    "That''s good to know. But should you be out of the bow like this?" Walker did worry that Zephyr would be negatively impacted by the water.


    "It''s fine. I am just checking on everything. I need sleep too you know. His arrows don''t fly so fast without my wind guiding them a little." Zephyr poked Walker on the cheek before moving back to the bow strung on Gil''s back.


    "I still can''t believe he had a grand wind spirit with a name by his side. I can''t believe my queen didn''t drag him all the way to the forest and make him an honorary elf." Almaughed a little at her own joke before settling back in her spot. "Once Everyone rests we will head back to Genesis. I want to see what we can build there. But for now, I will dream about it."


    Walker left Alma to her rest and didn''t bother Gil. Resting sounded like the best course of action. He could feel his own weary body along with sense Midnight losing her own energy. "Su, let''s get some rest. Everything is covered here. Everyone is safe. We can leave in a while." Walker made a small camp for them. Remey soon returned and joined them for a snack and a chance toy her head down.


    ( In a dimly lit room)


    "The merfolk are alive and the ocean is not infested with the kraken!? How pathetic. A mindless beast can not even deal with some small fish. Greed, if you can take their new city it will be yours. Just kill them before you take their bodies and mana." The growl prompted an albino and sickly looking demon to grin.


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 Chapter 1036 - 1036. Leaving Trident

    "I''m telling you. I have so many different herb seeds and ingredients that I could create our own underwater farm." This was how excited Remey was when she had presented all the herbs she had picked to Walker.She had woken up well before everyone else and joined a few of the more weing merfolk to patrol.


    The merfolk had been hard at work alongside the dwarven golems. Every single able bodied merfolk was helping. Even children were swimming about moving rubble and sending letters for material requests. The merfolk were recovering much faster than expected and the mages they had were already moving around to try and use their water elemental magic to heal the living coral.


    "Yes, that''s great. But how will you grow them? Don''t they need salt water and a lot of care?" Gil had woken up and saw off Alma with the enforcers. They had taken some time since the enforcers now trusted Gil to the very depths of their being. Even Alma had been surprised when they knelt to him and thanked him for his unmatched defense effort during the battle.


    "I already invited three merfolk herbalists. They said that they were nning toe to Genesis since they had lost their apothecary shop. Since they didn''t do much business here before, they don''t see the point in rebuilding and just going along the same path as before." Remey was pretty smug, to say the least.


    "Well, that sounds very good for the alchemy guild. I hope they work out well." Su was sitting with Midnight and enjoying the rest of their breakfast. She had slept the longest out of all of the party showing that she had been hiding her exhaustion.


    "They are staying here." Alice had finished meeting with the battle healers that hade with her. They had decided to stay with the merchant guards and remain with the merfolk to help the injured. It was hard for Alice not to stay as well but she knew well that her duty was to the new cathedral in Genesis. The battle healers needed a proper home toe back to after they had done their part.


    "I think we should head out soon then. I will try and talk to Scy quickly before we head out. I have the map that Leon sent along to us. It''s going to be a tough swim back." The smaller group would mean that it was harder for everyone to get back. The party would not be able to easily break through any currents and fight off any curious monsters still around after the kraken spawn came through.


    "Who says you will be leaving alone? Y forces will be taking another sweep through the river back home. That means you are alling with me. There''s no arguing about this since you were able to hold to my favor." Scy hade up behind Walker with the entire demi-human forced behind her. They were all standing and floating at the ready. Just because they had already cleared an area did not mean they would rx and expect no issues.


    "My forces will also be helping to set up ake for the merfolk to have easy trade ess. Along with my people as well." Scy had a lot of weight due to her being a general for the demi-human kingdom. This meant that she was not just throwing around some idle words. This would happen and be a major contribution to Genesis.


    "That would be a very good thing for trade and for travel." Walker knew it would make things more than easy for the aquatic trait demi-humans along with the merfolk. Scy was not doing something small by any means.


    "It''s the least I can do after fighting beside these people. I would not mind seeing them again. Though they attempted to tame us, They still fed and cared for us." The leviathan that she had bonded with swam from her sleeve and slowly grew in size above them. "Now let me repay you ever so slightly. Once I fully understand who I am now that I am whole, I will show you all something amazing." For some reason, Walker and everyone else felt slight fear about this.


    "How surprised will They be when we beat them back. This is great!" Gil was happier than anyone else. He would be able to surprise Alma by being back at the city before her and the enforcers had returned.


    "Thank you very much. A ride to the river is more than we had expected." Su was all too polite which made Scy stand awkwardly. She had still not gotten used to the polite way that Su spoke but still liked it regardless.


    "That means I can set up my herbs faster and preserve them better." Scy, you are going to make a great impact on my herb farming." Since Remey was so energetic, Scy brightened up even more and copied Remey''s actions. The two were bouncing off the sand with fighting energy before Walker could take them down.


    Midnight let out a soft growl which Walker understood without Onyx having to trante. "You can''t swim faster than a leviathan. They literally are born in the water and are built to swim in it. They can even swim through the air sometimes." The response was a louder growl. "Yes yes, you will be able to fly through the air one day. I know." Walker gave her a hard look and Midnight finally backed down. But that wasn''t before she got him to offer up a piece of horned rabbit jerky.


    Alice took a spot on the leviathans back right next to Scy. There was some hushed whispering and Walker watched as Alice sang softly to help heal Scy''s arm more. It had not perfectly healed yet but it was close. Just another two or three days and it would be back to the perfect state it had been before. "Now, let''s check that river one more time," Scy ordered everyone to move and the merfolk city was soon disappearing in the blue of the ocean.


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 Chapter 1037 - 1037. One Day Off

    Walker could wish all her wanted that the ride on the leviathan through the water was smooth. Ut it just wasn''t. The water that pushed against their faces was brutal and forced him to use his mana to force it to move around them more. This made it much more tiring of a journey. However, he could not lie and say that it was not fast and efficient.


    There were many times that Scy swam up behind them to help one of them hold on. Midnight had fully learned the difference between her and the leviathan swimming in the water. But what really made the party impressed was that the demi-human soldiers were able to remain close to them. They were still a ways back but the distance was much closer than the party would have guessed.


    By the time they had slowed and stopped, Scy was all smiles looking at the party. She knew well that she had tested Walker''s mental endurance. "That was some good resistance training. My other half needed to get out and stretch after being caged up for so long. We are all going to train a little." There seemed to be a profound joy around Scy that they couldn''t argue with.


    Since he didn''t want to bring down the mood, Walker just went with it. "I had some decent training holding off the water pressure. Any faster and I would have been knocked off and in to the currents."


    "Well, I was knocked off and so was everyone else. So next time you should increase your magic a little." Gil was teasing more than anything but Walker could still see that everyone was fairly tired again. For some reason though, Alice looked very aplished. Walker could only think that it was because she had used this to train her own mental strength. She was a songstress. It was not often that she would use her physical strength and have to keep herself focused on it.


    "It just means you should train more. I can''t wait to see what you do while I am away reporting to my king." Scy felt that the world was about to change. It was mostly the fact that she was now whole but that simple fact had made her much more open and expectant of the future.


    "Oh, we will be. Just be ready. Maybe next time I can punch through a mountain. Or I will have a potion that boosts agility." Remey had her own wild ideas that would drag her down a rabbit hole of constant rambling if Su wasn''t fast to interject.


    "Thank you for the help getting to the river mouth. We will follow the roundabout trail back to genesis this time. I believe we do not have any reason to rush through the swampnds." Su''s thoughts were the same. They now had the time to slowly head back through the trails that most merchants would take. This would expand their minds when it came to the ces they had traveled and also let them rx a little. She was also nning on stopping Walker from epting any quests. This was a good time for Alice to take the time and learn a few things without any pressure. Her words also ended the conversation between Remey and Scy before it became too energetic.


    "I will see you all soon." Scy swam backwards toward the demi-human forces trailing them. Walker swore he could hear her yelling about whipping them on to shape and how they were going to be ten times stronger by the time they returned home. All he could do was pray to the world that they would all survive this challenge.


    "We still have time on those spells that let us stay underwater, right? Why don''t we explore the shores a little?" The entire party knew that Remey just wanted to search for more herbs before they left the beach. She was certain that she had properly stored the herbs and seeds she already had so if she spent more time it didn''t matter too much.


    "Actually, I heard there is a beach up a little ways. One that is closer to underwaterva plumes. It lets out some gross smelling smoke but it also heats the water. The merfolk that told me about it said that the monsters are calmed by the fumes and nothing ever fights there. Many people go to see monsters resting peacefully and to rx." The beach that Su brought up sounded too perfect. However, there were many ways to make monsters calm under the right situations. If they were able to go to this ce then it would be a nice ce to take a breather.


    "Then we have to go! What if there are rare monster materials that we can use for potions, and Gil''s arrows, and who knows what!?" Remey was sold on it instantly.


    "If it is warm maybe it promotes healing." Alice was too adorable when she spoke up with her reasoning. But Walker knew well that she was more interested in the rxation that woulde with it. This kind of adventure story was much more her speed since she had been thrown in to a harsh battle right away.


    Before Gil and Midnight could speak, Onyx had left his tattoo form and slithered down to Midnight. The pair just stared at Walker waiting for his answer. "Since I seem to be outvoted, then we have to go. But just for one day."


    "You gave in to the look pretty easily. I''m not saying I can resist those eyes, but still. That was fast. You need to pretend to struggle with it next time." Gil''s teasing didn''t go far with Walker who made the water push Gil up toward the shore. This prompted the two to chase each other about back on to the sand while the other justughed about their victory. They had earned a one day vacation somewhere they would not have even heard of without a merfolk giving them the secret insider information.


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 Chapter 1038 - 1038. Splashing Monsters

    "Where on the map did you say it was?" Walker was bing skeptical that this heated beach existed. Part of it seemed too good to be true since a beach heated by the earth''s magma underwater that also somehow released fumes to make monsters cal was just too suspicious.


    "If you don''t believe what the merfolk told me then what is all that steam up ahead? Is it just weird fog? And is that herbal smell just a coincidence?" The unexpected sass from Su was enough to make Walker stop in his tracks. Gil found it exceptionally funny until he actually looked ahead.


    "Huh, I would say that''s what we walked through the sand for." The sight was pretty amazing. The sand had slowly be darker due to the cooled magma underneath the waters being broken by waves. The steam was enough to shroud the entire beach and cause the fumes to remain around them. The party had barely encountered any monsters or animals on the beach during their few hours of walking. This was simply because the rock crabs had rushed back to the water when the kraken spawn suddenly decreased in numbers.


    A hand mped on to Walker''s arm and he was being pulled ahead. Alice was smiling straight ahead while doing her best to pull Walker along. This left everyone else to go off and explore on their own. But before they could get far, Midnight stopped beside them growling.


    "Alice, stop. That''s a screaming baboon. They are known for tearing their prey apart whenever it enters their territory." Walker only recognized the red haired primate because it was known to live near the swampnds in the marshynds. The trees that grew in the marshnds had their favorite fruit growing on them and at times the screaming baboons would go to territory wars with the lizardmen near the swamnds. This was also one monster that the merchants were sure to give arge amount of space since it would mean thirty of them attacking their caravans at once.


    Seeing that Midnight quickly rxed made Walker looked more carefully. It wasn''t just one screaming baboon but ten of them. They had nced at him as if he was just another one of them walking by. They had imed pools of steaming water and lowered themselves in to it. Some of them swam about while the younger ones were sshing as children should.


    "They aren''t aggressive at all. If this was normal, they would have attacked." Midnight gave a huff and walked right up to the pool with two of the ying screaming baboon children. Not a single screaming baboon reacted even though their gaze followed Midnight. What was even more stunning was when one of the screaming baboons sshed her and was quickly sshed back by Midnight''s tail. The two screaming baboon children began to holler in glee.


    "I..well¡­I guess this is a good spot to rest and rx." Walker had be a true believer in this beach. So much so that he kicked off his boots and let his feet rest in the warm sand. Alice followed suit. Onyx had taken to his full size and was burying himself in the sand to enjoy the heat.


    "Su, don''t let anyone else tell you you''re wrong ever again. This is magical." Gil just stood looking at the pools filled with screaming baboons and how Midnight was ying with them the same way she had yed with other children. Zephyr had already left the bow and was flitting about the beach to take in the sights. Fleur was following her lead and checking everything out as well. It was another surprise to see that Fleur was sofortable leaving her spot on Walker''s shoulder. But the natural mana was stronger here and she felt a little livelier than usual.


    Su set down her shields to make a shadow to hide her from the sun. She managed to coax the earth spirit out of the earth dwelling shield it had been resting in just to see it sink in to the sand to rx there. She didn''t expect much since she had caught on that earth spirits like the slow and steady life. But right now she was going to mimic that attitude and take a warm nap in her but shade.


    "Look!" Alice pulled harder on Walker''s arm and pointed out something sliding out of a babbling pool much hotter than the others around.


    "I have no idea what that is. Let me appraise it." Walker knew that Alice had gotten his attention because she wasn''t sure what the brightly colored thing was in front of them.


    ''Boiling snail


    This is a very unique monster that can only survive in ces with volcanic steam. They often live right next to volcanoes and will go dormant when not in ideal conditions. They are fairly harmless creatures unless they are eaten. Then their release the long absorbed toxins from special nds in their bodies. This is also how they gain their vibrant colors. They are known as the guardians of the hot springs. If there is a hot spring or boiling beach then these monsters are why it is safe for living beings to enter the area. They absorb nearly all toxins from the cooling magma. They like to hide deep in boiling water unless they are looking for food. They prefer to eat steamed algae from the tides.''


    "That''s actually really cool. They make this safe for everyone." Walker had been more than impressed by the vibrant colored snail. But Alice was even more entranced. As far as she was concerned this was a healer in monster form. It protected people from poisons and made a safe and happy ce to rest.


    Camp set up wasn''t even needed. The party ended up finding a very hot boiling pool of salt water and used it to cook some soup in theirrge pot. Walker readily admitted that Su had found a gem and made the decision to keep the location their secret. The group slept out in the open on the warm sand where even the bach breeze didn''t bother them. It was an incredibly rxing night leaving all of them fully energized for the next day.


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 Chapter 1039 - 1039. Refreshed

    "I can''t believe we have to leave. I want to stay forever!" Remey was having a hard time leaving the warm sands that she had started to fall in love with. Not only had any aches and pains left her but she felt that all the stress that hade with starting a guild was gone. The idea of going beach to Genesis was a little scary.


    "We literally have a city to help grow. It wouldn''t even exist without us. We can''t just leave it." Since Gil was acting like a real adult here the entire party was more in line with heading out. But Midnight had to rush over and give the screaming baboon children another ssh before she left. What really hit home for everyone was that the adult screaming baboons gave a short holler when the party finally started to walk away.


    "I still can''t believe we were just resting around with some of the most dangerous monsters in the area. I don''t think many people can say they have done that". This was definitely a memory that Walker was locking away tightly in his mind. But it was also a memory he could tell Alice would never forget. There was a spark in her eyes that said she would travel the world just to have another day like this. "This is why I wanted to adventure. The world is an unprecedented and unimaginable ce." The two bumped shoulders with soft smiles before the cooler breeze hit them and caused them to pull their cloaks tighter. The ice and snow were still on the ground in the regr terrain. Just because the billing beach had been warm didn''t mean everywhere else was.


    "Now that we have rested, I would like to suggest that we get back home quickly. Sister and I want to explore the city more." This was the most Onyx had said since he had buried himself in the sand. The slothful attitude had finally dissipated and revealed his clear thoughts.


    "We can follow this merchant route back. It will take us right above then down the rover. We will basically follow it all the way to the outskirts of Genesis before we need to cut back over to the city." Walker had the map out and was showing off their predicted route. "The merchants travel these routes often so we should be fairly safe. I would expect that we will pass a vige or two on the way but the odds are we will also cross a caravan heading for the port town. Word about the danger should have spread."


    The fact that the port town had been under threat and was attacked would naturally bring many merchants. Rebuilding was a good time for young merchants to build themselves a new business and try their luck. It was the same with Genesis city. If a merchant had an equal party at the port town and at Genesis city it could mean a very powerful rtionship in the future. A merchant would be a fool to miss the opportunity.


    "That''s good. I can try and do a little hunting and practice my scouting. I haven''t walked these trails and it will be good to train them. Midnight, you should join me. I bet we can find some good prey for our dinner." Midnight jumped at Gil''s idea. The two were off to scout ahead before Walker could say a word. He had basically told them it was a good idea by mentioning how highly traveled these routes were.


    "Let them go. Midnight has wanted to train and get better for a while. She battled a lot against the kraken but she prefers the earth beneath her feet." This was something that Su also felt. The two of them shared a lot of the same feelings about battle. Su and Midnight both knew that when they could grip the ground with their feet that they could hold their ground better and rise up.


    "I know, but they still ran off pretty fast." Walker had wanted to go over what the best monsters to hunt in the area were. But it was possible that Gil had already looked in to this before they had left the mansion.


    "You can just be stuck with me and help me pick up herbs. Just because there are a lot of watery and muddy spots doesn''t mean there aren''t a lot of herbs. Just look how well those cypress trees grow. If they can grow I am sure there are perfect herbs just waiting to be found." The trees Remey pointed out were perfectly adapted to the marshes and riverbeds. They did not grow tall but they grew very borate root systems. Many small fish would hide in them when the rivers and marches flooded over.


    "As long as we don''t have to worry about mud lizards trying to bite at our feet then I am fine." Alice jumped around looking at the nearby mud after Walker spoke. "Don''t worry. Mud lizards are mostly harmless. But they try and nip at passing animals and monsters. They eat what they can bite off then burrow in to the mud as fast as possible. They are hard to catch but apparently make a great addition to potters y." Walker had read that their scales were the best for keeping the potters'' y malleable and ready to be sculpted.


    "If you scare her like that again I will give you a lesson." Remey cracked her knuckles and Su just shook her head. But Walker didn''t feel like Su was shaking her head at Remey''s threat of violence, instead, it was at the way he had told them about the mud lizard.


    "Fine, fine, Just make sure you keep an eye out." Walker fixed his cloak and sulked slightly while Su took the lead.


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 Chapter 1040 - 1040. Laughing In To Danger

    "You wouldn''t think the marshes in the snow and ice would be beautiful, but they are." Su had started to fall in love with the frozen loom on the edges of the water. Some of the marshy grasses or cypress trees covered in ice. Even the animals and small monsters that blended in to their surroundings.


    "The river mice are pretty cute. Their fur is supposed to be a muddy brown color but in the cold, they change to a pure white to blend in. It''s a defense mechanism but one that makes them a lot less hated as a pest." Walkerughed because he knew that these mice were a huge problem for a lot of the viges and even merchants that traveled the area.


    "I want ten of them for pets and I refuse to budge." The idea that Remey had in her head was that the mice could partner up with alchemists and reduce the stress with their adorable fur.


    "I''m sorry to tell you, but they would definitely eat all of your herbs and seeds. You would have an infestation in a matter of a few months." Walker felt a little bad bursting her bubble but knew it was for the best. If Remey snuck a few of them back to Genesis then things would get messy.


    "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, mom!" The response was sarcastic as all else but Walker just shook it off and kept walking. There had been a soft breeze for most of the day making them all slightly chilly. Yet, they had been in a pretty good mood while traveling since they had not encountered any deep mud or monsters.


    "Hey! Up ahead we have some rocky ground so it will be even easier to move since we won''t have the mud to worry about. The river also seems to get lower from the bank." Gil and Midnight had two regr rabbits with them. One was obviously pounced on by sharp ws while the other had been shot through the eye with an arrow.


    "Alright, we will stay away from the edge then. I knew the river was like this around here but I didn''t expect it to be so drastic. There might be some flying monsters around that live on the steep banks." It was good that Walker was thinking this way since the threat of flying monsters was always around. But having an increased chance of running in to them was very notable.


    "I will keep an eye on the edge then. If anything tries its luck then I will block them." Su raised her twin shields so that she could be ready as they moved ahead.


    The speed of the water was increasing and Alice was amazed by the white water rapids farther below them. She had never seen this before and wondered just how dangerous it must be. "You know, some people use boats to go down those. Apparently, it is fun. But a lot of merchants won''t take the risk because the chance of losing the boat is too high." The story that Walker had been told as a child resurfaced in his mind while Alice looked ahead at the water.


    "You will never catch me on a boat in that. With my luck, I will flip over and need to swim for my life. Plus, who knows what lives in that water. If something can survive in that then it has to be tough. "Also, firing an arrow from that would be challenging to say the least." Gil shook his head while trying to imagine how he would have to hold his stance while hunting in rapids.


    "Those rocks would pummel you in to sand. Look at how fine that sand bar is. It''s pure yellow. That definitely didn''te from the ocean." Remey could think of a few uses for the sand down there but didn''t want to risk getting it. Fine sands were perfect for the filtration processes of some potions. However, it was very rare that she would need to do so since the potions she made required the ingredients to be ground or dissolved.


    "How could ite from the ocean? This flows to the ocean? We are following it upstream?" Gil focused on the single thing he thought he could win over Remey with and ended up with a single hit to the arm that knocked him to the ground.


    "Just because I make healing potions doesn''t mean i won''t punch you. It just means I can punch you harder because I can heal you now." The response from Remey made Aliceugh and nearly fall over on the path they were Walking.


    "And I think you broke Alice¡­" Walker had not seen herugh so hard. The fact that her pristineughter had be so hard that she wasn''t even making a sound anymore shocked him. He hadn''t expected this reaction from her but began to feel the need tough himself. Laughter was just too infectious.


    "And now you two are going to walk separate from each other. And If I need to put one of you in an earth fortress I will. I have the highest defense here. Add my shields and you can be trapped forever."


    "And now you have Su making threats. A broken Alice and a threatening Alice. Today is just a mix of crazy." Midnight huffed at them and started to growl. It was a sobering sound that made them all stop in their tracks. The only one that didn''t fall in to a battle stance was Alice. She was still too inexperienced in adventuring to immediately react this way. But she was about to learn.


    A shadow flew over them and the sound of screeching birds caused Walker to change the eternal orb in to a hexagonal shield. His eyes nced up and appraised the enemy that was circling them.


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 Chapter 1041 - 1041. Sharp Feathers

    ''Lesser Roc


    These flying type wind elemental monsters are descended from an ancient monster known as a roc. The roc was known to have an extremely powerful wind elemental affinity. As descendants of the roc, these lesser roc are known for their high wind affinity and sharp feathers. They like to hide their nests on mountain sides or cliff faces. They are known to migrate long distances in search of food and do not shy away from attacking anything, even if they will lose. They are extremely proud and event attack dragons.''


    Midnight jumped and snapped one of the smaller lesser rocs from the air. She was annoyed by their screeching and attempts to swoop down at them. "Watch out for their feathers!" Walker pulled Alice back and Su covered her just as another swooped down and scratched against her shields. If the shields had not been made so well, Walker was sure that they would be majorly damaged.


    Gil and Remey fell in behind Walker and Su as they started t push down the path. "I saw a space up ahead where someone has camped before. That is where we can deal with these." Gil wanted to stop the annoying screeching from the rocs but also felt that he would be able to use the roc feathers as a perfect arrow material.


    "Onyx had left the safety of his tattoo form and wrapped himself around Alices'' shoulders. He was acting as an additional shield for her neck and back in case the rocs got past the shields. He knew that Su and Walker would never allow that to happen but he couldn''t do much else while they were on the narrow path following the river.


    "This is the spot. Walker, I need you to keep me covered while I take them out." The battle would rely on Gil the most. He was the only one other than Walker that could take out flying enemies from the ground. Su was busy shielding the others and Walker had to be the moving shield to protect Gil as he fired arrow after arrow.


    "I will distract them. I have a countering fist I want to use. I figured it out fighting those ocean pests." Remey had been in battle against the kraken spawn with their barbed tentacles. In the flurry of battle, she had struck out and hit one tentacle with her fist. This had been the moment she realized she could use her offense for defense and turn it against her opponent.


    The next roc that swooped down was not the luckiest in the world. Remey had equipped her knuckled, specifically, the earth affinity knuckles. She mmed them to the ground and a few pieces of earth stuck to her hands. Her elemental fist skill was interesting when was used with earth elemental mana. The defense of her fists specifically became higher. The roc that collided with them felt its wing shatter and was crushed by Remey''s next hit.


    The roc that attempted to avenge its fallenrade was blocked the same way. But this time the party watched as it flew back with high force. This was the counter fist skill in action. If Remey used it with another affinity knuckle or without one at all then she would have received cuts on her hands. Yet, with the earth affinity knuckles equipped she had the perfect defense to resist the sharp roc feathers.


    "Remey, get back. They are using magic!" Walker called her back just in time. The rocs were showing off their wind elemental affinity and manipted the wind in to sharp des that shot out with their feathers. Three of them lodged in to the ground where Remey had been standing just moments ago.


    "And that was what I needed them to do." Gil released a wither spike arrow and knocked one of the lesser rocs out of the air. It was dead before it even hit the ground.


    "The earth fortress ising up. Gil and Walker stay outside." Su pulled Remey near and grasped the dwelling earth shield. She had quickly swapped shields and raised the earth fortress. Alice was going to start to sing but she was silenced by the muddy earth that raised around them. "Next time you can help. But these are too fast for you and it was an ambush."


    "Gil, let''s scare the rest off." Walker and Gil nodded that they were both ready. Gil had the help of Zephyr within the bow to channel the wind elemental mana. Adding Walker''s maniption of the wind, the pair had a powerful wind elemental arrow that was exceeding the strength of any wind attacks the lesser rocs could master. "Now!"


    The pair released the wind elemental arrow in arge gust of wind. The lesser rocs were blown away and some even fell out of the sky stunned. Gil and Walker didn''t allow their sudden mana use to slow them. They attacked quickly to get the lesser roc that had been stunned. The few that were left flew off in fraught.


    "Alright, taking the long route back was a lot less easy and fun than I expected." Walker could see some of the feathers that had been lodged in the ground standing upright. He knew that the party was close to some serious wounds.


    Su could sense that the rocs had flown away. There was also the sudden silence since the rocs were not screeching anymore. Midnight had also begun to snap up the defeated lesser rocs and drag them toward the rest of the party. There was part of her looking forward to the feast she would have after Gil and Walker had harvested all of the feathers. But there was also part of her screaming that she should be able to take to the skies and fly against the lesser rocs. The moment she dropped thest lesser roc on the pile she started training her wings.


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 Chapter 1042 - 1042. Alchemy Struggles

    "Gil, do we really need to sit here as you pull every feather out of the rocs for arrows?"


    "Remey, do we all really need to keep an eye out for herbs everywhere we go?"


    Remey and Gil were butting heads again while Midnight trained her wings on the side. The rocs were a lot smaller than Walker had expected without their feathers. The strength that the feathers had seemed toe from the strong bone like frame that the rocs grew. It was impressive since they felt fairly heavy for a single feather. The wind elemental magic that the rocs possessed definitely helped them fly.


    "Try and stay closer to me in the future. I know you will start to adapt to traveling soon. Being able to fall in to a battle stance at a moment''s notice is ideal. That wille with time though. You don''t need to always be on edge. The goal is to befortable switching to an alert position and trusting your instincts." Since Alice seemed a little more shaken than usual after the roc had swooped down and tried to attack her, Su was giving her advice.


    "Trust us, we will protect you. Once you have the same experience adventuring you can go around by yourself much more easily. Compared to other healers though, you should be able to travel alone much more easily." Walker knew that the other healers would need to travel with guards or with a lot of herbs that deterred monsters. This was because they did not have any way to attack the monsters that would hunt them. Alice was different though, she possessed attack kills because she wasn''t a healer, she was a songstress.


    "They are right. I will protect your back but I may need to take the offensive one day." Onyx could tell that Alice had rxed when he had wrapped around her shoulders to protect her. Yet, he had found that she was not ready for the battle in any way and it had taken her too long to begin to sing.


    Since Alice was inexperienced still she was hungrily listening to absorb as much of the knowledge as possible. She knew what shecked and she was going to fix these weaknesses sooner thanter. Alice hated the idea that she would be left behind by Walker and the others. She wanted to see the world with them even though she had still pledged arge portion of her life to the church so that she could help more people.


    "We should keep moving though. The more ground we cover today the sooner we will get home. I''m sure that a lot more people have arrived in the city since we left." This was more than expected. There were still many people that wanted to build their futures or start anew.


    While the party pushed on, the alchemy guild in Genesis was buzzing with activity¡­


    "Again? How can we change the design of the herb gardens again? The design we had was perfect for water flow. We even have a set of greenhouses being made for desert and snowy growth conditions." Trish was sick and tired of being told that the herb gardens needed to be changed. The herbalists that hade from Remey''s suggestions and been interviewed by the old monster alchemist and herself were insistent. Every day it seemed like they wanted another change.


    "Just let them keep going as they want. We both know that by the time Remey gets back here she will want to change things. I''m even willing t bet she had managed to convince some merfolk toe over here and start an underwater herb farm near the river." The old master alchemist knew Remey better than anyone else. He could feel that this was one of her goals and it would be inevitable.


    "I know she will. But for now, we need to figure out why they want to set up a mountain environment. At this rate, we will need to expand the herb gardens again." Trish was just trying to rationalize the gold being sent. The joint finds from the kingdoms, the alchemists, and herbalists was not proving to be enoughtely.


    "We can sell some smaller potions in a package to start the news that the alchemy guild will be testing for members. If we start now we can sell a crate of healing, mana, and two unique potions for a sum of gold. We will include a notice about the requirements for members and the process they will go through to test. It will attract the eye of merchants and prove we have high quality products."


    This solution opened Trish''s eyes. She had found that the old master alchemist was much wiser than expected. Since Trish rarely conversed with humans she didn''t realize that she had developed a poor opinion of their alchemy knowledge. Now that she was working closely with the old master alchemist she knew well that he had many tricks and secrets hidden away. The journals that he had been sharing in trade with her had been more than enough to prove his wisdom.


    "That sounds perfect. If we pursue that method of advertisement we will have funds and begin some small rtionships with rising merchants. There will also be those that fight to gain our favor so that we may sign contracts with them in the future." There were a lot of possibilities that came to mind. Trish only had a moment to think of them before her attention was brought back to the storage room she had been working on.


    "We can solve more problemster. These storage rooms need to be adjusted. We need more shelving so we can sell things and take them in. I think we will need to hire appraisers for these rooms." The old master alchemist continued on with another issue they would be solving.


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 Chapter 1043 - 1043. Clothing And Forging

    "Please take the guild master position. This is a new start for every single cksmith and crafter out there. The crafting guild is going to be a huge face when ites to crafted materials and trade. Everywhere there are different buildings and groups when ites to forging, woodworking, leatherwork, stone carving, everything. This will unite them all and you are a famous figure throughout the kingdoms. Even the dwarves hold you in high regard."


    There had been many people from many kingdoms that stopped by the wandering cksmith''s personal forge and shop. They had all spoken about the same things; being the guild master of the crafting guild. Rodney had learned that the wandering cksmith had a personal shop and forge so he had gone to make his case as well. He was young and could really make a name for himself by putting in the work. He had already secured a position working in the crafting guild.


    "You have already helped so much. You helped organize the forges and even changed the blueprints of the building. Why would you want anyone else to walk in and take it over? You can maintain freedom of how and what you work on. Please just take the lead here." The reaction was just another shake of the wandering cksmith''s head. He had gotten used to reacting this way through the years.


    Many people that had seen his skills had tried to rope him in torge forge buildings or even merchant groups. But all of them would limit the way he forged and found materials. Even the ones that said he would haveplete freedom would end with him being unintentionally limited. It could be clientele, materials, or even just meetings that would cut in to his forging time.


    The reason that he enjoyed his rtionship with the party was that they allowed him this freedom. They recognized his skills and challenged him often. This had brought him to ces he had never expected to be and even brought materials that he would otherwise struggle toe across by himself. Not only this but they had taken their hands off unless he wanted help and when he had gained help they followed his directions without argument.


    "What if you worked as a consultant? You can have an honorary title that allowed you full ess to the crafting guild. You could teach, forge, and buy materials the same way that the guild master could. You wouldn''t even need toe in." Rodney knew that this was hisst chance to seed where the others had failed. So many had given up before him. The only reason he was still trying was the fact that he also knew the party and how close the wandering cksmith had gotten to them.


    "No restrictions?" The two words formed a question that Rodney had to jump on.


    "I promise that if they restrict you I will leave the crafting guild too. I can go there right now and force them to sign it in a magic contract even." The final pleading received the first and only nod that Rodney had managed to get. "I will be back with it soon!" The shout was ignored as the wandering cksmith continued his work.


    The showroom of his personal shop was nearly three quarters of the way full. He had crafted pristine spears and elegant sets of armors. He even ignored some of the beautiful aspects of swords and shields to make them tougher and more durable. He wanted to have things for everybody to buy and not just rich nobles. His hammering was nowhere near over. He had a list of blueprints toplete.


    "Miss Lisa, is there anything else we can do to set up the showroom today?" Lisa had also started her set up. She had found three people to help her. On e was a demon woman that had received a merchant system and had looked for a way to build themselves a home. The other two were demi-humans that had feline traits. Since they had experience with unique clothing styles Lisa had hired them for their input end experience in assisting all kinds of shoppers.


    "No, that was great work today. I wasn''t sure how well it woulde together but I think we are almost ready. I want to go through some test purchases first since we need to make sure the runes that were carved work. If the adventurer guild bank cards do not work properly then we won''t make any money. I also think we should have the crafting guilde over and sign a contract. Those are on tomorrow''s list though." Lisa was very proud to see that she had chosen the proper employees and that she had a nearly full showroom.


    "Should we scout out some other seamstress or tailor system users?" The feline trait demi-human with a red haired tail and red haired ears looked like she was excited for this.


    "Yes, but we need to see three pieces of clothing that they made themselves so that I can decide if they can work here. My dragon scale boutique needs the freshest and highest quality clothing." The name hade from the first monster materials she had been given. Midnight''s scales were part of her needles. There was also the entire line of harvest festival costumes inspired by the ones that Lisa had made Midnight before.


    "I''m excited to start selling everything. The gloves you made are going to be a hit for the season. I want to wear the pair you gave me everywhere." The demon woman was more than excited. She hadn''t taken off the sleek green and white gloves she had been given by Lisa just that day as a sign she was an official employee.


    "I can''t wait either. We should be able to open earlier than expected. Just get some good rest tonight so we can start early tomorrow." Lisa sent them away to rest while she looked over her newly filled boutique with joy.


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 Chapter 1044 - 1044. Guild Meetings

    "As I said before, we need to make sure that the standards for raising someone''s adventurer tier are upheld. If we just allow anyone to rise we can have underdeveloped adventurers that face dangerousmonsters." ra was having the meeting with her head staff members again t make sure she really hit home the new system that focused on heroic points.


    "We understand that. But the heroe points make it so that a low level adventurer can constantly do easy tasks like delivering letters or herb gathering to raise their tier. They won''t be able to handle the outside world." The head staff member for the first floor of the adventurers'' guild in Genesis was younger but still had a lot of experience. Just like ra, the man had worked in the guild his entire life.


    "That is where our staff memberse in to give tests for each tier. I even have the hero party I managed at a lower tier. Although I''m not sure the tiers matter anymore when they are concerned. But my point remains the same. We need to administer fair tests in the form of quests they do not expect. If they want to rank up to a higher tier they should have their skills challenged. I also want to see their morals and loyalty tested in some way. For example, if they have focused on herb gathers then I want them sent after a weak monster with valuable materials. It tests their loyalty to a party since they handle valuable materials, theirbat, and the ability to adapt to something they are not used to."


    "Understood. That brings me to the next matter, how will we handle multiple guild affiliations? There is the new alchemy guild, the crafting guild, and even rumors of a magic tower to be constructed. That doesn''t even consider the tamers'' guild and whatever else may form in time." The staff members all appeared worried about this matter. Having too many affiliations could cause a tangled mess of rules and regtions.


    "I refuse to limit our members. But I will happily work with the city leadership to create an identification te. If we have the right runes engraved in the right patterns it can act as a que that holds multiple membership information." Realization came to their faces as they remembered the dwarf and elf craftsmen that had left ra''s office recently.


    "That sounds very good. If any guildes to an impasse with another then we can bring it to the court that will be formed by the city leadership. It will be easier that way to keep things organized. That just leaves membership recruitment on the list." Everyone knew that there would be a flood of young adventurers as soon as the guild officially opened. That and there would be those that wished to rank up their tier as soon as possible since the wait time at other branches could be weeks or months depending on the time of year.


    "Don''t worry about that. When the party I manage is back they will be working on the first batch of new adventurers. They will test them in the training fields while we slowly go through a written test and paperwork. It should take some of the weight off the new employees under you. If I remember Gil has an archers academy he wants to start. He may try to move it in to a guild but I believe he is better to partner with us. That way the magic tower can also partner with us. That gives archers and mages routes to learn outside of the guild. It also sets the precedents that adventurers can go elsewhere to learn and return for quests."


    ra had spent a great deal of her time writing these ns and properly setting up the way it would progress. If she did not do so then there would be a lot of new adventurers running about without proper education. This could lead to the adventurers'' guild facing fines and even more issues.


    "That should be it for our daily meeting. Please report in early tomorrow. Also, ra, Barry arrived earlier and wants to speak with you." The man acting as the first floor manager handed a copy of his notes to ra before ushering out the rest of the managers and head staff members. Barry soon walked in after they had left.


    "Looks pretty nice. I would say you are ready to open. I can''t say Ibis is too happy you ditched him for this though. But I will be taking over as the guild master there shortly. Not that I will let him back away so soon" Barry hade to check on ra since Ibis was still out of shape after his battle against Pride.


    "Of course you came to see things. You''ve known me since I was barely able to see over the desk. If you didn''te I would have to ban you from this guild branch." ra hugged Barry and started to give him a tour.


    The two caught up and Barry seemed very happy to hear of the new implementation of rules and regtions. He also liked that the adventurers'' guild was leading the effort to forge new trading routes and roads with the merchants. It would bring the adventurers'' guild closer to those that purchased their materials.


    "You should know that the border is getting rougher. Apparently after hearing that demons were rescued and given rights the cruel leaders in demon viges have been trapping their people so they would not try and escape. The guild will be brought in to it sooner than we expected. Just be ready." Barry left Cara after the tour with this. He wanted to see the rest of the city before the stressful workdays arrived. He too needed to prepare to free the demons.


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 Chapter 1045 - 1045. To Get Stronger

    "You really want to make those arrows, huh?" Walker had been watching Gil as they walked. He had seen Gil building the arrows in his head and moving his hands along the bow as if he was testing the imaginary arrows already.


    "Of course I do. They are great wind elemental materials. Do you know how much Zephyr would like that? Do you know how much farther we will be able to fire them? I''m trying to learn the arrow ricochet skill and the wind is the key. To make it work I need the right arrow and the right materials to make those arrows."It was a lot more thinking than Walker expected. But Gil had always been very thorough when it came to the things he made, especially arrows.


    "If you can master the skill then you will be able to make an arrow that misses in to a hit. Not that you really miss, like, ever." It was funny hearing that Gil might miss from Walker''s mouth. But Gil took it more seriously than they expected.


    "That''s exactly it. If I miss then I can use the kill with Zephyrs'' help. That way I don''t waste an arrow and we can hit weak points in an enemy. It will also help me against monsters that are well armored or faster than me." The possibilities were higher than the entire party had thought.


    "Oh, I get it. You can aim around me when I am punching something using that skill. That means I can focus on my fighting without worrying about blocking your shots. Same with Su and Midnight." Remey knew that Walker would prefer to fight long distance anyways so she didn''t really include him in the battle ns. But she was still d to hear that the support she received would be better.


    "How far are we?" Alice grabbed Walker''s arm so she could get his attention. She had been softly singing to herself to practice her speed. She wanted to be able to sing faster when needed since she had found she was too slow reacting when they encountered monsters.


    "We should be rounding a bend in the river soon. Then we can cross at one of the bridges. After that, we leave the river and head toward Genesis. I would say we can get there in one more day if you use your songs to hasten our walking." What Walker called walking was more of a brisk walk close to a jog. The party had left behind the rapids and the water had evened out along with the steep banks for the river. If it was anyone else they would travel much slower, however, the party was getting more and more excited to be back in Genesis and work on the city. Alice had even started pushing them to move fastertely, just like now.


    "I''m just surprised we haven''t run in to anyone else. These trails are fairly clear and we have been on the same routes for a while now." Su had noticed some tracks after Gil pointed them out but they all seemed to be heading the same way the party was heading now.


    "If I was to guess I would say that people are heading toward Genesis. Hopefully, everything is built a little ahead of schedule."


    "It better be. I want my herb gardens set up right away. I have to start testing new members so they can start learning and creating the first generation of alchemy guild members." Remey jumped right in to the conversation.


    "The cathedral¡­will be beautiful." Since all of the stained ss windows at the cathedral had not beenpleted, Alice was imagining how well she would be able to make the rainbows reflect through them when she sang. It remained and would always be the favorite part of manipting the light with her songs.


    "The entire city will be beautiful. I want to see it be the best possible ce to live for every race. We just need to help the demons¡­" There was still the desire to save the oppressed demon race. Knowing that they suffered constantly under the hands of those who should stand to protect them, was what kept Walker focused. He wanted to change that and wee them to their true potential to live a happy life.


    "We will do what we can. We have all the kingdoms and the dragons that should help us. When we go to the royal dragon court we can bring the other dragons on to the quest." Su gave Walker a pat on the shoulder to make him remember he was not alone in this endeavor.


    "Speaking of the dragons, I think it will be better for you guys to go alone. Just you two and Midnight. I think that Remey will be busy with her guild, I will be busy setting up the archers, Alice will be busy with the cathedral, and we know that Onyx wants to be stronger without relying on all of us." The topic had been on Gil''s mindtely.


    "You are right. If Ie with everyone then I might not be respected as much as a royal dragon even though I''m, well, human. If I can stand tall with just my champion and her guardian then they will recognize me more. But we also need to make sure we are all prepared to go in to the demonnds. If we are not prepared then we can''t rescue anyone." Walker saw it as a good chance for all of them to work on their weaknesses. They covered for each other so much that they would not work on themselves enough.


    "I agree, the alchemy guild will take a lot of my time but I want to develop a stock of potions for the Genesis forces to use when we go to free the demons." Remey supported the idea as well. The party all agreed as they stopped to rest for a short while.


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 Chapter 1046 - 1046. Lead The Building?

    "Are you really sure I should be working on this? I haven''t been a member for that long¡­" Elise was speaking to herself while looking at a letter. She had just been ced in charge of the tamers'' guild building project on Genesis.


    Elise didn''t believe she was the best person for the job. Many other tamers had more experience when it came to leadership. However, she wasn''t taking the fact that she was close with the party. She had made an impact on the party and those that had seen her already. The human kingdom already had her in high regard since they saw the supplies that she helped bring. On top of all of this, she even had rtions with demi-humans as well. Putting all of this together made her a very viable face for the operation.


    "Huh, there are blue prints, material orders, and even who to hire to do the work. I guess this will be easier than I expect." Therge book of papers even had dates for when and where to send them. The first few days had her running around for hours to deliver the right papers to the right people. The crafters'' guild was not open in the least but it had already be the ce for builders to gather.


    "Ste, we have to head to the crafters'' guild. I know it''s just a forge building for now but that''s where we will get our workers. I can send the material orders to the merchants from there too." Ste looked excited to be heading out. They had arrived back in Genesis just that morning on orders. It was unfortunate that they could not see the party but Elise already knew that there was an issue to deal with when it came to the merfolks survival.


    "Make sure you help the little one fly too." The small hatchling had finally begun to p its wings now and then. Ste had started to bring it with her in the air so that it could get used to gliding. This was perfect early training so that it could fly faster and with more skillter in life.


    The pair left the mansion since that was where they had gone first. Walker''s mother had been leaving herself and told them to take any of the rooms and to stop by her new bakeryter for a snack.


    "Honey, I know you have time off before you take full control as an inner guard captain. And I am very proud that you were able to move up. Guarding the Genesis building is already an honor for our family. But you need to stoping here for lunch. You are going to eat all the bread!" Garret was currently being reprimanded by Hilda. This wasn''t the first time he had shown up since starting the new job.


    "But your bread gets better every time I eat it. How could I just walk by without stopping at the best bakery in all of Genesis?"


    "You know I am the only bakery in Genesis, right? But those sweet words still won''t win you anything. If you have time to eat then you have time to head out and hire me some assistant and a night baker. I''m already busy enough making private orders and can''t even open the doors for walk by customers." Hilda needed the help so that she would be able to fully open. Part of her was already brainstorming an addition to the kitchen since they were going to need to expand. "Good thing we have more space behind us. They really took care of us when they set up these shops for everyone."


    "It was a wise decision. I will see how Lisa is doing. I know a few guards that need their uniforms patched." Garret tried his best to sneak out but was forced to take wanted notices for new employees. "And I will post these at the adventurers'' guild where people might send their friends." He ran out of the door quickly while Hilda just shook her head at him.


    "And that is how you pre-seed a garden." Gil''s mother was looking over her hard work. Many of the seeds wouldn''t get damaged by the cold and would do better to start growing as the season warmed. Part of the upside of quick seasons in their area was that nts would be able to grow earlier when the ice and snow thawed.


    "I would say you have more than done a perfect job. Just look at the walking paths you have marked out already. The garden is more of a nature trail now. If you keep expanding this then I will be able to hunt here." Gil''s fatherughed a little at his own joke but had not realized he had just volunteered himself.


    "Perfect, you can be on pest duty. I want any mice, rats, and rabbits dealt with before they nibble on my fruits. If even one strawberry is eaten then I will go looking for another garden hand." The threat sounded much more serious than it really was. Gil''s father was ready to p himself knowing he had an additional job to do instead of being able to go out and hunt.


    "And I swear, if you even try and go hunting with your friends again this week I will make sure that bow of yours is rubbed with poison ivy leaves." This was the real threat that hit home with Gil''s father. He had been too excited to hunt a new area and was abusing his free time instead of being home.


    "Of course I will stay here and help in the garden. I know that Gil should be home any time and I need to make sure I help him with his archery academy and maybe even guild. I need to be responsible." The act didn''t fool his wife though and he was promptly sent to walk the garden on the hunt for pests.


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 Chapter 1047 - 1047. Home At Last

    "Look at that!" Gil hade over a small hill and was greeted by an amazing sight. Not only was Genesis built up much more than it had been when they were there just a short time ago. But, there was also a line of people waiting to enter the city and try to find themselves a new home.


    "Wow¡­" The party stood while Su was speechless. She had moved just fast enough to be the first one to get a glimpse at what had amazed Gil. She had wild ideas of what the city looked like after they had left the river. They had yet toe from this direction and it was worth the longer way around and the hard pace they kept to get there.


    "Wow is right. I''m pretty sure those are the Genesis city''s first citizens. Those are the people we need and have been looking for to make Genesis the best city in the world." The excitement that Walker had was enough to get Remey in to a run. Any tiredness or exhaustion that she had were gone. This was the chance she could see what was going on and who woulde in to the alchemy guild. How could she not run?


    "Wait, Midnight!" Before Walker could start moving, Midnight had leaped in to the air and was trying to glide down the small hill. Onyx had raced off after her with Alice chasing him. Before he knew it, Walker had been left behind inst ce. "Why do we always end up running?" Theughter that trailed behind him was all too pure.


    Bt the time they made it to the temporary gate they had attracted arge crowd of watchers who were standing in line. "Well look who it is. Do you know how many people say they are here to buy a house or start a business in the heroes'' city?" The guards were more than familiar with Walker and the rest of the party.


    "It''s not our city. It''s a city for everyone. Every race, equally. But I''m d they havee. There are jobs that need to be filled. Shops waiting to be bought. And futures waiting to be found." The cheesy response made a few people hold back theirughter. However, there were a few people that took Walker''s words to heart. They were the people to genuinely believed that this was the future for everyone race and the future they had been waiting for.


    "You can head inside with that cheese and give it to your mother for that amazing herb crusted cheese danish. I tried to get some the other day and they were sold out before I could even ce an order." The guards waved to him while bringing up one of Walker''s mothers'' new selling items. Naturally, Walker was a little confused but assumed that his mother had opened the bakery already.


    "Midnight! Watch out! If you keep rushing around you will bump in to someone!" Walker barely managed to slow Midnight down as she ran toward the mansion. She nearly tackled a hunched over cloaked figure. "I''m sorry about that. We are just excited to be home."


    "Ehhh, it''s no issue. I can''t be angry at something in my city." The elderly and sick sounding voice cackled as the figure walked away. The entire party felt chills while watching the person leave.


    "That was weird. But I guess the city will attract all sorts of people. That old guy must be pretty cold to even have their head all bundled up in cloaks." Gil shook off the random encounter and kept pushing for everyone to get home. The sooner they were back the faster they could get to what they wanted and needed to do.


    "Hey, I think I will head to the Genesis building and report what went on to the representatives that are here in the city. You can all get a head start on what you need to do." Since Walker was the party leader he felt that it was only right to take on the duty of reporting in while everyone else ran free.


    "If you''re sure about that then I am going to change clothes and hit the alchemyb. I have too much to do. Please drop off the seeds and herbs I harvested. I''m going to need them properly stored sooner." Remey didn''t hesitate to take Walker up on the offer. She was again running toward the mansion so that she would be able to get to the alchemy guild building faster.


    "I don''t know about anyone else, but I would like some tea and a nice long bath." The stress seemed to be rolling off Su with every step toward the mansion.


    "Walk me home?" Alice grabbed Walker''s hand and was looking at him for a favorable response.


    "Of course, I need to show your father that we kept our promise. You are back safe and sound. And I expect you want to tell him all about it." The smile that blossomed on Alice''s face was too much for Walker to handle. He didn''t even hear Gil leave and start speaking with his parents in the garden. Even worse he totally missed Onyx and Midnight heading off toward their favorite spot to curl up and nap in the mansion.


    "You don''t want to head to the garden too?" Walker could tell that Fleur was happy to be back as well. But she just leaned in to his neck more and shook her little head. It was pretty set in stone that she was nning to stay right where she was for the time being. " Then to the cathedral we go." Walker headed toward the cathedral at a much slower pace than usual while holding Alice''s hand. For some reason, the pair just didn''t want to end their adventure even though they were already home.


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 Chapter 1048 - 1048. The Finished Cathedral

    "I bet they won''t even realize we are back until we are right in the middle of the cathedral." Walker was willing to ce this bet. Mostly because he saw many people moving around the city. Builders and merchants were yelling as they brought merchandise and materials every which way. The cathedral was bound to be a little busy with the minor injuries that came with this hustle.


    "They are working hard." Alice pushed Walker lightly. She knew that he was joking around but she wanted to make sure that he knew that everyone in the cathedral was always working their hardest for the best of people. They weren''t some fake religious cult. They believed in whatever created existence. They believed in the world and its systems. Many people would say the holy lord in sentences to express many things. But for the church, it was a being that may have created all of the existence. It wasplicated yet simple at the same time.


    "I know, I have seen all of you doing your best until you can''t go any further." The apology was not one said lightly. Walker didn''t want Alice to think he took the healing efforts for granted. "I bet that people will travel miles just to have themselves healed here. That''s how amazing the healers will be in Genesis."


    "Better." She squeezed his hand harder and they walked through the open front doors of the cathedral to feel the warmth rush over them. Neither had realized just how cold the air was outside since they had been used to it traveling.


    There was a profound difference between the cathedral when they had left and now. Large flowing curtains had been brought in to cover the ss if necessary. Many paintings and words of inspiration covered the walls. The healers all had brand new outfits of pure white with light elemental runes on them. There were still only a handful of healers here but Walker knew that Lisa had sewn every single one of the light runes in to the fabrics they wore.


    "It''s brighter¡­" They could feel the light emanating from around them. The next thing that caught their eye was arge crystal on a column by the center of the church. It radiated healing and warmth along with weing light. "I should bring Onyx here. He might just make this his new favorite ce." They had t stand there and take it all in before either could move away and check out the other half of the cathedral which has still been unfinished before they left.


    Alice slowly pulled Walker in to the second side of the building. It had been made with arge stage. She hadn''t realized this was in the ns until now. It had been perfectly designed for concerts with many musicians working together.


    "I see you two have found the addition I hid from everyone else. I thought that the church should have a dedicated space like this for the haling songs yed constantly. I even had the building designed so that the music will echo in to the main hall without taking away from the healing properties. The dwarves thought I was a little crazy for it." The high priest was sitting and watching three violinists practicing in the space, one of which Walker remembered Su speaking with before.


    "And here I thought we would be surprising you. Especially since Alice has storied to tell you. But I think you had shocked her." There were small tears forming in Alice''s eyes. She knew that if she sang here she would be able to heal many more people at once. She had always been limited to the space she had. Now that the space was optimized for musical healing, then every musician that yed healing melodies here would be doing the most.


    "Well? Come give me a hug! I have wondered when you would be back every day since you left. You know I have never gone this long without seeing your smiling face in the morning. Even when you were angry at me and threatened to sleep in the back garden forever you still came to wake me up." Part of Walker wanted to ask about this more bit from the way that Alice and the high priest wereughing and hugging he knew it wasn''t the time.


    After the two had their moment, Walker decided to speak up. "You know, Alice has a lot more songs than you might know. She helped purify water, defend against kraken, and heal all the wounded. I would say she might even get the title of healing saint one day." Saying this wasn''t far off. The title was rare for a healer but not unheard of. Usually, healers around the world would gain the title after healing a certain number of people over time. It also had other requirements that not many knew about.


    "Funny you say that. I found an old journal from the high priest before me. Apparently, he once met a traveling singer with the title, saint of song. I didn''t find anything else about it but apparently after hearing the man sing the former high priest decided to join the church and dedicate their life to saving people. It changed him from who he was to who he was meant to be." Walker and Alice wanted to sit and hear about both of these people. But the high priest was much more eager to hear their journey. Alice couldn''t hold herself back either.


    Between Alice and Walker, the two were able to share their entire journey. The slight creases in the high priest''s face became deeper during the more dangerous parts. Yet, when they spoke of the boiling beach he showed some awe. Before Walker had left, he felt the high priest grab his shoulder, "If you follow this through, you will have my blessing whether I am alive or have returned to the world. I''m an old man, I know that, but I know how to read someone. I wasn''t always a healer of the church either."Walker was too caught up by this to even be able to say goodbye as the pair walked deeper in to the church so that Alice can get proper rest. The journey had been more than she had expected and she deserved rest.


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 Chapter 1049 - 1049. Yelling In Genesis

    Fleur was poking Walking in the cheek and trying to get his full attention. She had no idea why he had been so distracted the entire walk to the Genesis building. Walker on the other hand had been in a daze. He was trying to rationalize every thought he had when the high priest had left him with such words. But he couldn''te to ept such a thing. He was still too young. There was so much more to do in life. He had so much to still explore, Entire cities he had never been to. How could he consider settling down in that way?


    Part of Walker believed the high priest had been messing with him just because it was fun for him to do so. Then the other part of Walker believed it was a dead serious admittance of how the high priest felt. Either way, Walker was stuck in his own head until he pushed the door open and revealed the busy Genesis building.


    Many of the merchants had sent in their representatives ore as the head of their organizations. They had to buy the sops they wanted from Genesis city so that they could work there. The only problem was that the staff seemed a little overwhelmed.


    Advisors from every kingdom with representatives had turned the Genesis building in to a fully functional hub for Genesis to remain functioning. Whether it was guard reports, trade, or breakage of thews, it was all funneled through here. There were also those that represented private groups like auction houses, crafters, and even a few high elves looking to buy potion shops. But what was really taking Walker''s attention were the people trying toin about not being able to buy such shops.


    "How can you not allow me to buy a shop? I have potions and I want to sell them! Everyone needs them! Why would a new city that needs people like me, stop me from expanding your economy!?" The elf that was yelling seemed to be growing more and more red faced. This didn''t help the line of others either, they got riled up along with him.


    "Fleur, cover your ears. I really don''t want to see this ce like this. It should be a ce people can talk openly and freely. Not yelling and chaos." Walker took a deep breath in. Fleur just watched knowing full well that a loud noise wouldn''t affect her in the least. The loud roar that escaped Walker''s mouth was just enough to silence everyone and temporarily stun them. He knew that this was a little overboard but it had to be a precedent he set now. If he did not, then every person from any kingdom could walk in and start yelling demands constantly. Leading to people not wanting to work in the Genesis building a crumbling city capital.


    "Listen and listen hard. There is no yelling or demanding in this building. You are here to start a future. If you insult the people that work hard to assist you then you do not deserve that assistance. The alchemy guild regtes every potion and seller of positions. You can wait until they open this week to speak with them. Crafters can speak with the crafters guild to gain rentable shop permits from them. Both regte their specific items to keep cursed items and poisoned potions out of the flow. If anyone else has questions speak properly with the representatives here. If you can not do so I will introduce you to the legal system in ce. The courts will judge you on your actions and disturbances."


    After the clear speech, many people stood with pale faces. Walker was smaller than most people because of his age. Yet, there was a strength that radiated off of him scaring everyone. They knew he was serious and would do his best to enforce these rules. Not only this, but they had heard of the things he had done. No one woulde to Genesis without knowing of the Omnipotent party of heroes.


    "Sir hero, thank you for calming down the hall. We have had a very high number of applicants for properties and many react improperly. The guards are overwhelmed as well." The man that ran up was one of the managers at the customer desks set up on the main floor of the Genesis building.


    "It''s fine, I don''t want you all to get worked to death. You all work very hard to build this city just as anyone else should. I think we should post more notices outside the city of thews within. Please ask the younger guards in training to do so. It''s a good way for them to get acquainted with thews and also to understand the area around the city better." Walker watched the man rush off. There was a smile on his face since a lot of stress from the yelling had been washed away. The slight ringing in his ears didn''t even bother him anymore.


    The murmur of voices picked up slowly as people organized themselves in to lines. Some left to seek out the guilds after Walker''s short speech. Those were the wise ones since they had realized that they wouldn''t be able to snag a rental contract immediately. They would need to go through the screening processes made by the guilds to ensure they were preparing and selling quality potions and items.


    Walker patiently stood in line and waited. The process moved much faster than it had before now that people were not yelling. Many of them tried to allow Walker to skip the line but he wanted to make a point. He was the same as everyone else. He would need to wait as well. When he finally made it to the front he asked the attendant to ask the representatives present to meet in therge meeting room for a report.


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 Chapter 1050 - 1050. Some Future Thinking

    "You understand I was digging the vaults for the important buildings just now right? You could have waited a few weeks to ask me back here." The king of the deep caves was still around as the representative of the dwarves. He had made the decision to connect the dwarven city and Genesis through an underground route. It would take a long time to aplish since he was more than likely to run in to unexplored caves. However, it was a project that would make him and all the dwarves happy. No one could oppose.


    "I would like to hear the results of the expedition. If the merfolk have been rescued or if they will be seeking shelter here is very important information." The king was still here and had not traveled back to his wife in Diamond. As much as he wanted t rush back he knew that he needed to ensure that Genesis was on the rise. He also knew that he would need to prepare a proper representative before he left.


    "I also worry. Alma is still not back yet you are." The tense atmosphere that the enforcers and forest elf queen gave off was enough to make everyone silent.


    "If they weren''t on their way back then my general would have sent an urgentmunication. The odds are that they tried to travel a different route and will return in a day or so are high. I can feel your anger from here and I am all the way across the table." King Rorik had also remained behind. He had sent Scy out and did not wish to see anything happen to the city without a powerful demi-human there. As tough as he acted, he was too easy to read when it came to the things he cared for.


    "Well, they will all return soon. I''m not sure about Scy though. She said that she wanted to do some extra training. I will let her report that to you though. The merfolks will be sending a representative soon but need to heal their broken city. The kraken mother was defeated and most of the kraken spawn. There are more spawn that should be hunted and killed on sight. The tamers are on thin ice though. They ignored their orders and looked for kraken eggs to take with them so that they could be tamed beasts. I hope that you can have a word with the guild master in my ce." Walker knew well that he would be unable to get to the demi-human city anytime soon.


    "That can be arranged. I know that his aquatic tamers are a little more egotistical than they should be." King Rorik seemed to have had past problems with them as well. This was easy to see since the demi-humans with aquatic traits might butt heads with the aquatic tamers.


    Walker proceeded to go in to more details about travel and how the dragons had already left. He also exined that he would have to leave in a few months to the royal dragon court to meet the other royal dragons. This prompted a short conversation on gifts of multiple elemental affinities to send with Walker from their kingdoms. Naturally, it would be more than Walker was expecting.


    "Then all is well. I''m d to hear that they will be able to bring some rare ores and help us explore underwater caves." The king of the deep caves knew that the merfolk might be able to partner with them. It was ideal since the dwarven golems would take much longer to explore than merfolk.


    "Hmm, before thises to a close, there is a strange happening that my enforcers noticed. We are very in tune with mana but since this morning and even around the outskirts of the city, the mana has been weak. It''s as if someone is pulling the mana and even more towards them. I have yet to receive any hard set information but it is notable. I have my enforcers looking more in to it but they find that the more they search the more tired they feel." The forest elf queen was calm but showed a little worry in her eyes.


    "That''s odd. I would say it might be the number of skills and mana used in the area for the construction of the city. But that wouldn''t exin them being more tired. It could be nothing but if you find it odd I will rely on you for more information." King August was sure that the elves had a better handle on this than the humans would. He fully trusted them. His opinion was met with agreement from everyone else.


    "Now that you say it, Fleur seems a little slower too. Usually, she is able to absorb more natural mana. But even I feel like the mana is fighting me a little." Walker tried to pull on the natural mana in the room and felt as if something else was interrupting him.


    "Then we will have our mages search as well." That was settled. The forest elf mages would be fully investigating the strange urrences when it came to the mana in the area. This seemed to be the best solution.


    After this conversation ended, the representatives bounced small issues and ideas off of each other. There didn''t seem to be many issues or shortfalls as of yet. This was all because of the major care taken in creating thews and regtions. Having the guilds take off some regtory stress was also a major factor.


    "From here I think we should look in to other methods of expansion. I know there have been ideas on what else the city needs. If we are going to build major facilities then this is the time. Soon homes and more shops will take up avable space." Walker suggested this as they ended the meeting. He knew it would be wise to brainstorm this for a few days.


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 Chapter 1051 - 1051. Crowded Guild

    Chaos. That was all Remey found when she got to the alchemy guild building. Before she had even gotten to the locked doors she had to push many alchemists, herbalists, and potion sellers out of the way. They had more or less barricaded themselves against the door in an effort to be the first to arrive and im a shop.


    Since Remey had the keys she was able to force her way to the front and enter. It came with a few pushes to keep others out but other than that things weren''t as bad as she assumed. "So, any reason why we have an entire mob outside?" She looked at the staff members that had been hired who had stopped as soon as the door had opened and shut.


    "Guild master, wee back. We have been waiting for you to begin the examinations." There were many that didn''t recognize Remey because Trish and the old master alchemist had hired them while she was away.


    "First, It''s Remey. Second, I am one of the alchemists in charge, not a sole guild master. Third, it looks like they did well to hire more people, please go and get that old man and Trish before I have to drag them down here." Her orders were immediately followed since the staff was sure that Remey would punch them in to next week if they didn''t listen. This mostly came from the fact that she was wearing her knuckles. They made her more intimidating and it would keep rowdy test takers in line.


    "You walk in and start yelling for me even though I''m in the backroom going over storage. How rude. I thought you knew better than this. Little Remey thinks she''s outgrown being polite to her elders." The old master alchemist walked out from being the counter shaking his head. However, he appeared happier than he was letting on.


    "You won''t even guess what I brought-" The old master alchemist held a hand up and walked to the back door while gesturing for Remey.


    "Look out that door and tell me, will that work as an underwater level for the farming of saltwater herbs? I had the dwarves build it so that the sand and soils can be kept separate to avoid contamination. I also know that we should have some merfolk herbalists and alchemists soon, right?" There was pride in the old master alchemist''s voice while he showed off the pools of saltwater that were made bear the building. The set up was perfect for the herbalists t easily bring in the herbs while also being able to easily move to other green houses and herb plots.


    "I don''t say it often. But, you really are the best." Remey was blown away by the expanded herb gardens.


    The old master alchemist ruffled her hair and walked back toward the main hall, "Wee back. We''ve been waiting." Trish had juste down the stairs in time to see the pair walking back to the front hall.


    "I assume you just showed off the herb garden design? If she blinks the herbalists might change their minds again. I don''t know how we will afford all of this." The cost of everything had been eating away at Trish greatly.


    "Just gather up potion packages. There are enough merchants out there to make a nice profit with just an introductory package that showcases the quality and new potions from our guild." Remey shrugged as she said it until she saw Trish shaking her head and the old master alchemists smile.


    "You two might secretly be rted. I swear." Trish paused and motioned for a few staff members to gather something. "We have them already prepared. How do you want to go against the mob outside?" This was more customers at once than any of them had dealt with before. That being the case, Trish wanted a solid n.


    "Simple. We allow five people in at once. We have guards around for a reason. It''s not like they were hired just to stand pretty. They can be in charge of the doors as well. Once we have a full room of those that want to be tested in either alchemy or herb growing, we start the test. Those that want to sell our potions and herbs can apply and get screened. I don''t want to see our potions being sold for absurd prices. Those that pass our review can get a potion package to sample potions for a fee." Remey was sure this would work. It just made them work for longer because the process could be slow.


    "I will take the first test of alchemists then. I want to see how these applicants hold up. But I also want to see how many different ways a simple healing and mana potion can be created. I might have some new ideas." Trish was excited to be able to build new potion forms if she saw something interesting. Being able to test the applicants was a benefit that not many would realize until they had done so.


    "That leaves me with the main hall here. I don''t feel like testing others just yet. I feel like the rules will be much harder to enforce than expected with how energetic all of them seem." A nce to the door was enough for the old master alchemist to remember the noisy crowd.


    "Don''t worry about the rules. We have those booklets made already, right? I will be going outside to hand those out. No one will try anything with me around." There was an evil smile on Remey''s face. People didn''t need to know she wouldn''t actually use violence against them if they didn''t follow the rules while here in the alchemy guild. "Let''s get this done!" The staff became a flurry of movement as they prepared to bring in the first people. It was earlier than nned but it was a perfect time.


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 Chapter 1052 - 1052. Partner With Us

    "And those are the reasons I think you are better off partnering with the adventurers guild to create an archers academy." ra had sent for someone to bring Gil in to her office. They had a long conversation about why Gil had wanted to potentially make an archery guild. But now that he was hearing what ra thought his ideas had changed.


    "If I were to join with you and let the elven archery masters join then the guild would expand. And since there are few archers in other kingdoms then it would expand archery all together." The potential to meet archers of all sorts from every kingdom was a massive draw for Gil. He knew that many would have to be self taught if they were from kingdoms that did not heavily rely on archer.


    "It would also allow you to create archery academies in every branch of the adventurers'' guild. I think it would be a very good way to expand the adventurers'' guild but also to attract more people to each city. In particr, Genesis." Since Genesis would have the first archery academy, the best archers woulde here first.


    "I think we can agree on that. I don''t think I am really cut out to be in charge of a full blown guild. But, I know that the military academy back home was a big deal. Yet, they were all about guards and soldiers. They didn''t offer sses that were specific to someone''s system. I want that to be a goal of the adventurers'' guild. Look at Remey, her guild will offer that. If archery is going to be an academy within the adventurers'' guild then there should be others." This requirement silenced ra for a moment. She had adapted well to being in charge of the guild. So well that it seemed she had been doing it for her whole life. That only made sense with her system.


    "I can make that a goal of the guild. With the adventurer''s guild being so near the alchemy guild we cane together in a way by helping with their and our recruitment efforts. Since there have been rumors of a mage tower then it could even go further. Add in the tamers¡­well, we will have a very strong educationalwork for the young. Especially people trying to find their systems." ra began to look bigger. She could see a spiderweb of connections growing in to a better future.


    "Do you think that the title holder from the forest elves woulde and speak for your academy?" The thought urred to ra that Gil''s rtionship with the forest elves could really spur this academy in to being.


    "If I ask he probably would. But to be honest, I have a lot of friends that wille just to steal my arrow ideas." He couldn''t help butugh. ra on the other hand knew that this was more than perfect. The academy would be able to start easily with support from prominent figures in other kingdoms. Especially another title holder.


    A soft knock came from the office door. "Come in!"


    The attendant that walked in looked pale. I''m sorry t interrupt. But a lot of the staff are feeling tired and a little ill. We may have to call it a day early." ra was shocked. She had just checked the first floor and seen bright and smiling faces before she started talking to Gil. It had only been an hour or so.


    "Wow, you really don''t look good. Forget going home. Sit down here and drink this health potion." There was no way to argue with Gil. He helped the woman to sit and handed her one of the heal potions he had handing on his waist.


    "I''m really not sure what is going on. It was all of the sudden. A man came to apply but he was talking very softly. Before he left though he said something about being the king. He just seemed odd." The attendant copsed out of the chair. Gil found that she hadpletely passed out and had shallow breathing.


    "Hey, hey! Can you hear us?" The attendant wouldn''t wake up at all.


    "How can they be this sick? There can''t be anything that does this. It''s like they are out of mana and energy in general. Who was this person calling themselves a king?" ra stood up and started to rush downstairs. When she reached the first floor she found adventurers, attendants, and even a few people there to ce quests on the floor or slumped in chairs. She raised outside and saw a few people stumbling about. The air felt heavy and she could tell her mana and energy, in general, was draining just by being outside. "Gil, stay inside!"


    It was toote though. Gil rushed outside as well and nearly fell from the difference in the air. "Just stay inside. I will get to Remey and see if she can make antidotes or something." ra didn''t hesitate to back in to the adventurers'' guild while Gil clenched his jaw and sprinted in to the nearby alchemy guild.


    "I need to make sure everyone is alright. ra could see a few people who had bruises or scrapes from falling. It was on her to help them even though she was feeling the effects of this sickness too.


    "Remey!" The doors to the alchemy guild were hard to open. But when Gil damaged to push them open he screamed for Remey. But he was not able to get her. He only saw more people unconscious. Trish was working to pour healing potions in people''s mouths as much as possible. Unfortunately, she was in a simr state to Gil. Both found it hard to even speak. "Where is she?" Gil worried more for his party members than anything. Remey was family.


    "She''s in a fury. I don''t know where she went¡­" Trish slipped and barely caught herself. By the time she looked back at Gil he was already unconscious and she was soon to follow.


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 Chapter 1053 - 1053. Rage

    "WHO DID THIS! WHO IS GOING TO FEEL MY FISTS!" Remet was running on pure rage. She had almost no control over her actions. The people in the streets. The people in her alchemy guild. The people still stumbling. They all suffered and it broke her heart. It brought emotions she didn''t know she had right to the front of her very being. All of this had activated a skill she didn''t even know she could have.


    The Brawler''s fury skill was a lesser known skill when it came to any brawler. Some would get it under immense stress and others would never gain the skill. The main result was a loss of sanity after giving in to emotions. The secondary effect was a temporary boost to attack and agility. Therefore, it would make the brawler much more powerful for a short time. Currently, Remey was trying to find the source of the sickness she was watching.


    A horse stumbled and fell from where it was waiting for an owner that was most likely unconscious as well. Seeing that even animals were suffering made Remey even angrier. Her knuckles cracked as the pressure of her fists grew. Out of the corner of her eye, she managed to see a slow walking figure.


    No longer was there a hunched over cloaked figure. Instead, an albino demon had pulled off the hood of a cloak and stood straight. They seemed to be getting taller and stronger as they walked along. A smile blooming on their face showing needle like teeth. "Oh, I like to have some tough possessions. You are unique. I will keep you in my collection forever. Do not worry. You are all mine." This was thest Remey heard as she tried to punch out.


    Her fist didn''t meet its target though. The world went ck as thest of her mana bled away. "Hmm, just sleep and provide me with all the life energy you have. You were strong and had a lot of potential." The demon hummed as he looked once more at the cracked stone where Remey''s fist had fallen. Her energy was now his and it would continue to be so until her end.


    "My queen! It has to be a curse. The city has been cursed!" The elven mage rushed in to the forest park that had been made for the elves to feel more at him. The queen had arrived there recently but their search for the problem in the city had brought them to the unconscious people. The mages were very well educated and were able to recall past records.


    "Are you sure? He hasn''t been out of the demonnds in a few hundred years. He shouldn''t even be able to gather enough power to stand." The elves knew that one of their ancestors had sealed the demon known as Greed long ago. It hade at the cost of the elf''s life but had saved many people.


    "It is certainly Greeds'' curse. It is exactly as the records say. Life energy is being taken from people constantly and they are copsing in the streets. That is why we have been unable to use mana properly. We need the magic that could seal them again. If it is not done the city could be lost the same as the desert elf city lost years ago." The mage had read that the forest elf that left the forest to help the desert elves had used magic that they learned in the desert elf city. That was the reason for Greed being sealed.


    "That magic was lost when Greed was sealed. The desert elves were unable to keep their city together after the destruction left by Greed. That city was cursed for months before our people knew. The only ce that could have clues to that magic are the ruins. I was going to wait to explore that ce when the heroes wanted to examine the magic tower¡­ Get whoever is not affected yet!" The mag struggled and started to show that he had already been affected by Greeds'' curse. Another enforcer ran out as fast as possible. They were headed right for the mansion.


    "Midnight, are you and Onyx really sleeping already? We still have dinner left." Wakerughed as he found that Midnight and Onyx were asleep. However, he felt the connection between them was off. His worries were realized when he tried to shake Midnight and Onyx awake. Neither would wake up and even the small fire in the firece was beginning to fade.


    There was a tter from the front of the mansion and before he could shout out he found a very pale and panting enforcer looking at him. "Get to my queen in the forest. She has answers." The enforcer fell unconscious and Walker was torn. He wanted to stay and help Midnight and Onyx. But he had to find the source.


    Without any more hesitation, Walker ran as fast as he could toward the small forest park that the elves had made. He could feel something pushing and prodding at him while he ran. The natural mana that stayed around him because of Fleur was being pulled at constantly. There was nothing worse than the feeling of something trying to take the mana from his control. Luckily, he could feel Fleur in the spirit mark holding the mana firm to him and her.


    It only took Walker a few moments to get there, but in that time the nts the elves had speed grown had be dull and even lost a lot of their leaves. The queen was perched on a bench holding herself up with all her effort. "Take this journal and leave the city now. You are going to the fallen elf city. I wish I could tell you more. I was waiting to tell you until the city was settled. There used to be elves that lived in-" The queen fell on to the bench unconscious as well. Walker was alone. The only one left.


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 Chapter 1054 - 1054. Greeds Curse

    All of Walker''s emotions screamed at him to find his party. Find his family. Find a way to pull everyone out of there to safety. But he knew that if he stayed he would be in the same situation as everyone else. He would be unconscious and unable to survive. Thest words from the forest elf queen didn''t encourage him to stay either. Since she had told him to get out as fast as possible he couldn''t hesitate.


    Walker sprinted out of the city with all his might. He found that there were some guards that had managed to escape as well. "Sir hero!" the small group of five had been easy to spot from the direction that Walker had left the city. "Thank the holy lord that you escaped. People started to get sick and fall over. We rushed away worried that we were under attack but we found nothing out her to be causing it all." The guard reported everything he knew immediately. He even went so far as to pull out the patrol path order he had been given to exin where he had been when things started to happen.


    "I am trying to figure things out as well. Since you are the only guards left I want you to patrol around and make sure that no one else enters the city. Stop them and make a temporary camp until things are solved." That was when the weight of this problem hit him. Walker was the only one that he knew had also escaped the city and he would need to get the solution to fix this issue. Too many lives were at stake.


    His mind fell on the journal in his hands that the elf queen had forced in to his hands. He started to flip through the pages before he found one that stuck out. "The sealing of Greed." He knew that this had to be what was going on. The information about this took up almost the entire journal.


    "Listen carefully. I need people to bounce this off of while I think." Walker knew that he wouldn''t be able to do this alone. The more minds ha had thinking the better.


    "Greeds'' curse is one that any kingdom should fear. It draws out the mana and very life of a people from them. It works simrly to an illness and in a matter of a day or two, an entire people can be brought in to an unwakable slumber. This was what split and caused the desert elf city of mages to fall. The attack of Greed waspletely unknown for a series of months until a sealing sage was dispatched from the forest elf settlement."


    Walker stopped for a moment, he was understanding what this might all mean. "So everyone is cursed? How can the church members get cursed? Shouldn''t they be immune or able tobat that?" One of the guards was rightfully angry but didn''t receive an answer.


    "The sealing sage spent his own soul and used a skill he had not yet understood. With his life, he was able to seal away Greed forever. The remains of the desert elves split and went off on their own leaving the desert mage city to be taken back by the sands. The mage tower is and will always be the only tower able to stand. Many theories and rumors have surfaced over the years about the purpose of the mage tower¡­" Walker skipped through the pages exining the purposes of the city and towers. He knew that this was not exactly what he needed.


    "The sealing sage had found an ancient sealing magic that he was attempting to learn. It had been found in ruins that were older than the elves and any other race that could be tracked. The magic was extremely hard to grasp but the metal tablet had survived an unknown number of years. Traces of the magic proved that the magic itself had been sealed within the metal tablet."


    "That''s it! Seal Greed again! Everything will be fixed!"


    "You say that like we just have that metal tablet lying around. It has to be where that Greed demon thing was sealed in the first ce. Also, why were they sealed? Can''t we just like, hit it?" The guards argued a little but Walker was also curious why Greed had been left sealed and not defeated.


    "It says, Greed has a unique power thates with the title. He can absorb the energy around him to maintain his life. He is often seen in a sickly state until he is able to curse arge number of people. Upon sealing the energy he absorbs is returned to those he stole it from. Yet even after checking on the sealing a hundred yearster, Greed was still thought to be left alive and was therefore buried deeper in the sands of the desert."


    This was enough for all of them to understand that this title and curse was basically making Greed immortal. The Curse wasn''t just that though. It made Greed a sickly and weak demon that didn''t seem to be able to grow without taking what others had for themselves. He was the definition of a demon made in to a monster.


    "I will go and find this desert city. I wish there was someone else to help¡­Scy isn''t back yet!" Walker realized that he had forgotten that Scy was not back yet. "Alma too!" This realization was even bigger. He would have Alma and her enforcers with Scy and whatever could help them. Scy may have been training but she wouldn''t have passed the city or gotten back to the demi-human city. He could contact her with amunication crystal he had saved. Then he could find Alma along the way and get to the desert to save Genesis.


    "Things aren''t so hopeless after all." The guards felt their hope rise.


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 Chapter 1055 - 1055. Escaped

    Walker rummaged through the storage that he hadpletely forgotten about in his panic. He had themunication crystals that Scy had given him a long time ago. They had never been needed until now. He was sending silent thank yous to Scy while he began to infuse his mana in to it. "Return to the outskirts of Genesis immediately. We need to go and get something to save the city. Under no circumstances are you to enter the city. If you find Alma and the enforcers bring them too." The crystal broke in to pieces as he finished his rushed message. He knew that Scy would react with haste. Especially since she had to know that her king was still in the city.


    Now all he had to do was prepare a small camp for anyone that wasing toward the city. If more people ended up affected by Greed''s curse. It would also make Genesis a city that no one was willing to travel to ever again. What was even scarier though, was the fact that this could mean more demons could show up and take over thends around Genesis city. That would be thergest demon inversion to date.


    "Walker!" The gut wrenching shout cause Walker to nearly drop his jaw before he understood it was Su who was limping toward him.


    "Su! SUUUU!" Using all of his strength, Walker sprinted to Su and helped her. He could see that she had somehow been injured on her left leg but other than that she was alright for the most part. "What happened? How are you safe? Let me heal you!" The words spilled from Walker''s mouth in a frenzy of worry and happiness that Su was not in the same state as everyone else.


    "I resisted a curse. The system said I was resisting a curse but it couldn''t prate my magical defenses. But the more I resisted the more it seemed to try again. Then this pale demon showed up and said that I would be his possession whether it was now orter. But he was bloated and tall. It was an abomination." The sickly look that Greed had was long gone. The energy he had stolen from others was warping his body further.


    "Let me exin it to you. I was able to get out before Greed''s curse got to me too. There are a few guards that escaped as well. I am trying to get Scy back here and Alma too. We need to get to the deserts but with your leg, I''m not sure I can heal it enough." There weren''t any broken bones but it was clear that Su had run in to something fairly tough. Her leg was cut and badly bruised.


    "Just give me a high tier healing potion and heal me. I will deal with the consequences. Too many people are¡­It''s not right. I should be there to defend them. I can even feel Midnight being affected¡­" Tears streamed from Su''s eyes. She had never failed so greatly in her life. She failed to protect everyone including her family. This was a crushing blow to her very core. She had always done her best to defend everyone that she could, even before a hero title.


    "Listen to me. Su, we are going to the desert. We couldn''t block this curse but we can seal away the person causing it. Greed is an old demon with a title that must be sealed. Just stand by me and keep pushing. You are doing more than defending now. You are rescuing. This was an attack that happened even before we felt it starting. You can do this." The sureness and power in Walker''s voice showed Su just how he felt. It was enough to shut her tears down immediately. She was feeling her heartbeat with walkers for everyone currently trapped in the city.


    "He''s right. We came here because we heard the heroes were starting a new city. We came because you can do the impossible. Because of you, we have real jobs and a purpose higher than just one person. We will be here to guard the city. It''s your job to bring the reinforcements we need to do that. Please believe in our hope." The guards all saluted Su and Walker causing them both to feel their will strengthening.


    "You will report this to Scy and Alma. They will catch up with us. Walker will show you the route we will follow. Walker, tell me the n." Su clenched her jaw and began to watch as Walker showed the map in the journal that the elf queen had given him. He then mirrored it on a map he had in his inventory to hand over to the guards.


    "We need to cross the mountain pass here and enter the desert. Then we are only a few days walk from there to the ruined mage tower. The problem will be getting in to the tower and to the buried level that Greed was once sealed in. That''s the only chance at finding the metal tablet with the sealing magic in it." There was a slim chance that they would find nothing. However, Walker could feel this was the right decision to make.


    "You say that greed was sealed before. How did he escape? Do we know?" This question had been one that the guards and Walker had not been ready to raise.


    "I have no idea. That might be a problem we face when we get there. For now, we just need to get you healed and ready to head out." Walker focused on healing Su''s leg. He made some ice with his magic to keep it from swelling. His mind hovered on Alice, his parents, his sister, the rest of the party, and everyone that was suffering in the city he saw as the future.


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 Chapter 1056 - 1056. Disbelief

    "I can''t believe this is happening. The city was just getting to the point where it could open." There was a lot of disbelief in Su''s voice. However, the more she thought about the unconscious people in the streets or the silence around the city, she knew it was all true.


    "I can''t either. But we need to make sure we fix this fast. People could die if we are too slow. I just hope that we can get there and get back fast. And that I can use whatever the sealing magic is on that metal tablet. The journal says it cost the sealing sage his life¡­" Walker knew that there was the possibility that this could cost him as well.


    "No. It cost him his life because it said he didn''t understand it. You are different. Your system lets you learn a lot and figure out skills in different ways than other people. I believe you can learn it and seal away Greed properly. And if you even think about giving up your life, just know that I will let Remey drag you back to the world of the living so I can hit you." Su rarely would threaten violence, however, without Remey there she felt that it was right.


    "Then I will understand it. I won''t let anything take away the life we fight for. I have too much left to do." There was nothing more than Walker wanted than to help those in need. He couldn''t do that if he was already passed on.


    "We have a few more survivors. One is a little girl and the other is her older brother. Apparently, the brother has some sort of weather rted system. He said that he felt the mana change course and left for a walk to let it pass. It saved them both." The guard was happy that they had found someone else. But this was still far from their goal to save everyone.


    "That''s good. I will leave a bunch of the extra tents and food here. I won''t need too much." Walker had already set up some wood and other basic supplies. He had been stockpiling things constantly in his storage. It wasn''t much in the grand scheme of things but for the guards and the two younger children, it was perfect.


    "We should head out. The longer we wait the worse it will get." Su forced herself to stand and flinched. Her leg wasn''t fully healed but that was not going to stop her. She had to move and work to fix the damage that had been done. She had been unable to protect everyone when all of it happened so now she would save them.


    "Remember, keep people out of the city. And if Scy or Alma arrive send them after us." Walker was right next to Su as they walked away from the city. Neither could allow themselves to look back. They knew if they did they would need to fight the urge to run back.


    Scy was stepping through the air with a slight frown. "I send those fools back home early as a gift to them and they have the nerve to grumble about being tired and sore." She had trained her aquatic troops to their limits and sent them back through the river ahead of her. She had decided that she would head to Genesis because she had been notified that king Rorik was shrill there.


    Her leviathan partners had be well adjusted to having their final member with them. There was a profound connection that all of them felt and it made them exceptionally calm. Not only had they been made whole but they had also discovered the true highest of their skills which they had been missing out on by being separated.


    "Just wait until we can show off against those corrupted demons. We will be the front line. Everyone will know who we are and just how great demi-human warriors are." The whispers that Scy shared with her leviathan were met with small hissing sounds. They all believed that they could rule the battlefield with their power now.


    Without warning a warmth began to spread from a pocket within the robes Scy wore. "What now? I already received amunication that we should go to Genesis."


    She believed that she was being given more orders. However, when themunication crystal started to y Walker''s voice, Scy nearly fell from the air.


    Before themunication crystal had shattered in her hand she was already using all of her strength to move toward Genesis. The speed at which Scy could travel in the air or in the water was incredible. It was nowhere near the fastest in the world but it was fast within its own right. The air seemed to bend slightly around her as she moved and the monsters that felt her emotions cowered.


    Scy was doing nothing to hide her fury upon hearing that Genesis was at risk. However, she did not forget what she had heard. There was more to what Walker had said. There was Alma that had still not arrived in Genesis. That was one more person that would be able to help them. There was no way Scy could take the aquatic forces in to the desert but Alma might be able to bring the enforcers.


    With her sharp eyes and her strategic thinking, Scy easily tracked down the path that the forest elves would take to get back to Genesis. She pursue them as if the world was about to end. She would normally like the high energy and hot blooded travel, yet, now she felt that it was the worst possible thing that could happen. Genesis was in trouble. In such a short time she hade to love Genesis and refused to allow it to fall.


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 Chapter 1057 - 1057. Spotted In The Sky

    "We should arriveter today at our current pace. There have been no sightings of any further monsters ahead." An enforcer reported to Alma then quickly returned to his hidden positions scouting ahead. The other enforcers were either sent on a new mission or currently standing with Alma as they traveled.


    "We are making good time. Once we return we can focus on the growth of the city and have the queen return to the forest." Alma knew that having the queen return would be for the best. It was exceedingly rare of the forest elf queen to ever leave their city in the history of the elves.


    There was part of her that couldn''t wait to get back. He wanted to see the new thing that the city would bring. The new people. The new interactions. She knew that the spirit crafting that came from the union of elves and dwarves would be a huge focus of her people. Yet, there was a gut feeling eating at her. Something that made her ufortable with returning. She just couldn''t shake it, even when she tried to convince herself it was just the stress of being the forest elf representative.


    "Arrows at the ready! We have arge flying monster iing!" The enforcers fell in to an archery stance immediately. They had trained to guard the queen and anyone they guarded with their lives.


    "What does it look like?" Alma had scattered blue ivy seeds and was calling on them to grow around them. If anything even tried to swoop down it would be poisoning itself on her blue ivy and potentially tangling itself. Arge flying monster would easily fall to them with the arrows and poison. Then they would be able to show off their strength as they walked back in to the city.


    "It looks like arge eel or serpents slithering through the sky!" One enforcer had a better look at it than the rest and could only make out that detail. The distance was still too great, however, the speed at which it was flying was more than any of them expected.


    The flying monster suddenly nosedived toward the ground. "It''s swooping down. Be ready!" The enforcers trained their arrows and prepared to fire them at just the right time.


    "Halt! Arrows down! That is General Scy! Any arrow fired is an affront to the alliance!" Alma''s demanding voice caused every enforcer to flinch and stand down. Her blue ivy grew small flowers and dropped seeds in seconds while then drying up and falling away. The difference was astounding.


    Arge whoosh of wind and force came down in front of Alma causing her hair to dance wildly. The enforcers stepped back to keep their footing. "Genesis is in trouble. We are meeting Walker to rescue it. Your enforcers need to go to the city and guard it. They will be updated when they arrive. You areing ahead with me." Scy grabbed Alma by the arm and tossed her on the back of a massive leviathan floating through the air while still somehow smaller than it used to be in the water. Alma had no chance to speak but she and the enforcers heard Scy clearly.


    As they took back to the air at high speed the enforcers grouped up and began to speed towards Genesis as well. They knew the threat must be high if Scy was so serious and went out of her way to retrieve Alma another representative. It meant war or arge ident urred. They needed to get there sooner thanter.


    Never had Alma been moving so fast through the air in her life. As fearful as she was from the sudden situation and news that danger had arrived in Genesis, she found herself in awe. The ground was small to her and the air cold. She felt as if she were a breeze through the clouds until they suddenly swooped down again. Two small figures were on the ground moving fairly quickly as well.


    "That looks like them. We need to get moving with Walker and Su." Scy could make out who it was andnded right away in front of them to the shock of Walker and Su. "I used my fastest speed to follow the elves and procured Alma. The enforcers are on the way to the city to help whatever is happening. Report the problem!" This was the true mentality of Scy as a front line general of the demi-human race. She was serious and ready to act on whatever orders would deal with the threat in front of them.


    The stunned looks on Su and Walker''s face faded away. A thought urred to Alma, where is Gil, and Midnight, and Onyx, and Remey¡­where are they?" She felt her emotions catch in her throat as the worst seemed to bombard her mind.


    "They were caught in the curse. We will fix this¡­" Su spoke calmly. Her head didn''t turn though. She just kept staring forward in the direction of the mountains.


    "Then we will be moving at the fastest pace possible. With the rest of our mana, we can get you three over the mountains. A good thing with your leg like that." Scy was no fool'' she could easily pick out an injured person. It was a skill she had learned after many years of battling. "I will rest where wend and wait for you toe back. The desert isn''t the best ce for me."


    "Understood. I won''t force you past your limits. Getting us over the mountains with your speed is more than enough. It will help immensely." Walker knew that Scy had a wind and water affinity. That meant the leviathans would suffer in the desert without the water elemental mana they needed. "I will exin more while we travel. We can''t stay still."


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 Chapter 1058 - 1058. Wait Here

    Even though the wind was whipping by them there was a silence that felt louder than any they had known. It was almost another curse to be alone with their thoughts and worries. Alma kept mouthing that she didn''t believe what she had been told. She had even gone through the journal that the queen had given Walker.


    The surprise on her face was much more prevalent than they had expected. Apparently, the truth of this desert elf city was hidden. They had known that the city existed and also a desert elf that focused on earth and wind magic existed. However, as forest elves grew up they were taught that the desert elves were naturally a wandering race instead of a settling kind. The ruined city had been exined as a fallen city that never became much.


    Alma had exined it as a perfect way t keep them from ever venturing there in search of lost and rare magic. Many elves would have attempted to leave the forest elf city to explore during rebellious phases. It was verymon for the enforcers to drag them back as they explored the forest anyways.


    The sealing sage had been exined as sealing the great demon Greed in the earth but that was the depths of the information. Having everything exined and put together shocked Alma quite a bit. Yet it also brought a realization to the others. The forest elf queen must have wanted to warn and exin this since talk of a mage tower being built had risen. Those that traveled there would have needed to worry about the danger of Greed. Now that wasn''t the problem and they wouldn''t be searching for the key to creating a mage tower of their own. Not that Walker wouldn''t store away everything he came across in case it could be useful one day.


    Just a nce showed how tired Scy was. She shared mana with the leviathan partners that were wrapped around her body. All had be exhausted and they were holding on tightly to thest one. The speed that the ground flew by beneath them was enough to make anyone''s stomach churn. The mountains that had appeared small from a distance were now right in front of them. The sweat dripping off of Scy''s brow was well earned since they would not have managed to get here without her.


    The ground suddenly began to rush toward them. Walker realized that Scy had lost most of her mana and she was doing her best to lower them slowly before she lost her consciousness. Walker did his best to manipte the wind around them and help Scy, however, the leviathan they held on to was reverting to the smaller size so that it could wrap around Scy and rest. If it did not and was exposed to the building head in the area, it could perish.


    In a blink of their eyes, the four found themselves rolling in the sand. The mountains were some distance behind them since they had managed to glide downwards. Su jumped back up and forced herself to get to Scy who was barely awake. "Get moving. I want you to be here the second I have rested." This was less of an order and more of a pleading cry. None of them had ever imagined that Scy could possible be so weak.


    "You gave it your all. I will set up an earth fortress for you. Walker will make sure it can hide you from the sun and protect you." Walker did as Su told Scy. The earth fortress that rose around here didn''t allow for anyone or anything to be able to attack her. Finally, Walker left food and water with Scy as she faded in to a slumber. She had given everything to move fast and efficiently. They could not have asked for more.


    "Just so you know, I will be useless around here. Ick the water and soil to make my ivy grow. The razor whip weed is out of the picture too." If Alma could find a desert nt to grow, then she would be able to fight. Yet, the sand showed that she had nothing.


    "It''s hot here. We were just in the cool snow and breeze, but this¡­this is hot." The sand was hot enough to burn at the skin. Walker pulled off someyers of clothing but handed out thin cloaks to Alma and Su. they couldn''t allow themselves to be exposed to the direct sun and needed a little shade to fight off the heat. This drastic change made them feel sluggish for a few moments before they were able to fight through it with mental power.


    "Walker, where are we going now? We need to head to that tower and find that te. Alma didn''t mind that Su had ignored the fact that she wasn''t able to fight. It was mostly because they did have a goal and sidetracking to get her a nt to use as a weapon was time theycked.


    "This way, I memorized that outcrop of rocks as andmark. Just remember to pay attention to the sand. If it shifts oddly, shout. If you see something discolored stop and warn us. And if you see what seems like a sand dune growing, run." Walker did his best to recall and share the knowledge he had memorized about monsters that lived in the sand. But this was a rushed exnation and he didn''t know all that much to begin with.


    Su was right being Walker. She was still ignoring her aching leg. Alma was watching Su carefully. She would stop her if need be since she knew Su was injured still. But she also knew that Su wouldn''t listen to her unless she was slowing them down and would stop them from getting to the metal te that had the sealing magic on it.


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 Chapter 1059 - 1059. Desert Survival

    "We are lucky that the tower and ruined city are close to the mountain. I would assume that it was built that way so that melting snow on the mountains could funnel down to the city." Walker was constantly brainstorming as they walked to keep his mind off of those in Genesis. His words just spilled from his mouth but no one objected. Both Su and Alma had started to like it since it helped them keep from focusing on their worries as well.


    "That is pretty smart. It would be the best way for them to have water without worry. The mountain tops get snow all year long and melt consistently. Especially if the warm breeze from the desert hits it." Si could see it being a major growing point for a city. The desert elves had been wise since this was a great way to survive the heat.


    "I just wonder if they were able to manipte it by using wind elemental magic. The journal said they were known for using a fusion of earth and wind elemental magic." Walker had not used such magic often. Mostly because the earth resisted the wind and the wind couldn''t moverge pieces of earth at once without a lot of mana being used.


    "I actually have some theories and exnations for that." Since Alma had heard of the desert elves she knew some of the things they were known for. On top of that, she had seen joint spells between the wind and earth mages in the forest elf city.


    "They can solidify the sand and direct the wind upwards. That makes the water in the air rise as well and be clouds. They were known for a joint magic skill using five mages to cause small rainstorms in heat waves." Just because Alma was a forest elf didn''t mean she didn''t take pride in the fact that there were elves capable of making the weather change. It was a wondrous skill to have. Being able to work so well with other mages that a joint spell like that was possible deserved high praise.


    "That would take a lot of mana but with multiple people working on nit they must have been able to do a lot more." The idea that Walker was thinking about had been that it would be very tough with one person. Now knowing that it was better off as a joint spell made him question anyone with a weather controlling system or skills.


    "What about their defenses and agility? Did they have high agility because of their win affinity and then tough defenses because of the earth affinity?" The idea that Su had was that the desert elves had been tougher and faster than the forest elves which were speedy and silent.


    "No, from what I read and was told they were actually very frail. They used the wind to manipte the sand. Mixing them both they could make many things from the sand like needles, swords, arrows, and even giant sand waves." Walker raised an eyebrow as he walked. He was surprised that the desert elves would focus on the wind speed to manipte the sand.


    "You know, I can understand that. The sand is light and dry so the wind should be able to kick it up better. A small amount of earth maniption would be needed to remove air from between the sand grains. Then they would have whatever they needed for battle and maybe even crafting." The idea nearly made Walker want to test it out, but this was something for another time. He could not afford to get distracted by new magic. "Hey, do you know how they lived? Like how they made their homes?" The sand didn''t seem like the easiest material to build on from Walker''s perspective.


    "That was actually something that stumped me when my teacher asked me." Alma was d to be remembering the things she had been taught years ago. It was a long time since she had spoken about the history she learned while pursuing the dream of being the next elf queen. "The sand gets denser the deeper you dig and eventually bes sandstone. It is resistant to the desert winds and that is what they used. Their magic was perfect for carving it."


    "So they had a sand city. I wonder if it is still around?" Since Su knew the city had been left for many years and swallowed by the desert, she wasn''t sure that they would actually find real ruins.


    "Does that view answer your question?" Walker pointed at the distant tower that seemed to be slowly leaning. It was still very far away but could just barely be made out.


    "Yes, yes it does. If it survived the elements then there may be a lot under the sand that''s intact. I would assume that something sealed would be kept as deep below the sand as possible. The sealing sage would want to ensure that Greed never escaped to the light of day." Su hit the nail on the head. This was exactly the way anyone would think when it came to burying something away from the light of day.


    "If I need to dig I will dig. I still have a lot of Remey''s mana potions left to use. I don''t need to rest once we are there." Walker''s words were of course not true. He would need to rest so that he could understand the tablet. The magic was sure to beplicated and he had hope that Fleur would somehow be able to help him with it as well. Especially since the natural mana had helped him fight off Greed''s curse.


    "We will all di- What is that!?" Alma was about to pledge her assistance when she saw the sand shift and a spiky ck insect crawl out from it.


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 Chapter 1060 - 1060. Venom In The Sand

    Walker used his all around appraisal skill to make sure he knew what they were facing. The ck spiky insect was far from them. However, it had a long tail and before Walker had even gotten a response from the system he knew it was a scorpion.


    ''Venom spike scorpion


    This scorpion is known for the venom that runs through its body. The stinger is not the only dangerous part of its body that can inject venom in to prey. Every single spike no matter how small injects a very toxic poison rted to acid. Their carapace is very tough and easily absorbs the sunlight. When the nightes it will dig itself a ce to sleep deep in the hot sand so that it will not fall prey to the cold nights in the deserts. The poison is popr for assassins and the body is used for a unique kind of berserker armor. Not many seed in hunting these monsters due to their venom, therefore, the material is considered very rare even though the monsters are not considered rare.''


    "Stay away from it. The venom it has can hurt all of us. I will use magic and try to beat it before it gets here. I just wish I had water to use and freeze it." Walker could use the water he had in his storage. But, if he did that he would lose water overall and potentially run out of it when they needed it. The sun was already baking them alive and causing dehydration.


    "I will stay at the front. Just take it down before it reaches my shield." Su trusted that Walker would beat it so they could move on. She still stood in front ready to block though. She would take the attack if the scorpion managed to get closer.


    "I''m in back¡­" Since Alma could not properly attack without major consequences she just fell in to a defensive stance behind Walker. She did her best to keep an eye out to ensure they were not attacked from another side while Walker prepared his magic.


    The eternal orb started to shift in to a spear form. Walker was nning to let the wind elemental mana wrap around the spear the same way that Gil would with arrows when Zephyr helped him. If this worked then he would be able to easily deal with the venom spike scorpion. It all came down to his aim. Worst case he might be able to expend more mana to draw the eternal orb back to him for a second shot. Unfortunately, the venom spike scorpion had narrowed its beady eyes on them as its'' meal.


    The wind picked up around them as Walker focused the mana around the spear. He had some experience throwing a spear and using it but that was still minimalpared to his training in other methods of battle. Yet the spear was a good option since it allowed him to maintain some distance even when he was in a closerbat situation.


    A dense wind that gathered around the eternal orb spear partially absorbed in to it while focusing on the spearhead. This gave it a miniature tornado appearance as it was also picking up some fine sand. Walker released a full breath as he used his full strength to throw the spear.


    With arge w, the venom spike scorpion attempted to just flick away the spear. It saw the three as an incredibly weak group of prey that it would eat with ease. What the scorpion didn''t know was that Walker was much stronger than he had been before. It had been some time since he used a spear.


    A wave of wind caused the sand t change shape around them. It seemed as if the wind had carved away to create a form of art in arge circle around the venom spike scorpion. Its w had been shattered and it was barely standing up with the spear lodged within its body. There had been no cracking and breaking sound when the spear hit. Just arge deafening gust of wind revealing the damage done. There was no way any monster would survive a nearly undefended attack like this.


    The eternal orb spear form returned to Walker at the slightest pull of mana. It was bonded with him deeper than anything else. The venom spike scorpion was just a pile on the sand. The interesting part was that the wind that had covered the spear was still dissipating and causing small amounts of wind elemental damage. The feeling of throwing and attacking with a spear was bing one that Walker really liked.


    ''The skill elemental spear has been taken from the perfect spearman system. The user had learned the skill elemental spear due to prior skills and past experience.


    Elemental spear- 5 mana cost


    The user is able to infuse elemental mana in to the spear they wield based on their elemental affinity. The mana infused within the spear will leave the spear when making contact with the target and continue to inflict elemental damage. The remaining elemental mana can be harnessed by the user again if need be but will be significantly harder to control due to elemental turbulence in the surrounding area.''


    Walker thought that it was a good skill but made a note not to use the mana again right away. It was clear that disturbing the bnce around the area by gathering one kind of mana would make it harder to control mana in general. Overall, he was happy to have a skill that he could use here in the desert that didn''t rely on fire since it was so hot.


    "Store it away and we will keep moving. I doubt they would live together. Those things seem like a solo predator." Su easily understood the mind of independent monsters like scorpions were. She pushed them to move ahead without any break after Walker had used a skill to defeat it.


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 Chapter 1061 - 1061. Really?

    Since Walker didn''t want to waste time he had listened to Su and stored the venom spike scorpion quickly. He watched the eternal orb float next to him in spear form. He had never considered that using the right mana he could allow it to continuously float even though it was not in the orb form. It would make him simr to flying sword system users in a way. He even thought he might get another new skill. Unfortunately, this didn''t seem to be the case. Walker could only think that there were more conditions to having a flying spear maniption skill.


    "It looks like we are getting closer. But we need to top." Alma didn''t sound like she would let them make any other moves.


    "Why? We don''t have time. We have to get there faster." Walker wanted to just push on and forget any thought of resting.


    "Really? You''re both going to look at yourselves and say you are the perfect picture of health that can walk through the night?" Right, that second Walker and Su nced at each other. They saw sweaty and sand covered faces that were slightly red with sunburn. The heavy breathing they found in their chest with the pounding of blood in their heads made them understand that they were overworking themselves both physically and mentally.


    "It takes a lot to say this, but we need to stop for the night. We have never been here and we do not have a full party. I don''t know how the cold of the desert will hit us but I know that it is supposed to be colder than any frost we have where we live." This was some small information that Su had read in the library. It was the same book Walker had read which was why he was nodding along.


    "We will rest and start a fire. I don''t know if we should start a fire though. The warmth will be necessary but there is nothing to hide the light in the desert¡­" They could make some sort of earth shelter but if they did they would lose visibility which was also an issue. It was a hard choice to make but at the end of it all, he knew that keeping warm was worth the risk of having a fire.


    "I think we can avoid the risks of cooking. I know you have enough food sitting in your storage for us to eat." As much as Su and Alma wanted fresh food they both knew that it would be better not to risk attracting anything with the scent.


    They worked together to set up the camp. It was lucky that there were no winds but that both made them feel morefortable and also a bit more ufortable. "The quiet here is rough." The sounds of grasses brushing by in a breeze or of animals around were nowhere to be heard here. Walker felt that he was in apletely different world. It waspletely alien to them.


    "I know what you meant. I never thought that silence would be so suffocating." Since Alma was very used to the trees blowing in the wind, she was much more ufortable with the silence. On top of this, she didn''t even hear any leaves crackling as small animals snuck around in the dark. Every single forest elf would be feeling the same as her.


    "Silence might be better in this situation. We can all hear anything dangerousing near us. Not that the sand will make any noise but the worst predators around here have bodies like that scorpion earlier. That made enough noise to do more than alert us." Walker was sure they would hear somethinging. Therefore, Alma took the first watch so that he and Su could sleep, he was not worried at all.


    Unfortunately for Walker, he had forgotten the biggest enemy in the desert; sand. All three of them had fallen victim to the sand that worked its way n to their boots, cloaks, and even socks. Each time they woke up or shifted in their sleep more sand fell on to the bedding Walker had in his inventory for them. On top of that, they also began to find that the wind had picked up by morning.


    "I know we are just starting to warm up, but I would prefer the cold. I think we could swim through the air now that the sin is rising." There was no slow heat up in the desert. The moment the sun breached the horizon the small frost crystals evaporated and took to the air. Su was feeling the pressure in the air with every breath.


    "This is good though. I was able to refill our water supply from all the water that condensed over night and started to evaporate this morning. Taking thest watch world out perfectly." This was the only upside. Alma had a different opinion.


    "I tried to sense if there were any seeds worth controlling around. If the sand was damp then it would have allowed them to germinate. But it wasn''t long enough to start anything. I might remain useless until it rains. I don''t want to be here waiting for that." The useless feeling was weighing on Alma more so than before. However, all three felt useless due to their failure to protect the city.


    "We are the only hope to rescue everyone. If we were useless then we wouldn''t be here. We wouldn''t be pushing to get to that tower and explore. And we definitely wouldn''t be able to fight a spiny toad." Thestment was enough to make everyone fall in to battle stances. Walker was looking at therge sand colored toad in front of them. He knew very little about it other than its name and general appearance.


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 Chapter 1062 - 1062. Humidity

    ''Spiny toad


    Unlike the swamp toads that live in the swampnds, this toad has developed to survive in the deserts. The spines that it has all over its body are notrge but instead very small. They are perfect to deter any predator from eating them or even attacking them since they will cause small pricks of pain. This, however, is not the main way for them to deter their prey. They are able to spit streams of sand mixed with their saliva at high speeds. This will defeat even their toughest predators, the giant red ants. The spiny toad adores the morning where the hot damp air is dense. It is able to absorb the moisture it needs to survive. The spiny toad is known for its tender meat which is often used as a delicacy in wandering desert tribes.''


    "We are not fighting this one. It has long range attacks that deal a high damage." Walker already backtracked on what he had said just a moment ago. He slowly and carefully exined what the all around appraisal had told him and how deadly this toad was despite the calm appearance it had. "This is its favorite time of day. If we just walk around it with a wide distance we should be fine."


    Su held tight to Walker''s arm. She looked at him and slowly shook her head no. He didn''t understand why until he nce at Alma. Behind her, another spiny toad had uncovered itself to bask in the humidity. All three of them were watching as another slowly uncovered itself. They had somehow walked right in to the middle of these spiny toads while they sleep and if they moved they would cause multiple attacks from all sides to destroy them.


    There was feast written on all of their faces. They knew well that they would have to wait until the dry air returned so that the spiny toads would bury themselves to sleep again. It could take hours of their precious travel time. However, there was a high possibility that they would all perish if they even attempted to leave from where they stood.


    There was a moment of hesitation when Alma''s eyes widened. She knew that if she suddenly spoke and blurted out her idea she would doom them. Yet, when she slowly spoke in a calm and peaceful tone, the spiny toads allowed it. They too were softly vibrating their chests to make the sand shift and potentially attract other spiny toads to them. Alma''s soft voice didn''t scare them. "Walker, can you make it colder? There''s water in the air. Can you make it colder?"


    There was a sh of brilliance that crossed both Walker and Su''s faces. They knew exactly what Alma had thought of. These spiny toads hade up to bask in the humid air and warmth. Nut if Walker used his mana to manipte the water in the air before the sun was too strong, he could cool it. That would in turn make the toads want to leave and crawls back in to the and. They liked the humidity, but not the cold or the dry heat.


    With that thought process, Walker could also heat up the air around them so that the humidity was lost. Yet, he knew if he did that then he would most likely harm them as well. The three were better prepared for the cold that they had survived in the night than for the intense heat that would make the spiny toads hide away.


    The change in mana caused the spiny toads to stop in an alert pose. They lowered their heads and scooped sand in to their mouths. Luckily, none of them focused on Walker or hispanions. They instead searched around them only to find that nothing seemed to be out of ce. Walker had not realized how poor their eyesight was due to living buried in the sand and rarely seeing proper sunlight. This was what helped them, the toads thought that the three were just odd shaped cacti in the desert.


    Feeling the mana change was not the end though. The spiny toads began to notice the entire area change in temperature. Their bodies soon shivered under the dramatic change they had not expected. Their only safe haven was the sand which they started to cover themselves.


    Walker was sweating, a drastic difference between the cold. To control the mana which was trying to escape him due to the rising heat was very hard. Not only this but he had to force it to do what it did not want to do naturally. Normally the water would evaporate and the water elemental mana would turn in to clouds in the sky. Now there were ice crystals appearing and falling from midair to the sand and creating strange sand infused snowkes.


    Vibrant sunlight reflected through the ice crystals causing a myriad of colors and beauty to shine in the frosty sand. It was a beauty that they were sure no one had ever seen. With this happening, Walker activated the frost ring skill he had. It increased the strength of the cold at the cost of more mana. But it was worth it. The area had be sand and toad free yet again.


    "We run now." Su kept her voice low. She was still wary of more spiny toads in the area even though she didn''t see anymore above ground. The three sprinted away. Leaving the cold behind for the heat.


    "I used a lot more mana than I should have but it seems that it worked. Alma, you are a genius." Alma could only give a half smile while panting. They had avoided an odd trap of the desert by using Alma''s brilliant idea. Neither Walker nor Su would forget this moment. "So, you thought you were useless before? I don''t get it." Alma just managed a halfugh which lightened their mood before they looked at the closer leaning mage tower.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1063 - 1063. A Plant!

    The mage tower seemed to be leaning just enough to smoke it appear it would fall. Yet, the more they looked at it the more it seemed that it would never fall. It was leaning just a little too perfectly. The sand also seemed to be getting finer the closer they got to the tower. "It looks like it is made from a dense and perfect yellow sand. I think I can even see the windows at the top of the tower." Alma was acting like a tourist to a new city. She couldn''t help herself. She knew that a different kind of elf had once lived here. Now that she knew this she wanted to uncover their truths.


    "Who knows how they made it all. I bet that the desert elves were not the first here." Su could see the tops of some stone buildings. There were parts that seemed to have been made with the opposite designs as the others.


    "You''re right. If I can find it¡­Here, there is a section saying that the desert elves built this city on top of some older ruins that they found. They used those ruins as the base and structures of their own building." Since this was written in the journal, the three memorized it. They would need to be able to understand the structures that they were trying to search.


    "That could make things harder. There could be more than just the sealing magic in there. If the ruins are actually older than the desert elf city, we need to be prepared for more." With this, Walker knew that there was a chance that multiple forms of ancient magic existed in the ruined city. It also exined why the desert elves were able to do amazing things written in the journal.


    "If they were able to understand the ruins that were here before them and build on them, then I bet they were able to understand their fusion magics better because of it. It must all be connected. Why would Greed want this ce to be his? Other than greed of course." Alma was feeling a breakthrough. "He would want whatever was here to feed on. If it wasn''t the elves, then it was the magic of the ruins. I bet he was sealed while looking for that to im as his own."


    "I agree. Greed sounds like a demon that wants everything. If he gets a powerful ancient magic then he might be able to be the strongest demon there is. That means he could take everything as his own and spread his curse further. I doubt he was able to get the sealing magic though. He can''t have since it was a magic that was able to go against him." Walker had this theory about sealing magic. He believed itpletely.


    "I think that domes stone building there is the top of one attached to the tower. We should start there." Su had observed the nearest structures and picked the domed part above the sand as the best way in to the buried tower. They needed to break through but that was simple with her shield bash skill and the earth spirits'' assistance.


    "I can break it using my magic. My high earth sculpting can probably just open a door and even make stairs for us." Walker thought it was pointless for Su to put so much effort in to this when he could easily do these things.


    "Oh? And you think you should use your mana even though you used a lot of it to cool the air?" The point was clear and Su used a very harsh tone. She knew that Walker was rushing this and was not going to allow mistakes. He didn''t have any response other than to just nod. He hadn''t thought about his mana use which was not like him.


    "Just be careful of those cacti near the edge of the dome. Their spines are pretty long." Walker still wanted Su to be safe even though her armor should protect her from the spines.


    "No, wait. Let me see those cacti." Alma went up to them and found some small pink flowers on them. She started to carefully pry at them until she was holding the flowers. She pulled petals away revealing a very tiny and easy to miss seed. "I think I can grow this. It will be weird but any nt is good right now. You refilled the water this morning too so I can use some for this, right?"


    "I don''t see why not but let me appraise it before we grow a lot of them for a battle. I don''t want anything bad toe of it." The only reason Walker knew Alma would just touch the cacti flowers was that she knew they weren''t poisonous somehow. He didn''t know if it was some secondary skill but it seemed useful.


    ''Rolling cactus seed


    This is a verymon cactus in any desert of the world. It will row in to a round spiked ball and eventually detach before a wind storm. They roll through the sands dropping their flower petals and seeds to grow in arger area. The next time the raines they grow rapidly with minimal water. They can resist very high heat, many use it to cook in if a pot is not avable. The juices from this cacti are safe to drink but extremely bitter.''


    "That''s good to know. We don''t need a pot. Not that we don''t have an entire kitchen because of Walker." The slight bit of humor was enough to help them breathe away some stress. All of them were tense. "We can use a rope to get down too. When we head back up I will think about letting you use your earth sculpting." Su still wanted Walker to save his mana. She had no idea what monsters may have moved in to these sandy ruins over the years.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1064 - 1064. The Buried City

    Su stepped back a few feet then charged at the dome. It was amazing how much tougher the darker stone was than expected. However, it had alreadysted many years and the lighter stone that had been created over it was mostly gone. It took a total of five harp hits with the assistance of the earth spirit in the earth dwelling shield to crack open arge enough hole to drop a rope down.


    "I will drop a torch down first. I know I can use my light orb skill but I think using fire will be better since we can see if there is any shift in the air. Or if there is anything dangerous living in there, it could be afraid of the fire." Walker knew that some insect type monsters would fear fire in general so the chances of fending them off with just a torch were high.


    "Good idea." This was a good thing in Su''s mind. Not only would they avoid bugs, but Walker was reserving more mana. He would need it if they had to use a lot of magic to get through copsed corridors or fight monsters here.


    "Do you think there will be water trapped in the ruins? I would guess that it can seep in when it rains. The sun can''t get it all." If This was the case and Alma was right, she would have a better attack ability.


    "I would guess you are right. It also could mean more rare desert nts like that rolling cactus." Since Walker was unfamiliar with the desert nt life, he wished that Remey had made it out of the city as well. He had a good feeling that the nts would be there. However, he wasn''t sure that they would be the same as what was normally expected of a nt. Not many things could grow without the sun.


    "I don''t see anything down there at all and the distance isn''t too bad. Should Su go first?" It was best that Su went first since she would be able to best defend against any monsters down there. However, descending in to the darkness was not that attractive of an idea.


    "After Walker drops three or four more torches, then I will go down." As much as Walker wanted to argue that it was a waste of torches, he knew this made Su morefortable. He also didn''t want to admit that he wouldn''t have been happy going down in to the dark depths either.


    When Su finally started to slide down the rope, she couldn''t help but notice the difference in temperature. It was as if someone was constantly using magic to cool the air itself. "Walker, put on heavier cloaks before youe down. And drop mine!" Su shouted up as she touched the floor. It was surprisingly dry and clean in therge round room. The dust seemed to have been blown in to one side due to a breeze coding from another corridor. In total there were three. Two moved away from the direction of the tower and the third toward it.


    "Oh no¡­We destroyed the art on the ceiling." Alma knew that the art she was referring to would not be seen by many. It had been made with colored stones and ced in the perfect arrangement to depict the desert sun setting.


    "We couldn''t have known. But if it makes you feel better we can send people with archeology systems to preserve and study this. I think that should be a goal we have when we get back to Genesis." Walker knew that studying these ruins was important to the elven history. Yet, they were also important because they were a ruined city built on another ruined city.


    "That would be very nice. We can worry about thatter though." Alma refocused and looked at the corridor that led toward the tower. Let''s hope that we can get there and find what we need." The stone on the ground had different kins used to make pathways. There was a thing line of white on either side of the wall making it feel like they were following a trail.


    "Whoever built this was very talented. I wonder if this was from the desert elves or from those before them." It was hard to discern the things that were made by the elves and what was made earlier. Outside the sand had worn away what the elves created. Inside, was very well preserved making theparison tougher.


    "It does seem amazing. I can''t imagine what it would have looked like if the sand had note back in. It''s also weird that there are small holes around the edges of the wall with sand flowing in. I wonder what it was made for." Eventually, Walker caught on that this was the ideal way for water and sand to be swept outside when this was all above the sand.


    "If the sand hadn''te back in to im the space that it normally would inhabit, I would guess this would be a meeting ce. It seems like the best ce to meet up before a group heads off." noticed the signs that this used to be a heavily popted area she took the lead at a faster pace.


    "The stone is more work down here and for some reason, this small statue looked like it was touched a million times." Part of Su was impressed by how easy it was for movements over time to make a major impact. She could see the worn stone with her keen eyes. The statue n question was of a desert elf raising a stone staff. It was very detailed and had a bald head. This was the exact spot that had been touched until it wore out.


    "I can read this here¡­It says that this is the main path to the tower of life." Alma looked at them very happy that she had paid attention to her education.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1065 - 1065. Endless

    "So, why do you think that there are so many of these little statues?" The three had started to count the statues as they walked. These were definitely made by the desert elves so that they could praise someone. However, Alma was at a loss just like Walker. She had bever seen a figure simr to the desert elf wielding a stone staff.


    "We know that they had to be important. Maybe they are the same as the queen in the forest elf city? If the new king of the desert elves had just taken the throne then they might have earth statutes like this to represent them." The thought seemed very simple to Su. When someone gained a major position it was obvious to celebrate somehow.


    "That makes sense. I just wish that they wrote on one who this was. I know it''s harsh, but I want to know." Since Alma had managed to read the writing of the ancient elves, Walker just let her search for those clues. It wasn''t any issue when it came to safety either. Su was in the lead and could block just about anything that came at them.


    "And these are the first bones we found.''" Standing perfectly still in the distance ahead of them were two skeletons. To be exact, there were two skeletons. On which had a gold bracelet on and the other skeleton was missing an arm. Both were simple targets that Walker snuck up behind and shed out once. In an instant, the two in half.


    The tter of bonested a single moment before Walker stored them away. He examined the golden bracelet.


    ''Church of the sand bracelet


    The church of the sand was a sub branch of those that believed in the will of the world. They believe that the sand is the literal body of the world and that if they learn enough about it they can be the sand using unique skills. This bracelet has aged too much and lost the rune that was once carved upon it. Now it is barely worth the gold it is made out of.''


    "So it has no stat boosts and is barely worth gold. I wonder why they wore it." Alma seemed to be waiting for this question.


    "This has to be a sentimental thing. If it is religious then it makes even more sense. I would assume that normally everything has stat bonuses but this could just be a random exception. Especially if they were very dedicated. It could just not matter to them." Walker knew that some people would take their beliefs too far. It was something he had not seen much of in his life that made him d.


    "Should we hold on to it? If it isn''t worth anything we might just be better off leaving it." Alma wanted to keep it for the historical evidence that the desert elves lived in a slightly different way than the forest elves. However, she also knew that they could send people here to study these ruins after their goal was met.


    "I have a feeling we should hold on to it. Who knows if it mighte in handy." Alma carried it in her hand. The chain of the bracelet wrapped around her palm. She too felt a little moreforted by holding it. She thought it might have been the connection with elves long passed away.


    "I think this starts to open up again. Maybe we reached¡­the tower." Su trailed off and spoke softly. She had walked in to therger room and looked up at the glittering depths of sparkling darkness.


    "How can there be stars in the dark like this?" Alma was equally stunned. The roof above them seemed to stretch out endlessly like the sky at night.


    "I think this is why they would like to live in this city. The tower was built to show just points of light at night. I can feel the darkness and light elemental runes pulling mana around it. This mage tower is magnificent!" Walker could feel the elemental mana around him. He recognized the flow and couldn''t believe the purity of the runes. "It seems like the original runes were added to with newer runes. They aren''t as strong but they are still way above anything I have ever seen."


    The desert elves had been leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else. The mage tower was obviously the reason. These ruins were here even before the rebuilding. This meant that the desert elves had learned from them and advanced their magic skills to get closer to what was originally here. "Let''s explore this more. We can look at the sky and find out how it is builtter." Su struggled to pull herself away from the magnificent view.


    All three felt that they had reached a calmer state after seeing this. It was as if they had been hugged by a parent and told that everything would be fine. Even their mana flow had be smoother. In general, they had more energy. Walker even felt that his mana was recovering faster than outside of the tower.


    "Stairs over here!" The three were walking around with torches and found a descending set of stairs. The only difference was that instead of calm, there was a sense of deep darkness around them.


    "I think we are on the right track here. They seem like they go down to dungeons." Alma swallowed and clenched her fists as she followed Su down. They were heading to a past prison. The ce that Greed should be sealed. The ancient ruins that the desert elves had built upon.


    "I will do my best to keep the mana calm around us. I think it is from the runes decaying." This made a lot of sense. The runes decaying would cause the mana to be erratic.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1066 - 1066. The Core

    The three were coughing slightly against the dry and dusty air. There was very little light which made them rely more heavily on the torches. It was also harder to make sure that they stepped safely on the twisting stairs. " Wonder what is down here. If this is a mag tower and it is made to attract mana, it could be anything." Alma knew very little about mage towers. They were very rare and this was the only one that she knew of.


    "From the number of runes on the tower and the walls, I would say that it is the core of the tower. Since Greed was apparently sealed at the lowest point we might pass the core of the tower." Walker could barely hold off his curiosity. If he was able to find the source of the tower''s power and what kept the runes connected, then there was a high chance they could replicate this tower for Genesis instead of building their own with the knowledge of their gathered mages.


    "I don''t think we need to worry about the runes too much. These are the same as the ones we have seen the dwarves and the elves use. It''s almost like they both took an original rune and modified it for what they preferred and how their magic worked." Su knew this was most likely the case. If runes were invented somewhere then they must have changed over the years based on what they were used for and how they were used.


    "If this is older than the dessert elves and was already in ruins when they came here, then I think that''s the case. I would even go so far to say that these are the closest to the original runes we could find in the oldest ruins or records. That should mean these runes found here can change the way magic works for everyone. Time changes things, but it might be better to get back to how things used to be in this case." Since Alma had also seen the different runes in recent days, she was easily understanding Su''s points.


    "Just look at how they are decaying though. The runes are working so much that they are wearing away here and there. Then the runes that are over the top of them or added in are pretty much gone. That''s why the mana is so odd here. The runes can''t regte what is moving through and being attracted to them. If things keep going this way, the runes might cause thus ce to copse." Walker knew well that decaying anything was bad. But the decaying runes would cause a much worse issue.


    "This tower is far enough away that I doubt it would hurt anyone if the tower had arge copse and mana explosion. But that would be a valuable loss of knowledge that could better many people''s lives." Alma had started to put the people first in her mind. It was a very important step to take as a future queen, but even more as a person.


    "If we pass the source of the runes power, the core, then we can try to take it with us when we leave. I don''t know what will happen if we do that, but it is clear that the structure of the tower is what holds it up through time. Not the runes." The walls that had worn away were made of weaker sandstone. But the ck structure underneath was a very different material. Walker wanted to use his appraisal on it but for some reason, the skill didn''t even activate when he tried. He felt that it was a material well beyond what he would understand at his current level. Since this was a very ancient ce, more so than the other ruins he had been to, it made sense.


    Speaking of core, this is the bottom." Su held a torch while the shield was ready in one hand. There was a soft scuttling sound and she zeroed in on small insects moving about the floor.


    ''Yellow stone cockroach


    These are very annoying pests. They can live for very long periods of time without food. They are very sensitive to light and can eat almost everything. They rarely growrger than a few inches. The reason they are known as the worst pest is due to the fact that they multiply quickly when food is avable. They will never attack somethingrger than them.''


    The appraisal was enough to make the three rx. However, looking at how many shells were around, they knew that the yellow cockroaches had been there for many years. "I hope that they aren''t worse as we explore. It seems like this is just another floor." Alma pointed out another small staircase. This time though, the stairs were short and brought them to another floor.


    The difference was wild, the floor, ceiling, and walls were all covered in glowing runes that were simr to veins. They observed and all three were able to make out the ces where the mana could not flow any longer due to decay. The next floor was the same. But in the center of the room, there was a broken floor that lead to makeshift stairs.


    "It looked like this stone box in the middle is where the runes connect. I wonder what''s inside." Walker wanted to push it open and look but held himself back. "We can wait until weplete our mission. Let''s go deeper." They all knew that the ce Greed had been sealed must be lower. That was the only reason someone would break the floor and create stairs downward. It was to the tomb created.


    "Wait, these words here say¡­beyond these stairsy a danger beyond our generation. Never allow yourself to touch the being sealed within or you shall bring suffering upon the world." Alma shivered since she knew that was exactly what was happening.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1067 - 1067. Fallen Guardians

    "None of that makes me feel better¡­" Su were ready to turn around, however, she knew that they had to go deeper. What she feared most was that there would be some forms of traps to stop them from entering.


    "The seal was already broken. Greed is free. I know there will still be danger. We can''t expect everything to be safe. But we have to go and see if we can find the tablet. If the core of the mage tower is still here and the runes are working then I doubt that Greed took anything. I would guess that someone or something came and took Greed away from here so he could return to the demonnds." The demon lord that had been mentioned by the other rulers of kingdoms was most likely the one to free such a dangerous individual.


    "That would mean they were enable to resist Greeds'' curse. That will make them difficult. Especially since they have evil intentions." After this and a deep breath, Su started to move down the makeshift stairs. She realized that a stone had been ced over it which nowy on a mess on the floor.


    Unlike the rune covered stone floor above, the floor here was covered in nks of rotten wood. It was just enough to make the floor even to walk on. Yet now it had rotted and absorbed moisture causing it to feel slightly slippery and soft.


    The torches slowly illuminated things that none of them expected to see. There were caskets built in to the walls in a perfectly circr room. The walls were made with the same rotting wood and rusting metal. Everything was directed at the center which was dug even deeper. But what really caught them were the broken and dry bodies that were around the floor.


    "Stay still and let me appraise those." Walker didn''t trust that these bodies were something that would not attack them. He had a gut feeling that these were left here as some form of trap. Even though they were still now, they definitely had not been on the ground when they were brought here.


    ''Husk (perished)


    This is thepletely dead remains of a husk. The skin of a husk is all that it is. The inside of its body is made of unique runes and a willingly sacrifice soul from a high sand mage. The high sand mage will only use this mastery skill to guard something of the highest importance. To be a husk is to give up all emotion and chance of bing stronger. On the other hand, a husk can gain a better usage of magic and absorption of mana. As long as the husk has mana and an intact body it can survive forever. When destroyed the soul is freed and moves on to the natural flow of the world. The previous muscle and bones of the newly born husk be a zombie that often follows every order the husk demands of it without any ability to think.


    Husks'' servant (perished)


    This zombie is uniquepared to others. It does not mindlessly attack to destroy the living. It can only follow the orders of the husk that it was birthed from. Unlike other undead, it has the ability to regenerate its muscle tissue to remain at its best fighting state. Many husk servants can fight well beyond their limits due to theirck if senses.


    Husk dwelling (broken)


    This is the source of mana for most husks. Before they are created, the high sand mage or other applicable system user will create a coffin. This husk dwelling will be able to gather mana at a faster rate so that the husk can fight to a higher ability than normal. Defeating a husk with a nearby dwelling is much harder.''


    Walker read these and checked every single one of them to make sure they were defeated. The room seemed like it had been madeter than the hole dug in the ground. There were tworger coffin shapes dug in to the ground and solidified with what seemed to be ss. "I think fire was used to do this somehow¡­" There was nothing that Walker understood about this. The ss was broken on one end and the small fragment that came off of the secondary coffin shape was cracked.


    While the three investigated they realized that a skeletal body was trapped in the other. Since Walker was worried it was another husk or simr being he used his appraisal.


    ''Entombed sealer (sealed soul)


    This is a sealer that sealed and burned his life force. There is nothing left that could save this being and releasing their soul from sealing would cause it to finally dissipate. This only came to be after this sealer used a skill many levels above their mastery. If the sealer had reached a proper mastery of their sealing magic they would have saved themselves with the only repercussion being the sealing of their magic forever.''


    This is the sealing sage. Their soul will dissipate if we break that ss around them. But I think that is the tablet." The silence in the room brought forth the moral dilemma of allowing the soul to dissipate.


    "I will do it. He is an elf, the same home as mine. Even if we lose our soul, our life, our being, we can still return to the world in some form." Alma and every forest elf believed this. She had the utmost respect for who this man was. Thus, she did not hesitate as she reached down and grabbed the metal tablet. The ss fell away and the bones of the sealing sage turned to dust. "Take this please." Alma handed the metal tablet to Walker who stored it away. Now was not the time to look in to it. They needed to take a moment of silence to respect the fallen who had lost everything defending this sealed ground.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1068 - 1068. Folding

    After Alma had whispered a few words to send the soul off to the cycle of the world, Walker and Su were ready to head upwards. They did not feelfortable being in this ce. "We know that he was taken by someone who defeated the guardians that sacrifice themselves to guard this forever. That person also managed to break whatever seal had meted the sand in to ss." This was just stating the facts, but Su wanted to make sure they were all on the same page.


    "I have a feeling that whatever the seal was, it was not strong enough after many years. Look at the way the runes are decayed. Greed must have somehow been feeding on the energy of the seal too. I have to bet that they would have escaped at some point but most likely would have to fight the guardians and possibly get sealed again. I just don''t know if whoever freed them is damaged from breaking the seal. It might have done damage. I just need to research the metal tablet"


    "Not now, wait until we are out of here. Then we can all put our minds together when you appraise it to see what remains. There is nothing else here for us to take with us. This room should be sealed awaypletely from now on so that those guardians can rest. They made a valiant sacrifice." This was the respect that everyone should have for these mages that turned themselves in to a form of monsters to protect others.


    "I wish there was something we could do for them, but they are long passed on." Alma felt her heart ache for them since she had been unable to do anything for those that had given themselves to protect this ce.


    "We can live on and learn from what they did. They managed to keep the sealing te here for Walker to study. We can send people here to learn and continue on their ideals. I bet there is a lot to be recorded in the forest elf archives here." That seemed to cheer Alma slightly. Su had a very good point. There was more to learn front the mage tower than they could even imagine.


    "That reminds me, on the way out we need to take the core with us. I will take a look at it. I have no idea what could power such a ce for so long." There was a feeling of stress while Walker thought of the tower core. He couldn''t shake it and just chalked it up to him worrying about Genesis.


    "We can all push open the stone lid together." Su climbed the stairs first and readied herself. They had rushed out of the sealed room because they couldn''t stand being there any longer. They all braced themselves and pushed. The stone lid moved as if it had been waiting for someone to push it with all its might for a long time.


    Unfortunately, the three did not expect multiple runes toe to life and a slight shiver to go through the tower. "So, I wait for years and years to be awakened and use thest of my energy, and I am finding children? A baby elf, one human with dragon blood, and a human with a nature spirit friend. How could you be so inexperienced and manage to be here¡­Ah, I see now. The city has fallen, twice. It fell twice. Thenthis makes more sense."


    This disembodied voice wasn''t in the room but in their heads. "No need to worry. I am the crater of the mag tower. I had an arcane architect skill once upon a time. I helped make a few interesting ces. Only my master was better than me, and he went mad creating somebyrinth. On another note, I was holding the remainder of the towers'' mana within this crystal heart. Now that someone is here to take the knowledge and use it I can pass it along again. Little ones, do you wish for the tower to remain here or will you move it?"


    "Umm, it can be moved?" The beyond shocked voice that Walker had just asked another question.


    The perfectly clear crystal gave off a white light that puled. It was carved in the shape of a realistic heart. "Yes, it can be moved. My people created it using the best materials and runes to create this tower. Of course, we no longer needed it after we moved on. That''s why a copied consciousness like mine was left as a mana imprint to pass on knowledge. Now, hold out your hand and call for the book of towers. Then I can let you move the tower, I can go back to resting and you can learn from the tower just as those elves did. I just wish they had listened to me when I gave them permission. They just talked about the will of the world and the shifting of sands. It was odd but they learned a lot for such a young race. I hope they still exist."


    Alma and Su looked at Walker. They knew that this was not expected and extremely odd. Walker knew that they were waiting for him to act and follow the voice''s words. " I call upon the book of towers." The next moment was full of shaking and shivering. The space around them copsed in on itself and the three fell in to darkness. The towerpressed and they realized they were outside looking up at the sky. The only thing between them was a single book with a string tied around it.


    "What even¡­how¡­are we out-"


    "What!?"


    The three just mumbled lost and confused. The entire tower had just folded up in to a book of some kind. On top was a small note written in what seemed to be pure gold ink.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1069 - 1069. Fighting Monsters

    "Upon reaching desired location call out for the book of towers." The three just looked at the book sitting in the sand. "That''s all!?" It was understandable that Walker was worked up. They had not expected such a thing to happen. Who would ever imagine an entire tower just folding in on itself and leaving the sand to fill the space it had been. Even the sealed floor had been filled with sand below them.


    "I knew that magic was amazing. We were even teleported by spatial magic. Twice! But this is something even more¡­" Su couldn''t find the words for it. She was at a loss.


    "The desert elves were studying something so amazing. They lived in a city with a tower of advanced magic from years ago. I can''t believe they didn''t all be masters of the magic they studied. The tower magic voice even said that its people left for somewhere. Their city didn''t fall in to ruins. They left it behind for others!" This was very exciting for Alma. It meant that an advanced magic race might be out there somewhere. It wasn''t like they didn''t know that other nes of existence weren''t there. Many knew of the rare summoner sses that could summon elemental beings from elemental ins. Walker had even seen a pure light griffin from one such ne of existence.


    Walker suddenly stopped and changed the eternal orb in to a sword. His sh surprised Su and Alma who had not seen anything. But when they noticed that Walker had shed a small yellow speckled spider in half they realized what had been left behind like them when the tower condensed in to a book. "The monsters were left on top of the sand with us!"


    There were more of the yellow speckled spiders attacking other monsters. Zombie sand elves with skeletons were fighting whatever was alive near them. Some yellow centipede were wrapping aroundrger yellow speckled spiders. What stood out though, were therge round beetles that everything avoided.


    ''Acid scarab


    The acid scarab is a terrifying monster that likes to be in the highest heat. They are a species that develops extremely potent acid in their bodies by absorbing the sunlight to rot the food in their bodies. The higher they live and grow the more deadly they get. They often huntrge prey and spend weeks devouring them. Every single monster and animal in the desert knows to hide from them. They are so acidic that their own bodies dissolve when they are killed and their mana source interrupted. Even the most experienced adventurers have lost their lives to this monster. The best advice is to leave them alone and run. If in a battle with them find a way to cool them down so that they want to warm up instead. They usually sleep during the night unless disturbed.''


    "I would say they are disturbed. Run!" The girls didn''t need to even listen to Walker fully. They were leaving with him already. The number of monsters in the tower was higher than expected. There were also exposed buildings that were attracting the monsters within them. The noise of battle and violence was enough to make the silent desert night very very loud.


    Their run away from the mass of monsters and through the buildings protruding from the sand was not an easy journey. They had lost the torches and Walker didn''t have any way to create a light orb, mostly because it would attract the monsters to them. However, he did think of using the luring orb and sent it to float behind him. Since he got far away from the two he sent out they faded away fairly fast. But it was enough for the monsters behind the three to be distracted.


    None of them were sure how far they had run or how long. The only thing they knew was that the only thing they could hear was the blood pumping in their veins. The monster''s battle had been lost and they had been lucky to run toward the direction of the moon since it was the only realndmark in the darkness.


    "I don''t want toe here again. Never again. Towers that turn in to magic books, monsters that fight each other and us, and the heat! Never again." Su screamed this out to the world without a care for any monsters nearby. It was only right that she was allowed to vent her frustrations. The entire reason they were here was too stressful anyways.


    "How could some magic rune consciousness ancient race thing just do that. Shouldn''t it have a better way of sharing whatever I wanted to share? It even filled in that whole space with sand. I think it was the additions the elves built on to the tower. Has it been fully working this whole time but dormant? How did it work? What could make that? Why would a race leave that tower for others if it was so advanced?" Walker was pacing side to side. He had lost all of his mental strength bing burdened with endless questions.


    "It''s amazing though, it could do more than just save Genesis. I bet it will make everything better. I doubted that a mage tower could really make the races live longer, but seeing that makes me sure it''s true." Alma was in her own daze. She was too impressed and could not wait to see how great it made her own people.


    "Stop. Both of you stop! We have a purpose here. Whatever that tower is and whatever it can do is not important. We have the magic te or tablet thing we needed. Let''s get moving and get home. We have people that need us." Su nearly pped both Alma and Walker. She took an attitude that was full of stress yet somehow calm now. It sobered all of them and brought them back to their goal.


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    Repent now and go here, http://wb

 Chapter 1070 - 1070. Sealing Magic Tablet

    After Su had yelled at them a little and everyone had stopped to get their kinda back in check. "Thank you. I was getting ahead of myself. We don''t know where we are exactly and we need to get back to Scy who is hopefully rested. I will take a look at the metal tablet now if you two can get camp set up?" Walker knew that they would be looking to him to solve the mystery of the ancient magic and how to seal Greed.


    "That''s no problem. We can easily get the camp set for the night." Alma had been brought back to reality end knew that they were nowhere near done with what they needed to do. The moment they had gotten to Scy and returned to Genesius was when they were starting their duty to protect the city.


    While the two girls got to work setting up the bed rolls and a fire, Walker had taken a moment to calm his mind further. He could feel that Fleur was slumbering in the spirit mark but had definitely reacted when he touched the metal tablet earlier. That meant that there was some form of natural energy within it.


    Since they had been in a rush, none of them had taken a hard look at the metal tablet. The shape was t on the bottom and slowly rounding toward the top. The metal was a copper color that seemed to be glowing. There were small runes carved all over it but they didn''t seem to be activated in any way. However, Walker could tell that the craftsmanship of these tiny runes was well beyond anything that anyone could create, even the wandering cksmith.


    Since he couldn''t gather any real information just from holding the metal tablet, Walker tried to push some of his mana in to it. The runes glowed and promptly forced his mana away from it. This was a little bit of a surprise since most objects would ept someones'' mana no matter what. It was just how things would work unless the opposite elemental mana was forced in to something.


    "Hmm, natural mana?" The natural mana gathered around Walker and he was able to push some in to it. The runed did not push back this time and instead began to glow stronger. But that was all that happened. There was no reaction and no big reveal. "Now what?" This frustration caused Walker to use his all around appraisal skill to try for more knowledge.


    ''Sealing Arts carving


    This has a thousand sealing magic arts sealed within. Many have attempted to learn all the sealing arts within using their magical prowess. None have ever seeded due to the fact that their minds have been too closed. These arts were created by the god of secrets. The arts hold the ways to hide away anything no matter what it is. By learning every art with the applicable system the user can be the next god of secrets. If the applicable system is not possible then only a single sealing art can be learned if applicable with a system. The most recent sealing art, the mes of silence, were used on a single being unsessfully.''


    This information was a lot more than Walker expected. The fact that this was more than just a single sealing magic but a thousand was incredible. Even more, this could cause the right person to be a god. Yet, even the forest elf sealing sage did not have the right system to learn it all. He had unsessfully learned a single one and failed to properly seal Greed. It said right in the appraisal that it has been unsessful.


    "This is going to be an item that no one will be allowed to touch unless they meet exceptional standards." This statement was enough to get the girl''s attention.


    "Is it really that amazing?" Since Su didn''t know anything that Walker did she thought that the tablet was still just some ancient magic trapped within it.


    "It has to be amazing. The sealing sage had it and was learning from it. I would bet that it has a mastery skill hidden within." With Alma''s enthusiasm, Walker wasn''t sure if he should tell her the truth or just keep everything a secret.


    After a short moment of thinking, he decided to tell them. The exnation was slow since Walkern exined the details of his appraisal. He also told them that this was not something that should leave their conversations. Even Scy should not know. It wasn''t that they did not trust her, it was that she was a general of an army. This was an item that a war could be fought over. Scy would be bound by honor to tell her king about this which could cause some stress.


    "It could be more than anything anyone could expect. But it is too dangerous. Can we seal this away after we seal Greed? You can use it right?" Both were questions that Walker had already asked himself. He was thinking about them the moment he had stopped exining things.


    "Walker knows all too well that this is dangerous. He will find a way to hide it away. I also know that he can''t use it to the fullest capability. There are master sealing skills in there and he is limited to everything but that. I doubt he needs a master skill though, right?"


    Su had guessed right. Walker had already figured out that the sealing arts were all mixed up together and that was what the runes caused to happen. A person would need to unravel these to get the solution and full art. It could take years and was why the sealing sage failed. However, the sealing sage was not Walker. Walker had a system that allowed him to learn just about anything.


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 Chapter 1071 - 1071. Natural Sealing

    There were many more questions that came to mind while they sat. Su and Alma hade to the conclusion that they needed to leave Walker alone. He was too distracted and if they continued to ask and prod, he would not make progress. The night was also fading away and so was their time to sleep.


    While the two girls were sleeping, Walker was using his ability to manipte the natural mana in the metal tablet. The runes were very hard to push magic through making Walker stressed. He could feel the sweat dripping down his cheek even though it was cool at night.


    The flow of mana that Walker was focused on had been strong enough to wake Fleur. She hade out and begun to trace the rune patterns. It was like she was in a trance. Walker could only feel that she was much closer rted to these perfect runes than he knew. Especially since learning everything here would allow someone to be the next go of secrets.


    The system users that were known as gods were exceedingly rare. But they did exist. Those that were able to gain that system because of their system upgrading or just born with them would go to change that aspect of the world. Many knew the mood goddess or some forging gods. But a god of secrets was a new one by Walker.


    Thest god that had a rumor around the city had been one that was able to use earth magic. This was a god that went of to apparently make a hidden bridge across the ocean. It was mostly told as a fairytale for children. However, there were some people that believed it to be real. Not that Walker was looking at an item that was literally made to help someone upgrade their system through hard work to be the god of secrets system user, he believed that this bridge and god of earth magic existed.


    The real question would be, was this worth giving to someone. If a god system user was to show up, then they would change the world. This god of secrets could change the world for good or for worse. As a hero, Walker needed to make sure that this new god would not be out there to cause evil and trouble. It was a very risky urrence now that Genesis was growing.


    There was part of him that felt it was wrong to hide this tablet away. If he didn''t bring it to the person destined to be the new god of secrets then he would be ruining their future. There was a chance that this god of secrets user would be able to unveil the truth behind some things. It also raised the question of whether the world needed such a god right now. Especially since they were dealing with Greed who needed to be sealed.


    Walker couldn''t focus on this theory for long though, he needed to worry about the fact that he had a tablet with a magic he needed to learn. Fleure had been tracing the runes on the metal tablet and the ones she touched seemed to glow a little brighter as the natural mana Walker provided moved through them. They seemed to be changing the face of the tablet and Walker could nearly read words on it now. There was one thing that was for sure, he wasn''t going to be learning some small sealing magic. The magic he was feeling and understanding, was natural magic.


    Because Walker and Fleur were binded in a way that most would never be bound, he knew that she was feeling excited and driven. This was the same as when they had been in the swampnds and Fleur had wanted to get rid of the decay. She was driven by an instinct, a part of who she was. Walker understood this well and went with the flow. He was using more and more of his mana to pull natural mana toward them.


    The mana became dense and some of the seeds that Alma had begun to sprout slowly in her pocket. This was what made her wake up and toss them aside. Yet, her attention was grabbed by what Walker and Fleur were doing. The glow from the tablet had outshined the small fire they made from logs that Walker pulled from his storage.


    The earth spirit from Su''s shield was also out and watching this happen. The earth spirit had been burying itself in the sand to befortable and now watched. It was able to use some of the natural magic to a degree, especially since thest time it met Fleur it was able to growrger and be a higher earth spirit. Walker did know that it was in the verge of bing the next level of earth spirit. Unfortunately, he wasn''t sure what that would mean since a grand spirit of any elemental was normally a single spirit that was named like Zephyr.


    This was just another thing that Walker would need to think about and get more information on. He would use his all around appraisal on the earth spirit partnered with Su at another time. Now he needed to focus on the information he was now feeling flow through the natural mana.


    The feeling was profound. It was as if the world itself was trying to whisper in his ear. Or maybe it was a voice that Fleur had and Walker was now understanding. By any means, this was causing his heart to beat faster and him to struggle more. The information was on the runes and how they could be made in to a bnced rune. The perfect runes were very strict. Walker knew that it needed absolute concentration to make.


    The natural rune that was being burned in to his mind was the same. It demanded utmost respect and care so that it could be created. Although, this natural rune created a loop. It would pull mana in to it then force it away. This was why it was a sealing rune. This sealing art could force whatever was sealed to remain that way as long as natural mana was around. It was even more effective because it would use the natural mana in the being sealed to help it remain intact. The rune still took shape in Walker''s mind. So clearly that he wanted to appraise it and then draw everything it was.


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 Chapter 1072 - 1072. Carrying The Weight

    ''The skill natural sealing has been discovered by the user and the nature spirit Fleur. The skill natural sealing has been automatically learned by the user. The user will be forced in to a hibernation state due to the stress of receiving the high skill natural sealing arts from the sealing arts carving. The user does not meet the requirements to learn all secrets within the sealing arts carving. The world is sealing the connection through the nature spirit Fleur. The world will call upon the true master of the sealing tablet. The true hero Walker will slumber.''


    Before Walker could speak, the tablet began to glow brightly. It seemed to release arge pulse of natural mana and the glowing stopped. The tablet became just a hunk of metal while the rune darkened. Fleur melted in to the spirit mark on Walker''s back to help him understand the natural sealing arts.


    Seeing that this change had happened both Su and Alm received a quest to carry Walker with them. They weren''t sure what was happening, but with their increased senses they knew that Walker was understanding something with natural mana. Not only had they felt the mana around them, increase, but they could feel the high amount of manaing toward them. They just didn''t know the cost of this.


    "I have seen this happen before with some items. There was a spell sword made of elemental mana crystals in the vaults. When it was handed down to an elf that could use it, the sword shattered. The mana drilled in to their body and the elf was unconscious for a full year. Once they woke up they crafted their own crystal sword without having any skills prior to that. They had forgotten all the skills they used before and began to practice a crystal sword style. They called in an inheritance. I would guess this tablet is the same and Walker is learning something from it."


    Having this knowledge to put Su at ease was good. "Alma¡­what if Walker doesn''t wake up for a year?" Su felt this possibility hit her. If this was the case then Genesis would be more than lost. They would lose all chance to save the city. The panic that she showed Alma on her face was enough to make Alma realize the error in what she had said.


    "You know that a year to an elf is the same as a month or something. Time isn''t the same. We live a lot longer than a human and you and Walker and Midnight are all dragon rted or something right? Dragons can live longer than an elf so maybe he will wake up earlier orter or maybe¡­" Alma was panicking too, she wasn''t sure how to say the right thing.


    After seeing that Alma was also freaking out, Su managed to force herself to take a few deep breaths. She was forcing her body to slow itself and calm her heart. If she lost it here then they would never get back safely.


    "The sun started to rise. I have the map and can check the mountains for where we are. Just start packing up the bed rolls and cover the coals in sand. We are going to travel very carefully. We can both support Walker. I can use some of the leftover sticks from the fire as a frame and make a quick cot to drag. I learned it at the cathedral."The n was simple. They made the camp look as if they had never been there. Su showed off her speed and had a cot to drag behind her in an instant using one of her twin shields and sticks with a bed roll.


    Alma was stuck carrying most of their camping gear while Su was dragging Walker. The spot they had left Scy was fairly close and they were sure they could reach it by pushing themselves to move without rest. Walker had the majority of water stored in his spatial magic storage. This meant that they were on their own and would need to depend on Scy when they returned to her. The good thing was that Scy should be fully rested and ready to leave.


    "The mana he is pulling in keeps increasing. I think we are going to see him using a new skill when he wakes up. I just hope that he doesn''t have to pay a high price to use it." The fear that Walker would need to sacrifice something big like the sealing sage had made them worry. However, they did not realize that the sealing sage had been very far from properly using the skill. They also didn''t know that Walker was being made to learn the natural sealing through natural mana and the connection to the metal tablet.


    "We can avoid any monsters that show up. I feel like the chaos of that fight earlier has attracted everything dangerous around." Su had barely said this when she saw arge plume of sand shoot in the air from far behind them.


    "I would say you are right and that we should move faster." Alma grabbed the end of the cot that Walker was resting on. They were both carrying a lot and they decided to just drip the rest of the unnecessary supplies. They could rece it. They just needed to pull Walker along.


    Their feet were slipping as they went over and down the sand dunes. Sweat had pooled on their brow before dripping down to the and. They both swore that the sand sizzled when the sweat hit it. But that didn''t matter. They were getting closer to the mountains and they could rest when Scy met them. They would just need to hold on to the ride back toward Genesis. The worst case would be that Scy had to carry them all the way back if they were going to pass out from the heat.


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 Chapter 1073 - 1073. Waiting For...

    "That''s another one of these stupid sandworms. I thought they only lived near beaches." Scy had found herself gued by some annoying young sandworms. The problem was that they were not the kind that lived in the ocean and the beached. These were much more annoying because they used the rough sand as their home. It made them able to dig and hide away from her attacks since she could not chase them.


    The desert sandworms had a very hard shell around them, it was made of the sand that would condense on their skin over time. The longer a desert sandworm lived, the tougher it would get. It would also get longer making it a harder foe to face since it could grow in to two separate sandworms if it was ever split in half.


    The teeth that the desert sandworms had were considered the most dangerous. If one ever caught prey in its mouth, then the desert sandworm would swallow them whole. The prey would then fall victim to four rows of teeth until it reached the stomach of the desert sandworm. That meant that it was very likely to perish when being swallowed by a giant one that had lived for many years.


    Luckily, Scy was dealing with the young desert sandworms. As the sandworms got older, they would dig deeper and rarely search for prey. The younger ones would travel the surfaces of the sand trying to capture desert insects and other smaller prey. Scy had been snoring in the shade of the earth fortress while waiting when she noticed the sand nearby shifting. This was her warning.


    The desert sandworms had felt the small vibrations of her heart and movements. This brought them toward her and they sprung from the ground thinking they would have an easy meal. The sandworms were cut in to pieces. Scy quickly learned that they were still alive since they attacked her again. That was the main reason for her annoyance at the moment. She had wanted to have some peace and quiet as she prepared to rush back to Genesis with all of her mana yet again. Her leviathan partners were still resting as well which made it even more annoying since they were disturbed by the sandworms as well.


    "I swear if I ever see another one of these I will roast it for a snack!" She stomped on one of thest ones alive and looked about at the broken bodies. She knew that there might be value on their hardened shells, yet she could care less. Her eyes justnded on two girls pulling a boy on a shield. They seemed very weak and tired since the sun was high in the sky. The only relief was a slightly cool breezeing off the mountains.


    "What happened!? Report in!" Scy was used to the basics of her soldiers and immediately asked for the report. Neither Su nor Alma had any means to exin things quickly, but Scy just stood and waited.


    "We think he is learning the sealing skill we need. We needed to leave. A lot of unexpected things happened. We don''t have any more water right now. We need to get to Genesis so that we can seal Greed¡­" Su was unsteady and Scy helped her stay up. Alma was in the same shape.


    "I have been dealing with some pests, but I am ready to take everyone back. I was going to wait until I had trained it better¡­" Scy had not wanted to use her mastery skill. It took a toll on her body and mind that would make her a very unhappy person for some days.


    To be more specific, her mastery skill awakened the bloodline that she was named after. The leviathans that she shared her soul with, that were bound to her and her to them, the mana they shared, would alle together much more powerfully than before. "Stand there and hold on to each other. We will get there much faster when I use my mastery skill. Just be ready to make it up to meter."


    "We trust you. Please get us there safely." Su was having trouble staying awake. Alma had fallen in to unconsciousness while breathing heavily. She was not ustomed to the heat and the constant working through it. The forest may get humid but it was in no way a dry and painful heat that ate away at someone. The worst part was that this was still technically the cold season for the desert. The heat in the pique of the growing season would be much hotter.


    Sy took onest look at the three. She still didn''t know the details of what had happened. However, she knew it had brought them a lot of trouble. Even Walker had a tired expression on his face while the mana in the air rushed to him. She could only take a guess at what they had run in to. The only thing that put her mind at ease was the metal tablet clutched to his chest.


    "The ancient blood within me sings. I am not one but many. I can cause the tides to turn and the wind to whip in to a typhoon. My being is one that cries out for the world to hear. No longer shall I rest in this calm form. Feel my ancestral rage and wraith in the power. Cursed monstrosity, Scy''s being!"


    The wind and water elemental mana nearby rushed towards Scy. The wind was almost like a banshee screaming out for attention. The sand that had been drier than anything was now covered as if it had just rained. Scy seemed to shrink in to her robes bing a mass of moving fabric. Yet this wasn''t the end. The tearing of fabric and the change in her body showed her rtion to the ancient monster Scy.


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 Chapter 1074 - 1074. Scyllas Mastery

    The wind waspeting with the roar from Scy''s mouth. She had be a muchrger form than she had been before. Her head had be more monster like and she was now covered in thick purple and green scales. Her teeth had be sharp with seemingly endless rows. The leviathans that had been her partners now stretched around her, fused to her body. What was even more terrifying was the fact that every time she moved the wind would react and shit. Storm clouds had even begun to form above her.


    Ever since Scy had begun to push herself as a child, she had been string. She had made the decision to grow stronger and that was one thing that had taken her to thedemi-human kingdom. But when she got there she was still weak. She was just another demi-human, even though she had an ancient bloodline.


    The power she had was hard earned. She did not be the general of the front because she was some strategist that dealt with frontline battles. She had received it through her battle prowess. May it be monster hordes, demons invading, or even the kraken, Scy had made sure that she threw her strength around during all of it. Now was not any different. She had earned her strength and the respect she had.


    Besides therge leviathan heads and bodies that stretched around Scy, the water that had gathered above and below Scy started to shift. She was a general and she fought in wars if necessary. She controlled an army. The water took the form of hounds below here with the same sharp teeth and scales. They squealed with sharp piercing howls. This was just part of the ancient form that she had taken. The scary part was that if she was the first, the real Scy, then she would have these hounds in the flesh around her. And she would be double or triple the size.


    One leviathan wrapped around the three as they rested and Scy granted. The water hounds that were created by her mastery skill ran rampant carving a path toward the mountains. They somehow channeled the wind that Scy was whipping up and moved just as fast as she began to fly through it.


    The storm that followed her was enough to make every monster weaker than herself tremble in fear. On some mountain peaks, the dragon viges felt her force. Many elder and ancient dragons raised their heads feeling the ancient bloodline awaken to its power. They had already heard of the outing by the water dragons and understood that such a demi-human existed. They had felt such things before but now that it was happening again they made sure to look towards it. They would respect the power that someone had, dragons were not just weak creatures. The royals were powerful when it came to their elements and that took great effort.


    Even though the storm was rampaging, no small vige or traveler fell victim to a single drop of rain. Since Scy had been stuck without a mastery skill for her entire life, she had worked on the control of her skills. She had needed to train her strategy and battle prowess. When she couldn''t get to stronger skills she needed to use them wisely. This gave her the best control over what she could do. It was the reason that so many feared her in the coliseums.


    Many demi-humans had watched her whip her fan and cut shapes in to her targets with wind. But what they didn''t know was that she could do the exact same thing with water. Her bloodline made her a very powerful duel elemental magic user. The monster traits brought her powerful physical strength as well. Bothbined made her the general of the front that many kingdoms knew as their hardest opponent if it ever came to war.


    The speed at which they moved was much faster. Yet, the three were unable to awaken due to their states of being. What really caused Scy to keep an eye on them was the rate at which Walker was pulling mana toward him. He was still condensing the natural mana which caused a slight pull of mana away from Scy. It did not slow her but she could tell it was important.


    The mind of Walker was full of information. Most of it was useless to him. Bits and pieces of different sealing arts that he was too uneducated to put together. He would need to study for multiple lives just to get a tenth of these skills. But every time he felt one resonate with the natural mana in the spirit mark he would pull it toward him.


    The feeling of Fleur pulling the natural mana in to the spirit mark was constant and warm. He knew that it was also the reason that he was able to assemble the pieces of the natural sealing arts. Every single piece that clicked in to ce brought more knowledge on the way a living being used natural mana without thinking.


    The natural mana that was always within a beings'' soul was pure. It was why they could make their own mana and why they were able to get a system. Walker understood all of this. But he now understood that the natural mana was not controlled by many. It just acted the way it naturally should. When someone else took control of the natural mana and forced in in to a loop where it would leave the body and then return, it caused that being to lose the control of their own mana. In the smallest of terms, the natural sealing arts were a curse. Walker was going to curse Greed just the way he had cursed everyone else in Genesis. He just needed to put thest pieces together.


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 Chapter 1075 - 1075. Arrival Of Scylla

    "There is no entry in to Genesis city right now. Please find yourself a space to make a temporary camp while the guards work to open the city." The guards that had been left were not alone anymore. The enforcers had arrived and joined them. Even though Genesis was in dire straights, the two different guards had awakened a bond.


    Normally the humans and the elves had been distant. It came from many years of the human adventurers sneaking in to the forests for rare materials or herbs. The elves had always forced them out or taken them as prisoners for the jails.


    Now that they were working together, they found that there was a deep respect for the people they protected. Their core values aligned and they had to slightly adapt to the way each other functioned. It had led to a very smooth operation when it came to the camp outside the city.


    Currently, there were only three merchant groups and a few families that had been stopped. They were not all very happy but after realizing there was an issue they began to prepare themselves. The guards were watching as some turned away immediately seeing an issue. Others set up camp and volunteered to assist when they were needed. Naturally, these were the people that the guards recorded down. They would be putting in a good word for those that put themselves aside to help the city before they were even proper citizens.


    There was a lot of desire to start a new life, but those that stood out and put others first were adhering to the values that Genesis was founded on. The guards knew this well and so did the enforcers. Therefore, when they would meet the party or their superiors they would make sure that those people got what they deserved.


    "We have something iing!" The guards formed up when they saw the clouds. The wind around them had begun to whip up. But what scared them most of all was the pressure. They could feel the air bing heavier and the few drops of rain spinning around with the wind.


    "There is a monster there!" No one knew that Scy had this mastery skill form that made her take on characteristics of the ancient monster Scy. When they saw her flying through the air at high speed they were forced to prepare for the worst.


    "There are more on the ground! Defend the camps!" There was chaos as everyone pulled up[ whatever they could nearby to use as a weapon to defend themselves. They would stand to defend the city that would be or was currently their home.


    Scy on the other hand saw the camp andnded right there with a thud. She began to shift from herrger form and the leviathans wrapped around her to hide her. Su and Alma were still unconscious and the guards opened their eyes wide while they understood that this was not some monster. The water that had taken the shape of hounds started to fall in to the earth while the storm clouds became rain that fell on them all.


    Walker started to shift and blinked a few times. He slowly pulled himself up and stored the sealing arts carving away. He was suffering a hefty headache from the major amount of information he had burned in to his brain.


    ''The skill natural healing has been learned.


    Natural healing arts- 30 mana 40 natural mana ( requires the assistance of a nature spirit)


    This is a very unique sealing art. This art uses the natural mana within a targeted being. The user will shape natural mana with their own mana so that they can create a sealing rune. The sealing rune needs to be pressed on to the target''s body so that it can begin the loop. The target will be trapped by their own mana and slowly be a statue. The sealing can only be broken by someone with impable control over natural mana. This skill can only be used once in a lifetime.''


    There was a heavy mana cost for this. On top of that, Walker had to have Fleur help him with the skill which was why she was gathering so much natural mana. Thest big hit to him was that this skill could only be used once in his lifetime. It was clearly the drawback of him not being the right system user to understand the sealing arts carving properly. But that didn''t matter. He was looking at the aftermath of Scynding.


    The guards and enforcers surrounded them while Walker saw that Alma and Su were unconscious. He used healing skill after healing skill to watch their sunburns fade away and their breathing slow. The air around them was still breezy and turbulent with mana. The cold seemed to also be helping since the effects of the desert had overheated them.


    "Scy¡­" Walker count that the leviathans were wrapped around Scy covering her. She seemed extremely pale and had a hard time focusing her eyes. "Let me get you something." He pulled out extra clothing and arge cloak from his storage for her. She took it and wrapped it around them. They were extremely tired and suffered from ack of energy.


    "Food, water, potions." These three depends were easily met. Walker handed over mana potions so that she could regain the mana she had burnt away to travel. The reason she needed food and water was simple. Scy had burned a lot of her energy when using her mastery skill and was now suffering the drawbacks. When she had tested the skill first she had been in the water and luckily caught fish to replenish herself. Now she didn''t have that and needed Waker''s help.


    "Guards, gather here!" Walker called out to them as soon as he had helped Scy. He had to move while he could. He could ask the others for more detailster.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1076 - 1076. A Silent City

    "What do you mean you are going back in to the city? You just returned and should need to rest with the others. How will you make it without protection or a guard." The guard that was speaking to Walker genuinely thought that Walker had lost his mind. He hade back from his journey unconscious and suddenly stood up to help. It was a radical change and the guards all thought that Walker was sick in some way or injured.


    "I know what you are all thinking. My friends are out ofmission for the moment and it looks like I need rest. But I rested long enough and learned of a way to seal Greed. Just stay here and I will move in. Just prepare everyone here to enter the city and help others. I don''t know what we will need to do once Greed has been sealed and the energy he stole is returned." Walker started to walk toward the city without anyone else beside him.


    The silence after he walked away from the stunned merchants and guards was enough to make him wonder if he had chosen the right move. He knew that the natural mana around him could fight of Greed''s curse. He could have waited for Su to recover since she would be able to resist as well, but there was no time. They had already been gone for some days and that was too long. Someone could be seriously hurt by now.


    The streets were the same. The only differences that Walker could find were small animals and birds which had made the poor choice to enter the city and sumbed to Greed''s curse. What was even more heart breaking was that Walker could tell who had struggled to run away and failed only to end up in the streets.


    He did hear something after walking down the market roads. He could hear a few voices arguing and it took him toward the cathedral. What he saw was a barrier that didn''t seem usible. It was blocking the curse which Walker had read and thought was impossible to do.


    The thought that he might be able to find Alice unharmed made him rush toward the opened door and the white barrier of light. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he found that there were a host of healers all on their knees in prayer. They were forcefully pooling the light elemental mana and their healing skills to maintain the barrier. Many more had already passed out and been unable to return to a healthy state to fight off the curse.


    Many children were huddled together in the cathedral. Their parents had used all their strength to bring them here for safety when they heard that people were passing out from illness in the streets. This was why the cathedral was able to protect some ande together.


    "Walker?" The confusing question came from a healer that Walker had been introduced to at the entrance of the cathedral before. "How are you here? Is the illness gone? We have been this way for days. Everyone has been too exhausted to escape.


    "No. stay here and keep the barrier up. I came back to deal with the problem. What about the high priest and Alice?" His worry spiked and his heart followed suit.


    "They are¡­if you can stop this then you can save everyone, right?" The healer was about to tell him but her eyes had nced at the cots set up nearby. Alice was next to the high priest. Both were very pale and obviously suffering from ack of mana. But the bigger problem was that none of them were gaining mana back. The entire city was under Greed''s control.


    "I need to go. Stay here and keep everyone safe." He dropped thest of the mana potion in his storage. He would have Remey make more after he saved her.


    The pace at which he ran through the city was much faster. He found that the stores had been left in much the same state. Many fires had died out as Greed had taken control of the city preventing any fires. This was a silver lining that Walker didn''t miss sight of. If Greed''s curse hadn''t taken the fire elemental mana from the mes in people''s home and ovens then the city could have burned to nothing.


    "Remey¡­" The body on the ground was a pale and scratched up Remey. Walker could tell that she had rushed through the streets out of the alchemy building only to copse hard on the stones. He cast a healing skill on her but saw the mana rush away from Remey the moment he used it. The scratches had barely been healed. "I will be back to help you up soon. Just stay strong." His teeth were grinding as he looked at the Genesis building.


    This was the only ce that Greed could be. It was the center of the city and he would have the ability to absorb energy from the entire city easily. On top of that, it was the most extravagant building fully built. If anyone was to enter the city they would want toe to the genesis building.


    The door was wide open and guards were on the floor unconscious. Their armors had lost any runes carved on them because the energy had been taken from them. There would have been lights and torches but those had been snuffed out. Even the elemental crystals used for light were cracked or broken.


    There were many others that had been rushing down the stairs or working hard unconscious as well. Walker could only bite his lip and hold himself steady while he walked toward the stairs and up to therge meeting room. He knew that he would find Greed there.


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 Chapter 1077 - 1077. Greeds Throne

    The room was empty. The table had been broken up and thrown to the side while a throne had been made in the center of the meeting room. Many different things had been made to take the form of the throne. Gems, gold, and even a few runed weapons. Sitting on top of the throne was a twisted creature.


    There was pale skin that seemed stretched to a breaking point over bulging muscles that didn''t seem to fit on the body of a demon. There were white and ck horns that grew from the demons'' head in scratch angles. The ws that the demon had were not normal either. They seemed to curve back on themselves bing round and useless. The scariest part was that the demon had long needle like teeth that showed from his vibrant smile.


    "Another possession to bring me a snack. I have had a lot to eat these few days. I wasn''t able to eat to my hearts'' content in the demonnds. That bastard demon lord telling me I was not allowed to do this and that. He didn''t even realize that this is all mine. The entire world is mine." The coughingughter made Walker want to gag.


    "None of this is yours. This is a city shared by everyone and you are not wee here. Out of respect for another life, you can remove your curse now and face punishment. I will not harm you if you do so now." As angry as Walker was, he still wanted to offer a fair chance. He would offer it to anyone in the same position. But Greed wasughing even harder now.


    "My curse? It is an honor to be part of my collection. Just look at how many things I own. Once part of my collection, they never leave." Greed''s voice turned in to a vicious growl that caused the room to rumble.


    "Then I will be sealing you away forever. I will not allow you to cause another city to fall in to ruin. This is not your world!" Walker grabbed the eternal orb in its spear form. He tried to pull mana around it but found that it wouldn''t respond. The only thing that happened was Greedughing much more.


    "Boy, I may be low leveled, but I am not weak. I have collected many things sinceing here and I can not be swayed by a simple spear or some weak magic prowess. I have learned a lot in my many years of life. Be [art of my collection willingly and I will let you upkeep the collection for me. I need a possession to act as a cleaner. Or you can be another doll for me to look at." The sneer on Greed''s face seemed to grow inch by inch while he stood and stepped down off the throne.


    As Greed moved, Walker noticed that there were multiple people tossed aside behind the throne. If they battled it out here then they would hurt the people that were supposed to be representing their races. This would be a worse loss than Walker was willing to sacrifice so that the city could be saved. He would rathery down his own life right now.


    "Ha, you can''t own anything or anyone. This is everyones'' city and there''s nothing you can do to stop that. Even if you catch me and add me to some collection." Walker used his dance of seasons'' second act, the dance of spring. He felt his body be lighter and he darted around toward the window. With a swift spear strike, the window shattered.


    "How dare you damage what I own! That is mine and mine alone! How dare you break it!" Veins bulged on Greed''s misshapen head while he watched Walker step in to the air and out the window toward the courtyard where there was nearly nobody who had copsed.


    Greed didn''t care for Walker''s actions in the least. He felt the anger boil as something he deemed his was broken. He didn''t show any fear when he threw himself from the window to chase Walker. Greed had absorbed so much energy from the city that he was not afraid of falling and bing injured. He could absorb more energy and be healthy again. He hated his weak self and could only grow his collection.


    Seeing that Greed was right behind him, Walker used his small amount of time to move the few people around to cover so that they wouldn''t be harmed by any attacks. "Come here my new toy. Come and let me make you a permanent resident in my collection. I might even have envye to make you a real doll. He is mine too you know." The strangeughter turned in to a disgusting cough.


    "Fleur, I will need your help here. I trust that you and I can do this." Walker felt Fleur stir. In the eternal orb spear form, some small amounts of natural mana gathered. Walker couldn''t use the other elemental manas to fight since Greed was consuming them at a ridiculous pace as his own. But what Greed could not seem to do was manipte natural mana. Once the manasbined it seemed that Greed had no way to control them and bend them to his will.


    "Greed looked Walker dead in the eyes while pulling back a fist. The elemental mana gathered on Greed''s hand was the same as Remey''s elemental fist attack. Walker knew that it had to be because Greed had absorbed energy from Remey and other brawlers. This just made him angrier when he jumped back to dodge the fist.


    The ground cracked and Walker could only wonder how such a weak demon had gotten so much power. The strength of a title was not something simple. It could make even a level one system user this strong.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1078 - 1078. Sealing Greed

    Walker was not happy to see that Greed was using mana and skills from those that had been hurt by the curse. When Greed pulled back his fist and made the stones from around it he knew that this was another skill he had stolen away. It was even worse when Greed stepped in to the air and dropped from a higher position to try and hit him.


    It was easy for Walker to use the dance of seasons second act the dance of spring to dodge. The enhanced agility he had while using it was enough to keep him well ahead of Greed''s attacks. But that was not all that Walker was doing.


    He had been using the spear with the natural mana within it to defend from some of Greed''s attacks. Walker was mostly using it to deflect the fists that Greed threw at him. But the small scratches that Walker left on greed were not healing no matter how much Greed pulled at the energy around him.


    "What are you dodging to my body! This is mine! You can not break what is mine! My perfect collection can not be ruined!" Greed was pushed in to his madness even more after Walker had hit him again with a sh. The natural mana was blocking some of Greed''s curse and causing the mana within Greed to be unstable.


    This caused more of Greed''s attacks to fail and him to fall deeper in to madness. The mumbling of angryments increased. Suddenly a red mist seemed toe around Greed''s muscles. He had used an ability called berserk body to double his strength. That was when Walker did his best to speed up his rune making process.


    Fleur was still in the spirit mark but she was working with Walker to create the natural sealing arts rune. The mana gathered on Walker''s back and was floating above the spirit mark so it was well hidden. Walker knew that the moment that he was able to control the mark and move it to his hand that he would need to approach Greed. That was why he had been dodging and angering Greed. He would easily be able to lure Greed in to touch him with the spirit mark.


    "That poor quality elf was thest one to give me so much trouble. He wasn''t even worth having in my collection. It was a worthless trophy. I left that thing to rot, I wouldn''t want a broken toy like that. My collection will only have the best. That''s why you don''t belong in it. I can''t have a toy breaking my other possessions!" Greed roared and charged at Walker. It was easy for Walker to dodge this attack.


    However, the building that greed hit was nearly destroyed. The entire wall fell to the ground and crumbled further beneath Greed''s feet. When Greed emerged again, Walker could see people copsed inside the building. They had been preparing a small shop when they were afflicted with greed''s curse.


    "Come on over here! Or I will make you break something else! What a poor and pathetic collection." Walker''s mocking tine was enough to make Greed charge again. The white and ck eyes had be red with fury. Greed was showing anger on par with wrath''s annoyed mood.


    Fleur suddenly left the spirit mark and fused in to the eternal orb spear form. It began to change in Walker''s hand to a shield form simr to Su''s earth dwelling shield. Walker felt that she had done all she could for the natural sealing arts rune. He had to keep going himself.


    Manipting the natural mana while fighting was much tougher than Walker knew it would be. But he was making progress. There were rune shapes forming out of pure elemental mana. The rainbow shapes seemed to change and twist showing the elemental mana sing together. It was a bnce that Walker knew well.


    "Bring it on! I will break everything in your worthless collection!"


    "Worthless!? How dare you, weak human child!" Greed clenched his teeth and Walker swore he saw some cracking. The next move wasn''t the same charging attack as before. It was arge leap toward Walker. But that was exactly what he needed.


    The shield was lowered and Greed hit it full force. Walker let himself slide backwards and he used his other hand to pull the natural mana forward. The rune that he and Fleur had been creating surged and show brilliantly in his palm. When Greed felt this he attempted to stop therge amount of forward momentum.


    Greed was toote though. Walker pressed his palm to greed''s chest and poured all of the natural mana and his own mana in to the rune. The world seemed to stop as Greed began to dete. The mana and energy he had stolen was pulled from his body and rushed away into the air. His body shrank in to a bony and sickly looking demon. Walker knew that this was the true face of Greed.


    The next thing that happened was a surprise. Roots rose from under the stones and wrapped Grees'' feet. He was already trying to scratch them away as Walker backed away. The roots seemed to be taking even more from greed and his body was turning a pale grey color instead of white.


    "No! It''s all mine. This is my collection. No one else''s. Miii-" Greed failed to be able to move any longer. He had been frozen in his scream. Small vines grew from the ground and covered the statue body he now had. The rune glowed brilliantly on Greed''s stone chests. The mana would pulse slightly as it was taken and returned to Greed in an endless loop. Greed could not use his curse and he could not release his own natural mana. He was sealed away forever.


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 Chapter 1079 - 1079. Nice Job

    To say that the mana in the air was bountiful would be an understatement. The amount of different elemental and personal manas that greed had absorbed and just released made the air heavy. Walker was suffering from ack of mana since he had begun to be affected by Greed''s curse because he had used the natural mana defending him to activate the natural sealing arts.


    The mana had to find those that it hade from. Their natural mana would attract their mana that was looking for the ce it was meant to be. The very lifeforce being attracted back to them would wake people up wherever they were. These thoughts made Walker rx. The instant relief of stress was enough to make his head fuzzy and lost.


    The sound of groans and shouts began to fill the air as parents woke to see their childrening back. The barrier that was clearly seen around the cathedral fell and the healers that could still work were already taking to the streets. Walker was soon found by the guards and enforcers that had been outside. They had immediately rushed in when they heard the final screams of Greed. It had been much louder than Walker realized.


    What was more surprising was that Remey had woken up looking around and managed to follow the battle trail from Genesis building. She looked at Walker on the ground still trying to straighten his mind and the guards bombarding him with questions. "Your orders are to help the injured to the cathedral. If anything major happens you will report to me, is that understood!?" Remey knew that Walker needed time and space. She took charge and the guards responded with a thump to the chest. The enforcer bowed and started working. They may want to rush to help the other elves but they had been told to protect genesis. This was their first priority now and would remain that way until the day they died.


    "Are you alright? I can get more potions if you need them?" Since the guards left with the enforcers, Remey was able to calm her voice the same way that she did with her siblings.


    "I''m fine. We need to help everyone else. Su and Alma are exhausted and should be brought to the cathedral. Scy used a skill of some kind and needs to rest too. I can keep going after I get my head straight. Fleur is starting to rest now too, she worked hard." Walker could feel his grasp on the sealing arts fading. He could still remember how it was done but he knew that if he tried to form the rune he would fail. There was just a feeling in his soul that told him it would be so.


    "You did great. Take all the time you need. I will keep everyone moving. You can tell me everythingter. I will also have some guards keep this courtyard sealed for now." Remey nced at the ugly vine covered statue that had been Greed. The roots that bound its legs seemed to be darkening in to a brown and grey statue as well. It only spoke more and more about how powerful a natural sealing was.


    "Where is it?! What''s going on!?" Gil had somehow gotten on top of the roof and jumped off in to a rollnding next to Remey and Walker.


    "We are taking charge of the cleanup and healing effort. We are going to get everyone settles while Walker rests. He will put out a report of what happenedter tonight. Let''s go!" Remey dragged the fearful Gil away. He was sure that Walker could exin what happened but it was secondary to the city''s safety.


    "Well, that is that. You caused us a lot of trouble because you can''t just fight that title. I''m sorry that you have to be sealed like that forever, but maybe one day we can free you from your greed. You can live a better life." Walker truly felt this way. Greed may have used a curse that caused everyone else suffering. Yet, Greed was also cursed. He could not level up or grow without taking things from others to make his own. It was a rough existence that he was forced to live forever.


    "You did well there. Who would have thought that even I would find myself knocked out in the guildhall." Barry had easily found Walker. He was very used to tracking down enemies and prey. "Cara is already getting things back up and running even though she should rest some. I''m a little more used to the hard work thates with these random urrences." Barry was a tough one but it was clear that Greed had taken his toll on him.


    "If you hadn''t been a victim I might have had an easier time." Walker had a shallowugh since he knew that the skill Greed used had to havee from Barry in some way.


    "No idea what you mean, but it looks like that thing won''t be bothering us anymore. I can''t even say that''s a demon anymore. It''s sad." Since Barry knew that Greed would most likely remain imprisoned like this for many years if not for the rest of existence if possible.


    "We can see about freeing him from that Greed title one day. I just don''t know how possible that is. I assume someone else would be gued by the title if he doesn''t have it." There was a somber tone in Walker''s voice.


    "We can worry about thatter. Right now it needs to pay the price for those it has hurt. Let''s get you to the Genesis building. We can sit down for a while. The guild won''t miss me much." Barry knew well that he could be of help there. However, with the looks of Walker, he decided to take on the duty of getting Walker back to a healthy state.


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 Chapter 1080 - 1080. Barrys Insights

    Walker knew that Su and Alma were still not going to be up and moving. He also remembered how exhausted Scy had appeared when he saw her. This made him feel a little pathetic hobbling along, but he had also used a lot of mana all at once. Barry needed to help him get back to the Genesis building.


    What was the most surprising was that there were already dwarven craftsmen run ing about to fix things. It was as if someone had lit a fire under them to get things fixed. Yet, when Walker overheard one of them mumbling under his breath, he was sure he heard them curing out the Greed for ruining their hard work and that they would be building it ten times better. It was a wonder that the dwarves had never worked themselves to death before.


    "Ha! Look at that window. Shattered it pretty good but you saved the kings so I would say you did well. Don''t worry, they are in their rooms and understandably annoyed. But they will be better off in a few hours." Barry found it pretty hysterical that the kings had been angry and that Walker had managed to shatter the window. The dwarves were not so happy, they were trying to set up the window so that they could carve some earth runes in it and keep it reinforced.


    "This should be a good spot to sit. I wonder where he got those gems and gold. I know he never made it in to the vaults because there is a special trap there that only a few know how to disarm. Plus, he had to have taken them as he moved through the city. I will talk to the guards and have people report anything missing. Ideally, we will be able to return it all." Barry was poking at the throne that Greed had made and shook his head.


    "You never know what someone might do when they lose their mind. His greed drove him to take on that title and be something else. I don''t know how old he really was but he was even greedier than those mad dragons that horde treasures." Walker had grown up with stories of mad dragons that gathered jewels and mass amounts of gold to create a nest.


    "Trust me, if you saw the horde a mad dragon had then you would look at Greed like he was a child. I have seen two in my life and I left them alone. Those are things for the real dragons to handle." This was another surprise that Walker was getting about Barry''s past. He didn''t know about how much Barry had done in his life but this was something that seemed to be burned in to Barry''s mind.


    "Sir hero! We have found that the demon Greed has not brought any soldiers or other demons with him in to the city. I will return to the patrol now!" One guard rushed in to the room to give his report and ran away as soon as he saw Berry''s re.


    "That''s good news. But I figured Greed came alone. I can''t imagine that Greed would ever share with anyone. Even if he had an army he would have just used them for fuel to get stronger. I wonder why he was not strong in the demonnds. Something about the demon lord stopping him and controlling him. I wonder." Walker trailed off in thought. He remembered that Greed had also cursed out the demon lord.


    "If it was me I would send that Greed ahead of any army I have, best case, Greed ruins the enemy. Worst case, Greed fails and an annoying soldier is lost. It''s not like a soldier like Greed could have stood on a battlefield with others. He would have taken the enemy and the allies'' strength." Barry followed Walker''s lead and called Greed a he instead of thinking of Greed like a beast. It was something that he caught on to since Walker thought he might one day save Greed from his own title.


    "I hate to agree with you¡­but you are right. Greed was a throw away soldier to cause us damage and keep us focused. I worry that it is so that slime breeder can do more." Walker could only think of the time a slime breeder would need to make more slimes that could defeat an army.


    "Agreeing is not what I want right now. That slime breeder has caused the most trouble for multiple kingdoms. I can''t imagine what would happen if they bring an army of lord slimes, acid, and rot." Barry had managed to face some of the purple slimes that were in the forest. He had not seen the yellow acid slime but he had been given enough reports to know of the danger that came with them.


    "I will see if Remey can prepare potions to resist both. If those forms of lord slimes attack then we will be ready. What worries me more is what will happen if he has another breed of slimes. I think we should ask around and see what slimes might exist that could be used for war or deceit." This was a good idea and Walker knew it could mean the defeat of the slime breeder.


    "I will go and do that now. Just sit here until I gather the other leaders in a few hours." Barry left Walker with his thoughts. Soon after Barry had left though, Walker had fallen asleep in his chair. It was the only thing left since he was feeling Midnight, Onyx, and Fleurs'' tiredness.


    "Your orders stand as that. Go to every representative and tell them a mandatory meeting is happening in two hours. Bring attendants with them as well." Barry handed down the orders to waiting guards. He then turned to the adventurers'' guild to point them in the right direction.


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 Chapter 1081 - 1081. Strongest Elf

    "My queen. The council wille together to run over what has happened and what the heroes have done while we were incapacitated. A guard just came to deliver the news. The city is being fixed and checked now." The enforcer that reported left immediately while Alma was helping the queen up.


    Alma had woken up and rushed to the small elven forest that they had made within the city. She had found the queen sitting on the bench she had passed out on in a daze. This was a major blow to her strength since she was forcefully disconnected from the forest for so long.


    "If this is too much for you I can take over. I was able to go all the way to find the source of the sealing and I can stand strong here. You should return home and gather your power. There will be more trials ahead." Alma knew full well that there would be more demons on the way to cause them trouble. Even if Greed was alone that did not mean that all of the demons with ill will have been defeated.


    "I will remain here. I have items set aside for such times. I have been alive much longer than you and learned to deal with my connection to the forest. I have gathered my mana in to many crystals to help myself when I leave the forest and they are sealed by magic that even I can not break unless I follow certain rules." The elf queen was bound to the elven forest. Yet, she had found ways around this if necessary.


    One enforcer left the shadows of the trees around them and presented a crystal glowing with green light. The crystal had mana straight from the forest fused with the queen''s own mana. She touched it and the color began to return to her cheeks. She even gave off a more powerful aura which made Alma feel as if she needed to bow to her.


    "See? I have ways to be strong again. You will learn these things as you get older. I know that you can only manipte a few nts now and they all cost you a lot of your energy and mana. But imagine being able to control an entire forest one day. You should be able to do such a thing with your system. I rmend you nt a mana crystal tree here. I have five seeds in the vaults of our city. I was going to wait for you to reach a higher maturity, but the times demand for you to grow one now."


    The mana crystal tree was less of a tree and more of a living mana crystal. It was something many of the elves only dreamed about in fairytales. Little did most of them know, that they were real and very rare. If Alma could grow one then she would be growing a mana source that could store mana for her a hundred times over. She would, in theory, be able to rival the strength of some of the most powerful elves in existence if she was to properly grow it to maturity.


    "You¡­are you sure you should give me-"


    "Yes. You need to be the strongest of the elves to represent our people here. When the other elvese here, they will see you first and everyone elsest. The water elves looked down on us for living in a forest. The rock elves looked down on us for being so open and easy to find. Even the snow elves looked at us with our tan skin as if we were freaks. Be the best elf around and show them the strength of the forest elf."


    There were many reasons that the different elves had split from one singr race ending the high elf bloodlines. It was simply the discrepancy in their beliefs when it came to mana and the world. Some chose to follow different elemental manas and went to those locations to study them. Others became biased to the point that they rejected other elves. All came together to create different elf variants.


    "I will do exactly that. You can trust in me." Alma heard her queen well. She was young and had not personally felt these things that the older elves had. But the stories were passed down for a reason and Alma would heed them.


    "Then we shall go and meet with everyone else. I wish to hear your report alongside the heroes." The queen knew well that the city was going to gain a lot from this meeting. She just didn''t know how much and what.


    Walker felt a soft push on his arm. When he woke up he was looking at the ck and white scales that covered Midnight. Onyx sat staring at him on her back. "You two are awake and safe. I was so worried." He didn''t hesitate to hug them. They just stayed that way for an unknown amount of time before Midnight finally shrugged Walker off to look at him and sniff himpletely. "I know, I went to the desert to find a magic tablet that could help me seal Greed. I wish you could havee. some really weird stuff happened.


    Walkerughed a little while Onyx slithered toward him, "Brother, thank you. I was dreaming of you going through a dark staircase in to an odd room. I knew you wereing to save us. I trust you will alwayse to save us." Onyx was still the youngest of their party and when he shed a tear it made Walker worry that Onyx had suffered more than he knew.


    "Ehm, I''m d that you are all safe. I wish I was not interrupting, but I havee to hear the report." King Rorick knew well that this was a delicate moment. However, there were pressing matters to take care of and he had to break it up.


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 Chapter 1082 - 1082. Soon To Be Fixed

    "Yes, you are right. We should pull the chairs together." Walker stood and Midnight stayed by his side. She was worried that he would fall because he was obviously still worn out. However, she had felt the exhaustion that Su had even though she was pushing herself to stay awake now.


    "Stay there. I will do it. I am one of the few that didn''t have to do much work. I can handle moving a chair or two." King Rorick flexed his muscles as a joke to let Walker know he was fine. It was nice having the moreid back king there so that Walker could keep himself steady. Not many rulers would rx in such a way and rule freely like Rorick. "I would say that your little trip took a big toll. But your face says that there is more that came back with you than just some sunburn."


    Since Walker had not seen his own face, he had not realized what he looked like. He did not notice the sunburn on his face and arms or even the fact that there was still sand in his hair somehow. Even more, he had not fully put his cloak and armor back on from the desert. His adrenalin had kept him warm and right now he was too tired to realize he was getting cold because the window was shattered still.


    Before anyone else could walk in e took a towel and some water out of his inventory. He started to wipe away his face and slick his hair to the side. "That looks a bit better. I doubt anyone will fault you though. It''s better to look like you came from a battle than a party after something like this." While Walker didn''t want to look bad, he did understand what Rorick meant. There was no way people would be able to fault him since he had just battled it out with greed.


    "Alma?" Seeing that Alma was walking in with the queen made Walker very shocked. He thought that she would be unconscious for some time.


    "You''re alright. That''s good. We dragged you to Scy who said she would be using a mastery skill and we didn''t know if everything would be alright." It was like a weight had just fallen from Alma''s shoulders. She had yet to actually see that Walker was alright as well. "Su was awake when I left too. She went right to the cathedral and I think they needed her."


    "I would have bet all the gold I have on that." He had a slight smirk. How would Su ever leave the cathedral alone? At this point, she was an unofficial member, let alone a healer. "Can I guess that Gil also managed to track you down?" By the look on Alma''s face, Walker knew that Gil had found Alma faster than anyone else. "That''s good. I''m sure you were worried about him¡­sorry about passing out and not leaving water. That was my fault." Walker was nning to apologize to Su too when he saw her. He felt that it had been his biggest downfall while in the desert for such a short time.


    "No, you were learning what we needed and it was worth the risk. We made it to Scy safely. We can stand by you even when you can''t stand yourself." There were quick looks from the queen and Rorick. They both knew that they were witnessing a very powerful future bind between the humans and elves. It was history in the making that meant more than any other.


    "I am sorry for my tardiness. I was a little ill after waking up." King August walked in and saw the way the room now looked. He had been very fuzzy when he had woken up and guards had helped her to a private room. "I seem to remember a table being here¡­"


    "You''re right about that. It was a pretty nice one too but unfortunately, it is now firewood." King Rorick kicked a piece to the edge of the room before sitting back down again.


    "No, we will have it rebuilt. I have seen tables and chairs broken then built back with metals. They show that even when broken things can rise up again." King August had seen work like this in pottery and found the meaning behind it deeper than one could say. The others nodded epting this since it could symbolize their stable future.


    "I apologize for beingte. I needed to clean myself up." Scy came in slower than usual. She had changed robes and was not very steady on her feet. But that wasn''t an issue, king Rorick seemed to already know that Scy would be weak which made Walker wonder if she had sent a guard to speak with him.


    "We do not have the merfolk representative yet and the king of the deep is on the way. Let''s sit and we should be prepared by the time he arrives." The elf queen pushed them to sit so that they could speak. The only ones that didn''t do so were Onyx and Midnight who seemed the most awake out of all of them.


    All eyes had focused on Walker, they were expecting him to have all the answers that they needed. "Thanks to the guidance of the forest elves we were able to look back in history to find that greed had once been sealed away. Due to this we went to that ce and learned quite a bit. The location has a lot more that goes with it but for now, we will focus on this tablet which used to hold the natural sealing arts I used." Walker held back some information for safety. He was not going to be exining the details behind the sealing arts carving.


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 Chapter 1083 - 1083. Desert Recap

    "I know you want a meeting, but do you know what needs to be fixed? There are shops that lost their fire and froze their goods, forges that are cold and need the attention before being fired again, and don''t even get me started on the family vaults that somehow got¡­well, that solves that." The king of the deep caves looked at the throne of gems and gold only to realize that this was where the missing items were.


    "I know there is a lot to fix. We all know that. But we need to get the story straight so we can put people at ease. Do you think they arefortable being here right now? Do you think that they know that there was a demon here? Or do you think they may believe an army is marching here now?" King August was a lot more level headed than the king of the deep caves. However, it was dwarven nature to want to fix everything.


    After some grumbling the king of the deep caves sat down and looked at the table, he was not happy that it was broken since he knew the craftsman that made it. "I will start, the information that sent Walker out of here was from me. I was holding off until we desired to research a mag tower more. That didn''t seem to be the right decision though." Alma and Walker already knew that was going to be the first part of the conversation.


    "The desert city was once an elf city. They discovered the ruins and built upon them. Unfortunately, that is all my people really know about their ways since Greed visited them at some point and caused their downfall. By the time we heard of it, we sent out sealing sage in hopes that someone had survived. He gave his life using an ancient metal tablet to seal away Greed. The surviving desert elves were lost to the winds since they didn''t want toe to the forests. Some say the stone elves in the mountains took them in but we have no proof of such an event."


    "I see why you would not share this. If the mage tower was the focus and that greed was sealed, it would not be important. Especially since messing with it without proper preparation would be dangerous." King Rorick knew now that Greed was an opponent he could not beat with his armies that focused on physical strength. They wouldn''t have been able to beat him before the curse was discovered.


    "From there I escaped. I have Fleur and the control of some natural mana which defended me from Greed''s curse. Stealing away individual manas and lifeforce was easy for his curse. But all the manasbined in to natural mana? Well, that was not easy." Walker was sure that he was just very lucky to have escaped. "Su was strong enough due to her defensive capabilities to resist the curse and escape while Alma and Scy were not in the city yet. I had guards that had been on patrol create a temporary camp and alert Scy and Alma when they arrived."


    Scy stood slowly, "I used all of my strength to rush them to the desert where I could not continue. They left me behind in a shelter made of stone to rest with some potions. I waited for their return."


    Since Alma was ready she spoke next, "We made out way to the city ruins on the map and broke in to the sand covered buildings. The tower was easy to get to but we found that Greed had been forcefully broken out. We freed the soul of the sealing sage and took the tablet." She looked at Walker for support.


    "Another event urred that we will speak on in a moment. From there we escaped the entire towers'' worth of monsters. When we stopped I tried to learn the magic in the tablet and discovered what it was. That forced me unconscious but while I was in such a state I learned a natural sealing skill that I could only use once. I am not apatible system user for the carvings on that tablet." Walker held back information which everyone caught on to however, they did not pry.


    "By the time Su and Alm made it to me they were down and out. Walker had the water and I was the only one able to get there. I used my mastery skill for the second time and it put me in the state you see here." Scy was visibly skinnier and pale still. She still stood strong though. "I managed to get them back but was forced to stay in ce and recover."


    "And that brings us to the battle, the sealing, and now us sitting here. Greed is sealed for a long time unless someone that has better natural mana control can free him. But that still will take a lot to do. One day maybe I will free him from the greed title¡­" Walker still felt that greed needed to pay for what he had done even though it was part of the title he was trapped with.


    "So what was the other event that urred?" the forest elf queen was staying focused and trying to discover what else could havee to pass in their excursion.


    "This might be hard to understand because we don''t either. But the ruins that had been there before the desert elves were made by a race that left. They left their magic knowledge for others and that was how the desert elves gained strength. That tower is currently here. I have no idea how the runes worked, how they left a magical consciousness in the tower, or how it can be studied. All I know is that I can call upon it and it will return to its natural state here." Walker showed the book and was met with many skeptical looks.


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 Chapter 1084 - 1084. Explaining The Tower

    "I know that it may sound-"


    "I knew they had been given help! How could they have mastered survival in the desert so well? They shared water runes with the water elves that the water elves had not even developed yet. It was the talk of the elven cities when I was younger and that was already many years after the desert elves had disappeared. But we never went to their city to try and understand it since it was a dangerous ce." The forest elf queen blurted out in frustration.


    Everyone was looking at her uncharacteristic outburst. She had never acted in such a way but it was clear that so many years of wondering had their toll. She had always read journals from the past queen about the event and even read other ounts but was never given an answer. What was even worse was the fact that the water elves had grown in power and been able to move in to thekes with the runes that they had been given. It was a constant reminder about how the desert elves had been considered the most powerful out of all the elves.


    "We have an exploration division. I can send eighty of my researchers and guards at a moment''s notice. We need that knowledge. They can deal with the city and the monsters. You said it was under the sand right? We have run in to some sandstone caves before and know the dangers." The new information was very interesting to the king of the deep caves. He knew that with the spirit forging techniques they would need higher quality runes.


    "I will send my people with you as well. We have our own runesmiths that can partner with yours. I will not let the other elves show up here and act as if they are better than everyone in this city. The water elves have not spoken to any of you, correct? The reason why is simple, they believe themselves the purest of the elves and the closest to the high elves. The only reason they rted themselves to the desert elves was the fact that they wanted their runes." The forest elf queen did not hide her desires.


    "That does seem to be a better way to go about it. I have sent merchants to befriend the water elves and they were sent back immediately. They had water nymphs great them instead of actually speaking to them. They even came back believing that the water elves would have drowned them just to keep them at a distance." Walker did not know that king August had ever done such a thing.


    "You think that''s bad? Try sending a golem and never seeing it again because its been frozen in a block of ice then shattered." There was even more sourness from the king of the deep caves who knew well that the king of the middle had sent golems there to build rtions.


    "They once flooded our fields on the opposite side of my kingdom because they didn''t like the sediment run off from them. It caused us a rough year and we were unable to wage a proper war with them. They just forced my aquatic forces out of the water." Scy scowled as king Rorick said this. It was clear that every kingdom had issues in some ways with the water elves.


    "Wait, didn''t the merfolk say that they had been taught some water magic from the water elves years ago before they had left the ocean?" Walker recalled this from a conversation he had with Leon.


    "Of course they did. They were going to make the merfolk their primary army until they realized that the merfolk lost half of their stats outside the water making them weaker than the elves by a massive gap." This was even more than Walker hadn''t known.


    "Forget the water elves for now. We can go there and speak with them at another time. I know it may be hard, but we could use them in the alliance, and changing their attitude could give them a better life than they think. Let''s deal with the tower first." Since this seemed to be more important, Alma changed the topic and gestured to Walker.


    "I know that we have space set aside. Now we don''t need materials so much as we need mages and runesmiths to learn. I doubt that I can gather too much since I am not a specified system user. But I should be able to guide those that aren''t familiar with everything. I just know that there is not much mana in the tower left. That was why the message from the consciousness left by whatever race passed the tower on so fast. We need to replenish it." This was the core problem with the tower other than the knowledge required to begin to understand all the runes and magic in it.


    "Then we call it to a vote. ce the tower and begin research. It''s the perfect time for us to do so. We can make the city stronger while we build it and the people that areing here will see that our struggle has made us a more powerful and safer home." Out of all the people to speak it was Alma. She knew that they needed to focus on rebuilding, but that couldn''t be all they could do. They needed a big move to show that this attack was nothing to them. That Genesis was just beginning.


    Walker looked around the room to see that everyone had a hand up but him. They also believed in what Alma had said and were ready to put it in to practice. "I guess I have to vote with you then." He couldn''t help but smirk. They were right afterall, Genesis was just getting started.


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 Chapter 1085 - 1085. Out For A Walk

    Without any hesitation whatsoever, Walker was made to lead everyone out of the Genesis building. The guards were not happy about seeing all of the leaders and representatives leaving during such a time. However, it seemed to work in their favor.


    There were many people starting to get up and moving again. They saw their leaders and waved, knowing that those leading the city were still standing and even walking with them was more than any expected. It lifted the moods of many people who had fear in their hearts. Those with the courage toe up to them were not pushed away by the guards. Instead, the guards let theme right up to Walker. The leaders of their city couldn''t be out if the worst wasing to the city.


    Midnight was already partnering with Onyx to draw the children''s attention since their parents were so busy trying to make sense of things and couldn''t chase after them well enough just yet. "Well, are all of you going toe and see what helped me fight off Greed?" Walker decided that it was better to go all out and shout this than to just stay silent.


    It only took a few minutes for people to start to get more energetic. They told others as they passed and many merchants and families were standing behind the leaders. "I think you might have gotten the attention of every builder, family, merchants and you name it in Genesisin thest ten minutes." Scy couldn''t say she wasn''t impressed. She could feel the energy around her and felt that the excitement was enough to give her another spurt of energy as well.


    "Well, everyone is stressed out and we might as well show off. I can''t say I really know how this will all work either, but it''s worth it. We can give everyone something to talk about and amaze them while they fix the damages. I think we should all take a break tomorrow though." Walker knew well that this wouldn''t actually happen. Too many people would want to study and work on things. Yet he could only hope that someone would heed his words to some small degree.


    "This is what we put aside for mages to train and potentially build a tower. We didn''t have much knowledge of anything so there has not been an order for supplies. We also don''t have anyone to take over the space as a master mage or archmage system user. It''s a very rare system and heavy responsibility which would limit the study of their own skills." King August had often had trouble keeping mages within the human armies. They would prefer to study their magic away from the responsibilities that came with the duties of being in an army.


    "Walker was sure that the space set aside was muchrger than he realized. It was at the edge of the city and the walls had not been built in this space yet. Most likely because they were not sure how much more space would be needed. However, that worked out perfectly. Mages and runesmiths would need a lot more space in a training field to test things. There would also need to be defensive structures set up when testing and training magic skills.


    "Stay here, I will walk out there and see how this goes." Part of Walker was worried that the tower would react and somehow dump monsters here the same way it had in the desert. But he knew that the odds were slim. He also couldn''t help but wonder what the tower truly looked like without the desert elves'' modifications. The desert elves had added a dense sandstone and their own runes. But the ck stones of the main structure hadn''t seemed to be damaged in any way.


    "I wonder where Su is. I feel like she is going to like seeing this just like I will." Alma and Su had both watched with Walker as the tower had blown their minds. She thought it was only right that Su was there too.


    "Of course I came. Everyone in the cathedral practically ran out when Gil came in like the city was on fire." Su had deep circles under her eyes matching Alma''s. Gil was looking at both of them with a worried and questioning expression.


    "Well, If I came running here too then I would be pretty angry if it was for nothing." Remey gave Su and Alma a once over since she knew they were still not up to healthy status. Neither could resist her showing a mana potion in to their hands.


    "You are acting more like a mom every single day, I swear." Thisment earned Gil a solid punch to his arm which everyone just pretended didn''t happen.


    "My queen, is it true that the city was part of us being saved?" Trish was right by the forest elf queen''s side. She had the respect to report to her queen immediately along with the years of respect between them not to fear asking a question.


    "You shall see in just a moment. I have to admit I may be a little skeptical. However, those desert elves were sneaky and held on to more than I, or my teacher knew." She was referring to the previous forest elf queen before her. It was rare that she spoke about them but she had known the queen as a teacher and not as the long resting queen.


    "Alright, so all I have to do is say this out loud," Walker mumbled to himself as he prepared to see what was going to happen. The tower folding in on itself was still clear in his mind even though it was very hard to understand. He was sure he was about to witness something just as amazing asst time.


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 Chapter 1086 - 1086. Unfolding Tower

    There was the same influx of mana that had happened when the tower had folded itself in to a book. Walker was still not sure if it had been real until this second. The book opened up and unfolded over and over making runes appear in the air. The runes were shaped the same way that the tower was building itself. However, it had changed in appearance.


    Instead of the sandstone yellow and greys that had been over the walls, there was a ck and green stonework building with many runes covering it. The seems were so perfectly fitted that Walker couldn''t tell how the stones were put together, yet he could tell that it had been handcrafted and not done with magic. He just had a feeling.


    The rune designs were radically different than what he had seen before. Not only were they different from the runes that he had seen before he had been to the ruined desert city, but they were more advanced than what the desert elves had carved over them.


    The mana in the area started to get much denser as the tower rose to the full height over Genesis. Many people watching could feel their breathing be easier and their mana regeneration be faster. It was a major benefit to having a mage tower and one that would attract people that studied magic and mana.


    The cathedral had the most notable changes out of any building. The crystal that created the healing aura in the cathedral was shining brightly. So much so that the healers left behind were in shock. The aura expanded over the cathedral branching to almost half of the city. This was an unprecedented urrence that had never happened unless there was a skill being used in rtion.


    What was truly beneficial was the fact that this healing aura extended over the alchemy guild herb fields. The herbs reacted instantly and seemed to be more stable, some fast growing herbs even became fuller. Some of the seeds that had been set up to spout were beginning to germinate at a much faster rate than expected causing some of the herbalists to move in a rush. One even ran out of the guild to find Trish and Remey since this was very good news.


    By the time it had finished unfurling from the book, there was enough attention on it to warrant the guards to drop their current tasks and set up a perimeter, they had to ensure that everything was safe. Meanwhile, Walker was standing within the tower in awe. The stairs that went up and down from the first floor were in a spiral shape. But what was drawing his attention was the core of the tower in front of him.


    "Use this knowledge wisely and pass it on to the next generations toe. My people wish to see more rise to greater heights." The voice was nearly a whisper before it was gone. Walker wasn''t sure if he had actually heard it but the runes that covered the walls became dim and the core of the tower also dimmed.


    When everything seemed to be out of mana, Walker heard a thunk from the stones near the core. A stone that didn''t look out of ce had popped up from the ground revealing arge dusty tome. It was made from what Walker could tell was a very tough leather material and the pages held many words from manynguages. He couldn''t understand much since there were runes on it as well but he knew that it had to do with the tower and that he would not allow anyone inside until he had more information.


    Leaving the tower was easy. The doorways which had been connected torge stone passageways were not open on all four sides of Walker. The tower now had four openings that needed to be closed at some point. Unfortunately, Walker found that right outside it was a mess of people trying to get a better look and the guards holding them back for safety reasons. Getting to the group of other leaders took him a moment.


    "Those desert elves had this the entire time they were building over that city. I always wondered why they would choose the desert other than the earth affinity." The forest elf queen was very set on what she thought she knew now. It was very different inparison to the stoic attitude she normally had. But it seemed to be making everyone else more epting of her.


    "I haven''t explored any of the upper floors and would like to have this area sealed until I do so with the right people. If we make a mistake then we will be forced to lose this. Or, people could get hurt. We will also need to find a new core. I think the mana in it ran out, but I need to read this before I know if it can be recharged with mana." Therge tome of multiplenguages perplexed everyone. Even the runes were more advanced than the ones on the tower which could be clearly seen from the outside.


    "If you want to study this ce first I have no issue. I can already feel the changes and my system prompted me about an allied city gaining certain benefits. I can''t see a downside for now." King August was very pleased. He couldn''t seem to stop smiling while thinking about the possibilities of Genesis with the mages tower.


    "I never thought I would be saying it in my life and if my father knew of this, he might p me. But! I will be investing some researchers in to magic from this point on." King Rorick made this choice which was a shock since the demi-humans did not focus on magic in the least. It made everyone feel that this was a very defining moment for the city.


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 Chapter 1087 - 1087. Only 100 Years?

    "Well, I will set up a research group with some of the runesmiths and the elves. Just because you don''t want everyone inside yet doesn''t mean we can''t see and research those runes outside the tower. I also know that the stone used is a mix of obsidian, mythrill, and orichalcum. There are blue and green streaks from the metals. The real question is how they formed theva in to perfect blocks like that before it cooled in to pitch ck obsidian. I can tell from here that there are no bubbles or impurities. The process had to have been perfect." The king of the deep caves was trapped in thought along with a few of his dwarven craftsmen that had rushed to the scene.


    "But the major repairs and building projects in the citye first, right?" Walker knew that making this point was all he could do. He didn''t take his eyes off of the dwarf king until he received a grunt and nod.


    "I know that you went to the desert to save us and I appreciate that more than anything. "Gil patted Walker on the back, "But only you can go to the desert to save a city and bring back a bonus tower that literally makes mana regeneration better for an entire city." Gil had a point. If anyone else had gone they would have been gued by the monsters around and most likely been lost to the desert. That was if they had even gotten the journal from the queen. The odds of being able to know where to go without it were slim to none.


    Su looked at Walker and was very slow to reply. She seemed to have been caught up in her thoughts more so than usual due to her exhaustion. "I think that this will be the best thing for the city right now. We need more people toe and now we have something that will bring the most powerful mages. That means we might just see new magic and better healing." Just because it was a mage tower didn''t mean that healing skills wouldn''t be experimented with there.


    "You''re right! We will have the cathedral doing more healing research so that we can fix people up better. I bet my potions will be more effective too. I wonder if we can make a high tier affinity potion with lower tier ingredients or maybe even a perfect potion!" This was the single thought Remey had. She wanted to start testing immediately however, she still had plenty of people to test and sses to start. She had already singled some of those that hade to make deals with the alchemy guild out as instructors. The bonus that came with teaching sses was a fair discount on the herbs sold by the guild.


    "Before that happens I think we should make sure that everyone is ready to start operations." Trish made sure to hold Remey back a little. Unfortunately, all of them could tell that Trish was the same amount of excitement as Remey, she could just hold it back a little better.


    "This could affect the production of many things. If we can extend this to the fields¡­" King Rorick had realized that this would more than feed an army. "What would the effect be if this was fully functional? You said that the core was not full of mana? What is the core made out of?" All of these questions were more unknowns that Walker couldn''t answer outright.


    "Wait, I actually think that I can answer thatst one¡­" Walker had been partially ignoring everyone so that he could give some form of information to the other leaders. He wanted there to be something that they could take away and think about or potentially research for him. "It says that the core is from a crystal golem. Specifically, a hundred year old crystal golem core."


    "What!?!" The shout was loud enough to make everyones'' ears ring. The king of the deep cave had been instructing a few of his nearby guards to keep the interested dwarves from trying to sneak in to the tower. He had known that any dwarf with a desire to craft would try and discover some secrets before the others to take the glory.


    "I take it that you have an idea about what that may be?" The forest elf queen had heard of a crystal golem but knew that they would normally have to form over a much longer period than a hundred years. From what she knew they would need to form over hundreds of years but were extremely weak and breakable. This would make them a small nuisance but nothing worth writing home about. Their materials were just good as additions for other things.


    "A hundred year old crystal golem is a perfect materials for anything mana has to go through. If you want to iy a rune with crystal you want pieces of a hundred year old crystal golem. At the hundred year mark, the golem forms a core and starts to absorb mana. That makes it much better to filter any and all manas without issue. If you miss it and it is out of the growth phase then you miss the purity that it has. Getting it just right can''t be anything but luck or amazing skill. You can''t create one. It also means that the mana it can hold grows over time. It''s perfect for something like that!" The king of the deep caves pointed to the tower while he waited for all of them to understand just how rare it was. Since he had mined in the caves he knew the magnitude of something like this. Even the dwarven guards were shocked in toplete silence hearing this.


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 Chapter 1088 - 1088. Finding Homes

    The next hour was a mess of all the potentials if the tower could be fixed and improved. However, Walker had a very hard tome focusing. While the mana that the tower attracted helped him replenish what he had lost, he was still tired from the fight against Greed. There were many things he had done but he had not pushed himself to learn a new magic that he still didn''t fully understand. The mysteries of natural mana were nothing that Walker could interpret in just a few moments. If the sealing arts carving had not put the information in to his mind then he would not have had a hope of sealing Greed.


    One interesting thing that the king of the deep caves had said before they had all left was the fact that the core of the tower shouldn''t be devoid of mana forever. That the crystal it was made of should be able to absorb mana again if it can get the proper amount of mana. This prompted another conversation about the sources and designs of runes. There was too much information from the forest elves and the dwarves to keep straight but their theory put a disrupted rune as the issue.


    The tome that Walker had taken back to the mansion with him was still a mess of words he did not understand. This was partly amazing because Walker had a skill that tranted some ancientnguages. But these words were mixed with runes and would require more knowledge to understand. Not to mention the diagrams required a lot of elemental mana knowledge.


    There were some runes that seemed to be designed to be specifically used with personal mana. Most people would not channel their mana in to a rune unless it was a rune made to keep a door locked or such other reasons. The mana runes that Walker could make out were made to help teach someone to change the way their mana flows. It could be very useful for learning to make magical items with runes. When the wandering cksmith nced at the book Walker didn''t even stop him from starting to look through. He knew that the wandering cksmith had a lot more knowledge on the topic of runes than he did.


    Midnight and Onyx didn''t let the party go anywhere for the rest of the day. Remey, Gil, and Su would have rushed off their own ways. Unfortunately, Midnight and Onyx had been shocked by the fact that they were affected by Greeds'' curse and did not want to risk the party being separated and alone again. No one could argue since everyone felt that being with their family was very important. The tower could wait for another time.


    One thing that the tower brought that Walker had not expected were monsters. They seemed attracted to the higher mana in the area meaning that the guards needed to work harder. The good part was that most of the monsters were not dangerous because they remained at a distance from humans. But when the goblins, harpies, and grey haired spiders took notice there was an interesting change.


    The goblins had been wary of the humansing in to the city. They knew that it was not normal for monsters to be around. Most of them had gone back to the forest but there were a decent few that had remained in Genesis. Kroll had mentioned to the forest elf queen that he was considering moving to Genesispletely since it would be the best ce for them to grow as a race. This was highly supported since it would be a ce for the goblins to grow without the elves'' shadow overwhelming them at all times.


    The harpies were even more encouraged to remain and grow since they had already started to set up their homes. Walker had seen some of the taller buildings with openings around the roofs. They had been made specifically for the harpies to live in and had been filled quickly. They had even started to learn how to deliver mail already since they found the job entertaining. The harpies turned out to be more yful than expected.


    This was a very good thing since the people who were apprehensive of the monster races saw them ying and racing through the air to get the mail to others faster. It was a game that seemed to be turning in to more than just a game. There were already whispers of a flyingpetition one day.


    The ce for the grey haired spiders was even more interesting. They had somehow managed to get in a veryrge business rtionship with the dwarves and clothing makers. Lisa in particr had made a few friends that were already providing spider silk as a material. The clothing she made to showcase the spider silk specifically had been made in a delicate andcy style. This caused many people to stop and look at the windows of her shop. Furthermore, it enhanced the reputation of the grey haired spiders which had been known as pests throughout the forest and rocky outskirts of the forest. But less and less seemed to be attacking merchants as more arrived in Genesis.


    All of this seemed to be drawing more attention to the city. Even the other monsters that would have been more violent in attacking the city like the horned rabbits were less aggressive than usual. Not that they had a chance to be an intelligent race due to their tendencies. But it was an interesting fact.


    It was what drew some more tamers toe and help build up the tamer''s guild branch. There were quite a few sent by their guild master to fix any dented rtions that the aquatic tamers started. One member that was a rare system user walked in to the city with the approval to take over a small shop near the tamers'' guild as part of their position.


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 Chapter 1089 - 1089. Egg Hunter

    "I''m d you made it here. The orders I received from the guild master have you in the shop next door. I know you are allowed more freedom since having an egg hunter system." The man that Elise was speaking to had walked in to the city with a hand pulled cart with odd shaped boxes on it. Many of them had runes carved in to them with other metals or materials sticking out.


    "I would never ignore this chance. The guild master rarely calls on me since he knows I am out looking for more eggs to bring to the guild. But look at this city, I can set up a shop here and provide many people with their future partners. I know that there will also be a lot of young people trying to figure out their systems here too." The man was tall and skinny. He wore a lot of leather armor but had thick gloves on. The sses he wore seemed to be made out of very thick ss that could handle a few solid hits.


    "I will leave you to it, I know that a few people maye by to check things out. I will tell them to meet you." Elise had seen the drama the day before with the tower and was already recovered from Greed''s curse. The tamers that hade in thest few days had managed to help with the construction of the tamer''s guild branch more so than expected. They were well ahead of schedule before Greed''s curse.


    Many had alsoe with specific orders from the guild master. It was clearly a result of the poor choices that the aquatic tamers made. From what Elise understood, there had been some that werepletely expelled from the guild altogether. That was a very rare urrence that only those that mistreated their tamed monsters would often have happen to them. What was even worse was that the merfolk had made it clear that the tamer''s guild was not allowed to build a new tamer''s branch in their city for three years as a penalty for the aquatic tamer''s actions.


    Just as Elise was walking out the door she heard a familiar voice, "Good morning Elise! How''s being the boss around here? It looks like you have been working hard." Walker had decided that he would take the day to enjoy the city and make sure that everyone is doing well. Midnight and Onyx hade with him for his walk. Even Fleur was already out of the spirit mark and was aimlessly floating around the three.


    "Of course we are. The guild master gave us some pretty strict ns to keep us busy. But we were lucky that we were so ahead. I thought you woulde by to see thingster. You dide at a great time to meet a new addition though." Elise guided them back inside the store that was set up. The man that had just started to set up was surprised that Elise walked back in. "This is Walker, Midnight, and Onyx. They are three of the main founders and some of my best friends in Genesis. I have to get running but I hope you can make friends with Ash, he''s the best egg hunter the guild has."


    With that, Elise was back out the door. "Of course, I know who you three are. The hero that visited the guild. His younger sister who is the first monster we know of that has a hero title and also from the rumors I heard a very prominent dragon who most likely will be a head figure of the dragon race. And, an abyssal serpent. I have only ever found one abyssal serpent egg in my lifetime and it was unable to hatch, it is an honor to meet you." Ash was very excited to see a dragon let alone an abyssal serpent.


    "It''s nice to meet you as well. We were just out for a walk. I think I can safely say I have heard of an egg hunter before. But don''t you prefer to roam around?" Walker knew that an egg hunter would look for dangerous and rare monster nests to capture an egg for the tamers. Having a shop would make that tough.


    "I have been roaming for thest ten years, I can use a break and go out every now and then. Plus, I have about sixty eggs that I can disy here. I had to make a stop and give the harpy eggs I found though. The parents were lost to another monster in the area so I found the nests and gathered the eggs. I would say they will grow to be some very good mail carriers." Ash was up to date on the harpy queen''s efforts to make the harpies a recognized race. He would never hold one of their eggs as a sale item again.


    "I did hear that someone did that this morning. It''s a good story to tell around the city." It was a feel good story that made everyone''s day brighter. "I know you just got in to the city and n to set up shop, but can you give me a tour?" The curiosity was too great. Walker wanted to see the variety of monster eggs that he had never seen. He was not going to get one for apanion but wanted to expand his knowledge.


    "I was hoping that you would ask. I happened upon some very interesting things in myst journey through the mountains. It was almost as interesting as my journey to the edge of thekes. If you help me set up the shelves I will show off the prized eggs I found." This deal seemed fair and Walker had the time to kill. Midnight and Onyx seemed to want to watch too, Walker could feel their curiosity.


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 Chapter 1090 - 1090. Lots Of Eggs

    "You see, the art of carrying and keeping the eggs in a state that won''t let them hatch is very specific. Take thatva falcon for example. It will stay in a dormant state as long as it is not in a heated state. If it was ever put in to a hot enough me it would hatch almost instantly. But, that ice silkworm is the opposite. It can''t get in to the normal warm spring air let alone hot air. It has to be kept cold but not too cold. If it was in a frozen environment it would hatch and look for nearby white frost roses to eat." Ash had been telling the stories rted to the eggs he had gathered while also exining how he was able to keep them from hatching.


    "So it was a lot like Onyx. His egg was dormant because he was unable to get the right amount of light elemental mana. Once we had kept him in the light for a while then he was able to hatch. Now he had realized his darkness elemental mana and light elemental mana affinities." Onyx was happy to see that other monsters rted to him. It may not specifically be about abyssal serpents but it was able to give him insight about how he may be able to find other abyssal serpents or their eggs.


    "Brother, I feel that we should search for some ces that have close to the right environments to hatch more abyssal serpents. If it is right on the edge then we may find them." This was a hopeful realization for Onyx that made him want to research areas that could meet his theory.


    "That is often what I look for. I found the ice silkworm near the foot of a mountain near a ins environment. Theva falcon was very simr but near the foot of a volcano whereva used to flow but had been diverted due to a rainstorm. Now, these are mostly based on the kinds of elemental mana and the heat or cold. But this egg here is different." Ash was truly enjoying showing off to someone that wasn''t looking for something specific.


    He often had to bring certain monsters or monster types for a tamer due to their systems. It limited what they were looking for and also made the job of an egg hunter harder. This wasn''t a bad thing but there was a lot less freedom than what Ash wanted. At this moment, Ash was able to share the eggs he had fun finding and could see the genuine interest that the three had by seeing and hearing these things. Although, he wasn''t sure why Fleur seemed so interested in some of the eggs that had singr elemental affinities. But it didn''t deter him.


    "This egg is a cloudy dove. It was very hard to get and I only have it because there is a chance that a cloudy dove egg will be rejected by its parents. You see, this grey spot on the egg was why the parents rejected it. A cloudy dove is a rare monster that will only stop flying because of its mating season and eggying. When the egg is pure white then it matches the parent''s pure fluffy white feathers. Why it is not then they may be darker like storm clouds which the cloudy doves dislike. Therefore, the egg is rejected."


    Walker was curious since he had never heard of a cloudy dove before and used his all around appraisal skill on the egg.


    ''Imperfect cloudy dove egg


    The cloudy doves are known for their perfect fluffy white feathers. They will often stay flying in the air for the majority of their lives and have almost no natural predators. This is because they produce a scent that keeps animals and monsters calm. They used to be hunted for this scent so that people could walk unharmed by monsters. Unfortunately, they were hunted too much and are now known for their scarcity. This cloudy dove egg had an additional water elemental affinity which caused it to lose the pure white feathers and is now going to be reminiscent of a raincloud.''


    "So, the fact that it has an additional affinity changes it. It seems cruel that it would be rejected by its parents. Yet, because you found it will have a better life. It will also be much more rare than a cloudy dove is." Walker also knew that it had to have a more challenging hatching method.


    "It also needs to be hatched during a windy rainstorm. Cloudy doves only hatch during very windy days without any raid or too much sun." Ash answered the question before it was asked.


    "No, I do have a few prized eggs that I do not disy. This one is an ancient egg that I am working on identifying. I would like to show you but it is a mystery I want to solve so I will show it off another time." The box that Ash put aside had a strange mana around it that seemed simr to the rot in the swampnds. Fleur avoided it and gave it a re.


    "That leaves these two. I found this one in a crater. I thought it was a strange ore but it ended up being an egg. I have figured it to be a serpent type monster. While this here is something I found in the bed of a river. The dry season lowered the water levels and I saw a strange stone. This is either a stone finned catfish or a mud skin alligator, both of which are incredibly hard to find." Both eggs were strange and had different features. Walker couldn''t hold himself back from using his all around appraisal on them to check what they were. Ash seemed to have his open form of appraisal but it didn''t seem to say outright what the egg might be hiding.


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 Chapter 1091 - 1091. Prized Eggs

    ''Mud Skinned alligator egg


    This is a very rare mud skinned alligator egg. They rarely show themselves since they prefer to hide on the silty bottom of ponds or low rivers. They hate fast water and they often hunt for birds trying to catch fish. They are very valuable since they constantly shed their skin which is a very useful crafting material. Unfortunately, they are very susceptible to illness and that has led to them being an extremely rare monster.''


    It was an understandable reason for the mud skinned alligator egg to be rare. If it was susceptible to illness because of its skin then it would have a very hard time surviving in standing water. Walker read off his appraisal and Ash seemed to understand. "I had hoped that it wouldn''t be one. I doubt I can find a proper home for it. Maybe a nobles'' or rich merchant child will be a tamer one day." This seemed to be the only hope for the egg since when it hatched it would need constant care.


    Walker turned his gaze to the pure white eggs with a lot of ridges on it. This was also an egg that Onyx was fixated on. "Brother, it has a very powerful light elemental affinity. I can feel it pulling the light mana from me. I never have to fight for control over it." It was shocking to hear that Onyx struggled with it. Usually, Onyx was the strongest pull of light elemental mana because he was drawing it to him as food. Walker even had the feeling that onyx had better control of it when he was hungry.


    ''Heavenly serpent


    This is an egg that should never have touched the ground. The heavenly serpent is a monster thought to remain in the sky as close to the light as possible. When they eventually outgrow their childhood and reach adulthood, they will use a massive amount of stored mana to create a spatial portal to the light elemental ne. They were loved by a certain race due to their light elemental purity but have long been thought to have migrated fully to the light elemental ne of existence. To hatch a heavenly serpent the egg must be bathed in pure light elemental mana for one hundred days straight.''


    Ash let out an impressed whistle when he looked at this egg again. He had not been able to find records about any of these monsters nor about how to hatch them. He had only been able to discern the light elemental affinity and the fact that it was a snake or serpent shaped monster. "Now that sounds like an egg that might not be able to be hatched. I think you would need a few thousand light elemental crystals with perfect purity. That''s a lot of gold¡­" Ash now realized he would most likely never sell this egg since tamers were not known to be rich people.


    "Brother, it is like me. It would never have been able to hatch without the right person." Walker could feel the pain that Onyx had in his heart. Onyx knew that it was possible this egg would have no family at all and that it might be impossible for it to have a home like Onyx did.


    Midnight picked up on the way that Onyx felt and was staring Walker down hard. They both were giving him a harsh look. "I can understand how you both feel, but you know that I wouldn''t be able to hatch this egg either. If I did, I would need to make triple the gold the entire family has, then I would need to take care of it, and finally it would need to be able toe with us." These were valid points that Walker needed to keep at the top of his mind.


    "I can tell that this is a hard thing to think about. You have two voices telling you to take this egg and have it join your family. Many tamers feel this way when they hear a story like this. But that can be good and bad. In your case, you have seen the best and had a stronger bond with these two because of their need. For some people, they will take the egg out of pity and hatch it, then they are unable to properly care for it and the monster suffers. But let me tell you something interesting¡­" Ash had a very wide smile on his face. "Have you ever met someone that is nota tamer that had ways to tame a monster?"


    It was as if Ash had started an earthquake in Walker''s mind. He was having a pretty bit realization about taming that seemed to make a lot of sense. "Herders, farmers, and even the dwarves have monsters but they aren''t tamers!"


    "That''s it. The dwarves can tamer certain monsters as pets because those monsters are very closely rted to their mining and forging systems. I have even seen a golem get tamed by a dwarf miner that went after some rare ores. It was an amazing feat since there are no golem eggs. I had a pretty great show to see it happening. Now, as for a price, introduce me to the dwarf king of the deep caves. I heard he has a few tamed monsters rted to his system."


    "I can make that happen, but what are the requirements for someone to get this egg?" Walker had a feeling that it might be a little more strict than expected. He also knew that Ash seemed to be more curious for information than expected. If he managed to meet the king of the deep caves it would be a long conversation.


    "Just listen closely, I doubt you don''t know someone with the requirements needed. You seem well known." Ash felt that Walker had yed right in to his hands.


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 Chapter 1092 - 1092. A Perfect Partner

    Walker was on the way out of Ash''s egg shop in a matter of seconds. He had the perfect person in mind so all he would need to do is worry about the hatching conditions and getting the king of the deep caves toe with him to Ash''s shop.


    "Brother, are we really going to find a home for the heavenly serpent egg?" Onyx was worried that Walker might be unable to do so at such a short notice.


    "Don''t worry. I have the perfect [person in mind. I think you will like it too since you have worked with her." Walker was being careful with what he said so that he could tease Onyx and Midnight a little. They were driving him to make this decision so he felt it was only fair to have a little fun with it. Not that he wouldn''t have done something to help the egg find a home anyways. He was even brainstorming about the mud skinned alligator egg.


    There was still the curiosity about the other egg that Ash had refused to show him. For whatever reason, there was a lot of negative feeling around it along with some strange mana flow. It reminded Walker about how it felt when Scy was using her mana. It was rted to her ancient bloodline which made sense since Ash had mentioned the egg was ancient as well. He would be sure to ask for details when he returned.


    "Midnight, if you rush too fast I will have to run behind you." Midnight had noticed where they were going and was very excited to get there. The way the city was progressing showed that there had barely been any interruption in the days that greed''s curse affected them.


    The streets were more and more full every second while there seemed to be new construction on every corner. The buildings wereing up with speed and efficiency that every dwarf boasted about at any chance. What was even more impressive were the shops. The elves had sped up their transportation of goods since some of their younger generations were jumping at the chance to travel the world. There were even a few walking around with adventurer''s guild ques already.


    "Brother! You are going to ask Alice!?" Onyx saw the cathedral in the distance and put the pieces together.


    "I thought Midnight would have told you first. Yes, I am going to ask Alice. She has a much higher light elemental affinity than most people. Plus, she can help provide the pure light elemental mana that it needs. I can also see if the church will provide some of the light elemental mana crystals needed. If the heavenly serpent is light affinity then I trust it should have some healing abilities as well. But that will depend on it. I don''t know if I can find any more information on it. It could be harder than finding information about you."


    Thest sentence seemed to make Onyx quiet down. He had thought that he would have a friend in the world like him. But now he could tell that the heavenly serpent may feel even more isted since its race was known to have left the nepletely for another more suited to their lives. "I won''t let it feel alone and neither would Alice. She has a good heart." Onyx had a very high opinion of Alice after partnering with hertely. He believed in her strength and was ready to back her up.


    "Good, now let''s see if she is up for a little adventure." The cathedral was slightly busy since many people wereing to pay respects before they went about their business in the city. It was amon respect for some merchants that had rtionships with the church. Therefore, when the high priest saw Walker he gave an apologetic wave. He and three of the potential high priests were swarmed by a crowd of merchants and other higher ranked individuals meeting with them.


    "Midnight?" Walker had lost Midnight the moment they entered the door. But when he heard a surprised squeal he found that Midnight had nearly pounced on Alice. It was clear that Midnight had been worried about Alice''s wellbeing too and that Walker should have headed to the cathedral earlier. "I''m d you are energetic enough to fend off this vicious dragon." Walker was met with a giggle from Alice and a dramatic fake growl from Midnight for his joke.


    "She''s too kind." Alice was happy that Midnight hase to greet her in such a way. The feeling she felt from Midnight made her happier.


    "So, do you have time for a little adventure? I met a new friend from the tamer''s guild and have a proposition for you. It might not work but I think it could be very valuable to you and your future. It will also help another find a home." This caught Alice off guard. She had expected Walker to just being to check on her and the cathedral. But having him suggest a little outing was exciting, even more so that he was saying that he found something that might help her be stronger.


    "Of course." The response was instant and Onyx decided to take Alice''s shoulders over Walkers as his resting spot. He also wanted to help Alice keep her mana in check since she might need a lot to bond with the egg. He didn''t give anything away though. He wanted to see Alice''s genuine reaction when she found out. He took it as his responsibility as a fellow serpent type monster.


    "Then we need to go and find the king of the deep caves next. I think he should be at that new bank worksite. The Genesis building would get too crowded if it managed all the finds so we decided to split things in to the Genesis building and a bank that manages all the transactions in the city. It''s safe to say it will need a lot of underground vaults." Walker took Alice''s hand and headed out the door. A few healers watched with small smirks.


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 Chapter 1093 - 1093. A Growing Worm

    It would be an understatement to say that the bank was arge building. The space that had been set aside for additional building was taken up very much by the bank mark out. The idea that Genesis needed a separate bank had not juste from the fact that the Genesis building would be too crowded. It had alsoe with the fact that there would need to be a great number of transfer and recording runes there. The space wouldn''t allow that in the Genesis building.


    The bank would be responsible for safeguarding gold and extremely valuable items. This meant that they would need extremely dedicated guards. It also meant that the staff would need to be highly educated. Luckily, Markus raven was already there training the two demons along with other staff. He had taken full control of the city''s funds along with the flow of gold to the bank.


    The shops were all being fitted with crystals and runes that could transmit information. This allowed people to pay with their adventurers'' ques or other identifications. That meant carrying gold would be lessmon which in turn would cut down on some crime. It also meant that the transfer of gold from ounts would be faster for those working at the bank. Overall it was a very efficient system that could help every single citizen in the city once it was properly in ce. That reason was why so many of the building and crafting system users had been focused on the bank.


    Finding the stairs that were made to go underground where the vaults would be was easy. Many of the dwarven golems were crying heavy pieces of metal downward and Walker pulled Alice along. Midnight was looking a little more dramatic though and jumped down using her wings to glide. Walker could tell her wings had be stronger yet again. She was test pping in the air to slow her descent even more. It was only a matter of time before she would be able to take off properly. This was why she had not shifted to her dragonkin from again, it would affect her flight training.


    "Sir hero, looking for the king? He''s over that way with his little pet. Apparently, we hit a small silver vein and he had been feeding it." There was a little jealousy in the miners'' voice that Walker could tell was from the fact that the king of the deep had a silver skinned worm that he was raising.


    "You look pretty happy today. I heard you found a small silver vein." Walker nced at the footlong silver skinned worm that the king of the deep caves had managed to hatch.


    "Well, in only a month since this little gal hatched she has grown this big. I can''t use all of the silver I left back at the kingdom so I have been struggling to feed her more. Now she will have another growth spurt. I can only wish I will be here to find more." Thest of the silver ore was snapped up by the silver skinned worm.


    The silver skinned worm was still small but the sharpness of the four teeth it had easily cut through stone. Its skin was grey and not very silver yet. Walker could tell it was efficiently absorbing earth elemental mana from the stones around it. "So, what brings you down here. Shouldn''t you be around the city being a hero or something?"


    "I actually came looking for you. I need your help with something. It would be even better if you brought along your silver skinned worm, actually, what did you name it?" Walker felt bad not using the worms'' name since it was clear it could hear the vibrations from his voice.


    "Airgid, it''s a name that trantes to silver. A traveler I met once used it and it seems to have stuck with me. I don''t really know why but it felt right. Now, why should Ie with you? Give me a good reason and I might say yes." There was a hard look in the king''s eyes. He was needed here and convincing him to leave would be tough.


    "I met a man named Ash. He is an egg hunter and it might benefit you to meet him since he has many eggs that could be useful to you and the other dwarves. I also need you to meet him so that he can take that as payment for another matter I am working on with Alice. I promise it will be worth your time." Walker watched the king carefully. He knew that it would be about the value that knowing an egg hunter could bring. The king of the deep caves was not out just to go help Walker at the drop of a hat. It needed to be an equal value, this was just the way dwarven culture grew since they were known for their trade.


    "I can agree to that. But I will be expecting a lot from this meeting. I don''t want to waste time." It was clear that the king of the deep caves had heard of egg hunters before. It must be one way that the dwarves had acquired some of their tamed monsters.


    The mention of the egg hunter brought more rity to Alice who was trying to figure everything out. However, she was making some false assumptions that Walker was looking to tame another monster with her assistance. "Then let''s get going. I told him we would be back soon." Midnight was sniffing the silver skinned worm before the king of the deep caves picked it up and added it to arge pocket on the front of his leather mining apron.


    "Just sit tight in there while I walk. I left some silver pieces for you to eat," The king of the deep caves appeared to care about the silver skinned worm more than he let on.


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 Chapter 1094 - 1094. Match Made?

    Due to the pace that Midnight set, they were all forced to move faster. She was the worst at holding back her excitement but no one had any issue with it. There was a lot of curiosity that the king of the deep caves and Alice had. They wanted to see what Walker was thinking and what he had in mind since there was a lot of potential in an egg hunters'' shop.


    When the door opened, Walker was greeted by the chime of a bell. He also noticed that there was a slight smell of burning. The scent pierced his nose and was very potent. So much so that it burned a little. There was also the remains of the crate that he had seen before. It seemed to be melting a little from the inside now that the egg was gone. "Now that smells like an acidic poison if I ever smelled it. I would stay away from whatever monster makes that."


    "Sorry, I was just transferring a certain egg. I take it you are the honorable king of the deep caves who happens to have tamed a silver skinned worm? I have been wanting to meet you ever since I heard the rumor. I never had the chance to meet one and rarely encounter the monsters tamed by your people." It was clear that the main reason that Ash wanted to meet the king was because hecked the chance to study these kinds of eggs.


    "Well, I do happen to have my Airgid right here." The king pulled the mall worm from his pouch to show it off. The worm just moved aroundzily in his hand as if it was trying to sleep. " I can go in to more detail if you want but you will need toe by the caves with me. We already have a few miners with pets and partners working." This proposition was exactly what Ash wanted.


    "Perfect! I have to study more so I can identify more eggs. I assume you will have some eggs around as well since you''re digging quite a bit?" Ash also had hope of seeing some new eggs.


    "We have found some monster nests as we go. Even broke in to some small caves that didn''t have proper air flow for monsters to hatch." That was it, Ash was hooked and ready to leave.


    "I brought someone that should be able to bond with the heavenly serpent egg. This is Alice, she is a songstress that controls light with her voice. I would say she is perfect for the heavenly serpent since they will share a very pure elemental affinity." Walker was proud to introduce Alice and also saw that she was understanding the situation. "I know you might not want to be partnered with a monster. But I could only think of you being qualified for this. If you don''t want to then I will search for someone else, no questions asked." This was the promise that Alice needed to hear. She would not want to be forced in to anything but felt that Walker wasing from a good ce.


    "Can I look?" Alice wanted to feel if the egg would actually bepatible with her. She was not sure if she could actually tame a monster. However, she had met a few healers with light elemental partners. Onehealer, in particr, was a traveling healer that partnered with white ermine which was very simr to a weasel. But it had a very kind nature that came with its ability to heal small wounds and boost healing skills used by others.


    "I want to see this little monster hatch one day. I have had this egg for about four years now. I didn''t really know what it was and hate that it wouldn''t have a home. It requires a hundred days of pure light elemental mana. That will cost a lot but between him and a few others, it should be possible. I also know that it will need a lot of attention when growing, a ce with a lot of light elemental mana is important while it grows." Ash was much more serious than he had been before. Now that he was willing to give up this egg for a new business connection he had to be certain it would be safe.


    Alice ced a hand on it and felt the draw of light elemental mana. She took off the bracelet that Walker had given her and handed it to him for the moment. She whispered to the gg and the light in the room pulled toward her. The reaction was simple, the egg absorbed it all. But what was even more interesting was that the ridges on the egg seemed to glow with light elemental mana.


    She turned and looked at Walker, he handed the bracelet back to her and she started to try to think of what to say. "You have to write a new song, don''t you?" He understood that she was thinking about how she would contract this monster and make a proper bind. It was clear that she resonated with it when she whispered to it. It was stronger than she had expected and she would be ready to give it whatever it needed to hatch.


    "Take it and care for it. I want written logs of its growth and any signs of what it might need to hatch other than light elemental mana. It''s part of the price you will pay. It is valuable to my progress." Alice nodded as soon as she heard this. Ash was being very professional and Alice understood the value of such an egg in her hands. The king of the deep cave showed respect as well. He liked the professional attitude that Ash had and felt that they would work well together.


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 Chapter 1095 - 1095. The Deal

    "Honestly, you don''t realize how hard it is to find homes for some of the eggs I manage to collect. Some years I will have the same stock without finding the right tamer or pertinent for an egg, but other years I will clear out my stockpletely." Ash seemed like a weight was off his shoulders now that Alice had epted the heavenly serpent egg. She seemed very interested as well. Walker couldn''t help but feel that the strings of fate hade together. If he hadn''t met Ash this early in the morning then he wouldn''t have been able to learn all that he did and bring Alice here.


    "Now about the eggs you can offer me. I see you have some gravel fly eggs over there. Do you think we can make a deal with those?" The king of the deep cave hadn''t been able to get gravel fly eggs for some time due to their scarcity.


    "Oh, of course. I found that clutch some time ago. I would say there are about sixteen in that clutch. They should grow to be about the size of a fist. Perfect for exploring caves." Ash was ready to jump right in to the next conversation and make a real sale. He had even managed to catch the attention of the king without any effort.


    "Wait, before you get in to things, can I ask why that egg you wouldn''t show me is so dangerous? I can feel the mana that is simr to the swampnds. If I had to guess it has poison of some sort." Walker wanted to ask so that he could sate his curiosity. But he wasn''t prepared for Ash to react.


    "Look at my hands." Ash pulled off the gloves to reveal heavy scars. "I was exploring and found it in some rocks. The egg is definitely ancient and is a monster that I doubt anyone can currently handle. But I can''t identify it. I want to do it myself. The only problem is that most of my skills require touching an egg. That was my first mistake. If I didn''t have the right antidotal herbs then I would have lost my hands and my life. The egg constantly causes poisons to pool around it. I assume that it will hatch when the poison fully pools around it but I can''t let that happen until I know what it is. It''s part of my pride as an egg hunter to figure this one out."


    "I understand. I didn''t want to force you to show me that. I just had some curiosity and didn''t want to risk anything dangerous. But if you need help feel free toe looking for me." Walker knew that he might have overstayed his wee.


    "No, no. It''s fine. If you tried to force me to show you the egg I would have been very annoyed with you. But you just wanted to ensure my safety. I''m impressed that you can feel the mana and that it has a poison umtion skill. I will keep that in mind. I maye asking for you when I have a breakthrough." Ash turned back to the king and began to show off the clutch of eggs. They were small stone like spheres that definitely would hatch in to small rocky shelled flys.


    "Walker¡­" Alice was ready to head back to the cathedral. She wanted topose her song to bond with the heavenly serpent along with speak to her father. She wanted to help the little heavenly serpent hatch and have a family. She also knew that Onyx was very interested in this as well and couldn''t help but want to answer his curiosity.


    The four left the king of the deep caves and Ash behind. Walker figured they were too caught up in their talks anyways. "I will search through the libraries to find anything about the heavenly serpents. I have a feeling that I might be able to find some things about them in fairy tales though since they seem kind of old. I also think people won''t believe they are a real monster." This was something that Walker was catching on to. Even Scy who had descended down from an ancient monster could barely find real documents about the ancient Scy that once lived. She had voiced that annoyance when they had started to get to know each other.


    "I wonder if I can find some poison resistant materials for gloves." Walker was thinking that he could make some new gloves to gift Ash since he was d that he could work out a deal with him for the egg. Walker knew that as much as Ash was going to make from the new connection with the king of the deep, that he cared more about the egg actually being able to hatch and live well.


    Alice casually bumped in to Asher''s shoulder while walking. She was carrying the egg close to her so that it would stay warm. It wasn''t very necessary but it was something she did out of care. She was more excited than she expected to be able to hatch anypanion. The idea that it could help her on adventures was great. It was also a way to make sure that she would never be left alone. This was something she worried about no matter what because she had seen many people injured left alone to be healed in fear.


    "You know, now that I think of it¡­The high priest might get a little angry that I brought you to get a monster partner. Especially one that will be tough to hatch." Walker found it a little funny but knew he could be in for a scolding. Based on the way Alice looked at him he knew he had a chance for a scolding.


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 Chapter 1096 - 1096. High Priests Glare

    "Ahhh, I finally chased off all those merchants. I swear, theye here to see us and make donations but they really think that we will prioritize healing. I will never allow someone with worse injuries to wait just because someone who donated money walks in with a paper cut." The high priest was mostly speaking to himself, but the priests around him were nodding along before they headed to separate tasks. They knew that the high priest was much older than them yet worked much harder and longer so rest was necessary.


    He had just sat down and looked toward the door to see Walkering in to the cathedral again with Midnight ahead of him. However, when he saw Alice he locked on to the egg in her hands. "Huh, I didn''t expect that he would get another tamed monster." The high priest thought that Walker was going to be taming the monster egg and that he was just stopping by with Alice first.


    But when he realized that Onyx was on Alice''s shoulders and acting a little protective it made him think again. He also noticed that Alice was hugging the egg a little too tight and that Walker didn''t have anything within his hands. There was no reason that Walker wouldn''t be holding the egg himself. This caused the high priest to jump right up. The four were headed in his direction anyways.


    His look said it all. There was a little curiosity but Walker could also tell that the high priest was not the happiest to be seeing that his daughter was bringing an egg in. "Now, tell me what, why, and how before I judge this." The good thing about the high priest was that he was not going to run through everything with his emotions. He wanted the logic and the story behind it before he came to judge it all.


    Since Alice was a little afraid to say it she looked at Walker with a sad expression. As tough as he was against Midnight and Onyx, he started to melt right there on the spot. "So I met the egg hunter that works with the tamer''s guild. I learned a decent amount about eggs and was introduced to this egg. It is a very rare monster that doesn''t live around here any longer. It''s a heavenly serpent. It needs to be bathed in pure light elemental mana for one hundred days before it can hatch. I have a theory that we can speed that up by increasing the pre light elemental mana." Walker took a deep breath before he continued under the high priest''s watchful gaze.


    "It has no family and is very hard to hatch, therefore, it would most likely not have a home anytime soon. I can not properly care for it as a member of my family so I passed the idea to Alice. The fact that she can manipte the light elemental mana will go miles for the health and growth of such a partner. It also is a light elemental monster, meaning that it most likely will be able to boost or heal others. It would be an asset to Alice''s safety and to her healing endeavors." This was the main point that Walker knew would make the high priest ept this.


    "The heavenly serpent won''t be alone and neither will Alice. It''s like me." Onyx chimed in and showed a much more hopeful expression which was impressive since he was still a serpent. Walker had no idea how Onyx and Midnight both pulled off these kinds of looks.


    "And you know that the cost of raising such a monster is very high?" The high priest looked at Alice who was looking right back without flinching. She slowly nodded and pointed toward their room. "I know you have your savings. You never spent a single gold unless you had to. But you will need more. I will help since I was hoping to give you a gift for your hard work building this new cathedral up and training new healers. But I expect that someone else will be helping." Walker felt the high priest re at him for just a second.


    "I have already promised I would help. I even have some light elemental crystals I can donate now. But I n to take some gold and get some grand light crystals from the forest elves. They should be pure and easy to make use of. It might even speed up the hatching process." Walker knew that Onyx had amazed him with the speed at which he consumed the light elemental mana. If this heavenly serpent was anything like Onyx then there would be a hatching egg in just a fraction of the time.


    "Then I will leave it to you. But if you dare give up on this creature, I will exile you from the church for the rest of your life. You know how precious a life is and you know the values that this city is founded on. That monster no matter what it is like will need you. Whether it is tough, painful, or even something you fear. You are responsible." Thest few words made Alice cringe. But after she heard them all she held the egg just a little tougher and looked her father dead in the eye.


    "I will make it the best partner ever." Alice had never spoken so firmly in front of Walker. She would have been embarrassed to act this way but right at the moment, she could only show her steel.


    "Good. Then let''s go set up a space in our quarters for our new family member. To think I would have not one but two children in my life." There was a wrinkled smile on the high priests'' face. "Well? Are youing to help?" Walker put some pep in his step and followed.


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 Chapter 1097 - 1097. Off To Sell

    "Today is the day! We have pushed through an attack in Genesis and we have the best possible potion materials to put everyone at ease. Running low on mana? Have a mana potion to keep up with your work and skills. Feeling under the weather after recovering from a curse? Have a health potion. Looking to boost your affinity with water to make sure you can defend against any potential danger? Grab an affinity potion. Those are the tactics we need you to use today." Trish stood over a group of young merchants that had been chosen by the alchemy guild.


    "Ha, this is easier and easier the more I listen. We are going to y on fear and keep the sales rolling." One young merchant saw the way they were advertising and knew that this was the case.


    "Yes and no. You are taking advantage of the situation, yes. But you are selling peace of mind. Some people feel they could be attacked at any minute. Some will buy a weapon, others will build a basement to hide in, and some¡­will buy potions so they can have a fallback. Just because somee to us does not mean all will." Remey made it clear that this was a tactic that many others were using. There waspetition.


    "The guild master is right. Listen to her well and you might be able to meet the requirements we need. A contract selling the potions from this guild is on the line. You have ten packages to sell. Good luck." The old master alchemist had been advertising Remey as the guild master every chance he got. It was just as well since she was already known as a hero.


    "I swear, all of them are going to call me guild master every second of the day. You''re lucky you''re old and breakable or I would teach you a lesson." The attitude that Remey gave back was not enough to deter the old master alchemist. He instead found it hysterical andughed until Trish shook her head.


    "We finally have our merchants starting sales and you two are messing around. We need to keep the alchemists we have working on portions to stock up. The sses are going to start tomorrow. I will be teaching a course on basic elven herbs. You have yours on the science of affinity potions. We need to be ready." The research that the old master alchemist had been so diligently studying had be the focus of his sses. He felt that doing it this way would expand the guild''s reputation and cement his research in to history.


    "I still can''t believe that you are just giving up your research so easily. I thought you would hold on to it for dear life." Remey felt that all their work was just being handed away since it was a ss. But she did understand the draw it would have to budding alchemists.


    "Well, what if I was to tell you that I have a first version of a fire affinity potion. I will be starting with that tomorrow. Come and sit in before the ss you will be teaching." The old master alchemist broke the news of his secret making Trish and Remey were both very interested.


    "Pffft, I n to be very busy with my ss. Every single alchemist that walks in the door will be learning how to go out and find their own herbs whether they have fighting skills or not." The simple goal that Remey had was to make the guild members tougher. They would need to go out and find their own herbs one day, especially if they wanted to understand the environments the herbse from. The herbalists wouldn''t be letting just anyone wander through the fields without experience first.


    "I doubt you will have many fighters. So use the explosive potions and those blinding ones I taught you. If theye from my ss then to yours they will see how my herbs and your potionsbine. It will be even better if they attend the affinity ss and learn hope enhancing a certain affinity can improve the potions they make." Trish was happy with the three subjects since all of them would be able toe together in some form or fashion.


    "Remey, I just helped them drop off those new tools you ordered. I have to say, those dwarf alchemists are professional at creating new tools. I have learned a lot!" Rodney headed out the door and Remey smirked.


    "That was a good kid. He was just working the front desk in the forge building when we met him. But here he is running around as one of the important members of the crafting guild. He even supervises multiple orders and teaches people to deliver them." Trish was very impressed that Remey had connections in a way that got them discounts with the newly forming crafting guild.


    "Ah, they made me a new cauldron just the other day. I had to pay a decent material cost but a low workmanship cost. A very fair deal. Now I have a personalized cauldron just for darkness elemental materials." The old master alchemist had already set his sights on the darkness affinity potion theories he had.


    "Another one? That''s the fourth one this week. I think you have a problem. But I want them too." Remey thought this was a crazy expense but couldn''t help but admit her own desire.


    "Ha! I will have them as busy as much as I can. There are so many new potion possibilities now that I have figured out the affinity potion experiments. So much more toe." The old master alchemist tapped his pocket where his theories were written in a journal. Both Trish and Remey were tempted to snag it from him to read and try themselves.


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 Chapter 1098 - 1098. Arguing Archers

    "Perfect! That''s just what we will need. I wanted to try and get out of the city with everyone to get stress off my shoulders." Gil had just finished speaking with ra and was rearing to head out and do a little hunting.


    "Just remember. These are inexperienced archers. you have three longbow system users and two game hunter system, users. They were scouted out by the guild as soon as they awakened and offered the chance to be the first to go through your archery academy. That means they will be the leaders of your academy and show the value you bring. I know you have already brought a few elves over with their arrow and archery techniques. Use what you have well." Gil was going to take the five out with him to get them a little experience out in the world before they went to start learning to make arrows and practicing skills.


    "Don''t worry, I will have them up to par in no time. They will be hunting just like me soon." The energy Gil had was enough to make everyone around him more energetic as well. It was a strange personality trait that came from his slightly higher charisma than most people.


    The room that the five had been waiting in was surprisingly loud. When Gil came in he found that the three longbow system users were fighting with one of the game hunter system users. From what Gil could make out, they were arguing about sneaking and long rangebat. Thest game hunter was just sitting peacefully waiting for them to argue to their hearts'' content. He had an amused expression on his face the entire time.


    The sound of the door opening waspletely ignored while Gil walked in. He was happy not to be noticed and kept his steps soft while letting the door remain open. He went and sat next to the only person who had noticed him; the sitting game hunter. "So, they seem to be having fun."


    The game hunter recognized Gil and was a little stunned that no one else had even reacted. "It''s alright, they are going to learn a lesson about sneaking. I think that the longbow range is great. I snipe a lot when I am out in the wilderness. But, sneaking can save your life. Both are things all archers should learn. You are a game hunter, right?" The slight nod showed the seriousness of which the game hunter was taking Gil''s advice. "Good, sniping can help you aim and preserve the materials of your target. You will be more urate."


    "Sir hero?"


    "Gil is fine, I will be teaching you all as equals. Just because you don''t know something doesn''t mean I am above you. Just wait to see what I mean when ites to the ideas about making arrows and how the elves do it." Gil wanted to be sure that everyone would befortable and that there wouldn''t be any divide in how everyone felt.


    "Gil¡­should we stop them? Aren''t you taking us to the training grounds?" The game hunter felt that he was about to watch some intense scolding. He wasn''tpletely wrong. The girl game hunter was still yelling back to every provocation from the three longbow system users.


    "You are probably right. It''s time we head out." Gil took a breath, "Listen up! We are leaving the city for some hunting. If you can not follow me then be ready to lose your right to learn with myself and the other instructor of the academy!" There was heavy shock at his shout. The authority in his voice was something that they didn''t feel they could argue with even if they tried their best.


    The four nced at each other and at the door then to the pair sitting in the corner watching them. They struggled toe up with a response just as Gil walked out the door with the other game hunter on his trail. "So, you think that sniping is more important?" Gil looked at the longbowmen. They all nodded in unison and held their bows tighter. "And you think sneaking is more important?" The female game hunter nodded as well and tried to walk without making a step. "Then your silent partner here will exin to all four of you what I advised him while you argued. Then by the time he''s done, we should be out of the city."


    The four were not happy that Gil was not teaching them himself but felt that they had dug their own grave. They had argued right in front of the instructor that they had wanted to learn from. What was even more hurtful was that he had already started to hand down advice and they had missed the chance.


    By the time they had made it to the main city gate, the five had grown silent again. "Now, you will follow my every move and learn by watching." Gile walked out with a wave to the guards. The other followed his lead and gave a wave as well. "Don''t forget that the guards are your best friends. Some even came all the way from Diamond to get a new life here like your families did. They will be able to direct you to the best butcher or tanner, or even seamstress that may need your prey." This excluded the adventurers guild since the guild didn''t always look to purchase or break down regr animals.


    We are heading to those ts over there. The grass has been tall enough to stay through the snow and wind. That means we have some interesting and tough to hunt monsters or animals. Personally, I want to get myself some white hare for stew. But we might see a horned rabbit or two." This caused the five to be much more serious.


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 Chapter 1099 - 1099. Fox Hunt

    The trials that had been freshly carved through the ins were not well traveled enough to deter animals and monsters. There were plenty of spots where animals had stopped to explore the trails or to hunt for prey of their own. "Look here, these footprints are what we are looking for. They are to a white hare or rabbit. Whatever you want to call them. They are a very fast animal and most of the time are only hunted by birds and foxes. But they have managed to stay alive for years and years even though the horned rabbits will also force them out of their territory."


    The difference between an animal and a monster was simple. Mana, the mana would change a monster over the years and the monsters would produce eggs and hatch. A normal animal was not soplicated. They would live in the wilderness peacefully and exist the best they could. However, they would not have the high amount of mana a monster would have and therefore they would not change through the generations in the same way a monster would.


    "What about these tracks?" One of the longbow system users had found another set of tracks they didn''t recognize.


    "Those are field fox tracks. They are usually grey furred and often confused for wild dogs. But they are actually a very fast earth affinity monster. They have a very weak earth shaping skill that lets them dig deep burrows where they live. They will hint for any little animal they can get their teeth on. They actually hunt better in the fall and spring when their fur matches the season. Right now it is probably hoping it can catch anything. If we manage to catch it though, we will be able to sell it for a decent price."


    "My parents say that fox fur is a luxury." The game hunters both had the same thoughts when the other longbow user spoke up.


    "That''s exactly it. For anyone hunting game the fox is a nice catch. It can be sold and turned in to decent coats and nkets for those with more gold in their pocket. Or, you can use it as a head and shoulder cover for hunting in the harvest season." This was another potential use for the fur that the young archers had not thought of.


    "Then we can hide better and ambush our prey!" The slight excitement made the girl a little too loud.


    "Who cares about an ambush. Just spot it from far away and take it down. That''s way better.


    There was a chorus of yes and this is better from the three longbowmen. "Oh? Well, let''s test that out. Can you shoot from a hundred meters away? What about five hundred? Can you shoot from the city to here without missing? Because I know archers that can do that. But they never have exact calls on where their shot willnd, just that they will hit their target. uracy drops the further you are." Gil pointed at a small bird in the air and then ford an arrow up. The wing was hit and the bird fell. Once it was on the ground he followed up with a second shot.


    "Am I a bad marksman or was the bird out of my uracy range?" His question was obvious and they all knew he had been lucky to hit it. On top of that, he had to use two arrows instead of one. "Your uracy is important. If you can sneak closer and increase your urrence without alerting a monster then you are safer, and can end a fight in one arrow." Gil followed this by crouching and following the hare tracks. The fox and the hare seemed to be on the same trails behind one another.


    "That is the fox, can you see it?" The muddy trail was perfect for the fox to blend in. The two game hunters were able to use their skills to see the fox but the three longbowmen could not since they had not trained and grown their level to unlock such sight skills yet.


    After seeing them focus on it and pointing it out to the longbowmen, Gil drew an arrow. "It''s waiting to snatch that white hare away from us but what it doesn''t know is that we are here to take both. Now, you might not be fast enough to im both in a breath but I am. From this distance, I have an urate shot and I am unknown to them." This was the main lesson today. It was to show bnce and skill together. Both would be important for the young archers to train.


    The breathing that the archers heard from Gil became slow and focused. They didn''t know that breathing would be important, but when they noticed that his entire body steadied they took mental notes. The next moment was a blur to them. Gil released an arrow and pulled a second to the bow before they could blink. The second arrow was fired further away at the white hare which they had not realized was a significant distance from the grey fox.


    Both monster and animal were taken down with a shot to the eye. No damage to the furs or body at all. "Now, who can skin an animal in the wild and who wants to have some stew before we head back to give this fur to my party''s exclusive seamstress?" He couldn''t help but smile seeing the awestruck faces of the five. Their arguments had seemed too unimportant now that they saw how a real archer would act.


    "No takers? What is an arcane marksman like me supposed to do with no one to teach." The joke still didn''t shake the five from their awe. Gil just started in on the task while they watched him in silence.


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 Chapter 1100 - 1100. Change Of Sus Plans

    "Well, of all the people I thought I would seeing from the dragon vige it''s you." Su was very d to see familiar faces so early in the morning. She hade quickly hearing a knock on the door. She had just sat down for tea and been the closest to the door since everyone else was already gone or still resting.


    "My elder has sent us three to explore your city and report back in one month about the progress. Elder Adair received permission for us toe and we have been very excited for the new sights and learning." The three had been part of the dragonkin warriors that Su had trained with. In Adair''s vige.


    "Well, I think Midnight will be very happy to see you as well as everyone else. If you need a ce to stay we have room avable. Many of the people that were staying with us temporarily have taken their leave for new houses or jobs. It''s actually a little lonely in here. But first,e and have some tea. I want to hear all about your interests." Su had nned to just go to the cathedral for the day. But now she would be giving dragonkin warriors a tour of the city. It was a pleasant change of ns.


    "We have been told that we must visit the adventurers'' guild and train with their warriors. It would be best to go there when they are busy." The three dragonkin were seemingly ready for a good fight.


    "Then you will end up as teachers I am sure. The training fields usually have the younger adventurers and to be honest my party should have trained there more when we got together. Anyways, what else would you like to see? And I mean you, not orders. We have a lot to explore here." As much as Su wanted the dragonkin to be able to follow their orders, she wanted them to enjoy the time here to their own desires.


    "Well¡­we have seen a lot of different foods being brought in from the demi-human kingdom."


    "And we have also seen a lot of different armor and weapons shops."


    "Also the tower over on the other side of the city seems weing."


    The three each had something different. But that was perfect. "Then we will start with the food stalls, then stop by the tower, and finally we can head to the adventurers'' guild and offer some training. I haven''t had the chance to speak with ra. She mighte out to watch the show." Since Su hadn''t seen everyone after the Greed event, she was feeling a little worried that some people might be low spirited.


    "This tea is much better than I have ever had. How was it made?" One of the dragonkin warriors who had grown to respect Su was shocked. They had tea in the dragon viges and traded it around. But they rarely had tea that was better than another viges. Tea blending was just not a skill that the dragonkin cultivated in their people. They preferred warriors. It was the same for most of their forging and potion making endeavors.


    The four spoke about tea for a little while before Su led them out the door and in to the now bust streets. Many people hade out and about to get materials or to try and sell things. There were plenty of merchants attempting to set up rugs to sell their goods. These people were quickly chased away since theycked the proper permits. By the time they had made it to the wandering cksmiths'' shop, Su had seen seven merchants chased away even though the shop was right nearby the mansion.


    "This is the same cksmith''s shop that came to the vige with us. He crafts the best items in the city and I am sure it will only get better." Su didn''t care that she wasying on sweet words. The wandering cksmith had always helped them and deserved such praise.


    "I have wanted a new spear and I think I can ask this man for it." The dragonkin warrior that had said they wanted to see the gear and items was already pulled at their bag for materials they brought with them. This had been the n.


    As they entered they found the wandering cksmith lording over his stack of blueprints. The smell of ink was almost the same strength as the smell of coal. He had been hard at work and the arrival of Su with the dragonkin seemed to shake him from some slight boredom.


    "It is an honor to meet you again cksmith. I was impressed by your work and hope you can make me an ice spear that will not shatter like myst did." The materials that the dragonkin handed over were enough to make the wandering cksmith grin ear to ear. He was already finishing his next exciting project and he didn''t even need to go anywhere.


    The process of measuring and drawing seemed to be over in a blink of an eye. But before Su knew it, the wandering cksmith had trapped the dragonkin in to working with him to forge the spear. This didn''t appear to be an issue since the other two were eager to return to the tour. Su couldn''t even say a word since the wandering cksmith had already started preparing the forge.


    "Well, I guess we are going to visit the mage tower. I do need to warn you, it can only be looked at. We won''t let anyone near it yet because of the potential dangers." This was just a fair warning since she cared about them, but for some reason, she swore she saw the dragonkin that had asked about the tower get more excited. Su did not miss the fact that the dragonkin had some runes carved on her armor.


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 Chapter 1101 - 1101. Drawing Some Attention

    "And you were saying that this entire tower was able to fold in to arge book then unfold? The power of runes is too great. Just like my armor, it is more powerful. Some stoned bing like paper!" The dragonkin warrior that was covered in rune armor was just as excited seeing the tower.


    "It was an unexpected event. We did not n to gain a mage tower so early. It was one of the future research projects though." This was the second time that Su had exined it. She was d to show off but knew that it was excitement that was driving this questioning again.


    "Are you sure that you do not need someone to enter and make sure there is no danger? A dragonkin warrior like myself can defend many traps and potential monsters." There was a spark in the dragonkin''s eyes as it said this.


    Su couldn''t say no outright so she held the question off for safety, "You can ask Walker. He said he would personally explore it soon so that he could be sure that it was safe. I''m sure he wouldn''t mind some help to guard the entrance for a short time. So many people try to rush in and explore it." Thest part was too true. The guards had had a terrible time keeping people out of the mage tower. They tried to push in and explore it without any fear for their safety.


    "I see that there are some runesmiths over there recording some things. I will speak with them and ascertain their current understanding. I will need to report that of course!" The sight filled the dragonkin with more joy than Su could fathom. She didn''t even hold a single hand up to stop him.


    "I guess it is just you and I now."


    Su looked at the remaining dragonkin warrior. "I had a feeling that they would end up this way. However, they did not follow my lead and enjoy the street food that can be carried along with them.'' This was a proud moment for the dragonkin that was leading the three. He had grabbed food along the way and was enjoying this way of enjoying multiple cultures.


    "I have to admit, with so many races here, the food is bing very high end." It was just to be expected. With the different cultures came the different spices and diets. Since this was a big draw for food based system users, then the food was evolving by the day if not hour. Su saw that many shops had rare ingredients and other foods she had never tried together. Even Walker''s mother had taken up the habit of personally shopping for new ingredients first thing in the morning before he would begin baking. It was a luxury that only food based store owners knew to use.


    "Shall we head to the adventurer''s guild and we can get some training on? I am very interested to see the new warriors that may be sprouting here. I have a feeling they will soon be just like this food." The smoked kabob with elven vegetables and meat from the demi-human kingdom was exactly the unexpected fusion that an adventurers'' skills could be.


    "Yes, that does sound like a good way to say it." As much as it seemed that Su didn''t appreciate it in the moment she found herself thinking that this was a profound way to think about the cultures growing together.


    The two were a little tempted to try and get the other dragonkin toe with them to the adventurer''s guild, but Su knew it was good for them to enjoy their time. It was pretty clear that the dragonkin would always be focused on their duty and quests for the vige and elders. It was their main focus and there was honor in that. Having the time to rx a little would do good for them.


    "This is the adventurer''s guild. It was built bigger so that it could amodate the high traffic. Since there are adventurers of every race it should bring a lot of styles and new systems together. I would say that it will be the best ce for everyone to learn." This was what the adventurer''s guild had in mind. Su recognized it and had major hopes that there would be arge growth in the adventurers joining.


    "Hello, Miss Su. What brings you to the guild today?" Su was easily recognized. Her actions in the cathedral had made her a very prominent figure in the city and with any family.


    "I was hoping that ra would have time toe and speak with one of the visiting dragonkin warriors. He is nning to teach some battle sses that are rted to his culture. It will be a nice treat for the young adventurers." Many people overheard this since Su purposefully spoke loudly. She wanted as many people to take advantage of this as possible since it would only help people.


    "Of course! I will let the guild master know immediately. Please feel free to begin at any time." The attendant rushed away and up the stairs while Su pointed the dragonkin to the training field. The fields were fairly busy but had arge open space since it was still a beginning period in recruitment.


    "Now, what do you want to teach? Closebat?" Su already knew what it would be and saw the look of excitement on the dragonkin warriors'' face. This was their specialization and they wanted to get to know the skills that the future generations of the city would be building. "Just make sure you go easy on them unless a higher tier adventurer decides to challenge you. They are reaping what they sow." It was also clear that some nearby adventurers were eyeing the dragonkin as a sparring partner.


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 Chapter 1102 - 1102. Welcome Back

    "I leave for just a few hours and Ie back to the best surprise yet!" Carry looked a little muddier than usual but was overjoyed to see the dragonkin warrior standing with Su in the training field.


    "Wee back, I assume you cleared the new trails easily?" ra made sure she was present the entire time that the dragonkin had been training the group of adventurers. She was taking very careful notes and was already nning to have future instructor so that the guild could keep growing.


    Since the structure of the adventurer''s guild was more free flowing, ra didn''t want to force any sses. This was why she liked that Gil had created an archer academy with growth potential. She could refer the archers that desired the education there instead of forcing everyone regardless. Now she just needed to find instructors or high tier adventurers that coulde and teach surprise sses as time went on. Some might even n ahead to make a visit.


    "Hello there, Su. How are you today? I take it this is your friend? He looks much more fun to battle against than the giant rats starting to dig out of their burrows for food." Those that mapped out the area had warned that there were some giant rats that lived in the area. However, the giant rats were considered an invasive monster and would eat anything and everything. That meant they were constantly hunted by anyone with the strength to beat them. Barry had taken the job to clear some as a small tasks to familiarize himself with the area.


    "I am doing well. Enjoying the city today with a few friends from the dragonkin vige that we stayed at a little while ago. They came to observe the growth of the city and to learn a few things. Right now there is a ss, but I am sure he would enjoy a match with you." Su knew it was inevitable that the dragonkin warrior and Barry would fight. So, she epted it and said it outright.


    "No, you are a human I have heard of. There was a foolish and brave trader that said you escorted him once. I can tell it was you because I have not heard of a human that carries two axes like yours." There seemed to be surprised faces all around since no one expected the dragonkin to know of Barry.


    "I know exactly the trader you are talking about. We encountered a pack of wolves a few years ago and they did a number on his horses. I have to go all out since I was a little under leveled and there were thirty of them. I would say that was a little fun." Barry seemed to smirk with battle intent while the dragonkin just stared back calmly. "So, do you feel like testing me? I do wonder what a dragonkin''s strength is like."


    Barry was all physical prowess when it came to battle. He had berserker skills and was well known for it, Hearing that he would go a few rounds against an entire wolf pack seemed too easy for his reputation. The dragonkin just pulled out heavy gauntlets that had been strapped to his belt and fixed them to his hands. The nging of them as they mmed together on preparation made all the onlookers back away.


    "I will be the referee. Everyone, form a circle. Shielders in front. If you are worried about safety, back away. Barry, you are not allowed to go all out here. That goes for you as well dragonkin. This is not your vige." ra made it clear. The dragonkin knew that they were wee and did not need to find Walker and Midnight to greet them per tradition. But, they did know they would be forced to follow the rules of the city and the ces within. It was only respectful.


    "Just watch the show guild master. I promise you will see a pretty good battle of fists." Barry dropped his axes to the ground and grabbed a pair of gauntlets from someone offering them nearby. He had been barehanded for the day and didn''t carry any of his small armor with him for this trip. Not that he used it often.


    The first hit came without warning. ra had said she was the referee but she had no control. The dragonkinshed out and Barry took the hit to the chest without flinching. "Hmm, I heard dragonkin were much stronger than this. Shouldn''t you be much older? Did you not train well enough?" Barry reacted with a solid punch knocking the dragonkin back a few feet.


    The dragonkin was up in a moment and ran at Barry. He ducked low and pushed up but Barry took that attack as well. The sharp crack of his jaw was met by a slight drip of blood on his lip. "That''s better. I have been training a little and needed to see my max defenses." Barry responded by matching the dragonkin''s power. The two traded furious hits back and forth.


    It felt as if an eternity passed but really they had hit each other for a minute. "Hm, I am only a young dragonkin warriorpared to those at the royal viges. But you still match me. I will need to try harder." The dragonkin flexed and lowered in to a stance. "I have the draconic martial arts system. Let''s get serious."


    "Sounds like you warmed up. See how you feel against my crazedbo. Some minstral gave thisbo the name." Barry grinned ear to ear and the two shed. It was as if there was a major street shop. But what Su noted was not the moves or the banter, but the fact that the pair perfectly adjusted their strength to match each other''s moves as they rose and fell. It was a magnificent disy of control in strength.


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 Chapter 1103 - 1103. Following The Sound

    "Onyx, are you sure you want to stay here?" Walker was sure that Onyx would change his mind ande back with them to the mansion. However, Onyx had gotten very defensive over the heavenly serpent egg. He was acting as if it was going to hatch any second. This would be a little too fast if it did but since Walker was helping Alice to purify and concentrate the light elemental mana it would definitely hatch a bit faster by some degree than a hundred days.


    "Yes, brother. I want to make sure that it is properly fed when Alice is resting. She shouldn''t need to worry." Alice and Onyx held a look between each other. It seemed they didn''t need to speak about this and had agreed on the arrangement without Walker or Midnight Realizing.


    "I guess that''s that then. Midnight and I are going to head out. We have been here all day and I think we should get some food. Plus, I need to worry about exploring the tower tomorrow so runesmiths and crafters can get in to it." This hadn''t escaped Walker''s mind. He had no idea what might be on the higher floors of the tower or even how many floors there were since it was so tall.


    Right before Walker left he felt hands around his back, "Thank you¡­for always thinking of me." There were no more words for how Alice felt. Walker always seemed to have her in his mind. He had thought of her first when it came to the heavenly serpent because he wanted her to have a partner and be safer. She could even pursue more adventures with the party if she had this partner. The world would be more open to her to explore.


    "Always." The embarrassed face of Walker was hidden as he left through the door. Although, Walker swore that Fleur giggled a little just for a split second.


    The streets had be clear over the hours and now that the sun was setting it was nearly silent. The thing that caught Walker''s attention as he took the long way to walk home were shouts and the sh of metal. He followed this sound right to the adventurer''s guild where Midnight suddenly perked her nose to the air. In a sh, she was running toward the training fields with Walker trying to catch up.


    It was easy to see why when he came to the crowd of adventurers. There were three dragonkin battling it out with various opponents. They seemed to be watched by different groups of you younger adventurers. What was even more impressive was that one with a spear was fighting with Barry. The spear seemed altogether too basic and Walker felt that it was just a temporary weapon. There were no draconic runes on it and the materials seemed to be basic steel.


    "Hey, Su. what''s going on?" While Midnight pushed her way to the front of the crowd of adventurers'', Walker made his way to Su and ra.


    "Oh, They came to visit. Adair sent them. They need to gauge the growth of the city but they are having a good time. I thought we would just see you at dinner after they finished their sparring and sses." Su had been there for some time. She even participated in a few matches where she helped those with shields get a handle on the idea of deflecting and rolling with a shield.


    "It has been a very long day. Things really got busy when Barry became involved. I did not expect this but it has been nice to enjoy the sparring matches. I do not look forward to the paperwork that piled up while I have been there¡­" ra knew that her work would be waiting at the end of all of this. But it was good to see how fast some people were improving and adapting to the new strategies that they saw used.


    There was a sudden stop from the three dragonkin as they realized that Walker was there. They came to him and kneeled slightly. "Lord, we arrived earlier to understand your vige and report back to our elder. We stayed with your guardian and followed her guidance. We thank you for the chance to see the growth. It has been an enlightening experience." Midnight nodded with a soft growl. She was very happy to hear Genesis praised. It had only been a short time but she took great pride in the home she had seen grow before her eyes.


    "I am happy that you havee to see things. They areing along even faster than I expected. Feel free to find some gifts to bring back. I know that the foods we have are very diverse right now. Some spices came all the way from the forest elves'' city. It could be a nice change of pace when you go hunting." This was something that caught their interest and the dragonkin nodded in unison. They had already nned this. " Please don''t let me interrupt your training. I think I can jump in for onest round. It has been a while since I made some me dolls."


    Walker motioned for some of the younger adventurers to help him get some straw and wood nearby. They lit them and the me dolls that Walker created were all matching various monsters he had seen in the desert. It would be a nice challenge. "Just remember, when you defeat them they will have a minor explosion. If they run out of fuel then you also fail part of the training. Dodge, defend, and attack. While also feeding the mes." This sounded like a nice challenge and the dragonkin took it in stride. Even Barry gave it a try to show off to the younger generations now that he had sparred with all three dragonkin and gotten a feeling for where he stood inparison. Overall, Barry was a little stronger than the dragonkin, which surprised them because not many humans were that powerful and focused on physicalbat.


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 Chapter 1104 - 1104. Explore The Tower

    The rest of the night passed by fairly quickly. The dragonkin went out to explore the surrounding area to see what monsters might be around. They had the desire to hunt a little more than usual since there were new monsters around. They would rarely travel this far from their vige. It was the perfect chance for them to take back some interesting meat.


    The party slept fairly well while Onyx stayed at the cathedral. Su promised Walker in the morning that she would be checking up on him while he worked with Alice. Walker was already heading out to the mage tower. He was very happy with the effects it seemed to have around the city. Many people were in better moods and just had a healthier glow around them. The best [art was that the mage tower was not even fully functional because there were runes that were not processing mana at the moment.


    This meant that there was a chance for the tower to have damages or even monsters that could not be separated from the power when it folded. Walker was skeptical about the monsters but didn''t want to put it out of his mind. It was better to be safe than sorry. On top of that, he didn''t know if he would even be able to find someone that could fix the runes at the current level. No one had an understanding of the perfect runes that the tower had because their knowledge was much less developed.


    There were also the secrets of the race that left the city and tower. Where had it gone? Why did it leave behind the knowledge? How could they advance so far and fast? There were plenty more questions that arose, unfortunately, Walker could not spend the time to think on them since he could lose himself to such things.


    There were still many people outside of the mage tower. Some wereing just to look at it and see what it was all about. The others were the craftsmen and rune rted system, users. Thest group consisted of guards that were creating a perimeter around the tower. They had to keep people away since there could be danger, but the actions of some that couldn''t help their curiosity was very amusing. One man had even tried to jump over a guard and rush in to the tower.


    "Fleur, I will rely on your help to figure this out. We are going to the top as soon as we can." Fleur seemed excited by this as well. She could feel the mana filtering through the tower and the air. For her, it was a great chance to absorb more and grow. But it was also something that made her feel she should explore. There was something about the tower that drew her toward it. The same feeling that Walker felt as well.


    There were no issues as they passed by the guards. The relieved expressions from the guardswere paired with excited expressions from craftsmen. Both would get what they wanted sooner. The guards a break and the craftsmen a chance to analyze and learn.


    The first floors were the same as Walker remembered. The only issue was that the few dark runes were hard to trace. The patterns were too involved and even using his finger to trace the path led him to the issue of floors. The runes moved through the floors while connecting to other runes. Sometimes they would be dark and sometimes they would glow with different elemental manas.


    "We need to head up, let''s do this." Walker wished he had someone who had more knowledge. However, the people he knew that understood and could carve runes were busy. Or he had not met anyone new that he trusted would be able to defend themselves properly if something went wrong.


    Walker felt Fleur pull on his hair a little and he found that she wanted him to head up the stairs toward the next floor above them. The light from the entrances faded as Walker headed up the stairs. The spiraling was a little odd since it was so dim and the people that had once walked these stairs must have had longer legs.


    The slight glow of runes was just enough for Walker to see but he still used his light orb skill to give him more light. What was revealed first were walls carved full of writings. The runes that seemed to make up the writings were more involved than the first floor or the outside of the tower. If Walker knew more he might be able to tell what they were doing and being used for. Even the all around appraisal skill was not helping him at all.


    "Huh, there are some papers here too." A pile of rotting papers was on the floor. They were, mostly falling in to dust but it was clearly research papers left over from the desert elves. It only made sense that some were left behind and folded in to the tower. "I can read this a little but it''s notplete." His skills tranted the writing but it was very broken.


    "I can make out that the runes had something to do with elemental floors? Or elemental zones? But this clearly says master, elemental, zone." Walker was running the ideas through while trying to find a way to preserve these papers.


    However, what he was focused on more was the fact that these words could be speaking about floors above dedicated to each elemental mana. Even more, they could have skills rted to the elemental manas that could be skills. This would be invaluable to certain system users and potentially Walker. A skill like that would have to be a mastery skill, but that didn''t mean Walker was at a loss.


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 Chapter 1105 - 1105. Elemental Floors

    There were runes that were made in to a stone door. The stone was even darker than the other dark stone walls making up the entire tower. This was easy to figure out though. There was a rune that was dimmer than the others which Walker had seen in simr fashion used nowadays. His hand touched the runes on the door and his mana was pushed through it to open the door easily. It was as if there was no weight to the door at all.


    The flood of water that hit him was more than he could handle. It seemed as if it had built up for years. There were small green nts and even some small fish. The surprise was that there was still water above him. It was staying in one ce by the door after some had spilled out on to him and forced him down the stairs.


    "It''s runes! They are holding the water back!" Walker couldn''t help but exim this in awe. These were way more advanced than he had figured it to be. There was a slightyer of magic that had been holding the water back. When Walker pushed the door open it had disrupted it. The runes had been carved in to the air somehow. It was a mystery that would shock every single person outside.


    Fleur was bouncing on Walker''s shoulder. She had been shocked by the water that pushed them back as well.Ut she had also felt the water elemental mana and was even more driven to move forward. "The floor shouldn''t be too big so I should be able to use mana to bring the air with me to breath," Walker assured Fleur and ran back up the stairs.


    This time he manipted the water to stay in ce and pushed upward. Yet, when he broke through he found that the runes at the door molded around him keeping the air around him as well. The runes had been made to temporarily follow whoever passed through to protect them. The doors just needed to be open and the water help back by additional mana. The even more shocking part was that the runes fed off of the ambient mana instead of Walker''s mana.


    The room was actually very easy to see in. It seemed to be made in a way that replicated a real ocean or pond. There were overgrown underwater nts along with some small fish that had been kept alive. This wasn''t something that would normally be done but for the tower it was possible. Every rune on the walls and floors made this possible. It was the ideal ce to study and understand concentrated water elemental mana. There were even books that wereplete with diagrams on bookshelves in perfect condition. They had been written in strangenguages mixed with runes. Walker could only understand pieces since he didn''tprehend the runes.


    He eventually found another door that seemed to go up further. He saw that there were some dim runes going upwards as well and he followed on. The next door was already open, but he could tell what it was. Air. It was windy, and very condensed mana . He felt that the wind was powerful and violent spinning in the room, but the same happened when he manipted it away from the door and he walked through. The runes wrapped around him and he didn''t even feel a soft breeze.


    There were more dom runes and the environment was like the top of a stormy mountain. The books were less so than the water looks below, however, Walker could read more of them. There were less runes and more of the strangenguage used. The drawings showed different flows of ai and how it affects spells.


    He couldn''t hold himself back. He pushed through to the next floor finding earth and dirt with many rocks around. It had more books. The next floor was darkness. Pure darkness but somehow he was able to see and found that the environment was full of dark elemental materials. Some fabrics that flowed in the air somehow and some harder woods making up tables and desks. The books were nearly impossible to read without using dark elemental mana to flow through the words.


    Yet, Walker could feel the heat through from the next floor. The heat was enough to show that the floor was more than active and keeping mes alive. But these mes were totally field by mana. They were flowing around the room in flickering shapes. The heat was only enough to make Walker warm after he pushed through the darkness and runes wrapped around him again.


    The books were even on fire in some cases, they did not burn though. Everything was made from a different material mixed with the ck stones. It must have been from a volcano or me filled area. That Was the only answer.


    The next floor was too bright for Walker. The lighting through the next door was blinding. He could feel that it was the most powerful mana yet. It was out of control and the runes on the door were struggling to hold it back. "I would say that is our problem. I bet the runes are blocked up there and break the control on the mana gathering. If we can fix it we might be able to restore the flow of mana to the core of the tower."


    The theory might work but first Walker needed to gather his own mana. That was the first step he would need so that he would be able to investigate the problems on the floor. What was weighing on his mind was the fact that this seemed to just be a set of training floors. They were not floors that were massive enough for him to be at the top just yet.


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 Chapter 1106 - 1106. Go Higher?

    The feeling of the light elemental was erratic. It didn''t seem to have any control over itself and Walker tried his best to establish some. Normally light elemental mana was warm and calming. It would slowly illuminate an area unless forced together on to another form. Walker had seen this in des along with Gil''s arrows. Alice''s healing was an example of some forms that it could take which didn''t cause any damage and instead would help the injury.


    When he pushed in to the room he was using intense concentration to hold off the light elemental mana which was spontaneously condensing here and there in the room. This gave him the chance to look around at the runes that were partially covered by fallen books. They were almost all dim which stopped the light elemental mana from traveling through them.


    He followed one that seemed to connect to the runes downstairs. Fleur didn''t seem affected by the mana at all. She was going through the room and following Walker as he searched. She was trying to absorb the mana to keep Walker in a safer position. He had made the right call keeping people out of the tower for the time being. If someone tried to enter without any skills to control mana and sense it then they would find themselves injured or worse.


    "Here it is!" There was what appeared to be a bottle of dried up potion on the ground. It had dripped and dried itself in to a rule absorbing mana and forcing it to bleed in to the air and mess with the concentration of light elemental mana. "I don''t know what potion this was but at some point, it spilled and no one has been around to clean it. It must have been here for years."


    When he said this he realized that even if he removed this dried potion he would have to deal with the repercussions. The mana in the room would surge down in to the tower causing damage. Instead, he needed to figure out how to stop that from happening. "This is going to be tough. Fleur, I will try to hold back the mana when I¡­"


    Walker was confused when he saw that Fleur was totally ignoring him. She was floating in the middle of the room now and had started to mix the mana from the other rooms that she had taken. Since this was unusual, Walker stopped what he was doing and watch. As he did so Fleur continued on with her task.


    The manas started to mix together. She had been able to sense the concentrated manas and knew that she could use it to gain more strength and replenish all the natural mana that she had beencking after the battle with Greed. It was also a step toward her bing a higher tier natural spirit.


    Since Walker could feel the changes in the mana around, he directed the mana to spread out more evenly, and when it would randomly concentrate he pushed it toward Fleur. At just the right moment he was able to use some of the water to rehydrate the spilled potion and manipte it in to the fallen bottle. He wasn''t sure that it had been but cleaning it was much easier than expected.


    ''The result was slow but when it returned he could feel the room slowly be bnced. He also noticed that there were a lot more runes visible around him. Even the air had some runes floating in it. The runes had been made differently for every single room while Walker investigated the rinesing back to life.


    He could tell that these runes were the same as the doors. They had been projected to protect people whole in the elemental floors for training. "This is spectacr! Fleur, you did great!"


    Fleur melted back in to the spirit mark and Walker felt that she was incredibly happy but needed to process the natural mana. Growing to a higher tier was a taxing process for an elemental spirit.


    "I need to go higher. I don''t know what else there is up there." Walker began to push himself back up the stairs. He wanted to enter the upper floors and get to the top of the tower. While he did that he held the bottle of now rehydrated potion and used his all around appraisal skill on it.


    '' expired rune eyes potion


    The mana eyes position is a grand tier potion. It was once higher than any other tier of potion until it was left in poor conditions. This caused the mana eyes potion to degrade until it became poisonous. The mana eyes potion will normally grand the one that consumes it the ability to see mana in the air and better carve runes. Once at the grand tier the potion assists in writing runes in the air and alsosts for a full day. This potion was once made by a grand alchemist who broke past the limits of mastery to discover that there was more to alchemy.''


    Just before Walker touched the steps to the next floor after the light elemental room he was stunned. He knew that there could be more [ast the high tier. But saying that there was more past mastery was too much. He knew that the systems guided people to the mastery skills for their systems and that it was a massive goal for any being. Yet, the grand tier skill would be much harder to achieve.


    "If there are grand skills and I can''t learn mastery skills¡­can I learn a grand skill? This question hit him like a ton of bricks. However, the next thought hit him harder. Did the race that created this reach the grand tier of skills in runes and magic? Then they had to leave to try and reach higher than even that? There was just too much unknown.


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 Chapter 1107 - 1107. Line Out The Door

    With his mind fuzzy, Walker continues to walk up the stairs and through the next door. Theck of runes was enough to force him out of his mind. "You did well. No one has been up here for a long number of years. I have awaited the next being to reach here. To think that humans would be the next generation. I can only wonder what the world must be like." The familiar voice that has spoken when they first made it to the core of the tower in the desert rang out.


    "Yes, I said I would no longer exist. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I must give ownership of the tower to one that can control the runes and their processes. I leave you with the job of recruiting someone with the proper individual." Walker knew that this voice was something made from runes and massively advanced magic used to leave an impression of a consciousness. But it was still too real and made him feel that there was an omnipotent being speaking to him.


    "Uhhmm, yes. I can try that. But the runes here are way more advanced than we know¡­" He was trying to get over the fact that the floor he hade out on was totally dark andcked runes. He felt that he had stepped in to a void. It was very different from the darkness elemental floor.


    "Allow me to fix that. This and the next four floors are the archives. They may not be in the current worldnguages but you can allow entry to anyone that can carve a rune. Above this are the seven workshop floors from the elemental rune carvers and unique rune creators. After that are the floors consistent with the masters of rune craft and then the tower mage who is the highest ranking mage in the tower. The focus on runes is not all. There are also books on spells, skills, and separated floors in between each carving floor for magical skill training. The final runes are on the dome upon the top of the tower to harvest spatial mana. The further knowledge on this subject is forbidden to the tower mage only."


    There were small crystals that began to illuminate to show the familiar light runes from the light elemental floor. They showed off the spiral rows of books. They seemed to be perfectly preserved to the point that Walker could say they were just created. His jaw literally dropped open while he realized what he had just discovered.


    "Until the proper tower mage is found I will lock the floors that require proper ess. When needed I will speak again." The runes flickered slightly and Walker saw that some had gone dim. They only shed with mana every few moments and it must have been some sort of appraisal skill that analyzed the people in the tower. If someone fit to be the tower mage entered, Walker was sure that they would hear the voice he had heard.


    "This ce is just too much. I don''t even know how this could be possible. I think it''s worse that they had all this power and knowledge but I found a dried up potion that was able to stop it all from working properly." Walker knew that even the little things in life could cause the most trouble. But he thought that the higher knowledge in the tower would prevent that issue. "I might as well go and let in some of the people that want to study this tower. Or maybe I will show this to Remey and see her lose it." Walker decided to call a meeting of the representative in Genesis building for the next day before heading toward the alchemy guild.


    "Keep up the good work and I will have some news after tomorrow''s meeting." This was what Walker told the guard that had been put in charge of guarding the tower. It seemed to take even more stress off his shoulders and before Walker was even down the street the other guards were being notified.


    By the time he got to the alchemy guild, he saw a substantial line out the door. He could tell that many of those in line were just beginning alchemy, herbal studies, or merchant work. It was a very good sight to see that there were so many people about to get their start in life here in Genesis.


    "Sir hero, are you here to see the guild master?" Walker had to hold back someughter since he knew that Remey didn''t want to be called the guild master out in public or at all. She just wanted to be one of the founders. Unfortunately, the other alchemists had just pped the title on her since it was Remey that had put the effort in to finding those to start this guild.


    "I am here to see Remey. I found something she may be interested in. Is she upstairs?" The guard shook his head at Walker.


    "There is a ss going on now. It should be nearing the end. If you would like I can lead you there so you may wait?" This was surprising. Walker knew that Remey would be holding sses and tests but it felt too early. He also knew that the staff must be very busy and that Remey would most likely be just as busy after the ss she was teaching.


    "Then lead the way." Some of those in the line were unhappy seeing someone cut them until they were whispered to about Walker''s origins and what he did. They had an immediate change of feelings towards him that Walker chose to ignore. It was only fair that they didn''t know that he was walking in to see a party member that ran the guild they were about to join. Walker couldn''t help but think about what they would say if they knew he was bringing proof of a grand potion made with skills most likely above mastery level.


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 Chapter 1108 - 1108. Ancient Potion Shock

    "Just remember, you have no control over the ingredients brought to you. If you want a perfect moth wing herb, then you better be out there with an herbalist and an adventurer team to get it. The best herbs I have seen are hand picked and grown by the alchemists have always yielded better results!" Walker seemed to havee at the perfect time. Remey sounded like she had just ended a grand speech about the values in gathering her own herbs.


    Walker couldn''t deny this. He was also way happier when he would eat foods he and the party had hunted on their adventures. The same must be said for potions. Since the alchemist would have gone out and seen the struggle to get the herbs then they would take more care through the potion making process. This would inevitably end up with more things learned and a better potion made.


    "I didn''t think that you would being to watch my ss. You aren''t even a real member here." Remey couldn''t resist the urge to tease Walker. It was an instinctual reaction at this point.


    "Ohh, you know how it is. I was studying some mage tower and found a strange dried up potion that has no efficacy. I did get an appraisal on it and save what I cleaned up. But if you don''t find a mana eyes potion interesting then that''s fine. It''s not like it was a grand potion at one point in time." Walker turned around with his hands in the air shrugging.


    It only took a second for Remey to grab his arm and turn him around. "You are going to repeat every word of the appraisal you got from that back to me as slowly as possible with every possible detail!" The seriousness in her voice was a drastic change from her light hearted teasing before. She had easily realized just how big of a deal this could be for every alchemist in the world.


    After about fifteen minutes of questions that Walker could barely answer, Remey dragged him toward the upstairs. "Trish and the old man should be done by now. They are going to start investigating this as soon as possible." The rooms that they passed had some alchemists already at work. However, the herb preparation rooms were more impressive.


    To say that the alchemy guild processed and prepared herbs would be too simple. They were a factory that could prepare hundreds of herbs a day of any variety. They had packages and standards to ensure that the herbs would remain in their best possible conditions for as long as possible. What went even further was that they were marked by quality. The alchemists that were experimenting and learning didn''t need to buy the most expensive of that kind of herb. They could buy the lower quality herbs to save money while also learning.


    "Trish! Old man! Get over here!" Remey burst in to her own alchemyb while Trish and the old master alchemist rushed toward her. They knew the sound of her voice when she had something amazing to show them. At this point, it was a learned tone that told them they would be experiencing a new challenge and possibly a new potion. "Well? Tell them what that is in your hand."


    Trisha and the old massage alchemist were eyeing the decayed potion dubiously. There was no indication that they saw any value in it whatsoever. This changed as Walker exined what the potion was and what it had been. They slowly showed more light in their eyes and became more animated. There was even a moment that Walker expected them to snag the potions and begin testing it in various ways.


    "Are you sure this was just on the ground dried up? It wasn''t cracked on the floor or covered in any molds?" The question caught Walker off guard because he wasn''t sure if it was really important. However, looking back at his memory of the event, he knew that it had not been covered in mold or even dust. It was just the dried potion. The entire tower was surprisingly clean despite being abandoned in the desert for many years. He realized that this was the runes at work again.


    "No, it was just the potion dried in to the rune carvings on the floor. I think that the ingredients in it were able to fully disrupt the flow of mana. It was a potion that was able to give someone the ability to see mana in the air after all. I doubt that it wouldn''t have some effect on mana in general without being inside a being to cause the skill."


    "Then were there any ingredients around? Did you find any manuals or documents that exined the potion nearby?" Trish had to see the data that came with this kind of potion. She wanted to begin research with as much as she could possibly have in her hands.


    "That is the tough part. This seems like a potion that would be verymon for the race that once lived there. I would say that the archive floors will have something about them but that''s the problem. There are multiple archive floors and all of them are innguages that aren''t easy to trante because the runes are also in them. I will be having a meeting with representatives tomorrow to discuss who will have ess to the tower and when. It needs a lot to be properly operational." This was going to be a longer process than anyone wanted, but Walker needed it to be done right.


    "We will be there to see what is said. In the meantime, leave that with us, and will do some experiments." Trish seemed to be taking the lead. She wanted to be able to figure out what herbs may have been used as a foothold for how the potion was made. Walker didn''t argue at all. This was a goal for himing here.


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 Chapter 1109 - 1109. The Merfolk Arrive

    "So, you called us here to discuss the ruins?" The rest of Walker''s day had been full of conversations about potions and showing Trish, Remey, and the old master alchemist to the archives. They had not been able to learn anything yet and felt that they would need a lot of help to get through everything. It was a trial they were willing to spend the time on so that they could harness the mana eyes potion in any tier possible. It would change the way that mages and rune based systems would operate.


    "Yes, the tower is a little moreplicated than I believed. There is a consciousness ingrained in the runes somehow. I don''t know how it was done and I doubt I will find out anytime soon. However, there is a need for a tower mage to be established as the master of the tower. We just need someone that meets the tower requirements. But that''s not all, we also need to research and get people up to the towers'' standards. They are archived with knowledge that we need to trante, especially after we understand what the runes do."


    There was enough information here for the representatives to know that the tower would continue to give them leads. There was a lot that the runes could influence in the city along with how many advancements coulde from each pone. Not only would the mages that came there find ways to grow but also every system user that needed runes. What really shocked them though was the fact that runes could be written in the air without a proper material. Not many systems allowed this and being able to do so would change the way of life for everyone.


    "I have heard that there are battle rune smiths with the skills to write runes in the air. I have even heard of them writing runes that will cast a firebolt skill if they can properly learn and practice the rune. From what I have learned, that is a very tough feat to achieve. Yet if they are able to then they will have profound understanding of fire rted runes." The forest elf queen was sharing this information from a long time ago. She had read such things in her libraries about system users.


    "I have read the same texts. Such systems were popr many years ago and some of our oldest writings speak of them being able to clearrge portions ofnds for farming if they were paid properly. I believe they were thergest recorded sale of earth crystals from our city ever."


    King Rorick recalled seeing a mural about this and reading the rted texts as a child. He had trouble believing this was true but did not doubt their history.


    "That''s good to know. I would greatly appreciate seeing such a system user born in Genesis. They would be the key to us understanding this tower faster. I think we should allow ess to those who have yet to awaken their systems. There could be hidden diamonds." King August felt it was important to put a focus on such systems.


    "I agree, but there is more. There are elemental floors in the tower. They are for training certain elemental skills and crafts. They are full of the singr elemental mana and books about them. I would say that just taking people through those floors could awaken many potential systems. They even use runes to protect you when you walk through them so it could awaken systems we don''t expect." Another shocking piece of informationnded on the representatives. They couldn''t seem to keep up with everything happening at the moment.


    "That''s it. I want my runesmiths in the tower by the end of the day. The elves need toe as well. We need people to understand those archives. I will let the elemental floors be taken by the elf mages for now. They need to understand the benefits of these floors and report back on potential progress. I also want there to be a material investigation. I have no idea how the tower was made mixing the rarest materials and so many of them in such a perfect way. We need more knowledge." The king of the deep caves was ready to lead the charge in right that second.


    "I agree. The sooner we begin the better. I will dly help regte the flow of people with my position and enforcers." Alma wanted to take the reins of this project. She was sure that she would be able to keep the tower safe and properly studied.


    "I have nothing against this. I believe that the alchemy guild can also join in and research. If we manage to crack the mana eyes potion form then we will just speed up the knowledge gathering." Remey chimed in as well and it appeared that the team was set.


    "Then Alma will take the lead, the king of the deep will begin his analysis, and The alchemy guild will start on the potions and rted materials left behind." Walker summed it up and everyone raised a hand in agreement.


    "I have to say, I came a littlete but I think that sounds perfect." Leon strolled in to the room smiling while he ced his spear on the table. "I, Leon of the merfolk race, pledge my spear to be loyal to Genesis and the growth it shall achieve every day. Please ept me as your representative for my race."


    His pledge was something no one expected but brought them now. Every single representative and leader stood up and weed him. "It''s good to see you. I''m surprised you turned down the king ofthe merfolk position toe here." Walker had thought Leon would be the next king.


    "Ha! My father has said he won''t step down for another thirty years, So, I came here. I also can''t let all of you get ahead of me. I just had a feeling that this is the right move." There were smiles all around hearing this. The merfolk had officially joined Genesis.


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 Chapter 1110 - 1110. Water Elves?

    "I have to say, the work that has been done at the river''s edge is amazing. There are already homes and resting areas set up for my people." After the meeting had concluded, Leon was walking with Walker and Remey. He had been very impressed when he arrived. "If the demi-humans had not already cleared a safe passage through the river I would have had those that came with me do it. I have to say, overall, the journey was peaceful."


    "I''m d you had an easy journey here. I wouldn''t want anything to weigh on you too much. So, how are your people recovering?" Walker feared the worst. However, from the way that Leon was acting, he knew that the merfolk must be getting along well.


    "If the elves and the dwarves had not stayed for a little while I would still be guiding the mages to grow the corals back. However, those golems moved massive stones to use as the base for corals. Then the elves that stayed behind had some interesting water elemental arrows that made the water elemental mana more condensed in an area. I doubt that was the purpose of them at first but they were able to help the corals grow faster. The city will look like old times if not newer soon!"


    "If everything is back to normal then that means I should have my merfolk herbalists here now!?" Remey couldn''t hold herself back yet. She had guided some people toward the establishment of the underwater herb growing fields. Yet, they would not truly begin until there were experienced herbalists to grow them to the highest quality.


    "Yes, I sent over fifteen that you either spoke with or came to me to volunteer. They had heard a rumor that an alchemy guild was looking for teachers or new members. You seem to have sung a siren song to lull them in to your guild." This was amon joke for the merfolk but it was even funnier to see Leonughing more than the others.


    "Just head out now Remey, I know you want to get things all set. You also have to send some alchemists to the tower so that they can start to investigate." Walker saw the look in Remey''s eyes and let her run ahead. He knew that anything she tried to listen to would not get to her since she would be distracted.


    "Speaking of towers. Is that what is causing the expanding field of mana around here? I could sense the waters bing calmer the closer we got to the city. I would say that is normal for this time of year, but it is a much more drastic change." Since Leon was used to turbulent water, he had an experience of knowing when and where it would show up. Feeling the change while swimming here had thrown him off.


    "It does a lot more than concentrate mana. It seems to boost the cathedrals'' healing aura, help people absorb mana to recover, and even helps extend lifespan ording to older texts." This was something Walker was proud of. Just having the mage tower was enough to get them some huge benefits. But exploring and understanding it would show them true gold.


    "I see, then you should be seeing more elvesing by soon. From what I know, the water elves should being here right? They might have left the oceans to us merfolk but they are still highly regarded by my people. They taught us a lot and I would like to sit at the same table as them." There was a fantastical care for the water elves in Leon''s speech.


    "I wouldn''t say that everyone else feels the same. It appears that the water elves cut themselves off from the outside world in theirkes. It is hard for anyone to head over there, Even worse they seem to control water sprites and nymphs so that they don''t even need to push people away." There would be a lot of hardship to get the water elves on their side.


    "Then we will head there together. My people can work with everyone here to grow. They get along great with the demi-humans like us. So there won''t be a single problem. I could use a real adventure too." It appeared to Walker that Leon wanted to pay them back for their help in the ocean. Now that he saw a chance he was jumping at it.


    "In that case, I will see who can gather together to leave and make a rtionship with the water elves. They are past the demi-human kingdom and in thergekes. As much as everyone wants to say singrke, it is really three that are connected by small waterways and have arge mass ofnd in the middle that divides them. That is the main home of the water elves other than the waters. I can n things out with a little help. Just sit tight and maybe get some stuff to help us breathe underwater. I would rather be safe than sorry." Leon took this with cheer and left to get ready. He had brought some special items to help people and would even have some of the mages that came with him cast water breathing skills on whoever could journey with them.


    "Well, that was unexpected. I should have seen iting in though, we have already spoken about the water elves. At least it wasn''t the mountains again. I have to go there soon anyway." Walker was d he didn''t need to go back to the mountains and could head toward the water elves for a change of scenery. He was also d that he didn''t have to deal with marshes or swampnds. Thekes were fairly tame inparison. "Now, who to bring with us?"


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 Chapter 1111 - 1111. Tea Time

    "Now what did you just ask me?" Gil didn''t sound as if he was the happiest hearing what Walker had just proposed.


    "It''s a journey to the water elves''kes. It should be to recruit them in to Genesis." Walker only repeated the end of what he had told Gil.


    "The water elves? The ones that even the demi-humans said they have trouble with? You want to go there and try to talk to them? The ones that literally attack merchants that try to enter theirkes?" There was a serious annoyance in Gil''s voice which spoke to how crazy this idea seemed.


    "Well, they wille at some point. I would rather invite them than make them an enemy. Imagine what they will think if they somehow hear that all the knowledge of the desert elves is now here? How would they react to find out that the desert elves had ancient knowledge and that was not sent to them in any form or fashion? The water elves envied the water elves and now we have a chance to use that to bargain with them and join the Genesis alliance."


    "I hear what you are saying, but do you really need me? I d think they are like the forest elves. I think they would focus on water magic instead of archery. I might just make them angrier." Gil did have a good point. The reason he did so well with the forest elves were the many simrities he had with them. He might just remind the water elves of the differences between elves.


    "I will ask Alma toe too. She has rtions with the water elves as the next queen of the forest elves. This might be a chance to bring them together again. It also means you will be acting as a personal enforcer along with any that Alma brings. Although, I doubt that she will bring any. It would most likely be something she needs to avoid since the water elves could think her to be attacking them if she brings guards in high numbers." This would just be something Walker would need to speak with Alma about.


    "If Alma goes then I will be there. But make sure that Midnightes. I want her strength. Just leave Su back though. Su deserves a rest. She doesn''t show it enough but she has been working herself sick. That and I saw her being helped to the cathedral benches by that violin yer she always looks at. I swear, do you all think I''m blind?" Gil never spoke about things like this. Walker was a little shocked. Gil kept so much to himself when he was in his own head.


    "Well, I was going to ask Su to stay anyway. She is doing great work with the cathedral. I was thinking of asking the wandering cksmith potentially since he could show off the rune forging that we have along with true spirit forging." This seemed to catch Gil''s attention.


    "That could work. But I doubt he will. If you haven''t seen how the crafting guild ising alone then you might have missed the news. The crafting guild has the backing of our wandering cksmith. They need him to help keep the peace as they set down roots." Gil was well versed in the city''s gossip. The wandering cksmith is busy.


    "Hmm, then maybe just you, me, Alma, Midnight, and Leon. Not a bad group. Temporary party?" Gil thought for a moment listening to Walker then nodded.


    "I will go speak to Alma, you can hunt down Midnight. I bet she is with the dragonkin picking a fight." Gil had seen the four sparring the night before andughed while thinking about it before he left toward the direction of the forest elf park.


    As much as Walker wanted to say Midnight would be easy to find, he knew she could be anywhere. She did try to spar with them at one point but after Su had told him that one dragonkin had tried a lot of different food stalls at the first walk around the city, he knew. Midnight would never turn down food so that was where he would need to look.


    The good thing about all that was there was one ce that she would bring anyone that asked her for food rmendations. To his mother''s bakery. Hilda may be busy but she was the kind of mother that would drop anything to help out her children And since Midnight was family, she would definitely make food for her and the dragonkin.


    "Hello! I came in the back door because the front is locked." Walker yelled inside when he made it to the shop only to find that the preparation room was full of ready to use foods.


    "Oh, what brings you all the way over here? I thought you would still be with the mages understanding that new tower." Hilda was in the middle of stuffing rolled dough with vegetables and meat to make stuffed steamed buns. She found that many people could easily grab them on the go in the morning.


    "I actually came looking for Midnight. I want to see if she wille to the water elfkes with me to speak with them." Walker saw the curiosity in his mother''s eyes.


    "Well. if you go all the way over there then make sure you bring me back those water chestnuts that grow around the area. I hear they are great for soups." Hilda did not hesitate to make the request. She had always wanted to cook with them since she was able to try one years ago. "And Midnight is in the other room with her new friend. They were tired after training so I even made some tea."


    Walker found the dragonkin and Midnight in deep conversation. The dragonkin didn''t seem to have any issue understanding the gist of Midnight''s growls and hisses. It was something even Walker struggled with at times.


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 Chapter 1112 - 1112. Surprise Party Member

    "It''s not that simple. If I want to grow wings then I need to stimte the dragon blood in my body. It is very weak. That''s why most of the higher tier warriors often receive a drop of dragon blood by the royals or their elders. I would say that only a few have the privilege of flight. It''s not like you who can do it from birth." The dragonkin seemed to be exining flight to Midnight. There was an expression that spoke a thousand words on the dragonkin''s face. It was clear that they wanted to fly one day.


    The response from Midnight was a slightly rough growl and re. Walker could tell that she was telling him that everyone should be able to fly if they desired to do so. This was how Midnight felt because she had wanted to fly for a very long time and worked toward it every day. "I know, but I''m not like the dragonkin born with a better bloodline out of nowhere. Look at my wings, theyck the muscles to fly. I''m a water affinity, not a wind affinity. I can''t even fake it."


    "Just because the wind affinity dragonkin might find a way to fly doesn''t mean you can''t. I bet that you can do more to discover your skills and be stronger. You are a dragonkin what? What is your system? I bet we can work on it." Walker used this moment to join the conversation. Midnight had seen him and was waiting for him to join in as well.


    "I don''t doubt that this is true, but I have not seen any dragonkin pull it off. I am just a warrior here. My strength is with my fists. But I can use a few skills that manipte water in to ice that can cover my fists." The dragonkin was not the happiest admitting that they were unable to properly use magic. They had envied the dragonkin with such systems and abilities because they were more diverse in battle.


    "Then you already have a path there. Why can you only cover your fists in ice? Why not use the wings you have as a base and cover them in ice to create a full pair of wings? Then you can learn to manipte them to fly. It would be simr to other ice dragons and it might just get you a little higher in the dragonkin ranking." This seemed to open the dragonkin''s eyes. "I also think Midnight could use a training partner for flying. She had also been practicing her frost breath skill." Walker was proud of the small idea he had. He knew it would be difficult but the dragonkin seemed like they were giving up and needed a push.


    "I would be honored to assist in the flight training. If I can help in any other way it would be more than I could ask for." There was a clear excitement in the idea that the dragonkin could manipte ice on their fists to their wings.


    "By the same principle, shouldn''t you be able to make ice armor as well? Maybe it will all be one skill that uses your closebat and water affinity?" This was helping Walker to see the connections of his own elemental skills. He had heard of certain spell swords or other systems being able to make armor with their elements. It would be something he could train as well.


    "I will attempt that after some study. I have neglected my affinity because I did not value it the same as others. I have seen my foolish thinking and will work to improve it. You have mysting gratitude."


    "I know you would have reached these conclusions yourself. I just want to make sure you find Genesis worth the trip." Walker smiled wide since he was happy to be of help to a dragonkin that was much older than him. "By the way, Midnight, do you want toe to the water elf city with me, Gil, Alma, and Leon? We need to try and get them in to the alliance before they catch wind of the mage tower."


    Midnight arched her head in curiosity while she thought about it. It was a good chance for her to work on her frost breath since it would be a lot of water. Not to mention that it was more rxed due to the fact that they were not trying to exterminate a brutal monster. It wasn''t more than a minute before she started to nod her head. Walker could feel her renewed energy that would be directed toward a new adventure.


    "If it is not too much trouble, may Ie along? My twopanions can remain here. I would value the knowledge of how Genesis ns to grow rtions with other races. It would be valuable information for my elder when ites time for the royal dragon court to gather." This made a lot of sense to Walker. He wanted the dragons to see the worth that genesis had in every possible way.


    It was a wee stress reliever having a dragonkin warrior with them. The dragonkin were known for their battle strength so if anything went wrong then they would be safer. There was also the fact that the water elves should be able to respect the dragons. While Walker did not show that he was rted to dragons, Midnight and the dragonkin would be able to make the water elves know that they should not be pushed around.


    "That sounds great. I think we can leave tomorrow if you want. The journey should be shorter because I want to see if we can take a ride on one of the giant hawks still around from the tamer''s guild. I think Elise will set us up with one or two." Walker was looking forward to the conversation with Elise.


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 Chapter 1113 - 1113. Stellas Secrets

    Midnight and the dragonkin did not waste a moment. They left right after Walker had left. Hilda was surprised to see them rush away so fast. She had barely managed to hand them some snacks to keep their energy up. She was sneakily listening in on the conversation. Part of her wanted to stop her son from leaving again but the rest of her was d to see that Walker was growing up so fast. She felt that he had been a baby in her arms just the other day. Yet now, she was looking at a young man living his dreams.


    When Walker got to the space that was set aside for the tamers'' guild he found that the monsters that had been brought with the tamers were working hard alongside the tamers. It appeared that the conversation with the tamer''s guild from multiple people had yielded positive results. There were no aquatic tamers'' in sight but that was most likely because they were not needed. However, that didn''t mean that there weren''t good ones out there.


    Therge monsters that were helping move heavy supplies like stone armored lizards, red skinned rhinos, and even a mountain elephant which Walker had never seen in his life. Even more amazing were the avian type tamers. The iron feather roc that was flying in the air was something that even Walker was jealous of. The iron feather roc was a rare monster that deviated from the normal roc species baked in environment and nutrition. It was considered an impossible flying monster because it shouldn''t be able to fly and yet it could. The unique earth and wind affinity monster broke the way of the world.


    "Maybe I should have brought Midnight with me." Walker felt that Midnight would have been just as amazed by the number of monsters here. He felt that he may have missed the chance for her to get a lot of ideas for her flight training.


    The wind that hit Walker surprised him. But when he looked to his side he found that Ste hadnded right next to him. However, her feathers had changed colors slightly. They were more vibrant than before and had hints of red and even gold in them. The shadow that seemed to follow it was just learning to properly fly through Stes'' shadow. It was clear that the hatchling was worried that Walker would eat it since he had a very intimidating aura due to the natural mana drawn to him.


    "Hello Ste, I came to see if Elise had time to talk for a bit. Think you can grab her?" Ste replied with a slight chirp that sounded simr to a human humming. Walker realized that Ste was developing her vocal cords and would soon be able to sing like an adult harpy. It was a big step for any harpy since in the wild they would use sound based skills. One such skill was a luby that could put their opponent to sleep and allow them time to attack. It was the reason many people attacked harpies on sight.


    "Come on, you don''t have to ask Ste to get me. You should know that wherever my sister is I am there too." Elise came up right behind them and teased Walker a little. Ste hemmed a little again and leaned on Elise''s shoulder. "What do you think? Ste just molted and her feathers are pristine. I think that she will be able to rival any harpy queen there is." If someone could prove that harpies could blush, this was the time to show it. Walker swore that Ste''s face was redder.


    "I didn''t realize you had met the harpy queen from the demi-human city. How did that go?" Walker temporarily forgot what he hade for. This seemed very interesting.


    "Well, the harpy queen has a passive skill that makes harpies want to follow her. But it did nothing to Ste. Then they got in to a little fight and that harpy queen ended up in a very poor mood when Ste beat her. I''m pretty sure that Ste will receive the same benefits when the harpies be a recognized race but I think Ste took that queen down a notch. She was arrogant and not properly working toward the goal she should have. Like, even goblins and grey haired spiders beat her to bing a race because of their hard work and desires." It was clear that Elise did not have a positive view of the harpy queen.


    "I can see how that may happen. If Ste resisted a skill that should work on every harpy, then the queen would be sour about it. But I don''t think you two should go getting in to fights so easily. Although, doesn''t that mean Ste is very powerful?"


    "Nope, not really at all. Ste just has a huge amount of battle experience. We have been exploring since we were little, remember? The harpy queen sits in a nest and is protected. She had power but not the ability to use it. That''s another reason the harpies aren''t a race yet. And no, Ste doesn''t want to be queen. She''s not old enough for that kind of thing. I think she has a few secrets though." Elise gave a sideways nce at Ste who was hiding behind her wings.


    "I can always use my all around appraisal skill and check things out?" Walker wanted to join in on the fin but saw that Elise rushed over and stood between them. "Or I won''t do that at all because it would be invading Ste''s privacy." He backed down very fast and earned a relieved look from Ste. Walker couldn''t help himself though. He used his appraisal skill just to see what might be going on that Ste would hide from Elise, her closest family.


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 Chapter 1114 - 1114. Holding Back

    '' Ste- Phoenix blood harpy


    This is a harpy that recently entered its secondary growth phase. The chance of a harpy unlocking one of the bloodlines known in other avian birds that have intermingled in the harpy race is very slim. However, it is often detected on the eggs when they are young. This causes the parents to ignore them and predators to consume them. Sometimes the egg manages to hatch or somehow end up in other ces other than a traditional harpy nest. The phoenix bloodline is extremely rare and phoenix monsters are rarely seen outside of volcanoes. A phoenix blood harpy has the chance to unlock a myriad of fire skills and will often be able to mix their wind and fire affinities. They will also be able to awaken the unique skill rebirth in their adulthood. Any monster ever known to have a phoenix bloodline has been seen to outss even the strongest of their species but will often choose to avoid violence unless necessary.''


    Walker choked on the air in his lungs for a second. He knew all about phoenix monsters and how they had managed to mux in to many races. But actually meeting one with an active bloodline was something people only dreamed about. The phoenix was considered an unkible monster with the most valuable feathers in the world. Mainly because the feathers were multiple colors and were used in life saving potions that recovered mana and health points. But no one ever gathered these feathers due to their rarity. This wasn''t even something that Ste would have known until she hit this growth stage of her life.


    The skill that could save them was also rare. The phoenix had a skill that they could use over and over again but those monsters that were mixed with its bloodline would get the more simple rebirth skill. That meant that they would survive death once back to full strength and health. Something like that could change the tide of any battle or situation. And Ste was hiding this from someone she trusted most of all.


    "Are you alright Walker?" Elise was worried that Walker was having some problem since she saw him coughing in his surprise.


    "Yes yes yes yes yes. I''m fine. Nothing. I was just caught in thought about how amazing the tower is. You know. Just so life changing since I can feel the towers'' effects everywhere we go. Hey, I was just wondering, are there any avian type monsters that can give myself and a few others a ride over to the demi-human kingdom? We are going to the water elves to try for their rtionship in Genesis." Walker changed his thoughts quickly due to the panic in Ste''s eyes.


    Elise looked at him wondering if he was sane. "I can go check. Just hang out here for a minute." Elise ran off toward one of her fellow tamers in charge of transporting materials.


    "Ste, I don''t know why you don''t tell that to Elise. But you will need the right materials to properly grow that bloodline. Speak with Onyx and he will help you get whatever you need. But make sure you let Elise know." The steel in Walker''s voice made Ste flinch. She had been worried that Walker would say something. But now she knew that Walker was looking out for her best interest. Ste nodded slightly and showed pleading eyes. "I won''t tell her, you will. You could get hunted for such a thing. In Genesis, you should be protected though."


    Since Ste had awakened such a bloodline, Walker knew that there would be a lot of danger when it was made known. However, in Genesis, there were many beings that could protect her. There was also the fact that many other harpies now called Genesis home. It would be considered starting a war to go after Ste. Along with the benefits of the city having what Ste may need to grow over time.


    "Looks like I can spare three mountain eagles. They are a littlerger than the hawks you have ridden before but they are a little faster. They are also heading to the demi-human city to get the next set of supplies we need. It should work out." There was a proud tone in Elise''s voice. She had just barely caught them before they left and held them off for a day. "Early tomorrow morning you need to leave or wait another three days. Up to you."


    "That sounds perfect. Thank you so much. I will let everyone know! I will bring some of my mother''s cooking as a thank you!" Walker took the chance to run off. He left Elise wondering what was going on. She would have given him a tour of the underground area that was nearly finished by the dwarves'' hard work.


    "I feel like with all the running Walker does he has run around the entire world by now. How does he even have more to explore?" The joke seemed to go right over Ste''s head. "And now you are all distracted too. Weird day." Elise wandered off after Ste finally snapped back to reality. She flew in to the sky deep in thought so that she would be able to decide her future path.


    Gil, Alma, Midnight, and the dragonkin took the news of their early departure well. It seemed as if they were more excited to get out and go somewhere that posed a challenge for everyone. "I really just wonder why the water elves seem to have so much distrust andck of desire to be with others. It just doesn''t make much sense. The forest elves were able to open up and even listen at first. But the water elves are even more strict." Walker mumbled about his own theories while he got ready for a good nights'' sleep. His wonder about the water elves did not sit right with him. He had a tinge of a bad feeling about the water elves.


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 Chapter 1115 - 1115. What Do We Call You?

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    "Midnight,e on. If you don''t get up now you will miss breakfast. I even asked mother to make us some special sandwiches so I can share them with Elise for the help." This was the only way to Get Midnight awake. She had trained extra long with her new dragonkin friend. Her wings and back were more sore than they had ever been, however, she felt that flying was right around the corner.


    Lately, Midnight had made a massive leap in flight training. She was now able to p her wings and get a few feet off the ground before she lost the ability to stay up. It was mostly because her wing muscles were still too weak and underdeveloped. Yet,pared to any other dragon her age, she was years ahead of them. She was looking at being able to fly with some control sooner thanter. She could already glide with decent control.


    The dragonkin that had been with Midnight had begun to spread the ice they could form on their fists up their arms. They were very surprised to see that it covered their scales the same way that they had seen ice dragons do. It just required immense concentration that they were not used to. The real prize was the fact that they were able to understand how to make it spread and condense. It was a sure bet that after training for a short time that their skills would be strengthened at the very least.


    "Walker, Alma, and I are ready. We are going to head toward the tamer''s guild before you!" Gil yelled up to Walker and was out the front door before Walker could reply.


    "You heard Gil, he''s heading there now. That means less time to eat before we leave." With that one sentence, Midnight was almost out the door. Walker wasn''t even sure that she was really awake. "Onyx, make sure that everyone is safe while I''m gone. I know you will be with Alice and the egg for a while. I will do my best to bring back something good for its hatching."


    "Of course brother, I will do my best. If I need to I will fight the entire world." Onyx was a little dramatic but felt that Walker needed to hear it this way. There was worry in Walker''s eyes since he knew that there were demons trying toe for the city. He would not forget what Greed had done for some time.


    Walker felt that this was a good deal and walked with Onyx out of the mansion. Onyx hade backte in the night because he had wanted to cover the egg with light elemental mana while Alice rested. From what Onyx had told Walker, Alice had been using most of her mana to keep the egg safe and absorbing light elemental mana. What was even more exciting was that both Onyx and Alice had seen the egg wiggle slightly. It was a very good sign for the heavenly serpent developing inside.


    "Now be safe, I want to see those water chestnuts sooner thanter." Hilda handed over the sandwiches that he had asked his mother for. She had kept an eye out for them passing and Midnight was quick to take one of the bags to carry herself. She knew how amazing the food on her back was.


    "Don''t worry. We will be safe!" Since Walker was thinking about the new ce to travel to, he was getting more energetic. He also felt that flying on a mountain eagle would be a pretty amazing experience. He had not seen them and was sure they were even bigger than the other avian monsters he had seen.


    "Well, you sure took your time. Did Walker hold you up?" Alma knew that Midnight had been the one sleeping. But Gil had nned with her to tease Walker a little bit.


    "The lord and his champion arrive at the proper time as always." The dragonkin was sure to defend Walker making everyone burst outughing a little. The joke had gone over his head.


    "By the way, calling you dragonkin or warrior doesn''t feel right. Can you tell us your name if you don''t mind?" Gil felt that this was the best way tomunicate.


    "He''s right, I would like to know the name of a powerful dragonkin warrior as well. We will be fighting side to side while we travel to thekes." Leon was thest to arrive and was holding magic scrolls for everyone that needed them. They had the water breathing skill engraved within them so that they could use them when needed. He had upheld his side of the deal.


    "Neil, It is easier to say this nickname than my full name. No one used that anyways but for my parents." The rest of the group nodded. They were used to people having nicknames and preferred names. It was much moremon for adventurers but the party had rarely run in to them.


    "Now that you are all here I can show you to yourpanions." Elise had seen the small group gathering. Walker took note that Ste was flying in the air and staying away from them. He felt a little bad since he had most likely scared her a little but telling her to speak with Elise about her bloodline and growth. "The mountain eagles are very proud birds. They huntrge rock serpents when theye out of the caves. They are also very used to high flying. So, respect them, do not pull their feathers, and stay on the t saddle they have on their backs because those were made specifically with the mountain eagles''fort in mind." Elise finished her rules as they came up to the three massive mountain eagles resting nearby. She was ready to send them on their way.


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 Chapter 1116 - 1116. Butterfly In The Sky

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    The mountain eagles had a grey and white speckled feather. They had veryrge wings that could wrap the entire group multiple times. But what was more terrifying than amazon were the extremely sharp ck talons and orange yellow beak. It was very easy to see how they were able to tear apart rock serpents for food.


    "These are slow smoked horned rabbit sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce from the forest elves'' stall. The bread was made this morning." Walker shared the bag of sandwiches for Elise. She looked at them as if she had been handed a bag of gold. She was no stranger to Hilda''s cooking so she was more than just excited to eat them.


    "I rmend that you are calm when sitting on the top of this monster. It will be very unhappy to be near us. They are prideful and believe they are the true masters of the sky. They may not be right because they are not a dragon, but we can rely on them." Neil had seen these eagles before and learned about their temperaments.


    "I think we will be alright. Midnight has been on the back of another bird before. They seemed not to mind things as long as she was calm as well." Walker gave a slight nod to let Neil and Leon on one of the mountain eagles while he took one with Midnight. Alma and Gil took thest while they double checked all their bags for Walker to store them away. It was time to go and see the vast open skies.


    "Get there safe and don''t forget that you will be heading back yourselves. Just make sure that you keep an eye out for any other flying monsters. The eagles might try to scare them off."


    Elise said this and then whistled. Walker didn''t even have a chance to ask what she meant by scare them off.


    The skies werepletely free of clouds. All they could see after the eagles climbed in to the sky was blue. The world below them was very small. None of them had been this high. Thest time that Walker had been in the sky on a flight was not this high by any means. The eagles pushed themselves as high as possible just so they could screech loudly to im their rightful ce as the highest flying monsters. Of course, a dragon would argue with that.


    "I wish I could see the ground from up here. Imagine if I could fire urately from this far away. But I am not that kind of archer." Gil was able to speak over the rushing wind. It was a surprisingly calm and smooth ride now that the mountain eagles had flown in to the higher altitude and were gliding.


    "If you were a longbow sniper then you would miss out on the magic arrows. You would not be as happy. I doubt even a longbow sniper could hit a target from here though. If they can then they are well beyond the mastery we know of." Alma hadn''t ever heard of a longbow sniper that was so urate.


    "I''m not a longbow sniper, but I can see whatever that is." Gil could easily spot the red, yellow, and white stripes moving ahead. Just a few waves of his hand got Walker''s attention for an appraisal.


    '' Striped butterfly


    A monster that outlives most others of its kind. It may not look like it but the striped butterfly is a unique monster with three elemental affinities: water, lights, and wind. This gives them the ability to fly very high without needing tond. They are known for gathering and drinking clouds from the air. They are usually not aggressive and have very weak offensive power. However, their legs are still somewhat spiky and sharp. They aremonly used in potion forms to bnce the elemental mana within. Their wings are the best material for such potions.''


    Walker was able to yell this over to everyone since the mountain eagles were close enough to each other. But at this point, the words that Elise had told them before they flew off rang in Walker''s head. The mountain eagles saw the butterfly. The screech of warning was enough for Walker to know that they were going to chase this butterfly down.


    "Everyone! Hold on!" Walker shouted as loudly as he could. He was just in time too. The mountain eagles gave some very powerful ps of their wings which stirred the wind. The group needed to hold tightly to resist the new pressure of rushing air. It was a testament to the strength of the mountain eagles had while flying. They had been controlling their speed and the wind around them with precision. But now they were heading right for the butterfly.


    The mountain eagle that Gil and Alma were on saw the butterfly first and had the lead. It flew a little higher and Gil could see the outstretched talons. He grabbed Alma and help her to the specially made saddle they were holding on to just in time for the mountain eagle to dive slightly. The talons grabbed on to the striped butterfly and its wings were shed in to pieces.


    It had only been a few seconds between the attack and the fact that the mountain eagle was now snapping it up with its beak. But it was enough to see that the mountain eagles were a ferocious monster that would easily take down its prey. The other two mountain eagles seemed to be looking at the first in jealousy since it had managed to snag a free meal. "So, mountain eagles have very good eyesight and are much faster than we thought." Gil had trouble speaking clearly through the wind but everyone had the same thoughts. Now they would be wary of butterflies for the rest of their flight to the demi-human city.


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 Chapter 1117 - 1117. Elises Home

    "I thought we would bending in the city. But we are actually a small journey from it, aren''t we?" Leon had referenced the maps before he came out because he wanted to make sure he would be able to better battle in the areas they were traveling. It would be even more dangerous if he were to be stuck in a ce with a lot of dry weather and dust.


    "A lot of people think that. But we have to keep the mountain eagles separate from the rest of the avian monsters that have been tamed in the guild. If they flew in to the city we would have a war of the birds." The tamer that ran the small ranch that they had justnded in was checking over the mountain eagles. "This letter exins why you were on the back of my eagles. When you see Elise tell her that she needs toe back and have dinner with my wife and me. It''s been a little while."


    The man seemed a little sad since he had not seen Elise. "I will let her know. I will even add a little extra oomph to make sure that shees soon." Walker added a little smile and energy in to his response.


    "Ha! I like you kid. Elise used to live here, well, between missions with the tamers'' guild. She''s a good kid. I''m pretty proud that I saw her grow up. She used to be so quiet and avoided people. Now she''s in charge of building another guild branch. How the world has changed." The man walked away guiding the eagles towardrge roofed nests. Walker wasn''t sure what to say about the fact that they had somehow ended up in one of Elise''s previous homes. But it made sense that she would be somewhere that Ste would be able to fly freely.


    "So, what''s the n? We couldn''t exactly speak about the way we would travel. Butterflies and all that." Gil wanted to get on the move. He liked being out but he also didn''t want to be gone too long. He was lucky that the other archers he knew wanted to help with the archer academy that he had begun. There were also many adventurers that hade out of retirement to help with the expansion of the adventurer''s guild That fact alone created many potential sses on survival for the archers that had just joined Gil''s academy.


    "I know the area has many streams and semi aquatic monsters. But I can use my blue ivy freely. I will avoid using the razor whip weed. I don''t think it will be the best opportunity." Alma was giving Walker the heads up so that he wouldn''t try to change their path because of her. He didn''t miss that she had a small set of vials strapped to her waist with water and seeds in them for when she may need them.


    "Well, since we aren''t exactly in the city it helps a little more than if we were. Now we can head on this trail toward thekes. Not many merchants use the paths that get close to thekes or where the streamsbine. That means monsters. Frogs, snakes, fish, and plenty more that hunt those types of monsters. I think that your blue ivy will be better than we expect. There are perfect growing conditions around here even though it is cold. There might be some ice but the soil is still soft from all the flowing water. Just be careful with the gravel, it should be icy."


    "We don''t worry about ice and water so much. You will have us for the monsters that try and surprise us, we can deal with them." Leon knew that between him and the Niel, that they would have the better foot hold on the ice, water, and potential snow around. Their bodies were just better prepared for such terrain.


    "Sounds good. Then you two will be the front fighting force. Alma will act as support while Gil tales the ranged attack position. I will jump in where I need. But the trail will be overgrown due tock of travel so make sure you have focused eyes." Walker pointed out the trail on the maps he had brought with him. He was well aware that not everyone had the maps memorized like him. In the future, he would want to pass the mental archive skill on to the entire party. But that was something for another day.


    "Then we should get a move on. I would say it''s a few days if we don''t keep ourselves paced well. Midnight will also get Restless since you might steal away her job of helping everyone out." Gil was going to make fun of Walker for not assigning Midnight to a spot on their travels. However, Walker was not having any of that.


    "You think I need to tell Midnight what her role is? She is the dependable scout that does soooooo much better than that archer on my party." Midnight snorted inughter when Gil stuck his tongue out at Walker in response. " Midnight, you have the patrol around the group. Practice your shadow wrapping skill. You haven''t been using it much since you focused on your flight training." Walker had noticed that Midnight had not been focusing on the skills she had received earlier in life and did not want to see her get rusty.


    "Can we just call Midnight the adorable assassin? She can hide away even though she is a dragon and stands out everywhere she goes. It''s pretty impressive." Alma gave Midnight a pat on the head before Midnight took the lead. Gil was watching their back since he would best be able to see and realize something hunting them. It was a perk of being used to the wilds as a hunter.


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 Chapter 1118 - 1118. Grass

    "This yellow grass might be good for your me dolls. I asked Alma about it and she said that it only grows in ces near a lot of running water." Gil spoke up to get Walker''s attention. Walker had looked at the grasses around them and just thought they were overgrown.


    "I didn''t know they were that different. Let me appraise them and see what it''s all about." The thought that the me dolls might be able to upgrade with what was burned was a new idea for Walker. He had not tried to make any other form of doll or golem at all since he knew the challenges in it. He wasn''t sure if he would be able to control all of them while he and the party battled. Pulse he would need to adapt them to different situations all the time. It would end up costing him more mana than he wanted.


    ''Yellow river grass


    This grass only grows in ces where the rivers overflow. They be green with yellow flowers in the hotter flooded months while they be fully yellow in the colder months. They are very hard to burn and can make amazing tinder even in the rain. They are able to survive the hot and cold extremes as well as the flooding of rivers. Only a small number of insect monsters eat this grass during the harvest season.''


    "It will be good for the me dolls. I will pull out the scythe and try to harvest some as we go." Walker ran ahead a little and started to clear the path. Midnight was right with him to watch his back while he did this. As Walker cut the stalks down he saw that the snow was still on the ground. But even more, he could see the gravelly soil that allowed water to flow around easily. If this was a warmer season he would need to worry about sh floods.


    "We can tell that the water flows pretty freely here. We might want to make sure we are close to those hills if we see a water affinity monster around." Leon used his spear to point out the nearby hills. They would make the group easier to spot but would also allow for Gil and Walker to take down monsters from further away.


    "I believe we will need to be careful when we start a fire for a rest. This grass seems like it would continue burning even without us nearby." Neil had been told once by a fire affinity dragonkin that they often had to worry about causingrge fires. They had the skills to use fire in conjunction with their weapons. Therefore, it would often cause fires that could spread uncontrobly. Since that day, Neil had always made a point to put out his firepletely.


    "I would rather go to the hills than wade through the grass thates up to my elbows." Alma liked the nature and enjoyed being surrounded by it. However, the forest nature and this nature were different. Here she was not as prepared to deal with the monsters that could sneak through the grasses. She was also the shortest of the group and would need to worry about being attacked first if a monster did sneak up on them.


    With the speed that they could wrap them, Walker was able to get arge number of bundles made up. The yellow grass woulde in handy. "You know, if we use this to make some training dummies, I wonder if there are elf mages that can make them move like a real opponent"? I have been wondering if I could learn a skill like that." Walker directed this question toward Alma. he knew that she might have knowledge about such things.


    "I have known some mages that could do such things. It may be rare for a dragonkin to be a mage, but the one that I met could create earth dolls that could fight back as long as a runesmith helped make them." There was some surprise hearing that there were dragonkin mages that could make earth dolls that didn''t need mana from the caster exclusively.


    "I was going to suggest using magic like my vine control or nt growth to make that happen. But what if you learned something that controlled strings and mixed runes with it like the earth dills. I bet there will be plenty of runesmiths that could help you there." Since there was a rush to study magic and runes back in Genesis, Alma had an idea that there would be more people than not that could help Walker mix skills in such a way.


    "Good points. I should try and learn skills like that.Wonder if the dwarves could make a core that connected to some special threads and runes to make golems or dolls that could receive mana from the core. It would be kind of like those lesser liches we have heard about. They don''t have the ability to survive within their own body so they require some sort of core or ce to store their soul." Walker recalled a book he had read but couldn''t verify if it was urate. The undead were a big mystery when it came to how they came to be. He also wasn''t sure he should study magic that made undead.


    "We should pay more attention to those weird stones up ahead. They seem a little too perfect." Leon was very careful to stop before the patch of stone ahead. The grass didn''t grow in a perfect circle and there was no ice or snow there either. On top of this, the stones were all perfect oval shapes that were nearly identical in color. They were a red g if any of them had ever seen one. Walker didn''t waste time and used his all around appraisal skill.


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 Chapter 1119 - 1119. A Delicacy

    ''Brook frog eggs


    The brook frog is arge frog known for eating water loving birds. Theyy their eggs right before the ice sets in. The adults will hibernate by freezing their bodies in the bottom of streams or rivers. The eggs will hatch the moment the ice starts to melt leaving strange patches of ground without grass or other nt life. The floods will then push the hatches brook frog tadpoles in to streams andkes. They are considered a delicacy if roasted. They are particrly loved by the birds that the brook frogs are known to eat.''


    "That''s an odd cycle of life. When they are growing and young they are prey to birds. Then when they are adults they prey on birds." Leon felt that this was an oddity he had yet to see. It was possible for some ces in the ocean to have life cycles like this but that was how the ocean worked. Everything ate everything because there were rare times when food would not be avable.


    "It works though. If the frogs have a good year then the birds will grow too much. If the birds have a good year then the frogs will grow too much. They keep themselves in check. Walker should get some so we can eat themter. We aren''t birds but I have a feeling that they will be better than you think." Gil wouldn''t shy away from eating these eggs. He was a hunter and was used to such things.


    "I don''t know if I would eat those¡­they seem a little¡­slimy." Just thinking about a frog and the slimy skin they normally had put Alma off of making this a meal.


    "I have no issues." Midnight huffed in agreement with Neil. She would dly eat whatever food she could while out. Especially since she was feeling hungrier more often due to her intensive flight training.


    "Then we will add a few to the mealter. And, I will make us something else too. I can''t say I will like these too." Walker moved to grab some of the eggs and used one of his throwing needles to make sure they would not hatch under any circumstances. He felt a little bad but knew that this was the same that people did to chicken eggs. Now he could also store them away within his inventory forter.


    "I wonder what a brook frog looks like while hibernating. It freezes its body while it waits for the warm weather. I can''t imagine what that''s like." As much as Gil tried, he couldn''t figure out how that worked.


    "I bet they have a skill that flows the mana through them. Then when the light and fire elemental mana from the sun mixes in their mana starts to retract. It would make sense because the different seasons'' mana affects us all." There was a pause while Alma thought to the forests. "The steel vine traps and other nts like that go dormant in the colder seasons as well. They react based on the sun and the warmth too."


    Everyone was interested in this since it was different from ce to ce what monsters might react this way. It was a good way to decide when they would travel. If the colder months were safer then it might be better to travel the forests then. Many merchants would find this information very valuable. There was the fact that the elves were handling the majority of merchant activities in the forest though, so it was not very pressing right away.


    "Well, it''s good not to worry about the frogs right now. But I would like to know whatnd animals make tracks like this. I can track signs of fish and other monsters in the water. But here onnd, I defer to you." Leon was very good at spotting small tracks. Gil felt that his respect for Leon was growing by the minute.


    "I would say those are¡­hmm. You know, I''m not fully sure. They seem like they are monster tracks but also kind of¡­well¡­like a person''s foot." This stumped Gil. "It''s either that an animal and a person stepped on the same spot at the same time or there are weird monsters around."


    "I don''t like the sound of that. If it''s not something we know then we need to be sure that we are able to handle the danger." Walker prepared himself and changed the eternal orb in to its spear form. He felt that matching Leon''s spear would allow them to hold something at a distance while giving Neil and Gil a chance to attack.


    "I will make sure I am ready too. I have neglected my blue ivytely. I also have a new skill I have been waiting to use. It costs almost no mana as long as it is a sunny day." The seeds that Alma tossed on the ground grew up and wrapped her arms and legs. Soon they had covered most of her body in blue ivy armor. "This is called ivy armor and it uses the mana from the sun to remain full. It can poison those that touch me, protect me, and I can use it to attack at mid range."


    "Why didn''t you tell me you have a new skill? That''s so cool!" There was some jealousy in Gil''s voice but even more admiration.


    "I can''t give away all my secrets, you know. I would have trained it more before showing it off if I wasn''ting with you out here." There was a tinge of red on Alma''s face. She was embarrassed that so many people were looking at her in admiration. Her skill was really suited for her and would allow her to have a muchrger battle capacity. Walker knew that it must have been a result of her leveling up after the battle in the oceans.


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 Chapter 1120 - 1120. Odd Scents

    While the group had not encountered much as they traveled, they were still pretty amazed that they hadn''t run in to more during the day. "I''m just saying. When we were out in the ins we saw plenty of imps. Now we are seeing almost nothing. How can it be so different this cold season to thest? Plus, there should be those ice slimes, right?" Gil was not the only one thinking these things. But he had been the first to speak out about his worries.


    "I know. It''s odd." There were more of those odd tracks following the trails that no one would normally be following. Between Leon and Gil, they could not identify what monster or person would make them. "I would say those tracks belong to demi-humans but they don''te this way. They don''t get along with the water elves."


    "I agree. The demi-humans are very honest with their territories. They will not lie about their borders. It is one of the traits that makes them extremely trustworthy. Even if the demi-humans and my people didn''t get along, we would still hold this feeling." Alma was very sincere with her words. She had long respected the fact that the demi-humans took very careful attention to their farnds and territory. It was about the food that fed their people and they would use just enough to keep storage of their food for a bad year. Many kingdoms had great respect for such things and would give the benefit of the doubt because of such a thing.


    "That means there are things patrolling the trails around here. But it can''t be the water elves¡­" Neil felt that the small he and Midnight had picked up was also odd. They both felt that there was something familiar but also something off about it. "The tracks smell sweet. In a bad way. Almost like those hypnotizing lilies that grow in the mountain by the volcanoes. Their scent confuses monsters and animals. That causes them to go without eating and perish on the bed of lilies so that the lilies can eat away at their bodies."


    "That''s a little scary. Remind me to avoid hypnotizing lily fields." Gil didn''t know there was such a nt.


    "If you are strong enough you can resist. They actually make a very valuable healing herb. I believe they make high tier healing potions with added poison resistances. Very good for certain treatments." As Neil said this they couldn''t help to wonder what Remey would say if they were to tell her such an herb existed. She might try and get them to go and hunt for it that very second.


    "I wonder if it is a monster with some form of skill that releases a hypnotizing scent then? Are there monsters like that?" This was not something that Leon was used to. The overworld was very different from the underwater world. The only scents that he would run in to were ones that attracted certain fish or monsters. There was nothing he knew of that would lure in something to hypnotize their prey. The only things that did that were deep sea monsters with glowing light.


    "We can worry about it when we manage to track one down. We will be able to see it well before we get near it. The depth of the footprints makes it clear that they arerger than us by a little." Gil was sure that they would be able to track whatever these monsters were. It would be better to see the answers with their own eyes.


    "Then that means we will all need to look more carefully. Midnight, just stay close. I don''t want you getting in to trouble with an unknown enemy." This wasn''t too much of a worry since Walker knew that Midnight would easily be able to take on most monsters. However, the unknown was always dangerous.


    "A wise choice. But since it is gettingte in the day, we should look to stop somewhere." Neil was sure that he could walk all night. However, he had been raised to be considerate of others and knew that the other races were not as intense as the dragonkin. They would need rest.


    "That should mean Walker will warm up those extra sandwiches I saw him store away earlier, right? I can even let you use my spear to help hold them close to the fire." Walker was sure that he had hidden the extra back carefully. But Leon had still managed to get a glimpse. With Midnight hearing this as well, Walker was as good as given up. He had to share them all now.


    That brought the group toward arger area that appeared to have been a nest for brook frog eggs at some point. It was easy to see the yellow grass that had tried to grow back but had not been able to take root. It felt odd for them to be surrounded by tall grasses and that led them to having two people on watch. They all were not very tired but would rest where they could.


    "So, what are you really thinking about the water elves?" Walker had taken the forest watch with Alma. He wanted to be sure that they were making the right choice to go and speak to them now.


    "Truthfully? I''m worried about them. They isted themselves much sooner than my people. They also push others away. They don''t even take prisoners. Just exile them or worse. It''s very radical and even reminds me a little of demons. I just wish we knew what made them be this way. They used to help the merfolk in the oceans and be very friendly." This had stumped Alma for a long time and she was currently reliving it all. Walker didn''t have any idea either.


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 Chapter 1121 - 1121. Torch Light

    The pair seemed that they had a lot on their minds when it came to the water elves. The fact that Alma was just as stuck as Walker on the water elves being so isted, made them both worry. "If they had always been that way I would understand. But they are not necessarily high elves, right? Eleven you and the queen have mentioned how high elves are too thin of blood nowadays. That''s why the skills are so rare."


    Alma knew that this was more true with every elf born, "There has to be some outside force that made them this way. I understand leaving the oceans because it is safer in thekes. That makes sense for their people. But isting themselves has to be something else. Something that convinced every single member of their people. I asked around and apparently, there was nothing recent for their history. It was as if they stopped epting people near them one day out of the blue."


    She paused for a little while while speaking, "Yes they are the closest to the high elves and they had some bad apples. There will always be those that get a rare bloodline rted skill and try to preserve it. But this was a little too much." Alma wished she had answers but decided to try and push the thoughts from her mind while tossing another log on the fire.


    Walker nced at everyone else asleep. The only one still awake was Neil. He was meditating while trying to improve his control of the ice on his hands. He wanted to try and do the same so that he could see if he could also learn some elemental armor skills. It would be amazing to have an elemental armor of mana and have it work with his own armor. It was one thing that he would test when he returned home. It would also potentially work with runes, therefore, opening another thing to study.


    "Hey, can you see that? There are three torch lights way over there." The three faint lights that Alma could make out were definitely dancing mes. They were too far away to make out what was holding them but they were a little taller than the enforcers that Alma normally had around her. She couldn''t help make theparison in her head.


    "I wish we could make it out. But even if we had some night vision skill we would have trouble with the way the torches are. Trust me. I have seen Midnight avoid looking in the torch light when we have one at night." Walker had taken some time to learn that Midnight Had trouble looking through the dark then back at a strong light source when it was night. He easily chalked it up to being her natural night vision.


    "You don''t think there would be some foolish merchants out trying to get closer to thekes, right?" This was the first worry that came to Alma. She had a feeling that there just might be some people that heard their group was heading toward theke. That would bait them in to going and trying to take advantage of a newly opened trade route that no others had.


    "What''s going on? Is there something wrong?" Gil had woken up hearing the slightly raised voices of Alma and Walker while they had debated what they had seen.


    "There were torch lights in the distance. From what Walker showed us on the map they were walking a trail nearby. We are worried that merchants followed us out here."


    "Merchants?" Gil had a hard time thinking that people would be so foolish to waste their timeing out to thekes just to get turned away. "They should know that even your city took time to allow merchants to travel. Even now it is a very controlled matter." Since he had the best tracking ability, Gil stood up and grabbed his arrows. He wasn''t sure he would get by with just going to take a look. "I will scout it out thene back. Just keep the fire warm."


    At this point, Midnight had woken up to. Gil and Midnight were the first to head out while Leon and Neil focused up as well. "I was having the best dream about a silver skinned tuna. And now, I feel like I should be ready for a fight." The anxiety that Leon was feeling came from his natural merfolk instincts. He knew when enemies were nearby. It was very valuable for anyone in the water to be hyper aware.


    "Gil and Midnight are already on it. They should be back soon. Walker just reassured Leon that everything would be fine. It was enough to get Leon to sit back down without any more jokes.


    It only took a few minutes for Gil to return with a puzzled expression. "So, it looks like whatever you saw were the monsters foot prints we saw earlier today. But that means they are most likely a demi-human. All the tracks are very simr though. Definitely the same species." While Gil exined, Midnight was rubbing her nose clean. "Oh, and they have the same scent as what we smelled earlier. But it is much stronger. I don''t know what it is but they definitely had it all over their bodies."


    "Same foot prints, same smell, and we are all wondering what it is still? Let me take watch. if anything shows up I will defend it." Neil stood up from his training and stood in the middle of their camp next to the fire. He had his eyes ready to see any threat. He also caught glimpses of the torches as the night went on. "So someone''s surveying us. Let''s see how this goes tomorrow." Neil was ready to fight whatever it was.


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 Chapter 1122 - 1122. The Spring

    The night flowed on and the torches didn''t appear in the distance again. However, when Gil had woken up again he took Midnight out with him to scout the area. "Those three torches were not just three people walking around. There were about ten of them. I don''t think that''s a good thing. We are heading toward whatever it was since they headed right down the path you are nning." This seemed to be a problem for all of them.


    "Do I even risk saying it? Are they water elves or something that the water elves might control?" Leon was not about to say that these were definitely a true statement. However, he knew that the water elves would use water sprites or nymphs to defend their territory. These could be one and the same.


    "I don''t think so. If they were anything water rted they wouldn''t leave this kind of footprint. The nymphs don''t leave footprints at all. They leave puddles and cold icy spots. We have a few in the forest but much less than ake would have. If it were a tree spirit or wood sprite I would tell you that they would leave vine and leaf patterns in the snow and mud." Alma was torn. The footprints that they saw would mean that the water elves might have started taming other monsters. This would be wildly unlike the water elves that they knew.


    "No point in worrying about it now. Let''s just head in to the brooks and streams more. I want to be able to see what everything is. If I read the map right there should be a natural spring up ahead with warmer water. The dwarves even marked that it was ava cave beneath the area. I would love to explore ava cave at some point but there are no safe entrances around." Walker had his fantasies about theva cave and potentially finding some amazing diamond like materials.


    "Count me out ofva caves this trip. I won''t even go in to that boiling water. Too dangerous." There was a nerve that Walker seemed to have hit by bringing this up. The merfolk did not do well with hot and dry. They also learned from a young age to avoid the potentially toxic underwater boiling vents from suchva areas.


    "We are not exploring that. We have a different quest to achieve. Let us head on. If such a spring exists I am sure that we will see other travelers there. They could give us the answers." Midnight huffed in agreement with Neil. He was less worried about such things and knew that they would have the answers they needed one way or another.


    The group cleaned up their mess easily and pushed down the path. Nothing seemed odd other than the footprints showing that the trail was better traveled than they knew. However, they only saw such footprints. Nothing else.


    "U thought we would see other merchant trails too. The spring should be a big deal. The only other one we know of is by the beach right?" Gil had enjoyed the spring and was certain that a spot like that would be very popted around here. It was near the demi-human borders and could be traveled to by anyone with proper guards.


    "I''m wondering what the grass seems to be shorter around here as well." Since Alma was very in tune with nature, she could tell that something was stunting the growth of the grass nearby. The closer they made it toward the spring the more she noticed it.


    "That smell¡­" Both Midnight and Neil were slowly stopped in their tracks. They could tell the sweet scent was getting stronger than it was before.


    ''The user has been in a prolonged exposure to a poison. The skill high poison resistance has been taken from the thousand antidote system.The user has automatically learned the skill high poison resistance due to their exposure and high sensitivity to mana.


    High poison resistance- passive or 2 mana per hour


    The user is able to use their mana to process poisons in the air, waters, and on their skin. This allows them to resist the effects of such poisons along with share their mana with allies to help them resist as well. This resistance is a cut above all others. It will perfectly resist most poisons unless they are extremely concentrated. Prolonged exposure means nothing to such high resistance.''


    "Stop!" Walker made everyone elsee close to him while he shared his mana with them. It was an easy action for him to pass on some mana to them and protect them.


    "What''s wrong? Why did you share mana with us and it says that the poison is being resisted?" Walker could see a flushed face slowly disappearing from Gil. No one had noticed that they were bing red faced and unsteady. The only people that had managed to resist were Neil and Midnight since they had much high resistance to any poison due to their races. Walker had managed to gain a skill and resisted more due to his rtionship with Midnight.


    ''Poison, it''s in the air. That''s the sweet smell. I can''t get an appraisal on it but it''s in the air. I''m willing to bet that it''s in the water up ahead too." Poisoning the water of the spring would exin why it was in the air. The real question was, who would do such a thing?


    "You don''t think¡­" Alma feared that the water elves had either poisoned the water themselves or were poisoned. If that was the problem and it had been going on for a long time then that would definitely make the water elves less likely to rte themselves with the other races. It could all be made clear.


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 Chapter 1123 - 1123. No Swimming!

    "In theory, we will need to purify this spring. But do you think we could do something like that? If Alice hade we would be able to without a problem." The thought that Gil had was to send someone back to bring help this way.


    "If we go back and get her we might not be able to get to the root of the problem. We need to get to the water elves first. If they need help we should help them first." In Walker''s mind, the people were priority. For the chance that they needed help or not, it would be better to speak to them. If the group brought someone to purify the area without anymunication with the water elves, it could cause future issues with rtionships.


    "That does not look the way a warm spring should look." Neil had seen small springs appear within the icy mountains. They would be the results of deep ice melting from the shifting earth deep in the mountains. The rest of the group was happy to hear that he was rxing his tone of speech because he was getting used to them., But they were not happy to see what Neil saw.


    "Why is it pink and purple. That''s not how water should be. If I saw a patch of water in the ocean like that we would have to alert the entire city." It was not umon for the merfolk to encounter such things that drifted in the currents. The kraken ink was one that they had seen from other species of monsters before.


    ''Alluring spring


    This spring has been contaminated by a poisonous skill. This gives the spring the effect of attracting whatever is under the effect of the poison inside. The user of this poison then gains the ability to control and manipte the affected being. Eventually, all of their wills is taken away and they be a puppet to the one poisoning them. This poison can not be purified unless the one that caused it is subdued or defeated.''


    Walker read out his appraisal. He realized that this was the reason that the sweet smell must be around those that were walking the trails. It was also why they had not run in to many monsters. Everything in the area that smelled or touched this spring water would be under the control of whoever used this skill.


    "This may be worse than I thought. If the water elves are affected by this then they may be stuck in permanent danger. We need to hunt for whatever set this poison. I just don''t know what could have done this. I don''t have enough information." Alma desperately wanted to search the forest elf archives for information about such things. She knew that she would be able to find some answers they needed if she had the chance to search long enough.


    "We will leave it for now. I don''t think we can resist this poison without Walker right this second. If we tried to do anything we would be at a disadvantage. Let''s get close to thekes and see what we can see." Neil was backing what Gil said. He too wanted to see what the situation really was.


    "We will move carefully. We are going to take this trail instead of the one we have been on." Walker showed them the longer way around to be sure that they would not have an issue with whatever was patrolling thends. We can get closer and see the state of thekes." Walker knew that their trial would have more rocks and dangers because it was less traveled than the trails they were on. But he feared that if they came in contact with whatever was patrolling that they would have trouble beating them. They were under the effects of whoever controlled them. It was a sure bet that they would not be able to hold back against them.


    "Onward we push." Leon took the lead with his spear at the ready. He felt that it was better to travel with more caution. He also knew that he would most likely be the fastest to attack since he could throw his spear as a distraction and damage dealer.


    The trail they took was barely a trail. The grass had nearly taken over the rocks that they walked on. There was even some running water around them that showed just how much the terrain had shifted since people had traveled this area. "I can''t even imagine how a merchant would bring a cart over this. It feels like this is a dried stream bed."


    "It might as well be, the streams were once diverted in this area so that people could explore for resources. I read that in the demi-human descriptions of the area. That''s another reason that the water elves do not like the demi-humans." Alma responded to Gil with a piece of solid information. It made sense that the rtions between the two were not just based on some small farnd issue. The water elves were old and they had a history with the demi-humans that built their negative feelings.


    "At least thekes aren''t that color." Walker felt Midnight pull on his clothes and made him look at thekes in the distance over the grasses and small hills of rocks. He could see that thekes were still shining crystal blue. They didn''t show that there was any poison in the air at all. However, Walker could see that there were many things odd about thekes. Many things were in motion, especially therge ind that separated thekes from each other making them multiple instead of one.


    "I shouldn''t have to worry about swim-" Just as Leon spoke they saw arge fin cut through the water. "Nevermind, no swimming in thekes."


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 Chapter 1124 - 1124. Not Normal

    There were small wooden tforms floating in the water all around the ind. The once pure white and blue castle seemed to be dinged by purple which spoke to Walker as being the poison. Then looking to the distant shores, Walker could see tall figures working on small homes and huts. "Would you say that is normal for water elves?" They all looked at Alma for her opinion.


    "No. Not at all." Her face was a muddle of emotions, worry benign the most prevalent. "They would not make floating boats of homes. That castle is the only thing that they had to brag about because it stores their knowledge on magic and has their most powerful elders living within. The rest would make homes under the waters so that they could be closer to the elemental mana they revere. Those boats can''t be from normal activities."


    "Then that discoloration on the castle is poison. I would say it''s been around for some time if it even dyed the walls of their pristine castle. I think we should cut down and investigate. Just no swimming in the waters. I have a feeling that thing we saw is a tamed monster." Since Gil had the best eyesight, he had seen the fins closer than the others. He could tell therge spines were sharper than they looked, He could also make out the green and brown coloration of some sort of fish. What he didn''t see was the exact size of the monster. But it swam around avoiding the boats with ease so he could tell it was somewhat controlled.


    The group kept themselves light footed so that they would not make any novice. They had some distance to cover but they knew that there were patrols around. It had not been long since they had taken a look at theke from a distance. But the moment they hard noise they put themselves t to the ground.


    "Walker, can you see them to appraise them?" Gil wanted Walker to get them more information. They could see the tops of the patrol''s heads but nothing much else.


    What Walker could make out was white and blond hair longer than most he had seen. There were pointy elf ears but they had strange shapes. They were not perfect like the forest elves but had jagged appearances. The eyes that he saw were tinged with red and ck instead of blue and what that would normally be there for a water elf. Alma saw this too and held a harsh breath.


    ''Half elf half demon - starstruck


    Scout system user


    This is a unique race thates from the bonding of elves and demons. Their magical prowess is extremely high along with the mana sensitivity. Theyck the precise control over their water elemental mana due to their demonic half but make up for it in mana capacity. This person is currently under the effect of a hypnotizing poison and ispletely controlled. Theyckbat ability but have a great sense of surroundings. However, their senses are dulled due to the hypnotizing poison affecting their body. The only way to release this half elf half demon from the poison is to defeat or subdue the one causing the poison.''


    "Half Dem-!" Alma felt Gil''s hand mped over her mouth. She was about to give away their position. She realized her issue and nodded for him to release her. "This is impossible. How could they have rtions with demons all the way over here? It''s so far from the demonnds. It has to do with the control over them." Alma was sure of this. She would never see the water elves allowing for such things to happen to them and their people. They were too proud.


    "Wait, look at that one. He looks like a normal water elf." Walker looked at a taler elf man that wore blue robes and led the group of scouts.


    '' Pawn Of Lust- Water elf scout- Starstruck


    This is a water elf scout that has a very powerful form of scouting. They can use water to trace life around them and sense danger. It is a very powerful way to protect those and gather information since all living beings tend to have some form of water within them. This water elf ispletely under the control of the hypnotizing poison. The control is so powerful that the demon of Lust has given them the designation as one of her pawns. This connects them much closer than any other would normally be and allows for Lust to control them directly without using words. The only way to remove this effect is to subdue or defeat the Demon known as Lust.''


    Walker gnashed his teeth. This was a demon that was sent to do these things. They had slowly taken over the water elves and held people at bay while doing all of this.


    ''Race quest- The freedom of the water elves and their people


    The true hero has found that a sin demon; Lust, has taken control of an entire elf race. There have been years of poisoning leading to the half demon half elf raceing to be. It has brought the elves closer to the demons and further from those of their own kind. The true hero and theirpanions must resume these elves before they begin an attack on the nearby kingdoms for power.


    Requirements:


    Defeat Lust


    Free the people from the demons in control


    Wee the water elves and half elves in to Genesis


    Rewards:


    New allies


    Temporary high skill- Purifying pulse


    75 heroic points


    2000 xp''


    "We have a job to do," Walker said this as everyone else received their own quests. They knew that this was moreplicated than they knew. The water elves had not chosen this. They were victims in all this.


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 Chapter 1125 - 1125. Just Pay Me Back

    "This is one of the demons that causes all the problems. Another sin title. Hope long have they been here!?" Gil knew that this was a veryrge problem. One that someone should have discovered sooner but had not been found because the water elves had kept people away.


    "If Lust got to the elders then the younger water elves would have followed the directions of their elders. That means that they would have chased people off until they had been taken over too. It''s a terrible n that worked too well. Now there are half elf half demons that can cause major damage in battle and are even expanding the water elf territory." Alma was disgusted. The fact that elves had been taken advantage of in such a way was terrible. The fact that this led to the birth of had elf half demons was even worse.


    "I want to be supportive of the racesing together. But this is not the way. Hypnotizing people with poisons is despicable. The elves and demons shoulde together by choice and not because someone is forcing it to happen so that there can be another army. We are dealing with this now." Walker was gripping the eternal orb in staff form so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He hadn''t found himself so angry before. It was not because it was another attempt by the demons to take over more territory. But it was the fact that they disregarded basic decency to make it happen.


    "We can handle these things. I don''t want to go in to that water but I have a skill that coulde in handy to break down those boats and rafts. Maybe even wash some of that poison away. But after that, I will need some serious time to get back to fighting strength." Leon was willing to bet it all on one move to help the others.


    "We should sneak in and find this Lust demon. We can use your move as a distraction once inside. If the poison relies on this demon then we should get rid of it. The half demons under control obviously don''t have ill will. Same with the elves under control. But the demons that came with Lust will need to be removed. We sneak in, I handle those demons while the rest of you resist poison and handle Lust." Neil had already built a n. He knew that Leon could use a big move to give them time to deal with those in charge of everything.


    "Then I will be using the razor whip weed anyways. I can create a cage to protect Leon. Then help hold off any of those under control. I don''t want people to get hurt. But I will not allow anyone responsible for this to escape. They are the problem. They are the corruption trying to take the world from every good soul." At that moment Alma pledged to herself and the world that she would make this all right. She was not going to allow those with ill will to ruin everything. She would protect those in need.


    Little did Alma know, the mana crystal seed that her queen had given her was resonating with the natural mana. The world had more than heard her pledge. It was the powerful will she had that caused the reaction. Mana began to pull toward her stronger than usual and be stored in the mana crystal tree seed. It was unnoticed by the others who believed it was just Alma resonating with her ideals and getting fired up. Not that they felt any differently. They had no idea that they were witnessing a defining moment of Alma bing a true representative of all elves in the world. She didn''t even notice the quest she received on top of her current quest.


    "Leon, you will be fine alone like this?" As much as Walker wanted to jump right in he still held his sanity. He wanted to be sure that Leon could handle this. They did not have enough time working together for Walker to blindly trust him. Even after the battle against the kraken.


    "You don''t need to worry. I was made to train for things like this since I was young." Leon was from the ocean. He had to be able to fend off monsters that could outmaneuver him in every way. This would be the same as being home.


    "Then we will take those water breathing scrolls. It''s time to sneak through the water." While they had been nning and preparing, Gil had been looking for their way to sneak in to the water unseen. "We are going through that grass there. We can get in to the water through that stream. The grass goes right up to it."


    Leon took out the scrolls he had brought with them. "The water mages made these for you. They will activate a spell that allows you to breathe underwater for a full day. No more, no less. Even if you exhaust your mana you will be able to breathe at the very least." The spell scroll was made with high skill and even Alma admitted that it was just as good if not better than the spell scrolls that the forest elves had made.


    "I know these are valuable and hard to make. If we can, we will pay you back." Both Gil and Walker had the same thought. The scrolls were very costly to create for a mage able to do so.


    "After we rescue these people, Walker can learn to make scrolls and give me one with his appraisal skill on it as payment." The slight sneaky response was enough to allow their stress to roll off. They were already high strung and a small amount of cheeky response helped them break that tension and focus deeper.


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 Chapter 1126 - 1126. One Hour

    The number of half elf half demons was not too great while the group snuck through the grasses on their stomach. Gil had originally thought kneeling down and crouching would be enough. But with Neil and Leon''s height, they need to be t. It also gave them a better chance of making it to the water.


    While they snuck through the grass Walker was able to make out the things that were being built. He could see the looks of forge materials and tools being set up. There were also training dummies and magical staffs being prepared. All of this was obviously for battle. What was even more dastardly was the fact that some of the half elf half demons looked malnourished. They were all being forced to work with the smallest amount of food possible. Not only were they unable to think for themselves, they were being tortured in such a way.


    Some had even copsed and just been pushed to the side. The water elves that had been controlled were even worse off. Even though they were pawns to Lust and technically in charge, they were treated terriblypared to others. It was more like they were there just to carry around more of the poison affecting all of them.


    It took some time for Walker to see the first demon. It was not what he expected. They had very round features inparison to the usual sharp and pointed features that the other demons had. There were also smaller wings than he had seen on some other demons. Therge pointed tail was what struck out the most. It seemed to have a defined needle on the end with a purple and pink coloration. He could bet that it was the ce that concentrated positions were stored.


    ''Subus demon spawn


    This is a demon with the sole purpose of following their subus parent. They have bodies that can attract other beings with high charisma. Their reflexes are much more improved than many other beings so that they can easily inject concentrated poisons in to a body. These poisons are received from their parent when needed. They give ny percent of the experience points gained to their parent as a requirement of their services. In turn, they are directly tied to the well being of their parent. If their parent suffers, so shall they. If their parent perishes, so shall they.''


    Walker managed to whisper this out so that everyone knew. Neil would just need to hold off these demon spawn so that the group could defeat Lust. It was a better situation than expected and warranted that Walker should use amunication crystal to get reinforcements on the way to help the water elves after this. There would be discord in their race if not done well.


    The group froze in ce while they processed this information and adjusted their mindsets to just hold off the children that lust created. This would be integral for them to clear the entire water elf group of this danger. It also gave Walker the time to pull out one of the crystals that Scy had given him and send an urgent message. It was enough for Scy to gather their council in Genesis and be able to get everyone on the move. He made sure that the forest elves would be put in the lead for this so that they would be more understanding. It was also important that the demons already saved and growing in Genesis were included.


    This way the half elf and half demons that hade from this tragedy would have brethren that had survived Pride to look to for guidance. They were all victims of corruption and deserved the chance to grow safely. If everything went well then there was the chance that the half elf half demons would be the key to bringing the races closer. It could be a foundation instead of a tragedy. All they needed to do was put in the kindness and effort to make it happen.


    Once the crystal had cracked and fallen in to shards their movement continued. Walker wanted to use magic to manipte the water and make it warmer. But he knew that it could give them away. He also worried that he would somehow alert water nymphs or sprites. But what was more strange than anything, these sprites and nymphs were nowhere to be seen. It was not normal for them to be so reclusive since these waters were their home.


    The stream had enough rocks to poke at their arms and stomachs while they crawled. But Gil had picked out a deep stream that let them fully cover themselves after using the water breaking spell scrolls. This was good since they were able to hide themselvespletely without any enemies seeing them. Not that they were making enoughmotion for any of the dulled and hypnotized water elves to see them.


    Their vision was not great underwater but they expected this. It was worse than it was in the ocean but the actions in the water from the boats and rafts made it that way. There were also the monsters in theke that the group had spotted which undoubtedly made the silt rise through the water.


    Leon took the lead because he was the one that would be able to show them where he needed to be to activate whatever skill he was able to. Walker felt that it had to be one that affected arge area and was unique to Leon''s spear. He could see that when Leon had spoken about it that he had clenched the spear tighter. He also wondered why Leon had not used it when they battled the kraken. Yet, as he thought about it, he realized that it must have to do with the fact that it would affect arge area and be dangerous for those around him. At the end of the day, Leon would be waiting for the right time to use it.


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 Chapter 1127 - 1127. Underwater Shadows

    Communication was harder in the water and Walker dared not use magic to manipte the water around them. He wanted to avoid detection at every turn so that he was able to make it to the water elf castle. They did, however, soon find the abandoned homes of elves beneath the water. It seemed that many had left things as they were without returning because they were given orders from Lust or their fellow elves.


    The signal from Leon came after they had swum in to what seemed to be a magic training field under the water. There were dummies that had fallen to pieces and were sitting in messy piles while even some clothing and training weapons were scattered about. Since he had the space, Leon knew it would be ideal for the razor whip weed to grow there and for him to use his skill.


    Speaking under the water was no issue for Leon but he knew that his friends would have a hard time understanding him. He pulled them all close and spoke as clearly as he could. "I will wait for an hour. Mus skill causes a massive wave of water that pushes everything away. It''s a defensive skill I learned that allows me to protect many people at once with my spear. I can''t use it often because it uses a lot of mana and pushes everything around me away. Just keep track of time and escape when I use it. Hold on to stone walls and make sure you are defended from the debris."


    His n was simple. When Walker was about to start the battle with Lust and the others, Leon would use his skill. That would mean that Neil would only need to deal with the remaining demons and controlled elves making it easier. It did put Leon at a risk but that was already epted.


    The seeds scattered around Leon as Alma opened the vials. She was able to easily grow the razor whip weed due to her recent training and learning about it. The reason the blue ivy had grown so well was because she had spent years learning about how it grew, absorbed mana, and crossbred. The razor whip weed was the same. Alma had gone to the herbalists and found every piece of information about it she could. It was a major jump in understanding so that she was able to properly use the razor whip weed to battle and protect others while not hurting them or herself.


    The mass amount of razor whip weed surrounded Leon leaving space for him to use his skills and only a small hole in the top to worry about. But it was just enough for him to leave without being hurt. If anything tried toe at him they would be hurt before they got to him. The group moved away and prepared themselves for more sneaking. They would have to avoid anything they saw as they went toward the ind castle.


    Gil made a move forward motion and let Neil and Midnight take the lead. They would be the best suited to fighting in the front now that Leon was waiting for the right time. Walker felt that he could make a skill simr to Leon''s mastery skill with his spear. But what Walker caught on to was that it was a defensive mastery skill. In his mind this meant that Leon had more than one mastery skill. This one was just a defensive one. It only made Walker believe that there could be multiple forms of the spear mastery skills. However, this was thinking for another time.


    The group moved forward and found that the deeper the water got the easier it was to see. They could still see the shadows of floating tforms and boats on the surface but the signs that the water elves had abandoned theke bottom was gut wrenching. There were parts of what should have been resting areas and training ces broken to pieces. They had been torn apart for their materials. They could only hope that the castle wasn''t the same so that when the water elves were set free they could have something familiar to hold on to.


    Walker felt a hand hold him back. Both Alma and Gil had stopped him since Neil and Midnight had stopped. They could see therge shadow of a giant fish swimming through the water around a floating tform.


    Therge fins they could see above the water were nothingpared to what they could see here. Walker immediately used his all around appraisal on the brown and green spike fish. The jagged teeth made him wonder if this was something brought from the demonnds so that they could more easily control the water elves, nymphs, and sprites.


    ''Demonic hagfish- tamed


    This is a monstrous fish that requires only mana to survive. They would normally survive on darkness and water elemental mana in most water sources. However, they possess a brutal urge to kill and eat. They attract prey by spreading poison in the water they have absorbed through time. Then they viciously tear and consume whatever is affected by the poison. These demonic hagfish can be used for a myriad of materials but are best used for warding off water monsters. Their spines are known for making amazing underwater arrows.''


    It was just as Walker had thought. The hagfish were demonic and had been tamed. Now they would need to be dealt with once Lust was defeated. It was certain that if a hagfish was killed then the tamer would alert Lust. As much as Walker wanted to get rid of these brutal monsters he had to wait. But they were all sure that these monsters were the reasons for the water elves to be removed from the water. It was also why the water sprites and nymphs would not be in the water either.


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 Chapter 1128 - 1128. Something To Hold On To

    The person who had the most annoyance when they had to leave the hagfish was not any of them that were necessarily rted to Genesis. It was Neil. As a dragonkin, he had hunted many monsters and animals to feed the vige and keep it growing. He found pride in serving the dragons to be more powerful. Honing his battle skills was an honor not everyone in life had. But what he saw when Walker whispered the appraisal was a true monster.


    Creatures that would tear things apart just to do it were not allowed to exist in his view. Every single thing done reflected on who someone was and who they represented. If any dragonkin were to do something so horrible then it would reflect on the elder and even royal dragons. Adding this hagfish to the Lust situation, made him furious. Only after Midnight had growled slightly to keep him in ce did he stop. Her warning had reminded him that he was indeed still in the presence of a dragon champion and a royal, even if Walker and Midnight did not act by the script he knew.


    This time Walker and Midnight took the lead. They let the shadow of the demonic hagfish pass by them without any action. It would be disced by Leon''s defensive skillter and even more so by their attack on lust. They all knew that the tamers were most likely demons that had Lust had spawned in some way and would lose their lives when she was defeated. Therefore, they would have the demonic hagfish to be dealt with. Luckily, they had already sent a message for reinforcements to help the water elves after.


    Whip pushing on through the water they noticed that the bottom was less and less covered with mud from all the activities on the surface and in the water. They found the stones that reced the mud were fairly clean inparison. Alma knew that this was the remainder of the water elve''s pride. They cleaned the area around their castle so that it would remain pure and stand out to the world. It was also why some small stone buildings were intact.


    They ducked in to one such underwater building to find that it was full of magical tomes. They were very intricate in their knowledge of water elemental magic. But one that stood out was a single book that had a rune Walker recognized from the mage tower. It was one that the desert elves must have gifted to the water elves at some point. There was no hesitation as Walker stored all the books away so that they would not be lost to the destruction that woulde with Leon''s skill. So much had already been lost and the single minute to store them away was more than enough to bring value back to the water elves.


    There was a stone slope going up toward a set of pure white stairs. They were made specifically for the water elves to walk in to the castle but had not been used for some time. The group looked at each other before Gil snuck upwards. He peaked out of the cold water and saw that the entire area was abandoned. He motioned for everyone to follow.


    Midnight went first and used her shadow wrapping skill. She was able to sneak around the area to find that it was indeed abandoned while the others came out of the water. Now that they knew there were no elves or demons nearby, Walker was less afraid to use his elemental maniption to remove the water from everyone. He knew that being too cold would hinder their battle. Especially since Gil, Alma, and him were blue lipped by this point.


    "This should be the most popted ce for the water elves. They made everything so that their castle would be the focal point of their city. But it''s just empty." The words seemed to drift away in silence while Alma looked at the towering white and blue castle. She knew that the water elves would use this as the entrance for everyone that came to the castle so that it would show off the magnificence of what they built. It was heartbreaking to see that it was so unused now.


    "Demons don''t care about that. You saw the training areas and homes underwater. They are in ruins. We are lucky that Walker grabbed those books. They were barely holding on without care. I bet they don''t even have proper water protection anymore because the demons have been focusing on war preparations now that they have full control." The fire in Gil''s voice was more powerful than even he realized. He had not gotten ahold of how this all really made him feel. He was closer to the elves than any of the party and now he was finding just how close he felt he was.


    "It will all be right. We can help fix it. Just breathe and keep your focus. It''s better that they are not watching this spot because they do not care. We can sneak in and find out where Lust is¡­.But I have an idea that we already know where they are." Midnight hissed in agreement. If Lust was the demon that they thought she was and wanted the attention of everyone, then she would have people steeped in poison mist in the grand hall of the water elf castle.


    "You will be able to keep the poison off of us? It will only get worse from here." Alma wanted to be sure that Walker''s high poison resistance skill could hold up. She was answered by him passing pon more of his mana to them so that it would protect them.


    "Let''s get moving. We don''t know the floor n of the castle so we might get lost. We need to tread carefully." Walker looked on the long walkway in to the castle ahead of them.


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 Chapter 1129 - 1129. Overgrown Alchemy Lab

    If it could be called a door then the hunk of broken wood that covered the once grand entrance of the water elf castle easily fell open. There was barely a sound as Neild caught it and dropped it to the ground. The group found that the hinges had been bent and broken over time to be the current state. "We should head straight and go right in to the main hall." Gil wanted to push in and get this done.


    "No, we should take the way around. If we can find a ce for Neil to draw the demons first then we will be better prepared for Leon''s attack. That lets us focus on Lust after the water hits." Walker was not nning to charge in. He had been counting in the back of his mind so that he would be ready for when Leon attacked.


    "Then we are taking that side path. I can feel the manaing from it. If I''m right then there is an overgrown alchemyb that way. I doubt that anyone has taken care of it and that means I can take a few nts to use. I want to see if they have something that can help when the water hits." Alma was nning to use nts that were not overly poisonous to grow and block some of the doorways. If the idea worked then she could force the water to draw out everyone from the castle but for Lust.


    "The n sounds proper. I will follow it. I can survive underwater battles as well. If I am dragged out it will not be an issue." Neil wasmitted to his position and did not mind the battle in the water or out. He was a water affinity dragonkin after all.


    The group followed Alma''s n and moved toward the side hallways. Alma had been more than right. Just as they turned a corner they found that there were many nts growing in the stones on the walls and ground. Some were obviously overgrown medicinal herbs that one could find anywhere in alchemy. But others seemed to be more rare. Walker tried his best not to appraise every single one. But when he saw that some had seeds and fruits he stored them away.


    "No alchemist would let their herbs grow so out of control. Theb is down there and getting inside is the same as cutting through the forest." Alma was a little sad to see it in this state. But she knew that these herbs would not grow in this way if they had not been cared for with a kind heart before they were left untouched for so long. Tools were rusty and vials were broken. It was rough all around. But the nts that had anchored themselves in to the stones were vibrant. "I want these."


    Alma pointed out a very small stalk of yellow vines simr to her blue ivy. "These are called lightning vines. They don''t actually have any lightning in them but they are said to paralyze someone like a lightning strike will. If I can make these my own I will grow them around the doorways of the main hall. That will stop anyone from moving for a few seconds at least. Once they are older they can paralyze a war elephant from the deserts. Or so I''ve read." The gloves that Alma wore were specifically for nts like this. She had immunity to her blue ivy since she had cared for it for so long. But against the lightning vines, she was weak.


    "Remey would lose it here. I guess that''s why you''re grabbing what you can?" Gil knew that it was also because the water elves would want to recover this if the one that had put so much effort in to it survived. But he also knew that Remey would have their heads if she knew that they had just walked by with nothing.


    "Wait, here''s a journal. It has notes from every day in it." Alma found a journal on the ground and flipped to the newest pages. "My fellow elders seem to be in a fog today. Every time I speak to them alchemy is further from their minds. They are all fascinated with the woman that came from the south saying she was a traveling elf. But she feels odd." Alma flipped through the pages more.


    "I can''t seem to pay attention today. I keep feeling the need to go to the main hall and speak with ourdy. She had started to guide us and bring us help. Who would have thought that the other races wanted to tear away our pure elf bloodlines? How despicable."


    "Alchemy is nothing now. Ourdy needs us. We will prepare for the worst and if the others can not agree with us they will be sent out. We must protect the elf race from these viins."


    "That''s all there is. There are a few alchemy notes by the alchemy journal turned in to a messed up journal about thedy that came. If we read all of them I think we will have a clearer picture of how Lust took over the city over years and years of poisoning¡­" They could feel their stomach churning at the thought. This was dastardly.


    "Come on. Midnight just scouted out the next hallway. A group of demons just passed by and we can sneak through." Walker could tell the warnings that Midnight wanted to portray. They had already given enough time for Alma to get the seeds she needed from the lightning vines. "Neil, you go with Alma and set the traps. Gil, Midnight, and I will prepare to face Lust. Just count for ten minutes. That''s all we have left." The group split up and Gil notched an arrow. He would have the first attack when the battle began. He would use the water affinity arrows in honor of the water elves that had lost their wills to Lust.


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 Chapter 1130 - 1130. Count Is Up

    "This looks like the ce. If you take those stairs you should be able to support from the top." Walker had found that hallway to the main stairs. He had a feeling that Gil would have to deal with a few demons guarding the top balcony but he would be able to handle it easily. "Midnight. You and I will go in to the room in a moment or two. Neil should be making amotion soon."


    Just as Walker had said this he heard a roar simr to a dragon. It was not quite the same power that should be in a roar but it was enough for him to know that there was rage in it. "I would say he''s been holding back more than we knew." The strength of a dragonkin was not limited to what Walker had seen. The fact that Barry had been able to take one head on was amazing for the entirety of the human race. Built in realistic measures, there were not many that would be able to do such a thing. Barry had trained in the wilds alone for many years and even been in the military. Everything had made him stronger than even the strongest geniuses.


    "Come pon." Walker and Midnight moved with speed to get to the main hall. They saw a group of demons falling from the balcony as Gil used arrow after arrow to take them out and freeze them in ice. The ones that ran toward Neil werepletely dazed from the constant effect of Lust''s poisons even though they were her spawn. But what caught Midnight and Walker up was the appearance of Lust.


    Sitting on a blue throne made out of water elemental crystals was a demon that could not be seen as a demon. Walker would say she was the most beautiful human he had ever seen. But his mana felt disrupted in his body. The natural mana he had stored within the spirit mark and himself rejected what he was seeing and what he was feeling. He used his all around appraisal skill to see what the issue was.


    Lust- empress subus demon


    This is the title holder of sin; Lust. She has manipted many with poison and illusions to climb higher and higher in the demonnds. Armies have thrown themselves from cliffs just so that she could have what she desires. Her unique skill, perfect illusion, causes everyone that looks upon her to see what they find attractive. It works perfectly with her poison production skills. Therefore, those that see her fall to her will and would do anything for her. Only those with powerful bloodlines and resistances can see her for what she is. Beware the tails of Lust, they carry extremely potent poison that is not made to lull one in to her grasp; they are to kill.''


    The mana within Walker reacted the moment he saw this appraisal. He could not allow Lust to take control of his mind. What resounded from him was a roar of pure resistance. Midnight was the same. She saw what she thought to be an elegant dragon able to rival her. Yet, she knew that it was a lie. There would be no dragon allowed to face her head on. She would be the greatest true dragon champion the world had ever seen.


    The perfection that the pair had seen fell away in a mist of pink and purple poison. What was revealed made their skincrawl. The demon sitting upon the throne has three sharp scorpion like tails waiting to stab at anything around them. The features were sharp and pointed just like a quillfish. They would carry poisons with them everywhere. What was even more terrifying were the needle like teeth that threatened to stab in to whatever made its way too close. The purple and pink coloration didn''t feel warm either. They both knew that it was poison and evil.


    "Gil! Stay focused and don''t look down here!" Walker feared that Gil would fall for the illusion. But when Gil responded Walker couldn''t say anything in response himself.


    "How could that ugly thing measure up to Alma?! It''s just a monster waiting to be defeated." His look of disgust was visible from the floor while he fired another arrow at a spawn of Lust. His heart knew who he cared for and Lust could do nothing against him.


    "Juste and sit beside me. I can show you endless pleasure. A world full of power and desire. You will never want for anything as long as you are with me." Unknown to Lust that her skills were not working nor the poison, she attempted to make them bow to her. But when she noticed another of her demon spawn fall she clenched her jaw.


    The sweet voice disappeared as if it had never been. She clenched her jaw and stood. "Come and defend me, my children! There are ugly things here to harm me!" The vicious growl that came from her mouth was nothing close to what she had just sounded. Her quills seemed to x and the three tails started to rock side to side waiting for a target toe near.


    "Avoid the tails and try to cut them off. I will draw her attention." Midnight used the shadow wrapping skill and Walker changed the eternal orb in to a staff form yet again. He was going to first burn up the poison mist around Lust so that Midnight could more easily approach and tear the poison tails from her.


    Meanwhile, Gil was dealing with the increasing number of Lust''s demon spawning in to the room. "Gil, Hold on! It''s time!" Walker reached the one hour count in his head. Without further waiting, they felt the entire castle vibrate. Leon was using his skill and they needed to be ready.


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 Chapter 1131 - 1131. The Wave Hits

    "My spear is me and I am my spear. It is built to defend the people behind me. It is made to strike down the injustices of the world. It is made to change the flow of the tides. I shall never allow the waters in which I am born to wee evil. Defensive spear final form, tsunami pulse!" Leon preferred this move over any other. He had trained since he was a child to learn the three mastery skills he had that revolved around his spear. One that existed to protect the merfolk.


    The massive amount of water elemental mana that Leon had stored within the spear reacted to his will. He believed that his people would always be defended within the water and if need be his life was the tool to protect them. No matter the time and no matter the ce. He would be there to defend them.


    Finding Genesis and seeing the belief of those that came together touched his very being. He would be able to stand for all races and bring his own together with others. This would lead to a bountiful future. The merfolk had learned so much from the water elves many years ago and there would never be a single merfolk that was not told the tales. He was here to save the water elves and repay a centuries old debt to them. This time, the merfolk would help the water elves.


    The water pooled around him and came near. It was a massive tilde shift within thekes that brought intense pressure around Leon. His spear focused this and with a single forward thrust, it caused a wave. This was not just some small wave. This was enough to cause everyke thatbined together to feel the weight of force.


    Dark blue water rose with demons and water elves within. They were thrust in to the air toward the castle in the center. The demonic hagfish may have beenrge and vicious, but they required water to live. They were brought in to the wave as well. Their movements were frenzied and some of Lust''s demon spawn fell victim to their teeth. Leon did not even blink knowing this. He was causing damage, yes, yet the damage he caused could be fixed. The water elves knocked unconscious and out of the water along with the half demon half elves would be healed. They would have a future.


    Leon''s skill was much more than anyone had expected. The castle was engulfed in the waves and damaged parts were drawn away by the wave. It was a defensive skill only in name. Anyone else would believe this was a massive offensive skill that could destroy an entire vige or even city.


    With the use of the skill, Leon did his best to anchor himself in the muck of the training field. The razor whip weed was frantic around him causing small cuts but no real damage. He felt the mana he had worked hard to store away within his prized spear depleted and felt empty himself. But he saw that the shadows from boats and rafts were gone. The sun was shining through the waves and the debris falling in to the depths spoke of the job he had done. "I guess it''s up to you for now. I hope you can manage this." Leon looked toward the direction of the castle as a smaller wave came back toward him. The attack had hit the castle full force.


    Meanwhile, the castle was shaking and bing flooded. The demon spawn that Lust had created were being torn to pieces by Neil and some were being pulled out of the windows. They could not deal with the water that hit them and would never be able to. Lust and her demon spawn were nothing like the water elves who had water elemental affinities. They would never be able to hold on to the castle in such a torrent.


    Walker used the grand elemental maniption to lock him and Midnight to the stones they stood on. Gil had used a piece of rope to hurriedly tie himself to the balcony he was on. His bow was slung tightly around his shoulders and he just had hope that he would not lose any arrows.


    While lust used her three tails to stab in to the stone of the castle and stay she watched the demon spawn she had raised to take over the water elves get pulled away with the rushing waters. Her fury rose as she saw all of this. It was not just a few days that she had worked to turn this entire sub race of elves in to her ythings. She had spent years upon years. She refused to let things end.


    Alma had used some of her blue ivy to hold herself to a doorway. It was painful but it worked and as the water receded she saw that Neil was about to be ambushed by a demon spawn that had not been washed out the nearby window. She used the lightning vines she had hurriedly grown around the other entrances and exits. The vines whipped around and grabbed on to the spawn''s leg. This gave Neil the time to notice and punch downward with his ice covered fist. The spawn didn''t evenst a second before it was defeated.


    "Appreciated. Let''s clean this ce up for the water elves." Neil thanked Alma and then began to move through the rooms around the main hall. He knew that stopping now to recover from the water that was still partially flooding the castle would just waste time. Alma followed his lead and parted the lightning vies as they moved. She woulde backter to get rid of thempletely.


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 Chapter 1132 - 1132. Water And Ice

    Chapter 1132 ¨C 1132. Water And Ice


    "Gil, keep the tails on defense!" Walker yelled out to Gil who was coughing up some water. He was sure that Gil heard him and that Midnight was already sneaking up on Lust from behind. But whatever could be done to keep her distracted was what they needed to do.


    Lust seemed to have given up all reason. She was ugly in looks and actions. The quills that she had all over her body seemed to sharpen and her nails showed themselves to be vicious needles that could inject poison as well. There was nothing beautiful about her and the fact that she was able to lure others in to her embrace was disgusting.


    "You will never take what is mine! I will call all of my children here!" Arge amount of purple and pink mist began to form around Lust while she tried to call those under her control back. But it was toote. She was left with just herself against three enemies.Even though those under her control could hear her calls they were in no shape to push themselves from unconsciousness. Those that could still move were forcing themselves beyond their limits to rise or swim.


    "Walker, Now!" Gil fired an arrow at one of the tails and Midnight pounced trying to shred one with her ws. This left Walker with the water around him condensing in to a ball. He used his grand elemental maniption to fire the water at high speed trying to rip off thest of the three tails.


    While Gil''s arrow made contact, it was not enough. All it did was cause Lust to scream in pain while it pierced and froze the end of the tail. Midnight was more sessful though. She managed to grip the tail at the base and tear it away before Lust raked her hand against Midnight''s scales. If Midnight did not have such tough scales from eating bones and elemental mana crystal, then she would have been poisoned right then and there.


    Walker''s ball of water hit Lust and forced her back. It opened up another ce for Gil to fire his arrow. Yet again though, Lust was able to defend. Her tail may have been slowed by ice but she had stronger muscles than they knew. She lifted the frozen tail and deflected the arrow with it, shattering the ice with the iing arrow. "You pathetic worms! I would never allow you to serve me! The Lord saw my beauty and allowed me to raise him another army. It will feed you to that army!"


    Lust''s cries of rage were drowned out by Midnight roaring in defiance. There would be no one suffering here any longer. Arge breath of frost spewed from midnight''s open maw. The water elemental that hade in from Leon''s skill and Midnight''s practice had been more sessful than they thought.


    Midnight had been enamored with the frost breath she had seen while in the water dragon branch vige. Now she too could use it to slow and harm an enemy. Lust was caught in the ankle deep water which was freezing faster and faster. The flurry of arrows from Gill came down from the balcony further freezing her two tails.


    This was the moment that Walker had awaited. He saw that Lust was freezing in ce and changed the form of the eternal orb. He knew that he needed a heavy and brutal hit to break her before she managed to use her two tails to free herself. Therefore, the hammer form of the eternal orb began to take shape.


    Yet, the shape was not traditional. If anything, it could be called brutal. One side of the hammer was arge spike. It was terrifying to look at and even more so as the water rose to collect on it and freeze. The ice made the spike of the hammer much tougher.


    ''The skill ice hammer has been taken from the mountain climber system. The skill ice hammer has been learned through the actions and water elemental knowledge of the user.


    Ice hammer- 3 mana (base hammer required)


    This skill required a hammer as the base so that ice can form around it. Perfect for defending against monsters and carving a way through ciers, the ice hammer can crack even the toughest ice. The condensed water elemental mana wraps around the hammer base and further strengthens it. It will cost mana to keep form but in one swing it can cause devastating damage. The target can shatter or be frozen further. If this is used on stone there is a very high chance the stone will shatter before the ice of the hammer foes.''


    Walker swung with all his might right toward the chest of Lust. She was frozen and desperately struggled to crack the ice. But it was to no avail. Walker was already hitting her with the spike. Just as the skill description said, the ice shattered as it was pierced by the sharp point. Lust fell in to icy bits and was continuously frozen as Midnight breathed her powerful frost breath on her still. Gil did not let up. He knew there was a chance this kind of demon could sneak away and aimed three arrows in quick session to shatter her frozen head.


    ''Race quest: The freedom of the water elves and their people-pleted


    The true hero has found that a sin demon; Lust, has taken control of an entire elf race. There have been years of poisoning leading to the half demon half elf raceing to be. It has brought the elves closer to the demons and further from those of their own kind. The true hero and theirpanions must resume these elves before they begin an attack on the nearby kingdoms for power.


    Requirements:


    Defeat Lust


    Free the people from the demons in control


    Wee the water elves and half elves in to Genesis


    Rewards:


    New allies


    Temporary high skill- Purifying pulse


    75 heroic points


    20000 xp''


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 Chapter 1133 - 1133. Tears Of Freedom

    Chapter 1133 ¨C 1133. Tears Of Freedom


    Neil punched forward at one of the remaining spawns lf Lust and found that his hand hit soft viscous fluid. The demons that Lust had spawned to help her control others were melting in to a puddle of poison before his eyes. "They must have beaten Lust. Good timing too." Alma pointed out the six others that were bing melted pools behind them. They had not been ready to defeat that many at once since Lust had called them back inside to battle.


    "We will need to deal with the poison. Did Lord Walker mention that he had a skill for it?" Neil and Alma both couldn''t remember in their moments after the battle. The relief that they felt from Lust being defeated was distracting enough while they caught their breath. Since this was the case they rushed toward the main hall through the maze of hallways. Alma was sending out mana to cause the lightning vines to fall and wilt.


    Water was still running through the castle but it was lessening as it did so. Something that the water elves seeded in was creating an easy to drain castle due to their water affinity. It showed that the poison left by the melting spawn of Lust would meet the waters of theke further poisoning it. "Walker! The poison!" The pair burst in to the room to see the icy remains of the battle.


    Midnight was nursing a side of her body while Walker healed it. She had been bruised and then used her powerful frost breath. It had been too much for her, yet she had pushed on. It was rare for her to take direct hits like that and the toughness of her scales had been put to the test. "We know, there are a lot up here melting too. We knew this might happen though." Gil had already gotten down from the balcony. He was ready to start a sweep of the castle since there were sure to be people that still needed help.


    ''Purifying pulse- 35 natural mana ( temporary)


    The user gathers natural mana around them and releases it in a pulse. This pulse calls on the mana around and amplifies the power to purify any poison from anything the pulse touches. The more mana that this pulse encounters the longer the skill will continue. This skill can clear any negative skills and statuses ced upon someone. ''


    Walker read the simple evaluation of this skill and smirked. "I healed Midnight as much as I can. Let''s go to the lowest point of the castle so I can use the purifying pulse skill. It''s temporary so I am going to unload a lot of mana in to it. I also have a feeling that we will find the dungeons full of people. There have to be more water elves than we have seen." It was clear that not every single water elf had been taken advantage of. Even some of the half demon half elves would have resisted the poisons to a degree. The only hope was that Lust had not done the worst to them.


    The group moved efficiently to find the stairs heading downward. There were multiple water tight doors that had blocked water from heading downwards. "I would say these are the dungeons here," Neil spoke and immediately punched down three doors in a row. They revealed stairs that led them to arge room full of metal cages. Many water elves, demons, and some humans here and there were trapped. They looked up in awe to see that they were being freed. None had expected to get out alive, especially the demons that had been taken from their homes and dragged here for reasons beyond their imagination.


    "Lust is defeated. Please wait here for me to purify yournds."Walker felt a powerful gust of wind move through the castle. "Our reinforcements are here to build you back up. The Genesis alliance wees every single one of you that has been wronged by corruption. Please rest easy and ask for help where you need it." Walker''s shout was sweeter than any music that these people had heard. They had had little hope of survival beyond that second. Now they were seeing a future open up. Even a new alliance they had never heard of rescued them. Years of stress were falling away and many burst in to tears.


    While Gil and Alma began to help, Midnight went through and used her ws to break open cage after cage. Some were so packed that it was hard to tell just how many people had been forced in to it. What was surprising more than anything was the fact that the water elves were not treating the demons any differently. They had all been forced in to these situations and knew the hardships the demons faced. Not only this, but the demons had shared their true lives with the water elves after so many years. Never had the water elves known how oppressed the demons were by their own rulers.


    Mana was gathering around Walker as he stood in the center of the room. By adding almost all of his mana to the natural mana he was pulling toward him and that was in the spirit mark, he would be able to purify any lingering poisons. In a flurry of mana, he released the purifying pulse causing the entire poption within the castle to freeze in ce. Many were feeling rity they had not for years.


    Their minds cleared, they felt the relief washing over them. The stained walls of the castle returned to the pure blue and white while the waters became vibrant and sparkling yet again. The air even felt crisper. It was the very being of the area being cleansed of every atrocity that had been forced on them through these years.


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 Chapter 1134 - 1134. Setting Sun

    Chapter 1134 ¨C 1134. Setting Sun


    Gil was looking at Walker when Walker had used the skill. He saw how pale Walker became and managed to rush over just in time to give Walker a shoulder to lean on. "You know you don''t have to use all of your mana when you do things like that, right?"


    "You know I have to. It needs to reach the streams and the springs. If it doesn''t then something might be left out. I can''t just do it halfway." There was the worry that some poison would remain or something would harm someone. But the pulse traveled well past thekes. It went through every stream and stone in the area. Even the clouds and sky seemed cleaner.


    "I know I know, but you need to be able to stand tall and show everyone that we are the ones that rescued them. But I doubt you would do any differently." Gil shook his head while he looked at Neil who had juste back down from upstairs through the trail of water elves.


    "Lord Walker. The demi-human representative has arrived with arge group of healers and aquatic soldiers. I am unsure how they managed to get here so fast but they are ready." Walker didn''t have the answer for this speed either. He felt that it would have taken longer unless Scy used her mastery skill to transform again. Yet, if she had she would not be able to bring so many people. He had a sneaking suspicion that when he left out Scy prepared toe here soon after. Not that she knew what would happen but she had foreseen the need.


    After a deep breath and a mana potion, Walker headed toward the stairs with Neil at his side. Midnight was still helping Alma and Gil in the dungeons. Scy was nearly at the top of the stairs waiting. "You arrived pretty fast. I wonder how you managed that?" Walker''s tone was knowing and Scy didn''t so much as flinch.


    "I know what trouble you tend to get in to. I prepared a standing army nearby and organized healers toe with me soon after you left. It also allowed me to check the connecting waterways for any dangers that snuck up the river." She had worried that a kraken or two may be hiding away waiting to grow. It was better safe than sorry to check everywhere possible.


    "I see. I know you mentioned sending troops to evaluate the river before the traffic from the merfolk arrives. Now, the water elves had been controlled by Lust, the demon title holder of lust. She had been using poison over many years to make the demons and water elves do her bidding. Add that to her illusions and anyone would have been tricked. Her reliance on that made her weaker and easier to beat but if we were not strong enough we would have fallen for her tricks. Now we have demons, elves, and half elf half demons to assist. The main priority is locating the elders of the water elves and getting them in one ce. They need guidance to rebuild and function. From there we will bring them to Genesis." Walker knew that some would want to go to Genesis right away instead of rebuilding. Those that did would be wee before there were documents signed and politics worked out.


    "Care to exin what that magic was? It even cleared those melting things outside. I take it they were some sort of slime from that slime breeder?" Scy had made the wrong assumption. But it did remind Walker that they still had a very troublesome demon left to deal with.


    "No, that was Lust and only Lust. She had some sort of skill that would control her children or spawn or something. They didn''t think. They did whatever she wanted to spread the poison she made to others. It was despicable. We have many here that need healing and rest." Walker made sure that the few healers near Scy heard this and made their way toward the dungeons faster.


    "I will write a report of this then. It seemed that every demon sin title holder is going to cause problems somewhere. Pride, Lust, Greed. Only three have been dealt with. We know that slime tamer has to be one, that leaves a few more unknown." This was not what Scy wanted to think about but it was unavoidable. This was the truth and Genesis should be prepared for it.


    "That''s a problem forter. It will go hand and hand with the fact that we will need to enter the demonnds at some point. I just want to get the rock elves, dragons, and any others we can find on our side first. The more allies we have the better. I have a feeling that this demon lord will be worse than we know." The fact that the demon lord was able to control so many powerful demons and force them together was enough to warrant their worry. It also meant that they needed to train more.


    "It''s been a long time since I worried about my own strength¡­ Go get some rest. We will pick things upter. You managed to cleanse this area and that is more than anyone could ask." Walker saw some dazed water elves while he headed out of the castle toward the sin. He could feel the warmth and knew that it was the warm weather returning. But he still felt the hidden pressure from all of these issues.


    A small voice in the back of his mind was screaming that he was not powerful enough. He was not ready to face opponents that could hold their own against Barry. He was not ready to face the dragons. How could he stand against the corrupt demons?


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 Chapter 1135 - 1135. Not Worthy

    Chapter 1135 ¨C 1135. Not Worthy


    Midnight pulled at Walker''s arm. He had sat down looking at the setting sun over thekes. Somehow he found the sight to be calming even though he had just faced a devious demon. It was just more to the fact that he had pushed himself mentally and physically with stress. "Sorry about that, I hope I didn''t make you worry." He gave Midnight a few pats on the head before she rxed herself.


    "You know, that frost breath surprised me. You never showed off your progress. I thought you had been neglecting your elemental breath attacks training. But here you are freezing entire rooms with ice." The praise made Midnight happy enough to jump a little. She had wanted to train other elemental breath attacks but focused on the one so that she would be able to make more progress. She had fire, decaying breath, and now frost breath. The next goal she had was the wind elemental breath attack that might be able to slice through stone.


    "Do you know what happened to Gil and Alma?" Walker saw that Midnight looked back toward the castle. "I figured they would still be inside. I would assume that the water elf elders have been brought together and exined what happened?"


    "Yes, they have. Alma and Gil made sure they were seen to and they have been wrapping their heads around their current situation. It would be a good time for you to join us as the royal in charge of Genesis." Neil was waiting just by the door that Walker had gone out. He wanted to be patient since Walker was not like the dragons and dragonkin with intense stamina reserves.


    "I take it you exined the dragon rtions to them?" Walker didn''t think that Genesis should first be described as his city. However, he knew that for a dragonkin like Neil it was tradition. It would be incredibly hard for Neil to change the way he thought. It was impressive that Neil was even able to rx at all around Walker. The fact that they fought together was already part of the record books.


    "Of course. I could not allow them to potentially insult a lord. It would bring dishonor to all dragons and dragonkin. They were saved by a great royal who is changing the way the world turns. It is only right." Neil showed some of the reasons why he was acting in such a manner. This was not because Walker was just some royal. The attitude had been carved from the way Walker acted and worked. Now that Neil had seen him in action, he changed his mannerisms to reflect the newfound and powerful respect he had for Walker and his goals.


    "Thank you, Neil. I know it is hard to see someone go against some traditions. But right now you are with Midnight and I. You can stand beside us as the same representative. I want the dragons and dragonkin to be involved in Genesis as equals. If it takes hundreds of years to get there then I can handle that." Neil was speechless as Midnight led the way for Walker inside. He was having a hard time epting how Walker saw the future because it was so different from what he knew. But it did make him smirk in the end.


    "Well look who it is. I thought you would look just as rough as I do." Leon had a few bandages from the razorwhip week and his body seemed to be palepared to how it seemed before. The spear he had attached to his back was not resonating with water elemental mana as it had before.


    "I''m d you look well enough. That was some move you used. I would like to train my spear skills with you some time." This was no lie. Walker knew that Leon was the best spear user he had ever met. If Leon trained with Walker then both could make improvements.


    "We can save that for when I have all these cuts and scrapes healed. After my skill, I may have lost some of my footing and was pulled on to the shore with a few of those¡­puddles? Melting demons? Puppets?" Leon had no idea what they had been but he had to fight a little more than he expected.


    "I''m just d you didn''t have to deal with those fish. Demonic hagfish looked brutal."


    "Oh, well¡­those were dealt with by the general. She swooped in and managed to pull three out of the water and drop them on to the beach for her troops to handle. It was impressive to see it happen all three in a row. Theke should be able to recover its normal ecosystem." Leon was d to know that the natural fish and animals would be able to return to thekes without worry from some evil monsters.


    "My cousin. I know we were wrong. But I cannot exin the actions of my fellow elders. We have decided to step away from leadership. Look at what we did to our own people! We are a shame and do not deserve to be elves. It would be better to return to the waters and feed the growing fish. Our nymphs and sprites are even afraid of us. We can not call on them." The voice came from not one but multiple water elves in a row.


    Walker stood just outside arge room with everyone looking at Gil, Scy, and Alma. It was clear that Alma was at a loss. "You n to run away and give up? How could elders do that? You may have been controlled by an evil being but you need to make that right. Stand for your people and show the world who the water elves should be. Genesis came to help you. Not to end you as well as that demon." Walker''s entrance was timed perfectly. The water elves looked at him with wide eyes.


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 Chapter 1136 - 1136. Almas Presence

    Chapter 1136 ¨C 1136. Alma¡¯s Presence


    Between the domineering figure of a dragonkin and the dragon, Midnight, with him, Walker stood out much more with his words. He spoke enough truth that none of the water elves could rebuttal what he had said. They felt that they had been pped in the face. They were the elders. They were responsible no matter what they did. So what if they had been manipted and used by Lust? Almost everyone that came in to contact with her did. Now was the time for them to rise back up from what had happened and make a difference.


    Yet, this was not what truly stopped the elders in their tracks. Walker had used a lot of natural mana when he used the purifying pulse skill. It may be a temporary skill for that moment because of the quest, however, it was enough to showcase the control over natural mana he had earned so far. No matter the elf or their condition, they would be able to sense someone with control over natural mana. They could also sense the strength of a nature spirit. Even with Fleur still resting within the spirit mark to recover from the trip to the desert still.


    "Is that a sage?"


    "How many years has it been since a sage came here?"


    "If a sage came to rescue us it must mean the world is changing."


    The elders fell in to debate. "I am not a real sage yet. Just a young sage. But that is not why I am here. I came looking for your people to join in the Genesis alliance and found a way to sneak in here. Lust had taken control and we freed you. Everyone I brought did note for no reason and we did not free you for no reason. We just did our best to right a wrong we saw before our eyes. If you need to thank someone, then thank all of us. Dragon, dragonkin, forest elf, human, merfolk. All of us." Walker made his point clear. He would not be the only one thanked for this. It was the very essence of Genesis that brought all of them together.


    The water elf elders stood in silence. Walker could see their scuffed and faded blue robes along with their unkempt hair. He knew that it would take some time for them to regain their pride. Their entire people had been abused. "The forest elves survived this time as well? Are you not isted like we were?" This was one of the surprising things that the water elves were hearing. It had been many years since the elves became reclusivepared to the other races. Even they had a hard time contacting other elves.


    "Not since a few heroes visited and helped exterminate some problem monsters. Now I am the future queen and will stand for my people and those of Genesis. No more hiding. All the elves wille together. It''s just a matter of when." Alma stood tall as she spoke. There was a profound aura around her while she said every single word. It wasn''t that the words were overall powerful, but the fact that her mana was imbued within them.


    It was clear for Gil and Walker to see the flinch in surprise as Alma noticed her words were more than what she intended. It was even followed by her eyes widening slightly while she finally saw the quests she had. It was nothing she expected and changed everything she was pursuing. But for her, it made more sense. It was something she had been pushing for in the forest elf city that the party had backed. Now she just had a clearer picture of what path her actions put her on.


    Gil and Walker held their tongue while Alma kept her stance. She had made her announcement and it had made the water elves realize that Genesis was not some small movement and that they had been rescued by those who drove the future. Genesis was recognized by dragons, sages, rulers, and many more. The water elves still held some ideals from before Lust came to cause them strife, but now they were apletely different people.


    Through their poisoning, those in the dungeons learned to ept the demons who were no different from them. The elders, although controlled, had worked closely with demons and half demons. Now, their perspectives on purity and attempts to return to being high elves changed. "We will follow your lead. We have no king or queen any longer¡­that monster changed that before we even knew it. A new start and a new home would be wee for some of the younger generation." The elders finally spoke up again after silence. They needed to ept the changes and push on toward a new future.


    "Then we will do just that. Genesis wees all and that is the biggest value we have. It may seem painful, but the half elf half demons here will be the greatest boon for Genesis to band together to free the demons from their oppressors. We will rely on you after we rebuild your home." Alma''s tone became kind and warm. The entire room felt as if it became lighter. Walker made a note to mention this to Almater but for now, it felt better to step back and see what he could do around thekes. He was sure that there would be a lot of things that needed cleaning up.


    "If you are heading out I will go with you. I want to get a feel for the water elves and how they live. A few already headed out to try and salvage what they could. I saw a water elf mage trying to search for books and his staff." Gil made sure that Walker would be able to return the books he found. They would help the water elves greatly.


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 Chapter 1137 - 1137. See The World

    Chapter 1137 ¨C 1137. See The World


    Debris was everywhere. The results of Leon''s skill had brought a lot of wood and other items in to the water which resurfaced After Walker had used the purifying pulse skill. Things may have been cleaned and safe but they were not cleared. "I knew there would be a lot but this is more than I expected." Gil pulled arge piece of what had been a boat on to the shore.


    "But it''s a good chance to make everything right. The water elves had a big job of demolishing and cleaning before Leon''s skill. Now they just have to rebuild and help with the clean up. I can also use my skills to push everything toward the far shore." Walker was nning to do two sweeps on eachke with the help of some water mages.


    They could ban together and use their ability to manipte the water. This would push the floating debris and that which fell to the bottom of theke to one shore. The job was easy. Just pull everything out and sort through to take what is usable. Whatever was not usable could be dried in the sun as the season warmed and used for fires or other things. It was a sure thing that someone would have a great idea to reuse a lot of what was broken.


    "Well, if you two will be cleaning up I might as well join too." Leon caught up with Gil and Walker before they went under the water to find the water mages. "I think it''s only right that I help clean up my mess. Although, I might not be able to do much when ites to magic. I''m all physical. My magic skills are only rted to my spear." Part of Leon had always felt sad that he did not have the magic ability. Water magic in the water was very powerful. Unfortunately, not everyone was born with it even if they had an affinity for water. Leon had been blessed with the knack for spear arts and that was what he fell back on.


    "I don''t think they will be upset with the mess. They would have to see everything in a broken state. It should be better that they see everything cleaned and waiting for a new generation of buildings. It''s almost inspiring." Gil pped Leon on the shoulder trying to cheer him up. The threeughed though when Leon realized that Gil had identally hit a bruised part of his shoulder.


    As Walker did this, Alma had just managed to get away from the elders who were understandably excited now that they had their free will back. "They look to have run you a little ragged. A lot of pressure, but it is for the best." Scy was a little worried about Alma. The more that they spoke to the elders the more worried that Alma seemed to be. Luckily, the water elf elders didn''t seem to notice.


    "Oh, it''s just that so many elves were taken advantage of. They did not deserve to be used as fodder for an army. This is the forced grouping of races. How could it not mess with someone?"


    Alma spoke this and walked away as if she was looking for someone. Scy just let her be but wondered what was really going on.


    "I would say she is distracted. Her mana is not the same as it was before this trip. She seemed to carry more pressure with her. It is simr to a newborn royal." Neil was not missing this fact. He felt that Scy could beat him and was willing to speak his thoughts to her openly. It was just respectable not to hide such things from a potential ally that could have his back.


    "I noticed that too. But Ipared it to the feeling Walker has. If I know right, he has a skill called royal aura or something. Many royals and leaders get such skills that have the same effects but are named slightly differently. She is supposed to be the next queen of the forest elves¡­I just can''t help but think that she has a stronger aura than that of the current forest elf queen." Scy and Neil fell in to thought as they started to move toward those who needed help.


    This left Midnight alone with a group of half demons and half elves. They were interested in the dragon they had watched tear open the bars holding them. "You ask her if she can speak."


    "Dragons can''t talk! Mom said they are monsters!"


    "No, they aren''t. My dad told me stories of water dragons that made thesekes before the elders even came here."


    The three argued. It was understandable. They had been born with resistance to Lust''s poisons and illusions and thrown in to the dungeons with their parents. They were also half elf and half demon making them feel lessfortable around either. Now they were only able topare what they had been told.


    In a few blinks of an eye, Midnight found a shabby curtain and wrapped herself in it. The changing of shapes made the three fearful until Midnight popped out her dragonkin looking head. "The dragon changed! Look! Look!"


    "We see it. She''s like me! Look, she has horns and ears!"


    They were enamored by the simrities in features. One of the half demon and half elves shared the fact that they had a tail with Midnight. It was a great change in atmosphere. "Can¡­Can you take us outside? We want to see thekes..for the first time." Midnight tied the curtain around her like a dress the way that Lisa had shown her and grabbed the hand of the girl that had asked. She would dly escort them to see the world for the first time in their lives, even if she couldn''t yet speak with them.


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 Chapter 1138 - 1138. A Big Deal

    Chapter 1138 ¨C 1138. A Big Deal


    "Thank you so much. Everyone has so much energy after being stuck there for so long. We held our mana in and stored it as much as our bodies allowed. It was at the cost of pure physiques, but well worth it. Now, look at what we have done in just a few hours." The water elf that was speaking with such vigor had been a grand water mage. He was the strongest in the city but he had been poisoned and put to sleep by Lust. She had not risked allowing him to roam about but she had kept him alive in case she needed to send him to a strong enemy. Unfortunately for her, she had not expected a sneak attack.


    "It''s the least I could do. I learned a lot watching all of you use your maniption skills. I should be able to use water more effectively. I didn''t think of making tforms or boats out of ice to move therger debris." Walker was very happy to have seen these new ways of using water elemental mana. He felt that he had barely scraped the surface.


    Since Walker had focused onbining elemental mana to make natural mana he had missed the steps to reach a higher understanding of certain elemental manas. This put him radically behind some when it came to being able to use it. Even though he had used ice to defeat Lust, he had not been alone and would not have been able to withstand the battle if he was under the same stress alone. Lust had also been the weakest sin as of yet.


    "No, you do not understand. Those books you found came from our elder''s library. He may not walk through the waters as he once did but he will be overjoyed once he wakes up again. Now that he is free his fervor for studying new magic skills will be revived. I think he will visit your mage tower before any other." It was good news to hear that the water elves were epting Genesis and whating together with other races would bring. The overwhelming positive attitude came from the simple fact that the water elves had seen the darkness and despair. Now they could bask in the light and would do all they could to remain there. Being petty and pushing others away would be a waste of their lives.


    "So, I heard one of you saying that you use ice to make arrows? It''s different from what the forest elves do. Can one of you show me? Maybe I can be inspired." Gil found a way to jump in and get on the topic of arrows.


    "Yes! One of our saviors and an arcane marksman can definitely learn from our ice arrow skills. It would be our honor to help. It''s enough to meet a human with an elvish system alone. Teaching and learning for you isthe same as teaching a fellow elf." The mage took Gil toward a group of enthusiastic mages.


    The water elves were not known for archery like the forest elves. They focused more on their magic and existing with purified water. But now that they were meeting an archer that had a hero title, had rescued them, had a system that most forest elves had, and even had a good rtion with the first elves. They had to delve more in to it and show off some skills that were not as widely used with them.


    Leon had been dragged away toward the otherke and was focused on what he was doing. Gil was just stopping by to let Walker know he had finished his side for the time being. It wasn''t that they were done but they had taken a lot of the surface debris away and would leave the remainder to the merfolk that had been contacted by Scy. It was clear that they were eager to see the water elves when Scy had told the small group Leon had left behind in Genesis city.


    "Walker. I was looking for you." It had been some time but Alma had finally managed to find Walker at a free moment." She looked flushed and not in the best of health.


    "Are you alright? You seem a little tired. We should head over there and take a minute." Walker knew that he too was a little under the weather. He had been drinking mana potions continuously while trying to make sure he could do more to clean the mess that was theke. He felt that he was able to do much more to help than he knew.


    "Sure¡­I just wanted to talk for a little while." This made Walker realize that Alma had something more important to speak about. It didn''t appear that she was here to talk about the water elves or anything either. Her looks were constantly in to the air as if she was reading her system over and over.


    Once they sat down Alma was silent while she worked out how to say what she needed. "I have a quest. One blogger than I thought it was and should be. It''s not who I am and I don''t know if I should pursue it." Her nervousness was all too clear and Walker felt he was about to hear something big. But the nervousness Alma had shown spoke to how much this stressed her.


    "When I spoke earlier. Before the battle. I pledged myself to the elves. I did more than that. And after the battle, I checked my system.Have a chain quest. But it is for a title I will receive at the end. I don''t know if I could ever deserve it. I don''t know if I could ever achieve it or if I am the right person for it." She took a deep steady breath, "The title is High elf queen."


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 Chapter 1139 - 1139. Royal Pressure

    Chapter 1139 ¨C 1139. Royal Pressure


    " Wait, High elf queen? Like all the elves and not just the forest elves?" Walker was stunned. He knew that Alma had already cemented herself as the future forest elf queen. It had been figured out. But now the system was giving her the path to uniting all the elves under her. It was a muchrger task than he expected.


    "Yes. I already received the royalty''s wisdom skill. It is the same as the one you have that makes people deterred and like you and follow yourmands better. But you don''t throw it around or even use it too much and I''m afraid I will use it without wanting to and I just just just¡­" Alma was having trouble keeping her breath while talking. The stress that was building up was much more than she could handle.


    "Hey! Look at me!" Walker held Alma''s shoulders in ce and made her look at him dead in the eyes. The very same skill she was speaking about red up with Walker''s mana and he saw that she felt the additional pressure. "Skills like that are easily controlled. Just keep your emotions down. When I was angry, didn''t you feel my mana around you? That wasn''t just my elemental maniption. It''s part of who you are now but people don''t easily just fall in to your control or fear, they need to think that of you to begin with. If it affects them it will inspire them and push them to grow in to a better beings. Just breathe and ept it." This was a little harsh but Walker knew it was something that Alma needed to hear.


    Her eyes looked around slightly frantic while Walker let go of her shoulders. "I¡­ But can I really do all that?"


    "Yes, you literally stood in front of your queen and risked being outcast by your entire people to try for a better future. Do you think that every elf deserved that? The water elves lost their ruler and are not mixed with demons. They are perfect for Genesis but they still need someone to stand for them. Did you not take the lead and speak to them as a fellow elf? Do you not realize the hope that gave them for the elves? You already did this and you are still doing it. It''s a big task but what is it in the grand scheme of things? We are building an entire city against the values of multiple races." The many things that could go wrong in all of this could crush them if they were not careful, yet they were pushing through all of it to create Genesis. Walker couldn''t do anything butpare howrge of a task this waspared to just one race.


    There was a stunned look on Alma''s face. She had been so hyper focused on the elves at this moment that she forgot what she was really doing from day to day. She was going to be a forest elf queen. She would hold many lives in her hand. But she was already representing them and standing for them in Genesis. Now she would guide more and help more elves. It would be the same in an aspect. Not to mention she would be able to bring elves together that had long been at odds due to their elemental affinities.


    Right on the spot, Alma sat back down. She seemed bewildered. "I really have a quest to bring every elf together. Do you know how long it has been since that happened? The rock elves don''t even leave their mountain. The frost elves are rough and tumble and don''t even get along with the water elves. Who knows about those of fire. What did I get myself in to." Sheughed a little wondering what it would be like. To have every elemental affinity elf back again. To have a devoted elf race instead of a divided elf race.


    "I think it would be an amazing thing to see. So far you all talk about losing the high elf bloodline and whatnot. But isn''t that because the elves are divided in to their ideals and affinities? Did all of you forget that you are the same race?" Walker found it kind of amusing but knew that humans and dragons did the same things as the elves. It was just something they let take their minds over without really thinking. "So, what''s the next quest you have?"


    The curiosity spawned from Walker''s knowledge of chain quests. He knew that Alma would always have a goal. "Bring the water elves together with the forest elves. So I assume I need to bring the elders to meet the queen. It sounds easy but they need a home here too."


    "Then that''s what we will do. Scy can take the lead here while you bring some of the elders back. I am sure there will be more helping soon since I saw Scy sending amunication crystal back to Genesis. I really need to figure a way out to make those too. It would be helpful to have more." Walker wanted to try that or find someone able to do so since they were bing more and more important and the city had limited supply. But that was something to think aboutter. If he did now he would be too distracted.


    Walker and Alma spoke for a while longer about how much pressure she would be under. Walker wanted to better rte to her but as he spoke he realized that he would have the same, if not more, pressure on himself. He was preparing to head to the royal dragon court soon and there he would be considered a royal dragon. He needed to prepare himself to stand equally with a dragon much older and more powerful than him. It could end or raise Genesis.


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 Chapter 1140 - 1140. Fan Club

    Chapter 1140 ¨C 1140. Fan Club


    "I have to tell Gil¡­" Walker heard Alma say this just as they were about to leave on their way to get the elders and tell them of the n. Alma seemed a little more fearful of this than what she had been like before.


    "He will stay by your side you know. If there is anything I know about Gil, it is that he cares about you more than anyone else. I know that he would still get my back if something happened but I think he would leave me to save you. That''s Alright though, it should be that way." Walker''s tone was a little somber. He wanted his family to care about him the same way but he knew that Gil had developed some strong feelings for Alma.


    "But will that be allowed? Gil''s a human. It''s not-"


    "And you are the representative for Genesis. You are part of a city that stands to unite races. If you choose a human and that human chooses you, then that''s how it will be. If anyone makes a problem of it I will deal with them." The steel in Walker''s voice could have made many seasoned warriors flinch. The values that Genesis were formed on would not be bent or broken so easily.


    "Then I will tell Gil." Alma still appeared worried but the fear she had was a little toned down.


    "Tell me what?" Gil had just walked up to them after noticing that the two had found a good ce to rest. Midnight had managed to find her way to Gil after showing the young half elf half demons the world. Some elders had taken over the duty of watching them.


    "Nothing much. Midnight and I are going to grab some food. You two can chat for a while. Just let me know how it goes and stay safe. There are still some things around the ground that need to be swept." Walker pulled Midnight with him and handed her one of the dresses that Lisa had made after seeing that she was using a ragged curtain as a dress. "We can let them talk some things out. But what is with that dress you have there? I know Lisa taught you how to make sheets look like a dress for the worst case scenario¡­You could have found me though." Walker did feel a little bad about this. Yet, Midnight waspletely distracted by the promise of food.


    Hours passed by as the group split up to get the jobs they needed done. It was a busy day and by the end of it, there was a very convincing group of water elves that would be heading to Genesis with them to report and begin some conversations with the leaders. As much as Alma had tried to avoid it, the water elf elders had decided to nominate others to be in charge of everything. They felt they had wronged their people and needed to step down to repent. Therefore, they put the brunt of the work on themselves while younger water elves took Alma as their representative. She already had her own fan club since she was the forest elf that came to the waters.


    Gil was even more popr. At first, the water elves had been amazed that a human had an arcane marksman skill. But now they were nearly worshiping him. He had shown off his skill and been handed an ice arrow made by one of the mages. They had jokingly challenged him to fire it at a piece of drifting wood fairly far off thinking that he would fail. Yet, in a split second, Gil had fired the arrow without looking and hit the target named. After doing so he had be a favorite.


    Now Midnight was a simr story, she had managed to make many of the half elf and half demons her friends. They had heard of dragons and knew that they were powerful. Upon learning that one was there and it was actually kind, they had run to her. Now she was the one they banded behind to explore the edges of the castle andkes. She was their powerful protector along with Neil who had scared them at first. It was clear that the younger generations would always find friendship with Midnight. Walker couldn''t even fathom how it had worked out that way. He did ponder the idea that booth elves and dragons are long lived races so they are childish longer. It could be a connection.


    "Leon, you really need to stop thanking the water elves. I think you have told every single one how much your people have benefited from their teachings. You saved them this time, remember?" Gil had been messing with Leon all morning while they prepared to bring them back to Genesis. They were going to return to the outskirts of the demi-human city and attempt to fly back.


    "Just because they needed saving does not mean they don''t need to hear how revered they are still. It should fill their hearts." Leon was a lot more like Gil than Walker realized. The two seemed to have a back and forth banter that made him wonder if Gil should give up the bow for a spear.


    "Alma, are you sure that the water elves will be alright if we send some flying monsters here? They will be able to make the flight?" Walker gave onest check with Alma before they left.


    "Of course, they will be. The healers that Scy brought are outstanding. Every single water elf has gotten color back to their face and some even swear they feel like their old selves. I can''t say that''s too true though. But you saw it. Their magic has returned even more powerful than before." Walker did notice that the elves had risen to the challenge of rebuilding their castle. It was going to be an impressive sight.


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 Chapter 1141 - 1141. Adapting

    Chapter 1141 ¨C 1141. Adapting


    The group was looking back at the now shining castle of the water elves. They had focused on the castle most of all through thest few days due to the cultural significance it had. The water elves seemed to improve with the looks of the castle as well. For the way they acted, there didn''t seem to be any hatred effect in them. What really surprised Walker was the fact that they had started to speak about helping others more and more.


    "Do you think they will be able to adapt to Genesis?" Alma had been stuck in her own mind too much. She was overwhelmed with all the possibilities she had in the future.


    "Yes. The way they act, they will be an integral force when ites to uniting the races. Just look how much they epted the half demons. They were forced together but they are closer than any in Genesis right now. Although, they may look at the merfolk a little weird." Walker threw a shot at Leon who just shook his head in defense.


    "Walker''s right. They wille together very well. I think they even like the human healers that came. They started to show off the water healing skills that they have and started to record down different healing skills in some books to be brought back to the cathedral." Out of everyone, Gil had witnessed the most water magic. This gave him higher insights in to what the water elves had been capable of at the height. Now that he could see this he was able to show off that knowledge and share it when they returned to Genesis.


    "They lost a lot of their knowledge over their years of abuse. But if theye and join the mage tower they should be able to absorb more of what was left behind. I even think they might take the lead over other mages and runesmiths." Walker knew well that losing something would give birth to an insatiable appetite to surpass what was lost. Now that the water elves had such a goal they could pursue it all with newfound strength.


    "I do look forward to sharing these events with my elder and their Lord. I feel that the future is much more than we know. I will certainly fight for the chance to follow my elder to the royal court and show them the power I have seen." Neil nced at Walker and Midnight. He knew well that they were the driving forces here. They may not be the most powerful beings in the world and many could break them. Yet, they were able to change the way that people thought and that was the power they had.


    "I guess it''s time to send you off. I will return to the city in a few days. I have sent some ahead to speak on my behalf with reports. Just get back safely and prepare for your next outing." Scy was going to remain in the area for a while. She knew that having someone strong like her would help cement the water elves'' strength again. There was also the added benefit of making them morefortable with the demi-humans which they had once conflicted with.


    "We will keep an eye out. Now that there isn''t poison everywhere and patrols I assume that there will be monsters trying to take over the open territory." Walker had mentioned this before but was trying to keep it fresh in everyone''s minds. It was a fact that they would all deal with. It was also a reason why the water elves needed to get their mages back up to strength. They would need to be able to fight off returning monsters.


    The group gave theirst farewell as they left but Walker swore he saw a few mages dropping fish eggs in to theke as he turned away. He was excited that the mages had managed to hide away some of the natural species so that they would be able to return thekes to greatness. The water elves had been sneakier than he knew. But in a way that was respectable. They valued nature the same way that the first elves did.


    "Do you really expect to see more monsters on the way?" Alma wasn''t sure what they would see.


    "I don''t think we will see much when ites to the small monsters. But I think we will see therger territorial monsters. Do you think any mud deer will shop up?" Gil was the one to ask this question to since Gil had seen them before.


    "I would say it''s guaranteed. They like to stay in areas like this and the only reason we see them around Genesis is that the rover is so close. Now that they have their normal homes back they would run to it. They don''t live near the swamps because of the decay and poisons. This is their ideal habitat. And with them, we will see some interesting monsters. I really wonder if any of the brook tigers will show up."


    "Brook tigers are still around? I thought they were extinct?" Alma had heard of them but didn''t expect them to be real.


    "Of course they are real. They are illegal to hunt in our home kingdom. But I think they will have aeback now. We pretty much figured out why they were so few. The fur they have is very good for materials in just about everything." Gil was happy to share this. He was a hunter, he knew what prey was better for what and how to hunt it. He also knew that he should not hunt under any circumstances.


    "If I remember right, their fur is ideal for deterring other monsters right? Especially the water affinity monster." Neil knew little of this but had learned a little while in the water elfkes. Walker could only smile before he recalled what he had learned.


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 Chapter 1142 - 1142. Tigers

    Chapter 1142 ¨C 1142. Tigers


    The group was already walking the trails they hade through. Their conversation about the brook tigers had gotten a little more in depth. "I know that they were considered a menace at one point and anyone traveling around here with the tall grass andkes would be at risk. That''s why they were first considered a major monster to hunt." Walker was sure that most of the group knew this besides Niel and maybe Leon.


    "If that''s the case, wouldn''t it be good for them to be exterminated? If they caused death in such numbers?" Leon felt this was simr to the kraken and their spawn.


    "No, they were a very important hunter around here. They kept a lot of small nuisance monsters in check. You have seen those rats around the water, right? What about stone crabs, fang wed crayfish, and mist dragonflies? All of those are monsters that reproduce fast and cause a ton of problems for merchants and adventurers. The brook tigers kept them under control until they started to hunt the merchants and adventurers because it was easier to surprise them." Walker looked at Gil who had more than impressed him. Gil had known much more than he knew.


    "Gil''s right. The brook tigers were very adept in sneaking around and their fur was valuable. Both made them a threat. But when they were depleted in poption people found that the mist dragonflies would cause this area to be impossible to traverse. It''s the same with those poisonous moths near the swamps." The idea that they would potentially have to hide from the mist was worrying but it was still not warm enough for that kind of weather just yet.


    "Then the fang wed crayfish are just what they seem. They arerge crayfish that have three mouths with sharp fangs. Their ws are their secondary and tertiary mouths. They hide in the water and then use their powerful tails to leap out and snap chunks from passing prey. Then they hide again. After they hope that their prey is defeated so that they can consume itter." These monsters had been chased away by Lusts'' poison. They would also be the first to survive since they would be able to sense the purified waters.


    "If they even try toe I will wrap them with my ivy." Alma had some wrapped around her arms just waiting. The idea that these monsters would return so fast had her on edge. She was much morefortable in the forest and after their sneaking in to the water elf castle, she felt it better to be prepared.


    "If such monsters are around I will know. I have a skill called water sense. It lets me sense the water nearby. It''s so that merfolk can avoidrge predators. I will focus and pick up small monsters in streams nearby or pools." Leon was using this skill while he had been in theke and it was one thing that was attributed to his underwater battle senses.


    "Hmm, a good skill to have. I just have draconic instinct. It''s a racial skill every dragonkin gets. We can get a sense of where we might be struck. It is why many of my kind can avoid sneak attacks from unskilled assassin type warriors." Neil had a very good idea of Leon''s skill and found it fair to share his own.


    This stunned Walker since the skills sounded very valuable to have. "I use my ability to sense mana like that but I wonder if I can learn a skill like nature''s sense or something. I have the ability to sense the natural mana in living creatures anyway, it could be easier than I know." Walker had yet another goal and skill to try to learn and integrate in to his style. He felt that he had so many that he had constantly neglected them because he had not properly trained them. Every time he learned something it would be pushed to the back of his mind since he was not altogetherfortable using it or it did not flow in to his style of battle.


    "I think I should do the same thing. If the elves have an arcane marksman skill like hunter''s sense or the archers pull skills I might want them. The archer''s pull helps them line up shots without looking. I can kind of do it but not the way the skill works. Just by training." Gil wanted to start practicing too. He had felt the slight rivalry re up when Walker said he wanted to learn a skill like that too.


    "Then you can train it with the enforcers. They should have a few options for you to learn." Since Alma was not experienced with such a skill she didn''t want to suggest the ones she knew. If Gil was guided a different way she would feel bad for misleading him.


    "Does the queen have a skill like that? Or do you?" Leon put Alma on the spot while everyone looked at her. Even Midnight had her head turned to the side with interest since Midnight wanted to find the dragon version of sensory skills.


    "I would say the skill I might be after is called root pulse. It lets me tap in to the nearby roots of nts to sense vibrations in the ground. But I won''t be able to focus on that for some time. I have other goals to meet first." There was a strong determination that had grown in Alma''s eyes since she had spoken to Gil about her quest.


    Gil gave her a nod of encouragement and looked ahead for any enemies on the trail. He had to get stronger as well. If he didn''t then he wouldn''t be able to stand beside Alma and protect her if need be. He would not be left behind.


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 Chapter 1143 - 1143. Too Much

    Chapter 1143 ¨C 1143. Too Much


    "Alice? Are you alright? Onyx?" Su had made her way to the cathedral to try and see how Onyx and Alice were doing. From what she had heard the p[air was very busytely due to some minor injuries around the city while building a mage quarters.


    "We are here." Onyx allied to her and Su easily found them in a room full of light elemental crystals. It was not just an exaggeration. There were light elemental crystals on multiple shelves along the walls including some hanging from strings on the ceiling. The floor was littered with cracked crystal shards as well.


    "Wow¡­what is all this." The egg was sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It was clearly dragged from another room and had once held a book. Now it was holding a pillow with the heavenly serpent egg on it.


    "We asked some of the carpenters to install shelves. Brother left me the crystals and we set them up. I have my identification que as well and had it updated so I could better use it. My share of the gold went to more crystals." Onyx had spent almost all of his gold in this way. It was only fair for him and Midnight to have ess to some of the gold since they were intelligent to use it themselves.


    "Well, I am d you had your ques condensed in to the new Genesis identification but, this is a lot." Su had also had the ques, pins, and medals consolidated so he would only need one form of identification. The runesmiths had gotten together with a few extremely talented cksmiths to create a small metal card with many runes on it. They were able to store the mana of an individual and cause information to be saved. This allowed any guard, staff member of a guild, or other citizens to show and use the identification. Su''s showed her name, affiliations, and was even used to pay for things. It was a feat that would change how all races functioned.


    "It was necessary for the growth of my friend. They will be able to live the way they need. I also would have used it for the crystals as well, I need them for food. We also will make more gold. It is not worth holding on to for all of time." While Onyx made good points, Su still felt that he had been a little too much. But Alice was singing softly to make the light elemental mana in the room even more pure, so she didn''t press the issue.


    After Alice finished her song, she looked at Su and gave her a quick hug. She showed off the heavenly serpent egg which had been growing steadily. The shell was even more white and even had be somewhat ssy. It was soon going to change again and be clear so that more light could be absorbed by the serpent inside. Alice had been taking careful notes of every day''s changes so that she could pass them to Walker for the tamers'' guild records.


    "You haven''t been working too hard, have you? I saw that a lot of people were hurt when that stone b fell. They tried to move it before the dwarven golems got there and that was foolish." Su had heard the story and been nearby to personally help and scold those that had done so. The mages that had caused this were not experienced enough to move such a heavy stone b.


    "Not tired at all." Alice even pretended to flex her biceps to show Su that she was fine. She was actually d to have helped since she had been able to perform the first ever concert with the other healing musicians in the new cathedral. She had seen Su in the audience before but had avoided speaking with her since she was speaking to the boy that yed the harp and violin now. It was interesting seeing the boy try to impress Su by adding more string instruments to his skills. Alice also felt it was romantic since music yed for the soul in her eyes.


    "If you aren''t tired do you want to help me with something? I have an idea for a skill that the dragonkin told me about. They said that the light elemental dragonkin can make a shield of light that can protect people and heal them at the same time. I don''t have much magic but I want to try it. If I can ovey it over my shields I can make a skill that heals those around me." Su had taken a lot of time to think about this and decided that Alice could be the best person to help.


    Since Alice could both heal and shape light with her voice, she may be able to make a faux version of the skill. If so, then Su would try to get a feel for the way the mana flowed and how she would be able to learn such a skill. The idea was that she would use the twin shields to protect the party and heal them while they prepared to counter attack. It would be an ideal solution for an ambush from multiple monsters.


    "I will watch over the egg. You have been here longer than I have so I will take some time." Onyx was sure that he would be able to train his own skills while the pair was going. He had also been very carefully training his dual elemental affinity with darkness and light. He wanted to perfectly meld them together and rise to be stronger even though his level was not rising so muchtely.


    Alice and Su gave Onyx a smile and Su mentally promised to speak with him more about his spendingter. She also made a mental note to put some light elemental crystals aside in case he was hungry. She was, in practice, his older sister within the party after all.


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 Chapter 1144 - 1144. Light Shield

    Chapter 1144 ¨C 1144. Light Shield


    While singing a shorter version of her song of shields, Alice was able to show off her skill to condense light elemental mana in to a shape. The problem was that her shields did not have the ability to add healing as well. The idea that adding healing was going to be a separate skill for Su was out of the question. She did not have the magic skills, to begin with but she wanted to develop some since she had the affinity due to her connections with Midnight.


    There was also the fact that she had the skills to breathe fire now. But she had spent all of her time avoiding it. Her body had to adapt to such things and she wanted to increase fire resistance first. On top of that, she wanted to be sure that she would be able to use such a skill. She had yet to meet a dragonkin that could breathe fire. This was a requirement she had for herself so that she would have specified advice. That or she had hopes to meet a dragon that would give her advice without any negative side effects.


    "If we try and add healing will it be too hard for your song toe together?" Su didn''t want to push Alice too much. She knew that using the song of shields was hard as it was and that Alice had cut it down so that it would be able to just make one shield and draw on significantly less mana.


    Seeing that Alice took out her small journal and began to write made Su very interested. The song writing skills that Alice had were unique in the sense that Su had no idea how they woulde together. There was also the fact that Alice constantly crossed out parts and changed words. The idea that the wrong word being used couldpletely change the way that Alice''s song became real was hard to grasp. But on top of that, if Alice did use the wrong word and envisioned something different or created the opposite feeling, the song could be an attacking song or one that drew too much mana.


    "Now, why do you take these things on by yourself? I have a very simr skill that you can see. Some healers when they get old like me need a skill that can help protect them if they are out and about. I learned this while I traveled to small viges as a young healer trying to get myself higher in life." The high priest had been drinking a cup of tea out in the garden. He had been recovering his mana ion peace before Alice and Su had shown up and not even noticed him sitting on a bench toward the side wall.


    "If you have a shill I would be very d to see it and learn something new." This was a better surprise for Su since the high priest had a lot more experience in using his mana than she or Alice. They both could learn something and potentially end up with a new song for Alice and a new skill for Su.


    "This is called healer''s protection. It can be cast on myself but some can cast it on others. Stand still, please. It makes a shield around you that mitigates magic and heals slightly. But I can only use it for a short while nowadays." The high priest held out both of his hands toward Su and Alice to bunched up together. His hands glowed with a greenish white like.


    Before the pair could fully feel the mana, they noticed a foggy mist enveloping them. They could still see clearly somehow but it was noticeable. Then also felt their bodies bing lighter and that they had a little more energy. The flow of the mana around them was more simr to a soft misty breeze even though there was no water in the skill.


    The high priest released the skill after a few moments, "That is all there is to it. For my skill, it just surrounds my target and heals them. I can''t say it does much but for minor injuries, it is very valuable in battle. It would be impressive to see it consolidated in to one direction. It mightpletely block a magical attack instead of just mitigating damage. That''s for you to figure out though." The high priest returned to his tea with a mischievous expression. He was looking forward to Su and Alice trying such skills.


    "So you will try and add healing? Or will you try and make a damage mitigating light mist? I want to try and make a shield with any mana. If I use earth it should work better with my partner here but I think I should use other elemental mana." Su had the earth spirit ying around the garden and knew that it would be easy to grasp making some form of earth shield with its guidance. Yet, if she were to do that then she would lose the experience of learning a new skill with new mana. She needed to expand her portfolio of moves.


    "Both. I need Both." Since Alice saw that the healing shield and the mist idea were both good and extremely useful in different situations, she wanted to write a song for both. If she managed to do so and have enough mana for it he envisioned a massive front of light mist that could protect arge group from magical damage along with healing them. On top of that, she could change her song at the drop of a hat and send a condensed shield to someone in need. All would make her a much better supporter and healer, especially when she was out on an adventure with the party. She had not given up the idea of exploring the world for even a second.


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 Chapter 1145 - 1145. Competitions ?

    Chapter 1145 ¨C 1145. Competitions ?


    "We lost what!?" Remey was understandably angry. They had lost an entire shipment of vials due to an issueing from the direction of the mage tower. "How could the mages try and lift something so big by themselves? They were too young to be able to move such a thing with their magic. Now we have a bunch of broken vials that came from the cart crashing nearby." The cost was not major but it put the alchemy guild behind.


    "We can just have an additional contest then. We have three vial makerspete for a year long contract and the other two will get an overflow contract as a bonus." Trish had been in this situation before. She had lost a close friend to old age and he had been responsible for the best vials in the forest elf city. After that, she had hosted a smallpetition to get a new vial maker.


    "I like it. We should go bigger though. Look for the best quality vials as onepetition. Then host a secondary with the youngest alchemists below level twenty so that they can gain a mentor or rare ingredients. I have a few herbs I am willing to share." The old master alchemist found this idea to be very exciting. He would love to see the alchemy guild full of eager alchemists who wanted to be the next master.


    "Well, if you are giving up the ingredients for a rare potion they might bleed you dry. I might even offer a little help." Remey teased a bit but was drawing out how long they would need to n for this. "We can do one mana potion and one health potion within a two hour period. They would need to be able to multitask which would add challenge and show creativity. Then we can have the herbalists jump in for an herb identification challenge. That should help them with their field assignments since there have been some arguments about who gets what." Remey wanted to crush another problem with this as well.


    As much as the master herbalists wanted to just assign the fields to people they found that those assigned would attempt to sneak to different fields and learn more. This would be good if it was not going to disrupt the growing cycles. Now that they had this problem and had brought it to Remey there had to be a response. Apetition to see who received first pick would be fun and able to be redone every year or so.


    The alchemy guild was a buzz in no time. Remey had taken their idea and had it copied on to multiple flyers posted around the city. The adventurers'' guild took an even more focused look in to it than anyone expected. "You really came here just because we will be having apetition?" Remey wasn''t sure why ra would drop everything for this.


    "Of course I did. You will have an excess of potions. I want the guild to get a major portion of them to use as a way to encourage new adventurers to join. I also want you to utilize some of our young adventures to go out and gather some of the herbs. I believe I can add to yourpetition and make the young adventures use this as a tier rank up." ra knew well that there were many new adventurers that didn''t really belong in the lowest tiers of the adventurers'' guild. She had been working out a way to expedite the testing processes. Now that this was something she had caught wind of she could use it.


    "I n to have them go out and take on tasks that fit their levels within the guild. It is a good way to create a long period of tests and also to bring in the herbs you need. Your flier did say that thepetition would happen in three months. If I mark that properly, then I can send out the adventurers'' in a month." It was all perfectly nned out.


    "In that case, we should let the demi-humans host a battlepetition. They have brought a lot of workers from their city to build their stadium. It would be a good way to let them adjust as well." Remey wanted to just say yes and forget about this possibility. She knew that Walker would be against it for the fact that many people would get very rowdy with all of this happening. But if the demi-humans were left out then they would throw a tantrum. Competition and rivalry were major in their culture.


    "I can bring that up when all the representatives return to the city. We can n it now and have everything lined up in a week. Then begin the main nning." ra was sneaky and was already using her system to send notifications to her staff. She was also nning a list of people to involve. "The crafting guild is also just beginning to function. I know a certain cksmith that would have a field day with apetition." ra also knew how exciting this would be for crafters. The wandering cksmith would draw many dwarves to show off skills against each other.


    "Why do I have the feeling you already nned this before you came. Just go ahead and do it without me if that''s the case. I need to keep the specifics in the works for the alchemy guild. We won''t have a crop ready in time if I sit here all day." Remey was a little annoyed but she had to admit that she was getting excited. When the others returned she would have the chance to shock Walker just as he walked in to the city. It was a wee change of pace and a good way to push the negative feelings from Greed''s attack away.


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 Chapter 1146 - 1146. Unknown

    Chapter 1146 ¨C 1146. Unknown


    To say that the group moved through the brooks and streams smoothly over thest few days was an understatement. They had not evene across a monster. Midnight had been actively training her roars and Neil was judging them topare to the power of the royal dragons. Walker had been matching them when he had the chance and the mana to spare between training with water elemental mana.


    Between the two, Midnight and Walker were evenly matched when it came to roaring like dragons. This wasn''t a surprise for Midnight since she was a dragon. Yet, for Walker, it was a great surprise. He had been able to replicate the roar and even felt that his body had easily adapted to it. When he mentioned it to Neil he spoke on the matter slightly.


    "Elder told me that you are very closely bonded with Champion Midnight. It would be understandable that through that connection your body would change. I am not well educated on this and can not speak as to how it will change¡­But I believe that you will be able to rival fellow royals in the future with ease." It felt that Neil might know a little more than he let on but Walker believed that Adair would only hold back for good reason.


    Since he was going through a growth spurt for his age, Walker had carefully analyzed his own body. He did not specifically share blood with Midnight making him a dragon like being as Su had. But he did share mana and a bond of the soul. The same was true of Onyx. That had been able to share their life spans and extend Walkers'' beyond normal humans''. That was already known.


    However, when Walker examined the density of the muscles formed through his adventures and the skin on his body, he swore it was tougher. He also had the feeling that he was getting taller than someone for his age should be. It was just a thought but it did make him wonder if he was not just human any longer. Although, whenever he would think about this he would find his head starting to hurt. The unknown was too much to wrap a mind around. He was traversing a path no one had taken before and in doing so he would discover something new. This was the reason he started a new journal for his day to day happenings. He might just find a pattern.


    "You keep worrying about these things and you will end up stuck in ce and be a tree. And don''t tell me you think I am joking. It has happened to elves that connect to the forest too deeply and give up their bodies to be something else. It''s a mystery that we elves never solved and just let happen. It''s not bad because it''s their choice. But it is thought to be simr to being a sage." Alma casually dropped this on them making everyone wonder if there were other ways to ascend or change than what they knew. But it was quickly avoided since the world was still a mystery to all and having some positive mysteries were a good thing.


    "I just wonder what will happen when you get to the royal dragon court. You said you would be going just you, Su, and Midnight, right? That will be a small but intense trip. Are you sure you don''t want me toe?" There was worry in Gil''s vice. He knew that dragons were dangerous even though these were not wild dragons like the skeletal dragons that ignored and cast themselves from the dragon society.


    "If he made that decision then it must be for good reason. I''ve learned that Walker thinks well with his mind. As long as someone snaps him back to reality." Leon had caught on to Walker''s tendency to daydream. He had even begun to make the joke that Walker would invent a daydreaming skill at some point.


    "I really only want to bring them because that is who should go. The dragonkin go because they are brought with the elders and royals. But the court is really for just dragons. If I bring other races it might be seen as trampling on their honor and culture. I need to slowly convince them that Genesis and the values we have are worth investing in." Midnight huffed slightly wanting to bring everyone with her. She wanted to see the wonder of the other dragons with her family.


    "Lord Walker is wise indeed. If I were to see another race invade the royal court I would ce my life down and defeat them. I would then have to give my own life if I survive as repentance for causing a disturbance. The royal dragon court is the most respected ce for my race and the lords." Neil spoke as if he spoke of the very center of the world.


    "Well¡­just make sure you are ready. I will wait for you to get back and share some stories. But I swear if you somehow start a war with dragons or make them our enemies I will shoot you out of the sky myself." Walker narrowly dodged a punch from Gil who was doing his best Remey impression. The group became much more animated while looking in the distance.


    The same ranch for avian monsters was ahead of them and so were those that they could pay for a ride home along with a ride for the water elves that woulde to Genesis. They would be home much sooner than they expected and the dragonkin would be on their way back to their vige. They all had a lot to tell those back home in Genesis. But they had no idea what was waiting for them as well.


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 Chapter 1147 - 1147. Thrilling

    Chapter 1147 ¨C 1147. Thrilling


    There was just enough time to convince the two owners of the ranch to send over five mountain eagles to help bring the water elves to Genesis. They had taken some convincing because they were not sure that the group was telling the truth. They had long known that the water elf territory was off limits and now being told that it was opening and would be rebuilding was an insane idea.


    Yet, After Walker had exined the story clearly along with the fact that he would be telling Elise toe back to them a visit, they agreed. There were also some of the first people to know of this change in territory people could travel so they were looking forward to the business it would bring. They nned to also send one of their ranch hands to negotiate some material transportation for the water elves to build back up. The water elves may have lost some things but they still had the wealth that they had rued through many years. Lust hadn''t so much as care for it since she was just raising an army to follow her everymand.


    Midnight had been more caring of the journey while they were in the air on the mountain eagles. She wanted to try and jump down and fly herself. The only thing that stopped her was Walker who had a firm grip on her feelings. He could tell that she was even more motivated than usual after the talk of the royal dragon court.


    As they flew, Walker thought of the gifts he was bringing. He had the indigo pearl which he would be giving to Current since he had a rtionship with him as another royal dragon. Now that brought the question of what else he should bring. He knew that if Adair came he was not supposed to give her a gift of the same quality since she was not a royal and only an elder. But he also knew that bringing things might be something that interests the other royals. He made a mental note to ask the wandering cksmith to make a few elemental weapons. If possible he would ask for different elemental weapons or armors. They would be able to show that Walker cared about every elemental royal dragon and that he wanted to start a connection with them.


    However, Walker knew that this would be nothing in the grand scheme of things. He would need to show off his dominance over natural manapared to the other dragons. He knew he would be weaker than them. That was not something he could avoid. But he would need to be able to show off the power he had so that they knew who he was and that he would not just bend to anything pushed on him.


    "Walker! We are descending!" Alma managed to shout over the wind as they started to head toward the ground.


    "Midnight, let loose!" Walker had held her back the entire time. He trusted that she would be able to glide down without issue since she had more than mastered that. The training she needed was in the fact that she could not p her wings with enough strength to consistently take off and fly. But watching the excitement spark in Midnight''s eyes as she unfurled her wings and the air took her was something Walker wanted to feel.


    Without even thinking, Walker looked within himself for his mana, which waspletely full. He had been resting after their easy journey and the flight in the mountain eagles had not taxed his mana at all. He jumped off the back of the mountain eagle to its surprise and used his wind ripple skill. The sight of Walker stepping through the air next to Midnight was more than enough to shock her. "Come on! Can''t you keep up?!" He nearlyughed himself silly while taking in deep breaths andrge steps down through the air.


    Any idea that he may fear the heights was gone. He was full of exhration and joy. Midnight felt the same. He could feel their connection bing stronger while the others looked at him as if he had gone inside. But Neil knew. He was a dragonkin. He had always had the feeling that he was meant to fly and wanted to explore the sky. That''s why every breed of dragon and dragonkin lived in the mountains. It was where they were at home.


    This sight did not go unnoticed. Many of those out and about in the city doing their work saw Walker and Midnight moving through the air toward the ground. It didn''t help that they chose the open square in front of the Genesis building as theirnding space. This forced the mountain eagles tond there as well and the harpies nearby to rush away since they knew the mountain eagles were temperamental with other avian monsters. But nothing happened due to how strictly the mountain eagles were trained for their deliveries. That didn''t mean they wouldn''t try anything on their way out of the city though because they knew their job was done.


    "Perfect timing! I was just heading inside. Come with me you can report on the matters. The only member missing is Scy." ra happened to be just about to walk in to the Genesis building. She had Barry behind her and between them, no one could argue with the sudden change of direction.


    Walker couldn''t help but think that it was strange how busy the city seemed while he was pulled away. But he was still catching his breath and sharing mischievous nces with Midnight. They were high on their little gliding trip and could not fully contain themselves. They didn''t even notice the fliers that Gil, Neil, Alma, and Leon had pulled off the walls as they entered.


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 Chapter 1148 - 1148. Invite Dragons!

    Chapter 1148 ¨C 1148. Invite Dragons!


    "Walker, do you think they are dragging us in because they want to hear what happened or because they want to discuss thepetitions. Or wait, it says, the Genesis royal¡­?" Gil handed the flier to Walker and he nearly tripped on his own feet. ra and Barry heard what Gil had said and held themselves back while Walker read this as they moved forward to the meeting room.


    "What is this? Where''s Remey? She had apetition for alchemists and herbalists. The adventurer''s guild has one for herb gathers on all tiers. Then the crafters'' guild is doing one. What is this?" Walker felt that he was missing so much while they were away. They had literally freed the water elves with an insane sneak attack that could have gone horribly wrong while the city was startingpetitions? This was too much to fathom after the thrill of the sky.


    "Ah, you have returned to us. Sc sent a messenger to tell us what you had said. We have received word before King Rorick left for his home. It is good to know things went well. But we would appreciate the proper details." King August seemed less surprised that Walker''s group had returned than Walker thought. They had just shown up but Walker had the sneaking suspicion that some had seen them gliding down to the ground and rushed to report this to the representatives.


    "Another demon. Lust. But we managed to get rid of the poisons and the control. They will be arriving in a day or so toe here and speak with us about joining. Alma will be acting as the representative. Even if they arrive and bring the topic up they made it clear that they would be nominating her." Walker did not beat around the bush he was honest with what the water elves had in mind and Alma had already strengthened her mind to ept it.


    This was something that they expected. Yet, as Walker went in to detail with what they had found, the faces of everyone there became darker. "Even the worst monsters in the deepest caves are not so terrible. To force an entire city to bend and put those who resist in dungeons like rats¡­You are lucky that I did not send every golem in control there to squash that demon!" The king of the deep caves found it despicable. He had long lived in close quarters by choice and knew the struggles. To force so many elves in to a dungeon was bad enough without the poisoning.


    "Now, there are good things to it. Alma is living up to her future and has brought them this way to genesis. As Walker said, the water elves seem to be radically different than we know of. They epted the demons who had been tortured in the same way as them. That means Genesis will grow and offer homes to the demons as we free them." The first elf queen saw more positive linings and was trying to distract from the pain that everyone saw in the past. She knew that having a positive mindset for the future with the water elves was the best practice in this situation.


    "My people will help the water elves as much as possible. I will send a notice ahead. They gave us a lot once upon a time and we will return it in bulk." Leon spoke as if it was all already decided. But this did straighten things up a little since Genesis would not have to expend as much manpower toward the water elfkes.


    "That being said, can we change topics?" ra was waiting patiently to bring things to thepetitions.


    "I know what you are going to say and I have no problem with thepetitions. They should be in progress whenI return from the dragon royal court. But I don''t want things getting out of hand. We need more guards. More signs for rules and regtions. Then we also need the merchants to be regted strictly." Walker was not going to let things get out of control. He could see things going awry if there was not a lot of control when it came to these events.


    "We already have that nned. The elder adventurers will step in and act as guards at a specific location where people wille to watch. There will be many recruits as well that will get their feet wet with these events. Speaking of the dragons though¡­" Barry was acting a lot in Genesis which threw them off since he should be back in Diamond already. "You should invite them to see the racese together. We can set up a special balcony seating for them to watch. We already learned a lot about how to show respect to them if they visit." Barry was very careful. He had asked the two other dragonkin for advice to learn their culture. It was something that the dragonkin would be specifically mentioning to Adair to report back to Current. That showed a very positive interest in the dragons and how they could fit in to Genesis.


    Since it seemed that everyone was using their intellect to make the right decisions here, Walker was more apt to approve of everything. "Then we can also invite the dragonkin to participate in their own small tournament. I think inviting one dragonkin warrior from each vige would be respectable for them to show off how they live and battle. It could be educational." Walker said this and saw Neil''s eyes grow wide. It was a wonderful idea in his opinion.


    "I will personally report that ahead of your visit to the royal court. It would be an honor for dragonkin to show off our strength to the world and grow the respect of those we serve." There was excitement spilling from Neil through his words.


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 Chapter 1149 - 1149. Worries

    Chapter 1149 ¨C 1149. Worries


    Once they had spoken about the ns that had already been made, Walker was more than impressed by what had been done. There had even been a n formatted so that alchemy, battles, and crafting would be able to use the coliseum. It revolved around the dwarves taking the lead with their golems to change the venue through the week ofpetitions. It would be a lot of work but truly show off the strength and efficiency that the city could function after.


    The merchants were in an uproar. They were bulking up already and sending out new orders to get everything they needed ready as fast as possible. It would sound bad since they seemed to be rushed and ill tempered, yet, it was bing positive. Many people found jobs and quests where there had not been some before. It was turning out to be a major benefit for the peopleing to live.


    This was also something that spurred everyone to build more efficiently. Crafters were makingrge moves to create the parts and pieces they needed. This spawned even more orders for merchants along with quests for adventurers. It was also a major recruitment for the guard. They needed the new recruits and would be able to have the new members prepared to get experience when the events came around. It was just enough time to train them.


    The conversations had gone for some time and Walker had been sure to set up a few things for the water elves when they arrived. However, Alma and the forest elf queen took the lead letting him and the others take their leave. It was one thing that Walker found himself thankfully for. Unfortunately, Neil and the other two dragonkin had decided to leave Genesis immediately. They too had to report back and had stayed a little longer than they expected.


    Neil had left off saying that he would be reporting everything to Adair and Current. This was good since Walker was looking forward to seeing them again. He felt that the dragons so far had held to their traditions but would rx if given the chance. If they managed to embrace the ideals and values of Genesis then they just might be able to bond with every race. The only thing that Walker worried about was that the dragons may attempt to get involved with the demons.


    The possibility that this would ur was very small. Yet, if it did, then no one would be able to control the events that would ur. It was clear that this demon lord was powerful enough to do things that others could not. The sin title holders were not as powerful though. But that did not mean they were not dangerous. If Lust had managed to control a single dragon then that was more than a walking army by itself. So far they had been lucky not to face a sin title holder outright and always had some advantage in some way.


    These thoughts rushed through Walker''s mind as he had fallen asleep. Some were worries he had and others were hopes. By the time he woke up, he had managed to dream of many things both good and bad. It appeared that Midnight had shared his feelings and dreams. They were both going to the royal dragon court and would need to show strength that they were not sure of yet.


    "You both seem like you should go back to bed. That is what happens when you go out and throw yourself in to yet another battle. You are both staying here and resting until I say we are ready to leave." The attitude Su had when she met the pair for breakfast was strong. She would not travel with them if they were distracted and tired. It would bring unnecessary risk and show of weakness.


    "I will be fine. There are some things we need to get done today anyways. I need to speak to the wandering cksmith for gifts for the other royal dragons. I have the rouge pearl for Current but I want to bring something with each elemental affinity for the others. I was thinking of a true spirit forged bracelet." Walker had this idea while he was falling asleep and ran with it.


    "The royal dragon''s value elemental purity right? If that''s the case a dwelling item would be ideal. They could work to bond with an elemental spirit and increase their understanding of their elements that way. The spirit would also grow with them through the years since they have a very long lifetime." Su saw the benefits immediately and felt that Walker was on to something good.


    "We also have most of the elemental spirits around us to help. Plus, there are plenty running about the city that we can ask for assistance. I bet they will help if Fleures out." Walker knew that Fleur was awake and not resting after he had slept for so long himself. She seemed restless which meant that she was most likely bored or regaining her natural mana and wanted to see the hustle and bustle of the city''s preparations.


    "Well, since you are doing that I will be at the cathedral. Alice and I have training that needs to be done. I hope to have another new skill soon." There was excitement on Su''s face. She had been working hard and believed she was close to getting the skill she wanted. It made Walker feel that he had missed something interesting but he let Su hold on to the secret. It would be more fun for her to show it off when she had understood whatever the skill was.


    "I will need to stop by there and check on Onyx. I bet he has been working too hard." Su''s face dropped and she decided to let Walker in on what Onyx had recently purchased.


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 Chapter 1150 - 1150. Food At Home

    Chapter 1150 ¨C 1150. Food At Home


    Su had left before Walker. She had been more driven to train than he had noticed. It was her focused attitude which proved that Midnight and Walker would need to step up as well. "If we don''t make an effort she will be stronger than us when we go to the royal dragon''s court." Midnight seemed to huff in displeasure when Walker said this. She refused to be weaker than anyone.


    "I know, I know, you will fly soon. But make sure that you work on the other elemental breath attacks. I think you will be able to use them to help make the bracelets I have in mind for the gifts. It will be good to show them off. Also, where is your skeletal armor? Shouldn''t you be training it while we walk to the crafting guild? The wandering cksmith wasn''t at his shop so he has to be there."


    There was a lot that Midnight was trying to train and having Walker make her focus on three things was good. She would get distracted and try to learn new things or only focus on one. If she forgot others she would end up being only good at one thing. That would mean she could be countered with no other way to defend herself.


    The wandering cksmith had already made a ssh by making the highest quality tools. The dwarves had be his favorite customers since he had made some hammers. Walker didn''t even need to walk in to his cksmith shop to see that he wasn''t there. A group of dwarves had been walking away and warned Walker that the shop was closed that day and why they hade.


    This wasn''t a bad thing to discover though. Walker was able to wander the city and listen to the rumors. Since the streets got busier every single day, he was able to absorb a lot of knowledge. "I didn''t expect to hear that there were wandering wizards showing up to check out the mage tower. If they really are that amazing then I will end up meeting a few sooner thanter." One child had been asking his parents about a wizard that he had seen.


    Mages were consideredmon inparison to wizards. That was because the wizards were known for storing their spells in rune scrolls. That also made them the best producers of high quality magic scrolls with powerful spells within them. But where they really separated themselves was when they sealed high level skills within scrolls. This would be created by them making them a very tough opponent. The only downside was that wizards suffered from a very long casting time.


    Walker could cast his skill very fast evenpared to mages. But a wizard would easily take ten times the length of casting. This was because of the skills that the wizards had required them to infuse their mana with sufficient elemental mana. It was mostly due to the fact that they were meant to seal away their spells within scrolls. But once they had the scrolls created they could use them in an instant. They were very dangerous enemies to have but were widely known as good and just people. It was considered a shame that they were so rare.


    This didn''t seem to impress Midnight. She had been more interested in the monsters that were carried in on a cart toward the adventurer''s guild. They were multiple steel haired bears from the mountains. Apparently, there had been an outbreak as they woke up from their hibernation. This was perfect for a higher tier adventurer with his party that had been paid to guard a small vige for that exact reason. As a bonus reward they had taken the beads with them to sell in Genesis to fund a new home. Midnight thought that they looked like a decent snack to have since she thought they might help her strengthen her scales a little.


    "No, we are not trying to convince them to sell us those bears. We have enough food to eat for weeks stored up. Plus you would never finish all of them since I doubt that onyx could eat those too." Walker felt like a parent in the moments before they walked through the crafting guild''s door. They had just set up the new face of the building.


    It was not unexpected that the building was made with many elegant crafting techniques. They had started adding the wooden and metal carvings on the front to show off the immense skills house within the guild. But it had expanded to paintings, pottery, and even some rune drawings. Now the crafting guild could be said to be a work of art that would attract many people throughout the future years.


    "What brings you here today?" There was a set of fresh looking staff members at the front door. It was impressive that everything was so clean inside. But Walker noticed that there were a few people walking on and out with cleaning tools. The guild must be trying to keep a clean appearance for those that came to discuss work. It was fair since the production would be in different parts of the building.


    "I just came looking for a friend. Don''t mind me." Walker gave a wave to Rodney who was rushing through one of the doors behind the counter. The wave back made the new staff members understand. When they noticed Midnight they became slightly embarrassed for not recognizing Walker. "Good luck here. It should be a great first job to have." Walker passed on his regards. He was sure that these staff members would help shape the future of the crafting guild and hearing some kind words would go a long way. Especially since they would most likely be starting a very long career here today.


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 Chapter 1151 - 1151. Come Watch

    Chapter 1151 ¨C 1151. Come Watch


    There was no trouble in finding the wandering cksmith. He was surrounded by multiple cksmiths that were all trying to learn something from watching him make a simple knife. "I don''t know why he takes so many normal orders. He could be making more of those spirit forged weapons. The elves evene by to ask him to help." The conversations around were what Walker would expect.


    "That''s because he only makes what he finds interesting. Just because there are amazing things to make doesn''t mean they are what he wants to make. How many people have kitchen tools made tost a lifetime? Because that is what you are looking at. That knife canst through an entire chef system user''s life. Then it can be passed down to their apprentice." Walker made sure to make his words loud enough for any to hear.


    "That''s what the runes are for! He is adding them to keep the knife clean as it works and prevents damage. Rodney had followed and was giving everyone an angry look. "He is also the only one working. I would expect that all of you would be doing the same with the deadlines we have to make. But I guess all of you will fail the craftingpetitions since you were not able to get your work done and ended up too tired." It was impressive how fast everyone returned to work or left the room entirely. Rodney had really learned to throw his weight around. "I will let you be. I have to chase down a few more people or the higher ups will lose themselves. It''s great to see you again Walker, Midnight!"


    "He really has gotten pretty impressive himself. He used to just work the front desk and now he is running around to all the people in charge. He might be more of a higher up than he knows." Walkerughed a little while Midnight looked around at the materials strewn about the room.


    "He''s a good kid." The wandering cksmith seemed to really like the attitude that Rodney had. The knife was put down as the wandering cksmith had just finished polishing it. He ced it in line with a fifteen piece set that was made for a chef that had arrived and opened up a restaurant that specialized in home grown foods from the demi-human fields. They would be catering to those who enjoyed the homegrown cuisine that wasn''t yet in Genesis.


    "I found you to make something a little different. And I''m sure you don''t want to hear this, but I was hoping that you could use the true spirit forging methods?" Walker saw the wandering cksmith raise an eyebrow and focus.


    "So, I want to make elemental bracelets that spirits can dwell in. They will be gifts for the different elemental royal dragons so that they can find a spirit to partner with them and help them purify mana. They will be made with elemental affinities and should be tough to resist the strength of dragons. But they will need to be able to store mana as well. I know some of the runes had already been transcribed from the mage tower and hope that some of the specific elemental runes can be used. I also don''t mind if you want to use any and all the materials I have." Walker was ready to drop his entire inventory then and there.


    Walker waited while the wandering cksmith pondered this job. It was not very unique in the way of materials but what itcked in materials it made up for in reason. He had never made things for dragons before and he could only think that they would be something that showed off the highest skills he had. It also allowed him to vary the spirits he would work for rather than just making a predetermined design.


    "You can add any designs or styles you feel represent the elemental specification. I''m fairly certain that if I even tried to make something artistic like that I would end up ruining the designs." Walker was sure that the wandering cksmith had skills of a much higher quality than him. This was also why the wandering cksmith started to nod his head yes. He knew that he would have the creative freedom he wanted instead of having to make something in a specific style. These were his favorite kind of orders.


    "The boy can watch." The wandering cksmith pointed to Rodney who ran past the door.


    "I will let him know. This was the first that the wandering cksmith had invited someone in specifically to watch. Walker knew it was something that Rodney had earned and that it would be a massive leap for his knowledge. Without any hesitation, Walker left any materials he had in his storage and headed out to get Rodney. Midnight did not hesitate to take a sharp breath and breathe out a golden me in to the forge. She was ready to train every elemental breath attack she could in the forge today.


    With those goals met for the day, Walker then focused his eyes on the alchemy guild. He wanted to see the progress that hade to pass since Remey was so focused on it. He could already see the fields for herb growing making progress along with the new greenhouses. He was sure that Remey would appreciate the herbs and seeds that he had gotten from the overgrown alchemyb in the water elf castle.


    When he gave them to her she might get distracted with a new potion idea or try to grow them immediately. But what he knew more so was that she would want to find out how they had managed to survive without care for so long. She would want to know all the secrets to them so that the herbalists could replicate the results.


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 Chapter 1152 - 1152. Pushing Through

    Chapter 1152 ¨C 1152. Pushing Through


    Pushing through to the alchemy guild was the hardest challenge of the day. Walker found that so many people hade from far and wide to try and join so that they could participate in thepetition in a few months. They were sure that they would be able to fall under one of the best master alchemists and be the next great alchemist to walk the world.


    Some were there because they had reached the limits of their current knowledge and experiments. They knew that they would be able to learn more and push through their hardships to discover their next path. Then there were the herbalists. Many had found that their city''s were too crowded or that the herbs they grew needed round the clock care. The alchemy guild allowed for other trusted and skilled herbalists to watch the important herbs. That alone was enough to attract skilled herbalists.


    Many people filled the front hall discussing ideas and trying to trade things with each other. It was clear that Trish had hired more elves that respected her to work in the guild since they had a better understanding of herbs in general. Walker even spotted some of the appraisal experts from the Ga family helping with appraising various herbs. It seemed that the Ga family had cast off the idea that they would only be auctioning and working with merchants. They were not working with guilds causing them to be better known and more well rounded in general.


    "Sir hero. How are you today? Do you need any assistance?" One of the staff members ran past the counter and right to Walker as soon as they noticed him fighting for a space to get in. Art first some in line were angry that they were ignored but when they heard how Walker was addressed they made room. They knew that it was best to curry favor with someone known as a hero since they could change the way the city treated them in a few words. Not that Walker was going to influence anyone any which way. He preferred to see the hard working and determined rise to greater heights. It was only fair.


    "I was going to share some of the herbs and herb seeds that I found at the water elfkes with Remey, but maybe it is too busy for me to interrupt her. I didn''t expect things to be this crazy around here." The staff member hurriedly shook their head. They were sure that Remey would have their job if they didn''t bring Walker with them to give her the herbs and seeds.


    "I will lead you there right away. Please just follow me. She is in the middle of a short ss that should be ending soon. I believe the topic was foraging for herbs and the equipment needed." It sounded like a good basic course for new alchemists and made a lot of sense. This was the first ce for alchemists toe together and learn proper techniques without the need to pay for a master alchemist to be their teacher. Many alchemists that were not supported by nobles could now learn.


    The people in line let Walker go buy without any issue. Many actually made note of his face so that they could offer greetings and try to get in to a good rtionship with him. They wanted to be able to say that they had the support of a hero and one of the founders of Genesis. That alone would make them stand out over many of the other alchemists, merchants, and herbalists.


    "Now, tell me. If you find purple thorns with yellow flowers, do you pick them bare handed? If not, what do you wear? Leather gloves? Chainmail gloves? Or do you coat your hands in grease?" Remey was sure that this was going to trip some people up. She had just distributed the basic alchemist guide the day before. She had spent a hefty sum of the guild funds to print arge number of copies to give out for free to every low level alchemist that came and sessfully registered.


    "Grease! The poison is water soluble and will absorb in to your skin. But if you cover your hands in grease then even if the thorns pierce your skin the grease that touched the thorn with block the poison inside the thorn." The girl that answered Remey was very sure of herself.


    "That is another correct answer for you. I expect you to keep up the hard studying. If you have the time I hope you form a study group with some of the other students here. Working together will get you much further than studying alone." The ss would have turned on this girl if Remey did not say this. The girl had answered many questions perfectly. Now that Remey guided her to start a group the other students could learn with them against each other.


    The staff member managed to get Remey''s attention and Remey pointed at Walkering in the food. "As you all know, this is my party member Walker. He just returned from the water elfkes and I am sure he has something interesting to show off. You are all very lucky that he came in at the end of my lesson. That means you get to see what he wants to show off first hand. I expect you all to take notes!" Remey used this to her advantage. She also used it so that she would have an excuse to see the herbs and seeds first hand. It was a good way to hide her excitement and also get what she wanted sooner.


    "I could never say no to my party''s alchemical brawler. She makes all the potions for the party and is an indispensable member. You should see her in action one day!" Walker threw some expectations right back at Remey before he started to pull more things from his storage.


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 Chapter 1153 - 1153. Alchemy Basics

    Chapter 1153 ¨C 1153. Alchemy Basics


    Walker had the clippings from many herbs picked in a thrush. The roots he had were not saveable to keep alive but could be used in potions or other things. He also had the seeds which were mostly in vials that had been cracked or had been strewn about the ground of the overgrown alchemistb. Remey seemed to be vibrating in ce while she held back her excitement. She could tell what some of the herbs were at first nce whereas some she had no idea since they were so rare.


    Remey knew exactly what the lighting vines were. She had seen them before and she was already wearing gloves to pick some up. "Can anyone tell me what herb this is? And who can tell me what properties it has? What uses does it have?" Remey knew that Walker would exin. She also knew that Walker would also tell her that these were grown by Alma in some manner. Remey had noted that the blue ivy that Alma grew were strangely shaped and had slight striations on the base of the vine. She could see the same on the lightning vines here.


    "That''s a yellow vine!?" One young alchemist shouted this out and was met with the shake of Remey''s head. The same girl was looking at it from the back row but pondering it carefully.


    "That''s a lightning vine but it was grown too fast!" Walker could say that he was very impressed. He had no idea how to tell if an herb was grown too fast andcked the current appraisal to say that in the least.


    "Exactly. These are lightning vines. They were grown faster due to another elves'' skills. What properties do they have?!" Remey yelled out the next question while every single one of the young alchemists racked their brains for the answers that they had seen in their lives thus far.


    "Poison! They had poison that paralyzes people like lightning elemental monsters!" The boy that shouted out sounded as if everything had just clicked within his mind. He had a wide smile because he knew well that he was correct.


    "Exactly. They have a very potent paralyzing poison that stops motion. They can make evenrge monsters stop and fall in ce. But they are not deadly in the least. Now, what can they be used for!?" It appeared that Remey was not yet satisfied with their performance. She wanted to hear thest bot as soon as possible to move on to the seeds.


    "I think¡­I think¡­. I think that they are antidotal and can be used to treat pain." A very timid boy right in the front row spoke up just loudly enough for Remey to hear.


    "That is correct. Now shout it louder and I will give you these lightning vines for your own collection." Remey knew that this was enough motivation to make the boy face his fear of speaking. Walker knew this was something that Remey had learned from her siblings in the orphanage. It also made him want to ask her how they were doing since they had all moved to Genesis with them and less and less of them returned to the mansion every day as they found homes of their own.


    "They are antidotal and treat pain in the right potion and salves!" The boy took a deep breath and shouted out to the room. Remey felt her ears ring a little since she was not expecting such a small boy to be so loud.


    "Now that is how you answer in my ss. Take these and be careful. I think you will be able to make salves with them as a training task. When youe back, share them with your next instructor." The herbs were put in to a bad and handed to the boy who was redder than a tomato since he was so embarrassed.


    "These seeds are hard to distinguish and I know all of youck the skills to define what they are. So, I will tell you. Even I need to research some of these'' but these here are very useful. These are water lily seeds. They arerger and very soft. It is rare to find them properly preserved without water because they grow fast and die fast. They have a very high mana absorption rate and are perfect for increasing a mana p[otion from low tier to mid tier on a budget. The trick is growing them and timing the picking of the lily properly." Remey demonstrated by cing one of the seeds in a ss of water. Within three minutes it had already sprouted.


    "This seed will grow in to a full water lily within seven hours. It needs to be picked at about six hours when the lily is about to bloom. By the time it is picked and thrown in to the potion it will be blooming and adding the pollen inside to the potion you are making." Remey had demonstrated this for the respective reason that they all needed to know that some herbs were not worth picking when found in the wild. Some were better off to be left and the seeds hunted.


    "If I want to mass grow those as an herbalist, should I make sure that many alchemists are on standby?" Another younger student called out. She looked like a young elf who had three potted nts by her side, clearly an herbalist in the making.


    "It is better to give instructions to the alchemist using them or to grow them one by one when the alchemist needs them. If you dry them they are useful but lose a lot of the efficacy so they are better off reced with other herbs." This seemed to end the conversation and Remey waved for the alchemists and herbalists to leave. She wanted to speak with Walker now.


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 Chapter 1154 - 1154. The State Of The Water Elves

    Chapter 1154 ¨C 1154. The State Of The Water Elves


    "Now that they have left, tell me why there are so many poorly picked herbs." Remey made the demand with all seriousness. She knew that it could not be intentional but she wanted to know why this was the state of things.


    "There was an overgrown alchemyb. I would say that it was a few years before anyone had taken care of it. We were moving through and ended up waiting for Leon to make his move as you know. So, we used that time to grab what we could before we rushed out. The lightning vines were one of the things we let Alma use. Although, you already knew that one." Walker gave a brief summary of what the alchemyb looked like and the state of tools.


    "So it reflected the state of the entire castle at that point. I have heard that alchemybs can be wild if not taken care of. The old man told me that his friend abandoned alchemypletely when he retired leaving hisb to overgrow. When they realized theb wasn''t taken care of it had been a few weeks but that was enough time for some purple me ferns to take over half the room." This was a story from a long time ago that the old master alchemist had told Remey. It was an early lesson she learned when he had been speaking idly while he worked and Remey watched in awe.


    "I would think that they are recovering it but I brought what I could. They didn''t seem to have any issues with that since they were basically cleaning house anyways. I think it will be some time before they have their own alchemybs again." It would be a few months if not years before the water elves were able to run their alchemybs again.


    "How many do you think wille here? I know they can find work in the alchemy guild since they should be very good at making potions. These herbs and seeds are hard to cultivate. Like this, these are rattle bush seeds. They grow pods that dry out and shake like a rattle. But where they are tough to grow is in the fact that these pods are covered in very sharp and hard to remove barbs." Remey was impressed that the seeds had even been taken. She knew that none of her herbalists they had now would be able to handle growing them but an experienced water elf herbalist would have the chance.


    "They should be here today or tomorrow. I know I mentioned that they should travel on the mountain eagles slowly so that they aren''t overwhelmed. But knowing how anxious they were to see other elves¡­I would guess they will be here soon. You can ask them when they get here if you can get past Alma and Gil. They will probably get to them first." Walker remembered the way that the water elves had started to idolize Alma and Gil before they left.


    "Guild ma- Miss Remey." The staff member received a re because Remey was not a fan of being called the guild master. From her perspective, there shouldn''t be a single guild master even though Trish and the old master alchemist basically threw the title on her behind her back. "The forest elf representative is here with guests to meet you."


    "Speaking of the water elves. Can you have someonee and appraise these. Then keep them separate so that the water elves can look at them as well." The staff member jumped to it and before Walker realized it, Remey was dragging him toward an upstairs meeting room.


    "Alma, I knew you would be here." Walker didn''t have any ns for the rest of the day other than stopping by the cathedral. So, he was happy to see Alma and be able to join them even though he was roped in by Remey.


    "I didn''t expect you to be here. I guess it is perfect timing. I brought along the elder with the most knowledge in alchemy to meet Remey. He said that he was nning on sending two of his apprentices here to join the alchemy guild so that there could be a branch in the new water elf city. One of them is an herbalist that specializes in semi-aquatic herbs and another is an alchemist that specializes in defensive boosting potions."


    "Really? Semi-aquatic herbs? You know that we have some special fields for the merfolk to grow their herbs along with regr fields. Having someone take the space between the two and put it to use would be perfect since it was wasting away." Remey sealed the deal on the herbalist right that second. But she was equally if not more, intrigued by the fact that there was an alchemist that specialized in making defensive potions.


    "You see, my apprentice has always been weaker when ites to his defense and health. That made him want to supplement his lifestyle for safety. Therefore, he has focused on potions that temporarily add earth and water elemental mana to the body. The earth strengthens the skin and sometimes the water is able to help deflect the damage. The potions are very costly but they have a very valuable benefit." The water elf elder knew exactly how to hook Remey. It was almostical.


    "Then I will allow him toe as well. He should be able to trade that knowledge for the things we know. I bet Trish will have a nice conversation with him about the difference in herbs and techniquespared to the forest elf city alchemy she had grown." This was Remey''s card to y. Trish was famous among even the other elves for her potions. This was the deal that clinched the elder in to a full on conversation and caused him to forget that Walker and Alma were even there.


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 Chapter 1155 - 1155. Just Chatting

    Chapter 1155 ¨C 1155. Just Chatting


    "Well, it appears we have lost Remey and my guest. Who would have thought I would be forgotten so fast." This wasn''t too unexpected but Alma still felt a little sting.


    "You should have known it would happen. You brought Remey something alchemy rted right after I brought her something. Now she is going to be caught up for days. Not that it''s a bad thing. She will be busy enough as it is in the next months or two." Since there would bepetitions, Remey had to focus on those and how they would work. Since the colosseum being finished would be the focus of everything then she would need movable equipment for the entire event, not to mention enough for the high number of applicants.


    "I expect the city to be even busier. I think it''s good though. It sped up the trade between the forest and here. Now many people will have fair prices on different goods through every kingdom. Genesis is acting like a border for everyone so that there are no disputes. It''s stressful but working well." This was something that had been noted by every representative. They knew that the buffer would mean a tough job to start for the guards and merchants but would smooth over very quickly.


    "Did you get your new identification yet? I need to. It condenses everything and the guilds have craftsmen everywhere to make sure that everyone gets one. Whoever thought it up is a genius." Walker had seen people with the small tes of metal that could identify them. He was jealous that he had missed the chance to get one early and had it on his to do list for the week.


    "Yes, I got one first thing this morning as an example for the water elves. They needed them as well. It appears that Lust threw a great many items away. Despicable. They are still finding some of their treasure in the muck of thekes. Luckily their real treasures are still sealed away under their castle." The water elves had many things unique to their water affinities and losing them would have more than ruined their culture. Thankfully they had been untouched for years and survived the incidents caused by Lust.


    "Oh, that''s good. I didn''t even think about that but you''re right. I bet there are many historical artifacts or items that could have been lost¡­" Walker had not focused on such a thing and really only thought of treasure as weapons or gold. Not that he usually needed to worry about treasure. "I expect them to work well in Genesis. They should be able to adjust with all the new peopleing every day. Their water magics should be a very big help."


    "I agree. I think they will be part of us getting our own fields started for growing. We have plenty of farmers that came from the demi-humans that need help making thend good enough to grow. They already started plowing even though the ground is still frozen. But apparently, it has started to warm up just enough to begin so who am I to say not to?" Alma had a sense for the season as an elf, but that did not mean she had the slightest idea about when it was best to start growing food.


    "I didn''t realize how far they would set up the fields. Assuming we would keep expending though¡­" Walker could imagine just howrge the city would be in the next few years. They would be in a rush for space up until the end of the next year. Right now though, there was space to use as they saw fit. "What else do you have nned for the day? Anything big?"


    "I nned to visit those elves left to Gil''s training. Apparently, they went out again and one of them met a frost wolf pup. It did not go well but Gil''s father and two other seasoned hunters were there to help. I want to see if they learned a lesson. Unfortunately, younger archers are always too arrogant for their own good since they feel they can fire an arrow without consequence." It was understandable. Long range attacks could make someone feel invincible. "How about you?"


    "I need to visit the cathedral and speak with Onyx and Alice. I also want to see the new skill that Su is working on. I can''t get left behind. She''s a little too motivated and it makes me feel like I will be left behind before I know it." The curiosity that Walker had was not small. He wanted to see just what had Su so fired up. He also wanted to spend some quality time with Alice. He knew she would be busy but just having lunch with her would make his day a million times better. Thant and Onyx had spent a decent amount of gold so he wanted to check in and see what it was all being used for. Making sure Onyx was spending wisely was part of an older brother''s job.


    "I did hear that Su was working on a new light elemental skill. She even told me she was trying to focus on magic now. I wonder if she will be breathing fire like a dragon soon. She wasn''t shy about exining the changes after pledging to Midnight. But Su is trustworthy and strong. She would have done anything to protect her family anyways. A pledge was just additional proof to the world." Alma didn''t see the point of the pledge since Su would always choose to save and protect. It was just who she was. Yet the pledge still happened and it came with added benefits for Su, so, no one had any issues with it even though it would require Su to train much more to discover the new skills she had and the new potential she had.


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 Chapter 1156 - 1156. Rare To Hear

    Chapter 1156 ¨C 1156. Rare To Hear


    Since it appeared that Remey was upied, Alma and Walker took their leave. Walker also wanted to go see how Gil was doing with the archery academy and his goals. Unfortunately, he seemed to have ended up with too much on his te for the day. It was also not a major goal to improve his archery skills since Walker was more focused on magic than anything. He did wonder if he could use his elemental magic to create arrows on the go.


    This wasn''t something major in his mind but he had the idea that he would be able to help Gil if he ever ran out of arrows. It would be a rare scenario since Gil made plenty of arrows and had his special quiver which held a near infinite amount. Yet, it would be good if Gil couldn''t use any of the elemental arrows that he made. Walker could manipte the area around them and create an arrow that didn''t have the mana condensed within so that it would do purely physical damage.


    There was also the fact that Walker had been neglecting learning to create himself weapons out of the elements he could control. He had the frost whip skill and a few others rted to earth a wind elemental mana. But he should look for a generalbination of them that worked without the use of the eternAl orb. It would be bad if he was in a situation and could not rely on the eternal orb for whatever reason, then he would need to pull weapons from his inventory or make one on the fly.


    He could always rely on his storage for weapons and other things. But in the midst of battle, it may not be optimal to pull out a sword, hammer, scythe, or even dagger. It could be too easy to predict. But when he created a weapon from an element around him it would be a surprise that an enemy never sawing. That was the benefit to being able to use closebat and magic. Something that Walker needed to train together with his dance of seasons skill. The dance of seasons would radically change the way Walker battled if he could train with it more. He had just been too busytely.


    His thoughts kept him upied until the cathedral loomed in front of him. He had nearly walked straight in to the high priest who was just standing up from a bench near the front to greet him. "I think you need to take a seat instead of me. You''re looking a little distracted." The high priest knew the feeling of being deep in thought. He had often pondered the future of members or the cathedral itself.


    "I just have a lot going on and can''t seem to find the time to train. I kind of wish I had a time stop skill or one of those magic portals to a training world with sped up time. But if I get skills like those I think I will end up distant from my family and end up apletely different person."


    The high priest wasn''t sure how to respond to this. Of all the things to be thinking about, Walker was thinking of time magic. "You know, I would never think of such things. So many times people wish for more time but in the end, do we really want it? Would we grow apart from those we love? I think at my age I always want more time but if I had it would I actually do the most with it? I can''t say, but you have a very good point." There were some enlightening feelings with what Walker had said. These things also resounded with Walker because he knew he would be living much longer than a normal human now. It was something he had yet toe to terms with in any sort of way because it was hard to wrap his mind around.


    "So, what brings you here today? Coming to check on Onyx? If he stays here any longer he might just eat too much light elemental mana." The high priest knew what Onyx ate and that the cathedral attracted light elemental mana in the form of healing easily. Since Onyx had been there he was able to help the heavenly serpent egg hatch and eat without issue. There was also the bonus of easily training with his light elemental skills.


    Walker shook himself out of his own head and replied, "Yes, I also want to see Alice since I have been gone again. I heard that she was training with Su to learn a new skill. I thought it might be good to watch and learn." Walker was not used to condensing the light elemental mana in to a physical form. If he managed to watch Su and Alice train then he might get some hints on how to do so as well.


    "If you watch them I think you will have it down sooner than you think. Those shields that Alice makes might not take many hits but they can stop Su for a moment. You and I both know that Su is a tough young woman." It was rare to hear the high priestmenting on someone''s toughness and strength. The fact that he had such an idea of Su meant that he had been very impressed with her training.


    "Su has saved many people and will keep on doing so. If I ever need someone to protect me I trust that she will be there even before I know I''m in danger." It wasn''t so much as Walker''s bond with Su but the feeling he had. Su was just the kind of person to always be there when someone needed protection or a shoulder to lean on. She truly cared for others.


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 Chapter 1157 - 1157. Hot Blooded

    Chapter 1157 ¨C 1157. Hot Blooded


    The pair were still chatting as they walked inside the cathedral. Walker was looking around but didn''t see Alice or Su meaning they were in the back courtyard training. However, there seemed to be very few injured or sick around. "I can see you looking around. We have been slower today. It seemed that after that cart incident people are actually paying attention to their safety. I would say that they want to be in top form for the next few months." It was definitely thepetitions that spawned this care for safety. Those that had been injured had fallen behind.


    "Safety should be important all the time. But, I can''t be angry that people are focusing on it because of that. As long as it''s focused on. Does that mean you have had a lot of different tasks to work out?" It was expected that the cathedral would have other projects when they were slower.


    "Yes, we have been able to send some people out to visit viges near us. We also sent a small group from here and Diamond to the northern city. They should be able to see the grand cathedral and much more experienced master healers. It will bring this cathedral to much higher heights. I just wish the journey was shorter. It will take half the year." The high priest wasn''t happy to be missing people for so long but he knew the value of such a trip.


    "Huh, good for them. I forget about the cities past the desert on the other shores. It''s nice that people are able to go toward the ocean and take boats up the coast again. That desert was not a fun ce to go." If he had to go to the desert again, Walker wasn''t sure how he would handle it. He only saw a small fraction of the danger thest time he was there. In all honesty, he had been extremely lucky in his rushed journey.


    "Again! Hit harder!" Su shouted in hot blooded strength as Onyx whipped his tail down toward her shield. He had been the one testing her shield since Alice was resting and checking on the heavenly serpent egg.


    The strike of Onyx''s tail was nothing tough at. Even though he was using his shadow to restrict his size, he could still hit with tremendous force. This meant that he could push Su back a decent distance with her defense. The only downside was that he would be unable to follow up attacking since he suffered some bacsh. Just because a monster was higher in stats than a human or other race did not mean that they could use those stats the same way. Most of the other races had learned to focus their strengths and weaknesses in some way whereas a monster was just naturally strong in an unfocused manner. It was why Midnight and Onyx were not unstoppable forces even though they were technically the strongest within the party.


    However, Walker was too busy watching to think about these things. He had seen a small amount of light start to condense on Su''s shield. She didn''t have the mana controlling skills that Walker did so it was very impressive that she was able to make this happen. She had shared a bond with Midnight unlike Walker''s. This made sure that she had an expanded elemental affinity like Midnight''s.


    When Su charged toward Onyx the next time it was clear that there was a slight light shield around her twin shields before she mmed them together. It seemed that she had started to use her shield bash skill and charge forward with it. It was beginning to be more than just a light shield skill. It was turning in to abination skill the way that Su was training. She wasn''t just using her mind, she was letting her instinct take control of what she was doing while training and it was obviously paying off.


    Seeing this convinced Walker that he could help a little. He started to use his grand elemental maniption skill to force the light elemental mana around the back courtyard of the cathedral to surround Su. She felt this change and she was able to grasp on to it without even distracting herself. The results spoke for themselves.


    Light started to condense over the twin shields that Su had put together. Walker saw the scrapes and bruises from her training healing slightly. It was an interesting effect to have. Yet, this was not all that was happening. Su was able to move with her shield close to the ground leaving no gaps for any attacks to go under her. This protected her feet when she began to charge forward with the shields facing Onyx.


    Her cry of power rang out again and Walker felt that his blood was boiling. This was more than just Su yelling. It was a cry for power from the blood she had obtained and the changes her body had undergone. It was close to a dragon''s roar like Walker and Midnight were able to do.


    In the next moment, Su collided with Onyx''s tail and Onyx was the one forced back. The light elemental mana on her shield fell away but Su was standing tall while trying to catch her breath. "Shield charge and shield bashbo skill with a light shield addition? You really had to go all out and surprise me." Walker praised thebination that used not one, but four skills. "And you even started to use dragon''s intimidation. Your roar might make Midnight feel she needs topete." He cast a healing skill to help Su recover while she calmed herself and looked around. She had unknowingly attracted the attention of more than just Walker and the high priest. Many of the healers hade to watch her training and looked in awe.


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 Chapter 1158 - 1158. Just Sparring...

    Chapter 1158 ¨C 1158. Just Sparring¡­


    "Brother, Su has been working very hard today." Onyx knew that Walker understood this but still felt it was worth saying. He had just been knocked back and felt how much stronger Su had gotten just in the day. "Every time she attacks it feels like she has gotten more powerful. I don''t know what it is." This was enough to put Walker on edge. Su was still adapting to the changes in her body. If she was improving so fast, then wouldn''t he fall behind soon?


    "I''ll need to get more serious myself. I didn''t think that you were getting stranger that fast¡­" Since Su was still catching her breath, she was not able to respond. However, she held a smug smile that told Walker she was willing to challenge him at any time.


    "Now look at what you managed to do. We will need to tten out the courtyard again. You dug right in with every step there." No one but the high priest had noticed that Su had pushed on the ground so hard while charging that she had dug small divots in the ground with each step. It spoke to the heaviness of her armor and shields but also to the force she put in every leap forward.


    "Let me fix that quick." Walker used his grand elemental manipting to tten the ground again while the high priest nodded in approval. He wished that Walker had been there the entire week so that this could have been fixed as the training had gone on. The number of times that Alice, Su, and Onyx had damaged the ground was nearly uncountable at this point.


    Before Walker could speak he heard a soft song starting. But what caught him up was that he couldn''t make out the words. They seemed to evade him when he focused. However, the light elemental mana had made gather in the courtyard seemed to bed to the words faster than he knew. In an instant, there were three swords of light moving through the air towards him. His reaction was nothing too spectacr.


    Walker jumped to the side and rolled while pulling the twin blitz swords from his storage. He shed at the light swords and managed to block them as they came at him again. Without any hesitation, he began to dance the second act of the dance of seasons; spring. His agility increased and he was able to move more freely while defending against the swords. He had not expected Alice to see him and immediately show off. But whatever she had discovered had made her much more efficient in singing her songs to manipte the light elemental mana. So much so that Walker felt he might have been caught off guard if he was not so much faster and higher leveled than her.


    "Is that the fastest you have!?" Walker nted his feet and raised the twin blitz swords in a stance he didn''t know he could perform. It felt that it was second nature based on the warriors he had seen use swords. Without really thinking he had copied it and begun to use it.


    ''The skill dual stance has been taken from the starlight swordsman system. The user has learned the skill dual stance from the constant battle experience and memories of stances while using dual ded weapons.


    Dual stance- passive


    The user is able to easily fall in to a corresponding stance rted to two of the same weapon being wielded at once. They are able to use their skills rted to having two of the same weapons slightly faster. They are also able to resist the attack and parry the attacks toward them slightly faster. The user is also able to better learn dual de skills at a slightly faster rate.''


    There was a smirk on Walker''s face when he read this. Whatever a starlight swordsman was, they had a great skill with dual weapons. Walker envied the slight boost in learning experience that woulde with this and the system he didn''t know much about. Although, he now had the skill and was ready to use it to the best of his ability. To do so, he started to pull on the air and water around him. The mana started to condense much better than usual to form icy extended des on his twin blitz swords.


    The air was sharpening the water as it froze. Walker had thought of thisbination over time when using the frost whip since he knew that the wind made everything feel colder. He was also able to see the ice and snow shaped by the wind when they had gone up to Adairs'' vige in the mountains. It was time for him to put thesebinations to practice and use them properly.


    His next sh shattered one of the three light elemental des that Alice''s song made. The resulting gust of icy air was enough to chill everyone watching to the bone. But Alice was not done yet. She raised her voice and Walker almost made out some of the words. He still was not sure what or how she was doing it but he pushed on against the newly formed three light elemental des moving even faster.


    The show of agility and ice made the courtyard feel like winter was returning instead of fading. Su had started to regain her breath and was watching while Onyx curled up to watch next to her. "I thought they liked each other but now I might say they are enemies." She was feeling recovered enough to joke around a little with Onyx.


    "They are getting to know each other. Brother missed Alice, and Alice has been working hard to be able to journey with him. They know more about each other than ever before." There was no way that onyx wouldn''t see the truth of this little sparring match.


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 Chapter 1159 - 1159. The Swap

    Chapter 1159 ¨C 1159. The Swap


    Walker was not as experienced when it came to battle but she was learning faster than before. She could see how Walker was moving to dodge and change his options. She had been standing in one ce and singing, yet, as she saw Walker moving she realized that she was an easy target. All someone would need to do was get to her and everything going on would end. If Walker wanted, he could use magic or just throw one of his swords at her to end the entire battle.


    She couldn''t help but try and copy the way he moved to always see him and observe the area. Walker had not caught on that Alice had been doing this. It was impressive to watch her learn though, the high priest was feeling more and more proud as this sparring went on. Never had he imagined that his adopted daughter would be able to hold her own against anyone or anything. He had always believed she would have to hide away within a city and be protected by the walls. Now he could rest easy when she decided to head in to the world.


    The song of swords was only a partial verse that came from the full song she had made. Shecked the ability to use it the way she envisioned because of herck of mana. As much as she wanted to boost her mana she could not because that required improving her level which was slow. She could get gear that improved mana storage but it would make her heavier or would be expensive. Not that shecked gold, but it was not something she wanted to spend it all on. She made sure not to let Walker know though, she knew too well that he might go out of his way to get her something.


    Walker spun around to counter one of the des that Alice had tried to be sneaky with. She thought that the light de coulde around from behind him and deal a decisive blow. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Walker was paying attention to the number he shed apart and how they reformed. Since Alice had started with three light des he knew that there would be a thirding from any angle. He was also making sure he paid attention to his elemental maniption skill which could sense the light elemental mana behind him.


    In the next moment that Walker tried to sh down, he noticed that the song had changed. There were pauses added in making the swords change speed and attack patterns. Alice had learned to slow and speed her song while watching Walker. She noticed that his dance was not to a perfect rhythm and that he was moving in different ways depending on how the sparring match progressed.


    The first light de made Walker feel as if he could easily sh it multiple times, Yet the next two were faster than he would expect from the way the battle had been going. Walker cursed that Alice was discovering these things while also loving the fact that he was also improving. His sense for battle was increasing constantly and he was able to discover where his ws were.


    There would have been no situation up until this point where Walker would have been able to safely realize he had small ws in his movement. He might have had great skills but they were nothing if he did not understand and use them properly. The dance of seasons was a perfect example. He knew the movements and how the different acts worked with the specific movements. But he had not trained his body to move through those moves fluidly with different weapons. This was something that came with time and training.


    Therefore, the best skill at the moment was dual stance since it helped him learn. But he couldn''t just use swords in the future. He needed to change things up and try weapons he didn''t use often or at all. That was why when the twin blitz sword disappeared from his hands and Walker dove forward, Alice wasn''t sure what was going on.


    In the next moment, two basic steel daggers that Walker had asked the wandering cksmith to make in case he needed them. This was the time to test them out and try to learn something new.


    The shorter des were more or less foreign to Walker. But he knew that he could move around faster since he was not carrying as much weight. This gave him the agility advantage over the changing speeds of the light swords. But where it truly started to show Walker''s strength was when he dodged and used both of the daggers to block. He was copying his actions as he did with the swords, yet, when he used the daggers he could deliver quick decisive blows breaking the light swords faster than before.


    These new movements threw Alice off since she was not expecting the swap. It also threw off her focus when it came to recreating the light des, which she was now remaking more than before. It also caused Alice''s mana to drain faster and her to be frustrated. This was the chance that Walker took to get in closer and closer until Alice was right in front of him.


    The sudden closebat made Alice freeze up. She had never needed closebat and had yet to think of it since she would have had someone shielding her. Luckily, it was Walker that was sparring with her, so in the blink of an eye, his daggers disappeared and his hand reached out for hers. If this was anyone else they would have remainedpletely stunned and frozen. But this was Alice. She grabbed Walker''s hand and immediately gave him a stern look, "Next time." She would win the next time they spared. She would make sure of it.


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 Chapter 1160 - 1160. Progress

    Chapter 1160 ¨C 1160. Progress


    "Are you going to tell me how you manage to sing like that? I couldn''t even tell what words wereing out of your mouth so I have no idea that there would be light elemental swordsing for me." Walker was still very impressed with the skills that Alice had shown off in their battle.


    "She has been training a lot. Yesterday she suddenly started doing that and managed to make a shield faster than I could even start to draw light elemental mana toward me. I think it''s called mondegreen." Su came back from where she had been sitting to watch and joined in the conversation.


    "That''s a skill that some people use to confuse others. I have met some rogue or thief system users with the skill but after some research, I found that it is a skill some song rted systems use. It is the reason you can''t quite understand her words. She sings in a way that makes them sound like other words so it all ends up seeming nonsensical." Since Alice was his only daughter, the high priest had taken a lot of time to research such things. He had been very impressed by the skill appearing within his daughters'' singing. But more so, that it would help protect her.


    Alice was standing very proud in front of Walker waiting for his response to this. "So you can pretty much attack to surprise the enemy at all times. It would even be better if they misheard the opposite or something else. It''s the perfect skill to keep you safe and your opponent on edge." Walker was no fool, he knew that Alice might end up against someone or something that could speak properly and understandnguage. If this happened, then Alice would be able to confuse them and survive better.


    "You were so fast too!" Alice had not expected how embarrassed she would feel as everyone focused on her. It was unusual since she was used to having an audience when she sang. However, she knew that the people around her were impressed and cared for her the same way she cared for them. That seemed to make it all the more embarrassing.


    "I''m not all that fast. I was using my skill; dance of seasons. It has five acts, that was spring. It boosts my agility a little while I dodge. It also lets me use certain elemental mana better but I need to be able to fight in closebat. I need to train. There were a lot of things I did wrong and I could have left myself wide open." This was what Su and Onyx had been waiting on. They had been watching carefully and keeping note of what Walker did.


    "I agree, yound on your toes a few times instead of the balls of your feet."


    "Brother, I also saw you hesitate when you swapped to those daggers. It was a good choice, unfortunately, it could mean you are injured," Onyx feared that the half second of hesitation while Walker decided what he would do was going to be the moment that he was hurt.


    "I noticed that I wasn''tnding right too. If I rotate in the air I think that I will be too far back and adjust too much. I need to practice it more. But I need to go through every single act. The one I''m worried about is the fifth act; symphony of seasons since it makes me use natural mana mixed with my mana. It will be harder to use but a very good way to train. I didn''t realize I hesitated though. I don''t often swap weapons at higher speeds in battle. I will think about that." Walker was a little worried that he would hesitate more if he didn''t get used to the motions.


    "Alice. You need to make sure you move from the start of a battle. If you worry that you will get in the way you will be down and out before you know it." Since Su had been training with Alice she was not going to be sugar coating it. Alice didn''t want that either. She wanted the blunt evaluation of her movements so that she could improve.


    "I agree. But I think you could try and change the way you use the swords of light. They were the same patterns most of the time. They are light. They might not need to stay sword shapes or they might not need to move the way a sword does. You control thempletely." Onyx had a sense for the way the light elemental mana was and he knew that Alice could adjust the size and shapes of her sword by changing the words to her song slightly. If she could do this while singing she would be able to do much more.


    "Wait, why focus on words at all? Why not des or spikes or needles in general? You can shape light in to any shape right? Then sing of des not swords. If you are more general then you can make the song what you want it to be." Alice was already writing before Walker had started to say his thoughts. Everyone watched her scribble down ideas and eventually sat down focused on the spot.


    "Brother. Would you like toe and appraise the progress of the heavenly serpent egg? We have been working very hard to make sure that it gets more than it will ever need." Walker was finally going to see what the gold that Onyx spent went to. He would be able to give Onyx a small talk about spending wisely and also seeing the progress that hade from the near round the clock care that Onyx and Alice traded off. Alice on the other hand was too stuck in her epiphany to go with them. The high priest stayed behind to see what he could do to help.


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 Chapter 1161 - 1161. Big Change

    Chapter 1161 ¨C 1161. Big Change


    Since Su was still tired, she opted to take a seat near where Alice and the high priest were. She thought it better to recover so that she would sleep training her control of light elemental mana which she stillcked. It would go a long way for her to be better at controlling mana In general. She didn''t n to bring magical skills in to every aspect of her fighting but she knew that even being able to sense it better would radically improve her battling styles.


    "Alice asked for the high priest to set up a room for the egg. It is perfect because it only allows the light elemental mana to gather inside. I think that we have done a lot to help it hatch faster and grow stronger." This was something that Onyx was more sure of than anything. It mostly spawned from the fact that he was able to sense the purity of the light elemental mana align with the mana gathering within the heavenly serpent egg.


    "I can''t say that the appraisal will be much different than it was when I was given the egg. If it is then I will just tell you about what is different. I just don''t want to get you too excited. The appraisal first said that it would need a hundred days to hatch. You spent all of the gold that was yours to spend on this. You can''t believe that you won''t need more. Also, what about researching your own race? Have you forgotten your goal? I know you have quests for it." There was a heavy and serious tone in Walker''s voice that made Onyx shrink back a little.


    He knew that he was being reprimanded because Walker had some worries about him. He also knew that it was because Walker cared for him. But that didn''t mean that Onyx was going to back down. "I believe that this heavenly serpent will be just like me and want to do the same as I am. I will help it at any cost. I also can take my own quests when needed to afford more light elemental crystals¡­" He trailed off and thought about what else he should say. But he had not been idle while Walker was away.


    "I reached out to the tamer''s guild. Elise said she would have a friend of hers help me out. There is a giant anaconda tamer that searches for everything serpent rted. He should have records and potential locations for me. I might be able to go out on a journey to find more of my race." There was a hope that Walker had not felt from Onyx before when this was said. Onyx did not feel lonely at all by any means. He felt blessed by the world to have such a family and so many rtionships with others. But he knew that he was still just thrown in the category of monster. He wanted to be a race like the goblins had done. He wanted to be able to say he found his people and brought them together. He wanted to follow Walker''s example and push higher than before.


    "Then I will support you. But if you get in to trouble and need help you should ask me. Never feel that you can''t. We are family and everything I have is yours too. Just don''t forget your goals. I can''t have you working yourself to death. What kind of older brother would I be if that was the case?" Onyx raised his head in pride hearing this. "Speaking of working to death, we should check on Lisa when we head to dinnerter. I want to make sure everyone has a good meal together so I will try and cook a little tonight." Walker had made that decision then and there. He knew that everyone would appreciate the bonding time.


    Onyx let Walker take the lead to open the door to the room set aside for the heavenly serpent egg. In just a nce, Walker could see the changes. The crystal clearyer that the shell was turning in to was spectacr. It shined with a brilliance that only pure light elemental mana could produce. There was also the fact that a lot of the striation along the egg had smoothed. If anyone looked at it now next to how it used to be they would think this was apletely different egg. It was starting to live up to the name; heavenly serpent egg.


    Since Walker had said that he would just say the difference in the appraisal, Onyx was looking at him with eager eyes. Walker knew this and carefully walked around the egg before using his all around appraisal skill. His surprise was clear and he couldn''t find the words for the changes that he had found.


    "Not only has the hatching time changed from a hundred days to sixty but, it says that it will have elerated growth because of the pure light elemental mana that it has received. You and Alice have done an amazing job!" Although it was still a long time away, the heavenly serpent eggs were many days ahead of schedule. Knowing that it would be able to grow faster when it hatched also put him and Onyx at ease. This was even better news than Onyx had imagined. He immediately rushed back out to tell Alice. He didn''t care that she was hyper focused because he knew that she would feel the same joy that he did over this.


    Through thest few days, Alice and Onyx had gotten much closer than they had been. Their shared ability to use the light elemental mana was just the start. They had been bonding over their cares for others and how they could ensure that the heavenly serpent was closer to the best life it could live.


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 Chapter 1162 - 1162. Grocery Shopping

    Chapter 1162 ¨C 1162. Grocery Shopping


    Part of Walker wanted to meet the tamer that Onyx had mentioned. Being able to speak to a tamer that specialized in giant anacondas would be a wealth of information that might be able to help him understand some of Onyx''s needs in the future. Only was still fairly young and only grew so fast because of the things they had experienced. Being able to have the tips and tricks might help Walker when Onyx needed help most.


    There was also the fact that a tamer that was obsessed with snakes and serpent type monsters could be a good ally to have. There were a lot of serpent type monsters nearby because of the swamps and the grassnds. Let alone when Walker went to the mountains, which was more often than he would have expected.


    "Brother, what do you have nned now?" When Walker returned to where Alice was sitting, Onyx asked him for his ns. Walker was ready for this though. He wanted to invite the high priest and Alice to dinner as well.


    "I was nning on cooking a big dinner tonight. I hope that Alice and the high priest cane as well." His invitation brought a smile to the high priests'' face. Thest time they had eaten at the mansion he was impressed by the food and now he would be able to have it again.


    "Of course we wille. We need to get out and experience some different foods every now and then. We will even bring some of the peach pie from your mother''s bakery. I ordered some earlier today so that I could have it around but this is a much better time for it." Hilda''s peach pie had taken the cathedral by storm. In just a week since she released her new recipe, she had managed to get thergest positive feedback from any baked goods she made.


    "My mother is selling peach pie now? But peaches aren''t in season¡­I wonder where she got them. Maybe the forest elves?'' Walker was a little curious where his mother would be able to find a steady supply of peaches. But since the pie was so popr he had no qualms with the fact that she was able to do it at all. "Well, in any case, I am going to hit the market and see what I can find. Maybe I will get something interesting." Walker made sure that everyone knew what his ns were. Since Alice was so busy with her new inspiration and Onyx wanted to help Su train more, he figured he had the time. The high priest had his own duties to attend to since so many of the healers had been watching the training instead of working.


    Walking through the city alone was pleasant for Walker. He wasn''t used to the feeling of being alone with his own thoughts. Fleur was resting in the spirit mark still and he could tell that she just needed the time to absorb natural mana. It was a good thing since he wanted to be able to make a big ssh when he went to the royal dragon court. It was also a good chance to think about the training he would do the next day to prepare. Je figured another few days of training to get a better handle on his movements skills. Then he would try to make weapons out of elemental mana on the move.


    "Sir hero! Come and grab some of our massive green onions. We used water and earth elemental mana to double their growing size. They have a very crisp texture and hold up to high temperatures!" The forest elf that got his attention was one of the first to be able to sell things in the market.


    "I see you have expanded nicely. Your stall is triple the size and you have double the workers. That means you should be able to help me. I need vegetables to make some dinner with for everyone tonight. I''ll take those giant green onions but I need a good mix to go with¡­hmm, chicken?"


    The forest elf merchant looked very happy to hear this. Without a second nce, he was rushing around. "I have golden root potatoes, giant green onions, some finger length spicy peppers, and my personal favorite, some red peppers. A good trick will be to roast the peppers and add themst. That''s the secret to the vors." It was clear that the forest elf had taken a lot of time to make himself familiar with his produce. "Then head over to my coworker and he has some ckened foul already spice rubbed. He will treat you right." It was the fastest that Walker had ever gotten things put together.


    "I heard ckened chicken. I can set up five portions. If you are feeding a lot you might want to grab those spring greens mix for a small sd bed before the main course. Then if you get those mixed nuts to top it you have a pretty fine fresh and crunchybination."


    "What are you telling the hero!? He needs the silk goat''s cheese. It is perfect for a sd. Don''t lead him astray. Just because we are produce merchants doesn''t mean we can''t sell the cheese we were given." The third forest elf thrust the cheese in to Walker''s hands. "This is on the house. Remember, you helped out my family. I can''t make you pay for this. Also, business is too good to us." There wasughter from all the forest elf merchants before Walker turned away, storing seven bags of food to cook. With all the energy they had provided, Walker was really fired up to cook and even learn some cooking skills. He had a lot to look forward to.


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 Chapter 1163 - 1163. Chef Walker

    Chapter 1163 ¨C 1163. Chef Walker


    Since everyone in the family was still out and about with their jobs or activities, Walker was left alone in the mansion with the kitchen to himself. It was a very rare urrence since his mother was always in the kitchen. Even after she finished at their new bakery, she would be in the kitchen experimenting or taking on the duty of cooking for the family.


    "Let''s get top learning skills." Walker had a long life of watching his mother use different cooking techniques. There were not many that were unfamiliar to him. But since hecked the skills he was not good at them in the least. Now that he had the ability to learn the skills, he knew that he could take that hard learned method and change it in to a perfected form.


    The sharp knives that the wandering cksmith had made to rece the old knives were able to slice the chicken off the bone cleaner than Walker should have been capable of. He had gained a skill that helped him break down hunted game but this was beyond that. The des went right to the bone and easily scraped the meat from them without any issue. He even felt that he could cut off kes of bone without any trouble.


    The peppers were the next to be the target of his cutting. He knew that he needed to roast them over the mes first to soften them so he tossed them right in to the hot coals like his mother had done before. The skin would bubble and cken but when he pulled them out he was able to pull thatyer right off leaving a smokey vored red pepper. The softness and easy to slice nature made it a simple wash, pull the seeds out, and slice in to thin strips. The fragrance it had already made his mouth water.


    Beyond that he was dicing the golden root potatoes in to medium sized cubes to soak in cool water he gathered with his water elemental maniption. He smirked knowing that other chefs would most likely need to get water another way while he had the cheat if pulling it out of the air, literally.


    ''The skill elegant knife work has been taken from the master chef system. The user has used past knowledge and experience along with calm mana flow to learn the skill elegant knife work.


    Elegant knife work- passive


    As long as the user finds his inner calm they are able to better slice and dice using a sharp knife. Overall they are able to better use any knife. They will be safer and more efficient in their cuts and have a much lower chance of cutting themselves or damaging what they are cutting unwillingly. The knives are also able tost longer and sharper due to the better care taken with their use.''


    This skill showed in Walker''s cuts immediately. He had long seen the way his mother used a knife and now he was able to nearly perfectly replicate her movements. The pride that swelled in his heart when he noticed this only increased as he moved on to the roasting pans. The golden root potatoes were the bed to soak up the drippings and be mashed up after the roasting process. The roasted red peppers would be mixed inst after cooking. The giant green onions were being finely julienned to a feather like thinness.


    The finger length spicy peppers were the wild card that he was excited to add in since the family rarely had spicier food but Walker had been craving ittely. There was also the fact that Onyx and Midnight had never had spicy food before now so it would be a surprising new thing to taste in their lives.


    The peppers were easy to cut thin like the giant green onions. But Walker made sure that he kept the seeds inside them so that the spice level would remain on the higher end of the spectrum. The good part was that his family had nothing against spices since his mother had always made them try a variety of vors. It gave them a tolerance to any spice or vor making them able to eat just about anything. It also made them have a higher realm of knowledge when it came to what foods were or what dishes should go with others.


    That was why Walker was able to easily make a sweet onion vinaigrette with some of the green onion bulbs at the end of the green stalks. The giant green onion had a tougher bulb but it was perfect for caramelizing and shaking with vinegar and a little sunflower oil. It easily mixed in to the wild greens sd he had made brightening it up. The addition of lemon juice just further elevated the vors as he began to taste things.


    ''The skill vor evaluation has been taken from the taste tester system. The user has significant knowledge of vors when in rtion to food and the skill has been automatically learned.


    vor evaluation- passive


    The user is better able to distinguish vors from mixed ingredients. They can easily remember specific tastes and bring them to mind for descriptive purposes. They are also able to better evaluate the quality of things they taste. This skill is often gained by chefs and critiques.''


    This just made Walker happier as he went through and tasted everything again. He wanted to surprise his mother by showing off his cooking since he was always away or busytely. It would also be a good way to show his appreciation to those that always had his back. It took him some time but he had a beautiful spread on the table as everyone started to return to the mansion. The high priest and Alice didn''t even knock since they came in with Hilda who had just arrived to the surprise of dinner already made.


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 Chapter 1164 - 1164. Sit Down Dinner

    Chapter 1164 ¨C 1164. Sit Down Dinner


    Stunned. That was the only thing that everyone was able to feel. The ckened chicken that Walker had bought already spiced had browned up and be crispy in the oven. The roasted vegetables and smashed golden root potatoes made their mouths water. The vibrant greens sd with mixed nuts and a giant green onion bulb vinaigrette made the room smell fresh and bright. There was too much to love about a simple but elegant meal.


    "Since when can my son cook like this?! I thought your mother was the baker here, but you suddenly can cook? Did you actually gain a cooking system and have been lying to us the entire time?'' Garret thought that Walker had really gone above and beyond. There was so much food to feed everyone that they wouldn''t be able to handle everything without the high priest, Alice, and some of Remey''s siblings. Even the old master Alchemist and the wandering cksmith had managed to make it back to the mansion for the night.


    "He''s your son too, you know. But he does take after me." Hilda was full of joy seeing that Walker had taken the time to learn skills and show them off that were rted to her system. She knew he had always tried to gain these skills growing up and now that he could he had made it happen. Not only did she feel fulfilled but she knew that Walker had realized a goal he had had for his entire childhood.


    "I wanted to make a good dinner for everyone. The high priest even reserved your peach pie. I heard it has be the cathedrals'' favorite treat."


    "He''s right with that. My healers have been trying to hoard it for themselves. If I didn''t reserve one I wouldpletely miss out on the chance to eat it." The high priest ttered Hilda who seemed happier to hear that her food was popr now that her bakery was fully open.


    "Well, now that Walker has outdone himself, let''s eat." Hilda was not going to let everyone be held up by talking about food that was getting cold. She would want everyone to eat while it was at its best so that was what they were going to do.


    There were many topics that floated around the table while they ate. Onyx was bragging about how he and Alice had managed to get the hatching time of the heavenly serpent down to less than a hundred days. But what went even further was the fact that Alice and Su shared their new skills.


    Alice was able to directly show off her strange singing that could protect her in battle and Su showed a very small version of the light shield she was learning. Su was far from mastery over the skill but everyone could tell it was not some simple light. The shield could block something solid and it just needed the time to condense and block hard hits. Eventually, Su would be able to use it to heal herself and others slightly as well. When that day came she would be able to focus on the other things she had been holding off on.


    Alma and Gil had spent a lot of time together with some of the forest elves that had joined the archer academy. They had specifically sent for the younger elves back in the city toe to genesis and learn. Since the forest elves were so knowledgeable with archery, they were the perfect base for the academy. This went even further since the adventurer''s guild had called over many of the young archers. Gil was no longer in charge of five or so archers, he had an entire ss of forty that were in various stages of learning and sharing information.


    Somehow, Remey and the alchemy guild had found time to continue their research in affinity potions. The old master alchemist had shared a lot of his knowledge and between Trish and him, they were on their way to the first ever earth affinity potion being made. They just needed the herbalists to finish some of the herbs that needed warmer weather to grow. When they managed it the dwarves were hoping that there would be some rtions made with the rock elves in the mountains if they could be found. It could help them expand their caves faster.


    "I n to head to the royal dragon court in a few days. Midnight, Su, and I will leave together and head in to the mountains. It might be a longer trip than I expect but we should be back for anypetitions and such." This silenced the table. Even some of Remey''s bickering younger siblings knew that this was a big deal.


    "How long could itst? A week or two?" The trip to the mountains was about this long and Alma wasn''t sure what would take long at the court.


    "I''m not sure. It could take some time to convince them to wee us. I am a human and so is Su. We might not be the same as every human but that is what we were born as and we need to be ready for their reactions to that. But we all have natural mana and the ability to learn it over time. Even Su and Midnight should get there one day. I just have Fleur helping me out." Waker knew that natural mana would y a huge part in the dragons weing him.


    "You will be back safe and sound. I don''t doubt you in the least. Just make sure youe back with a good story to tell everyone in the cathedral." The high priest had grown to respect and trust in Walker. His voice cut the tension and brought warmth back to the table. Everyone felt they could breathe easier hearing his words.


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 Chapter 1165 - 1165. Flapping

    Chapter 1165 ¨C 1165. pping


    Since the dinner had gone well and everyone had the chance to catch up, Walker was feeling ready to do some good training for the day. Midnight had also nned her own training and when Walker found that she had been jumping off the top of the mansion he decided to work on his wind elemental mana skills. He wanted to try and use it to propel himself upward while using the daggers he had the day before.


    The main idea he had would be for Midnight to jump and for him to use the wind to push himself up in the air at the same time. Midnight would need to time the wind right to catch it and use her wings to p higher in the air. Walker would need to control the wind around him to boost his agility and jumping height to get above a potential enemy. He had the wind ripple skill but using it was not the same as a sudden burst upward or over all his body. He wanted to be able to use the wind to better speed his bodypletely.


    The reason he was so fixated on agility was the speed of Gil''s arrows against Lust. Walker had been able to see them but he knew that blocking them would have been a very tough challenge. If Walker was going to be around dragons that could use elemental magic at a pure level, he wanted the ability to dodge or block attacks easier. He was sure that the dragons would test him in some way, whether it was mental or physical he did not know.


    Midnight was just absorbed in the challenge of being able to fly before she got to the dragons. She knew that a dragon at her age shouldn''t be as grown as she was already. But that did not matter at all. She was a true dragon champion. She should be able to fly and defend those she cares about better than anyone else. Being able to fly was a small and easy thing for the other dragon champions she was sure to meet. It would also make it easier for Walker to move more freely inbat because Midnight could take to the skies and defend the party or attack with her elemental breath attacks. The possibilities were easily more than she could imagine.


    "Come on! p your wings harder! You can do it, don''t give up and extend them fully while using every muscle to push them down!" Walker had been reading a lot of books on how monsters could fly. With some guidance from Elise,'' he had been able to grasp the idea behind flight. A dragon in particr had dense muscles that would power their wings. They would be small inparison to some other monster''s muscles, but they were specially designed to give a dragon more range of movement to change direction and catch the air. Midnight should be able to move in a circle by changing the way she pped her wings.


    With the guidance that Walker had been giving her, Midnight was feeling her confidence and flight skills rise by the moment. She had not expected him to stay upte and push himself to learn these things just to help her. Since that was the case she took every word with care and tried her best to copy what he was saying. It proved to be the best training she had in some time. Neil had managed to encourage her but could not fly himself so missed some things that Elise had told Walker about.


    The attempt went better than the previous and Midnight managed to catch the wind for a few ps before she slowly pped to the ground. She was not able to consistently put out enough force to push herself higher just yet. But it was much better each time. "I think you will have it down sooner thanter. I think you just need a little more muscle training. And yes, I will keep trying to get the wind to wrap around my body." Midnight was also carefully watching Walker. She could feel the way the wound moved and saw that Walker was having a hard time making it move around his entire body evenly. He often found himself stuck with only his torso or legs being able to have the wind pushing them.


    "I think the real question you should ask yourself is why you are trying to control the wind so much. You make it all go one way but you forget that it is already all around you." Alma stopped by because she had breakfast with Su and Remey earlier. Now she was leaving after consulting the mansion library for some books about the monsters in thekes and streams. "I have heard the mages that practice wind elemental magic say things like that. It seems to help them." She shrugged and continued on her way with her books.


    It was true that Walker was hyper focused on making wind do everything and forgetting that he could control the general area of air around him instead. Forcing a very small area of control was making him too specific. That caused him to control small amounts of air elemental mana instead ofrger by discing the air around him. He could use this the same way a storm used the hot and cold air to cause wind currents.


    The ideas seemed to fit the pieces in to ce and Walker made Midnight get back to the top of the mansion for the next try. This time though, he was thinking of pulling on the small amount of fire elemental mana in the air to cause a change in temperature. It would be abination of two or three mana s but one that should prove worthwhile.


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 Chapter 1166 - 1166. Fly High!

    Chapter 1166 ¨C 1166. Fly High!


    The wind was perfect for working with fire elemental mana. Walker already knew that air could feed fire to be stronger. But when adding the water in to the mix it created an opposing force that could make the fire chase the colder air mixed with water elemental mana. This was the effect he wanted for the skill he was trying to learn.


    Being able to wrap his body in these opposing air currents could help him boost his agility while moving around. This meant that he would not only be training his elemental control but also his ability to dodge and get in to better battle positions. It was covering many bases. The understanding he had of these three elemental manas was also increasing by leaps and bounds. He needed to control the areas he was moving through and in doing so he had to take in to ount the way these manas flowed naturally.


    The next gust of wind that Walker made also wrapped around his body. He found that it was able to push the air around him in to a sphere like repulsive force while moving him in the direction he desired. He was also able to use the grand elemental maniption to push even more of the wind upwards beneath Midnight. The results spoke for themselves.


    Midnight was able to catch more wind than before. She pped with even more vigor because she could feel the closer connection between her wings and the air beneath them. The feeling was exactly what she had been missing. The feeling of bonding between the air and her wings was something every creature that could fly needed to find. Now that midnight felt it she could feel every muscle that worked together throughout her body to p her wings with power.


    The first time that she really began to rise was this moment. Each p that connected in this flurry of emotions and adrenaline made Midnight fly higher. She moved awkwardly at first since it was a new feeling but Walker could see the light flickering in her eyes when she did. This was what she had been chasing the entire time. She felt like a powerful dragon able to rise above the world and see the world for the first time.


    "Go higher!" With simple encouragement from Walker, Midnight took off. She was not able to hold it due to herck of experience and stamina but in thest moment, she was able to p her wings hard enough to rise just a little higher above the mansion. That was all she needed. She no longer would need to chase this feeling. She had it. She could do it again and again. She would be able to fly indefinitely one day and today was the start!


    "That was great! You flew so high." Walker knew that Midnight needed the praise and encouragement. He could also feel her energy and desire to keep improving. This was no ce for them to stop and he was ready to go again. He didn''t even notice that he had also received a system notification.


    ''The skill wind wrapping has been taken from the gale elephant system. The user had trained using three elemental manas to manipte the wind replicating this skill and automatically learned it.


    Wind wrapping- 3 mana every five minutes


    This skill allows the easy mixing of air, fire, and water elemental mana. The wrapping of different temperature winds allows arrows to be deflected easily and the user''s agility to be increased by +10 while in use. The user is also better able to use wind elemental skills and use the wind mana around them. This can also be used to sendrge gusts of wind from them at an increased mana cost.''


    The pair continued their training for another few hours before both of them were copsed on the ground too tired to continue. Walker had incorporated training dummies to jump over and sh at while Midnight had begun to try and breath fire while flying. The added challenges had greatly stressed their minds since it required high focus. Yet, that was what bred their future strength and increased their training.


    "I think we can call it a day. I want to make sure I check out a few things around the city before we leave. Remey should be able to give me some potions for us to take on the trip." Walker knew that Remey would prepare them without him asking. But he was also nning to touch base with Remey when it came to her training. She had a lot on her te when it came to alchemy, but she still needed to remember her role in the party.


    Midnight just huffed softly in response and Walker couldn''t help butugh since he knew she would be falling asleep sooner than she wanted. But that wasn''t an issue. She needed the rest to recuperate and be able to train the next day even more. When it came to their trip they needed to be as ready as possible.


    After he cleaned himself up, Walker set out. The mansion was more or less empty since everyone was busy as always, this meant that no one would stop Midnight from eating to her heart''s content. But it wasn''t too worrying since she needed the food to keep growing stronger. Walker swore she was taller every single day. It made him worry that she would need her own addition to the mansion to live. One with a massive bonfire to stay warm. Not to mention the food she would eat. But that was all assuming she would not go out exploring on her own at some point.


    These weren''t things that Walker liked thinking about all the time. Yet, it was to be expected that Midnight and Onyx would go out on their own. They were fast growing and no one could hold them back.


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 Chapter 1167 - 1167. Pushing Buttons

    Chapter 1167 ¨C 1167. Pushing Buttons


    "I don''t care if we need to make more equipment. We will do it in rounds and just make the event longer. It''s not in the budget!" Trish was done spending gold for the guild. She had brought the hammer down and was changing the way thepetition would progress. The herbs were covered with the adventurers'' guild and now the equipment was an issue. But she would not have more made. She wanted it to be reused every wave of the event.


    "That''s fine. I just want enough to have an even group." The old master alchemist was concerned that the even would go too long and they would run out of time. But when he spoke he saw the death re that Trish was giving and decided just to ept it.


    "You two really need to calm down. I can hear you from downstairs." The two looked at Remey who was holding arge barrel of herbs.


    "Says you. You are usually the most fired up. Ever since you started making potions that temper of yours has be less than a spark." The old master alchemist was d that Remey had calmed down and be more level headed. However, he did moss the wittyebacks while they argued over potion ideas. It was a little good and a little bad.


    "I can show you temper old man. Just let me see you mess up the next batch of earth affinity potion testing." This was a sore spot since the potion was still noting out properly since its shelf life was minutes instead of weeks like other potions.


    "Ie to find you and of course, you are arguing about potions. Well, no more. We are going to train. Get your knuckles and get outside." Walker came in and brandished two gauntlets of his own. The eternal orb had taken the form of gauntlets. They went up to Walker''s forearms and shined with a silvery light. The flow of mana around them seemed to be the same as Remey''s interchangeable knuckles but had a bnce that emanated natural mana.


    "Who says I nee-"


    "Let''s go so I can kick your butt down the street in front of every alchemist! You are soft Remey! All you do is hide in ab and make potions. You can''t stand up against a monster anymore!" Walker turned and left Remey stunned. He had never confronted her like this and she didn''t know what to do. There was a twitch in her eyebrow that seemed to be growing while she dropped the herbs in her arms.


    She had not felt so offended and angry in a long time. She had focused solely on Alchemy and been able to do so much, yet Walker showed up and just throws herck of training in her face? The old man was telling her she had calmed down? What kind of world was this? How could they insult her this way?


    There were no words for her anger. She attached the water and fire elemental knuckles to her left and right fist while rolling her shoulders. The few students and staff that had heard Walker shout at Remey were deathly afraid. They had learned to fear Remey a little since she had a unique system that allowed her to be the only one that could fight in the alchemy guild. They didn''t know so much about Trish''s explosive potions so they were in the dark with that secret.


    When she came outside, Remey found that Walker was standing in an empty herb field. He was just watching the herbalists walk away who had been working nearby. As soon as Remey came nearby, he touched the ground and a ring of earth was made. "What do you have to say about it? Any excuses? Skipping training? Not letting the guild run by itself with Trish and your mentor? Not going out like you said you would with younger alchemists and training them up personally?" Walker remembered that Remey had mentioned she would take young alchemists out to learn how to do some things, like avoiding monsters and gathering herbs. But this hadn''t happened. She had shut herself up to experiment, deal with rules, and just stay in the alchemy guild running things even though it was one thing she said she didn''t want to do.


    "What is it? Your siblings all found ces to go and the orphanages had too much finding now? They don''t need you so you can ck off and pretend all of your responsibilities are small?" Walker was intentionally poking the sleeping bear. He was waiting for Remey to snap and remember her rage as a brawler. She had pushed herself to a point when Greed attacked but it had amounted to nothing. She wasn''t able to fight it off and he knew this had an effect on her. Yet, Remey didn''t make an active motion to change that potential. She just epted it and focused on alchemy.


    He mmed the gauntlets that the eternal orb had formed together with a resonating ng. The mana seemed to stir in the air and Walker felt that he was ready for a second round of training. He was after Remey so he could improve a section of battle he had avoided. He also wanted to snap Remey back to the fiery battle hardened adventurer who could flip to healing and alchemy in the moment. She needed her bnce back.


    "Let''s go, Remey! Show me you deserve to be part of this party! Tell me if I can rely onyou to protect the city of Genesis while I am away!" This roar matched Walker''s charge forward. Unfortunately, he had already gotten to Remey with his words. She had stopped hearing him and allowed her anger to cloud her vision. She mmed her knuckles together.


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 Chapter 1168 - 1168. Blinded

    Chapter 1168 ¨C 1168. Blinded


    Although Remey was angry, she had not chosen the water and fire knuckles for no reason. She knew that they had adverse reactions when they were used together and that was her goal. If she always relied on her strength then she would one day find herself against an opponent stronger than her. She would end up beaten down without any tricks.


    After having Trish teach her more about battle potions she had managed to learn about the elemental manas within the potions they were making. A lot of this knowledge hade from the experiments revolving around elemental affinity potions. Trish, the old master alchemist, and Remey needed to be very careful with the ingredients they used. If they did not follow the elemental affinity for all the herbs for a certain potion then it would fail or even explode. That was one reason that Trish had so many battle potions to defend herself.


    Before Walker even reached her, Remey mmed the two knuckles together using her elemental fist skill. The water elemental fist brought the water in the air and the fire elemental knuckle drew the fire elemental mana in the air. The result was a burst of hot steam that blinded Walker. If he had known it wasing he would have been able to react faster, but he waspletely taken by surprise.


    "Taking me for a weakling?! You think I can''t stand on my own two feet? I''ll put you in your ce!" Remey''s attack broke through the steam. Her knuckles had been switched without a single sound and Walker was the prime target for a knuckle coated in earth. The hit was hard and sent him tumbling back.


    He managed to roll on to his feet to see that Remey was using another of the earth coated knuckles to m in to the ground and cause the round to shake around her. Walker knew she hade up with multiplebinations to use the elemental fist skill but this was stunning.


    She had used her elemental fist skill with the earth knuckles to cause a small area of the ground to shake and further thrown Walker off bnce. From what Walker knew this skill was called tremble and steel armadillos were known to use it against their enemies. But Remey had managed to learn a monster skill because she was able to replicate the earth elemental affinity and move to do it, proving that it might not be exclusive to monsters.


    The only reaction Walker had was to use his grand elemental maniption to calm the earth. Yet, this gave Remey more time to dash forward and switch her knuckles again. The win elemental knuckles made her fist fly at him faster. But when Walker started to duck he found he had been tricked again. Remey had used her fists to push her body forward and twist, The result was a drastic change for a high kicking at his arms.


    In thest moment before Remey''s kick hit his head, Walker used his eternal orb gauntlets to gather a cushion of wind. It was part of him using the wind wrapping skill and his grand elemental maniption skill to defend the main force of Remey''s kick. "Tell me! Can you feel my punches!? Can you feel my training!? Do you think I just sit and make potions all day? Do you think I won''t be in that colosseum showing every challenger who the best brawler is!?"


    There was what felt like a rock in Walker''s stomach as he realized that Remey had been straining herself to keep up with alchemy and also train. He noticed for the first time the dark circles under her eyes and how unkempt her hair really was. She had not shown her usual temper because she was too tired to show it. She had been pushing her body well beyond what was necessary to make the potions for those in need and prepare Genesis to free the demons when they were ready.


    "Do you think I wanted to just sit there and let that stupid monster take over our city!? Do you think seeing everyone lying in the streets suffering was fun!?" Remey threw punch after punch at Walker. He could feel her emotions with every swing. He was the fool here. Everyone had failed to see that she was cursing herself for this failure and no one else.


    The next attack was much tougher than Walker could handle and he was pushed back with his heels digging in to the soft dirt. Remey swapped knuckles again and mmed together one fire and one wind elemental knuckles to make a brilliant me wrap around her right fist. The sudden heat made Walker pull water from the air in a rush. He used it to wrap the eternal orb gauntlets in time to catch Remey''s punch.


    The steam produced showed that this attack was nothing weak. But the fear Walker showed was due to the effects it had on Remey. Her fist was burned and she was sweating profusely. However, she did not flinch. She showed a red tinge in her eyes and continued to push. She changed knuckles again and showed the darkness elemental knuckled with the earth knuckle. Walker was not sure what wasing but he knew that the attack was just beginning.


    Before he had a chance he watched the shadows bend and his perception of Remey be twisted. The ground shifted and Remey used the tremble skill again. The shadows made it hard for Walker to raise his own fists and try to block. Instead of the solid hit he thought he would get, he felt his fists deflect Remey''s hit. Instead of his face, it drove in to his shoulder. He fell back and twisted as the second fist hit the ground causing the tremble skill again. Remey was still not done. She had lost her reason and was in a brawler''s fury.


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 Chapter 1169 - 1169. Foolish

    Chapter 1169 ¨C 1169. Foolish


    When Remey mmed two light elemental knuckles together, Walker wasn''t sure what to do. The intense blinding lightpared to the shadows twisting before shocked him. Remey had developed so many tactics to change the way that she could gain an advantage in a battle. It was well beyond what he had expected.


    There was only rity after the next hit came in to contact and sent him sprawling yet again. The eternal orb started to shift ion to two different gauntlets with arger surface area that seemed to be shield like on the forearms. This was Walker''s subconscious change when it came to the battle of offensive brutality.


    ''The skill quick block has been taken from the defensive monk system. The user has learned the skill quick block out of instinct.


    Quick block- 1 mana cost


    The user is able to follow the flow of mana with their instincts and raise their hands and arms to more easily block an attack. Their hands and arms are strengthened slightly using their own mana to better block and deflect damage. The user can not counter all the damage they receive unless their body is strong enough.''


    This skill wasn''t even shown in his system for a second before Walker started to move his arm to deflect the next hit. It seemed that Remey had burned up a lot of mana using her elemental fist skill repeatedly. Now the only thing that was fueling her were the pent up frustrations and annoyances of the past weeks. Her feelings of powerlessness that drove her to train when no one was looking. The fact that she couldn''t help anyone at the moment that Greed took over. And even worse, the idea that her party leader woulde to her saying that she was not living up to her responsibilities.


    The force that assaulted Walker was much more than Walker knew Remey capable of. He was facing strength that came from her berserk like state of mind where her emotions took over her actions. He was able to slowly find a way to let her push her back until he started to dodge again. But by that point, he had taken enough hits to be bruised and sore. He managed to finally dodge in time for Remey to lose energy and fall to her knees panting.


    "I was wrong¡­" He knew he had messed up and that he should have dug deeper.But this was something he had let slip by him because he was so focused on other things. He had let the water elve''s battle against Lust take precedence over what was happening around him. He just rushed off to another adventure without checking on everyone first.


    Gil may have recovered, Su had faced everything with Walker and been fine. Midnight and Onyx had managed to bounce right back. But Remey was so used to standing up for her siblings and those around her. Having that taken from her and being powerless had cut her deeply. He may have been able to help the water elves but his ignorance had cost someone dear to him their mental fortitude. Even when he had returned he just went on with everything and didn''t stop to really pay attention to how everyone was doing.


    It was time to deal with the consequences of his actions and make things right. Just as Remey started to fall forward, Walker jumped to catch her. He held a mana potion to her lips along with using healing skills. Remey was able to fight full of emotions and finally let all the pent up stress free. But she had damaged herself in the process of the fight showing that her will could truly push beyond any pain.


    "I promise I won''t let this happen again. I''m a pretty big idiot for ignoring everyone and how they were doing. I will try to be better in the future." This promise was something that Walker needed to make good on. He had a handful of titles now, an entire city they knew him and his family, but what was it all worth it if he didn''t know them? If he couldn''t live up to those titles?


    "Yeah¡­you kinda are sometimes. Thicker skull than a charging bison." Remeyughed as she managed toe back to her senses. She was in no state to just hop up and walk back to the guild or the mansion. Walker instead helped her lean on him and headed back inside after dispelling the earth wall he had made.


    The old master alchemist and Trish didn''t even flinch when they saw Walker helping her back. They were at fault too and would be lying if they didn''t see what had happened or heard what happened from a window. Where the other alchemists and herbalists were too afraid to look, Trish and the old master alchemist had. They could feel their own ears turning red as they realized how foolish they were as well.


    "You know there is a ce for the guild mas- for Remey, to sleep." Trish caught herself and held the door open to the office andp reserved for Remey. It had a spare resting room in the back just for the guild master. But Trish knew that Remey didn''t kike being called that. Now she saw why. It ced massive stress on a person.


    "I know of a few good recovery medicines. One that is conveniently in a soup recipe." The old master alchemist wasn''t the best at expressing his emotions. Yet he knew he could show it. This would be how. He also would be able to take on some more of the workload for the guild. He hadn''t even thought that Remey would want to join the colosseum brawlingpetitions in the future. How had he missed that? Let alone her training?


    The two felt foolish, even more so than Walker who hadn''t even bothered to start and clean himself up after training, if he could call it that. He felt that the bruises showed how ignorant he really was.


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 Chapter 1170 - 1170. Lessons Learned

    Chapter 1170 ¨C 1170. Lessons Learned


    Once Remey was asleep and restingfortably, the three had no words. They were able to see it in each other''s eyes. They knew their faults and that they had missed many things. Remey was a hero just like Walker. She had the title too. She wouldn''t have it if she just wanted to focus on alchemy and fool around. She had the alchemy love because she had wanted to help her siblings. Now she had an entire city of family. These were Remey''s new adopted siblings. She would take care of them all.


    This fact went over their heads and left the three blind. They could have taken this added stress away earlier but had missed it. "I will take on the daily run of the guild. I have people I can put in ce for sses. It will be the same as the alchemy building used to be. I can cut back on experimentation. I have abused the time I have." The old master alchemist was not going to let things fall the way they had before. He wanted to make things better for the future. He was older, yes, and he knew that he needed to put this in ce before a sad day came when he could no longer teach or make potion experiments. It was time to use his wisdom to properly guide others.


    "I always worked alone. The assistants and apprentices I had were just there to help. I never worried about their wellbeing and that might be why I was always alone. I just assumed that was the life of an alchemist. I made it to the tip of the forest elves, but is it all worth it? That young woman changed my life and views of alchemy. And I repaid that by heaping on mounds of pain and stress? Should I even be a master?"


    Seeing that Trish was throwing off the title of master that she always seemed to insist upon was humbling. They could tell that she was showing her real face and regret. She had long forgotten to be a person and just lived above others. She had a long life and still many years ahead of her. She couldn''t imagine that she had begun to think that she was the only one that mattered even though she would not be where she was now without othersing in to her life. She had been all too blind.


    "I assumed everything. I didn''t so much as ask her if she was alright. I didn''t even give her the time to tell me what she would need. I just let her add more work and rush away. If I had taken the time to really look I would have known. I will be better." The three felt this promise was more than just words. They saw their ws and admitted them. They knew they were at fault and their blind eyes could not remain as such.


    There was nothing left to say, leaving them all silent. After a few minutes, the old master alchemist returned to guiding new proctors for tests and sses. Trish took over the main production side for the alchemy guild and started to make things more self sufficient instead of needing people to direct it all the time. She had plenty of examples of the other guilds running without their guild master or vice guild master present. She could implement simr rules and regtions. This would give Remey and anyone else the time to rx and focus on themselves without stress.


    They all believed that Remey had been sleeping away in the room adjacent to their conversation. However, she had heard every word and felt that the world was just a little brighter. She was also promising to herself that she would never allow this to happen again. She had seen the state that Walker was in after she had allowed herself to lose control. She also knew that she could have easily made herself sick going on this way and that her friends and family would be worrying about her for weeks after this. She would be better in the future as well. It was a promise to herself.


    "Gil, do you know where Walker is? I thought he would have brought Remey back here for dinner so she didn''t stay in the guild all night again." Su found it odd that Walker and Remey had not returned.


    "I actually stopped by the alchemy guild today to drop off some paperwork for the next group of archers going through lessons. I needed mana and health potions to bring for safety reasons. They are staying in the alchemy guild. They had some sparring matches and a good talk. I think we will see things change a little. Also, we have some things to talk about too." Gil let Su, Midnight, and Onyx in on what had transpired. They too had not noticed anything. But they had also been too focused on their own tasks. Su had barely even stepped in to the alchemy guild to see Remey.


    Even Gil admitted fault. He had focused solely on archery and the elves. He had not been majorly thrown over the Greed issue since he had managed to bounce back easily enough. But he had not looked around him at everyone else. Just his parents and Alma. He knew he should have brought things back to his entire family. Not just his direct family and the elves.


    Between Midnight and Onyx, there was a lot of silence. They knew exactly how important family was to them and they felt they had missed something their instincts should have seen. For monsters with higher senses, they had missed some obvious things due to their natural resilience. It brought them much closer to understanding their feelings and those around them. They weren''t just monsters. They were more than that and they would remember it much more clearly now.


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 Chapter 1171 - 1171. Ready To Leave?

    Chapter 1171 ¨C 1171. Ready To Leave?


    Days passed on after the training with Remey and Walker. They ended up having a long talk about the events that had transpired with Greed and the new skills that Remey had. Walker took full responsibility for the fact that he had been blind to the feelings of others around him in recent weeks. It was a big lesson about how he could stay open to the world instead of hyper focused on one task after the other.


    However, Remey had also taken responsibility for the fact that everything was not on her. She had constantly piled responsibility on herself since she was little when it came to her siblings and the orphanage. It just went to show how much people forget that just because an orphanage had money that they may still not have what they need. But even further it taught Remey that she should put her foot down and ask for help. She should take breaks from her work and leave things to others. She didn''t need to stand alone all the time.


    "You''re really going out with Gil to find herbs?" Walker was still apprehensive since Remey and Gil were not the best buddies who got along everywhere they went. It was a guarantee that the two would argue at some point.


    "Yes. Yes, we are. Gil will bring two archers from his little academy adventurer thing and I will bring two herbalists. We are training and rxing. I can help deal with any trouble we run in to and Gil is going to show us some grove that he said had red spot mushrooms. They aren''t really a potion material but they can taste really good when they are cooked right." The fact that Remey had taken the idea so strongly was great. She would be able to head out without any stress and take the time to hunt for herbs while battling a little. For her, it would be a perfect mix of fun and work. Not that alchemy and fighting were work for her.


    "Just rx Walker, we will be fine. I wanted to go on a trip too. Once I chatted with Remey about leaving our guild and academy to run itself. I thought it was a good hands off test. The forest elves are really pushing to be more involved since they have so much archery knowledge. I''m really just a face anyways." As modest as Gil was being, Walker knew that he was not just a face of an archery academy. At this point, Gil had be the Human equal with the elves when it came to archery. He was a role model for many hunters and archers soon to grow within Genesis.


    "We will see you off first before we leave. Walker and I promised Onyx we would stop by the cathedral before we left. Midnight is already there too. I think we wanted to train her light elemental breath attackst night with Onyx." Su knew that if they didn''t back down Gil and Remey would stay forever and never leave to pick up their four students for the small trip.


    "We will see you three when we get back. Just tell me all about the dragons!" Gil shouted on his way out the door. Remey just cracked her knuckles and smirked. Walker knew that she was more than ready toy in to him again if he didn''t make it back safe and sound.


    "So, what do you think about leaving again? Are you ready?" Su had been ready for a while. She had trained and already seen a great deal of people for some advice on blocking and using mana. She had worried about Walker and Remey for the past few days and wanted to make sure that he was up to the trip. She had definitely been focused on her own training and learned what she could in the past days to make sure she continued to see the people around her.


    "We are ready. It''s not just me. Midnight has really pushed herself. I think you might have taken the biggest leap though. Su the magic shield user? Is that a good term? I even saw you training with your earth spirit partner the other day." Su had thought that she waspletely alone when she had been training. She didn''t like that Walker could alter the earth fortress skill with his grand elemental maniption. She wanted to be able to change the shape herself.


    Through some bonding with the earth elemental spirit, she had some sess. The spirit mark that she had gained through bonding like that was not just for show. As Walker''s did with him and Fleur, Su was able to feel the earth elemental spirit through hers. That gave them the silentmunication they needed to be able to change the dome shape in to a more rugged sharp shape for defense and offense. It may not be a major difference but it was one that could do just a little more damage in battle to make a difference between victory and loss.


    "It wasn''t that much training. We just had our own goals." The red tinge to Su''s face was enough to make Walker close his mouth. If he knew anything it was that Su was not the best when it came to fighting againstpliments and praise. Add that torge crowds and it was a perfect knockout against Su. Luckily, they didn''t need to worry about that in the wild on the trip to the royal dragon court. They would be able to focus on the goals and strength that they needed to show to the world. "Now hurry up! We need to get going!"


    "Hey! Who said we were running there!?" Walker put in a little more speed to catch up to Su who had run off ahead of him toward the cathedral.


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 Chapter 1172 - 1172. Strong Bonds

    Chapter 1172 ¨C 1172. Strong Bonds


    "Sister, are you really ready to go see adult dragons?" If Onyx said he was not worried about his big sister going to stand in front of dragons thought to be the strongest in the world, then it would be a tant lie. He knew that Midnight was still less than a childpared to the royal dragons that had lived for so long. They had iparable mastery over their elemental mana and were working toward purity in them. He knew well from his recent training how tough elemental purity was.


    The reaction Midnight had to this was a soft growl. She would have scoffed and turned away from anyone else if they asked this. She was a dragon too. She could stand above everyone else. Even Walker would get the hottie attitude in response. But Onyx was her first and only little brother. She could show just a little more to him.


    "Even if they will look down on you, I know you will stand taller than them. I just wonder what they will think when you and Brother use natural mana. They might lose their minds. Especially when Su shows off her beginning mastery of two elemental shield skills." The training to create a light shield and the earth fortress were just two elemental skills for Su. But when it came to guardians they trumped what the others would know. There was no singr focus on elemental mana for Su. Walker, Su, and Midnight could use all the elemental manas and push toward natural mana skills. That meant that Su would always be able to counter elemental mana with the opposite. Midnight would breathe the optimal elemental breath attacks. Walker wouldbine elemental manas to change the world. The dragons would be unable to look away from them.


    Midnight looked at Onyx carefully. She had trained with him to make sure that she would be able to grasp the light elemental breath attack she wanted to be able to use in some form. She had managed to train the fire elemental breath attack when she trained with the wandering cksmith. She had also added the other elemental breath attacks. However weak they were, to the forging process of the bracelets. The elves had helped in getting spirits to assist in the spirit forging process for the bracelets as well. Overall, Midnight had been able to train her flying, and elemental breath attacks much more than expected.


    "Sister, just because I have trained my light and darkness control does not mean I am able tobine them yet. They are opposing forces. Brother managed to do it but I am still learning. By the time you get back, I will have mastered more though." Midnight had challenged Onyx tobine his elemental manas too. His natural affinity to lighter because he consumed it was well beyond Midnights at the moment. That gave him the ability to help her train along with Alice and Su. But he also had the affinity for darkness. It was his main elemental affinity. He could also guide Midnight with that. But when it came to fusing the two he was at a loss. He had tried to do so in different forms but always ended up with separate results.


    Walker had managed tobine them but he had the assistance of his unique system. Onyx needed to take more time to learn and felt that the purity of each element needed to match before he was able to fuse them. But this was what Midnight would use to push her little brother further. She knew that he had more to him and that his goals were not small. If he could manage to do this he would be able to better reach the lofty goals he had set.


    "We will miss you." Alice came back from checking on the heavenly serpent egg. She knew that Onyx was worried about Midnight leaving. Therefore, she wanted to make sure she gave her full support too. She had also managed to get a lot closer to Midnight and Onyx in the recent weeks. They hade to the cathedral and Onyx, in particr, had been training alongside Alice. She felt like a much closer member of the family nowpared to before the move to Genesis.


    The unexpected reaction from midnight was enough to make Alicepletely stunned. Before she could move, Midnight had jumped up and pounced on Alice. She rubbed her head to Alice''s face with a soft growl. She had felt the same closeness to Alicetely and was very d to see her more often. It helped that Midnight and Onyx could feel the emotions that Walker had for Alice but it was more than that. Alice was quiet still but showed a deep care for everyone around her. If Alice had never been left as a baby on the steps of the cathedral, it was a sure bet that she would have still found her way there to help others.


    "Sister, you are squishing Alice!" Onyx did his best to try and pull Midnight away but it was all for naught.


    "And here Su and I were worried that we would bete to meet up with you. But you three are just having a grand old time." It was easy for Walker and Su to find the three in the cathedral. They had their spot to train and work on elemental control right by the heavenly serpent''s room. If they weren''t there then they would be in the back courtyard training more.


    "Brother, Alice and I were just making sure that sister was going to be safe on the trip!" Midnight got away from Alice and she waited for Walker and Su to say their own goodbyes. It was not supposed to be a long trip but it would be a very important one. They wanted to send the three off with all the support they needed.


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 Chapter 1173 - 1173. Perfect Craftsmanship

    Chapter 1173 ¨C 1173. Perfect Craftsmanship


    "Alright, so thest stop on the way out of the city is the cksmith shop. I think we will have a pretty good surprise, right Midnight?" Walker was sure that Midnight already knew how the finished elemental bracelets would look. But he was excited to see them so he could appraise their abilities.


    "Midnight probably only saw the partial product. You know how much the wandering cksmith can change things in such a short time. I would say we will see something very impressive." Su was backed up by a few huffs from Midnight. All three of them knew that the wandering cksmith was an artist who could change dirt in to gold if given the right tools and time.


    "I''m just excited to see them. They are going to be our gifts to the dragons. I also emptied out all the materials from my storage so that he could make them with anything I had. We have a lot of things we stored up through the adventures we have taken. Not to mention the leftover pieces from past forging projects. Who knows what he managed to put together." There was a slight buzz around Walker. His energy was almost tangible.


    "Just don''t like them too much. You already know that they need to be given away. Just like that rouge pearl for Current. Wait, should I say Lord Current? I should, shouldn''t I?" Su realized she would need to be very careful when addressing the royal dragons. She had these thoughts originally but they were not in the front of her mind until now.


    "We can practice as we go. We need to make sure we are giving off a royal and powerful aura so that they respect us" There was a quick nod from Midnight who then raised her head and stretched her wings slightly. She was sure that they would see her appearance and know just how powerful she really was. Her ego was the same as any dragons'' but luckily, Midnight could still be level headed."Oh, the doors already open."


    The three walked right in to the wandering cksmith''s shop to find a strong smell that caused their noses to scrunch up. It was very bitter and almost burned. "What is that?" The response was much more drastic for Su and Midnight whose noses were more sensitive.


    "Polish!" The wandering cksmith shouted which was very unusual. However, he had a piece of fabric over his face making his words muffled. Now they understood why the door was wide open. The air was needed to keep the wandering cksmith from inhaling too much of the polish and passing out.


    ''Diamond gleam polish


    A secret form polish used by a very select few dwarves. The polish is made from a special boiling process with very unique ingredients. It takes four weeks to produce a full barrel of polish but it is enough for three years. This is the best way to seal and prevent damage to the item polished. It can also add mana efficiency to the item if polished properly on to rune carved items.''


    "This is some valuable polish. You are really going all out on this job!" Walker was in awe. This was a tough process to go through because the scent was so powerful. Yet, the results were too good. He understood why a cksmith would use this polish and why such a form would be kept secret. Even his all around appraisal had given minimal information proving further how great it was.


    After a few more swipes of polish, the wandering cksmith showed a small bracelet. The round shape was forged to replicate swirls of wind. There were three green blue gems set inside that Walker could tell were mana gems of some sort but more condensed. The rune carvings on the bracelet had a depth that he had never seen. If he were to try and follow them he would be lost in seconds. "Beautiful. It''s beautiful. This is just one!? How did you do it?" Stunned was an understatement. Su was beside herself with how impressive this was.


    "For the dragons. My best work." The wandering cksmith would not usually mention the work he put in. but because of who these would go to he was willing to share in honesty.


    ''Pure wind dwelling circlet


    +10Matk, +30 mana, Wind purifying runes


    This is a high tier essory made to specifically boost wind elemental purification. The mana gems were refined with shards of wind elemental crystals so that they were able to hold purer wind elemental mana. Only a wind elemental spirit will ever be able to dwell within this item to assist in purifying wind elemental mana. The advanced runes used strongly attract wind elemental mana and slightly repel all other forms of mana.''


    "It''s perfect. This will help them purify elemental mana in to their specific mana the way they need it. It should show just how much we understand their desires and goals. I can''t wait to tell you what they say." With Walker''s words, the wandering cksmith pulled out the boxes for the bracelets. They were different designs all revolving around the elemental mana they represented.


    Smokey shapes for darkness, flowing water drops for water, mes for fire, diamonds for light, scraggly zig zags for earth, and the wind that they had seen. But Walker was more surprised when the wandering cksmith handed Walker yet another box. "This is for you." His smile said that he had been waiting to hand this box to Walker for some time. The breath Walker had been taking in caught in his throat. He had a very good idea of what was in this box but he was afraid to open it. He might be taken away by the perfection in craftsmanship he was about to witness.


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 Chapter 1174 - 1174. Purer Mana

    Chapter 1174 ¨C 1174. Purer Mana


    The bracelet that was revealed to Walker was very much the same but quite different from the others. Walker could tell that the same care and determination were in every inch of this creation. The shining silver and gold metal was shaped in to flowing elemental shapes with different colored mana gems dividing the patterns before they changed.


    ''Circlet of nature


    +6 Matk, 60 mana storage, all elemental purification


    This circlet had the tunes of every elemental mana transcribed within perfect bnce. This allows the user to more easily purify and meld all elemental manas. The user is also able to store more elemental manas within the circlet at the cost of a lower boost to magical attacks. The circlet is unable to heal any elemental spirits due to the extremely high stress of advanced rune carvings. This is considered one of the highest tier creations made by a title holding master cksmith.''


    The information in his system spoke for itself. Walker could only look at it in awe and admiration. The wandering cksmith had given him the eternal orb already. Yes, Walker had helped make it, but it was still an amazing creation. To create yet another item that rivaled it was spectacr. Two of the wandering cksmith''s best creations rested in Walker''s hands.


    "Thank you. This is¡­too much." Walker was truly at a loss for proper words to describe what rested in his hands. He feared that if he wore it that he would somehow smudge the perfection.


    "Show them who you are." The wandering cksmith whispered this in his ear before ushering the three out of his workshop. Although, Su felt a package pushed in to her hands as well when she was leaving. It seemed that the wandering cksmith had made more but been too embarrassed to keep them in the room to present everything. Su felt this and smiled while the door closed. She knew that she would be able to thank him properly by bringing a good gift back from the royal dragon court.


    "And? What did he give you?" Walker had to ask. He wanted to make sure that he was not too lost within the circlet of nature. He felt he could stare at it for hours and still be amazed.


    ''Earthen gauntlets


    +14 def, +14 Mdef, 10 mana, earth elemental purification


    These are a pair of gauntlets created for the harshest of battles. The user will be able to catch des with their hands when these are equipped. The earth elemental runes carved upon them guarantee that earth elemental mana will more easily be purified and used by earth elemental spirits. These are designed to specifically store earth elemental mana that can be used by an earth elemental spirit to recover lost mana faster.''


    "They are perfect for using the earth fortress skill multiple time. I should even be able to change the shape better!" What Su said was more than true. These gauntlets were ideal for her to manipte the earth fortress and make it multiple times. The earth spirit within the earth dwelling shield had alreadye out to investigate.


    The earth spirit was more than happy to rest in Su''s hands while they walked out of the city. It was having the time of its life absorbing purer earth elemental mana. Walker realized that this was a good time for him to put on the nature circlet as well since Fleur had been so reclusivetely.


    The reaction with the spirit mark was instantaneous. Walker ced the circlet on his wrist and moved it up to his arm. It fit as if it wasn''t even there, yet the flow of pure elemental mana was clear. He could feel the spirit mark using the nature circlet to absorb more elemental mana and store it. Fleur slowly revealed herself again and poked at the nature circlet with curiosity.


    She had been resting for so long because she was trying to gain strength after the battles she had assisted in. But that was not the only goal of a spirit, she was just a high tier nature spirit at the moment. She needed to absorb more natural mana and purify it to grow stronger and reach a world spirit one day. She was just too young for now.


    "It''s pretty amazing, right? When we get back you can thank him too." Fleur nodded her head many times in response while Walker just let her hang on his arm. He couldn''t help but think about how cute Fleur was. But this attention toward Fleur managed to Get Midnight''s attention and before he knew it he had a dragon leaning on him trying to get his attention and a potential snack.


    "Walker, do you remember the route that we need to take? It could be hard to focus on it since we saw it from the airst time." Su was making sure that they had the route properly nned while they walked outside the city. They needed to be sure of every turn since it was a route not recorded on any map and only in Walker''s mind.


    "Yes. We need to follow the dragon''s tails. The statues point us in the directions we need to go. I can''t believe they have hidden a mountain trail so well. Even if we knew that we needed to follow the statues, finding the start of the trail would be tough. Luckily, it was pointed out. That small forest that blocks the entrance had some good magic covering it to hide it away." This was the way that the dragons had kept their privacy. It wasn''t a worry that they would be invaded but a worry that they would be annoyed. It would also be a grave insult to them if another was to trample in to their royal court. Luckily, they had their measures against it.


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 Chapter 1175 - 1175. Check Ahead

    Chapter 1175 ¨C 1175. Check Ahead


    "Since the weather is warming up we might have to deal with some migrating monsters." Walker could still feel the chill in the air, but it was significantly less than it had been. It was as if the cold was barely hanging on to the season before it was pushed out in to the warmth.


    "I''m more worried about the mountain path that isn''t heavily traveled all year round. I did some light reading before bed the past few days and do not feel like dealing with some of the monsters in the mountains." The idea that the trail they were on had not been traveled was a stressful one. Not only did it mean that there would be monsters potentially living on it, but it would also mean that they saw the trail as their territory and the three of them as invaders.


    "Yes yes, I know you will beat them up if they try and attack us." Midnight''s growl was matched by her showing her teeth. She would easily protect Walker and Su if she needed to while they were out. "You might get some interesting snacks while you are at it. Steel ted armadillos, spiky rock lizards, limes stone golems, I think we might even see some of those birds that can''t fly¡­what are they called?" Walker knew Su might have remembered the name off the top of her head since he had never actually learned it other than the fact that they were bird type monsters that couldn''t fly.


    "They are dusty ostriches. They are super heavy and spend their time eating metals in the mountains to make their beaks and feathers tougher. That''s why they can''t fly anymore. The book I read said that they used to be able to fly before they realized their earth affinity and began to change over thest hundred or so years." The books that recorded these monsters had been very old. But they had clearly shown that the dusty ostrich had once been a dual elemental affinity monster. Now that they were a singr affinity monster it was clear that they had changed over time to be this.


    "Yes! That''s the monster. If we get the feathers they are supposed to be great for a feathered chain mail. High fashion ording to Lisa since they are good for looks and for defense. I remember her telling me about the feathers. Apparently it''s bing more popr to travel and have style or something. But I think that it is the clientele that Lisa has more than what people really wear." The look that Su gave Walker was asking a single question; really?"


    "You say that after you have seen the things she has made us. They always match, follow a simr color scheme, and really show us off to the world. Lisa is the one that is setting these trends.'' It was adorable to Su that Walker would blindly follow what his little sister said. But she did wonder what was actually going on within his mind when he said these things.


    "Well, regardless. If we see one of the dusty ostriches then we can snag some feathers. Even if they aren''t for Lisa we should be able to make some good armor for Remey or Gil. They need better moving armors so they can use their skills easily." What Walker did have to say had merit in this case. They would need to be able to move through their skills without the worry of any armors catching or slowing them down. The wandering cksmith had always done an amazing job of ensuring that the armors would never be a problem. However, it was better to hand over better materials for him to work with. It was already a fact that Lisa and the wandering cksmith could create amazing armors. Especially since the entire party had two sets of armors. One, the best gear they had to defend and go on adventurers, and second, the armor that could show off their royals and heroic traits.


    "Midnight, how about you scout the trail ahead? I know that the guards have walked this and a lot of merchants havee through so we shouldn''t have anything to worry about, but it''s better to be safe than sorry." Midnight had not been very involved in the conversation so Walker thought it best to assign her to scouting. She also had worked with Gil to do so making her the best option for the task. Su was too bulky with her shields so she gave away her location. Walker could fill the role but it was not his strongest suit.


    Without any other words, Midnight used her shadow wrapping skill to hide going forward on the trail. She had been true to the goal that Walker had ced on her; which was to use her skeletal armor skill constantly. She had managed to learn to hide the sounds of it while she used her shadow wrapping skill. It made her even more dangerous in a battle since her opponent would be unable to hurt her if they were lucky enough to sense hering.


    Walker also knew that Midnight was proud. She knew her scales were strong and could take a decent amount of abuse in a fight. But if she were to get hit she would get hurt. That was just a fact. Whatever they could do to be safer, was what they should do. As long as Midnight realized this and kept it in mind, then Walker would have done his job as a good brother.


    "We should make sure we get a lot of ground covered. I think it will be better for us to be earlier."


    "I agree. If we get there earlier then we can socialize and make ourselves known before the court is called in to session." Walker and Su were on the same page. It was also for Walker to learn more in depth knowledge about dragons to help Midnight and Su out in the future.


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 Chapter 1176 - 1176. Specific Skill

    Chapter 1176 ¨C 1176. Specific Skill


    "Looks like Midnight found dinner. That''s good since I cleaned out a lot of the extra food and such in my storage." Walker had pulled out all the crafting and forging materials from his storage. He had also gotten rid of the alchemy ingredients when he was at the alchemy guild. Now that he was on a roll, right before they left he pulled out most of the extra food that they would never eat. He felt it was better to allow his mother to take it and make the most of it. All that was left were the basic rations they needed for the journey.


    "If you are cooking then we won''t leave anything left." Su and Midnight had expectant looks for Walker. He felt that it might have been a mistake to show off the cooking skills he had learned.


    "Alright, I will cook it. But you need to take watch first for the night." Walker knew how to use the cards he had to his advantage. He wanted to sleep a little first. "We are only stopping for a little bit though. I think we should travel through the night. It will help us get to the mountains faster." The three had only traveled for a few hours at this point. However, they wanted to get through the grasnds quickly. They were avoiding the river though. There would be flooding since the snow was starting to melt.


    After quickly skinning the brown rabbit, they continued on their way. It was food forter. "Maybe I can try and look for some wild winter vegetables. I know that I saw a lot of them in the market. Those white turnips should be showing about this season. I know the monsters and animals go after them quickly. Midnight, point out where you got the rabbit. I bet that''s a good spot for white turnips." It was not a detour to their journey at all. Walker was able to look for food and they would keep on the move


    The spot that midnight brought them to had more than just one set of brown rabbit tracks. "It''s good that you held back and didn''t chase them all down. If you had, they would have taken a hit for their spring season. They should just being out of slumber from the cold." Su made sure to praise Midnight for being respectful of nature and its animals. The brown rabbits were normal animals and not monsters in the least.


    Midnight was going to raise her head in pride when she sniffed the air and growled heavily. The hole that the rabbits had been living in nearby had been dug out a little while she was gone. She had chased the brown rabbits away but she had not dug in to their den at all. "Walker, in front!" Sun mmed the twin shields together in front of them while Midnight prepared to pounce.


    Walker already had the eternal orb taking spear form in front of him. There was a monster forcing its way out of the den after digging in to it.


    ''Razor wed badger


    The razor wed badger is a monster of extremes. When it is not hungry it is considered the most docile hunter in the fields. When the razor wed badger is hungry, in particr, after it wakes up for the day, it will stop at nothing to get food. They are known to throw themselves in to vicious thorns and imminent danger just to get a bite of food before attacking again. The best practice when facing them is to avoid the ws and kill them immediately.''


    "Avoid the ws and take it down as fast as possible." Walker came up behind Su and channeled water elemental mana to wrap around the spear form of the eternal orb. He had trained slightly with making weapons out of elemental mana and now he could put it to use somewhat. The ice that formed increased the range of the spear and Walker used a quick stab.


    The razor wed badger didn''t even flinch. Instead, it threw itself forward with a snarl toad Su''s shield. She was pushed back slightly which was not expected. For a small monster, it was very dense and could hit pretty hard. Unfortunately, that was not enough. It had bounced off Su''s shield and been left wider open for Midnight to breath out a burst of red hot mes.


    The hair burned on the razor wed badger causing it to lose its sense of smell. The smoke blinded it and gave Su the opening to bash it away with her shield. This flipped the snarling and confused badger on its back. Walker did not waste the chance to step in to the air with the wind ripple skill. He used the wind wrapping skill to speed his descent and stabbed downwards with the spear piercing through the razor wed badgers'' head.


    ''The skill jump spear has been taken from the leaping spearman system. The user had automatically learned the skill leaping spear.


    Leaping spear- 3 mana cost


    The user uses a small amount of mana to push downward with extra force. The mana helps their muscles deliver a heavier force to pierce what they are leaping to strike at. This skill can only be used with a spear in a leaping downward motion.''


    Walker looked about seeing that the badger was defeated. However, he was more stunned by how specific the spear skill he learned was. He felt that he might never use such a skill again due to the specific conditions it needed. "I wonder what a leaping spearman is? He was a little flustered trying to figure out if he had ever heard of a leaping spearman in his entire life.


    Su just nced at him, "Leaping spearman?"


    "Eh, it''s nothing." Walker shrugged and stored the body of the razor wed badger away.


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 Chapter 1177 - 1177. Cubs

    Chapter 1177 ¨C 1177. Cubs


    "Is this what you are looking for!?" Su wanted to look around since she was sure that the white turnips were around the area. Without knowing the exact look of the leaves, she picked out some heartier dark green colors from the slowly growing grasses.


    "Yes, that''s what I am after. You can toss them right in to the hot coals of the fire and only the skin burns off. The rest will stay nice and soft inside to eat. They are perfect for kids and really anyone." There were a few other reasons why they were the most popr winter vegetable. However, the convenience and easy cooking was the main reason. "It''s a nice cluster of four. That makes sense since the brown rabbits made their den here. They basically had a perfect snack when they woke up." Walker pulled up all but one so that it could grow backter. The other three were stored away from when they stopped.


    "Let''s hope that we don''t find another razor wed badger. That thing was mean." As much as Walker was sure that the ws were valuable and would be good for them to sell, he knew that there was a lot of danger in a ravenous monster that didn''t care about pain. "And no, I don''t think they will taste good. You can see how tough the muscles on it were." Walker stared Midnight down since he could tell she was thinking that it would be another snack for her.


    "I would agree with you but there is something more up there." Su looked in to the sky and could see a few crows circling the trail ahead. It meant a few things. Another monster was there right that second, or worse, that a monster hade through and left its meal. That could only signal more monsters toe in to the area to fight over what was left.


    "We can try and take a detour around it. But it might be better to see what it is. We can get a feeling for the monsters in the area and report it to ra. We are still close enough to the city that merchants could run in to whatever caused it." It was a good idea to be proactive with this. Many monsters were moving oring out of slumber from the cold this time of year. If an unfortunate merchant went out eleven with a guard, they would be at risk.


    With a single huff of approval, Midnight crouched and started to move toward the crows. She was going to keep herself low to the ground so that she could see what was there and what they might be able to deal with. "Shh, I just checked the quests avable in my system from the guild. Apparently, there is one to scout out the stoney bear territory. They have their eggs hatch in the cold leaving the mother to care for the cubs when it warms up. It''s a monster very protective of their eggs." Checking the system for what ar had sent their way based on their area was a wise idea. No matter how busy ra was she still held to her responsibility as the party manager. It was a quality that put her above the others. Her ability to send them individual quests after bing adventurer''s guild master was one of the most useful skills since the party was often split up recently.


    "Then we should head away from it. If that''s the issue." Su had no sooner spoken than Walker had epted the quest for them. She knew this would be the case since it was better to have a tally on how many stoney bear cubs there were. She also knew that the stoney bears would head back toward the mountains after they had woken up from their muddy dug out dens. That was the only reason they moved to the fields other than the fact that it was easier for their cubs to survive in the fields.


    His look at Su showed that he knew she was going to give in to the request anyways. All they needed to do was confirm how many cubs there were so that the merchants heading this way would be able to avoid all of them. The worst possibility for anyone would be to get between a mother stoney bear and her cubs. It was not umon either since they blended very well with the browned grass during this season.


    Their slow movement was rewarded with a view of the grass that had been ttened in a small battle. "It''s hurt!" Su found that there was arge stoney bear hunched over three small and fluffy looking stoney bear cubs that had yet to get their muddy brown coloration in their fur. Whaty beside them was another,rger, razor wed badger.


    "Just stay here. Midnight, if anything goes wrong then jump in." Walker let Midnight use her shadow wrapping skill to blend in to the dried grass and watch from afar. He knew that the stoney bear would throw its life on the line for the cubs and he was risking things here. But the cubs would need a mother and leaving it to perish was out of the question.


    "Just stay slow and get out fast," Su whispered knowing that if Walker had not stepped forward first that she would have made him take out a healing potion so that she could move forward.


    "I promise, I won''t hurt you. Just stay still and I will heal you." The stoney bear mother focused on Walker and growled heavily. It was not going to let him anywhere near her cobs. If he so much as flinched she would be sure to stomp him in to the earth with thest of her strength.


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 Chapter 1178 - 1178. A Protective Mother

    Chapter 1178 ¨C 1178. A Protective Mother


    The calming waves skill was not one that Walker used often. It was mostly due to the fact that he believed that skills had a time and a ce they could be used best. Now was one of the times that he thought it was worth the risk to use. He would be alerting any other monster nearby of their presence, however, he would hopefully calm the mother stoney bear so he could heal it.


    "Just stay there and I will heal you. I don''t want to harm your cubs. They need you to survive so I can''t let you stay that way." He could see the pieces of fur and skin that the razor wed badger had torn from the stoney bear. Just as the razor wed badgers were tough, so were stoney bears. They could resist a great many attacks before they fell. Unfortunately, that meant they could be left with wounds that slowly killed them. This was the case with the injuries the stoney bear currently had.


    "Just breath slowly and stay there. Stay with your cubs and I will heal you then leave. I won''t even need to touch you if you let mee a few steps closer." There were no lies to Walker''s words. He let his actions and words speak for themselves. The warm feeling he had on his back resonated with the calming waves skill.


    Fleur made herself known and moved to rest atop the stoney bear''s head. She was pulling at the natural mana around as well which seemed to be enhancing the effects of calming waves. "That''s right. You will be ready to be on your way soon." The soft voice that Walker used was simr to the way he had seen and heard Alice sing.


    For many years Alice had taken the time to learn how to sing better and better. She could add many emotions in to her words that would move many. Not only did her songs heal but they provoked deep emotional responses when those who listened allowed themselves to resonate with the words. When Walker copied this he felt the mana flow through his body and in to his words.


    ''The skill soothing tones has been taken from the songstress system. The user had experienced the skill soothing tones many times and learned the skill soothing tones through actions.


    Soothing tones- 5 mana cost per hour


    The user is able to smooth their mana flow and meld it with their words. This skill is highly dependent on emotions and the state of the user. Those who hear the words infused with the user''s mana will be affected by the mana. The user will be able to assist in the calming of those who hear their tones or words mana. If the one hearing this is in an enraged state there is a very high chance for them to be brought out of it.''


    "Just hang on, I will have you healthy and up to keep moving soon." The slow steps were painful to watch for Su and Midnight. But Su would have been doing the same. She had calmed children when they were hurt and afraid of everyone around them in the same way. Midnight was crouched and ready to leap out with all her might in a second.


    As the stoney bear slowed its breath, Walker knew that it was losing the energy to resist even if it was not calming down. He pushed himself to take another step even closer. He moved just barely in range of the stoney bear to use his healing skills. The green tinted glow of healing caused the bear cubs under their mother to try and growl. They whined quietly making their mother lower herself over them in protection. However, she did not try to resist Walker''s healing.


    "Just a second more. Just stay still and you will be fine." The stoney bear appeared to haveclearer vision and looked at Walker right in the eyes. For a moment they could feel something tugging at their minds before Fleur leapt up and floated back over to Walker looking at the bear herself. The feeling of natural mana in the air became dense as Walker finished healing the stoney bear as much as he could without harming it by forcefully healing wounds.


    He stepped back while still holding the gaze of the stoney bear mother. Before he could blink the cubs dashed out from under their mother in the opposite direction and the mother followed while ncing back growling. They left therger razor wed badger where ity after she had fought it off. "Never again." Walker fell to his butt breathing heavily. He had not been taking full breaths out of fear that he would scare the mother and cause her to attack again.


    "It''s fine. Everything is fine. It''s healed." Su reassured Walker while she caught her heart beat and tried to calm it. She had not realized that she had not breathed either while this went on.


    "I didn''t want you to rush forward and try to heal it. I don''t know what would have happened if I needed toe out with a healing potion. But those little cubs didn''t deserve to lose their mother. They were a bit too cute." Theughter between them broke the tension while Midnight seemed interested in the razor wed badge on the ground nearby.


    "It''s safe to say that one is rted to the other that we found. The smaller one is the male and this is the partner it had. They must have been hunting together," Su knew well since she had read about the razor wed badgers before. But she was still stunned to see the damage that it had caused to such a powerful monster above it.


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 Chapter 1179 - 1179. Night Time Dangers

    Chapter 1179 ¨C 1179. Night Time Dangers


    "I would say we should stop now to eat. I don''t think my heart can keep going until the bears have moved well on." Walker was not ready toe face to face with any other monsters. Instead, he opted to store away the second razor wed badger and move away from the area that other monsters were sure to be attracted to.


    "That''s a good idea. We should rest and eat after that. I thought that we were going to have to turn around and find a new home for those poor bear cubs." This affected Su more than Walker had noticed earlier. She didn''t want to see anyone or anything lose a family. Since she had nearly lost her mother to illness this hit her much harder.


    "We can always do our best to help others. Even monsters don''t drive that." The firm tone assured her that Walker meant this from the very core of his being. When Midnight nudged her and looked in her eyes she could tell that it was the same for Midnight as well. They would all stand together for situations like this.


    "Ehm, yes. Let''s move and set up a short camp for three or four hours." Walker wasn''t sure if he had seen right but he thought that Su had shed a single tear before taking the lead away from where they had just found the injured stoney bear.


    It took a little time for Su to get herself out of her head after the event with the injured mother stoney bear. But it wasn''t too much of an issue because they were able to help it and keep the cubs with their mother. What was more worrying to her was the fact that such a small monsterparison had caused such arge amount of trouble.


    "I don''t think we should let any of those badgers pass by if we see them. They are terrorizing everything around here."


    "I think you are thinking with your emotions and not with your head. They are naturally like that. If they weren''t then some other monster would grow out of proportion. It''s part of the ecosystem. Everything works in the way it is meant to work. But that doesn''t mean we can''t help out when we see things like that.'' Walker had already sent a message through the system to ra who responded bypleting the quest. Knowing that the bears were moving back toward the mountains was good. It was even better that the knowledge of the cubs was passed along since that meant multiple bears would be in the area for three years toe until the cubs were ready to leave the mother.


    "I know you are right but I don''t like it." Su had to give in since there a logic in Walker''s words but it was not the things that she wanted to hear. It was frustrating knowing that there was the chance that it would happen with other animals and monsters. But she could only save what she saw happening. Trying to save someone or something that she couldn''t reach would just lead to self torment.


    "Midnight,e grab your food!'' Walker had set aside two of the vegetables and most of the rabbit for Midnight since she had managed to lead and scout so well. Walker also didn''t need much since he was already able to snack on some jerky he brought before. Su was also not in a major mood to eat a lot but would make sure she did since it was better for her health due to their travels.


    The three took their time to rest and make sure to prepare themselves for the night travels toward the mountain. They were not unfamiliar with the potential dangers of the night but it was better to be rested and ready. That was why they slept earlier and ate earlier. The sun was just about set when they put out the small fire they had and cleaned up the tent. Midnight seemed even more energetic than before. It was partially due to the benefits that came with night.


    The shadow wrapping skill was much more powerful during the night since Midnight was mostly ck scaled. It would hide her in general but now she would be nearly impossible to see without heightened senses. This also made their traveling safer because Midnight had exceptional night vision and was able to see what was around them. She was their main deterrence and safety while traveling.


    Luckily, Su also had this benefit. She had a very good sense at night since she had shared her blood with Midnight after the pledge. Walker was much morefortable knowing this as well. The simple fact that they could easily travel in the dark alone was a blessing. Fewer worries always made a journey progress better.


    "Let''s get on with it. I would say we just need to watch out for bats and those fist sized mosquitoes that start toe up from the south during this season. I doubt we will see them though. It''s a little too cold still." The mosquitoes were an annoyance that came from the southern demonnds. They were one of the most annoying monsters since they would swarm and attack small groups of monsters by drawing their blood.


    They would not bother most people since they were not their favorite food but farmers tended to have problems against them since they went after cattle. The bats were more concerning. The bats would start toe back north the moment they felt a change in temperature. The ones that ate fruits in the forests were no issues. But the carnivorous bats were the ones to watch out for, especially since the three would be wide open in the fields.


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 Chapter 1180 - 1180. Glowing Daisies

    Chapter 1180 ¨C 1180. Glowing Daisies


    The night was not too busy. The sounds that the three would hear now and then were fairly quiet and in the distance. Only once or twice did they need to stop in the first few hours. It was mostly to make sure they were on the right trail.


    Many trails that went through the fields were crisscrossed due to the different directions merchants woulde from. As much as anyone could attempt to regte them, it was an impossibility. Hence the reason why there was a big movement to make a proper road from other cities to Genesis.


    " It''s getting a little colder with the breeze." Walker handed Su one of the extra ims to stay warm. If they were too cold they could have a slower reaction. Midnight seemed not to care. Part of this was her gradually growing understanding of other elemental manas. The understanding of water elemental mana would help her resist the cold better than other creatures.


    "At least the cold means monsters will be held off. Just a few though." Su didn''t want to jinx them by saying they were in the clear.


    "Agreed. The wind is blowing around our scent so anything downwind could follow us." The worry was real, but this was also why Midnight would be able to pick up on anything ahead of them without the need to scout ahead for a while.


    A soft growl of confusion made them stop. Midnight was staring right ahead with her face scrunched up. What Walker and Su saw were small purple nts that were poking through the melting snow. It would not have been something confusing if not for the fact that the nts were glowing with purple light.


    "What are those? Should we have brought Remey?" Since Su knew that Walker and Midnight were not experts in alchemy, this nt was a mystery to them.


    "I''ll appraise them before we move closer. I don''t like the glowing part. Just makes me feel weird." It wasn''t that the nts were odd. They were small purple leaved flowers. It was not entirely unusual since the party had seen simr nts in the forest. Yet, the glowing part that they saw meant mana was within these nts which could cause different oues.


    ''Spring break daisy


    The spring break daisy is a nt that grows at the very start of the warmer season. The moment the snow begins to melt the dormant stored mana is activated in the bulb of the daisy roots. It will grow quickly to break out of the earth and snow and absorb light elemental mana. They are ideal for lighting pathways within gardens and can help reduce fevers when steeped in tea. When removed from the ground they will return to a dormant state for up to six months.''


    "Wow. They are amazing. So they can be beautiful and help the sick. Let''s pick some on our way so we can give them to Gil''s mother and Remey."


    "I can give some to Alice for the cathedral too." Both Walker and Su found benefits in this. Midnight didn''t seem opposed either until she saw the small figures farting around the flowers. Her growl made Su and Walker focus up and look more closely.


    ''Crystal dragonfly


    The crystal dragonfly is an insect monster known forying eggs in the melting snow. They only hatch when snow begins to melt and mud starts to form. They are often ignoredter in the season but during the start, they are avoided. Their bites can cause very painful itchy sores along with a pheromone that attracts other monsters. They are considered very dangerous at certain times. The wings of the crystal dragonfly are perfect for any potion requiring strong water elemental mana.''


    "And those do not seem friendly." Walker could count more than twenty zipping around. They were the size of a grown man''s fist so they seemed weak. However, Walker knew this wasn''t the case. If he was bitten then he would be in pain for some time while also drawing more dangerous monsters near them.


    "We are going around. We are only three and having walking bait for monsters is not worth it. Maybe we will see more of those spring break daisies elsewhere." Walker nodded to Su since this was the best practice. Charging in against a speedy flying opponent would not be an easy battle. They would note out unscathed.


    Since there was a risk of the crystal dragonflies noticing them, Midnight had a breath ready to send out mes. She watched intently while they skirted the area where the daisies grew. It was only an added twenty or so minutes of creeping around but it was a worthwhile endeavor.


    "At least we are still on trail and can keep a better eye out for those monsters ahead. I can even hear them buzzing a little." Walker had managed to catch on to the very soft hum of the crystal dragonfly wings.


    "I''ll keep my focus in case we hear it ahead." Su memorized the sound while she took the lead. It was better that she was ahead in case there were some that got too close. She had the higher defense and resistances in case they did bite here. Walker didn''t hesitate to wrap his cloak tighter. It was better they bite that than his skin. Midnight was the only one that didn''t need to worry due to her scales being so tough.


    "We should be making good time to pass by home by the end of the day." Walker looked ahead at the rising sun which broke over the distant mountains. The city of Diamond would always be their home even if they lived in Genesis now. It was just unfortunate that they would not be stopping there to say yellow to a few people.


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 Chapter 1181 - 1181. Life Lessons

    Chapter 1181 ¨C 1181. Life Lessons


    "Remey, duck!" Gil shouted in warning for Remey to lower her head. They had managed to bump in to a wild boar while on their trip. Remey had managed to keep it in check but it was stubborn and refused to run off.


    The arrow let free by Gil was nothing special. It was a basic arrow that he carried for when it would be needed. Although his aim was precise as usual. The arrow went straight to the eye of the wolf boar and it fell like a ton of bricks to the ground.


    "That smallmunication can be the difference between hitting your ally and hitting the enemy. Remember that the small time used for that will save and protect lives." The two archers that Gil had with him were the quiet boy that had watched the others to fight and a very lucky elf who had managed to show off enough skill to warrant some extra teaching.


    "As Gil said, listen to those that bring you out to gather and find herbs. If you ignore them they will not be responsible for the results that follow." Remey had found an herbalist and a young alchemist toe with her as well.


    The herbalist she had found was true to the phrase, a diamond in the rough. The girl had once been a forgotten demon thought to be nothing. Even when she was with Lust in the water elf castle she was left in the dungeons ignored. Within the short time of being in Genesis, she had somehow managed to increase growth in a single field of fire affinity herbs by nearly double.


    The alchemist with Remey was an elf from the forest elf city. He was slightly arrogant but had every right to be. He had taught himself alchemy and created his own forms to better the basic healing potion. The potion took longer but had better results. The outside the box thinking was foreshadowing to a brilliant future within the alchemy guild.


    "So, what herbs did you say might grow around here? We have dinner and then some now so we might want to make this ourst stop." Since Walker, Su, and Midnight had left, Gil and Remey had been out with their four students. They had managed to spend an entire day just going over safe traveling practices which would help the four greatly.


    "They are just some porcupine mushrooms. They are spiny but great for the elderly and their brittle bones. Exactly what should be added for soup." Remey and her two underlings hadrge bags on their backs for collecting these herbs. They were nearly packed full.


    "I understand why we would need a guard when we go out. How would we escape if we were alone?" The demon girl carefully pulled up the spiny mushrooms while asking the question.


    "Run. Or trick them. Both work." Remey wasn''t particr. Survival was about whatever worked and if running or tricking a monster worked then it was fine to do so.


    "So we could avoid the monster if we are weaker, right?" The quiet archer spoke up and looked at Gil carefully for the answer.


    "You can run and avoid, yes. But if you leave behind your client then don''t go back to the guild. It''s uneptable. You should move them to safety. If they insist against your advice then notify them that you will end your quest there and return. That''s the best way to get them to listen." This was amon tactic used for dangerous situations. Many adventurers had needed to do so to avoid potential death.


    "Understood. Putting themselves at risk and putting all of us at risk are very different things." The quiet boy fell back in to his normal silence but was clearly thinking this through. All four had heard what Gil said. It made the herbalist and the alchemist think very hard since they had not considered that they would be stopped from pursuing important herbs due to dangers, even with guards.


    "Now, don''t base things on me. I have the ability to fight and perform alchemy. If you are just a in old alchemist your chances of winning a battle are lower. But not zero. Some alchemists and herbalists learn to use their knowledge to defend themselves. Just like this." Remey pulled a very small vial from her waist and tossed it in to an open space just outside the trees of the forest.


    When the small vial shattered on the ground a small explosion urred causing a puff of ck smoke. "That potion is called a stunning [potion. It makes a sh of fire then smoke to cause coughing and blinding effects. That can allow someone to escape. For an herbalist, you can use poisonous herbs to your benefit. Some gives off fragrances that confuse and require antidotes. Just because you are not abat system does not mean you can not fight." Thai lesson seemed to make their eyes open wide. Gil and Remey had not gone in to such lesson just yet. This would give the herbalist and alchemist a head start when it came to others of their age.


    "Does that mean we could use our skills in tandem? We could fire potion like that attached to arrow if we work with herbalists and alchemists." The two archers under Gil had the same question at the same time.


    "That is exactly the lesson I wanted you to learn. Just because you are protecting someone doesn''t mean that they will be unable to help in the travels. I won''t say to force them but having them act is better than standing and doing nothing." This would go a long way for the two archers in protection and escort quests. Overall the two could say that they had guided their students well. "Alright, let''s aim ourselves back home. We will stop and make a meal halfway back."


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 Chapter 1182 - 1182. Shake The City

    Chapter 1182 ¨C 1182. Shake The City


    A massive ck tail mmed on to the ground cracking it and denting the earth. It has smashed in to a shield madepletely of light. The reaction between the two was spectacr. The shards of the light shield broke away and covered the ground before fading back in to the air. In the next moment, a melodious voice of power caused another to appear.


    "Weak! Your shields are weak and I can smash them with my tail m in one hit!" Onyx had been hard at work training his shield m to be able to take down anything. He had also been trying to change his size faster so that he could sneak and defeat opponents faster. It was all part of his future ns to leave Genesis and travel to a new location which may contain more abyssal serpents or remnants of them.


    The figure singing was none other than Alice, however, in thest few days while Walker, Su, and Midnight had been away, she had picked up her training. The trials and failures she put in as she tried to change her songs to be powerful were nothingpared to the strain on her when she faced Onyx. The two had made themitment to push through more than just their limits. They wanted to bepletely different people when their friends returned.


    A vicious look of determination bloomed on Alice''s face. She was not letting Onyx get away with the insult of her shield being weak. She had been training alongside him and knew that she had grown the same as he had. She wanted to be able to hold out against his attack even when he was at hisrgest size.


    The light shield reformed in half the time it had thest time Walker had seen it. He would already be surprised when he returned but for Alice, it was not enough. She altered her song on the fly and the shield became more detailed and dense. The light elemental mana was much better controlled the more that Alice burned her mana in training. She had a substantial savings that was dedicated to mana potions for this purpose.


    The newly formed shield met within Onyx''s tail again. The difference was like night and day. There was a resounding thud and sharp crack. The shield had been broken but not to the degree before. It nearly split in two yet held shape. Triumph now showed on Alice''s face while Onyx felt his scales had cracked. He had taken damage from using it too much and was not feeling the strain. This was his limit, "I will go further!"


    Light and darkness elemental mana wrapped around his body. The training in the two elemental manas had been much harder. So much so that he had trained until exhaustion three times in a row. His body had felt the flood of mana and strength that he did not know was possible. That lead him to learn he could wrap his scales in mana to form somewhat of an armor like Midnight did. The inspiration gave birth to an armor that he knew would protect him.


    The light elemental mana condensed on his scales while darkness elemental mana flowed around it in perfect bnce. The light elemental mana was the base and the darkness the spikes that now protruded from his head and tail. The skill was known as abyssal armor. One that took his entire focus and strength to hold on to but one that boosted his magical defense and defense by fifteen stat points. It also allowed him to use the skill piercing tail and piercing head butt. They were physical skills with magical damage of light and darkness elements.


    The repaired light shield was not shattered this time when Onyx attacked with his tail. Instead, it was perfect;y pierced like swiss cheese. The hole in it caused Alice to lose her focus and fall to a knee. Yet, Onyx also lost his control of his mana and copsed in front of her. The two could only pant while trying to catch their breath. They had exhausted a huge amount of mana yet again.


    These training sessions had be the focus of mana healers and nuns within the cathedral. They were stunned by the amazing training that was going on. Not only did it inspire them to push themselves but also to reach outside and look for ways to enhance their knowledge. Onyx and Alice had be more than just inspiration, they were driving forces behind the growth of many young healers.


    The high priest on the other hand had gone to make many friends with those researching the mage tower. The earth mages in particr were very used toing over to fix the cathedral courtyard. So much so that they had made the deal to share the runes with the high priest at the cost for the healers to visit and assist with the light elemental runes they may have understandings with.


    The main reason the agreement had been reached was the discovery of healing rines. The healing runes somehow were of every elemental mana and could heal differently based on the user''s affinity. It was a mystery that inspired the mages yet stumped them. They had no idea how healing worked because it was not their forte. Therefore, the deal benefited their understandings and the cathedrals. Fixing some courtyard a few times was nothing inparison.


    "I swear. You two are going to make the entire city shake if you keep this up." The high priest joked but in the back of his mind knew that if Alice and Onyx continued on like this for months then genesis would indeed shake before them. It was an interesting future to imagine of his daughter and her training partner.


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 Chapter 1183 - 1183. Small Forest

    Chapter 1183 ¨C 1183. Small Forest


    Walker, Midnight, and Su had made some significant advances toward the mountains. There was really nothing of note that had happened in thest few days. A few horned rabbits had been seen and they had run in to a merchant train headed from diamond to Genesis. The news from them was that Diamond had recovered its farnds which the three were able to see the edge of while they walked through the area.


    "Are you really sure the forest you saw is this way? All I can see is a lot of mist." The fog that was around the area was much heavier than Sui wasfortable with. It nketed the ground so thickly that she swore she could cut it with a de.


    "Yes, this is some magic used to protect the forest covering the entrance to the trail." This was the same thing that Walker had guessed when he saw the little forest hiding the trail from the air. He also knew that the melting snow and the slightly warm breeze which had started to blow up from the south was to me for the increasing fog.


    Even Midnight was trying to smell about for evidence and wasing up empty. It was all dependent on Walker''s perfect memory of the area that they had flown over. If it was anyone else they would not have been able to trust the direction. Luckily, Walker had the mental archive to keep maps and such in check. When he had looked from the sky it was more or less the same as looking at a map from the top.


    "This should be the way." Walker lifted a hand and manipted some of the water and wind in the air to move away. It wasn''t enough to clear the entire area but it was enough to show off the small forest ahead of them.


    "Brave to venture in to my territory child. Why do you smell like my Lords?" A deep shaking voice made the three stop and fall in to battle stances. "Children. If you desired battle I can bring it. You are a snack to me at this stage in time."


    "What is it? Can you appraise it?" Su had the twin shields and needed to know what they faced so she could alter her strategy to one using the earth dwelling shield if need be.


    There was nothing that Walker could see from his view. Midnight had trouble locking on to anything at all either. It led him to using his all around appraisal on everything around him.


    ''Green lily¡­.red bark tree¡­twirling vine¡­''


    The all around appraisal was not picking up anything other making it even harder for Walker to speak out. "Answer me before I make a move child. I can feel your light weight upon me. You three can not be old enough to even bother me. Two creatures smelling faintly of dragons and some tamed beast smelling simrly as well. You will have much to answer for." The voice was obvious with the fact that it could not see them. But when it said that they were already on top of it, Walker looked at the entirety of their surroundings.


    '' floral tortoise


    The floral tortoise is one of the smallest monsters in the world when it is born. They will often have small grasses grow on their shells to hide them in the grasnds. In exceptionally rare cases they can live to be hundreds or even thousands of years old. The oldest known floral tortoise grew to be the size of a singr country before it perished and the shell became the base for an entire living race. Beware the incredible defensive prowess and control over earth elemental mana that the floral tortoise has on theter years of its life.''


    Walker made a motion for Su and Midnight to rx. He knew that if the floral tortoise was asrge as the appraisal said it could be that it was not anything they could deal with. However, he had caught on that it said that it had lords. Specifically, the dragons. The royal dragons had to be the lords of this floral tortoise that grewrger than all the others that could be around. This also meant that Walker needed to tighten his courage and speak the way a royal dragon would.


    "Little tortoise. I am Walker, lord of natural mana. You dare block the way of my champion and her guardian? Speak now and beg forgiveness or you shall rest here for eternity." The mana that Walker caused to be chaotic was none other than the natural mana around him. He purposefully made it rotate in opposite ways to show off his control over it.


    Midnight did not hesitate to back him up. She roared louder than Walker expected making him sure that they would be believed. Even Su made her statement and mmed her twin shields together with a furious ng. The ground beneath them shook and Walker could tell they were moving upwards. He used the wind ripple skill to step in to the air and looked down at the entire small forest rising up.


    The dark brown and gray head that broke the soil and rose to meet him opened yellow eyes. "Human! You¡­" The floral tortoise was going to continue to shout in rage when it felt the mana and saw the connection that Walker had to Midnight. It had lived for many years which led to wisdom most would not have. Seeing the bonds of a royal dragon and those connected to it were simple and mandatory for it to keep its position.


    "My apologies great lord of natural mana. I wish you safe travels toward the grand court of dragonkind. I, Sylvan, great the new lord." The tortoise lowered its head and closed its eyes knowing that it had made a false usation. Inside it waspletely stunned though. It could not understand the human and how it was equal to a dragon. Yet it could see the bonds that made it so.


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 Chapter 1184 - 1184. Feel Fear?

    Chapter 1184 ¨C 1184. Feel Fear?


    "You are young enough still to learn. Remember me and those beneath me. I shall return on my journey back. Be prepared to offer a sincere apology and I may make your little forest flourish." Walker stepped down and retired to the side of Midnight and Su. they were sure that they needed to remain calm and act as if walking along the massive floral tortious back was fine.


    Even as the floral tortoise Sylvan lowered himself back in to the earth as if he had never moved, he took a nce above to his shell. Walker did not miss this since it was all too obvious with Sylvan extending his head in such a strange way. Walker nced at Midnight who released a slight growl causing a quick ration in Sylvan. The tortoise returned to its original position full of more questions than it had ever had within its long life.


    The moment that they crossed the farthest threshold of the forest which was also the end of Sylvan''s shell, the fog disappeared proving it was only caused by the tortoise himself to hide away the entrance. Not only this, but a statue the same size as arge dragon greeted them. On the side, Walker could make out anguage he was sure only the dragons knew. But what astounded him was the fact that the symbols seemed to change and be readable without him using his skills.


    ''The skill draconguage has been forcefully learned due to the draconic rtions the user possesses. The user will now and forever be able to understand any and all draconguages.


    Draconguage- passive


    This is the time wornnguage of the dragons. Created by them, for them, and used constantly. Their tongue rtes deeply with purified mana and is often found at sights of great battle or memorial. The discovery of the draconguage can cause entire races to move away or toward the source due to fear or awe.''


    The skill description was a little oddpared to what Walker expected. However, he understood why he would learn it. For Midnight and Su, it was in their blood. Walker was bonded with them and that meant that he too would have the same effect. It was a little odd though, he could feel the temperature of his blood warming slightly while reading the words on the statue.


    "The great dragon, father of all dragons, greets the one that shall walk upon thisnd. Bow and greet your heritage." Walker read it out loud and knew that respecting this statue was part of the journey they would take. He was already watching as Midnight bowed her head slightly. She had also felt the connection that Walker had. Even Su had understood it and showed a calm and serious expression.


    They looked upon the statue of therge spiky dragon which seemed to have power over them even though it was just a statue. It was impressive how detailed it was and made them all feel as if it would jump off the pedestal and attack them in an instant. "The tail points up and to the right. We head that way." Walker remembered the instructions he had been given and followed the point of the tail so that they would be able to make it to the royal dragon court.


    "The trail is a lot less overgrown than I expected. Only a few dry bushes and grasses here and there. Not much ice or snow though. I wonder¡­Tracks." Su was in the middle of wondering why the trail that they were following would be less icy and snow covered along with theck of nt life. Yet, as she started to inspect it carefully she was able to make out some small andrger animal or monster tracks.


    "Now it feels like we need Gil so that he might be able to tell us what the tracks are from. But we can keep moving. We are ready for this. We knew that the trail would be more popted by animals and monsters. It only makes sense that they would take over the trail and travel it themselves in some way." They had already spoken about this and were mentally prepared, this was what they had been training for. But this didn''t stop Walker from trying to use the all around appraisal skill on therger tracks that were clearer on the ground.


    ''Steel shell armadillo tracks


    Tracks of a young steel shell armadillo. They are verymon within mountains and will rarely attack since they prefer to roll in to a sturdy ball for defense.


    Spiny lizard tracks


    The spiny lizard is barely reaching adulthood and has just awoken from slumber. They are very aggressive but much weaker than normal.


    Rogue dragon w marks


    This is a subspecies of dragon that has been kicked from the nest for being impure in bloodline or pride. They lose much of the elemental affinity and be berserk. They are extremely aggressive and often attack dragonkin in revenge. They are often very susceptible to magical attacks due to their rejection of mana.''


    "What did you just say?" There was a stunned moment of silence after Su asked her question to Walker. He too was a little stunned to read that dragons would kick some from the nest and that the kicked one would reject mana purity.


    "Rogue dragon¡­but it says weak to magical attacks so we should have some advantage. It also says it attacks dragonkin so we may be able to deter it to some degree. We are not like them or the dragonkin technically." Walker wasn''t very sure about this so he was sure to change the eternal orb in to staff form for safety. He would have his mana at the ready the entire hike through the mountains to the royal dragon court.


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 Chapter 1185 - 1185. A True Roar

    Chapter 1185 ¨C 1185. A True Roar


    Walker and Su seemed to be on the same page when it came to the fact that they did not want to deal with a rogue dragon which was obviously a monster and no longer a member of the dragon race. It was even worse realizing that such a monster would have a huge physical strength that could most likely defeat any of them in a few attacks let alone one.


    "The tracks are a little dried. That means that everything has passed through some time ago. The most recent look like the ridge sparrows that live right around there." Walker spotted the nests of the ridge sparrows. They were a very fast earth and wind elemental monster that ran from anythingrger than them. Their only food source were small insects that ate away at grass and other foliage.


    "We will still be avoiding them. We are not here to clean up the monsters kicked out of the dragon''s society. We are here to bring our ideals and represent Genesis." Su had been steeling herself while Walker spoke. She knew that she needed to be much more serious. Every step could bring her closer to death. It was something that made her almost excited.


    Normally, Su would not feel such things. She preferred defending and healing people. The atmosphere in the cathedral was one that calmed her soul and brought out her best qualities. Yet, she was faced with the extreme potential for death. If not the monsters roaming around it would be the royals living near the royal dragon court. Her dragon blood screamed for attention. For dominance over any that faced her. It was her true battle instincts finally melding with the dragon blood line that Midnight had shared with her.


    To show her distaste for the fact that anything would stand in their way, Midnight growled until Walker felt it was no longer their bodies that vibrated. It was their bonds. Su and Midnight had epted the battle they would face and Walker could only bring himself to match and surpass their fortitude. "We move forward in the open along the trail. Nothing will stand in our way and every royal up there will know we areing."


    Su took a deep breath along with Midnight. The two matched their release of the loudest roar possible. Walker could only follow with a roar imbued with natural mana. Fleur was even resting in front of him, increasing the power with her own stored natural mana. She had finally be interested in this journey.


    ''The skill nature dragon''s roar has been taken from the world dragon system. The user has released a cry to the world. It shall be heard by the dragon race.


    Nature dragon''s roar- natural mana cost, user mana cost, nature spirit mana cost, dragon champion mana cost, draconic guardian mana cost, world''s acknowledgment


    The fusion of all mana that a natural royal dragon can possess. The gathering of such mana cries out beyond that of just nature. It rises to the level of the word. Therefore, it is the way the world dragon once spoke to their race across the world. It has no effects other than instantly sending a single message to the entirety of the dragon race. Any with dragon blood will hear the call. Those without dragon blood will hear a roar echo and know nothing of its significance.''


    This was a call for the dragons and only the dragons. Since they three had finally epted all that was ahead of them they had managed to toss aside any fear they had. So what if there were tracks of strong monsters? Who cared, they were powerful too. The dragons would face them eye to eye and respect them or they would stand taller to prove themselves. They had avoided this facing of fears and worries for too long. It was time to be serious or give up altogether. A hero never gave up.


    Upon a mountain teau sat multiple thrones. The shadows of those sitting on them seemed to store from slight slumbers while some thrones were still empty. "Current, is that the one you spoke of? The one that called out to hear him roar?"


    "Indeed. You have guessed right for once. What do you think? Would you try and face someone like him? Still looking down on a human? Still think that head of rocks could stand up to him? Look at the records and tell me how many dragons have used natural mana since our founders. Tell me, do you think a human can match and rise above a dragon now?" Current had thrown around haughty words of pride. He knew well that there would be an upset and that was what he wanted. Too many years had passed without the significant growth of the dragon race. But this could be the symbol of growth they needed.


    "To wake me with those words¡­to pull me from my shadows¡­I wish to meet this one. I wish to see who can make my champion turn their head to look down the mountain." A fog of dark mist seemed to speak from another side while Current smirked even more while still looking down on the other thrones.


    "I arrive and this is what I hear? Someone wishing for attention. This is why I hate these meetings. It''s bad enough that I must leave the skies." Arge figure became smaller and smaller until a slime dragonkin figure with flowing horns came to rest upon a throne covered in wind like patterns.


    "You act like your skies are so wonderful. You have never known the true joy of being buried deeper in the earth than any could ever go. The true pulse of the earth around you.'''' The moment seemed to pass and the two different elemental royals began to pridefully bicker about their purity and elemental manas. Only Current remained thinking about Walker, Su, and Midnight.


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 Chapter 1186 - 1186. Inexperienced

    Chapter 1186 ¨C 1186. Inexperienced


    "Coming from above!" Su raised her shield when Walker called out the monster leaping from above them. She raised one of the twin shields and blocked the leaping cat. ws scraped down on the shield but left no marks. It was nothingpared to the improvements that had been made under the careful eye of the wandering cksmith.


    "Midnight, you run behind and cut off escape. I am using fire!" The fire elemental mana condensed on the eternal orb staff before a single fore bolt shot at the falling mountain cat. The previously grey speckled fur burned and the cat let out a howl as it lost its sight.


    Midnight followed Walker''s ns and leapt at the mountain cat ending the attack in a second. "Good team work. I know that we just screamed to the mountain that we are here but to be attacked the second we started moving again¡­" It was more annoyance than anything for Walker. The mountain cat should have been afraid of them but never came in to contact with anything other than the other monsters in the mountains. It didn''t know the dangers that it would face going after the three creatures it had never seen before.


    "That was a mountain cat right?" Su didn''t have a good look at it before it had been burned and finished off but she could tell from the cat like howl. " They usually live in three or fours so we should watch out for more in the area." Midnight started to sniff the air and look carefully but found nothing around.


    ''Mountain cat


    This young mountain cat was very inexperienced in battle. The fire would be of poor quality materials if not for the burns it suffered. Normally silent and sneaky, the mountain cats are a devious predators when stalking small prey. Often they work together to take downrger prey which has made many liken them to wolf packs. They are known for their weak darkness affinity that allows them to better hunt in the early morning orte night even though they do hunt at all hours of the day.''


    "It seems like this was a young one. We should look out for any others that are older. But they may have already run away after seeing this one fail. They would be wiser." It was easy to guess that any monster that hunted in a group would run away.


    "That''s good. Because there is some dust rising up the mountain and I would say it''s something that heard us. I would prefer it to be running through." Su pointed out the cloud of dust and the slight sound of cracking rocks in the distance.


    "I would say that it''sing down the mountain. We will see if we have to deal with it." They had already established their mental strength to deal with anything that faced them. This wasn''t some arrogant show of power. They were here to be equals with royal dragons and they were ready to be as such. Small monsters trying to touch them would not only make the other royals see them as weak but it would ruin any rtions with Genesis that the dragons could offer.


    The skeletal armor that midnight had formed with her skill seemed to be slightly different than thest time that Walker had analyzed it. He was sure that it was due to the growth and the intense training that midnight did regrly. However, that did not mean that Walker had initially noticed the other element mana that gathered within the bone armor.


    The feeling that Walker got from the skeletal armor was unique. It didn''t just hold the darkness elemental mana that had been Midnight''s base affinity before she had awakened the bloodline of a dragon champion. There were heavy earth elemental and light elemental manas that had taken to it. This meant that Midnight had managed to add those elemental manas to the skill as she trained through her elemental breath attacks. It only went to show how her training affected her other skills as she began to mix elemental manas like Walker did to create natural mana. It made him wonder if she would have a skill change from skeletal armor to natural armor or something when Midnight seeded in mixing every elemental mana.


    "There''s the next statue. We are heading to the left." This was away from the cloud of dust. Walker would not have seen the secondary trail if he was not following the tails of the dragons. The mountains were not perfectly carved out for a trail. This was a natural path through the jagged edges and rounded rocks forged by nature. Moving between rocks and discovering the pathways was part of the adventure.


    "Look at the rocks. It seems like they are a mix of a few different kinds." The colorations through the rocks were of multiple ores and marbles. It was clear proof that not many had traveled here since they would have attempted to mine out veins of valuable ores like this.


    "It''s a good thing we didn''t bring the wandering cksmith. He would move here and start crafting without any worries." Walker joked but he too had the desire to try and mine some of this. He still had the necessary materials and tools to use the portable forge skill. He had only gotten rid of the materials that he knew were better used by the wandering cksmith or that he would never get to using. The temptation to forge had been pulling at him for some time. There were many things he wanted to learn more of since he never wanted to be at a loss for the right skills in a situation. He truly wanted to be an all rounder.


    "No, we are not mining that." Su stopped Walker''s thoughts in a few words. She would not be stopping their trip and dying just to get some more materials that Walker would not be able to use until after they returned home.


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 Chapter 1187 - 1187. Statues

    Chapter 1187 ¨C 1187. Statues


    "I wasn''t going to stop us to mine it. It''s too beautiful to just start tearing it up-" Walker was caught by the sound of crunching. When he turned around he found Midnight had scraped out a naturally forming earth elemental crystal and crushed it together between her teeth. "You could have just asked me for a snack you know?"


    The stifledughter from Su only encouraged Midnight to chew her snack faster, it was impossible to stop her but Walker still felt that it was an odd moment to start scraping away at the stones they were passing by. He was impressed however, he had not felt the condensed earth elemental mana where Midnight had and pulled the crystal from. It meant to him that he had been cking on his grand elemental maniption and sensing. He needed to remain better focused on such things when he needed to.


    The three of them squeezed through the narrow trail just to find another statue of a smaller dragon. Thest one had been the same as the first but now this one was different. It had curvier characteristics and flowing horns. "Wee my brothers and sisters. May you fly higher than the sun to strike down those beneath you." Walker read out loud what was written beneath.


    "So this is a wind elemental dragon. I was going to guess from the shape of the horns and the extended body. But now it makes sense. I wonder who it was that they have a statue." it was odd that there were not any other details, Walker knew that they could learn more when they were at the royal dragon court. But until then they were left in the dark.


    "We have not seen a wind elemental dragon yet so we are already learning more than we did before. I think there will be dragon statute of all elemental dragons. We do know that the statues show off important figures in draconic history. If they have names or quotes we can remember them." Walker had already memorized this one and the previous. But he was sure that they would learn more and more. The statues seemed to be getting more frequent as well since he could already see a muchrger statue ahead.


    "This one has to be an earth elemental dragon." Su knew this from the jagged spines on the back and therger shape of the statue. But what showed off the true earth elemental affinity was the shovel like ws that could easily carve through the earth. Even more, the earth spirit came out of her earth dwelling shield to inspect the statue since it could feel the mana purity used to form the statue from earth whereas the other statues were not made in such a way.


    "Feel the ground move with your soul and be one with it." Su read the simple quote but knew that it had to be rted to the earth mana purity that the dragon must have reached. To get to a point that they would feel at one with the very ground beneath them would be more than arge aplishment. It would be the height of the royal dragon''s goals to purify their mana and affinity.


    "I feel like the earth dragons may be some of thergest we encounter now that I see this statue. It''s even crazier knowing that the statues are smaller than the real life dragons." It was a matter of respect when it came to the realization that the dragons wererger than what they saw now. Walker, Su, and Midnight did not have the ability to match them in size. They didn''t have much power to match them in general¡­yet. They still had time to grow and time to be more powerful.


    The sharp growl from Midnight was enough to get Su in front with her shields. The earth spirit moved back toward them ready for a fight. "There''s a steel armor armadillo. It seems like it''s already hiding in a ball though." Walker stopped Midnight from moving around to get ready and attack. The armadillo had sensed their mana and knew that it was not any match for dragons. It didn''t matter that the three might not have been strong enough to battle it. It just knew that it smelled dragons and the best chance for survival was to curl up and hope.


    "We can pass right by it then. No need to fight it if we don''t have to. I think it will also do well to keep anything following our scent from behind at bay." the fact that they had not had any monstere from behind was not forgotten. Su knew that many would pick up the foreign scent ande looking for them.


    "Let''s hurry past then." Walker moved forward with Su. Midnight held her eyes on the armadillo right before she was about to leave. She wanted to ensure that it didn''t get any wise ideas.


    Just as they left the area, the armored armadillo slowly uncurled and rushed in the opposite direction. It had learned at a young age that it should avoid dragons and anything simr. They were strong enough to crush its defenses without even trying. But even worse, some could swallow it whole and still be hungry afterward. This was how it survived and how it would live on for many years. Or at least how it would have.


    It came face to face with something not unlike it had just run from. But it was blinded by hate for what it smelled. The armadillo had just managed to get in the way of this monster''s hunt. What it had chased would not get away from it. It hated the scent of dragon and the roar it heard even more. It was fair to say, the armadillo did not survive for long.


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 Chapter 1188 - 1188. Creeping Up On

    Chapter 1188 ¨C 1188. Creeping Up On


    There were five more statues that they had passed while hiking up the mountains. The trail seemed to be less and less marked by animal prints the further they went. However, they could all feel the dragons nearby. It was a gathering of mana that seemed to be harder to control and manipte. It made sense that it was the pure mana that the royal dragons drew to themselves through their training.


    "We have to be getting closer now. It''s almost dark though." Su wanted to keep pushing but understood that there was a significant danger that came with that.


    "We are definitely a few hours away but I don''t want to be caught tired and in the dark. Thosest few rocks and hills were tough. It will be better to rest and clean up so we can look our best when we arrive. I can''t feel any change in light elemental mana too so I would guess that there is a royal still not there yet." Since Walker had realized he was not fully focused on the mana around he had kept himself in check with it. Now he was careful about the density of which mana was in the air.


    From the looks of Midnight, she was ready toy down and nap by the fire too. Walker could also tell that she was concerned that her scales would not be cleaned well enough to face the other dragons. It would be the first thing that he helped her with in the morning since he had brought the cloth to help her shine them to perfection. "Then we will be camping here. I will start to get a space cleared for the tent." Su took the job on to herself while Walker began to pull things out of his storage. Midnight had taken over the watch of the area so that the other two could work safely.


    Three was no underestimating that this ce was dangerous. They all knew that the area was teeming with monsters and they were only as safe as they had been because they scared some off with the roar from earlier. Furthermore, the scent of dragon was a major deterrence since the monsters did know the danger of dragons. It was verymon for a dragon toe through and defeat anything within its path because it was showing off the dominance of its race.


    Therefore, when Midnight saw an older looking mountain cat leaving quickly and quietly she did not overreact and call out to Walker and Su. it made sense that it would be running away. Plus, she didn''t feel like fighting at the moment. She was tired from climbing. As much as she had energy to eat and y around, she had been using her ws to dig in to the stone and keep a good grip while climbing some tough parts of the mountain.


    "Midnight, we aren''t starting a fire tonight. We are sticking with what we already have made." Since Walker wanted to be sure that they could rest through the night, he was not going to be starting a fire. The chances of attracting something with any food cooking were too high and they needed the rest to be ready to show off the next day. The dragons would expect the best.


    "Are you really polishing up the bracelets again?" Su wasn''t sure what Walker was so worried about. The wandering cksmith had already final polished the pure elemental dwelling circlets before they had received them.


    "I just want to be sure they are partially filled with mana and ready for them to see. I can''t say that I''m not a little worried that they will take us as nothing more than some small humans at first. I want this to be the first thing they see when they think of Genesis. High quality, perfect craftsmanship, and three representatives that know how to handle themselves." Walker had started to imagine the first interaction even though he didn''t know what would really be at the royal dragon court.


    "They are fine. Let''s just set up for the night. You already started to clean out nicer armor and clothes for tomorrow anyways." Su made sure to keep Walker bnced and out of his own head. She had really felt that he was going to get out of hand if she didn''t make sure she watched him. But he was also watching her and had managed to keep water around while they walked all day for whenever she or Midnight needed it. He had started to pay much more attention than usual. It was even better that she was seeing him use the all around appraisal skill more often.


    "Come on Midnight, it''s time to eat¡­" Walker called out for Midnight but found that she was not running toward them as much as possible. Instead'' he was greeted by the sight of brilliant golden me breath. "Move!"


    Walker shouted while he started to form a me bolt with the eternal orb staff from. Su pushed forward with the twin shields in hand ready to block. Midnight had been checking out the area around them and found that she was not alone. She also found that the mountain cat she had seen running away was on the ground in much worse shape than it had been. There was an enemy around and she needed to let Walker and Su know.


    As soon as she had found the defeated mountain cat she had zeroed in on the dark scaled shape moving through the darkness. It was not something she would have easily picked out without knowing something was around. Her warning couldn''te in the form of a roar or growl. She had to use her skills to her advantage and inhaled a deep breath. When she released the mes she was most used to because of her golden me heart, it signaled Walker and Su perfectly.


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 Chapter 1189 - 1189. Combinations

    Chapter 1189 ¨C 1189. Combinations


    Su''s twin shield mmed together and she began to gather light elemental mana around them. Her charge increased in speed while Walker shot a firebolt toward the dark shape that Midnight had shown them by using her golden mes.


    The attack that midnight had used didn''t seem to have done much damage. It did release a loud roar from the creature that had been stalking them, making all three worry. It had been very simr to a dragon''s roar but it had been twisted and seemed to be off inparison. The fire bolt that Walker had sent out was right on target. The crack of it hitting whatever was out there caused yet another distorted roar.


    While Su charged forward and managed to get in front of Midnight, Walker began creating light orbs. He threw them out to illuminate their fighting area. Midnight and Su became visible just as Su reached the enemy. But what was revealed was not something they wanted to see.


    Therge shape was that of a dragon without wings. They appeared to have been torn off and healed while the body was covered in scarred and dark scales. The teeth were brown instead of the normally pearly white that a dragon prided itself on. Instead of bnced horns, they were jagged and broken as if they had been constantly mmed in to something. Walker could tell that the scales had not been able to handle the magical attacks of golden me breath and Walker''s fire bolts.


    "It''s a rogue dragon! We need to avoid direct-" Su reached the rogue dragon and it barely pushed back against her force. Yet, it did roar again in pain because the light elemental mana had added some magical attack damage to her shields. Upon hearing Walker and realizing what it was, she backtracked as fast as possible. The twin shields were slung around her back and she pulled the earth dwelling shield forward. She knew that the earth fortress skill would be the best defense since it relied on the earth and magical attacks. She could also work with the earth spirit to change the form to a spiky fortress that would cause more damage when attacked.


    Midnight unleashed a vicious growl that used her dragon bloodline to its fullest. She knew that it would distract and enrage the rogue dragon that Walker had told her hated dragons and dragonkin. Her thoughts were to distract and then use her shadow wrapping skill to be invisible to the rogue dragon trying to cause them trouble.


    Walker aw this and moved himself closer to Su after tossing another light orb out. He knew that using the melee weapons he had was useless andmitted to using the magical skills he had. At the moment he was sure that Su would be preparing to use the earth fortress skill. "Use the skill and I will boost it with my maniption. We can male a huge spike to lure it in to."


    "Heard!" Sumunicated her recognition then rushed to channel her mana in to the earth dwelling shield to mix with the earth elemental mana that the high earth spirit was using to create the earth fortress. However, she made sure to send her will to the earth spirit and felt the response. They were in perfect sync as more earth elemental mana condensed around them because of Walker''s influence.


    ''The skillbination earth spear has been taken from the joint mage system. The user had learned this skill due to their high bond and attempt to create a skill with two other beings.


    Combination earth spear- 10 earth mana cost, 10 mana cost, 10 mana cost


    The three beings that share their mana must include one earth spirit. They will act as the central bond of this skill. The two other users provide their mana to boost the draw of earth elemental mana and manipte the shape. The earth spirit will change the form of one of their skill in rtion to their partner. This is a powerful earth elemental skill that can cause severe piercing damage to any target. The mobility is extremely poor making it best used for closebat surprises and traps. This skill must have three beings to use.''


    Walker didn''t even know that he, Su, and the high earth spirit were using abination skill. It was the moment of battle and they knew that they needed to work together to win. But this was why they had gained the skill. They had not thought to work alone. They had recognized the physical danger and put themselves together to defeat it. Their quick thinking to rely on each other was the key to their sess here.


    "Midnight, lure it here!" Midnight had been running around the rogue dragon angering it more and more. She could see the rage within its eyes and knew that the rogue dragon did not possess intelligence or a single ounce of understanding. It only knew that it wanted to destroy those that it hated and that it would throw itself at whatever it was no matter what.


    She revealed herself yet again and breathed out another breath of golden mes. She used the golden mes since her golden me heart allowed her to more easily breathe it at a faster speed. It was also harder for her to draw in the proper mana for the mes she wanted while in a high stress situation. This was something she needed to work on at ater time but that woulde.


    The attack caused the rogue dragon to turn toward her and see that she was no longer wrapped in shadows and trying to hide from it. The rage that it had howled out in a broken and high pitched roar before it charged head on. Midnight dropped the skeletal armor skill and jumped in to the air. She pped her wings to barely get above the rogue dragons as it moved forward too fast to stop itself.


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 Chapter 1190 - 1190. Midnights Claws

    Chapter 1190 ¨C 1190. Midnight¡¯s ws


    Midnight knew that she had done her job well while she watched the rogue dragon miss her by inches. This training she had been doing to fly showed its prowess now in battle making her feel that she was finally a true dragon. Who cared if she could not fly consistently. She could use her wings to maneuver above and down on her enemy without trouble.


    The moment that she breathed out another breath of me on to the back of the rogue dragon made it howl in pain while still moving forward at intense speeds. The problem with the power that it had was that it had forsaken all magical skills it could have had. This stopped it from controlling the earth or anything that could have slowed it when its body could not do so.


    "Now!" Walker and Su shouted in unison while the earth elemental spirit revealed itself above the earth dwelling shield. Aplicated mix of mana and aura of power spread between them. Not only could Su and Walker feel their hearts beating together, but they could feel the warmth from the high earth spirit. They had not realized how proud it was to be the stepping stones for those around it.


    The high earth spirit was by far the least talkative of all the spirits that Walker had encountered. Su had also managed to speak with it a little due to her spirit mark with it. But they mostlymunicated with their emotions and the feelings of mana. Now that they could get a clearer image, they knew that it had grown more than just attached to their party, and their family. It saw itself as one of them that could hold them up and ensure that the path they walked was stable. In this moment, they werepletely one.


    Earth beneath their feet shook and condensed until arge spear of solid stone sprouted from the ground. It was slow but that did not matter. The rogue dragon was moving too fast and had no reason within its mind. The force behind it propelled it head first on to the earth spear without even a flinch away.


    Su and Walker looked in front of them expecting the rogue dragon to fall. However, its rage was not so small enough to be taken down. It lost its mind and brain to the earth spear, but its eyes still glowed red with fury, the grudge that it had against all dragons and dragonkin for kicking it out of the nest when it hatched pulled it beyond what should have been normal.


    Large jagged ws reached out toward Walker who could only attempt to create another magic skill. He had used too much mana at once in tandem with Su and the earth spirit though, his body wasn''t as fast as it had been a second ago. This left him open to an attack that would have done significant damage to him. Would have done.


    Midnight fell from the sky above the rogue dragon and breathed fire in to her ws. A golden me remained on her sharp curved ws while she used them to shred in to the muscles of the rogue dragons'' back. She refused to allow any harm toe to her family. She refused to just watch. She felt the piecese in to ce while she had been training and implemented a skill she had only been shown in books. The me bound ws of a dragon were known to be a skill only those that trained themselves to the limit could obtain. Midnight had done this many times over in the forge while she used her fire to create items with the wandering cksmith. She had just never registered that she could do this.


    "Midnight! You used golden me ws!" Walker knew at a nce that Midnight had used this skill. It was written in the book he had shown her months ago so that she could get more ideas on how to train. He never thought he would witness it and felt his heart lighten in the fact that she had just used it to protect him and Su.


    After their attack, the earth spirit showed some fatigue and melted itself in to the spirit mark that Su carried. It would rest after using its full power at once with the others. "You did well. Rest as much as you need partner." Su whispered to it with her heart open. She was proud that it showed how it truly felt in that moment and could only hope that it knew the value she had for it as well.


    "This trogue dragon nearly hunted us. But it didn''t know the danger it would face against us." Walker stood next to the still growling Midnight. They looked at the many scars on the rogue dragon and knew that it had blindly thrown itself at many enemies. "This has to be why the dragons that leave viges are hated and eliminated. They could be vicious monsters like this. It didn''t even care that it had been pierced through its head."


    The three looked at the body in horror. For something to have so much rage was incredible. The pride a dragon had was part of their existence. To remove that meant to create an undying rage that was nearly impossible to quell. Midnight silently pledged to never allow herself to fall to this. She would continue to work and rise beyond.


    "We will show them what they failed to clean up. We need to change this aspect of dragon society. Imagine if this is just one of many left to fall. How can we let that happen to young hatchlings over and over?" The words that Su said were exactly what Walker and Midnight felt as well. The young hatchlings should not have such a fate before they even have a chance to grow.


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 Chapter 1191 - 1191. Problems With Dragons

    Chapter 1191 ¨C 1191. Problems With Dragons


    There were not many words to be said for the remainder of the night. The battle that had been won by the three was more than enough to deter many of the monsters around. Anything that even tried to get close would smell the mes and the dragon scent making them turn around in fear.


    What dwelled on everyone''s minds was the fact that the rogue dragons werepletely avoidable. It was still certain that a very very VERY small number of dragons may leave by themselves. It was obviously the case with the skeletal dragons and some darkness dragons. That was how Midnight had managed toe to be born. However, to be forced out as a hatchling and lose their minds to degrade in to a monster was worse. The dragons had gone too far in Walker and Su''s opinion.


    Midnight was even more affected by this. She could only think that she could have ended up that way if she had not been found by Walker and the party. There was a chance that those who had hunted her mother would not have found her and she would be left to be some insane monster without reason. The single possibility made her shiver. But it also made her blood boil.


    Through her growth and training, she had seen many people ept that didn''t seem to fit in to normal society. She had seen unique systems and those who had been abused. She had seen people rise up beyond their expectations and challenge ideals of their entire race. How could the dragons be so unepting? At the very least, she would make Genesis a ce where all the dragons cast out from the other viges coulde to make themselves at home. Who cared for purity when they could be happy and safe?


    Since Walker was the closest with Midnight, he could feel her turbulent emotions and knew why she was feeling the way she was. It was the same for him and he wanted to make sure that she rested well enough to show the other dragons what genesis was about. "Just go to sleep early. You don''t need to stay on watch tonight. I will handle it and n out how I will speak tomorrow. We will make a change." This seemed to be all Midnight needed to finally give in to her exhaustion after the battle. Her mind had been through a lot.


    When the sun broke the sky the tree cleaned up. Walker had stored the body of the rogue dragon in his storage but felt that it would be a rough material to use in anything. Since it had degraded, the scales were not the same as shed dragon scales. They were not tough enough for armor that could even rival what they already had. In the end, he felt that he would have to bring it to the guild and just let them use it for younger adventurers. But he also had the mind to make sure he respected the future the rogue dragon could have had by using every single part as well as it could be used. It would be an insult to any creature not to do so.


    "We should be just a little ways down from the royal dragon court. I can see the next statues there. If it was brighterst night we might have seen them then." The moon had not been too bright in the skyst night making it harder for them to see. Since they had traveled in a dangerous area, Walker had not used the light orb until the rogue dragon had attacked and released it right after the battle hadpleted.


    "Midnight, your scales look perfect and your wings are spotless. Stop looking around again and again." Su had made sure that they were all three ready for the walk up. She had caught Midnight obsessing over her scales for the fifth time and was ready to give her a scolding.


    "Don''t huff at her like that. She''s right. Your scales are shined to perfection. There''s not a single smudge on them. Do you really doubt my skills so much?" This seemed to do the trick and Midnight was focused back up again. She gave Walker a once over then Su as well. With a final head nod, from here they were ready to move up.


    The three statues that they found ahead of them were a light elemental dragon, darkness elemental dragon, and finally a dragon that appeared to be a fire dragon. But thest pedestal after those three was empty. Behind it was a steep rock face. "Is this the most recent? Is there no dragon to take the ce of this statue yet?" Su could only assume that this was the case for the statue. They had reached the most recent statue for the dragon race. They had not seen many because of the long lived species that dragons were.


    "Hm, are we meant to fly up this rock face or climb it?" Su wasn''t sure if she was up for climbing the rocks up to the top. It wasn''t that she didn''t think herself strong enough, it was the simple fact that he was not someone with the skills to climb rocks in such a way. Hiking the mountains was no issue, but climbing was another matter.


    "No, we can just head up my way. Midnight, get close." Walker manipted the earth below them and caused it to push them upwards on a pir. He knew it was a decent amount of mana for a simple reward but it was to show off his control of elemental mana. It would look impressive and he would be able to walk on to the court with his head up. However, the teau that he found was much different.


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 Chapter 1192 - 1192. Royal Dragon Court

    Chapter 1192 ¨C 1192. Royal Dragon Court


    Massive pirs of elemental crystals rose on the sides of the teau. They were carved and made with draconic shapes mirroring every single elemental mana. At the very back of the teau was arge building made of mixed crystal and marble polished to shine in the rising sun. Many dragonkin were resting on the outskirts of the building doing various tasks. Most cleaned the are or prepared foods.


    The moment that the three rose to the top, Walker saw them all freeze. They could feel the air of another dragon and were unsure how to react to the fact that they were not in fact dragons other than Midnight. Walker bit his tongue slightly knowing that he would need to act the part of a royal and that there should be a better reaction than just stopping their motions. However, he still wanted to be sure that the dragonkin would respect him and take his side for his ideals.


    Using his grand elemental maniption, Walker made all the elemental mana in the area chaotic. He made sure that the ground trembled and the wind whipped up. Even small sparks of me and ice crystals blew around. He wanted to ensure that his power was known. Meanwhile, Midnight took steps ahead with Su.


    Su had the lead as the guardian while Midnight was ever so slightly behind. She had her wings spread slightly out and her head held high. The slightly gold me breath that caught in her maw was more than enough to show her strength. Su didn''t have such powerful skills to show off just yet, but she was able to pull light to the twin shields in her hands and the earth spirit which had been resting helped her bring earth elemental mana around her in swirls of sand that Walker created.


    The three were more than just a presence now. They were a focus. The dragonkin found their mistakes and rushed to line up in front of therge marble and crystal building. Many different dragonkin with different affinities stood around them. Midnight growled slightly making sure they knew of her distaste for the slow greeting that every dragon should have. Yet, there were a few water affinity dragonkin that stood right by the entrance holding themselves taller than all the others. Walker stopped just before he walked in and nced at them. He could not greet them, but a nce was enough. They knew this and they bowed their heads slightly in confirmation.


    There was no solid door on therge marble and crystal building. The dragons needed to be able to move inside with ease therefore it had been made out of strings of gold. They hung down in extremely fine craftsmanship that Walker was sure had some sort of rune cravings, however small, on them.


    Their eyes easily adjusted to therge indoor space that was still too small to consist of the entire building. They were sure that there was more to be seen deeper within, but that was not where they found their focus. Thrones were in a ring shape around therge hall thaty before them.


    Each throne was made of a different element in some solid form. Fire was dancing within fire elemental crystals while there was also a throne of ice for water element. The light throne was a white crystal that Walker could only guess at. The darkness was simr but a ck shifting crystal that seemed as if it had no ce there. Dark polished iron made up the earth and the wind throne seemed to be made of shifting clouds.


    Not every throne had someone sitting on it though. The only one that was empty was the one made of white crystals emitting light elemental mana. The crystals were certainly not light elemental mana crystals but something else. Walker looked at the eyes of the dragonkin from dragons staring down at him. He knew that being looked down on was an insult and stepped in to the air to stand equal to their raised statures.


    The eternal orb started to shift in to the form of a throne. Walker had been thinking of this since they walked in and knew that it would be a major impact. The best part was that he was able to pull elemental mana from around him using the help of Fleur. She had hidden away within the eternal orb knowing Walker''s intentions; it was like a game to her and seemed to be very entertaining to shape the throne that he would sit on.


    There were many raised eyebrows to see that Walker had managed to pull every elemental mana and mix it together to make his own throne. They were also very interested in the fact that Walker had somehow changed his staff in to part of the throne. They sensed the natural mana and how it pulled at their own pure elemental manas.


    "I see you have made it safely. Wee to the court." Current was the only one to great Walker. In response, Walker could not help to smile.


    "We ran in to some interesting monsters on our journey. One of which we can speak aboutter. But I think it is better to catch up. I brought you something I think you will like." Walker knew that this was the way that Current wanted to establish the positive bonds he and Walker would have. It would cement him in to the royal dragon court more than Walker would be if he was just walking in blindly. It would also make the other royal dragons think twice about opposing what Walker might say and do.


    "You offer him a greeting and a gift but ignore the strongest here? How foolish of you human." The blunt worlds came from the dark iron thrown with a veryrge dragonkin upon it.


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 Chapter 1193 - 1193. Dragon Rivalry

    Chapter 1193 ¨C 1193. Dragon Rivalry


    "Jealousy does not look good on you in the least. If you had taken the time to visit the small city they are building you might be able to get a gift. It seems that the earth dragons are losing some of their pride." Current was happy to shoot a shot at the earth dragons. It was a small rivalry that they had since the water elemental dragons were known to cause trouble for the hard headed earth dragon that preferred the dry earth over the sky or rivers.


    "Children, I expect you to be pleasant to each other when I arrive. Ie from my seclusion to hear such rough words. We are meeting another. Be respectful." Thest of the dragons walked in. There were glistening horns of light elemental mana and scales that shined through the shadows from the darkness dragon. The female dragonkin figure showed a firm but brilliant smile while rising up on t her throne. She exuded an air of purity that was well beyond Current and the earth royal dragon. "Do not allow little Current and little Terron to cause you any trouble. While I, Rise, am here they will not cause you any trouble. Wee to the court."


    The other dragons seemed to shift slightly in their seats. Walker was sure this was because out of all of them, the light elemental mana was the purest of them. But it was not a harsh purity. The feeling was warm and healing. "I am d to meet you as well. I am Walker. This is my champion Midnight and her Guardian Su. I can see that you do not have your guardian or champion around. Could you please point mine in the proper direction? I hope that they are able to properly meet all that came." Walker was exceptionally kind to Rise. she seemed to be the reason that most held themselves back at the moment from any further antics. The dragons may seem held back but they were at odds with each other when it came to their elemental mana, therefore, pushing them to have prideful rivalries. Walker should have expected this.


    "Of course. They are on the side room being acquainted. I have to say, golden me heart is very rare. Little Midnight will make quick acquaintances. And the look in her guardian''s eyes is splendid. I dare say that she would smash anyone to pieces with those shields. Human or not, it is impressive." Su and Midnight both gave a slight nod before Walker gave them a look to let them leave. It was his turn to act strong while they made their own connections.


    "So, you two got those pearls together? Didn''t you Current? You are sneaky as always but I don''t think that will be enough to prove a thing here." The fire dragon was smoking a little more and the air seemed to rise in temperature. He detested sneaky ns to build rtionships outside of the dragon viges.


    "Ignus, do you really believe so little of us? We are family now you know." Current looked ready to go in to battle in a second since he felt his gift was being tossed aside.


    "If you are jealous then I can mend that. From what I understand, this is a meeting to understand one another and bring viges together. Isn''t that why the two of you are rted? And as the youngest member of this court, I think it best that Ie showing what MY city of Genesis is capable of." Walker looked at the royal dragons who all focused on him. The shadows shifted for a moment before stabilizing and revealing a dark scaled dragonkin form.


    "You call yourself royal. You made yourself a throne. Yet I did not say you were¡­" The darkness dragon began to speak but fell silent seeing the darkness dwelling circlet. "How interesting. I can sense those runes from here. They are old and new. Wee." It was simple as that to win over the darkness elemental royal dragon. He seemed easily convinced after seeing such a quality item as a wee from Walker. "I am Mordant. I will see that vige of yours in the next few years if itsts." This was not a threat, just a rtion to how long dragons lived.


    "I have one for every elemental mana here. They are not just simple circlets. As you all may know, the elemental spirits y a major role in some societies. By bringing the dwarves, elves, and humans together, we have managed to reach the true spirit crafting arts and also better rune studies. If you are able to find a spirit that can partner with you they can dwell within these bracelets and assist in purifying elemental mana." The silence in the room was louder than Walker felt it had been when he was peaking. The blood pounded in his ears even though he held himself calm.


    "Purify my mana faster? You mean that the skies will know faster speeds and stranger winds? I can flow with the currents even better? I like you. You have my vote if you can hand that treasure to me. But your small vige can not stay the way it is. You will need to change it to follow the proper rules of this court."


    "Ventus, are you going to force your control on to them and try to take this away?" Current felt that the wind elemental royal dragon was making a move.


    "No. None of you will have control over the people of Genesis. No one has control over them. They are all equal. Do not make me show you the power of the mana I wield." Walker knew well he shouldn''t be on the same strength level as the royal dragons. But when Fleur reacted to Walker''s serious words, the natural mana pulled the royal dragon''s pure mana from them. This alone was enough for them all to re at Walker and pressure to fall on him.


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 Chapter 1194 - 1194. Standing Up

    Chapter 1194 ¨C 1194. Standing Up


    "Do not interfere with my mana. If we wished to crush you then-"


    "You will not erase me and do not even believe you have a chance. You once had a dragon capable of manipting natural mana and it has been quite a long time since then. Without one the dragons are weaker. You should have a true dragon champion among your champions but you do not. Look at me, human! Yet I have the skills to bond with a nature spurt, manipte natural mana, bond with a true dragon champion and share the bloodline between my champion and guardian. If you dare look down on myself or my family I will ensure a new royal takes your ce."


    There was a cold violent mana within Walker''s words. He red at every single royal dragon. He had not raised his voice by much but Fleur had changed her slight aloof expression to one twisted in anger. She may have been young in this world but she understood enough. The one she had bonded with felt threatened. The one that had built a ce just for her and let her experience more than just mana needed her to show her strength.


    "This child is just like Ignus as a hatchling. Domineering and defensive of their family. Come and see me after you are acquainted with your fellow royals. I wish to hear about you and how you stand here today." The rumbling deep voice shook the entire building causing every single royal dragon to contract their mana. Even Fleur pulled back which made Walker know that it was no small matter to be spoken to from what seemed to be nowhere.


    Walker knew that this was a big deal. Just looking at the royal dragon''s forced calm faces made him understand. " The eldest keeper has not spoken in many years. I can not say if it is a blessing for them to ce their gaze upon you." Rise spoke slowly and carefully knowing that this keeper was watching and listening from elsewhere.


    "There can''t be anyparison to my mes and his." Ignus seemed a little thrown off hisparison but knew better than to refute it outright. The keeper had known Ignus for the entropy of his life and even those before Ignus.


    "I would like to see that circlet. I still find it interesting." Mordant willed shadows to reach up and grasp the box holding the circlet. He felt it was fine to let Walker''s threats roll off since no one was actually nning to make a move. "My dragonkin have talent but theyck runes of this fusion. Ancient and new. I do have a dark spirit with me. I have met many and bonded with one over my seclusion."


    The circlet appeared to fit perfectly as Mordent examined it. The spirit he spoke of rose from his shadows and prodded the circlet. After some examination, it melted in to itfortably causing Fleur to move from Walker and check as well.


    Every single royal focused on Fleur. Nature spirits were exceedingly rare no matter where someone went. "Appreciate you checking my seclusion partner. I can tell they arefortable." Mordant spoke with warmth making Fleur nod in approval before she floated back to Walker.


    "And does his gift work?" Terron spoke much more calmly than before. He had genuine curiosity now that the keeper had spoken. To him, that meant that the person in front of them had more than just a little credibility.


    "Yes. The mana flow is exceptional. I would rmend any who opposed our new fellow royal shows some repentance. They may still get one of these and have the chance to see more in the years toe." Mordant took the chance to hold it above the others since he rarely had the chance to do so in the court.


    " I hope that you can share on with me. I can promise to share with you some times about light elemental mana. I have a feeling you may need them." Rise reached out and light condensed in to a small book that moved in the air toward Walker.


    "I had them specially made for each of you. How could I refuse to give them? Knowledge is incredibly valuable however, I hope you would allow me to wee some of your dragonkin one day. They may find Genesis interesting."


    "He does not lie. One of my elders sent a group of dragonkin to his vige. They returned with brilliant new insights derived from multiple sources. One also assisted their city in exterminating a rather annoying demon. That''s a tale for another day. I would like to investigate these circlets as well." Current had lost patience and found the perfect time to interject in the conversation.


    The box got Current was caught by a tendril of water controlled by Current. "This does seem rather good. My cksmiths could learn a thing or two."


    "Well, a crafting guild has been formed in Genesis. Skills and knowledge are shared freely. It''s the same with the alchemy guild, adventurers guild, tamers guild, and some academies attached to them. A very good ce for every race toe together and grow." Walker was sure to make this clear while he looked at the royals yet to take these circlets.


    "Fine. I shall properly test this fire dwelling circlet. If it does not store my mana and melts I will not send a soul to see your small vige." Ignus held his head high and stepped down from his throne. He preferred to be right in front of Walker when this circlet would melt under his heat.


    While the circlet was ced on and the fire elemental mana increased, Walker smirked. "What do you think? My champion used her mes to help forge it. Can it resist your mes?"


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 Chapter 1195 - 1195. Support

    Chapter 1195 ¨C 1195. Support


    A sh of understanding went through Ignus''s eyes. He had heard of dragons using their mes in the forging process. He knew that the quality would skyrocket. But using the golden mes from a true dragon champion with a golden me heart was unheard of. He was trying to melt something forged within golden mes? He couldn''t evenprehend how that would be possible.


    However, he did not back off. It was not in a fire dragon''s nature to back off until he had used everything he had. Naturally, this meant increasing the natural fire mana around him and forcing it toward the circlet. What stunned Walker was the fact that Ignus had such amazing control over the fire elemental mana that none of the heat was felt around him. There was the feeling of moving mana but it did not influence the surroundings. Only someone who had trained constantly would have this level of control.


    "All talk. That circlet must be made specially for the fire element. Forget the addition of golden mes. I will show that my earth elemental mana can bend it to pieces." Terron was next. He moved to grab the circlet while Walker smiled even more.


    "If you think you can bend something made by the best cksmith in Genesis and hailed by the dwarves even though he is human, then so be it. It''s not like my champion used her earth elemental breath to help strengthen that either. And forget the unique forging method using earth elemental spirits, Oh wait, that''s the true spirit forging technique I am offering to teach all of you when you ept Genesis and an alliance with us." Terron seemed annoyed to hear that Walker was making such demands, but Walker could see Current''s face twist in to a smile. He was impressed that Walker so easily threw around arrogance and his ns.


    Yet again, Walker witnessed amazing control of elemental mana. Terron caused the earth beneath their feet to crumble and meld around him. The pristine marble floors cracked as it moored by the newly ced circlet didn''t even crack. It seemed to bend with the earth elemental mana and stay firmly around Terron''s arm. Meanwhile, Ignus had silently moved back to his throne without a word. He did look at Mordant with a look of longing. It seemed he was jealous that Mordant had a spirit as a p[artner already to help purify mana.


    Seeing that everyone was more than convinced he held out the remaining boxes which were snapped up by the remaining royal dragons. "Now, what was this abouting to your vige and sharing knowledge? My dragonkin tend to live on the highest mountain closest to the light of the sun. It is a very far journey for them. I can only spare a few to protect my crafters. They specially make healing items. You know how light elemental mana is." This was a slight test by Rise. She knew that mist would forget the battle potential of light elemental mana and had managed to prove the other royals wrong in this respect.


    "I happen to know an exceptional songstress and abyssal serpent who seem to do just fin in using it forbat. But if your dragonkin are unable to make the journey, maybe I can send some representatives. They should be able to climb your mountains without trouble. The dwarves may even tunnel up from underground given a few years." Walker knew that it was some form of test because he could not expect a royal to be so misguided with their own elemental mana.


    "Terron, I swear if you don''t fix that floor I will melt you." Ignus started arguing with Terron at that moment distracting Rise, but Walker could tell he had imed a small victory.


    "This alliance you want. Or have? Why should we bother with it? I can juste and im the crafting knowledge that you have. What other benefits would there be?" Ventus spoke up, drawing all attention back to Walker.


    "Knowledge between the races. A chance to change things from the constant boredom I''m sure you face through long lived lives in seclusion. The fact that your dragonkin live shorter lives and could be more powerful. The fact that we are currently removing corruption from the demon race to free their oppressed people. The fact that we have looked in to the past and mixed it with the present to make a better future. The fact that there are multiple title holders alreadymitted to Genesis. And to add on, a ruler uniting the elves yet again. It is a city that will change the world. This continent is just the start of uniting everything."


    His words were not exaggerated or blown out of proportion. Walker spoke calmly and listed off some of the things that came to mind first. He could not seem to think of anything that could not be achieved by Genesis. The potential he believed it had was dwarfed by the potential it truly had. There were really no words that could actually share what Genesis really was and would be.


    "In the name of pure water, Current supports the birth of a new royal dragon and their vige of natural mana. May Genesis rise to stand among us under the high history. May natural mana return to the court and the elemental mana fuse yet again." Current didn''t break eye contact with Walker. He had seen and spoken with those sent to Genesis. He had made an informed decision and already epted that the world was changing. He would go with the flow of water and be part of it.


    "In the name of pure light, Rise will support¡­


    "In the name of pure darkness, Mordant will support¡­


    "In the name of pure air, Ventus will support¡­


    "In the name of pure fire, Ignus will allow the keeper to decide."


    "In the name of pure earth, Terron will allow the keeper to rule upon this."


    Only two seemed to resist Walker but they allowed the keeper to name the final decision. Walker could only look behind at therge door that led toward the origin of the voice he had heard prior.


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 Chapter 1196 - 1196. No Resistance

    Chapter 1196 ¨C 1196. No Resistance


    "Ha! A human as a guardian? How weak can this royal be? They are a human too, right? How could they resist mes from my lord?" Midnight and Su didn''t even see the point in remembering the names of these dragonkin or champions. They hadughed the moment they walked in.


    "You see that? she doesn''t even have a dragonkin form? That''s pathetic. Just a hatchling pretending to be something they are not." The dragonkin with arge ax sneered at Midnight. They were the guardian to a napping dragon champion who seemed to cause the ground to rumble slightly with every breath. Said dragon was the only one not looking down on them but it seemed to make Midnight a little angrier since it was no attention at all.


    "Look, it appears that she is going to try and breathe fire. A little thing like you is much too young for elemental breathing-" The wind dragon champion was instantly silenced upon seeing the golden mes. They knew well the meaning behind them. They also felt the other elemental mana stirring within the room proving that Midnight had more than just fire elemental mana at her fingertips.


    "Midnight does not need your approval or even your acknowledgment. We both will be more than any of you hope to be. If you dare to approach her or myself, I will ensure your pain is stronger than your mind can take." The only familiar face was that of the champion beneath Current. Su wanted to say that she could clearly remember his name but at the moment she was too distracted in her act of intimidation. The force that she gave off was not some small deterrence that the others expected of a human.


    The next growl that Midnight let out was one that was followed by small golden sparks. She was not going to let anyone stare down Su. The reaction of those around here was not anything as arrogant as before. "Golden me heart. How have you been born with such a feature? You were not even brought from a vige¡­or were you stolen by humans?"


    "You would say that my family was kidnapped?" The earth elemental spirit reacted to Su''s anger and her words seemed steeped with earth elemental mana. This woke up the sleeping earth dragon champion.


    ''So you are the ones from that new vige. My lord didn''t believe that a human would actually be involved. He normally does not drag my old bones from my nest, but this was different. He was right." The earth dragon champion was obviously the eldest. It seemed that he had not been through the same experiences as the other. "You seem confused but me. I am a rare case. I have a very special skill of the earth dragons called shedding. It came from some experiment with earth elemental mana and purity some years ago. With it, I was able to shed my skills and skin to be born again in a way. I pledged to my Lord making me the only champion of two earth elemental royal dragon Lords. You may ask me for advice when you need it."


    "Midnight and I will look forward to your guidance when we need it. It''s nice to see that someone has some sense. I thought that dragons would be more respectable like you. Unfortunately, I find that to be false as of yet."The older earth dragon champion justughed.


    "You shouldn''t allow them to get to you. They are young still. You two may be a little ahead of your positions but you will grow in to them the same as everyone here will or has. Now, we all know these two. Do not lie that your lord did not research them and their home. Let''s get to it. We have our own way of speaking." The words seemed to stop any intention of arrogance and throwing weight astound. As the oldest member, the earth dragon champion seemed to take the lead in power and wisdom. If Walker could see this he would believe this to greatly surpass the royal on the throne.


    "We may not have the same amount of weight to throw around as our lord''s do. But our lord''s rarely act. You have the support of the water viges. That is admirable. It also means you will get the support of air, and potentially light. That leaves Darkness to their whims and then fire and my lord who will resist. Why should we convince our lords?" The earth elemental dragon champion had woken up ande out hitting. But Su was not perturbed.


    "Because our city of Genesis and its bonding of different races can not only make the dragons better, it can fix a fundamental problem of the dragon that eats away at their great image. We can offer a home to the dragons kicked out by the, so called pride, of the dragons. A rogue dragon can have the potential to never exist in this case. Every race is wee in Genesis as an equal. Seeing the reactions here it appears that your dragonkin warriors already know of the risk thates with rogue dragons hunting dragonkin out of rage. Would you like to lose your dragonkin guardian to one? We had to fight one on our trip up here."


    In that single speech, Su had not only managed to end any push back from the dragonkin, but also made a massive impact on the dragon champions. When Midnight stood up and hid behind Su they weren''t sure what further was happening. But they felt the fluctuations of mana and saw Su covering Midnight behind the twin shields. When Midnight stepped out in dragonkin form they were shocked. "Alos, we might be a little further ahead than you believe, for the young as you would say." Midnight and Su knew they had won.


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 Chapter 1197 - 1197. Statements

    Chapter 1197 ¨C 1197. Statements


    "I should have guessed you two would leave it up to the keeper. You are both always too stubborn." Current seemed to have expected this result from Ignus and Terron. He was sending re after re their way.


    "It is never inappropriate to leave something up to the wisest among us. I just look to him for the informed choice." Ignus was acting high and mighty while Terron was pretending not to have heard Current at all.


    "Leave them be. The keeper always chooses the proper decision. I for one look forward to the return of natural mana. It has been some time since we have done anything as a race. Now, what else does this Genesis stand for?" Rise had taken an interest in this. She liked things to be pure and the idea that Genesis was already fighting against corruption when it came to the demon race was enough to catch her.


    "Should we focus on Genesis first? Or should we focus on this?" Walker waved a hand and the body of the rogue dragon fell to the ground before them. The looks of stunned horror and disgust upon the dragon''s faces was all too real. "Do you not like seeing those that are cast out from your viges? Can you not ept that this is a form of dragon too? An avoidable monster that could have found a home elsewhere and built up the pride of the dragon name even with their downfalls in purity? You don''t realize it but I can tell this dragon had earth and water affinity. It was mixed but was that really a reason to kick it from the nest as a hatchling? You did nothing to breed hatred and create a monster."


    Looking at them, Walker knew the royal dragons were both angry and hurt by the words he threw at them. But he was not going to let up. He had yet to make his point. "This is an avoidable corruption and evil that every vigemits. There are some like the parents of my champion that leave the viges. Skeletal dragons, some darkness dragons, and even some death rted dragons abandoned their viges for their own reasons. They maintain their sanity though, don''t they? But these rogue dragons are tossed out without any guidance and lose themselves to rage and madness. They are victims that should not exist. So I will offer a solution that I assure you my champion and guardian are already discussing." There was a pause as all of them watched Walker return the rogue dragon body to his storage.


    "Send them to genesis. They will have homes and a chance to grow. They can be part of the races who see all as equal. They will still bring esteem to the dragon name and will not foster hatred. They can be more than just a monster." In thest few words, Walker made the move toward the back hall where the door to the keeper was. He held a hand out to his eternal orb which changed shape and returned to his hand as a staff. He was not going to humor any arguments and knew it better for the royals to speak to themselves about this instead of arguing with him. He was done with them for now.


    "I told you that he would fit right in. He doesn''t even have a single fear to throw something in our faces. It''s a lot like a me making dragon we all watched grow up." Current was older than Ignus and found it more and more fun to make that known since it irritated Ignus.


    "I see it as a good way to solve that growing problem. We have had to deal with many rogue dragons around our mountain-"


    "We know that is because you kick out too many. Yes, you need pure light elemental mana for the best healing and the best condensation of light. But you are too strict with it. Your rogue dragons spill in to other mountains and other dragon''s territory causing too many problems. I rarely kick from my viges and that human finally said something worth listening to." Terron was as he said, one dragon that kicked hatchlings from his viges the least. The earth dragons did not have the same belief in purity due to the fact that they saw how the earth metal veins melded together. They were more epting of mixed dragons within their viges.


    "Oh. if only he could hear you now. That human that we so readily just epted, other than you two, has a good point. I have the issue that Rise does and feel that a change in the wind stream would do us good. If you remember, our founder had simr ideals. We may have strayed too far in past years¡­" Ventus recalled the history and offered it up as a reason to support Walker''s change. She also did not want to be in the position of ignorance, she too caused this problem and would not pretend a solution was not possible.


    "That is fine. I can send the welps to this Genesis. But if any of you think I will wee a human in to our court without the keeper''s blessing then you are blind. It should not even be up to us in the first ce." Ignus looked out and saw that Rise was slightly cowering. She was the most pure but caused the majority of this problem.


    "Hmm, we will change. Just like the shadows through the day. I like this change. I feel like I have watched the world tick by for too long. Let''s take ahold of the future for once instead of watching it on high." Mordant clinched the subject so that they could begin discussing the change properly. Genesis would have a few new residentse the next few weeks.


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 Chapter 1198 - 1198. The Keeper

    Chapter 1198 ¨C 1198. The Keeper


    "Ha! Child, I have not seen those little ones sweat like that in some time. They even made little Rise cower from the res of others. I think you will fit right in. Not that your human blood will be weed just yet. In some time though you will be more dragon like. Your blinds will allow that without the proper birth. I can see it clearly with these old eyes." The voice that came out of the darkness was one that Walker knew as the Keeper. It shook his soul but seemed calm nheless.


    " Oh, you cannot see me just yet. Allow me to fix that." Therge room turned out to be circr as the light seemed to glow up from the ground. A veryrge egg shaped crystal illuminated the room. What stood out the most was therge skeletal remains of a dragon. "Do not be so surprised. It is only natural for me to be in such a state. I gave up my body to take on the form you see now. My soul may live within these bones but my mind is everywhere upon this peak."


    The bones wererger than any other dragon than Walker had ever seen. He was sure that they must have made a very powerful dragon once upon a time. "Ha! I am just messing with your child." The bones rustled and light fell away revealing the translucent skin that wrapped them. "I am a water and light affinity dragon. I broke the purity to be a keeper of the egg. The very history of dragons and their people. I am an illusion dragon, little one, I am one of a kind."


    "I- Uh¡­I"


    "Just wait, you can hear and learn first before you wonder what is what. Keepers are those old enough to be entrusted with the task of guarding the court. I have lived much longer than any dragon in existence and it is all due to my bond with The dragon''s egg here. When we refer to a dragons egg it means an egg but when we refer to The dragon''s egg, it is our history written in crystal. This magic is only possible when an illusion dragon creates it. I am literally the living history. If I perish we must hope that another can take hold of this egg within a few years or we will lose our lessons." The dragon took on a blue hue showing off the wrinkled old features of a dragon who has seen many years beyond their natural race''s age. "Do you understand little one?"


    The mischievous nature of this illusion dragon appeared toe from the fact that it was often alone. But even more, it lightened the mood showing that it had wisdom to rx and calm those around it before speaking of important subjects. "I understand. It is a history one would not wish to lose."


    "Exactly right. Now, it was formed from a shard of the sky which fell many years ago. We have some rumors and mysteries in which we refer to that urrence but they are for another time. Right now it seems you have convinced the children out there to give your small vige a chance to raise the dragons they deem worthless. If you manage that then you would be seen as a great dragon who turned weakness in to power. It is the very same as the first world dragon who was viewed as trash because hecked purity in one elemental mana. I hope you rise to that challenge."


    Walker''s head was swimming. He was learning so much and was being spoken to as if he were a child who was just learning the basics. But even more, he was watching the crystal egg disy images of battles and elemental dragons showing their prowess. Some even used multiple elemental manas.


    "I can see you wandering. Some dragons are tossed out while others are kept. It is simple. Those that are kept serve a purpose. Take the steam dragon that united the batting viges of Ignus and Current. Their elders were in a bitter feud when a fire and water dragon fought for weeks. They were young yet never ceased. By the time they stopped the two had found a rivalry that blossomed in to more. Now they were going to leave their vige and be nothing to the dragon name. Instead, they were used as a way to stop the fighting and deal with other issues. It is a very rare urrence."


    "So it justes down to whether the society needs them. I want to change that. The dragon society should find a ce to need them every time instead of casting them-"


    "I know where youe from, and that is why I will be supporting you. Ick the weight to throw around like I did when I was a water dragon. I gave up that purity for this. I have a unique role that influences every royal. Just as you will. You know that a natural dragon is not something nailed down to one ce. You can travel between the viges without issue. I ask you one thing, unite them again. I hate that they argue and I can see what the dragons once were. Yes, we are more pure now, but we do less. We are not as powerful as we were when we used to fight against¡­ah, too early for that. I can tell you of those times when you are stronger. If you manage to free the demons maybe you will be given the right to meet those dragons once fought against."Walker wasn''t sure what to say but he felt a harsh breeze push him back and out the door. Before he knew it he was back in the center of the hall with the other royal dragons. He had more questions than answers.


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 Chapter 1199 - 1199. Will Become

    Chapter 1199 ¨C 1199. Will Be


    "It looks like you met the keeper in all his glory." Current spoke first. Walker was clearly a little confused and was not up to starting another conversation immediately.


    "From this day on, This little one is recognized as the new nature dragon of the royal dragon court. Genesis shall be inducted in to the flow of viges. Wee your new brother and youngest sibling. The future shall show its merit." The voice of the keeper rang out and the room was silent. Bit Walker was still getting out of his own head with everything that he wanted to ask.


    "And that is why I leave it up to the keeper. I assure you that he was able to make an informed decision well beyond what I would have. That is why he has ess to the history." Ignus made his case again but Walker was not looking at him. Instead, he was focused on Terron. The words about Terron being the most epting stuck with him.


    "I hope that the first to visit Genesis would be the earth dragons and their dragonkin. I feel they will find a bond that they already have there." Walker spoke honestly. He knew that Terron was stubborn but would need to ept him because of the keeper. It also made sense that if Terron was already so epting that after Walker got to know him, then there would be a strong bond.


    "Is that right? You want me, the one that nearly denied you a seat to journey off my mountain first? Is this a challenge?" The ground rumbled and the space that Tarron had damaged before shook slightly. It was the earth elemental mana already stirred up reacting to him.


    "Not a challenge, but you can watch some and have your dragonkin participate. Genesis is attracting new talent and challenging many sections of its people. Alchemy, battle, magic, and a few others. In theing months, there will be manypetitions. You are all wee toe and watch. I expect you will all have your favorites though."


    "Alchemy? You have enough knowledge to hold alchemypetitions¡­you did say something about an alchemy guild. I can bear witness to such a thing. My dragonkin are very interested in that as a healing medium with their light alchemy techniques." Rise felt that she could bring her dragonkin to show off and teach while they also learned to true spirit forge.


    "I will have one of my party members who founded the alchemy guild prepare for you. They are a unique system holder who is also a title holder. She is very passionate and will not be afraid to beat down anyone that harms her herbs or family. That is a small warning." Walker smirked knowing that dragon or not, Remey would punch them if they messed anything up. But he also wanted to make sure Rise knew she was on thin ice with him since he found out about the rogue dragonsing from her viges were in high numberspared to the others.


    "Not many people would throw a punch at a dragon. How interesting. I spoke with Current and he said that she developed some form of affinity potion? Is this true? If it is then I will alsoe for this alchemypetition. I may dabble in alchemy when I have free time." Ventus cut of Rise before Rise could respond. She smirked seeing that she had gotten one over on the light elemental dragon for once.


    "Then I will prepare for you as well. If any other takers decided toe, you can witness the colosseum that the demi-humans will be so proud of. Or explore the mage tower which came from ancient ruins in the desert. There are many ancient runes being discovered and used. It could advance your rune knowledge greatly." Walker felt as if he was dangling bait in front of a fish to attract them. It felt a little dirty but very fun.


    "So that is how the runes havee to be. Imagine the incorporation of more draconic runes. I will dly help you understand those runes. My dragonkin are very in tune with ancient ruins. My vige can be considered on." Mordant spoke up and dly volunteered. He wanted these runes more than anything because he already noticed how good they werepared to what his vige already had.


    "Then please join the effort. Many are working very hard to do just that. Now, we might as well get back to more important topics. The rogue dragon problem that all of you cause and can not solve due to your pride. Or should I say, the downfall of the dragon name? That sounds about right since that is what''s happening when you allow offspring to fall from grace and be monsters without a mind." Walker had found that using the good and splitting it with the bad was more than enough to keep the royal dragons on their feet. He made it unexpected and put them on the spot. Something that no other often did but themselves to each other.


    "You are toote on that matter! It was decided while you met the keeper. The welps will be sent to you and you will prove the arrogant words you spoke. We will also send the unwanted dragonkin who have no ce in our viges." Ignus spoke as if it was all beyond Walker''s control, however, it was exactly as the keeper and Walker had thought it would be.


    "Then that is exactly as it shall be. I will wee them personally and ensure that they have more than enough space to live beyond what any of you believe them to be able to achieve. And when they break the mold of what you believe them to be, I will show them what they almost became topare to what they will be." There was arrogance in Walker''s words now. He knew that these hatchlings and dragonkin would go well beyond what was expected.


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 Chapter 1200 - 1200. Wyverns

    Chapter 1200 ¨C 1200. Wyverns


    "Well, before you and Ignus begin a battle of arrogant mes, let us move on to other matters." Current saw that Ignus''s anger had been triggered by Walker''s words. He didn''t want them to fight right there in the court since it had happened before. But Terron did appear very amused every time that Walker pushed against Ignus. "The viges have been small and expanding for some time. We need to go to new peaks but we can not do so with those wyverns moving in from across the waters. Ideas?"


    "Ugh, they are disgusting. They have a drop of dragon blood and believe themselves to be more than a dragon. Mindless monsters of murder and violence. They try and fly in to the air flow and disrupt it constantly." Ventus had personally dealt with a few wyverns that went after her territory in the air. They had interrupted her seclusion which is considered the greatest insult to a dragon.


    "These wyverns, you said they areing from across the oceans? Why not investigate the source and then move ahead with a n? I''m sure that some wind elemental or light elemental dragons are ideal for scouting out the causes." Walker had reformed the eternal orb throne form and sat upon it with a smug grin. He knew that he had thrown around some weight and that the keeper was backing him. Now he would be better able to put the other royals in check when it came to Genesis. But that didn''t mean he would be able to best understand and help with their real problems. He was just a small part of this meeting. The royal dragon court met for a multitude of reasons.


    "That is a matter in action as we speak. The wyverns apparently came from a dragon that went exploring many years ago. Instead of returning here they put down roots in the foreign mountains and bred with lesser beings creating wyverns and leaving themselves to rot in those mountains." That was all Terron seemed to know but it disgusted him. To think that a dragon would give birth to an entire species of monster that tried to take over territory without need was horrific.


    "If they were the parent to an entire species of monster then they did not do too well as that parent if their offspring were not taught well enough to speak and understand others like the dragons they came from. It sounds simr to the rogue dragon issue but much worse since they do not have a direct cause." This was Walker just thinking out loud but it was all too true.


    "They are indeed their own monsters now. We have seen the monsters gain their races recently. The goblins and grey haired spiders. They were interesting. For a moment I believed that the wyverns may have such a potential. But that was foolish of me before I went to meet one that came in to my territory." Mordant shook his head. His ck scales glistened through the shadows as he mourned the dragonkin lost to the wyvern when it invaded.The memory of many dragonkin fighting a monster that wasn''t even intimidated by the dragons that looked upon it. Instead, the wyvern had fought with all its anger against them to attempt to steal away thend.


    "It may be a good idea to prepare the viges with something that can defend them from the air. The cities have catapults and other such weapons on the walls. We may even have some that we can make that use the runes from the mage tower. The forest elves are very good at creating elemental arrows." Walker knew that the potential for aerial attack would be something the dragonkin worried about. Having better defense might put them at ease.


    "We have such defenses at my vige and the branch viges. But we do not have the elemental arrows from forest elves. If they are powerful we would be interested. I have not brought the young dragons to the dwarves for a trade in some time. They need their armors tuned. I can arrange some trades if the arrows are up to my quality. Ballista arrows that is." Terron seemed to be putting aside his stubbornness so that he could focus on his people. It was something that Walker would not overlook.


    "I can promise they will be better than you expect. My party member, Gil, is an arcane marksman. He will personally oversee the creation of the ballista arrows for you. We will set up a range of elemental varieties for you to choose from. Being able to defend your vige by any meansis exactly what I would expect of a proper royal dragon." The slightpliment was it missed by the others. Terron would use this against them as a show of how he had developed a respect with the new connection. Even if he did not readily agree to the changes that Walker wanted to make. But there were many years to work on those.


    "Isn''t the arcane marksman system specific to elves? You have an elf in your party as well?" Ignus lived near the fire elves and knew them to be wary of any other races. Even the dragons and elves did not interact, not that it was a surprise.


    "No, he is human. But he is very close with the elves and is currently standing next to the queen of the elves. And I mean the queen of the elves. The one that will unite the elves again. So far the forest elves and the water elves have already reunited. The rock elves and fire elves wille in time." It was just big announcement after announcement. The dragons were not sure how Walker and those he knew were able to influence the world so much so fast. They felt that they had begun to miss too much in their seclusion.


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 Chapter 1201 - 1201. Even Shock The Dragons!?

    Chapter 1201 ¨C 1201. Even Shock The Dragons!?


    "Let me understand this, you have united the elves partially in your vige, assisted two monsters to be races, bonded multiple other races, returned ancient runes to study, and created a forging method that has been long wed? What else is there?" Rise had finally broken character after everything. She had been called out by the other dragons and now was looking at Walker who was iming so much in the name of Genesis.


    "I guess you could say I have been very busy. If it helps, I also have the title of young sage. It really helps me bond with Fleur more. I think it will be a very big part of my life the older I get." Walker knew this to be true. He would focus more and more on natural mana the further he went in his studies of it. The more powerful that fleur got the more he would have to understand and learn. "Also, Genesis isn''t a vige. It is a city. A ce everyone cane together as one. A vige would be small and a city isrge. It is a ce with limitless potential." Walker had to make sure that they started giving Genesis the right respect. He wanted them to see the future that he saw every time he thought of Genesis.


    The royal drains looked at Walker before epting that they could send scouts across the ocean without any further talk of it. Current knew that he had the best dragons due to their affinity but Ventus would also send some in the heist air flow to try and see what the cause of this was/ Walker also knew that he would be hearing of this again some day. It just wasn''t pressing at the moment since things in the dragon society moved slowlypared to other races.


    "Do we even need to speak about the fact that another volcano erupted and poured in to the earth territory?"It was a long understood fact that Ignus and Terron would equally rule over such ces since the volcano would cause more earth as it cooled but before that happened it would be a pce of pure fire elemental mana which was perfect for the hatchlings of fire dragons to grow.


    "No, you can have the volcano. I know you have a vige that is too cool for the next clutch of hatchlings. They would get nothing but my elder is ready to raise three." Seeing them so readily agree convinced Walker that they really did care of the young to a degree. But the fact that it was based on them growing in pure elemental mana was where the rogue dragon problem would begin.


    "I wouldn''t mind speaking about the movements of the skeletal dragons. The three that have partnered up in the demonnds. They are too close to my vige and seem to be at peace with the demons. That means war with others." Mordant had watched from the shadows for some time to find this out. He was very unhappy to see any skeletal, rogue, or darkness dragon that had left the viges to join up with others. It was illogical and could only breed a negative oue.


    "Walker held a hand for a pause, "Midnight,e here. Leave Su to finish speaking to the others." Midnight felt that Walker needed her and moved out of where the other champions and guardians were. Su could vaguely hear Walker and let it be. When Midnight entered, every royal focused on her. They didn''t know why Walker would call her.


    "Midnight had a mother that was a darkness dragon. It was a little more specific than that but the main elemental affinity was darkness. Her father was a skeletal dragon. If there are skeletal dragons joining together then there is the potential of finding her father. I would like for her to have the chance to meet that father.Worst case we are forced to right their wrong. Best case, we separate them."


    Midnight had never really thought of meeting or even searching for her father. It was not that important. She had seen how Remey grew up just fine finding her own family in the orphanage. Now Midnight had the party. But the thought hit her differently when Walker said there was a chance. It was one that made her heart stir with both interest and rage. She might need to take down the very father she meets for abandoning her and her mother. But would she be able to do so? Would she be powerful enough?


    "Capture the skeletal dragons? That could be arranged. We do have many unanswered questions about how the skeletal dragonse to be. They are not rogue yet they have less sanity and an affinity for a particr kind of darkness and other elemental mana. The fact that they are so close to death in mind and body at times is strange. It was once thought that they may be able to use natural mana. But we have no such proof."


    The theory that Mordant outlined could rte to the cycle of life but the very end of it. Midnight and Walker would need to research and try to understand all natural mana better before they could make such a conclusion. "If it is possible to trap them, then yes. We would like to. You see, the demonnds are a ce that Genesis will need to go some day. Not right away, but we have business with corruption there." Walker knew that killing two birds with one stone was good. But bringing dragons to help free the demons was even better. There were still sin title holders that would need to be dealt with.


    "Hmm, I will watch from my viges and gather information. Come when you are ready to enter the demonnds and we will speak of ns." Mordant did not deny this and seemed that he would wee this. Walker felt that it was partially because of the darkness dwelling circlet around his arm.


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 Chapter 1202 - 1202. Flying Free...Lazy?

    Chapter 1202 ¨C 1202. Flying Free¡­Lazy?


    "Now, about the mana crystals that were supposed toe to my territory¡­Ventus! Where are they?" Rise had an ongoing problem with the wind dragons leaving the crystals in ces that were nowhere near where they needed to be.


    "My dragons should be able to fly freely in the air without burden. If they carry so many crystals so far it will affect their growth. As a proper royal I need to support them." It was just the excuse to bezy that anyone would expect and even Walker was ready to shake his head in disappointment.


    "That is uneptable. You know that I am raising the next head of the generation. They need the light elemental crystal I should receive aspensation for allowing you uninterrupted flight through my vige''s air." The wind dragons were the ones to fly wherever the air elemental mana was strongest. If that took them above other dragon''s territory then they were expected to pay a fair price aspensation to avoid troubles.


    "And why don''t the dragonkin deliver these to the viges?" Ignus thought that the two were being strange. They were fighting about something that should not be an issue. His dragonkin were more than capable to work and deliver traded crystals to Terron, so why couldn''t theirs?


    "Ehm, well there are certain dangers that my dragonkin and her dragonkin struggle with. I would prefer not to lose forty to fifty with a single delivery."Rise looked away knowing that she was about to get put in her ce once again.


    "She means rogue dragons. They have a scent for dragonkin. Light may be my opposite in most ways, but I am very d you are my opposite in kicking out dragons from the nest." Mordant shook his head while melting slightly back in to the shadows to avoid the vicious re from Rise.


    "Then that settles that. We need to deal with those in your territory because you have isted your viges. Ventus also needs to remain on task instead of flying freely. This has been a problem in the past with my trade of crystals to you." Current had needed to have tough words with Ventus before that led them to fight for a few days. Now that he had seen Ventus cking again he was ready to show her just how much older and more powerful he was again.


    "I will speak to my dragons but I will not tell them to go against the airflow. That is an absolute rule. If the worst happens then they will deliverter than nned." With Ventus, it seemed this was the best they could do. Catching the flow of the wind in a jar was near impossible. Therefore, everyone epted it as it was.


    "My elders have more things to do. They must prepare themselves for the longest day of the year. The sun will be highest and we will get the purest light-"


    "And we know that is in months! So this will be something dealt with now while we have the court together. I put it to a vote. Clear out the territory of the light elemental viges so that they may resume proper movement through their territory and meet trade agreements." Current was done arguing. He had lost some merit in Rise''s eyes but that was nothing when it came to the problem that Walker had pped them with entirely.


    Every royal raised a hand then started to rattle off numbers to help. Eventually, the eyes fell on Walker and Midnight who were watching carefully. "I will send the vice guild master of the adventurer''s guild. He is better off working alone and has certain strengths. If you would like to see the strength of a human, he will be it." There was curiosity within everyone''s eyes since they did to believe a single human capable of defeating a rogue dragon. They had chalked up Walker''s victory to the fact that he, Midnight, and Su were all rted to dragons.


    "I agree. That should be fine." Current had spoken with the dragonkin who had met Barry. They had spoken as if he was more powerful than most dragonkin and could potentially rival an elder. Such praise was held back by the dragonkin as not to insult their elders and royals, but Barry was one of the most powerful in the human kingdoms, and having him represent them would help show off another reason for the royals to back Genesis. Walker didn''t hesitate to send a notification to ra to see if it could be done.


    "Just send me the map to the location for him. He will leave as soon as possible. I promise you will see strength you do not expect." It felt like Walker was taking the dragons out to the world for the first time. He had not fully grasped just how isted the dragons lived when they were in seclusion. They had missed many races grow and many things happen in the world.


    "If I remember I heard that Current went to the oceans to deal with those annoying demonic krakens? Are they still an issue?" Ventus had been waiting to ask about this. The oceans were nearly as vast as the sky so she enjoyed flying over them. She had seen many ocean monsters but none that resembled krakens.


    "It was an easy to solve problem. We could use to further follow up but that can be done by you and Rise. you travel over the oceans and will spot thergest of them if they escaped. However, they were still young." Current immediately roped Rise and Ventus in to this since they would all need to deal with the rogue dragon and trade issues. It was a sneaky way to get a little revenge for the problems caused.


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 Chapter 1203 - 1203. Elders?

    Chapter 1203 ¨C 1203. Elders?


    "That sounds like a good n. I can check the underwater rivers thate through my caves. I can sense if there are any monsters that should not be there. I remember the stories from when they one made it in to the caves and my great grandfather needed to hunt them in every corner of underwater areas. Even some isted undergroundkes had those eggs in them." Terron knew the danger that the invasive monsters could have to all areas of the world and had the story drilled in to his mind.


    "I have no stake in this. My volcanoes have no water and even the springs have dried uptely. Not that they would be able to survive in such environments. The toxic fumes alone would cause them to melt." It was a rare fact that the fore dragons had exceptionally high poison resistance. They lived in the hot environments that caused many poisons to be let out through the air. It is only natural for them to grow a resistance through the generations.


    "Good, then we can ensure that they do note back. If anyone finds them then I may reevaluate the trade agreements we have." Current had a set number of crystals for each possible trade. It was only fair based on the side of the viges and the areas where they live. But since there was better work for better reward, he left this there before moving on.


    "I believe the demi-human aquatic forces are still searching the rivers along with the merfolk searching the beaches. The tamers were harshly reprimanded and have been adjusted to properly search anything between. I can have the water elves thoroughly check thekes even though we already know that the kraken spawn did not make it there. It''s better to be safe than sorry." It was just part of safety to check these things still. Genesis would be responsible for watching these areas for years toe just in case a single egg was missed.


    "I would expect nothing less. I will send a few dragonkin from my main vige to assist in the search when they visit to learn from your crafters." Current used it to further show that he had the most rtion with Genesis. It didn''t bode well for the others that now saw that there was more value in Genesis than they had realized.


    "Any other matters that demand direct conversation?" Terron was sure that there would not be much else other than speaking about smallws and changes he didn''t want to prolong the court since he wanted to work on his own viges.


    "I am curious about the elders that may fall under our new royal. From what I see, there is no one to take such positions." Mordant said this out of genuine concern. He had been impressed with the circlet along with the fact that his darkness spirit friend could also use it. As the only dragon that had bonded with a spirit over the years, he felt a connection to Walker in this.


    "I have none. There are many representatives on the council that lead Genesis. Each have their own power and will. I believe that Scy, a general front of the demi-human race can easily take the role of one. She has some ancient blood of The Scy. Then there are a few others such as the vice guild master of the adventurer''s guild, my party members, and potentially the future elf queen. I am sure that others will arise as time goes on but like I said earlier, Genesis is a ce of equals." It was a proud statement but not what Mordant or the others wanted to hear.


    "You may have representatives. But it is tradition to have elders that have dragon blood. There was once a dragonkin that was not a guardian. He rose above all others and rivaled the other elders by purifying their own body and blood. It was an impossible thing that brought pride to all dragons. They are the only outlier that is seen as an elder dragon without being a dragon and even they were close. You are, of course, an outlier with your guardian. But there must be a dragon elder that falls under you. It cannot be your champion." Rise ensured that Walker knew how strict this tradition was. It didn''t seem to be something that was forced because it was just the way it was. It seemed as if it was important to the way the dragons lived and woulde with a great deal of respect.


    "Then I will have Midnight select one of each elemental mana or elemental mana variation from the dragons you force out. Midnight will teach them whether I say it or not. Does that sound good?" There was not a look to the royals, but to Midnight. She had been silent and careful to listen. She was not going to step out when she did not need to. She also wanted to endure that whenever these royals looked upon her they saw the perfection that she was as a true dragon champion.


    Hearing what Walker said, Midnight raised her head and huffed. The small gold me she let out for show was enough to cause some of the mana in the room to shift. She had been controlling herself greatly and in the moment she did not so that they took focus on her intentions. She would not push aside any to be her younger siblings and would take pride in that. She could have been nothing if she had not been found by Walker and the others. Now she would shown them that those they did not value would be more important than any other in the world of the dragons. She was sure she would be able to do this.


    "That will take some time but it is enough. I have no issue with that and expect results beyond what you say." Rise seemed unhappy but epted it nheless.


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 Chapter 1204 - 1204. Temptation

    Chapter 1204 ¨C 1204. Temptation


    "I assume that thest we have to do is prepare the bonding feast we are required to partake in." Ignus seemed excited by this whereas Ventus appeared bored. It sounded like a chore to her than anything.


    "The new addition to us most likely does not know of this. Every time the royal court assembles we will send out our champions to hunt one monster as food. It is apetition that shows strength and theing together of elemental mana. Now that we have a natural mana representation it will be even more grand." Current was the only one that took the time to share this with Walker. But he did see how it might havee to be. Since they once had nature dragons as members of the royal court, it would make sense that that nature dragon would want the other royals toe together in some way. And From what Walker knew of dragons, they had an appetite.


    "If I send Midnight out she may not stop hunting for some time, however, I can see how this could be good for all of you. You are opposing elemental mana users who need to see how the manaes together. I will dly participate. It would be nice to step down from the affairs of viges and sit for a meal." The way Walker phrased it made sure that he was separating responsibility and position to offset it with rxation and bonding. He believed that food was the best way for anyone to bind. He also wanted to take what the past nature dragons must have used as a root for bonding instead of fighting.


    "Then it''s settled. The guardian will remain, the champions will leave to hunt. I remember that the mountain has be quite popted in thest few decades. Your champion may take one of the spatial treasures handed down to use. They reside in the royal court and are made by those who have passed on for such traditions." Ignus enjoyed sharing the existence of the spatial treasures. They were something amazing to him and for Walker to disagree would be a lie.


    Spatial items and treasures were rare. Even rarer than Walker''s storage skill. But somehow one of the ancient ancestors of the dragons had managed to procure enough for this tradition. It was mind boggling. "Midnight, do your best and show off a little. I know you have wanted to let loose a little." Walker wasn''t sure that Midnight would hunt alone and did worry for her safety. But he knew that she would not fight beyond her limit and take care. He trusted that she would do her best and avoid therger dangers. If she could not take down arge monster, then she would outdo the other champions in numbers. It was just who Midnight was.


    With Walker''s approval, she shot out the door as if there was nothing more than hunting on her mind. One of the dragonkin outside barely managed to hand off a spatial magic gem on a long chain as she went by. If they had not been so calm and caring for the job they were given then she would have been out hunting without any worry.


    "You seem very confident in that hatchling." Since Ventus did not know what Midnight was capable of in her dragon and dragonkin form, she was in the dark. Therefore, her question was one that everyone wanted the answer to.


    "Well, do you want to hear the story of how we met and what kind of training we have done? Midnight has been through a lot with my party and as far as I am concerned is my own sister. It''s not just the fact that we bonded through a blood contract. It''s much more. I even think that without the contract we would be in the same ce as we are now." Walker didn''t mind sharing the story with the royals. They would find a way to hear it all in the end since they were interested and would be sending dragonkin to Genesis.


    Meanwhile¡­.


    "Finally, they are off hunting. We can all rx and wait for them to return. Then we can stand behind our lords while the feast begins." The light elemental guardian was the most excited for this time. They had held themselves at attention constantly and this was the only break they would have until they journeyed home.


    "Before that, a final moment for the lost guardian of the water dragons. We do it ever since they were lost and it''s out of respect. If any of us were lost we would do the same." Su did not disagree with the fore guardian. She bowed her head for a moment looking toward an empty chair set aside for the water guardian.


    "So, that old champion already said that we needed to respect you and that you were the same as us, but do you really think that''s true?" The darkness guardian looked at Su. he had a more open mind like the lord he served but he also wanted to test the waters of the new addition.


    "I can stand on my own two feet. Unlike all of you, I am slowly mastering multiple elemental defensive skills, I have an earth spirit partner to help me protect what I care for, and Genesis will rise well above the dragons one day. The united races we have there contain an endless potential. It''s a matter of time. Something I now have because of my bond to my champion." None was a lie, but her quick and smooth response made the other guardians raise their eyebrows.


    "It''s not like I will ever see this ce. My lord and champion never leave the volcanoes. It''s the same with you two right? If you can''t be near the sun or flying in the flow then you won''t go there." The three guardians hung their heads. They knew they wouldck the choices to travel due to responsibilities. It was a burden that they epted upon themselves and readily lived up to. It had been their choice to take this role and they cared immensely for it.


    "Hmm. I could go where I want. I don''t see why you could not organize a time toe to Genesis and have a meeting where all the guardians meet and train together. I think it might actually be better for us." Su widened their eyes yet again. Never had such a thing been done due to the fact that they had the tradition of meeting during the royal court.


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 Chapter 1205 - 1205. Talking It Up

    Chapter 1205 ¨C 1205. Talking It Up


    Since Su had brought the potential for another meeting up the other guardians wondered if it would be possible. They wanted to be able to do something like that and train differently. They also wanted to see a ce that they had heard about when others had re[ported to their lords. It would be foolish if their lords had not done some investigations in to the new royal before the court assembled.


    "Genesis even has arge training area for mages. It should be ideal for everyone to let loose a little and show off their skills. I am sure that there are things that can be taught as well as learned. Not to mention the foods thate from every races'' territories. There are an endlessbination. By the time I return I fully expect there to be a change in trends." Su genuinely looked forward to it. But she wanted to make sure that these dragonkin were even more tempted toe to Genesis. She knew that Walker would convince the royals in some way to visit or send those beneath them, this was her part.


    "And your armor and shields, they were made there? By different cksmiths? The runes, they are frothere or others?" This was another thing that Su was waiting to bait them with. She knew that the runes that the wandering cksmith had altered and added to her twin shields along with the earth dwelling shield made them much better.


    "Yes, we have multiple cksmiths with high skills. We also have one known as the wandering cksmith. He is a man of few words but even the dwarves bow to his skills. He is the one that made these. Believe it or not, my twin shields are not of the best materials. They were technically lower materials, some of which were my champion''s shed scales. But he was able to make them in to this. Now the pair has been modified a few times and the true spirit crafting technique used to create the earth dwelling shield." She saw the curiosity revolving around the true spirit crafting technique and felt that she had more than changed their perspective of her and Genesis.


    "The true spirit crafting technique uses the mana of an elemental spirit to create an item that they can dwell and live within. They can gather mana faster within them, rest safely, and even more¡­." Su let the earth spirit rumble the marble floor and cause it to crack. "Activate skills. This one has an earth fortress skill that my partner can use to protect me and those around me. But I am learning from it to manipte the skill myself. I was lucky to find such a kind and protecting partner." The earth spirit left the shield and ruined Su''s prideful act but rubbing its face against her cheek. It was very happy to be praised and shown off as a powerful partner.


    "Ehm, and of course, the others in Genesis had begun to bond with spirits. I am surprised that the dragon society does not involve them more often since they have the unique ability to attract and purify mana." This had been on Walker''s mind as well but he had already made his way through this thinking while speaking in the other room. Now Su was about to reach the same page in her area.


    "From what we know, the elemental spirits do exist around us but hide or avoid us. Our lords purify their own mana without need for others help."


    "Your lord of mes is not the same as others. My lord of darkness has made a bond with a darkness spirit and they work side by side. There are many dark spirits within the shadows watching calmly. If one desires to show itself around me I would be d to learn from it. They are made of pure mana and could teach me great things." The guardian of the darkness champion was proud of his lord and did not fail to show it.


    "I used to have a darkness spirit that was around and liked to hide in my shadow but it decided to bond with Walker and form with others in to the nature spirit, Fleur. You could also meet the wind spirit with my party member Gil. She is a little free when ites to her actions but it''s what wind spirits do." Su made sure to add in the other spirits within Genesis. It was a great temptation for them to be able to potentially find partners and dwelling weapons while there.


    "I believe that we will be heading to Genesis even without the desire to go. If this is what the lords are hearing and are convinced¡­well. My lord may not readily agree untilter." The earth guardian had broken his tough defenses and given in. He was now epting everything that Su was saying and ready to see just what Genesis was all about.


    "You would all be wee there. We are a ce that wees all equally. But you would need to walk among the other races without issues. There are no grand parades or wees. Just equals learning and growing." The other guardians actually became more excited by this. They had always been outssed due to their positionspared to the other dragonkin. This would be a change they had never felt in their lives.


    While Su continued to weave the stories of Genesis, Midnight had made her way out of the royal court building and past all of the dragonkin. She had found her way to arge mountain teau with some dense foliage resistant to the wind. The area was rugged and tough for nts to grow but they still managed to find a way.


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 Chapter 1206 - 1206. Prime Hunting

    Chapter 1206 ¨C 1206. Prime Hunting


    Midnight sniffed the air to try and find anything interesting. Her goal was to find something that would require skill and challenge to hunt. She wanted to show all of them the sheer power that she had since she believed she was radically underestimated. She also had the feeling that the other champions would be showing off by getting thergest prey possible. But the problem with that was that it wouldn''t be bnced.


    In her time with Hilda, Midnight had learned more than she let on. She didn''t always eat only meat. She had learned the value of wild vegetables. Between, Walker, Hilda, and Remey, she could recognize many. She knew what would go well with what and how it would cook. This made her dart for the area with all the vegetation. It also meant that she might find smaller animals or monsters better for stewing and roasting. Therge monsters that would get captured by the other champions would take longer to cook and not be as soft. She had her refined tastes!


    The addition to the spatial treasure lent by the dragons for this event to show off each other''s champions was just a bonus. It meant that she would be able to get many things to bring back instead of relying on Walker like usual. It also showed that the champions were trusted with something so valuable.


    A soft breeze moved through therge teau she found herself on and a scent caught her attention. It was one that she found familiar but a little different. To her, it smelled like the horned rabbits. However, from what Midnight had learned from Gil and Walker, the horned rabbits lived in fields, not in mountains. It was off so the best procedure was for her to find cover and sneak.


    The shadows wrapped around her skeletal armor which she had been dead set on keeping until she left the royal dragon court. Midnight had trained so well that she could keep it running for much longer than originally. Not only was this aligned with the goal that Walker had, which was for her to be safe during long travels, but also for the fact that she was alone and could be safer when scouting. Of course, this was a slightly different situation.


    The bushes around the teau had sharper leaves and Midnight could feel them pulling against her scales. She saw that a few of the bushes were covered in a white and blue speckled berry. They smelled sour and had too much coloration. From what she had learned from Remey, they were most likely poisonous. However, that did not mean they were useless. Remey had mentioned that some poisonous things were very valuable when used in medicines so Midnight was still sure to use her ws to sever a branch or two to give to Walker. She knew she could make Remey proud when she gave a gift from a mountain area that most would never be able to travel.


    Pushing further in to the bushes, Midnight heard the movement of wind. It was simr to smaller animals pping wings which made her even more excited. She barely managed to hold herself back as she crept forward towards the sounds. The scent of horned rabbits was stronger but now there was a very fragrant difference. Instead of mud, there was a scent of herbs mixed with it which matched the bushes around the area.


    Small white shapes very simr to the horned rabbits flew in the air on white furry wings. They had three small yellow horns at the top of their heads with sky blue eyes. If anyone else had seen this they would believe they had found some amazingly cute monster hiding away at the top of the mountains, but Midnight saw the perfect and plentiful ingredient for a roasted flying rabbit dinner.


    As cute as these rabbits were, Midnight could tell they were secretly vicious. The flight they had was exceedingly agile and the change from hopping to flying was by no means, slow.The horns were also made to be able to pierce things which made Midnight sure that they were also venomous just like the horned rabbits in the fields. The addition of two more made it much more likely that the poison would make it in to the target. Even further, these rabbits didn''t seem to have teeth for eating vegetation. Their teeth were sharp and needle like. They were predators who werefortable being out in the open air.


    While circling them, Midnight noticed that the slight breeze caused the flying horned rabbits to alter their positions. To be able to fly they must have been very light making them even better for an ingredient but easier to predict. In just moments she was able to discern where they wouldnd next. Once reaching the nearest bush, Midnight lowered herself in to a pouncing position. Fire built in her chest while the breeze started to push the flying rabbits down to the ground again.


    The moment theynded and had not adjusted themselves perfectly, Midnight leaped out from the bush. A ze of red mes hit four of them that justnded while some mes wrapped around her ws. In a matter of seconds, Midnight had shed two more with her front ws. She turned to the left and pushed off again toward another three. They had no time to react to the surprise attack and fell to Midnight.


    The next two that she targeted had finally begun to run away but were still not fast enough. The remainder had flown away in fear of the dragon that came after their lives. They were the predators of this teau and had not faced something like this before. Instead of battling it out, they had run. Midnight was victorious in her rare catch for the feast, yet, this was not all she would gather.


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 Chapter 1207 - 1207. Strange Monster

    Chapter 1207 ¨C 1207. Strange Monster


    With her prey safely stored away in the spatial treasure she had been given temporarily, Midnight moved on toward the center of therge teau. She could see that there were a few thick trunked trees. Their leaves were thin and sharp making them able to withstand the winds of the mountains. But they had very tough and rugged bark which seemed to be tougher than sandpaper. Midnight wondered for a second if these trees were tougher than some metals because when she tested one with her ws it made a slight scrape instead of actually cutting in to it. Naturally, she cut off some branches after wrapping her ws in mes to help her cut in to them.


    The skill to wrap her ws in her elemental breath was a very surprising addition to her repertoire. She had trained for some time and when it clicked and began to work, Midnight felt that she had been missing a brilliant part of her skills. She had used her ws to fight multiple times, shredding through tough opponents or items. Now she was better at doing so and would be able to cut through tougher things. It would give her an edge against monsters with high defense.


    The tree branches she cut seemed like they would be ideal for Gil''s arrows. She knew that having a tough base for the arrow would lead to having a better arrow overall. It was a lesson she had learned while sitting by the fire taking watch with Gil. he had idly mumbled about creating arrows and what he looked for. It was not expected that Midnight was listening but she had been.


    The scent of other things caught her attention in the next mountain breeze that passed by. The side of the teau was a cliff. Normally monsters would avoid them unless they could fly, luckily, Midnight had the wings to keep her safe as she probed the edge to find strange white vine blending in to the icicles melting on the side. These vines were still growing through the ice the same as a normal vines would grow through the soil. In addition, a white fruit hung from each the size of a normal man''s fist. They had a very sweet and floral scent that Midnight could rte to other fruits she had eaten before. If Su had been here she would have imed them for herself because Midnight knew that she and Su both had a target for sweet desserts.


    The fruits could be added to what would be made and Midnight did not hesitate to grab the tops of the vines with her mouth and hoist them up. They were much heavier than they appeared and when she split one fruit open it burst in to a soft mush of juice filled polyps. It was simr to an orange fruit she had seen from the demi-human farms. With the additional ingredients in storage, Midnight pushed the vines back in to ce and turned her head to the grasses around the bushes.


    It was clear that everything that grew around here was not simple. She had been finding the tough nts and unusual monsters in the area perfectly evolved to live at the tops of the mountains. With what she had learned from her party members she knew many ways to use them and how to handle them. The grasses stood out, not because of the difference to the normal grasses around, but because of the bluish tips they had. She remembered Hilda mentioning that some grasses with colored tips were actually the tops ofrge root vegetables or very strong herbs. Therefore, Midnight dug around the clips to find a solid white and brown striped root very close to a turnip.


    In a matter of an hour, Midnight had harvested fifty of them. Her ws easily pulled them from the semi-frozen ground. Even more, Midnight had managed to snag a few more flying horned rabbits that were pushed by the breeze. It was impressive how well they blended in to the clouds in the sky but could not control their own flight well. They had strong abilities but were at the mercy of the wind. But when she found that some had previously attacked something beforeing in to her possession, Midnight made a move toward the direction from which they had blown.


    Her silent scouting revealed an unexpected sight. On the ground, arge white scaled monster wasying paralyzed. It seemed that it would easily blend in to the clouds as well and even had wings hanging from its back. Yet, what stunned Midnight was the fact that it seemed more simr to pictures of monsters that lived within the swamnds that Walker had shown her. The long tail and four legs lead up to a pinched snout with sharp teeth. It was the same as a giant swamp alligator but it was smaller and had wings with a white coloration! It was a flying alligator!


    Even more, Midnight could make out a few more seemingly swimming in the sky and flying. They were being attacked by the flying horned rabbits by being head butted repeatedly. The one that had fallen prey to them had be paralyzed and was being eaten away. The others were fending off the flying horned rabbits. What Midnight saw was the perfect chance for her to jump in and take them all while they were distracted. They would never see hering. She would be foolish to give up this chance regardless of how oundish the situation. She could just have Walker use his all around appraisal skill when she returned. She had the herbs and fruits and gifts for her family which was a bonus even though it had been a distraction. What mattered now was she had the numbers to feed the entire royal dragon court.


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 Chapter 1208 - 1208. Champions Haul

    Chapter 1208 ¨C 1208. Champion¡¯s Haul


    "Ignus, I see that your champion has brought back a fairlyrge steel hide rhinoceros. Tell me, did they hunt that today or while you traveled here? I doubt it''s warm enough for it to be in this area just yet." Ventus was surprisinglypetitive with the way that the champions performed. She had begun to judge every single catch as they returned.


    "Says the one that had their champion bring back a cloud serpent. Ha! You and I both know that those live within giant thunderstorms and are bred by your viges for exactly these times." It was the wrong move to push Ignus, he would refute whatever he could with whatever method. The fires he produced matched his attitude.


    "Please, I at least had my champion go beneath this mountain to the ravine with Terron''s champion to work together. We may not join hands often but the twin hundred year old mudfish they brought back were caught in pristine condition." Current had not shown at all that he had allied with Terron. But when both their champions came back to show off the dark muddy fish monsters the size of a small home, they had smiled widely.


    The hundred year old mudfish were monsters that could swim through the muddy earth the same as in water. They were very hard to catch and even harder to beat due to the slipper mucus they produced. They were basically escape artists. However, with the water and the earth champions working in tandem, they had managed to join them and take the pair of fish down easily. They were even the first to have returned.


    "I rmend youy your eyes on something actually freshly hunted. My champion has returned with arge nt like monster. Walker had needed his all around appraisal to figure out that it was a dormant monstrous pitcher nt. It would use sweet poison to attract prey to fall inside of it then close up so that it could dissolve them and pull nutrients out of them. It was a very hard monster to fight in the hotter seasons but during the colder seasons, it went dormant and condensed nutrients. It became the ideal food.


    "And my champion has brought back a slew of shadow jellyfish. I''m very proud of them. They have been working on their shadow thread creation and finally managed to build a to catch them. You know the shadow jellyfish are very hard to pull from shadows and ideal to melt down in to soups and stocks. It''s too bad that they are so rare. Luckily, they travel in groups of a hundred." The jellyfish that Mordant pointed out were small and hard to differentiate from shadows. Yet, Walker could indeed see them when he focused his senses.


    "Midnight should be along any second now. I think she will have a nice variety. I just hope that she did not overdo it." Walker spoke out loud while thinking and was no sooner finished saying it than Midnight had walked in to the room prancing along happily. She looked at Walker and he could tell that she wanted him toe down and take a look. Of course he obliged.


    His eyes widened as he looked at everything. He knew that she had gone out to hunt but did not expect the vegetables and other items. He quickly began pulling things from the spatial treasure while storing away the extras. He could feel Midnight''s intentions when he would pull them out. The number of flying horned rabbits increased to over sixty of them. Most were not even defeated by her and had been partially crushed by other things.


    When Walker found the flying cloud alligators, he was stunned. These were the other things that had crushed the flying horned rabbits. They were a mystery to him since they had not been something he had seen before. When he used his all around appraisal he was shocked to see what it said.


    ''Flying cloud alligator


    This is a very elusive and often peaceful monster. They will eat once a month and blend in with the clouds. They are often attacked byrge groups of flying horned rabbits in an attempt to defeat the weaker of the species for food. They have a very unique desire to fly which over thousands of years caused them to change their affinity by force to wind and water instead of water and earth like their distant rtives, the giant swamp alligators. They are extremely tough until cooked, then their meat releases very high light elemental mana that bes trapped in their scaly skin. Their wings are ideal for crafting tough but light armor.''


    "You managed to get seven of these? Very good!" Walker was impressed. He could tell that some had been paralyzed and then sneak attacked by Midnight with her me wrapped ws. On top of that, he also pulled the fruits, the strange turnips, and some of the grasses that Midnight had gathered. He knew that she had gotten everything for a roast which was one of her favorite things.


    "Just get a fire going for me, a big one. I am going to cook up something amazing. Also, go get Su, I will need her help." Walker rolled up his sleeves to the shock of the royal dragons.


    "You are nning to cook? Why?" Rise was the most shocked out of all of them.


    "Can you not cook your own meals? Wait, can any of you cook? Ignus at least has to be able to with his control of mes. It would only make sense." Walker wasn''t trying to insult them but he was genuinely confused and shocked as well. They were royal dragons but should have some basic skills.


    "It''s just as you said, with the control of mes I shall cook. Let me show all of you my skills. I can control the fires for you. Just take note of a longer lived ancient dragon who will guide you, our youngest member." Not wanting to be seen as weak, Ignus jumped in with a hottie attitude. Walker was slightly worried but knew seeing Ignus control mes would actually be very enlightening.


    "Then we will cook. If anyone else can help join in. Eating is great for bonding but making something together is going to add to the taste. My mother taught me that when I could barely walk across a kitchen." The atmosphere of the entire royal dragon court was flipped on its head in that instant.


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 Chapter 1209 - 1209. A New Era

    Chapter 1209 ¨C 1209. A New Era


    What the champions and their guardians saw in the next few minutes was enough to throw their entire world view out the window. Su for one, had expected such things from Walker. But the others? They were lost. Not only were their lords shouting at them to help cut and butcher monsters, but they were also watching and helping with the cooking process. It was just too much. A few of the champions were wobbly kneed and glued to the spot.


    "Su, can you help prepare the vegetables and that nt monster over there? Current has the perfect skills to make it clean and poison free. Ask the earth and darkness champions to start making cuts in the tougher monsters. We need to get rid of toxins in their bodies so that we can eat them." Walker was exactly like Hilda. He had lived and grown up under her rule in the kitchen. Now, he was in charge and did not hesitate to take the lead role.


    The lost dragons and their underlings were shocked over and over as this progressed. It was foreign territory to them. The dragon that would normally just cook all of this over fires outside were also lost for words. They found that they were instead following Walker''s orders to create fires that Ignus and His champion were manipting with precision to cook different things at different speeds. Not only this but spices were being thrown out of Walker''s storage as if he had an entire kitchen stored away.


    "I thought you said you cleared out your storage before we left?" It was Su who had the courage to give Walker a judging whisper.


    "Well, I kept the basics, camping stuff, important cooking materials, the cksmith items and supplies for repairs, and a few other things we need." Walker didn''t want to show off everything he had but in realization, it was not actually a lotpared to all the extra things he had before this journey.


    "Did any of you doubt my control of mes? Stand and speak now!" Ignus found that he was even better than he expected at this. Each fire moved exactly to his desire and he was incredibly amused to see what Walker was doing at each. Especially when he saw the others being ordered to work in tandem.


    When Current looked up to rebuttal he also saw the odd way that they were working together. His water was flowing here and there to be boiled in a small soup, or to be used to steam parts of the nt monster. He just chuckled a little and wondered if this was how life would be now. He had not remembered a single time that they had met in these halls that violent arguments were not thrown around and the feast fallen apart. If he had to say it, the entire court was closer than it had been, even with some bickering here and there. Even Rise was a part of the purification of paralyzing poisons from the flying horned rabbits.


    "This is what it was like when thest nature dragon existed within the court. They are the reason there is trade instead of battle between the viges and elders. You should feel blessed to be part of this and future meetings. As the current keeper, I name this the era of Genesis in honor of the newest member of the royal dragon court." The booming voice shook the hall while a dragonkin snuck away with portions of food. The distraction had obviously been done to sneak away food for the keeper. It was also very suspicious that the dragonkin was not dressed the same as any of the other dragonkin.


    After a few hours had passed, Walker had managed to show off every single cooking skill to the royals before him. The dragonkin and the champions were still very lost but it was in awe now. They had seen how their elemental affinities worked hand in hand with the others. The rivalries still existed between them but could cause something unexpectedly good.


    "Your mes could have burnt the meat I purified. Next time be more in control!" Rise covered the portion of slow roasted meat from the flying cloud alligators. It was by far her favorite.


    "My me? Do you think my mes would burn anything? It must have been the steam causing problems from that one''s water!" Current red at Ignus but held silent. He was sure that it would lead to another argument.


    "I am just impressed in the way I was able to use the shadows to turn mes. To use the shadows of the mes themselves. I seem to have found a new way to train myself. I very much like this meal." Mordant was still the most epting of everything that had happened. However, he was also the one that had gained the most insight through it all. His more silent nature mixed with his ability to observe was showing a bounty.


    "Who cares for your mes or your water. My wind is why you can eat this without harm and that the entire mountain smells like the best feast yet!" Where Ventus continued to express her joy for the meal, Terron was silent. He was slowly appreciating the spices that Walker had added. He was stubborn but it appeared that he had found a new way to appreciate food. Apparently, he was not one for spices. He would spend most time surrounded by earth and attempt to strengthen his defenses. He ate only when necessary as did most other royal dragons. Now it would be different.


    "I''m impressed. With everyone''s higher understanding and skill in manipting their elemental mana, we were able to make food that even a high ss chef would have a hard time rivaling. I hope all of you cane try even better in genesis some day soon." He managed to leave everyone speechless again. They had no idea the food could get better.


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 Chapter 1210 - 1210. Sense Of Time

    Chapter 1210 ¨C 1210. Sense Of Time


    None of the other royal dragons had been old enough to be around when thest natural dragon had been around. Therefore, the words of the keeper had resonated with them in a way that they did not expect. They found joy. They thought that they might actually be the generation of royals that would make a name for themselves within history. That they would have statues that stood taller than any other when they were past their prime. That every keeper would tell stories to their fellow dragons about them. It was a moment of pride that they felt above others.


    Walker found that his opinion of the dragons had changed greatly. They were not some high and mighty existence that would stomp on any other race for going against their traditions. He wasn''t ashamed to have thought that. In many books, dragons were thought of this way and even more so. It wasn''t a lie to say that the dragons had once acted this way either. But nowadays, dragons focus on themselves and their viges without thought for the rest of the world. It was a wed way of thought.


    Su found herself with a different opinion. She found that the royals were trapped. From what she saw, they had been trapped by their ideals to the point that they didn''t branch out enough. The words that the champions and guardians had were too narrow minded and missed the opportunity that came from the other races gathering. The dragons should have had the best way to bring nations together with their strength and variants in elemental mana.


    The fact that she had not ended up in a battle was also surprising. Su had believed that she would be pitted against the other guardians to show off strength in some way but had not. Instead, they had actually found their own chance to rx. From what it seemed the guardians and champions were massively focused and over worked. They were always stressed and needed more rest than anything. Not that Su ever stopped herself but she was easily able to make it happen if need be. However, that was one reason she was sure that the champions and guardians would visit Genesis before their lords.


    When it came to Midnight, she was a little torn. She had expected to show off her power, which she had. She was sent to hint for the royals and managed to impress them with variety and how she jumped right in to action controlling her mes. But it was not to the degree that she had expected. She had believed that she would fight champion against champion in battles to show who had the most power and the best scales. It was actually a little disappointing to her.


    Yet, the more she thought, the happier she was that it was not a battle. She watched Walker use his words and her actions to sneak his ideals in to their conversations. She also knew that she would be able to see more dragons in the future. If the royals dragged their feet toe to Genesis then who cared? They were sending the hatchlings that would be rejected in Genesis, Midnight would have fellow dragons there that would grow up the way that she did with families and dedicated friends. It would be much better.


    Overall, the three found themselves with mixed emotions. They had also not realized the days that had actually passed them by while they were inside the royal dragon court. Their senses of time had somewhat shifted to that of the dragons. Their lifespans may have changed due to their bonds, yes, but it was not the way that the dragons were yet. Where years could pass and they would not realize it. But while in the court, the change of the sun and moon with the actions that had happened were much slower than they realized. It had easily been a week and a half while they had spoken, eaten, and Walker had started to learn a little more of dragon history.


    The keeper had brought out many books made with his illusion magic. They contained changing history for Walker to learn along with knowledge about raising dragons. Walker could not be more overjoyed to receive this gift. He also found that the ancient dragon, the oldest of the dragons there, had added in a few sneaky jokes about the changes that woulde to the dragons with another natural dragon member. It appeared that the natural elemental mana addition was more powerful than Walker could grasp. He was still too inexperienced.


    "We are really leaving?" Su felt that it had been but three days since she had gotten there with everyone.


    "Yes, it''s been longer than we realized and all the other royals left this morning. I can''t believe they actually all agreed toe to Genesis one day. It''s hard to believe it actually happened." Walker was still beside himself in disbelief.


    Midnight huffed at him and Su. She, for one, was happy to head home. She wanted the food andfort for the firece. She missed everyone and wanted to tell them about her journey. She was also still trying to grasp how to speak and could not fall behind. How else would she ask Hilda for her favorite food more often? It was just ridiculous to let time get away from them. Not to mention the gifts she had found for the others. She wanted to share them as soon as possible.


    "And yes, we can stop where you went hunting so you can show us." Walker knew that Midnight wanted to show them this and was not going to forget. He didn''t even have to pretend he was or wasn''t interested. It was an overwhelming yes that he was very interested in the ce the flying horned rabbits called home.


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 Chapter 1211 - 1211. Just Not Right

    Chapter 1211 ¨C 1211. Just Not Right


    "Ha! Take this!" Remey''s fist was covered in blistering mes while Gil jumped back and took the dagger from his chest strap sheath. He had allowed for her to get too close while they trained. The game of Remey dodging projectiles or deflecting them had turned in to one of him trying his best to avoid the insanely quick swapping of elemental fists. He didn''t even have a hope of using his bow in between. But this was the pressure that he needed.


    "Just try it. You can''ty a hand on me!" His words were enough to push Remey even further. He had the tactic of annoying her down to a science. Now he just needed to put it in to practice so that he would be able to win this sparring match.


    The two had decided to test themselves to their limit. Gil had been training with the young archers and other forest elves. Especially his arrow making techniques. To say that he had missed out on closebat training with daggers would be an understatement. He had not done any at all! Remey, on the other hand, was attempting to bnce herself better. She had to let out the frustration of a learning alchemist who decided to nearly blow up ab that day by rushing their potions.


    You move so quickly but you can''t make a decisive hit, that''s why I have you use your dagger and not a wooden one! You can''t touch me!" Remey had a very good point. Since Gil had not trained properly, he was still very ufortable using the dagger as defense. He had also not been very well trained using the bow as a melee weapon instead of just a ranged weapon. The techniques and skills that the forest elves used were very good and an arcane archer that worked as an enforcer was happy to show him. But for whatever reason, the style didn''t seem to fit for Gil. Therefore, he had the idea for him to create his own.


    Being able to use both the dagger and the bow as melee weapons would make Gil more flexible. But he had to upkeep his training and maintain a good example for those he was teaching. It was all too impressive to have uracy and long distance sniping. Unfortunately, those that he trained were not of that level. They would not be fortunate to always have far away targets or never be ambushed. "Come on, move your feet and arms together. It will give you faster and more powerful hits!" Remey was getting fed up. She started to coach Gil instead of just pushing him.


    "That''s it! I''m using Ice. you will feel the cold and the heat. If you don''t dodge then you will be at a loss. If you can''t hit me in the next ten tries then I will make your entire academy escort my students for free!" Remey knew that Gil''s pride would not allow him to just let this go.


    "Never! I will break you down right now!" Giving up on his speedy dodging that he had worked so hard to achieve, Gil used a method that Remey was famous for. He charged in. As much as Remey would have been surprised, she had known her battle style well enough and was also adept in dodging. She easily sidestepped the charge from Gil and added insult to injury by extending her leg for him to trip on. What she didn''t realize though, was that Gil had been getting more muscrtely from his archery training. He had also grown taller.


    The additional weight pulled her off bnce as well causing both to tumble down. Gil''s arm flung out and managed to hit Remey''s arm while she managed to have a grazing punch creating frost on Gil''s side. They both looked at the cuts on their clothes and at the fact that their trash talking had ended up moot.


    "So, I think I am going to look in to some different dagger styles to see what fits me." Gil caught his breath and made the full decision to take a break from the bow and fully focus on using a dagger since he had lost a lot of his fluidity in using it.


    "That sounds good. I might try and train a little more. I feel like I lost some weight just sitting in theb. Maybe some heavier armor to lug around." Remey still didn''t wear much metal in her armors which made her faster but not as heavy. This in turn made her attacks a bit softer or, as had just happened, her being unable to pull someone down with her weight.


    The two split ways at the point with a lot on their mind. But Gil was pointing himself away from his archery academy. He had seen many closebat skills and dagger arts that rted to archery. All of them didn''t feel like the right fit. He was an arcane archer but that was unheard of in the world. A human taking a system that elves were known to use. He thought that he might need to replicate this and look outside the human and the elves for ideas. That was why he was looking toward the outer areas of Genesis. Specifically toward the ce that the merfolk had begun to make their homes since it was close to water.


    He had seen some of the merfolk that migrated this way carrying thin knives that they would use in the water. They were made of some tough forged coral that was extremely sharp and light in the water. From what he knew it made them able to move faster while delivering decisive blows to fish. Then they would have a meal right there. If he could somehow learn it and change it to suit him he might just find what he had been missing.


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 Chapter 1212 - 1212. Train With...?

    Chapter 1212 ¨C 1212. Train With¡­?


    When Remey looked at the door of the wandering cksmith''s shop, she knew that it had been busy. There was not a single piece of armor or basic des outside. Nor as she pushed the door open did she see anything. "You sold everything. This is insane." Her exmation brought a surprised smile to the wandering cksmith''s coal dusted face.


    "Orders." The single word was his excuse. He had finished all of his private orders for the day and had not made any basic items to stock his shop. He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to make since he had been letting his whims decide what he would make with the materials he had. The simple fact that Walker had handed over so many materials of various tiers also didn''t help.


    The wandering cksmith already had too many materials. So many dwarves or nobles sent over materials to garner favor from him. There were so many one day that he had no idea who they hade from. But who was he to turn away materials that were rare and exactly what he wanted to experiment with? He would be a fool!


    "I have a very good reason to look for you today." Remey didn''t hesitate to give her best serious expression. "I have a huge problem and you are the only one that can fix it¡­" The pause drew out and the wandering cksmith looked at her dead in the eyes. "Gil was heavier than me and I didn''t take him down because I was too light. I need to get heavier and get more muscles."


    The judging raised eyebrows of the wandering cksmith asked the question if Remey was actually being serious or pulling his leg. He couldn''t imagine that she would be trying to lose some of her speed by gaining weight and muscles to just take down Gil. But as he thought, he did notice that she had be taller and skinner. He could also smell the lingering scent of herbs breaking through the smoke. It all made sense after a few moments.


    "Training armor?" His simple words were like an answer from the heavens. They were exactly what Remey needed. She needed heavy training armor made for her to be challenged at all times. Not for her to go in to real battle with.


    "Yes! It can be ugly or super heavy. I don''t care. As long as it can make me tougher and harder to beat. I need the weight behind my fists to beat Su''s defense. I need the speed to be faster than Walker''s magic and Gil''s arrows. I need the flexibility to dodge Midnight when she leaps at me. And I need to sharpen my mind so that Onyx won''t sneak attack me with light or shadows." Thest one was something the wandering cksmith could not help with. But he could make an armor that would assist Remey in improving her physique.


    The pile of unrefined ores on the ground were tossed aside one by one until the wandering cksmith uncovered a chunk of basic looking copper. He pointed it out to Remey who realized that he wanted her to pick it up and bring it to the forge for him. She was sure that she would be putting in the work to help since she was the one asking for armor. This wasn''t a problem at all, well, until she actually ced her hands around it and pulled.


    "What is this!? It''s heavier than anything else in this pile." The weight that therge chunk of copper had was too much. Remey swayed step by step just trying to move it toward the forge.


    The moment that the wandering cksmith stoppedughing at her movements he started to speak more than Remey was used to. "Condensed magma hardened copper. Terrible name. Great weight. It forms right alongside magma spouts in the volcanic areas of the world. I never use it because it is too heavy. Unless you are that berserker from the adventurer''s guild." Remey dropped the condensed copper on the ground with a thud leaving a small dent. She was stunned that he had spoken so clearly. But that just led to himughing even more when she tried to pick it up again.


    "Of course I can help you! You are a brother to me just like the rest of your party is family. You came to help my people when we were in need. So what do you need?'' Leon had seen Giling from a mile away. His reaction was to greet him with open arms since he truly felt that the party and everyone in Genesis had be his family once they epted and helped his people.


    Gil would have been ufortable if it weren''t for the genuine smile that Leon wore. It was strange to see someone so openly proud and happy about everything in life. It was as if Leon had been blessed with an unrelenting joy aftering to Genesis. "Dagger arts. I need to learn more dagger arts to find the best meleebat for me. A dagger fits well and the elven dagger skills somewhat work. I used to think they were perfect since they fit with the style of archery I use. But after not using them for a while I found that Ick something. It''s just notplete. I can''t fight properly until I find it."


    "That is exactly how I felt before I was given my spear. No spear felt right until this one. It was always ufortable in the smallest way. Or I would break them. The worst time was when I got blisters all over my hands from the poor wrappings on a bad spear." Leonughed while he turned Gil toward a solitary merfolk watching over a few children training with swords. "Just go join them and say exactly what you just told me. I will make sure something interesting happens." Gil was at a loss. Train with children?


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 Chapter 1213 - 1213. Flow Of Water

    Chapter 1213 ¨C 1213. Flow Of Water


    "You need what? You''re an archer and you are asking for me to¡­" The merfolk looked behind Gil to see Leon waving with a smile. His eyes returned to Gil and just shook his head. "I have told that kid multiple times that I have retired from hunting and guarding anything. I teach on the side now and that''s it. If you think you will get real world experience then go elsewhere."


    "Um, so you are actually going to teach me dagger arts that the merfolk use?"


    "Don''t ask questions and just get in line with us. I had to wait a week for the fastest swimmer in the guards to train me!" One of the kids using a sword to train yelled at Gil making him wonder if he was actually doing the right thing.


    "So apparently today we are going over dagger techniques. You can thank Leon for that even though I had all of you train with your swords first. Again, yell at Leon., not me." The man pulled a set of wooden replica daggers from his bag on the side. "These are made with the same weight and bnce as our traditional water slicing daggers. Just take them and get ready to follow me through. If you are lucky, you might have the skills to match my flow."


    The thought that the dagger skills used to battle for the merfolk were rted to the flow of water made a lot of sense. But that still did not mean that Gil would be able to grasp it. He was more in tune with the forests than the water. It was just the simple upraising he had on the farm along with his training with the elves.


    "Being able to stab at something one way is great, but we focus on shing and severing. As long as you leave the tail undamaged the fish will still get away. your dagger is to incapacitate and end the prey you chase. It adds to maneuverability so that you are not finding yourself slower than anything else. Make sure that you think about how you move onnd and in the water. One day you may find yourself in the shallows having to adapt." This made sense since it was one way that the merfolk would hunt, it also made sense that they were near the edges of the river training.


    "Is this guy going to be able to do it then he''s a human, right? He can''t swim like us." The same boy that had yelled at Gil before was judging him yet again. It was the young attitude that hadn''t learned to respect those older than them yet.


    "If you say another thing about him I will let him duel you. With his bow. By the time you realize your mistake, you will easily have fifty arrows where you were standing. Not to mention ones that could freeze the entire area you swim and breathe in. He''s one of the founders of this city and is standing right next to you to learn." The man obviously knew who Gil was but had just been t with Gil in the beginning because of the schedule he kept. It wasn''t that the man had any disrespect himself. The boy on the other hand was a little lost. Gil just stayed focused.


    "Watch me demonstrate how we flow onnd. We are less controlled by the currents of water and can use what we have felt and seen to replicate a flowfortable for us. The more you have stood in the shallows and felt the way the current s move, the better because you will have a natural feeling for how it should flow." The demonstration began without another word.


    The man that the boy had called the fastest swimmer started to move slowly. One foot back and another forward so that he could change his standing in an instant. That was exactly what he did, he flowed from back and forth while being able to move side to side easily. The pace changed in an instant making Gil struggle to keep up with the shing motions that seemed to involve the entire body. What shocked him was the moment that the man started to move around them. He was close to cutting them but never did so. It was as if he could move through them without any risk of injury. One of the younger boys even tried to touch him as he passed but it seemed that the man just slightly moved to avoid it. The same way when someone tried to grasp something floating in water and it would be missed due to the change in water pressure around the hand.


    "What are you waiting for? Copy my stance and practice. If I see anyone t footed you will be running to the river jumping in and swimming back home. It would be a waste of time to just stand when you can flow." Gil couldn''t agree more. He had long lost his t footed style of using a bow. If he did he wouldn''t be able to rush to another location or to adjust his distance. Therefore, he easily adapted to this style of using a dagger. But he still felt something was missing.


    "I can tell you grew up onnd. Go to the water and try to do exactly as I was doing. Stand there and move slowly. Don''t resist the slow current around you. Just see what it does to you when you are knee deep." Gil was sure the advice was good. The man had called him out after just a few seconds of him moving. But Gil looked down at his shoes, he had to mentally prepare himself for walking through the city soaking wet at the end of the day. But if this was the price, then he would pay it.


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 Chapter 1214 - 1214. Weight And Flow

    Chapter 1214 ¨C 1214. Weight And Flow


    "All that holding for bracelets and a belt? How can that do anything? Wait¡­shoulder straps? What is this thing?" Remey was lost as lost could be. She was looking down at the set of training "armor" that the wandering cksmith had made. It consisted of interlocked segments of the condensed copper.


    There were bracelets that easily fit around her wrists and ankles. Then a separate belt that attached to shoulder straps with hooks. From what she could tell the hooks would be oriented to fit on her back, "I can add weight to my back if I want!?" She was pretty excited to grasp this effect. It would mean that she would be able to continue to add weight if this was not enough.


    However, she looked at the "armor" and wondered if she would even be able to wear it. The amount of condensed copper used had only increased. After the first [piece had been used, Remey had been sent to get another and another and another. All heavier than thest. Overall, it had been a significant number of unrefined condensed copper. All of it was probably heavier or just as heavy as Remey herself. She had held everything in ce with great struggle while he had worked on them to shape and cool them properly.


    The wandering cksmith slowly watched as Remey grasped the uses and benefits. He had gone against making traditional armor so that Remey would be able to still wear her armor but also the training armor on top. It would be an extension of what she was already using so that she would be able to improve and remainfortable. It was these small things that truly caused him to be better than any other cksmith in the entirety of Genesis.


    Just the bracelets alone made Remey feel as if she was unable to pick up her arms from the floor. When she clipped the ankle bracelets on she found taking steps was ten times harder than it had been. The look at the belt that would strap on to her shoulders and waist made her wonder if she would even be able to make it out of the door or towards the mansion. Training in these was out of the question until she actually built up her strength again.


    "Stop holding back yourughter. I can see it on your face. You want to make fun of me for this. But you won''t be able to get away with it. I will be stronger than everyone!" Her shout was enough to break the calm smile the wandering cksmith had. Heughed even harder as Remey strapped on the heavy belts to head out. Her movements were much slower but the strain of her muscles was clear. He had bnced them perfectly to train every movement she made without them shifting and hurting her. It all came down to her determination now.


    While Remey was slowly making her way back to the mansion so that she could attempt to get used to her new training armor, Gil was struggling in his own ways.


    "Just see how he is trying to fight the flow of the water. The current is pushing him down stream. Those rockets there cause changes in the flow. Instead of letting his legs be pulled with the flow and go around the rocks, he is forcing himself to go opposite them and avoid them too early." The merfolk that had been instructing had begun to throw the kids in to the same situation behind Gil. he used Gil as the main example.


    If this wasn''t for self improvement, Gil would think he was being targeted. However, the more he was trying to master this technique, the more he realized that he was the least knowledgeable. He was the one that should be learning the most. The other children that were learning may be young merfolk, but they were more victim to the flow of water than he was. Every single time they moved, the water would change them drastically. Gil just worried about his legs.


    "Throw the rest of your body in to the flow. You need your arms and torso to move and shift with them." Gil had not realized he was holding his body steady and just moving his legs and hips. It was leading to a very unbnced stance which caused him to nearly fall at that moment. He was blind to the way he looked and needed to rely on the guidance he was being given while they slowly moved down the shallow river. "Come on, even a minnow can do better than that." Thement was to all of them as their instructor watched.


    A single thought urred to Gil, he had nearly fallen but somehow found himself back on his feet. He gave a little hop and found that the water dragged him forward slightly around the next rock in their path. It wasn''t a heavy push but one that made him move faster and change the way he faced. It also opened up his view ahead of him and showed off the broad side of the rock.


    "Finally, you caught on. If you didn''t I would use my undercurrent skill to drag you under with the current and see you learn the hard way." The merfolk instructorughed as if this was a joke. However, the small hums of fear behind Gil told him that the other students had this happen to them when they were learning for the first time. "Now more, we are going until it looks like you can do this in your sleep!" The training ramped up yet another level. Gil didn''t know that grasping the concept would prove to be a curse. The only thing that he told himself was that he might be on to something here.


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 Chapter 1215 - 1215. Truce

    Chapter 1215 ¨C 1215. Truce


    "And how did you end up¡­like that?" Gil found Remeyying on the floor in the middle of the dining room as if she waspletely dead. He noted the new essories but didn''t think anything of them.


    "Pfft, it''s just meditation. It strengthens your mind. Obviously." She couldn''t admit that she had lost her strength and was currently stuck until she was able to rest her muscles a little. "And why are you soaking wet and look like you have legs made of jelly?"


    It was a little too obvious that Gil was having trouble walking in a straight line. If Remey didn''t know better she would say that Gil had somehow been drinking. However, she found it hysterical that he waspletely soaked.


    "What do you mean? This is training. I''m still training." There was a long silence before the two finally got the courage up to admit that they had gone a little too far.


    Their eyes met and the two let put held breaths. "Weights. I asked for new training armor and these were forged for me. They are too heavy and I am basically a rock now."


    "The river. I was trying to learn the flow of dagger arts from the merfolk and I ended up an hour down rover. The instructor made us run back. I nearly died."


    They were both too proud to admit that they didn''t like the training that they hade up with in a bid to get better than the other. However, it was nice for them to be getting out of their routine to do something different. "So, think you can use a dagger better?" Remey was a little curious. She didn''t think that Gil would really leave with nothing learned.


    "Actually? Yes. I think I am starting to get the hang of how to move. Attacking is another thing but I will be able to learn more tomorrow. If I can actually move my legs. How about you?"


    "Oh, I''m staying here. No way I will be able to move. This is too heavy. I can get stronger but I won''t be able to do anything normally. Some condensed magma copper or whatever. This stuff is like having three tes of armor on each arm. It''s too much." Gil had sat himself next to Remey and was attempting to stretch his legs. He reached out to see if he could pick up one of the bracelets on Remey''s wrist.


    "Seriously!? This is too much. How did you even walk?" He knew well that if he had the same armor on him that he would be lost. Gil had his pride and would never say it to Remey, but he knew that she was stronger than him. She had the skills to fight head on and deal real damage. He only truly shined when he was at a distance.


    "Says the person who was dragged by a river. You know running back after fighting the current is dangerous. You even left Genesis a little ways." Remey was not as adept at swimming and could only imagine that Gil had been fighting the river the entire way. Just because he said he was learning flow did not mean that he was able to go against it. The river was a powerful force of nature within its'' own right.


    "Both of you seem to have found somemon ground. It''s rare to see you this way." Onyx managed to surprise Gil and Remey when he slithered in. "But I really think you two should clean up. Alice is here to eat with us since we had to order more light crystals today. I invited her back. Maybe we can all train in the morning." The reaction Onyx witnessed was a lot of eye rolling since Gil and Remey were both trained out for the day.


    "What have you been doing other than that? Anything fun?" Gil attempted to change the topic as best as he could. He knew that Onyx had been equally busy.


    "I have been. I managed to make friends with a few tamers and gained information about strange sightings involving shadows. I have a cave that I wish to investigate soon. I want Alice and everyone toe with me. I want to see if there are more of my species if possible." While the two were physically exhausted, they had not been put through the wringer mentally. Now they felt that they had been thrown a curveball.


    "You have a lead!? That''s great. I asked around too but none of the traveling herbalists had heard anything."


    "The same here. No hunter or archer has seen anything in the forests that pointed to abyssal serpents. But I still have the flyers posted for information. I was ready to see if we should put a post up in the adventurer''s guild."


    Between the two, they were shocked and surprised. But they were also extremely excited. Onyx had been very calm and quiet about how he gathered information. He didn''t really want to trouble anyone and they respected it. They were always impressed by how fast he learned and how mature he was. Onyx was a league above when it came to intelligence.


    "I didn''t want to ask for help until I was ready. It''s a ravine in the fields that was thought to be caused by a natural earthquake. I have heard the news that some of the caves split open may have exposed strange egg shells. But no one found the monsters that hatched. There were reports of odd shadows causing those that found them to retreat for fear of ancient ruins and ghosts. There is a quest to investigate them. I want to go." Truth be told, Onyx had already epted the quest. But he had been waiting to ask everyone toe with him. He wanted his family there if he discovered something.


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 Chapter 1216 - 1216. Raccoons

    Chapter 1216 ¨C 1216. Roons


    "Midnight, that''s the third silver haired roon you have used your me ws to shred. You need to calm down. If you use that skill over and over you won''t be able to rely on others." Walker was making a decent point. Both he and Su had caught her multiple times trying to fool around with the skill since she had learned it. They had a decent journey back yet, but it was not to mess around with skills.


    "Don''t huff at him like that. You are going to be in charge of other hatchling dragons soon. What if they see you messing around like that? They will learn it and be a menace to Genesis instead of helping. What will the other dragon viges say after that?" Su also made good points but it seemed that Midnight had reached a slightly rebellious phase.


    "Fine, alright. Use the skill. You can have all the fun with it that you want before we get back to Genesis. Get it out of your system. But that means I am going to be learning a certain skill of yours too." Walker felt that it was better for Midnight to learn by doing than just by being reprimanded. He also looked back at the times his mother had told him to do something after a hard day of not finding his system. His automatic reaction in his bad mood had been to do the opposite of what she asked. He wasn''t ready to act like a parent.


    "A certain skill?" Su was staring at Walker quizzically. She had no idea what he would be trying to learn. A single thought dide to mind though, "Don''t tell me you are trying to breathe mes? I can''t even do that yet. Don''t get too far ahead of me." To say that Su didn''t have some misgivings while Walker shook his head would be a lie. She knew that he excelled in learning new things. So much so, that he would have so many skills he would not always use the most optimal or the ones he learned because he favored the newer ones he hade up with.


    "Oh, it will all be fine. Just let me take the back for a while so I can train." Walker let Su take the lead and watched as Midnight quickly forgot that she was curious about what Walker had been talking about. She returned to letting her mese from her mouth in a small stream and wrapping them around her ws. She was greatly amused by the ability to both sh and burn things. That was why she had rushed the small silver haired roons on sight.


    They weren''t too valuable when it came to hunted monsters. The silver haired roon was not something that people could eat due to the fact that they were scavengers and ate just about anything. But where their value was, was their fur. The silver shine of it made many people impressed when seeing it. Therefore, when Midnight saw it and heard Walker originally said, she went after it for Lisa. It would be another gift for her to give after her travels.


    The distraction was perfect though. Walker had seen Midnight use her shadow wrapping skill too many times to count. She would use it to walk around everywhere some nights in the mansion so that she would not get in trouble for sneaking more food. Or she would use it to scout when the party was out on an adventure. What was even more, was the fact that Walker could feel the mana changing shape and wrapping around her. Even though he had not fully focused on it and put a lot of effort in to darkness elemental mana, he had a sizable experience base for what he could do with it from watching Midnight.


    When the darkness mana in his shadow reacted to him Su was the only one to notice. Midnight was so used to feeling the flow of shadows around her that she had be a little blind to it. She also was extremely distracted when she spotted another silver haired roon. Walker didn''t even yell at her when she charged at it without thinking, which should have been a major warning to her that something was wrong and that she should try and see what he was doing.


    "So Midnight just runs off while I copy her skill." Heughed softly while he pulled at the darkness elemental mana to manipte his shadow. He felt it was the best chance to do this since the cloudy day was adding more shadows here and there. The three had managed to climb down the mountain much faster than they had climbed up because of the other dragons clearing the path. Apparently, their pride had been dealt a blow when they had Walker bring a rogue dragon in to the court.


    Just wrapping the shadows around one arm was easy enough. It was just a matter of remembering and copying clearly. The shadows almost seemed to bend to his will as if they had been waiting for him to reach out to the darkness elemental mana.


    ''The skill shadow wrapping has been taken from the shadow assassin system. The user has learned the skill shadow wrapping through extensive experience witnessing the use of the shadow wrapping skill.''


    Walker didn''t need to read any further. He knew the mana costs and the skills ability. Now he just needed to utilize it in the way he wanted. He had a prime target ahead of him. One that didn''t seem to care that he was even pulling at her shadow a little. The only thing he needed to get over was the judging look of Su who knew exactly what was going to happen. However, she knew it was a good lesson since Midnight was totally distracted while out in the wilds.


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 Chapter 1217 - 1217. Sneaky Sneaky

    Chapter 1217 ¨C 1217. Sneaky Sneaky


    Su watched as Walker became harder to see as he crouched down in to the grasses around them. The shadows seemed to meld with him slightly as he pulled his cloak out of his storage to wear. It made him much harder to see and follow up until the point that she just looked over at Midnight waiting.


    Midnight had just finished taking down another of the silver hair roons and was waiting for Walker toe and clean up. He was the one that would store everything so she knew that he would be there any moment. But she just stood there waiting until she realized that he wasn''t over at all. By the time she looked back and saw only Su, she was a little worried. Walker was gone!


    Her surprised huff was cut short but the fact that she could see Su shaking her head in slight disappointment. Was she in trouble? Did Walker and Su decide that they would actually reprimand her? Midnight waspletely lost on what was going on until she felt a heavy weightnd on her back. The next thing she knew she was pushed down to the ground and a soft ball of me burst on her. She knew it wasn''t a monster because she had not smelled or felt any real danger. The ball of me that hit her was also obviously held back to easily break on her scales without harming her. Yet, that didn''t mean she was not upset. She had been ambushed! Of all the beings in the world, the one that did the ambushing had just been ambushed herself!


    When she jumped up she was going to get Walker back for it with a small breath of frost toward hum. However, he wasn''t there. He wasn''t right where he should be after tackling her and using magic on her like that. Her eyes darted from side to side to find him but came up with nothing. She could still only find Su who was a little impressed at the sight before her.


    The next attack that hit her was a small needle of frost which sent a chill down her spine but still did not cause any damage. She felt ite from her left side so she turned and released arge breath of frost toward the grasses. Her only sess came in the form of her freezing some of the damp grasses. Unfortunately, she had not seeded in even touching Walker. This made her even more frustrated.


    Things just became worse as she felt the mud beneath her feet shift and she was blocked off by a wall of soupy mud that fell forward dirtying her scales. She instinctively wrapped her ws in mes but was immediately met with a small bubble of water that came out of the mud and put out her mes. "Having some trouble?" She felt a tap on the top of her head. Walker had managed to walk right up to her opposite side and tap her. Midnight could only look at him with a stunned expression. Had Walker always been this sneaky? How had he managed to do this? How could she not have seen it happening?


    "You were so distracted that you didn''t even notice me learning your skill. I have seen you use the shadow wrapping skill like a million times. Do you think that I wouldn''t learn it one day? It isn''t my specialty and I don''t n on taking your spot. But I will use it to show you a lesson. You were so focused on your me wrapped ws that I was able to mess around all I wanted. What if this was serious? If Su wasn''t here protecting us through this I wouldn''t even dare to do something like this." The words weren''t harsh but they were matter of fact. Walker could easily have done real damage.


    The shadows wrapped around Walker again as he stepped back in to the grass showing off the skill that Midnight was so adept in. she had used it so many times that she could do it in an instant. It was one of her most used and best skills. Now she realized that she was able to use it but had lost when it came to detecting it. She could not nail down where Walker had gone, putting her at a continuous loss. She had strayed from her training so much that she was unable to match Walker when it came to her best skill.


    "Now if you two are done ying, you sshed me with some mud." Su pointed out the shield that had some mud on it and waited for Walker to clean up. She knew he had the skills to clean easily and was expecting him to do something about the mud covered Midnight and her precious shields. They didn''t need to be the coteral damage to the lessons Midnight should learn.


    "Yes. I wouldn''t let anyone walk through all dirty like that." Walker followed the order immediately. He could sense that if he didn''t then Su would be teaching some lessons of her own. Walker was very careful to pay attention to the training that everyone had been doingtely. Between him and Su, Su had been training with mana more. She had been focusing her mental energies on understanding the flow of mana around her. She felt far behind the other guardians, not to mention Walker and Midnight. So, while they walked she had constantly been observant of the small changes that even a fly made while moving by them.


    "Midnight, do you know why Walker did this?" Midnight nodded softly while looking at Walker with curiosity. "Good, then let''s make sure you can sense the shadow wrapping skill. Walker will sneak around and you need to y hide and seek with him. It''s a childs'' game but one that will help. He is also the scout for the rest of the trip." Su smirked while she watched as Walker had to y the role of helping with her and Midnight''s training.


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 Chapter 1218 - 1218. Sluggish

    Chapter 1218 ¨C 1218. Sluggish


    "Alice, are you sure you want to go to some unexplored cave system at the bottom of a ravine? It won''t have much light elemental mana and you might be away from the egg for a while." Remey wasn''t sure if Alice would actually want to go or if she wanted to just to help Onyx. The pair had be very close friends in the past weeks.


    "A challenge. I will be stronger." Both Gil and Remey understood as soon as they heard her response. She had been training hard and with Su gone, she had picked up the pace even more. Not only would she heal people during the day, but she would train in the darkest times of night. Even when the moon was not out. It was the best time to train her control of minimal light elemental mana. She also had the desire to help her friends. She knew how much Onyx cared about his goals and would not let him go explore them without everyone by his side.


    "I think you have been getting plenty strongtely. Last I heard you managed to do almost all of the healing in the cathedralst week." Gil wasn''t joking. He had heard this from one of the nuns passing by while he walked to his archery academy. The entirety of Genesis had started to talk about those who were standing out. And Alice was one of them.


    "It''s not enough." Alice was determined. She had helped Su improve and found ways to make her skills and songs work better. Her words would no longer give away the effects of her songs. She had shortened some in to verses that would take effect quicker. She had found multiple minstrels or other singers that traveled through the city to listen and learn. There was no effort spared in her training and gathering of knowledge. Now she needed real battle experience to refine the skills she had learned.


    "I will get stronger too. I can not allow myself to fall behind. Brother and sister will be stronger when they get back. Even if they did not fight a single monster, they will be enlightened. We all know Su will be able to block any attack from us too." The truth was in as day. Onyx was partially driven to keep up with those he always felt were miles ahead. Even Remey and Gil saw the looks he was giving them.


    "Then we can all train together tomorrow. I know that it will be better for us to mix things up and put ourselves in ufortable positions. I will train early with the merfolk and try to connect the dots with the new dagger techniques and maybe learn the skills if they arepatible with my system. Then we can meet and see what we can learn together." The opportunities would not get away from Gil. He also knew that he needed to get everything settled at the archery academy if he was nning to leave and help with Onyx''s quests.


    "Fine by me. I could use a little chaos. I will see how well I can move around with my training armor on. I don''t think I willst long without some potions to help me recover a bit faster¡­" Remey had already nned on using some healing potions and salves to help. But in the early morning, she would be rushing to find better ones to heal her muscles while she trained. They were hard to make but worth it with the kind of training she was doing.


    The four affirmed their training ns and finished their meal. They would be meeting the following day after the morning. Meanwhile, Walker, Midnight, and Su had found themselves looking at something rather odd.


    ''Rattle tail snake (sluggish)


    The rattle tail snake ismonly found in the dry grasses of fields or the mountains. They love to prey on small rodents and are often ignored by farmers due to the benefits they bring to the farms by hunting vermin. They were not considered native to this continent until a snake tamer brought them and lost a clutch of eggs. However, they perfectly fit in to the natural ecosystem with their mild poison. Many are found sluggish and tired when they first awaken as the season warms.''


    Midnight had found ten of them sprawled on the ground trying to slowly slither toward the grasses. It appeared that they hade out of small tunnels that had finally been unblocked as snow and ice melted. She had first through to check the area because they might be victims of other monsters. But then Walker managed to notice them moving slightly.


    "So they are just tired and need to get back in to sync with the environment? How interesting. Should we help?" Su didn''t want to see the snakes get hurt since they were a beneficial monster to farms. Genesis would be growing plenty of crops and need such monsters.


    "I can warm up the air around here. They are cold, right? That makes anyone sluggish." The idea seemed right and after Midnight unleashed a breath of mes, Walker manipted them to move in the air causing the entire spot to be warmer. The result was instantaneous. The rattle tail snakes started to speed up and even looked over at the odd trio before them. They had long grown ustomed to humans due to their rtionship on farms.


    "Look, they are even heading the same way as us." Su felt this was a good sign for their travels ahead.


    Midnight even took the lead and pretended to be leading them to Genesis. Walker and Su did not have the heart to tell her it was the mes that burst from her mouth every so often that caused them to follow her. They needed the warmth and she had it.


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 Chapter 1219 - 1219. Light Rain

    Chapter 1219 ¨C 1219. Light Rain


    The event with the rattle tailed snakes went on until the Su had finally broken through the clouds and begun to warm up the general area. Midnight seemed as if she was fairly proud to have led them for an hour or two but Su and Walker found it very amusing. It was like a full time job for her by the time the sun broke through. Walker had a good time taking a break from their hide and seek game but also practicing controlling the fire elemental mana from Midnight''s mes.


    "We should be back home soon. It looked like thest few days have been worth the extra effort." Su was feeling very good about their progress. The three had been stopping for small breaks without a long period of rest. They liked the feeling of pushing themselves because they could only think of their goals. They wanted to get home and prepare for the dragons toe. They wanted to see their family again. It was just more excitement than anything else.


    "We have made great time. I just wonder what everyone has been up to. I feel like every time I look away everything changes like crazy." Even Midnight huffed in agreement to that. Walker could tell that she was also excited for her role in helping the rejected dragons to grow.


    "Do you think that the tournaments andpetitions will bring in massive crowds? Because I have a feeling we will have our streets packed. We might even want to let a few more meetings happen before." There had been a lot on their minds but now that they were closing in on hoke the issues that might arise also crossed their minds. Su had a good point that the alchemypetition would bring a lot of people since they wanted to find mentors. But the colosseum would bring a substantial number of demi-humans to the city.


    The idea that it could get a little rowdy was an understatement. They would also have the royal dragons or at least afew of the dragonkin around. There was no set timeline for them visiting so preparations were very up in the air. "We will figure it all out as we go but we aren''t alone. Let''s just push on and get there by the time the sun sets. Then we can sleep in and prepare for what life has to offer." Walker decided to just take theid back approach since it would be tooplicated to micro manage anything.


    While they pushed through thest of their travels. Gil, Remey, and Onyx had found themselves face to face with the newest song in Alice''s portfolio.


    "Keep moving Remey! There are too many." Gil had been using his speed to dodge and had not even attempted to use the dagger arts that he had trained earlier in the day. Onyx had no issue dodging what wasing towards him. He had already seen the song and was able to absorb the light elemental mana fast enough if one of the attacks got near him.


    "This is your fault Gil. Alice even said you inspired this song!" Remey was red faced and out of breath while she moved with the training armor on. She could barely escaped the light arrows that were falling from above them.


    Gil had told Alice about the arrow rain skill at dinner the previous night. There had also been an inspiration from Walker when he told Alice about the throwing needles he had weeks ago. Combining these two in to an attack finally urred to Alice after a lot of thinking and effort. The result was brilliant. There was very little control, but that gave Alice even more free reign to create more light arrows with rougher shapes. Then she would drop them from higher up and release them when she did not need them. It was a constant formation of condensed elemental mana but that was the only real challenge.


    "Fine, Alice! I''ming for you!" Remey gave up on dodging and started to directly deflect the light arrows that fell. It was even more dramatic when she took the added weight of some earth elemental mana and small stones. She directly wore the earth elemental knuckles and let the stones gather on her fists to better defend against the attacks. She was still quick enough not to get hit but now was cutting it even closer. The real problem was that she was getting too close to Alice.


    The biggest drawback from using a skill that constantly created so many condensed light elemental arrows was a pretty big one. It was the fact that Alice could not easily concentrate on the speedy formation with her words while moving. If she hesitated for a moment then she would have her light elemental mana dissipate leaving her undefended. Although, this did not mean she couldn''t change the song slightly and make it a single shield in front of her.


    At the moment that this happened and Remey came fist to light shield, Gil had managed to find a chance to dodge some of thest dissipating light arrows to get near Onyx. He was ready to test what he had learned against Onyx who had very good mobility with his serpentine body. Dodging seemed a lot easier for Onyx than it would be for others. This meant that it was a true challenge for Gil.


    "I''m just using a wooden training dagger, but it will still hurt. Be ready." The morning''s training was already ingrained within Gil''s muscle memory. The instructor had shown him how to strike while moving with the flow of water. The number of attacks that he had down after being taught was not love in the least. He felt he would wake up doing attacks in his sleep if he was not careful.


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 Chapter 1220 - 1220. Dagger Arts

    Chapter 1220 ¨C 1220. Dagger Arts


    Onyx mmed his tail down toward Gil. he was trying to see if he could shake the ground enough to put him off, But to his surprise, Gil was unshaken. Gil was moving while constantly adjusting the level at which he moved. His knees would bend with the rumble and slight cracking of the ground. Even more, when Onyx tried to sweep his tail to trip Gil, Gil was able to jump and twist over it putting himself in an optimal position to attack.


    The training with the merfolks wasing together more and more. Onyx and Alice had thrown a lot of pressure on to him and now with Remey getting put in a position near him, he knew he would have more. The second Remey''s fist flew toward him, Gil dodged and felt his eyes had truly opened. He could aim at the spot under her arm with the dagger. He wasn''t sure how he knew how or where but he did. It was just right.


    His sh surprised Remey and for the first time in a while, Gilnded a decisive hit. He was a little shocked himself but his body was still moving. Gil''s mind was slower than his body which seemed to be like a puppet on a string. Even the soft breeze was enough to make him slightly change his footing. "Looks like you figured it out." Zephyr left the bow to look at him. She had purposefully been letting Gil figure things out alone. She wanted to see him grow while she umted more wind elemental mana.


    "This can''t be legit¡­" Gil was surprised. He was looking at the new skill in his system. One that he couldn''t imagine seeing before this and while he was reading it.


    "What? Did you hurt yourself when you hit me? I know I''m a little tough but still." Remey was sure that Gil had not hit her that hard. It would leave a soft bruise at most.


    "No, I got a skill. High elf dagger arts. Let me read it. The high elf dagger arts are a lost skill of the high elves. It had been handed down and changed in to multiple elemental variations. The elves have long strived to return to perfection but have failed to meld multiple dagger arts together. The user can learn every elemental dagger arts of the elves to reim the high level skill perfect for any elf regardless of main weapon. Learning of dagger arts is significantly increased and teaching ability via example is significantly increased." Gil took a deep breath. "There''s a lot more on the forest elf dagger style and the water elf dagger style but I think the merfolk must have learned their dagger style from the water elves. It didn''t even look like the water elves used daggers anymore."


    "What!? That''s amazing. I want an all fist art thing or like a giant elemental fist attack. Or like a super kick. Come on, how did you get the good stuff?" Remey was mostly joking since she knew that she would be able to crush Gil after she trained more. However, she knew that Gil would need to take a lot of work to find the other elven dagger styles and get the full skill. The desert elves might not even have remaining records about their dagger styles.


    "This¡­this might be hard." Gil was hit with a wave of understanding. Believe it or not, his mind went to the rock elves in the mountains who hid their vige so well that finding them was considered impossible. They were not like the dwarves who tunneled around everywhere and sold goods to many races. They were very reclusive and were almost never spotted.


    "You can do it." Alice was looking at him with stars in her eyes. She thought it was the most amazing thing to see someone have a break through of understanding. It was even more exciting since Gil had a defined goal to pursue that would constantly make him stronger. She wanted to be the same. These were the people she admired and wanted to walk side by side with.


    "Don''t waste any time. Go and find Alma and then go to the mage tower. You need to find what you can about the desert elves. Then you should find the water elves that came here and ask about their water based dagger arts!" Onyx screamed at Gil mentally. His mental shout caused Gil to nearly topple over but it did the trick.


    "I''ll be backte, see youter!" He sprinted from the back of the mansion where they were training. His dust was the only thing left of where he had stood in the clean and dry training area.


    "I kind of want him to seed so I can have a better challenge." Remey had taken some of the ointment she made for scapes and rubbed it on her elbow where she had lost some skin sliding to dodge Alice''s light arrows.


    "It''s another reason for me to train as well. I have the skills to make myself stronger but I can still be beaten easily. I think I am not used to things of my own kind because I have not been with my own kind. I did not grow normally. But that is also why I am stronger." It was a very good thing for Onyx to see that being different both made him weak and strong in certain ways.


    "Just don''t forget. You are our family and we will always be together. Even if the worst is to happen, we will be right there. You think I would let anything stop me?" Remey mmed her fists together to prepare for the next set of training. Her joints had been creaking but with the constant potions and ointments, she had been able to keep up healing and building muscle. She had a little more motivation to keep on going now.


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 Chapter 1221 - 1221. Ways To Sleep

    Chapter 1221 ¨C 1221. Ways To Sleep


    "There it is. Home. Finally." Walker looked at Genesis which had finallye in to view. Understandably. He, Su, and Midnight were pretty tired. They had pushed themselves to get back sooner since they were excited to share some of the news from the royal dragon court. But on top of that they had been doing a lot of training while on the way.


    By the time they got to the gate, they were looking at the night sky. The sun had set and the night guards had taken their ces. " Well look who it is. Thest of the hero party returning already." Of all people, it was Garret, Walker''s father.


    "What are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be done for the day?" Walker wasn''t sure why his father was at the outer gate nor why his father was guarding a gate in the first ce since he had applied and gotten a higher ranking position within the guards.


    "Well, when someone''s daughter has a fever you let them stay home. The man''s a single father. Who else would she have to rely on? Plus, he owes me now. From what I understand he has made a few friends in the market and he might get me a good deal on those glittering zinnias that the forest elves grow." Walker knew that these were one of his mother''s favorite flowers and could not fault his father for helping someone out and getting a favor of such reasoning.


    "It''s good to see you. Tomorrow we can send Remey with some medicine if he needs it." Su was d to see a familiar face at the gate. It made thete return feel a little warmer.


    "I swear, all of you look a little taller. Kids. Get home and clean yourselves up. I am sure you will have a lot to tell everyone tomorrow." Midnight was tempted to drag Garret home with them since she wanted everyone to be back at the mansion. However, she understood that he had a job to do and it was very important. She didn''t spend much time with him but she had always felt protected when he was around. For all the things he said in joking fatherly ways, she could see that his eyes always followed and paid close attention to his family. It was why she had managed to see him catch Lisa when she slipped on the stairs once. He just had the familial dedication to be a good father.


    The other guard at the gate started to teaseGarrett for being a softie to his family, but that was just two people keeping the time going in the night air while they worked. Their voices eventually faded out and all that the three could hear were the sounds of Genesis sleeping. It was a wonder how such a busy ce could calm down so much when the sunset. But it was not totally silent. There were guards that moved about patrolling while some cleaning crews moved about the streets. It was one factor that was not forgotten, a clean city was a healthy city. There was a cleaning force that came together even before half the buildings had foundations.


    "I think we are toote. It looks like everyone has already gone to sleep." Su was not that upset to have missed dinner with everyone. She knew that the odds of them falling asleep at the table were a little high. It was better to just sleep well and see everyone for breakfast.


    A huff from Midnight got their attention. "Umm, I think everyone is definitely asleep. Especially Remey who is on the floor and Gil who looked like he might have been studying." Su didn''t really believe what Walker was saying before she went in to the dining room. She found that Gil was asleep at the table with about fifteen books of varying ages around him and note scribble don a bunch of paper.


    Then there was Remey who was still in her training gear asleep on the ground. Onyx was asleep by the fire ce and had clearly been keeping watch over them. But the next surprise was that Alice was asleep on the armchair that they would sit on for tea. She appeared to have fallen asleep herself while reading one of the books she had borrowed from the library.


    "You think we should wake them up?" Part of Su thought it rude but they were all in odd positions other than Onyx.


    "If you get Remey, I will get Alice. Midnight, you are in charge of Gil." Walker knew that they all had bedrooms and that Alice could take the spare room. They had plenty of them and it was better for anyone to be in a warm bed than on a couch with their head using a book as a pillow.


    Su didn''t miss the heavy dents in the carpet from Remey''s bracelets and saw how sluggish she was as she tried to push herself up. She barely woke up enough to give Su a hug before nearly crawling her way out of the room. Gil was mumbling about the elves and daggers which was even more confusing while he gave up on picking up his notes. Midnight was the only reason he made it to his bedroom without falling asleep walking.


    Walker took a different approach and scooped Alice up in his arms. He might not have been the strongest in the world, but Alice was a petite young woman and he could use the strength he had built through his adventures. The spare room he left her in was one that she had used before so he knew that she would not be scared when she found herself in the morning. Just before he left he swore he saw her smiling for a split second. But he just told himself it was a trick of his tired mind.


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 Chapter 1222 - 1222. A Quick Catch Up

    Chapter 1222 ¨C 1222. A Quick Catch Up


    "Wait, you have a skill that will only be fullyplete when you learn a bunch of dagger skills from all of the elf elemental variants?"


    "No, don''t go getting distracted about what I said. You just told us that dragons areing here and that some monsters from across the oceans were migrating here AND, that we will be raising rejected hatchling dragons. What is all that!?" Gil was not letting Walker, Su, of Midnight ze over this.


    "Yes, that''s what Walker said. It will be very good for Genesis. They will see that the care and diversity a hatchling has here will more than cause even the worst hatchlingsin their eyes will be the best dragons possible." Su was sure that this would be the case but she made sure to stress it to Gil and Remey were understandably beside themselves. The only two that had not made it to breakfast just yet were Alice and Onyx. Which was funny since Onyx was the one sleeping right by the firece.


    "They are alsoing to watch the tournaments andpetitions around the city over the next few months. I told them about it and they seemed interested. Especially since they will be able to have the cksmiths learn the true spirit crafting techniques. On top of that, I think that some of them genuinely find this ce a mystery. They want to understand it ." Mordant was the one that came to Walker''s mind as he spoke. He felt that the darkness elemental royal dragons was the one that had taken the most interest. The key to that seemed to be the fact that he had a spirit as a partner and Genesis was really pushing the races to reunite with the elemental spirits. One could only wonder how the races did not keep contact with all of them over the years.


    "Oh, and the guardians wille too. I said we could use it as a way to train together. It seemed that they don''t actually get to train in the ways they want of to get outside their viges. As long as their championse here I think it will be fine. I really hope they will take some time to joinpetitions too." Since Su found that she had baited the guardians and even champions to a degree, she wanted them toe and see the truth in her words. Even more, she wanted to prove that she was powerful within her own right.


    "And are we going to talk about how dangerous that will be? What if they get angry and don-"


    "That won''t be the problem. There is a keeper that vouches for me and Genesis. They are the oldest and have the most power in the royal dragon court. If one goes after me then there will be a lot of trouble for them. It wouldn''t be too light to say that they would lose all of their viges if they attack me. Along with that, there is also the fact that they had not had a nature dragon in a long time. I received some history that I need to read but I know there is more to it. Thest nature dragon brought them together and well, I kind of got them cooking together for a feast." Walker was a little embarrassed by this since it sounded like a lie.


    "Of course you made them cook. Well, while you were off attracting the most powerful things around to us, we were training." Remey showed the training armor that she had the wandering cksmith make. "It''s not beautiful and it''s not traditional, but it will make me stronger over time and I can work on the quality of my skill usage. If I punch my punch has to be perfect or else I won''t be able to throw another. It''s actually making me think about how I move a lot more." This had been an unexpected mental training that Remey was not ready for. However, she knew it would make her better in the long run so she readily epted it.


    "And I was trying to learn how to better use my dagger since I seem to have reached a limit to what I can do. I also never felt like it clicked properly when I used it. I might have also neglected my training with it so I needed to basically start over. I went to the merfolk, trained with them, then put a ton of pressure on myself with Alice, Onyx, and Remey''s help. Next thing I know I felt things fall in to ce. I had a skill that wasn''t reallyplete and I have a bunch of books from the desert elves and the forestry elves to read about dagger arts. I need to hunt down the water elves that came here and ask them about it too. Then I will look in to the rock elves, me elves, and see if we can figure out where the wind elves might be if they are still even on this continent." It was a very long list for Gil to figure out. However, it perfectly aligned with what Alma was going to be doing as well.


    "I guess it is my turn." Onyx surprised everyone by slowly slithering over from his spot by the fire. He had woken up while hearing what they were talking about. "I need help investigating a ravine opened by an earthquake. There might be more of my kind in the caves that were exposed by it. There were also eggshells found and reports of strange shadows. It could be the first step in finding them." Onyx didn''t beat around the bush and said exactly what he wanted and needed.


    "Then we will go. Just n it out. You have the full lead of this. I will make it work no matter what." Walker knew a lot was going to be happening in Genesis within the next few weeks since the adventurer''s guild was going to release the party quest to find herbs for the alchemy guild. But that was a good thing. It would buy them time to investigate this ravine.


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 Chapter 1223 - 1223. Foreign Systems

    Chapter 1223 ¨C 1223. Foreign Systems


    "Walker''s right. We would have left today if you had it nned. We would have gone with you no matter what." Su gave Onyx a soft pat on the head. She looked at Onyx as if he was her younger brother as well. And as far as he was concerned she was one of his older siblings.


    The small conversation that Onyx and Midnight shared using their minds was silent but seeing Midnight puff up her chest and Onyx lower his head, he was clearly happy. She had most likely praised him since she would also be helping out hatchling dragons to find their own ces soon. It was a brother and sister moment they shared in finding and helping their species in the world. There didn''t need to be words, just looks between them.


    "So, Alice was able to train with all of you a lot?" Walker had wanted to ask since he heard what Gil said, he didn''t want to seem too prying though since they had just gotten back.


    "You should have seen it. She changed her song and focused on the condensation of tons of tiny arrows. They fell without my control but it could have easily messed up those horned rabbit hoards we saw. It''s a great way to deal damage to an area. It also is very hard to dodge. I don''t know how much mana it used but it was crazy." Gil had a very high opinion of the fact that Alice was able to train and n how to do such a thing. The party was at a much higher level than her yet she was able to use her critical thinking to use her skills to her advantage.


    "The only downside is she can''t move around while doing it. She basically bes a sitting duck. I''m also pretty sure that''s so she were to move she could hurt herself since she isn''t immune to her own skills. That was a strange fact that I caught on to. But it''s the same with me and my elemental fist. It hurts me too when I use the fire elemental knuckles." Remey''s point made them all think. Their skills were double dder swords. They could be their end or their beginnings. It all came down to how they used them and the care they took.


    "She may not receive many more skills for some time. From what she showed me, the songstress system is like the minstrel or other singer type systems. They have very limited skills. She just happens to have one that she can use to create a variety of situations. I need to learn from her more." Onyx also held Alice in very high regard. He recognized the differences in systems and how using skills could change a situation even if the use was not what was originally intended or expected.


    "Even if she doesn''t receive any skills she is amazing. She can heal people beyond anyone her age. She can fight. She cares about everyone. I can''t wait for her toe with us." Walker forgot to hold back and spoke a little too honestly in front of everyone. However, no one said a word. Gil was holding back a smallugh while looking at the door behind them.


    Alice had walked it right at that moment to join them and was redder than a tomato. Su just calmly poured another cup of tea so that they could keep talking and catch up. They had plenty of ns to make. One such would be going to the Genesis building to call a meeting to speak about the dragons. It would be interesting to see what would be happening.


    It was only another hour before they all made it to the Genesis building. From there Remey and Gil split off while Alic and Onyx headed toward the cathedral. Su, Midnight, and Walker had promised to fill everyone in on what happened since they were the ones with the most news to report. They also understood that everyone else had to prepare and n things too.


    "Sir hero! Is there anything I can help with?" Walker was surprised by the little voice that greeted him. When he looked down he found a girl barely up to his hip looking up to him while in a uniform matching the other clerks.


    "Uhm, yes. I am going to call a meeting of the representatives to speak about the royal dragon court. Please let them know." He wasn''t sure that this little girl would actually be able to do so. However, she watched as she grabbed a few papers and started folding them. She whispered in to them while doing so and dripped a little ink on them. It was very strange.


    "Done and done." The little paper ink stained bird flew off after the girl dropped it. "I''m d to meet you. I am the newest member here. I am a mystical origami system user. I can use folded paper birds like magic!"


    "Oh, you are from elsewhere aren''t you. Did youe from the north on the ships?" Su saw the difference in facial features and recalled that many ships from the north would bring people with such features and strange systems.


    "I am. My mother brought us here from over the ocean! I found my system while ying with my brothers and they said I could work here sending messages and greeting people. It''s a lot of fun. Everyone is so nice." She seemed more than happy and Walker wanted to ask her about the ces she had been but that would be forter. He saw Scy walking in behind him with a questioning look before she zeroed in on the little girl and understood. It appeared she had seen the skills this little girl used before. Walker would just have to ask Scy while they waited for the others to arrive.


    "Then wee to genesis. I will see you aroundter." The four moved off toward the meeting room. Scy didn''t say much until they had made it there.


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 Chapter 1224 - 1224.Scylla And Midnight

    Chapter 1224 ¨C 1224.Scy And Midnight


    "How was it to see the race that Midnight came from? Was their homerge? Did they challenge her at all?" It appeared that Scy had grand images of dragons battling for pride and respect. It kind of made sense since there were many of these ideas that came from the novels and stories written through the years. It was very easy to blur the lines between reality and fiction.


    "It was a lot of stubbornness and us showing off what we have to offer to the dragon race. I actually feel like it was easier than expected. But everything will be a test until they see us as apletely equal." Walker couldn''t lie and say that the dragons would see him as an equal right away. To them, he was still a hatchling in some senses. They were impressed and saw his potential though. Especially, they saw Midnight''s potential as a future true dragon champion with the ability to manipte natural mana. Walker wished he knew more of what the other guardians had thought of Su but believed that she had used what they had to offer to their benefit. She was smart and he knew it.


    "They will be visiting though. When theye they may have some dragonkin that battle in the colosseum that you have taken over." Scy had already taken the control from others when it came to the coliseum. It was only right since she knew how to make it work the best out of everyone on the representative council. Since Su had tempted the champions and guardians, she knew that she would be able to bring them there to see a myriad of skills and races.


    "When? I will pit myself against them all in the colosseum and show them what Genesis is!" Scy still had pride for the demi-humans and was still a general under her kind. However, she had begun to put roots down in Genesis and took great pride in guiding the new city to its peak. She wanted this ce to stand above all others with her and her entire race''s aid. It was no longer a small thing to her. It was everything.


    "I know that you might take them down but please don''t get angry if a champion or a guardian gives you a challenge. They didn''t show off their strength but I could sense them from the other room." Walker knew well the strength of the champions who had many years under their belts. It would be impossible for most to stand even let alone above them.


    "Midnight knows my power. She will back me up and give me the intelligence reports on the enemy if I need them." Midnight was right by Scy''s side. The attitude of defeating dragons and showing her strength was a match for Midnight. The two were getting fired up more so than they needed to be.


    "Ie out of working on the caves and basements to find you all full of energy. If you have it to burn you should be working with me. Now tell me. Will those dragonse and forge with us? I want to see more of those draconic runes. My cksmiths keep asking and if I am bothered again I might just kick them out." The king of the deep caves had made himself a permanent residence within Genesis. He was slowly guiding an underground trade route of caves from the dwarven city to Genesis and he would take a few years toplete the monumental legacy he would leave behind one day. It was a dream of any dwarven miner.


    "Oh, they wille. One of the royal dragons was very impressed with the circlets that the wandering cksmith made. He even had a darkness spirit friend that went right in to it when we gave it to him. If no otheres I will be very surprised." Mordant had been constantly on Walker''s mind. He was a mystery but also someone Walker could feel would be a close ally.


    "No earth dragons? I thought that they would want toe and explore the metals we have around here since they eat them. Maybe I can befriend a few to help with mining. It could work out." The king of the deep caves fell in to deep thought while the ideas flowed. He becamepletely distracted.


    "Markus?" Walker wasn''t sure why Markus Raven had returned to the city and why King August was not there.


    "My lord King August had left. He wants to be near the queen as she bes more dependent on others'' care. The baby is apparently growing at a faster rate than expected because of the high nutrition and exceptional care. The alchemy guild has sent many things as gifts to help the child develop and the queen remain in perfect health." This made a lot of sense and Walker, nor anyone else, would ever be angry that the king had left to go be a good father to his soon to be born child. Hearing that the baby was growing faster than expected made all of them proud that there were medicines and potions avable to keep people healthy and happy.


    "Ah, I didn''t think I would be this behind. I had a few matters involving the mage tower to clear up. A lot of people havee and I even received a letter from the me elves. They maye from thevands to visit soon. Not that that actually means soon. Thest letter they sent was fifty years ago." Alma looked a little off because she had been working hard but they all noticed the slight excitement in her voice. She seemed to look at Gil more and more often showing just how much she liked that he received an amazing skill that put the elves in the front of his mind.


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 Chapter 1225 - 1225. More Spirits?

    Chapter 1225 ¨C 1225. More Spirits?


    "It looks like everyone is pretty much here. Just need-" Walker saw Leon walking in as he spoke. "Then we are ready to go!" There was something about everyone being together that made Walked a little happier. The room just felt more alive with all the representatives there.


    "So, how were the dragons? I passed by Gil on the way and he didn''t tell me a thing. And after I helped him and everything." Leon shook his head teasingly. He was very interested to hear anything new as a distraction from the affairs of the merfolk.


    "Well, they areing to visit. Some of them at least. Su seems to have convinced some in a simr standing with her. I have some connections now as well and they are sending some of their cksmiths and runesmiths here. Not sure if the other royals wille. Potentially one of the royals wille by within a few years." Walker didn''t want to say that they woulde right away since dragons could take their time.


    "They will certainly join in the battles at the coliseum. I want to test them the same they test us!" Scy was mirrored by Midnight who was equally excited for the opportunity. The pair didn''t seem to need any more encouragement to keep up their antics.


    "It is a very possible chance for them to arrive duringpetitions. I know from what I have heard that things had be more spread out the schedule. The adventurer''s guild is sending out their quests soon?" Su brought the topic back to tie things in. It fit well with the way the conversation was going.


    "Then we should be prepared. Even if what we know is minimal, the dragons are powerful and will get a respectful wee." Markus Raven had taken things in stride. He was calm and organized, taking notes to pass on to King August. He was much more than the head of the treasury now.


    "There''s no telling when they will arrive. We will treat them the same way as anyone else that has equal standing here on the council. I made it very clear that everyone here is equal." Su nodded along with Walker since she had been very clear as well. "They also know this as my vige so they wille to me first. It is odd, I know, but no matter what I said they called it a vige and not a city. I think it just has to do with tradition. They have dragon viges, branch viges." This was still not something that Walker fully understood but he just went with it because it was easier that way.


    "So this has to do with you being seen as a royal dragon, correct?" Alma wanted to be sure that it was all due to the standing that Walker had and that things would mostly revolve around that.


    "After he affirmed this with a nod, he decided it was best to exin that they may have more dragonsing to live with them. "So, there are rogue dragons. They were once part of their society but they were cast out as hatchlings. Those that survive lose their minds to hate and are no longer of the dragon race. They are a veryrge problem for nearly every dragon vige and we proposed a solution." Walker saw the disbelief in all of their eyes. He knew that every single one of them did not expect this of the dragons which were so highly regarded by all the other races.


    "We will give them a home here. They wille and join Genesis. They will grow up here. Learn to be equals, and be more powerful than they were expected and destined to be. They will be the same as Midnight with families and more. They will not be here as a tamed monster. They will be dragons still but they will learn and grow differently. They will be proof that standing equal and learning from all races is more beneficial." Su picked up where Walker had ended and Midnight looked as if she wanted to continue. She cursed herself for not shifting in to her dragonkin form and practicingnguage more.


    "We have already managed to get the royals working together with us and I believe that they will be able to work together even more. They had past events with nature dragons that seem to have had simr effects on their society. But it has been some time so they will take even more time to adjust and open up. But there are some that I believe will support it. What matters most, is the fact that there will be less rogue dragons causing danger and more hatchlings that have a chance to grow the way they desire. This is not a way to make Genesis more powerful. That will be up to the hatchlings. In the end, they will choose to stay or go." Walker made thest part very clear. He did not doubt that everyone would respect this but he had to be sure he said it clearly.


    "Midnight will take the lead on teaching them. She is the first to be growing here in Genesis and one of the founders as well. It will mean much more to any dragon hatchling to have her as a role model. I just hope that they are able to find their ces." Su had a lot of hope. The fact that there were hatchlings kicked from the nest hurts her deep down. Knowing that she could even y the smallest role in helping them made a world of difference to her.


    "Well, I agree. I think they will fit in pretty well. Just imagine a dragon minering up with diamonds and rare ores." The king of the deep caves found this to be an exciting turn of events. He was all in on the idea immediately.


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 Chapter 1226 - 1226. The Last Problem

    Chapter 1226 ¨C 1226. The Last Problem


    Not a single one of the representatives was against weing the rejected hatchlings in t Genesi. They all felt it was part of their jobs as leaders to find those in need homes. It was a singr value that they had seen within the party when they came to their homes and one that they strived to have in their own lives. There was a very good reason that they had found new homes within Genesis themselves.


    "We will dly help them make rtionships with the elemental spirits. We have had a decent growth in spirit mages since the younger elves have been brought here by their parents to see more of the world. I can even say that the number of elemental spirits being found and awoken is steadily increasing. Genesis might need more spirit mages sooner." Alma was not worried about more elemental spirits. What she was worried about was the mischief they may cause.


    "That means that there will be better farnd, right? We just need to be harder on the farmers learning from the demi-human experts." No one was able to argue with Scy. They all knew that when it came to producing food, the demi-humans had long beaten every other race. They had so many mouths to feed that it had been their only choice for their people.


    "I have seen you and that earth spirit work together. How would it be possible to work with them in the mines? How about diverting underwater rivers and streams?" The king of the deep caves had many ideas about how to make the process of creating an underground tunnel to the dwarven kingdom faster. He wanted to ensure that it was a safe and steady process.


    "I don''t see why that wouldn''t be possible. If we work with my spirit mages and the cksmiths to create proper tools, then there would be a high probability that you can use better skills with the earth elemental spirits." The idea seemed to make everyone a little interested in applications other than mining.


    "Well, that is all and good. But what about the building of homes for the merfolk and the water elves? We have been short on materials and can not wait for more from a path that has yet to be made?" Leon had seen that the dragons had been put on hold for now since the remainder of what Walker had to say might be small or just minor details. He pushed the conversation to another issue.


    "I have already contacted the merchant groups gathering. I believe they can supply them within the month. I also believe that a merchant association is forming between thergest ten merchant groups. I am very excited." Markus shared this news with a smile. He had numbers that he passed to everyone about the groups. They would ount for a significant increase in sales and peopleing in to Genesis.


    "That should be very good for regtions. I also think that the guards will have an easier time if something goes wrong." Walker''s thoughts were the same as everyone else''s. They all knew the tough regtions that were needed to keep a market operating safely and fairly. Many people would fake items or do unsavory things.


    "If it is the way the alchemy guild is regting potions then I will support it. My home has already begun to see a difference in the small number of potions sold there. The alchemy guild has sent very high quality potions with special seals on them to ensure safety. It is a very good practice." Remey aside, Scy was giving her honest opinion of the alchemy guild and their work so far. It had not gone unnoticed.


    "It''s good that they are doing well. All of the guilds seem to be settling in well. The crafting guild in particr has been a little rambunctioustely. They have a lot of members that joined who will be showing off their best items in their sponsoredpetition." Alma was very interested in this because a lot of the elves had met craftsmen that imed to make the best bows. It was a deadly serious topic for them.


    Part of Walker wanted to start getting more information about thepetitions but he knew he was getting ahead of himself. The adventurer''s guild was barely about to start things off and a lot of time would need to pass before things truly began. He nced at Su for a moment to make sure she was ready to jump in if needed. "I also need to let everyone know that my party will be leaving again for a some time. We will miss most of the start of the adventurer''s guildpetitions to gather herbs. We have an important family matter to investigate."


    Most knew that it was Onyx and his research that they were studying. However, since Onyx was in charge, Walker was holding back to be respectful. It was his way to let everyone know that it was something they needed to do themselves to help him and not everyone in the world going after abyssal serpents.


    "No problem. We did not expect you to participate. We will see you in other events and the adventurer guild''s event is for the lower tier adventurers. From what I understand your party should be promoted but to be fair it does not apply so much anymore. Your tier has superseded the highest at this point even though you are not the same strength level." Markus said what everyone knew. That was why ra had not pried in to another test for the party.


    "Thank you. And for the final topic, we need to speak about another problem the dragons have. They are called wyverns and were once rted to dragons. They areing this way." Walker silenced the whole room yet again.


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 Chapter 1227 - 1227. Demi-human Worries

    Chapter 1227 ¨C 1227. Demi-human Worries


    "What do you mean wyverns??" This was not an unfamiliar term to Scy. It was one that caused her to lose all the jow from the potential battles she could have against powerful dragons and dragonkin. It was something that made the entire room be colder.


    "There have been a few that crossed the ocean and tried to take territory from a darkness dragon. They ignored them at first but it caused them a lot of problems. What was worse was the fact that they are not intelligent and just fight and take territory. That is what really made the dragons unhappy. They were apparently once closely rted to dragons but one left to explore another continent and never returned. Instead, wyverns somehow came to be." Walker did not hide much other than who the dragon really was. He knew that Mordant would be investigating this as well and Walker left that up to him.


    "Then we will be going on high alert. I want guards watching the skies at all times. If there are wyverns around then they will be spotted and destroyed immediately." The energy that Scy had was enough for everyone to change their demeanors. She was ready for a real battle. No, she was ready for a war.


    "Can you fill in the nks here? I have no information about wyverns other than tales told by minstrels. Why are you so enraged by them?" Markus Revan had a lot of courage to look Scy in the eye and ask. It was extremely impressive how Walker had been able to see him change and grow in such a short time.


    "We lost eighteen fields, seventy farmers, and forty powerful warriors to one. Itnded in the fields and took up a few farm animals. The farmers were surprised and would normally chase out monsters no matter what they were. Before a general managed to get there, havoc had be the only way for this wyvern to exist. Those that survived described it as mindless fury that burned up thends, cut down people, and tried to make the world unlivable. Those people do not go in to the fields any longer." Scy had not been the general that made it to the wyvern, but she had seen those that survived. She had never seen fear like that before.


    On top of thesting scars, thend that had been burned by the wyvern had still not properly recovered. It took so many generations just to get it to grow the toughest crops they had. The delicate fruits and vegetables that used toe from those fields were lost along with those that defended them. The demi-human society made a habit of having stationed aerial weapons from that moment on in the fields.


    "Then it will be best if the archers and demi-humans coborate to prepare proper defenses. We have some set up but not enough to protect from a dragon like monster. It would also do us good to recruit more mages in to the guards. We need to diversify." There was no hesitation as Alma began to jump in to these ideas. She had wanted to expand the guards to a more diverse group earlier but had held back from the optimal time. With so many peopleing in to Genesis, it was the perfect time and perfect reason.


    "I can''t argue with that. The wyverns are a problem that seems umon but one that will get worse as theye this way to look for new territory. I don''t know why they woulde here and leave their homes. That is a problem we can''t understand until we look at thoseing across the ocean. But they mostly head to the northern cities across the desert." They all knew the geography that Walker spoke of. The divide between the cities wasrge but not impossible to traverse.


    "Then we head across. I think we can n an expedition with some of the strongest and brightest. Some of the healers have already left to cross with their personal guards. That is where the grand cathedral is. They are sure to hear information but do not know to gather it. We can just send more people while we recruit." The king of the deep caves knew this wasn''t an issue that needed rushing. They could take their time to properly prepare.


    "Wait, does that mean that Genesis will be looking to create rtionships with those across the oceans? That is not something that has happened many times in the history of this continent. Most only travel to explore or change their fates. There has never been a need for rtionships and treaties." Since this was the case, Leon wasn''t sure what was about to be suggested and wanted it all to be clear.


    "Genesis is growing. I agree. Yet, ask yourself, what will happen when we unite as a continent? The demonnds are really the only ce that we have not brought peace to. The othernds were already at peace and just needed to find a way to see each other as equals. The dragons are in the process and so will the demons soon. What next? Do we pretend the world is only so small?" This was something Walker knew would one daye to be. He knew that everyone would look across the ocean someday. If they started now then they would be able to peacefully find equal standing with other races, other societies, and other potentials.


    "Then we will show them our might!" Scyll recovered from her seriousness and embraced the trip. She had not considered traveling in such a way.


    "While my people are not known to travel across the deep oceans. It has been done. Let me have copies of maps brought over for the next meeting." Leon stood and left at that. The meeting had ended.


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 Chapter 1228 - 1228. Awe

    Chapter 1228 ¨C 1228. Awe


    Part of Walker felt bad that the meeting had ended so fast. However, he saw that there was a lot to do and it was understandable that they leave to begin preparations. Scy and Alma left together. They had to formte ns to begin putting in the aerial defenses through fields, the city, and even the outer patrollednds. If a wyvern was to arrive before they had prepared then it would be on them for not moving fast enough. They needed to be proactive.


    The king of the deep caves was surprisingly speaking to Markus Raven. The idea about the merchant groups bing a merchant association that was equal to the guilds was a very big deal. As much as the king of the deep caves was more of a miner and not a king that dealt with other races, he had a responsibility. He could get his people in touch with those forming this group and make better progress.


    There were no other races that cared about quality more than the dwarves. They took spectacr pride within their creations. That was one reason for the golems being used to do so much. It was why they became known as the race that produced the best and most crafted items. It was why some would rte them to the tales of dragons. A dragon''s pride and a dwarven pride were very close.


    What do you two want to do now?" Walker didn''t want to assume that Su and Midnight didn''t have ns for what they wanted to do. He knew that he had their own desires but felt that it would be better to stick with them.


    "I was thinking of going to the cathedral. I know that Alice and Onyx went there and it would be interesting to see what they were able to achieve from their training." Su also felt that she could improve the light shield since she was not very adept in using it still. Not to mention, if Walker was going to head there she could work on her control of other elemental manas. The sooner she reached understanding in all elemental mana the sooner she could focus on sensing and using them to create defensive skills that would help her protect all that was dear to her.


    Midnight wanted to see Onyx as well. However, she wanted to see how the heavenly serpent was developing. The fact that they might have another family member was very exciting. She believed that even though Alice would be raising the heavenly serpent, that it would look to Onyx like a brother. That made it a sibling to Midnight as well. She couldn''t resist the fact that she would be an older sister to another baing. It just built on the experience she would have to help the dragon hatchlings when they came as well. She wanted to be the best example possible. There was also the potential for battle. She wanted to see the skills that Onyx grew while she was away. She had the imagination to create brilliant fantasies about the darkness and light elemental mana he would use.


    "Then the cathedral it is." Walker didn''t hesitate. He wanted to see this arrow rain song that Alice used. He thought that he might get inspiration and be able to better train his dance of seasons. The sooner he was able to make it muscle memory, the better. There was no telling when he would need to use such a skill at short notice. Especially since they would be going to investigate a ravine thought to have more abyssal serpents that most likely had never seen a human or any other monster.


    "I will walk with you then. I have to pass by there to ce a few orders myself." Leon already had a list of ces to stop to drop off orders for the homes being created for the other merfolk moving to genesis. They needed to have water diverted so that the home would be properly set up. The merfolk would risk their skin drying out if not nearby water. That was why the river being cleared of dangerous monsters like the kraken spawn was so important for them. They could be much safer and patrol the river. "So tell me, howrge were the other dragons? I can onlypare them to the one that came to help my people. I can''t imagine any beingrger." Leon was almost like a child. He was so excited.


    "Current is probably on the smaller end to be honest. I didn''t get the chance to see what they all looked like in their dragon forms since they met to speak in their dragonkin forms. But from the way they looked, I would say that the fire and earth elemental royals looked to be thergest. It makes sense because of their elemental affinities. Moving through the water if you are too bulky it would be tough. The earth and fire have to survive in tough rocky and evenva filled areas." Walker had figured this much out between the books and what he had seen. It was the same with any race or monster.


    "Ah, so they will lose speed for power. Too bad. I believed that the water affinity would be the best. Maybe they are the most elegant though. The fine control needed for this powerful strike I was told about by those that watched can''t be replicated."


    "You would be surprised. The light and wind dragons are more free flowing. Well, the wind for certain." Walker wasn''t sure what Rise was actually like. The light elemental mana seemed sharp at times but also healing. It was a very deceptive elemental manapared to darkness which was often confused for deception.


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 Chapter 1229 - 1229. Ways To Use Runes

    Chapter 1229 ¨C 1229. Ways To Use Runes


    The number of questions that Leon had about dragons was more than Walker, Su, or Midnight had imagined. Yet, the more he asked the more excited Midnight seemed to be. She was very happ[y to hear someone so interested in dragons and how the society worked.


    "Well, this is the cathedral. Thanks for the chat. It''s weird to think about the living so high in the mountains." Leon was off but now they could understand. The mountains were very different from the oceans where the merfolk lived. Yet somehow, in the mountains there were dragons with incredibly pure water elemental affinity.


    The cathedral was busy as usual. From what it looked like some of the musicians had been creating their own small groups to y together. This would help the cathedral use healing magics more times a day in smaller durations than just onerge concert. It was better to save the mana and heal more people. It was also the best way to heal more people in a day when the poption of Genesis was constantly increasing.


    A few of the healers and nuns waved as they entered. But it wasn''t really the best time for them to stop and chat since so many people were on the way out. It was more important for them to clean up the mess and start to prepare for the next concertter. "Su, isn''t that your friend over there? Is that a cello? I thought he yed a different instrument?" Walker was surprised because it was normally a very rare case for anyone with a musical based system to change the instrument that they yed.


    "He said that he had a quest that was going to help him heal more people. I''m going to ask him how it went." Walker had never seen Su rush off so fast. He was contemting going with her but knew that she might want some privacy so that she could catch up. As much as he wanted to say that the meeting at the royal dragon court had been easy, they had been under a lot of stress.


    "Brother, why are you here?" Walker was called over by Onyx who seemed to have been speaking with one of the healers. The healer gave a wave and thanked Onyx before leaving.


    "Have you been helping the healers?" Walker found himself very curious how Onyx had managed to be able to help. It was clear that he didn''t have arms and legs so it would be hard to carry and move the things they indeed.


    "I have been able to wrap around certain patients and help themkeep them from bleeding on their arms and legs." The use of Onyx''s wrap skill was exceptional. Onyx could control the size of his body and had the muscles for squeezing. This was a brilliant way to help the healers heal while keeping the injured person from losing their health.


    "Nice job." Walker was honestly very proud to say this to Onyx. It was amazing how well Onyx learned and used what he knew. "I thought you would be with the egg. How has it been going?" He hadn''t asked Onyx the other night since they had talked mostly about training and improvements.


    "It is going very well. Alice and I have been condensing the light elemental mana. One of the rune smiths and light mages came over and helped us set up the room to hold the light elemental mana better. It is perfect and needs a lot less work. Come on and I will show you." Onyx seemed very excited about this development.


    Following Onyx, Walker was able toe to the room with the heavenly serpent egg. It only took a single nce to see the difference. The door itself had many runes in it all revolving around light. What really surprised him were the darkness runes on the door as well. "So they used darkness runes to help keep the light elemental mana away from the door." The use of opposite elemental manas to work with the desired purpose.


    Onyx pushed the door open right before Walker got too caught up in the runes used on the door. He quickly pushed it closed behind Walker to make sure that the mana was still in the room and would not flow out. The sound of Alice singing came in to focus making Walker''s jaw drop. The song she sang was sweet and bright. The pitches moved higher and higher with the words. Unlike the other songs, this was not one for battle so Alice did not make it impossible to understand. Instead, they could hear every word that called the light of day down to them.


    As it came to an end, Walker found that Alice had looked right at him with a smile. "I would ask how you were doing but from what I heard, you have gotten even better," Walker swore he saw Onyx give a smile, which seemed impossible for a serpent. The heavenly serpent egg seemed to be absorbing the condensed light elemental mana and had be even clearer. The outline of a curled up serpent seemed to show through as if it had a light behind it.


    Alice was looking over Walker carefully. "I''m not hurt anywhere. The royal dragon court journey went very well. We ran in to some troubles but made a lot of progress. Midnight is going to have some hatchlings to look after soon since they are being sent from other viges. Actually, where did your sister go? Onyx, did you see her when we came in to the cathedral?" Walker had somehow lost track of Midnight. For a moment he worried that she was using the shadow wrapping skill in revenge against him but after a moment still didn''t sense her. He just shrugged and focused on Alice and Onyx.


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 Chapter 1230 - 1230. Interesting Awakening

    Chapter 1230 ¨C 1230. Interesting Awakening


    As excited as Midnight was to try and battle with Alice and Onyx, she had seen something a little more interesting outside of the cathedral. Not every child would want to go inside to sit through a concert. It was just how they were, easily bored and full of energy. This was exactly why there was a group of them that had found the side yard of the cathedral to y in. But what caught Midnight''s attention was that some were ying with sticks like swords and pretending to use magic. She couldn''t resist the urge to join in and give them a little challenge.


    Midnight was not some mystery to the people and children of Genesis Whenever she and Onyx were in the cathedral they would help out with the children. It only made sense that their fame would grow. That meant that the second Midnight stepped in to view their eyes widened and they became more excited than before.


    "Loooookk!!! There''s a real dragon here!"


    "Her name is Midnight! You need to remember it. She the only dragon in all of the Genesisisis." The exmations continued but Midnight didn''t spend much time paying attention to them. She jumped forward and snapped up one of the sticks from a boy who had just been


    "Defeated". The reaction was again, instant.


    "The sword fighting dragon against me, the white night of magic?"


    "No, I, the spearwoman of mes will win!"


    "Ha! You two can''t beat me, I am the uhhh, the magic wind dancer!"


    The three children yelled their desired systems and pretended to use some skills here and there while Midnight had recruited the fallen child to join her. She tried her best to sh with the stick like a sword to the joy of the children but seemed to be pretty bad at itpared to what she had seen Walker do.


    "My fellow dragon swordsmen and I will use double dragon sh!!!!" The boy with Midnight picked up another stick and ran with Midnight at his side. However, he stopped halfway and nearly fell on the ground while looking in to space. All of them stopped wondering what had happened and if he had hurt himself. What was odd though was the fact that he had not cried or said anything in pain.


    "What''s a sword saint?" His small words were barely heard by the other children, however, this was something Midnight had heard before. She knew exactly what a sword saint was and had already grasped what was happening.


    In the blink of an eye, Midnight had grabbed the back of his shirt and hefted him on to her back. The other children were less confused and more excited so they ran right behind her as they went in to the cathedral. Her speed was just enough to be faster than the children could run. All the while, the boy on her back was totally lost in confusion. Yet, he was growing more and more energetic. A smile bloomed on his face as he realized what he had unlocked and that he had finally received his system.


    She found a group of parents that were chatting and smelled the same as the boy on her back in a split second. Theypletely dropped their conversation and looked at her in worry. "What''s wrong? Why the rush? Why is-"


    "Moooommmm I have a system!!!!!!" The boy screamed over everything his mother was trying to say. It was loud enough to draw attention from everyone around them. It also brought the attention of Su towards them since she had been talking with her string ying friend near the other healing musicians.


    "Midnight, don''t tell me you are causing trouble?" Su knew this wasn''t the case but seeing Midnight huff and shake her head quickly was a little funny.


    "What system? Slow down! Tell us what happened." The mother used the only voice that was sure to make any child stop in their tracks. The mom voice everyone feared regardless of their background.


    "Sword saint! Sword saint! Sword saint!" The boy started to run around shouting it constantly.


    "So that''s why you burst in here. That''s a pretty rare system. Good find Midnight." The praise made Midnight raise her head while the other children started to rambunctiously exin what they were doing and that they were pretending to y with swords. The simple act of using different sticks as swords had been enough to cause the one boy to awaken his system and cause the entire scene now.


    "If you need, I can see if any sword masters or other sword based system users are around the city. We have a few demi-human sword specialists around right now because they are in the coliseum working under General Scy. Just bring him to the Genesis building and we can figure things out." Su made sure to say this to the mother who was a little shocked. Her song was definitely not mature enough to have a sword yet he had such a system. She was thankful and quickly pulled him toward his father on the other side of the cathedral speaking to another group of people.


    The soft huff from Midnight was sad since the game she had started and ended so fast, but this was just the way things were. "Come on, I know you can share the storyter and surprise everyone. A sword saint is only born once in a generation at most. You met one before they were famous across the world. Plus, we can go and train with Alice and Onyx for a little bit." This managed to get Midnight moving again. She had been pretty interested in the new growth of Onyx and Alice. She wanted to test her skills against them since they had already bragged about their improvements a little. Not to mention she wanted to see how her little brother had improved since he wanted to lead the party on an adventure.


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 Chapter 1231 - 1231. Lets Train!

    Chapter 1231 ¨C 1231. Let¡¯s Train!


    "What was all that noise out there?" Walker had heard the yelling from the hallway while he, Onyx, and Alice went to find Su and see if she wanted to move to the back courtyard and train.


    "Well, Midnight managed to find a little boy that unlocked a sword saint system. So I expect the city will be pretty loud for a few months." This caused Walker to raise an eyebrow and look down at Midnight. Even Su seemed excited about this even though she was a shield user. The idea of a very high level system being discovered was interesting and frankly cool.


    "So that''s where you were. I thought you had ditched us and didn''t want to train. Of all the people to test Onyx, I expect it to be you." Midnight looked at Onyx and gave a slightly judging stare. She growled slightly in challenge which caused a few hisses from Onyx. The two stared each other down which was a littleical since they would never actually hurt the other.


    "Oh good. You are here this time. Now I won''t need to ask for someone toe and fix the mess they make." The high priest was walking outside with a cup and teapot in hand. He was clearly out to take a break after the first concert. It didn''t seem that he was very tired and all in all, he appeared in better health than usual. The atmosphere and increase in healers seemed to be taking a lot of stress off his shoulders as he neared retirement.


    "Have they really been making that much of a mess? I can set up a room in the mansion for them to help the heavenly serpent if you think that will make it easier. Then they can train and take care of the egg without worry." Walker wanted to keep the high priest happy too.


    "No! No, I can''t have them leaving. The other nuns and healers love watching them. I even had a few people be inspired by them and take on new duties around here. It''s good to have some energy around." It was very true that many had stopped to watch onyx and Alice train. What the high priest didn''t say was that five people that week had been able to unlock a light or healing based system by watching the two train. It was extremely impressive and helped the city as a whole.


    "Then we are good to go and see how much they have improved." Su pulled her twin shield off her back and nged them together. She was very energetic now that she had chatted for a bit and seen something fun. She wanted to get right in to it and see what had changed and what new skills she could work on. The focus she had was already driven by the royal dragon court but it had increased the entire journey back.


    Almost as if someone had called them. A group of nuns and healers seemed to appear around the edges of the courtyard to look over the walls or fences. The high priest took a seat on the small bench nearby. He was smirking as if he had predicted all of this from start to finish. However, he did not know what would be in store. There were more people participating this time. More pressure. More ways that those training before his eyes could change and learn. More ways to inspire others.


    Onyx changed his size and looked at Su who was much smaller inparison even though she was still muchrger than the average young woman. She had the stature to block some of the strongest hits while maintaining her footing. But even more than that, she had the will and aura of a dragon beyond her.


    "I don''t want this to be too easy. So, let''s make this a mixture of light and darkness elemental mana." Walker was tossing aside his apprehension for those watching. He instead channeled the light and darkness elemental mana around them. The sun was still uneven in the sky so there were plenty of shadows and spots of light that made the little courtyard ideal for conflicting elemental manas.


    The shadows seemed to extend while the patches of light grew brighter. Just a small amount of Walker''s mana was able to change the environment to a degree that would both enhance and challenge those who were using the two elemental manas. But what they did not expect was for Walker to be nowhere around them. They had clearly seen him call out and raise his hand. Yet when everyone tried to look at him they found nothing.


    "Walker, ying tricks already!?" Su mmed her shield together and charged at Onyx. the light enveloping her shield and adding an extrayer. Multiple skills folding on each other to cause her defensive prowess to increase. What was, even more, was the fact that she seemed to speed up. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her and her muscles were as good as new after walking around for the day so far.


    Naturally, Onyx used the shadows and the light elemental mand in tandem. He felt it cover his scales as he copied Midnight''s skeletal armor. But when horns of darkness elemental mana formed and sharp spines of light covered his back, everyone was in awe. It seemed that the skill he had used before had taken a new form. He had been training it to a perfect state slowly but surely and was now proving that the training was exactly what he had needed.


    "Brother, wherever you went, I will take you down after I beat sister and Su!" Onyx screamed mentally in a battle hardened state. He whipped his mana encased tail at Su as she approached.


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 Chapter 1232 - 1232. Broken Courtyard

    Chapter 1232 ¨C 1232. Broken Courtyard


    Just before Su and Onyx collided, there was a single arrow of light that fell between them. The soft song that began was not easy to understand. Even those that had heard it before were at a loss. Walker only made out a few words, in particr, falling light rain. This was the skill that Alice would be stuck with but would make it nearly impossible for those around her to avoid.


    The light arrows that fell like small needles were nothing to Onyx. he had trained against them constantly and now they just fell and became part of his armor. Midnight had a simr status. The small arrows that toucher her scales would break and dissipate. Yet they caused her a lot of annoyance since she felt the impact of each one.


    Since Su had the twin shield and had just reached Onyx, she did not worry about the light arrows falling around her. She mmed the shield in to Onyx''s tail and watched as it was nicked away. She was also kicked back slightly but not enough to even say there was a recoil.


    To say that there was chaos was an understatement. But that was where everyone was thriving. Midnight was using her agility to dodge the arrows while jumping over the swipes and ms from Onyx''s tail. When she would near Su, she would sh pr try and breath mes at her. It made for a very good offense as a defense strategy.


    Alice was hiding in some bushes which no one had even been able to notice. Since she knew she was at a disadvantage, she had taken the chance to hide while they were distracted by Onyx. it was not nned but the best use of the way the battle was going. Walker was impressed and almost felt bad for what he was about to do. But this was training, he needed to make sure everyone was vignt against those who hide themselves away.


    The reason he had improved the shadows and the light elemental mana was to make it harder for those around to catch him in sight while he used the shadow wrapping skill. Midnight wouldn''t have used it since she wanted to go head to head with Onyx in power. But Walker would dly use it so that he could challenge everyone. It was also the best way for him to show them that they shouldn''t just expect him to go in attacking. It was his personal challenge in training to them and himself. He had to learn to hold back and wait for the right moment.


    The right moment was when he found Alice in the bush using the song to her advantage. In that second, Walker forgot about controlling the darkness elemental mana. He instead looked at the soft mud below Alice''s feet. He used the water and the earth elemental mana to cause the mud to be thinner. Before Alice could realize what had happened she had started to sing in to the mud. This caused panic and the song to end. All of the light arrows falling began to disperse, freeing up everyone from the annoyance and the need to dodge. However, it also allowed them to realize where Alice and Walker were.


    Midnight used a powerful push of her wings to get herself closer to him. It caused Walker to jump back and lose control of the mud which gave Alice time to move. It also let her start singing a song of shields. It may not have been the solid condensed light shield that she had wanted it to be but it was still enough to block Midnight from going after her and Onyx''s tail from pushing her back. Instead, she found herself about to be cornered by Su who had used one shield to knock Midnight off bnce and the other to attempt to pin down Alice.


    Su had a lot of skill when it came to using both shields at the same time., it hade from hours and hours of training. Now that she had thefortable use of both, she was able to block and deflect at the same time. Onyx''s tail? Nothing to her, Su deflected it and caused it to hit Midnight away from them. Walker pulling out a sword? Nothing. Su blocked it then shield bashed to keep him at a distance.


    Unfortunately for Su, Alice had been training very hard. The next song she changed in to was a song of swords. It wasn''t enough for her to make multiple in an instant but it was enough to make one that caught her off guard. One sword that pushed her away and gave Alice the time to run away from everyone. She wanted to be able to sing [properly and create more swords while staying away from them. She had given up on the moves that slower her and stopped her from being able to dodge. They would put her in a bad situation.


    Since Onyx felt that his tail was not doing the job he changed tactics. He gave up on therger size and shrank down. It was time for him to condense the shadows and the light himself to create dull spikes. He would use them to create a field to his advantage just as Walker had done. Unfortunately, Walker sensed this. He could feel the change in the mana around him and he pushed back. This was now a battle to control the mana between them.


    This fight went on for a while causing many to look on in awe. The high priest had totally given up on the courtyard and garden looking nice. Instead, he just smiled while he watched how powerful and wise his daughter was bing. He remembered the pudgy faced baby girl he used to hum to sleep at night and wondered where the time had gone.


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 Chapter 1233 - 1233. Fighting Over Mana

    Chapter 1233 ¨C 1233. Fighting Over Mana


    " knew you would be here but¡­what happened?" Gil had been looking for the rest of the group after he finished with his business at the archery academy. He had to settle paperwork and also set the students up with some new mentors. He had goals for each of them while he was gone and left it up to themselves for motivation. He also promised he would help them make arrows when he came back seeing as a group of elves that he knew from the forest elf city wereing around the same time.


    "Well, they trained and destroyed the courtyard. But when the two of them started fighting over control of the mana they got a little out of hand." The high priest wasn''t really sure how it ended up like this to be honest. Yet, he could still feel the mana that had fluctuated and caused issues. He had healed people for many years and was very sensitive to any mana in the area around him. It was one way for a healer to be able to sense and purify mana that was causing lingering effects on a person''s wounds.


    "I take no me. None at all!


    " Su yelled out while she was bandaging a scraped elbow. "Onyx and Walker started their little battle over light and darkness mana. Then add in Midnight trying to breathe mes on top of it while Walker divided his focus to deflect them. On top of that, we have Alice manipting the light elemental mana to condense. All of that together and¡­.this."


    She hadpletely exined it and while there were small pits in the ground with some scorch marks. It had easily scared off the audience before they came back to look at the aftermath. It had also left everyone with some minor cuts and scrapes while ending their training. "I will heal you, just stay still." Walker was doing his best but Su was having none of it. She was taking care of her own wounds because she didn''t trust him at the moment to use mana.


    "And how are Onyx and Midnight already napping over there? Shouldn''t they be, you know, awake and a little off?" Midnight and Onyx had curled up on the edge of the courtyard sleeping soundly as if nothing had happened. The only signs were some dirt and shallow scratches on their scales.


    "Do you really need to ask how they can sleep? They used enough mana to make them tied and the pair could sleep anywhere anytime. I wouldn''t be surprised to see them get a sleepwalking skill or something." Walker had long thought that he would see Midnight get such a skill. She seemed able to sleep in the second she decided to do so without any issue.


    "And where is¡­Alice." Gil was still trying to catch up to how they had trained. Yet when he found Alice he wondered what had actually happened. She had mud up to her knees and there were leaves all in her hair. If Gil could guess, he would say she had been lost in a forest for weeks trying to find her way home. "You are all so lucky that Remey isn''t here too. She would have a field day with this." The slightugh made it even worse, however, Gil watched as Walker drank a few small mana potions and began to clean himself and the others up using his skills. The courtyard easily shifted back in to order making the high priest much happier.


    "So, rumor has it you are all leaving again. And Alice will be going with you." The high priest was looking much more serious now. The tea seemed to help him focus his gaze and make everyone feel the threat only a parent could wield.


    " Yes, I found rumors of my species and we will go and search for them. We have already made sure the heavenly serpent egg has plenty of food for while we are away. Alice will have the chance to work in a challenging environment to use light elemental mana while she is protected by everyone. It will make her and us stronger. It could be safe or dangerous. But she will be safe, I promise this." Onyx looked at the high priest taking full responsibility. He had been around a lot so the high priest perfectly understood Onyx''s desires. Yet, seeing how serious he was taking it was still impressive.


    "I will hold you to that. I know the rest of your family would say the same thing but you are in charge. I won''t pretend to be happy about it. I am sure it is the same for everyone''s parents and guardians. But know this, these old bones will leave this cathedral and charge right to you if need be. I will bring my daughter back. Don''t make me do that." Of course, the likelihood of this was low but the high priest wanted to be a little harsh on Onyx. He knew that it was the first time Onyx was going to be in charge of the party and felt it was better to act like any other sending adventurers out on an escort quest. Even though this wasn''t necessarily an escort quest but a research quest. "Well, I should get back to work. I have been teaching a few new healers the basics about feeling the mana inside another person''s body to find internal wounds. They have been quick to catch on. It''s more fun that way."


    "I think he was a little harsh but he was fair. When you are in charge again you might have people that say much worse about escorting or adding others in to the party. We have been lucky that ra deals with these things as our guild manager. But she won''t always be able to do that for small quests." Walker knew that ra had worked hard to do such things.


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 Chapter 1234 - 1234. Wind Affinity!

    Chapter 1234 ¨C 1234. Wind Affinity!


    "Are you really sure we should add the wandering dandelion seeds? They are part water elemental affinity." Remey was not too happy to hear that they were risking their potions creation at this point in time.


    "It will bnce everything out! The reason that the wind affinity potion has ashorter shelf life is because it evaporates and condenses too much. The additional water affinity ingredient will help it from doing that. Since it is also mainly a wind affinity ingredient then it will bnce and be perfect." The old master alchemist had already fought this battle with Trish who was silent in the corner watching to two repeat history.


    "Now! Add it now!" Trish saw that the potion suddenly began to heat up since it reached the perfect mana condensation period. The two had been arguing and forgotten what they were doing. They would lose the potion if they did not continue now. "Be slow and add the ingredients piece by piece. Let it adapt then add a lot." She used all of her experience to find and best wandering dandelion seeds.


    Dandelions were known for their yellow flowers but when they produce seeds they closed up and created little fuzzy white parts that carried the seeds throughout the fieldnds. It was an annoying spring urrence. Yet the wandering dandelion was a particr strain of dandelion that grew on the mountains and was carried high in to the rocky terrain to grow against all odds. It was an outlier among its species.


    The old master alchemist did exactly as Trish had said. The darker green and blue potion began to be more and more green while the most subtle hint of blue to the edges. When it reached that point, Remey mmed a lid on the cauldron. She started to throw ice around the cauldron while the old master alchemist extinguished the fire. They had used this method with their skills to properly cool it and save the most potion they could.


    They had seeded in the wind affinity potion but they had not made it seble yet. It was notsting long enough unless it was frozen. Then at that point, it was useless since it lost effects as soon as it melted. "Now just wait¡­" Remey was unsteady. They had focused on this since they came in to the guild that morning. Before she left for their trip to the ravine, she wanted results. She wanted to see this new potion shake the foundations of Genesis and everyoneing to thepetitions. Only having the water elemental affinity potion was too little for her. They needed more.


    With three alchemists cooling the single cauldron, they had a much better proficiency in doing so. Something that would have normally taken a single alchemist cool in hours was done in minutes. It was the level of expertise in using the skills and the fact that there were multiple. "You know, we might want to work on group potion making techniques." Remey had not thought of this as a ss option and was not thinking it might be better. Some potions required assistance anyways so having a group potion making ss could only expand the possibilities. That and there was the fact that students would be working in groups within their research and sses constantly. Alchemy had already changed in to groups without them publicizing it.


    "We can do that. I have some time to build a ss around that. I can use you as an example of what not to do." The old master alchemist whipped away sweat from his forehead while teasing Remey who just grunted as she flicked the cool cauldron in front of her.


    "Let''s just check the potion before you two start another fight." Trish popped the lid of the cauldron off and was greeted by a soft breeze moving through the room. It seemed that the air elemental mana had already reacted to the open potion which was a good sign. There was a simr effect when they purified and adjusted the water affinity potion form. "It looked like it has a very slow evaporation rate now. It needs cooler temperatures still but is very easily drunk. The vials should be¡­" She sifted through a crate and found one, "Runes carves with water and air in mind. Perfect. I would say we have the final product for a mid tier wind affinity potion. If we want a high tier we can use this technique but better herbs."


    "This is perfect. With so many people that wille from the other kingdoms and even dragons¡­we can make sure that we get those herbs. Who knows what the adventurers will find." Remey couldugh for hours thinking about what they might find.


    "That''s good to know since I have two more theories written already." The old master alchemist had not been idle. He had proposed ideas to a ss on herbs and their elemental affinity. He had been researching these thingstely and now he was what could be considered an expert in them.


    "More? Already?" Trish was stunned. She didn''t believe that the old master alchemist could be so amazing. It was as if he was getting younger and more energetic by the day.


    "Earth and fire affinity potions. I found ingredients and potential techniques to use with skills. I have to find them and test things but when we start thepetitions I should be able to demonstrate them to a crowd. We can pick one and share it. Send everyone home with some wonder." This was the idea. Share a free lesson with those who showed up to thest day of thepetition. Attract all the wonder and grow exponentially. It would shock the world to the point that they would only ever trust and regard the alchemy guild with respect.


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 Chapter 1235 - 1235. Dont Worry

    Chapter 1235 ¨C 1235. Don¡¯t Worry


    "I swear, busier and busier every day. Tomorrow I have to make an announcement to all of Genesis. How do I do that!" ra was speaking to herself mostly. But Barry was still in the room and was not having her chickening out of it.


    "You are the only one that could represent the guild like that. Where we have power. You have the wisdom and system to make it work. Why do you think you will be considered the best master of the adventurer''s guild in the future? This is a title you are guaranteed to have. You have a system made for this. A will able to withstand anything, and, you control the most powerful warriors that can cross kingdom borders at will." Barry was not wrong. ra shouldn''t fear speaking to a single city when she would send adventurer''s throughout the continent from now on.


    "I know you are right but that does not make it easier. The dwarves made some crystal and light magic invention with the elves and they say I will be seen by everyone the night of the announcements. I don''t like that. I will look weakpared to the idea of what adventurers should be." The idea that a slim woman like her was the head of the adventurer''s guild was what she worried about. Looks meant a lot to themon people. They looked at a soldier and expected powerful people. Not someone weak. That was the same with adventurers.


    Her party may have shocked people by looking young, but they also had a dragon with them. Perfect gear, and a reputation that everyone gossiped about. Not many knew that she was the respected leader of that party. "Wair, they are going to stand behind me when I present. I will make them wear their best and show the entire city that I am with powerful people as well. You too! Don''t try to sneak away. You will be there and leave tomorrow night instead." ra had given Barry the quest from the Genesis council to head toward the mountains to deal with some rogue dragons. But he would now be leavingter and have to make up the time somehow.


    "I should have known this would happen. I will wear my armor too instead of my usual." Barry didn''t like wearing armor since it slowed him down. But now he would do it for this one time. He would dly make sure that the guild master was respected the same way he was as the vice guild master. "Also, use that skill that makes most adventurers quiver like a leaf in the wind. I don''t know what it is but it really works well. Your system gave you something good."


    "Wait! What a star-" The door was closed and Barry was gone. "What stare is he talking about? I don''t have such skills¡­" ra mumbled to herself while she began to write her short speech. she didn''t want to be the one that started off the months ofpetition and economic growth since it would put a lot of pressure on the people starting anew. However, she knew it was the best way for the city to begin its growth and push them in to a higher tier of living to put them even with other cities.


    "Miss! Miss!" One of the younger adventurers had rushed to the open counter on the first floor of the adventurer''s guild. Many had been showing up and hanging out in the lower level to listen to rumors and decide on quests. Just because some high level parties had managers didn''t mean all did. It was often decided by the party leader what would happen and what quests would be taken.


    "And how may I help you today? You look full of energy, a big quest?" The female staff member was slightly surprised since the boy had only just realized she was a demon. This was one of the first demons to have been rescued and she had managed to find a home and a job within Genesis. The adventurer''s guild had weed her well and she could not think of a better ce to be.


    "Uhmm- yes! I was looking for quests but I heard that there would be a big quest released soon by the guild? One that could help us move up to the next tier?" The boy quickly got over seeing a demon and went on to ask his questions. He had heard the rumor earlier that morning and was waiting with his party to see if there would be more information. He finally decided to rush up to the counter and ask.


    "Of course, many are interested in that. There will be an announcement tomorrow night. The guild will y arge role in thepetition kick off. The adventurers at your level are wee to participate and encouraged. Even if you do not move up a tier you will gain a lot of connections, experience, and be a step closer to moving up a tier. I highly rmend you prepare for at least a week or two of adventuring." This was the same thing many staff members had been saying. Yet it was more than the boy had.


    "Thank you so much. I will get everyone ready as soon as possible!" He rushed away as if he was on fire. The three other members of his party watched his expressions and knew that the rumors were true and they would be able to get a quest that would push them higher in to the guild rankings. They wanted to be the next heroic party. The next party to travel to cities they had never been to. They wanted to discover an entirely new world that no one else had seen for generations. It was their time to shine.


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 Chapter 1236 - 1236. Personal Project?

    Chapter 1236 ¨C 1236. Personal Project?


    "You all look pretty happy. What happened?" Remey was thest one home and found the entire party in the dining hall by the fire rxing.


    "Long story short they caused a big mess and are finally cleaned up. Training was a little rough. I had to train alone since they were pretty much tapped out." Gil still felt it necessary to tease everyone a bit. It made sense since he felt a little left out after not being able to work on his dagger arts under pressure.


    "If you need to get beat up I can work on my skills with you. I have been in theb all day and need to burn off some steam." Remey tried to do her boxer''s bounce from side to side but her body betrayed her. They all saw that she stumbled slightly from how much mana and energy she had burned.


    "Maybe in the morning. I will be up early to send off my archers. They have their own goals and three of them are leaving with a merchant to guard them and work on their long range sniping." Since Gil had to do this, Remey thought it would be good to add in that training.


    "Just don''t train too hard. I got a message from ra that we have to go and meet her in our best gear tomorrow night. Apparently, she needs help with the announcement starting the guild quests for thepetitions. The notices were posted but that was all. People don''t know details and it will be a big deal. I expect the guards to have some extra work tomorrow." Walker knew it was a little short notice but no one had made other ns. They looked forward to seeing ra too since she was always so busty and they did not head to the guild building as often as they could.


    The rest of the party readily agreed and decided to meet right in front of the Genesis building when they needed to meet up with ra. The rest of the night was quick since they were all fairly tired and needed sleep to get ready for the next day.


    "What are you working on out here?" Walker found that Onyx was not at the cathedral and was actually outside in the morning sun as it rose. He thought that Onyx was just rxing and absorbing the light elemental mana but he found that the dragon golem was also there. It had been helping out in the forges and the fire spirit that called it home had been greatly enjoying the experience.


    "Brother! I was training. The golem is much tougher than the ground so I can see how well I can make my light and darkness spikes." The golem proceeded to swing its tail and crack one of the shadows that had ford in to a spike in half. "I realized that they are too weak because I have no idea how to condense them equally. I have the skills to condense the light elemental mana because I train it with Alice. But I have fallen behind. I might need this while exploring."


    "That''s a good idea. If you fell behind then you would have some trouble with one of the things you should be the best at." Walker was very impressed that Onyx had managed to realize this and taken the time before they left to prepare. He also knew that Onyx was taking this as seriously as possible. But what was even more surprising was that he found the dragon golem and the fire spirit to train with him. It was an opponent none in the party had actually trained against very much. That meant that Onyx was also broadening his horizon with training partners.


    "Condensing the light is easy since it is in the air and the warmth. But the shadows are harder since they fluctuate more than the light. But if I use my own shadows it is easier. I think that there is a connection with my mana and my shadow already since I hide my true size there." The connection that Onyx felt was indeed this. He was an abyssal serpent and their nature let them hide within shadows. Since that was the case he would always have some of his mana bleeding away in to his shadow.


    "Are you joining us? Or do you have ces to go?" Onyx wanted to keep training this way but knew that Walker might end up adding some positive insights.


    "I was actually going to head toward the market and grab a few things. I wanted to see how everything was growing and if there were more people around with unique items. I also have to stop by the wandering cksmiths to tell him about the dragons and theming to visit. He will have to do the teaching since he is the best around. That, and he made the circlets we gifted the dragons." It was understandable that Walker would need the wandering cksmith. He was not confident in making anything near the quality of the wandering cksmith whose title and works were renowned.


    "Then good luck and say hello for me!" Onyx had also met with the wandering cksmith recently for a personal project. Unknown to the rest of the party, Onyx had been taking on small jobs here and there between training and meeting with various adventurers to find information. He didn''t want to rely on everyone else for gold to spend. Not that the rest of the party would avoid giving it to him. But he still wanted to rely on himself.


    "I will, good luck. And I''m d you are enjoying the golem. Remember that you have a one of a kind dwelling golem. Maybe with your hello, you can share your experiences with other spirits." An excited buzz rang through the dragon golem after it thumped its tail on the ground. Walker just gave a wave and headed away.


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 Chapter 1237 - 1237. Excitement

    Chapter 1237 ¨C 1237. Excitement


    Walker wasn''t really sure what Onyx had gone to speak with the wandering cksmith. But it just went to show that he was keeping everything in order to prepare for their journey to research the ravine. It was a very important event for him so it wasn''t too hard to make sense of it.


    Since he had left while the sun had just begun to rise, the streets were mostly clear. Walker greeted the few people out on deliveries and even passed by a few new shops opening their doors. "Seems like a lot of the shops have been rented out so far." Walker mostly spoke to himself but also to Fleur who had been clinging to his shoulder all morning. She had finished her resting and was ready to take a look around for the day.


    Her slight nod was halted when she noticed a stand selling arge quantity of flowers. "Huh, we even have a flower shop now. I would have guessed an herbalist would be behind that but it looks like someone who specifically grows flowers found a ce." The growth of a society didn''t just have the basics and this meant that they would have flower shops and other such stores. Overall it was very interesting finding a new shop that signifies Genesis growing properly.


    The sudden stop in his movements shook Fleur slightly causing her to harumph in his ear until she looked ahead. The wandering cksmiths'' shop waspletely packed with forged items. Small daggers, single handed shields, kitchen knives, jewelry waiting for gems, and even more inside and outside. It seemed as if a dragon''s hoard of goods had spilled in to the streets.


    "What could he be doing to make so much?" Walker pushed passed all the goods set up to find that inside was another mess. "Before I can get in here I''m fixing this!" His shout went unheard as a soft muffled nging came from the direction of the forge in the back.


    Fleur decided to explore the shop while Walker calmed himself by moving everything in to organization. He knew that the wandering cksmiths must have a reason for making so much so fast but this was ridiculous.


    After an easy hour of moving things had passed, Walker looked around the outside and indiscernible of the sales area. "Swords down to knives along this wall. Shields here. Then armor parts, basic tools, and finally the repair equipment. It''s all in order." The soft poke on his cheek from Fleur was his victory reward since she had been enjoying the game she made up of hiding behind things while he organized and found her.


    "Hey, where are you!?" Walker called out since he had finally heard the nging end. The back room was a fog of coal dust and heat that seemed impossible to breathe in. Walker was forced to use wind maniption to cause a breeze to push it all out the chimney of the forge.


    What was revealed was a coal stained cksmith holding a perfectly shiny dagger in his hands. It had runes carved on it while also having many new patterns that reminded Walker of vines and flowers. "Been making a few items, hmm?" His look of wonder was all too clear. "Hope you don''t mind but I cleaned up a little." This snapped the wandering cksmiths back to reality. It also let Walker have a better look at the dagger and use his all around appraisal.


    ''Ornate forest dagger


    +4atk, +2def, water and earth affinity


    This is an ornate dagger created for specific ceremonies honoring the earth and water spirits thate together as the base of a forest. This dagger is never expected to see battle and instead be used to carve through rare dried herbs to burn in honor of the spirits. It has the ability to enhance the water and earth elemental affinity of the user and cause their mana to flow more smoothly in rtion to these elemental manas.''


    It was a very impressive dagger even though it did not have high boosts to attack and defenses. Yet the elemental affinity the dagger had meant much more. It was able to help the user influence elemental manas. There was also the fact that it was ceremonial for the forest elves meaning that this was a special order the wandering cksmiths had been working on.


    "Just some things in boredom." The wandering cksmiths spoke softly. He ced the dagger in a leather sheath and checked the sales floor. He showed a small smile seeing everything organized and nodded in thanks to Walker.


    "I''d like to say I came to just check in but I might have something to get rid of your boredom." There were not words for how Walker felt about the fact that the wandering cksmith had made so much just because he was bored. But it was who he was and that would never change.


    "I managed to impress the dragons with your circlets. So much so that they will be sending some dragonkin cksmiths to learn from you and the elves about true spirit forging. One of them already had a partner that greatly enjoyed the darkness dwelling circlet."


    For a moment there was a look of joy, then the excitement took over. The wandering cksmith knew he would be able to learn more about the draconic runes and add them in to the newly discovered runes, the basic runes, and his own runes he had begun to form. There would be a massive new boost to his repertoire. He would not be bored for a long time. "When?"


    "They should be looking toe in a month or so if they can wait that long. That''s my estimate." Walker watched as the wandering cksmiths grabbed the nearest paper and began to scribble down a list of must order materials.


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 Chapter 1238 - 1238. The Growth Of Genesis Markets

    Chapter 1238 ¨C 1238. The Growth Of Genesis Markets


    There was no point in sticking around. As far as the wandering cksmiths was concerned, Walker could be a ghost. He was fully entranced by the fact that he was going to be learning a ton of new things while also teaching dragonkin. It was good though, he looked to have found something that the wandering cksmith was excited for. It would also be something that could help him from wandering off in search of a new material for months on end. Part of Walker knew that this would always be a possibility. Luckily, he trusted the wandering cksmith to ask the party to be his escort.


    "Is the shop open!? Is the cksmith taking requests!?" A dwarf caught Walker''s attention on his way out before the dwarf saw all the forged items. "I need to go get everyone. This ce had been empty for weeks!" There was no doubt in Walker''s mind that there would be a lot of drama in the next few minutes if he didn''t move away from the area.


    "Let''s just head toward the market. I bet those elves have a full store and not arge stall anymore." Fleur seemed to be interested in the idea since most of the things that came from the forest had denser natural mana. She liked that she would be able to feel it and explore the market with Walker.


    It took them only a few minutes to reach the food area of the market. Many small stalls were run by those that dealt with farmers. Some were closed and had signs that said when they would open. They were bought by the new local farmers that would be able to sell the Genesis produced vegetables and fruits. Walker was really looking forward to the day that he would be able to say that he bought a Genesis apple.


    Saying that the space had been changed was an understatement. There were many stalls that simply were not there any longer. Instead, there was arge courtyard with multiple signs in the middle. They listed growing seasons, local farms, and even better, merchant information. They were perfect for those avid foodies that would chase down ingredients for restaurants or personal use. It was naturally a ce that was crowded by employees of local restaurants as they hunted down their future menu ideas. The city got busier every day and food would be a major yer when it came to ie.


    "I think that is what we are looking for." Walker read a sign that said, forest elf tradingpany. That alone was enough for him to want to go and take a look. "Wow." He was stunned. After opening the door he found a lot more than he expected. Not only food lined some walls and bins. But there were many items that he had seen in the forest elf kingdom.


    An entire section was separated for crystal charms with runes on them. They would not have a major effect on someone wearing them but they would have a slight effect. "Those could work really well to help children understand mana and possibly unlock magical systems." Fleur was already gone. She went right to the area to enjoy the mana while Walker looked around.


    ''If it isn''t the hero. Wee back. I am d you found us again." The fact that the hero hade yet again made the forest elf merchant very happy. He waved over the other two that were helping staff therge shop. "I have some interesting ingredients you can take to your mother. She recently signed a spice deal with us. We are very excited to see what she makes. Those sticky buns have really taken the elves by store. No animal product in it at all, perfectly bnced with nature and fruits. She''s a genius."


    The forest elves were not necessarily against eating animals, but they valued hunting in moderation. Therefore, their diet had a lot more fruits and vegetables than other races did. That was the main reason why they had such a love for the sticky buns that Walker''s mother had begun to sell. If anyone told them that they were made just to attract business from the elves then they wouldn''t even be able to argue against it.


    "Who am I to say no? I will bring them to her. I''m impressed that you already have a shop. Business must be good." There were some small magic items including the water spikes. However, it appeared that the stock was running low.


    "We have a hard time getting enough here at once. Many people areing to buy and then bring elsewhere. We are taking the market by storm. If we didn''t have more elvese from the city and help form a group then we would have been washed away by orders." The threeughed. "I won''t push anything on you while you are here but feel free to look things over." The advice that Walker could give would be very valuable.


    "Well, to be honest. You might want to sell a guide tomunicating with the forest elves. I notice thews and regtions around Genesis building and the adventurer''s buildings. But you should have them too. It will make more sense to sell them here since you might get people that want to visit your home." The idea was simple and just seemed to bemon sense.


    "Of course! If we make a small guidebook people mighte and visit more often. We will take that idea. Don''t worry, we won''t leave your name out of it." The simple idea had passed right over their heads in the busyness. They had too much going on. But it had been enough to let them talk amongst themselves while Walker took a look and basked in the growth of Genesis for a little while.


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 Chapter 1239 1239. Arrow Tag

    "Keep moving! How can I let you go off on your own to hunt if you stand in one ce every arrow you shoot!" Gil was one of five that were instructing the ten archers moving about the archery academy training area. They were given arrows made with cotton ends to fire at each other. It was a simple game of don''t get hit while hitting others. So far, there were a lot of problems being found in the methods that the students used.


    "None of them are even trying to sneak. They are using the environment we set up to block arrows, yes, but surprise attacks seem far from their minds." One of the other instructors was a fairly tall forest elf enforcer. He was extremely skilled in making himself invisible within a forest which was surprising due to hisrger stature.


    "I know, that''s what worries me. What happens when theye face to face with a monster and can''t draw attention to themselves? They will need to stay hidden." This was disappointing because they had already gone over the lessons in sneaking. Most had even been able to copy it and pass small tests.


    "We might be better off introducing someone sneaking to them. Maybe that will stop them from standing so tall to aim from so far." another younger forest elf enforcer pointed out two of the students that were aiming for each other from across the training area. They ignored everyone else and adjusted their shots without moving a single step. They were prime targets for any arrow. It was almost as if they were waiting for their opponent to strike.


    "Then all of us are joining them. We have the cotton arrows for it. We can even sneak up with sheathed daggers. Who cares if it scares them. That will be even better." Now one instructor was a little rough around the edges. The man that hade to Gil was from the demi-human city. He was a mix of tiger so it didn''t make sense that he was a light footed archer type. However, his personality also betrayed him as not being an archer. The only way that he showed he was an archer was the bow on his shoulders, of course, that was until Gil saw him shoot.


    The style of archery that the man had used was aggressive but silent. The speed and power behind every arrow was shocking, to say the least. What made everyone even more impressed was that the man could seamlessly disappear from sight in seconds. It was as if he was a predator battling and sighting another prey in the wild. The rough personality hid away the gem of an archer he was. It was as if it was an act to bait in prey.


    "We might as well follow Lester. He will just take them all down if we don''t join." Thest instructor that Gil had found was a quiet guy but a pretty skilled one. He was a forest elf that had not had a system. However, when he gained it after Pride had been defeated and some corruption had been cleared, he skyrocketed. He had be a genius that was suddenly able to use all the archery skills he had attempted to learn years ago. He was no longer a walking archery manual but instead, the best archer around with tons of potential.


    "In we go, try and keep up. We are in this game too now." Gil smirked and ran in to the mess of obstacles they had set up for the students. He snagged a quiver of cotton arrows and rushed off.


    "This will be fun! Use the wind to take them out! I want to see you change directions!" Zephyr was ready to y this game. She had wanted Gil to start using the wind more and more but held her tongue. Gil needed the dagger techniques the same as archery. She preferred his safety over the fact that he would use the wind elemental mana more. She could wait.


    "Just watch. You and I will make some impossible shots happen." Gil had yet to grasp the ricochet skill, yet, he had the ability to push the wind here and there to change the direction of the arrows. Thus, he feltfortable aiming longer distances at targets with the blunt cotton arrows that would not easily hit their targets. That was another challenge of the game, it replicated damaged arrows so it made everyone adjust to the specific bnce of the arrow that they picked up in their hands and notched in the bow.<sub> </sub>


    "First target, student running through the middle of the open area in the center." Tracking the student running was easy. They ran in a straight line without any idea that someone was watching them. Gil notched the arrow and felt that it would not make it the full distance due to the weight. He used his bond with Zephyr to add wind around the arrow and released it.


    The tip of the arrow didn''t even have time to start arching downwards. He had added the wind elemental mana and it was able to stabilize the arrow enough to keep it moving. In the blink of an eye, it hadnded and bounced off of the student''s shoulder while Gil had already fallen back and disappear behind another obstacle. The student just looked around stunned since he had been tagged by a ghost.


    ? The same urrence happened to a lot of the students and before they knew it they had backed themselves up in to groups of two and three. They couldn''t mark down where the arrows wereing from and what they should do. The instructor felt that it was very amusing until they caught one of the students finally trying to hide and catch them in the act of firing the arrows. "About time they caught on. Let''s kick it up a notch." Gil notched three arrows at once while smiling, he was having fun now.


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 Chapter 1240 1240. Cracked

    "Knock Knock. Are you two in there?" Walker had made his way to the cathedral and looked for Alice and Onyx. he thought that they would be training again but found them nowhere to be seen. It meant that they could only be in one ce, the heavenly serpent egg room.


    ? When he had pushed open the door, he had found that the room was filled with extremely condensed light elemental mana. It was radiating through everything and even made rainbow fluctuations in the air. The pair must have been working very hard. "What''s wrong? Why do you look like you are about to cry?" Walker found that Alice was on her knees with a trembling lip and Onyx was moving around with a lot of stress.


    "It cracked! The egg cracked! But we didn''t do anything and we don''t know why. Is it hurt? Can you appraise it?" Onyx threw his thought loudly at Walker. There was a moment that he needed to take before he could respond since it had been so loud.


    "Let me see, just breathe alright?" Walker could feel that the mana within the egg was still growing. For whatever reason, it had a small crack but that seemed to be the ce that the mana was being drawn to. Part of him just knew that everything was going to be fine.


    ''Heavenly serpent egg (hatching phase)


    The hatching phase of a heavenly serpent eggsts for anywhere between five and fifty five days. The higher light elemental mana density in the area will influence the speed of hatching. Once it hatches the shells will dissolve in to the light elemental mana and be food for the newly hatched heavenly serpent egg. This is the ideal time for someone to contract this as a tamed monster if that is the goal. This heavenly serpent egg has roughly forty days remaining until it hatches regardless of mana density.''


    "We are going to find someone that can make magic scrolls. I have no idea how to put my skill in to a scroll and you need it as soon as possible." The blood contract skill was one that Walker had only used twice. However, he wanted Alice to be able to use it and bond with the heavenly serpent. He had not expected that there was an optimal time to do such a thing but since there was, it had to be done. They needed to figure this out.


    "So it''s not hurt! It''s hatching. Was I like this? I don''t remember the day so well." Onyx couldn''t recall it so well. He could remember absorbing some light elemental mana but more or less being incredibly tired. Then he slowly learned by watching until he could move about and do more.


    Walker sped a hand around Alice''s arm and started to pull her out of the room. Onyx was close behind. He had the idea that the mage tower would have an arcane something or other to help make a scroll. He had some paper but had not learned the runes or skills necessary to engrave any skills in to a scroll. Therefore, he needed someone with experience to ensure that they would be able to get it before they left for the ravine.


    "Brother, you''re moving too fast!" Walker stopped and realized that Onyx was right. He had let himself get too excited and pulled Alice along without letting her adjust her shoes for running. His apologies came out in a jumbled mess that ended up making her giggle. The single peal ofughter nearly stopped his heart.


    Once everything was all set, the three moved quickly through the streets. They had be much busier as the morning had gone on. Walker was sure that Onyx had already trained hard with the dragon golem earlier but now he was getting a second round of training in dodging. He felt a little bad since Onyx was going to be the leader and they needed to be upter in the night to help ra. Overall, he was sure that Onyx would be a little more tired than usual for the next morning when they would set out for the ravine in the fields.<sub> </sub>


    The mage tower was still very busy since there were so many possibilities. The runes alone attracted people who just wanted to see a building made for mana and magic. But the real draw were the many books and elemental rooms within the tower. Walker clearly remembered the copied consciousness left behind in the tower searching for a grand mage to reign over it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the consciousness was still slumbering in wait. That wasn''t the biggest deal since they had just begun to research the tower in Genesis.


    "I know there are some mages that have set up little stalls and shops around the tower. The training area is still being finished so it is off limits. But we should find someone making skill scrolls." Walker looked through and found many mages selling mana crystals and magical staffs. The fact that so many robes were on disy was actually a little annoying since he wanted to find something specific but couldn''t see past them.


    Suddenly, Alice pulled on him and Walker was the one being dragged away while Onyx chased. She had spotted a small stall hidden between a few robes and mana crystal stalls. The entire thing was basically just arge rug covered in rune covered papers along with a few ink brushes. "Can you make magic scrolls that store skills?" Alice spoke very politely and attracted the attention of the elderly man sitting in the middle of everything.


    "Why yes, I can. You would be the first customer of the day. Is there a specific skill you are looking for? I have some leftover from past customers that made extra copies and did not need them." The man slowly started to organize the scrolls before he realized that Walker and Onyx were there too.


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 Chapter 1241 1241. Arcane Scribe

    "We are actually looking to put a skill in a scroll so she can use it." Walker seemed a little skeptical and started to check out the scrolls with all around appraisal skill. He didn''t want to be in the position where they had a bogus scroll that didn''t even work.


    ''Ice arrow spell - 10 mana cost


    Higher mana cost due to the activation and gathering of ambient water elemental mana. This skill can create a singlerge arrow of ice that is propelled toward any target. There is a chance for it to causesting freezing damage to a target if they are pierced.''


    ''Low appraisal spell- 3 mana cost


    This skill can appraise any item to a very basic level. It can get the most general information and often the name of what the item is. This can not be used on living beings nor can it be used on monster corpses unless they are broken in to pieces.''


    ''Empty rune inscribed spell scroll


    This is a very carefully made scroll using a specialized rune formation unique to arcane scribes. The arcane scribe system is a rare mage system that is often forgotten due to their nomadic nature. The rune scroll can hold any high tier or lower skill or spell. The more mana used to transfer the skill or spell to this scroll the better the chance of sess.''


    Walker was surprised that this was actually made by an arcane scribe. This wasn''t just someone that could make these scrolls but someone that specializes within the field. Normally there would be other systems that could make these like advanced runesmiths. However, if a magic skill or spell was being inscribed it was better to find a mage based system user to help with it since they could better inscribe the spell or skill with sess.


    "So you are an arcane scribe? What brought you to Genesis?" Walker spoke carefully not wanting to offend the man sitting in front of them. The man stopped shuffling through scrolls to gather up the nk ones and looked at Walker with his pale blue eyes.


    "So you have an appraisal skill? Did you look at me or my scrolls? It''s good that someone young checks up on the people they do business with. You are right. I came here out of curiosity though. I will not be setting down roots so don''t ask. It is not in my nature to remain in one ce. I have traveled for sixty years and I n to travel until the day I be one with the earth again." The man spoke firmly. So much so that one would not believe him to be elderly and beyond the age of sixty.


    "I wasn''t nning to try and get you to stay. Like we asked before, we want to get a skill made in to a scroll. Just one. But I wouldn''t mind doing more depending on the price." Walker felt that Alice may have found a gem. He didn''t know why she had been able to spot the man even though he and Onyx had nced right over him. But it was luck at the end of the day that they were able to find anyone.<sub> </sub>


    "I don''t want gold. I can make that by selling a single high tier scroll with a skill in demand. I just ask that you allow me to make a copy of that appraisal skill. I have an appraisal skill but it is only for skills. I can''t learn much about anything else. It''s Inconvenient when I am on the road or in a forest looking for interesting things." Walker felt that this wasn''t going to be an issue. If it could help and pay for the scroll they needed it wouldn''t be a problem.


    "I was actually going to ask if you could make ten copies of my all around appraisal skill as well as one of the blood contract. I want to also see if you can make any others but I don''t think I would be able to handle the mana cost since I will have to drink a few mana potions to keep it up." He knew that at the most, he would be going through five or six mana potions just on the all around appraisal scrolls. But the blood contract would cost him all of his mana at once so he would save that forst.


    "No worries there. I can use my own mana to pay some of the price. That''s why it is my specialty. I also wonder since you seem fairly knowledgeable, where might I buy a new cloak? I need one that is waterproof since I have gotten a few holes in this one." The old man was interested in seeing more of the city anyways and easily caught on that Walker was confident in what he knew. It was all in the way that Walker held himself. He could stand and move with a purpose while in the market meaning he had been there multiple times.


    "That''s good." Alice''s whisper made Walker realize that she had been worrying about it the entire time. It wasn''t some big secret that Walker would most likely pass out after using the blood contract skill. And she had seen the spell scrolls before so she knew that making them muste with the cost of using the skill inscribed within them.


    "Now, if there are other scrolls you need you must know that some skills will never and can never be made in to scrolls. Skills that give immunity to poisons, or strength bonuses, or even help with modifying body parts are usually impossible. The appraisal skills are magic, they use mana. If it was an eagle eye skill then that is a modification of the eyeball. I can not copy that." The warning was very clear and Walker had no arguments. It was better to know this on the front end than after everything.


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 Chapter 1242 1242. Witnessing History

    "Understood. I wasn''t going to ask for any skills that changed my appearance or such. I do wonder if skills that work with elemental spirits can be inscribed in to scrolls?" The idea that hade to Walker was the all around spirit speak skill. He wanted to be able to pass it on to people and since he couldn''t use the educationist title skill repetitively, he wanted to give others the chance to learn how tomunicate with the elemental spirits.


    "What did you have in mind? Skills that revolve around the true spirit forging I have heard about since I got here may not be possible. Those are based on learned techniques and not skills purely." This was true but Walker shook his head. The old man had heard about the true spirit forging that had taken the city by storm. However, this was not Walker''s goal.


    "I have a skill that lets me speak to all elemental spirits. I canmunicate with them and hear their voices through the use of mana. I want to be able to produce a lot of these if possible." There was a small glint in the old man''s eyes.


    "Now that sounds like a challenge. It is a skill that is both active and passive. One that can understand and trante all manas? Hmmm." The old man sifted through scrolls and pulled out a bag with many sheets of paper. They had many different rune patterns on them that clearly rted to specific t elemental manas. "If I use these main pieces and craft them together¡­ Bring me someone dense in all elemental manas and I can see what I can do. As I said, I will not stay here. But I do n to be here for thosepetitions. I wish to see the racese together. My life has been long and I have seen many historical events. This one seems to be important and I wish to witness it." The words were the same as someone making a promise. The old man seemed to have personal goals instead of goals driven by his system or morals. It was a free style of life and if he was able to meet his personal goals then he would work.


    "And the cost? It won''t be small I know, but I want to be able to have them so that there would be others that can copy them somehow. That way the cksmiths, mages, and pretty much anyone can make sure that the elemental spirits aren''t forgotten." Just like that this meeting had be more than just a scroll for a blood contract. It was for Genesis and the growth it could have in the future. Walker seemed to have fallen right in to this trap and Alice was not upset. Even Onyx just watched and enjoyed how the progression had happened. If they had not met this old man who wandered from ce to ce like the wandering cksmith, then they wouldn''t have the chance to ask for such things.


    " Food,pany, and front row seats. I will still do business but if others watch me work I have no problems. As far as I can see it, skills are not secrets. I make scrolls to share skills that others could never use. It is just fair that they learn and share them as well." The old man was never one to hide away the things he knew. Many craftsmen would hide their techniques to ensure that they were able to keep their clientele. But to an arcane scribe, the techniques they had should be seen and shared so that everyone could use the skills they have and share more knowledge.


    "Then follow me. I can help you move your stall to the best ce. Most people can''t enter the training area that is made behind the tower since it is still being made. But the forest elves and runesmiths have already made their formations. The elemental mana in the center of the area has equal amounts of each mana. It will also be the best ce for me to train with Fleur." Walker used a finger to pat Fleurs'' head and she seemed to hide away a little from the additional attention. The old man widened his eyes noticing the nature spirit and began to understand that he might be seeing something equally historical right in front of him before thepetitions and joining of multiple races.


    "Material costs will be high, but I assume if you can do these things like bringing me all the way on to an area kept off limits by the guards that you are the young hero I have heard about? A spirit unlike any I have seen, a ck serpent, and a quiet young woman whose voice is sweeter than the falling snow. The young hero Walker, the shadow serpent Onyx, and the songstress of Light, Alice. Many people have many nicknames for you and the rest of your party. I''m d to see you in person." The old man stood up slowly with a calm smile while he organized his things. A single tap of Walker''s hand stored them away.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, it''s a good day to meet you as well. I haven''t met an arcane scribe before so this is a first for me as well. Hopefully, I can show you the best of Genesis. And yes, we will provide material costs. Genesis will pay for the spirit rted scrolls, I will pay for the others. Also, My younger sister is a seamstress and will send a cloak over. I will also pass the word on to a few mages I know have been studying your specialty. Maybe they can get insight on a few things." The old arcane scribe just smiled while walking past the guards. He was d to see the world growing in such ways. It was his greatest joy to witness it all.


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 Chapter 1243 1243. Mean To Who?!

    "And where were you? I haven''t seen you all day." Su had the earth dwelling shield on her back but knew that the earth spirit had left sometime in the night. She wasn''t worried since she knew that it was safe due to her spirit mark connection with it.


    "Friends!" The small shout was enough for Su to know that it had been enjoying itself. However, she had not noticed that the dragon golem was outside. She wondered why it hade back to the mansion until she saw that there were some marks around the training area. She had seen the damage that Onyx''s tail could cause and knew that she was seeing the results of his training.


    "So your friend was helping Onyx? That''s really nice. I''m d that you and the fire spirits get along well. I hope ites to visit more often." The reaction was a small smirk from the earth spirit which was seemingly growing more and more every day. Instead of the rougher shapes of the earth that made up its features, there were pretty defined features now. The influence of Fleur on it seemed to make it grow faster and made it get closer to a being like Zephyr was.


    Inparison to a normal wind spirit, Zephyr was very defined and could almost be confused for a pixie or fairy of some sort. What set her aside was the fact that the wind constantly wrapped around her and altered her body. If the earth spirit partnered with Su reached such a point then it had the chance to get closer to being a grand earth spirit or higher. It would be a great way for Su and it to bond along and use better skills together.


    "Maybe we should go and see Remey to see how the alchemy fire spirit is doing. I haven''t seen it in a while so I''m sure it is just like Remey and sealed itself up somewhere in the alchemy guild to keep working on things." The fact that Su made this connection was not small. The alchemy fire spirit had bonded with Remey for a reason. That reason was their closeness in personality. The fiery attitude and desire to hyper focus on tasks were what they mostly shared. But they could both lose sense of time and remain focused on a single thing. The alchemy fire spirit even more so since it was an elemental spirit. The sense of time that elemental spirits had was much different than a human. They could live through many generations. For example, Zephyr had been alive for thousands of years when the traces were just starting to grow. She had a hard time remembering such things but that didn''t take away from her age.


    Before they could interact more, Su could feel how tired the earth spirit was. "Just rest for a while. I will let you know when we get to the alchemy guild. Then we can find Remey and her partner." It was better that the earth spirit rested up and was able to prepare for their next journey. She had the feeling that they would need to work together a lot while in the ravine since they would be surrounded by the earth and rocks a lot. It would help protect the party from any falling rocks or monsters pushing through the ground. Having an earth spirit alone was too valuable for this sort of exploration.


    Su had been awake for a while and had gone out to do her own things for a walk. She thought that some training with her shields to practice her movements then heading through Genesis for a walk was the best course of action. She liked to wander about and see the city since it gave her an idea of how everyone and everything was growing. That way she would be well versed in how the party might be able to help the city as a whole. Since she came back home to snack and found the earth spirit returning, now she was ready to head back out.


    The streets had be a mess of people. There were manying in and moving towards the Genesis building to get their new identifications. Some hade specificallye to join the guilds in Genesis since they were being considered the best ces to make a start. When it came to the guilds there were many quests that revolved around helping others and learning new things. It was ideal for a younger generation. And because there were so many guards being trained and hired it was considered much safer than the smaller towns or viges.


    "Hey! Don''t cut the line. We have been here for hours!" One small group of merchants shouted at Su as she pushed her way in to the alchemy guild. They were not happy to have to wait but it was inevitable since many had not shown up early enough to get through quickly.<sub> </sub>


    "Who just said that! Who even dared to insult my family!" Remey was heading down the stairs and spotted Su easily. It was hard to miss her due to the shields and taller stature. Remey had seen her from the upstairs window and decided to head down and meet her.


    "Kid, we are here first and we have important-"


    "Kid!? I''m one of the damn founders of this ce! Get to the back of the line and start your wait over. If you can not think of an apology by the time you get back to this point then take your business elsewhere if you can find anyone foolish enough to sell anything to you." Normally Remey would not push like this. But they had been rude to Su and she was not having it. There would be order within the alchemy guild.


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 Chapter 1244 1244. Just Like Remey

    Multiple guards rushed over that had been hired by the alchemy guild. The staff members were behind them. They all had keen ears for any trouble and had heard every word that had been said. Insulting the one that was called guild master constantly by the other founding members was a massive insult to the alchemy guild as a whole. On top of that, the fools that had thrown those insults were being mean to one of the angels that spent their time healing at the cathedral even though theycked healing skills themselves.


    "You insulted an esteemed founder of this guild. You were allowed mercy to think upon your actions. Proceed to the back of the merchant line or you will be banned from this guild and all future branches." One guard repeated the punishment. However, he had not expected that his fellow guard had been one that was assisted by Su.


    "Furthermore, if you dare to speak ill of the one that helped wrap my broken arm after that monster Greed attacked this city, I will personallye and barricade every shop that dares sell your goods. This is guaranteed under my family crest!" The guard was a very low level royal from the human kingdom. He had seen the chance to rush to Genesis and grow in to an esteemed member of the city.


    Not only had this man joined the guards of the alchemy guild. His family had also joined the other guilds forming a very powerful family of cooperation guards. They were slowly bing known as the Green family guards. Those that would repay the favors handed to them and guard with their lives.


    "It didn''t hurt me for a second. Don''t go so far to breed hatred. They can reflect on their actions like Remey said. Once they reach the front of the line, they should apologize to those here for causing a scene. Please, let''s move on. If we worry about this all day then the day will pass us by." With traditional Su style, she swept the air of any brewing storms. She just wanted to see the lively positive atmospheree back.


    They could hear those praising her and the small group that had caused the trouble moved away with solemn expressions. They realized that they had just dodged an arrow about to pierce their hearts. How terrible would it be for their business to be demolished before they even received permission to build it? This also was a major lesson to those looking to take advantage of the newly formed guild. There was no mercy for those who harmed the good of the guild and those that helped to build the city which offered up a future for everyone.


    "By the time they get back here, it will be nearly closing time. It is a perfect punishment for people that cause trouble. If I let that slide then there would be a rule breaking spree. Someone tried to cut yesterday and I had to send them to the back of the line. They learned well today and even helped stop others. Really worth the time."Remey felt proud to have been able to stand up for Su and help set an example for the behavior within the guild.


    "Potions are for healing and protecting. You might know how to make them explode, but I believe they are for more positive things." Su was a little flustered but knew that Remey understood.


    "So, what brought you here? I was pretty surprised seeing youing toward the guild from the upstairs window." Remey was already pulling Su along and up the stairs. The main hall was bing much more talkative again with stories of who Remey and Su were and how Genesis had been formed. It would be a whole new round of gossiping if they stayed too long.


    "Well, my partner was away for the morning ying with a fire spirit. It got me thinking and I thought I woulde and see you. I wondered how the alchemy fire spirit was doing since I haven''t seen it around in a while." There was a slight silence as Remey abruptly changed the direction of where she had been headed. Su realized that they were no longer heading toward theb set aside for Remey.<sub> </sub>


    "I would say that it is doing well. But that would be a massive lie." Remey was shaking her head causing Su to worry. The look towards the ground made it all the harder to believe that anything good would be around the next corner. "I thought that it would want to rest,e home, or even try and do other things. I can''t seem to win at all." There was a depressing air around Remey now and Su began to wonder how bad it was.


    Remey pushed open a door that seemed to have a lot of heat around it. "It abandoned me for this old man and works constantly!" The alchemy fire spirit was under a muchrger cauldron heating a massive number of herbs. The old master alchemist was hard at work mixing them and making plenty of notes.


    "Good! You''re back. Get over here and help me refine this as a base. It will be the starting amalgamation for the earth affinity testing phase one. Then we will make the fire version." The old master alchemist even waved at Su before returning to his work making the base that they needed.


    "See? It is working hard and constantly absorbing and transforming fire in to alchemy fire. It doesn''t even need me. I would try and beat some sense in to it but thest time I did that we both just ended up causing the room to get more scorched than it already is." A hot headed and stubborn partner for Remey. Su thought it fit perfectly.


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 Chapter 1245 1245. Alchemy Fire!!!!

    The alchemy fire spirit was burning up the fuel below it with a fury. There was nothing holding it back from doing as it wanted. What was even more amazing to Su was the fact that it had perfect control of the temperature even though it was still growing in size. Remey was stuck throwing more fuel on to the mes while the old master alchemist seemed to be nearing thepletion of the base he needed for the earth affinity potions.


    "We will need that ice soon, help Remey go and set it up so that we can start the next batch sooner!" The old master alchemist was not trying to be rude, he was just focused. The job was better with two people anyways so dishing out the task was more efficient.


    "The ice is stored over here. It''s how we keep some of the more unique materials and herbs stored for this room." Remey pulled open a door that seemed to be the portal to a tundra. There were very dense blue water elemental crystals that lined the walls which helped to make the temperature lower. The herbs and other items inside were very unique and familiar to a degree since they had seen some of these in the mountains. The ice was inrge barrels in the middle of the room and had clearly been hand cut. Su had no idea where one would order this much ice but had the feeling that the water mages somehow yed a part in this.


    Anotherrge cauldron was on the opposite side of the main room that the pair surrounded with ice. The moment that they had finished the old master alchemist shouted a warning. From the ceiling, a metal rune carved pipe was lowered by him using some dwarven technology. The base was funneled from the hot cauldron all the way to the freezing cold one. There was a slight sadness around the alchemy fire spirit now that it wasn''t allowed to keep heating and refining something.


    "You really like alchemy that much hm? I think Remey found a great partner. But you are just like her. You should rx a little too. I brought my partner to check up on you." While Remey and the old master alchemist focused on cooling the base forter use in creating the earth affinity potion, Su woke up the sleeping earth spirit.


    As the earth spirit revealed itself it surprised the alchemy fire spirit which had basically been in seclusion for weeks from other elemental spirits. To say that just the earth spirit had changed would be a radical lie. Just like the earth spirit gaining more detailed features, the alchemy fire spirit had as well. The dark red mes it had were even deeper and denser. There were also slight bits of mes that came off its back as if it was wearing a cape or cloak made of mes. Su could only wonder if it would have a more solid form in this way like Zephyr did when it grew even more powerful. The constant creation and growth of alchemy fire had led to its own growth very well.


    The two spirits broke their character slightly and became very talkative and energetic. Su didn''t even need to interact to tell that they were having a nice time. "Hey Remey, are you going to bring the alchemy fire spirit with you on our next journey?" This was a possibility that Su was sure that Remey had not yet considered.


    <o>,m While the cooling process took a lot of focus, Remey was able to multitask while moving the ice and using her skills. "I was thinking about it. If ites I can try and use the alchemy fire in tandem with the fire elemental knuckles. I want to see if I can make battle potions while we travel. I know that''s a little dangerous but I recently read a book about an alchemist that could make battle potions in their hands using alchemy fire. I think that would boost my battle power a lot."</o>


    "You are trying to do something that dangerous!? You already have that heavy training armor on you everywhere you go around Genesis and now you are doing that? What if you hurt your hands?" Remey smirked knowing that Su would overreact like that. She was basically the mom of the group when it came to their safety and protection.<sub> </sub>


    "The alchemy fire will protect me. I can use it to deflect small explosions with my punches and cause huge damage to break through defenses. Imagine my elemental first, alchemy fire, and defense breaking palm allbined in to a singlebination attack? It''s all about power and control. I can learn it." Thest few words were serious. It wasn''t a pledge to Su but a pledge to herself. Remey was doing her best to be stronger and knew she still needed to bring her alchemy and brawler sides in to bnce with each other. This was an opportunity to do just that while also bing a better attacker for the party. They needed her at her best!


    "Fine, but start small. Very small." The slight re that Su gave Remey reminded her of when Midnight had seen monstersing after the party. It was a tough re that said she would not allow any harm toe to them. She saw it as Su bing a little more dragon like. The good thing was that this stare showed how serious Su''s love for her family was and it made Remey a little warmer inside.


    "Anyways, after this do you want to try the new tea blends we have? Someone sold some from the forest elves and I want to taste them?" This was the best way to distract Su and it worked like a charm. They even had the time before they were to meet ra.


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 Chapter 1246 1246. A Little Stress

    "Midnight, do you see Su and Remey anywhere?'' Walker knew that Midnight had been looking too but they were still at a loss. Gil had just arrived outside the Genesis building along with Onyx and Alice. They had all been at the mansion changing and getting ready but none had seen Remey and Su.


    "They are here!" Onyx found them much more easily. "And they smell like fruit." He was the first to pick out the herbal scents of fruit and tea leaves. Remey and Su had changed in to their best armor and clothes to show match the rest of the party. However, that did not get rid of the stubborn herbal tea scent that stuck to them from two hours of tasting and testing the tea blends.


    "How did all of you beat us? We were so quick too." The pair seemed incredibly rxed and aloof which struck everyone as odd.


    "Should I guess that you met the tea trader that came from the forest elf city to set up a shop through the alchemy guild? I heard he even wants to bring over a farmer to make a small plot of Genesis tea leaves." Walker had heard this in passing while walking earlier in the day. A couple of housewives had been chatting about it and how the teas would even be good to freshen up their homes when their family returned home from working as guards.


    "What!? You didn''t tell me that they might set up a shop here! Remey! You need to tell me these things." Su shouted slightly at Remey who responded by jumping away from Su''s hand that came to catch her.


    "Oh? And you want to grab me like that? I might still have my training armor under this but I am still faster." The two were like children. All in all, the rest of the party was amazed that they had found the two bonding and so rxed.


    There was no problem in this though Walker felt it was best that they had the time to bind and rx before a journey. It helped keep them from going a little crazy with tasks along with just lightening the mood. "Perfect, you are all here. I was worried that we would be running behind. Let''s go inside and find the dwarven smiths that set up their magic device crystal water light thing. It''s going to be interesting. I look fine, right? Right???" ra was the exact opposite of Remey and Su. She was high energy and obviously stressed.


    "I think I need to use this skill really quick." Walker wasn''t really sure if it was the best decision but he used the calming waves skill to send a few pulses of calming mana out around him. He saw an instant change in ra along with everyone rushing about around him. The street which had been busy became a little slower causing a slight dy in movement but no real issue.


    "Ehm, thank you for that. It has been a long day. Let''s go up to the room set aside for announcements." ra had recovered some of her normal personality but was still a little thrown off inparison to how she normally was. There was still stress visible in her eyes and Walker wondered if he should use the calming waves skill more often. Unfortunately, it was a skill that would cause a lot of notice within the wild and in general slow some peoples'' progress. Sometimes a little stress and pressure were needed in the world.


    Many of the dwarves and mages were in the Genesis building preparing for the announcement. The council of representatives had also gathered to represent all races of Genesis. It was a good way for them to unveil the new magical rune technology that hade from the elven runesmiths and the dwarven runesmithsing together.


    The room set aside for the announcement was on therger side. Many runes were carved in to crystals holding different elemental manas. Fleur found it intriguing and explored them all while the entire party took the diode in. "Good timing. I need to let you know how this will all work." A dwarf with uniquely made metal and rune gauntlets came over and began to speak. "The magic runes we added to these works using light and other elemental mana to project the images we capture using over seven hundred rune carved crystals across all of Genesis. That means everyone will hear and see what you say. It takes arge amount of mana to make this happen so we will keep the announcement short and easy to understand. Then we will have you, the guild master, release your quests directly after." he rushed off to start organizing others.<sub> </sub>


    "So, we stand beside you and just represent you?" Walker wasn''t sure what else he needed to do for all of this.


    "Yes! Just stay here. The other representatives are here too; they will be right beside us. Everyone here is known in Genesis by just about everyone. Wait, where are you going? Alice, you are a huge figure for the healers and the minstrels thate here. You are staying here too." Walker wasn''t sure if Alice would actually stay but she hade to watch with them. Now she was fully involved as well.


    "Ha! I knew that I was a big deal. But if you say that again I might need to make sure you all don''t get too full of yourselves." Of all the people to say this, it was Remey. She got a rise out Of Midnight immediately and soon Gil had jumped in teasing as well.


    "Or you can all stand silently and look your best so you don''t stress me out!" The look ra gave them sent chills down their spines.


    "And we are starting. Everyone in position now!" The shout caused a small amount of chaos.


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 Chapter 1247 1247. Announcement!

    "This should be fun. We are one day closer to the battles of the races!" Scy was a little too interested.


    "Battles of the races? The craftsmanshippetitions will show more promise. We need new genius in the forges to make me a new pickaxe. I want the best earth dwelling pickaxe that can crack boulders in a single swing." Adding the kind of the deep caves didn''t seem to help. Walker didn''t doubt that he could already smash boulders with a single thought let alone a pickaxe.


    <o>,m "I am just honored to be part of this with those that helped my people in our time of need." Leon was much more reserved. Alma could have spoken up to but she had taken a spot next to Gil in her best clothing. They were ornate ceremonial robes with blue ivy patterns. They had been made especially for Alma to represent the elves. Some had water symbols and others had forest like symbols. They would gain more patterns for every elven people that came together under her. It was a brilliant idea.</o>


    "Years of counting and standing behind the king brought me here. I can not wait to see this new technology. I will report every single detail." The new role for Markus Raven as the king''s representative in the council seemed to inspire him to be a better person all around. It was actually very touching to see since Walker had started off roughly with him and learned that he was actually a much better person.


    "Alight and here we go! The mages are starting the elemental maniptions. The runesmiths are in ces. Start speaking¡­.Now!" The call went out and ra raised her head. The entirety of Genesis suddenly saw the bright light that painted a magnificent picture of its representatives and heroes.


    ra had worn the best clothing she could have made to represent the adventurers guild. She may not go out on quests and travel but she had on small portions of armor. Thebination of armor and business attire was actually more striking than if she had worn full armor or anything else. Barry had been silent but towered behind her. Walker had thought he was out on a trip but he had remained around for this purpose.


    "People of Genesis. We have reached a turning point. The roots have been put down. Fields will grow, guilds are blossoming, and the goal to unite every race on the continent is underway. Now is the time to show every race what we have to offer each other and the new potential we have when wee together. The adventurers guild had long been a port of every kingdom and today we will continue that tradition by starting off thepetitions that will push a new wave of growth in this united kingdom!" The words that came from ra''s mouth sounded as if she was a different person. They were powerful and reverberated through the walls. The people watching the lights in the sky above Genesis were awestruck.


    Not many had seen ra the new adventurer''s guild master. Now they were seeing the woman that would hold every adventurer to the rules and regtions. The woman that would ensure that no one would go against the ways of Genesis and the eptance of all races. "The adventurer''s guild epts quests to help those in need. Therefore it has been decided that the young adventurers will take on the role of gathering herbs from all around the continent to build a base for the newly formed alchemy guildpetitions. They will show their strengths and skills to gain valuable experience along with chances to move up within the guild.


    "The quests about to be released to the young low tier adventurers willst for a total of thirty days. During this time we will ept the herbs and valuable potion materials found and organize them. When the adventurer or their party has decided to stop they will receive an evaluation based on what they handed in and the quests theypleted in tandem. I strongly rmend that every single adventurer participates in some way. Those that have experience can teach but not directly help. The other regtions are posted around the city and will also list certain special herbs that are needed for the alchemy guild herbalists."


    This was a surprise that Remey and ra had set up specially. The flyers had been posted just an hour ago and no one had known what they were for. "Standing with me are your leaders who can not wait to see what brilliant aplishments you can make now and in the future. Let the first bi-annualpetition start now!" ra shouted and Midnight followed up with a roar. The rest of them joined in with shouts and encouragement. The resounding chorus of voices that came from the streets and guilds caused all of Genesis to feel alive.<sub> </sub>


    The mana in the room suddenly stopped and quite a few mages copsed to the ground. The runesmiths were desperately cooling down multiple mana crystals that had begun to crack. They had been taxed by massive amounts of mana. "Get out and let us work! We have results to process!" The dwarves were rushed and kicked everyone unnecessary from the room. They hadpleted their part and now had a slew of new work to do.


    "Now that was the look I wanted them to see. The guild master that will hold everyone ountable. That look demands attention. What a skill to have."


    "Barry! Don''t you have a quest to do!" ra shouted at Barry who rushed away toward the gates. He had some dragonkin to meet and some rogue dragons to battle. To say that he was excited was an understatement, however, it was the look from ra that truly pushed him to move.


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 Chapter 1248 1248. Crowded Streets

    Scy had jumped at the moment the announcement ended. She was off to keep a lookout in the streets for the best new talent that might jump in to the future coliseum battles. She wanted demi-humans to take home prizes because of her pride, yet she still had the feeling that Genesis was hiding diamonds.


    "Well, If she is off so fast, I may as well return to my work as well. I think we will have some interesting results soon. I have found some signs of iron veins under ground that could help out the city." The king of the deep caves was very excited but wanted to whip his miners back in to shape. The longer they celebrated and fooled around the longer their historical trade tunnel would have to suffer.


    "I think it will take us a little while to get home tonight. It looks like everyone is freaking out a little." Gil was having a good time looking out the windows with Alma. The pair were pointing out the younger adventurer parties that were rushing to find any stores that were open to getst minute items and gear.


    "That is if we can make it home at all. I wanted to try and head to the adventurers guild after this but I think that we won''t even be able to walk in the door since so many people will be there trying to get together to teach or form parties. I bet a lot of the retired or older adventurers will be looking to sponsor younger parties. There are always a lot of them hanging around the guild no matter what city you are in." It was a verymon sight in the adventurers guild to spot those that were between quests or just didn''t feel like going on them. Some were also injured and healing slowly so they did not want to risk causing trouble by going out again. Therefore, this was a good way to pass on knowledge and get people moving.


    "ra, are you alright?" Walker had nced at ra who was totally frozen reading the many notifications from her system.


    "I think your guild manager will need some time to put things in to order. I even have a few notifications after that. My people will be joining in as well. Gil should know some of the younger groups joining up for this." Leon smirked a little at Gil who pretended not to hear him.


    "My guild is already prepared to ept all the herbs. The weather is warm enough to nt, the herbalists are ready to cultivate, and we are ready to make potions for days." Rmeey felt that she couldn''t wait for the herbs toe rolling in. Markus Raven was taking careful notes on this. He had been curious how it would alle together on the alchemy guild end since it was a younger guild.


    "If you could spare the time to speak on the financial basis. I believe some of the produced potions could be set aside within the vaults for future use. We can talk in detail elsewhere." The idea was very good and Remey seemed to be intrigued. Genesis had taken in arge sum of gold from many that came in to the city to buy homes, shops, and other things. This meant that Genesis could easily pad the alchemy guild''s wallet when it came to buying potions from thepetitions that would happen within a month.


    "Well, it seems everyone is moving out. I will leave with Onyx and Midnight to brave the streets. Make sure that ra makes it to the guild before you leave." Su knew that Onyx was getting a little restless, he wanted to ensure that the entire party was ready to leave in the morning bright and early. She also knew that Midnight was hungry again. It was too easy to see.


    "Alice and I will team up and make it happen. I think Gil will be right behind us too." Walker looked back over to see that Gil was already offering to walk Alma back to where she was staying with many of the other forest elves. They would be taking a much more guarded route back since the enforcers would not allow a single scratch toe to either of them. It was a little surprising how Gil had basically be a legend to the elves in such a short time.<sub> </sub>


    "ra, let''s go to the guild and get you to the office. I''m sure they will need you." Walker spoke a little louder, snapping her out of the daze she had while she changed quests and organized things. Her staff was working hard and she was very impressed with how the progress was going. Alice moved to the other side of ra and smiled to put her a little more at ease. She didn''t have much know how when it came to ra since they had not met many times but they did have a lot of respect for the other based on their achievements and standing within the city.


    "I take it that a lot is going on?" There was no doubt that the adventurers guild was having a huge influx of parties and new young adventurers.


    "You could say that. I have already received eighty four party notifications, thirty seven mentoral requests, and the applications are growing by the second. I think a lot of people were preparing for the announcement to decide on what they would do." She sighed slightly before they started down the stairs leaving everyone else behind.


    "Come on Fleur, leave them to their work. We need to get some rest so we can leave with Onyx in the morning!" Walker felt Fleure over and take her spot on his shoulder as they helped ra push through the crowded streets to the guild.


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 Chapter 1249 1249. Well Thought Out

    "Brother! Wake Up!" Walker felt himself being pulled from bed only to open his eyes and find that Onyx had his tail wrapped around his ankle to help shackle him awake.


    "How early is it?" Walker found that the sun was just barely beginning to rise and realized that he had been asleep until thest minute that Onyx wanted to leave. "Oh! I will be down soon to get going."


    "Brother, you are the same as everyone else. You should havee home earlierst night." Onyx had reprimanded everyone who had taken their time getting home. The only ones that had been to the mansion with him were Midnight and Su. he knew that Midnight would sleep in because she was Midnight and that was just the way of her life. Su had been up promptly but knew everyone else would be behind so had found Walker''s mother to help make some sandwiches for their early departure. That Was why Onyx had focused on Gil, Remey, and Alice who had slept in the spare room to leave with them in the morning even though the high priest had tried to get her to stay at the cathedral. He was a little worried about her leaving again for another adventurer, as a father would be.


    There was no response from Onyx and he had already left the room. Walker was left to quickly clean himself up and put on his traveling gear. They were heading out yet again and would be helpingOnyx to make progress in his dream of bringing his race out in to the open. Even if they did not find another abyssal serpent then they would be investigating the ruins and caves already discovered within the ravine. It could prove them to be safe or dangerous which would be very valuable to those that went by the area while traveling.


    "You slept in pretty long!" Gil was antagonizing Remey which didn''t seem to be the best course of action so early in the morning.


    "Says the guy that was outte because he was walking his girlfriend home. why don''t you just stay with the elves? You are basically one of them already. Just tell us when you are getting married to Alma so you can be king of the elves!" Remey finished her own rebuttal with a solid hit to Gil''s shoulder.


    In his stunned state, he had been unable to form proper words to reply and also unable to dodge. "Gil, you did that one to yourself. And just like me, you also slept in because you took too long getting back here." Walker just shook his head and went to the table to grab a sandwich that Su was cing down.


    "No you kids be safe out there. I know you are all growing up so fast and don''t want to be called kids, but you are all my children. I will always see you as such and you will have to deal with that even when you have wrinkles like me." Hilda pointed out the small crows feet by her eyes from focusing while she cooked for so many years. She gave them a wave before they could respond because she wanted to get to the bakery and start in on the new creations she would unveil for the day. She had an entire adventurer themed pastry set to release for the parties leaving the city.


    "Alright! Here is the n." Onyx slithered to the center of the room getting everyone''s attention. Alice sat up straight and looked right at him. She knew that she was still the least experienced and wanted to ensure that she followed every word carefully. "We have to get to an abandoned trade vige before night fall. It is in the fieldnds and fell out of poprity as the trade routes changed. It will be the best rating ce. From there we will head to the ravine which we can reach in only two and a half days with Alice''s songs to speed us up."


    "That sounds like a good idea, but you do remember that Alice can''t move while singing that song, right?'' Walker wasn''t trying to be a pain but he wanted to see if Onyx already had a solution to this issue.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m "I thought of that and we are going to be picking up a carriage to bring us there. It is made specially to not require any stead to pull it. I worked hard to get this prepared for the journey. It used runes and mana gems to fuel them. It moves using the runes. It is not fast but with Alice, it will move much faster than us walking." There was a confident aura around Onyx. This was a rare find since it would normally cost a lot to rent. However, he had made friends with many people and managed to rent it for half the price.</o>


    "Brother, I also need you to store some crates. They have light elemental crystals and some other items I prepared within them. They will be for when we get to the ravine." These were a part of Onyx''s additional nning for luring out potential abyssal serpents along with a few other things he wanted to be ready to use.


    "Then I will do that. I''m ready to leave when you are." At that Onyx took the lead out the front door toward therge carriage. It was clearly reinforced to handle tougher terrain and trails. The runes that were all over it channeled earth elemental mana to help it move constantly when activated. There were many mana gems that lined the inside of the carriage which greatly impressed everyone. They all easily fit inside after Walker stored away therge crates. They were off and out toward the fieldnds in minutes with Walker dedicated as the driver since Onyx knew he would easily learn the skills needed.


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 Chapter 1250 1250. Carriage Driver

    '' The skill basic carriage driving has been taken from the perfect driver system. The user has learned the skill basic carriage driving through past and present experiences.


    Basic carriage driving- passive


    The user does not need mana to gather the experience and easily learn the habits of any carriage they drive. They are able to easily use what they have seen and feel to drive any carriage. The more the user drives a carriage the more they will amass knowledge that will allow them to be a better carriage driver. They will have no issues driving a carriage for basic traveling.''


    The skill was by no means high but Walker was d to have it. He had barely made it out of the gates using what he had seen as a guide. Part of him wanted to reprimand Onyx for just assuming that he would learn this skill. Yet the more Walker thought about it, the more he wanted to praise Onyx. He had given enough time to travel the empty morning roads out of the city to learn. If he had leftter then he could have caused an ident. It was wise thinking. And at the end of it all, Walker had learned the skills he needed.


    "So, have you found any more information out the ravine since you first told everyone?" Walker was speaking with Onyx since he was the only one sitting at the front with him. Midnight was napping and the others were chatting while cleaning their gear. Walker and Onyx were the only two that were keeping watch while they traveled the now cleared pathways out of the Genesis fields. There would be more solid roads soon since workers were able to move the defrosted soil.


    "Not much. The adventurers guild sent some people to guard it since it is hard to see from a distance. Apparently, there have been cases of merchants rushing through an area and falling in to holes and other obstacles. I hope that they have some information for when we get there." Walker understood this and knew that the adventures left to watch the area would definitely have some sightings of any monsters in the area since they were not there to fight them and just to observe and deter merchants.


    That should help us a lot. I doubt that much has happened but I want to make sure that we know everything we can before going down there. While we move I was thinking at night I will train my high earth sculpting skill. I want to be able to hold up tunnels or caves or even ruins if we find them. I just don''t know what could happen. The ground was able to split from an earthquake. If it wasn''t a natural earthquake then we might have to think outside the box."


    "I worried that an earthquake was not natural as well." Onyx was silent for a moment. This thought was one of the first dangers that he hade up with. There were manyrge monsters that moved through caves and through the earth that could cause such things. "But I investigated the area. The fieldnds are known for having ravines open up before. The caves underneath had some small flowing rivers that caused this to happen. There are also ruins that have been discovered underneath the fieldnds which exins why they may be t. It could have been the work of ancient races."


    This was more in depth than Walker expected. He didn''t even know that ruins weremon underneath the fieldnds. He just knew that some caves had been found underneath before. However, this made a lot of sense. The dwarves rarely found defined ruins in the mountains. Yet the ruins that Walker knew of with the undead had a lot of clearednd around them. There may be a forest nearby but that was still far from the ruins. It also made him wonder if the immortal king was still watching them in some form or fashion. That was one ancient monster he hoped he would not see again.


    "Alice, it''s about time. We have made it past the fields that we shouldn''t cause any damage to." The fields directly outside of Genesis had just been pre seeded with special crops. Some felt it was too early but the expert farmers from the demi-human farms had made sure to exin the reasons why some crops had to be nted as soon as the snow melted. It is also one thing that Gil''s mother had once exined to the party while they had helped with the mansion garden.<sub> </sub>


    Onyx slithered to the top of the carriage to absorb the light elemental mana and to also keep watch around them now that they were passing the fields by. They would be in the wilds from here on out and he wanted to ensure everyone''s safety. He also needed to make room for Alice to sing next to Walker as he drove. It would be the best way for them to speed up.


    "If you need any mana while you sing just let me know. I have some concentrated mana potions we are working with. They don''t have a long shelf life but they help mana regeneration through the day." Remey had the potions on a belt that she had made to hold certain battle potions. Her training gear had been left behind so she was a little off without having a belt anyways so it fit her perfectly.


    Due to patrols in the area, they were able to move for half the day before stopping to eat lunch. They had no issues and overall the sound of Alice''s singing had put them all in a wonderful mood. They were even well ahead of where Onyx thought that they would be meaning they would have more time to rest when they got to the abandoned vige.


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 Chapter 1251 1251. Abandoned Village

    "This ce definitely looks like it has been abandoned for some time." Su shook her head at the state of the small vige. It had quite a few copsed buildings while a few small ones still stood. But they were basically just sheds with dusty rotten hay inside them. On top of that, the only other standing structures were the small stone walls and the central water well shared by the people that once lived here.


    "That''s what happens when trade routes change. It''s not the end of the world but it is sad that people so easily tossed it aside. Instead of just leaving it all though, I wish they had converted it in to something else." Walker couldn''t help but think that the t fields could have been made in to a small farming vige to keep it alive.


    "I know what you are thinking. They could have made it in to some sort of farm, right?" Gil had read Walker perfectly. "Look at the soil, it seems good, right? But because it is so t, the water will pool up and drown the roots. That''s the problem without proper irrigation. The fields here would need a lot of back breaking work and attention. They would be very limited in what they could or could not grow." It only ever took the party a second to remember that Gil used to live on a farm and naturally had this sort of information in the back of his head.


    "We should set up camp near the well so we can draw water when we need it. That way brother doesn''t need to use what he brought with him." Onyx spotted the still intact bucket and knew that it would save their traveling rations if they used it. Walker didn''t have any issues with that.


    "Then we can use the left behind wood as firewood. At least it will help clean the area up a little." Walker started to move and grab some of the wood after handing some rope to Gil to get water with the bucket. The party easily set up camp. They had been moving all day by this point after they had stopped for a short break to eat. Alice was the most tired since she had used her singing to help speed them up the entire day. She looked like she would fall asleep even before they had heated up some vegetables next to the fire to eat.


    "If you are going to explore, just be careful. No one knows what is still left behind in these buildings. Some of them are only partially fallen and could fall all the way." Walker didn''t worry too much. They had not run in to any monsters or anything remotely dangerous so far. But he still felt it necessary to warn Midnight who would have gone off without him saying anything or not.


    While the rest of them hung about the camp, Midnight looked at the partially standing buildings with a glint in her eyes. It was time to explore! She thought it would be some practice before she would go in to the ravine with the others. She also thought she might find some hidden treasure left behind by those that once lived in this vige. Her eyes moved to thergest building that had been better built than the others. It was still small byparison to Genesis but here it wasrge. It had a straw roof which had fallen in but the only building with stone wallspletely. The wood window frames had fallen in but that gave her the perfect entrance since the door was blocked.


    In one leap, Midnight was through and standing on top of the broken roof. Her eyes adjusted to the dark setting and she scanned the room finding that it had a lot more inside it than expected. It was a building that had been multipurpose. The firece had a broken table next to it once used for cooking. Yet, what caught Midnight''s eyes were the books still looking readable next to a desk. She knew that Walker might be interested in them and started to look through for unfamiliar copies. She only found five that she had not seen in the library before. Her learning when it came to reading paid off and she was able to discern the title of one, The Growth Of A Vige.<sub> </sub>


    She held on to these in her mouth while she pulled at the debris on the desk to clear it. A few pieces of gold had been left behind making it more curious that it had all been left. If this was a merchant vige why had it been left and why has no one been here to steal away what was left? As soon as that entered her mind she realized she should get back and let Walker know what was there. She snatched up two more books under the debris of the table and jumped back through the window barely able to hold them. She spotted the newly lit fire easily and rushed back to stand right in front of Walker.


    "That was a little fast. What did you find?" He reached down and checked out the books with interest. Huh, these seem interesting. I wonder why they were left behind?" Midnight huffed and nodded toward therge broken house she hade from. "If this was there then I would say that this was the head of the vige''s home. If they left everything behind that''s even weirder." The odd tone caught everyone''s attention and they became a little more on edge. It was not normal for an abandoned vige to have so many books lying around. Books were rare for small viges since they didn''t have arge poption of wealthy individuals to buy them.


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 Chapter 1252 1252. Foolish Farming

    Walker sifted through the books and was about to head toward the building to search a little more. But when he found the thin journal that Midnight had grabbed off the desk he stopped. "Production month fifteen. That''s the title of the journal. I wonder what the vige could be producing?" Walker had no idea what this could mean. Eh thought that this was a merchant stop and not a production vige. There were no overgrown fields here so it couldn''t be food.


    "Production? What did they make? What does it say?" Gil was a little more interested and caught the journal from Walker who let him explore while he looked at the other books. "There have been a lot of travelerstely that don''t seem to understand the value of what we are producing. The starlight cricket eggs willst for a month without any rot or death. They are much more sustainable than the average chicken. They can also be raised to be monster feed for tamers. People are blind!"


    Everyone was looking at each other. "What is a starlight cricket?" Remey had to ask first. She had never seen anything special like that. Just small ck crickets in gardens.


    "You''ve got me stumped. I didn''t know that there were more types than garden crickets." Su was equally at a loss. "Gil, what else does it say. Move to a further entry." This seemed to work since Gil widened his eyes while he read silently. He stopped and looked at everyone before speaking out loud.


    "The magic we used to influence the starlight crickets seems to work too well. We are growing them to the size of cows in just a few weeks. We can even harvest them like cattle. They are perfect to change the world! I knew that this idea would make us the best vige out there. Soon everyone will want to eat what we produce." His eyes were still wide with surprise; he wasn''t sure why anyone would try and eat a cricket.


    "That''s¡­"


    "Gross!" Remey finished Su''s sentence. Alice was nodding firmly to support this. The only ones that were not too grossed out by it were Midnight and Onyx. Walker just seemed to be a little put off since he still wasn''t sure how this was possible.


    "Wait, thest entry is weird." Gil seemed more confused than anything. "The spines on the male crickets'' legs seem to grow sharper every generation. They are also getting too aggressive and eating at the grasses. We lost some to cannibalism just the other day. I swear, if we can''t get rid of this" Gil looked up. "That''s the end of it. From there it just has a few small scratches and wrinkles but no new entries.


    "


    So, was this ce just conveniently also a merchant stop? There were actually some weird farmers using magic to try and grow crickets in to food?" Rmeey was pretty disgusted. She thought that the idea was a huge mess and it had failed rightfully so. However, Midnight seemed alittle more distracted. The entire group was trying to piece together the problems here while Midnight turned her head toward the darkness of the night. The only thing that was making any noise or light was the campfire.


    Her soft growl caused everyone to stop their thinking. Midnight was ring down a ton of small white dots in the darkness. "I think we just learned why they are called starlight crickets¡­" Gil slowly moved to pull his bow from the ground nearby and notch an arrow. He felt Zephyr stir in her slumber to figure out what was happening. She knew that she would not feel Gil''s mana reacting with hers unless he was in trouble.<sub> </sub>


    "Gil, stay behind Su with Alice. I will change to my fill size. Midnight and Walker will use their shadow wrapping skills. I know you don''t want to use it much, brother, but it will work well now with any skill you pair it with. Remey, you use fire and blind them. Elemental fists for every gross bug you see." Onyx yed in to Remey''s dislike for the crickets they had just read about. He also had learned how to direct everyone from Walker''s previous actions on other adventurers. He was calm and slowly watched everyone prepare without causing sudden movements.


    Walker used his all around appraisal skill on the eyes of the starlight crickets. He had to see what else they were made of so that he might warn everyone.


    ''Starlight cricket (starved)


    The starlight cricket is a mutated cricket. The human tamers and mages that worked together to forcefully change this small species of monster created a true monster. Their magic caused them to grow and desirerger food items to survive. nts werepletely forgotten and they began to eat any living animals around. They are active for an extremely short period of time right after the snow melts. Other than that they sleep in the ground beneathrge patches of grass to conserve energy. They are able to use their legs to create disruptive and confusing sounds. Beware their spiked legs and sharp pincers. They have lost their ability to hop far and fly short distances due to their weight and size. Their eyes are the only thing visible against the night, therefore, granting them the name; starlight cricket.''


    "Alice, sing and stop them from making noise to confuse and disrupt our actions!" Walker souled out as he used the shadow wrapping skill with Midnight. The two were hidden from sight better than the crickets. Onyx changed size in a blink and reached his full height. It was incredibly intimidating which bought time for Gil to let loose a few arrows. Then, the sound started and their ears began to ring.


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 Chapter 1253 1253. Monster Experiments, Really?!

    The scraping and ringing that overtook all that the group could hear was too much. However, Alice had heard Walker and stuffed her fingers in her ears to deafen herself against them. Her voice began to rise in tone against them. The only light that she had to work with was the light from the stars and the moon. This was very little but it was perfect for her to be louder and create a strange bubble of flickering light around Su, Gil, and Onyx. The song waspletely unfinished and had been an idea she had for a shield simr to Su''s earth fortress. The inspiration was proving well earned as the sound of the starlight crickets was drastically dampened.


    "Good job Alice, keep it up." Alice heard Onyx''s voice in her mind and became serious. She let Su protect her and Gil keep their back secured. She would not stop her song until she heard from someone again.


    Gil had perfect targets. The arrows he had let loose pierced in to the small dots that were bing more visible as Walker created light orbs. He was not only creating light orbs. The groud could see that he was creating spikes of earth below the crickets to pierce them. His goal was to make the surrounding area hard for them to move around while creating better shadows to ambush them in. This worked very well to protect the group since they were effectively in an ambush.


    The growling and random bursts of mes from Midnight proved to create a burning smell. Yet this was increased as Remey used her elemental fist skill with the fire affinity knuckles. The group saw the alchemy fire spirit dancing above her causing the alchemy fire to grow within Remey''s hands. It was like watching a mad brawler crack through shells. The image would scare any child but the party knew it was a carefully controlled bnce of alchemy fire that would not burn Remey''s fists and the elemental spirit causing the temperature to rise and harm the starlight crickets.


    "You are just bugs!" Onyx swept his tail across a row of the starlight crickets. He also caused multiple spikes of shadows to jump out from beneath him and pierce them to end their attacks, the starlight crickets that had started snapping their pincers at them and trying to confuse them ended up as the ones being beaten. The group was not happy to be in this situation, however, they would be sending all of this information to the adventurer''s guild. This sort of research and experimentation was terrible and had obviously cost many lives. The short activity period of the starlight crickets was the only reason this hadn''t been reported just yet.


    "Not in your life you rotten cricket!" Su was taunting the smaller starlight crickets that darede near her. They stupidly charged at her and were smashed upon the ground. The light shield formed around her with the assistance of Alice''s song. This put them in the perfect state of gaining energy and resisting the potential damage. It even seems to help Gil speed up the rate at which he fired arrows.


    "Now let''s see how many more of you there are!" Walker''s shout came as soon as the noise had died down to almost nothing. He used a great deal of mana to cause all of the light around them to condense and form a powerful light orb. It revealed many small starlight crickets rushing away from their lives. The group seemed to have taken down the majority of the adult starlight crickets that hade out as soon as the night had fallen. They had no chance in fighting against the party with their weak bodies and poor resistance. They had failed as soon as they thought to ambush them while Midnight was alert.


    "Don''t chase them. Stay here and Walker will form an earth wall for the night. We will wait this out for the morning. Then we will check out the homes for more information and move on!" Onyx gave the order. It was a wise n since fighting the dark could only go poorly as they chased the starlight crickets further from each other. They also needed more information to pass on to the adventurer''s guild when they returned to Genesis. Walker would also be able to send a notification to keep others away from this area during the starlight crickets'' active period. It would protect all the young adventurers going out on their own.


    Once Midnight and Walker had fallen back, Su helped Walker with the earth elemental spirit to create dense earth walls. They built up the fire slightly and looked at each other. They were a little dirt covered but overall fine. The quickly orders from Onyx had proven very good since they were able to counter the attack from carnivorous crickets.<sub> </sub>


    "I swear, if anyone out there is experimenting on monsters like this, I will punch them until they lose all sense to do foolish things like that." Remey mmed her fist on the ground with a flurry of alchemy fire that the fire spirit was slowly calming down. They were both equally fired up from this battle and needed a few moments to recover any calmness they had.


    "What stupid ideas some beings have. It''s almost as bad as the ones that thought it wise to seal away spirits. World ending." Zephyr scoffed at the people who had the idea to create something so dangerous. The only person that seemed unaffected was Alice. She had sung her heart out to form sound dampening barriers with the minuscule light around them. When Walker went over to see to her wellbeing, she fell against his shoulderpletely asleep. She had used a lot of concentration to make it happen in that instant without any practice of the song.


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 Chapter 1254 1254. Just Shells

    "Looks like it''s about time we move these walls. Walker saw the suning up and had not heard many sounds outside for some time. It seemed that their counter attack against the starlight crickets had been enough to scare them away. That, and they were too hungry from recently waking up to stay in one ce and attempt to get a tough meal.


    "Then we can do it together." Su was ready with her earth spirit partner to move the earth wall away back in to the ground where it should be. She had a feeling that they would see a slightly gruesome sight when they did but was ready for it.


    Just as she had imagined, there were plenty of shells around. The walls fell away easily with her and Walker working together. But that was it. There were only shells. "They ate each other. That''s even worse." Remey kicked away one of therger pieces of shell from the ck crickets. They were too soft to use for anything but still, the fact that they had been unable to gather any materials from the endeavor was disappointing.


    "I can still take these shells back for the guild to study and record. I''m sure they will be helpful." The shells even blew slightly in the wind that seemed to be picking up for the day.


    "Alright, we can check out the few ces still intact and recover whatever we find to bring with us. Then we will leave from here and keep moving." Onyx was acting as the driving force for them to stay on track with his n. They would be a little behind but he had factored in a longer travel time even though he had said two and a half days. It was better to be optimistic and say that than any shorter. Now it would be about three days which didn''t seem to make much difference.


    Midnight was leading the way for Walker since she wanted him to see the ce she had found the books and still had more there. She wasn''t sure if anything would be able to shine more light on what happened here but it was worth the shot. It was also one of the reasons that the group had been on edge enough to react to the sudden appearance of the starlight crickets.


    "Are you feeling better this morning?" Walker had seen Alice eat and seem to act as if she had recovered her enemy. She was slightly slower though which made him think that she was still a little off after forcing a new song she had yet to properly refine in to a working protection.


    She started to nod her head yes before she stopped herself. She seemed to realize something before she shook her head side to side instead. "Head hurts." The words sounded as if she was embarrassed. Walker realized that Alice had not wanted to hold the group back but thought better of hiding it.


    "Then we can help out with that. We have a low tier healing potion that should help out. Then take some of the warm mint leaf tea that Remey brought. It should help you rx a little." Walker grabbed the water bottle that he had in his storage of the tea and held it in his hands while manipting the small amounts of fire elemental mana from the rising sun. The bottle warmed up slowly. It was the best invention for traveling since they could put it right in to the fire. The dwarves that sold them must have made a fortune. "Thank you for telling me. I don''t want you to end up hurt while we are out here."


    The moment had gone uninterrupted by Midnight since she could tell it was a meaningful one. However, they were at the building that she had searched while Su, Gil, and Onyx were at the others. She hopped through the window followed by Walker and Alice. Walker got to work storing away the books and anything that seemed important. He managed to find a small box of torn letters and writings that seemed to be to other simr viges.<sub> </sub>


    "I hate to say it, but I think this kind of monster experimentation is moremon than we thought. And also seems to be more than one race. These letters are from the demi-human kingdom. They have their seal from letter carriers. Not that they would know what was written inside." This meant that more than one small vige had attempted something foolish like this. It had easily been many years ago but still a terrible idea. "We can just hand all this over and have a group investigate it. There might even be answers when we ask around."


    There was disappointment as they left the building. However, the disappointment seemed to continue when Remey handed over a box of journals that seemed to record the progress of their magic experimentations. "I have more like that about feeding. I think one of them actually tried to make them like that while the others thought they were making a new food source to save the kingdoms from potential famine." Su really felt the desire to help and knew it could push people to extremes.


    "It''s terrible. Thatst house over there even has diagrams about how to change a grass eating monster in to a carnivorous one. It''s kind of messed up." Gil didn''t even have proper words for it.


    "This whole vige is messed up. Onyx, I know we are here for a reason and it was just a stop, but thanks for stopping here. This is valuable information that should help people in the future." Walker was really thankful. Knowing about dangerous monsters was always better than being surprised by them in the future.


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 Chapter 1255 1255. I Will Handle It

    It took the group another hour or two of scouting around the crumbled sheds and vige huts. They didn''t manage to find anything else other than a few gold coins or ruined goods. From those they managed to prove that this had definitely been a spot to stop for merchants at one point. It might have even been what fueled the experimentations.


    "Now that we have dealt with that, we should head out, right leader?" Walker looked at Onyx who had managed to get them back in to a group to go over their findings so that Walker could send as detailed a notification to ra as possible. He didn''t get a response since she was exceedingly busy but this was not an extremely pressing matter. It was a random urrence that the party had happened uponpletely by ident.


    "Yes, party member. We will get in the carriage and continue on if songstress Alice is feeling up to it." Onyx teased Walker right back a little but was serious when he looked at Alice. She had gotten much more active and felt very good about heading out now. She raised a small fist to show she was all in on getting them ahead of their travel schedule. "Then onward we go!" With the starlight crickets behind them, the party was on their way yet again.


    "¡­ You go out to hunt for a ravine and search it for serpents and you find mutated magic crickets? What even is this." ra was in her office rubbing her temples. She had no idea what kind of luck her party had but it was extremely unusual. Not only this, but she saw that they had documents and other evidence for the adventurer''s guild to take and use to investigate.


    Since the group had been out, ra expected some interesting results about the ravine. It was a worry that many merchants hade to the guild with since it was a danger they could face while transporting goods. There was the possibility that it could grow more like some had in the past and cause ascertain trails to be unusable. But this was just out of nowhere.


    "We need to send a party to investigate an abandoned vige. I want four mages, two tamers, and the rest guards!" ra yelled out and a staff member just outside of her door rushed to get a party together. "I need someone to contact the demi-human representative as well. I want them toe by my office!" ra also saw the notice from Walker about demi-human connections meaning that it could have been a small group of researchers that split off from the two kingdoms and joined together in their slightly twisted ideals.


    The next ten minutes were filled with ra sifting through some old documents hse had been brought about experimental farming. There were many that had strange ideas to improve farming but the human kingdom had not delved in to this too much. They trusted their farmers to rent thend and work hard to make everything that the kingdom needed. It tended to work out since the farmers always had great pride in the way their produce grew and hoped they could show off their hard work. That and they would be able to sell their best produce for better ie.


    "Someone came to ask me to see you. I didn''t think the adventurer''s guild would be asking from me, especially after your big announcement. Need some advice on infighting already?" Scy had assumed that she was called upon because of her battle strength. She knew that there might be some trouble between some of the smaller and inexperienced adventures trying to get the best herbs.


    "No, nothing like that. It''s about farming. In particr, experiments farming with monsters. Mutated monsters." Scy held up a hand. She was much more serious.


    "We put a stop to that some years ago. During a reduction in food due to root rot and additional rain, we lost a few fields. Those that wanted to prevent that came up with many different ideas. Some were not eptable. Mutating nts can work. Mutating monsters¡­despicable." Her voice was heavy. This was something that the demi-human kingdom had not been proud of. From what they had learned, they had acted swiftly.<sub> </sub>


    "We stomped out those problems as soon as they arose. The fools made berzerk hounds, venomous lynx, and even tried to turn a simple fish in to a fast growing monstrosity which caused us topletely bury ourrgest reservoir. But they and everyone that fell for their ideas were imprisoned or dealt with otherwise. My people do not stand for such experimentation." Seeing that Scy felt so strongly assured ra that this was something she could rely on her for.


    "Then it will not be a surprise to you that our heroic friends found an abandoned vige that was once used by humans that spoke with your prisoners. Apparently, they followed those theories and experiments to create something called a starlight cricket. One that they had an encounter with since the vige apparently still had living specimens there." The look on Scy''s face was one that could silence any army out of fear. This was the look of the real general that stood at the front line of battles.


    "Then I will personally take troops to handle it. Do not worry yourself. This is on my shoulders. I may have been a few years younger when I learned of it, but that does not mean my feelings have changed over this matter. It would be a failing of the entire demi-human race if I did not clean this up." ra nodded and handed over a document she had been writing with all the information and location the party had just been in. She trusted this matter to Scypletely.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1256 1256. Train While Walking

    "We didn''t make it as far yesterday, but that''s not a problem. Today we will make it to the ravine and Alice won''t even need to sing. We can take the slower ride to prepare ourselves and rx." Onyx was sure this was the best course of action. He knew that Alice would be better off well rested for their journey in to the ravine where the light elemental mana would be scarce. He also knew that Walker and the others were thinking or stretching their legs to walk about and train slightly. They all had their own goals and should have the freedom to work on it if it made them better prepared to take on the mysteries underground.


    "I like that idea. I''m getting out of this cramped thing!" Remey had personally hated the carriage. She liked being a littlezy in the beginning, but after the second day, she had lost her patience. She wanted to move and burn off more energy. The starlight crickets had been nothing to them and they had not encountered another monster at all. Gil had spotted some but they had rushed away when they saw the carriage and smelled Midnight.


    Gil decided to hop out right behind Remey. He had decided to try to work on his dagger skills. The movements that made up the water elf technique were tough to keep up long term so moving in that way would best help him improve. He also needed to start incorporating the forest elf dagger techniques here. "Wait, are you just going to be trying to punch rocks and break them?" Gil watched as Remey wound up to strike a rock on the ground nearby.


    "How else am I going to learn to use my defense breaking palm and elemental fist together? I have to make a defense breaking elemental fist. It''s not easy. I need to punch something solid with my knuckles." The response was a little more sarcastic than Gil liked but he couldn''t argue it. Instead, he watched the poor rock gain a small dent. Remey had used the earth affinity knuckle to gather earth elemental mana and smash in to the rock. However, it was far from the defense breaking palms effects. There was no in depth damage that showed through the sturdy rock.


    "Hm, if you could use that against me I would be able to improve. Let me know when you have progress. I will see if I can get some disposable metal shields to try and use my light shield to defend. Until then I will focus on understanding the elemental mana around. I need to catch up." The simple goal that Su had was still to catch up to Walker and Midnight. They had a much better understanding of elemental mana meaning that they would be able to use it better. Su was a draconic guardian. She needed to be able to use the same elemental manas as Midnight and Walker. She had to get closer to using natural mana rted skills.


    "Alice, what are you nning to do?" Walker looked at Alice and found that she had started to scribble away in her journal. She was testing out small humming sounds to see if her songs would work. Walker knew that he would have absolutely zero attention from Alice. He would just need to wait and see what new song she thought up to show off her skills. The focus she had did inspire him though. He had said he would work on his earth sculpting skill and he wanted to do just that. In particr, he wanted to try andbine two skills.


    Midnight had jumped from the carriage as well and carefully watched Walker. She wanted to see what he was doing. In this, she had attracted Fleur who decided to rest on top of her head and watch Walker too. She felt that Walker was going to be using his own skills and mana so that she could create what he wanted to create.


    "If I create a me doll, then the fire takes the shape I want it to." He established this under his breath. He knew this and could manipte it. Therefore, he could give it orders so that the me doll could train others and even defend against enemies. "My earth sculpting skill lets me create earth and even shape it better. I''ve made training dummies that can fall away in to just dirt." Talking himself through his ideas was not always his approach. Walker would normally just feel it, yet, at this moment, he wanted to ensure that his thoughts were parallel to his desired effect and how he would bestbine the earth and fire elemental mana. He could easily do so, but not in the proper manner at an instant.<sub> </sub>


    The ground around him was soft and a little rocky. These were fields that had never been plowed orbed. Therefore, he would need to be able to manipte the rocks and the soil to bond with the fire elemental mana. His first goal was to manipte some while removing the water elemental mana from it. "Without water in the soil, the fire won''t resist too much. It should bond with the earth better." There was a slight steam that came around them while Walker did this. The water had to evaporate somewhere and was soon blown away by the wind. "Hm, no air either. If I have too much it will be mes and lose heat. The fire will just leave burnt earth." The wind had helped him realize that he could not leave pockets of air within what he was going to create. Walker was going to take it all in to ount without failure.


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    <o>,m ¡­.</o>

 Chapter 1257 1257. Fire And Earth Combined

    Midnight was watching how Walker was taking the water out of the earth. She had not considered mixing the two when she had trained her elemental breath attacks. She had the fire breath and the golden me breath. She also had the decaying breath which was a darkness elemental breath that was simr in appearance to fire. It would confuse anyone when it came to what it really was since it seemed so close to real mes. It just decayed things at a rate simr to burning them.


    The thought to add water and earth together to make a fusion elemental breath attack was something that she could try. Something that would challenge her and her higher ability to create elemental me breath attacks due to the golden me heart. As she started to pull the water elemental and the earth elemental mana toward her, Fleur hopped in to the air surprised.


    Fleur could feel what Midnight was trying to do and grew excited. She wanted to train with them too but knew that Walker wanted to focus on his own. Therefore, she began to pull more of the earth and water elemental mana toward Midnight to help. She watched as the mana entered Midnight''s body and built up in her center. It was still separate but Midnight could easily push them together. Water and earth were often bonded in some way since they worked together to nourish nts in the soil. It could be said that they were some of the closest working elemental manas. It was simr to the water in the air or the light in the air.


    For a moment, Walker sensed this and only spared a single nce at the two while they worked together. He was sure that what Midnight was training while walking forward was going to be a good development for her, especially if Fleur had be interested in it. He needed to focus himself though. He was about to start a me with some of the dried grass within his storage. He needed to be able to control the fire elemental mana to enter the earth he was slowly shaping. The only problem was that he didn''t know what shape he wanted it to take.


    Thoughts of golems entered Walker''s mind but he felt that the magical metal creations the dwarves made were tooplicated. Hecked the understanding to properly make them able to move and function. He wanted something simple and easy to control. Something that would pose a challenge and act as another defender with Su. Thus, when he thought of the silver golem they had faced in the caves with the dwarves, he was struck by inspiration.


    The simple form of a golem with a core was easy to replicate. It also added the shaping that would allow the fire elemental mana to dwell in the center of the earth and heat it throughout to meld them together. The high earth sculpting skill began to work overtime while Walker slowly walked with the ever changing dried earth and stone mixture beside him. The legs formed in to stumps of hardened and condensed earth. The head was basically just arger rock that Walker had drawn to him. The body wasrge and its arms heavy enough to be used as clubs. It was extremely simple but it would be perfect for defense.


    The single hole within its chest had many small veins running from it. They were for the mes to ignite and begin to form. The amount of mana that Walker had used was not small. It was enough to say that he needed a few low tier mana potions, which he gulped down while holding his concentration. The added challenge of carrying the golem with his grand elemental maniption was enough to burn extra mana. Adding in walking and trying to gather any fire elemental mana from the air he could, was much tougher.


    "I know I can''t make a golem. That takes years and I wouldn''t be able to control it. But I can steal the shape and use it to my advantage!" Walker talked himself up while he pulled the straw and dried grass from his storage. It ignited instantly with the addition of fire elemental mana. He immediately thrust it in to the golem shaped body he created. Then, his next challenge began.


    Guiding the fire elemental mana that he had just added to the hollow center of the earth doll he created was much harder than he thought it would be. Walker needed to keep control of the fire constantly. Every single time he would try and allow it to spread and meld with the stone and earth, it would cause the heat to melt it. The magma it would create would be good to attack with but it would be hard to control and all the work shaping it would go to waste.<sub> </sub>


    "I need to keep it controlled." This realization caused him to slowly step away from the mes. They were hot but not enough to cause himsting damage, therefore, he allowed thin wisps of fire to follow from his fingertips. This was the minimal control he needed without fully releasing the mes to destroy the earth he condensed. It was radically different from the me doll which just needed fuel to burn or else it would dissipate. Walker was the source of control for it so that the bnce between the elemental manas would meld and not sh.


    The constant control allowed the mes to start to show through the joints of the earth doll he had created. His hands moved to guide it and soon the creature was walking beside him. Burned footprints in the wet grass left behind. Smoke drifted off of it slightly. It was a sight that would scare away any weak monster that saw it.


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 Chapter 1258 1258. Testing It Out

    ''The skill burning stone puppet has been taken from the elemental puppet master system. The skill burning stone puppet has been learned through precise control and bnce of elemental mana, skills, and knowledge.''


    ''Burning stone puppet- 40 mana cost, earth mana, fire mana


    The user will blend arge amount of their own mana in to ambient earth and fire elemental mana. The user must possess skills to manipte and shape fire and earth elemental manas to create this puppet. The user will retain the connection to the puppet using me stings. This constant feed of mana will allow the user to control it without needing to move their own hands. This is considered an ideal protector for a weak bodied puppeteer. The strong defensive forcebined with the heat of fire causes burns on any that attack it. While slow, it is incredibly hard to break with the connection remaining intact so that the user can repair the burning stone puppet at will. The burning stone puppet can fall out of elemental harmony if the elemental mana connection is lost causing it to fall to pieces or melt in to magma.''


    ''The skill me strings had been taken from the elemental puppet master system. The user has learned the skill me strings due to rted skills and current experiences.''


    ''me strings- 1 mana cost per minute


    The me strings require very high concentration, therefore,e with a consistent mana cost per minute. The user can reduce this by training with the particr fire elemental mana and understanding it better. The user will be able to control strings made of fire that only require mana or air to burn. The strings are not very strong but can be used to attach or create other things. They are ideally made by puppeteers to control their puppets.''


    Everyone stopped. They had been watching Walker work on his skillbination since it had be more and more evident that it was bing something intense. However, when they saw the golem with mes in its joints, they were stunned. It waspletely unexpected. Not only this they saw Walker trying to control it through small ming strings. It was as if he had just changed in to a different person before their eyes.


    "Remey, bring it on!" Walker was barely finishing another mana potion. The constant concentration and mana for these skills was too much to keep up for a long time until he had trained it more. Yet, he could not resist the urge to train it under pressure. He wanted to feel the strength this burning doll had. He wanted to see what he could do with it and what weaknesses it left him. He needed to know if he could protect everyone with this around him.


    "I''ll shatter that stone thing you made. Just watch out and don''t cry after!" Remey''s face twisted in to a battle ready smile. The alchemy fire spirit couldn''t resist the urge to enhance the fire affinity knuckles that Remey swapped to. She was going to fight fire with fire since she saw that the burning doll had mes between the joints. It would be safer for her to convert the mes in to alchemy fire when she came in to contact with it. Therefore mitigating the damage taken and enhancing her attacks.


    She had made a little progress changing the defense breaking palm in to a punch. She understood that it came with the way she struck. The vibrations that came from using her palm were where the damage came from. Thus, if she changed the way she struck and replicated the vibrations then she would cause the same damage with a fist while adding the elemental effects to it.<sub> </sub>


    The burning stone puppet slowly swung a club like arm down on her. Remey''s speed was too fast for it and she dodged by a hair''s breadth. This was perfect for her to get to the side of the puppet and strike out. The hit didn''t even produce a spark though. The fire that Remey had tried to control had lost its strength when she had attempted to change the way her fist would hit the golem. She had to merge the two skills better. Yet, she needed to jump and roll back first. The puppet swung its arm sideways to try and attack her again. Walker was sweating heavily while controlling it since he had to use the mes and the earth to change the direction of each attack.


    The next strike that Remey tried was a quick burst of speed so that she could get underneath the puppet''s guard. She punched straight at the stomach area causing a slight crack. However, the mes still did not show the same as they would when she would normally attack with the elemental fist. The small vibrations had caused more damage. The change in shape had started to create the defense breaking fist she wanted. "Again!" Her shout was loud and powerful enough to make everyone focus on this training more. They had not realized that Remey was taking this so seriously. That she had trulymitted to being better about bncing her training and alchemy.


    "Give it all you have!" Onyx thumped his tail on the ground in encouragement after he moved to the ground. He felt the energy and wanted to see Remey break the new skill Walker had just learned. The skill that was taking so much of Walker''s concentration.


    Reney didn''t let up. While the club like arms of the doll swung about and more patches of burnt grass shown around them, as the technique refined. The cracks she created were slower and slower to heal as Walker controlled the puppet. Small sparks of alchemy mes gathered with each hit. They grew and grew slowly covering Remey''s fists in alchemy fire as the alchemy fire spirit danced above her. It shouted in joy as her partner became one with the alchemy fire that it was made up of. They were reaching a whole new level of bond together.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1259 1259. Remeys Bond

    The change in their walking while training waspletely unexpected. It was just a perfect moment before they got to their destination. A moment that they could have to bring each other closer and make each other stronger.


    Remey''s fist mmed down on to the burning stone puppet. A burst of deep red alchemy fire burst out and the alchemy fire spirit rushed tond on Remey''s fists. It was no longer content with just watching and helping to control the mes. It wanted to be part of this battle. It wanted to grow with its partner.


    The next punch came after Remey ducked under the puppets arms yet again. The puppet had been unable tond a single blow while Remey had caused parts of its body to shear off with her attacks. The next one was no outlier. The strike came down and a devastating crack echoed through the fields. A single arm of the burning stone puppet fell off in pieces releasing a stream of fire.


    Before any of them could react, Walker was falling to his knees due to the strain that came with trying to contain the mes he no longer could manipte properly. Midnight burst forward releasing her gathered breath. Her attack had fused the water and earth elemental mana inside her. Thisbination caused cold mud to cover the puppet. Sizzling mud began to dry on it while the steam speedily cooled the stone. Midnight was only able to use it for a single breath but thebination was powerful. Even though the time to gather the mana and mix it had taken her a longer duration it proved perfect for the situation.


    The me strings that Walker had made to connect himself to the puppet dissipated and the stone golem copsed in to pieces while still cooling. The mes had been quenched and the mud was keeping everything from shattering due to the difference in temperature.


    "That was amazing. What was that skill!? And Remey, how did you and the fire spirit work together like that!? Gil was full of energy. His dagger training while walking was nothingpared to the two breakthroughs he had just seen. Walker''s burning stone puppet and me strings were spectacr in his eyes. Then adding in the visible learning, improvement, and adjustment they had witnessed to Remey''s elemental defense breaking fist was too much to handle.


    "Burning stone puppet¡­I wanted to use the me doll but tougher so I mixed it with¡­earth. Gah! I''m tired." Walker fell back on to the damp grass trying to cool down and catch his breath. Alice started to sing while hey down. But her song was not for him.


    "Your hands are burned pretty badly, Remey, you need to learn to hold back." Su was helping Remey with a health potion since Remey couldn''t easily uncover the top of the vial.


    "I did hold back. We held back a lot. We just need to fine tune the flow of the mes. We learned a new skill too, you know. Ibined skills and we found a skill to use together." Remey winced in pain while she felt the skin begin to heal on her hands. They were burned much more than she should have allowed.


    "Well, your new skill came at a cost. I don''t want to see you pay this price again." Su was still not having it. But Gil was right there to ask Remey what the skill was.


    "And the skill is?" His expectant tone made Remey a little more arrogant. But the alchemy fire spirit had already melted in to the spirit mark to rest. It had used a lot of its stored elemental mana to push itself and Remey further.<sub> </sub>


    "Alchemy fire gauntlets. I can only use it with my partner. It wraps itself around my fists while I use skills. It''s perfect. We fight together causing more fire damage and stealing mes from what we stroke. It was amazing. I could feel our manas mixing toget-" She flinched again while Su wrapped her hands in healing potion soaked bandages.


    "Yes yes, skills and fire. Now just sit still and let Alice and I heal you. Gil, stop encouraging her and go check on Walker. Then tell Midnight she did a good job. That puppet was going to shatter if she didn''t do something." Su was fairly impressed as well, but if she showed it then she would undermine her reprimands. They were out in the wild and they had managed to do this. She could only shake her head.


    "I know I should have stopped them, but they seemed like they needed this," Onyx spoke only to Su and knew that she was not going to openly reprimand him. He had made a good decision to let everyone stretch their legs and burn off energy. Now they would be able to focus on the task at hand.


    "We won''t do any more training today. When we reach the ravine we will settle in for a rest before we go in to it in the morning tomorrow." This final order from Onyx was not unheard. they nodded in agreement and decided that they would start to teach and shop each other their thoughts as they had gone through their progression. Walker knew that Midnight and Su would be able to understand the mana he used better while thebination of skills that Remey used could open their minds to inspiration. The more that they improved and put together theories to makebination skills, the stronger they would get. One could only be so powerful alone. If two or three skills came together then there was no way to know what they could do. This was the path to bing a truly powerful hero without forcing their levels higher and higher to build up stat points.


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 Chapter 1260 1260. The Guards

    After they had taken their time to recover. Walker looked a little better and less pale. He had also changed in to less sweaty and dirty clothes. Remey had healed a lot more but Su and Alice had told her she needed the bandages on all night soaked in healing potion if she wanted to punch a pillow let alone monsters. Remey was not even able to argue against them since she could feel that she had made a mistake by pushing so far so fast with the skill.


    "Look, that should be the camp near the ravine," Onyx called out from the top of the carriage. He had spotted the five guards sitting around a small fire. They had tents set up and didn''t seem on edge at all, which was a very good sign. It meant that there hadn''t been any monsters that had crawled out of the ravine to cause trouble.


    The carriage soon caught their attention and they began to make waves to move the carriage to the side. The guards quickly caught on when Midnight jumped out and started to run toward them. They had been given notice that the party wasing and they could not fail to recognize Midnight. Especially when she leaped in to the air and flew towards them in a short burst.


    As shended in front of them with a huff, the carriage came behind her. "You know we have been waiting for you. The guild master changed our return trip from a quest toe here and guard this out of nowhere. Now you can help us get out of this so we can get back and celebrate with everyone else." The fiveughed. They were still adventures even though they had been changed to guard duty.


    "Out of this? Who will guard the entrance while we do an investigation? We need people to hold it down." Walker smirked knowing that the group was messing around since they had been waiting for quite a few days.


    "I assume you want to hear what has been seen and sensed by our mage?" The leader of the five approached Walker.


    "I would say yes, but that will be for Onyx to decide. He is the pen in charge. You see, we might be able to find more abyssal serpents down there." The five that had been guarding the ravine entrance for days were very surprised that Walker was not in charge. They turned their head to Onyx who had slithered down to the ground and raised his head to look at them.


    "My brother is correct. I would like to hear what you have noticed around here. Anything odd? Specifically shadows out of ce?" Every single one of them seemed even more surprised to be asked this.


    "That''s exactly it. Early in the morning, we keep seeing shadows out of the corner of our eyes. They always seem to dart away toward the ravine again. Even weirder, we see clumps of shadows on the edges that seem like they would be cast from a small group of rocks or nts. But then we will notice that nothing is actually casting the shadow at all." The leader of the guarding adventures was speaking a little loudly. He knew that he sounded a little crazy.


    "And what of the eggshells that had been reportedly found at the bottom?" This was even more important to Onyx. he needed to see them if possible. He would be able to have Walker appraise them to see if they really came from an abyssal serpent.


    "We had them, but they slowly turned in to dust over the past few days. It''s odd because we weren''t sure what was happening to them. We assume that''s because they weren''t eaten by the monster that hatched from them. Not that all monsters eat their eggshells."<sub> </sub>


    "Unfortunate¡­is there anything else to note about what you might have seen or heard?" This was thest question before Onyx made his n for the morning.


    "Just a few things we can see from the top. We aren''t here to investigate so we aren''t going down to the bottom. There seems to be a carved cavern down there. It''s not quite ruin materials, more like someone started digging out a cave that was already there years ago." This was the best guess that all of them hade up with. It made sense and they could say that better than any other possibilities.


    "Then we will take a look. We will keep youpany for dinner tonight before we head down to the ravine and explore. We don''t n to be in there for a long time. I''m sure you will get someone along to rece your guard duty soon." The cheeky reply was enough to lighten the mood and make the ones guarding realize that Onyx was not just forcing his serious act because he was in charge. The seriousness hade from how much this mattered to him and now that it was done they could chat and share stories in to the night.


    "Ah, so that means you should have brought some interesting dinner options?" One of them spoke up looking at the group. A small smile on his face. They had been eating rations for the days they had been here. Not many monsters had passed by.


    "We might have a few things. The real question is, can you show me that you are deserving of my cooking?" Walker chimed back in while Gil walked away to sit and prepare arrows. Su did the same with her shields while Remey smirked and pulled out a deck of cards she recently got for journeys like this. No one had noticed that Alice and Midnight had already moved near the fire to rx. They wanted to take their time resting for the night.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1261 1261. Grass

    The party spent the rest of the night rxing and chatting with the guards. They were adventurers for many years and usually took longer escort missions. Hence why they ended up being redirected to guard the ravine. They weren''t very big on minster fighting quests and all had defensive systems. They had a mage that was best at scouting and stat boosting magic. Two shield users, and two spear users. Walker was d to chat with them for a bit but Su seemed to get the most out of their conversations.


    While the rest of the party chatted away the night, Onyx had looked down in to the ravine unable to see much. He just wondered what they would find down there and if they would have better answers for how many of his species of monster were left. He could feel the fluctuations of different manas down in the depths but it was nothing that pointed to any monster or being in general to his dismay, it would be a mystery until the morning¡­


    "Hm, and here I thought you would have been up a little earlier. Don''t let yourself get too exhausted." Walker found that Onyx woke up shortly after him. The two were thest ones to wake up.


    "Brother, I think I know why you always sleep sote. I feel more and more tired than usual." Walker smirked at this and gestured for Onyx toe over toward the ravine as the sun was breaking the horizon.


    "I think we can set up some light elemental crystals around the edge. Maybe we will spot something while we eat breakfast." The n was good but Onyx didn''t have much hope. He wasn''t feeling anything out of the ordinary just yet. However, the day hadn''t even started.


    "You two look like you slept well. Having others to guard us after the other night is way better than staying up and switching off." Gil looked ready to run for miles. He had a vibrant air about him.


    "Let me guess. You were up to hunt early?" This could be the only reason that Gil was so energetic.


    "Actually, no. I slept in like you a little. I just got up a few minutes ago. But Remey has been up for a while. She was saying things about how the grass was a weird color?" He turned and pointed out Remey slowly walking around the grass looking down at it. Even Su had joined in. The only two that were on the side watching were Midnight and Alice who looked like they might fall back to sleep any second.


    "I''ll go and see what''s going on." This was enough to peak Walker''s curiosity. Out of all of them, Remey was the one that would notice the strangeness of any nt. Gil would have a good chance too but due to Remey''s years of seeing and examining herbs even without her system being rted to them, she would be able to tell.


    "Hey, What are you looking for? Something rare?" Walker had the feeling that Remey might be trying to find a rare herb.


    "It''s not really rare. But it''s hard to get. The shadows were weird against the firest night. I thought that it was the abyssal serpents we came searching for. But when I woke up I noticed it still even though there wasn''t much light. Now I''m trying to figure it out. I think it might be shadow grass growing around here. If that''s the case I need some of the seeds." Remey knelt down and pulled up a little grass shaking her head. "I think when this ravine opened up it released dormant shadow grass seeds and they are trying to sprout. Normally they grow in the shadows of hills. They are much harder to see there. They will die out here if left alone."<sub> </sub>


    "Do you think that could make you a darkness affinity potion?" Walker hit the nail on the head with his guess.


    "Exactly. We will need a lot of it to experiment with that theory. So, If I can get seeds we can have a good crop in about a month. It grows fast and you might not even realize that- Ha!" Remey grabbed a handful of dirt from underneath a fallen and dried clump of field grass. "This is it." She showed Walker while covering it from the sun with her other hand.


    The very thin and frail grass in her hands had an odd wisp like shifting motion to it. The wind didn''t seem to be the cause but the changes in the light. It also had a very dark coloration that perfectly matched the shadows so it made a lot of sense that it would be able to blend in to the shadows of hills. "That''s actually really cool. I would never have spotted that."


    "See the little white dots on the roots? Those are the seeds. Eventually, they will grow in torge root balls that can be split. But for now, I will cover them in cold water to make them dormant. Then I will have you store them." There was pride in Remey''s voice. She had found exactly what she thought was causing some of the strange shadows the guards had seen. "This doesn''t exin everything but it sure does exin a lot." The pure smile that Remey had on her face was something that Walker wished she would show more people. She didn''t always need to look serious and ready for a fight.


    "Well, Onyx and I set up some light crystal bait. We might spot something near the edge of the ravine. Although, we are heading down there in a few minutes. If you are ready just let us know. We won''t interrupt." Remey watched Walker head back. She quickly started on her work preserving the newly found shadow grass seeds.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1262 1262. A Large Cave

    "There was nothing to be seen on the crystals that we put down as bait. That means we are heading inside now. I want Su to lead the way. I don''t know what could be down there but the earthquake out here must have disturbed some underground monsters with how the mana is fluctuating." The entire group had eaten, woken up, and were fully geared up. They wanted to get in to the ravine and investigate. They hadn''t needed to travel far but there was a lot of excitement to help out Onyx with his overall goal.


    There was a soft growl of support from Midnight. They all felt the same way and stood just a little taller. "Down we go." Walker pushed the ropes they were using to head down over the edge of the ravine.


    "We will be here with an eye out. If anything goes wrong use those fancy magic skills to warn us and we will send notice to the guild before wee and start bashing any monster that bothers you to a pulp." The guards that the guild had assigned here were not weak by any means. The only reason the party could be considered as stronger was the simple fact that they had more unique and fusion skills. They had developed their skills at a lower level to a slightly higher degree evening out their strength. The guards had higher levels from long term escort quests but a little less real battle experience in varying environments like a cave.


    Sliding down the ropes was not as fun as the party could want. The ropes were rough on their hands. Even Remey felt it through her gloves which Su had made sure she would wear in case she tried to use her new alchemy me gauntlet skill again. Their feet hit dry and soft dirt. "It seemed like this was pretty well sealed. I would have thought that there were more underground rivers or streams in this area." The theory that Gil had was seeming wrong at the moment.


    "This might just be off to the side of one. The cave looks carved out a while ago. Hopefully, it wasn''t monsters that carved it out¡­or maybe we hope it is." Walker wasn''t sure if it would be better for it to be a monster tunnel or an ancient ruin carved tunnel. If it was a monster there may have once been an abyssal serpent that was the cause, or some worm type monsters. There were too many possibilities. However, if they were ruins then it could be anything from hidden treasures to traps and monsters. Overall it was a tough gamble.


    "Walker, can you use the light elemental crystals to make a light orb that won''t dissipate for hours?" Onyx had the idea some time ago and thought it would work very well since it was always better not to light a torch or anything in the caves.


    "That should work. I have never had to but I should be able to make that work." The crystal he chose was a little on the smaller size. After creating a light orb in the sunny open part of the ravine, he directed the mana from the crystal in to the light orb. It caused the light orb to float directly on top of the light elemental crystal and remain alight without too much of Walker''s mana maniption.


    "Perfect. That will also attract any of the abyssal serpents that might be around." Su liked the idea of having a more consistent light source. It was a risk to alert monsters within the caves but it was better to be able to see and defend against them since the monsters already had the advantage over them." Alice should carry it though. She will be able to use the light better than the rest of us." Thement was immediately supported by the rest of them. Alice didn''t even hesitate. She didn''t need to carry a staff anyways. The high priest had given her one but for the boosts that came with it, she just had to have it near her.


    Gil had prepared light elemental arrows specially for this. They were not the arrows that could heal by shooting people which were still a more experimental arrow since it also hurt the target. Gil had to retire those after he spoke more with the enforcers. The arrows he had made were special because they contained some flint and steel dust on the ends. They would cause small sparks that damaged the arrow head. It would cause the arrow to break every time but also cause the stored light elemental mana to escape at once in a sh. It was perfect for the caves if they wanted to blind something or create an environment heavy with light elemental mana temporarily.<sub> </sub>


    "Come on, let''s go find Onyx some students!" Remey pushed Su ahead. Onyx didn''t even say a word. He was too happy to hear how excited Remey was to do this. He was holding his hopes high. He knew even if they didn''t find anything that they might discover something interesting. Their lives always seemed to fall toward amazing events whether they liked it or not.


    Their feet kicked up dust as they moved in to the cave. The light became dim since the sun was no longer providing them with anything. They were in the darkness. The only sound seemed to be them as they moved. Even dropping water which they had heard in other caves waspletely missing from the surroundings.


    "I can tell this was carved away by something." Walker ran his hands over the nearly uniform scrapes on the walls. He just wondered what had done it and how long this had taken, the size of the cave was not small. It was many times taller than they were.


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    ? ¡­.

 Chapter 1263 1263. Faded Murals

    The group had been walking for a little while and was still not seeing much. "I think it just goes straight forever." Since Gil was losing his patience not seeing anything change he had made this simple conclusion.


    "Then why are we starting to see that?" Remey pointed ahead and stuck her tongue out at Gil. Since Gil had been getting bored with seeing the same thing he had barely missed the sight of therge cave tunnel splitting.


    "I would say that we know this wasn''t made by monsters now, or at least it was made intentionally by some race using some magic or monsters." Su jogged ahead and looked at the wall between the fork in the tunnel. "There are some runes carved here. They are a little rough so maybe they aren''t the same as the other ancient runes we have seen.


    "I can give my all around appraisal a shot and see if it shows us anything. They do look different though." It was always worth the shot to use his appraisal skill. Worst case they were still in the same position that they were before.


    ''Ancient directional rune- (degraded)


    This rune used to be used for channeling a being''s mana and directing them toward a certain direction. This rune is severely deteriorated and very tough to use without causing further damage to it. This was nowhere near a perfect rune andcked the proper development.''


    "It''s older than the mage tower?" Since Alice had been interested in the light elemental floor of the mage tower, she had gone to view it. She wasn''t able to see and learn much since the mages that went with her could not make sense of everything to exin to her. Nut the experience had given her some guidance when it came to how the ancient runes looked. Therefore, she had the feeling that this rune was a worse version of the runes in the mage tower.


    "I would say you''re right. That could mean that these runes are from the same race but before they moved to the desert city. Still pretty amazing¡­I wonder why they would be underground?" Walker was trying toe up with theories but was totally lost. He had no idea why a race would move from the underground where the dwarves had been perfectly happy to the desert. They were two very harsh environments.


    "We might find more as we go. The real question is, brother, do we risk using the rune to see where it will point us?" Onyx was not willing to risk this unless everyone agreed. He wanted to see if they could trace the steps of this ancient civilization that seemed to have a much deeper history than the world currently knew.


    "That''s up to who should be the one to try it. Walker might have the best control of his mana, but I have the best magical defense. If anything happens I will be the least harmed and can have Walker and Remey help heal me with magic and potions." Su was willing to do this since it would push their exploration further. It would make a lot more sense.


    "I''m fine"


    "Let''s do it"


    "Mhm"


    "Looks like everyone agrees." Even Midnight was nodding her head next to Walker.<sub> </sub>


    "Then, Su will handle it." Onyx watched as Su pressed her hand to the rune on the wall. It was slow but a slight glow emanated from it. There was a slight trail of mana that extended toward the right side path before the rune seemed to lose shape and the stone on the wall deformed slightly.


    "I think we are going to the right¡­I also broke it." There was a sheepish tone in Su''s voice since she felt bad for breaking something ancient. However, it was for the explorations continuation. It needed to be risked.


    Walker nced back at the rune to see the status of warped broken directional rune taking the title of the previous appraisal. It was enough for Walker to wonder about the shapes of runes and how they might lose their purpose or functions when too much time or mana was added to them. But this was a thought forter. The tunnel had begun to change. There were small bits of rocks on the sides of it showing that this had been a much heavier traveled tunnel once upon a time. There were even still markings on the walls from things that had scraped against them while moving forward.


    "You don''t think they used to be a transportation tunnel of some sort, do you?" The thought hit Remey pretty hard. She could understand why the tunnels were sorge and covered so much ground. It also made much more sense why they would find a rune that sent travelers in a certain direction.


    "I would say you''re right. They are ancient, but there are pretty telltale marks from a merchant path. The soil is so soft because it used to be pretty t. This is what happens over time when those ttened damp trails be dry and slowly lose their structure." Gil proved his point by digging slightly to reveal the hardened soil underneath. It had indeed been a traveling trout at one point.


    "Then that means we might be in store to find something very good. Maybe that desert city that the desert elves found connects to a series of ancient tunnels that were made somehow. If so then the race that made them may have developed this way and eventually became stronger creating their best city yet?" It was all a theory of how the desert city had been created, but if the race lived underground at one point then it could be a way they survived the desert and surrounding areas.


    "Maybe we should just start looking at the walls. They might have some answers." Onyx had stopped slithering forward and was looking at the walls with intense focus.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1264 1264. Dangerous Past

    Colors covered the walls. There were many fading images that showed pictures of different things. "These look like crops. I would say they are corn and wheat?" Walker was running a hand along the worn colors finding that they had been absorbed by the walls so they had once been painted on.


    "Then what are these?" Su was still ahead looking at some of the other creatures painted on the walls. There were many that didn''t seem to fit anything that they knew to date. The monsters that the party had seen and studied were all monsters that existed now or recently. But the ones they saw wererger.


    "That one has to be a sea monster of some sort. Like a leviathan but bigger and with a lot of spikes." Gil was referencing what seemed to be murals of watering together in a massiveke or ocean. The spiked monster wasrge enough to take up the entire water source and definitely would be able to take on any monster they had seen as of yet. Even the mother kraken would easily be swallowed by such a creator.


    "Wait, doesn''t this one looks like Scy in her mastery skill? It seems bigger and¡­more evil." There were multiple leviathans attached to it and a veryrge mouth that had scales leading down it. The monsters that seemed attached to it by tentacles or rope like limbs were those of vicious hounds almost double the size of any that the party had ever seen. They could have destroyed multiple cities just by walking through them.


    "Then these must be¡­worse." Onyx looked at the creatures that flew through the skies in one of the murals. They had the simr appearance to dragons but were muchrger. They were behemoth monsters that seemed jagged and twisted. The images were rough but some breathed mes that lit the skies in the murals on fire. "If these were what dragons grew to be after thousands of years I would not argue it. They seem too powerful."


    "Wait, we were wondering why they might be down underground and in the desert. Wouldn''t this exin it? They are here to hide. If anything was up on the surface they would be trampled by these things. Look at this¡­Onyx! Look at this!" Walker was stopped mid sentence. He found a picture that was very faded on the wall. They were all too familiar.


    "Brother! Brother! Brother!!!" Onyx was lost for words. He was too excited to see what was all over the walls. The rough and faded murals showed dark scaled serpents that crawled from the earth to sit on top of mountains. They were met by simr sized serpents that flew in the sky with white scales.


    "Those have to be abyssal serpents and heavenly serpents! We need people toe and investigate this ce. Send a notification to ra now. We need to make sure that she passes on the information that this ce should be connected to the mage tower. And that it is even older." Restraint was not something that onyx had at that moment. He was too excited. They had found something that perfectly exined where his species had been and what they hade from. He knew that abyssal serpents were an old monster but he did not know that they were even seen by ancient races. Even more, they were seen right beside the heavenly serpents, which Alice and He were trying to raise together to have the same potential future as him.


    "I did. I did. Just look at everything where. We can take our time to explore this. There are a lot more murals it seems." Walker looked ahead and saw that therge tunnel changed again. It seemed to be blocked by something ahead. "I think we reached the end of the tunnel. Maybe this is where the travelers were headed."


    Alice brought the light orb attached to the light elemental crustal closer. They found that there were multiple parts of stone fitted together blocking the tunnel. Some cracks had appeared over the years but it had obviously been some form of door. "More runes." Alice spotted them and pointed them out to Walker.


    "I can already feel them, they are earth elemental runes. I bet that these are here to help the door open. Even years ago they were able to ake things like this. Before they had the same runes at the mage tower!" This was just another discovery. Finding things like this was just too amazing.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, are we opening it?" Remey wanted to keep pushing forward with the journey. They had finally found something amazing. Something that they had not seen before and something that they knew would help the world learn.


    "No, wait for Onyx. he needs to get his bearings first." Walker saw that Onyx was beside himself still. Finally, they were close. The entire group knew how much Onyx had thought about finding others of his species. They knew that it was the same feeling that Midnight had about dragons. It was the same feeling of wanting to be with family. This didn''t mean Onyx was against being with the group, just that he had always asked, where are there others just like me? Anyone would wonder the same things.


    "We can move on. This is good. We are on the right track. But it might be dangerous. This door hasn''t been opened for a long time so I want you to be careful and reinforce the tunnel first." When Onyx recovered, he was clear and prepared. He didn''t know what would be on the other side of this stone door. Just that it was old and might not be able to hold itself together when moved. The cracks from aging made this clear already.


    "Then I will do my best." Alice held the light orb and crystal high to help Walker as he began to use his high earth sculpting skill.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1265 1265. Records

    Rumbling stone was nerve wracking. The cave seemed to drop more dust on the group than expected. There were some cracks that seemed made intentionally to let the stone door fall in to empty spaces on the sides of the walls. The other cracks were caused by time. That means some of the stone door fell away and blocked the tunnel from easy travel. However, it was nothing for Walker since he was able to use the earth sculpting skill to keep the cracks from forming on the walls around him, especially the ceiling. It kept the tunnel''s integrity intact.


    What was revealed was not easy to see. The group was unable to look past the small bubble of light they had from Alice holding the light elemental crystal high. The light orb only prated the darkness so much before they realized that the entire space before them was toorge. "Let me make more light orbs. We will see what is here." Walker started to throw out light orbs as he also pulled out the light elemental crystals to attach to them. He wanted the entire area lit without having to control the mana so much. He also wanted to be able to explore for a long time.


    Slowly the space was revealed. Many stone shelves and arge open center were revealed. "Don''t tell me this was a massive underground storage area¡­" Remey felt that she was in somerge vault that people would pass through to trade and store goods. From the stone shelf''s conditions, she could see the petrified wood that had once made up small barrels or crates. There were stone cups and containers that had cracked as they aged.


    On top of all this, they could see some elemental crystals that had managed to weather time or shattered in to crystal shards. These must have been very valuable at the time because there was only one set of broken stone shelves with them on it.


    "If this was a travel area between their underground homes like the desert or even before it, then I would say this was a ce many of them stopped." Walker wanted to move to investigate things more, yet he was stopped in his tracks.


    ''Abyssal serpent skeleton


    This abyssal serpent had perished many years ago. Due to the unique elemental affinity, the skeleton is still left behind. The skeleton is slowly losing the stored mana within the bones to degrade further. It is a unique characteristic that a parent abyssal serpent or simr serpent monster possesses to assist their eggs to absorb the mana andy dormant for a longer time.''


    Walker whispered this to the group. He was a little awestruck by the size of the abyssal serpent skeleton that snaked around many shelves. If the party wanted they could easily walk through the entire skeleton as if it was a tunnel. "I could grow bigger than this¡­It''s amazing." The entire group was equally amazed.


    Since they all felt that the area was full of amazing things, they started to explore in pairs. Gil was looking through some of the stone shelves near the center. "I think all this dust used to be books. But there are also these bs of stone with carving, hmm. Walker, Midnight and I found some stone bs with writing on them!" This brought Walker and Alice over to them to get a closer look.


    ''Transport record b


    This is a b used to record the goods brought through the checkpoint. It has specific information on it regarding trade between groups and dwellings. The runes can be directly matched with the ancientnguage used at the time''<sub> </sub>


    "I can''t read it but I can appraise it. These are all records. I doubt we will get much out of them until we can get people to study how they used runes to match theirnguage. We also need to find more of their writtennguage." Having some of the older writtennguage would help those studying it back in Genesis to find out a better way to trante things. It was a very useful discovery.


    "You are going to want to see this over here!" Su and Remey both called out to them. Their voices were shaking with energy so Gil. Midnight, Onyx, Walker, and Midnight rushed over. Onyx had been looking at therge skeleton still but was now ready to see what would cause Remey and Su to be so animated.


    They all stopped when they got toward the skill of the abyssal serpent skeleton. It had stopped right in front of some much more reinforced stone shelves. They had runes carved along them with small parts of rusted metals attached. The runes seemed to be directing all mana in the air toward the shelves. But this wasn''t what they were amazed about. What they were looking at was one of the light orbs that was growing dimmer and dimmer by the second.


    Small worm shaped shadows were moving around the light elemental crystal on the floor providing the light orb with mana. They moved very quickly and had obviouslye from the shattered eggshells on the shelf. "We moved around the side to find that the next tunnel is copsed from the earthquake we assume. Then turned around to find this. Onyx, we found them."


    Words could not be spoken. None of them even knew what to say. The seven to ten little worms of shadows were clearly abyssal serpents that had just hatched. The light elemental mana that had started to slowly seep into the caves from the ravine being opened were enough to help them get closer to hatching. As soon as the light crystals were added, they had hatched and started to feast on them. Even more, the shelves had additional eggs that might be other monsters or perished monsters. Walker could only understand that the ancient race had once raised these monsters and transported them around.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1266 1266. Tunnel Carvers

    "Onyx, there''s more. There are eggs on this shelf. Some are definitely unable to ever hatch, but there are heavenly serpent eggs too. Maybe five or six. Then there are another eight or nine abyssal serpent eggs. There are other things too that I need to appraise. We will need the tamer''s guild toe and help us. We are going to need¡­archeologists, rune mages, rune carvers, tamers, and anyone with high appraisal skills. Maybe more." This was a discovery that perfectly rivaled the mage tower.


    "He''s right. You found a lead that was much more than what we thought it would be. Onyx¡­Onyx?" Su tried to stay calm and praise Onyx but found he was frozen. He was basically a statue looking at the wriggling abyssal serpents in the shadows.


    Before anyone could try and snap him out of it he started to grow to his full size. He looked down at the wriggling abyssal serpents that froze before his gaze. It was clear that onyx had started to speak to them. Even Midnight was lost as to what Onyx could be saying since he normally let her in on things as well.


    Everyone watched as the little shadows slowly approached him and examined him before they all began to rise out of the shadows. Their bodies were obviously frail. But they were definitely abyssal serpents. The size was much smaller than onyx had hatched but they had the bare minimum elemental mana to hatch over a long period of time. It was expected that they would be stunted to a certain degree.


    "I will make sure these little ones start to catch on and learn a few things. I will leave it to brother to handle the other eggs. I am very excited¡­" The way Onyx spoke this in everyone''s minds made them wonder if he actually believed what was happening or if they were somehow in a dream with him. Either way, he would make sure everything went perfectly.


    "We will do that. Now, firstes first. Let''s see if I can store away the dormant eggs. If they can then it will be perfect. If not then they might hatch at any time." Walker looked at the eggs left and hoped he could store them all so that they would not need to wait for tamers toe and help them. That way Walker could get the eggs to those that could wee them in to the world sooner and with brighter smiles.


    Since Walker was the one with the appraisal skills, the others were right behind him to help where needed. The only one that stayed right next to Onyx was Alice. They had shared a special bond while training their light elemental skills together. Since she was also by his side helping to hatch the heavenly serpent egg he was d that she showed the same interest in the newly hatched abyssal serpents.


    ''Spoiled monster egg''


    ''Spoiled monster egg''


    ''Spoiled monster egg''...


    This description showed up multiple times while Walker was appraising. He was not too happy with the fact that they were finding so many spoiled monster eggs. The problem was that they had been there without the proper nutrition for so long. Some monster species were able to g dormant in their egg state for very long periods of time. The heavenly and abyssal serpents were two such monsters.


    ''Titan mole egg- (dormant)<sub> </sub>


    This is an extremely fast growing species of mole. They were once thergest species of underground mole in the world but have slowly be the rarest due to their very short lifespans. They are able to grow from hatchling state to adult state in a single month. They will constantly eat earth to buildrge armor around them while not actually gaining mass as a creature. They are mainly a magical earth elemental monsters instead of physical. Their titan namees from their ability to create this massive body of earth to protect them at all times. They are able to make extremely strong tunnels for long stretches underground''


    "This is the monster that made the tunnels! It has to be. Remey became interested in the egg which looked like a small brown rock. If anyone had walked by it on the ground they would have ignored it thinking it was just mud and dirt.


    "So that''s how they did it. I wonder how strong its earth affinity is if it can make a body big enough to make that massive main cave. Something so small can make the very ground we walk on its body." To say that this was amazing was an understatement. Walker was pretty impressed overall by this.


    "It looks like there are four more on this shelf. I wonder if they are better preserved because they are under the ground but not in direct contact?" Gil''s theory was correct. Every single one that the group found they were able to store away.


    "Hmm, they would be like me then. Great physical defense and earth elemental skills." The earth spirit had started to look around and seemed to like the eggs very much. When Su rted it and her to them the spirit seemed even more energetic.


    "Midnight, do you see more over there?" Walker saw that Midnight was examining thest section of shelving. There they found the majority of eggshells with two more abyssal serpent eggs. "Ah, so this is where most of the ones that hatched came from. It looks like this one will hatch next but the other is still dormant. Overall, nine more abyssal serpent eggs, five heavenly serpent, and six titan mole eggs. The rest aren''t going to do anything. Let''s see what Onyx has decided about his little students, hm?" Midnight huffed happily. She was d to see that there were not all spoiled monster eggs. These eggs were the start of the abyssal, heavenly, and maybe even titan moles bing their own races. Not that they knew if the titan moles had the potential.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1267 1267. They Are Family

    Midnight rushed over to Onyx ahead of the others. She was ready to see what he had to say about the newly hatched abyssal serpent that he was not looking over. "Sister, they already named themselves. Can you believe that? They named themselves after the order they hatched. I will teach them to get to the ce I am tomunicate with others but they recognize their order. It''s perfect and easy. But they are too hungry." The small abyssal serpents had already consumed most of the light elemental mana in the first elemental crystal.


    There was no hiding his words from the others. They all heard him since he had basically shouted it to the world mentally. "You seem pretty happy. It looks like they can even hide in your shadow too. That''s so cute!" Su was broken. Her serious demeanor was washed away by the little abyssal serpents hiding in Onyx''s shadow when the rest of the group arrived.


    "I will let them know who you are and that they are safe with you here. They don''t really understand much of what I say but they know I am bigger and here to help them. They really like Alice since she was humming before and made the light elemental mana easier to eat." It seemed all too easy to make Alice blush with this. She was somehow bing loved by her own fan club of abyssal serpent hatchlings.


    "Oh? You have already started to get them to like you? How is the heavenly serpent going to feel when it hatches and finds out that its ner sister has a nest of siblings for it to contend with." The teasing earned a soft p to Walker''s arm. But he could tell that she liked it. She was thinking about how it would be nice to have so many friends around to help her train, keep herpany, and most of all live a better life.


    "They can be family. All of them."


    "Now that is well said. They will be wee in the guilds and out on every adventure!" Remey''s shout in response to Alice caused the little hatchlings to slither back in to the shadows yet again. They soon reemerged to look at her curiously. They didn''t know what she had said or why she was so loud. However, they could sense the light elemental affinity of the two interchangeable knuckles on her hips.


    Before they could continue on and keep chiding about the abyssal serpent hatchlings, there was a soft rumbling. The dust from the ceiling began to fall on them while clouding the air. No one knew what was going on. "Is this another earthquake?" The earth spirit didn''t seem to agree with Su''s theory. It just melded back in to the earth dwelling shield. Everyone could feel the tension in the air.


    "Then it might not have been an earthquake that caused this to burst open. It could have been monsters." Walker had everyone on alert immediately. The shaking stopped leaving them all ready for battle without a foe.


    "As the party leader, we are leaving. We do not know what caused this and what further damage coulde of this. The tunnel seems safe but I heard you call out that the continuation of the tunnel had copsed. It''s not safe. We will leave. The people we send here next can investigate." Onyx was sobered up from his joy. He was ready to be more serious and get somewhere safe. He had watched Walker procure the dormant eggs and carry the one soon to hatch. He also saw that Walker had stored away many of the stone bs with runenguage written on them. That way they would more easily convince people toe and explore these ruins in depth. They just needed to hope that the ruinssted longer.


    "I agree with that. I don''t n on staying here too much longer. I prefer where I can see the target I can shoot my arrows at." the rumbling seemed to have stirred Zephyr from her rest in their bow. She looked a little confused.


    "Can you feel that? There''s a lot of earth elemental mana around here now. I think there might even be a spirit like me."<sub> </sub>


    "A spirit like you. A grand elemental spirit? Is that a good thing?" Walker waited with bated breath. So far Zephyr had been kind but that didn''t mean that all grand elemental spirits were.


    Her reaction was the same as any other person would shrug. But when Fleur started to pull Walker''s hair back towards the entrance he felt it was better to leave. The mana was imbnced and the area felt dangerous. At the very least they were better off getting somewhere safer.


    "Come here. Hide away in my shadow and stay close. We will keep the light for you to eat while we go." The whispers of Onyx were still transmitted to their minds because of his excitement. It also helped them know where the hatchlings were so that they could better guard them. Su was prepared to use the earth fortress skill with her partner at a moment''s notice.


    The entire cavern had be dusty and harder to see. "I can feel a new airflow. Maybe another cave opened up." They all trusted this information from Gil and Zephyr. The pair had the best understanding of wind elemental mana, therefore, they were able to feel the slightest shift in the air traveling through the caves.


    "There was that tunnel we did not travel down. We don''t know where it went. What if it went to another room like this." The thought urred to Onyx and then hit everyone else with the realization that they could be leaving even more monster eggs to spoil and lose the chance to live. The thought would eat away at them if they did not attempt to check it out. But there was still the danger of what was causing that rumbling.


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 Chapter 1268 1268. Partially Explored

    Leaving the main room that had found was hard. They had not been able to explore further because the rumbling had put them on dodge and it was best that the dwarves were there to properly reinforce the tunnels. Walker was cursing himself a little since they had not brought with them some dwarves or earth mages from the forest elf city. That would have put them in a better mindset. However, they were now faced with a bigger dilemma.


    "If we just leave them there and they lose their chance of surviving then why do I waste so much time making potions to save people. If I will just let a living thing die then I should stop making potions to save people." Remey had rationalized it in an odd way built it struck a chord with Su.


    "I agree. We don''t know what is down there but if it means getting more eggs out of a ce that doesn''t have food for them then I am ready to risk it. Walker and I have earth rted skills to help us escape better if the worst happens. If we run in to what caused the rumbling before then we will retreat and call for some back up. I''m willing to take the risk and scout it first."


    "Onyx, let me ask you something." Gil was thinking very hard about how this could work while still protecting the abyssal serpents that should leave the caves first. "If you and Alice leave here to report back to the guards while Walker, Su, Remey, and I head down there to search, do you think that if we find more abyssal serpents they would follow us because of a light elemental crystal? Midnight would wait here to give a signal if anything starts to happen. She would be the warning if the tunnel started to copse."


    "That''s not a bad idea. But I would prefer that we stay together. Although it is better to get the hatchlings out safely first. They should get to the light first. I think a day should have passed by now. We walked pretty far to get to the fork in the tunnels." Since the sun wasn''t visible it was very tough to keep track of time underground. It was something that the party had struggled with when in the dwarven mines.


    "I don''t want to. It feels wrong to separate. But, you are right. I have a responsibility to these little ones. Alice can carry the egg that will hatch soon too. But I want you to turn around at the slightest rumble or feeling of worry." The stare that Onyx had while looking at them was one that spoke millions of words and feelings in an instant. He was sure that his family could get out of any situation, yet he did not wish to risk it. "I won''t allow any more of my kind to suffer. Just go and we will wait for you. Just be careful." Onyx turned and started back toward the ravine. He was having a hard time doing this. He could feel his heart being pulled apart with his dreams and goals against his familial values.


    On the other hand, Alice was taking this as her reason for being there. She would be able to keep the little abyssal serpents safe and fed using her songs. They would be able to grow faster during their journey back. Nothing would stop her from ying her part. At the end of the day she had practiced battle songs even though she had always lived as a healer. But that just expanded her control of light. Things that allowed her to help others with her newfound strength were perfect. Therefore, she gave Onyx a soft pat on the head. She didn''t need to speak for him to know that she was standing beside him and would give her all to help. This lightened Onyx''s stress considerably.


    "We will be back as soon as we check this tunnel, Be safe Midnight." Walker felt that Midnight wanted to some but recognized the importance of the task she was given. She would also have the opportunity to work on sensing the earth elemental mana. It was the best way for her to be prepared for anything that happened. Any small rumble, monster approaching, or even backup and she would be able to warn everyone of what was happening.


    "If the rune didn''t point us this way, should we be worried about what we might find?" Remey finally broke out with what she was worrying over. She had not expected they would end up traveling and finding what they had so far. She did feel responsible now and just wanted to get deeper insight from Walker who could sense the mana in the air around them better.<sub> </sub>


    "I want to say we won''t need to worry but if there is a breeze then that means this is connected elsewhere. It also means that we might be headed toward another cave systempletely. It looked like monsters had been unable to head the other way because of the stone door. That was good for the eggs since they were safe. The real question we should ask, why were they sealed and left behind?"


    This already gued Walker''s mind. The question was the biggest one that needed answering.


    "Since Zephyr feels a breeze and so do I. We should be careful. I do need to say though, the tunnel shows some signs of activity. Like small holes were poked in to the dusty ground. I have no idea what leaves tracks like this but they aren''t new. I just wonder¡­" Gil was at a loss for what the tracks were or even if they were tracks at all. It was very rare for him to be stumped by anything. Everyone knew this and made sure that they were just a little more prepared.


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 Chapter 1269 1269. The Walls

    "We will be more careful. My partner agrees that nothing has touched this space for a while, but look at the walls. Whatever was here obviously has left its mark." The marks that Su referred to were cuts in the sturdy carved walls. They were clearly left by things that were able to cut in to dirt and stone easily. On top of that, it seemed that they had cut up the murals for some unknown reason.


    "If it was a person it would make sense for someone to want to destroy more murals. It seemed like there are stretches of caves that have them purposefully. I like the traditions. Maybe Genesis should use it as well. Anyways, there is a randomness to it. Look at the colors, green is cut off more than the faded reds and yellows. If it was a monster, then maybe, they were after what was in the pigments that created the paint used?"


    "That''s¡­actually really smart. Are you sure that you are Gil and not some mimic or ghost pretending?" Remey was a little unsure and softly poked Gil''s side to test if he has indeed the person they knew.


    "Just because you don''t know something doesn''t mean that it is a mystery to the world. Do you know how some paints are made? They are made from farmed flowers. Those reds and yellows you see in the kingdom''s walls or a castle door are made from tulips. Red and yellow tulip petals to be exact." Pretending to pout was not the best look for Gil but it seemed to make Zephyr google while she drifted in the air trying to feel the flow of the wind through the cave.


    "Then we have monsters that came through here and ate away at the walls for the green. I would say that leaves us with a lot of options but now we have to figure out what would do that. Moles are out since they eat worms, earth elemental crystals, and sometimes mushrooms. Bat type monsters are out since they eat the blood or small rat like monsters. Same for the rat typer monsters, they eat insects, or scavenge." Walker easily eliminated many of the types of monsters they could encounter down here.


    "So that means that we won''t have worms either. How would they know there was green on the walls? They can''t see and they eat everything around the thing they want to eat. They can''t eat just the green color off the walls." There was a proud pose from Remey for her input. These moments adventuring were where the group seemed to truly act themselves. They could converse without much worry about what they looked like. They had begun to act differently in the city since they were looked up to.


    "I would say it has ws or sharp pincers then? Maybe fangs?" Su had stopped to look at the cut up murals only to have this small guess as to what things might be.


    "In any means, we have an idea of what we might run in to while scouting down here. I can tell that the mana is slightly more agitated like there are more living things down here. But I have no idea what they are. Fleur seems like she senses the natural mana too. I bet we will be able to spot something ahead." The tunnel was slowing down and the murals were more and more carved up. The only certain thing was that this trail had not been touched for a long time so the tracks that were there were very old. That was until they reached the next intersection.


    "Stop, wait here," Gil whispered and everyone froze. He was kneeling down examining the first. "The dust and soil are kicked up like something rushed down from left to right. This path we came from wasn''t touched so whatever made these pointy prints were not using it. But this tunnel cutting through is used. Heavily used actually." The four way intersection was very clear cut. The tunnel Gil motioned to was like night and day. Dry dust versus unsettled kicked up dust was different in color and shape. The same pointed prints also stood out.


    "So it''s not that there aren''t monsters but that they didn''t go this way anymore. That means something that patrols territory. It also means that they don''t know about the ravine being opened by the earthquake around here. I wonder if they couldn''t go anywhere the way we came from because the area was sealed? That could be why they didn''t get through the sealed storage room." Walker''s conclusion meant that these monsters might start to explore the newly opened area.<sub> </sub>


    "I did notice that there were rockets on the opposite side of the ravine. That could have been a copsed tunnel that connected to the one we came through. I just assumed it was from the ravine opening. I will think out loud next time." Su mentally kicked herself while staying alert for anythinging toward the intersection.


    "Walker, that means you need to y the role of Midnight today. She stayed behind as safety so you need to scout ahead and see what you can find." Gil didn''t even hesitate to hide the smile as he said this. He was making Walker scout ahead for once which was very amusing to him. It also showed off that he was not the best to scout here so he was leaving it to Walkerpletely.


    "Well, since you can''t scout ahead in a cave because you are afraid of the dark, I will. Just stay here and hold on to the light elemental crystal. The light orb is attached. Maybe Su will hold your hand." Remey stifled a giggle while Walker whispered this to Gil and used the shadow wrapping shill to slowly move down the right hand side of the intersection. He was following the most recent set of prints in the direction he thought they had gone.


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 Chapter 1270 1270. Unsealed

    With this, Walker had split up too. But this wasn''t a bad thing. If something happened the group now formed a chain that could alert the surface of what dangers showed her. Walker also knew he had the party skill to warn them silently to avoid monsters being alerted. This was ideal for them to explore. He also was the best option since he had the shadow wrapping skill and control of other elemental manas. Therefore, he would be able to hide the scent he had from whatever was down her, many underground monsters had a better sense of smell than sight due to the darkness.


    He still had Fleur by his side but what shocked Walker a little was the fact that she also pulled the darkness elemental mana toward her to hide herself. It was something he had no idea that she could do. Yet when he thought about it, he realized that it just made sense. Fleur was a nature spirit and could manipte all mana. Did she have massive battle prowess? No. But she could control it and make it bend to her will to a degree. The real reason people could fear her was the fact that she could take control of the elemental mana around them and keep them from using it. Therefore making her powerful.


    Walker did not need tomunicate to her his ns. She could feel his ambition to move forward and explore. When he saw that the ground was bing more and more heavily traveled, he managed to nce up and see the reason why. There were separate tunnels dug in to the ceiling and sides here and there. They were obviously not made by those that created the original tunnels. The cuts in them were the same as on the mural walls he had seen earlier.


    His thinking brought him to the realization that this was not some singr or small group of monsters. That alone narrowed down the potential for what these could be. However, he needed more proof as to what it might be. The number was still too high. Many insect type monsters hit inrge groups. This was evident in the desert and the volcanic areas which had many swarm type monsters that would nest together. One such was the firefly. They didn''t seem very harmless due to their small size but once gathered they were a swarm of sparks that could burn anything to ash.


    Here and there Walker started to pick up the small sounds of something hitting stone or something hard snapping together. He could only think of ws or teeth making him wonder if he was finally going to get a glimpse of what was up ahead. The tiny amount of light elemental mana he had used to create a minuscule light orb near his eyes to see better in the dark didn''t seem to matter. There was a sense of sight that seemed to be taking more control the longer he was in the darkness.


    Walker had noticed that Midnight didn''t seem to have much problem with the dark, the same with Su. he could easily connect this to the dragon blood within them. He began to remember that he was told by the keeper in the dragon royal court that he would also exhibit dragon like traits. The sight improvement in the dark seemed to be one trait along with his easy ability to use a dragons'' roar. But that was not what Walker was thinking about. Instead, he was thinking about therge carved out cavern he hade to.


    The area had definitely been some form of underground city or living area in the least. There were cut apart buildings and open spaces. Walker could even make out what had once been a fountain still spurting small amounts of water. But what kept him from seeing it all properly were the eggs. Oval white eggs that clearly had something in them. Something that Walker recognized as grubs or worms.


    Yet, this was still a small matterpared to what was moving around taking care of these eggs.


    '' Giant Earth Ant<sub> </sub>


    These ants are known for their extremely strange life behavior. The entire colony is known to go dormant when the queen sleeps, sometimes for many years at a time. Therefore they go through cycles of rapid food harvest before that happens. They are great at carving through the earth and stone while hunting for anything they can defeat and use for nutrients. The worker, soldier, and guard ants are only able to live for five years in service of the queen. That reason is why the queen will gorge herself on food toy thousands of eggs at a time. Depending on the situation, a colony canpletely obliterate a small area ofnd when ites to the ecosystem. If they remain underground they will often be peaceful and slowly expand whatever cave they found as a home. They were once magma ants until they evolved to be a pure earth elemental monster when a volcano went dormant.''


    Hesitation would cause problems. Walker turned himself right around and began to move as quickly as possible. These ants would not be able to stay underground. They would find the path to the surface and search for food. They weren''t sealed off any longer in this ancient ruined city. They were able to leave their maze of tunnels and ruins. They would pose a threat. The worst part was that Walker had not even seen the queen. There were so many eggs and the queen with the soldiers, guardians, and the majority of workers were elsewhere.


    Sending this information forward was a major priority. While he ran, Walker sent this to the party, ra, and started to whisper in to themunication crystals for Scy. She would be able to pass this on to the dwarves, Walker distinctly remembered that when he had read about these ants in a bestiary that they were hunted by dwarven miners.


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 Chapter 1271 1271. Causing More Trouble

    Walker didn''t see the rest of the group anywhere. He ran carefully still hidden in the shadows back where he hade from until he noticed that the wall was misshapen. His hand touched it and he could feel the earth elemental mana that was used to create this hollow space. "Open up, it''s me." He used a soft whisperbined with a little earth elemental mana. He was instantly greeted by the soft shifting earth.


    "You took a while. We needed to hide from that thing. Freaking ants. Giant ants." Gil was not happy with what they had seen.


    "There were six that passed by. They could smell us or sense us, I''m not sure which. We had to retreat and hide away. I don''t think they followed." Since Su had made this call she took responsibility for leaving the area.


    "I don''t want to fight these bugs in their home turf. We need more people to smash them." Since even Remey was admitting that the party was outmatched, Walker knew they were very serious.


    "There are a lot more than that. The tunnel I went down leads to hundreds, maybe thousands of eggs. If they were sealed up here then they might have juste out of a dormant stage with the earthquake. They are giant earth ants. They would stay underground if they don''t find a way out to search for more food. But now they have a way. We need to close up that room we found and get out of here. The faster we get out and get the dwarves notified the better." Knowing the best people to share this with fully was the secret to properly dealing with the situation.


    "How long do you think these things have been here?" Remey wasn''t sure how long these ants had been trapped away in the earth. She just knew that they were a problem that needed to be handled.


    "I would guess since the race that lived here left. If they left so many things behind there was a good reason. They left here and made that city in the desert. But they learned and eventually moved on after that. Who knows where. We will find out one day. That doesn''t matter though, we need to get out of here." Walker picked up the pace while exining the appraisal of the giant earth ants along with who he had sent notifications to in a rush¡­.


    "I leave the city for a few days and I get this as amunication? What trouble they make." Scy looked down at her soldiers that hadpletely dug up the area around the abandoned vige. She had managed to capture living starlight crickets, some eggs, and then destroyed almost all the adults. The army she had brought with her were demi-humans with earth rted skills so that they could best eliminate the failures of fools who thought it wise to y the role of a god in this world.


    "Listen up! You will remain here for three weeks and guard these fieldnds. I want the caught specimens brought back to Genesis to be examined by the tamers. I want the remaining to be exterminated. The information left behind by the fools that lived here will be sent home to be evaluated and copied for Genesis. I will be leaving!" There was a solid thump as every soldier responded by hitting their chest. They had their orders from their general and would not back down from them. Scy headed toward the ravine that she had already been briefed on. The guards would be in for a surprise¡­


    "First a vige with experimental monsters left behind by some idiots that thought they would change the world and now giant earth ants in ruins that need to be explored?! What are they trying to do to me? I have apetition to deal with too. They will be the death of me!" ra screamed out in her stress. She was sure that she would die young due to extreme stress. "I know how that old man got so wrinkly. If there are adventurers like this¡­" ra was tired with her head in her hands.<sub> </sub>


    She wanted to call on Barry to prepare for a battle but knew he was away already. He had gone to help with the rogue dragons and show the dragonkin along with the royal dragons the power of humans. It would win them respect and also the support of more dragons. "Call for the king of the deep caves. Have him send notice to his fellow kings that we found an enemy of theirs!" ra knew that an attendant was always listening for a call. The proof was the instant shout of confirmation while they rushed to send this notice.


    The response was quick. Much quicker than she expected. It seemed that the news that an enemy of the dwarves appeared was more than enough to spur the king of the deep caves in to action. "Listen here, I was bringing up a load of valuable pure iron ores and you stopped me. What enemy of dwarves did you find!" The fury that the king of the deep caves was powerful. His voice bellowed through the entire guild. Never cause a dwarf to yell, they may cause severe deafness.


    "Giant earth ants were found in a ravine in the fieldnds. There are ruins there from the race we believe created the mage towerter in their existence. But even more, the ants are not dormant and have not discovered a way out of their nest yet. I believe that the dwarves have a history with such monsters." The king of the deep caves was back out the door without saying a word. He had a hand on his pickaxe and was heading toward a group of golems. He was going to be sending a message himself. ra just shook her head and decided to wait for news to return to her.


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 Chapter 1272 1272. Rushing Back

    "Midnight, let''s go close that door. We are all staying together until we get out of this dangerous ce." Midnight was at aplete loss. She had been waiting patiently and now found that the rest of the party had rushed up with stress and seriousness. She was automatically pushed in to a ready to fight stance.


    "Don''t worry too much. We are getting out of here. Those bugs won''t even have a chance to touch us." Remey gave Midnight a push while the group ran towards the storage area they hade across. Midnight had been training a little and even took the time to scratch her wings. But now she would be running full speed with the rest of them.


    "I have a bad feeling¡­" Onyx was worried about his family. They were still down in the caves and it had not been long since he and Alice surfaced. He had reveled in the joy that the hatchling abyssal serpents had as they saw the sun for the first time. The one that Alice had been carrying hatched halfway up the main tunnel they had climbed. It had been greeted by the other hatchlings and begun to devour the light elemental mana in the crystal.


    Since Alice had the same nerves as Onyx, she did not push against him. Instead, she started to sing softly. It was an uplifting tune that brightened the area around them. The light elemental mana was condensed and Onyx found that the hatchling abyssal serpents were able to rest morefortably and absorb the light. The look Alice gave him told him all he needed.


    "I will go and check on them. I will be back soon."


    p "He shows up with you and rushes off so fast. Is everything alright?" The lead guard came up to Alice and received a nod while she sang. He soon noticed the slithering abyssal serpents fading in and out of shadows. "And you have more of them now? How..? Do I even want to know?" The reaction actually made Alice giggle and interrupt her song. The hatchlings stopped and hid before realizing nothing was wrong and Alice had started to sing again.</anda>


    While the other guards came to view the little abyssal serpents a harsh breeze caught them and made everyone look up. The sight of Scy descending was enough to make them all back away. The hatchlings hid inside Alice''s shadow when she stopped singing. "Three. There are three of them. We need to retreat and gather forces now."


    Alice wasn''t sure what she was being told and the confusion was in on her face. "There are three ravines, not one. And two already have those ants crawling out of them. We are retreating and wille back with the dwarves. The entire fieldnd area is off limits for any adventurers, merchants, and foolish tamers."


    "What about the little heroes down there? One just went back down!" The guard leader was ready to stay and wait for them.


    "They will being with us. Can''t you hear theming from this spot? They are sprinting. That means they already know the trouble down there." Of course, Scy had received amunication but it was better to let the guards know that there should be haste in this situation. "Get those little serpents to hide away with you. I am taking you all back to Genesis where we will n faster. I should be able to make it in an instant. That carriage can be handled by Walker." The urgency was not missed.<sub> </sub>


    As therge head of Onyx returned to their sight, everyone noticed the party holding on to his back. They had met in the long tunnels and Onyx had allowed them to grab on for a speedy return. "Scy, I assume you were nearby.? Good, we need to get out of here. I sealed the storage room where we found records and other stuff in. Hopefully, that lets us return to investigateter. I have plenty of other things to return with. But for now, we should get away. I can''t even imagine how-"


    "I know, there are three more ravines that I found. I''m sure you noticed them opening in some form. We are leaving. I assume you notified the others in Genesis and they are preparing." Scy dropped this on them and no one could fight against it. Seeing Scy use her mastery skill again was magnificent. However, Walker was able to see the simrities between her and the murals that they were able to find in the tunnels. However, Walker could also see that Scy had slightly different changes in her forms. There were fewer hounds that grew from the water in the air and she didn''t focus on battle. She was using this for speed to make sure that she would be able to protect them. It was much more controlled this time.


    "Everyone brace yourself for the wind, especially you guys. You have never been transported by a general with a crazy mastery skill." Walker chuckled while he thought about the dangers of three ravines in all releasing these giant ants. He had barely managed to store away the carriage and the guard''s supplies before he was scooped up by Scy in to the air.


    As they rose higher everyone is able to get a sight of the newly opened ravines in the distance. The crawling dots were the giant earth ants. Their numbers were not small and they all knew the dangers that came with that. It was a matter of time before they would take over this area as their territory. Once the party was back in Genesis they would have a whole new task to deal with. One separate from thepetitions going on that they thought they would enjoy while helping Onyx.


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 Chapter 1273 1273. You Are More

    The shouts of the guards were enough to make the entire partyugh. Alice was equally shaken but had managed to brace herself as Walker had said. Onyx found the panic of the hatchling abyssal serpents enough for him to fully focus on calming their worries. They were notfortable with being in the air and preferred the safety of the shadows. However, they also felt safer around Alice who had been able to provide them with calming light elemental mana. In their eyes, she was some form of goddess that would be able to make the lighte to them in any form. It was very adorable.


    The time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye but that just came down to the fact that everyone had fallen deep in thought about what they had found. Of course, Onyx was distracted by the fact that he would be able to raise his fellow abyssal serpents while the heavenly serpents also made aeback to the world. It would be a veryrge urrence for everyone.


    "Scy,nd here. That looks to be the dwarven golems that were working in the city." Walker did not miss the lines of golems all set up in order. There were many dwarves moving about changing and adjusting them for battle.


    "About time you got here. We are going to WAR!!! This filthy mine destroying bugs will know the fury of every dwarf from here to the mountains!" The king of the deep cave was roaring with energy and rage. The dwarves that heard him responded with shouts and stomps to the earth. Many were changing the mining and building equipment attached to the golems for battle attachments.


    The party and the guards didn''t even have a moment to spare since they had arrived in this situation. "Go and report directly to ra, alright?" Walker sent the guard adventurers off since they looked ufortable and out of ce.


    "Look at me this time. I didn''t fall t." Scy attempted to stand firm but was soon leaning On Su''s shoulders. Remey jumped in to hello and was already reaching for a mana potion on her hip. Walker nodded and would thank Scy for the rushter. Right now there were more pressing matters to handle.


    "Walker, Midnight, and I will go and see what we can do in the city. We can touch base with the other guilds to help out. I think we will trust the dwarves with this because they know best what is needed." Gil was off with Midnight in tow.


    "Damn right we know best. We have had these rotten bugs invade our mines before. They think we are making them a personal nest as a gift. Ha! We will crush every single one like all the other times they had dared." The energetic response echoed slightly.


    "Onyx, Alice. You do what you need to. Get the hatchlings settled and to the mansion or the cathedral. We can touch baseter. Alice, make sure Onyx doesn''t work himself too hard." The slight whisper from Walker was still heard by Onyx but he didn''t even flinch. Alice just smiled and gave a nod. She hadn''t done much during this adventure but she had mainly been there in support of Onyx. Now she would be able to live up to that a bit more.


    While Walker began to exin the situation with Su to the king of the deep caves, Alice and Onyx were headed toward the cathedral. He wanted to get everyone to the room that the heavenly serpent was in. After that, he would make sure they had enough light elemental mana to eat and then rest. They had been through a lot in just the short time since they had hatched and seen the world.<sub> </sub>


    "We will get them safe and fed. Then we can see about getting the other eggs. We should help the heavenly serpent eggs to hatch so that the one we have been helping hatch will have family too." This was a certain thing for Onyx. he would not allow it to have even a moment without knowing that it had a family the exact same as it. Onyx had felt a sense of loneliness because he wasn''t sure if he was thest of his species, no one deserved to even imagine that for a second.


    "Of course." Alice assures Onyx, "It will be my partner. Just like you and Walker. My brother or sister." The tremble in Alice''s voice showed that she was fighting back her tears of joy. She had found a way to be like those she idolized but also a way for her to help. She wanted to be more than just someone who could sing. She felt useless until she had started to really go out of the city. She had been the one to help get people to the ocean faster to help the merfolk. She had been the one to help feed the heavenly serpent egg. And now she would be able to stand right by Onyx and help him raise his fellow abyssal serpents. She would not feel useless. She would not be just some healer with a sweet voice.


    "You already are family to me, Alice. Thank you. You trained with me to stay on par with my family who I always feel I am behind. Now you stand with me finding others like me. We will help another like me. You train with all of us. You are much more than you think." Onyx fell to nearly a whisper. He sped up moving a little faster. He didn''t want Alice to see the tears that had started to fall from his eyes. He had never cried before, but it had all finally caught up to him. The people that supported him and the people that would always be by his side. They were just too much for him at the moment.


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 Chapter 1274 1274. Golem Army Gathering

    "So you already have an army of golems marching from the dwarven city? How did you do that so fast?" Walker was a little amazed to hear this from the king of the deep caves.


    "How? You think that we are just tinkerers? We havemunication crystals inside our golems. Once I sent one to send this message they got close enough to send a massive notice to my fellow kings. We wouldn''t let a nest of these bugs get away. There are valuable ores and knowledge down there for us to use!" While Walker wanted it to be a little about the safety of the people that would travel through the fieldnds, he also knew that a dwarf would follow who they were. To tell them not to focus on the mining, forging, and any other potentials of crafting that might be hidden in the ruins and caves would be foolish.


    "Are¡­well¡­will you even need us?" Walker wasn''t sure what there would be for him to do. He felt that the sheer strength of the dwarven golems would be more than enough to eradicate these giant earth ants.


    "Of course you wille. I want you to drag those adventurers sitting around doing nothing. They all say they gave knowledge and guidance to the younger ones and are using it to bezy. They are barely even taking jobs to join the patrols of the caves and tunnel beneath Genesis right now!" To say that the king of the deep caves was unhappy with the veteran adventurers was an understatement. He had yelled at a decent few since they had beenckadaisical instead of focused. They were ignoring their current quests for thepetition and change to get credit for guiding the younger generation.


    "I didn''t foresee this as an issue. I will deal with it. You can trust me in that. Anything else?" Walker felt that he and Su might end up with additional jobs asking this question.


    "Just get that done. We are leaving in five days. Prepare to go back if you want toe. I could use wildcards like you to scare out the queen. When things get messy it will try to escape with the elite guardians that it raised. I want toe right to the surface and face my brethren before I mine out the gemstones it has eaten." There was viciousness in the king of the deep caves'' voice. Walker and Su took that as a reason to leave. They didn''t see Remey around and realized that she must have gone to start preparing potions. It was certain that the alchemy guild would be making plenty of them for a battle of any size.


    "I will go and talk to the guild with Gil and Midnight. You should go and check on Alice and Onyx. This is a big deal. We will be along when we can." Su knew that the worried look in Walker''s eyes was because he feared that Onyx needed help.


    "You know, you can always see right through me. I never want it to change." The two bumped arms before parting. Out of everyone, Su and Walker had be close like brother and sister. They traveled their own paths but were always close to the same page on how to go about their jobs in the party. They both cared for others and would put their best foot forward.


    Just as Walker was about to head right for the cathedral he remembered the old man making the magical scrolls. He had said that he would be able to copy them and make many but Walker had not fully understood how since he knew that the scrolls usually had to be made using the skill users'' mana. But this was something he needed to get for Alice and the heavenly serpent. He would need to stop by the mage tower area first and make sure everything had gone well.<sub> </sub>


    The city was understandably busy. Many people had heard the news and the dwarves had all ceased their projects. Since the monsters were a little far most people didn''t seem too stressed. However, there were many groups that were preparing for the worst. It was just a wise decision. Seeing the tamer''s guild moving through Genesis was interesting. Walker heard whispers and side conversations about giant earth ant meat as being a very good food for carnivorous monsters. That was something Walker had never known but made sense. There would be many ants and if the tamer''s guild joined the battle they would have a solid food source for every branch of their guild.


    Luckily, the mage tower seemed to be the same busy it was before. Many people were copying and trying to understand runes. That made it easier for Walker to move through and toward the back training ground where the old man was working. No one was free enough to stop him to chat. "I can''t say I have been gone long, but you seem to have settled in for someone that travels around."


    Walker looked at the tent andrge table set up to make the magical skill scrolls. "How else do you expect me to make these? I have the original scrolls for you and the copies. Already worth it, hmm?" The look of pride was enough for Walker to understand the depth of skill and work that goes in to each scroll. "Now, you have a few things you will need to know about these copies. They aren''t the same as the originals." Walker had expected this but he had not asked the questions then. He had relied on the skills to show themselves so that he could take the scrolls as needed. Now he would learn about them and what limitations they would have for when he began to give them away.


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 Chapter 1275 1275. Whats Wrong!?

    The old arcane scribe looked at Walker. His calm and serious appearance seemed to be the key to how he was able to create these scrolls so well. "Those in your hands are the originals you helped me make. The blood contract, all around appraisal, and all around spirit speaking skills. They will work the exact same as your skills do with the same mana cost to whoever activates the scroll. But the copies I made from them are different." Walker was very serious. He was listening to every word because he knew they would be extremely valuable.


    "I am lucky that you made multiple scrolls of the all around appraisal and spirit speaking skills. That will help me continue to replicate them to ahigher quality. But that is it. The copies need more mana to use and have less of a chance of working. Of course, there is always a chance that someone will learn the skill in the scroll based on their system, but that is now much less. You see how this is an issue for some?"


    "I use very little mana for the all around appraisal skill. Almost none at this point since I have understood it and it''s not even a real active skill. The spirit speak is a passive skill now so that''s no issue either. But I can see the problem with the blood contract. It uses all of my mana and a drop of blood." He wondered how the sill would pay for the additional mana.


    "That is correct. That skill will need someone to help the user drink a mana potion before and after using it to prevent damage. Their body will be over taxed by forcefully withdrawing mana. That is why people should not rely on these scrolls with their lives. They could end them the same as what they are using the skill on." Now Walker knew why they had been foolish in the past. The party had once used a high tier healing scroll on Su''s mother. If Su had not been in optimal condition then she may have lost herself in exchange for her mother. That was a danger the entire party had been blind to.


    "Don''t look so serious. That isn''t a problem. Just have them wear those fancy mana gems I see all the mages wearing around here. I swear, more mana gems than I have seen anywhere. Even the northern city doesn''t have that many. Although I see some strange onese off those ships." Expecting this old arcane scribe to have been to the northern city was nowhere near what Walker had imagined. He had said that he traveled but across the desert?


    "What''s the northern city like? I still have never crossed the desert there and only heard a few things about the cathedral." The information could be valuable.


    "Ha hha ha, I can tell you that another time. The way you have that scroll clutched I might need to make a new one. Head to whoever needs it and collect those copies there. I made a deal with you and will make many more. Just be clear with the fact that the copies may fail ande at a higher cost." The arcane scribe went back to his work leaving Walker a little disappointed but focused on heading toward the cathedral. That had been his main goal in the first ce.


    As soon as Walker began to leave he watched many of the nearby mages and other magical system users rush toward the arcane scribe. It seemed that the old arcane scribe had seen himing and shooed away those that were trying to learn so that Walker and he could speak privately. It was a respectable act and Walker felt that he should find a better way to thank the man that Alice had spotted in the market. He had proven very valuable to Genesis since so many people would have the knowledge to create magical scrolls now. Even if they weren''t perfect.


    Many copies were left behind, they were better off taken by the rest of Genesis, specifically the guilds. They would need these things to keep developing. Many people would bring rare items that needed appraisal or would want to meet and speak with spirits. The elemental spirits were already ying a major part in the development of the city.<sub> </sub>


    Lucky for Walker, the cathedral was more or less quiet today. They had canceled their concerts to prepare healers if needed for a battle. It was also a very light week for injuries due to the new cautions taken when building. It also helped that many of the buildings were built leaving just therge guilds or farmhouses left to improve.


    "Sir Walker! I was told to watch out for you. Pleasee this way as fast as you can!" One of the nuns under the high priest was waiting outside looking around fiercely. Her robes were obviously in disarray since she had been rushing around the entrance to ensure that she would be able to spot Walker as soon as he showed his face. She grabbed Walker by the arm and nearly dragged him inside the cathedral toward the room where the heavenly serpent had been absorbing light elemental mana.


    The pressure from the nun''s voice made Walker fear that something had happened to Onyx and Alice as they hade back to the cathedral. There were so many possibilities. Were the hatchling abyssal serpents sick? Were Onyx and Alice somehow harmed by them? Was there a problem with the light elemental mana they had been channeling? All these and more worst case scenarios ran through Walker''s mind as he started to push aside the nun and sprint past her. His hand nearly crushing the blood contract magic skill scroll in his hands. He could barely care for it at all since those he loves might be in harm''s way. Nothing would stop him.


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 Chapter 1276 1276. Proud High Priest

    Cracks covered the clear crystal egg that everyone was around. The high priest had backed himself away while Alice was right next to it. Onyx was constantly lowering his head and seemingly speaking to the hatchlings who could tell what was going on. The worry immediately melted away from Walker''s mind. He wanted to kick himself for letting the stress get to him. He hadn''t realized how worried he had been since he turned around to get everyone away from the giant earth ant colony that could have walked all over them.


    "Alice! Use this. It will take all of your mana but it looks like we are just in time." Walker wasn''t sure what had been happeningtely to the egg but could see the broken light elemental crystals on the floor. He knew that Onyx and Alice had prepared a great many of them for while they were away but that still seemed to be too few.


    ''Heavenly serpent egg- (hatching)


    The heavenly¡­ the egg has reached an unprecedented absorption period due to the high purity of light elemental mana. The mix of personal elemental mana from a system user with high light elemental affinity has also mixed in spurring faster absorption. It is extremely possible for that specific system user to form an unbreakable bond with this heavenly serpent before they hatch.''


    Scanning through the things he had already read before, Walker found the newer information and was not surprised at all. Alice had been singing to the heavenly serpent egg constantly before they had left for their journey to the ravine. That had more than distributed pure light elemental mana with her own mana mixed in. Having this miraculous effect on the egg was not what they were trying to do but was very wee.


    Since the high priest was there, Alice looked at him. She wanted to make sure that everything would be safe and sound while she used all of her mana and fell unconscious. She trusted Walker and Onyx but knew that they would care for the serpents and eggs for her. She needed her father right now and would lean on him fully. "Well go ahead. You will need to recover for the right moment when it hatches. It could be any time now. I''ve been here all morning." His warm smile said it all.


    "Just open the scroll and channel your mana in to it. You should be perfectly safe. That''s the original magical scroll made from my skill. I''ll have a mana potion read for you too." With Walker and Onyx encouraging her too, Alice did exactly that. She slowly unrolled the magical scroll and took a deep breath. The reddish glow that came out next enveloped her body then condensed in to her hand. She moved as if guided by an unseen force and held it above the crack covered egg. A single drop of blood fell from her hand filled with her condensed mana. The drop melted in to the egg which pulsed with a single burst of light before more cracks formed.


    The heavenly serpent egg seemed to feel that it had found the one that continuously provided it with light elemental mana. As Alice fell back and Walker caught her, the egg began to greedily pull more light elemental mana toward it. Walker only needed a nce to tell that it was preparing to break through the shell for its birth in to the world.


    "Let''s move it. Give me that mana potion. I fed this trouble maker as a baby and I can help her now." The high priest moved with a speed that Walker had yet to see from him. He was understandably beside himself seeing Alice pass out even though he knew it would happen. However, he knew just how much it would mean to Alice to see this little life in the world for the first time. He could tell that it was a moment he would treasure with her for the remainder of his life. If he could not make it happen then what kind of father would he be? Useless, he may be an adoptive father but that meant nothing. He and Alice were father and daughter and if the world itself fought them on it, he would have some words to say about it.<sub> </sub>


    "I''ll use tome healing magic too. That should get her body working a little better." The theory that using a healing skill on a person without mana would speed their mana replenishment speed was controversial. But if it helped then Walker would do it. He could also see the look in the high priests'' eyes and knew if he sat there doing nothing then he would lose immense amounts of respect.


    "Come on there, I know you''re tired but you are pretty damn tough for a healer. Wake yourself up and see your hard worke to fruition. I know you can manage this." The whispers of encouragement made Walker and Onyx realize that they weren''t looking at the high priest of the cathedral. A man known for healing many in his lifetime. For traveling to remote viges to help others. They were looking at someone with a full heart. Someone willing to put everything aside to give it all to another. The man that found a baby on the cathedral doorstep and the man before them were the same person just with a few more wrinkles.


    '' The world has recognized a user as deserving of the title; Altruistic Father. The user has shown the world a lifetime of kindness and willingness to put aside their own happiness for another regardless of the direct blood rtion. The user in reference had built orphanages, saved thousands of children''s lives, and raised a lost child as their very own. The world has only ever bestowed this title upon beings seventy three times due to strict worldly guidelines for qualifications beyond the chosen''s blood. The user has been rewarded for a feat not seen in one hundred and fourteen years. The true hero stands as witness.''


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 Chapter 1277 1277. Unknown High Priest

    "Oh stop that drama. Titles are nothing. Let me get my little girl ready to see her new family member already...Oh, that can help." The high priest had many more aplishments when it came to those he had helped as a healer, priest, and even high priest. An altruistic person was incredibly rare in general. Being able to fully represent that was a challenge many failed at. Even Walker couldn''t say that as a true hero title holder he was the very definition of altruistic. Some things he did were not in line with the strict definition.


    Seeing that the high priest wasn''t even moved by the title spoke volumes. He could only focus on Alice at the moment. "Let''s see how this works." The high priest held a hand to Alice''s head and a soft glow of healing grew around it. He looked pale but when he stopped Alice started to flutter her eyes. She seemed able to move and was wide awake. She looked around and then felt the connection with the heavenly serpent. She reached out and stood slowly without even a shake.


    The sound of crystal cracking waspletely drowned out by the small snout of a pearly white serpent breaking through the shell to meet Alice''s hand. It was as if they were looking at an exact replica of Onyx when he had hatched. However, the scales were too brilliant and the eyes were slightly golden. Before the small serpent could fall a delicate pair of wings on its back opened. The short fall that could have happened if it was unable to glide became adrift in to Alice''s arms. Before it could even move again the heavenly serpent met Alice''s eyes and stared in to them.


    "Arora, we''ll always be together." The name that Alice had chosen came from a book she had read in the library. She had heard of an old system user that could control the rainbow. They would make the light in the starry sky dance for their vige and brought many to her vige. The purity in her light elemental magic had been enough to cause many songs and stories to be written therefore Alice wanted to pass that on to her new family member.


    With Onyx nearby, Alice moved to show him the heavenly serpent. Walker heard them start to introduce the abyssal serpent hatchlings as the heavenly serpent; Arora''s siblings. But Walker had moved his focus to the high priest. "If you keep looking at me like that I might need to hide away."


    ? "That''s some title you have there. Should I assume that you used a skill from it just now?" Walker was a little hesitant but also knew that the high priest did not look very well.


    "Was it so obvious? It was called the gift of a father. I could pass down half of my mana capacity to her permanently. She might need to grow in to it but it was worth the price. I don''t really need it anymore." The nun that had been stopped at the doorway the entire time rushed in at this point and started to try to hand over a potion and start a healing spell for the high priest.


    "You know that you are ill. How could you? That can''t-"


    "And I will be fine. An old man is an old man. A title is nice but it is useless unless I use it right. So what if I shortened my life more? I finally had a gift to give and a moment to spend. I don''t need a world to recognize my life. Just those around me." The huffy response was enough to silence the nun but kept Walker''s attention. He used his all around appraisal on the high priest again, he had not done so for a long time.


    ''High priest- (Name cast aside)<sub> </sub>


    This high priest has long since thrown his given name away. Even in their elderly age and deterioration of levels, they have managed to ovee challenges. Responsible for guiding and rescuing countless children from a gue, building orphanages in multiple cities of varying races, and burning their own soul to heal others, this man stands above the others as altruistic. Their love was constant throughout their current lifespan and every being that came in to sight was seen as their child. The true embodiment of the one that deserves the title; altruistic father. Due to the use of a one time use skill; a father''s gift, they have sped up the degradation of their level. Using any skills rted to healing may prove to be impossible from now on.''


    "That was a heavy cost. You might need a few books written about you from what I just read¡­" Knowing the high priest was something that all of them thought but didn''t actually see. The high priest had done much more in his long life than they knew. Guiding children after a gue and rescuing them? How and when? These unspoken events were only seen by the system and those the high priest had helped. To say that Walker was at a loss for words that could exin his emotions was too obvious.


    "What? Have you not seen the library in the cathedral? People wrote plenty about him. Just because some fools in the grand cathedral didn''t want him to be the next leader doesn''t mean his aplishments were forgotten. Now help me get him back to his room. I swear, you are still the high priest!" The nun was reprimanding the high priest making Walker realize that she had been his assistant here for quite a while. He couldn''t even stop to see what Alice and Onyx were nning to do before he was pulled away to help the high priest to rest.


    "I''m so proud of her." The high priest whispered beneath his breath but Walker still managed to hear it. Alice would go and see himter. He was sure of that. The high priest had to meet his new family member too after all.


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 Chapter 1278 1278. To Be A Healer (1)

    "He''s just some kid who wandered in to the vige. Just send him to clean with the other orphans thrown at us and we will see if it''s worth the time to teach home when he finds his system." The priest in charge of the small chapel gave the order without even looking at the ragged boy who walked in. The nun shook her head and did as she was told, she had much more to worry about than yet another mouth to feed.


    The small monster outbreak had caused a lot of trouble in the area. It was normal for mossy wolves to act up in the spring season but the number of them had increased to dangerous levels. Three viges had already been lost to them. Now there were too many people to feed and even more to heal. The small chapel couldn''t keep up no matter how they tried.


    "Just stay here and find a ce to sleep. We hand out food halfway through the day. Just eat when you can and stay out of trouble. If you can find your system do that. We can''t feed you forever." The nun was gone leaving the child silent. Losing their family and home was enough to break any child, but losing hope was not something that could be taken lightly. The light that had shined in the boy''s eyes was gone and it was unknown if it would ever return.


    The other orphans that can wandered in from the wilderness under the pure luck of the light were not at all interested in another arriving. Some were cut up and scratched making the boy realize that he was lucky. He had escaped with only a few burns from his vige that had caught on fire when the mossy wolves tore through their front door and caused the candles they used for light to fall upon the bed.


    "Healer! Healer! We need a healer here! This man was attacked right outside the vige. They wear priest''s robes!" The screaming wasing from a fence guard who had spotted the shambling mening from one of the cities. It was clear that the man had beening to support the small vige after receiving notice of the monster outbreak urring. Arge pack of any monster would draw the attention of the nearest cathedral and governing city. Since it reached the cathedral first, they sent out healers to assist. Unfortunately, it was all too clear that the assistance had been attacked.


    "What was that!? No!" The priest that was in charge burst through the door and toward the front of the chapel. The boy was attracted to this noise and followed with curiosity. He wasn''t really sure what to do but had been in a daze for days already. The numbness of his trauma was still strong so he walked right up to the cot that the priest and nuns were panicking over.


    "A high priest is sent here and he''s nearly killed! I don''t have the skills to heal this fast enough. What now? Go get bandages, more bandages! Does anyone have healing potions left!?" The boy waspletely missed. No one even noticed his presence. That was not the case for the injured high priest thaty on the bed. He was just entering his old age and had peppered white and ck hair. The warm brown eyes that met the boy''s said that everything in the world would be alright.


    "Now what''s your name kiddo? You look a little hurt there. I can fix that." Thebored speech was nothing to the high priest. He reached out a bloodied hand and with a tap of his finger healing light favored the boy. The small burns seemed to evaporate. "Now isn''t that better? Hm? You look brand new. Just a bath and you''ll be running around too."


    For whatever reason, the boy was frozen. He felt something he had not felt in days. The cold he had felt seemed to be washing away. He was warm. Not just his body but he felt that his soul hade alive with a me. The tears that started to fall from his cheeks made the high priest speak again. "Crying? Over what? There is no reason to cry, the world is a crazy ce but you are still breathing. You still have a future. You will do wonderful thing-" The high priest started coughing and panic entered the boy''s eyes.<sub> </sub>


    Nothing had been said since the boy wandered in, the guards had just brought him in seeing many like him. "Heal!" The light that burst from the boy was more than any other was capable of in that room other than the injured high priest in front of the boy. Silence overtook the entire room. "HEEEAAALLLLLL!" The boy''s scream caused another powerful burst of light. "HEE-EEAAALLL" His screams were riddled with sobs but continued over and over until hepletely copsed with a reddened face and a fever.


    Silence continued until the groan of the high priest brought them all back to their senses. The wounds that were upon his chest were barely there any longer. No blood flowed and only minor pain remained. Thebored breathing was now slow and calm while he looked at the roof in wonder before turning to the copsed boy. "Bring him to me when he wakes up¡­I want to teach him." Those words would not be forgotten by any that witnessed what had just happened.


    The birth of a new healer was always a joyous thing. But the birth of a new healer able to pull someone from the brink of death was a rarity only written about. The emotions in his screams for healing were too powerful. The Impact had changed the views of everyone and changed the fate of many. A child healing the high priest sent to save them. A high priest that could now live on and heal those in desperate need.


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 Chapter 1279 1279. To Be A Healer (2)

    "Hey, you need to pay attention. We are nearly to the next vige." The high priest was gray haired and growing a bear now. The boy that had once healed him was decently taller and in his own robes. He was a traveling priest under the high priest who had taken him under his wing the day he was saved.


    "I apologize high priest, I was just distracted. I don''t want this to be thest journey I take with you. Do you need to retire to a cathedral? Can''t I just get you a carriage toe with me?" The worry in the boy''s eyes was all too clear.


    "Ohe now. You have grown enough to lead a group of healers like this alone. You followed my lead to the point. You gave up your name, pledged your life to healing, and have been to over twenty viges with me. It''s time for you to walk the path alone. I can''t always be there. Just don''t let anyone push you around because you weren''t born in the church like I was. You earned your ce as a priest and I will live long enough to see you be a high priest. I promise you that." The high priest pushed the priest ahead. "And I can promise you, I won''t miss traveling. I like my bed you know. So, tell me, what did the letter say is going on in this vige?"


    "Ah, yes. The vige has a gue of illness. It attacks the adults and is resistant to medicine and healing. That''s why we were sent. A high priest should be able to help the adults. The children aren''t affected though so it''s very odd. It''s a mystery." The priest looked up at his teacher, the high priest.


    "And?"


    "Adventurers already checked for poisoned water in the stream nearby and found nothing. They said that they didn''t even find the usual monster around which is also odd. It might be an illness that came from a monster. But that''s just a theory."


    <o>,m "Good, you have the information now let''s go on inside those wooden walls and see what we can do." The high priest and priest guided the five healers with them inside. The priest was by far the youngest but he had long exceeded many healers in the church with his healing abilities. It was a prime example of a cut above the rest. This made him the youngest priest ever under a high priest. An aplishment that garnered the attention of the grand cathedral which fostered talent from their nobles in the northern city and were not happy to see a gem found elsewhere since it may undermine their superiority in healing.</o>


    "Well aren''t you very tough to stand guard and open the gates. Are your parents in need of healing?" The teen that was watching guard could only nod. The spear he held was toorge for him but he pushed the gate closed and showed the healers to therge dwelling.


    "Only fifteen left. And thirty five children¡­Alright, listen up. We will begin with the most in need. We will work our way through the room. Children, please step away and be ready. We will call if we need you." The high priest spoke loudly but with calm strength. It seemed to be a skill he had that the priest had envied for years now. "Go and speak to the children. You are closest in age to them and might be ankle to figure out what is going on. Not many of them have families left. I think you are the best to put them at ease." The task meant a lot more to the priest than others so the high priest had made the obvious decision to send him.


    "I will do my best." The children had been sent outside but did not go far. They had no idea what to do without the guidance of their elders and adults. The teens had taken over to begin to protect their vige but that had been all they could do.


    "My high priest has asked me to see if any of you are injured and need attention!" The priest announced this while looking at all of the children and few teens that had gathered.


    "How can you help us? You are barely our age. Hell, I think I''m older than you!" The teen that had been the other guard walked over and got right in the priest''s face.


    "Like this," The priest waved a hand a the three closest children were healed from scratches they had gotten while running about without supervision. "Now, let''s also talk about anything weird that may have happened when all this started. I want to know if we can figure out what caused this so we can heal everyone and avoid this ever happening again." The slight trick of healing had caught many of the children''s eyes. They didn''t appear too worried anymore.<sub> </sub>


    "It was the snow!"


    "Yeah, the snow!"


    "No, it wasn''t the snow. That was a fluke of the weather."


    The teen that had spoken before cut off the child speaking.


    "Snow? It''s too warm for snow right now. When?" This seemed a little familiar but the priest couldn''t figure it out just yet.


    "Ugh, one night about a month ago we were going him and some white snow fell for a little while. It was blown away by the wind but every kid freaked out saying it was snowing. A few dayster the adults were not feeling well but it couldn''t be snow. It blows down from the mountains sometimes and melts fast enough." The teen exined this but had unknowingly been misled. The priest had already turned around and begun to sprint back to the high priest. He remembered what he had learned. His past lessons screamed at him to alert the healers.


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 Chapter 1280 1280. To Be A Healer (3)

    "High priest! Teacher! Teacher!" The priest ran and nearly fell over the cots in the small home to reach the high priest. "I know what happened. I know!"


    "Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. People are healing here and resting. Breath first!" There was worry but also proudness in the high priests'' eyes as he saw the priest he had been guidinge up with an answer so quickly.


    <o>,m "I''m calm. But we need to use a purification spell. It''s frost moth scales! That''s what caused this. The frost moths must have migrated in the mountains making it seem like it was snowing here. The kids said the snow blew away." The face of the high priest went from proud to deathly serious.</o>


    He put his hands on the priest''s shoulders. That was some very good work. But It was not frost moth scales. Their poison would paralyze these people. It''s an illness that sticks to their scales. Its goes after people that are weaker and older. Children have a lot of energy and replenish their mana faster enough. That means that they can escape it better. You know how to heal and purify them. Go outside and take them outside to do that. Alright? I will do that here." The high priest pushed the priest away with a smile. "And take my bag with you. There''s something you will need in it. Actually, wait one moment."


    The high priest ran to his bag and started to scribble down notes. "There, I added some notes for you to use the skill better if you have trouble. But get all the children outside first." The priest didn''t miss the fact that the healers started to act differently and stop their healing. They all took out magical scrolls and began to gather the ill. But the priest trusted the high priest and rushed away.


    "Come on! We are going to do a purification skill. I have to get everyone together outside the gates!" The children and the teenagers came as fast as they heard. There was a tone in the priests'' voice that told them they were about to see the solution to their problems.


    "This is everyone!" The teen that had been mostly leading the children was panting after they had gathered them all.


    "Then stick close and rx. It will take a lot of my mana to do this." The priest pulled out the scribbles of guidance and prepared himself. But he dropped it as soon as he read it and turned toward the center of the vige. However, he was toote. He had followed the order too well and gotten everyone to the gates.


    mes burst up from the main building in the vige. The children screamed out but the priest just fell to his knees. The letter had read a few simple sentences¡­"This is an illness that will spread from one adult to another. It will kill anyone that it infects and we are already falling prey t it. The children and you should be safe because of your age. Find a ce to bathe on the journey to the diamond kingdom''s cathedral. Tell them what has happened and remember, the day I met you was the day I saw the true light of healing bless this world. Live well. I will wait for my soul to meet yours and hear how high you flew."


    The letter had torn the priest''s heart in two¡­.But he was not so weak. He had his beloved teacher''s final words. The two had healed each other, bonded, and learned together. Their journeys shaped the dreams the priest had even as a young boy. That orphan that had wandered in to a vige chapel after losing everything had be a healer, and priest. Now he would be more. And aim as high as he possibly could.


    The arrival of over thirty children with a single priest shook the church''s world. It had so many that gossiped and raved about how a priest had managed to guide them to safety. Yet the church had also learned that it could not resist the fame earned by the priest. Therefore, the youngest high priest ever was initiated and given the cathedral that the former high priest had once represented.<sub> </sub>


    The newly appointed high priest had dedicated the next ten years to rescuing those in small viges and healing them. Wherever they went and whoever they met were given healing regardless of race. It was a fervent desire to protect and give homes to those in need. The orphanages built sometimes faced resistance but the high priest found a way. Even if it meant they would leave before it was finished.


    Those that had been given new life remembered him and those that had been given a roof over their head heard stories of him. Even in his older age when no one recognized him as the young priest written and sung about, he would find ways to make everyone and everything around him better.


    Eventually, his body began to feel the age he had grown and the unruly healing methods he had used caught up with him. But the day that he heard a small baby crying was the day he had found another light to protect. He had heard itte in the night when he could not sleep. The sound brought him to the front steps of the orphanage to find a small baby girl wiggling in nkets unable to sleep.


    The first nce was astonishment then immediate love. There was just something in the little baby''s eyes that said it had found its home. The high priest couldn''t believe how fast she had stopped crying and cuddled in to his arms to sleep the rest of the night away. At that moment a single name he had long since forgotten resurfaced. The name of his mother, Alice.


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 Chapter 1281 1281. No, I Will Do It

    "That''s Walker. It''s Onyx''s older brother. And he''s your family too." The whispers of who people were to Arora were very soft. But everyone still seemed to hear them. Arora was still asleep in her arms but it seemed that it didn''t matter. Alice would introduce her to everyone as many times as it took to show her the world. There was a look of pure unfiltered happiness on Alice''s face before she had strolled out of the room toward the high priests'' room to show off Arora. The sudden copse had not affected her but she had seen it was sure that he would be resting the rest of the day. The reasons had not been known just yet however, she was sure to learn in theing day.


    "The High priest is resting. I can''t believe he got a title. I feel like I should take more time to get to know him." Walker had to admit that it was something he had missed. He had been busy and let the other people in his life that weren''t directly family slip away.


    "He is a very good person. Everyone relies on him for advice and help here. When he retires fully I think the new high priest will have a little trouble filling his shoes." IOnyx had seen a lot of the high priesttely and was able to see this all clearly. The high priest was someone he had also confided in when he worried about the abyssal serpents. That was why the high priest had been able to be harder on Onyx when he took the lead on their journey to the ravine.


    Since Walker understood he would need to y catch up and find the books written about the high priest that the nun mentioned, he decided to change the subject. "Do you think we should let the tamers know that there are abyssal serpent eggs around, along with heavenly serpent eggs? I don''t think all of them will want to stay with each other. Some might want to explore the world a little."


    "I don''t want them to. But they might. Everyone is different¡­" Onyx didn''t want to admit so easily that some of his fellow serpents would want to go off with tamers instead of helping to make their species a fully fledged race. "If that''s what they decided then so shall it be. But not until they have hatched. They should not be dropped in to it before they are ready to decide and understand what that means. Myself and Aurora are special cases. We wouldn''t have had a chance if others like us didn''t exist so we needed someone to hold on to. There''s still no guarantee that the other heavenly serpents will hatch." While it was always a possibility an egg would be unable to hatch, the chances were low if properly cared for.


    "I understand. Then how about we ask Elise to look for someone to help raise them? You will be busy with other things at times and can''t overlook the hatchlings at all times. The eggs took a lot of your attention anyways to purify the light elemental mana. Alice will also be busy. You need a few people to make up the difference." This urred to both of them equally. Onyx might be busy with the hatchlings so he would be unable to spend time helping the eggs hatch. That would leave him and Alice switching off between the two with no time to rest or do other things.


    "Brother, I will go. You don''t need to worry about it. I will use it as a chance to show the little ones the city. They are already trying to peek out from here. They are curious. So was I. I watched everything and learned as fast as possible. I''m not sure that they will learn as fast as me but they will be close." Just as Onyx spoke, Walker watched one of the hatchlings raise its head out of the shadows.


    "Then I will let you take the lead. I thought you would want to anyways. Just let me set up the remaining crystals that you had me bring. By the way, what is in the other crates you had me store away?" Walker had still never received an answer to this.<sub> </sub>


    "You will find out when the battlepetitions happen. I already spoke with Scy to register me. Tamers will have their own division where I will fight. Just don''t look, I want to surprise everyone. Also, I won''t go against those ants. I need to be here." This was expected since Onyx would need to catch the abyssal serpent hatchlings up on Genesis and what they would have a chance to do with their lives. He also had to be a full time teacher to them until they could roam around themselves and decide if they would make themselves a home or join the mansion as a home. "By the way brother, shouldn''t you head to meet ra? She should have heard everything by now."


    "I should. I was kind of avoiding it since I know I will be very busy. I''ll need to head out and help with giant earth ants, but I know that I will most likely end up watching the dwarves use their golems. But who knows what I will learn." There was a benefit and a downside to going away again. Walker would learn a lot about war strategy and how the dwarves operated against an enemy that couldpletely take over their mines if left alone. But he would miss out on experience, not only in leveling but mostly in the fact that he wouldn''t be able to refine his skills more. He had so much to train that it wasn''t even funny. But that just left him with a problem to solve forter.


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 Chapter 1282 1282. Already Up To Date

    "Walker? I thought you would still be at the cathedral?"


    "And I thought you headed to the Genesis building after you came here"?"


    Walker and Su were both surprised that they were running in to each other at the entrance of the adventurer''s guild.


    "Well regardless. I came down to meet you. We are heading to the alchemy guild. I need to organize a few things with them.'' The two were again a little thrown off since ra had a stack of papers in her arms and was already on the move past them.


    "Before you both start in, I know what is going on. Scy is dealing with the past issue when ites to monster research. It was a stain on some of the research done during crop failures. The giant earth ants will be annoying but the dwarves have dealt with them before. They have very clear methods that can teach a lot of adventurers. I will be sending many party leaders to watch. Especially veteran leaders since they will learn the most and be able to apply the knowledge. But the problem I have right now are the herbalists and alchemists that went with young partys. They are teaching them a lot which haspletely opened a new subss for adventurer groups that might want to specialize in herb and gathering quests. They will be working very closely with the alchemy guild so we need to work out rules."


    "You seem to be on a roll with the current happenings. It''s very impressive." Thepliment seemed to go over well. Su was very impressed and couldn''t avoid speaking her mind.


    "So many people havee to tell me what is going on. You both missed Gil since he came here. I saw Midnight, and even Remey apparently stopped by but I was already in a meeting with Leon about the invasive species of water herbs that the water elves want to prevent getting in to thekes."


    "That''s a pretty long list. Sorry we werete. I know we gave a few ces to stop. But that''s good. We don''t have much else to tell you¡­" To be honest, Walker felt a little useless but was very happy that Genesis was functioning properly.


    "There is more. But that is all on another subject for another time. I assume you will be leaving to help with the giant earth ants? If so then I want you to leave Remey behind. She will have a lot of work. The first groups are starting toe back with herbs and she will be very busy." Walker could understand this. He also thought that Remey would make this decision.


    "I think she will agree with that. Not to change the topic so much, but how is Barry doing? I know you sent him to help with the rogue dragons. I thought it would be a bigger deal." The dragonkin and other dragons had note to Genesis while Walker and the rest of the group were gone which was very good since it had been one less thing for them to worry about.


    "Thest report I received said that they were tracking one down. Apparently, he is a member of a fifty warrior team. There are ten other teams of simr size all dealing with different territories in the mountains. That''s also a good estimate of hope many are needed to deal with the number of rogue dragons around. It should make crossing the mountains safer in the long run. They also said that the materials will be kept and used for training their cksmiths. It''s not encouraging to hear that they have done this to their own species but it will be something they fix themselves mostly which is good."


    "Agreed. Umm¡­how are we getting in the guild." The three were stopped by therge group outside the alchemy guild. The people going to deal with the ants, those with some fear that they may need healing potions, and those preparing to go out in to the wilds for herbs were causing the alchemy guild to be burdened with many orders.


    "Register for a meeting time and pick up time here! Put in an application for an order and pick up at ater date!'' The few young alchemists taking these orders outside were cutting down the line tremendously. It was a very wise choice since so many people were opting for this than waiting in the line for hours to potentially be told that what they wanted to buy would be out of stock.


    "Can you let us in the back door? We have business with Remey." Walker went right up to one of them who was unupied and caused them to freeze in ce.<sub> </sub>


    "Well sir, that''s not real- Yes I can. Right this way!" The young alchemist realized who the three were and started to guide them to the employee entrance immediately. They were suddenly inside a crazy stairwell full of running and chaos. The young alchemists had started to pull their weight and learn on the job. The guild wouldn''t just need people to make potions. They needed members that could do much more than that throughout the entire guild. Having a member that made amazing potions was great. But having one that could fill multiple roles was even better.


    "Hey! Out of the way!"


    "Get moving! We need those water lilies now!"


    "Seriously! More reports to write!?"


    The chaos rang in their ears as they slowly reached the higher floors and burst in to Remey''s room.


    "I swear if you can''t bottle tho- oh. What''s going on?" Remey realized who it was halfway through her attempt to yell at someone again.


    "We have a little business about your herbs and the adventurers that will be apanying the alchemy guild long term. These two also have to let you know of the ns for the next journey they are taking." ra started it off and didn''t even let them get off topic for a second.


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 Chapter 1283 1283. Out On Tour

    "Listen closely. We are in Genesis. This is a ce built where everyone is equal." Onyx had started a ss. The hatchlings had absorbed a great deal of light elemental mana and had unexpectedly be energetic. It seemed that the time they had been dormant in the eggs had led to them being weak at first but able to devour the light elemental mana to catch up.


    "That means that every races is wee and even monsters are wee. There are goblins and grey haired spiders that earned their recognition from the world as a race. That means they have intelligence just like us. But we are too few. We need to work hard to grow and earn our race as well." The unveiling of this desire was very important to Onyx. he wanted to make sure he instilled this goal for the abyssal serpent species early within them before they saw the world and developed their own opinions and dreams.


    There was some understanding in the eyes of the hatchlings that had lined up with Onyx''s guidance. They were slow to fully understand everything however, the fact that he was able to speak within their minds really drove their learning curve. They were able to feel the emotions a little more that connected with Onyx''s words. On top of that, they were also exposed to the cathedral to hear thenguage and connect the meanings to what was happening. It was exactly the same that onyx had gone but at a slightly slower rate than Onyx had due to the fact that Onyx was out with Walker constantly.


    "I want you to remember, even though the heavenly serpents like Arora are not abyssal serpents, they are your family as well. They will grow alongside you and will strive for the same goal. We will all be a family." This was thest set in stone lesson that Onyx wanted them to know. It would be very important to making sure that they would support each other and be their own races together.


    "With that done, we go outside!" Onyx was taking them out of the room and toward the back entrance. He thought it best to leave through the least busy area so that the hatchlings would be able to slowly adapt to what was happening. "Remember, when we get to the front of the cathedral you will be in the road. There are dangerous things there. If you do not duck in to a shadow fast enough you could get run over!" Every single hatchling recoiled in to the shadows. They were afraid that they could end up squished without even understanding why.


    The moment that they left the cathedral which was the most they had known due to the fact that they had remained hidden within the shadows until they had gotten to the hatching room, the serpents froze. They were taking in the swaying bushes starting to grow green leaves. The clouds in the sky led to a beautiful partly cloudy day. And even more, there was the sun beginning to warm the city. It was a lot to see all at once but enough for them to realize that this was part of their world.


    The sounds of Genesis slowly got through to them while Onyx watched their reactions. At first, it was mainly fear. This would be the same for any newborn seeing the world for the first time. Genesis was a city and tons of people wereing in to it to start a new life. That also meant that it was loud and sound traveled. Just because the inside of the cathedral was controlled and peaceful did not mean the outside would be. "Welle on, I will take you to the mansion where the family lives. There is arge garden there that I want you all to be able to explore. Just hide away in my shadow if you aren''tfortable." This was not their immediate reaction which really inspired hope for Onyx. he knew that the hatchlings would be tough enough to find their own way in the world with their courage.


    "That is a shop that sells food. Not many beings eat elemental mana like us. But you will be able to eat other food too. I often share some with my family during meal times even though I don''t have to eat it. The vor is the reason why. You will understand soon." Onyx Was not going to stop and buy anything. He wanted to have Hilda share some of her food at dinner since it was the very best he had ever had.<sub> </sub>


    This was a curious subject for the abyssal serpents since they could smell the scents of the food stalls on the streets. They weren''t sure what would be good or bad but they were curious. However, the sudden barking of a dog made them all dove right on to Onyx''s shadow. "That is just a pet kept by humans. They are mostly used on farms or aspanions. They are very different from predators. You can make friends with them and they are often very nice." A single thought from Onyx made the dog head in the opposite direction. Onyx had long conquered this fear and learned to handle overexcited dogs.


    "You can see the otherrge buildings from here. They are important and know that they serve their own purposes. We will go there in a few days to learn about them." The guilds would be aplicated subject for the hatchlings. It was still their first day in the city and Onyx was not going to overwhelm them. He was lucky that everything was going so smoothly so far. Now he just needed to get to the mansion.


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 Chapter 1284 1284. A Little Run

    ? The rest of the day passed in a blink of an eye. Everyone had rushed around here and there getting on the same page. The rest of the family had been extremely enamored with the hatchlings. Hilda had even rushed right to the kitchen to make them special dishes.


    "So, if Onyx is going to the tamer''s guild branch to find Elise today, what are you nning on doing." Gil had found Walker in the morning eating breakfast in the dining room. Su had already left for the day with her parents. She had decided to have a family bonding day and rx. Remey had stayed in the alchemy guild since there had been so much to do. Midnight was off with Onyx since she had be protective of the hatchlings too.


    "I was thinking of trying to do a little training. I want to get more ustomed to some of my skills. Maybe I will run around Genesis to get used to my dance of seasons skill. It seems a little odd but the streets are pretty busy." The main reason that Walker wanted to improve this skill out of all of his skills was a simple fact that he feltcking. When he used it he was also moving by instinct and feeling. He should also be able to predict the movements he saw from others and act ordingly. He needed to get his mental processing on the same page as his instincts when it came to his movement skills.


    "Then you shoulde with me. The forest elves have started to work with the water elves to make a better environment. To say the least, it will be perfect for you to train." Gil had seen the expanded area that the forest elves and water elves had begun to make. It was very impressive and a lot of the elemental spirits had begun to gather. There.


    "I can do that. If that''s part of the n it will be easier. Let''s just walk through the center of the city on the way. I want to make sure that I check in on the Genesis building for any dragons or dragonkin that stop by." Walker had a feeling that the dragonkin would be sent at any time. The rogue dragon problem was only one of the many things the dragons had going on, so with the added patrols, he knew that they would speed up sending their cksmiths to learn true spirit forging.


    "Then let''s move!" Gil didn''t even let Walker finish his food. He was pushed out the door. "Oh, and I will beat you there!" Gil dashed off. He was trying to get warmed up since he wanted to practice his dagger techniques. So the run would get his body warmed up to stretch and bend in the odd ways he was learning. His research had brought him to an interesting few pages from the mage tower. The desert elves had broken records of the dagger skills since they had ended up focusing on magic so much.


    Chasing Gil through the streets revealed a lot to Walker. Since Gil had begun to practice the elven dagger arts he had changed the way he movedpletely. The speed that Gil had was still there but it was more elegant. Walker could easily rte it to the way that water moved and how trees swayed. But the strange part was that he was also able to rte it to the wind. Part of him wondered if it was the overall dagger techniques slowlying together out of muscle memory.


    "You didn''t even catch up at all. What were you that slow or just still asleep." Thement was enough to get Walker in to the mood for a little sparring.


    "Ha!Was watching how you moved so I could take you down easierter. Just because you learned a little about daggers doesn''t mean you can handle a battle of closebat." The eternal orb changed in to a sword form before returning to an orb. The mocking expression on Walker''s face made Gil catch on that Walker was trying to start a small fight.


    The two boys would have kept on like that in front of the Genesis building if they didn''t notice the people looking at them wondering what they were doing. "Ehm, well. I think we are here a little early. Still no dragon or dragonkin." Thements and attitude changed but the fire between the two didn''t. Gil was still ready to jump in to his rivalry with Walker.<sub> </sub>


    "So, can you tell me what the levs have been working on?" Walker wanted to catch up with Alma while he was in their area of Genesis. He hadn''t actually gotten to speak with her in depth for some time.


    "Well, the water elves have begun to get closer with the forest elves. It''s really easy since their elemental affinities and skills work together better. They are also helping investigate the desert elves'' past. But the biggest project right now is their expansion. At this rate a small forest will be within the city, a smallke, and who else knows what." The environmental areas were heavily upied by the elemental spirits.


    "Well, I understand them beingfortable, it also will help certain races and jobs work. I''m sure the tamers will even bring their monsters to elemental areas. Since the elves are helping in the tower they might be able to develop simr areas like the elemental rooms."This was exactly what the elves had in mind. Not only a safe haven like their natural homes but a ce that they could bond on their own territory with other races. It would be morefortable and less stressful for the older elves set in their ways.


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 Chapter 1285 1285. Expansion

    "Gil! Oh, Walker too. What are you both doing here?" Alma was walking with a group of the forest and water elves. They all had papers and were pointing to general areas.


    "Well, Gil wanted to show me a little of what you have been working on. We both also wanted to train a little and he said this would be a great ce with some of the expansion." It was a little too adorable to see how excited Alma was that Gil was back. From what it appeared, she and Gil had begun to get a lot closertely. It made Walker think about his own rtionship with Alice and how he had been falling behindtely with everything he heaped on his te.


    "Well, he was right. He has been training here enough that he is pretty much a resident." Alma looked a little more serious for the next sentence, "I was thinking very hard about how the elves would act and function in Genesis. I have supported the equality of every race and I decided to act on it. The territory that the elves will have here is being altered. It will be easier for other races toe in and enjoy our culture along with them to understand us. I saw the dwarves were doing something simr too. They added some natural mosses from the forests to make it easier for the elves to go underground. They also gave us every lead they had on where the stone elves may be. It was a surprise and it woke me up."


    This was not at all a surprise. Even though the king of the deep caves liked to say he was not the person to deal with certain matters like diplomacy or rtionships with other races, Walker had begun to realize it was just not what he preferred. The king of the deep caves was actually very good and righteous. The title of king was split between the three dwarven kings because of what they would handle with theirrge poption and duties, yet they were able to cover for each other which was a hidden secret that could keep their kingdom standing even if the worst happened.


    "I can see that. You have very clean and defined pathways going through along with storefronts on the ground. I can see that the trees have been grown well and you already have some substantial treehouses for your people. I can''t imagine what you have been doing with the water elves'' input to divert a small portion of water to create ake area." Alma gave Gil a small look of unhappiness. She had wanted to unveil it all without Walker or anyone else knowing what had been going on.


    Seeing that he was starting to get himself in to hot water, Gil made an attempt to move on. "We can head to my training spot. Don''t let us get in the way. You look really busy."


    Right before Gil was going to push Walker away, Alma caught his arm. "And we just finished. My next meeting is in an hour. The perfect chance to walk to the water elf territory connecting to theke being made by earth mages." Her eyes said that she would make Gil regret walking away while her smile toward Walker was sweeter than honey.


    "Have you been working on anything else? I know you have your blue ivy and razor whip weed now. I thought you might be trying to use other nts now?" Walker had not forgotten that Alma had the ability to grow nts and use them to battle. She was not so much a front line fighter as a supporter. She had a definite role especially when it came to the fact that one day she might be able to control an entire forest.


    "I have been working on a special project. I can''t go in to much detail but it is a very important tree to my people. It actually holds value to all elves in a way. I will show you when it finishes germination and has the chance to put down roots. My blue ivy has recovered and I have plenty of seeds. The razor whip weed is tricky, I need to learn to use it in a way that works with my skills better. I have a skill I want to develop and learn that we recorded generations ago. The problem is that the user didn''t write how they learned and trained it." There was obvious tiredness concerning this topic. It meant that Alma had been working on this a lottely.<sub> </sub>


    "Is this the vine armor skill again? If you are going to spend all night on it you need to rest during the day." Gil recovered his mentality and reprimanded Alma. It was clear that he had already had this talk with her since she was so busy and added her own training on top of her duties.


    "I''ll have to side with Gil. you are piling a lot on your shoulders just like I do. If you keep it up you might fall behind. I know I have started to¡­" the rmendation was met with a slight nod from Alma.


    "On another note. This is the beginning. There used to be trees here but we changed them to be the same species that grow near the water with long roots and stable bases. The water wille up here and people will be able to take boats out on the surface. However, it will be deep enough to have homes built underwater. The merfolk should feel wee as well." Alma was very proud that the merfolk would be able toe and befortable under the water with the water elves. Even if the merfolk idolized the water elves a little too much.


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 Chapter 1286 1286. Not Earth, Wind

    p "Not much water here." Walker was looking out at the ground that had been removed. However, he understood why Gil wanted toe here as a training area. There were multiple earth mages using magic to move and shape the ground.</anda>


    The earth mages in charge were breaking stones and some were even lucky enough to find some earth elemental crystals that are brought back to the side of the area to be used for other things. But what was more amazing was how the mages were solidifying the ground so that theke could be better made and the water elves could decide how to make themselves home son the bottom of the water.


    "It''s great right? This is organized chaos that involves a lot of magic. It''s great for us to train around. I am trying to put together the mysteries of the desert elf dagger skills. That means being around the earth elemental mana is good. But I really need some wind elemental mana to help me figure it out. The earth was more of a secondary effect of the skills they used." Gil seemed to have uncovered some secrets about their skills that he actually needed assistance with. This was the main reason he had wanted Walker toe with.


    "Basically he wants you to add wind. The desert elves were thought to be earth elemental mana users but it appears that they actually had a better affinity with the wind. That means that they most likely had some rtion between the stone and the wind elves. I would say that they were descendants of both that decided they didn''t want to live with either." Alma cleared things up before Gil could continue on. "Even I came here to train a little though. I had some of my enforcers chase me. I wanted to see if I could avoid those with experience since I am a leader now and should be able to keep myself free of trouble." There was a proud air around Alma as she said this. She had been working on the skills she had as well and wanted to brag.


    "Well, I can add awesome air elemental mana around. I can use the wind ripple skill, my dance of seasons, and maybe even have those earth mages add some challenge in." The ideas being born for Walker were a mess of added chaos. If Alma asked the earth mages to make things troublesome for them then they would be under a lot of pressure.


    "How about this. We add in movement and you try to challenge me with your double swords. I want to be able to use my dagger to block and dodge together." This was also a way for Gil to start to put the moves of the skills that he had learned and read together. The real question was, would he be able to use his instincts to fill the gaps in what was missing?"


    "Let''s go! Hey, make things fun for us!" Alma shouted out and a few of the nearby mages gave a shout back. They seemed to be a little excited to hear that their monotonous day would be done with and they would be able to have a little fun while using their skills.


    Walker changed the eternal orb form in to a dual ded sword. He channeled the wind elemental mana around and Zephyr left thefort of the bow on Gil''s back. Fleur met her and the two seemed to be chatting at incredible speed. Walker could only catch a few words revolving around tag and faster. He knew that they would be taking control of the wind that he created and that was not at all a problem. It was more unknown to add to the equation. "Just remember not to make the wind cause too many problems. They are building here."


    "It''s going to be fun!"


    "Fun!" Fleur chopped Zephyr and the two were off in to the sky. However, in the next moment, the initial burst of wind that Walker had started became fierce. It was as if they had just walked out to the fieldnds before a storm was breaking. The entire portion of carved out earth became dusty and hard to see.<sub> </sub>


    "Gil, get ready!" Walker looked at Gil who was not in a slight bind. He had to understand the way the dust would flow and how he would keep a good sightline. But his decision was made for him. He would need to feel it out. There was no other way. A line of blue ivy was already headed for him with a few giggles from Alma. Adding on the fact that Walker had taken a stance and dashed toward him, Gil had no choice.


    The dagger that Gil had on his chest was in his hand in the blink of an eye. He had taken a lot of time to make himself morefortable drawing it. He used the water elven dagger skills to duck under the blue ivy and then slide the dagger along Walker''s swords to deflect them. His next move was to allow the wind that began to push him to be the momentum for distance.


    Zephyr was very pleased to see that Gil was not trying to fight the wind. For her, it was a moment that showed how much she and Gil had bonded. The pair had worked together for hours upon hours to ensure that she and he could make the wind push the arrows in to faster speeds. They had also been working to control the directions of the arrows. Now that he let his body flow with the wind she could get even closer to him and be more powerful. They were partners after all and Zephyr wanted to see the two of them grow together.


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 Chapter 1287 1287. Wings!?

    Seeing that the attacks were blocked and deflected, Alma rushed away with a mischievous look. She was not having any problems with the wind or the dust being blown around. She actually liked that this would make it harder for the other two to get to her. She had the advantage that she could let the roots from the blue ivy catch most of the dust in the air. She was also adept at bringing the moisture in the air toward her to assist the growth of the blue ivy. It was not just her mana that made the blue icy vines grow. She had the unique skills to make them grow faster in most environments.


    "Not going to let you get away!" Gil started to rush toward the direction of Alma when he felt a tingling sensation on his back. He knew that it was his instincts warning him of danger. Therefore, he jumped and rolled backwards without a single thought. It broke the dagger skills he had learned from the water elves and merfolk but went with the flow of the forest elf dagger skills. It went with their flow of roots that could twist and fall back on themselves to keep growing.


    Walker came down with a single of the two eternal orb swords missing Gil by a foot at least. The other sword arced out and pushed on the wind to make it pick up and change flow. There was a slight giggle from Zephyr and Fleur as they caused the wind to pick up yet again. They increased it using the natural and the air elemental mana around them. This pushed the breeze in to something that could easily blow them away if they were not conscious of what they were doing.


    "Here theye. Let''s make this day a little more interesting!" The earth mages that were working in the area saw this as a good chance. They didn''t need to worry about the wind since they could hold themselves to the ground easily using their skills. But this didn''t mean that they were going to shirk their duties. They had a lot of earth to condense and move. Thus, they needed to break some rockets with their skills.


    Right where Walker hade down, arge web of cracking earth appeared. Then it fell downward in to a soft pile of soil being moved by the other nearby earth mages to be brought out of the growing crater. This caused Walker to need to jump out or be swept along with the loose soil. He used the wind ripple skill to break out and up in to the air. Yet this was another mistake.


    Zephyr and Fleur had been waiting for this. They both knew that Walker had such skills. They wanted to make him avoid using it for travel since he would have a major advantage. When the winds turned on him, Walker found himself being blown away toward another direction. He was a little annoyed that he had fallen so easily in to the trap. He had no way to fight through the tough winds without trying to directly manipte the wind. "I''m just human, I don''t have wings-" He smirked realizing that he wasn''t just a human. He was taking on skills and other things that dragons had. He was bonded with Midnight and was told that he would one day possess skills and features that might make him look more draconic.


    "Oh no, what idea did he just get?" Gil hesitated seeing the look he knew so well on Walker''s face. However, he had no time to worry since he opened himself up to Alma to attack him again. She had been waiting nearby with the idea to strike as soon as Gil and Walker attacked each other. She could care less what Walker was going to try since he had opened up the perfect chance to attack Gil. They were training and paying attention was just part of the experience.


    Walker on the other hand was caught up in his head. He had the high earth sculpting skill. He was currently surrounded by dusty wind. A mix of earth and wind elemental mana. How could he not understand what would work here? How could he not try and copy the format of Midnight''s wings using his skills? He would be a fool not to attempt this now or in the future.<sub> </sub>


    The wind ripple skill might not work but what if he made his own wings out of elemental mana and the materials avable? The dust in the air seemed to be caught by an invisible. It slowly condensed in to the shapes of Midnight''s bone covered wings when she used the skeletal armor skill. He used the flowing air to change the shape and flow between the pieces. Adding in the small amount of water elemental mana in the air and freezing the water made the pieces perfectly meld. He was manipting three elemental manas at once but for whatever reason Walker felt his mind was clear. It was as if he was finding a piece of himself he had been forgetting about.


    There was a slight vibration through his body as hepleted the shape. He felt the connection with Midnight be slightly stronger as if their bond had been waiting for them to get closer in this way. The wings he crafted looked to be a muddy mess of ice and dirt but had wind that whirled around them. They were a bit toorge for his body but when the next gust of wind hit him he felt the natural reaction to push it away. Even the winds of nature seemed as if they would lose their strengthpared to him. He continued to condense these elemental manas in to a better shape closer to what he had seen before. He was going to catch the two running from him using his new idea and the dance of seasons; fifth act, symphony of seasons.


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 Chapter 1288 1288. Major Strain

    "The skill, elemental wings has been taken from the flying wizard system. The user had used three of their elemental maniption skills to create the skill elemental wings.


    Elemental wings- elemental mana based on the elements used to create the wings, 25 mana cost


    The elemental wings are created from whatever elemental mana that the user has ess to. The user spends a significant amount of mana at once to create a pair of wings out of elemental mana that they can control. The wings will at mostst for an hour depending on the mentality of the user. The user can shape and change the form of the wings based on their desires. The wings have the ability to open paths for other skills if the user is able toprehend the elements that create them.''


    Walker didn''t even have to speak, Fleur and Zephyr saw that the wind they were ying with wasn''t going to throw Walker off anymore. He was easily pushing himself from side to side dodging the gusts and even flying right through them. Walker wasughing out loudpletely ignoring the dust that managed to get in to his mouth. He was feeling the same thing that Midnight had desired before she had properly flown. The pure free and open feeling of flying. Of truly flying under his own power.


    "That''s not fair! You are cheating!" Alma yelled up to Walker as hended and started to swing his swords toward Gil. But the realbination that made this tricky for Gil was the fact that Walker was using the dance of seasons fifth act; symphony of seasons. This made Walker much better at using the elemental manas around him and more sensitive to them. He was also nimbly dodging the strikes that Gil attempted to hit him with.


    "Ugh, you had to go and be some monster of an opponent aging. Well, I have something for that!" Gil pulled out a second dagger. "The desert elves didn''t use bows as often as they used two daggers!" Gil used the sudden change of weapons to surprise Walker and deflect both of the swords in Walker''s hands. The eternal orb was not going to break but the double strike deflecting the swords sent vibrations through Walker''s arms.


    "Perfect! Now we can really get going!" Walker spun and used the wings to push off and make distance before rushing back in with another stroke. He could feel the wind helping him even though he knew that Zephyr and Fleur were trying to make things harder. But the way Walker could manipte the wings made it so that he wasfortable. On top of that, he had chosen dragon wings he had seen used many times. He was familiar!


    "Can''t forget me, can you?" Alma whipped out a length of blue ivy that caught Walker''s elemental wings. There was just enough of a change that made Walker lose his rhythm and unable to turn in time. It made Gil dash inwards and sh one of them off. The wing quickly melted back in to separate elements before Walker began to form them again.


    "Big targets¡­got it," Walker mumbled to himself while realizing he had made himself a better target and forgotten to pay attention in his bliss. This was training and not fun. He could fool aroundter.


    The fact that the skill said that he could use any elements to make the wings was not missed. Walker began to pull on the earth again to create a new wing along with changed the form of the eternal orb in to a shield. He wanted to buy time and free up a hand. He wanted to mix fire in to this wing so that he could use the moving air to fuel it.


    The ground beneath them rumbled again and the soil became loose. Alma lost footing and was pulled away before she could whip out with her blue ivy again. Gil narrowly dodged the shifting ground before he saw that Walker had sparked up mes. "Ohe on. That''s not fair either!"<sub> </sub>


    The fires burst in to life with the dust and the wind fueling them. The wings formed and the water elemental mana evaporated. There was a loss of foundations as both wings were shaped again before the wind, earth, and fire elemental wings took shape. Walker stood proudly with wings that appeared to be molten rock and wind. He pped them to cause a myriad of sparks and mes in the wind. It deterred Gil but also showed off how slow of abination this was. Walker could barely use them for flight and instead decided to sue them as arger jump in the air.


    The tactic proved very good as Walker plummeted next to Gil and bashed the eternal orb shield form downwards. Gil was knocked on his butt and Walker stood next to him. Unfortunately, Walker had forgotten the stress that came with using so much mana at once. He had formed the wings twice changing elements. Now he had to deal with the mental strain.


    "So¡­let''s call it there¡­hmm?" Gil took this as a chance to call the training done for now. He wanted to reevaluate how well he had shifted between the forms and how he might be able to change things up. He also understood that Walker would need to look in to this new skill that he had hurriedly created on a whim.


    "You might be right." Walker held his head while the wings fell away behind him. Fleur rushed to his shoulder with some concern on her face. Just because Walker could do so much didn''t mean he should. Walker constantly taxed his mind and needed to seriously train himself to handle the heavy strain ofbining multiple elemental manas at once.


    "Hmph all done already?" Alm looked disappointed yet understanding all at the same time when she ran back as the dust settled.


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 Chapter 1289 1289. Training Direction

    "I might have overdone it there. I use a lot of mana to do things like that and it''s a really awesome skill that could help me with more fusion skills. But if I use it I will be out of a fight much faster." Walker had felt the resistance when the blue ivy wrapped around one of the wings and it had been severed. He felt a lot of his mana leave him. Then he rushed to create new ones and felt even more pressure on top of mana leaving him. It was a risky decision and a lesson he hading to him for a long time.


    "That means you should be doing what all the other mages do. Meditate and do the whole inner peace thing. I prefer one with the forest since I can just rx around trees and nts. But to each and their own." Alma adored her time with the forest and just her and the forest. She felt closer to the elves that had once lived and their roots. The simple peace of the forest was enough for her to reach a calm and happy state no matter what was happening.


    "That''s a good idea. I think I have put off doing those kinds of things since I don''t really see myself as just a mage. I can use so many weapons or skills but I am neglecting the ones that I took on first. I focused on magic because that''s what the party needed. Now I have hit a wall with it and need to figure out how to strengthen my mind and body to use magic further. That might be why I am a little stuck on using natural mana too." The realization made Walker feel as if he had been a major fool all along. He should have focused on strengthening his body overall. Just like Remey was right now.


    "You should head to the mage tower. You said there are elemental floors there right? Then you can train in those and meditate on them. Understand all the elemental manas and figure out how they strain your body. Maybe you will even gain resistance. That''s how Su said she would train when she had some free time. She wants to improve her resistance to elemental manas with Midnight." Su had mentioned this in a soft voice while mostly thinking to herself. Gil had been lucky to catch it and remember it off the top of his head.


    "I can''t imagine how powerful Su will be when she can resist all the elemental manas. She will be invincible." The fact that Alma knew that Su was already resistant to poisons made her a little afraid of Su. Alma relied on her unique blue ivy poison to protect her and just the idea that someone could easily resist it made her wary. Not that she was genuinely afraid of Su, Su was too kind and protective to be feared.


    "You say that but Midnight is born naturally resistant. Imagine what will happen if she trains that aspect. Midnight the tank dragon walking through fire and ice to steal your bacon." Gil could see it now. A giant dragon trying to steal the food from his te.


    "Gillllll. Let''s go and rx in the trees!" Zephyr wanted to go and replenish the wind elemental mana she had used. She wanted to spend time at the tops of the trees while she watched Gil practice his dagger moves. It was a habit they had gotten in to and Zephyr missed it since she had not been able to do so while she rested in the bow during theirst journey. Zephyr normally stayed in the bow just in case Gil needed her at a seconds'' notice.


    "Ah, you heard my partner. That''s that. I will catch up with you bothter. Alma, get some real rest. I know you have a meeting but you need to breathe in between." Gil didn''t even let Alma talk back. However, Walker managed to see the happy look on her face as she gave them both a wave to walk toward the group of elves that had formed to wait for her.


    <o>,m "That just leaves us to practice. Why don''t we take the rest of the day to head toward the mage tower and train? Maybe we will lock ourselves up there until the dwarven army is ready to leave. Hardcore training!" Fleur seemed to enjoy this energy. She would be able to absorb more elemental mana and make it in to natural mana. That would help her get stronger and Walker would be able to handle the power he could wield better.<sub> </sub></o>


    Gil turned his head slightly as he walked away. He had heard what Walker said and made a mental note. He had been worriedtely about Walker. The many things that piled up on his shoulder had started to show and Gil wondered if Walker would manage to take the time to train and truly understand the powers he had. The natural mana and the young sage title were muchrger than any of them had said out loud. Walker needed to train them.


    "Stop spacing out. He will be fine. You need to work on your skills too. Or else you won''t be able to keep up with him once he gets a hold of his own skills." Zephyr looked at Gil and tried to pinch his face.


    "I know, I know. I can''t let my brother get ahead of me. I already let him take the lead too much." Gil had long thought of Walker as family and his brother. But he felt much better saying it. He wanted to support the entire party. He wanted to be rivals with them. He wanted to make sure that he would always be by their side. And to do that Gil would get stronger and unravel the mysteries of elven dagger techniques.


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 Chapter 1290 1290. Careful Preservation

    The mage tower was busy, very busy. Walker found that the dwarves had more or less left the tower alone except for the core members of their investigation team. The rest were elves and some aspiring rune smiths. The arcane scribe was hard at work drawing careful runes and using multiple elemental crystals on the copies of the scrolls he worked on.


    Walker watched from the side while many tried to replicate and make their own scrolls. Some of those with the skills were writing using skills that made Walker wonder. How could they write in the air with their mana? How could they use metal sheets as scrolls? How could they use only a single elemental mana to create aplicated rune scroll that needed multiple elemental manas? So many different skills were happening to make the same result. However, one thing was certain, they were all focused with their best foot forward. They had found a master at their craft and were doing their best to learn even a small bit of what they could do.


    The elemental mana was heavy as a result. The runes on the outside of the tower also seemed to have been repaired to a degree. They were brighter and seemed to be fuller than before. Part of that was the fact that the tower''s runes were being cleaned as people researched them. But it was also because the runesmiths that were exploring the lower floors had begun to understand the basic forms of the ancient runes.


    The elemental runes in basic form nowadays were very easy to memorize for most people. It was something that Walker had done when he wanted to find ways to use them. His sister Lisa was even able to sew them in to clothing that he now wore. But the ancient runes were moreplicated. The basic patterns for the single elemental gathering runes were full of patterns that seemed to fall back on themselves. It was easier to say that they may be multiple runes than one. Yet the pattern would not work without the full rune being drawn. It was a mystery to most that needed to be solved.


    "Sir hero,ing inside to do some research?" The guard positioned outside was surprised to see Walker. He had not expected one of the heroes to be there now when the dwarven army was gathering outside of Genesis.


    "Yes, research and training. I will be leaving again soon and I need to get myself ready. I will be locking myself away in the tower for a few days." This was something that the newer guard envied. The desire to put everything in to training just to be able to make a difference was inspiring, he wanted to be the same kind of inspiring to others as this younger boy was.


    "Then I wish you luck. The floors are calm with some cleaning and such. Many of the trantion materials have been removed and preserved. The rest are what is not understood or what is not permitted to be brought out of the tower due to the runes attached to them." The guard nodded and gave the warning. Walker found himself amazed by the tower again. To think that there were rune formations that could be made to keep something from being removed from a specific area was amazing.


    "Fleur, just stay close for now. We need to get up the floors to the elemental floors. We will start with water and work our way through all of them. Then we will get to the highest floor possible and see what we can see. I wonder if there are any floors that have been properly unlocked?" There had been a few floors Walker had not personally been to. Especially the top floor which is for the grand mage when they take over the tower. But they still needed the approval of the tower. However, Walker was sure that there were some hidden floors and passageways. The tower was too tall to contain any such floors.


    Those working on the first few floors didn''t even flinch as Walker walked in. they were caught up in copying the runes along the tower walls. They were making hand made copies for records and other things. Some were testing the mana output and recording what kinds of mana flowed through them. Others were even carefully cleaning bits of dust and stone from the cracks in the mana. The process was thorough and careful.<sub> </sub>


    "Let''s just let them work." Fleur tried to fly off but Walker held her back. He wanted to let the peace and researching atmosphere remain. These runesmiths and archivists were working very hard and he was not the one that would interrupt them. He was proud of this sort of atmosphere and felt great pride seeing those that were recording the history that was almost lost.


    His foot hit the steps and he could feel the mana around him bing denser. The tower was focusing a lot more mana around it now that it was functioning. This realization made Fleur very happy. She became calm and swayed her head back and forth in joy. The air itself was perfect for her to absorb and gain mana. But the higher they went the better it would get. The more she would be able to store and the more she would be able to grow. Before Walker could speak to her again she had melted back into the spirit mark to greedily absorb elemental mana in to it. She was going to be creating natural mana to empower herself and push herself toward bing the world spirit she wanted to be in the future. Even Walker felt that having a world spirit partner would be an awe inspiring feat, he just hoped that Fleur would still be the fun loving Fleur when she grew up.


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 Chapter 1291 1291. Lost Runes

    "Do you really think that Walker will spend all day in the mage tower?" Gil had met up with Alma after he had done some training and Alma had finished her work for the day. It had already been a few hours and no one had seen Walker leave the mage tower. They felt that he had pushed himself a little and was punishing himself by locking himself away.


    "Honestly, he is very determined. Look at the ideals he has pulled together here in Genesis. It seemed like everyone had been hesitating to make all these things happen. Every kingdom held back and yed along the edges. He was able toe in to a good group of people and push his ideals forward. It was the feather that caused an avnche." The phrase was not very popr in general but perfectly describes how everything hade together.


    The work that the party had done was not major in the grand scheme. It was a small piece of therger picture. The party had managed to find themon ground that the races could grow on. They found the aspects that all of the races had that could aid each other to grow strong and powerful. Well, I guess I will let everyone know. If I tell Alice she might head in to the tower herself. Not that it would be bad, I think Onyx has already thought of heading here to let the hatchlings go to the light elemental floor and recover their stunted growth." Gil was not wrong. Just at that Moment Onyx had wandered up with Alice.


    "Arora, that is Gil and Alma. They are family too." Alice whispered to the little heavenly serpent hatchling in her arms. It raised its head ever so slightly to nce at the two before closing its eyes as ifmitting their images to memory.


    "Did you say that brother is in the tower? That''s a good thing. He has been holding off on proper training for other things." Onyx curled up slightly while thinking. "I will head up and wait for him on the light elemental floor. We could use the food and the runes, it''s the best ce to rest. I will speak with the guards to request that others remain quiet when they get there." Onyx was not going to bother Walker but he would climb to the proper floor so that he could do the most while he waited for Walker.


    "Are you all going up to the light elemental floor of the mage tower?" Gil raised his eyebrows while looking at Alice. He wasn''t sure if the high priest and everyone else in the cathedral would be too thrilled about her being gone for so long.


    "Yes, my father is resting well after I sang for him. He told me to do whatever I need to, to make my future in to what I desire." Alice spoke with the most firmness she had shown in some time. Gil didn''t even have the ability to reply.


    "Then go ahead inside and train to your heart''s content. We will let everyone else know what is going on so they don''t worry." Alma took the chance to pull Gil away. She figured that someone should go and tell Su, Remey, and the rest of their family that Walker, Onyx, and Alice would be busy training and making sure they were ready for the future.


    While Onyx led the hatchlings in to the mage tower with Alice at his side, Walker was hard at work.


    "Fleur, I am going to move up again. We have been to every single floor and meditated but we still haven''t found the right spot yet." The problem that Walker hade against was that he felt that he was missing something every single time that he would move up a floor. The mana was too strong and pure making it easy to manipte but tough to understand. If he focused on a single elemental mana then he would lose his bnce and be unable to use natural mana. Not that he had a perfect bnce at the moment since his understanding of fire and earth seemed to be the highest.<sub> </sub>


    Walker could feel that Fleur was notfortable either. She was getting the mana she needed but she was not able to easily mix it. The primary issue was Walker''s ability to mix the elemental manas inside his own body with his own mana. Therefore, Walker was now heading upwards searching for a way to get to the higher floors where the elemental runes seemed to go.


    "These runes are the same patterns on each of the elemental floors. They don''t go back downward so they have to go somewhere." The hope he had was that he would find a ce that all of them crossed and he could meditate on bnced mana to better help his overall understanding. Then he would be able to work on his fusion of elemental manas.


    "See?! This makes no sense. This floor is so small but the rines are nowhere to be found. I can see where they go in to the ceiling from the lower training floor but then I get here and it''s just a small library floor." The ce that Walker found was a round maze of a room. The bookshelves were made to wrap around in a circr formation that one needed to wander through to get to the next staircase. But there were no visible runes but for the bookshelves that helped preserve the books in an ancientnguage. There was also the fact that no one had made any progress tranting thenguage so the floor was abandoned until the archaeologists understood it. Less chance to damage the books. Where could the runes have moved if they continue on the next floor?"


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 Chapter 1292 1292. Increase In Mana

    Walker was nearly crawling on the floor while tracing the spot that the runes should be. He could follow them from the stairs with his eyes but found that there were gaps where the bookshelves sat on the ground. The slight breeze through those gaps was enough to tell him that something did not add up on this floor.


    "I know we are close to figuring it out. The bookshelves are all in this pattern and are hard to walk around. Why would they do this for a library floor? Also, why can''t we take any of the books out of this room, let alone a few feet from the shelving that they are set up on?"


    Walker raised these questions while he slowly stood and tried to pull a book away from its ce on the shelf. He found that after he took three or four steps away that he would find himself pulled back by force. It was as if all the elemental mana in the air was forcing him to go back toward the same spot. Nothing made sense until he sighed and put the book back down. In the single movement, he felt the connection of mana flor through the room. But it was broken.


    "No way it works like this¡­" He moved and jumped up to look from the ceiling. He could see that the broken shelves all had the same pattern. They wereplicated to walk through but if Walker changed the perspective he could see that they could line up. "If I just try and push like this¡­" Walkernded and pushed against one of the smaller sections of bookshelves. It slowly started to grind against the stone and move. The gaps were so that the bookshelf could move and fit in to ce.


    The burst of adrenaline allowed Walker to push the shelves over and over until he heard a clicking. The mana in the room seemed to gain a purpose and flowed toward the shelving. The books became more than just pages. The runes written within each one filtered the elemental mana and caused a change to the room itself.


    Dense elemental mana flooded the room as the shelves fell away. The room was not some library floor but an all around elemental gathering floor with plenty of space. "This is amazing." Walker watched as runes formed in the air and faded away as elemental mana flowed through them. Runes had been carved in the very space of the room to cause this phenomenon and attract more elemental mana. It was a feat that no current rune carver or rune smith could boast. All in all, it was a miraculous discovery.


    "Fleur! Those runes weren''t in the books to show and learn frombut they were there to create this room''s effect!" The amazement in Walker''s voice was matched by the feeling he received from Fleur. She felt that this was the ideal environment for her to absorb all the elemental mana she needed. On top of that Walker could also feel that he would be able to better meditate here to understand the intricacies of elemental manas fusing and breaking away from each other. He would no longer forcefully bnce mana and make theme together, he could learn to easily and harmoniously fuse them in to natural mana faster.


    The eternal orb lost shape all of its own and floated in the middle of the room. The bnce in the air and the bnce within it seemed to make it absorb and find the center point of the room. The eternal orb had not been made to do this but it was an interesting show of what an elemental affinity item could do in an environment high in the elements that it had the affinity for. Walker could theorize that a fire affinity sword would be much stronger and produce better results with high fire elemental mana in the area. But this was a proven fact already, just not in the case of multiple elemental manas.


    Unknown to Walker while he began to meditate and understand the elemental manas, he had caused more than just this one floor to change. The runes had responded to this change and many simr shelves began to click and move in to ce on other library floors. All were books that were unable to be moved or understood. It was not a problem until now though.


    The researchers left behind were stunned to see this happening without any idea of why. They felt the changes and saw the mana adapting to the surroundings. The elemental floors became much purer along with the training floors growing dense in all elemental manas. Those researching the training floors noticed that their spells that revolved around elemental mana cost nearly nothing to cast, making them ideal for learning and training in a specific elemental mana.<sub> </sub>


    "Alice, It seems that brother must have happened on to something good again. We should take advantage." Onyx didn''t have a single doubt in his heart that Walker was the cause of this. It was toomon for these things to happen and be the cause of someone in the party rather than be random urrences.


    "He''s helping us get stronger." Alice showed a look of pure determination. The light elemental floor was nearly blinding to everyone. However, it was the opposite to people like Alice who had very high light elemental affinities. This wasfortable.


    Alice removed the bracelet that would hold back her ability to manipte the light. The heavenly serpent felt that the light elemental mana around them was moving just with Alice''s breath. The entire room was sensitive to the slow movements of Alice now. It made for an incredibly challenging training period for her. And she would be doing it until Walker descended the stairs.


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 Chapter 1293 1293. Elise Stops By

    "Onyx?" Elise had found the message left for her from Onyx about the hatchling abyssal serpents. However, she was fairly surprised that she had received a second from Gil that Onyx was secluding himself in the mage tower and that she could find him there if she needed.


    The trek up the stairs was not what Elise had expected since she would normally not have done this at all. However, it was for someone she knew and would dly help them. There was also the fact that she had found herself running around and being forced to act very maturelytely. The position at the tamer''s guild branch was proving to be not so temporary. Not that she was unhappy with it, she found an affinity for the leadership of this tamer''s guild branch since she was able to work well with the younger tamer''sing. Her harsh but fair leadership style allowed the new tamers to grow and the veteran tamer''s to branch out in to their full potentials as teachers.


    "Elise! I was wondering if you woulde or wait for me to visit you after brother leaves here. I found the best ce for the hatchlings to grow. Alice is here too with the heavenly serpent. I just wish I had thought to bring the other abyssal serpent eggs and heavenly serpent eggs here." The eggs were still in the cathedral locked in with plenty of light elemental crystals to help their growth.


    "You know that I woulde and let myself free for a while. It gave Ste and my little crow the chance to fly around the top of the tower and explore too. She has wanted to sit on top of it since it showed up but we have been making sure that a few new avian tamers were down to earth. They get one tamed monster and they think that they are ready to go off and explore the skies. Do they not understand that there are bigger and badder monsters in the air?" This was a recurring problem with most tamers since they were an exploratory group as it was leading to the loose guild rules and regtions.


    "I understand, you look like you deserve a break." Onyx was kind enough to make space so that Elise could sit. Alice had taken notice at this point and began softly humming a song. The simple soft hum made the light elemental mana calm down and a healing aura to generate around them. If one was not paying close attention, they would miss how carefully Alice was to keep herself quiet. The mana was reacting very drastically to her due to the high density of it.


    "Thank you Alice, I needed that. So, you seem to have found what you have been looking for, and more." Elise had heard the rumors and was not unhappy to hear that Onyx had seeded. She had wanted toe and satiate her curiosity for what the heavenly serpent looked like as soon as she had heard as well. The man that was selling the monster eggs had made time to let her know what he had avable for the young tamers to raise. It helped the guild quite a bit.


    <o>,m "We did. These are the hatchlings that havee out of their eggs and needed the time to absorb more light to catch up. That is Arora the heavenly serpent. They are all family. I do not have the ability to raise the eggs, educate the little ones, and be part of my party. My family will need me at different times and I will need help. Can you provide a few tamers? I don''t want them to tame these hatchlings, that needs to be a mutual agreement. But there should be people with an affinity for monsters with light elemental affinities." The seriousness transmitted to Elise was powerful enough for her to sit straight up.</o>


    "I can easily help with that. I already checked out a few people and found someone that happens to be in retirement after passing down their position for the second time. I already reached out to them and think that they will be able to help you very much. He has a unique system that deals with summoning light elemental creatures from another in." The smirk that Elise had shown that Onyx and Alice could easily guess exactly who she was speaking about.


    "You managed to get the previous adventurer''s guild master toe here? How?" Onyx was taking his turn to be surprised. He knew that Alice was holding herself back due to the sensitivity to the light elemental mana in the air and added a little extra emphasis on his mentalmunication.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, he has family here in Genesis now. He has heard everything that has been going on and was able to properly train someone to take over these past months. Now he ising for a real retirement to enjoy the hustle and bustle here. On top of that, he can give a certain guild master some tips if she needs them." Onyx wasn''t sure what ra would say to this but he felt it was a good way for life to progress.


    "Then I look forward to his help! Remember that all of you will be in a friend''s care. I will introduce you all to his family, ra, our party manager,ter." Onyx saw the little hatchlings raise their heads in agreement. While they had been in the tower he had been teaching them the basics and they had learned to understand most speech from Onyx. the additional light elemental mana seemed to be fueling their growth. Arora had a simr understanding but she remained sleepy. Alice could tell that it was just the state that Arora needed to be in to develop her foundations as a hatchling and just gave in to holding her wherever she went.


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 Chapter 1294 1294. The Bonds Seen

    Elemental mana flowed around Walker. He was using the eternal orb to condense and store as much as the orb could hold. From there he was slowly mixing the manas together to create the natural mana that he would need to use better skills and manipte elemental mana with more fluidity. However, the mental strain was where he was feeling the pressure.


    Since Walker had dedicated himself to mostly magical skills he had been constantly taxing his mind and body. He had decent strength and endurance due to their travels and the fact that whenever he trained he would use movement skills in some form. Yet, he had skipped out on the long periods of meditation that most mages would do to expand their mind and strengthen it. Being able to find their own calm in the midst of elemental chaos was why a mage would be able to do great and wondrous things with their elemental magic.


    It wasn''t that Walker had not meditated before. But it was too short of a time. He should have taken a longer and slower method to understand each elemental mana. Now he was left with a rougher use of elemental mana that had been trained through pressure and experience. This was not all bad since it led to him having the high earth sculpting skill and a better understanding of earth elemental mana in general.


    Walker had been able to grasp the fire elemental mana better because of his bond with Midnight along with the training he did originally. One of the first elemental skills he had was fire bolt which he rarely used now due to his recent focus on other elemental manas and physicalbat. If he was able to put some time in to truly understanding fire and potentially understanding the golden mes that Midnight breathed, he might make a major breakthrough and could create draconic mes.


    There was also the potential to understand dark elemental mana better. He had the shadow wrapping skill along with the ck mes which were rarely used. But other than that he had only manipted them here and there in reference to training and light elemental mana. This was also the case with light elemental mana since he rarely used the skills he had that revolved around it. They were hard to use for him because of his lower understanding.


    The positive was that Walker had already delved in to these elemental manas. He had used them to learn skills and had the grand elemental maniption. On top of that, he could manipte natural mana. This went even further when Fleur joined him to manipte the manas.


    "Alright Fleur, I am going to try and meditate the right way. I read it in a book that a master mage wrote. It was only a copy but it was enlightening. All the meditation I have done has been nothing realpared to how this is supposed to go." Walker prepared himself and took a deep breath. He had the perfect environment, the perfect instructions, and the time before the golem army would head out to go after the dwarves'' enemies; giant earth ants.


    "I have no body¡­.I am only mana¡­.flow with the mana around me and take the journey through its life¡­" Walker repeated words that he remembered from the writings. This was mostly to control his breathing and calm his mind. Everything was buzzing around him since he had be very sensitive to elemental mana through his bond with Fleur. However, he felt it was calming. He was almost more at home when surrounded by this dense elemental mana than he normally was.


    There was a warmth spreading from his beach where Fleur was pulling the eternal manas toward the spirit mark. The eternal orb hovered over Walker''s head as it directed even more elemental manas toward him. He could tell that the mana was mixing slowly but that was not his focus. What he was focusing on now was how his body interacted with the mana.


    Walker knew that he had the problem where his mana would bleed out of him due to the over absorption and strain he had ced on his mind and body. His body couldn''t store the mana within it because there was weakness. Yet, for some reason, Walker felt that he was actually bing stronger. Every single breath brought in different elemental manas and allowed his body to separate from his mind.<sub> </sub>


    It was almost as if Walker was looking down on himself. He could see how the different elemental manas of the world melded in to his human body. He even could see faint twinges of red strings around him. As his mind calmed he was able to feel that these were the bonds he had. One with Fleur that speckled with every elemental mana. It nourished and shared his spirit with her and vice versa.


    The storing that had small ck and white speckles around it was clearly Walker''s bond with Onyx. it seemed to disappear then be bright again and again. Walker felt that he was inheriting some of Onyx''s unique characteristics. He could feel that over time the connection would be more than just a bond but one that shared skills and traits.


    The most powerful was the bond with Midnight. The string was thick and golden flecks danced around it. Walker could tell that it came from the unending trust he and Midnight shared. There was an untold connection that shared their souls with one another, therefore, sharing Midnight''s true dragon champion bloodline with Walker to a very small degree. This was also how Midnight gained the natural mana affinity from Walker.


    All of them were connected and Walker felt that he was understanding his own being much more while he allowed his body to bond and be shaped by these forces. The natural mana was building up as it melded with his body.


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 Chapter 1295 1295. Proper Meditation

    ''The user has properly meditated. The skill arcane meditation has been taken from the grand mage system. The user has learned the skill Arcane meditation''


    ''Arcane Meditation- passive


    During a deep meditation, the user is able to disconnect their body and mind to look within themselves. They are able to search for the connections and affinities that they have to shape their minds and bodies better to umte and use said connections and affinities. If the user is damaged due to magical bacsh or severe damage caused by their use of mana this skill can assist them in rebuilding their body using the natural mana and stored energy within their body. Time varies depending on affinities, user mentality, and mana in the surrounding area. The user can use mana to enhance their body to a degree based on multiple factors such as; affinity, bloodlines, training, current possessions, current condition,...''


    Walker found that the arcane meditation skill came with a myriad of information. This alone gave him many things to think about and work toward. However, what he focused on was the fact that this skill could allow him to slowly strengthen his body with surrounding elemental mana. That meant that he could fix his weakness from abusing mana while also enhancing the bonds with those he cared about.


    His body was normal for a human when it came to the adventuring he had done. Walker was not overly muscr but was not the same as his well built father who had gone through rigorous training with the guards since he unlocked his system at a young age. His mother was even fairly muscr due to the kitchen work she had done. Lifting pounds of ingredients every day was nothing tough at.


    What really struck Walker was that his body had already obviously started to change. He could make out the parts of his body that had begun to express affinity for elemental manas along with the natural mana that he was able to manipte now. Unfortunately, he could see small parts around his hands and feet where mana had rushed out while using skills causing his body to lose mana cirction.


    This new view of himself brought some stress but enlightenment. Being able to rebuild his body and properly heal a wound that he could not see or even understand before was spectacr. There had been healers that mentioned the flow of mana in a person''s body but Walker had never realized that he had been missing their true meaning. They had spoken of how mana moved and came to be within a person. He had not realized at the time that they were not speaking of their mana being able to flow and heal someone. Therefore, Walker came to the conclusion that some healers must have the skills to see how wounds permeated a body and an alternate skill that might show damage involving mana flow. Yet this skill must be very rare since it wasn''t spoken about often. Most likely this skill rarely had a chance to manifest in basic churches and cathedrals since people only had physical injuries.


    Thoughts of Su and Midnight having resistances to elemental manas entered Walker''s mind. He could clearly see the strong bond with Midnight and knew what it meant. But he could also see that there was more to it. The bond went further than just him and small threads of mana left him to leave the areapletely. His theory was that they connected to Midnight and eventually to Su. If Walker allowed the bond to mingle with his body over long periods of time he might gain better resistances and strengths like Su and Midnight. But what if he focused on it and used the natural mana to nurture it? What if he used this new arcane meditation skill to assist his healing? Would he be fully human? No, he had already epted this and only cared that he would be able to still help others and remain with his family.


    The room reacted to Walker''s will stabilizing. As soon as he hadmitted to using the mana to heal himself in this way and enhance the strength of his bonds, the elemental mana calmed before rotating around him. The reaction was the exact same as inside the eternal orb which formed natural mana doing the same action. Thus, when he saw that the eternal orb was at the center, Walker felt it was only right.<sub> </sub>


    Fleur stirred for the first time after Walker had fallen in to this meditation. She could sense the desire Walker had and how he would do it. As a high nature spirit, she was on the path to bing a world spirit. She wanted to push high, and learn to speak the way Zephyr did as a grand spirit. Fleur wanted to reach higher and understand what it meant to be what she was. The feelings of the elemental spirits that had fused to create her were now solidified within her, the awe that they had when Walker asked them to remain with him was even more powerful. Her reaction was simple, guide the mana to form together faster and use it to help Walker while strengthening herself.


    Unknown to Walker and Fleur, their actions were affecting the mage tower even more. The area that it was able to affect with its runes was growing slightly due to the library floor being put back in to ce. The entire city would gain benefits. However, Midnight also felt everything. She felt the very core of her being tremble as Walker began to feed their bond more mana. She could feel the desire to grow and be someone those would look up to. It perfectly lined up with the pride and strength Midnight saw herself having as a dragon. Her flight training seemed unimportant, instead, she started to rush toward the mage tower, driven by determination.


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 Chapter 1296 1296. Cant Sit Still

    "Sister? Are you here for brother?" Onyx had felt the very same thing as Midnight. What Walker had not understood initially was that his bonds with Onyx, Fleur, and Midnight were all intertwined with his soul to deeper depths than anyone couldprehend. Therefore, when Walker began focusing on the bond he had with Midnight, he had started to enhance the bond with Onyx as well. Not to mention, with Fleur.


    Thai made Onyx feel the same determination and drive to run to Walker''s side. To fuel himself to grow and stand taller. The only reason Onyx had remained where he was, was the fact that he had made the call to remain with the hatchlings. Onyx also did not dare to interrupt Walker''s training. Walker hadmitted to training alone for a reason and if he ruined that, Onyx would be unable to cope with his feelings. He would have let Walker down.


    When Midnight huffed in acknowledgment, Onyx saw the slight golden sparks around her teeth. Her fire seemed to be growing in intensity as she absorbed more elemental mana herself. Onyx would have said something if he was not having a simr reaction. Thebination of Walker''s skills and the mage tower''s ability to increase elemental mana was greatly helping the pair to grow. Onyx could feel himself getting closer to his center. What made him him and where his strength came from.


    Midnight, on the other hand, was feeling clearer. She could tell that the blood she had and the body she possessed had been mixed. The dragon champion bloodline had been thin until the system upgraded her after their quest. It had happened but it was not enough to make herpletely a dragon champion. She had been growing faster because she had pushed herself to grow and be what she desired. Yet that was not enough, she needed to purify herself which was something that all royal dragons did. They would focus on purifying the elemental mana they took in to be the best at that single elemental mana. Midnight had to do the same to be the true dragon champion that she was already boasting to be.


    "I am unsure of what Brother is doing, but I believe that Su will be here any moment as well. We only have a few days left until they leave again. I know you will go too. Help me show these hatchlings how to defend themselves before you go off without me?" Onyx knew that Midnight was losing her patience for sitting still. Alice was carefully sitting and testing her skills with the heavenly serpent resting on herp. Onyx wasn''t needed on the light elemental floor and he could sit there with the hatchlings once the rest of the party went off. He also could feel the energy thrumming inside of him and wanted to push his body to its limits.


    The training floors in the mage tower were many. They had special runes to defend against elemental mana and physical attacks. Some of the rune smiths had even theorized that if they were damaged that the rune formations were made in the air to repair the damaged section. It was an incredibly advanced rune formation that astonished them and could not even be attempted for replication because of the extremely high level of detail within them. In theory, it would take generations even to be able to understand a portion of them.


    The serpents understood that Onyx had referred to fighting as a way to protect them from predators. They had their instinctual skills and battle techniques. That was simple for them. However, that did not mean they had any ability to fight. They were all prey to a world of predators, but Onyx would change that. He wanted every hatchling to not only be wise enough to choose their path, but also to be able to defend that path.


    "You all know that you can hide in shadows, but eventually you will be able to hide your true size and strength within your shadow. I have seen the proper adult size of our species and I am still small, but I am not weak anymore." Onyx started to reveal his true size to the hatchlings that had yet to see it. They knew he could grow but they had not seen howrge Onyx really was. They just thought that Onyx possessed a skillet that lengthened his shadow.


    Since Onyx hadst taken his full form, he had grown. His scales became sharper looking from his elemental training to create armor using elemental mana. But that wasn''t the real change. There were small spiked scales that became more pronounced around his face showing off a vicious exterior perfect for battling against others.<sub> </sub>


    The reaction that Midnight had was to stand taller and raise her head. Her wings pped out ready to jump in to the air. The hatchlings could feel her growl shake the air while the mana was pulled toward her mouth. It was instinct for them to try and hide away in the shadows with the energy around the two about to battle it out in training.


    Onyx''s tail whipped around at a speed that caused the air in the room to be a torrent of currents. Midnight responded by jumping up and pping her wings to bring her right next to him. She tried tosh out with her ws but found that onyx had be tougher. Hsi scales easily defended the sharpened dragon ws.


    "Sister, do not think that I have been holding myself back. I want to stand beside you, not behind." Onyx spoke in her mind with more force. Midnight had always seen Onyx as a little brother, someone weaker than her. It wasn''t out of negativity but habit. She was the older sibling and naturally, she would be stronger. Finding that Onyx was able to stay firm and hold off her attacks surprised her, but it also encouraged her. She would not treat Onyx as little or weaker anymore. She was going to train all out and the two would get stronger together. Her roar and Onyx''s hiss of challenge were felt throughout the tower along with the feedback from their bond with Walker.


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 Chapter 1297 1297. Feeling Fuzzy

    "Su, are you alright?" Gil had made it back to the mansion some time ago. He had let Remey know what was going on but she had been unable to stop her work to go back with him to eat. She was swamped with paperwork and herbs that were flowing in to the guild. On top of all that, she had taken some responsibility to direct the adventurers not to head toward the ravines in the fieldnds where they may identally encounter the giant earth ants. That left Su and Gil alone for dinner, but Su was clearly distracted.


    "Things just feel¡­off. I''m warmer than usual and my head is fuzzy. But I have energy. It''s strange. I¡­I''m not really sure." Because Su was bonded with Midnight as her guardian, Su could feel the strengthening of bonds through Midnight. But she did not realize that she was also that close to Walker through Midnight. They shared a unique bond that held them closer than most people would notice. She did understand to some degree though.


    "Of course she feels it! She is covered in mana right now." Zephyr was idly floating about the room with a bored demeanor. The earth spirit had melded in to Su''s spirit mark earlier in the day and Su had not fully understood why.


    "She is? Is that why I feel like the wind is weaker?" Gil had noticed the change but was unsure what was going on. He had just assumed the winds had shifted like they normally would as time went on in the day.


    "What?" wait¡­The mana is what?" Gil was very surprised to see that Su had heard what Zephyr had said. normally they didn''t all understand Zephyr since they didn''t have the ability to speak with her properly. Su had an earth spirit mark so she didn''t understand every single elemental spirit.


    ? "Did you use those scrolls that Walker had made already? I know he had a bunch sent here but getting the skill is really hard." Gil was temporarily distracted before he remembered what the real issue was. "If it''s because of mana, well, you know what''s going on in the tower. Maybe it has to do with Midnight too. She apparently rushed there to train." Since it had all been going on for more than a day at this point many of the mages were in an uproar about the tower''s reactions. The mana alone was extremely beneficial to the entire city.


    They both started to understand what the situation might be as Zephyr waited for the inevitable reaction. Su jumped up with her mind still a little fuzzy while Gil nearly hopped the table to keep her standing. "If this has to do with them then you need to rest. You are Midnight''s guardian, right? You went through a ritual to make that proper. You are much closer to each other than I think you know. It''s the same as your partnership with the earth spirit. You two are one and the same at this point." Gil had already be very close with Zephyr and could tell that Su was experiencing something unique.


    "I just need to see... What''s going on?" When Su looked up Gil was caught speechless. Her eyes were not the normal eyes he was used to. She had some skills that revolve around draconic eyes but now she had the appearance that matched it. Su''s pupils were thin slits exactly the same as a dragon''s. There appeared to be a slight fire within them.


    "No, you are going to rest and take this slow. I will stay here until you feel things clearing up. Just focus on your mana and body. I will be here." The change was enough for Gil topletely understand that the dragon blood was reacting again the same way it had when Su first finished the ritual with Midnight. She was adapting and changing before his eyes and he was not going to walk away when she needed him.<sub> </sub>


    Su had been clear on her initial reasons for bing an adventurer. Her mother had been ill and needed constant care from her and her father. That had inspired Su to be closer to the cathedral and many other things that revolved around healing. If Gil could not stay with her then how could he ever stand beside her again? He had a lot to live up to already whenpared to Su''s caring nature.


    While putting Su to bed, Gil wondered just what was going on. He knew things would end up strangely but this was much more in depth. "Stop worrying. I can tell this is good. I want to rush there too. It''s a feeling that the mana is being guided there. I wouldn''t be surprised if more spirits are there too. Fleur might be getting stronger. I wonder if she will be like me soon." Zephyr could feel a pull on her that she had not felt since the day that she became a grand wind elemental spirit. She had felt this pull when she hade to be and was given a name by the world. It reminded her of the past she had lived and the many years she had slept. It reminded her of what she was and how she would keep living now.


    "I know you are right, but that doesn''t make it easier. I want to protect my family too. But they seemed to be running in to hurdles everywhere. If I can''t figure everything out on my end, then how I will stand with them?" Gil had felt the exact same way as everyone else. They didn''t all admit it but they all felt it. They were a family after all. They weren''t together just out of pure luck. They had met as if guided by fate.


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 Chapter 1298 1298. Change And Mystery

    Gil stayed beside Su until her small fever faded and Su was resting calmly. It had taken more than a day toe back down and when he finally left her room he copsed to sleep in his own. Onyx and Midnight had trained straight for a full day before returning to the light elemental floor. Onyx rested there while also teaching the abyssal serpents more basic knowledge. Midnight had traveled to each elemental floor to specifically train her elemental breath attacks, her current goal was to be able to use them in a faster and more efficient manner while battling.


    Remey had returned to the mansion to hear what was going on. This left her to return to the alchemy guild and keep working there. Luckily she had managed to get things settled so that she would be able to leave with the dwarven golem army. It had taken a lot of work and talking but the way she partnered with the adventurer''s guild really helped. ra had some staff from diamond''s adventurer''s guild branch toe over and assist. It was mostly due to the fact that most adventures left the other branches to join thepetition. It was too valuable of an opportunity.


    This allowed Walker to finish his training in peace. He had been trying to keep track of time with the assistance of Fleur. When the days had passed he didn''t even notice the hunger or any fatigue. Instead, he felt that he had rested for longer and deeper than ever before. There was a feeling of rity and energy that he had not had in a very long time.


    The injuries to the flow of mana that Walker had had were nearly erased and reced with healthy working mana flows. The bonds that he had were much stronger with the constant nurturing. There were some skills that he felt he could utilize better, one such skill was the dragon''s intimidation skill which took the form of a roar.


    What truly stood out was the slight change to his physique. Walker was not a small person but was definitely on the lean side. Now he had easily grown an inch and was slightly more muscr. The aura he had around him was strength and confidence. It exceeded how he looked prior by leaps and bounds. On top of all of that, he could feel every single movement of mana around him.


    The skills he had refined to the same level of high earth sculpting were those of the other elemental manas. They had allbined together to create the high elemental sculpting skill which worked along with the grand elemental maniption skill. One allowed him to manipte all elemental manas faster and the other to a finer degree of control. Overall, Walker had a better control of his magic skills which would in turn allow him to better use his skills without causing damage to himself or others.


    There were other changes but Walker couldn''t fully grasp them yet. He knew that his body had changed and that he was definitely not fully human. He could feel it. However, his system still said human and he was not going to fight the world on that. He decided to keep meditating when he could to properly grow in the direction of a mage while also working on physicalbat when he could. Other things like cksmithing, alchemy, and crafting would be on hold. However, he knew he would have a long life and would return to them after he had straightened out the current problems he faced.


    Currently, he was looking at the eternal orb. Fleur had sat upon it and absorbed an insane amount of natural mana that Walker had been assisting her to gather. The influx seemed to be the key that Fleur needed.


    ''The world has recognized that the high nature spirit Fleur had fully grown in to her proper form as a grand nature spirit. The world smiles upon the child born. The name given by the world and the grand nature spirit will not be revoked. The grand nature spirit Fleur will rest to connect to the will of the world.''<sub> </sub>


    The small notification caused Walker to think. he knew that technically Fleur was a grand spirit already. However, she only had the strength of a high elemental spirit and he had begun to go along with that. But seeing that the world was more or less testing her to see if she could make it made a lot of sense. The will of the world was a mysterious thing that no one understood. Manby prayed to the world or the lore of creation, or gods. How things came to be was a mystery and many had their own ideas.


    Yet, what separated everything from the will of the world was the fact that the will of the world showed itself in the system. That meant that whatever it was had control of a lot of things and would always be guiding beings whether they knew it or not. Some did not follow the guidance but that was free will at y.


    Fleur seemed to melt in to mana and form back on Walker''s back. She had somehow gone in to the spirit mark on his back which had be more detailed of a pattern while the pair meditated and created the natural mana that was now stored within the eternal orb, spirit mark, and Fleur. Walker wasn''t sure what else to think but he had long made a rule about the will of the world. Don''t overthink it because it is a mystery he is not ready to solve just yet. That being the case, he stood up to stretch and smiled feeling the rity and calmness spreading through his mind and body. He couldn''t wait to go and see his family.


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 Chapter 1299 1299. Seeing Changes

    No sooner had Walker''s foot touched thest step to the light elemental floor of the mage tower had Midnight pounced on him. She could feel himing through their bond like a sixth sense. Her, Onyx, Alice, and all the hatchlings had been hard at work training, absorbing mana, and overall improving themselves since they had made the decision to wait for Walker. They had their own improvements but they all felt that they missed immensely. Training in seclusion had been stressful since none of them had done much else.


    "I know I went and locked myself away but you don''t have to tackle me to the ground every time. What happens when you get bigger or are in your dragonkin form?" Walkerughed and did his best to hug Midnight before trying to push her off of him. However, Midnight was frozen at the moment. She was smelling Walker and noticed that the scent he gave off had a slight change. The closer she looked the more she noticed. The changes in his muscles and the slight spark in his eyes were too clear. They screamed for attention.


    "I know I''m a little different. I made a mirror using ice and I think I finally look like the adventurer true hero title holder that has been going through multiple trials to help build a city." The additional proud attitude also came with the support of Midnight who could only agree with the statements. She wanted Walker to get stronger and be able to be with her longer. She had a very small fear that she would get older and stronger ahead of her family making her unable to explore with them. It was a fate that she believed she might face because she was a dragon that should live a very long time.


    The hatchlings were much more active seeing Walker this time. They had been learning and trying to get a hold of what was going on in the world. This time training and absorbingrge amounts of light elemental mana had improved their unhealthy state from being dormant by leaps and bounds. Now they were much more healthy and ready to see the world. On top of that, Onyx had been sure to share all the stories and lessons his family had been teaching him while he grew. But the mix of little shadowy noodles still made Walker stifle additional Laughter. If Onyx yed his cards right he might have a sea of abyssal serpents in the shadows.


    "Brother, wee back. We have been waiting for you." The pride in Onyx''s voice was matched by the tall stature he held. While training with Midnight for the past few days he had unconsciously caught the habit that Midnight had to raise her head higher when he spoke of things she was proud of.


    "I can see that. It seemed like you and Midnight both have a bit more of a glow around you. I can''t wait to see what you figured out. But you didn''t stay here the entire time, right?" Walker looked at Alice, who was still silently standing but clearly tired. Even the heavenly serpent showed a small amount of fatigue due to its young age.


    "We can shortly after you begin to train. We could feel it and needed to be near." Onyx didn''t even lie. They had all been there.


    "I see. Well, then that''s good but it''s time to eat." Walker let Onyx and Midnight take the lead while he went to Alice and the heavenly serpent. "I see you are doing well Arora, it''s nice to see your eyes have be more lively but it seems that they have tired you out." Arora epted the small head pat from Walker and closed her eyes. Alice on the other hand started giving Walker a serious look, "Should I take it you have made a pretty great breakthrough too?"


    The way Alice looked at Walker spoke more than anything she could say, however, when she opened her mouth and started to sing softly. The light elemental mana began to gather in to many images of Onyx and Midnight training against each other. The hatchlings were always watching in the periphery while images of Alice training and singing while the others battled it out appeared. Walker was amazed by the new level of control and detail that came from the soft singing that Alice had begun. It had been a short time but it was all too clear that Alice had fully focused purely on control of her voice and how she manipted the elemental mana. It was simr to what Walker had done but in a constant direction of a single elemental mana.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s¡­wow." His words failed him. He could only look around in awe until Alice stopped and gave a triumphant smile. "You know you are amazing right?" The realization that he was openlyplimenting the woman he cared for waspletely over Walker''s head. He had said it in a way that spoke of how stunned he was for the beauty that Alice could create with just a few words of a song.


    Alice''s reaction was better than Walker expected and found that she had kissed him before he had even opened his mouth to say another word. He couldn''t help but be stunned all over again while she started to nudge him toward the stairs toward the lower floors. On them, she hummed softly. Even though they were entering the other elemental floors there was still light that gathered and showed Walker the training that she and the others had done. The images enlightened him and showed just how hard they had worked at the same time as he had been training to his maximum as well. The entire family was going to be more powerful in the future and that was a fact.


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 Chapter 1300 1300. Busy Markets

    The mages that had been held back by Onyx and Midnight when they had run through the tower to investigate the changes were full of energy as they witnessed Walker strolling down the floors and out the front entrance to the mage tower. They had been waiting to see if the high floors had the same changes and wanted to witness everything possible. They had more or less understood the changes that had urred but needed to solidify what was going on in more detail. They had not known that runes could be used in such ways to such degrees. It was a major breakthrough just to know that this was possible.


    As Onyx noticed that Alice and Walker were both a little focused on each other and red faced he understood what was going on. He knew that Alice had been waiting to get to a higher level of understanding to show off to Walker along with proof that she could stand beside him. It was a major part of her desires for the future and the entire walk down the tower she had been doing so.


    What Walker didn''t realize was that she had been doing it all without wearing the bracelet that controlled her mana from leaking out with every sound she made. She had increased her control to a level that was beyond what had been expected in such a short time. The intense determination and sole focus were the cause.


    As they left the area around the tower, Alice slipped the bracelet back on her wrist with a smirk. She grabbed on to Walker''s hand ready to make the most before he left. She had waited and trained. Aurora moved herself to wrap around Alice''s other arm. She had found it afortable spot since Alice had a habit of moving her hands while singing. This allowed Aurora to see better and absorb the light elemental mana that drew near them.


    "It looks like the city is pretty busy right now." Walker noticed the increase in dwarves immediately. Many were selling and buying as much as they could. The influx had been partially due to the start ofpetitions. There were adventurers that encountered monsters while out hunting for herbs , therefore, causing the materials sold in the market to be plentiful. Yet the major reason so many dwarves were there was because they had used the movement of the golem army as personal guards all the way to Genesis. Their travel speed had been much faster with the golems pulling carriages nonstop.


    Many were trying to approach the nearby elemental spirits and make friendships. Some elves were even helping to negotiate for lucky dwarves that had managed to make friends sinceing to the city. That didn''t mean they were all lucky. The elemental spirits were a little picky when it came to wanting a partner that could true spirit forge something for them. It was the same for anybody in the world. The match had to be just right.


    "I think we lost Onyx and Midnight, I think they rand ahead and now I can''t see them anywhere." Walker wasn''t at all annoyed but had to pretend. He was actually very happy to have the time to walk back to the mansion with Alice alone. The market was busy but he had the chance to just be with her.


    "Did you hear the king''s orders? He is sending us all out tomorrow in three squads. Apparently, a scout found that the ants have three queens and the splitting of the nest was what caused the copses, earthquakes, and waking up of the ants. That kind of thing only happens every few years." The gossiping group of merchants were loud enough to draw attention toward their stalls. They had the full intention of getting people to purchase things to learn more. It was a sneaky trick.


    "If the giant earth ants are going to cause that much trouble then I see why the dwarves acted so fast. I always feel like I''m learning." While Walker thought about the ants splitting up and bing three colonies he knew that each would need to find its own territory to live in or go to war. That meant there was a high chance of the ants traveling far and wide to any vige, city, and environment to settle down. It would be a disaster.<sub> </sub>


    p "Will you need me?" The soft spoken question made Walker hesitate. He wanted to say yes to Alice right away. She could easily make a difference against the ants. They wererge targets and could be hit from a distance. However, this was something that was not up to him. He should not put the choice to whether he wanted her there.</anda>


    "It''s not up to me. You have responsibilities to Aurora and the other eggs if you want to help them. But you also need to decide if you will risk going there. The ants don''t seem to be the most powerful monsters there are. But there are many of them and we can get overwhelmed. The experts are the dwarves and I want to learn from them while using my magic skills to help." while the response was not the exact answer that Alice had wanted, she decided it was better.


    "We wille. Aurora will learn with me." The decision was not swift but took Alice a moment. She could help heal along with fighting. It wasn''t just that but she knew that she would have people trustworthy to help with the eggs and Onyx. She wanted the opportunity to leave the city again. Not to mention that she worried about when the dragons would arrive. Walker would be surrounded by powerful beings, she felt that she needed to be stronger too so that she would still stand out. The look she wore on her face said that she refused to change her mind on this.


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 Chapter 1301 1301. Whos Going

    "I did it! I finished everything and hired more staff! I can leave and fight those giant bugs too!" Remey burst in to the mansion yelling. She had spent hours to find new staff members to help the alchemy guild. Between her, Trish, and the old master alchemist, the three were exhausted but free.


    The ss schedules that they had set would still remain while Remey had freed herself enough to leave for a maximum of three weeks if she desired. Not that she was actually nning on being gone that long. It had already been made clear throughout Genesis that the dwarves had taken full responsibility for this issue. Even Scy had backed ff.


    From what Remey had heard, Scy was focusing on the notes that were found in the abandoned vige. There had been more research locations for monster experimentation around the area. It was a stain for the demi-human history along with the other races that had members of their popce that left to try and make a name for themselves in such a way.


    "Do you have to yell? Everyone is finally back and you are ruining the dinner being put out." Gil was about to throw a napkin at Remey when Walker stopped him in his tracks.


    "We have been waiting for Remey so we could eat. Let''s not start an argument already. It''s good to hear that you areing along too. That means it will be, Su, Alice, Gil, Midnight, and myself going too. Onyx is staying with the hatchlings and Alma was invited toe and learn but instead is sending the younger enforcers to learn some new tactics." Walker had quickly gathered information on the way home with Alice. Between the two of them, they were able to get back up to speed on Genesis gossip and truths easily.


    "Alice ising too? Great, that makes the girls'' side of the party even stronger." Remey chuckled in victory while taking her seat and making Alice fist bump her. There was no pushback from the others while Gil and Walker just gave each other a knowing look. Fighting Remey about anything like this would just end in someone being punched. "Byt the way, are you feeling better Su? Gil told me what happened when he came by the guild for more potions. He said he wanted to make sure you would have them if you needed them."


    "Well, she would have done the same for any of us." Gil was a little embarrassed for everyone to know that he had sought out Remey for potions. But Su looked very d that he had taken her wellbeing first over the other things he could have done the other days.


    "I am feeling better. When Walker got home I spoke with him a little and managed to figure it out. Since Midnight and Walker''s bond was strengthened I felt it too. It made the dragon bloodline I was passed down weakly through the ceremony react. It actually must have gotten stronger because I can feel that my body is stronger. But getting through the fever was a little tough. Thankfully Gil was able to make sure I was well." Su knew she would have been embarrassed if Gil took her all the way to the cathedral for something that was to be expected for the way Su was bonded with Midnight and her own growth.


    "I really am sorry. I didn''t realize it would make you ill. I know you had made a lot of ns for your days before leaving and I ruined them. But I am still impressed that you are able to produce sparks and sometimes small mes." Once Su had woken up, she had a slight heat in her throat. She had sneezed and a burst of sparks left her mouth making her realize that she had grown in to being able to breathe fire properly. Before she had the skill but had been afraid to try using it after the changes in her body. But with the newer changes, she felt tougher and that it was an instinctual act.


    " That means you can breathe mes and try to test my fists to resist fire even better!"<sub> </sub>


    "NO!" Su shut Remey down immediately. She was not letting Remey get in to more dangerous fire based training that would burn her hands again. Midnight was still growling softly. She was d to hear that Su was embracing the changes that came with being a proper draconic guardian. It meant that she would get closer and be able to train more with Su. It was an all around win for everyone.


    "How about no one breathes fire at the dinner table and we save that for showing offter. I have a lot to share too." The rest of the night turned on to them all sharing their new skills and developments. Gil felt that he was the least improved until he exined the dagger techniques that the desert elves had and how they had wind elemental origins meaning that they were rted to both the stone elves and the wind elves. He had made a breakthrough of his own in a different way.


    "I haven''t heard of mana cirction injuries but I don''t doubt they exist. I would expect them to show in people who train to their limits. We should look in to healers with such skills. It might be best for them to give evaluations of other healers." Su made this theory because she wanted the healers that pushed themselves to be healthy and safe as well. She was fully supported by Alice and before everyone knew it they were going to be dragged to the cathedral in the morning when the golem army was going to be leavingte. Fortunately, Walker knew that the dwarves would be leaving on schedule. They had their pride on the line after all.


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 Chapter 1302 1302. Unique Golems

    Walker had narrowly avoided Remey testing out everyone else''s skills that they had trained. She had been cooped up in the alchemy guild and had too much energy to burn. Although, she had managed to train with the alchemy fire spirit to a considerable degree. Since she had nothing else to do while organizing and teaching the newer alchemy guild members, she had been using alchemy fire to make some basic salves and balms. That way she had be a little more resistant to the burns that alchemy fire could cause along with having sharper control of it.


    Surprising them all had been Midnight that pushed Remey toward her room to rest. It seemed that the temptation to eat the giant earth ant meat was enough to get her to split things up. It was a fact that the tamers had gotten involved for the additional food source to feed their tamed monsters so this was also backing that the meat must taste good. At the end of the night, Walker didn''t argue that everyone was heading off on their own to rest. He had spent some additional time outside on the back patio enjoying the clear night sky with Alice. She had somehow developed a love for the stars and singing to manipte the starlight.


    Once morning had rolled around, Walker was yet again being pulled out of his bed. This time it was Remey nearly dragging him by the foot. "I swear, you go and train and then you be a brick that can''t move the next day. Everyone is awake but you. Even Alice was awake and helped your mother make us breakfast." Remey just kept shaking her head as Walker started toe back to life and look around. She did find it amusing when he jumped up and started to rush about the room preparing.


    Herughter only grew when she noticed that he was wearing his shirt backwards aftering back out of his room. "I''m up. I sear." Walker followed Remey down the stairs and to the front where everyone else was waiting for him. They each had a steaming hot sandwich in their hands while Alice had two. She had been waiting to hand it to Walker. It was very clear that she was proud to have helped make them and spend time with Hilda. On the other hand, Hilda was secretly gossiping now with Su''s mother about how she was going to have the best daughter inw soon. Hilda fully expected that Walker would fall head over heels and marry Alice one day. It was a mother''s intuition.


    "Thank you. I could smell them all the way up the stairs." His face was flushed while grabbing the sandwich but he continued on. "Onyx, good luck with the hatchlings. And all of you, don''t go giving my little brother trouble while I''m away. If you do then we might not bring back a snack for you." The little hatchlings partially understood what Walker meant and popped their heads out of the shadows to nod their heads the same way that they had seen Onyx do.


    "Be safe. I will be waiting for everyone." Onyx was sad that he was unable to travel but he was true to hismitments. There was nothing that would pull him from his current goals. Everyone knew this and fully supported him so he would patiently wait until he could take the hatchlings on a journey outside as well.


    "It looks like the rest of us are all set. The golem army should be outside of the city right?


    " Walker knew that they would be all lined up and ready to go but he didn''t want to miss any changes that he had missed.


    "They already left. The rest of them are heading out now." Remey had gone on a very early walk to see what the first two squads were heading out the third was going to the closest ravine and would be getting there at the same time as the other two squads got to their ravines. It would ensure a consistent attack that would stop the other two queens from sending their giant earth ants to attack the weaker colonies that were splitting off.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh, then let''s get there quickly." Midnight huffed in approval and burst out the door with everyone quick to run behind her. She wanted to be the first to see what the golems were doing and if anything unique was in the army. The party''sst trip there had produced an interesting effect on the forging that was happening within the dwarven city. Therefore, they all wondered if more golems controlled by elemental spirits had been created along with any more dragon style golems.


    The party was not let down when they saw the size of the golems lined up ahead of them. Instead of the basic working golems that the party had seen, there were smaller ones formunication. But what truly took the cake were therge golems triple the size of the working golems. They were incredibly heavily armored and set up to tank major attacks. They were also the carriers forrge carriages full of supplies that would be used for repairs and other such things. The small group of healers were aboard one of the carriages and Walker could make out a few familiar faces from the instrumental side of the cathedral. One was the strings yer that Su had spent some time with but still not spoken with the rest of the party too much. Su was surprisingly shy about such subjects.


    "Look! That''s a serpent type golem. It looks a lot like Onyx!" Remey was in love seeing the golem. Her eyes went wide as she saw the unique line up next to it of unique golems made for this squad.


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 Chapter 1303 1303. Marching With Golems

    "Are you here to march or are you here to look?" One of the dwarves joked since he had seen plenty of peoplee to look at the golems. He wasn''t wrong though. The party was staring open mouthed at the unique golems. Some of which were made by dwarves they had met or apprentices. They all served their own purposes in the army of golems but mostly to deal with monsters in different situations and areas that the basic golems could not get to.


    "Those are like wolves. Look, there are thirteen of them making up a golem wolf pack." These were Gil''s personal favorites since he felt that they would be the best at working together in a forested area to hunt for prey and scout an area.


    "You aren''t even considering how tough those bear golems are. The pair right there would be able to block hits andnd fearsome attacks." Su had found herself enamored with the somehow adorable bear style golems. They had very detailed features and seemed to be made from much tougher materials than most of the other golems.


    "Please stop looking at all of them like you are going to try and get them for yourselves. What would you all even do with a bunch of golems?" Walker was already stopping any of their intrusive thoughts from them. It seemed that if he didn''t act soon they would be trying to buy golems from the dwarves to just have around.


    "Birds." Alice pulled for Walker''s attention and pointed out the small fluttering golems used for the mainmunication. They were made of very light metals and modeled after sparrows. They were able to move through most of the army without anything stopping them. However, they [pulled Walker''s attention toward the next line of odd golems.


    "Gil, check out those golems. They are ballista golems. I think they would make an interesting opponent." The golems that Walker pointed out were less shaped like humanoids or monsters and more like arge ballista with runes to help it aim and fire automatically. The only issue was that they appeared to be slow due to the mana they needed to properly utilize the runes.


    "They probably can hit hard, I would say they are better for taking down walls orrge groups of monsters. They have piercing power. But uracy looks to be a problem for them." Gil could see that the wires used as strings were made specially to add power but did not have very good flexibility to make shots curve or arc. They would have to rely on gravity or magic. "The bolts they use are also very basic. If they used magic or rune inscribed bolts it would use way too much mana and take too much time to make. Not that it wouldn''t be better for them to use rune inscribed bolts."


    The evaluation showed how much Gil knew about archery and other simr long ranged attacking techniques. He had to know these things to properly use the skills he had and teach others. He didn''t start an archery academy because he knew nothing and just thought it would be fun. Archery was something that he had grown up doing with his father. Even if his system was not at all rted to archery, Gil would find a way.


    "Listen up! By order of the great king of the deep caves, the army shall march until we get to the target! There will be no stops along the way. Keep up or fall to your own weakness!" The chorus of shouts from the fellow dwarven soldiers could shake the earth. This mentality was to fire them up and prepare them for the trip to battle.


    "I guess we are off. I call dibs on the first monster we see that isn''t an ant." Rmeey was ready to go and followed the marking soldiers. She didn''t even notice that the carriage nearest to them was waving the group over to hop in. The main forces would not walk but take positions within or on golems. The others were on therge carriages. Remey was just too full of energy to pay attention.<sub> </sub>


    "We are stretching our legs. We will hop inter!" Walker shouted back since he also wanted to get a little fighting in while they marched. He needed to test himself a bit before they got to the giant earth ants. While the party was not fully intending to battle it out against the colony, it was unavoidable that they might face them. However, they all needed to be sure that they watched how the golem army organized and worked. Thest battles they had been in were organized strangely or in rushed circumstances. This was the first organized and proper battle they would witness. It would teach each of them how they might need to act as people with high standing in Genesis and the kingdoms in general.


    "Walker, I can tell you have been ying with mana the entire time since you woke up this morning. I want to ask you something." Gil was a little more serious when he fell beside Walker. "I want you to practice making elemental arrows for me to fire. I have my arrows in my quiver but they won''t always be by my side. What if my quiver is left behind or broken by a monster? I can''t make arrows out of nothing. But you can."


    "This seems like it has been on your mind for a while. I have been practicing the high elemental maniption skills I was able to learn equally through my meditation. Let me give it a shot while we move. Just make sure that when you test them you fire far away from people. I will need to get the skill before the arrows are bnced." Walker dly epted the challenge set before him.


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 Chapter 1304 1304. Training On The Move

    The earth proved to be the easiest yet again for Walker. A small spike easily rose from the ground with minimal mana from him. Next Walker held it and began to manipte it like y in to the form of the basic arrow that Gil held. All in all the fins were nearly exact when it came toparison. The weight proved to be the issue. When Walker formed the arrow heads, he waspressing them to be sharper. Yet this was also causing the problem of making them heavier.


    O know if it isn''t heavy that they will fly straight. But if I don''t condense the arrow head then they will not pierce something. I don''t want you to hold an arrowhead that will just shatter when it hits anything slightly tougher." Walker was focusing on the form and making sure the shape was exact.


    "Then don''t focus on the shapepletely. If you can''t make it so that the weight is the same then change it. This is a basic arrow and a temte for a design. What if you change it to not have an arrow head at all. Just make the end a very condensed spike. With my aim, If I aim for armor or spaces in scales then I will be able to hit it better. It means the rest of the arrow and the fins need to be better bnced but that''s easy." Gil had watched the same arrow be formed multiple times. He was going to let Walker attempt to keep the same since it wasfortable when fired. Yet, if he changed it and had to adjust to a different arrow that was fin too. What kind of archer couldn''t adjust to multiple forms of arrows in a battle?


    "That''s what I will do then. I think the earth is just difficult because of the way that the ground is here. I can''t miraculously change the characteristics of the earth around me to make the arrow head metal, the base stone, and the fins copper." Walker realized he had been trying to do the impossible. As soon as he started to change the shape he could condense it very well in to a spike that had six fins. "I''m going to make the fins angled so the arrow spins and stays straight better. I saw some arrows like that when we were in the forest elf city."


    "Perfect! I wasn''t even thinking about that. It should help with bnce too." The idea seemed to work perfectly. Gil fired the first one and saw the spin but it was slightly off. Walker quickly saw the issue and formed another. After seven in a row that flew straight, Gil was over the moon. "Think we should move on to water? You can make ice arrows. They will be weaker in strength but I think they will be better at causing bleeding when they melt. Good forrge armored monsters that we can''t take down immediately anyway."


    "So they are just going to make arrows the entire time they walk?" Remey was walking next to Alice and Su trying to make sense of why the two boys were so entranced by making arrows out of elements around them. Yes, they were getting a feeling for the improvements that Walker had after meditating properly and discovering his problems within his body. But this was still burning in Remey''s opinion.


    "I can do that." Su and Remey both looked at Alice who spoke then started humming. When she hit the right note, Alice began to sing about the arrows of the moon falling upon those who do not enjoy its beauty. The single phrase was enough to cause light to form in to ten condensed arrows in front of her. She had to be just as much a poet as a singer to make such things happen while singing. It was always inspiring.


    "Well, that was interesting. I wonder how long she had thought of that song or if she is making it up right now?" Su was amazed that Alice had suddenly stopped and done something like that. Her silence had been to think of this and develop a new way of using her skills. When Alice reached Walker and Gil, Walker partnered with her to take the light elemental arrow out of the air and solidify it more. The two of them together made a condensed light elemental arrow that was strong enough to pierce the shadows. Gil seemed very invigorated seeing this since he wasn''t sure it would be possible to efficiently make light elemental arrows that would dissipate extremely fast.


    "Hmpf, they can worry about their arrows all they want. I am going to have Midnight challenge me to a game of tag so I can work on dodging." Su looked at Midnight practicing her flying nearby by jumping and pping her wings in less and less ps to get to the top of the massive carriage.<sub> </sub>


    "I wille too. I always deflect and block. Dodging should be on my to do list." Su decided to get better control of her own body as well. She had felt a little off in her own skin after the fever. It was clear to her that she was getting more and more bnced with the dragon blood in her body. If she did not take the proper care to rte to it and understand it then her body might be foreign to her all together.


    The ensuing game of tag made those marching wonder what was happening. The party was split up making arrows and also ying tag. However, through all these motions and training, the party was staying in pace with the march. The march was not slow at all. It was an entirely odd way to show that the party was leaps and bounds ahead of what would be expected from those of their age.


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 Chapter 1305 1305. Nighttime Experiments

    "I''m not saying that it was a bad arrow. It works. But there''s no point in it. If I fire an arrow made of condensed shadows it is lost in the sun. Then if I fire it in to the shadows it melts right back in to them. It would be better if it had the decaying properties of darkness and poison instead of melting away." Gil had not put his dislike for the darkness arrow that Walker had forcefully condensed from the shadows of the setting sun under the carriage.


    "Well of course it won''tst in the light, the light elemental arrow wouldn''tst in the shadows either. But that doesn''t mean we can''t keep using them. They probably work in the shadows like your other darkness infused arrows." Walker was trying to argue the value of the darkness elemental arrows much to Alice''s dismay. She had been helping them with the light elemental arrows since Walker had less speed creating them. It was just a difference in skills. But now that she wasn''t actively helping she was annoyed that she was out of the loop. She had no control over other elemental manas therefore she felt useless.


    "I think you two should be done. This is all you have done the entire walk for the day and we are heading in to the night soon. Midnight, Su, and I are even done ying around with our training. It''s time to rest. The golem army is better than anyone else to watch out for the night." Remey saw the argument between the two and knew it was her turn to be level headed for once. That, and she wanted Walker to drop the arrow making to share the food in his inventory. Midnight and Su were of like mind on that subject since they had burned a lot of energy.


    "By the way. How do you not have an arrow making elemental skill or whatever? You have made like a hundred and I''m sure you are low on mana." Gil was stunned that Walker had not received the skill easily for once. He was used to Walker somehow managing to get a skill without much effort or in the most random way.


    "You tell me. I keep making these things with different shapes and trying to get them perfect. They even work like normal arrows but cause elemental damage. We saw the fire one literally catch the grass on fire before going out due to the damp ground here.


    "Alright, you pushed me to it." Remey used her fists to clunk the two on the back of the headpletely bringing them back to reality. "You two are getting in the carriage. Gil can go to one side and think about his arrows and how he should make his own. Walker can get the food for everyone since we are hungry. Alice, Su, Midnight, and I will rx and sleep. If you two argue or try to make more arrows I will put you to sleep myself!" Midnight just growled slightly in approval because she was all for getting dinner sooner.


    Gil moved away rubbing his head knowing that he would have a slight bruise there. He was mumbling about how the elemental arrows should work but that Walker should have gotten a skill by then. Walker just moved inside and sat down after handing out the food that he had held on to for the trip. The healers were in the other carriages so the party found themselves surrounded by the carriage with extra supplies and many tools for golem repairs. Walker even found a stack of the golem ballista bolts. Since everyone was distracted he decided to look at the form and try and copy them as well.


    Pulling out the earth part he had been working with before to make the spike that Gil could fire, Walker began adding water to make an arrowhead. The shape was thinner so it could fly through the air better. The dwarves had tested many forms and found this the best shape to use for efficiency. The fins were easy to make out of ice as well since the arrow could melt leaving the spike of earth to pierce whatever they were fired at.<sub> </sub>


    The theory that the arrow might change as it flew through the air was simple. It was also a way for Walker to wonder if there were arrows that could be made with multiple elements to have different end results simr to the infusion of elemental manas within arrowheads that Gil already used. But when he tried to make an arrow with fire in it he just heated the dirt instead. Condensing it caused the entire structure to be brittle. And the water to evaporate.


    His experiments continued on until Walker realized he was the only one awake. Even Gil had called it a day and fallen asleep in the corner with his bow at his side ready to grab it at a second''s notice. "I''ll try it one more time." Walker made a cylinder of condensed stone. He had grabbed a medium sized rock from the ground as the carriage moved. He filled it with air and then added some fire from one of themps in the carriage. The mes easily started up and were fueled by the air on the inside of the stone cylinder. Once Walker sealed it he could feel the pressure. As he did this he added water around the sealed cylinder to form an ice arrow around it all. He had made a strange arrow that was surprisingly heavy. However, it was perfectly bnced and could be used. The previous cracking and breaking that he had experienced and stifled before didn''t ur. He had finally seeded in making a decent elemental arrow that could be used without dissipating. I just needed the proper elements in the proper bnce.


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 Chapter 1306 1306. Supervision Needed

    '' The skill elemental arrow crafting has been taken from the elemental smith system. The skill elemental arrow crafting has been learned through constant practice and learning involving elemental mana and forming it in to arrows.


    ''Elemental arrow crafting- passive


    The ability to shape the elemental mana and elements in to any form is required to be able to begin the experimentation needed to create elemental arrows from the elements around the user. This experimentation is the build up of archery knowledge that allows for flexible experiments. The knowledge can be put to use and cause faster learning while consistently testing theories based around how an arrow will fly and react with certain elemental manas. The user has a better knack for crafting elemental arrows the more that they create them. The mana to create elemental arrows is halved for the user''


    The skill was a little vague but when Walker saw that the mana to create an elemental arrow was halved he was in shock. This was a very high tier skill that made making arrows extremely easy when it came to mana cost. Walker would use his elemental sculpting skills to create the arrow which took concentration and a decent amount of mana. But now it would take half the mana with the same concentration. That meant that his body would lose less mana putting him under less stress. It also meant that the more Walker worked on this skill the more he would progress. It was very simr to the skill that Gil had when it came to dagger arts. He just needed to learn more and research.


    The sun had already started to rise after the group began to wake up. But when they saw what was around them they werepletely lost. "I know we went to sleep in a rushst night, but wasn''t this ce full of tools and more spacious?" Su was the first to speak up. She didn''t feel that she would have missed so many stacks of arrows around them before she went to bed.


    "No, this isn''t normal. There are easily two hundred arrows here. And why are there broken ones all over the ce too?" Rmeey pushed away a loose bundle of arrows because she could see the dust falling off of them from lying in a pile of it. The entire carriage needed a good cleaning since Walker had failed so many times as he experimented. But he had been very careful to be as silent as possible so that he wouldn''t disturb anyone''s sleep.


    "He learned the skill! This has to be it. He has some elemental arrow maker skill or elemental crafting or like arrow making high tier. I need to test them!" Gil was more energetic than a child handed infinite candy. From what he could sense and see there were m multiple kinds of arrows with elemental mana within them. Walker had gone above and beyond what he believed would happen.


    "Hm? Alice?" Walker mumbled as Alice shook him awake. She was equally curious about what had possessed Walker to make so many elemental arrows. "Don''t worry. I will clean up the dirt after I finish my nap. I got a little busy when I started to figure it all outst night." Walker started to turn over but was shaken again. He had not realized the sun had risen and that everyone was waking up until the second shake from Alice really woke him up.


    "How did you do it!" Gol was nearly in Walker''s face asking him. He wanted the answers so that he could go and start testing all the forms of arrows out.


    "Huh? I just made stones from the trails we are on in to cylinders. Then added mana and elements in to the center before sealing it. Then coat it on ice to make the shape around the cylinder spike. After that , it makes an arrow. But the best part is that if I add enough mana I figure out that I can make the icest longer than it should. The appraisal said they wouldst for six hours." The groggy mumble was enough for Gil and he grabbed the first one. "Wait! Fire it far away!"


    Walker had realized and yelled just in time as Gil had fired the arrow out the carriage and in to the distance behind them. They were at the back of the golem army lines but it was still too close for the small explosion that urred. The dance of wind and mes mixed with dust slowly revealed the small crater.<sub> </sub>


    "So, the condensed air and fire inside the earth spike activates when the ice melts during flight. The impact causes a sudden release. I kind of identally made some exploding arrows¡­"


    "And you aren''t allowed to stay up without supervision anymore." Su shook her head while walking away to stretch and properly wake up.


    "That''s just like the potions Trish taught me to make! I was going to see if we could fire them on an arrow but they are a little toorge. This is pretty much the same. I wonder if the elemental mana is the same in the herbs that we bnce for it or if there are other reactions urring." Remey began to pull out herbs from a pouch andpared them to each other. She ced a potion from her hip next to them and started to teach Gi what caused them toe together. It seemed that the arrow and potion had the same result but different processes. It was a very surprising way for the two to bond.


    Midnight and Alice had disap[eared from sight until Walker looked over. Alice had hidden behind Midnight who had acted to keep her covered. It seemed that Midnight had done this before reminding him that Midnight had trained with Alice, Su, and Onyx before which must have resulted in some simr situations where Onyx''s tail may have knocked around some rocks. "I will make sure I do this stuff far away from people next time¡­sorry." His apology made the to rx before Midnight was reminded that morning meant breakfast.


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 Chapter 1307 1307. Are They Monsters?

    "What do you think is wrong with them? They have been walking the entire time. Even miss Alice has been walking. Doesn''t she feel tired?" One healer that had volunteered to go on the expedition to y the giant earth ants was whispering to the other healers. He was amazed that the party chose not to stay resting within the carriage where it was safer and kept their energy up.


    "You''ve seen them train. They are monsters themselves. If they weren''t kind hearted the world would be a dim ce to live." Another could see that the party was in a league of their own.


    "But she was never like them. She was the same as us. Miss Alice always healed and got tired having to sleep after. We have the same problem. But now she is using her skills constantly while keeping the pace¡­training shouldn''t fix that so fast." They were all stunned. The Alice they knew had changed in to apletely different person since she hade in to contact with the party. More importantly, since she had started to walk alongside them.


    "None of you really know who they are, do you? When they visited my home they were unsure but figured things out fast. Really fast. It took them a few days but they had the entire city along with our kings behind them. It''s not that they are monsters with amazing systems. They are people with amazing determination and courage to push and prod at what others won''t. You should all try it. From what I see, that girl controlling light elemental mana was never meant to just be a healer." The elite dwarven guard in the carriage had been cleaning his armor and preparing his weaponry for some time. None of the healers had paid any attention to him. But when she spoke he drew their full focus.


    "That''s true, the high priest even got more energetic when they showed up. He started to push everyone to work harder and learn more. I know he is deciding who will be the next high priest in charge¡­but shouldn''t it just be an easy choice out of the three best?" The healers were a little confused but began to grasp some things they had been oblivious to. Their eyes eventually fell on Alice who had made it clear that she was not staying in the same ce any longer and would be pushing higher than expected of her.


    "Alice, how long are you going to make a shield for Su to test hers on? I want to test them too!" Remey and Su had partnered up with Alice to train while moving. The idea was simple. Alice makes light condensed shields. Su would bash at them to test her strength and also try to find the best angles to attack another shield user. Remey wanted to work on her defense breaking fist without the addition of alchemy fire. She still could not master the new move and wanted to be able to use it in more forms. The ideas of defense breaking kicks, elbow jabs, and head butts even came to mind.


    "Don''t look at me. I will keep manipting the light to flow around you as best as I can. The clouds won''t hold you back even for a second!" Alice had looked back at Walker who was doing his best to understand and manipte the light elemental mana to condense. He wanted his control to be so precise that it exceeded the rune within the mage tower. The desire was not something he had expected to form but one he strived for. He had felt that he could do anything while in the mage tower. The mana was literally waiting to be condensed, manipted, and fused in to natural mana. If he felt this way in a battle, then could he share that feeling? Could he make it so that his entire party had the best elemental zone for their battles?


    Walker could recall the skills rted to elemental zones but they were often mastery skills or very high level. One master skill could create a flooded in by condensing insane amounts of water elemental mana. A high level skill had been written to cause a tornado surrounding the user to draw in intense torrents of wind elemental mana for a short time. Overall they were the skills written to bring people in to awe for magic and mages alike. Walker had never set his sights on such skills but wanted to be able to dream he would obtain them. And with the potential of natural mana, he thought that between Fleur and him, he might just make a natural mana zone skill.


    Walker, another arrow!" Gil had been testing the arrows over and over. His constant use of them left a trail of craters behind the entire army. Walker would repair them as he went back the same way but for the time being, they would remain. The reasons Gil was using them constantly were to perfect his aim more and also his ufortable feelings using these elemental arrows.<sub> </sub>


    Gil had an extraordinary aim for a human. He rivaled the elves known for their precise aim and archery. Yet, Gil could feel that he was missing something. Something that kept him from being perfectly urate from extremely long distances. Combining the two ufortable feelings was what he felt would truly push him to the next level. He aimed for the past craters further and further away.


    Walker weed this additional training. By doing multiple things at once he was sharpening his focus. The only one that was missing from all of this was Midnight. But when someone looked up they would find that there was a small dragon leaping from the three carriage tops flying one to the other. She was training herself as well, casually letting me plumes out of her maw.


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 Chapter 1308 1308. Fearless Alice

    "Monster''s ahead! We need a group to take them out!" Themanding dwarf assigned by the king of the deep called out for a group of golems to volunteer. His scouts had spotted a small pack of heavy fanged boars. They weren''t too much of a problem but were in the way and very territorial. They were a fairlymon monster that was known to charge tusks first at an enemy to take them down. Other than that they were amonly hunted monster for hunters looking to make arge meal.


    "That''s ours. We will take them down!" Gil volunteered before anyone else were able to speak. "Don''t give me that look. I want to eat boar tonight. Plus there should be a decent few of them that we can take down before they realize they can''t win and run. It will be great." Midnight reacted with a small roar of challenge. She heard that they would be for food and that was all they needed to be fired up.


    "Actually, I want Alice to take the lead in attacking this time." Su surprised everyone, including Alice, with this. "She had been out with us before and mostly been a healer or using buffing effect songs. That won''t be enough to keep her alive in a real battle if the ants swarm us and we can''t get back together." This will also be her main experience ying monsters."


    There was a look of fear in Alice''s eyes while she breathed faster. She had not gone after monsters by herself and had not had enough training metally to ept it. But she knew that Su would not suggest this to hurt her. It was clearly so that She could grow and be even stronger.


    "I''ll do it." The moment that Alice solidified her will she found that her mind became clever. She still felt her heart beating faster than average and felt that Walker was keeping a close eye on her. But he stopped manipting the light elemental mana around her so that she would be able to experience the battle as it truly would be without any help.


    "Midnight, use your shadow wrapping skill to stay close. Don''t let anything happen. You are better at it and can hide without anyone noticing too much." Walker whispered this to Midnight whopletely understood why he was asking this. She also did not want to see anything bad happen while they p[ushed Alice in to the front of this small fight.


    The heavy fanged boars that were spotted were still fairly far from the golem army. But it was only a matter of time before they noticed the many marching golems and started to attack. There was no chance of rational thought in these monsters since they cared only about territory and food.


    The party split off heading well in front of the army, nearly losing sight of them in the distance. The high grass was a perfect way for them to hide in. "Go all out. Don''t let them even breathe. They can''t hold a candle to your training." Remey might be the hot head of the group but she knew very well how strong those around her were. She would not encourage Alice if she didn''t believe that Alice was much stronger than these opponents. Her words seemed to be thest spur of encouragement Alice needed to open her mouth and start to sing.


    <o>,m The effects that Remey had on Alice seemed to be too telling. Her words came out with a rougher sound making them feel violent. This was a different Alice than everyone was used to. When Alice trained her words were very sweet and still held elegance. But now? They had sharp and rough intent. The reason was simple behind this, Alice was not training with friends to be stronger. She had realized that she could not be delicate and weak for her entire life. Healing had made her too one sided when it came to the way that she saw the world. She needed to be tougher and make herself the same kind of strong as those she strived to walk beside.</o>


    The result was brilliant. The light elemental mana in the air condensed the light in to viscous looking serrated arrows. These were still not controlled due to the intense mental strain that would take, however, when they began to rain down on the pack of heavy fanged boars they did great damage. Before they dissipated the boars were left with harsh gashes and most were done for before they could attempt to battle back.<sub> </sub>


    As soon as Alice saw that the board could target her she changed songs fluidly. Her rough song creating serrated arrows changed in to one creating five swords of light behind her. The first three boars that charged at her met these swords impaling themselves without much effort from Alice''s singing. The next few charged and were also attacked. But the one that managed to survive was easily dodged by Alice. She had trained very hard to be able to move without losing her focus and singing. On the contrary, her song sped up and her swords reformed faster to battle around her.


    "I would say it''s time for us to join in. the rest of the pack knows we are here." Gil let loose a flurry of arrows aiming for the hips of therge fanged boars. Remey and Su charged in to team up with Alice since it was clear that the mana was being used fast and Alice would need some rest.


    Walker and Midnight jumped in to the fray. Alice was not surprised to suddenly find Midnight nearby. She had pretended not to hear Walker when he had given the order for Midnight to protect her. The remaining fanged boars onlysted minutes. Gil was very right, he had said the remaining would run when they realized they would lose and that''s exactly what happened.


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 Chapter 1309 1309. Good Meal

    "It''s a good meal before a battle!" The dwarves were more than happy to help eat the heavy fanged boars that the party had hunted. Alice was taking great pride in the food since she had been able to face them down without fear.


    The constant training she had done against Onyx who wasrger than her was one main reason that she didn''t find herself afraid when she faced the pack of heavy fanged boars. Onyx had some terrifying skills along with arger size than expected. Other than that, Alice had to battle for control over the light elemental mana with him. It was a physical and mental strain that she had to learn tobat. Therefore, when she had gotten in to the flow of battle against the boars she felt that they were nothing inparison.


    On top of all that, she had the fact that she was able to train against Midnight. For anyone, a dragon was one of the existences in the world considered the most fearsome. Just a roar alone was enough to cause many to fall in fear. Having fire breathed at her should have made Alice fall to her knees defeated, but after multiple times she had managed to stand against it and create light elemental shields from the light in the air. How could a mere boar stop her?


    "You were moving like a pro! I thought that they might catch up to you before Su and I joined up but I was wrong. That was great!" Remey had been more than impressed by the way Alice had remembered to keep moving while singing. She had used the first song to injure most of them while wlessly switching to the next song. This flow set the pace for a battle and was very important to Remey.


    Since Remey had a very up close and personal fighting style, it was extremely important to her that she set the pace. That way she would be able to control the potential damage she took while also dealing heavy damage to weak points. This was an aspect of a brawler that many people didn''t reference. The brawlers or rted systems often had very advanced movement skills that came with whatever kind of fighting they did.


    "I''m just d that was thest of those boars. We managed to keep all the fangs and the furs but all that meat that we roasted seems to have been passed out." Besides the portion that the party ate, they had no intention of storing it all away. When Walker began to cook, Midnight was the first to volunteer to share it which was a surprise. Unfortunately, it was proven that she was attempting to make some trades and returned with bred and even some honey that another dwarf had on hand for the journey. She had been sneaky and managed to get herself a whole meal.


    ? "We should be getting close about now, right?" Su stopped them and pointed in to the distance where a small camp had already been made by scouts sent ahead.


    "You are right. Those are the golems sent ahead. I can already see the table set up with maps or whatever it is." Gil could see that there were many elite guards and even two familiar figures at the table ahead. He tried to use his sight to the peak but found that he could only guess as to what was on the table. It was something he wished he could improve right away. An archer''s keen vision was a valuable trait.


    Thest bot of the journey brought them to where the main groups in charge of the split armies were. "Just as nned. The remainder of our army arrived. The other two are just beginning to set up camp to rush in to the nest." The king of the deep caves had brought over the other two dwarven kings. They normally would have stayed in the city but this was a big problem for the dwarves. They had trusted advisors that could take over for them in dire circumstances.


    "It''s good to see you all together again. I wish it was under better circumstances." Walker made sure to let them know that he was d to see all three kings.<sub> </sub>


    "These are good circumstances. We are going to test out the new golems made using true spirit forging techniques." The king of the surface was very focused on the power behind the army. This was his main position in the kingdom after all and he would be sure to follow it properly.


    "We will make a killing once we harvest these ants. The people won''t go hungry for years toe!" The king of the middle was having a great time seeing the future that these ants could bring. They would be agreat source of gold for their kingdom which meant they could build bigger and better.


    "You two know what the issues are with this. We could lose mines, caves, and lives if we don''t handle these three colonies. Keep that in mind will you?" The king of the deep caves arrived back and mmed his foot to the ground. The other two seemed to flinch. Walker wasn''t sure why but the other two kings clearly recognized the king of the deep caves as the one in charge. Part of Walker knew it came from the serious work from years in the mines, the king of the deep caves was clearly the strongest. Yet the tone was where the true strength was. It was hard and left no room to argue. It was a tone that came from many years of hard work and determination. "Now that you are here I expect that you will be joining me and my elites when we go to y the queen?"


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 Chapter 1310 1310. Prepare To March In

    "Ranged attacks from the distance to clear the area around the ravine. Then we put the steel ropes in ce for the golems to descend. By then there will bean attack response from the bugs." The king of the surface was very familiar with breaking in to the depths of a giant earth ant colony. He held the record for most sessful invasions to remove them near the dwarven mines. It was easy to find the route to the surface so that the attack can be done from multiple angles.


    "That leaves the unique golems to clear the path. They were made to flow through the tunnels with odd shapes. But I want to make sure we do not copse the tunnels made by the bugs. They are fragile when first explored. Have the main golems enter as usual with their quick supports." The crumbling tunnels would be the worst concern. It was notmon for the ants to make their tunnels so that just any being could enter them. As soon as the weight and rumbling exceeded what an ant could do then they had a very high chance of copsing.


    "From there we have the sweepers. We want them to clear the soldier ants, nurturing ants, and general workers. That should lead us to the queen''s chamber where sheys eggs. That will be thest stop where forcese together to deal with the elite ant guardians and the queen. The queen has little battle capacity but boasts many buffs to the guardians she raised for herself. Just the frontline of the details." The king of the deep caves had seen a queen before and known that it was weaker when it came to defenses. However, that did not mean that it was weak, it was just weak inparison to the specialized guardian ants.


    The party was patiently listening along with a few other adventures that hade along. What surprised them was the fact that there were some city guards listening and learning about the battle tactics used. This may be a war against the giant earth ants, but many tactics could be used against other swarm type monsters. The experience would be very valuable for the city of Genesis in theing years as they expanded and faced other unique problems like this.


    "We will attack in half an hour. Return to your designated armies and be ready." The king of the deep caves was remaining there to deal with the ravine that the [party had explored. The other two kings split off with theirmanders heading toward the stationed armies further away. They would sweep through the colonies within the night if possible.


    "I expect this to take a day at most. The clean up shouldst a week. Once the queen is gone the bugs be aggressive until they die naturally. It''s a side effect of this whole process but we need to get rid of them and any eggs with the potential to be queens. If a nurturer escapes with an egg that can be a queen ant then we will have a whole other colony in the next few years. It''s happened before." The king of the deep caves shared this with the party. He trusted that they would use this information to keep a better eye. He also knew that they had unique luck that could show them the danger before anyone else noticed it.


    "Just a quick question, how did you analyze the terrain and change what golems to bring based on it?" Rmeey was curious. She had seen the unique golems brought and liked that they resembled monsters she was familiar with. However, she had been wondering why there were not more forms than she had seen in the dwarven city when they visited.


    "For this battle? Size. The tunnels will vary in size based on what type of ant made them and what the tunnels are used for. Those wolf golems will be able to hunt through small openings and clear out small chambers. The serpent golem will clear outrger curving tunnels. The bears are for pure defense against the soldier and once we get to the queen chambers."


    "So you had the prior knowledge of what kinds of tunnels the giant earth ants make and you based your golem army build on that. I see." Gil was d to hear this as well as the guards that stayed with them. They had wanted to learn more by asking the very same question. Therefore, the fact that Remey and Gil were asking about this was very useful for them.<sub> </sub>


    "That doesn''t mean we cover everything. That''s why we have soldiers not controlling golems, additional forces from the demi-human army with earth rted skills, and you." The king of the deep caves pointed at the party and guards. "You will fill in the odds and ends we missed. Normally we would have to just hope we covered them or create a secondary sweeping group after the first clean up group. Now it''s not necessary."


    "I see, that means that we should be able to split up with our own groups and head inside to help where we are needed. Alice can assist on the surface where her light elemental skills will work the best, same with Gil and his arrows. Then Su and Remey can partner in the chambers while Midnight and I head in to deal with other things next to you."


    "And now you are seeing the divisions we had in mind. Supplement and make what we are doing more efficient." The king of the deep caves was d to see that some people were thinking critically in these situations. This was run of the mill for the dwarves but new to many of those who came to learn. The lessons would stick and be passed down for generations.


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 Chapter 1311 1311. To The Edge

    The distance from the ravine that the party was heading toward wasrger than expected. The golems with defensive prowess had been set up in pairs with those that could attack long ranged. The ballista golems were the ones that would be attacking first, however, they needed the defensive golems because of the giant earth ants speed. Anyone that had seen the speed at which an ant could run would know that just because these ants were giant, that they couldn''t charge at the same speeds.


    The mages that had been brought with from the elven forces were small but would be adding elemental attacks to the mix of ballista arrows to keep the giant earth ants at bay. The true test of the ranged attacks woulde when they were all focused on the ants that would eventually swarm in the ravine. They would need to hold the ants offpletely so that the main force golems could lower themselves in to the ravine and push the ants back in to the tunnels. Once there the golems would be limited to smaller groups but so would the ants. But the golems and the ants would be on home field advantage due to theirfortability within the underground.


    "Gil and Alice look pretty intimidating at the top of thoserge bear golems." Two bear golems had been set aside to be used at the mounts for Gil and Alice. They were set up that way because when they moved to a standing position it gave Gil and Alice a higher ce to stand and direct their attacks. Walker had spoken with the pair and they were both nning to rain down attacks as urately as possible. This meant that Gil was using one arrow at a time while Alice was not using her song to make multiple light elemental arrows at once.


    "Su, you smash with your shield and I will crush them." Thebo that Remey and Su were nning to use revolved around Su breaking the defenses and movement of a giant earth ant then Remey jumping in tond the finishing blow with a defense breaking strike. It was great in terms of beating the ants in an efficient and controlled manager. On top of that Su would be able to better control the situation around them since they would be inside the tunnels with limited mobility for the ants. That was where the small two person team would shine.


    p "Midnight, I want to use your strong suit here. We will both use the shadow wrapping skill to move inside. I want us to be able to set up ambushes and break the flow of the ants'' attacks for everyone." Walker knew that he and Midnight would be the best for this. The king of the deep caves also wanted the pair nearby so this would ensure that it remained this way.</anda>


    The king of the deep caves was taking the front line as any king should in his opinion. He was standing ready to be one of the first to descend in to the ravine with the main front line golems. Instead of the normal pickaxe that he used to mine, he had a one made with many unique metals. Therge size made it appear that he was wielding a hammer instead of a pickaxe. Whereas the spikes on either end were perfect for breaking and piercing.


    "Move out and crush those bugs!" The shout shook the air and a few scouting ants perked their antenna up before moving normally again. The call was enough for the ballistas to fire their first round ofrge arrows toward the scouting ants. Those that struck took down their targets easily. Those that missed carved in to the ground and some even went as far to fall in to the ravines.


    Walker noticed that small patches of ice were blooming ahead of them which were from Gil firing away with water elemental arrows and sniping skills. He was careful to aim for the ants that were rushing back toward the ravine. He knew that if more of those ants reached it then there would be a swarm sooner than the army wanted.


    "Alight, be ready." Walker felt that this situation didn''t feel real. He was watching such a perfect organization that wasn''t just happening in just one ce but three. He could understand that he was still young, but the distance he had to learn and reach a point where he could organize such an event seemed all too far. He had always left most of the big nning ofrge groups to the kings or queens of the kingdoms. One day he would need to be able to do this and more.<sub> </sub>


    A wave of the eternal orb staff form caused the light elemental mana to condense around them. This was perfect for Alice who was preparing a fewrge spikes of light. Her song was just as brutal as Walker had heard when they saw the boars. It was proof that Alice had worked hard and was more prepared to join them on adventures than even he knew.


    The spikes of light arced through the air at a slow pace but appeared to attract the attention of the ants. They were used to the darkness of the underground and didn''t use their sight much. The bright light was enough to differentiate and distract them before the spikes woulde down on top of them. This stunning effect surprised Walker but led him to use the theory to create a very bright orb of light that he sent forward on to the edge of the ravine. It didn''tst long but caused the perfect build up of giant earth ants to be targets for the ballistas. The strategy sped them up enough to push past the scouting ants.


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 Chapter 1312 1312. Down The Ravine

    It was very clear that the army reached the edge faster than expected. It also was clear that everyone had used very small amounts of mana or stored mana. This was a good thing since they would need to be able to fight faster in the tunnels. The king of the deep caves gave orders for the ballista golems to move to the edge and change their angles. One or two were immediately grabbed by pincers of the ants that had been waiting on the edge to attack. It was a tactful way for the ants to gain food when they were in ravines orrge holes. Even small normal ants would do such things in nature.


    The immediate response was for the ballistas to fire at the ants of the edges, taking them down and lowering the steel ropes as well. "We move as one!" The shout caused every rope to be locked in ce with golems following down. The fallen ballistas and golems became surrounded by their fellow soldiers while the ants were mercilessly beaten back. The dwarves did not dare allow a single ant to im an injured dwarf or golem as their victims.


    Gil had be much more serious. He nced at Walker before he pulled four arrows out of his quiver at the same time. Walker knew that this was the moment that Gil was waiting for. He had clear paths to multiple targets. The ants had begun to react to the attack and were flooding in to the ravine. Most were basic workers with a few soldier ants responding. This wasn''t an issue since the bear golems that Gil and Alice had once been atop were now descending to act as shields and enter therge tunnel.


    The arrows that Gil had chosen were the earth elemental arrows he had made. It would normally be expected that the earth affinity monsters would be able to defend against the earth type attacks. However, this would prove to be false since the ants just excelled in moving earth to create their homes and did not boast any earth rted defensive skills. Therefore, when the arrowsnded and caused spikes of stone and dirt to form piercing the giant ants, they were massively injured and easily taken out by golems.


    ? This increased the efficiency of the battle as Walker and Midnight descended the ravine using their skills. Midnight pped down on to the already cleared end of the ravine while Walker used the elemental wings skill. His goal was a uniquebo he had been thinking of and now with his better elemental sculpting andprehension, he could pursue it.


    The wind and earth were drawn to him. With Midnight pping nearby, she breathed dragon mes on to his back causing abination of earth, wind, and mes to be his wings. The sight lit up the dim ravine while Walker held the eternal orb staff high. The elemental wings had many shaped feathers that Walker modeled after a harpy''s feathers. His idea was simple, use them to attack the antsing out of the giant tunnel that the golems were trying to reach.


    With a single wave of the eternal orb staff, the feathers left the wings Walker had used a decent chunk of his mana to create. They did not immediately hit everything in front of them, but that wasn''t what they were meant to do. The earth cracked when they hit and released the air within them. The mes that were around the feathers were fueled by this and caused small explosions cracking the defenses of the ants nearby. This allowed the golems to easily plow through. It carved a path for them to enter therge ancient tunnel with ease and leave the remaining ants for the sweepers to clean up.


    Midnight caught Walker in her ws before lowering them both down to the bottom of the ravine. She looked at Walker happy to have performed abination with him. They had easily worked together with their bond directing them without words. While Walker was slightly weakened from the use of the skill he was guarded by multiple golems as they progressed. He needed to calm his heart and use the shadow wrapping skill along with Midnight. They would stay near the king of the deep caves while Remey and Su followed behind with other golems. Gil and Alice remained at the top of the crevice cleaning up what ants were left there.


    "Remey, switch!"


    Su smashed forward knocking one of the giant ants off bnce. She was aiming for the sides and legs to force the ant in to a weakened position.<sub> </sub>


    "Down you go!" Rmemey''s fist smashed the ant right on the head. There was a sickening crack as the earth affinity knuckles mmed through the tougher shell. There was an odd fishy smell but it didn''t seem to affect Remey at all. She was already rolling to the ground with her eyes on the next ant. All she needed for confirmation was the hit to know that she had done irreparable damage and that the giant earth ant was done.


    "We have an iing soldier ant, form up and prepare to intercept!" The golems followed the order from the elite soldier. They mmed together metal shield walls that they carried along with their axes.


    "Commander, split off. Remey and I will handle it!" Su mmed together the twin shield and dashed forward. The light built up around the shield in front of her before the collision with the evenrger soldier ant. The pincers aimed at the shields were like twigs, they snapped in to pieces.


    "Ha! Weak!" Remey followed up with a downward kick. "How''s that for unveiling my axe kick. No one expected that hmmm?" Su and Remey nodded at each other. They were a pure force of defense and offense when partnered up. Nothing would stop them.


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 Chapter 1313 1313. Ranged Teamwork

    "Alice, sevening up the side trying to get on top of the bear golem. You take them." Gil had moved to a position near Alice. The pair was working very well dividing up the targets they saw. With Gil''s keen eyes the ants that moved to attack anyone in a blind spot were noticed. One of the dwarvenmanders even moved closer so that he could bettermunicate what Gil saw in reference to what he saw with his binocrs.


    Light spikes pierced the pleading soldier ant trying to nk the bear golem. The secondary call from themander caused the dwarf controlling the golem to turn and smash at the giant ants. They didn''t stand a chancepared to therge and very sharp ws affixed to the ends of the bear golems paws.


    "Good shot. Keep an eye out below us. I have a few arrows to fire that need focus." Gil knew that he was about to take down several targets that he knew he wouldn''t be able to hit while keeping attention on the surroundings. There were multiple soldier ants that had burst out of secondary tunnels that were seemingly closed off until now. The giant earth ants were not stupid, theycked rationality but they were a colony of advanced hunters.


    Ants in general were used to creating any tactic to gather food for colonies. Some made trap pits while others developed poisons. The giant earth ants used their ability to move earth easily with theirrge pincers to create small tunnels used to ambush prey. The ravine was the ideal ce for them to sue as both a pit trap and an ambush.


    Since Gil had been paying attention he had seen these secondary tunnels open up and knew that the ants would be trying to escape to attack the golems and dwarves from these points, therefore, he was aiming to copse them. Before Walker had left he had managed to make a small pile of the elemental arrows. Walker had thought that while they walked Gil would experiment with them to develop better techniques, but that was when they realized they were nearly at their destination.


    The arrows flew urately at odd angles making it seem that they would not hit anything. Yet that was where someone would be wrong, Gil wasn''t aiming for the ants leaving those secondary tunnels. He was aiming for the tops of those tunnels. The goal was simply to copse them and buy time. once the ants had dug the copse out then the golems and dwarves would have recovered their order to be able to easily intercept them.


    Small explosions echoed within the ravine causing a slight shake. Gil was sure he had minorly disturbed the lower tunnels but epted that as unavoidable. He watched the side of the ravine copse covering the secondary tunnels while Alice acted to take down several ants that had felt the slow in ranged fire. The ants that attempted to climb the sides weren''t met withplete defeat. Alice knocked them down and in to the mess of golems that dealt the finishing blows.


    "Ballista, at the ready! Be precise and take down soldiers first!" Themanding dwarf stepped forward and made the call. He was going to get them ahead in this battle while he sent in the secondary wave to pull the defeated giant earth ant bodies away for dismantling and preservation. It was a key point in the battle going on in the ravine.


    Meanwhile, Walker and Midnight found themselves in unsettling silence. Between the two of them, they had managed to scout ahead of the tunnel battle to find that the majority of the tunnels were empty. The ants that they had worried about in theirst visit were nowhere to be seen, making them believe that all of them had rushed to the battle in the ravine through other ant made tunnels.


    "Midnight, let''s rush ahead and check that egg chamber I saw before. I want to try and start some trouble there and escape." The damage to the giant ant eggs would cause chaos and could easily make the entire battle faster. It would also remove a lot of risks since the ants would be distracted by multiple battle fronts.<sub> </sub>


    Since the tunnels were dark there was naturally a lot of darkness elemental mana paired with earth elemental mana. Walker knew that he and Midnight could remain hidden in the shadows while getting close to the ants. The only worry would be the scent they gave off. Luckily Walker had a skill to clean their bodies and remove the potential scents that could warn the ants of them. Midnight didn''t seem too happy with this but epted it so that she could win over the ants and take their meat as payment for her work faster.


    "I will use the darkness mana around to create spikes. then use the earth elemental mana to make the entire chamber hard to move around in. I need you to act as a personal guard while I make these shapes using my high earth sculpting skill." The shadows would be easy to manipte with the high darkness elemental mana underground. The earth sculpting would require more thought.


    Walker would need to envision the spikes and obstacles he wanted to create within the chamber. That alone took time and strain. But sculpting them under the ground so that they would burst up spontaneously took more time and even heavier strain. Both of which needed to be done carefully or Walker would not only harm himself but potentially copse the entire chamber. "I trust you to protect me here." The words were enough to light a fire within Midnight. Her family needed her and only her to protect them. That was what she would do, no doubt needed.


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    p </anda>

 Chapter 1314 1314. Sneaky Attacks

    The king of the deep caves had been stopped in the tunnel dealing with a build up of soldier ants. He had told Walker and Midnight to proceed and scout since hecked the ability along with the free golems to do so. With Walker and Midnight away he trusted that he would hear good news soon and put his all in to smashing the heads of giant earth ant soldiers.


    "Alright, this is the way to the egg chamber¡­they''re gone. All gone." Walker found that everything was gone. The thousands of eggs he had seen were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he could tell that the earth had just been dug up.


    Since Midnight saw that Walker was looking for the reasons why there was nothing here now, she started to move along the side of the tunnel. Her nose was sharp but to her, the entire ce smelled like fresh dirt and giant ants. There was nothing new that she could fund until she scoured the walls. Her ws suddenly dug deeper in to the ground and then the wall when she investigated. Her soft growl was enough to get Walker moving quickly over to her.


    "Good find. It looks like the ants went this way and closed up the tunnel to protect the eggs. These monsters are smart, if only they had the proper intelligence to speak and develop emotions." Walker knew that if the giant earth ants had any sort of proper intelligence that they could be an amazing addition to Genesis. However, this was a fool''s dream. The ants would never be capable of the same things that other races were.


    Walker slowly used his elemental maniption skills to move the soft earth. He had to be slow and controlled to prevent alerting any ants on the other side. As he did so he noticed small holes made to keep air flowing through the new tunnels which were made very carefully. The ants had done this out of instinct which was even more amazing to a degree.


    What was revealed was an exact replica chamber that Midnight and Walker had been in. The giant ants had excavated a secondary egg chamber to hide in this one however, had a small dribble of water flowing down the center. The ants hadn''t just done this to hide but also to bring the eggs near the naturally flowing underground water source. "Scratch using the earth and the darkness. I am going to use water to make ice, a lot of ice."


    Midnight was all for this. She knew that Walker would be able to better form the ice in to things that would break the eggs or cause them to freeze, that also came with the added bonus that Midnight could breathe her frost breath around to do more ice damage to them. It was the perfectbination that would slow all the ants that moved through the area and defeat potential future colonies.


    In a burst of movement, Midnight covered Walker. They both had the shadow wrapping skill but Midnight noticed one of the nurturersing by. They were very sensitive and Midnight knew well that she had a better handle on the control of the shadow wrapping skill. Therefore, she covered Walker until the nurturer ant passed them by. These were the ants that would try and escape with a potential queen egg. Freezing all the eggs in ce would ensure that they could not easily run away with such eggs.


    "Good job. Watch my back. I need a few moments." Walker focused on the water flowing through the chamber while Midnight kept him covered. She had eyes around the chamber looking for any ant that came too close or would dare try and touch them. The small eggs were in different stages of development. That made the nurturer ants react to them differently depending on what they were going to hatch in to. Therefore, there was a lot of natural movement within this chamber.


    That alone made Midnight more on edge while she felt the mana around them be denser. The ants did not appear to notice this since they were more reactive to the earth elemental mana due to the affinity for it. The water was slowly gaining strength making the entire chamber almost misty. This was also ignored by the ants since they were mostly blind in the dark and relied on scent and vibrations.<sub> </sub>


    "Here we go. Be ready to run." Walker released arge amount of mana to control the water elemental mana he had gathered. The water from the small stream burst up in to a sharp maze of ice crystals. Many eggs were pierced or broken while the entire chamber became frosty and crystalized. Midnight had taken a deep breath and let loose a powerful burst of frost. She had trained her frost breath easily since the weather had been cold for months due to the season. This allowed her to reach better proficiency in frost breath than some of the other elemental breath attacks. Paired with the heavy water elemental mana led to the enhanced effects. The very air seemed to be freezing.


    Nurturers found the warmth in their bodies gone causing them to copse in a dormant state or even perish on the spot. Many of the eggs would be unable to survive this for a few moments. Unfortunately, this massive change in the tunnel was felt deeper. The queen''s chamber was nearby the egg chamber so that the eggs could easily be brought over from her.


    ? The insect screech that echoed from the deeper chambers was the signal for Walker to ignore the pressure he felt after using so much mana. Midnight helped him back up and the two rushed away as fast as possible. They were not the only ones that heard this though. the king of the deep caves knew good news was on the way.


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 Chapter 1315 1315. Guardian Ant

    The rumblinging from the deeper tunnels meant only one thing. The guardian ants had gotten wind of what Walker and Midnight had done before retreating. They had found the destruction and began to rampage at the orders of their queen. The guardian ants were raised specifically to protect the colony and the queen. The soldiers were nothing inparison to them. Forget any ability to gather food or to dig. These guardian ants had none of that.


    ? Instead of these characteristics, the queen had raised them with battle and defensepletely in mind. That meant much tougher carapaces and higher strength. Where the bear golems were meant to be shields and hammers, so were the guardian ants.


    "We have big ones iing. Where are my shields!" The king of the deep caves was not fooling around. He knew that the battle had been a cakewalk up to this point. They had had an easy time defeating soldiers and crushing them for the support golems to remove. Barely any dwarves had been injured but some golems had been broken to the point that they needed immediate repairs. This left the front line weaker. Luckily, the king of the deep caves had his elite soldier near him and he saw Midnight and Walker return.


    "What did you two do down there to cause the guardians to leave the queen''s chamber so fast?" He was impressed but serious. He needed to know what would be happening in the further tunnels and what orders to hand down.


    "We froze the eggs. As many as possible. The eggs were moved to a second tunnel and we almost missed the soft dirt that they used to hide it. Ants are sneaky but we are sneakier." Walker and Midnight both stood tall. The vicious grin they both held reminded the king of the deep caves that the two he looked at were not some soft children. The two had been in multiple adventures that consisted of multiple battles. As young as they were, they had faced death and used their determination to push past that for strength. It was easy to look at Walker and Midnight and forget that they were heroes that stood at the pinnacle of the future for an entire city created by multiple races.


    "The enemy is in chaos. Take them down and charge toward the queen''s chamber!" This was just the advantage that the king of the deep caves wanted. He needed to push in to the tunnels faster to keep the pressure on the ants. If he let up then they could escape or potentially group up against them. That could not be allowed under any circumstances. "You two, fall behind me and save your mana to cause more trouble when we get to the queen''s chamber. The bear golems will tear a path through the egg chambers for us."


    While the king of the deep caves spoke, the bear golems moved through the tunnel. They had made their way through the front line and down the tunnel behind them. They were slowly but one swipe of their paws caused the soldier ants in front of them to fall. They easily pushed toward the previous egg chamber and widened the space to the secondary egg chamber.


    Nurturer ants had flooded the area desperately trying to save the eggs while some of therger soldier ants broke away ice crystals. But one ant showed a ferocious nature that Walker knew well as a guardian ant.


    ''Giant earth ant guardian


    Specifically raised by the queen of this colony, the guardian ant is born for battle and battle only. Theyck the necessary means to survive alone due to theck of ability to properly break down their food. Without the colony they are weak. But they make up for this in the battles needed to take over territories and protect the entire colony. They have incredible defenses along with brutal attacks. They are incredibly sensitive to the vibrations around them. They have small weak points in the gaps between their armored bodies.''<sub> </sub>


    "Midnight, aim for the spots between the shell of the ant!" Midnight was still using the shadow wrapping skill. She was the first to be able to move and get near the guardian ant. This let the king of the deep caves prepare to deal the finishing blow with his pickaxe.


    The me covered ws of Midnight caused the shadows to peel away. All eyes were on her as she shed at the joints of the guardian ant''s legs. It screeched in pain when it felt the burn of mes. The distraction allowed the king of the deep caves to heft therge pickax over his head and leap forward. With a force that could shatter any stone or ore, the king of the deep cave pierced the armor on the guardian ant''s head. The massive ant was crushed in seconds with minimal distraction. The years of mining and strengthening himself were not a waste, the king of the deep caves showed off exactly why he was considered a king of the deep caves.


    There was more rumbling as the bear style golem pushed through the tunnels. They were going to be the first to carve the path from the frozen egg chamber to the queen''s chamber. The force that it let out caused more soldier ants toe rushing but for some reason another guardian ant did not show itself. "Those bugs know we areing and will stay protecting their queen. Be ready for the real fight. I want you to slow them down using the same skill you did here. If you have more I want you to use them too." The king of the deep caves didn''t even stop to breathe after his attack. He passed another order to Walker and continued forward.


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 Chapter 1316 1316. Colony Queen

    "The ravine is suppressed, next wave, march in to the tunnels!" Themander called for the next wave of golems and dwarven soldiers to head inside therge tunnel. He wanted to continue to suppress the ants that were pushing inside the tunnels and potentially surrounding the first wave that entered. Believing that there was only one way inside and outside would be a massive mistake.


    "We need to catch up with Walker and Midnight. It shouldn''t be long with all these golems without." Remey and Su had like minds when it came to this. Alice and Gil were staying outside so that they could maintain the safety of the outer ravine. The dwarves were already setting up a camp and catching the ants returning to the ravine from scouting or hunting for food.


    "I will trust you two with the notice to the king that we have secured the space for a camp. We will dig in here and await his return." Themander knew that he could trust Remey and Su. They were two of the heroic party that continuously made waves to cause growth within Genesis and the world.


    "We can do that. Make sure you have the healers ready in case we send the injured out. Also, check the potion stored and send in golems with a few supplies." Remey surprised Su by taking the chance to order the dwarvenmander around about healing and potions. But this appeared to be the n already.


    "I will have it done. We were able to secure high quality potions from the alchemy guild. They will be sent where they are needed." This appeased Remey and the pair delved in to the cave with fifteen golems side by side. One bear type golem had remained behind and followed them. It was the next tank to block any potential guardian ants that might attempt to surround the first wave of golems.


    Their speed was much faster than the first wave that had entered the ravine. The golems took out the lingering soldier ants but there were none that had been able to return to the tunnels. A few straggling golems from the first wave had stopped to maintain the tunnel''s clear escape route which was a very wise decision. It also exined why there were more golems in the first wave. It was something that the entire party would take note and value whenever they went in to a dangerous underground area filled with a potential swarm type monster species.


    "I can hear the fighting up ahead. This should be where Walker said those ant eggs were, right?" Su remembered what Walker had said. When she spoke she spoke loud enough so that every dwarf could hear. She wanted them to be on alert. This proved to be the right move. As soon as they entered they found that the soldier ants had spilled from one side of the wall in to arge chamber. Frost was leaving the broken open passageway that had clearly been carved out by the golems.


    "We will get in there behind them, for now, Clear this chamber!" Rmeey roared with energy before dashing toward the ant trying to get inside the frozen chamber. She knew that only Midnight and Walker could cause such a thing to happen.


    p Su was right behind Remey. The two bashed their way knocking ants aside and breaking their legs so that the golems could easily defeat them/. It was not a battle to defeat the ants but one to work with the golems around to end them and clear the chamber. Defeating every ant one by one would take too much time. They worked together to make it all happen.</anda>


    "That''s the sound of Remey and Su, it has to be." Walker saw the ant trying to climb in behind them. The following sound was the vibration of a shield and the harsh crack of a fist mming in to something hard. Before Midnight could turn, Remey and Su burst through the passageway in to the frozen egg chamber that the king of the deep caves was moving out of toward the queen''s chamber.<sub> </sub>


    "We have reinforcements behind us. We are ready!" Walker was d to see that Remey and Su had managed to arrive. He was not expecting that Gil and Alice would since they were better off outside and better help there.


    "My soldiers, forward!" The order was more powerful this time causing some ice to crackle around them. The king of the deep caves was fired up and smashed therger ice crystals to make way. The passageway to the queen''s chamber wasrge and the golems easily fit through. With the bear golem ahead, no one worried about not making it there. The few soldier ants that had jot pulled back to the queen were smashed in to bits.


    Without fail, they marched right in to thergest camber that they had seen. The ants had made pirs of earth to hold it steady while making it perfect for storing food and crowding together. There were broken pieces of mud around that had clearly been what the ants covered themselves in while dormant. In the center was a veryrge open space made for the queen.


    To say that the queen wasrge was an understatement. It towered over the guardian ants at triple the size. It had been interrupted in its precious duty toy eggs and was looking at the intruders in fury. There was a slight pressure around everyone that told them this was not the easy fight that the dwarves had made it appear to be. There were four more guardians around the queen, just asrge as the one that Walker had already seen. "Ha! Lucky day, this is the original queen. Those other two took some guardians and soldiers when they split off. We have an easy fight!" No one argued against the king of the deep caves. The guardian ants were already moving.


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 Chapter 1317 1317. Very Very Cold

    There was no more time to stand around. The soldier ants were throwing themselves at the golems as if possessed. The queen had taken full control of their minds with a strange scented pheromone. The ants were forced in to a battle ready state whether they were nurturers or not. Some attempted to carry away the eggs to another chamber based on their instincts. But Midnight had used her shadows wrapping skill to easily move around and defeat those ants.


    "Midnight, keep up the good work. I will freeze this ce!" Walker knew that there was still a small water flow through this room making it easier to freeze it the same way as the previous egg chamber. On top of that, he remembered the frost ring skill he had used. "Su, Remey. Keep me protected while I prepare this. I am going to increase the frost ring spell to a pretty high mana usage."


    As soon as he said it, Su and Remey knew that Walker needed as much focus as possible to do this. Usingrger amounts of mana to create a skill beyond what it should be would be taxing. They trusted him not to harm himself due to his training, but knew that if he was attacked by an ant while this happened then it would spell serious trouble.


    "Keep your eyes open!" The king of the deep cave jumped forward and smashed away three soldier ants. He had keen hearing and knew exactly what Walker was doing. "I want those guardians dealt with!Use your shield and bait one here for me to crush." Su felt that it was not wise but with the strength that the king of the deep caves had she would not be arguing.


    "Get over here you weak littlervae! You are just bird food!" Su''s shouting was enough to vibrate the air. The strange part was that it seemed to lock on to only one target; the nearest giant ant guardian. It was a slight change to the way she normally used her taunting skills. If Walker wasn''t so distracted he would have noticed the tone that seemed to match the growl of a dragon.


    Being singled out was a very strange thing for an ant. Normally they worked together to better the colony and grow. The feeling that the ant had was foreign but the hate for something that was invading and destroying its home was even greater. The ensuing charge or rage that came would have easily knocked Su to the wall.


    "Come right to me!" The king of the deep cave wound up an underhanded swing of hisrge pickaxe. The resounding blow that shattered and pierced the guardian ant caused the entire chamber to hesitate. Every single ant, every single golem, and every single dwarf nced over at the same moment before the battle resumed. It was not a moment that came from any call to stop but a moment of pure respect and awe. The attack was brutal and efficient. Every single ant felt its instincts explode with danger.


    A massive screech came from the queen as a red aura pulsed off of her. Every single ant around became aggravated and started to attack with more vigor. Their defenses seemed to toughen while their attacks were hitting harder. Even the nurturer ants became faster in their soft attacks.


    "We have a real fight now! How''s that freezing skill going?" The king of the deep caves knew this moment would happen. It was the point of no return for the ants. They knew they were in danger of being exterminated so the queen would burn all her mana in the deadliest buffs she could. This was a once in a lifetime skill of a queen giant earth ant. The queen''s protection buff would add to every stat of every ant from that colony. On top of that, it would push the ants in to a frenzy where they might even attack each other if they had no enemy in front of them. This was theirst ditch effort as a monster species.


    "I''m ready! Everyone brace!" Midnight dashed over to Walker and took arge breath. She had been slowly gathering mana within her to release a frost breath attack toward the queen when Walker used his frost ring skill with additional mana.<sub> </sub>


    Every golem retreated back causing many ants to fall and lose bnce in their attacks. Su moved to cover Walker as well while Remey fell back behind them. The burst of water elemental mana that spread from around Walker was spectacr. He had not been able to fight but this was the fair payoff of remaining still. His extreme focus had properly forced the frost ring skill higher than it had been used by him before along with the way he used his ability to manipte the mana earlier in the egg chamber. Midnight''s addition created an additional effect that seemed to freeze the very air.


    Ice crystals fell from the air and a white steam gathered around Walker drifting toward the queen ant. Midnight had directed Walker''s frost ring without even realizing it causing the additional effects everyone saw in front of them. The chilling feeling around them was colder than the mountains the party had climbed before. The very air burned their lungs with ice. The dwarves with beards found ice on them.


    Nurturer ants froze in a blink of an eye and crumbled. The soldier ants tried to force themselves to move but failed, causing their legs to shatter in extreme cole. Those that were unfortunate enough to fall in to the white icy mist were frozen through and through. The queen screeched louder trying to avoid the intense cold but was partially hit by the mist while the entire chamber froze more and more.


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 Chapter 1318 1318. Dragon Ice

    ''The skill ice dragon''s domain has been taken from the true ice dragon system. The user hasbined and exceeded the mana capacity of an area effect ice skill along withbining a dragon''s water elemental breath. The user has gained this skill due to the extreme bond they hold with the dragon, Midnight.''


    ''Ice dragon''s domain- 50 mana cost, requires draconic blood/bination


    The user causes an area to be frozen to the highest ability. A true ice dragon is the mixture of water and wind affinity to an incredible level. This causes the area around them to naturally be frozen even when in hot climates. This skill does not hold the same effects as the natural skill ice dragon''s domain but the user can temporarily create the effects. The user would be unable to use this skill or learn it unless they have dragon bloodlines or bonds. The area will rapidly return to normal temperatures after ten minutes unless more mana is provided. This environment is very hard for normal creatures to live in and very easy for an ice dragon to maneuver.''


    Walker felt sick. He could feel that Midnight was reacting in a simr way. The two hadbined their effort and used a great amount of their mana. On top of all this, Walker had changed the environment in the queen''s chamber to be very hard to survive in. The only reason that he was able to resist this was his higher stats and the second skill he noticed pop up.


    ''The user had gained high ice/ cold resistance due to the current environment''s toxicity.''


    ''High ice/ cold resistance- passive


    The user has high bonds with a bloodline that allows flexibility. The user also possesses the ability to constantly manipte the water elemental mana. The user is able to resist both the solid ice along with the cold surrounding it. The user''s body will slowly adjust to fully ept this skill due to the bonds within them. The user will rarely feel affected by ice attack and cold unless to a high degree of strength.''


    Walker had gotten a lot closer to the elemental mana recently and he had enhanced his bonds with Midnight. That alone was enough to make an effect ur on his body. But thest push was to meld his mana with Midnight''s in an attack creating a skill unique to certain dragons. Midnight was reacting in much the same way. She was adapting quickly as parts of her true dragon champion bloodline awakened and grew in to what it was meant to be.


    "This is our chance! Push the golems to the maximum and activate the fire elemental crystals. Break these ice statues and finish off the queen!" The king of the deep caves left Su behind to guard while he pushed the golems forward. The dwarven soldiers had jumped on to the golems for warmth and to add their mana to the golems'' attack to push them further. It didn''t matter if the golems broke, the dwarves could fix them after this. Some damage to a quicker victory was easy.


    "Su, I am going all out. This cold will help." Rmeey warned Su before donning the fire affinity knuckles over her gloves. The alchemy fire spirit helped Remey spark up mes that wrapped her arms like gauntlets. "Partner, we can show them how strong we really are." The alchemy fire spirit melded in to the alchemy fire causing it to re up around Remey.<sub> </sub>


    Trails of alchemy mes drifted around her while she ran forward. The mes were like ribbons burning the walls and ants around her before punches. It was a scene that many would be unable toprehend. The unique dark red mes of alchemy mixed with this domain of ice around her. A sight of brutal beauty that even the golems felt within their hearts was untouchable.


    When Remey struck out at a guardian ant, the defense breaking fist skill she had been working on caused alchemy fire to break and refine the shells of the ant. The reaction was the same as an ingredient being added to a cauldron at a ridiculous heat. The cold was working perfectly with Remey to prevent her from burning her hands like thest time this had happened. What this also did was push Remey to a state of alchemical enlightenment. She could feel that the mes that covered her hands could do more than burn. They could be controlled at a much higher level and potentially break down herbs in her very hands. She could remove impurities. She could create better potions by doing so before adding ingredients.


    The knowledge was stored away and the feelings were imprinted on her. Remey would not forget a second of this feeling while she applied the control to every punch. Walker was still struggling to look around while Midnight curled up around him with the same struggling pain. They both felt their stomachs doing flips while their bodies reacted through their bond. But they could still see and felt that they were watching Remey be even stronger by the second.


    Meanwhile, a bear golem mmed its metallic paw down on the head of another guardian ant to destroy itpletely. The king of the deep caves jumped from its back and mmed downward with his pickaxe. His scream of battle fury was more than any dwarf seemed to be able to contain. The attack dealt massive damage to the queen ant causing it to fall to the side. Not a single golem nearby missed the opportunity as they rushed and attacked together. The queen ant did not stand a single chance. It was broken down and sent to death without it being able to stand again. The remaining ants froze again before seemingly losing their minds. They were queenless and they could not survive.


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 Chapter 1319 1319. The Queen Falls

    The echoes of battle became less and less as the golems found their targets and defeated them. The giant earth ants from this colony had been the main colony before the split. That meant that the queen ants that left took a substantial number from their ranks. This had not only made this battle easier for them but also meant that they were able to harvest monster materials from more mature ants.


    The ice that had been created from Walker''s skill lived up to what the system said and was melting quickly. The temperature was also radically returning. This made Remey stop using her skills before she had to take a knee to breathe. The strain on her body in her moment of enlightenment had been heavy because she had been fueled by adrenaline. She forgot her limits and battles next to the strong and powerful king of the deep caves.


    "If anyone doesn''t say this to you after witnessing your battle then I do not know what this world ising to. You''ve got fires hotter than any forge in your soul. You are a dwarven warrior if I ever saw one." This was very high praiseing from the king of the deep caves. Many of the dwarven soldiers around also went to say these things to Remey. Fire and dwarves was a perfectbination and seeing Remey use them in a fist to fist fight was right up their alley.


    "Remey, do you have any potions left? Walker and Midnight need something to help ease their pain." Su could feel that this wasn''t anything bad happening but it was clear that Walker and Midnight were ufortable.


    "We will be fine, save the potion for those who really need them. I just¡­had a breakthrough. Midnight too." Walker could read the system through his sickness and was overjoyed to see that boosting his bond with Midnight was making them both stronger. However, he worried that he had been in the improper situation for this to happen. He had no idea this was a possibility and therefore didn''t know that he could end uppletely incapacitated like this during the battle.


    "I know, I can feel that much. But I want to make sure you both are fine before I go and help others." Su was more than stubborn but she eventually walked away to help a dwarf that had met the headbutt of a soldier ant. Many of the dwarves and golems were broken or cut. The pincers of the soldier ants had been sharp and their hard shells were tough enough to break bones. But the wounds were nothing that stopped them from moving. It was all due to the high level of experience when dealing with these monsters. Not many people would have been able to do the same without the knowledge.


    The mechanical marching was the third wave moving in to clear away the tunnels attached to the main tunnels. The dwarves still needed to check every potential space for leftover eggs. They were very thorough with their search and Walker knew it wouldst a week in the least. Then the archeologists and others interested in the ancient ruins where the ants had made their home woulde looking. "Now, my fellow kings should be halfway by now. We were the lucky ones. I will personally go and harvest the queen ant''s shell and meat. They will be very nutritious and perfect for certain armors."


    Running footsteps soon came in to hearing range before Gil and Alice arrived with a few more soldiers to begin breaking down the remaining ants. "Walker!" Alice ran to him as soon as she saw that he was in pain. Just before she was going to start singing he put his hand on her lips.


    "I''m fine. So is Midnight. We just awakened a little more of our bind and our bodies are a little unsteady. Just give us some resting time and I will walk you back outside." Midnight grumbled softly like she was saying that she would never stand again. It was very unusual for her to feel sick since dragons were not a species to get sick. Even in their old age they boasted an amazing resistance to any illness.<sub> </sub>


    "So, Walker looks like he had a very bad meal. The caves are frozen, and Remey is quiet. What happened?" Gil was a little put off by the results. Su started to tell him what transpired as they had gotten in the chambers. Once they were done catching up, Gil hefted Walker on to his shoulder. "Don''t say I never did anything for my family. Let''s get you to the crevice camp sight. Midnight cane with Su. I''m sure a golem will help carry her out." One of the nearby dwarves started up their golem as soon as Gil spoke. He had been waiting for a chance to help the party since the golem was partially damaged and needed to return anyway.


    The end of the battle felt both underwhelming since the queen was so weak but also cleared their minds. They had beaten a threat before it grew and bothered every nearby kingdom. It was due to the knowledge the dwarves had and none of the party would n to steal away the rewards that the dwarves harvested. They were already promised some ant meat which, unfortunately, Walker and Midnight were not at all interested in.


    But there were benefits that came with the different strategies they had used. Walker began to think about sneak attacks he could do in the future. The ability to change terrain, and even more potential skills that he and Midnight could unlock together with their bond. Their potential was still unknown. It would take a lot of time and bonding to find their next path. For now, they would all rest easy.


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 Chapter 1320 1320. Peaceful Night

    Since Walker and Midnight had been thrown for a loop due to their sudden bodily changes, it was not a surprise that they were asleep as soon as they made it to the ravine camp. It was spacious and already being set up for long term upation. The ants were being brought to the top to be dealt with and from what the others had heard there were already carriages leaving to send the giant earth ant bodies to Genesis.


    Many of the fully functional golems were split to go as reinforcements to the other two ravines but they still had to focus on clearing the tunnels. But that was a job for the unique style golems. They had been made for that exact purpose.


    By the time Walker felt himself wake up, he was looking at the stars. He had slept through an entire day but could already feel the difference. The ill feeling he had before waspletely gone while he found that he was slightly more energetic. As he examined his body he found that his skin seemed a little thicker. Nothing that was truly unusual but his brown hair had slight streaks of blond in it now. He felt it was really weird because it looked like he had been rolling through a hayfield and forgotten tob his hair. "Gah, whatever. If this is the change because I am getting stronger then I will deal with it."


    His mumbling caused Midnight to stir beside him. She seemed the same as before but Walker had the feeling that she was going to hit another growth spurt. He watched as she came back to the normal energetic and awake Midnight he knew. It wasn''t an understatement to say that the two were hungry, however, Midnight saw that Walker had some physical changed and decided to change in to her dragonkin form to see for herself.


    There were indeed some changes that she noticed as Walker threw her clothing to put on properly. He was ashamed that she didn''t warn him and made sure that she would learn this lesson for when he was not around to give her clothing. It wasn''t that she had any ulterior motives in life, Midnight was too young and naive for those things just yet. As a big brother, Walker felt this was a blessing. Midnight''s scaly dragonkin form seemed to have smoothed out slightly causing the scales to have a whiter sheen. It was a slight difference, but a difference nheless.


    "Let''s go make some food. I''m sure there are plenty of things to snack on without me having to pull out our stored food." Walker was nearly pushed out of therge tent by Midnight. The outside was not very busy since most of the dwarven army were spread out making repairs or still in the tunnels. They didn''t need as much rest since they were used to pushing through their work.


    The pair could see that Gil. Su, and Remey were already asleep and decided not to bother them. They had earned their rest. However, they found that Alice was walking back from anotherrge tent with rolled up sleeves and a few splotches of blood on her clothing. "Been hard at work changing bandages and healing?" It was a wonder that Su wasn''t there as well but Su had blocked and taunted many of the ants while fighting so she needed to recover her mana. It wouldn''t do well if a tired Su messed up helping someone''s injuries. Alice was much more experienced in this aspect.


    "You are alright now?" Her hands grabbed his shoulders while looking at his face. She proceeded to walk around making sure Walker wasn''t hurt anywhere. Alice did the exact same to Midnight prompting a soft growl toe from Midnight while she raised her head to prove she had nothing wrong with her. Alice then helped Midnight fix a few creases in her clothing since she knew that Walker was not that good at noticing those things. She gave a sideways nce that told Walker everything he needed to know to improve on forter.


    "So, we are about to make food. Do you want anything?" A bright smile blossomed on her face. She ran to her own tent to change quickly before reappearing in a basic healer''s robe. She was starving after being active for so long.<sub> </sub>


    The three easily found a table with multiple food items waiting to be cooked. A nearby dwarf motioned for them to take what they wanted. "I wonder what the giant ant steaks will taste like?" Walker looked at the very well marbled meat knowing that they came from the inside of the tough ant shells. It was strange to think that it was eaten and actually liked by many.


    The grate over the nearest fire was quickly filled with vegetables and the three giant ant steaks. They were a littlerger than Walker was used to cooking but he knew that they would all need the food. Midnight was getting a lesson in silverware and how to best use it. Alice seemed happy to teach her since they were veryfortable around one another. Midnight was showing small smiles when she would grasp them without identally bending them or scraping them on the wooden tes they used.


    Spices appeared and disappeared within Walker''s hands while he moved to quickly season the meat and vegetables. He pulled the meat off as soon as it reached a perfect temperature. His next move was slicing and chopping until he had a perfectly mixed meat and vegetable stir fry. He was missing noodles but it was a hearty meal for the three to enjoy. It made the remainder of the night peaceful. They needed it after the battle and minor worries afterward. Midnight fell asleep by the fire and Alice was quick to follow her and fall asleep on Walker''s shoulder.


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 Chapter 1321 1321. Rice Rats

    "Never stop moving! You must focus on your surroundings so that you won''t be caught off guard!" Onyx was slithering around watching each of the hatchlings move about. He had been focused on the eggstely and given the hatchlings the job to get more familiar with the shadows. He wanted them to be the best at avoiding danger and dodging any potential threats.


    With this came a unique way of training. Onyx would use his size to life up arge jar full of pebbles. He would then set it up on ropes so they could fall when he wanted them to. The hatchlings had the single goal not to be hit when they fell. They needed to jump in and out of their shadows to dodge them or use their speed alone. This led to Onyx finding better ways for them to move and safely dodge. There were limits to how a serpent could move but an incredible flexibility.


    "We can stop there for now. All of you should rest well. Later we are going out in to the farm fields to help get rid of some small rice rats that have moved in to steal away the grains the demi-humans began farming." This was a surprise that Onyx had been waiting on. He wanted to get the hatchlings outside against some very weak monsters.


    Rice rats were known for their small size which made many believe them to be mice. However, the rice rats had a small water affinity that allowed them to swim and steal away rice grains easily. This made them a pest for farmers trying to grow rice. Demi-human farmers had made some rice fields because of the river water nearby that could easily flood them. It was a water resistant crop that needed lots of water and could grow fairly quickly.


    There was more energy in the room as the hatchlings started to get excited. They had explored a lot of Genesis with Onyx and even been given the challenge to head to the mansion alone to meet him. Now they would go outside and show off their training and knowledge more.


    A few of the tamers that Elise had sent over were currently watching the eggs while Walker was training the hatchlings. He was very happy to know that the previous guild master of the adventurer''s guild was going to be helping. Ibis had retired and was then thrown back in to his job when Genesis was created. Now he would actually get to retire along with enjoying a new city altogether. It really put Onyx''s mind to rest.


    A few moments passed by before Onyx started to move about mr0e. He had prepared himself and was ready to go out. "Follow me, we will leave through the main gate. Do exactly how I taught you." The hatchlings remained right behind Onyx. As they moved in to the streets, Onyx kept hisrgest possible size so that the people would see him. On top of this, the hatchlings remained close behind him. It was his way of making it easier for the hatchlings.


    "Good afternoon, we are heading out to the farms to help with a quest." Onyx greeted the guards that gave him a wave. Onyx had taken a few small quests around the city so that he could recoup some of the money he spent on hatching the eggs. That way he had also made friends with most of the guards that knew who he was. They found that Onyx was surprisingly kind for a monster that was not considered their own race yet. Theypletely believed that Onyx would be the sole reason for the abyssal serpents iming an official recognition by the world.


    p The little hatchlings all gave a slight head nod to the guards who also nodded back. They were impressed that Onyx was raising them so fast to be so respectful. It was a trait that not every tamer could teach their monster so the fact that Onyx was teaching others this with ease was impressive. Not that Onyx was a tamer, but that he was a monster teaching his own species.</anda>


    "The farm is right on the outskirts by the waters. There won''t be many people around since they had finished with their inspections of the fields already. Use the bind skill to catch them and beat them." Onyx coiled up and raised his head to keep a lookout. He could spot ten of the rice rats already. They were easy to follow since they were so slow in his eyes.<sub> </sub>


    The hatchlings sped off in the watery fields. They were able to hide in the shadows of the rice nts with ease. But where the challenge began was when they realized that none of them could catch the water affinity rice rats. Onyx had not given them the most information. He had left out the speed that the rice rats possessed and how they were best at avoiding predators with that speed.


    This left the first three hatchlings at a loss. They started to exhaust their energy trying to catch the rice rats to no avail. WhenOnyx saw two of them work together he was extremely proud. He wanted them to learn this lesson quickly and it was showing that they were capable. There had been a worry that the hatchlings would not possess the critical thinking to work as a team at the start.


    As the pair brought the first defeated rice rat to Onyx to show him their sess the other hatchlings took notice. It onlysted a moment before they all understood that they had been tested from the start. Instead of working along, they all partnered up before they started to group up even more. Onyx watched them coral the remaining rice rats at the same time. "Now that you understand how to work together, we have four more fields to visit." He was practically glowing with pride as he piled the rice rats up along the road of the field as the farmers had asked.


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 Chapter 1322 1322. Surprising Finds

    "We are seriously leaving so early?" Gil wanted to take more time to enjoy their slight break. The food was good, the ravine was peaceful, and he had the desire to explore the ruins that were being cleared out properly.


    "If you want to stay then you can. I won''t be the one to tell Alma that you didn''te back to see her right away. I can also teach your sses too. I''m sure your little archer need some toughening up." Remey cracked her knuckles making Gil flinch.


    "Whatever, you are beingme because you just want to get back to the alchemy guild and see the new herbs." This was more or less true but before Remey argued back at Gil Walker stepped between them.


    "Yes, we are heading back today. This was the n from the start. Not to mention we have other things to do. Midnight and I want to keep a look out for the dragonkin or dragonsing to Genesis." Walker and Midnight stood together with their faces set. Part of Midnight was excited just to have more dragons around while she was looking forward to helping other dragon hatchlings to follow a simr path as hers.


    "I agree. We should leave now before we end up stuck here for weeks. We all know with the luck we have someone will find something amazing and we will have to be part of it." Su was not exaggerating. She felt that anywhere the party went they would be trapped with this fate. Not that she was unhappy with it since it made their lives full of wonder and adventure.


    "Hey Alice, where are you going?" Remey realized that Alice was walking away toward the ropes that led to the top of the ravine. She grabbed one and a golem started to lift it up. "Wait! Don''t ditch me. Leave them instead." Remey ran after Alice. This was the most efficient way to get all of them moving at once without even trying to talk the party in to it. The king of the deep caves didn''t need any goodbyes because after the golems and dwarves did their duty, the kings would head back leaving a few elites in charge of camps there.


    "So the ravines all connect." The king of the deep caves found himself in a central chamber that appeared to have once been an underground vige of sorts.


    "It does appear this way. Everything we passed by was torn to bits by ants. I would say that the race that lived here was experimental. Too many partially made items that were unfinished even before they were left to rot." The king of the surface had scoured his ravine and tunnels efficiently. He was the mostfortable controlling an army which made him faster in cleaning the ants out.


    "I found signs of the ants already battling it out. But there were a few storage rooms with dried molds, dusty piles that used to be clothes, and even a few broken animal bones. We can leave the elites to clean up the rest. But this is very odd. Why would they abandon this ce so easily? The ants have obviously been here for years¡­" The king of the middle was not happy to miss the potential reasons that an entire race might abandon these tunnels. They were too good.


    "You didn''t even look at the walls or read the reports on this ce? From what was gathered this ce was made to hide from monsters. Real monsters, many times more dangerous than are around now." The king of the surface was not happy for the king of the middle to shirk reading and paying attention.<sub> </sub>


    "He''s right. Plenty of reasons toe down here and plenty to leave. But this is before they made that mage tower. The same race but great advancements. The archaeologists will understand how fast this race grew and what they knew. It''s a big step and the dwarven people will hold the credit. Let''s finish looking through this area with the elites then head out." The king of the deep caves had been satisfied by the battle and was ready to head back to the tunnel project he had been working on. Every day he was gone, the tunnels to Genesis and the dwarven city were wasting away.


    "Fine, thest room appears to be over there. It''s probably just more rotted mold and dust." The king of the middle was stubborn and did not give in to the reprimands from the king of the surface. However, he was already nning on trying to cut down on the golems he allowed the king of the surface to use. It would be his revenge.


    The elites had moved a substantial amount of broken stone and ant droppings. The main chamber seemed to be the ce the ants dumped a lot of their wasted food or tunnel copse trash. When the storage area was opened the rotten smell caused them all to retreat. However, once the air flowed around them, there was a massive store of broken bones and weapons.


    The weapons were odd shapes and very broken down. It was, however, an ideal ce for the dwarves to explore and understand. The curved swords and rounded des were just a few recognizable shapes that the dwarves had not crafted before. This meant that they would have an entirely new direction to experiment and attempt to recreate. For the cksmiths, this was a treasure trove. "Those kids always find amazing things. I think we owe them a little something." The king of the deep caves was amaZed but what the party seemed to stumble on to and wondered if his luck had somehow been affected by them. The other two kings just stood in wonder with him.


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 Chapter 1323 1323. Waiting Surprises

    The party had found that a few golems were marching back to Genesis with arge carriage. The dwarves had set them up to automatically follow a path they had set with small rune carved crystals. It wasn''t muchpany but in the interest of time, they had hopped on and spent the few days bonding with one another.


    "I can''t believe you are burning up every herb you find like that. I know you are trying to refine them but it flips my mind upside down." Walker had a hard time grasping the skills that Remey was attempting to use by covering her hands in alchemy fire.


    When Remey had approached Walker with the concept and asked for him to maintain the cold around her, he had been wary. However, it was the safe way for her to slowly adapt to high temperatures along with figuring out the new skills she had and could learn. It seemed that Remey was only about halfway to unlocking an alchemical skill and needed the assistance to figure the rest out.


    "It''s not burning them up. Most of the herb turns in to ck dust. That''s just ash. I know. But the part you should be excited about is the small bead of dried sap here." Remey had carefully shaped these beads over hours of their travel.


    ''Condensed tri flower lily sap


    This is the sap of a tri colored lily. A verymon healing salve ingredient. Normally one would need to spend many hours condensing arge number to create a bead of sap like this. Alchemy mes have been used to extract the majority of the sap from a single nt with all three intact flowers. This has created a very high quality sap bead best used for high quality salves.''


    The appraisal was very good and Remey was d to hear it. Yet she wanted the appraisal to be perfect. This was not her entire goal. She needed to push higher. "I can tell it''s amazing but your hands are red and we are stopping." The irritation on Remey''s hands was not going away so easily. She was going to have to admit that she was not fire proof and would need to train this sort of skill slowly so that she didn''t need Walker to create a cold environment to counter it every time. Meanwhile, the alchemy fire spirit had exhausted itself and melted back in to Remey''s spirit mark to sleep for some time.


    "I think we should stay focused. We are about to get back in to the city. I can see the dwarves waiting to receive the carriage from here." Gil gave them a warning so that everyone could properly clean up and prepare. It would be a little while before they were back but they all had their ns. Alice was very clear in the fact that she wants to go back to the cathedral. She would speak with the high priests and let him know.


    "I think we should stay focused. We are about to get back in to the city. I can see the dwarves preparing to receive the carriage and take away the giant ant bodies." Gil was easily able to spot the dwarves gathered to meet them. They still had a few moments but it was enough time to think about what they would be doing after returning.


    Most of the party just wanted to rx, but Alice was thinking about rushing right to the cathedral. Arora had been quietly watching from her arm the entire journey. She had learned a lot and it was a good story to share with the high priest. Along with that, she wanted to ensure that the other eggs were absorbing the light elemental mana properly, it would mean that Arora would have siblings sooner thanter.


    "Walker, I know you might want to go and rest to figure out a few things¡­but¡­" Gil pointed up to the sky with an unfortunate expression. He knew he was giving bad news.<sub> </sub>


    "It appears that the darkness royal dragon is here. You mentioned his name was Mordant? You were right, he is the first toe." Su was surprised that it had happened so fast that a dragon hade to visit Genesis. However, the way that Walker spoke, Mordant had be very curious about Genesis and how it would run. There were also many other things such as the runes, elemental spirits, and true spirit forging that attracted him so much.


    "Midnight, you might have some babysitting to do. But I doubt that Mordant has such problems. They won''t be those kicked out of the nest. He seems to value those that are different and more unique. I''ll have to get to know him better." Walker was already starting to fall in to deeper thought when the carriage stopped. As if a beacon had gone off, the shadow in the sky changed forms.


    Therge dragon revealed had many glossy ck scales. It slowly descended inplete silence. Most in the city felt it unnerving but awe inspiring nheless. Walker quickly changed the eternal orb in to staff form and leaned on it slightly to channel some of his mana in to it. He wanted to ensure that the area would be safe for Mordant tond and manipted the earth to be slightly tter.


    "I was hoping that you would be the first to visit the home we are building. I can''t wait to see the family you have brought." Therge dragonnded and shifted like a pool of darkness full of waves. The next moment the same dragonkin form that Walker was familiar with strolled silently toward him.


    "I have indeed been looking around without touching. I am impressed so far. This vige is more than you seem to have let on. Especially that tower. I would like a tour after I properly meet you within your court." Mordant allowed Walker to stand in equal to him. This was a sign of respect since Mordant had broken the proper greeting traditions. However, Walker didn''t show that he was fazed at all but this caused Mordant to grow more respect for him.


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 Chapter 1324 1324. Intriguing Mordant

    Walking through the front gate caused a veryrge ruckus. The city guards were already making moves to clear the streets. Walker had not hidden how important tradition was for the dragons. This meant that the first order when a dragon was seening towards Genesis was to prepare all avable to guards to create a wee. It may not be to the same degree that it would to an older dragon vige, built the city of Genesis was going topete.


    "How was the flight over? Not too many issues?" Walker wasn''t sure what to really speak about. He wanted the rest of the party to remain with him but unfortunately, the only two that stayed were Su and Midnight. The others had run off to focus on the tasks they had nned along with avoiding the added stress of escorting a royal dragon. Walker couldn''t fault them though.


    "Fairly peaceful. My territoriesck most rogue dragons. I did not need to dispatch many of the dragonkin warriors I control. I did stop by a few other viges to be kind. Yet. I found them to be unhappy that I would offer to take their hatchlings here with me or their dragonkin." Mordant shook his head. He had wanted to bring the other''s hatchlings and dragonkin to win more favor with Walker. He had too much curiosity about what Genesis was creating and learning.


    "I agree, that would have been nice. But I am sure that you have your own family here to see the city? But where are they?" Walker didn''t want to sound ignorant. He just wondered where the dragonkin and Mordant''s champion were. Especially since Su and Midnight were both looking about for them. Su specifically was looking for a fellow guardian to show around the city.


    "They are still walking here. I challenged them to walk at human speed. It will help them adjust to being in a city like this where many racese together. I have the unfortunate luck that none of those I live around can control their strength. You know how that goes." A small smirk bloomed on Mordant''s lips at his joke. He was sure that it was funny enough to get a fewughs.


    "You''re telling me. Midnight has been learning to use silverware properly and has broken a decent number of forks." Walker agreed with his own smirk while Midnight pulled at his sleeve in a soft huff. She was shameless enough to show her distaste for his words while Mordant was around. Yet, Mordant was more interested in the fact that Midnight was able to easily walk about in a dragonkin form at such a young age. It was a very unusual urrence in the dragon culture.


    "This is the main market road. It was made wider so that the different races could set up their stalls with whatever they can offer to each other. At first, the trade between some races was limited. However, the addition of rare items from different ces became epted and even sought after. I have some elf friends that sell a very wide variety of herbs and vegetables only grown in their forest." This was another interesting thing for Mordant to see. Even though the guards made way for them to walk, many people were out in the streets buying what they needed. The races were mixed and living very peacefully. This was very differentpared to the chaos that once reigned over the world when all the races were very young.


    "I am sure that they will create some interesting food. The spices you had were not verymon in any vige from my knowledge." Mordant knew well that Walker had more vorful food due to the fact that all the cultures wereing together in Genesis to create something new and different. "I can see that there are many spaces that have runes carved on them. But they are different from the ones I saw before." These runes were easily exined. The dwarves that created them used the rune forms they were used to and so did the elves.


    "The newer runes we have are not widely known or used. The tower has so many that the runesmiths can''t even keep up." Walker paused for a moment. "The ruins I just returned from might be the same race that created the tower we brought from the deserts. The runes are an earlier version of what we have there now. It should really help the growth of knowledge." This brought a wide smile to Mordant''s face.


    "I will send my personal rune carvers to help. Naturally, they will share their knowledge. I wish to see more runes that mix with your spirit forging. I am greatly enjoying this circlet and so is my friend." The darkness spirit materialized from the circlet that was around Mordant''s wrist. It still didn''t speak to Walker but appeared to be very happy.<sub> </sub>


    "By the way, speaking of spirits. I had an arcane scribe make a lot of scrolls. They copied my all around spirit speak and all around appraisal skill. That should leave the potential for someone to learn how to speak with all elemental spirits. One of my party members already managed it and I am sure that the rest will do that too. I can''t say they will have the same luck for the all around appraisal skill." Walker spoke casually but noticed that he had intrigued Mordant once again.


    Mordan had a very strong rtionship with the darkness elemental spirit, however, he did not have propermunication. They were able to understand each other because of the strong understanding of darkness elemental mana that Mordant had. "I would like to procure some of those scrolls during my stay here. It would be very useful to us. My vige could be one of the first to properly rte to you as the new royal nature dragon." Walker could tell that it was a little more than just curiosity. It seemed that Mordant wanted to be able to be the first to get ahead of the other royal dragons while also increasing his understanding of darkness elemental mana.


    What dragon could say that they had spoken to an elemental spirit that waspletely made up of their desired elemental mana? Mordant had the potential to increase his affinity to a higher degree which would in turn make his standing with the other dragons skyrocket.


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 Chapter 1325 1325. Styles Of Leadership

    "This is the Genesis building. It is the main building for meetings, representatives, and other important gatherings. That is the alchemy guild, adventurers guild, and crafting guild. Then that building you can see in the distance is the tamer''s guild. From there you can also see the cathedral spire. And of course the mage tower." Walker would point out the different sections that the races had created on their ownter. But for now, these were the most important buildings in the city.


    "It seems wise to have them all organized together. Bettermunication. But what are those writings about? I have seen a few. Apetition? I believe you mentioned mostly battle rtedpetitions and forgingpetitions." Mordant has seen the additional herb gatheringpetitions for the young adventures.


    "That is mainly for young adventure''s guild members. They are getting experience, a chance to move up a tier in the guild, and gathering herbs for the alchemy guildpetitions. The potions made will be sold aligned with a test for members of the alchemy guild. It will be very interesting. However, if you have alchemists or herbalists, they can participate as well." Walker knew that he had not put much focus on the herbs since he knew that the dragons may not find it as interesting.


    "Ah, I see. I do not have much in the way of alchemy in my vige. I will look in to it and instruct my dragonkin to do the same. But, I wish to have my dragonkin witness thepetitions in their entirety even though I may not stay for such lengths." It was clear that Mordant was avoiding making promises. He was in charge of a dragon vige and branch viges, if he left them unattended he would be neglecting his duties.


    "Wait, one moment." Walker moved past a guard that was keeping the streets clear. It was a respectable thing for the weing of Mordant, however, Walker had seen two children ying a game behind the guards. One little girl had slipped and scraped her knee. Walker had seen it out of the corner of his eye. "Now what are those tears for? You are fine. Just watch." Walker held his hand and made some funny looking movements with his fingers. In the seconds ahead, a green glow radiated from him and the small scrape healed as if it wasn''t ever there. "See? Nothing to worry about."


    Walker stopped as he watched the obviously older brother of the little girl help her up and run off. They continued their game as Walker rejoined Mordant. Watching it all happen, Mordant had seen the definitive difference in Walkerpared to the royal dragons. Because the dragons believed in strength, they would not have stopped to heal or help someone that had fallen. The child should grow up and face it themselves. Yet, because Walker did this he could see that Walker had brought the races together through more than just strength or a unique system. He had yed with their emotions of caring and family. It exined a lot about who Walker was and would keep growing to be.


    "The dragons may learn more from you than you think," Mordant spoke but soon gestured for Walker to show him the way. This was an unfamiliar ce for Mordant and he did not want to hold back anymore. "And next time, you don''t need to clear the streets for me. I should follow yourws while here and walk through the streets equally with others." Walker didn''t know where this came from but grinned in response. As he had believed, Mordant was the most epting of the royal dragons.


    Mordant''s eyes did not stop moving while he saw the different races working together within Genesis. He clearly saw how the entirety of the city was governed by multiple officials. The fact that so many hade together and worked at such an astonishing pace exined why the markets that he had strolled through were so packed with goods. The many forms that were being processed and exined to citizens showed the degree of thought that went in to the formation of Genesis.


    "We have the meeting room this way. The dwarven representative is still upied while the demi-human representative is dealing with an old problem recently rediscovered. That leaves the merfolk, elven, human, and various guild representatives." Walker opened the door which was quickly looked at by all such individuals including a few other attendants. The addition of nametes at each seat was great since Walker wouldn''t need to introduce everyone by name right away. There was also arge table created and added to the room for the meetings and potential maps.<sub> </sub>


    "This is the royal darkness dragon Mordant. He hase ahead of his family to see us." Mordant did not miss that Walker spoke of the dragonkin and hatchlings as Mordant''s family. It was a note that Mordant had not specifically focused on as a royal dragon. Yet, it fit. This was the exact way that his vige should be seen. If a single member was harmed, the draconic price he possessed would not allow for the perpetrator to go unpunished the exact same way that Walker felt about the city of Genesis and the residents within.


    "Wee to the Genesis building meeting room. I trust your journey was pleasant and that you have met the vice guild master of the adventurers guild, Barry." ra stood up right away and introduced herself. Mordant raised a single eyebrow at this. He had indeed met Barry and seen the monstrous strength that the man had. It had put high expectations for humans in his mind seeing a man take on a rogue dragon without any assistance. It was a feat that not many could aplish when Mordant hadst seen humans fighting to take a small vige as their home.


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 Chapter 1326 1326. Baiting A Dragon

    "Of course I examined every volunteer and dragonkin myself. Every ryal had the right to see who would be assisting in the purge of rogue dragons. The warrior does excellent work. I personally witnessed him deal with a rogue in three shes of a great ax. A very primal battle style with extreme control. I look forward to meeting more like him."


    This seemed to make ra stand a little taller. She had hopes that Barry would make a name for himself that represented the strength of the adventurer''s guild. "I believe you may already know the strength we have heard about when ites to dragonkin warriors. I hope that you have some that would like to experience our veteran adventurers who have been waiting for experience training opponents." This was the main goal that ra had when it came to any royal dragon visiting. She wanted the dragonkin warriors to teach and show off the skills they had. It could make the veteran adventurers that might be stagnant in their growth inspired.


    "I will see what can be arranged. I have quite a few crafting rted dragonkin on their way. The true spirit forging methods along with runes are very interesting. I am curious to see how my people''s draconic runes meet the history of runes that have been transcribed here." This was something that Mordant had wanted since he saw the unfamiliar runes in the darkness circlet. He wanted to know how they worked to gather such pure darkness elemental mana along with allowing an elemental spirit to reside within it and even increase the effects of the runes. This was an aspect of forging and bonding that the dragon race had never invested in.


    "Ehm, that would be me." The sudden loud speech of the wandering cksmith was very shocking. Walker, nor anyone else, had ever heard him speak so loudly.


    "This is the famous wandering cksmith. He has skills that far exceed any cksmith I have ever met when ites to forging and forging knowledge. He has taught me some things while also demonstrating things I may never be able to aplish. Whether it is forging with dragon mes or carving runes, he is who you want your cksmiths to learn from." The high praise made Mordant realize just how valuable this man was.


    "I will personally enjoy speaking with youter then. I have not spoken to the famous wandering cksmith with mixed blood. What is the story I heard, a man that happened upon a royal dragon named Ignus in the volcanonds? Strangely enough, the man was forging usingva and pure force of will to resist the heat. Along with some strange rune forged gear." Walker had heard parts of this story but he did not know that the wandering cksmith had met Ignus. "I really appreciate the beauty of the chest te you gave him after you finished. I hope to one day ask you to create one for me. If only it was enough to fit me in dragon form." Mordant spoke softly.


    "I have many orders. I can take one order for some months in advance. I can not say I knew he was a dragon. It exins the strange illusions created by that ring. To appear like a human in dragonkin form." The wandering cksmith understood what had truly happened that week in the volcano mountains.


    "Oh? You were able to see through the ring that Ignus has? It is his oldest treasure from years ago. Even I struggle to recognize it sometimes even though I have my own illusions in the shadows. I wonder if you can make one of those." Mordant tested the waters a little more.


    "Not currently. Ick arcane skills to create something so perfect. One day I may find a partner or path though." The wandering cksmith slowly returned to his chair. The amount of speaking the wandering cksmith had done was radicallyrger than usual. He was understandably tired and it showed Mordant that it was time to move on in topic.


    "As much as I would prefer to be with my potions, the young guild master was a little behind. I apologize for you needing to deal with my old bones." The old master alchemists spoke out. Remey had been radically behind on what events had urred while she was gone. As much as she had prepared when she left, it had not been enough.


    "Trust me, your bones are younger than mine. I can smell the herbs from here, master alchemist." Mordant found his interest piqued over and over again just by walking in to this room.<sub> </sub>


    "That may be true, but yours willst longer than mine. I would like to give you some food for thought while you are here. I understand that each royal dragon represents a certain elemental affinity to study. I have been leading a certain theory, one that deals with affinities. Please take this small low tier darkness elemental affinity potion as a gift from the alchemy guild. I hope your vige and the alchemy guild can speak about trading herbs and potions one day." The small potion vial was carried over by an assistant to Mordant.


    It was clear to Walker that Mordant was stunned. His eyes shook slightly in excitement. The only reason that Walker aw this was because of how close he was to Mordant. The others were waiting to hear the response.


    "I have to say, this is something I did not expect. Something like this is new to the world if I understand it. Is there anything that your vige can not do?" Mordant looked at Walker carefully.


    "Just wait for the visit to the mage tower. You may enjoy the elemental floors when used with that affinity potion." The old master alchemist appreciated Walker''s addition to what he had said and sat back down to wait for the royal dragon to take the bait ande to the alchemy guild at ater date. Mordant was shaken. Internally he felt that he had made an incredible decision to trust his instinct toe to Genesis.


    Mordant looked at the entire room wondering what the elemental floors entailed, however, he wondered even more what else Genesis had to offer. He would never imagine just how much his dragon race was missing out on. Even worse, he had not looked at the elf standing silently watching. The elf that had three tall and powerful guards nearby. An elf that also had a familiar looking archer nearby that was certainly a member of Walker''s party who had walked in silently while Mordant had been conversing with the others.


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 Chapter 1327 1327. Mordants Gaze

    While Mordant consolidated his thoughts, Alma took the chance to speak. "Please feel free to take your time to walk through the forest if you would like. The elves have been modifying things to wee others. We will find other elven species to wee in to Genesis so there will be continuous growth. We also have many with spirit based systems that may intrigue you." This was all that Alma knew she had to say. From what Walker had said prior, Mordant was the only dragon with any rtion to the elemental spirits.


    "I see, I would be interested in meeting your spirit speakers. I have already heard some news about magic scrolls that can allow one to speak with elemental spirits. It would make my life fairly easy when speaking with this one." The darkness elemental spirit showed itself and examined the room. However, it only stopped by Walker and Su, it did not show any interest in the others. The lingering darkness elemental man from Su seemed to show that she was close to a darkness elemental spirit before and it enjoyed that. Whereas with Walker, it could feel the presence of Fleur who was resting p[eascfully to absorb elemental mana.


    "We will await you there. I hope that youe when we have grown as well." Alma left it at that. She would not push but she knew that Mordant was already interested and if she tried to force him, like any dragon, he would resist.


    "I do find it interesting that you have so many archery rted systems for so many years. The elves have always remained in such a way. Or now a human has joined them as well. I have a few old books I could get rid of about high elves. I will send them over when I have a free dragonkin to do so." This small addition caught Gil and Alma off guard. Mordant felt that he had finally won something for once. His habit of keeping his own knowledge after watching from the shadows was well worth it.


    "I think that would be a great trade. The elves are uniting their people, I expect them to need more past knowledge about their ancestors. They keep very good records. If you have anything else you wish them to record, they are your people." Walker made sure to put in words that the elves were very trustworthy with knowledge. He wanted to ensure that Mordant would pass this along to the other royal dragons. It could grow the knowledge base that Genesis had by leaps and bounds.


    "I see, that exins therge building I saw being created while flying. It seemed to mirror the library I have in my vige. However, mine is quite small. I believe housing knowledge from all these races requires untold space." Mordant had seen therge structure soon to be the grand Genesis library. It was a project that had been formed some time ago but was finally being worked on properly now that the other main buildings had been finished. The Genesis building could only house so many books.


    "I take you to be the merfolk that was assisted by Current? How is your home now? Recovering?" Mordant was not going to forget that there had been a kraken spawn outbreak recently. He knew the dangers that they possessed as well and had been ready to lend Current a hand if it had been arger threat.


    "It was all thanks to those in this room and honored royal dragon Current for providing assistance. My people are recovering and have even gained the chance to meet the water elves after joining Genesis. We have a great deal of history we are reviewing and look forward to exploring the depths once again. It has been many years since we have had the ability to travel back to where our species was born. Too many lost secrets." Leon shared the goals of his people readily.


    In recent years, the merfolk had wondered about their origin. They knew that there was lizard folk within them but had discovered that it was not all merfolk. In reality, the merfolk had mixed with other semi aquatic species to be what they were now. It made more sense that they came from the depths of the oceans but could not fathom where or how. It was too deep and housed too many powerful monsters to fully explore with ease.<sub> </sub>


    "I wish you luck. Knowing Current, he will wish to explore with you. It has been many years since he delved in to the deep waters for enlightenment. If I remember, there were some delicious gigantic pearl oysters he once shared with me. They came from the deep." The monster that Mordant referenced was once rarely seen alive. It brought excitement to Leon''s face. Walker on the other hand was amazed at how properly Leon was speaking. It showed that Leon truly rxed around Genesispared to how he was made to act within his kingdom.


    "I hope that we at the tamer''s guild can assist you as well while here. Recently with the assistance of the alchemy guild and Walker, we have begun to cultivate dragon fruit. We found that when made in to a potion it can stimte the extremely weak dragon bloodline in some lizard like monsters. We hope to be able to learn from your input." Elise was ying with fire. She knew that not every dragon would ept the tamers since they had a tamed dragon. Unfortunately, Elise wascking in knowledge. The dragons epted that there was a dragon in the tamer''s guild. It had been saved from death and be what it needed to be. They had also heard that it was not lowering itself and instead reigning over the guild with its tamer.


    "I will consider it. It has been some time since I brought the dragon fruits home to the hatchlings. I may have some promising young ones in the next few years." Mordant didn''t sit on the topic for long but looked at Walker. He was silently telling Walker he would need the story about the dragonfruitter.


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 Chapter 1328 1328. Royal Dragon In The Streets

    Finishing the introductions and meeting was easy since Mordant was more interested in seeing the rest of Genesis. Walker was seeing that his curiosity had caused him to leave behind his dragonkin and champion to walk the way here. The pieces that Mordantid out through conversation showed clearly that it had been an order from him and not what they had desired. Mordant was a royal, however, it seemed that he was a little childish when it came to his curiosity.


    "If you would like, there are guest rooms right here in the Genesis building. They were made with some of the finest materials so we can properly wee just about anyone." One of the attendants had been called over by Markus Raven who had more or less been silent during the meeting. He had wanted to keep a low profile since the royal dragon was not seemingly interested in wealth which was his primary position in Genesis.


    "That will not be necessary. I will remain with my fellow royal dragon. It only makes sense that I would reside nearby if anything is needed?" Mordant acted as if this was an unspoken rule but Walker could tell there was a glint of curiosity there too. Mordant wanted to see how Walker lived and what he might be able to learn from such a ce.


    "We have plenty of rooms in the mansion. That''s no big deal. But the guest rooms here are better so don''t be unhappy with what we have." The causal tone would have put any other royal on edge. Yet, just like Current, Mordant had begun to ept this readily. He even felt that he might be better off rxing in a simr manner.


    "Alma, Gil, ra,e over for dinnerter. We will cook a lot since everyone just got home." Walker gave a shout to them as he left. Gil nodded slightly since he knew that the giant earth ants were on the menu.


    "I was able to gather more of the details while we spoke, but can you expand on your small journey?" Mordant had already been updated because Walker had felt it fine to exin the rtionship of the old ruins filled with ants to the mage tower. But when Walker had shouted to Gil and the others, it seemed that more was said about this dinner.


    "The giant earth ants were mostly handled by the dwarves since they had the expertise. There was a dormant giant earth ant colony that woke up and split in to three colonies due to the hatching of two additional queen ants. From there, they should have been exterminated. Now the remaining forces are breaking the bodies down and transporting them. The shells will be used for the crafter''s guild primarily and the meat will be abundant. We should already have some at the mansion by now." Walker exined this easily.


    "Su, Midnight. No need to be stiff. Mordant is a guest in the mansion now. We are done with political pleasantries. If both of you are so stiff then he will get ufortable. You heard him say he doesn''t need fancy escorts around the streets." Walker did this more for Mordant than the others. It was clear that in the means that Mordant left his escort behind he had desired to walk as Walker did through Genesis and not as the royal dragon that was feared and respected. The same thing after generations would be dull.


    "You can see more clearly than I expected. My shadows often conceal what I want in life. I was in closed door meditation for some years before thest court gathering. I tend to forget the joys of flying through the skies. Now I can do just that while being the first dragon to experience what is new here." Midnight reacted with a slight growl. It ended up being strangely off since she was still in her dragonkin firm but Mordant understood it better than anyone. "Fine then, the second dragon here. But maybe you can learn human speech soon so that you can say that instead of growling it."


    Of all people to tease her, Midnight had not expected it toe from a royal dragon. She stopped in her tracks before continuing along slightly closer to Su who was also partially stunned. "She has been working very hard to grasp writing, reading, speech, and everything else. Almost as hard as she trains flying." Su knew that for a dragon, training to fly was very important. Giving this rtion to Mordant brought some rity to his eyes.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m "Wait..that smell." Mordant started to smell many enticing things. One of which was very tempting to any dragon.</o>


    "That would be the garden around our mansion. The herb fields are back where we came from so you shouldn''t smell those. The mansion garden is taken care of by Gil''s mother. She used to be a farmer but now that she doesn''t need to worry about that, she is a full time gardener with full control over what she wants to grow. One of which, are dragon fruits. We nted a tree for them in the mansion garden. It''s a good ce to read a book in the afternoon."


    It took Mordant a few moments to understand that therge garden surrounding therger building in front of him was the mansion Walker spoke about. It was off away from most of the main streets. Yet there were multiple buildings lined up in a row leading to it. "Oh, and those shops we passed by are the shops of family members or close friends. The wandering cksmith, my sister, and mother have them there along with a few others." Mordant was very impressed. It was very different from a dragon vige but held its own charm and loftiness.


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 Chapter 1329 1329. New Plants

    The varieties of fruits and vegetables growing around the garden already in the early growing season was very surprising. The party had been less observant of this since they were not used to the way a farm would grow. Gil''s mother had set everything up so that the nts that grew were in specific cycles. Some would give them food for the early season while others that took longer to grow would have the time to mature properly and give them foodter. It was perfect to always have something fresh and newing from the garden.


    ''Ice flowering cabbage


    This is a very slow growing form of cabbage. In the warmer months, it will start to sprout from a single root. It grows an inch a week until the first snowfall when it begins to grow rapidly. Within one month of the colder season, it will bloom in to a full head of tough cabbage perfect for boiling and stuffing.''


    ''Micro greens


    A variety of small greens that grow very fast. They aremonly nted in less wealthy families because a batch of them can grow in one week. They provide minimal nutrition and require minimal care. If they were not cultivated by farmers for many years they would be weeds.''


    ''Moss capped mushrooms


    The moss capped mushroom is not one nt but two. The mushroom can not grow without the moss that lives on top of it. The moss provides valuable light elemental mana to the mushroom in turn for earth elemental mana. The two grow together and have a very nutritious fortitude when added to any stew or soup.''


    "There are even more nts thanst week. I think Gil''s mother must have gone to the markets and hunted out more things to fill the garden with." Walker noticed the various fruits like the strawberries just starting to grow. They needed to be seeded every year but it was already done and prepared.


    "I can see the quality within the work that is done here. I can not say that any of the dragon viges have such a care for farming. Most of the dragonkin hunt for the vige leaving produce to be minimal. I would not mind to mix more in to the meals prepared." Mordant felt that the focus on meat only was a potential loss for his taste buds. He strongly remembered the meal that had happened at the end of the royal dragon court meeting exceeding what had happened in previous events.


    Mordant proceeded to follow his nose until he found the young dragon fruit tree. He looked at it expecting it to be bigger. Yet, he could tell that it was already growing to a much higher quality than it normally would if cared for anywhere else. The dragon fruit had been attempted to be grown within the dragonkin viges. Unfortunately, they had been a failure. Dragons were very skilled in very specific things. One of which was not farming. They were better off in battle and activities that required great strength. They had a very high potential for instinctual magic skills like their elemental breath skills since their bodies literally developed to use them.


    "When I managed to obtain it, I took the seeds from the dragon fruit. I fed it to Midnight when she was much smaller. She heated up and had to rest for a while to undergo whatever changes urred within her body. From there we slowly built this garden. It''s been a few seasons now and the garden is fairly developed. I can''t say what wille next. There is a lot of space for growth." Walker pointed to the untilled corners where many nts could expand or be nted in.<sub> </sub>


    "There is also very strong mana here. I can feel it clearly. Do you have any runes formations around?" Mordant had already spotted some pieces of fabric around certain areas. They had runes on them which made him wonder what they were for.


    "There are water spikes which use water elemental runes to keep things watered. Then my sister has learned to sew elemental runes in to fabrics to sell in her shop. She is a seamstress and when I went to the forest elf city I brought home rune sewn fabrics. She uses needles made from Midnight''s shed baby scales. They are the perfectbination to make those." The rune fabrics that Walker pointed at were a new addition. Some caused slight breezes while others had earth runes on them to assist the breakdown of fertilizer. Gil''s mother had worked closely with Lisa to make this all happen.


    "A very interesting use for shed scales. We rarely put them to use since they are weaker than the scales of our current bodies. Some of the dragonkin will make armor from them but we have better materials around us in my viges. I wonder what I can get by offering them to your market." Mordant tested the waters with this.


    "Plenty, but I would speak to the crafting guild alone. They would get you whatever you want for them. Dragon scales, even broken ones from shedding would help them a lot. One of my friends who works there was stuck on a quest to forge something with dragon scales. It was a steep qualification for him to keep improving. However, with the way he has started learning new things and taking over duties, I would say it was more than equal a price to pay." Walker remembered Rodney and the strong attitude for growth that Rodney possessed. If anyone could rise in the crafting guild it would be him.


    "Then I will keep that in mind. I believe I will be trading with your city sooner than you may expect. There were many things I desire to have that your city has gathered. But we can save those talkies forter. I will handle them. You mentioned having a pleasant meal?" Mordant would take the negotiations on himself. He did not want to put weight on Walker''s shoulder and bow to him. It would show weakness. Just because he had rxed a little did not mean that he could let go of all tradition.


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 Chapter 1330 1330. Walking Equally

    The meal went by faster than everyone expected. ra seemed to be the most ufortable since she was unsure what was happening. She didn''t expect a powerful royal dragon like Mordant to be fawning over the food that Walker''s mother Hilda had prepared. Even Midnight was standing next to him showing off the best tasting things as if he was just the average person there for dinner.


    Walker had taken time to speak with ra and Su alone so that they could get on the same page about a few things. He wanted to ensure that Su was nning to bring the other draconic guardian to the adventurer''s guild to train. It was something that Su had already discussed with them but Walker knew that it would make ra more rxed to know that it was indeed happening.


    Mordant had let them in on a few details about how he had certainlye ahead of his escort so that he could guarantee safety. It was his job. Yet, as they all looked at him he had broken and exined that he had been unable to properly contain his desire to see the things he had been told about. Walker had made ims at the royal dragon court that seemed too impossible for a young vige.


    Since Alma hade along, he spoke about when she had first met the party and how she had taken her position. She even went as far as to exin that she would be uniting every elf again just the way things had been many years ago. This was something that Mordant truly respected since it was what would happen when the dragons were brought together with a nature dragon royal. The keeper had exined this to him and the other royal dragons.


    Mordant was not in need of rest but saw that the rest of the party was. He found himself browsing the library and taking many books out to the garden to sit in the night. His vision was perfect in the darkness to read. Before the sun had risen and Walker had found him in the garden, Mordant felt that he had grasped some human understandings that made the city of Genesis more rtable. The fact that the party had brought the races together might be because of the childhood stories shared by them. Ones of fighting and oveing great obstacles to build safe homes.


    "I didn''t think you would havee out here in the night. I woke up ready to find you in your room so we could go to the mage tower." The n was exactly what Mordant wanted. He wanted to see the runes, experience the effects of the tower, and learn more.


    "I could feel the aura that the tower gives off the moment I came near your vige. Now that I know ites from the tower, I wish to know how it works." Mordant had felt it constantly. He had been able to pull in more mana than he had expended while traveling from his vige. He could also tell that the darkness elemental spirit was happier and more interested in exploring the area.


    "We can also grab some of the scrolls for you to attempt to use them. The chances of learning the spirit speaking skill is low but they are being made constantly so that people can take that chase." The gamble was there and sounded incredible. The chance to learn a skill from magic skill scrolls was crazy. However, Walker knew it was limited. To learn a high tier skill would be impossible. The skill had to align with a system to a degree. Everyone could sense their own mana therefore, everyone could use it tomunicate to a degree. The elemental spirits did this with their specific elemental mana so a person just needed to influence that mana with their own.


    The ability to manipte it as Walker did was also not possible since he used elemental maniption which was more of a mage skill. It was semiplicated but also made sense. But taking the risk to learn the skills was what Mordant wanted. "If I have the chance it is wise to take it. I have gone many years without hearing the voice of mypanion." The darkness elemental spirit moved around Mordant. It had a very serious expression outline on its face before it returned to the circlet.<sub> </sub>


    Traveling the streets brought a different experience for Mordant. He had never seen so many people preparing for the day. The dragon viges did not have shops. They had hunting parties and those dedicated to their positions. They had orders to follow and roles to y. It was expected of them and they would rarely even need money. That was the difference. The other races had created gold as currency to push each other to make and build. The dragons did it out of necessity. That was why the markets were so different inparison.


    The guards near the tower had already heard of the arrival of a royal dragon; they stepped aside as soon as Walker and Mordant appeared. Mordant hadn''t spoken against leaving Midnight and Su to keep resting. He understood that he had decided to walk as Walker did through the streets.


    "The runes on the tower are very in depth. My eyes can not follow them clearly." The mystery that was the mage tower was exactly that, a mystery. Even to Mordant''s clear gaze, he saw nothing simple. "The draconic runes we use that have persisted for generations are nowhere near these. But I can see the roots that could unite them." The draconic runes did not stem from these ancient runes but held many simrities. Walker could see the draconic runes assisting in the understanding of these runes once the right minds had the chances to explore them and their meanings.


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 Chapter 1331 1331. More Impossible Things

    Walker found that the arcane scribe was right where he had been thest time he had visited the mage tower. "And here I was worried you might not be around," Walker smirked while he spoke. He was surprised about how many scrolls were around along with how many other people had appeared attempting to learn from him.


    "I can''t very well leave. I have a fair bunch here to learn about what I do. And I still have some of your order toplete." From what Walker could see the arcane scribe was only partially telling the truth. With so much help he had definitely more thanpleted the order for Genesis. But with so many there to learn from him, it appeared that the arcane scribe had met his match. He didn''t want to travel away before he felt aplished enough in his teaching.


    "This is a guest of Genesis. His name is Mordant, he is a royal darkness dragon. I brought him to meet you since I want to give him some of the magic scrolls that contain the spirit speaking skill. He already has a partner that travels with him. I hope to help them speak to each other properly." There was a hint of surprise in the arcane scribe''s eyes since it was not every day that a dragon visited him.


    "I can make that happen. I need someone to judge the work of these youths around me. Some of them have perfected copying the scrolls. I do need to remind you that they are not guaranteed to work every time or teach a skill perfectly. Most you will never be able to learn the skill in life." There were many strong emphases on the words. It appeared that the arcane scribe had to say these a decent few times to people that would not believe him or chose to ignore his words and get angry anyways.


    "This was exined clearly to me. I do not expect miracles but appreciate the task you have been working on. I look forward to using such items." Mordant had a tall and appreciative tone. But in no way did it let any of the strength and pride in his aura escape. He was still a dragon that demanded respect.


    "That stack there are about thirty. Take them as you please. I will continue my work." Walker wanted to watch the work but knew that creating a scroll would be insanely hard without the proper rune knowledge. Walker would need to study and practice drawing runes over and over to even think about making the most basic of magic scrolls.


    Walker took some while Mordant also did. They both nodded to the arcane scribe and headed toward the tower entrance. They both knew that the skill to speak to elements spirits was valuable and Mordant was making a mental note to repay Walker at ater date.


    "The floors might be crowded because there was a breakthrough recently. There were a lot of floors just with books that couldn''t be taken away from them. They were full of runes making them very hard to understand let alone read. Eventually, I was meditating trying to get elemental mana to flow in all the rooms to one floor. I pushed the shelves a certain way and they fell in to the floor. That was how we found the longest rune formation yet. It was more or less a trial and error random urrence but worth the investment since it increased the output of the tower. The runes had not fully been active yet." The fact that this was the case was stunning. Everyone knew the time that went in to rune carving. For there to be so many in books that connected to create an enhancement was incredible.


    "I am more interested in those that created such a ce. Have you discovered anything that specifies the race?" Since Mordant knew of most races, he thought he might have some answers for Walker.


    "Nothing at all. We haven''t even found records of what they were. No rtions to current races. From what we understand, they left the underground for some reason, most likely dangerous monsters, then they created the desert city which waster taken over by the desert elves before they in turn perished. The reason that they left the city is unknown but they left intentionally after understanding elemental runes to a certain degree."<sub> </sub>


    "Interesting. I have not heard of such records before. I will approach the keeper on my journey home. It will shine some light on things if I ask correctly. He is wise but very careful in what he divulges. There is always the potential to cause strife with certain information." This was true. Walker could understand that saying certain things could cause trouble. Especially if it was rted to where an entire race could disappear to.


    Hopefully, the older ruines underground will shed more light on how they developed. But without bones or anything fully intact we haven''t seen much. They haven''t even shown themselves in their murals on walls. That''s very different from the other races we have seen. They did depict many ancient monsters though. Some are obviously monsters we have now but in their highest forms. It could help many people understand monsters and hope they may be their own races. I feel that the harpies will be the next recognized race. They had been taking over the mail delivery and growing in importance."


    This mentioning of bing a proper race made Mordant recall the grey haired spiders and goblins. He had seen a few wandering about but not many. The idea that monsters were iming their race and intelligence was unheard of. These things were not an easy thing toe by in any historical records of the world let alone all in one generation.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1332 1332. Scroll After Scroll

    While the thoughts of monsters gaining their chances to be their own respected races swam in Mordant''s head. Walker guided him upwards through the tower. Not a single person researching the runes could even look up. They werepletely trapped within their focused studies. It was a good thing to see so many experienced beings hard at work to find answers and push themselves to a higher understanding of something.


    "What is this?" Mordant stopped. He could feel the mana in the next floor; it was dense and unlike what he had expected. He believed that the elemental floors would be records of runes or runes that simply brought elemental mana to the floor. Not an insanely dense floor full of a singr elemental mana that could be used and experimented with at will.


    "This is the start of the elementary floors. They lead up to the floor that I used to mix elemental mana in abnce. Overall they are perfect for studying, maniption, and in your case, absorbing elemental mana." To see a dragon stunned by information so many times was something that not many would expect. Now that Mordant was witnessing this he truly understood why Genesis was continuing to grow. So many discoveries and perfect things happened.


    "It''s as if fate is constantly showing you the path to greatness¡­ There''s a darkness elemental floor with dense mana like this!" Mordant was already pushing through the elemental floors to reach the darkness elemental floor. His question was more amazement than it was a question.


    Calmly following, Walker found that Mordant had found the center of the darkness elemental floor. The dense dark mana was hard toprehend for most people but those that understood it or had the affinity. Walker was easily able to feel it around him and traverse the room with ease. The strange part was that Mordant was like a ghost in this room. He walked without making a sound.


    Sensing the movement around him, Walker could make out the darkness elemental spirit. It was flitting about the room with plenty of energy. It had never been somewhere so dense with elemental mana perfect for it to absorb. Normally, Mordant would find himself plenty of darkness elemental crystals to surround himself with. Then he would meditate with the darkness elemental spirits'' help to absorb and refine the mana. It was a very long process that took a lot of work for both of them.


    "Go ahead, use the scrolls. You should hear how happy your partner is." Walker was listening to the cries of joy from the dark spirit. It was not hiding a single thing. It would usually remain silent or quiet spoken. This was a trait simr to the earth elemental spirits which were silent and seemingly stubborn. They both didn''t have much to say until they were genuinely happy.


    Without any hesitation, Morant opened scroll after scroll. He heard the words as soon as the first came into effect but he wasn''t going to give up. Walker saw that he was dead set on gaining the skill from the scrolls he had. Noticing this, Walker moved down the tower again with a few words of where he was going. It was better to leave Mordant to his attempts and bonding. Walker would also send more scrolls up forMordant in case they were needed. At the rate that Mordant was trying to get the skill it was very possible that he might properly earn the skill to at least speak to darkness elemental spirits. His affinity was high enough after all.


    While descending the elemental floors, Walker felt Fleur stir for the first time in a little while. She was clearly absorbing some more elemental mana but had no intention of revealing herself just yet. She was still bing stronger and reforming her body after thest endeavor in the tower. One thing was for certain, Walker could also feel his connection with natural elemental mana bing closer.


    "Walker!" Gil was rushing towards the mage tower. He seemed out of breath and was red faced. "I swear, you could have been anywhere this morning and I found you in thest ce I looked.


    "Alright¡­? What''s going on?" The way that Gil was acting didn''t seem that there was a problem. It was more that he was excited to find Walker to tell him something.<sub> </sub>


    "The me elves sent a letter! They sent a letter using a red talon hawk. They want to invite Alma to theva fields to meet and discuss joining Genesis!" There was unspeakable joy in Gil''s tone. He had helped research the other elves and where their cities had moved. Along with that, this was another elven form of dagger usage he could learn. Not to mention any forms of archery he might be missing. Not only could Genesis improve, so would he and Alma.


    "That''s amazing! Congrattions. Is there a n yet? When are we going? Do you need me to go?" Heading to the volcanic area where the me elves lived was not a simple journey. Where the party could take a flying tamed beast to the mountains, they could not to theva fields that came from the volcanoes. Acrid smoke and hot temperatures would prevent them from nearing the destination. That meant a dangerous journey through a very carefully mapped pathway.


    "Well, we are nning it now. They said in the letter that they would have a guide for representatives. I wanted to see if you and Midnight wanted toe. I know that it is near the volcanoes and Midnight might want to try and see fire dragons'' territory."


    "Gil?" Walker saw Gil grow confused. "You are brilliant sometimes. That''s the best idea yet. Midnight will surely want to go to Ignus''s vige and see it. Let me try and speak to Mordant about it when he gets out of the tower."


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 Chapter 1333 1333. More Dragon Than I Thought

    "You want to go to Ingus''s vige without any prior invitation? He will fight you to the death." Mordant spoke bluntly. He had been in the mage tower for the entire day and half the night. By the time he had returned to the mansion with a seemingly exhausted darkness elemental spirit, Walker was thest one awake. Gil was asleep on the couch next to him by the fire where Midnight is curled up resting. She had trained with Su all day and had fallen asleep quickly.


    "He hasn''te here and was one of the more stubborn of our fellow royals. So, while I let Gil and Alma meet with the me elves, I will meet with him." The look that Mordant had on his face seemed to ask Walker why he had such a death wish.


    "That hot headed brute will light you on fire the moment you set foot within range of his mes. That is certain. Can you resist him or at least get his attention without starting a fight?" This seemed to be answered as well. Walker slowly moved behind Midnight and poked her head. She fluttered her eyes and moved to look at him.


    "Don''t give me that look. Just because you are curled up in your dragon from pretending to sleep doesn''t mean I buy your act. You aren''t that sneaky. You usually snore a little when you sleep." The response from Midnight was a disdainful huff. Walker was sure that she was refuting that she snored at all. However, Mordant had a dazed look on his face.


    "My champion snores too¡­"


    "Juste outside and watch. Just stay back a little." Walker moved out the back door with a wide awake Midnight. She already knew what Walker intended and stood in the backyard training field. "Luckily none of the nts back here will be affected and we are far enough from the pond to cause any damage to the nts there."


    The pair gathered the mana in their bodies while Walker pulled at the water elemental mana specifically. Much faster than before, he and Midnight both gathered a great amount of it. When Walker moved to open his arms and m them down with the eternal orb staff in his hands, Midnight released a harsh breath of frost.


    The ice dragon''s domain expanded, freezing everything within the training field. Mordant had still been too close and quickly jumped in to the air before his feet froze to the ground. "You have a domain skill! Of a dragon no less. It''s not pure but how can this be possible? You aren''t old enough for that. And you aren''t even a proper dragon!" The stunned shouts woke Gil up, who rushed outside.


    "So¡­why did you freeze the training area?" His face showed that he was more confused than worried now.


    "Just showing how we will get to the dragon vige, shock Ignus in to silence, and then have a proper conversation about bringing him to Genesis. Add in the fact that Mordant beat him here he will want toe out of jealousy and spite. Plus, if I y to his pride ande to him first he will feel more obligated." The pride that Walker held while standing in the intense ice cold was enough to make Mordant wonder if this boy was truly human. Not even dragons would throw around prideful ns like this.


    ? "I retract my statement earlier. You are more of a dragon than I knew. Almost like the keeper, you gather information and use it against others along with your power." Mordant hesitated and then spoke. He seemed to have much more respect for Walker now. "That is why we never win when we fight the keeper. He is wiser and tricky. He may be weaker in his old age but is able to y everyone as if they are puppets."<sub> </sub>


    The strategy seemed wise. Walker was trying to be better at nning and observing. Therefore, he felt that adopting the strategy more would work. "Then it''s settled. I will head there with Gil and Alma in a few weeks."


    "More like a week. That''s when Alma wanted to have everything nned to leave. She wants it done with before the alchemy guild starts the potion makingpetitions. Once those start, many elves will be participating and need the future queen to witness their achievements. It''s not a requirement but a major encouragement for them to keep improving." Gil also knew that Trish expected Alma in attendance. It was a guild formed by one of the highest esteemed elves in the forest elf city. If Alma was not there it coulde off as insulting.


    "In any means, that should allow me time in closed meditation on the elemental floors. I believe that will be eptable once you''ve met my dragonkin, champion, and his guardian. A fair trade for leaving your guest alone." Mordant decided to y his own sneaky game. He wanted to continue to use the mage tower without any repercussions. On top of that, he could have everything figured out to work while he continued to grow stronger. By the tie Ignus actually got to Genesis, Mordant was sure he would have a major advantage.


    "I have nothing against you doing so. I would have offered that already, but you have cornered me. You''ll have to remain in Genesis longer to understand and learn about the darkness elemental runes as well. I would hate for you to lose progress without the mage tower''s strength." This was a slick way to make Mordant want to help Genesis pursue the understanding of ancient runes.


    "If you desire my vige to assist you then you need only to ask. We will send those that know here as well to stay. I can arrange for their absence since my vige had the least rogue dragons to deal with." The deal was struck and Walker seemed to have a better understanding of Mordant.


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 Chapter 1334 1334. Retirement Home

    The three spoke for only a short while after that. It was odd to see Mordant tired since he was a royal dragon that had lived for many years. Dragons on average would sleep much less. Although this fact would be missed in rtion to Midnight which seemed to be slothful in general.


    "Walker,e on! I called you three times." Gil was the one waking Walker up for once. It seemed that he hade to grab Walker to speak with Alma earlier than Gil had mentioned the night before. Or it was the fact that Walker had only slept a short while. "We have to go and meet with Alma. she is getting things all set up with Elise and I wanted to bring you along since she is heading toward the cathedral to speak with Onyx too."


    "Oh, that would be perfect. I wanted to see how Onyx was fairing since I heard he went out to hunt rice rats in the fields." The small journey was not that big a deal for Onyx, however, it was for the hatchlings. It was their fiesta time out battling other monsters so it was a very big deal in their development.


    "I know you are looking for Midnight, but she is already out. She already found the dragon golem to train. It has fire breath attacks so she was probably looking to train against mes." Since Gil had been the first up, he had caught Su, Midnight, and even Remey as they left. No one had seen Remeye home but she had clearly slept and been able to take some time to rx. She had even left some potions for Walker to share with Mordant. Luckily, Mordant had sniffed them out faster than Walker had woken up, saving Walker the job of handing them over.


    "We will most likely find Alice there too. She should be around if they are both examining the heavenly serpents and remaining abyssal serpent eggs." Walker knew that it might be crowded but that would be fine.


    "Don''t forget former guild master Ibis. he came in yesterday. The streets were buzzing with the gossip of the previous adventurer''s guild master buying up a retirement home." Gil had forgotten to say this to Walker the other day since he was too excited about the me elves and the potentials they had for him.


    "Really? That''s great. I wonder what kings of summons he might have that could help the eggs. It could be interesting if he is able to connect them to the light elemental ne. The heavenly serpents apparently moved to a ce with higher light elemental mana leaving behind the eggs. So it would make sense that it goes that way again." The idea made Walker wonder if Arora would do this. Or if the heavenly serpents would bother doing so. It would be very unfortunate to see them leave, but if it was for their well being then that was it.


    Before Walker could fall in to any deep thought, Gil pushed him out the door. It was as if he had a fire lit under him and there was not enough time. "Why are you rushing so much? We have all day."


    "No, you have all day. I have to test the students in the archery academy when I get back. I am starting a mentorship with them. They will each take on a group of younger archers with zero experience and teach them the basics. After a month I will see where the teams are. It should be perfect to start them off while we are gone." The idea was very worthwhile and Walker felt that Gil had grown up a lot while no one was looking.


    "The cathedral seems pretty busy." Walker found that there were many people bustling out of the cathedral. "A concert must have just ended. But we can sneak in the side door." Walker and Gil slipped around the crowd and in to the cathedral. They saw the musical healers cleaning and putting away instruments. It seemed that they had all done well and were praising one another for their work. It was not hard to find Su with a certain strings yer. She waved for them to say hi and the pair responded. But Gil and Walker had somewhere to go, they knew Su would catch upter.


    "Think Su will ever bring him to dinner? I can''t even remember his name." Gil was a little annoyed that everyone knew that he and Alma were more than just friends. But Su was so secretive and held back.<sub> </sub>


    "Well his name is¡­oh¡­you''re right. I forgot it too. I feel bad now." Walker knew that Su was embarrassed since she had never gotten close to another person in the way she was with the strings yer. However, Walker also knew that it was a very slow growth of a rtionship. She was not quick to open up and needed her time. But that was just the way it was and she would manage in time. "Just wait it out, Su will let everyone in on it when she isfortable."


    "All of you seem so much older now. I only just stepped down from guild master and everyone seems so different." Ibis had beening from a talk with the high priest when he found the pair in the hallways moving toward the room with the eggs inside.


    "Guild master, or, former guild mast-"


    "Just Ibis, I would prefer that. No need to add a bunch of things. It''s easier to speak on equal footing. Or maybe I can''t do that since you are a fancy royal dragon now? Didn''t think I would be up to date on that hm?" Ibis smirked while he moved to walk with them. It was nice to see the former guild master again.


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 Chapter 1335 1335. Doing Well

    "How have you been? Have you recovered after using your skills to protect the city?" Walker wasn''t sure how Ibis would be holding up. He knew that the older someone became the harder it was to properly replenish their mana. Ibis had retired for a reason after all.


    "I''m fit as a fiddle. I could have held out for another month if those demon brats tried anything. What about you? I''ve heard some good things about you and your family." Inis gave a knowing look to Walker and Gil.


    "You know us, always getting in to trouble. It''s mostly Walker''s fault for being a ma for trouble in general. He''ll say something small that seems fun and the next thing we know we have ancient ruins filled with giant earth ants. Completely crazy." Walker'' managed to barely punch Gil in the arm. He had been too fast for Gil to dodge.


    "Says the guy who started an archery academy and is trying to help unite the elven people again. You should see how often he is in the elven areas of the city. I was wondering if he secretly got another house there in the trees." This time it was Walker that got a punch to the arm. However, he hadn''t dodged and just let Gil get his fair revenge.


    "Good, good. Cause some trouble for ra now that she is too busy toe and see my new home. I swear, you raise a child and you get nothing but the cold shoulder in return." Ibis spoke with extra dramatic ir but really he showed just how proud he was in Ibis''s eyes. He had always hoped that ra would be ready for her position as guild master. Now that she had taken over and even excelled within it, he couldn''t even put how he felt in to words.


    "Brother? What are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be busy?" Onyx heard the three conversing while he was inside the room with the eggs. Elise had arrived recently as well so they had been making small talk to catch up before getting to business.


    "Mordant was working hard to learn how to speak with his darkness elemental spirit partner. Then I''m sure they were focusing on the dense darkness elemental mana to grow and understand something together. As long as they canmunicate then I am sure they will have a breakthrough. A lot of things probably escaped them while training. So, Gil and I headed over here to see how you were doing." Walker also knew that Ama and Elise were speaking there as well, but it was nice to check up on the now very busy Onyx.


    "Everything is going very well! My students have all learned the basics of survival in Genesis. Now we will work toward speech." Onyx wanted the hatchlings to gain the same skill as he had. He could understand them with it but not the other way around. They could notmunicate with any other species and were stuck hissing between each other. The use of bodynguage drastically limited how the hatchlingsmunicated and nned between each other. It would make things harder in the long run for them.


    "That''s a good goal to have. I will see what I can do with that. If I remember correctly, all of your party have the educationist title? Ites with a skill that allows you to teach someone a skill temporarily and if they seed enough they might get it permanently. Teach me yourmunication skill." Ibis took the opportunity he saw in front of him.


    "That''s pretty smart. If he is going to help you and the heavenly serpents, then he will need to be able to clearlymunicate and speak to them." Gil was impressed with how fast Ibis had made the move to get a skill that he might not even be guaranteed for.<sub> </sub>


    Onyx looked at Walker. He was worried that Walker would see this as giving in for the wrong reasons. The skills that the party had were very rare in some regard and they had not been sharing their skills with many. The main reason was that they could end up as a resource that the city relied on for learning skills instead of the citizens pushing themselves to greater heights.


    "It is a good idea. It could be a short term fix. And, if Ibis puts in the work he could keep the skill. It''s like an investment or a payment for him helping the eggs hatch and the serpents. It is up to him if he can learn it fully in the end. Not to mention, he won''t be abusing it to run around Genesis and cause trouble. If he does, ra would send every adventurer to cause him trouble." Walkerughed at his joke. However, Ibis felt that this was a potential he hadpletely overlooked. ra had much more power now than she had, she might rebel against him!


    "Ehm, we will speak about it more. Take time to think. Before that, let me introduce you to a summon that has an interesting personality. Just remember,pliment its feathers. It is perfect for what we need." Ibis ced a hand in the air as if he was touching something. This was very simr to how he had summoned the griffin before. Yet this time, the small rune like patterns in the air were condensed from light. The strange shimmering effect made everyone feel the massive density of light elemental manaing from it before their eyes adjusted and the patter of runed were gone.


    In its ce was a very odd bird that none could have ever said they had seen or read about. But Ibis was clear that they had to do something before he would just openly exin what it was and how it would help them.


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 Chapter 1336 1336. Prideful Summon

    "The feathers are spectacr. If I couldn''t control myself I would look all day." Walker started off seeing that he had hit the right note.


    "What was that? I was too enamored with the wondrous feathers before my eyes." While Gil sounded foolish, he had p[leased the summon as well.


    "Brother, these feathers are better than any I have seen in my life¡­" Onyx wasn''t really sure what to do but followed suit.


    "Let me introduce you to a luminescent peacock. They are the wonderfully blessed with magnificent feathers. They take in pure light elemental mana from any environment and push it to their feathers to create these rainbow beauties. You are lucky if you can even nce at a shed feather in your life. Yet now, you can be one of the few to see a living specimen." The attitude of the luminescent peacock seemed to bepletely based on its feathers along with the pride it took in them.


    The body was notrge however, it was very smallpared to the long plumage of feathers. The many rainbow colors that radiated from it were enough for Onyx to understand just how this would help. The light elemental manaing from the peacock was so powerful that it could feed him for a long while. Having it watch over the hatchlings and eggs would improve their growth. On top of all this, it would endure the saving of light elemental crystals for when they were needed more.


    <o>,m "I will warn my students of the wonder they will witness." Onyx was smart, he left immediately to let the others know what was about to walk in to the room.</o>


    "I summoned you here to bless the young abyssal and heavenly serpent eggs and hatchlings. They thought the light in this ne was great, so I had to bring you to teach them true greatness." The words spurred the peacock on even more.


    ''Luminescent peacock


    It is born and raised in the light elemental ne. The fact that it ignores all potential battle growth for the grooming of its feathers makes it incredibly weak. It is often found living in groups of ten or twelve so that it can use the uglier ones as shields to survive predators. Their pride knows no bounds, an insult to their feathers can dramatically influence how it will treat you. Never insult them or else they will follow you to obtain revenge until they perish.''


    Walker felt that this was drastic but exined a lot. This reason was why Ibis had made sure they allplimented it right away. The three could hear Elise speaking while Alice listened to how she had managed to convince Ibis toe over easily. Arora was wide awake listening intently as well even though she had not grasped humannguage yet.


    "See that? Even the young and still learning hatchlings are able to bask in your glorious feathers. I knew you were perfect for the job here." The peacock was content with fanning its feathers and showing off. The hatchlings just took the chance to absorb the very potent pure light elemental mana. Even Arora left Alice''s arm to move closer. It was one of the first times since she hatched that she had left Alice. But Alice didn''t feel bad at all. Instead, if Arora had not slithered over to get the nutrition that she needed, then Alice would have felt like a burden to Arora.


    "d to see you Elise. I know you already have an idea of what I am here to negotiate. But where is, ah I see." Alma was half asleep in a nearby chair. It appeared that the three girls had taken a few moments to sit and speak before they had to deal with real work. "She has been working herself to the bone. Thank you for letting her sleep a little. She wouldn''t listen to me at all." The genuine gratitude in Gil''s voice made the air feel a little warmer.<sub> </sub>


    "She fell asleep a little bit ago, we figured it was best to leave it be. This room is veryfortable. I can tell it was a lot easier for Onyx and Alice to spend hours in here." Elise was impressed by the ingenuity to create the room for the serpents. On top of that, it all worked out well since it had been made for long term stays.


    "I agree, it will be ideal for me to watch over them while Onyx is busy with his duties. Alice as well." Alice knew that she might not be able to spend every waking moment with Arora, but she still wanted to be there as often as possible. Arora felt the very same.


    "On a more professional topic, we were hoping you could provide us with magma diving bats to bring us to theva fields near the volcanoes." Gil didn''t beat around the bush. He knew that asking for the tough to tame monsters to be brought here for transport was going to be a hit or miss question.


    "Yes, I can do that. But the tamer''s guild needs something in return. Instead of gold or mana crystals, we want you to find the burning fin lionfish eggs. They are spawning right now and we need their eggs for a small group of young tamers. They all had strange circumstances and ended up as tamers of fire elemental monsters. They all selected this monster as their first." While everyone was interested in the situation, Gil and Walker weren''t sure how possible this was.


    "It''s not a rare monster from what I have read. But I would like to know why and how we would do that." Walker let Elise take the spotlight for this. He wanted to hear everything first. He wasn''t sure if he would be able to find dormant eggs of this nature that could be stored within his storage to be brought back.


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 Chapter 1337 1337. Deal Done

    "I will send you with a special back pack made with materials and fire elemental runes. It can hold the eggs and keep them safe without burning you. They are easy to find as long as you avoid the parents guarding the nests. If you are going to be there then you will see them regardless if you look or not." Elise had this all nned out in her head. She wanted to keep up her duty to the tamer''s guild. She had started to take great pride in being promoted to lead a branch. It was something she had not dreamed of yet thrived in. The unexpected urrences in life were sometimes the best.


    "So the group of tamer''s you are taking under you, they wouldn''t happen to be demons that crossed the border recently?" Alma surprised them all by speaking out. They had not noticed her waking up from sleeping in her chair.


    "You are right. The group of children escaped and were sent over by their parents. They managed to get away when the demons under Wrath were moved to another location. We aren''t sure where but the tamers that found them wandering the border saved them. After a short while, one of the children became interested in the spark foot horse that the tamer had with them. Once they touched it all of the children awakened fire monster taming rted systems. They had heard of the burning fin lionfish and wanted to tame it. Apparently, their parents read them a book about far away monsters and told them that the fish were so powerful that they could swim inva like it was a fish''s proper habitat."


    Elise could not lie and say she had not been moved by this. Since this was the case, she personally volunteered to take the group of children in to Genesis and assist their growth. They had every right to a new start in the best way possible.


    "They cane here for healing too." Alice knew that Elise was taking on an additional duty that went above and beyond her current duties. Pledging the assistance of the cathedral was a slight weight off of her. The cathedral would help anyone and everyone, but knowing that they were there and that Alice would see to it, in particr, was a lot to say. Alice held a lot of weight in the cathedral since she had been working so hard to be a healer and more.


    "We will do our best then. Set it up as an official request from your guild so that we can ensure you get notified when we are on the return trip. That way you can be prepared for the eggs." Walker took this very seriously, he could tell that Elise wasn''t ying around and was taking this as an important task that she could do to better the lives of others.


    "That settles it then. We will take theva diving bats in return for gathering these lionfish eggs. By the time we return from settling the me elf meeting and Walker sees the fire dragon vige, Elise will have the young demons ready to form contracts with the eggs. Alice will have them healed. We will have more allies." Gil summed everything up while Ibis watched carefully from the side. He wanted to speak but knew that it was not his ce. These youngsters had risen much higher while he had been in Diamond. The changes were spectacr, they made him feel that the world was indeed changing for the better every single day.


    "I will go with you this time. I wish to toughen myself on the journey before we look in to other journeys." Onyx knew that the party would eventually be heading toward the demonnds. If he was not the strongest he could be then what was the point? He would be useless to his family. The hatchlings wouldn''t have a proper chance to grow and be their own race as they deserved. Everything would be lost that he dreamed of.


    "If you have your matters settled then I suggest leaving myself and the little ones to rest. I think they have reached their limits." Ibis pointed out the hatchlings that had absorbed a little too much pure light elemental mana. Even the eggs seemed to have stopped temporarily. This meant that they had enough to sustain them for the time being and needed to rest to absorb it all properly. The eggs were a shock since they would normally be absorbing it constantly. It brought Alice and Onyx to the realization that they had still been far from the best they could be creating condensed light elemental mana.<sub> </sub>


    Arora slowly slither to Alice before wrapping around her arm and falling directly asleep. She was in her spot and knew it was safe to rest easily. "We can go for food," Alice suggested this so that they could take time from their heavy duties. Alma, Gil, and Elise didn''t fight her on it. Onyx even followed along after stealing his spot on Walker''s shoulders for the first time in a while.


    While the group was heading out, they chatted about their training ns for the day and the week before they would leave. Alma was the only one that appeared to bepletely bogged down by work. She had to settle many ns for the expansion if the me elves readily came to Genesis. They would need a proper space to adjust.


    Meanwhile, Midnight had finally pushed herself up from her sleeping spot. Her nose had discovered the smell of charred meat. This wasn''t a smell she was used to noticing in the mansion, it was a smell that Hilda would never allow in her kitchen. Therefore, Midnight rushed to see what the problem was and how she could fix it.


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 Chapter 1338 1338. On A Whim

    The most unexpected thing for Midnight to find was right before her eyes, "I''ve tested this a few times and there are still failures. What could be wrong." Mordant was sitting perplexed in front of the stove. Midnight looked at him like she was seeing a crazy person.


    "Hm? I see you are awake. I was attempting to create the meal from the other day but unfortunately, the tools here seem to be in poor condition." This single phrase was enough for Midnight to growl severely. She was sure that Hilda would not care who or what was saying her kitchen was not good. She would go at them and kick them out in an instant.


    "Why do you say that I am the problem? Are you challenging me?" Mordant wasn''t sure what was going on. He had copied what he thought had ha[pened ande out with nothing but charred meat. Now he was assuming that Midnight was going against him instead of listening to what she really meant.


    The growls turned in to small roars that made Mordant wonder what was wrong. Slowly but surely it seemed that Midnight was going through. Morand began to look at the oven and back at here quickly before he stopped. "That was made using specific skills. I see, that''s why I have been unable to replicate it. I thought Ignus was able to roast meat just because he had me breath. To think he may have some cooking skills. strange." In the end, Midnight didn''t see the point to continue to argue. She just shook her head and went toward the pantry where she knew some leftovers were stored.


    "Aha! A secret hiding space that even I couldn''t smell. A wise choice for when you want something else to eat." The challenges of human housing were not something that Mordant had expected to face. He would often have people bringing things to him instead of him having to go and get them. Combined, the two hurdles appeared to be too much for him.


    After the pair demolished a decent sized b of leftover roasted giant ant steaks, Mordant looked at Midnight. "I could not seem to find Walker within your home. I assume he has ventured out in to the streets. Should we leave to find him?" Since Midnight was Walker''s champion, Mordant knew that she had a sense of where he would be even without being told by him. It was part of the bond that all champions would have with their royals.


    Since Mordant was able to remain within his dragonkin form seemingly indefinitely, she decided to move about in the same form. It would be a good test for her since she would need to be able to do the same in the future. Especially when she wasrger than most people. It would break her heart to be unable toe inside and eat with everyone, it was her favorite time of the day.


    Those on the street didn''t react poorly to seeing the dragonkin form of Mordant and Midnight wandering about. They were actually happy. Many had gossiped about the dragons joining hands with Genesis. Mordant walking about was proof that they had done so and would help them grow. The power of a dragon would not be underestimated.


    "Are those the potions thate from the alchemy guild?" Mordant saw a stall selling a variety of potions." Midnight nodded and walked over to examine them. "I see, they have multiple affinity potions. All low tier but this sign says more can be purchased directly from the guild of high quality." The merchant selling the potion had posited the sign showing his affiliation with the alchemy guild. It had special rune carvings to ensure that it was real and the potions could be vouched for. The alchemy guild had taken to putting the unique rune formation on every vial that left so that they could back the safety and quality of every potion.


    This idea hade mostly for the sake of the demi-humans. They had suffered enough under the harm of cursed items. There would not be a need for them to worry now, meaning that they would have another healing method for injuries when worse came to worse or someone was harmed in the coliseums.<sub> </sub>


    "If I manage to get some high quality potions then I may be able to use them for my other needs." The thoughts of convincing the other royal dragons to trade for affinity potions were too tempting. Mordant had never really stood on top of the other dragons and wanted to have the chance.


    Feeling that there wouldn''t be any good of this, Midnight tried to steer Mordant away from the alchemy guild, unfortunately, he managed to win out and was walking through the front door before there was anything she could do. There were too many bustling people inside trying to get inline for potions or to drop off materials. It was chaos.


    "I told Walker I would act as an equal, however, we are still well above the masses. This is a beneficial trade for the entire city. I can provide many materials for many guilds in trade." Mordant walked right to the front. Very few had the courage to say anything, and those that did felt a re from Midnight who knew that if Mordant was angered there would be nothing good toe with it.


    "Sir, you must wait in line with everyone else. It is only fai- I see, wee esteemed guest. We will have the guild master prepare their office for you. Please, right this way." Midnight showed off the que with her identification on it. Seeing that she was a member of Remey''s party was enough for the staff member to put the puzzle pieces together and change her tone. It was some quick thinking.


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 Chapter 1339 1339. Silenced

    "No, for thest time. I will not ask the merfolk and the water elves to send more people to help with the underwater fields. We have already hounded them enough. Me asking them will change nothing." The resulting responses from Trish came from both Remey and the old master alchemist asking her the same thing in a row. They had been too caught in their own thoughts to properly pay attention to what was actually going on.


    "Well, we need more herbalists and I have not received any new applications. The sses aren''t even full. We have alchemists to spare, but herbalists? I think not." Remey was rather annoyed. She had done her best to send more people out after herbalists. Unfortunately, they seemed to be rarer and also preferred to be alone. These two traits caused the alchemy guild to need them more.


    "What about those who can grow herbs and perform basic alchemy? We originally were going to limit them by what they should study. Not every alchemist would make the best herbalists." This fact was all too true in most aspects of life. The old master alchemist would not forget the times he had lost p[recious high quality herbs because he had refused to find the right person to take care of them instead.


    "We will have those people take over the herb growth in the easy to grow herb fields. Then the herbalists will remain in the specialized or high quality fields." This would take a little restructuring of potential ss schedules along with how the alchemists and herbalists would interact. However, it would have the added bonus of making alchemists more understanding of the hard work that went in to growing most herbs. They would be able to work more smoothly with all the staff of the guild.


    "Then we do that. It will be easier that way." Remey signed a few papers with the other two to approve the idea. They would work out the details among a few other master alchemistster.


    "Guild masters! The royal dragon is here with Miss Midnight!" The yell outside Remey''s door was enough to make all three stand. They had not expected Mordant toe so soon. If they had known it was a selfish whim after Mordant had been reminded of the potions while walking the streets they would have felt a little off put.


    "Well send him in!" Remey shouted back and was met with the door being pushed open. Midnight was in her dragonkin form which really surprised her. "Midnight, you did really well with your outfit today. Su would be proud." Thepliment was genuine. Midnight had a very hard time with human clothing so the fact that she had dressed herself well was a majorpliment.


    "I agree, normal clothing is strange. Even my dragonkin can not exin it properly. That is why I chose the robes. They have a better fit for my scales and look to match my affinity." Mordant had chosen the robes for a few other reasons that rted to how easily and quickly he could put them on for meetings. But that wasn''t the major thing he wanted to share. "I came to make some trade agreements. I have things you need and I will require the high tier elemental affinity potions. Of every elemental affinity." The smirk he had was enough to tell them all that he was not just looking for the one potion for his personal reasons. He had goals to use them for other trades.


    "I see no issue with that. It reallyes down to what you will offer to trade and at what frequency. There are only so many things we have ess to here. Not to mention the fact that we can''t even make the high elemental affinity potions without proper research and materials." The old master alchemist shared some truth mixed with some untold truths. He knew that they didn''t have the form for the high tier potion all set up yet. All the affinities were missing the proper ingredients.


    While Trish appreciated that Mordant went right to business, she felt that she was missing some proper respect. " If the deal does not meet our requirements, all of your requirements, then I doubt it could work. We can not go to your vige and see what you have to offer. Quality is important for every potion material." Her words held the weight of an experienced alchemist. However, Mordant saw it more as a challenge.<sub> </sub>


    "Then if the deal does not meet your requirements little girl, I will spend the fortune I have amassed over the years on every single herb, field, building, and merchant that sells anything you need. Now, does that sound good?" Trish felt as if she had been soundly beat. The one thing she forgot was that dragons lived even longer than elves. She was no longer the oldest and richest in the room.


    "Huh, so that''s what it looks like when Trish is silenced. We can make some deals. I am particrly interested in the shadow textured ss. I read in a book that it can only be made by those with very high elemental affinities. It just so happens that we have potions that need to remain in total darkness and such a ss would block out all light elemental mana from ruining the potions. Among other things, we also want herbs." Finding that Remey had done her research impressed Mordant.


    "I can arrange that easily. We use it to create my personal meditation cave. It keeps the darkness elemental mana trapped within while Iprehend it." Mordant readily agreed to this. Before long, Midnight was witnessing contracts being drawn up for trade deals between them. She had not expected it to go so smoothly. All potential conflicts seemed to have melted away.


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 Chapter 1340 1340. Alchemy Arguments

    "We will see youter, plenty to do!" Gil was walking Alma back to the water elf expansion area. She had to stop in and see how it was progressing. Gil went with her since he had nned to make himself avable for the remainder of the day. He needed to ensure that his students at the academy could use any resources possible while building their mentorship parties. If they failed because he did not give the proper guidance then the only one at fault was him.


    "I will see youter as well brother, I know you are busy and I will return to the cathedral with Alice." Onyx had a few ns for what he would be working on today with the hatchlings after they awoke from their rest.


    The excited nodding from Alice showed that she wanted to speak with Ibis as well. "You both are doing the best you can. I know that the hatchlings and Arora appreciate it. Now that Ibis is here you will have less stress on your shoulders." Walker''s words were simple, but enough to help both of them.


    "I will see youter¡­" Alice jumped and hugged Walker. She ran away quickly after but it had been the most forward thing she had done recently. Walker, of course, was stunned. He thought that he may have made her mad by not spending more time alone with her. Yet, he had been wrong. Completely wrong.


    Alice had always been surrounded by people in the cathedral. She had to heal and would need others around watching her or helping. Her father was the high p[riest, she always had a pair of eyes watching for her well being or improvement. To have Walker stand back and let her pursue her dreams while offering help if she needed it was different. It was very weed by her. It was just another reason she felt her feelings for him growing.


    "Now, let''s go find Mordant and Midnight. I took longer than I should have. I''m sure that they are out and about." Walker could tell the general area that Midnight had traveled. But when he turned toward the alchemy guild he already knew what must have happened. Mordant had inly said that he would be trying to get more of the affinity potions. He wanted the higher quality ones and that was what he would get.


    "Sir Walker!" As soon as he walked in the very same attendant that had greeted Mordant and Midnight ran to him. She had been on the look out for another party member since she was certain they would arrive. "The guild masters are on the top floor with Miss Midnight and the esteemed guest."


    "Thank you very much. I will go and see them." Before Walker could even get near the door he heard the voices.


    "What do you mean you only want me to use shadow grass as the base ingredient? Are you a fool? All those years lived and this is what you have to offer?"


    "Ha! You might be old for a human, but you are clearly still a child. Adding the bleeding roots will cause the entire potion to separate water from oils. You should know this!"


    Walker slowly pushed open the door for fear that he would being in to a battle scene. However, what he found was a calm Mordant watching Trish and the old master alchemist yell at each other.<sub> </sub>


    p "These two are quite interesting. They argue to force more ideas out. They innovate. Then they identally let slip slight praise before returning to the argument. The process is very interesting." Mordant rarely witnessed others fight like this. The way the alchemists were deriving new forms was unique. He could honestly say that he was impressed by how much the pair had pushed themselves to understand in a short time.</anda>


    "Midnight, I see you helped Mordant out of the mansion. Good job." Walker nced at Remey who was already writing down a form. She was totally in her own world. "And yes, they have a strange way of doing things. But you should see the things they can do after they straighten out the theory. The affinity potions were something that the old master alchemist was stuck on for years. He just needed the right spark to put it all in the works. Now that there is an entire guild to push him, I am certain that the research will advance rapidly."


    "I agree. With The advanced knowledge of herbs, they should have solutions soon. I offered a variety of high tier darkness elemental herbs. This was the result. They knew more about every single one than I ever could hope to know." To make Mordant this impressive was impressive in its own right. Alchemy was a small part of dragon culture. They did not dwell on it since they rarely needed potions. Now, they had a reason for potions and had discovered a more advanced subject than they could have imagined. "I do wonder, will there be alchemist dragons born in your city?" Mordant through out loud for a moment. The potential was there if the hatchlings brought proved to be wiser and stronger as Walker had assured them.


    " I could see it happening. Having an alchemical dragon would be a step to change the way dragons and other races bonded. If Ignus sends over some hatchlings then there may be a chance to obtain that. The mes are very unique. Remey has an alchemy fire spirit partner." As if it had been called, the alchemy fire spirit left the spirit mark on Remey''s hand and drifted over. "Thi is the very spirit. See the difference in the mes? They are perfect for alchemy and can better influence herbs." Mordant observed the spirit while it spun aroundpletely. The darkness spirit came out to greet it while Mordant thought deeply.


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 Chapter 1341 1341. Similar Skills

    "Walker, if you three want to head out it''s alright. We will be starting a few experimental potions once these two finish their flirting." The looks Remey got from Trish and the old master alchemist were enough to burn a hole through someone''s head if they weren''t careful. However, it did do well to stop the noise they were making.


    "This olddy doesn''t stand a chance."


    "How could I be with a child. Too young."


    Thements silenced the pair and left a dangerous ring match. "I finished the suggested form. We can test it together. Just make sure we use the ingredients precisely. Until the first trade is made we will not have abundant resources. While in theva fields we may get fire materials to experiment with the fire affinity potions better." Remey knew exactly what had happened with the me elves. She wanted to go to hunt for herbs but didn''t fully say she would be going with the party. It all depended on the alchemypetition and how close it would be by the time they returned.


    "The deal was a wise choice for both of us. I will have the best sent over when avable." Mordant stood up tall and walked out of the room. Walker gave a wave and followed as Midnight stayed close to his heels.


    "So, where else have you two been today? Just a walk around? Have you eaten?" Midnight huffed in distaste. She knew that Walker would also be unhappy when he found the state of the kitchen.


    "Ah, yes. We attempted to cook a little but found minor difficulties. I was very impressed by the ingenuity to save food in special storage areas hidden away from prying eyes. Normally the aura myself and warriors keeps away pests. Therefore, we do not need deterring measures in homes. But I may attempt a simr building as your mansion. I like it very much." Mordant felt that a dragon should live in simr luxury. Dragons had long used caves and simple stone homes. Now, after seeing Genesis homes he wanted a simr one for luxury and practicality. Standards would have to change.


    "If you speak to the dwarves, they might be able to help. But if you go to the crafter''s guild you will make more progress. A long distance project like that will cost a lot but could give your dragonkin a new outlet for learning. Imagine having draconic crafting methods with dwarven inspiration." Walker sneakily connected another way for Genesis and the dragons to bond.


    "I will have to make that a stop after I have my warriors settled." Walker paused hearing Mordant say this. He hadn''t heard them getting there. However, there was a single roar that echoed throughout the city. It was unmistakably Mordant''s dragon champion arriving and calling out to Mordant. "And naturally, my champion wastes the fact that they can remain hidden in the shadows to get attention." This sounded like an ongoing problem. Walker nearly believed itical that a darkness dragon''s champion would want attention instead of hiding like most darkness affinity creatures.


    "I''m curious. Doesn''t your champion have the shadow wrapping skill? Midnight has it and she makes very good use of it since it was from her mother''s bloodline. It is actually one of her most used skills after the skeletal armor." Walker knew that the skeletal armor skill had been born from her father''s bloodline. But the shadow wrapping skill should be from any darkness dragon.


    "Yes, it is amon skill for any dark affinity dragon. I find it useful for when I do not wish to be bothered. My champion rarely uses it though. I should have sent them to life with the light vige elders." Mordant shook his head while stepping in to the street. "Midnight, could you please roar? If I were to do so I would cause unnecessarymotion along with Walker." Mordant knew that a royal dragon''s roar carried their elemental mana. it could cause elemental damage along with certain effects associated with that element.<sub> </sub>


    "Yours does? That is news to me. When I have roared I just intimidate people. The skill I use to roar is actually called dragon''s intimidation. The one I used when I wasing to the royal court was a special skill rted to nature. To be honest, I would like to learn to permanently imbue natural mana in to a proper dragon''s roar." Mordant took his turn being surprised.


    "It would make sense. You were born a human and do not have the instinct to roar. I will show you mine after things are settled. It can be a wee change of pace while my warriors spread out to undertake their tasks." Mordant knew that some would be taught spirit forging, some would focus on runes, and others would be with the veteran warriors. The remainder would be responsible for many other tasks that revolved around learning and understanding Genesis.


    "I would like that. You and Current are very much alike. Current was understanding about my views and seemed like he had been waiting for something to change in the world. You seem to have been waiting and watching as well." Walker didn''t hold back on this opinion. Both the water and darkness royal dragons had proven themselves to be open to new ideas.


    "Current is water. He changes with the flow to adapt. He can be ice or mist if need be. I believe that darkness is untouchable. It can move through anything and seem to be endless. How would I be unlike darkness and not ept the endless potentials you bring?" It was a simple yet powerful question. Walker truly understood what it meant for the royals to meditate on their elemental affinity. To be more like it and strive to find deeper meanings within it.


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 Chapter 1342 1342. Loud Roars

    Midnight had a questioning expression. She had never roared while in the dragonkin form so she had been unsure how it would work. But she could feel that she was able to still breathe mes if she wanted. She could even tell that the wings she had would allow her to jump and glide in the air, so why wouldn''t she be able to roar?


    The air Midnight sucked in to her lungs was under great pressure. Walker could feel that she was using a decent amount of mana to rival the roar she had heard before. She couldn''t be outdone in her very home territory. She needed to be the loudest and toughest dragon in Genesis.


    "I would cover your ears. It seems that Midnight is trying to outdo your champion instead of just sending a message." Walker sighed a little and waved a hand to make the wind pick up around them a little. He knew that messing around with the wind would dampen the roar directly next to them.


    Midnight''s body reared up and she jumped in to the air. The ear splitting roar that came out had too much force. Everyone in the entirety of Genesis heard it. Whether they were awake or deep underground, they heard it. The very air seemed to ripple slightly, but luckily, Midnight had not added any elemental mana to the roar. Just her own mana had been mixed in to enhance the loudness of her roar.


    "And that was what I was afraid of." Everyone in the streets had frozen with looks of terror or awe. Midnight had roared loud enough to make their ears ring. Some were even holding their heads for fear that the dragons would be fighting in the streets.


    <o>,m "That was very good. I would say you have raised a decent champion. That roar held a lot of demand for attention. You are a very promising champion. I will allow you to train personally with my champion if you so desire." Mordant would not have stopped the two from training in the first ce. However, saying that he would allow it made it show his respect for her and the strength she would grow in to. He was willing to step aside from the difference in age to push Midnight to be a better champion for Walker. Some dragons would attempt to weaken another''s champion to assert their dominance.</o>


    Midnight gave a slight smirk before sighing and rxing her muscles. Her wings had red out behind her and made her much more imposing. Those on the street were still staring but now they were looking at the fast moving procession of dragonkin warriors led by a shy dragon champion in all ck armor and a draconic guardian in a matching set of armor with slight silver daggers on their hips.


    "Fellow royal dragon Walker. Allow me to greet you as the royal darkness dragon Mordant. I have brought this gift to you. It shall show others the respect we carry for each other." Mordant changed to a very high and mighty tone. It was time for him to be serious and follow traditions more. The gift he spoke of was inside a wooden box.


    ''Grey rot tree ornamental box


    This is a box carved from grey rot wood. It is incredibly challenging to harvest due to the darkness elemental mana causing it to rot. If preserved using darkness elemental dragon breath, it can be made in to a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. This box is ideal for storing things with high amounts of darkness elemental mana.''


    Walker was oppressed. He had thought that the grey rot tree was a tree that could not grow really anywhere. Its rarity was something that many craftsmen spoke of since they would need a lot of help from mages to even work with it if it was found. It appeared that Mordant had a decent supply of this wood near his viges.<sub> </sub>


    "This is the purest darkness gem created by my best dragonkin craftsmen. It is refined by myself and my champion to hold purer darkness elemental man than one can find anywhere else around. It should be very beneficial while you understand the darkness elemental mana in nature." Mordant had truly given a wise gift. Weapons? Walker didn''t need them. Monster materials? Walker could most likely find them elsewhere. But the purest darkness elemental mana? That was a hard find.


    "This should be ideal for me to enhance my personal unique weapon. This gift is well met. I hope to see you and your warriors learn a great deal from Genesis while here. If you do not mind. Allow me to exin the rules of this city?" Walker knew that Mordant had most likely told them what he knew already but Walker wanted to reinforce it.


    "Naturally. if it is your vige so thews you enforce will be followed within reason." Mordant couldn''t openly say he would bend to them. He had his pride, but he could ensure that his warriors did.


    "Wee to Genesis! Here every race is equal. Every race has knowledge to help others and grow! I expect the same from you! We will allow you to learn as long as you do not cause trouble. If you dare cause a single problem while here¡­" Walker released a small burst of natural mana from the eternal orb. It was nothingrge and couldn''t harm a fly. Yet, it demonstrated Walker''s bond with a form of mana that none could go against him, if he had used darkness elemental mana then Mordant would be above him, but natural mana? Not a single person could rival Walker.


    The onlookers in therge street were amazed. They were witnessing an important event while going through their daily tasks. Naturally, the gossip had already begun to spread.


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 Chapter 1343 1343. Off You Go

    The looks from those on the streets just increased as the dragonkin marched along the road. They were still awaiting the orders from Mordant to go where they needed to be. By the time they reached the Genesis building, Mordant had decided to properly introduce his champion. "This is Richard? Ids that the name you decided on when you came here?" Mordant asked the question of his own champion''s name. It was slightly stunning since that seemed to be a very important fact.


    "No my lord, the name Liam suites me much better. If you desire for us to ept these beings then I will take a human name, Liam, as my own. They should have an easier time singing my praise that way." Now Walker was seeing why Mordant said that his champion was a little shy. Changing names just so people could more easily gossip about them was odd.


    "I understand now. Well met Liam." Walker gave the knowing look to Mordant who seemed to wince slightly. This was definitely not the first time that his champion had decided to change the way he acted or was called on a whim like this. Having Midnight who was a glutton and slothful at times but true to who she was might have been a blessing that Walker had been blind to.


    "Meet my Guardian, his name is-"


    "Lord, there is no need to concern yourself with me. I am a guardian. I will remain out of the way and keep my champion safe. Thank you for weing him in to your vige to learn new things." The quick cut off was surprising but exined a lot. This guardian was a babysitter that would forgo their own safety to keep their champion out of trouble.


    "I am sure Su will look forward to meeting with you at some point. She had wanted to have other guardians to train will for some time." There was a slight smile that graced the dragonkin guardian''s face. It was a result of what Su had spoken about. No one needed a break as much as he did.


    "Oh, it looks like staff members were sent over from the guilds to help out." Walker was impressed that everyone had been prepared for this. The higher ranking staff members from multiple guilds had all arrived. What was even more amazing was the fact that they were wearing the official uniforms and symbols of their guilds. It was the best way to show how professional the guilds were within Genesis. It demanded more respect when looking at them than the basic clothing people had been wearing while all the uniforms had been made by those with tailoring skills.


    "Listen here! There are individuals from the many guilds to take you to where you need to be. If you do not desire that, then you may explore around on your own. But remember, you are not the strongest here. If you cause problems you will be put down." Walker used force in his voice to ensure that every dragonkin was reminded that this was a royal dragon''s vige. It was not some ce they could fool around.


    The following stomp shook the ground but was matched by small half roars. They were admiring his words. A powerful royal would not allow any to freely abuse their vige. Most dragonkin had heard what Mordant had said but were still skeptical that a human royal dragon would be weak, timid, and overallcking. Seeing that they had beenpletely wrong was better than anything. They would be able to follow the orders they had been given and act with pride here. They could only live up to and improve the expectations from their own Lord.


    Walker casually stepped in to the air using the wind ripple skill. He stood above them and ensured that the dragonkin felt his gaze. "Those that desire to learn true spirit forging, follow this young man here. Rodney will show you a new way!" Rodney was the staff member sent over from the crafting guild. He was directly working with the wandering cksmith and had been learning like crazy. Now he would be able to show off on an important stage.


    "This is one of the most knowledgeable people in the adventurer''s guild. She stands directly beside the guild master ra. Respect her and you will meet tough opponents." Walker motioned to the woman responsible for keeping ra on schedule. It was a tough job but one that truly showed her knowledge of the adventurer''s guild.<sub> </sub>


    "Those interested in the mage tower may follow This high water mage from the water elf city. They havee here to discover new runes and rebuild their city. I rmend you help wherever they need."


    "Follow this man here if you have a dragon hatchling in your care. He is a member of the tamer''s guild. He will give each one an examination for health and registration within Genesis. They will be citizens like everyone else with EQUAL chances to prosper." The man Walker motioned toward was the egg specialist that had found the heavenly serpent egg. He was best at examining hatchlings along with eggs. No one else in the city could boast of such skills.


    "Any who do not have a direction cane and ask the Genesis building staff. Furthermore, if anyone wishes, they may walk the streets and explore the city." Walker finished his direction. Mordant was very impressed by how quickly different attendants had arrived to work with them. But this was just how things had been set up. These attendants had long been selected to wait for this moment.


    "Now, Mordant, I believe you and I should follow the hatchlings so that we may see their health written up in front of us." Mordant was not opposed. Walker was ensuring the best treatment of the hatchlings that didn''t fit well within his own vige. It was already a step up since they would have been pushed to lower ranks in Mordant''s vige, let alone cast out if it was another dragon vige.


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 Chapter 1344 1344. Bestiary

    Seeing the many dragonkin split off, Walker began to understand the difference in their attire. Some had hammers that could be either used for battle or forging. It was set so that they could battle when needed but also create what the vige desired. Those that were heading toward the mage tower to understand runes seemed to have staffs with spikes on them. They could use them to cast magical spells giving their weapon the darkness elemental effects.


    The differences were that they would use magic to influence their strength. It was different from how other races use them in unique ways. The dragons were more focused on strengthening themselves. Their warriors would also focus solely on the battle skills they had than attempting to mix in magic. This made the demi-human warriors focus on them greatly. There would surely be a few dragonkin warriors dragged toward the coliseum that was still being built.


    "I hope you forgive me, but the only dragon hatchlings we had to bring were these three. They didn''t have the same strength as their siblings in the same nests. Therefore, they will have a better chance here. Even my vige has the runts of the litter." Mordant motioned toward three dragon hatchlings sleeping soundly in the arms of three dragonkin warriors. "I had some of my best warriors carry them the entire way. I refuse to let harm anywhere near them." The weight behind hisst words made even his own warriors shake a little. The hatchlings seemed to stir slightly before Mordant rxed again.


    "They will have the same protection here. Do you think my champion would allow a single scale to get scratched? I can''t say they won''t choose to scratch them though. They could be the next great dragon battle fiends, flight teachers, rune genius, they might even be a guild master." Walker didn''t let anything tie these hatchlings down. The dragons had always had such a set way of life. Their traditions had limited them and they were going to learn it in Genesis. Mordant was even having trouble responding hearing that Walker would allow the hatchlings to do any of the things there.


    "And if they desire to leave?" Mordant did not want to see a darkness dragon be a rogue dragon. He would not forgive Walker if this was the case.


    "They could be adventurers if they desire. They can go anywhere in the world. They will have the guidance to make that decision. If you meant that they would be rogue dragons, then you are mistaken." Walker held his head higher, "They will get the guidance to make proper, educated, choices. If they leave it will be with the ability to think for themselves without worry that they will lose their sanity." Walker didn''t budge an inch. He looked at Mordant directly in the eyes. The two weren''t just looking at each other, they were staring in to their very cores to see if the other would falter.


    "Please keep moving. These hatchlings deserve to have their identification tags made sooner thanter with a clean bill of health." There was a tough interruption from the very man that had helped Walker with the heavenly serpent egg. He was not going to dy this any longer. The hatchlings were asleep but deserved all the attention. Making statements or points against each other was worth nothing here.


    "We may be the childish ones here today. How odd." Morant had not been this way in front of his dragonkin warriors. Luckily, he had been just in front of three that would not dare to go against him for showing any form of weakness.


    "It happens to the best of us. Do you expect to be perfect already? How would you grow stronger without a fault or two?" Walker made it spin in to a positive light. This was another quirk that Mordant appreciated from Walker. Not many dragons would be able to react in such a way. They would instead pursue the show of strength so that they would be able to stand above the other. Walker had even witnessed this in the royal courts when Ignus and Terron had argued back and forth.


    The walk was silent until they reached the shop that had been set up with all the eggs for the tamers. Walker and Mordant had not done so out of anger, but appreciation for what their own ws were along with how they may fix them. It was important to think about with full focus. "As you can see, we had some expansions. I even brought in an old acquaintance. He is known as the bestiary scribe." Walker looked at the shorter man sitting at afortable looking table and chair. They were made specifically for him to spend hours writing in.<sub> </sub>


    "Hmm, darkness dragon. Considered ancient. Partial understanding of pure darkness elemental mana. Strong bond with descendants. An optimal age for forming a partnership. Small amount of pure dragon bloodline but focus on darkness dragon bloodline." The man rattled off a few more facts but Mordant was already impressed.


    "Talking to people is not a strong suit, every creature on this that he had met has been recorded in his books. He records everything his eyes see but thates with the drawback that he isn''t able to learn other skills. He is a bestiary scribe, he sees everything and records it. He found a very good home in the tamer''s guild when he was a boy. He is solely responsible for more than half of the records in the entire guild."


    "Of course I am, kidsck good eyes. You, you have them too. Part human, part dragon, small amounts of¡­an odd blood. But you took the bloodline through bonds. Blinds with a nature spirit influencing your being. Hard to describe. High elemental affinity. High potential for growth. Young, but long life expectancy." The man began to ramble on and on while recording. Walker heard a few more things about nature and mana. But a few things that caught his attention were his skills. This man could see his skills!


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 Chapter 1345 1345. Healthy Potential

    "Weak but dangerous¡­" Mordant couldn''t help but mumble under his breath. He had not expected that such a system user would be here. This man was strange yet could give away the key weaknesses of anyone.


    "I agree. It is a massive trade off for knowledge. But that knowledge could be leveraged and abused easily." Walker saw the very same potential that Mordant did. They were of like minds when it came to the fact that this bestiary scribe could write their very beings in to a perfectly understandable n to defeat them.


    "I can tell you are both apprehensive. But there is no need. At a young age, he was discovered and brought to safety within the guild. The current guild master found a curse system user to assist with this. If he is ever forced to work against his will to record or share information, he will perish. It was a step necessary to retain his free will." The bestiary scribe nodded slightly before returning to his mumbling. "No, the first hatchling, let me see."


    The dragonkin elite warrior helped the hatchling stand and wake up. The little hatchling was confused to see the surroundings but did not seem perturbed. Instead, it was absorbing all of the new sights and smells. "Bright eyes and vibrant ck scales. This hatchling received a great deal of nourishment while developing. However, she is small andcks the potential for magical skills. I would say she will be very good at hiding away. The ws are also sharper than average. Ah, you see? Already understanding some of the meaning of my words."


    The bestiary scribe nced over and began to report some things as well, "High affinity for darkness eternal mana. Low physical attributes. Was born with the shadow wrapping skill. Weak pure dragon bloodline, strong darkness dragon bloodline. Young age, high potential to live over three thousand years without any training." The high life expectancy was actually small, for a dragon, yet where it differentiated, was when the bestial scribe said it could live that long without training.


    The reasons that the dragons trained their elemental affinity was because they would be stronger, yes, but they would also be able to live longer by limating to their elemental affinity and understanding it. Some dragons such as Mordant could even rece some of their mana with darkness elemental mana to use as their own. That ability was very valuable for some when injured or weakened. It was something that Walker had still not realized he had done by bonding closely with Fleur. Natural mana also flowed within him more strongly than most living beings.


    "Really? Such potential? But she was the weakest in the clutch. Her siblings kicked her from the nest as soon as they hatched." Mordant was surprised by this but knew that this hatchling would have suffered inparison to her siblings.


    "Next," the owner of the egg building was ready to keep moving. He knew he needed to get the job done properly. " strong male, weak darkness elemental affinity. Opposite of the youngdy. Some broken baby scales must have been in a fight after it hatched. Otherwise, very healthy, blunt ws, sharp teeth, and a very focused gaze."


    p The bestiary scribe looked again, "weak darkness dragon bloodline, weak pure dragon bloodline, small amount of earth dragon bloodline. Very young, high potential to live over a thousand years without training. Could potentially use decaying breath attack with better strength than an average darkness or earth dragon due to fusing the bloodlines. Best for closebat training." These things were also very interesting. It was like seeing the potential the hatchling could have.</anda>


    "He was vicious. Attempted to fight his father when he hatched. Couldn''t even be settled down easily. But when he was hurt he tried to throw rockets and was ousted. It exins why. His mother was distantly rted to an earth dragon." It was not unusual for the dragons to interbreed between viges. That way they would strengthen bonds or find dragons with bloodlines necessary for certain growth situations for the viges.


    "Last," thest hatchling was already away and moved about examining the eggs. This was unusual but not bad. "Very intuitive and understands the lives in the eggs already. Look at how carefully she sniffs each one to remember them. Weaker physical scales but very healthy. Larger wings than the other two. Very attentive to sound. Dull ws. Somewhat rounded teeth. An odd but very healthy littledy."<sub> </sub>


    "Low darkness affinity, weak pure dragon bloodline, weak darkness dragon bloodline. Combat potential is weak. Potential for ancient dragon age¡­high. Physically weak. Mentally strong.high flight ability after growth. Born with the skill small appraisal. Very good." The bestial scribe had praised this hatchling after seeing that it had an appraisal skill.


    "Small appraisal is the appraisal skill that lists what something is and that''s all, correct?" Walker received a nod from those around him. He thought that the skill could be bad at first but when considering how fast this hatchling could learn, he was impressed.


    "Mordant, you seem to have brought gems with you." Walker grinned thinking about what he had heard.


    "It appears we may need to reevaluate the way we search for talent. These are niche skills but impressive in their own rights. Walker, I expect you to give them everything." Mordant would not go back on his word. He was impressed by the evaluations of the bestial scribe. But he knew that the very specific ces that these hatchlings would fit in to were hard to maintain. They would need constant watch to ensure that the others their age would not abuse them in some way or form. It was easier for them to be away from the vige. This realization finally left Mordant to ept that he was entrusting Walker with a generation that could form Genesis in to a proper dragon vige. One that Mordant would n to visit often.


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 Chapter 1346 1346. Hatchling Training Plans

    "Midnight, you heard it all. You will have one hatchling that can learn from you and the way you sneak around. Bring her to the archery academy to talk about tracking and hunting as well. They have a lot of scouting knowledge for her to learn. On top of that, she can learn to fly, making her the best scouting potential the city has seen." Walker also knew that there was a potential for body guard and assassin. However, that was after the hatchling had learned some skills that went with their talent.


    "And if she chooses otherwise?" Mordant was not sure what Walker would say if the hatchling were to not want to scout at all.


    "Then at least she will have the knowledge to fall back on if she fails elsewhere. We can give anyone the tools that work with their skills but they are not forced to walk the path we offer." Mordant appeared to like this since he was certain that Walker would actually allow this to happen.


    "The male hatchling can¡­and I may regret this, go and train with Remey. She should find the dwarves and work together. The earth bloodline will help along with the desire for closebat battles. They might even be close friends." Walker didn''t like the idea of allowing Remey to pass some of her brutal habits on to a young being but it made sense that she was a part of this with the dwarves. They had knowledge about head to head battles that this hatchling would find valuable.


    "Are you thinking he has the potential to be a guard for the alchemy guild? How interesting. They would be much safer with any dragon guarding it." The respect that Mordant had was much higher now. A high position such as guarding an entire main guild building seemed to represent the strength a dragon had.


    "I think that would work, yes. Many would think twice before breaking the rules set inside the building. He would also be there to ensure that the herbs you send and the potions they send are safe within the building. The perfect bonding of both dragons and other races." Walker thought for a moment, "It''s also near the adventurers guild so he can battle as often as he wants."


    Both seemed very happy with this. However, that brought them to thest hatchling which was sitting patiently trying to understand what the adults were conversing about. She appeared to be very interested in what the words meant and how she could learn them.


    "Midnight, how would the Ga family feel about training a young appraiser. One that would also function as a deterrent for any form of robbery." Midnight huffed in approval. She had not seen the new auction house in Genesis but she knew that it was heating up. Many merchants fought for a chance to get in.


    "An appraiser? How so?" Mordant was unsure how this would work out for the hatchlings'' benefit. Let alone represent the dragons properly.


    "The Ga family runs the best auction houses I know of. They have many appraisers that take great pride in their work. They always need someone to join them in appraising and pricing valuable items. Some artifacts, materials, and even magic scrolls. There''s really no limit. Having a dragon that could do that there would be perfect. She could be the best appraiser there is if her skills grow over time."


    Hearing that this hatchling could be the very best was exactly what Mordant had wanted. Having a hatchling as the best at anything would be ideal, but one that would outdo any that showed up to attempt to do the same job was better. Not only would she be renowned, but so would the vige that brought her here.


    "I will ept this. I expect progress before I leave the city. In all these things." Mordant took copies on the papers that the bestial scribe had made. He was sure that they would be perfect records for the mothers and fathers of these hatchlings. It told a lot about the blood they passed down along with the fact that they had other hatchlings as well. Not just single ones in the nest. "I will return to the mage tower for some thought." Mordant left. The three elite guards waited for Walker''s orders now.<sub> </sub>


    "First of all. Midnight will take the lead. Listen to her. I will focus on making other things work. But I will personally go and get us in to the Ga family auction house. They shouldn''t have anything going on today. Midnight, you do your best with those two. We will start thinking about names while we see how they act." One dragonkin guard followed Walker as he tried to scoop up the hatchling.


    p "Let her walk. As long as she stays close she will be fine. If she is carried everywhere she won''t grow." The elite knew what Walker meant but still worried. Inparison to the other dragon hatchlings, these three were the weakest.</anda>


    Midnight had the two elites follow her out the door toward the alchemy and adventurer''s guild. The pair of hatchlings slowly trailed behind her. Midnight had growled slightly to ensure they knew to follow her orders.


    Walker, on the other hand, strolled in to the side of the street with the Ga family auction house in mind. He had not attended since the city was built but he knew exactly where it was. The hatchling was looking around with eyes that didn''t seem to stop moving. So many new things for her to use a skill on. "Keep up, avoid that." Walker gave his advice and knew his words were not understood.


    His attitude seemed cold but it made the hatchling learn that he was the one in charge and to follow him. It reigned in her curiosity while moving safely through the streets.


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 Chapter 1347 1347. Grand Auction House

    To say that the Ga family went all out on building a new auction house was an understatement. The size of the building wasrge enough to hold multiple auctions at the same time or have the roomsbined for one massive auction. Thergest set up that Walker had ever seen.


    With all of that, the entire building followed the same trend as other auction houses owned by the Ga family. It was made from a pristine white marble carved with many intricate details. "This is the Ga family auction house in Genesis. I would like to say that I know everyone that works here but unfortunately, they are still in diamond." This was mainly for the dragonkin to understand why it might take a little longer for them to get inside.


    Waltzing up to the front entrance was also not as easy, there was a line of customers that were waiting. As much as Walker wanted to skip the line of twenty people, he felt that it would ruin the fact that he would be teaching the hatchlings that they were equal to the other people in the city.


    The elite dragonkin warrior wanted to ask why they were standing in line when Walker was the royal dragon of this vige. This was all his whether people liked it or not. They would need to move for him to get where he wanted. "Should I clear the path for you, Lord?"


    "No, it''s alright. We can wait. Everyone needs to be patient with these things. It would ruin the process if I forced my way to the front. Instead of waiting for an hour at most, they might wait for three or not be helped at all today."


    "I understand. Thank you for showing me the logic. It would be a shame to ruin the carefully built order within your territory. I will learn this as I watch over the young miss." As the elite warrior quieted himself while thinking about the reasons for those removing around him, he noticed a guard approaching them.


    "If sir Walker would like toe inside, our head appraiser has invited you." Walker waited while looking at the guard and those in the lines'' reactions.


    "Will it slow your work today for me to do so?"


    "Not at all. We have a very fit staff working today to evaluate the items these fine merchants have brought. Please rest easy."


    "Then we will follow you along. Thank you." The guard gave a nod and began to lead them inside. The elite dragonkin knew that this must have been the proper format for this sort of outing. They were important so they would be met by someone once arriving. It was the same if a dragon visited a vige. They would be greeted properly before they walked inside.


    "Look, he must be bringing the dragons to see the auction house. Make sure you get ready. We might see them at the auction tomorrow night." Walker overheard the gossip while heading inside. Unfortunately, no one nned to visit the auction. They didn''t have the gold to waste right now nor the time.


    "Please, right this way. Our head appraisal expert is waiting for you. He was specially appointed by the head of the family." Another staff member opened a set of double doors. The hatchling was looking about with frantic energy. Such fine furniture paired with all the art on the walls was overwhelming. Especially since she did not know what the words under the appraisals stood for.


    "I am very happy to be visited by one of the heroes. How may I help you today? Looking to join the auction tomorrow?" The man that sat at arge desk was fairly young. But Walker could see the wrinkles around his eyes from constantly squinting at things to appraise them properly.<sub> </sub>


    These signs of focus worked well with the many monocles and tools for appraisal around the room. To say this was an office was a stretch. Workshop, would be closer to what it actually was. "I actually came to speak with you about sses for a young appraisal expert. They have the small appraisal skill and need to see if they have the proper potential for this position."


    "Well, as Aiden Ga, I have to ept a request from someone my great grandfather told us always has a seat within our auction house." Aiden stood and officially shook Walker''s hand. This astounded the elite guard since it was so calm.


    "This is an elite guard from the darkness dragon vige. And this, is the hatchling with the small appraisal skill. She has a lot to learn but I am certain watching you and appraise anything will be enough for now. I would like her to start tomorrow. Her guard will remain with her but should not disrupt anything. Can you handle this?" Walker put Aiden on the spot.


    "This is much more important than I imagined. This is the foist hatchling other than Lady Midnight toe to genesis, correct?" The nod from Walker said it all. "Then as a member of the Ga family, I will happily do my duty to Genesis and assist this young miss. It would bring the family great honor."


    "I had some hope that you would say that. It will also ensure that my fellow royal dragon Mordant visits here to check up on her. He will examine this ce before he leaves. He may also sit in on an auction since it is not something normal for dragon culture. Please show him a good auction."


    "I will schedule arge auction for three days from now. Please rest assured that there will be seats for your family and the honorable guest." Aiden had a glint in his eyes. For such an opportunity toe knocking was just what he needed to show the family how well he could do after being assigned here. It was his opportunity to rise to the same height as his aunt who was about to take over the diamond branch of the auction houses.


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 Chapter 1348 1348. Familiar Face

    <o>,m Midnight stood in between the alchemy guild and the adventurers guild. She growled softly sending the two elite dragonkin inside. Before long a staff member came out from each. They saw that it was Midnight waiting outside and rushed back inside.</o>


    ra was the first to respond. But instead of hering outside, a different person walked out. One that had been handpicked to handle the dragonkin that came to the guild. He had been moved from the diamond branch where he was in charge of evaluating new members to y the same role here align with keep any dragonkin that abused their rules in line.


    "You couldn''te inside? We have the entire training field and you couldn''te inside?" Therge mad had a familiar shape that Midnight had seen before. Yet she had never spoken with him. The only one in the party that knew him by name would have been Walker if he was there.


    "Refrain from addressing Lady Midnight in such a manner, she is-" The sharp growl from Midnight was mixed with orange sparks. They cut the elite dragonkin warrior off from speaking again. He didn''t know what he had done wrong but when he saw Midnight give a soft nod to the man he understood. He had been told off because he was rude.


    "Oh? You can keep them in line with a quick growl like that? We''ll get along well. I''ll tell you a little secret then. Your older brother Walker was tested by me before he joined the guild. Has he ever told you about how he walked in and started telling people he could use any weapon, learn any skill, and even showed it all off in front of my two eyes?"


    Midnight was surprised to hear this. Walker had not said much about bing a member of the guild. The test made sense but it was overlooked after they were members. Midnight also skipped any potential test since she had an established bond with Walker. "The name is Dirk by the way. I had to move all the way here just to handle the crazy number of adventurers applying to be part of the guild. It''s all your fault you know."


    Dirk appeared to be upset but was actually smiling the whole time. "Midnight, did you really send someone in to get me? I know you are busy since the dragonkin arrived but so am I." Remey was on another level. She had been interrupted from her work and was ready to go a few rounds to put Midnight in her ce.


    In response, Midnight pushed the male hatchling forward and huffed at the elite dragonkin who was looking at Remey as if he was watching someone walk to their death. "Lady Midnight wishes for this young one to be trained as a guard for your alchemy guild. They will be tough and growrge. Here are copies of the paper with notes from sir Walker." The elite handed them over.


    "So you are in charge of finding ces for these hatchlings? Good. but you are short one¡­ah, Walker has it with him. Fine by me. I will teach it a few things. But can it take a punch?" Remey red at the male hatchling who finally showed the fire in his belly.


    Small growls were forced out as it puffed up its chest. "Ha! You call that a growl? Didn''t you hear Midnight, she has way more presence than you. You could barely guard cheese against a mouse. We will be changing that. I assume this guy is here to help?"


    "This guy? You are looking at the best analyzer of talent the adventures guild in Genesis has. You''re lucky you passed the test to get in to the guild since I might not have let you walk in so disrespectfully. Tell me who evaluated you so I can fire them!" Dirk responded with the same fiery attitude that Dirk did. "Little girl, don''t go hiding like that., I can still sense you there."


    The female hatchling had hidden away hearing Dirk get riled up with Remey. "If you want to be timid like that I won''t let you train around here." Dirk was ready to only let one hatchling in until the elite dragonkin handed him a set of papers which Dirk read carefully.<sub> </sub>


    "Scouting potential? I see, so you want me to connect the archery academy with her lessons. That makes more sense since we officially contracted with them. We have some of their instructors here today showing a few lessons in the training fields. They will be here tomorrow with the founder of the academy, Gil."


    "Gil will get his sorry butt here? Good, I will walk over and make him work up a sweat. He has been running around with the elves while I train and work hard. Someone needs to get his mind off girls." Naturally, Remey knew that Gil wasn''t shirking his duty but she wanted an excuse to drag him in to sparring.


    "It''s settled then. We will see you all tomorrow. I will go back then. I have potential talent to test." Dirk was very up front and walked right away without another word. But Midnight was happy. She had wanted to get the introductions done easily.


    "Are you heading home with them next? I can send a few of the dragon fruits with you since we have some that were speed grown for production. We found that they make a good food once processed in to pellets for lizard type monsters. The tamers have tried to buy us out recently." Rmeeyughed a little at the guild''s smart finds.


    Since Midnight wanted to eat another as well, she didn''t refuse. The hatchlings didn''t know what they would get from such a fruit but Midnight did. It could help them find some of their hidden potential. It wasn''t a guarantee but a good chance to take.


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 Chapter 1349 1349. Races Of Genesis

    "I just checked on Midnight, she seems to be a little foggy." Su had spent the day at the cathedral for the most part. Alice had trained with her a little while there which had helped Su train her movements without shields. Su had a fear that she would be without a shield and need to dodge, therefore, the training without a shield had begun.


    "I think she will need some time to adjust. The rest of Mordant''s people got here today. The entire city is going to be busier. You should have seen how silent Midnight was when we were having the hatchlings evaluated for health. It was like she wasn''t sure what she was looking at until the end."


    "I would have thought that too. They are so small. They are even smaller than Midnight was." Gil was thinking back to when Midnight was found in the forest cave. She was small but had at least been big enough to defend herself to a degree.


    "Well, I said it more because she was stunned by the hatchlings actually being here. I think she thought that she would have more time to mentally prepare. Not that we could have guessed what skills the hatchlings would have." Walker just shrugged.


    "And you somehow managed to still send one my way. Did you really think that having one as security right now would help us? Now we have merchantsing in thinking that they might be eaten by some giant dragon when it''s actually some cute little thing." The conversations in the alchemy guild had been radical. Some thought it was good to have a dragon guard while others thought it dangerous.


    "But if people talk about it they know that they could get targeted by a dragon if they cause problems. Plus, you have the added bonus that you can tell people two royal dragons wille after them if they harm the hatchlings in your care." Walker was very serious. He knew that Mordant woulde with a fury if any hatchling was harmed.


    "So just scare the merchants that show up. That''s fine I guess. I do that anyways." Remey gave up on it. She would have to deal with the entire staff fawning over the hatchling. "But I will be training it personally. The one with you looked ready to start a fight with anyone."


    "Oh, Walker already said that the hatchling rmended was a fighter. It will be perfect for you to train. Maybe I can help and show him how to defend others." Su found a way to help a little which brightened Remey up a bit. With both of them on the case, it would also help the hatchling grasp more knowledge sooner.


    "And the one I will see, you said she might be an expert in scouting even better than Midnight?" Since Gil wanted to move on he started asking his own questions.


    "Exactly. Sharp ws, ability to fly, and already has the shadow wrapping skill. Just needs to start learning." Walker met Gil''s eyes and saw more excitement than anything else.


    "I''m fine with that then. I will mix them in to the training. One of the enforcers is exining their tricks for tracking intruders in the forest. He apparently became a little famous with the most poachers caught in a month." Many of the elves that worked in the archery academy were amazed by this enforcer since they had made so many aplishments patrolling the forests before the forest elf city had been opened.


    "So, thest hatchling? How about it? You didn''t say much earlier." Su had heard a little of what had happened already but Walker seemed to still be figuring it all out in his head.<sub> </sub>


    "I brought her to the Ga family auction house. The head appraiser there is named Aiden. He is going to teach her what he can. Since she had a small appraisal skill I expect that she will be very interested in all the items that go there to be appraised or sold."


    "So you have an appraisal dragon, a guard dragon, and a scouting assassin dragon. What a mix." Gil was blown away by this. These were very specialized positions that these hatchlings fit perfectly at such a young age.


    "They wouldn''t really fit in anywhere else it sounds like." Remey had hit the nail on the head. "They aren''t really what you think of when we talk dragons. Do you think any of them actually have positions like that in their viges? Just think about how amazed Mordant was at the alchemy guild today."


    "Remey, I doubt anyone would be unimpressed by the alchemy guild. But, you are right. They all were pushed out of their nests when hatched because they were too willing to fight their siblings, couldn''t fend off their hatchlings, or were seen to have too weak an affinity for darkness." As much as Walker wanted to change all of this, he knew that there was a brighter future for them in Genesis where they would be wanted.


    "Demi-humans, merfolk, elves, humans, goblins, grey haired spiders, harpies, dwarves, and now dragons with dragonkin. I would say that Genesis is doing very welltely." Su pondered the fact that they had so many different races already. The fact that there might be more out there on other continents was insane to fathom.


    "I think we did very well so far. But we haven''t done it right. We only have a few demons around the city. It''s not good. We need to fix that sooner thanter¡­" Walker wanted to push the freeing of the demons ahead faster. However, he knew that they didn''t have the army or the strength to do this yet. Genesis needed to grow more, much more to make this dream a reality. Everyone felt the same and took it to heart.


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 Chapter 1350 1350. True Talents

    Aiden found himself sitting in his office wondering what to do. The little hatchling had been escorted by Midnight and the elite dragonkin warrior. Aiden had ensured he was up earlier than usual to meet them and prepare the office for some lessons.


    "I wish I had a better way to speak with you, but I am just human. Hopefully, you can follow along with how things work." Aiden had gold out on the table to show the rtion to how objects would cost for payment. He had also grabbed the identification card to show how most people would pay for items.


    The little tag hanging around the hatchling''s neck was left without a name but still had ess to a small bank ount within the Genesis building. It didn''t contain anything just yet but would be there as the hatchling grew.


    "Appraisals are very important. We can tell things about an item that owners might not know. Like this." Aiden picked up a small vase. This is old but looks very new. However, when I use an appraisal skill I can see that it has been made using earth slime cores. It is tougher and made tost generations. That increases the value."


    Aiden saw the hatchling examine him then the vase. She sniffed it before watching Aiden grab a monocle to check for details. "Here is a scratch, it''s small so it does not decrease value too much. I have to check the quality." It was strange but the hatchling started to catch on.


    The small appraisal exined the what of an item but nothing more. However, she had easily started to understand the shake or nod of a head. When Aiden showed her the small scratch, he shook his head meaning that it was bad. But as he showed therge unscratched artwork, he nodded. Therefore, she knew it was good.


    To Aiden''s wonder, the little hatchling moved toward one of the paintings on the floor waiting to be appraised. She sniffed it and pulled it toward him with extreme care. Her rounded teeth didn''t cause a single bit of damage. After carefully examining it she nodded.


    "Hmmm," Aiden appraised it over and over from multiple angles. "You are correct. Not a single w. Well taken care of. Was painted fifty years ago. I would say this belongs in the next auction." This was perfect progress. The elite dragonkin took careful mental notes about this to tell Mordantter that day.


    While Midnight had found her hands full after heading toward the adventurers'' guild and running in to Gil, she was very happy with Gil''s n.


    "I want your hatchling to hide. We are ying hide and seek. My archers have failed to remain hidden multiple times so I asked some of the elven mages to help make the training field a little interesting."


    The training field in question had taken a radical change overnight. The mages had manipted the earth to form faux trees, vines, and even pits in the ground. It was easier to call this ce a stone forest.


    "That means the hatchling I''m in charge of is the hunter here. Good. he needs to work on bodily awareness. I wanted to just sit and see what he is like with his attacks, but this is better. We can both show off our skills." Midnight proceeded to huff and growl slightly to exin some of what Remey and Gil were nning to the hatchlings.<sub> </sub>


    They could not perfectly understand, but it was good enough. "Most of the students are already out on different quests with their groups, but those that are not ready for that are here. They either just awakened their system or have struggles. Help them out." Gil said this and proceeded to dash in to the changed training field. "There are other adventurer''s here too by the way!"


    An added challenge of having adventurers meant that the hatchlings would need to identify their targets before tagging them. "Don''t let him sneak away! He deserves a punch for making it harder!" Gil knew that his students were already trying to hide. But he would also be trying to tag them since it was only fair that he helped out.


    Midnight kept the hatchlings in sight. She didn''t feel that she needed to worry over the one with the shadow wrapping skill. She had already disappeared. However, the male had not even tried to hide himself. He followed Remey''s lead and chased after Gil. But Midnight soon found herself surprised.


    The scents of adventurerspared to the archery academy students could be said to be different. Midnight was around Gil often enough to know that they had the scents of wood and feathers on them at all times from their various arrows. The adventurers would smell less like that even if they were archers themselves due to their travels to different ces.


    When the male suddenly stopped and started sniffing, Midnight realized that he had not been haphazardly chasing Gil with Remey. He had been tracking using scent alone while following the simr scent of Gil. But he hade too close to another simr smell. As he jumped in to the air and punched on a nervy stone log, a small squeal of surprise rang out. The male had found his first target.


    Even more surprising, when Midnight looked, she found that the female hatchling had snuck up behind the very same student to grab her hand with her mouth. Both had gone for the same target with different approaches. One used stealth and the other used their body''s natural strengths. The male didn''t need magic skills because it had a better scent. The female didn''t need a strong body because she could catch her prey unaware. The two were opposites but sessful. Very sessful, so much so that the elite dragonkin watching were open mouthed in slight shock.


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 Chapter 1351 1351. Walkers Mana Flow

    With everyone upied, Walker found himself sitting behind the mansion trying his best to discover a way to do more with his elemental sculpting skills. He wanted to be able to do more dragon rted skills when in battle. The elemental wings were already modeled after dragon wings, so he knew he could do more.


    Copying traits from the dragons Walker had seen didn''t sound hard. He had a clear vision as to what he could create. The real problem was the fact that he needed to manipte the mana in a way that would end with the result he wanted. If he were to mess up, then he could be left with a few problems. One of which being magic bacsh.


    Fleur seemed to be stirring in the spirit mark since Walker was pulling more mana toward him. She had been nonstop absorbing mana for thest weeks to increase her strength. What Walker knew was that as she grew stronger, so did his bond with her. It was the same meditation that he had been doing, yet Fleur did it inside the spirit mark.


    "I can pull the natural mana toward me and I can make it. But what happens if I separate it?" The idea came to him suddenly. It was a concept that he had never considered. Forcefully unbncing mana was never a good idea, but what if he tried to create a faux dragon head using earth? He might be able to replicate a dragon''s breath while still being a human.


    The earth began to take shapes, however, Walker found that the more he focused on a singr aspect of a dragon, the more he realized that he couldn''t have it free standing. If he made a dragon neck and heading from the ground then he would be leaving it unable to move properly. The idea wouldn''t work when elemental mana was applied in the way he desired.


    Like the elemental wings, Walker decided tobine it with himself. That meant slowly pulling away the earth to make the sculpted creation lighter. The way it seems to fit best was running along his back in to a dragon head above his own head. The entire position looked silly until Walker started to let his mind really flow.


    The elemental wings began to form next. From there, Walker kep[t it going. He wanted a tail to fall down the rest of the length to bnce the weight of the head he created. Overall, it was a terrifying appearance that Walker could manipte perfectly with his mana. However, it was already costing him a substantial amount of it.


    Feeling even more confident since he had seeded thus far, Walker made the earth wrap around his arms to createrge dragon ws. The eternal orb formed in to a solid chest te which he pulled more natural mana from. This proved to be even more valuable since he needed the mana to bnce out the mana he was burning.


    Once the form was finished, Walker looked as if he had grown draconic features around him. Thest thing to do was to fully add elemental mana to it as the elemental wings had. With extreme focus, Walker began to pull more mana through the sculpted earth. The eyes of the dragon head lit up slowly with mes while ice spikes formed on the tail. Long ws of ice formed while wind wrapped around his entire figure.


    The natural mana was right at the center of all of the sculptures using the eternal orb chest te as the base for bnce. Furthermore, Walker started to circte all of the mana. He could tell that he was on to something. His heart was beating faster and faster but he could tell this was the thigh way to go.


    The sudden connection that appeared was not just because of the way the mana was circting. Fleur had grasped control over the way the mana flowed. She could feel the way that Walker was manipting it and moved from the spirit mark to the eternal orb. The control she had while residing within the eternal orb was not at all weak.


    Mana flowed easily causing the true depth of Walker''s sculpted creation to be clear.<sub> </sub>


    ''The skill elemental dragon aspect has been taken from the lost dragon system. The user has learned the skill elemental dragon aspect through multiple elemental, spiritual, and draconic influences.''


    ''Elemental dragon aspect- 80 mana cost, 30 natural mana cost, dragon and spirit bonds required


    The user is able to manipte and build armor to surround them using nearby elements. The mana pulled in will facilitate a unique weapon as the core of this armor. The armor itself will require consistent use of the user''s mana, natural mana, and extreme control. The head of the dragon is able to replicate the breath of a dragon or bite using elemental mana. The ws can add elemental mana to them to cause increased damage. The wings function the same as the elemental wings skill. The tail is able to be used as a spiked club with elemental affinities added. The user can only use this skill as long as their mana and mental strength holds out.''


    Walker felt the power coursing through his body. This was not what he had originally intended but what he had discovered through a gamble. The natural mana had not been separated but it had been used to manipte elemental manas around it. This was an intense form of control while also showing strength.


    "Haa, hahah, haaa, aha!" Theughter was like flying for Walker. He was feeling stronger than ever. That was until his mana reached nothing and his body fell forward. The entire armor that had been formed broke in to dust around him. Fleur fell in to another slumber within the eternal orb. Walker had used a skill much too intense for him to use just yet. But it was one that was undoubtedly meant for him to use.


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 Chapter 1352 1352. Covered In Dirt

    "So, do you want to exin why I had to drag your butt inside? Why you were asleep outside in a pile of dirt?" Remey had somehow managed to be the one that made it to the mansion first at the end of the day. Therefore, she had been the one that found Walker passed out in the training area behind the mansion. He had created a pile of dust and dirt with his skill earlier which had be his pillow.


    "You see¡­I was training and tried to use a skill but I used all of my mana trying to keep it up¡­" Even the small smile that Walker had was enough to make Remey punch his arm.


    "And you are happy with that? I found you in the dirt! What''s wrong with you. There''s training to your limit and just in being dumb." Since Remey''s training was brutal in its own way, Walker was surprised to hear that she was so upset. "You''re lucky I found you before it started raining. Or Mordant saw you."


    Walker nced outside to see a torrential downpour. The rain wasing down faster than one could keep up with. The entirety of Genesis would be soaked thoroughly before the night was up. "I didn''t consider the bacsh from testing my elemental mana to make new skills. Originally I was just trying to break the natural mana back in to elemental mana for training.But I got distracted and started to try and create dragon like skills."


    "Oh, makes sense. You want to impress the dragons more so who cares about looking like a fool in front of them or worse, showing weakness. Aren''t you a royal dragon too? Shouldn''t you be acting the part while another is in the city?" Part of Walker wanted to say that Mordant was back in the mage tower. However, he knew that was the wrong answer. He had risked a lot more than he realized at the time.


    "I''ll be more careful." Walker felt odd that it was Remey reprimanding him. But it was her that had gone out and started to grow uptely. She had an entire guild under her care now. How would she not start to think about things in a more mature way?


    Yet, as Walker thought about it, Remey had always been more mature. She had so many siblings to take care of when she was in the orphanage. If he had not pursued better food, medicine, and care for them then she would never be where she was today. Out of the entire party, Remey may have been the most adult even though she had a hot head personality at times.


    Remey looked at Walker carefully. She found the guilt on his face then decided it was enough to change the subject for now. "You know, those hatchlings did pretty well today. Midnight is out rewarding them with some street food but they earned it. The two at the adventurer''s guild training grounds have more talent than we thought. One has a great sense of smell while the other is perfect for stealth."


    "Did you hear about the third one? Aiden should have told Midnight and the dragonkin warrior with them how thest hatchling did." Walker wasn''t sure if Remey knew.


    "I walked Midnight home before she left again. The dragonkin with that hatchling was pretty interesting. She looked at all of my gear and inspected it closely. That guy, Aiden seemed to take a real liking to her. Even offered her a room there if Midnight approved."


    "Huh, how about that? I knew it would go well but that''s better than I thought. I wonder if Mordant expected this?" The pair continued their talk for a short while more before Walker noticed he was ruining the couch he was sitting on with the dirt he was still covered in. Therefore, he left to clean himself as Gil walked in the door.


    "Why are you covered in dirt?"<sub> </sub>


    "He''s dumb that''s why," Remey smirked while walking away leaving Gil questioning what had happened.


    Feeling more than just one pulling at his shirt was a strange feeling. Walker was used to Midnight pulling him out of bed to get up but this time when he opened his eyes he found the three hatchlings working hard to pull him from his slumber while Midnight watched.


    "Midnight¡­you really had them¡­.try this?" Walker''s groggy response elicited a slight huff that was more of augh. "Don''tugh at me! I will freeze you!" Midnight jumped back as Walker whipped a hand out trying to hit her with a little cold breeze with his mana maniption.


    He was technically a royal dragon and now he had three dragons pulling him out of bed. Where was the respect? " Are you three going out this morning?" Walker found it impressive that Midnight had been staying in her dragonkin form more and moretely. But what was more impressive was that she handed a note to Walker that said cathedral.


    The writing was not straight or easily legible, but it was enough. "You wrote this? You are reallying along! Now you just need to start putting more speech in to practice." Walker teased Midnight a little after his praise. He wanted to encourage her to keep pushing ahead to learn more. He knew that she was already grasping the concept of writing and reading much faster than most people would. It was only a matter of time before she was able to speak.


    "You are right though. I want to go to the cathedral with you. Onyx should being with us to theva fields and volcanoes. I doubt he is going to miss the chance for an adventure since he has been so busy helping the abyssal serpent hatchlings." Midnight huffed in approval while the hatchlings took pride in waking Walker up.


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 Chapter 1353 1353. Can You?

    Onyx had been going through what Ibis would need to know. He had secretly had copies made of all the books that he had found about abyssal serpents. He had also had some things written down that he had learned about himself as he grew. The same was set up for heavenly serpents but it was much less knowledge.


    "Alice, I think we will have more hatchlingster today." Onyx had checked the remaining abyssal serpent eggs. All appeared to be close to hatching in his opinion. The heavenly serpent eggs were also gathering light elemental mana at a decent rate.


    "Mhm." Alice was sitting after a performance softly stroking Arora''s head. Arora appeared to be very happy with this situation since she had gained a lot of light elemental mana on top of the attention.


    "I think so too. It will be very lively over here. Just watch out, by the time we are back from the volcanova fields they might have grown up." Walker''s smallment made Onyx''s eyes widen slightly. He didn''t want to think that the hatchlings would ever grow up and not need him. In the short time he had been teaching them, Onyx had be very attached.


    "They will always need family." The calm response from Alice was just what onyx needed to hear.


    "How am I supposed to tease my little brother if you are going to undermine me like that." Alice just smirked while Onyx felt he had witnessed a victory for Alice.


    "Brother, what are you here for today? Have youe just to see the hatchlings? They are resting now." Onyx wasn''t sure what Walker had nned.


    "I mostly came to see you two. I wanted to spend some time before we have to head off to the heat of the volcanoes. I know you are nning toe along since Ibis is here, but Alice is staying from what I understand." There was a little sadness in Walker''s voice. He wanted to spend more time with Alice as well.


    "I am staying¡­Near Genesis." She was shy. But she took a deep breath to prepare herself. "I am going to a nearby vige that had some problems." She was ready to take on such a task for herself. This was a very big deal for any member of the cathedral.


    "Is this what the high priest has spoken about before? Are you leaving on a healing quest the way other priests and healers do?" The excitement built in Walker''s voice. He wasn''t afraid that Alice would end up hurt. He was excited because he knew how big of a deal a journey like this was for any healer in the cathedral. This sort of quest was a major rite of passage.


    "Alice is! I helped her with the route nning."Onyx slithered over toward a nearby table and snatched a rolled up paper with his tail. He whipped it toward Walker who easily grabbed the paper out of the air.


    "Oh, I see. You are going a little closer to the demonnd border. But the vige is right near the start of the demonic forest. That must mean that the problem is demonic monster rted?" Walker''s eyes narrowed. He knew how dangerous demonic monsters were.


    Everyone knew how demonic monsters were driven by their desires. They had no chances of ever gaining sentience. Being able to control them was something many thought impossible. Walker could only recall one person he had met or heard of controlling demonic boars.<sub> </sub>


    After a deep breath of his own, Walker looked at Alice. "I shouldn''t be doing this since I was a little too energetic in my training yesterday, but show me what makes you think you will be safe going against potential demonic monsters." Without another word, Walker started to walk out of the cathedral. He was moving right to the back where there was a ce for him and Alice to train.,


    Since there had been so much destruction due to training. The high priest had broken and had the space erged. He hade up with a few ns to use the space to train the healers to avoid dangers while healing. It was a very bright idea since many of the healers would be out in the worlde the next few years. Genesis was growing and there had already been multiple healers that had gone out to face monsters.


    With the potential freeing of the demons soon, it made sense that healers would be in the midst of a real war. There were demons that like the corruption and evil within theirnds. They would fight to the death to defend that. No one could fault them for fighting for what they believed. But they could fault them for the atrocities theymitted in their lives.


    "Brother, Alice can go without-"


    "Onyx. this isn''t about whether she can or can not. This is about whether she will be able to protect others and herself." Holding a life in her hands was normal for Alice. But that life was one she might be healing. Not taking.


    The entire party had seen Alice defeat monsters. That was a fact. She had been able to steel herself and defeat them with rtive ease. Yet, none had put her against a sentient being. A demon arriving where she would be going was very low in probability. However, the chance that a corrupt demon leaving through the border would be there. Walker wanted to ensure that the woman he had just started to truly love would be safe.


    "You won''t win easily." The look that Alice was giving Walker would have caused most people to get chills. She knew that this was not aughing matter. She had even had Arora slither off of her arm toward Onyx. She was being extremely serious.


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 Chapter 1354 1354. Unexpected Attacks

    The song started softly. Walker wasn''t even sure he could hear words. But that was exactly what Alice had been practicing. She had been trying to control her own voice.


    Where Alice had learned to control her mana to a very fine detail while using or not using the bracelet that Walker had given her. She had realized she greatly neglected the fact that she had to train her muscles. It was the same way that Remey had begun to fall behind due to forgetting her body due to alchemy.


    The training had been very subtle. It was simplepared to what other people would do. It came down to stamina and control of her muscles. If Alice could not control her muscles around her mouth, neck, and even lungs then she would fail to properly hit the notes that she wanted. That would, in turn, cause the feeling of the music she made to be warped. Instead of swords of light, she might end up with dull hammers.


    The stamina training had also been simple. Alice had been moving around the cathedral more and more. She was not a stranger to the constant movement and long hours. The cathedral would heal many people and often had busy days.


    Yet, the stamina that Alice needed had to revolve around quick movements in controlled ways. Since she was more used to staying in the same position holding a patient, helping put pressure on wounds, or just standing ready to help, she was not asfortable with moving constantly to avoid battles.


    The best way that Alice hade up with a training method was one that involved everyone in the cathedral. She had challenged them to trip her, block her, and even try to push her out of the way. The high priest had hated the idea until she had stood face to face with him to exin why. As soon as he understood the reasons behind it along with how much it would help Alice in the long run, he had agreed. Even if he still had to bite his tongue when doing so.


    Small needles of light shot at Walker. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand. The skills to sense mana were enough to tell him a dangerous attack wasing. Naturally, he did what anyone would. He dove to the side to avoid it. When he looked up he saw the glitter of yellow and white light elemental needs on the ground.


    Before he could change positions, the pitch of Alice''s voice changed causing the same needles of light to shift in to onerger sword swinging around. Walker dodged upward using the wind ripple skill. He tried to send a st of air at Alice but she was nowhere near where she had been a moment ago.


    Alice had taken advantage of the fact that Walker needed to move to dodge her first and second attack. It was not the attack she thought would win but the attack that she thought would give her time to start singing a song that she had worked pon with Midnight as the inspiration. A song that she had wanted to show off as the trump card that could defend those she loved.


    Rise and fall came with the words Walker heard. The light elemental mana became dense and vibrant. It was as if the shape gathering behind Alice was darkpared to the outline of light. When the shape became more defined under the strength that Alice put in to her words, the melody shifted. It became erratic and full of energy.


    The light elemental figure of Midnight dashed forward in wide leaps. Wings spread out and light elemental ws fell downward toward Walker. The more the song Alice sang changed, the more the created figure of light elemental mana attacked and moved. Walker was forced on the defensive while trying to understand what Alice had done and how he should counter it. He couldn''t just dodge by jumping in to the air.<sub> </sub>


    "You said serious, here''s serious!" Walker channeled the water elemental mana in the air. The rain that had fallen the night before was enough for him to use to his advantage. Mixing the water and earth was easy. It was already bonded. But making the frost whip as he had before in to a fusion skill using earth as well was mentally taxing. Earth didn''t like to whip around like stic.


    The ground became cold and tough while the whip made the sound of grinding and shattering. The whip that split out from where Walker stood was carrying devastating elemental mana. But with that came the fact that it had slowed. Walker was not familiar with this fusion nor was he able to perfectly control it. But it was serious. Alice had to deal with a foreign attack she had never seen before.


    The light elemental image of Midnight opened its mouth in silent roar. The light elemental teeth snapped down on the moving whip tearing the image apart. But miraculously, the song did not end. The broken light elemental mana covered the fusion whip Walker had made causing it to be trapped in a webbing of light elemental mana.


    In the next moment, arge spider shape formed walking along the stuck whip. It was slow, very slow. Alice''s song had slowed to a creepy and unsettling tone. Seh had mirrored it after the grey haired spiders she saw who were carefully hunting pests around the Genesis walls as guards. Her inspiration was unmatched.


    "Brother, that''s not just Alice''s singing. That''s her new skill, singer''s dreams. Alice can dream up any creature she has seen before in to a light elemental form." Onyx had been the first test dummy for this skill. It had not started out so elegantly. But now? It was an unpredictable attack and defense.


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 Chapter 1355 1355. More Than Enough

    <o>,m "This is a little too crazy." Walker gave up on trying to fuse the earth and the water to make a frozen earth whip. The idea had been good for a heavier attack but bad for speed. Not only this, but it was not an easy to use skill in the heat of battle. The only reason he had wanted to use it was because he would be able to surprise Alice.</o>


    Knowing that the water was the most prominent elemental mana around due to the previous rain the other night, Walker started to think about the water rted skills he could use. However, that brought him to an idea. A brilliant idea.


    Light elemental mana was strong. It could break through a lot but it needed to be able toe from the surroundings. Mostly, the sun. during dark ways when the sun was trapped behind clouds or even at night, the light elemental mana was weaker. It would struggle to gather anywhere let alone when someone manipted it.


    "Your new skill won''t touch me!" Walker jumped and turned to face the light elemental image of a spidering toward him. He was using the dance of seasons to his advantage along with the wind ripple skill. Every ce his feetnded, water would be kicked up.


    To the untrained eye, this was just Walker moving too fast with a great amount of force. However, to someone paying attention or that could sense the water elemental mana, it was more. Walker was slowly making mist rise up from the ground by warming the water his feet touched. Doing so was easy since he could pull the small amounts of fire elemental mana from around him to cause this.


    Before Alice realized what Walker was doing, she found herself blinded by the mist. She could barely make out the light elemental mana she was guiding. Her voice went from a source of power to the very signal that allowed Walker to sneak up on her.


    Seeing the chance, Walker used the shadow wrapping skill to move right behind Alice. He had made a frost whip using the water elemental mana in the air. His simple goal was to wrap Alice up to stop her from moving. The surprise should be able to end the battle right there.


    What Walker didn''t know was that Alice had learned. She had felt too at risk when Walker and Midnight had used their shadow wrapping skill in the past. Thesting impression made her carry around light elemental mana crystals to prevent such a surprise without defenses at the ready.


    As Walker appeared behind Alice, so did a light elemental shield. The bubble of light elemental mana formed around her using mana from the crystal in her hands. This also allowed him to make the next move since Walker''s frost whip had bounced right off.


    Radical sharp pitches caused the shield to warp. Spikes of light jumped from it as if someone was trying to fire an arrow through rubber. The rebound would cause another spike to shoot off in another direction. Walker couldn''t find any predictable angle to approach Alice in. "Fine, if that''s how you do it then I will freeze youpletely."


    Walker gave Alice the warning because he didn''t want her to get hurt. There was also the fact that his surprise attack had already failed. Therefore. He mmed his hands on the ground and started to freeze the mist. Soon, small shining crystals of ice floated around the bubble spiked shield that Alice had created around her.


    A coating of ice was formed before her eyes and the light elemental mana began to dissipate. She could not pull too much mana from the crystal since she would risk abusing it. If that happened she would be trapped inside as the crystal shattered. This was a problem that Gil worried about every time he made an elemental arrow.<sub> </sub>


    Being limited and trapped was not making Alice happy in the least. Yet, when she looked through the shell of ice she saw the impressed smile from Walker. Never had he dreamed that Alice had hidden a new skill from him so that she could use it as a surprising trump card. The very idea was amazing since Alice could dream up everything. But now living forms that could condense and attack? Spectacr!


    A simple swipe of his hand made the ice melt leaving Alice safe and dry. "I would say you are more than ready to lead a group of healers outside of Genesis yourself. That singer''s dream skill was too much. I can tell it takes a lot of mana and concentration. But still¡­you almost got me with it." If Walker had not been able to react properly he would have been soundly beaten.


    "I''ll win next time." Alice nudged Walker to the side with a small smirk. She wanted to stand beside him and now she felt closer to that goal than ever.


    "Aren''t you impressed brother? Alice has worked hard to be ready to go out like this. She can protect the five healers going with her like it is nothing!" The boastful attitude that Onyx had showed how much he had bonded with Alice. The two had close goals and worked together to achieve them. Alice was just the same as Walker when Onyx thought of family.


    "I would say you have shown me more than enough to survive the trip. I think I owe you a reward." Walker coughed slightly while offering his hand. He was nning to find the best food in Genesis to treat Alice to today.


    "Arora and I will be rxing with the other hatchlings." Onyx took the hint and guided little Arora away. He left the two to their privacy for the moment. They would need it before they were apart yet again.


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 Chapter 1356 1356. Lava Diving Bats

    "Theva diving bats are trained to head directly to a small post for tamers that gather food near theva fields that pour down from the volcanoes. Do not make loud noises or pull on their ears. They will drop you." Elise was very stern. She had changed a few things to ensure that the party could ride theva diving bats to the volcanoes, or at least as close as possible.


    "Normally the me elves will keep tamers at bay. But since you were invited you should be fine. Just don''t use us as an excuse if things go poorly." Elise knew that the me elves were very different from the elves he had met. They resided in the toughestndscape to live in along with keeping themselves separate by choice. They did not like strangers.


    "Don''t worry. We will do our best. Thank you again for the help. This will save us days and days of travel time since the mountains would be hard to get over and in to the volcanoes." Gil was very appreciative of the assistance.


    "We will see what we can do to help you out when there. The me elves are only speaking to Gil and I along with some enforcers. That should be a good small group to build a connection with without overwhelming them." Alma was exceptionally positive about this. She didn''t expect the me elves to look out for her first.


    "These things are massive. I''m d I came. I don''t think I have ever seen a bat like this." Remey waspletely in awe over the massive bats that she was looking at.


    ''Lave diving bats


    These bats grow exceptionallyrge so that they can hold more strength in their wings. This allows them to fly through the air and theva. Many of theirva bats hunt and consumeva dwelling fish. The thick skin they develop is extremely resistant to high temperatures. However, it can not often resist cold temperatures. They are considered a very rare triple elemental affinity monster but often live peacefully around other monsters.''


    Walker was impressed with the appraisal. The bats could appear scary since they were fairly different than other bats align with theirrge size. But they were actually said to be peaceful for the most part. That simple fact made them very important to the tamers that could tame them. Amazing transport, peaceful, and rare elemental affinities that could help the tamer in many ways.


    "Remey, are you sure you can leave the guild? You have the ending of the herb gatheringpetition and the start of the potionpetition soon." Gil wasn''t fully convinced that everyone should be going. It made sense that Su, Midnight, and Walker went. They were heading to meet the fire dragons. Then Alma and Gil were heading to the me elven city. Onyx was also an odd one out but it was clear he needed an adventure to properly clear his mind from the recent stresses of life.


    "Who do you think is going to look for rare fire elemental herbs as prizes for the winners? Not to mention the high fire elemental affinity potion, materials to make better cauldrons, and better tools." The look that Remey gave Gil was more of a challenge. If he dared to speak out against her again she would be showing off her more recent training with alchemical mes.


    "Do you want me to give Ignus one of the low tier afire affinity potions?" Walker knew the answer already but felt that Remey had been waiting for it.


    "Yes, that would help." Remey handed over five of them. The perfect amount to get Ignus and any other dragons that tried them hooked. "By the way, Onyx and I made some ns of our own while we are in the area. We aren''t involved with the elves'' affairs like that and we aren''t dragons. We have spoken about personal matters we will work on."<sub> </sub>


    This made them all wonder but it appeared that Remey nor Onyx, would be sharing anything. "As long as you both can handle it. I will make sure you have the potions you need and everything else." Since Walker had all the potions along with spare gear, he wanted to ensure that Remey and Onyx Would be alright on their ownter.


    "You all know that you have to actually leave so that you can figure this out, right?" Elise was sure that they had all forgotten that they actually needed to get in the backs of theva diving bats to go to the area they wanted to be. "And how will you handle the heat too? The tamers can set you up with something pretty good there." Elise saw more potential for the guide to win some points with the party.


    "Oh, I''m d you asked. We have water elemental rune bracelets along with the nes that Midnight got for us when we were in the dwarven city. Paired together, they should be able to handle the high heat and keep us safe. We won''t be swimming inva but we will be ab;e to do what we need to do." Su showed off the two items that they wore. She was proud to show off the very helpful gifts she had received over the time from Midnight and the wandering cksmith.


    "Just remember we promised the wandering cksmith we would bring something back for him since he gave us the bracelets to go with the nes. Between the three groups we split in to, we should find something." Walker reminded everyone while he hefted himself up on the back of oneva diving bat.


    Midnight was very carefully getting on one since she was a dragon and could easily spook them. But the bats were very tough willed. They could swim inva afterall and did not shy away from scary situations.


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 Chapter 1357 1357. Hard Heads

    "Human. You have some skill I will admit that. But do not dare to think you can outdo my warriors just because you arrived with some eye catching battles." Ignus was looking down in full dragon form at Barry.


    "With all due respect, I am not here to impress you. This sort of thing is simple training. Not that it is challenging. I would fare better against that little champion of yours." Barry didn''t even let up against Ignus''s high and mighty attitude. As far as he was concerned, there was no need for pleasantries on a battle field.


    "This is why I did not want to take you from the water or the earth bastards! I knew the human sent would be foolish." Ignus breathed a row of mes around him in annoyance. But Barry was still standing right where he had been. Not even a single hair was singed.


    "The earth dragon fellow was focused on his task., yes, stubborn. But focused and could care less who I was. Just that the job was done. The water dragon gentleman, worth respect. He was very adaptable. Wish I could train a bit more around him. I could learn a thing or two. You? You are a lot like me when I go all out. I hate that." Barry flexed slightly causing his joints to creak under the stress of his own muscles.


    "Me! Like a human! Do you know how many years I have witnessed on this mountain? You are nothing like me." The cries of the dragonkin echoed around them as they found another rogue dragon holed up in a small volcanic cave. The battle had started while Ignus and Barry had bickered. The pair were all talk and seemingly no action in this situation.


    "Ha! Another fight." Barry was dashing away in a moment. He hefted one of his axes and extended the handle. One of his new favorite weapons had recently been forged.


    Therge dual de axes were rare for people to use unless it was someone specially focused on cutting forests. But for Barry, they were brutal weapons. Having them forged with additional weight usually made them have very solid designs to handle that weight. But with the dwarves in Genesis, Barry had managed to get strong, heavy, and changeable axes.


    The handles could extend to give him wider reach to be used as a double handed ax. That way he could train in another style of battle. The very idea had made him shake with excitement. It had been years since he was able to properly adapt and change his style of fighting. It could push him to a new level of strength.


    As much as the dragonkin warriors mirrored Ignus in fiery battle intentions, they were more level headed. As Barry roared with glee toward the rogue dragon covered in ash, they moved away. The very first time that Barry had arrived on their hunt to find rogue dragons, he had identally destroyed five dragonkin warriors'' armors, knocked seven unconscious, and defeated three rogue dragons in a row. The berserker rage that Barry had been under gained him major respect.


    "This stupid human. Why would we bother with them since they have small ideas to put races together." Ignus just groaned and mumbled while watching the fight. He didn''t like that the world would change without him being around to do it. It was an insult to his being. Yet, he could not admit that he was not impressed a little bit.


    Every swing that Barry let loose was enough to cause the rogue dragon major damage. On top of all of this, Barry was tough like a dragonkin. He had no armor, nothing to protect him from the heat, and nothing to save himself from the ragged ws of the rogue dragons. However, he somehow managed to walk away unhurt. Barely ever even dirty. Even as his clothing seemed to char, Barry''s body resisted the environment itself.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m "That''s another one down!" Barryughed as he watched therge rogue dragon copse. The me attacks that the dragonkin warriors used were much less effective since the rogue dragons had once lived in the fire dragon viges. They lost their minds but they had the blood of fire dragons. They would be able to live in the volcanoes as well.</o>


    Smaller roars burst out from nearby. These roars did not give Barry the desire to attack in the least. "Lord! We found something!" The dragonkin that shouted attracted the interest of Ignus. When hended he saw two smaller hatchlings. Two that had been forced out just less than a year ago from the vige.


    "What do you intend to do? Hm? They aren''t attacking mindlessly like the other failures of the dragon race. Are those ones going to get to live? Or will they die?" There was another kind of brutality in Barry''s words. They said too many things for words to exin. Yet, Ignus knew that he would need to battle this human to the death if the answer was wrong.


    "That natural mana kid said he would raise a hatchling to be even better than we could imagine. Let''s put that to the test. I will watch him fail with two brats that weren''t even strong enough to properly resist the what here." Ignus saw the slightly tinged scales on the hatchlings. They were weak and did not belong in his viges.


    "If that''s the choice you made then it was the right one. They belong in Genesis where they can be truly powerful. They might even surpass you." Barry spoke softly. It was these words that seemed to hit Ignus harder than any of the others the human had spoken yet. There was just something about the way that Barry changed demeanor when he spoke things with true meaning.


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 Chapter 1358 1358. Forward Thinking

    "Whoa there! Keep calm. Let the guests off and you can go and y in theva for a while!" The tamers that helped the party off of the back of theva diving bats were struggling to calm them. They were too happy to be home and wanted to rush off toward theva already.


    Walker looked around. He had watched as thendscape changed below them while holding on to the bats. The fields gave way to mountains and the mountains to rolling hills ofva spread out betweenrge volcanoes. The height they were at allowed the party to see that they could potentially pass through this area and back to the oceans.


    The tamer''s outpost was muchrger than Elise had made it sound. There were sturdy stone buildings with many tamers moving around to prepare food ton delivery or even training their tamed beasts. It was a fire elemental monster paradise.


    Even the fact that the temperature was high seemed to be forgotten. The tamer''s around had specialized gear that allowed them to further resist the heat. The entire party had assumed that they would encounter a bunch of tough and sweating tamers. The reality was different though, some appeared as if they were basking in a cool harvest breeze.


    "This ce is very interesting. I have already seen multiple tamed monsters that I have never imagined. But look, they also have a building to breaking down hunted monsters." Alma pointed out therge eel monster being broken down outside and hauled within the building. Not many would be able to hunt such a monster.


    "I''m just d we aren''t melting in the what. The bracelets and the nes are perfect. Well, Midnight seems morefortable without them though." Gil pointed out M midnight who was rolling in the small hot stones on the ground. She seemed to have found love in life. It was warmer than the firece, the perfect napping ce for any dragon with even the smallest fire elemental affinity.


    "Come on. Let''s get out of the way. We should get everything situated. I have a map so we can better prepare our routes after asking around about current events." Walker knew that a map was just a map. He wouldn''t know of any changes in thendscape or dangerous monsters without asking the tamers that lived here.


    "Did I hear you right? You want to catch up on what''s going on? That''s easy. Check the board over there. It has things to watch out for and closed trails. Theva flow changes throughout the day so some are more recently cleared or blocked." The guidance from the tamer handling theva diving bats was very wee. Everyone said their thank you''s to him before following the advice.


    "It says there is ava flow here, two pits here, andva slimes here." Gil was checking everything overparing to the nned pathways that he and Alma had decided to take. "We should be safe overall. Nothing too crazy."


    "That''s good for you. The pathways we nned to take are a little more of a mess." Walker saw that two routes he had chosen were covered in ava flow.


    "Can''t you use your skills to make the pathways safer? I bet you can solidify theva by cooling it in to stone." Gil tried to be helpful but knew it was a longshot.


    "I don''t want to ruin the environment. Plus, I don''t know what monsters are hiding away in theva. If I cool it I could anger them and we could be sitting targets for them." Walker knew that the monsters within theva would be tough to handle. On top of that, they were also monsters that the group was not used to hunting.


    "Well, Onyx and I will stay nearby here. We are after things that grow nearva and hot ces but nothing too dangerous." Remey and Onyx left the rest of the group behind. They seemed too driven to stop for an exnation.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s not just me that thinks it''s a little odd that Remey and Onyx are suddenly so close." Su felt that this was out of the blue.


    "I agree, but Onyx seems to feel very driven by their goals. Whatever they need, Remey and she are working together so I will support it." Walker didn''t have any ill will for this. He liked that Onyx was getting more independent and that Remey was not locked in an office somewhere.


    "Midnight, what are you thinking? Want to skirt around these areas and push toward the volcanoes? I doubt we will miss the fire dragon viges." Walker had a general idea of where the fire dragon viges were, he would be able to sniff it out with Midnight once they were closer.


    The approving huff from Midnight made them all nod and prepare to separate. "Wait! I forgot to give everyone this. These are dried jing tree bark. It''s good to chew on when in these ces. The fumes from burning rocks can be toxic and this counters them." Remey rushed over and handed out sticks of the dried jing tree bark to everyone. "Alright, now I am leaving!" Remey was gone again.


    "Huh, I didn''t even think that would be a problem." Gil was a little shocked. Even Alma was kicking herself since she had forgotten such an important fact.


    "Remey came through on this. I think we would have been in rough shape. I didn''t do enough research." Walker felt he had missed something important.


    "She cares a lot and knows better about things like this. Herbs that grow here need to tolerate the toxic fumes too. Remey is the best at learning such things." Su reassured Walker and made a mental note to thank Remey. With this, they were all ready to split off.


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 Chapter 1359 1359. Remeys Training Plan

    "Are you really sure that we shouldn''t tell the others about this?" Onyx was voicing the veryst of his concerns. He felt that not telling the rest of the party what they had nned was unfair. But he wasn''t one to keep secrets in the first ce.


    "They will be fine. We are going to look for fire elemental materials along with what we need. You and I both know that you want the light and darkness affinity potions made sooner thanter." Remey had been hard at work studying the materials in thevands before he left. The very reason was for Onyx and her development.


    "But you said that the chances of us finding the burnt light leaves is very low. They are a rare high tier triple elemental herb!" Onyx felt that he was being teased but didn''t know enough to fight Remey.


    "I said that they would be impossible to find. But since you have me, I will just punch through it all to get what we need." Remey was partially joking while also sure that she would be able to find what they needed. She had worked hard to study the area and growing conditions.


    Seeing that onyx needed a little more to calm down, she continued speaking, "The burnt light leaves grow on a round bush. They absorb the light elemental mana to the point that they start to burn but not catch mes. The burnt pieces lose their light elemental mana and absorb darkness elemental mana to resist fully burning. It is a perfect bnce that traps the fire elemental mana." This was exactly why the burnt light leaves were considered to be so rare.


    "I understand that. They are an enigma whenpared to other singr or dual elemental herbs." Since Onyx had studied some things, he was sure that the herb was unique to the volcano areas.


    "That bnce makes it have purer elemental mana trapped within each leaf. Based on how it is processed, it can have many effects. In your case, I can focus the ingredients to create a light and dark affinity potion. The effectiveness will fall but it will have both manas. Or I can remove one to create a specific high elemental mana potion of light or dark." She already knew that the old master alchemist would be crying to get his hands on these herbs.


    ? "That all changes if I make it a fire elemental affinity potion. I could make a high fire affinity potion that can drastically help someone. Or, I can make a potion with a few more unique fire elemental ingredients to make an affinity potion made for me. For me and my partner." The alchemy fire spirit was enjoying the atmosphere. The heat and fire elemental mana moved to encase it.


    "You can make an alchemy fire affinity potion!?" Onyx was amazed that such a level of alchemy was alreadyprehended by Remey even though she had not been participating in the actions for many years.


    "No. That''s not it. But I can make something simr. A potion that helps me adjust to alchemy fire. I can manipte it in a rough way. It''s not at all the same with how my partner controls their mes." The alchemy fire spirit had a massive amount of control over the mana it was made out of.


    "So you want to be able to control it better and this potion will do that?"


    "Exactly. This will help me train my resistance to it. Technically it will be a poison. One that makes alchemy fire mana hurt me more. Don''t tell Su. she might lock me up for doing this." The extreme training was not unheard of. Many defenders had to go through quests with such training to be resistant to certain elemental mana attacks. The dragonkin did this with the affinities they had as well.<sub> </sub>


    "Su would not allow you to do this. But that brings me to my next question, can you make one for me?" Onyx wanted to be stronger as well. If Remey was going to put herself through brutal training that would force her beyond her limits, then why would Onyx shy away from such a thing?


    "I thought you would ask that so I have some materials being held on to for when we get back. I will not make one for any of the other abyssal or heavenly serpents. I will refuse since they are not like us. Too young, and not on the front lines of constant surprises." There was much more seriousness in Remey''s voice saying this. Onyx was not going to argue against her.


    "After the potion and training regime I carefully built, I should be able to fight much better. I looked in to some very old books that Gil might be able to get more information on. The me elves one had very high alchemy affinities. Some even coated their bodies in armor made of their mes. Alchemists weren''t always like Trish, they didn''t need potions to cause explosions or poison mists. They used the very mes they used to make potions as weapons."


    "So it isn''t just Gil looking to help bring back older traditions. You might bring back a proper battle alchemist." Onyx was interested because he had finally found why Remey hadn''t teased Gil about the subject matter of his recent studies.


    "You''re doing the same things Onyx. I saw you looking at those ancient murals of abyssal and heavenly serpents. You want to bring back the strength they once had and form your own race. That''s why you and I are working together on this one. Now let''s go find ava creek with a lot of light shining on it." The pair continued on their path through the burnt ck rocks.


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 Chapter 1360 1360. Arrows And Lava

    "It was a little weird that Remey was asking so much about the me elves and their alchemy history the other day, right?" Gil still felt off about it. Like he had been used for information when Remey had suddenly decided not to change whatever her ns were to join he and Alma. He had thought she would decide toe with them after learning such things.


    "She was looking in to how they used alchemy fire. Didn''t you realize?" Alma knew that Gil was smarter than that. He had a major affinity for archery and could figure out theplications of making elemental arrows without training. It was a genius level archery skill. But he still missed important things around him.


    "Well¡­I don''t have much to do with fire and stuff. I know the records your city had made the me elves out to be fire elemental archers with specified fire mages. But the mes of different levels didn''t make much sense." For those without in depth understanding of fire, they would miss out on why the me elves were so unique.


    "The me elves have solely focused on fire. Unlike the mages from my home who separated them and tried to bnce them with each other in a team. The me elves discovered the levels of fire. They know dragon fire reigns near or at the top, but adding their secondary weak affinities they have managed to alter mes. Alchemy fire is one such situation." The history that Alma had memorized was radicallyrger than most people could even dream of.


    "The me elves should be able to master blue mes and purple mes as well. I can''t say I fully grasp the differences but the ghostly blue mes have been said to be slow but extremely hot. Their enforcers are more mages than archers." This was striking to Gil since he was sure that the me elves would have archery enforcers too.


    "So it might not be just alchemy that Remey has in mind. She could be trying to do more with her fighting too." The pieces clicked together in Gil''s mind. He was sure that Remey would be totally alchemy focused.


    "That''s exactly right. You said that she can use the alchemy fire with her punches now. You showed her the books that had the me elves using fire as armor. So why wouldn''t she want to learn? We might even get to meet a me knight while there. They are pretty rare though." Alma wanted to meet all the kinds of system users from the me elves. The records that the first elves had were fairlyckingpared to the water elves.


    "It will still be a little time for us to make it there. But for now, let me test out a few things." Gil had not been sure what his arrows would do within theva filled area. The pathways were clearly marked since every adventurer or merchant traveling took it upon themselves to mark out safe trails. It was one important factor for the area.


    Gil had his water elemental arrows and knew that they might not work the same way in this environment. The ice that would form was dependent on the water in the area he fired them in. "Just make sure you don''t anger any monsters around here. They might not like someone firing off arrows like crazy." Alma knew that the four enforcers she had brought were hiding away in the surroundings. They Needed to hear her warning clearly.


    "Everything should be fine. I touched base with the mages to ask about elemental reactions. I have also seen Walker training. He is able to mix elemental mana but the reactions that happen while he does it can teach you a lot." Just watching high natural mana be formed was very telling when it came to how the elemental manas mixed.


    "Maybe I will pay attention next time I am invited to train at your mansion." Su had invited Alma to train before but she had been too busy. Now she was tempted to ask Su to train just to see what Walker was capable of and if she could grasp some understanding of elemental mana she may have missed.<sub> </sub>


    "This is a water elemental arrow but it forms a spike of ice. I have no idea what it will do here.." The water elemental wither spike arrow was pulled back before Alma could offer her ideas of what might happen. The release of the arrow sent it flying fairy nearby. But it stillnded next to ava pool.


    Instead of water gathering and creating a spike, the arrow seemed to just burn up. "So it''s a lost-" Theva in the pool suddenly cooled and hardened before slowly melting again. "So I created a temporary stepping stone. That''s great." This was unexpected but very useful. Gil could use this to cross dangerous areas.


    "Very good. Water is not useless but you lost an arrow so be wary of your limits." The enforcers also witnessed this encounter and knew that Alma was speaking to them. If they used their arrows they would be risking losing them. They could not recover and battle consistently.


    "Even the fire arrows might do that. But what about the damage they cause?" Gil already drew and released the fire elemental wither spike arrow while speaking. Itnded further away since Gil feared the reaction.


    The fear was warranted. The arrownded and caused a veryrge burst of mes before burning the arrow to ashes. "Exactly as I thought. Faster burst of fire, less chance of recovery, but perfect for stunning an enemy. Even if the enemy is a fire affinity monster!" These experiments were making Gil feel like he had discovered archery all over again. It was all too exciting.


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 Chapter 1361 1361. Burnt

    "I can''t say I am surprised that we already hear noise from the way that Gil went. He''s most likely testing arrows in the smallva pools around." Su had already guessed what the distant sound was. She would be foolish not to assemble the pieces properly.


    "I know, but he had to be excited to figure out more about arrows and elemental mana before they get to the me elves. He wants to be able to show off and help Alma build rtions." The possibility that the me elves might not just ept Alma and join Genesis was there. But with Gil joining with his titles and abilities it might make things easier.


    "I think they will seed. Between the two showing what genesis has to offer it would be hard for anyone to remain separate. Plus, the water elves and forest elves are already joined. We even have the research from the desert elves. That means genesis is already a haven for the elves rejoining and returning to their historical roots."


    Walker firmly believed that every elf would be swayed by these things. For the elves, their past as high elves was something that every single one held in very high regard. They had pride in their ancestry along with their records of aplishments. That was why the records kept by the elves were so precise. Even the water elves had some records preserved with high tier magic skills after being abused by Lust.


    "I am more worried that the fire dragons and dragonkin will be unhappy with our visit." Su had thought about how heated the attitude of Ignus had been. If they managed to anger him they might have a problem on their hands.


    "That''s why Remey gave me the affinity potions to use as a gift. It should help him while also showing that Genesis has more to offer. I know she also intends it as a way for her to make a connection with the alchemy guild and more dragons, but that''s fine." The idea was good enough.


    "So what if we get there and no one is there to meet us?" Su knew this was also a possibility. The dragons had their mission to defeat and clean up the rogue dragons they had caused to spread. It was a problem that was long overdue.


    "Then we leave a note with whatever dragonkin are left and that''s that. it won''t be the best situation but we aren''t going to throw any tantrums. I know other dragons might do that but we have to set ourselves above that kind of thing. It might even do better for us than we expect." The potential that Walker could build a better image for himself as a royal dragon is high. He could be the impartial nature dragon that had the ability to understand others'' situations.


    "That does remind me though, we should be careful of running in to any rogue dragons. It''s not the worst ce we could run in to them but still a chance." Walker recalled how some of the royal dragons had been said to kick more hatchlings out of their viges than others. Ignus may not be the worst offender but still higher than Current or Mordant.


    "I am prepared for it. I know that Midnight is already keeping watch." Su pointed out that Midnight was carefully walking the area while sniffing here and there. The toxic fumes might cover some scents but the scent of a dragon or rogue dragon would stick out.


    "Well, we need to change paths slightly up here. Midnight,e on!" Walker had barely left the tamer''s guild outpost with everyone, however, the path they were on was one of the affected by theva spill. From where the three of them were, they could see the moving red and yellow liquid stone. The heat was hitting them even from a distance.


    "Do you think you can cool the air using your elemental maniption? That way we can pass through the same spot we need to without changing routes." The idea was fine, but Walker wasn''t sure if it would actually work.<sub> </sub>


    "I would say yes, but there''s that." Walker looked around carefully and picked out an odd looking spot. "See the way the stone looks like it is dipped? That has to be a small pool of magma. That spill isn''t just one little section. It''s the whole area around the trail too." This was the real challenge of the area.


    "I see it now. Look closer at the edges and I can tell the hard ck stone that has been long cooled against the newly cooled. It will take some time to adjust but I will focus on these things more." The incentive to improve her vision was what made Su more energetic. She had missed the small detail but luckily Walker had not missed it.


    Hearing a soft growl, Su and Walker found Midnight looking even further.


    ''Burnt jackal


    The burnt jackal is a rare undead and fire elemental monster. These are created when a me hound perishes and is left exposed to the elements. The result is a zombified hound with high fire elemental resistance. These monsters will travel with the simple desire to attack any and all living beings. They can easily swim throughva while losing very little to the burns. They are best dealt with using water elemental attacks or being smashed with a heavy blunt object to break bones. They have nearly zero worth when ites to materials due to their burned and decayed state.''


    "Good find Midnight. That''s a burnt jackal. They are undead and fire elemental monsters. We could avoid it but here ites." Su took a stance in the front to block the iing monster. However, as soon as it jumped in to theva something even more drastic showed itself to the three.


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 Chapter 1362 1362. Here Fishy

    '' Trap fish


    The trap fish has two species that are known but drastically different. One is a water elemental monster living in the oceans and the other is a fire elemental monster living in magma. They will hide just beneath the surface and wait for any moving prey to touch the surface of water orva. They will then jump up and swallow whatever it was whole. They have extremely potent stomach acid to dissolve anything. The lining of their stomach is an extremely valuable material for those that want to go in to some of the toxic caves near volcanoes. The best way to defeat them is to expose their position and use magical attacks.''


    Su had tensed up muck more seeing therge round fish open its mouth and chomp down on the burnt jackal. They had been about to fight the iing undead and fire elemental monster. Now they were standing frozen.


    "That thing is insane." Walker had already read out loud the all around appraisal. He knew that they would be at risk of that monstering near them. It could clearly eat ten burn jackals if it so desired.


    Even Midnight understood that battling this monster was not an easy task. If she were to rush at it the trap fish could swallow her whole and she would be hurt. If the others managed to rescue her she would be unable to venture far before needing immediate healing. That was if she was able to survive the wounds.


    "We can''t go around from here or to the left side. We need to go to the right, but I can see where theva flow is changing. The trap fish is right there." The way theva flowed showed Walker the slightly different current caused by the trap fish moving to wait again.


    "What do you want to do? You will need to use earth attacks from here. You can''t get enough water around here and fire will do nothing to it." Su wanted to be as helpful as possible but knew that she had zero chance. She was a draconic guardian. She didn''t have any ranged attacks.


    What if I change the flow of theva? Make a pit there so theva flows in suddenly. It''s so hot that it moves simr to water. That will expose the trap fish. Then I can use an earth spike to pierce it. The way it looked, the scales it has are very weak."


    The trap fish had dark yellow scales made to easily swim through the magma. But they were not made for defensive purposes. They were made to move through high temperatures safely. The resistance was elemental without any other benefit. If it had an earth affinity at all then the sales might have told a different story.


    Midnight prepared to pull Walker away at any moment. Su was watching their backs because she didn''t trust that they would find just one burnt jackal in the area. They traveled in packs before they became undead monsters. Therefore, there was a very high chance that the three would encounter more.


    Walker ced his hands on the dark burnt rocks. He could tell thatva flowed deep beneath where they stood but that was fine. He was just moving a singleyer of the rocks, not all of them. His mana began to change the rockets and form arge space. This already caused a small shaking that should have alerted the trap fish. Yet it was only excited from the prey it thought to being.


    With one push, Walker formed a singlerge pit for theva to flow in to. The suddenly exposed trap fish tried to turn around and move deeper in to the movingva. Instead, it moved toward where Walker had opened the hole in the stones.<sub> </sub>


    "Let''s go!" Walker poured more mana in to the stones to create arge ck stone spike. Walker turned the spike toward the trap fish while Su turned around. The ng of her shield bashing the back of the spike thrusting it forward. Midnight didn''t miss out either. She had jumped in to the air and spun her tail to add even more force to the stone spike.


    The three watched as their improvised team attack pierced the trap fish. There was a pained sound as the fish began to il aggressively. Normally, the trap fish would have escaped away before something like this happened, but the change inva flow proved to be its downfall. Adding the il of death, the trap fish flopped right on to the dark stones near theva beforepletely losing its life.


    The three looked at each other without saying a word. None of them needed to speak or even move for them to feel their energy. The attack they had all put energy in to was spectacr. Not only had they worked together wlessly but they had seeded.


    "We will be doing that again."Walker finally snapped out of it while walking toward the trap fish body. He stored away the entire thing, impaled spike and all.


    "Yes, Midnight, yourst addition was perfectly timed. You will need to use your tail in training more." Midnight had felt it was the right move at the moment and was shocked as ever. Her improvisation was giving her more ideas for fighting. She had the idea that she might have more ways to use her tail than she had realized.


    "You know, earth elemental dragons sometimes form the earth around their tails to use as bashing weapons. Maybe you can learn to do that. You have every elemental affinity as a true dragon champion." Walker already knew what Midnight was thinking. He pushed her in the right direction, it was his job as a big brother to give her some guidance.


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 Chapter 1363 1363. Monster Encounters

    "Alma, on the right!" Walker was not the only one whose group was facing the burnt jackals. Gil and Alma had run in to three of three at once.


    Blue ivy whipped out toward a burnt jackal. They wrapped the jackal and were easily pulled on by Alma. The weight of the burnt jackal was almost nothing since it had very little skin left on the bones. These three had clearly been rotting away for a much longer time.


    "Gil, I need you to knock it in to theva pool!" Alma and Gil were annoyed by the sudden show of the undead monster. These things had made their travels much harder by blocking the path they had to take. But even worse, they had to deal with the challenge that came with every undead monster. They needed to be thoroughly defeated or else they would be getting up again.


    "Got it." Gil let loose a normal arrow that pushed the burnt jackal in to theva pool. It also managed to break the bones in the spine so that the burnt jackal would not be climbing out. The slow burning that happened because the burnt jackals resisted the fire elemental mana would be able to properly do its job.


    "Hold on while I deal with the other two. They are far enough away." Gil let fly two earth elemental wither spike arrows. He had found that they worked the best when it came to the environment.


    Since the entire area was covered mostly in hardened magma rocks, the earth elemental arrow was perfect. When Gil released it the mana would gather fairly quickly causing earth spike to burst up in the spot where the arrownded. On top of all that, it was the best for taking out the weak undead monsters that were a bane to the pairs'' journey.


    Two burnt jackals were pierced, having their bones broken and being defeated on the spot. Gil was left with awe at the perfection of the earth arrows. He had expected that out of all his arrows, the fire would end up being the best. He had only managed to test one of each arrow before so the effects were not easily recorded.


    "That clears that path. Let''s keep moving before more show themselves. They seem pretty¡­undesirable." The undead rotting burnt smell from the burnt jackals did not make anyone happy. Alma was not exempt from this. She pushed Gil to keep moving.


    "The arrows are working pretty well. I thought the earth might be like the wind arrow where it just caused the fires to act up. But I was wrong." Gil was pretty happy with what he saw. And how he would be changing his fighting for the environment.


    "What about the light elemental arrow? It didn''t have a healing effect here. It had a dense gathering effect that caused it to pierce opponents better. Although it did blind us¡­" Alma wanted to help Gil decide on these things but realized she didn''t have enough experience with the elemental arrows to give concrete advice.


    "I thought I might use them because they move very fast. But since the wind elemental arrows move just as fast and can boost the mes, I might as well use those. I do wonder what would happen if I fired a wind and fire elemental arrow at the same ce and time." The idea Gil wasing up with was arge explosion to deal with a tougher opponent. He didn''t like the looks of the oath ahead with smallva pools along the side.


    Since Gil had a n to use multiple arrows at once, it sounded like he would be able to do more damage while protecting Alma. There was also the fact that the enforcers had been warned not to interfere with small monsters. Gil and Alma needed to train as well so that they could grow stronger. If they just went to the me elf city by being escorted, then they would lose valuable experience in real life battles against different monsters.<sub> </sub>


    "Should we change our course after this? There seems to be a few more of those monsters over there." Gil bounced his idea off of Alma. he was crouched behind some ck rocks checking out the monsters in the distance.


    "It looks like a whole pack of them are there. Shouldn''t they be more spread out? What could defeat that many and leave them without eating them?" The answer that Alma wanted was not one that either wished to see. The danger of whatever was killing and not eating could be too high.


    "Reporting in, there is arge monster ahead. It has created a nest in a smallva pool. It appears to be a dragon without wings." The enforcers had scouted ahead and seen the grave danger. This was exactly what Gil had been afraid of.


    "Reporting, there is a force of dragonkin on the way to this location. Should we meet with them?" The next enforcer came up followed by thest two. They were ready to do whatever was necessary to help. It was their duty.


    "We get to see the dragons before Walker. We will meet with the dragonkin forces and tell them of our findings. Prepare to make contact." Alma became much more professional. This was the main point of her position and she would need to act with high respect.


    "Well, this is unexpected but much better than I thought it would be. We might be able to hold back and let them handle the issue before we move on." Gil felt that the bad luck they had was miraculously flipped upside down. They could have the dragonkin help them beat the rogue dragon that had made this its home. They would also be able to tell them about Walker''s group heading toward their vige. A win win.


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 Chapter 1364 1364. Stopped

    "Who would dare to stop my warriors from marching." Ignus felt immediate rage when he saw the two figures emerge and stop the front line of dragonkin from proceeding. "I will squash these ants before we move." It felt like a direct insult to his pride for his warriors to be stopped by those that did not hold any power in hisnds.


    "Let''s wait and see what the kids have nned. They need a moment to learn here." Barry had been silent after thest battle with a rogue dragon. He was not one to waste the time that he needed to recover. His skills took a heavy toll on his body, hence why he had such a developed physique.


    "You speak as if you know something I do not. Speak of it now." Ignus was barely able to hold the mes back since he was ready to fully transform back in to his dragon form to show power.


    "That archer there is Gil. he''s another hero title holder in Walker''s party. Next to him, is Alma. She is the future queen of the forest elves. Well, at this rate, the future queen of all the elves. I would bet that they are heading toward the me elf city." Barry felt a little like he had won a small battle letting this information spill.


    "The elves hold no power over me¡­but I will allow them a moment before I demand their purpose for stopping me. These are mynds, not that hatchling iming to be a nature dragon." There was a still lingering distaste for Walker since he had made arge ssh in the royal dragon court.


    "Think of it as you being the wise senior allowing two hatchlings to learn a lesson inmunication. Your warriors seem to be upset that they are stopped as well. Won''t it be interesting to see how they react to others? If they can''t handle basicmunication they may not be allowed in Genesis at all." This was the final nail in the coffin. Between the raising up of being a wise senior education his warriors and the threat of not being allowed in Genesis, Ignus was mute. Hit thoughts trapped.


    "You dare stop the lord''s march!? State your purpose before your punishment!" The leading dragonkin warrior was not fooling around. He immediately fell in to heated words against Gil and Alma.


    "I am the future queen of the elves."


    "I am the hero title holder Gil Representative of Genesis and family to the royal nature dragon Walker. Do you dare to insult the lord within my home!?" Gil didn''t hold back. Alma had been unable to speak fully.


    The force that Gil had put in to his words made Alma surprised. She had not seen him be so forceful and powerful when speaking. It was as if she was looking at a different person. One that hadn''t allowed her to finish and one that could easily butt heads with every warrior here.


    "This is the territory of the great me dragon Ignus. Do not dare assume you have control here." The warriors seemed to hold back slightly while making this statement but it was progress.


    "We would have passed you by. We have no need to bother with you. However, we know of the duty you have to clean up your mess. There is a single rogue dragon along with multiple zombie dogs ahead. Deal with them yourselves or build a bond and ask us to join you. I will give you five minutes to decide." The force was still within Gil''s voice. It rivaled the power that dragonkin warriors attempted to add to their voices.<sub> </sub>


    "Well isn''t this a fun little meeting? Gil butting heads with a dragonkin warrior and even making them take a step back. I can''t wait to tell everyone about this." Barry walked right to the front from where he had been standing. He was smiling with a devilish look in his eyes.


    "I heard the same as you did. Watch the way you speak to my warriors. I will disregard it due to your information. But remember this, I am the lord of this territory and I can turn any I see fit to ash." The heat gathered slightly as a tall andrge dragonkin form came in to sight. The warriors fell to a knee to greet their lord.


    "Then you will also find it valuable to know that Lord Walker is on the way to your vige with his champion and guardian. They have a gift from Genesis. The honorable Lord Mordant visited and is currently there now. They encouraged Lord Walker to invite you personally. It is respectable to do so instead of a flimsy letter." Alma was again shocked that Gil had not backed down but even pushed a little more.


    "Uninvited visitors¡­" Ignus softly spoke before the heat grew again, "You will join this battle and learn. See how powerful a true royal dragon is!" Ignus leaped in to the sky. The burst of mes around him caused his draconic form to be revealed.


    Deep red scales with yellows and oranges patterned throughout. Harsh ws with matching teeth, both able to shred through any enemy. Trailing mes fell from the massive wings that fanned out and lifted Ignus even higher. He had kept himself held back in dragonkin form to hide from the prying eyes of rogue dragons. Now that he knew where one was, he didn''t have the need to worry. Instead, he would show the true power he held. The power of mes hotter than any other could muster in his territory.


    "I would stand back if I were you. He may have said you are joining the fight, but he is just showing off. He did the same to me when I first joined their little walk." Barryughed when he saw Ignus preparing to breathe mes upon the rogue dragon.


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 Chapter 1365 1365. Unknown Improvement

    "Get down!" Remey mmed her fist on top of a grotesque monster. "These stupidva eels are getting on my nerves!" Her anger was a little too much for Onyx to handle so he had stepped back.


    "Remey, they are just youngva eels. They aren''t smart enough to avoid us even when we beat them back like this. You should use your defense breaking palm to break them in one hit." With the small encouragement from Onyx, Remey deemed it worthy not to hold back.


    The crack of Remey''s palm hitting the four small eels that had slithered from a nearbyva pool echoed off the dark rocks. The pair had been moving toward theva pools with a few of the herbs they had in mind just out of reach.


    The attacks seemed to make their dent in the youngva eels. They were either beaten with one solid strike or fled in fear. The two eels left behind were imed by Remey who pulled them out of the smallva pool to cool, she would dly drag them back to make Walker store them away or sell to the tamer''s outpost.


    "Where are those bushes now?" Rmeey saw that there were some burnt light bushes near the pool but they had all been stripped of leaves.


    "They arepletely cleaned up over here too. What would eat them like this?" This was a loss for Onyx since he wasn''t sure what ate these leaves.


    "Probably eaten by ember finches. They are little light and fire elemental birds that can eat ten to twenty leaves a day. That''s one of the reasons that the burnt light bushes are so rare." Remey found it even more annoying that she had just dealt with theva eels.


    "We can try the next pool over there. But it looks like there are some more monsters around." Onyx could make out the moving shapes of something near the next pool.


    "Onyx, you have great eyesight. Those are perfect ingredients!" Remey was instantly happier than she was a moment ago. She pushed herself toward the nextva pool. Just as they approached, Onyx began to make out the shapes he saw moving.


    "Crabs? Made of rocks?" The reason that Remey was so excited to see them was a loss to Onyx. so far he had not been needed in battles or to find things.


    "Onyx, they are a great find. Those are a type of golem. Yes, they look like crabs. It''s weird, but they are great for alchemy. Because they live in very hot ces and are formed frompressed magma rocks, they have a lot of trapped earth mana." Now Onyx was seeing why they might be important.


    "We need to break their shells and toss their cores in to theva pools. They will form new bodies eventually. But the rocks are ideal for a high earth affinity potion. It''s not what we needed but perfect! I''m d you saw it." This made onyx feel much more useful. "Use your tail to break a few and disorient them. I don''t want them running back in to theva pool."


    Without any further waiting, Onyx erged himself and mmed his tail down on the group of seven small rock golem crabs. The back stone they were made of shattered under the sudden force. The crabs were tough against pressure but not from sudden striking force. The shards broke off and fell everywhere.<sub> </sub>


    "See those little diamond shaped things? Those are the cores. Knock them in theva. These things won''t attack anyone anyways. Some alchemists wille just to hunt for them if they need them for a potion material. But most people just use the shards of stone for arrows or spear heads." Remey knew that the material would be somewhat of use for Gil. However, she also knew that he was after better arrow materials. Just because these were good alchemy materials did not mean that they were the best arrow materials.


    "You will want to stop that." Onyx stopped Remey from smashing the next crab golem. The single reason sat before him. Just waiting for the two to notice.


    "But the crabs'' movement scares away the ember finch!" Remey started to pluck the burnt light leaves as quickly as possible. She wanted to bring as many back as possible. "The best part is they can be stored in these pouches without burning or losing their potency." Remey had brought specialized her pouches for fire elemental herbs. It was a simple preparation for the area she was exploring.


    "Should we go and gather more of the crabs and leaves?" Onyx prepared to m his tail down again. There were three more nearbyva pools with more crabs near them. Between them were more burnt light bushes.


    The proceeding smash and grab tactic were very unusual for Onyx and Remey. They were moving like dwarven golems with their tasks assigned. It wasn''t the challenge in beating the crab golems but instead the challenge of terrain.


    Onyx had the added challenge of moving across the less hot parts of ck stone so that he would not get burned. From this, he was able to focus on controlling his body movement to a much higher degree. The fear of severe burns was enough motivation for him to change the way he was used to moving. He had to getfortable being ufortable.


    Remey was much the same. She had a lot of movement techniques practiced. Because of how she fought, she had to be able to dodge. It was not something she liked to do but something she required. Because of this, she had to be light on her feet, a perfect skill to have moving over the potentially soft rocks. The closer she got to theva pools the more carefully she had to feel her footing and the safety. Both she and Onyx made radical improvements in their bodily movement without even realizing it.


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 Chapter 1366 1366. Fire Power

    "He is really going all out." Gil was amazed by the strength of mes that he was witnessing. The simple breath that Ignus used was powerful enough to scorch the stones back in to slow movingva. When he took adeep breath the stones became boiling magma.


    "I don''t know how that rogue dragon is still kicking. The thing is still roaring like it has a chance." Barry had already seen this sight before. He too was amazed with what Ignus could do. It wasn''t the strength that Ignus had, but the elemental might. Barry knew that he could potentially punch Ignus aside doing some damage. But against me breath that hot? Never in a million years.


    <o>,m "I do admit that it is impressive. I wonder how the me elves have been able to live nearby the dragons for so long." Alma had her misgivings about the territory that Ignus kept. She had already heard the attitude that Ignus had from Walker and now seen it in as day.</o>


    "The lord does not involve himself with others. The elves learned to stay away from our territory long ago. It is in their best interest to admire but not to cross the line." The dragonkin that had seen the two at first had rxed greatly.


    Since Barry had shown that he knew the two and the dragonkin respected his power, they all rxed. On top of that, the fact that Gil was able to stand up and speak about his connection with another dragon proved valuable. The dragonkin under Ignus cared about power and a great deal more than other dragons. Therefore, there was a small amount of respect for Gil formed.


    "That may not be the case any longer. If you wish to learn from genesis then you will need to get along with the me elves better. There are many things you may be missing out on. I am certain that the me elves have very good rtionships with the fire spirits. That alone should be enough for you to want to know them. The potential that has with true spirit forging is immense." Alma snapped a little at the dragonkin that didn''t seem to be giving her respect at all.


    "The Lord will decide that. I will stand by the word heys down." The harsh response was enough to make Alma turn a little more red.


    "The heat is getting at you. Better to take a breath." Gil whispered in Alma''s her. He could tell she was letting it get to her.


    The shaking of stones that redirected their attention back to Ignus brought a brutal vision. Ignus had mped his sharp teeth around the rogue dragon''s neck and lifted himself in to the air. Ignus dropped the rogue dragon right before the waiting warriors. "Clean this trash up. Prepare to march back to the vige."


    Ignus looked down upon Alma and Gil before looking away and taking back to the air. He was gone in just a moment. "He does that doesn''t he?" Barry was a little annoyed since Ignus had done the same thing when they were facing multiple rogue dragons. Ignus had flown away to deal with another without saying a word.


    "It looks like he found another. I can see the burst of fire from here." Gil pointed out the faint burst of mes to Alma who was a little more lost. She had less keen eyesight than Gil did.


    "Well, I hate to be the one to say this, but goodbye again. I will follow them to their vige. Check up on Walker, Su, and Midnight. Stay away from theva flow ahead. There are word turtle things in there that have long necks. They like to bite." Barry followed the leaving warriors.<sub> </sub>


    "Hey Gil, they have two hatchlings with them. They arerger but definitely dragon hatchlings." Gil put the puzzle together in a moment. It was very clear to him who the draconic warriors would have dragon hatchling with them.


    "This must be hatchlings they kicked from the nest and reimed. Walker will have to take them back to genesis with him. But that''s still wrong. He was rude, threatened us, and still had the nerve to kick those hatchlings from the nest just to take them back to give them away to someone else." To say that Gil had hatred for Ignus was an understatement. He felt that Ignus was the worst dragon he had met yet.


    "Walker will figure that out. He is using his strength to do that." Seeing that Gil was so worked up she decided to distract him. "I haven''t seen you act like that towards anyone before. You even threw Walker''s title as royal dragon around."


    "I had to. How else would they know that they were messing with an important delegation? Walker told me that dragons care about their pride and tradition more than anything. He did make some of them turn their heads but they are still dragons. It makes sense that they would hold back with the threat of another royal dragoning after them." Gil had used his head and just rolled with it. But the look he was getting from Alma made him wonder if he had done something more than he meant.


    "Well, when you stand beside me and say those things¡­I can''t say I don''t like it. But next time, I want you to speak my titles too." The slight red face made Gil wonder just what Alma was thinking. But he silently nodded and started to walk away. The dragonkin warriors left behind were dealing with the rogue dragon and Barry had given them a warning of the path ahead. Now they just needed to make it to the meeting point with the me elves and they could begin negotiations for an even better future.


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 Chapter 1367 1367. Lowly Positions

    "Walker, what''s that sound?" Su heard a distant noise of air blowing harder than usual. Her words caused Walker and Midnight to look up and behind them.


    "I would say that''s Ignus. And what he had in his mouth¡­a rogue dragon." The sight of a veryrge deep red fire dragon carrying a defeated rogue dragon was powerful. Enough for Walker to wonder how on purpose this was. "And I would say that he is about tond right here."


    The thundering sound of cracking stone and sizzlingva was all the three could hear for a moment. Ignus came to a crashingnding while dropping therge rogue dragon. "Midnight, that is why you should practicendings. If you do that in Genesis, people will be very unhappy." Midnight responded with a slight growl. She took careful mental notes to avoidnding destructively.


    "An uninvited visit. I hope you have proper gifts to make up for that." Ignus''s voice growled out while Walker stood calmly.


    "It sounds like you may have met the others?" Letting Ignus know what the gift was right away would be too easy. Walker also wanted to see what else Ignus had to say since he had suddenlye toward them with a rogue dragon to show off.


    "The elf and archer had the nerve to stand up and speak directly to me. If the human warrior had not spoken up I would have ttened them without a thought." Now it was Walker''s turn to be confused. "His name is Barry. Your vige sent him to help with the clean up effort. I can not say it makes a difference. Yet, he can handle the small ones." This was as close to praise as the party would hear from Ignus.


    "Yes, that''s right. I didn''t think that Barry would end up in thesends at the same time as us. I hope to see him before we leave. It''s a good thing we decided toe with Gil and Alma. They are meeting the me elves to speak about the me elvesing to Genesis. And I am here to speak to you about that."


    Walker''s words seemed to Make Ignus shuffle. It was all too clear a sign that he was unhappy about theming to invite him to genesis. "I have already been told that Mordant has already ventured there. I was told he encouraged you toe here, is that true?" it was unknown if Ignus was happy or angry about this. But his eyes narrowed while waiting for a response.


    "Well, he wanted you to see the first iteration of fire affinity potions we created. They are the gifts I brought. He is currently using the darkness affinity potions along with a floor in the mage tower to better understand darkness elemental mana. I believe he is improving very fast." Saying this little tidbit was enough to make Ignus feel that he may be falling behind a younger dragon than himself.


    "Exin affinity potions and why I should care?" Ignus spoke but had less annoyance in his voice. He even began to change his form to dragonkin form in a burst of mes. It appeared that his curiosity had been piqued by this.


    "The alchemist guild produced potions that work using specific materials. These fire affinity potions are low tier but can boost your affinity for fire elemental mana temporarily. It will be great for training. Remey actually came with us, I suspect she is hunting for rare high tier ingredients to make a high tier fire elemental potion." Walker watched this sink in.


    Before Ignus could speak, Walker continued. "Mordant promised to trade with the alchemy guild and Genesis in general. This will help him get affinity potions, true spirit forging materials, and even build new buildings in his vige. He really liked the style of the mansion I live in. He''s staying there. Although, he said that he enjoys the food. I have to be careful or he may steal a chef from Genesis." This too was another temptation for Ignus.


    "I see, so you have lulled him in to practically living there. And what of the hatchling she brought. How many?" Now Ignus was prying in to what Mordant had invested for this information.<sub> </sub>


    "We can talk about this while we walk to your vige. It will be easier for you to ask all your questions while getting home right?" Ignus just walked with Walker ignoring Su ad Midnight. He wanted answers so he could decide his actions. His fire had not died down in the least. The heat was very strong around him.


    "He brought three. One weak affinity to darkness elemental mana. But that hatchling has incredible physical potential. He will be the guard of the alchemy guild. It helps keep an eye on the affinity potions that will leave. Also protects the herbs being brought in that Mordant supplies." Ignus red at a dragon being a guard.


    "The second is somewhat of an assassin. But very weak body. They will be the perfect map maker and scout. We have very high hopes for her. She should be able to help every merchant in the entire country." Still, Ignus wondered if a dragon should do such lowly things.


    "Lastly, a unique hatchling with weak affinity and body had the gift of small appraisal. She is currently at an auction house appraising the most valuable relics. I believe she will be the best talent for appraisal the world may ever see. She has many years to master it, and then some."


    "Lowly positions. Dragons should show their power. Not this." Ignus looked down at Walker.


    "No. They are not. They are positions that they can exceed in. they will stand at the top of those positions where everyone will revere them. People wille to them for guidance and advice. They are equals who will use their skills to rise to the very top." Walker held Ignus''s gaze. Neither moved.


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 Chapter 1368 1368. Fire Dragon Village

    After some time walking, Ignus had gone silent. He grumbled now and then to himself about Mordant showing off and using the resources to get one over on him. It was very clear that Walker was watching a small tantrum from the normally fiery royal dragon. But to be fair, he had been caught off guard.


    <o>,m "Is that the vige?" Walker had made out the ck stone caves and buildings. They were extremely rough and many dwarves would weep seeing them. However, the heat that radiated off of the entire ce made it clear that the looks weren''t for no reason. They were influenced by the fact that the heat constantly warped them.</o>


    "It is. Feel blessed that you are one of the few beings that may enjoy the heat we have found here. Theva carries the pure fire elemental mana to different locations every few years. My viges need to constantly shift to remain on top of it." The warped buildings made a lot more sense now.


    "It must be a challenge. Does that mean you are saddled with rebuilding the caves and homes constantly?" The time it took to move so many residences would be astronomical. Walker was still marveling at the Genesis building projects. To move a vige constantly would take most of the man power that Ignus had.


    "We have that stubborn earth dragon do it. They owe us for the crystals created here. There are many earth elemental crystals formed in the magma that they can''t touch because of the heat. I just send my dragonkin to harvest them. It is nothing to us." Ignus acted as if theva was the same as a warm breeze. Nothing to be concerned about.


    "I see, I can speak with the dwarves. They may be able toe up with a moveable home made of rune carved stones. It could make your life easier." Walker was not going to just go and do it. He would bait Ignus in to such things.


    "And why do you think I would need that? Terron needs what I have and provides what I desire already." The pushback was immediate.


    "That''s fine. If you want to watch the walls melt like that constantly when you aren''t around to control the heat, that''s fine. I won''t ruin what you have going on. I just thought a royal deserved betterforts. I guess it will just be Mordant with a new home for him and his dragonkin." The words were too taunting and it caused a small burst of me to emanate from Ignus. He didn''t like being made to feel inferior to anything, let alone another dragon.


    "When Ie to your vige you will show me these runes and potential buildings. If I do not deem them good enough I will burn your entire vige to the ground." The growled words made Walker ease off. He couldn''t antagonize and bait Ignus too much. There were lines that he had to keep in mind.


    The center of my vige is over the main flow from the volcano nearby. It provides the perfect underground magma river to ce pure fire elemental mana where I need it." Ignus had walked the three in to the fire dragon vige. He waved a hand out to show the space for meditation that he clearly used. "Your champion will use this spot to catch up while she is here. I will have it no other way."


    Since Midnight was weaker than his champion, Ignus did take a little pity. A dragon champion should be powerful and one that represented the nature dragon royal should have powerful fire elemental strength as well as other elemental strengths. "Midnight, he has a point. Take advantage of it and train. Su, I know you trained your fire elemental resistance but you should do that more as well. Also, lose the bark you are chewing on. Train poison resistance as well."


    Su had already been considering this. However, seeing that Walker was making a point in front of Ignus she followed the order at the moment. "Hmm, Not as different as I thought. You are studying the traditions enough to have underlings that follow you." Ignus had a slightly better opinion of Walker at this point.<sub> </sub>


    "We can move to speak more in depth about Genesis and what you may need while I am here. I assume you have a cave to yourself?" Walker knew that Ignus wanted this already. It was more than clear that Ignus preferred to be in the warmest part of his vige.


    "Yes, follow me." The pair moved under the main ck stones in to a cave. The bright flow of magma illuminated it and caused Walker to circte more mana to avoid being burnt. No matter the items he wore, he was still feeling the heat. Ignus enjoyed seeing Walker start to sweat. It made him feel that even one considered to be the center of all elemental dragons was still unable to handle mes.


    "So, what else do you need to know? I want every dragon toe to Genesis. There are problems easier to solve together than apart. Especially if the wyverns are bing problematic. I already gave the information to Genesis council to investigate." Walker became much more serious.


    "Longevity. You are human and I understand you may live longer with your unique standing. But I have seen cities change, move, and fall. Can you say Genesis willst?" The main crux of how Ignus felt was in as day. He could have all the feelings he wanted about traditions and Walker. But he could notmit to something that may fall in a few years.


    "That''s why I want the dragons, elves, and more. A united people that can live for many years together." Walker prepared another breath to go more in depth with his future goals for Genesis. Especially the demonnds.


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 Chapter 1369 1369. Odd Feelings

    Gil and Alma had chatted for some time while walking away from where they had encountered the dragons. They were both still surprised that Walker was able to easily go head to head with Ignus. The power he had shown was enough to send anyone a few steps back. Even Barry had shown a little reservation.


    "Oh, they don''t look too good." Gil spotted two elves wearing red monster leather uniforms carrying thin throwing spears. "On has a broken arm. The other looks scratched up."


    Alma made a simple gesture to send the enforcers with them to check it out. After a short conversation one returned. "The pair sent to meet us and escort us seem to have encountered one of the rogue dragons before the royal dragon dealt with it. They were minorly involved but say they are ready to finish their quest."


    "Wee to the me elf territory. In the name of our king, we greet you." The two gave a slight bow as they approached.


    "King? You have a king now and not a queen?" Alma couldn''t help but speak out in wonder. The elves were not known for having kings. They naturally had queens for most of their historical past.


    "Our great king gave up his name for us after the loss of our esteemed queen sixty two years ago. He has established tougher borders and brought the me elves in to an honorable peace." The way the two spoke put Gil and Alma off. There was too much proper attitude regarding the topic but it could just have been a difference in culture. Therefore, they pushed the feeling aside.


    "I am Alma, future queen of the forest elves and Genesis representative of the water and forest elves. With me is the hero title holder Gil, friend to the goblins, educationist, and an extremely important friend to the elves united under Genesis. I also have with me four elite enforcers tasked as my guard." Alma raised her head high and allowed the blue ivy to wrap her arms giving off the mana she knew the me elves could only respect.


    "We wee you. Please follow us to the hidden city. You have arrived during the perfect time of year to see the crag trees bloom." The crag tree was a tree that grew with extremely tough bark. It didn''t need water and instead lived off of fire elemental mana. It could bloom in to literal burning flowers which slowly burned at very low temperatures until a single seed fell. This illuminated the me elf city along with made up their homes.


    "Before that. Come here." Gil handed the two a healing potion he had received from Remey. My fellow hero title holder Remey is an alchemical brawler. She made these potions herself. They should help you both recover your wounds." This act seemed to make the two me elves rx greatly. They were unsure of who would being and their attitude. They just had their orders.


    "It is a blessing to be given important items such as these. We will repay you before you leave.'' The pair was very d to see their smaller wounds healing. Therger bruises and broken arm were on the mend now which took a lot of stress from their shoulder.


    Before long, Gil had begun to get them chatting. He was sure that he would be able to learn about their culture. "We mostly use thrown spears due to the toughness of the monsters here. They can lodge in to their skin causing more damage. But there was once a man that usedrge daggers. That may be the technique you are looking for."


    "I will have to ask around then. I want to put the elven dagger arts back together. The elves have been divided too long." Gil''s sudden admittance to his dream caused both me elves to stumble.<sub> </sub>


    "I agree, it may sound odd, but we desire to unite all people. The elves being one. The times of the high elves may return again. Elves used to work together before small disagreements tore us apart. I have read that much in history books." Alma made the two me elves stumble again. The dreams of these two foreigners were stunning. The me elves rarely considered the possibility.


    "Esteemed guests. Please take a deep breathas we cross the seal." Thend ahead looked barren, however, all of them felt the rune''s mana. The runes ced used the natural steam and gas from theva to create a simr invisible magic barrier to what the forest elves had.


    Stepping through, Gil and Alma were blown away. It was very simr to the forest elves'' homes. Large ck and red trees grew from the ground. Therge five pointed flowers that burned in soft yellow mes made the scene even more stunning. Many elves moved around in bright red and yellow attire. Some even caught sight of the new people entering and waited expectantly.


    "Please enjoy the view. We maintain a very careful cleaning of the city to live in the best environment possible. I will bring you to the eternal me garden at ater time as part of the tour. For now, I will guide you to the king''s chambers so you may meet him and pay respects." Being proud of the city was an understatement. Every me elf believed in the beauty hidden within fire. It was the same appreciation for nts that the forest elves had.


    Gil felt Zephyr leave the bow and view the fire spirits moving here and there through the crag trees. They were also interested in her. But what really struck Zephyr as odd was the fact that there were only fire elemental spirits there. "Something is odd. There should be earth spirits in the least. Or more wind spirits to grow the mes. Be careful." Her warning was met with a nod from Gil before Zephyr decided to rest upon his shoulder to keep vignt.


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 Chapter 1370 1370 Bad Intel

    With Zephyr''s warning, Gil began to look more carefully. The people he saw moving about were too perfect. Too organized. The worst part was, that the more he paid attention the more he noticed things standing out. There was not a market. The stalls open selling food were perfect and untouched. No one was stopped buying a single thing. they just wandered about.


    Even more, when Gil began to look at people closely, they would step away and avoid walking past them. "Alma, look at all the fire spirits. There are SO many." Gil emphasized this, making Alma look around. She saw that Zephyr was defensively waiting on Gil''s shoulder which was radically different from the free flying wind spirit she usually was.


    "I know. Everything is so vibrant and bright here. The fire spirits really show off the flowers of the crag tree. I feel like your mother would love to grow them in her garden if it was possible." Her response was perfectly timed to respond to Gil after she had looked at the way everything had been shaped.


    Normally, the forest elves would have mages moving around to tend to the trees they lived in. the crag trees should be no different. Yet, no matter how hard Alma looked she did not see a mage or gardener at all. This was extremely odd for any elven vige. Even the water elves had underwater gardens they maintained before their unfortunate events with Lust.


    The hall they were brought to hadrge ck stone carved statues of me elves standing tall. It was made so that the crag trees grew around the tunnel in perfect twisting branches. To say it was a work of art would be an understatement. For just a moment the two me elves guiding the six were waiting for them to take it all in.


    "Please, right this way." The hall expanded in to onerge room with more crag flowers blooming along the walls. Therge throne that was at the far end had a single elf on it. He was older than most other elves in the room but still young when it came to the terms of an elf. He had sharp eyes and stared down at them. Attendants sat far to the sides while some armored elven guards lined the walls.


    "You stand in the presence of the honored me elf king. Pay your respects!" An announcer spoke with force before the me elf king stood to ept his guests.


    "We are honored to meet with you and your people after so many years. It is a shame that we have been divided. Seeing the care you take in your city makes it clear that the beauty of nature is respected by all elves regardless of elemental affinity. I am Alma, future queen of the forest elves and representative of elves on the Genesis council. My sincerest well wishes from the forest and water elves."


    The me elf king was appearing to speak when he saw Gil step forward as well. But he was not going to allow this, "I am d you received my letter. Please feel free to enjoy the elegance of a city tour after you have rested. But I do wish to get to the business we have long awaited. It has been many years and I can promise we have thought things through to great depth."


    There was an elegance but a pride in the way the forest elf spoke. Not just Gil, but Alma felt their skin crawl slightly. But the reactions of the elite enforcers when Gil was obviously overlooked became tense. They slightly lowered their stature so they could move at any moment.


    "I have sent a few of my scouts to the outside world. Many things have been changing and I had to ensure safety. It is already evident that the dragons have been more active. I have to care for my borders after all." The chuckle the me elf king had further put them on edge. It wasn''t malicious but off putting.<sub> </sub>


    "News of your achievements was a surprise and I thought to myself, what a wonderful thing to do. It is only right that the elves return together under a powerful leader. The other racesing underneath that same leader is a testament to that." The information the king seemed to have put together was not all correct. They could see that clearly.


    "That is why I sent a letter. I can not sit aside any longer and pretend that I do not hold a vested interest. I can see by your attendant here that you have anchored the human race as personal guards. A very fitting position for them. Defending the elegant beings that stand for nature is honorable and will surely allow the world to bless them." The elite enforcers became much more tense. But Gil did notck a backbone.


    "I did not have the chance to introduce myself yet. I am Gil, hero title holder, friend of the goblins, educationist, founder of the archery academy, and a member of the Omnipotent adventurer party. My family consists of many, but one such is the royal nature dragon Walker. I am pleased to meet you here today with my fellow representative Alma." His words sounded sweet but they could cut like a knife.


    "Comedy is not a strong suit for the humans. How unfortunate." The look of disdain from the me elf came and went quickly. "Since you seem to need to rest and calm yourselves after a trying journey I will be blunt." The me elf king paused while still looking down.


    "I have extended a hand so that the future forest elf queen may join me by my side. I would take you as my bride so that we may properly rule the elves as it should be."


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 Chapter 1371 1371. Insult To All Elves

    Stunned silence was the first thing that Gil and Alma were capable of. However, there was a growing feeling in Alma''s chest. One that was foreign to her normally. One that she had not needed to show.


    "How pathetic." The disgusted tone that Alma allowed to escape her lips was enough to make anyone''s skin crawl. "To think that the me elves have fallen to such a sad low in their generation."


    The words of retaliation caught in the me elf king''s throat. "You do not know a single thing about the outside world. Your streets are full of pretty things and nothing else. Your ideals are old and wed. Genesis is where everyone is EQUAL. Every race. Merfolk, elves, humans, dragons, dwarves, goblins, grey haired spiders, demi-humans, and every race to join us as we grow." Seeing the fury in Alma''s eyes made Gil wonder just how angry she truly was.


    "I did not give up my name for the future title of queen. Instead, I give my time and dreams. I will stand for all elves, even you in your delusions. But know this, you will not have a ce in Genesis with your foolish ideals that you are better than anyone else. That worthless thinking will slow the growth of the harpies on the cusp of obtaining their rights as a proper intelligent race. It will poison the bonds we work hard to forge." Alma looked at Gil with expectant eyes.


    "You speak ill of myself and my entire race but youck the knowledge of what we have done. Humans have fought alongside dragons. We have discovered ruins. We have brought many races together already. But that is small to you since you are blinded. Alma would still stand for you if you gave up your poor world view." Gil was sure that Alma had been waiting for him to join her. His words had to match her tenacity.


    "As I stated before, my titles are many, my bonds great. But if I need to exin it in simpler terms, I am a human arcane archer. And I am better than most archers that elven race gives birth to. Can you say the same? Can you say that you have everything above a human? Because I see nothing worthwhile here."


    Gil took a deep breath and began to reinforce Alma even further. The more he spoke the higher she seemed to stand. "Where are the other elemental spirits? All I see are fire spirits. How sad that you thrust them out because that is the only exnation. The fruits I saw in your stalls were there for looks, but no one was buying. Your people moved as if forced to. Do you have any respect for your own people? I would never support such acts. Every single being in this world is equal and deserves such respect."


    Zephyr took the opportunity to float in to the air causing a breeze to rifle the room. The fame elves looked at her with panic. They had not expected a grand wind spirit to be in their presence. "Do you not recognize a grand wind elemental spirit given a name by the world? Do you not recognize Zephyr, my family?" This statement alone shook the me elves'' hearts.


    It had been generations since a grand elemental spirit had been seen within their walls. The me elves had once been living in turn with a grand fire elemental spirit but it had left them. Since that day they had done any and all things to recover their ability to house it with no sess.


    "sphemy! We are pure fire elemental beings that represent the true elemental will of the world. We will clean your sins from the face of the world! Do not walk in here believing you can forc-"


    "You will remain silent!" Alma shouted full force. "I would not give my hand to such a narrow minded fool who can not even care for his people. You do not deserve the title of me elf king. Nor do your people deserve a ce in Genesis unless they can open their eyes!"


    At this point, the me elf guards burst in to mes. The fires changed shape bing armors. Gil was witnessing the me knights that he had been told about but not in the way he had hoped to. "Gil, have you used your party chat to tell Walker?" Alma knew that they needed help. But she was worried that Gil had been caught in the moment forgetting to ask for it.<sub> </sub>


    "Don''t underestimate me. If it''s for your safety, I would call for the entirety of Genesis to go to war. I sent him a notification the moment I saw the oddness of the elemental spirits." Gil smirked as he watched Alma reach down and touch a root of a crag tree. The entire floor was made up of them.


    "Then we will wait for them. Protective measures!" Alma had the enforcers encircle her and Gil. Gil had arrows drawn ready to defend. The me knights had begun to move inward. Towards them¡­


    (Just after Gil sent Walker a party chat notification.)


    "Ignus. I need to cut this short. My family needs me." The radical change in conversation was enough to show Ignus just who Walker was deep down. Every dragon was prideful. They would oust the weaklings from their nests. But that did not mean they wouldn''t defend those around them to the veryst breath. Ignus was a prime example of the lengths he would go for. If something dared to harm a single dragonkin on his watch¡­it would spell the end for whatever had done so.


    "If this is within my territory, I am obligated toe as well." This was his home. Ignus owned and protected it. No one would be allowed to harm a royal dragon or their family. No matter how Ignus felt about them. This was a dragon''s pride.


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    <o>,m ¡­.</o>

 Chapter 1372 1372. Winds Fury

    "Imprisonment for life! The me elves will fix this impure mistake and properly redeem the names of tall elves. The grand fire spirit shall return! The me elf king made this decree as the fire knights moved to capture them.


    "Protect the queen!" The four enforcers moved to intercept the me knights. Unfortunately, they were only able tobat four of them. The remaining approached Gil and Alma.


    "Your nature is at my bidding!" The crag tree roots surged up, swiping away a me knight as they attempted to get near Alma. she was not allowing a single one to reach her. She had ideals to live up to and a newly found elf city to bring back to the right path. It cost Alma a significant amount of her mana to use such skills with nts she was not familiar with or had grown herself.


    "Don''t even try it!" Gil fired multiple arrows at the approaching knights only to find that they were able to deflect them. The me knights were able to wield the mes like armor. It set them aside from the traditional elven values. The me elves had taken their elemental affinity and focused on them in the sense of defense and up close battle. That was why they had throwing spears and guards instead of enforcers.


    "Stand down!" Gil was hit from behind knocking his quiver far across the room. Zephyr was within the bow using all of her might to direct wind elemental mana toward her and Gil. She wanted him to be able to have the fastest arrows possible for the battle they found themselves in. However, Gil could not do so without arrows.


    Due to the recoil of Alma''s sudden attack and use of mana, she was already panting. She couldn''t seem to sweep the crag tree roots again while the me knights stood back up. She waspletely defenseless against the knights approaching her. Gil watched as one was about to grab Alma and take her away from him. Take her away from the dreams she had forged. Away from all those she cared for.


    "Zephyr¡­we can''t let this happen." Gil felt his blood chill. He gripped his bow tightly and breathed calmly. His eyes seemed to be seeing everything in slow motion. The only thing that mattered was that Alma was in his sights and no one would harm her. No one.


    The intense burst of wind that followed Gil standing up was one that no me knight could stand against. The wind was whipping in brutal torrents around him as Gil reached a hand to where his quiver should be. To see the air currents was the mark of powerful wind elemental mana being used. As the wind condensed within Gil''s hand, the form of a greenish arrow appeared.


    From the arrow Gil had created came constant screaming. The intensity of the wind suddenly died when he pulled back his bow. But by now there were fifteen me knights moving right after him.


    "The grand wind spirit Zephyrmands the skies to bow before me. Bow before the avatar of wind and wee the gale!" Zephyr''s words echoed. Every single being within the area could hear her. It did not matter whatnguage or how it was spoken. They understood the cmity being brought upon them.


    Gil released the arrow. The air that had seemed to freeze was caught in an uproar. Shredding streams tore through the crag tree branches while throwing the me knights like ragdolls. The walls of the me king''s hall were torn asunder while the me king found himself trapped within a torrent of wind only to be mmed upon the ground multiple times.


    Gil''s arrow flew through the ceiling and in to the skies causing the clouds to warp. Sparks from thervae flows were caught in to a massive spout of twirling mes. The me elves fell in to a panic believing they had summoned the wrath of the world.<sub> </sub>


    The only ones left without a single scratch on them were the elite enforcers and Alma who were looking at Gil with dropped jaws. His form was covered in wind matching the shapes that Zephyr took. Wind elemental spirit marks covered his arms and neck like tattoos. " We will not allow harm toe to those we protect." The words flowed from Gil''s mouth as if carried by a soft spring breeze to their ears.


    The next sound that came in to their ears was Gil hitting the ground unconscious and the pping of dragon wings. Walker and Ignus had rushed ahead without holding back. They left everything else behind to bring their force upon the people that may be harming Walker''s family. "Alma! Tell me what happened!"


    Walker rolled Gil over without a single pause. He was using healing spells and lifting Gil''s head to drink a mana potion. The natural mana around him was visibly rippling. Even Ignus felt that he would have trouble controlling the fire elemental mana with Walker in such a state.


    Miraculously, a single figure raised itself from the ground. Bruises were already forming on their body. "A tantrum fit for a lower race without purity. Brining a beast to defend you. The me elves will achieve purity and bring back the grand fire spirit to its rightful home!" The voice of the me elf king was maddened.


    "You caused this?" Walker had used healing spells and two mana potions on Gil. he knew that Gil was safe. But his rage at seeing that Gil was harmed did not settle. "I came because my family said something was off here and they did not feel safe. I came here to this?" Walker stepped forward slowly. The mana gathered around him. "The me elves do not deserve the warmth they praise any longer. You have lost the right."


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 Chapter 1373 1373. Cooling Stones

    "Ignus, bare with the cold." Ignus was unsure of what Walker meant. He just knew that Walker was extremely angry. It was easy to see, but unexpected. From what Ignus had seen, Walker was calm headed and bnced.


    "Walker, don''t force yourself to deal with this. The elves-"


    "Alma, you have burns on your arms from the trees here. Gil will be unhappy if you don''t heal up quickly. Have your enforcers help you. I will handle this while you rest." Walker''s words seemed sweet, yet they had a dark lining.


    The mana condensed quickly around Walker. He considered attacking and defeating the me king while the coyote would have to be handled differently, but looking at the attendants picking themselves up caused Walker to change his thinking.


    The entire royal me elf court had hateful eyes. They looked at Gil passed out on the ground after defending the person he loved with disgust. The hatred the me elves had grown for everyone was too great. It was the same form of poison that the demonnds were infected with. The corruption that should have no ce in the world.


    A single me knight attempted to walk toward Walker but was too slow to do anything. "I may not be able to freeze this ce, but I can remove the warmth of your pure mes." There was a domineering tone in Walker''s voice. It was the same tone a dragon roar had. The same tone that demanded attention.


    Walker did not have a small amount of water prep[ared for this journey. He had brought multiple barrels in case they were needed. The entire terrain was water poor. How could they have found water in this ce? The question had prompted Walker to store a lot of it for whatever need he had. This time, his need was not for drinking or sharing with others.


    The sizzling of water starting to evaporate on the ck stones was followed by a simple few words. "If I had more water this would be a proper ice dragon''s domain. Count yourself lucky that you are not frozen fully."


    Walker''s hand touched the steaming water causing a radical change. The ring around him became frozen and ice crystal covered. But further, the stones began to rapidly cool. Cracking sounds rang out as this spread through the me elf city. The entire city soon felt the change. Even without the cooling feeling being strong in every spot, the warped stone had a chain reaction.


    The opposing forces caused stones to crack and the crag tree roots to shift. The deepva beneath the rock was also cooling and creating pressure. The entire me elf main hall was being broken in to cracked shards. The me elf kin could only copse looking at the price he had to pay for threatening Genesis and its people.


    "Ice dragon domain¡­. The wrong path to use here. But effective." Ignus mumbled to himself watching this happen. The reaction that the small amount of water elemental mana was having on an entire area ofnd was wondrous. Ignus rarely brings his fire elemental mana in rtion to other elemental manas to mind. He focused on fire elemental mana purity. But not to the degree that the me elves did. Walker was able to cause reactions in other elemental manas using all of this which presented itself in the very ground cracking through a city.


    The elite enforcers had already moved to keep Gil on their shoulders. The other two were assisting Alma. One had run to grab Gil''s quiver of arrows since they knew the value it had to him. "Ignus, I will make a statement. Then I can return to what we were doing." Walker was still using some mana to hold the area beneath his feet together. The cracked stone was trying to burst apart in a jumble since it was under pressure.<sub> </sub>


    "Take your time and make your point. This is a fitting punishment for ignoring respect." Ignus was partially d to see that Walker was willing to punish those that offended him. However, there was also the fact that Walker had done so with a skill that every dragon could use in their own elemental form. It was something that made him wonder what Walker could do with a nature dragon domain.


    Using the wind ripple sill, Walker moved high in to the air. "Those of the me elf city! You have insulted the city of Genesis. You believe in your purity and standing above all races. You are wrong!" Walker used the wind elemental mana to carry his voice to the entire city.


    "In Genesis people are all equal disregarding race. If you wish to leave your way of life here for equality, you may take the journey there. If you dare to bring trouble to Genesis or other races, you will be punished!" With this, Walker released his hold on the earth elemental mana.


    Stones cracked further being released from their pressure. The elemental maniption Walker had done to create hot and cold spots was minimal in the scheme of things. Yet, it highlighted his understanding of elemental mana and what a small change could do. The city had lost its foundations and the crack trees had shifted. It was easy to avoid being harmed but it would cause a lot of trouble to put back together. Walker had damaged the entire city with one move.


    But this had freed the mask from the city''s face. The painted statues lost pieces of their color showing the rugged and burnt exterior. The market that Gil had seen lost the fabrics hiding the rotting crag tree wood. Everything had been ignored. The city was on itsst legs and the me elf king had let it all happen.


    As evidence of all this, a few me elves were cheering. Something unusual in Walker''s ears until he heard the hatred born for the me elf king and his attendants. This was all not as simple as it had appeared. "Time to leave." Walker moved through the air following Ignus who was leading back to the vige. He was doing his best to hold himself together since he had abused his mana yet again. His body cried for him to stop and rest.


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 Chapter 1374 1374. Answers

    Getting back to Ignus''s vige was a very fast process. Due to his annoyance that the enforcers were carrying Gil slowly, Ignus had directly grabbed them with his ws and carried them all the way there. It was something that made Walker think higher of Ignus because the excuse was too forced.


    "Alma, tell me what you saw and why things were like that?" Walker wanted all the information. Gil was resting since he had overexerted himself. It was clear that Walker had rushed in causing a lot of drama without knowing the full story.


    "When we went in to their city Gil noticed the spirits. Zephyr was even acting protective of him. The more we looked we felt off. Everything was too perfectly set up for us. Even the elves walking around were too perfect. None of them were working. Just walking around." This was very unnerving since it could have been someone using a magic skill.


    "We were brought to the me elf king''s hall. He had very bad information about Genesis. He thought that I was the one going to rule over all of it. Uniting the elves wasn''t for equality and peace but to rule everyone. He was terrible. He thought Gil was a servant. He didn''t even let Gil speak at first." Alma shook slightly bing angry.


    "It only got worse the more he spoke without letting us exin things. It was like our words were just imaginary. Then he said that he invited us there to join together, by marrying me." Alma saw Walker''s eyes be wide.


    "That exins why Gil may have been angry enough to not hold back¡­But that still doesn''t exin things. What was that form that Gil was in? Where did the powerful winde from that broke the me elf king''s hall?" These were very important to Walker. He and Fleur had felt the mana being controlled with extreme precision.


    "I don''t know it well. The elders would know it better. But from what I do know, Gil has be the avatar of wind. It''s something that spirit mages have the potential for. The title is given by a grand elemental spirit or equal. That spirit chooses an avatar to bond withpletely. Basically, Zephyr and Gil be one through that skill." Alma had a small tear running down her cheek.


    "One of the me knights was going to grab me and Gil made an arrow out of wind to knock them back. I used an attack that left me wide open and he was pushed too hard. It''s my fault that he won''t wake up." The enforcers felt the same as Alma. they had failed their positions. Gil had paid the price for all of them failing. Their silent prayers to the world for him to be well were all they could do now.


    "And now between the wind and you the entire city might be ruined!" Alma''s face fell in to her hands. She felt that she had even ruined the chances for the me elves to ever reunite with the other elves and join Genesis. The future she had been working toward was already lost before it had a chance to be born.


    "That is where you are wrong. After I waved those pathetic fire illusions away I saw everything. That city as you call it was nothing more than rubble. To purify things they fell to ruin. It has been many years since there were me elves in great numbers. Right about the time of thest eruption." Ignus had been silent. He was watching Walker carefully. These things happened within Ignus''s territory but Walker was the one acting on what had happened.


    "I also saw a lot of those fabrics and paintings erased after Gil''s attack. That was all for show, just as he thought. I would not be surprised if the me elf city has been slowly falling in to ruins before you ever arrived. And what was that about a grand fire spirit?" Walker was slowly assembling the pieces.<sub> </sub>


    As Walker was understanding the situation, Alma was already ahead of him. It snapped her out of self pity and put her back in to her focused mindset. "The me elves lost the grand fire spirit they worshiped at some point. They said that they would be able to bring it back by bringing the elves together. If they have been giving everything up to attract the grand me spirit¡­"


    "Then they have been throwing their people aside for years already." Walker finished her sentence. The two were disgusted that a ruler could do such a thing.


    "You may be unhappy with my people for ousting the weak. But we would never sacrifice all of our people to purify elemental mana. Or to attract the attention of anyone." Ignus found a great amount of distaste in the me elves'' actions. Purification of mana should not be through sacrifice. It should be through careful meditation and learning. It should be a positive pursuit instead of a corrupted poisoned one.


    "The real question is, where did the me elves go? There were no bodies around, no signs that they did untold evils. So where could they be?" Walker wanted to go and return there as soon as he could. He wanted to find the answers to his question so that he could ensure those responsible for any crime woulde to justice.


    <o>,m "Banished. Every elf has the same tradition. Banish those that do not conform to the traditions. The forest elves were always less likely to do so. The forests were not a ce we felt should be full of the banished. Byt the me elves were strict, they banished their people even before they went mad." Alma felt that she was discovering a terrible thing. Banishment was the loss of one''s home. A great insult. A tragedy for the criminals that could not be punished in other ways.</o>


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 Chapter 1375 1375. Where They Went

    "I may be able to shed light on that. The volcano that erupted caused me to move my vige. It was troublesome but the flow ofva changed and so did the potency of mana." Ignus was certain that he knew where a grand fire spirit would go. He did not interact with them but he did know of them. And since Walker had shown that there were items that could be made specifically for elemental spirits, it made Ignus think about starting to learn more about them.


    "The volcano is still active. It has fire elemental mana directed toward it but it is not safe for my dragonkin warriors to grow. I havee near there to train myself. There always seems to be a few elves there but I would ignore them."


    "You''re saying that the banished elves moved to the volcano so that they could be near the grand fire spirit?" Walker received a nod. He was surprised that Ignus was so good at knowing his territory. "You keep a close eye on your territory. I can learn from that." Walker gave credit where credit was due. He would not forget this as a lesson.


    "That''s where I have to go next then. I can fix this. They were kicked from their city because their leaders lost their minds. I can''t let them think they are alone." The hope that Alma felt for the me elves was pushing her. But Walker stopped her from standing.


    "You will rest here. Gil is still unconscious, your four guards are in no shape to do anything, and you stillck mana." The parental tone was much stronger when Walker spoke at that moment. He was not going to allow anyone to further get hurt. Especially with Gil still unable to protect himself.


    "You speak of matters like this as if they are troublesome. I can send one of my children to deal with it. They have beenzing about. Purifying their elemental mana has been thest thing on their list to do. I need a task to make them understand that they still need to grow. This should be demeaning enough. A simple messenger to bring back a me elf from the volcano." Ignus grinned. He was going to make Walker more indebted to him as well.


    "I mean no insult by this. But please allow me to go too. I need to be the one to unite my people. If I rely on you and only you then the elves won''t be able toe together under our own power." Alma surprised Ignus with this. He had expected her to just give in. He was the most powerful one here. She shouldn''t even think about going against him.


    "If that is what you desire then you have one hour to prepare. You will go with my son. He will take you there and you will get three hours to make them follow you. Nothing more and nothing less." Ignus ced these restrictions for simple reasons. The volcano was a dangerous force of nature. Even he would find danger there. He had to protect his son to a degree.


    Second, there was the fact that Alma had gone against him. He wanted to see her use that courage to get what she desired. Any being that was willing to speak back to a great dragon such as him should be able to make that happen.


    And third, Walker was watching Alma carefully, he was not wrong about her current situation. Her body had been overtaxed using mana so quickly. She needed to recover and she just hadn''t epted it yet. Walker was the one who spoke the most logic but since Alma refused to follow it then Ignus would make it more challenging.


    <o>,m "Where are we going?" The rough voice of Gil interrupted their conversation. Alma nearly fell over when she jumped up and rushed to his side. The hug she gave him could have broken bones if Alma was any stronger. "You''re safe¡­" the two words were filled with more warmth than theva flowing underneath the stones.<sub> </sub></o>


    "You know you should let him breathe. And you are doing this in front of a dragon and your elite enforcers." Walker smirked a little seeing that Alma became very red faced very quickly. She didn''t even have the words to respond. "d you''re awake. I thought I was going to lose a brother there. But it''s your fault for using all of your mana like that Mr. Avatar of the grand wind spirit Zephyr." The teasing tone had some seriousness worked in to it.


    "I can''t say it isn''t my fault. I didn''t stay close enough to Alma and that fire was about to touch her. She would have been¡­" The air stirred slightly as Gil clenched his fists. But he was quick to calm himself. "I can''t answer all the questions right now. I know a few things though."


    Walker knew what wasing but waited for Gil to say it, "My new title is called avatar of the wind. Ites with the spiritual avatar skill. But it also is a one and done skill. I use all my mana to take that form and fire a powerful arrow. I couldn''t control it at all, it was just my anger using it." Gil was understandably confused. He needed to speak to Zephyr.


    "I can''t speak to Ze[hyr either. She''s asleep. The spirit mark moved to my chest. Right over my heart. I can feel it. Every heartbeat has more to it now. It has wind mana too. It''s¡­different." Gil was lost but his hand held Alma''s tighter.


    As Gil calmed himself more and more, Walker summed up the situation that they had figured out. Gil went through the same emotions as them before saying one thing, "I will go and drag them back. They have a home in Genesis where they can be anything they want." His attitude matched Alma''s perfectly. Both were way too stubborn.


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 Chapter 1376 1376. Have You Not Noticed?

    While the elite enforcers apologized to Gil for the fact that they failed, Alma was left amazed. "I didn''t realize how much they had respected Gil. they apologized to me but right now, they look like they are apologizing to a brother." The way the enforcers and any archers hade to respect Gil was hard to understand.


    "They see him as someone that learned and rose above the odds. A human bing better at archery than an elf? A human that has a rtionship with a grand elemental spirit which even an elf can''t do? I don''t know if you have been living under a rock but he is basically the hero your people think of when you mention the hero title. I''m small potatoes inparison." Walker enjoyed the look of awe on Alma''s face after saying this.


    As much as Alma had looked at Gil with care, she had been blinded by her own duty. She had pursued strength for the elven people. This was simple for her to see and work toward. But she had been unable to see the degree at which Gil had incorporated himself in to their culture. Their beliefs. Their world. He was just ad much an elf as he was a born human. The forest elves could care less what race he had.


    "I see¡­I should do something about that." Alma''s whisper was soft. She was thinking about how she could properly bring him in to their people with some form of title or award. But this wasn''t what she should have been focusing on.


    "Gil, are you able to move yet? I want to see a few things?" Walker had been holding Fleur back. She wanted to go over and check Gil out. it was the wind elemental mana that was surrounding him that interested her. She wanted to feel it and understand the change.


    Walker felt that he would be able to learn a few things as well from everything. The main reason being that he might have a simr title with simr skill one day. The fact that he had a nature spirit partner set him aside from the other elemental spirits.


    "You four need to get ready. Make sure you drink the mana potions and check for any lingering injuries. We have some elves to recruit." Gil left the four elite enforcers with a smile. He felt that they would want to redeem themselves no matter what., as much as they had been told they weren''t at fault for the situation that urred, they still took it upon themselves.


    "What do you want to know?" Gil had a feeling that Walker would be pursuing simr goals to get to the title that he had discovered. It was unintentional but possessed great potential.


    "I know you can feel it but, you have a lot of wind elemental mana clinging to your body now. I think ites with the title and your new spirit mark. Fleur has wanted to see it for a bit now." Finally released, Fleur floated around Gil. she seemed more interested than Walker had realized she was. Gil just carefully watched. Now that Walker had mentioned it he could sense more wind elemental mana than before.


    "I think I can add more wind to my arrows if I fire them. It should be a good thing. But I''m not sure I will be as good at making elemental arrows. I''ll need to retrain myself." The fact that Gil was starting the notice this was massive. Just knowing that he would need to adjust his skills and techniques was the start of improvement.


    "That should be a good thing. You will be able to use more force in battle and send the arrows further. You might steal away the titles revolving around archery from the forest elves." Walker joked but Alma reacted with a single re toward them.


    "Even if Gil gets them then the elves still hold them. He''s pretty much one of us." Alma''s huffy response made Gil chuckles slightly before drinking another mana potion.<sub> </sub>


    "Ignus, I know it''s sooner than I promised. But we should start thinking about leaving. The me elves will receive their information about what is going on. I want to go there but I trust you and your offspring. Alma, Gil, you two better be back top Genesis soon. If Ignus and his dragonkin beat you then I will have to tease you more." Ignus followed Walker out of the room leaving the six to prepare themselves. They were going to gather the me elves exiled from their homes.


    <o>,m "Leaving so soon could be seen as an insult." Ignus was not happy to let Walker show up and leave as he pleased.</o>


    "I have duties back in Genesis. I wanted to fully convince you toe there but I don''t think you''re nning that anytime soon. I see that you are focused elsewhere with the rogue dragons." The agreement to cleanse thends of rogue and dangerous dragons was all too clear. The royals would not abandon it so easily.


    "My warriors had dealt with them. My champion is also handling things. I will be there within the weak with two hatchlings. I expect you to be prepared. You champion better be ready to show them the gold mes she breathes. My hatchlings may be inspired." The hint was enough for Walker to grasp that fire dragons highly regarded the golden me heart.


    "Ignus, I had the wrong idea about you at first. Fire doesn''t need to be cruel and unfeeling. It''s passionate." Thest words from Walker before he walked outside toward where Midnight and Su were training made Ignus wonder if he would be able to resist fighting Walkerter on. Some things were better off left unspoken. But that was for another time. Ignus could see his dragonkin warriors returning with Barry.


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 Chapter 1377 1377. Leaving So Soon?

    "So will you tell me what has been happening yet? You left Midnight and I here training saying that you would handle things. Do you not realize we can sense what you are feeling? Midnight more than I, but still. I know." Su had harsh energy around her words. She was not about to let Walker avoid it all.


    "The me elf king has been exiling his people to the point that only a very small portion of his city is actually upied and livable. He also wanted to marry Alma to increase power and work toward elemental purity. A huge mess. Now Gil has a new title and Zephyr is resting. But don''t worry, the exiled me elves are near a volcano so Alma, Gil, and her guards are going there with the help from Ignus''s son to recruit them in to Genesis."


    The nonchnt attitude that Walker used was enough for Su to nod along before the word made their impact. She stopped and looked at him as if he had said something all together ridiculous. "And they were fine!?"


    "Yes. Gil is fine. He used all of his mana firing a single arrow that tore away all the lies the me elf king created. Then I may have gotten angry and broken a small part of their city using ice dragon''s domain to cool the rocks and make a chain reaction. Ignus seems to have more respect for me though and is sending two hatchlings with him when he visits in a week." The happy response made Su want to smack herself in the face. Walker was just too odd sometimes.


    Midnight didn''t seem to worry. She could tell very much that Walker was rxed knowing that Gil and Alma were safe. There was also the fact that she was happy to hear she would get to help two more hatchlings. The entire situation could have gone much worse. However, Walker was also stuck on the fact that Gil and Zephyr had bonded so closely. They had been training constantly even before Gil knew that Zephyr was within the bow.


    "Walker, next time you bring us along no matter what. Even if you have another royal dragon with you." The hard requirement was nothing that Walker could argue with, he was stuck with it and that was that.


    "Of course!...so, hope is training going?" Walker had left Du and Midnight there for a few hours. They hadn''t stopped even though the sun had set and the area was only illuminated by mes and small pools ofva.


    "Who do you think we are? We have been increasing our head resistance. Have you not noticed we aren''t even wearing the ne or bracelets?" Su pointed this out as if it was something that Walker should have noticed immediately.


    "I did see that you were sweating, but so am I being down under the stones so I thought it was the heat getting to you." Since Walker wanted to improve his fire elemental resistance too he considered following suit. But he also worried that he would be too optimistic. Su and Midnight had much better magical and regr defenses to resist conditions like this.


    "We are going to leave Alma and Gil to their work. But we can start to move out. It will be better to get back to Remey and Onyx who should be prepared to leave." Walker also had to keep in mind that Remey needed to be back to the alchemy guild. The alchemypetitions were very close. The adventurer''s guild would also be rewarding certain young adventurers with advancement within the guild. It would be important to hear what herbs they found that made this possible.


    "This is too soon, but it''s enough for now. Have you noticed that neither of us seems to need the bark Remey gave us? The poison fumes have had no effect at all since we stopped chewing it."<sub> </sub>


    Su had narrowed this down to the fact that she and Midnight had more resistance than Walker would. But mainly, it was focused around the fact that they had some fire dragon abilities. The fire dragons lived in this kind of environment at all times, therefore, they resisted. Since Midnight had all elemental affinities as a nature dragon champion, so would Su. That was the key here.


    "I wonder if I can be the same way then." Walker put the piece of bark in his pocket and soon found that his nostrils were burning. "Maybe not so much." His body wasn''t reacting too poorly but he could feel the sluggish effect of weaker resistance. "I will tough it out for now. Just keep an eye out in case I look worse than now." The attempt to get stronger was brutal but would make a great difference.


    "You kids show up and try to leave as soon as I get here. How unfair of you." The sound of heavy footsteps had already made the three turn toward them. But when Barry spoke out he made them all react.


    "I had been told you were here, but I did not n to bother you if you arrived. I know you have been working hard.'' Walker shook Barry''s hand in greeting. He could see the small wounds all over Barry''s body. The battles had not been easygoing.


    "Just a few things to handle. Nothing to worry about. The older ones are the troublesome though. I will have you take this letter back to ra. I ran in to a few interesting things that she may want to look in to." Barry could speak directly to ra on important guild topics. He was the vice guild master. But he wanted to leave a list of things to her so it was simpler to have them written down to be brought over. He had been working on it for a few days now.


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 Chapter 1378 1378. Taller

    "We will get it to her, don''t worry." Walker stored the letter away while Su started t fuss over the fact that Barry had not bandaged any of the small wounds on his body. She was showing a lot of the reasons behind her being in the cathedral. Barry didn''t fight her though, he calmly took the salves and healing potion from her after Walker had pulled them from his storage.


    "How have the battles been? A lot to deal with?" Walker wanted a little bit of insight onthese things. It would help him exin to the other dragons if they were not pulling their weight.


    "Not as many as you would think. But I have only been through three territories now. I am told that there are some that are worse than others." Not many of the royal dragons had said much but it was very clear from the things that had been said that there were worse territories than what Barry had seen already.


    "I know if you get to the light dragon territory you may have a hard time. From what it sounded like in the royal dragon court, they are strict. Extremely so with their hatchlings. I would not be surprised if they have the rogue dragons unrestricted around their territory. I am unsure if they will actually bring hatchlings to Genesis either¡­" Walker felt that the light dragon would prove to be the hardest to handle since he had seen the attitude in the royal dragon court.


    "I will keep that in mind. But I don''t doubt that I will have help along the way. The dragonkin warriors have been fairly weing even though some are a bit too prideful." Barry had easily dealt with the few that thought of him as weak. He couldn''t just let them stand over him too much. "I should be a bit stronger by the time I return to genesis. I just wonder who I will fight in tournaments.'' The arena had been something on Barry''s mind for some time now.


    "I will let Scy know that you want to enter. Maybe she will fight you herself." The possibility seemed to make Barry more excited.


    "Get on with it. I will see you again in a little while." Barry shooed them away after that though. Su threw another bandage at him as he tried to walk away. Midnight just growled softly in parting. She had been too upied with her current training.


    "You seem to have a better grasp on the fire elemental mana." Walker could see that Midnight was working on her me breath. She was holding it in her chest but it was clearly there. Controlled and waiting to be released.


    "That''s my fault. She was attempting to train in the hottest spot but I wanted to watch her bring in fire elemental mana to breathe mes. I want to be able to utilize the changes in my body sooner." Walker was a little surprised by Su''s desire to breathe dragon fire. But it made sense, she had changed due to her bond with Midnight. And she had the potential to breathe mes. She even saw the skills as there in her system.


    "If you manage to breathe fire you might be able to do some interesting attacks. When you have an opponent right up close during a shield bash you could add fire damage. It could be a very strong tactic against tough opponents." The potential that Su had before her was great. Walker couldn''t say he didn''t see it clearly.


    "The real question is, will you be able to breathe mes?" Su wasn''t sure if Walker would be able to. He had learned monster skills but none that augmented his body. He was still human from what Su could see.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, I can''t say I am totally human with how I have bonded with Midnight, elemental mana, and Onyx. To be fair, I also have a unique bond with Fleur that might change things. I feel like I am more of a mystery than I want to admit." Walker was clear in the fact that he wouldn''t be able to speak in depth about this. He had to wait and see what he learned as he grew.


    "One thing is clear though, you are hitting your own growth spurt. You are getting almost as tall as me." Su was the tallest in the party. It came with her general standing as the tank that protected everyone. She knew that she had always been taller because her parents were fairly tall. Yet now, she felt that she might end up shorter than the others. Everyone was growing while she was bing tougher.


    "I have been noticing it a little. It''s about time though. Every day I get older, right?" Walkerughed a little while ncing at Midnight. She had also grown again but he had been avoiding the thought process.


    Midnight was a dragon. Compared to Ignus in dragon form, she was minuscule. But she would be that size eventually. Therefore, he needed to keep preparing for such a time. There was the fact that Midnight Had been taking her dragonkin form more often. She was getting used to it. So much so that Walker thought she might need to start some battle training while in the dragonkin form.


    "Midnight, when we get back to Genesis and settle down, do you want to train with me? Train in your dragonkin from? Maybe you can learn to use a weapon too. I''m sure you can make one just for you if the wandering cksmith needs help spirit forging." He knew that the wandering cksmith would never say no to Midnight who added her dragon mes to his forge often. Midnight responded with a short roar of approval. She would always train with Walker.


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 Chapter 1379 1379. More Herb Finds

    "Why is it that Walker told us to head back to the beast tamer''s post and isn''t here? He never uses the party chat function because we all are seeing each other so often." Remey was annoyed. She and Onyx had just made a huge find of burnt light leaves. But they had to quickly gather them to rush back to the post.


    "Brother must have his reasons. He will need to tell us when he gets here." The fact that they had found a lot of the ingredients that they needed made both more rxed overall. Bit Onyx was slightly annoyed that he wasn''t getting more materials that theva field had to offer.


    "I was going to look for some crag tree seeds. They are very hard to grow but if I can find the right herbalist, then we can grow sprouts. There are skills that let an herbalist dwarf a tree. It''s perfect for harvesting the ming flower petals from the crag tree. They can be used for fire elemental potions. Especially ones that heal burns. It''s a unique medicine that causes the fire elemental mana to be pulled from the body instead of enhancing it."


    Since Remey was in full teaching mode, Onyx kept his attention on her words while looking around. He could learn about the herbs and potions that he had been dragged in to making. He knew that Remey would not allow him to wander off while she made the potions for him.


    "Remey, what about those herbs? They are being brought in to feed the tamed monsters, but are they not able to be used for anything?" The piles of herbs were harvested so that the tamed monsters could eat them or even use them as bedding. What Remey and Onyx had been blind to was the potential that they could be used for potions as well.


    "Onyx, start exploring. If you find something good I will make you an extra few potions." Remey moved with lightning speed. She had be curious and started to ask the tamers in charge of the monster''s resting stalls questions. She was going to find everything that she needed regardless of what was going on.


    "Well, the crumbling grass is just that. Grass that grows fast, dries out in the heat, and crumbles. But it is good for bedding since it helps keep pests away. It would be even better if we had more water around here to make it a paste. Then we could add it to some gaps in the doors.'' The tamer was very knowledgeable about the uses of the crumbling grass.


    "Then it should be alright if I take some for alchemy experiments?" Remey had the idea that she might be able to make a paste or pellet that would keep away bug type monsters. That way the alchemy guild could sell them to the merchants and travelers.


    "We harvest twenty or some of these wagons a day. The grass grows back before we even have half a day to use it. Just don''t take from the wagon over there. That''s a little rarer." The rule caused Remey to be more interested. She looked and saw that the crumbling grass was much older. It had a tougher exterior and was still attached to some roots.


    "I did say to leave it alone. This is a wagon full of mutated crumbling grass. They get rough outer shells and take up a lot of space. We don''t know why it happens but we pull it up every chance we get and dump it in to magma to get rid of it. We can''t let it spread. It could take over the whole field."


    "Even better for me to experiment with then. I would say it has taken on a stronger earth elemental affinity instead of a stronger fire elemental affinity. That way it can resist the wind and still stay together. I bet inside there are seeds instead of staying on the roots. There''s a weird step in evolution that herbs go through where they both grow from roots and seeds at the same time." Remey grabbed a few and broke them open. Her point was proven by the tiny ck seeds that fell in to her hand.<sub> </sub>


    "Fine, just a few. The rest will be burned soon." The tamer just shook his head wondering if every alchemist was like this. But he had too much work to do to worry too much. Remey didn''t seem to be someone that would go out of her way to make trouble for their harvests.


    "Remey! I found apples." Onyx called out to Remey mentally. He was looking at the foods that some of the fire elemental monsters ate. One such monster stall had strange apples in front of them.


    "I wouldn''t go ying with those. Unless you are a magma turtle, you will be hurt pretty badly." The tamer nearby pointed out the red turtles eating the apples in one bite. "Those are volcanic apples. Hard to get to but very nutritious for theva dwelling magma turtles here. They eat them with one bite and absorb the poison fumes inside. If you pop one identally you are as good as gone." The tamer looked to love the turtles a lot since he was willing to risk the danger to feed them.


    "Are they hollow on the inside or do they have little pockets of poisons surrounded by white parts?" Remey was going in to full analysis mode to discover everything possible about this new fruit. It wasn''t that she saw any potential alchemy uses but there was always a possibility. And where there was poison there could be an antidote made against it. That way the alchemy guild could sell it to the taming guild. The potential was endless. Rmeey became so focused on this that she didn''t even notice when Walker, Su, and Midnight arrived back at the outpost.


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 Chapter 1380 1380. Too Many Herbs

    "I don''t think we can leave Remey alone when there are herbs to gather. Even Onyx doesn''t seem to be able to hold her back." Walker returned to the tamer outpost with Su and Midnight. They had a very uneventful journey back but that was a good thing since they were focusing on the fire and poison resistance.


    "It''s not just him, it looks like the tamers were no help either. Well, no help to you since it''s you carrying it all." Su bumped Walker''s shoulder. She rarely teased him but this was a little funny.


    Remey had raided the outpost finding many herbs unique to thevands. She was basically a kid in a candy shop. She had surrounded herself with multiple small crates of herbs that were feed for monsters. The tamers had an excess of all of these and had found it fairly amusing that Remey was so interested.


    By the end of her raid, Remey had collected over forty different herbs to experiment with or to grow in controlled environments to produce what she needed. She had even found a few crag tree seeds which she had desired more than some of the other herbs. She still had the flower petals in mind for a few potions.


    "We tell you toe back here and you stole all of the tamed monster''s food?" Walker didn''t want to exin what had happened right away. He wanted to ensure that Remey was in a decent mood.


    "What else do you think will happen when you tell me toe back here then take a million years? Why did we even need toe back anyways." Remey was not going to allow Walker to skirt the subject.


    "Yes brother, what is the problem? Are we going to leave now because of some issue between you and the fire dragons?" Onyx worried that somehow the rtionship between them and the fire dragons had suffered. The potential issues that coulde from this were all too clear.


    "No, it was Gil and Alma who had trouble¡­" Walker exined the situation carefully. Onyx was noticeably calm. But the look in his eyes showed more emotion than he would admit. The fact that his family had been at risk by a false king that could care less for his people was an outrage. Onyx had grown up to see people change and be better, to hear that someone had fallen so far was ridiculous.


    "Remey, are you alright?" Su was looking at Remey wondering why she had not moved to charge toward the me elf city.


    "Gil already stuck it to them. He literally blew away all the lies they were showing. Then Walker showed them the error of their watts. I don''t have to go and beat them up. But if they try toe to Genesis I will happily show them what we are like to those who oppress their people." Remey balled her fist to make the point clear. But she was more impressed by the fact that Gil had been able to get so close with Zephyr.


    "You might be able to." Walker saw right through Remey. He could tell what she had begun to think. It was too easy. "If your alchemy fire spirit can grow in to a grand fire spirit then maybe it will be a new named spirit. I don''t know the situation with the current named grand fire spirit but who says that an alchemy fire spirit and a regr fire spirit are the same things? They could both be named by the world."


    "Who says I was thinking about that?" Remey pretended that it wasn''t what she had been thinking about. But Su saw that she was smirking a little behind her false anger.<sub> </sub>


    "On another note, we knew you needed to get back to genesis and we managed to invite Ignus over. He wille in a week with two hatchlings. I want to get Mordant ready for him to arrive too. Having two more hatchlings will be a big deal but having three of us royal dragons might be dramatic." Walker wasn''t sure what antics might ur with Ignus''s fiery attitude added to Genesis.


    "I would be more worried that they are going to fight over the alchemists I have in thepetitions! They might try and steal them away to make affinity potions for them. I need to ensure that every single one of them is registered for the guild before theypete." Remey was sure that she would find promising talents. But what she had forgotten about was the fact that any alchemist could be robbed from the guild if they do not register.


    It was not illegal to perform alchemy outside of the guild. Anyone could do it. The only issue was the fact that the potions would not be alchemy guild approved and therefore they may have negative effects. There was also the stigma that they could be cursed.


    The alchemy guild allowed genesis building officials to keep them under a microscope. It was Remey''s idea in the beginning so that any future leader of the alchemy guild would not abuse control of potions and safety.


    While Walker stayed with Remey to store away the many small crates of herbs. Su was already preparing the tamers to allow them to leave. The very sameva diving bats would be taking them home since they had been resting after the arrival.


    Onyx was telling Midnight all about their search for herbs and the golem crabs they had found. But Midnight had thrown her own ount of the dragon vige at Onyx. Both were jealous of what the other had done but were more excited to see what they would do with the newfound experiences. But one thing that left a decent imprint on Onyx was the resistance training. He had not been doing so and felt that it was another aspect he needed to focus on to keep up with his older sister.


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 Chapter 1381 1381. Ignuss Son

    "That would be my son. He is too young to have a dragonkin form as I do but you can still speak with him. But do not disrespect him. He is much less easy going than I am." Ignus said this before he walked out of the room that Gil and Alma were in with the four elite enforcers. They were stunned that Ignus would refer to himself as easy going since he had already started a fight with Barry once.


    Gil and Alma had only a few minutes to speak with Barry before hemitted to going back out. He was very serious about helping with the rogue dragons. Due to the terrain andck of travelers, most of the rogue dragons had made small nests throughout thevands. They were just waiting around to attack any dragonkin warriors that neared their location.


    Gil followed the direction that Ignus had left with Alma and the enforcers behind him. None of them had suffered great injury and were mostly just shaken by the experience. The enforcers felt that they had to establish lost trust between themselves and those they served. Alma felt that she had underestimated the situation the me elves may have been in and failed as a leader.


    And Gil, he had lost control of his emotions causing Zephyr and him to be sitting ducks after using a skill he had not even known about. All of them could improve.


    "They may be a human and Elf but they are important. They are living in the new vige I told you about. If you can manage I expect you to be friendly with them. They may be able to find the things you like to eat better." It seemed that Ignus''s son was very food driven butpared to the age that dragons deemed someone an adult, his son was still very young.


    The size that Ignus''s son had was about a third of what Ignus had in his dragon form. But the matching teeth and ws proved that they were indeed rted. But thergest difference were the scales. The son had bright red scales without much depth. Gil theorized that it was the difference in fire elemental mana purification. It would take many years for Ignus''s son to get to where his father was in the process.


    "You six. My son and I are cing the pride of my people on you. I expect you to be back with good news soon. Then my son will take you to your city. He has not left the area for a few years and should get ustomed to traveling with the new potential for the future." Ignus would not admit that he was going to be sending dragons to Genesis. He was still apprehensive. Yet he would ensure that everything was done the best way possible now.


    "Of course. You have invested in us and we will invest in you. We can''t betray the trust you have offered by assisting us." Gil was very calm and respectful. The way he spoke made both Ignus and his son huff in appeasement.


    "I will carry you but do not expect me to fly slowly. Father has told me of your need for a quick transportation. If you have any issues you may call for me. But I will not allow any to speak my name until it is worthy to be roared to the heavens." The attitude that Ignus''s son had left them all silent. Even Ignus sighted slightly.


    "Then we thank you for the assistance. It will surely make everything go smoothly." Alma was the first to recover. She walked closer to Ignus''s son and waited for Gil and the enforcers to follow suit.


    "Get out of here. You have a time limit." Ignus walked away while his son scooped the six in his ws. He was able tofortably carry them without the worry of dropping them while in the air. The six of them struggled to handle the whipping wind. However, Gil soon found himself feeling more and morefortable.<sub> </sub>


    His body was absorbing the wind elemental mana now that they were higher in the sky. The fact that they had gone to a better ce for this was perfect for the resting Zephyr. But it also illustrated the changes that had happened to Gil after gaining his new title. The avatar of wind would be able to do much more than he realized. That was research for another time, Gil knew that he should visit the mage tower wind elemental floor sooner thanter.


    Through the gaps in the ws, they could see the massive volcano getting closer. Many smaller volcanoes were nearby along withrge flows ofva. The magma pools had some monsters moving around inside them but that was not what concerned them. What caught their attention was the fact that there wererge crag trees around the smallestva flows.


    The trees had been grown in a way that was clearly under the influence of the me elves. On top of this, they were surrounded by many earth, fire, and wind elemental spirits. "Gil! These are the me elves that were banished! They made new homes!" The sight before Gil was one he would never forget. Alma was smiling with tears forming in her eyes. But they were happy. They were pure unhidden happiness.


    "We are going tond there and wee them to Genesis. Let''s just hope that they aren''t afraid of us." Gil wiped away one of the tears before Alma caught herself. She was quick to calm her mind whole Ignus''s son started to get closer to the ground. He wasn''t here to fool around and know that he had more to do afterwards. So, he would use the time to absorb some fire elemental mana near the volcano. That way he would not be bored.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1382 1382. Grandpa

    Causing amotion was exactly what they had done. When Ignus''s sonnded he had aimed for thergest crag tree he could spot. It was also near thergest patch of dark stones without anyva flowing nearby. "Little elves, I have brought you those who wish to meet you." Ignus''s son roar outward which added to the stress.


    "And now I think they are all hiding." Gil shook his head while stabilizing himself. He felt that his legs had partially turned to jelly after being in the air for a while.


    "They wille out. Just wait until we are alone." Ignus''s son pped back in to the air leaving the six behind. He didn''t have any intention of staying in one ce. This was a dangerous area to explore.


    "We are from the city of Genesis. My name is Alma, future queen of the forest elves, representative of the elves on the Genesis council. Ie to speak with the current elder in charge of the mes elves to wee you to Genesis as equally represented citizens." There was still no movement from any direction.


    "Alma, I am going to give this a shot." Gil wanted to help and knew that the me elves would be worried that they would fall under the pain of another banishment. "We have punished the foolish king and his attendants. You will have a home within Genesis until the day you die. We do not believe in banishment, nor do we care for purity. We ask one thing, equality above all else no matter the race."


    Gil took a deep breath, "I swear this on my title as hero, my title as educationist, my title as friend to the goblins, my title as the avatar of wind!" The system reacted and so did the world. Swearing such a thing on his titles was powerful. It spoke to every being that could hear him. It was more than just a pledge.


    The mana seemed to freeze around them for a split second until everything returned to the calm it was before. The sound of a single pair of footsteps approaching revealed a tall and skinny elder me elf.


    "Forgive me and my fellow me elves. We had to maintain some defensiveness to protect ourselves. We are already living in a rather dangerous ce." The man smiled softly. "Please,e and sit with me for a while, I am the grandpa here. Or at least that''s what everyone calls me. I used to be the right hand of our king before he became obsessed. It pains me to see it happen but I believe theva flows that way for a reason."


    The calmness in the elderly elf''s speech was radically different from the me elf king. There was eptance and openness where the king had been brutal and hateful. "I find myself surprised that you would seek us out. We were ready to remain here until nature decided to take control. But since the grand fire spirit is here, we followed. It was all we could hold on to. Even if it is within the heart of the volcano sleeping."


    "We had gathered that much with our allies. The dragons are somewhat close to Genesis since we have a royal dragon as a friend and family." Alma flowed in to the conversation easily. "I don''t want to waste your time but we havee to extend a hand. Especially after you have survived being thrust out of your homes."


    <o>,m "I see that. It has been some time since that happened. And the older elves with children have been pushing for us to move to a safer ce. But we have yet to find it. Elderly elves like me are still stubborn." The crag trees became more lively as the elder led them to arge table made of ck stone out in the open. "Please feel free to sit. We have our meetings here in the open so that any can listen if they so desire. It helped many ept our situation.<sub> </sub></o>


    A few me elves approached looking at Gil and Alma carefully. They were cautious until one with a bow and arrow caught Gil''s eye. "I like your bow there. I can tell you made it yourself. But the arrows need some work. The feathers on the edge are off, making your arrow fall to the left. Try to copy this." He handed one of the basic arrows he had made to the me elf.


    "The one with many titles. He is kind like his titles would suggest he is. But the way you act and speak he is not the only one with titles?" The elder that referred to himself as grandpa was asking for the singr purpose of information gathering. He was not ready to risk the people he had helped save for one person''s words.


    "Yes, he is one of five hero title holders, the others are an alchemical brawler, draconic guardian, true dragon champion, and master of none. I do have to admit, they are all human except for the true dragon champion. She is an actual dragon. But the master of none is the royal dragon. It takes a lot of getting used to but they are the reason my new home exists. The reason the elves are uniting again. I want you to join us. Help bring our race back together as it should be."


    The firmness in Alma''s response was one that the elder felt to his core. Since he and everyone else had been banished from their homes over the years, they had felt empty. But those that heard the way Alma spoke were immediately filled with a new hope.


    "Alma, I think while we are here I will go and see about that grand fore spirit. I can feel that I need to." Gil said this but he wasn''t standing alone. The other elemental spirits were close around him watching and waiting. They could feel the mana around Gil. They knew about his title.


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 Chapter 1383 1383. Check It Out

    "It may be old fashioned for me to be warning young ones like you, but the volcano is nowhere for you to y around." The elder looked at Gil with stern eyes. He did not want to see the only guests they had ever receive harmed.


    "I know it''s dangerous. The wind spirits have warned me but they also said that the volcano is calm right now. It''s the perfect time for me to go and investigate this grand fire spirit." Gil smirked a little seeing the me elves be shocked at what he was saying.


    "You can speak to the elemental spirits?" The elder asked the question that everyone had already heard the answer to. But he had to hear it t out.


    "Yes, well, only the wind elemental spirits for now. I need to figure out how to speak to the others. I did say that I have a title from Zephyr the named wind spirit. She and I are pretty much the same at this point." Gil patted his chest where the new spirit mark was. The spirit mark that made his very soul feel at one with the wind.


    "Then go. Be quick and be safe. I will trust you there. My family will guide you." The elder motioned for one of the me elves nearby toe closer. "Take this young one to the cave near the entrance. Allow him to walk through safely." The elf hat the elder motioned to was slim and agile. She was silent but motioned for Gil to follow her.


    "Gil, we will be waiting." Alma was not happy that Gil was taking this on himself. She wanted to go with him but knew where her ce was. While Gil was investigating the grand fire spirit, she would be building connections. She would be bringing the people closer together so they could pursue a new life in Genesis free of their worries of banishment.


    "Now tell me, future queen of the elves, what races have been brought together and what have you built together?" Alma smiled brilliantly at this.


    "We have built a home."


    The me elf in front of Gil had changed a bit since they separated from the others. She didn''t wear the calm expression anymore and instead looked over at Gil constantly. She was keeping a close eye on his actions and what he may be doing. "You know that I am not here to cause trouble, right? If I was, the elemental spirits wouldn''te near me for a second. They can tell these things."


    "You may have fooled them. The king was able to bait some fire spirits in to remaining in the city with elemental crystals. We are not so foolish." Her voice was soft but spoken with influence.


    "That''s another wrong thing he has done. I would prefer not to learn more but I have to hear it. How else will we prevent it from happening again?" Gil walked silently for a moment. "You should know that Genesis already has the water and forest elves. We have the mage tower that the desert elves once used as well. Not that they were the ones to build it but that''s a long story. I n to help Alma unite the elves again. Along with some of my own goals."


    "So you are like all humans. You have your own goals." The humpf that Gil received was a little too harsh, But he continued on.


    "I am an arcane archer with more titles than I know what to do with. But I also have a quest to bring the dagger arts of the elves back together. The high elf dagger arts are lost because the dagger arts were split up between the elemental varieties of elves. To have your culture split is an insult to it. Elves are meant to live together in bnce and harmony. All of your teachings I have found so far illustrate this."<sub> </sub>


    "Do you know why we left? The home the elves once it had fallen to pieces after our leaders fought over elemental affinities. The worst part in the books is that the other affinities wanted us to move to ces where we would not be as powerful as we are. The me elves have the most power over the elemental affinity we possess. Never forget that." The me elf woman snapped her finger and a small ball of fire appeared before dissipating.


    "Then you will like Genesis, literally more and more dragons have beening, and having someone able to handle the potential fire dangers of fire dragon hatchlings might be good. That and the cksmiths might need help. To be fair, the dwarves have their hands full with everything they are working on but they have made some serious efforts to learn spirit speech from the elves. That''s what happens with true spirit forging though."


    "Spirit forging!"


    "No, not spirit forging. True spirit forging. The right way without harming spirits. Zephyr used to be trapped in this bow, but I helped reforge it. She was freed and became more important to me than I can even describe. Genesis is the home to all elemental affinities and will not practice something that harms elemental spirits." There was something in Gil''s eyes that silenced the elf from speaking any longer. She already understood that he was speaking from his core and not lying to her.


    "This is the cave that takes us to the summit. It is faster than you think and free fromva. No monsters live within so you will be safe. Do not approach the bubbling magma at the center. It will not go well." Gil felt the extreme heating from the cave and mentally prepared himself to deal with it.


    "I will see you in a little bit. Wish me luck." Gil left with a smile and a wave. He was going to see what this grand fire spirit was all about.


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 Chapter 1384 1384. Questions Upon Questions

    p There was an increasing heat in the tunnel that Gil knew wasing from bubbling magma. He pretended not to hear the soft rumbles getting louder since he knew the danger that it held. He also silently sent blessings to Remey since she had given him the bark to chew on. He could feel the burn of his eyes and nostrils from the fumes produced.</anda>


    The wind elemental mana that had naturally gathered around Gil seemed to increase as he moved through the tunnel. This didn''t make much sense since he was heading toward a string source of fire elemental mana with a lot of earth elemental mana from the stones nearby. But he just epted it since he was still unsure how to handle the newfound increase in his senses.


    The stones seemed to change as he got closer to the opening that was shining with a bright yellow light of mes. There was a ssy smoothness to them, even the ceiling was t and dark as if it was a ck mirror. "Zephyr, we are about to meet another grand spirit. I hope you can hear me." Gil worried that Zephyr was too tired to be able to sense what was happening. But a small change in the wind around him gave rity.


    The moment he stepped in to the light, Gil found himself on arge ledge. He was looking down at a massive bubbling pit of magma. Hotter than any he had ever seen or felt. Rocks bubbled up to the surface just to melt in to the mix. Nothing could withstand such heat. Even the monsters that swam inva would have trouble in such a ce.


    The only oddity was a single spec of pure white heat in the center of the bubbling magma. A familiar shape took form as the white heat dimmed. "Zephyr!"


    In a sh of heat, a spirit the same size with simr features moved around Gil. instead of the feather like patterns around it, the grand fire spirit had arching mes. There were many smaller fire spirits that melted off of it due to the incredibly dense fire elemental mana it bade gathered.


    "You look different, funny. You aren''t in your spirit form! Zephyr!!!!" Gil waspletely shocked. The angry face the grand fire spirit made seemed a lot like Remey. On top of all that, Gil wasn''t sure how he could even understand it.


    "I''m not Zephyr. I''m Gil. She''s resting in the spirit mark here."


    "No, I can feel it. You are the same. Both of you are one of you. I can feel it." The surety in the grand fire spirit''s words even convinced Gil.


    A soft breeze blew from Gil causing the grand fire spirit to light up again. "Good! I thought you would miss it. I am leaving. It took a few thousand years. But I can finally go to the fire elemental ne!" This was another shock that Gil was not prepared to understand.


    "How can I understand you and how are you going to another ne of existence. Don''t you nee-"


    "Why''d you pick a human avatar? I thought you would go to the wind elemental ne. So boring. But it''s fine. I figured everything out. You''ll catch on eventually." The fire started to pick up more and more while Gil was stuck in his confusion. The fire spirit was gathering a massive amount of fire elemental mana to a singr point behind it.


    "The others already came to say something. Well, not that water spirit. She was all steam." There was a burst of magma below in reaction to the grand fire spirit''s annoyance.<sub> </sub>


    "But I wanted from you. We were there thousands of years ago when it all started. I remember it. Although you don''t seem to. You won''t even separate your spirit from the human. They aren''t like the other ones with the wings you know. They could do a lot more with their bodies." The fire spirit was bing white hot again. But Gil couldn''t feel the heat growing. Instead, he felt a hole in his chest. As if he was feeling great sadness.


    "I think I can do it now. Finally, you took so long. But we will see each other again. When the world finally wakes up properly." Gil realized that tears were flowing. Tears he wasn''t sure why he was crying until he heard Zephyr''s voice crying out from the spirit mark.


    "Just watch. You cane and meet me another time." The mana that gathered suddenly stopped. The mes didn''t even shover. The magma did not churn. "I renounce the name Fintan. May the world name the next grand fire spirit in my ce. I look forward to the next time we meet my sister." The white heat shed suddenly leaving Gil crying and alone.


    Confusion and loss were all Gil could feel before the emptiness in his chest began to calm down. "Zephyr, there is a lot we need to talk about. A lot. But rest well. I will head home." The volcano had returned to how it had been before. But now, it seemed emptier. It seemed that it was less alive and soon to cool.


    The slow trudge back through the cave was met by many fire and earth elemental spirits moving toward the volcano. They had felt that the grand fire spirit Fintan give his name back to the world and ascend to the fire elemental ne. But they were too young to understand that. But they felt it. Just as Gil could still feel it through Zephyr.


    "What happened?" The elf that had led Gil there was panicked and angry. But when she saw Gil''s face she was at a loss. She had no idea what had happened to cause Gil to be in such a shape. She could only sense that it was not the time to ask such questions.


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 Chapter 1385 1385. Unbalanced Mana

    Su caught Walker''s attention after he had been standing still for longer than would be normal. "I know we justnded near the city, but you look like you have something else wrong?" The group had justnded after a few hours of flying. They had stopped just outside Genesis because theva diving bats had been taught tond far outside the city at a new tamer''s guild outpost. It was to maintain a safe space above the city.


    "I fell¡­I don''t know. There''s something different. The sun might be a little less warm." Since Walker was a little further from the volcano andvands he had a hard time sensing what had gone on. However, there was a gut feeling that he couldn''t pin down. A feeling that caused both he and Fleur to be unsettled.


    Since Walker was so thrown off, Remey started to put together a few herbs she had to try and make a quick tea. Her idea was to use the alchemy fire spirit and fire affinity knuckles to start a small fire. They didn''t need to get back inside the city anytime soon. It was an hour''s walk anyways. But when she tried to get the alchemy fire spirit to leave the spirit mark she received nothing in response.


    "Hey, my partner might be a little down¡­" She could feel that the alchemy fire spirit was at a loss of its own. It was having trouble being able to muster the fire elemental mana in any form. The change that had ovee the elemental mana would take a few days to settle for every elemental spirit. The bnce was thrown off by the sudden loss of a grand named spirit. But none of them knew that just yet.


    "It''s fine. We can just head back now. You and Onyx want to start on your potion idea. I can''t hold you back." Walker tried to be upbeat but everyone saw through him. "I will be fine. The mana is just strange. Maybe something happened. Nature is a beast of its own." Walker was about to say more when he noticed that Gil had left a single party chat in response to Walker checking up on him.


    ¡­back at the foot of the volcano


    "I left Walker a party chat to tell him we were safe and that we would speak when we returned. The me elves need their time alone now." Gil was understanding of what had just happened. It was a very big deal. The change had even brought Ignus''s son back to the me elves to investigate. As soon as Gil had told him the situation he had left to tell his father. It was a change that would affect the ce the dragons moved their main vige to.


    "The grand fire spirit has been the one we revere for many generations. We even came to such a dangerous ce to follow them. However, this is just the flow of nature. How can one rise higher if they are trapped within one ne of existence? Some of the history books we have scavenged from ruins near theva fields have stated that a race''s true goal, should be to ascend to a higher existence. I find that to be enlightening." The elder had felt the change along with many other elves. It had stopped the conversation that Alma and he had been having.


    "Please, do not hold back because of us. We will leave. The main points have already been discussed and you are wee to journey to genesis. In one week the dire dragon royal will being as well. If I can manage it, he may have someone bring you as well." Alma did her best to offer this which the elder seemed happy about.


    "We will consider that. If you would like to stay, you may. But I can not promise much hospitality. We will be performing a small fire festival for the grand spirit that has ascended." The elder had some knowledge about these things. It made Gil want to pry in to them. But it was not the time. The me elves could share their knowledge at any time they werefortable doing so. No one would be forcing them.


    "In that case, thank you for speaking with us. And¡­" Gil paused for a moment looking the elder right in the eye. "The grand fire elemental spirit''s name was Fintan. He gave it up to leave to the fire elemental ne. But the next grand spirit will receive the name. I understood that very clearly." Gil felt that it was honorable to pass this on. The me elves seemed to respect the distance with the grand fire spirit. But to Gil, it seemed lonely.<sub> </sub>


    "Knowing that means more than anything you could ever give us. I can truly see why you have built such connections with the water and forest elves. Please, give me a tour of your home when I meet you next. It would be my honor to learn from someone for a change." The elder took Gil''s hand firmly in a single shake before separating.


    "We''ll see you soon grandpa." Gil felt off saying this but the elder appeared happy. It was a term of endearment. The entire me elf people were his family. Any that respected him and showed kindness also had the right to be his family. In just a short time, he had been able to see new hope for the me elves. The worries the elder had were swept away, no longer would he remain sleepless in fear that the me elves may be no more.


    "Gil, Ignus''s son is nearly back. I can see him there." Alma pointed up in the sky while starting to move toward the ce they hadnded.


    "I think this has been a bigger meeting than I expected. Are you alright with a silent trip home?" Alma took Gil''s hand while the enforcers followed. They were all equally stunned by the course of events since they had arrived in thevands.


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    <o>,m ¡­.</o>

 Chapter 1386 1386. Quiet City

    The moment that Walker, Su, Midnight, Remey, and Onyx approached the city they were greeted by guards. "We are d to see you back." The guards appeared to be numerous meaning that there may be something wrong.


    "What''s the problem? You all seem a little on edge?" If Walker didn''t jump right in to it he would be behind the moment they walked back in the gates.


    "Walker, it''s like this." The guard began telling them what was going on. It was a benefit of knowing the guards but also the party''s standing within Genesis.


    "So the mage tower had a decrease in efficiency, the elves all reacted to the mana being off, and the elemental spirits have be reclusive except for the fire elemental spirits that seem more active. I understand." This was troubling for them since they weren''t clear on the why behind all of this.


    "This is what you felt, right? Should we assume that we will have answers when Gil and Alma return? He did say he would have to talk to you." Walker listened to Su carefully and slowly nodded.


    "I may have answers for thise another day or so. For now, have there been anyrge problems?" Finding ways to help was the best course of action. Remey visibly started to prepare herself to get right in to potion making if needed.


    "None that we know of. But everyone is stressed. Scy just returned as well. I believe that there is a meeting within the genesis building at the moment to understand what is urring." Walker knew that this was a good thing because he could go there and calm everyone down for now. But he would be stuck waiting for some time to get answers.


    "Then that is where we are going. The alchemy guild can function without me. That''s why the old man and Trish are there." Remey trusted the pair to take full control of the guild without issue. She couldn''t always hide away within her office.


    "Onyx, you head to the cathedral. I know you are worried about the hatchlings." Walker knew better than to keep Onyx back. It wasn''t that he thought the hatchlings would be in trouble with the mana flow interrupted, but he knew that Onyx had worried about the hatchlings since he left. "Midnight, the same for you. Go and check on the hatchlings you are in charge of. You need to see how they have been doing in their positions and tell them about the new dragonsing."


    Both Midnight and Onyx were off in a sh. They didn''t need to be told twice. "It''s just the three of us then. Come on." Su, Walker, and Remey took note of the less busy streets. The elves and newly joined monster races seemed to have sensed the mana more clearly leaving them to remain in a state of limbo. It was a surety that this was happening in a few more ces of the world.


    "I can''t say I liked that it was so quick for us to get here. The roads are pretty empty." Su was happy that they made good time but unhappy that it was because people were on edge and not out.


    "Let''s just head upstairs. I think I can hear Scy yelling already." Walker wanted it to be a joke but he really could hear Scy.


    "Well, is there any information!? We have the elves who can speak to the elemental spirits. Why don''t they integrate the spirits to figure this all out?!" She was in a huff because she felt that someone should have answers.<sub> </sub>


    "Or you can ask us because we might have a lead. And you can stop assuming the elemental spirits will tell you anything. They are just as lost as you unless they are a higher elemental spirit. Or have we gained more elemental spirits that know such things since I was almost here." Walker calmly spoke, attracting everyone''s attention.


    "Wee back. We have been waiting for some more people to speak on this. It has been a very strange happening." Markus Raven was still in charge of the human side of representation. The King was still busy with his soon to be born child. Which was rightfully so.


    "I can''t say we have noticed much other than a tougher time carving fire elemental runes." The king of the deep had evene up and was having a vested interest in the conversation. Walker noticed that Leon was calmly sitting in the corner waiting to hear everything. Walker took a look at everyone and waited a few moments. He wasn''t sure how to put things but knew he needed them all to rx.


    "Gil and Alma went to the me elves to discover a mad king who exiled all of his people. That is what I know.But what is more, they went after the banished people who followed their grand elemental fire spirit where they may have gone. I would assume it has to do with that. It could be a good thing but we need to wait for Gil and Alma to return." Everyone didn''t seem to change how tense they were.


    "If there was something we needed to worry about then we would havee rushing here with more information. Please just wait for-" Su was backing up Walker when they all heard the faint roar of a dragon. A sound they had not expected to hear so early.


    "Tell me that you know who that is." Scy had tensed up. She was not in the mood to fight a dragon.


    "Well, Ignus is supposed toe in a week. But if the mana is off bnce then he may being earlier¡­" Walker moved toward therge window to see the red scaled shape in the distance. "But that is not Ignus, simr, but not Ignus." He took a long breath before preparing himself. He was going to be extremely busy today.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1387 1387. Deeper Mystery

    Walker slowly moved outside of the Genesis building. The second roar he heard was from the dragon approaching, however, between its ws he saw familiar shapes. "That''s Alma, Gil, and the enforcers! Clear the main square!" Walker''s voice boomed over everyone. The few people around rushed to the edges.


    Wind whipped up as the dragonnded in the middle of the square. The slight shake of the ground was enough to cause a few people to poke their heads out windows to see what was going on. "I take it you are Ignus''s son?" Walker had put the pieces together seeing the simrities between him and Ignus.


    "My father has asked me to deliver your family to you safely. I have done so. But I must leave quickly. I have been trusted to move the vige for the first time. My father wille within the day and his warriors will follow beyond him." The booming voice was quickly silenced before Ignus''s son whipped his wings back up to fly away.


    "Get home safely, I will see your father soon," Walker shouted after Ignus''s son. He knew that there was a chance that this was Ignus''s way of whipping his son in to shape to take over a branch vige one day. The view that Walker had of Ignus had radically changed inparison to what it had been.


    Once the wind had died down, Walker could feel the changes in mana around him. He felt the wind elemental mana that was still drawn to Gil like a moth to a me. "You made it back earlier than we thought. Care toe to a meeting?" Walker saw Gil take a deep breath. The look on his face said that he didn''t even know how he would go about talking about what had happened.


    "I can''t even tell you how much better it is to be back here," Gil smirked a little while giving Walker a hug. He had been worried about what everyone would think as they came back since there was so much that had potentially gone wrong during their outing.


    Moving back up to the meeting room, Walker found that everyone had returned to their seats pretending to be calm. The thing that gave Scy away was her fidgeting. "You weren''t really going to try and fight a dragon just because it wasing here, right? What if I was the dragoning here?" Walker''s attempt at a joke was met with nothing, just people looking at him strangely.


    "I think I should be the first to speak. Gil''s subject is moreplicated than we can exin." Alma knew that she was going to need to take the lead. She was the representative for the elves. "The me elves have struggled against the moving of mana and their core beliefs. This led their king and leadership to develop unhealthy tendencies. Tendencies that prioritize the grand fire spirit and mana purity over the people."


    Alma had thought that this would be easier to say. However, she felt her heart breaking all over again for the me elves that had been pushed out of their homes. "The me elf city was in a terrible state hidden by lies. The true people had followed the mana toward the grand fire elemental spirit to make a dangerous home. They will being here. Some may need help rebuilding their city after the remaining criminals are put on a proper trial." Alma stood tall. She was sure that Genesis would more than lend a hand.


    "Some fire trait demi-humans will assist. Being shunned because of purity is an outrage. There are many different traits within my home kingdom. Many different beings that oppose one another that are deeply bonded together. We can help you me elves with their home." Scy knew that the demi-human people would look at this as their duty and offered assistance immediately. It wasn''t even worth thinking about too hard.


    "That leads me to the grand fire elemental spirit; Fintan. He gave up his name to be passed to the next grand fire elemental spirit the world recognizes. That way, he could ascend to the fire elemental ne. He saidplicated things about seeing Zephyr again. I have no idea how he could speak with me but it could be my newfound connection and title." Walker was beginning to see why this was soplicated.<sub> </sub>


    "The me elves may have more records and so may other elves. There also seemed to be a connection with a race that once left for another ne as well. Fintan did not say much. He was more excited that Zephyr was there to see him off and that she was not going to the wind elemental ne. Somehow they would all meet again. The grand elemental spirits that were there when they were all named¡­"


    Gil knew that everything he said was hard to grasp. Things that happened thousands of years ago that only the oldest of the old could remember. The room was silent while they absorbed this information. However, there was more to it. More to what this situation may mean.


    "I felt the mana be strange when he gave up the name. It was like the fire elemental mana is looking for a core. I think the grand elemental spirits are named by the world to help with bnce somehow" Gil''s theory meant a lot of things. Especially to Walker who was helping Fleur, a nature spirit and a world spirit.


    p "It may not be my ce to speak of this, but have we considered finding someone older to ask for information from?" ra had been waiting and listening. She had not acted yet because it was not her ce. She was a guild master but not really a member of the council.</anda>


    "What do you have in mind?" Walker was the one to ask. He had a strange feeling about what ra may be insinuating.


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 Chapter 1388 1388. Holding Off

    As some know, the adventurer''s guild has more or less banned the exploration of the surface ancient ruins. This is because of an event involving the omnipotent party meeting an ancient being. One that goes by the name of, Immortal king. He is an ancient lich capable of controlling thousands of undead trapped within the ruins."


    Those that had not heard of this were understandably shocked. It had been a carefully guarded secret because of the danger that came with knowing these things. Along with that, there was also the fact that if adventurers began attempting to go there to attack the undead, they could aggravate the immortal king. The party had already confirmed that he enjoyed ying with those that came snooping.


    "I simply believe that with undead king''s age, they may have records about what it means for the mana to be unbnced. For what a spirit ascending means. I can''t say that an ancient race would have answers. But the older races we have researched prior have given us a lot. Immortal king may have a different story than the ancient race that left the tower, but it''s a chance."


    Walker felt that ra was ufortableing out with this. The possibility that Genesis could be the target for Immortal king was high. There was too much for him to want to y with here. But it was a good idea. "I hate to say this, but I agree. Just not right away. Let''s let the me elves get here and thepetitions to be settled. The world works in strange ways and we should see things begin to even out soon."


    "I agree with putting this off. Genesis does not need to add to the threats we have right now. I believe the elves can bring a great deal of light to this case. I will have my archeologists study the ruins we have found more carefully first." The king of the deep caves agreed with this, then stood to walk out. He wanted to pass on these orders before things progressed.


    "There seems to be a lot changing in the world. So, I will have my father participate in this. He can send scouts to water side ruins. There are a few that none of you would be able to safely ess." Leon knew that the merfolk people had found underwater ruins before. But one had bothered to search them since there was no need.


    "Feel free to ask my aquatic troops for assistance. They can act as guards." Scy and Leon agreed quickly on this. They were better off working together than apart.


    "I know this may not be to the topic we are on¡­ Alma, are you nning to pursue the stone elves and the frost elves next? Or will you wait?" Markus Raven came out to ask his question. There was a very serious look on his face that said he had many intentions.


    "That would be the next step. There are hints about the stone elves within the mountains. They will be hard to find though. The frost elves are the most talkative and may visit on their own. They don''t like leaving the year round frozennds in the high mountains." Alma was sure that the frost elves woulde. They had maintainedmunications with the forest elves for a long time.


    "Should I assume that the wind elves and the frost elves are one in the same?" Markus had drawn this conclusion some time ago. But he was waiting for a solid answer.


    "Yes, the water elves that left from the colder regions were partnered with wind elves. They joined and became of mixed affinities. The flow of water and wind are very simr. The wind elves used to stay in the mountains or ins but found the teau where the water elves were going had powerful winds all year round. That helped them bond." Alma did not hesitate to share more. The frost elves were the few elves that had never actually closed their city. It was just impossible for the average person to venture to.


    "I would think they had a rtionship with the water or wind dragons. Especially since they are on the highest teau. I wonder if I can look in to it." Walker mumbled out loud his ideas. He might be able to speak with Ignus about what he could do to get the wind royal dragon Ventus to Genesis next.<sub> </sub>


    "If you all do not mind, I would like my enforcers to get rest. I believe Gil and I should also take some time to rest before we proceed with anything else. It has been an eventful episode." Alma took the pause in conversation as the best chance to leave. Gil didn''t argue and followed her out.


    "On that note, I will head out as well. Clean up and then look at the mage tower for Mordant. Someone should share with him that Ignus ising." Walker was followed by Su, but Remey remained behind. She was going to meet with a few people to focus on the alchemy guild before she went back to the guild to see Trish and the old master alchemist.


    There was a lot happening after the dragon had been sighted. Many people came out to see what had happened and the gossip had started. However, Markus Raven had thought of this and sent a few key guards to send messages around the city. It was a good method to cut down on panic or worries.


    p "Su, do you think we are going to be able to rx? Or do you think the potion makingpetition that Remey is setting up will get dramatic?" Walker was just joking a little since he already knew it would be a big event.</anda>


    "We will have two dragons here for affinity potions. I doubt we will have any free time." Sheughed a little before she and Walker headed toward the mansion.


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 Chapter 1389 1389. Mixed Blood

    "So, he''s on his way here?" Mordant had more than heard Walkering up the mage tower steps. It had been a peaceful night after the guards had shared the news of what was going on. Of course, some details were left out but enough was given so that people could understand that it was a natural happening. Now, Walker was well rested and heading to find Mordant.


    "Yes. His son helped Gil and Alma back here. It''s really impressive how fast dragons can fly sometimes." Walker had been stuck on this. He was not able to move at such speeds because hecked wings. The amount of mana he would need to actually fly at simr speeds would be astronomical.


    p "That''s what you are stuck on? Are you jealous of us natural born dragons? From the way you look, you may be more like a dragon than you know." Mordant found it very amusing having Walker in such a state. But it was also because he had grownfortable around Walker. During the few days that he had been alone Mordant actually found himself missing thepanionship of someone able to properly rx in their own vige.</anda>


    "I have some methods to make myself wings if I want. But I will end up down on the floor faster than it''s worth making them. I can even go beyond just wings using my skills¡­but that''s even worse on my mana stores." Walker felt that he was still too young to even try such things. In the grand scheme of things, he was very weakpared to the dragons that were older.


    "It alles with time. Do you think I was able to shape shadows and travel through them when I was born? No, just like Ignus and all other dragons, I had to learn. I just have a higher elemental affinity than most, making me the most qualified to rule my vige." Mordant looked around the darkness elemental floor. He had been there for some time absorbing the mana.


    "That''s a fair point. I have plenty of time to learn a few things." Walker got back to the main topic at hand, "Ignus wille, and just like you, a littleter his dragonkin will arrive. But he is bringing two hatchlings. I assume there were none other than them that coulde with him. But I can''t vouch for how many eggs are born a year or in ten." Walker was lost on this.


    "It varied depending on the elemental mana and the state of the main vige. It''s hard to exin but you will not have to worry over such things unless you decide to enforce strict rules. From what I see in your vige''s future, you will have many mixed blood and affinity dragons. That could be a good thing¡­or not." Mordant knew that he had read some records and met more dual or even triple elemental affinity dragons than Walker. As a fellow royal dragon, it was his duty to pass on this knowledge.


    "I see that as well. But it could be very good. A fire and water affinity dragon in a cksmith could make impable items. Perfect control of quenching and heating techniques. Or an earth and water affinity dragon that could grow the best crops beating out any other that attempted to do the same. There is too much potential." What Walker could imagine seemed to go on forever. The uses of multiple affinities seemed to never end.


    "And what of the dragons who have shing affinities? Will they struggle to find a bnce? Will they have teachers that have been through the same experiences? You say that the water and fire elemental dragon will be ideal for forging. But will they be able to find a bnce and absorb pure fire and pure water elemental mana at the same time? Not everyone can use this tower." Mordant brought up the issues he could already see. The tower being one specifically.


    "I didn''t want to worry about the mage tower. We are researching it so the people in and out are very limited. Once we understand the runes I assume we would build more. Maybe three or four more. There would need to be staff to make appointments and even set requirements to even be allowed inside. But the big problem would be making them essible to everyone. Regardless of race."<sub> </sub>


    The problem that this came with was that some races would never get a smaller form or ability to change their size. Therefore, the tower would be limited to certain races which was already a problem. "So you will make a grand mage tower? A massive building that even I could fit in without changing my form?" Mordant knew that this was the end goal. The solution that would have to be put out there eventually.


    "I would say you are correct. But for that, we need years, materials, a power source, experts in rune carving, and so much more. Genesis is still very young and needs to get the foundations poured." Walker felt that he may be getting too ahead of himself.


    "You have maps. n it all now. I already have ns for two more branch viges when the granddaughters are of age. Will they actually be built? Who''s to say. But I have the ns in case I need them. I rmend you look for the shadows that will form as your vige rises to block the sun." Mordant stood up from where he had been meditating. The darkness spirit that was his partner moved around a little upset to leave. "By the way, when will you exin the change in the mana?" Mordant had not heard the news yet.


    While the pair moved downward, Walker exined the events that had urred. They made Mordant be exceptionally silent while he thought. It gave Walker a few hints about what the dragons may or may not know.


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 Chapter 1390 1390. Larger Shop

    "I can tell. I can see it written on your face, you know. You already have knowledge about the elemental nes. I do too but the things I know are very limited." Walker could only reference a single shelf of books within any of the races'' libraries about the elemental nes. Not a single person from what they knew was able to go back and forth between them.


    "I know that Ibis, the former adventurer''s guild master, can summon beings from the light elemental ne. But that''s the most we know. He can''t get information about it without breaking his summons. But there are rankings there. The stronger the light element''s affinity and purity, the higher they stand there." Walker waited as Mordant considered things a little bit longer. Luckily there were plenty of stairs to walk down.


    "The elemental nes are an enigma. We dragons pride ourselves on the purity of our mana. I have the purest darkness elemental mana among any dragon that we know exists. But I am still nothingpared to the beings of the darkness elemental ne. Just tearing a small hole to steal away some of that mana would bring me years ahead of where I am now."


    There seemed to be a lot that coulde of this. "If we made holes in whatever the boundaries are between these ins, then wouldn''t it cause issues?" highly pure elemental mana would not easily mix in to the world. This was an entire ne of existence that had bnced mana flowing as nature needed it to. Even a slight change as a grand elemental spirit left caused ripples everywhere.


    "That is exactly why we do not try to force ourselves in to such a ne. That does not mean that some ancient dragons have not ascended. There is an urrence that happens under certain unknown circumstances. My great grandfather reached what we deem the highest elemental purity with darkness elemental mana. The next time he tried to melt in to shadows to be one with them he disappeared. Mana became erratic in the area for many days before returning to normal."


    Mordant seemed that he was inspired by this story. It was something his family had achieved that he desired to achieve. "Dragons believe that this happens when we be properly bonded with elemental mana. That way we wlessly transition in to the proper ne to continue to grow. Do you find this to be hard to believe?" Mordant had shared a lot with Walker. But Mordant had seen how much his dragonkin were learning. Many things would change after their trip to Genesis.


    "I think I can understand it. I can''t say that it will be the same for every race. The ancient race that created the mage tower is said to have moved somewhere else. They could have gone to elemental nes or another ce all together. There''s so much that we don''t know." Walker could go on for hours, days, or years trying to find the right answers.


    "That also brings the question, as a nature dragon, will you have a ne of existence to ascend to? Or is this it? What more is there?"This was something that Mordant became much more animated over. He wanted answers. The things in Genesis were extremely entertaining. Radically different from his vige or the ones he had been to growing up for many many years. The things he had in front of him constantly enlightened him. Anyone would be addicted to the feeling.


    "If I believe what Gil told us about the grand fire elemental spirit, then there is something else. The spirit said it would meet the other grand spirits again. Therefore, that means there is a ce where the elemental nes meet. A ce with purer mana, bnce, and potentially more answers." The two had made it down the mage tower and on to the streets. Mordant had a few ideas in mind but the cksmith was his first to do for the day.


    "We can get in to this more after your vige has grown. For now,e with me to evaluate what my dragonkin crafters are learning. I have been very impressed by this wandering cksmith. The things we taught him are already second nature." Mordant was referring to the draconic runes that had been shown off.


    "If I know anything about him, he has every rune you even think about memorized to use and manipte as he sees fit. I would say he has a hidden title that puts him at the top of every cksmith." Walker didn''t doubt that the wandering cksmith was more than worthy of atitle based on the work that he was capable of.<sub> </sub>


    "Still speaking highly of him. Good." Mordant led the way. Walker was very surprised to see how confidently Mordant walked around through the city. He had memorized theyout and enjoyed walking around without having to keep tradition in mind. It was freeing and showed in every step.


    "Here we are. This is the shop he started in and behind is the three shops he bought for teaching." Walker had not realized that the wandering cksmith had expanded the shop by purchasing three more stores behind his on the next stone street. It was impressive how seamlessly they had been converted together.


    Walking inside, Walker felt a heat he thought he had left behind in thevands. "It''s almost as hot as Ignus''s vige in here." Walker saw many of the dragonkin that were unable to work slumped on the ground. But the wandering cksmith was standing right there in the middle with Midnight and the hatchlings watching.


    I guess we are going to interrupt a lesson on how dragon fire can be used to forge today." Mordant was pleasantly surprised by this. He did not consider that the hatchlings could pursue this as another option than the first paths ced before them. Midnight was doing very well in this respect.


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 Chapter 1391 1391. Quality Forging

    "Mordant, I hate to break it to you, but I would say that the hatchlings are asleep." Walker thought that the hatchlings were watching carefully at first. However, just like Midnight, they liked the warmth and had fallen asleep standing up.


    "You understand that the age of these little ones requires a great deal of sleep to assist them in their growth." pretended that it was just normal but Walker could only hold himself back fromughing. The entire situation was a little tooical.


    "I would say your dragonkin are doing well but it seems that they have been pushed to the limit. But that might be the fact that the wandering cksmith is a beast of his own. He had stayed awake for days straight working on projects." Walker remembered one of the very first times the wandering cksmith had forged in the mansion. He had been up for multiple days making preparations alone.


    "There are many traits that the dedicated have. I can see those that this one possesses clearly. I would like a closer look." As Mordant approached he saw that there was a darkness elemental spirit working with them as well. As the wandering cksmith tapped with a chisel, Midnight heated the metal and the darkness elemental spirit drew dark elemental mana toward them.


    "Yes. It''s the true spirit forging." Walker saw Mordant start to turn to ask for the name of the technique even though it was clear he already knew. "The spirit has to willingly help with it to bring in the specific elemental mana. That way it is perfectly shaped to allow the elemental spirit of that affinity to dwell within it. Of course, the spirit that created it will be morefortable, yet, that is not a limit. Any darkness elemental spirit can dwell within that short sword."


    The weapon that the wandering cksmith was working on was not extremely different from anything else someone could make. The materials were basic steel while the darkness runes were a mix of draconic and his very own. The true spirit forging seemed to just be extrapared to what it seemed the wandering cksmith was working out.


    Besides the fact that the darkness affinity dragonkin all carried short swords or long daggers as their main weapons, the wandering cksmith seemed to be experimenting. The runes were clearly newer in rtion to the runes that most people used. Walker saw some simrities in the runes generally used along with the mage tower runes. The wandering cksmith had taken the time to retrace some origins of the darkness elemental runes.


    With those origins partially mapped out, the wandering cksmith had been able to better add the draconic runes to the de in proper form. The result was a powerful absorption of darkness elemental mana. The speed was already showing itself above that of regr runes or regr draconic runes. Mordant was already showing his teeth in a smile at this. It was beyond what he expected.


    "It looks like you have been hard a work." The wandering cksmith had waved for Midnight to stop adding heat with small bursts of ck me breath. This was a sign that the wandering cksmith was moving on to the sharpening and polishing phase. Therefore, Midnight was free.


    The response was a proud growl while Midnight turned to look at the hatchlings who had started to snore. She looked further to find that only three or four of the dragonkin were able to handle the long term forging. Some had passed out in the middle of forging something.


    "We came to see how things were going only to find that most have been worked to the end of the line. You have been here for a while from the looks of it too. Nice work." Walker patted Midnight''s head as she took the chance to sit down and rx. The wandering cksmith had been at this for more than a few hours. Walker had finally found the table behind them covered in small rune carvings and daggers.


    "Twenty three partially finished daggers, swords, and t pieces of metal with runes. This is all from one session?" Mordant watched Walker nod. "Then this is truly the best work I will see yet. I wish to see how this all ends." Mordant was more and more energized seeing this creation.<sub> </sub>


    The darkness elemental spirit moved out and floated by the darkness elemental spirit helping the wandering cksmith. Before their eyes, the two began to pull in greater amounts of darkness elemental mana. Walker had not considered having multiple elemental spirits assist a true spirit forging creation. In theory, it could improve the item even more.


    Mordant approached closer by a half step when the darkness elemental mana reached a pique and flowed in to the short sword. The runed glowed in an odd dark shadow before the to darkness elemental spirits retreated. Mordant''s partner watched and waited as the wandering cksmith moved toward another table.


    The sharpening and polishing were done at a ridiculous speed that proved how well practiced the wandering cksmith was. Mordant just clenched his fists in excitement. This was something he had wanted to see since he came to Genesis. It was even one of the things that had been top of the list of reasons toe to Genesis at all.


    Walker looked at the finished product and found that it was definitely higher quality than the others that had been tested before. Even the swords that the wandering cksmith made previously with better materials might not match up to the current version because of the new hybrid runes.


    "I have seen many weapons but this one is beautiful. No fancy materials, just simple perfection." Mordant found himself in love with it and wished he had taken the time to learn swordsmanship. But he was a royal dragon and did not need such weapons. His entire body was his weapon.


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 Chapter 1392 1392. Perfect Prototype

    '' shadow de dwelling sword


    +7atk, increased darkness elemental damage


    This sword has been made using a hybrid of draconic and original runes. The knowledge used to create it is extremely refined over many years. The materials are basic but the runes strengthen the short sword well beyond what it would normally have. The bonus of increased darkness elemental damagees from the addition of draconic runes which are better suited to attacking than defending or absorbing elemental mana. This sword has the ability to house a darkness elemental spirit. When a spirit is dwelling within they have the ability to coat the sword''s de in shadow to increase the attack range.''


    Walker read the appraisal out loud and saw the wandering cksmith start to scribble on blueprints nearby. He had been testing things to make this prototype. But it had ended up much better than he imagined.


    "It can have a darkness spirit dwell within while also providing additional darkness attack damage. But what''s this about draconic runes being better for attacking? I did not know this was a possibility for runes." Most people did not know that runes were separated for their uses. However, it was easily understandable to someone who specialized in rune carving.


    "I would say that the dragons use their mana to assert their dominance in battle. The runes created over the years mirror this. But the runes made by the elves are focused on gathering mana while also defending things. The runes used by the dwarves are focused on defenses and strengthening the materials. I''ve managed to learn that much at least. A hybrid rune would be best for most things. But weaker in all aspects to gain a well rounded item."


    Mordant was extremely impressed with the knowledge that Walker had. Out of all the things he had seen Walker do, Mordant had not truly seen Walker use his knowledge in a variety of aspects at once. Runes dealt with mana, elements, and even the ability to forge. Walker, being a master of none, was truly being exemplified in Mordant''s eyes.


    "Then I will need to begin to look at my armor. My proper battle armor." Mordant appeared to be much more serious. The shadows seemed to dance around him and every single dragonkin regardless of how exhausted stood up. It was muscle memory from their harsh training. They were all in battle stances awaiting an order.


    "If you want to have such a thing made, then you will need to do better than y with shadows. The wandering cksmith does not take orders unless he is interested. Even I could never force him to make a single pin if he didn''t desire it." Walker nodded his head toward the wandering cksmith.


    The look in the wandering cksmith''s eyes showed a deep fire that was better off left undisturbed. Whether the wandering cksmith had power or not was without concern. But having the will to resist any pain or power used against him was another matter. This unyielding will was why the wandering cksmith had not stayed stagnant in his pursuit of new materials.


    "I am willing to bet my pride on that. I will find the best possible materials and see if he can resist it." Mordant was acting much more like a domineering dragon than he had as of yet. But he instantly pulled back his mana. The appearance he was giving off was too much and had woken the hatchlings who felt a potential conflict.


    "Midnight, I think now would be a good time to go and find Su. If I remember right she asked the adventurer''s guild to clear the coliseum. She even got Scy''s permission to spar with the dragonkin warriors." Walker knew it hade at a cost. Scy had snuck her warriors in to the arena battle too so that she could watch them improve against insanely powerful opponents.


    "You want those three to watch battles? That is another interesting thing for the day. Mordant was like a child being offered their favorite treat. Constant entertainment and mystery could keep him wondering for years.<sub> </sub>


    "Did you forget that Genesis is filled with endless potential? Don''t you want to see everything that these hatchlings will learn?" Baiting Mordant in to more and more connections with Genesis was proving too easy for Walker. He almost felt that he was doing something cruel and addictive.


    "My warriors will crush any that attempt to face them. They have the speed and affinity to beat your guards, adventurers, and friends." Mordant was too energetic. Walker felt that he may have started the wrong battle. But the wandering cksmith, on the other hand, seemed happy to see them leaving. He wanted to return to his next project.


    "My sword." These two words made Mordant ce the shadow de dwelling sword on a table. The wandering cksmith was not letting it go. This wasn''t his best work. He saw tiny ws in his runes. He saw too much wasted material. He saw something he had not mastered yet."


    "Don''t work these dragonkin to death. Just leave them hanging right on the edge." Mordant nearly whispered this but saw all of his dragonkin craftsmen react. They would dly give everything to achieve what their lord desired.


    "Sorry for the interruption. Let''s get moving." Walker waved slowly while Midnight pushed the hatchlings out the door in front of him. "And Midnight, those three will need to watch carefully. This is the first time they will see a lot of different people fighting. They will learn a lot." Walker didn''t let Midnight forget this although he already knew she would take it seriously.


    Moving to the coliseum was a little premature. It was still being finished. Luckily, the main battle arena had been done for some time. Many people had already attempted to train there to have a better understanding of the main field they would challenge their opponents on.


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 Chapter 1393 1393. Different Dragonkin

    "You call that a hit! Weak!" Su was blocking attack after attack from the dragonkin warriors. They had strength butpared to some of the hits from monsters, Su felt they werecking power.


    "Don''t even think you can sneak up with shadows!" The real reason that Su wanted to train against Mordant'' dragonkin warriors was not the fact that they were tough opponents. It was the fact that they could sneak around in shadows made by the moving sun.


    Theck of powerpared to some other dragonkin warriors came from the fact that the darkness affinity led the dragonkin on a different path. They would focus on more assassin like tendencies. Whereas Ignus''s dragonkin or Current''s dragonkin would focuson battle strength.


    The dodging required to keep up with their movements should have been the biggest challenge for Su. however, the more she fought against them the more she became used to it. The movements were carefully trained so Once Su had memorized a lot of their moves, she had started intentionally moving to block with her twin shields.


    "I said hit harder!" The taunts went out one by one causing more of the dragonkin warriors to attempt to strike her. It was the perfect training to learn to counter groups of monsters in the wild. Especially since there was the potential that the party may end up in the ancient ruins to meet the immortal king again.


    "Midnight, go and show them what you can do." Walker saw the intense stares of the three hatchlings as soon as they sighted Su battling it out between the dragonkin warriors. Midnight did not even pretend to want to hold back either. She immediately used the shadow wrapping skill to join the fray.


    "I thought that there would be a difference in strength because of the high reliance on shadows and elemental affinity. But they really seem to move like shadows." Walker knew that the best route was topliment Mordant about his dragonkin''s abilities.


    "I see that. They have been cking off and they should work harder. They didn''t even stop when I walked in. How can they be so distracted by training?" Mordant feigned being unhappy watching his dragonkin battle to their best abilities. He had not seen them take such focus on physical battles that didn''t only rely on using the shadows to their advantage. This was different in a very good way.


    Midnight''s roar pierced everyone''s ears before her tail mmed in to Su. Naturally, she had managed to sneak up while Su was blocking another attack. Because Su had been distracted by the dragonkin and did not expect that Midnight would mix herself in with them, she was knocked over and rolled to her side. But that did not put her down.


    "Who taught you to be so rude and sneaky! I will teach you a lesson today Midnight! It''s my job as your family!" The intensity of Su''s emotions showed brilliantly. Walker had not realized just how hard she had been trying to get stronger. The fact that she had stood up and gotten right back in to the battle proved it many times over.


    Midnight had clearly been through this before. Walker had just not seen this battle between them enough. Midnight and Su would let their instincts take over during their one on one training. This pushed them further. Yet, at this moment, they were against the darkness elemental affinity dragonkin. They had more than each other to worry about.


    A single wed handshed out towards Midnight causing her to use her wings to jump and dodge. The dragonkin warrior had used the shadows to move with silence behind her. The only reason that Midnight had caught on was the fact that she had been focusing on her skills to sense the change in mana. Walker had rmended this so she had done so.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s an easy target!" Su taunted then immediately shield bashed the dragonkin that had snuck up behind Midnight. She did not lose the chance to stun them with a taunt and beat them down. The dragonkin may not have the same strength in attack power as other dragonkin warriors, but they were still plenty durable.


    "Do you three understand the way Midnight is moving? Her wings don''t just need to be used to fly. When you develop yours you will be able to use them to dodge. She didn''t have to jump because she had her wings. That leaves here open for¡­" Walker trailed off as Midnight perfectly illustrated his point. She had used her wings to get height then shed down with her ws. The attack was perfect for the hatchlings when they began to develop their wings.


    "And see how she pulls at the shadows to make it harder for her opponents toe behind her again. She learned during the battle. If you can not do that then you will be an insult to every dragon." Mordant chimed in to help educate the hatchlings. It was unexpected but they three listened very well to his words.


    "Oh, watch this, Su is going to use a good attack." Even Mordant didn''t know what wasing so he watched just as intently as the hatchlings.


    Su stomped her feet down the pushed off in a shield charge. This would have been normal except for the light elemental mana that formed a shield around her mmed together twin shields. The attack charged all the way through four of the dragonkin warriors and was narrowly dodged by Midnight.


    "Midnight dodged that one instinct. It was close but look at her footing. That is what makes trouble." Su split the shield as Walker spoke and Midnight fell. It was a swift movement that came from a lot of training. "Now watch what happens when you add a wild card like me." Walker chuckled as he pulled the twin blitz swords from his storage.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1394 1394. Opposing Elements

    "You two look like you are getting tired. Let me jump in to help." Walker rushed toward Midnight and Su. He had the twin blitz swords to improve his agility along with the lightning swordsmanship. The appearance of him on the battlefield was enough to make the dragonkin worry.


    It was extremely rare for a dragonkin to have to battle against a royal dragon. The urrence would often mean there was punishment or something worse happening. But now, Walker was smiling while striking out at Su''s shield. The ng that echoed around snapped all of them back to attention.


    "Come on, why are you all so slow today? Just because you were warming up doesn''t mean you can''t get more serious now." Walker was copying the taunts that Su had been using. He felt that it would be more fun to get a little more chaos in to the mix of what was happening.


    ''The skill taunting tongue had been taken from the great shield system. The user has learned the skill taunting tongue from multiple taunts used along with witnessing high ss taunting skills.


    Taunting tongue- passive


    The user is able to make their words sound more annoying to an enemy. The user is also able to attract attention using their words from further away. The enemy will respond with rage if they are properly taunted with the correct words. The user must use their mental strength to enhance the taunts.''


    The skill was not very impressive unless it was used with strong wit. That was why Su was able to use her taunts so well. There was no mana needed for it, however, it could have great effects to trap an opponent in their own emotions.


    Midnight''s roar came out from Walker''s right side. She saw that Walker was right there to challenge her and she wanted to show him what she was made of. Naturally, Walker liked this and started to push himself further. He wanted to show off some of his skills while also pushing Su to do more than just dodge. He wanted to see the resistances that she and Midnight had been training.


    "I might be using a sword, but that doesn''t mean I can''t make mes too!" Walker was issuing his grand elemental maniption to pull at the torches along the arena walls. It was the best way for them to add ambiance to the battle, but also the best way for people who can manipte fire elemental mana to attack easily. Walker would address that issueter, but for now, he had a rain of fire preparing.


    The mes encased the twin blitz swords. While Walker pushed his lightning swordsmanship harder, the small bursts of lighting showed around him that wouldn''t do damage to anything. However, adding the mes made him seem very dominant in the arena. So much so that Midnight was instantly thrown back by the sh heading towards her.


    It wasn''t that she was afraid of the damage, she knew that Walker would not attack her with the intention to do harm. What she felt was the radical change in temperature that came from colder airing in to contact with hotter air. The reaction had caught Midnight''s wings causing her to be pushed back. Something that Midnight had yet to encounter in her time flying.


    "Su, Midnight, you trained against fire right? What do you think about your cold resistance? Can you handle it?" Walker was smirking. He wanted to show off the ice dragon''s domain skill to Mordant while also using the opposite of water elemental mana; fire. If he could use both, he would be demonstrating the bnce some dragons would have to learn. The bnce that he was able to achieve and educate on from first hand experience.<sub> </sub>


    "What cold. You think you can make things colder here? I won''t even shiver!" The taunt from Su hit the mark. Walker could feel himself get more annoyed. It was strange since he had just tried to taunt those around him. He felt he had been flipped on his head.


    Su and Midnight knew what would happen. When the dragonkin saw that they were backing away from Walker, they did not even dare to miss the hint. Walker, on the other hand, sent arge burst of wind around him then gathered the water elemental mana as fast as he could. This required him to pull the eternal orb in to staff form for speed, but it was better that way. The twin blitz swords were easily stored away temporarily.


    With arge burst of water elemental mana, Walker mmed the eternal orb staff form down upon the ground. The water elemental mana caused ice crystals to form and the air to be chilling. Not just the small arena that the group trained in was affected. The arenas set up throughout the entire coliseum had been frozen to some degree. Many found the challenge annoying while some were ready to brave the added training.


    "He seems to be showing me a few things on purpose today." Mordant saw through the reason that Walker had actually begun to battle it out. Since he had said that he had worried about the mixed blood dragons learning how to use their opposing elemental affinities, Walker had shown the change of heat and cold with water and fire elemental mana.


    "The fire elemental mana evaporated the water in the ground while he gathered it faster. I wonder if I can force the shadows to oppose light and create a blinding effect that''s not with my darkness." Mordant felt slightly inspired by trying to use his dark elemental mana to manipte the light elemental mana. It was not a path many would travel in their goal to purify their mana.


    Meanwhile, the dragonkin found themselves with a whole new challenge. They were looking at a royal dragon in human form. A monster above any that they had imagined. It came with a deep respect that only the dragons or dragonkin would have.


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 Chapter 1395 1395. Remeys Motivations

    "Remey, what do we need to do?" Onyx had checked on the hatchlings only to find that they had been constantly sleeping to absorb more light elemental mana. Their days had been filled with an attempt to grow with Ibis there to care for them.


    "Well, first things first. We need to prepare the herbs that we have. Walker dropped them off and they are not even close to being properly dried and cured." The fact that the brunt light leaves still had moisture in them was fairly amazing. They had grown in such a tough environment where heat would evaporate everything.


    "What do you rmend?" Onyx was a novice when it came to alchemy or herbalism knowledge. Everything he had heard had mostlye from Remey.


    "That''s simple. I have skills that help dry them properly. Add the alchemy fire from my partner, and we have it done in half an hour." Remey was very proud of this and set to work pulling the leaves from the crate they had been stored in. She was extremely careful not to break them.


    Separating them in to different qualities was also a must. Since Remey had been careful to show Onyx the difference in quality, she had mostly mature burning light leaves. The few that were too only or too young would be used in lesser potions.


    "Now we wash them in water that has been boiled. The boiling process kills anything we can''t see living in the water. The trick is passed down to every alchemist because if the water isn''t boiled and cooled the right way, mold might grow on what you washter." This trick was used for food and many other ces. Some people didn''t have the skills to purify water without boiling it. Therefore, this was the best method for cleaning most things.


    Remey lit the mes with the help of the alchemy fire spirit. She noticed that the fire was a little more powerful than usual but that could have just been the fire elemental crystals used as fuel. She had to avoid using wood to boil today since it could more easily catch the burning light leaves on fire.


    Onyx watched carefully as Remey used her skills to add heat then pull it from the water. The way she moved was well trained. Part of Onyx was actually jealous, he felt that he had trouble controlling his body to such a strict level. "Remey, do you move that way because you have practiced this often or because you are a brawler?"


    "Hm?" The unexpected question was not one that Remey had expected, but she answered honestly. "Both, I have watched the old man do this more times than I can count. But I have fought with my siblings, anyone that made fun of them, and even sparred against trees so I could get stronger. It sounds dumb, but it made me who I am¡­" Remey trailed off remembering the days.


    "You know, myst little brother and sister moved out of the mansion this morning. They both unlocked their systems. They are going to be sailors. Apparently, they saw a small boat in the merfolk and water elf side of Genesis. They touched it and then they had a system. They found someone to teach them that day."


    "Then it''s a good thing I''m not going anywhere. I would hate to lose an older sister like you. And if you tried to run, I am bigger than you, so." Onyx could tell that Remey was both happy and sad. She had achieved one of the major goals of bing an adventurer.


    Since she hade to Genesis, every day her siblings from the orphanage that had journeyed with them had found their path to walk. It made Remey feel that her feet were being pulled from under her. However, it only gave her the time to push for her dreams. For her to continue to ensure that no more would lose their families. Especially the demons who had lost them due to cruelty.<sub> </sub>


    "Onyx, do you know how I became an orphan? What happened?" Remey was not one to look for pity. She had never spoken of this at all. It just wasn''t something brought up in conversation.


    "Apparently, before I could even open my eyes my parents were moving from another vige toe to the city. They wanted to make a better future around a safer ce than a small vige. Can''t say that''s a bad idea. But out of everyone that left with them in a caravan, myself and four older siblings were left alive. They never told me what monsters attacked because they didn''t want to talk about it before they got older and left the orphanage. It doesn''t matter though. If none of that happened I wouldn''t be Remey the alchemical brawler, master of the alchemy guild, hero, and older sister."


    Remey''s hand fell roughly on Onyx''s head. She struggled to maintain herposure before refocusing on the drying leaves. Neither of them needed to say another word. Onyx was filled with more motivation to help than ever. This led him to move right next to Remey and use his tail to fan the air helping the leaves to dry.


    "Next we will use your control of dark and light elemental mana to maintain the bnce while I create a base potion. The materials will be simple until they collide. The two separate base potions will be mixed with these leaves to bnce it. From there we will use a few special methods the dwarves came up with to create light and darkness affinity potions. But we will use my skills to make you a bnced potion of light and darkness."


    Remey couldn''t say if this would be sessful. They had gathered enough leaves to try fifteen times. But with their motivation and focus, she didn''t doubt they would seed before the tenth attempt.


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 Chapter 1396 1396. Overboard

    "You kids will make me look weak if I do note to join you." Scy stepped foot on to the colosseum battle arenas. Every single person battling or training felt the atmosphere change as a hardened fighter appeared.


    "Who said I wasn''t waiting for you to show up to get serious?" Walker held the twin blitz swords with mes burning around them. The ice was crunching under his feet as he moved around Su.


    Su on the other hand was matching Walker''s movements. She was noticeably worn out because she had only been able to block the attacks from all around her. She had purposefully taunted more and more opponents so she could find her limit.


    The goal of those specifically, was to test her perception. She could block Walker and Midnight when they teamed up. It was tough and she would find herself being attacked at odd angles causing her to work harder. But the dragonkin warriors were still more predictable due to the way they used the shadows.


    "Now I would say this is interesting. I know more about you, general Scy, than I let on when we first saw each other. Current spoke highly of a demi-human with ancient monster bloodline traits. You hold the blood of a monster only recorded by the most ancient records we have and even they deem them to be mythology. You hold the blood of the great sea monster Scy."


    Mordant couldn''t hold back any longer. He could feel the battle energy around him paired with Walker''s draconic skills. The fact that Walker was rubbing his face in the bnced elemental manas while attacking with them caused Mordant to get even itchier for a battle. But there was a line he could not cross. He was too strong.


    If Mordant were to fight anyone there, he woulde out on top in a mere handful of moves. It would be less fun than anything he could possibly do. After so many years of training, Mordant had reached a point where the only beings that could go against him were fellow dragons. It was part of being an ancient dragon.


    "Scy used to be known for the leviathan heads that she used to attack ships. The hounds'' bodies that grew from her waist. And the massive storms that she could conjure with the movement of her massive body. You look nothing like that, but I feel your strength. You have long left many others behind in your pursuit of strength. I would say you even remind me of a few others in this city. You won''t fall easily."


    This was extremely high praise. The dragonkin warriors that hade with Mordant were without words. They had never heard their lord speak with such certainty about another being''s strength. Even when he spoke about fellow dragons, he would put them lower because of his own pride as a dragon.


    "As you can see, I do not have multiple heads or hounds that sprout from my body. I may have the ability to make such hounds out of water when in a certain state, but for leviathans," Scy spread her arms and her leviathans swam through the air around her in their smaller forms. "These are both leviathans and myself. We were all born across the continent and in the ocean at the same time. We are unmistakably bound together at the soul."


    When it came to uniqueness, Scy exceeded most people. She was a demi-human who had been through hardships with a very powerful bloodline. On top of that, she was born divided. She was not one being but multiple with their own minds. However, she was whole now making her extremely powerful.


    "Wonderful, then I permit you to face me in a battle of five moves." Mordant set this limit for the simple reason that they wouldn''t destroy the elegant coliseum he admired. The dwarven craftsmanship mixed with the demi-human ns produced a wonder that Mordant envied.


    "You said we create storms? Right?" Scy and the leviathans whipped out at the same time causing a massive burst of wind and water to rush toward Mordant. He sunk in to the shadows dodging while the water collided with the coliseum wall. Cracks formed but the coliseum did not break. "Hm, I will need to ask the dwarves to strengthen the earth runes."<sub> </sub>


    "Impressive. I see you can easily mix the affinities. What do you think about the darkness?" Mordant tapped a foot and arge de of pure shadow jumped up falling toward Scy. She twisted aside watching it hit the ground and melt back in to the shadows as if it was never there.


    "The same way I feel when we have a downpour." The water that Scy had stirred up from the ice fell around her. The leviathans opened their mouths and directed it at Mordant in a flurry of water drops able to pierce tough armor.


    "Brilliant use of your water. Almost as good as my use of shadows." Mordant pointed and shadows wrapped around Scy and the leviathans like chains. She couldn''t move an inch.


    ? "You said five moves, little dragon," Sy growled as she used her mastery skill. Her words echoed off the coliseum walls while she fused with her leviathan counterparts. Her size increased, shattering the shadow chains.


    "Truly someone worth knowing," Mordant mumbled while he faced a true opponent. Scy on the other hand knew that she was abusing her skill for something that she shouldn''t. But she was making a point. The hounds formed from water while the leviathan heads whipped out water bullets at Mordant.


    "A single powerful roar echoed through the coliseum making everyone freeze in their tracks. Walker was standing beside the three hatchlings with an earth wall that had cracked in to pieces. "Tell me why you two have decided to get out of hand in my city!" While the two returned from the over excited states of mind, they realized just what they had allowed themselves to do.


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 Chapter 1397 1397. Reprimand

    Walker stood in front of Scy and Mordant. He was not at all happy with how fast they had allowed themselves to begin to lose their mentality. "You both may not be used to having proper opponents. I understand that. But you, are a royal dragon. You let yourself get so caught up in a potential opponent that you fully rxed. And you, are a general in charge of representing the demi-humans. How could you challenge an ally so easily with your mastery skill? Don''t even tell me you were going to keep holding back. I could see the look in both of your eyes. Five moves was about to be a hundred!"


    Walker''s annoyance was very clear. He didn''t want everyone to look at him as a strict and domineering person, however, if that was what he needed to be to maintain the peace within the city he would do so dly.


    "My actions within the coliseum are justified. However, I can see why you are unhappy. I may have harmed the younger generations and for that, I will take responsibility. You three are wee here to train when you are prepared. I will personally arrange whatever you shall need." This was saying a lot. Many people could ask Scy for training but only a few would ever get it with the little time Scy had free from her duties.


    "I was holding back very much. It was an interesting experience to see someone capable of battling me in my dragonkin form. If I had used more effort I would have reverted to my original form. I understand that it may cause you problems. Allow me to amend this. I will send some unique resources to assist the building of your coliseum." Mordant took a much more rehearsed response. This was not an unusual urrence when dragons met strong opponents.


    Yet, Mordant did understand that he had nearly allowed harm toe to hatchlings when using his skills. That would have been an insult to the very purpose for being within the walls of Genesis. He could have undone the work he put in to learning true spirit forging for his people. He could have lost a lot of potential for growth within his viges.


    "Walker, the hatchlings are fine and you can rx now." Su knew that Walker was letting himself get too worked up. She knew very well how Walker felt about anyone getting harmed within Genesis. It was actually a good thing to see this though, she would be able to better stop him when he let his emotion start to take over.


    "I will, Midnight seems to have calmed them down as well. And Mordant''s dragonkin are well enough. Minus their exhausted looks. They were not left unscathed from those attacks." The dragonkin that Walker was looking at were on the fence when it came to how well they looked. They had been hit by some of the attacks making them worn out.


    However, the true defenses of a dragonkin were showing. Even though the darkness affinity dragonkin did not boast the strongest defenses, they had easily withstood the blows. It allowed Walker to understand the rtionship of dragons and even those that possess an extremely small amount of dragon bloodline.


    "I see, they have cked too much on their physical training. I will ask you to remedy this for me. I can see your warriors over on the edges of the coliseum arenas perfectly resisted your attacks." Mordant had been watching the demi-human warriors out of the corner of his eyes. It seemed to him that they were used to Scy going a little harder on the training.


    "I could arrange that. I have a few personal guards that have very tough bodies. They can deliver some hard hits that should help your warriors ignite their physical strengths." Scy appeared to grin evilly. The training ns she had were nothing but brutal.


    "And neither of you stayed on your thought process of holding back. If you start another sparring match, then I will ask you both to leave the city for it." Walker was not going to pretend that he would be able to stop them if they ignored him. The only reason that they had stopped was the surprise that Walker had roared like a dragon. Such a roar was one that could not be easily ignored.<sub> </sub>


    "I think it''s about time that we go and see Ignus," Walker spoke at the same time Mordant seemed to look up at the sky. They had been able to sense the iing powerful fire elemental mana nearing them.


    <o>,m "Another royal dragon? Should Ie to greet them?" Scy flexed her hands wanting to see another battle. Another opponent.</o>


    "I wonder how you have the energy for that. You used all of your mana thest two times I saw you use that mastery skill." Walker wasn''t sure if he was impressed or unhappy seeing how easily Scy had been able to regain her strength.


    "I train very hard to use the skills I have. Things are not as easy for us as they are for you. We are not able to learn things at your speed. But that is alright. I can still teach you a thing or two." Scyughed slightly at Walker shaking his head. She started to step in to the air to head toward the main square in front of the Genesis building. That was the ce that Ignus was sure tond.


    "We are heading there too. Su, Midnight, get there with the hatchlings as fast as you can. There will be two fire dragon hatchlings to meet." Walker knew that they wereing with Ignus. From the way Ignus had acted, he would jot have allowed them to be brought by his dragonkin separate from him. He wanted to see Walker''s words take form before his eyes while he was in Genesis.


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 Chapter 1398 1398. Ignus Lands

    Walker still felt it was amazing seeing therge dragon that Ignus was. He had many more characteristics than Mordant did due to the difference in affinity. It also radically changedpared to Current who was more streamlined and less bulky. The difference between all dragons was hard to discern without seeing their forms clearly.


    "Now that looks like someone I could butt heads with." Scy could tell that any attacks using water elemental mana would prove fruitless against Ignus. However, that did not mean that she wanted to push against that thought process.


    "I swear, If you even try it." Walker caught himself before he started on another rant about appearances. He felt like an old man watching a bunch of children.


    "Midnight, keep the hatchlings back a little so that they don''t get themselves in to trouble. The two hatchlingsing might be a little older than them." Walker wanted to ensure that everything would work out well in the end. He didn''t want Midnight to y peacemaker. She had to teach them to live in Genesis and find their own paths. Not to keep from fighting all the time due to any differences they may have.


    Ignusnded with a rumble that was stronger than any other dragon that hadnded before. Walker was already manipting the earth elemental mana to fix the cracks in the streets or else he would hear it from the hard working dwarves that had built it.


    "You are faster than I expected. Wee to Genesis." Walker looked at one of Ignus''s talons and saw two very silent and still hatchlings. In the matter of a single burst of mes, Ignus had changed to his dragonkin form to stand in front of Walker with the two hatchlings by his side.


    "This is slightlyrger than I believed your vige would be. I do enjoy thisnding area. It is made very well for my visit." Ignus thought that the square had been made just for him tond. However, Walker was not allowing that to go on.


    "This is the main square outside of the Genesis building. It will take a little time to call a meeting of representatives to meet you. Until then, how about we have something to eat?" Walker had yet to eat properly. He also knew that Mordant had been eyeing some of the street stalls.


    p "If you offer him food immediately upon arrival you may not have anything for winter." Mordant didn''t even take time before antagonizing Ignus.</anda>


    "From the shadow that has been stealing away food, I think that means nothing." Ignus stood taller cursing the two hatchlings beside him to shudder slightly.


    "Those two seem to need food as well. Midnight, Take care of them while I speak to Ignus. We have a lot to discuss between the three of us. Su, I will trust the meeting to start with you. You know what I will do when I introduce Ignus." Walker knew that the hatchlings needed space and an examination. Leaving it up to Midnight was the perfect way to get it done. He also trusted that Su would quickly gather everyone to speak in the meeting room.


    "You have a banquet set up for me I assume?" Ignus was not going to ept just anything, however, both Walker and Mordant were heading away from therge building that they were near.<sub> </sub>


    "Hurry up. We are showing you the best spots to get food. I have spent hours being guided to these stalls. I assure you they are better than the in roast meat you have in your vige." Mordant did not even falter. He too was a glutton for the mixed spice foods that Genesis had brought together.


    Mere moments after hesitantly following the two in to the market road, Ignus found himself overwhelmed. The scents of foods cooking and being prepared were extremely potent. To a dragon, the scents were much stronger than it would be to a human. "There are a lot of people here but this is the market road. The main stalls and shops are on this road. I rmended those smoked chicken skewers over there. They are made using the trees from an elven farm and the techniques of the dwarves." Walker moved to purchase three skewers for each of them. He had ced his in his storage to share with the hatchlingster.


    "I am willing to ignore the foolish greeting. I did not maintain my schedule. Yet this is not right! A mere street food with whatever this is-" Walker cut Ignus off. With the help of Mordant''s shadows, they stuffed a skewer in his mouth. It was not elegant in any form but it was the best way to counter the stubborn fire dragon.


    "These people eat things like this every single day. Even Walker''s mother creates things like this. For a human, she has a wonderful choice of food. I would say that the food we have eaten has been garbage byparison. We all must raise chefs in the future." Mordant spoke as if he was an expert in cuisine. The rxed attitude caused Ignus to begin an internal battle. Tradition against the desire to eat more.


    "Just don''t think about it too hard. You are my guest here so you do not need to follow traditions so strictly. You are living thews of Genesis while you are a guest here. It means you are equal and walk among the citizens of Genesis. But it also means that I will thank you for your help with Gil and Alma. Nowe cash in on the foods I am buying you." Walker used the internal confusion make a few points to Ignus.


    "Since you are repaying my kindness then I shall ept it. Do not expect me to fall in to your ways." Ignus spoke but had eyes darting to the other food stalls. He had been hooked.


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 Chapter 1399 1399. Tempting The Dwarves

    The change in Ignus as soon as he was offered food he had never even imagined tasting was the same that Mordant had. They were both much more interested in things once they had discovered that there was such a potential within Genesis.


    "This is why you came here so early?" Ignus made sure that Walker wouldn''t hear his conversation with Mordant.


    "There is much more than you think here. It may go against some of our traditions. However, you will feel much more free to pursue your own strength here. How many times do you need to stop your growth and fall in to the same boring routines because of traditions that can no longer empower dragons? This ce does not force that upon us. There wasn''t anyone forcing us to follow them. It was just how it has been for generations." Mordant had reached his own conclusions.


    Genesis had done one thing. It had offered the dragons another route to expand and travel. A path that their race had not taken due to their pride and taught tradition. This new path was a curious temptation that Mordant had already epted. Sure, there would be some traditions that would never die. That was respect for the past that created their race.


    "I see. It angers me that we would forsake our traditions. My father ensured me that he would show me how to be a powerful dragon above all others in thends of fire. The question is, will I achieve a greater position than that by joining here? Can my viges grow without the constant requirement for guidance?" Ignus asked his questions without any desire for answers. They were the same questions that Mordant was mulling over.


    "They should be ready for you now. We can introduce the representative of Genesis to you.'' Walker knew that the pair of royal dragons would eat much more if he allowed them to continue to look for new things. "Tonight we will eat at my mansion. I will offer the same to you, If you like it we can speak to the dwarves about having one made. I am considering asking for something to be made for any visiting royal dragon in the future."


    The idea to have a new mansion built was simply because he knew the royal dragons would being to use the mage tower elemental floors. There was too much temptation there for them to give up. They could be stronger faster without having to hunt down the naturally urring ces with dense elemental mana of their specific affinity.


    "That is a very good idea. I will support that. I will not share the space though, it would be in opposition to my rest." Mordant was already pushing back if he would have to share.


    "It shouldn''t be the case that all of you are here at once. That is for the royal dragon court. I can easily set up a n for all of you to visit in rotation though." Walker knew that genesis would be unable to handle every royal dragon as it was.


    "As I said before. This is the Genesis building. The main governing building of the city¡­" Walker found the tour and introductions to fly by very quickly. The representatives hade quickly and met Ignus. Scy had drifted off to the Genesis building when Ignus had gotten there making it easier for her to give everyone a heads up about what they may face along with Su who had even more information.


    Ignus did not show any negative expressions. He was interested in the events that happened with the me elves and the conclusions drawn. He even offered the basic records he had of his territory which really surprised Walker. Their experiences in his territory had greatly improved Walker''s rtionship with him. So much so that Ignus was not letting his fiery temperament get in their way.


    "I want to see your cksmith. I want to see that man I once met in mynds. I desire new armor." Ignus knew exactly who the wandering cksmith was. He could smell him. A dragon would rarely forget a scent.<sub> </sub>


    "He is testing the hybrid runes that work with draconic and what we have begun to call origin runes. I have sent a significant amount of mined materials to him from the current mining project to create a road to my city." The king of the deep caves remained present when the introductions had finished. He wanted to speak to a dragon that could potentially offer the best forging mes for the dwarves.


    "Good, there will be a substantial need for materials. I have this armor for my dragonkin form butck proper armor for my dragon form." Ignus was nning to have the wandering cksmith design the armor and teach his dragonkin to create it for him.


    p "That would be a very costly project-"</anda>


    "Cost is nothing. I have stores of valuable materials. I can offer steel and gold forced in magma fires. You know that gold forged within the heart of a magma pool is no longer the same as the ringgit you use as currency. It is powerful and absorbs an immense amount of mana." Ignus knew exactly what he had of value and how to use it.


    "If you offer even a handful we can get you any materials you need for such armor. We will even forge them in to ingots for easier transport to your cksmiths." The king of the deep caves became very happy and proper. Walker wasn''t even sure who he was looking at. Ignus just nodded in approval and handed a small ball of gold. The purest gold Walker had ever seen.


    "This is what I brought for payment. It should be enough." Ignus turned away. He desired to see the wandering cksmith immediately and Walker knew if he did not guide him then would just follow the scent until he got there.


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 Chapter 1400 1400. Gold

    "Why do you have so many shops? I see at least ten cksmiths here. Four merchants with various trinkets, and many food sellers." Ignus did not fullyprehend the way the markets worked. This was not a normal urrence within the dragon culture. They would work for the vige and not sell anything.


    "We have them from multiple cities. They bring the goods of every race associated with Genesis so that they can trade and mix cultures. The forest elves had water spikes which help the fields attract water during the hotter days. This was great for the demi-humans who have an abundance of food. There are crops brought from the demi-human farms that can''t grow here. Dwarves bring high quality goods and tools. Merfolk bring ocean rted materials and goods. And one day the demons will bring things as well. Don''t even get me started on the goblins and grey haired spider. Their contributions are small now but will grow infinitely."


    "I have seen them here and there. The world ensured that all knew of them bing a proper race. I can not fight the world." Ignus had some distaste for the fact that monsters were being recognized as equals to other races. Yet he could not argue since the dragons kicked from their vige fell and became monsters.


    "We hope that the harpies will be a race recognized by the world soon. It just depends on how soon they can stand alone without the demi-human support they have now. I have seen the harpy queen a few times but she is very reliant on the help she receives. But I have a feeling that it might change when she chooses a sessor." Walker could only imagine Elise helping Ste to be a harpy queen one day. It was a fun thought to have.


    "That little shop there has small charms carved from simple wood. But the runes on them are different from ours. They focus on mana gathering. I have seen those runes taken and used by the dwarves here. It is experimental but very useful." The difference in runes was something that mordant would chat with Ignus aboutter. However, it was worth mentioning at the moment since Mordant had visited the shop and ce an order already.


    "I have noticed that there is a greater density of mana here. I can see that tower is the cause. The mage tower you said you have. I will explore thatter. I do not wish to ruin that experience if I will remain there for a longer period of time." The way Ignus saw it, was that he would spend too much time there when he got to the elemental floors Walker had described. It was better to see other things first before fully focusing on fire elemental mana purification.


    Walker knew that the dragonkin in the forge would still be exhausted. However, he was opening the door regardless. "You are exactly the same as when I saw you by the river ofva" Ignus looked at the wandering cksmith who raised his head from a pile of blueprints. The rune drawings on them were all experimental.


    "Sorry to bother you again. Ignus wanted toe and make a request for blueprints that could be used by the dragonkin thate to learn from you." Walker would have finished his sentence but Ignus took over with obvious excitement.


    "The armor you made me is still very functional. I am here to ask for armor that can fit my dragon form properly. It is a veryrge project which is why my dragonkin will create it from your guidelines. I have enemiesing from over the ocean. The dragons will need to be at their best." Walker knew this was the preparation that Ignus wanted to make for when the wyverns made their way to the mountains.


    "There is no immediate threat. This is preparation." Mordent ensured the wandering cksmith of this before there was a major rush. It would keep the learning smooth and without any additional stress.


    "The dwarves have already been paid for materials and I shall y you with this as well. The gold forged within the magma pools. Only someone like myself can reach in to such depths for this." Another ball of gold was handed over to the wandering cksmith. He knew exactly what it was.<sub> </sub>


    "Lava forged gold


    This is the rarest form of gold on the. The gold that is condensed and melted naturally within massiveva pools has amazing pro[perties. Unlike regr gold, it is not as soft. It also allows for tremendous amounts of mana to flow through it or be stored within. This makes it the best possible materials for filling in rune carvings. Very few pieces of this gold is found and used properly.''


    Since Walker had not seen something so valuable before he was very impressed. The fact that this could greatly improve the mana flow of runes and store more mana was spectacr. However, just because it was tougher than normal gold, did not mean it was ideal for armor. It was easy to guess that the runes carved with only theva forged gold could be damaged.


    While Walker considered this, Ignus was going over the design he wanted, Mordant was carefully looking through the stacks of darkness hybrid runes. He was very impressed by what the wandering cksmith hade up with.Many t sheets of metal had test runes on them allowing Mordant to see how well they gathered mana. Some that clearly broken because of the high amount of mana they drew towards the metal without proper control.


    "I''m surprised you aren''t asking for armor now." Since Walker knew this was in Mordant''s mind, he had to ask. Walker was about to regret asking the question though¡­


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    <o>,m </o>

 Chapter 1401 1401. Breaking The Tension

    "I have already nned that out with our talented friend here. I left ns to upgrade existing armorst time we were here." Mordant pointed to a blueprint posted on a wall. It appeared to be very firm fitting armor that would cover Mordant''s entire dragon form.


    "Hm, maybe I should consider new armor¡­no I don''t need it." Walker had his spectacr armor for defense and important events. He knew he did it need more just because he felt pressured about the royal dragons getting them.


    "Should we be worried that Ignus seems too jovial? I didn''t think he could act like that. Maybe it''s just because he took a liking to the wandering cksmith when he found him in the past." It was odd watching how Ignus even joked with the wandering cksmiths.


    "If I recall, that is one of the few non dragon rtionships he has had in life. He bragged about his armor for a few years." Mordant remembered being very annoyed at the fiery bragging about armor and finding a hidden cksmith with unique ideas.


    "That sounds about right from what I''ve seen of Ignus. At least it looks like he''s finished up." Walker looked at the wandering cksmith heading toward the back of the forge.


    "I told him to get some rest before even trying to modify my designs. They''ll take some time to properly change, teach, and forge." Ignus spoke as if he had done the most casual thing ever.


    "How did you manage that? He''ll work on projects for days upon days¡­" this was certainly an impressive feat to achieve.


    Ignus just stayed silent with a smirk on his face. He wasn''t going to reveal his tricks to anyone. "Now show me this home that Mordant was built for him as well. I need to see if it is everything it''s been said to be." Ignus would not allow anything to pass him by.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Midnight was carefully looking at the two new hatchlings. They were surprisingly close and from what she could see by the orange and red scales, they were older sister and younger brother. She liked this because it reminded her of Onyx and her rtionship.


    Every time that Midnight would get too close to the younger hatchling the older sister would get more defensive. However, this was not an issue. It was just how a sibling should act.


    Luckily, the three hatchlings that Mordant had brought were more curious and less intimidatingpared to the tworger fire affinity hatchlings. This also applies to the three being less intimidating than Midnight who gave off a much more oppressive aura due to her true dragon champion bloodline.


    The hatchlings with the appraisal skill had already used it on the two fire affinity hatchlings to see what she could understand. She was very intuitive and found that she was more curious about them and what they could do. None of the hatchlings had ever met another affinity dragon before.


    "Good, I managed to catch up to you. I wasn''t sure if you would have made it to the check ups yet." Su found that Midnight and the hatchlings were in a quiet part of the square which was still fairly cleared after Ignus hadnded. People were not keen to potentially anger a dragon so they held back.


    Midnight huffed softly at the sudden appearance of Su. She wasn''t sure how to approach the fearful hatchlings.<sub> </sub>


    "Midnight, from what it seems these two are older than the other three. I would bet they were left alone without much teaching at all for some time." Getting this perspective from Su would help Midnight meet the hatchlings in the middle to understand each other.


    This led Midnight to use what she knew best. Food. She burst in to a continuous symphony of small growls which escorted the three hatchlings who understood that Midnight would be bringing them to a good surprise that they could eat.


    The fire affinity hatchlings were intrigued by this. They couldprehend the promise of food. Since they had not eaten much but the scraps they had found from other monsters'' kills in thevands. This made them much more interested but skeptical to just receive food.


    "I''ll stay next to the two new arrivals. You keep those three in check." Su let Midnight handle the rambunctious three who knew they were about to get a feast.


    Out of all the ces in Genesis, Midnight could only choose one ce to eat. It had to be Hilda''s bakery. As Walker''s mother Hilda was also Midnight''s adoptive mother. Therefore, Hilda would be family to these hatchlings just the same as Midnight was.


    Approaching Hilda''s bakery proved slightly tough. There were a decent number of people outside talking and eating bread or sandwiches that were snakes fresh. Yet, when Midnight with the hatchlings and Su approached they made some room for her. Most people knew who she was.


    "Thank you. We are just grabbing some food for the hatchlings." Su was sure to thank the people who gave them space. Midnight did not hold back once inside. She bypassed two employees that worked the counter who just watched in surprise and Midnight snuck through toward the oven.


    "What brings you here? Shouldn''t you be busy with that dragon who flew in?" The noise of the oven burning attracted the attention of the two new fire affinity hatchlings. The warmth they felt was enough to somewhat break the tension. They weren''t the happiest to leave the warmfort of theva.


    "And you have two new little ones to watch. Hello there, if you like my stone oven so much you are always wee toe see me. I just happen to have taken out a small roast testing some spicy dried peppers I bartered for from the forest elves." Hilda was very proud of her new creation. She was attempting it to appeal to the me elves who might appreciate the hot spices.


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 Chapter 1402 1402. Dress Nice

    The me dragon hatchlings thought they had found the world''s greatest treasure. The roasted giant earth ant meat had beenpletely brined in the dried spice mixture using various fruit juices.


    "I made it to be a little sweet because who doesn''t like sweet? Then add some of this that and those¡­and you have my new spiced roasted meat dish. I''m thinking of selling it as the harvest season special." Midnight and Su were the only two listening.


    The staff members had managed to hold themselves back so far. At first, they had been worried about the dragon hatchlingsing behind the counter. They had been given strict rules by Hilda upon them being hired. They knew to keep people out of the kitchen.


    Even Su walking in had made them worry that they would lose their jobs. However, now that they were seeing how happy Hilda was to see them and the drooling looks of the hatchlings, they were convinced. They had a new adoration of little dragons.


    "Oh don''t make that face. You three can try some slow roast I am bringing home for dinner. I need taste testers." The three darkness affinity hatchlings changed their attitude instantly. They were convinced that Hilda was a goddess of food.


    "Well, it seems that you might have five new guards for your bakery." Su was surprised to see the enthusiasm that the fire elemental hatchlings had. It was as if they werepletely different beings.


    "Everyone needs food. I think they were too shy toe out and just act the way they want. I do think they need a good cleaning though." Hilda was nearly ready to start giving the two fire affinity hatchlings a bath but thought better of it.


    "I don''t want to tell this to Walker, but, I think these two didn''t actually live in the fire dragon vige. I think they were out in thevands free. They might need some time." Midnight nudged Su in agreement. She had understood this as well.


    "I''m sure he knows. I can imagine the look on his face the moment he saw them. They have a home with us and that''s all that matters." Hilda patted the two fire affinity hatchlings in the head. They didn''t even growl at her. They had found their first person to trust.


    "Alma! What do you mean I need to wear something nice. Nice how?" Gil was trying to catch up to Alma. The arrival of Ignus had caused her to rush to the Genesis building seeing him for only a moment.


    "Like I said, the fire dragon is here and that means so will his dragonkin soon. That means me elves will send a small group with them. That was part of the talks I had with them. I want you to look your best." Alma was not giving Gil more information the way he wanted.


    "I understand that. You told me before but why nice? Is there something else I need to be ready for?" Alma had been walking with the water elf representative and two attendants that had recentlye from the forest elf city.


    "Gil, just do it for me, please. I promise you will get everything you need to know." Alma kept walking, leaving Gil confused and unsure.


    With Alma leaving him in the dust, Gil started to aimlessly wander. "Zephyr, I have no idea what she wants me to do but I guess I''ll have to find new clothes¡­I need to talk to Lisa."


    Changing from his aimless path, Gil made a straight for Lisa''s shop. It had been a hot topic in the citytely with a few children of merchants wearing her clothing.


    "Excuse me, but Miss Lisa is not epting customers today. It is a design day for her to work on custom orders." The woman was a new employee eating outside the door. She was In charge of epting pick up orders and letting customers know what was going on.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh, well can you let Lisa know that Gil is here to chat for a bit?" When Gil said this a look of surprise appeared on the attendant''s face.


    "You''re that Gil. I was told if Miss Lisa''s family came by to let them in. Please follow me." The attendant led Gil inside with a hood in her step. She preferred to let people inside than out of the shop.


    "Miss Lisa, a member of your family is here."


    For Lisa''s age, she was already well ahead of most people. If someone didn''t know she had help from others, they would never believe she had the skills to run a seamstress shop.


    "Gil! You''re back too! I wasn''t sure who would stop by so soon. It''s been so busy!" Lisa was brighter than anything since she was seeing Gil for the first time in a while.


    "Of course I woulde. I also need your expertise." Upon hearing that Gil needed her skills, Lisa was even happier that he hade.


    "Tell me everything you need." Her serious focus made even her employee smile with determination. Lisa had the very same insane focus that Walker did. It was a singr trait that showed their rtion.


    "Alma said I need to dress nice for when the me elves get here and that she would exin more then." The defeat in Gil''s voice struck home with how he was feeling about the situation.


    "I know exactly what you need. You''re basically an elven archer at the lead of Genesis. I will make you the perfect arcane archer hero fighting rune sewn armor¡­ I''ll just make it!" Lisa rushed away dragging her employee with her. Gil wasn''t sure if he had ever seen Lisa so excited before.


    "I''ll trust you!" Gil could only shout while he watched the back room door m shut. "She''s really passionate."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1403 1403. More Placed Orders

    "Taste tested and approved by our two new dragon hatchlings." Su had been put in charge of introducing the new meal that Hilda had invented. The recipe was still a work in progress but it was worth sharing with Ignus.


    "And this is tradition to have such meals throughout every race in your vige?" Ever since Walker had brought Ignus to the mansion he had received questions like this.


    "It''s something we like to do whenever we can. We are not always together as a family. I know it is also done like this at the end of the royal dragon court meetings. But this is norm al. This is family and tonight you are waiting with our family." Walker knew that not everyone was there for various reasons. Everyone had their own lives. But this was family.


    "It seems to mean much more to you and everyone within your vige. It is a tradition I appreciate. I can understand how it will bring your people together." Ignus didn''t have any poor words or strong criticisms. This made people strong. This could unite the ideals that brought all of them together.


    "Have you considered having one built for yourself? This kind of building with small modifications is very worthy of a dragon." Mordant had been pushing for Ignus to just have a mansion n set up to be built. He had ignored the fact that Igus had said that his vige moved with the fire elemental mana density.


    "You can have one made in a central area near the tamers'' outpost. That way you will have a ce to go and rx when the vige is being moved." Walker offered a solution. He felt that it may be good that there were luxurious ces for the dragons to rest in dragonkin form. The sole reason was that they would be able to visit other dragon viges and create better bonds. It was a way to attract such thoughts.


    "The dwarven craftsman are perfect you know. They have helped a few times with my shop design. The oven has already been modified for faster heating. Then I had some tables and a patio ced outside. They even said they can find a way to create more indoor seating. You areing to my bakery tomorrow, right?" Hilda was watching as Ignus devoured the spicy roasts she had made.


    "I would not turn down the invitation. It would be rude to my fellow royal dragon." Everyone had found that Ignus had impable manners when Walker''s mother and father spoke to him. In Ignus''s mind, the partners of a royal dragon should be treated to the same degree of respect as the royal dragon themself.


    "Walker, you should bring them to see Lisa''s shop. I was there today and she has a lot of new designs. Especially the rune sewn fabrics. It may be worth it." Both Ignus and Mordant popped their heads up to look at Gil when he said this. It was clear that they were interested in these things.


    "I believe you did mention that there were some in your vige that could sew rune fabrics. I would like to have some robes made if possible. What quality materials and time does it take?" Mordant was not even going to let things get away from him. He was going to ensure that they were going to have the robes made.


    "I would ce an order as well. I can have some burning silk sent over. It is easy enough to gather when it is the season for the grubs to emerge from theva and grow in to ember flies." Ignus knew that it was best to barter with materials. He did not possess immense wealth that the races recognized here. Therefore, he would have to aim for other things.


    "We can see my sister if she decides to-"


    "Walker!!! Where is Gil! I need Gil!" Lisa''s voice echoed through the mansion. Gil looked at Walker with a slightly sheepish face since he knew he was the cause of it.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s my little sister now. She''s a little loud and still much younger so don''t get too upset if she rambles on. We are in here!" Lisa followed the sound of Walker''s voice along with the smell of freshly cooked food.


    Hilda was not sure that Lisa would be making it home due to the fact that they had already been seated at the table for some time. Lisa had also taken on a decent habit of staying at work for long hours. It was her passion as a seamstress and Hilda would do nothing to stop her daughter from having that.


    "I came back because I have the first part of what I am making for Gil. He said he needed nice clothing so I am making him special shirts and pants with elemental runes, a design that focuses on archery, and the toughest silk I have." Lisa had found herself inspired. Shepared the designs she had with some traditional forest elf attire. When she had found what some of the arcane archers wore, she felt that she had been hit with a brilliant idea.


    "This shirt has your wind elemental rune in the center with the other runes on the sleeves so you can make arrows easier. But you and Zephyr need to be sure you have better wind mana around." The white fabric was sewn with colored elemental runes matching the color to their specific elemental mana. It was a very precise creation.


    "You made those in just the time from when I visited to now!?"Gil was understandably shocked.


    "Of course I did. I had my staff help me with my other orders. Mother taught me to manage them as if they were pairs of hands. They are just as much me as I am." Lisa stood tall making Ignus and Mordant smirk. They enjoyed the pride they saw in Lisa''s eyes.


    "Myself and my fellow royal dragon have orders we would like to ce with you tomorrow. We look forward to seeing your shop." Mordant spoke for Ignus and they both saw Lisa burst in to a wider smile.


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 Chapter 1404 1404. Night Before

    Lisa found that she had herself some decent clients who were promising rare materials. It wasn''t the imagination that limited Lisa in her creations. She found that she was being limited by the materials she could see with.


    "You''ll have the best darkness elemental gathering runes I can make. And you will have the best fire elemental gathering runes I can make!" Lisa made these promises easily. Everything she made was to the best of her abilities.


    "I know you only know the elven runes, but once they research the mage tower origin runes, I will share copies." Walker wanted to ensure that as many people would see the research results as possible. Especially Lisa since he knew that She would be teaching them to herself as soon as she saw them.


    Lisa nodded a few times before grabbing Gil and dragging him away. There was a silent prayer for him since he hadn''t even finished half of his te of food. Mordant and Ignus had to hold themselves back from iming it, they were royal dragons and couldn''t be swayed by food.


    "I was just saying that we need to be ready for tomorrow. But you sleeping in your alchemyb again will make you an old grouch and you sleeping in your pile of papers will make youte." Remey''s reprimands were loud enough for everyone to hear as she was walking in.


    "I thought you would stay at the guild until tomorrow." Su was the most surprised to see that Remey had arrived.


    "Well, we were going to. But if we do that then these two will note out of thebs and offices until the event was already underway. We have the herbs organized, the arena has been reset, and everyone has been registered." The way it sounded, Remey was a lot less stressed than she could be. She was very prepared for the nextpetition happening.


    "They are going to let people in to the stands, right? I want to say I saw some of the dwarven craftsmen putting up temporary rune carved walls so that any smoke won''t affect those watching." Walker had noticed this when they were at the coliseum. He had taken a lot of the preparatory building in since he wanted to understand how the different arenas being built would be used.


    "It''s going to be weird because not many new alchemists are used to people watching them. We told a lot of them today during small preparation and registration lectures what to expect. We are going to enforce harsh noise regtions from the crowd. But that doesn''t mean we won''t have one or two people that might cause minor explosions." Remey was sure that there would be an issue here or there.


    "That''s why we have a few magesing as walking assistants. They will help maintain the strength of mes and other skills being used. That''s why we want you to walk the arenas as well." Trish looked at Walker to see what his answer would be. She was sure he would say yes but did worry that he would say no because Mordant and Ignus were present.


    "Of course I will. I can''t say no to the first ever alchemy guildpetition. Ignus, Mordant, you two were nning toe as well, right? You are going to start a trade rtionship with the alchemy guild and want to see the new members being tested. You might be able to help spot some good talents, especially since Ignus has a high sense for fire elemental mana."


    "I am very interested in the beginnings of your guild. I would like to ce a standing order for more of the fire affinity potions I received as a gift. Especially higher quality versions." Ignus knew that the high fire affinity potions had to exist. He wanted them and was willing to pay the price for them.<sub> </sub>


    "I appreciate your desire for my hard work. It took a few years to develop the theory alone. With little Remey''s assistance, I have made leaps in theory." The old master alchemist was more than proud to hear that even royal dragons were enjoying the affinity potions. He wanted to hear more and more about them.


    "I wille as well. It is always interesting to see the young grow up. Especially from what I have seen within your vige." Mordant saw that the old master alchemist was hitting it off with Ignus. Therefore, he responded to Walker.


    "Try this, there are some brilliant vors." Ignus practically forced food on the old master alchemist. Unfortunately, the old master alchemist was not one to handle the spicy roasted meats. Yet there was nothing he could do, when a dragon asked you to eat, you ate. He couldn''t offend such a figure.


    "Midnight, are the hatchlings still curled up asleep in your spot?" Midnight had been sulking for some time while she ate her own food. Normally she would be much louder and trying to win a little extra attention. Her response was a simple nce away while she pretended not to hear Walker.


    "If you want we can see about lighting the other fire ces in the mansion. I know there are a few in the upstairs guest rooms." The idea made Midnight perk up slightly. However, she quickly shook her head. She would remain near the hatchlings while they slept so that she was able to handle anything that happened. Hilda had done a lot today to break the ice with the fire elemental hatchlings. She couldn''t let that progress slip away.


    "Then I will make sure there are a few extra snacks around. I think mother made us some caramel apple pie." The three simple words were enough to make the room go silent. Everyone knew how great Hilda''s caramel apple pie was. Even Ignus and Mordant knew they had heard something that was sure to be amazing.


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 Chapter 1405 1405. Alchemy Introductions

    "Midnight, if you rush ahead that fast then you will end up there before everyone." Walker pretended to reprimand Midnight, but everyone knew that he was just fine watching her and the hatchlings rush toward the coliseum they had been in before.


    "Following your rules in your vige still strikes me as odd. Many others are walking around the streets and you can act so casual." Ignus had not begun to feelfortable in the least about how they were moving through Genesis. If he were walking within his vige many would stop to pay respects or move out of his way.


    "This is how it should be. Just because someone does something for the city doesn''t mean that every citizen should worship them. We are the very same as everyone else. Equals that can work together for a better future." Walker had already used this line a few times but now it felt like he was just repeating himself.


    "There are those who pay respects though, they wave to you constantly." Mordant had noticed this very quickly. Anyone that had guided him or been with him so far had received such waves. He quickly gathered that this was the same as the dragonkin that would offer bows to him. Along with this, there was also the fact that some gossiped about the things that Walker and his party had done.


    "You may have started to notice, but here, he is revered by all of them. Even those that have not been helped personally see him and speak about what he has done. Our dragonkin just know our power and standing. I would not mind seeing respecte To dragons as a whole" Mordant made a point to whisper this to Ignus. The idea would take many efforts from many dragons. If every race could have more developed respect for the dragon race, then it would be a major improvement.


    "There are way more people here than I thought there would be. Remey said we have seats set up for you to watch though. Want to take the short route? Midnight and the hatchlings are already being helped by some of the alchemy guild staff." Walker pointed out the guards and alchemy guild staff guiding them inside.


    "What do you have¡­" Mordant Watched Walker smirk and stepped in to the air.


    "You two are dragons with dragonkin forms. I know you can use your wings to fly unlike other dragonkin with wings. So, let''s take a shortcut." This would not be allowed if it was anyone else. There was a separate ce for the demi-human and harpies to fly to and enter the coliseum. However, Walker could guide the two royal dragons to their seats because they were special guests of Genesis.


    The sight of them traveling through the air to a section of seating marked with clear names made a decent number of eyes focus on them. "So you wanted a grand entrance." Ignus didn''t mock Walker too much for this but found it somewhat amusing.


    "Of course I did. How else would wee? I have to show off the guests we have. You could go and sit with the other representatives present if you want?" Walker raised an eyebrow at the pair since he was also pointing out the section of seating for the Genesis representatives. Many were waiting patiently to see the first day ofpetition.


    "That sounds much better. They may have unique insights on such an event." Mordant was already moving, leaving Ignus behind. Therefore, Ignus reacted by moving as well. Walker made a simple motion to a staff member. He had nned this out perfectly. Now the two would choose to bond with the Genesis representative more.


    "I will leave you two and start helping out Remey. She is going to be announcing the start at any moment now." Walker looked around the many smaller battle arenas. They had been separated in to these smaller arenas so that multiple battles could go on at once. For this case, it was so multiple levels of the alchemypetition could be done at once.<sub> </sub>


    "Walker, there you are. I thought you would end up talking over there forever. I am about to announce things. Just wait here with the mages who are going to be patrolling with you. Some alchemists and herbalists might join you too." Remey was wearing her best clothing made specifically for the alchemy guild.


    "Let''s quiet down!" The shout was made louder by some rune formations that the dwarves had created for announcements. The crystals attached could enhance the sounds made around them as long as enough mana was fed in to them. Remey was not acting overly polite to make her announcements today.


    "This is the first ever alchemypetition hosted by the alchemy guild! The new members and aspiring members will have a certain time limit to produce a certain potion. Those in the advancedpetitions will have a chance to win a better herb, mentorship, or even new equipment! Those that can perform the best of the best will have the chance to be instructors within the guild!" This surprised many in the crowd since it was a strange way for the instructors to be chosen.


    "Furthermore, there are herbalist growing and identificationpetitions ongoing for the exact same rewards. I thank the adventurers guild for the work they put in to ensure we have many herbs prepared. That is why there will be free sses on proper herb harvesting for any adventurers guild members from today on!" This received a massive roar of approval.


    "Now, I can''t exin all the rules without my fellow guild masters. The two at my sides are master alchemists of high respect that many of you have met." Remey waved for Trish and the old master alchemist toe forward to continue the introduction of the event.


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 Chapter 1406 1406. Trickey Herbs

    "Hello there, I am very d to see so many young ones here today. It makes my old bones years to see just what brilliant things you will invent tomorrow." The greeting from the old master alchemist made a decent few people smile. Knowing that they had a brilliant potential was worth telling anyone and everyone regardless of what they had done yet in their life.


    "There are materials in the best possible condition down to the worst on the herbalist tables. They will begin their appraisals of the herbs. From there they will be graded and sent to the secondary part of thepetition. The herbalists willplete and earn rewards first." The old master alchemist paused looking at the herbalists slowly lining up near empty tables.


    "The herbalist who score the highest with the most urate appraisals will be allowed to take positions working in the guilds front counter. Thosepeting the growingpetitions will have the chance to earn control of an entire field!"


    The reaction from every herbalist was pure excitement. They wanted to be able to grow whatever they wanted exactly the way they wanted. The best part was that each field came with assistant herbalists so there was lower risk with high reward.


    "Moving on to the alchemy!" Trish took the lead causing many to go silent again. "The herbs will be selected by ourpetitors and they will have time to prepare potions ranging from the low tier quality all the way to high tier. The rewards will vary but I expect that there will be some brilliant new techniques shown off today!" Trish was sure that some of the younger alchemists had already developed their own methods.


    "We will have mages traversing thepetitors to ensure safety. We have invited multiple figures such as the water elf high mage, our very own Master of none, and even general Scy will be watching over everyone to send her guards when help is needed." Trish did not sugar coat it to make people think that danger was small. Many of the alchemists were under pressure and would most likely cause some sort of issue.


    Walker was listening carefully and looked over at the high mage. The water elf hade when he had been freed from Lust''s mind control. He had lost almost everything when it came to his research. Therefore, he was extremely excited to join the research on the mage tower to discover a whole new path to better control over water elemental mana.


    "I kind of like not being called anything else other than the system I have." Walker mused out loud since he hadn''t expected Trish to go with this. The longer list of titles felt like he was bragging and trying to stand over everyone else. It was too much.


    "I agree,ing here and being able to continue on with what I want is very rxing. I always had to maintain an image before I came here..well before the trouble." The high mage was agreeing with Walker very much.


    "Now, to keep it all moving, I will be epting five of the best minds in alchemy to be the first ever elite ss within the alchemy guild. They will receive the best guidance from multiple masters throughout a single year. There will also be five herbalists selected with the exact same benefits!"


    Trish shared thest major rewards as Remey walked back toward the center of the coliseum. She had set up one singr arena without any cauldrons or materials. The only things there were the rewards for every winner. The smaller rewards for those that participated would be given as the alchemists or herbalists left.


    "With that, Herbalists prepare yourselves! Alchemists, be at the ready! Begin!" The three spoke in unison as a flurry of movement began.


    Walker made a goal to pass by the herbs as they were being brought out. The herbalists that had chosen to join the appraisalpetitions seemed to be very well prepared. Many had unique tools that they would use to discern the quality. This was very important to ensure that the bais herb appraisal skills they had gave them more detailed information. There was also the fact that not all of them had some form of herb appraisal skill.<sub> </sub>


    Walker could see some basic herbs that were in every single alchemyb. However, when he caught something that he already knew looked different he couldn''t help but appraise it himself with his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Painted grass


    This is just field grass. It has been roughly cut then painted using a basic carpenter''s sent. It ispletely useless to most things and with the added paint, it can not even be used as feed for cattle due to the paint being added. This is not even worth calling a trick.''


    The paint made it seem slightly shiny which caused a decent few herbalists to nce and focus on it. What Walker really wondered about was the singr mushroom that didn''t seem outstanding at all.


    ''Porous mushroom


    The mushroom is not known as a porous mushroom because it can absorb water. It is an incredible high tier ingredient in any and all antidotal potions. With this addition in the potion, it will be able to nearly guarantee the potion to be a high quality antidote. These porous mushrooms aremon in nature if someone is to look in the proper area. Thus specific porous mushroom is perfect quality.''


    Walker knew that this was being overlooked because it was amon ingredient in many antidote potions. However, it was a perfect ingredient which would be very valuable to any alchemist who was trying to make an antidote for a powerful poison. Many would pay a high amount of gold for a single one. Walker just smirked for every single young herbalist that walked by it.


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 Chapter 1407 1407. Already Done

    "That''s the first batch of herbs! Arena one has the chance to start!" Remey had been put in charge of watching what was happening as things progressed. This allowed her to announce and keep people focused on the big happenings within thepetitions.


    There were a few of the master herbalists watching over the younger herbalists. They were giving grades and also exining the basic faults in things. What Walker found very surprising was that Gil''s mother had made her way to be a judge in the growing portion happening nearby the central arena.


    She was a farmer and had many skills that revolved around how fast she could grow what and to what quality. That meant that she had more than enough experience to understand where someone would have gone wrong and how to fix it. This was a major learning chance for all of them.


    Where things really began to ramp up in learning was when the demi-human farmers stepped in to join Gil''s mother in judging. No one had seen Gil''s mother around the mansion for a few days and it was clear why. She had been with the demi-human farmers sharing their growing techniques and skills. It was an incredibly valuable chance for more than just the herbalists to learn and grow.


    Scy had been the one to approach the alchemy guild about having the demi-human framer brought from her home city so that it would build better connections. There was also the secondary chance for the farmers that came from the demi-human fields to train the new farmers just starting around Genesis. They paired perfectly with the master herbalists already recruited by the alchemy guild.


    Moving to the first arena that had begun potion making, Walker was not surprised to see that some fire mages had entered thepetitions. Just because they were not alchemists did not mean that they wouldck the ability to make potions.


    This was the same with the few healers that had also joined thepetition. They had the skills to make basic salves and some would even have a hybrid skill group that allowed them to use some minor healing skills that enhance their uses of medicines they made themselves low tier healing potions qualified as medicines they made themselves which meant that a low tier healing potion may have the same effect as a mid tier healing potion.


    There was also the fact that the high priest had vouched for the healers that had asked to enter. Most people within the alchemy guild had forgotten the fact that the cathedral also purchased a great deal of herbs used for medicines. It was another route that they could pursue in their research.


    Looking in to the stands, many of the healers and nuns were there to cheer on their friends. Even the high priest was sitting in the middle with a proud but slightly sad expression. Walker knew exactly why this was. Alice had already left with the other healers on her leave from the cathedral to help a smaller vige. It was a major step for her and Walker had not stood in her way at all. He just wished he could have gone with her.


    Refocusing his mind, Walker allowed himself to open his senses to the elemental mana around. He had to focus on the fire elemental mana so that he would be able to stop any of it from running amok. Not every alchemist had the skills to control the temperature. Some were left with the old school method of lowering the temperature by removing fuel from the fire.


    In just a few moments, the high water mage had already jumped in to stop a fire in one cauldron. The young alchemist had heated it too fast causing it to burst in to mes. The young alchemist appeared to have been too nervous to double check what he had been doing. It was unfortunate however, it was a valuable lesson. They would be able to learn more before the nextpetition would be held.


    "The second arena has begun to create their potions! The first sessful potion has been made!" Remey sounded a little surprised. However, the boy that had brought up the sessful low tier healing potion was one that Walker had seen in the alchemy guild before. He was someone that had been there since the guild had been built.<sub> </sub>


    "Not bad, that kid is always helping to move herbs. Especially the new shipments bought from merchants." One of the other passing mages was a member of the guild already. He was nowhere near master alchemist but he was experienced enough to where he didn''t need to worry about participating.


    "Good to hear that someone has been learning in the best way that they can." Walker could tell that the boy had used his hard work to learn more before thepetition. If Walker could ce bets, he would bet that the boy had also attended many of the free lectures the guild had offered.


    "Mordant, what do you think of all this? There are many that are attempting to enter this guild that has been created." Ignus couldn''t help but feel at least a little amazed that the number of participants seemed unending.


    "It''s very entertaining. A mystery to me. We don''t rely so much on potion. We are strong alone. We have missed out by not following this path." Mordant was thinking about the history that the dragons had. They had never put much effort in to the alchemy side of things. Now that he was seeing that the other races put so much effort in to it, he wondered what they had truly missed all these years.


    "I will send some dragonkin with the potential for alchemy. They need to learn these things." Ignus saw the chance and was going to take advantage, the dragons could only get stronger.


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 Chapter 1408 1408. Healing Journey

    Traveling had been a fairly easy event so far. The healers had stocked up on herbs that could keep monsters away. They had followed strict rules to ensure that they were not leaving a trail that pack type monsters could follow them. And they had rested well to maintain their strength at all times.


    Alice had been leading this effort to a greater degree than the other healers had expected. They knew that the high priest had approved for Alice to leave the cathedral in this way so that she could grow as a person. However, they had not realized how much Alice had learned when she had left on adventures with Walker''s party.


    When she would sing, they were not used to seeing her battle the few horned rabbits they had passed by. Most of them had techniques to avoid the few monsters they may run in to. Some had even purchased special dwarven and elven items that could create a smokescreen to hide them in for an easy escape.


    "ording to the map and route we are taking, the first vige near the borders should only have about ten buildings and fifteen families. They are mostly farmers that harvest produce that can not grow nearrge poptions." The healer that hade with Alice was a unique case. She had been given the wandering healer system by the world.


    This meant that she had skills that were strictly made to help her wander about and heal others. For the first five years, she had remained within the cathedral to learn the knowledge necessary to live life on the move. After that, she had waited for the right chance to leave and begin her travels.


    The chance to move to Genesis was perfect because she could help create a new cathedral before wandering toward the demonnds where healers were needed. Whether it was soldiers, merchants, or just small viges, she was ready to help them. She had been inspired by the dreams to help those who were hurt by the corrupted demons in charge of the demonnds.


    Hearing this put Alice in an even brighter mood. She was d that they were making good time. She had been walking carefully thest few hours because one of the elven healers that hade with her had some tracking abilities and found some monster tracks. Alma had asked the healer to join them because it would expand the bind between the elves and the church. They had different beliefs but simr practices.


    Thest three of their group were not specified in any position. They were basic healers that had been in the cathedral for some time. They were very skilled since there had been many things that happened which allowed them to grow their skills. As far as Alice was concerned, they could stand at the top of any cathedral.


    "We will make it there by the end of the day." The decoration brought them all more energy. Hearing Alice speak had be much less rare since she had been able to control her skills. Now she didn''t have to worry about using all of her mana when she was speaking or singing, this allowed her tomunicate better.


    Arora had been enjoying the journey as well. She had been wrapped around Alic''s arm the entire time. Alice had tried to leave Arora behind with Onyx and Ibus, unfortunately, Arora had be smarter than any of them knew.


    When Alice had left early in the morning while Walker had been away, Arora had snuck in to the simple bag she was carrying. After an hour of travel, Alice had opened the bag to get some water only to find that the metal bottle created for her to carry water in, had Arora wrapped around it. There had been a moment of disbelief before she had outright epted it. She would be traveling with her new partner regardless now since they couldn''t just turn around.


    The skies had been clear proving to be ideal for Arora to keep absorbing the light elemental mana. The positive was that she had absorbed plenty from Ibis''s summons before they left so Arora actually had a great deal of stored light elemental mana. She wouldn''t need to worry about being out of pure light mana for some weeks.<sub> </sub>


    "Wait, is that another one of those rabbit monsters?" The healer that called out was a rather young boy who had a unique affinity for healing. He was from a merchant family who had given him the choice of traveling or joining the cathedral in Genesis where their new shop was opened.


    ? Looking ahead, Alice saw what the healer had seen. It was a horned rabbit that had managed topletely miss them even though the group had be very close to it. "What should we do? We are too close to risk backing away or using the smoke to keep it at bay. We might need to use the smoke bomb or the smoke potion we have." The healers didn''t want to lose these things since they were very important resources.


    "No, I will handle it. We can use it as a greeting for the vige." Alice became much more serious upon saying this. She had made the call and would begin attacking.


    The song that started was hard to understand, but the air felt like it was bing heavy. The swords that Alice had condensed would normally be multiple so that she could go after the target if it moved. Yet she had developed a new way of using the condensed light elemental sword that she would make. She had begun to add more and more elemental mana to it in a way that it would dissipateyer byyer. That way it would move faster.


    Alice looked at the horned rabbit ahead of them and started to move side to side so that she would be hard to lock on to as a target. Her singing had just started to announce her presence to the horned rabbit.


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 Chapter 1409 1409. Healing Journey (2)

    A sh of light was all the horned rabbit saw before the de of light had defeated it. Alice continued to sing while taking in the surroundings.


    It was not normal for a single horned rabbit to be around. They were often in groups with anyone traveling through the area would have to know. Therefore, Alice had ensured that every healer with her was alert.


    This was not the first time they had seen a monster defeated. Nor was it the first time they had seen blood. What put them on a slight edge was the fact that Alice could be so powerful. It really hit home when she showed this aspect of her skills.


    Two of the healers with her started to break the horned rabbit down so they could carry it. Alice remained on alert to ensure that nothing would show up. "We can move forward."


    As soon as it was taken care of the group continued on their way. The vige they were heading toward began to take shape ahead of them.


    Small farmhouses seemed to make up the majority, however, that was not what caught their attention. The vines growing on long metal wires were thick and clearly older than most other small nts around. "They''re grapes! This is where the pearl grapes are grown!"


    The exmation from one healer brought realization to all of them. Pearl grapes were a very popr breed of grape that could only be grown in ces without many pests. They were very sweet and very nutritious. Having a far away vige growing them made sense so they could increase productivity.


    "They are the best for babies and anyone who needs a little something extra when sick." The conversation burst in to lively energy. The healers were very familiar with these grapes, even the elven healer had seen them grown within the forest at lesser amounts.


    "Travelers iing!" The shouts dominoed down a small fence line. There were a few guards that worked to watch the main vige and patrol the fields. Many monsters would attempt to sneak in to eat the pearl grapes during harvest.


    The middle aged woman that jogged over to them was looking fairly tired. Her clothing was covered in smudges of dirt from working. "Well, we could say you''vee at the right time. We are nting the new field and could really use a few healers. I''m the head of the farm here, just call me Miss."


    Alice couldn''t help but think that this woman would make quick friends with Gil''s mother. They had the same aura of life and confidence. "I''m Alice, we are traveling healers. We have some horned rabbit to share."


    Miss showed a little surprise since she wasn''t sure how they had managed to travel from the nearby cities with so much supplies.


    "We came from the newest neighboring city Genesis. On the way, we met a few monsters. Alice was able to handle them so that we could give you a gift upon arriving." The elven healer took the lead next to Alice. She had a lot of confidence in the way she spoke which really helped the flow of conversation.


    "Oh, if that''s the case we will dly ept it. This is a busy season and we have a lot of mouths to feed. Any little thing is appreciated. We just might look a little dirty. Working in the field leads to that and some decent cuts and scrapes."


    For the head of her vige, everyone thought that Miss was young. Yet, as they watched her point out buildings and wave to others, it was clear that she had a firm grasp on the situation. "We''ve lived here for years. I''m fifth generation and proud of it. We''ve had a few merchants from your Genesis city. Even some adventurers that came asking about rare herbs. I look forward to seeing some new faces."<sub> </sub>


    Listening to Miss speak, they could tell that the smaller viges would have some knowledge about Genesis. However, it would take time for them to get therger details. "Here we are, anyone who bumps themselves somehow in the field swings by here. Just try and help out our herbalist. She''s always in need of some help. I''ll find someone to set you up with refreshments."


    The vige seemed to be full of vibrant faces. The spot they were brought to was arge open center with a tent over the top to block the sun. A few farmers were sitting around with bandages.


    "So miss brought you right on over. It''s good to see young healers around getting out in the open. I was the same way when I was younger, left to explore and find a ce to build my garden." The older woman was very hunched over from years of tending herbs and making medicines. She was very energetic though.


    "We are here to help so take a rest for the day before we move on tomorrow!" This was repeated by every healer almost as if it was rehearsed. Alice nodded with a smile before she moved to the center of the resting area.


    The soft song she began singing caught everyone''s attention. Alice was certain that she would bring in more than just those here to get some small wounds bandaged.


    The light started to dance around in a rainbow of orbs. Alice didn''t put any specific direction in to her song, just tried to bring the aura of healing and warmth to the area. It was a song she had written to maintain her mana while also helping others.


    While the other healers had started checking bandages and setting up for anyone else that may need anything. Alice''s song brought people from their houses and even a few of the guards in break came over. Her music was enough to bring brightness to anyone.


    "It''s not every day we have travelers like these." Miss looked over at the herbalist she had just introduced them to and smiled. This was a very pleasant surprise.


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 Chapter 1410 1410. Bad To Good

    "Walker! A little help!" Since Walker was able to use the earth elemental mana, he had been called upon a few times now. He could encapste the cauldron that was overheating while the water mages used their skills to flood the mes and rapidly cool it.


    With this call, Walker was brought to focus on a cauldron that was already smoking ck toxic fumes. If he hadn''t used the eternal orb staff form in that second, then it would have burst in to explosive mes spewing the contents at nearby participants.


    The earth wrapped around the cauldron leaving a small space at the top. One of the water mages stepped forward using their skills to fill it with water. Together with Walker, the pair was able to freeze the top. The next moment the ice cracked and caused the water to bubble over. The steam let off was still burnt ck but it had cooled enough not to cause anyone injury.


    "I would say you need to work on your long term mana control. You allowed the fire elemental mana to get too powerful even more, you were out of mana to keep a handle on it." Walker gave the little advice that he could while also pushing himself to keep moving on. He had dealt with this a decent number of times so far.


    "We have the first high health potion sess. The herbs used were perfect quality, perfect method, and perfectly stored!" This announcement gained a lot of attention. The man who had aplished this was a forest elf that clearly spent a lot of time on their technique.


    From the distance away that Walker was, he could tell that Trish was d to see him seed. She had not taken any students really in her recent years. However, she had shared that she had met many alchemists that learned within the city. Trish hadn''t even known that there had been more of the forest elf alchemists that hade to specifically join thepetition and guild.


    Just as Walker was making another round of the area, he caught on to a younger herbalist walking toward the judges. The demon girl was one of the ones that was rescued with the water elves. She had been dragged by Lust but was not able to be controlled by the poison Lust had used. Therefore, she had been forced in to the prison cells for most of her life.


    She appeared to have gained a lot more weight which was much healthier than the malnourished state. Even more, she was bright. There was a warmth around her that most people could see. Just in the way she walked, spoke volumes of how confident and full of life she was.


    "Hm, that girl seems to have found a high quality porous mushroom. I bet she will get something very good handing it in." Walker took the chance to follow behind her and listen in on the presentation of the item.


    When the old master alchemist saw hering he stood up, two master herbalists followed him and stood waiting to hear what the demon girl had to say. "Is this your final appraisal results for yourpetition entry?" One of the master herbalists asked to ensure that this was what the participant desired.


    "Yes. This is my entry. I have found the highest quality herb within the entire pile offered." She spoke with perfect posture and confidence. It was clear that she had been practicing this over and over.


    "This may appear to be a basic porous mushroom. But you would be wrong, it is not basic. This is the best high quality porous mushroom you could get. From the small ck ridges on the stem, you can tell that it is perfectly ripe for the picking. If they were smudged that meant that it had absorbed too much moisture. The cap is firm but not soft so it still has the important oils needed for potions within it."<sub> </sub>


    The two master herbalists were nodding along. These two traits were exactly what they wanted the participants to find. It was a perfect answer to the question of how the mushroom should be appraised. "But that is not all. There is a lot more that makes this even better an ingredient to an herbalist than an alchemist." This was what caused them all to frown.


    "Can you please share what that is? As an alchemist, I would like to use that in a high quality potion now rather than hand it over to an herbalist." The two master herbalists were equally confused.


    "Due to my past, I was forced to consume mushrooms grown in the dark. That taught me a lot about harvesting unique mushrooms and what unlocked my foraging herbalist system. This porous mushroom was picked at the perfect time to develop spore pouched here, here, and here. It is perfect to grow more of the same quality porous mushrooms if the herbalist is careful to set up the proper environment."


    The demon girl broke the cap and showed the three spore pouched, she removed them without breaking them. At first, the herbalists recoiled thinking that the mushroom had been broken for no reason. However, as soon as the old master alchemist saw this he was delighted.


    "You have gone above and beyond what we expected from your appraisal. You have learned a great deal about mushrooms which you have used wisely. I believe you are qualified to achieve a high rewardfrom this event." Walker was not the only one that had caught on to the fact that this demon girl had turned her tragedy in to a boon.


    The old master alchemist whispered to the two master herbalists who had nothing but smiles now. "It has been evaluated that an herbalist has met the requirements to take over a field and be weed as one of the new elite students. We expect the sessful participant to continue their confident learning for many years!" This announcement brought cheers from many people. They were proud to see someone seed so well.


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 Chapter 1411 1411. People On The Move

    Arora had left the arm of Alice during the song. The small orbs of colored light elemental mana were incredibly tempting for her. While Alice finished her song, Arora had been snacking on the orbs to the point that she felt too tired to even move. The moment that Alice noticed this she ended up picking Arora up and rating her on her shoulders just as Onyx had sat on Walker''s shoulders.


    "I''ve gotta say, you really have a way with the light around here. If you want to settle down here you are more than wee." Miss offered a ce in the vige instantly. She was always out to get a better member for the vige to help them grow.


    "Thank you, but I am on a journey," Alice responded politely and saw the eptance on Miss''s face. She was not going to force anyone to join her vige.


    "Well, in that case, let''s get an early day. The vige wille around for some food after your performance." Mis showed nothing but hospitality for the remainder of the night. The families within the vige were happy to have healers to help them out with their ailments. They had only one single person that could make medicine and heal them. It was a very trying job when things were busy.


    Getting rest was top of the list when Alice finished eating. It was the same for all of the vigers that had been hard at work. "I know you are leaving again on your journey. It''s not the first time that healers havee through here. But take my advice. Turn back here. The borders are unsteady."


    This was something that Alice knew. The borders of the demonnds were unsteady due to the fact that the demons'' corruption was spreading throughout the demonnds. It was pushing them to try and take over morend and cross the border. Unfortunately, this led the viges nearby to be victims of such corrupted demons.


    "That look says you will still go on your way. Then good luck. I will leave some additional supplies for you in the morning." Mis left them to be alone. She would return to her work on the farm and wouldn''t be able to see the whalers off.


    Alice was d to hear this and was able to get all of her energy back. She knew the first vige would be the easiest since she had some basic information about it. However, she was not stopping at a single vige. The next one was three days'' travel further from Genesis, and much closer to the demonnds border. Much closer to the danger brewing there¡­.


    "Remember, we have been sent by the united council of Genesis. You are here to guard the border wall that was created to protect all the people above this line. We will stand strong until we are reinforced!" The call was from multiple captains along a single wall which was in the process of being built.


    Genesis had joined the kingdoms together and therefore joined the effort to protect the border until there were enough soldiers to move in to the demonnds. The constant attacks from demons that seemed out of their minds had worn away on them for some time. Eleven worse, there seemed to be a new wave approaching. One led by a veryrge demon.


    "Soldier, report back to Genesis with this detailed map of the border forces and what we need. Themunication has already been sent but they need detailed information." With that, a single soldier was sent. This was not the every day attack. The demons were rarely sent with someone to lead them. They would attack mindlessly without allowing any chance to move in to the demonnds.


    (Some time before then¡­)


    "Wrath, it is your time. We shall move forward with or without any others. I desire the entire world to fall. I am nearly ready." The gravely vicious voice shook the very walls around therge demon that bowed before the throne.


    "Yes, Lord. I shall allow those under my control to show the world your rage." There was a powerful growl echoing through the demonnds after this order had been given out.<sub> </sub>


    Demons of all shapes and sizes found themselves spurred. The soldiers that had been trained under Wrath found their minds burning away. Translucent mes seemed to eat away at their being. With a roar that attempted to call down lightning, Wrath left the massive castle behind. Charging toward the border.


    (elsewhere)


    The change in the mana of the world had be greater and greater. It rippled throughout causing many creatures to awaken from their slumber. Some monsters which rarely showed themselves came out of their caves.


    "So that fool ascended? I guess it''s time to see what has happened on the surface." The rumbling of the ground changed thendscape.


    Earth elemental spirits awoke from their long slumber of gathering elemental mana from the earth. They had been unmoved for an unknown number of years. However, they were spurred to action yet again. There was something calling them. Something that they felt they needed to follow.


    "I wonder how many are awake already? I usually sleep the longest¡­hm, there might be a hint of a breeze that way." The rumble of the ground seemed to reverberate for miles and miles. Small viges felt that they were being attacked while evenrge cities felt what was happening.


    When the rumbling found Genesis, there were many that didn''t notice it. The city was too busy with the events unfolding around them. Too busy with the alchemy guilds''petition for the day. Especially since they were hearing the sounds of cheers from all around. But just because no one noticed the rumbling, did not mean that the mana trying to bnce itself was not sensed.


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 Chapter 1412 1412. Earth

    Walker was one of the few that could feel the change in the earth elemental mana. It wasn''t that he was looking for it, however, he felt it as soon as he had moved to fix the earth he had manipted over thest hour.


    Only seven people had issues with their potions which was a fairly low number. That didn''t mean that Walker was responsible and would help clean up the mess he had made to prevent anyone from being harmed. This was the same for the other mages working in pairs to protect the participants.


    That being said, there were a handful of earth mages that had used the same technique as Walker had. They had moved the earth elemental mana to cover the cauldrons and partnered with water mages to douse the fires used. But the earth mages with higher affinity for the earth elemental mana suddenly stopped.


    "That feels¡­" Walker felt that it was simr to the way that Zephyr felt but with the wind. "I need to figure something out. Can you take over here?" Walker felt bad asking this of another range but had to figure out where the pulling feeling of the earth elemental mana wasing from.


    Moving toward the central arena, Walker took a seat and let his senses feel out the mana bnce around them. It was sure that the fire elemental mana would be the strongest, however, that was not the case. The earth elemental mana that had took his attention was increasing.


    Since he was fully focused on the earth elemental mana now, Walker could tell that there was a slightly rumbling. "I wonder if there is an earthquake somewhere?" Just as he said this, Fleur made her first appearance in some time. She had left the spirit mark to drift in front of Walker. She had been drawn by the same feeling.


    "I know you were resting and absorbing the mana you need. It''s just that something is pulling at the earth elemental mana and stopped me from gathering it too." He felt that Fleur was more curious than upset. But he could still see the sluggish movements since she hadst used too much energy.


    "Hey, Walker." Gil hade running from where he had been. "I know I missed the morning but something important is going on with the earth elemental spirits." He had seen the earth elemental spirits reacting to the change in mana and also felt that Zephyr was unsettled.


    "There are a bunch of them gathering around the trees the elves nted. I think the unbnced mana is affecting them." Gil wasn''t sure and had taken a guess. Zephyr was more sensitive to the opposing forces that the earth elemental mana had on the wind so she would be able to let Gil know.


    Just as Walker considered this, he found that Su had also left the stands toe and find him. It was good that he had moved to the less busy arena where he could stand to the side and speak with Gil and Su. "Let me guess, your partner is reacting to the earth elemental mana shifting?" Su didn''t even speak. She just nodded. "Then let''s go out to the trees by the elven area. I bet we will have an answer soon.


    The three leaving the arena was enough to make a few more people move. Remey made sure to motion for the mages to focus on what they were doing more carefully. Ignus and Mordant also took notice but had no intention of interfering. They knew if something interesting was going to happen they would be able to see it clearly. Midnight also had too much to pay attention to since the hatchings were enamored with the various potions being made and the scents of herbs.


    While the three moved, they noticed more earth elemental spirits that had taken up residence within Genesis moving toward the same direction. "Alma, have an idea of what''s happening?" Walker found that Alma had also been dragged there.


    "I do, a few spirit mages said that they believed a powerful earth spirit ising this way. If I were to be more specific, they sensed one wake up and move this way. It''s a good sign since a powerful earth elemental spirit will help the nts grow just bying to the area or even passing by." This sounded like it would bring better things for Genesis which had just begun the growing season.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s good news. I came because I sensed it and Fleur was unsettled. Gil found me shortly after I noticed. I would have been able to catch it earlier if I was more focused." Walker spoke while noticing that the mana had be even denser.


    Su''s earth elemental partner revealed itself and looked down at the ground. As it did this, the earth began to form in to a fairly familiar shape. One that Walker had seen other elemental spirits take but with slightly different designs.


    Grand earth elemental spirit- ???


    This is the named grand earth elemental spirit. The most powerful earth elemental spirit around that has recently awoken from a long term slumber to gatherrge amounts of earth elemental mana. The world has be unbnced while selecting the next fire elemental spirit, therefore, the grand earth spirit ??? ising toward the only earth spirit it can sense.''


    "Wee to Genesis. I am Walker, This is Fleur." The earth spirit finished forming a body made out of dirt and stone in front of them. It was much more detailed like Zephyr and Fleur were.


    "Well¡­not what I came looking for. I felt the familiar mana of an old friend and came to see them. I was not aware of a budding nature spirit. Wee to the world." The mana was firm and solid. Walker was impressed but curious about how slowly the grand earth spirit seemed to move. "I am Ter, one with the earth elemental mana."


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 Chapter 1413 1413. Steady Earth

    Gil knew that Zephyr was still in need of rest. So much so that she was still struggling to even move the air around his body. The real reason he knew that she was reacting so strongly was because she had to recognize the earth named elemental spirit that hade here.


    "Ter? Well, this is a busy time here in Genesis, but if you would like to explore you are more than wee. You have already seemed to bring a crowd." Walker motioned to the earth elemental spirits that had gathered.


    Ter looked at Walker and seemed to y with the earth elemental mana around him, Walker felt that it would be very hard to manipte any earth eternal mana in his presence. Where Zephyr was more free and flowing, Ter was steady and tough. This was the embodiment of the elemental mana that the elemental sports embodied.


    Unlike Zephyr, Fleur had more energy at her disposal. This allowed her to directly approach Ter and look right at him. Ter didn''t react much at all. He knew that he had the singrity of earth elemental mana. But he was nothingpared to a natural mana spirit. A spirit that would literally carry the will of the world at one point.


    "I had hoped to speak to Zephyr. It has been some time since I decided to rest." The words seemed to call on more earth elemental mana toe near. Walker couldn''t even imagine what this kind of control was like. There was a clear cut difference between him and the earth elemental spirit.


    To have the grand elemental maniption should be a powerful skill. Yet,pared to an elemental spirit which waspletely bound and formed by the specific elemental mana, Walkercked a lot of control that coulde from this. If it was possible to grow and reach this insane level of control, One would need to ascend past the limitations of the world they were in. It was a theory that could drive many mages to pursue endless meditation.


    "Was this how it felt to be around the fire grand elemental spirit?" Walker asked Gil offhand just to see if this was normal.


    "He held back a lot more. I assume because Ter just woke up things are less controlled." Ter was watching Gil recount this and it caught his attention greatly.


    "Good, we were waiting for Zephyr to return from wherever she was slumbering. I was nning to move on soon as well. However, I must choose someone to take a hold of the mana I possess. It is different. I am closer to the will of the world." There was a confidence that said this was just the way things were. Ter wasn''t exaggerating but just being a stable base of reality.


    "I have to say, we do not understand the world of elemental spirits as well as other things. We are just learning about what we are now calling origin runes. The information we have about elemental nes and other such things is very limited." Walker outright said it. He didn''t want there to be any insults towards a grand elemental spirit.


    "Zephyr was not slumbering. She had ended up trapped in this bow before we reforged it using true spirit forging. That way we are able to allow a spirit to travel in and out of an object." Gil was not going to hide the truth of what had happened.


    "I see, some beings are foolish and chase ideals they are not ready to touch. Those foolish ones did learn though. They were something I watched. Something interesting that decided to rest above where I slept at one point." This little addition to history could be major. Walker wanted to immediately start asking questions until he thought better of it.


    "I won''t pry too much if you do not want to share things. I am sure you can tell this city is new. The people here are still adjusting. The elemental spirits are mostly newly awakened from slumber after we have found them. If there is anything you believe will help bring spirits and other beings together, please tell me." There was a little shock when Ter realized that they were conversing so easily.<sub> </sub>


    Su had been silently nodding here and there. She was holding back since she felt how much earth elemental mana was around her. The high earth spirit that she partnered with was in the same state but was allowing Su to feel more through it.


    "Things do seem to have changed greatly. This true spirit forging is something I can feel. That shield on your back. That earth spirit. That spirit mark. Bonds that I have not sensed. Bonds that feel right." Hearing that the bonds between the three were feeling right to a grand earth elemental spirit was spectacr, to say the least.


    This meant that they had not pursued the wrong path. That Genesis was pushing those within the city to learn how to properly bind with elemental spirits without harming them. Adding in the mage tower that overall improved mana density, and there was the opportune environment for both elemental spirits and other races to prosper.


    "Zephyr, I will wait until you are ready to take your own form again. For now, I will explore this strange ce. That tower. These are different beings from thest time such a ce existed." Ter melted in to the ground leaving them all a little stunned.


    "So, I think I want to gather more wind elemental mana faster. I am going to the wind elemental floor of the mage tower." Alma had also been silently watching this all happen. She would speak to all the spirit mages she could about this.


    "Gil, take as long as you need. This is important." The two nodded before walking away and leaving Walker and Su along for the moment.


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 Chapter 1414 1414. Young Talent

    Remey had not let the sudden exit of Walker shake her. She knew that something was happening but she had more responsibilities where she was. If she were to let it show that she was distracted at all it could lead to higher stress for every single person participating in the event.


    "Since Walker has left, I will take a walk around the venue." The old master alchemist and Trish had already been announcing the winners and those who made outstanding performances. Having Remey walk through some of thest people to prepare potions was not a big deal at all.


    The alchemy fire spirit had been wandering around enjoying the fluid fire elemental mana as most of the alchemists used fire to create the potions they made. However, when it rushed back to Remey full of energy, she wasn''t sure what was happening. But she was not going to just ignore the obvious lead.


    "That''s an interesting technique you have there." What Remey found was a very young boy who shouldn''t even be able to attend such an event. He didn''t even flinch when she spoke to him. His gaze was fully focused on the smaller cauldron that he had chosen to make a single health potion with.


    "You chose decent herbs, have a decent scenting from that, and your mana control is very nice. However, I have an interest in why your alchemy mes are blue. It''s already different enough that you can use alchemy mes already. But blue alchemy mes? Very interesting."


    This was clear why the alchemy fire spirit had found Remey to bring her over. Remey had never heard that alchemy fire could be blue. Blue mes? Yes, they weremonly known to represent spiritual mes, healing mes, and even cold mes. There were also cases where blue mes burned slowly and much hotter than normal mes.


    "Same heat as my alchemy mes, more control, less mana being used. A very good skill." Remey mumbled as she evaluated everything. It was beginning to prove to be a very worthwhile result of leaving the judging arena.


    <o>,m The boy had more to show off though, as soon as the potion had begun to reach peak heat, he stopped the mes. With The immediate stoppage of heat, the blue mes should have dissipated. Yet this did not happen, instead, the mes pulled the heat from the cauldron cooling the potion rapidly. It perfectly preserved the potion at the fastest rate that Remey had ever seen.</o>


    "So it''s not that they are alchemy mes, they are still a unique blue me used for alchemy. Perfect, show me that potion!" Remey held a hand out as the boy was filling a vial. He handed the potion over and slowly came back in to focus.


    The fear and worry on his face showed Remey that he had been in his very own world while performing his alchemy. It was unique but not unheard of for an alchemist to be fully focused on what they were creating.


    "Do you know what you''ve done?" Remey looked down at the boy who flinched away. "I-i just made a low tier health potion. I know that it''s not the same as everyone else but it''s all I can do. Please, I just need to keep learning so I can help my family out more we just moved here and and and-"


    "Silence already! You need to learn to hold yourself back." It was a little ironic that Remey was the one saying this. However, she was distracted by the potion in her hands. "Come with me. Now." Remey nearly dragged the boy toward the arena to announce the results.


    Both Trish and the old master alchemist were not sure why Remey had brought in a child. They knew that he was not nearly old enough to be participating in the event and must have managed to sneak in somehow.<sub> </sub>


    "For the first and only time in thispetition, someone had managed to use a low tier potion form and created a mid tier potion. This boy here is going to be the youngest alchemy genius to enter the alchemy guild. Congratte the new member of the elite alchemy ss, our blue fire alchemist."


    Remey had gone above what everyone expected. She had granted him a nickname in the guild already and inly stated that he was a genius. The boy, on the other hand, was stunned. He thought he was about to get yelled at and kicked out. He thought that he had ruined his chance of ever being an alchemist in his entire life.


    With this unexpected urrence, the crowd watching went wild. Ignus in particr was focused on the boy. "Find something interesting? Mordant wanted to hear what had actually managed to catch Ignus''s eye.


    "He can use fire that most people can not. The blue mes that were just described are unique even to dragons. If you recall, my mother was a blue fire dragon. They had slightly less control of their own mana but incredible control of fire elemental mana in a unique way. They can control heat to the extreme. From what I know of alchemy, heat is key. That boy could be great here in this vige."


    With great surprise, Mordant ensured he would remember the appearance of the boy. Ignus was not one to openly praise someone. Therefore, when Ignuspared this boy''s mes to a dragon''s mes, especially his mother''s, It was a big deal.


    "I will expect better fire affinity potions in a few years instead of a generation. That boy may be the one they needed." Ignus lost focus after the boy was guided down by another alchemy guild member. From this point on, there were very few people participating left. It was a very quick day longpetition that everyone thought would go on longer.


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 Chapter 1415 1415. Failed Sneak

    "Let''s get a move on. We are going to get to the coliseum for the announcements!" Onyx was moving through the city streets faster and faster. He was challenging the hatchlings to use the shadows to maintain their spot behind him.


    There were no worries that they would get lost since Onyx had been very careful with ensuring that they would memorize the city as it was built. This was the best way for them to be independent faster.


    "You can move more flexibly to dodge through the crowds. Use your instincts more and flow with your current speed." Onyx was calling out advice while he watched the hatchlings move around the busy market. They were going the busiest route toward the coliseum for this reason.


    When Onyx stopped, it wasn''t because there was a problem. He had been surprised by the fact that Walker was out near the front of the coliseum with Su. "Gop and catch my big brother. Surprise him for me!'' Onyx felt it would be a little funny to watch the hatchling surprise Walker. There was also the fact that Walker looked too serious and needed to lighten up.


    "I just don''t want there to be any trouble while the world works. I want to see who the next grand fire spirit is, but for another grand spirit to leave¡­" Walker had been voicing his worries to Su who had been sharing hers. She knew that her earth elemental spirit had been very focused on Ter when he had arrived. This could be good and bad for their rtionship.


    If Su''s partner decided to pursue the potential to be a grand elemental spirit, she wasn''t sure what that would mean. The grand spirits all seemed to rest and absorb great amounts of their elemental mana. If this happened to her partner she would feel that she was missing a part of herself for a long time.


    On the other hand, if her partner became a grand earth elemental spirit then she would have a simr situation to Gil. She could be an avatar of the earth which would be amazing. Not that she wanted that specifically. There was mostly the potential to be stronger alongside her partner that attracted her. The pair had trained a lot together, and being more powerful was a focus.


    "Sorry, one minute. There are some trouble makers that want to catch me off guard. Walker was not a fool. He had been even more fearful sensing the mana around him than usual due to the strange bnce with theck of a grand fire elemental spirit.


    Su nced around and saw the changes in the shadows just before the abyssal serpent hatchlings burst from the shadows. They were clearly looking to wrap around Walker using their bind skill. Unfortunately, he was prepared and used the shadows against him.


    Walker had seen how Mordant had used the shadow elemental mana to createrge attacks. It may have been ashort exchange between Scy and Mordant, but there was education in everything. Therefore, Walker used his grand elemental maniption to pull on the coliseum''s shadow. The simple goal was to make a shadow wall that the serpents had to phase in to or bounce off of.


    Watching them closely, Onyx saw three of them seamlessly phase in to the shadows while the other two bounced off. Only one serpent managed to sense what Walker was doing and twist to get over the short wall of shadow. The serpent was rewarded with the fact that he fell directly on to Walker''s arm and wrapped around him.


    "Well, it looks like you are the winner today. The rest of you need to focus on your senses. The darkness elemental mana is yours. You have an affinity for it that is very strong, which means you can focus on it to feel what I would be doing. Later, you may or may not absorb enough light elemental mana to open your affinity for the light elemental mana as well."<sub> </sub>


    Walker went in to full teacher mode. He was sure that all the abyssal serpents would eventually recognize their light elemental affinity. If Walker had a theory, he would say that the heavenly serpents had the same potential. They may have the chance to unlock a weak darkness elemental affinity as well. Mostly because there was always a little darkness in light and light within darkness. The two could only exist when the other did.


    "Brother, look at your foot. That is a recently hatched student of mine. He has the best darkness affinity yet." Onyx was proudly slithering up to Walker whole Walker showed his surprise. The small abyssal serpent had been so sneaky that Walker had not even sensed him at all.


    "That''s great. Wee to the family. You seem to have a pretty good talent for sneaking around. Don''t go getting in to too much trouble." The soft pat on the head seemed to bring great joy to the little abyssal serpent. He could feel the praise even though he had not begun to understandnguage the same way as the other abyssal serpents had.


    "We came to hear the announcement about the new potions that Remey and I worked on. Then we want to hear about the nextpetition beginning." Onyx seemed very excited for everyone to hear the fruits of his and Remey''sbor. They had spent many hours to create the potions they had gathered the ingredients for. Now that they had a sessful creation, Remey just needed to have the alchemy guild steadily gather more and more ingredients to produce them upon order.


    "Well, I want to hear all about it. Who''sing with me?" Su outstretched a hand and watched as multiple abyssal serpent hatchlings decided to join her entering the coliseum.


    "Sister, you can''t sneak up on me either." Onyx caught Midnight just as she was about to pounce on him. Onyx had perfectly caught the change in the darkness elemental mana from her shadow wrapping skill.


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 Chapter 1416 1416. The Next Competition

    Walker smirked a little seeing that onyx was bing much more adept at sensing the mana around him. It was due to careful training, but also because Onyx wanted to ensure that he was teaching the hatchlings the nest. "Midnight, shouldn''t you be inside with the hatchlings under your care?" Walker was sure that Midnight wouldn''t just abandon them in the stands.


    Midnight''s indignant huff made Walker feel that she was ready to spit fire at him. She was clearly saying that she had made sure they were all in their spots safe and sound before she had followed her nose to the. It was just her way of checking up on him after she noticed that he had left so quickly.


    "Alright, don''t look at me like that. Let''s go and see what Remey has to say. She sounds like she has started announcing the winners in order." Walker followed behind Su to the coliseum which was already being moved around by the many guards and alchemy guild staff. They had to clean things up so that the coliseum could be used by Scy next.


    "In the final ces are our fine talented winners. Some were not expected and some were ready to show off their hard earned skills. I hope that everyone is willing to greet them when you see them on their way to sses to learn from their mentors!" Remey was sure to have the winners of each side of thepetitione to the central arena to ept their praise. These would be prominent alchemy guild members in the future.


    "As a final gift to everyone that has shown up here today in support , please focus your attention here. I will be showing off the brand new affinity potions we are about to unveil on order only!" Rmeey had been waiting for this along with the rest of the alchemy guild.


    Many people had heard her working because there was a lot of annoyed yelling when the potion had not worked. The old master alchemist and Trish had the same luck with it at first, but between the four of them, they had be sessful.


    The light and darkness affinity potions were already created within their limited tiers. However, we have not only improved the forms to make the low tier better but also created a new fire affinity potion. These three potion forms are different due to the hard to find ingredients taken from thevands. Along with this, extreme control of multiple elemental manas creates one of each of these potions at a time."


    The stunned gasps of many were heard. The potion process using the burning light leaves had not yielded multiple potions of one kind but singr potions of three kinds. It was something unheard of in the alchemy world. It was ground breaking research.


    Along with myself and my fellow guild masters, the fourth participant in this new form and research path was my own family member; Onyx! Everyone knows him as the new teacher to the, one day, world recognized abyssal serpent race, but now you can wave at him and thank him for the many new potions that we will be creating with this theory!"


    Remey held up the different affinity potions that had been created. "Furthermore, to vouch for the quality, I have two special guests in the audience. Please wee The royal fire dragon; Ignus. The royal Darkness dragon; Mordant. The two have brilliant control of both darkness and fire elemental mana and can test these potions for us now. Please feel free to greet themter and ask them about the efficacy!" Remey knew this was a tant ploy to build a rtionship with Ignus and Mordant further. However, it was not a problem since Ignus and Mordant wanted these potions.


    "Now that was a smart move. You get your fame which will help you in your goals to bring up the abyssal serpents. Ignus and Mordant get the potions they will want for free, and they will also be walking advertisements." Walker felt that Remey had be uniquely tricky the more she had focused on the alchemy side of her skills.<sub> </sub>


    "That means it''s my turn!" Scynded next to Remey with a thud. "As everyone knows, there are manypetitions happening within the walls of this great city. Next, we have the preparations for the coliseum to hear the first cries of battle. Do not get too excited though, we have a serious challenge first!"


    The crowd was consumed by their curiosity. "Without proper armor, weapons, and essories a battle would be boring to watch. That means there is only one thing we need!" Scy waved a hand and the wandering cksmith entered the arena in front of everyone.


    "Most of you know me as the wandering cksmith! It is my pleasure to stand before you as the acting representative of the newfound Crafters guild. We will begin ourpetition in twenty four hours. The best and brightest will show off their crafting skills to create one item using the materials we supply or they bring. We will wee many to purchase them after the event with a discount to those battling in General Scy''s event!"


    The wandering cksmith was not one for speaking. Yet he had taken the stress to help the entire city on their journey to strength. He was only able to stand for a few moments before walking away. The cheers showering him as he left. Scy could onlyugh while they all watching him.


    "So you decided to jump right in there, and here I thought you were about to forget the n for thepetitions." Remey butted heads with Scy slightly before she moved to start giving out the final rewards to most of the winners. The two could easily battle it out there just for their own personal entertainment.


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 Chapter 1417 1417. Hatchlings’ Fire

    With themotion of a forgingpetition beginning soon, the city seemed to be ten times as busy as it was before. Many people wanted to see the new tools, weapons, and general techniques that came to be used. For crafters, there were many more things that could be used to show off their skills than an alchemist could.


    For one, the crafters could use any means to create what they wanted. There were cksmiths, carpenters, and even something as specific as a toy maker. The mediums and techniques were radically different between them.


    Secondly, the crafters had to be registered with the crafting guild. That meant that the guild would be receiving many more applications within a short time which would give them a massive backing for the future. The crafting guild was going to be a major regtory guild that helped all forms of craftsmen. This would be difficult due to the variety of crafting systems that existed.


    Thirdly, the drafting guild had to show off the quality of which could be produced in Genesis. The dwarves that had already joined could boast that they were experts in building. The elves could boast that they were the best at making some magical rune carved goods. The humans could vouch for the ingenuity that they had created unique tools to fulfill different purposes. This train of thought could go on and on forever.


    "I think you two are very popr now." Walker looked at Mordant and Ignus who had been swarmed with many people and merchants in particr for thest hour. They seemed a little more flustered than he had expected.


    "The potion offered to me appears very strong. I wonder how it is not considered a high tier potion for darkness affinity." Mordant wasn''t sure how Remey had created the potion in such a way. It was a wonderpared to the potion he had received earlier.


    "She did say that the ingredients were much harder to get so I don''t think she will promise to create many of them right away. But I''m sure that with a little looking the ingredients can be stockpiled for order." Walker didn''t want to let them down so he decided to encourage them to look for the ingredients. He was sure that they woulde to Remey looking for the ingredients list anyways.


    "I may have a way to procure them. My dragonkin are often roaming thends for food." Ignus was already debating this. He had a good idea from the scent of the potion that had been used to create it. However, he would be lost on the quality of ingredients and how to tell which is which.


    "I can say that there is a high chance that the alchemy guild will allow some of your dragonkin toe and learn alchemy as well. It might take a little while to have a solid foundation though." This was just another way that Walker could connect the fire and darkness dragon viges with Genesis. He was not going to miss the chances given to him.


    "That would be a good idea. We couldn''t possibly allow for the knowledge to stay here alone. It is better to share such knowledge among allies." Mordant jumped for the chance. He didn''t feel it was wrong at all to fully establish his vige as allies with Genesis even though he had yet to see the darkness dragon hatchlings fully grow.


    "I will remain at peace and continue to watch. I am not too forward with what I believe." Ignus was more stubborn, unfortunately, Walker saw right through him. Ignus clearly wanted the same but did not want to admit it like Mordant just had done.


    "From the looks of it, one of your fire dragon hatchlings had a new friend" Walker pointed out Remey''s alchemy fire spirit which was sitting right on the top of the smaller female fire dragon hatchling''s head. The two were looking at the alchemy ingredients. The focus was slightly more intense than Ignus expected.


    "I wonder¡­" Ignus began to walk toward them. He had a feeling that something interesting was going to happen and it was his duty to witness it.<sub> </sub>


    "I think they are ying with the fire elemental mana and talking to each other." Walker felt the changes in the fire elemental mana while he followed Ignus. "This could be very interesting." Remey was caught up in conversation with the many people trying to get her attention, however, she still saw Walker wave to her toe over.


    "Bring the mana within you and let it build up in your chest." Ignus began to guide the hatchling immediately. He could tell that it had started to try and breathe mes. He knew how unusual this was but when the time was right, it was not good to push it away. If the hatchling could manage it then it was a good thing.


    The small hatchling was watched by its older brother. The mana gathered just as Ignus had said. "Take arge breath in. fuel the mes with your mana and the air. Force it in to a dense ball¡­Now release it all!" Ignus startled the hatchling in to breathe out suddenly.


    The reaction was small but deep red mes blew out for a blink of an eye. "Alchemy fire breath!" Remey jumped right next to the hatchling. Her alchemy fire spirit partner was floating around in the air with glee. They were both shocked but astounded by the little hatchling.


    "I want this one as well. She gets a ce to learn and work with me. I will not take no for an answer." The older hatchling took a defensive stance before realizing that Remey was not meaning to steal his sister away but to offer her a home to learn.


    "If that is what Midnight agrees to and the hatchling wants, then none of us will stop you." Ignus heard Walker speak and waited to see what the hatchling would do.


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 Chapter 1418 1418. Your Choice

    The hatchling looked carefully at Ignus before turning its gaze to the alchemy fire spirit. It growled and huffed a few times before Walker heard the alchemy fire spirit respond to it. "Lots of fire and fun!" This seemed to be the response to what the hatchling had asked. Walker was still a little stunned that the little hatchling had figured out how to understand the alchemy fire spirit.


    When Ignus nodded the hatchling stepped back. "I do not need to give anyone permission to do anything while here. The one you should look at is him." Ignus pointed to Walker. The little fire dragon hatchlings had been under Ignus''s care for a bit of time since he found them again. They had been kicked out of the fire dragon vige and knew that they had to save their fate for what Ignus decided.


    Knowing that Ignus was no longer the one that could control their fate was a bit of an awakening for them. They could actually look at the possibilities that Midnight had just started to educate them on. There were also the things that the darkness dragon hatchlings had told them. They had not been as unlocking as dragons would normally be of another species of dragon. They were hatchlings and had no ill will built up between elemental affinities like the older dragons did for various reasons.


    "Here in Genesis, you are able to decide what you desire to do. If you want to get to know Remey''s partner better and study the alchemy fire, you may. If your older brother wishes to go with you and do the same or look for other things to learn, he can. It is your free choice. We will help you with whatever you decide." The calming voice that Walker used brought courage to both the hatchlings.


    Ignus and Mordant could feel the small amount of natural mana in Walker''s words. They wondered if this was something that would happen when he spoke while absorbing natural mana. Or, if this was a special effect of someone able to bond with natural mana. Someone that could push others to grow stronger and bring them courage.


    The little hatchling moved and looked at Remey. she puffed up her chest as he had seen Midnight do and growled softly. "Then you cane and learn as much as you want while we work on potions. I won''t have a problem as long as you don''t cause too much trouble." Walker wondered if Remey was remembering that she tended to cause a little trouble herself when she said this.


    Otherwise, the hatchling looked very proud to be able to go and do what she desired. The older brother did not seem to care too much. He was watching everyone carefully and maintained the learning stare he had. From what Walker could guess, he was a little over protective, yet able to see that his little sister was doing what she desired and would not oppose it.


    "We were just discussing an alchemy fire dragon. It''s as if the world heard us." Mordant chuckled slightly as he thought of this. "I believe I will leave from here and head to the mage tower. Ignus, you will being as well?"


    Ignus just nodded. He had been waiting to go there and check things out. It felt like the right time since he was not overly interested in waiting for the crafting guild''spetitions to begin. He was very focused on his own growth now that he had seen such a young hatchling breathe some mes. It was a major reason for him to hope that Walker would be proven right. That he could help a dragon grow stronger within Genesis than they would within the dragon vige.


    "I should get back too. I need to help start the sales of all the potions that were made today. Trish and the old man will get a little too angry with me if I don''t" Remey wanted to stay and chat. She felt that going back to the alchemy guild to deal with price estimates would be too boring. Unfortunately, she had literally signed up for this and needed to handle it.


    "In that case, should we let the hatchlings enjoy their time here? There is an arena that they could y tag in with Onyx''s students." Walker threw the idea out there for midnight and Onyx. He wanted to see if the hatchlings could all get along. If they could, it would bode very well for the future as more monster races joined Genesis and were recognized by the world.<sub> </sub>


    "I think that could be fun. They have been practicing their speedtely." Onyx saw that the hatchlings with him all perked their heads up when Walker mentioned a game. It was good that they had been using games to learn certain things. Onyx knew how much more fun it was and how much faster someone could improve. He had seen this used on very young children who unlocked their systems earlier than most at their age.


    "I would say sister is prepared for it as well." Onyx saw that Midnight had raised her head tall. She wasn''t just nning on letting the hatchlings y this game. She was nning on dragging them all in to it as well.


    "I can''t say I won''t want to join in." Su blushed slightly at the fact that she was admitting to joining a childish game of tag.


    "If you are participating then s am I. I need to rx a little before I start thinking about grand elemental spirits and what we have to do. Fleur, are you going back to resting, or will you y?" As much as Fleur would have, Walker saw her shake her head and melt back in to the spirit mark. She was clearly still exhausted and wanted to absorb more natural mana.


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 Chapter 1419 1419. Healing Journey (3)

    "Alice! There''s fire!" The healer elf had realized while the group was traveling that there was a light in the distance. After the wind had changed, she had figured out that there was smoke in the air and the light that she could see was the fire of grass on fire.


    They had just left the small farming vige and were only three or so hours away. The sun was not all that warm yet so they knew it was not anything that was caused by the heat of the day. There had been no clouds in the sky so it was certainly not anything to do with lightning strikes. "What should we do? The fire could travel this way."


    The healers were very distraught to see such a danger ahead. However, Alice remained calm. She was not going to overreact. She had seen much more dangerous scenarios that monsters had caused.


    "We go and help." Alice took off in a run. If anyone thought that it would limit her singing, they would be fools. She started to sing the same song she had sung before that sped up the carriages. She used it so that she would be able to reach the patch of grass on fire.


    She had no idea what she could do to resist the burning mes since she was not able to control water or fire elemental mana. She was limited to what she could do with light elemental mana. This meant that she was going to have to perform a song on the spot.


    Performing a song on the spot was a little dangerous. Mostly because Alice was not able to predict the proper way for her to add meaning to the words. Her songs didn''t function on the pure idea behind them, they needed the addition of emotions so that they could condense the light elemental mana to a denser level.


    As the other healers caught up with her, they focused on the burnt areas finding that arge circle had been burned. "It looks like a camp was made over here! There may be injured!" This connected the pieces and they all knew what had seemed to happen. A group of adventurers may have set up camp and ended up with their fire catching the dried grass aze.


    Alice abruptly changed her song. She was thinking of hope Su had been able to copy the light shield and add it to her shield bash and shield charge skills. If she were to think of that and expand it the same way that Su''s earth spirit partner used the earth fortress skill, then it may work. She was about to use a lot of mana but it was not an issue. There was a fire that needed to be put out and potential injuries hidden behind the mes healed.


    The protective song that she sang came from the inspiration Su had given her. Many times Alice had seen Su focus on improving her ability to defend those she cared for. It was the same kind of energy and feelings that every healer had for those they wanted to heal. Therefore, Alice already had the emotions to improve the slowly growing dome of light after the mes she could see.


    The heat was making her sweat while she could tell her breathing was rushed. It wasn''t that she had just run so much as it was her speed at singing. The flurry of words was putting the pace faster and faster so that she could create the dome sooner. She wanted to protect whoever could be there sooner.


    Further pushing herself, Alice managed to create a dome that trapped the mes using the condensed light elemental mana. The song was stressing her body and she could feel the words bing raspy. It wasn''t just the dry air that was affecting her but the strain on her vocal cords.


    "I can see a group huddled under nkets!" The forest elf healer rushed to the side of the people she had seen as soon as the mes died down in to smoking pulled of burnt grass.<sub> </sub>


    "Demons! These are demons!" The picture became even clearer. The demons had clearly fled the demonnds with almost no possessions. They had made a camp without realizing the dangers of where they were to stay warm at night.


    "Heal them." Alice was struggling to get the words out. She had learned the harsh lesson of what would happen when using something she had not practiced nor keeping her calm. It was a heavy price to pay but one that was eptable. Yet, when she felt the warmth spreading around her neck she found that one of the healers she was with had used a light healing skill on her.


    "I can''t let our fearless leader feel too bad." The healers all knew the hardships that came with what they were doing. They did not have the heart to let each other suffer without helping. It was just the people they were and what drove them.


    "Three children with severe burns and two adults. We need those healing potions too." The healers had already started unwrapping and soaking bandages. They wired like a perfect team. The area around them was no longer at risk so they could fully focus on what they could do to help the demons that had fled the dangers of the demonnds.


    "There''s more than just burns. They have many cuts and shes along their backs and arms. They fled from some evil people." The forest elf healer was cruising while she worked. She could not imagine such treatment by their own people.


    "We will help them. They will have a safe home." Alice was still a little raspy even after the healing, but she said this with such surety that none could doubt it.


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 Chapter 1420 1420. High Wind Affinity

    "Zephyr, I understand that you are tired and can''t really do much. So I came to the wind elemental floor of the mage tower. I will do my best to understand the wind here and try to learn what I can." Gil had also brought along some of the books that revolve around the desert elf style of dagger arts. He wanted to work on both that and absorbing wind elemental mana.


    The main goal was to improve Zephyr''s strength since she had made a hugemitment to making Gil her avatar. That alone had used a major amount of her wind elemental mana. It also had made Gil much closer to the wind than he had been before.


    "I''ll solidify my strength. I know my body is different. I can already see the spirit mark is different too." Gil couldn''t help but speak out loud. He wanted to ensure that Zephyr knew what he was focusing on and trying to understand.


    "If I can''t change the way I see my own body, then how will I learn what I can really do? I always look in a mirror or base what I can do on what skills I have. I need to think about what I could be capable of and what the wind affinity I have really means."


    From the way Gil felt, he knew that his affinity for wind elemental mana and radically increased. Instead of the basic affinity that he had before, he was sure that he could influence wind much more. It also would affect how he created other elemental arrows. If he was trying to influence the earth elemental mana to create an arrow, it may be more challenging.


    "I can still feel the mana around me. It''s like a second skin now." The small bits of wind that moved around Gil constantly were bing unnoticeable to him. It was just another part of his body and living with it constantly would make it even clearer as such.


    "So what if I try to move it?" The idea was simple. Influence the wind that was naturally flowing around his body to be stronger or weaker. Since he was on the wind floor of the mage tower, there was a higher chance of sess.


    The mana that Gil pulled at using his mind was very minimal. If he could describe it, he would say he was trying to break steel chains with one finger. Something that seemed all too impossible. However, he felt that when he moved his body he was able to make the wind elemental mana wrapping around him change.


    This was a small thing to notice since he was causally pacing about the room. Yet, he noticed it. Just doing so was enough for him tobine his mental goals with his physical movement. "Alright, I move around while using dagger arts anyways, so if I try to manipte the wind while I do that¡­"


    Pulling his dagger out, Gil started to move through the motions of the desert elf dagger arts. He was sure that it was a purely wind elemental technique that has gained some earth effects due to the simple fact that they were in a desert. On top of that, he could get down to the core of their foundations to find out if they could be easily learned.


    Just as Gil started to move, he felt that the wind elemental mana around him tried to flow with his body. The wind elemental mana on the wind elemental floor would normally move freely. It was wind, it didn''t need a controlled flow. When Gil moved, it gave it a path to flow in to. Therefore, he found that his shes carried a breeze with them.


    Therger the move that Gil made, the more wind followed him. He was creating and guiding the flow of wind around him. Adding this to his understanding of how the elemental swordsman worked in the forest elf city, Gil felt that he could do more with the wind than he had expected.<sub> </sub>


    "Why did I never try to add the elemental mana of the dagger techniques in to the attacks I was mocking!" He felt like a fool. Gil had missed a major reason why the different elemental dagger techniques would be divided in to elemental variations that came together in to high elf dagger techniques.


    After mentally kicking himself for a few moments, Gil caught on to the feeling of the wind elemental mana flowing in to his body faster. With his movements and changing the flow of the wind elemental mana, he had changed the speed at which the mana entered the spirit mark. "Good to know you are liking this too. Let''s see what else I can do."


    More and more Gil''s movements became sharper. He even started to try and incorporate the other dagger arts he had learned in to how he moved. The inspiration that he might need to picture and try to manipte other elemental mana seemed to be the key that had been missing. Now all he needed was to find other dagger arts of other elemental affinities. He couldn''t just focus on the wind.


    "I can definitely do this." Gil shed out and watched a gust of wind leave his dagger. He felt the wind move from his entire body, condense, then fly ahead of him. It was not powerful by any means, nor could it help him in battle right now. But, it was the start of a new path of strength.


    "I wonder what Walker will say when he finds out I have a main wind elemental affinity yet can still use the other elemental manas to practice dagger arts AND make arrows." Gil could onlyugh at the expression he knew Walker would make. He knew that Zephyr would find it funny too.


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 Chapter 1421 1421. An Honor

    Once the game of tag had happened and gone, Walker found himself alone walking the streets. Su had gone off to the cathedral. Midnight and Onyx had gone to explore the city more. It left Walker to see what he could see since everyone had be abuzz with the fact that the craftingpetition would be happening next.


    The real crowds were in the market streets. There were so many people trying to buy and sell materials that it would be a record sales day for most merchants. The savvy business merchants were buying and selling some things at marked up prices which caused some people to be unhappy.


    Luckily, there were many guards who had been warned of such things. They were moving through the markets in teams of three efficiently to handle the arguments that broke out. Along with this, there were many people that hade in to Genesis recently and needed some guidance. Overall, the guards were doing an outstanding job.


    Walker couldn''t feel any negativity at the flourishing markets. He had wanted to see this sort of atmosphere for a long time. This is what he imagined Genesis would be when the city had grown much older.


    "Did you hear, there are more elves showing up just in time for the nextpetitions. I even heard that some were joining!" This single gossip as a group of people passed Walker, made him open his eyes wider.


    Originally, Walker was going to direct himself toward the crafting guild. He thought it would be good to hear a little more about what was going on for thepetitions. However, now that he heard that there was a chance that the me elves were there, he had to go to where he knew Alma would be.


    Luckily, he was pretty close to the forest elf housing. He was easily able to spot the increased enforcers moving around with some of the normal Genesis city guards. This made him hope that he was just in time. "Hello, how''s the day been? Not too busy I hope." When Walker walked up and spoke, the enforcers were more than happy to see him.


    "Just as busy here as everywhere else. There are too many new elvesing here that want to make a big name for themselves. But kids will be kids." One of the enforcers couldn''t help butugh since he had seen too many big thinkerstely.


    "It''s good to have that though. This city had the potential for them to make big names in their own ways. Speaking of bog names. I heard the me elves may have arrived?" The two enforcers were slightly surprised but soon epted that Walker would have figured this out.


    "Would you like toe to greet them? We have been waiting for everyone to be prepared after we weed them in to a resting room." The enforcer was sure that Walker would jump right in to it.


    "Has Gil heard yet? If not, can I ask that someone goes to get him?" Walker knew that this was very important.


    "The message has already been sent. We know that he will be arriving momentarily." Walker heard this and was very happy. Now he didn''t need to run and get Gil or really wait for him. Instead, he followed the enforcers in to the forest elf homes.


    The trees had been reshaped recently along with some new seedlings nted. They were all perfectly forming treehouses along with ground floor homes. It appeared that there were even a few water elves that had decided to live here rather than in the underwater homes being made in the artificialke.<sub> </sub>


    "Walker, I didn''t think you woulde so soon." Alma was pleasantly surprised. "The me elves rushed here and seemed like they needed some rest. They are in one of the guest homes we made for when elves would travel here to meet." Alma seemed a little nervous so Walker was going to do his best to remain rxed.


    "I heard about it and wanted toe and see everything. By the way, this treehouse is amazing. It is easily three times the size and very well made." This was not at all a lie. The treehouse Walker was in had the highest quality growth to shape the wood in to many artistic forms.


    "This will be the Genesis elven archives. It was Gil''s idea to start another archive to record the elves'' history within Genesis. That is why we are going to have the me elvese here first to leave their mark." Alma sounded like she had been truly touched by the suggestion. Walker couldn''t argue. The elves cared very much about the archives so having a new set of archives in Genesis was a brilliant idea.


    "I made it!" Gil burst in wearing his new clothing that Lisa had recently finished. They were a mix of Green and brown to match the forest elve''s attires. There were many elemental runes sewn in to the fabric which Walker could sense affecting the mana around them. Along with this, there were fine golden stitchings used to ent the patterns. Overall, it was a magical looking attire that caused Gil to look much more handsome.


    "Lisa really outdid herself with that one. I have to say, you might even be confused as an elf wearing that." With Walker''s praise, Gil seemed much more animated. It was also because he realized he had not been toote to greet the me elves.


    "That''s a good thing. Because today I have been asked by my queen, the queen of forest elves, to wee Gil as a proper member of the forest elf city. We wanted the water and me elves to witness it." Alma was turning a little red saying this. However, notpared to Gil who was speechless. To be honored in front of all the elves was too much for anyone to handle.


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 Chapter 1422 1422. One Of The Family

    From what Gil had thought, he was already more than epted. Sure, some of the elves had joked that he was an elf with a human body. However, they had not made such a grand gesture to hold a ceremony honoring him as a member of their race. It was a big deal.


    "You may technically be weed as a forest elf, but everyone else knows what you have done and would do for the elves. You are different from the rest of your party. Walker focuses on bringing people together, Su focuses on protecting and healing. Remey focuses on creating new things and making a point. It is all different."


    Alma thought for another moment, "Onyx is going to bring about his own race to be equal with the rest of the races and Midnight is busy building a path that the dragon trace has never walked. You gave everything to bringing back the elven techniques to connect us to our high elf bloodlines. You have protected the ideal I fight for."


    This was an emotional moment for Alma. She had thought of many ways to get Gil this honor. She had cared for him when he showed that he would not be limited to only helping his own race. Yet when he had begun to support her more and more, she had truly been convinced.


    "Don''t look at me. Alma is right, you have tried to learn more and more about the elves every single day. You were one of the main reasons we ended up training with the elves when we were in the forest elf city. You helped them change their point of views on archery. I doubt that has happened many times in their history." Walker had studied enough to know this as a true fact.


    "It just doesn''t feel real. I was already one of you as far as I was concerned. We all get along, I care about what happens with the elves because I feel at home here. I have built real connections that helped me understand the system that I have and the person that I am." Gil felt that he was going to get overly emotional. However, Walker saw that Gil was being more of himself than he usually was. This was a very important moment for him.


    As a few of the water and forest elf elders walked in, they smiled at Gil in wee. They knew exactly what the first part of their meeting was about and knew that it was another step to bing stronger within Genesis.


    "We apologize for taking our time. We know you have some very important ns for the day." The same me elf elder walked in followed by four me knights. They were wearing regr armor and standing tall to guard the elder. "I am d to see your stories about your home were more than true."


    From what the me elves had seen walking in to Genesis, their rush to get here was worthwhile. There was abundant food, people, and most importantly potential. They did not need to worry that they would be exiled because they had seen thews clearly posted. It was even lucky for them to see the guards strictly adhering to them while the me elves were guided to the forest elf treehouses.


    "If we had lied to you, then I don''t believe you would stay with Genesis. Yet, here you are. Wee to our home. The future of the continent and maybe even the world." Alma was showing her high hopes for Genesis that went well beyond just her lifetime.


    "Gil, it is good to see you as well. I can tell you are a bit more rested now." The me elf elder didn''t hesitate to greet Gil and look at him up and down. "Very fine quality clothing. We do not have such rune sewn robes since we were exiled. Please show me the shopter. I believe my people would appreciate it."


    "It''s actually Walker''s younger sister that made them. Walker brought her back some rune sewn patterns from the forest elf city and she loved them a lot. Now she may alter the runes after research in the mage tower advances, but they will remain to be amazing. This was actually specially made for today." Gil spun around slowly showing off the high quality.<sub> </sub>


    "Yes! Today you can have my blessing as well. You are the first to be able to spur the grand fire spirit in to speaking. We have learned a lot because of you. A new grand fire spirit will arrive and we will reestablish our home. It is the start of rebirth." The me elf elder was looking at the future with only positivity.


    Through these interactions, the elders moved to grab three small chests from the back of the hall they were in. "These are three armbands. I am sure you have seen elves wearing them. The meaning is simple, when an elf of any affinity reaches adult hood, they are given one. You are being handed one from the water, forest, and me elves now. It represents the belief we have for you to always be great. To stand for nature and your own values."


    Alma became very professional. Walker could tell she had practiced this many times so that she could say it all clearly. Gil just stood still while the elders went up to hand him each armband. They were simple silver carved with different patterns representing the forests, waters, and mes.


    "I will ept these and hope that I can always live beyond the expectations of my family." Gil was not just considering the party as his family anymore. The kindness the elves had shown him was enough to make them family as well.


    There was also the fact that Walker was more than convinced that Gil was whole heartedlymitted to being beside Alma as long as he could. The two would never be able to hide their true feelings. It made him wonder just how Alice was doing¡­


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 Chapter 1423 1423. Healing Journey (4)

    "None of them seem able to wake up due to enormous exhaustion. Their mana is still low along with their residual injuries draining their health. We need to move them with us back to a safe ce." The healers had all reached a decision. They were just reporting to Alice what had to be done.


    "It''s not right to leave them. We will bring them to genesis." The decision was exactly what was right. It had only been a short time since they left on their journey, however, the lives of others were much more important. If they did not return and help those in need, it would be a tragedy.


    "If I remember right, we can move to the vige with the pearl grapes. They have merchant carts for their produce. That should get us back faster." Alice nodded in agreement with this. She would be d to ask this of them. They could even pay the vige for the assistance.


    Along with this, they would be able to warn the vige that more demons may be fleeing the demonnds for safety. It could be a direct trail for the demons toe and find safety within Genesis.


    Without any other hesitation, the healers did what they did best. They began to find small pieces of wood from nearby bushes or trees to make quick cots. They always had additional fabric to connect them which was justmon sense in their line of work. With their knowledge and speed, they had a long cot that they easily fit the injured demons on. This way they could use all of their strength to move as one and carry the injured.


    "We push on then." The healers echoed this from Alice and began to move. The time it would take did not matter, Alice had already started to sing to increase the speed at which they moved. Her hoarse voice did not matter. She could still make a sound which meant she could still sing.


    Covering the same distance as they had taken more time. Took more of a toll. Where Alice was losing mana and drinking mana potions constantly, the other healers felt the strain on their bodies.


    Healers were tenacious. They were used to many hours of hard work healing and fighting off mana exhaustion. They would never be true healers without pushing themselves to the extreme to help others. Yet, this was harder than they knew. Carrying the weight of multiple people was a strain that went against the normal magical focus of healers.


    Before long, the sound of hoovesing behind them. The energy that they had was low and for a moment they all thought they were hearing things. "Halt! State your business along this trail!"


    The soldier on top of the horse looked down at them and realized they were healers. Instead of the stern act he had before, he jumped down to look at them. "I can help, let''s tie that stretcher to my horse and we can move faster with less weight." Just because the soldier wasing from the border did not mean he was heartless. He did not see enemies now that he had a clear view.


    "I am delivering a message to the Genesis council, I will ensure you make it to the nearest vige on the way." The soldier was not going to leave the injured alone. He would do his best to maintain his mission while also helping others. He had seen Genesis and knew what it stood for.


    "We are going to Genesis too." Alice''s voice was rough, but it had a clear purpose. The slider could only nod in response. He was beginning to recognize who she and the other healers were. He had seen them before. He had been to the cathedral and heard Alice sing.<sub> </sub>


    "I know you¡­I will get you back to the high priest. He helped my mother and I can repay him by helping his daughter." The additional determination that the soldier had realized this was spectacr. He spurred his horse on while lifting the cot and walking behind it. This removed arge amount of the weight from what the healers had to carry, making the journey easier.


    Alice drank down a healing potion for her throat then began to sing again. The addition of the soldier brought them to the farming vige in less than an hour. The day had begun to turn to night by now and the vigers were returning to their homes. Many of them spotted thentern on the slides horse while approaching.


    "I apologize for the inconvenience. Please ask the head of your vige for a cart and two good horses. We must return to Genesis as soon as possible." The vigers did not recognize the injured or the soldier, however, they recognized Alice and the other healers.


    "What happened to our guests! You were gone less than a day ande back like this! Go and get that cart. Get water and food. I want them to befortable!" Miss gave orders in an efficient manner. She was no stranger to such situations.


    "I am returning from the border, I happened across these healers saving what appear to be refugees. We are going to Genesis. I must report more detailed information while they must return to the cathedral to administer better care." The soldier didn''t let any of the healers take the burden of exining. He knew they were weaker at the moment.


    "Then we will give you the best. These healers helped us and we want to help them. I look forward to another visit soon." Miss gave Alice a smile before rushing to help prepare the cart. This kindness had no hesitation. It spoke to how a small deed like healing their vige could blossom in to something much more than anyone would expect. Exactly what Alice imagined Genesis could be.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1424 1424. Forging Hopes

    The remainder of the ceremony had been short. Walker had left after Gil had started to speak with the elders in depth. Walker felt that it was a moment that Gil was meant to take alone so that he could closely bond with the elves. There was also the fact that Walker could tell that Alma wanted to spend a little time alone with Gil. It was clear that their rtionship might change based on this.


    "Midnight, I know the hatchlings are tired, but how do you still have energy?" Midnight had returned to the mansion and even after a night''s rest, she was still awake. The dragon hatchlings had slept clear in to the day.


    "Sister says she feels like she doesn''t need any sleep because she hasn''t been training as much." Onyx was just like Midnight, he had dropped the abyssal serpent hatchlings off at the cathedral before returning and staying up all night with Midnight.


    "You both need to rest or train more then. We don''t have anything going on immediately other than the craftingpetition starting in a few hours." Walker wasn''t going to push them to do anything they didn''t say they had been missing out on.


    Midnight''s response was an angry huff, "Sister says that she has nned to help someone in the forgingpetition. I wonder who?" Onyx couldn''t seem to get Midnight to admit who she was going to help. However, Midnight decided that she couldn''t be there anymore and left the room.


    "Well, that''s a surprise. I know that the dragon golem and fire elemental spirit was asked to help stoke the fires along with a few fire mages, but Midnight too." Walker was considering who may have been able to convince her. A few people came to mind, but none really stood out.


    "I just wonder who will be taking which prizes. From what I have been told by others, there will be ten shop rentals avable." Onyx had already gathered a decent amount of information about the rewards.


    "I take it you heard about the crafting material rewards, right? There will be five quests that the top five best created items will win. That means they can request to the adventurer''s guild any item they want. The crafting guild will pay for it." Walker had heard this himself and was watching Onyx nod along.


    "Let''s head out early, I think we can see a few interesting things." Walker decided to leave earlier than he nned. He wanted to catch up to Ignus and Mordant who should be leaving the mage tower any moment. He was sure that Ignus would be interested to see Midnight forging with a cksmith. There were also some crafters that were able to use true spirit forging.


    "Brother, what else do you think we will see? I have a few things for myself that have been made recently, but I am saving them for the battles." Onyx had seen many ideas being passed around. Especially since the wandering cksmith had been majorly busy with blueprints. Many of the other cksmiths hade to ask him to refine their designs due toplicated orders. It was pure profit.


    "I would not be surprised if someone has figured out more of the true spirit forging. I think there are a few carpenters that even learned to speak to water and earth elemental spirits by using the scrolls. They had the gold to buy them so they bought many and got lucky enough to get the skill." This was more a rumor than anything. Yet, Walker just felt that it was correct.


    "If that is the case, I look forward to seeing it. There are too many things that coulde of that.'' Walker agreed with Onyx. The two could chat for hours about a tiny percent of what could be done with spirit crafting in every aspect of crafting.


    What was truly impressive though, was that many people were developing deeper rtionships with elemental spirits. If it was just crafting, for now, it was a major improvement. That way the elemental spirits wouldn''t suffer another dormant period where they would have to crystallize and wait to absorb mana. They could work with the races to grow stronger.<sub> </sub>


    The streets were surprisingly calm for the day being half over. It was something that made both Walker and Onyx curious about until they realized that all the shops selling crafted goods were closed. Every single shop owner or crafter of some sort had closed up to go and participate or watch thepetition. "This might be busier than I thought.


    The alchemypetition was more specific for certain systems than others. That meant it was not a fully packed stadium so that people watch the arenas. Now, there were more crafters in Genesis which meant that there would be more people in the stadium.


    "It looks like the dwarven golems are on disy outside!" Walker was surprised to see this. It was a brilliant idea so that people could be more familiar with the dwarven golems. Many different types were disyed. There was even an entire row of different monster based golems.


    "Come take a look! The wolf golems are a pack type monster made in to a golem. Perfect for patrolling your crops and capturing pesky rodents!" There were many dwarves calling out the uses of certain golems. Walker was sure they would be making a great deal of gold today.


    "Onyx, there''s even a golem made to copy a giant swamp python." Walker pointed at the golem showing Onyx that it was simr to him.


    "Brother, that golem is too small. I am bigger than it is now." Walker felt surprised again. Onyx had somehow managed to have another growth spurt without him knowing.


    "In that case, then it''s a baby python golem." Onyx pretended not to think Walker''s joke was funny. He didn''t want to just give in.


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 Chapter 1425 1425. Surprise Host

    "The craftsmanship of these golems is very high." Ignus came out of nowhere nked by a few dwarves that had been trying to convince him to help them in their forging.


    "Indeed, I believe these would make some very interesting sparring partners for my warriors." Mordant saw the potential that Ignus also saw. However, they both saw these as something akin to toys.


    "I know you two have seen the guards that are just dwarven golems. There are also scouts, underwater golems, mining golems, and more. They are perfect when the situation may be too dangerous or unknown for living scouts. But where they be interesting is when they have a golem driver or an elemental spirit controlling them."


    "You''re saying that these can be controlled through more than just rune carved cores." Ignus found this amazing. This was more advanced than the foreign within his vige. The golems may be weak inparison, however, they had potential that he could not ignore.


    "There''s a dragon golem that was made using the true spirit forging. It can breathe mes, attack with ws, and bite just like a dragon. It is too heavy to fly but it was only a copy of a dragon physique. I believe that it could be better when better runes are researched. The fire spirit hasplete control over it unless it is not dwelling inside. Then it can be controlled by myself or others." Walker knew that the dragon golem could only be controlled by certain people for safety. But the fore spirit wouldn''t let that happen anyways.


    "We will see it inside then. It will be very important for us to understand the limits of what pride it can bring to the dragon race." Mordant was sure that Ignus felt the same. They had to ensure that such a creation was not mocking them.


    "I promise you will be just as impressed by it. The spirit that controls it has sparred with Midnight a little. There were some decent materials used to make it tougher and have a better control of fire. Specifically, materials rted to a cyclops."


    Ignus''s head whipped around to look right at Walker, "You found one alive!?"


    "No, just the remaining parts of one. They were sued to make the golem better. Specifically, its core. No need to worry that a cyclops could be anywhere around. From what I know they are still very extinct." This was just the fate of the cyclops, nothing that seemed to be avoidable or controble.


    "Hmm, I see. Then it is of no issue. My predecessors once dealt with such monsters. They were not stronger in the use of mes. However, they were very resistant and did not perish easily." This seemed to be a topic that would not be wise to pursue. Therefore, Walker searched to change the subject.


    "I can see you have developed quite the following on your way from the mage tower to here." The dwarves around seemed to pretend that they were not here to bother them. Unfortunately for them, Ignus and Mordant had reached a line.


    "They have followed us since we left the elemental floors. Some even came looking but were held back by the guards. I can praise the guards that captured them. I prefer not to be bothered by their greed. I will not be helping them win a singlepetition. My mes will be needed in my own creations." Ignus was nning to have the wandering cksmith''s blueprints for his own armorter. His dragonkin would forge it while he heated the materials.


    "As I also said, I will not show favor to anyone. My mes will rot away any materials you have. I will help only those that show outstanding talent with darkness affinity materials. I may even invite them to my vige." Mordant had a slightly different approach.<sub> </sub>


    "You want to steal away a cksmith toe and work with your dragonkin? Should I take it, they will go to your vige after learning in the crafting guild how to true spirit forge equipment?" Walker saw the intentions of Mordant clearly. Ignus nearly mmed his fist down in annoyance at missing such an obvious chance.


    "I can''t say those are bad ideas. They will make the bonds between you and Genesis stronger. Just make sure you can sponsor them with the proper materials and help them when they need it. I know they may not end up being as powerful as a dragon. Just keep that in mind." Walker wanted the best for everyone. Therefore, he was not opposed to such sponsorship happening. As long as it was in the best interest of everyone.


    "If you wish for us to do so, then I may also consider an outstanding talent as one that may receive the honor of visiting my vige. Any cksmith that sees the true fires of the volcano may find themselves inspired. It would be their honor." Ignus covered his desire with high words but they were easily seen through.


    "Brother, I can hear things getting louder inside." Onyx had been pleasantly enjoying the conversation. He found the insights very interesting and was using it as a teaching lesson for when he would be able to represent the abyssal serpents.


    "We can''t miss the start. This is the most I have ever heard the wandering cksmith talk at once. He must be really excited to see what peoplee up with." Walker lost a little of his standing while saying this and rushing in. However, Ignus knew the strength in crafting that the wandering cksmith had. It was well worth the rush to see him speak and begin a majorpetition.


    "I understand that many expected the most esteemed cksmith to be standing upon this stage. Unfortunately, he will be participating and creating a set of forging tools for the best cksmith creation. You will have to deal with me." The king of the deep caves showed off his air as king in front of everyone. He was the surprise host of the craftingpetition.


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 Chapter 1426 1426. Forging Debates

    "Listen closely because this will only be said once. Those participating within this event are limited to twenty four hours. They must use their knowledge of their craft to create an item to the highest of their abilities. There are multiple categories that will be rewarded, woodwork, leatherwork, metal work, mechanical creations, and finally, unique. These may expand in the future but are limited for thispetition."


    The crowd of merchants and younger crafters was very impressed that so many chances existed to win things. They had expected there to be basic categories but nothing too expansive. Some people were surprised to see that mechanical creations were in thispetition. However, as they looked at the dwarven cksmiths, they realized that they were going to be blessed to see a golem created.


    The unique category gained the most attention though. "I think the unique category will be the best result. They will be using monster materials I assume." Mordant was already checking out the unique monster materials. Some even gave off delectable scents that he would dly have hunted with his dragonkin.


    "There are no rules as long as you do not break the taboos of forging. You shall not copy and steal another''s design. You shall not forcefully bond an elemental sport within your work. You will not use your soul as fuel to create your work. You will not insult another crafter''s work, if you are found to be doing so¡­" The king of the deep mmed a massive pickaxe down on the main arena causing many cracks to form. Everyone knew what the punishment would be.


    "To that respect, I wish everyone the best. Take the materials that have been carved from the earth and fought for with blood and sweat. Create something worth the world''s gaze. Create something worthy of the name of Genesis. Begin!"


    In seconds the coliseum was full of smoke. Many mages begin using their skills to purify the air and keep things from bing toxic. This was the same magic used to be inscribed on wind elemental crystals above chimneys to purify the air.


    Many mes burst up as small forges were beginning to heat materials. Some of the carpenters were usingrge tools to carve their very own parts fromrge chunks of unique wood. The most amazing seemed to be a statue carver that had begun to already cut out the face from a solid chunk of stone. Walker had not seen such crafters up close and was impressed at the speed.


    "There are many here that have unique ideas. I believe that this is what inspiration can do when many races are brought together." Mordant saw why Genesis was going to grow. He was seeing very clearly the potential being realized.


    "I understand what you are seeing. Many are already using different techniques influenced by the other races. That dwarf is carving stone like vines. That elf is carving wood in to columns. It is an interesting change from their traditional values." Ignus became much more philosophical. It surprised them but was very correct.


    " I can see a few familiar faces. I didn''t think our dragonkin would be joining. For that small group of mes elves." Walker watched as Ignus and Mordant both smirked. They knew that their dragonkin would be making weapons that they used within their viges. It would outdo many of the basic things being made.


    "If they bothered to learn anything, they may take all of the prizes offered here." Ignus gloated when he saw that his dragonkin cksmith was heftingrger hammers than the others while forging with hotter mes.


    "You don''t think you could watch your dragonkin beat mine? Do you? Foolish as always. They stand no chance against the darkness elemental wood we have brought to craft the finest staff." Mordant saw one of his dragonkin carving multiple darkness affinity woods to create a closebat staff with darkness elemental runes on it.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, if we arepeting, then you should look over there." Walker pointed to where Midnight was working with a very familiar face. "That is Rodney, I''ve helped him with his quests before. I also know that he has a lot of potential. Not to mention that he is one of the people responsible for pushing the crafting guild to be a real guild rather than just a group of people."


    "So that is where your champion has gone. She is forging. How interesting. But she is not doing¡­" Ignus saw that Midnight was using the golden mes she could breathe from her golden me heart. She was not going easy on the work she performed.


    "He''s using a fusion of seven ores on that single ingot. That''s something I don''t think many people could manage without Midnight''s help. Rodney is pretty unique." Walker continued to gloat a little here and there when he saw Ignus get stuck on the work Midnight and Rodney were doing.


    "I just wish to see that true spirit fogging." Mordant pointed to the elemental spirits that had built up around the coliseum. It was easy to see that they were waiting to be able to jump in to thepetition.


    "I wonder how many of them will have the partners to create something. It would be nice to see some dual elemental true spirit fogging. I heard that they were going to be doing so here." Onyx shared this surprising news without even blinking. He wanted them to be impressed by the things he had learned without their knowledge.


    "That exins why Rodney is making use of so many different ores. I can''t wait to see." Walker lost himself to his curiosity. It was all downhill from there. The three fell in to banter about who was using what and who could do what. It was something many dwarves around heard and began to argue with them. Sooner than expected, the entire crowd of merchants and young crafters fell in to lengthy debates about crafting.


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 Chapter 1427 1427. Twin Carpenters

    "Have you noticed that young girl?" Mordant pointed slowly toward the carpenters. From what he had seen, the girl was not making any sense. She was creating strange parts without any n.


    "No, but that doesn''t look like carpentry. Look at the golems." Walker started to see the simrities between the golems and the carpentry parts.


    "So that little girl is making a golem out of wood. Is that possible?" The question was loud enough for many to hear. It started a debate amongst the crowd which is exactly what Ignus had intended. He could carefully listen to the arguments around to learn the answers.


    "That was sneaky, but I like it. I can hear many saying that it is not the materials but the runes that matter. Therefore, I would assume she has that seed as a core?" Morant looked carefully at arge brown seed on the girl''s work table.


    ''Century tree seed


    The century tree is a tree that can only ever live up to a century. They will grow asrge as the environment allows. The energy they have stored within them is enough for them to live for the entire century without needing to absorbrge amounts of earth elemental mana. The century tree is known for attracting water and earth affinity monsters due to the powerful fruit it creates when it withers.''


    Walker shared this appraisal with the two royals dragons and Onyx. they thought that it was a very wise choice for a core. "It has plenty of mana condensed within. The runes she uses will most likely be earth and water which are perfect for wood. Whatever she makes she will be able to impress people. But why does it look like she is making wings?" Onyx spoke up to enhance the appraisal from Walker with his own curiosity.


    "Those my little brother, are the wings of ava diving bat. She is making ava diving bat golem out of wood with earth and water affinity. It''s bold,plicated, and fits the woodworking and mechanical categories. She may be¡­" Walker lost his ability to speak when he saw the girl start to work on the century tree seed.


    "She is using true spirit forging. And so is the boy next to her. They are twins!" The realization that the two siblings were twins caught Walker like a p to the face. The two were both creating parts of the same golem and using true spirit forging techniques. But where it differentiated was more amazing.


    The girl had called over an earth spirit while the boy had called over a water spirit. The two elemental spirits were helping them with the mana to carve water and earth elemental runes on to the century tree seed. The more runes they carved, the more the seed seemed to smooth and change. It wasn''t a tree seed any longer. It was bing the first ever wooden golem core that many had seen.


    Was it unheard of to make a golem out of wood? Now. But it was something many times harder and respected by any craftsman. Yet, these two young children were doing it with ease. "Brother, from what I can gather, they are two surviving children of the fire back home. They escaped and came here." Onyx had listened to the gossip around to find the answer.


    "Really? That''s great!" Walker was even more invested in the twins winning a prize now. Mordant and Ignus felt left in the dark so Onyx managed to exin to them the past incident with the carpenters building in Diamond.


    "Then these two have literally risen from the ashes topete here today. That is a story worth telling when they win an award. They will win." Ignus had already given them his support after hearing that they braved the mes of death to continue on in their trade. It was something every fire dragon did in their own way. Trial by fire.<sub> </sub>


    "The true spirit forging techniques seem to have spread to a rune carving spirit technique." Mordant made this observation within the other crafting materials. He saw a few of the crafters had grasped the ability to carve runes with the addition of an elemental spirit''s mana.


    "It is, I wonder if that is a partial adaptation of true spirit forging or a new way to create overall.'' Walker wanted to dig in to things more but was stopped when he heard a loud bang and the sound of shattering metal.


    "And as we expected. The first piece has shattered. There are many chances to overload a material with mana through the forging process. The cksmith must regte such things. There are still many hours left. Begin again!" The king of the deep caves encouraged the dwarf that had shattered a sword to start again.


    "I''m d there are healers around today. That cksmith could have lost his hands or worse." It was natural that Walker would worry. He almost wanted to go and check on the cksmiths himself.


    "They are fighting through the fires to create. Those are scars that prove their dedication and pride." Ignus followed with his own views. He respected those that struggled for strength. This was a ce where he found himself being impressed over and over.


    "Oh, there is your wandering cksmith. He had begun to spirit forge." Since Mordant was still looking for the spurt forging techniques, he had caught the wandering cksmith beginning to forge properly.


    "So he is the one with the assistance of the dragon golem you told us about. He also has one of each elemental spirit and multiple sets of tools he appears to be forging. All in twenty four hours¡­" Ignus could not doubt the skill level of the wandering cksmith. He was about to make one set of forging tools for each elemental affinity as rewards for thepetitions. However, there were also other tool models for leather working, wood working, and tools Walker had never seen before.


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 Chapter 1428 1428. Mordants Blacksmith

    Hours passed by while everyone was more and more absorbed by the crafterspetition. Those with children had brought them to bed for the night while most who could manage it stayed up. Some crafters caused damage to their items and gave up due to their mistakes while working. Staying up all night to craft was a limit some had at their age.


    Others were exceeding their potentials. It was clear that some had entered a meditative state where other contestants and the crowd were nothing. Not even there. The wood working twins seemed to be as such.


    They were carving rune after rune across every single wooden piece they carved. It was considered well above their level and to support it, they drank mana potions. They had been able to purchase them for a discount due to the high number of mana and health potions created during the alchemy tournament.


    A few of the other participants had attempted true spirit forging but failed to be able to control the amount of elemental mana that was provided by the elemental spirits. This was an easy problem to have. The purity of the mana and the control of the mana both required stronger will to safely use. This was why the less experienced crafters were losing out. That did not mean that they had failed. Most of them had decided to go without the true spirit crafting skills and remain with regr runes or forging. They still had a chance.


    Many in the crowd had fallen in love with how well the wandering cksmith worked. Not many had seen someone with such skill working so efficiently. Multiple elemental spirits had shown up to assist him in creating the main tools for multiple crafting professions. The tool sets he hadpleted were enough to hand out to multiple people already, yet, he had still not stopped.


    "Your friend and champion have something interesting there." Mordant saw the light and dark elemental spirits move together to help Rodney begin to forge something now that the pieces and materials were ready for assembly.


    "It looks like those mes are being used for a dual elemental creation. That is to be expected since the golden me hearts should yield such things." Ignus used it as the pride of dragons to be able to help someone achieve such things.


    <o>,m "It looks like a sword and shield pair. But the shield is shaped pretty oddly¡­The shield is the sheath!" Walker realized that Rodney was making a light elemental shield that was also a sheath for a darkness elemental sword. They would work in bnce but also be more powerful together. It was something that was not normally made but would be perfect for a warrior that used dark and light elemental skills or skills that could gain an elemental affinity.</o>


    "I just wonder how he was able to convince a light elemental spirit to help him. I know you two should have caught on by now. The light elemental spirits are the hardest to convince. Especially if they are going to help when the light elemental mana is the weakest. Such as now since its dark outside." Walker was clear about why he was surprised by Rodney.


    "It is a wonder why that would be. But it is hard to make certain light affinity dragons do things as well." Ignus and Mordant both shared a knowing nce. Walker had yet to experience such things.


    "I will keep that in mind." Walker knew he would deal with this at ater time. "Oh, someone is going up with a bracer made of leather."


    Walker watched as a simple bracer made of leather was brought up to the main arena. The king of the deep caves called over multiple appraisal experts from the merchants, Ga family auction house, and crafting guild. They discussed shortly before the item was handed back and the leatherworker told to wait further.<sub> </sub>


    "It seems they were not outstanding but still very good. I can tell they had issues in their darkness affinity runes from here. The mana is gathering but not flowing." Mordant had the best opinion of this so he did not argue. "However, I like that child there. The young dwarf is crafting blind. He has near perfect mastery of those darkness elemental runes."


    The boy that Mordant was watching had cloth over his eyes. It was clear he had been burned by some ident. But that was nothing to him, he was still forging carefully and efficiently. He had two darkness elemental spirits next to him while he carved darkness elemental runes on to a halbert.


    "I will be taking him." Mordant jumped up and pped his wings to descend to the main arena. The boy hadpleted his work and was being assisted to the main arena. Walker could see Mordant speaking with the king of the deep caves about offering a reward to the boy.


    "For the first time in thispetition, we have someone worthy of a reward. This was not decided by us, but the reward will stand. The royal dragon Mordant has seen an incredible affinity for crafting darkness elemental runes and forging darkness elemental items. This has brought him to offer a sponsorship to this young man here!" The crow lost it. They couldn''t imagine such a hidden reward.


    "He had to make a scene here. Just to get one cksmith in his vige." Ignus was jealous and scoffed at it even though he knew how amazing this was.


    The boy was on the verge of jumping around. It took all his energy just to remain standing. The two darkness elemental spirits stayed by his side and even seemed to be speaking with him. Walker smiled seeing that a deserving person was benefiting. As a gift, the boy even held out the darkness affinity halberd to Mordant who epted and spoke with him. It was the biggest happening yet in thepetition.


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 Chapter 1429 1429. Rodneys Fame

    There were many eyes on the young cksmith with cloth over his eyes even after Mordant had returned to the stares. He was seemingly stunned that he had won such an honor through thispetition. Yet, it made sense. He was exactly what Mordant had been searching for. A new cksmith toe to his vige that could make darkness affinity equipment better than his current cksmiths.


    There was also the fact that the boy would be able to teach his cksmiths about how to spirit forge with darkness elemental spirits. It would also be good because the young cksmith would learn the newest runes while in Genesis training. It was the best possible oue for Mordant''s vige instead of leaving dragonkin cksmiths there long term.


    "You couldn''t help yourself. You didn''t even give him an option." Ignus tried to reprimand Mordant for rushing out. However, it just caused Mordant tough at him slightly.


    "He is definitely suited to the talent you were looking for. I never thought that a blind cksmith would be able to do something so amazing." There were truly impressive skills behind what the young cksmith had done. Walker couldn''t deny it, it was also the reason the crowd had cheered so much upon the announcement going out.


    "That champion and Friend of yours seems to be finishing." Ignus was interested to see how the shield and swordbination came out. He was looking right at Walker so that he could hear the appraisal.


    ''Striking defender


    +10atk, +10def, +8mdef, 20 mana storage


    This is an extremely unique weapon that is not often made for warriors. Those that can use it will be able to defend and attack while only carrying the one weapon on their arm. The shield is the sheath for the sword and bnces the darkness elemental mana within it. The shield holds light elemental mana which can be used to help heal the user inbat. This is a unique spirit dwelling weapon that can allow both a light and a dark elemental spirit to dwell within, hence the name; Striking defender.''


    "That will be winning an award for certain. Those three over there attempted the same thing and failed." Ignus was harshly judging those who had been trying to create dual affinity items. He watched them force the mana along instead of bncing it causing their items to shatter or decay.


    "I agree, I think he will have his own unique tool sets. But what I think is cooler, is that." Walker pointed out the word working twins who were stepping away from their nowpleted wooden bat style golem. The runes covering were glowing with mana as it started to move.


    "Out of just wood. A weak material but a strong creation." Mordant was overall very impressed by the twins.


    "I wouldn''t say it''s weak. They used cliff birch. It grows only on sheer cliffs that not many can reach. It is very hard to deal with once it has the right amount of earth elemental mana within it. But what makes it even tougher, is the fact that in the winter it cools itself and freezes its roots in to the stone so that it breaks the stone. That way it can grow more when the weather warms." Walker had sneakily apprised the materials being used. He knew just how hard it was to work with the cliff birch.


    "You''re saying that it will be able to stand against some of those metal golems there?" Iguns wasn''t sure if he had heard Walker correctly. Such a thing sounded impossible.<sub> </sub>


    "That and because of the light weight, it can do that." Walker watched the bat golem jump in to the air and begin to fly fluidly. It was going against all expectations of a wood golem and a golem in general. The crowd mirrored the amazement with shouts of encouragement.


    "You have seen it clearly. We have the twin carpentry geniuses with their wood work golem. It meets all criteria to receive the elemental wood working tools created by the best cksmith wandering the world!" The king of the deep caves watched the wandering cksmith walk over and hand over two sets of tools.


    "They have the water and the earth affinity tool sets for wood working. It seems to be a poor reward until one considers the things they will be able to make with such high quality tools." Onyx pondered just how much more advanced the twins would get in the future of their careers.


    "The crafting guild''s number one busy body is here too!" The joke that the king of the deep caves made was enough to make all the crafting guild members that Rodney had metugh and shout encouragement.


    "Those who have been around since the starting ideas of the crafting guild have met this young man. Rodney had studied everything and met everyone. He is sure to be the future guild master of the crafting guild. His dual elemental named weapon, the striking defender, is one of a kind. Darkness elemental sword and light elemental shield. It was created using dragon mes and true spirit forging. It even has two elemental spirits that wish to remain with their creation. Please look forward to the one they will choose from the battlepetitions as their partner!"


    Rodney smiled while holding up his hands. Midnight was matching him by raising her head as high as she could. The two knew exactly what they had been doing while also offering a magnificent reward. "You know, when I first met him he was stuck on a crafting quest. He made my little sister''s sewing needles from dragon scale scraps. They are what sew those runes you two liked." Walker smiled thinking back fondly. He wasn''t at all concerned that Ignus and Mordant had taken an interest in Rodney as a cksmith. They could fight everyone else for his attention.


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 Chapter 1430 1430. Stones And Cracking

    "The closer we get to the deadline, the more entriese in. The first stone carved entry hase in and it is a mystical one!" The king of the deep caves was looking at a fully carved statue of a fictional mage.


    "The statue is of a popr children''s story mage that was able to create a world in a night. They are known as the eden mage. Where this story was not true, it is full of wonderful stories about the growth of mana. Tisi statue follows that same philosophy and is carved with multiple mana gems to gather elemental mana of every single type!"


    This caught many on edge. They weren''t sure how amazing this was. "Let me tell you. The potential this has is spectacr. None in the crafting guild have managed to carve runes in stone without causing some degree of damage. Those that seed can only carve at most three types of elemental runes before the stones crack and break. This is the first time the guild and many crafters have seen this potential in stone! It is a world shaking aplishment!"


    As if to follow what the king of the deep caves said, there was a silence that overtook everyone. The stone carver was an older man that seemed to have worked with every ounce of strength he had. Yet, before everyone''s eyes, mana converged on him.


    ''The world has recognized the greatest stone carver of a generation. For the seventh time in this century, the world bestows the title; elemental carver.''


    The world had seemingly waited for the perfect moment. No one was able to properly speak. The man on the main arena stage with his statue was silently crying while looking up at the sky. He was surrounded by elemental mana while his statue glowed faintly. The image everyone saw was not someone sad, but someone so filled with joy that they could not contain it.


    As if a signal had been given, the entire coliseum erupted with the loudest cheers and roars of sess any had heard. This stone carver had done something worthy of absolute respect. Those that crafted with stone would look at this moment for generations.


    "You heard the world itself respond through our systems! We are the very first to witness this in Genesis. One of seven within a century to aplish this feat! Wee the unrivaled champion of the unique category!" There was another roar of victory from every crafter around. The wandering cksmith personally stood to walk with the stone carver out of the arena.


    "Even the world is moved to recognize such works. If a craftsman can do that after so many years, I can only imagine what will happen when there is more knowledge shared." Both Mordant and Ignus appeared to be greedy. They wanted to see what Genesis would produce after every crafter knew spirit forging. After every single person was more limated to the origin runes.


    "More statues like that can increase the mana around the city. They can also be perfect for elemental spirits to feed on as sustenance. That means they will recover and help spirit craft things more often. That''s not just a small aplishment. It will affect Genesis for years." Walker spoke with pride, Both Ignus and Mordant finally saw the same thing Walker dreamed of.


    "I hate that I must admit it¡­ I am convinced. I recognize your vige and everything it will be." Ignus hadpletely broken. He was over his stubbornness and had seen too much which led him to believe that he was witnessing a new era.


    "Big words for you. I don''t believe I have officially said it though. I ept Genesis as a fellow dragon vige and the future of dragon culture." Mordant followed Ignus in his pledge of eptance. It was a very meaningful moment in such an odd ce.<sub> </sub>


    "Then I wee you and all members of your viges at any time. They are family as far as I am concerned." Walker gave a soft nod epting their pledges. It was a silence in the loud cheering as if they were the only three present.


    "Has anyone ever seen such a whip before!?" The king of the deep caves was still speaking. He was sharing the leatherworking item that had just appeared on stage. "A whip made of berserker elephant skin carved with earth runes!"


    The whole appeared to be heavy and tough to wield. However, when the leather worker gave it the slightest movements, the ground cracked. It was made to literally shatter stone. "Impable quality using high tier materials. This woman may look familiar to many, she is the current master leather worker within the crafting guild. She has specifically entered to show off the skills she wishes those who learn from her to match!"


    Knowing that another hidden master was showing off was great. The whip was a perfect example of why every material had a use in ways that most did not expect. The skins of certain monsters could be used in leather working which was less popr for most travelers. But seeing that such an amazing result was before them, many people realized the errors of their judgments.


    "I have eaten a berserker elephant before. I took a trip through the deserts to find them. The skin was hard for even my fangs to break. Impressive." Walker had not realized how tough the skin actually was. Therefore, when Ignus expressed this, Walker wondered just how the leather working woman had managed it.


    "A master is not a master for nothing. I can''t wait to see what else she is capable of now that many people know who she is." Walker and the others watched carefully as more and more items were finished. Some were awarded but none came close to the prior amazingness they had just seen.


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 Chapter 1431 1431. Hatchling Visits

    "Thank you for your participation in the crafting guild''s first everpetitions. Please remember that all items that will not be given as rewards for the battlepetitions next will be on auction at the Ga family auction house tonight!" The end of thepetition seemed to cause a lot of people to give in to their tiredness. Too many had stayed awake during the entire twenty four hour period.


    "The battles." Ignus seemed to be on a roll with the energy from the craftingpetitions. He had fully epted Genesis and was ready to see more. "My dragonkin will be participating. I expect more surprises in theirpetition."


    "Don''t even doubt us. You''ve seen Barry, he''s not the strongest warrior here. There are others that will join thepetitions to see what they can do against those said to be the strongest." Walker had to push a little. He felt it would make things more fun in the long run.


    "Does that mean you will be fighting? I wouldn''t expect a royal dragon to do such things when they should remainposed." Mordant came at Walker. He wasn''t going to sit on the sidelines and allow for there to be a one way gloatingpetition over warriors. He believed this would have their own merits in a battle.


    "Don''t speak like you will have winners among the battle. Your warriors do not have the physical strength." Thisment was all that the two needed to start ring at each other with challenge.


    "And now, maybe we should go and rest. There is plenty of time for us to push each otherter. I want to see what people can do too." Walker started t head away which was enough to make Mordant and Ignus follow. "I also want to get some decent food." the mention of his mother''s cooking was the easy way to get anyone to stop fighting. Even Remey couldn''t resist the temptations.


    "Old man, what are you doing?!" Remey was currently locked in her office trying to figure out how she was going to handle the massive boom in merchant requests. However, the old master alchemist had burst in.


    "What do you mean, what are you doing? I am here because this little dragon came all the way here without Midnight looking for you!" There were two familiar dragon hatchlings right behind the old master alchemist. They seemed to be a little defensive because of the unfamiliar environment.


    "Partner, the little alchemy fire dragon is here with her brother," Remey whispered slightly to get her alchemy fire spirit to leave the spirit mark ande out to see them. As soon as the fire spirit showed itself the younger fire dragon hatchling became much more energetic.


    "What are you nning to do?" The old master alchemist felt like he saw the future in Remey''s eyes. It was all too clear that she was going to be ignoring her portion of the paperwork so that she could focus on the dragon hatchlings.


    "I need to help them get their fire to a better level. So, I am going to go and make a potion. A fire affinity potion which should help them both." Remey walked right past the old master alchemist toward one of thebs that had more space for them to explore a little. It was better that the hatchlings wouldn''t feel boxed in since Remey knew they must be used to the openness of thevands.<sub> </sub>


    "You two will really like it here. The heat from the mes makes it pretty warm so it will be closer to your home. Plus, you can get a lot of experience learning about herbs and other things. I don''t know if your older brother will feel the same way about alchemy as you, but he can still learn about fire elemental mana here." There was a happy huff from the younger fire dragon as she understood some of what the alchemy fire spirit was telling her after Remey spoke.


    "Don''t go saying that I might get violent with the cauldron if I fail. I never fail a potion. Who are you to say that anyways? Hm? You mess up the same as I do when the potion fails since I depend on your help to maintain the heat!" Remey caught a few words that the alchemy fire spirit was saying to the little hatchlings. She was not the happiest to be teased in front of new students.


    "This is a real alchemyb. Shelves for the potions, herbs, and tools. The cauldrons are here since it''s argeb, there are three. This is how you increase airflow to boost the mes if you aren''t as good as us. There are vents in the ceiling, ways to cool with water baths here, and these are books with basic knowledge for those still learning. I will see if we can get some books tranted or a teacher to show you both how to read." Remey was ready to jump in to it without any further conversation. It would be a waste not to show off a little.


    "The fire affinity potions I will make for both of you are not something I assume you will be able to make right away. They are things I am making because you need them. You can breathe alchemy mes, that''s great. But you can not control them. And you need to get limated with fire more as the older sibling so that you can breathe mes too. I also rmend finding other fire spirits or Midnight to help teach you."


    This was the basics of what Remey wanted them to be able to do. She didn''t speak much after that. From here, Remey was already moving to get ingredients and heat the cauldrons. She was making a double batch of fire affinity potions with materials she had within theb. She and the alchemy fire spirit were inly showing off.


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 Chapter 1432 1432. Arrow Making Troubles

    "Why are you so dead set on going to Remey again?" Alma had taken some time off so that she could spend it with Gil. She wanted to see what he was thinking about bing a main member of the elvenmunity after a proper ceremony. Yet, she was surprised to find that he was nning to head right to Remey after he had spent the entire time in the forest elf area of Genesis.


    "I want wind affinity potions along with any other affinity potions she will make me. If my wind affinity is improved temporarily I might be able to make insanely powerful wind elemental arrows. And, if I have a weaker affinity for other elements, then I will need help making string elemental arrows that are not wind." This was the logical conclusion for him after he had thought about his current situation.


    "With this clothing, I can better make arrows and use them. It helps a lot but not enough. I need to be the best I can be to live up to the standards set for me." Gil had taken the elves very seriously. They had made a grand gesture of weing him in to their society with their ceremony.


    He had known he was already part of the elven society. Yet, having it said and shown in such a way had pushed him to develop a whole new level ofmitment. He was human, that would be who he was forever. However, he was not a representative that many elves looked up to. That meant he needed to live up to and beyond their views of him.


    Seeing this pure determination, Alma was speechless. She felt her heart beat and face flush in approval. She couldn''t have imagined that Gil''s heroic tendency would not be limited to just helping people. He wanted to represent them in their drive to be better. The elves would have a whole generation inspired by a human that had helped change their culture for the better.


    p "Then you will need to keep up with me!" Alma had done her own training. This let her run ahead of Gil in surprise. "That is if you can!" Her small giggle was all that Gil needed to hear. He rushed after her all the way to the alchemy guild where he found arger crowd than expected.</anda>


    "Please maintain your line and wait to be called on. The potions are still avable for everyone participating in the battles ahead!" The shouts of staff were clear. They were selling the potions to those that may need them during the battles in the coliseum starting soon.


    "I assume there are many warriors trying to cover their weaknesses since the battles will allow for a magical potion as well." Alma had already seen the new posters. There were multiple levels ofpassion based on age and type of battle.


    "Oh, makes sense. If a mage goes up against their opposite element then they might want some resistant potions. Or if a fist fighter wanted to counter magic they might want something simr. What I think will be tough are the people that try and rely on mana and healing potions to win. They don''t realize the fatigue that builds up is more dangerous than the injuries they heal."


    This was a very hard lesson for some people to learn. Some will rely on healing potions not realizing that the injuries healed are not fully healed. The body can only heal so fast and the wound will be weak for some time. Then the mana potions will only do so much. Yes, they can refill mana for someone to use. But, they don''t deal with the mental strain. The weakened mental capacity could easily cause someone to mess up and harm themselves.


    "It will be a good thing that many mages were hired to put up protective barriers. Some of them are even master mages from various taxes." Alma had spoken with the water and me elves who had volunteered for the positions. There were even a few sent over from the forest elf city after the queen had heard of thepetition.


    "I think it''s even better that a few wandering mages were drawn by the mage tower in advance. They were able to bargain for time studying the tower or on the elemental floors so that they would act as assistants during the fight.<sub> </sub>


    "Miss Alma, Sir Gil. Please feel free to head to the floor you need to venture to. But the three guild masters are all busy." One of the attendants managed to get Gil and Alma''s attention to tell them this.


    "It''s alright, we are only here to steal away some potions from Remey. She should be fine if I offer her a snack or two." Gil had brought some sandwiches from the leftover roasted meats that Walker''s mother had made the night before. He had to stop by the mansion to clean up and wash his clothing in the morning.


    "I know they are busy, but this is something else. I can see that the lecture halls are over crowded." Alma pointed out the multiple lecture halls where master alchemists were speaking about their theories or the basics of potion making in general.


    "I don''t think I saw on their ss board that Remey was teaching anything today. I bet she is stuck with paperwork and will want someone to give her a break." Gil felt very confident in this while climbing the stairs. However, when they reached theb near her office, they heard strange growls.


    "Umm, Remey?" Gil gave a soft push to the door only to find that Remey was sitting silently while two dragon hatchlings circled her watching very tiny movements. "Well, how about that?" Gil found the sight very strange and unexpected. Yet, he wasn''t really sure what he would have found.


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 Chapter 1433 1433. Armor Ideas

    "Su?" Walker had been wandering about again after getting some rest. He had tried his best to sleep as much as possible because he felt that he would be unable to avoid participating in a battle during the matches soon to begin.


    "Oh! I didn''t think you would be around here. The armor shops are selling things like crazy so I wanted to look at some and get inspiration for improvements I might want for my armor. I have been trying to train a few more skills rted to elemental affinity." Su was a little shy about telling this to Walker. He was miles ahead of her when it came to the study of elemental mana.


    "That''s a great idea! I bet I could learn a few things too since so many people tried new ideas during thepetitions." Walker, on the other hand, did not see any issues with Su training her affinities. It was only natural since she would slowly awaken every elemental affinity to match him and Midnight.


    "Your armor has some elemental runes now but not the same as my eternal orb can make natural mana. You should look to get your armor recarved with the dragon and origin hybrid runes." Walker knew that the ideas behind them were not perfect yet. However, having those runes would make things much better for Su''s training.


    "I was thinking that as well. But where I was lost was the design I may befortable in. I have a feeling that my body is going to change slightly as I limate to the dragon bloodline. I need to be able to grow in to it." The dragonkin had defined muscles so Su expected to gain a little more muscle as well. Especially since she was a draconic guardian. She was literally guided to be tougher.


    "I see, that''s a good idea. I feel like Onyx and Midnight are hitting growth spurts again too so it wouldn''t be surprising if all of us had one too." The fact that they were all not done growing was pretty apparent. Walker had gotten a lot taller recently because of their training and consistent nutrition. They were slowly beginning to look like the top adventurers they were destined to be.


    "You noticed too? Midnight has added at least an inch on to the wingspan she had before. It''s amazing. I swear she is growing when we spar together. I can almost see it." The twoughed while passing by many crowded merchants selling armors.


    "That looks good there. It would help you a lot." Walker saw an armor with special ces to attach weapons and gear.


    "If I had something like that on my arms and back I could attach my shields so I don''t have to hold one or both at a time." The twin shields already had ways for Su to hold them to free her hands, but they were not as secure as she might have wanted. "And if I add that, then I will be able to also carry a small bag on my hip."


    The small metal hooks that Su spotted were made to fill the creases within the armor so that it would act as a slight guard in the weak points while also retaining the mobility. The best part was that Su could carry small mana potions with her to help her maintain her strength without needing to be near Walker or Remey to hand them to her.


    "I would say you are right and right. The wandering cksmith could probably add those in less than an hour. But the real question is what else do you want to add? There are too many options." Some armors that Walker was looking at were themed sets.


    "That one is made to mimic thorns to people that attack you get hurt too. That one mimics high mobility for speedy blocking. That one has mirrors on it to reflect light and blind people. It''s crazy how many armors are out here now!"<sub> </sub>


    "Don''t get too attached to those. The thorn design is great for counter attacks, yes, but it has too many small openings. The mobility is good on that armor, but it can''t block heavy attacks. And that armor¡­weak and just shy. Forget any idea of stealth because I will get beaten to a pulp by every monster within the continent." Su was very harsh, criticizing the designs. Yet, that was what she needed.


    "Actually, here''s an idea. When you have your armor improved, have Fleur help. If we can make it so any elemental spirit can dwell within it, then you will have a wide array of help." Su''s earth spirit partner seemed to take a little offense to that after popping out of the earth dwelling shield. However, it wanted Su to be safe and would not argue with that.


    "I can do that, but my partner will get first chance every time." Su ensured that she appeased her partner. She had not been battling with the earth spirit''s assistancetely. But in the battles of the coliseum, she nned to truly let loose to show off her skills.


    ''What do you think about that super heavy stone armor? It''s made for pure defense and magic defense. Nothing else. I can''t even understand how someone could move with that on!" Walker was caught by another set of armor ahead of them. Su could only grin as she saw it too and began to analyze how she would and would not be able to use it. This was a fun outing that she had not expected to enjoy so much.


    "I would say that the person wearing it is immobile or barely able to move. It''s for people like Barry if he would ever wear real armor." Suughed again as she found the idea of Barry wearing armor hrious.


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 Chapter 1434 1434. Batte Introduction

    "Genesis! Hear my word! As the representative of the demi-humans, a general, and a true blooded warrior, the coliseum will officially open for the first battles ever!" Scy''s war cry broke through the air to all of Genesis. Walker was certain that this was some form of skill she had to inspire warriors.


    The result was instantaneous. People that had been waiting for this shut down their shops and rushed toward the coliseum to grab seats around the arenas. Many of those with the desire to fight rushed to get to the waiting rooms where they would wait to be sent against opponents.


    "Su, you should run too. I will get Ignus and Mordant from the mage tower so that they can sit with the other representatives. I think they will be on their way already through."


    Su gave a simple nod and sprinted off. Walker took to the air using the wind ripple skill to walk all the way over the nearby shops and homes. Scy''s cry had done more than just called the people. Many of the guards had moved in to ce to more or less lock down the city so that people would not be too rowdy.


    "You seem excited as well as us. We have been waiting for a notice to watch the warriors present their strengths." Mordant and Ignus met Walker in the air. He had barely made it halfway to the mage tower before he was caught.


    "I have to go and see too. I know I will be dragged in to something but I want to be able to watch some of them too." It was an inevitability. Walker knew that he could not get away from Scy''s grasp. He would be dragged in to some form of battle even if it was just to show off his strength in front of Genesis.


    "It is only natural that a dragon shows off their strength. Your champion should be participating as well, correct?" Now Walker wasn''t sure if Midnight would. He had not expected her to do so. Yet, when Ignus asked, he almost said yes automatically.


    "Listen closely! There will be multiple categories for every age group. We have the purely magical battles, the purely physical skill based battles, and we have the mixed magic and physical battles. There may not be equal in participants in each category but they will be more than enough to witness the true strength of Genesis!"


    Scy''s calls brought more and more to the coliseum. She was sure that she was bringing the right amount of energy. "Our judges will decide those from each category. There will only be three who will rise among each category. Three who deserve the praise of Genesis! Wee, King Rorick, The adventurer''s guild master; ra, and ast minute specially invited judge; Royal dragon Ignus!"


    "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I spoke to your general Scy and was invited to join as a judge." Both Mordant and Walker were stunned at how Ignus had hidden this so easily. They hadn''t even caught wind that he had spoken to Scy, let alone volunteered to be a judge.


    Scy''s gaze fell on Walker with a sneaky grin. She knew that she had managed to surprise him which was only fair since he had constantly surprised many people in Genesis. No one had bothered to ask her what she was doing when she journeyed to the fire elemental floor the previous night to ask Ignus to join. She wanted to hear the opinions of a royal dragon when the battles were happening.


    "A royal dragon sitting next to me to judge battles. What a world we live in. You must have a match with meter." Rorick was boiling with energy. He loved the feeling of this new coliseum. He thrived in the determination from every participant.<sub> </sub>


    "Little demi-human, I can easily crush you. But if it is a lesson you desire then I shall teach it to you." Ignus felt the very same as Rorick. He wanted to test the limits of the crow to see who would stay to watch a glorious battle between a dragon and many others.


    "We are judging others, not battling ourselves. I will judge them clearly on their ability and wits. I hope you do the same." ra attempted to be the ground for the two as they seemed ready to fly off in to battle at any moment.


    "Mages have reinforced barriers all around the arenas. There is no need to worry that there is any danger. Brace yourselves to see veterans and young warriors alike enter battles to show you their skills. Will they be future guards? Soldiers? Or will they grow to be the next beacon of strength to inspire a whole new generation? You can judge them as you see fit. Bring in the first round, young warriors of magical ability!"


    Yet again, Scy inspired many to roar in expectation. They were watching the many young mages walk through the doors. Some had robes while others wore armor. Most had staffs but some had other means of using their skills. Those that did not have any weapons were seen as weak. That was onemon misconception that Walker already understood.


    He was using his senses to feel the mana around each of them. Those with the most gear in their bodies seemed to have the most help from runes. But that also meant that they were pushing themselves. Those without seemed to understand their skills better and already held more elemental mana around them.


    "I can''t wait to see what they can do. By the time we get to the veteran mages, I''m not sure what things will be like." Mordant watched carefully as Walker began to get more energetic as well. He was sure that Walker would end up battlingter even without encouragement.


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 Chapter 1435 1435. Magical Battles

    The magical skills being prepared around the arena were what Walker focused on the most. This was a valuable chance to learn more and more about what he may be able to do. It was the perfect ce for him to n his additional training in magical skills. On top of that, he was seeing many different systems being used.


    There was a single nce from Mordant as soon as a mage started using darkness elemental skills. He would have said something he found that he was not at all impressed. The level of magic was smaller than what he could do as a darkness affinity dragon.


    "I know you expected more. But, you have been studying the darkness elemental mana for a lot longer than they have. Some of them are dual elemental mages while others are singr elemental mages. What you should be looking for are those that you think might have potential. This is the youngest age group."


    This seemed to make Mordant change thinking slightly. He had been looking at the mages as if they were finished with their growth. As if this was all they would ever have to show for their work. "I believe that there are a few who may show better growth if they ess the mage tower elemental floors. It is dependent on what they train themselves to do."


    "I agree, there are a lot with potential but that means they need to find a way to apply themselves. That mage there isn''t a mage persey. He is using the elemental mana to wrap himself and create swords. It is simr to a summoner in a way." Walker felt that the mage was a very broad term.


    "But that girl down two more arenas is actually a summoner. She is summoning field mice with pure earth elemental affinity. It''s enough to make someone think about what a mage is. But I would say that we should keep an eye on that boy there." Walker pointed toward a boy that seemed to be walking around an extremely confused opponent.


    "At first I thought that he was using some kind of mental illusion magic. But the closer I looked the more I started to understand. He is using poisons and medicines that he is infusing in the air. From there he is spreading them specifically around his opponent to cause them to hallucinate and give up the battle." Since this was not Mordant''s elemental affinity, he had missed it.


    "Interesting. I am surprised that someone would think of such a way to battle here." This made Mordant think of ulterior ways he may see someone sue the shadows. It was always straight forward when he used them to battle. Yet, the more he saw different mages using their skills with unexpected techniques, the more he started to wonder if he could change his own views about his own power.


    "Ah, there you are. Thank you for keeping the seats around you empty for us." Walker heard Ibis behind him and found that he had the abyssal serpent hatchlings and the dragon hatchlings with him.


    "You seemed to have your hands full today." It was a lot of work keeping track of all of them. But Ibis seemed to have been smart about it. The abyssal serpents listened to him well but the dragon hatchlings were attracted to the snacks he had brought with him.


    "That''s more of the horned rabbit spiced jerky. It''s very good. I can understand why they have followed you." Mordant smelled it easily. If Walker hadn''t already brought some as snacks for them to eat, he would have considered stealing it right then and there.


    "Yes it is. Midnight seemed to battle with herself to hand it to me when she wanted me to watch the little ones. But they should be here to watch the battles. They can learn a lot and have fun." Just as Ibis exined this, Walker saw the hatchlings, dragons and not, focus on the magical battles. Their eyes seemed to widen as they decided that they had found something amazing to watch.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, if Midnight was willing to give up food then she must have been really excited to show up here and participate in something. She should be in the mix of magic and physicalpetition. I can''t imagine her not using her fire breath to fight." Walker considered it and also knew that Midnight would not be able to use her skeletal armor skill if she were to fight in a physical battle only match.


    "The physical battles will mostly be demi-humans from what I have grasped. I see plenty of young elves here testing their skills. Even the next age group has begun to fight and it is still mostly elves. I am interested in the fact that there are some humans able to rival the elves in battle using magic. That is very unexpected." Mordant had been watching the battles carefully. He had seen multiple humans use their skills to beat elves.


    "The elves are very nature based with their magic. Humans aren''t strict about following those guidelines. Therefore, they use riskier methods that would harm the environment. It''s good and bad. That''s why the elves are so important to Genesis, they will help keep nature as a main focus of growth."


    "There''s that and the training is different. Humans are not as close with their affinitiespared to elves. That means we have to be more creative in how we use the weaker skills we have. It''s easy to say that the more powerful spell will always win. But, humans will say that someone who practices the basics more will win."


    "I understand, so it is the same way that a dragon will train the same elemental mana for a lifetime. It will be stronger yet we will be weak to our opposite." Mordant caught on easily which helped their growing debate.


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 Chapter 1436 1436. Two Mages

    "Who is that man?" Walker saw an unfamiliar figure covered in moss. He seemed to be moving without even taking a step. Just gliding along.


    "I have no idea, a moss covered mage. Definitely no one that I ever heard of when I was the adventurers guild master." The thought that ibis might have the answer fell to pieces while the three began to focus on the unknown mage.


    "His opponent looks strange too. I have never seen a woman with that many¡­well whatever they are." Ibis was dumbfounded. He was looking at a tall woman with many strange pieces of metal in her hair and even wrapped around her.


    "You three should start listening to the crowd around you. Alma and I heard everything just walking over here." Gil teased the three since he saw that they had totally missed their chance.


    "Well little archer. What do you know that this ancient royal dragon does not?" Mordant was a little snippy as Gil had teased him. He had to show his strength to ensure that he would not be disrespected.


    "What Gil was saying is simple. The crowd has been gossiping about the migrating mage and the steel mage. They are two wandering mages that many think of as bards stories and not real people." Alma jumped in at the perfect time.


    "What can they do that is so amazing?" Ibis was not hesitating and decided just to ask outright.


    "The migrating mage is just that. He wanders wherever the warmth is so nts can grow. He has some skills like me but he has much more experience. One of the few elves to leave the city and be praised for it. He can create a forest with his skills if he so desires." There was a very proud tone when Alma described the migrating mage to them.


    "And the steel mage is one of the extremely rare cases where a dwarf is born with magical system and skills. She has absolute control over metal and only metal. Specifically, she merges metals to create steel and attacks with them. It''s basically a tougher earth mage. Some were saying that she wraps herself in metal so she looks thin and tall because she doesn''t like her height." Gil finished the description Alma had started.


    "So we are now watching some of the veteran mages that havee for a chance to enter your mage tower. They are fighting for a very valuable chance. I would say that migrating mage has water and earth skills while the steel mage has a very refined earth skill. It should be interesting." Mordant had be distracted. The migrating mage had begun to move.


    The moss all over the migrating mage proved to be nothing like moss at all. Instead of moss, gree all over him were extremely small trees. The migrating mage had grown them to this size to be used in battle or to grow a forest around him. It was an ingenious and mana heavy way to battle.


    Roots burst out beneath the steel mage''s feet, but they were stopped by a piece of metal that bent off of her outfit. There was barely a look at the migrating mage before small spears of shiny silver steel flew at him.


    The trees grew in a blink of an eye to catch the steel spears, however, this was not thest attack of the steel mage. She had created a very appropriate drill shaped spear that started to screw in to the wood created by the migrating mage. In just a few moments of pushing, the steel mage had broken through the migrating mage''s defenses.<sub> </sub>


    The reaction was a burst of water and earth elemental mana as the roots and trees began to grow and converge. "That''s the living forest skill! He is using living forest skills!" The trees formed in to a deer made of wood and leafage. The shape was held together by massive amounts of mana that seemed to flow from the many, now visible, earth balls hanging on the migrating mage''s waist.


    "It''s an amazing skill, but the migrating mage has a bad opponent. Steel can cut away a forest. Just like now." Ibis was impressed but saddened that he would not get to see more. All around the migrating mage, sharp steel spears started to rise.


    They pointed at him and his deer creation. As they floated up they melded together to form a cor and binding chains. The steel mage had brought numerous pieces of steel with her so that she could control the flow of battle. Her skills were not as highly learned as the migrating mages'' were, but she had the practice to force her skills to change shape to counter someone not as tough as her.


    "She chained the living forest so easily! I can''t believe it. He should have¡­now, he didn''t because he has to hold back here. If he used a mastery skill he would ruin the entire city in to a forest. He was outsmarted!" Alma was more impressed knowing that the steel mage had won using her wits. Alma had learned a weakness that came with her nt based skills as well.


    "I would say that was a pretty amazing show though, look at the judges. Even Ignus seems to be on the edge of his seat after seeing that happen." Gil saw that ra was diligently keeping Ignus and Rorick from starting a loud and angry debate about who had the better skills between the mages.


    "These are great ideas. I have the me doll and theva puppet. I need to figure that one out too. If I can, it might be more sustainable and usable in battle." Walker was taking rapid mental notes while creating theories. He wanted to start training this potential as soon as he could. Yet, the battles weren''t even over.


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 Chapter 1437 1437. Claws

    Hours passed them by while watching the magic battles. No one in the audience realized that the day had even beening to an end. What was even more shocking, was that there were already battles of non magical fights beginning. The way Scy organized it made it so that there was absolutely no gap between the battles.


    "I think I know how the demi-humans do their real tournaments." Walker caught himself falling asleep out of tiredness. He felt that he had been awake way too long.


    "The demi-humans are known for sometimes having week long tournaments. Their longest ever done is over a month of battle to decide a general." Ibis had more knowledge on this topic which presented a new light to Walker.


    "That sounds like a good event to have. Many battles that would bring morale much higher. There would bea constant reason to improve radically during that month." Mordant considered the same thing being done in his vige for the single reason that he might be able to push his warriors to greater strengths.


    "I want to see the battles where people can use both magical and physical skills together. It should be more interesting since even Remey was joining git. The only reason I didn''t is that I have other things I want to attend to." Gil didn''t want to be dragged in to the battle against some of the enforcers. He felt that it was better to let them show their archery prowess instead of him. He also didn''t feel like fighting it out against so many others in front of a veryrge crowd, but he wouldn''t say that.


    "If I were to join then I would be unable to use my skills properly. I would have to stop and treat everyone that I used my blue ivy on right away or they might suffer severe damage. It would be unfair to the others if I did such a thing. Using normal nts would just cause me to be defeated more easily. I believe I should speak with Remey aboutnts I might start to cultivate for my skills." Alma was in an internal struggle over this.


    "You can probably get a lot of the herbalists to help you out. Between some of the herbalists and farmers, you might be able to get some of the faster growing herbs crossbred for you to use." Walker thought that this was a wise choice since there were so many people fully focused on the growth of nts in Genesis after the alchemypetition.


    "There is one of Ignus''s warriors. One of his w users." Mordant pointed out an agile red scaled dragonkin with impable ws. It appeared that the warrior was facing an armored opponent from the adventurer''s guild.


    "w users? What is different about him as a w user and someone who uses metal ws attached to some sort of gauntlet?" This was a genuine question. Walker had not studied any of the closebat techniques that used ws because Remey handled the closebat hand to hand battles. It was her style and expertise.


    "The dragon w skills are hard to learn because it relies on strengthening the body. The dragonkin that works towards using those techniques eat a strict diet, train for many more hours than others, and must have incredible resistances. They have a special ce above most warriors. They even can move to different viges to train against others with the same field of study. They are one of the dragonkin warrior prides. That warrior, in particr, is new to the arts and is about to learn a lot."


    "So they are like the rare warriors that be much better through extremely hard work and pressure. Kind of like a diamond." Gil made the rtion to the diamonds that the dwarves said were only created under great pressure of volcanoes andva.


    "That''s a good way to look at it. However, they will hold a great deal of responsibility. They face the strongest foes in the wilds when out hunting for food or materials. They will fight the strongest warriors when viges need toe to an ord. However, they are rewarded for their work." Mordant watched the battle begin and silenced himself to watch one of Ignus''s dragon w warriors.<sub> </sub>


    The warrior took a stance with their ws facing forward. Walker could clearly see that the ws were carefully filed to a point. But what surprised him was the fact that the ws seemed to extend when the dragonkin warrior flexed. It was a unique quality that they trained to be a dragon w warrior and better use their system.


    The movements seemed like they were ingrained within the dragonkin''s muscles. The moment that the armored adventure tried to swing his two handed ax at the dragonkin, an amazing event urred. The dragonkin shed at the ax causing deep scratches to appear. The entire crowd was silenced seeing that the dragonkin had easily sliced through some of the hardest iron.


    The moves that the dragonkin used were not excessively fast so the armored adventurer was able to dodge. The ces where the ws grazed him were very visible. "Stop fooling around and show them what you learned!" Ignus roared out since it appeared that Rorick was antagonizing him while they sat at the top of the coliseum watching the matches.


    The change was like night and day. Sparring was off the table and the dragonkin became feisty like the hottest mes. He jumped forward and rolled around the adventurers shing at the weak points of the armor. In mere minutes the shredded iron armor fell to the ground along with the two handed ax.


    "That''s why even the youngest of the dragon w warriors are put at the front of a battle. They have keen eyes for weak points and will strike as if their lives depended on it. That adventurer is right to admit defeat." Mordant spoke calmly. He was proud to see such a sight.


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 Chapter 1438 1438. Odd Traits

    "Since we are talking about purely physical warriors, what about that enforcer? She isn''t using a single magical arrow or skill. It''s all tough materials and skill." Gil pointed out one of the forest elf archers. He had met her a few times but she was less talkative and more focused on training.


    "Well, I should have expected that you would point out someone using a bow and arrow." Walker teased a little but found that Mordant had taken the question more seriously. Bur Ibis was the one that beast Mordant to a reply.


    "Very strong muscle control. She had more than just the basic skill set of an archer. I would say a master archer system at least. Or a variation of archery. The enforcer is just a position within the elven society, not a benchmark of her skills. I assume that she will proceed to your archery academy soon?"


    "She is actually one of the assistants there. I will not allow her to join as a teacher until she has five more years of in the wild experience. She also has to continue her position as an enforcer." Alma was not letting one of the most talented archers get away from her position.


    "This elf is that highly talented? I would say she is somewhatcking. She had the training and precise control but not the spirit. I assume she has just gone along with her system her whole life?" Mordant seemed to be getting at more than just the skill level.


    "There are multiple warriors down there. You can see the ones that just want fame and afortable potion. Those are the ones losing. Your archer is the same. She hasn''t found a driving force to get stronger yet. Those five years might need to be ten or twenty to find that. Even royal dragons like myself were that way when we hatched. I decided to carry the weight of every darkness dragon in my shadow. I am the most powerful of all the darkness dragons because of that." The shadows seemed to stretch slightly when Mordant showed off his determination.


    "Not to stop the conversation¡­but who is that?" a demi-human had arrived in one of the arenas. It seemed that they had absolutely no discerning features other than longer hair. "I can''t even tell what kind of demi-human trait that is." Walker couldn''t get the best view either since the battle between him and a grey haired spider had started.


    "Is it really fair that he is up against a grey haired spider though? They are definitely more agile being a monster race. Although, demi-humans have a lot more body control because of their trait¡­" Gil tried to make sense of the battle. It came to everyone''s realization that they had not considered some of the monster races participating in these battles.


    "I thought most of the goblins and grey haired spiders were busy building their own homes? If some are here then they must have set up permanent residences within Genesis. I don''t think they would stay here." Alma had heard that most of the grey haired spiders had left because they did not desire to make homes here first. There were a few left, of course.


    "Whatever the reason, I think the control over the spider silk between its legs is amazing. It''s using it like a whip and like a snare. That''s a very good way not to use their innate magical abilities to control spider thread. Everyone is watching them too, so they don''t use those skills in this kind of battle that only has a physical moves rule." Mordant found himself impressed with the ingenuity he was seeing.


    "I know those traits. That is a soft haired porcupine traited demi-human. They live in the grassnds and are exceedingly rare monsters. To have traits that align with them make that demi-human a force to be reckoned with." Just as Ibis recalled this information, the long hairs on the demi-human''s body shot out. Because they were part of his body, he could control each and every single one by flexing.<sub> </sub>


    "They have absolutely zero control of any elemental mana or magic. That trait seems to be true for the demi-human fighting. Yet, they can control their body with absolute control from the day they are born. That means they can do that." The grey haired spider''s threads were cut in to tiny pieces.


    The advantage they had thought the grey haired spider had was aplete falsehood. It was only there to show that the demi-human had not begun to try yet. "That demi-human will get very far because of their innate skill. But they also nned out the best way to make themselves appear to be an underdog. I doubt the judges saw that but the crowd did." Walker knew part of this tournament was attracting the crowds'' adoration.


    "Spell des!" The first of the magic and physical mixed skills battles had started. Alma saw the familiar attacks of a water elemental spell de forest elf and jumped up in excitement. She had wanted to see them specifically. She wanted to see how many hade and improved since they arrived in Genesis Is a few weeks ago.


    "The spell des just got here from the forest elf city. They came just for thispetition to train and then report back to the Queen. The queen apparently wanted toe but has been busy preparing to send more soldiers to the borders. A few rumors have started about everyone sending more." Gil wanted the forest elf queen to havee too but there were good reasons not to.


    "If they have been training here and no one has been gossiping then I assume they have locked themselves away to keep hidden. That''s a very sneaky way toe to a battle." Mordant found the spell des interesting. Five had just taken the stage, one that used darkness elemental mana had already grabbed his attention.


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 Chapter 1439 1439. Waiting Room

    "I see that you are ready." Remey had managed to find Su. She wasn''t surprised that Midnight was next to her as well.


    "Of course. I need to train against people I don''t know. The adventurers guild has opponents but they look at me like I will be a teacher and not someone to fight seriously." Su had the right idea. Because there was fame, who she and the rest of the party were, she knew that she would not be taken as seriously all the time.


    "I agree. I train mostly against dummies or you guys. Even the dragonkin hold back a little since they think they might offend a royal dragon." The slight crack of Remey''s knuckles broke the air since she was wearing her gauntlets.


    "Did I hear that you were worried about a real match?" An unfamiliar voice came from behind them in therge waiting room for participants. They had waited a while already because the matches took so long and there were so many people participating in the battles.


    "I can''t say we''ve seen you around anywhere. Have you been hiding out so that you can''t battle? Or did you just get here from the forests?" Su recognized the elf as a forest elf immediately. The clothing and stature made it clear.


    "My squad of spell des was sent to examine Genesis and partake in this battle to prove the strength of thebined efforts of multiple races." It was no use hiding anything. The slim elven woman stood tall with pride for her mission handed down by the queen herself.


    "So you came to get your butts kicked. That will be easy enough. Just hope you don''t have to deal with us." Remey knocked her fists together with a metallic ng. She was not going to give away any of the skills she had been working on.


    Midnight responded with a growl as well. "Sister says that she will also show you how weak one race ispared to the united races." Onyx slithered up after searching for the others since he had gotten there.


    "Onyx, d you made it to the front. They are about to send us to the next open arenas. They are taking notes and scoringpetitors to go to final rounds in the next two days. These are all preliminaries." Su shared what she knew much to the displeasure of the ignored spell de.


    "Arrogance. I have seen only that in these waiting rooms. Bring proof when you face my de." The forest elf scoffed at them as a guard came to bring more of the participants forward.


    As much as Su could have been surprised, she was not. She found herself facing the very same female spell de that had just been trying to talk up her strength over others. It helped that everyone but Gil and Walker had not worn anything identifying. Their medals, ques, and other things had been left behind so they could be less conspicuous. Of course, that was not a perfect n since so many people recognized Remey. However, the spell de did not recognize Su.


    "Now I can show you just how strong Genesis is. Just try and hold yourself together in front of the next forest elf queen. She is over there watching." Su started with taunts immediately. It was insanely effective since Su had managed to spot Alma sitting with the others right away. She even heard Walker cheer for her from the stands.


    "Battle!" Each arena had its own referee so that they could manage some of the dangers. Most of them hade from the demi-human kingdom due to their extensive knowledge of coliseum battles. It was one thing that Scy had already beenplimented on in her nning.<sub> </sub>


    Su didn''t hesitate and kept herself ready to take on any hit that came her way. Naturally, her first move was to use the two shields. They had the greatest area to cover her from most sides. That was a good thing because she quickly found out that the spell de she was facing had darkness elemental affinity.


    A single darkness elemental de flew through the air in an arc. It was enough to force Su to brace herself. What is unexpected though, was that the de barely pushed her back. Even her shadow under her feet wasn''t affected by it. "That''s all?" She looked at the also stunned spell de.


    Su had been expecting the hit to push her back or make her trapped by her own shadow. She had been much more cautious. Yet, what Su had not taken in to ount was her magical defense having risen along with the toughness of her armor''s magical defenses. She had be a much stronger person than she had been when she first saw the spell des in the forest elf city.


    "Come on! Try and actually hit me!" The taunt was incredibly sarcastic causing the spell de to fall for it without any reservations. Four more des of shadow flew through the air while Su waltzed forwardughing at the spell de. This was not the normal Su battle style but one thatpletely relied on taunting.


    The strategies Su had were not very numerous. However, she had developed one that would mess with an opponent''s mind the best. Constant taunts would cause them to get angry or frustrated. That being said, Su gained a massive advantage as the only calm indeed one in battle. It was perfect for battling against someone with more emotional battle styles. Or someone arrogant like the spell de in front of her.


    "Care to test something out for me? I have been training this with Midnight for thest few nights where no one could see." Su hadn''t let a single person see this. She had prepared the move and skill specifically for the tournament so that she could show off her own strength.


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 Chapter 1440 1440. Taunting Victory

    "So your guardian has exceeded the attacks of another. That should make you feel proud." Mordant didn''t hesitate to mention this to Walker. He thought that it was a little rough since he knew that Mordant had wanted the darkness affinity spell de to win. It was the same affinity he prided. However, Su was using interesting tactics.


    "I haven''t seen Su use a tactic that forces her opponent to use all of their mana. She is literally taunting them in to losing without attacking." Walker wanted to see Su use this against him. He felt that it would be the perfect mental training for anyone to get to the right level to face a tough opponent. Especially an opponent with illusion or other mind rted skills.


    "Remind me not to make Su angry. I think she can block some of my elemental arrows without a scratch now." The thought had urred to Gil after he saw her block four darkness thrown de attacks in a row.


    "I would not get too excited just yet. That spell de, she is not using both of her swords. She is a dual elemental spell de you know." Alma realized that she had a few more pieces of knowledge than the others. It helped that she had met all of the spell des participating before they had evene to Genesis. Yet, in the busyness of the weeks she had been unable to introduce them to even Gil.


    "Oh, a second affinity. I was wondering why a singr affinity warrior seemed to have such a weakness to their main affinity. Ipletely missed the other elemental mana around their body." Mordant had be very distracted it was unlike him to be that way.


    Meanwhile in the arena¡­


    "I''m done ying with this! I was going to hold back and beat you so I can defeat the real opponents. But I was given an annoying brat!" The spell sword had lost her patience. This was it for her mental strength. The second sword was pulled out from her waist and she became a lot more serious about the battle.


    When the second sword was pulled out, Su knew exactly what elemental affinity the spell de was going to use. She changed the shields dropping the twin shields and pulling her earth dwelling shield from her back. "I doubt that you will make any difference with that saber in your hand. Not that you were doing damage in the first ce."


    The taunt added to the spell de''s anger. She rushed forward in a flurry of shes that Su just blocked and redirected with ease. "Come on, use your earth affinity too. Or is it too slow?" Su felt the earth de form ande at her from the spell de''s swords.


    "My partner and I can use that earth elemental mana too." Su felt the earth spirit within the earth dwelling shield react. The earth thrown de that hit the shield became nothing to her even before it touched it. The only thing that made any impact was the residual mana from the spell de herself. That was because there was her personal mana within the earth elemental mana gathered. Otherwise, Su had allowed the earth spirit to take the mana for itself.


    "How!"That''s not how it should be!" The spell de reacted with a nice dramatic surprise allowing Su to use her first shield bash. The impact was held back because Su wasn''t sure what she would be able to do. She had already found that she was better defensively than she expected. The call was the right move though.


    The shield bash made contact with the stunned spell de knocking her back and way out of the arena on to the floor. Su just stood watching the spell de push herself up and look at her. "Sorry about the taunting. It was just a way to throw you off your game." Su tried to apologize but the crowd was already being too loud and drawing out her voice.


    "I don''t think I will be training against Su anytime soon." Alma thought that Su would easily stand and be able to walk through any attacks she could muster with her blue ivy.<sub> </sub>


    "You''re telling me. I know that I would have to use some serious magical skills to deal with her defenses now. I didn''t realize that she had gotten so much strongertely." There was a small spark in Walker''s eyes. He was getting more and more excited to see what Su hading. He knew she had held back her skills. It was too easy too easy to see that she had stopped herself from using a skill that she hadn''t shown yet.


    "She is limating to the blood of dragons as a draconic guardian. The effects are much more dramatic because she is a human and not a dragonkin. I thought she would take on more traits of a dragonkin after the bond increased¡­Yet here she is without scales and tougher skin instead. Her eyes are different though." Mordant thought that this was an amazing urrence.


    "She has some ideas of what skills she can use. I find myself wondering if she might sprout wings or make them out of elemental mana like me." Walker dropped this on Mordant. He had not really shown these skills in depth yet. Just small doses.


    "I think we should refocus ourselves. Remey is about to start her fight against a demi-human with gori traits. I would be willing to ce a bet that it is a child of the demi-human guards." Ibis felt that he was the only one staying focused on the battles taking ce still. Everyone was getting in to debates about skills and how the future may take shape.


    "Gil, on three?" Walker nodded three times


    "Let''s go Remey!" The cheer was loud enough for many to hear. Su had even joined in seeing that Gil and Walker were preparing to shout.


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 Chapter 1441 1441. Fist To Fist

    "I have to admit, you look tough." Remey was looking at the demi-human with much more muscle than she would ever have. The gori traits made him slightly taller than the average man, therefore, the demi-human stood very tall over Remey.


    " I must look as such to take my father''s position as vice guard of the west gate. I havee here to expand my knowledge inbat and show that the best are not always within the blossoming city that everyone speaks of." There was pride in the demi-humans voice. He wasn''t being arrogant but truly loved the city he was born.


    "Then you picked a good match to start with. I know you saw me as the alchemist and one of the guild masters of the alchemy guild. But I''ll tell you this, I hate the guild master title. I prefer the name the world gave me through my system; alchemical brawler." Remey mmed her fists together and alchemy fire blossomed on her gauntlets.


    "No point in holding back their alchemical brawler. This elite guard will show you a thing or two." The gori treated demi-human took a hard stance to receive any attacks that Remey attempted to send his way. There was no arrogance between them. Just solid wills with anticipation.


    "Now that is how a battle should look. Two real fighters waiting to see the best of the other." King Rorick wanted to brag about one of the younger up anding guards, however, he was more spurred on by the sight of the two acting with perfect sportsmanship.


    "I would have to agree with you. It makes my blood boil. I want to see them battle!" ra didn''t oppose them this time. She too found herself wanting to see what had changed since thest time she saw the party she managed fight. She had spent way too much time locked away within an officetely. It was too dull.


    "Well, Remey has made a breath through in her alchemy fire control. She isn''t even feeling what from that. Notice that she isn''t relying on the runes she has on her gear." Walker could feel it from where he sat. He was sensing the control that Remey used to keep the alchemy fire from damaging her or the gear she wore. What was even more impressive was the fact that the alchemy fire spirit wasn''t acting just yet. It was still reading within Remey''s spirit mark.


    "Weak mes!" The demi-human elite guard stepped forward and swung out a solid fist. He had no need for weapons. His body was his weapon. His skin was his armor. The gori traits he had didn''t just increase his physical strength, it also improved his physical defenses.


    The fist that flew toward Remey was not something she knew she could easily block without taking damage. But that wasn''t what she had in mind. Remey arched her back and let the elite guard take a solid upwards kick to the jaw. "You didn''t really think that I could only punch, did you?"


    Remey had purposefully misled the elite guard so that he would go in toa frontal attack thinking she could only battle with her fists. The shock he was in gave her the chance to not only mock him a little but also to throw out a proper punch to his ribs.


    The elite guard jumped back. He did not let Remey''s words throw him off or the pain to show on his face. He could easily give in to his emotions and go wild. The gori traits he had wanted him to give in this way. Instead, he remained calm and watched Remey circle to the right. She suddenly sprinted forward and ducked under his left arm which was already moving to jab.


    Since she saw a jabing, Remey jabbed as well while moving to a higher stance. She made contact but saw that her opponent was going to put space between them to wind up for a harder hit. Her reaction to this was simple, the answer was alchemy mes.<sub> </sub>


    The alchemy fire spirit emerged from the spirit mark. This caused the alchemy fire to surge around Remey with much more strength. So much so that the elite guard couldn''t even consider attacking. He had to retreat from the sudden heat. "Now that''s how you warm up."


    The alchemy fire was wrapping around Remey in strange ways. It was as if it couldn''t decide on a proper form to take. Remey didn''t appear to be able to guide it further either. However, this was amassive leap forward since it was no longer able to burn her.


    The push off of the ground had a slight burn mark left behind by Remey''s feet. She was already pushing the elite guard toward the edge of the arena. In ast ditch effort to escape the loss, the gori trait elite guard tried to grapple Remey and throw her over his shoulder and out of the arena.


    Unknown to him, this was a terrible idea. The moment his hands stretched out to grab her, she mmed her arm down to knock him off bnce. In a simple spin, Remey''s heel struck his ribs right where her punch had before. With his bnce thrown off and the additional pain, the elite guard was sent out of the arena on his butt.


    ? "Next time you and I will use more of the attacks we have worked on." Remey immediately promised the alchemy fire spirit this. She didn''t want to get all fired up for another easy battle. Yet, this didn''t feel easy. She just felt that she had been able to better manipte her opponent with her hard trained moveset. "That was a good match,e fight me again." Remey gave a nod before walking away.


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 Chapter 1442 1442. Showy Appearance

    "I can say that Su and Remey will be back in the arena some point soon." Waker was very impressed by his friend''s improvements. They had shown off their tactics while also holding back so that they did not give away any of their best moves.


    "I am more interested to see these next matches. There seems to be a decentmotion within the waiting room." The group looked down at the entrance to the participant waiting area. There were multiple people rushing out to make way for someone that was leaving behind them. The looks over their shoulders showed that it was going to be someone that they didn''t want to fight.


    "It''s not surprising with the darkness elemental mana I can feel around that entrance. I would say that a powerful opponent ising. Those leaving ahead of them should hope that they do not need to face whoever that is. Only a handful I have seen will be able to handle that degree of elemental control." For Mordant topliment the mana he felt to such a degree meant a lot.


    What burst from the tunnel to the waiting area was an armored serpent that Walker recognized. It was Onyx in his full size without anything held back. "That''s what those crates were for!" Onyx had requested that the wandering cksmith create armor for him. On top of that, the armor was carved with darkness elemental runes which enhanced the armor that Onyx could make using the shadows he controlled.


    Enhancing this even further, Onyx used light elemental mana to keep it all held in bnce. Instead of the shadows spreading as they would without anything forcing them in to ce, the light elemental mana traced lines. It held back the darkness elemental mana causing a shimmering light to reflect off the shiny metal portions.


    Each and every section of armor was made so that Onyx could move flexibly. This was the ideal shape of an armor for him to add defenses and also keep mobility. To call it a master piece would be an understatement. The armor was perfect for Onyx. Perfect! "Onyx said that he had something for when he needed it but I didn''t think that he had that. It''s amazing."


    "You are a little too starstruck to see Onyx with his new armor and using skills with it to enhance his strength. You''re more like a father than an older brother." Ibis felt that he was witnessing an interesting side of Walker. A side that he had not seen because he had never really spent time with his adventurers after he was forced in to his office. It was pleasant.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, before you, you see Onyx. the abyssal serpent we all have heard about. Those little ones that y tag in your shadows in the market are his students. Every single person who has wondered who the little brother of our heroes is, this is him. The abyssal serpent that will one day bring a nearly extinct race of monsters to the point of world wide recognition. With his entry in this tournament, the demi-human race voiced their support of the abyssal serpent''s goals!"


    Scy had carefully waited for this moment. She had spoken with king Rorick with her intentions. They were already helping other monster races. They had even made important ties with the goblins and grey haired spiders even though the forest elves had already pledged to assist them first.


    The crowd was in awe of the strength they saw. On top of that, they were filled with hope hearing that Genesis was already bringing other races together to uplift those who desire to be more. Those that had seen Onyx knew him as a much more mature being that could easily converse with anyone. Yet, they did not realize his true strength.


    To demonstrate that he was actually a powerful monster, Onyx coiled up in the arena he had been directed to. His loud his echoed slightly before his head lowered to look at the man before him. "Facing our quick growing Onyx, we have a special volunteer. This man before you is a human general from the city of Diamond. He is Marshal Green Known as the unshakable shield of the border." Scy had invited the general here after hearing that he was retiring. It was the perfect way for him to transition and find a home in Genesis to train soldiers.<sub> </sub>


    The General Marshal was fairly well built and tall even though he had plenty of white hair due to his age. He carried a long spear and tower shield. His reputation was known to more than just one race. The stories of how he had trained the toughest defensive formations had been sung about by minstrels in every city that allowed for travelers toe there.


    "Well met Onyx. I hope that you can disy your strength properly against me." General Marshal knew he would not have trouble against Onyx. he had fought many beings in his time at the border with greater strength. He just enjoyed that he would be able to help a promising young being show off the strength they would use to shape the future.


    "I appreciate your journey here. Pleasee by our hometer for dinner so that you can meet my family." The introduction said and done, they prepared to battle.


    The first attack had toe from Onyx. he knew that the general was waiting for him so that he could block any attacks that came at him. Therefore, Onyx undid his coil and whipped his tail forward. The smash that followed shook the entire stadium. The stones were cracked but quickly repaired and reinforced by the earth mages.


    "That armor also enhanced his skills. It has to be the darkness elemental runes allowing Onyx to add more mana to his attacks." Walker hadn''t grasped the uniqueness of the runes he saw.


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 Chapter 1443 1443. Strength In Age

    The tail m would have shown everyone the massive strength that came from the control that Onyx had trained. However, General Marshal was unaffected. He casually changed stance before mming his tower shield forward. Onyx was pushed back slightly.


    "I see, you are much heavier than you appear to be. Is it your body, or the armor?" The general was fairly impressed by the attack though. He had felt the attempt to stun him in to falling. If he had, he would have had a very hard time blocking a following attack.


    Onyx brought his tail up again to m it down toward the general, however, this time instead of a ground shaking m there were small des of shadow that formed beneath Onyx''s tail. He had used his tail to create a longer shadow that hid his true intentions. It was a wise move that many had not expected.


    "I do not believe that this is all you can do." General Marsha used impressive footwork while carrying his spear and tower shield to bring him around each de. It was as if they hadn''t been there in his way at all.


    "You see much more than I realized. Good luck." Onyx wasn''t holding back. He had trained his high darkness affinity and more recently the weaker light affinity he had grown in to. The same des fell from above as condensed light elemental mana. This skill was one that Alice had specifically helped him with.


    "Good!" General Marshal raised his shield and knocked them aside. His spear spun, shing three light des apart before they even got near him. "I will attack now and test your defense." General Marshal dashed forward much faster than someone of his age should have been ankle to move.


    Since Onyx was a serpent type monster, he had better agility than most other monsters. Therefore, he was able to somewhat keep up with the general. As soon as he saw the glint of a spear tip heading toward him he moved.


    The spear narrowly grazed the armor tes that Onyx wore on his body. Condensed shadows and light wrapped around strengthening the armor as the next attack came toward hum. This continued for over three full minutes causing Onyx to really feel the pressure. "You can do more than that, where is your counter attack!?"


    General Marshal knew just how to push his opponent to show off their real strength. Onyx knew well that this was what was happening and allowed himself to be baited. He was here to show strength and not just run from attacks.


    The shadows built up suddenly around Onyx making general Marshal think that he was about to face a tougher defense. Yet, when the armor on Onyx''s body suddenly fell to the ground he was a little lost for words.


    "Did you know, that abyssal serpents can hide in your shadow?" Onyx sprang from general Marshal''s shadow and using his bind skill to wrap around him. His erging size again caused more and more pressure to hold the generalpletely trapped.


    "Very good, but I am a little more experienced than you." The tower shield clicked showing off multiple spikes that had been made to retract and push out when activated by a small button. "I mayck magical skills, but I made up for it in making my very own weapons."


    Onyx felt the pricks of the tower shield spikes. He hissed slightly but began to pull the shadows around him. "I dropped my armor to speed up. I can take others in to the shadows with me you know." Onyx had recentlyprehended this skill and began to sink in to the shadows beneath their feet. "What do you think will happen when we are both in a shadow without someone to cast it?"<sub> </sub>


    "Now that is unwise little serpent. I will tell you both that you are at a perfect standstill. Try that trick again in another year of training. Maybe six months if you work hard enough." Mordant had used speed enough to cause a breeze around the entire arena to reach them. He forcefully brought them out of the shadows while shaking his head.


    "The technique was wise. However, you do not want to delve in to the shadow elemental ne without the proper knowledge and experience. Even I can only manage that for a short time. There are many reasons that I do not pursue that goal currently. Even I do not deem myself fit as of yet."


    The darkness elemental ne had many things. What Mordant had expressed was a specific part of it that held the world''s shadows. That many creatures may be unknowingly connected to. He knew there was a danger of being trapped there. He would not allow for anyone to do so in front of him.


    "Then I will thank you for your help. I will try to learn faster." Onyx reduced his size hiding it in the shadows while letting general Marchal free.


    "Quite a surprise you had for me. I did not think you would risk losing the shadowspletely. I underestimate you in my old age. Come and train with me another time. I wish to see you use that armor more. When you can move at the same speed with the armor on as you did just now without, you will stand above many."


    "You see it here. Even the royal dragon Mordant was brought to the battle! Wee the general to our city. Show your support to Onyx while he raises his students to shine just as brightly as he does!" Scy made sure she closed the match properly. She was d that this had worked out to help Onyx and bring in a promising new instructor. She nned to spar against the general herself at some point. It seemed to be only fitting to test each other''s strengths.


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 Chapter 1444 1444. Leon Shows Off

    The crowd felt that they had been shown a battle they didn''t expect. No one knew that the seemingly weak and kind abyssal serpent was actually a terrifying force. Specifically, that Onyx could take on adventures with greater strength without losing immediately.


    It was true that General Marshal had not used his full strength. That was just hope he was asked to fight. Yet, he had been underestimating Onyx just enough to get tricked in to a rough situation. He had even expected that onyx would give up after being stuck with small spikes on his tower shield, but he had been wrong.


    "That armor was what onyx was hiding from all of us. He''s way sneakier than he should be. I need to teach him a lesson." Gil felt that Onyx shouldn''t have hidden so much from them. It was mostly his own desire to train against him though. Onyx was much tougher now than he had been thest time Gil had a match against him.


    "I think Onyx was smart to hide it. He was waiting to use it when he knew what he was doing. He also gave a very good example for some very excited abyssal serpent hatchlings." Ibis points out the abyssal serpent hatchlings who tracked Onyx with their eyes all the way back to the tunnel to the resting area. They had be much more driven to get stronger after witnessing the way Onyx fought.


    "I''m more surprised that Mordant went to stop the battle. He is taking a much more forward role in everything than I thought. Not that I was going to let things go poorly either." Walker had also been prepared to manipte the shadows and hold Onyx solidly. He had felt something off in their bond when Onyx had tried to pull the general down.


    "That would have been the correct choice. You are bound to him and he to you. He knew that he was doing something risky and took a gamble. That is good and bad. Gambles were required for me to get to a better understanding. Every royal dragon had to risk fullmitment to their elemental affinity. But that was a dangerous gamble I could not allow. There is danger in it." Mordant returned and sat calmly beside Walker.


    "Well, by any means, Thank you for stepping in and educating my little brother. You have a much better understanding of darkness elemental mana. You could be a pretty important teacher here in Genesis." Mordant nearlyughed at Walker when he heard this. He was a royal dragon, not a teacher.


    "You all thought that our special guest fights were over, but you are wrong!" Scy shouted out again while another arena was cleared. "We have our one and only heroic dragon Midnight!"


    Midnight burst from the tunnel Onyx had just left out of. She was already using her skeletal armor skill while jumping in the air to fly to the arena. "We asked her toe and show her metal against a new figure in the Genesis city council. Leon of the Merfolk has volunteered to show off his miraculous spearmanship skills today!"


    Since Leon was calmly walking out on the arena, the crowd reacted less than they did with Midnight. However, Walker understood why this was done, Leon had not been as public when it came to the Genesis city council. He and the merfolk had been too busy building their riverside homes. The battle with Midnight was the perfect way to get him more attention for the future of Genesis.


    "Thank you again Midnight, I was worried I would have to join and fight my way through all the battles to get to the top. It''s better to fight you this way and show off a little more." Midnight huffed in response. She was more than happy to join in battle with Leon. he had been nice enough to offer her some special fish deliveries from near his city. Leon was smart enough to know how to win her over.


    Without any hesitation, The referee announced the start of their battle. Midnight was too energetic and sucked in a deep breath right away. Before Leon knew what was happening, arge red me was heading towards him.<sub> </sub>


    "Too fast!" Leon spun his spear causing water to pull from around him. The spinning shape of the spear made a round wall of water which evaporated with the mes. He had been quick to block as a result of his hard training. If his muscles had not been ingrained with his skills he would have been too slow. "Now I need to repay you for that one."


    Most merfolk suffered onnd. They were faster and more flexible in the water. Yet, Leon had purposely trained more and more onnd to make up for this. Therefore, his speed was astounding when it came to theparison to a merfolk.


    He dashed forward while droplets of water pooled around his spear tip. The quick jab trying to pierce Midnight''s side was quickly dodged by Midnight pping her wings and flying up slightly. The attack still managed tond though. The water at the end of the spear had jutted forward to hit Midnight and push her back in the air.


    "I never said that I was only attacking with a physical spear. You wouldn''t notice these attacks underwater but here they are visible." Leon wanted to show his strengths and was not going to just let Midnight y with him. He was a tough warrior that had trained for many hours. Yes he was weaker onnd, but that was nothing he had not ovee.


    Midnight''s response was a soft growl of challenge. She liked that Leon was not going to just let her win. She needed to fight stronger opponents like Leon so that she could keep growing faster.


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 Chapter 1445 1445. Terrain Victory

    The nextrge breath that Midnight took was not the same as the first. She knew that Leon was expecting mes so she waited until she saw him move to spin the spear. However, the frost that left her mouth was enough to freeze the water that became his shield.


    This attack was enough to freeze the spear in to Leon''s hand. He had decent resistances to the cold because he had lived in some very deep water. Most merfolk had a very high cold resistance. Yet, the unexpected change in moves gave Midnight the chance to jump forward and breathe mes on to her ws. The heat caused the ice to crack and Leon to be knocked away.


    To follow up, Midnight was already spinning her tail toward Leon. If he had not rolled back he would have been in a position to lose the fight immediately. "I forgot you hadmore than just fire to use against people." Leon smiled. This fight was interesting., it was changing from second to second making it extremely fun.


    "I had this specially made for a new fighting style." Leon dropped the spear he was so used to using on the ground. It was unbnced because of the ice on it so he knew it would slow his ability to fight. What he pulled off of his back were a pair of short spears that fit perfectly in each of his hands.


    The stance that Leon took made it clear that he could both attack and defend at the same time. It also showed that he was able to switch fighting styles in the middle of a battle. Something that many would struggle with due to their mindsets.


    The change brought many in the audience to their feet. They weren''t sure how this change had urred but they liked it. One spear that Leon wielded pierced forward while the other arced towards Midnight''s side. It was a double pronged attack that would have taken many warriors down in a blink of an eye.


    "Midnight on the other hand was not an average warrior. She had her skeletal armor skill and her ws. One spear was stopped by a single sh of her ws sending Leon''s piercing attack toward the ground. The other spear hit the tough bone that formed around her scales. Barely even a scratch was left behind.


    "I think it''s time for me to get a little more serious then." Leon used his skill to pull the water elemental mana around the two spears. The next moment brought multiple piercing water attacks towards Midnight. The rate seemed to keep increasing and increasing without any room for Midnight to defend.


    The attacks were causing small scratches to build up on the bone armor she had summoned around her. It wasn''t looking good for her until an energy within her began to rise. She felt that this was wrong. She was a dragon. A champion of her species. She was able to fight monsters much stronger than her, so how could she lose to someone that wasn''t even in the best shape?


    The growl that Midnight started with became an echoing roar. Her wings pped out and her head arched up. The roar was so powerful that many could feel their seats shake. It was the single loudest roar that Walker had ever heard from Midnight. Even his dragon''s intimidation skill did not get so loud.


    "I see your champion is finally using her roar properly. There must have been enough pressure to reach that level." Mordant seemed d to witness the moment that Midnight had finally epted her role as a dragon champion above all others. Her roar of domination made everyone shake. The other arenas were paused in their battles because of it. No barrier would hold back such a sound.


    Golden mes spilled from Midnight''s mouth with every breath. She was letting her unique golden me heart act as the center of her strength. The result was an arena slowly heating up against Leon. He attempted to pull at the water in the air only to find that it was remaining in an evaporated state. He was at aplete disadvantage in such a terrain.


    ? "This is why my people have never traveled near volcanoes orva. I will have to give this victory to you. A wise move." Leon saw that they would be in danger. There was only so much heat a merfolk body could take without water nearby to replenish what they were losing.<sub> </sub>


    Upon hearing that Leon had given up, Midnight stopped immediately and changed elemental dragon breaths. The cool frost breath was much more controlled so that it would only cool Leon down without causing him any harm.


    "Now there is your show of strength from two of our unique warriors in Genesis. Who said that a merfolk could not stand toe to toe with another warrior onnd?! Who was it that said Midnight was too young to stand up and fight!? Not a soul can speak these words. They are powerful central figures to every single citizen!"


    Scy spoke up again seeing that Leon was in a bad situation and the match was over. However, she didn''t seem done. There were many of the first round fightsing to an end. She turned her eyes toward the crowd.


    "Speaking of powerful central figures, we have two that are avoiding battles here today. Two that I have been waiting to see fight it out in our brand new arena. What does the crowd say to seeing two more people join thepetition as special guest battles!?" The roar of the crowd''s cheering was too intense.


    "Why is it that we can''t escape these things?" Gil felt his peace had run away from him.


    "I knew it would happen but I had hoped that we would have more time to enjoy the matches first. I really like seeing the mages¡­" Walker sighed as Scy moved toward them.


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 Chapter 1446 1446. Join The Battle!

    Walker and Gil had already stood up to start moving toward the side of the seating area. Scy barely had to even move over toward them which made her happy. If they had attempted to resist she would have jumped over the stone railing to drag them in to battles as well.


    "Wee the honorary elf, The arcane archer Gil!" Gil wasn''t super excited to be battling. He had not wanted to get in to things since he wanted to maintain his energy. Zephyr was still resting so he knew that he shouldn''t draw on too much mana that could be going to her instead.


    "Then we have our royal dragon, master of none, Walker!" Scy took pride in dragging these two in to a battle. She didn''t want the first ever tournament to go poorly so she had to. If Barry had returned even for a second to Genesis she would have found a way to pull him in to a battle.


    "We have a very unique battle for you today. Two kings have offered to challenge our two heroes here!" Without a single thought, the crowd became wild hearing this. They had never seen a king fight and those that had wanted to see it again. The demi-humans in particr were more excited than one could imagine since they already saw a glint in king Roricks'' eyes they knew well.


    "The first battle will be a ssic story, the king of the idle. The representative of the dwarven people hase specifically to show his skill!" The marching of soldiers was matched by the awes of the crowd. Multiple elite dwarven guards came out of the resting area tunnel in perfectly polished armors. They weed their king in to the arena.


    The king of the middle was standing tall. He had decided toe so that he could bring better news to the people of his city about what crafting endeavors thepetitions brought to light. He had secretly watched and taken his own personal notes so that he could use some of the techniques with the crafters that remained home.


    Now he saw the chance to take a little more fame. Theck of the king of the deep caves was felt very widely in the dwarven kingdom. It had been more or less solidified that he would be remaining in Genesis for some years to build the underground trade roads. It even seemed that he was bing more and more popr by the day. The king of the middle was understandably a little jealous.


    "I spent weeks debating who was going to fight one of our most outstanding forces for growth here in Genesis. Since Walker has given only his best to the people of Genesis with his unique outlook on life, I only have the best for him to show his skills in front of. Wee the king of my homnd, King Rorick!"


    With a single jump, king Rorick no longer sat on the balcony beside Ignus and ra. He was instead brandishing the very same sword that Walker had brought him upon their first meeting. It was clear that he was looking for more than just a small battle. He was after every single trick that Walker had.


    "You do understand that I need to show off a lot. I have two fellow royal dragons here." Walker was sure that if he did not show appropriate power that he would be risking a lot. He had just won the eptance of Ignus and Mordant fully. He could not go back on this.


    "Then I expect you to show me your most powerful skill. Allow me to face your best in the first hit. Show me everything you can!" King Rorick appeared to have been waiting for this too long. He didn''t even want a battle anymore. He just wanted to see the strength that Walker had. The power that Walker could boast which was able to push people to create an entirely new city.<sub> </sub>


    "If that''s what you want, then prepare yourself. When we take the arena, you will be in for a lot of hardship." Walker knew what he was going to be doing. He would use a lot of his mana and pull on the natural mana around him. He would have to rely on something he was not ready to use yet but would show all of Genesis just how strong he was. Just who he was growing to be.


    "An archer recognized by the elves against me. Boy, I am here to introduce myself to your people of Genesis. Allow me to demonstrate why the three kings of the dwarf kingdom are the pirs any society should kneel to." The king of the middle was not being arrogant. He truly believed that the dwarves were worth the respect. They had done much for the world in the ways of building and creating.


    "I didn''t even want to fight today. I won''t lie, this is a little unexpected. But I still have a bow here and some arrows." Gil wished he had noticed the guaranteed signs that he would be battling. He had left his bow and arrows behind to avoid battle yet somehow an attendant was handing them to him right now. It was too well nned. He nced at Alma who was sheepishly pretending not to be looking at him.


    "We shall start with the king of the dwarf people and our very own arcane archer. They seem ready to show you just how powerful they can be. The secrets of their training will be open to all!" Scy was clearly struggling to hold back her energy. The other participants felt that they were a little neglected. While others were d that the focus was not on them while they fought for a proper position in the next day of battles.


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 Chapter 1447 1447. Wind Against Earth

    "Are you going to hide behind your arrows, or will you have a real fight with me?" The king of the middle was wielding two closebat axes. He was not one to fight from a distance. Nor was it normal for dwarves to fight from long distances anyways. The only ones that would, are normally the crossbowman who had broken the epted norm.


    "I am an arcane archer. I can deal with you before you get here." Gil couldn''t help but try and mess with the king of the middle. He didn''t like that the dwarves still were all for up close and personal battles. He had a special ce for the crossbowmen that had helped him when he visited the city.


    The referee didn''t even need to say that the battle had started. Gil had quickly pulled an earth elemental arrow from his quiver and sent it flying at the feet of the king of the middle. The reaction was arge rumbling beneath the ground followed by arge earth spike jutting out of the ground.


    The king of the middle scoffed at it and stepped back to sh it in half with his two one handed axes. The earth pieces fell to the ground while the king of the middle looked at Gil unimpressed. "If you wish to fight with earth, I rmend you understand the kind of weapons I wield."


    The king of the middle mmed the axes in to the ground. The entire arena shook, throwing Gil off bnce. That was when he noticed the many earth elemental runes and multiple earth crystals embedded within the handles of the two axes. These were perfectly made to deal with the ground. Gil wanted to p himself for being so foolish. The dwarves were a race that literally lived under the ground. They would actually be close with the earth.


    " A little hard to walk, hm?" The king of the middle moved with speed that one would not believe he had. If Gil could not also move quickly using his own skills, he would have been caught up to. The distance he had over the king of the middle was major. Therefore, he had to maintain it.


    The next arrow that Gil pulled was much more than the earth. He had chosen a wind arrow since he had some wither spike arrows with mana already within them. This would keep from interrupting Zephyr while also allowing Gil to use the elemental mana he was most ustomed to due to his own wind elemental affinity.


    The wind arrow became much more energetic than Gil had seen it. He had trained using his skills and new wind elemental affinity. Yet, he had not used the arrows he had made long ago. It was simply because he did not believe that there would be a difference. However, there was a difference. The wind elemental mana greeted him as if it was returning to its home. This caused the wind to naturally envelop the arrow as if he was using the bow''s skill to create an arrow out of wind alone.


    The change made the king of the deep cave focus much more. This was something that could pierce his armor. He knew it. The danger he felt from his instincts screamed at him to defend against this attack. It was a feeling he rarely had since he was a king of the people. In reality, the king of the surface and the king of the deep caves had more real battle experience than a king of the people would.


    Once the wind arrow had been unleashed, Gil lost his bncepletely. The shaking of the arena had still not let up even though the king of the middle was moving with axes in hand. The arrow flew at a faster speed than anyone watching expected. They had not imagined that an arcane archer had such power. Only the elves were able to see that Gil had reached a higher level of training than they had. It put them even further in admiration for him.


    "One arrow will not break me!" The king of the deep shed down with his axes again. This time they met the arrow in the air causing earth to fly about in a storm. The wind caused shes to arrive on the exposed portion of the king of the middle. However, he was a dwarf. Dwarves were tough and could charge through stone if needed. Mountains would crumble to their strength.<sub> </sub>


    The charging figure in front of Gil as he stood up proved that he couldn''t escape closebat this time. He had no choice but to let the bow fall around his shoulder and pull his daggers in a swift motion. Gil had trained this motion over and over for situations just like this. He would never be caught and defeated without fighting with every ounce of strength he possessed.


    The swing of the axes were easily dodged since Gil could predict where they wereing from. The king of the deep cave''s battle style was predictable yet too powerful to just counter. This left Gil with the only thing he could think of. He had to use more wind elemental mana and his affinity.


    "Zephyr, I am sorry about this. Please keep resting." The wind pulled around Gil as he used the steps he had learned from the elemental dagger techniques of the elves. He was far from rebuilding them but he was sure that he could use the wind with his dagger. The result was a flurry of small shes sending wind des out at the king of the middle.


    They were able to perfectly counter the sudden closeness. He had thought that Gil was a purely long range fighter. Having a closebat battle against wind elemental magic was tougher than expected. But still easily countered. "Thatst move was impressive. I will allow you to walk away from here." The king of the middle let his axes fall in to holsters on his hips before walking away. Gil was at a loss. The battle was over as soon as he had earned the respect of the king of the middle. That was what it had all been about.


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 Chapter 1448 1448. A Bit Rusty

    "That is all she wrote! That was the king of the deep caves test! The warrior known for magical archery has proved that they are not just some useless archers. The dwarves value up close and personalbat just as the demi-humans do. We are simr but earning the respect if an opponent is supposed to be up close and personal. Not only have you see the bonds of our races strengthen today, but we have seen a king offer his aid to another as a warrior."


    Sc seemed to know more of what the hidden intentions had been to this battle than Gil had grasped. Not only was this used to show off skills, but it had been used to bring the elves and dwarves closer. It said that the dwarves would not deny the elves because of their differences. It showed that they would ept them if they came face to face with blunt honesty.


    The king of the middle had left without another wave or word. He entered a private waiting room where the crowd''s loud cheers were unheard. "So, you seem to havee back in rougher shape. When was thest time you tested someone like that? When was thest time you took damage like that?"


    The king of the deep caves had been waiting. He watched carefully from the unseen shadows of the tunnel. He wanted to see just what his fellow king had nned. "I hate to say it. I am rusty. I have let myself go weak while sitting in those meetings. On that throne. Someone so young was able to surprise me and I even underestimated him."


    This had been a serious wake up call for the king of the middle. However, he would not allow any to see it.


    "Thene down for a few weeks with me. We have run through some cave systems while carving the underground trade route. I would not mind the help clearing them. It will allow me to feed my little pet." The king of the deep caves knew that he could focus on his own strength and values if he dropped the work on the king of the middle. This turned in to along argument between the two but one that showed just how much they actually cared about each other as fellow kings.


    "List carefully. Listen closely. We have my very own King Rorick entering the arena. He has trained for countless years. Mastered the art of the sword. Defeated every general within his army. He is the demi-human king who united and protected multiple monster races and soon to be monster races recognized by the world!"


    Scy could not help but raise the crowd''s excitement with her introduction of king Rorick. She had idolized him in battle and also been protected by him before. She held him too high for showing her the home she could build within the demi-human society. Without him and his guidance she would never be in the ce she was today.


    "Look here, this is the heroic party leader. The one and only, Walker. He has imed multiple titles. Gained ess to every elemental mana. He has even stood as a pir of what someone with unique thinking can achieve even though their strength may be lower than others! Show him your appreciation and marvel in his power!" the crowd roared. Walker felt that he would have a harder time wandering the streets now.


    "It has been a while since west spoke properly. I hope to see what you have to offer here." Rorick was more than happy to be the one that tested Walker''s skills.


    ''I already told you I would go all out. I can only use this skill for a very short time. But here in front of everyone and against you? I will. There are others with even higher expectations of me." Walker knew he would regret the after effects of using this skill. He already knew he was not ready to do so just yet.<sub> </sub>


    As if they were receiving a hidden message, Su and Midnight appeared from one of the tunnels looking at Walker. They could sense the mana gathering around him. Even more, Fleur left the spirit mark and entered the floating eternal ob. In a burst of natural mana, the stored mana seemed to condense around Walker.


    "There is no need to hold back today. The two will battle and show you their skills to a higher degree than even you know. The battle you witness may be short. It may seem small. But this battle can shake the foundations of this entire city. Now let them hear your excitement to start!" Scy''s words brought a roar that made Walker feel he was deaf.


    With The mana in turmoil around them, Rorick dashed forward to put pressure on Walker. However, he didn''t expect to feel the push of wind against him. What he saw forming behind Walker made him step to the side.


    The elemental wings forming dense. The broken pieces of the arena started to float up around them. None had even noticed the cracks form. mes were pulled from the now altered torches which shouldn''t have allowed their fire to be taken away. Even the shadows and the light started to condense around Walker. Finally, water started to condensate and attack together the earth that formed around Walker.


    "I can only use the elemental dragon aspect for a few moments. Be ready!" Walker ended in a massive roar that caused the elemental mana to react even more violently. It was a force of nature being unleashed as arge dragon head rose from where Walker stood. The wings that arched out behind him cast shadows to block the sun. The tail that rested on the ground was enough to p awayrge enemies. The crowd was in silence.


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 Chapter 1449 1449. Elemental Disarray

    "He is able to half way use that skill¡­interesting." Mordant and Ignus ended up saying the same things even though they were not next to each other.


    The elemental dragon aspect was a skill that Walker had almost no control over when it came to duration. It used too much mana to form the dragon body from elements. It seemed impressive and powerful but until he could devote more and more mana to it, it was limited.


    In all essence, Walker wasn''t even sure what he was able to do with it because he had been unable to practice using it in any form. The one time he had managed to use it he had been drained of mana and unable to maintain it for long. It was too stunning of an experience to be able to train with it to any real degree.


    Yet, as Rorick approached him with a sword drawn, Walker did not feel any worries or fear. He was only excited. The energy within his body was like lightning. It was the same as the drastic reactions that started to form when the elemental he had made the dragon body around him came in to contact with each other.


    The ces where the water and fire collided created steam. The ces where they collided with the torrent of wind from the wings became sparks of lightning. The spots where earth and fire touched became molten and fluid. These reactions were constant, making Walker amazed at what he was able to create by smashing all the elemental mana together without properly bncing it.


    "It''s unfinished¡­" Walker realized this. He shouldn''t be using such a skill in a way. It didn''t make sense. This was not a nature dragon skill or form. However, he could only start in on this thought for a second.


    "Let me test this for you." King Rorick shed out with an elegant and smooth sword movement. Walker could tell it was a testing de but not one he could take lightly. There was profound skill within the way that Rorick moved. It was almost as if he was moving through the world in a way that no other could match.


    The sh would have hit the wing made of wind on Walker''s nack. Yet, it didn''t even make it close. Walker''s body moved on his own while he began to grin unknowingly. Walker''s sense for mana had increased to a much more sensitive level while being in contact with such high density elemental mana. Along with this, he felt that he was seeing the world in a slower form.


    His eyes easily followed Roricks'' near perfect steps toward him. It was like watching someone go through the motions of a perfectly performed dance instead of an opponent. Without even thinking, Walker took a deep breath and roared again. The dragon''s intimidation seemed to hold more and more weight causing the entire crowd to feel heavier. The pressure was not all that was felt.


    There was a burst of wind causing the fire elemental mana sparked more causing the wind to be mes. It appears that the roar had changed in to a burning hot dragon''s breath trying to overtake the entire arena that Rorick and Walker battled on.


    The mes were still unfocused, however, making it easier for Rorick to sh them apart. The heat in the air was real though. He could feel that there was a serious chance of bing burned if he did not act faster. Yet, he was there to see the strength that Walker had grown in to, he would not be using everything he had. His goal was to bring out more skills and more power.


    The uing sh made Walker jump in to the air. The wind condensed wings pulled him higher as the water elemental mana around began to condense. Walker wanted to speak but couldn''t process everything properly. He knew that the mana was going to catch up to him. He was using too much.<sub> </sub>


    Yet, his instincts told him he could do more. Push harder. Use more energy! They screamed at him that he needed to win and stand above everyone. It was the connection to the dragons that head taken within himself through his bind with Midnight. Walker could not allow any to look down on him.


    The skill veracious mana consumption activated for the first time since the forest elf city when Walker had gained the skill. He was in abattle frenzy against Rorick who was giving him pressure no matter his situation. The mana became disturbed around the coliseum and even all of Genesis. Walker felt the sudden surge and knew he could do what he had been feeling.


    The ice dragon''s domain skill burst out around him freezing everything. The water elemental mana he had gathered grew denser while he added more mana to it than necessary due to his increased mana absorption.


    The ice became dense and colder than before. Rorick was caught off guard by this radical change. He could only force himself to continue to move to avoid the sudden spikes of ice that formed around him. His breath nearly froze in to a snowy mist as soon as it left his body.


    This did not stop him from Dodging Walker. Tworge ws of ice had formed to add on to the elemental dragon aspect that Walker had used. The form seemed to be more defined as well. Theck of mana was being bypassed which caused the true form of the skill to slowly be revealed. Walker''s body was bing harder to see due to the elemental dragon aspect slowly covering him up.


    This proved that Walker could use it as an armor as well as a means to attack. His grand elemental maniption skill paired with his sensitivity to element mana allowed him to move and control everything without need to see perfectly.


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 Chapter 1450 1450. Complete Respect

    "This is the best!" Rorick felt that he could use even more of his strength. He was facing someone weaker than him in closebat. Yet, he was facing Walker using his most powerful skills at the right time and rightbination. Walker was the perfect opponent to allow Rorick to loosen up.


    The shes that Rorick created using his sword were much more elegant while he pushed to use more of his strength. The multiple sword techniques he had learned were able to be wlesslybined in battle. The skills came together to appear as a perfectly practiced dance allowing Rorick to slice off pieces of earth, fire, and ice from Walker''s elemental dragon aspect.


    Meanwhile, Walker was letting his body move on instinct. The voracious mana consumption gave him the power to fight more and more as long as his mental strength could withstand it. That meant he could fuse elemental mana more than he had before. He could make an attack he had not trained because he was waiting to have better control over his mana. He had that now.


    The fire, water, and wind elemental mana started to condense the same way that a dragon would bring their mana together to breathe mes. The air became charged and Rorick felt the hair o his body stand up. He knew he had to dodge the next attack because it would cause him harm.


    The roar that started was drowned out by a sh of yellow light. The arena floor was shattered by a massive lightning bolt. The resounding bang that echoes through the entirety of Genesis made the entire city silent. Walker had caused some damage to the elemental dragon aspect which was being repaired. The attack had been too powerful,


    Even though Rorick had dodged the attack in time, parts of the arena had flown at him causing small scratches and bruises to form on his body. His teeth showed in a violent but joyous smile. He had not expected such strength to be demonstrated. He had never been attacked with lighting like that.


    The tail now made of mostly earth mmed down at Rorick who unleashed a flurry of shes. Each causing the tail to break in to smaller and smaller pieces. He was using his skills at an incredibly high level to keep up with Walker. This made all who watched wonder just how two beings could do such things. They were barely even able to keep up when Rorick moved.


    The pull of mana was perfect for Fleur. She could manipte some of it since she had moved in to the eternal orb. She was the central part of the elemental dragon aspect. This meant that she was storing all elemental mana within the orb and the spirit mark on Walker''s back. It was easily forming in to condensed natural mana with her will. She loved it but knew that a limit would be reached soon.


    "One more attack." Walker managed to growl out while he felt his mind bing foggy. He could also sense that the others around him were struggling. The mages had been reinforced by other arena mages so that the attacks would not break out during this battle. Some of the cold had already managed to seep away outside the arena.


    "Do it! Attack again and show me something new! Show me your power!" Rorick screamed in challenge. He couldn''t get enough of this battle. He was fighting someone that represented dragons. Someone who was more and more amazing by the moment.


    Walker could only look down from the air and agree. He would be doing just that. The elemental mana gathered again in condensed form. He forced it all in to a single breath. A single attack that would surpass the lighting that was so hard tobine before.


    Since Walker had managed to bnce the elemental mana in to natural mana before, smooshing it together in to a rough attack was no issue at all. The mana that fought with itself in front of Walker was guided by Fleur as well. Their two wills held it back until a sudden calmness radiated from them. They did not create natural mana but it was a step away.<sub> </sub>


    This was when they released it all.


    The mana exploded out in a st of singr and multiple elemental fusions. It was not an attack that the system was naming as a skill due to the fact that it was nothing finished. The pure elemental power showed that with enough mana, people could more than surpass a limit.


    Rorick raised his sword losing his smile. He blinked and shed down. A heavy energy consumed the attack in front of him. No one was able to see the hundred shes created in a breath. It was one of his most powerful attacks that Scy had only witnessed once. Rorick only ever used it against someone he respected as a real challenger.


    The attack Walker had sent was shed up and dissipated within the air. The elemental dragon aspect was falling apart as well while the voracious mana consumption had ended. Walker was left with a single mana point when he touched the ground. His body screaming for rest. His head throbbing.


    He knew that he had an image to upkeep so he did not allow himself to stumble and fall no matter how tired he felt. He forced his head high and breathed through clenched teeth. His eyes finally met Roricks. "Was that what you were after?" The words dripped with challenge and strength.


    "You have more than my respect. I wish that you will fight along side me at the next battlefield we are brought to in life." Rorick looked at the sword which was now chipped and scratched. The drawback of using such a powerful skill. "You are more than worthy of all my respect.


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 Chapter 1451 1451. End Of The Days Battle

    Rorick came right up to Walker before he decided that he would have to make the journey back to his seat. "That was a great battle. If you told me you were the same kid from back then I would not believe you. What were those skills? How many did you use? Have you thought about adding weapons and changing form slightly?"


    The barrage of questions was a little much for Walker at the moment. He was dealing with the side effects of using all of his mana and being left with a single mana point. He had to slowly reset his standing before he pushed himself to get in to a long debate. "It''s just a skill I figured out. Then I added some more elemental maniption¡­."


    "As you can see, I have not mastered it. We''ll see in a while what I can do." Walker left it at that and heard the roar of the crowd returning. They had been stricken silent by the things they had just witnessed. The mages around them keeping up protective barriers breathed sighs of relief since they didn''t have to worry about the fact that an attack might escape their control.


    "Those were the spectacr skills of two who pioneer the battles of equality and inclusion. King Rorick has long mastered sword skill after sword skill tobine in to the best possible sword art in existence. Walker has pushed to bring mana together to unite all underneath him. The two have perfectly demonstrated their strengths. Can you not show them your appreciation?" Scy shouted in perfect announcement causing the crowd to roar yet again.


    "Are you alright? You''re pale." Su wanted to drag Walker out of there toy down somewhere. Her instincts were telling her that he needed rest.


    "No, it''s fine. My mana is already recovering. I just have a pretty decent headache from using all the mana and forcing elemental mana together. I really didn''t mean to do all that to such a degree¡­" He felt that his actions were too overboard. As much as Walker had wanted to avoid the fight, he was already thinking that he wanted to learn how to use the elemental dragon aspect better. The feeling of having the elemental mana ready was too much.


    Fleur had already left the eternal orb which idly floated around Walker. She looked fairly upbeat and happy. "You look like you were able to steal away a lot of elemental mana while I was stuck in that state." Walker couldn''t help but be a little jealous.


    The reaction that Fleur had wasn''t to run away from his teasing but instead to bump in to the side of his cheek. The natural mana flowed between thempletely clearing his head. "Oh. thank you. That was, nice." Walker didn''t realize that natural mana could be used in such a way. He still was low on mana but he had lost the mental stress from using so much. Fleur just giggled a little before floating over to poke at Midnight. It seemed like it was time to y games.


    "I will get more information from youter. We ended up stopping all the battles so we should return to our seats before we hold them up any longer." Rorick was a little unhappy that the battles had paused. Yet, he understood that this was the cause of others seeing the skills he and Walker used. His own ears were still ringing after the burst of lightning that had appeared from Walker''s elemental dragon aspect.


    "I think you are right. Ignus is looking a little annoyed that we are still down here talking." Walker wasn''t sure if it was the fact that they had stopped the battles or the fact that Ignus couldn''t see a more refined attack from Walker. It was something that Walker had worried might happen.


    "We have to wait to hear about tomorrow''s battles. Today''s should be done soon." Su pulled Midnight along with her back to the participant area. She knew that Midnight would remain between the arenas fooling around. Fleur also rushed back toward Walker and hung on to his shoulder while pulling even more mana toward her. Walker could only think she was an endless pit when it came to absorbing mana.<sub> </sub>


    "That was very interesting. But you have yet toplete your skill." Mordant was very calm. He looked at Walker carefully. His eyes wanting to see more of what Walker could do.


    "I think I knew that. The elemental dragon aspect isn''t natural mana. It''s just a rough mix of mana to create a form that I can use my elemental maniption the best. If I can manage to fuse it all perfectly and control it as natural mana, I think it will be radically different in effects and form." Seeing that Walker understood this. Mordant looked back at the battles now resuming.


    "Just remember that you represent the dragons now as well. That skill is simr to our most powerful skills as dragons. When you use it, you seem to touch every element. Next time use some of the shadows." There was a tinge of jealousy that Walker hadn''t used the shadows to attack.


    "I can make that happen. I still need to grow a little more before I have the proper control over all of it. Good thing I can annoy you for tips." Walker''s response made Mordant smile for just a second before he actually focused on the battles.


    The remainder of the day passed by with gossip about the outstanding battles. Scy brought attention here and there to amazing events. Those she saw value in as warriors. The entire crowd had already chosen their favorites to be recognized in the second day of battles where true skills would be seen. Where the warriors would be brought up to show the entirety of Genesis.


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 Chapter 1452 1452. Dragon Aspects

    "Today we have seen many battle it out. We have had esteemed guests. We even have three judges that have painstakingly been marking down those they wish to see battle in the real rounds of the coliseum! No longer will we wait for results. Look upon the outside of the coliseum and you will see the magical light skills used to show those that move on and who they will be facing!"


    Scy announced this to the entire coliseum tried to rush away. However, her voice boomed out again. "If I hear a single participant faces their opponent ahead of time, tries to harm their opponent, or bribes them¡­You will feel pain!" Not a soul dared to go against Scy. She had power that most would not be able to obtain and she was still getting stronger.


    "Well, that settles that. I was a little worried that there wouldn''t be any warning like that before we left. If not I was going to ask Ignus and Mordant to help me show a little dominance." Walker joked but knew it would have been the best deterrence. No one in Genesis would knowingly go against a dragon.


    "Are you sure you are fine after all that?" Alma was going to walk back to her home with Gil escorting her. She just worried that Walker still hadn''t recovered properly from his battle.


    "Yes, thank you for asking. I will be fine after I sleep a little. Although, I think Ignus will have a few words to say about that." Walker pushed everyone to head home so that he could walk with Mordant and Ignus alone. He saw the look on Ignus''s face and it said that he had been waiting to speak to him.


    "Your mes were too weak. You should have used more. You focused on ice and water? How could you? So weak and barely enough to make a major difference." This was right along what Walker had expected. Both Mordant and Ignus had been unhappy that Walker had not focused on their elemental affiliations.


    "I said the very same. He didn''t even know how to use the shadows properly to his advantage. It was a foolish choice when he could have just fused your mes and my shadows to create mes that would have simply ended the fight." Instead of making the argument worse, Mordant decided to go another route and side with Ignus.


    "Now you are making some sense. That would have been more eptable over those cold mes you used¡­ those were not even worth looking at." Ignus felt that the fire elemental mana had been too weak.


    "I already exined this to Mordant. I don''t have full mastery over that skill. I need to learn to make that a natural dragon aspect instead of an elemental dragon aspect. Even making that lightning was tough. I could only do it with a skill called voracious mana consumption. Ites with major mental strain and leaves me with a single mana.


    "Then it is not so bad. Some dragon aspects have a drawback where they can not use their elemental affinity at all for a set time after. Especially a pure dragon aspect." This was the first that another dragon had told Walker of the other dragon aspects. It was a perfect chance to learn more.


    "So if you use your fire dragon aspect you can''t use fire elemental mana for a while after? Or is a pure fire dragon aspect different?" Ignus felt that the question was almost mocking. Even Mordant was growling now that he heard that Walker was that far in the dark.


    "Of course I would be limited after I used my skill. I am forced to use years of built up mana. If I even dared to use a pure version of my aspect I would burn double the mana while increasing the attacks I used tenfold! How have you not read that in your skill description? Or been taught that somewhere?"<sub> </sub>


    "Well, my elemental dragon aspect just limits me by the mana, natural mana, and required connection to dragons. I don''t have any drawbacks afterwards."


    Mordant looked at Walker slowly. He didn''t speak right away but Ignus was literally shaking. "You do not have any drawback but requirements to use the skill instead¡­and it''s not even a natural mana dragon aspect? Our skills are like jokes now." Mordant was stunned. His speech still sounded as if he didn''t believe Walker at all.


    "How!? We train for hundreds of years to use a simplified version and suffer afterwards. What nonsense. If you have the same requirements for the same skill after you have a nature dragon aspect then I will go in to retirement that day!" Ignus was also beside himself once he regained his ability to speak.


    The entire walk to the mansion, the pair ranted about how impossible this was. How they didn''t even think that walker could handle the elemental dragon aspect in his life due to his need to learn and master every single elemental mana. They were right though, he was radically held back by limited study of all elemental mana.


    Their conversation ended in a promise to drag Walker to the mage tower for two rounds of elemental control training. It was more than what Walker had expected and desired. He had hoped to just gain some more information in the dragon aspect skill set. He knew there was more to it since it was clear every single affinity elemental dragon had one.


    Knowing that he would learn in depth knowledge about the fire and darkness affinity manas was even better. Ignus and Mordant had studied for many generations of humans. They gathered a deep understanding that a human would normally never have. Therefore, Walker was sure to grasp new understandings to focus on above others he had made alone.


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 Chapter 1453 1453. Rude Awakening

    "Walker!" Su had been banging on Walker''s door for over a minute before she had just barged in and forced him up and out of bed.


    "What''s wrong!? What happened!?" He knew that Ignus and Mordant had said they would drag him to the mage tower in the morning, however, it was certainly not morning yet.


    "I know you are tired and need your mana replenished but we have things to do." Walker felt that if he didn''t force himself awake faster then he would be in trouble.


    "Just tell me-"


    "Alice made it back too early. She has some more detailed news along with a soldier that escorted her. We are going to the cathedral while the other representatives are meeting there too." The realization hit Walker hard. He wasn''t mentally prepared to hear that something like that was going on.


    "Is Alice alright? Was she hurt?" Walker didn''t even wait for Su to respond. He just ran from the room fearing that the healers had encountered trouble. If he had waited a little longer he would have known that Alice had demons with her who had fled their homes.


    "I''m not letting you run by yourself. I heard what Su was yelling about. I got home a little while ago so I am wide awake." Gil fell right in to pace with Walker. He knew that if something bad had actually happened then Walker would need to be the support.


    "It wasn''t that Gil was worried Walker wouldn''t be able to handle it. More so that Walker would rush towards anyone that had hurt someone he cared about. If one thing was clear, Walker would dly throw his own life on the line for those he loved. It was a quality that Gil felt massive respect for.


    "We will move faster then." There were more guards around which made a lot of sense. The city was still fairly quiet due to thete hour. Yet, there were more and more guards being woken up so that they could receive briefings soon from the Genesis council. Even soldiers were being called on to begin preparations.


    "Where!?" Walker only needed to ask this question when he burst through the front doors of the cathedral. It wasn''t hard to find the group of healers waiting for others to arrive. One just looked at Walker with wide eyes and pointed. She was clearly afraid of him but that would be dealt withter.


    Walker followed the direction that the healer had pointed and rushed there. He found that there was arge area set up with cots. Multiple demons were resting while a soldier was reporting to Markus Raven what they had to report. When Walker nced at them Markus just nodded softly while memorizing everything the soldier said.


    When Walker spotted the clearly exhausted healers, he had trouble seeing around them. His panic rose slightly until he found himself standing right in front of Alice. "You''re safe!" His stress melted away in a moment and he could feel his legs melting in to jello.


    Her hands reached up from the cot she was sitting on. She tried to speak but Walker heard her hoarse voice and covered her mouth. "It looks like you worked very hard. Get some rest and I will make sure that everything is perfect." The promise seemed to be what Alice was waiting for. She and the other healers around visibly rxed more. Especially when the high priest limped in to sight.


    "I knew you would be here soon." The high priest looked upset. "These demons were found on theirst legs because they had been chased from their homes. If Alice and her group had not found them they would be nothing, just ashes. It is uneptable. You go talk to that soldier too." The order was final. Walker didn''t even hesitate. With a simple kiss on the cheek and a solid smile, he walked away from Alice for the time being.<sub> </sub>


    "What can I do to help out?" Gil jumped right next to the high priest to help out. He knew that there had to be something.


    "We need some cool water. Alice has lost her voice from using it too much. That healer twisted an ankle carrying these demons. Find an ice mage to create more ice for swelling. From there you will speak with me or my assistant." The high priest showed everyone the years of experience he had and began to direct the healers.


    "Markus, what do we know?" Walker saw that Markus had the soldier resting already.


    "We already knew that something was going on at the border. Reports of demons being led by arger demon came in throughmunication crystals. Yet, there was a change. The demons have gone mad. This caused a lot of demons to attempt to rush and cross the border. Some escaping while others attacking. I expect there to be moreing our way soon, injured and demons alike." Markus did not sound happy. He wore the same serious expression that Walker had.


    "Then we will be going to the border. The council should be together soon. I can already sense Ignus and Mordant reacting. They won''t let this go either I am sure." Walker was like a seer foretelling the arrival of the members of the Genesis council and dragons. Within ten minutes everyone had arrived in front of the cathedral.


    "War is it? We can handle them. This has been a long timeing. There are multiple races gathered. We justck some misceneous elves." Scy was ready to abandon the tournament.


    "No, you will remain here with the tournament. You are a key being that Genesis respects to guide new warriors. I will go ahead with my personal guard." King Rorick spoke out with strength. He saw that his general would rush off. He knew how to hold her and others back.


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 Chapter 1454 1454. Battle Planning

    "I will handle the elves. We can gather those we have. I will bring my personal enforcers and head together the elves hiding away in the frozen mountains. We already have contact with the nomadic elves that search for the wind. I will have the forest elf queen reach to the stone elves. With the help of the dwarves, we have found a ce we believe their city to be."


    Since Alma had arrived she had already sent out ten enforcers to different ces with orders and requests. The elven armies would be gathering as soon as possible.


    "As you know, our fellow king has a golden army already at the border. We will send our heavy centurions to deal with things. The golem armies arerger than you know." The king of the middle spoke before the king of the deep. He was already going to make the promise of the dwarven army.


    Since Genesis was proven to be the center of future trade, the dwarves would not fail to support them. There was also the fact that the king of the middle and surface knew that the king of the deep had be more than attached to Genesis. It was pretty believable that he would fight by himself for the city if need be.


    "I will leave my tunnel project. You can expect me to create some trouble where we need to on the border. I can imagine that the walls need more reinforcements." The king of deep wanted to n out trenches to fill with water in front of the walls. It would greatly reinforce the defenses.


    "The merfolk are not familiar with the area, however, we do have older records that mention the sea at the edge of the farthest demonnd. We may be able to cause a distraction along their shore." Leon spoke while a water elf elder stood at his side. The two seemed to have the same ideas to cause distractions where the sea met thend.


    "You already know that King August has sent additional troops down to the border. At this time moe can not be sent. The queen has gotten closer to giving birth and the entirety of Diamond is under close security." Markus did not make lies. He gave everything to everyone with transparency. The humans did have a substantial force at the border already.


    "It sounds that youck strength. You have specialized troops but no one to handle the big problems" Ignus has sparks and smoke around his mouth. He felt that a battle would be greater than anything. The demons were not a weak species. They had great magic affinities that could challenge him.


    "As Ignus said, we have the forces to bring with. I will personally send dragons to speak with Terron, Rise, Ventus, and Current. Expect some form of response soon." Mordant turned away closely followed by Ignus. With their backing and Walker''s the demon problem would be much more manageable.


    "Mordant, Ignus. You both know the goal is to rescue the demon people. They are being oppressed. The only demons to fall will be the corrupted." This order was filled with Walker''s steel will. He would not allow for a massacre between races to ur.


    "We have been listening. We like it here so far. You will owe us time in your mage tower." Ignus spoke before moving away at a faster pace. Mordant nodded before melting in to the shadows. The two royal dragons could not look Walker in the eye when they left. They were too prideful to say that they had be attached to Genesis.


    "All of you know that the alchemy guild has potions made. We have been stocking since the first day we opened. Genesis treasury can purchase every mana and health potion we have. The affinity potions will be selected for those at key positions." Remey was surprisingly calm. There was a colder air about her than usual.<sub> </sub>


    "Scouts have already left. I just caught one of the enforcers who partnered with some of the dwarven crossbowmen. They will leave after they stock up. The entire border will be mapped out again soon." Gil had been helping where he was needed and happened to catch the enforcer that had received orders from Alma first.


    "Good. Scy, you will stay here. You need to push the tournament along properly. Then you can help gather a secondary wave of soldiers. After that, we will expect the dwarves and elves toe as well. Three waves of reinforcements that we need to gather before we push in to the border. The real problem sounds like it is therger demon spotted." Walker had put the puzzle together and was ready to see what woulde of all this.


    "Brother, some will be unable to go to battle at such a short notice. I wille, Midnight is already preparing. But we will need toe in the second wave after the hatchlings have a ce." Onyx was not about to leave every duty behind. He also knew that Midnight might not be instantly ready to rush away.


    "I Know Midnight will be ready. You shoulde behind the others. You have a better ability tomunicate and help people blend in to the existing forcester." Walker could see that Onyx would have a key position when it came tomunication.


    "You are taking more of a lead than I expected you to take. Genesis has a core factor that you have grown. It''s much more important than I expected. You will have more than my personal army. Be prepared to meet another of my generals." King Rorick had fullymitted. He had seen that Genesis had bloomed in to something much more than he knew. It was something he felt embodied his own desires when it came to the monster races.


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 Chapter 1455 1455. Running Around

    The flurry of people in and out of the cathedral was a lot to handle. Many messengers were sent and the city began to awaken earlier than expected. The crafting guild called in many crafters to begin preparations. They were already receivingst minute orders.


    The alchemy guild had long been awakened by Remey. She was personally overseeing the new alchemists preparingrge batches of low tier potions to be sent away since the potions in their storage would be exhausted.


    Walker found himself resting next to Alice''s bed. She had fallen asleep after drinking a partially frozen health potion. The technique was to mix it while an ice mage used magic on the potion. The result was a colder potion that helped heal wounds in the throat while also reducing any irritation.


    From what the other healers had said, they had not made it even close to the border. Their journey had made it to the first farming vige where they had needed to help some of the farmers during their busy season. From there they traveled dealing with a few monsters until they spotted some mes nearby.


    With Alice''s songs, they had managed to stop the fires and discover the source. "I''m not happy with this at all." Walker sighed. He had made sure he spent time with Alice as she fell asleep. She would need time to heal and rest her mind.


    "I feel the same as you do. This was a bog journey meant to bring Alice experience and personal growth. Yet¡­there are more people hurt than before. She can''t travel as I did when I was her age." The high priest felt that the entire group of healers had lost out on something very important to any healer looking to grow stronger.


    "I want to tell her not toe to the border. I want to leave as soon as possible. Even without an army. But if shees she will be pushing herself too much." Walker was not going to hide how he felt. He would have the same conversation with Alice when she woke up.


    "You know my daughter well enough by now. She will go with you whether you or I tell her not to or threaten the worst. She knows there are people in need there." The high priest didn''t sound saddened by this. Instead, he smiled. This was a quality that Alice had developed over many years within the cathedral. She represented the core value of helping others that the cathedral stood for.


    "I know she will. She wouldn''t let me run away after the demons causing problems. So when I leave, I will make sure she can rest on the way." Since Walker had listened to the healers that gave Alice medicines and orders, he knew what she needed to do to recover her voice without permanent damage. She would have to remain perfectly silent for days until all the damage was healed.


    "Stop making that face and go speak with your party. You already know Alice will be with you. Now you need to prepare for the others." The high priest wanted to sit with his daughter alone. It was clear that he was worried about her leaving for a dangerous ce. A ce even more dangerous than it was before.


    "Walker? Is Alice finally resting?" Su was worried that Walker was going to be more on edge with Alice returned in bad shape.


    "Yes, she had lost her voice for a little while but it should be fine. I know you ran off to tell the rest of the family about what''s going on. Thank you." Su had taken the duty of letting their parents know what was happening. it made sense that someone would go and tell them. The more information they had the more they could prepare themselves for the party leaving and their businesses to be even busier.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m "Gil is already prepared to go. Alma made him start making extra arrows since she will have to leave to go and recruit more elves. Remey sent over all the crates for you to bring first. You are basically the goods transportation to the border walls. Then Midnight and Onyx are preparing the hatchlings. Onyx mighte with us when we leave. He seemed pretty adamant about staying close. I think he is more worried than he looks."</o>


    Su was very on top of everything. She was sure that the party would be away for much longer than they wanted to be, Genesis was their home now. They loved being there and watching it grow by the day. "I feel like everyone is already prepared. I can''t really do much." Walker felt a little useless in the grand scheme of things.


    "You can go and talk to Scy. She is going a little mad." Su had seen Scy storm off angrily toward the coliseum. She wanted to lead her army in to battle. This was what she lived for, a good fight against powerful opponents. However, this had alle to be at a bad time. The coliseum was in the middle of the busiest unveiling it could ever have.


    "I will head that way then." Walker felt that this was an easier said than done task. If Scy was fueled by her desire to fight he might get dragged in to a battle.


    Su watched Walker leave the cathedral. She had been waiting for the chance to sit down herself. She had been running around a lot and just wanted a few moments to go over her armor and shields. She wanted to participate within the coliseum battles as well. Unfortunately, the trump cards she had been holding on to would not be shown off so soon. She knew that Remey might feel the same way and they could bond a little over it while they head out to defend the border.


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 Chapter 1456 1456. Not Without You

    When Walker made it inside the coliseum, he was surprised to see that it was empty and silent. The entire ce had been cleaned by the staff and was waiting for the morning toe for the next day of battles. "Scy, what''s the point of standing here alone?"


    This was what Walker really wanted to know. Scy was standing in the central arena with her eyes closed. "There isn''t one. This is new. There''s no feeling of hard fought battles here. No blood in the air. The sounds of steel breaking aren''t forged within the walls here yet. It''s all empty."


    For any demi-human, these sounds and smells were well known. Their culture relied on the coliseums to push their warriors to be better and better. "I wanted to start that all myself but I don''t want to risk those that will perish because I am not on the battle field. My king is even going, how can I not be there?" Scy had clenched fists. She was not happy with this decision at all.


    "Rorick did not choose to go because he wanted to fight. He chose that because he has put investments in to Genesis as well. You are working on your position here. If you leave then the coliseum will never bring the multitude of histories that it has in your home city. Forge this coliseum first, thene and help us break the borders."


    "You won''t jump the border and try to free every demon before I am there?" Scy sounded like a child that was looking for assurance.


    "I wouldn''t know the first thing about doing so. That''s why we are waiting for all the armies to gather. It will be perfect. Without you, it would be worthless. How can there even be a battle without you?" Walker was feeling more and more awkward. He didn''t know that Scy had truly taken so much stock in personally freeing demons. It was something that Walker felt was very important for anyone to have in genesis.


    "You understand that when my forces reach that border, we are pushing directly to the demon city and taking it by storm." The wind seemed to blow slightly at Scy''s determination. Walker felt that those within the tournament had better prepare extra for what she was going to push them in to.


    "You can even try to recruit some people from the tournament to bring. I am sure some have already heard what''s going on and will join anyways. But a chance to leave Genesis with a general?" The idea seemed to make Scy even happier. It also caused a slightlyrger breeze around the area.


    "Then why am I standing here trying to hear the past battles of a new coliseum. It needs more fighters." She had left the coliseum to begin her preparations to change the battlers for the next day. It would be a very interesting urrence.


    "Why is it that everyone is so unique here in Genesis¡­? I swear they will tire me out to my death." Walkerughed while looking around at the coliseum. He was proud. Very proud of what Genesis was bing. However, he was afraid of what it could lose. The demon corruption was more than a small issue.


    Now that it was time to leave and do something about the demons, things would change. They had been biding their time to grow and prepare armies. Now they had to push everything along more than before. It would cause added stress but should speed up the freedom efforts of the demons who had been oppressed by their very own ruler.


    "Midnight, don''t think I can''t see you there. You should be helping the hatchlings get their schedules set." Walker looked at Midnight who had been trying to use the shadows wrapping skill to hide away. She didn''t seem to want to interrupt him while he had time to himself.<sub> </sub>


    The huff of disapproval made Walker want to rebuttal right back. Yet, he didn''t have the emotional energy. A lot was about to happen and he felt it was better to have peace.


    "I know you saw me use the elemental dragon aspect earlier today. I tried to copy the shapes of your head and wings. I wanted to make sure I made the best possible dragon I could." Walker felt that midnight should hear his inspiration behind the learning of his skill.


    This made Midnight feel much prouder of the dragon she would grow in to. She had been wondering what she would look like after a few more years of growth. Right now she was still tiny whenpared to a dragon like Ignus or Mordant. They were ancient dragons with many years of growth behind them.


    "I know what you''re thinking. You aren''t going to be like any of the other royal dragons. You have every elemental affinity because of our bond. You will be unique. Different from any other. I might even guess you will be able to use natural mana like me." The soft pat on her head made Midnight consider this more carefully. She had not really thought in depth about using natural mana.


    "If you do use natural mana, I bet you and Fleur will get along better too. She won''t always want to hang out with me." Walker knew that Fleur was curious about everything. She always seemed to be paying some form of attention to the world around her. Even when she was within the eternal orb or the spirit mark, Walker could feel Fleur paying attention.


    ? The approving growl from Midnight caused Walker to snap out of his own thoughts. He let Midnight pull hearing back toward the cathedral. She knew that there were still many things to work on and would not be letting everyone get too far ahead of them. She also wanted to practice things in her dragonkin form before she left again.


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 Chapter 1457 1457. Moment Of Peace

    "Fifteen crates of healing potions, various tiers. Twenty crates of mana potions, various tiers. Thenstly, we have the unique potions that will be handed out by each of the squad leaders of the powerful groups facing tougher monsters or demons."


    Remey hade to meet Walker at the cathedral. Staff from the alchemy guild had brought many of the crates before she had even arrived. "This is a lot. Are you sure there will be enough for the other armies to take when they pass through here" Walker felt that it would be unfair not to supply the elves, dwarves, and demi-humans with crates as well.


    "Oh, there''s no need to worry about this. I put some fire in everyone so they won''t stop making potions. The newer members were very excited to have unlimited ess to herbs so they can train for weeks straight." Remey had been sure to tell them that they would be gaining the herbs free so that they would not stop making the basic healing and mana potions.


    "As long as you aren''t hurting the guild just to rush everything." Walker knew that this would breed many powerful alchemists in the future. Those that trained diligently right now might just rise to the top of the alchemy guild faster than expected.


    "Good! Walker, Remey. I have already sent three people to outposts. The tamer''s guild will be joining the battle at the border. I have multiple tamers ready to leave with the demi-human army when King Rorick is prepared." Elise had been dropped in front of the by Ste. The two seemed to be full of energy.


    "As long as it is safe to send them, we will not turn down the help." Walker was grateful. He knew that every representative on the Genesis council would be happy to hear that the tamer''s guild was joining the efforts.


    "You understand that it is not just the tamer''s guild sending out additional forces. I have just set up patrol quests for high ranked adventurers. They will join the border to assist fleeing demons. They will also be able to work directly under army leadership." ra seemed to have been leaving the cathedral. It was clear she had caught a few of the other council members to ry this message too.


    "Then the tamers and the adventurers will work together. Very important things." Elise grabbed ra and dragged her off. Walker wasn''t even sure if he had to say anything. This had be fairly strange.


    His walk with Midnight led him toward the empty back garden. It was a peaceful ce to stop for a moment and think before he started to inquire about a few other things. Midnight didn''t stop him from sitting down. He sat next to him and used him as her own personal pillow. Without even realizing it, the two had fallen asleep in the gazebo, the only sounds were their soft snores.


    When Walker felt himself being pulled up, he didn''t know where he was. His eyes opened to sunlight that was too right to see through until a shadow crossed in front of it. The curious face of Alice seemed to ask a little more than just what he was doing there.


    "Alice! You''re awake. How do you feel? Wait, don''t answer that. Just rest your voice." Walker rushed in to a million questions before he felt Alice put a hand over his mouth while trying to stop herself fromughing.


    "You know I was worried¡­" Walker felt defeated. He could only stand there while Alice recovered herself from her moment of amusement.


    She took Walker''s hand and sat next to him. Midnight was still snoring nearby but she had moved in to the rising sun. Walker wasn''t sure when she had done so but it was a quirk that Midnight and Onyx shared. The two would always find the warmest ce to rest.<sub> </sub>


    "I know you aren''t going to just let us go by ourselves. You and the other healers wille and join the border. But you need to remain resting while we move. I won''t let you use your voice or get in to any trouble." Walker was adamant about this and Alice was not about to argue with him. She just nodded along.


    "It will be different than any journey yet. I know we will see more demons fleeing their homes. More people hurt. More corrupt demons that need to be taught a lesson or even defeated. I promise you that we will do our best." Walker wasn''t so much saying this for Alice as much as he was saying it for himself.


    p Yet, when he said it, he saw Alice be even more determined. It was a feeling around her that she had decided to fullymit to this adventure. This mission to free the demons sooner thanter. She wanted to see theming with the other races to be healed at the cathedral or just to enjoy the music. She wanted to see them smiling like everyone else was able to.</anda>


    When she had seen the demons hurt because they couldn''t even live in their own homes, it had spurred something within her and the other healers. She was not the only one that was currently preparing to leave Genesis. Every single healer that had gone with her was pulling their friends together to leave and help others. They knew that they could only get there sooner.


    "Do you want to get food? We can take the time to eat before we have to prepare to leave." Walker felt that this was all they could do. If they didn''t eat together now, they might not have the chance to spend some peaceful moments in the next weeks.


    At the single mention of the word food, Midnight perked up her head. She looked at Alice and Walker before pushing herself off her sunlit spot. With that, the three moved back inside the cathedral to see who else could eat with them.


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 Chapter 1458 1458. Toward The Border

    "Walker, You stored all the crates right?" Remey was on Walker''s case because he had left her at the cathedral entrance double checking crates before he stored them. When she had gone to tell him that everything was perfect he had been nowhere to be found.


    "Yes, stored away and ready to go." He had been pretending that there was nothing wrong to avoid a fight.


    "Seriously? You two are still not ready? I have been ready for hours." Gil was still trying to finish an arrow since he had been waiting for a while. Without Alma telling him he would need more than he thought, he would have been done and helping the others prepare.


    "No more arguing. We are going to head out. There are already two groups of healers, ten adventuring groups, three tamer groups, and even a few scouting groups that have left. We are behind." Su had been sure to count the groups that left ahead of them. It was motivation to move efficiently toward the border.


    "Onyx and Midnight, you are both sure that your students are ready to be left alone? Ibis is alright with it? All of the mentors you find for the dragons are alright with it?" Midnight and Onyx were not going to dispute this. They nodded, waiting to be on the way.


    As much as Onyx had said he might not leave with them, he had been able to make it work. Ibis had heard themotion and already prepared everything ahead of Onyx''s arrival. With that, Onyx had found himself very impressed. Ibis was taking a great lead to keep the hatchlings on par with the teaching they had already received.


    The mentors that Midnight had already introduced the dragon hatchlings to were more than happy to set up a longer term study for them. They knew that their various professions would be busy. That alone meant a lot of learning situations just waiting for anyone that needed the experience. An ideal situation for them.


    "Brother, we should leave now. I think it will be better to head out before the morning is lost." Onyx felt nervous energy. He wanted to get to where they needed to be so that they could help more people.


    "You''re right. We will head out now." Walker looked back at Genesis and was slightly sad to be leaving again. He would miss thest of the battles, the armies gathered, and even the new elven cities joining Alma. he had wanted to be there for every single moment of it. But he had to be where he could do the most for those in need.


    "We are just going to head south from here, right? The demonnds border all of the southernnds right?" Gil was sure that he remembered the vastness of the demonnds. The demonic monsters that lived there were the reasons for such arge area being set aside.


    The high magical ability of multiple monsters was the major reasoning behind the demonnds being sorge. A very small portion of it was actually inhabited by intellectual races. Mainly only the demons. Other than that there were rumors that some dragons may have gone there but from what Walker had learned, there were no dragon viges there.


    "I just worry about what else might be crossing the borders. If the demons are in madness and there is something leading them. there might be monsters too that have crossed the borders. It could be a challenge." Su worried about this the most.


    "There will be a focus on specific points. I assume that there will be ces where it will be easier for enemies, refugees, and us to cross." Gil had already thought about this. The border was long. There was no way that a massive force could be at every single spot along the walls made to defend against the demons.<sub> </sub>


    This was one benefit of the p[ast. The walls were enough to hold back the corrupt demons alo9ng with the demonic monsters. That way they didn''t run in to the kingdoms built up north. The only issue was that their walls had been built so long ago by multiple races that the wall was sure to fail in certain ces.


    "We will meet the main problem area first. That way they can get the supplies they need. From there we will let them distribute potions along the entire wall. From there, we wait for the reinforcements to get there." Walker wanted to be clear on his n. He wasn''t going to do anything risky. There was too much danger.


    "As long as the potions get to everyone that needs them. You have my special crate, right? Trish helped me make a lot of explosive potions in small andrger sizes." Remey was sure that there would berger groups of enemies. That meant they needed area of effect skills or attacks.


    "Those are the potions that need alchemy fire to start a reaction, right?" Gil had overheard Remey talking about them to Su earlier.


    "Exactly. They are made to react only when alchemy fire is added. That makes them safer for transport and around my waist in battle." There was a proud tone in Remey''s voice. She and Trish had worked hard to create safer explosive potions.


    "If you and I work together with those potions, we could do a lot." Gil would rarely partner up with Remey, however, if she were to throw a potion and let him fire an alchemy fire arrow at them, then it could do very well.


    "I like the idea." Remey and Gil started to get in to strategizing. This was the first time they would face a lot of trained enemies. Especially enemies that would not hold back from unspeakable evils. They had to be more than just prepared.


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 Chapter 1459 1459. Values

    "Gil, take down that ground squirrel up ahead. It will make a good snack for when we stop to restter." Gil was the best one to take down the ground squirrel.


    The ground squirrels were monsters that tunneled very fast in to the ground. They were known to eat at the roots of nts making them a natural enemy to farmers. However, they were considered a very tasty monster to eat if someone was fast enough to catch them.


    "Don''t blink or you will miss it," Gil smirked as he drew and fired his arrow at the ground squirrel. Walker had spotted it some distance away so Gil didn''t have to worry about the ground squirrel running away. It was beaten in a single shot without any struggle.


    "Midnight, when we stop I will have you start the fire." Walker wanted to ensure that everyone had a task. They wouldn''t rest long since they were able to travel faster nowadays.


    "If I remember right, we should see a vige on the horizon. The healers that went with Alice shared their map with me." Su showed Walker the copy and pointed out the pearl grape farm.


    ? "That''s good, we can check on them. If one group of escaped demons made it a day or two away from them then there may be more by now." Walker was sure that they would make it to the vige by night fall. They had been pushing themselves to move fairly fast and had not seen any monsters about other than the odd horned rabbit or now ground squirrel.


    "Walker, let''s stop now. It will be better to recover if we end up awake all night helping there." Remey stopped them which was a little unusual. She was normally all about pushing forward.


    "That''s not the normal you, what''s wrong? Are you feeling well?" Onyx was the first to ask. He felt that Remey and he had bonded a lot in thevands so he wanted to ensure that she was safe.


    "Well¡­we are going to war. It''s not something small. I just want to be ready. It''s not every day that we try and take overnds to free an oppressed people. You know?" As much as they had all thought about it and wanted to do what was right, it was hard to wrap their heads around.


    They were speaking about freeing people, yes, but that also meant they were pushing for war. The opposite of what they wanted. War was not the way to grow peace. However, this was what the party was currently involved in. they couldn''t even lie and say that they wouldn''t be involved. They were key people within Genesis and their decisions maderge waves.


    "Not everything will be perfect. This is the right thing to do. We will do it the best we can." Walker stopped and pulled some wood from his storage. He had alreadymitted to saving the demons and would not turn back. He had his own beliefs and he would live up to them.


    Midnight silently moved next to him to begin lighting the wood Walker took out. The remainder of their hour break to eat was silent while they all thought about their reasons for wanting to free another race from oppression. Their reasons for bringing the races together. It was a sobering moment in the middle of aplicated situation.


    "Let''s get on the move." Remey nearly pushed everyone along. She had a big burst of energy since they had stopped to eat. It was clear that the time to reflect on their actions was important for her.


    "I feel you might just want to try and steal away the pearl grapes. Don''t think I didn''t see you trying to get them in your tea." Su smirked. She too had sliced the pearl grapes and added them to a fruit tea. It was a nice sweetness that made the tea brighter.<sub> </sub>


    "If that''s a side effect of stopping in their vige I will ept that burden." Remey''s jokes a little whole Midnight ran to catch up with her ahead. The two seemed to be taking the chance to get to the fields ahead sooner.


    While they walked, the group saw that some of the further fields had a few more weeds. They had grapes growing but they needed a little more attention. "Alice, this is the same vige, right?" Alice nodded. She had been so silent that it was hard to remember she had been walking with them. However, she had been seemingly chatting with Onyx the entire time since he didn''t need to speak out loud like everyone else.


    "I would say we will be helping here first." Gil saw therge fire in the middle of the vige. It was clearly to makerger amounts of food. The only reason that could be was that there were more people there than there should be.


    "And a group of healers beat us here. They moved pretty fast on their carriage." Waker spotted the familiar clothing and movements of healers. "We can move a little faster." Walker broke in to a soft jog. He wanted to see what was going on.


    "Well, that is a familiar face. Alice, right? Come to help us out again?" Alice smiled and nodded a few times.


    "You are Mis? Alice and her healers told us about you. We are heading toward the border. Alice needs to rest her voice but she is more than just a singer. We will help you where we can. Walker will use healing magic too." Su took the lead. She started right to work while Mis walked up to speak with Walker.


    "So, healing magic and a popr person. I saw how the other healers became much busier when all of you got here. Wee to the vige." Mis went right to work. She was directing people here and there. Multiple soldiers and a few demons had been madefortable in the center tent made for the injured.


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 Chapter 1460 1460. Good To Be Mean

    Walker wasn''t sure what to do about Mis. she had basically walked over, said hello, then walked away. If anything, he felt that he was just there to make an acquaintance. Yet, the more he watched the more he learned. She was the center of the vige at a fairly young age. Everyone went to her when theypleted a task.


    "Well, if you''re working hard, let''s calm things down so we can work smoothly." Walker used the calming waves skill. A pulse of mana went through the center of the vige stopping everyone for just a moment. They looked over at Walker with clearer eyes.


    Those that had been in pain were able to rx a little more while those working themselves to the bone could feel a few moments of peace. It made everyone stand a little taller. "Point me to those with the worst injuries." Walker was right next to the healers who had clearly exhausted a lot of their mental strength. It wasn''t a surprise since many of them had been healing since they got to the vige.


    "Walker,e over here. This man cut himself on his leg while working in the fields." The man inquisition had a piece of metal from a broken farm tool still in his leg. It looked like the man had been over tired and potentially hit a rock with the plow. The horses pulling it could move very fast which caused the metal to fly off.


    The dark bags under the man''s eyes proved that he had been working more than he should have been. "I''m fine, I''m fine. Help someone else. There are others that need it-more." The pain made the man''s voice sound broken.


    "That''s not happening. I can heal a lot of people with my mana and the potions we have. Just brace yourself because this will hurt." Walker refused to step away. Su guided a healer toward them who didn''t hesitate to pull the metal from the man''s leg.


    Between Walker and the healer, they both used healing skills to fix the damage partially. Su started to wrap the man''s leg in herbs that the healers and Remey were mashing in to a salve. "You won''t be able to move around for a month. Keep it covered and dry. And I swear, if you even think of standing up I will make sure your vige leader hears it." The healer had enough of stubborn farmers trying to work and help others.


    "Su, have you noticed?" Walker asked while Su pointed him to the next person that was injured.


    "Yes. The vigers started to help thoseing from the border when they weren''t in the field. They need rest or else they will keep hurting themselves. Their leader is struggling to manage them since they all feel obligated to do everything." Su hit the nail on the head. Even a fool would be able to derive this from this situation.


    "Then I will get a little extreme." Walker felt bad for what he would do since he just used the calming waves skill. However, there were too many people risking hurting themselves. He needed them to stop and rest.


    With arge breath, Walker used a weaker version of his dragon''s intimidation. The roar drew all attention and made everyone from the fieldse running. In a matter of minutes there was an entire vige in front of him.


    "What in the heavens was that all about?! I thought you were here to help!" Mis came with a fury in her to yell at Walker.


    "I was calling the work day over. That injury, that, that, and even that. Are all from your vigers being too tired. Helping people is great. But for your own safety and health? No. The work day is over. Now you can set up a n with healthy shifts. If you can''t agree on this I will use my earth magic to tten three fields. That way you won''t have so much work to do."


    Walker would never do this to the vige. He was bluffing. Even Mis seemed to know that he was bluffing. Yet, she needed an excuse to convince her vigers. With this evil sounding threat, Walker had be the target while Mis was the light that was making it work.<sub> </sub>


    "You know you just made them hate you a little, right?" Su shook her head. She didn''t have an issue with doing things that way, but she felt it was a little exaggerated.


    "It was the fastest solution apart from actually tearing up their fields. Now, show me the next person to help." With Su''s knowledge, Walker was able to use his mid tier healing skill in tandem with multiple healers.


    ''The skill healing cooperation has been taken from the grand healer system. The user has automatically learned the skill healing cooperation due to multiple healing instances with other healers.


    Healing cooperation- passive


    Those that heal in tandem with you will spend less of their mana to cause a healing effect.''


    The skill was very simple. Walker wanted to thank the world for how simple it was. It didn''t require any crazy situation or any harder work. There was even the benefit that it didn''t cost mana. All he needed to do was work with other healers and they would all save their mana. That meant they could heal more people.


    It was perfect to help them push in to the night with the healing and preparations. Hourster, Walker found that Mis had sat down next to him. "You know that you aren''t going to be weed here easily. But some of the older family thinks you have some steel. Even though you are too loud." Miss handed him a cup of water before leaving to go and rest herself.


    "We are heading to the border in the morning. Don''t worry, we will make sure that we lessen your burden." Mis just shook her head.


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 Chapter 1461 1461. Distracted

    "Well, We all got a little rest at least. Walker felt that they had all gotten a decent nap throughout the night. It was good that Mis had managed to get the vigers resting in cycles.


    "I feel like we could have slept here longer if you hadn''t made them all angry. But, those old folks by the fire made us tea, so they might not be that angry." Gil had already handed the cups back to the elderly farmers. They had been the only ones awake so early in the morning.


    "We should take the advantage and head out. It will be more beneficial to us since the longer stretch of travel will be today and tomorrow." Su had already borrowed the map from Walker. She was trying to get better at reading it while she traveled.


    There was also the fact that she worried there were more incidents like the one that Alice encountered where fires or something changed thendscape. If the paths were messed up then it would take them longer to find a new way or a safer way through some of the wilderness. Not many people traveled down to the demonnds other than suppliers and soldiers. That made the paths more overgrown as it was.


    "Brother, Alice says that the healers will stay here to help the vigers until the demons and soldiers are well enough to head to Genesis. More people should be here to help soon." Onyx had been thest to return with Alice. The pair had checked with every single healer to ensure that they were better prepared for the potential of more injureding.


    "Good, as long as they keep themselves paced in cycles too then they won''t work themselves sick. The vigers and the healers." This made Walker happy because he wouldn''t need to y the viin anymore.


    "Then we are heading out! No more salve making I hope." Remey enjoyed alchemy, that wasn''t a lie. However, she found the tedious mixing and scraping that came with salve making to be annoyingly boring. It drove her crazy.


    While speaking, Walker noticed that some of the vigers came out of their homes to see them off. He didn''t expect them to do so but it was a nice gesture. One that gave the entire party a little more energy. Unsurprisingly, when Midnight ran to meet them as they left, she had somehow acquired a piece of roasted meat that she was finishing. The party didn''t even question it. She was the ruler of sneaking.


    "This is where Alice said she found the group of demons making a camp." Walker looked up to see Alice nod in approval. "That means we have a higher chance of encountering them here near the border wall. If there was a good ce to cross the border then I expect we will be able to find multiple demon camps or soldiers escorting demons." Walker was sure they would find more demons and would have to help them with directions.


    "If I have to I can lead them back to a path or the vige itself." Onyx was willing to ept this since he knew that the rest of the party wanted to make it to the wall as soon as possible. He would dly take the longer route to get there by backtracking with those in need.


    "Onyx, you won''t have to do that. With the number of peopleing our way, I am sure that we will group up soon. There are healers, soldiers, and even adventurer groupsing this way. Some of the adventurers were closer to here than Genesis when they received a quest to help." Walker had been told this by ra who had the party managers offer the quest to all their adventurers.


    "There were even merchants that had volunteered to carry additional supplies down here. They should be moving pretty fast since they are used to higher transport speeds. They also have carriages." Remey was sure that some additional potions and foods would be sent this way. She wasn''t foolish to believe that some of the Genesis storage wouldn''t be brought to the walls.<sub> </sub>


    A warning growl from Midnight alerted the group to the movement that they saw ahead of them once they looked up. All of them had gotten too in to their conversations and missed the clear movement ahead. Luckily, Midnight was much more attentive with her draconic senses.


    "That looks like a boar. A demonic boar?" Walker was surprised. He had trained against them before with his friends from the tamer''s guild. But this one was very different.


    ''Demonic boar alpha


    This demonic boar has grown up in the wilds under constant threat of attack. Due to being the only surviving member of its pack, this boar had grown differently. There is a stronger physical ability causing its fur to be a deep ck. The horns are purposefully broken against trees to be able to cause more injuries. Alpha demonic boars are known to go berserk when at the end of their life.''


    The all around appraisal skill gave all the warning that Walker needed. This was not the average demonic boar. It was very likely that this one had managed to cross the border where the walls were open for movement. In the process, the pack had been lost leaving the single demonic boar to grow alone.


    "We need to work together. Don''t let it get those horns near you. It is stronger than the other demonic boars we have seen." Walker''s warning put everyone on the ready. It was just in time because the alpha boar was charging at them. Su only had a moment to use the earth dwelling shield to deflect the boar toward the side. She was still pushed back a few inches though. Everyone saw this as a bigger reason to remain nearby her for protection.


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 Chapter 1462 1462. Charging Boar

    Gil took the chance to make the distance between him and the demonic alpha boar. He knew that his arrows might not work as well as his main focus would be distractions. Su had to cover Alice and Remey since they were the closest to the boar. There was also that fact that Alice couldn''t use her skills due to her voice needing to rest. If she used it now she would end up harming herself.


    "Remey, you take the right and I will take the left." Walker watched the eternal orb change form in to a sword. He knew he could gather the wind around it to sh with more power. Combining a two pronged attack where Remey used her defense breaking palm, they would make huge damage.


    "Focus on me you worthless pile of bacon!" Su taunted the boar while Gil managed to infuriate it by firing an arrow in to its side. The arrow barely pierced the dense skin but it was enough to cause pain.


    Without the need for any further directions, Walker shed downward with the eternal orb sword form. He was focused on making the wind in to a solid de. Remey''s attack hit at the same time causing a cracking sound.


    Multiple ribs broke while Walker ''s attack sliced through the skin on the opposite side. Yet, this was not enough to beat the demonic alpha boar. It became angrier. The color of its eyes became slightly red showing that it had activated the berserker skill it had.


    Su was able to hit it with a solid shield bash to push it back before it began to il about trying to stab them in any way possible. Midnight took the chance to realize arge breath of mes right in front of it. Naturally, the boar didn''t expect such an attack. Its reaction was to jump back and then charge ahead.


    Walker took this as a signal to gather earth elemental mana around the eternal orb sword form. This allowed him to brace his stab with the earth. Just as the boar met him, the eternal orb sword pierced its neck causing instant defeat.


    "That was¡­a lot." Remey was flexing her fingers. The defense breaking palm had done a lot of damage but left its mark on Remey''s hand. She hadn''t used any fist skills since she had been worried about the toughness of the boar. If she had she was sure that she would have broken her hand in some way.


    "I don''t think we are cutting this thing up at all. It''s too tough. Well, the skin is just tough. The muscle looked easier to break." Gil was examining the fallen demonic alpha boar. He had broken down much prey but this was the toughest yet.


    "No, we can wait until we get somewhere with better equipment. Walker can store it away." Su was checking the earth dwelling shield. She feared that the earth spirit had taken some damage from the attacks the boar used against them.


    "That''s fine. I don''t think we will need to deal with a pack like this. It was mostly because this one grew alone for some time." Walker looked at the earth that he had brought up around the eternal orb sword form. There were many cracks that showed just how much power the boar had in its attack. Even though it had essentially beaten itself, Walker was sure if the boar survived it could have posed some threat to the eternal orbs'' durability.


    Midnight appeared to be slightly upset that they wouldn''t be eating. She had done her best to use fire breath to deal damage and stop the boar in its tracks. She felt that she deserved a reward. Her slight growl of protest made Walker shake his head.


    "The fire was a good idea but it could have charged through them. That was the same as risking major injury. And yes, before you argue with me, I know you can fly now. You can jump out of the way, but if you didn''t?" Walker was acting like a mother which made Gil start tough slightly.<sub> </sub>


    When the party turned around, they found that Onyx had wrapped himself around Alice to be a coiled shield for her. None of them had expected that he had been so quick to do this. It was an impressive use of his bind skill andrger size.


    "Onyx, you will need to train with me more if you are going to act as a shield for others like that." Su felt that Onyx could use hisrger body better the more he learned to defend with it. He was quickly growing in to the very same abyssal serpent ancestor that they had all seen on the walls of the ruins.


    "If you need a partner I will do it. I want to learn more about my affinities though." Onyx had considered his role in the party. He preferred the fact that he could focus on magical attacks and physical. He was a very decent hybrid warrior in that way. Unfortunately, that meant that he would need more time to learn these things.


    "You can do both, have Su go to the mage tower with you. The floors are veryrge and the two of you can get limated to your affinities while also training some physical skills. It might actually be better for you to keep your size smaller while you train." Walker''s idea was simple. When Onyx restricted his size he could manage his muscles better. That way he would have higher control when he was at his natural size.


    "For now though, you should help us." Gil stopped the party again. They were looking at a temporary camp with soldiers guarding over fifty demons that had clearly been through a hard battle.


    "I agree, Onyx, we need you to help where you can. Go and get those healers back at the farming vige." Onyx didn''t even question it. He knew that hisrger size would be beneficial to the speed at which he returned to the farming vige.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1463 1463. Selfless

    The soldier made a defensive line when they saw people approaching. However, as soon as they recognized the ques that the party wore, they rxed. "You are Walker and his founding party? It''s good to see some help. We were instructed to escort these refugees to Genesis but we have to stop often."


    The soldiers looked ready to defend against anything that came their way. They had shields and swords at the ready. Yet, in drasticparison, the demons seemed much worse off. They had small injuries or burns here and there. Some even had clear signs of starvation and dehydration.


    "I think it''s fine to drop some supplies here." Walker didn''t even wait for anyone to react. He was already pulling food, bandages, and some healing potions out of his storage. He was sure that they would go a long way to help the demons who needed healing.


    "Alice, I will tell him. I know what you want to say." Su had Alice gripping her arm as soon as the dried meats and vegetables left Walker''s storage.


    "What''s wrong? Should I get something else?" Walker was less experienced with helping people who had been stuck in a starved state. Therefore, he needed more guidance to ensure that nothing bad happened.


    "They have been starved and dehydrated. If they eat nutrient rich food at a density like we do they will go in to shock or get very sick. It will make things worse. We are going to make a very thin soup inrge batches. Then you will freeze what is left after everyone has a single cup today. There will also be water but we won''t let them drink it all at once. They need to sip it all slowly. That will help them better than just giving them what they want right away."


    "I didn''t know. Then we need to set up a fire and start. I will use my skills to create a massive earth pot. The harder I can shape it the better it will work." Walker didn''t carry enough metal to somehow create a potst minute.


    "Can we pitch in our armor? What would work better as a pot right?" One of the soldiers didn''t hesitate to offer such a thing. Walker and the rest of the party were stunned.


    "That''s a good idea. I heard you can forge things with some super rare skill right? Take my spare armor and put it to good use. I''m not on the border right now."


    "Mine too!"


    "You kids can use this right?"


    The soldiers started tossing spare armor and even more in front of Walker who didn''t have the words.


    "Listen here, stop gawking. We all live in Genesis. We moved there as soon as we heard about it. Have you not noticed that we have demi-humans, humans, and even a few elves? We were all without homes or jobs when we heard about your little city. Hell, that kid over there is even engaged to one of the demons rescued when that Pride monster attacked his home. So, get to work and show us what we left it all behind to fight for. We were volunteers after the captain set the order to escort these people."<sub> </sub>


    The soldier in charge pointed out members of his squad. They definitely looked mismatched but they all held the same values. None of the party had realized just how many people had moved in to Genesis only to leave and dedicate their time to saving others. It was hard to grasp in the moment. They were literally giving up their safety so that the demons could have a better meal.


    "If you want it done, then it will be done." Walker couldn''t go against them. Even if he didn''t have the skills, he would learn them as he went. His system was made for something like this. He could do exactly what was needed.


    The few steps that Walker took were enough for him to use the portable forge skill. The sudden appearance brought a lot of exmations from the soldiers before Su pushed them back toward the demons. She was already handing out bandages and giving orders. Remey was right next to her with Alice showing her what to do to better soak bandages in healing potion.


    Gil started to fill the forge furnace with some small sticks that Walker had pulled out. He was going to do what he could to supply Walker with the armor from the armor after he removed the pieces of leather and other non metal parts.


    Midnight was the first to light the forge furnace. She was going to make sure that the fire burned brighter and brighter until Walker could use any forging skills he had. The demons that were in better shape watched as Walker fed armor in to the furnace slowly melting it. He was making arge scene while he began to fold the metal in to a single piece.


    Using some of the nearby earth, Walker hardened it in to the shape of a massive pot. The shape would not be perfect but it would be ideal for forcing the metal in to a working cooking container. The hours passed them by as Walker hammered more and more. He was not used to thebor in such a way but that didn''t matter. He continued with the encouragement from the soldiers.


    By the time he had forced the metal in to shape, he was sweating puddles. But Midnight and Gil were still by his side to heft the newly forged pot on to arge bed of hot coals. Now he had the job of creating a thin soup from what he had taken from his storage already. It wouldn''t even be worth doing unless he went all the way. Whatever he could do he was going to do. Even the soldiers were joining him with their survival skills to cut and clean vegetables.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1464 1464. Burnt Out

    "He''s pretty much done. I haven''t seen him work this hard on something that wasn''t training magic for a long time." Gil was pretty tired and dirty himself. He has taken as much of the work on as possible.


    "I tried to tell him we could help after the soldiers had taken over the major healing effort. They bandaged and set everything up for when Onyx gets here with the healers. But Walker was in some sort of trance. He didn''t talk, or even react." Remey hadn''t been sure what to do with the situation and had just gone back to helping Su.


    "That''s just how he is. He saw a clear goal. Especially after what the soldiers said. It was a little much." Su smiled softly through her tiredness. She was looking at the still steaming pot of thin soup that had been made. Walker had used all of his mana to make everything perfect. She was sure he had gained some new skill somehow.


    "Speaking of Onyx, I think I can see him." Gil had been taking careful lookout since Onyx had left. Even though he had given a lot of his effort to helping Walker, he had been able to keep his eyes open.


    "I think Onyx did exactly what Walker did. Nonstop work until he was here. He didn''t even let the healers that came keep their carriage. He has them on his back." Su nearlyughed while Alice tantly let out a very stifledugh so as not to hurt her voice more.


    The healers on Onyx''s back were slightly green from the brisk movements. Yet, they were clearly focused on the people they could see ahead of them. "I will go and tell them what''s going on. You two make sure that Midnight and Walker rest properly instead of by the fire like that." Gil jogged over toward Onyx.


    "If this wasn''t the situation that it was, I would say we are slowing ourselves down. But this is more important." Remey was sure that they woulde across people like this again. The odds were too high. If there was someone or something leading the demons that made them run about in madness, there was only more chances that other demons would flee for their lives.


    "I agree, we need to get there sooner. These demons didn''t get hurt crossing the borders due to soldiers attacking them. They were hurt by magic and rough tools. I would be willing to bet that not all of them were affected by whatever skill causes them to go mad. They aren''t like demonic monsters that lose their sanity easily." The stress Su had seemed to be growing. She didn''t want to get to the border and see losses.


    They were on their way to prevent losses. If the party was dyed longer than the first batches of supplies would be dyed as well. Something that was absolutely important to the order''s survival. Let alone all the demons like these ones here.


    "Onyx says that the healers areing behind us too. Another two groups and four adventurer parties joined together at the vige since we left. They are like a line of help heading this way. The cathedral and ra sent them in certain routes to cover more of the border evenly." Gil had managed to speak with Onyx who had been told this by the healers.


    The farming vige was being fortified by a few of the Genesis soldiers that could remain there. They partnered with healers so that the vige could work as they should on their crops. It was a massive help since the pearl grape farm was appearing to be a highly traveled middle point in the current state of the war.


    "Hmm?" Walker came to a little when Remey had nudged him. She was going to try and pick him up toy him down on one of the bed rolls they set up nearby. However, he was not yet sleeping soundly. The same was with Midnight when Su and Gil tried to move her toward a ce that was not the dirt ground.


    "Onyx made it back with healers?" Walker saw the changes around him instantly. He had been waiting for it.<sub> </sub>


    "Yes, he just got here. He will be in the same shape as you after his adrenaline wears off. He moved at his fastest speed the entire time to the vige and back. There is a lot more help on the way that will be here halfway through the night." Gil didn''t even cut corners. He gave it to Walker straight.


    "Good, the more people we have here to get them moving the better. I think we can set up a secondary rest area in another half day of traveling." The idea was to make it easier for the refugees and soldiers to rest and heal. There were sure to be a lot more of theming as soon as the armies gathered. There was also the benefit that they would be able to see the true colors of Genesis earlier to decide if they even wanted to live there.


    "But you, Midnight, Onyx, and Gil are all resting. Su and I took out time to rest as we went. You four have ignored resting and burnt yourselves out." Remey looked ready to continue yelling at them if Su hadn''t given her a harsh look. She did have a point.


    "If you are saying it then I guess you''re right." Walker felt it wasical that Remey was the one telling them to rest. She was more well known for locking herself in the alchemyb for days at a timetely.


    "Just go and rest so we can leave in four or five hours." Remey huffed a little and rushed off.


    "I can not argue with that." Onyx slithered over and fell to sleep in an instant. No one hesitated to follow his lead.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1465 1465. Add On

    When Walker woke up he was surprised to see that the soldiers were much more energetic. They had been incredibly stressed that the demons were hurt and not going to be able to survive their escape. Now that they had some food and had recovered, the demons were even starting to open up a little.


    This new information was a massive insight in to the current state of the demonnds. "One of them was telling me that after some of the sin title holders had been sent out that things became very strict. Some people even refused to leave their homes unless it was life or death." The soldier in charge of this squad was sharing everything he had gathered.


    "That''s not a good sign. We need to start liberating the viges and make it in to the main demon capital city." Walker was not happy to hear that the problems were escting.


    "I feel the same, however, this may be harder than we believe. They have seen many demonic monsters controlled with magic being guided toward the border. It is not advisable to do anything without proper support. We should be able to learn more about the other sin title holders. They are feared but the people do know of them." The soldier made the promise to speak with the demons more.


    Any information about the corrupt demons that were forcing their will upon the people was helpful. Especially since taking them down would be more important than anything within the war. "I just hope that when those titles resurface that they are used for better things than what they are used for now." Walker couldn''t believe that the sin demon title holders were forced by their title to do evil deeds. He had some hope that they could do good.


    "I just finished checking with the healers. They said that they could stay here and make the trip back to the farming vige in another few hours." Alice and Su came up to Walker. They were convinced that the situation here was well handled.


    "That''s good. We can get Remey and Gil to head out then. I''m not going to lie, Remey seems pretty popr with that group of demons." Walker could see that Remey had managed to get a few of the demon children talking. They were even starting to run around a little bit to the surprise and joy of the adults.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised if they are like her siblings. Most of the city knows that your party members are from every facet of Diamond. A well off family with illness, an orphan, a farmer boy, a guards'' son, and two monsters that have proven to be an esteemed dragon race and an intelligent being waiting to bring back their race." The soldier left after saying this. From his tone, it was justmon knowledge.


    "I feel like I need to stop being surprised about these things. It''s always weird to hear that people know us so well. But to be fair, they gossip a lot. We are idols to some people." Walker held back a littleughter. He was struggling to wrap his mind around all this.


    "I don''t mind them knowing about us, Brother. They have to know about the way that Genesis was founded and where everything started. It makes sense for people to realize that even they can be great." Onyx had fully woken up in time to hear what the soldier believed. He took great pride in the fact that every citizen, even those away from Genesis, knew who the party was.


    "Well, let''s go get Gil and Remey." Su went off to get Gil who was going over some of the monsters in the area that they had seen so far while Walker and Onyx went to get Remey. Midnight was still resting by the fire and would be leaving with them soon.


    "Remey, I hate to stop you from your game. But we need to get moving. We are going to set up that resting spot for the next group of soldiers and refugees." From Remey''s face, Walker saw that she didn''t really want to leave. However, she toughened herself and turned to the group of demon children.<sub> </sub>


    "Listen up, my little brothers and sisters are in Genesis. When you get there you should find a few. Some of you have some pretty good systems that they could use by their sides. And you three, you will find your systems pretty fast. I am willing to bet on it. Just don''t run around too much." The children didn''t seem unhappy seeing Remey go. They were too used to people leaving. But when she promised they would see her siblings they brightened up a little. They had started to trust Remey enough to believe her words.


    "I hope Remey didn''t cause you too much trouble. She didn''t start any fights, right? Those knuckles she has are for-" Remey punched Walker in the shoulder causing a few small smiles.


    "And that means we are leaving. Be good. Look for me when I get back. I will give you all a tour of the alchemy guild. If you want one when you get there go to the staff and ask for Trish. Tell her that guild master Remey said you are a special guest." The children watched Remey and Walker leave.


    <o>,m "You know you should open an orphanage too right? I know you have already talked to the high priest about adding it on to the cathedral. If you just start building one it would make the church and the alchemy guild better partners. Plus, it would be much better than anyone else that funded it." Walker knew that Remey understood why he was saying it. The high priest and she had experiences that would make them more passionate about such things.</o>


    "I''ll think about it when we save some of their parents." Remey had a stern look of determination, she didn''t want to let them down.


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 Chapter 1466 1466. Demon Land Dangers

    "I think Midnight would have slept all day if I didn''t promise her a part of my snack to get up." Gil was having the inner battle of giving away some of his beef jerky that the party was snacking on while they walked.


    "I think you just have to ept that you gave in to Midnight''s tricks." Remey was the first to teach Gil. Everyone knew it was true though, Midnight had managed to pull the wool over Gil''s eyes easily.


    "Whatever, I just wanted to get us moving sooner. That spot we want to set up as a resting area will be important, you know." Gil dashed forward to scout. He was not going to just sit and ept this from everyone.


    "I figure I will leave a barrel of water, one crate of mixed potions, some healing supplies but not much since the healers will bring a lot, and maybe some wood for a fire. I don''t want to leave a lot of food since it will attract monsters before others get there." Walker was sure he had everything covered.


    "Leave our extra bed rolls there. It will help those that are worse off rest. You and I both know that there will be some major injuries." Su spoke up since she saw that Alice was about to try and say the same thing even though she wasn''t supposed to speak.


    When Alice backed Su up by pulling on Walker''s arm he finally nodded a yes. He knew that they would have to sleep on the ground but it was worth the price. They weren''t going to stop for long to rest until they reached the border.


    "It''s interesting how much things are changing. I know there is a desert past the mountains and south a dry and vast mix of grasnds, demonic forests, and even some strangekes. But, it''s hard to understand." Remey had looked at the map many times. She needed to know what herbs she should expect to find. The more she found the more she could make when at the border.


    "The demonnds are a mix of many things. The swampnds even meld in to the demonnds where the border walls couldn''t be built. Not that anyone would ever go through that way. Even the refugees and powerful demons wouldn''t risk that." From what Walker had read, he knew that the demonnds were challenging.


    "I know that I read the same journals as you. The demonnds are going to be even tougher than any other ce we have been to. The demons might have some very tough magical skills, but they are still not the most powerful in the demonnds."Su remembered many of the important things she and Walker had read. She couldn''t forget so easily.


    "Even the trees can be tougher than the ones in the elven forest. The spiked sun trees grow without leaves and instead rely on bugs and other animals getting stuck to them for nutrients. That''s terrifying." The tree that Su referenced was one that was considered dangerous but valuable. The deep red wood was considered very valuable.


    "That''s what gets you? I thought you wouldn''t like the demonic beasts there that were capable of destroying a forest alone. I remember a passage about demonic titans. They aren''t really titans in the mythical sense, but they are arge golem made of stone exposed to high amounts of earth mana and dark mana. It causes them to be territorial and hard to defeat because they had two cores. They will grow to the size of small hills." Walker definitely did not want to see such a monster. If he did he would avoid it at all costs.


    "Well, if you see a white flower with a red center tell me. I want to get it to make a regeneration potion. It helps the body heal faster over time which is slightly different from a healing potion. The flowers are extinct in the northernnds but apparently, they exist in the demonnds. They are just hard to get to since they attract monsters with their scent." Remey said this as if it was just a casual thing.<sub> </sub>


    "You want us to look for something that attracts monsters!? No way, we aren''t doing anything like that." Walker immediately vetoed that thought. He was not going to risk such a thing.


    "It sounds very useful though. Imagine if you had a serious injury and could not get to a healer soon. You could take a regeneration potion and begin to heal while you rush to the nearest whaler. It''s perfect for the injured at the border." Su found the positive immediately. Remey was right here with her supporting the ideas.


    "However¡­if it attracts monsters then it''s risky. The demonic monsters have already proven to be tougher than we are. If we encountered more than one we might need to run for our lives." That was the end of Remey''s mental cheering for Su.


    "We can consider it if we see it in the distance. I won''t risk anyone''s safety. Let''s just see what Gil found ahead." Walker saw Gil on his way back. He knew that something had made him turn around.


    "A lot of nothing ahead of us. The path seems to be pretty empty if not just overgrown. I think we will be able to spend the next few hours without issues. I even feel it''s too barren. I just wonder if there is a predator around keeping the basic animal poption low. I didn''t see any footprints though." Gil knew that this was a sign of a monster around. Yet, he didn''t know which one was the cause.


    "Then we stay on alert. Let''s drink some water and focus up. We will keep conversation low in case we bring attention to ourselves. Midnight can hide in the nearby grass to ambush anything that tries to sneak up." The n was set and the party pushed onwards.


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 Chapter 1467 1467. Time To Fly?

    There was a difference in not having any animals and monsters around because of seasonal changes, and finding that the entire area around them was silent without animals and monsters. Gil couldn''t exin why there was nothing. From what he saw there were no tracks on the ground. No reason that monsters and animals would avoid this stretch ofnd.


    "I don''t see any poisonous herbs or nts in general. Nothing that could keep monsters away. If there were, we would find evidence." Remey was sure of this. She had read about herbs that attracted monsters with sweet scents but they poisoned the monsters. From there the monster would decay and be fertilizer for the herbs.


    "If there aren''t any tracks and nothing else to scare them away¡­doesn''t that mean the monster might be in the air?" Su had the realization hit her. She had not been looking in the air for anything since it was rare for them to run in to situations like this.


    "Midnight looked up and started to search. If there was an air battle it would be her first. It would be the perfect chance for her to learn aerial battle. Midnight had considered going to Elise and Ste. Unfortunately, things had be busy and she couldn''t attempt that.


    "In the distance, there is a flock of some flying monsters." Gil was able to find them in a few moments now that he had opened his eyes to the possibility that there were things in the sky preying on other monsters around here.


    "I am going to try and appraise them. I don''t know if it will work¡­" Walker knew that the distance was very far and he might not be able to use his all around appraisal on a single monster.


    ''Flock of arrow sparrow


    These monsters flock inrge groups. They prefer to prey on singr targets by diving and impeding their long sharp beaks in their prey. They will flock and take over arge territory. The flock will not attack monsters that can kill multiple of them at once. They are cowardly monsters.''


    "It''s not much information but I know how they act as a flock. That''s a flock of arrow sparrows. I feel like it''s a strange name but it makes sense. We should just keep moving. If we have them attack us Midnight and I will use fire to scare them away." Walker was sure that they could scare the arrow sparrows away.


    "If they are just arge flock of them, then doesn''t that mean there should be something hunting them too?" Remey thought it was unusual that there was nothing hunting the arrow sparrows.


    "They are arge flock. I am sure that some of them get picked off by multiple monsters when they try to attack them. Or they are left behind by their fellow flock members." Since it was clear that the sparrows attack singr monsters, she thought it would be normal that they would not try to keep the weaker of their flock alive. It also came to mind that they would potentially attack their weakened flock members.


    "Midnight, don''t look so disappointed. We all know you want to fight them while breathing fire in an epic battle for the skies. But that''s for another time. We need to stay in agroup so they don''te over here." Walker saw what Midnight was thinking clearly. He wasn''t going to allow her to run off in to trouble. "Neither will you Onyx, I see you trying to encourage her to take you with her."


    "Brother, I was thinking no such thing. I would never want to be brought in to the sky to cover sisters'' back and beat multiple opponents with my tail." As smart as Onyx had gotten, he was still too obvious with his desires.<sub> </sub>


    "Since we are thinking about fighting in the air, shouldn''t we remember that Walker can literally walk through it?" Gil had a point. He was sure that Walker would also jump in to the battle if the flock even looked at them.


    "I can but it''s not the same as flying. I do wonder, will you be able to do something simr as I can? You are literally the avatar of wind elemental mana under Zephyr." This was something that Gil had yet to consider.


    "I''m not sure. Everything I do when ites to my affinity bes archery based. I have some hunting skills but they are also tied to archery. I wouldn''t expect to be able to just fly one day." Gil thought for another moment, "But it would make sense that I will be able to step in to the air. I would have a better vantage point for firing from long distances."


    "Then you should train more with the wind and see what you can do. If even a little, you might be able to change the speed at which you move. I know that some of the forest elves have skills that let them increase their agility by manipting the wind." Su was sure this was a potential skill for Gil since he also used the dagger techniques.


    "What about Remey? She can use those wind elemental knuckles to do things too. Why don''t you all ask her if she will start sending flying punches?" The spotlight on Gil had put him in a strange mood so he had to change the topic.


    "As much as I want to focus on flying punches, I have more concerns with alchemy fire. My skills need refining. I haven''t even shown off my new skills." There were a few things that Remey had worked on that she was waiting to show off. Unfortunately, it was another thing that had been interrupted when she had to withdraw from the tournament.


    "Don''t look now, but that is a small group of soldiers." Walker stopped everyone. Alice had waved to show them the small group approaching them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1468 1468. Good Spot

    "Hello there!" The soldier leading the four moved closer and gave a wave. "Our scouts saw you around and thought you were some adventurers sent to sure up the border. We came to give an escort."


    It was easy to see that the soldiers were happy to see more peopleing. They also had wider smiles realizing just who the adventurers were in front of them. The party didn''t do anything to hide the ques they had.


    "We dide to help out. The border is a little over a day from here. I assume you are all sent to check thesends between the border walls and the nearest viges?" Walker knew that this was a regr patron to ensure that groups of demonic monsters had not found homes. The demonic monsters were too destructive.


    "You have it exactly right. Should we show you the trail we have carved out? From there you can ess any route to a border wall tower." The towers along the border walls were the small headquarters of each main captain. They had them to spot iing monsters and demon soldiers. It was a main defense for the border.


    "We need to set up a waypoint for soldiers and refugees to rest. There are a loting through this area and toward Genesis. By the time we finish the set up we expect healers and a few adventurers to catch up to us." Walker didn''t hide what their intentions were. It appeared that the soldiers were d to hear it.


    "In that case, I will make your map with the main junctions where multiple trails intersect. You have a better chance to set up at one of them. It''s about ten minutes that way. The flying monsters won''t bother you past there. They are afraid of the shiny armor we have." The soldiersughed at their discovery of such a fact.


    "That''s good to know. We will hand a few shiny pieces of metal to keep them at bay. We don''t want anyone''s healing to be interrupted." This valuable information was going to help the waypoint be even better protected. Especially if the arrow sparrows would end up protecting it from other monsters since they attacked anything in their territory.


    "d to help. Now, we have fifteen more routes to check before we circle back around. Stay alert and keep it up." The soldiers were off on foot again. Their duty could not be ignored to remain with the party if the party didn''t want an escort.


    "I feel like we should have said yes to the escort. It''s getting pretty hot out here today." Gil felt a little bad watching them head off.


    "Then who would check their trails? Would you? They need to do their job to maintain the safety of this area." Su made a good point and Gil felt that it would bring them more guilt if they were escorted.


    "Less sitting around and more moving. Their path is easy to follow. We can set up at the nearest cross section." Remey was pushing ahead with Midnight and Onyx right next to her. She wanted to ensure that her potions had a safe ce to rest and werebeled for anyone to use when they set up a camp.


    The party fell behind Remey and made it to the junction of walking routes in only half an hour. They had been able to see the heavily walked routes that the soldiers were required to walk. They managed to spot a few scouts moving quickly along routes in the distance. It was clear that some of the scouts were covering a lot by themselves, meaning that it was a sure thing that some refugees would make it past them. That also meant monsters would as well.<sub> </sub>


    "I am going to tten this entire spot." Walker followed the map and knew that the spot they had stopped was ideal for a way point. It was not too far from the border walls but just far enough that supplies would need to be topped up.


    The party moved away. They knew that Walker was going to use his grand elemental maniption to focus on the ground beneath their feet.


    Just as they made it a safe distance. The ground started to tremble. Walker rifts broke up the ground causing the grass around to be dug up. Any rocks were also broken up and mixed in to the soil. In arge pulse of earth elemental mana, Walker ttened it all in to an ideal working surface.


    A few drops of sweat fell off Walker''s brow as he looked around at therge space. "The fire can be in the center so that cooking and warming can be easily essible." Walker made an indent in the earth before pulling out a few logs to ce there. He moved away and made a separate pile of small kindling and logs after that. The other started to cut down some of the grass at the edges of what Walker had cleared. It would help for visibility and to make a ce for people toy down.


    "Midnight, Can you help me here?" Walker had a barrel of water that wasn''t staying in ce. It had an uneven bottom which wasn''t an issue in Walker''s storage but needed adjustment now. With a quick sh of Midnight''s ws, the barrel had a few splinters of wood broken making it rest t once again. "Perfect. Now for the bed rolls and water proof sheets."


    The party worked hard to slowly build the resting area. With the guidance of Alice and Su, a ce for the injured was made. They had to make do with what they had but it was enough to have three separate resting areas. It wasn''t a perfect home but a good spot for outdoor rest.


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 Chapter 1469 1469. Caught Up

    "Friendly! We are Friendly!" Later in the night, Gil and Midnight had taken up the watch. They knew that the adventurers and healers might arrive at any time but were more worried about potential demonic monsters.


    MIdnight''s growls that had woken the rest of the party next to Gil''s arrow in the face of the adventurer was enough to make him shout in a panic that he wasn''t there to fight.


    "Sorry about that. It''s a little dark and we have to remain ready for the worst." With an outstretched hand, Gil weed the adventurer. After a few more minutes arger group came in to sight.


    "Sorry to wake all of you. This spot looks like it took some work to make. My party and these healers met up at the farming vige and were told you would be the next we ran in to." The adventurer was a fairly older man with a heavy looking sword on his back. He was definitely a veteran adventurer.


    "That''s right. We moved ahead to set a waypoint here. There is about a day or more until the border but we needed to ensure that the refugees fleeing the demonnds had a ce to stop. The healers might be better off staying here since they will be needed to help those leaving." Walker was going to say more but the adventurers had all started to nod along. They perfectly understood the intention.


    "That means we are lucky enough to be the new guards of this area. I will let our party manager know so that the quest can be altered. We just received one to escort the healers from the farming vige to the border wall. But this is better." Walker was not used to working with other adventurer parties. This seemed to be a very nice arrangement.


    "As you can see, this will be the healing area for the worst injured. This will be for all of you, and there will be for the uninjured. Ideally, there will be more supplies brought here but for now, Remey has left supplies for healing. Alice ensured that everything was organized in the most efficient way." Su took the healers to show them what they needed to know. The healers were blown away seeing the perfection that had been left for them to use.


    "A very good set up. I appreciate the thought you put in to it." The leader of the party that joined them gave a wave and his party started to unpack their bags. Walker saw that they traveled very light with barely any supplies.


    "It''s pretty normal for us to rely on thend for what we need. This here is luxury. Thest escort quest we had was a three month long merchant caravan from the demi-human city to seven viges to purchase seeds." The difference in quests was amazing. Not many people would take such long term jobs.


    "That must have been a lot of walking¡­" Walker felt that these adventurers must have insane staminapared to the average person.


    "Just a little. It''s more annoying when we run in to monsters here and there. Speaking of monsters, how did you like the arrow sparrows? Cute little devils. I swear, if they didn''t like to stab you they would almost be adorable." The partyughed at their leaders'' joke.


    "We didn''t have to worry about them. If they had tried to attack us we would have used fire to scare them off. Although, the soldier said that shiny armor scares them away." sharing this with the new party seemed to be a good idea.


    p "That''s a nice trick. We usually just light a torch during the night and make a lot of noise during the day. They are cowardly little things. A good loud noise and they are gone." The adventures were starting to rx a little. It was easy to see that they were able to fall asleep anywhere by now. "We will rest a little. I will have my scout take the night watch with you for a while. Goodnight."<sub> </sub></anda>


    A person with a scout system as an adventurer was rare. The woman that the party leader spoke to was fairly thin and wore very close fitting clothing. The clock was even set up in a way that it pulled close to her when she moved. It appeared that everything she wore was made so that she could better sneak here and there.


    "Nice to meet the little stars of the adventurers guild. If there''s anything you see, give a shout. If I find anything I will do the same." The woman gave a simple greeting before walking in to the grass and disappearing.


    "Huh, that was cool. I would bet that she had some affinity with darkness and wind. Able to stop noise and blend in at night." The higher level of experience was too obvious for the party to see. They would one day be able to use their basic skills in the same way that these adventurers did.


    "I''m going to follow her and see what I can learn while keeping a lookout." Gil felt that he had very good scouting skills since he had to be able to sneak around. Yet, seeing how differently someone with a specific sneaking and scouting system moved, Gil felt he was just a novice.


    "Midnight, you can go too. I see you want to try out your shadow wrapping more." Walker didn''t let Midnight be held back. She would learn a lot from someone with a scouting system. "We will leave early in the morning. Let''s finish resting now." Walker went back to the spot they had been sleeping and quickly fell asleep.


    The sounds that woke him up were another group of healers and adventurers that had received the same escort quest as the previous. This time Gil had spotted them before they had gotten close and they arrived quietly to rest as well. However, it was the perfect time for Walker to take over the watch.


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 Chapter 1470 1470. Nesting

    By the time the party was ready to leave, three carriages had arrived. There were healers and some adventurer parties that had grouped up when they saw each other. They were the first wave of people to help the border due to how close they had been and how fast they could prepare for travel.


    "Since we allpared maps, it looks like we are all heading toward different parts of the walls. My party is going to head toward the hardest hit in thest reports before we leave. Everyone be safe and remember to avoid the flock of arrow sparrows." The other adventuring parties were heading toward ces in the wall known for demons to pass by often. It would help more refugees that way without having to send soldiers out.


    "How was the watchst night? You never woke anyone up." Walker met up with Gil who looked a little tired but nothing enough to stop their travel.


    "It was interesting. The skills that a scout has, are made to blend in and see further while discerning sounds from each other. I was surprised that she could tell what the wagon wheels sounded like inparison to shuffling feet. And I mean, from over fifteen minutes of travel away. She also can only use a dagger and throwing dagger so she is very limited inbat."The insight about what a scout could do was interesting.


    "Does that mean they have skills that help them camouge as well?" Su found the differences in what Gil could dopared to a scout interesting. She had never met a scout who was also using a scout system.


    "Yes! When I asked she told me that there were times she scouted days ahead to make sure there weren''t certain monsters in an area when traveling. I feel like that party has so much more experience than us just based on traveling alone.


    "So, inparison to us, they are more versed travelers. We are more versed in rtionships between kingdoms." Remey found that it made sense. The party was always spending more time within a kingdom than traveling. They had to learn and adapt to what other cultures did.


    p "Escort specific. They are the best escorts who can deal with a wide variety ofmon monsters and employers for a longer time. We are the best kind of representatives. We represent the ce wee from and help the people." Walker felt this was a roughparison to what they did against what the party did.</anda>


    "Brother, we are wandering in to an interesting area," Onyx spoke up to get Walker''s attention. The party had managed to separate from the main trail slightly to a route that was less traveled. The reason behind was speed. They wanted to push and get to the border walls by sunset.


    "Onyx is right, we went the wrong way and need to move." Gil became more serious and started to carefully walk off the trail. It only took everyone a few moments to understand why.


    There were multiple nests with sleeping arrow sparrows. The thin brown bodies with yellow beaks showed off why they had been named the arrow sparrow and could dive to pierce enemies made sense. They all knew that they could scare the arrow sparrows away if they attempted to attack them. Unfortunately, the odds of scaring them away from their own nests was too low.


    "This route must be left alone because of this. We should just sneak through as quickly as we can." Walker started to creep through the area following Gil. Midnight took up the rear as they all followed a line. Alice remained as close to Du to be safer. If the party woke up the flock they would have a tough fight on their hands.


    What seemed to be lucky for them, was the fact that the flock of arrow sparrows were heavy sleepers. Walker could understand that this had to be because they were used to the constant noise of the entire flock at once. It was like living in a crowd that never stopped talking. Eventually, someone would ignore the sound.<sub> </sub>


    Gil held a hand up for them to stop. A single arrow sparrow was awake. It was hopping around here and there. The age was definitely younger than all the others and Gil could tell that it couldn''t fly yet. This made him morefortable pushing through since it most likely wouldn''t know that the party was not supposed to be there. It had yet to learn about humans at all.


    The slow steps they took were only over the same ces that Gil had walked. Leaving the hatchling sparrow behind, the part saw the edge of the nests in the grasses. It was not thergest nesting area they could have passed through but it was definitely a dangerous one.


    The entire time they moved, Midnight had kept her nose in the air to smell anything risky nearby. But what she didn''t expect was the sudden breeze full of dust to blow by when she was leaving the edge of the nests. Herrge sneeze that followed was louder and unusual for the area.


    The response from the arrow sparrows was intense. Chirping began to overtake the sounds around the party while some of the arrow sparrows darted in to the air. "Move!" Gil called for them to move in their group. He knew that they only had one chance to run before they might need to hide under Su''s shield.


    "Why aren''t they chasing us?" Walker looked back and saw the arrow sparrows were focused on something else. Something the party couldn''t see.


    "It looks like they have zeroed in on something else." Gil wanted to say it was just a monster, but he knew that the arrow sparrows had cleared the area of monsters. "We should head over there." The entire party felt it was risky but if people were being attacked they had to go.


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 Chapter 1471 1471. Save Him!

    Gil was taking a major lead with the party. He saw that the flock was attacking something but they were seemingly unsessful so far. If it was proved to be someone in need, the party would burst in with a fury. This was Gil''s major worry.


    With his speed, Gil was able to get ahead of the rest of the party while Midnight kept up with him. Gil could feel Walker stepping in to the air behind him to get a better vantage point. The idea was sound and by the time the three saw what was happening, it didn''t matter. They were sprinting toward the flock at the fastest speed possible.


    Just in front of them was a singlerge horse with two demons on it. They were clearly different than the other demons that they had seen. They were wearing heavier clothing and had definitely been through a lot of battle to get to where they were.


    "Midnight, light Gil''s arrow on fire and have him shoot toward the center of the flock." Walker made arge amount of wind gather behind him while Midnight breathed mes on to an oil soaked arrow that Gil had ready for just a situation kike this.


    It may not be exactly why Gil had made the arrows but it was perfect. The arrows were an alternative to using his elemental arrows because he wanted to ensure that he could save mana in a longer battle. The idea of war had inspired these because he knew that the war to liberate the demons would cost a great amount of mana for everyone involved.


    The arrow was released and flew in an arc toward the center of the flock. With Walker''s push of air, it spiraled higher and burst in to ming cinders that rained over the entire flock of arrow sparrows. While this didn''t cause massive damage or arge fireball, it did cause pain to multiple of the arrow sparrows. From there it grew in to panic.


    The cries of the arrow sparrows were high pitched and frantic. They attempted to stop the cinders from burning their wings. This in turn, caused them to fall from the sky iling about. Their desire to snuff the embers in their feathers overtook everything.


    The time it took for them to begin to recover was enough for Gil, Midnight, and Walker to arrive in the middle of things. Between them, they were able to fire multiple oil soaked arrows causing more and more cinders to rain down. The result was an even greater panic that sent the arrow sparrows rushing away inplete fear. Their nests forgotten for the time being.


    The horse that the two demons were on was barely standing. It had cuts all along its body from whatever they had crossed while getting to this point. "You can rest easy now. We are looking for people like you that need help. Tell us what you need."


    The man that Walker spoke to had a younger boy clutched to him while they had been on the horse. It was crystal clear that the man had covered the boy through whatever they had done to escape the demonnds.


    "Help him. Help my son." The man fell from the horse with the boy still in his arms. When he fell he twisted to fall on his back keeping the boy safe.


    ''Gil, help me here." The horse was looking as if it would start bucking due to the sudden change in its surroundings. Since Gil had spent more time around the animals, Walker trusted him to handle it. "Midnight, I need you to start clearing this area so we can work. Alice might have to sing." Walker didn''t want Alice to hurt herself, unfortunately, he was not confident in dealing with these injuries.<sub> </sub>


    "Don''t touch him!" Remey stopped them in their tracks. "Get the water out and rinse them off. It will hurt their wounds but I know what caused those cuts and purple colorations around them. It was night thorns. They grow underground. I would bet anything that they used a tunnel to escape the demonnds and cross the border. They only grow inplete darkness and if you get that poison on you I will need to treat you too." Gil and Walker froze.


    "Just get the water!" Walker was spurred on by Alice''s rough voice. She wanted to help but couldn''t do anything just yet. Su was less afraid because of her higher poison resistance. She immediately took charge and began to work with Walker to clean the two off.


    The number of cuts and scrapes on the two demon''s bodies was hard to witness. With Walker using clean water, he saw more of the purple and bluish poison washing away. He realized that it was much more potent than he realized due to the fact that it was having a hard time diffusing.


    "Gil, that horse won''t make it. It''s hurt very badly, the poison is already in its blood. Look at the eyes, you can see the purple color bleeding in there. I wouldn''t stand near it when it copses. Its body should be numb and it will pass away any moment." Remey wasn''t trying to make everyone feel bad. This was how the night thorn poison worked. She just needed to be blunt so that Gil could understand the situation.


    "The night thorn is a double edge poison. It has a massive ability to reduce pain at the cost of causing the entire body to shut down. Even breathing bes numb to the point that you can''t tell if you are or are not breathing. A single drop can make enough medicine for ten people. That''s why it is so rarely used. Dosage is extremely dangerous." Both Remey and Alice knew this. It hastened their pace seeing the amount covering the older man and the small amount on the boy.


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 Chapter 1472 1472. Night Thorn Poison

    "Walker, use a healing skill now. There isn''t any poison leaving through those cuts now. Su, I need you to get the bandages set up so Alice can soak them with the healing potion." Remey had shown everyone the healing skills she had learned through her studies in the alchemy guild.


    While Remey could not actually use a healing skill, she had the in depth knowledge about what would and would not counter poisons. This meant she could select the proper herbs to make in to a salve to put on the cuts. From there the healing potion soaked bandages would slowly cause the healing potion to absorb in to the skin. It would promote long term healing as long as the bandages remained clean.


    "The boy needs more water. He had fewer cuts and scrapespared to his father. But he is still unconscious. It appears that the stress got to him." Su could tell by the way the boy was breathing.


    The breaths were panicked and shallow. This showed that the boy had fallen in to a stress induced unconsciousness. There was also theck of mana adding to the condition making his body unable to process everything. The addition of night thorn poison didn''t help because it caused numbness to spread everywhere.


    "Have him drink this. It''s not the best but some of it should push him to calm down." Rmeey handed a vial of what appeared to be water to Su who did exactly as she was told.


    "What is it?" Su didn''t know how things had changed so fast. The body had calmed down almost instantly.


    "Sugar water. The kid looks like he hasn''t eaten anything and needs the sugar to start his body again. It doesn''t help much but the reaction of eating stops some other bodily functions from falling out of bnce. I heard Trish teaching it and remembered it. This is the most I can do."


    Alice pped nodding her head. She had heard the trick used too on younger children when they would have mental freak outs where they would hyperventte. It worked well when the mothers brought them in to the cathedral in a panic.


    "The more you know¡­ what about the father?" Walker could tell that his breathing had calmed and the color returned to his face. But there were no signs of the wounds healing faster.


    "It will only show in time. Let''s move them to the waypoint. We can have the help of other healers as long as we move slowly and carefully. We already scared the arrow sparrows away more than we needed to. They might not even return to these nests. There aren''t eggs here." Walker knew they were losing time on their trip to the border but it was worth it if they managed to save these demons'' lives.


    "Not safe¡­nee¡­run." The mumblings of the man were hard to understand but Walker could tell he was dreaming about the escape he had just done.


    "More madnessing¡­.immune¡­.wrath!" The man bolted up from his lying position in fear before copsing again. Su and Alice had to rebandage a few cuts before he was able to rest properly again.


    Gil and Walker managed to put together a rough cot to carry the man with. Onyx grew to hisrger size and allowed Su to help hold the boy up on his back. With Gil and Walker holding the man''s cot, they were able to get him on top of Onyx as well.


    Walker was sure to use his earth maniption to bury the deceased horse. He hoped that it would be one with nature again after working so hard to rescue the two demons from the demonnd''s cruelty.<sub> </sub>


    "Onyx, move slower than usual and help us get there sooner." Walker knew that between him and Gil, they could stop any injuries from growing.


    "I will move as fast as you say I can." Onyx would not be pushing his speed. He knew well that it could open wounds in to a worsened condition if he was reckless. The time they had walked felt as if it had been thrown away but their return to the waypoint.


    However, when they were seen in the distance, the adventurers rushed over. They saw the demons hurt and made room for them. By this time the boy had started snoring and had his cuts mostly healed. The father was still in poor shape.


    "Alice, Remey, Su¡­you are three powerful healers that deserve everyone''s respect. I hope we can learn from you while you are here." The healer took the lead and saw the work that they had done. She clearly respected the alchemy focused healing, Alice''s healing knowledge, and Su''s perfect support. It wasn''t even something Walker argued with since he had used healing magic as well.


    "As soon as this man wakes up we need to tell him his son is safe and we need to speak with him. He mentioned a sin demon title holder. I don''t think that was a coincidence. I think that Wrath is running rampant through viges." Walker had built his own theory and felt that it was right on course.


    "Understood. We will join our skills and work to heal him. You brought him just in time. We should be sessful based on his current state." The healers focused on their new patent.


    "I thought that things would be bad when we found the arrow sparrow nests¡­but this? Not what I wanted to see today." Su was feeling stressed about the state the man and son were in. she had not imagined people would do such risky things to flee the demonnds. It was terrifying if things had gotten so bad there that people were throwing their lives aside to rescue those they loved. The army needed to arrive sooner.


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 Chapter 1473 1473. More Information

    "He is awake!" The healer in charge of one of the groups that had arrived rushed to Walker and the rest of the party. They had just checked on the man that had been brought to them. When there, they had been changing bandages only to find he had woken up and was calmly watching them do so.


    "What? Already? I thought he would need more rest!" Walker jumped up. He was followed by the others who ran toward the man''s bed roll as well. However, Su stopped them and let Walker go alone. She realized that it would be very bad to crowd someone not feeling well.


    "I take it you''re the one?" The man spoke with a soft voice that had clearly been through a lot. His calmness appeared to be just for show. His eyes told Walker that he was worried about his son.


    "My party found you. We were able to get rid of the night thorn poison. You risked a lot to get through the border. I might ask you how you did that. But for now, I was hoping you could tell me more about the why you did it?" The man visibly rxed when he was told his son was fine and just resting.


    "It''s not safe. Things got worse than they have ever been before." The man''s voice was shaky while recalling it. This wasn''t just some small matter.


    "If you don''t want to talk about it that''s alright. We are going to the border anyways and can find out more there. I just wanted to see if you would tell us more details that someone from the demonnds might know." Walker was sure that the experience was not pleasant and that the man might just want to put it behind him.


    "No! Don''t go. It''s madness there. You might be affected too. The entire border¡­ is all madness. If you aren''t affected by it then you are just a victim heading in for ughter." It wasn''t that the man was afraid for himself, but that he was afraid others would be hurt.


    "You mumbled about madness and Wrath¡­is it another sin demon title holder causing it?" The tone that Walker held was not one that was soft. It was full of ice and needles waiting to be used against those that would cause such trouble.


    "Yes. He came with soldiers to the border viges and began to run wild. He said he was marching to take the other kingdoms down and would start recruiting. They are all lost in maddening anger. There''s no reason for it all. Just fighting and killing for nothing.." There were a few tears that fell from the man''s eyes.


    "But you escaped. Both you and your sin are safe. Don''t worry anymore. We will look at ways to block madness. It sounds a lot like Lust''s poison but more of a curse or something. We will handle it. The same way we beat Lust, Greed, and Pride. We beat them and have a few more sin demons to handle before we free your people." Walker made the solemn promise. He would not rest until he saw the demons able to live freely.


    "Don''t try and do that. The ones that don''t leave the castle are pure terror." The man warned Walker before rolling his head to the side and trying to rest more. The man felt that his warning was enough for the moment. He was having trouble talking and needed to rest more. Just knowing his son was resting safely next to him was enough.


    "We will do everything we can to save more of your people. Just rest and recover with your son." Walker left the man to return to the rest of the party. He looked at them with his brows furrowed waiting to find the right words. He was building a proper n. "I need to contact ra." This was what he came up with.<sub> </sub>


    "But why? What did the man say was going on?" Remey wasn''t sure why ra would be able to help the most in this situation.


    "We need Barry toe back. The sin demon title holder Wrath can make people go mad. I don''t have a lot of evidence but that''s the gist of what seems to be ha[peneing. Wrath led an army toward the border and has been killing anyone that gets in his way. On top of that, the people that fall under his madness be part of the army. If we take him out then we are better able to handle the demon soldiers and rescue the people."


    "Do you think we would be affected by the madness?'' Su wasn''t sure if they would all resist it. There were too many things that they were missing since they didn''t have enough information on the direct effects of the skill.


    "From what it sounds like, it is another skill thates with the title. If you think of wrath, then it means anger so great that you go mad, right? Can''t even control your anger. Barry has that mastered as a berserker. He can lose himself ande right back." Remey remember this clearly since she had wondered if she would ever have that kind of skill after hearing about Barry''s skill.


    "That is why we need him. He can go in and handle Wrath. Then the armies can back him up. Perfect n. Walker can take care of that while we prepare the healers toe with us. We will take a carriage and get to the border through the night." Gil was off with the n before Walker could even start anything. Onyx was right by his side helping to get the healers. Alice just sat preparing some more healing supplies for when they got to the border wall. The entire party was waiting on Walker.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1474 1474. Charge Through

    "I got ready to leave and you are all thest one on the carriage!" Walker teased everyone. He was in a much better mood now that they had a n to move forward. The healers within the carriage had hired an experienced driver. It turned out that the driver was a tamer who seemed very talkative.


    "Well, you see, the horses I have are called pure stallions. They are actually a slight ancestor of unicorns and bicorns. They were a species that someone mixed with wild horses without the ability to use mana. The result was amazing endurance while losing all ability to use mana." The man had caught Su''s ear since she had stepped up to the front of the carriage in case any monsters came nearby.


    "I think that sounds very nice. If that means we will reach the border walls sooner then it was a wise choice to hire you." Su was benign as nice as possible but knew that she would end up having a sore throat from talking just like Alice.


    p "You''re telling me. I was more than happy to buy up somend near Genesis and expand my pure stallion farm. I can provide them to a few other tamers turned carriage drivers. You would not imagine the people that have hired me. I''ve even been one of twenty carriages for the Ga family!" Walker chuckled seeing this. He was sure that it would be a long ride no matter the pace.</anda>


    "Just remember, we are passing through the arrow sparrows'' nests. They will react with a lot of anger but they will remember us when Gil and I fire some arrows together. Don''t worry and just keep pushing through." The path that Walker had chosen was still the fastest path even though they had to handle the arrow sparrow again.


    "Oh that''s not a problem. My team here is very powerful. Some small little birds wouldn''t even make them flinch." The team of six pure stallions appeared to have a very hard temperament. As long as they were left alone they didn''t seem to care what was in front of them. The training they had was very strict. Only a tamer specialized in their breed could possibly reach this level.


    "Alright, Let''s get moving! Push through and sprint!" The voice change in the carriage driver was very sudden. He became harsh and steel like. The result was the pure stallions also changing their attitude. Their eyes bulged and their muscles seemed to flex to be muchrger. Walker even swore he heard the pounding of their hearts.


    "Hold on!" One of the healers that had hired him gave a warning when the entire carriage jerked. The pace that which they were moving was incredible. The carriage driver was smiling while the wind whipped his long hair as if it was a living thing.


    "I did tell you, we are fast right?" The carriage driver was clearly living his best life. Walker couldn''t be anything but impressed. While the ride was rough, it was very efficient.


    "You know, I might have to hire you in the future!" Walker''spliments seemed to spur the pure stallions on even more. Their speed only increased. By the time they reached the nests of the arrow sparrows, Walker Was sure less than half the time they had spent on foot had been used. This was amazing since the party had only be faster the more they trained and gained levels.


    "Walker, here they are." Gil pulled Walker on to the top of the carriage where he and Midnight had been waiting. They needed to mentally prepare to hold off the arrow sparrows which were already flying in to the air hearing their carriageing. No matter how heavy their sleep was, the arrow sparrows could have heard the ground shaking trampling of pure stallion hooves.


    "This time fire five of those arrows as fast as you can. I want to try and break them all at once. That way we''ll have a lot of time to get through without having to constantly defend." Walker''s idea sounded perfect to Gil. he would be able to push his sessive arrow firing while Midnight could focus her fire breathing. It also meant that they would have less stress over time.<sub> </sub>


    The oil soaked arrows that Gil had made had more cloth wrapped around them. One of the healers had donated cotton to Gil''s ns to make more of the arrows. This way he could have a better me on them that floated down embers slower. It would remain in the air longer keeping the arrow sparrows at bay.


    "Midnight took a deep breath and started to spark small breaths of me in front of her. She was controlling her mana much better than she normally did. The challenge of doing so was something she hadn''t properly considered since she had only worried about single bursts of power. The forging with her mes had been able to propeller teach her stamina. Now she was using her control.


    "Now!" Gil heard Walker''s call. He and Midnight began to light and fire the arrows. Gil aimed every single one in arge grouping of the arrow sparrows. The wind pulled around them as Walker prepared arge bust to go and break the ming arrows in to small pieces.


    What felt like a torrent of storm blew around them causing Walker and Gil''s hair to stand on end. The arrows burst in to ming cinders of cotton and wood. Therge plume of sparkling embers was almost beautiful until they heard the panicked shrieks of the arrow sparrows. They remembered the burning pain of the embers.


    The arrow sparrows didn''t even hesitate to run. Walker, Midnight, and Gil had created a sure fire way to scare them off without much effort. Many others would be able to use such methods.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1475 1475. Unintended Signal

    Just as the carriage broke through the nests and the cinders had started to disappear, a massive roar echoed through the air. Walker turned his head to see a greenish dragon descending. "That has to be¡­" Walker could tell who it was. Without any hesitation, he jumped in to the air and began to step.


    He had to greet the iing royal dragon that he knew wasing because of what Mordant and Ignus had gone to say. The attack to scare off the arrow sparrows was clearly the ideal symbol to attract attention from anything flying in the air.


    "Ventus! I take it you met with Mordant or Ignus already!" Walker quickly stepped to be even with Ventus who had stopped high in the air. Walker felt that he had very little control over the wind elemental mana. But that was fine. He didn''t need it. As long as he could hold out with his skills he was fine.


    To demonstrate his strength, he started to pull the wind and water elemental mana that he could influence toward him. A pair of icy wings formed behind him draining his mana more than he liked. The elemental wings skill was still an impressive demonstration of his rtion to dragons. It also showed Ventus just how strong he was in terms of flight. Something that all dragons but for the earth dragons seemed to idolize.


    "You sent a glorious symbol to alert me of your location. It was somewhat beautiful. It even brought snacks toward my young daughters." Ventus growled slightly with huffs mixed in. Walker could tell it was a freeingughter while Walker looked over.


    Three dark green scaled dragons were flying through the lower altitudes snapping up the arrow sparrows. They were clearly rted to Ventus but much MUCH, younger. They still had a long way before they were even a quarter of the size their mother was.


    "I am d you were able to spot it. I am also d to see that you could bring your family to bond over the freeing of an oppressed people. It will teach the valuable lesson that abuse and corruption have no ce in thesends." Walker was sure that Ventus would not go against this.


    The feeling that he had from Ventus was very simr to the feeling Walker received from Zephyr. It was one that preferred to fly free and happily over controlled and angry. One that would allow for a soft breeze to pass as long as the breeze was not stopped.


    "When Mordant came asking a favor, I decided to repay him from a long time ago. That is a matter for another time. Is that small wall the ce you are going?" Walker could see the border wall from where they were in the air. A little over a day''s journey seemed so small from this height. The carriage was still speeding along so Walker decided to fly the rest of the way. He knew that he would be able to speak with Ventus more.


    Without further hesitation, they flew through the air with the three children of Ventus behind them. Walker was sure that Midnight was a little angry with him for just going off with another dragon. However, he had a duty as a royal dragon to speak with Ventus who had no reason toe here. She had not been to Genesis and had not seen the city for what it was. She did not have an attachment.


    The soldiers were visibly shaken when Walker, Ventus, and her three childrennded. What Walker noticed immediately was the difference inndingpared to Mordant and Ignus. Ventus and her childrennded the same way a feather would fall. Nearly silently with grace. That was the high wind elemental affinity at work.<sub> </sub>


    "I know you will have to speak to those along the wall. I will be clear. Mordant spoke of a valuable ce for my break through to a new level of elemental understanding. It was said that it would be more than a reward for my assistance along with an introduction to a ce I can not underestimate as weak. That means a lot from him." The seriousness in Ventus''s voice as she changed form to her dragonkin form which Walker was familiar with was enough to make Walker stand a little taller.


    "The mage tower has elemental floors for every elemental mana. It gathers there very densely. We call the runes used, origin runes. They are being researched and I promise you will be allowed a month there at least as one of the things you will gain when youe back to Genesis. That and I hope that you are able to experience my new home with an open mind." This seemed to make Ventus very happy. She was going to be able to get what she had been working toward for thest fifty years.


    "I will speak with my children. Mordant was clear on thews and rules you enforced. They will need reminders. They are barely thirty years old. Too young to keep focused." This blew Walker''s mind since they were sorge. He felt that Midnight would take half the time to be such a size.


    "Hello! Where is yourmanding guard or officer!?" Walker''s shout brought a burly man toward him. The man was wearing heavy armor and carrying a shield double the thickness of the shields that Su carried.


    "I expect that you are Walker? Wee to the currently quiet border wall section fifteen. I have multiple reports to share with you. I appreciate you bringing your fellow royal dragons. They will be arge deterrent against the forces we have spotted on their way. We have been forced to bring back all patrols to the border wall in thest week." This sounded even worse than Walker knew. He walked right behind the man to see what the details were.


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 Chapter 1476 1476. Demons Gathering

    "This section of the wall was hit hardst week. We had a small group of demons with red eyes push through our defensive lines and charge at the wall. Some of them even ran right in to traps without a second of hesitation. We have never seen such things in this life. The madness seems to be all consuming." Themander at the fifteenth section of the border wall was obviously troubled.


    "I have gathered some information and that sounds like the world of the sin demon title holder Wrath. The skill they have seems to drive people mad with anger." Walker knew that this had already been understood but it was better to be clear with it.


    "That''s not even the half of it. I have lost seventeen men to that madness. They are still under the effects until they are forcefully subdued and brought across the wall. There were multiple injuries, mostly to themselves." The pain on themander''s face was for his men. He had watched people who lived to defend others hurt themselves and others. Their brothers.


    "I understand, there are more healers, and adventurers on the way. Soon the first wave of reinforcements will be here. We are breaking in to the demonnds as soon as this madness issue is handled." Walker had hopes that ra would respond soon with word that Barry wasing.


    "The current reports state that the thirteenth section of border wall have the highest concentration of demons and monstersing toward them. We n to send those that can fight that way. We will handle what we can here." Themander showed the location on the map and curled the further point of gathering for maddened demons. We don''t have much of the demonnds mapped, but we have up to the first viges so we can guess their route of travel."


    All of this was very good to know. Walker was able to choose a ce that he and the party to send troops and follow them in to battle. It was a rough challenge to imagine at the moment since they needed to deal with wrath first.


    "I understand. I will let you continue your preparations. If you need anything tell me. We have plenty of supplies that we are bringing. They should be here in a few hours since they are moving at the fastest possible pace." Themander grunted in acknowledgment before calling upon his soldiers. He had his own work to do.


    "Ventus, I have to ask you a question." Walker didn''t want to disturb Ventus with her children. He was still not fully aware of how she felt and acted. She might snap at him or have alternative feelings for him and Genesis.


    "What do you need? I have already expressed my support here. If you need anything more it wille at a price." There seemed to be a clear desire to gain more from Walker. Ventus knew that she was taking the time she could be spending in the air enjoying the freedom to be here. It was a hard thing to do for a wind elemental dragon.


    "I don''t expect you to be affected by the madness that Wrath is using to control his army. But just in case I want you to remain high in the sky. Can you scout out the situations of the viges over the border wall? I need to know which ones are not in direct harm''s way so we can send troops there after dealing with the Wrath problem."


    "I did not expect you to ask such a thing. I believed I would be brought to battle. To fight a bloody war." This made Walker open his eyes a little wider. He did not n to push that on anyone.<sub> </sub>


    "That would be an insult. I don''t want anyone to have to fight for blood. I want people toe together. I want them to cover each other''s weaknesses. That''s why I ask you for this. I need someone who can safely get the information. From there I will ask your children to deter the demons. You have the power to exist and keep people safe without fighting. Those viges will be able to start their growth free of oppression sooner than others."


    Out of all the things Ventus had been asked, she had not expected this. She was too used to the fighting and violence of other dragons that being offered something peaceful was alien to her. "You are stranger than Mordant made you out to be. My children can do that when they will be unaffected by some madness skill. I will get your information. Just spend time with my children while I am gone." Ventus effortlessly took off in to the air bing a small speck in the sky.


    As Walker turned around, he found the three pairs of eyes on him. He felt the realization set in that he was now responsible for three muchrger wind elemental dragons that were not at all mature enough to be left alone. He had the ability to read the draconguage. However, he was not a master at all in speaking it. He wasn''t even sure if he would be able to understand what the dragons said since they had no bearing when it came to the humannguages.


    "Your mother has left me in charge. My family will be here soon but it will take them some time. Until then, want to show me what you can do?" The thought of bringing energy seemed the best. Walker could put some effort in to tiring the three dragons out so they would rest until Ventus returned with a multitude of information.


    It was hard to tell if the three dragons knew what they had been told. Their mother had told them to stay with Walker but that was it. Therefore, they were more curious about him than anything.


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 Chapter 1477 1477. Playing In The Air

    Walker was trying to understand what the three dragon siblings were saying. However, the more he tried the more he began to realize that it was a mix of propernguage and huffs. Midnight would have to learn the draconguage at some point but she had been focused on the humannguages. Yet, this helped Walker. He was used to the way Midnightmunicated so it was easier to grasp what the dragons wanted to say.


    "I know you are wondering why I am here and why I smell like another dragon. But you will Meet my championter. For now, let''s see what we can see." Walker took a step in to the air. He hadn''t imagined himself bing a babysitter, but today he would be. And for dragons no less.


    The three dragons grew excited. They had been told to follow the human and to stay there but if the human was leaving then they could. It was much more fun than just sitting around. Since they had eaten the arrow sparrows, they didn''t have any need for food. So that just meant burning energy.


    Walker decided to have a little fun of his own. He wanted to use some of the wind elemental skills so that he could show off what he could do and also see what the dragons could do. He might be able to grasp more of the wind elemental mana control that he had. There was not much that he had done when it came to such things.


    With a little maniption, the wind started to pull towards him. Instead of gathering water and water elemental mana, Walker tried to only pull wind towards him. Because of his maniption and Ventus not being there, Walker found it easier to pull at the wind elemental mana. The three children she had were not as powerful as she was.


    The elemental wing skill formed on Walker''s back, however, it was very different. Walker had yet to make it purely out of one elemental mana. This was seemingly the key to making a less mana burning pair. Walker could feel them using significantly less mana to manipte the wind around him.


    The condensed wings became visible wind. Something that not many people could see since it was normally clear. Yet, when Walker nced over his shoulder, he saw green flurries of wind and wind elemental mana in the forms of miniature tornadoes on his back.


    <o>,m ''The skill elemental wings has been used in a singr form to create a lesser skill; wind fairy wings. The skill wind fairy wings will be learned. The user does not need any additional skill to use the wind fairy wings due to their current understanding of wind elemental mana and the skill elemental wings.''</o>


    This sudden system announcement made Walker wonder. He had not realized that the elemental wings were skills that had beenbined. He had just assumed that it was a skill he was able to gain due to his elemental affinities. Not because he used multiple elemental manas at one to form them. This enlightenment made him wonder just what else he could break apart andbine together to make different skills that used less elemental mana at once.


    The three dragons were incredibly excited seeing Walker use the wind elemental mana. Their soft roars were calling on the wind around him and wrapping their entire bodies in wind. Their appearances became a slightly brighter green than the dark green scales they had prior to this. They were using the skills that they had learned from their mother to speed around Walker effortlessly.


    This led Walker to dodge from side to side whenever a dragon came near him. They were muchrger than he was still so he had to worry about his safety. Unfortunately, this became the game that he was ying whether he wanted to or not. The three dragons wanted to get ahold of him now that they saw they shared some wind affinity.


    "I swear, you three are a handful!" Walker shouted and tried to tag one in the back. The dragons reacted by spinning and twisting in the air. These were movements that Walker would have to show Midnight at some point. He had not tried to replicate how a dragon flew. It was a mystery to him still with his minute experience flying with dragons.<sub> </sub>


    His next attempt to tag one of the dragons spurred a mix of huffing and small growls. Yet, Walker did grasp the taunting words that he could make out. The three had begun to use more of the draconguage and Walker was catching on to it. He could feel the connection through his bonds with Midnight but also from his skill to read the draconguage. They resonated with each other.


    "Come on, try and keep up! I can''t even feel your weak wind!" Walker started to enjoy himself the more he heard the three young dragons using the draconguage. He thought that it was the most fun he had learning something like this in a long while. The built up stress melted away more and more before Ventus silently arrived higher in the sky watching them.


    "When you speak, try and put more depth to your voice. That way you will speak more like a dragon of higher authority." Walker was slightly stunned seeing Ventus above him. He moved to match her height. "You are speaking well for a human. Not many can use the same speech as us."


    Walker looked at her confused while trying to catch on to what she meant. But the system showed him what he had not even realized.


    "The skill draconic speech has fused with previousnguage skill. The user is able to fluidly switch between the humannguage and the high tier skill, Ancient draconic speech.''


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 Chapter 1478 1478. Ventus Returns

    Without realizing it, during his game of tag and practice, Walker had gained the ability to learn and speak draconguage. He was sure that it was not the same as when a proper dragon spoke it. However, he was finding it easier to understand the three dragon children while moving around.


    He had assumed it was the fact that he had a better understanding of how midnightmunicated. Not that he had actually started to learn thenguage that the dragons were learning as they grew. "I didn''t even realize I was speaking it, to be honest. But my skill did change so I guess¡­" Walker wasn''t sure what to say.


    "It only makes sense that you would learn it eventually. From what I understand, you read it perfectly fine when you met the keeper." Ventus to continue on with it like this was an everyday urrence. She was not nning to focus on it much. "That may be the carriage you mentioned earlier."


    Walker looked down to see a mass of dust being kicked up by the pure stallions pulling the carriages. They had been moving constantly getting to the border wall. He could already see Midnight''s trying to jump in to the air from the top of the carriage.


    "I will go down and get them. I assume your children will tell you about our little game while you are gone." Walker caught on that the three dragons were already trying to get their mother''s attention. Walker was curious as to why Ventus did not travel with her guardian or guardian''s champion. It would have made more sense than bringing her children but that was a question forter.


    The moment that Walker reached the same spot as Midnight in the air, he felt that she was angry with him. She had not wanted him to run off. "I know you wanted toe but someone needed to stay with the carriage and make sure everyone made it here safe." The small sentence was able to appease her slightly. "But I will make it up to you. There are three of Ventus''s children. They might be able to help you with your win elemental breath attack." This seemed to interest Midnight even more since she wanted to work on that move too. But it wasn''t enough to wash away her feelings.


    "Think you can fly that high? I can introduce you properly to them? You might be able to learn a little draconguage from them too." Midnight turned her head questioning Walker a little. She had just started to learn the humannguage and was making progress. How would she be able to learn draconic at the same time with the same sess?


    Reaching the higher height that the wind dragons were was a tough challenge for Midnight. She was not as adept in flying and it would take her a lot of work. But it was a challenge she knew she needed. Not to mention that Walker would be able to get her to the ground safely.


    While Midnight climbed through the air, Ventus watched from the corner of her eye. She knew that Midnight was very young. So young that even if she was a wind dragon she would not be flying so well. The muscles that midnight had developed in her wings were much more powerful than any dragon her age. It was stunning.


    "Itis good to see you again champion Midnight. These are my three children. They may be younger than you but you have a different grasp on your mana. Please take your time with them." Ventus was not at all disrespectful. It impressed Walker how much she was understanding of the differences between Midnight and her children.


    "I thought it would do Midnight well to meet more younger dragons. She had been helping the hatchlings that Mordant and Ignus brought to Genesis. But that''s still a little different. From what your children seem to be, they would get along well. Midnight doesn''t have chances like this often."


    There was an understanding that Ventus shared with Walker. Walker looked at Midnight as an extremely valuable member of his family. This was exactly how Ventus thought of her children. They were not some other dragons. They were important figures that shaped her life.<sub> </sub>


    "I believe meeting fellow dragons of other affinities will broaden my children''s views. It also allows them to have a little fin before they start learning a serious lesson about duty." This was the key to why Ventus brought her children with her. She wanted them to mature from this rtionship with Walker as another royal dragon.


    "I understand. Once it is time I will stop rxing. I will show them a royal dragon as it should be. Ignus and Mordant have already seen some of what I will do." Walker wanted to make a point and use the elemental dragon aspect. Even for a moment would be enough to show Ventus his true feelings and respect for the dragon race.


    "I would prefer that. Shall we stop to speak or would you like to remain here?" Ventus was sure that Walker would prefer the ground. She was used to the other dragons other than Ruse preferring to lower themselves to solid ground and speak. They didn''t have viges like her that were on the highest mountains where she could fly at any movement.


    "If you are morefortable here I can maintain this. If you would like to go down to the ground, it might be easier for Midnight and your children to speak a little." Walker was watching Midnight and the children struggled to meet each other''s gaze. They were moving too much in the air.


    "Then down we go." Ventus had respect for Walker''s idea. She wanted her children to learn and Walker also focused on this.


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 Chapter 1479 1479. Understanding Ventus

    "Walker didn''t hesitate to pull out arge piece of dried smoked boar for the three dragons and Midnight to eat. He knew that food was the best way for the three to bind and be ankle to rest well. There was also the fact that he knew the three dragons would be a little tired and possibly nap after ying in the air with him.


    "That smells interesting. I will have to try it when Ie to your vige." Ventus was very interested in what Walker had shared with her children.


    "Who said you had to wait? I have more so that I can share with those that need it. I have enough to give you an entire smoke boar. My mother smoked them in a special oven so that she could sell pieces to adventurers. She did that even when we were in Diamond. She really cares about people having the right food to keep them going." Ventus seemed to soften seeing how fondly Walker cared for his mother.


    "I would not turn that down. Especially if it was made especially by your mother." Ventus paused for a moment while she changed in to her dragonkin form. "Unlike many dragons, wind affinity dragons have strong familial ties. We stay with our parents for much longer than other dragons. I can understand your value of family more than others might."


    "I didn''t know that. Thank you." Walker felt a little closer knowing this about wind elemental dragons. He feared that many had the same feelings as the earth dragons.


    From what Walker had learned about earth dragons was small. But it did cover their young. They would leave the eggs to hatch and grow on their own. That would toughen them and allow them to return to the vige stronger than they would if they were coddled.


    "Just to get to the important parts of what I asked¡­What did you see?" Walker felt bad changing top[ics, but he had to prepare.


    The map that Walker o[ened up and created a temporary earth table using his skills for was easily understood by Ventus. Dragons rarely used maps because they were able to memorize many features of the areas they traveled. Their instincts helped them do so since they were very close to monster races. That was why they were able to be the monster rogue dragon.


    "Here, here, and here. These three viges have many demons around them that are not in a made state. These two are just ashes. And this one ispletely abandoned. I would say it has been that way for months." Ventus had found two viges that Walker didn''t have on the map. It was incredibly impressive.


    "Then I believe we will move to the abandoned vige to set up a base. That should help with the soldiers moving deeper in to the demonnds. It also makes certain that demons will have a protected ce to flee to within their ownnds." Walker knew that some demons would always be morefortable in thends that they grew up in. And that was not at all an issuer. He felt safer when he was in his own homends as well.


    "I would watch out for the packs of monsters here and here. They haverge nests that no one should mess with. Unless I go with the army, you will lose many men." Ventus was deadly serious. She knew that some of the demonic monsters could care less about living. They were driven by instinct and anger oftentimes.


    "I see¡­" this didn''t bode well for what Walker was considering. He hated that he would have to make the entire army change the way that they were moving. However, he did not want the army to deal with monsters. He wanted to avoid disrupting the natural border of the demonnds while they freed the demons. They could worry about monsterster.


    "I believe this was a pack of demonic buffalo. The entire group is seemingly calm until you approach them. From there you will feel the fury they have. By that, I mean the lightning. Demonic buffalo follow thunderstorms and absorb the lightning. As a herd, they are able to channel it. One is weak. Many are strong." Ventus had seen them before and knew they had power in numbers.


    "It sounds like you have seen them while following the air currents. I will be mindful that we avoid thempletely." Walker knew the danger that came from multiple elemental manasing together to form lighting. It was a main reason why he avoided using it. Lighting was unpredictable and came with a high mana cost. Unless he mastered mana better, he would not forcefully learn about lightning. It had to be the right moment with the right control.


    "My brother is a multi elemental dragon. He was born of two hybrid dragons that left me and another vige. He has a unique affinity and only eats lightning monsters. That is why I am able to understand such things. It is a rare instance in nature." Ventus had opened up a lot more. It was clear that she saw Walker for more than he was telling.


    "I understand. I hope to meet more of your family one day." It would be a very interesting encounter. Even though Ventus had not said specifically, she had made it sound like her brother was a lightning dragon. Something that was even rare in storybooks because of the devastation they were said to cause.


    "I believe my family would like to meet you. The wind dragon viges are small but powerful and close." Ventus smiled softly. Walker could easilypare Ventus to the winds. Soft and peaceful when in a good mood. He was sure that if provoked, a vicious hurricane could be created.<sub> </sub>


    "Before you go and meet with your family, can I ask you a question?" Ventus was very unlike the other dragons. She asked permission to ask something. It was odd but a wee change.


    "Of course. I won''t refuse much. Ask anything you want to know." It felt to Walker that this was more important than what they had spoken about before.


    "If you need to, will you kill demons? Are you prepared for that? I know you are human, and you wish to save all races to live together and grow. That is respectable and I believe it to be a cause that represents nature. All thingsing together to form one world. But I need to know yourmitments." Part of Walker expected a question like this. It was straight forward and serious. But it needed to be asked.


    "I wish I could say no. I wish I could say I never killed anything or anyone¡­But this is for the betterment of an entire race. For an entire future. If there are those that wish to harm others without any care, they may not be able to be locked away in prisons. They will perish. If it is my hand that does it, I might cry. I might scream. But I will ept my burden."


    The pain that Walker felt epting this was great. His heart felt like it was being torn in two. The closer he had gotten to natural mana the less he wanted to see something hurt. Yet, he also understood that such things were necessary. The forest would not grow if some trees died off to make room and fertilizer. Nature didn''t just epass life.


    "Good. then I have no tissue remaining by your side for this. But you will personally give me a tour of your vige when Ie after this battle." Ventus left Walker to think. She knew she had put him on the spot. But she had made the same decisions about her own viges at a young age. Sometimes someone needed to make a person ept it.


    Walker moved toward the party that had climbed from the carriage and started to stretch. They had waited calmly while Walker spoke with Ventus. "So, you finally came to see us?" Gil was a little teasing but also questioning. He wanted to know what had happened.


    "Well, Midnight beat you all here and is with Ventus''s children. They are eating. Ventus looked around at demon viges so we have some ns. And I have spoken with themander here. We will move again soon."


    "Should we still stay?" The healers that came with them looked to the party for answers."


    "No, we will need you at the thirteenth wall. The other two sections dealing with demons are the fourteenth and twelfth. They will all need healing to save lives and bring demons back to their senses. I just hope that the army is in time¡­"


    Walker''s hopes were not unfounded. He had no idea where the armies were but they were marching. Scy had gathered people from the tournament when they were eliminated to leave with king Rorick. The first wave was on the way.


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 Chapter 1480 1480. Moving Again

    "So we are going to move down the wall and start from there. But what are we going to do if the demons march on the wall before the army gets here." Remey wanted to say she would run out and defend everything. However, she knew that it was radical thinking that was just not possible right now.


    "The hope is we can get there to help resupply then increase defenses. I can do a lot with earth magic to make things harder for the demons in madness." Walker''s ideas were simple. Make things harder for the demons. Pitfall traps, trenches, walls, and whatever else he could make with earth maniption.


    "Would you be opposed to a storm? I can make some powerful winds that would send them in to chaos." While Ventus''s suggestion was dangerous, Walker didn''t hate it. The winds that she could cause were certainly enough to bring damage to anyone. Yet, it might be the perfect deterrent to hold the demons back longer. They wouldn''t be able to make it out of their groups with the wind against them.


    "That would keep them from sending anything but their strongest fighters. I know they are caught up in madness so they will try to fight through, but they won''t be strong enough. If the wind isn''t made in to des or to throw around trees I think it''s perfect." Since Gil had a better grasp of wind, he caught on to what Ventus wanted to do sooner than the others.


    "If it has less of them then I will support it." Alice nodded along with Su. The pair were on the same page when it came to healing and preventing injuries.


    "Brother, I will support whatever you wish to do. I like the sound of the wind and making defenses stronger." Onyx''s mindset was the same as the others. He would support the best way to prevent war from breaking out while they waited for another army and Barry to possibly show up.


    "Then I will leave some crates of supplies for your men to bring down the way we are not traveling. We are going to leave within the hour. Does that work for you?" Walker nced at themander of the guards at this section of the wall. All he did was give a slight nod in approval before rushing to order his soldiers.


    "Ventus, I''m sorry to ask this, but can you go ahead and wait at the wall? I want to make sure that if anything changes there is someone powerful to hold the situation in check." Ventus understood that Walker meant starting a storm. If he was too slow to get there and reinforce the walls, it was fine. But if she wasn''t there to make the winds in to a storm, it wouldn''t hold as many demons back.


    "Do you really think Barry will make it from wherever he was after the fire dragon viges? That was all the way in the mountains." Remey was the only one to catch Walker with this question. She was trying to avoid thinking about it but it kepting to mind. She knew that she would most likely get affected by the madness of Wrath sooner than the rest of the party.


    "If not, we will figure something out. I might be able to use calming wave or a simr skill. It won''t be the same because it will be hard to fight while using it, but I will figure it out." Walker was willing to take this on his shoulders. If Barry didn''t arrive he was sure that he could force a skill to work. If he couldn''t then the battle would be much harder.


    "If you can''t then I will. Between Ventus and me¡­the wind will be hard to resist." Gil knew that he would have to call on Zephyr and use the avatar of wind skill. He wasn''t perfectly sure how to use it yet. It was a yard skill to grasp and abusing it would note with any good side effects. He would just have to handle it.<sub> </sub>


    "Both of you can wait. We will see what we can do first. If the worst does happen then we will handle it together. None of us will handle it alone." Su spoke firmly before Walker left the party to hand out the supplies and unload crates from his storage.


    Ventus took to the air with her children. They left with a slightly stronger breeze than when they had arrived before. Walker could sense the tension in their around her. He knew it was how seriously she was taking this. If she called on Walker for assistance, she would want the same level of respect and seriousness as she gave him. It was both a show of expectation and respect.


    "We are going to move this quickly so we can move to the most in need portion of the wall. Let''s do this!" Walker pushed himself to be more animated while passing out supplies. This brought the soldiers together even more since they could feel the determination. They felt the same about defending the walls as Walker and the others did.


    "Alice, I have had this tea bag in a sk of water for over a day now. It should help your throat a lot. I would say it will help it so much that you can speak by the end of the day." Remey had worked out a special tea blend using specific healing herbs for Alice. She knew that Alice had feltpletely weak and useless without her songs to help.


    The immediate reaction from Alice was to hug Remey which made things slightly awkward. Gil didn''t even dare make a joke. Even Su stayed silent, she didn''t want to say anything that would ruin the moment that Alice would surely be looking back at with gratitude. Remey on the other hand just waited to give Alice the specially made cold tea, she would never sell this mix because of how hard it was to make, but it was worth it.


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 Chapter 1481 1481. Elemental Midnight!?

    "I can''t say we need much rest. My pure stallions could pull such a light carriage for another day or two!" The carriage driver was the most excited to keep moving. He felt that he was able to show off the future of his taming endeavors.


    The healers, on the other hand, were in rough shape. They had not recovered much from being bumped around during their trip to the wall in the first ce. Yet now, they were being knocked around all the same.


    Midnight had been unhappy to see the three dragons she had been getting to know leaving. They were older than her but she was already understanding that dragons developed differently. She was much more ahead of them when it came to mental development while they were behind. It was just the way the wind dragons were raisedpared to what others would be raised. It was also because Midnight was forced to learn different things faster.


    "When we catch back up with Ventus, I want you to pay attention to how she maniptes the wind tond. Hernding and her childrennd almost silently. I think you can do that if you try." Having Walker encourage her, Midnight found herself actually excited.


    The idea that she would be able to manipte the wind around her body the same as a pure wind elemental dragon was hard to grasp. However, Walker was able to manipte the wind with his elemental affinities. It made sense that midnight, as his champion, would also be able to do such a thing at some point.


    Comparing it directly with the skeletal armor that Midnight could create was also important. Midnight might have that because a skeletal dragon was her father. That being said, it was the embodiment of that bloodline and mana bing such a skill with her diet in mind. Other elemental dragons would obviously be able to create simr skills with their elemental mana around their body.


    "Are you telling Midnight that she might be able to do what you do with elemental mana? You literally make an elemental dragon around your body to attack. It''s kind of insane. If Midnight does that she might be wild." Gil was having trouble imagining just how powerful Midnight would be if she followed Walker''s lead.


    "I don''t think it would be the same. Walker isn''t a dragon so he needs to create more. He also isn''t done learning the skill. But Midnight is a dragon, I bet that she will just have the ability to create armors and attacks that work with her body. Like when she wraps her ws in mes." Remey seemed to have given this a lot of thought because it was simr to when she used her elemental knuckles.


    "I won''t lie, I don''t know what to expect from my own skills most of the time. When ites to Midnight and Su, I am lost." Walker wanted to be supportive and say he had all the answers. Unfortunately, that was not the case. There was nothing solid that he could tell them in regards to what they all might experience.


    "I understand. I have new things I discover every day. But that''s what I look forward to. I didn''t think that I would have any ability to manipte the earth, but with my partner, I have realized that I can add my mana to the earth fortress skill. What else can I do?" Su had a few ideas but she was not about to expand on it until she tried them.


    "As long as you don''t try to be some draconic guardian archer and steal my ce in the party we will be fine." Gil found his ce to joke a little but knew that the situation was full of mystery.


    "You know Walker could steal your position at any time. He just has to stop focusing on magic." Remey tried to punch both Gil and Walker out of fun but the two easily dodged.<sub> </sub>


    "We areing up on the stop!" The carriage driver shouted out. There was a tension in his voice that made Walker move a little faster.


    When Walker saw what was in front of him, he realized that they were thete ones. There were tenrge groups in front of him. One was an advanced group of adventurers that were organizing themselves in to patrol groups. The others were healers mixing in to groups of both adventurers and soldiers. Altogether they were preparing for what might happen at any moment.


    "Commander, what is the current status?" Walker didn''t see Ventus so he knew that she must have seen something nearby that interested her.


    "Another adventurer¡­ the hero party?" Themander was a little different than the previous one. He was carrying arge hammer and wore heavy armor. But every step left a very defined footprint. His strength was clear. "We are preparing for demons to march on us at any moment. We saw arge flying monster with three others a few moments ago and do not know what we may encounter.


    "That was Ventus, a royal dragon, and her children. They are with me. She must have seen something and is getting us information. I will cross the wall and start to create some more defenses. My party will split off and start helping. Let us know what you need." Walker didn''t hesitate to step in to the air. "Midnight, stand watch and let me know when Ventus returns."


    Walker reached the top of the wall and looked out at the demonnds before him. The foliage had been burned away by magical skills and war. This was a stain on nature. Nothing was able to grow because of the constant waring toward the borders. Walker hated it. The entire sight felt wrong. "Fleur, I want to fix this."


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 Chapter 1482 1482. Wrath Approaching

    "Let''s shape the ground a little." Walker was more talking to himself than Fleur who was still not responding to him. He felt that the state of the ground between the demonnds and the walls were making her unhappy as well.


    The first thing that Walker thought to do was make a long trench. Not only would it make things harder for armies to march and climb the wall, but it would allow for water to gather and pool up. From there the water would absorb in to the soil and hopefully allow nts to grow better.


    "This doesn''t look too good." Walker was surprised when Gil came up next to him.


    "I thought that you would stay on that side and help out?" It seemed to Walker that Gil might be avoiding work.


    "I was going to but the adventurers are already grouping up with healers, the soldiers are focused on their tasks, and to be honest, the patrols are already figured out. I am pretty much useless since I would just be on the look out. I thought I might be able to help you here. And for the way it looks, you need to nt some things."


    "I know, the space from here for some time is barren. It''s because of how many times the demons have attacked or demonic monsters have run in to the walls. Look at the walls themselves, they have cracked and dents from the things thrown at them." It was crazy to think that monsters had run right in to the walls to cause such damage. The walls were not weak structures.


    "So what you''re saying is that you think we should do more to stop people. Got it. I can set a few snares to catch people''s feet. They work better for rabbits but I think I can tweak them." Gil moved away from Walker and grabbed some of the sticks around the ground. With some string and a few well ced rocks, he was setting snares between the trench Walker was making and the walls.


    As Gil had said, they would trip someone up but that was all. Yet, a second like that in battle could make all the difference. Walker could use magic to easily capture someone who had fallen and was unable to defend themselves.


    For an hour the two worked on their snares and traps. Walker started to leave the walls a little to create pits that he leftpletely open. It would force demons to jump them or move around them. Overall it would make anyone running change how they moved and slowed them down.


    The roar in the distance was enough for Midnight to let Walker know that he had to return. It was easy to see Ventusnding with her three children so he put some extra speed in his steps. When he jumped to get in the air and climb the walls he found that he was looking at more than just a few of the soldiers staring in awe.


    "All of you need to keep moving. You didn''t react that way when I got here so just keep on with your work." Walker didn''t want Ventus to be unhappy with the people looking at her like she was some sort of oddity. He knew that it could anger dragons.


    "I was a littleter than I had nned, but there was a strange demon I wanted to watch for a moment." Ventus waspletely ignoring anyone but Walker. Her children were already upied with Midnight which was perfect since Midnight had been quick to capture their attention away from the others around.<sub> </sub>


    "I feel like you may have seen Wrath then¡­what does he look like?" Walker wasn''t sure what he would do with the information other than pass it on to those who might need it.


    "Strange. That demon does not look like it should. I would say the muscles are formed poorly. Almost forced. The actions are random andpletely caused by what I assume is anger. I watched him smash four of his own soldiers in to paste. It is clearly part of their power. despicable. " Ventus knew that no dragon would ever lower itself to rage and pointless destruction.


    Even the dragons that remained intellectual would not go around destroying for no reason. The only ones were the rogue dragons which were just monsters and not even proper dragons any longer.


    "That''s worse than I thought. I know that for Greed, the skills he had forced him to exist differently than other demons. He was basically a monster that was forced to exist forever on the mana around him. Maybe Wrath is simr, forced to do things based on the title skills he has." Walker felt a little bad but it did not change the things that needed to be done.


    "I see. These sin title holders have never run against the dragons. From what I know they are only within the demon race. I count that as a blessing of the world." Ventus did not wish to see a dragon abused by the title they held. Many dragons had held titles in the history of the dragon trace. However, none had been unfortunate to suffer because of the titles they had.


    "I hope that one day we can find a way for the next sin title holders to counter the negative effects. The world would not create a title unless it was for the development of the world. I expect that there are counters to the titles. Some way to keep their negative effects bnced." This was still not the time for such things. Walker could only focus on the immediate issues that he might be able to deal with. "Let''s get everyone ready. Wherever themander is, I will have him send out the supplies."


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 Chapter 1483 1483. Stone Elf City Entrance

    "Miss Alma, we are using a great deal of magic. We should stop to rest. If we continue on this way we will incur injuries greater than we can handle." The mages that hade with Alma were there for one reason. To get Alma to the ce where the stone elves were thought to have their hidden city.


    "Listen here, if we stop. If we rest. If we wait¡­we might not have a ce to go home to. I understand I might get hurt and I thank you for the fact that you care. But every single one of you along with my enforcers have pledged to risk their lives for me. How can I not risk my life for all of you and more!?"


    This was the sole desire of Alma at the moment. She knew that they were nearing the mountainous area where the stone elves were thought to exist. The dwarves had searched a few ces and avoided the area because they had some details about why they thought this and wanted to avoid conflict.


    "There should be statues here under the snow." Using magic, they had forced themselves along faster and faster. The tamer''s guild had provided transport as high up the mountains as possible. Alma and the mages were nearly sick with the speed they traveled but had no qualms with it.


    The snow that the water mages moved indeed showed some broken statues and other things. There were elven writing in runes along with a few pieces of rusted away armors. "I knew it. This is what the dwarves found when they came looking. The real question is, are the stone elves still here?"


    Knowing that the thing they found were very old was uplifting but also disappointing. If the things they found proved to be old and the stone elves had someone be a lost elven species, it would be a tragedy. Not only that but there would be significantly fewer elves joining the war. Not to mention, elves with strong earth elemental powers.


    "Is this a teau?" One of the mages found that there seemed to be no other direction to go. They were seemingly at the top of the mountain.


    "Try and use fire magic to brighten the area. I know that it will be hard but working together we can do it." The me elves that hade were still weaker than they had used to be. Leaving the main city had regressed their strength. But that did not make them weak.


    Three of the me elves came together and created floating orbs of me. They couldn''t move while using the skill but the orbs of mes melted away some ice and snow. They were easily able to see the teau for what it was.


    "This is a door?!" multiple elves shouted in surprise. Even Alma was stunned to see therge stone doorway with carved statues on either side. However, she was struck by the way it looked. It was old but the runes on it were still vibrant with mana. Somehow it was being controlled.


    "I will try and open it now." Alma walked forward without waiting for any of the mages or enforcers to act. She ced a hand on the doorway where the mana and runes converged. She could feel a connection and knew that she had to add her own mana. It was the same as many of the doors she hade in contact with before. Specially made so that they had to be opened with someone''s mana.


    A significant amount of Alma''s mana was pulled away before the cracking and creaking of stone echoed through the mountains. The enforcers came forward and pulled Alma back. They were ready for the worst to happen. Instead, what was revealed to them was more than any of them could have imagined.


    "Why have youe to our city?"


    "Your answer will decide whether we allow you to leave or to stay."<sub> </sub>


    The two elves waiting for m had more control of mana than she could imagine. On their bodies they had tattoos of earth runes. But the second elf had tattoos of darkness runes. Their features were also sharper and more elongated.


    "Dark elves¡­" this whisper escaped Alma''s mouth in amazement.


    "Do not make us restate our questions. My affinity for darkness holds no base here." the dark elf red at Alma who had shown surprise.


    "My name is Alma, I am the future queen of the forest elves. Representative of the city for all races; Genesis. I havee to not only invite you to Genesis but you ask for assistance in freeing the demon race from oppression. I wish to speak to you leaders." Alma was sure that she didn''t have the power topete with the two in front of her. But she would stand true when she stated those she stood for.


    The nts that Alma grew around her cracked through the ice and stone to take root. She knew she was abusing her body and mana to make this happen. However, she had to make a show of who she was and why she was not to be trifled with.


    The blue ivy that grew around her took the form of a small throne. It was the same that the forest elf queen did with vines and roots of the forest. This look did more than show the strength that Alma had. It connected her to the image of the forest elf queen which any race of elf should recognize from the way she was depicted in writings.


    "Forest elves? me elves? Water elves? Why would you be together? I expect more answers. Follow me and do not get any wise ideas. You are in our world from here on." The two elves were not giving an inch, however, Alma could feel their hatred calm. They did not seem too perturbed at being interrupted.


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 Chapter 1484 1484. Hidden City

    The stone walls were reinforced with many runes and different building techniques that utilized nts. The nts that Alma could see were very different from those she had seen anywhere else. They had pale leaves and didn''t seem to require any light at all to grow. Some were even attracting the shadows slightly meaning that they were feeding off of the darkness elemental mana.


    "This is the joint city of the stone and dark elves. Wee, as long as you are a guest here we ask only one thing. You do not disrespect the lives we have chosen." The dark elf seemed to have much more stake in this. However, Alma had more questions than could be answered even if she responded.


    "Just as in Genesis, I will act ordingly. Every race is seen as equal. We even have dragons that roam the streets." Alma knew that she had to ensure that her words were mademon knowledge. Since she wanted the dark and the stone elves by her side, she would be more open and slightly bragging of Genesis.


    "Fairy Tales will get you nowhere. We do remember the outside world before our chosen istion from foolish ideals." The stone elf did not believe Alma at all.


    "You already see that Ie with elves that were long separated from the forest. I also know that no matter where you are you have learned that the goblins and grey haired spiders became sentient races as recognized by the world. Do you think that happened out of nowhere? Or do you think that it may have been in the city I have spoken of; Genesis." Alma held firm and continued to follow out of the tunnel.


    The sight below was very different from the dwarven city. Alma had imagined that she would see something that Gil had described to her. However, she saw a very different world.


    Vibrant purple and green glowing nts were shaped to create an underground city. One that had a variety of elves moving through it. Not every single one was covered in tune tattoos but they were dark and stone elves.


    Some appeared to be working to create items, while others were harvesting strange glowing mushrooms. Thi city was both home and farm for the elves here. It also spanned in to many more tunnels that held secrets Alma could only guess about.


    "There will be a single meeting with our king and queen. You will appeal to them and they will choose what to do from there." the dark elf seemed to soften slightly. Alma had a feeling that she was closer to the king and queen than she had been told.


    The streets were quickly full of curious faces. They watched the elven mages, enforcers, and most of al Alma. their curiosity bloomed as more gathered and started to talk. They had not allowed another being within their city in many years since they sealed their home away from the world. Away from the dangerous values that could cause strife.


    A building made up of shaped stone and strange dark vines was in the center of the hidden city. There were plenty of guards around but none of them seemed to make a move. Upon closer inspection, Alma realized they were stone golems with darkness runes carved on them. A fusion of magics to make a new form of guard. It was amazing, to say the least since Alma was in no way privy to how it was made.


    "The great stone king and the great dark queen wee the travelers to their main hall." A single elf announced the queen and king. The tall man that stood was not at all what someone would imagine an elf to be. Muscr and strong looking elves were a rarity. However, the king had such muscles and was standing a whole head taller than any elf in the room.<sub> </sub>


    The queen that was named the dark queen was shorter but had shadows dancing around her. The darker skin and pale hair was a drastic opposition to what the light elves were known to look like. But that was if the light elves would ever be in the same ce.


    "You havee to our city even though we have sealed it off from the world. Name your reason or be tried by my court!" The stone king was firm but not demanding. He wanted answers to protect his people from anything that could harm them.


    "I am Alma. future forest elf queen. Representative of all elves within Genesis. I havee to invite more elves toe together within Genesis. We will bring back the high elf race. No longer will the elves be divided by elemental affinity. Currently, Genesis seeks to free the demons from their oppression by a demon lord and cruel sin demon title holders." Alma stood tall and looked at the pair of rules in their eyes. She did not want to foolishly look away as if she was weak.


    "youe to bring the elves together? Why? Why must that happen? My people are safe here. They do not need anything from the outside world. We live in peace and prosperity." The dark queen spoke as if she were whispering. But her words also echoed through the room.


    "You don''t have toe. It''s your choice, but the world is changing. You are already behind. There are oppressive forces rising, problems from across the oceans arriving here on ournds, and racesing together. That doesn''t include the monster races gaining their representation as sentient races. Times have already changed. If you remain here you will find yourself lost before long." Alma didn''t hold back. She wanted every single point to be clear. She wanted the dark and stone elves to know just where the world might be heading.


    "I can promise you one thing, you will be weed at any time even if you say no today."


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 Chapter 1485 1485. Do You Know Why?

    "You tell us that you will wee every dark and stone elf alike, even if we forsake you today?" The stone king looked at Alma with judging eyes. He did not know why it was of such importance that they join together. He was a stubborn king. The ways his people had used for years had been fine.


    "And if I join you today. What would you do? Take my dark elves in to war? Would you throw them away on the front lines? Would you say that it was worth the sacrifice?" The dark queen did not humor what the stone king said and instead proposed her own questions.


    "They would join the elven army that will be reinforcing the border walls. The demi-humans are the first reinforcements. They have stronger battle skills than others and will be better off taking the front lines. The elves have never been up close and personal fighters. We will support with magic and nature on our side." hiding things would get Alma nowhere. She was giving the two rulers everything she could to get them on her side.


    " The dragons are also on their way. Walker, the true hero title holder, young sage, and the current partner to a budding nature spirit, said that he would personally lead the dragons if need be. He has earned the position of royal dragon even though he is human. His little sister is adopted but still his dragon champion."


    There were a few disbelieving looks but Alma pushed through, "His family consists of a new system user the alchemical brawler Remey who started the first ever alchemy guild without losing her ability to fight face to face. The healing draconic guardian Su that spends her time healing and defending the people. Gil, an honorary elf and the only ever human arcane archer along with avatar of wind. The only human we know of to ever be bound to a grand wind spirit; Zephyr."


    Her eyes were calm while looking out at the dark and stone elf elders who had changed their head shaking in to slight awe. "Genesis is filled with many more that I doubt you couldprehend. Whether it be the abyssal and heavenly serpents raised by the abyssal serpent Onyx, or the dwarven true spirit forging that has united elves, dwarves, and elemental spirits. A way of forging that allows the spirit to use its manna to influence the way the piece is created. No longer is spirit forging a curse, it is a freedom for spirits to willingly cooperate in."


    The looks of awe turned in to pure shock at this point. "You are invited to see the mage tower with origin runes that the desert elves once used. To see the ruins that have been uncovered of those that created the origin runes. To see what every single raceing together is capable of." The mana around Alma seemed to make her glow. Her words were not some unwarranted promise. They were truths that both the stone king and the dark queen could believe fully.


    "Do you know why we abandoned the outside world? Why we left?" the stone king spoke slowly. His voice only asking if Alma knew and nothing else.


    "No. we only knew that the stone elves disappeared from sight after the elves split from each other. After thest high elf was returned to nature." That day had been long ago, but every elf knew of it.


    "We left to the mountains where we fought each other over territory. Now elf in this city hasck of family that have tried to kill one another. When my husband and I were born, we were ignorant of the growing hatred between dark elves and stone elves fighting for the same underground city as a home. Many died, many suffered." the dark queen spoke even softer than before. Her words brought pained memories to the eyes of others.


    "But when we met each other on the battle field. When I used a stone spear to stab through my wife and I found myself with a de of darkness in my shoulder. We couldn''t kill each other. Our very being screamed to abandon the stone will and cold shadows." the stone king nced at the dark queen slightly.<sub> </sub>


    "This is our home. We rebuilt it together after fighting our own people. Now it stands in peace. The healing is still underway. To heal we sealed the doors forever. We had no intention of leaving here." the dark queen finished their words. The two still didn''t look directly at the other but Alma could tell that they had known their souls were intertwined the moment they had seen each other.


    "The stone elves disappeared and it was believed that the dark elves perished. Became monsters like some demons. Just finding this city was enough to go down in to history books for the elves left today. If you can return to those waiting for you, it would be another moment the world celebrates. If not, then I will leave with as much speed as I can muster. The light elves and the wind elves are still on the way." Alma didn''t hide anything about the other elves.


    "We will consider it with our elders. The people in this city have a say. Every elf has a chance to speak." The stone king didn''t approve or deny Alma.


    "I expect it to be no other way. In Genesis, every race is represented. The Genesis council stands for their people and what can be done to bring them closer. You are already closer to us than you know." It was true. Two elven affinities fighting had be closer than family. It was exactly what Genesis was made for. Exactly what Genesis stood for. Now Alma just had to wait for the answer toe to her. "And If it matters, I see that your differences have been more than healed. Dark elves and stone elves walking hand and hand."


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 Chapter 1486 1486. Opposite Dragons

    "What do you mean we are stopping! Who said we would stop!?" King Rorick had his personal guard marching toward the walls where he knew Walker was waiting. However, he was being told by one of his captains that they were stopping.


    "My king, there are two dragonsing toward us. Onerge red one and another with blue scales. We believe them to be the fire and water royal dragons." The captain spoke and immediately brought the guards in to proper formation. They would be epting the two royal dragons with the most respect that they could.


    "Form up. Arms presented! I want your best when we greet them!" King Rorick roared out with his voice across the many guards that came with him everywhere. He had a few more to his army from Genesis but it was still smallpared to his real army.


    Heat and cold seemed to radiate from Current and Ignus as theynded. They were not alone. Six more dragons flew around the air with more in the distance carrying what appeared to be stone baskets. King Rorick could only imagine that this was how they transported their dragonkin armies across the world.


    "Did you catch up to us to fight a match with me or are we just lucky to cross paths here?" Rorick spoke with a little spunk while Ignus and Current changed forms to more easily speak. Their dragonkin forms were in different armors than Rorick had imagined, however, they were incredibly intimidating and clearly heavier than any armor he could ever wear.


    "Fight you? I don''t need to do such a thing. It would be a simple win. If you wish to challenge me you can learn to withstand a candle me first." Ignus didn''t let Rorick go. Their conversations while watching battle had brought them unusually close. The two had amon ground when it came to battle.


    "The demi-human king Rorick. I have heard of you. I am Current, the royal dragon of water. My dragonkin and fellow dragons havee to assist Genesis. Walker had visited my vige and I was waiting to see him. I seem to have waited a little too long though." Current had wanted to see the city as well, but now he would be too busy with what he needed to do to help Walker.


    "In any means, I am d to have more soldiers with us. My general is bringing another wave that is about half a day apart from us. Then Scy will bring another wave with the elves. The dwarves should approach around the same time if not faster than the elves because of their efficiency."


    "It sounds like things are moving faster than nned. Good. I do not wish to be away from my ns for any longer." Ignus pretended that it was inconvenient. However, Rorick knew just how much Ignus wanted to find the strongest opponent and challenged them. He and Ignus were the same in that respect.


    "You soldiers are small in number. Come with our warriors and we will be at the wall within the hour." Current didn''t waste any more time. He knew that the sooner they made it to the border the better.


    "It would be rude to ignore such a good offer. We have some additional supplies that your warriors are wee to." Rorick didn''t hesitate to organize his soldiers as the other dragonsnded.


    The furious speed of flying after the soldiers and Rorick had split in to smaller groups to be flown was incredible. Rorick had taken flying monsters as transport before, but nonepared to the flight of a dragon. Current had been the one to take him and was able to converse with him slightly. During that time, Current had gained a lot more general knowledge about Genesis. Particrly, a few skills that Walker had used that Ignus had not gone in depth with.<sub> </sub>


    "So slow. I thought you would make it here sooner." Ventus was silent in the air and was standing before them in her dragonkin form. Her wings barely pped to keep her in the air. As soon as she had spotted Ignus and Current, she had dragged Walker in to the air from where he was working.


    "It''s good to see you again, Current. I wish it was in Genesis. It also looks like you found Rorick." Walker felt it was amusing seeing the demi-human king clutching to one of Current''s ws.


    "It is a poor reason to meet, but a reason to meet nheless. I have been told about your recent endeavors. I brought two older ice dragons with me. I need you to show them your skill. Ignus and King Rorick already spoke of it. That is the price you will pay me for my warriors joining the wall." Current was too excited to ask for this. He wanted to see Genesis but that was not what would help his dragons sooner. Seeing the ice dragon domain skill would show his two oldest ice dragons how to use their skill and develop much faster.


    "Right to the point? I can make that happen. Let''snd and get everyone organized first. Then we will go over the wall." Walker felt it was a little rude but fair. Ignus and Mordant already had promised. He knew that Ventus woulde to Genesis to get a reward and break through to a deeper understanding of the wind. Her children were also gaining a lot from this battle. It was only expected that Current set up a proper arrangement.


    "Greedy today. That is not like you but I will let it pass. My warriors are here as well. I have brought only the strongest to march on the front lines." Ignus growled out his response. None of them had noticed that Walker had mixed draconic speech in to their talk yet.


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 Chapter 1487 1487. Fair Pay

    Thending of multiple dragons at the three sections of walls that the adventurers, soldiers, and party had arrived and brought a lot of movement. Some knew that they were safe but others were afraid of the elemental mana fluctuating upon the dragon''s arrival.


    When King Rorick was sighted and his soldiers moved, themanders of the wall sections pulled him on to a briefing. They would set up additional support and show the information that had been gathered. Walker thanked them for this since he didn''t need to get pulled in as well. He wanted to ensure that the dragons were all settled.


    "I will distribute my troops along the entirety of the border. It makes sense that they get some light walking in." Current did not want to send his warriors deep in to the demonnds. The singr reason being that they would be able to perfectly sure up the wall with their water elemental skills and power.


    "Do they need to stay at a wall because they are tired from the flight? Your kin are not used to being in the air for so long. Rain falls correct?" Ventus was much more mischievous than Walker had expected. Without the setting of the royal dragon court, she didn''t hold back. She directly bothered both Current and Ignus.


    "Says the one that only brought her children. You could have brought dragonkin as well." Ignus showed his distaste for being bothered. However, he didn''t seem as annoyed as Current was.


    "My dragonkin are busy. Do you think Rise will deal with the many rogue dragons she has created? Let alonee here? She will wait and show up when she can act as the center of attention. If we are lucky she won''t even look this way." Ventus was clearly tired of Rise. Walker had grasped this at the royal court but it seemed to run deeper than he knew.


    <o>,m "Any help is wee. I am d to see this many of us together. Mordant should still be on the way with Terron. I also hope he is here before we need to face Wrath. Let me be clear. I do not want any of you to fall in to madness. It would make our greatest allies in to our greatest enemies." Walker knew that the odds of them being affected by madness was lower. But it was not zero.</o>


    "I don''t n on dealing with one small demon. I want the real monsters." Ignus had other ideas. He knew there were demonic monsters he wanted to fight and eat.


    "I will remain back if that is what we need. I can not be so shameless to ughter my own warriors. My honor would fall." Current nodded while speaking. He understood the dangers of losing one''s mind.


    "So, what is this skill that you will show off to Current''s dragons? I want to see it." Ventus decided to drop the subject. She was too excited to see what Walker had to offer.


    "Midnight,e with me. I am going to use ice dragon''s domain. I want you to train in the cold and watch Current''s elder dragons." Midnight jumped from where she was with Ventus''s children. The rest of the party heard Walker but were more focused on helping the new warriors and soldiers organize themselves. Walker was very thankful for the dedicated family he had.


    The two elder ice dragons were clearly powerful. The aura of cold that came from them was more intense than the singr ice dragon Walker had met. He knew that depth of power was dependent on mana control yet he didn''t know why he might be able to use a skill that they were unable to use.


    "I told him that your skill is different from what theirs is. They will see how you manipte the same skill with your mana and learn something." Ignus spoke calmly and clearly. He was very convinced that this would be more important for all of them to watch.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s his natural mana, right? I feel it too when he messes with the air around me. It''s like the air wants to do what he asks but I can wrestle it from him easily." Ventusughed a little but her words were serious. Walker was in the dark with how it felt to others when he used skills.


    "If that''s the case, it might be true. Fleur helps me use natural mana all the time. It even flows through my body now. It''s always increasing." Fleur had been resting but was attracted to the multitude of elemental mana around them. She was taking the chance to look around and enjoy the situation. All the while everyone looked at her curiously.


    "I will use the ice to make this environment harder to traverse. Just watch carefully because I can''t waste mana too much." The two ice dragons did not have dragonkin forms but respectfully lowered their heads to understand. They knew they were looking at someone equal to Current in the royal dragon court.


    When Walker began to gather the water elemental mana, the ice dragons reacted with confusion. They could feel the mana flowing around them but they felt that it was less controlled. It was flowing as if it was meant to go toward Walker.


    Fleur was having a grand time with the manaing near. She was adding some natural mana to Walker''s skill to increase the draw of water elemental mana. Walker didn''t even need to ask her, she had the skill to do it herself without being asked. It was a way to show off with Walker which was something that Walker wasn''t sure was a good trait for Fleur to develop.


    When Walker ces his hands on the ground and the foggy mists grew, he watched as all the pitfalls and trenches he created were covered in ice. The terrain was bing much tougher for anyone to handle. It was perfect.


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 Chapter 1488 1488. Unknown Approaching

    The ice started to take up the area around them much faster than any of the dragons had expected. "That is the natural mana added in. The ice grows faster than it should. Feel the natural mana and the water mana together. I want you two to maintain and grow this area from this point on. Attract the attention of every demon for a mile."


    Current had a simple n. Attract the attention of the demons where skills were being used. It would protect the other wall sections since the focus would be on the one with the most defenses. On top of that, it was a way for the two elder ice dragons to grasp a deeper understanding of water and natural mana working together.


    The dragons tried to understand their elemental affinities to the deepest possible level. It was not something that was hard to do. It took many years but could be done with hard work. Where things became harder was when the natural flow of mana was introduced.


    The natural flow of mana was more than a singr elemental mana. It also required an understanding of how the singr elemental mana reacted in natural ways without any outside force manipting it. Walker was the key between the two. Because he could manipte the natural mana that influenced the individual elemental manas.


    "That should be a major slow down for any of the demons thate this way. But it might be the reason theye sooner." This both stressed and Made Walker feel better. It was a defense but also a signal that they were preparing more trouble for the demons.


    "I just wonder how you gain the draconic skills using natural mana." Current had more questions before they were to continue.


    "I feel it''s the shape I move the elemental mana in to. It revolves around the natural mana making a purer connection with whatever I am manipting. From there I feel the connections I have with Midnight and dragons in general. The more I focus on that feeling the easier it seems to be to use the skills that dragons have¡­" Walker tried his best to put it all in to words but it was a hard feeling to grasp.


    "It''s like when I fly. It''s a natural act. It''s part of who I am no matter what kind of dragon I am. Even earth dragons can fly now and then. A dragon has wings and can take to the skies no matter what. Some are better and some are worse, but all can fly." Ventus felt that she had the closest grasp of what Walker was trying to say.


    ? "I think that''s it. Midnight, do you agree? You have a simr affinity for every elemental mana like me. You should be able to attest to that." Walker wasn''t sure what made Midnight turn her head in confusion.


    "You are speaking draconic again. Try and control your skills. You may confuse your guardian before they have learned such things." Ventus giggled before jumping in to the sky to take a look in to the distance. She wanted to be ready for what was toe.


    "Walker! Come over here. We have something going on!" Su was calling with all her might to get their attention. She didn''t want to use any skills as to reserve her mana for the situation unfolding nearby.


    To say that the reaction from Walker and the dragons was small would be an understatement. They rushed over the wall. Walkernded with swords in hand while his fellow dragons took their full dragon forms. There was only silence as they stood over a mound of earth.


    "Su?" Walker looked at the ground and Su. he wasn''t sure why everyone was staring at it so much.


    "There''s someoneing up. My partner said it would be fine." The earth spirit was moving around frantically due to everyone''s overreaction. It felt that it might have caused some serious problems.<sub> </sub>


    Before any of them could say or examine things further, the earth was torn open by arge brown w. The ground was continuously torn open more and more and arger dragon head revealed itself.


    The solid fell off of it like it was water dripping off of a raincoat. The yellow eyes focused on Walker more than on the other dragons.


    "Terron! How dare youe here in such a way. I was going to melt you in to a puddle of melted metal!" the words of Ignus were met with an angry growl.


    "Stop growling you big rock. I bashed your dragonkin in and you promised you woulde here to help. Just ept it already. I am stronger than all of your dragonkin warriors. If you actually let them train against others you might have tougher warriors."


    "And that''s Barry." Walker let the sword return to his storage and shook his head. He was a little angry that he rushed in to such a panic. There wasn''t a single enemy in front of him. Instead, it was the vice guild master of the adventurer''s guild and the most stubborn dragon.


    "So this is one of the strong humans? Hmmmm, you managed to convince Terron toe. I didn''t think that would happen.


    "Neither did I, but when I got to his vige Barry was already striking down every dragonkin warrior in sight. Apparently, the two made a bet. The hardest head won." Mordantughed while appearing out of Terron''s shadow. "It''s good to see you are already here, Ventus. I was worried that you and your children would not make it in time."


    "How would we miss it? We are the fastest flying dragons in the world." Ventus seemed to have a lot better of a rtionship with Mordant than Walker knew. He felt that there were some stories he wanted to hear.


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 Chapter 1489 1489. Terrons Requirements

    Terron grudgingly changed in to his dragonkin form. He was clearly unhappy with the fact that he had to be there but the way Barry spoke to him was even more infuriating. But Terron didn''t budge. "I am true to my word. The best trait among any of the dragons." Terron''s words werepletely ignored by the others.


    "By any means, I am d to see you. We were worried that you and Barry wouldn''t make it. I also thought Mordant was a littlete." Walker thought it was rxed enough to tease Mordant since he was looking pretty smug that he had made it to the wall with his and Terron''s dragonkin warriors.


    "Terron insisted that we move through the ground. Apparently, there are a few ces near here that he has some dragonkin working on. Something about mineral veins¡­" Mordant felt lost, this wasn''t his elemental affinity.


    "You waited for me? That''s a good move, but I''m sure any number of dragons here could have dealt with the demons you are worried about." Barry had just received the notice from ra to move to the walls as fast as possible. He didn''t have all the information.


    "Would you not have waited for me." Terron seemed a little annoyed about not receiving any of the attention. In his eyes, he was much greater than a human warrior.


    "I was wondering if you woulde but I thought that it would strike you as a good way to show your strength. I have only met one earth dragon other than you and they were a specific metal dragon in the tamer''s guild. I think you will make a very big difference in this battle." Walker paused and looked at Terron who seemed a little more appeased.


    Unlike Ignus, Terron was more stubborn in the sense that he wanted to be held on higher pedestal. Ignus was more mable and would jump from his high horse to fight with someone he deemed worthy. It was a strange character trait between dragons.


    "The walls are damaged from previous attacks. You have the strongest earth elemental affinity and control here. Can I ask that you and your dragonkin reinforce the defenses and createrge trenches to top demons?"


    "You didn''t call us here to fight? You expect us to build things for you?" Terron felt he had been tricked in to this already. Now he was being asked to do manualbor.


    "As the toughest dragons, the earth dragons and earth dragonkin should be the best to do so. You can also hold the walls better than others while protecting the evacuating demon refugees." Walker didn''t hesitate to justy it out for Terron. He had already asked Ventus nonbat rted things.


    "And you will get whatever benefits I can give you in Genesis. I know that everyone else will be taking advantage of the elemental floors of the mage tower. Mordant and Ignus have already experienced them if you want more details." Terron nced at Mordant and Ignus who both nodded. Normally there would be some arguments about rewards and trades.


    "I want more than that. You wish for hatchlings to be brought to you to be raised better? My dragons do not raise their young. They grow and are allowed to return when they make their own strength. I barely have any issues with rogue dragons. I want you to raise a single earth dragon. I will judge after you have raised it for a year." Terron wanted hard set rules to see whether Walker was or was not worthy of being a royal dragon. He still had misgivings.


    "I can ensure that it will have a simr ce to grow as it would if it was left underground to develop. It will also have ess to knowledge that will allow it to grow differently than any other earth dragon." Walker was thinking about the king of the deep. Anf earth dragon needed the valuable ores underground and the king of the deep was leading a project to create an underground trade route. It was the perfect pairing.<sub> </sub>


    "Then we will agree upon that. If you fail I will expect half of all your wealth. Your vige will need to send warriors as well." Terron moved and took his dragonkin with him toward the walls. Walker wasn''t really sure what to think.


    "I think he likes you more than he lets on. The closer we got the more he mumbled about someone manipting the earth. He liked the way it felt because it hadn''t disturbed the small cave system down here." Barry added his input which made Terron move away faster.


    The natural mana that Walker added to his skills without thinking at this point had caused that. But it made an impression on any earth rted system or being. "So he sounds harsh but he''s just being sure in his actions. I will show him more than he needs so that he is confident in Genesis. But for now¡­let''s make ns. Barry, the reason we need you is because of your system."


    "Should I take it there''s another sin title holder demon roaming around? And they are some sort of berzerker?" Barry sighed, he knew what it could mean for this to be the case.


    "Yes, Wrath is leading the army. Some soldiers have already been lost to the madness that he causes. There are demonic monsters, demon soldiers, and even innocent people brought in to his ranks. They are attacking anything, including each other." Barry grew more and more grim with every word he heard from Walker.


    "You don''t want to send someone in that could be brought in to madness. I have the resistances from my skills and being under my own rage many times. If you send me to deal with Wreath, then you will be able to send the army in behind them. And the rest of the council supported this?" Walker nodded and Barry seemed to set his determination in stone.


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 Chapter 1490 1490. More Troops Arrive

    "Looks like we have more people behind us. They are not arge group but one that looks simr to those already here." Ventus gave a heads up before returning to the skies. She was sure that there were more Genesis forces joining them. But what Walker saw when he looked was a surprise.


    "Elise? What are you doing here?" Walker found that Elise was one of the ones leading the group.


    "The tamer''s guild came. I called everyone to arms. All those in the area are reporting to walls that need help. We might not be able to tame every demonic monster there is but we know how to handle them." Elise smiled and started to motion for the tamers behind her to move toward the soldiers for orders.


    "I couldn''t let the home I have lose a battle. If we lose at least I will be here giving it my all. And when we win, I will be able to say that I dragged every bit of strength I could muster to help." The fire in Elise''s eyes was matched with the way that Ste and a few other harpies were calling in the air. "Oh, and the harpy queen has made friends with Ste. I think we will have bettermunications along the walls."


    "Elise, that''s perfect. If you go inside that room, themanders and Rorick are meeting. We are preparing more defenses and getting Barry prepared for battle." Walker felt that he didn''t need to do anything more. Every single important figure within Genesis was acting. They hade together doing their own parts to ensure that everything went well.


    "How many potions will you need? I can give you some that will increase your blood production and clear your mind. They aren''t perfect but they will help." Remey was ready to set up shop and make new potions from the materials that she had Made Walker bring.


    "I have bandages prepared too. I can help you set them up between the gaps in your armor to protect against any sneak attacks." Su was also right there with Remey trying to help Barry.


    "I appreciate the help, but I will just take the one mind clearing potion. I usually drink a few of those before a harsh fight. I have been training against those rogue dragons. I feel ready to face just about anything right now." Barry tried to show a smile but couldn''t find it in him. This was a very serious situation. Many soldiers had already gathered and more were on the way.


    "Walker, have you considered my skills in this? I can move a few attacks through the shadows. Split up that Wrath from his army. I will also remain untouched by his skills." Mordant knew he would be unable to attack directly using his skills. On top of that, he would be able to cause some chaos.


    "If you are doing so then Current and I will do the same dropping attacks from higher in the sky. Current doesn''t need to split all his dragons along the wall." Ignus knew that it would have a better effect if they worked together.


    "I can take them with me. I have a lot of arrows that can be dropped. If I give the water elemental and the fire elemental arrows to them they should be able to force the mana to be unstable. It won''t have the same effect when I fire them, but it will do a lot to cause the army to split up." Gil was already nning it out. He just needed the approval of Ignus and Current.


    "Perfect Idea, that saves our mana for when we have the real monsters to handle." Ignus moved with Gil. he had a newfound appreciation for Gil since it was an idea that would allow them to fight more.<sub> </sub>


    "Barry, that means we will have a one on one battle for you to use your full strength. I know you are strong and one of the most experienced adventurers, no, fighters I will ever meet. Can you do it?" Walker knew he had put a lot of pressure on his vice guild master. Barry had been through a lot in life. He''d grown more and more above the average human being. He had the respect of many other races that should have been stronger than him but were not even close to his strength.


    "I haven''t worked this hard my whole life to just sit around. You kids have the ideas, I have the power to make them a reality. One day you will be doing the same for other children. That''s how this works. So just let me handle everything. Once it''s all set I will need some time to cool off though." Barry knew that his skills wouldn''t just end right away. Once he used his trump card it was all or nothing.


    "Any healer with a calming skill will need toe to me in the next hour! Pass this on!" Walker realized that Barry was saying more than he let on. Barry would need to be brought down from his berserk state. It made sense, these kinds of skills would overtake the mind in many ways. For Barry, it had been many years to learn and understand them. But for him to push himself, he knew that he would cross a line that would make him a danger to others.


    The healers had been busy at work preparing ces for injured soldiers toe. Some had spread out far along the wall. But with Ste and the harpies'' help, the message was being passed along. Alice was the first to meet Walker''s side though.


    "Are you sure you can sing? I don''t want you to push yourself." Walker was met with a re from Alice. She wouldn''t remain useless. She had been silent for the entire trip here.


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 Chapter 1491 1491. The Attack Begins

    The wall was full of so many people. Walker swore that every time he turned around he saw someone he didn''t recognize or someone he hadn''t expected to see. "Brother, I have check in with themanders, they wish to start an attack to bait the demon army here soon." Onyx had been moving along here and there to keep a constantmunication going. Walker had been too busy to touch base recently.


    "That''s so soon¡­but we have a lot of force here and Barry is nearly ready." Walker didn''t want to hesitate. He knew that a lot of the soldiers that were here would be looking toward him for inspiration.


    ? The party was not full of people with the strongest skills. In all actuality, the party could be considered weak. But where they exceeded was mentality. They took their goals and desired to push through any situation and make something better happen. Walker alone was someone that constantly shocked others and convinced them to try a new path.


    "Alright, I am ready to do this. Midnight is with the three wind dragons, right? I want her to be able to keep them from rushing in to battle. She has a strong set of skills that should keep them in check. They are older than her but will not be able to handle the intimidation of a true dragon champion." Onyx slithered off tomunicate this to Midnight. He was sure that this would be a very important role for him.


    "Good, I already know you will partner up with Alice next." Walker was sure that Onyx would pair up with Alice. The two had decent teamwork from their training. There was also the fact that Su would most likely be the shield for all the healers with any sort of calming skill. Alice was currently speaking to the small group of ten that had gathered at Walker''s call.


    The piles of arrows that Gil had set up were much better prepared than Walker expected. He could see strings connecting bundles of ten arrows each. There were more arrows than Walker could count but he was sure that it was nearly the entire collection of fire and water elemental arrows that he had created. Enough to split an army for sure.


    "Ignus, Current, I want you to be the main force that separates Wrath from the rest of the army. I know you can do it." Gil raised an eyebrow at this. He knew that Current and Ignus could definitely do it, but it was odd to hear Walker encouraging them.


    "You don''t need to ask me twice. I will live up to the bargain we have. Just ensure that there will be another feast after this battle." Current was d to hear Walker''s encouragement. He knew it was to keep everyone on the same page. A good leader had to do these seemingly pointless tasks.


    "The moment I came here I became an opposing force. You do not even grasp how much more I will be able to do." Ignus huffed indignantly while he looked at the string of fire elemental arrows he was going to be carrying. He had been more than surprised by Gil''s supply.


    " Su, Remey!" Walker moved toad Su and Remey who were waiting for Barry to return. He had left to get his final preparations. "I will have you go with Alice and the healers. They will need more protection." Walker knew that Su would be the shield while Remey would be able to act as the muscle in front of her. There would be almost no one that could get anywhere near them.


    "Fine by me, I can make sure that any demon that wants toe here and hurt people is broken down. But what about the vigers and other innocent people? How should I handle them?" Remey was concerned that she would hurt someone she shouldn''t


    "That''s what the healers are for. They will calm them with their skills and bring them back while I defend." Su had cleaned and prepared the twin shields for this. She wanted to use the earth dwelling shield but it would not work as well. The number of attackers could cast a wide of attacks. The wider defensive area of the twin shields would more than protect them.


    "That means after we help those people I can use my potions," Remey smirked. She had not had a proper chance to use the exploding potions that she and Trish had made. She had been waiting.


    "I won''t stop you but make sure that the area is safe." Walker shook his head. He wondered if explosions and fighting were all Remey cared about sometimes.<sub> </sub>


    "I seem to be ready, I don''t want to handle this alone though, be ready to jump in if anything goes wrong." Barry was sure that he would win the fight. But he wanted Walker there after. Walker was a wildcard. Someone who came up with strange and incredible solutions to the problems at hand. Whatever skills that Walker might use could help Barry return to his senses.


    "I wouldn''t leave you out there alone. After Mordant leaves you to beat Wrath, I will arrive in the air behind you. Mordant, Ignus, and Current are separating every soldier from wrath in a few moments. Ventus ismunicating to let everyone know what will happen. Then the healers and soldiers wille behind me." This made Barry rx a little. His face hardened.


    "Then we leave now. No more waiting. Cause a lot of noise and bring those demons my way." His words were louder than he had meant, but soon there were shouts from every soldier. They felt the very same as Barry. It was time to make a move.


    "Gil, send them off!'' Walker shouted out and watched as Ignus and Current jumped in to the air to change in to their full dragon forms. The arrows trailing in groups behind them were smaller and smaller as they rose in the air.


    "Mordant, let''s get ready." without a sound, Mordant had shown himself again. He is sure that he would be able to sneak Barry over to the main battle field as soon as Ventus gave the notice.


    In the air, Ventus was watching the movements carefully. She saw therge earthen pirs rising as Terron and his dragonkin moved to create obstacles. The dragonkin warriors were even hiding themselves under the soil to camouge and ambush the demons when they attacked. It was a wise choice of battle that only the earth dragons used.


    She was just as high in the air as Current and Ignus. They were being very careful of whatever skill that wrath had. The army that had been marching toward them was close enough that a single small attack would cause them to rush toward the walls. It was the perfect time.


    Current dropped the strong of arrow bundles. They fell slowly in the air while Ignus dropped his as well. They had made it so that they would intersect around Wrath thergest demon in the army.


    There was a silence in the air as everything fell. Ventus knew what wasing because she could see everything the clearest. The mana that Ignus and Current had forced in to the arrows was not small. Their control and storage of elemental mana was the only reason they could pull off such a feat. if anyone else had tried they would be unable to infuse the many arrows with their mana.


    When the sound of breaking and explosions shook the air, Ventus saw a blossoming of red and blue. The fire arrows caused arge fireball to push many of the demon soldiers backwards. The watery mist that burst out from the water elemental arrows caused snow to burst around them in a wave of blizzard. Both had forced the demons near Wrath away. But what caused even more chaos were the spikes of shadow popping up around the soldiers.


    Mordant had acted as well bringing Barry closer to wrath, his next move was to separate the closer soldier to Wrath away from the main battle. It was easy for him since shadows were just part of his body.


    There was an immediate reaction from the soldiers that had not been knocked unconscious or even defeated in the singr attack. Their anger seemed to expand many times causing them to sprint towards the walls which had many roars of challenge. The loudest roar came from Midnight and Ventus''s three children. They had followed Midnight''s call to attract battles right away.


    The appearance of Walker moving through the air was the signal that Ventus needed tomunicate what she was seeing currently. The rest of the soldiers would be slowly moving and waiting for the demons toe. Until they received Ventus''s signal, they would not push past their frozen trap filled lines. The two ice dragons had ensured that the ground was perfectly covered close to the wall. Their defenses were perfect to stop the iing army that had been split in two.

 Chapter 1492 1492. Battle Of Wrath

    Walker stood in the air with his breath held. He watched as Mordant fought with shadows from a very far distance. It was amazing how he could use the shadows around others to cause them to change their directions. The benefit was that the angrier the soldier appeared to get the more they were able to be herded.


    The anger that the soldiers had was blind. It was just to attack whatever they were aimed at. Therefore, when mordant irritated them by separating them with walls of their own shadow, they turned and charged toward the source of the shadows, this just happened to be the walls.


    This left Barry face to face with thergest demon that Walker had ever seen much faster than expected.


    Wrath was standing easily ten feet tall. His face was contorted in a permanent angry scowl. The horns on his head were bright red as if dyed with blood. They had many spikes that made anything they could touch stick to them. But where things became truly scary, were the muscles that covered his entire body. Arms, legs, and torso bigger than any that Walker could even fathom.


    "Puny human! Nothing can stop my might!" Wrath roared out as he approached Barry. His entire existence was to let loose and fight. He could care less about anything around him as he dragged arge dull sword. Therge trenches cut in to the ground were enough to show that the weight of the metal was not something an average person could budge.


    "And here I thought you would be driving me mad in seconds. But I don''t feel a¡­" Barry''s words caught in his throat. He was stunned by the feeling of his blood boiling. It was the same feeling he had when he went all out. Wrath had just stepped closer to him and caused such an effect.


    "Your anger is small, I am the might of the demon race. The most powerful warrior. The one who will stand stronger than any demon! Bow!" Wrath was single minded. His rage grew seeing that Barry didn''t bow. That there were none acknowledging his might above others. Nothing to smash in to a pulp to sate his anger.


    "It''s time to get to work." Barry cracked his knuckles and drew hisrge ax from his back. He was ready to let loose. He trusted that the healers and Walker would ensure that he was able to recover from the drawbacks of him using his skills to their utmost.


    The first encounter between Barry and wrath was simply stunning. The metallic ng of tworger than life weapons rang through the entire field. Those who heard in on the wall could only make out the figures of the battle but understood that they were blessed not to be nearby. The danger was greater than they couldprehend.


    Barry was still holding himself fairly stable. He had been through many battles with this kind of force, but the strength that Wrath had was higher than his average opponents. It was already pushing Barry to the limits of his basic strength. Even the rogue dragons had not proven this much of an issue byparison.


    The second attack that came at Barry was enough to cleave through the ground. Wrath had started to lose the ability to speak as his eyes turned red. Wrath''s muscles were straining more and more while growing in to his full size.


    The skill that Wrath possessed had to do with battle specifically. Not only did it cause others to go mad around him, but it could take strength from his own anger. This made it the double edged sword of the title Wrath. Not only did he get stronger than any other demon could physically be, but he lost his mind. The extreme upside with an extreme downside. Very like the way Greed was. Immortality and constant possession of mana while being unable to lose the title.<sub> </sub>


    The attack that Barry narrowly blocked threw him off his feet and rolling on to his back. The pain was fresh on his face but it was what he needed. He had started to warm up and felt he was in the right position to begin the true attack.


    "Battle is where true warriors are born. Bleed boiling blood on to the earth as enemies fall before me. Feel the bliss of battle and forget the senseless emotions. Roar with fires of brutal unending war. Scream for a new opponent that will fall before you! Berserkers rampage!"


    The chant that Barry let free was more animalistic than it was words. None would be able to tell it was the chant of a mastery skill, let alone a skill of any form. However, the reaction after he had done so was all too clear.


    The mana around him became heavy. The air itself seemed to be weighing down on everything around him. The coloration of his skin became redder as if his blood was heating up. The sound of his heart was loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. Muscles strained on Barry''s body as the ax he carried was enveloped by a red radiating manaing from his body.


    The mastery skill that Barry could use was not one that used elemental mana. It used his very own mana at an extreme rate. The very mana in his blood caused the extreme red coloration of mana around him. The look on his face was closer to the demonic monsters in fairy tales than Wrath was before him.


    With a bloody battle roar, Barry jumped from where he was causing a massive crack in the ground to appear. The swing of his ax was wild and easy to predict, but Wrath met it head on. The attack alone was the first time Wrath had ever been knocked back like a ragdoll.


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 Chapter 1493 1493. Unceremonious Defeat

    When Wrath stood up from Barry''s attack it was clear that the rage hadpletely taken over his mind. Wrath was no longer a demon of any form. All that was left was the pure hatred and anger that made him the sin title holder Wrath.


    The roar that followed was one that could cause any unaware person to be lost in fear, but Barry didn''t have the ability to fear at the moment. Wrath didn''t expect this and was again thrown backward by Barry''s attack. The damage this time was clear.


    Arge cut had opened up across Wrath''s chest. The rage Wrath possessed seemed unending as he stood and charged at Barry again, but the battle was far from over. Barry was abusing his body and strength to swing his ax again and again. Walker realized that the skill Barry used had more than just one downside.


    Since the strength that Barry was able to use while in a berserk state was beyond what his body would normally be capable of, he was sustaining internal injuries. Not only was he being harmed from Wrath''s attacks, but also from his own movements. The muscles that were being boosted were in turn harming him.


    Wrath was much the same but he had the added strength of the Wrath title giving him more power. If there weren''t some changes, Walker knew that Barry might exhaust himselfpletely. With this in mind, Walker made the risky decision to get closer and try to use the multi buff skill. He knew it was a dangerous way for him to help but it was the only thing he could think of. Any magical attacks from long range would do nothing to Wrath.


    This being said, Walker moved closer and closer in the air trying to cast the multi buff skill on Barry. There was the chance that if Barry saw him he would also be a target. Therefore, it was better that Barry remained unaware.


    Immediately, Walker felt a small pain spreading through his head. This was the skill that was forcing everything near Wrath to be full of anger. But it was fine, Walker was barely close enough to see that Barry had been affected by the multi buff skill. In a rush, Walker also cast the healing skills he had in a small attempt to help Barry more. But the pain in Walker''s head was making him dizzy and confused, if he didn''t rush away that instant he would fall in to the control of Wrath''s skill.


    It proved to be the right move though as soon as Wrath was hit again, he let out a massive roar and stomped the ground. The cracks in the earth proved that a singr hit would smash Walker in to the afterlife. But Barry could have cared less. His rage had reached its peak. He attacked over and over in a flurry of ax shes and kicks. It didn''t seem that Barry worried about how he attacked anymore.


    Walker hadn''t noticed, but the ax was wrapped with rope around Barry''s hand. It was a clear way to ensure that he continuously attacked with the best weapon he had. And the best weapon he had was working. So well that Wrath was on one knee.


    The steam leaving Wrath''s body was dense. It was the built up mana that was being forced to leave as he lost his ability to fight. Without the ability to fight, Wrath was nothing. Just a standing pile of muscle. But that didn''t seem to be what Wrath really was.


    The more that Barry attacked, the more steam was blown away. Wrath''s muscles were deting bing a skeletal looking demon. "That''s another sin title that damages the titleholder¡­" Walker felt bad for a moment until he heard what Wrath was yelling.


    The constant screaming about how he was the most powerful and how all others should bow to him made Walker''s skin crawl. The disy of anger and nonexistent strength was something that no one should have to see. It was an insult to the demon race that a being like Wrath actually help power over others.


    The moment that Wrath finally fell forward was the same moment that Ventus let loose a screeching roar through the air. It was the signal for all the armies to advance beyond the wall. Walker caught sight of Alice, Su, Remey, and the other healers. He needed to get there to help calm as many down as he could.<sub> </sub>


    The calming waves skill was the best chance for Walker but he knew that inparison to a healer, his skill would be small. He had to at least use it until his mana ran dry.


    When the first wave of his calming waves skill hit the surrounding demon soldiers, they barely faltered. The vigers that had gotten caught up were barely able to slow themselves. But this was even worse, now the demon soldiers had new targets.


    "Walker, move!" The growl of Current descending from the sky brought along a rain of water. Walker dodged it but saw that Current was using it to slow and halt almost every soldier on the battlefield. This was the ideal situation to use as many calming skills as possible.


    The water affinity dragonkin moved in through the water as if it was nothing. They were able to perfectly use their affinity to disable demon soldiers left and right. The water was even parting for those on the side of Genesis.


    "Walker, we are here, get us closer to Barry!" Su knew that she wouldn''t be able to block an attack from Barry, but she had Alice clutched in her arm and Walker was the perfect person to transport them closer.


    "Then hold on, it will be rough!" Walker grabbed their hands and used a burst of wind to push them in to the air and toward Barry. Their single goal would be to calm him down in his rage. The only thing they saw from him was his ax swinging at nothing in the air.


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 Chapter 1494 1494. You Wont Fall

    Before Alice''s feet had hit the ground, the light elemental mana started to pull around her. While everyone had been focused on the journey, Alice had been preparing. She had been getting ready for the moment that she could properly use her voice again and help others.


    This built up desire along with all the items she wore that could store mana had a much greater effect than she had realized. It was already proven through her songs and skills that the meaning behind her songs was more important than the worlds. The feeling had physical strength for her.


    Therefore, when the light became a soft falling snow of gold, those who were not too far gone in to their madness began to lose their will to fight. Topletely lose their ability to even stand. This also came with some of the weaker soldiers on Genesis''s side bing drowsy, but easily snapping out of it.


    The simplistic slow rhythm of rising and falling tone was enough to lull even a raging bull in to a calm slumber. The vigers that managed to escape from the maddened anger were falling to the ground. Many of the dragonkin soldiers rushed forward to protect them from the still attacking demon soldiers.


    Those soldiers that had joined the demon army were true to their beliefs. They believed in the hierarchy of certain powerful demons over all others. This issue was just part of the problem that led the demon race to be the way that it was. To cause suffering in the majority of their people. Therefore, these demons still fought even without Wrath''s madness forcing them forward.


    Barry was slowing slightly but with every piece of golden light snow that touched him, he seemed to regain a small amount of light in his eyes. Walker didn''t have any other skills to use other than calming waves, but the healers were behind Alice preparing.


    Their mana was polling together in skills unique to healers. They were able to make more powerful healing skills to jointly heal someone if need be. The skill they were using at the moment was a purification skill, yet they had multiple healers adding their purification skills together. This would purify and calm the target of any status that was beyond their normal state. It wasn''t perfect but it would be for this situation.


    "Su, taunt Barry now!" Walker saw Barry bing distracted and turning away from them. It was not what they needed for the healers to better use their skills on him to stop him in his tracks.


    "Get over here you drunken loser!" The taunt was exactly what Barry had been after retiring from the army. He had lost his way and the taunt had a much stronger effect since it was targeted to him. Su didn''t really mean it but could tell it worked.


    With arge leap, Barrynded right near them raising his ax to attack. But the healers were ready. Their mana converged andnded on Barry with a white and gold light working together with Alice''s song. The result was an already passed out Barry trying to remain on his feet even though he was asleep.


    "And you do not deserve to fall today." Walker moved as fast as possible to catch Barry. This was the key person in this entire battle. Without Barry using all his strength, they would not be able to win. The rest of the soldiers would have eventually been brought in to madness. The result would be a forced attack defeating everyone and destroying thend. Something that none would allow.


    There were bruises already forming on Barry''s body that Walker was sure came from his overexertion. The Muscles that Barry had used were pushed beyond what was normally done under any circumstance at all. But even more, Barry had clearly abused the mana that his body could possess. Walker knew the feeling just the same as Barry had, but for Barry, it was worse. The mana had forced his body to physically perform more than normal. It wasn''t just Barry''s spirit that had taken damage.<sub> </sub>


    "I need healers to take care of Barry now!" Walker''s call was not ignored. Since Su waspletely dedicated to protecting Alice who was using a song she had made for just this moment, the other healers had to pick up the ck. Three of them came to take care of Barry while Remey started to act as a body guard for them. One look from her told Walker that it was time for him to begin to battle beside the other royal dragons.


    If Walker did not stand with them then he would be sending a poor message. He had to show that he was willing to take on the same effort and work as he had asked of them. He was the royal dragon that was supposed to be leading this endeavor and he had to trust others to handle the healing.


    p "Remey, I will be using that skill." Walker knew that he wasn''t well practiced in it but he had no choice. The elemental dragon aspect was what he needed. It had already been shown to Ignus and Mordant but Terron, and Ventus were lost. They had not seen such skill from Walker and if they didn''t they would doubt his strength in the future.</anda>


    The dragonkin around Walker had stopped to ensure that the healers were more protected, but they had also stopped because they knew of Walker''s standing. He was a royal dragon whether they respected him or not. Only a handful had really seen his skills and the way that he adapted.


    Therefore, when the mana surged towards Walker and the eternal orb took the form of a chest te that connected more of the elements to Walker''s body, they were shocked. It was even greeted when they saw Fleur dwell within the eternal orb chest te to draw even more natural mana within it.


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 Chapter 1495 1495. Silent Battlefield

    With Fleur adding even more of her own natural mana within the elemental dragon aspect skill, Walker was able to pull even more mana toward him. This made the earth, wind, fire, and water bond together even tighter. The shadows beneath Walker''s feet stretched up and captured the light elemental snow falling around him to create the ws and spikes on the dragon aspect.


    When the dragonkin saw this, they felt that they were looking at a power that was more unique than any other royal dragon''s. It inspired respect and showed that they could work in tandem better than they had ever thought. The war cries to push forward increased while more demon soldiers were captured or defeated.


    As Walker took flight, he heard the echoing roars of Ventus and Ignus who had seen him use his skill. Ventus had a feeling that Walker was hiding something like this. She was more than impressed to feel that the wind elemental mana was being pulled away from her grasp. She was sure that she would be able to pull it back if she desired, but it would take more of her mana to do so.


    Terron could feel the earth elemental mana abandon him for a moment it had never happened to him before and it made him feel angry. Yet, when he looked at the form that Walker had created by bringing all of the elemental manas together, he was stunned.


    Walker had not only used the earth as a base, but also used it to create multiple earth spikes around him to stop multiple demon soldiers from approaching. Waker may have been handling the weaker demon soldiers due to his own level of strength, but the pressure affected even the stronger demon soldiers.


    Since Walker couldn''t feel the strength that he had, he didn''t notice that he was giving off the aura of a dragon. The same aura that slightly deterred any monster from a dragon because of their powerful blood. This hade about due to the connection that Walker had through his bind with Midnight. He was getting closer to a proper royal dragon in his own way.


    The addition of natural mana coursing through his veins was adding even more pressure. The demon soldiers that had elemental skills felt the mana that they attempted to use disobey them. They had to struggle to remain any control. Most of the demonic mages that had been mad with rage were faced with failing magical skills. This caused many to defeat themselves within the area of Walker''s battles.


    "Don''t stop watching your back!" Gil shouted out to Walker while he and Onyx partnered up to shoot down two of the demon soldiers that had tried to rush Walker while yelling about the demons being the most powerful race.


    "Brother, the healers, and soldiers are nearly finished. Wrath''s army has fallen apart." Onyx hadmunicated directly with Ventus.


    The things that Ventus had seen were perfection. The n to divide the demon army was ideal. The monsters had been handled by the tamers, and any other resistance dealt with by the dragonkin. This left the demi-humans and other soldiers to retrieve the vigers and injured. It was a spectacr sight.


    Knowing this, Walker held back his mana and rose higher in to the air. He knew that he had very little time without pushing himself to use other skills to supply mana. Therefore, he pushed himself to gain height closer to Ventus.


    The air that he pulled toward him was a strange maniption that Ventus knew well. In a burst of wind elemental mana and Walker''s voice, a single word roared out. "PEACE!" This demand was abination of wind elemental mana and dragon''s intimidation.<sub> </sub>


    The results of this roar caused a sudden stillness over the battlefield. Walkercked power that would put him against the strongest. But what he had was unique. He had skills that could trip up even the most powerful. That could inspire the weakest to grow. The healer''s calming skill paired with Walker''s intimidating order caused the losing demon soldiers to fall to the ground in surrender.


    "There''s hope for them yet." Walker felt that he was seeing something brilliant. The demon soldiers willing to turn themselves over might have a chance at redemption after paying for their deeds to their own people. The vigers freed would be able to find their homes and rebuild or go to another city to start anew. The sight in front of Walker was all he could think of as his skill undid itself and he started to fall from the air.


    If he had the energy he would have been worried. He had done exactly what he needed and used his mana at the right time to get what had needed to be done, done properly. The feeling of safety also never went away. When he realized that Midnight had flown in to the air and was using her strength to clutch on to him and lower him to the ground, he smiled proudly. "You get stronger every day."


    Midnight just huffed softly at the praise. Her breaking was heavy since she rushed to get to Walker. "You left almost nothing for my soldiers to do. What will the next wave of soldiers do?" Walker was drinking a mana potion already but mustered the strength and air to speak back to king Rorick who had rushed to him as well.


    "There are viges we need to free. Ventus is sending her children to help guard them but we need to get rid of the demon soldiers there. I know that this battle is over but there is much more we need to do. Wrath had a disorganized army of madness. The other demons should be worse. If I remember the stories, there are seven deadly sins. That means¡­Sloth, Envy, Gluttony are all left." Walker looked at Rorick. His gaze could burn holes through steel with his determination.


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 Chapter 1496 1496. Unexpected Arrivals

    "Then we should wait a little longer. Knowing Scy she will be here soon. Once that happens I will personally take control of these bordernds as patrolling troops. Scy will lead troops to free one or two viges depending on locations." Rorick was not going to hesitate. He was the king but he also knew that if he rushed deeper in to enemy territory it could leave a kingdom without a ruler.


    Scy was not only a member of the Genesis council but also still a general under King Rorick. Therefore, she had the power to carry out his order and will. This was the best alternative to him actually going.


    "Pass on the message that we are going to prepare to go to the viges. The captured demon soldiers can be held here. I will trust the Genesis council to make a proper n for them." Walker knew that he should not decide what happened to the demon soldiers that actively chose to be terrible to their own race.


    There was too much anger for those that were in the battle. Seeing the vigers that had obviously been hiding from their own soldiers that should have been protecting them harmed was too much. The feelings of everyone around Walker were too easy to see.


    "But make sure you treat them properly, I want the soldiers that escort these demon soldiers to the prisons to know that these are still living beings. We are not going to be worse than those with cruel intentions." Walker was sure that this was the right move. Just because someone was cruel and dastardly did not mean that they were any less alive.


    ? "Brother, the harpies are sharing this information. But the tamers are saying that some of the demonic monsters were under the control of demon tamers." This was an interesting development. It was pretty normal to expect that the tamers would be unable to control the demonic monsters that had fallen under Wrath''s madness. But knowing that some had actually be tamed by the demons was miraculous.


    "How many are causing problems? Are they demon soldiers or innocents?" Walker would allow the demonic monsters under the control of innocents to return to them. It would make any monster unhappy and in anger if they were separated from their tamer. The bond they often shared was deeper than most people.


    What really came to Walker''s mind was how the demons were able to tame demonic monsters. It was such a rare skill that only one person Walker had met could tame demonic monsters. "We will keep an eye on the demonic monsters. But make sure that those that are not under the control of the soldiers are allowed back to their tamer." The reassurance that Walker gave about this made Onyx rush to tell more people. He felt the same way as Walker.


    "So that is why Ignus, Current, and Mordant have epted you. A very interesting skill. It even made me rethink my control over the wind." Ventusnded in her dragonkin form. Her three children circled above waiting for her to tell them what to do. They already knew that they would be tested to protect a small vige but they needed to know where and what specifically to do. This was their test to be stronger.


    "We should have a n soon. The soldiers that can move on are already grouping up to push forward. The only issue is healers. We will need more." Walker wasn''t sure what to do. He didn''t exp[ect that what everyone wouldck the most was healers.


    "Healers? That should not be a problem at all."


    Terron walked up in dragonkin form. He was certainly not a healer but was saying that it was not an issue.


    "You have interesting ways to get things done. I won''t shun youpletely since you might have the ability to act more like a dragon. Do not exp[ect me to like you though." This seemed to be the nicest thing he would get from the stubborn Terron. But it was an improvement.<sub> </sub>


    "I will take what I can get. What did you mean about healers though?" Walker was still lost but Terron appeared to enjoy knowing something that he didn''t.


    "That human king arrived just moments ago. He is alone butfor his soldiers and arge group of healers all wearing white robes." Terron was sure that Walker would understand what was going on.


    "But king August should be in Diamond with the queen¡­" Walker jumped up and ran toward the walls. He made it in time to see a gate opening and many soldiers walking through. They were in defensive formations but that was to protect the single person in the center.


    "There you are. I was trying to find others in charge but all I could find was a fewmanders and a royal dragon that ignored me when I tried to speak to him." There was dust from traveling all over the soldiers, healers, and king Walker could tell they had not stopped once.


    "I had to call on some very distant friends to help gather them, but every traveling healer, vige healer, and healer from the cathedral within Diamond has been called out toe here. They will march all the way to the demon capital if needed." August smiled. This was his only goal. He couldn''t allow the troops to leave Diamond unprotected. Too many were already at the border and he needed to ensure the safety of his people and unborn child.


    "That''s exactly what we need. I was just going to work on the healer shortage. We need to get them to viges that we are going to be freeing from the demons." The sudden showing of king August brought more life to the human soldiers that had been along the walls for a longer time. They had been away from home for a length of time.


    The human soldiers were seeing the king of their home. The man who had asked them to give their time to protect the borders to the demonnds from danger. The man that had gathered them to keep their entire kingdom safe. It brought much more strength seeing that he had also brought them the help they needed to put an end to the war they had been fighting for so long.


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 Chapter 1497 1497. No Map

    "I know I sent notice that I would note here. But with the state of this battle and what needed to be done¡­I would be a fool to remain in my castle surrounded by safety. My queen pushed me toe as well." King August tried to hide the secondary reasons. Walker had a feeling that his queen had been getting tired of the king around all the time for worry of her own sanity.


    "Then you came at the right time. I will let you meet with King Rorick for the current ns. Rest well so you can get home after meeting with all themanders. The royal dragons will be preparing to move ahead as well. When Scy gets here we will be nning the viges that we will free." Walker knew there was a lot about to happen.


    The next moves from here would be very important. The fact that they allcked definite mapping of the demonnds was not good. There were only maps from the far shores where some small human cities had grown. The one being the most focused on was the city known for major exports with ships where the main grand cathedral was.


    The fact that they had survived for so long was all about location. They existed where the cliffs ran along the ocean. It was the ideal ce to create a city because it not only stopped the demons from getting to them, but made a massive line of ports. The homes had literally been carved in to the side of a cliff.


    From there, the coast had been marked out but where the beaches returned, the demon''s control of thends returned. There were also very dangerous monsters that roamed the edges of the ocean because of the beaches and the food sources there. It was not a surprise that not many of these areas were mapped out.


    "Ventus. We need a map. A solid map of the demonnds and the best route to the cathedral. Is that something you can do?" The royal dragon had been watching Walker carefully.


    Because Ventus was unfamiliar with many here, she wanted to see how they acted around Walker. She was impressed that so many came to him even though it was clear that themand of the soldiers actually fell on others. But the respect that Walker had built made his opinion very important. His ideals and unique ways of doing things just further supported this.


    "Of course I can do something so small. Give me two scribes to carry and they will be able to get a very good look at the world." Ventus was not someone that could just draw a map. But she could bring people with her to do it. They just had to withstand a little wind.


    "It will be done." Walker looked over to see that Gil had heard what Ventus said. He already had a smirk on his face while grabbing the attention of a nearbymander.


    Many of the others were moving around to set up advanced camps ahead of the wall. The battle did not take them too far, but it was better to have a smaller camp that could help people get their preparations for the next journey.


    "Walker, this is getting a littleplicated. There are adventurersing that already have assignments from ra. She had beenmunicating with some scouts she sent. She has already decided to go after the abandoned viges to gain information."


    Thank you Su, that will make things easier. I have a feeling that some demons might flee to abandoned viges because they don''t think that the demon soldiers would look for them there. If adventurers go it keeps the main soldiers focused on the viges being guarded by demon soldiers." Walker felt that ra was ahead of the game even though she was not on the ground here. But the big reason she excelled was the special guild master interface she had with her system.<sub> </sub>


    There was less and less for Walker to worry about as more people came up to him. Ventus had taken the two scribes that Gil had found with her and Terron had begun setting up many more traps. He was going to make sure that the camps and walls were going to remain perfectly safe until the end of this war. It was a sight that proved that Terron took very high amounts of pride in whatever he did. Even though Walker did not know him well, he knew that Terron was a very good ally to have.


    "I will be moving forward. While we dropped those arrows I spotted something interesting to fight in the distance." Ignus stopped by for just a moment before leaving again.


    "What he meant to say is that he saw a pack of demonic giant wolves in the distance. He and his dragonkin will handle them because he wants the meat from them." Mordant shook his head but was smiling nheless.


    "And what do you want to do?" Walker could''ve guessed what Mordant was thinking. He seemed pretty happy where he was at the moment.


    "Well, my dragonkin warriors should have already left for the nearest vige. I n to gather some information when a higher ranking demon soldier is found. Are you opposed?" Mordant wondered if Walker was going to just stop where he was.


    "Do it. We need all the information we can get while we prepare to send smaller forces to the demon viges. Ventus should be back with a rough map in a few hours. This is recovery time." Mordant drifted in to the shadows. He had expected Walker to understand the gravity of this. Mordant needed to use his force as a dragon to get what was needed done faster than anyone else could. The shadows were his unique tool to make it all happen.


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 Chapter 1498 1498. Cheeky Elves

    "You''re telling me that you brought an entire army all the way here to meet us and you want to just turn around?" Alma looked at the frost elf as if she had just been told the most ridiculous thing in the world. The frost elf reacted much the same saying it.


    "The ice queen has specified that we are not to battle in a human war¡­The words are in this letter as well." The ice elfmander had led two hundred ice elves to well outside of Genesis to meet up with Alma and her army of joint elves.


    "Under no circumstance will my pure elves join any one sided battle where they shall be shields for humans. They are only allowed to participate in peace keeping efforts that will ensure the safety of nature and flow of water to ice through the seasons." Alma read it out loud. She looked at themander who just shrugged a little.


    "Do you interpret this to mean that you and your soldiers are not allowed to join all the other races AND the humans to defend the border? Does this sound like you are being told not to free an oppressed people from a system that causes many to suffer and die?" The pressure that Alma put the frost elf under was brutal.


    "I would say they will being. They know that the water elves have joined you already. That is their only concern. They may have different states of water, but they want to rejoin with all the water elves." An elf wearing rune patterned clothing spoke softly next to Alma. the slightly lofty attitude made Alma want to cringe.


    "Yes, I know this. I was just ensuring that we would not have anyone that might just fly away when we get there. The army will march all the way to the demon lord themselves and take them down." Alma had met up with the wind elves somehow.


    Specifically, she had found that the letters and representatives sent to their city found that they had changed greatly. There were no longer kings or queens for the wind elves. They had switched to a council of elders at some point after the passing of theirst queen. This led them to have a slightly different opinion of the other elves. But what brought them to side with Alma was that she mentioned the governing of Genesis. A council of all races. Now they were watching Alma''s every move carefully.


    "No one would dare fly away from such a cause. Freeing others is one way for everyone to free themselves of the chains we have holding us in ce." The wind elf was one of themanding elves sent by their wind elf council of elders. But they had constantly tried to undermine Alma thus far.


    For a moment, Alma thought that chaining up such an annoying elf would save her sanity. Even more, it would most likely stop them from interrupting the forces already at the battle. "If you attempt to test my patience further, I will allow for the wandering wind elves to take the role I have offered your city on Genesis council leadership. Do not believe that I will ept those that attempt to bring harm to the home I have helped build." Alma''s words were solid. Many that heard them felt a slight chill. Even the frost elves did not dare step on her toes.


    "Let me be clear to all the archers, spell des, and mages here. You areing to defend the rights of a joined people. Not just elves but monster races, demi-humans, merfolk, elemental spirits, humans, dragons, dwarves, and I am sure more in the future! You are not behind me to make the elves the best and top race in the world. That will never happen while equality is the goal between races!"


    The sudden announcement made every single elf freeze. They heard the boom of Alma''s voice and from the wind elf mages'' reactions, the elf inmand was at a loss. They had no way to keep their position with so much support for Alma''s goals.


    What pushed things over the top were the reactions from the frost elves. They had left their forever frozen homes to make sure that they were able to see a future where all elves joined again. Where they might be able to bring their high elven heritage to the forefront of their races. Many of the oldest elves remembered the stories and records of the high elves.<sub> </sub>


    The reason a high elf was so revered was not many. It was very simple, they had the ability to be in tune with nature, unlike any other elf. They became mages, powerful natural sorcerers, and spectacr healers.


    "I just wish the light elves were anywhere to be found." Alma mumbled this since she felt that they were missing too much.


    "The light elves aren''t even on this continent. They left and that''s why we have their city. They left behind a record of the light elemental mana bing weaker in this continent and left across the oceans." The wind elf smirked while saying this in response to Alma''s mumbling.


    "Then we will sport them out next. The wyvernsing from across the oceans are the next big problem to handle after the demons are freed from oppression." The sudden exmation from Alma was the first thing that truly stunned the wind elfmander. They had not expected such a goal or next step to exist.


    To say the least, Alma felt powerful. She felt that nothing in the world could stop her and the joint elven forces that had been pushing toward the borders. They may have just left the city recently, but they were on their way. They would be right behind Scy by only a half a day.


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    ? ¡­.

 Chapter 1499 1499. Reasons To Get Moving

    "We have five groups with adventurers, mixed soldiers, and healers ready to go to the different viges.'''' King August and King Rorick had put their heads tother to organize the groups. They made sure that there was a bnce of warriors both defensive and offensive. They also met with the various dragonkin in charge to add them to their forces.


    "Perfect. Ventus is almost back. I can see her in the distance. I just hope that she has some good news." Walker was a little nervous. He wasn''t sure what Ventus would have seen while surveying the demonnds ahead of them.


    ? Everyone knew that a full map of the demonnds was impossible because it would take a great deal of time. But a quick trip a couple of miles out would give them enough of a view to ensure that the soldiers would not march blindly.


    When the wind around everyone became stronger, they turned their head to watch Ventusnd. Many of them were still in awe of the many dragons on the move around their fellow soldiers. Most people had lived their entire lives not seeing a dragon.


    "The news is not as good as you might want it." Ventus was looking at Walker''s expectant gaze with a somber expression after she had released the two scribes and changed in to her dragonkin form.


    "What did you find?" Walker knew that it couldn''t be easy if this was the reaction that Ventus had. Something had to be wrong further out in the demonnds.


    "These two were able to see enough, but it''s what we saw that''s the problem. There are multiple slimes covering many viges. It seems that they arepletely ignoring the people they have oppressed and are tossing them to the wind." Ventus hated what she had seen and knew that this would mean the armies had to rush to get to viges.


    "Purple and yellow slimes, right?" Walker spoke with steel in his voice. He was clearly angry knowing that there was another slime problem.


    "There are somerger slimes and even a red slime that I did not expect to be here. Fire slimes would never be here in the wilds. They like volcanoes and incredibly hot hot springs." Ventus knew this had to be the work of a unique demon.


    "I suspect this is a demon sin title holder. We have run in to the slimes themselves and they are a slime breeder. We have the idea of what they look like but nothing else really¡­" Knowing that they were going to deal with someone that had been messing with them constantly did not make Walker happy. But there was a silver lining. "If they are using the slimes, then there should be a chance for us to capture and defeat them. This slime tamer is a pain I am ready to forget."


    "More slimes? I don''t really need any more of them, since I saved some cores to be bred for potion ingredients. Let''s get moving and get rid of them." Remey was unhappy to deal with more enemies that she could not specifically punch easily.


    "Let''s just share what we know. The dwarven and elven soldiers already know how to beat the slimes that attacked the forest and dwarf cities. But this didn''t mean that handling them would be easy. They needed the right attacks to deal with each slime. Luckily, Water worked perfectly for the fire and acid slimes. The decaying purple slimes would need the magic attacks from mages more than the attacks from melee fighters. Overall, magic was the best attack for all three slimes.


    "What is the word on reinforcements? If there are so many slimes everywhere we will need more people." Gil was the first to ask. He knew that everyone had to be wondering the same thing.<sub> </sub>


    "I can answer that."


    "Barry! You should not be up!" Su immediately scolded Barry when she heard his voice. But when she looked and saw that king Rorick was supporting him, she calmed herself a little.


    "Don''t stress over me. I have medicines for my mastery skill''s drawbacks. It''s not the first time I used it but I know it''s much worse than other things I have done to my body." Barry forced a smile while he looked at Rorick to continue.


    "Scy was held up with some issues. She is going to be bringing more supplies. But there is better news. The elves are on the way and could reach us in half a day. Apparently, there are some powerful support mages helping them. That''s all I know about that." Gil seemed to be more energetic hearing that Alma was on the way with the levels. It meant that she had pushed herself to a great result.


    "Since the elves areing we should wait. We can send out small groups to help evacuate then send in attacking forces with the mages as the cores. Then the other soldiers will work on defense." Gil was pushing his n ahead and no one saw issues with it. This was the logical n to follow since the elven mages had better chances of more easily beating the slimes. Regardless of their species.


    Yet again the word was spreading through the groups that were about to leave. The mages that had been divided up changed positions and split up yet again. Now they were the center of the groups that were leaving. Ventus knew that her children would have no issues and gave them theirmands. They each followed a specific group from there.


    "We aren''t just sitting here. I have regained enough mana to move toward this vige." Walker put a finger down on the map that the scribes had created. It was thergest vige that already had two groups heading to it. It was also a vige that had multiple slimes marked around it. If they didn''t leave now there would be some problems.


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 Chapter 1500 1500. Village Under Attack

    Walker got the party ready. Alice was already at his side. She knew that she would be able to make more difference at a vige being terrorized than here. There were so many healers that they wouldn''t need much more.


    The mages they had in other groups had been taken from the walls and it was clear that the other armies would be catching up soon. But Walker decided that the groups that could move forward, should. Reinforcement groups could be sent along the spiderweb of routes madeter.


    These routes took in to ount multiple viges. They were set up to be able to move the groups to whatever vige was being held captive by powerful demons or enemies. This would allow them to move to each other on single notice. Perfect for reinforcing and freeing vige after vige.


    It also helped that the dragons would not be staying at the walls. Ventus was still working as the eye in the skymunicating everything she could. The scribes with her slowly making more detailed maps so that they could pass on better and better information to those arriving at the walls.


    King August had started a route along the wall to visit and drop more supplies. He was not joining the battle personally but had brought more healers.


    The healers were a mix of experienced and inexperienced. Some had just started their journeys to viges as Alice had recently. Others were prominent and well known for their healing abilities. Especially those who had made homes in nearby human viges. Therefore, the healers paired up and joined groups with their unique support skills.


    What Walker had ensured was that the healers knew to use purifying skills against the decaying purple slimes, and to wash away the acid yellow slimes attacks with water. This would help keep more people unharmed by them. The fire slimes were the issue that everyone faced.


    Ignus seemed the most interested in the fact that the fire slimes were around. He was already sending his dragonkin out to handle them. Apparently, the slime cores of a fire slime had unique fire elemental mana in them. It wasn''t something that Ignus needed, but something his dragonkin could use to be stronger in some way. No one argued with them. They were the fire experts around.


    "Should we really be leaving like this?Feel like we should stay here until Alma makes it." Gil felt a little ufortable not waiting. He wanted to march with the best chances possible. He also didn''t want to miss Alma arriving with the other elves.


    "You can stay if you want. We need to make sure we get to the viges though. The demon soldiers and the slimes areing down to attack viges. I don''t know why but that''s not a good sign."


    The entire party along with every soldier knew that this was a very bad sign. The demons attacking their own viges was normal for them. They were cruel. But the slimes attacking the viges suddenly proved to be an issue. It meant that someone with higher power was going to attack the viges.


    The few things that this meant was clear. The demons no longer cared about the weak being around and were getting rid of them. There was something going on causing a fight between the demons. Or even worse, there was arge scale ritual going on that required a great number of lives to be sacrificed. Regardless of the reason, it was bad. Very bad.


    "I''m not waiting. I just wanted more mages with us. I am ready to move out. I even have some of my wither spike arrows full of Remey''s potions still to deal with the acid slimes." Gil was not backing down; he knew that the more things he defeated the better.


    "Good, then we need to catch up to Midnight." Remey walked away first. Midnight was already traveling ahead. She had taken the lead because she knew that they absolutely had to leave.


    The party was going to head toward a smaller vige that was reported not to have any demon soldiers at it currently. The problem was that it had a multitude of acid slimes nearby when Ventus gave her reports. This was why they needed someone with experience fighting the acid slimes to fend them off.


    "Drink another low mana potion." Su kept her voice a whisper. She had already caught on that the walker was still low on mana after using the elemental dragon aspect skill.


    "I will. I just wanted to get moving again." Walker looked behind him to the mix of dragonkin following. He knew that the other dragons would send them with him regardless. The ten dragonkin were their way of showing support to him as he pushed toward the demon capital.


    "The dragonkin are fine too. They will need to follow you to get back to your top condition." Su refused to walk away until Walker listened to her. She was thinking about the problems they might have and could not allow Walker to get hurt even in the smallest way.


    "Su, do you think you can handle protecting Gil and Alice from the slimes? The acid slimes might break the twin shields. I know they were reinforced but they are still made of some dragon scales. They will be damaged by the acid slimes." Walker knew how attached to the shields Su was. They were extensions of herself.<sub> </sub>


    "I don''t want to lose them. But I can handle it. I will do whatever I need to keep everyone safe." This reformation of Su''s determination was what she needed. She has to be able to let her armor and shields fall away in the worst case. Walker just wanted to make sure she saw that clearly.


    By the time they could not see any other groups in the surrounding area, Walker had recovered better and Onyx had started to scout ahead. The vige was closer than they realized but was surrounded by a few small hills covered in bushes. It made the vige nearly hidden from sight.


    "Brother, I think we should sneak up on them. The vigers are moving around a lot in panic. But I do not see slimes anywhere." The warning from Onyx was enough for everyone to slow themselves.


    "Midnight, use your shadow wrapping to get a closer look. I want the exact details of what''s happening." There was a slight huff and Midnight left.


    "Gil, have your arrows ready for long range attacks." Gil was already preparing before Walker said anything.


    "It''s not arge vige but we can''t surround it if there are hidden enemies escaping." Onyx''s analysis was the same as what Walker expected. The vige was made up of about ten homes and an eleventh main home for the leader. It was spread out between these hills to hide the houses and take more space up.


    Midnight returned with a look of hurry in her eyes. She was not going to wait too long for the party to act. "Sister says there are very small yellow slime attacking the vige. She says that they are hard to see unless you get close." That was all they needed. Walker jumped up.


    "We are going to clear the yellow slimes. Get to the well near therge house and do your best to douse them in water. It will force them to lose their acidic nature. When you can, stroke the core and avoid the puddle of acid slime body." The dragonkin needed no other encouragement. They sped forward to deal with the slimes upon their order.


    "Alice, I need you to sing that calming song again, the demons are in panic and we have to evacuate them safely without panic." Alice nodded. She would take on any role needed. Gil fell in line next to her with Su in front.


    "Walker, I have my potions. But give me a few more." One of the crates of potions that Walker had never gotten rid of were the potions Remey made specifically for acid slimes. Ever since they faced them, Walker carried potions to counter the various slimes and even a few others they haven''t personally met.


    "Good, I want to deal with those slime squick. They aren''t even worth capturing as ingredients for options." Remey was going to focus on the slimes since her potions were the best defense against them. That meant she would use her speed to handle anyrger slimes.


    The first demon woman that saw Walker showed a look of fear. She could tell that the dragonkin and party were there to fight. Believing that they would be the victims, the woman holding the hand of a child fell to her knees defeated. She had nearly escaped.


    When Walker touched her shoulder using a healing skill, her eyes popped from her head. "Just gather outside the vige and wait for us. We will handle these slimes and get you somewhere safe." The woman could only watch the party walk in to the vige in stunned silence.


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 Chapter 1501 1501. Dealing With Slimes...Again

    ''Acid slime spawn


    The slime spawn is a monster that has extremely weak bodies and cores. Most slime spawne from a giant slime when it has eaten too much and forced to split due to conditions. The slime spawn can grow in to their own slimes after a certain period of time. Until then they stick close together to swarm their prey or whatever they eat. Most would consider even the basic elemental slime spawns pests because they do not fear arge mana aura due to the even lower intelligencepared to older slimes.''


    "They aren''t fully formed slimes! Remey, share the potions with anyone that can fight and tell them how to beat the slime spawns!" Walker grabbed one of the potions he had from Remey that would help neutralize the acid slimes.


    With the elemental maniption, Walker pulled some water from the air and ground. He was forcing itto conform in to arge ball in front of him.


    "That''s not enough potion to make that entire ball of water effective. Use three more then spread it out in to a rain. If you can make a small rain skill or whatever, do it." Remey saw what Walker was nning and was about to tell him to do something simr.


    The idea wasn''t bad, but Walker had nearly wasted his time if he was just going to weaken the acid slime spawn. With Remey''s added information, Walker decided not to hesitate. There were demons fending off the acid slimes with wooden boards and a few pieces of farming equipment. Those that had the courage to protect their families needed to be saved so that they could fight for their freedoms.


    The water ball started to disperse. Walker was sure that making a rain would be harder. He had no idea how to make a cloud. But he had a good idea of how fog worked. He had seen fog drifting in the morning around the front gates that his father worked at as a child. He remembered how it just floated through the air as the morning sun warmed it up.


    The principal was not hard to initiate on the move. Walker just needed to use the light and fire elemental mana in the air. The heat around everyone started to make them sweat slightly but the water mixed with the potion started to do exactly as heated water should. It became steam.


    Because the air that Walker was circting was hotter but the other currents were cooler, the slight breeze brought the potion fog through the entire vige and even further outside of it. This sudden change in the weather made the demons fearful until they saw the slime spawn begin to melt away when they be enveloped by fog.


    "Walker, you messed up my aim but that was a good idea." Gil moved to catch up to Walker since he didn''t need to help Su and Alice due to the slime spawn being unable to move any longer.


    ''The skill blinding fog has been taken from the veil keeper system. The skill blinding fog has been learned through the user knowledge of the elemental rtionships.''


    Walker would have kept reading if Remey hadn''t called out to him and Gil. "We aren''t done you two!"


    The wound blew away the fog since the colder air was chasing the hotter air around as nature intended. This made Walker see that the demons that could fight still were looking at them with determination. Remey had called to them because she knew that these demons might think that they are enemies trying to take over their vige as well.<sub> </sub>


    "My name is Walker. I am a representative from Genesis. We came to free you from the demon soldiers that have been taking from you your entire lives. I know it is hard to believe but we hope that our actions speak for us. If you do not wish to remain here, you can cross the border in to other kingdoms and even join Genesis city. If you wish to stay here, we will have joint troops here to protect you from demon soldiers and slimes alike. If you don''t want that, then you may speak openly with me about what you want."


    When Walker booked out with these words, Alice stopped singing. She had not done much but calm the situation. Now she wanted to be able to heal those that needed it and having Su help her was perfect. "Any who need healing,e here and we will take care of you!" Su didn''t hesitate to add on to Walker''s announcement.


    "My father needs healing!" One younger man was over the whole fear thing. He wanted his father''s acid burnt leg to be healed and whatever the price he had to pay, he would pay it.


    "Don''t move him, take this and pour water over his leg while we use this potion." Su gave orders while Alice waited to see the potion used to diffuse the acid from the acid spawn slimes.


    The effect was instant. As soon as the water and potion flowed over the older man''s leg, the pain seemed to be washing away too. The damage was only skin deep making Alice morefortable to start her song. She would focus on healing the specific injury instead of everyone around. It was dangerous to heal any wounds with acids or poisons because they would still be in the body of the injured.


    The demons had never seen such a thing. Healers in the demonnds were very rare. The demons were known for their strength in magic but not strength in healing. Adding that to the fact that the demon soldiers viewed the healers that did appear in demon society as weak and without any ability to defend themselves, the demons had zero healers in any viges.


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 Chapter 1502 1502. Speaking With Actions

    This was a sight that the demons had never known. Kindness was always a way to trick the demons in to something in the demonnds. It was fair that they were looking at Walker and the others like they were going to jump up and bite them.


    "Sir, we are going to bandage your leg with a special medicine that will keep it healing even without Alice''s song. Just stay off of it for three weeks and it should be healed well enough to walk again." Su knew the basics of a skin deep injury and how long someone should rest. She had learned a lot of information while in the cathedral.


    "He''s really going to be fine!?" The older man''s son was still panicking but it was understandable. His father had been attacked and injured by a monster they had not expected to face on a peaceful day.


    "Alice is one of the best healers in Genesis. I promise you, between Alice and Su, there isn''t any better care. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he rests. If you intend to leave, the dragonkin with us will help you transport him. They are allied with Genesis."


    Walker waited for another response but the younger man seemed to fall in to a mental dilemma. He wasn''t sure if he should keep trusting those that had just helped his father or be safe and retreat for now.


    "My daughter has a cut from running!"


    "Oh, umm¡­my leg is hurt too."


    "Can you heal my arm?"


    The calls from the vigers as they became more confident echoed around them. The dragonkin started to set up spaces toy that were not covered in acid slime bodies. "Alice, you are in charge. I will get the acid slime bodies taken care of. Gil, can you and Midnight survey the surroundings and tell me what happened when the winds blew away my fog? I want to make sure it didn''t cause any trouble."


    "You got it. Midnight and I will make sure that there aren''t any more slimes approaching here. I don''t want to see another one again." Gil was tired of the slimes and Midnight growled with her agreement. The pair would be able to better handle the shouting.


    "Remey-"


    "Don''t even try and ask. I am already setting up the barrel of water I found by the well with potions. They still have the insides of their homes to do. I will take some of the uninjured demons to handle it." Walker was very d that Remey was still ahead of him on this. It was dangerous to have the demons return to hiding in their homes because it could spell their immediate defeat in the ce they should feel safest.


    Without hesitation, everyone moved in to their assigned jobs. The only one that was left free was Onyx who had begun tomunicate with a nearby harpy. There were more that had pushed deeper in to the demonnds with the groups toward the viges.


    Since this vige had been helped, Onyx was sure to request troops toe and guard it sooner thanter. They would be there in just under an hour since it was the closest vige to the walls that the soldiers had known of.<sub> </sub>


    The best part was that the harpy would return before the soldiers with news of any reinforcements approaching. It was a slight perk having wings and needing to travel the longer distance. Adding on to the fact that Walker had managed to stir up a breeze that helped the harpy fly, it would be even faster for it to get there and back.


    "Make way! Another injured demon found." Remey came as fast as she could with a young girl in her arms. "She was hiding under her bed where a few of the slime spawn found her. She needs treatment on her arms, face, and shoulder."Without even hesitating, Walker dropped what he was doing and used the water under his control to wash the acid burns.


    "I need to go back to sweeping the homes. Make this girl feel better." Remey gave Walker a hard pat on the shoulder before rushing back toward the vige house she had juste from. She had looked at the girl and seen her own siblings.


    "Hello there, My name is Walker and I am going to fix you up alright." Walker acted like he was helping his very own sister and tried to distract her. "It''s been a pretty busy day. But I know that you have plenty of energy in you now right?" The little girl was still visibly worried but had been distracted enough to wonder what Walker was talking about.


    "Because I can''t possibly eat all the food I brought with me. I have beef jerky made from horned rabbits, some peeled carrots, or wait, do you want some of my mother''s special cinnamon candy?" Walker was using his healing skills on the girl''s arms while he offered the candy to her.


    He felt a pang of regret seeing the mild acid burns on her cheek but they weren''t too bad that it would scar her for life. The girl eventually nodded slightly wondering what would happen when she ate the candy.


    The reaction to the sweet treat with the spiciness of cinnamon surprised andpletely distracted the young girl from what Walker was doing. Before she had even eaten half the candy, Walker had managed to bandage every spot the slime''s acid had touched. "Now, make me a promise. You won''t take these bandages off for three days. Then you should be all better." The little girl nodded again.


    Since she was so young, she had not learned to fear everyone. However, her trust in Walker had been more than just him helping her. Unnoticed by Walker, the older demons had seen how he acted. It was alien to them but enough for them to decide they would give him a chance, even if it was small.


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 Chapter 1503 1503. Catching Up

    "How were you dyed?" Alma had arrived at the wall just at the same time as Scy and the demi-human army. With them was a volunteer force from those that had participated in the coliseum battles.


    The very same day that all the others had left, Scy had been faced with a grand gesture. The participants had seen many leave with the armies and stop fighting to prepare. Those that remained banned together under the most experienced fighters to dere that they wished the coliseum battles to end until every race on the continent was at peace.


    It was unprecedented. Never had Scy seen such a thing and never had she imagined she would be able to take their offer and run with it. She had ensured to all of them that they had chosen the proper path as a warrior. Why waste their energy in battles to decide the strongest when they could be following their hearts to pursue freedoms for everyone?


    With that, she had gained some of the closest warrior groups she had ever seen. They were already trusting one another with such courage that it was impossible to tell that they had just teamed up. The singr desire to bring their goals to fruition was exactly the energy Genesis was founded on.


    "There was an outbreak of fire slimes further down the walls. I believe that the slime breeder under the demon''s control has done so on purpose. There were two viges burned to the ground. We managed to rescue many but were toote for some." Scy felt that she had already lost a battle before she had even arrived.


    "Despicable. I was told that acid slimes and decaying slimes were running rampant. The demon lord in charge of the soldiers seems to be pulling them back and ordering absolute chaos. We have no new information other than a few viges that have been freed. We need to press on." Alma found herself feeling the exact same way as Scy.


    ? Then you two will need to split your forces. There are multiple routes to clear out every vige. Healers from my home have already been sent. King Rorick is already helping the walls. And from what I have been told, the dwarven golems have arrived in the east and are following the routes already. Their speed was impressive but they used a great amount of mana to get here sooner." King August had rushed to where Scy and Alma were going to arrive to greet them.


    "My queen and king sent us with you to remain united. But we did not expect to see such things. There is a dragon sitting on the wall there. Dragonkin roaming the grounds. Humans working with elves. And dwarven soldiers fixing equipment for the demi-humans to use. You didn''t tell us even half of the truths we see."


    The dark elf that had greeted Alma on the mountain was speaking in the stead of the dark queen. The stone elf that came with had taken the position to speak for the stone king. "You said there was more. Merfolk? Where are they?" This was the only race missing. The grey haired siders and goblins, as well as the harpies, were just seen but them too.


    "They are circling around to the demon coastlines. They will be ambushing the demon viges on the other side along with helping any cities that may get attacked in this chaos." Alma filled the two in.


    "Then it sounds like we are wasting time here. We will remain together. Dark elves and stone elves work better together." The two seemed adamant about this because they were so used to their teams. Alma was not going to stop this from happening. She knew this would allow them to trust her if she trusted them.


    "The demon, Wrath, was dealt with By Barry and he is recovering still. The sooner you set out to handle the other demon soldiers that are around the better. And the sooner you catch up to the other groups the sooner we make it to the capital." King August had already handed Scy and Alma detailed reports. But he wanted them to read while on the move. He had to ensure that those that could go, would go and do their best.


    "Then we will start preparing. I will take soldiers with Alma to catch up to Walker''s party. They have dragonkin with them, correct?" Scy knew that with the way that Walker and his party worked, they would happen to run in to something strange.


    "I have no issues with that. I want to introduce them to Gil." Alma motioned to the two elves behind her. They had heard of the party while they rushed through thends to get here. But Alma had been very focused on understanding battle capacity over other details. It was just a situational happenstance.


    "I wish you two good luck and safe travels." King August didn''t hesitate. He still had manymanders to check in with. They needed supplies and reinforcements. Then he would be able to bring news back to Genesis before heading back to Diamond.


    "Please follow my lead." The shadow next to Scy warped a little revealing a dragonkin assassin.


    "You must work under Mordant. You and his other dragonkin are specialized in darkness elemental skills. I am impressed that you are able to get so close." Scy had sensed the dragonkin but knew that he meant no harm. There were twenty others hiding around to protect the important figures along the wall. She was able to sense them through the discement of mana and strangelyrger shadows some people had.<sub> </sub>


    "That is a greatpliment. I have met the shadows of the adventurer''s guild recently. They have very simr skills thatg behind outs slightly. They will y the same role of protection that we have. But my lord has told me to guide those in need through the fastest paths."


    "You will have a chance to meet the dark elves. They are the dark elemental focus of the elven people. I hope you can get along. They will being to Genesis to view the racesing togetherter." The dragonkin gave a polite nod to Alma when she introduced the two elves behind her.


    It only took half an hour to split the elves and demi-human soldiers. At that time the first dwarven golems arrived at their section of wall.


    "Now tell me! Where are those two other leaders of troops!?" The shout was from none other than the king of the surface. He had forced the king of the middle to return so that he could take the lead with the soldiers. He had the most expertise leading them and the king of the deep would be with the other golems already marking along the walls.


    "You are here in time. I am Alma, we have met before and That is Scy, I also believe you have met before. We are splitting and marching along the paths. Please join us. Your golem looks like the perfect defender for our group to move unimpeded." Alma didn''t hesitate to invite the king of the surface. Waiting any longer would justplicate things.


    "Now you are a very decisive person. Let''s go! I hope all elves are like you. I rarely speak to em but times are changing." This was more than the king of the surface had handled in some time. He was ready for a fight where he could use his strategies to the pique.


    "Full of fire and intellect. Good. I wanted to have some tough warriors beside me. Did you build this golem?" Scy liked the looks of the minotaur golem. It had been styled after the ancient minotaurs with tougher attack and defenses. It also had decent speed to handle just about any opponent onnd.


    "I just provided the ideas. They are my personal golems to handle my personal security. They have not seen battle since I was a few years younger. But they do have some improvements." The king of the surface didn''t have any means to hold back. He had liked Walker''s party when they came to him and now he liked everything he had seen. Not to mention the improvement in trades leaving anding to the dwarven city.


    "It is incredible. The golems that the dwarves have. We have missed too much." The dark elf was stunned while speaking with the stone elf.


    "I feel that she was right. We did hide away too long. The world has changed and we need to catch up. Peace is right in the grasp of every race. If we had fought them and right to hide more¡­.I believe we would be exiled forever." The stone elf found his eyes opened wide. He was seeing things he never thought possible.


    "Our fellow elves are ready, they have followed the orders we handed out. Future queen of the high elves, Alma, we are ready." This sudden appeal to Alma made her feel that she had finally made proper headway. She was earning the respect of those that had been lost.


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 Chapter 1504 1504. Source

    "Walker, we are ready to keep moving. The entire vige chose to move on." Su had been with the group of older demons that had made the final decision. They had chosen to abandon their ruined vige to try and find a ce where they could create better homes.


    "Good, It means we can send them back with a few dragonkin guards. They will be able to have a better life somewhere that isn''t this close to the fighting." Walker knew this was an important decision. The demons were thinking about their futures here and how they may have more demon soldiersing to cause them trouble.


    "If we have to keep sending the dragonkin back, eventually we will need to split up." Remey was not the only one that had seen this problem. Onyx, Gil, and Su were thinking about it. Alice knew that she could be stopped at any vige with worse injuries.


    "We will deal with that when we have to. For now, we need to keep moving. I have a bad feeling about the viges closer to the demon capital. It feels like the demon lord has decided that he doesn''t need the demonnds anymore. I would hate for that to be true¡­but¡­." Walker didn''t want to say any more from there. He just wanted to keep moving.


    "Brother, before we move on you should read what the harpy is delivering." Onyx had been able to speak with the harpy in the air above them. It had a letter for them that was being passed to all the other groups as well.


    "Well? What is it?" Gil wanted to see the paper as soon as it was handed over to Walker.


    "A map with multiple points made. It says caged slimes." Walker showed the map to the others.


    "You''re telling me that there are caged slimes? Why!?" Remey was more confused and annoyed. It sounded like this was getting more and moreplicated.


    "One is close to us. We can investigate. Midnight and Gil can take the lead now." Su knew where this was going and pushed Gil and Midnight to start the scouting ahead. They had to check out the closest slime to them.


    "If they are caged, and the slime spawnes from splitting slimes then couldn''t this be how the slime spawn are being made?" Walker came up with the theory easily. Gil heard it while he had begun to turn away with Midnight.


    "If that''s the case then Remey should give me a few more potions. This has to be an acid slime of some kind. Maybe Midnight and I can sneak in." The thumbs up from Gil and the approving Growl of Midnight were thest the party heard before Gil and Midnight left the vige ahead.


    "We should scout out carefully. I need you to tell me if you smell anything around us.'' Midnight was already using the shadow wrapping skill. However, Gil had been getting closer and closer with the wind elemental mana. Without him noticing, he had begun to feel the presence of others near him without having to look around or behind him.


    This was understandable because Gil was being more in tune with his affinity and the skills that came to him because of his bond with Zephyr. She may have been resting, but she was still there watching everything that Gil did. She just needed to recover the mana that she had used.<sub> </sub>


    Midnight had been able to feel these changes as well. Because Walker had been strengthening the bonds between her and Onyx with himself, she was changing as well. Midnight''s attention to all elemental mana was thergest change. She could feel it all. She could tell it was there more than before. It was even more evident when she was around Gil who had the wind elemental mana now drawn to him at all times.


    "There are a few slimes over there. But they aren''t slime spawn." Gil pointed out the trouble he saw ahead. He had some of the potions that Remey had and dropped some with water in to the wither spike arrows.


    From a decent distance, Gil let five arrows fly whichnded perfectly on target. Before their eyes, the five acid slimes lost their ability to control their bodies. When their cores were exposed, Midnight jumped in, shattering them with her ws. They had no reason to keep them. This wasn''t something they needed for materials and would not be keeping.


    Their short battle did bring them to the cusp of a small hill. A small hill thatpletelycked grasses and bushes. "This isn''t normal. There''s a clean line where everything was¡­" Gil stopped, he saw the reason why the grasses were all killed around them.


    There were too many acid slime spawn to allow anything to grow. They were moving around the grasses toward the center of whatever had spawned them. "That''s some sort of ss rune covered jar? Cage?" Gil wasn''t sure what it was, but as he watched mana gathered around the jar and it shattered. Acid slime body was thrown around everywhere.


    From the center, arger slime rose. "That''s a lord acid slime!" Gil knew it was dangerous. He had seen a lord slime before, but this was a lord acid slime. One that would be very hard to be dealt with.


    Before Gil could do anything, the slime was covered in mana again. The ss lifted itself and pulled itself back together forcing the lord acid slime to shrink down and be trapped. The slime body that had been thrown away became more slime spawn. "They somehow made a magic device that forced slime to spawn¡­" Gil was appalled by what he saw. It was a way to constantly attack a ce until the lord slime lost its entire body. A literal gue on thends.


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 Chapter 1505 1505. Break It!

    "What do you mean there is a slime spawn making magic item?!" Walker didn''t know what to say. Remey and Su were in the same situation.


    "Brother, sister and Gil saw it and both say it''s true. There really has to be such a thing." Onyx was sure that he was hearing what midnight was going on and on about. Both she and Gil had rushed back and were clearly panicked after seeing such a creation.


    "That means that the slime breeder is trying to destroy the entirend. There has to be something bigger happening. We need to react sooner. Onyx can catch up to the nearest harpy to send a message." Onyx didn''t wait for Walker''s approval of Su''s idea. He knew that the information Gil and Midnight had gathered was of the highest importance right now.


    "We need to destroy every single thing. Who cares about using my potions. We need more." Remey was already thinking about how to replicate what Walker had done. She had it on her mind since they left. Since they didn''t need to worry too much about any other monsters around them due to being together, Remey had the chance to think in depth.


    "Don''t freak out. We can manage this. We just need to destroy whatever it is. If it''s using runes to reform the ss and explode them all we need to do is disrupt them. It''s as simple as breaking the pattern." This was how every rune formation or pattern could be destroyed. Of course, they were often made so that they wouldn''t easily be broken. But with the right force, Walker was sure he could do it.


    ''That''s not the problem. We can''t get near it and when it explodes, the slime goes everywhere. It''s both a self activating explosion and protected by the slime spawn." From what Gil could tell, he would have to be the one to deal with it with arrows. The issue was that he might not be able to do it all at once. The slime spawn would be pushed around in to an acid slime rain if he caused too big of an explosion.,


    "No, I can deal with the slime spawn. If I use my explosive potions but cover them in water and the potions I have to melt the acid slime bodies¡­yes! It will work, I can make a mist like Walker and he can control it with mana. When the slime spawn melts we can get close and burn up everything. Midnight''s golden mes with Gil using wind elemental arrows. Then Alice will make light walls to trap it and make a furnace to burn the lord slime and the magic item. Who cares about breaking runes?"


    To everyone, Remey sounded like a mad scientist that had just put thest pieces of her evil n together. But in her hurry, that was exactly what it sounded like. Remey had thrown all other things from her mind to put the n together. This was exactly how she had learned to think when making potions.


    If someone distracted an alchemist it could cause terrible things. Poison outbreaks, explosions, or just a failed potion. Remey had learned to focus her mind and only think of a single thing at once. Putting that to practice with this problem proved to be fruitful. Whether it sounded strange or not, it was a perfect n.


    ? "Remey, we need to get you out of the alchemyb more and I promise I won''t make you too angry again." Walkerughed slightly at Remey''s great idea. He had been thrown off but now he had a direction to go. "Su will be in charge of protecting us from any problems thate up along the way. Let''s go."


    By the time that Midnight and Gil brought the rest of the party to the spot with the slime spawning magic item, it had exploded again. The acid slime body was taking even more space now and the slime spawn were breaking off in to groups. "It gathers like that and splits off. That must be how they got to the vige."


    "There are spots of grass and trees eaten away too. They moved at least seven or eight different ways other than this." Su was very unhappy. She hadn''t thought that this had been happening for long enough to cause such damage. "I want to personally chain this slime breeder in prison myself."<sub> </sub>


    "First things first. We handle this." Remey threw three potions wrapped around one explosive potion. Walker quickly covered them in balls of water that he manipted. The results were just as Remey had said. The explosion broke the potions and the water was turned in to mist. The falling mist caused the underdeveloped slime spawn to begin melting.


    "Alice!" Walker called to Alice who began to sing causing the light walls to form. Her song of shields had changed slightly to take on this effect of entrapment. Midnight didn''t need a signal to leap in to the air and fly near the light walls. Her breath released in a brilliant golden me.


    "And now I fire!" Gil felt the wind wrap his body and arrows as they flew. He didn''t just let one of the wither spike arrows fly but two. Both had wind elemental mana inside them which caused Midnight''s mes to grow exponentially.


    The sight they witnessed was something that people could see for some distance. A pir of spiraling golden mes. "Behind me!" Su mmed the twin shields together to cover everyone. Midnight barely retreated when a massive explosion echoed through the area.


    The ss had meted and the runes lost their mana at once. The acid slime lord was incinerated but the mana crystals dueling the runes lost all of their mana at once. Su felt the force pushing her back but she refused to budge another inch.


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 Chapter 1506 1506. Attracting Trouble

    The ringing in everyone''s ears was too much for them to hear. The amount of mana that had burst out from the magic device created to force the lord slime to split constantly was powerful. It had enhanced the sound of explosions causing even Midnight to be pushed in to a temporary deaf state.


    But this loud echoing sound was a dangerous signal. Many other beings heard it for miles. Not only the fellow troops marching but the demonic monsters and demon soldiers heard it clearly. Once the sound started to return to their world, the party was caught by the deafening silence around them.


    No mes, slimes, or even grass was left. Just a still silent space. "Walker! Collect the pieces. We need to bring them back." Remey wanted a better method to destroy these things. She didn''t want to see any more of these slime spawn making magic contraptions.


    "Agreed!" Gil was right with her. He had already started to grab some of the pieces around so that he could help bring as much evidence as possible. The more that they could provide to any researcher, the closer they would get to figuring out how such a thing was made in the first ce.


    "This feels wrong." Su stopped everyone in their tracks. She was trying to see what was going on around them but the small hills blocked her view. But she was right. The silence was abnormal. Something did seem wrong.


    "There are no birds singing¡­" Alice had picked up on the fact that nothing was singing. They made a lot of noise doing what they had done, but that wouldn''t have stopped the animalspletely.


    "Midnight, Gil, take a look around." Walker started to get more on edge. He was quick to store away what he could grab of the shattered rune carved ss.


    "Walker! we found something!"


    Midnight growled out a small roar as well. She and Gil did not hesitate to run toward him. Their expressions and nervous energy spoke for itself.


    "How bad? Just tell me." Walker held himself serious. He had to. If he started to panic then it was all over from there.


    "Demon soldiers heard our attack on the slime making thing. We need to move back or we will be a pretty decent target. There are at least twenty of them. But that''s not the worst of it, they have two giant fire slimes that are following them. They are luring them this way." There was a serious look in Gil''s eyes. He knew that the demon soldiers were already a problem, but two giant fire slimes? Way too much for them to handle as they were now.


    Midnight was bobbing her head up and down to ensure that Walker understood just how dire it was. "I don''t think we will get far," Su spoke softly. One of the demon soldiers had moved ahead and was just starting toe over the hill.


    "If we run we might be able to keep them at bay until we cross another group''s path. But if the other groups aren''t nearby¡­" Walker wanted to try and get to more groups. However, if they rushed to a vige and found a group that was injured or a vige without anyone there yet, it would spell their end with even more victims.


    "I wouldn''t say we are in trouble brother!" Onyx''s mentalmunication was something that Walker wasn''t sure that he would hear. He thought that Onyx would have needed to move much further away to make it to the nearest harpy or back to the vige to send a message.


    "We found your little brother along the way!" Alma shouted from the cusp on the nearby hill drawing the attention of the demon soldiers. They roared out in a battle cry but they were already at a disadvantage. Two dwarven golems charged over the hills towards the fire slimes while Scy ran through the air.


    "Finally caught up to you trouble makers. I thought you would go all the way to that demon capital without me!" Scy was more excited to find that the party had left her with some soldiers to battle.<sub> </sub>


    The elven mages that came in to view next were more of a surprise. Walker had not seen the stone elves or the dark elves before. The powerful magical skills they used were not attack skills, but entrapment skills. The shadows reared up and wrapped the demon soldiers as if it was flexible rope.


    The earth spikes shot through the distracted giant fire slimes causing their cores to be crushed. The golems then stomped out the heated bodies of the slimes without any issues.


    "Now this is what dragged me all the way here? How simple. I followed for a small battle like this." The king of the surface smirked while speaking. He was very interested in the difference between the party now from when hest saw them. Bit even more about the sound that had drawn them toward him.


    "I thought you would still be in the mountains!"


    "Mountains? I left there forever ago. I had toe and take care of you."


    Alma and Gil stood face to face. They didn''t need to say anything else. They were right where they should be.


    "So this is the human recognized by elves?"


    "He seems less impressive. But I will admit he has some unique mana around him. Both the stone elf and the dark elf seemed to want to ask more questions but Alma and Gil werepletely distracted.


    "I will call my soldiers here to handle our new prisoners. They weren''t even worth using force on. They cowered and fell in to the traps of our new dark elf and stone elf friends." Scy enjoyed the ease of battle but knew there was more out in the demonnds waiting for her.


    "I can say this, you all know how to make an entrance." Walker couldn''t help but shake his head at them.


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 Chapter 1507 1507. Found You

    "Wait, so you had to free multiple viges along the walls before you came here? Why didn''t someone tell you the n before them!" Walker wasn''t sure what Scy had been doing. She had more than already joined the effort.


    "Oh, my soldiers grouped with the worst hit section and started to divide. There was no bnce if I left them the way they were. You should understand this."


    "I did the same." Alma and Scy had good points but it was rough. Walker felt that it had wasted a little time. Although, the more he calmed his thinking the more he understood that he was just on edge. He had to calm himself more before he got himself in a twist.


    "I even came all the way here. For nothing but poorly made demonic armors and weapons. How can I make use of this? no dwarf would waste the time on these things." The king of the surface was unhappy with what had been confiscated from the demon prisoners being escorted away by his golems and a few of the elves.


    "Walker, these two are the direct advisors of the stone king and the dark queen. The stone elves had been in reclusion with the dark elves. Their differences have melted away over the years and they have officiallye out in to the world again. This is also, Gil an official elf, Su the draconic guardian, Remey the alchemical brawler, Onyx the abyssal serpent, Alice the voice of light, and Midnight the true dragon champion. They all have many other titles but those are what people might call them more often."


    Alma''s introduction made Alice most of all shaken. She had never heard anyone call her the voice of light. But it made sense. Her voice literally brought the light elemental mana together. It was just a lot to ept.


    "We have heard some about all of you as we journeyed. The demi-human general had expressed a great drive to see what else you be."


    "I agree. There has been a lot of hope and desires ced on your names. Those that spurred a new form of living for multiple races. We will watch carefully." both the dark and stone elf did not automatically ept the party. It was a process that seemed like it would take some proving.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you. But before we speak more, I want a quick word about why we came to this spot." Walker knew that passing on more information was detrimental to their further march. "There was a magical creation that caused the acid lord slime to be multiple slime spawn. It was broken over and over theoretically until the lord slime was no more."


    "Magical device? Show me. I will take it to my dwarven smiths. They can figure it out." The king of the surface took all the parts and sent his golems searching for more. His mindpletely focused on what he had in his hands. Walker wasn''t sure what to make of it but trusted the judgment of one of the three dwarven kings.


    "It appears you have what you need. So exin to us why only one of your representatives came to our home." The dark elf looked at Walker carefully. She was testing him.


    "There are lives at stake. You and your people may be important to the growth and return of a unified elven race, but it is not all I must think about. I have to stand up for the ideals I have built. If I throw them aside to get one race over the others...who am I? I can not live up to the true hero title I possess. I can never be the person I wish to be." Walker didn''t even need to think.


    "I see, so you are exactly the person we expected when we were told of you. And you don''t even seem to be draconic at all." The two elvesughed a little before bing confused at why Walker was taking in a long breath.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh, cover your ears." Alma and the others covered their ears. Even the king of the surface had his hands up before Walker released a loud roar calling for the attention of all around.


    "I didn''t think a noise would matter now that we have such capable warriors around. The more demon soldiers thate knocking the more we can remove from the viges." Walker''s roar had caused two dumbfound and slightly scared faces to appear on the two elves. "Also, Midnight is my little sister. We share a bond much deeper than many."


    Not to be forgotten, Fleur left the eternal orb chest te form and looked at Walker in the eyes. "And this is Fleur. She is my family as well. She is a nature spirit and one day is going to be a world spirit." The looks of shock grew even more on the two elves'' faces. Too much was true and too much was hard to believe.


    "Please stop causing my new allies to be lost. They have to remain rooted in the ways of the world." Alma giggled a little seeing that others were surprised for once.


    "I would like to say this is a good time to catch up, but the dragonkin have caught up to us again, meaning that thest vige we helped is empty. Now we can push forward more." Su was not going to wait around. They had to keep their movements quick.


    "I have no reason to hold you back. We will take therger vige ahead. There are going to be a lot of demon soldiers and amander or two there." Scy had not forgotten the list of viges on the maps. She wanted to free thergest vige nearby for the fights that woulde from it. It also took her closer to the battle for the demon capital.


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 Chapter 1508 1508. Building Relationships

    "You move on. I will start making something to deal with these slime making things." There was a silent rage in the eyes of the king of the surface. He remembered the damage that the acid slimes had done to the dwarven kingdom. He knew that many had been hurt and scarred for the rest of their lives.


    "I wish you luck then." Walker had nothing else to say. Everything that the king of the surface needed was already in his hands. He had information and the means to make a change in the battle. Whatever the demons were doing, the slimes would be dealt with soon.


    The rest of the group was silent as well. They had all seen or read reports about the acid slimes and the damage they could and did cause. The elves who had heard of the acid slimes had been grateful that they had not faced such a slime. The rot was at least able to be used in positive ways for the forest after being properly taken care of.


    As the king of the surface left, Walker decided to fall in to line with the dark and stone elf. He was a little interested in the new allies that Alma had made. Gil clearly had the same thought process since he was right next to Walker. Alma held back letting them have a chance to get to know others instead of just her.


    "It''s clear that you have seen these slimes before. Should we ask about the story?" The stone elf wanted to know what made every single one of them look so annoyed and angry about the slimes other than the obvious threat to people''s lives.


    "We first encountered the issue in the forest elf territory. There were rot slimes. Well, purple slimes are what people call them mostly. We managed to help get rid of a giant slime with a few friends we made along the way. If we hadn''t then it was going to get in to their city." Gil was pretty unhappy with that memory. He would have been crushed to see such a beautiful ce terrorized by the giant slime.


    "After that, we were able to help Alma stand up for what she believed and then became allies with the forest elves that had been reclusive and strict. A whileter we went to the dwarven underground city because we heard that they also had slime problems." Walker was picking up where Gil was leaving off. The two were perfect storytelling partners.


    "They had some acid slimes, yellow slimes. They were eating away at the valuables that the dwarves created. After helping with those issues, we helped them work through spirit forging and discovered the proper path to true spirit forging. That''s how I was able to meet Zephyr properly. She''s the grand wind spirit resting in this bow and who I have a bond with."


    "Gil doesn''t just have a bond with her. He''s her avatar. He has the title and everything." Walker felt that Gil was trying to hold back too much. But right now he had to make a good impression. Walker was getting the feeling that the dark and stone elves were harder to convince.


    <o>,m "You are an avatar of a grand elemental spirit!?" This was just the surprise that Walker wanted to see.</o>


    "He is, he is the avatar of the grand wind spirit Zephyr. She was trapped in a bow by someone using spirit forging years and years ago. Eventually, we found the bow while adventuring and Gil managed to reforge it with the help of some dwarven specialists. Just because the dwarves might not use bows, doesn''t mean that theyck knowledge on how to make bows. Some dwarves are elite warriors that make their own crossbows."


    The insight in to the dwarven society, however small it was, was more than the two elves had. They had been close to the dwarven city in rtion to other cities but had never even left to see what the dwarves might do.<sub> </sub>


    "We had a few close encounters with the dwarven miners. But with the right magic here and there we remained untouched. There were no efforts to expand our homes." The stone elf knew that they had more than walled off their city. They had ensured that many caves and tunnels were pushed far away from it.


    "I couldn''t imagine the world as this from where we live. Things are very different from the stories we were told and the things we learn. What about Genesis? Your home city? Is everyone bonded with spirits and true spirit forging?" The dark elf seemed to be more interested in everything than the stone elf. Yet, after a hard nce, Walker realized that this was because he was carefully hiding his emotions. But the curiosity in his eyes wasn''t hard to miss.


    "Gil, I''ll let you tell them. I want to scout ahead and see what this vige looks like. I need to talk to Scy too." Walker left Gil alone to speak with the dark and stone elf. It was going to be important for Gil to have a better rtionship with them since Gil was trying to recreate the high elf dagger style. It would take a lot of effort, but onceplete it would be another reason Gil could represent the elven people.


    "You wanted to speak with me?" Scy hadn''t missed that part of the conversation. She had been walking with Midnight who was showing off her scales. But now, Scy had be focused on Walker out of curiosity.


    "I wanted to see if you and I could see what this vige has going on. You have more battle experience so I can learn from your evaluation." Walker knew he still had shorings and this was a valuable chance to improve himself.


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 Chapter 1509 1509. Need To Learn

    "If you want to learn andhave a look inside my head, then keep up." Scy dashed in to the air to get ahead. She knew the vige was close and they would need to move faster to scout it out.


    With Walker following using his wind ripple skill to follow her in to the air, Scy began to think about how she would go about teaching Walker. She had never needed to teach someone such things. As a general, she had to focus on the safety of the people and the quests her king sent her on.


    Things had been changing though. Scy had some very simr duties now that she stood as a representative for the demi-human people on Genesis council. But she was bing closer to the people she represented and the other races as well. She was not purely about battle.


    The change that had already shown was her moreid back personality traits. Scy listened more and contemted how everything would influence each other. But even more than that, she found herself searching out younger and younger talents to put in the best ce for their growth. This was not something she would do before she had gotten to Genesis. Even in the coliseum, she was in charge of back in her home.


    "Stop there. We need to descend so we can high in the taller grasses." This was important. The demon soldiers would easily see the two in the sky without any cover.


    "I normally do not need to scout. I had to learn it when I was younger for certain reasons but nowadays I have troops for them. Some of them could havee with me but I chose not to have that happen." Scy had sent them where they were more needed with weaker troops. The scouts were not as required when she was around to protect anyone she was with.


    "I know the basics from Gil, but that has to do with monsters. I don''t know where to start with attacking and taking down arge vige with real guards." Walker could use some of the things he had learned from watching the guards his father worked with and under. But that was radically different. Those were human guards in a different kingdom. Not a demon run society that was incredibly strict.


    "Guards don''t matter. The patrols do. As you could see from the air, there are farther patrol routes that get worn down from constant walking. That''s a telltale sign of merchants, guards, or soldiers." This was one thing Walker partially knew. But looking at it this way to was a good way for him to know what to expect when in an unfamiliar area.


    "You can avoid them or follow them. Some scouting is better done at night. But right now, I doubt we need to worry about patrols. I can already hear a lot of noise up ahead." Scy had purposefully taken a position downwind of the vige. The soft breeze brought with it the noises of yelling and armor being reforged.


    "Every little thing you can gather is an important detail that might win you a battle. Since we know that the demons are able to beat down their own people, those forging must be forced to do so. That means their families are most likely trapped somewhere as hostages to encourage their work." Scy was in full teaching mode. Walker was amazed by how easily she could start to put together this image.


    "We should get closer and gauge what they are doing, where they may have hostages, and what the best n of attack would be." Scy let Walker take the lead creeping through the tall grasses and avoiding the patrol routes.


    As the buildings came in to view, Walker noticed the rough architecture. It was easy to guess that the buildings had all been broken before and poorly repaired in haste. Even the forges were less of buildings than they were just pen spaces withrge forge furnaces attached.<sub> </sub>


    "Look at how they are living¡­" Walker wanted to fix it all. He wanted to give the demons real homes that could protect them from the weather. That could allow them room for family.


    "Look at the soldiers. They are entertaining themselves by trying to break their own swords. The disrespect to their weapons¡­" Scy was angry with the fact that they had seen so many demon soldiers without a care for proper fighting etiquette and their own gear.


    "Scy, have you noticed we have only seen physical fighting troops. Demons are supposed to be able to fight with powerful magic skills right?" Walker saw this clearly now. He was looking at arger vige with no reasoning as to why mages were not there.


    "The battle with Wrath made everyone think that mages wouldn''t be around due to his control¡­how long will we go without realizing that the demon mages are missing." Scy was growing with frustration. The slimes being let loose in the demonnds. The viges being attacked by only physical soldiers. And now the demon mages missing. The mystery was getting more pieces but harder to see.


    "We need to get closer. I want to send that information out to every other group, but they will notice. This is a good vige to have one of Ventus''s children guard. It could be a supply base and a ce to send demons to heal." Walker saw the potential in thisrger vige. Without a doubt the dwarves would help repair it as well.


    "Then we willy t on our stomachs and crawl. A little dirt is nothing for the most important information." theck of guarding was perfect for the two to creep closer and closer on the ground. So close that Walker could hear the loud and power drunk demon soldiers speaking.


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 Chapter 1510 1510. Dont Tell

    "We get this whole vige to ourselves! Those power hungry fools in the capital finally decided to reward those with proper strength instead of those worthless magic users!"


    "You know that''s the way life should be. Tale all the magic casters and throw them away in the capital. Who needs em?!"


    The drunken conversation waspletely about one thing. Disrespecting the magic users. But this was a good thing. The demon soldiers were unintentionally telling Walker and Scy exactly what was going on.


    "Why do they even try and keep them in the first ce if they were just going to bring them back to the city and let them hide in some dusty libraries!? Waste of time!"


    "I know! We should have just fed them to the beasts in the forests like we did with that stupid tribe of moon worshippers.'''' Theughter of the two demons was disgusting Walker more and more. He hated hearing their terrible deeds.


    "Tomorrow the captain said we would get to pick out our own servants and take a house as our own. Won''t that be great!?" The thoughts the demon soldiers had about their futures were unfortunately wrong. Scy was already grinding her teeth in anger to hear that they had such ideas.


    "So the mages are in the capital¡­it can''t be good," Walker whispered softly even though the two drunken soldiers would not be able to hear him anyways with how loudly they were speaking.


    Yes, which means we will have a tough time if they are going to mount a purely magical defensive against us. But why would they set that up now with the slimes?" Scy wanted more answers and decided to y a risky card.


    "Listen here. I will bring one of them closer so that I can integrate them. Do not tell my soldiers I would do something like this. I hate that I have these skills rted to some ancientmonster." Walker had no idea what Scy meant. However, he soon understood.


    Scy had been a terrifying monster in ancient times. But for every horrendous story there was an opposite. One that depicted the monster being able to take an alluring form and attract prey to it. One that the earliest sailors had fallen victim to and warned many of. One story that many had written off as different monsters over time.


    A strange sight appeared to Walker. Scy had let the baggy robes that covered her drop away to reveal closer fitting battle clothing. Armors that were made of tough metals that had been specifically woven through unique skills to make them bend with her body. For anyone with the speed and flexibility like Scy, this was an ideal form of armor that allowed her to move unburdened.


    What was really eye catching though was the aura of attraction that took the entire area around Scy. It was as if she had be a star in a dark sky demanding attention. Both of the drunken demon soldiers didn''t see an enemy approaching when Scy stood up but instead, they saw an eye catching battle maiden looking for them. Looking for someone that could im her as their own.


    "You two seem to be having a party. Why not invite me? But I will only give one of you all my attention." The simple words made rk turn red. He wasn''t sure why because he held no attraction to Scy, yet his blood started to heat.


    The ancient blood in Scy gave her the unique skills that the ancient Scy had. Monster''s lovely bait was the name of a skill that many would never hear or read of in their lifetime. A skill that allowed Scy to use the form she had to best attract her prey in every single way she desired to use it.


    "You have a real man right here honey!"


    "Ha! What loser would you bepared to me? I will win this one as my fourth wife." The two demon soldiers fell in to a sloppy fight leaving one passed out on the ground. The victor swayed on his feet.


    "So tell me. What are you doing here? Shouldn''t someone as strong as you be in the capital too?" Scy''s words were like honey attracting bees.


    "I''m strong enough to take this vige. The demon lord called all the weak mages to the capital to hide them away as book keepers on that library ce he found under the ground!" The soldier was loud but gushed over how he was better.


    "Ohhh, worthless books. It''s probably better if you''re here. I just wonder, what will happen if the weak humans go to the demon capital? Won''t they be sted by magic?" The tactic was too good. The demon soldier was putty in Scy''s hands. Alcohol and Scy''s skills were a perfectbination.


    "Never! They can''t even use magic since Gluttony is there. He has been eating up their magic as food. It''s hysterical to watch spells disappear. I saw it once when I was beating down another vige. Gluttony came and ate all of their mana in a second when the vige tried to rebel against us. I''ll have a title one day and be the same."<sub> </sub>


    "I''m sure you will. What about those slimes? They almost stopped me froming here to see you. How boorish." Scy was watching and waiting for this answer. She needed a little more information before her skill was used up and her stomach was too full of bile after speaking with this soldier.


    "The slimes are to wipe out the wilds. Who needs them? The thrones we will build will be better. Wipe it all out to nothing then rebuild it as our own. The demon lord finally realized he was weak and gave us thend we dese-" Scy lost patience and mmed the demon soldier''s head in to the ground.


    She carefully picked up her robes and covered her armors. "You saw none of that and you know nothing of my real battle armor." This was not an ask of Walker but an order. Even if Walker was stronger than Scy, he would have felt the spine chilling fear she sent toward him.


    "I was able to overhear a lot of drink rambling that you and I will both share with our allies. Nothing else happened." Walker agreed readily. However, he did wonder just how tough and heavy the braided armor that Scy wore was.


    The quality was clearly higher than just about any that Walker had ever seen. She also went to great lengths to hide it so that her enemies would think they had a chance at hurting her. Even scarier, the leviathans had remained hidden in the robes at their smallest possible size. They could ambush the demon soldiers in that way without any issue.


    "We should head back before those two drunks wake up. We are taking this vige before morning." Walker and Scy moved away much faster than they had entered the vige. It was clear that all viges andnds would be in trouble.


    "I don''t know what the exact n is with this demon lord. They pulled the magic rted soldiers to the capital to do something and have abandoned theirnds. I have a feeling that they aren''t going to be doing anything good." Walker was trying to put the puzzle pieces together. He had some theories but nothing solid.


    "It sounds like he might actually be trying to tear the entire continent down then start over with what he wants. It''s evil and terrible. Or he is trying to do somerge scale magic ritual. Ruins might have such a thing." Scy had seen what the party had discovered in ruins. The mage tower was the crystal clear example of ruins that could change the world.


    "That''s also what I am afraid of. If they have ruins that means they could have more knowledge on the origin runes we have been studying in Genesis. All they would need to do is figure something small out and we would have more trouble." This was more likely since the mages that the demon lord had in his army would act as researchers.


    "And this library, if it is rted to the ruins they found we are going to have to take it in to our own care. If he does anything, we will need solutions to fix it." Scy knew that knowledge was power. It was the exact reason that she and Walker had gone to scout ahead.


    "''Let''s stop here. I can see the group." Scy stopped with Walker as the night had set in and the moon risen. The group found them standing with serious expressions.


    "I really don''t like the way that you are both unhappy." Remey knew that this meant a fight. It also meant trouble.


    "We have a lot to talk about. But first, we should get more organized, we have to take that vige before the soldiers start dividing up the people as servants." Walker was as clear as he could be about why they needed to be quick.


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 Chapter 1511 1511. No More Theories

    "Another weird thing? Is this demon lord trying to make thighs as confusing as possible just to hide what he''s actually doing?" Gil was a little more frustrated than before now that he knew that the demon lord had basically separated the mage soldiers from the basic physical soldiers. As far as he could tell, it was removing half the military power he had.


    "We have some theories but it''s not that easy to guess. Found something in the ruins? Has a magic attack nned? Is trying to rebuild thesendspletely? Is trying to leave thisnd with ruins magic? Found some hidden library and has gathered magic power?"


    "So there''s still too much to really understand what he is doing. However, you do know that this Gluttony is in the capital and has the ability to consume the mana of other beings. They sound like Greed." Su could not help but rte the skills that Greed had used to the skills that Gluttony was using.


    "That is an enemy we do not fully know. Any information about the Gluttony title is good. I do not rmend believing that it is the same. Greed was owning all things. Gluttony should be consuming all things." Scy was very clear with what she knew about the title and how tough an opponent the Gluttony title holder may be.


    "I agree with Scy, if we make assumptions we will lose before we are there. Take the vige first then we will worry about other things." Alma wanted to rush to the vige after being told that the demon soldiers were nning on dividing it up as their own personal yground. "I hope we can deal with more slime making things too¡­"


    The dark and stone elves were very clear about how dangerous the slimes were. They were able to cause massive damage to the environment on top of the fact that they damaged people just as much, if not more. Their time in the caves had not made them forget about the closeness to nature. It had actually made them closer to their affinities because they lived within it at all timespared to the forest elves who were born within multiple elemental manas at all times.


    "Here is how we will handle the vige. No more theories, we have to face the reality." Alma spoke up before the next round of idease out. Scy appreciated this because she was feeling the very same about that.


    "Well, I was going to make my own ns, but I will listen to yours." Scy had a sly smile. It was even better that she would be able to improve Alma''s n after hearing it. A y for battle always went better when more generals came together to build it.


    "I have my mages here, a few that can make walls. We can encircle the entire vige while the dragonkin enter, and one of Ventus''s childrene from the sky. We clear out the soldiers capturing who we can. We also find their captain who sounds like he is going to do the worst of the deeds in that vige. Simple and efficient. Ranged fighters take the side of the walls we make temporarily and closebat enters the vige to handle tie soldiers."


    "That is simple. Simple is better. We are not a force that has been training together for years, we need simple to better execute things." Scy saw no issues but decided to add a few things here and there. " Just ensure that we also have an evacuation route for the demons inside who need to run from battle. I also want those with closebat magic at our call. We may have some hostages in danger."


    "Remey, that means you, Onyx, and Midnight should be ready to attack if you hear someone shout. You three have the best chance of separating a soldier from an innocent demon the fastest. The dragonkin are better at defeating their opponents while the elves will be better at longer range attacks." Walker looked around and caught a few shadows with his gaze.


    "I know you are Mordant''s dragonkin. You have much more exposed darkness elemental mana. Fleur and I had noticed it for a while now. We have been on high alert for changes in mana." Walker had been on edge but it had been sharpening his sense for mana. "You should also be ready to sneak up and clear buildings. There may be people hiding that need someone to escort them out of danger."<sub> </sub>


    "Yes lord." five whispers barely audible came from the shadows around. No one had realized that Walker had been sensing them the entire time. They wondered just how much Walker had been improving during this sleepless journey toward the demon capital city.


    "Sister says she doesn''t want to risk Ventus''s children being hurt," Onyx spoke up for Midnight. Walker had been able to feel her unease as well.


    "They won''t be. I will be taking the time to watch the skies to protect them. Walker and Scy said they spotted physical fighters and no long ranged attacks. But if we do find them, between Su and I¡­nothing will touch them." Gil had a feeling that he would be the best to defend from such attacks.


    The wind was his close ally now. He could use it as he wished for some protection that an archer normally wouldn''t be able to do. If an arrow was fired at him, he had confidence that he could use the pull of his bow with wind elemental mana to deflect it. There was just a lingering feeling that he did not need to worry about such things.


    p "The stone elf mages can help me make a walled defense too. Walker was able to help and so should they since they have the ability to make earth walls." Su and the earth spirit looked at the stone elf who was fairly surprised by this.</anda>


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 Chapter 1512 1512. Take The Village

    Every single one of them had to crawl on the ground. The dragonkin had been the most unwilling since they felt it was an insult to their pride to do so. However, they could not disregard an order from Walker.


    The harder part would be keeping Ventus''s child unnoticed. Luckily, as the sun had just started to rise again, the sky was revealed to have a thick cloud coverage. With somemunication between Onyx and Walker, the dragon was well above the clouds waiting to dive down and roar to assert dominance over the vige.


    The ensuing chaos when a dragon came down would be the chance to attack. The dragonkin would charge in and the walls would go up. "Gil, stay safe." Alma gave this single order to Gl before they separated. Alma was going to use her blue ivy to make a wall of defenses. It was also the spot that would deter the soldiers the most because the ivy would look poisonous and intimidatingpared to a in earth wall.


    "Onyx, have Ventus''s child roar." Walker''s order was loud enough for the rest of the party near him to hear. As soon as the roar echoed out, they were going to charge.


    In a sudden burst of win that opened up the cloud for a moment, the green dragon appeared above the vige. It was still much smaller than a full grown dragon like Ventus, but the pressure from their innate wind elemental affinity caused everything to be chaotic.


    With a single roar, the winds swirled in to a gust blowing around the dust. Walker jumped up and added his own dragon''s intimidation roar to the mess of battle cries. Midnight was also right there roaring in stunning fashion before they pushed inside the vige.


    Just like earlier in the night, the soldiers were mostly drunk from their celebrations. They had been given an entire vige as their yground. Some were so far gone that they didn''t even wake up from their stupor. However, those that did were immediately angry and confused.


    This was even more dramatic when the stone elf earth walls began to rumble from the ground. Initially, Su had spoken with the stone elves about having them allow the earth spirit to manipte their mana. It sounded strange but it was an honor since elves had incredible respect for the elemental spirits.


    Yet, when they felt the intense draw of earth elemental mana because of the earth spirit using its skills to bring it closer. The mana was the same as calling on its own body and spirit. The earth elemental mana rushed and boosted the skills that the stone elves used to raise walls taller than they intended. This just caused more drama inside therge vige which was not walled off from every side.


    The only spaces with room to run at were closely monitored by the dragonkin. They were only going to allow the innocent demons out as they were guided by their fellow warriors. No demon soldier would leave unless they were bound in rope so that they could be put on trial for the crimes that theymitted.


    "Get out of my vige!" One of the demon soldiers that had recovered some of their ability charged at Walker and Su who had just walked near one of the outer homes. This was a massive mistake for the soldier because Su was already prepared after the walls had gone up.


    The demon soldier''s sword mmed in to the earth dwelling shield with a solid thunk. Su didn''t move a single inch as she used her strength to m the shield back in to the soldier. Without any hesitation, Walker used the earth elemental mana around him to bring the ground up and around the demon soldier.


    The result was a demon soldier trapped in the earth without any ability to move. A simple attack against an opponent that had made a foolish mistake. "Walker, let''s head toward the center. That should be where the demon captain is!" Su had adrenaline coursing through her veins now. She would not let up until they were solving the problem fully.<sub> </sub>


    "I''m beside you!" Remey dashed next to Walker to kick another iing demon soldier. She had seen him push out of a nearby door and had no hesitation to deal with him. Midnight used her wings to jump over Walker andnd on the unstable demon soldier. Between Remey, Midnight, then Walker using the earth, the demon soldier was trapped as well.


    "No no no, no throwing rocks at our dragon friends." Gil fired a wind elemental arrow causing the few rocks that the demon soldiers had picked up in their drunken anger to throw. The next three arrows hit their marks taking the demon soldiers from the balcony they were on to the ground. Their rock throwing attempts failing and their consciousness fading.


    "Come and y!" Walker and the rest of the party found that Scy was already attracting a lot of attention. She had moved in to a small square where many of the demons had passed out the night before. The simple result of her efforts came in the many demon soldiers defeated around her.


    "Walker, get over here and free those people behind the table." Scy saw the partye behind her and gave them a task immediately. They were the ones that could free the seven demons that were clearly being held as hostages to be chosen as servants.


    "Alice, start healing them. I will cut their ropes. Su, can you escort them out?" Walker already saw Su switching to the twin shields so that she could better defend them. He didn''t even wait to hear a response, it was already clear.


    The seven demons were all terrified until they felt the warmth from Alice''s healing. Their eyes showed disbelief as Su took a spot in front of them. This was something that they had never experienced, something that they could say was akin to a heaven blessed miracle.


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 Chapter 1513 1513. Demon Captain

    "Attack!" The roar of demon soldiers rushing from the nearby building we met by a roar from the three dragonkin warriors that were on the same street. Walker saw this and jumped in to the battle as well. He was using the multi buff skill to help those around him and also making sure that he had everyone healed.


    The demon soldiers had managed to get themselves a little more organized since those that had been asleep were now awake. Many of them had already forced their way in to homes to take over as their own.


    "Onyx, show them what your tail can do!" Onyx had used the smaller size he had to sneak behind the demon soldiers. In the matter of an instant, the shadows released his full form. The tail smash cracked the stone street as the demon soldiers were sent flying toward the dragonkin warriors. It was the perfectbination attacks between Onyx and the dragonkin.


    There was a lot of movement around him the more that the demon soldered woke up from their drunken slumber. Many just attacked right away while a few seemed to have the brains to gather their fellow soldiers. Those demons were the ones that slowed the path to thergest building in the demon vige.


    However, those were also the ones that were falling from windows as Mordant''s dragonkin assassins moved through the homes. Su had been escorting small groups of demons from building to building which also slowed the party''s progress. But that wasn''t an issue, they were being freed.


    "Hey Walker! Coming your way!" Remey punched a demon soldier while his partner charged at Walker. The heads up from Remey made Walker pull one of the two handed hammers from his storage and m it down.


    The resounding nk and crack of metal armor was quietpared to everything else that was going on. Waker wanted to feel bad for every hit. Every attack that hurt or defeated a demon soldier. Unfortunately, this was not how he was feeling. The further in to the vige they went, the more terrible things they found.


    The fear on the innocent demon''s faces. The homes with doors pulled from their hinges. The attempted businesses burned to the ground. There was much more wrong that the party saw, but it would take them their entire day to report just half.


    "Good attack." Remey came up next to Walker. She had just started using her fire affinity knuckles and sparked the alchemy fire that drifted around her. The alchemy fire spirit was an entirely different being right now. The anger it had for what it was witnessing in the vige proved that not just a intelligent races could care for the well being of others.


    "Remey, are you up for a push down that street to the main square of this vige?" Walker saw that Remey was more than warmed up. The alchemy fire was the staple skill she had been improving. If they went to push through now then it would be much faster. Walker also saw that Su had returned from thest run back to the entrance made in the earth walls.


    "That shouldn''t even be a question." Remey looked down the street at the gathering demon soldiers. She had noticed them a moment ago but now that Walker was directing the focus, she was d to help take them down.


    "Midnight, start a little fire from the sky. I will help you keep it from the buildings." Walker wanted to cause the fifteen organized demon soldiers and whoever wasmanding them to break apart. Fire could do that.


    With a harsh growl, Midnight was jumping in to the air. She had been flying better and better when it came to takeoffs as her muscles trained for it. Now she burst up from the ground also pushing off of buildings to get just above the roofs.


    A single deep breath and red fire was released moving down from the roofs toward the heads of the demon soldiers. Walker used his skills to manipte the fire elemental mana that was released. This caused it to rain down specifically on to the demon soldiers whilepletely avoiding the buildings.


    There were screams from the demons but they were nothing that the party allowed to deter them. These were beings that had terrorize their own people. Monsters that were not afraid to breed more evil. "Let''s go!"


    The call from Remey revealed the deep scarlet mes that she was allowing to grow. The alchemy fire spirit and Remey were perfectly in sync while she stuck out toward the demon soldiers. The mes wrapped in wisps before strengthening.


    The fore affinity knuckles were coated in alchemy fire causing them to appear to haverger spikes. The same happened with the gloves that went all the way up Remey''s arms to attach to her shoulder armor. They were made this way to protect her but had be the base for her skills.


    It was an intimidating sight to see the alchemy fire bing partial armor around Remey. She could be called a monster herself in the eyes of the demon soldiers who were currently being burned and beaten down. Their pain causing them to try and flee.


    "So that''s what she was hiding. She had the ability to make those mes her armor. I wish we could have seen it in the coliseum¡­" Scy sounded bloodthirsty while speaking but she hadplete control of herself. The adrenaline just made her sound rougher before charging in to the fight beside Remey.<sub> </sub>


    It was a matter of minutes before Midnight, Scy, and Remey hadpletely beaten the soldiers blocking the way. Remey had left many with alchemy fire burns in the shape of her affinity fire knuckles.


    "I didn''t want to show that skill to you all that way, but that was an advanced skill of alchemy fire wrapping. It''s called alchemy armor. A skill only battle alchemists can use. Apparently there are battle alchemists." Remey was still breathing hard while Alice rushed up to heal her as well.


    There were only small burns on Remey from the fire. She had learned to control them much better than before. Now the alchemy fire had almost no chance of harming herpared to the first time she used the mes to wrap her arms.


    "Good job, we need to get their captain out here and beat them. That will be the best way to end this all. The demon''s morale will crumble." Walker was dedicated to getting the demon captain out of that building. Unknowingly, the demon captain had just seen his soldiers get thrashed. He was also dedicated to crushing his new enemy.


    "You dare to touch what is mine! I own this. This is the vige I have imed as my personal belonging!" The scream of rage from the square the group was moving to was clear. It was someone stronger. Someone that was waiting to tear them apart for invading what they thought was theirs.


    When the square around therge building was clear to see, Walker saw arger demon carrying a spiked mace. Brutal was the clear tactic in battle for him. "So you''re that worthless captain here!" Su used the taunting skills she had to bring the demon closer. She was not going to take an attack from therge spiked mace, but her tactic was distraction.


    "Humans!? That''s what came to touch what is mine!? How pathetic. We left your little city standing and this is what we have to deal with? Pathetic, that Pride was never a real general. He should have learned from Wrath and Greed about how to truly handle a battle."


    Hearing that the captain idolized Wrath and Greed made them all know where his strengths were. They knew that they would have to handle this idiot differentlypared to the other battles.


    "You will never own the people that live here." Walker reached out and used some of the residual fire to burn up a small set of barrels along the side of the building. It was a small act in the grand scheme but since the captain seemed to value everything as his own¡­


    "You dare touch what is mine!" The rage from the captain built and he finally sprinted toward the party.


    "No no no, that''s not a good idea!" Scy had used the taunting as time to get behind the demon captain. Her single punch out sent him tumbling forward. Right in to the clenched fists of Walker and Remey attacking together.


    The thirdbination was Suing with a powerful shield bash. They could not let up against a more powerful opponent. That was why Midnight had already fallen from a roof with her ws ready to rend when shended on her target.


    The demon captain seemed to feel thising as he rolled to the side. There was rage building in his eyes. "I will not let you take what is mine!" The guttural roar from the demon captain caused everyone to stop for a moment. They saw that there was a strange build up in mana around him.


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 Chapter 1514 1514. Unknown Power

    "Midnight!" Walker could only shout at Midnight when she jumped off the back of the demon captain. She was about to jump forward to attack again. Unfortunately, she was mmed back by the spiked mace of the demon captain.


    "Walker, you stay." Alice rushed to Midnight. She would heal her while Walker stayed to keep fighting. The party would have to do without her singing to buff them further.


    "You worthless piles of garbage try to take what''s mine. Lord Envy said this would happen. He told me that my vige would be attacked by the weak after the king executed his ns. I will show you exactly what true power is!"


    The demon captain was getting beaten by those he deemed weaker than himself. It was strange for everyone to see just a maddening looke over someone so quickly. The demon captain hadpletely fallen in to the belief that overall physical strength made him the most powerful. Wrath had the same ideology to the point that it had driven him to lose his mind to the rage that came with only being physically strong.


    But where the captain was different was in his greed. He wanted to own the things that came with power as the sin title holders did. Therefore, when Envy had handed him something to make him stronger, he had put every ounce of trust in it.


    The vial that the captain took out from his pocket wasrger than the average potion vial. It was simr to the kinds that Walker had seen before. "Those are just like the vials we trapped slime cores in¡­"


    This prompted Walker to use his all around appraisal. He saw something that he knew would cause a lot more damage. Something that certainly would not be making anyone more powerful.


    ''Volcanic slime core


    The volcanic slime is simr to a fire slime or a magma slime. The only difference is the incredible amount of condensed fire elemental mana that makes up its core. They will do so to protect themselves from predators and tobat the explosiveness of the volcanoes they live in. Unfortunately, they have a very nervous nature whenpared with other slimes that could be called calm inparison.


    When the volcanic slime finds itself in a strange environment that is not a volcano, it will releaserge amounts of fire elemental mana causingrge ming explosions. This is why they are considered one of the most vtile slime species. Their core will sometimes break due to these situations. If not, multiple explosions can ur.''


    "With this, I will erase all of you. No one will try to take my vige from me!" The demon captain opened the vial and swallowed the volcanic slime core. There was a look of triumph while he waited for something to happen.


    "Su, use the earth fortress! Now!" Walker''s voice came out in a loud scream of demanding energy. He was not just asking. He was ordering it. Su had never heard Walker take such a powerful tone filled with emotion. It was one that she knew could only mean extreme danger.


    "The earth shield and earth spirit were in her hands in less than a second. "Scy, get them out of here!" Walker''s yell to Scy immediately after made her know that this was not just some move to make sure that they were away from a dangerous demon. It had to have more behind it.<sub> </sub>


    Walker mmed both hands on the ground which had started to form in to an earth fortress in front of Su. With his grand elemental mani[ption, it changed shape andpletely wrapped around the demon captain whose face had be pained. He was feeling the strange changes urring as the volcanic slime core became active again.


    The steam that escaped the demon captain''s lips proved that extreme heat and pressure were being released by the volcanic slime core. "Su, it will explode. We need to stop it." Walker had rushed with all his might to get right next to Su. The two were still pouring their mana and stored mana in to the skills.


    "It''s fire, right? mes or an explosion? That was a slime core in there. I can help, I know I can. Just let my alchemy fire spirit block what we can." Remey hadn''t let Scy pull her away with Pnyx, Alice, and Midnight. Instead, she had pushed herself to get right next to Walker and Su.


    "Just leave and get to safe-" Walker''s voice was cut off as Remey channeled all of her mana in to the alchemy fire that surrounded her arms. The alchemy fire spirit started to pull at the fire elemental mana around them.


    "It''s not just alchemy fire I figured out." there was a rumble as the pressure from the volcanic slime core had begun to fully release the mana it had stored. It had awakened to find itself in a dangerous atmosphere. One that was not at all the volcano it originated from. One that made it feel on edge and panicked.


    Stop this attack!" Walker gave up and focused on the attack that woulde from the fire elemental mana escaping the slime core. Su did the same and so did Remey.


    While this happened, Fleur left the eternal orb. She knew that she could help. She knew that she could do more. It was the interruption of natural mana that had forced her to show herself now. Instead of directly helping Walker to pull at mana, her ability to feel the mana at a deeper level had shown her a path to make this all go away. To fix it and save those she was fond of. To save the person who she was bonded with and would rise to be a world spirit with.


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    ¡­.


    p </anda>

 Chapter 1515 1515. Accepting Natures Guidance

    Mana was something that literally made up an elemental spirit. However, they were more than that. At some point, they used the elemental mana that made them create something more. Something that powered every living being above even natural mana.


    This became the voice they gained. The voice they learned to use with the elemental mana. The voice that allowed them to speak with other elemental spirits and be stronger. Finding such a voice was rare but many of the older high elemental spirits had it.


    The next step would be for a high elemental spirit to be a grand elemental spirit. Something that could require a lot of time and elemental mana of a specific kind. Or, it could require something more. Something that improved this thing that made them intelligent.


    They would need a stronger soul.


    Fleur was not sure how she knew what she knew. She knew that she hade to be after multiple elemental spirits had agreed toe together in bnce to be partners with Walker. She had an innate connection with him after this. She was without memories but full of pride for who she was and the choices that she had made before she was who she was.


    These feelings had made her take the time to understand Walker and the reasons he desired to be stronger. The things she saw were what she felt nature was. There was ack of speech that she chose. It was better to remain silent and enjoy the nature she felt was part of her. The mana that made the entire world turn.


    This natural mana had more to it than she knew though. It was connected to a greaterwork of living bearings. She was not the forest, nor was she thest nature spirit to exist. She was just one of many in the great history of existence. The small whispers that connected natural mana to different things flowed through her. The more she understood about natural mana the more she would be able to change and influence the world. That was the essence of a world spirit; what she strived to be.


    "Earth and fire. Rise to be blessed by the world." the words that Fleur spoke were something that she was not fully able toprehend either. She felt that a greater source of natural mana hade to her. Hade because of the interruption in natural mana being caused.


    All of those present knew that the massive amount of fire elemental mana from a volcano did not belong in the demonnds. There werevands. They existed and the fire mana would spill in to other ces in nature. That was how it should be. But not condensed mana from an extreme part of another environment.


    This imbnce allowed for the natural mana to surge and fix such a bnce. " The position of grand fire spirit will be renewed. Show your might; Azar. Rise and show your solidarity as the next grand earth spirit; Alvaro."


    The words that Fleur spoke were not simple. It was more than her making these names. It was something so powerful that the natural mana itself reacted to them. It was the work of nature itself flowing through Fleur before she reached out her hands to bring the earth spirit and alchemy fire spirit''s manas towards her.


    In a single connection, Su felt that she was one with the very ground she was manipting. The earth dwelling shield crumbled in to dust as her spirit mark changed. The ground moved up to wrap herpletely as the spirit mark patterns of earth melded with her body and the earth walls becameyers of protection surrounding the demon captain.


    Remey was wrapped in a brilliant crimson me cocoon. She was feeling the burning of a new spirit mark taking shape all over her body. The fire elemental spirit feeling the mana coursing through the new connection. The fire elemental mana being held back from exploding in violence from the volcanic slime core.


    Walker could feel all of this around him. His connection with Fleur brought many visions to his mind. He saw the previous grand fire spirit leaving to ascend to the fire elemental ne. He saw a vision of an earth spirit melting in to the earth through a strange patch of soil. This was the ascension of the earth spirit that hade to Genesis. These visions were brought to him through Fleur''s spirit marks.<sub> </sub>


    "I refuse to let you blow this ce up!" Rmeey roared in pain as the mes burst away from her. She was coated in alchemy fire as if it was her armor. The tendrils that rolled off seemed sharp and hot at the same time.


    Su stomped and the dirt fell from her. She wore armors of solid stone. But there was a difference. The scale patterns mixed with the earth spirit mark patterns. "You will never get past my shield!"


    The two caused a profound mixing of mana, both earth and fire. It fused with natural mana and in an instant, the explosion that shattered the earth was forced upwards. The earth walls constantly replenished as the explosion released more mana. The mes jetted toward the sky with Remey''s control.


    ''The world recognizes the new avatar of fire and the new avatar of earth. The grand elemental spirits have been named. The grand fire elemental spirit; Azar. The grand earth elemental spirit; Alvaro. Rejoice in the bnce of nature.''


    The world spoke through everyone''s systems. To everyone''s very being. It was a pleasing motherly voice that made everyone feel that they had witnessed something closer to nature than they could evenprehend.


    When the meted walls of stone were revealed and the smoking remains of what had once been a demon captain, there was no one to witness it. Remey and Su had fallen unconscious with the spirits retreating to the spirit marks. Walker was following suit with Fleur resting on his chest. Nearly devious of mana.


    But there was onest whisper from the natural mana moving toward Fleur. '' you shall rise to be the one that bnces this world.''


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1516 1516. Three Grand Spirits

    "Get up already. We have more to do." The gruff voice of Scy woke Walker, Su, and Remey up. They were not very responsive until they felt the song of Alice affecting them.


    "What the! Wait- I." Walker was sure he saw a lot happen. He had strange dreams of elemental spirits and nature. But what was ingrained in his mind the most was Fluer''s voice. The voice that used natural mana to speak to nature as an equal.


    "Fleur¡­you''re going to be the best world spirit ever." Walker couldn''t help but whisper this to himself. He could tell that Fleur was exhausted. She had been used by and used the natural mana herself. Walker could easily read the system notifications to understand what had happened.


    "Walker¡­My partner, his name is Alvaro." Su had seen the same images in her kind as Walker in rtion to a faraway earth spirit under Genesis melting in to the earth to ascend to the earth elemental ne. She could feel the slightly sore new spirit marks all over her body. She could feel her affinity with earth elemental mana stronger than ever.


    "I knew my partner would be the best. Azar and I will take the world by storm. A fire storm!" Remey was pretending to have more energy than she actually did. She still had some contact with the alchemy fire spirit which was now the grand fire spirit.


    There was a feeling of closeness she finally had with fire. This feeling had been growing the more she and the alchemy fire spirit had worked. The more familiar she got with the mes the better her skills had gotten. Now she knew that she was right where she should be. It was the same as bing whole. Not just for her but for her newly named partner; Azar.


    "You two¡­ this is amazing. Fleur finally used the natural mana to bond with the world. She was able to answer the world and make two grand elemental spirits with the mana that the world sent her. I think, I understand more about how the world works." Walker could tell that he had touched upon something with Fleur that not many people could understand.


    "So you too will just ignore me and the elves that felt the mana you released? You can''t even bother to look up at everyone? You have been unconscious for three hours. Not only did we need to defend you the entire time, but you did not help any longer with the taking of this vige." Scy was a little annoyed but mostly because she had no answers yet.


    "A lot happened." Walker finally looked around him to see Midnight, Gil, Alice, Alma, and Onyx with Scy looking down at them. He had to take a minute to exin it.


    "Do you remember the grand earth spirit that came to Genesis when it felt the mana there? It passed on to the earth elemental ne. The fire spirit that also passed on earlier than the earth spirit too. They both gave up their names. Fleur contacted the natural mana and somehow other world or nature spirits. She gave Remey and Su''s partners names. She was the conduit that bnced the mana again. It was spectacr. It felt¡­"


    "You mean there is a grand earth elemental spirit here!" The stone elf lost his cool the moment that he heard this. He and the dark elf were curious as well. They could feel the changes in mana along with the dense mana around them in the vige they had just helped take.


    Looking further past them, Walker realized that many of the stone elves that hade from behind them had gathered there. They all felt the intensity of the earth elemental mana. "Yes, my partner Alvaro is trying to rest though. Just give him time. He needs to understand himself first." Su stopped anyone from pushing. She knew her partner needed rest to adjust. They had just done a lot all at once.


    "Remey, you too?" Alma looked at Remey with a surprised expression. This wasn''t because it was Remey, but because there were now three Grand elemental spirits in one ce.


    "Yes! They are my two fellow Grand named elemental spirits now. I haven''t ascended to a different elemental ne so this is great. I can see them right here." Zephyr had left the spirit mark on Gil''s body to see this for herself. There was a unique connection between the grand named elemental spirits.


    From the mana, she could feel their existence. She also knew that they were resting to recover their mana. However, this was not all. There was a little mana that reached out to her and from her to them. The natural mana between all of them was the key that had weed them to the state of a grand elemental spirit. It was something more. Something deeper than what a normal elemental spirit would be.


    "You are pretty happy with that. Now you can chat with them. Not that I think Su''s partner will chat much. Always so quiet. But maybe Remey''s partner will talk." Gil teased Zephyr and received a stuck out tongue from her in return along with a small st of wind to ruffle his hair.


    "You said the vige was taken already? Was anyone hurt?" Walker looked at the stone that had melted in ce where the volcanic slime core had been.<sub> </sub>


    "No one was hurt. You three just used a lot of mana. Well, maybe not. You three just had a lot happen that overloaded your minds. Each of you looked like you were having a lot of crazy dreams." Scy was still clearly worried about them. She had lost her annoyed tone and was watching them carefully. Her eyes would not let anything escape her.


    "I will just tell you. It was the Envy title holder. He has to be the slime breeder. He gave a volcanic slime core to the captain here. Instead of making him strong, it caused a massive explosion. It was a brutal lie that nearly destroyed this entire area. Fleur connected with the natural mana to force the defense against this." There was a disgusted tone in Walker''s voice. Such a lie had nearly destroyed thisrge vige.


    "Even worse, I think that they have more than abandoned all thisnd. Envy was dly about to destroy it all. Volcanic slimes should not be here. They belong in volcanoes where they are born and nowhere else. We need to get to the capital city. We have to figure this out." Walker was extremely dedicated now. He could only see devastation if they did not solve these problems. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse.


    "I agree. That is not good in the least." Scy was making fists. Walker was sure that she was ready to use her full strength and attack everything.


    "Then we take the strength of multiple grand elemental spirits and strike them. They are going against the natural order of the world. They are creating hatred and corruption. They are destroying theirnds. We have the strength to save those they have hurt. We need to go now." Alma burst out with her own desires. She was more motivated now that she saw that the world was reaching out to them more than before. This was a sign that the world itself wanted to see the natural order return.


    p "Brother, sister and I could feel the natural mana through you. We know that you felt a lot. If you need us, we are here." Onyx and Midnight were right next to Walker at this point. They were worried and Walker could feel it.</anda>


    "Don''t worry, I am fine. But thank you all for looking after me. And Alice, your healing songs were just as beautiful as always. If I could wake up to that every day¡­well, I would be in heaven and doubt this was anything but a dream." the words made Alice turn away. She couldn''t just look at him after he said that so shamelessly.


    "Then we move out. Sounds like we can''t just stay here. While you three slept here, we had more soldiers show up. Therger viges have be the focus. The small viges were mostly abandoned or loosely controlled. Most of the demon army seems to have been mages. That means wee together to get to the capital sooner." Gil had been in contact with the other groups through the harpies.


    "Good. we will recover as we travel there. Pass on the dangers of the demon captains to the others. We need mages ready to create simr defenses as ours. There have been no other issues, right?" Walker knew that therger viges were about to be or were being taken. As long as the mages knew this, they could defend against Envy''s attacks.


    "Already sent a warning that there were potions with the demon captains that could cause a lot of damage. I have good eyes you know." Gil held out a hand and helped Walker up. He was ready to push them forward to do more. To free more people.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1517 1517. New Allies

    The notice of strange potions that were not potions traveled through themunication lines at extreme speed. The harpies were proving their superiority to othermunication methods. Themunication crystals couldn''t send enough details and came at a high price. This alone was the major drawback to using them. These different groups would need so many that they would use too much mana activating them.


    There was a greatmitment of the harpies to be a properly represented race. Their desires were slowly but surely paying off as they met every group in the line. The groups of multiple races working together showed them and the others that they were not monsters. Harpies were a race that deserved a space like the goblins and the grey haired spiders that had fought to be more than what they were.


    That was why, when Walker and the others saw that the harpies were heading toward them in a group of six, they knew that something was happening. Their message had already been out for an hour, but it was enough time for it to spread ande back.


    "Brother, the harpies say that the other groups encountered the same. One even encountered an abandoned vige with ten potions. They lost the vige but found more demon soldiers with power obsessions." Onyx was able tomunicate this message faster than the harpies couldnd and pass the note. Therefore, they didn''t need to stay long with Onyx''s help.


    "That''s not good. If there are demons so obsessed with power that they are consuming these so called potions, we need to get to the source." Walker was worried that this was spelling much worse events toe.


    "That''s not the problem we should be worried about. We should be worried about why all the demons think they need to take their viges and have the most power. Wrath was the same. Power hungry. It can''t mean anything good." Su made a good point that this dynamic was radically different from the way the demons had been in the past.


    The borders had always dealt with demons and demon soldiers. Yet, in the past months things had gotten worse. More brazen. The demons would lead more attacks and more of them were fleeing their homes. This could be a sign that worse was happening in the demonnds.


    "I think there might not be a demon lord." Alma''s theory stopped everyone from moving. They had just barely stepped outside the vige before the harpies hade to them with notices. The harpies were even still waiting to see what they had to say since their group had more leaders in it than most.


    "I know it sounds odd., but would the demon lord just give away thend and power he had? No way. But what if the demon lord lost power? He could throw the demonnds in to chaos while he regained it. Pulled his powerful troops close and let the others stay weak." This idea didn''t sound too crazy. It was a solid theory.


    "But what about this Envy title holder? Envious people are rarely loyal. They would take this demon lord''s position if they could. From what few interactions we have seen and I have been briefed about, Envy is able to control enough to take down a weak leader. I believe there is another n. Something that makes the demonnds and these soldiers useless." Scy trumped Alma''s idea but saw the merit it had. She would not throw it away so easily.


    "Onyx, have them send word that there is something strange happening and that every demon soldier needs to be apprehended quickly before they get a potion or anything. They might just be pawns to keep us at bay. There''s something more." This would slow the groups saving viges but it would save lives.


    In the grand scheme, it was better to have more unharmed troops make it to the demon capital than less. They had to be able to make it there to im the demon capital and save the people. They also needed their strength to properly imprison the demon lord along with thest title holders.<sub> </sub>


    Before Walker could watch the harpies fly away, the world spoke.


    '' The Harpy race has proven their right to be recognized as an intelligent race. Through desperate times they have acted as an integral part of every race. They had integrated themselves in to a role that no unintelligent monsters could im, The world smiles upon the Harpy Race.''


    This caused the harpies to fly oddly for a moment before they reimed their wits. There had been a slight change but not as dramatic as the goblins and grey haired spiders that had fallen unconscious as they received their revtion, the key reason was that the harpies had been living with the demi-humans for years already. They had gotten as close as possible to being a race without actually being one.


    The caws of excited harpiessted a moment before they drifted off in the sky. They had been recognized because they had trusted and joined the other races finally. It was an act of trust and respect to join them in battle. Everyone in the armies knew this. Everyone that was near a harpy looked at them with true respect.


    "My king will be very proud. He has waited for this day since the harpy queen came to settle in our home." Scy looked back toward the wall. She knew this would happen one day. However, this was the best day. This was a day that had started the path for freedom of another race. Now they would be able to stand with the other races and say that they were there when they freed the demon race from oppression. The harpies could say they stood as equals with all the other races to help others.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.


    p </anda>

 Chapter 1518 1518. Land To Sea

    "Every single day there is another reason to celebrate Genesis. We have another race to wee to the representative. Another trace that we will share strength with. Another race to stand with us." Walker felt like his heart would burst. Good things seemed to be happening every single time that bad woulde to push them down.


    "It''s like the world has been waiting for all of these things to happen. Whatever the world''s will is, it has been waiting." Alma and the elves following them all had this feeling.


    The elven races were more in tune with magic and mana. They believed that the will of the world was strange and always present. It gave everyone the tools to live as they needed. To follow paths that would bring them joy. This moment was a picture of how the world had given the harpies the chance to be a race as they always wished. That the harpies deserved.


    "This is why I love you. The elves believe that every single thing is there to grab and learn about. There are differences and bad history between the elves and other races. Even each other. But look at this. They weed harpies, goblins, and spiders in to their families now." Gil was getting emotional as well. Alma could just nod her head in happiness.


    "Enough with this. Use that motivation and let''s get to this capital city. I doubt it will be as sweet as what you feel now. But that sweetness can get you where we need to be." Scy snapped everyone back to reality. The first one to ept Scy''s words was Midnight.


    The reason was simple. Midnight felt that they had found the perfect time to band together. Her pride as a dragon that protected so much with her family was at the highest pique thus far. She was able to stand in front and charge head first toward the enemy. How could she dishonor the very blood she had in her veins but not doing so?


    "You are right. I feel the same way Midnight." Walker ced a single hand on her head. He could feel her drive and knew that Midnight was still growing at a miraculous speed. She was always bing more than she was with every second of time that ticked by.


    "Brother, the harpies also had information from Ventus. She has gone deeper to map more of the demonnds toward the capital." Onyx had waited for everyone to take in what had just happened. He knew that they were ready to hear the rest of the message.


    "What do we have to work with? Tell us." Remey and Alice had been walking alongside each other prepping some bandages with healing potions. Alice refused to let Remey walk away without some. She knew that Remey might abuse her newfound fire power and hurt herself. The soaked bandages would be the best way for Remey to heal any burns she gained through battles.


    "The demon capital city isrger than we thought. It also looked like it was built by mages to be hard to travel through. Almost like a maze of forges and training areas." Onyx had received this from the harpies.


    ''That would make sense. They value the strong more than we do as demi-humans. That alone would make a capital and race dead set on constant improvement. It''s literally grow stronger or death in demon culture." There was a small part of Scy that was impressed. A culture that lived by the strong was impressive. But their methods were despicable.


    "That will be a challenge. If it is a mass of stone forges and training areas we have to watch for ambushes. But it also means a lot of vantage points for our own mages and archers." Gil was thinking about this from a long range battle point of view. It would be ideal for him.<sub> </sub>


    "There''s more, the city seems to have its gates open. That''s all we have. No guards patrolling and open fates." everyone could feel the worry in Onyx''s mentalmunication. He clearly had some issues with the situation, it was screaming traps and danger.


    "Whatever it is, we are still going. We can be sure that every group of soldiers, mages, cavalry, tamers, everyone knows. They won''t let the fear of a simple trap take away their desire to free a race. Especially after the harpies have been recognized." Su spoke what everyone was already thinking. This thought pushed them all to move faster. For Alice to sing her song louder. For all of them to push to get to the meeting point they needed.


    The other groups were acting in much the same manner. They were moving toward the demon capital with their resolve intact. However, this was very different for the merfolk and aquatic demi-humans. They had begun to round the water currents of the oceans to make it to the other side of the demonnds.


    "Reporting in, the current and giant sea turtles have brought us to the closest beach from of the demonnds." The merfolk soldier that spoke to Leon was giving the update he had been told to give.


    "Good, I need the tamer and the demi-humanmander here. It will be time to go onnd soon and up any rivers we can find." Leon was tired. He had remained awake the entire journey ahead of all others. They had been moving through rough waters and even a small storm to make it to where they were.


    The waters had been full of danger but by bringing the giant sea turtles with them that had been tamed and raised by tamers and merfolk, they were able to get there safely. Therge monsters that giant sea turtles that scared off smaller monsters. Now they would have to say goodbye to them and push in to the demonnd''s rivers. They would being from the opposite direction of the othernd troops.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.


    p </anda>

 Chapter 1519 1519. Up A River

    Leon was sure that he was making the right call. He had ack of information on the state of affairs when it came to thend. But he did have themunication crystal messages. The demon-human soldiers had heavily relied on them so they were passed out before everyone left for their army marches.


    This proved very useful because Leon knew that dangers had be worse over the time of the vige''s liberation. Not only were there demonic monsters to worry about, but the demons were destroying their ownnds now. It made all the soldiers under Leon worry more about how they could help.


    "Listen up, I have the scout''s map of rivers." Leon held a map up. It was the gathered information from more than thirty scours that had risked their lives to get.


    The waters along these rivers were home to many monsters that could kill an individual merfolk, tamer, or demon0human. But they had the skills to get close to them and discern if they were worth the risk to explore.


    "I have three entry points that we can take. One had a lot of wasteing from it. It is thought toe from the nearby human port city. We will ignore that. They don''t have to worry about the demons because of their unique cliff side homes." Themanders were in agreement with this. Their goals were not to find a city that didn''t need help. The age ce that was untouched due to the location of the city and the fact that the demons had no interest in it at all.


    "That means we have thisrger river. There will be many monsters in it. We will have to fight our way up river to get to the nearest vige which we believe is here." The time in the foreign river would be the challenge. They were not familiar with the monsters there and that was dangerous.


    "The second river is smaller. But we have strange nts surrounding it without any signs of monsters. It is believed that we would all perish if we went down it. The nts aren''t damaged by any predators. They could mean they are the predator themselves." Leon had seen the underwater nts that consumed entire beings. They were living nt monsters the same as thend had.


    "Then we go through therge river and stay tight in formation." The demi-human aquatic troops had the best formations for this. They had traveled rivers before and had more experienced than the merfolk who had open water experiences.


    "Our tamed monsters will follow whoever we need. Therge rover gives them the space to battlepared to the smaller two. That''s all we have to say." the tamer in charge of the other tamers held a lot back. He was a little annoyed at the merfolk due to thest incident between tamers and the kraken spawn.


    Fortunately, this was not a timer directly involved. Just a friend of a friend that was a little on edge. But this was a battle to free a people. He couldn''t just let his prejudice win him over. He would stand by his beliefs and save someone before condemning another.


    The decision was made. Leon took the lead as the spearhead of the group. He had many soldiers behind him that were ready to face whatever enemies they came in to contact with. The demi-human soldiers were spread out on the outside since they had the most experience and could handle thebat the best.


    The waters were slightly warmer than the open ocean making everyone a little more on edge. The high temperature usually allowed for more growth of nts and monsters. This would make more trouble. However, they saw none. There were no signs of fish around since they had entered the mouth of the river.


    "Stay on alert. There has to be a few monsters around if there is nothing to be seen." Leon made the announcement. They would stay under the water to avoid attracting the other monsters. This was a simple method that many merfolk used in the ocean as well.


    "Sand in the water! Be on look out!" One of the soldiers near Leon gave the warning. He had seen arge amount of sand suddenly burst up from the bottom of the murky river water.


    The soldiers all stopped their motion using only a little strength to stay in ce and not get washed back down stream. "Get ready!" One of the tamers shouted out in panic. They were all able to hear andmunicate using their unique skills as underwater specialists. Their systems were perfect for this.


    "I know this type of monster. It''s simr to a piranha that lives in dense jungle rivers. It''s called a flesh eating karp. They are smaller than regr karp and fast." the tamer that spoke motioned for his tamed electric eel to move closer to him. "They eat anything they can. Kill them on sight."


    The sh of silver and brown scales was all that Leon saw as one darted out at him. He was well trained with his spear and easily skewered it. However, the scent of blood drew the others out of their hiding under the sand.


    "It''s a swarm. Defeat them all!" The water was in turmoil. Many of the flesh eating karp were attacking at once. The shes of silver and brown scales that went by were all they could go on. None of them seemed to stop moving.<sub> </sub>


    "Damn demonic monsters. Tear them down!" The order went out and Leon felt some of the soldiers with water rted magical skills begin to work together. Ice spikes formed under the water causing some of the flesh eating karp to impale themselves. But what was really impressive were the water elves that hade along.


    The water elves lived underwater inkes. They had the abilities because of their unique elemental affinity. They did not have gills but they had the ability to filter air from the water with magic. They also had the ability to use the water as their weapons.


    The currents in the river were fairly soft for such arge moving body of water. But this helped the water elves create bending currents like whips. The skill outside of the river would be a simple water whip. However, in the water they became forced that drastically controlled the current around them. They sliced the fish in to pieces over and over.


    "This is how we do things in the elven waters. It has been too long since we stretched like this!" a few of the older water elves felt great pride to be out in the world and fighting against those that had caused their pain. They would give everything they could to get the entire army to where they needed to be.


    " good work. All forces move out!" Leon was hoping that everyone else onnd was meeting easy challenges like this. Easy because they were prepared. Easy because they were winning. However, he was not going to say it out loud. He couldn''t risk taking the luck away. But one thing was for certain. The aquatic forces were on their way.


    Back on and¡­


    "We have gotten close enough. This will be thest camp set up before the final march toward the demon city." Scy knew that she was stopping many people well before the city. Yet, she had the expertise here. No one would question her.


    "So we just stop here?" Remey wanted to charge all the way through to the demon capital city. She couldn''t'' risk waiting any longer. Things had gotten worse. There were slimes all around them that they had to constantly deal with the past hour alone.


    "Yes. we need the forces together. More importantly, we need rest. How many soldiers behind us that have joined us do you see with extra energy?" Scy knew the limitations of long marches well. She knew that every soldier would need a lot of rest.


    "She''s right. Look at how exhausted the five groups that joined us are? They are not the same as us. We have been used to constantly pushing our stamina." Su was on Scys'' side. So was Alice. They both nned to take the time to help the soldiers rest properly.


    "Good. Remey, Su. stay with me. I want the two of you to sit with me and have a conversation. Gil, you too." Walker was sure that he needed to speak about the grand elemental spirits before this battle. Things would not be easy.


    "We will get everything ready. Just leave the supplies you have here." Alma and Scy chimed in to let Walker know that they understood what he had in mind. They would be needing every trick they could possibly get. That meant the new skills that came with the grand elemental spirits. The skills with clear drawbacks that could only be used once in a battle."


    p ¡­..</anda>


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1520 1520. Sit And Talk

    "So, we need to gather elemental mana for our partners?" Remey knew this was a possibility. She was used to the fact that her partner needed mana. But she had never had to exhaust both her and the alchemy fire spirit''s mana. Now that it had grown and was named Azar. "Azar might need more rest. I still feel the new spirit marks are off."


    "I know. But we can help with that. The natural mana is what connected us. I can tell that with more natural mana I can help settle things. Gil should understand the feeling too. He should be able to guide you two a little more."


    "I had an idea that you wanted me for this." Gil could tell that the spirit marks on his body were better settled than what Su and Remey had. Their spirit marks were still slightly visible whereas Gil''s spirit mark was invisible until in use. That was the difference that came with the advanced spirit mark for someone named as an avatar of a named grand elemental spirit.


    "I can still feel the earth around me. The mana is everywhere. It''s just hard to grasp. I feel like it''s even harder to feel other elemental mana though. I know I can because of my bonds with my system and Midnight, but I''m not sure I will be able to grasp them as easily as earth."


    Walker had expected this struggle for Su. "I have trouble grasping all elemental mana at the same time. Calling on natural mana is ten times harder for me. Natural mana is thebination of all mana. It''s not my affinity. You have earth affinity now. That''s what happens with your rtionship with Alvaro. But you also have affinity for other elemental manas. You can learn them and by fusing them you will have better strength."


    The idea that Su would be able to use elemental mana in attacks other than small things was great. She wanted to try and do more with it but knew that her body would need to adjust first. "So Su will be able to makeva shields and maybe even other cool things? Will she be able to use wind and sand to make shields against arrows?"


    The points and ideas that Remey brought up were very inspiring. Su had just started to think about the future of her skills. With this, she would be able to n out her growth better. "I think I will be able to. I have seen the wind act that way for Gil and Walker tobine elemental manas. But I know I will never have the control over other elemental manas inparison to my strength with earth."


    "That''s exactly it. When I gained my control of wind and my affinity enhanced, I felt that it was harder to make other elemental arrows. I even struggle with overcharging them to make more powerful attacks." Gil pulled the arrows out one by one. The wither spike arrows were still his main choice. They had multiple elemental manas within.


    "This is the wind arrow, see how it reacts to me just holding it?" The wind seemed to move around the arrow slightly. It was enough to move the grass in the ground where Gil was cing it. "That doesn''t happen with the fire arrow unless I really focus. My mind needs to be clearer than with wind." The fire wither spike arrow didn''t show any reaction until Gil had touched it for a few seconds. Then a small wisp of steam came off it where it burned grass.


    "Midnight struggled with other elemental manas too. She had an affinity for darkness elemental mana at first. That was the easiest king of fire for her to use after we trained. The ck me breath was easily made in to the decaying me breath. The other me breath attacks are harder for her to use and not to the same strength. They have been catching up though. She doesn''t think I see her training them." Walker knew that Midnight would secretly train these skills. Especially when she took the night watch with Gil.


    "Now, focus on the elemental mana around you. I am going to try to pull natural mana around us so we can recover. Then I will need to rest myself." Walker sat cross legged so that he could fall in to his perfect meditation.<sub> </sub>


    The focus he had was only on the natural mana around. With the natural mana, he knew he could pull all elemental mana. Due to Gil, Remey, and Su being near him, the earth, wind, and fire elemental mana would be drawn more than others with the natural mana. It might even cause the natural mana to split in to the elemental manas that make it up.


    "Alma, they have found three grand elemental spirits as their partners. Three. And a nature spirit. What are your thoughts?" Scy had watched the four speak and begin to train. She had felt the elemental mana around them and know that they were recovering. But she was curious about the elves'' perspective.


    "I think they are more than we understand. It''s odd. If anyone else were toe together like them, nothing would happen. They have some strange luck and mental drive to be more than they are. It''s natural that the elemental spirits are drawn to them. They would be idols in the elve poption if they were elves." Alma was very honest.


    "They are missing darkness, light, water. That''s it. If they manage to get those grand elemental spirits on their side, I can imagine that they will be a team of creation. A team of sages. Even demi-humans have tales of sages." Scy looked at the four while wondering what the future held after this battle. She trusted it would be miraculous.


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 Chapter 1521 1521. Finding Mana

    ? "I got it!" Remey felt the fire elemental mana. It had been tricky. She was used to the alchemy fire and not regr fire elemental mana. She knew that Azar was still an alchemy fire spirit while also being the grand fire elemental spirit named by the world. It was something she could tell.


    Fire was not just one kind of fire. It was all fire. The alchemy fire was just a specific kind of fire that she and her partner had focused on creating a unique fire spirit. Now that the status of her partner had risen, Remey was able to grasp more. Feel more.


    The fire elemental man that came through the spirit mark burned at first. It was the spirit mark fully settling in on Remey''s body. However, she felt that she was feeling thepleted version of her skills.


    For a few months now, Remey had the goal of focusing on the elemental knuckles forbat. That being said, when she started finding that the fire elemental knuckles and her partner worked better together, she focused on them. That led to the creation of me wrapping skills paired with fire based physical attacks.


    This was a major breakthrough for anyone. A physical attack that also dealt magical damage even though Remey was not in any way a mage. She was a physical fighter that also used knowledge to follow alchemy. The world was opening up to her more and more as she focused her mind on bringing the fire elemental mana toward her.


    Since Su was focusing more on the earth elemental mana, she was feeling the same. Yet, Su had already grasped the basics of earth. The toughness that could protect. Now she was seeing that she had a very narrow mind.


    Su had seen Walker use his high earth sculpting skill before. It was a wonder that could create temporary structures that required careful attention. They were hard to use in a battle but worth it to use if he had time to prepare. Su had been unable to understand the intricacies of this skill.


    Not only was earth the dirt beneath her feet. It was the stones, pebbles, gems, ores, everything below the softer soil that bred nt life. There was a lot of energy that was just waiting beneath her. Su was amazed by what she had been missing.


    The defensive qualities of earth were much more than she had known. Earth had the training of pressure. Constant pressure fromrger andrger amounts of earth on top of itself. This fact made Su realize that she needed to use the earth elemental mana to train herself.


    What also crossed her mind was the loss of the earth dwelling shield. It had crumbled under the high intensity of mana that moved through it when Alvaro received his name. She wasn''t sure if there would be sadness or if it was a necessary part of growing. A show of strength that one had outgrown the vessel they had before. These thoughts floated through Su''s mind the more earth elemental man that came to her.


    Since they were all trying to recover the elemental mana their partners needed, Gil was bringing in the wind elemental mana. However, he had a faster rate of doing so. He also could feel the Zephyr was already ready to roam about if she desired. But what she seemed to be telling him was that she would wait until the right moment to use all her strength.


    This bond was a solid foundation for both Zephyr and Gi''s strength. But Gil felt he was too weak still. He had seen the strength of more powerful soldiers, especially Scy in the vige takeover. He needed more.<sub> </sub>


    The ideas that Remey had when talking about Su being able to fuse elemental manas too was where he thought he could find strength. Gil was not foolish enough to believe that he could develop affinities for all elemental mana somehow. That was something that his party members had through other means.


    What Gil did think of though was simple. He had the ability to create elemental arrows of every elemental mana. What if he used the wind to increase mes or create sandstorms. He had not attempted to make a fused arrow with multiple arrow heads or storage points for different elemental manas. It was something that seemed too dangerous before. But why not try it with Walker as his safety? Someone that could manipte all elemental mana to protect him in his experiments?


    The feeling of mana around Walker made him realize that everyone had grasped their own elemental mana. Their focus had been achieved and if he didn''t need to then he didn''t need to keep pulling mana around them. Therefore, he gradually let up and started to focus on the natural mana he needed to provide to Fleur.


    She had exhausted herself when she connected to the world and the natural mana flowing around them. Walker was not foolish. He could tell that he was sensing a minuscule amount of natural manapared to what was actually around them. The ability to sense it had been rising but slowly.


    This wasn''t due to him being unable to train in it. But it came from the fact that natural mana was a fickle thing. It was everywhere within everything and connected to the corews of the world. How could someone just understand something like that easily? It would be sheer luck to even have what Walker had now.


    Fleur was different though, she was made of natural mana. She had a bond that held her to it no matter what. Through her, Walker could see the greater picture. The eptance that he had a long way to go before he could say he was a real sage. Before he could say he and Fleur were in tune with the way of nature.


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 Chapter 1522 1522. Meeting Point

    "A lot seems to have happened on your end." The voice that came from the shadows before revealing the form of Mordant was curious. Since Mordant had been busy helping here and there with the new dangers in the demon viges, he had not had the chance toe meet Walker.


    Coming out of his meditation, Walker looked at Mordant who seemed much happier to see the changes than he expected. "Why do you look so smug? You aren''t going to make trouble for Ignus, Terron, and Ventus because my family has three grand elemental spirits with them?"


    "I would never make trouble." Mordantughed a little knowing that Walker had seen through him. "It is interesting. It seems you and your family are always a step away from something new. The mana here is the proof of that." The natural mana had drawn more than just the fire, earth, and wind elemental mana. It was pulling all elemental mana towards it. This would give away the army but that was toote.


    The many groups that had caught up to the meeting point were easy to see by any scout. However, that was the worrying part, no scout had been sighted. This meant that the mages had a way to see them or there were no scouts. Both were equally worrying.


    "You will be happy to know that Ventus has her children stationed at the threergest viges. They had multiple captions or powerful captains. The one you dealt with was technically weakerpared to the others we found. They had multiple of those potions to pass along to their soldiers." The disgust that Mordant had in his voice made Walker''s mood sour as well. They both thought it despicable to fight like that.


    "They were volcanic slime cores. I have figured out that the slime breeder is a title holding demon named Envy." This was what most of themunications had already said, but it was good to settle on how much of a threat this demon was.


    "From their actions, they are a monster. Not a demon." Mordant was sure that this was a demon that had long crossed in to the realm of being a monster. If not in body, in soul. "Ignus is nearly here with Terron. They did not wish to stay where they had gone." Mordant also knew that having more fighters with them would be good, he was not unhappy about more royal dragonsing.


    "I will guess that Ventus is here for that too then." Walker pointed in the sky where Ventus was already slowly descending. "Gil, Su, Remey, we need to get moving soon. Drink a mana potion or two then get ready." Walker''s voice was only able to break them out of their own meditation because he pulled at the mana around them.


    "I have a meditation skill now!" Su had heard that some defender type systems got meditation skills that would strengthen their defenses in battle. It was a unique skill that rarely showed. Yet, this was a meditation skill that helped bring mana toward her.


    "Me too."


    "I have one as well. But I wasn''t just focusing on my mana. Weird." Gil was more confused than Remey because he had been creating arrow theories in his mind when he felt the different elemental manas.


    "It''s the same as mine. Or at least I am willing to bet it is. I pretty much guided all three of you to meditate exactly the way I do. You all have an attachment with a powerful elemental spirit. That should let you learn such a skill that brings the mana to you when focused." There was understanding on all their faces.


    "I am going to work on a few arrows. If you hear any explosions by the elves just ignore them." Naturally, Gil did not bring calm to the situation but no one had time to worry about this. They had to prepare themselves as well.


    "I will leave some high affinity potions here. They aren''t really perfect and I don''t have a guarantee for them. But we are about to get ready to attack right?" Remey dropped the potions she had. These were the most powerful potions she had created for wind, fire, dark, and earth. The water one was already given to Current when she had met one of his dragonkin.


    The affinity potions were still not something that the alchemy guild could mass produce. But because Remey had leaned on the strength of Tris and the old master alchemist, she had made them for this very moment. The strongest she could using whatever materials they had.


    The sound of the dragonsnding and changing forms was enough to make Remey decide to walk away. She wanted to find a ce where she could get more familiar with the feeling of mana. She had never had such a feeling in her. She was wondering if this was how a mage or Walker felt at all times. She felt she could light her fists aze without the fire affinity knuckles now.


    "You have the power of earth within your blood now. I can feel it. You got closer to me than you did to him." Terron did not hold back his feelings. As a royal earth dragon, he could feel the mana that a dragon would have. That an earth dragon would have.


    "Yes, I have my partner Alvaro to thank for that. He is weed as a named grand earth spirit. I am still familiarizing myself with the situation. I look forward to any guidance you give." It would be rude for Su to ignore a perfect teacher in front of her. Both a dragon and a very powerful wielder of earth elemental mana.<sub> </sub>


    "You cane to my vige. I have one that never moves. It is ideal for my home. I find you interesting now." This was only extended to Su but it was enough for Terron to shock his fellow royal dragons. Terron had just offered something to a human.


    With a nce at Walker, Su received a nod. He was not going to push her to do this nor was he going to discourage her. Even though the royal dragons lived a certain way, Walker knew that Su and all his family could make their own decisions. "I would be honored to visit you and see the earth dragon vige. I would learn a great deal just by being there." This seemed to y right to Terron''s ego.


    "From what has been passed along to me, Current has met the leader of the water traveling force. His name was Leon, correct?" Ventus changed the subject. She hade here for a reason. She was no longer needed to make maps or help others scout. She wanted to speak about the information she had heard and patrol the air around them.


    "Good, that means we only have a short while before they are here on the other side of the city." Walker pointed to the river in the distance. It was one with many streams splitting off before arge forest in the distance.


    Knowing that the aquatic forces were nearby was very calming. They would have the reinforcements that hade through a different route and hopefully managed to clear out some smaller viges along the way.


    "I wouldn''t be too worried about them, Current should have sent his dragons further in to the demonnds to settle things. He is busy like that." Ignus huffed a little but did not admit that he had sent his dragons to do the same exact thing so that he would not look bad.


    "It''s about time we call thest meeting before we start this." Walker didn''t hesitate. He knew that they were waiting for him to make the call. It was a sign of respect from fellow royal dragons. A sign that they had more than just epted who he was and what he was trying to aplish.


    "You took your time. Midnight is over there trying to steal some of the food as energy before the battle." Alma had dragged Midnight and Onyx with her, metaphorically, she had the dried meat that Midnight wanted in her hands while Onyx had just gone along with it.


    "It''s a good way to prepare. I have meals before fights often." Scy had no issues with this. But the king of the surface who had recently arrived also nodded in approval.


    "Food aside, Leon will be here any moment. We need to start nning how we will invade and take the city." Walker ced down arge piece of parchment he had just received. When he unraveled it a fairly detailed map became clear. "This is the demon capital city. It''srge, has many stone buildings and training areas that stand in odd ces."


    The map showed the winding roads that had no markets or open spaces to just rest. Everything was made for the growth of power. Everything was made harder for them to invade.


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 Chapter 1523 1523. Take The Demon City!

    The entire army, adventurers, dragons, and aquatic soldiers had arrived at their meeting ce. The map was still ced with four marked points along the heavy stone walls. "You have all dealt with a lot, but don''t worry, we brought some fun things that we found in the river." Leon had arrived leaving the forces that came with him near the river. He had made a few discoveries.


    "He is very right. When I arrived I found them harvesting something odd." Current seemed interested in whatever they had harvested too. "Freshwater squid."


    "Freshwater squid?" Walker was a little lost, "How could that help?" He had heard of the small weak monster that was normally the size of a housecat.


    "The ink sack is the only valuable part other than the meat. It reminds me of this kraken but without as much evil in them. But that''s beside the point. The ink sacks can create a dark mist when they evaporate in the air. That means that we can use them as ambush tactics while we enter the walls." Leon had seen the immense value in these small monsters.


    "They are very good. I was d to help when I found the soldiers along the river capturing them. With a little control of the water, things came together quickly." Current was ready to see a battle. Walker had not expected that Current could be so forward and battle ready.


    "Always showing off. This is why we should have watched them better. They have brought more chaos in to the battle." Mordant mocked Current a little but everyone knew that it was more of apliment.


    "Good, then Ventus, take the ink sacks and drop them at these four points. Onyx and you will be controlling everyone''smunication." Both Walker and Scy had agreed this was the best move.


    "When that happens my golems will be breaking those walls with Royal dragon Terron." The king of the surface had hisrgest golems prepared to charge the walls and sacrifice themselves to break them in one move.


    "A simple matter for me." Terron thought that breaking walls was too little.


    "Ignus and Mordant can lead the frontal attack on this spot and this spot. That should make things easier. Scy will lead here with my party. Leon will take here, with his soldiers. Alma, you and the elven mages need to be ready to prevent magical attacks. The mages were pulled in for a reason." Walker was deadly serious.He had to ensure that everything went perfectly.


    "Agreed." The entire group agreed to this. They all were ready to get this over with. They had marched on countless viges, been able to beat slimes that were still spreading through the demonnds, and stop terrible explosions in viges.


    "Get in to positions." Walker felt the weight on his shoulders grow. He hated being the center of attention. However, he had epted that this was his goal. He was one of the people that was standing in the center to drive this cause to the rightful end. To the best possible end for the mon people.


    The movements of soldiers, adventurers, and dragonkin were fast. Very fast. They had taken rest and been uplifted by the liberation of viges. They had all heard the things discovered and the theories behind them. Now it was time to use their strength to free an entire race.


    Ventus had her eyes focused on Walker as she started to take off in to the air with four bags of ink sacks in her ws. She knew that this was more serious than before. She felt that she had seen the true worth of Walker and Genesis. Their strength was much higher than she had expected from them. "If you need me, I will bring down a torrent of wind des."


    The promise made Walker feel he had made the right choice. He did not need to use the royal dragon that stood beside them. As long as he shared a mutual trust and respect for them, then they would always be beside him. The way that the dragon society worked was going to change. Be more epting. But even more, it was going to have another royal nature dragon to bring them in to a new era.


    "Midnight, I want you to stay close to me. We are going to use our attacks as much as we can to make sure that no one is hurt. Whether it is demon soldiers or not. We will make sure that we protect everyone here." Everyone knew their allies might get hurt or even die. This was war, not some adventure in the woods.


    The walls that Walker looked at from his starting point were much higher than he had felt before. The entire force behind him and Scy were organized toe right in line. They did not hide. This was not what they needed. If they tried to hide they would be the ones ambushed; they were expecting many mages.


    "Brother, here we go." Onyx sent mental messages to everyone he could. Ventus had just dropped the four bags full of freshwater squid ink sacs.


    "Three, two¡­one, Now!" Gil took the count to start the charge. The king of the surface had his golems charge forward while the earth mages and Terron prepared attacks to push through the walls with them.


    Earth reached up and surrounded the running golems. They had brandishedrge metal battering rams that could easily smash any wall. Now with the additional weight and strength of earth, they seemed to cause small earthquakes with every step. Every soldier felt the vibrations on the ground as they moved.


    The second the dark mist covered the walls, the loud cracking echoed through thends. Everyone could feel the shattering stone from where they were along with seeing the growing dark mist. "We charge!"


    Everyone let out roars, shouts, and battle cries. They were ready for this. They were going to rescue the trapped people, defeat the demons, and free thends. These desires roared out of every single one of them.<sub> </sub>


    ''The world watches.''


    This system message came through to everyone. They felt they had the very power of the world with them at every step.


    "Prepare for attacks!" The calls from mages came first as they sensed the mana around the city bing denser. It was being pulled toward the center. This caused many of the mages to begin casting their defensive elemental skills. Earth walls formed while the soldiers pushed forward to the main walls of the demon capital.


    What shook everyone was that the mana seemed to be drawn toward the center of the demon capital. It was noting toward them. "Break their trap and rush in!" The cry frommanders, captains, and even Walker reverberated through those pushing through the shattered walls. The stones beneath their feet being moved away by the stone elf mages.


    The sudden stoppage of moving mana around the demon city made every soldier halt in their tracks. They had never been in ait where there was no moving mana. It felt unnatural. Strange. And made them shiver.


    Fleur was trying her best to pull the natural mana closer but it had been pulled away from around them. Walker could feel the difort from all those with the ability to sense mana. "Don''t stop! We can fix it!"


    The party took the lead charging in to the city. They saw the partially made forges and broken open resting quarters of demon soldiers. However, the spaces near the walls had absolutely nothing. There were no soldiers. No demons to be seen at all.


    "Brother, there is movement deeper." Onyx received this information from Ventus who was acting as the eyes in the sky.


    "Gil, take the high ground and follow us. Midnight, hide in the shadows." Walker knew that Scy had already split off with her own soldiers along a secondary route toward the center. He was sure she didn''t know what was going on with the demons. There was no ambush here!


    "It looks like they just abandoned everything." Su and Remey had been watching the doors of buildings while the group moved through the winding paths.


    "I know. There is something wrong here." The mana was still stagnant around them making Walker more and more on edge.


    "We have someone here!" the first call came from a dragonkin nearby.'' They had found a copsed demon on the ground near a small training courtyard.


    "Alice, see to them." Walker took up a defensive position while Alice checked the demon.


    "Mana deficiency." This was something that was incredibly rare. Something that many people did not need to deal with because their bodies could keep up with the mana they were using. They could recover.


    "No, the mana had been forcefully drawn out of them." Walker ced a hand on the demon man''s head. He could feel the slight tug if the man''s mana was being stolen from his body. "The city might already have taken all the mana to the center." Onyx ryed the constant findings of fallen demon mages, peoples, and craftsmen. The entire city so far was at a loss for mana.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1524 1524. Abandonment

    "There has to be something very VERY wrong here." Su was feeling more and more stressed as they pushed in to the demon city. The closer they got to the center, the more soldiers, mages, and demons they found copsed and unconscious struggling to stay alive.


    "All of their mana has been taken. And I think I know where it is." Gil was at the highest point. He had been traveling the rooftops and could see the central castle. This was where he was able to see that there was a lot of light inside. The windows were nearly glowing which told him that a lot of mana was being used.


    "I don''t know what they''re doing but it''s clear that they crippled their army to make it happen. We need to push in." Walker didn''t hold back. He let his emotions spur him forward.


    "Now that''s what I am talking about! Let''s go and beat that mana out of them!" Remey pushed forward while switching her elemental knuckles to fire. She wanted to be ready to switch in to her most powerful skills with Azar at any moment.


    "Midnight, sneak in to the shadows and watch our backs. I know that everyone thinks we are safe, but the worst could still be hiding in the dark." Midnight huffed softly as she used the shadow wrapping skill. She would be sure to be right near Walker to keep him safe.


    "The clearing is up ahead. Then we enter the castle!" Gil had been directing them. The small training squares and winding paths through the forges were hard to navigate. The city had truly only been made to create soldiers. It was not a ce to raise a child. It was a ce that surely caused pain and suffering to those without the strength to stand on their own.


    "The castle that soon revealed itself wasrger than expected. It was made from a ck stone that had been roughly cut and stacked. The demons had magical abilities to make most things. Therefore, when Walker saw this was handmade, it proved that the demon lord had built a home out of others'' sufferings.


    "This ce¡­"


    "I know, I can feel it too. But we need to press on." Su felt the same heartbreak seeing this. It was as if the mana around the castle was also in pain. As if it was crying out to return to where it belonged.


    "Well, you are here too?" Scy had arrived right behind them from another street. She looked more on edge than the party. She had not found a single battle with any slider or mage. Just unconscious and hurt demon people.


    "Yes, we are about to push in to the castle. There will be at least three more sin title holders." Walker knew that Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth were thest three. Thest three that would fight them before the demon lord would. The demon king. The demon that was responsible for an entire race''s pain.


    "Three more to take down before we imprison the one responsible for it all. Let''s go." Scy radiated anger while she stepped ahead of the party toward the open gate. Behind them, more soldiers and the royal dragons arrived. Alma made her own appearance but walked in to the castle as well. The party knew that they would need to clear the entire thing of whatever was within.


    "This is, slime core?" Remey looked at the slime cores on the ground.


    "So they did have ambushes." Gil knew that if the slimes were still here in therge front entrance, that they would have been the toughest ambush they could face.


    Using his all around appraisal, Walker found that all of the slime cores of multiple types were mana deficient. "They are in hibernation because theyck mana. They had their mana taken too." This was another point of stress that Walker added to his shoulders. How could they do this to even their own creations?


    "There arerger cores there. You called them lord slimes?" Scy pointed out and had Su confirm that. They were not happy to see that the main hall they were walking down was littered with lord slime cores.


    "They must have been working on these slimes for years before they started sending them out to attack others." Remey had the most knowledge about slimes and their growth. This was because of the alchemical uses that slimes had. They could be grown as a material but Remey knew that a breeder must have worked for years to achieve even a fewrge slimes, let alone lord slimes.


    "The slimes aren''t a problem then. We can just push inside more." Walker looked at the walls while they moved. They were decorated with red and ck tapestries depicting the crushing of viges. The rising of demon soldiers. And the eventual defeat of what Walker believed they believed, the other races. It inspired anger in everyone that looked at them. They felt that the demons were more than looking down at them.


    "This would be the main hall." Gil looked at therge doors iid with precious gems and gold trim. It was much too extravagant to just be another door. "Ready?" Gil was standing waiting for everyone to give him the approval.


    "Do it." Alice chimed in first. No one noticed that her face had be more and more twisted in anger. She had seen the damage caused to the demon people. As a healer, she had seen them scream in pain from the injuries when fleeing. She had felt their pain.<sub> </sub>


    Being a healer was always hard. Most people never knew what it was like to be there for every moment of someone else''s pain. To watch them give up hope and pray to just stop feeling. Alice had, she had grown up in it and she never wanted to see those that caused such things to go unpunished.


    "Do it." Walker echoed Alice while everyone else did as well. The others were pushing through the castle. Scy was the only one with them right now. It was the party, Scy, and Alma all ready to see the one who caused this all.


    "Ah, our guests are here. Too bad you have failed again. So sad." The same mocking voice the party had heard in the dwarven kingdom caves echoed on the stone walls of therge hall in front of them.


    ''Slime breeder!" Rmeey yelled in rage when she heard it.


    "Oh, calm down. Just call me Envy. If you ever see me again." There was a sh of mana that caused them all to realize what was going on.


    "Envy is correct. His slimes and all those weaklings gave me just enough mana to send them all away." The raspy vice that followed Envy''sughter drew the party''s gaze. Theyid eyes on arge mass of what could only be described as fat.


    "I consumed all the mana to create this wonderful thing. Aren''t you impressed? And then my lord even told me I could have you as snacks after he left. I can even eat this castle. This entirend!" The spiral horns that came off the bloated demonic face made Walker want to vomit.


    "You would be gluttony then." Su figured out the name of the one demon that was left in the middle of therge hall. There was no sloth, they had seen Envy disappear, and the demon lord was nowhere to be seen.


    "Smart little appetizer! Yes, I am the sin title holder Gluttony, and you will be my food!" The mana burst around the room and was starting to be drawn out. Therge magic circle that patterned the ground glowed brighter and brighter as well.


    "No you don''t!" Gil fired an arrow but watched as the mana faded from it. The arrownded on Gluttony causing little to no damage.


    "Aee, that tickled. Maybe a thousand more of those and I will feel a little more full." The mocking of Gluttony made everyone more on edge. However, the magic circle was glowing brighter and brighter. Even moving to wrap Gluttony''s body in the rune patterns.


    "We need to retreat." Scy had a sixth sense of danger in battle. It wasn''t Gluttony that was telling her to retreat. She felt that something was incredibly wrong right now. "That magic circle isn''t normal."


    "You are right with that! We found it in that forsaken library beneath the earth. We found the secrets of teleportation and where those juicy researchers went. We found where real power lies!" the magic circle grew again but this was the changing point. Gluttony had just boasted out loud but suddenly began to cough and shake violently.


    "No, my mana! My food. Where are you, Nooooooo" the entire castle started to be engulfed by the runes of the magic circle. The mana that was fueling iting from Gluttony was pulling everything from him. Before the party''s eyes, Gluttony was shrinking. Losing the rolls of fat. Bing emaciated. " I was going to¡­eat it ¡­all."


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1525 1525. Chase The Enemy

    Scy pushed everyone back out the door while the magic circle grew to take over the entire room. Just as she mmed the doors shut and braced them, the mana seemed to disappear from the room. Gluttony''s voice was gone and an incredible stillness overtook the entire castle.


    The sports that Scy had braced fell inward, they had started to break down from the opposite side. "I might need¡­a moment." The pale face that Scy had showed that she had lost a significant amount of her mana through whatever had just happened.


    "Drink this!" Remey rushed to hand a mana potion to her ignoring everything else that might be happening. Alice was the very same and started to look for any visible injuries.


    "It''s just my hands." The look of Scy''s hands were pruny like someone had just let her sit in the water for too long. However, Walker could sense theck of personal mana from Scy.


    "Just stay here and heal. You got us out of there before the worst happened." Thankful was just a small part of what walker felt for Scy''s quick decision and instincts. He was sure that something worse would have happened if they were still in the room.


    Yet, he had to go back in to the room. The room that had destroyed itself. The rugs had be dust on the ground while anything handing had crumbled away. The chairs and throne that had once been there were just ruins of what they once were. Even scarier was the appearance of Gluttony, or what had been Gluttony.


    "He''s just bones and dried skin now. They did this to one of their main title holders. One of their strongest soldiers¡­" As much as Walker knew that Gluttony would have killed them, he also felt pity. Gluttony had been abandoned at thest step. Left to perish to whatever ancient magic they had found in this ancient library.


    "Fleur, stay put, I know this is wrong but it wille back to bnce soon." Walker felt the sudden tug of Fleur trying to pull mana toward them. Theck of mana in the air was making her feel stir crazy. It was only natural though. Losing connection with mana was torture for any elemental spirit.


    "So they lost someone to go somewhere else. That thing called Gluttony stole mana from every mage, citizen, soldier, and even the air to send them somewhere else. That was their n. They abandoned thisnd for somewhere else." Gil recalled the words said before this all happened.


    "And we need to find out where. They said there was an ancient library. Then we go there to find out where. They went somewhere and they will just get worse if we leave them." Su was also dedicated to stopping whatever this n was. The demon lord and his remaining two title holders had been able to sacrifice an entirend just to go somewhere.


    "That was teleportation. Wasn''t it?" Alma finally had the courage to speak up after processing what she had just seen. She and Midnight had been stunned by the event and weren''t sure where the hard battle they expected had gone.


    "I think so. They went somewhere else." Walker sighed. He felt the stress on his shoulders grow heavier.


    "There was no mana that came back from it. Instead, it pulled mana with it. That magic rune circle wasn''t finished. It was a one way thing. But if it was to an elemental ne we would have felt it. That much I know." Alma was very uninformed about teleportation. Most people were since it was such a rare thing. Even the party had only seen such a thing because the world had reacted to the call for a hero skill that Onyx had used.


    "Then maybe they are somewhere else in the world. We need everyone on high warning. There might be powerful demons that have invaded cities!" Gil was already ex[ectng the worst.


    "No, we would have felt that much mana appeared anywhere on this continent. That''s for sure. Can''t you tell how much mana was in that skill? How much mana was within Gluttony? The release of so much mana would cause waves that we already would have felt here." Walker could tell this was the case. His connection with natural mana told him so.


    "Then they¡­they are on another continent." Su realized that this could be much worse than they knew.


    "That wyvern problem. Just a curious question, but you said we might have to deal with that soon. We might have to deal with two issues on another continent at once." Scy had caught her breath. Her hands still appeared rough but with Alice and Remey healing her with potions and singing, she was able to ce the theory out there.


    "That''s¡­not good at all. If the demons knew that the wyverns wereing from another continent and were causing trouble for the dragons, the most powerful race on the continent¡­" Walker trailed off. This was a massive problem.


    "The power they gained from somehow taking the wyverns as their own would be much greater than what they had. Enough for them to throw all of this away." Gil finished the thought that Walker couldn''t say out loud. That none of them wanted to consider.<sub> </sub>


    "We will meet with everyer. Just stop here for now. We need to finish saving the people of this city. The people of thisnd." Su snapped everyone out of their dreadful thoughts. She saw that they had a perfect chance to reim the demon race''s freedom and they had to take it or else.


    "You''re right. I was too focused on the problems. Not the benefits. With this, the demon race is freed from their years of oppression. It wasn''t how we wanted it but it is the way it ended up." Walker moved to the door. "Let''s go and find those that need our help."


    In a matter of a few hours, Walker''s potion supply was gone. The potions Remey had worked so hard on proved to still be too little. The mana in the air had begun to properly return which aided the healing of so many demons found within the city. These two things paired together was enough for the party to work themselves to the bone.


    The demons that awoke and fought were promptly detained. Those that were fearfully and showed that they were ready to hide away once again from the evil that reigned over them were reassured. It brought them untold joy to hear that they had been rescued. That they had no reason to live in hiding or fear anymore.


    "You are saying they ran!?" Ignus and Terron were both enraged by the fact that the enemy they had united to catch was missing.


    "They fled to find greater power. They fled to find our enemies. I do not like that." Ventus was more open with how she felt. She was rarely angered but this made her truly mad.


    "I agree that we need to hunt them down. If they have the time to find powerful foes on another continent then we will have a muchrger war. A war that we may not be able to survive." Current wanted to leave immediately.


    "Stop this. We have achieved one goal and can n for another. They left for now and wille again. What we should worry about is that they have ancient magic to do something like that. They have ancient magic that even we do not have and they have gone somewhere that also has ancient magic ruins. Possibly descendants of those that created such magic." Mordant was the first to see this potential.


    "And we will go after them. The library is somewhere under this city. Once we find it we can deal with it properly. Find the information they used. Find them. Take them down." Walker felt his own anger re up but managed to calm himself with a deep breath.


    "You said you would stand with us to deal with the wyverns. You also have the theory that these three demons are going to find a way to im them as their own power. So, will you stay with us and bring your united races?" Ventus spoke calmly. However, Walker felt the test within those words. The test that she proposed to ensure that Walker was truly the royal dragon he should be.


    "Yes. I said I would and I will bring all those that I can. It will be hard. We will need to learn a lot. Prepare a lot. I believe we can do it. The first time that our continent and races will interact with another continent. You could say, the future is now."


    There was an agreement between them causing the dragons to separate for the time being. Now was the time to clean things up. No more talking.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1526 1526. Taken City

    The word that the demons had been freed traveled to the kingdoms faster than anyone had expected. What was heard was that the demons had been defeated and the capital taken. Unfortunately, this was not the purest form of truth. There was too much left to the imagination. Too much unsaid.


    "Brother, should we really be nning to leave already?" Onyx didn''t want to leave the demon capital. He felt that there was too much to do here.


    "We aren''t leaving. We are just moving to a camp outside the city. If we stay inside then we will interrupt the mages doing a full sweep of things. There may be magic traps." Onyx had somehow been convinced that the entire party was leaving to go back to genesis already.


    "We need to find those ancient ruins beneath the city too. That ancient library will hold everything we might need." Su was right there to back up Walker. She wanted the answers as to where the demon lord had gone with Sloth and Envy.


    "I just want to crush that slime breeder. He caused so much trouble and we might never get rid of all the slime she sent all over the demonnds!" Remey''s opinion was a little rougher but had the same ideals.


    "The dwarves are also moving in. They have some heavy interest in the forges. They use magic mes that are simr to using fire elemental crystals as fuel. However, the runes are clearly rted to origin runes." Gil had overheard this while the dwarves began to investigate.


    "I bet there are a few demon cksmiths that will hand over everything they know. They were chained up in some of the forges." Walker was trying to look at the bright side but felt a twinge of pain remembering the sight of the demons forced to work endlessly.


    "You should already know, we have found a massive pool of resources in every forge and home. They were literally taking everything that could be used to create weapons, armors, and magic items from every vige. We even discovered a few mana crystal mines nearby. That is where Terron and Mordant went just a few moments ago."


    Alma was very tired. She had used a lot of her energy running around to direct the elven soldiers to help where needed. They had a lot of healing skills that could be used due to the rtionship with nature and healing in elven society. Even some of the fire mages possessed a basic healing skill, even if it was nearly useless, it was useful for the demons who had their mana forcefully taken by Gluttony.


    "How about you eat something and sit with us. We are just going outside the walls before the mages and Terron''s dragonkin finish opening them up." Gil knew the walls would be rebuilt along with most of the demon city. However, for now, Alma just needed to sit and rest which was all that he had in his mind.


    "Please do not worry. I have enough of that from the enforcers behind me. Even the stone and dark elves have been worrying. I just need to make progress." Alma wanted to see this through.


    "I know I am guilty of overwork, but how about you rest here before you follow my lead and pass out?" Walker knew that Alma would have to listen to him a little more than the others. He had made the mistake of using his mana too often. It never went well.


    "And on the topic of resources, I think they will all be used to rebuild the demon''s homes. Forging with them is not that important." Walker mostly said this because he knew it to be true. It was better to think of a rebuilt demon society than a broken one.


    "Don''t make us go get Alice. She had been reprimanded every healer that even gets close to exhausting their mana. She''s been a major yer in healing everyone efficiently." Gil''s threat won over Alma as well.


    Since Alice was one of the highest ranked healers and most respected as the daughter of the high priest, she had a lot of say. With this in mind, she had pushed herself to go from healer group to healer group ensuring that they were rating, drinking mana potions, and treating their own smaller wounds. The rumors about how great she was were growing much more today.


    Upon reaching the camp that was being converted from healing station to a soldiers'' camp, the party settled in to rest for the first time in a while. They were surprised to find that Leon was there as well.


    "Weird way this all came together, hm?" He was still a little stunned how he had managed to take the water currents all the way there while steering monsters. Even the river had been a smooth trip to get through.


    " no one expected that they were just leaving it all behind. The ideology that power is everything makes me sick." Walker wasn''t holding back. Every time he thought about throwing it all away to get a little stronger his stomach did flips.


    "I''ve always believed my father as king of the merfolk to be a strict man. Now? Not at all. This is much worse. Cruel and strict to an extreme that throws even the most trusted generals to the side."


    "Leon. I couldn''t agree with you more. That demon lord and his twost sin title holders need to be taught a lesson." Unsurprisingly, Remey and Leon proceeded to get in to an all out rant about this. No one had the strength to stop them.


    "Oh, so we just go and sit down after not fighting. Wish I could have done that." Barry walked out of a nearby tent looking much better than he had before at the border walls. The color had returned to his face while most of the bruising had healed.<sub> </sub>


    "We need to set up a camp and eat before we go in. The mages are searching for magic traps and the dwarves are doing the same."


    "Walker, I know. I couldn''t help but joke a little with the younger adventurers. I can''t always be the tough berserker Barry. There are only so many monsters to defeat." Barry''s rollingughter was surprisingly uplifting.


    "Hey! The dwarves told us how dangerous the forged left unattended are. There could be explosions if we don''t let them handle it." The defense that Gil used just added to Barry''sughter.


    "You should know that ra is on the way. She has a group of archeologists, rune rted system users, and librarians. She used her position to take them from the mage tower toe here. One is more pressing than the other."


    Hearing that ra had prioritized this made many who heard this news rx. It would have taken longer to go back to Genesis and send official groups here. ra had helped cut out the middle and sped the process up.


    "Good. Another group will help get further. We have yet to hear of-"


    "Sir! The library has been found beneath the demon lord''s castle. Would you like me to guide you?" The Demi-human soldier that ran up was sweating a lot. He had rushed to find those that needed to know this.


    "Of course!" Even Midnight had a small roar that matched the entire party and Leon. Barry was the only one that held back because he knew he would be a hindrance until he was fully healed.


    "Take this water first." Walker handed the soldier water as they left the small camp they had set up next to therger camp for soldiers. The Demi-human soldier seemed happier than anything to have magically chilled water to drink.


    "Can you tell us more?" Su was expecting as much information as possible so that they could get to work exploring right away.


    "Of course!" The soldier walked in time with their words giving the best he could. " The stairway behind what was once a throne led to a broken wall. It is theorized that the wall was somehow broken exposing an old rune seal. That was the entrance to an ancient library."


    " so they have known about it for some time and most likely couldn''t unseal it until fairly recently." Alma''s theory sounded spot on.


    "We found bones and other things left from a trap associated with the seal. Now the ancient library is open. Only part of it is easy to explore. It was made in a strange way. It''s hard to exin unless you see it." Now the entire group was lost as to what would make it so hard to describe.


    The closer they got back to the castle, the more they noticed the mana had returned. Many demonic runes were showing their rtionship to origin runes. The demons had used what they found more than anyone thought.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1527 1527. Restricted Library

    The entrance to the library was somewhat guarded. The demons had clearly made some stone blockades in case of any attacks. Unfortunately. They proved useless when there were no demons to guard them.


    The soldiers that had found the entrance were sitting near it waiting. They had refused to go deeper in to it due to the dangers. "This is where I will leave you. I am not the right person to explore this ce." The demon soldier that had guided them left the group there.


    "I thought we would get a little bit of a tour." Leon felt that he might want to reconsider following the group. However, he felt that this was part of what he had to do as a member of Genesis. He had to help where he could even in a small way.


    "It is unsettling." Su had to agree with this. "But we will see what we can do."


    Moving through the entrance, Walker spotted the bones of demons left behind. There were multiple rune patterns and circles that had been broken. "This was left fairly well defended before someone found this ce. If the ancient race wanted to protect it so much, it makes me wonder why."


    The knowledge of the ancient ruins was already proving to be a major boon for every race, especially Genesis because of the mage tower. It was providing a major increase in rune knowledge along with plenty more bonuses to the research of the world itself.


    "There are no pictures on the walls or anything. Are we sure this is the race''s ruins we have found before?'' Gil noticed that the usual pictures they had seen on the walls of the ruins were no where to be seen.


    "These are the same. Look, the demons scraped away the paints to look at the runes." Remey found a small corner next to a pir that was still covered in paint. The rune carvings also had small boots of paint in them that had degraded long ago.


    "That was thest doorway. There were seven seals that had stopped the demons froming here. That''s more than a few." Walker was not veryfortable with what they were about to look in to. Onyx had already taken a position on his shoulder. Midnight was sticking close to him because she could feel his worry.


    The main entrance was finally revealed to be arge stone structure. Each brick added had runes on it that were making the mana solidify in to a more solid barrier. The door was non existent. The demons had clearly pulled it off its hinges to make ess easier. Or there had been a seal that the group didn''t realize.


    "I see why this ce is dangerous." Walker looked out in to the library. It had many altering levels. The entire ce was not some small library. It was a massive underground chamber with twisting and turning bookcases.


    "It''s some library maze orbyrinth." Gil thought he could almost see the far wall but was proven wrong when he used his skill to look out further.


    "No, that''s not it. There''s moving earth elemental mana all under our feet. This library-" the ground trembled slightly as the shelves lowered and raised. Some books were hidden away while others became visible. Notably, some of the shelves moved to close off pathways or create others.


    "So this is why they don''t want toe here. It''s dangerous because you could get stuck for a long time." Walker knew that this would take a massive amount of time to map out. Add in the fact that each map was only possible for one setting of the library, then it would multiply by how many different forms the library had. No matter what, this was years of work.


    "Onyx, Midnight. Go and get the people that have the best chance to map this out. I want to be sure that we can begin work before the reinforcements that ra sent are here. If we have a base of knowledge for them we can help even more." Walker thought it better to get a higher point of view and attempted to step in to the air. The moment his feet left the ground arge amount of mana built up in the air.


    The torrent of winds hit him and knocked him to the ground. Gil narrowly managed to catch him. "I take it you won''t be doing that again. I couldn''t even feel thating.Whatever runes they used have a faster speed than my feeling of wind elemental mana do. I''m sure that Zephyr could do something but she would use a lot of mana to stop that."


    "I won''t don''t worry." Walker stood up and dusted himself off. "I think we will be taking a walk. But what book to look at?" Walker felt that it would be impossible to know if the books that had the right information were still here or not. If the demons took them with them when they left, then there was no hope.


    "Do you remember how the mage tower has weird bookshelves?" Remey pointed this out and motioned toward the closest bookshelf at the entrance. The slight glow of mana was all over it and the books.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s the same. They have runes to protect the books. And there are books that can''t leave certain floors of the mage tower." Walker moved and grabbed a book. He slowly stepped back until the book was wrenched from his grip by an unseen force. The book floated back to the spot on the shelf while runes glowed in the air.


    "Then we have our answers. We need to research this ce. Find the thing that controls the movement of the library before the researchers get here. If we can do that we can change things when we need it." Su ced the goals they had clearly. Everyone agreed.


    "Here is what I have for supplies." Walker had backpacks in his storage in case the party ever needed them. Now was the lucky time for their use. "I can hand out water and food for us if we get stuck. I will throw a few mana crystals in too since we might need to supply mana to open certain books. The mage tower has a few like that."


    Alma and Gil tried to stay together but under the watchful eye of Walker, they each had a backpack on their backs before they could im that they only needed one. "We can split up and explore. Onyx should be able tomunicate with us to a degree when he gets back with Midnight. I sent them because they can move faster to get everyone."


    "So what do I do when I find something? I won''t y games here, I punch things and light them on fire. I don''t do the whole magic control things thing." Remey knew that she was in the same boat as others. She could not use skills to control a moving earth maze.


    "She has a point. I could see Alma controlling things with her pants but I have a spear and some water elemental skills." Leon felt a little useless in this expedition.


    "That''s why we will need Onyx. he can helpmunicate when he is here and we can meet back up. In theory, we will be able to reach the same ce even if it takes some time." Walker knew they could be down here for a longer time than he desired. The camp they set up was going to collect dust without them there. It was unfortunate but necessary.


    "I keep wondering, why do we find so much trouble underground? The ancient ruins where the undead were, the deep caves, the recent ruins where we found the monster eggs, and now this. I feel like we keep ending up underground." A small breeze moved around Gil while heined but no one argued his im. They just had to ept that they had this kind of luck.


    "Watch out for when things change. There are restrictions here and that must be to hide the knowledge or some other things. Just be careful and respectful. If the worst happens do your best to get back here and leave." Walker would not tell any of them to stay behind if they got yurt. Fleeing was not a bad thing.


    "We won''t get separated right away. We can try to stay together." Su knew this would be futile in a way. Yet, it made her feel better seeing the nods of agreement.


    "It''s been a constant surprise since I met you. When I first thought that I was being sent for negotiations, I was annoyed but d to make a name for myself. To be king of the merfolk one day. I never would have thought I would be doing more work now." Leonughed a little before taking the first step in to the maze of bookshelves.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1528 1528. Separate Ways

    "These books are strange." Gil had tried to take a book from the shelves just now to see what they might contain. Unfortunately, he had found the first two he tried stuck to the shelves. The runes glowing in the air stopping himpletely.


    "There are requirements. I think this should be called a restricted library. Not just anyone can take a book. Like this one." Remey was the one to speak up which was surprising.


    She touched a single book with red mes on the spine. It came free in an instant causing some fire elemental mana to leak from it. "I could feel this one. My partner knew." She smiled softly while looking at the first page.


    "The restricted library? From the fairytale about the process and dragon trapped inside a library castle? They couldn''t do anything but clean books until they stopped the fight between their kingdoms?" Su recognized the children''s story and felt that this might be a good name for this ancient library.


    "Exactly the book. Umm, Walker, I''m going to read this one." Walker was curious what would make Remey stop. However, he was not going to make her tell him everything.


    ? "Whatever it is, do it. You said you and Azar felt that book was important. I trust you." If Walker forced Remey to move on he knew she would be distracted. Knowledge that could help her and a grand elemental spirit was important in its own right.


    "Mhm¡­" Remey was already consumed by the book. The fire elemental mana moving around her proved that Walker was right to let her be.


    "So one person has already been stolen by the library." Leon felt that this could be harder than expected. Especially if the books here were calling out to them.


    "This ce is mysterious to us but had a purpose once upon a time. The engine trace that created this did so for a reason." Su still had a hand on one of her twin shields. She worried that there was danger around the corner.


    " Agreed. This ce feels like a forest at night. Full of hidden knowledge waiting for the right person to look." Alma also felt a little at home. This was simr to the feeling the archives that the elves have.


    "Oh, it does feel like that. But less menacing. More like it has been waiting for all of us and is going to see where we let it take us. I feel like, well, I feel like it wants us to find what we need?"


    Describing his feelings made Gil feel slightly embarrassed. However, everyone could feel this as well. The feeling that this ce was made to learn over anything else as long as they followed the rules.


    The floor rumbled again making everyone take a battle ready position. "Alright. Everyone has supplies we might get separated." Walker had everyone group up as the bookshelves near them rose and fell.


    The floor tiles moved causing all of them to unintentionally spread out. "Wait, no!" Gil was pulled back by a role moving faster to the side while the others got pulled in the opposite direction. He felt that the library had done this just because he had tried to remain together with the others.


    "Gil, just stay focused! Onyx and Midnight should be back soon. They will help!" Walker did his best to calm Gil. It was all they could do as a bookshelf rose up.


    What Walker didn''t notice was that Alma and Leon had also been separated. The only one left by his side was Su, who had grabbed Walker''s shirt holding them together.


    "Sorry¡­I didn''t want to be alone in here." There was a look of worry on Su''s face that said she was worried about being alone more than she was about any dangers.


    "You have been even more quiet than usual all morning. What''s wrong?" Walker knew there was more to the way that Su was acting. She would not act weaker than she was out of nothing. She must have a reason.


    "It''s¡­it''s everything that happened. We made so much work just to have to chase the danger down again." There was a mountain of stress on Walker''s shoulders. He knew this and was feeling the effects. However, Su was feeling it too.<sub> </sub>


    "My partner and I have made great leaps strength. We are the best but we were still too slow and weak to stop those viins from leaving. They did too much wrong here. And they just got to walk away?" Su began a rant that Walker felt she had needed to get out for some time but had been keeping herself together for looks. Too many soldiers had been around. Too many people that needed to see her as the pir of defense she was.


    "What about all the training we''ve done? I can channel more earth elemental mana. My body isn''t even just human anymore! Look at me, I have rougher skin, stronger muscles, and I can even breathe mes if I want!" there was a heat in the air that made Walker stumble.


    When he looked at Su closer he saw that he was speaking the truth. He knew that the dragon blood within her had changed her body and that she had possessed this skill. Yet, he had not believed it to develop so far. To be to a level that it was actually able to be done.


    "Su, I know it''s a lot. It''s more than any other human normally goes through. More than they can imagine. But you and I are both not just human anymore. Even if we weren''t physically human, we epted every race on this world. Every single race. The way I see it, we are part of every single race now. Even Gil who is so close to the elves isn''t just human or elf."


    From Su''s perspective, Walker was right to a degree. They stood for the unified races. Many would intermingle through the generations eventually leading to a radically changed people. epting that now would change things.


    "You are still Su.passionate and kind to the point of throwing yourself in front of the world''s greatest danger to protect someone. So stop thinking that you are the only one. You aren''t, you can be protected too. What do you think your family is for? We aren''t here for just show."


    The words were not overlyplicated. Walker spoke calmly but made sure that Su felt the mana rolling off of him. With the skills he had and his bond with dragons, abyssal serpents, and a nature spirit his body was filled with bonds and mana that were not his. He was still human but he knew that there was something different, something changing in his soul. Not just his body. He showed this openly.


    "Also, with the whole dragon blood thing and spirits being bonded with us, we have a long LONG life to live. Do you think you will ever really be alone?" Some people wouldn''t feel better thinking of this. Some people would feel the fear of seeing those they loved die. Yet, Su felt warmer. She knew that her family was also affected by the adventures. Remey was bound to find some alchemical immortality. Gil would somehow manage to live as long as the wind. Onyx and Midnight were monster races that could exist for generations. So many family members would remain by their side.


    "You can get sickly sweet sometimes¡­you know?" Su''s voice was a whisper before she stepped in front of Walker. She had taken the lead down the next row of books that bent toward the center of the massive library. Walker wasn''t sure if what he had said was right but Su seemed to be epting it for now.


    "The mana is moving again." Su felt the ground start to move before Walker. Her connection with Alvaro proving to be the key in preparing for the maze of shelves to change.


    "We were heading toward the center so we should try and stay where we are or on this path." Walker saw the tickles shifting while a shelf began to rumble up ahead of them changing their direction.


    The two attempted to jump over it but found the runes in the air stopping them with a soft wind. It was a warning that they had to maintain the path given to them. The rumbling stopped and Walker found that stairs had formed in front of him. Instead of just a path the library could make stairs to the smaller risen shelves in front of them.


    "This ce is stranger and stranger," Su mumbled while Walker and her stepped up. The books showing golden painted spines. Manynguages and runes they couldn''t recognize. Even some that they believed would never be pronounced in a human tongue.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1529 1529. Outside The Flow

    Walker and Su found themselves standing above some parts of the library. The pirs that were created by the tallest of the shelves that moved up were able to see therger picture. What Walker realized was that patterns the library took were not simple and random.


    ''They are in the shapes of runes. Of elemental runes." Walker was stunned at this realization. The library seemed to movepletely randomly from the ground floor. Yet now, he could see the careful organization and changes.


    "If that is the case, then maybe the knowledge revealed is rted to that.'' Su''s theory made a lot of sense.


    If the library was changing to reflect special runes, then those runes could be a signal that the knowledge for that particr rune was shown. "It''s a wind rune now. That means that there should be novels that rte to wind avable." Walker could see other ces where pirs would arise. However, when he looked out across the distance, there was one extra.


    "Do you see that area? It stands outside of the circle of wind, fire, water, earth, light, and darkness." This meant that there was another rune or knowledge that was not rted to other runes.


    "Nature. For natural mana?" The clear thought was that the rune would be for natural mana. Su and Walker both thought this before they looked and realized that every rune should be disyed in some way for nature.


    "If it''s for natural mana then it should be in the center there. And from the looks of it, there is a single circr book case that doesn''t have stairs. So maybe it''s something else." As much as Walker wanted to believe that it was something he knew, he felt that it was more believable to be an outlying rune.


    "So that could be the teleportation magic circle. That could be the runes that they used to do that. Not everyone knows mana. We have met that guy who gave us the teleportation magic scrolls. There is more to the world than what fits in a perfect little box." There was a lot of confidence brimming from Su. she was thriving off the feeling of figuring out this mystery.


    "We need to get there to prove it. But I have a bad feeling about that¡­." Walker wasn''t sure how he would maintain a path there. He would need to stay on track and reach outside the flow of the flow of the elemental runes.


    "Outside? But we can''t just leave the way it goes. The patterns all make you go certain directions and block off others." Su was thinking about the origin runes they had found so faring together. If they were ovepped the runes naturally would block certain paths. Elemental mana did this naturally, some were weak or strong against the others.


    "What I don''t get is why this library is here? We already know that the mage tower was thest ce that the race was. Why is this library so far from the deserts up north?" Both Su and Walker were torn by the question Walker had raised.


    "It feels like every time we figure out a small piece of a puzzle we have arger question. Even the runes here are the same. The origin runes. But what about the demons? They clearly adapted the runes to their own uses. So much so that they figured out a rune circle outside of the natural elemental flow¡­" Su looked like she had just been pped by an idea. An idea that took her full concentration to understand.


    "Wait, Su, the stairs!" Walker dragged Su back down the stairs that had been made by the book cases. He had noticed them start to sink which would trap them on the tform they were just on top of. They had no idea how long it would take for them to return to this position.


    Su was shrill stuck in thought but followed Walker''s pulling. She managed to get to the floor just in time to see that the path that had just been open to them had disappeared again. Now they had another bending path of bookshelves to follow. They lead toward the next area where a pir could rise.


    "If we have to follow the flow the entire way, and there was a mage tower dedicated to just that flow. Then what if some of the race didn''t believe in just the elements? What if there were others that left? What if someone said there was more?" Su had grabbed Walker''s shoulders while saying this. The world already knew this fact.


    "Your storage ability. You already use a skillet that doesn''t fit. Tell me, what mana do you use for it?" There were so many answers that Walker wanted to have about all of this. Yet he had been using a spatial skill for a long time. They had even met a spacial mage. They had met people with skills that were considered abnormal to the rest of the world.


    "We already have the answers but we didn''t research it. How could we if they are so rare? Death, life, space, time, or even more. None of it is understandable. None of it makes sense." Walker knew that staging in the floe of mana would create a never ending cycle. It would be the way it was meant to be. But there were people with the ability to change their mana in to other forces. A topic that people within the flow struggled with.<sub> </sub>


    "Everything aside, that''s what the demons did. They got out of the flow. Whatever happened to the ancient race, they split and went their own ways. Some went somewhere else while others built this then went somewhere else. Who cares? They were able to do it and the answers are all on the shelves of that extra pir." Su felt that she had found some untouchedw. Some unexplored dungeon filled with unimaginable treasures.


    "Alright! Alright alright alright." Walker was trying to keep his state of mind solid. This was a lot to take in since he had been blinding himself to something he had been interacting with constantly.


    "Let''s say that is the case. It means we will keep following these curving paths to each elemental mana. We can even somehow get to the center and find things out about thebining of manas and natural mana. But to leave the turning paths, should we try and escape while things are changing?"


    The idea was dangerous. While the bookshelves and floor tiles moved, the danger of being harmed and caught somewhere wrong was too clear. However, if they managed it, then they could be outside the path. Outside the flow to find knowledge that had been gathered by an ancient race.


    "I will tell you when things start to change. I will feel it first. If I need to, I can push you outside the path." Su wanted answers too. She was willing to help Walker get there even if it left her stuck too.


    The pair moved through the maze following the rounding shelves because they knew that this was the closest to the edge they could be. "This should mean that everyone would find something interesting. Right? Remey was drawn to a book that resonated with mes. If the runes on the books call out, then they may have done that with the demons?" Walker was worried about this being the cause.


    "It''s knowledge. Knowledge can be used by anyone. It doesn''t have to be some fate or good reason. It could have just shown itself to someone with an affinity." Since Su had thought about this as well, she had a better answer already. She had worried once that certain people shouldn''t be allowed to know things but the world would stop them.


    Unfortunately, anyone could learn anything. Fate, the world, goodness, none of that guided what people were and were not allowed to know. There was a right to knowledge and a being could do whatever they wished with it.


    "I''m not sure how we will get out of here after. Onyx should have gotten back by now. I will do my best." Walker saw Su stop and look at the walls of books next to them. Walker wanted to promise that he would do everything he could as soon as he get the knowledge they needed.


    "I trust you, now trust me." Su saw the shelves start to change. The tickles pulled them toward the next path but in a single shield bash, she sent Walker flying. He was pushed over the nearby bookcase as it rushed up from the ground. He only saw Su smiling slightly before the rumbling ceased again.


    The mana around him seemed to be disorganized. Both he and Fleur felt that this was not the proper way the library had been made. It was not the way he was used to. "Let''s find those answers.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1530 1530. Lost Notes

    Being outside the shifting bookshelves, Walker could see that they were all double sided. There were different books on each side. The section that he was walking around was no different. However, the topics were vastly different.


    Some of the book spines had writing on them. There was a great amount of knowledge rted to the experimentation of magic. Walker wondered how he could read these. What really stunned him was that when he touched a book he found that there were runes on the paper as well.


    They took his mana and the ink in the book became like liquid. It ran and changed forms. These books were more than just books. They tranted themselves. The race that had created this had done the same as their counterparts that made the mage tower. They made it possible to be easily passed on.


    "Why is this like this? How could they have such in depth runes?" Walker felt this question became more and moreplicated the more he looked. The books were so numerous that the knowledge felt endless.


    The path he was on was still straightpared to the other paths that curved around. This made Walker sure that he was going the right way. However, it also brought the question if the underground library would have some magical consciousness left by the ancient race.


    From what Walker could see, this was not the case. There were justplicated runes used to cause things to happen. More like a watch that ticked on endlessly. The mana for the floor was clearly gathered from the earth and slowly stored to be used to move the shelving and floors. The runes were powered by simr mana gathered from the city above.


    "This could be another city! Some of the buildings up there had demonic runes. They could have just been altered origin runes. That means this is the same as the desert elf city!" Walker felt strange eximing this out loud. His pride had pushed him to say it all.


    Luckily, Fleur chose this time to show herself and acted fairly excited floating in the air. "I''m d you are here to celebrate with me. Let''s go check that shelf ahead." Walker smiled a little while Fleur took the lead. They saw the rounded central book shelf that they knew was their goal.


    Fleur had felt the fluctuations of mana but was not confused. She had not really felt anything that interfered with the natural mana in the way that it was here. The books were giving off mana that reminded her of Walker''s personal mana. The mana that everyone had from the depths of their soul. The mana that Walker used when he was using skills with great determination.


    "Don''t be so confused just yet. It will get more and more like this as we investigate. See?" Walker used his storage skill and pulled out alight crystal to give off a soft glow. The point of this was to make the spatial magic skill he had resonated slightly with the outside forces on the books.


    Surprisingly, this worked perfectly. Ten of the books seemed to glow with runes that Walker had never seen. The patterns were all very different as well. Some were jagged, others turning on themselves rapidly, and even more that seemed to be moving while Walker looked at them.


    "These are runes that don''t directly tie to the flow of natural mana. That means they are both parts of nature and also outside forces. It''s pretty crazy¡­" Walkerughed to himself as he reached out to touch a book.


    As his hand made contact the ground rumbled again. The shelves behind him changed but Walker found that the shelves he was reached to were the same. The only difference was that rune patterns showed all the books and even created floating words in the air.


    ''The one that desires space''


    ''The one that desires life''


    ''The one that desires time''


    ''The one that desires death.''


    ''The one that desires the void''


    ''The one that desires existence''


    ''The one that desires the other.''<sub> </sub>


    "So the runes will show me the research categories for the books." This was stunning. The runes were smart. They were made with incredibleplexity that Walker had absolutely no idea what to do with them. He couldn''tprehend them. Even his skills affecting memory did not make the runes'' shapes easier to recall.


    The curiosity he had made Walker want to read everything. However, he could not do so. Some of the books were clearly research notes. In depth tests to see what the skills they found would do. Even the section that said other was a single book worth of knowledge.


    We need to look at the books for space!" Walker focused himself and found that Fleur had been drawn to the books under the life and death category. He realized that these two were present in nature more than the other theories. This would mean that they were both in and outside of natural mana flow. But for some reason, Walker felt that death and life revolved more toward the soul. More about the existence and non existence of a being''s consciousness.


    Since this wasn''t the topic that Walker wanted to focus on, he decided to drop the train of thought. He knew if he investigated even one of these topics that he would be lost for lifetimes.


    There was one book with glowing spatial runes that seemed to be standing out. As Walker reached for it he realized there were papers crapped inside it. Notes from someone trante the runes. "This has to be it!" The book could not leave the library but papers could be left. Research papers could be left!


    It was easy to follow the process that was used in the notes. Not to mention the fact that there were more papers folded in to the other pages. There was even a diagram of the magical circle used.


    "If I follow this right, it will take too much mana to use. It literally could kill people." Walker looked at Fleur who could feel his sadness growing. The research for such a thing was ridiculous. But it wasn''t over.


    "There''s more here too. Ways to make smaller magical circles. Whoever was researching this was-" Walker looked to his left while in amazement of all he was reading. What had stopped him was the dried body of a demon on the ground. One that had pens and ink on the floor next to them. One that had clearly discovered these things then been left after they were not needed.


    The atmosphere felt crushing. Walker knew that the demon that had worked hard to learn this was a genius. Once that may not have deserved to be treated like this. "I don''t know if you were part of the problem or could have been innocent. But I will get you buried." Walker felt that the researchers would have the same respect for the demon that had investigated these matters. When the researchers made it he could ask them to set up a distinguished funeral.


    Keeping the tranted research papers, Walker got Fleur''s attention. "I promise I wille back and investigate moreter. For now, we have to go. These notes are enough to get us what we need. We won''t use this method to get anywhere but someone should be able to discern where it puts us when used."


    There were many great researchers that would better be able to decipher these notes. All Walker needed was to get out of the library. Naturally, this was easier said than done. "Let''s just check things out here first. There might be some control spot or orb like the mage tower." Walker knew that moving this ce would be all but impossible. However, there was great amount of earth elemental mana. Making some path or other way here might be possible.


    The investigation of the rounded bookshelf brought more questions than answers. The way it was made seemed to have gaps where books could fall through to the hollow cent. If that was the case, then why? There were runes that drew the books back in ce. How could some fall?


    "Wait, Fleur!" Walker tried to stop Fleur from investigating. She moved through a gap in the shelf and was in the back where Walker lost sight of her. His hand moved to reach for her and found that he had grabbed something solid. Something with a handle.


    Upon pulling the handle the ground rumbled again. This time everything moved. Every floor tile. Every single shelf. It was the entire library reorganizing itself in to a new shape. In to a new form that was not in the natural flow of things.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1531 1531. Escaping Knowledge

    Perfect lines of bookshelves appeared. They had organized themselves so that anyone could walk through. However, the runes in the air blocked the books offpletely. "So there are hidden switches that stop this maze." Walker looked at Fleur who seemed more than happy to have helped. She had followed the mana to the switch.


    The rumbling had not stopped though. There were still pirs of books rising where each of the stairs had been before. The only one that was lowering was the round bookshelf that Walker had just investigated.


    "I think¡­this is a timer?" Walker realized that with every second, the shelf was sinking. He could only guess that by the time that the shelf was loweredpletely, that everything would return to the natural flow.


    "Walker! How did you get here? And what did you do to my book!?" Remey had ended up with the book she was reading torn out of her grip. Then the bookshelves changed leaving here in a perfectly straight corridor of books.


    "I found notes on what we have been looking for. There''s so much more here to research but we can''t do anything. Right now. We have to get out. I just wonder what has kept Onyx and Midnight so long." Walker and the others weren''t sure of the exact time but they knew that it had been more than long enough.


    "Fine! But you are making sure I can finish reading that!" Walker wasn''t sure what was so amazing about that book but knew that it must have been very important to Remey and Alvaro''s growth.


    "I heard that!" Gil jumped from the side of another shelf and smiled pretty big. He hadn''t been sure where everyone else had made it to and didn''t want to be stuck there forever. "I was trying to get back but every time the floor changed I was back at this shelf of books covered in wind elemental mana."


    "I would have assumed you would be stuck with wind. It''s your affinity." Walkerughed a little hearing that Gil and Remey had both been drawn to the books closest to their elemental mana.


    "I can hear them this way!" Leon came tumbling over another shelf. It seemed that the runes stopping people from climbing and biking through the shelves were deactivated. The books were just protected now.


    "Did you have to climb that shelf? The format of the maze became that of a normal library just now. It had to be the work of, Walker." Alma had bumped in to Leon. The pair were following the sounds of voices.


    "Alright, that just leaves Su. SUUUUU!!!." Walker called out and was quickly greeted with the sound of loud footsteps charging toad them.


    "Thank you for the shout out." Su was d to be back with everyone. "It looks like you managed to find what you needed to find." Su was sure that Walker was ready to start a proper investigation once he handed over what he had found to the right minds.


    "Exactly. Now we have to run out of here before we have to go through all that again!" They started running after Walker who could see the entrance ahead of them. They were making their best moved to get out but the ground had already started to rumble again.


    "Time can''t be up yet!" Walker was not happy to see that the shelves were changing. The books were all moving downward and the tiles had started to shift from the center out. It was making a new pattern of shelves. One that the group was barely able to make it away from.


    "Look!" Alma stopped them at the top of the stairs near the entrance. She had found the shifting maze of books was taking the form of another rune.


    "What is that¡­" Walker felt that the mana around him had changed radically. It was incorporating more than the natural mana. It was the fusion of even the odd manas depicted in the earlier books. The shelf of manas outside of the normal flow.


    "But if the manas can mix then what kind of mana is it¡­but I¡­" Walker felt that he and Fleur werepletely at the whim of such mana. However, it only stayed for a second. Before he could grasp it in any form, the shelves changed and returned to a proper format. The flow of the elemental runes.


    "It''s time to leave." Gil gave Walker a little wake up p to the back. He had to snap out of his own head before they made it to the inside of the demon''s castle again.


    The hustle and bustle inside the castle was clear as soon as they came up the steps they had been guided to earlier. "Bring that armor where! r away that wall! Make sure that we find every hidden weapons stash we can!"


    "What is going on here?" Walker''s voice was just loud enough to silence everyone in the main hall of the demon castle.<sub> </sub>


    "The general discovered hidden weapons and three traps while investigating the castle. We have been instructed to partner with the dwarves to ensure that every trap and weapons stash is cleaned out to protect the researchers that are arriving here in a few hours. The tamer''s guild has expedited their travel." The report was quick and to the point.


    "Then keep working. We will go outside." Walker did not argue with the safety needed for the researchers. Many of themcked the skills to defend themselves from any form of traps.


    Those moving around had clearly found many different traps. It made sense that Onyx and Midnight had remained outside. If they were to guide others inside they could be risking their deaths. It was a wonder that the traps and weapons had not been activated earlier.


    "Brother!You managed to get out without us!" Onyx was just outside the castle. He and Midnight had gathered multiple researchers that had been on the main lines as map makers, information gatherers, and other simr nonbat positions. The group was notrge but had enough to do what was needed for now.


    "Listen here! The maze of a library is underneath your feet. These notes are the key we need now. They detail the magical rune circle used to teleport the three demons we need to bring down. I need the location of where they are. Research this first. Then we will start the full research when the others arrive."


    "Yes sir!"Those gathered by Midnight and Onyx took the notes and began instantly. They didn''t even leave to set up a research station. Their goal was to start right then and there.


    "Brother, there is a lot of mana around you right now." Onyx felt that something was wrong. He could sense mana gathered around all of them.


    "The runes inside there are unique. They also had some runes that we all resonated with. It''s probably that." Walker could focus on the mana as well. Some he had felt before and others he could not at allprehend.


    Midnight came up sniffing all of them to ensure that they were all safe. After careful evaluation, she huffed in approval before standing next to Walker waiting for him to say something. "Thank you both. Good work. I know everyone must have found something different. I will let you do whatever you need. It''s time to wait, I know we don''t want to, but that''s all we can do."


    "Then I will try some things out." Remey looked at a nearby forge and decided to try and head there to mess with some potions. She could make a small alchemyb.


    "Same here, I found a few interesting things. I might be able to learn some interesting wind magic skills." Gil smirked while he and Alma went another way. The elves were waiting for Alma as well. She had clearly been quiet because of what she had learned there as well.


    "Good point, I might have something new to learn. Same thing that''s been happening ever since I came to meet all of you." Leon chuckled while looking toward a few soldiers that clearly needed a little bit of battle training. Or at least in Leon''s eyes, they did.


    "I should meditate. I don''t understand it but the earth mana was strange there. Deeper than I know." This was also how Walker felt about the earth elemental mana as well. There was always another level and he had yet to even scrape the surface. Therefore, when Su said it, he didn''t stop her. She had her partner to help her in this endeavor.


    "Care to exin what has happened?" Scynded next to Walker with curiosity on her face. She had waited to hear back as she went about her duties.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1532 1532. Barry Meets Terron

    Barry had been making his way from dragon vige to dragon vige. It was the duty handed down to him as one of the top guild members. Just because he was the vice guild master did not mean he could sneak out of this. It meant that he had to go wherever he needed to go.


    Did that mean he was happy to be trudging through a cave? No. he hated it. "Why are there dragons underground anyways!? The mud? First everywhere? Don''t dragons like to be clean?" his exmation just echoed through the tunnels he had been directed to by Ignus.


    When he had left thevands, he had received some guidance but not much. Just enough to find his way to the current vige of the earth dragons. Where he would find the royal dragon Terron.


    The cave itself had been carved many years ago. Even with his untrained eyes, Barry could see that the w marks used to create the walls were old and dried out. This was not freshly cut stone. But it was cut stone.


    There was a strength in the walls that Barry could feel. A being that was able to cut through earth and stone alike was not one he wanted to fight head on. It was asking for trouble. However, Barry was not there to fight them. But the rogue dragons. They were the enemy he had been asked to deal with.


    Whether it was luck, or just how his life was going, Barry heard a rumbling ahead of him. "Of course I have trouble to deal with. Let''s add on to the tally." The smelling from the cave ahead was one he had learned.


    The rogue dragons were not at all hygienic. They hated many living things and killed indiscriminately. They did not group up nor did they care about one another. They would actually fight for dominance and territory.


    These battles left festering wounds, half eaten prey in their fangs, and whatever else they crawled through to create their nests. Therefore, when the scent of rot caught in his nose he knew an enemy was approaching.


    Earth dragons tended to haverger t heads to more easily cut through the ground. The head that showed itself was the same, but the fangs were a dirty yellow aligned with broken spikes on its back. The rogue dragon that Barry was facing down was older and had been through a rough battle recently.


    "Come on over here you worm!" Barry couldn''t help but taunt the rogue dragon already rushing at him. It would make this battle easier to have a foolish angry opponent without any thoughts of defense.


    There was a simple roar of challenge that echoed through the cave when Barry swung his ax at the head of the rogue earth dragon. But what surprised him was the purer roar that came from behind the earth dragon. There was also the sound of many moving footsteps.


    Barry didn''t have time to wait though, he was in battle. His ax shed out at the front legs of the rogue dragon trying to bite him. The bite may have missed, but the rogue dragon had moved too close.


    The single sh of Barry''s axnded on the weekend part of one of the rogue dragon''s legs. It tore through andpletely severed one while cutting partially in to the other. It caused a pained screech from the rogue dragon as an earth spear came from the back.


    "Tear it to pieces! I want its head now!" The roar of order caused brown scaled dragonkin warriors to throw more earth spears. Barry was able to retreat to a safe distance as the earth spears prated the broken scales of the rogue dragon.


    This sent the rogue dragon in to a iling panic. It had not been harmed in such a way before and wanted to sh at every attack. It gave Barry the perfect opening to jump in and sh at an existing wound on the rogue dragon''s neck. "And you can rest now!" Barry put the rogue dragon out of its misery with one powerful sh.


    The head of the rogue dragonnded next to him while Barry looked over at the dragonkin warriors who were still ready to fight. "My name is Barry. I was sent to help out with this small rogue dragon issue. Your lord, Terron, should know I aming."


    "I have no need for a weakling human''s help. Return where you came from or be my enemy!" The growled order came from the same voice that had ordered the dragonkin to fight.


    "So you are Lord Terron. Do you always let your warriors fight for you? If you fight with them you could im ten more of these little lizards as your prey." Barry felt a little annoyed being sent away. Even Ignus had allowed for him to prove himself first.


    "Ignorance! You could not beat a single warrior of mine let alone all that are here. I was merciful for a moment but that was not as I should be. That human blinded me temporarily. My warriors, remove this insect!" Terron ordered his dragonkin to deal with Barry immediately. It was clearly the dragon pride driving this.


    "Walker made a name for himself and this is how you repay humans? You really have a stubborn side. But that''s fine. When I beat every single dragonkin here I wille over and say hello." Barry stretched a little before the first thrown earth spike reached him.<sub> </sub>


    The shattering of stone as he swatted it aside with his ax was the signal for the other dragonkin to attack. Facing the hardened earth spears would have been tough for anyone alone. Yet, for Barry, it was an easy thing. He had battled multiple opponents many times. It could be said that this was his forte.


    The first dragonkin warrior that had approached was effortlessly thrown in to the nearby wall. It even cracked the wall slightly before the dragonkin warrior fell to the side unconscious. "So easily dealt with when you think your opponent is weak." Barry started to lecture the warriors in underestimating opponents.


    Stubbornly, the dragonkin warriors still attacked and were tossed aside over and over. Barry was easily breaking their earth spears while also knocking them down. His battle awareness growing the more they fought. His smile also matched his energy. "Keep iting!"


    The shout of challenge from Barry came and went. It had been met by silence since he had tossed aside every single dragonkin warrior that hade at him. "Fine then. I will deliver this to your lord."


    Grabbing the head of the rogue dragon, Barry walked toward the sound of heavy breathing. He knew it was Terron around the bend in the tunnel waiting. "Here is the head of the rogue dragon I finished off for you. Those warriors of yours need new training. They just kept stubbornly attacking. No defense or weight to hold them down."


    "Human!" Terron felt the rage building. However, he had never seen someonee and defeat his warriors with such ease.


    "Well? What do you want to do? Sit there and wait to fight it out with more of your warriors? Or can we get on with the job I was sent to do? I need to hunt down more of these rogue dragons before I can leave to find that light dragon''s territory. Although, I was told that''s the worst of the bunch when ites to rogue dragons."


    Terron was a royal dragon, however, he did not get along with Rise. light and earth were different. The light rarely prated the caves that Terron made his home. Therefore, he had been at odds with Rise many times.


    "I will allow you to hunt alongside my warriors. However, you do not have my full approval to gvant through my territory. I will also not protect you." Terron tried to set harsh rules but was clearly ignored by Barry.


    "Sure thing. But I think we have less time than I wanted." Barry had just received the notification from ra to change direction. To change goals.


    "Ah, you two have met. I am d. I was justing to get Terron and found you as well. It was an impressive fight. I doubt my dragonkin would do much better." Mordant had melted from the shadows to show himself. "We are going to help the other races with the demons. It should set you up for some good rewards. They have a ce you can break through to the next understanding of earth elemental mana."


    Terron had grown to trust Mordant before. The shadows were part of the caves. They were one and the same. "And you expect me to easily go along with this for no cost other than some tower?"


    "No, I will help you y the five rogue dragons ahead. I also want you to watch this human y a rogue dragon alone. He did it for Ignus." Mordant smiled a little. He had taken his dragonkin form to bettermunicate within the caves. This allowed Terron to remain therger dragon epting the deal offered to him in his own territory.


    "Fine."


    p ¡­..</anda>


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1533 1533. A Lot Of Research Needed

    "Things have really be busy here." Remey had taken a break from her potion making attempts. She had to stop before she exhausted all of her mana. Her understanding mes had drastically improved after discovering more about fire elemental mana.


    "You''re telling me. When The researchers arrived they set up a massive research area. They already have a few routes mapped out along with an informational supply chain. There are also some mages working on the maps and location of where the magic circle sent the demons." Walker was the one most impressed.


    Researching things was not something Walker had ever thought of as a career. He had considered bing a mage and knew that there was research in it. Yet, he did not consider academic research or magical research regarding runes as a profession. Seeing this he had be more impressed and considered it as a future hobby once things calmed down.


    "How long until they think they might have results?" Remey was sure that Walker had gained some form of initial report.


    "They said that it would take a few days maybe. The magic rune circle that was used seems to be very unstable. They said it seemed to be three different magical circles spliced together. That means that the rune books might be required to trante it." This was disappointing but inevitable. Expecting answers instantly was too much.


    "There''s also the fact that they pointed out the issue in the circle. It was made in a way that constantly drains mana from the one that activates it. In theory, it is this way because the person being teleported will be torn apart if there isn''t enough mana for the entire trip. Although that was why Gluttony ended up the way he ended up. A sacrifice that was used for his mana and nothing else. Same with all the other demons here. Luckily they were not touching the circle."


    "And we got out of there. Scy dragged us away fast enough." Remey breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She knew that the rune circle had been dangerous but not so dangerous that she would have been unable to escape if she had not run from it.


    The two watched as the maps were moved and lines drawn. They tried to follow along but were lost pretty quickly. "So, how did the potion making go?" Walker knew that he might be starting a long conversation. Remey could talk about potions forever. But he was curious and had the time to learn a little.


    "I burned a lot. The alchemy fire is made for potion making. I can control it better. But the book I read was about pure mes. Using a condensed fire elemental mana that doesn''t have other elemental mana mixed in. I tried it and the temperature turned everything to ash or ck goop."


    "Why not try and train with the me elves that came here? Or find Ignus? He should show himself around soon. I can already feel the other dragons trying toe around and see what the ns are. They want answers too but are distracted enough for now." Walker had a feeling that everyone was holding their breath. They knew things were not over.


    "I will speak to Ignus. He has years of mastery. I refused to let my partner help me. I have to be able to manipte mes with perfection. If I can''t then how could I handle a literal grand elemental fire spirit adding even more power to them? I''m not dumb." Remey puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. She had angered her partner by refusing help but it was in the best interest of their rtionship.


    "If you need someone to help convince him, grab me, I will help you out. I want to go and see what Gil is doing. I watched him steal a few dwarves and elven mages to help him make new arrows." Walker left Remey to her thoughts. He knew that she was going to need time to think through her ns.


    "It needs to be able to hold three condensed manas! It has to be a fusion of elemental mana that will mix together when the arrowhead impacts. That means the center should break and open to the other chambers!" Gil had drawn out ns. His drawing skills were rough but the two dwarves at the table were helping redraw it.


    "You are already yelling about things? I just watched you start this new project only an hour ago." Walkerughed a little while ncing at the elven mages who were clearly excited.


    "Walker! Any news?" Gil waited to hear something good but saw Walker shake his head. "Then they will have it for us soon. I''m sure of it." The positivity wasing from Gil''s personal drive to make fusion elemental arrows.


    "So, care to tell me what you are working on? I know you wanted fusion arrows but that''s all I have." Walker had a general idea of the goal but knew that things would be much more detailed when Gil exined them.


    "Alright, listen! The arrow will have a small tube divided in two or three. I don''t know about four elemental manas just yet. That depends on materials. But imagine this." Gil held up a small pipe and arrowhead.


    "This is the arrow shaft. It is hollow and I have special materials within each portion of the shaft. It stores fire elemental mana in the arrow head then wind elemental mana in the shaft. When the arrow hits a target the arrow head pushes in and breaks a seal. Maybe a rune seal, I am not sure yet." Gil was rambling on and on faster and faster while Walker humored him.<sub> </sub>


    The reaction of a broken seal will cause the fire elemental mana to spark up stronger than before. Air and fire work well and that causes arge explosion or fireball. It could be even more dramatic with fire and water or earth and fire. I have no idea if I could make a lightning arrow. I would need help to do that. But the mages will help me infuse the elemental mana using runes or elemental maniption. It depends on materials."


    "If you manage to make a lightning arrow then you might have to keep that under lock and key. That''s something I have never heard of before." Walker saw the two elven mages nearly jump out of excitement. He knew that he was keeping them from working now.


    "Exactly what we want to do! New arrows that use magic and archery! I am an arcane marksman you know!" Gil dove back in to conversation with the dwarves making the improved blueprints. He looked happier than ever to be using his time to make such things while waiting for the right information. He didn''t even notice Walker leaving the smaller forge.


    The streets that Walker took to were fairly empty. The soldiers had explored most of them and had already evacuated any prisoners or demons in need. Now everything was fairly quiet. The only noise came from those investigating or those trying to work on things here and there.


    "Seriously! They had weapons that could do that here!?" The exmation came from the king of the surface. He had appeared to rx a little more than Walker expected when he was alone with his attendants.


    The king of the surface had been in charge of cataloging some of the found weapons which had unique runes. The demons had developed a lot since they discovered some hidden knowledge.


    "I would never use such a sword. Look at the jagged de! It is terrible for continued battle." Scy had foundradery with the king of the surface.Both had technical minds that focused on battle. Most of the time the king of the surface would just speak to those directly under him. With Scy, he could be more open.


    Walker kept moving past them while they went in to details about the usage of weapons. He felt that he was not an expert whose opinion could be used there. "Brother? What are you doing? I thought you would be resting." Onyx was alone as well. It surprised Walker to find him.


    "Just looking at this ce. It''s so different from what I grew up with. It makes me feel like I am in another world. How about you?"


    "I was also exploring. There are many crevices from where they forced buildings together. A lot of hidden runes that were covered up. I think this ce was the same as the desert elf city you took the tower from. Simr runes are on some buildings here as the mage tower." Onyx had been investigating constantly.


    "I thought so. I saw some runes but didn''t confirm it yet." Walker knew that Onyx had worked hard to find this and was most likely about to visit the researchers to share the things he had found. Walker could only praise how Onyx had matured so quickly.


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 Chapter 1534 1534. Two Missing Things

    "That''s the same theory I have heard. This ce was built by the same ancient race we have been looking in to so far. Just a different group of them." Alma had met Walker by the researchers. She had been speaking with them based on a theory.


    "Exactly. It makes more sense that way. They have simr runes, but the runes here are a little odd. They have runes that don''t necessarily match the flow of mana. There are the outside forces like space, time, death, life, and other things. This group of the ancient race must have decided to follow different beliefs."


    Walker and Alma were having a constant debate. Alma had been practicing with her blue ivy to grow it faster. Upon being separated in the maze of a library, she had found a book on natural mana and how it influenced nt growth.


    This would be normal but for the fact that she did not have the ability to manipte natural mana. The theory she had found was based on the existing natural mana in every nt. Therefore, Alma had been able to use the elemental mana she had within her body to spur the ivy''s natural mana to grow it faster. There was not much of a breakthrough yet, but it woulde in time.


    "From what we have seen, this civilization is slightly younger than the desert ruins that the mage tower came from. There must have been a societal divide that caused some to leave. However, we can prove that it was abandoned at roughly the same time. The ruins have simr degradation in the untouched portions of the demon city."


    One of the researchers nearby had beenpiling data. He had been sending person after person out to check certain parts of the demon city. Many of the buildings had been built around damaged ruins. This was one reason for the odd style the city had. The reason it was like a massive maze.


    "Thank you. It means that we are getting somewhere with what we have found when ites to the ancient race and where they may have gone. I just wonder what else we will find while this city is investigated." Walker felt that the researchers were finding too much information. They needed more help.


    "We still don''t have a solid ce where the demons have gone. But at least we learned something more." Alma also felt the pressure from things. She had many elves relying on her to tell them what they would be doing next.


    "You know, it might be better for you to head back to Genesis. There are the stone elves and the dark elves that deserve to see what they joined us to fight for. There are also demons moving back there that will need help adjusting." This idea was not one that Walker hade up with on the spot. He was debating going home as well.


    "What about this ce? There is a lot of knowledge here. We might need it right away." Being told to go home made Alma wonder if Walker was unhappy with her.


    "Don''t make that face. I don''t think you are useless or anything terrible. I just feel that this will take more time than we want. There are a lot of new peopleing to Genesis and it is expected that all of the leaders are there. That means me too." Walker sighed. This was a hard decision. However, the information learned would be brought to Genesis anyways.


    "I understand. Then I will gather the elves that don''t need to be here. I can lead the stone and dark elves home myself. I believe the tamers will take us there if I bargain a little." Since Alma epted this, she was sure that others would as well.


    "I know the king of the surface will stay. Scy will probably leave and so will the royal dragons. They want to get to Genesis too. Leon will most likely stay. He mentioned something about exploring the rivers more. He has the goal to map out the demonnds a little. Als to visit the city along the cliffs. It''s said to be simr to the grand cathedral city in the far north. It could be a good chance to connect with another human city."


    There was a lot when it came to growth possibilities here. The dangers of the demonnds were great in number. Too many people would be lost exploring without knowledge. Having the rivers mapped out would give a great benefit of escape routes and ces to avoid.


    "So you want to leave too?" Without any warning, Su hade up behind Alma and Walker. She looked a little tired but was very ready to leave.


    "No one has had proper rest. The soldiers have moved to every vige that Ventus found, and there are researchers here with guards. It''s time to properly unite all the races in Genesis. The demons need a representative too. When we know more we can go after that demon lord or king or monster, whatever he is."


    "Can I ask what spurred this?" Su was in a little distress. Walker knew that something had to have pushed her to this.


    "She is tired. Everyone is tired." Alice hadrge circles under her eyes from healing and moving so much. She had been busy since they made it to the demon city. So much so that she had been able to see the soldiers copsing from exhaustion. Many had pushed beyond their means.<sub> </sub>


    "Then we pass it on. We are leaving some people here to guard and investigate. The rest will return to wee thest races in to the city." The decision was made. Walker would ept anyone else''s anger if they were unhappy that he made it.


    "I just need to get the light elves and you need the light royal dragon. They would be thest we need to make Genesisplete." Alma remembered what was missing from Genesis. The only two things she could think of.


    "I know. I will struggle with Rise, but she will have to ept us. I know I didn''t see who she really was."


    "You are correct about that. Rise is my opposite. I am a darkness dragon. She is a light dragon. She lives in the air where she is close to the light of the sun. I am deep in the ground or hidden away. We never get along but I can at least see eye to eye with my fellow dragons. If you believe that Ignus has fiery pride, hers is more dangerous than that."


    Mordant hade to speak with Walker and found himself in the conversation at the right time. "The light elves have always been the same. They never responded to the letters we sent and they hard to reason with. The wind elves at least had the excuse of their journey being too long. But they wille. They will be there when we arrive in Genesis. I can trust their word." It appeared that Alma had a simr challenge ahead of her.


    "Then we go our separate ways. I will get Rise. You will get the light elves." Alma and Walker shared a knowing moment. They would not be able to return home for a little while.


    "Mordant, can you take me to the light dragon vige? I know you can move through the shadows and others through the shadows. It would be the most efficient way to do it."


    "Wait! You aren''t just going to go there now!? You need to rest too!" Su and Alice both tried to grab Walker. They were both tired and Walker easily dodged them.


    "I will. By the time yy make it back to Genesis, I will have the light dragon and dragonkin with me. It will be fine. Just wait for me." Mordant took the opportunity to reach out and pull Walker in to the shadows with him. Walker felt that he had just been pulled in to a pool of cool water. Silent and cool but breathable.


    "I can''t believe he just did that!" Su was understandably angry. Yet, Alice just ended up smiling. This was one reason she cared for Walker. He wouldn''t leave something half done. He would put his all in to it.


    "I should move too. I will get the elves that I can and head toward thest known location of the light elf viges. They will be unhappy that I arrive but it will be what needs to happen." Alma left Su standing there stunned. There was a lot to do.


    "I will go and tell everyone then." Su huffed while she pointed herself towards the others. Alice just followed with a smile on her face.


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 Chapter 1535 1535. Shadow Traveling

    Shadows were a strange thing. They were the darkness elemental man that had shrunk in to where the light would not chase it away. It was a ce that most people could not interact with. Mordant was different. Shadows had always been close to him since his birth.


    A shadow and darkness elemental mana came second nature to Mordant as a darkness dragon. He had studied it for many years alone in seclusion. When he had been doing so, he was lucky to notice that not all shadows were the same. Some moved.


    Regardless of the monsters that used shadows to travel or hide, they were few in number. But the things he saw moving were not monsters, nor were they other dragons. They were darkness elemental spirits. One in particr, had taken to watching him even when he was considered a young dragon.


    Over many years of bringing darkness elemental mana closer and studying it, Mordant had managed to befriend the elemental spirit that had been interested in him. He had managed to roughlymunicate things to work out that they could help each other absorb darkness elemental mana and grow stronger.


    Eventually, Mordant had grasped some of the core values of darkness. Of shadows. He had heard the stories of older dragons leaving for the darkness elemental ne, or moremonly known, the ne of shadows. A ce where the strength of a being''s darkness affinity was king. Where beings that could crush Mordant roamed.


    Upon touching pon this, Mordant learned at an elerated rate proving himself to be the royal dragon he was meant to be. It also graced him with many bloodline skills of darkness dragons such as shadow travel. The very skill that Walker felt himself caught in now.


    Finding that he could breathe, Walker felt himself engulfed by cold darkness, "How can you tell where we are going!" His shout was surprisingly loud and echoed through the darkness.


    "The same way you can hear. You can feel it. It is just how the shadows are. They are like ck waters weing those that can sense them." Mordant had taken his dragon form. Walker was unsure how he could see this with the fact that there was no light.


    The more Walker tried to figure it out, the more he became confused. "It''s a feeling. Do not force it. Shadows move away from force. That is why they flee the brutality of the light. They prefer to meld with the world in a rxed manner." Just saying this exined a lot about what characteristics that Mordant had taken from the shadows throughout his life.


    Reaching out with his own senses. Walker felt the dense dark elemental mana around him. It was cool and flowing simr to water. Mordant was able to manipte it to carry them. The way it swirled around them could be better exined as many strands of ck ink in dark pools of water.


    Even though Walker had a minor understanding of darkness elemental manapared to the other affinities he had, it was growing. Just being surrounded by this was enough for him to begin to grasp other factors that influenced darkness elemental mana. "Midnight will be pretty angry with me." The fact hit Walker a little harder because he knew that she was trying to embrace her own lineage on her mother''s side.


    Onyx would most likely be the same. He literally hid his true body size within his shadow. The abyssal serpent bloodline would want to embrace shadows like these. "I know what you are thinking and why your champion would be jealous. But I do intend to share this with her and your little abyssal serpent. They share something with me that I already epted."


    "Mordant, Originally I thought I would get along with Current the best out of everyone. I think You proved me wrong. Out of all the royal dragons you seem to be the most epting of others."


    "Hmm, it was not always this way. I learned the hard way to ept others. The dragonkin that follow my words were once under my father and grandfather. The viges I keep were once small and had the potential to fall to pieces. Listing a royal is not a small matter. I was not always ready to step in to that position." Mordant didn''t say anymore about this, however, Walker could tell that it was a test of strength for Mordant. A period of his life that made him to be the strong darkness royal dragon that the others saw.


    "We are nearly there. This takes a deep toll on my mana and body. You can go alone from there. I will rest." Mordant was also trying to avoid Risepletely. She was the royal light dragon and he the royal darkness dragon. They conflicted constantly. If he were to walk in to her viges then it would cause trouble.


    Before Walker could say anything in response, he found himself blinded by the world. He hade out under the shadow of a cliff while Mordant had remained within the shadows to recover his mana. Traveling this way was at a great cost but had a massive benefit of moving faster to other shadows of the world. Something that not many beings could do let aloneprehend. Even Onyx was very far from being able to travel such great distances.<sub> </sub>


    Fleur was still out on Walker''s shoulder. She had watched the darkness pass by and even taken some of the mana with her. She was very curious about everything going on around her and Walker. The feeling of darkness overtaking all other elemental manas was new to her. Mordant''s darkness elemental spirit partner was also watching her the entire time. They could understand the same things about the mana of the world.


    "We made it here, let''s go and see what the light elemental mana is like." Fleur floated in the air with some excitement. Walker was d he was not alone toe here. Even if he had made the choice to cleave himself, he still wanted his family with him.


    The cliff that Walker had been left on was covered in light. The sun was shining down on it while clouds seemed to shy away from the mountain. When he looked up he found that he was looking at pure white stone carved to create open roofed buildings. The entire mountain was carved to be the dragon vige that Walker needed to go to.


    Taking slow progress, Walker decided to climb up a little to take a better look before stepping in to the air. Once he was in the air, he would be entering as a royal dragon and no longer able to be curious about the vige. He had to act the same way that Rise might. Adhering to the traditional dragon ways.


    The more that Walker saw, the more he realized that this vige was only for the white scaled dragonkin that fell under Rise and her light elemental dragons. They were constantly polishing and cleaning the vige. Moving around to ensure it was perfect in every way. "So this is what they do instead of managing their territory."


    Seeing this proved why the other royal dragons had feelings against Rise. But she was still considered the older of the royal dragons. Rise could use her power to suppress them as well. "Alright, I saw what I needed to see. Now to go up there." Walker could see the slight shadows that came from therger dragons higher in the sky. The dragon remained as close to the light of the sun as possible so that they could absorb the light elemental mana better.


    Using the elemental wings skill, Walker did his best to force only the light elemental mana in to the skill. He had done so with the water in the air before, so he decided to use the light this time. Grasping the dense light elemental mana seemed easier here because of whatever was benign done to make the clouds avoid blocking the light. It was why the light condensed in to feathery white light wings. If Walker could describe them, they were less like a dragons and more like the griffins he had seen.


    The immediate influence Walker used to manipte the light caused the air to be tense. The dragons above him clearly felt that someone else had arrived. Someone else with the ability to manipte the light that they coveted.


    With a steel look in his eyes, Walker moved higher and higher to match the height of the dragons. He could tell who Rise was. Thergest and purest of the white scaled dragons. Her wingspan longer than the other dragons and her teeth appearing sharper. The same could be said of the look she had toward Walker. An uninvited guest.


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 Chapter 1536 1536. Getting To Rise

    The movements of the light dragons had halted. They did not know who Walker was and Rise had yet to say anything. She was just ring at Walker like he was a rat that she had just found in the food pantry. "Your vige is very different from what I expected to find." Walker''s tone was t. Not at all showing any real interest.


    This seemed to be enough to force Rise to have to respond. "You did not send a notice that you would be visiting. Why is it that you havee here?" Rise still sounded dignified, however, Walker could feel the frustration that he was there. The mana in the air had be still as well. All Rise had to do was manipte the light elemental mana and the light elemental wings Walker had made would dissipate.


    "I had no time. I expected you toe when I sent the other royal dragons invitations to visit Genesis or when we needed help. I believed that the upstanding light dragons woulde to assist those races they live so far above." The slight mocking was enough to make Rise a little more frustrated. A little angrier. No one spoke to her this way.


    "Luckily, we discovered more ancient knowledge and even freed the demon race without you. We are going to be focusing on a few other problems next. One involving the wyverns. You may want to participate in this one." The way Walker said this made it seem less of an option and more like a mandatory requirement.


    "My vige and territory is pristine. I have no reason to leave here to purify any other territories. It would be a lot of time lost on bing a purer light dragon. How could I steal away those things from my elders and children." This was a nice but fake reasoning. The other light dragons were powerful enough.


    "These few dragons? Is this really all you have in your vige? I was wondering why I was told that the other dragons have to deal with your rogue dragons. If this is all you have, then you must have sent a great many out of your vige. And you have still yet to send any unwanted hatchlings to Genesis. They could be better than you there. Or is that what you fear?"


    With the tiny bit of politeness being crushed, Walker asserted himself a step higher in the air than Rise. He started to manipte all the elemental manas around him to change the wings from just light elemental mana. He wanted her to be forced to see the elemental manas joined. Forced to see him as the natural ryal dragon he represented.


    "A disgrace would be giving these pathetic things to someone else. Do you not see that an impure dragon is not worth it? They could never represent the true strength of a dragon let alone the light." This attitude was what the other royal dragons hated from Rise.


    While the other dragons pursued their elemental purity as well, they did notpletely shun the mixed dragons. They were able to ept them to a degree while also mixing their viges here and there. The steam dragon that had been birthed from current and Ignus''s viges mixing was considered rare but still weaker than a pure dragon. But still a dragon.


    "If you do not wish to allow them a chance at life to be a dragon, then what is the point in having children grow from eggs in to adults at all? You throw your own kind to madness and death. They could be more. They could study the ancient runes within my mage tower and gain a better understanding than you in light elemental mana. I would say it would even take half the time. Since youck the things I have in my home!"


    "You would dare!" Rise was gravely insulted. Walker had just inly said that he had better chances to do what she could do. That he could raise a weaker dragon to be stronger than her in half the many years she had focused on light elemental mana.


    "I am THE light royal dragon. THE single most powerful elemental dragon! How could you arrive here and insult my purity in front of others? Is it a war that you desire human!?"


    "War? I already fought a war without you. A dragon that can not stand with its race is the same as a rogue dragon. Do you not see that you were not there? That you are not able to represent your race any longer? A hermit hiding away to further their purity only bes weaker while the world grows around them. My Genesis is a ce where every royal dragon already desires a home.


    They see that they have a future there. They see that they are going to be able to be stronger. Mordant and Ignus already have new breakthroughs in their elemental mana. Your opposite is going to overstep you. They will be more powerful than you shortly. That is why I am here, Rise! I am here to bnce this elemental nature of yours and crush your idiotic belief that you are the only real dragon!"


    Walker''s brokenposure came out in a roar of grievance. His words were half draconic tongue and half human. They burrowed in to Rise like no other words ever had. This was not something she had experienced. Even the light dragons that once attempted to speak over her had easily been crushed after a few res.


    This fluctuation of all mana around Walker made the light dragons roar in anger back at him. They perceived him as a threat but still did not move without Rise speaking. They could not. However, they were also shocked. Completely held back watching the convergence of elemental mana. The changes of the eternal orb.<sub> </sub>


    Rise was a single dragon out of all that had not been shown the powers that Walker was developing. The strength that he had that was more than a human should possess. The form that he could take that showed off abination of dragon''s skills and manas.


    As the elemental dragon aspect took shape, Walker was sure to make the elemental manas stronger than before. He forced them together and fused them in all shapes he could. The earth was forcefully pulled to make scales from the mountain.


    The water was taken from the air and even the shadows moved around Walker. Therge dragon head that was created was more than before. It had sharp light and ice fangs waiting to bite if need be. The ws were a mix of earth and mes. The wind whipping around the wings. The dragon aspect was able to show off the control that Walker had that was well above what the other dragons believed he should have.


    "Can you not see that you are a piece of the whole? A single aspect of the natural order?" Walker''s words were harsh and filled with natural mana. He and Fleur had not hesitated to mix more natural mana in to the skills to make sure that they held more weight. To ensure that things were clearer.


    Instead ofing at Walker, Rise was a little stumped. This situation was unprecedented. It stood out from everything she knew in life. The royal dragon court had already been something she had trouble epting. Now this? How could she fathom it properly? No human should be able to do such a thing.


    "If you are here for war, I will strike you down. You are not the same as I am-"


    "War! Is that what you desire? A war between dragons when the wyvern are being conquered by three demons that do not care for other races? By three evil beings that would dly shoot the dragons down from the air as pets for the rest of their lives?"


    This was the clincher. Walker had not exined that there were three demons that were, in theory, going to conquer the wyverns and take them as their own strength. That they would easily topple the dragons next. They would be nothing more than pets if they survived.


    "If you speak the truth." The vicious growl proved that Walker had finally gotten words through to Rise. That she was finally seeing him as more than just a human.


    "The truth is that you shoulde to be with the other royal dragons. Unite with the others and reap the bandits of doing so. Compared to what you could be, you are weak. Let me show you things you never imagined were possible. I swear on my title as royal dragon that you will see amazing things. If not, I will leave my vige to you." Walker put down his final foot. His mana allowing the elemental dragon aspect to fade while he held out a hand.


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 Chapter 1537 1537. Bullying Rise

    Walker liked to think that he had the pride of dragons well figured out. He had seen the stories andpared it with what he had learned. Compared to what he knew, Light dragons were the only ones that held to the older beliefs that dragons were all powerful. Their pride was greater than the other dragons.


    Even Terron and Ignus, who were the most stubborn of the royal dragons, had the ability to ept others. This proved that the dials the dragons had followed for so long were not what they believed wholly anymore.


    Believing in only pride and one race being all powerful was hard to do. The dragons had seen the other races achieving other things they could not. Researching other things that theycked. Runes being one of them.


    The mage tower was also a massive draw to the dragons thus far. They had been limited by the ces they moved with high elemental manas that they needed. Now that a mage tower was a possibility, the royal and non royal dragons could improved more. Walker had used this to ensure that the other royal dragons were well rewarded for their assistance.


    While Walker had a minor fear that Rise would just attack him since he had been pushing her, that was not the case. Such an act would not befit her. She was a glorious light elemental dragon above all others. She had to maintain the appearance she had worked so hard to create.


    "I wille to your small vige and see what you are speaking about. If I gain control of it then it may see a day when it is purified." Rise saw this as a way for her to be able to properly guide the other races in to what they should be pursuing. In what they should be doing. However, this was all in her own mind and not what they would want themselves.


    Of course Walker knew all this it was easy to see that Rise was just saying these things. Her alternative desires were easy to see. "Then you should be able to show me your vige quickly as well. I was surprised when I got here to see that they do not hunt or anything here. Maybe you could exin that." Walker watched Rise take her dragonkin form. She looked annoyed when she met Walker''s gaze again.


    Walker was able to use the wind ripple skill tond carefully in the vige with Rise by his side. She was looking carefully around as they walked from the center toward the open buildings. From what Walker could tell, this was not a normal urrence. The dragonkin were moving away to remain at a far distance.


    The other dragon viges would not be like this. The dragonkin reported to their royal dragon lord because they relied on them. These were not dragonkin that relied on Rise.


    "Hmm, I thought that your dragonkin would greet me. Do you not follow that tradition here?" Hearing Walker mention tradition got to Rise again. She felt that he hade here to harp on things that were not important. But he had hit a solid point. Walker had learned that he had more power over Rise than he expected.


    Since Walker was a younger royal dragon, he was not expected to know and follow everything perfectly. Instead, he seemed to know things and used them against Rise who was an older dragon. It made a decent amount of mental damage every time he used this tactic.


    "You should understand that the brilliance of light needs to be seen everywhere. If they were toe closer they would cast shadows on us. That would diminish our light. This is out of their respect. It''s the same for hunting. They must do so away from the vige. How could they risk staining such a pure ce?"


    "Oh, so your dragonkin don''t actually live or work here. They must live down the mountain. If they want a ce to live they cane to Genesis too. It would be fine for them to hunt and eat there. Then you won''t have to worry about them so much." This tested Rise''s patience even more. She was closer and closer to losing theposure that she had crafted.


    "So you do have ces for eggs. Those should be the most recent generation?" Walker caught sight of arge nest near one of therger buildings. The eggs were bathed in light from above which was helping them grow to be able to hatch sooner.


    "Yes, we do care for our young here. These are the five eggs that we believe will hatch with high affinity." Rise was about to start bragging. It was natural that she would do so when showing the next generation of the light elemental dragon she expected to be representing her vige.


    "So you threw the ones you didn''t think to be good enough away already? I guess I will see where your dragonkin hid them. They seem more caring than you when ites to the young. And we don''t want more rogue dragons around for Ventus to clean up.


    "Youe here to insult me at every turn-"<sub> </sub>


    "Yes. I came here to put you in your ce. I have seen the way that the others act when you are brought up. Your fellow royal dragons wish to see the world change with them and not without. You are the only one. So I will be blunt and give you exactly what you give out. I even bet my home on it because I want to see you learn. Until you do, I will treat you the way they see you treat them." Walker red at Rise with intensity. She was being thrown loop for loop today.


    "You may not see it, but in their eyes, you are a monster keeping them. This pristine white vige is not lived in. It is not a home. It is not a ce for them to grow. I understand that you did note to help us because of your values but your dragonkin are clearly weaker. Theyck the strength of a dragon experienced in battle." Walker didn''t stop there though.


    "These dragonkin clearly need toe and meet others of different elemental affinities. They will learn to be strong warriors and ept other races too. Then you can keep your perfect little vige if you don''t want them to have a home. I will also take the hatchlings that they are hiding. I can tell Rise. they are not blinded by your trusted ideals."


    Rise was infuriated even more hearing that Walker was bringing up such things. The dragons she outcasted from her vige could never be kept. They were gone. Nonexistent to her. But to hear that her servants would do something like keep them? A huge insult. But she could not argue against it. She saw the world in a twisted ck and white.


    "I guess I did not expect you to be so forward with your ways. I wanted to rest more but I should step in." Mordant rose from the shadows to Rise''s dismay.


    "I thought I felt the impurities in your mana." Rise was not happy to have Mordant there.


    "Normally I would avoid you, Rise. But I am here with Walker. We had some good and bad momentstely which you missed. Even Terron came out from underground to help. You know that it is very hard to have that happen. A human warrior managed to impress him." These words sounded like some big lie created to mess with her. But Rise continued to listen.


    "I want you toe to Genesis. I would be willing to bet my viges as well as his city. The ce is not something you could understand. All of us have seen that our current ways are changing. If we remain the way we are, every other race will be stronger than the dragons. We have to adapt as well."


    With another dragon saying these things, Rise had reached the end of her patience. "I agreed toe to his home. I will take everything if I am not impressed. Do whatever you want for the day. I will leave for there tomorrow. Now leave me be." The order was growled out to Walker and Mordant. But after she had left to return to the sky, Mordant smiled a little.


    "I know we will have trouble with her for a long time. She has been like this for as long as I have known her. But she won''t have a problem learning something new. Once she realizes that others are out there that can fight against dragons, she will change whatever she has to." The pride that Rise had would work in their favor. Mordant was sure of it.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1538 1538. Lower Village

    Mordant looked up at the sky for a few moments as Rise was leaving them. He had a slightly sad look on his face. He knew that it was not fair that a royal had be so strict and twisted. The values that they had grown up with were made in to a strange and unfair set of rules.


    "She used to be more rxed. She was still strict. Light is like that, it is transparent and in the open. How could light not be close to the rules?" Mordant seemed like he had respect for his opposite element.


    "But something changed? What happened? If that''s not too much?" Walker knew that the dragons couldn''t be so foolish to just change randomly. They had their reasons to do what they did.


    "It is true that dragons are extremely resistant to illness. But that''s not the same for the eggs while they grow within their eggs. That''s why we make onerge egg for every generation. Each of us has developed close rules. That''s why I did not bring an egg with me. A hatchling is more resistant."


    Walker realized what Mordant was getting at. He understood what he was saying and could already feel the pain that a dragon would feel if such a thing would happen.


    "That year, when Rise had her first, was when the caretakers rxed too much. It was no one''s fault. A problem that none could have perfectly controlled but there was a chance that they were negligent. A single dragon born would have been a blessing¡­"


    Since it was clear what had happened, Mordant stopped where he was. Walker could easily understand how such a loss for the light dragons would change the way they acted. How it would force them to adhere to extremely strict rules regardless of how strange they were.


    There was also the understanding why light already being considered a purifying elemental mana, would push them to believe in hierarchy and purity even more.


    "So that''s how it started. Now that she, they, are like this¡­ it will be tough for them to rx ever again." Walker wasn''t sure how long ago this had happened, but it was still enough to shake the light dragons.


    "Let''s go and see the real dragonkin vige. I have been there before. It''s not what those up right dragons like to admit exists but these dragonkin need homes. It''s also the dragon champion and guardian that keep it together."


    It was a fact that Mordant was still tired from helping transport Walker so far. However, he had regained enough energy to make a critical appearance along with walk about for some time.


    The side of the vige was what Walker expected to be a sheer cliff. When he reached it, Walker looked down to find that there were many stone steps heading down. Clean cut and clearly well traveled.


    As Mordant took the lead down them, Walker began to see that there were small holes carved out of the white stone. These were homes for the dragonkin where they didn''t have to follow the incredibly strict cleaning rules of the upper vige. It may not have been as pretty but it was home.


    Some younger dragonkin were moving around training or entertaining themselves. The pair managed to see one returning from a hunt. The dragonkin had some sort of monster but also had be dirty in the process. Something that wouldn''t be eptable in the upper vige.


    "Wait, you are the dragonkin guardian." Walker spotted a familiar face from the royal court. He could tell by the armor more so because it was much higher quality than the other dragonkin a round.


    "Lords, what brings you to such an unclean ce? I can escort you to the proper vige." The guardian didn''t expect to see them and had fallen in to a general respectful habit. It was better that way than risk disrespecting a royal dragon.


    "No. We wanted toe here. Walker is here for the first time and already spoke to Rise. Some of your fellow dragonkin and Rise will be going to Genesis after some convincing." Mordant summed things up simply. It wasn''t enough to truly get through about what had happened but enough.


    "Is there anything you require from us?" The dragonkin guardian was a little unsettled. This was not a normal urrence for them. The only dragon that came here was the dragon champion that was very close to their dragonkin guardian.


    "I just wanted to see. Maybe have a word with you and your champion. I didn''t see a champion flying around so they must be here." Walker saw the understandinging to the dragonkin guardian''s face.


    "I will find my champion for you to speak with. They were handling a small matter before you arrived." The guardian rushed off while Walker and Mordant watched the dragonkine out more from their homes to investigate.


    "They seem better off than I expected." Walker was sure that based on the attitude and rules of the light dragons, that there would be some tougher living conditions for the dragonkin here.<sub> </sub>


    "They are tougher than you think. These ones here have some fight in them. The light elemental dragonkin are actually very efficient swordsmen. Better than most other dragonkin. It has to do with the founding royal light dragon. She valued the rity that the first dragonkin warrior had. He used a sword with clear and proper intention."


    The small history lesson was not what Walker expected from Mordant. He knew a lot about the light elemental dragonkin and dragons. "Youe here more than you let one? Don''t you?" This was the only logical conclusion that Walker coulde up with.


    "Just because Rise is my opposite does not mean I do not care about her. We are all royal dragons. We must be there when things happen." Mordant had put a lot of thought in to everything.


    With the changes that he had seen personally and the influence of Walker, he had seen a potential. A potential for more than just a few of his fellow royal dragons toe together.


    The ideal that all royal dragons coulde together was something that spoke to Mordant a lot more than he had anticipated. Improving themselves and growing in to more powerful versions of what they knew resonated with him.


    Now there was the potential to pull a fellow royal dragon from the past that haunted them. "I want to see everythinge together," Mordant mumbled under his breath as the guardian returned and another figure came as well.


    "Wee to the secondary level of the light dragon vige. My lord has already met with you and now it is time for me to fulfill my duty. What would you like to see lords?" The dragonkin form of Rise''s champion was very close to the other dragonkin. The only differences were the sharper features andrge wings in his back.


    "Well, I know you have met Su. Since you and your guardian are going to be close to Genesis with Rise, you are invited to spend time with my champion and guardian." Walker knew this would mean a lot to them.


    "We will apany our lord when the timees." Both responded quickly. They couldn''t hide the small light in their eyes. Su and Midnight had made some impression on them while Walker had made an impression on all of them. This was just the time to remind them of it.


    "There are ces to train, a tower for you to focus on elemental affinity training, and food you have never seen before. His vige is a single ce but has a great many connections." Mordant smiled softly while tempting the pair.


    "If you would like, we are about to test the skills of our youngest dragonkin warriors. It would be an honor to have two royals witness it before they go before our lord." This was an invitation that held a lot of respect.


    "Of course, we would never say no to that. The next generation is always the foundation. I would be foolish not to see the potential." Mordant took the lead following the champion and guardian.


    "We have a special training area for the sword moves we have passed down for generations. They are always improving and brings us great pride." Both the champion and guardian seemed excited to show off.


    With the mana that Walker could feel, he realized that this was not just swordsmanship. It dealt the same as when he had seen the elven spellswords. The influence they had over mana in swordsmanship was what''s eat them apart from others. And as they came to the training area, Walker found that this was extremely simr.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1539 1539. Gale Apples

    "Are you sure you don''t want to turn around and go back to Genesis?" Alma was very worried that Gil was making the wrong decision. She had been worried since Gil got angry after Walker left.


    "No, he left without telling everyone so I will do the same. He can just wait for us to get back. Then when he apologizes I might tell him what we did." The angry face that Gil made was definitely scarier than normal. Unfortunately, Alma found it adorable and had a hard time taking him seriously.


    "That fool! He just left without a word. He is going to throw himself in front of dragons or monsters or whatever without everyone else. I don''t know how Midnight and Su could ept it!" the grinding of Gil''s teeth was almost audible through the wind that was whipping past them.


    "You are going to have to ept it at some point. Mordant would not take Walker somewhere that he would get hurt or die. He is also there to help Walker. Trust in the royal dragons." From above, the somehow soft voice of Ventus came to Gil and Alma.


    "We apologize for our bickeringdy Ventus. As you can tell, Walker has taken a great many things on his shoulders and his family is unhappy that it is continuing." Alma had reached a very fruitful deal with Ventus and her children.


    They would help bring the elves to the light elf territory. In return, the forest elves would be growing the gale apples that the wind elemental dragons loved so much. It was a fair deal since they could assist the growth of younger wind affinity beings.


    "I can tell that as a human, Walker has branched out in to a great many hearts. As a royal dragon, he is doing his duty. I am here showing my children how to interact with other races. They learned to stand above others. They learned to protect. That is my duty as a mother. As a royal dragon, I am using my power to represent all dragons and the strength our race has. Remember it, representative of the elven people."


    Ventus was not a cruel royal dragon. She was sharp when she needed to be and calm when she could be. The wind had many forms and everyone knew that it had the potential to tear apart a mountain. But because she had the power to be calm, she was able to understand how the other royal dragons were operating and match them. She also knew how to get the greatest benefits for herself this way too.


    "Now, I have brought you here at a great speed with my children. You and your representatives can rely on yourselves to return home. I will be going to my vige to get you the seeds your people will be growing. Remember, you will hold them for delivery for five years at the least. After that, a new deal can be made."


    Ventus used the wind to release Alma, Gil, and the other elves brought with them. Her children roared a farewell while Ventus nced back. She had more than decided she liked the joining of the races. There was too much to like about it.


    "So this is it." Alma stood tall. She was looking at the teauing mountains that Ventus had taken them to.


    The journey that would have taken three or four weeks on foot had been made in just a day. The strength of a being that could control the wind was too much. Ventus had evenmented that she and her children were moving slowly to keep a bubble of wind to protect them. But to say they had moved slowly was astounding.


    The light elves had made homes simr to how the light dragons did. They liked the t mountains close to where the sun shined. However, that was the end of the simrities. The light elves were bound by their own unique culture. One that didn''t match the same kind of arrogance that the light elemental dragons possessed.


    "Alright. Time to focus on some elves that don''t want to properly join Genesis. Let''s find out why." Gil changed his attitude. If he was going to be here beside Alma, then he would have to act the best that he could. Walker would be dealt withter.


    "They arepletely focused on light and what light means. They do not concern themselves with other things and they do not usually respond to much when ites to other elves. They also have incredible healing capabilities and even believe that all lifees from the light. They are hard to handle." Alma knew this to be the way that the light elves lived.


    "Then it will be hard to get them under our wings. I think they will change their minds when they speak to us though." Gil tried to be positive, however, he noticed a shimmering in the sky that changed what he had seen.


    The previously t teaus were now filled with stone houses. Small but peaceful. There were many white robed elves walking around. Some had feathers that were pure white in their hair. Others had small animals with them, mostly avian monsters that could fly to the high teaus that they lived on.


    "It is rare that we get guests. Can I ask you for your names?" The voice was pleasant. However, the light that moved around them with sharp intent was not pleasant.


    "Greeting the next queen of the forest elves and the representative of elves on the Genesis council with attack magic is a poor choice. But greeting the avatar of the wind, hero, friend of the goblins, and founding member of Genesis is also dangerous." Gil spoke calmly but around him the wind whipped up causing arge gust to make everyone shiver.<sub> </sub>


    "Gil, I am sure that they know we are here to speak with their council of elders. They would have attacked if they felt we were here with violence as our intentions. Although, if they have gone against the history of elves and rtionships with their own race¡­" The blue ivy showed itself around Alma''s arms. The other elves also showed their readiness to draw weapons or cast spells.


    "Then the council will see you princess of the forest elves and representatives of Genesis. But I must ask, do you truly intend to be on the same status as this human?" The elf seemed to be questioning them more than necessary.


    ? "I see no human here. I see elves. All elves. Especially the hero that has dedicated a great deal of his time to the elves when he was not born from the elves. Unfortunately, you and your light elf brethren do not know this. The letters sent to you must not have reached your elder''s old eyes." Alma was giving off more pressure than Gil expected. He had never seen her so harsh yet eloquent before.


    "Follow me and wee to the humble vige of healing and purification. Killing is not allowed here. If there is any bloodshed you will be dealt with swiftly." This was a rule of the light elves. They did not eat meat at all and believed life to be sacred. It set them aside from other elves that believed more in the flow of nature.


    The many light elves that watched them pass were all calm. They didn''t smile nor did they frown. They just watched things as they happened. Gil was clearly unhappy with how this was going. It wasn''t that the light elves were mean, but they were acting as if they were not the same as the other elves in the world.


    Therge open space that they were brought to had one single table. It was made from pristine white marble. It was perfect in every aspect. Even the five chairs around it were made of the same perfect white marble. The older elves sitting in the chairs were also too perfect. They wore white robes that seemed whiter than any cloud Gil could say he had seen.


    "Elders, these are the guests that havee in the wind. They are here to speak with you." The elf that had met them walked away while there were no guards left in sight. However, the enforcers with Alma and Gil as their protectors knew that there was danger everywhere. Controlling light to heal and to attack was what the elves here learned from a young age.


    "So young, and youe here to speak with us as if you are in charge. How have the other elven cities fallen?"


    "Fallen? They sent us letters. They just thought we would join some battle or war. They even wanted us to leave our homes."


    "We ate better off with peace than chaos."


    "The light shines on all regardless, if it is meant to be in this life then we will join hands under the sun."


    The first four elders all spoke their opinions while the fifth looked silently. He was the one that Gil knew would be the most trouble. It was the look in the fifth elder''s eyes.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1540 1540. Against Light

    "Uniting the elves and uniting all the races is necessary to better everyone." Alma let this sink in before she was about to speak more. She knew that these light elves were harder to convince. They did not like to leave their seclusion. They enjoyed the peace and privacy they had. They enjoyed the light and purity of healing.


    "Uniting and war seem to go hand and hand in your words. Did you not ask us toe and join your war?" One of the elders was shaking their head at m. Their tone was that of an adult speaking to a child. It was very insulting.


    "War? You mean the freedom that the demon people deserve? They have lived oppressed for generations and finally, the other races havee together and freed them. How could that be unjust? Would you feel the same if I told you what happened to the water elves?" Gil could not contain himself any longer. He was unhappy that they were being treated as something small.


    "The water elves? How could you rte them to what is going on? We are speaking about the war you created that also created death. War goes against life. That is a fact!" Another elder felt the great insult that Gil and Alma had made.


    To them, war was something done to breed death and go against the sanctity of life. I created things that were against light because of the mes and despair that followed the actions of war. If they were asked to join such things, it was the same as being asked to throw their ideals in to the dirt.


    "If you hade, many would have lived. However, if you did not hide yourself away, you would have known that the demons sent a sin title holder to take over the water elves. They were forced to ughter their own people, chain them up in dungeons, and even create warriors to be sent to the demonnds in hopes of taking over this entire continent." Alma''s fists grew tighter while saying this. She hated that the light elves didn''t even flinch seeing this.


    "Not just that! The light elves care about life? But you don''t lend a hand to help those that are dying? The human cathedrals do more to protect life than you. If hiding here is the protection of life then I don''t believe the light elves worthy of being part of Genesis. I can return the elves to unity without you. I willbine the pieces of the elven dagger arts to the high elf dagger arts by myself." Gil had reached a breaking point.


    The faces that said they did not care that the light elves wore made Gil''s heart tremble. It was filled with rage. So much so that the wind started to twirl around him. Zephyr could feel his anger as well. She did not believe that the light elves were in the right any longer. She could tell they had powerful elemental affinities for the light elemental mana. That was it, their values didn''t appear to align with what they preached.


    "You? How could you bring us back to the age of the high elves? They disappeared as the affinities broke out. There was not an elf with all affinities as not used to be. There were no more sages. That is why we left. We chose to embrace-"


    "Embrace what!? The fact that you could care less about the world turning and the history the elven race has protected? I see no library with an archive here. I see no changes in what you represent other than the fact that you hid away. The dark and stone elves hid away and went to war with each other."


    "Through hard work and determination, they fixed their issues and came together. After generations of healing, they have returned to a changed world as allies. They have proven that elves can unite again. Why can you not?" Alma had reached the same point at Gil. She saw stubborn elders that could not adapt to the world.


    "You speak too much child." The silent elder finally spoke. His eyes were still cold. "We are not going to join with those that refuse to purify themselves and ept life. We have reached level of understanding in healing and light that no other elf has. We have brought peace to these teaus. If we join anyone it will be to create the same peace."


    "Then you are the same as the me elves. Their king went mad and wanted to rule over all others. We will ept the light elves that have unity and respect for others in to Genesis. No elder will be allowed within it." Alma silenced the elders and turned to walk away. However, she was met with dozens of floating light spears.


    "You will not enter here and cause such trouble. You will be imprisoned for thews of thisnd you have broken." The elder was tired of this. He had used their power to have the light elves around trap Alma and Gil. the enforcers could only stand silently.


    "Alma, I did not use the mana that Zephyr and I have gathered. It seems like I need to show off a little." Gil knew that he could not beat so many light elves. Yet, he knew that he could silence them and get them to allow their leave.


    The wind elemental mana began to gather and Zephyr understood what Gil intended. Using the avatar of wind skill and title was all they could do. As the wind gathered, the light also seemed to change. Before Gil could fully activate the skill, he saw the light melt away and a single point of light show itself.


    "You will not harm my fellow grand elemental spirit. Your sanctity of light and attachment of life have been valuable to me. Now it is not. I felt the call of the other elemental spirits. Of a nature spirit soon to be the next world spirit. I spoke of this and you chose to remain still as statues. From this point on, I no longer support the light elves with my blessings."<sub> </sub>


    The form of light that grew before their eyes was simr to Zephyr but with sharper points and a near blinding appearance. "Zephyr, it has been a long time."


    "Horizon! I did not even sense you here!" Zephyr was d to see a fellow grand elemental spirit, especially the light grand elemental spirit she had not seen for a long time.


    "How could you!" the elder stood and tried to call on the light elemental mana. Unfortunately, Horizon did not allow this.


    "I am d to see that Zephyr has found someone she trusts. I will leave with you. I have a feeling that the world desires my travel with you. It feels right." The soft and cool voice that Horizon used was clear to Gil and Alma. It was easy to understand. She had clearly learned the speech of many races throughout time.


    "We can catch up while we travel. It is going to be very great! You will love Genesis. It is amazing. I will show you around." Zephyr ignored the angry light elves. The light elves that were trying to point their mana at Gil and Alma.


    "We are leaving. It was not an honor to meet you. Remember, the light elves are wee in genesis but not the elders or anyone that does not believe in unity among all races!" Alma''s voice traveled through the surrounding area. She felt the mana in her body reinforce it. She spoke not as an elf but as a representative of all of Genesis.


    The change in the light elves was one ofplete disdain and anger. Only a few of the younger light elves realized that they were looking at a different future. One that even the grand elemental spirit they followed supported.


    The elders tried to pull them away and back to the buildings where they resided. This did nothing though, the younger light elves were able to think differently. Able to be more open to what Alma had just dered. Able to see the strength of someone that had joinedpletely with a grand elemental spirit like Zephyr.


    In just moments thirty young light elves had followed Alma, Gil, and the enforcers. The chatter of Horizon and Zephyr was the only thing that could be heard. "That was not what I wanted to be, but thank you for supporting me." Alma spoke to no one in particr. She was full of inner turmoil because of the stubbornness of the light elf elders. However, she had to stand by her decision. Stand by what she had decided.


    "It was the right choice. You are young but you can see more clearly than them. Life is important but it is not the only part of nature." Horizon spoke softly still but with great meaning.


    ? ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1541 1541. Partial Party Return

    The movement in and out of Genesis had been the single busiest aspect for weeks. People had been selling whatever they could to send to the walls while those freed from demon viges were brought back.


    Many of the demons had chosen to give up their homes in the demonnds. There was too much pain there. Too many deaths had urred to make their beds ever feel warm. Therefore, Genesis was able to fill many of the homes that had been built.


    What was even more surprising, was the speed at which the youngest demons had started to ept things. Some of the children had taken up habit of asking strangers questions. The reason was simple, they had never been allowed to before this. Now that the demon children were in a ce where they would not be killed for bothering someone, they could learn as any child would.


    This became one of the singlergest reasons that the adult demons began to rx. They saw that the children were not in danger for the first time in their lives. They saw the warm food being handed out. They saw the healers checking up on them. Most importantly, they saw the many races living together. Even goblins and spiders were speaking with elves and humans. Something that the demons knew to be an impossibility.


    The soldiers that had been brought to the Genesis jailhouses were those that had been higher up. They had more information about what had been done to the demon people. What had been done for the ns to take thends. This information would help those of Genesis n how to sentence and deal with the many demons that embraced the painful system they raised on the suffering of others.


    "Su, I am going to head to the alchemy guild. I need to talk to the old man and Trish. They should have been working too hard while I have been gone." Remey was a little pale. They had just returned yet she was going right to the alchemy guild.


    "You need to sleep after speaking with them. If you do not, I wille there personally and break every cauldron you have in the building." As much as Remey knew that Su would never do such a thing, she felt that Su would certainlye to yell at her.


    "Sister and I will go to check on the hatchlings," Onyx spoke of his abyssal and heavenly serpent students while also speaking of Midnight''s students. They had been away for longer than they wanted. There were many things they needed to check up on to catch up and n the future.


    "That''s fine. I know they will be in the cathedral waiting for you. I think the little dragon hatchlings also liked it there. I n to head there after I go home to see my parents." Su gave Midnight and Onyx a soft pat on the head as they left. She felt exhausted from all the rushed traveling.


    There was a lot that needed to be written down and spoken about with those that had also returned to Genesis. Luckily, they were all understanding and in roughly the same shape as Su. exhausted.


    The battles and the current exploration of the demonnds was going to take a lot of energy. It would take a lot of time as well. Therefore, the leaders were returning slowly after setting up group leaders to defend ascertain ces and map them out properly.


    Ventus had done a great deal to help the mapping of the demonnds. Unfortunately, that was a rough map. Not a detailed map that showed potential streams, campsites, and underground areas. There was no prediction of how many more ruins there were in the demonnds.


    Since Alice hade with them as well, she was following Onyx and Midnight to the cathedral. She wanted to see the high priest and tell him everything she had seen. There was something else she had to handle though. She had seen the many healers that hade from many ces. They had helped greatly but Alice had learned a lot.


    Many people noticed all of them as they walked toward where they desired to go. In particr, Midnight was gaining a lot of attention. Those that knew her were able to tell that she had grown over thest adventure to the demonnd''s capital city. The constant movement had made her muscles grow more. For a dragon, the pressure of constant movement was good for them, especially a young dragon like Midnight.


    "Sister, the cathedral seems quieter than I remember." The surprisingness of silence was always arger effect than that of arge sound.


    p Onyx, Midnight, and Alice had made it to the cathedral. However, with the many healers and nuns left to the demonnds, viges, and demon city things were pretty empty. Those that had returned were with those that had been harmed. There were multiple temporary camps outside the walls to help people before they moved in to the city. There were a lot of identification things to work out before the demons became official citizens of Genesis.<sub> </sub></anda>


    "Peace can be nice." Alice saw this as a chance to make things better for the cathedral. With fewer people around she could make some changes to the flow of patrons. When people were hurt, they often had to go through the cathedral for healing. That process was not the most efficient it could be. With her knowledge, Alice was one of the best people to make the small changes that would improve this flow.


    Before any of them could look in to this more there was a slightmotion. The sound of ws and slithering came from the back of the cathedral where the entrance to the back rooms was. The sound was easy for them to know. The dragon hatchlings had been eagerly awaiting the return of Midnight since they heard the news that soldiers would be returning. The same could be said for the heavenly and abyssal serpents.


    "Alice, two heavenly serpents have been born!" This was exceptional news. It was ahead of schedule and Onyx would be able to see multiple heavenly serpents living and growing. It was proving his goals more and more worth it. He only had his mentalmunication abilities to thank for this since he was able to hear the joyful thoughts of the abyssal serpents that had just shown themselves.


    To say that the abyssal serpent hatchlings had grown would be an understatement. "You have all been working hard!" Onyx could only praise them. Their work to be stronger while he had been gone was exceptional. Through hismunication, he was able to hear what they wanted to say to him. They had been constantly trying to improve to impress him by the time he returned.


    "You have made it back safely." Ibis and the high priest stood behind the hatchlings and serpents. The pair was very happy to see them.


    Midnight didn''t have much of a chance. She was tackled by the dragon hatchlings who were having a hard time showing their excitement in any other way. They had not had a great amount of time with Midnight, however, she was a dragon champion. A true dragon champion. The hatchlings could feel within their bones that Midnight was an important figure. It was the aura she gave off having all affinities.


    While she had been away, Midnight had not known how well the hatchlings would work toward their goals. Yet, seeing their excitement, she was sure that they had branched out a great deal. The two fire elemental dragons were the most changed. Their scales were a brighter red and they had a much healthier energy within them. This was dramatically different because of the life they had lived outside of a dragon vige with the potential to be rogue dragons.


    "My daughter, I am happy to see you safe." The high priest couldn''t hold himself back from hugging Alice. He didn''t want to let her go. "You look like you''re ten feet taller! I swear in the heavens, you are all grown up. You need to stop adventuring or else you will be an adult with a home and family in the blink of an eye." The high priest was a little dramatic but he was a parent. This was the pitfall all parents fell in to.


    "The hatchlings have been waiting for you. They could only tell those that newly hatched about the elder abyssal serpent that helped them grow. Even these two little ones have been waiting to meet their older sister." Ibis showed the two heavenly serpents and pointed out some younger abyssal serpents that had just hatched. Almost every egg was hatched now. It was perfect for them to begin growing as a race again


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 Chapter 1542 1542. Light Relationships

    Walker was sure that Mordant would have been a little more excited than before, yet, he didn''t expect that Mordant would be so animated as he was now.


    Every time the light dragonkin used their words to attack, they would put off rays of different colored lights. Their attacks were brilliant and easily distracted opponents. This was the benefit of being a light affinity spell sword for the elven race. However, for the dragonkin, it was even more dramatic.


    The dragonkin could bring out more than just the illusion abilities within the light elemental mana. They had the ability to bring out the dense destructive power of the light. The result was that their des cloaked in light would be able to better slice through just about anything.


    "The color of the light changes with the strength of the dragonkin. That is somewhat matching light dragons like myself. The only difference is that I focus on the white light which is purer light elemental mana and more simr to the light of the sun." The dragon champion had been very silent so far.


    The light elemental dragon champion was the most reserved as of yet. The others had not all been met by Walker, yet he had seen the difference between those he had met and been told about. The main reason that Walker believed the light elemental dragon champion to be reserved was the fact that he had to fall under Rise''s strict rules. She would surely not support a dragon champion that did not follow her.


    "They definitely have a lot of skill. It is very different from the darkness elemental mana. If Rise was more understanding I would have my dragonkine here and train with your dragonkin. There must be wonderfulbinations that could be done with bnced manas." Mordant had gained a lot stronger decisions about these things after Genesis. It was only to be expected.


    "So, what are you down here and not in the sky with the other light elemental dragons?" Walker had been holding on to this question for a little while. He didn''t see a single light elemental dragon touching the ground other than the champion that should always be by Rise''s side.


    "I am not the same as them. They stay there. I am a champion. I must take on the duties of my lord in any way. That means I must touch the earth and be where our dragonkin are. I need to keep the vige clean and the standards up." This made a lot of sense.


    "You work too hard. But that doesn''t seem to faze you." Mordant showed that he was a little impressed. In Walker''s opinion, Rise''s dragon champion was the one in charge over Rise herself. Especially since she just spent the time in the sky.


    "What about your champion, Mordant?" Walker wasn''t sure why he had not seen Mordant''s dragon champion around Genesis or anywhere.


    "I have sent my champion and a few chosen dragonkin on a journey. I wish them to see the world a little more before theye to Genesis. It could be the best way for them to fully ept that the races are joining. You should already understand, I have decided that being a solitary dragon vige is not the best future for my people." Mordant spoke as if this was something clear from the world to see.


    The dragonkin around that overheard this stopped for a moment before averting their eyes. They were in the presence of a royal dragon. They had to ensure that they would not be disrespectful. It was a lot of pressure when they had so many rules to follow when they were near Rise and the other light dragons.


    "I''m d you feel that way. I am very d for the rtionships I have built with you and the other royal dragons. I will bring Rise around eventually, she just needs to see what can be gained from joining hands and what she is missing out on." Walker chimed in shocking the dragonkin again.


    "You wish to change our lord?" the dragonkin guardian felt that this was something too shocking to hear. Generations had gone by with the rules not changing in the slightest. Saying that a human of all races would change their royal dragon''s mind was insane.


    "Yes, she is stuck where she is. It''s clear that she had not broken through her limitstely. This ce is like a painted picture. It''s stuck the same way. I would rather see it as an endless tapestry that is continuously painted. An ever changing adventure novel." Walker felt that he had chosen decent words. But from what he saw, the dragonkin had taken much more from his words than he knew.


    "I wouldn''t mind seeing the light we have in other ces. Most of the dragonkin that raised dragons like myself have never left the vige. They stay within the territory if they do leave." Walker heard this from the dragon champion''s lips and understood it all.


    The dragonkin raised the young light dragons. They were the ones that had the greatest influence on them. Since this was the case, Rise would not have the deepest connection other than being the parental ruling figure. But after the light dragons grew up they were forced to separate from the dragonkin and fly in the air to absorb light elemental mana constantly. It was a somewhat sad story. One that Walker wanted to change.<sub> </sub>


    "You and your fellow dragonkin are wee toe to Genesis at any time. Even without your lord''s permission. I will not ask questions, I will only wee you. Every single race is equal there. Even a royal dragon like us walks the streets as everyone else does." Walker didn''t look away from the training dragonkin warriors. He knew if he showed any look other than seriousness that his words would not be believed.


    "It is very nice to walk along that market and enjoy the scents of food." Mordant hummed slightly while remembering this. Hearing that this was the case, the dragonkin and dragon champion were at a loss for words. Imagining such a thing was very hard to do. They had zero knowledge of Walker''s city. Of Genesis


    "Oh! That was very nice." Walker had seen a sword manifest out of light elemental mana. The dragonkin had stuck out with a sh. But behind them, a sword had remained made of light elemental mana. This one attack shortly after the first real sword attacked leaving a double attack which was harder to block.


    "That was called fading sword. It is a move that strikes with physical force first then magical force next. It is very good for attacking opponents of equal strength. They do not expect to defend the same attack with different properties in a row." Reaching a conversation that was less stressful made the dragon champion respond much quicker.


    "I may have to try and learn that." Walker watched carefully as the dragonkin warriors battled. He wanted to see it again.


    "Listen up. The two lords wish to see your fading sword attacks. Use them five times in a line!" The call made all the training young dragonkin freeze. They moved in to lines and attacked multiple times.


    "Thank you very much. I will memorize it now." Walker watched carefully as the swords moved. The mana around them took shape but remained within the air when they struck out. Then the mana would move right afterwards. It was about three seconds in between the attacks which was due to the lower control they had over the attacks. Walker was sure that when they were more experienced they would be able to strike almost instantly in two different ces.


    Walker moved and let the eternal orb change in to a sword. This amazed the young dragonkin for a moment before he raised it and gathered the light elemental mana as well. They watched as he shed out. the mana stayed with the sword as he moved the first three shes. Feeling the flow of mana, Walker tried once more.


    This time, the mana remained behind but took almost ten seconds to move. Walker tried again and again until the dragonkin warriors saw the mana and his sword move almost at the same time. A small smile on Walker''s face when he saw the system respond to him.


    "Lord Mordant, is this really how fast Lord Walker can learn things?" The dragon champion worried that if he asked he might get ignored. Instead, he saw Mordant nodding softly. This was just the usual for Walker.


    "Thank you for showing me so clearly. I can''t wait for you all to visit Genesis. When you do I wille and train with you. I think you and the elven spell swords will get along very well!" Walker returned to where he and Mordant had been watching. His excitement growing slightly.


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 Chapter 1543 1543. Call Of Mana

    "The fading sword skill only uses like five mana each swing. But with my ability to manipte the mana around me, I can cut that down to three mana. It''s going to be very useful in sword fights. I think the elves will love it." Walker was chatting right to Mordant about it. He felt that it was an interesting skill to share.


    "I would not mind seeing that with darkness elemental mana. Maybe my dragonkin warriors could learn a thing or two." Mordant wanted to see every element version of the fading sword. This way he would be able to learn more.


    "If we spread it to the other warriors, then it would be interesting. I might be able to make a natural mana version of it." This idea made Walker a little more interested. He wanted to pursue it even more but had to stop because he realized that he had rambled on a little.


    "We should think about leaving. We have achieved our goal and Rise wille whether she wants to or not. Her pride demands her to do so." Mordant knew that Walker wanted to be home. He wanted to see Genesis as well.


    "If you spend so much time in Genesis, you will have to move your vige closer." Walker joked a little but saw that Mordant was making a small smile. His face told Walker that he was actually considering that very idea as well.


    "If I do that, I would have more time on the dark elemental floor in that mage tower. I would also be able to see what more you can show me. I want to see where that grand darkness elemental spirit is. I have seen some of the other grand elemental spirits. It is wearing on me that my partner is not at that level."


    The dark spirit that always revolved around Mordant popped up from the shadow mirroring the nodding head that Mordant had. They both wanted to see this strength that came from being a grand elemental spirit. It would make arge difference to what and how things would go. It would also show how much Mordant had learned since he had started to experience things in Genesis.


    This idea was potentially dangerous. If Mordant wanted to praise another of the grand elemental spirits, Walker knew that he could be treading in to a dangerous ce against an elemental spirit with greater influence over the darkness elemental mana.


    Mordant was very strong. He had a great control over the darkness elemental man. But inparison, Mordant was a royal ancient dragon that had been studying the mana for years. The dark grand elemental spirit was literally made up of the darkness mana and had a bond with it much deeper than any other being.


    ''Quest: return to Genesis for the meeting of the manas


    The world had recognized the gathering of the grand elemental spirits. Those connected with them are called by the world to return and bnce the mana within the central tower used to attract the mana.


    Reward: Major growth in bonds between elemental spirits and any other beings.''


    "We are leaving now. Mordant, you will meet the darkness grand elemental spirit sooner than you think." Walker was in a major rush to make this happen. He saw the system prompt him with was radically out of the ordinary. He had never had such a thing happen before. This was a major event that could not be changed. Something that he had never expected nor read about.


    "Why? What is wrong?" Mordant became serious, identally letting a lot of his mana flow around them. The pressure was great but rolled right off the dragonkin around Mordant had a lot of strength to keep it in check and stop from having any issue. This was why he was able to hold the dragonkin from being harmed at all. Yet, they still felt the power that a royal dragon had.


    "The grand elemental spirits are called by the world. That means something happened that brought them together. I bet it is because there have been so many changes in who the grand elemental spirits are. There are a new ones. The others moved on. That probably hasn''t happened for a long long time.


    "The manas were out of bnce for a long time after thest elemental spirit ascended to the elemental ne of its choosing. Now we need to fix that." Walker knew that he and Fleur would be at the center of this. There was a lot that needed to happen and he was sure it woulde at a great deal of stress. Therefore, they had to leave now.


    With the seriousness in Walker''s eyes, Mordant understood what was going on. He knew that he had to make a move and grabbed Walker''s arm to pull him in to the shadows. It would cost him a lot of elemental mana to get to Genesis at the fastest possible speed, but with the situation, he had to. It was also very coincidental that he was just pondering the grand darkness elemental spirit.


    The dragonkin and dragon champion were stunned they had no idea what had happened and why there were so many people leaving so urgently. The other warriors had gathered when they felt that things were unusual. "Thank you so much for your hospitality. The invitations stand but we need to leave." Walker said this while singing back in to the cool dark shadows. He and Mordant were gone in an instant.


    Back in Genesis, the atmosphere was the same.<sub> </sub>


    "I am going I am going!" Gil was rushing to find Remey and Su. he knew that they would be heading for the mage tower because that was the best ce to be. He was unsure of what exactly would happen but he knew that Walker would go right there as soon as possible.


    "Gil!!!!" The shout was from Su who had her partner on her heels. She had never seen Su run at such a speed. It was very quick that she made the move to get next to him and match his speed. Gil barely had to slow down and wondered if Su was being influenced by the dragon blood even more. She had many changes as ofte.


    "You are way faster now!" Gil was d that she was right beside him because he had much less stress when he was together with his family. "There''s Remey!"


    "I was going to ask if we needed to drag her from the alchemyb." Remey looked like she had been in the middle of a long potion process. She had bits of herbs on her clothing while she was not at all prepared for a battle or anything. It was a pure alchemy attire to protect her from the dangers that came with making potions.


    "You two had the same quest show up too?" Remey was a little shaken but her partner was right by her side. She saw that all three of the elemental spirit p[artners had reacted to the same system notification. That meant that they had also received a quest or at least a feeling through the mana of the world.


    This unusual turn of events could shake anyone but was still not enough to shake the elemental spirits. However, more and more elemental spirits were moving through the city of Genesis to get to the mage tower. This was the reason.


    The many spirits caused a small disturbance everywhere. Many of them had started to bind with the people of Genesis while also bing integral parts of how the city functioned. It was strange to see them leaving. Especially to the people who had been lucky enough to gain the skill to properly speak to the elemental spirits.


    The elves were the first to move and get to the mage tower. The simple reason that they were more in tune with the elemental mana around them.


    Even more impressive was that the guards were already making space. The rune researchers and others that hade to the mage tower were asked to move away. The space became a ce for the spirits to meet and the important people to observe. No one had answers just yet.


    The mages were next to arrive since they were the next beings able to perceive the changes in the mana. They rushed to see what was happening. Many of them had begun rtionships with the elemental spirits to deepen their understanding of the manas they used every single day. It was a very important thing for them toe. They could feel it in their spoils that they had to be there.


    ¡­..


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    Drop those power stones!


    Drop thosements and let me know what you think!

 Chapter 1544 1544. Shaking Shadows

    Even Though Walker and Mordant had left, the dragonkin warriors had still been in chaos. They had never seen such a being that could learn their moves in an instant. The young dragonkin had to focus on training for years to best use their skills and swordsmanship.


    Rise was equally in turmoil as well. She had called on her light dragons to gather the best of the best dragonkin warriors toe with her to genesis. She wanted to arrive and immediately show off the dominance that she and those under her had.


    Naturally, this had note over her champion''s head, nor the draconic guardian under him. That meant that they would all be arriving in genesis whether they wanted to or not. Not that they had not desired to go there. They were all actually excited by this.


    The temptation of something new and seeing Walker along with what he had boasted made them want to go there and stay. What was even more dramatic was that he had even offered them training sessions against many other warriors. It was something that they would not normally be able to pursue in their own vige.


    Overall, thesting effect on the light elemental dragonkin had been left. All that was remaining was to actually meet in Genesis. Rose would ensure they left in time.


    It was much the same with the light elves. Many had decided to follow Alma, Gol, and the enforcers back to Genesis. Some had even volunteered the light elemental monsters they had tamed as a ride back. It was why Alma and Gil now found themselves on top of a pure feather crane.


    The pure feather crane was a monster raised only by the light elves. This was because the pure feather crane was very skittish when encountering other affinity monsters or beings. Through hard training, the light elves had been able to push this fear in the pure feathered crane away. Now it could resist the urge to fly away from someone like Gil who had a very powerful wind affinity.


    It did help that they were apanied by Horizon the grand light elemental spirit. This ride on the pure feather crane was the reason that Gil and Alma had beaten Walker back. Why he had been able to find Su running through Genesis.


    The pair had arrived back to Genesis and Gil had left Alma to handle things with the light elves. He had a new quest to deal with. Zephyr and Horizon were with him. But Gil had been unable to say much to Remey and Su regarding the trip even though they had just noticed the light elemental spirit that was now conversing with Azar and Alvaro, the two newest grand elemental spirits of fire and earth. This meant that Fleur and Horizon were theoretically the only two other than the darkness grand elemental spirit left that had yet to ascend.


    Since the pure feathered Crane had flown Gil back so fast, he was still slightly shaken from the trip. The wingspan of a beast that could fly high and fast through the wind currents were enough for it to bathe its feathers in the strongest light elemental mana from the sun. That was how it had grown sorge and strong. That was also why the pure feathered crane was a respected monster among the light elemental monsters on the mountains the light elves lived.


    The sudden feeling of mana around them made their eyes move to the shadow of the mage tower. Since the sun was starting to set for the day, they knew that the shadow would soon be cast over the city. Yet, when they saw Walker and Mordant rising from the shadows, everyone was still surprised.


    Mordant stumbled a little. He had not perfectly recovered from the first time they traveled through the shadows. The burden on his body grew but he would remain the strength he needed to see things through. He would need to spend a few days on the darkness elemental floor to properly recover all the mana he had used from his stores within his body. But it would all be worth it.


    "You all have the quests too- is that a light grand elemental spirit." Walker caught sight and felt the strength that horizon had immediately.


    "So this is the nature spirit that calls us to them. How young you are. I feel that you will shine very well though." The words from Horizon made Fleur even more energetic. She had to met a light elemental spirit very much and the grand elemental spirit looked at her as if she was a valuable rate of pure sunlight. It wasplimentary.


    The mana that Fleur was also able to absorb around the grand light elemental spirit was purer as well. Fleur was beginning to gain much more from just being around so many grand spirits. It was as if she had been missing these puzzle pieces from her existence for a great deal of time.


    "Walker! We will have to have a talk after this. Whatever we are going to do to bnce mana will get done. Then you will tell us what in the hell you were thinking!" Gil held a hand out to make Walker know that he was weed home even though they were disappointed in him.


    "I know you are all upset with me. But I had to go and convince Rise that she had to be here. If I didn''t she would be another enemy or at least troublesome to deal with. When she gets here we will finish things." Walker was sure of this. He also wanted to get on with things and made a firm statement to end the conversation.<sub> </sub>


    "Gil, you shouldn''t say much. You left us too. You went with Alma to get the light elves here. Then you show up yelling to find Su and myself. You haven''t even apologized yourself." This was a p to the face for Gil. he felt Remey''s words sting him slightly.


    "Remey is right. You two need to exin yourselves. But for now, we need to worry about what we need to do with this quest." Su was calm but everyone could see the gears turning in her head. She wanted to have this all worked out so that she could push to the next level of understanding. If she was able to better bond with her partner, then she would be much more powerful. Meaning, that she could protect more people better.


    "Long story short, we banned some old light elves, weed some young ones, and also found Horizon, the grand light elemental spirit. Now we have a quest that we rushed back for. What now?" Gil summed things up without many details. No one questioned a thing as they all suddenly felt the darkness elemental mana spike around them. The shadows seemed to begin to tremble like puddles of water being shaken by a heavy monster walking by.


    <o>,m "So we have been called. How strange it is to see all elemental spirits of my equal again. The names and faces have changed, but at least you are still here little Zephyr." The voice was soft. Almost a whisper. The mana used was not the same as any other elemental spirit. Nor was what walked out of the shadows.</o>


    Where moist elemental spirits had rough elemental mana bodies, the grand elemental spirits had more defined bodies. This was due to their strength. But the darkness elemental spirit that walked out was very humanoid withrge ck wings on its back. It was taller than any of them and showed immense control over the darkness elemental mana.


    "Shade! I haven''t seen you since I was a newly bord wind grand spirit. How are you!" the excitement that Zephyr had was enough to make everyone take notice.


    "It has been a long time. As you see, I have mastered my form. I have long desired to move to the darkness ne of existence. However, I have remained so that I may master my being at a deeper level. It is all very worth it as I am able to see a new generation of spirits. Even that light spirit is very different."


    "You never met Horizon! I forgot. You should havee when they grew on to a grand spirit! It was so fun. Everyone was there!" Zephyr wanted to catch up more. However, there was a feeling drawing them together. The natural mana seemed to be pushing toward them at a higher rate than before.


    "It appears that we are being called even more strongly than before. I believe that little one to be the nature spirit as our center. How proper." Shade moved to take a position in front of Fleur. "It is my pleasure to meet you. May you use my mana well." a small bubble of condensed darkness elemental mana moved from Shade to Fleur. It was a very appropriate gift for Fleur who was in need of more mana to gain strength as a nature spirit.


    "That''s all of us," Walker mumbled while looking at the quest. He was waiting to see what the world required.


    .....


    ....

 Chapter 1545 1545. Host Of Light

    "It''s nice to meet you, Shade." Walker approached the darkness elemental grand spirit that seemed to be a human cloaked in shadows. It was off to see such adeveloped elemental spirit because it was very different from what Walker had expected of a spirit.


    "And you as well. I can feel the natural mana flowing through you. It is very impressive that you are so in tune. Or at least that your body has epted it so well. A nature spirit and the one she bonds with. Very impressive." The tone is not negative nor judging. It even sounded happy.


    With every word, Walker could tell that Shade had developed his mana to create suns as any other being. It was almost as if he was trying to make himself a physical body that was not made up of mana. After having this theory cross his mind, Walker wondered if it would be possible to create another unique golem core. One that could house a powerful grand elemental spirit.


    "This tower. It acts as a beacon for all the mana around. It is calling me to join it even as we speak. It is very old. Very very old. Almost as only as some of the other ruins in the world. You even moved it here. Impressive." Shade was very intuitive from the many years he had lived within the shadows. Knowing the world was just part of living in it.


    "Yes, we took it from the ruins of the desert elf city. It is the grand mage tower with multiple floors of knowledge to help people learn. We call the runes they use origin runes. After generations of being modified, these are the best we have ever seen. It''s clear that after this race went to another ce, that the other races fell behind the rune developments and didn''t find the best flow."


    Shade was agreeing with this. He was very curious with everything he was seeing. It had been a long time since he interacted with the world and those that had sentience. The dark shadows were where he had been developing himself for too long.


    "Walker, can we figure this out now." Gil got Walker''s attention. He had toe back to the main task at hand. He had be too distracted by the new grand elemental spirit that they had not met.


    "Sorry, the system hasn''t said anything else. It just wants us all to meet and bnce the mana using the mage tower." Walker was a little lost as to what this meant.


    "Something is missing! You are all bonded and we are not!" Horizon saw this clearly. That was what he believed to be the issue. The very reason that things were not proceeding.


    "You believe a bond with another being is what is causing this? I feel the call of the world just the same. A call to use the pure darkness mana to influence the mana in a single burst." Shade did not feel this was required. However, he could tell that he was unable to just release the mana as the world desired. It was blocked in some way from leaving his mana body.


    "Stay here, I can feel the right being. Someone born with light in their body. They are very different from everyone else." Horizon was gone just like that. Walker could only wonder what was going on.


    "If Horizon proved this to be true. I will ept a bond with someone that I deem proper. However, not many mortal creatures can ept the being I am now." Shade saw the challenge in this. He had altered and refined mana to such an extreme level that many who were not of a high darkness affinity and also understanding of the darkness mana, would have adverse effects on their health.


    "I will trust that Horizon knows what he is speaking about. I will rest until then." Zephyr was a little tired out after talking so much with Horizon. She knew that things would be even more eventful once they were able to proceed.


    The city had already be affected by the grand elemental spirits gathering. Many people had begun to hear that the heroic party was working with them to bnce mana. It was easy for such rumors to spread especially when the guards had to say something to help calm people down. Therefore, when people spotted the waves of light moving through the city, they were not at all surprised.


    It would have been foolish for people not to expect the light elemental man to gather toward the cathedral. There was a crystal there that helped the healers help others. The crystal also relied heavily on the light elemental mana to make the healers and nuns more efficient. Just benign there, people would be influenced by the healing aura.


    "You don''t have to rush there so fast. You are here to recover and rest! I will not let you go to that mage tower and exhaust yourself even more." the high priest didn''t want to see Alice looking weak and sickly again. After the adventure and battles of the demonnds, she had returned in a rougher shape than he had ever seen her. She had even insisted on trying to improve the cathedral so that the demons and soldiers returning can be healed more efficiently.


    "You should wait for them to finish things there. You will hear it all when they finish. I will even go with you to their mansion to meet with them." This was the worry of a father who had been constantly worried about his daughter the entire time she had been away on a dangerous journey. Now that she was home, he was not willing to allow her to run in to another unknown situation. Even if it was in line with her desires to be a healer.<sub> </sub>


    "You! I can feel it. You are way more in tune with light elemental mana than any other being here. It is literally in your blood. It courses through your veins!" The sudden voice that echoed through the cathedral made the high priest and Alice stop. She had been about to argue with her father but was stopped.


    The light that was floating in front of them took shape. "I should say something. Humans like him normally introduce themselves. I am Horizon. It has been a long time since I met someone with your blood. You look like humans though. So weird. When you talk, does the light dance for you? It must! I can feel it!" so much of the rambling from Horizon seemed like nonsense.


    "Excuse me. But why are you here?" The high priest was not sure what to think of this situation. He knew that the elemental spirits that had been in the cathedral had left. They went to the mage tower. So how could a speaking one be here?


    "I need a partner. Just like the other grand elemental spirits that equal myself. If I don''t I can''t bond with the world and help fix the manas running rampant. It would help a lot of ces you can''t see from here. So, how about it? Make a deal with me and I will help you increase your control over the light even higher than your race normally can."


    "You are not taking my daughter anywhere-"


    "Your daughter? How is this your daughter? You are human and she isn''t. That''s too funny. Well, wait. Maybe she had human in her. That''s odd. But it''s even better. You can be the only one that can be my partner. Make a deal with me!" Horizon had already decided. No matter what he had in mind, he would not ept anyone else.


    Feeling that there was more to this, Alice was a little skeptical. She had been raised as a human. She looked and felt human. How could she not be? How could she trust a being she had never met before? However, something tugged at the corner of her mind. She wanted to know more. She HAD to know more.


    "I will. But you have to help me heal people." There was a single requirement that Alice had. A single requirement that stopped her father, the high priest, from stopping her. He saw that the core value he had taught her made Alice focus all her energy in to healing. She would even ignore the strange words of this elemental spirit to pursue it.


    "Perfect! I am the grand light elemental spirit Horizon. I will promise to be with you until you reach the end of your lifespan!" the light became much greater before it formed rune patterns in the air. They fell upon Alice attaching to her arms and legs. Even spreading up her neck before she took a deep breath. Light showing in her eyes.


    The same system quest appeared in front of Alice and she understood. With a single hand, she grabbed the high priests'' hand and started to walk through the cathedral door. She had to bring him and exin. She could feel a lot more about herself than ever before.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1546 1546. One With Shade

    "Hmm, a being like you is the only one that will not suffer upon binding with myself. It is a sad moment since I do not intend to leave this world just yet. I desire to gain my own being before I am to ascend to the darkness elemental ne..." Shade had been in deep contemtion while looking at Mordant.


    This was the only being that was able to properly handle the insane amount of darkness elemental mana that Shade had. Even then, it woulde at a high price for Mordant since he was still not able to handle a grand elemental spirit that had incredibly dense elemental mana stored over the course of thousands of years more than Mordant had lived.


    "If you do so, I will be considered one of the strongest darkness dragons to exist. But It would be betraying the dark spirit that has been around me for most of my life. Even I have not bonded properly with it yet, but I desire to." the dark spirit heard Mordant and moved out of the shadows. It was focused on him with all the energy it had.


    "That can be remedied. It is just a high dark spirit. I will wee it to join me." Shade had not absorbed another elemental spirit before. It was something that only the lower elemental spirits did to be higher in the ranking of elemental spirits. Not many at his level would consider this unless it was required.


    "That wouldn''t change him¡­would it?" Walker was surprised to see Mordant letting down the tough walls that made him a royal dragon. Seeing the emotion in Mordant''s bodynguage was eye opening.


    "No. we would be a perfect fusion. Only those that fuse to be stronger lose memories and reset to what they change in to. I and this one would remain the same but with shared memories. If it has truly been with you for life, then I will know you better than any other upon this ne." Shade didn''t want to lose memories either. He had valuable knowledge from existing for so long.


    "Out of all the elemental spirits I have met and read about, I have not seen any that have controlled their body like Shade. Mordant, you have my support in this if you feel morefortable with it." Walker knew that Mordant needed a little encouragement. As the nature royal dragon, it made sense that Walker would be the one offering this encouragement.


    Everyone had calm expressions while they watched Mordant consider these things. However, it appeared that it was not up to Mordant at all. The dark spirit moved in front of Shade and spoke one word. "Yes."


    "Then that is what we shall do. Unlike the nature spirit there, we will be the same but slightly different." The tendrils of shadow that reached out for the dark spirit were soft and not at all dangerous. They made everyone feel that the darkness elemental mana was often misconstrued as more dangerous than it really was.


    Not many people realized that the decaying effect from darkness elemental mana was beneficial. Nature needed it to break down things and help wee new life. The shadows were why people could see the light. It was part of nature and was not always causing harm. It was a very positive mana that could create a bright future for many. The dark elves knew this well but they had not been around to share this knowledge as widely as other elves had their own mana.


    Watching this happen was something that many felt was a gift from the world. The fusion of mana in to a deeper and purer form was something many had to spend generations doing. Mordant was proof of this since it was a dragon''s highest goal.


    Even Walker and Fleur felt the natural mana react to such a process happening in front of them. What surprised them the most was that when the shape of Shade began to reform, it was even more defined. There were more characteristics showing that he had taken on a slightly draconic form to copy the things that the dark spirit had seen its entire time with Mordant.


    "How you have grown¡­I have seen you for many years. The shadows you reached out for were our home. The ce you hid, the ce you weed, and the ce we saw. I am impressed. You never shunned me and now that I have lived that time¡­I am still Shade. The world named me so. But I will be your family now. Just as that nature spirit is also his family."


    Shade still spoke in the same cool manner. However, there was a swirling smoke like shadow that appeared around him as he reached out toward Mordant. The connection between them blossomed as Mordant felt the familiar mana of the darkness spirit he had known for years. He had not realized that they had already begun forming a bond just by gaining strength together for so long.


    The feeling of darkness elemental runes appearing along his scales was wee. As if they had always waited to be there. As if this was part of his body that he had been waiting to gain. For a darkness dragon, he was now able to say he had reached the highest understanding of darkness elemental mana that any darkness dragon had ever reached. He would be a figure that every darkness dragon could look to with honor in their hearts.


    "How do you feel?" Walker took a moment to look and sense the mana around Mordant. He looked the same as before. His dark scales hid the marks that had formed due to the bond with a grand elemental spirit.


    "I think I feelplete. It had been a long time since I noticed my friend looking at me from the shadows." Mordant took a deep breath. "We just need the light grand spirit, correct?" There was a serious and calm look that made Walker feel that Mordant had greatly improved his determination. Walker could tell that Mordant would be an unshakable ally in the future. Even if he was not In Genesis, Mordant would surelye to assist things.<sub> </sub>


    "I''m here." The sweet and pure voice that Walker would be able to hear through any means of chaos or crowd appeared from behind him. Alice had rushed dragging the high priest with her.


    "Alice?" Walker was not sure why she hade at such a pace. However, when he sensed the dense light elemental manaing from around her, he knew what had happened. "So you are the one that Horizon found." Everyone that knew Alice smiled knowing that it made a lot of sense.


    "I did! She is more than any other here. The perfect being to mix with my light elemental mana. Much better than the light elves I spent so much time around. I thought one would be born that matched my mana. But she was here the whole time!" Horizon coaxed the other grand spirits towards him. He was very energetic.


    What Walker still didn''t understand was why Horizon was so open and bright. Most high light elemental spirits rose to float above others to remain higher. But Horizon was open and bright, bing a focus with his energy and method of movement. It was a very different form of light that he brought.


    "We can talk moreter, alright?" Alice was giving an expectant look to Walker. She clearly had a lot she wanted to say and after Walker said this, she nodded slowly. Her mind was full of many things she wanted his help to understand. Horizon had already muddled her thoughts.


    "Let''s enter the tower¡­" Remey felt a pulling force that made her want to go inside the tower that she had not trained much in. even the grand spirits were reacting to the slowly gathering mana.


    "Come on Fleur, let''s go." Walker felt that the mana around them was being given by all the elemental spirits called by the world. It was a happening that would cement Genesis as the center of mana and the best ce to study it in the world. Something that only natural mana could possibly do.


    The unbnced mana that the world had due to everything that had happened with grand elemental spirits ascending seemed mirrored within the elemental floors. They were still dense with mana but had uneven dispersions of it.


    When each of the spirits and their partners reached the floor that matched their mana, they stopped. They felt that they were exactly where they were meant to be. The only one still climbing the tower was Walker. He and Fleur felt that they were going higher than they had before. Above the top floor which waited for the person who could be considered the grand mage of the mage tower to take a rightful ce.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1547 1547. Recognized Balance

    It was clear that the mana the elemental spirits were bringing toward the tower was having a great effect. Once Walker got to the top of the tower, he was able to look out over all of Genesis and sense the manaing toward it.


    What was even more evident was that the mana was being condensed and bncing the elemental floors. The runes that reached the top of the mage tower were glowing brilliantly while releasing more condensed mana in to the air. This was how the tower was able to influence the entire city.


    When Walker and Fleur were near the central point of the tower, they found a single rune that was more intricate than any of the other runes. This was something that Walker had not sensed nor seen anywhere else in the mage tower.


    "This looks like a natural mana rune. We saw them in the ancient library." Fleur nodded agreeing. She was feeling the force of the rune trying to mix the manas that were traveling around it. However, there was a blockage. The mana was not easily mixing together.


    "Wait, this means that the mage tower has still not been operating at full capacity¡­" Feeling that this was more than just a theory that he had, Walker began to sense the mana more closely.


    Fleurebined with the eternal orb and it floated over Walker''s hand. He could tell that she was trying to bring the mana together in to natural mana to send back out in to the world. She was also using some of it to help her gain strength and take a more solid form. Seeing that Shade was able to manipte the darkness elemental mana in to a more solid and detailed body had made Fleur very curious.


    "As a nature spirit, you can bring the mana from all the grand elemental spirits together. That''s why we can help the most." Walker was saying this mostly for his own encouragement. He knew this would cause a lot of stress.


    Without much guidance, he knew that the odds were that the mana from all the grand elemental spirits would condense to make mana that they would have tobine. The world had a high amount of mana and in an unbnce, it would naturally cause some troubles.


    By creating a dense amount of natural mana, it could diffuse in to the world slowly fixing the unbnced caused throughout by the grand elemental spirits ascending one after the other. Walker knew that it wasn''t the spirits actually ascending and leaving that had truly caused the issues. It was the incredibly dense and uncontroble mana that flowed from these elemental nes when they descended.


    Without the grand spirit there to control and guide that mana, the mana had run rampant causing changes in the weather. While things were not dangerous in any way, over time nature would take an effect. The world would reflect the influence of an unbnce of mana. That was one role the elemental spirits yed. They bnced mana throughout the world just by existing.


    Feeling the mana suddenly spike, Walker knew that everyone had begun sharing the mana that the grand elemental spirits had provided. As grand elemental spirits, they had extremely dense mana that they stored to strengthen themselves.


    The fusion of this elemental mana fell on Fleur and Walker who could use their bonds and the eternal orb to make it fuse better. Having the experience to mold and modify the mana was exactly why Walker was able to sense the mana flowing through the natural mana rune on the top of the tower.


    There were many flowing shapes that began to form around the mage tower. The creators of the mage tower had carved them in to the space around the tower to better diffuse the mana it gathered. Now that Walker had unintentionally activated them to their full capacity, a rainbow of mana began to show itself.


    The entire city of Genesis began to feel the uplift in mana. Many people that had been working stopped to enjoy the influx of mana that calmed their minds and bodies. That made them feel closer to the world and their own souls.


    ''The world feels the call of the grand elemental spirits. The mana flows.''


    This system notification went out to every sentient being. It was a warning that the mana that had be unbnced was being influenced. Such a notification would never go out to the world if it was not necessary.


    The massive influx of mana made Walker fall to his knees sweating. There was too much for him alone to handle. Everyone felt the same on the tower floors before they had to use their unique elemental avatar skills and titles.


    Mordant and Alice were the two who had not done so before making things harder on them. They had not felt such a connection with mana before. It also changed the way they were currently viewing the world. Their senses showing them the ways that their mana could flow and fuse with other manas in nature. It was enlightening.


    Meanwhile, Walker and Fleur were being forced to catch up to where the other grand elemental spirits were. Walker had only gained the title young sage. He was not as adverse in the natural mana as anyone else was in their singr elemental manas. They had at least focused on the single one for longer or been closer to the spirits in some way longer.


    Fleur was struggling as well. She was absorbingrge amounts of the natural mana that she and Walker mixed so that she could reach a proper strength to release condensed natural mana. The result was that she and the eternal orb were storing more mana. Walker felt that the spirit markings on his body were also changing slightly. Bing more defined. Bing a better representation of how natural mana flowed through the world.<sub> </sub>


    As if something in his mind and soul was unblocked, the natural mana flowed through the adjusted spirit mark fluidly. Fleur left the eternal orb showing off a body nearly double the size. She looked more fairly like. Less of a sprite floating about.


    Her defined features painted a picture of beauty in nature. The different colored elemental manas flowing around her created different patterns that created her body. "Are you ready?" Walker felt that it was time. They had so much mana waiting and the world itself seemed to be subtly guiding their senses.


    Both Fleur and Walker held their hand over the eternal orb and natural mana rune. The burst of natural mana spilled out and in to the sky. Walker knew that it would stretch far and wide nearly unnoticed by most people in the world.


    The natural mana was hard to sense but would have a great effect on the world. The sudden loss of mana made Walker feel dizzy. Fleur was much the same but she could still remain focused and functional as they felt the soft snow of mana spread around them. The high natural mana would allow for the elemental manas in areas where a grand elemental spirit had ascended to disperse properly.


    ''The world smiles upon the grand elemental spirits and their avatars.''


    ''You have gained the title; Growing sage. This title has released the title; young sage. This is due to the level of understanding in natural mana. The world will aid you in the growth of your understanding slightly.''


    Walker saw this notification and knew that he and Fleur had been able to sense things as a team perfectly. That they and the others had made a difference for the future. The world had seen this and rewarded him. He was also sure that the others would have some form of benefit as well.


    ''Quest: return to Genesis for the meeting of the manas-pleted


    The world has recognized the meeting of manas and the new grand elemental spirits. They have taken their rightful ces as pirs for elemental bnce.


    Reward: major growth in bond between elemental spirits and any other beings.''


    The following system notification made everyone in the world stop. Because new elemental spirits had taken their ces, it was a very important step for the world to change. Those that didn''t know of what was happening were suddenly filled with a small amount of natural mana that made them open up to the elemental spirits being reawakened across the world.


    This understanding awakened natural instincts that made many feel they were closer to mana. That they had found deeper meanings they had long been blind to. The bncing of mana had only happened a few times in the history of the world. Always when new grand elemental spirits were taking the lead. This being the case meant that the world was recognizing the natural flow it desired for itself.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1548 1548. An Odd Pair

    After things had calmed down, Walker was able to look at Fleur more closely. He was surprised to find that she was the size of an average child. She also hadrger semi translucent wings that she wasn''t moving to float around. The mana that made up the rest of her body was mimicking clothing and a human form which was very impressive. Not only had she learned something from Shade, but she had used the high mana density to help her change her form.


    "You look very good Fleur, wait until you surprise everyone!" His encouragement made her very happy. She was clearly smiling before she melted back in to the spirit mark to rest. Walker wished he could justy down and sleep on the roof of the mage tower. Unfortunately, he had to make it back down to the lower floors and see how everyone else was doing.


    Before Walker left the roof, he nced at the now dim nature rune that was there. He wished that he could bring the ancient library and mage tower together. They would work very well together to uncover more mysterious. Walker also noticed the mana elemental spirits leaving the mage tower area now that their reason for going there was gone.


    Slowly but surely, Walker descended the elemental floors. He caught up to the others who had started to leave before him. They looked exhausted. Remey didn''t even have the energy to speak in witty terms. Su was dragging her feet. This was to be expected since they had recently bonded with elemental spirits.


    Surprisingly, Alice seemed very awake and functioning. Compared to Mordant, Walker expected Alice to be exhausted since Mordant had many years of experience with darkness elemental mana whereas Alice had less experience with light elemental mana.


    "You are going to speak with Alice, right? I want to make sure we all go to rest. But Alice looks stressed out." Gil came up to Walker. He knew that he had to update Walker on what he had done in reference to the light elves. It wasn''t the time for it though, there were other things they needed more like rest.


    "Agreed. We should all rest well. The world called on us and the grand elemental spirits. This is clearly a tradition that happens when certain requirements are met within our world. It was not too major but helped every living being. We deserve to have time to think on this." Mordant felt that he needed to take time to put his feelings in to order.


    While some people had grasped the things they felt differently, Mordant felt it even greater than others. The world had unblocked some things that had been missed by sentient beings when it came to mana and elemental spirits. Now that Mordant could feel this he wanted to take the time to go over everything he knew about darkness elemental mana. He also had Shade by his side. He had many things to learn about the grand elemental spirit that his partner had bonded with.


    Without a word, Su and Remey had headed toward the mansion. "Alice, would you like me to walk with you to the cathedral or to the mansion?" Walker saw Alice considering this. She could tell that the high priest had felt the mana change and moved back to the cathedral because he could tell that she was safe.


    "The mansion is closer." Alice was clearly in her own head. Walker just took that for what it was and fell in to step with her.


    "I am d you made it back safely. I am sorry for leaving. Mordant and I went to convince the light elemental royal dragon toe here. I hope that you can meet her even though she is not very open to other races." The thought that Walker had was simple.


    After he showed Rise how to change her ways and ept others then he would be able to share his knowledge with her. Therefore, she would be able to share her knowledge with them. The best person to learn from her would be Alice since she had the light elemental affinity. There would also be the light elves but that was something Walker had yet to fully learn.


    "No, I''m d you are safe." Alice reached out for Walker''s hand. She was moving slower and slower while thinking about things.


    "Nature mage. My new avatar has a lot to think about. Would you like to know what I saw?" Horizon did not hesitate to speak to Walker. There was an unsurety as to why Horizon had juste out to speak with him but Walker had a feeling it was the natural mana that emanated from him and gathered toward him.


    "If Alice is alright with it." Walker would not listen if Alice didn''t want him to hear what Horizon wanted to say. He respected what Alice believed and felt. If he didn''t then he was a terrible person as far as he was concerned.


    Since Alice was still confused, she nodded. If Horizon was the one to exin things in his own mix matched way then Walker might be able to trante things. It could make it easier for her to also understand. "I am ready to listen then." Alice gripped Walker''s hand tighter. The stress she felt was a little more than she wanted to handle.<sub> </sub>


    "She had the best affinity for light out of all the beings in this ce! I told her multiple times that I didn''t expect to find someone of her blood here. She''s the only one with blood from that race still left here. Shade would know them better though since he saw them when they were born. He''s way older than me." Horizon giggled a little while telling Walker this.


    "You mean¡­well, you mean that Alice isn''t human?" Walker was not as surprised by this as he could have been. He knew that he was also less and less human every day. He had bonds with natural mana and dragons. How could he be perfectly human with this? Add in the abyssal serpent bind and now he was going to have a lot of changes in a few years.


    "Human? Of course my avatar is part human. How else would she age this way? But those of her blood always speak and the light dances. They usually had wings. Angels are strange. But I haven''t seen one for years. Especially after their war. Split them right in two. That''s all I really know though." Horizon seemed slightly dejected before returning to ramble about how Alice had the perfect blood to withstand light elemental mana in a dense form.


    "You mean those old books about angels are real? Wait, war? What else is there to know? We need to learn everything. If angels are real then they were the ancient race that-"


    "I only know that much. I am old too, you know. I have seen many things. I stayed where the light was and at one point it was with the angels. But I did not speak to them. No grand spirit at that time would care about another race. We had to gain mana and work to guide nature. A much busier time for us elemental spirits. Now we don''t have to lift much of a finger until now." Horizon was a fountain of knowledge if Walker could organize him. But there was no such luck.


    "We should go find Mordant and Shade. So you want to do that? We can rest first? We can get more answers. I am sure I can find¡­" Alice seemed a little mystified. She wasn''t even hearing what Walker had to say. Angels were a myth. A being that no one actually believed was real.


    The demons were real, spirits, merfolk, pretty much anything but angels. How could they? Any old text described them as beings that understood the world better than any other. Beings that stood above every and all race. But even those were stories. Angels had never been seen or proven to exist. No bodies or living ones ever to be seen.


    "Well, I know why you are always so amazing. You are literally one of a kind. An angel sent from the powers that be." Walker joked and pulled Alice a little closer. "I guess you and I will be an odd pair. The nature royal dragon that started off as a human and the part human part angel that can heal and make the light turn in to anything."


    The short and blunt exnation made Alice snap out of her mind a little. She found it funny that they were now an odd pair that didn''t seem to make sense. She knew she had been found on the cathedral steps and that the high priest was her father. But what else was she missing? Alice wasn''t sure if she wanted to know.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1549 1549. Split Race

    Mordant had attempted to go to the elemental floor to absorb dark elemental mana. He wanted to replenish the mana he had used. In the matter of a day he had used so much mana that he felt he was not the same dragon. Unfortunately, when he tried to enter the mage tower he found that he was much more exhausted than he had expected.


    The bonding of a spirit mark took a toll. It cost a great deal of the being''s personal mana to perfectly meld on to their soul. The reason Mordant and Shade had bonded so well was the fact that Mordant had such ahigh affinity for darkness elemental mana. There was also the addition of Mordant''s partner being part of Shade now.


    The only possible ce for him to go was the mansion. He walked there through the streets seeing people out and about taking the rest of the day off since there had been such an interesting happening. May gossiped about the mage tower and what the gourds were being told. It was lucky that Gil had taken the time to exin to one guard what had happened and that it was a natural phenomenon.


    What struck Mordant as odd was that he found Alice and Walker in the front entrance. It was very clear that Walker had sensed Mordanting and had waited. "What seems to be the problem? the bond went well and so did the meeting of manas." There was worry that Walker had found out something bad. However, it was not at all what mordant expected.


    "We actually want to speak with Shade. His memories of the world might have some answers. Horizon said that Alice has angel bloodline within her. She looks human but has the affinity and ability to bond with him because of that blood. Shade might-"


    "Yes, the angels and their little war with themselves. Forget the monsters that controlled storms and destruction. The angels were weak little things until they grasped the mana of the world and more." Shade rose from the shadows and spoke. He had been watching. He had the memories of Mordant''s partner. He would never let a tired Mordant go unguarded. It was part of his bond.


    "So it is true." Alice couldn''t help but mumble. She had partially hoped that she was just an ordinary human. "Things areplicated now."


    "It is not much of an important subject. You are blessed with such a bloodline that persisted. I have not seen those flying beings for many years. They fought each other and split up finally letting the monsters they struck down reim their territory. Then they disappeared. It was much easier to rx and absorb mana after that." Shade seemed like he didn''t like that there were many races or sentient beings around anywhere. He seemed to be a recluse like Mordant was when gathering mana.


    "Wait, so they are the ancient race that created the tower and the library!? The mythical angel race that everyone said was just an imagined creation by artists?" Walker stumbled through his words. Even Mordant was just standing speechless.


    "Ruins? Tower? Who cares what they made? When I first found them in the dark they were hidden things with small wings. They learned about mana and fostered monsters as their beasts. Later they argued over theories and split apart. That was when they left my dark caves alone and I could remain at peace." Shade was very minimal in his knowledge but it was key.


    "Why do we have to be tired and need rest!? This is huge. We have been trying to assemble all these pieces about the ancient race. Now you say that angels actually existed?"


    "Well, the demon race exists and that could easily be deemed as a strange myth. Beings with magic and horns that can easily be monsters, grow wings, and be radically different demon variants within their own species. Why not angels?" Mordant understood that sentient life in the world was not simple. It was overplicated and a massive mystery of nature.


    "We need to trante their runenguage and find some history about what happened. We know that they split because of disagreements in theories now. That means that the mage tower and the library were the two locations they went be the split race moved somewhere else. Ascended or maybe left¡­" Walker had too many theories of his own and wanted to find proof. This was a huge lead.


    "NO!" Alice stopped Walker with the loudest shout she had ever given him. "You need to sleep. You need to eat. You need to take a break." Her tone of voice said that Walker had absolutely no choice. If he wanted to do anything he would have to rest first.


    "Thank you Shade." Alice gave a soft nod to Shade.


    "Very polite. Horizon chose a very good avatar. I am older than most, my memories are not clear. Especially after melding them with another spirit''s precious memories. That does not mean I won''t recognize what the mana feels like. You have the affinity of an angel but that is all. Your voice may cause the light to move but you are not the same. Human as any other." Shade left them while Mordant just stood silently before realizing that he wasn''t needed at this moment. He could sense the room.<sub> </sub>


    "Come on, I will make us some food and tea. We can go read something in the library. Rx and fall asleep in front of the firece." Walker took Alice''s hand and pulled her away. He pretended not to see the small smile on her face.


    Not only had Alice feared that she would be seen as different but also that Walker would not ept her if she was different. She realized this was all foolish though. Even one of the oldest elemental spirits, beings, that they had ever met was able to shrug off that she might have a little blood from an ancient race. How could she let it rule her so much?


    While they did this, Mordant made his way to the room that Walker had given him. It had a veryrge bed and was very luxurious. "That wasn''t everything you remember. You have a few traits that took over when you and my partner became one." Mordant didn''t even need proof. He just knew.


    "Yes. there is more. If the angels are still around they will cause trouble. They may not all have ascended to other nes of existence. Some of their blood is not an issue but if there are purer angels around then they will dly stand for their beliefs and cause wars. There are many reasons the monsters changed over time. Nature being one reason, the angels'' minds being another." Shade gave thisst warning before he refused to speak again. Mordant justy down thinking of all this before he decided to meditate. To clear his mind.


    While the mansion became quieter, Remey and Su also slept. They had many visions of fire and earth in their dreams. Gil had also managed to make it to the mansion along with Alma. she had demanded a full exnation of what had happened and where he had rushed off to.


    Many of the elves and the mages had spoken about the bncing of mana. Many had gained new insights in their studios. It was a grand change for the world but mostly for Genesis. They all knew what originated in the city and why.


    "The light elves that came with us are going to try to build their own territory as the other elves are. I want you toe tomorrow. Also, I will invite Alice. Having the grand light elemental spirit there will help them learn more. Change their ideals and what they were living in before." The strict rules were what Alma worried about. The light elves were in arge culture shock.


    "I promise I will. But you and I both should sleep first. Days on end without sleep even though our levels and bodies can take it is not good. Look at the ivy wrapped around your arms. It is starting to turn brown. That means you are not able to properly focus on it right now. You told me that." Gil did not budge. He would make sure Alma was taken care of first.


    "I will rest as soon as you and Zephyr promise to help tomorrow. Promise me that you will keep working to unite the elves with me." Alma saw Gil smile and nod with her. He wanted the same things as her. Tomorrow would be a big step since every elven race was together for the first time in many generations. The elves would be fully united.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1550 1550. Bringing Things Together

    By the time everyone had rested and eaten, the Genesis building had be full. Every representative and elemental dragon had managed to make it to Genesis. Ventus was alone with time whereas Terron had brought multiple dragons with him who had already discovered the underground portion of the city.


    "I am sure that everyone has been waiting to hear what we have found in entirety. Especially since some of us left the battle and city for some time." Walker felt that he was going to be asked everything so he had to sum it up faster.


    "We already know that the two ruins and those in between were rted. After speaking with multiple grand elemental spirits, we know that it is more than a theory that the race that created the ruins were angels. Some may still exist in the world now while some descendants exist." Horizon and Alice hade specifically for this reason.


    "So the records are proven correct. The humanoid race that flew through the sky after crawling from the earth." Terron mumbled slightly. The dragons had some records about this but it was still seen as mythology. He had memorized it because of the beingsing from the earth directly.


    The demon lord used the ancient magic circle at an immense price of mana to teleport somewhere far away with Envy and Sloth. Those remaining sin title holders are responsible for the slimes and we are unsure of what Sloth may be capable of. It is not a good sign." This was the crux of the situation. Their enemy had escaped.


    "The dragons are already preparing for what that weak demon may be doing. When we find them, I will burn it all to ash." Ignus was not having this. He desired a full victory.


    "If that demon tries to gain the power of wyverns we will have some trouble. They may be one of the few monsters that will directly confront us even though they are of weaker blood." Current was also thinking about this. It was why his dragonkin had begun training at a higher intensity.


    "We are not sure of his entire n. However, the elves have finallye together and will be holding a ceremony that has not been performed for many generations. Do not worry, the elves will be more powerful. We wille together to defend this continent." Alma spoke up from her side of the table. Gil was right beside her. They would go to the ceremony after this.


    "The same thinning is why Mordant and I went to antagonize Rise. She does not want to ept everyone because of her own reasoning¡­That being said, I will change her mind. I will work hard to show her what she can gain from Genesis and this alliance. I know the other royal dragons will assist." Terron and Ignus looked at Walker like he was asking the craziest things. However, the other royal dragons nodded.


    "Since we are speaking about racesing together, what of the two human cities that live near the oceans? The one in the demonnds at the cliffs and the one past the desert inrge beaches?" Leon had wondered this. He knew that these cities were more isted. They did some trade but were not rted to anyone.


    "I believe we can trust those to King August. He may have rushed him to his city but we know he will reach out to them after Markus reports back." The king of the deep cave had already worked this out. "Meanwhile, we dwarves will prepare greater weapons. After the mana meeting we have had many breakthroughs." The pride was immeasurable.


    "Golems are being produced at a higher quality, multiple spirit bonds with fire elemental spirits, and the elves have started teaching us more about the mana we bend to shape." These factors were increasing and improving technology rapidly.


    "Agreed the bond with elemental spirits are increasing. That being said, we all should see that we have found the best possible time for growth. I desire the training of the Genesis united army to be structured to a higher degree. It is time to have a live in army of all races." Scy and King Rorick echoed this. They wanted to see the racese together better.


    "That sounds ideal. The demons are going to be making homes for themselves, the elves will be united, the harpies, goblins, and spiders are also growing, and with some dragonkining to join us for training¡­well, we have a lot of moving parts. We will be able to foster warriors that no race has seen before. Not to mention when magese to terms with the knowledge here and the ruins."


    Many of them were already considered this mass of battle growth Genesis would have. Walker had to admit when listing out even a small portion of it, he was stunned.


    "The adventurer''s guild is also growing exponentially. I have gained members from all races. Even some demons instantly started to apply due to their desire to see the rest of the world they have been hidden from. It is thergest the guild has ever been and I would like to be separate from all country rule. It is clear that the guild will be able to work with and respectws. That is not my goal." ra had silenced the entire room with this.<sub> </sub>


    "The goal I have is that we will be able to continue to respect the kingdoms we are in while not being forced to do anything under a ruler. Genesis is the perfect ce for our headquarters because there is not a single ruler. We can be free to avoid wars and not force members. They are also free to join without penalty."


    "That is not anything we worried about. As far as we know, the guilds all should have that goal. The alchemy guild will be the same. I am sure that the crafting guild will mirror us. Along with a world bank of some kind." Remey had considered this as well and knew that Genesis would not disapprove of this. It would be a massive reason more people woulde to live in the city.


    There were nods from all around the table. Everyone epted this. "Since we are going to another city, we will be going to the home of the grand cathedral. That means the highest priest, the pop, is there. He has the highest healing skills and the oldest logic about those that praise the light of the heavens. The healing records there could increase many things for the healers learning. I can not make the journey but you will take the next head of the cathedral with you when it is made."


    The high priest had been mostly silent. He had not wanted to introduce the new head this way since he had yet to hold an official ceremony. "My daughter has chosen another path. She was my first choice as the next head of the cathedral. This was my bias. However, the cathedral raised three who were clearly the best. Only one did stand out more. Lilianna.


    Lilliana had the highest skills of healing while perfectly understanding why and how the cathedral worked. We hold prayers for the heavens, or as some say, the world. We help everyone without discrimination. Liliana also possesses the rapid healing skill which puts her training as a healer many steps above others."


    The high priest had fought himself over this decision. Therefore, when he saw that many were nodding and supporting him he had a realization. Many had heard of his choosing and slowly testing the three. Those who met the potential high priests had already thought of who they would see take over.


    "That is great news, I will definitelye with my family when you make the announcement." Walker supported it wholeheartedly. "That leaves a few things left, the trantion of origin runenguage that the angels used, how we are tracking where the demon lord is exactly, and even more, the building of a navy to leave here and go to where they are."


    The big topics that Walker brought were on everyone''s minds and papers. They had all been considering the dangers of the vast open ocean. Many monsters without reason existed which was why ships stayed close to beached. Traveling out in to the deep was also a risk that they could encounter monsters that existed only in open skies.


    "We will begin some building to test such things soon. The water elves and merfolk will assist us." The dwarves had two ns already in the works. "We have the ships which we will improve and the golems models after dragons to work with. It will take time." The king of the surface spoke of this since he was personally going to be dealing with this along with the king of the middle.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1551 1551. Elves United

    Once the meetings had finished, Walker and the others took a walk to the elven areas of the city. There was a muchrger tree growing that Walker had not noticed. A tree that clearly would rival the mage tower for height in afew years.


    "This is a tree I was given by the forest elf queen. It has many unique traits. One of such is increasing the spiritual connection elves have to nature. It is also one of the oldest tree seeds I have ever seen." Alma was staying with the group to exin how the ceremony would go. However, she had to point out that the tree was intentionally there and served a purpose.


    "That means you have brought your forest here officially. That''s so sweet." Su was struck by the fact that the tree being from the forest elf queen was an important fact. It was a direct continuation of the forest for Alma to hold herself.


    ? "You should see how the other areas have developed. The water elves are working with the merfolk to create little streams for bringing goods through the city. I guess the worn canal would be better used." Gil pondered this while they passed by such a canal that was currently dry. It was a great idea to help the water fairing citizens travel.


    "I heard that young merfolk are better off in the water because of their skin. If this helps them then I am all for it." Walker''s support was mirrored by Leon and Current. Having the royal dragons walking behind everyone made them all feel strange. Yet, when Walker tried to have them walk ahead they all ignored him. Instead they were speaking quietly about Riseing.


    When they all managed to get to the open space set aside forrge events in front of thergest tree in the elven park, Walker was amazed. The elves had gathered in many ces waiting for everyone to arrive. There were no chairs, instead, there were ces to sit in the trees the water fountain, and nkets. It was a more natural way of holding such arge meeting of the elves.


    This was also being supported by the new dwarven technology that allowed light crystals to transmit the image through rune patterns. It had been improved which was an amazing idea because the dwarves were aiming to be able to do away with basicmunication crystals which were harder for the elves and dwarves to make. This would be a wee alternative if they could expand it.


    The space for the representatives to stand was the same stage where Alma would be speaking. This made everyone feel a little off because this was a moment for the elves. However, once Alma spoke they understood.


    "Here before you are the representatives of Genesis. The royal dragons of the dragon race and the founders of Genesis. They havee to witness one of thergest moments for the elven race in generations." The silence through the trees was heavy. Everyone waited for her to continue.


    "I have traveled to your viges, my family has traveled to your viges. We have seen some who were in need while others were building walls. Some were gued by evil, and others were led by a false ruler. None of you have done wrong in my eyes though."


    "You have stood to represent the culture you believed in while you pursue your elemental affinity and that is noble. What I stand here today to say to you is simple and overused, but it remains true. You are not alone! These elves around you may have different elemental affinities. They may have different ideals. They may have a different past. Yet when I look at them I see elves all the same."


    "The history of high elves has been ignored. They were revered until they disappeared. That to me, is a tragedy. Who is to say that our high elf race is gone? The blood flows within you. How can it be any different? Because of your elemental affinity? NO! We are the high elf race and we are finally united again to create the wondrous natural magic. The elven race is here to birth sages. To all of you, I wee you home to Genesis where every elf is equal to everyone. No matter your affinity for the elements within and without the cycle of nature."


    Thest words were what Alma had learned from Walker and the new information about the library. Knowing that there were more types of affinities and magic was hard to grasp but something that was better to ept now. If they researched as a city, then it would bemon knowledge.


    "Now, as the representative of the elven race, I wee you to show yourselves to nature and celebrate the return of who we truly are!" This finally caused the elves to move. In the matter of moments, mana gathered in incredible density.


    The elves were bringing their mana together. This was a ceremonial gesture to show that they were all the same. The elves with the same affinity would do this to illustrate their connections and power. This was a ceremony that was the same for every single elf everywhere regardless of how far they had gotten from the other races. A singr connecting factor to remind them of their history.


    "Let me help a little."Walker could feel the manasing together. He and Fleur both knew that the bnce would be reached faster with their addition. Since Walker had the help of Fleur, a nature spirit, not a soul stopped him. Nature was very important for the elves. Having a nature spirit join them was an honor.


    The mana that was gathered slowly becamebined more and more in to natural mana. Since there were hundreds of elves working on it of all kinds of affinity, the mana was flowing smoothly. The only thing that Fleur and Walker had to do was give it thest little push to bnce itself.


    The moment that the mana bnced, it spread through the city. The sight of this caused many people to stop full of smiles. It was a warm and weing feeling. This was the symbol of a race reuniting. Of families being born. Of a new future being written.<sub> </sub>


    "Celebrate who you are and show the world who we are as a race!" Alma stood with the widest smile she had ever worn in her life after speaking. The moment that anyone realized one of their greatest dreams was always a moment that would be engraved in their soul.


    "This is why I wanted Genesis to exist." Walker couldn''t help but be just as happy as those around. He had not imagined that the elvesing together would be such an outstanding moment.


    "You know, this is more than just Genesis. This should be everywhere. There''s already proof that another continent exists. Why not be allies with them?" Gil spoke as if this was something that everyone already expected to hear. He was not wrong.


    "No forcing things along with fists. We can use the things we make to create a bond." Remey of all people had just said that she didn''t want to use her fists.


    "Brother, sister and I think this is a good moment. Why not share it?" Onyx and Midnight had held back a little after Walker had returned. They were upset with him for not bringing them to the light dragon vige. Yet, they still took the time to share their opinion on a matter greater than their feelings at the moment.


    "As a final announcement, Please honor the one that is bringing together our dagger techniques. Digging through our history to revitalize another piece we have thought lost." Gil froze in ce. He had not expected that Alma would call him in this way.


    "As Alma has just said, I have been looking through the books, stone tablets, and theories to rebuild the high elf dagger techniques. I believe that some history is better off being left alone while others are better off seeing the light of day again."


    The arrows we make, the magics we use, and the rtionships with elemental spirits change. They will be different. However, the dagger techniques, swordsmanship, and pure hearted attraction to nature will always reign true." Gil''s words inspired many more of the elves to share what they have known with their pairs in other affinities.


    "I wonder when he is going to realize that he is just as much a representative of the elves that Alma is?" Walkerughed a little while watching Gil get crowded by multiple elves that had heard of him but not fully met him.


    "I may have wanted him to speak just to keep everyone from me." Alma giggled a little as she watched someone she truly cared about enjoy the things they had worked for.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1552 1522. Gathering A Crowd

    The celebration that began was one that many in the city would remember. There had been an announcement that there would be rtive elven ceremonies, however, no one from other races expected just how important they would be. Nor did they realize how much would be happening.


    The forest elves had begun archerypetitions showing off their arcane archery skills. There were also many of the elven mages that had begun to show off the nature rted magics that they knew.


    Rted to the nature based magics, many of the farmers came in to the city after their day''s work had finished. They wanted to learn from the elves about crops. This was an interesting developments because the elven race had many small tricks that helped the farmers care for nts in unique ways. Yet, the demi-human farmers also had extremely efficient ways to make the crops grow that taught the elves things as well.


    "These are the stone elves that lived underneath the ground. I never knew that were within that mountain." Terron had be very interested in the stone elves after learning that they had hidden away within the mountain without his knowledge.


    "Did you ever have a home near them?" Walker was curious. Terron had not spoken much but was finally branching out about the elves. The other royal dragons had also taken an interest. Especially Ventus since the wind elves had arrived and seamlessly joined in with the other elves.


    "Yes, some years ago we found a ce we desired to live. Unfortunately, the mana moved in strange ways and I did not stop there. It was not as good as where I have been up until recently." There was part of Terron that now realized the odd mana movements must have been the stone elves.


    "They lived there at war with the dark elves until they came together to stop the deaths of those they loved. Years past them by and now the dark and stone elves are some of the closest elves in the race." Walker didn''t hide the information from Terron. Ti was something he would hear eventually.


    "I see, and they have unique magic that controls the earth and the shadows?"


    "Why? Are you interested in seeing it with me, Terron?" Mordant nearly dragged Terron away. Walker was impressed since Terron was a tough earth royal dragon. They were not moved easily. It just showed how much Terron was beginning to rx and open up. He may have been stubborn but could be open to changes eventually. It just took patience.


    "Walker! This is one of the wind elves. Watch them step through the air just like you!" Gil was happy to show off the wind elf wearing green robes. The elves effortlessly stepped in to the air as if it was a stair waiting for someone to travel through.


    "I thought you would be able to do that. I managed to learn it by watching a simr skill but you are definitely more adept in it." The wind elf moved forward to shake Walker''s hand.


    "Of course it is natural to us. We get the skill as part of our affinity and training. It was a surprise to see the level of this city. The wind elves have always followed the winds. We rarely had a solid home. Now that there is a ce to settle down, we might stay more often." Gil was already on the move with the wind elf with him. It was clear to see that Gil was learning about his won affinity.


    "Brother, I believe you have something to exin to us." Midnight and Onyx had waited for the wind elf and Gil to move away. It had been a short meeting but one that Walker was happy about.


    "Midnight. Onyx. I am sorry for leaving you behind and rushing away with Mordant to the light dragon vige. I left you and did not even think to speak with you. I should have respected you as my family to properly let you know." Walker had already seen that the others had epted this. Alice had been a little more annoyed with him but she now had her own worries that she was focused on. Particrly her bloodline which was newly discovered.


    "We knew that you were safe, but we did not know where. You were far away and the connection was hard to grasp." Onyx was speaking for both him and Midnight. Both of them wanted a straight answer before someone else came to bother Walker due to the celebrations. Midnight also wanted to go and enjoy the celebrations with the dragon hatchlings that were moving about to meet the royal dragons they arrived with.


    "In the future I will do more tomunicate what is going on and where I n to go. I promise that if it is within my power." Walker''s words seemed enough to make Midnight and Onyx rx a little. However, Walker should have expected the next question.


    "What was it like, the light royal dragon vige?" Onyx was more curious than Midnight was because he could consume the light elemental mana as sustenance. There was also the chance that he would be able to learn something unique about light elemental mana from the older dragons and dragonkin that studied it religiously.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, the light royal dragon and other light dragons were very reclusive. They stayed in the sky closer to the sun. But the dragonkin used a special sword technique called the fading sword." Walker changed the form of the eternal orb and demonstrated the skill.


    Unknown to Walker, he had attracted the younger light elves that had chosen to leave their home ande to Genesis. They began to gather as Walker showed off the skill. "It is unique because it functions as a second attack. Your opponent has to defend, then be prepared to defend within a split second from another attack also controlled by you."


    This demonstration was met with more elves that were not necessarily light elves. They were spell swords that wanted to see how this worked. "Brother, I could use this on my tail. I could use the tail m and then use the light to attack again. I can already create armor to bond with the armor I wear out of light and darkness elemental mana." This excited Onyx because he had not considered a dyed attack like this. It could greatly strengthen his ability to fight.


    "Walker really seems to be great at gathering a crowd without meaning to." Alma was very happy to see the elves epting each other and even starting to share the skills that they knew with one another. The spell swords in particr were a system that most elves had regardless of their affinity.


    "It is nice. You''re right. I think this has gone exactly as we hoped. I bet that we can start bringing back a lot of the high elf magics and systems over the next few years." From Gil''s point of view, the elven race was just going to get stronger by returning to their roots. They had divided themselves for too long.


    "You both have done a lot for the elven race. I think you two should take a little time to rx. I know there are two human cities that need to be met and bargained with, however, they will take some time. Just rx." Su had been standing with them and decided it was best to leave the pair off with this advice. The elves were celebrating and it was a happy day. She wanted them to feel it in its entirety.


    "Did the two lovebirds make you feel awkward?" Remey joined Su who was walking toad some of the elves she had seen in the cathedral before. She wanted to make friends with the new healers that were working together to help everyone.


    "No, I just wanted them to know that they had nothing else to worry about for a while. Alma has had this goal for a long time. It''s important." Remey nodded along with how Su felt. She too had a desire to see this kind of future.


    "I will be more interested to see what they can do when theye together. Trish said that the alchemy the high elves were able to do was much more controlled. They had a better understanding of how to pull all the nutrients from an herb. That means better healing potions. It also means new experiments." The small giggle that Remey had told Su everything she needed to hear.


    "I am just d that there is a new horizon for them. I can''t imagine what would happen if they remained divided. If everyone stayed far from each other there would be no progress." Su had a much deeper view about the united races. A view that many were beginning to grasp as well.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1553 1553. Light Arrival

    "What do you think of all this?" Current had found himself watching from higher in the trees. The elvesing together and exchanging their skills was a strange thing to witness.


    "They are not as powerful as us. They need a few hundred years to be able to match the youngest of our children." Ignus had taken the generic pride route byparing the elves to the youngest dragon hatchlings.


    "You are correct that they are not that powerful. However, can you not see that they are keeping records over generations? They span many years just like we do. They are smaller versions of us. It is interesting to see." Current had been able to draw simrities between the dragons and the elves.


    With a calm expression, Ignus considered this and slowly began to nod. "They have had poor rulers and disorganization. They are better off together But theyck a nature elf. Or a natural mana elf that can be their center. Our history has that over them." This was what Ignus saw as a major w for the elven race.


    "Sages." Ventus came to rest on the branches near them. She had been speaking with the wind elves before she had decided to meet with Current and Ignus who were looking from above. "That is what I have gathered. Sages are rare and they can use natural mana. They are responsible for many of the elves'' greatest moments in history."


    "You have been busy if you have gathered this¡­" Current was surprised that Ventus was flowing so well with the other races. She was used to being out in the open without any potential attachments to others. This was an unusual urrence.


    "It is very interesting. So many things to learn here without any limit. You understand that our new royal dragon has a tongue sage, well, a growing sage title. We share a center now." Ignus''s head jerked to the side and he looked at Ventis with stern eyes. He was trying to believe what he had just heard was true.


    "Then we may see the same thing happening to the dragons. I have never imagined a dragon raceing together. It is almost as believable as Riseing here." Theughter was copied by Ventus and Current. That was until they felt the change in mana around them.


    The light elves were able to sense it the greatest. Even though that light of the day had begun to change in to the light of the starry night, they felt it. The fluctuations in light elemental mana were something that they were the most sensitive to.


    "Unfortunately, that should be the end of my magic demonstrations and ideas. I want to test these ideas out with you all though. The fading sword style was made by the light dragonkin that should be arriving soon. I will try and see if they want toe over and meet everyone." Walker had sensed the same thing and was already on the move.


    Stepping in to the air was a simple matter. Walker moved above the Elves'' trees to find all the other royal dragons in the air in their dragonkin forms pping their wings. They were all interested and a little nervous to see what Rise was going to do and say. She had been goaded in toing here after all.


    "You have all lowered yourself to being with lower races. How disappointing for you to be convinced of such things." Therger light dragon that took up the sky was Rise. She had not taken a dragonkin form yet because she wanted to show off why she was the best of the best. The few light dragons she had brought flew around her.


    "I see you have brought some family along with your champion. I hope you have some dragonkin on the way as well. I personally invited them so that they may see and train here to be stronger. I assumed you would enjoy having more powerful warriors?" Walker''s small taunt was enough for Rise to take a dragonkin form and directly face him. She had been marinating in her frustration after his visit with Mordant.


    "I could not take the time to carry them. They are on foot if they areing. So is my champion''s guardian. It is only right that they do such a swell. They must walk on the dirty ground. How could we carry them?" This drastic separation was why the dragonkin of the light viges were not as close to their lord. They felt that they were considered as gravely inferior whereas the other royal dragons treated their dragonkin as if they were important parts of their lives.


    "You''re still blind. I dly used the shadows to help my dragonkin warriors here. Now they roam this city learning about all the other races. They have met others with simr skills while teaching those few. They even started to protect some of this race and those fleeing the hardships of a poor ruler. I wish you had the light strong enough to see the error in your ways." Mordant''s sudden but calm retort made the others stiffen.


    It had been many years since someone had gone against the oldest of them. The light dragon Rise was still the oldest of the royal dragons. The one that had been through the most and upheld her version of the dragon traditions more solidly than any other. Now she was being talked down to by her opposite elemental dragon? It was as if Mordant was offering a war.


    "Regardless of your current standing with your own vige." Walker interrupted what Rise was about to say. "The elves just united back in to one race. It has been a long timeing. The celebrations are bringing the city great joy. If youe down to join it you are wee. You just may learn a thing or two. If not, I can show you the light elemental floor of the mage tower until we are finished with our business here tonight."<sub> </sub>


    Since Walker had openly said that he was not going to prioritize Rise, it was the same as telling her that shecked importance. Yet, this was what he wanted. Walker wanted Rise to understand that many other things came first. He saw everyone as equals here and had to ensure that this was upheld within Genesis at all times. Even with the royal dragons. Especially with the royal dragons.


    "You would just brush me and my dragons off so easily? Expect us to walk among lower race-"


    "Stop right there. I have seen these races act with more respect than you have ever given myself or my fellow dragons. Rise! Do you not know who was responsible for cleaning up the many rogue dragons you left? Do you not know how many light elemental dragonkin warriors I have saved from death? You are their royal dragon. The one they should look up to. Why do they not search out your aid?"


    Out of all those that spoke against Rise, Ventus had some of the strongest feelings. It was because she had to clean up the messes of Rise who had ignored most of the issues as if they were nothing. Ventus was totally convinced that Rise could see the world filled with rogue dragons that targeted her dragonkin and not bat an eysh at them.


    "You don''t want to join a celebration with food? Even you shared the food with the royal dragon court, did you not? The food here is much better. Fruits grown from the finest forests, meats harvested from unique farm grown beasts, and recipes that span the entire continent. How could you not desire these things? Even I have begun to try them after hearing what our fellow royal dragons have to say!"


    The stubborn of the stubborn, Terron, spoke up next. It made Walker feel he was watching a heartwarming event. Knowing that Ignus was also nodding along and controlling his temper while this all happened brought Walker even more joy for the moment.


    "Come on, follow me to the mage tower. You shouldn''t bother the governing royal dragon right now. Your fellow dragons can stay nearby or just fly around all night. I don''t care. I will show you where to go." Current ignored the others since he saw that Rise was getting more obtuse. He decided just to be a guide.


    "I will not be spoken down to like this. I am here to take this vige and raise it properly in purity of light-"


    p "Rise, you will do no such thing. You are here to meet with your fellow royal dragons and understand one single thing! Being alone is not going to make you better or stronger. It is holding you back. Think about that while you are in the mage tower. When the sun rises I wille and see you." Walker turned to go back to the celebrations. His words silenced Rise''s attempts to argue.</anda>


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1554 1554. Grand Spirits Power

    Light elemental mana seemed to go berserk for a moment before Horizon appeared out of nowhere. Alice had been asked to perform a song since some of the elves had decided that her voice was one of the sweetest they had ever heard.


    When Horizon had felt the powerful light elemental mana, he had been interested. As Rise became angry at so many people and fellow royal dragons opposing her, he had made a move.


    The light elemental mana returned to the normal flow and Rize felt a dreadful sense of loss. "I thought that a fight was about to break out. But it was just a child making trouble. Luckily, I managed toe and see what was happening." Horizon relished the fact that he could control the connections of mana that other beings had to a degree.


    He could not remove mana from them but he could interrupt it so much that the being using it would be unable to even feel it temporarily.


    "You have ruined me¡­I am not able to even feel."


    "You are fine. It is the same as when you were a little hatchling I am sure. I am Horizon. The grand light elemental spirit. I have returned the mana you caused to move naturally to return to where it should be. Enjoy your punishment as I enjoy the singing of my newfound partner." Horizon seemed a little more childish than Walker had imagined. However, he had helped a lot.


    "Think of this as a blessing. You are able to be the same as everyone else here. You don''t need to worry about mana or titles. You can walk around and learn, see new sights, while also understanding what Genesis is." Mordant thought this change of events was ideal. Light had to stop being so high and mighty now. She had to face the changes the world had.


    "Ha! The mighty Light dragon that forced her will on us because of her age andrger pool of mana is finally stumped. Silent and not able to judge us. Should I fight you now?" Ignus saw the chance for some hot blooded revenge. However, when he saw that Rise was able to still growl deeply even in the dragonkin form she had taken, he knew he had taunted the wrong person.


    The other light dragon felt the change and had also realized that Horizon had influenced their ability to manipte the light elemental mana. This was why many soundsnding dragons were heard. Without the lighting to them, the instant response was to sit down and think about what could cause it. Wait for their royal dragon to respond to them.


    "Hm, Rise is speechless. This may be the first time I am not cleaning up her mess." Ventus found this exceedingly amusing.


    "Do not make fun of her or make any moves. Since the grand spirits can interrupt even your elemental manas, what do you think Fleur and I can do? You will not treat each other poorly just because one is weaker at the moment. That is not the same as a teasing family bond and you all know it." Walker made sure that respect was kept.


    However, he had reminded them that he and Fleur were much more unique than all the other grand elemental spirits. Fleur had control of natural mana. That means all manas in the air around her. Through Walker that will could be more easily manifested. Therefore, he could stop all of them from casting their skills and using their mana. Not that he was actually able to do so. He was too inexperienced just yet.


    "I will take her around first. You should see to her dragonkin Mordant." Current had taken the lead to start a tour for Rise. He felt that it was the least he could do since he had been spending time within Genesis and would be exploring anyways.


    "I can do that. I have recovered enough to be able to bring them such a short distance. They should have made a great amount of progress since leaving with Rise. Walker, you can introduce the dragon champion to Midnight, correct?" Walker smiled. Mordant knew exactly what he was thinking.


    "I will, but I want to also introduce the dragonkin guardian to Su. I know that they already met but it would be better that they catch up. Plenty of training ns to make since so many champions, dragonkin guardians, and dragonkin warriors will be here soon." This was what walker was looking forward to the most. When the dragons would be there to train and grow together as well.


    "Don''t forget the hatchlings you are raising. I am still waiting to see what results you have. I wish to see what you can do that will be so above and beyond my expectations." Terron spoke and immediately left again toward the mage tower. He was joined by Ignus and Ventus who allowed Current and Mordant to go their own ways.


    "Midnight. I know you have been watching from the trees nearby." Walker saw Midnight move out of the shadows. Her head was slightly down. "Why are you sad that I noticed? I want to introduce you to the light dragon champion. I am sure you didn''t have much of a chance to speak or even see them at the royal court. The light dragon champion is much more caring about the dragonkin than Rise." Part of Walker felt bad that Horizon had stopped Rise from using mana, unfortunately, that was just how it had to be to make her listen.<sub> </sub>


    There was a silent environment below where he and the dragons had been speaking. It made Walker realize that the arrival of Rise had silenced a lot of people due to the mana she originally gave off. He looked over at the elves that had been celebrating and took a deep breath.


    "The royal dragons havee together on the same day that the elves have united! Just another thing to celebrate in Genesis!" The words were not technically false since Rise hade here but they were not entirely truthful. But it would be a good thing for Genesis to hear. A good rumor to share through the people.


    Looking around, Walker found Su and Alice together. They were waiting to hear what he had to say about Rise. "You couldn''t hold back Horizon eleven a little bit, huh?" Walker smirked as he looked at Alice''s red cheeks. She had been singing and celebrating with the elves making her a little flushed. "It worked out though, Rise is too stunned to react poorly. It will help us get through to her."


    "And what of their dragonkin?" Su knew that there would be more to this.


    "They are being gathered by Mordant since she left them behind. The champion is also going to being over here to meet Midnight. Just a few minutes I''m sure." This made Su brighten up even more. She wanted to see more of the dragonic guardians. She wanted to be able to understand more about herself.


    "I will make sure that they all get a real tour. They also need a ce to stay¡­I will see what I can do." Su was wandering off nning as she needed to get everything together. Walker didn''t even need to ask her to take the lead.


    "How are you doing?" Walker nced at Alice. The celebrations had been going on for a few hours now. It was drifting off in to night but there were no signs of stopping. Alice was clearly starting to reach the end of her energy. Especially with the thoughts of another bloodline on her mind.


    "This is good." Her sweet voice made Walker smile without him even thinking. Alice pointed to everyone around her.


    She pointed at the few demons that had already epted the changes. They had embraced Genesis with everything they had as soon as they had the chance. The merfolk that were standing equal to the water elves they idolized. The demi-humans picking fights with the dwarves for fun. The goblins, grey haired spiders, and harpies that were moving together as if they had been family for years. The humans that had opened up to the changes in the world.


    "You''re right. This is good. I am d to see so many racesing together. Even the dragons areing. I just want to get more. I want to bring everyone together. Want to help?" Walker offered a hand while listening to the music nearby. He couldn''t let the moment of peace pass before he had to handle something else. It was just too perfect of a chance to take the hand of someone he cared for so that he could dance with them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1555 1555. Some Rest

    The fact that everyone needed rest still did not cause the celebration to end early. However, it did weigh on some people and help them make the right choice to make it to bed earlier. Walker was able to follow this along with most of the others in his party.


    Gil was the only one that had not been able to escape no matter what. Alma continued to introduce him to prominent figures within the elvenmunities. It would have been a good thing if he had been more prepared for it. Unfortunately, Gil found himself overwhelmed with too much information. By the time the morning came around, he was a mess of thoughts about the future and how he would be helping bring the elves together.


    "Why is it that you look more tired than when we got back from the demonnds? I thought that you would have burned off all your energy." Walker had to tease Gil. it was just too easy to miss.


    "Says the person who went and spoke with a dragon that seems to hate the whole unity rating. Why don''t you look tired?" This was all Gil coulde up with. Although, he did truly wonder why Walker was so bright eyed in the morning.


    "Oh, I gained another skill the other day. We have been awake for so long that it just popped up." Walker listed off the skill as he reread it from the system.


    ''Insomniac- passive


    The user is prone to skipping sleep and basic rest. Due to this, their body has been trained to conserve more energy. They are able to remain functional mentally and physically for longer than average. This skill is a passive skill that any species can learn depending on the time they force themselves to remain awake and functional. It can take a great amount of personal will to gain this skill for certain races that naturally remain awake without rest.''


    "How have I not gotten that skill! This is robbery. Unfair world systems!" Gil felt betrayed. He had been through the same things and not been lucky enough as Walker.


    "I asked Su and Alice, they both have it. Remey doesn''t though. I think it''s different from person to person." This stunned Gil even more. He knew very well that Remey stayed awake for days on end in the alchemyb.


    "By the way, I n to head to the mage tower. I think Mordant has dragged Rise there to see the light elemental floor. It is a good start." Walker had been resting long enough. He had to face Rise properly and bring her through the city. He could not rely on the other royal dragons to take this burden.


    "Oh, that''s good. Su went out earlier today to meet with the dragonkin warriors that Mordant had brought back with him. Apparently, they were more excited to see the city than any of the others that hade." Gil had heard enough from Walker to know that the light elemental dragonkin were going to be uniquepared to the other dragonkin warriors.


    "Then I really need to get going. If Rise sees her dragonkin breaking the usual rules she sets¡­" Walker could only imagine how angry she would be. That was when he recalled she had brought other light elemental dragons with her. "I also need to check on the light dragon that came with her. They should be out of sort¡­"


    "They are in our backyard. Apparently they have not been allowed to rest on the ground in a few years. Flying and even sleeping in the sky to be closer to the light. I think we may have just started some sort ofzy dragon revolution." Walker looked out the window after Gil interrupted him and saw thezing light dragons.


    "Huh, well, I guess I don''t have to worry then." This was a surprising change but it made a lot of sense. The light dragons had always been under some form of pressure. Now they were able to rx a lot more than they used to be able to. It was like the first vacation anyone ever had from a job.


    "I will be out and aboutter. I need to bring the dark, stone, and light elves to the mage tower for Alma. She is setting up official representatives that will work on each living area of the elves. They are going to mirror it in the way that the ancient library was set up. She liked the way the elemental manas flowed so she wanted to follow that."


    Walker pondered this for a moment while grabbing a piece of bread to snack on, "That''s a good idea. Having a ce like that for mages and elves to follow the natural flow of mana is good. That means we might have more natural mana mages show up. Potentially sages. That means when we research the outside affinities we might be able to learn something too." Walker felt that this was a very good development. They had already learned something from the ancient library.


    "I will see youter." Gil waved to Walker as he left. Walker knew he would see Gil againter. While Walker headed out the door, the light elemental dragons stiffened while looking at him. They were not sure what would happen. Current had told them toe here and do what they wanted. Now they worried that they would be in some form of trouble.


    "You are all allowed to rest here or enjoy Genesis. Just remember your size is hard to manage unless you can take your dragonkin form. If you need anything, feel free to ask my family for help if you can speak the basguages other than dragon tongue. Otherwise, wee to Genesis. Follow ourws and you will have no problems. Everyone is wee here."<sub> </sub>


    There was an interesting glint in the light dragon''s eyes. They had not had such freedom before and instantly wanted to see what they could do with it. Walker wondered if it was better to have left them beingzy or telling them this.


    The city was surprisingly busy after the elven celebration. It seemed that the celebration had brought a lot of chatter. Many merchants were around gossiping and trading ideas. This meant that they were preparing to begin their sales of elven goods. A possible bright future for their businesses.


    What was more surprising were the demons that were out. Some were clearly afraid to wander around. However, those demons were with the demons rescued earlier or that had been forced in to Pride''s army. Those demons had already adapted much more to Genesis. That made them the best people to guide the newer citizens.


    One such group even stopped to say hello to Walker after recognizing him. Without much of a blink of an eye, Walker felt that he had the energy to do a million more tasks. He had seen right before his eyes smiles of hope on faces that had been creased by worry lines for far too long.


    The mage tower had be busy yet again. The elemental spirits were more free around it since they had been drawn to it. This meant that there was going to be more research and focus on it even though many of the researchers had gone to the ancient library in the demon city.


    "Here atst? Mordant has been stuck on the light elemental floor for a few hours. He might have gone mad up there." Current found Walker instantly. It seemed that he had been enjoying the atmosphere around the tower. Inquiring about the runes and learning great deals of information.


    "I had to get a little rest. I am not as long lived as all the dragons. I am still somewhat human." Walkerughed while Current moved with him inside the tower. It was not surprising to see that some of the dwarves and dragonkin warriors were here.


    "I meant to mention, I dropped off a hatchling to your champion today. They are a mud dragon. Water and earth. Strange I know, but they needed a better home than where they would be. I could only offer them a swamp home. Nothing worth living in." Current spoke casually as if this was an every day thing.


    "Then we will wee them dly. Hopefully we can find a ce where their skills are the best fit. Not that I doubt that. Mud usually doesn''t sound good but with the merfolk and water elves around they should have a great ce to love."


    "My thoughts exactly. They can be a very good protector of those homes. I saw this and knew immediately." Current looked like he was creating a very fond memory of this moment. One that told Walker Current had fully invested in Genesis as well. "Now. let''s see how our elder Rise is doing." The light elemental floor was waiting for them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1556 1556. Calm Convincing

    Mordant looked like he was ready to fight someone when Walker came in to the light elemental flirt of the mage tower. The grimace on Mordant''s face was set in stone. For a darkness dragon to be surrounded by light elemental mana¡­it was not enjoyable, to say the least.


    The stark contrast to Mordant was Rise. She looked almost at peace. The calm expression made her dragonkin form appear to be a porcin statue waiting for the world''s time to pass it by.


    "I can see that you are enjoying the light elemental floor of Genesis mage tower." Walker was sure to keep his voice low. It was just respectable since he had also meditated before to get closer to elemental mana.


    "Bringing an ancient relic to your vige may be beneficial. It does not show me anything about why you would ruin my peace and insist why Ie here. Especially when you have allowed the mana to be controlled by other beings." Walker knew there would be tension.


    It was very clear that Rose was still unhappy and did not support Genesis. Yet, Walker could see the slight eptance that the light elemental floor brought. This was the best ce as of yet for the dragons to meditate on their specific elemental mana. A very enticing treasure.


    "This is one part of my home city. I understand you have your reasons for being strict with thews within your home. You prefer strict tradition to match the pure light elemental mana you strive to gain. I will not tell you that you are wrong. But I will say something else."


    Walker knew he had to give a little to get even the most minuscule step in befriending Rise. "I will instead say that I also have rules. Strictws that govern multiple races toe together. To be more than what each of them is apart."


    "The origin runes were a reason some elves epted unity. Some dwarves only came for the true spirit forging techniques. Merfolk came to meet water elves. Demi-humans came to gain safe potions. Humans came to gain better trade between all races. Monster races came to be epted. Everyone is here for a reason that they can give and take."


    "The other royal dragons are here to gain the elemental mana from Thai tower, see their hatchlings take new paths foreign to the dragon race, and even more¡­well, they came to see something they could not in their small vige."


    Since Rise was patiently listening, Walker knew that he might be making some headway. The light elemental floor was better than expected for both the reason of calming Rise and showing off a valuable bargaining chip.


    "Mordant should have already told you that your dragonkin have arrived. They have free ess to all of Genesis to do what they wish. Eat, train, learn, and evene here. The same with your fellow light dragons that you brought. They have freedom to explore my home." Walker nced at Mordant and Current who were calmly watching the conversation.


    "They will be building us our own mansions to match Walker''s. Regardless of your eptance, there will be a ce for each royal dragon when we decide to visit." Mordant saw the perfect chance to add to the conversation.


    Current didn''t hold back either. "There are even a few of my dragonkin warriors that have discovered new battle styles so far. After the battle against the demons, they were able to see things theycked in others. Now they are studying them and assisting the other races as powerful warriors to be looked up to."


    "The same can be said for Ventura and her children." Walker grasped the opportunity, "they are being revered as protectors of the skies because of their roles in mapping and protecting viges in the demonnds."


    Rise seemed to be seeing things in her own ways as they spoke, "so you are ruling under the idea of equality while allowing the other races to learn the superiority of the dragons. You could do that with pure mana and force." Her strict gaze made Walker hesitate.


    "Yes and no. The races that contribute all y a unique role to make Genesis the perfect home for all. No, we do not rule over them. Each royal dragon would be allowed on the Genesis council if you desire a spot. Or a representative for all dragons. I want to stand alongside every race equally. No more pointless hate." Walker saw disgust in Rise''s eyes and added even more to his words.


    "What do you think you can aplish if you manage to help unite the races? You know that some dragons ask the dwarves to craft grand armors. Why note here for that? Could you gain light elemental mana gathering runes, armors, and knowledge? The races together on equal footing are already creating new and wonder plus things."


    An angry expression covered Rise''s face, "and what of the consequences? What if those that rebel and shatter your fantasy? You expect everything to be good!? Everyone to support this without fail!? I have seen the corruption and putrid evil that should be cleansed. You must follow strict rule and purity to remain clean in this world!" These were emotions defined by great wrongs that Rise had witnessed. The same that Walker had been warned of before.


    "That''s why I am inviting all of the royal dragons. Some have lost family that they loved, others have lost champions or guardians, and some have lost even more. But what do those experiences get me? They get me advice that only people like you can give me. I am young. This city is young. Do you think I built it alone?"<sub> </sub>


    It was like a p to Rise''s face. She had not been asked for help in years. The other dragons avoided her. They never had reason to visit nor did she visit them. Yet, right now in front of her someone who had yelled at her and attacked her values was also asking for advice. It was stunning.


    "Show me then. I will see all of it and make a decision. I will not allow the dragon race to be part of something that does not bring respect and honor to it. You will not hide a thing from me." The seriousness was drilled in to Walker''s soul as Rise spoke. She would not give an inch if she saw something wrong.


    "Then we will start with a tour. Anything you would like to star-"


    <o>,m "We are getting food. Rise may be used to whatever is hunted but she needs to try the food here." Current and Mordant were like a pair of toddlers excited for trip to a candy shop. Theypletely took over.</o>


    "Then food I guess it is." There was no arguing when things were like this. Rise could only wonder why her fellow royal dragons had be so strange.


    As they left the tower, Rise was clearly unhappy to step on the ground because she preferred the sky closer to the sun. However, she did not say anything when they walked outside.


    "The food is one of the first things that began toe together as more races came here. My mother is a baker. She has a system for it and hunts for new ingredients all the time. We can eat her food tonight but in the markets we can eat the food thates directly from merchants to be cooked."


    Mordant and Current already branched off when they reached the start of the market. They were buying up what they wanted while Rise came in to contact with many scents. She had not expected that she would have to navigate something so strange.


    "You ate at the royal dragon court. Try things here. The food is different and just as good. Some are even better than I am at cooking. I''m really a novice." Walkerughed a little. "I''ll also have to buy something for Midnight or else she will get angry."


    Hearing Walker speak so casually while people moved around them made Rise curious enough to watch him buy things. "You can try this, it''s a roasted horned rabbit with a wild garlic and onion sauce. The forest elves brought the wild vegetables and the Demi-humans hunt the rabbits."


    Current and Mordant were already eating the same thing that Walker was offering. This strategy to sue food to entice a dragon was too clear. However, Rise was bing angry that she would be left out of such things. That she would not be given the highest quality food to dine on. Her dragonkin were not capable of this! Walker, Mordant, and Current were eagerly awaiting Rise''s judgment.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1557 1557. Listening In

    "Why is it that there are many dragonkin warriors here eating as well? Shouldn''t they be training? I thought they would be learning new things?" Rise saw a group of dragonkin from different viges together. They were all gathered around a single food stall.


    "They need to eat to build up muscle. They were also training against each other. Many of our dragonkin that have returned have begun to contest against each other." Current had seen many of his dragonkin warriors branch out. He was very happy to see it because it would cause them to learn more.


    "And you ept that? They will lose their pure styles. They will be unable to show what a true water dragonkin can do."


    "Rise, do you not remember that Walker and I visited your vige?" Mordant looked at Rise who was clearly missing something. "He saw the fading de skills that your dragonkin warriors use. Not only did he learn it but he was able to show it off to the light elves. Now the elves are very interested in sharing their skills with the dragonkin warriors. Specifically, those that use simr skills to themselves."


    "What Mordant is saying in a nutshell, is that they will be able to develop a higher style of battle after they see other race''s skills. It means that they will be much stronger in battle and improve the skills they already have to defeat more opponents of varying strengths." Walker made sure to close up the argument that Mordant had for why this was all a good thing.


    "I will be the judge of that. If I see anyone losing something I will be sure to cease their foolishness." Rise had eaten some food and been annoyed that she did not have the same things served to her when she was home. However, she had also made other silent decisions.


    As they walked, Rise had seen the multitude of goods. Specifically, the many elemental crystals that were being handed out to buyers. Many of them were split up by quality and brought directly from other kingdoms. It was enough for her to wonder just how she could get ahold of pure elemental crystals. How could she justify using these markets?


    Another thing that was wearing on Rise was that the entire city was now covered by the aura of the mage tower. Mana recovery was increased. She even saw some younger newborn elemental spirits moving around trying to be stinger. This entire city was more than she had expected.


    "You arrived during the celebration with the elves yesterday. We just happened to unite the elves. The light elves specifically had the option toe here or not. They do not have a ce to live yet within the city. Alma was going to work on that. Along with the stone, dark, and wind elves. Your input could be very valuable for the light elves." Walker did not hide that he wanted to see what Rise had to say.


    "Since we are nearby I can educate a few lower races." Mordant and Current were very surprised to see how far Rise was going with this. They had no idea that she was easily manipted if she was asked for help and advice. It appeared that she enjoyed being seen as the all knowing powerful dragon. The pride of light that came from the highest point of the sky was clear in her personality.


    The elves were still very busy and active since the other day. There was a smile on nearly every single elf''s face that they saw. Rise had never felt such an atmosphere. Her dragonkin vige was always full of seriousness and focus. But something about the way the atmosphere in the elven area made her want to stay there.


    "Walker!" The shout from the trees came from Gil. he had a group of wind elves with him who quickly followed him as he jumped from branch to branch.


    "Gil? I thought you were an elf training up there. Since when are you so good at moving through the trees?" There was a definite skill to Gil''s footwork. It had toe from him spending time with the elves and learning the ways of the arcane archers. The wind elves had a very different use of their arcane archer skills.


    "You''re just saying that. We were actually working on how we move through the stress while trying to make arrows at thest minute. It concurred to me that have neglected my training because I usually just make arrows out of wind if I would run out. But what if I need to make a specific arrow in a rush?" Gil brought up a good point.


    "It''s the same when I learned to make a rough sword out of earth. It''s not the best but it can be used to defend myself a few time." The two bonded over their like minds. "Ehm, well, this is the light royal dragon Rise. I know you saw her yesterday but now you can meet her."


    "It is very nice to officially meet you. Walker was very set on going to your vige and building a connection. I am d you made it here." Gil was very polite. He could feel the judgment in Rise''s eyes. "I am Gil, a member of Walker''s adventuring party. But we are family as far as I am concerned. I also represent the elves to a degree and have the hero title as well. We share a few other titles but they are not that important. Well, I am also the avatar of the wind."


    "I have heard of you since being here. I wonder if the elves know that dragons have impable hearing. You are the human that has taken the same position of highly respected elves. The human that is destined to marry the future elf queen." Rise had not actually heard much specific information. However, she had heard a popr rumortely.


    "Marry!? I am too young to marry anyone. That would. Even if Alma loved¡­well¡­"<sub> </sub>


    "And you managed to pick up on a rumor that is not entirely true. Gil and Alma only work together. It''s not like-"


    "Walker, stop that. You know that." Gil covered his mouth after catching himself. He was about to say way too much in front of three royal dragons and his brother Walker. It would have been a mess of rumors after the public heard it too.


    "And now we know how to properly tease one of the elves'' representatives." Mordantughed deeply. He found the situation very amusing. Rise just looked confused before returning to her silent stare.


    "We came to see the ns for the light elf dwellings. We brought a fellow royal dragon to assist. Since Mordant is here he can also help with the dark elf dwellings." Current change the topic perfectly. He was sure that Walker and Gil would appreciate the expedited movement of their goals here.


    "Yes, that is perfect. Terron is already helping the stone elves. He decided that he would want a mansion built where other earth dwelling beings were. The elves have the earth spirits around them the most other than the dwarves so he went with them. He also said he could build better than them. Very stubborn but true." Gil trailed off. He had an interesting conversation with Terron and wasn''t sure what to think of it all.


    "The dark elves and the light elves will be near each other. They are opposite elemental affinities but that''s why they are close. The idea is to make the manas oppose each other and help the fire and water elemental mana move in tandem. Darkness can be cold while light can be hot. It''s simr to the ancient library we found in the demon capital."


    "You are using the so called origin runes. The runes that are somehow better than the draconic runes that have stood above all else for many years?" This judging gaze from Rise made Gil wonder if she was actually going to help at all.


    "Many of the elves have grasped the concept of the origin runes. Not enough to use them but enough to set up areas properly. When those with proper knowledge master the origin rines, then the builders can create mana gathering runes arrays. It will be better than the ancient cities they came from."


    "I see, and the area would be simr to the elemental floor in your mage tower?" Rise getting much more information than Walker, Mordant, or Current expected her to gather. It was as if she was truly interested in such a thing.


    "The goal is to have denser light elemental mana there while giving light elemental materials a ce to grow naturally. It will help the alchemy guild and the elves that live there. It would be the perfect environment for any light affinity beings." This was what Gil was proudest to say. He didn''t realize that Rise was thinking something else.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1558 1558. Herb Handling

    When Gil exined that they would be using some the light elemental materials to properly build the light elf area, Rise was impressed a small degree.


    It was clear that Gil had some knowledge and was not some foolish human in her eyes any longer. Even more, he was showing them the way torge areas set up for nning.


    "Crystal poppy, frill daisy, white beat root, white pollen moss, sunny mushrooms, orange daffodil, and so much more. These nts and herbs all condense and draw in light elemental mana to them while growing."


    Everything that Gil listed off made him seem like he had spent too much time with Remey since she was the expert when it came to herbs.


    "These things aremon in my vige, unfortunately, some things are not present there. Where are the white straw flowers? They are the most potent blooms that attract light elemental mana." Gil motioned for another elf toe over. They had a parchment scroll of all the materials.


    "Do we have white straw flowers?" The elf searched the paper finding the bottom with notes next to the name.


    "They are unable to be moved with our current abilities. The roots need constant light elemental mana as they are moved. The issue is that the distance does not match with the specialists that can move it. Theyck therge amount of mana to do it. Rune boxes will not work. Neither will the mana crystals because it must be natural light elemental mana constantly flowing."


    "If I were to believe what you have exined to me, you have light elves now that can handle such tasks." Rise was not at all happy to hear that there was an issue with something so simple in her eyes. "They can not handle this sort of task?"


    "The issue with that is that the light elves that joined us are younger. The older light elves with better experience were apprehensive to join us. They thought that they should remain on high away from the world. They also were not epting any change and would imprison anyone that had the chance to go against their light elf rules.


    ? It was a very suffocating peaceful society. But the younger elves came because they wanted freedoms that they did not have and to see the world. That also brought with them the fact that theyck more experience. Therefore, we have no way to transport them." Gil took the pressure off the elf taking care of the ledger of herbs. He knew it was easier for them to be focused on him.


    "Then I will show you how to properly do so. My dragonkin can do such things without any assistance. They learn for their entire lives how to handle the pure light elemental mana that we live in. It is only right for them to be much more advanced than the light elves that do not live as long." There was pride but also a guiding tone to Rise''s voice.


    "If there are any darkness materials that the dark elves need assistance with, ask my dragonkin as well. I could not be outdone by another royal dragon. The materials that you need to keep hidden in the shadows must be high as well." Mordant wanted to build off this and see if he could make Rise feel somepetition. It was an underhanded childish method but it was simple and worked well.


    "Having both of you help will really be great. The elves have trouble keeping track of everything since they are still working out their living conditions. For now, we are thinking of making the trees from the forest elf homes grow in to higher up tforms where the light elves can live closer to the sky. That way they can walk in to a lower field of herbs and light elemental materials growing." The ns thatGil brought out next seemed very intricate.


    "I can tell that these were made with a lot of delicate work." Walker was amazed at how well they were mapped out in such a short time.


    "One of the dwarven map makers helped a few of the elven artists and scribes to learn some other skills. I guess there is an entire section of the crafting guild that is beginning to work together like this." Another surprise that Walker had not known. Genesis was moving in great ways without him even seeing it all.


    "I wish to stop by the water elf homes. You have both made me want to see them. I will take a temporary leave." Current had felt somewhat outdone seeing that even Rise was taking a step forward. Yes, Rise was still being condescending , but she was going to leap ahead of Current which made him feel annoyed.


    "We will see youter then. Remember, my mother is cooking tonight and everyone is invited. I will probably have to help in the kitchen too." Walker knew he would not be able to avoid such a thing.<sub> </sub>


    "Good, if your mother is cooking then she will be using the wild dragon peppers that were found in the forest and brought over to be grown." Gil was very excited to try these dragon peppers.


    "What makes a vegetable a dragon? That is very demeaning to pure dragons such as myself" Rise took an immediate angry tone but saw that Gil was already pointing things out on the growing tables.


    "Those there are dragon peppers. They are curled like a dragon''s tail and also red like a fire dragon''s scales. But the reason they are called dragon peppers is that they are very spicy. They can make any soup so hot that it feels like someone is breathing fire. That is why they are called dragon peppers. The spicy aspect makes people think of dragons." Gil exined that this was just a name and nothing more that had be popr.


    "So even something so small as that can remind the smaller races that powerful dragons roam the skies¡­interesting. The way the lesser races'' minds work is not normal." Rise changed her tune and were instead wondering just how the other races worked. To her, this was a very strange way of thinking.


    "If my mother uses them in a roast, then it will be the best you have ever had. Ignus tried one of the spicy roasts my mother made and I think he was willing to hand over a brick of gold so that he could have the recipe." Walkerughed remembering the food he had shared with them. It was really a great way to get to know other people. Food was something that anyone could support.


    "Should we move on to the merchant areas? Or should we look in to the crafting areas? I think I can introduce you to the wandering cksmith. He should have started working on a few unique pieces of armor with the dragonkin crafters that came to visit." This was another easy way for Walker to hook Rise. she had not seen much of what could be forged here in Genesis.


    "You have your unique weapon. That is the human that created it?" Rise recalled the eternal orb. Walker showed it to her again to ensure that she was able to perfectly grasp the high quality that she would be able to see here in Genesis.


    "The wandering cksmith has orders for a full set of armor for Ignus as well. I also desire him to create me armor that will follow me through the shadows. The draconic runes we use are not as good as the modified runes he is ankle to sue. Those are what the dragonkin are learning from him." Mordant was more excited than Walker was to see the wandering cksmith again.


    "I look forward to seeing someone capable of creating something like that. I remember the story that Ignus shared of the strange man forging inva. I have not forgotten such an odd existence. However, if he was human¡­theva would burn him. So he must be dwarven as well?" Rise was able to gain this from the simple fact that humans were not very heat resistant.


    I have not personally pried in to his heritage, but I would guess that''s true. I just think he cares about his craft. It''s what drives him to explore and try new things. He will lock himself away for weeks in his forge just to figure out a small detail that would add to the quality. Not many people have that singr focus." Having such high praise from Mordant and Walker made Rise even more curious. She did not wear armor but was beginning to wonder if it was something she should attempt.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1559 1559. Shocked Growth

    From the heat along the street, anyone would be able to tell that the forges within the crafting guild were at max. The number of orders had skyrocketed as more and more people came to Genesis. Even more, now that there was a potential threat greater than just the demonsing to the continent.


    The rumors of the wyverns would not have stayed silent no matter what anyone had said since a few roaming merchants had been speaking about them already. Walker knew that this was one reason that many adventurers who ordered new armors. While some of the dragonkin and dragons were thergest ones creating new items because of their training. They had to craft.


    "The heat here is quite stifling." Rise was used to heat but did not like the metallic smoke and heat of the area. However, when she saw some of the small shops nearby and their rune carved items, she had hesitated for a moment.


    "The wandering cksmith has a shop here but he has been busy within the crafting guildtely. So many people to teach. The dwarves are also teaching the true spirit forging techniques as well. The elves havee together to help teach spirit speaking skills. Some have just partnered up with the dwarves right off because that was easier."


    Since it was easy to see as they walked through the streets of the market area, Walker pointed out this fact. He also knew that there was a high likelihood that Rose would ask about this at some point. "That doesn''t stop the researchers or mages from also taking on these roles. I hear that some magic craftsmen have been getting together within the crafting guild."


    "Magic craftsman? I haven''t seen any." Mordant was a little curious. He had seen the cksmiths, wood workers, and even a few that shaped y. But the difference in magic and basic crafting just sounded like someone using more mana than usual.


    "They are basically the same as the normal crafters. For example, the magic cksmiths heat metal, shape it, and carve runes all the same. What they differ in is the materials and how they imbue it with mana. They can do some things like adding elemental affinity to an item without adding runes first. It is a rarer skill to have but valuable for lower grade weapons for younger warriors."


    The reason they were better for younger warriors was simple, some people were just not powerful enough to control rune carved weapons. They had a lot of mana requirements whereas a weaker weapon that used almost no mana of the user was easier to grasp. A great intermediate weapon between rune and not rune carved.


    "This is the crafting building. The guild is set up with plenty of work space. The runes that were added to the chimneys are set up to purify the air while the water filtered in is done the same before it leaves. Many of the elemental spirits have been helping with these processes too. It''s very helpful to keep the city clean." This was one prideful aspect when it came to things for Walker. He appreciated a city free of smog from constant forging.


    "Walker!" The call of a familiar voice always made Walker happy. It made things easier.


    "This is Rodney. He had been one of the first people I met when I went looking for weapons. Now he hade all the way from someone stuck on a forging quest to a young and important representative of the crafting guild." Naturally, Walker had a very high opinion of Rodney because of how dedicated he was. There was also the fact that Rodney was a constant person in his life. Whenever Walker seemed to have the idea to ist the forging of anything, Rodney would appear.


    "What can I do for you and your guests today? I heard that you finally have every single royal dragon in the city. That should be pretty amazing, right." Rodney had not actually met any of the royal dragons. Therefore, he thought that Walker had two dragonkin with him.


    "Well, speaking of royal dragons. This is Mordant. And this is Rise. the dark and light royal dragons. They are in their dragonkin form. It is a unique skill for only the oldest dragons or most experienced." Rodney''s face became deathly pale. He had not realized that such important figures had strolled in to the crafting guild casually.


    "It is an honor to meet you both! Thank you very much for attending our crafting guild. Please allow me to show you to the best cksmith in the entire continent." Rodney didn''t even hesitate to say this about the wandering cksmith. Many people would assume he was the best as well. Even the dwarves had this ideal.


    "This one is younger than most I have seen. Shouldn''t someone of his age be with a parent?" Rise did not understand how Rodney would be allowed to be out.


    "Believe it or not, most humans are out doing jobs when they find their system. Some start at a very young age. My little sister already has a seamstress shop and she is much younger than most people. But she also unlocked her system at a younger age than most people. Therefore, she had the goal and drive to be more than others." Walker knew that for dragons it was based on bloodline and affinity what they would do. For humans it was systems.


    "Interesting." Rise had been far detached from other races. Not knowing that habits or cultures was something that would happen.


    "You should see how they do things in all the races. Some of the younger elves will appear as children for years.pared to a human at the age of twenty, an elf the same age would still be considered a child and look as such." Mordant had more time around the other races and dly began exining some of the cultures and facts about age.<sub> </sub>


    "Very unlike dragons. We have some hatchlings that are very young. I have only seen one that has broken the rules of aging for the dragon race." Rise looked at Walker. He understood that it was Midnight she was referencing.


    "Midnight has been training hard. She also has bonds with myself and Su. That definitely has an effect on how she has grown. Not to mention the fact that she had pushed herself to learn more. She has a mental age much older than every dragon her age. That''s beside the point that she is technically not a hatchling and is a young dragon now."


    "A young dragon!? How can that be possible? There is never a dragon that grows so fast out of the hatchling state." Both Mordant and Rise reacted the same. They just thought that Midnight was ahead of her time when it came to being a hatchling. Not that she had reached the young dragon growth phase so early.


    "This is the forge where the wandering cksmith is teaching five dragonkin. They are all from different viges. They are the best that are being taught at the moment so that they can return and teach their fellow dragonkin." Rodney seemed ready to run away after weing the three in to the forge.


    The rhythmic hammering that echoed in the room was the same for every single of the dragonkin there. The wandering cksmith watched them hammer as a worthless iron scrap. He was judging how they hit and pointing out small dents here and there where the hammer had notnded t. This was a very high quality education.


    "This looks like a bad time. But could we interrupt?" The wandering cksmith raised his head with a smile. He was happy to see Walker after a while. His eyes darted to Mordant who he recognized butnded on Rise who was unfamiliar. "You know Mordant but this is Rise. she had heard of you and is the current light royal dragon. I thought it important for her to see the quality you were teaching dragonkin craftsmen.


    The wandering cksmith nodded along with Walker before moving to shift through the side storage room. He brought out a single ne with white steel and a very reflective half pearl within it.


    "Wee to Genesis." The few words as the wandering cksmith held the ne out to rise was making her curious. This human had not bowed his head but instead went to get an item.


    ''''Light gathering pendant


    Matk+6, mana storage+20


    This has the unique ability to use the half rainbow pearl set in the center to gather light elemental mana. The white steel allows for perfect flow of light elemental mana to the wearer of this pendant. It does not boast any other bonus but is invaluable for mages or anyone that requires light elemental mana.''


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1560 1560. Baby Teeth

    "When did you have time to make this?" Walker was very impressed by the quality of the pendant that the wandering cksmith had handed over without a single blink of an eye. It was very useful and used rare materials to produce a very good effect.


    "Five." The wandering cksmith only retorted with this.


    "There are five of these within this room!" The reaction from Rise was the greatest as of yet. Walker had read the qualities out loud after checking with the all around appraisal skill. Everyone within the room knew just how good this pendant was. For there to be five all together was a miracle to a normal cksmith.


    "So you have been crafting with gems and crystals. I would have to ask youter for one of those using dark materials." Mordant was showing a little greed. But what was surprising Rise was that the man known as the wandering cksmith was still calm and focused on his teaching.


    "I feel like you just have amazing things up your sleeve every time I see you. But should I take a guess that you were inspired by the dragons and elvesing together?" Walker picked up on this. He could see that there were multiple materials covering every elemental affinity.


    "Heavy demand." From the simple words, Walker gained enough insight.


    "The demand around the city for elemental gathering items is increasing so you are taking advantage. You normally don''t care about how much gold you can make. So you have to be after something else. Maybe you are trying to buy some materials?"


    "Materials are valuable to a cksmith that that one of the royal dragons stands by. And with materials you would be willing to hand over the other four of these pendants?" Rise was dead set on getting the pendant. She cared not that this was not a dragon before her. This cksmith had worked with Ignus so he had some backing when it came to the dragon race. It also meant that if things went poorly, multiple dragons would be after him.


    The wandering cksmith smiled while getting four boxes that had a pendant within each he opened them facing Rise so that she could see they are all identical. "Then I have decided. Because you are backed by Ignus and Mordant with your quality creations. I will give you the honor of giving them to me. I will have materials brought from the nest to you. You should be able to use the discarded dragon teeth well."


    "You are handing over baby dragon teeth? Well, that was unexpected." Mordant knew that the baby dragon teeth were a valuable material. Sometimes the dragonkin would use them for their own weapons.


    "I would say that Rise made the right choice. She saw that it was exactly something my friend here wanted." Walker pointed out that the wandering cksmith was much happier. He could do a lot with the light affinity materials in forging. He could most likely create items with a high light affinity using a small tooth from a baby dragon. It would also be a much higher quality than most other things made using different materials.


    "Why would I not offer fair reward for creating something that is beneficial to the pure mana that myself and my dragons search for?" Rise just shook it off. However, Walker saw this as a major victory. With Rise convinced that there would be more great things like this in Genesis, it was a win.


    Before Walker could ask the wandering cksmith anything else, there was a slightmotion outside the door.


    "What''s going on?" The door was opened as soon as Walker asked. He was greeted by Rodney who had guided Ignus of all people to the door.


    "I heard that Rise may be trying to put the cksmith I have hired for my armor at risk. I came to ensure that he was not harmed." Ignus was very defensive of the wandering cksmith. The simple reason was that he was both teaching and creating for him.


    "That is not what I would do. You think I am an indiscriminate killer? Blood would tarnish my scales and mana. How foolish you are. Still a child." Rise immediately reprimanded Ignus. The result was Ignus unintentionally adding to the heat of the room.


    "Can you try and keep things calm? I have just started to show Rise around with Walker. I had to sit in that Light elemental floor for hours. You were busy too weren''t you?" Mordant was not having the interruption.


    "Who cares what I was doing? I was told of something that requires my presence." Ignus did not budge. He showed off just how stubborn he could be.


    "Alright then, let''s go see Su and how the dragonkin are training. As much as she might want to be at the cathedral, I know that she will be dragged to the training area of the adventurer''s guild by now." Walker decided to keep things moving. "Your dragonkin should be there along with your champion''s guardian. I believe they were very excited toe here and see other guardians."


    "Training with a human? I do not believe they would drop to-. Against the other guardians and dragonkin?" Rise did not believe that all the guardians and dragonkin warriors would readily agree to train together. She believed that they would prefer to keep their styles pure.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh? It seems that you do not understand what a warrior is. You fly around too much. You may be older but I know more about my warriors. I fight alongside them at times to show my strength as the greatest fire dragon in this world! A warrior wants to get better at any cost." Ignus sounded more like Scy than Walker wanted to say. He wondered how well the two would get along if they ever had free time.


    "I know you want to argue with him, but let''s see what he is talking about first." Walker asked this simple thing from Rise before she blew up at him. She had been brought to a happy enough mood after seeing the pendants. "I will also have those brought back to my mansion. We are setting aside a room for you there anyways. It will be better to have them kept with things you would like to take back to your vige."


    "I will allow that. I expect them to be guarded and unharmed." Rise was like every dragon. She valued her items and would not allow hard toe to them. Walker just nodded.


    Their walk through the streets towards the adventurer''s guild was short. It was lucky that they were so close in terms of location. The idea of having the major buildings nearby one another was truly paying off. More so because Walker could see that there were many people moving between all of them and resting in the open square to enjoy the atmosphere.


    "Come on! Fight like men!"


    "That sounded like Barry. Shouldn''t he still be resting?" Walker was not sure why Barry would be in the training area. Yet when they rounded the edge of the adventurer''s guild he was struck by the many adventurers that were there.


    "I understand. The injured were sent back to the city first. Since we forced Barry toe back because he is technically still recovering from his injuries, well, he did this." The entire training field had been set up for many people to train. Dragonkin, elves, and demi-humans made up the majority. They were training their skills against one another while some of the most experienced adventurers and warriors pointed out ws.


    "There is Su. she seems to be with three other warriors." Mordant easily moved through the training ground to watch the training that Su was doing.


    "You must use the mana in your weapons. You do not need to have an ability to use magic, just that you add it to your weapons to resist an attack." The guidance that Su was giving pertained to one skill that she had begun to use more and more. The light shield.


    "What I do not understand is how you are able to manifest this skill so easily. Do you require the shield to hold the mana? Or do you require more?" The two warriors asking these questions were from Current''s dragonkin warriors. Thest was the guardian from the light elemental dragon vige.


    "You are here and not guarding your champion!? How could you abandon the one ce you belong." The light elemental mana reacted to Rise''s anger instantly. The pressure in the entire training field grew tremendously.


    "If you cause a single ounce of trouble in my training field I will crack your skull. Regardless of you being a dragon or a rat!" Barry roared out. His berserker roar of anger making even the strongest warrior feel shivers down their spines.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1561 1561. Barrys Training

    "Hm, Barry seems to be recovering well." Mordant was too casual. Barry had clearly just yelled at Rise for disturbing the mana without even looking their way.


    This had only gone to push Rise even further in to anger. Her face showed a twisted rage that only came when someonepletely disregarded her. That would have been the same for any dragon. Before Walker could even say a word, Ignus had stepped forward first.


    "You don''t like the mana bing chaotic during training? Do you think that all the warriors here will always have the perfect conditions? Do you not see that as royal dragons we are encouraging the dragonkin under our care to learn from a new situation?" The few words were enough to draw all attention.


    "Ignus. You did this? You are the one that said you wanted your warriors to go through the same training I used to put myself through. Now you are interfering?" Barry went right up to Ignus.


    "If you are well enough to stand up to me. Then you are well enough to battle yourself. Is that not right?" The smile that bloomed on Ignus''s face was one that came with a great heat. The fire elemental mana that started to be drawn to Ignus raised the temperature in the training field. Many tried to back off but were met with res from Ignus and Barry.


    Seeing that another royal dragon had directly been disrespected went even further to make Rise be angrier. She was right on the edge of stepping out herself before Ignus had reached over toward the nearby dragonkin.


    The earth affinity dragonkin handed over his sword without even flinching. He had seen what was going on so had to just ept that the training was changing. There was also an excitement that was growing in the group.


    "Walker, did youe to train as well? I have been here for a short while already." Su had noticed ande over. She had the light elemental draconic guardian with her who was avoiding eye contact with Rise.


    "We dide to see the progress. I see you managed to get the other dragonkin guardians here as well. I wondered hope long it would take for you to get them training. I assume Midnight has gotten the champions together by now?" This was said more for Rise than anyone else.


    "Yes! They are trying to work on their me breath attacks. Midnight was able to convince them to dot hat right outside the city. Midnight was having trouble trying to make sense of how to improve the attacks so as soon as she started working on it the other champions were joining in. they might have caused some damage to the city if they did not go outside." Su seemed a little worried still but Walker had not heard of any issues as of yet.


    "We will have to go and see that next. For now it looks like Ignus is going to take a more hands on approach to training. Barry managed to beast most of his and Terron''s dragonkin so it was enough to start a little rivalry." Once Walker had said this itpletely distracted Rise. her anger had been put on hold.


    "That is the human that broke in to Terron and Ignus''s vige? It is still alive?" Herplete awe at the situation was enough to show that she believed this was not truly possible.


    "Barry is the strongest adventurer in the guild as far as I know. He has some interesting skills that have put him on the front line of any physical confrontation. He also was able to prevent multiple monster hoards from attacking the human kingdom." Spinning Barry''s praises did not appear to be what Rise wanted to hear.


    "You have to understand that this human in front of us represents a very small group of humans that might actually be able to fight a dragon face to face. I can''t say that he would win but he has earned enough respect to live. His attitude is tolerated by Terron and Ignus because he was able to eradicate many of the rogue dragons alone. He also volunteered his experience in training." Mordant pointed out a few of the dragonkin training nearby.


    "As you can see, he has been fighting so often in his life that he had been able to refine multiple battle techniques that perfectly fit with any physical battle. Where hecks in magic he has made up in physique. That caused him to jump ahead of most that were in his own kingdom. That is why he is trying some of my dragonkin that are not known for their physical strength."


    "I stillck an answer as to why my guardian is here and not with-"


    "Your guardian was invited personally by me to train. I am the guardian for Midnight, Walker''s champion. I needed the help of other guardians to grow stronger. That was why we trusted in the champions to work together to train and guard one another. Now one else is strong enough to go near them when they are together. Only the royal dragons boast such strength." Su caught on to the situation and attempted to remedy it.<sub> </sub>


    "And?" Rise looked at her dragonkin guardian seriously. She watched as the guardian''s eyes shifted with some worry.


    "My lord, I wish to be a better guardian and this is the way to do so. I can not defend well against the darkness elemental mana used by mages of the elven race as well as others can. My affinity prevents me from doing so. I was able to learn that my attacks can be modified to defend better. That my taunting tactics can be enhanced. I have been missing important battle experience for too long and it could lead to the defeat of my honorable champion. It could lead to dishonoring the light dragon''s strength. I can not ept that possibility."


    Having heard this, Rise clenched her fist with audible scraping. Her scales on her hands were still as tough as they could be as in dragon form. However, she hated hearing that any warrior under her might be weak. "I expect you to show me a radical change that makes your actions here worth it. If you and your champion can not demonstrate a visible and exceedingly perfect change will let you leave from my vige. You will be hunted throughout the world. Is that understood?"


    "My lord, I would have it no other way. I was born to protect and will ensure I do so properly." The dragonkin guardian shivered slightly as Rise looked at him.


    "That sounds like it will be very good for you. After the training, many of the dragonkin will be able to leave the vige at your order. You canbine your forces better with other dragonkin forces. That should make defeating wyverns easier." Walker had waited for the right time to interject with this.


    He knew that all the dragons had the wyvern issue on their minds. They had spoken about it and been able to bring some evidence to light about them. Now that there were more theories about where they wereing from and how the wyverns might be used in another way, the dragons had been put even more on edge.


    "Filthy things that pretend at being dragons do not belong to this world. They will be eradicated like the scum they are. I will personally purify thends of enemies such as them." Rise seemed to hate the wyverns more than Walker expected. He had the inkling that it was the weak dragon bloodline that they had. It was an insult to dragons which believed in their elemental strength over others.


    "Should we stop Ignus and Barry?" Su seemed to bring them all back to reality. They had be very distracted.


    "I think they are setting a good example. Barry might not be fully healed but he is able to stretch a little right? The heat should be stopping him but this shows off how someone is able to handle and counter a tough mage or elemental fighter." Walker saw some adventurers looking at the dragonkin close to Ignus. They were clearly jealous of how they were easily resistant to the heat along with Barry.


    "I find it more impressive that they are both fighting with an ax and a sword. The sword has not broken and the ax has not been thrown from Barry''s hand. They might be holding back. However, they are showing battle instinct to all that are watching. Some have already started to copy their movements. Those young adventurers there." Mordant pointed out some brand new adventurers already learning from the battle before them.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1562 1562. Thrown And Fading

    "Oh, there are a few spell des over there. How about I show you what they are capable ofpared to your dragonkin?" Walker saw the perfect chance to show off how the light elemental dragonkin and spell des could get along. Their skills would work in perfect harmony.


    "Do what you must. I will keep my eyes open." Rise was still not appeased yet. She had a lot of emotions moving through her as she watched Ignus and Barry throw their words at each other.


    "Hey, can you two spar with me for a little while? I have a light dragonkin warrior over here too that can use an interesting skill." Walker knew that the rumors of the fading de skill had been able to spread. This meant that the spell des that he called out to were more than happy to jump in to a sparring match with him and the dragonkin.


    "I know you are a little on edge since your royal dragon reprimanded you just now, but for this moment, join me in a little sparring match against those spell des. The elves have some skills you can copy and teach to others. It will also guarantee that you be stronger as a draconic guardian." The guardian jumped on this opportunity. He had no choice in the matter. Rise would punish him otherwise.


    "The elven spell swords wrap their swords in their affinity mana. From there they are able to throw their des from their weapon made of mana. The difference between the fading de skill is simr but different because it makes a second de that attacks after the real physical de." Walker was sure that the guardian was learning this well from watching things already.


    "I will see how theypare. Trust me, Lord, I will do my best to learn it all."


    "None of that lord stuff. I am Walker and I am equal to you here. We are also going to spar together so it''s easier to just say names. By the way, you still have not given yours to me." Walker was a little teasing but the guardian reacted with instant attention.


    "My name is Elwin. I am the draconic guardian to my lord''s champion. I will not falter in my duty to protect." The proper introduction was all Walker needed.


    "Alright, Elwin. Let''s show them the fading de skill." Walker made the eternal orb change shape in to a sword so that he could easily battle on the same level as the three around him.


    The two spell swords were water and earth affinity. The water affinity spell sword had been from the forest elf city but had quickly made friends with the water elves to expand on their affinity. In turn, they had be one of the quickest growing water affinity spells swords in the elven ranks.


    The earth was much the same but was still behind the water affinity spell sword. This was simply because they had not had as much time to speak with the stone elves. The stone elves were still getting settled so they would be unable to properly share their knowledge for the time being. Eventually, they would be able to delve in to the depths of mana with the others in the city that were learning origin runes and other such things.


    Without wasting the time, Walker was the first to make a move. He used the sword with his lightning sword style to get close. In the blink of an eye, he had easily shed at the water affinity spell sword only to have his attack dodged like it was nothing. The elf was definitely a more agile being than he was. Unfortunately, the elf was not used to the secondary attack of light elemental mana that had gathered on Walker''s sword before his initial strike.


    The second de had arched out and shed the sleeve of the elf''s shirt causing many who had yet to witness the fading de style attack gasp. This was a drastic difference between the spell swords that were able to wrap their des in mana.


    "Let''s keep this moving!" Walker jumped to sh again. He was sure that he would be able to keep the pressure on as Elwin had also begun to move.


    Elwin was drastically stronger than Walker. He was a dragonkin that had trained for many more years. On top of that, he was a dragonkin guardian responsible for keeping the champion safe when out of the vige. This made him grow much stronger and faster than any other dragonkin.


    The impressive attack that Elwin was able to pull off had not one but three light des were held in the air with every move that Elwin made. It was the clear discrepancy in skill from Walker who had just learned the movements that came with the skill and Elwin who had been using it over and over again.


    The fluid movements had certain stopping points between moves so that the light des could form in the air and strike out. The attacks with the swords and the light des were making constant pressure. The earth spell de was only able to send out one earth thrown de before he was forced to use a bigger attack while feeling a single cut finally reach his shoulder.<sub> </sub>


    The sword in the earth spell sword''s hand was thrust in to the ground. All the earth elemental mana gathered on it caused spikes to shoot up around him to force Elwin back. This was not an issue though. Walker had just fended off a water thrown de while leaving an attack to halt the water spell de. Therefore, he was able to step in to the air and sh at the earth spell sword forcing him to call out his defeat.


    "I will finish thisst strike." Elwin didn''t hesitate to start with a flurry of fading light sword strikes. He was showing off the strength of the style he had trained. Walker had thought that the three fading light des were the most that could be done but he was very surprised to see that Elwin was using five.


    The attacks put immense pressure on the water spell de who was forced to draw another sword. Even then, they were only able to get out one water thrown de that scratched Elwin''s cheek before he forced the water spell de to admit defeat.


    "I understand now. If I was able to project the fading de further I could defeat an opponent much faster and from a safer distance. I will begin to learn it." The water spell de was more than happy to hop up and begin training with Elwin. The earth spell de was even more amazed at the multiple fading des that had appeared in the strikes.


    "So? What did you think Rise?" Walker felt her eyes on his back. He returned the eternal orb to a chest te form so that he could continue his tour of Genesis.


    "I saw that there is more weakness than I believed in the battle styles my warriors use. If those wyverns were toe I would lose many. That is not eptable." The idea that the wyverns would be powerful was enough to make Rise change the tune she sang.


    If she were to continue to force her warriors to avoid the other races she knew that they would surpass her. She would also be the loser of the fight against them. This alone was the biggest reason that she had decided to ept the training going on here. If she didn''t she would lose the pride of a dragon. Lose the position of one of the most powerful dragons still living.


    "I am d to hear that you see why it is important to bring others together. If Elwin learns to use a thrown de skill with light and put it together with the fading sword styles he uses¡­well, I believe that he will be more than a perfect guardian. I just wonder how strong he is when he uses a shield. I have not seen him take it from his back."


    "Most guardians have shields. The guardian of my champion had one just for show. He uses other means as defenses. That shield is to cover his back from attacks while not restricting movements." Rise was sure that Elwin could learn the shield debut that would interfere with the fading sword style.


    "Then he should get armor made while here. I am sure we can have something made that will bend with his movements easily. Just have him head to the crafting guild." Walker assured Rise that this could be handled easily. Then he would be able to ask Su just what skills Elwin used as shields after she had sparred. Walker had seen her eyeing their battle excitedly. She wanted to see how she could defend against the fading de style.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1563 1563. Rise Meets Potions

    "Where are we going to head now?" Mordant had captured Walker''s attention as soon as the parring had finished. He was sure that if they remained where they were that Ignus and Barry would drag them in to some form of training.


    "I was thinking about the alchemy guild. I am sure you know why." The look on Mordant''s face grew excited. He had been waiting to grab more of the affinity potions that Rise had yet to even hear about.


    "I believe that will be the best ce to go." This statement confused Rise since she felt she had no need for any potions. She was jot injured and alchemy was not something that the dragons worried about. They could heal over time without much worry. If they needed to heal faster they could ask for a dragon with healing skills or just consume special herbs in the wild.


    "That sounds to be a waste of the time I have offered you by visiting here. I have already been forced to watch a disy of skills that can not rival my dragonkin in any way." Rise as being more stubborn than Terron or Ignus ever could be. She would not admit that there was potential for her dragonkin to learn from the elven spell swords.


    "Your dragonkin was injured on the cheek by a sh from the earth spell de just now. I believe that he will be learning a lot to change his battle style. I also believe that he will learn to counter many others." Mordant had to rebuttal her. However, it was easier because he knew that Rise would be surprised that there was a potion that could make her affinity drastically improve.


    "The potions I want to show you are still being experimented on. I promise that you will find them beyond your liking." With such a bold statement, Rise realized that Walker held some of the dragon''s pride that she had. It was interesting to feel such a pride radiating from a human that was not in any way a dragon.


    "I ept that challenge of yours. I will determine whether they are worth being in my presence." Rise followed Mordant''s excited lead wondering just what had made another royal dragon so energetic. It was clear that Walker and Mordant were hiding things from her.


    "I expected you to remember or have been told about the potions that my party member Remey worked on. She is an alchemical brawler. She is the first with this sort of system in the world. She can battle face to face with an opponent or create unique potions. She is also the avatar of fire that bonded with the newly named grand fire elemental spirit."


    All the things that Walker said were enough to properly pique Rise''s interest. She had not been able to fully ept that Walker was bringing her around such a ce. Most;y because in her opinion, many of the things in Genesis were unnecessary.


    "That smell¡­" It didn''t take long for Rise to catch a whiff of the special herbs being grown in the man fields set aside for the alchemy guild. They took up arge space behind the guild and was the only direct connection to some of the farms outside the walls because of this. It was also why there was thergest road out of the city in the same direction. Not to mention that it was the road that would eventually attach to the forest elf kingdom.


    "Look who it is." Sitting outside the alchemy guild with a few familiar faces was Ventus. She had a table set up and was currently having an in depth conversation with Trish and the old master alchemist. " I didn''t believe you wouldst this long. I expected you to be angry and try to clean this ce." The small attack on Rise didn''t even make her flinch.


    "I have been viewing the worth of this ce. I am one that should see all there is before cing judgment down. As a younger dragon, you would not know this." The two clearly didn''t want anything to do with one another. Rise made that very clear.


    "We came to see Remey, is she upstairs?" Walker tried to ignore the ring dragons. He knew that Trish and the old master alchemist would have a good idea of what was going on.


    "Yes, Remey has been dealing with a few small matters. sses have been getting a little harder on the older alchemists because so many younger alchemists have joined. There is ack of experience that needs to be filled." Trish seemed to have the sameck of sleep over this as the old master alchemist.


    "Eventually we will need to split them in to grades of some form. I want to do so now but it is too early to properly judge their skills. It would be better if they could be less energetic. We have yet to get most of the herb gardens up to standards." The herbs that took many years to grow were what the old master alchemist was most worried about. He was sure that many of them would get rushed with skills and be of a lesser quality. They really need to send adventurers out to procure wild herbs sooner. It was just a matter of getting paperwork together.


    "It sounds like you have both been busy. It''s surprising that you have the time to spend here with Ventus." Walker felt it was a little worth teasing them. "On another note, This is Trish, she is one of the best alchemists you will ever meet. And this old man is the only alchemist Remey will go to when she needs help. He practically raised her when she wasn''t raising her siblings in the orphanage."<sub> </sub>


    Walker didn''t see a point in hiding the connections that Remey had. She wasn''t one to worry about such things. However, he didn''t notice that Rise was surprised by this. She had not considered that the humans kept orphans. That they cared for those that had lost parents that could protect them. Most of the time the hatchlings that were left parentless were cast out because they were unable to gain strength.


    "He is also the one that will tell out about the potions he invented and the guild has worked together to create multiple elemental varieties and grades of. The high version of them is still hard to create and the grand potions are being experimented with. Eventually I expect them to master these things." Walker saw the light enter the old master alchemist''s eyes. He was now up to date on what Walker was talking about.


    "The affinity potions that Walker is mentioning are the theory I spent years developing. They are few in number but as royal dragons weed by our esteemed city, I have set aside some. I believe I justpleted some of the light affinity potions this morning." Rise was instantly intrigued.


    "The affinity potions are the best creation I have used yet when ites to meditating. The dark affinity potions helped me recover my mana at a better rate than ever. Especially within the dark elemental floor of the mage tower." Mordant looked hungry to gain a few more potions as well.


    "Hmm, I wish to have some as well. I will walk with you to see them." Ventus had finally been able to take the chance and gain the same potions as well. She had been waiting to ask about them but was too enticed by the rxing scent of herbs and tea. It was rare to enjoy the breeze and feel calm.


    "Come this way, we can head upstairs to thergeb we finished renovating. We have to make some changes on the second to highest floor forrge demonstrations. It''s unupied now." Trish and the old master alchemist lead the way. Ventus, Rise, and Mordant could smell every potion brewing. Every herb being crushed or cut. It was a very stimting experience that made them extremely curious about the potions.


    Rise didn''t hide this at all either. Alchemy wasforeign thing to dragons for the most part. They had not taken the time to focus on it due to their own regenerative qualities. Even the dragonkin who were much weaker did not focus on alchemy.


    "If you all like what you see, you can have your dragonkine here to learn. I know Ignus, Mordant, and Current have sent us dragonkin to learn. I am excited to see what they can do. They are young dragonkin but they should be able to learn something. Alchemy systems for the dragonkin are rare from what I have been told." The old master alchemist didn''t hesitate to use names without titles. It made Rise flinch but she couldn''t find anger in her to reprimand him. He was old and did not speak with any disrespect. It was actually the opposite. It made Rise wonder how long he had spent thinking and creating to reach such a level.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1564 1564. Past And Future Beliefs

    "My partner was exploring and saw you alle in. so, I am here to greet you." Remey was standing taller with her head high as if she had prepared some amazing gift.


    "Are you sure it''s not just because you don''t want to be doing any more work?" Walker had to tease her a little. Unfortunately, hisment rewarded him with a punch to the arm.


    "You really don''t know how to let me show off, do you?" Remey was understandably annoyed. "You bring another royal dragon here for the first time with my fellow alchemist guild masters and you just have to act up." Her cheeks puffed and she looked like she was about to go in to lecture mode.


    Over the years of taking care of her fellow orphaned little siblings, Remey had gained a lot of skill when it came to giving lectures. Su may have the top tier lecturing ability because of her natural motherly personality, however, Remey had it from experience.


    "Well, to make it up to you I brought Rise because I wanted you to be able to show off the light affinity potions. Onyx already told me that they are great. But he didn''t forget to brag that they helped all the hatchlings gain better strength. Alice and Aurora definitely had the same results too."


    "Good! They should be happy. I made that one potion for Onyx and only him. Once he has it fully consumed he should be able to get much stronger¡­" Remey trailed off realizing that she had broken the secret to Walker in front of both the light and dark elemental dragons that would want the best of the best.


    "What potion did you and Onyx make that we don''t know about?" Walker was already pushing. Both Trish and the old master alchemist backed off a little.


    "Miss Rise, please allow me to show you the potions we have here. I will answer any questions you have.


    "I will be your guide today Mordant. Let me show you what new things we have created." The old master alchemist was slightly more mischievous because he already knew that Mordant had developed an interest in the potions already.


    "Well, you see¡­ When Onyx and I were alone together in thevands we were able to gather some better ingredients for the affinity potion testing. We may have made a dual affinity potion that he could use to be much stronger after some secluded training. And he might have nned to do that training this week with the hatchlings and Alice so that''s why youmight not be able to find them for a day or two."


    The reason that Remey had spoken about the potion in the first ce was because she had believed that Onyx had told Walker about it already because he had started his training. That had made things easier on her so that she would be able to try and get more help making these potions along with also being able to hear about the current results so far. She had been wrong though.


    "Then I won''t go to bother them. I know there has been a lot of thinking and talk about the abyssal serpents and the heavenly serpents. Onyx has started a lot of people on the path to discovering their origins. I just wonder what will be found." Walker felt that this was all a good thing. The more history that could be dug up about the two monsters the better. Onyx would be able to learn about his species so that when they became an official race, he would be able to tell the stories.


    "What was the potion like?" Walker waited to hear about the details. Naturally, Remey did not hold back and told him about the process along with ingredients used. She felt a little bad for hiding this from him but it had been enough to start Walker''s mind on another theory.


    "So what you are telling me is that with the right kind of bnce and ingredients of higher quality¡­you could make a natural mana affinity potion." His statement was bold. So bold that Remey had not truly considered it. She was still too weak in the world of alchemy to be thinking about such a grand goal. How could she create a potion that most people would not even be able to dream of?


    "Yes. that should be correct. I want to try and punch through that level and make a grand potion. The entire alchemy guild is working on that. You know that the goal is a grand potion. That would be the highest of the high grand potions. I just need to figure out the how and where for the herbs I need. Then the process¡­" Remey started to ramble to herself before Trish finally brought Rise back to them from the shelves nearby.


    "And now that you have seen the high quality potions, I would like Remey to show you the awaited light affinity potions. For now there are only low, mid, and high potions of this variety. I desire to see the grand light affinity potion one day. Unfortunately, the only high light affinity potion we have is kept for education. Later we will have ingredients for more. Especially with the light elves uniting with Genesis. That will create the perfect road to higher quality herbs."<sub> </sub>


    Trish had not been holding back. She was an expert at sugar coating things. She could make the worst of the worst sound great. Thus was how she had to work when she was in the forest elven city. The older elders needed to know that they were getting the best of the best.


    "I desire to see this. Your fellow alchemist has described a potion that would be able to improve even my great understanding of light elemental mana. And from what I was listening to, you already have higher goals." Rise had put just the right amount of pressure on you to make her desires known. She was not going to budge when it came to these potions. She had the same desires of all the other dragons.


    "Of course I can show you them." Remey moved and opened a single secluded closet that had special runes on it to ensure the safety of potions over time. The potions within were the higher quality or the rarer potions that would need the better protection while in theb.


    "That is a mid tier light affinity potion. That should be what you need to gain back the light elemental mana and then some you used to travel here." Walker finally jumped in to the conversation. He had picked up the energy that Trish had started and was going to make Rise understand how great Genesis was.


    "This is¡­" Rise was suddenly at a loss for words when the potion was ced in her hands. Until this moment she had still not seen anything in Genesis that made her want to attach herself to it. Nothing that made her want to go against her ways and put any sort of effort in to helping it, let alone, wanting to allow it to remain as it was.


    Now in her hands was a potion that made her feel it would change her world. Not only could she feel the small amount of pull from the light elemental mana towards it, but also that it was somewhat better than any potion she had ever seen. It was perfect for her and her elders to use to gain strength.


    "Do you understand why I and the others have be so attached? Not only do they have a ce where the mana we need is condensed, but they have the knowledge to make it easier for us. The dragon race has long ignored these potentials. The other races did not. They arepleting us while we arepleting them. We have power, they have knowledge. I do not wish to sit idle and lose the chance to maintain the pride of the dragon race." Mordant was honest with Rise. he did not wish to hide his intention in the least.


    "If the entire dragon race wants to be equal to the other races, I can promise more. I can p[romise that every race will grow and exceed the beliefs they had about their strengths." Walker''s solemn promise made Risee out of her trance like thoughts.


    "I have been proven wrong for the first time in many years. I do not like this. The dragons should be the only ones to have such ability and power. Yet we pushed it aside. I wish to be alone." Rise lept the potion because Remey insisted, however, Rise led herself for the room with a contorted expression. She was clearly struggling with what she hade to face. Her own emotions were muddled.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1565 1565. Time To Think

    "Did we just hurt Rise?" Mordant looked like he had just seen a ghost. He had never seen the oldest of the royal dragons look like this. She had never stopped herself or changed the way she thought.


    "I have been forcing my opinions and values on her for days. We even went to her home and threw them at her. I did a lot that I am not proud of. It makes me a lot like the worst people that we fought against. I will have to apologizeter." Walker recognized he was doing what he didn''t want to do to Rise. he had imposed his own values over hers. Regardless of how hers were toxic at the moment.


    "Trust me, it is time for someone to make a move to influence her. I have been silent for too long but I will go and speak with her after some time. I try to keep my hands out of others'' affairs. I prefer the freedom of the sky." Ventus had dealt with many problems caused by light rogue dragons. Now she had a way to fix the issue.


    "I see." Ventus seemed to understand that Walker was a little still caught up in his own feelings. However, she could tell that she had made a decent point. A clear standard had been set and he knew that it was one he would neverpromise on. The equality of everyone in the world, no matter their race. On top of that, he had the support of other dragons. Some being less than others but that was not an issue at all. It was enough to get where he needed to be and to make the future better.


    "Ventus,e and see what you can use. There are a few of these wind affinity potions that were recently finished." Mordant seemed like a kid in a candy shop. Very excited for what he had discovered about the newer potions.


    "We just made some new potions and I think he will like them." Remey picked up on this easily. "We added some different herbs with more potent dark affinity because his dragonkin were able to find them in ces we couldn''t. It''s going to be the same for the other elemental herbs as well. The dragons will bring herb seeds or roots to grow them that we wouldn''t be able to get to with our bodies."


    The mountains were the main point that Remey was talking about. The dragons had unlimited ess to the highest mountain tops that she would never be able to climb without high risk. On top of that, they were also able to deter the monster that would hunt humans or elves. Overall, the dragons would contribute to the alchemy guild more than anyone else once they brought unique herbs.


    "That just means you can focus more on growing the alchemy guild. Your fellow guild masters were telling us about the problems you have about sses and the number of younger alchemists. I would suggest you send some out with adventurers more. Since the adventurers need to gather herbs as quests, make the alchemists go with them for more learning."


    The idea wasn''t bad and Remey had already considered it. The only reason she had not done so was the fact that the younger alchemists might not able to maintain a cool head in the wilderness. "I might give it a chance. Some of the alchemists that joined are older but still inexperiencedpared to some of the younger alchemists."


    "Actually, there were a lot more alchemists that never had a chance to grow because they didn''t have the familial background or the gold to make it work. I forget that the road blocks for alchemists were unending before we gathered so many here." Remey was right. This was a major change in the alchemist culture. One that would define alchemy for generations.


    "What''s your n for the rest of the day?" Remey was curious. Now that Walker had lost Rise to her own emotions, he wasn''t giving her a tour any longer. Now he had to figure out what to do.


    "As much as I had wanted to go to the cathedral, I think I will avoid that. If Onyx, Alice, and Aurora are training I won''t interrupt them. Instead, I should go and see Midnight with the hatchlings. They should be waiting to see what happens with the new hatchlings arriving."


    "That''s a good idea. I heard that the earth dragon hatchling is already here along with an egg. Then I was listening in when I walked here and Current apparently had four hatchlings on the way. So many people are excited about the young dragons in the city. But you should take a few potions with you. I will also work on more dual elemental potion theories. Well, the old man will." The old master alchemist red at Remey since he heard her promising his work to Walker. He still had a slight smile though, proving he wasn''t angry at all.


    In a matter of a few minutes, Remey had put together a batch of different affinity potions. She knew that more hatchlings wereing in to the city and they could also boost to their strength. The affinity potions would help them establish a bond in the city while also adding to their internal energy.


    "Thanks Remey. I will see youter. Remember, tonight is a big dinner since we have the royal dragons here." Walker was sure that Remey would be there regardless, but he had to remind her just because.


    Once he had left everyone behind, Walker realized how peaceful it was to wander through the city. He had been worried that the more people that came in would make things harder to move. However, he found that therge streets opened everything up perfectly for foot and carriage traffic. The city design truly showed off the best of the dwarven nning on top of the additional elven tree growth.


    He knew it would be tough to narrow down where Midnight and the hatchlings might be. Luckily he could vaguely sense where she was with the bond he had between him and her. This made Walker start toward the outer walls which surprised him.<sub> </sub>


    By the time he reached the walls, he noticed that there were still many builders at work moving stone. They were putting pieces here and there with the assistance of a few earth dragonkin. It made a lot of sense since the earth dragonkin released on brute strength. Movingrge stones was a great way for them to train. That was also how Walker found Terron.


    "I came this way to find Midnight and the hatchlings but found you first. This seems like a good training idea."


    "Hmm? Oh, they are just over in the field there. I introduced another earth hatchling and set up a small nest for the egg I brought here. The egg has a small crack meaning the hatchling will not survive the caves underground. I am challenging the other hatchlings to protect it." Terron was showing a lot more caring than Walker expected. Yet, the tone Terron used was still nonchnt.


    "I think that is a great idea. They can learn a valuable lesson about keeping each other safe. Plus, Midnight can take on more responsibility. She has to be ready for anything that happens.'' The approval only made Terron nod once or twice.


    "I brought the affinity potions for the hatchlings to use since they might need help catching up in strength. I don''t think they will mind one of the earth affinity potions missing though." Terron''s eyes widened when he took the earth affinity potion from Walker. "It''s a low earth affinity potion but there should be some mid tier affinity potions to choose from if you go to see Remeyter. Mordant, Rise, and Ventus have already been."


    "How was Rise? Stubborn?" Terron knew that butting heads with Rise might be unavoidable.


    "Not as hard as I thought. I think I used a little too much force and hurt her a little. But I gave plenty of reasons not to separate from Genesis. It could be good. It all depends on what she thinks after a while. Ventus said she would speak with herter." Terron just stayed silent. He was more like a stone wall than anything making Walker feel slightly awkward."


    The sound of running snapped Walker''s attention behind him. When he turned around he found that Midnight was in dragonkin form and had already opened her arms to tackle him. "You know I will have to begin trying to dodge if you do that every time." Theughter was enough to make Midnight know that Walker didn''t actually feel bad about it though.


    "Show him what you have worked on." Terron looked at Midnight carefully. This brought more curiosity to Walker''s eyes.


    Midnight became serious and looked at Walker with seriousness¡­"Brrrother."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1566 1566. New Hatchlings

    "You spoke! You called me brother!" Midnight just pushed ion to Walker even more. She was clearly very proud of her effort.


    "With some direction, she was able to pick that up quickly." As much as Terron didn''t want to say it, he had been helping her. As an older dragon that had learned multiplenguages with his dragon and dragonkin form, Terron could perfectly guide another dragon learning thenguages.


    "So your practice and studying are paying off with another dragon tutoring you. I can''t wait until you can speak like a human and like a dragon." The idea that Midnight was going to be able to speak twonguages without issue was impressive. Especially since it would make her more of an individual.


    The small sounds that Midnight made were her attempts to replicate any other words. She had some of the meanings, if not all memorized from listening to everyone speak. The only trouble was being able to use her own vocal cords to copy them. Yes, it was easier with a dragonkin form, but that was not all she needed. She had to train her mind to also use those muscles in ways that she was not used to.


    "So what else have you been working on? Have you managed to help more of the hatchlings? I thought that you might be overwhelmed by so many now." Walker could hear some small scuffles as the hatchlings challenged each other or yed around.


    "They have been learning a little here and there. Hatchlings are not easy to keep in one ce. It is better to burn off energy." As much as Terron did not raise hatchlings, he sounded like he knew from experience.


    "I thought that the earth dragons left their eggs to survive on their own thene back to the vige tougher?" The question had a little more attitude than Walker wanted. However, it was enough to break away a little bit of Terron''s tough exterior.


    "Not all hatchlings take a long time to make it to the vige. Some are able to sense the mana or smell their home sooner." The way that this sounded was that many more hatchlings would make it to the dragon vige than Walker originally thought.


    "So you really didn''t have as many rogue dragons as I thought. That''s good. I don''t want any of you to worry about them any longer. It''s better to keep working on important things."


    "Like the wyvern issue." The immediate bringing up of this topic by Terron after Walker had finished speaking made even Midnight settle herself down.


    "Yes, the wyvern problem. We are lucky that no one has reported a sighting of them yet. We haven''t seen them in the skies but that could be worse than we expect. It means that something might be holding them up or that they are just noting this way for another reason."


    There couldn''t be the demon lord''s influence just yet. That would be too soon. That meant that the continent the wyverns wereing from had their own issues. It also meant that there must be food for the wyverns there. That was the only possible solution for why they would not being across the oceans.


    The other reasoning was that they were fighting amongst themselves or another race. This was more worrisome because that meant that the race living on the other continent could be powerful. "If we face more than just the wyverns as enemies when we go there¡­I''m unsure what will happen."


    "The dragons will not be the weaker amongst the races. When I take to theirnds it will be the same earth as below my feet here." Terron immediately pushed against this. He knew that he could overpower many other beings. Even if the people on this continent fought the worst monsters, he would be sure to survive against them.


    "I think we will hear more from the researchers soon. They are not working slowly. They are giving it everything they have to make sense of what they can from that library. Not to mention the fact that they have already made breakthroughs in the runguage the ancient race used." Walker was very confident in saying this. He knew that they would have results sooner thanter. It was just the question of what they would do once they had those answers.


    "Midnight, why don''t you introduce me to some of the hatchlings?" Walker followed Midnight from there. He didn''t want to stay talking with Terron in circles. They both understood the dangers approaching that they would need to fight. They both understood the length of such a journey.


    After seeing the number of hatchlings that Midnight had to be in charge of, Walker realized that even with the help of Ibis, that this would be too much. Ibis was already upied by the many abyssal and heavenly serpent hatchlings. How could he manage dragon hatchlings that were about to hatch or were bing young dragons?


    "Midnight, we might need more people to help you." Midnight huffed in agreement. She had also realized that she would be unable to properly train or guide the hatchlings alone.<sub> </sub>


    Some already had their ces to go to learn skills or learn from mentors. This was the case for the few that hade earlier. But the water, earth, and soon to hatch earth dragon hatchlings would need more attention. Then there were the royal dragons that had yet to bring a hatchling at all. There would be more that needed attention.


    "I don''t think it will be wise for the taming guild to help. They might have ulterior motives. Not that they are bad, they just can''t all deal with the temptation. These hatchlings should choose that life for themselves when they are older. That leaves us with adventurers? I think city soldiers shouldn''t take them in unless the dragons choose it."


    Walker wasn''t sure why Midnight was staring him so much. He felt that she was waiting for him to say more. The adventurer idea seemed to have caught her attention. "Wait, should we ask ra to help? The adventurers do more than fight monsters. They help whoever adds a quest to the guild. Maybe they can handle this with supervision from the older adventurers."


    The pull of Walker''s clothes and a slight nudge was all Walker needed from Midnight to know that she agreed and had been thinking this too. "Then that''s what we do. Also, you should surprise everyone at dinner tonight with the fact that you have started to learn to speak. I know everyone will be shocked." Walker saw a glimmer in Midnight''s eyes as she realized that she would be able to make a big ssh. She would love the attention.


    Just as Walker was about to speak again, the hatchlings noticed him. He was immediately the target of all their attention. "Well hello there. I have met some of you but not others. I am Walker, the nature royal dragon. But you can just treat me as your friend Walker." The words didn''t so much as get through to all the hatchlings but some of them had grasped an understanding of the draconguage since they were born in dragon viges.


    There was a few moments of hesitation as the ones that had met Walker before were encouraged the newer hatchlings to go and meet him. They could all feel the mana that came to Walker because of Fleur''s constant absorption of mana. This was enough to show them that Walker was unique and had strength that they did not understand.


    After a slow few moments, they were all memorizing his scent. Even Midnight had encouraged them who the hatchlings trusted much more. This was mostly because she looked like an older dragon. One that could change forms as she pleased put her at a higher ranking than most other dragons that would be unable to do such things for many years.


    "I do wonder how fast all of you will grow since you are all here learning different things." The few hatchlings that followed Walker''s words were able to somewhat understand what he was saying. They wanted to grow, they wanted to explore. This was a new ce that they had never seen with many new things.


    Midnight had already started to introduce them to many new foods, the people of the city, and soon the rest of her family. She was going to show them that this was a ce that they could be whatever they were meant to be without any judgment. All they needed was to put the effort in.


    Naturally, the games began after Walker had met them all and they had gotten used to him. By the time he realized the sun had started to set, the hatchlings were a chorus of growling stomachs.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1567 1567. An Understanding

    The dinner had already been set up. Walker''s mother was hardly tired after her day in the bakery. Instead, it appeared that she had somehow gotten younger and more energetic. Walker could only imagine that she was bing happier and happier to have freedom in her creations. Food was her art.


    He noticed the same for his father. The guards he worked with had followed him from Diamond and now worked in Genesis. The clear cut training and general respect in his workce made him feel better than ever. It was one thing to work somewhere and another to live up to the values you had in your every day life to protect and uphold peace.


    "I had a little help today when I was cooking. I made extra since I knew we would have many little guests to feed." The dragon hatchlings were booking at Walker''smother as if they had met a goddess. The food smelled like a divine gift that had only been given to the greatest of beings until now. Little did they know, Walker ate like this whenever he was home.


    "Midnight honey, some and wash your hands. You know you need to when you are in that dragonkin form. And if you don''t there will be now roasted-" Midnight jumped up as soon as she was told. The risk of losing food was too great.


    "Big Brother!" Before Walker could move in t the dining room he was caught by his sister. It was clear he was going to hear everything about her work and get caught up.


    "Lisa, let me sit down at least." Their conversation seemed to turn in to a full on story about how The new fashion trends were incorporating the rune sewn fabrics that she was making. They were a hit with both elves and the other races. Some elves had even asked to join her in her work so that they could teach her more about the rune sewn fabrics. It was a great thing to hear.


    "Now this is a delightful feast." Current and Ignus arrived while Ventus followed. Current had smelled it since he came to the mansion but knew it was proper topliment the chef.


    "Oh, you just need to sit and eat. You are our guests." Hilda just thanked them before returning to setting the table with even more food.


    "Made it!" Gil seemed to have gathered the rest of the party including Alma. he was sure that the dinner would not beplete without everyone.


    "That means I am also on time. It is odd that humans are picky about the times that they eat." Terron struggled with this concept because he lived underground. He did not live by the sun or the time of day. It was just a habit to hunt when he was hungry or to request his dragonkin to get food for him. This was the difference between their cultures.


    As everyone sat down, Walker wondered if Alice and Onyx would be able toe. He knew that they were hard at work training so he didn''t expect them but he still wished they woulde. However, when the door opened again, he saw that Mordant had arrived with Rise behind him. Rise seemed to be more reserved than earlier meaning that she hade to some conclusion in her thinking.


    Before sitting next to Mordant, Rise stood near Walker looking at him seriously. "Wee to dinner, Rise." Walker stood up to match Rise.


    "I have put thought in to the vige you desire. You have your reasons and I shall not oppose you. You are not to insult my vige again. If that is the case I will treat you as a dragon of equal strength¡­"


    "I understand. My methods were rude and I used them to force your decision. I will respect your desires." Walker had to admit he was disrespectful overall. Because he was.


    Rise gave a nod. The understanding was there so she did not hesitate to continue. " The beliefs I had about your vige were from one view. I had yet to see it which is something every dragon would struggle with at my age. I am not the ruler of your vige and you can govern it as you wish."


    "Furthermore, you have made me recall many memories of my youth. I will take a long visit to the royal court to reflect. My dragonkin wille here for a month while I do so. I expect them all to improve by the time I return. My champion and his guardian will also be here."


    Rise sat down without another word. The other royal dragons all seemed to understand this. Going to the royal court to reflect on memories. Some royal dragons would do so when big events happen while others would do so after making breakthroughs in strength. They wished to see their past and think about their futures.<sub> </sub>


    "I am d that we coulde to an understanding. Rise, you and all the dragons, are wee here at any time. If I can support you just ask. I will, hopefully receive the same from you as we get to know one another more." This seemed to better seal that broke the room from silence.


    The rest of the meal proceeded as anyone would exp[ect it to. There was a lot of talk and Walker was d to see everyone rxing. He enjoyed these moments that seemed to get more and more in between. Yet, he couldn''t help but feel that there was more missing. That there was something that could interrupt this at any moment. It might have just been the constant travel and reason to move, but for now he would focus on the meal and thepany.


    By the time the morning came around, everyone had a much needed rest. The party had finally taken a night off except for Onyx who was still at the cathedral. This was why Walker had decided that his first thing to do was to head there and see if Onyx and Alice were still training with the hatchling serpents. If they were he would go elsewhere to meditate if not he would see how they were doing.


    "Well you sure are early this morning. Some of the healers and priestesses haven''t even arrived yet." The high priest was there in the front of the cathedral watching the sun rise over the tops of houses and businesses. He had been excep[tionally busy with the change in management of the cathedral. So much so that he had to enjoy these few moments of peace before the day became hectic.


    "I wanted to see if Onyx and Alice were finished training. I know that they were using a special high light affinity potion and a special dual elemental potion. It made me too curious for my own good." The high priest gave a hearty chuckle that showed he understood exactly.


    "You should have seen when Alice kicked me out of the room. Even Ibis was sent away for a while. Now Alice, Onyx, and Aurora are all asleep. The little serpents also tried to join their training but weren''t able to keep up. It was very adorable." The warmth in the high priest''s voice showed just how attached he was to seeing these young beings grow up before his eyes.


    "That''s good. I was hoping that when thest of the eggs started to hatch that they would be able to join in on training. It feels like there are more connections and discoveries every day. Who would have thought that two monsters believed to be myths would be found?" The ideas were staggering. Too many possibilities. Too many questions. But they had all found some answers.


    "About that, the research from the ancient ruins have turned up a few things pertaining to monster records. The ancient monsters mostly, but some about the twin serpents that roamed shadow and sky. The book was left for Onyx while he was training." Walker saw the book the high priest spoke about and realized how old it was.


    "This was in the tunnels that the dwarves were clearing out. Those ants had it covered in stone. It''s rough but was tranted due to its roughernguage. Still a runguage but lessplicated making it easier. The researcher that delivered it for a reward was very talkative." The high priest appeared to have gotten a full education on the topic. He clearly wanted to be done with it for the time being.


    "Then I will take the time to read it while they are resting. It should be a good break from the rush here and there." The high priest seemed to agree as he went to sit and rest on a nearby bench. Walker ended up sitting down on one of the nearby steps to read in the morning light. He felt this would be very enlightening.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1568 1568. Translated Journey

    "The writing of this is to enlighten my fellow survivors. After the attacks of thest great monster we were forced to flee yet again. The secondrter of food was lost and now we must retreat to the next settlement."


    Walker had begun to read the book. The trantion was missing a few sentences here and there that were worn by time but the trantor had done well to fill in the nks. Walker could only wonder if there was a skill that helped fill in these nks with the proper information or words. Overall, he wanted to learn the runguage himself. It didn''t matter if it was an unspoken and extinctnguage now.


    " The true trouble began when we split up. As always, the followers of the great monsters jumped to clean out our home. They attempted to dig down but our defenses proved enough to repel them. It went better than expected but we have a great path to travel. The words of the elder say that we will build a grand city soon."


    "Ha! So this book tells about the building of the cities. That means this is before they split. This cements that." Walker couldn''t help but exin out loud about the history that was being discovered. The researchers were surely putting together a written timeline for everyone to learn from.


    Quickly Walker realized he had actually said it out loud and calmed himself down before he was opening the book again and shifting through the pages.


    "I have searched for days, this has be my journal. My story of monsters that swarm thends while searching for the attention of the great monsters that rule all. I have begun to record every detail I find. But that will end if I ever have the chance to return to the great city being built."


    Walker realized that the pages he had skip[ped were telling about how this author had been separatedpletely. However, he had managed to keep writing. Trying to detail the monsters that swarmed the world that they struggled against.


    What was terrifying in this was that there were so many monsters that were so powerful everywhere. So much so that a weaker race was unable to even stop them unless they made bunkers in the ground. Walker knew this before but it was hitting him again.


    The great monsters mentioned were clearly the ancient monsters that the world knew now. The monsters that should not exist any longer. The monsters like the ancient Scy that the current Scy had descended from in some means.


    "This record will serve as a gateway for survival. I will reach the grand sands that will hold out homes. The ce where many monsters do not dare tread. The grand sands are dangerousbut nature is strong there. Without water they did not survive. The monsters that survive there are too intent on fighting one another. It is a haven for us and I will go there to find my people again."


    This affirmation proved that the city that was in the desert was exactly what walker thought it to be. It was the first ruins of the ancient race. But it was also a ce carefully built to protect that race. The mage tower and rune knowledge was just the way for that city to be safe in such a dangerous ce.


    "The high mountain peaks are my only struggle. I am far from the top and must risk the travel through the devouring pass. Many monsters exist there. The arachnid queen hosts a brood of thousands there. The strange stone armor monsters also patrol the area ughtering but not consuming. The dangers increase even further as traveling."


    Walker could somewhat understand what the monsters were. However, he had never read about an arachnid queen ancient monster. It was something he would want to look in toter. If he could find a better history he might be able to bring it to the many Grey haired spiders that had been growingtely in Genesis.


    The main reason he wanted to share this with them was that they had been breeding to the point that they were considering creating their own homes beside the elves. They loved the trees and preferred to remain there. But also because they were growingrger. The grey haired spiders were also showing traits that made them separate from the basics of what could be considered a monster. Almost like they were showing more human like features. But that was a thought for another time. Walker needed to keep reading.


    "The fear I have for these many monsters grows, however, I am limited because I fear more the great serpents of light and shadow. The great devourer thate together to reign over the high peaks and the lower ravines."


    "This is it¡­" Walker mumbled to himself as he looked carefully. He wanted to find more information about the ancient monsters that were clearly the abyssal serpents and the heavenly serpents.


    "Many of the elders spoke about these monsters. These great serpents rise above any in this area. They even have the powers to travel between other nes of existence. Things we have yet to reach or evenprehend. It is astounding."


    "I did not believe this until one day when the moon and the sun met in the sky. It felt off. The monsters had note out of their homes. I did not need to sneak. When I felt the mana around me change, I looked in to the sky to see the dark moon surrounded by a ring of pure light. A wondrous happening that I have never expected to see in my life. Only three records of this happening are ever recorded in my grandfather''s stories."<sub> </sub>


    "Nothing prepared me for what I saw next on the mountain horizon. The great dark serpent of shadows reached up from the depths of the mountain. It rose through the air while a pure white serpent of blinding light reached down. The two met at the center of the sky where the moon touched."


    "My mind did not understand what it was seeing. Two great monsters interacting was something every being would fear. The battle of great monsters like them could ruin entirends. Yet, the pair here weremunicating. They were intertwining. They were sharing their energy as if they were not two but one being. This scared me more."


    Walker was stuck on this page. The witnessing of such an event would definitely be terrifying to someone. These great monsters were powerful. Yet, Walker saw something else. He saw a potential.


    "Maybe Abyssal serpents and heavenly serpents aren''t so different¡­maybe they are the same race but radically different affinities." This thought mostly came from when Walker was raising Onyx. Why would a high darkness affinity monster need light? Why would it have two affinities? Why would the heavenly serpents have an extremely weak affinity to the darkness mana? All these questions could be answered with the same theory.


    The abyssal and heavenly serpents were the same race but lived separately until they reached a certain strength. Then they came together during the only time when the two opposing elemental manas infused within one another naturally; a lunar eclipse.


    This could exin so many things. It could exin why they had the same body shapes. The same ability to absorb and use light and dark elemental mana. It could also exin why the heavenly serpents were all female and the abyssal serpents were all male. It was massive breakthrough that Walker had to share with Onyx.


    He was caught though, Onyx was still resting, he could still learn more from this book.


    "That was when I realized how small this world truly was. United, these two great monsters could consume it all. They could be the devourers of the world. I must warn all of these monsters. I will record every detail. Strike down every single one I face and ask my brothers and sisters of the same. Only then can we take to the skies where we belong."


    The remainder of the page was too worn for any trantions to be made. "Why isn''t there more!" Walker stomped his foot while searching the ruined pages. Some small sketches were all he found. Poor drawing of small andrge monsters that didn''t exist today.


    Naturally this author had returned to his people. The knowledge had made it there and somehow the knowledge had been passed down. The abyssal and heavenly serpents had been hunted while their eggs were stored away from the light. It may not have been storage to use them as partners but to keep them safe from hatching.


    ? Walker was left full of new questions. New theories. This knowledge would radically change what the world saw of this ancient race. His mind was so full that he did not notice the peopleing up beside him.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1569 1569. Pieces Coming Together

    Without any warning, Walker felt someone sit next to him and a head fall on his shoulder.


    As he looked over, a sleepy eyed Alice was leaning on him while Onyx was slithering up next to him. Aurora was still wrapped around Alice''s arm asleep which seemed to be the best ce for her to rest.


    "You are both awake!" Walker was very happy. With the book, or journal, in his hands, he nearly lept up to show them what he had found. But when he realized that Alice was making herselffortable his heart skipped a beat and he controlled himself a little more. "You three have to hear what I just read."


    "Brother, have you been waiting for us for long?" Onyx tried to figure out if Walker had been waiting for them the entire time that they were training. He felt bad that they had remained asleep even after the sun had risen.


    "No, I was reading for a while and speaking to the high priest. This book came from a researcher that had been instructed to deliver it to you after they tranted it. They are making a lot of progress in the ancient tunnels and storage areas. They even have some of the runguage tranted. Once this gets to the ancient library they will have so much more." Walker''s energy was helping wake Onyx and Alice up even more. They were enticed by his upbeat attitude.


    "That''s good news. I am d to start the day with something bright." Onyx knew that he would have more things to teach the hatchlings. This was an excellent thing to hear.


    "No, you don''t get it. This is perfectly about you and the heavenly serpents. I don''t know what the intention of the ancient race was. It could have been a few different things but one that had been separated from his people was trying to get him. That made him record everything he saw." Walker was still struggling to contain his energy as Alice picked her head up. She was interested in the story. This was much better than having to read it herself.


    "Can you tell us?" Her sweet voice made Walker even more dedicated.


    "Yes, I would like to hear what you have found. I was tired after sitting in a room all day showing them how to better control the light. But teaching is a new experience so I have to say, it was interesting." Horizon had been silent and Walker hadn''t even noticed the grand light elemental spirit.


    "Are you alright Horizon? You look dimmer than usual?" Walker thought it might be from the training. But there was a nagging feeling. However, just as he felt he might put a finger on it and understand what he felt, the feeling seemed to erase itself.


    "I was¡­I feel a little unbnced. But that''s because¡­hmm, I''m not sure anymore. I should be fine." The oddity of this situation halted their mood for a moment but like they hadn''t even started the topic, the four returned to the main excitement. If anyone had been watching they would have felt the strangeness around them.


    "Well, this book is more like a journal of what the person moving through the wilderness saw. He was separated because of a monster attack. He references great monsters. Those have to be the powerful ancient monsters. The ones that Scy is descended from. I bet that they were the most dangerous. But it also described the other weaker monsters."


    "Apparently they swarmed the areas near these great monsters. That was why thends were so dangerous. Many monsters and the super powerful monsters. But what was even more shocking was that this person moved through the wilderness to make it back to the same city we got the mage tower from."


    This was the first bog point Walker shared. This person had traveled even before the mage tower was built to get to thends where they had traveled and risked their life. "Brother, are you saying that the theories about these ancient people were correct? They existed before the city was built and dug underground to hide?" Onyx was easily assembling the pieces.


    "Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. This provided that perfectly." Walker was proud to present this first point. Alice was sitting at him as if he was a school teacher making great lecture points. It brought Waker even more pride.


    "Then he made notes of the great monsters and other monsters he saw. There are many that he exined lived in certain areas. Most of it I can''t seem to understand. But there is a great monster named the arachnid queen. That is who I believe the grey haired spiders descended from. That would make them more powerful if they can learn more about that great monster."


    The idea that the grey haired spiders could trace their lineage was already a big deal. "What about me and Aurora? There has to be something about us if you are so excited."<sub> </sub>


    "Must be." Alice looked serious now. She would take this subject even more seriously because she wanted to help Aurora grow properly. Even the smallest details were big for them.


    "That''s what I want to talk about. The person writing this passed through a ce they called the devouring pass. I think it was a massive ravine in the mountains. But that''s why it rtes to you. The great dark serpent and the great white serpent lived in the sky and the devouring pass. That has to be the ancient abyssal and heavenly serpents."


    Light shed in Onyx''s eyes as he understood. "We can find that ce and find things rted to us there!" by now Aurora had awoken to listen. She was still behind in learningpared to Onyx but had already grasped a great deal of understanding of what the humannguage was. Having Onyx speak to her in her mind also helped. It was like having a built in mental coach for understanding.


    "Not just that onyx. There''s more. There is a long passage about seeing the two great monsters. They reached from the shadows of the mountains and the light of the sky during a lunar eclipse. When shadows and light elemental mana met each other." Walker waited as Onyx grasped this. It was not making perfect sense but he could tell that Both Onyx and Alice were creating their own theories now.


    "What I am saying is that you, an abyssal serpent, and Aurora, a heavenly serpent, are the same monster species. Not two, just different sides of a coin. All the abyssal serpents have been male, right? All the heavenly serpents have been female, right? Why could that be? Why do you have a strong darkness affinity along with some light affinity? Why does Aurora have a strong light affinity and weak darkness affinity? Why do you both consume light elemental mana as a source of strength and sustenance?"


    Onyx lost his breath. Even Aurora felt that this was something major she should remember. "Walker, you are a genius." Alice had topliment Walker. She felt that he had perfectly assembled the pieces of this puzzle while she looked at the passages Walker had opened the book to.


    "Then we are unique monster that might not be as far from being a race as I thought." It had been too many years for the serpents to have such an in depth understanding of their species. "I have wondered why I felt the need to help the heavenly serpents the same as the abyssal serpent hatchlings. I thought it was just because they were like me. Nearly forgotten by the world." Onyx was beside himself. Walker could feel the deep pull of emotions in Onyx through their connections.


    "It was more than that. You, my little brother, felt your instincts to protect your own race. You very same species. I am very proud of you for bringing your natural desires and world experiences together. Now you can do whatever you need with this information to grow your race to a world recognized race."


    The atmosphere in the cathedral became warmer. Horizon had not spoken. He felt that he was seeing a new page of history develop. Over the many years, Horizon had seen and forgotten too many things. That was what life was for an elemental spirit, let alone a grand elemental spirit. Now he felt that this moment would be engraved in his very being. One he would never forget.


    "Brother, while we rested you researched to help me. Let us show you what we learned. What we did to train. I promise you, you will be impressed." Onyx had a deep tone to his voice. One that made Walker understand that Alice, Onyx, and Aurora had learned a lot. Had pushed themselves to be much better in all abilities that they possessed.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1570 1570. Bright Skills

    "You two should show him what you can do. Your training went well! I will rest while you do that." Horizon left them and inhabited the spirit mark on Alice. They all felt a little off seeing the instant loss of energy in Horizon''s movements. It was very odd.


    "You know, Fleur seems like she doesn''t want toe out either. It''s been like this since the mage tower meeting with the elemental grand spirits.." Walker felt off even more thinking about it. He thought that he might not have gained enough mana to replenish what Fleur had used and would have to meditate more.


    "Brother, we can all go to the mage towerter. It would be easier than using crystal to replenish mana." Onyx was on like mind when it came to this. He had caught on to the potential issues since the training they had done also used a lot of mana.


    "You''re right. Let''s go see what you have going on then we will see what is going on with the mana." Walker was also going to check with the others to see what was going on. He was sure that there would be a simr result. They had all seen the grand elemental spirits use a lot of mana. The fire, earth, wind, light, and darkness spirits had all used a lot of mana. Every elemental spirit¡­ Walker was nearly stuck on the thought before he felt Alice pull him a little.


    They made it outside to the behind of the cathedral. "I had the area renovated a little more." The high priest had followed them. He was mentioning this because Walker had not been to the cathedral garden since he had left the city.


    Now the cathedral garden was expanded and had many spaces for additional training. "I decided that some of the healers may want to train their defensive skills. They should be able to do that here rather than anywhere else so I made a change. It will be well worth the change. If you break it you still need to repair it though." The high priest was firm on this.


    "If anything is wrong I will use my grand elemental maniption to do so." Walker had to promise this or else he knew the high priest would be keeping a closer eye on them than usual. It would get in the way of Alice and Onyx using their skills together.


    ''Brother, I will go first. I focused on one thing and one thing only. I focused on bringing my shadows to life even more." This seemed like it fit Onyx best. It was of his best elemental affinity and also had more reason to be stronger overall.


    "Thenshow me what you have." Walker used some mana to shape the earth ahead of them in to five small earth dummies. The dummies were enough for Onyx to target with precision which Walker expected of whatever skill Onyx had trained.


    "While I have been around the little hatchlings I have wondered how they moved. At first, I thought this so that I could help them move better around the city like I do." Onyx had a pure intention, but he had begun to think of other ways to use these movements. "When I wondered what they looked like made of shadows traveling like that, I had an epiphany."


    The shadows that were around Onyx began to wriggle and shimmer. They seemed like a mess of snakes or thriving vines. They were clearly moving around him waiting to be used in some way. "So you brought the shadows to life with your elemental control." Walker was impressed but this was not all.


    The shadows slithered around the dummies with surprising speed. Before they reached the five dummies, the shadows reached out of the ground. The darkness elemental mana was in high density as Onyx used his own mana to force it to do so. The shadows formed pointed des and pierced the five earth dummies in an instant.


    "I am a much better mid range attacker now!" Onyx definitely seemed more tired after this attack. The mana he had to use was very high to pull this off. The only thing that he needed was a lot more training to be able to use it over and over.


    "The fact that you can use five of those attacks at once is already amazing. That means that you have trained it pretty well. If you are using this attack like that you should be able to take down multiple enemies at once with it." The idea was that onyx would be able to more easily use one than five at a moment''s notice.


    "Brother, I agree. I put the skill together with my other skills and found thatbining them was better than leaving them apart. Now I am stronger at the cost of more mana. I will train this much more and try to absorb more mana to gain strength." Onyx felt that this was the best possible training for the next few weeks. He wanted to ensure that he would be able to use this in any uing battles.


    "Walker." Alice was waiting for Walker to look over at her. While Onyx had shown off, Alice had stepped in to an open space and waited patiently. She had been working on a skill that was sometimes used by healers that had the faith healing system.


    "Alice has worked hard to make this skill her own. The system she had even went well with it." Onyx made a simplement that Walker barely heard. He was already entranced by Alice who had begun to hum and dance.<sub> </sub>


    The light in the air vibrated and came to fall like snow on the ground. Alice''s footsteps became coated in the light creating a pattern on the ground. Her humming increased until she began to sing about the rain of light healing the world.


    Thebination of the song and the patterns on the ground were enough for Walker to understand the point of her skill. "You made a healing area!ce where healing is multiplied over and over!" The falling light snow would heal someone while the patter on the ground would push the healing light back up to heal again. Anyone with injuries would heal over and over.


    "Alice saw the faith healers area heal skill and dance of healing. She read about them and then wanted to see if she could use them since she is a songstress. It worked. She has the dance of melodic healing now." Onyx couldn''t contain his excitement seeing that Walker had be so animated as well.


    "It''s great! This is a perfect way to heal people faster and with less mana." The mana used was being recycled so to speak because it did not dissipate like normal healing skills after use. But even more, the skill was using that mana in an incredibly efficient way. Not only was this because of the control that Alice had over light elemental mana but also because she had knowledge about healing. It was a joint effort of herbined experiences.


    "My daughter always outdoes what I expect." The high priest''s eyes were shining with pride. He had seen so many things to be proud of from his adopted daughter. She had told him about her discoveries when it came to her bloodline. He had supported her and told her just how much he loved her. But he could never put how proud he was about the woman she was bing before his eyes. There was no sadness to see her grow up, just excitement for what he might be able to see from her in the future.


    "Healer!" The gruff voices yelling for healers made the four of them freeze in ce. They had no idea what was happening so early in the morning but there was always a chance someone might be hurt. But what they saw when they rushed back inside the cathedral would have been a surprise for anyone.


    "Mordant!" Walker used all his speed to sprint to Mordant who was being carried by his dragonkin through the cathedral. The panic in their eyes was not normal. They had never seen their lord in such a state. A dragon never fell ill. They did not fall to sickness.


    "What happened?" Walker was trying to probe Mordant with his senses to find out what was happening. However, all he found was ack of mana.


    "He has a very high fever and has been saying that his mana didn''t replenish properly. In the history we have been told. No dragon has ever been like this." There was pain in the voice of the dragonkin as they spoke. Seeing their lord in such a state was nothing good. It was shaking their souls.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1571 1571. Missing Mana

    The high priest was moving as soon as Mordant had been set down. He had the highest quality skills that could discern what might be wrong with someone. Unfortunately, his face formed more and more wrinkles. He was clearly bing stressed.


    Alice was also moving. She had many ways to search for issues but from what she saw, there wasn''t a scale out of ce. "Walker.." Her question was already clear. She wanted him to take a look and tell her what he saw.


    "If this isn''t normal then there might be something else to cause it. Where is the grand elemental spirit that has been with him? Is he around?" The dragonkin warriors pointed right at Mordant.


    "So he is in the spirit mark too?" The nodding heads of the worried dragonkin were clearly saying that this had been the case for some time. "That''s not right. Mordant and his partner were not that close after the additional memories from being apart from him. I know they would both have been getting to know one another again. They would have stayed meditating to get on the same page."


    Since Walker knew that the spirit wouldn''t have dwelled within Mordant right away for a long period of time he felt that there had to be something wrong. Something wrong with both Mordant and the elemental spirit.


    "Walker¡­is it the mana?" The mana that everyone had used during the meeting of elemental spirits had been higher but it was not something that should be causing issues.


    "Coming through! Coming through!" Remey nearly knocked the dragonkin out of the way. She had been contacted by another dragonkin that had run for the alchemy guild as soon as Mordant fell down. This was because she would be able to bring the best potions in the fastest time.


    "What did you bring? Mordant has a high fever and doesn''t seem to be absorbing mana well." Walker didn''t hesitate to report what he knew. That was all though. It was not much but enough to start on.


    "That''s what I want to know. The dark affinity potion he consumed should be working. I check it whileing here and I have no adverse reactions even though Ick a dark affinity. That means that someone with the affinity would benefit. I should have felt a negative side effect if the potion was made wrong or if my body rejected it. There was nothing like that." The panic Remey had at first was that her potion had somehow be a poison.


    "Then it''s not the affinity potion. You two kids need to evaluate his ability to absorb mana. Walker, take my hand. I will be introducing my mana mixed with a healing skill. Use your all around appraisal and see what is happening." The high priest had seen healer''s identification skills.


    These skills were rare even when it came to healing. Mostly because when it came to them, they were particr about the illnesses or injuries that healers had. Some were even specific to one part of a being''s body. "My skill can check the entire body, but I do not have the mana to fully analyze him. He is a much stronger person than I am. Your mana should help me make it through."


    The pair took hands and ced their other hands on Mordant''s chest. The mana that circted while Walker used his skill gave them a very strange answer that they could not understand.


    ''Ancient Darkness dragon (Mordant)- Mana sickness


    This is an older darkness dragon known as an ancient dragon. They hold some of the most power of their species and affinity. They have great potential that exceeds what most would imagine and can even ascend to the darkness ne of existence with proper training.


    Due to the spirit mark and their rtionship with a grand elemental spirit, they have absorbed purer darkness elemental mana. This has caused the adjustment of mana in their body. Unfortunately, the mana is not able to bnce with the mana in the world surrounding them. The elemental spirit has fallen dormant due to the imbnce.


    The bnce must be restored to properly release the built up pure darkness mana. Until then the mana will be attracted to the ancient dragon causing negative reactions¡­''


    There was a lot more information going on about the strengths Mordant had and what other things he had about him. But Walker had focused on the specifics that rted to why Mordant was having issues with mana. "Are you seeing what I am? The mana is the problem. There is too much pure mana entering his body without bnce. That shouldn''t be the case. How could there be an issue if we just bnced the mana in the world?"


    "I am seeing that his body naturally absorbs darkness mana. That''s the same for anyone with the affinity. But a dragon is much faster at it. And I also feel that this mark on his scales is increasing that many times over." The high priest could see that this was not a good thing at all. It was much more than should be happening to anyone. "There are also blockages of pure mana holding it in ce. It''s like the mana wants to remain separate."


    There was a rumbling as moremotion happened outside. Remey, Alice, and Walker were already on the move while the high priest and Onyx watched over Mordant.


    "I knew you would all be here at a moment''s notice. Mordant fell ill. He is having problems releasing mana to bnce what he is absorbing. It has to be something with the elemental spirit. But that''s not normal. The mana should all be bnced." Walker was desperately trying to sense what might be wrong around them. From his point of view it was all normal.


    "Wait, where is Current." The other dragons had all rushed there. They were standing silently because they knew Walker had more information. However, Ventus saw the missing person easily.


    "He should be here, how could that smug bastard think anything else is more important." Ignus was ready to fall in to a rage and chase Current down.<sub> </sub>


    "Here¡­I am¡­.here." The weak voice that greeted them was a pale looking Current.


    "Don''t tell me you are like this too?" Walker pushed himself to get next to Current immediately.


    "No, I don''t have an issue like that. It''s like my mana doesn''t want to react with anything. The elves are the same. The water elves can''t gather mana. The water mana can''t be gathered!" His response was shocking enough to make everyone stunned. This wasn''t an issue just with bnce bust specifically with water elemental mana.


    "What do you mean water elemental mana? That''s not¡­water elemental mana?" Terron tried to respond but slowed his thinking. He was having trouble cing the water elemental mana in his memories.


    "I know that water elemental mana exists. It does. I know your vige resides close enough to mine. I look over it. You have many elders and young dragons. You were at the royal court. But I can not discern your mana." Rise finally spoke. Out. she was slightly shaken because she had never had such an experience.


    "That''s the problem! Water elemental mana isn''t bnced! Why is it not bnced? The meeting of the grand spirits should have fixed that! I know that the water floor in the mage tower was¡­.was not upied." Remey reflected on what she had seen. "Why is there not a water grand elemental spirit? How did we not realize that!? We didn''t actually bnce anything but the world even responded saying that the quest was done." Remey was getting more and more worked up by the second.


    ''World Quest: Missing mana


    The world has been greatly deceived. The bnce sought by the meeting of grand elemental spirits has been attacked. The grand water elemental spirit Luna is remembered by history. Powerful figures rted to the bnce of mana will receive this quest


    Requirement: find the grand water elemental spirit Luna and return bnce.


    Reward: Language skill, System adjustment, words of the world,''


    This was a major quest. A major event that was drawing many beings in to a search for the grand water elemental spirit.


    "The world remembered. This is a big deal." Walker mumbled. He was thinking that things must be worse than he realized.


    "We must fix this. All of you must fix this. Every single water affinity being is suffering right now." Current understood why this was an issue. The other elemental manas had attempted to bnce themselves. The problem was that the water elemental mana was being forced away because it didn''t have an equally powerful force to bolster it. Now they were seeing the results.


    "Just what could make us forget that though? How could we not realize or even remember there should be a water elemental spirit until now? Even the world was fooled¡­" Remey was angry but more confused than anything. Walker could only fall in to deep thought himself.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1572 1572. Rough Waters

    "We just made it here. Su and I were at opposite ends of the city." Gil had felt the sudden weakening in Zephyr and immediately went looking for the others. Something like this was not good at all. He also had a strange sense of worry that was putting him on edge even though he didn''t know the source.


    "Good, we were just about to send for you. We have a problem. Everyone forgot about water elemental mana. Specifically, the water grand spirit." Walker was sure that Gil and Su had the same quest that he and the other royal dragons had just received.


    "We must act now. In some way." Terron felt that they were not acting; he wasn''t sure how but he needed to defend Mordant. The dragons were not some weak species that fell to something like mana sickness. A dragon could never have too much mana.


    "If we rush in to this, the flow of the wind may shift in to tornado that only turns us back on our problems." Ventus tried to calm Terron a little. Unfortunately, Ignus was exasperating the situation by having the same feelings.


    "Terron is correct. We must act and tear this spirit from wherever they are to properly bnce the world." Since Ignus had heard of the event with the fire elemental spirit and felt the mana, he knew that someone should be able to find the water grand spirit.


    "I can barely sense the water elemental mana anymore. It will not react, it''s moving away from us. It''s like something is taking it away and bottling it up." Current felt that there was more to it. However, he wasn''t sure what the more was.


    "There''s no way that so much mana could be taken away like that. It''s not normal. There should be some way for the mana to flow. It doesn''t just get taken and disappear¡­" Su felt that she had just touched on a very solid topic. An idea was forming.


    "This is just like that time. Mana being taken. People falling to illness because they are losing or can not control the mana they have. It''s a little different but it''s the same."It had taken one nce for Walker to understand what Si was thinking. Remey and Gil gave each other a look before they nodded.


    "Come with us, we have an issue that can''t be growing in the city. We had it guarded but it might be the cause." Su was taking the lead in this. She had to defend the city. Her energy seemed to be growing even though she could feel her strength in mana waning.


    "What is this? You are hiding dangerous secrets here?" Rise was not happy to still be in the dark. She knew that there was danger here. She knew that Mordant could perish because of this. From what she saw, Walker was acting as if he had solutions already but was hiding it.


    Moving through the city, the royal dragons constantly asked questions but received no answers. Instead, they saw the humans before them acting more and more serious before they reached a wall with iron gates. "The guards are still here so it might not be this." Gil had a sliver of hope but felt that it would be too easy.


    "Sir Walker, what is your business here today." The guard that stopped them was on edge because of the dragons that came with Walker. However, Walker just waved a hand to move. His determined expression proved that there was a major reason for them to be there.


    "This is the courtyard where the Demon, Greed, Is sealed. We were able to fight and seal him but he was able to steal away mana. He controlled it as his own causing those around him to fall ill. He is immortal from what his title does. He is also obsessed with taking everything as his own." Walker pointed out the petrified statue.


    "It''s here." Current felt that his very heart was being pulled out with the mana he had in it. He fell to his knees as soon as he saw the statue ahead. Floating above it was a translucent blue shape. One that dripped water down on to the statue constantly.


    "The Grand elemental spirit Luna is trapped by Greed even though he is in statue form and sealed. How can this-" Su was cut off by a swirl of water that kicked up around her. She was not sure why but the water directly pushed her away from the statue as she had approached.


    "Stand away. You are interfering with nature by stopping the flow of what must be. You did not purify but sealed away the mana here. It is not the flow that should be." The voice that rang out was enough to make them all stand in silence.


    "You are the Grand water elemental spirit Luna. you were trapped by Greed!?" Gil yelled the question loudly but received a scoff in reply.<sub> </sub>


    "The flow of the waters can never be tamed. They move with the rise and fall of the mood. They flow with the desire to carve nature in to the earth. This is not what is intended. I will cut away the corruption of the world and free this being. Do noty a hand on this. Your corruption shall not continue."


    "We sealed him because he was taking all the mana. Sealing it within himself-"


    "Nature spirit human. I can feel you. You are the one that sealed this Greed you call it. You were wrong. You must use the water to purify such things. Call on the elemental mana you are bonded with. But instead you desperately cried out and sealed it away. You panicked in battle. I can see it all through this one." The sudden lecture made all the royal dragons immediately fall in to anger.


    Their fellow Royal dragons were suffering because this grand elemental spirit had halted itself here to fix a sin title holder. A being that they had been fighting. What was this?


    "Stop your anger dragons. You do not understand. Generations of growth and you still cannot flow with nature. This being here is not some devil sent to im the world. They fell victim to their Greed. I can see their memories. The water can tell all. You should know that." Current was still weak but his eyes widened.


    "Water has the power tomunicate in any way. To show others the hidden connections in the world." This whispered exnation made Walker feel somewhat off. He could tell that Current had been taught this somewhere. However, it was more of a rule. It felt like water was more deeply rooted in certain things than others.


    "Walker, this spirit is trying to wash away the sin''s title. It''s¡­ written in the teaching of the previous water dragons. There used to be a royal dragon that could purify even the most tainted ground with water. They were the most powerful water dragon in our history."


    "You are correct. That was my first friend of any race. The dragon that asked me to teach it how to cleanse the world of suffering. In a time when even you dragons were not strong. Youcked homes. That dragon asked me to teach it and I did. But you have not grasped his words." the grand water spirit seemed to be shifting until finally, it took the form of a young girl.


    "I will only teach one more. I have chosen to clean this one from his title. Bring him back to the world and the system he was born on to. If you assist, I will grant you a single lesson. If you deny, then leave me to my work alone." Walker could clearly see that the water alone could not do anything here. The grand water elemental spirit was feeding too much water elemental mana in to the statue. "Fleur, can you hear me? Can we do anything?" Walker felt that he wanted to argue. Shout at the spirit. Yell his questions at here to make a point that she was hurting more than helping. However, he also could tell that she was showing them a chance. A chance to free someone from their cursed past.


    "I have no idea why the memory of you faded or why you made this decision alone. But Fleur, my partner wants me to help you so I will do it. If Greed escapes, we will not hesitate to seal him away again." Walker surprised everyone. They didn''t believe that he would dare risk something so great just because a grand elemental spirit was angry with them. But Gil, Remey, and Su understood. Walker had promised himself to free Greed from an endless life of desire somehow someway. It was not Greed''s fault for bing this way.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1573 1573. Breaking Greed

    "What do we do?" Remey stopped everyone by asking a simple question. "What do we do to help you? If you are telling us you can remove and fix him instead of sealing, then tell us. What do we do?" The question should have been asked sooner. There was a grand elemental spirit with answers to the problems that were happening, a spirit that could answer their questionster.


    "That is the attitude you should have instead ofing another blockage of flow. You will join me with my equals. Only the proper fusion of elemental mana within this poor being''s body can free them from the pain they carry. Then it shall flow away and bring them back to their intended flow."


    From what Walker was hearing, the sin title was given to Greed for some treason. But the title had been a curse of sorts that the world had given. Not a blessing. "Remey, good job." Walker had refocused when he heard Remey. This was simply because she was able to put aside her other focuses and fears of this sin title holder going rampant again.


    "You are missing my equal of darkness. Who will pick up the mana and raise it to equality?" Luna was a water spirit that demanded things to proceed as intended. The flow of nature and flow of water were the same in her eyes. It was the grand understanding she hade to by bing a grand water spirit.


    This wasn''t all, she may have been younger out of the elemental spirits, but she had stood alone much longer. The other elemental spirits met each other. They had interacted. But Luna had not done so. She waited for nature to bring them together without the impending and changing the flow. This was the pure ideal she lived.


    "I can manage that." Onyx slithered out from the direction of the cathedral. He had left Slice to maintain Mordant. He knew that he had the elemental affinity to make the shadows do what was needed.


    "Then one that holds the blood of the ancients may join us." This surprised everyone again. Luna recognized that there was such a monster in front of them at a nce. It told them all she knew more than they expected. She remembered more than they expected.


    "Come on." Su was already standing next to the statue of Greed. Luna had floated back to allow them all to take a space.


    "We will help as well. One of our-" Ventus had started in before she saw that Current had already moved forward.


    "I may be weak at the moment, but I am Current, the water royal dragon. I should be able to bolster the water here." Luna just nced and nodded at him. This was of no issue to her. A grand elemental spirit without a partner was going to be held back by the others. She had to have a small back up to manage the same.


    As much as everyone wanted to ask questions, or even fight this act, they could not. Gil was clearly biting his lip on the matter. The attack of Greed had caused a lot of people pain. However, he had to ept that people would have some issues if they didn''t do as Luna desired. If they didn''t properly bring the elemental energies and grand elemental spirits together that had falsely joined before.


    "We are ready." The mix of mana was already growing. Even though the other grand elemental spirits did not show themselves, the spirit marks showed that they were involved.


    "So I must bring the elemental energy together within Greed''s statue? That''s all?" Walker wasn''t sure what he was doing but could feel the natural mana that had caused the seal. He knew that he was directly interfering with it and was having a hard time trusting that Luna was correct.


    "You must. You are the center of mana in the future. It will flow to you regardless now." Luna seemed to be looking ahead in time. It made Walker wonder just how great the flow of the world was. How great the understanding of a grand elemental spirit could reach if they focused on the ideals behind their existence.


    With a deep breath, Walker reaches out and touched the statue of Greed that is now being bombarded by mana. The immediate response from the world is enough to tell that it is what should be happening.


    ''The world remembers, the dream walker.''


    Mana converged on the group draining them of their energy while the statue seemed to shift faces. No longer was greed a demonic monster. The statues was changing in shape. The obsessed eyes that were carved in madness had be calm and soft. The shapes of ws and scale on the body smoothed while the horns that had been turned downward shift in to a high up point. It was a totally different being.


    ''The records of Greed; the punished sin have been removed. Return, Dream walker. Bring your power from the abyss and revel in your lesson.''


    The world seemed to speak with Fleur''s voice as much as the system. It was a great feeling that made all of them understand that these sin titles that forcefully brought out these beings'' negative traits were a punishment. That not all titles were considered a blessing. There were curses but those were grave. The titles that had negative effects were deserved and to teach.<sub> </sub>


    With the united mana, the rest of the statue fell apart revealing an old demon standing a head shorter than most. His robes were a sandy gold while his facial features were soft. The sands that reached around him lowered him on to a bed of sand while he slumbered.


    "I think I went too far." Onyx copsed on the floor with a soft flood. He had used mana that was well out of his control but he had managed to do so through power of will. He had seen that Walker needed him. His family needed him. He had to do so, so that he could be one of the city''s guardians. He had to do so to help others. Onyx was not someone that could allow others to suffer, he had learned this from his family. They all cared.


    '' The title, Altruist has been granted to the Abyssal serpent Onyx. The title has been given because of the pure intention to help even at the cost of their own suffering. An altruist that helps in their every day life to teach and shine upon others.''


    The world saw that Onyx was the only outlier of the group. The dragons were powerful. The partners of elemental spirits had strength that allowed them to act here. But Onyx? He was not a being equal in age or in mana that should have been able to assist here. Yet he had. It was not the actions of a hero that threw their life at an enemy to save others. It was the act of someone who purely wanted to help those around them to achieve their goals and dreams.


    "I will rest, it has been many years since I rested. Many years since I was required to purify anything." The water condensed around Luna. The grand elemental spirit was suddenly encased in a frozen crystal that clinked on the ground.


    "It went dormant?" Ventus had used a lot of her mana with Gil, they were the two wind elemental beings here. But she was stunned that the water spirit they had rushed to find had one such of these things. Had used all the mana they possessed to help at this moment.


    "It feels better." Current felt that the mana control over water had returned to him. His body was warm but his exhaustion took him.


    One by one. Walker saw the others seemingly passing out. He only grasped that the golden sands that made up a bed for the demon that had once been Greed were moving. The sand was in the air. The sand floated here and there making the entire room hazy.


    "Was this too much or did we mess up?" there was a fearful tone in Remey''s voice. She had pushed them to move to action and she feared that she had made them all take the wrong decision. A decision that had brought them all in to danger. Potential the entire city.


    "I will..make it¡­right¡­" Remey copsed in to slumber while the others followed. None of them knew what was happening.


    "Wee to my dream." The voice was soft and warm. It was also thest thing that Walker heard before his eyes closed as well. But it was not darkness that greeted him. It was far from it.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1574 1574. Foggy Dreams

    Fog. That was all Walker could see as his eyes adjusted. A ne of fog covering dark green grasses for all the eye could see. "Wee." The voice echoed through the fog. Walker could only spin around realizing that the others were all standing in the same situation as him.


    "Where are we?" The grand elemental spirit Luna was floating idly next to Walker. She seemed to be formed again even though Walker knew she had gone dormant.


    "Asleep. Just as I am right now." The calm and cool voice that responded was Luna. She was clearly happy to be there even though her body was not real.


    "How can we be asleep?" Ignus was about to start in a rage. This was a foreign ce with off mana around them. He also could not feel the fire elemental mana as he normally would be able to.


    "Do not worry, you are safe." The first voice that had weed them came again as the fog shifted.


    Appearing before them was a golden table full of foods that Walker had never seen. "Sit with me as I create my dream. Dine with me as we learn together." The voice came again and no one had any idea what to do. They were all ncing at one another with lost faces.


    "Why should we bend to these demands?" Rise was finally opposing what was going on. She felt that no one should be able to tell a dragon what to do.


    "I mean you no harm young dragon. I have invited you all here in appreciation. For many long years, I have been gued by my own greed. By the very thing I thought drove me to protect my values. Unfortunately, I was rewarded for being true to my one single value over all else. It was a curse of my own making."


    The echoing voice came from right in front of them where the golden table had formed. Chairs formed as well, one being was sitting in a chair staring at them with half opened eyes. The face of Greed was much softer. Itcked the demonic features it had gained through its corruption. Through its greed title.


    "Please, sit. I will tell you a story of a foolish king trying to build a foolish kingdom." Su and Remey were holding each other''s hand trying to keep a hold of their worries. It was clear that they feared that Greed would somehow change back and attack them.


    "Gil, be ready to fight in any way possible." Gil just nodded with Walker''s order. Onyx slithered around Walker''s shoulders ready as well.


    "No dragon will follow a weakling''s demands. You will kneel and state your-" Terron was cut off as the fog enveloped him. He was gone in the next instant. Instead, he was able to be seen standing in the field far away from where they are now.


    "Just because you are within my dream does not mean I will allow you to be rude. That is not something I shall tolerate since I have properly returned. And little dragons, you are the youngest of the beings here that are not elemental spirits. However, I am older than most." The weight of the situation finally fell on them.


    "Our minds are here and that''s all. Correct?" Since Walker was able to discern this fully he was prepared to try and learn a skill to resist.


    "You are correct. This is my dream. I invited you with the sands of slumber that made up part of my body. It has been too long since the sands covered me and I lost my abilities. Since I locked them away out of fear that they would be taken."


    "I also must apologize. A water spirit such as yourself spent a lot to free me from my self made curse. I even made the world forget you for some time. It was my grave mistake. I hope to properly atone for that." There was genuine sadness in Greed''s voice as he looked at Luna.


    "All must return to the flow of nature. You deserved to be free and return. It is a title the world gave you but the world allowed me to find you. That means you are meant to return to the flow pure of your sin. Pure of your past foolishness." There seemed to be a warm breeze as Luna said this.


    "Let''s sit." Walker made the first move. Ignus, Rise, Current, and Ventus were the only ones that remained standing.


    "It is up to you." Greed waved a hand and the fog around them swirled in to a roughndscape. One that had only dried grasses and mountains. "When I was born I found nothing. I had nothing. No power. I could only dream of having more. Therefore, I slept. That was my first foolish mistake."<sub> </sub>


    The fog changed again in to many monsters being defeated and taken. The great magics used and radiant weapons showcasing power. "These dreams were all I had in that wastnd. I wanted them and I gave in to that desire. By the time I developed battle skills I was putting entire hoards of monsters to slumber. Defeating their minds and enving them while gathering everything I could."


    "I absolutely needed them to make my dreams reality. I no longer desired just one thing but all my dreams to be reality. That was my second foolish mistake. The third came when I found other demons. Where I do not know my birth, they came from elsewhere. I do not know their history but I copied them. I began to take them to my kingdom."


    "Mine was not the only one, the monsters tried toe near but they failed, I had stopped them and others with wings came. They did not stay. They saw my desire to entrap them and left. I was stolen from. Or so I believed at the time. My final mistake was giving in to my values. The value that I needed to own the world to be able to achieve my dreams. That Was the day I received the Greed title. My personal curse."


    "From then I was not me. I was no longer a dream walker. I was a curse upon thends. I stole from all and made it mine. I changed forms. I even took pain. I took it all as my own. Bolstered my madness. That was until the winged race returned. They came with many and used mana I was unable to steal fast enough."


    "Hundreds of them fell to my greed. Those that did not chain me up and dropped me in a hole. I was trapped until I felt a hand breaking away the stone that covered me. From there¡­I was worse than before." The feeling around them was bing darker. Almost as if the dream would be a nightmare at any moment.


    "From there you became a general of the demon lord. Followed his will and helped form a kingdom under him. You owned him and let him do the work for you so that you could revel in your possessions. Then you came to take another city. And I sealed you again." Walker finished what greed had been saying. He felt that he had attributed to what hade to be.


    "Yes, but the water found me. I epted every ounce of that purification. My mind had been somewhat found during the second sealing. I am unsure why but the world was whispering to me. Asking to return the dreams I had taken. I epted." the world seemed to interfere more than any of them expected. Especially in the case of Greed.


    "Please look at me, this is who I truly am. For what I have done, I do not expect you to ept me. But for now, you may call me sandman, the dream walker. The one that creates fantasy. The one that lives within the eternal slumbering woods. Born of peace and hope."


    The titles that came out were not just titles. They were descriptions of who this dream walker was. Reasons that he had for being. It was a very big part of who Sandman was.


    "You are a lot more than Greed. You are wee to atone in Genesis as long as you can promise no harm. Promise that you will forsake Greed forever. Be the opposite. Be someone to look up to." Walker knew this was a dangerous offer to someone who had fallen in too easily before. But everyone deserved a chance at redemption.


    "For that, I will be grateful. I never thought my mind would return and I would be able to look at the world through my dreams yet again. I am already blessed with too much." The table was silent as everyone began to absorb what they had heard.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1575 1575. The World Changes

    As Much as the being in front of them was Greed, it was clear that this was no longer the same person. The title of Greed had exasperated the thing he had let guide his life for too long. So much so that it had consumed him.


    "So many years I was not even myself. So many years it was like living in a fog." The very fog that was all around them seemed to shift at this. There was a silent but saddening air around them. Mourning the lost chances.


    "I can''t even tell you how I was living. How I was acting. I can''t remember it all, just the desire to take for myself."


    " Was that really some title then? Did the world actually reward you?" Ventus had been contemting this for some time. She was sure that the world had actually cursed him. "You say that the world gave you a title, but was that not a curse? Were you not cursed?"


    "I wish it was a curse. I would be the same as the demon lord. Cursed to forsake his humanity and be a demonic monster that only cares for power. The power to control the world as he sees fit. That is what drives the one that became my possession at one point. That could walk around even though I constantly took mana from him."


    The shocking words were enough to make everyone want to jump up. They had not received such specific information about the demon king at all. This was something that showed off the power he truly had over many.


    "So the demon king has the power to resist a title that made us so weak¡­" Remey''s voice trailed off as she felt a pit in her stomach. However, it was soon being filled with fiery anger. The mes of desire to be strong enough tobat such an existence that had the goal to harm others.


    "We won''t be letting him control anything. Whether you had a title or a curse, you are different now. You will make what you have done right then you will be able to help us fight that demon king. If it was a title, then the world would not do so for no reason." Since Su felt that the world was always looking out for the best of all within it, Su felt that there were hidden meanings in the Greed title.


    "I agree. The title I had showed me the worst of myself. I was too weak to control myself and caused harm to the very ce I came in to existence in. the slumbering forest doesn''t even exist on this ne of existence after I damaged it. Now it lives within the in between of spaces. That is the price for my sin. I ept that I lost many years to it. Now I will fix that."


    The fog started to swirl around all of them. It seemed that there was less and less they could hear of Sandman''s rambling. The dream walker was losing the ability to hold them in his dream. It wasn''t that he was trying to send them away, but Walker could tell it was ack of mana. The person named Greed was gone, and with it, the mana he stole. Now he was the same as everyone else, his mana was limited.


    Jolting awake, Walker found everyone else on the ground awakening too. He also saw that the sands had be a bed of golden sand. A perfect ce for Sandman to rest and recover. The crystal that was the dormant grand water spirit Luna also sat upon a sand pedestal.


    ''The world has found the missing spirit. Nature turns as intended.''


    The shift in mana was as if a lock hade undone. Walker felt a flow return brilliantly. The feeling that he had before when they had the meeting for grand elemental spirits was nothingpared to this. That inparison was clearly missing something.


    While this happened, Walker could feel a change in the system. It was as if he was looking at something different. The way the world appraised them seemed to be shifting. It wasn''t clear what was changing but deep in his soul, Walker knew.


    Adding to this, he suddenly felt rity. The kind of rity that most people would have when a specific thing was finally understood after studying for a long time.


    ''The united races have appeased the world''s will. The world grantsnguage upon all.''


    This notification went through the entire world. Every single living being found thatnguage had blossomed in their minds. No longer did the walls of different spokennguages burden them. They could understand what others were saying.


    The draconguage that was incredibly hard to speak was not able to be spoken by others. However, it could be understood, read, and even written to a degree. This change was one example of the world''s will. A uniting of the races was more than what anyone expected but it was a major change.<sub> </sub>


    Not only would this improve how everyone grew and came together, it would change how other races looked at one another. Thenguages that gave power to words would be able to learn theirnguage and use their words still. But they would also be able to get theirmunication across to others without using that power in those words. It was a massive bridge for all that came in to contact with each other.


    "I can not believe this lower being. Forced me to dream and speak to them. I was even treated as younger and lesser." Rise was the first to speak her mind. But Terron was the next to show his distaste.


    "Speak down to you? I was forced in to a world of fog. I could not say a word. I could not fly. I could not sense the earth!" The ground seemed to shake a little as Terron yelled. His shouts made everyone realize that he had truly been angered.


    "You are all missing one thing. That being. That dream walker that calls himself Sandman, is much older than you or any of us. He is clearly a being made of the world. A being that embodies a single purpose that had strayed from that purpose. The word itself recognizes them. Do not attempt to get revenge. It''s clear that he could do much worse than speak down to you or put you in a dream of fog." The intuition that Ventus had was not unfounded.


    "So you remember those stories as well. Those that the world recognizes as gods. The ones with systems so unique that they might not even be systems anymore. They be who the person is. The ideals and value that do not require the input of the world because they embody an aspect of the world, and potentially of more." Ignus''s calm demeanor was shocking enough. Yet , Walker knew he was correct.


    "So all that and here we are. Greed is not really Greed anymore. He is some powerful demon or maybe not even a demon? Whatever, he is Sandman now a dream walker from a ce called the slumbering forest that might or might not exist anymore." Gil looked fairly stressed. He had a lot of questions but would be getting little to no answers anytime soon.


    "All I know is that he deserves a solid punch to the face as payment for what he did. I was knocked out on the ground twice by him!" The frustration that Remey held also held a relieved breath. She was d that nothing bad had happened again and that Genesis was not in danger.


    "I am more interested in what the world changed. I feel that I have be closer to the world. That the system is less important than what I knew before. That it is less something I will find randomly but something that-" Su was cut off by the world.


    ''Millennia have passed by as hands of the world has guided the growth of man. No longer shall you search out your destinies. The hands that guide shall offer paths.''


    As much as all of them wanted to say they had no idea what the world meant, Walker could feel that he did know. "The world changed things so that systems aren''t random anymore. People will get quests to guide them toward the systems they are best at now!" He could feel it. Deep within him. This was the change. This was what had been altered to make the world better.


    "That means the world saw what we have done. It not only gave those without systems a chance at systems but now will guide everyone born right away." Su spoke again with a few small tears in her eyes. This was a day to be celebrated.


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 Chapter 1576 1576. Clear Communication

    The air of the entire city seemed sweeter. The sun seemed brighter. Everyone in all of Genesis felt that everything had been made right. They had not been sure what was wrong but they knew it had been solved. As they saw the system notifications and the words of the world, many children were rushing to their parents or even the nearest person.


    The shouts of them being able to follow quests that guided them toward their best possible skills or even toward their best possible system were unbelievable. However, everyone felt that this was the way it was meant to be. That all of history had been waiting for the moment that this would be the way of life.


    There was an evenrgermotion going on when people encountered the harpies and the grey haired spider. Instead of being unable to understand the chittering or high pitched words, they understood exactly what was being said.


    Their minds seemed to have been unlocked and a something that had always been there was free to be used. Thenguages were still different but the understanding of each word bloomed within them. This was another major event that caused many people to rush around the city in joy.


    As much as the guards believed things would be chaotic, they were wrong. Every time someone rushed to them, it was a joyful celebratory report. Instead of being told that something bad was happening or a riot had broken out, they were told that they were invited to a tavern or to drink in someone''s home. It was a beautiful disy of Genesis and how it was growing.


    This supportive atmosphere didn''t just stay in Genesis, however, it had reached out to other cities. The dwarven city being one due to the recent bonding of elves and grey haired spiders.


    The grey haired spiders had found somefort in the underground of the dwarven city. Some had split from Genesis and traveled there after deciding that they did not wish to remain in the forests. This decision had proven to be a great boon for them and the dwarves when it came to the many different ways that their silk was used in crafting.


    Thenguage barrier was all that stopped them. They had trouble making things understandable when it came to what they were trying to aplish. Even then they needed food, it had been a tough thing. Now, it was perfect. Things could evolve in their bond by leaps and bounds.


    But nothing could prepare Walker for what he would be handling once he returned to the mansion.


    The guards had reported to guard Sandman where he rested. Luna, in her dormant form, had been taken to the water elves'' living area. This was because they were preparing a specific ce for her to absorb mana. It was decided that the mage tower would not be able to keep her in touch with the flow of nature. It was also very clear that Current wanted to rest nearby.


    The flow that Luna had described was a level of understanding in water that he had never grasped. That he could wish to learn but never had a teacher for. He understood water, the mana, and how it worked in the world. But he did not understand what the flow of the world was. How water was more than just mana and an element.


    Naturally, Gil took the lead to bring both Luna and Current there. He said he had to find Alma and exin that the illness would fade. He also had to exin everything that had happened here and how it would influence Genesis in the future. Walker was sure that Gil also wanted to ask some of the enforcers to keep an eye on Sandman since he was still a sin title holder that had attacked many cities.


    The other royal dragons, Su, and Onyx made their way toward the cathedral. They understood that Walker would be dragged away at any moment by one of the other representatives or even ra. The adventurers were definitely going to be finding that they could speak to some of the other races of the world clearly without assistance.


    It wasn''t that many other taxes spoke differentnguages, but with the addition of goblins, grey haired spiders, and harpies, many of the adventurers had chosen to ept them in to their groups or taken quests regarding them. This was tough because of thenguage barriers. With them suddenly gone, ra would surely have more work to deal with.


    Leaving just Remey and Waller together, Remey decided that heading to the mansion was the only choice to make. She knew that Midnight had wandered off and had long been missing for the time being. It was pretty clear that she might have gone after the dragon hatchlings somewhere so she wanted to make sure they didn''t need potions.


    "You really need to keep an eye on kids. They can get themselves in to trouble. Midnight has to already realize this. They will rush away, get in trouble then cause more trouble while trying to hide it." This was the rant that Walker had begun to listen to as Remey charged towards the mansion.<sub> </sub>


    "Then when they get somewhere morefortable like the mansion, they will try to hide their issues. I was the same way you know. I am sure you would rush to your bed if you were in trouble too." Remey''s words stopped when she realized themotioning from inside. She turned back to Walker who was a little out of breath having to keep up with her., "See? There is already a bunch of trouble since Midnight was caught up in other things."


    "Wait, Remey, those sound like child''s voices. Or in my head it does¡­" Walker grasped what he was hearing. This made him move ahead of Remey and grab the door to open it.


    When he revealed the hatchlings and Midnight rushing around the entrance hall, he noticed that there was not a saddened face to be seen. None of the little hatchlings seemed upset at all. Instead, they see me overjoyed. They were running around with Midnight who was desperately trying to chase them. Even Walker''s mother and little sister had joined the fun.


    "Brother!!!!!!" The roar that came out from Midnight in her dragon form was more than what had met the eye. It wasn''t a greeting that got her attention. It was a shout for Walker toe to her and greet her as well.


    "Midnight! We can talk! We can talk normally. You just started to learn the humannguage too and now this. It''s amazing. We should talk all night!" He easily gave in to what had been feeling for so long. All the worries of not being able to properlymunicate had washed away in to nothing.


    "You would not believe how she and all the other little ones have been saying that they are waiting to see their friends. They want to go to the auction house, the crafting guild, and Even the adventurers guild. All sorts of ces so that they can be able to see everyone they have been meeting. If they had any more energy they might just start a fire beneath their heels." The glee in Hilda''s voice was the same that she held every time she saw a toddler running through the streets. They all reminded her of her own children.


    "Midnight has been telling me all about how she is going to be stronger than you. She said that she''s going to be the strongest sister!" Lisa rushed up to Walker. She had definitely taken the day off from her work to be here. As much as he wanted to reprimand her, he knew that she was still much younger and deserved to be a kid a little more than she had been. He did still admire that Lisa had taken so much on to herself so that she could follow her dreams even though she was little. It was something he hoped she had gained by watching him through the years.


    "Let''s see what everyone has to say." Walker stood up as tall as he could and looked at all the hatchlings who were still making small growls and hisses that didn''t equal any real words. "As you know, I am Walker. The royal nature dragon that has opened the city to you and all dragons. It is nice to meet you again. Especially now that we can speak and understand each other."


    The roars that responded to his greeting were a mix of yeses, hoorays, and even a few I am the strongest dragons. Naturally, those shouting about being the strongest were the fire dragon hatchlings. The two that showed off the fire of fire dragons best.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1577 1577. Leon Takes Charge

    "So, are you going to sleep there all day?" The voice that woke Walker up was fairly nice. But he could tell that there was some sarcasm in it.


    "IGil, if you want to start a little fight we can have a little fight." Of course, Walker knew it was Gil''s voice that was waking him up. "I was caught up all night ying with the dragon hatchlings. They were very happy to be able to understand what everyone was saying even though they haven''t really learned much when ites tonguage."


    "I know, I came back and found you first. They were all sprawled out be the fire ce before your mother got them to move to actual beds. Even the other royal dragons were hard to get to move because they wanted to keep checking on things. Apparently, they are very impressed by thenguage changes in the world."


    This was to be expected. Genesis was going to be amazed for some time. But in a few years, it would be the mostmon thing. So much so that people might all begin speaking the samenguages without even realizing it.


    "So, why are you waking me up? Is it just because you want to sit on the couch here?" Gil''s shaking head showed that There was something else going on.


    "I already woke everyone else up. There is news from the ancient library. Because thenguages were suddenly changed by the world¡­well, you shoulde. I don''t have rough information either." The messenger that had arrived said that she was sent because she was the fastest. She had letters but because of the change inmunication, she was able to speak directly to Gil.


    "Oh, then I do need to get moving." Walker pushed his hair in ce while standing up. He didn''t hesitate to walk right to the door. He could use some of his skills to freshen up on the way. But even if he was a mess, this was a very important moment. They had thought that this information would take much longer. The world had been to praise with this development.


    "I just wonder what else we will find out. We know there were experiment magic books, elemental theories, and even theories about other aspects of, well, existence." The multitude of knowledge in the ancient ruins was too much to fathom.


    "If we are able to get back to the desert city, the tunnel where we found the eggs, and the royal library we may be able to perfectly track their history. That could change a lot just know what kind of people that race was. Even though I do have an idea." Walkers and others'' theories wereing together. But none of them had solid proof just yet. This was because of a simple issue, they could not read the changing runguages of the ancient race.


    "Then we should run. Remey, Su, Midnight, Onyx, and the other royal dragons are already there. The dwarves are listening through their crystal wires that they invented. Alma was on the way when I left the elf district, and the other representatives should be there or notified soon."


    The pair rushed with their newfound energy. Walker was taking the lead substantially out of his growing curiosity. What he didn''t expect to see when he arrived was that the dragonkin had all lined up around the Genesis building.


    "We wee the nature royal dragon!" The chant made Walker hesitate but notpletely stop. He ran right in to the building to find that it was nearly silent as many of the staff were processing smaller matters. They knew that things could change as soon as the meeting ended. Therefore, they were preparing for anything to happen.


    "I am here. The dragonkin outside are a little much though." Walker''s slightly teasing tone did not make anyone rx. "I really hoped you all could take a breath. This is important. I know. But if you face it with steel you may be hurt by the vibrations when you strike stone." The saying was one he had only heard a few times but it had stuck with him for life.


    "Now that is a good saying. Humans captured a dwarven saying well!" The king of the deep caves had not been there physically, but it was for good reason. He was very deep in to the caves that were being built as a dwarven trade route for the cities. Even a few of the earth dragonkin were with him assisting due to the recent underground caves found.


    "The faster everyone is here the faster we can prepare the battle ns we will need. Having the dragonkin was the natural answer." Scy appeared to have arrived full of fire. She was ready to rush in to the battle that they needed to be in. This also proved that some of the information found was exactly what they had needed to make their next move.


    "I am here. I was just preparing the next ship building ns with a few of the dwarven ship builders." Leon had a rushed appearance since he was clearly working hard. But what caught with Walker and the others that had yet to hear any information was that Leon had been focused on the ship building efforts that the city was working on.<sub> </sub>


    "Do I need to take that as we are crossing the oceans for certain?" Walker had hoped they would figure out some form of teleportation. But it was not going to be that easy. From what it appeared, they would have a lot of trouble getting across the vast oceans.


    "Yes, that is what I was notified of while I was working in the office set aside for me. I was the first to hear what has been found." Leon and the others had all been given offices since they were representatives of Genesis. It would make their work much easier than having to take everything away with them every single time they needed to work as a representative.


    "When I was working on the canal proposals for building, I discovered a rushed harpy mail carrier. She exined to me the discoveries and handed me these documents. The teleportation that cost the mana of hundreds of demons and demon soldiers did, in fact, send the demon lord and his two sin title holders to the other continent." There was a collected sigh. Everyone had hope that this was not truly the case.


    "What about any other details?" Gil spoke up with Alma at his side. Walker had not noticed the two get closer together but it seemed that Gil was taking the lead. Alma had more or less be the inner representative of the elves while Gil was slowly bing the face of the elven masses. They revered him more every day since he worked so hard to make things easier for them.


    "The records and magic were found near each other in the ancient library. Getting it recorded was a slight issue due to the fact that the library continually moved. But with the exnation left by the first explorers, your party, they managed. When they began to trante it they discovered the changes inmunication that the world has blessed us with."


    "The researchers discovered an old partial map. The ancient race used this after divining the state of the other continent. They went there for the resources and to flee from ancient monsters. Some apparently ascended to other nes of existence while others stayed here and split their races in two. But both left for the new continent together. There is a lot more history but this will be the main point."


    "They arrived at a mountain, that was their goal. ording to the map," Leon ced the aged paper on the main table, "there is a massive mountain range triple the size of ours. There are multiple springs and a few volcanoes but it is a very tough ce to live. However, it was safe from monsters in a sense. We will have to go there."


    "So even when we journey there we will need to find this mountain range that the demons teleported to at the cost of their ownrades," Scy spoke with a growl in her voice. She would never betray her fellow soldier to make it where she needed to be. There was a difference between righteous sacrifice and harming someone for personal gain.


    "That is the case. It also means we will face dangers we do not know. Especially in the open seas. Even my people had not managed to go there due to the strange and terrible monsters out there. It will take us all together so I ask that everyone focus on the ship building. I also want aquatic golems." The things that Leon asked for were not small. But they were necessary.


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    <o>,m </o>

 Chapter 1578 1578. Ships

    " Dragons will fly across the seas. If we have the need tond we may stop at your ships. We will not be involved in the building." Terron was sure that he would be hating the travel regardless. Therefore he decided not to even be involved with it. He could do more good down in the caves with the king of the deep caves.


    "I will continue mining. Whether the dragons or anyone travels I will remain here. Someone needs to fully establish the trade route and begin the proper building of the underground city." The king of the deep caves had a better direction and reasoning for staying behind.


    He had taken a lot on himself in the building of Genesis. Many of the metals hade from the excavation of the underground tunnel that would be the main trade route to the dwarf city. On top of this, the dirt that he had brought was used in the fields so that it could be fertilizer. The unfarmed soil had proven to be great as a seed bed for new crops.


    "I agree, I will not be sitting on a ship. I will fly above the water close to the sun. If you need assistance you can ask Current." Rise dismissed herself. Ignus nodded in agreement and Terron left as well.


    "Hmm, they are correct. They will remain in the sky along with myself. My children are protecting the demon viges while some of them rebuild. I do not wish to leave so far from them. I will though. It would be dangerous to send every dragon but myself. My strength may be needed to reim all the skies." The wyverns were a monster that could kill her children, of course, Ventus would leave them far behind if it meant their safety.


    "I agree, whatever the cost of it, I will be there." Mordant had arrived silently. He was still a little shaky after the incident with Greed and his freedom from the sin title. He had not expected that Luna, the elemental water spirit, had arrived. He also did not expect that the dream abilities of Sandman could collectively affect memories. All that proved to be a major surprise and problem to work around.


    There was also the fact that Sandman was considered one to the more powerful beings that the Genesis council knew of other than the man that had arrived to share teleportation. Many of the beings that roamed the world or the other nes of existence were very different. They had power that was currently unknown to all of them.


    The dragons seemed to have the most trouble with this since they had always believed themselves the most powerful. They may not be as strong as their race was in ancient times, but they were still well above other races. Unfortunately, theycked the power to meet the beings on other nes. That was one reason why ascending to another elemental ne was a taboo for the most part.


    "I have no issue traveling in the waters. I want to protect the ships we bring along with the important quest we will undertake." Naturally, Current was thinking about traveling in the waters himself. He wanted to see what monsters called the vast oceans home. The monsters that they might have never seen before. The monsters that might be able to be cooked by top notch chefs. He had truly fallen from the unique cooking of other races.


    "General Scy, what do you think?" Leon was preparing to lead those who wanted to see the current state of ship building to the ce they were being built. This was because he wanted to show them the safety and power that the dwarves had created.


    "Whether it is in the water or skies, I don''t care. I will be there, the wyverns were found to have destroyed farms when they were defeated. More records of them being found are showing up as we search. Some even stated that they were seen flying high in the sky. They may be traveling the world looking for morend to burden."


    Since Scy saw the dangers that the wyverns possessed she did not hold back her words. She was ready to battle them right away if necessary. "Even though some of the elves have suffered because of the mana imbnce, they wille. All the elves want to see thesends where the ancient race came to live. They want to know what else is in the world. I will be the first queen to go there."


    "That means that there will be a veryrge force of expert elves on the ships. It also means that we will be relying on the dwarves'' craftsmanship even more." Gil made this clear. He wanted to ensure that they were perfectly ready.


    ? "I will not doubt the craftsmanship that the dwarves have. I have surveyed the building area personally when allocating some funds. It is better than you may think." Markus Raven spoke up more than usual. His words were held by fact and he did not have to prove them. He knew that they would all see it as well.


    "Then it sounds like it is time to follow Leon." Su stood up and looked at Leon who had already prepared to leave the room. The others were quick to follow.


    Current and Mordant had already decided to trust the dwarven ship builders. This was also because they wanted to take the time to properly prepare. They needed to absorb more of their elemental mana so that they were in pique performance for the battle. The wyverns would take a great deal of their time to handle. Not to mention the injuries they might take from the wild wyverns thatcked sentience.


    "The ships are being built far from the ocean because we will be able to use magic to create a false flood. It will allow the ships to make it through the rivers to the ocean easily. From there it will be simple as getting our bearings. We already have some astrologers charting courses using the stars. The only issue will be the undiscovered currents, storms, and potential monsters." Leon had perfectly prepared himself.<sub> </sub>


    Since Leon had a very strong father to live up to, he had decided that he needed more than just battle strength to be a proper king. He had to be able to use his mind to lead a people in every path they chose. This was also why he had been putting so much effort in to helping his people build their homes along the rivers. The merfolk would have a solid ce in Genesis.


    "So that means we will need to create a map of the oceans as well?" Remey was not sure she would be of much use on the ships at all. Her best ability was to punch things, not swim.


    "Yes, the currents are a tough thing for many that sail. We have been able to gather some information from merchants along the shores and also from past experiences. Most attempts to travel across the ocean are failures or unknown. No one hase from there." Leon knew that the danger was great but he believed they would be able to handle things.


    "OI will just focus on seas sickness medicines then. You can all worry about the other things." Remey felt useless so ended up stopping halfway to the building area.


    "That''s a ship?" Walker had never seen a ship like the one he was looking at. Instead of the wooden boards being bent to create the ship he was imagining, he was looking at rune carved metals.


    "Oh, you didn''t expect this? The dwarves are already using some new runes that were discovered after the change inmunications. Half of that side was taken off to change things this morning. It will be a very tough ship that is able to withstand the tides and monsters." Leon was brimming with confidence.


    "You mentioned that you wish the dwarves to create some of the golems they normally do but with the ability to swim. Do you think that will work?" Su was concerned for the safety and use of golems in the water.


    "Yes, the runes can be used to better create them. From there they will be able to act as warnings, scouts, and battlers in the water." Since Leon had been working with the dwarven craftsmen closely, he knew that they were capable of this.


    "That just leaves how they will move. Care to show us?" Walker needed more information. He knew hecked a lot and wanted to absorb as much knowledge as he could. The more he learned the better it would be. He could help and potentially save them if things went poorly in the ocean.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1579 1579. Ship Tour

    "This is the dwarven feather steel. It is made from the steel mined from the wind dragon mountain vige. We were lucky enough to be able to speak with Lady Ventus and have her trade us some. It is just as tough as steel but it is even lighter than any other steel we have ever used. Take a try."The dwarf exining this to them looked at Walker, Gil, and Alma first.


    "Wow!" Gil seemed to have expected much more weight in the ingot of feather steel. He lifted it and nearly toppled over because he had put more force than necessary. He passed it to Alma, then Walker, and finally to Su. They were all surprised.


    "This would be ideal for some cavalry armor. We should look in to developing cavalry troops for the fields. Especially when we must fight the horned rabbits again." Scy had plenty of battle ideas for this. Leon just smiled seeing that others were already seeing the amazing values that this steel had.


    "So this is why the ships will be able to float when they looked so heavy before?" Since Walker was very unfamiliar with ships, let alone steel ships, he felt that he had to keep asking questions. Only then would he be able to sit upon the ship safely.


    "That is exactly right. Paired with the wind runes that our researchers keep sharing we have been able to do a great thing. We have made this ship weigh much less than normal. We have to add some earth runes along the bottom to keep the buoyancy proper. To be honest, this is the most developed ship we have ever crafted. And it is one of eight."


    "Eight!?" This shocked Su. she was sure that they were only making one. But now she waspletely awestruck by the skills the dwarves had. "That must be a massive work load for you. How are the workers holding up? Is everyone able to maintain their pace?" The worry that Su had in her voice made the dwarf thank the world that he hade to Genesis again.


    "Yes, we are able to easily maintain this work load. The elves have been helping along with a few of the water dragonkin. The heavy lifting is much easier while the other skills our workers possess make the process much smoother. What I am more interested to show you is the inside of the most developed ship though. Please follow me."


    Leon was giving Walker a proud smirk as the dwarven ship builder was leading them. He was sure that Walker was already impressed. "Should I tell you a few more secrets before we see them?" Leon was struggling to keep everything in.


    "I think we will be able to see enough from here. As a merfolk, are you truly this excited about a ship? I thought you would be swimming in the waters around us?" Alma couldn''t resist the questions. The small teasing that anyone would have wanted to give out a response.


    "Of course that will be the case at some times. There may be battles, and other issues. But we will mostly need to rest on the boat. We will be unable to travel to the bottom of the ocean so that we may rest. That alone is enough for us to enjoy this ship. A safe haven for while we are deep in the oceans where no merfolk has ever been."


    The oceans were a dangerous ce that the merfolk had never been able to travel freely. The monsters were too dangerous and theycked the overall strength to casually go there. Some brave merfolk had been deeper than others but not so far before in their history.


    Once upon a time, Leon had heard of an ancient merfolk city that was deeper in the ocean. But that was more of a child''s myth than anything. The city was well recorded as only being slightly deeper in the oceans and abandoned because of their weakening strength as a race. Now that they were members of Genesis, the merfolk may have a chance to be stronger and create a deeper city than before.


    "This inside hull will have multiple cabins. Workers will be in this lower area. We have decided to use a magic steam engine. It is slightly different from how we make golems with cores. The cores needed for one of these shops would be estimated to be numbering over five thousand. To counter that cost of mana, we are using fire crystals and the sea water. We cut the cores down to five hundred and installed special rune furnaces." The dwarf began teaching in a very proud tone. This was the best dwarven technology.


    "We have some golems that have used this method in the past but it was rarely used due to necessity. Now we will use them more often. The water that filters inside the furnace cools it down rapidly causing steam. Then the fire crystals and runes heat the furnace again. It will repeat over and over. From there, these gears turn causing the propellers to turn. It also allows us to steer with much more ease."


    "There will be no issues with the left over salts?" Scy knew that as the water dried threat the salt would be left behind. She knew that this was one danger of ocean battle or battle near an ocean. Salt was a dangerous build up that wore down armors and weapons. A massive ship like this was definitely going to have some wear and tear.


    "That will be a minor issue. We have made a special courting for the steel made from the green rubber trees. We spoke with the water elves and they used those trees'' sap to make sure their vige was water proof for the most part. It was a very good coboration that even brought a few alchemists to the projects."<sub> </sub>


    The coating that the ship builder pointed out was a somewhat clear substance that had been thinned out with oils. It was easily spread and hardened on the steel runes keeping them sealed without causing any issues with the magic or with the metal.


    Walker stopped in his tracks looking at another part of the ship. They had moved up a set of stairs, they were looking at another floor of what he thought would just be cabins to sleep in. "And those are?" The holes he pointed out seemed like they would cause problems for the ship in the waters. Especially when waves hit.


    "Those will be where the magic cannons are set in ce. The magic cannon is a tough weapon that we can charge with mana. It fires a projectile at an anime. They are rarely used due to their weight, slow ability to be reloaded, and overall high mana costs. But in the ocean, we needed power. A hard hitting attack to deter or defeat ocean monsters. Therefore, it was the winning weapon we decided to use. It is also simr to the normal cannons used by merchant ships."


    "I have seen the normal cannons. They use spiked pieces of metal or harpoons to catch or scare off monsters. How will this be different?" Since Scy was the expert in battle there, no one intruded on what she was asking about.


    "They have the ability to fire when used by mages and dwarves working in tandem. They will be able to be aimed and focused. They will also have some elven inspiration. Specifically-"


    "The arcane archers! That''s why you asked if they were able to assist you a few weeks ago." Alma put everything together. A dwarf hade asking about the arcane archer and had taken a few to help with a project.


    "Exactly, we were able to have the elven arcane archers to help with cannon ball creations. So far we have a water cannon ball that can create a frozen attack on the enemy. The development of a wind cannonball is the next step. It is slow because it is very different from an arrow, but simr enough to create."


    "I am d that there is a clear bond between the races here." Su felt her heart beat a little faster. She was very proud that Genesis was fostering growth between the races. So much so that she felt invigorated to prepare even more for this journey.


    "This is a very good idea. I have seen the arcane archers battle. Adding their styles here will increase survivability. Take me to the top of the ship.Wish to see the measures that are being taken in case the furnaces fail." Scy was in full evaluation mode. She was acting as general now instead of just a council member. They were preparing for battle on another continent after all.


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 Chapter 1580 1580. Thoughts Of The Future

    "As I was trying to show, the top floor is the main deck. But if we travel up the side here we will have the main storage rooms for the supplies we may need to chart the course, take samples of rare nts, and store some bodies of monsters." The first floor was set up so that they could do the most with it and the ship builder showed this before pointing out the stairs to the deck of the boat.


    "Then that is the way we should go." Scy had the troubles of the waters on her mind. She wanted to see the preventative measure that would keep everyone from being trapped in the ocean.


    The only reason she had this in mind most of all after seeing the other things was simple. Not everyone had the skills to swim and travel through the air or water. If they did, she would question the need for a ship. But the ship was their protection and safe travel. If they found themselves trapped in it, they would lose many people.


    "They have a lot nned out. I raised the same questions as Scy earlier in these projects. You will see that there is already a lot of things set up in case the worst happens. Between the water elves, my people, and the dwarves, we havee up with a lot of safety measures." Leon was very proud to be a part of this.


    He too had thought of the many people that could be stranded if the ship went down or was attacked. "These are the life boats we set up. They are simple feather steel with a simple rune and mana gem within it. They are made so that they canst for long times floating. The reason we called them life boats was that they would save your life if the ship is attacked and sinks." The dwarven ship builder pointed out the runes and the strengthening steel parts on the little life boat.


    "It looks like they can fit ten people each. How many people will we have on each ship?" Su was trying to do the math but found that she was unable to do so without any more knowledge about ships overall.


    "Each ship can host two hundred people that are not crew. Thest fifty will be crew that must run the ship even under attack. That leaves us with twenty six life boats. We provided an extra in case one is damaged as well. But ideally, the ship will remain near the others and we will have them to rescue and retrieve the life boats." The procedure had already been written and all that was needed was for the dwarf to exin it.


    "What about the transportation? Will we have to rely on magic if the ship stops moving with the furnaces?" Walker''s next question was exactly what Gil and Alma were about to ask. This was the next important risk they might face while on the ocean.


    "Yes, as you can see, we have a spire here in the middle. It is the same as the mast but we have made itrger to hold a special sail being sewn by arcane weavers. We have altered the wind runes to be sewn through it. This will attract the wind to push the ship entirely. Much slower but also more silent if we need to travel in silence." The idea that stealth was also taken in to ount made everyone much morefortable. That was something even they had not yet considered.


    "So, how are we feeling? The ships will be built in one more week. Then we can leave. That is much faster than what was previously nned for the ships and building some form of port by the mouth of the river." The pride that Leon had was notpletely mirrored. Scy realized that she had a lot more preparation to do and had to get moving.


    "I will leave then. I have soldiers to prepare. Semi-aquatic forces will need to be retrained to handle the open oceans. Have the supplies ready as well¡­" Scy''s rushed mumbling faded away as she left them standing there.


    "I will also leave to help prepare the water elves. they will be the best mages to have with us even though they may not be experts in the salt waters. But they should have some history remember about when they used to take trips in the to the deeper waters." Since Alma knew that any knowledge would be valuable, she decided to get it. Even the smallest thing would help.


    "I will hang out here with Walker. I want to try and get a little training in before I head back to the archers." This was a surprise to Walker since Gil rarely said that he wanted to train against him.


    "Do you need me as well?" Su was thinking of returning to the mansion to clean her armor and shields. She also wanted to go and speak to the wandering cksmith about making a new earth shield since it was about time she did so.


    "No, you can go if you are busy. I just figured I wanted to speak with Walker a little." The atmosphere was a little awkward but Su gave them both a wave leaving Walker and Gil alone. Leon had continued on with the ship builder to keep working on thighs. And Midnight was still an unknown since she and Onyx were more known to do their own things than stick with the grouptely.


    "Let''s walk and talk. We can head to the training ground behind the mansion and train there if you want." Walker felt that Gil had a few things he wanted to focus on that were a little more important than just training. It was just a sixth sense.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, about that¡­I think I am ready to make some big decisions. Like, we are getting older and aren''t going to be kids forever." This made it seem that there was somethingrger on Gil''s mind than Walker had expected.


    The pair walked down the stairs and hallways of the ship that they had been led up before. Walker was still a little in awe of how the ship hade together so quickly.


    "And? I know we are growing up mentally a little faster than physically. But that''s normal. People get married and buy houses at eighteen or twenty. It''s just how things go." Walker and Gil saw all this as normal. Their society was always at risk for monster attacks. The life spans often depended on systems and strength of a person. But that was why people grew fast. They had the entire wonderful world at their fingertips.


    "I know that, Walker, That''s why I want to ask Alma to stay with me forever. I am already considered a representative of the elves. We are going to be of age sooner thanter. So I want to establish it now¡­" Walker had frozen in ce. He knew that Gil and Alma were closer every day. Very much so to the point that everyone expected Gil to be by her side or vice versa.


    "I know it sounds like I am getting ahead of myself. But Walker, I have never been so sure about anything in my life. I am sure that it is what I want for the rest of my life. My father and mother decided they would be together before they were officially of age to marry. They spent three years engaged and only grew closer. And since we are going to another continent¡­"


    "Then you want to make sure that everyone knows the level of yourmitment to someone you love." Walker finished Gil''s sentence. He knew that Gil was struggling a little. This was a sensitive subject.


    "Listen, I know you have these feelings and I will not stop you. You are my brother as far as I am concerned. So do it. Tell Alma how you feel about her. I am sure she feels the same. Why else would she lean on you so often? Even if someone raises concerns like lifespan, you have the grand elemental wind spirit as a partner. We already know that that will rival your lifespan with elves and dragons. So do it. I will be there by your side."


    The reassurances was exactly why Gil hade to Walker. He had probed his parents already but knew he wanted his closest friend there. Walker had trained with him and supported his archery endeavors. He was also the team leader whose back he watched and relied on.


    "Thank you. I will speak to herter. Until then, I need you to train with me. The high elf dagger technique is close to done. I just need to clean it up a little. I have been training every single nighttely." Gil''s smile was more than Walker had ever seen.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1581 1581. Disjointed

    "Slow!" That was all Walker could say as Gil''s disjointed movements came toward him. The battle techniques that Gil had been trying to assemble were all broken. The water elf dagger technique was the most developed out of all of them. It was the first that Gil had been able to master to a degree.


    However, the other techniques seemed unpracticed. It wasn''t that Gil had yet to master the movements. He clearly had trained them in to his muscle memory. It was the fact that Gil seemed to miss the feelings behind the movements.


    "I know they are slow when I switch to the stone elf style, but it''s because they are more movements meant for deflecting and blocking." Gil''s frustration was clear. He felt that he was letting every elf down that he had promised. He had yet to put all the dagger technique fluidly together to return to the high elf dagger technique.


    "You need to think about why they were split. Why were the techniques made to be used with certain elemental manas? That has to be what''s missing. The water technique clearly moves very smoothly. You turn on yourself and attack in odd ways that makes we feel like you are flowing in to whirlpools and other water currents. But the earth style seems like you are just standing there without moving. The fire is even worse. You are too calm."


    "What about the wind? I try and use it but I feel clunky. When I go to move it seems like all of a sudden I am heavier than anything. I thought I should be light on my feet and move on my toes slightly." The idea wasn''t bad but Gil needed to push himself more. He needed to move more smoothly.


    "You know how I move when I use my skill to walk through the air?" Walker watched as Gil nodded his head. "Then try and replicate that or how Scy moves in the air. Or imagine Zephyr. She is always moving around yfully. The wind is soft and yful but also quick and sharp."


    "If I copy how the wind elves move I would need their skill. I can''t just walk through the air¡­or, maybe I can?" Gil realized that he was still adapting to having a closer bond with Zephyr. He was the avatar of the wind. It meant that his wind elemental affinity was now tied to his system and his skills were not what a normal arcane archer would have.


    "Then let''s see if you can learn the wind ripple skill I use to travel through the air. Or maybe you can use wind stride like the wind elves." The idea was a good one and Walker immediately decided to push Gil to work on it.


    The challenge began simply. Gil thought that the best way to do this would be to focus on the fact that he could already bring the wind under his control to wrap his body. This was a simple skill that was rted to his affinity to wind and also to his arcane archer ss.


    "I have the wound wrapping skill. It''s mainly to protect me from arrows. It''s an archer''s protection when fighting other archers. I was not surprised to get it since it is listed as a normal arcane archer skill when ites to wind affinity. But it should help me¡­" Gil tried to take a step up in to the air and ended up just putting his foot down.


    "No no no no no." Zephyr materialized out of the wind. She had felt that Gil was trying to learn more. She had grasped what Walker and Gil were talking about in an instant. "You are treating the air like it is a solid stone step. You need to y in the wind. Float. Try and fly!"


    "I''m not trying to say that your description is wrong, but, I don''t think Gil knows what that feels like yet. He needs to start simple." Before Zephyr got too far ahead, Walker stopped her and changed the wording a bit. " You should think of the wind like water. You can easily kick yourself up in to the air like swimming. It''s just a little less dense than water. Watch me."


    Walker effortlessly stepped in to the air before using the wind to copy how Gil wrapped his body. He noticed the wind wrapping skill appear but ignored it since it was not that important at the moment. He had simr skills that wrapped his body in elemental mana so this was just another that he officially had.


    Using the wind wrapping and a little wind maniption, Walker pretended to swim up in to the air by kicking his feet. It caused rough gusts of wind toe down to the ground but it was a nice start. "Not bad. Not bad. It''s unrefined but you have the chance to dance in the air like I can." Walker just rolled his eyes at Zephyr since he had literally danced in the air before using his other movement skills. But he held his tongue since it seemed Zephyr was happy to praise someone.


    "So I should try to do this?" Gil attempted the same step in to the air and pushed the wind around his body. A very weak gust appeared beneath his foot which was enough to cause him to float for a second. Yet, that second was enough. He was able to feel the slight difference in the air and how he should move. For Gil, his affinity begged him to use skills like this. It was like connecting the pieces of a puzzle that had been waiting for him toplete it his whole life.<sub> </sub>


    "I can do this!" Gil leaped up a little stronger this time. The effect was still not perfect but it was better. Instead of only being in the air for a moment, Gil was able to stay floating for a few seconds. The progress was just what he needed to fully grasp the concept.


    With this, Walker started to challenge Gil to move higher and higher while Zephyr floated around them watching the training. She knew that the better Gil got at using the wind elemental mana and walking through it, the better her bond with him would be. She wanted him to be able to use more wind skills whenever he needed to. It was the best way for him to remain safe.


    The hour of training this alone passed in the blink of an eye.Before Walker knew it, Gil was able to stand in the air without moving at all. All that was left was to learn the bnce of staying in the air to be ankle to walk through it. "You should rest. If you do this too much you will exhaust your body and overwhelm yourself."


    Zephyr could sense that Gil was absorbing too much wind elemental mana at once to force himself to keep moving through the air. She knew that for him, this was a dangerous game. Gil was low on his own mana which meant he was recing his mana with wind elemental mana. It was not a natural progression at his current understanding of wind elemental mana at all.


    "Zephyr is right. It''s best that we call it a day for this training. Just take the time to think about the emotions and the reasons that the elemental affiliation with the different elven techniques is there. If you can I believe that you can bring them together in to the high elf dagger techniques. It''s simr to how I ambining the elemental mana to make natural mana. You are just returning to a proper state of being for mana."


    Thai enlightening advice made Gil want to head back to the elven archives that had been created in the forest elf living area. He had already gained a great deal of information about his archery there. If he looks more in to the history of the elves he might be able to add more to his techniques.


    "I have a few ideas too. Thanks for the help today, we will try this again tomorrow. I want to have the elven techniquesbined before we even think about leaving again." The determination was clear on Gil''s face as he sat down to take a minute to breathe.


    "I am going to see if Midnight wants to train. Maybe Mordant or Ignus will train with me too. I want to test myself. The elemental dragon aspect is still too unstable for me to use. I need to increase my level of understanding." Walker had his own ns which Gil fully agreed with. Their ns for training were perfect for where they were at the moment.


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 Chapter 1582 1582. Feel The Light

    Before Walker could even do anything, he had bumped in to one of the dragon hatchlings walking out of the mansion. "Hello little one, where is Midnight? Is she inside or at the cathedral?"


    The little water dragon hatchling turned its head confused a little as it processed what Walker had said. Because these dragon hatchlings were raised the same way as other dragons, they were still behind Midnight in intelligence. They needed the time to learn and adapt tonguage along with Genesis.


    After looking at Walker for some time, the hatching was able to roar out a rough few growls that he took for meaning that she was on the way to the cathedral after dropping off the other hatchlings.


    " I know that some of the hatchlings have already found ces to learn, but all of them?" Walker watched the water dragon hatchling head toward the water elf dwellings with plenty of energy. He had not expected that the hatchling''s curiosity would allow them to learn and grow so fast.


    Even though the hatchlings were still uneducated and too young, especially in dragon terms, they were adapting very well. Some of them had only been in the city for a few days. Others were still waiting to see the earth dragon egg hatch and be the first dragon to be born within Genesis. The first dragon that would be able to fully im a natural born Genesis citizenship. This alone made Walker smile ear to ear.


    The sudden burst of mes over the top of a nearby shop made Walker stop his smiles and thought process. Instead, he jumped in to the air and made his way to the shop. When he found the shop keeper and Midnight, he was surprised to see the soldering basket of apples that had been toasted and burned beyond their use.


    "Well, that basket nearly knocked me clean over. Thank you for catching them. Our guardian dragon." The older woman that had been trying to organize the stall had clearly managed to walk right under a falling basket of apples that would have hurt her frail body. But Midnight had acted quickly to burn it to nothing that could even harm a fly. The only damage were a few pieces of ash that had fallen on the older woman''s clothing.


    "I try and catch up with you only to find that you are burning evil apples?" Walker''s teasing voice snapped Midnight out of her revelry inpliments from the older woman. Midnight had truly enjoyed being called the guardian dragon of the city. It was normal that she would make a name for herself since she ran around the entire city with the hatchings or even alone at times.


    "Brother!" The huff and growl that would normally be missed was tranted by the system in to a yell for Walker. The older woman just chuckled.


    "How much for some extra roasted apples?" Walker tossed a few coins on the counter after grabbing a nearby broom and sweeping the burnt apples away.


    "Oh, you didn''t need to do that. I can handle the losses myself. There are always a few bad apples and messes to clean up." The woman tried to get Walker to stop but before she could do anything, Walker already had the ground cleaned and was pulling Midnight away with him.


    "So, I was wondering, do you want to practice some dragon skills with me?" Walker saw the light in Midnight''s eyes as. She clearly wanted to and didn''t even need to speak to make this clear. "Alright, then we should head out of the city a little. I Want to be away from everyone when I try to fuse the elemental dragon aspect to create a natural dragon aspect. Fleur is going to help me too." On cue, Fleur revealed herself to be hiding behind Walker.


    "Fire breath, I want to practice fire breath!" Midnight''s sudden response was still strange to Walker. He knew that she was very dedicated to her own growth but having her directly say it and him understand was very odd. But it was great, he too could train some of his skills that rted to dragon fire.


    "Then I will try it out too. I should be able to make any dragon fire that you use. Or dragon breath attacks. The elemental dragon aspect should also be able to be split in to singr elemental dragon aspects. Maybe I should try and figure out how to use other dragon domains too. If I can do that I might have an easier time." The ice dragon domain was fresh in Walker''s mind since he knew it was powerful and helped him and others in battle.


    "Where would you be heading?" The voice from above was one that Walker thought would remain reclusive for her entire time in Genesis. Especially since the light elemental floor in the mage tower seemed to be the only ce that she wanted to be.


    <o>,m "Hello Rise, I was heading just outside the city to train the elemental dragon aspect, dragon domain theories, and some dragon breath attacks. Midnight is mainly focusing on the dragon breath attacks. She has a better handle of darkness elemental attacks because of her bloodline before she awakened the true dragon champion bloodline. If you can give her some guidance on light elemental dragon breath I would be very grateful."<sub> </sub></o>


    "I was disappointed seeing that you did not highlight light elemental mana even though you say you are bncing all elemental mana. As the best possible teacher here it would be against the very pride of the dragon race to let you fail to grasp understanding." Rise tried to make it sound like she was doing the entire dragon race a favor. Yet, Walker could tell that she was actually happy to be asked for help.


    For Rise, it had been many years since she was able to guide another dragon. Even her champion did not need guidance. After the younger dragons were old enough to learn, the elder dragons taught them. This left Rise alone with her personal growth and only that. Since she had been in Genesis, she had been able to grow significantly in her understanding of light elemental mana. The density of mana in the tower was to me for this.


    "You are a darkness dragon, but you are not. Your body has changed and you must understand how to grasp the light that was once your weakest elemental affinity. You also have a strong bond with fire. I can see that you have a bond with a fire elemental spirit. That dragon golem I have seen return to the vige." Walker was very surprised to what that Rise had caught on to this. She was clearly observing the city much more closely than he had thought.


    The small huff from Midnight was agreement. She had gottenfortable with darkness and fire. She had been able to easily use her me breath today and was able to easily turn her mes ck with a decaying effects of darkness elemental mana. It was easy for her now. But as Rise watched, Midnight tried to gather the light elemental mana to show off what she knew. It was slow, painfully slow.


    "Stop. You are forcing the light elemental mana in to your body. You need to be able to feel it in the air anding from the sun. how will you ever be able to manipte it, take it in to your body, and then expel it in a mixed mana breath attack?" The way Rise said it sounded like she was watching someone that had never sessfully used light elemental breath attacks before.


    "If we want to absorb the light elemental mana in to our body, shouldn''t we pull it from the air? Or is it better to let it flow through us naturally?" The difference wasrger than what many people would believe. Walker knew that fire elemental mana could run rampant if allowed to flow but water would be able to be stronger if left to flow naturally. These two things were what he had managed to understand as his elemental maniption skill advanced.


    "Naturally, the light is what warms and creates growth. It may be strange to let it do so but that is why every light elemental dragons fly so high. We want to capture as much light as our bodies can." Now that Walker heard why Rise had always flown so high up it made a lot of sense.


    The thought seemed to be pushing Walker and Midnight to go higher. Rose had already pped her wings to take off. "Midnight, up we go." Midnight just spread her wings in reply to Walker with a daring look. She looked like she wanted to race to the sun.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1583 1583. Golden Light

    While it was true that the light elemental mana seemed denser the higher they went, Walker saw that Midnight had started to struggle with her flight. She had not been this high before without gliding to the ground. "Stop there. p your wings only enough to maintain the high. Eventually, you will find the right air current to remain in the air without having to p your wings at all."


    Rise was proving to be a much more educational teacher than Walker expected, she caught his nce as he was looking at her. "What problems do you have to say now?" Rise automatically assumed there was an issue that Walker was going to bring up since he had done so before.


    "No issues, I am just impressed. I didn''t think you would even want to teach Midnight, or myself anything. But you proved me wrong." The fact that Walker was admitting he was wrong was odd to Rise. dragons would rarely do so. But looking at how the other royal dragons had acted, she saw them epting things and using their words in simr ways.


    "I am not an obtuse person. I have many things I have learned that even the other dragons do not know well enough to teach. If you listen, I will speak. If you do not listen, I will stop speaking." The rule was a hard set rule just for Walker but he felt warm hearing it. There was respect in Rise''s rule. If Walker gave her respect she would give it as well. This alone was a massive win for their rtionship even though it had started off very rocky.


    Meanwhile, Midnight was solely focused on her flight. She was still pping her wings and had lost some of the height she had gained by trying to get ahead of Walker. But she was still managing to slow her wings to catch the air better. To keep herself in the same spot.


    Since Midnight had never been in this sort of training before, she had not been prepared. The strengthening of her wing muscles was proving to be a good base but far from developed like the other dragons. This was partially because of her true age being so young but also because she hadcked a proper guide in flying like many other dragons would have.


    Luckily, there was the central instinct to fly that every dragon had. It was the reason that Midnight felt herself connecting batter with the air beneath her wings and how she sensed the first slight breeze in the air.


    With small adjustments, Midnight began to move toward the spot her body was telling her to stay in. The changes were not unnoticed by Walker who was still standing in the air with his wind ripple skill. But Rise had changed her gaze back to him. "Where are your wings? Can you not maintain them? You can make them out of any elemental mana, correct? So make them."


    The demanding attitude made Walker question if he would survive using all of his mana and falling from this height. It was too high up for him. "Don''t question it, learn to make it work!" Rise pushed harder which made Walker wonder just what was driving her. However, he recalled the strength of dragons and their pride. The dragons would never settle for fear or worries like humans would. They would never stop themselves from training until they fell. No matter what the danger was.


    The wind and light converged as Walker tried to mix them, but he had a feeling that this would draw too much mana. Due to the fact that they were going to absorb the light elemental mana, Walker made the executive decision to focus on the light. In a quick change, the light started to form in to wings that matched what Rise had on her back.


    These wings were not the samerge dragon''s wings as the elemental dragon aspect held, but they were enough to carry Walker. "Make them smaller. You are not the same size as I am. Copying and making them your own are two separate endeavors."


    Feeling that Rise was right but annoyed that he had heard this before, Walker began to alter the wings as he saw fit. He began to ignore the fact that he was using a lot of mana but instead forced the light elemental mana to condense.


    The smaller dragon wings were closer to that of a hatchling''s wings. But they were able to mimic some of the demon''s wings that Walker had seen as well. The reason he had mixed them was that the demon''s wings always seemed to be better bnced whereas the dragon wings had more power. The two traits seemed like they would be the bestbination.


    From there, Walker began to make them move as he saw fit. He already had the elemental senses to find the wind that midnight was using to keep herself floating. Walkerpletely stopped using his wind ripple skill and showed off the dense white wings that had formed out of purer light elemental mana.


    "Those look much more fitting of a royal dragon. Bnced and strong. You will not need another dragon''s help to fly like one anymore." The reason that Rise had truly pushed Walker just now became clear. She was ensuring that he would represent them like a dragon should. A dragon stronger and above others. But this didn''t deter Walker; he felt he had grasped a concept he had missed.<sub> </sub>


    The mana he felt his body spending while using the elemental dragon wings had drastically lowered when he focused on one singr elemental mana. Then when he changed them, he had used a lot of mana at once. The final result was a set of light elemental wings that were better suited for him and had a drastically smaller amount of mana draw on his body.


    "I can use these wings a lot better than the others," Walker spoke out loud with surprise. He was actually gaining mana back faster than what he was using because of his other skills. The mana in the air was almostpletely fueling the wings. "I can use every singr elemental wing set if the atmosphere is right!"


    This was the final realization that made Walker excited and happy. Depending on the existing elemental man, Walker would be able to fly like any other dragon. The elemental wings skill had finally be his instead of the poor mock up that he had used before. He even noticed that the skill was no longer elemental dragon wings but had changed to altered elemental wings skill. Not that Walker would stop calling them dragon wings. He liked the sound of it. Who wouldn''t?


    Midnight had witnessed the changes in Walker''s wings and used the gathering of light elemental man to take what Rise had said in to effect. The sheen of white light that fell around Midnight was more than what Rise expected. It caused her eyes to open a little wider as she sensed the light elemental mana gathering near Midnight''s heart.


    "You could use a pure light elemental breath attack. It cuts like a de and blinds others. However, you are not a light elemental dragon. You are a nature dragon champion. ept that and mix your natural golden mes with your light elemental mana. It should be second nature to you. You have the heart for it." Rise was not ignorant to what kind of body Midnight had. She would never push a dragon champion away from the strength they were born with. Midnight was a born champion.


    The light elemental mana that Midnight had let enter her body had naturally found its way to the golden me heart. Yes, the golden me heart had fire elemental properties, but it was more than that, it had the ability to burn hotter and bring the other elemental manas in to the mes to be one with it. For a nature dragon. This was an ideal blessing to have.


    In a sudden roar, Midnight opened her maw to reveal a golden light that erupted from her. She was only able to sustain it for a second but the blinding gold light seemed to cut through the clouds above them. "That was light that has been refined by a golden me heart. I was told a story once about it. I wanted to see if it was true." There was a sadness in the air after Rise said this. But also a hope that she seemed to hold.


    "Train that until you can breathe those light mes out for over ten seconds. That is when you can use them in battle." Rise slowly descended toward the city yet again, she was not even focusing on them anymore. Lost to her own thoughts.


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 Chapter 1584 1584. Flames And Potions

    "Why are you here bothering me? I am on this floor alone so that I won''t have to deal with anyone." Ignus had a lot of anger when he was bothered. Even the people passing through the fire elemental floor of the mage tower had earned his annoyance.


    "I want your help. I have a skill that I learned and it''s not normal for a human like me to have it. I understand that my body has changed and that I am not really human, but I thought going to the fire elemental dragon with the most experience was the only option. I don''t want to show off a skill that doesn''t really work properly." Su was p[artially ttering but also just trying to exin to Ignus why she was there.


    "You are a draconic guardian, regardless of your race," Ignus growled back a little less annoyed. He had actually listened to Su which was a decent start. "What are you bothering me for?"


    " I will show you." Su stood back and took a deep breath. She had gained this skill some time ago but had been more or less unable to use it until recently. But with a little training and adjustment, she had noticed the change in her body that allowed her to do this.


    With a sharp exhale and a small cough, a burst of mes left Su''s mouth. It was very odd for anyone to see because she was still human in appearance she had not gained any scales or anything that made her appear as a dragonkin. But here she was, breathing mes like a dragon in dragon kin form.


    "Ha! A human fire breather. Now you are right, I would know about that." Ignus knew that fire was his. He was the best at it and felt that Su had a little wisdom. This was mostly his ego but it was much better than him being angry only a second ago.


    "I was much younger when humans used to travel around lost more. There used to be humans that could dance with mes and breathe mes all day. They were called fire gypsies, they could also read the distant future through the embers of a fire they lit and watched burn out. I only ever saw them once. I would not be surprised to hear that they were no more."


    This was a very distant memory that Ignus had before the humans had settled down. The fire gypsies he had met were really only convinced that he was there to share his mes with them because of his appearance out of the fires of ava flow. Back in those days, any sentient race that found a dragon was looking for them for guidance to running from them in fear. It was all about power in those times.


    "You can help me? If you have seen this before then I will be in your care." Since Su knew that her skill was only good for a temporary blinding and surprise attack, she wanted to be able to be even more adept at using it. This was very abnormal for a shield user to have any magical attacks.


    The mes that Su felt gathered in her body had started near her heart, this was simr to what Walker and others had said about gathering mana for a me attack. Some of the elves with wind affinity did something simr where they took deep breaths to blow out a strong wind. They described the mana as being right next to their heart before they forced it out to push a foe away. That was how Su had trained thus far.


    "You are doing one major thing wrong. You are not letting the fire temper your insides. Your body needs to adjust to the fires you can control. Your body is made for it now that you are part dragon. Do you think that any of us suffer from our own me breath attacks? No! We learn when we are young and our mes are growing that we need to hold them inside us with every breath." Ignus was being somewhat clear but also unclear, however, Su felt that she had gained an understanding.


    "To train this, I need to hold the mes inside my chest by my heart while breathing air in and out? Is it like meditating?" Her confused face made Ignus want to stomp his foot but he decided against it. He was actually feeling pretty happy that someone sought his guidance out specifically, especially someone he had decided might be powerful one day.


    "Sit here and do that. Over and over to take in the pure mana. Every single time you can not hold this breath in, release it in a controlled slow breath and start again. Do it ten times." The order was exactly what Su did. Between her and Ignus, this would be the rest of their day. Ignus absorbing purer fire elemental mana and Su training her body to properly use the me breath she had gained to better show off to her party.


    The alchemy guild shook for the third day in a row. It had been happening more and more often making everyone that lives nearby worry about what the alchemy guild could possibly be experimenting with.


    "Remey! I swear to the heavenly lord of the world that I will crack you if you cracked another cauldron!" It was only natural for the old master alchemist to be the one to reprimand Remey.


    "Oh calm down, the third one is fine. I only slightly cracked two of them earlier." The uncaring tone that Remey possessed just fueled the old master alchemist''s anger.


    "Listen to me girl, I have seen you do many things but constantly breaking things is not normal. You will stop this stubbornness and tell me what you need help with right this second!." This was much more than just a mentor wanting to help Remey. This was the man who had watched over her through her childhood, the closest to a father she ever had.


    "If you are going to be like that¡­fine." Remey grabbed a pile of notes. " The affinity potions are all stable with the right ingredients. Even the dual elemental affinity potions. But after four elemental manas, they crumble. Explode. And be dangerous explosive potions."<sub> </sub>


    It finally dawned on the old master alchemist why the reactions and soot covered face of Remey were bing a constant in the guild. "You are trying to make a grand potion. One above all else in the world. Did you think it would just happen?"


    The reprimanding continued until the old master alchemist read the notes and theories on the paper Remey had developed so far. "Outstanding." That''s all he could mumble.


    The notes were as in depth, if not more in depth, as his own notes when he had begun to theorize affinity potions. This being the case, the old master alchemist was stunned. But even more so, he was proud.


    "Come to myb, I have better herbs I have been saving. We will start with a base elemental affinity potion bnced but the four main elemental manas. Then we will add the affinity potion you created between dark and light elemental mana."


    "Wait¡­what?" Remey had expected the old master alchemist just to walk away or to keep reprimanding her. Now he was literally dragging her to hisb which had not be as dirty and broken as Remey''s.


    <o>,m "If we use the graceful dorra root, the swallowtail Lilly, a few crushed earth crystal shards, mix a few frozen tears¡­hmmm, and maybe two elven sorcerers to help with the mana control." The theories that came together were connecting the dots that Remey''s theories needed.</o>


    "Wait? We are working on it together?" This again stunned Remey as her mind began to work. The materials that were mentioned were more than rare. They were impossible to grow or get for the most part.


    "Have you not caught on? We are going to make a world breaking achievement before you run across the ocean. You are abandoning all the work on Trish and I, so you will work your fingers to the bone." There was warmth beyond most of what Remey could believe in the old master alchemist''s words.


    The pair were not hesitant at all to begin creating separate potions. Their main theory was that the highest quality ingredients to their singr elemental potions could be made in concentrate. Those concentrations would be mixed with outside help to fuse in to the first ever grand potion.


    "Thanks old man, you''re always there¡­" Remey didn''t feel she had to say anything else as they worked in silence. She didn''t even look up to see the smile on the old alchemist''s face.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1585 1585. Surprise Tour

    "Brother!" Walker found himself being nudged in the shoulder by Onyx early in the morning. He had trained with Midnight for thest two days while Rise checked up on them from a distance. It was clear that Rise had made the decision to let them use what she had said.


    If Walker and Midnight needed more guidance, they would have to find Rise. But this was not a bad thing. It made them think more to make their power their own. If they did so, then they had more chances to make sure that they werefortable using the power in any form.


    "What''s gotten you up so early, Onyx?" Walker wasn''t sure why his little brother wasing to his room to find him before the sun had risen.


    "I told the king of the deep caves that you and I would tour the start of the trade route today. It''s time to go!" Walker was stunned. Onyx had volunteered him to tour the trade route progress before while they prepared to head over the ocean! It seemed a little off.


    "The king of the deep caves had toe to the surface to check supplies and provide the metals for one of the ship''s parts yesterday. I happened to be heading home at the same time. But when he saw me he asked if anyone wasing to see the progress since he is passing the halfway point. I told him that it would put your mind at ease if you saw it before you left."


    The logic did make sense to Walker. He would like to know that everything is perfect. Especially since the king of the deep cave was also going to be designing an underground portion of the city that matched the trade route being made. But even more, Walker had another feeling, "Is the king of the deep caves stressed out because no one hase to see it yet?"


    The nod of Onyx''s head as he wrapped around Walker''s shoulder made Walker understand. The other representatives of the Genesis council have been caught up with their own duties. This has left the all important trade route neglected. Anyone would feel that they were being ignored. Therefore, the king of the deep caves had jumped on an opportunity to show off the progress.


    "Then we will spend the day doing it. I don''t mind that. Midnight has burned herself out and will rest more. But I want her to train with Su today so I will write a note on the way out. You and I will check things out in the caves." With this, Walker and Onyx were on their way after grabbing a quick breakfast. Midnight wouldn''t see the note but Su would and she would hunt Midnight down for training.


    From what Walker had seen of Su at the previous night''s dinner, Su had been exhausting herself in training. That put Su and Midnight at the same level of training for thest two days. Due to this, it was good that as guardian and champion they met together to get on the same page. Walker was just pretending that he shouldn''t be checking on both of them working together for the time being.


    The space that had been set aside was directly in line with the main markets. This was surrounded with arge warehouse that would be for the dwarves and merchants to separate their goods for shipments. Overall, the idea was that this would not be a center for sale but a distribution. Easier for the morning merchants to grab what they had ordered or bargain for what they would get another day.


    From there, therge open hole was a stone carved ramp. There were stairs for those that took the opportunity but it was easier to go down the stairs. The tamer''s guild had also joined hands with the dwarves since many merchants would be asking to take their carriages down. Therefore, there had to be monsters or animals tamed to be able to go underground without any fear. It was a nice connection that the dwarves had used to make the entire process smoother.


    From there, the golems were also moving about. They were the main strength behind this entire excavation. Many were equipped with digging tools. Some were even the newest golems that had the new elemental runes on them. These seemed to move much faster. But what Walker had not expected to see were earth elemental spirits around in plenty.


    The earth elemental spirits were enjoying the earth elemental mana that wasing from the open digging, but even more, they had begun to bond with many of the dwarven miners working in the caves. Some had been made their own golems which was a great shock to Walker.


    "There are more golems like the dragon golem, but they are modeled off of moles. That''s amazing." The details and runes used to make the mole golems and bond them with the earth spirits was spectacr. This was a great way to showcase the strengths of the golems while also making massive progress.


    Since the earth was where the golems were digging in to, the elemental mana they needed was provided constantly. Therefore, there was a constant supply of mana for the golems to dig continuously. The dwarves had truly managed to make use of a great situation.


    "Ah, I knew you two would be here bright and early. Onyx said you had been looking forward to seeing the results once we reached the halfway point. If I had known you were waiting for that I would havee and dragged you down with me yesterday." The king of the deep caves was waiting for them about halfway down the entrance ramp. He was in a cheery mood that made Walker wonder just how much he had wanted to show off the underground trade route.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, we have no idea how long we will be away dealing with the other continent. I have hopes that things will go smoothly but that''s for fate to decide. When Onyx told me that you two had bumped in to each other it seemed like the best time to see things. I might use the trade route to travel to the dwarven kingdom one day, right?"


    "Yes! That''s right. It will be the safest way to get to my city without danger from monsters over the surface or in the air. This will be the best way. The best way!" The energy seemed endless from the king of the deep caves. Clearly, Walker and Onyx were going to be exhausted by the end of the day.


    "We have modeled the side of the cave simr to what ruins we have found. The idea that history is recorded makes everyone want to read it, but as images on the walls, it makes people feel even more life in what they do. That is why we have artists beginning the creation of our history meeting the history of genesis. From this side, there will be the story of Genesis and from the dwarven side, the history of us meeting Genesis."


    "That''s¡­wow, really great. I think it will be the best way for people to be morefortable with their travel underground if they aren''t used to it. Especially children that are born in both of our homes." Onyx and Walker were equally in awe of the idea. Taking what had been done in ancient times and using it now was perfect.


    "Now, you can see where we will have our settlements?" The space that they came out in was massive. The main road that had been made was already paved with t stone by the dwarves and altered by earth mages. But around it wererge roads heading off to create homes. Homes that were already being built.


    "You are already setting up the homes for those that decide to live down here and work down here. I know we will eventually have people that prefer to remain underground, but I thought we wouldn''t be building them yet." To be fair, Walker thought it would take much longer to even get halfway on this project.


    "We would be done building here if we were not doing two projects at once. But we won''t go down to the work area. I thought you would appreciate the tour of what we are building here for living quarters and potential businesses." The king of the deep caves was not a fool, he knew that looking at the same cave over and over would be boring for anyone but him and his workers. Walker and Onyx would definitely prefer the structures being built here.


    "We''ve even had whispers of a soon to hatch earth dragon hatchlinging down here to rx in a natural environment." The king of the deep''sughter filled the cave as he and Walker started to talk in depth. Onyx was just d to spend the time with his brother.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1586 1586.Gil’s Daggers

    "What are you working on?" Gil had managed toe to the wandering cksmith. He was sure that he would be working on things that were much more important than what he was going to ask. However, when he got there, he found that it was just blueprints being made.


    "Runes for armor" The simple answer became clearer as Gil watched. He saw that the runes were partially origin runes, demonic runes, and draconic runes. They were a three way fusion making ideal rune patterns for strength, defense, and mana absorption.


    "I don''t mean to ruin your progress, but I had some home that I could ask you to modify the royal armor you made us. I know it is perfect for a battle set and a disy set. But I had a few ideas." Gil wanted to look his best when he demonstrated the dagger techniques he had been working on.


    "The armor I need has to be able to bring every elemental mana through it. Mostly because the technique I am going to use has the ability to mimic each elemental mana." This was what Gil was worried about. He had started to notice something as he trained the high elf dagger techniques.


    Because he had trained with Walker, Gil had gained anew understanding of what he had to do to properly understand the dagger techniques as their parts. The methods he used were training on each elemental floor but also observing the natural instances of the elemental manas.


    Sitting in the shade and watching the sun and shadows fight for light and darkness was how Gil managed to alter the light and dark dagger techniques. He had understood that he had to blend in and be silent to replicate the swiftness of the dark elf dagger technique. But he also saw the opposite. He had to be precise and clean with the light elf dagger techniques.


    From there, he did the same with the win, earth, water, and fire but he had already had an idea of them. The water and wind were the easiest for him to master because he felt that they were able to be replicated. They had simr styles with a difference in strength when it came to agility.


    The fire and earth were the most radical in difference. Normally dagger techniques highlighted speed the precision in their attacks. Many people even believed that a dagger user should not ever get in to closebat with an opponent that knows they are there. That kept the focus on being hidden, sneak attacks to be exact. But the stone elf technique used the earth as an example.


    That meant that Gil was learning how to deflect, alter, andpletely block using dual daggers. This was very hard to grasp before he noticed how some of the stones the younger dwarven children were breaking was. Of all the ces that Gil had been inspired, it was a child''s park where dwarven children were breaking small rocks to see what was inside.


    The way the rocks had broken were not smooth or clean. The rocks would hit each other and deflect off one another even with therger forces acting on them. It was a good way to understand how the deflecting technique of the stone elf dagger technique worked.


    From there, fire had been as simple as watching mes move. They were ghostly and calm but could re up in a second. The me elf dagger technique was all about changing moods and putting sudden power in to an attack at a weak point. Or being like a me and burning away someone slowly, basically attacking over and over to wear away at an opponent. Somewhat opposing ideals that were actually very smooth when assembled.


    "Give it to me." The wandering cksmith knew well what Gil was working on. He was already somewhat prepared to have Gil ask him about armor that would work with his skills. He even nned that Gil would be able to control some of the mana of each element to join his techniques. It wasn''t umon for magical dagger techniques to exist, just rare in the sense that the person had the right equipment.


    "Come here." The wandering cksmith brought Gil to the side of the room and opened a chest for storing smaller items he forged. When he brought out a pair of daggers, Gil was pleasantly surprised. "Look at these, take them if you want. They are good."


    "This is¡­" Gil was stunned by the quality of the daggers he was holding. He knew that forging something like this is too tough. They were old too, very old.


    "I only refurbished them. I received a gift from some old elves. It was inspiration." The wandering cksmith had spoken a lot more than usual but silently went back to his work while Gil processed the dagger in his hands. He had an all around appraisal scroll too just to check them out.


    ''High Elf steel daggers


    +15 atk, +4 def, +10 Matk, Boost true elven dagger techniques


    These are some of the oldest daggers made of a lost form for elven steel blessed by many spirits. They have been wlessly refurbished to be used in battle once again. They have the unique trait of being able to handle being cloaked in any elemental mana without damage. They also boost all aspects of the user when using the high elf dagger techniques. These are a relic of the past that has been recovered by the present.''


    "These are just too amazing. You really wlessly refurbished these." The amount of surprise that Gil had when looking at these daggers was too great. He had not imagined that the wandering cksmith would have received these as a gift to inspire his future forging. On top of that, Gil would never have imagined that the wandering cksmith had been able to perfectly fix these daggers and then just leave them stored away without a thought until now.


    "Thank you, I will go and grab you some materials from the elf homes. They have plenty of things they wanted to offer me if I needed them for armor. But it seems like everything forging is better off in your hands." Gil pushed the door open while trying to pay the wandering cksmith back. He didn''t even notice the smile on the wandering cksmith''s face.<sub> </sub>


    For a man that had spent years and years training his forging alone, he had developed a very warm heart for the party that had given him new inspiration. For the people of Genesis that had allowed him full creativity while supporting him in his attempts to grow even more. He felt that he had chosen the best possible path in life at this point.


    "Hey Gil, where are you running?"


    "Late for a meeting?"


    "Stop by my shop again! I have some fresh herbs you might like!"


    "Tell your archers toe and pick up their arrow supplies!"


    The multiple calls from those living In the elven living areas were pleasant and warm. If an elf didn''t know who Gil was or hadn''t met Gil, it would be considered a shocking event. He had ensured that he met as many elves as possible while helping with even the smallest task. Gil had fully established himself as a powerful representative of the elven race.


    "Gil?" Alma wasn''t sure what Gil had rushed to her so fast. She had spotted him running and jumping through trees until he had managed to find her. It was normal for her to be out so early walking the market to check on things.


    "Look at what the wandering cksmiths refurbished. Perfect high elf daggers. They work better with high elf dagger techniques." These shiny silver daggers shocked Alma immediately.


    "We only have a few sets of these locked away in the archives. How amazing. They are perfectly preserved. Not many people can fix high elf steel since the method to make it was lost when the elves split." She gingerly held one of the daggers to examine it. She was holding history.


    "I knew you would like to see them. They are going to be the center of the techniques when I assemble them." This was a taunt to a degree. Gil had been teasing his progress but hiding what he had managed so far. It was making Alma jealous and very curious.


    "I swear, if you don''t show me soon." Alma was cut off by the silly smile Gil was giving her. She knew that he would show her when he was finished and she couldn''t change his mind.


    "I also wanted to see what we could offer the wandering cksmiths for odd materials. I think he''s making new runes and wants to experiment with them." This was good news. Alma was more than happy to be included in new rune research and inspiring the genius cksmith.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1587 1587. Deserves Better

    "Su? What are you doing here? I thought you would betraining with the dragonkin or Midnight?" Since Remey had been working hard with the old master alchemist to the point that they literally couldn''t walk home the day before, Remey thought that she wouldn''t see anyone. Especially since she knew that the others had heard she was working hard to produce certain potions in the alchemy guild for their trip.


    "I need someone to fight me without a shield. The dragonkin would but they won''t tell me the specifics of what I do wrong. They are still stuck on the fact that I am a draconic guardian. Someone much higher status than they are." To Remey, this sounded like it made a lot of sense. Even she had trouble around a few people in Genesis because she had a hero title and was known for the potions she sent out to help people. Her fame made them nervous.


    "You know what? I have a lot more energy today to burn off before I get back to another attempt at the potion I started making yesterday." Remey saw that Su would be at a loss if she didn''t go with her. Therefore, she broke and followed Su.


    "I was thinking we could head out of the city where we won''t be cramped with buildings and walls." Since this seemed very important to Su, Remey didn''t argue. However, she was starting to notice that Su seemed less energetic and more downtrodden than unusual. It was very odd.


    Normally, Su would respond brightly to every single guard or Genesis citizen they passed on the street. Instead, Su just nodded or started to walk faster. It was incredibly unusual for Su. "Hey Su, what''s gotten in to you today? Did you eat your breakfast?"


    Su just nodded her head softly making Remey even more confused. It was a little odd that Su was feeling stressed by being in the city. It was even more worrisome that she wasn''t exining why. However, Remey could think of a few reasons.


    Out of everything, Remey knew that Midnight and Walker had trained outside the city to get better used to some of their more dangerous skills. Elemental skills could cause a lot of issues in a busier area. However, Remey and Su somewhat had those as well. Especially if Su was intending to train with the grand earth elemental spirit since it could cause damage to the ground. The same way that the grand elemental fire spirit could cause damage to everything else.


    "Here we are." Su dropped her shield and most of her armor in a pile before stretching slightly. As Remey looked at her she saw that Su was a little red faced and had a bit of water in the corner of her eyes.


    "Su, what''s wrong?" Remey didn''t even have a chance to ask again. In a second, Su was pushing toward her with fists raised.


    "If you want to learn to fight without your shield you just needed to ask!" Remey''s response was to dodge the first slow attack that Su threw out at her. Su was not an expert or even used to basic hand to handbat. If she had told Remey that she wanted to learn to handle things without a shield, this would make more sense. But for some reason, Su was on the verge of tears.


    "I thought you were training and making progress, what''s wrong." Remey saw that her words weren''t getting through to her friend in the least. The only thing she could do was push back and get an answer through force.


    "Fine, let''s do this! Whatever your problem is can''t be fixed with fighting so we can talk when you can''t walk!" With this, Remey wound up and threw the first punch. When itnded, if someone were to say that Su was made of stone, Remey would shake her head and tell them it was steel. The toughest kind anyone could ever forge.


    The strong defensive skills that Su had were only being bolstered by the fact that she was getting more and morefortable with her dragon half. She was adapting much faster after the training with Ignus who pushed her to ept the emotions and pride she felt. These were not her emotions normally but she had grown in to them due to the dragon blood in her veins.


    "That''s all!?" Su''s taunt made Remey hyper focused on the next attack but the normal taunt which would cause an opponent to fall in to anger and jump at Su just wasn''t there. Her heart was not in it. She wasn''t able to fully unleash the same kind of energy as usual. Instead it sounded too sad. Too lost.


    In response, Remey dodged the two punches that seemed to be moving half the speed that she was used to and spun up with a kick. Itnded on Su''s thigh which would have slowed anyone normal down. Anyone with less defenses. However, it only caused a half second of pause before Su was back again with a counter attack.


    "Shouldn''t you have fire? I have fire!" Su took a deep breath and blew out a small me at Remey surprising her. It was enough for Remey to get just a little more angry. Just a little more fired up as she caught some of the mes and allowed them to spread around her body with the skills she gained through her bond with her grand elemental spirit.


    There was anger in the punches that wereing from Su. Remey''s normally fiery attitude felt like it was being doused with water. She never felt this way fighting Su in training. But every single attack that Su used or attempted taunt felt empty. Only her frustration and disappointmenting through.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s enough!" Remey stomped her foot and used one of the moves she had been training in her time outside the alchemy guild. Her hands wrapped around Su and her leg pushed behind her. This was a simple hand to handbat move that Remey had never truly used because it was not useful against monsters.


    Skills like grappling and back trips were only able to be used against humanoid beings because of the way the moves worked. But when they were used, they were effective. Because with a solid thud, Su hit the ground, her own body weight acting as her enemy as Gravity helped Remey take her down.


    "Now tell me what happened and don''t you dare hold anything back. You are never this emotional and never the type to blow off steam training. That is my job. You are caring and calm all the time. We need you to be our shield. Tell. Me. What. Happened." The demanding tone finally broke through to Su and the tears started to flow.


    "He said he didn''t want to see me because there is too much pressure. That he is better off away where he isn''t in the shadow of some hero. That it would have never worked anyways!" It dawned on Remey instantly.


    Su was a private person when it came to her feelings. She was sure that the others knew she had developed a close rtionship with a strings yer who could y the harp and now violin, not to mention the fiddle. The boy who could help heal others with music and was known within the cathedral. However, Su had not talked about it openly and the group respected this.


    "He just left to go to Diamond and didn''t want to stay here. It''s all my fault. If I wasn-"


    "If you weren''t what? A hero? An inspiration to every single child and even the professional healers? Or what, the strong young woman who can beat any man in a fight because you are just that tough and prefer to sacrifice yourself for another person''s safety? Tell me, Su, tell me exactly what is bad about you. If some boy can''t understand that you are bing a literal saint because of your good deeds, then they do not deserve you."


    Remey''s harsh words made Su hesitate in her rant. She never looked down on herself like this but she couldn''t contain her emotions. "Su, you are family, just like the rest of our party is my family. I know you have even more potential than you think. You deal with too much pressure all the time. You stand strong even in the greatest of dangers. If someone can''t find the strength to walk beside you and carry some of that burden that is on them. You deserve the best."


    The pair sat for a while so that Su could calm down and Remey could hold her. Remey perfectly understood why Su wanted to get away from the city. A ce where she could be open and free with her emotions. A ce where no one would see her being vulnerable without her defenses. But Remey was who she had gone to. Remey was her sister in all forms, even if it wasn''t by blood.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1588 1588. What We Missed

    "Brother, why are we all here?" Onyx was very confused about why everyone had been brought together the day before they were to start traveling with the first built ship. He knew that the ship needed to get to the mouth of the river and traveling down would be a very big deal. However, there were multiple other ships that would follow so going with the first one was not a very big deal.


    "Have any of you even looked at the systemstely? At what''s been happening? We have been ignoring the everyday things we see. So many heroic small quests and notifications. We missed them because we just ignored them due to the things we have going on. We focused on training, yes, but we also lost sight of our strengths. Now, our growing strengths and titles."


    For the entire party, this was a stunning thing to hear. The systems had always been right in front of them. How could they miss it? But as their eyes grew wide with shock, they saw many long lists ofpleted quests that the system gave them. They had all been going about their lives and focusing only on big events that they had missed every small quest that they did without realizing it.


    "Help the lost child? But that girl who lives a few doors down is always lost¡­" Su was a little worried that she was rewarded for nothing.


    "But you have the hero title. Su, I watch you help that little girl whenever you see her wandering around. Do you think an average person would do that? Or do you think the system wouldn''t recognize that as a reward worthy thing for a hero to do?" Walker was strict in how he put things. The entire group had been blind and grown much more. So much more that it was a wonder they were even considered young anymore.


    "But how could I have a new title? Brother, I have the young patriarch and the twinned ancient serpent as my title and species. That''s not normal. I have never¡­I awakened a bloodline by bing a young patriarch!" Onyx was the first to shout out in awe. He had not understood what he had done through his constant hyper focused efforts to help the other hatchlings.


    Onyx


    Level: 37


    Exp until next level: 105992/409600


    Species: abyssal serpent system, Twined Ancient serpent


    Title: Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Young Patriarch, emancipator


    Hp-105


    Atk-95


    Matk-125


    Def-95


    Mdef-115


    Agi-105


    Mana-131


    User Onyx has broken the stat cap because of their incredible personal growth. The goals that aim toward reviving his species have truly impressed the world and caused unknown growth effects awakening a potential bloodline.''


    "And Midnight, you should see your changes too. Think about them as you want but you are definitely a genius no matter how much you don''t want to believe it. A genius of the dragons that broke through a level cap that no other dragon should be able to do." The pride Midnight had was still confused since she was trying to understand it all. This left her in silence for a bit.


    Midnight


    Level: 45


    Exp until next level: 2400000/800000


    Heroic quests until next level: 21/55


    Species: True dragon champion system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Dragon Genius, emancipator


    Hp-225


    Def-155


    Mdef-155


    Atk-180


    Matk-180


    Agi-135


    Mana-156


    User Midnight has reached an unheard level of understanding of their own bloodline at their age. This has created a growth spurt that has rivaled even the greatest geniuses among her species.


    Gil


    Level: 75


    Exp until next level: 1000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 1/10


    Arcane Marksman system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Avatar of the wind, One with Elves, emancipator


    Hp-86


    Def-96


    Mdef-96


    Atk-98


    Matk-98


    Char-82


    Agi-92


    Mana-95


    Stat points for distribution- 25


    Due to the changes in title and the addition of the Avatar of the Wind title, 100 stat points were consumed to begin biological changes.''


    "The system even gave me a title when I was weed as an elf by the other elves. I also have more changes in my affinity because it took stat points. But that''s fine. I am going to be recognized by the world as one of the elves and as a human." Gil was ecstatic to see this. He could feel his bond with Zephyr strengthening while he followed his beliefs.


    Su


    Level:75


    Exp until next level: 2205/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 4/10


    Draconic guardian system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Avatar of the earth, half dragon, emancipator


    Hp-90<sub> </sub>


    Def-110


    Mdef-110


    Atk-87


    Matk-75


    Char-75


    Agi-94


    Mana-87


    Stat points for distribution- 25


    Due to the changes in title and the addition of the Avatar of the earth title, 100 stat points were consumed to begin biological changes using the dragon bloodline affiliated.''


    "And it seems I am a half dragon now. Not only am I stronger because of my bond with my partner, but also my bond with Midnight." There was a warmth in Su''s heart that made her feel she was just that much closer to her family. The people she loved unconditionally. The people she knew she coulde to for anything, regardless of the dangers.


    Remey


    Level: 75


    Exp until next level: 5200/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 9/10


    Alchemical Brawler system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, avatar of Fire, Groundbreaking alchemist, emancipator


    Hp-95


    Def-95


    Mdef-93


    Atk-96


    Matk-96


    Char-74


    Agi-99


    Mana-103


    Stat points for distribution- 25


    Due to the changes in title and the addition of the Avatar of the fire title, 100 stat points were consumed to begin biological changes. Additional changes are being caused by the unique system that is possessed.


    "Groundbreaking alchemist? I doubt that''s because I can punch. It''s probably the concentrated affinity potions I am making. That grand potion will be done soon. I know it!" Remey was much more energetic. She could care less that she was missing notifications. She had been focused on her goals and to her, that made her a better person.


    Walker


    Level: 78


    Exp until next level: 2100/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 8/10


    Jack of All Trades system


    Title: True hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Growing sage, Growing Dragon, emancipator


    Hp-97


    Def-102


    Mdef-97


    Atk-102


    Matk-117


    Char-91


    Agi-107


    Mana-107


    Stat points for distribution- 35''


    The title, growing dragon has been gained due to the bonds with dragons and nature. This has begun to alter the growth of the body consuming 150 stat points. The changes are the first in the world causing ripples that bring excitement to the world.''


    "And I am closer to nature, apparently bing a dragon, and a few levels ahead of all of you now," Walker smirked a little looking at the results of battles, training, freeing the demons, and everything. We did a lot together and apart. We are stronger now and can show it to the world even more."


    These things that the party had done apart and together were small in the sense that the party had not let their egos grow out of control. They knew of others stronger than themselves right next to them. The ancient dragons, Barry, and especially Scy. These examples had always kept them in check when it came to their strength.


    "We grew a lot¡­I wonder, are we really different and we just haven''t noticed?" Gil was the one to admit this first. He was looking at his own body and realizing he had be more muscr. But that wasn''t all. He could tell there were changes in his skin too. It was simr to the pale skin that forest elves had. The traits that many elves had in general.


    "I noticed changes some time ago, but I am a half dragon now too. It was what I expected." Su didn''t sound sad. She hade to terms with the changes she would face because of her bonds. She was proud of them.


    "I think I am the same. Just better than most people." Remey tried to joke but was clearly covering up the fact that she could tell her body was different as well.


    "I remain in a smaller form so often. I am unsure what has changed yet. I will report it after I examine myself more." Onyx was the only one with an excuse. He rarely moved around at his true size because he hid his body in the shadows.


    "The greatest dragon." Midnight only uttered a few words but she was clearly burning with the goal to be the greatest dragon.


    "Now you know why I wanted to meet. We have spoken stat points to put here and there. We have some titles to review again. We have a lot to talk about so that we are ready for the first ship to leave. We will protect it and ensure that we are used to all our strengths. We haven''t all trained together in alittle while."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1589 1589. I Am Coming!

    "You are not leaving me behind!" The angry yell was not something any of the party had heard from The normally sweet voice of Alice. Instead, it seemed to make their very skin crawl. The light around her was sharp and they felt they had angered a goddess.


    "You heard my new partner, leaving without us would be a grave insult." Horizon seemed to manifest out of the very light that was crackling around Alice as she stood in front of the party which had just begun to leave the mansion. They had all awoken early to head toward the first ship preparing to enter the river.


    "Alice, you cane-"


    "No! I am leaving with the first ship and you can not stop the three of us!" Aurora curled around Alice''s arm seemingly just as angry as Alice was. Her re seemed to be piercing through them just as the shards of condensed light would if Alice were to want it to be so.


    "I was-" Walker stuttered slightly since he was unsure what to do in this situation. He had clearly angered the girl he cared for but even worse he had made her feel like an exile since she was not included in their quest to leave and explore a new continent.


    "Of course you are. The best healer in the city would be a valuable asset." Su''s logic made Alice rx ever so slightly.


    "I have no issue with it. Walker is the one who will get the brunt of the damage if we say no though. Maybe I should side with him?" Resisting the urge to t out start a real fight, Remey decided to tease them instead.


    "Hmm, I would be saying the same if I did not need to further organize the elves that will be heading there on the next ships. That is why I did not burden Gil toeter. However, I dide to encourage my friend Alice." Alma seemed to relish this as she showed herself. She had clearlye to ensure that Alice would be going with the party immediately.


    "I thought you had a meeting this morning?" Gil was unsure if he was about to be yelled at.


    "Oh, I did. With my friend here. She came to see the light elves and learn a few things from them. She also introduced her partner Horizon to them. They were all very happy. It''s better than someone who said that they were almost ready to show me something special, then didn''t show themselves for, well, how long was it?" Gil was clearly in hot water as well.


    "Oh no, we might bete! I have to run quickly before they send off the ship without us!" Gil began to run with Alma at his heels ready to yell at him more.


    "So Gil is a little too nervous¡­I really thought he would have asked Alma to be with him forever." Onyx''s open thoughts made everyone cough out loud. None of them could say it out loud. Even Waker who had been told exactly that as Gil''s desire by Gil!


    "I don''t see why everyone is surprised. I have learned when someone cares for another with their entire being that is only natural." Onyx was still too young in the world to understand the intricacies of this. However, none of them noticed that Aurora had turned her head in confusion wishing to know more about this. To understand what the conversation was about. She had been learning just as fast as Onyx had. She would soon catch up to a degree.


    "Besides the point, Alice, we need you toe with us. If you don''t we could be under much more stress. Will you change the n I had imagined up ande with us on the first ship?" The light around Alice finally calmed down and her smile returned.


    Seeing the massive control of light around Alice and the fact that there were multiple shards of condensed light that seemed permanently around Alice, Walker had immediately returned to the n he had thought he would be going with. The fact that Alice wasing a little sooner would not change much.


    "Sister Alice ising!" Midnight seemed ecstatic over this. She wanted Alice toe since Alice always broke the easiest and handed over snacks. It was thest say in the matter. Regardless of what everyone said, Midnight had finalized it.


    Without hesitation, Alice fell in to step with the party. The only thing that seemed a little odd was Horizon. For a grand elemental spirit, he was very talkative. Zephyr had been a little talkative but Horizon was extremely talkative. Thenguage barrier being tranted by the system now was even more helpful to everyone so elemental spirits had begun to get on better with all races.


    "You don''t even know what power my Alice has. The true representation of my light. She could crush a mountain when she''s old enough. She''s ten levels less than you but much stronger. Not that it matters about level. I can tell you that it has not always been that way. I think that shadow guy can tell you about it but he''s too stubborn." This made all of them raise an eyebrow.<sub> </sub>


    The bragging aside, they weren''t sure what horizon meant by saying that things weren''t always decided by levels. "What do you mean? We have never heard this theory about the past?" Walker failed to resist the bait and gave in to curiosity.


    "Oh, I mean that isn''t a theory. There was a reason the world decided to act and why it acts so much now. You will understand eventually. You are going to be the first being that bonds with the world after all. Ask your partner. Ask Miss Fleur." The Miss term was something Horizon had learned to show respect. Respect that he had to offer to a nature spirit that would be a proper world spirit one day.


    Fleur on the other hand just remained hidden within Walker''s spirit mark. The grand elemental spirits seemed to have caught on that there would be some strenuous battlesing up. They wanted to support their partners the best they could and decided to store mana. The more they rested and stored up the easier it would be.


    "Heading away already? I have prepared a small squad of my personal troops to follow you." Scy effortlessly stepped through the air knowing that the party would be headed toward the ship building area. The water elves and many water mages had already headed there as well.


    "I wille with thest ship. I want to ensure that I have that former sin title holder and the water elemental grand spirit under tight guard. If I am leaving there will not be some halfway done guarding of potentially dangerous people." This was Scy''s main focus. Walker had dly weed her taking this over. She knew the dangers and who to put in charge to avoid them.


    Depending on the demi-human traits, they might be able to resist certain skills. Especially skills that would put someone to sleep. "That will put everyone at ease. I know the elves even set up runes around the area he is sleeping too so that it''s safer. The water spirit doesn''t have an avatar though. I think it will choose Sandman though. Something about the flow of dreams and the flow of water. That might just be a hunch though."


    The way Walker spoke made everyone wonder where he hade up with this idea. Yet, when he said it might be a hunch they wondered if he was channeling the will of the world a little. Especially since it had just been brought up. It wasn''t the main focus of what they were doing though.


    "I think you will be right behind me then. We can make sure that the route stays properly open. I am bringing some of the stronger water elves with me on the second tost ship. We are attempting to widen the river as we go with each ship." Alma and Scy fell in to a discussion about this making everyone wonder if they had even more ns than any of them knew about, even Gil wondered this.


    "There''s Leon. he looks pretty excited to get moving. I''m sure he had plenty of merfolk soldiers prepared for a good fight." Remey seemed more excited to see the merfolk soldiers than the others. She had not had any encounters with them since she had grasped the fire elemental battle styles more. She wanted to pit herself against them to test her skill in battle against tan opposing elemental mana.


    "Well, before you start with him, it looks like the wandering cksmith is here with a few things too." Gil grinned as he dashed forward toward the ship that was positioned to be put in the water.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1590 1590. The First To Leave

    The modifications to Gil''s armor were more than just intricate. It was easy to say that the armor was apletely new set. There were hundreds of rune patterns that covered them. So many from different races and even a few origin runes. The skill of the wandering cksmith was truly expanding by the second.


    "This is too much. It''s magnificent. I think this is armor I can pass down as a family heirloom one day. Armor I can give to my son when he grows up!" The dreams and praise that Gil had for the armor made the wandering cksmith smile. He had purposefully worked harder to make things for the party before they left the city again. He was not going to travel to the next continent.


    "The price for everything I have made. Bring me materials. New materials." The insatiable hunger that the wandering cksmith possessed was enough to show everyone there that they had a great duty to help him.


    "We will definitely bring you materials you might not have seen before. And if you decide to go wandering again, we will be able to escort you to them again." Gil promised wholeheartedly. He knew that the wandering cksmith would ask this one day anyways, but also, he wanted to be able to thank their family member for all he had done for them.


    "I look forward to it." The moment could not be interrupted by anyone. Scy, Alma, and Leon felt that they were drawn in by this moment of warmth that truly disyed the closeness of these people. The familial bond that had grown between the wandering cksmith and the party that even the world smiled upon.


    "Leon, did the wandering cksmith make your armor as well?" Remey had noticed the simr patterns on the armor that Leon wore. The water elemental runes were clearly the best of any armor they had seen him wear as of yet.


    "It is! I am d you noticed. He wasmissioned to create a temte using our normal armor. Then he made this one and gave it to me. His students copied his work and now every merfolk on this journey has water affinity armor. It is a wonder how well he was able to teach the dragonkin cksmiths in such a short time."


    "Of course our dragonkin would rise higher. They are extremely talented." Mordant walked out of the shadows with a head raised high. He had recovered easily after being in the darkness elemental floor of the mage tower. From then, he had spent a lot of time observing his dragonkin''s training because he knew they would being in to battle.


    "You say that like it is only your dragonkin. Learn well that even my dragonkin had begun to learn advanced cksmithing to create a new armor for myself." Rise had seemed to be moving with Mordant just in the sky andnded near everyone.


    From what everyone had heard, the light elemental dragonkin had more than absorbed the knowledge in Genesis. They had gone out of their way to greedily learn everything foreign to them. They had even surpassed some people who had learned skills for years. It was very impressive.


    "The best of the best were chosen from all warriors. Dragonkin included." Scy scoffed at the smallpetition that seemed to be growing between Mordant and Rise. She recognized the opposite elemental manas that they had but believed they did not need to go against one another at the moment before they left for battle. Luckily, the two dragons recognized the strength that Scy had. She was one of the few that could face them in some form within Genesis.


    "The other royal dragons wille in other shops. Staying with their dragonkin is the best method for them. The best of the best were chosen to keep the forces lower while also adding quality. We have no idea what this new continent will have. Setting up a port there may be difficult." Alma caught everyone''s attention. The main topic had to be discussed.


    "Yes, only the best were chosen toe with each of us. Champions, guardians, and most importantly the elite dragonkin that have exceeded in their training. It would be a stain on the dragon race to go to battle with the inferior wyverns that desire to attack us without weakest troops." Rise knew well that the wyverns required the strongest. Not only for their period but because the wyverns'' wildness gave them a chance to beat a dragon.


    "I think as we travel we will be stopping at a vige that had a wyvern attack it. Let me get the papers." Leon stopped everyone. They had not been briefed on this. It was new information." Yes, here it is. There were reports and a partial body found in a small vige with many farmers. The vige was abandoned but the skeletal and some scale remains are there. They were thought to be a dragon before the wyvern information came to light."


    "So the small farmers believed dragons attacked them. Most likely a young darkness or a skeletal dragon that had gone wild. Even a rogue dragon. It would make sense why there would be a misunderstanding. Poor education and the rogue dragon rumors around the area." Mordant sighed, he knew well that this was a problem that could have been avoided.


    "Now we just need to prove it. I looked in books and found pictures from very long ago. I want to confirm if wyverns are truly what we think they are. The all around appraisal skill I have should be able to tell us a little. Maybe even something unique." This was Walker''s n now that he knew that the river would pass such a vige close enough to explore. Leon had done very well nning and finding this.<sub> </sub>


    "Are you saying that you think the threat may be different now? What could have changed?" Scy had an idea of where the conversation was going. Everyone did. But no one wanted to say the theory out loud and instead left it up to Walker to tempt fate.


    "Well, if the wyverns are heading this way, that''s not normal, right? What could force them out of their continent to travel the oceans? The demons didn''t leave here until recently so it is not them. There are others that must be doing it. Whatever the cause, they are hungry and willing to travel great lengths to get territory. We had the idea that they were growing toorge in poption but that''s just one possibility."


    "They may be controlled?" Alice recalled the control that some demon sin title holders had over the water elves. It made sense that this could happen to mindless monsters such as the wyverns.


    "Or they have a famine and not enough food to eat there." Gil''s theory also yed a big part. Not everywhere was full of life and growth to support strong andrge monsters.


    "Or even worse, they are being hunted and are fleeing." Su''s theory was the strongest and the potentially worst. Whatever could hunt a race of powerful monsters that could fight dragons would be very dangerous. Especially if the demon king made some sort of deal or gained control over them.


    "Enough of the theories. We have these ships to sail off in. It will be a while before we even get there. The aquatic golems are almost here too." Rmeey had had enough. She didn''t want to leave the city with such a depressing atmosphere. This was already going to be arge journey.


    "You''re right, no more of this. We have a ceremony to start. There are already a lot of people arriving." The remaining representatives of the Genesis council along with the royal dragons were arriving at arge stage next to the first ship that would be put in the river. The first ship of Genesis that would traverse the oceans. It was a major step for the city.


    "Brother, Our home is growing so much so fast." Onyx seemed almost sad to see that Genesis had begun to grow beyond their sight. They didn''t even need to manipte every situation while it was built. The people that hade together were already doing it. Even the demons recused had embraced the freedom and dreams they once had after healing.


    "Yes, Onyx, yes it is. But it''s a ce with a future. Exactly what we dreamed of.'''' Everyone took to the stage to meet the remainder of the Genesis representatives. Many of the builders were prepared to send the ship in to the water while mages took their positions firmly. The citizens awaited the words of celebration while they gathered. The constant murmuring bing a constant buzz of excitement.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1591 1591. Floating Off

    The short speeches about the process of building a ship and the great work that had been done from many people were all that had to be said. The true reasons for the travel were already spoken. Some had argued against them while others had been happy to hear that the dangers would not be allowed to return.


    The water mages were the most prevalent for the ship moval. They were responsible with gathering the water in to the river to cause a water surge that would carry it in to the deeper waters downstream. The dwarven golems were the pushing force. However, this didn''t stop many warriors from getting their hands on the hull of the ship to push it as well.


    The final first ship hade together in magnificent shape. The feather steel had been coated and reinforced to resist many monster venoms that could corrode it in the ocean. There were also many spaces for archers, mages, and dwarven cannons to attack anything that would threaten the ship while sailing.


    Even better, the top of the ship was made to have multiple small metal towers to use as vantage points for lookouts. They could double as attack towers as well which only made those witnessing the ship more impressed. It was one perfect example of why the races uniting would only be greater. This was just another of the many things that proved the races could create great things.


    "Together we bring another day in to the Genesis history books. The day that the first of the Genesis fleet leaves the city to create a port on a new continent. A continent we have never set foot on. A ce we can explore!" The king of the deep caves hade to lead the charge in releasing the ship in to the water. As soon as he shouted hisst words, everyone moved in unison.


    Together the ship slid off its wooden blocks while water surged around it. The river became bloated with the additional flood. But when the ship hit the deeper water, it bobbed and began moving down the river.


    "Come on, on the ship!" The many ropedders for those that had been off and pushing without being on it prior due to weight rushed the ropedders. Walker stepped through the air and joined the rest of the party waving at the crowds. And their families that had gathered to see them off.


    "We will be walking along the ship once we get to the deeper waters, but for now, let''s enjoy this." Walker felt that this was not the biggest moment in Genesis history. He had already heard the rumors about someone designing blueprints for what they called an airship fueled by magic. The dwarves had be inspired and new geniuses were appearing out of every race to create new magical technology.


    Some things would take years, others could appear tomorrow. So many new paths had awakened as the races polled their knowledge together. The bond with nature and the desire to create was bing more and more prevalent. It only spelled good things for the future.


    Once the sounds of people faded, Walker looked at those who hade with him. Leon had been focused on the merfolk that were preparing to take shifts underwater to patrol against monsters resting in the deeper river waters. It was a necessity.


    Rise and Mordant had taken up opposing positions on the ship and in the sky. Mordant remained focused on providing the darkness elemental mana for Shade to return to his previous physical form after the trouble with mana. Rise just preferred to remain along.


    The dragonkin were much more animated. They had been left to explore and learn the ship to the very core. The dwarven sailors and human sailors had be the teachers since they knew the most about the ship and how its sailing worked.


    Since Alma had remained behind, Gil appeared to be a little disappointed. But Alma had said that she would be taking the elven mages with the ship directly behind them. The number of people allowed on a ship was limited due to weight and safety. Too many people could sink a ship or cause it to be too crowded during danger, equally leading to it being sunk.


    "So, I meant to ask, but what does it mean that midnight is a dragon genius?" Remey had thought that Walker would have asked the other royal dragons about the title that Midnight had. She understood that Su had the half dragon title because she had mixed blood with Midnight to be a true guardian. That made a lot of sense. But the questions she had were notpletely answered about genius. It was different for every situation and could cover an array of topics.


    "Well, from what Midnight and I have read of the description, it''s because she has grown mentally and physically faster than any dragon her age. It doesn''t seem to mean she will die any younger but that she is well ahead of others because of her bloodline and intense training. Think of it, you train like crazy in alchemy and are already trying to make a grand potion." This seemed to agree with what Remey was thinking.


    "I received the groundbreaking alchemist title though, so did the old man and Trish but mine has a slightly more in depth description. It states that I will have a greater chance to discover the proper path to creating new alchemical creations. Theirs says they will have a small chance to discover the same. I think it depends on what the person has done in that regard."


    The in depth thinking Remey had been doing was purely because she had been amazed by the titles they did not even realize they had gained. It was very important to their strength but even more to their future battle abilities.<sub> </sub>


    "I believe that you were the one that helped unite them so you would receive more benefit." Onyx finally spoke up. He too had been contemting his own titles more and more since Walker had more or less let everyonee to terms with what they had not noticed.


    "Onyx, you probably have one of the more amazing titles. You are the patriarch growing in your race now. It''s not a recognized race but it will be soon with you leading it." Walker didn''t want to get in to the details of what young patriarch could mean. It was a lot of responsibility for Onyx to grow in to.


    "Brother, I also have the twinned serpent. An abyssal serpent that had realized and begun to awaken my ancient bloodline. I am unsure how that will affect myself or the hatchlings but I am ready to return to the strength in the murals we have seen. The books we have read." The dreams that Onyx had were clear cut but alsorger than himself or any other. It was promising to see that he had such determination.


    "The emancipator title that we all received is also good. It just symbolizes that we helped free an oppressed people but it''s one that makes me very proud." Rmeey heard Su join the conversation instead of venturing in to the ship deeper.


    "I agree. We share that title with everyone that participated in the freeing of the demons. It makes us all closer than any other could be. It''s heartwarming." This brightened Gil''s mood as he thought about those he shared the title with. They hadn''t even gained this title when they helped the water elves and demons there but they did when they helped free all the demons.


    "Saint of light." Alice had been silent for a while listening to the titles that the party had gained. However, she had not been silent just because of that, she was waiting for a chance to speak her own title. One she had gained by studying under Horizon and getting to a deeper understanding of light and the true strength she holds.


    "Wait, that saint of light title? Is that why the light is moving around you even though you aren''t speaking?" Walker had heard of this title. A title that was given to a priestess that had only ever used a skill called healing light on people. The single use of this skill had given the title after fifty years of healing with it despite the fact that the priestess could have taken another path focusing on attacking with light based skills.


    "Yes, and my blood¡­they work together." Alice became shy at the fact that everyone stared at her.


    "It''s what''s to be expected from the one I chose to be my partner. Light is in her blood and the world was waiting to recognize her." Horizon''s boasting just made everyone wonder a little more about the details of the title and what it did.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1592 1592. Saint Of Light

    Before the entire party could ask Alice what her title was about, the ship hit the deeper waters of the river. There was a lot ofmotion as the merfolk took to the water so that they could guard against the aquatic monsters they may face.


    The water mages also began moving the ship by manipting the water runes carved in to the hull. However, the majority of the water mages had a much more important job. They had to widen and break down any impediments in the river as they moved.


    The ship had been designed with the highest craftsmanship. This assured everyone that even if they hit the odd rock or submerged tree, that it would not be an issue. However, there was the chance that the ship could be damaged or sustain a small w. This could spell the end of the ship and those upon it out in the open ocean where much stronger monsters lived.


    "We are heading down in pairs. Let''s walk the shore as the ship travels. It will be slow at first since the river has never been traveled and will have a lot of obstacles." Walker knew that the boats that had been on the river were smaller ones that easily maneuvered through the obstacles. Most would only be on the water for a short time if any time at all due to the dangers.


    "Sounds good, I will pair up with a few of the dragonkin since I want to see if they have any dagger skills of their own." Gil wanted topare his work on the dagger technique with the other race''s dagger skills. The main point being that he could use the pressure to refine the skill and merge the different styles in to the high elf dagger technique again. It was a wise use of the time they would be traveling as the first ship.


    "Brother, I will go with sister to travel the bank of the river." Onyx caught on to what Walker was thinking. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that he wanted to speak with Alice one on one. They had not had much time alone due to their recent training or other distractions.


    "Alright, we will all meet up in four hours after the ship changes guards." Leo had worked with Scy to design an ideal guard shift for all the workers on the ship. Even the merfolk had alternates in Scy''s special aquatic demi-human troops.


    "Perfect! Su and I have a lot to talk about. There are plenty of good challengers around here." It seemed that Su was not reprimanding Remey as usual. Instead, Si actually looked energetic hearing that Remey wanted to go and pick a fight with someone.


    "I worry about those two sometimes¡­But I think Su has been offtely and she needs to rx too." Walker was not sure what had happened between Su and Remey but he knew that it was strengthening their bond. The pair had been working on something together and it would only make them stronger at the end of the day. It wasn''t his business to snoop.


    Leaving the ship was easy for Walker since he could take Alice''s hand and walk through the air. The others that left to walk the shore and scout ahead for the water mages used ropes, small boats, and a few just dove right in to the water.


    "So, you have a title now?" The casual conversation started to make Alice a little nervous. She had been excited to show off but then became shy as soon as everyone had looked at her. Now she felt shy again but because she felt that Walker was going to be upset with her for hiding it.


    "I bet that you missed it too since you were so busy. From what I hear, you have healed more people than even some of the veteran healers who have been doing it for forty years." The rumors around Genesis were not silent ones. They screamed these praises throughout the entire city.


    "Horizon, I know you want to join us, but can you spend some time sharing your understanding of light elemental mana with Fleur for me?" Fleur seemed to grasp that Walker was asking her to distract Horizon who was hovering behind them. He didn''t seem to have a sense of what humans wanted or how to read a situation.


    "Sure, I can always help a future world spirit. Tell me what it''s like to feel the heartbeat of nature. Wait, can you speak yet? Or do you only use natural mana? How about¡­" the constant talking faded away. Horizon was too talkative for an elemental spirit. All the others seemed to prefer their silence over much else.


    "Yes, my title¡­saint of light." Alice finally managed to speak up even though it was quiet. Now that she was alone with Walker she was realizing just how long it had been since they could properly walk together without someone else interrupting or even being around.


    "As long as we keep our eyes open I can listen to you all day. I wouldn''t mind hearing about how you got your title and what it''s about." Using the all around appraisal skill on Alice could have potentially given Walker answers. He knew this, but if he did that he would betray Alice''s trust while also ruining a chance to bind with her. They were one of many scouting ahead on the riverbank. He had his senses spread around him as well, something he had learned while sensing mana.


    "So many people were hurt or sick. I had to heal them. After training, before training, when I woke up¡­always." The desire to help others was just part of her life but also a value she had chosen to cherish. It led to Alice training her ability to heal even when she did not have the mana to do it.<sub> </sub>


    The same preparations and assistance that Su had done because shecked healing skills was what Alice had always done. Now after her entire life of doing so, she had a title to show for it. "I healed a hundred thousand times." This sounded impossible to Walker''s ears. But using a healing skill or an act of healing, it made some sense. It wasn''t just based on her healing but everything she did to heal people.


    "That''s amazing. A saint title is gained through a specific act at an incredible number of times. What does it do? I assume it boosts healing and your affinity with light?" The idea that it boosted her affinity for light was because Walker had seen the orbs of light around Alice since she had arrived at the mansion when they left.


    "Control, affinity, and strength." These three things were the focus of the title. "And speed of healing for everyone around me." Thisst statement was where Alice raised her head in pride. Just having her around meant that everyone would heal faster regardless of being healed or not. It was an impressive thing to boast about.


    "Maybe I will need to use my healing skill more. I could be the second saint of light. We would have matching titles." Walker teased a little. He had a little trouble not being jealous of Alice''s title even though he had multiple of his own. It was just the idea that Alice was able to help people just by being present now. She deserved the praise she got and was rewarded with a title that gave her the chance to do even more good.


    "I will keep up with you." Alice''s eyes burned with the light that she controlled. Her desire not to be left alone was stronger than Walker had imagined. He watched as the light around Alice formed a spike that shot forward.


    ''Purple bank frog


    A poisonous purple frog that uses the poison it produces due to eating the purple lily flies. It hunts the flies andrger fish along the bank of the river. If one gets too close to it there is a chance it could poison them. The best way to defend against the poison is to dilute it with water.


    They are very weak to physical attacks due to their soft skin but also strong jumpers and swimmers. It is rmended that their poison is used againstrger beasts because it will wear away at their stamina while also not killing what it affects.''


    Walker''s all around appraisal of the purple bank frog that he had noticed after Alice had shown the danger they could face. "And with your new title, you are definitely stronger. I''ll have to work even harder to stay ahead of you. I can''t have you bing everyone''s idol alone. You''ll need a heroic bodyguard." His teasing made Alice shake her head wanting to run away. The danger of monsters seemed too far away to them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1593 1593. Purple Bank Frogs

    "Alice, a little help here!" Gil was the first to recognize the purple bank frogs after Alice and Walker had caught themselves in battle with one. He had seen it being broken down at the adventurer''s guild once. This experience gave him the knowledge that it was poisonous without anyone having to tell him in the moment.


    Therefore, Gil was calling for Alice since she had the skills to purify those that got poisoned by it."There are two elves here that need to be purified for the poison." Gil knew that if he called Remey she had some antidote potions. However, it was better to save those for the more dangerous poisons they may encounter while traveling the river bank. Water brought out many different monsters.


    "Good call Gil!" Walker managed to grab Alice and step over the river to the opposite side where Gil was. She quickly got to work healing as Gil and Walker touched base on what they would do about the purple bank frogs.


    "These things seem like they are more and more prevalent as we go. I would say it''s breeding season for them. I wish we had discovered this sooner. It will make the journey slower." As much as they wanted to rush through the river, they were the first ship heading down this path. They had to do their best to make it safer. But Walker was still unsure if they had missed this information because they were too rushed to deal with the demon king.


    "Walker, the ship is pretty far back because of all the rocks and trees in the river. We have some time to deal with these monsters safely. Rise and Mordant won''t help with them since they are preparing for therge monsters in the ocean. Let''s just use this as training."


    "You''re right." Walker knew Gil had a good point. But he felt that they needed to get to the ocean faster. Everything had to be done faster. They needed to get stronger faster. He had to push them faster. This train of thought was enough to shock him slightly. Walker could not remember when everything became about getting things done faster.


    "Face it, if we don''t slow down we will get beat by Midnight and Onyx. they have already taken down six each." Gil pointed out Midnight and Onyx working as a pair a little further up the riverbank. They were currently engaged in battle with arger purple bank frog, an older purple bank frog.


    The size that onyx revealed was easily five feet longer than what he had been thest time he revealed his true size from his shadow. It was clear that his training had been paying off and that he may have gone through a whole new growth spurt without realizing it. He had been kept very busy by the little hatchlings that he had nearly forgotten about himself. Walker had even brought that right to the front of his mind.


    The darkness and the light seemed to be at Onyx''s control. The light was less so than the darkness but that was enough for him to blind the purple bank frogs in a sh of light before using a shadow spike attached to his tail to pierce them. This effectively protected him from any poisons along with also defeating the purple bank frog.


    Midnight had taken a different route. Due to her training with flying, elemental breath attacks, and guidance for Rise, she had decided to fight only from a distance. Since it was a short distance away, the purple bank frogs were able to shoot out their tongues to attack Midnight. The danger of poison was fresh in her mind.


    Luckily, Midnight was prepared. She would jump back or duck under the tongue as it whipped out. The purple bank frogs had nothing they could do in the face of Midnight''s agility. This gave Midnight the time to take quick deep breaths and breath our sts of fire or light toward the frogs.


    It had been tough for Midnight to keep consistent strength in breath attacks. This was because it needed more time to absorb elemental mana and fuse them with her golden heart mes. But while she did so, she had been able to train her speed at absorbing small amounts of the mana and efficiently fusing it with the mes. This had partially been her training with Rise but also what she had learned from Walker fusing elemental manas together.


    "And there goes another frog. Midnight has really started to like using that elemental me burst skill. I guess every dragon can do it because it''s easier for younger dragons. But Midnight learned to breathe mes before she learned that since she didn''t have a proper teacher. Now we get to see her backtrack a little." Even the skill that midnight had learnedter than she should have was much stronger because of how she had already trained.


    "She definitely filled in the gaps of her training. I just think that you are better off training with her than I am with my arrows. She would burn too many up." Gilughed a little as he raised his bow, his eyes focused well ahead of where Onyx and Midnight were. "Let''s catch up with them. There are a few crawling out of a hole by that hill there."


    The sight that Gil had still exceeded, if not became better, while he had trained with the elves. An archer''s eyes were always the main focus of their skills but Gil had already exceeded that with his skills in other aspects of arcane archery. His arrow easily sailed through the air and pierced through two of the purple bank frogs scraping their way out of the ground.


    "A den? Let me get Su and Remey, we can clear that before any of the others need to get involved." A quick shout to Remey and Su who were back a little further spurred them to run up to Walker and Gil. Midnight and Onyx were also privy to what Gil had just pointed out now that they had handled the two purple frogs in front of them.<sub> </sub>


    "Poison frogs, that is not good." Remey looked like she was more excited for the battle than the others. She could harvest the poison from the frogs to make some form of potion. She wasn''t exactly sure what it would be but she knew it could be useful in some way.


    "They move very quickly from what I can see. There are already seven that have crawled from that hole up there." Su was taking notice of the situation and doing her best to strategize. She had to remain sharp if she wanted to be able to block every attack that carried poison toward her party. "But they are getting smaller. Could that be the youngest of the frogs emerging for the first time?"


    "That has to be it! They must have been born and raised in that den now they areing out for food." Gil caught on that Su had perfectly picked out the reason for so many purple bank frogs being right in front of them.


    "And we are that food. Let''s work to clear that out." Walker started to gather water elemental mana and freeze it. He had seen how Onyx had used the shadows to cover his body and protect him from the poison of the frogs. Now he wanted to do something simr.


    The ice that began to coat Walker in a thinyer moved easily with his maniption. But taking another step further, he looked at Midnight''s ws and decided to take inspiration. The ice began to elongate on torger ws that cover Walker''s hands. He had not considered doing this small portion of the elemental dragon aspect, but since water and ice were the easiest for him to shape other than earth, he might as well.


    "Brother!" Midnight growled out slightly seeing that Walker was clearly trying to challenge her to a test of closebat strength. She was not going to let him make his own ws and beast her. She was a real dragon with real ws. She was jealous that Walker could just make his own. In a single breath of mes, Midnight''s ws were wrapped in fire. Her ming ws reaching out for the frogs as she and Midnight sprinted toward their targets.


    "Well, we can''t be left behind. Gil and them might beat them all before we even get to the den entrance." Remey cracked her knuckles and matched Su in stride. They were right behind Midnight and Walker.


    "I will guard you Gil. Take your time." Onyx respected that Gil was already picking targets to shoot at long distance. Someone needed to hand back and be his guard. It was only proper.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1594 1594. Clear The Way

    "I have officially lost my mind¡­" Gil''s tone was that of someone who had just realized they had been living a dream for their whole life. He also had missed a shot with his bow for the first time in a very long time. "Onyx, you would tell me if this was all a hallucination, right?"


    "You are not crazy. Your mind is intact. Sister Su has properly been training to use the dragon blood that had changed in her bodytely. That is why she just breathed out a mouthful of mes." If Onyx had not been so calm, Gil would have surely let his mind keep running away with its ideas.


    "I see, I missed a lot when it came to Su and Midnight training." The feeling that Gil had was a small sense of loss. But he also had a sense of annoyance because he had missed his party members getting much much stronger. It also spurred Gil to want to get even stronger himself.


    "What is Gil doing? That was four arrows in a row?" Walker was about to face four of the purple bank frogs and suddenly saw them sprout arrows before copsing defeated at his feet.


    "If you can''t be faster than Gil it exins why you aren''t keeping up with Su and I!" Remey was showing off the training that she had been doing with Su.


    The pair was taunting and attacking without w. Su would jump forward and get the attention of a purple bank frog. It would attack without question trying to defeat Su with its poison. But Remey was right there with a heavy right hook or solid heel kick before it could attack again. This was, the pair had taken down most of the purple bank frogs that wereing from the den.


    "I will handle thosest two!" Midnight, Su, and Remey left Walker to do so after having all his targets taken by the others. Even Gil backed off after seeing that Walker was making a move toward the two and he wanted to be safe. If he ever shot a family member with his arrows he would be crushed.


    Meanwhile, Walker had created two swords out of ice to transition his battle ability. Unfortunately, a soft but sweet hum of song came to his ears. Before Walker could do so much as dash forward to close the distance between him and them. Three des of light had already shot through the air piercing the purple bank frogs and leaving them defeated.


    "Alice how did you-" Walker was shocked as soon as he saw how far Alice was from him. He had never seen her make such long distance attacks.


    Since Alice had learned more about her abilities with Horizon''s guidance. As talkative as Horizon was, he was able to see Alice''s skills clearly. He gave ideal instructions about how to manipte the light with her voice and also the mana itself. After that, Alice grasped a new concept. The travel of sound.


    <o>,m "Alice! How did you reach so far? I thought you were right next to me by the way I heard your voice humming." As soon as Walker returned to the group and where Alice had made it to after helping the poisoned soldier.</o>


    An adorable coy smile filled Alice''s face, "sound travels" was the only answer Walker received. But he did wonder how far sound really traveled when someone sang. It was not an unusual to think that Alice could learn to throw her voice a further distance. There were people who had the skills to specifically do that. Alice did have the songstress system too, not a healer system.


    "Walker can''t even keep up with us. I guess we trained more than him." Naturally, Remey had to taunt Walker a little. It was part of her job at this point.


    "It doesn''t help that we all have been working more efficientlytely. It''s been a while since we have faced a group of monsters that aren''t a slime." The feeling that Gil had was just d. The slimes had actually been very annoying because Gil was forced to aim for the cores instead of the whole body.


    "So, we have figured out that it is the breeding season for these monsters and that they are going to be an issue for some time. What else do you think we will need to worry about?" Su managed to bring the topic back to what they should be thinking about while clearing the path ahead.


    "I have no idea what might hunt the purple bank frogs. Bruh whatever it is, they will berger and poison resistant." Part of Walker was thinking that they might see a river snake or some form of avian monster. But he had not truly seen the purple bank from before so it was harder to narrow down what might hunt them.


    "We can just have Gil keep a lookout for us. Then we can keep focused on what we are fighting down here." Remey didn''t see much of an issue when it came to what monsters they would face. The odds were the entire party could handle whatever they faced because the path they were on was well enough traveled for now.


    "So you want me to just tell you when arge bird with purple and yellow feathers is approaching? One that has sharp looking gallons and a serrated beak?"


    "Gil, that description seems¡­" Su sighed as she realized that Gil was already pointing an arrow at the sky. She looked up to see therge falcon that was approaching them.


    '' tearing falcon


    The tearing falcon is named this for the separated beak that it uses to tear apart its prey. They feed on a variety of monsters regardless of their type. They have very high poison resistance and their blood is often used to make high tier antidotes.<sub> </sub>


    Their feathers are very tough and can be used for arrows. The bones are also useful for various jewelry due to their ability to remain light but carved well.


    They get their feather color from the various poisonous monsters they consume. The color changes from falcon to falcon depending on what they have eaten in high amounts''


    "Tearing falcons. That''s what they are called and they do not look happy that we have just defeated and taken away one of their main food sources." Walker had used the all around appraisal as soon as he had gotten one in his sight line. He had to read it out loud too so that everyone was warned properly.


    "I heard arrow materials so they will be a great prize." Gil''s frost arrow flew toward one of the falcons. He knew that these monsters were attacking them anyways but it was a bonus that he could gain valuable arrow making materials as well.


    "You hear arrow I hear high tier potion making ingredient! Let''s make a high antidote!" With Remey''s fire they were in for a solid battle. Especially since one had angled downward at them with its talons open.


    Walker watched as the group of six falcons lost a member to Gil''s arrow and the first one that came close enough was dodged then smashed by a downward fist from Remey.


    "That was Remey''s ground breaking fist. She has been working on adding to properly to her battle flow. She said it''s dangerous because it leaves her open to attacks. But with me here¡­"


    Su dashed ahead and deflected the second falcon that was diving at them. The next two were pped aside by Onyx''s tail. Midnight followed up by pouncing on one and light arrows appeared around the second.


    That left Walker to form a spear of ice and strike downward on the one that Su had deflected. Efficient and easy to defeat even though the falcons sounded powerful. It how was a clear demonstration of how the party had grown.


    But it was also slightly bittersweet since they had once feared these sorts of monsters. It reminded them of where they had been when they first came together and how crazy things had progressed. None of what they had done was nned when they got together but it was a blessing in disguise now that they regarded each other as family.


    "Time to keep pushing forward? Or do we want to switch shifts and let a few dragonkin take over?" Walker felt that moderation was the best process since they would be traveling the river for at least three or four days.


    "Yes, we should make sure Alice can help heal those that get poisoned while Remey might be able to make some antidote potions. The ship has been set up for a small alchemyb. Even a weapons repair shop was set up there to ensure that everyone is prepared." Su had heard this when they were leaving and thought it a great way to make the ship a core ce for everyone mourning to another continent.


    "Then we wait for the ship to catch up here." Everyone agreed to survey the area a little more as the ship caught up.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1595 1595. Antidote How To

    "I assume you are here to tell us about the monster nests ahead as well as switch out?" Scy was already at the top of the ship with a few of the other soldiers. She had dragonkin that were switching with some of her aquatic soldiers.


    "We were going to warn you that there were tearing falcons in the area but we have not scouted out a best. We did take care of a den that had some purple bank frogs in it." Walker was not at all surprised to hear that there was a nest of tearing falcons.


    "Well, one of the scouts saw the nest and decided toe back. Apparently, there are fifty falcons waiting there in nests. From what we have gathered there are no eggs meaning we will be scaring them out of their homes before any eggs have beenid. It''s a lucky chance."


    Just like everyone else, Scy recognized that it was not the best thing to scare off all the monsters. Some of them belonged where they were because they were the natural predators of the other monsters that lived there. But since the tearing falcons had notid eggs they still had time to make nests elsewhere. It was really a lucky break.


    "What are the ns to handle them? I can do a little bit of work. It''s not like I have to take a break right this second." Gil had his bow prepared so he figured it was pointless for him not to volunteer.


    "No, you are going to take a break. From what Walker said, your party took out enough trouble ahead. Now you will rest there is no telling what else we will face. If you are worried you can remain above deck and watch in case you are needed." Scy''s firm orders were the same she had given a few of her soldiers that imed they had the energy to spare.


    This was not a simple journey. Because they were the first ship heading down river towards the ocean, they needed to be alert. There were many different obstacles that might stop thempletely. The mages had already been switched twice over because the mana usage was higher than anyone else. If they burned everyone out, they could be beaten by the weakest monsters on the river.


    "You heard her Gil, no more arguing. Let''s see what we can do with what we hunted. Scy, we will need the bodies of the tearing falcons for the archers and for antidote potions. The more we can get the better." Scy just gave Remey a nod since she trusted the judgment of someone who was able to make such good potions at such an age.


    In Scy''s eyes, Remey had more than lived up and beyond what she had promised. The Demi-humans had been fearful of potions because of their poisoning issue after the demons had snuck in to their kingdom. It had truly changed their history and brought fear to the peoplepletely shutting down all potion making for the foreseeable future.


    Yet, Remey had boldly promised to create an entire organization that would prevent such potential things again. She had ensured that it rose to be a ce full of strict learning and guidance above what was there before. Not only this, but it also helped ensure that potions were not sold well above what they were truly worth. Furthermore, herbs were even promoted so that there was a chance that rare herbs that were always in demand were more readily avable.


    "What is it even going to be like creating potions on a ship?" Su could not help her curiosity. She was unsure whether it would be harder or the same for Remey. She knew that the ship moved strangely in the river currents so that could be the major challenge.


    "I''m not sure. I know we have a few other alchemists aboard so it would be a group effort." The idea that they might run out of ingredients was what Remey saw as the major downside of being isted. However, this was always the issue since there was always the chance that the right herb would be just out of reach.


    "Should I help with it? I''m sure that Midnight and I could help with any heating and cooling." Remey considered this for a moment before she half shook her head.


    "Midnight can rest. I can use your fine control of temperature. Midnight might be better at helping Gil cut through the tough skin of the tearing falcons. Defeathering them is only part of what he will be doing." This was not too surprising since Midnight had tough dragon ws that would easily break through the tougher falcon skin that allowed for even tougher feathers to grow.


    "Then I will go with Alice to ensure that the healers are getting on well. We will not waste our mana to heal those that are poisoned. But we will do what we can until you have stronger antidote potions." Su didn''t mean that it wasn''t worth healing people that had been poisoned by the purple bank frogs. Just that it would be more valuable to use potions rather than use mana to heal them. They were up for a long trip and mana usage would be more valuable. Everyone knew that well.<sub> </sub>


    With that, the group split up. Onyx had returned to his smaller size and taken his signature ce around Walker''s shoulders as Remey moved through the lower parts of the ship. They had passed by the potion makingb when they had received a tour but it had been a quick pass. Walker would have been surprised that Remey remembered where and how to get there if she wasn''t so dedicated to the discovery of new potions altogether.


    "It''s not much but check it all out. They brought in thest of the equipment the day before. I was sure that they would have made modifications and the dwarves did more than that." Remey pointed out the cauldrons that had been set up to rotate with the ship. This would ensure that they would not spill when the ship was in storms or anything worse. There were also many shelves that had been set up with locking doors. The perfect set up for rough waters.


    "I think they outdid themselves. I know that it is hard to take everything in to ount. But since the dwarves had sailors to give input, they ran with it." Walker was very impressed. The more he looked the more he noticed little things like locks on the tables so they would not slide or ropes to tie things down. Even the tools were all set in grooves to keep them on the tables. It was the perfect set up for the ship.


    "I have been meaning to ask, how do you make potions using monster blood? I haven''t heard of you using that technique." This was something that Walker had not seen Remey do yet. It was a lessmon form of potion making too.


    "Easily. We need to heat it all with a blend of herbs and water. That will cause any impurities to rise to the top as we work. The best way is to take some sundew clover, thorny radish roots, and a hefty amount of salt. Add it to the water and start boiling. The sundew clover draws out the irons in blood while the thorny radish helps separate the blood from the toxins in it. Lastly, the salt helps the poison resistant aspects of the blood sink down the bottom." Walker was getting a little more confused because he wasn''t sure how it worked like that since the manas would beplex.


    "And the remnant at the bottom of the cauldron are the ingredient we will use. The blood of each falcon will vary in quality based on what they have eaten. But since they all have purple feathers I assume it''s purple bank frogs. That should cover us well. I just wonder what they ate to give them the yellow feathers too. They are pretty bright so it might be a stronger poison than what the purple bank frogs have."


    " I''m not sure either. Whatever it is we will have to keep an eye out." The idea that the river banks had another poisonous monster hiding away somewhere made Walker very ufortable. If he could help them be avoided he would. However, all he could do for the time being was ensure that there would be a decent batch of antidote potions for those that discovered the monster first. He wouldn''t be unhappy if they never found the monster in the first pce though.


    "Come on, stop spacing out. Let''s get to work." Remey was not going to let Walker fall in to his thoughts here and waste time.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1596 1596. Dull Tools

    "Midnight, If you use your ws to cut so close to the beck you will get the feathers covered in blood. That will make them heavier or lighter. I would prefer not to have to wash them. Cut about an inch lower. That will be perfect to help pull the feathers and skin off in one motionter." Gil had been teaching Midnight how to best defeather and deskin the tearing hawks.


    After using his knives, he had found that they were tougher than he had realized. Gil had received new daggers, upgraded his armor, and even his bow at one point. But he had neglected his skinning knife set that he used while hunting, it made him feel foolish since it was one of his main tool sets as an archer.


    "I will be back in a few minutes. I want to take a walk to the armory or maybe even the cksmiths that came with us on the ship. I need sharper skinning knives." Midnight just growled slightly in eptance. She didn''t have tomunicate any real words, it was the same when someone nodded or grunted acknowledgment to another''s words.


    Moving through the ship was much easier than Gil had imagined. When he had received the tour he had thought it would be aplicated mess of dwarven creations. This was mainly because he had seen howplicated the blueprints were for the dwarven golems, some of which were impossible for him to understand in the first ce.


    Yet now, he was easily moving through the wellbeled paths toward the armory that was housed in the center of the ship. This was also right next to the small forge that had been created to make parts if the ship broke in any way. That was the main focus of the forge.


    While in the ocean, there were many things that could go wrong. Many sailors had created a list of the biggest issues they had faced or heard of. Some even described events of having to create makeshift parts to ensure that they were able to get back to their homes. This was the disadvantage of easily broken wooden ships. Yes, they were faster because they were lighter, but they could break.


    The ship that had been created out of feather steel and other unique materials had taken some time to build. If it wasn''t for the dwarves it would have been over a year to create one. But the skilled building from the dwarves more than sped the building up to only weeks. It truly showcased their collective focus as a race.


    Even more so, it showed their adaptability to new ideas and blueprints. The dwarves had created a ship that covered the ws of previous wooden ships while also taking in to ount the issues a metal ship would have. But Gil could only praise them in his mind so much before he found himself in therger main hallway that connected the forge and the armory.


    "Come for a new weapon already? Or having a repair? It''s too soon to have damaged something but monsters are monsters." The dwarf that came to meet Gil was clearly one that was in charge of the area. He had an aura of confidence that made it seem he knew where every nail and screw was on the entire ship.


    "Actually, I released a w I had. I have an old tool set for skinning. I was going to make some arrows in my downtime. But¡­"


    "They can''t cut through the monsters you are hunting. I see the issue. I can provide a new set easily. It''s something a lot of people forget about. By choice or by ident. Sentimentality and all that about their old tools." This seemed to be amon thing for any forge employee to run in to with clients.


    "Exactly, I thought they would just be fine but it''s not something I thought would be an issue when I left home. I might have been forcing them to work for a while now." The looks of the des had be dull and chipped in a few ces. Anyone could see that Gil has used them diligently.


    "Come and get a new set." The forge that he was brought through showed Gil another level of genius. There were many tools that were set up on the walls to preserve space. They were locked in ce as well with metal sps. The forge itself was part of the wall to keep it from moving under any weather or attack. Same with the anvils. They had been built right in to the floor making them immovable under any circumstance. It would prevent any shifting which in turn would cause injuries.


    From there, therge armory was all too impressive. Metal racks were anchored to the floor holding many basic weapons. Swords, shields, small spears, and even assorted bows. There were even some more advanced unique weapons that were definitely made for some of the more specialized soldiers.


    "Here is the knife kit you need. I will take the old one for repurposing unless you need it?" Gil hesitated before shaking his head.


    "No, I will keep it. This is the one that my father gave me. If I can have it refurbished so I can keep it in the family, that would be great." The dwarf smiled and grabbed the kit. He waved for another to take it and gave the orders.


    "If you need anything else feel free to ask. We have some arrow making materials here as well." The dwarf left Gil to collect the odds and ends materials that he might need. It was the least he could do for someone that would be providing arrows to the archers. The dwarves were not as good at making arrows as the elves and there were only so many elven arrow makers on the skip.<sub> </sub>


    "Midnight! You did great!" by the time that Gil returned to Midnight, he found that he had more than put in the work. She had managed to cut every ce that Gil had shown her. This was the best way for him to speed up his arrow making process.


    "Now watch me work." The slight nod from Midnight was all Gil needed to show off. He knew she had worked hard and had to show off his skills.


    Gil''s hands moved in a somewhat elegant fashion. He was precisely pulling feathers and fully removing the skin from the tearing falcons. Their meat was exposed and cut off in a single motion. It was something that only a trained hunter could do.


    The two were so absorbed by the work that they didn''t even realize an hour had passed them by. But what was left was a perfect breakdown of the tearing falcons. Bones were lined up to be used in making arrows while the other bones set aside to be sent to the cksmiths the feathers had been sorted by their colors. The beaks were going to be used to make unique weapons for the tamers since some had monsters that incorporated other monsters body parts in to their physiology as armor. It was all going to have a use.


    "Now the real question is, what can I do with these poison affected feathers? The purple will have some decent damaging potential if the arrow can pierce through an enemy. But they definitely can soak in poison and drip it down the arrow shaft." This was a harder technique to use but Gil was willing to try it.


    "Poison?" Midnight''s question was what Gil was waiting for.


    "You know how we have so many of the purple bank frogs? Well, their poison should work in tandem with the purple feathers. If I make it correctly with Remey''s help we can use it to deter or scare off monsters in our path. It will be better than fighting some. We just need to find a poison that works with the yellow feathers." Gil had returned to wonder what the yellow feathers could be signaling. The curiosity of what monster had caused the tearing falcons to grow yellow feathers rose yet again.


    "We''ll go meet brother!" This was all Midnight seemed to gather from what Gil had said. But she wasn''t wrong. Gil needed to see Remey and Walker to keep moving forward after had created the arrows properly. They would still be usable and decent arrows but without the poison of the monsters that matched them, they would be less effective. Gil could only hope that he would be able to find all the necessary materials.


    "Alright, let''s go and see how they are doing." The pair cleaned up their mess and made way for the alchemyb. Gil was also curious about how the antidotes were going.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1597 1597. The Smell!

    "Holy heavens! What''s that smell!?" Gil and Midnight were nearly put on the floor with the wave of toxic smellsing from the alchemyb.


    "Oh stop your crying. It''s just the dregs of an antidote potion. It will be fine." Remey''s taunting voice called Gil and Midnight in but Midnight quickly retreated.


    A dragon had a much more sensitive nose than most other beings. Therefore, Midnight found that the intense smell was not worth the trouble. She backed right out of it and was gone. Gil couldn''t even get a word in before she had made her way toward the top deck.


    "Well this awful smell was enough to scare Midnight away." Covering his nose did not help Gil at all as he walked in to theb. He managed to find Walker and Remey over different cauldrons boiling away.


    "It made Onyx leave too. I''m sure they will be fine." Walker had a cloth over his face but Remey was seemingly fine. She had be used to these smells long ago.


    "This is thest batch from what you had sent to us while you worked." Gil and Midnight had someone take away any of the tearing falcon blood while they worked. It wasn''t something that they could just run back and forth doing since the bodies needed to be taken care of quickly.


    "So what about the actual potion? This can''t be it¡­" Gil couldn''t fathom that the potion would be so gross.


    "Really? It''s right next to you Gil." Remey shook her head and focused on the current cauldrons. This left Walker to exin.


    "The potion needs the blood purified to be used as an ingredient. I was surprised that the rest of the process was mixing our smelly ingredient and some herbs to soak. This is the antidote and it will be done in an hour after we add what''s left here." The process was more interesting than Walker had originally thought.


    The fact that the process went so in depth as purifying one single ingredient then turned around and just left the others to soak was off. But he had managed to see Remey cutting and mincing some herbs to soak. The same reason as I''m cooking was given, to let them spread the medicines within.


    "So that will be this?" The difference in color was the most drastic thing Gil had picked out. The rusty brown color of the purified blood turned in to a somewhat clear red potion that could just be dyed water. And when Gil leaned his head close he smelled a pleasant floral scent. Much better than the singr ingredient.


    "Exactly, the best part is that this potion can be drunk or applied. Apparently, only a handful of potions are like that but because of the weaker potion this one is like that." As far as Walker could see, this would increase the ability to heal those encountering the purple bank frogs many times over.


    "Well that''s good." Gil wasn''t sure how it all really worked since potions were not his specialty. However, he did see the value. "I was wondering if you could help derive the purple bank frog poison for a poison drip arrow I''m making? The purple feathers are perfect for it. I just don''t have anything to do with the yellow feathers other than regr arrows."


    "We were wondering about the yellow color on the arrows too. This antidote potion will work for that poison as well but who knows how well. Remey said that we would have to add ingredients or change the potionpletely depending on what the monster was and what the poison did." Walker felt that he was somewhat letting everyone down.


    The reason for this was that there could be a person that encountered this poisonous monster before they had any inkling of what it was. That left them without an antidote and the pure home that someone would defeat one. Other than that, they would also need the body of the monster to be somewhat intact so that they could extract the poison from it.


    "Well, I think we can head to the top deck while Remey works. That way we will be able to get out of Remey''s way and also keep an eye out for any fighting." Walker knew that there was a tough chance they would be able to see what the monster was ahead of the ship. There were many of the scouting and clearing groups ahead of the ship. However, it was worth the shot, especially since they could climb a look out tower.


    "That means we can work on our sight while we make arrows. And Yes, you helped Remey, scared away Midnight who was helping me, so that means you are now helping me. Sound good Remey?" Gilpletely captured Walker without even asking Walker''s permission.<sub> </sub>


    "Fine by me, he already kept the ingredients in good condition through the toughest part. I should be fine here. I already called for the alchemists on board to help bottling and cooling these potions after they are done. They are good for five months. A pretty solid amount of time." Remey was happy with this as the efficacy time for the potion. It was above the average four months meaning she did well in asking Walker to help control temperature.


    "Well¡­I guess that''s alright." Walker actually wanted to take some time to meditate but had already been dragged in to something else. After a quick check that Remey really didn''t need him, he followed Gil back up to the top deck where a few more groups had returned to change shifts.


    "It looks like everyone has been busy. The purple bank frogs must be more prevalent than we thought." Gil was both happy and annoyed by this. He knew that there would be more treating falcon materials if there was more of their prey around. He would be missing out on them because the other elves wouldy im to them. But he was happy because that meant that the route was being well cleared for the other ships. Especially Alma''s.


    "It''s good, a lot of the healers are getting some experience working in a ship. I''m sure Alice has partnered up with Su by now topletely take charge of the healing. Honestly, she might be changing things around as we speak." Walker could imagine it now. Su and Alice ordering around the healers and the nuns that hade on the ship to make the entire healing floors more efficient.


    The tower that they were climbing was just shorter than the masts that were set up to carry the massive wind catching sails. The sails himself had been made from a special braided fabric that waster made with wind elemental runes. This allowed them to be able to catch the wind under any circumstance to push the ship faster. It was also thest fallback when the ship lost magical power to move or steam power. The dwarves had many back up ns.


    Climbing the steps of the tower brought them past a few people moving up and down. They were mostly elves since the elves had the best archers and in rtion, the best eyesight. They had proven to be the best to take the lookout while a few of the demi-humans with certain monster or animal traits had also taken the positions as watchers.


    "See, from up here we can see forever. Now let''s start work on carving some arrow shafts." Gil tossed Walker a knife and pointed out the one he had already carved from the tearing falcon bones. "Just straighten it out, remove the ends, and focus on creating notches here, here, and here." Gil showed off the speed of his skill by making one in the blink of an eye.


    "You know you will need to check my work over and over. I doubt I will be able to watch the banks much." This wasn''t really an issue. Walker had not helped Gil make arrows in a long time. They would have the chance to bond while Walker worked on a skill he didn''t use.


    "Just keep trying to copy me and we will be fine. I have all the bones from the tearing falcons. If we mess some up it''s not the end of the world. But if you mess too many up¡­well, someone needs to test the arrows.'' Gil''s evil smile made Walker question if Gil was truly a hero or if he had somehow managed to be a hidden viin.


    "By any means, I will see what I can do." Walker took the carving knife and started to carve away at the bone using the same technique that Gil did. He was sure that this would end up being a new skill as long as he spent the time on it. He just had to put in the work.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1598 1598. Yellow

    For the moment that Walker had before he tried to focus on the bone in his hand, he looked out at the scenery. Being on the water was misleading, now one would imagine that they were up as high as they were. They would normally be impeded by the riverbanks therefore they would see nothing. But at the moment, he saw a lot.


    The expansive wilderness that stretched out around the river and even beyond. He could see the mountain range in the far distance while he could swear he could make out a city or two. Whether it was all in his head or not, there was great beauty in the sight. There was a sense of peace that burrowed right in to his heart to settle down.


    "I think I will bring Alice to share a watch with meter. It would only be fair to help out here too." Gil smirked when he heard Walker saying this. He had the same thought process about wanting to share the view with Alma. But that would wait untilter.


    It was only another moment of looking before Walker returned his focus to the bone. He had to try and keep up with Gil in even a little sense of the phrase. He didn''t want to be useless when it came to arrow making. Plus, he had the feeling that he could get another skill that might be useful one day other than arrows.


    The slow carving of the bone was something that would normally make someone on edge. Most people wouldck the patience to do this sort of task. However, for walkers, it was a challenge of the mind. Simr to meditating and feeling the mana in the air. It required a firm focus that ignored even time itself.


    This thought process consumed Walker as he ran the knife along the bone smoothing out the imperfection. Since it was a fresh bone, it had not dried and be tough. There was an easier process of cutting in to it for Walker and Gil. But what Walker noticed was that it was easier to carve it when he used his mana to add in water elemental mana to the de of the knife.


    The change in the way Walker cut surprised Gil but not enough to stop his own work. The flow of Walker''s de was smoother and cut cleaner. The sudden crack as the bone fell on to two halves was shocking to Walker but he did not hesitate to pick up another bone and try again.


    Unfortunately, just like the first bone, it cracked in a few moments because Walker had used too much force and too much mana. "Third try''s the charm." The reciting of amon phrase was thought to bring luck and that was what walker hoped he was bringing to him as he spoke.


    With swift strokes of the knife, thinner bone pieces came off leaving perfectly smooth parts of the bone that resembled an arrow shaft. The more that he did this, the more that Walker wondered if he could even carve a rune in to the bone. Naturally, he had to pursue this curiosity. He could not leave himself wondering just what was and was not possible.


    There was a sudden strength in the elemental mana around Gil that drew his attention. He was captured by the sight of Walker coating the de of the knife he was using in water and carving in to the bone. The tearing falcon bone was not only being shaped but Gil could see the water elemental runes that Walker was copying from a piece of fabric he had taken from his storage.


    ''The skill bone carving has been learned through continued work and guidance from an experienced hunter.


    Bone carving- passive


    The user is able to better carve any type of bone as long as they are using better tools. Not many people have the ability to do so due to the strength of bones or the skill required. The user can better carve bones the more they work with them over time.


    The skill water de has been taken from the water splitting sword system. The user has used their knowledge of water elemental mana, swordsmanship, and elemental control to learn this skill.


    Water de- 3 mana cost an hour


    This skill requires a de to use as the base made of metal. The user is able to manifest the water from the air to add on to the de. The rotating water will sharpen the de making it easier to cut through tougher materials. This skilles at a slightly higher mana cost to maintain but can be lowered as the user''s understanding of mana expands. It may also slowly damage the ded weapon being used.''


    "I swear he learns skill just by breathing¡­wait, has he?" Gil was wondering just how many skills Walker had learned but realized that Walker probably had too many skills to keep track of at this point. It was clear that Walker used some skills without even thinking at this point. They were bing instinctual for him.


    "I think I am done." Walker raised the arrow shaft he had created in to the sun so that they could look at it clearer. "I know I only made one so far but I had an idea that I could use the water elemental mana to help cut the bone since it was soft. Then I started thinking that the runes we know would be perfect for this."


    It was not the first rune that Walker had carved but it was still a little rough. The rune was working well and Gil could feel the water elemental mana adhering to it. "It''s pretty good. I was not going to make arrows like this because I know they can get lost easily. The rune inscribed arrows that some of the elves use are considered priceless because of the time it takes them. But since you want to make them."<sub> </sub>


    "I am not making you a hundred of those. Just one took more mana than it should." Walker could sense that Gil was going to use him to make even more if he was not careful.


    "Finnnnneeeee. But you can help me when I get to making the wind elemental arrows. I figure I will make unique arrows that just Zephyr and I can use. The other elemental arrows will be normal so that I can use them without worry." As an archer, Gil knew the pain of losing arrows. Any hunter or archer would want to recover the arrows they had ved away making. But sometimes battle and hunting took the arrows away in the form of broken shafts, arrowheads, and even being burned to ashes. Any number of things could happen.


    "I can help you as soon as I figure out what all that yelling is about." Walker heard a few of the look outs starting to shout and pass messages down the stairs to others on the top deck. They had definitely spotted something.


    "Then let''s just take a look." Gil was up in a sh with Walker by his side. The pair looked ahead, easily finding the movement that had been spotted.


    "It''s yellow." Gil felt that they had finally found the yellow monster that was providing the tearing falcons with another food source.


    "Yes, it is yellow. Let''s get a closer look from the top deck. The team that was on that side of the riverbank is retreating." Walker knew that the team was mostly physical attackers. The mages were mostly stationed on the ship to maintain ranged protection from monsters.


    It only took a minute to rush down the stairs. Walker had stored the materials that Gil and him had been working on so that there would be no issues. Once they had gotten to the top of the ship they found multiple mages preparing to attack when the monsters came in to range. The cloud of yellow was easier to make out as multiple monsters buzzing around together.


    ''Assassin jackets


    These are monsters with extremely weak bodies. However, they will travel inrge groups that make underground nests. They will easily be disturbed causing them to fly from their nests and attack with deadly poison. The poison is weak when in small doses just causing stress and pain. Inrge doses, it canpletely break down a body leaving food for the hive.


    Many adventurers and travelers have fallen victim to the hidden monsters. Some will try to raise them for their poison but it is not advised due to the danger. They are extremely weak to fire and will often remain in damp or cooler climates to avoid fire. They do not like ice either and will hibernate during the colder seasons.''


    "Assassin Jackets. That is what those are."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1599 1599. Tandem

    "Nothing about them sounds good. They are toorge and poisonous?" Gil had a hard time believing that they were about to face a swarm of bugs that could stop them in their tracks. These things were clearly going to be a lot of trouble.


    "Well, you wanted to know what the monster was that made the tearing falcon''s feathers yellow. Now you have them. But let''s start to help. Can you hit them with an arrow from here? Or do you need a boost?" Walker had a feeling that Gil could fire an arrow close to where the soldiers were retreating from the cloud of assassin jackets. But it would be rough actually hitting the monsters.


    "If you can help add some fire to the wind, I should be good. We can use a fire and wind arrow in the same shot, with you boosting the elemental mana then we should reach with a decent attack." Gil hade up with the idea some time ago but had not had the chance to train with a mage.


    Arcane archery was a mix of physician and magical attacks. Many people were jealous of this. However, there was a challenge in mixing the two. Gil had to focus on this every single day so that he would be able to be the best arcane archer he could be without causing a magical issue or just firing a pointless only physical arrow.


    "Then let''s try this," Gil took out a fire and a wind arrow. This was abination he had used to boost the fire damage when the arrowsnded together. It was more challenging but it would be worth it. But with the boost from Walker, Gil was sure that they would do major damage to the swarm of assassin jackets heading after the soldiers.


    "The distance between them and the monsters has grown, now is the chance while they are gaining space." Walker had already focused on the wind and the fire elemental mana in the air. It was gathering behind Gil waiting for the right moment.


    Walker and Gil had spent enough time together that they didn''t need to say much. Just a look or a turn of the head was enough to match their heartbeats. To beginbining the mana that Gil was using to push the arrow along even faster.


    This on the top of the deck hesitated when they saw the brilliant bust of twirling mes form around the pair. They had not expected that they would be attacking from such a long distance. Even the mages and snipers were unable to fire from such a distance. It was very rare that a marksman of this caliber was able to walk the earth. Many tales would be told if this arrow hit and no one wanted to miss it happening.


    ''The skill tandem archery had been taken from the system. The users Gil and Walker have both gained half the skill of tandem archer.


    Tandem archer- mana cost variable based on the users.


    The twin archers famous for creating this skill have gone down in elven history. Between them, one was gifted in the creation of arrows made of elemental mana while the other was a perfect marksman. Together they became the twin archers that could fire devastating elemental arrows.


    This skill allows two beings to form arrows while taking aim. Both of their manas are taken to fuel the arrows that can do double the damage of a normal arcane arrow. The skilles with the requirement that the two are extremely close and can speak without words. Training a rtionship to this level is not as easy as many would imagine.


    The two will be able to better harness elemental mana to create arrows that attack from a distance when together. They will have fewer chances of creating an explosion of mana before they fire the arrow. They have less chance of destroying the arrow that is their medium.''


    The system had given the two of them a new skill that sounded more emotional than anything. But it was fitting. Unfortunately, Gil and Walker had no idea they had received a skill that was helping them create their attack even better than before.


    The mana surged behind Gil and Walker struggled to hold it back. The change had been dramatic but perfect for Gil to know that it was time to release the mana he had held back with the arrow.


    The mes were perfectly mixed with the wind in a single breath. Gil let the arrows slip away in to the sky. The brilliant fire arced through the air making everyone aboard the ship look up as if they were seeing a smallet.


    Wind whipped around the ship before the arrow made its way behind the running soldiers. "It should be now."


    "Agreed, now." Walker and Gil shared just these words before the arrowsnded together in the center of the assassin jacket swarm.<sub> </sub>


    It felt like time had stopped for just a second before arge burst of mes and winds whipped the assassin jackets in to oblivion. They had either been burned too severely to move or the wind had sliced in to their bodies.


    The soldiers on the river bank had halted after realizing that their enemies had turned in to less than ten enemies. The entire swarm had nearly been defeated with a single pair of arrows. "I can''t say we will do that a lot, but nice job." Gil held out a fist to Walker to bump. He was impressed with what they had done but even more with the speed at which they had done it.


    There had been a feeling of power that flowed through him when he had let the wind and fire arrows out of his hand. As if there was more than just wind and fire elemental mana coursing through the arrows. All Gil could guess was that there was a little natural mana that had mixed in to smooth out the elemental mana''s bonds.


    "That was a lot more than I thought it would be. But since we''re brothers, I don''t know what I would have expected. Shall we go down and help them out?" Walker felt that he and Gil had long been closer than just party members. Many times they had said they were family or brothers. Their new skill had highlighted this. It had given them another way to work together to deal with tougher opponents.


    "I would say they are waiting to see just who caused them a shock like that. A sudden boom of mes and wind? I would have some questions." Gilughed a little as Walker used the elemental dragon wings to make a simple pair of wind wings to carry them down to the river bank where the group of soldiers were fighting thest of the assassin jackets.


    It was a fight that wasplete before they had even set foot back on the earth. However, they had easily drawn the attention of the elf captain that led the group. "Thank you for the help. We seem to have disturbed arge nest. This is only a small group of what we saw up ahead. We need to stop the ship."


    "Well, we didn''t expect that." Gil was stunned. There were so many defeated assassin jackets on the ground behind the captain and his soldiers. Yet, he was saying that there were many more ahead on arge nest.


    "I don''t know why we would be surprised. This is just how our luck goes. But I will ask you this, if there are so many, what do you think we will find?" This question tempted Gil a lot.


    The idea that a massive nest of poisonous monsters was up ahead meant that there would be rare materials for arrows. But even more, there might be a reason that they made such arge nest there. One that had gone beyond what was normal for their species. All this together meant that those on the ship would be receiving valuable supplies that they could take to the ocean for defense.


    "I am going to be making a lot of arrows with the elves." Walkerughed a little. He knew that Gil was not going to let him off the hook.


    "You can worry about that after we clean up here and report this to Scy. We might have to stop the ship and lead an attack ahead of the ship to avoid the swarm attacking the shippletely." Gil and Walker continued like this as they cleaned up the remains of the monsters. Walker was already building an attack n on arger hive of assassin jackets to offer to Scy when they returned to the ship.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1600 1600. Group Up

    "Stop? Why would we stop?" Scy had heard that there was a veryrge assassin jacket nest up ahead which posed a danger but had already decided that it was no reason to stop.


    "We have to get rid of it first. If it is asrge as the soldiers said then it will be a huge issue." Gil was adamant about stopping while Waker thought that it might not be as necessary.


    If we don''t stop then we have to ensure that we wipe it out right away. Mordant and Rise are not going to be responsible for it. You shouldn''t either since you are going to need your strength if we face a tough situation as well." Walker wanted to keep his mind focused on the dangers ahead.


    There was a very good chance that the ship would encounterrger water monsters as they reached the ocean or even the mouth of the river. If they were not prepared then they could not only lose a ship, but lose their lives. It would be a disastrous loss for Genesis and its people.


    "We can not stop because the ships may catch up to us. If you believe a nest of monsters to be dangerous then you should hear what I have been told about ships colliding with one another." Since Scy had been givenmand, the dwarves had ensured that captions of other ships had given her a rundown.


    Scy had also been on wooden ships before. She never had to worry about falling in the waters because she had the ability to swim and walk through the air. That was normal for her. But for others, the waters were a ce where they could drown in darkness or be consumed by monsters they never thought existed. Add in the fire or the impact of a ship crash, and it was never going to be a small event.


    "We will need to handle it before the ship gets there then. And if it isn''t that far ahead¡­"


    "Then we need to act now." Walker knew where Gil was going with this and was already formting a n. "We need the mages toe with us for a long ranged attack. The archers cane too if they can shoot either explosive potions attached to their arrows or arcane arrows." The idea was that the mages and archers would cause damage to the massive swarm before anything else could happen.


    "From there we will have the small groups left that can be handled by patrolling groups or the rest of the mages on the ship as it passes. But we need everyone now." Scy nodded along, agreeing that this n would work.


    "Listen here, all mages withrge area spells, arcane archers, and archers that can fire heavy arrows report to Gil and Walker immediately!" The sudden orders revolved around the ship. Scy had called out loud enough to let multiple of her demi-human soldiers know what was happening.


    The sounds of thundering feet on metal becamemon as many mages and archers lined up. Remey burst on to the roof with fire in her eyes hearing that they had mentioned explosive potions. Walker wasn''t even sure how she heard that because Scy hadn''t even shouted it. But he knew not to question it.


    "I have some newer and improved potions to test out. They will be perfect for this. They will explode in a ball of fire but won''t poison thend. It will actually leave behind a residue that should help nts grow. It was a potion being developed for fertilizer but ended up causing fires. It''s a great test for the altered form." Gil and Walker had no issue with this but they were slightly worried.


    "Then start picking out a team of archers to lead. We are going to fire arrows and spells from multiple arrears to destroy and split the assassin jacket swarm in to parts that we can deal with. They are a pest that needs to be defeated anyways. There will never be enough tearing falcons to deal with the amount reported." As Walker and many others knew, there was a bnce in nature. If there were too many of one monster it could cause damage to the flow of nature in the area. The number of assassin jackets reported were definitely a danger to the natural flow and more.


    "What''s the problem?" Su and Alice reached the top deck with Midnight and Onyx behind them. It seemed that the four had been teamed up working on the healing areas of the ship. The addition of Remey''s potions had definitely sped things up but also required more hands to give them out. Especially to those that were switching shifts.


    "There was a veryrge assassin jacket swarm found nesting ahead. There was a group of soldiers attacked by them. Gil and I handled it but now we have to deal with the man nest before we get there or else the ship will be attacked by more than we can handle." The exnation Walker gave was simple and updated the four of them without issue.


    "I''ve heard of those. The nests can be hidden in the ground or worse. Some farmers even open sheds and find that they have a small nest of five or six starting. But that''s enough to end a life." Su was told about these before by a farmer. It was true that it was an issue for some farmers but they did not often appear anywhere near a city farm. They stuck by moving water which was why Gil had not encountered them before.<sub> </sub>


    "Actually, Alice and Midnight will be a great help. Alice can attack with light from a distance or even make a wall to protect the mages. Then Midnight can help burn them up with her mes." Gil''s point made Alice and Midnight very attentive to what was going on. If they could help they wanted to.


    "I will do it. The less injured the better." Since Alice could not see someone get hurt without needing to heal them, she thought it better to prevent the injury in the first ce. This was amon thought that most good hearted people had. On the other hand, Midnight just started growling with determination, her words escaping her but everyone understood her feelings.


    "Then you will all take a group of five archers and mages each. Take up positions as you see fit and eradicate the threat. Retreat and return here so we can defend the ship as it passes. From the location to here based on what I have been told, you have forty five minutes." Scy waved for everyone to begin moving off the ship. She would remain with the skip for protection since it was her main focus.


    "Alight, we split up. Onyx, go with Alice as her guardian, alight?" Walker would have preferred to go with Alice but he knew that she was skilled enough to be in charge of her own group. It would also waste time to try to make things so they could be together. He had to focus on the bigger picture.


    Leaving the ship was easier than it seemed because of the ropes and multiple boats that could depart from the ship in a very efficient process. Having the sailors that had trained the dwarves was a massive boon. Adding in the soldiers that Leon had in the waters helping guide the ships was even better. He had been wlessly directing them unseen for hours to ensure that things were smooth sailing. It was the biggest unspoken contribution so far.


    Groups formed on the river banks as soon as they reached thend while the small boats were taken back to the ship to maintain the pace. They would be moved back out to the banks when they all returned from their mission.


    "We can not stop here. Form up with me and make way!" Walker took control of his group. The five archers and five mages were moving quickly behind with. The archers were more adept at traveling at this speed with fewer disturbances while the mages seemed to struggle slightly. However, the speed was the main point here.


    "The reports said that we could easily reach the start of the nest. Apparently, it isrge enough that we can see many of them on the top of the soil. That means there are even more below the ground. Be ready to attack when I give a signal. But until we can see all the other groups at the ready, we will hide." Walker wanted to ensure that the attack went well. But he was not prepared for the sight ahead of him. The size of the assassin jacket nest that he was about to encounter.


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 Chapter 1601 1601. Sneaky Assault

    The sounds of insistent wings buzzing now and then became too prevalent for anyone to want to run forward anymore. There was a small hill that seemed to dip down again just before they would be able to see the source of all the sound. This led Walker to make a few hand motions for everyone to follow him, it was time to crawl.


    There was part of Walker that never wanted to get to the top of the hill. It was the buzzing sound and the small skittering of legs that made him want to turn right back around. For whatever reason.


    The sounds of insects was one that made most races shiver slightly. It might have been the fact that they hide away in the shadows and crevices. Or it was the fact that they could eat the most rotten and disgusting things. However, Walker knew it was because they could cause a lot of damage without being seen. Anyone would fear them a little.


    Yet, when Walker''s gaze was finally on the nest of the assassin jacket swarm, he could only take in a sharp breath before activating the all around appraisal skill.


    ''Assassin jacket massive swarm


    This is a swarm that has fought multiple other assassin jacket swarms. In doing so, they have trapped the queens of other swarms to gainrger andrger forces. This expands their territory and ability to grow.


    The original queen assassin jacket can control all the soldier assassin jackets with a single thought making them a very tough opponent. They will attack until they are defeated when asked by their queen.


    The best way to deal with arge swarm like this is to poison their food or to burn their nestpletely. Thervae will grow in the monsters, animals, or other foods they bring back to the nest. Then they will create hard cocoons simr in shape to a honey bee hive but with poisonous barbs to deter enemies.


    Once they hatch it only takes three hours for them to be able to fly and gather food for the entire swarm. Due to the perfect conditions of this nest, they will most likely grow to five times this size. It has been known for the assassin jacket swarms to control entire river banks if they are not attacked by their natural predators.''


    The huge amount of information made Walker worry even more. He could tell that their attack was just in time. If this massive swarm had grown five timesrger it would be an all out war to defeat them. No one would want to handle such a task due to the incredible danger that came with multiple stings of their poisonous barbs.


    The worst part was that they could continuously sting, unlike a honey bee that could only sting once before perishing. Adding in the fact that the queen assassin jacket had such a powerful hold over the soldier assassin jackets, it was dangerous. They would not hesitate to assault anything to their very death.


    "Listen up, we need to use fire. It will damage thend around here a little bit. I will try to repair it with natural mana." Walker''s whispered orders were enough for everyone to begin slow preparations. No one had given them away nor did the other groups. "When I stand, I will roar. At that time, you will all attack. I will also try and make a wave of mes. It might be a little rough, but it should protect us."


    The idea to make a wave of mes was one Walker had seen in another book a long time ago. But he had not thought of a time he would ever need it. When it came to battle, he had the ability to fight close and rangedbat. On top of that, he was sure that he could escape most damage using his skills because he had a team behind him.


    Now was different. Walker needed the fire elemental mana to not only protect his group, but also so that he could burn the wings of the assassin jackets. The idea he had was one that would not necessarily kill them on contact. It would burn their wings and force them in to a position where they could not battle properly using their stingers. Overall, it would save many lives in the long run.


    Using the dragon''s intimidation would make Midnight use it as well. The feeling that Walker had between himself and Midnight told him this. It would distract and stun the assassin jackets making him able to attack much more efficiently. It also gave the time for the mages to cast multiple spells.


    "Is everyone ready?" The mages and the archers gave soft yeses. Their bodies were tensed to leap up and attack within a single breath. The archers knew that aiming was not the most important thing now, instead, they just had to aim for thergest group of assassin jackets to ensure that the swarm is culled.


    For a moment, Walker was caught up thinking about the assassin jackets underneath the ground. They would be the most trouble. The only thing that stopped his worries was the fact that there would be many mes. It would cause the bodies of the assassin jackets to burn and cut off many of the assassin jackets that swarmed out from their underground nest.


    The addition of Remey''s improved explosive potions would also help defeat the entire swarm at once. If the assassin jackets were not trapped underground, then they would be blown up by theplicated potions. From there, it would be a retreat to the ship so that they could attack the remnants that managed to escape the mes or the explosions.<sub> </sub>


    There was no more waiting. Walker took his deep breath before jumping up. He had made himself the center of attention as he released the dragon''s intimidation skill. His dragon roar echoed along the rover and the assassin jackets were suddenly shocked.


    Before a single set of wings could begin to p, spells rained down. There was another roar from nearby. Midnight had followed the signal and stood tall with her group. The mages had gathered around her to manipte her dragon mes that she released. It was the perfect n for them while the archers fired arrows in to the swarm.


    Surprisingly, Su responded with her own, smaller, but still powerful roar. She had not gotten to the level that Walker and Midnight were at when it came to roaring but she had let her newfound instincts guide her. It was an impressive triple shock to the assassin jackets which had barely begun to react before the first spells and arrows hit them.


    "Don''t let up!" Walker''s order was drowned out by sudden explosions. He shouted it three times over before focusing fully on the fire elemental mana. He had to generate enough of it to create a true wall of mes to push toward the swarm.


    As the first to draw attention, the assassin jackets were moving toward Walker. The few that had not been hit by the first wave of arrows and spells knew that there was a target perfecly announced before them. This hastened Walker''s gathering of mana.


    Since Walker had begun to understand mana more and more, he was better able to grasp the fire elemental mana in the air. The sunlight carried small traces and the mes he could create and guide from the other''s attacks were also at his fingertips. These thingsbined assisted in the sudden creation of mes.


    A curtain of red fire burned as Walker opened his arms to the sides. The archers and mages were unfazed. They trusted their safety to Walker and he trusted his to them. The assassin jackets that got close were shot down by magic or arrows before Walker thrust his arms out.


    The result was arge moving wave of mes twice Walker''s height and four times his arm''s length. This wall of mes pushed directly in to the assassin jackets that had attempted to fly toward them. It also gave them the perfect amount of space to begin a retreat.


    The only issue was that the earth had begun to crumble under Remey''s improved explosive potions. The entire underground portion of the assassin jacket nest had been exposed much faster. It had let out the assassin jackets much sooner. They were also much angrier after being uncovered and some of them were partially buried in the earth.


    Everyone sensed the danger in the air before they saw it. Then they heard it. The buzz of four wings that wererger and tougher than all the other assassin jackets. The buzz of the queen assassin jacket''s wings. It was angry¡­very angry.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1602 1602. Dragon Fire!!!

    ''Assassin jacket queen- enraged


    The assassin jacket queen has been able to subjugate multiple other queens. This had allowed her to establish a constant supply of food to her and multiple sources of assassin jacket soldiers. Due to this, it has been able to grow stronger and stronger.


    The shell of the assassin jacket queen is unique, having gained additional strength. It is ideal light armor material for those that rely on speed. The poison that the assassin jacket queen has within its body is also unique. It can be used for very unique medicinal potions.


    The weakness to fire has been ovee by the constant growth of the assassin jacket queen. Its wings can resist mes much better than the soldiers therefore it is unable to be easily forced to the ground. The best way to defeat it is with a powerful blunt force.''


    The all around appraisal had given Walker some great insight about the assassin jacket queen. He had already called for a retreat. The mages and archers were moving backwards slowly while still sending attacks at the assassin jackets trying to fly from under the soil.


    It was a panic for the assassin jacket swarm. Their entire nest had copsed leaving them much weaker. The food stores and the youngrvae werepletely gone. It was understandable that they would be angry. Yet, the queen was also influencing them to cause chaos. To kill and destroy the intruders.


    This caused a madness to spread through the living assassin jacket soldiers. They began to crawl even if their wings and legs were burned. It caused the mages and archers to be even more stressed. This kind of pressure was hard to face, especially when there were so many assassin jackets that had lived. So many more than initially intended.


    "Su! Come this way and meet my team!" Walker needed Su to defend him. She would be able to block the attacks of the assassin jacket queen while he prepared the elemental two handed hammer to attack the assassin jacket queen. The second Walker had seen that the weakness the queen had was blunt force, he had thought about the hammer he rarely used in battle.


    "Understood!" Su had no other words. She heard Walker''s shout and directed the mages and archers behind her to help cut a path to him. Midnight heard this as well and began to direct her mes toward the swarm with even more fury. The mages knew that Midnight was trying to help the other groups retreat properly. They used their mana and fire maniption to copy the wave of mes that Walker had made.


    Manipting dragon fire was something that some of the mages could only imagine doing in a fantasy. In dreams, they would have the power to call down the dragon mes from the heavens, yet now? They were doing it. They were right next to a dragon facing an enemy that threatened the things they had decided to stand for in life. It was a literal dreame true.


    This desire was not missed by the world. Out of all the mages that had been split in to groups, the fire mages had been sent with Midnight for the reason that they may be able to work with her. However, none had known that many fire mages had the dream of controlling dragon fire. It was just somethingmon and childish. Something most people ignored and forgot.


    The sudden increase in Midnight''s fire was like a scream for attention. The assassin jackets saw the threat and attacked. But the world had already given the title, dragon fire mage, to them. A title that allowed them to work in tandem with dragons to help them fight. To allow them ess to the skill, dragon fire maniption.


    No one knew it, but this was the beginning of something veryrge. A way for the other races to bond with the dragon race. A way for the fire dragons to integrate themselves with mages. The first step in creating the Dragonfire mage academy within Genesis¡­ to achieve the dreams of the fire mages that had always idolized dragon fire.


    The mes that Midnight had breathed should have died off when she closed her move and made a move to get to Walker and Su who had just united to face the iing assassin jacket queen. But when Midnight nced behind her, she only saw that the mes had grown bigger in to a draconic head.


    The maniption of the five fire mages together had brought their ideology of dragon fire to life. It continued the mes using their mana to burn up a greatest number of assassin jackets. The archers could only rush to them and catch them as their mana was exhausted and the mages copsed leaving behind a majorly burned piece ofnd with many smoldering assassin jackets.


    Seeing this, Midnight roared out. The roar was a battle cry. But it was also her encouragement topletely eradicate the assassin jackets before her. She had trusted the mages to follow her and she was finally seeing the unity that Genesis had been growing standing with her. It was where she ced her pride.


    Pride as a dragon? That was small. Pride as a guardian of Genesis? That was much greater. Genesis stood for much more than just the dragons now. A pride for just herself and race was small. Now she could show her pride for all that Genesis was and would be. That Was why she roared. She had to proim her desires.<sub> </sub>


    Instead of going to meet Walker and Su as she had intended, Midnight changed directions to charge at the assassin jacket queen. With a single leap and heavy p of her wings, Midnight had pounced on the unsuspecting assassin jacket queen. Her teeth pierced through the wings and tore them from their joints.


    The assassin jacket queen lost its flying ability crashing in to the ground where Su was already in motion. Her shield was charging toward the head of the assassin jacket queen to stun it. The ringing of her twin shields bashing in to the assassin jacket queen was the signal that Walker needed. While it was stunned he could step in to the air and wind up with the elemental hammer in his hands.


    The fire mana around from the dragon fire mages was too perfect. It had set the stage for the elemental hammer to gain a coat of mes. They spiraled from it as the air around seem to twist because of the heat. Gil had been watching and fired two wind elemental wither spike arrows toward them to fuel the fires even more. He and Remey were already grouping up with the others to retreat properly. They saw the work that Walker was doing and knew it to be more important for them to retreat the injured or mana exhausted.


    By the time Walker''s elemental hammer mmed down upon the body of the assassin jacket queen, it had felt that it was losing its life. The remaining few assassin jackets had gone berserk but were too injured to meet their queen. The death of the assassin jacket queen was instant, the mes that epassed her left only some of her body behind for Walker to collect.


    "Full retreat! The remainders can be cleaned by the other soldiers!" Walker''s orders echoed out as Su took position again to protect their retreat. Walker only had time to store away the queen''s body and a few assassin jacket bodies while they left. Midnight was growling constantly to deter any remaining assassin jackets. The only thing that kept them from attacking was the fact that they now feared the mes to their very core.


    Seeing the ship in the distance and the call of those on the boats was what spurred them to return even faster. The ship had nearly gotten to the area the nest patrolled by the time they had dealt with the swarm.


    Arrows flew high above as the elven snipers defeated additional assassin jackets. The dragonkin soldiers with them took to thend as the group stepped aboard the small boats and returned to the ship. Scy was already smiling when Walker ced a foot on the ship. She seemed to know the results without words.


    "I could see some new mes from here. I wish to know everything when everyone is treated. I expect our songstress friend to heal everyone quickly!" Scy didn''t have to order Alice to begin singing, she had already made it a point. But hearing that she had been deemed a friend by Scy brought a strange happiness to her. Someone so powerful had respected her healing, something that made Alice very proud. It also expanded the bonds they had.


    All that was left was for Walker to gather the groups after healing. The retreat had been swift once the main attack on the assassin jacket queen had been dealt. Walker felt strange having attacked with so much perfect cooperation. But looking at everyone around him, he understood that it was the bonds they had formed. Not just some small n.


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 Chapter 1603 1603. Dragon Fire Mage

    Scy was watching every second of healing and mana recovery. She had heard a lot about Alice but had yet to truly interact. She believed what her soldiers had told her though. They were proof that the great things were more than true. Especially now that Scy was yet again under the influence of Alice''s skills.


    "You did a lot of good work when getting us to the merfolk waters. Now, you are surpassing that." The simplement after Alice had finished her song was enough to shock Alice. Scy was speaking with her again which was unusual. Scy was very well known for always being focused on battle, not Beijing focused on healing.


    "I would appreciate bringing you in to any battle. Especially a battle against the greatest enemy our new alliance has. I trust my soldiers will be able to survive the best with your healing." This was what Scy believed. Out of all the healers, even if the high priest was younger, she would choose Alice.


    "Thank you. I will get even better." The promise that Alice made was not small. She believed that she could continuously improve. How could she not? She wanted to stand beside those she cared for. If she did not, the party would get too far ahead of her. They would radically improve leaving her too far behind to do a single thing.


    "I heard that, with Alice and My potions, we have everyone awake and functional again." Remey didn''t hesitate to jump in with Alice. This was mostly because she wanted Scy to join her and Su by distributing more potions. However, Walker had other ns.


    "Wait, there are a group of mages that want to speak with us and Midnight. They were the ones that made the mes you saw." Scy was instantly interested. Remey didn''t hesitate either. She was curious since she had her partner to rely on when mes came to the conversation. It was impossible for her not to want to understand those that had controlled Midnight''s mes.


    "Brother, they want to speak with us." Midnight pulled Walker back over. She had changed to her dragonkin form because she was able to rest now on the ship. It was also the form she wanted to practice in the most while resting. It was easy for her to revert to her dragon form anyways.


    "The five of you did great work that even I could see from the ship. Not many can work together like that. When your group was organized it was simply because a dragon and fire mages seemed to make sense. Midnight is strong enough to resist your mes. But you did more than that I assume?" While taking the lead, Scy saw that the mages'' eyes were shimmering. Their excitement was clear.


    "General, we may be mentally exhausted from our newfound abilities, but we are able to tell you for certainty, putting us together was a blessing. We have titles. Titles we never imagined and could only dream of. We have the title of dragon fire mage. We can manipte dragon fire when it is used around us now. Thanks to you, miss. Midnight, and the desires we followed to be here¡­we have achieved something unique."


    Immeasurable pride burned in the mage''s eyes while they said this. It was clear that the mana potions and minor healing from small burns was all they kept them going. Mentally they had taken a big hit on their energy. Something like using a new title and skill was intense, the entire party knew this.


    "Then you should use it well. When the ships reach the mouth of the river to join up, you will meet with Ignus." Walker had to be sure that the dragons would ept this. Igus was the biggest test since he was the royal fire dragon.


    "I agree, it will be paramount to your strength in the future. You should bond well with the fire dragons to be able to stand with them in battle. Especially against wyverns. Until then, I will ask Midnight to allow you to train on the deck of the ship." Scy turned around hiding her smile. She was d to see more powerful soldiers. To see a new way to fight arrive. This was what she had expected by going with the party on the first ship.


    "Hmm, able to manipte dragon mes? Ignus will have some trouble with that one." Mordant nearly scared them out of their skin but showing up from the shadows behind them. But even more surprising was that Rise had also lowered herself to the deck of the ship. They had both listened in without giving themselves away.


    "You believe that Ignus would allow another to manipte his mes? He will eat them before the day is up if he could be here to see this." Rise was more certain that Ignus would want these mages gone. They had a fearful control of his mes. Something no other could ever do from what the dragons understood.


    "Have there never been any dragonkin that can manipte dragon fire? I thought some of the draconic guardians can breathe mes?" Walker saw Su nod out of the corner of his eye. She would attest to this as much as she could if he was told otherwise. She was living proof.


    "That is different. They are already under us. Their strength is our strength." Rise was already pushing the idea away that others could learn these skills even though she had witnessed it.


    "As often as Rise and I do not see eye to eye, she is correct. Having our innate skills used against us is a potential we wish to avoid. How can these five promise they will not turn Ignus''s mes against him?" Mordant let out a little threat at this. His eyes said that he was unafraid of harming the five mages if they even dared to say they would do such a thing.<sub> </sub>


    "Then it''s even more important that the dragons guide them. Do you think I would turn the arrows on the elves that I have made with their guidance? They have properly guided me in a system that humans never get. I am indebted and considered one of them. It took some time but earning respect and sharing things will create a bond that can not be broken. Until then, create a contract. There should be a magical contract that will prevent animosity."


    From the way that Gil spoke, he had many more thoughts on this subject. He could only rte this to the way that the elves offered him ways to grow. He had taken them and been proud of it. He had even taught them things with his outside the box way of thinking when it came to arrows. Therefore, their missions were his. His missions were theirs.


    "Well said but we shall see it in practiceter." Rise epted what Gil said and returned to the air well above the ship. She was not concerned with the assassin jackets being attacked on the river banks as they traveled. They were too small in her eyes. The only interest she had had was the dragon fire that had grown in battle.


    "Hmm, I will let Ignus see this himself. For now, Midnight is in charge. It should be good for her. She can grow faster." Mordant rxed a lot when Rise surprisingly agreed to this for now. He had imagined more pushback from her to end these mages right away.


    On the other hand, the mages were very happy. So happy that they could not contain themselves. They had stepped above what they had been and were traveling a new path of fire mage mastery. Who would be unhappy? Even with the danger they believed they had created history.


    "I guess that is that then. Pretty interesting though." Remey was at a loss now that the energy had died down. She just wanted to return to make more antidote potions using the assassin jackets as ingredients.


    "I am pleasantly surprised. Can I see how you make antidotes this time? I wonder if they can be made in to pills for the soldiers to carry instead of bottles." Su seemed to say enough for Remey to be excited all over again. Before Walker could even give the assassin jackets to Remey, the pair was off toward the alchemyb.


    "If they are going to the alchemyb, that means I should rest and work on more arrows. I have the poison that I need for those yellow tearing falcon feathers." Gil''s grin told Walker that he would have plenty of work to do.


    "You five should rest. Midnight will let you know when you can train. For today, it is better for you to organize your thoughts." Walker left the mages alone with these thoughts. They had a lot to decide amongst themselves.


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 Chapter 1604 1604. Return To The Nest

    "Why are you sneaking back there? The dragonkin and archers are still trying to handle the remaining assassin jackets. And it will take you some time to catch back up." Walker had left the rest of the group to let Scy know his intentions.


    "The entire area that the swarm was nesting in is burned up and damaged by positions. I have to return with Fleur to let the natural mana heal thend a little bit. It''s just what I have to do." Walker had said he would do this and recognized that he would have to put in some extra effort to get back to the ship.


    "I know you can step through the air like I can, but it will have a high mana cost. And you will be alone, take someone with you." Walker already pointed over at Midnight. He had thought of the other people that could fly and leave where they were easily. The dragon fire mages didn''t need mIdnight right away.


    "Then that''s fine. I won''t stop you. I understand that you have a unique rtionship with nature. There are also those soldiers out there cleaning the area up. The other ship should be along shortly if you can''t catch up." Scy had decided to trust Walker with this. She knew that he and the dragons had the ability to go between the ships if they so desired.


    "If anything goes wrong I will send a signal high in the sky. It''s pretty clear that everyone can see the mes from the look out towers." Knowing this was also what the archers had used to create their own warning systems if they found something too dangerous to handle outside the ship.


    There was a nod from Scy before she returned to the group of demi-humans she was sending to rece the merfolk that were swimming alongside the ship underwater. They were taking longer shifts because the water was more natural to them than being on the ship. Some of the merfolk and demi-humans wouldn''t even leave the water the entire trip because they could rest underwater while holding the ship.


    Without any hesitation, Walker and Midnight moved to the railing of the shop. One high leap was all it needed for Midnight to catch the air and start to glide toward where they had been. Walkern followed by jumping in to the air and taking stride right next to her with the wind ripple skill. He had decided to use the elemental wings in wind form to return since he could use a little less mana that way and have more speed.


    A few of the archers gave calls as they left because they were going to be keeping an eye on them as long as possible. It was very heartwarming since Walker knew that a few of the archers had refused to take a break. Instead, they had gone right to the look out towers to ensure that the assassin jackets would be called out if they fled toward the ship.


    The reason Walker didn''t feel he could wait any longer to repair thend that they had attacked and that the swarm of assassin jackets had eaten away at was simple. The sky still had smokeing from there. It meant that the dragon fire, mage fire, and potions had caused something to keep smoldering.


    This would not be a problem because the river was right there. The water would deter the fire from spreading. Unfortunately, that couldn''t be said of the grass, bushes, and sparse trees leading away from the river bank. It was the perfect fuel for a fire that would take an army to deal with.


    Only a few minutes of flying over the grind did Walker and Midnight get the sounds of battle. They looked down just in time to see three dragonkin taking down a slightlyrger assassin jacket that was trying to find its swarm again.


    The assassin jacket had clearly sensed that the queen had fallen. This caused it to act erratically. But that was for the better when it came to battle. The dragonkin had impable instincts. Every move that they or the assassin jackets made was mirrored. This left the dragonkin at a major advantage.


    They shed the assassin jacket''s wings off and then moved in from three sides to defeat it. Before Walker had the chance to wave, they had begun breaking the body down to return to the ship with it. The hunting efficiency was definitely better than most.


    "So you are more of Mordant''s dragonkin warriors. Good work." Walker lowered himself down just enough to say this. He was sure that the praise would go a long way. "Midnight and I are speeding toward the nest again. we will clean up some of the smolderings that may cause a fire. After that, we are heading right back to the ship. If you can keep up, I might need a few more guards."


    Walker wasn''t really sure that he would need the guards. The dragon fire mage''s attacks had proved to be the true end to the entire swarm. The attacks had gone above what any of the assassin jackets could survive or remain in the area for. That was why the archers on the ship were sniping the fleeing assassin jackets that were no longer in their right mind.


    "Understood. We will let our lord know of your praise." One of the three dark affinity dragonkin was the leader. He was already stepping away from the assassin jacket parts to allow Walker to store it away. He trusted that Walker also came down for this.<sub> </sub>


    "No need for you to waste energy to carry that. You have good ideas. On the ship, we will make some new armor from the assassin jackets too. It''s light and can be made tougher. Sounds like a good test for the dragonkin that had yet to do much work with unique materials?" The three dragonkin seemed ddened by this.


    From what they had heard of the assassin jackets before they were sent to patrol, the materials were good for light armor, arrows, and making antidote potions. All things that would help the ship and their lord in his endeavors. Being told that it would also help teach their fellow dragonkin made them even more determined to return to the nest for the materials needed.


    "Midnight, we are picking up the pace." Walker and Midnight began to move much faster. Midnight was able to p her wings with more air behind it. Her time around Ventus had shown her that she didn''t just fly. She let the wind elemental mana spread around her wings and push her forward too. The small revtion had allowed Midnight to slightly grasp the concept and begin to use it herself.


    Walker, on the other hand, moved step by step increasing his speed while also watching the three dragonkin track them from the ground. The distance may have been short to the burned swarm, but Walker was impressed that the dragonkin had such agility to remain right with them.


    Here and there, Walker was reminded that they were Mordant''s dragonkin. They could dash around the through shadows slightly increasing the speed that they traveled. They also trained a unique movement skill that would allow them to be faster when they found shadows. It was something that Walker had the desire to learn, therefore, watching only helped Walker in this small goal forter.


    Smoke became a little thicker once they reached the area they had crouched to crawl the first time. This was because there was arge smoldering hole where the swarm had been. Every now and then, there would be an attempted buzz from broken assassin jacket wings. They were already defeated though. It was just their bodies losing thest of the energy they had in life.


    The defeated assassin jackets that could be taken as materials were very few. Most had been burned or broken by the explosive potions. Walker was still impressed by the fact that Remey had managed to improve them with Trish before they came on the ship.


    "If you three want to begin to gather up the usable assassin jackets I can store them. Midnight is going to snake around beating the living assassin jackets, if there are any. I will start to bring the natural mana together." The goal that Walker had would be easy as long as he and Fleur worked together.


    The sensing of the natural mana in the area was already a little tough because of the unbnced mana . fire mana was very prevalent at the moment due to the fire attacks. But Walker easily could deal with this. All he needed to do first was call on the water elemental mana around to put out any smoldering parts of the nest.


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 Chapter 1605 1605. Shape The Land

    Pulling the water from the air was a simple task. Walker had done it many times at this point in his life. Especially when he had gone to form ice for his skills. It was just a simple thing that any water mage needed to learn. However, this time he was not making ice. He had to extinguish the smoldering parts of the assassin jacket nest.


    "Fleur, if we can pull the water in to a cloud just above the nest, we can make a fake rain." The idea was to replicate nature and make it rain, literally. Fleur was still within the spirit mark, but she was very much paying attention.


    Since Walker had mentioned that he would need her help, Fleur had focused solely on making the natural mana denser in the spirit mark and around them. This was her strength and she was not going to abandon Walker. Especially because she also wanted to return thend that had the nest on it to what it should be if nothing had eaten away at it.


    The earth and the water were the two first steps. While Walker imagined the water being gathered in the sky right above the nest, he could tell that it was actually easier to manipte the water in the air this way. He had used much more mana to condense it directly in to water then freezing itpared to now. This alone made him feel slightly disappointed in himself for not following the natural flow of mana in the first ce.


    The mist that formed first was a sign that Walker had seeded. The cloud that became denser and denser as he used his mana to poke and prod the mist together was closer to the ground than he imagined. However, it was already forcing the smolderingnd to return to damp soil. The smoke was caught which coincidentally added to the moisture. The water in the smoke had be a perfect addition to the cloud.


    <o>,m "And now¡­rain." The sudden burst of Walker''s mana caused the water to begin to fall lightly. It was not a strong rain but a drizzle that fell all at once. The cloud he had created was gone in just a few seconds but the water had done its job. "Hmm, I will need to try that again another day. I thought I could do that better." The slight failure of actually copying real rain weight on Walker a little because it made him feel that he had been neglecting real water magic for too long.</o>


    "Midnight,e closer, I am going to smooth out the earth here with my high earth sculpting skill. If I do it like this though, there will be some assassin jackets that might still be alive underneath." The worry was not unfounded. Walker was sure that there were a few of the assassin jackets that could hold their breath for some time. That was also why the three dragonkin were currently defeating one of two that they harvested and piled up near Walker. They were not all suffocated when the nest copsed.


    The way that the earth looked where the nest had been was sloppy, to say the least. The ground had fallen in to arge hole that the assassin jackets had dug out. This left the ground to be nearly impossible to walk on because there were still air pockets that could copse. Walker could sense these just by sending his mana in to the ground.


    Furthermore, the explosive potions had created small craters that would make travel even more challenging here. The small stones that were broken up had sharp edges as well. Overall, this area would be tough for horses, walking, or monsters to travel.


    Since Walker had more experience manipting the earth due to his previous battles, he felt that the ground here was easier to change. Just by digging his hands in to the water softened soil, he felt it already start to bend to his will.


    The air pockets were easy to handle underground. All he had to do was use his mana to make the ground shake a little. This caused the three dragonkin to retreat toward hui and watch the earth fall back in to ce. Midnight growled a little and the sound of her ws tearing at an assassin jacket made Walker know that he had freed one as he thought he would. But Midnight would not let a single one approach them. She was too good for that.


    As Walker began to tten thend with his skill, a few other sounds of things breaking the ground were heard. The rain had softened the soil causing the few living assassin jackets to be able to escape easily. This was why the three dragonkin needed to act as well.


    The first assassin jacket to break free was wingless. It had been hit by the wall of me and fallen in to the nest. Now it was able to attempt revenge, or it would have been if it had not tried to run right at Walker. Right where the dragonkin holding arge sword was waiting to defend the person that was one of the dragon royals they were to protect.


    Just as the sword shed the assassin jacket''s head off, three more had broken the soil''s surface. But Midnight had already teamed up with the other two dragonkin. They had their own swords and Midnight had her ws.


    Instead of being able to wreath her ws in mes, Midnight had to do something else. She knew that the fire would be weakened by the water that had fallen along with causing more parts of the nest to smolder again. She didn''t want to undo the work that Walker had already done.


    Taking past inspiration from Walker, Midnight took a deep breath and changed the mana she focused on. Instead of fire, she imagined the ice she had seen Walker make forming from her breath. She had seen a dragon breathe ice and also water, how could she not do it when she had trained it before?<sub> </sub>


    The single small breath of ice was enough to freeze some of the water on to her ws. The result was Midnight''s second form of elemental wreathed ws, the very sharp and pointed frost w. She stumbled ever so slightly because of the change in her ws. However, Midnight just used her wings to hold herself up. She had copied Walker and used a skill she had thought of in battle, now she had to actually use it.


    The assassin jacket that became her target was one that had not gained any visible damage other than the soil covering it. This had been one that was in the nest when they had attacked. It had been covered and unable to escape. The freedom it had was also met with rage since it knew its queen had fallen. This was why it did not hesitate to attempt to use its wings.


    The assassin jacket pped its wings to be able to gain space to sting Midnight as she approached. But it was not fast enough. Midnight had already used her wings to push herself forward. The assassin jacket was like a sitting target to her. She just had to sh with her icy ws.


    The wounds that the assassin jacket received were enough for anyone to cringe. The shes that appeared on the exoskeleton of the assassin jacket froze solid causing ice to splinter it even worse. The assassin jacket had barely lifted itself off the ground before falling right back on the ground next to the two other assassin jackets that the dragonkin had defeated.


    "And now to bring the natural mana in to the ground here." The four had been worried about the assassin jackets but Walker had already been changing the earth. He had begun to mumble his steps in a hyper focused state.


    The natural mana that he and Fleur had pulled together was seeping in to the ground. The dormant seeds and roots from what had lived here before the assassin jackets had made their nest began toe back to life.


    The use of natural mana proved to be truly remarkable. The three dragonkin had never seen something like this. The soft soil had been forced to even out and was just showing signs of seedlings sprouting. Even more so, there were signs of other things like mushrooms and small wormsing to the surface. They were all reacting to the increased natural mana to grow and move better.


    "Ha! Anything else will be too much for thend right now but I gave it a start." Walker jumped up with a satisfied shout. He wasn''t going to damage thend by forcing it to grow but he could give it just enough mana to start strong. "Nice job defending me. I had to stay pretty focused there." Mordant''s dragonkin were stunned, how could they be anything else?


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1606 1606. Racing Winds

    The three dragonkin had made quick work of the remaining assassin jackets that crawled around for the time being. Walker had sat for a moment to contemte how easy it had just been to pull at the natural mana. Between him and Fleur, it appeared that they had be much closer to the natural mana than before.


    Overall, Walker had the goal of bing a true sage while also bing the nature dragon. It was part of what he wanted to do in life. The power he would have with those official titles would allow him to protect a great many people. But it would also bring him closer to the mystery that the world was.


    Fleur had been growing as well. The bonds between Walker and Fleur were actually much stronger than they had been. Just by looking within himself, Walker was able to find this. The reason he had missed it was that he had been too busytely. He had forced himself to move on and on over and over without enough rest. His mind had be just slow enough to miss something tied to his very soul.


    The addition of strengthened bonds between Fleur and him made Walker much more in tune with what Fleur felt. He could feel her using her own natural mana that made up her body to influence the natural mana around them. This was how every elemental spirit was able to manipte their elemental mana. But Walker had never been able to sense this because he had not reached that level of understanding.


    Most elves knew this fact and Walker could have gathered it from what had happened after he had seen elemental spirits use their mana. They always had to rest for some time to recover. It was the same as anyone else that use their mana.


    But, what was truly a tell of how important this was, was the fact that elemental spirits were mana with a will. They had an intellect and could control the mana of their body differently than the mana around them. Through the bonds they had with whoever carried their spirit mark, they could increase their mana as well.


    Walker was constantly providing his mana and fleur her mana to one another. Because of this, Walker had a better connection with natural mana. It flowed through his body already. And the amount that moved through his body had been getting stronger and stronger, he had just not realized it because he had been distracted!


    "Alright, we are going to fly back. If you let me carry you, I can get you three back as well. Or are you able to keep up?" Walker taunted the three dragonkin a little.


    "As warriors under the honorable lord, we are able to use the shadows to move much faster. Please do not worry about us." The leader of the three dragonkin replied with respect.


    "That just sounds like you want to say you can keep up with us easily. Let me make myself a pair of wings and we can race." Walker used the elemental wings skill and created a pair of purely wind elemental wings. He knew doing this would lower the mana cost and also allow him to shape the wings better for himself.


    "Race!" Midnight eximed this the second that Walker had created his wings. She was already in the air leaving the four of them in the dust.


    "Well, you heard her, my champion said race." Walkerughed while he took off too. His speed was much more than when he was running through the air before. The wings of wind that he had created were gathering the wind elemental mana to push him even further. But what Walker could feel was that he could go even faster if he desired.


    The maniption of wind was something that Walker had seen from Gil and Zephyr a few times more than most people. Add on the fact that Walker had paid careful attention to Ventus when she flew around, he had learned even more about the use of wind elemental mana.


    The sudden push in the air was enough to make a wave that brought arge breeze to the area around him. It was nothing harmful and by the time it reached the ground it was a gentle gust. But the amount of mana used was enough to propel Walker right past Midnight and toward the ship.


    He could already see the reactions of the look outs and archers who were dumbfounded that Walker was somehow in the air moving at such speeds. He swore he could see Rise just above a cloud shaking her head as if she was looking at a child ying around. But to be fair, Walker was kind of ying around.


    Hisnding was a little less elegant than normal since Walker had to use the wind to keep himself from mming in to the top deck of the ship. It caused a decent amount of wind to push a few of those on the ship around. They gave looks of annoyance that Walker had to wave an apology for before Scy came to stand in front of him again.


    "I take it that things went well?" Scy nced at Midnightnding right behind Walker with three dragonkin also hopping from the shadows on to the shop. They seemed a little out of breath and Midnight was clearly fired up for another test of speed.<sub> </sub>


    "It did, I was able to put out the embers, tten out thend, and help the grasses start to grow again. It was a lot faster since I managed to find these three working together to clear some of the assassin jackets. They also watched my back with Midnight as I did it all." Walker hadn''t nned to find guards but had been d that he did. Not that he doubted Midnight could have handled the weakened assassin jackets.


    "Good, then I will make that location as one to watch out for in the future. I have spoken to a few of the researchers we brought on the ship. They read through their knowledge and have mentioned that the eggs left underground may be viable for another queen to hatch. It could be years but it is always good to have a notice made. Potentially, the taming guild could go to search for them."


    This made sense, the eggs could be dormant like many monster eggs could be. Onyx was living proof of this and the first person that Walker thought of when Scy said this. "Walker! What did you bring? Anything good!?" Gil had not wasted a second. He had a feeling that Walker had brought back a good haul of monster materials.


    "Go ahead, I am interested as well." Scy had a grin on her face. She was clearly excited to see what would be made in to even more arrows, armors, and various weapons before they reached the ocean. The more they had at their disposal, the more they could do to protect the ship. It was only in their best interest, or, in Scy''s battle interest.


    Walker sighed slightly before he realized that this had been nned ahead. Scy had motioned for a few soldiers to bring out a sheet to cover the space in front of Walker. It would protect the metal of the top deck from any monster blood that could wear away at the integrity.


    "I had a lot of help from these three gathering what they could. That''s why there are so many parts. And a lot of them are partially broken down. Gil, you should get Remey though. They have valuable poison that can be used for more antidotes."


    "I will take care of that. Alice and I already told Remey to start on the basics. We will bring them to her." Alice and Su were wearing some protective leather gloves and aprons. They had been ready for this as soon as they could be.


    "I didn''t know that you two were bing alchemists too. I look forward to what you are working on." Walker could see that Alice and Su were very dedicated to their goals and watched them begin to gather the poison from the assassin jacket stingers.


    "We have a few ideas about how to use the poison in the water. If we concentrate it and then pour it around a swarm of underwater monsters, we can stop them in their tracks. It might not kill anything but it is defensive. Leon actually had the idea when he came abroad to eat. A few of his merfolk are in the dining area right now." Since Walker had not seen Leon in a while, he nodded his thanks to Su and Alice for this information before he headed off to meet with Leon. He also could use a bite to eat.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.


    <o>,m </o>

 Chapter 1607 1607. Underwater Update

    The merfolk had taken the longest shifts when it came to defending the ship. Their job had been of the utmost importance. The main reason being the integrity of the ships. They were under the water scouting the stocks, trees, and other dangers that the ship might face while traveling.


    The mages had been working closely with their signals. On top of this, they had been the guiding force when it came to the earth and water mages expanding or smoothing some of the river banks so that the ship could fit. At a few trunks in the river, there had even been streams slightly diverged to better flow in to the river.


    "But that small brook beaver really sent you for a trip! I wasn''t sure that you would manage to catch it before it got back to the hole it had dug itself in the bank!" Leon and his merfolk soldiers wereughing a lot. They seemed to be enjoying the trip even though they had been working hard.


    "I am d you all have so much energy. I was wondering if you would be exhausted yet." Walker''s greeting came with another burst ofughter and shouting. They had all been having the time of their life. It seemed that Leon had raised the morale of his soldiers pretty high before they had gotten in to the adventure.


    "We have had a lot on our tes. But saying that to you and the others that deal with those bugs on the river bank might be wrong. We were just dealing with a few small pests in the water. Can''t have any beaver dams blocking up the river between the ships we send ore back, right?" Maintaining the future of their river was going to be a veryrge job.


    "I was actually hoping that the merfolk and demi-humans with simr traits could handle that. It would be an ongoing job. Rover maintenance while not disturbing the important natural life. I think even the water elves would work with you on it." Walker knew that the Genesis council already had ns to put outposts along the river. It would be the best way for them to be able to protect the initial work they were doing.


    "I would take that!"


    "Hey, no, Give me the captain position!"


    "Ha! Captain? Of what? Slipper eels trying to eat away at the river bank!?" The merfolk started up again teasing each other and getting even more rowdy than they were before.


    "As you can see, we are enjoying our job. The work with the water and earth mages is actually going very smoothly. The monsters are less frequent in the water after the incidents with the kraken spawn. It''s actually a blessing in disguise." Walker had not considered this and was very impressed that Leon had managed to put this all together. He had actually ended up with a much better position than those patrolling the river banks.


    "I think that sets you up for sess then. You just have to watch for obstacles. If you have your soldiers now act as trainers, they could each be captains of guard posts along the river." This was also how Walker envisioned small farms along the river would be able to start.


    The river presented a great way for many viges to form. If the monsters in and around the river were in check, then there would be a safe ce for people to move. Many people were not happy with the city life. They would prefer the peace and quiet of a small vige. It would also mean that they could put everything they had in to farming or developing unique herbs.


    The river would also be a major trade route. Boats could bring crops to any point along the rover. It would increase trade while reducing food shortage issues. From there, it would connect other trade routes to other cities around thends. It was simr to the underground trade routes that the dwarves were creating. A perfect supplement for all merchants.


    "I can''t see that being an issue. But I won''t be losing my best men. They have been with me too long. If I lose them then who will I boss around!?" Leon found a few of his best soldiers ring at him but their smiles told him that they never intended to leave anyways.


    "You''re telling me that you wouldn''t want to lose a few soldiers? Come on, they might take your job if you let them learn it all." Walker gave in to the atmosphere while sitting down next to Leon. Midnight saw no need to stay in her dragon form and switched to her dragonkin form privately beforeing back to steal the spot next to Walker. They could sit and eat while speaking more in depth. The rest period for the merfolk soldiers had to include some sleep to keep them sharp. Walker was no different and would be catching a small nap as well.


    The atmosphere slowly calmed down as they ate and spoke here and there. Walker managed to hear about a few ces where pests were identified. The beavers were more or less normal animals. But they had the ability to block up the brooks, streams, and smaller waterways. They could cut many trees and apparently multiplied quickly once they built a dam.<sub> </sub>


    The green river muscles were also an issue. They were a species of shellfish monster that could snap up a whole person if left to grow long enough. The main issue that they caused though was not that they snapped up whole prey to eat. It was that they had totch on to the bottom of the river. This caused them to break away parts of the river and weaken the bank. From thererge stretches of sand would form that could only be washed down river by strong currents.


    "So, you can see the issues that we will face over time and up ahead. That''s excluding the monsters that we should see once we get downriver more. I am sure that there are more that areing back in to their normal habitats after being pushed out by the kraken spawn."


    "I agree, we should wait and see what else there is. This is light work for you and your soldiers. I will be ready to help when things get more troublesome." Walker was dly going to assist the merfolk and the other underwater patrols when it came to the monsters that would surely show up.


    "I was wondering why you had considered using condensed poisons to deal with the ocean monsters. I thought that it would limit your ability to swim in the water as well." Walker knew that Leon had thought of the idea as soon s he heard about the high amounts of poisons they had from the frogs and assassin jackets. It was a good idea but limited the number of forces they could have underwater.


    "I know it will make things harder, but I think it will be safe. There are a lot of antidotes. The alchemists aboard can create better potions to protect us. It will make shifts shorter but it can be a resort that protects us from piranhas, tuna schools, and even the razor fin schools. There are more dangers in the water but those are some we might face right away." Leon had been thinking of the monsters and fish that would cause issues that couldn''t be easily solved.


    "So you heard about the assassin jacket swarm and knew that fighting them as a swarm would be too tough. Then you applied it to the monsters you knew." Walker perfectly understood and was dly going to back up Leon when it came to this.


    "I can''t afford to lose any of my men to a school or swarm. One on one fights are rare and can only be done with good strategy." Leon''s surety in this statement showed that he had thought hard and used the past experiences he had to make this decision. Only a veteran fighter would be able to easily discern this.


    "You should pass this on to Scy before you rest, it will be better to develop a solid n. Scy and you working together might actually be better than we imagined." Walker knew that Scy had an unending battle strategy. She was the front line general for the demi-human forces. Add in the strength that Leon had as an underwater specialist with high training because of his background, it was a perfect team. Two generals that would help everyone.


    "Sounds like a n. But for now, I will take my men to sleep. The cabins are actually pretty great you know." Leon praised the ship as he left Walker and Midnight to finish eating then rest themselves.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1608 1608. Slight Delay

    "Hmm? Did we stop?" Walker felt that the swaying of the ship hade to a halt. This was what had woken him up from his nap. The sudden change in how the ship had bobbed on the water as it went down the river was enough to call him out of his slumber.


    Without any effort, Walker left the cabin that had been designated as a resting room and headed back toward the top deck. Seeing that there was no panic or hurry in the movement of the crew, Walker knew that there was not an emergency. There was also no one yelling out for people to move in to battle positions.


    "What happened?" Walker managed to see Su moving toward the front of the ship when he climbed thest stair. It was a fortuitous encounter since Walker was sure that she had been resting as well up until now.


    "I heard someone saying something about the river bank copsing or that there were rocks ahead. It was not clear. It sounds troublesome." Since Su had minimal information, Walker didn''t push for anything more. However, just this was enough to exin that they hade to a ce where the earth and water mages would be working extra hard. That also meant that Walker should get in to the work as well.


    "Ah good, I was just about to ask someone to find you. We have a bit of a blockage up there." Leon was the first to find them. It was clear that he had taken over mainmand while Scy rested. It was a surprise that Leon had managed this let alone the fact that Scy had actually rested at all.


    "We heard a little about it but what is the exact¡­" Walker looked off the side of the shop and saw that the riverbank had be much taller. It was almost a cliff because of thendscape. There were hills that had taken this section of river over.


    From what Walker could see, the river had been slowly but surely carving through these hills. So much so that they were able to carve enough away to cause a small copse. It was just a perfect example of how nature flowed without anyone having to do anything.


    "So we need to bring the rocks and the dirt out of the water or else we can''t pass." Su finished what Walker was surely going to see. She could make out somerge boulders that had been hidden in the dirt while the dirt itself was slowly being washed away.


    The water mages in Genesis had used arge burst of water to help the ships along. They needed to do this so that the ships could make it to the deeper water. However, this had also caused the current to change slightly ahead of the ships. There was no doubt that this had caused the copse in advance. Unfortunately, it was something they had to deal with. Although everyone was d that it did not happen when a ship was passing by. It could have been many times worse.


    "I have already asked the water mages to decrease the flow of water when the earth mages are ready. There will be an attempt at joint magic to push the entire river bank back. It seems to be the best case right now, if we do not there will be more copses soon since it is weakened." Leon had made the right call. No one else could consider using another method since the imminent risk of a copse seemed to be the focus of this issue.


    The earth mages had already left the ship and were currently on the small lifeboats. They were prepared to jump out on to the shallow waters when the water mages forced the current back temporarily. If they could manage this and they jump back in to the lifeboats before the current returned, then they could work in cycles.


    "If You want to hold the current back, It might be better to temporarily divert it. I know it would be tougher though. I just don''t know how long this will take to clear. We might be caught by the second ship." Leon shook his head when Walker and Su suggested this n of action.


    "It would be better if they did catch up. Then we would be able to gain more assistance. We also would have more strength altogether. If they catch up we can also share the antidotes we have made with them instead of leaving supply crates at the marked positions of the route." The river was more or less mapped out. It was just the ability to travel through the water that was in question.


    "Then we can be sure that things will go faster. But, what if I made a temporary ice dam?" The beavers that Leon had told Walker about were an inspiration. It was not something that most people would consider, however, it was a temporary solution that could do a lot for them.


    "An ice dam would stop the water and also allow a short time for the earth mages to work. If I join the earth mages with my partner then we could work much better." Su was sure that she would be of assistance. Just having a grand earth spirit around to attract more earth mana would greatly increase the progress they would make in each cycle.<sub> </sub>


    ? "I like it. Having Walker and Su together would be a big boost in morale for every mage. They have been talking about all of you for some time. The guardian who can make earth shields at will and the all around mage with dragon wings. The normal gossip." Leon''s small joke was enough to shake Su from her calm demeanor. Her face turned slightly red due to the embarrassment of a suddenpliment. She didn''t like to think of how some people idolized her.


    "The moment that the water mages hold the current back I will make an ice dam with the ice dragon domain. If Fleur and I work together we can force the ice to go one direction. It might be a little cold though." Fleur had already revealed herself from the spirit mark. She had sensed the goals Walker had. Unlike Fleur, Su and her partner were more reserved. It was very rare to see the new grand earth spirit leaving the spirit mark. Walker considered this to be because it was constantly consolidating mana to stabilize its new position.


    Without hesitation, Leon began to grab the leaders he had assigned to the mages. He was sure that the change would go very well. It was also a bonus that the mages had just switched shifts and were well rested just like Walker and Su who had also taken their rest earlier. The only issue was that the sun was setting for the day.


    The ship had been on the water and traveled a great distance without any issues. They had managed to go much further than expected but some of the members of the crew had exhausted more mana than expected. The switching of day to night would bring other challenges, especially to this sort of situation.


    The dark would make it harder to move the earth but could also hide the dangers around the ship. On top of that, new monsters would being out to hunt in the darkness. It was very dangerous at nightpared to the day.


    "I will not let you sit in the shadows. I have enough control of the light to ensure that the fading sun is not an issue. If I am to guide all of you, I must exert a little of my strength." Without so much as a warning, Rise had drifted lower to hear what was going on. She was unhappy that they had stopped, but if the ship had been damaged it would be a greater insult to the dragons leading it. In her mind, it was better to be the guiding light for this slow point.


    "Perfect, I was going to ask the mages who could create light to work through the shifts or the fire mages to try and create fireballs that could work asnterns." Leon immediately praised the idea that Rise could light the area. It was going to do much more than what anyone else could do.


    It would be different if they were just slowly moving along in the night. The ship had some magical lights set up that used the magical crystals as fuel. But that was just for spotting dangers and moving on the top of the deck. It was not for focused work. "All hands at the ready! We move toplete this project before the second ship catches up!" Leon had a new goal, hearing everyone''s support.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1609 1609. Ice Walls

    The movement of every mage on the ship in unison was the most impressive part about the orders that Leon was giving. Out of everyone, it seemed that Leon had been doing the most to meet those that had been selected for the first ship.


    Since Walker had not seen Leon around too much, he had assumed that Leon had also been focused on training. However, he had not been training his body as much as his social skills. Leon had recognized that he didn''t need the harsh and strict strength that his father had as king of the merfolk. Instead, he could be even better with a fewpassionate words. A little time dedicated to meeting others.


    Su and her partner Alvaro were ahead of Walker. They had jumped from the ship and in to the first possible life boat. It seemed that Su wanted to get on the way even more than Walker had expected. "You are really throwing yourself in to the work. It''s impressive." Walker had to praise Su for her determination. However, he noticed the slight glint of sadness in her eyes before she refocused on therge rocks and soil that blocked the water flow.


    "Water mages, prepare to hold the current. You will move on Walker''smand. He will be freezing the water you control, do not resist!" Leon was sure that if the water mages tried to perfectly maintain a hold on the water as it froze that the freezing would slow.


    <o>,m The currents that some of the water mages might create to keep the water back were going to be tough to handle in the first ce. The main reason for this was that the more the water moved the warmer it might get. Everyone could understand the strength of friction and how it attracted the small bits of fire elemental mana that would stop something from freezing. It was why there was flowing water in some parts of Genesis and soon to be all parts of Genesis. Dwarven genius was to thank for that.</o>


    Walker let himself fall in to the water from the lifeboat. He watched the ship and knew that the wall of ice would nearly cover the entirety of the ship. Leon would be able to barely see over it but that would give them enough time to move many of the rocks with magic. It might take five or six tries if they were to be slow with it. But with an ice wall, it could only take twice to move everything.


    After that, the earth mages could focus on the river banks. They would be able to use their skills to move the earth so that it would not be copsing again. Add in Walker''s earth sculpting skills and they might be able to make more dependable structures until the dwarves could create an outpost here. It would be ideal to have the outpost here so that they could keep an eye on a dangerous part of the river more often. It would be dangerous for merchants and travelers if they didn''t.


    "Listen closely. Once the ice is formed, I will have to focus on it with all I have. The water mages can help you use water to cut the stones in to pieces. From there, move them to the side. Once they are on the bank we can worry about themter. Just work fast and don''t hold back. The water can''t stay in ce for long." Walker kept everyone clear on what he could and could not do. Holding back a force of nature indefinitely was just impossible.


    "Ready!" Walker felt the mana gathering around him. The water mages had worked together before. It was verymon for the elven water mages to work in teams to get things done. This was a veryrge aspect of their magical culture. It had also affected Genesis for the better since it encouraged more mages to work together more often.


    Feeling therge mass of water elemental mana was enough for Walker to keep hold of. He was using the natural mana that Fleur and he gathered to keep a rope around it that he could tighten and take ahold of. This felt strange to him because he was not the one gathering the water mana. However, he would be the one changing its form in a moment to create ice.


    But, Walker had worked together before with other mages, so when he took a deep breath to shout for the water mages to move, he was not hesitant at all. "Now! Hold the water back!" It was a good thing that the water flowed slowly in this portion of the river. It made it much easier to hold the water back.


    The sudden surge of water caused the lifeboats to shake for a moment but Walker had already lowered himself in to the water. He felt the sand of the river bed sooner than expected which prompted him to grab ahold of the water elemental mana. "Fleur, now!" The bond he had with Fleur red in to life as the two used the natural mana to expand their control. The ice dragon domain skill was forced to flow forward toward the wall of water only.


    "Out of the boats and start moving those rocks! The soil and sand can wait!" Su''s orders were prompt. She would not waste a second even though the ice wall was still forming.


    Slowly, the water mages dropped off as they felt that the water elemental mana they controlled was lost to them. The water was freezing and less and less of them were needed. The idea to create this ice wall as a dam simr to a beaver was working exactly as nned. There was a growing chill in the air but it was proof of their sess.


    Cracking and crumbling sounds came from behind Walker before he heaven knew that the earth mages had organized. Su was leading them with Alvaro. The grand earth spirit hade out of the spirit mark and formed an earth shield with Su. the pair mmed the earth shield in to the soft mucky sand of the river bed.<sub> </sub>


    In moments, arge spike of solid rock had been pushed up in to the air while moving therger boulders. In a blink of an eye, they would crumble again. This constant action cost Su and Alvaro more mana than they wanted but it was also gathering incredible amounts of earth elemental mana that helped the earth mages work faster.


    Small stress cracks formed around the ice wall as Walker realized just how terrifying the water pressure of a river was. It was not something small to hold back and the natural mana wanted to flow instead of stay still. It was just how nature worked, it couldn''t be held back for long. "Less than a minute before I have to release the water!" Walker was thankful that fish and other animals were able to remain in the extremely shallow pools that had been created when he stopped the water. But when he released it, they would have more water than the rainy season.


    "Back in to the boats! Water mages anchor them in ce!" Walker''s shout was a little garbled because of the mental stress holding the ice wall in ce. However, he managed to shout it loud enough that every single earth and water mage moved as they were told.


    In just a moment, the earth mages had managed to get in to the lifeboats. The few that weren''t were grabbed by others and dragged up in to the boats. Walker clearly saw Su out of the corner of his eye grab an earth mage and toss him in to a boat. It was a reminder not to make her angry because she was much tougher than she looked.


    Walker was the only one that was not in a boat but was confident that he could keep himself safe. Just as the cracks in the ice expanded, Walker released his hold and formed a small dome of ice just around him. The sudden rush of water returned the river to the normal flow minus the fact that a small wave traveled down the river.


    This was a good thing though. The small wave was able to wash some of the soil and sand down the river that was causing them issues here. It would evenly distribute the new nutrients to the river as well further helping it develop and grow. Overall, it was a small bonus for the monsters and animals living in the river.


    While Walker remained under the water in his little ice dome, he heard the shouts of water mages gathering. They were dull but he had confidence that he would be able to work well to make the second ice wall. The clearing of the path was going along without a hitch!


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 Chapter 1610 1610. Heated Training

    "Is this really what we have to do?" Gil was a little shocked watching Walker form the third ice wall. The water mages had to work extra hard and then leave all the weight on Walker.


    "It''s what was needed. I doubt I could have done anything like this with my fists. But I am pretty sure I could break a rock of two." Remey had even been brought up to the top of the ship. The main reason being the mana potions that she had brought from the alchemyb.


    The moment that this stop had been made and the n settled, many people went to the alchemyb. The other alchemists that were hard at work weremanded by Remey to focus solely on mana potions since the mages would need them most of all if there was another copse. There were also the earth mages that would be working much harder to push the river bank back after the clearing.


    "It''s just that there is so much work at once. It will make things slower but I think we would be better off taking longer to do this." Gil knew that getting to the ocean and heading to the new continent to tackle two big problems was more important. But he also felt that this was being hasty.


    "You really need to get over it. I think you are upset that you can''t do much with your arrows here. It''s the same issue with my fists. They have skills and magic that affects arger area. We don''t and if you fired your more dangerous arrows, just like my explosive potions, they would cause more problems." Remey put her foot down and stopped Gil from being jealous of how useful others'' skills werepared to what he could do.


    "And shouldn''t you be training instead of sitting here watching? I thought you were close to some breakthrough. Walker was saying just the other day that you wanted to show off your elven dagger style to Alma. But here you are, not getting closer to it." Gil felt like an arrow had shot him instead of him firing an arrow. Remey had hit him hard.


    "Fone, then we will train. You already helped with the mana potions. You can train with me. I will use daggers and you can overheat yourself again with mes. I know that your fire resistance still needs training. You just won''t admit that your body isn''t getting tougher." The response that Gil had was mostly just to annoy Remey back. Unfortunately, he had hit a sore spot.


    Since Remey had bonded with her partner even more deeply, she had gained much easier usage of mes. She also gained a better control of mes. Yet, this did not trante in to how well she could resist her own mes. Yes, there was a major boost in her resistance. That was not enough though. When Remey channeled stronger mes to fight, she found that she would still begin to burn her body. It was not natural for her to burn when she had a strong bond with a grand elemental spirit.


    The issue that Remey hade up with was that she needed to be more ustomed to fire. She had not had an affinity until she had bonded with a fire spirit. The changes from fire spirit to alchemy fire spirit had just dyed her limation to this. Instead of strengthening her body in the respect to mes, she had instead focused on alchemy knowledge. It was apse in her training that she had been trying to fix. She had seen her own weakness and her weakness was a strength that she had been growing.


    Seeing that there was amotion and a potential battle to watch, a few of the resting soldiers had stopped what they were doing. The stoppage of the ship had brought Scy out of her rest to see the progress as well. When she saw that there was a group setting up to watch a battle, she was attracted as well.


    "I can say that you two will need a judge for your training battle. I have slept enough so it''s better that I take the lead here." Gil and Remey don''t mind seeing that Scy wanted to step in. It was already decided that they would be fighting here.


    "Both of you have a little too much energy since we aren''t moving along. So, let''s see what we can do about that." Scy motioned for the soldiers around to create arge open space for Remey and Gil. The ship wasrge enough for multiple people to train on top. But this was mostly so that there would be space to fight anyone that boarded the ship, specifically, monsters that might board the ship.


    "Come on arrow boy. Show me what you can do with a little dagger. I bet you are still stuck where you were when you fought Walker." Remey had no idea what level Gil was at when it came tobining the high elf dagger technique, but she would find out.


    "Fine then, I will bring you down easily. Just have a few healing potions ready. I''m sure you will need them." Gil''s speed was expected. Remey had known that he was agile from the very first day that they had met. It had always been a fact.


    When Gil approached, he flowed lower to the ground before firmly stomping his feet on the ground to push the dagger in his hand toward Remey. The upward sh had a strength behind it that came directly from the stone elf''s stance when using a dagger. Gil had copied it perfectly from the books he had read.


    Remey''s reaction had to be to doge. She knew that she had decent defenses and could potentially use her elemental knuckles to deflect it. However, she could tell that the strength in the dagger was enough to damage an elemental knuckle if she was not careful. Two tough weapons colliding never left one unharmed.<sub> </sub>


    What Gil did not expect was that Remey had not countered with her fist after dodging. She had instead bent her back and kicked upwards. This kick was enough to hit his chest and force him to step back out of his stance. Remey was able to perfectly reset in to a boxer''s bouncing motion waiting for Gil to try and get close again.


    The flexibility in Remey''s battle style had been birthed from her constant brawling. She was a brawler for a reason, she had learned to fight in different positions. Since she had trained with Su more and more, she had epted her flexibility to attack in odd angles. This was her best form of attack against the well defended Su. attack odd areas with strange angles so that she could damage undefended portions of Su''s body.


    As mes began to ignite on Remey''s knuckles and trail around her, Gil knew that he had to increase his speed. Using the wind elf dagger technique, he heightened his steps. He also made his movements light and bouncy before he thrust downwards with both daggers. The attack was full of tant fury, the core of the me elf dagger techniques.


    "That Was too easy to read!" Remey shouted and deflected the daggers. The deflection left Gil open to her follow up jab but his daggers had grazed Remey''s arm. They both left the encounter with damage.


    But Gil did not stop. He pushed forward with a flurry of dagger attacks. They were fast and nearly blinding as he turned each dagger to reflect the light. This was a direct use of the environment, it was the light elf dagger technique that used the reflection of sun to blind their opponents. It had been extremely challenging to learn but very valuable.


    Unfortunately, Remey responded with abination of punches and a swift kick. She might have scratches from ducking and dodging but she left bruises on Gil as well. The two were heating up more and more while they fought out their training frustrations.


    "You are just mixing broken movements still. Leaving openings." Remey was slightly out of breath after forcing herself to keep up with Gil''s changing styles.


    "And you are not paying attention to the mes that burn through the air and graze your skin. They might close your scratches but they also burn you up." Gil had seen the trails of mes that Remey fought with around her. They were not controlled.


    "Fine, then I will show you more." Remey knew that the two of them were going to exploit their weaknesses. It was the perfect way to forge their bodies. To train themselves to develop against their own weaknesses. It was also how everyone watching their battle realized that they sounded angry with each other because they were angry with themselves. That they were perfectly helping the other to be stronger overall. It was inspiring. It made Scy grin.


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 Chapter 1611 1611. A Little Fun

    "Walker! That was thest boulder!" The fourth rock ice wall had really strained Walker. After the second he had to get a mana potion. Mostly because the earth and water mages were struggling. It wasn''t so much the mana usage overall, but the sudden mana usage paired with the higher mental burden.


    This had not been what some of the earth and water mages were used to. Therefore, it led to the mages expending more mana than they actually needed. That was just something they would have to train over time and something that would change as they became closer to their elemental choices in training. They had to understand the earth and water better to minimize mana cost overall.


    "Understood! Get on the boats!" The exhausted earth and water mages were already moving when Su had made the call for Walker to prepare to release the built up water. She had ensured that the water mages would be able to have enough mana to direct the boats back to the ship safely. The earth mages on the other hand needed to rest a little before they would be able to push back the river banks for the other ships to have a safer passage.


    Thest boulder that had been hidden in the soil of the river had been the fastest to deal with since it was thest. It was also thergest so that was the reason that it had been left. It seemed that this was the one that had shifted under the earth and fallen off the back, in turn, causing the rest of the cliffside to fall. But the earth mages had worked together to move it at once, it would be the base for the outpost when it was built here.


    "Watering down!" Walker shouted and used his mana to control some of the water to make a pir. It was just enough to push him toward a lifeboat where Su grabbed him. The water mages held them in ce as the water pushed the boats backwards and up. It was only a few minutes before the water settled for the fourth time but Walker felt that they had aplished something great.


    There were a few shouts from the top of the ship which made all the mages feel like they had done an amazing job. But when they realized that the shouts weren''ting from ship down to them but for something else, Su and Walker shared a questioning look.


    "What in the world?" Walker was the first to jump up and strep through the air. He let his curiosity win out when he heard the shouts going on.


    "Brother, Su and Gil are training together right now." Onyx was awake and watching the battle happening. The surrounding soldiers were clearly very intent on watching this. A few of the elven archers were even starting to copy Gil''s movements while a few dragonkin warriors were trying to mimic a kick that Remey had done before.


    "Brother! Training time!" Midnight nearly punched on Walker but he managed to lean back just enough to dodge her.


    "Is that what everyone was doing while we worked? Hmmm, I guess that is better than doing nothing. But I feel a little annoyed." Walker still had a little mana left and could not resist the sneaky idea growing in his mind.


    "What''s the verdict?" Su wasn''t sure what was going on but Midnight rushed over to her shouting about Gil and Remey and how it was training time. Su was not as lucky as Walker to dodge the pounce from Midnight and promptly found herself on her back. "Why do you have so much energy? Shouldn''t you be resting still?" It took Su a moment to process that Remey and Gil had been battling it out and taking up everyone''s attention.


    "I was worried about getting all the water mages back up safely after my soldiers checked the finalpletion of the copse removal. However, I am apparently not the one in charge up here any longer." Leon even looked a little perturbed seeing that Scy had made herself the referee to the training battle.


    After seeing the rest of the water mages make it up to the top of the ship, Walker got everyone''s attention. "It seems like everyone up here is too heated up from training. If everyone can help me with their mana, the water mages and I can help cool them off." The annoyance fell away and evil grins grew on all of their faces. Even Su was smirking a little. She was rarely mischievous but felt that this was very worthwhile to boost their morale after some hard work.


    "Come on! Again! That move didn''t workst time because you didn''t move all the way through!" Remey had picked on Gil''s broken movements to the point that he was forced to lessen the hesitation and broken flow of the different styles. This pressure was exactly what he needed to train his muscles in the goal he had.


    "Then why don''t you try and make your mes hotter? HUH!? Or are you afraid to stop these coiling fires of yours? They aren''t even controlled!" Gil had been calling Remey out every single time he saw her mes stray from her fists to the air in streaks. It was why Remey had been


    Able to change the focus of her skills and train her mentality. She was bing more away of temperature and control of mes over everything else. It is also how she toughened her body


    "You want more fire!?" Remey had gotten a little angrier since she had been called out so many times. But this time, she increased the red mes in to a darker alchemy fire. The alchemy fire was what she could control the best because she used it so often. She was also ready toy down a hefty right hook after a jab. The only issue was the sudden shadow over the entire group watching their fight.<sub> </sub>


    A few of those watching hesitated from cheering or trying to copy the two. They looked up at the shadow only to find that there was a wave of water falling right in to their faces. "And that, my friends, is the victory we get after our hard work!" Walker barely got the words out of his mouth beforeughing harder than he had in a long time.


    The water mages and earth mages had joined him in cheering andughing. This was hysterical to them since they had been working hard and seriously for thest few hours. It was a great reward to y a small prank before heading to get some food and a good nap in.


    "Did we really deserve this?" Gil felt pretty rough but looked at Remey who had also burst in to a smile. She would normally be angry at this but saw how even the soldiers watching them were breaking in to smiles.


    "I''m d I was just below the deck." Alice hade up to see themotion. She was very impressed seeing theradery growing on the ship. Even though hard work had just been done and people were clearly exhausted, they still had bright spirits.


    "I find myself wondering what humans and other races think in these situations. However, it appears that they do value purity. They may not follow my example in pure elemental mana. But they follow purity in emotion. An interesting fact." Rise had silently returned to the ship from the sky. No one had noticed her watching carefully.


    "This is why I am willing to invest in them. If dragons valued these things, we could aplish greater things." Mordant also showed himself from the shadows. Alice was unsure of what to think after being sandwiched between two royal dragons.


    After a few thoughts, she was able to solidify what she wanted to say before walking toward the soaking wet group throwing some cheers and jeers towards the mages. "This is the future. Dragons have a home in Genesis too." Alice walked away from them leaving Rise fairly proud of her chance taken on what Walker had said. But it left Mordant with a full grin.


    "I believe that your mind is fully changed now?" Mordant looked over at Rise. "They banned together to go after our enemy and their enemy together. Dragons would have tried it alone first. The wyverns could have been a bigger problem." Mordant knew he was right. He too left Rise behind with his words and headed to join everyone in their good mood before it had passed him by.


    Rise still held herself back but she didn''t say a word. But if anyone looked hard enough, they could see a small smile on her face. Just enough of one to show how she was really feeling looking at this sight. Looking at the joyful dragonkin of hers that rarely showed smiles around her in the vige.


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 Chapter 1612 1612. Control Over Light

    The earth mages had rested for a short while. Their mental stress was easy to handle since most of them were used to training for a long time. Leon also ensured that he left a crate with messages for the other ships to reference. The details of what work they had done and how it may still be dangerous. It was just better to leave detailed diagrams and exnations than sending someone back to another ship. It also ensured that this location would be an outpost one day.


    Scy had made a temporary n with Leon to switch underwater patrols to a mix of merfolk and demi-human soldiers. This was to help them bond more and smooth out any difficulties when working together. The forces had not always partnered up so it was better that they were able to have some time to train.


    "Are you sure that you don''t have much going on?" Walker was unsure if Alice was actually free. She had been working with those that were poisoned earlier by frogs and assassin jackets. It was definitely something that should have worn her out. Yet, after she had returned to the top deck, she showed plenty of energy to Walker. So much that it seemed that she was hiding her tiredness.


    "No, we can patrol too." But that was that. It seemed that Alice had shown her stubborn side and was not going to just let Walker join the patrolling round on the riverbanks without her.


    The rotations had been altered a little since a lot of the mages were tired. Walker was willing to take a slightly tougher position and head out to patrol right away after the ship had pulled up anchor. It was just the best way since he had more mana left than others.


    Where things seemed off was that Alice kept taking the lead as soon as she and Walker had gotten off the ship. Horizon also had gone in to the spirit mark to rest which was different since as a grand elemental spirit he was the most talkative and brightest out of all of them. But Walker just went with it because he enjoyed spending the time with Alice and he didn''t need to get in to a long winded history lesson about what the world was like. Horizon knew a lot of things but the way he spoke was hard to follow since so many years were condensed in his mind.


    "How was the healing and purification? I wasn''t sure that you would be able to handle all the people being poisoned before Remey had made more of the positions. Since some of those assassin jackets were fast." Walker had heard that some soldiers had been ambushed by the maddened assassin jackets.


    The threat they had wasrgely because they were angry but also because they were used to the area. The assassin jackets could hide easily and attack anyone that was unfamiliar with the area. Especially the patrolling soldiers that were mostly made up of people from further away from the river.


    The others that had left to patrol also split in to groups of two or three. They still had to worry about any other frog dens or small groups of roaming assassin jackets. But there was the thought that they might encounter more of the tearing falcons. Gil would have liked that since the archers wanted to make even more arrows. There was no inkling of what monsters they might face in the oceans so that could mean no arrow materials.


    "How is your light magic?" Alice changed the topic and stopped in her tracks. It seemed like she had been waiting to ask this for a little while.


    "I have been cking off to be honest. I haven''t learned any new light magictely. But when Midnight and I trained with Rise, I was able to alter the elemental wings to better fit me and Midnight was able to improve her dragon breath attacks. She can use a light elemental attack much better now. But not to the same level as Rise by any means." Walker knew he shouldn''t hold this back from Alice. She was sure to figure it out anyways.


    "Hmm.." Alice hummed slightly while thinking. Her humming made the light around them vibrate slightly. It seemed like she had also been put in to a training mood. But she hadn''t been able to show much off to Walkertely.


    "If you want to show me your swords of light again I can try to make one too. I am able to make temporary weapons out of earth whenever I want. I should try doing it with condensed light elemental mana. That would be smart too." Since it was clear that Walker had caught on to her a little, Alice didn''t hesitate to start a soft song under her breath. She had wanted to show off but she also wanted Walker to be able to use light magic with her. She knew that Walker was very good at helping the other mages gather mana if he wanted to. They could make a joint attack if they trained together.


    The light that condensed in tune to Alice''s soft singing was a thin light de that seemed like it would be carried by a swordsman that used speed. It was not detailed in any form or fashion but it was tough to add details to a de condensed from light elemental mana.


    "I know that touching it should be tough, but I bet that you can control them not to hurt yourself so you could probably wield your light elemental weapons without any issues. But I will have to try and learn a skill to make sure I won''t get hurt." Light elemental mana was not normally condensed like this. A solid mana of any kind could be dangerous. Even earth elemental mana condensed heavily within a small piece of stone could cause issues. It was why some elemental crystals shattered.<sub> </sub>


    After watching Alice reach out a hand and grab the sword made of light, Walker was amazed to see that she was letting the light flow around her. The saint of light title had made her better at controlling light, yes, but so had her rtionship with Horizon. The bond that they shared was strengthening her understanding and ability to use light elemental mana.


    Just like the former adventurer guild master, Ibis, Alice had a unique rtionship with light. When she sang, she was able to control it better than any light mage that Walker had heard of until now. The best part was that Alice was still learning. That was why the light stopped spreading and only managed to make a partial light robe of condensed light elemental mana.


    The sword and the robebination would be her ideal form for healing and defense. She could patrol much safer than before. Even more, she would still be able to change the song she was singing to create additional light des to send at enemies.


    "That''s actually pretty amazing. You have started to break the limits of your system. Or maybe you are just starting to find that there aren''t limits."


    Out of many people, Walker believed that Alice had a great system because it was not as limited as it seemed. She had the issue that she would almost always have light react when she spoke. But she had worked on that downfall. However, she also had the ability to control light elemental mana, condense it, and truly use it as she wished. She might not have major offensive magic skills, but with the right song and amount of mana, Alice could create a great offensive, defensive, or healing skill.


    "I will try to manipte the light and make a sword too. Then we can see what happens when they sh." Walker knew that they might do nothing because Alice had better control of the mana. He had to try though. Learning to manipte light elemental mana would help him be better overall when fusing elemental mana in to natural mana. There was also the bonding with Alice since she clearly wanted to be able to share this with him.


    The light seemed not to want to bend to Walker until Alice released the light robe she had made. With just the sword as her focus, it became stronger but it left more mana for Walker to control. It was interesting feeling that the light elemental mana would not readily do what he wanted it to do with Alice''s control. This made him wonder what would happen if he made the natural mana the core of his control over mana. Could he still beat someone with perfect control of a single mana? Or would it be harder?


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 Chapter 1613 1613. Deflecting Light

    Focusing on who would be stronger with light elemental mana was not the goal Walker had though. Instead, he was supposed to be patrolling. However, he didn''t see any issue in using the patrol to also train since there were multiple other patrol groups around along with the ship being very close by.


    "I would say my light de is less condensedpared to yours but I should be able to control it." Walker made a motion with his hands and the light de he had created in the air was moved with it. "I just can''t hold it like it''s nothing. I need to manipte it and use a little more mana to do so. Yours is easily held because of your song."


    The intentions of Alice''s singing were clearly an important aspect of her skills. Because she sang with the intention that the light de she had created would be a held sword, then it was unable to harm the person holding it. Walker''s was a different story.


    The light de or light spikes he made were controlled by mana. If he touched it then he had to use mana to move it still while keeping the shape. If he did not move it with mana then it would harm his hand. The condensed light elemental mana wants to escape being condensed. All condensed mana wanted that.


    Alice further demonstrated that her light sword that she had created seemed to copy the way a normal sword acted by shing at a nearby rock. The crisp ringing of mana was the simrity to metal that anyone would be able to pick up on. This single reason made it seem that the intention to create a sword made it have even more characteristics.


    "Your singing really is amazing. Because you sing of swords made from light you have literal swords made of light. I wonder what would happen if you sang about mes of light? Would you get the same illusions as when you sing a healing song? Or would you get light that just looks like fire?"


    "The same as healing." Alice''s answer came and the sword of light in her hand dissipated pretty quickly. It was another lesson for Walker when it came to the mana not wanting to be condensed. Yet, as he looked at the mana in Alice''s sword fade, it was quick. Almost as if it was just losing shape and still waiting for her to control it.


    "The light mana still hangs out around you though. If I make a sword it dissipates and doesn''t remain close. You have the light attracted to you so you can manipte it much faster. I think that is a part of the saint of light, your innate affinity, and you''re bound with a grand elemental spirit. It''s the perfect storm of light based attraction." It was a real blessing when it came to being able to control light. Not many people would ever have so many things assisting their use of an elemental mana.


    Hearing that Walker was using her songs to work out her rtionship with the elemental mana and learn more made Alice very happy. She wanted to train with Walker so that she could see him analyze her skills and songs. It was the best way that she had found that she was able to expand her knowledge. Su had done much of the same thing.


    The way that the attacks against Su''s defenses were not physical and only magical made Alice feel that she should look for a weapon that channeled the elemental mana. If it did, then she would have the ability to have physical attacks even though she didn''t have many attacks in general. But the magical attack being nullified would prove less dramatic if some damage was done. There was also the fact that her created attacks might remain for a little longer if she managed to have a physical core for them.


    "Alight, start throwing it at me. I am ready to do a little training. I will try to stop your light des and spikes. Then I can try to block them and manipte the light mana defensively." The defensive use of light elemental mana was what attracted Walker most. Su had learned to create a secondary shield over hers that she could cause to grow and cover other people. It was able to help her heal to a small degree while also blocking physical and magical attacks. How could Walker not want to learn such a thing? It would be invaluable in the right situation.


    "Get ready." Alice''s soft and calm face scrunched up in toa serious expression that Walker could barely stop himself from smiling over. He would never get tired of her and how she looked when she was about to act seriously, He found it much too adorable. But what he didn''t find adorable was that the light sword she had made appeared in her hand too fast. It was almost in a single breath.


    Instead of attacking from a distance, Alice dashed forward and swung the sword in an arc toward Walker. This forced him to raise his hands and call the light mana. But no shield or blocking force appeared which made him need to jump away from Alice.


    She didn''t let up on Walker either. The single focus she had was to show him that she had begun to learn her own swordsmanship from her songs. The song she sang was full of low and high pitches. When Alice would dash forward or change her direction, she would drop to a low hum. It was nearly silent, but if Walker focused he could hear it.


    The unfortunate part was, that when the song suddenly became high pitched and sharp, the attack was alreadying. The slight de would already be shing down or at his side. Walker found it was actually more challenging than he would expect. That Alice was much faster than he had imagined.<sub> </sub>


    "How can you be getting¡­Ha, that''s how!" Walker looked down and saw that Alice had wrapped her feet in light. It looked like they were a pair of light boots but they were the reason for Alice''s speed. She was literally buffing herself with her light armor. Just because she couldn''t create a full armor set didn''t mean that she couldn''t create something. And boots made of light were perfect to boost her speed.


    "Fine, then we get serious!" Walker saw a small smirk as Alice dashed toward him yet again. But this time, Walker had already gathered some of the mana copying how Alice had. Instead of a shield, he focused the mana on his hands. Like gloves, or better, gauntlets.


    The natural mana that Walker used to assist him in speeding the condensation of light mana was very well used and the best idea he could have. The natural mana was able to manipte the bnce of mana around him which caused his hands to be coated in light twice as fast as he would without using natural mana.


    The gauntlets that formed were simr to the pair that Su wore with her armor. Walker didn''t have much in the way of creativity. He just went with something he was used to seeing as often as possible. This also made him use the mana much more efficiently because imagining the shape the light took was simpler for him.


    When Alice saw that Walker was reaching out a light covered hand to catch her light sword, she tried to retreat. Yet, when she pulled back her sword was already caught. Walker found that it did not cut the gauntlet at all. "So you didn''t intend to cut me just train with me. Well, I need to test the toughness so let''s see what your sword can do." Walker released Alice''s light sword and watched her distance herself.


    The three other light des that appeared within the air struck down toward him. Walker couldn''t take the time to dodge since he hadmitted to testing the results of his light maniption. Therefore, he turned his hands in to fists and struck out the same way he had seen Remey deflect attacks with her knuckles.


    The light swordsing at him were trying to pierce him one by one in a perfect test of his defensive skills. Walker felt that he was flowing through the same motions Remey had used before. It was a mix of memory and bodily action. But when He came in contact with the first light sword, he felt that the light gave way a little. The sword was deflected but his gauntlet had been broken.


    Therefore, the second attack would need much more focus. The second light de that wasing at him would need to be deflected with even more light elemental mana if Walker didn''t want to be cut. He had to get more serious.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1614 1614. Radiant

    The sudden additional pressure to make the light denser around him caused Walker to instinctively pull the mana around him faster. This sudden tug on the natural mana caused the light elemental mana to be much denser in a rapid burst.


    The light that formed around Walker''s hands and half his arms was notpletely formedpared to the light gauntlets he had created around his hands to defend the light des. This was not the issue though, he wasn''t sure how the deflection would go since he had still not formed a skill, but Walker couldn''t think of this in the moment.


    His hand was already in motion to strike aside the light de. The light on his arms seemed to still be taking in the light while he was moving. The second that the light de hit the gauntlet that had formed, the light de shattered. The reaction between Walker''s super charged light armor and the light de which was not backed by natural mana was dramatic.


    The parts of the shattered light de adhered themselves to Walker''s arms as the third light de approached. Walker could only keep himself in motion while a smirk grew. The feeling of the natural mana bolstering the light elemental mana to another level made Walker understand.


    The flow of mana was highly influenced by thepounded natural mana. It was something that Walker had already felt before but in a much smaller sense. The sudden emotion Walker felt, the adrenaline, had pushed Walker to instinctually tackle a stronger grip on natural mana. Thai in turn allowed him to manipte the light elemental mana much more powerfully. That was why he did not fail to burst in to a greater smile when the system proved that he had acted properly.


    ''The user has allowed his body to act on instinct. The user has properly molded natural mana to assist in the creation of higher skills. The skill radiant armor has been taken from the angelic warrior system.


    Radiant armor- 5 mana 10 natural mana


    The user will bolster their defenses immensely using the continuous flow of natural mana to meld with their own and light elemental mana. It will create armor of the user''s molding out of light elemental mana. The condensed light elemental mana will be able to repair itself from surrounding light elemental mana.


    The user will be able to walk normally with this armor as long as they expend mana to fuel it. This skill is normally unique to angelic warriors and those with unique methods of manipting light elemental mana. It is a great symbol of power in some cultures.''


    The radiant armor was not fully created but it was clear enough that it was able to be formed. Walker''s arms and part of his torso had been covered in radiant armor simr to Su''s armor that Walker had been envisioning. Thest light de didn''t even need to be deflected. It hit Walker and shattered adding to the armor''s growth.


    "Alice, I learned a new skill. It''s from copying how you were making armor. It''s called radiant armor and I bet you can learn it!" Walker''s sudden shout of excitement was enough to somewhat startle Alice who had be focused on Walker''s sudden change in light maniption.


    "It says it needs natural mana and I can condense natural mana in to a mana gem. That means I can have equipment altered so that you might be able to make a better armor around you. But you can control mana through a unique skill, your singing! That means you should be able to make radiant armor without natural mana!" Walker could only feel more excited thinking about how he and Alice would be able to match armor in battle. To show everyone around them brilliance.


    "Su will be very jealous you stole her armor." Alice''s response was not at all what Walker had expected. Her tone andughter as Walker looked at himself made him feel a little silly. His radiant armor was clearly a copycat of Su''s armor but he had done so since it was the most familiar after his own armor. And when anyone thought of defense in their party, Su was who they thought of. She was their guardian.


    "Fine fine, I will try and make it more unique, but we should go back to the ship''s forge. I am sure I have a mana gem around that we can alter. Some of the cksmiths might be able to help us make a ne with a string of mana gems. That should work. Then I will store the natural mana in them." Walker was running off on a tangent. He hadn''t even realized that the armor he had made was dissolving and Alice was trying to drag him toward the ship.


    "You''re back a little early? Did your light show get tiring?" Gil hade down from the look out tower when he saw Walker stepping through the air holding Alice.


    "I had a great breakthrough in using light elemental mana. Actually, Rise might like to see what I am working on. I will get her too. Then I will head to the forge and make something. Can you take the next patrol spot from us?" Gil just shrugged, he didn''t mind since he was getting restless. He wanted to take the elven archers with him to test the arrows they had made.


    "Good luck, but remember that you owe me an extra slice of bacon at dinner." Gil''s price was fair. Walker would make sure he held up his side of the bargain.<sub> </sub>


    "Rise! Can youe down? I have something to show you!" Walker heard the p of wings before Rise glided down from the clouds. She looked annoyed until she felt the denser light elemental mana around Walker.


    "You managed to learn a little something. Hm?" Her interest was enough to keep her focused. The only time that she felt this density of light mana was when she used slightly stronger attacks.


    "I did, it''s a skill called radiant armor. I assume you can use something simr. Alice used her song to make some armor but it was partial. Tried it and found out natural mana could help it from. I made radiant armor but a pure light version of the skill is possible with unique skills. Alice has her singing and you have draconic skills. It should be possible for you to make light armors as well as Alice and I."


    "So you have called me to see such a simple thing? I can create armor if I desire." The scales on Rise''s arms formed a shiningyer of light mana scales. She could easily make an entire second skin to protect herself.


    "Interesting. The dragon version is a second set of scales¡­ but the version I use is this." Walker pulled on the natural mana to form one gauntlet of radiant light armor. The shine was dense and seemed to nearly match the scales on Rise''s body. "The natural mana boosts the strength. If I can refine the skill I can use it better." Rise watched as she saw Walker also had more to say.


    "If I condense some natural mana in to mana gems, then maybe, we can use them to boost the light mana we all use. Alice and you can have stronger light armor or skills in general with it. If we had a natural mana rune gathering pattern we might even be able to make an inscribed mana gem." The idea seemed too grand. The only thing that could do this was the eternal orb for now.


    "So you believe you can bring greater strength to all of the skills a dragon or even a human has by creating natural mana gems? To control natural mana to a small extent. That does sound familiar. When the nature dragon was recorded in our history, they were able to greatly enhance every dragon''s strength in battle. It was not just an addition to a story." Rise was bing even more interested. She had not believed the stories, yet, now she was realizing just how true they were.


    "So this has been seen before. Even more evidence that we should try it. Do you want toe to the forge with us? We will try to make a mana game and maybe a few smaller ones in to a ne. Then we can test the theory properly." Walker''s exuberant attitude made Alice want to drag him right to the forge. Even Rise was showing a little excitement.


    "I will overlook this endeavor. It is only right to prove this theory with me as a witness. Especially if it will influence the growth of other dragons." Rise kept herself proper while she kept up with Walker and Alice moving toward the forge.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1615 1615. Molding

    The idea to make it so that the mana gems would only hold natural mana was not as simple as it sounded. Walker was able to store natural mana within the eternal orb because it had been made to house every single elemental mana which included natural mana when they fused together.


    The normal mana gems usually could only host one singr mana. That meant that it would most likely be unable to hold all the elemental manas tobine in to natural mana. In turn, that would make them unable to store mana without Walker adding the natural mana directly. Unless he somehow managed to inscribe a natural mana rune on to them, which he did not have the ability to do because natural mana runes were not something he knew.


    "I do not enjoy cramped ces such as this. They are much too dirty to even sit down." Rise hated the forge. She was a dragon that stayed in the wide open sky where she could absorb the light elemental mana as often as possible. The idea of being confined was disgusting to her. This is also why she could never understand Terron or any other earth dragon who would preferrge caves.


    "It''s just for a little while. If you really don''t like it we can go to the top of the ship and I can use my portable forge skill. It would just take longer to set up. I just thought it better to use forges that were already heated." The forges had been lit and were in use. The odds were that they would always be in use as long as the ship was able to stay afloat.


    Dwarves and a few other non dwarf cksmiths moved around fixing small parts on armors along with weapons. Just because Walker had not faced any damages while patrolling did not mean that others had not. Some of the dragonkin had managed to break their armor defending against the assassin jackets. Not to mention the fact that the bones of the frogs could also dull or chip des.


    "Where do we start?" Alice was a little too excited to see Walker forging something for her. She had not been able to watch him work with cksmithing skills. It would be very interesting. However, she was clearly already feeling the heat which prompted Walker to share the ne that Midnight had given him which cooled the body.


    "We need the mana crystal shards. Luckily, I have some in my storage. But I think we should have a bunch more left over from some true spirit crafting practice. It takes a lot of mana to make something like that but the elemental spirits seem to help a lot even though they don''t always dwell within the practice creations."


    Walker knew that the crystal shards were saved more and more by the cksmiths since the need for the mana gems was on the rise due to items needing them. The true spirit crafting endeavors were the main reason. The items made with the technique would need a mana gem to house the mana that the elemental spirits stored. It also needed them to use the skills they developed after the item was forged.


    Those molds are what we will use to force the mana gem shards to be different shapes. They also need to be heated a lot. Midnight has used her dragon fire to make the process easier. That''s not required though, I should be able to manipte the heat well enough." Walker was more talking to himself as he became more and more focused.


    "I can probably add more light elemental mana to the forging fires too so that the natural mana I use to fill the mana gems will better meld with light elemental mana. That could smooth things over." A few of the dwarves saw that Walker was preparing mana gem molds while also grabbing up the mana crystals.


    The interest was out of sheer curiosity. Some knew that Walker was friends with the wandering cksmith and wore many items that were created by him. Just knowing that Walker had also helped the wandering cksmith was a major reason for them to watch him work. They could learn a few small tricks from Walker who might have learned them from the wandering cksmith. It was a major opportunity.


    The first mold that Walker grabbed was thergest mana gem mold he could find. It was the size of arge strawberry. But it had a t side so that it would better be used as jewelry. This would be optimalpared to the rounded mana gem molds that were better used to string on the ne in smaller sizes.


    The other smaller molds that Walker grabbed were mainly for jewelry in general. There were different shaped molds that would fit in to pieces of armor or shields. But they were mainly toorge or shaped to fit the general shape of what they were intended for. If any were used for jewelry it would be bulky and ufortable.


    "Alight, Can you sing any songs to condense the light elemental mana? I want to see if it is easier to bring more light mana in the entire environment so that I can draw on it. Maybe it can make some white mes that will incorporate the mana and higher heat." Walker had not truly made a mana gem by himself but he had watched the process. A small failure here and there would not be an issue.<sub> </sub>


    "I was curious if you would ask for my mes. I have never done such a thing for others. It would diminish my stature. You are wise not to ask." Walker had a feeling that if he had asked Rise to heat the forge with light elemental mes, that she would have be angry. But he also knew that Alice was more than happy to be his partner for this. She could sing a song that would boost his ability to draw on the mana he wanted to mix with the gem''s structure.


    "I thought it better for Alice to help since she would be the one using the gems we make. It could also help her draw the natural mana out of the gem when she needed it. It might not really be possible because she doesn''t have a natural mana maniption skill but in theory, this will work." Walker could also incorporate a little of Alice''s mana in to the creation just because she would be expending it nearby. It would only take a little guidance.


    The forge was easily heated up with a pull of a few levers. They were made so that they could increase by adding air from the bottom. It was a very wise choice when it came to heating with speed. But the ingenious idea was iying the forge with multiple mana gems made with fire elemental mana as the focus. This would allow the forge to retain and absorb fire elemental mana to further heat the products put inside.


    The mold proved heavier than Walker though but he had greatly strengthened his body with the stat points from his level ups over time. He was able to show off his strength as he split the mold in half while cing the gem shards within it. He used just enough to fill the mold before pressing it down and resting the first mold near the forge to allow it to slowly heat. The drastic change in temperature was never good because it could lead to potential stress cracking.


    Rise was watching with great interest. She had not been present when dwarves or humans had smithed anything. She rarely even looked over the work that her own cksmiths would do since she didn''t feel the need for armor. However, the more that the other dragons spoke about the armors they were going to have made, she had be a little jealous. Especially since the true spirit forging technique could allow a light elemental spirit to join her and increase her mana mediation.


    "Normally this will take a few hours, but since we have the mana and the skills to manipte the heat better, I might be able to speed it up." Walker tried his best to copy every single small step he could remember the wandering cksmith make. He became solely focused on the forge and heating the molds he was cing within it.


    Something about the process made him feel like he was being lulled in to afortable dream. Alice''s singing had started and the light elemental mana had be a fog around him. It further helped Walker forget that anyone was even around him. He didn''t notice the many dwarves that came to watch him from a short distance away.


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 Chapter 1616 1616. White Hot Forge

    Taking out the single handed elemental hammer from his storage, Walker started to m the molds to force them the rest of the way together. The hotter the molds got the better it would go. The shaping of the mana gem could not have any air bubbles inside it at all. If it did, the mana entering it would cause it to immediately shatter. Being dangerous was just the start of this issue, it could cause an unfortunate elemental attack identally.


    Walker had reached out to pull more of the light elemental mana toward the mes of the forge. The heat was increasing the more mana that he pushed in to the forge. The fire elemental mana in the forge of the ship had been dense already, now that it was being pulled toward one forge, it was even more intense.


    The white mes that Walker was envisioning were not the same cleansing mes he had seen before. He was imagining the mes that held danger. The mes that were so hot that you wouldn''t even feel the burns they gave you if you touched them.


    The mixing of light elemental mana in to the fire elemental mana was increasing greatly. This was bringing out the dangers that light elemental mana possessed. Most people only saw light elemental mana as a safe and healing kind of power. But this was mainly because of the churches and healers that used it.


    Yet, many had proven the dangers of light elemental mana. Alice was a living example of the things that she could create if she was able to create a song with her mana. The light could be anything that could defeat, cut, destroy, and so much more. There was power and respect that the light elemental mana needed to be faced with if someone wished to use it.


    "Use more authority. The light must bend to your values. Your will. If you give it an inch you will lose all control." Rise spoke with firm intentions. Walker had been in his own focused world as he pushed for more of the light and fire elemental mana to mix.


    He wasn''t sure where she was around him but Rise''s words were clear and concise. They told Walker exactly where he was failing in increasing the bonding of the two elemental manas. The fire elemental mana raged on while the light needed strict control. They were slightly opposing but they could also be one and the same. Roaming free and growing.


    Understanding the very essence of a single elemental mana was what needed to be done so that one could grasp the best possible understanding. Walker was more familiar with the warm and loving glow that came from healing or buffs from light elemental skills. He was not asfortable with the strict, sharp, and dangerous side of light elemental mana. But Rise was and she liked what she was seeing. The growth in front of her eyes was worthy of her guidance.


    The simple thing that hade to Rise''s attention was that she didn''t need to just sit by. Walker was going to be and would remain the next natural dragon royal. She could do nothing about it. But where she could act was in how he grew. He was young. A fledgling in standards of dragons. Their lifespan could bridge thousands of years if they grow properly. Why could she not guide him?


    The eptance was not something Rise would ever speak out loud. She had resisted and even partially fought against the values that Walker and his family represented. They oppose many things she had trained herself to go against. However, she could do something here and there while maintaining her pride.


    The small encouragement and advice was enough for Walker to stabilize his mana again. Using some of the natural mana within his body was all he had to do. The light elemental mana was forced to move better with what he intended. The natural mana was his way of holding other singr elemental manas ountable.


    Within the natural mana was their opposite but also their match in perfect bnces. The fact that this was the case made the elemental mana easier to tame. Adding on the degree of control that Walker already had, the mes began to brighten.


    The dim forge that had been lit with orange and red mes soon began to brighten. So much so that some of the younger dwarves and cksmiths that had yet to gain certain protective skills were forced to look away.


    Walker''s hammering on the molds increased. He was fully immersed in the forging of these mana gems. It was the same way that the wandering cksmith acted when he found that he was interested in a new material or idea. Walker had nearly replicated the obsession that led to the wandering cksmith bing a great name for many who desired to even look at a forge.


    ''The skill white me forging has been taken from the starlight forge master system. The user has learned the skill white me forging automatically through guidance, prior knowledge, and intense focus bordering on obsession.


    White me forging- passive


    The user of this skill is able to more easily meld light and fire elemental manas to create the white hot mes replicating stars. Those who forge in such mes can easily add light elemental affinities to the forged item. Along with this, the white mes can also force the fire elemental mana in to a purified state. This purified state allows them to burn incredibly hot.''<sub> </sub>


    The skill notification was totally missed as Walker dropped the smaller molds in to buckets of tempered oil to cool them. If he had seen the skill, he would realize that this skill was not just something he could use for forging. He would increase the heat of any fire elemental skill he used by bringing the light elemental mana to match the fire elemental mana. Therefore, increasing his strength in fire magic overall.


    "I need a silver ingot!" Walker was in the flow and had already made the gems. He was not even going to check them. Instead, he wanted a silver ingot to begin to forge a ne. He had a blueprint memorized from the wandering cksmith''s workshop. It was nothing fancy but ideal for what he wanted to do.


    If Walker had thought about it, he would have wondered why he said silver. But his instincts told him that silver would perfectly bond with his intended use of the light elemental nana. Silver was often used to face undead and darker species of monsters. It had a natural affinity for light elemental mana which could harm undead more easily.


    The cksmiths that had surrounded burst in to action. They knew the materials and intentions Walker had. They were going to help a creation by someone that had personally worked with the wandering cksmith more than once. For them, this was the same as indirectly assisting a master. Walker could even be considered a partial student of the wandering cksmith.


    The silver was white hot in just a few breaths after being ced in the forge. Walker was easily able to hammer it and began shaping it. He had forged things before and was able to replicate some of the simple techniques when it came to creating the chain ne with small iys here and there for gems.


    The skills he showed off were enough to make anyone jealous who had never forged before in their life. While his work was miles away from a master''s work, Walker showed that the level he had was well above average just because of his mana control.


    ''Natural light gem


    This natural light gem is the near perfect fusion of natural mana and light elemental mana affinity. Due to the high amount of light elemental mana used and natural mana used to pacify it, this gem can hold both light and natural mana. It can only ever hold the two manas in tandem and if exposed to too much of another elemental mana will risk breaking.''


    The gems that Walker took out from the molds were perfect. He did not even need to worry about them as he fitted them in to the heated silver ne. The metal was still soft so that he could form it to the gems without worry that he would ever have to reset them in the metal. He was going to make something that wouldst a lifetime and then some.


    The process wassting much longer than any of those watching realized. Alice had exhausted all of her mana and then some after drinking the mana potions handed to her. But Walker had also drunk some through the process. But what truly shined was the finished product as Walker began to polish the metal and the gems to remove small bits of ash from them.


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 Chapter 1617 1617. Perfect For You

    Walker was sitting back on a chair that one of the dwarves had brought over to his work table. The ne he had just made was resting on a clean ck cloth to show it off. This was the best way that any jeweler would polish something. They would put it on an opposing color fabric to ensure that it was absolutely perfect all the way around.


    "I would like to say this is the best possible thing I have ever made, but It might be better than that. I was really in the flow to get this done. I tried my best to copy everything that the wandering cksmith does when he makes something with my help." Walker knew that this ne was very good.


    The small shimmers of light within the mana gems proved that there was a perfect mix of light elemental mana that would always be there. He could even sense the natural mana that had taken up a home within the mana gems while he had worked on it. This was a surprising event. He had not intentionally stored any but the gems had done so from the ambient mana.


    It wasn''t the same as a mana gem or set of equipment that could store mana through a rune carved on it. This was simply because this mana had been trapped there while it was being made. Although, this clearly made the nee out better.


    There were also the white mes that had purified the metals with light elemental mana. The heat that it brought was intense enough that even the forge looked like it had worn away a year''s worth of tough built on g. Furthermore, the silver metal ingot used had also been very close to the light elemental mana while forging because of the white mes. It had taken on more light elemental affinity than it had naturally.


    ''Natural light gem ne


    Def +1, Condensed Light elemental mana +30, condensed natural mana +30


    Natural mana and light elemental mana were extremely important to the forging of this essory. While sacrificing any other boost in defense or magical strength, the mana storage ability is one above the rest.


    While the storage does not seemrge at first, it is for condensed light and natural mana. This is due to the multiple natural light gems within the ne. Because of this, the mana s can be stored with higher purity making themst longer for the wearer.''


    "Overall, I would say it''s a sess." Walker read out the all around appraisal. He had a soft smile because he could feel his aching arms. The surrounding cksmiths felt that they had just watched an amazing show. They had not seen the white mes used by just anyone. White mes were usually due to purely heat.


    However, as professional cksmiths that had learned this for generations, they knew that the white mes were more unique. They could never use the light elemental mana to forcefully boost the heat due to natural mana control. It was something that only Walker or another could do. It was something spectacr and if they could manage it, they would be deemed a genius among geniuses.


    "I wish to have one of those like it. If you say that natural mana can increase my abilities, then I will want the natural light gems added. I expect that you will be able to assist the cksmiths creating this since there are some that are still learning from your wandering cksmith." Rise just looked at Walker calmly. She had to take advantage of something that would allow her to get stronger faster.


    The ability for a dragon to increase the strength of their attacks or just their usage of their specific elemental man was a great boon. Rise could only see that the addition of natural mana in the same way Walker did here was ideal. She could use it to draw in condensed light elemental mana that would be usable by her. How could that be bad? But she was not going to take from Alice in front of her. She may be a dragon but taking from a weaker being like it was nothing was an insult to life itself and a stain on her pride.


    "I will help out when I can. I am sure that a few rumors will spread. I can''t escape the fact that I will have to make more natural mana gems." Walker knew that it would be a lot of hard work in the future. Yet, he felt it was a very good thing. If people relied on the natural mana that he put in to mana gems, then they would slowly adapt to higher amounts of natural mana. From there, even more system users of natural mana may be born. A great thing indeed.


    "Alice, what do you think? You are so quiet?" As much as Walker wanted to ce it directly on Alice''s neck, she was frozen, staring at the ne. It seemed that she waspletely stuck.


    "She is just stunned that you would be able to make something so beautiful and useful. Her heart is beating too fast for her to speak. You have effectively stunned my new saintess." Horizon seemed to have left Alice''s spirit mark at some point and was looking down from above Walker. No one had even noticed him doing so, even Rise was surprised that he managed to sneak past her.<sub> </sub>


    "But that''s a good thing. Almost as good as this ne. It''s ideal for some small reforging in to those spirit forged things I have been told about. It can be my resting ce in the future. Just learn to carve some runes and I will take it." Horizon just floatedzily around the forge after speaking. There was a slight mischievous aura around him.


    "It''s too good¡­How can I wear it?" Alice finally spoke up with her voice barely louder than a mousse could be. She didn''t feel that she should be able to take something made with so much effort. She may have helped to a degree but when she looked at the ne she was too stunned. It was just too perfect.


    The silver glint of light affinity metal was perfect for anyone to wear. It would naturally pair with light elemental mana. The natural light gems were something that Alice knew did not exist anywhere else. They were too precious. A perfect gem that would help her in everything that he did that revolved around her light elemental mana controlling abilities. Too perfect.


    "I doubt you can''t take it. I made it for you and you will have it as long as you want it." Walker didn''t hesitate to stand up. He could ignore some soreness to clean his hands in a nearby bucket of water before grabbing the ne.


    Alice didn''t even have the will to resist as Walker moved a little closer to her and sped the natural light gem ne around her neck. He could feel her breath on him as he did so making his face turn a brilliant shade of red. However, he was calm as could be even though at this distance he could hear the pounding of Alice''s heart.


    Walker knew that he and Alice had not been able to spend a lot of time alone together. They had been too busy. But somehow, Walker felt that this had increased the strength of their rtionship. They had been proud to see the other getting stronger while busy. Something that could only be said by people that had strong feelings.


    "It also looks perfect on you. Like it was made for you or something." Walker saw Alice''s face begin to light up as he said this. She didn''t let Walker pull away and instead, she grabbed him and squeezed him in to a hug with all her might. If Walker was not stronger than Alice he was sure that he might pop from the pure happiness within her hug.


    "This is a normal human thing. Very odd that wrapping your arms around one another has been considered a show of affection. I can understand the touching of lips since that shows weakness and openings as a sign of trust. But this is just different." Rise was mumbling to herself. She still did not grasp why other races do the things they do. But most dragons and dragonkin would find themselves wondering the same things having lived more isted lives.


    The fact that many people were still around dawned on Alice and Walker before they separated from each other and tried to pretend that they were acting normally. It seemed that this was what the dwarves were waiting for. The flood of questions came like a broken dam.


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 Chapter 1618 1618. Dark Training

    By the time that Walker, Alice, and Rise had finished their time in the forge, Walker had been thoroughly talked to death. He felt that he couldn''t manage to answer another question if his life depended on it. But that was just how much the other cksmiths wanted to learn from the wandering cksmith.


    "I thought you would never enter a forge, it''s very confined in there." Mordant saw the three as they made it to the top of the ship. They had all taken time to rest. Rise hadn''t really needed it but she was still very interested to see the process in which Walker stored the natural mana for Slice to use. She wanted to see the results of what had been made.


    "I was overseeing the creation of a valuable new mana storage gem that could change the armors all dragonkin and dragons wear. You should spend more of your time valuing the future of the dragons." Rise''s response was sharp enough to cut.


    Mordant only smiled seeing that he had gotten some annoyed looks from Rise. "I have been guiding something else. Look at those three, they seem to have gotten themselves very wound up here." Mordant had been helping Leon, Su, and Midnight train.


    "Why is Leon there? I thought he would be busy¡­unless Scy took the lead as we started moving again." Waker noticed instantly that Scy was nowhere to be seen which meant she was most likely in the water. But she had to take a trump in to the underwater areas at some point, so this did make some sense.


    "That is the case. Scy desired to check the work and the sands washed down the river. No one argued because she was able to take over arger portion of the underwater patrol with her leviathans." Mordant''s exnation made them all agree. Scy had the ability to cover much more ground than the other demi-humans or merfolk.


    "Midnight was asking me about how to blend in with shadows better. She had some guidance about her light elemental breath attacks and wanted to better utilize her fire. But she has no issue making dark and fire elemental mes. It is second nature because of her mother. This is clearly passed down. But shecks the ability to confuse others with shadows like this."


    Since Mordant had been standing right in front of them, neither of them realized that he had been starting to demonstrate something. Rise could tell because she had seen it before but Alice and Walker were a little surprised.


    The shadows twisted around Mordant''s dark scales making it seem like his body was bigger and smaller in fluctuating rhythms. This would make it much harder to strike him since he would be a smaller orrger target at different times. Overall, it was a very good skill to have when it came to protecting his body from harm.


    "Is that a darkness mana type illusion skill?" Walker knew it at a nce. He felt that he was watching someone so well practiced in darkness that he should just assume it anyway.


    "Yes, it is. But it can be done with light too just to a smaller degree because it is more simr to blinding someone with light. I am using my own shadow to wrap my body here and there. But instead of just hiding in shadows I let myself get shown to others. This will make them attack you and miss attacks more often. It tricks their mind that you are where they see and not where you truly are."


    To demonstrate this, Mordant walked in a simple circle around Walker and Alice. His shadow seemed to leave a trail behind him while also stepping ahead of him. It was clear that Mordant was leaving his main body clearer so that Walker and Alice could learn about this skill. "If Midnight manages to alter her shadow wrapping skill like that then she might be able to stay closer to enemies while battling."


    "She can hide anytime." Alice saw a different possibility. She knew that Midnight used the shadow wrapping skill to sneak around often. But with the skill that Mordant was using and the shadow wrapping skill, Midnight could more easily hide away during a battle without causing the enemy to know.


    "That''s a good point, this is an improvement. It''s like being half ready to be in a full shadow wrapping state at any time." Walker grew more interested while he watched Leon trying to strike Midnight who was using slower motions to attempt to use the skill Mordant had just demonstrated.


    "So that means that Su is trying to learn a skill that enhances her speed?" Walker saw that Su was moving around Midnight and Leon, trying to jump in and block attacks then retreat instantly.


    "Yes, Su had been showing a great growth speed. If you haven''t noticed, she is epting the bonds with Midnight and yourself through Midnight much faster than imagined. That is helping her body grow and change." Mordant looked troubled for a little bit.


    "What''s wrong?" Since it seemed Mordant was worried, Walker had to ask.<sub> </sub>


    "Hmm, She just appears to be a little on edge with her emotions. It is good to put yourself in to a lot of training to get stronger. yet¡­I believe she is covering up something a little with training. She might not make as many improvements as she believes."


    "I can see what you mean. She is rarely that angry looking. But it''s not really angry. I will talk to her in a little bit. I want to see what happens when she starts to grasp the ability to move faster with the shadows helping her." Walker saw that Su was too focused. If he were to get in the way now then he might ruin a perfect breakthrough.


    The skill that Su had been shown was a skill that used the shadows to assist in speed. The darkness elemental dragonkin used this skill to get around better even though they could also hidepletely within shadows to travel. Instead, Su used the shadows to allow her to have less resistance on the ground she walked. If there were shadows, she could push off the ground faster or stop faster. It made her motions sharp but in a way that made her faster and not less elegant.


    For someone that carried a lot of weight at all times, having a better ability to move because of the shadows was amazing. It would make Su a much better guardian. She would have to worry less about protecting others. She would be able to get to them when they needed her help faster. Any monster or person that attacked her family would find that she was already in front of them with a shield defending.


    The other added bonus came to force. Because Su would be able to move faster, she could improve other skills. Mainly, the shield charge or shield bash. With additional speed came the additional force behind her shield. This could cause more blunt force attacks. Paired with her partner, the earth elemental spirit, Su could create spikes on her shield and do devastating damage as a guardian.


    "That was it! Focus on that feeling and run with it!" Mordant saw Su change the shape of a few shadows on the ground. It was a sign that she was beginning to grasp darkness elemental mana. Since Su had a bind with Midnight, she would be able to better understand all the affinities Midnight had. And since earth and darkness elemental manas worked well together, Su had another advantage.


    "So that leaves Leon just training his speed in spearmanship. Good, he can challenge everyone a little." Walker was watching the precision in Leon''s moves. It was very clear that Leon trained very often with his spear. It was a perfect extension of who Leon was.


    "If I heard him correctly, Leon said he desired to awaken the spear soul skill. A skill that I have seen written but not in person." Mordant wanted to exin more but it seemed that Walker had already heard of this skill before. A very important skill that any person mastering the spear would want to learn.


    "That''s the skill where someone who has a mastery of their system can use all of their mana to enhance their entire spearmanship for a single set period of time. If I remember, they can only use that skill a limited number of times a year." Walker knew this because whenever someone achieved this level of their system it was always shared as a major story in the world. Many people would go to see that master.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1619 1619. Just More Pushing

    "If I move any faster my spear will hit you!" Leon was sure that he could push the two in front of them further. He had not trained with many people recently other than his own warriors and the dragonkin. It had be repetitive so he had been thinking about breaking the pattern.


    The moment he had heard that Remey and Gil had been training on the top of the ship between rotations of patrolling, Leon jumped at it. He looked around and saw that Midnight was seemingly practicing absorbing elemental mana but Mordant had just approached her. On top of that, he had spotted Su around as well. The idea hade like a wave.


    Just a few words had brought Midnight in to the idea. She had just been told that she should use the darkness elemental mana that she had in a different way. Naturally, her excitement fueled her. And when Leon said he would try and hit her with his spear, Su had decided that it was an ideal chance to train her defensive skills and speed. Mordant had had an answer for that as well.


    "As if!" The growl that escaped Midnight''s maw was a mocking tone. The trantion that the world did for everyone even brought the tones and intentions right to someone''s ear. It was a perfect match for the way that Midnight used her childish features. She is proud and unreserved due to her young age. She didn''t want to be beaten even if she came against the most powerful of all beings.


    "Grasp the mana and move the moment you do. The mana is part of the world you are in. It will always be there, just let it help you." Mordant shouted at Su seeing that she had also heard Leon''s im.


    With Midnight retorting and keeping the tension in their little match, Su couldn''t let Midnight''s words be ignored. They were a team in this and could easily defend against Leon''s spears!


    The next attacks were much faster. Leon had ramped up the speed as he trained his techniques well. He could only slowly go through the motions for so long before his body yearned to push faster. It was just something that anyone who had let the motions be ingrained within their muscles could do. This was second nature to him.


    The spear that Leon shifted side to side while chasing Midnight around was still noting in contact with her. However, with the encouragement, Su was focusing solely on her movements. Instead of trying to bash Leon, she was letting the spear that would have hit Midnight hit her shield. The result was a decent pushback making Su work harder to move back in to position.


    This was in turn pushing Midnight to use the partial shadow wrapping to avoid Leon at all costs. His spear was not aiming to harm her greatly, but it would still cut through her scales due to the quality of his weapon. Even if it didn''t cut through her scales, it would cause a lot of bruising and trauma knocking Midnight back. Leon was a lot stronger than he looked. That was something that most people forgot.


    Leon had been trained by the king of the merfolk for many years. He was also trained by the best of the best warriors the merfolk had. If anyone were to say that Leon was weak, they would be in for a rude awakening. He had many years to be as strong as he was and represented the merfolk on the Genesis council for a reason.


    "Midnight, Is this all you have!" Walker had taken a deep breath. He felt that Midnight was focused but not giving it her best. When he was watching, she was holding herself back slightly. She didn''t seem to want to damage any of the ship as she moved. But she was also keeping an eye on Su who was moving around her to block the spear.


    There was a always something to be said about someone that was looking to protect their family. Su and Midnight were clearly family. Midnight wanted Su to keep up and be safe. But what Midnight did not realize was that this would also hold Su back.


    "If you can''t beat Leon''s fastest speed I will be keeping you from snacks for a week!" Walker''s follow up threat drew even more attention from midnight. She had been slightly insulted but also told she would lose snacks. Snacks! Who would ever threaten something so good? It was terrible. A tragedy for the ages.


    The growl in response from Midnight didn''t need any trantion. She had decided to throw caution to the wind and push herself faster and further. Instead of a grip on the shadow wrapping skill, Midnight dug her mental ws in to it.


    The darkness elemental mana around her tightened. She could bring the skeletal armor out easily, this was the same. As her skills activated and showed themselves the shadow wrapping became clearer to sight. It had wrapped itself around the skeletal armor while trailing off to her shadow. There was a constant stream of shadow that was creating a secondary and even tertiary image of herself on her sides. It was like looking at an object with your eyes crossed. Hitting her would be immensely harder.


    "Now that is the skill I wanted her to learn. It''s not the same as I would have expected but it is a very clear shadow illusion. A harder skill to use but she seems to have tied it to her other skills. Shadow wrapping, skeleton armor, and shadow illusion. That is the essence of a darkness dragon assassin." Mordant was grinning like a viin. He was greatly pleased to see that Walker had pushed Midnight to the next level of training.


    "I can see that you might take more pride in training your younger dragons than I expected." Walker''s surprise and small fears about Mordant came to one conclusion here. Mordant was vicious if left unchecked.<sub> </sub>


    "This is normal for how Mordant acts. He has been this way for many years. He has dragonkin that train under him. Not everyone understands his unique obsession. I am surprised that you have not learned it yet." Rise seemed a little tired, but her eyes betrayed her. They were following Midnight''s movements while Leon was speeding up more and more.


    "I did not expect that your human guardian would fall behind so much. I thought that the nature dragon royal would be able to give his champion a better guardian." Rise spoke up, surprising Walker. He didn''t expect her to say a word. Let alone a few words that clearly were meant to antagonize Su. However, the small smirk that Rise wore proved she had ulterior motives.


    "Who the hell are you to say that!?" The reaction that Su had was drastically different from how she normally was. She stomped her foot on the ground before bringing the shield up.


    "As you said, she is on edge. Emotional turmoil will do that to any being. The same as when Ignus causes small tantrums and burned a forest or two. It''s almost adorable, she''s like all the hatchlings in the first few years." Rise seemed to be showing her softer side while enjoying the anger that Su had shown. It was her growing tensions showing themselves.


    "You did that to see her temper? Su might be a little offtely but I think you pushed too-" Walker silenced himself as he saw the shadows around Su''s feet bend with resilience. They were benign forced to be springs for Su''s movement.


    As a light shield wrapped around Su''s shield, she pushed off the shadows with explosive force. The result was Leon''s spear being mmed backwards with arge metallic ring. Leon''s face showed an expression of great surprise seeing that he had been deflected and pushed back. This had not happened the entire training.


    "And now we will see what a little hatchling can do when they embrace their instinct." Rise seemed to be ying right in to the emotions that were present for Su''s dragon blood. It was growing and now Su had the chance to match those instincts with her human side.


    The three watched as Su, Midnight, and Leon pushed the training higher. Leon was nowhere near using the full force but he was smiling. He could feel the strain of Su''s shield and Midnight''s growing speed stopping him from using his perfect techniques. This strained his muscles and made him be one with his spear much faster.


    This was exactly what Leon needed to break through faster. He had to be one with his spear to the point that he could truly have the spear soul skill. He needed it for the dangers that a new continent would hold. So he could protect everyone.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1620 1620. Upcoming Turns

    "Now that was what they needed. The young ones always seem to need a little anger to push them all the way." Rise took this as a sess and decided to call it a day. She flew back in to the sky presumably changing back to her dragon form above the clouds. Mordant just shook his head since he knew that Rise had actually just done what she wanted and then got bored.


    "I will put an end to this, Su and Midnight need to rest now that they forced themselves to grasp a new skill. I don''t want them going on patrol like Gil. I know he was tired from making arrows and being on the look out tower." Walker knew that Gil did not even care either. But at least he had multiple archers to watch his back.


    "Before you do that, you should be looking at the shadows. Onyx has been there the entire time. I don''t think anyone has noticed him." Mordant was smiling very wide at this. He could see much better than the others.


    When Walker began to focus on the darkness elemental mana and the shadows. He could sense the shape of something hiding away. By the time he narrowed in on the view of a serpent shape in the shadows, it was already toote. Onyx had already made it in to position.


    Without any hesitation, Su had jumped to defend Midnight, but Midnight had only moved back slightlypared to the usualrge leaps back. This brought Leon, Su, and Midnight all in to the same close proximity all at once.


    The shadows burst up around the three causing surprise to grace their faces. The shadows immediately revealed themselves to be the full size of Onyx''s body taking form around them. However, all the three could see were moving dark scales as Onyx wrapped around them. He was trapping them while they had been totally focused. It was very sneaky but also very smart.


    The small growls and pleas of freedom were all Walker heard while he moved up to Onyx''s head and looked him in the eye. "The victor is the sneaky Onyx and his stealth training!"


    "Thank you brother." Onyx released the three while taking his ce on Walker''s shoulders. He slowly shrank down as he did so, but everyone could tell he was extremely happy to have the praise.


    "So, Midnight, younded a good amount about making a shadow illusion. It looks like you can use it when you are in just about any situation. It will keep you safer while you battle and sneak up on others. Just because you are a dragon does not mean that you are invincible to everything." Midnight could only look down. She hated that onyx had caught her so easily.


    "Leon, I am d you are training with us. I thought you were a little distanttely but it was just the fact that you were too busy. I would like you to teach me a little about spearmanship at some point. I have a few but never had someone that was as experienced as you teach me." These were Walker''s honest thoughts. Leon could see this in his eyes and smiled a little while giving Walker a nod. He had to keep his attention on the merfolk that had been watching the training too so he would be busy.


    "Su, nice job but you need to get out of your own head. If you want to talk about it you can¡­I know some things are hard in life." Walker still had not gotten on the same page as Su but was sure that she was working to get through it. He hadplete trust in her judgment.


    "Don''t worry. I just need to work it all out of my system. It won''t matter after we beat a few more monsters¡­" It seemed that Su still had some tension left. But so did many people. Walker was not going to judge it unless it caused others harm. Su was always caring when it came to who was around her. This was just training and she had been calm and collected in any recent battles. It would be foolish to judge her on everything with this training.


    "I think you really got the hang of that shadow step skill? Or is it called shadow propulsion? Because it propelled you pretty fast. I would almost think your agility is higher than Gils''.


    "It''s called shadow steps. But I like shadow propulsion. It feels like I am in a slingshot that I make out of my own shadow. It is actually pretty fun when I am not letting my emotions rule me¡­it felt nice though, to let loose." Su was embarrassed that she had let herself be a puppet to her emotions in front of others. Yet. when she nced at some of the dragonkin, they were still looking at her with pride.


    "You are a draconic guardian. From what I can see, you just epted the instincts in your blood. They think that too. Hell, you may have just be their idol." Walker''sugh rang out thinking about how Su might have an entire fan club made of dragonkin because she would be able to fight them all head on soon. It wasical, to say the least.


    "My snacks?" Midnight had been watching Walker like a hawk. She was not going to let him get away with threatening her snacks and then just forgetting that he had said anything at all.<sub> </sub>


    "I would never take away your snacks after you did so well to learn the skill you were training. I am actually very d that Alice and I came back when we did. Even Rise seemed to think you were doing great. She encouraged Su too. You saw her use the dark and light skills at the same time."


    Midnight huffed in response. She was proud that they had made break throughs in their training. But more importantly, she knew that they had done very well in their training. "It was inspiring to see." Alice joined the conversation while also pulling Su''s hand to show her the ne that they had just made.


    "That''s what we were doing in the forge. We managed to make a mana gem that stores natural mana and light elemental mana. It''s because I learned the radiant armor kill while training a little with Alice." Walker was also a little embarrassed to say that he had let his curiosity and one track thinking drag multiple people to the forge. But it had also helped him realize that they could make mana gems that were specifically oriented for a certain mana only. That way he could have natural mana and that mana mixed better than just a normal mana gem that stored certain manas alone.


    "Can I see it? I want to see how it works." Su touched the mana gem and felt that there was already light elemental mana in it. She gasped a little feeling how strong it was even though there wasn''t really much there. "It''s condensed light elemental mana?"


    "Oh, yes. I forgot to mention that the natural mana helped make the mana gem able to store the condensed light elemental mana as well as the condensed natural mana. I was thinking I would take some time to properly store it and meditate here. I need to rest to get ready for another patrol too. It''s been a long day today already. But night patrols are fair for everyone." Walker saw that the sun was already setting. He had to get ready for what the river might have for them tonight.


    "Good, rest up now. I have to show you all what we are passing through on the map if you don''t already knowing up." Scy had just set foot on the top of the ship again after being under the water patrolling for some time. She dly joined the conversation.


    "I already know what you will say. There are a few twists and turnsing up. We will travel through them in the night. It should be an interesting event. Especially since that is a good area for monsters to live. I would like some caught for food though. I have heard river snappers are a delicious fish." Mordant didn''t hide his own desires before giving a wave and heading toward the railing of the ship to watch the water go by.


    "Ah, I forgot about this part of the river. I was so focused on training a little that I should have called my soldiers back. The river snappers are more active at night. Sharp teeth like a giant crocodile but with arge karp''s body. They are a ravenous monster that lives to eat whatever they can get." Leon didn''t look happy to have to deal with them. Walker could gather that these monsters were in the river and the oceans.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1621 1621. River Snappers

    The orders from Leon and Scy went out to rest up and begin to prepare. The previous night no one had to worry about the monsters underwater. They were nothing to worry about and the merfolk and demi-humans underwater could scare them off without fighting. But the river snappers were different.


    They liked to live in water that came back and turned on itself which was exactly where the ship was headed. There were no rapids, the water had long worn away the stone of the earth to be deep at this point. But there were twists and turns left from many years of traveling the path of least resistance.


    This lets the waters form wells of slow moving water ideal forrge schools of snappers to make nests and breed. The monsters were known for their sharp teeth and willingness to eat whatever came near them. Adding in the nighttime, they would go in to a frenzy where they would try to eat as much as possible before they would go back to the deepest parts of the slow water during the day.


    "So you want us to use fire magic to heat the water? Will the ship be fine?" Scy had told the water mages that they were more or less useless here since the biggest problem was the monsters that would live in the water and easily resist their attacks. But she had gathered the leaders of the fire mage groups and anyone else that could use fire elemental attacks.


    "Hey, don''t go trying to make it sound like it won''t work. I have fire to punch these things to pieces to let me roast some fish." Remey was understandably annoyed that Walker was trying to make it seem that fire was not the answer. But it was mostly him wondering why Scy wanted to take this route.


    "There will be many of the river snappers here. They are an important, but dangerous, food source. If we were to harm the nesting beds then it would cause a lot of issues. The other generals in charge of the other ships will be in the same position. We have this area marked." Scy pointed out the three major bends in the river on the map she had been following.


    "This ce here should be where the most have made their nests. It is thergest bend and it is where the most food for them will get trapped or try to hunt for their own food. Don''t think that you can easily beast them in the water, they are great swimmers and easily prey on their own predators." Leon ensured that this warning came across before Scy continued.


    "They eat the fisherman that fishes them up but the fisherman can still eat them. It''s a monster that fits prey and predator. If I fought them in a war it would be very hard to counter them at all times. But they have more value." Scy looked annoyed.


    "I know that you are not as used to focusing on the extra issues and prefer battle. Let me take that in to ount." Leon was going to step up. He had to focus on his people more than he was on the battle aspect of things. This was the perfectpliment to Scy''s battle forward personality.


    "The portion of river we are on can be a great ce for us to provide Genesis with fresh monster meat all year long. It will be a ce where the merfolk can make a solid business home. Most of the sentries at any outpost would be merfolk here." Hearing Leon''s n for this section of river was exactly what Scy had wanted to get at. She was sure that this would be the ideal for this situation. She also would have preferred to just eradicate the monster dangers if she didn''t need to worry about these things.


    "I understand, it has a better purpose to leave the monster nests there than to beat them andpletely get rid of the danger. That being said, we will take some so that we can create some dried river snapper. Then we will head toward the next bend." Scy put the n t. She looked at the fire mage and Walker closely.


    "I will need you to create mes that spread out over the top of the water and force them to swim lower. They can not damage the metal of the ship but will definitely attack it if the water is not too warm for their liking."


    "So what would I do? Just stand around with my knuckles on fire?" From what Remey saw, she would be useless.


    "No, river snappers can jump. That''s why the dragonkin are choosing ces to stand around the ship. We want you on the very front. When they jump we want you to burn them to a crisp before they can even yet close. It will be where the most of them jump out of the water." Scy grinned like a devil while exining this. It was a simple way to say that she was going to make Remey fight the most out of anyone.


    "Pfft, fine. I''ll do it if it''s that important. Better me than him since he has to heat bathwater." Walker wasn''t sure what he had done to be brought in to it but could only look at Remey bewildered.<sub> </sub>


    "I can use my fire arrows but I would lose a lot of them. I think it will be the best for archers to focus on therger river snappers. We can defeat them and use them to distract the smaller ones with some food." Scy nodded to Gil who immediately left to let the other archers know. Eh was not going to alter this path.


    "Otherwise, we will need the healers ready to heal burns. The dragonkin may resist the fire and so can the mages, but there will not be an absence of injuries." This was aimed at Su and Alice. Leon could tell that Su was going to be unable to defend everyone. However, Su had made her knowledge of healing clear to the world. She could supply the proper guidance and materials to whoever needed to wrap or begin protecting their wounds. Mixing this with Remey''s potions, Su was like a dedicated doctor.


    "We can heal as we go or we could focus on a position for the injured to return to." Alice was much more rxed while speaking here. She had taken on a serious role as the main leader of any healing effort. Walker could only be proud of how she spoke out easily. Her courage had only grown by the day since she had found that she actually held a different bloodline and a bond with a grand elemental spirit. She realized she had strength and that she would more than catch up with those she cared for. She was not a weak link.


    "Good, we will allow a separate space at the center of the top deck for that. I want those with light wounds to move to healers as soon as they happen. It will be a potion intensive process but it will be worthwhile to preventrger injuries." Leon let Alice and Su leave to take this over.


    "Now, go and found your positions. Walker, you will remain with Remey. The two of you are the leading team that will keep the front safe. She will remove the jumping river snappers and you will start a path." Having the two of them work together with the fire elemental mana was also the best method to ensure that things went better.


    When Remey used her body with a grand fire elemental spirit to enhance her mes, Walker could piggyback off that. From there, the waters would heat faster allowing for the few fire mages to do even more work with less effort. It was a mana saving n that could be used during the longest of battles. And seeing that Scy wanted everyone to fight through the night, she didn''t even have to say why she chose this method.


    "Then we move in to ce. The sun is nearly set and we are on the cusp of the bends." Walker nced at the sun as it sank below the riverbank. He knew that the night would be long and that everyone would be very tired afterwards.


    "Oh, and have Midnight partner up with those that have to switch out because of injuries. I want her to be a roaming attacker. She can heat the water and deal with those that jump. It will be better to have her moving. Onyx can assist as well since he will have a longer reach with his tail to defend the ship." Scy gave thisst instruction before moving to ensure everyone made it to their positions.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1622 1622. Prey For The River

    The moon happened to be full which everyone on the ship thanked their lucky stars for. This was because the mood was bright enough for them to see the river banks and also the top of the water.


    Some sounds that stood out to everyone on post were thepping of the water against the ship as it turned slowly through the first bend. In other words, the silence was all they could hear. Whenever a change in the water or a small ssh urred, everyone would be hyper focused on it.


    "Be on alert, as you can see on the banks a few monsters are starting to gather to cross." Scy was well aware that some monsters had to travel during the night due to their predators hunting them during the day. And with the full moon, some would be traveling to their breeding grounds.


    ''Water rat


    The water rat is a beast that primarily makes small dens in the side of the river. It will swim under the water to dig out the den then create a small space of air to raise its young. But it must leave the water and the den to hunt for its favorite food, white striped moths.


    The white striped moths that the water rats eat are only out when the moon is brightest. Their beautiful appearance is able to attract multiple monsters to feed on them but they breed rapidly which maintains the poption. The main predator of the water rat is the ck water snake which needs the warmth of the sun to maintain its body temperature¡­''


    Walker mumbled the information to Remey who was watching thergest of the water rats. He knew that she would be asking him if they would be a danger to them at all. "I thought there would be other monsters too. But just water rats? Won''t the river snappers not go after them if they are already out of the water?"


    "That''s because they will have no choice but to enter the water. Can''t you see what''s starting to creep up beside them while they wait for their favorite white striped moth snacks toe flying in the night?" Walker created a small fire ball and threw it in to the air. The added light was able to light up just enough of the area on the river bank to show what had alsoe to eat.


    ''Whisper cats


    These cats are not a cute and adorable animals. They are called whisper cats because even their hissing is silent as a whisper. They are night stealth hunters the size of an average toddler. However, they are insanely urate in their attacks which always hit the weak points of their prey. They also use their incredible stealth to assassinate their prey. These two skills have given them the nickname, small assassin cats.


    They love to prey on rodent and bird type monsters of any kind. The more they can hunt them the better since they often travel in families of six to eight. They will often hunt enough for each member of their family to consume one each. But they are also known to hoard food in dens that they soak in their saliva which in turn helps preserve their prey¡­''


    "I see¡­" Remey didn''t look like she cared that Walker had just shown off an interesting enemy. Instead, she had zeroed in on one of the water rats that had fallen prey to its fear. The first water rat that had disturbed the natural flow of the water under the moonlight.


    Without a single moment between the water rat falling in to the water and someone breathing or blinking an eye, a sharp toothed mouth opened up and snapped the water rat in half. What proceeded was a torrent of snapping mouths jumping in to the air. Everyone was able to see their very first river snapper as it developed its prey.


    The mouths that the river snappers had were definitely like a crocodiles''. But instead of the long scaly body that would be part of the crocodile, there was a fat and powerful tail. The fins were sharp barbs that mirrored the size of the tough, sharp, teeth. "Those are definitely not going to be easy to beat." Remey cracked her knuckles and felt that the fire elemental mana that her partner had been gathering was going to be more than enough to get in to the mood for a battle.


    "Hey, I know this isn''t the time for it, but you know that Su was training earlier. She seemed a little unstablepared to her usual calmness. I am a bit worried that she is letting the dragon instincts take advantage of her." Walker knew that Su and Remey were very close. But he also knew that Remey would tell him if he was being dumb t out. The best way to ask her this was right out and in the open.


    "Right time? Who cares about timing? We fight monsters all the time, it''s normal for us to talk while we do it. Just use the mes well." Remey didn''t care what she talked about. But she knew that telling Walker to ask her anything while they fought would give her enough time to have a proper response. But it was also when she felt mostfortable. Even when she was doing alchemy, she feltfortable in a different way. When she fought, it was like she was back home with her family in the orphanage.


    "And Su isn''t being affected by her dragon blood like that. The bastard musician fiddle yer violin harp strings guy said he didn''t want to get closer to her then went on a trip to the north where he could grow as a musician. A fool that will get beaten up if I ever see him. Probably ran too for that reason."


    Walker tensed up hearing that someone had actually done that to Su. in reaction, the mes he had just grabbed hold of and begun to guide were multiplied a little too much. The water started to steam in the sudden reaction of cold and heat.<sub> </sub>


    "Calm down. I am fine so you should be. Su talked with me about it and after a few good fights she will be back to normal. She''s using it as a reason to train and be stronger. Just let her be her." Rmeey was being nicer than usual as she got in to the mood to punch something. She was really telling Walker to keep his nose out of it.


    "Then I will leave it to her. I just worried and wanted your opinion in case I needed to speak with her too. But-" Remey wound up and punched out. The mes taken from around Walker to deliver a massive bursting fist of mes to a single river snapper that dared to leap up at the ship thinking it was prey. "- alright, focusing up, I get it." Walker gave up and left Remey to smirk at her victory.


    "Now that was a good hit. That single fish thing made it all the way to the bank. Ha! Even those kittens are eating it now." Walker felt that this was a strange development. The whisper cats had taken advantage of an easy prey which let more of the water rats escape without falling in to the water.


    "I caught one!"


    "One? Three over here!"


    Those that had realized they could catch rather than punch or sh away the river snappers were looking around inpetition. They had no inkling of what hardships the mages had begun to go through while maintaining bursts of mes to create heated water.


    "Damn it all! I want to catch more than¡­Walker, howrge do these things get?" Remey asked the sudden question halfway through her annoyed yelling since she felt like others were beating her.


    "They should be about the size of dogs maybe? But I suppose they could growrger if they have enough food. Why?" Remey pointed toward the dark waters that were being lit by mes. Walker directed the fire he controlled toward the ce Remey pointed out.


    mes traveled over illuminating therge sharp spinal fins that had barely broken the surface of the water. Therge fins that were attached to swimming that dove deep in to the water within a split second leaving the water churning. "It''s about to jump."


    Walker could feel it. Therge river snapper had not swum downwards just to get away from what he had made. It was preparing to leap up and attack whatever prey it thought it could get. And since the ship was making the biggestmotion with mes, movements, and sshing around it, then the ship was the target. "Gil, aim in front of me when you see it!" Walker roared out the order to prepare.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1623 1623. Red And Gold Flames

    "Fire!" Gil had already noticed therger river snapper before Walker had shouted out or it had jumped in to the air from the water. His reaction had been to focus every archer in the tower to fire an attack at it at the same time.


    The use of the fire magic arrows had been the only choice they could make. Instead of resisting the elemental mana that opposed water elemental affinity, the river snapper would be opposed to it. When the attack hit, even if it didn''t defeat therger river snapper, the mes from the arrows would further heat the water causing more of the river snappers to dive beneath the water and protect the ship.


    Hearing the shout to fire arrows, Walker put up a wall of mes to cover Remey, he knew that the attack would be causing some decent damage and could reflect at them. She didn''t say a word as the mes she had covering her knuckles were taken and expanded around her.


    The multiple thuds of arrows hitting therge river snapper in the air and the pained snapping of its jaws were only there for a second before arge burst of heat came from behind the wall of mes. Others could see that the me burst around therge river snapper expanded substantially bigger than the river snapper itself. The me arrows had impacted and exploded in to fire just as they were intended to do when Gil created them.


    There were no more snapping sounds of therge river snapper chomping down in pain or trying to get prey. It fell back in to the water burning away, the water affinity meaning nothing against the intense amounts of fire elemental mana that had been forced around it. The smell of cooking and burning fish was all that anyone could smell now.


    "Another here!" The call caused Remey and Walker to look over at another sizable river snapper leaping in to the air. This one was not called out in time though, it fell and managed totch on to the railing of the ship taking a chunk of metal with it before falling down again. The mages and dragonkin that had been in front of the railing had jumped back to save themselves. River snappers had shown their true strength as the ship rounded in to thergest bend.


    "We need to increase the heat, Midnight!" Since Walker saw that they were not making much progress yet, he called for Midnight. It was only seconds before he heard a small roar from the back of the ship. She had felt him calling for her and she was not going to leave him alone.


    "Listen, Remey, since we have the best three fire controllers up front we can influence the water that will flow around the whole entire ship. Have your partner bring as much elemental mana around as it can. Midnight is going to use her golden mes and I will try to push them even hotter. We just need to avoid melting the hull of the ship so I want you to focus on that."


    "I can''t just control mes like a mage, how will I protect the ship?" Remey wanted to punch Walker outright. She was no mage. She had no elemental control that wasn''t rted to physical contact. This was a ridiculous request.


    "Oh, well if you can''t control the mes when you do alchemy then I guess you aren''t meant to be an alchemist? Right? If you can''t just treat the ship like a valuable herb that is caught in the mes of your cauldron then it''s fine. Midnight and I will handle it." The sudden nonchnt attitude made Remey want to go mad.


    First Walker had asked her something ridiculous and now Walker wasparing an entire river to an alchemy cauldron. It was something that no alchemist could control. A massive amount of water and one insanelyrge ingredient that was actually a ship. There were even living beings on the ship. All Remey could think was that Walker had reached a new state of foolishness. He had gone crazy himself and was trying to drag her down with him.


    "Good, Midnight, we are heating the water. Use your golden mes and I will boost them. Remey''s partner will help if he can. The fire elemental mana will get a little intense. If you are struggling, stop or let me know. I will focus on helping you." Walker''s concern for Midnight earned him a huff of indignance. She knew she could do this. She would breathe her strongest fires and show off just how strong she was.


    "Then let''s do this, we are already in the most dangerous part of this stretch." Walker saw the river open up in to therge bend. He felt that this would mean there were even bigger river snappers. Therge ones from before could only be children of those that lived in this massive expanse of slow water. The perfect breeding ground for monsters that could chimp through the ship with enough force.


    "You''re a huge pain and I will beat you up after this! Get ready!" Alchemy mes grew around Remey as she became more annoyed with Walker. The dark red mes trailed around her preparing to reach down toward the waters and protect the front of the hull from the intense mes Midnight was building up.


    There was a cool feeling from around Remey but Walker knew that it was the heat being redirected toward the water more so than anything else. The magic that was alchemy mes was not just because they were ideal for separating parts of the herbs to make potions.


    The alchemy mes had a more powerful and direct control of the heat. This was why alchemists who had this skill could control the way the herbs broke down and melded with other materials. The alchemy mes were always used to heat certain parts and keep others cool by directing the fire elemental mana perfectly. That was also where they got their deep red colorations.<sub> </sub>


    Since Remey was using them, they were more powerful. She had used alchemy mes over and over again more so than anyone else here. She also had the strength to focus her mes in one spot for a long period of time. Just because she was asked to increase the area didn''t mean she was just going to give up.


    The water elbow the ship began to churn. There was enoughmotion on the river bank to cause the river snappers toe up for food. But now arge prey hade right to the middle of their home. It was an ideal situation for them.


    Never did the river snappers think that there was a dragon releasing its breath down at them at this moment.


    Brilliant gold mes touched the top of the water at the front of the ship. Walker felt the intense fire elemental mana that he had not tried to control. Dragon mes were always stronger but Midnight''s golden mes were unique. They were a true born dragon champion''s mes. A dragon champion with the golden me heart which was even rare among dragon champions. Controlling such mes was the same as trying to control the moon and the stars.


    Yet, that was for those without bonds. Walker and midnight had one of the closest bonds of family than anyone could have. That was what made the party outstanding. They had fully allowed their safety to be in one another''s hands. It was a trust that reached deeper than just face value.


    That was why when Walker reached out to grab on to the fire elemental mana within the golden mes that roared in to life even greater than before. It was the same as Midnight asking them to grow stronger. The same as another dragon wishing them to be more intense. And intense was what they grew to be.


    The golden mes fell on the water causing a massive burst of steam to surround the ship. It made it harder to see but the river snappers charging up from the deeper water felt like they had been pped. Their retreat from the heat they did not like was instantaneous. How could they hunt something so hot? They liked the cool deeper waters of the river, not the near boiling waters that covered the top right now.


    Midnight stopped to take a breath and she noticed that Remey was covered in sweat. The control of the alchemy fire to a degree at which she had never used before was taking its toll. But Midnight could see Remey''s grin clearly. She was smiling like a devil dancing in the mes of its birth. She was enjoying this insane challenge of will.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1624 1624. Around The Final Bend

    "Water mages! Cool the hull again!" Scy ordered the water mages to make their moves yet again. The hull of the ship was being monitored by the cksmiths and ship builders that hade to along carefully. They were ensuring that every single spot that was too hot was identified and cooled.


    The burst of steam caused many to cringe away because it blocked their vision, however, some of the dragonkin were uncaring. They faced the leaping river snappers without fear no matter what they saw. The steam was nothing to them. They could use their instincts to attack through it as if it wasn''t even there.


    Remey was much the same. Between the bursts of mes that Midnight and Walker worked together to create, she got some good punches in here and there. She was grinning like a mad fool the entire time.


    The bursts of golden mes that Walker and Midnight manipted were extremely hot, but they were incredibly effective. Thergest of the river snappers were barely able to withstand the heat. Only the hungriest ones were brave enough to leap from the water and attempt to snap up anything theynded on.


    One river snapper in particr leaped out of the water and flopped on the top deck of the ship. The only reward it got before its jaws snapped shut for thest time was Leon''s spear stabbing it through the heart. He only clicked his tongue at the easy prey that had delivered itself to his spearhead.


    "Remey, this is thest bend. Protect the ship with your mes once more!" Walker could tell that Remey was running on thest of her mana. Even the mana that her partner had saved up on the spirit mark was dwindling. Controlling therge amounts of alchemy mes to redirect heat was not an easy task. In such arge amount to cover the entire front of the ship, it caused a lot of mental strain that Remey was powering through like a champion in her own rite.


    "This is thest bend! Stay strong and grab yourself some food for the straight away!" Scy''s battle cry received a roar from everyone defending the railings. A few people were injured from burns or the river snappers but the number was few.


    Alice and Su were the leaders in healing. Those that received minor burns were healed but potions and a few bandages from Su. Those that were bitten by leaping river snappers were ced beside Alice who was singing a song that created a healing ring around her.


    Originally, Alice would have used a wider range healing skill, but through her song writing she had realized she could save mana by keeping the song in shorter verses and also keeping the area of effect smaller. It also concentrated the healing efforts on the parts of the body that were damaged the most. Overall, it was impressive to see someone being healed immediately.


    This came at a cost though. The body had to shoulder the burden of so many small injuries being healed all at once. The body needed the nutrition stored up to heal right then and there. If it didn''t have it there was a negative effect on the entire body. Instead of stored nutrients, the body could break down muscle to heal a wound. It was a risky procedure which exined why someone should always look for an experienced healer.


    Rounding thest bend made the morale skyrocket. Everyone seemed to be able to put in even more effort. Especially since there were fewer and fewer river snappers that were jumping up. The heated water that the fire mages and Walker had guided was drifting along with the ship. The ship itself had even been heated to a degree and the metal transferred the heat right to the water.


    Midnight ran out of breath and was forced to take another deep breath. But she had never breathed such strong mes all at once before. Now she was running thin and could not instantly start another me. This gave a river snapper the perfect chance to leap up at her.


    Remey was slowed because of her own mental and physical fatigue. This left Walker undefended as he was busy guiding the mes that were still burning over the water.


    The sudden whistle of wind as Onyx whipped his tail over Walker''s head and mmed the river snapper back in to the water made the entire ship shake slightly. Everyone who was not battling or just finishing theirst attacks heard it and felt it. It was the unintended signal for a final cheer from every warrior and mage.


    Thest bend had been the smallest but it was the bend that had nearly gotten Walker hurt. Of all the turns they had just been through, this had been the shortest and the final send off for the river snappers that had been caught or defeated in the water.


    "Those who did not fight, catch the river snappers floating hereby. They ate our food source for the open waters. Get the cooks up here to start breaking them down and drying the meat. Healers, get over here and examine every single warrior and mage before they attempt to rest. I want perfect health in every single one!"


    "Keep the ship cooling! The warmer waters will drift with us for some time. Do not allow the archers to stand down. They must watch the waters for the next hour. This is still very deep water!" Leon and Scy were going back and forth with orders. It was amazing to see them working so well together even though this was their first joint expedition.<sub> </sub>


    "Brother, I will always be there when you need me," Onyx reassured Walker as Walker caught Remey. She had copsed due to mana usage and mental stress. Out of everyone, she had used the most unfamiliar skill during this trouble.


    Controlling the alchemy mes in a way that was not at all alchemy was a major stressor. Especially since she was redirecting heat on arge scale. A muchrger scale than a single cauldron. Remey could even work three cauldrons at the same time, yet this was muchrger than that.


    "Thank you for thatst defense Onyx. It was exactly what we needed. Midnight, good job with your mes. I can tell that your training has more than paid off. Now help me get Remey to Alice. I know she is fine but she needs to rest." Walker was very impressed with everyone.


    The shop was minorly damaged but even more, he had seen everyone working very well with together. He had also seen Remey show off what she was actually capable of. The alchemy mes might not be a central fighting power but they could be used in certain situations. mes were mes and they could still burn. But Alchemy mes were unique. They could touch things and leave them without a single bit of a burn.


    "Is Remey alright!?" Su was understandably worried when she saw that Walker, Midnight, and Onyx wereing with an unconscious Remey.


    "She used all her mana while making that curtain of alchemy fire. I wasn''t sure it would actually work but it was very impressive." There was no hiding how he felt about what Remey had managed to do.


    "The mes that you and Midnight moved around were also something that caught a lot of attention. The dragonkin warriors have been looking at you for a while now. Even Mordant and Rise watched from the skies. They did not intervene but they watched every single movement." Scy had been aware of this the entire time. She had also just joined them because she was helping someone else over to the healing area.


    "Saving their mana for when we really need it is more important. Who knows what might be at the mouth of the river or in the ocean? I have a feeling we will see them fight something much more dangerous than we will see in this river." Walker was sure that this was the case. But it seemed like everyone else was listening but for Midnight who had just plopped on the ground to fall asleep.


    "Go and rest." Alice stopped singing for just a moment to tell them all they should rest. Su and her would have everything covered. Scy even looked at Alice a little wondering if she had also been ordered to sleep. The demanding tone that Alice had managed to achieve was that of a healer that refused to let her patient worsen. It was a healer that would dly tell you exactly where your faultsy if you were missing a lesson after bing hurt. But that means she cared. And, everyone needed the rest after the river snapper battles.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1625 1625. Smoking Snapper

    "Gil, slow down!" The battle had just finished and a lot of people were going off to rest while those with more energy and no injuries took over the watch. The bend was the only ce that anyone really worried about.


    Many other monsters were moving around the river banks looking for prey. Water rats and a few others that were of no concern since they could care less about the ship. Even a few of the striped moths were flying by, sitting on the ship, then taking off again. But what was going on on the top deck of the ship was more dramatic.


    Nearly every archer that did not have to remain on watch hade to the main deck to begin breaking down the river snappers. Since most of the archers had some sort of skill that helped with breaking down their prey, it was best that they handled the preparations for the smoking and drying of the river snappers. They would not remain fresh the entire time that the ship was on the ocean.


    "Don''t tell me to slow down. We need to make a better effort. If we don''t get this done we will have less viewable food. Think of the future." Walker could tell that Gil was hyper focused. It was him wondering why Gil had be so focused on a task that was not as pressing as the battle that had just happened.


    "Listen, I will help to so slow down and take your time. You are fast, I know that, but it''s not that big a deal." There was a moment where Gil paused but then continued.


    "It is a big deal. I could barely handle the time I was up in that tower. I shot arrows and helped, but they were nothingpared to what everyone else did. Even Remey was able to protect the ship with her alchemy skills. I thought that I would do so much better than anyone else with my archery. So I have to make it up here."


    This made a lot more sense. Gil had felt more useless than even Onyx in this battle. Mixing the night with the fact that the battle had only been a deterrent than anything else, Gil and the archers had really only been able to attack and lose arrows. It was a wear on their supplies. They felt that they hadn''t helped enough but instead weakened the ship.


    "Oh, well if you think those arrows to that huge river snapper were nothing then that''s fine. I will just pretend that a fire arrow didn''t explode on it with the coordination of multiple arcane archers that follow you because they have gained a bunch of respect after you learned from their culture. I guess that was just nothing."


    While Walker sounded like he was being a jerk, Gil knew exactly what Walker meant. "Fine¡­fine. I was just getting in my own head. But we all thought that we hadn''t helped. Even the poison arrows were useless. So what should we do?" Walker didn''t actually have any answers for Gil. he felt that the issue would be shooting through the water at the monsters that might use it to protect themselves.


    Whereas those with up closebat skills would be limited to waiting for anything to enter the ship, the archers should be able to shoot anything. But even they were limited. "Harpoons. All of you have never been on a ship. This is why we told those dwarf builders to focus on the harpoons. I swear, no one teaches anyone nothing today."


    The voice that came at the two who were looking over the river snapper was from an older man that had been hired due to his experience on ships. He was a sailor through and through. Many of the merchant sailors had been hired at a decent price to help with the building and teaching of others when it came to sailing. It wasn''t fair to just expect that a crew could be thrown together in a second.


    "I saw those, but they are huge, how would we be able to fire them? They are more like a crossbow than a regr bow." Gil felt that he was being messed with by the older sailor.


    The exasperated sigh that came in response was one that made Walker and Gil wonder just what had been said wrong. "You and your archer friends up there on that tower were making arrows. Why not make small metal harpoons and tie a rope on it? Huh? Thinking with your head now?"


    While the sailor had a somewhat bad temper, it proved to be something that Gil hadpletely missed. He couldn''t even feel foolish. He had already started to brainstorm. He had to figure out how to make this work before he was in the ocean. It might take a lot of time, but there were plenty of materials in the forge. He had the strength of the wind to help any arrow he fired. This would help with the weight of the arrow.


    The issues that Gil saw in this would be the distance he fired and getting the harpoon arrow back. They would be small so he would have to fire multiple at a single monster. But if they were sessful, then the merfolk would be able to help get the monster aboard the ship as well as those with closebat skills. It was actually an ideal n.


    "Go on, the sailor was right. Try and make something good. I can finish up this river snapper." Gil was gone in a single breath. He barely heard Walker but has dashed away toward the lower deck''s forge. He wanted to make this work.<sub> </sub>


    A few of the other archers had heard the sailor reprimanding Gil and Walker. They too were ready to go and experiment with Gil. no one had the heart to stop them. This would be too helpful anyways. Especially when it came to having even more food while on the open ocean.


    "Well, I guess this fish is mine to break down." Walker took out one of the knives he had for such activities and got to work. It was not an umon thing to do and with the cooking skills he had, along with a few other small skills, he was going to work easily.


    The small bones were the hardest part to deal with. The fat filets of river snapper had the tiniest bones in them because the entire growth of the river snapper was to make more muscle that could propel it toward its prey. There was also no good meat near therge mouth that could snap shut making it the only ce with tough bones.


    The bones, teeth, and other parts would be used elsewhere. Even the scales would have a use somewhere which Walker was thankful for. He was not at all surprised to see that Remey was taking a few of the internal organs for use in potions. He overheard a few people mentioning that it was an ingredient for an adrenaline potion.


    Apparently, when the river snappers went in to a frenzy, they had an organ that would produce a lot of chemicals in their body. This made their mana re up and swim faster. This would make a potion that could boost someone''s body temporarily but would also tire them out much faster. It was really only good for short fights orst minute attacks. But the dragonkin seemed to want it nheless. Therefore, Remey took advantage of the situation to gather materials for her next potion.


    By the time Walker had broken down therge river snapper he was working on, a small section of the top deck had already been prepared to cook and dry fish. It was a simr set up to the forges. There were fire elemental mana crystals that would be used to heat it. But the addition of a few pieces of water soaked wood meant that the smoke would keep the river snapper filets tasting good and safe from insects.


    The protective metals ced over the top deck were rune carved for this purpose. Heat wouldn''t even get through them. The result was a perfect portable cooking area that Walker was excited to see in action. He even wished that his mother was there since she would enjoy seeing the different process of cooking.


    It was a matter of hours that this process would take but Walker was sure there would be a great meal at the end of it. He just had to keep helping until all the river snappers were in the cooking area. Then he would be able to sleep again. By time he woke up, he would have a good breakfast.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1626 1626. A Dull Trip Following

    "Is she alright?" The question came after many people had already asked this very same question.


    The very reasonying before everyone was a dragon that seemed to have gotten just a little too pudgy. The dragon in question? Midnight after she had discovered a new love for smoked and dried river snapper. The new favorite snack that seemed to have captured her heart¡­and stomach.


    "I think she will be working off some of that tomorrow. But for now, I think it''s alright that she enjoys it. She helped with the fire a lot. But maybe she won''t ever get to eat this much again." Walker chuckled a little when he was that Midnight barely twitched hearing him in her sleep.


    "I agree, she will have to learn some moderation." Su gave a few nods before sitting down with Walker. She had finished helping Alice but had been shooed away after Alice had realized that Su had neglected to eat.


    "Are you feeling alright?" Walker looked at Alice because he knew she was still off. Remey had said that he shouldn''t worry but she was his family. He would always worry about his family and how they were. Just because they were all strong teammates that could stand by themselves didn''t mean anything. It was just part of being family that would make someone care about each other no matter what.


    After a few bites of food, Su looked at Walker and shrugged a little. " I knew you would catch on a bit more than you let on but I thought that you would just let it be for a little longer. Remey and I already worked it out and I''m just going to get stronger. It''s the only thing I can do without letting things eat away at me. Plus, I feel like I have been able to understand myself better."


    It was good that Su was able to find the hidden positives in just about any situation. It was also good that she directed any negative feelings toward her training. "You know, you''ve been through harder things in life. You were by your mother''s side while you and your father worried every day about her illness. I doubt you couldn''t face any emotion now. But you definitely look more like a dragonkin when you fighttely."


    "About that¡­ I think the dragon blood is getting used to me. You know?" Su looked at Walker right in the eyes. He could see the more defined dragon like pupils along with a new golden coloration around them. But even more, the skin around her eyes seemed a little patterned. Not quite like a dragonkin''s skin but definitely more refined.


    "That''s a good thing. The more you get close to it the more you will grow. Oh, wait, that means I need to get stronger faster too." This response earned Walker an elbow to his side. But it was Su, she was just making sure he knew that she would not let him stay too far ahead.


    "You know, we are going to a brand new continent. No one we know or even met in our lives has been there. Remey kind of said it, but I have no idea what I will find there. Maybe that''s where my future is." Walker wasn''t sure how to reply. Su was totally right. Just because she had been turned away by someone she thought cared for her didn''t mean there was only one person for her. There was more to the world.


    "Hmm. The world is way bigger than we think. Isn''t it?" The elemental nes came to mind when Walker thought of this as they were their own worlds in a way while this one was also massive. Adding in the fact that there were skills and magics that were considered outside of the natural flow made it seem like there might even be more than he could fathom right now. He was still just a child inparison to his world, let alone the universe.


    "By the way, when we get to the ocean, I am going to ask the water mages to help me with my water elemental resistances. I think that midnight and I can learn to swim. I''m tough and heavy now but I have the water affinity too even though it''s weakpared to my earth affinity."


    "That''s a great idea! I have to work on some water elemental skills too. I always make things in to ice because it''s easier to think of water as a solid. But I never try to keep water as water. But what if I could do more with just water? Maybe I can shorten the trip we are taking by a few days¡­" Walker trailed off in to too many tangents. Su felt like she had opened a can of worms she was not prepared to handle.


    "Walker." Su looked at Walker seriously. He wasn''t sure why she had interrupted him so suddenly. "Go and see how Alice is doing. Spend some time with her before we get to the open ocean. We only have a short while until we get to the mouth of the river at this speed. The river is already getting wider so we will move faster over the next day."


    Feeling that he would get yelled at if he didn''t get his priorities in order, Walker jumped up to do just that. Meanwhile, the other ships were following behind quite well.<sub> </sub>


    ? "From what I can gather after checking the messages left behind, there were some monsters dens around here. And the main monster swarm that was here has been handled. But what we need to watch out for is the area we are crossing through now. It had a copse that left this space nearly impassable." Alma had been caught up trying to alter the route they were on for some time.


    The fact that so many messages were left behind had proved to be extremely helpful. She had been adding to the patrols when needed while also directing the mages aboard her ship to do what needed to be done to ensure that the waters they traveled in were safe. The merfolk that hade with them had taken upplete control of monitoring the under water which helped immensely.


    Many of the elves had tried toe on her ship specifically. But she had ordered them to split up and represent her on every ship. This was because she was highly respected as the future forest elf queen but stood for every single elf on the Genesis council. The only elves that had not fought to stay with her were those that had gone with Gil. he was now seen as equally respected as she was which really made her proud at the end of the day.


    "It sounds like things are going well. But I can tell that things have been a little rough. I went to look at that nest location you mentioned. There were dragon me traces there. It means that a few of the people ahead of us may have learned to work with Walker and his champion."


    Current had also taken the second ship. He had not done much as of yet since most threats were minusculepared to what he would need to deal with. However, when he noticed that patrols were sent out he followed them. His discoveries made him want to fly ahead and find out what the details were. He wanted to Meet Walker and the others to hear everything.


    "If I am right, then there may be a few of those that have joined with the first ship that will being to our viges in the future." The ideas that Current had were from what he had learned of history. Other races assisting dragons was not unheard of. Some dwarves had been asked to create their armor afterall.


    "Oh? Then I hope they are some of my fellow elves. If they are then we can share more runes and magic skills." Alma knew that it would be very important for them to keep growing together. If the elves and the dragons came together more closely, then they would be able to enhance each other''s homes more than others due to their longer lifespans.


    "But that''s for the future. When we get to the open ocean we will see what more there is to know and what enemies we will have to face." The dragonkin around the two seemed more focused than just a second ago. This somewhat peaceful trip had been fairly dull for them. They were waiting for the chance to show off their prowess in battle. And the open ocean would be ideal for them. They were the water affinity dragonkin under the strongest water affinity dragon royal. They needed to represent him with power.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1627 1627. Cornered

    "What do you mean you want me to make ten of the mana gems? I can''t just make them that quickly." Walker was sitting and resting by one of the railings of the ship. The stretch of river they were in wasrge and it was just starting to break in to morning properly. It was easy to see if any monsters were under the water and nearby, therefore, Walker was not worried that he wouldn''t be able to pull himself and Alice back if there was an issue.


    "I am asking for them so that I may bring them to the highest point of the sun. they will have purified light elemental mana within them. I will see their limits before any armor or items are created with it." Rise had been stuck with the idea of the natural light gem that Walker had made for the ne that Alice wore.


    It wasn''t jealousy but more the fact that Rise wanted to see more made. She wanted her dragonkin to be able to make them along with being able to experiment with them. But even worse, Mordant had be interested too.


    "If you were able to make light mana gems like those, then you should be able to make pure darkness mana gems. I would expect you to try to make them without my pushing but¡­ I want to see your process." Mordant knew that Walker could tell he wanted them for other reasons. He wanted to match Rise but also be able to sue them for the armor that had already been ordered.


    The singr reason why Mordant wanted Walker to make them was that walker had the ability to add the natural mana to them. It made a much better potential than just a pure darkness mana gem.


    While the pure darkness mana gems would be perfect, they were not all Mordant wanted. If he had the natural mana to bolster his darkness elemental mana then he would have the boost of strength that came with it. The idea of using natural mana to force the darkness elemental mana to condense due to the fact that the natural mana contained a mix of all mana forcing the dark mana to follow the flow.


    "So you both want multiple elemental mana crystals using different elemental manas. And you both want them before we get through today?" Walker looked at the two of them as if they had just asked for the most ridiculous thing ever. But Mordant and Rise seemed a little out of touch.


    "You both know that it will take me a few hours to make as many gems as were in Alice''s ne. But using different elemental mana in between two long processes to make fewer gems than you want. Not to mention that none of us even have the mana to make all that. That doesn''t even take in to ount the fact that we need to worry about mental stress, condensing mana, and just, in general, having enough materials."


    "Oh, the materials are there. We were sure to do a little looking around to survey the conditions." Mordant smirked a little. It seemed that he had already taken this a step further.


    "There are a few of those cksmiths that have gone looking around as well. They were interested in your fire control. They could take on the role of creating while you and others add mana to the mes." Rise had also thought this out. Walker felt that he was being forced in to a decision that he had absolutely no say in.


    "Let''s try it." Alice had be much more focused. The sunrise was nice and all but she was going to be able to help with something that wasn''t healing again. It would be interesting and a different use for her songs. She had even been inspired to write a song that gathered light elemental mana to share with others. It was not her best work but she thought that it was an important step in broadening her horizons.


    "Hey, what''s going on over there?" Gil hade up from the alchemyb to get some fresh air. Remey and followed him since she felt that it was a good idea as well. The two had been hard at work after the cksmiths had been given the guidance needed to make smaller harpoon arrows. They had even promised to make them so that they held the assassin jacket''s venom.


    "It looks like Rise and Mordant and are trying to make Walker work again. They were all in the forge earlier from the gossip I heard. It should be fitting since he has beenzing around here for a while." From what Remey could see, Walker was cornered and had to do whatever he was being asked. Especially since Alice looked so interested.


    "Poor guy. He is going to miss his patrol but have to make so much more than he even knew. I bet they will capture Midnight while she naps too. But as long as I avoid it I should be fine. We have the excuse that the poisons we are making need to be bottled after cooling." Gil was d that he could remain safe from any additional work. He was already preparing arrows with multiple archers for multiple archers.


    "That doesn''t seem likely. They spotted us." Remey wanted to go right back to her safe and sound alchemyb. It was already tiring having to make sure that the other alchemists kept up their potion production. They had been trying to stock up the mana and health potions since they had the time. Especially since they had brought so many herbs with them.


    "You are up here just in time. I will need some of your partner''s mes to help Alice and I. we will even have Midnight helping. If you and a grand fire elemental spirit help attract fire elemental mana, then I can mix it with the light that Alice condenses while Midnight uses decaying mes on another furnace." Walker had a sly look in his eyes. One that he really didn''t like.<sub> </sub>


    "We are also dragging Onyx to train too. He will be sitting with me between the furnace I pour light and dark elemental mana in to. He can help the bnce between them without causing any trouble." This was growing more and more.


    Instead of being down that he had been caught, Walker had begun to think of ways to drag everyone in to it. "And since Su will be left out it would be unfair that she did not get a chance to train her other elemental resistance skills. Gil, you''re the only one that isn''t helping. I would ask you to help since you can guide elemental mana in to arrows from elemental crystals. But I think it will be better that youe and give us ideas for creating arrows with runes on them."


    "Wait, arrows with runes on them?" Gil was a little lost. How had the topic gotten to runes on arrows now?


    "You may not understand since most light and darkness dragons remain in the sun or the shadows. However, we do have the rare dragonkin following us that have the skills for archery. I will allow you to create them special arrows using draconic runes if you are able to create a metallic design and metallic bow. It is something I was told you would ept in challenge?"


    Rise spoke as if she was looking down on Gil. Even Mordant was giving him a look that said he did not believe that Gil could do it. Walker had made this n on the roll and been able to trap Gil perfectly too. It would also keep Mordant and Rise''s attentions divided between multiple projects. A perfect chance to keep them from asking for more.


    "Well, I know a lot of the elven archers would enjoy sharing that experience with the dragonkin. Especially seeing a new kind of bow made with metal for those with strength to use. Even the arrows would be tougher to be able to be fired by them." Gil knew he was stuck too and just decided to go with it.


    But what was going on in his head was even better. He was thinking about the poison harpoon arrows and how he would use them as the base for the design. He just needs to steal away an few of the rune carvers on the ship. There were only a few that had to monitor the runes being use around the ship but that was fine. They could easily take on more tasks.


    "In that case I will go and get your champion and serpent. It will be an easier time for us all to meet in the forge with the cksmiths." Mordant let Rise head that way first. He was excited and had fallen in to the same thought process as her.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1628 1628. Mixing Flames

    "Wait, but I was going to help the healers prepare the next bundles of healing supplies. It needs to get done in advance since we used so many when we were passing through the river snapper bends." Su had attempted to argue with Mordant.


    However, before she realized it, she had been pulled in to the shadows and appeared to be in the forge. "Don''t worry sister. I was taken the very same way from the patrol I was going to go on to stretch out and get fresh air." Onyx felt the very same as Su. He had other things he wanted to do but had been captured by Mordant.


    "There are so many warriors and healers that can do those things. You two are here to get stronger before you help us deal with a wyvern. Or maybe a hundred wyverns. Have you forgotten your duty to uphold those promises?" Mordant was as sneaky as ever. He yed right on their promises to deal with the greatest threat the dragonkin faced.


    Su felt that she had no choice but also saw that Walker, Gil, and Remey were there. Even Midnight had been brought down from where she was sleeping to the forge. "If everyone is training together then I should be part of it. I can''t let everyone work without being here." She saw that Gil was going to actively attempt to escape but Rise was there to ensure that everyone worked together.


    "Walker, if you ever be as pushy as the other royal dragons I will teach you a lesson." Remey''s threats seemed to carry the weight of her fist but she didn''t punch out. Instead, she looked at the fires of the forge and wondered how her alchemy fire would react when there was light or dark elemental mana being mixed in. it was something she had not needed to do when creating potions.


    "If you are thinking that this would be a good chance to experiment with mes, I agree. I have seen you create a potion and I am very familiar with alchemy mes." Mordant was also there to learn something. But he had been interested in the potions that Remey made for some time.


    "Normally I can make the affinity potions by manipting the materials I use. They change their affinity and burn off the parts that can''t be used. Sometimes I can make one cauldron in to two different potions based on the byproducts. But if I add mana to my mes I am not sure I will be able to manipte them the same way as alchemy fire."


    This seemed to be the current conclusion of Remey''s theory, she could control, alchemy fire which was a purer version of fire elemental mana. It did not branch off by incorporating any mana other than her very own mana.


    The question of whether Remey could even add other elemental mana to the alchemy fire was also in the air. Walker could hear the conversation slightly as Midnight woke herself up. Rise was very encouraging since she had managed to learn how to bait Midnight through seeing her eating habits. There was also the fact that Rise saw Midnight as a hatchling and naturally leaned toward treating her as one. Which was fair, Midnight only acted mature because that was what she had learned. She was still very young.


    The environment in the forge was already home to a few of the fire elemental spirits. But they sensed a grand fire elemental spirit instantly. Therefore, a few started to move around Remey waiting to see what she would do. It was the attraction of even stronger fire elemental mana.


    "Then let''s get on with this. I will bring my alchemy fire and walker can make it fake or light infused. But don''t get angry at me if it doesn''t work." Feeling that things would get interesting, Remey began to spark up mes the same way she would when she worked on a potion. But instead of directing them around a cauldron, she let the fire elemental spirits manipte them toward the forge furnaces.


    The two forges next to each other were meant for cksmiths to work on two things at once, but this was also a perfect use for them. Walker was able to manipte both at the same time. He could also feel that there was more or less fire elemental mana in one or the other.


    Onyx took a ce in between the two forges and so did Su. she was a little unhappy still that she had abandoned the healers in their preparations. However, she saw that it was an ideal chance to meditate as Walker did between opposing elemental manas. She didn''t keep her armor on and fully exposed herself to the elemental manas. The thin training garments were too basic and made for working out instead of defensive training. They worked perfectly for this.


    "So you want me to work on guiding a few different elemental manas while I wait for the cksmiths to gather me a few different materials?" Gil was ready to manipte what he could since he could actively pull the elemental mana from any elemental crystals. From there Walker would have more mana to work with.


    "Yes, take the dark and light elemental crystals from over there and start to let them bleed their mana out in the air. Alice will gather the light elemental mana with her song and Rise''s help. Then I will work with Mordant to condense the darkness elemental mana. It will work out pretty well since Rise and Mordant have the best elemental control of light and darkness mana than anyone else here."


    Mordant and Rise looked at each other with a little confusion. "Oh? Are the two royal dragons of light and dark elemental mana unable to help experiment with the things they want made? Would the product be so poor if you helped?" Walker''s mocking made the two freeze. Mordant was usually calm and collected and Rise wanted to remain over everyone. Yet, at the moment they were also put on the spot and did not like it one bit. Especially since they had been cooperating for the first time in a while without issue.<sub> </sub>


    "Let''s start then," Walker smirked as he watched the two remain silent. He felt like he had won already. The mes that Midnight had woken up to were the brilliant reds that came from alchemy fire. She saw that Remey was fully focused on bonding with the fire elemental spirits that were helping guide the alchemy fire.


    Seeing that this was the process, Midnight stood slowly and did not interrupt things. She instead moved toward the ce where the mes were being split. She knew that Walker could manipte the mes when it came to her golden dragon mes.


    "Midnight, if you are going to add to the fires use the light elemental me breath and the darkness elemental me breath on either forge. We are going to make darkness elemental alchemy mes first to see if it will help make a mana gem better."


    The order was enough to make Midnight cruises about how this had all happened. In a daze, she had just gone along when dragged to the forge. But after waking up fully she was lost. Everyone was here though and she could only be excited that the entire team was training together. They were family and it was better to do things together than apart.


    The mana that there was darkness elemental mana. Mordant directed some towards Midnight, helping her more easily form a strong decaying me. She was being guided by an expert to make a stronger ck me influenced by darkness elemental mana. It was teachings that most darkness dragons would never have because they usually were left to learn themselves.


    The first breath of ck mes that Midnight released caused a drastic reaction with the alchemy fire. It would normally just change the mes of the entire forge but the alchemy mes resisted it. They were stronger fire elemental mana that would usually stop the decaying of herbs because the alchemy fire had to make a better potion. Soing up against the mana that often caused the alchemy mes to purify an herb was tough.


    Walker tried his best to pull the two together but found that the more he forced it the worse things got. That was until he began to add the natural mana. The fire elemental mana began to calm down the temperature of the forge rise slightly.


    The darkness elemental mana also stopped reacting in such a violent manner. It caused a strange bnce where the decaying mes seemed to remain lower in the forge and the alchemy mes ran along the top of the forge. Everyone could only wonder what the result would be when something was heated doing so.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1629 1629. Light And Dark Metal

    Without any hesitation, one of the cksmiths added steel to the forge. He was sure that the forge was hot enough and that before any mold to make mana gems were added to the forage, that things needed to be tested. He was also very curious himself to see what the result would be.


    Meanwhile, Walker was feeling the odd bnce that came from the alchemy mes. He had not expected that the alchemy fire would reject the darkness elemental mes at first. But seeing that the alchemy fires were about singling out certain aspects of herbs and other beneficial things, it did make sense.


    This also could be applied to the light elemental mes though. Walker didn''t hesitate to control both forge furnaces while the cksmiths began to work. He saw that Alice and Rise had begun to provide the light elemental mana needed for him to work.


    The light elemental mes were easier to manipte because he was able to create the white mes from earlier. But when Remey''s alchemy fire was concerned, the white mes began to react violently as well.


    At that time it was clear that the reaction was done so because even the negative effects of things would be purified with the powerful light elemental mana. This was because most light elemental mana was used for purification of poisons, decay, and even undead. That meant that the alchemy fire, which could create poisons and negative solutions as byproducts, was being rejected by the white mes.


    "I thought so." The alchemy fire was a true neutral when anyone could think about it. They were made to be able to create both good and bad potions. Poisons would be considered bad because they could kill, however, some poisons were good in moderation and could actually heal. The healing and mana potions were naturally considered good, however, they could also be used in ways that caused someone to perish so they could be considered dangerous in that respect.


    The alchemy mes could be bnced though. If they were going to be used like this, Walker just had to make them bnce using natural mana. Even though the alchemy mes seemed to be a perfect m idle, the white mes and the dark mes were not. They were opposites.


    As he focused on bncing these things, the natural mana drifted around the forge causing a lot of the fire elemental mana to be stronger. The fire elemental spirits also seemed to have been rejuvenated. They had more ability to control the fire elemental mana and seemed to be growing their bodies while they assisted in the guiding of alchemy fire. Some of them even took on the alchemy fire as their own bing higher alchemy fire spirits which was a shock to Remey who had only seen her partner be an alchemy fire spirit beforeter bing the grand fire elemental spirit.


    The steel added to both of the forges was undergoing a drastic change. They were taking on traits from both the white mes and the dark mes. The alchemy fire seemed to be forcing them to be purer steel. Instead of the natural impurities that would be left through the forging process, Walker could see that they had melted out of the steel in to g at the bottom of the forge. The metals had taken on darker and lighter tints. The steel with the white mes was nearly white and the steel with the dark mes was nearly ck.


    ''Shining steel


    This is a material forged using a purification and addition forging method. The alchemy mes used to purify the material have released many of the impurities in the folded steel allowing for ces where more mana can be added. The white mes used gave this a natural purifying effect simr to silver. This causes the metal to have a better chance of purifying poisonous monsters, undead, and even curses.


    ''Pitch ck steel


    This steel has been purified using alchemy mes allowing it to be much denser. This allowsrger amounts of darkness mana to seep in to the steel and even change its coloration to match the essence of the mana within it. The darkness elemental mana can cause a decaying effect and the steel is the same. Any weapon made with this can release concentrated darkness elemental mana within what is attacked with it. Therefore, it will leave a decaying effect on them.''


    Since Walker could see this information with the all around appraisal skill, he did not hold back. He was sure to share it with everyone who could only look at him stunned. This was a process that must have been used somewhere but to the cksmiths on the ship, it was foreign. This drastic style of forging was never used by the dwarves to their knowledge. They were not normally alchemists by trade.


    The cksmiths could not resist making things with these metals. They were basically handed a holy grail to experiment with and immediately set out to start creating. They all saw and heard that the shining steel was ideal for creating armors. It resisted curses and poisons, what else would be best? They also heard and saw that the pitch ck steel was ideal for weapons that caused highsting damage to a foe. Their excitement could only grow.


    "Get the mana crystal shards. We will begin making mana gems. Make sure everyone has a mana potion. We have work to do!" The orders from Walker rang out strong. He was ready to get this working.<sub> </sub>


    Time fell away from their perception as everyone worked. Su was fighting the heat mentally while also being bombarded by the light and darkness elemental mana. The additional heat from alchemy mes just caused her to focus more on the state of her body. For her dragon blood, it was a perfect activator of her natural resistances.


    Midnight was somewhat the same. She had two royal dragons guiding her constant fire breathing. This was the best of the best training to use dark and light elemental me breath fluidly between one another. She would never have an issue switching from one to the other against because she had directly learned the perfect bnce of them within her body.


    Onyx was in his prime. The light elemental mana and the darkness elemental mana perfectly bnced within his body. He was able to train his absorption of both while also learning to endure heat. This was something newer for him but as he saw how hard everyone else worked, he decided to push his body and mind beyond what he normally would. It was a spectacr sight.


    Walker and Alice were in a simr state. They were learning about elemental mana flow through the mes. They could feel the resistances and strengths of each. It was a different experience for Alice in particr because she was not used to the fact that the light elemental mana would be pushed away from her by darkness elemental mana. Now she would be able to resist others'' influences on her skills.


    "This is too crazy." Gil had been running around the forge guiding the creation of harpoon arrows. He had also been designing a few bows that would use the metals he saw forged before his very eyes. They would be ideal for Mordants'' and Rise''s dragonkin warriors with archery proficiency.


    The idea was that the bows would be created from the steels before him to match what effects the arrows would have. The arrows would be made with the very same steel but carved with light and dark runes. The fusion of newly discovered origin runes and draconic runes would be the perfect mix to create power and quick mana absorption. It would also help the dragonkin in battle since they would not have as much natural mana saved up to fire the arrows sessively.


    But this was smallpared to the fusing of elemental manas, the fusing of mes. He was just focusing on the end products and how he could use them. He would even have unique mana gems to add to the bows after the molds were removed from the mes. The molds that were already showing differences from the usual mana gems.


    This was the result of the mana being absorbed. Other than the small amounts of natural mana that were absorbed, the darkness and light elemental mana were being absorbed in concentrated forms. This condensed mana was already powerful. So much so that mordant and Rise could feel it within the gems instantly. They were very happy with this result. They wanted to see the finished product immediately but understood that the cooling process would solidify the molten mana gem that would be a centerpiece in any of the things made with them. Any of the things they desired to have created for the gems specifically and their armorster.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1630 1630. Successful Forging!

    ''Purified light gem


    The purified light gem is a gem that has the ability to store light elemental mana that has been condensed to very high purity. The amount that it can store will be altered depending on the user, what other materials this gem is attached to, and the runes that attach to this gem.


    This gem can not be used alone due to the high strain that would be ced on it while holding a high amount of purified mana. It can be reinforced better using natural light gems as a bnce so that even greater amounts of condensed light elemental mana can be stored within.


    Purified darkness gem¡­''


    ? The purified light and purified darkness gems that were made caused everyone to stand silent while watching the mes die down. The cksmiths had taken whatever metals they had ready at the moment and heated them to begin forging. Small shields, a few pieces of armor, and even the odd sword or dagger were being made. But the mana gems that were being revealed to have been made were what stood out.


    "That is true? You can store condensed and purified elemental mana in those gems? And there are also some natural light and dark gems that we will be ankle to pair with them?" Rise felt like she was not seeing the truth. The things that Walker had just said seemed surreal. She never imagined that this would be the quality that was in front of her.


    "Listen, that''s what those are and if you want more you can ask in a million years because I am done." Remey didn''t even care for pleasantries. So what if this was a royal dragon she was talking to? She had been worked to the bone. She was out of mana and she could sense that her partner had remained within the spirit mark for the sole reason that all its mana was being drained this entire time.


    "No, this is enough. We can hold on to these and use them when we have armors made for us. We can even add these to armors that we would wear in these dragonkin forms." Mordant was too happy to go against anything. He wanted to skip in to the future and see the multiple sets of armors that he would be wearing with these gems. He was even feeling that Shade was stirring because he had felt the draw of the purified darkness gem.


    The fact that Shade even stirred was a big deal for Mordant. His partner had rested since thest time they exhausted a lot of mana. That meant there was a chance to gather more darkness elemental mana. To grow even more while they were in the open ocean where only a star''s light could touch them at night.


    "They are something to be proud of. All of us worked on something here. Alice is¡­well she is napping already so I will help her to her room. But I want to see these gems in action sooner orter too. But that will have to be after we get home. I doubt that either of you brought the armors you ordered with you. The wandering cksmith works fast but not that fast." Walker gave a slightugh as he took a wobbly step forward. He had used a significantlyrger amount of mana and mental strength to control the forge mes and use multiple skills.


    ''The skill sea legs has been taken from the veteran sailor system. The user has spent the minimum time on the water in a ship to gain the skill sea legs.


    Sea legs- passive


    The user is naturally able to bnce better in even the worst storms. All sailors or rted systems will get this skill after spending different amounts of time on a ship in waters that are rough or calm. It is all dependent on the user and howfortable they are with their body.''


    Walker found it funny that he had gained such a random skill. But even though he was tired, he felt that his bnce and walking became more stable at that moment. It was a small blessing that he could take with him as he helped carry Alice out of the forge.


    Midnight had decided just to sleep where she was. The constant training she had just endured from the light and dark royal dragon was too intense. She had used the decaying me breath and the light me breath over and over again. The switching had changed her inner resistances and ability to gather elemental mana. It was a challenge not many dragons would have to go through but one that had made her much better when it came to using light and darkness elemental mana. She even felt that she might be able to fuse the two elemental manas in to a me breath with a little more effort.


    The only ones that were continuing their training were Onyx and Su. Onyx had found a good bnce between the darkness and light elemental mana that challenged his level of control over both. This alone was something that many mages that could use multiple elemental manas would be incredibly jealous of.<sub> </sub>


    This was because Onyx was learning to bnce his own mana between the two opposing forces. Not only that but he was also learning to look deeper within himself to be able to live up to his best possible strength. Onyx had a deep desire to grow in to the ancient history of the abyssal and heavenly serpent species of monsters.


    When I came to Su, she had been focused on enduring the pressure of multiple elemental manas and the heat of the forges. Without any defensive armor or essories, the full heat of the forge had been hitting Su the entire time. This had gone on long enough to truly wear away on her body and mind.


    The additional darkness and light elemental mana that were in condensed waves from the forging also had arge effect on her. She had to resist the effects that came with both elemental manas. This triple threat led Su to a tough impasse where she had to decide if she was being harmed or if she was actually still training.


    This mentality could be found in many people who followed the guardian path. Training defensive skills or resistances was considered a very hard task. One that only those with tough minds could handle at the end of the day. If someone with a lower tier system had a stronger mind and was able to push themselves beyond what was normal for their resistances, then they would shine more than someone with a weaker mind. But that could be said for many people in many different positions.


    The person that had done the least physical and nearly all mental work was Gil. He had been working on blueprints in the heat. The metals forged by the cksmiths had been practiced on right in front of him. This was the ideal testing ground for how the metal bows would be created for dragonkin archers.


    Theplicated bnce of strength and weight was what Gil became stuck on the most. The different elemental steels created through forging with alchemy mes were unique. They were also pure. But the issue that came with them was that they would still weigh more than a dragonkin could carry and fire urately at all times.


    This meant that the design had to be hollowed out and made with special supporting parts to properly fire an arrow and not break. This change was one that was often used in crossbows. Gil only had this knowledge to share between the dwarves because he had learned the designs and theories from the dwarven crossbowmen that had helped him alter the bow that Zephyr often rested in. if he didn''t have this knowledge he would find himself like a lost child in the market.


    The real breakthrough came unexpectedly. The cksmiths that brought him the slightly heavier harpoon inspired arrows were clearly happy to do so. They had been unable to make arrows overall because they were not something often made from metals. But this design was something that united those that forged metals and archers who made arrows. To be able to connect two different crafting abilities was a blessing to any crafter.


    The harpoon arrows were small but they had a hook barb that would stick in to prey easily. There was also a braided thin metal rope made of multiple metals to be able to handle the weight of what was hit with the harpoon arrows. This would allow the strong closebat fighters to take up the role of bringing in the prey caught with the arrows. It was an ideal creation for the entire journey through the ocean.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1631 1631. On The Horizon

    "Open Water sighted!" The call went out over and over from the archers. They had seen the mouth of the river on the horizon just like that. It felt like the trip down the river had been simple and short but in reality, it had hidden challenges and taken days just to get there.


    But where there was some hardship in the journey, there would be benefits in the future. Genesis now had a dedicated water way through the river for ships, merchants, and the merfolk to move easily.


    It might not have been as close to the merfolk city that was much further down the coast, but it was a great ce to set up a small vige or port city that would be directly connected to Genesis. This wasn''t even mentioning the fact that it was creating a solid home for the merfolk who thrived in water.


    "Are youing to see it?" Alice''s voice was almost too soft to hear but eventually, Walker lifted his head. He hadn''t realized that he had fallen asleep after sitting down in a chair next to Alice''s bed.


    Alice had just woken up after hearing themotion and found Walker asleep next to her. His head leaned down on to the bed in the most ufortable but adorable way. "Go where¡­oh! Yes, let''s go see the ocean!"


    Since the shouts were muffled by the running and metal of the ship, Walker had needed a moment to understand what everyone was shouting about. It seemed that everyone was going to be up on top of the ship before he was.


    "I can''t believe we are already there. I thought we would get caught up with another monster or have to clear another blockage. This is perfect, we will have time to rest and maybe go ashore to check the beach for additional supplies. I''m just d you and I could rest a bit before now. I feel much better. How about you?"


    Turning around to look at Alice, Walker found that she was much closer than he expected. "You didn''t need to carry me back again. You''ve done it before¡­" to Walker, it seemed that Alice felt bad that he had been forced to carry her back to her room after exhausting herself. It only proved she was not yet matching his strength.


    "Do you really think I would ever make you get back up and go to rest alone? I''m not that kind of terrible person to the people I love." Walker had long decided his feelings about everyone around him. They were family and he had every right to protect them.


    "Then I''ll carry you too." The promise made Walker a little confused because Alice didn''t look happy about it. However, if he had better intuition, he would realize she was just nervous.


    Because in one swift motion, Alice grabbed Walker''s wrist and pulled him to her. Walker had kissed Alice before but it was still a rare urrence. Therefore, Alice took her own feelings and used them to her advantage. Naturally, the sudden kiss was enough to throw Walker''s heart in to turmoil.


    "Now we can go up top." Alice walked briskly out of the room first leaving Walker to let his heart settle down.


    "Wait! Don''t run away so fast!" His bright smile could have rivaled the sun''s light if the sun was not rising in a shade of purple that made everyone''s breath hold for a moment.


    " How are you up here before Alice? Did you get slower?" Remey elbowed Walker in the side while teasing him as soon as she caught the twoing up the stairs.


    "And how are you so awake? Shouldn''t you be still knocked out after using so much mana? I''m issued to you sleeping in the alchemyb because you''re too tired toe home."


    "Pfftt, the alchemyb here doesn''t have enough space for me to sleepfortably. The whole ship is too small. It would take ten ships to make enough room for a perfect alchemyb." Remey''s little rant made Walker wonder just what a perfect alchemyb would demand for size and equipment.


    "Are you two alright? You didn''t exhaust yourselves forging yesterday? Did you? Your faces are all red." Since Su had heard Remey, she had caught Walker and Alice in her eye. She worried that they may have tired themselves out so much that they got sick.


    "No No no, it''s just warmer on the lower decks then we ran here to see the sun rising. How about you? Do you feel better resistances to dark, light, and fire elemental mana? Your training was tough."<sub> </sub>


    From what it appeared, Su had used some potions to recover any damage she had suffered. The skin on her hands and neck looked to be shiner which proved this point. It also meant that her body had been forced to heal and learn to resist the elemental mana condensed while forging.


    "It was tough but worth it. I already have resistance skills that rte to every elemental mana. But I know I can strengthen them by training like this. My fire elemental resistance is pretty high. I can try to touch fire for a short while if I want without damage."


    It was very rare for Su to brag. Yet, this was a good reason to brag. She had made her resistance to one elemental mana tough enough that she could rival those that were naturally resistant or even trained in resisting it for years. Furthermore, that made it easier for Su to fight alongside anyone that used fire elemental skills.


    "By the way, did any of you see Gil leave the forge? I think he was there all night." Su made a good point. Where Midnight would enjoy the heat and most likely ended up remaining there all night because it wasfortable, Gil would have left the forge so that he could properly rest. There was no way he would willingly sleep in the heat there.


    "Brother Gil was and still is in the forge. He seems to have hit a stride in inspiration with the dwarven cksmiths. They are very happy to be trying something new that was learned from their very own people." Onyx had slithered from the edge of the ship''s top deck. He had been enjoying the cool night air after spending so much time in the forge himself.


    "Well, I did hear that crossbowmen had be more popr after they did so much to help clear the slimes from the dwarven city. I bet the cksmiths here want to be able to show off their skills when we get back from another continent." Remey could see that this was a power move. The cksmiths would be much more famous after learning and refining a new technique. Add on the new materials from another continent, and they would be miles ahead of others in their field.


    "So Gil already made friends with the elves and now he is working on the dwarves. I feel like I should put a lot more focus on charisma statuses than I have been." Walker knew that Gil had the extra edge when it came to perception. He had always done so but Walker had never worried about it. He would just ept it as he naturally was.


    "There''s not much point in that. Mine is not that high either and I have plenty of friends. Let your actions speak for you." Su took it a little too seriously and offered her advice. But before they could keep going on, Scy and Leon seemed to be gathering everyones'' attention.


    "Listen closely, we will be in the mouth of the river soon. This means there will be more danger. Leon''s merfolk will be scouting ahead. His team will be absolute within the water. If you hear an issue you believe it and follow it. That is an order!" Scy knew that Leon had expertise in the water and would be letting him take the lead there.


    "Scy will be preparing the shift rotation. We will be waiting for the other ships and need to remain in one ce. If anyone is not prepared for their shift they are leaving the entity of this ship and every single life on it up to fate. Therger monsters out in the ocean maye here to feed on whatever the river spits out!"


    This important information was why rivers were always so dangerous. The river carried many things, even prey for the ocean dwelling monsters. Land monsters woulde here to catch what they could from the shore while the ocean brought its own monsters. It was overall, a very dangerous ce to be, and the ship would be there for a day or two as other ships arrived.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1632 1632. Flowing Form

    "What happened to your speech about wanting to keep everyone safe? How Scy said you were the absolute within the water?" Walker stood watching Leon prepare another piece of bait on a chain and his throwing harpoons.


    "This is to procure food for the journey. It will be best to fish up the monsters here than in the open ocean where there will be monsters that can swallow the ship whole. Or even worse, Monsters that will swarm the ship at the slightest sign of food." Leon had a small point but Walker could tell that there was an ulterior motive.


    "You definitely just want to fish since you have been away from the ocean for so long."


    "And you just want to make it seem like we aren''t doing anything. If I remember correctly, you will be leaving for the beach soon to do a scouting round for more food. Natural fruits, vegetables, and monsters to eat. So I don''t think we will be in a different position soon. That means you are better off grabbing one of my spears and waiting to hunt something with me."


    As much as Walker didn''t want to just join Leon, he was keeping a lookout for monsters toorgeing near the ship. But Leon just happened to be making more of the time as he did so since he had already sent out the first group underwater patrols.


    The underwater patrols were nearly glued to the bottom of the ship. The currents here were rough because of the shing river and tides. It was easy to predict for those with experience but still not anything tough at. The groups leaving would be waiting for the low tides so that there was a higher chance of capturing some food and a safer journey to the shore.


    "Fine, I can learn a little about spear fishing. But I thought these were just harpoons?" From what Walker could see, the spear and harpoons were very different things. But in his hand right now was just a chained harpoon.


    "They would be the same. But if you look, there are notches for harpoons to be fired and loaded in to ballistas, or special harpoon firing creations that use springs. These have grips for your hands to hold tighter and aim more urately. Not to mention the barbs are made to tear away chunks from the prey you hit if they overpower you and you need to rip them free."


    Walker had a hard time figuring out how he would rip them free and Leon seemed to catch on to this. "The way the barbs are shaped here and here. They are at better anglespared to a harpoon which the chain would need to be broken to get free. The angles here are to let you arc the chain and pull at the same time. It forces pressure to tear away flesh and free itself." This seemed like a very well designed tool after hearing this.


    "That''s actually really amazing. I bet that it took generations to get this right." Walker waited in hope that Leon would have more information but he just shrugged.


    "I wish I could say but from what I know, this kind of harpoon has been popr for a very long time. I assume someone invented it and then kept on with their lives. After years of being used on ships here and there, so many existed that it was impossible to find who had invented it." Walker could tell that this meant it was an unspoken historical invention. It changed the world but not a single person could definitelyy im to it.


    "Now, back to more important things. This thin chain has some of that frog meat on it. I soaked it in a little bit of the venom from those assassin jackets. That way when prey eats it we can have an easier time hitting it. Then we pull like our lives depend on it. And if we need help¡­" Leon pointed to the few dragonkin warriors nearby. They were watching and waiting at their own posts. However, they seemed more interested in what Leon was doing.


    As if on cue, the chain that had bait on it rattled. Not a rattle of drifting water andpping waves, but one that meant something had touched it. Something with teeth that was pulling on it.


    ''Swift Salmon


    The swift salmon is a monster that has one strength, agility. It has gained the name swift because it is able to swim through the waters no matter the current. Theyck defensive strength but are often hard to catch because of their agility. However, their lean muscles make them a great food item for anything that can catch them.


    The best method to catch them is to trap them and avoid letting them gain speed. However, if they are attacked in the head there is a high chance of instantly defeating them. They are loved by many other monsters and prey on anything small enough to fit in their mouths. Sometimes they will migrate in the thousands to their breeding grounds.''


    "Aim for the head and we have a good meal.'''' Leon''s excitement was there for everyone to see. He had eaten the swift salmon before and could not wait to have it on his dinner te again. Especially since this time he would be able to show it off to those that had never tasted it before.<sub> </sub>


    "Take the first shot at it, I will take the second." Leon thought it more respectable to let Walker learn. He had no idea at what level Walker''s skills would be when it came to throwing a harpoon.


    "Then let me try something." The wind gathered around Walker as he channeled the wind elemental mana to wrap the throwing harpoon in his hand. The chains rattled and the dragonkin went on higher alert than before. They could sense the added danger that came with using wind elemental mana on a thrown projectile.


    In one fluid movement, Walker used the spear throwing skill he had and applied it to the harpoon. He had no idea if it would work the same but as he saw the wind guiding the harpoon, he felt that he had chosen correctly. The harpoon pierced the water and hit the tail of the swift salmon taking a chunk of the fin with it. There was also the secondary effect of making bubbles all around it.


    The bubbles caused the swift salmon to be blinded for just long enough. Leon''s spear had much more force behind it and it shot through the water as if being guided right to the head of the swift salmon. The single attack defeated the swift salmon in that instant without even the chance of escape.


    "Hmm, you had the right idea to force your throw deeper. But you need to guide it more with your strength so that it will remain urate." From what it appeared, Leon was adept in teaching people how to throw harpoons. The odds were that he had been someone that went around teaching his fellow merfolk how to do this. It led Walker to believe that this was also one of the hidden hobbies that Leon had as a person.


    "Watch me throw this one. It will be more urate because I let the harpoon follow the flow of my body. I will use more strength but with my entire body." The second swift salmon had caught on to the bait and tried to steal it away from the chain that it was attached to. But as Leon arched his back, he gathered his strength.


    With one foot slightly raised, Leon stomped it down and lurched forward. His arm ended up pointing directly at the swift salmon he had aimed at while his harpoon flew in exactly the direction he was painting. This form was the ideal harpoon or spear throwing form that everyone that desired to throw a spear or harpoon should use.


    The harpoon flowed with force toward the swift salmon and found its mark directly in the top of the head. The swift salmon had no chance to even think about running. "It''s all about form and making sure you follow through. You do not throw with just your uracy. You cannd a very urate throw with no force. That leads to a failed hit. But only strength will lead to a miss. So bnce your strength and uracy. Strength with your whole body and uracy with your whole body."


    "Give me another try. I will get the next one." Walker became much more invested seeing how energetic Leon was. He didn''t mind learning something new before he headed out with his party to patrol the beach and search for some additional food supplies.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1633 1633. To The Beach!

    ''The skill harpoon stance has been taken from the harpoon fisherman system. The user has been taught by an experienced spear user that has learned the proper stances to throw an urate harpoon. This has allowed the user to learn the skill harpoon stance.


    Harpoon stance- 1 mana cost


    The user is able to use a single mana to reinforce their stance while wielding a harpoon. This will make them naturally have a better handle on the weapon while also making their senses more focused on using the harpoon. The user will also have a better chance of pulling their harpoon back to them after hitting prey.''


    Walker saw the skill after the tenth throw of the harpoon. He had been using his throwing spear skills but not focusing on any stance in particr. However, Leon had beenmenting on how to adjust his throws. How to be more urate and better throw the harpoon overall. This is what had spurred the skill showing up.


    "Huh, I just got the harpoon stance skill. It only costs one mana to use at first which isn''t too bad." Walker mumbled to himself mostly but also intended for Leon to hear it.


    "Really? That means you are doing it right. I have a simr skill but specific to spears. But since the harpoon can be used as a spear, It still works. I thought you would just get a spear skill but harpoon stance is better. You will fit in on ships even better now." Leon found it a little funny that Walker always seemed to fit right in everywhere. It was like he was bing a different system user every time he changed where he was in the world.


    "So how many is that?" Walker looked at the dragonkin warriors who were pulling up another swift salmon. For monsters that had relied on their speed and agility, Walker was not impressed. Leon had urately attacked so many with just a single piece of bait.


    "I know you are thinking that these are not a challenge. But you should have seen some of the things I have caught. You should try and capture one of the barnacle lobsters using a harpoon. It is a tough battle since they do not get defeated with one harpoon. They also have water jet attacks. I miss fighting the small ones while watching the warriors take on arger one." Leon seemed to be thinking back a lot.


    "So this is more nostalgic for you than for food. I think it''s nice to have a hobby like that." Walker had no intention of showing that he had caught on to why Leon was fishing. He wasn''t after food at the end of the day but rxing and thinking back on pleasant memories.


    "Walker!" Remey came up behind and nearly dragged Walker away. This left Leon to continue fishing by himself. "We have been waiting for you forever! And you were just over here throwing around harpoons?" Remey had been the first on the top of the ship to wait for everyone. Now she was the one who had to get everything together.


    "I was distracted and learning spear fishing with harpoons. It was a lot of fun plus I have a new skill."


    "If you even breathe you get a new skill. It''s not that surprising anymore. What is surprising is that Gil already has a dragonkin with a bow and harpoon arrows." This was more surprising. Walker got new skills all the time but Gil rarely made new things that weren''t arrows or for the elves. So having a dragonkin warrior wielding a bow was different.


    "Remey, you didn''t tell him, right? Let me, Walker! Check out the dragonkin archer!" The dragonkin that was with Gil was one of Mordant''s dragonkin warriors. They had the same darker armors and daggers on their hips. But holding therger bow that had been made from the same metals the group had helped forge before showed that it was specially made for darkness affinity.


    "The bow was made with braided wires to make sure that it had enough force and strength. The runes on it are darkness runes and even the harpoon arrows have some darkness runes. That means that they can move even faster when figured in the shadows or anywhere with high darkness elemental mana. After adding the darkness elemental crystal we were able to give them a slight decaying effect too." Gil was ranting about it but Walker was actually impressed.


    ''Dark steel bow


    +6atk, +6matk, darkness gathering runes


    The dark steel used was perfect for gathering darkness elemental mana. The careful choices in metals for braiding when creating the bowstring proved to be beyond the current realm of bow making and crossbow making. It is strong enough to be wielded by powerful warriors and not break.


    The arrows fired by this weapon must be stronger to be able to handle the force. The arrows will also gain a slight darkness elemental coat upon them when used properly. The bow can transfer darkness elemental mana from the user to the arrow to increase effects.''<sub> </sub>


    "That bow sounds like it can deliver a pretty solid punch." Walker had topliment the bow. It has a very solid ck steel aesthetic that made it perfectly fit the darkness affinity dragonkin''s style. There was also an aura of darkness mana around it that made it clear that the runes were doing more than just looking pretty. They were there for a reason.


    "Alice said she needed to work on the healer''s quarters since they might have to do a lot of work when the others arrive. Trading supplies and such. So she isn''ting. Onyx is with Midnight in another group that already headed to the beach. That leaves Myself, Gil, Remey, and you to head to the further beach and investigate." Su refocused the group as soon as Gil had finished his excited rant about bows.


    "Thank you for the update. I think we can get that beach done fairly quickly. But I am guessing that there are crab monsters of some sort on the beaches and that''s why Gil wants to test the bow with our dragonkin friend here?" Walker could tell that this was the hard shelled monster they would have to test such a weapon on.


    "Lord, my lord has instructed me to be the first to test this weapon. I am different from the others who follow the silence and assassination skills that you would call a rogue or wild card. I have rtions to rangers'' in my skills." The dragonkin knew that Walker might be questioning why he would be the one to be trying out this new bow.


    "So you do more scouting and hunting than you do guarding. That would make sense. You can do a lot of the same thing but you have your own role. And I assume that since there were never many bows that could handle your strength, that you are excited to have one?" Walker saw the affirmed nod and felt that it was good to make some small assumptions now and then.


    "Now that you three are done catching up, Su and I are leaving. Catch up!" Remey dropped down a rope on the side of the ship toward the boat that was waiting for them. They were not the only group going from the mouth of the river to the shore. Another patrol team made up of dragonkin and mages were with them but would be spreading out.


    The three moved to catch up and get on the board quickly. They had to help paddle to get to the shore after all. But Walker knew that this would take a little more time than he wanted. Therefore, he started to manipte some of the water elemental mana and sped up their journey to the beach. "It really helps to be able to use water magic." Gil felt like Walker had cheated but also had a pretty happy expression knowing that he hadn''t had to paddle as much.


    "Should we look along the treeline more too? I think we will find better herbs growing there than in the sand. There aren''t many things worth keeping in the sands." Remey didn''t like the beach because the herbs in the sands were not a good quality to find. They didn''t receive much in terms of nutrients.


    "Shouldn''t you have a more open mind? You might find something interesting in the sand. It''s where all the shells and coral washes up. I bet something is useful to you." Gil tried to be positive but he had just started another fight with Remey without him realizing it.


    "Oh, all might archer Gil, tell me about alchemy since you seem to know all!" Walker and Su could only shake their heads as they realized they might have to deal with this the entire time.


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 Chapter 1634 1634. Shifting Watery Sands

    "See? There are already parts of washed up shells. There are even a few monster bones that must have been left behind by the tides." Gil was about to pick up the piece of coral near the bones but Walker grabbed his hand and held him back.


    ''Pink needle coral


    This is a monster that grows in the exact same size and shape as natural corals. It is able to poison anything that touches it causing them to perish if they are not resistant to the poison. They will then slowly grow over whatever they have imed as prey while also feeding other smaller monsters around it. They are considered a lower monster on the food chain but serve a very important purpose in maintaining the poption of many monsters. ''


    Walker read this out loud with a lot of sarcasm since he knew that Gil would have just lost his life because he and Remey were arguing over stupid things again. "Next time that you two decide to entertain yourselves by messing with each other, please do it where you won''t get attacked by monsters. Even if they are small and weak looking." Walker used water to encapste the pink needle coral and throw it toward the water.


    "So the monster bones came from that coral. Such a small piece was able to grow and poison arge monster like this." The bones were more simple than Su made them out to be. But Walker still stored them away since they could be potential materials or at least a snack for Midnight.


    "So where to now? Are we going to set up a sentry post here too? We marked a bunch of ces along the river while we floated our way here." Remey pretended not to see that Gil had just gotten admonished. She also didn''t feel like facing Walker''s ridicule when it came to her and him arguing.


    "I hope not but the way it looks, yes. There won''t be another good ce to build a ce for the ships to dock before leaving for the open ocean or another port city. This will be the first port vige that Genesis is able to create." The feelings that Walker had about this wereplicated. The area was dangerous and those that had to be posted here would always be in a lot of danger. However, it was important to begin the building of a new town.


    "It will be important to have more information for the other ships and those thate after the ships. We should make sure we find any monsters and other things that might be of note." Su knew that Walker would be the one stuck with the report since he had the all around appraisal skill. No one in the party had been lucky enough to receive it after using magic scrolls over and over. They were only ever able just to use the skill through this means.


    "I think we should be worried about the t sands left behind by the tides. It''s great that we are looking for things that are dangerous to make notes of but there are a few things that I can see moving out there." Gil was pointing out the sands in the distance near the waters.


    There were small spurts of water here and there along with what appeared to be some sands shifting. There were things that lived under the watery sands left behind by the tides. Even more, the pools left behind where rocks had naturally gathered were clearly full of other dangers and monsters. The movement of water in therger pools proved this beyond a doubt.


    "Then we start with those rocks and move through. When we get to a certain point we will move along the treelines and gather any fruits or herbs. Sounds like a n?" Walker saw the other give him a nod. The dragonkin with them also gave a nod but it was clear that he would have followed them even if he did not agree. Walker was a royal dragon after all.


    Moving along the t sands proved to be easier than they expected. The sands were fairly solid and their feet only sank in a little bit. Walker was constantly checking the shells, seaweeds, and other things along the sands for dangers. Every now and then he would reach out and store away a piece of shell from a monster or piece of seaweed he thought Remey might be able to use.


    For the most part, it appeared that they were children there to explore the beach rather than adventurers there to ensure it was safe. To scout things out for those toe. But that changed quickly when Gil held a hand to the rest of the group.


    "The sands up ahead keep shifting. I would say four or five monsters underneath it. They are stirring the sand up and I bet that we can''t walk right there because we will sink in there." Gil had not encountered monsters like this but it was a devious trap.


    "Making quicksand for us to be trapped in is a smart trap. But now you can have the new bow tested. It should be able to pierce soft sand like that, correct?" Su had already expected that Gil was going with the new bow as the first attack. The monsters beneath the sand were sure to be dangerous. It was better to face them here than on the way back potentially.


    "Well, you heard her. Your time to shine with your metal bow." Remey pped the dragonkin on the back. He was a little unprepared for this but saw that walker also gave the approval.


    The bow was drawn back with a metallic creak. It appeared that the pressure the bow was under was a major risk for anything that could be too close. If it were to break, the pressure of the metal braided wire that acted as the bowstring would surely harm someone.


    The harpoon arrows notched in to the bow with perfect precision. It was perfect when it came to appearance. Walker could only think that the cksmiths that worked with Gil had put their hearts and souls in to it. They would never allow the world to see any form of partially finished or in progress work. This bow was a fully finished masterpiece.<sub> </sub>


    The twang of the metal bow strong as the harpoon arrow was released made everyone''s hearts jump. The sound was even deadly, feeling as the harpoon arrow whistled through the air. It easily pierced the watery sand without much sound. But the result that followed was much more dramatic.


    The sand churned and water shot out of the area that had been shifting. A sand colored shell revealed itself with the harpoon arrow barely sticking out of it. Followed by two more sand colored shells, Walker was able to use his all around appraisal skill on them.


    ''Sand flea


    The sand flea used to be a basic pest that infests beaches. Over the years, it became smarter and smarter while also growingrger in to a truly monstrous size. It has the basic tactic of loosening the shallow tidal sands by moving underneath them. This causing anything thates to prey on the low tides to be trapped. The sand fleas will then bite at them until they have fallen in to their sandy grave forever.


    Their shells are fairly tough but flexible making them a useful building material for farmhouse sheds and anything that needs to resist salted water. They are easily defeated by striking their underside but have a powerful striking attack with their barbed legs.''


    "So what you mean to say is we shouldn''t get close." Gil fired an arrow at the second sand flea he saw behind the first that already had the harpoon arrow within its body. The first appeared to be still alive but after Walker looked at it again, he could tell that the harpoon arrow had done more internal damage than he thought. It was a lucky shot that would have the sand flea defeated by just waiting for it to happen.


    The third sand flea showed off the powerful legs that it had. In just one leap, it had neared the group causing Su to charge forward while yelling at it. Thai drew the attention while Remey followed. She had ignored the fear of being hit by a leg because she had Su.


    The shield charge hit the sand flea and knocked it to the slide. The unbnced sand flea had no defenses as Remey lowered her stance to get under it. The legs would be unable to hit her here while she punched out with the water elemental knuckles on her fists.


    The result was a sharp crack wielding a little power of water. This seemingly small attack had been with the knuckles Remey used the least. But they were the reason why water had sliced deeper in to the sand flea, defeating it on the spot.


    "Three down, let''s gather them and move on. The bow was great." Gil seemed happy but he was keeping a very serious attitude. He needed to see the bow under more stress.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1635 1635. Baiting Fleas

    "So you are saying that when you pulled back you felt that you were still holding the arrow back, just barely?" Gil had been pushing more and more questions on to the dragonkin. It was fair though, Gil had to ensure that this bow would hold up to rapid fire if ever needed to.


    "Yes, the bow was slightly out of my control due to the strength of the string. I could feel that I was unable to draw it to a perfect eclipse, just by a slight margin." The instant report was what Walker liked about the dragonkin. They were blunt and to the point. Especially with a royal dragon around. But they also followed their desires to perfection.


    The dragonkin had always served the dragons. That was just their ce. But to say that this was a burden and something they hated would be a tant lie. They took extreme pride in this. Yes they desired to grow more and they saw Genesis as that chance, but they still revered dragons as almighty beings.


    Therefore, when a dragonkin was offered a chance to be the first that could learn a proper form of archery with a bow that could match their strength, it was a great opportunity. A chance to gain strength while representing the dragon they desired to serve. Since Mordant was closer to his dragonkin, the feeling was even more powerful.


    "Hmm, if it is just barely out of your strength then it is perfect. You can get stronger the more that you use your bow. Then we can worry about strengthening the bow further with even better materials. I am sure that a few cksmiths back home have materials that would work." Gil wanted to start making more of the bows but felt that it was currently impossible. Theycked materials and had arger goal to achieve.


    "I will use it in any way necessary to discern any ws. I assure you my best effort." The dragonkin promised this for the third time making Walker step in.


    "We need to move. I can see two more spots where the sand is unsettled. If we manage to capture those sand fleas too we can get even more materials. I have a feeling that we can use these for the building of the outpost here. Or at least leave them for those that can use them"


    "Oh, that''s a good idea. We can gather materials for those that follow us too. Walker, I think we should focus even more on this task then." Su found a good feeling in preparing for others'' safety. It was a value from the core of her being.


    "My thoughts exactly. Su, take the lead. I want to see if we can bait one of the sand fleas out so that our new archer friend can take an easier shot and test the strength of the arrow without sand blocking him." Walker saw Gil''s eyes brighten too. He was very d that Walker was worrying about his experimentation with the new bow.


    "Understood." Remey watched Su go after this. She neared the spot where the sand seemed unsettled and even moved with each footstep.


    "Here we go." The hungry smile on Remey''s face made Gil, Walker, and even the dragonkin step back. She had decided she would be punching this next sand flea so all Su had to do was lure it out. The hungry expression came from so many days cooped up in the ship. Even the training with Gil was nothing close to what Remey needed to burn off her pent up battle energy.


    "Let Remey have her fun then. She might explode on us if she doesn''t" Walker wanted to say more but he could understand. Gil and Remey had trained hard. She had been pushing her body in the forge with them and her own personal training. She wanted to withstand the mes she used most but also be able to toughen her body naturally. And Battle, was the best method for this.


    After another step forward, Su saw a single legsh out from the shifting sands. She had made sure to remain right on the edge as if she was an animal slowly deciding whether to step forward. It was a perfect taunt for the sand fleas that were within the sandy water. They could not resist the temptation of food on their doorstep.


    The leg hit Su''s shield and caused a loud ng but otherwise, Su was barely forced back a step. Her defenses were still in peak condition. The result of this was that the sand flea became angrier. It had not gotten the prey it wanted. But it had also riled up the other sand fleas around it. That was why Walker, Gil, and the dragonkin warrior reacted with Remey at the same time. They did not expect five sand fleas to show themselves.


    Walker used the sand and water as his weapon. The eternal orb staff helped him pull the sand and water in to a solid mix that spiked up from the sand around it. Using just a little more mana, Walker caused ice to form from the salt water. It proved a little tougher and drained a decent amount more of mana than he expected. But that was the price he had to pay for freezing saltwater.


    The spike pierced a single sand flea, easily defeating it. But Gil and the dragonkin warrior also had their own targets. Gil''s arrows arched out and pierced the gaps in the sand flea''s shell. It was a victim to the perfect precision that Gil trained in every single moment of archery training. The precision that pierced its internal organs.


    The dragonkin warrior was slower. He only fired one arrow but that arrow was precise and well guided. Since the harpoon arrows held strength, they did not need to worry about the shells. Therefore, the harpoon arrow fired directly through the firstyer of shell and showed them what it could do.<sub> </sub>


    The sandy water had stopped some momentum from the harpoon arrow before. Now that itcked that barrier, The harpoon arrow pierced halfway through the sand flea''s body. This was a perfect illustration of the strength behind the bow and the damage that it could cause to a shelled enemy.


    ? The two sand fleas left were next to Su and Remey. Remey had darted forward and already struck the sand flea that had attacked Su with a defense breaking palm. It was why Su was able to shield bash the sand flea away from her and watch it twitch while the internal damage defeated it. Remey''s defense breaking palm attack had only gotten stronger as she had trained herself to make a defense breaking fist attack. Overall, she had held back in respect to how hard she could have hit. But this was training as well. Control of strength was important in any battle.


    Thest sand flea sensed its demise, yet, that didn''t stop it from fighting. It had instincts that said to fight or die, and it chose to fight. That was why it leaped toward Remey. Unfortunately, it had leaped right toward its defeat. Right toward the fist that had just sparked in to mes.


    The head on punch that hit the flea''s head made a massive crush. The small burst of mes caused the shell struck to turn in to a ck charcoal. Out of all the fleas defeated, this was the most brutal victory but also the most decisive.


    "Good work, five found, five defeated. Walker, store them up. We have one more shifty sands over there to check before we can go to the tidal pools." Reney seemed happier than anything. She even whistles a little while bouncing in ce waiting for Walker to store away everything.


    "Your defense breaking palm is stronger than it used to be. You also added to thatst attack with your mes. I didn''t realize you had improved so much." Su''s praise made Remey blush and act a little bashful. But it was all true. Everyone always felt that they missed some of their own growth when they were too focused.


    "Don''t think that I am slow. You showed off so watch what we can do." Gil pped the dragonkin on the shoulder. He wanted back up to show off their skills.


    "As the creator of this bow says, we will be faster." It was a little melodramatic though since the same energetic attitude was lost on the dragonkin.


    "I hear you all, but keep your calm. The sand fleas are weak. But whatever is in the tidal pools might be more dangerous. We have plenty of monsters we have never seen in our lives here. But the more we document, the better." Walker stored the sand fleas and looked at their next target.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1636 1636. Brilliant Ocean Life

    "Take the shot!" Gil gave the order to the dragonkin as soon as Walker and Su had baited thest sand flea in to the perfect position. The harpoon arrow was released in an instant and pierced straight through the head of the sand flea leaving thest one defeated for Walker to store away.


    "Good shot, you are getting more urate with Gil''s guidance." Walker was a little amazed. This dragonkin warrior had never used their full potential since they were able to use daggers like others of Mordant''s dragonkin warriors. But they had been such an archery genius that it was a wonder how they had never considered trying it until now.


    "It is all thanks to the opportunities given to me. I can improve myself to better serve my lord." The dragonkin was very energeticpared to the start of this scouting quest. There had been an unsurety when it came to the bow but now that they realized how much it fit them, there was a pride blooming.


    "That should be it for these ones. I can see more towards the water but if we go that close we will have other things to worry about. Such as what might feed on the sand fleas." Su was very right. She had inferred that the sand fleas causing the sands to shift nearer to the water would be perfect prey for anything that could survive in the shallow waters of the ocean. It would be easy to see them beach themselves for a meal and then wait for the high tide to return. Some monsters cared a lot about food.


    "So we get to check out the tidal pools. I am sure that some of the seaweed there will be valuable to what I can make." Remey was thinking about the herbs she had seen in books but was unable to gather since they didn''t find them thest time they were at a beach or even in the merfolk city. This chance was great for the alchemy guild since Remey knew how to preserve the seaweed and bring them back to the guild so that they could be grown properly.


    "I just hope that the tidal pools don''t hold too much trouble. If they do then it would mean more people will have to be posted here while the port vige is built. Especially soldiers or adventurers. But it would make a nice repeating quest for those able to handle it." Gil was sure that the hunting would be good for those around the port vige when it was built. All that needed to happen was some time to figure it all out.


    "Good point, we should be extra thorough then." Walker took this as more encouragement to improve faster. They had to work a little harder to bring a better future, so that was what they would do.


    Booking at the rocks that had naturally spoiled up on the beach in random groups, Walker could only wonder how long it would take for them to be turned to sand by the tides. It was a strange thought but one that would happen as nature moved forward. The thought was interrupted as he saw the waters in the pool ahead of them rippling.


    "Stay slow and steady. Then we can take a look." Walker couldn''t see any danger right away so he moved as slowly as possible to make it to the firstrge tidal pool. What he saw as they approached was something unexpected.


    The bright and vibrant corals were mirrored by the many different sea weeds and fish within the tidal pool. It was as if they were looking at an entirely different world than they had ever seen. The small monsters were clearly the young of some of therger ocean monsters that would travel the shores.


    "Rock crabs, pink needle coral, sand flea eggs, there are even a few adolescent sword fish monsters. There are so many things in this pool!" Walker had started using the all around appraisal skill as soon as he was able to. The immense amount of life within this tidal pool put him in to a frenzy. He had to learn everything he could.


    "I see some angel hair seaweed. That will be great for making some water affinity potions. But I also want that green lettuce seaweed. It is edible but also helps heal your body from small illnesses brought on by the dry weather." Remey watched as Walker used the water to harvest these seaweeds in their whole form. He was still looking wildly but did not hesitate to help Remey using his water maniption.


    "I thought there would be somerger monsters in here. But they are all small and couldn''t harm us much if we keep our distance." Gil was a little disappointed but understood that this was ideal.


    "Oh, no. there are worse things deeper. Look at that hole there. The tidal pools are connected to each other under the sands. Some of the rocks have been hollowed out by the water over the years. That is where therger and more dangerous monsters are. Just watch out for holes like that." Walker knew that there were many things that could hide from them. Most that he didn''t know about.


    "Let''s see what is in the next pool. This one is too small to have anyrger sea weed specimens. I need to gather one of those adult bull kelp pods. That has the roots of the next generation within it. That way I can simte the ocean and grow them in small quantities. It also means that we might be able to make an earth and water affinity potion. That would be an odd but powerfulbination." Remey''s orders turned in to mumbling but Walker was not discouraged. He liked that she was finding value here. It gave the area even brighter of a future.<sub> </sub>


    "Maybe not that pool though." Remey stopped her rambling as they approached another pool. They had all seen arge rock crab w break the surface of the water. It slowly moved back down but the sight was enough to make them hesitate.


    "No, we should try and capture that rock crab. It has meat that can feed the ship. It is also an adult and doesn''t need to be protected for anything." Walker had used the all around appraisal skill on the crab. The small detail that the system had left him with proved that this crab was old and could not help popte the ocean anymore. That meant it was a perfect target for boosting food reserves on the ship.


    "Then I will go first." Su took a step toward the rocks and banged her shield on them. The vibrations were enough to cause many ripples but also liven up everything within the single pool. The younger monsters were sent in to a panic but therger rock crab also moved in a sh.


    The rock crab broke the surface of the water showing off itsrger body covered in multiple types of seaweed, algae, and even some small barnacles. It had lived for a long time and therger prey that came to the pool was how it survived. This time though, it did not expect that the prey was biting back.


    Su''s baiting had allowed Gil and the dragonkin warrior to prepare arrows. They had already released them at the first sight of the rock crabs''rge body. The result was simple, the joints of its legs had been attacked by Gil causing two of them to be unusable. The third arrow had been a harpoon arrow that perfectly shattered a third leg. In moments the rock crab was in pain and being beaten.


    The following attack from Remey was a solid but powerful defense breaking punch toward the back of the rock crab. The cracked shell caused clear blood to flow out of the crab but it was not enough to defeat it. However, Walker had prepared for this. Remey had made a perfect opening.


    With a singlerge jump, Walker had changed the eternal orb in to a spear and fell downward with it pointed at the space Remey had cracked open. His attack would have been easy to dodge if the crab was not in pain and slowed by the arrows. Now, the attacknded and pierced through the damaged shell revealing the victory hiding behind their teamwork.


    "Good job. We are getting more efficienttely." Walker had a feeling that they were only improving their teamwork. He couldn''t wait to have Midnight and Onyx return to the group. Then with Alice''s buffs and healing they would be even better off. The ocean was looking more and more manageable by the day.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1637 1637. Stolen Prey!

    " You know, that crab wasn''t so tough. I thought that the shell would be the hardest part to get through." Remey was flexing her arms as she stretched out. She felt like the battle had been too easy and smooth.


    "Well, every fight can''t be enough to calm you down. I know you have more energy so just go and find-" Walker jumped back pulling Remey with him. If he hadn''t looked at the tidal pool again he would have been hit by the orange tentacle that had pped out at them.


    The next seven tentacles that arced out and pulled arge bulbous head of an octopus out of the tidal pool reached for the body of the older rock crab. It was already trying to steal their prey and also attack them. There was too much greed in this monster!


    ''Vibrant octopus


    The vibrant octopus is a unique monster that can change the shape of its body often due to theck of bones within its body. It can generate a lot of force due to this and even break some stones. Its favorite food are rock crabs making it perfectly adapted to hunt them.


    They are not venomous like their cousins the purple ring octopus but they still have powerful beaks that can bite through shells and stones. They are resistant to physical attacks due to the slimy membrane on their skin and flexible body. But they are significantly weaker to magical attacks. Specifically fire elemental attacks due to their slimy membrane needed to remain wet with saltwater.


    They are very fast due to their stic body. This is their advantage in and outside the water. They can also attack independently with all eight of their tentacles. They are also very intelligent for monsters, some even learn to trade with merfolk if they live nearby and have reached arger size than is easy to hunt.''


    "Don''t you dare touch my crab meat!" Remey''s anger skyrocketed seeing that the octopus was not only trying to steal from them, but it was trying to also take them away as prey too.


    In response to her shout. A tentacleshed out towards Remey. But without any hesitation, Remey spun a leg up and deflected it with a solid heel kick. She was not having anything to do with being food for an octopus today.


    "Listen up, it is weak to magical attacks. Fire in particr. Remey, use your fire knuckles. Gil, fire arrows, I will be charging in with a few fire ball spells!" Walker''s orders were quick and to the point. He knew that Su would be ready to defend anything that came their way, but that it would be a radical challenge.


    The twin shields that Su had were already split apart in each hand. She was not going to let a single tentacle tougher her party if she could prevent it. Since Gil and the dragonkin warrior were farther back, she only had to worry about Walker and Remey, but that also meant that all eight tentacles would be focused on them.


    The next tentacle came at Remey with even more speed, however, Remey had already snapped on the fire affinity knuckles to her gloves. She was sparking up a me on her fists as soon as the tentacle came near. The single punch of head to head force with the tentacle pushed Remey back but caused a deep burn on the tentacle.


    Muffled Screeching was all that the group could hear from the octopus since its mouth faced the stones. But the burn had perfectly damaged it without their own harm. This caused Walker to speed up his creation of three fire balls that he sent toward the bulbous head of the octopus.


    The result was a single tentacle swiping up to knock two of the fireballs away. It caused the tentacle to burn and bring the smell of cooking fish around the beach. The third fireball was missed andnded on the rocks nearby. This explosion of fire caused the octopus to move closer to the group.


    As the octopus moved closer, Su took the chance to taunt the octopus and open a few more ces for her party to attack. "Get over here you seagull food! You''re only good for roasting and rotting on the sand!" The insults flew from Su''s mouth. It was always a wonder that she was able to produce such cruel words even though her soul was so sweet and kind.


    The taunting attracted the attention of the vibrant octopus in an instant. Five of its eight tentaclesshed out as Su mmed the twin shields together. The concussive attacks caused the shield to vibrate but not a scratch was left. "Can''t do any better than that you boneless freak!"


    Enraged by the taunting and not being able to procure any of the prey it had found, the octopus started attacking over and over. It waspletely blind to the five fireballs being created around it. Nor did it notice that Remey was gathering a much hotter me upon her fist and rushing towards it.


    In perfect unison, Walker attacked with the five fireballs while Remey made contact with the base of a tentacle. The sudden burning of its head was enough to blind and cause the octopus to react with panic. But the punch of concentrated heat at the base of a tentacle caused it to react even more violently.<sub> </sub>


    With a manipted rope of water, Walker pulled Remey away from the iling octopus. It was too drastic in its movements and the tentacle that Remey had damaged broke off entirely. She hadnded a devastating blow at the optimal point.


    With severe burns and now a tentacle missing, the vibrant octopus that had thought itself sneaky and brilliant for stealing the prey of others and taking them as prey was in a poor situation. It had only one choice in its mind and that was to flee. But when it began to spray ck ink around it, there was little effect. It was better to use this kind of attack in the water. The only result it won was ckened rocks, sand, and some drops on the party. But its attempt at escape had actually opened a new path for an attack.


    "Fire!" Gil released a fire elemental wither spike arrow. The arrow pierced the skin of the octopus but did not go deep. It was unable to pierce the stic and resistant skin. However, the second arrow that was fired came from the dragonkin warrior. He had fired along with Gil and aimed for the same spot. The spot that was open for the fire to prate.


    The explosion of mes where Gil had fired proved to be the perfect attack. The vibrant octopus could not resist the attack at all. It felt the mes burn it and enter its body before falling down defeated and deted.


    "What in the holy heavens was that!" Su let out an exasperated sigh. She was not very convinced that they had just defeated a monster that had the ability to fight them all at once. But with Walker''s all around appraisal skill, it had been possible without major injury.


    "That was intense. But did you see how I punched off an entire tentacle? I was able to crush it!" Remey was fired up over the victory. The fight had been spur of the moment and took them off guard. Yet, it had awakened their instincts to fight. An ideal teamwork situation.


    "It nearly had a free meal from us. If it hadn''t tried to attack us too, it would have been able to steal the rock crab easily." Gil knew that the reason they now had the rock crab and the vibrant octopus bodies was because the octopus was greedy. It could have easily run away.


    "But it attacked us and we beat it. Thatst arrow worked wonders. The harpoon arrow broke the skin where you shot and the fire was able to work well. Good job. Hopefully, you will want to stay an archer after this." Walker saw a fierce fire burning in the eyes of the dragonkin warrior. It appeared that he had found a joy in hunting like this.


    "The octopus skin should be fairly valuable. There isn''t much we can do with the ink though," Walker was slightly disappointed but knew that the flexible and resistant skin from the octopus might be able to make some interesting armor or even repair the sails on the ship if they lost the magic power from the crystals.


    "Then we should get to work harvesting. Or do you want to just wait until we get to the ship?" Gil seemed more excited to break down the monsters than before. It was a challenge to his hunting skills to break down a monster like this.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1638 1638. Scavengers

    "How many of those things do you think are around here?" Remey was still fired up after they had gathered the body of the vibrant octopus and the rock crab. She didn''t want to fight one again in particr, however, she still wanted to fight something.


    "I would really prefer there to be zero. The fewer of them the better. They knew how to hit and use their multiple tentacles to cause trouble." Su was somewhat against looking in any more of the tidal pools. She had felt the heavy hits of the vibrant octopus and knew that anythingrger than the one they had fought would be much more dangerous.


    "If we find another one of those, we can just scare it away with some fire. I doubt we will need to defeat it again. I also think we may have attracted a few other things." Walker pointed out the tidal pool they were still near. The ripples seemed to be growing which meant that something may being out to see what had happened.


    What they didn''t expect to see were snails. " Snails?" Gil looked at them and wondered if they had been cheated. There was no way that all the fighting had only attracted snails.


    ''Scavenger snail


    The scavenger snail is a water and dark type monster that feeds on anything left over by fighting or hunting of other beasts. They can survive on just about anything of any quality. They have incredible poison and decay resistance making them the best of the best when ites to the oceans'' cleaners.


    They are inedible due to the concentrated poisons, diseases, and other parasites within their bodies. Their shells can be used as decorations or jewelry. Some people will keep them in their homes to feed their trash and other things too. Especially if they live in ocean side viges, cities, or towns.''


    "Oh, so they are basically cleaning up what we missed?" Remey thought that they would be a great addition to the alchemy guild but also any salt water herb growing areas. The snails would handle fertilizing and also cleaning. The perfectbination.


    "Exactly. They are harmless for the most part. Just don''t eat them. Should I guess that you want some for the alchemy guild?" Walker had read Remey''s mind. He had seen exactly why her eyes lit up when she heard Walker''s appraisal.


    "We won''t be home for long. This is something we can leave behind for those thate by here after us. The people building the ocean side vige will be able to send them back to the alchemy guild. It is also good to leave this for them to know while building. It could save them a lot of trouble." Su was the voice of reason. She saved Walker from having to look for dormant scavenger snails or their eggs at the moment.


    "Hello¡­are we going to keep moving?" Gil drew the focus to the tree line. He and the dragonkin warrior were ready to move onward but the three were holding them up. He wasn''t being too rude but Gil had to get their attention. He had been asking if they could move on for a moment now and had been ignored because they were too focused on snails.


    "If you keep getting so excited about getting closer to trees, then we will have to start calling you forest elf Gil." Remey''s jab didn''t seem to affect Gil at all. He actually smiled a little which made them all wonder if he would actually prefer to be a forest elf.


    "There are some footprints on the sand. That means there might be some monsters thate out during low tide to hunt or scavenge. But we probably scared them away because we made so much noise." Walker heard what Gil was talking about and jumped at the chance to check out the footprints.


    The tracking knowledge that walker had was mostly taught by Gil and learned through the system''s skills. But he had the chance to use them now to identify new monsters that might be a danger to anyone else thates here so it was better that he took the chance and used his all around appraisal skill more.


    ''This is an unknown footprint. It is too damaged to be able to identify.''


    The first attempt was a failure. Walker had thought that the all round appraisal skill was omnipotent. It would have been better that it was able to tell him what monster made it. However, he was asking too much. If Gil or an experienced hunter could not identify a damaged monster footprint, then how could the system?


    "Try this set of prints here. They are more stable because whatever it was seemed like it stood here for a while. It was most likely looking at us from here." Gil pointed out the tracks and how they faced the tidal pool that they had been at. Whatever the monster was then they had definitely been standing and watching them. It was also where it could stand and not be seen easily due to the shadow of the tree line.


    ''Jungle dog tracks<sub> </sub>


    These trackse from a monster called a jungle dog. They live near the ocean to scavenge fish and anything else left behind by the tides. They often travel in packs of twenty to thirty.''


    It was a short and sweet exnation but Walker didn''t expect much. This was just a set of tracks and not the actual monster. If Walker wanted any more information he would have to find a jungle dog andy eyes on it. However, he didn''t feel like it would be a good thing to find one. The idea of fighting twenty to thirty of them did not sit well. Especially since they were a smaller group right now.


    "So we have to watch out for arge pack of dogs. Great. And I thought we would be able to just walk along the trees without issues. At least I can get some herbs." Remey ignored the looks of wonder from the others. They weren''t sure how she could just stay focused on herbs with the risk of fighting twenty monsters at once. But then Su, Gil, and Walker remembered that they had fought more than that before. It would be nothing new.


    "See, day wilting daisy here. The perfect thing to add to a revitalizing tea once the petals are dried. But the flower core can be dried and ground in to a powder that keeps bugs away. It''s not a potion materials but a great thing for around the house." Remey had already snagged an herb with the bare minimum of looking. It was incredible how efficient and lucky she was.


    "What about this, is it anything useful?" The dragonkin warrior who had been silent for some time had grabbed a spiny looking branch with little orange fruits on it. He was unsure if it would be helpful.


    "Sure. if you want to cause an entire city to be unable to eat for a week. Those are orange spiny fruits. They look smooth but just like the branches they had spines you can''t see. They can get stuck in your stomach and make eating very hard until you break them down naturally." everyone instinctually moved away from the bush that the branch hade from. The dragonkin warrior even went so far as to wipe his hands off on his armor.


    "But the seeds inside those small little fruits can be used to make a better mana potion. They aren''t a main ingredient but help with how long they willst. It will take a little ying with but I might be able to derive a potion from them alone to be used in a concentrated form for every potion that helps replenish mana." The thoughts that Remey just mumbled out loud made everyone wonder if she even remembered where she was.


    "So we have lost Remey. Now we are basically bodyguards for the alchemy guild master?" Gil tried to joke and tease Remey but she didn''t hear a word she had said.


    "It''s fine. Let Remey find useful things here. It will all help those thate to settle here and build a port vige. Leon will be overjoyed to hear that this area has a lot of potentials. Monsters that can purify the mess created by a vige, monsters to eat for food, and even herbs that can help with livelihood." Su saw all the positivesing together. Every single one was another reason that the vige could be built here.


    "Good points, let''s keep moving so we can find more things before we have to go back to the whip." Walker knew that the forge would be waiting for them. Rise and Mordant couldn''t possibly be content yet with just a few materials for their future armors.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1639 1639. Light And Dark Trio

    "Sister and I will be going our own way from here to scout. It is best that you all stay within groups of three." Onyx was sure that the group of mages and dragonkin warriors that hade with them on their patrol group would be more than enough to drop a small sweep of the nearby beach and overgrown bush area.


    "Wait, I will go too." What Onyx and Midnight did not expect though, was that Alice would push her way through and jump on the same boat to shore with them. Now she was here and joining both of them in their group to patrol.


    "Sister Alice, we will be going in to the bushes there to patrol, are you alright with that?" Onyx had to be polite. He saw Alice as family just like the others. Especially family that was closer to Walker. This made him wary and want to send her back, if he didn''t know about her surprising battle prowess with light elemental songs, he would have done just that to protect her.


    The direction that the groups split off in to when the boat had made it to the beach ahead of Walker''s group was simple. One took the tidal pools nearby the river mouth, another took the sands that had gathered up at the edge of the river, and the other took the bushes and trees that had grown wildly around the river mouth. This division would speed up their patrols while also getting the most results at once.


    Since Onyx had already told midnight that he wanted to go in to the bushes and tree, she did not hesitate to begin running that way as soon as they could. Alice had changed from her normal healer''s robes in to a closer fitting set of white armor. The leather and thin metalyers were perfectly made for her to maintain her movement while also protecting her more. Neither Onyx nor Midnight had seen this armor before and wondered if it was new. Especially since Alice had other clothing and armor from Walker to wear.


    The area that they found themselves in was not too unique. There were some high sea grasses that grew to Alice''s waist, perfect for Midnight and Onyx to hide in. The bushes that grew were mostly thorny but here and there Alice could make out a few herb bushes that she could harvest to bring back to the alchemists aboard the ship. The trees that grew were not too tall since they were constantly bombarded by saltwater. This left them gnarled and wild.


    What struck them all was the sudden peace around them. The breeze rustled the grasses and the leaves on the gnarled tree branches. It was a soft and weing ocean scent that made it feel like there was no such thing as a monster that could live here. However, the sharp growl of Midnight proved to be the warning that onyx and Alice need.


    Without hesitation, Alice''s song of swords started. The sharp upper pitches and undicernable words made it seem that she was somehow speaking with a powerful sword intent. The light des that formed were around her for protection but also aimed at the rustling bushes that Midnight had begun to circle.


    Without hesitation, Onyx grew in size to be able to intimidate anything that came up against them. His real size seemed to have grown yet again making him even closer to being the ancient abyssal serpent that he had seen drawn on the walls of ancient ruins. But that also did not stop him from using his brain. He had not been a fool to forget that Alice had a satchel with her.


    "If you have an all around appraisal magic scroll, you are the only one that can take it out to use it." Alice''s swords of light wavered as she took a scroll out to use. She was able to sing and use such items easily. All she needed was a little mana to release the skill within the magic scroll. That was the joy of having them and also why they were so incredibly expensivepared to other things.


    ''Sand jack


    This is a monster known to live in sandy burrows within any beach or some deserts. They can eat a variety of foods including natural fruits and meats. They often avoid attacking other monsters because of their smaller size but can use sharp ws to fight if backed in to a corner.


    The sand jack''s fur is very valuable since it is incredibly fine. This is because it needs to be able to protect it from the cold winter salt winds of the ocean because it does not go dormant in the colder months. It is distantly rted to the horned rabbits but in species only.


    The best method to capture one is to not allow it to dig itself in to the sand. By the time that they have done so, they will have dug themselves deep enough to cause anyone a lot of trouble to find them again. They should be caught with speed and decisiveness.''


    The mentalmunication that Onyx had yed a perfect part in helping him read this from Alice''s mind. He was able to understand her even though she was still singing and passed the information to Midnight.


    Upon hearing that the sandy brownish yellow ears she saw was a monster that had exceptional fur and was rted to a monster she already thought tasted good, there was no stopping Midnight''s pounce.


    She had leaped in to the air and into the thorny bush without hesitation. The suffering squeak that followed was enough to tell that she had managed to get her ws on her prey before she revealed herself. The thorns hadn''t even been able to make her scales dirty, let alone scratch them.<sub> </sub>


    "Sister, that is something you will need to carry until we return." Onyx knew that Alice was already reaching her hands out to take and carry the sand jack. She was too kind but this was Midnight''s problem.


    "Snacks forter." If anyone couldn''t feel it, Onyx was rolling his eyes mentally at Midnight. But when Alice stopped her singing to take the sand jack she responded as well.


    "We can roast this well for snacks." The agreement made Midnight realize that by handing over the sand jack to Alice, that she had agreed to share it. This made her unhappy but it was a problem of her own making. She vowed to hold on to her own prey in the future so that she could get the most out of it as possible.


    "Don''t move, we havepany." Onyx curled up around Alice as a defensive stance against what he had just caught out of the corner of his eyes moving. The seven moving monsters resembled dogs but they hadrger heads and nacks for biting. They also seemed to have a rough sand colored fury that would easily let sand shake off from it. "They must have heard the rabbit''s squeak as it was beaten by sister."


    Onyx had moved to protect Alice so that she could attack without worry. He had tougher scales so it made more sense that he was defensive. However, he had not remembered that she had trained with Walker. And, that she had trained to be able to make a new song using swords of light and shields of light. Two songs bing one in a simpler term.


    The three light swords that formed were paired with two light shields. The shields floated idly around Alice as the three swords of light broke through the air. The result was astounding, two of the monsters had been directly sliced in half while the song Alice sand was shrill and deterring. Her son was one of defense and attack to protect those around her. It was made to show the battle for life when one stood to defend those they cared for.


    The simple fact that Alice had just taken the lead in a battle wounded Midnight''s pride. She could only take a deep breath in before condensing the ambient water elemental mana all around them. Their location close to the ocean and river helped her create the frost breath that she released upon the remaining five monsters that hade to see what they could win.


    Instead of the weaker frost breath she had used once before, Midnight showed her growth clearly. Ice formed on the five dog like monsters stopping them in their tracks. None would be able to easily move with this sort of attack.


    All that was left was for Onyx to snap out of his surprised daze and raise hisrge tail. The m that came down was unavoidable, it crushed the five with blunt force before retracting back toward the coil Onyx still sat in. The sound of this m echoed back to the beach drawing the attention of some familiar faces who had also been out scouting.


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 Chapter 1640 1640 Jungle Dogs

    "Midnight! Onyx!...Alice!?" Walker was the first to spot the three that had just crushed the jungle dogs. They were still prepared for another fight but had clearly lost track of time while they had explored the forested area near the mouth of the river. "We heard themotion and came running. Why are all three of you here without the rest of your squad? Did you split up too? Are you all right?"


    The amount of worry Walker had was a little high since he knew that they had gone out, but he had not known that Alice had gone out as well. But even more, he saw how many jungle dogs there were and knew that they had fought the monsters at the same time. It was dangerous regardless of their situation.


    "Brother, we are safe. We were just handling some annoying monsters that decided we were an easy target. They did not expect us to be as powerful as we are as a trio." Onyx''s pride here was backed up by Alice who put her hands on her hips. The two of them knew that they could easily beat this many monsters over and over again if they needed to.


    "Weak. not even worth snacks." Midnight huffed a little before going over to Alice and making Alice take out the sand jack to shop Walker.


    "Is this what you hunted before we came here to see you?" Gil was examining the monster with great interest. He had never seen it but could already tell that it was simr to the horned rabbits. "I bet they are faster than the hired rabbits. They don''t seem to have poison either, I wonder if a snare would be better than an arrow. I want to try it."


    There was a great temptation for Gil to start hunting the sand jacks. Unfortunately, he could tell that he had to leave for the ship with the others. They had to be there when the other ships arrived. If he were to miss Alma''s arrival then he would be in a world of trouble for some time. Not that he didn''t want to see her. He was looking forward to it more than anything at the moment.


    "Please everyone remain focused. There are only seven jungle dogs here. If I am correct, there should be a few more somewhere else." Su had a feeling that a pack like this would berger. She could see that these monsters were a bit weaker than others but had clearly spent a lot of time together. She was also the first to notice that there were many footprints around them.


    It wasn''t that Su was an expert when it came to the footprints and trac king. That was Gil''s expertise. Yet, when she looked at the ground to examine the monsters that the trio had defeated, she saw footprints that could not have been made during a single fight. Almost as if many more monsters were here and ran off away from their location.


    The addition of yipping and distance growling made it clear that su had caught on to this in the perfect amount of time. There was another group of jungle dogs returning from their hunting. They wereing back to the rest of the pack that had waited behind for them. But even more, they had heard the scuffle as well and ran back even faster.


    Without any hesitation, Alice had started the same song before. Her song of shields and swords created the three light condensed des that attacked and the two light shields that defended. She was the first one to send a shield out to block one of the jungle dogs leaping at Remey.


    In turn, Remey took the opportunity and mmed downward on to the head of the jungle dog with her fist. It was a single hit kill for her but also a perfect coboration with Alice. "Good song, keep it up." The brutal grin on Remey''s face was somewhat matched by Alice''s tone. The swords and the shields seemed to be denser with the encouragement showing just how much mana Alice added to her words. Just how much the emotions she felt could affect her songs.


    Midnight was able to get near Walker. The two didn''t need to speak tomunicate what they would be doing. In a single breath, Midnight breathed out her golden dragon mes. Walker perfectly manipted them using his grand elemental maniption to keep them from burning the grasses and nearby trees. But he did not stop them from hitting three jungle dogs that were charging at them through the grass.


    From the side, four more jungle dogs had tried to nk the group. They were too in the open at the moment and from any monster''s perspective, they were an easy target. That was a poor train of thought to keep though, Because Gil and the dragonkin warrior had their bows drawn and released arrow after arrow. The four jungle dogs couldn''t even growl again to scare anyone or anything before their defeat.


    It would have been simple to let things go there and to run off. The jungle dogs had already more than lost. They could see their fallen pack members everywhere around them. But their alpha was still standing. Yet, their alpha was nothing standing in front of Su.<sub> </sub>


    The single shield charge it took to m the jungle dog alpha in to a tree was enough to shatter bones. The following tail m from Onyx was enough to crush the remaining two pack members of the jungle dogs. They had no chance to run away because they hesitated after seeing their pack''s defeat. If they had followed their instincts to run, they might have had a chance to rebuild another pack and terrorize the vige that would have been built here in the future.


    "That''s it!" Remey jumped up feeling better than ever. She knew they were technically just ambushed by monsters but they had easily worked together to beat them. It took only a few minutes and a great danger for the average person was beaten. Now all Remey could do was stretch a little while Walker took on the job of storing away the bodies of the jungle dogs.


    "I doubt they will be used for much. They are fairly weak. But brother will not allow anything to be wasted. His respect for nature in all forms is inspirational." Alice just nodded softly. That was something she also liked about Walker. He didn''t leave behind the monsters defeated to be fed on by other monsters. It was always better to gather them and make the most with even a little something.


    "The harpoon arrows were too much for monsters like this. We should save them for a time when they are needed for something dangerous. Maybe we should make needle arrows. They are basically just metal spikes with a backing so they can be fired from a bow." Gil had seen needle arrows before they were very inurate but if used by the right person and the right bow, they were still a very dangerous force to be reckoned with.


    "I understand, please allow me to learn to make them and to use them." The dragonkin was very interested in a new arrow to use already. It had been a single small patrolling journey but he had been fully taken by the desire to learn more about the bow and arrow. To be able to live up to the full skills that he had. Sitting in the shadows and using daggers his entire life had be dull inparison to the bow. He was basically a child in a candy shop with the promise that he could buy whatever he wanted.


    "Let''s wrap this up!" Walker got everyone''s attention back on the task at hand. He was quick in gathering the defeated jungle dogs. He couldn''t hear anymore around and he was certain that it was nearly time for them all to return. He was even more certain that the trio of his family he had just found had ignored their own group and gone off alone. The evidence of this was in the fact that they were still out even though they had technically left earlier than them.


    "The ship is waiting for us and we have to be there when the other ships get back to the first one. If we miss it then we will miss the link up." The ship would be stopping near each other to anchor. This would be when they set up bridges between them to meet on one ship and begin the final n for the journey across the ocean or even more, to ensure that everyone has decent supplies on their ship.


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 Chapter 1641 1641. Teasing Arrival

    "I would say we are not the only ones that found sand jacks or jungle dogs." Walker pointed out the other teams that were returning from the patrols. Walker also saw some of them had maps they had made or notes they had taken. It was a good idea for those without memorization skills or the skills to urately draw.


    "More snacks!" Midnight saw only one thing in the monsters that had been caught. Snacks.


    "Yes yes, I will cook the sand jack when we get back to the ship. But I think we are going to have to wee the next ship first." As much as Walker didn''t want to point this out. He saw Currentnding on their ship which had to be a signal that the second ship was only a short while away froming out to anchor at the river mouth.


    Without hesitation, the group boarded a one of the small boats and headed back out in to the water. With Walker''s help, he was able to store away all the monster bodies that had been hunted. It was ideal for them since it shortened the time it took for everyone to get back to the ship. But more so, it meant that all of the dragonkin that had left could pay respects to another royal dragon as they were expected to do as dragonkin warriors under a royal dragon.


    "Took your time paddling across the water?" Before Walker had even managed to get to the top deck from the rope he climbed up, he heard Leon teasing him. When Walker did get to the top of the ship from where he had been, he couldn''t even rebut against Leon.


    From what Leon had been doing, spear fishing, he had amassed over forty of his prey. The monsters varied in size and shape but more than just the salmon were there now. He had even managed to secure a few other smaller monster fish that Walker had never seen before. Unfortunately, before he could start the all around appraisal of them, he was caught by another person walking over.


    "This is a very good start to a food stockpile. Have you been working on this all day or just now?" Current was bright and energetic. It seemed that he was more excited to see the first ship than anyone had expected.


    "Walker, have someone deliver the herbs to meter. I will begin making a few things with what I have. It might take some time." Since the second ship wasing, Remey wanted to prepare the alchemyb to teach anything necessary or learn anything new. The other ships might have found different herbs than she had. Or even made additional potions for antidotes and poisons.


    "Sure thing, I will. Gil, I know that you want to take the bow to get tuned up. Head out too." Walker saw that Gil was trying not to be impolite but he wanted to leave.


    "You''re right. If I don''t go right away I might forget some of the small changes it needs before it can be used by more dragonkin." The dragonkin warrior that had the bow stopped in front of Current and gave a quick salute before showing the bow to him. Current only gave a nod which allowed the dragonkin to move on. But he had a clear expression of curiosity.


    "Gil was with us when Mordant and Rise asked Walker and the others to assist in making a new mana gem that they will be using for their new armors." Su went out and said it right away. It was enough to make Walker know that he would be trapped in the forge again.


    "A new bow and a new mana gem? Is this normal for your time on a ship? If it is, you may have to spend some time showing me these new things." At this rate, all the dragons would end up joining the same ship because they wanted to have things forged. It would consolidate the strength at once pce instead of all around every ship.


    "It was to help in training too. Su had the chance to resist the heat, light, and darkness energies. I would say she would have some training resisting water elemental mana too but I a not sure how that would go. It would take a better cksmith than myself for us to create a water natural mana gem." Walker had a few ideas on how it might work but he was not about to spend the entire trip across the ocean trying to make them a reality.


    "I will have to ask your friend the wandering cksmith then. If he sees your work I am sure that he will be impressed. It appeared he cares for all of you a great deal." Current had not forgotten the way that the wandering cksmith had treated those he cared for and also his work. If he were to see something interesting like a natural mana gem, then it was a sure thing that the experimentation would happen in the new mana gem theory.


    "Midnight, if you want to take Onyx and find Scy too. We can start getting ready for the other ship to link up with us." Leon asked this to Midnight while he cleaned thest harpoon he had used while spear fishing.


    The sudden request made Midnight pretty happy. She also wanted to keep showing off her hunted sand jack. Scy would appreciate it since she was also someone who appreciated hunting. But it was also a good way for her to speed up the time for it to be cooked for her. Not to mention. The more people that came when the other ship arrived, the more fun it would be.


    "Oh, I would say you have about an hour before they arrive. The water ways you helped carve out were very good. We have a few of your merfolk soldiers that swam under the water of our ship. They are very efficient." Having the praise of a royal dragon was all that Leon needed. It was great to hear this and great that his soldiers were doing exactly what they needed to do.


    "Trying to steal away someone from the ship Rise and I are on? First, it was the mana gems and now it will be one of the generals?" Mordant showed himself from the shadows. He had been listening for a short while before showing himself.


    "And where is Rise? Is she going to join us or remain in the sky?" Current wanted to fly up there to see if he could get Rise to join them but Mordant shook his head at him.


    "She is preparing for the journey. The more mana that she has, the better it will be for the night. Due to Walker and the others of his group, Rise has already said that she will be lighting the entire area at night for the ships. A very important role if you understand?" Mordant''s words seemed a little mocking but also impressed. He was d that Rise had decided to do this since he was not of much help in the deeper dark waters of the ocean. Shadows were not that important when it came to the ability to see in the water.


    "That is a very good assurance to have. I am wondering just what we will need to handle when we are out in the ocean. I assume there will not be many threats that can resist a dragon under the water and above the water." Since Current was set on going across the ocean, he was also set on defeating anything that dared threaten them.


    Having a royal water dragon to take the protection underneath the water was even better than having the merfolk and the aquatic demi-humans. They could handle the small monsters that attacked them. Current and his dragonkin could handle therger and more dangerous monsters that set their sights on the ships as their targets.


    "Before we keep this up, let''s move to the stern of the ship. We should be able to see the mouth of the river better and when Alma''s ship makes it to the ocean." Walker decided to take a little more control of this conversation. He also knew that the faster they moved from this side of the ship, then the easier it was for the other warriors to handle the prey they had hunted.


    Before Leaving, Walker dropped all the jungle dogs and sand jacks along with a few other monsters that had been hunted. The octopus was the only one of the kind hunted that he had seen but it was clear that it would be amodity in the future.


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 Chapter 1642 1642. Bridged Ships

    The sound of organized cheers reached the ship that Walker was on first before the ship was close enough toy down the brides made of wood. Every shout made the soldiers on Walker''s ship return the cheers with glee. This was the celebration that they had sessfullypleted the river trading route. That they had made it to the real start of their journey.


    The second ship drifted slowly closer and closer until the sound of rattling chains became loud enough for everyone to hear. The anchors had been dropped and the cheers ceased as both ships started to have their soldiers move together.


    The wooden bridges had been made to link the ships safely once they were anchored. They would be the best way for them to trade the foods and other supplies they had before they started the main trip across the ocean. But even more, the bridges could be used when they were in the middle of the ocean.


    If there were smaller monsters swarming around the ships, they could link up to maintain their safety better. There would be reinforcements to the damaged ship or even a way for those aboard the ship to escape if the ship was sinking. Sometimes the lifeboats would not be the best option due to the situation. Especially if there were many monsters around.


    "Bridges lowered! Ropes tied! The bridge is ready! Captains Wee!" The shouts of the soldiers that had just finished their work made another cheer rise up as everyone began to take their positions.


    The first across the bridge was Alma who stepped across with the ship captain of her ship and a few other very important positions. Those that maintained the forge, alchemyb, repairs, and other forces on the ship had been required toe. Their meetings would also help the ships organize supplies while also sharing knowledge.


    Remey was already taking the alchemy head of the other ship toward the alchemyb. The man that had been a member of the alchemy guild since it had been opened was overjoyed. He had a few alchemists carrying some herbs behind him and was eager to begin creating things. It was also clear that he had found the notes about making antidotes and poisons from the monsters that had been defeated.


    There were a few merfolk that moved to great Leon. they had been the most important group other than the demi-humans that kept the route properly set up for the ships to travel. Since the first ship had been staffed so that they could perfectly organize the creation of a safe waterway, the second ship had a different job.


    Refining the water way had been even harder in a way. Yes, it was boring because the ships prefining the waterways did not face the same dangers and monsters that the first ship faced. Yet, their job was even more important. They had to change the shapes of what the first ship had begun to alter. Their alterations had to remain for years or at least until the next, more professional, workers got there to sure up the waterway.


    Thest ship would be carrying a few more people than any other ship. The n to start a vige on the beach would begin with them. They were the water elves, merfolk, and soldiers that would be in charge of guiding the building. they would also be the ones that started to build the outposts that would protect the river water way. This trade route would be invaluable for many years to everyone on the continent.


    "I would like to say that your patrols were missing things here and there, but that would be a ,lie. The path was almost too safe the entire way." Scy heard Alma''s cheerful greeting and couldn''t help but respond.


    "You could have taken a little longer then. Done a better check. Maybe you would have found a few more fights. Just drop anchor in the deep bends next time. Fight the little fish more." The tones of the two were enough to rx everyone and show off the happiness of their aplishments so far.


    "I will be taking my time with my fellow royal dragons. I have heard some interesting stories already. I wish to hear more. Walker, please handle your vige business before joining us." Current said this out of friendly respect. He had long epted Walker and saw how great the future with him could be. If everything he saw now was just even more proof of this, then he was blind.


    Mordant and Rise left with Current to the far end of the ship. They would most likely leave the ships to fly around at some point. There were many things that they could hunt on their own or better ces to rest as all the ships arrived and linked up. The only feeling that Walker had though, was that he might see more dragons than expected.


    Terron had said that he would be remaining behind. He did not want to be in the middle of the ocean so far away fromnd. It wasn''t like he could just sink to the bottom of the ocean to get in touch with the waters. Yet, for some reason, Walker just felt that he would be on one of the ships. Not just Ignus, but Terron as well.


    "We have plenty of dried meats for those on your ship. We did well against the river snappers. Minor damages but they learned a good lesson. We even managed to smoke some of them so that they willst longer." This sentence perked up the ears of a few soldiers from Alma''s ship. Scy knew that this would be the start of organizing the goods. Food was a great way to begin things.


    "First, I can see that you have a decent number of hunted prey from the beach. Allow my elves to join up and begin breaking them in to parts for us." Alma used this as a signal to send the soldiers and others across. The cksmiths that havee across the little bridge also jumped for the chance to meet the cksmiths on Walker''s ship.


    They already knew that there had to be some amazing breakthrough. They had multiple dragons on their ship and that meant more chances to forge with dragon fire. How could they miss even the smallest chance that they could get knowledge about forging with dragon fire?


    "I will be taking your soldiers. They have much to report to me about their journeys. Leon thinks that he may have control of the aquatic forces I have raised, it is humorous." Scy moved to gather her troops. She wanted to hear what each soldier encountered and what they expected from the journey going forward.


    Being able to gather more data was just a small part of what would make a general great. Scy wanted to have as many of the potential dangers nned for just in case the worst happened. If her soldiers faced more underwater monsters, she wanted to be able to share in their defense of the ships. That meant she had to know what they had realized they were weak in so far.


    "In that case, I will catch up with the others." Alma thought that Scy was giving her the perfect chance to rx and little and see how the path breaking ship had done. But even though it was not the intended reason that Scy had moved on, it was still perfect.


    "Wee to the waiting spot." Gil just stood tall watching Alma for a moment. The two could only look at each other for a little bit before they couldn''t hold back anymore. The other soldiers were all focused on other things so the two could rx and be their own people.


    The moment their hug broke, Midnight dashed over and said her own hellos. She had changed to her dragonkin form to see everyone better. It was much more beneficial to greet someone she cared about with arms and a hug than pouncing on them. However, she would always still pounce on Walker. It was too nostalgic.


    "You missed a lot of fun. The archers that Gil worked with have been making new harpoon and poison arrows. They even have had to deal with leaping fish." Walker knew that Alma had already heard some of this. But starting the conversation off with this was a good way to retell their side of the journey.


    "I want to hear every single word. How my elves did and how my friends did. I''m sure there are a few things that you all did without an escort or a group of soldiers by your side." Alma''s guess was spot on. It was a sure thing that the elves would be hearing from the cksmiths about the new forging of natural mana gems.


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 Chapter 1643 1643. Hopes At Sea

    "So these are sand jacks?" Alma had been asking about the monsters that had been encountered. At the moment, she was curious about the monster being roasted by Walker on the top deck cooking area. "They look like smaller versions of horned rabbits but without a horn."


    "They more or less are. From what Walker said, they are rted distantly. Pretty much the same with the elemental spirits or mouse type monsters. They are all simr in shapes and sizes but have slight differences when ites to the environment they have lived in. It''s actually surprising that Walker didn''t find sand jacks in the desert when he visited there."


    This was simr around the world and for a moment Walker was caught thinking about this. Gil had a very good point, if they got to the other side of the world on this continent, there was a chance that they would see many simr monsters and animals but slightly different. The way that these creatures grew would bepletely different based on how the continent developed.


    There was a chance that the entire continent could be a desert or waternds. But who knew what it was like? There were no records and the ships that had left to find another continent had never returned. That meant they got there and never came back or never made it there. The proof just wasn''t there.


    "Well, it smells good and that is all I can say for now." Alma was very happy being able to sit down and eat with them after the few days traveling down river. Midnight was happy enough to be able to share since Walker had asked around and been given a few more sand jacks that had been hunted by the patrols. They seemed more eager to share after they heard that Walker was roasting them to share with Alma and Gil. the two that they idolized the most as elves.


    "Should we try and do another patrol before the next ship get here?" Su wanted to be sure that they were thorough in the investigation of the shore but she also didn''t want to risk missing a ship''s arrival. She knew that the third ship was a little different than the first two.


    "I think it''s best to remain on the ships for now. The third ship is mostly made up of dwarves and the dwarven golems. I want to see if they can repair the ships while we move if the hulls are damaged. It''s also good to know what the golems can do while we travel through swarms of monsters. I know it will be safer to lose a golem than a living breathing person."


    As much as the dwarven cksmiths would be crushed, Walker knew that losing a golem was better than anyone else. The golems could be built again with the right materials. Building a person again was impossible for them. Especially if the mind was bright enough to make major breakthroughs in the world.


    "They should have some of the ocean monster and river monster styled golems right?" Alma had seen the documents that the dwarves had shared. The golems they had made were very unique and could store elemental mana from the air around them. Especially a few that could store water elemental energy.


    "From what I remember reading, there are a few of the golems controlled by water elemental spirits. That puts them well above the realm of control that we will need in the ocean. It also means that they will be able to better defend the ships." Walker was excited to see them. He had enjoyed the dragon golem which remained near the mansion with the dragon hatchlings to help teach them but also protect their families if necessary.


    "If I can recall, the cksmiths that worked on the golems based a few on a monster that is thought to only live in the coldest of waters. The narwhal. Or maybe it was the silver horned narwhal?" Su wanted to have all the information memorized but found that she had forgotten most of it after being forced to focus on the dangers of the river. But this could happen to anyone, there were always more pressing things.


    After being reminded, Walker could recall reading about the silver narwhals better. There was a whale type monster that lived in cold waters. But what made them stand out was that they ate silver and other precious metals off the ocean floor which naturally became avable through the eroding of the tides against rocks and shores.


    They would develop a silver or gold horn on their heads depending on the metals they consumed. This was then used to fight each other for food or even fight off predators. For a monster that had fewer means of attacks than other monsters, they were surprisingly powerful and had a sword style developed after them.


    What was even further interesting about them was that the dwarves had managed to replicate them from books only. They had created an entire type of unique golem from books. Most dwarves had never been to such frigid waters in their lives. They would never be able to have in detail information about the narwhal monster species.


    "What about the manned golems? They should have advanced defensive golems for the top of the ship and even the aquatic golems for battling. I heard that they started to copy the merfolk physique."


    "That is exactly right. Before we left, a few of the dwarves came to the merfolk homes and asked us to model for the golems they were creating. From what I saw, they stripped away a lot of metals and reced it with floatstone. It''s a stone that has a decent amount of air trapped inside making it very light and often float." Leon sat down with the group and jumped in to the conversation without hesitation.


    "Finished speaking with your soldiers? How did they do today?" It was only polite to ask about the progress that the merfolk had made while they patrolled the beaches and the waters around the beaches.


    "Everything went well. Most of the problems we found are solvable or can be solved with a little effortter. It is more exciting that we will be leaving for the open ocean soon. Many of my soldiers hope that we might discover lost cities or great reefs while out there." These were just a few things that the merfolk dreamed about but were totally usible to find in the ocean.


    "If I remember correctly, your people used to live in the deeper oceans? Or at least some of your ancestors did?" Walker felt like this was a basic set of knowledge that he had been told about and read about in merfolk history.


    "Exactly. It was so long ago that there are not any real records but the odds ofing across them are very high. No one explores the ocean and it''s impossible for us to swim out there without encountering monsters we can not handle. I believe that the cities, ruins, and a few other inds might be found." Leon was thinking very positively but it was a good thing. These were possible bonuses to the journey they were on that Walker had not considered.


    "I would like to see an ancient city." Alice had been focused on the sand jacks and Midnight for the time being. Onyx had even taken up a spot with Arora next to them resting in the sun of the day.


    "Then we will explore it if we can find it. I don''t know what we will find though. If it''s on an ind or under the water it might be harder." Walker''s thoughts were a little limited because he knew that the chance of being able to swim underwater without monsters pestering them was tough. Even exploring the surface of the water was already considered very dangerous.


    "I already have one of you that wille with me. Alice, just make sure you drag Walker along and we can convince everyone else." The suddenradery between Alice and Leon was surprising but seemed to be working in their favor. Now Walker would have no choice but to explore anything they managed to find if it was spotted while they were on the open ocean.


    "He, the third ship is here!" The call came from a dragonkin on a look out tower. They sounded like they had seen the metal of the hull before anything. But what truly caught all the attention was that they were sending small res in the air as greetings. It seemed to be a celebration that had already begun as they crossed the line to the end of the river and the start of the ocean.


    "I would say they are pretty happy that their craftsmanship is surviving the ocean so far." Walker chuckled as he took the roasted sand jack and ate a little. He couldn''t sit and eat for long after this.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1644 1644. Extreme Effort Pays Off

    ''Narwhal style golem


    The water elemental spirit that has control of the core of this golem is able to manipte the water better through the runes carved on the metal parts. These metal parts are created with a specific magic that allows the water to not wear away at the metal.


    The water elemental crystals and mana gems within the golem store the mana that the water elemental spirit gathers, it is then used to cause it to swim faster and strengthen the multi alloy horn of the narwhal golem. There is also the ability to create an ice shield around the body because of the close rtion to water and the strength of the elemental spirit controlling the golem.


    Dolphin style golem


    This is a golem styled after one of the mostmon monsters in the ocean that travels in pods. The dolphin used to be a normal animal that slowly but surely used its mind to outsmart faster growing monsters. The more that it did so, the more that it learned sonar and enhanced its body. This led to it bing a monster and leaving behind the prey mentality of normal animals in the world.


    Normally, dolphins have a strong sense of scouting and hunting in pods. After mimicking these designs, the golems are able to travel faster in the water and use the water elemental spirits that control them to find hidden monsters. Their main focus is scouting to ensure safety of the ships that they were created to protect.


    Advanced aquatic armor


    This is the newest and highest aquatic armor made by the dwarven golem masters. They have modeled this armor after the merfolk race to better create an aquatic armor that will not sink and cause the operator to be trapped under the water. With this, the dwarves are able to explore and search for what they need under the water better.


    This armor is weaker due to the removal of metals but has a much more fluid agility. They are able to float if need be and are also able to wield weapons other than minding tools. There are multiple mana gems added along with advanced water origin runes so that the aquatic armor can allow prolonged usage¡­''


    The massive amount of information that Walker was gaining as he looked at the ship approaching was almost too much to handle. Just the golems alone had many uses. They would be the core of the aquatic travel as the ship moved.


    Walker could tell that the ship had been made specifically with the golems in mind. They were able totch on to the ship at specific points to gather mana while the water elemental spirit could rest. To be able to allow so many elemental spirits to rest within the golems was already proof that the dwarves had fully epted the true spirit forging methods.


    Furthermore, Walker could see a few of the water elves on the ship. They were clearly perfectly in harmony with the dwarves that had created these things. Many years ago, the dwarves and elves did not get along. They argued over the nature that dwarves could destroy and the differences in values between them. But now, they worked together to create a much better future.


    The dolphin golems were something surprising. Everyone knew that some monsters descended from ancient monsters. They would change over time just like people. But others were animals like the average rabbitpared to a horned rabbit. The average rabbit was something that had never grown but bred fast enough to survive the dangers of the world. Hence why rats were always around even though they were not necessarily monsters. But there was always the chance they would change over time to be a monster that fits in to the world.


    The dolphins were like this. They had enhanced their minds and learned sonar, an aquatic form ofmunication using sound. Basing the golems after them was brilliant. This made them the ideal scouts for the entire group of ships. It also allowed them to be able to bond with the water elemental spirits better that were already close to the water.


    The narwhal golems would be the fighting forces. They could create temporary ice shields with the assistance of the water elemental spirits and runes. This also applied to their ability to speed through the water and attack with the horns on their heads. Scouts and attackers that doubled as defenders and map makers. An idealbination.


    The aquatic armor was an entirely different story. To call it a controlled golem would be simpler. The dwarves could wear the armor and control it which made it part golem and also part armor. But where it differentiated was the fact that it had been taken from the armor they used in underwater mines.


    Now the armor was made for speed and flexibility instead of hard mining andtching on to rocks. It was also made so that the dwarves controlling it could fight while using it. This would be an addedyer of protection that brought the dwarves and merfolk closer while also defending ships. No longer was the threat of a dwarf sinking away to the deep of the ocean without the chance of swimming back up.


    "That''s pretty amazing." Even Leon was surprised to see it alling together. The ship they saw was more advanced because it was specifically altered to be the main hub for all the golems. This made it less like the other ships with multiple areas for working.


    Instead of having an alchemyb at all, it had golem workshops that took up most of the under deck floors. The forge was also much more advanced with better tools than the basic repair forges on the other ships. Furthermore, there were even more mana gems and water elemental crystals there for the water elemental spirits to recharge their elemental mana after being in control of a golem. From what Walker could see, it went deeper than that.


    ''Water golem ship


    The use of true spirit forging has truly shown brilliance in this creation. Due to the extreme effort of five master golem smiths and three additional master cksmiths using the true spirit forging techniques, fifteen water elemental spirits can dwell within this ship. They had control over the guidance of the ship and the massive amount of water elemental mana within. Over the course of this creation, eighty five of those working on it fell to exhaustion or injuries before the ship was finished.


    This has caused the ship to be a golem itself that specializes in water elemental mana. It is able to house and assist other water elemental spirits in control of their golems while also being able to use water as basic defense and attacks. This ship is one of a kind in the world and has earned certain forge masters and master golem creators the title, water golem creator. They will always have better skills and luck when creating water rted golems.''


    There was more to the all around appraisal but Walker was too blown away. He had subconsciously said all of that out loud shocking everyone around him. They were all in awe of the major aplishment that had taken so many of the dwarves'' best. But what was even more evident was the speed it hade together. The dwarves had all mobilized along with any other person able to forge and create ships. They had worked tirelessly to create the shops but those that had worked on this ship had gone further.


    ''Since the dwarves and focused entirely on golems, then it made sense that a ship would be created to mimic that desire. However, they had gone so far beyond that they had earned a title and created something for the first time ever!


    "Amazing is right. I think that is what would be called the crown jewel of a navy." The term navy had not been used much, there were no real forces along the coasts that could be called a navy, and those that could went by merchant groups. Now, with five ships and one that specialized in golem battle and creation, it was possible to say that this would be the head of a navy.


    "The other ships aren''t like this, are they?" Walker had the sudden realization that this put them at just three ships and not five. How could there be another ship as intricate and advanced as the one that they were all looking at? It would be ridiculous to think that another could even rival what they saw before them.


    "We will have to ask. That looks like the king of the surface. I expected that the king of the deep would change his mind and take over the ship. But I think the king of the surface changed his mind and decided to follow the golems he controlled and led." Gil could spot the familiar face and figured out the reasons why easily.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1645 1645. Many Many Runes

    "Bridges down! Ropes tied!" The shouts went out again but with double the effect. The shouts and cheers resounded back and forth between the three shops as those that worked the third ship came to the first.


    " the king of the surface took the helm of a ship? I thought you would be all the way back home organizing troops." Walker did not hide his thoughts. He wanted to join in on the bright mood the king of the surface had.


    "These are part of the army I control now. Should I disappoint every dwarf that fights with me and miss this chance? Our trade routes will even conquer the vast oceans. How could I miss this chance!" The boomingughter that echoed after showed the true happiness that broke the rough exterior of the dwarf. The ever tough king of the surface andmander of dwarves golems.


    "A little repetitive but full of energy."


    "Says the boy who barely knows a thing about golems. Come let me tell you. Let me open your eyes to the wave breaker, the finest ship and golem creation of the dwarves and elf empires. The first and most powerful golem ship of the Genesis future!"


    This much energy was contagious. Those that came from the golem ship were even more hyper. They had been enjoying every second of their journey so far. Now they could share it with even more people. Show it off to even more of those that could take pride in it.


    "The scouting golems I asked to return to the fourth ship havee back to tell us they are ten hours behind. Let us begin repairs and check the runes here. All workers and soldiers to work!" The king of the surface ran a tight schedule. There was no fighting the orders because they were ideal in this situation. Especially before they went to the open ocean.


    Since this was the case and they had a time for when the fourth ship and pleasingly the fifth ship would arrive, Walker decided to take the time to learn a little. Sitting around and talking would be useless at the end of the day.


    His party members went off their own ways while so did Leon and Scy. They had definitely been more interested in asking the king of the surface for a full capabilities list of what the golems could do.


    As Walker moved below deck following some rune carvers, he was enlightened a little. The paths of the runes they touched glowed a little more with their manas. This was their way of checking efficacy.


    The runes were constantly used. Walker had seen runes like this in the ancient desert city. Those runes did not wear away too much over time. The same could not be said about the runes on the ships.


    They were I derive runes to the origin runes begging used in the ancient city. The rune researchers still had to discover how to replicate them perfectly. But that did not mean the runes on the ship were low quality by any means.


    The runes in the ship were partially influenced by origin runes and the best of the best rune carvers. This allowed the ship to be considered one of the best rune carved items in all of Genesis. It would be all of the world if there were not so many ruins with origin runes present.


    This was not what walker was focused on, however, he was focused on the fact that the runes were reacting to the mana of the rune carvers. The mana they used helped clear any small pieces of dust and debris that had fallen in to the rune cracks. But it also checked to ensure that the runes were remaining fully working under any stress from the ship being in battle.


    Just from watching, Walker was able to better understand how the runes were maintained which was not something he had thought about in depth. From what he did, he would clean his equipment whether it had or did not have runes. Therefore, he didn''t have to worry about the runes being broken or dirty. If he ever found an issue then he would bring it right to the wandering cksmith or anyone with adequate skills to repair it.


    The problem he found was that hecked skills to repair the rune itself. And that was what ced him next to the three rune carvers that were examining arge array of earth, water, and fire runes. "I was just saying that this is perfect. We shouldn''t try and add the wind rune support here because the weight is still perfectly bnced here."


    "And that is why you are still not as good as I am. If we take some weight away, we can have the captain lower the sails and lower the mana cost of the entire journey. That will give us a chance to escape dangers better!"


    The arguments were taking over the entire process between the three. So much so that they had not ever registered that Walker was standing there watching the entire thing. When they noticed him, they quickly stopped talking and nced at him a few times. "So the runes you have here can be added too without much issue? The effects and bnce of the ship is where you''re worried?"


    "That is correct. The wind runes are what can be used to help the wind elemental mana move the ship and also reduce the weight. But if we had it inappropriately here and not at the other side of the ship, there is a chance we would throw off the bnce. We could even ruin the bnce over all and cause the ship to roll over." These were worst case scenarios but still threats.


    "And what would happen if the bnce was slightly off? Turning issues and a bigger risk when facingrger waves or monsters?" The more that Walker could learn the better. He didn''t have the in depth knowledge and skills to make runes yet but he couldpile knowledge.


    "There are also the benefits thate. The ship will use less mana and remain prepared for battle. It could also enhance the speed. Every ship can have this since the rune array set up for every ship is nearly the same. The only difference is the ship we reside on. The runes there are made with swift current and mana usage in mind. It gathers mana at double the speed of the other ships."


    Walker knew that this was also because of the water elemental spirits involved within the ship in question. They would be able to attract more elemental mana than any other ship even if they only existed instead of using their skills actively. "I think you should do it. The golem ship is already faster. It will be forced to slow down if the other ships are not improved in the same ways. I know that the ships were created too fast. They will have unfinished aspects. This is one. But make sure you keep in mind the bnce necessary. If need be, ask Gil for help. He has Zephyr that can provide some extra wind elemental mana that should smooth things over."


    Walker left the three with this thought and walked along the runes. He wanted toe in contact with as many different rune carvers as possible. It was the only way that he would gain a wide of knowledge. He had to learn from everyone and everything.


    Yet, when Walker reached the deeper parts of the ships where the forge furnaces were connected to fight elemental runes andrge mana gems, he found the most intricate rune carvings.


    The runes that created the core of the ship were connected to many rune carved mana gems. They spread through the central hull where mana was gathered constantly by the runes. It was an ideal ce for anyone to train their understanding of runes and elemental mana channeling with runes. It was also a veryfortable ce for Walker. He could feel the ambient natural mana that stayed around this ce because of the many different kinds of elemental mana around.


    Without much of a second thought, Walker sat down and began meditating. He could feel Fleur leave the spirit mark and enjoy the space as well. She had been fairly reclusivetely as she absorbed mana and understood herself more. Walker could sense that she had be more curious about the world and how she was connected to it. But that was her path to walk. He would always be by her side and she knew it. He wouldn''t interfere without her request.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1646 1646. Windy Runes

    Being Interrupted during his meditation would normally have been a bit annoying. He and Fleur were making a massive benefit of the runes around them. Their elemental mana storage and conversion in to natural mana was very high in the core of the ship.


    However, the reason they were interrupted was that many rune carvers were taking positions around the rune array at the core of the ship. It appeared that they were making the best of what Walker had said earlier. He had unintentionally encouraged them to push themselves to make the rune adjustments and add even more wind elemental runes.


    The main reason why Walker was interrupted was that Gil was speaking to the rune carvers. His voice was louder than the carvers since he was trying to get a clear understanding of what he would have to do. "So, you want Zephyr and I to channel the wind down here in the middle of the ship? Is that safe? You know that there is not much moving air down here."


    "Yes, that is exactly what we want. The fire, earth, and water manas are all a little dense down here. It will stop our wind carvers from being able to better the runes here already. But with your help and a grand elemental spirit''s help, we can make the runes solid enough for an entire year without the need for adjustment!"


    The rune carver was very happy to have a grand elemental spirit that would work with them. It was a wonder that they weren''t on their knees thanking Gil and Zephyr already. The simple fact was, many mages and the elves, in particr, thought that the grand elemental spirits were very important. They were literally embodiments of forces of nature.


    "Coming all the way down here, asking the rune carvers so many loud questions. How could someone interrupt another person''s meditation like that? So Rude!" The sarcastic tone that Walker adopted brought a smirk to Gil''s face. He was clearly able to tell that Walker was here.


    "I couldn''t just let everyone not know I was here helping others. I am a kind soul that truly wishes to help. Let me just prepare to do my best here." Gil spoke louder and louder until Walker walked up and elbowed him. The twoughed a little. "So, will you be helping carve runes or just attracting elemental mana? I don''t know what natural mana would do with the runes."


    "To be honest, I will probably make trouble if I do that. There are no natural mana runes here. And the runes here are not made to be able to handle the concentrated elemental mana that Fleur and I would bring if we worked together. It wouldn''t ruin the ship but it would put a lot more stress on the runes." Walker could tell this already. He had learned enough that this was a huge possibility.


    "I also think that I won''t be of much use when ites to the wind elemental mana. Zephyr carries the strongest authority over it because she is the Grand wind elemental spirit. If Fleur and I interfere it might be a problem." The odds of him and Fleur causing Zephyr stress and ruining the flow of mana was high. From what Walker could tell, having too many cooks in this kitchen would be detrimental to the rune arrays.


    "No! You have to help!" Zephyr had been silent. She had been resting On Gil''s shoulder since he had been found by the rune carvers. She was enjoying the attention in all of this. But even more, she was happy that she was able to try something new.


    "You heard her, Fleur has been recruited and so have you." Gil smiled while Walker became curious. But from what he could see, Fleur was also enjoying it. There was some hidden conversation going on between Zephyr and Fleur that made him realize that he still was far from understanding the elemental spirits. Let alone the grand elemental spirits that had a much deeper connection to their and the world''s mana.


    "You two can help me pull the mana down here. Go to the floor above and let the connection with the wind flow through you. I will do the rest with Gil." Zephyr smooshed Gil''s cheek to encourage him. She seemed very energetic. Being out in the open ocean had weed her free flying mentality even more. It appeared that she was ready to see what the ocean winds had in store for her.


    "Can we begin in a moment?" The elves that had been working with the dwarves were mostly wind elves. That was why they were able to best learn to be wind rune carvers. They specifically worked with wind runes and were the most experienced. They brought extremely valuable knowledge to the golem ship which made them core members needed to maintain every single ship.


    "Sure thing, let us go up the stairs and start pulling wind elemental mana from the air outside." Walker didn''t hesitate. He knew that people were waiting on him so he had to push himself in to a faster pace. He had been the onegging behind by sitting around meditating for however long it had been. But it had been a worthwhile rest since he knew that there was more natural mana stored up in case of any future dangers.


    Gi gave a slight wave as Walker and Fleur made their way to the stairs. The stairs were connected right to the top of the ship. There was always a better airflow there. But it was still hard to make the airflow go through the entire ship because of the fact that the ship was sorge and there were many things that stood in the way of perfect airflow.


    The moment that Walker started to focus solely on manipting the wind elemental mana, he felt Fleur join him. She had a better control of mana overall since she was made of it. The natural mana was just the backing force to all mana. The wind elemental mana was a small part of it. Therefore, his strength when it came to attracting a single elemental mana was surprisingly strong.


    Adding in Walker''s maniption, the wind was at their call. Using a minimal amount of his own mana, a gust of wind rushed through the stairwell. The reaction from Zephyr and Gil was instant.


    Gil was not a mage by any means. He could not call on the wind the same way that a mage could. Yet, he had the ability to channel elemental mana from elemental crystals in to an arrow head. This meant that he was not afraid of trying to manipte elemental mana in some form.


    Zephyr''s assistance made it possible to appear as if he was a mage. The wind elemental mana rushed to Gil and Zephyr bing a ball of wind that rotated over the runes. From there, it was a simple matter. Zephyr focused on the mana and split it in to streams of wind that the wind carvers could easily grasp.


    The runes that were carved looked like flowing clouds. They were made to take weight from the ship so that it could better take the natural ocean winds and push through the waters. While their john was small inparison to the extremely detailed wind runes being carved, both Walker and Gil could sense a difference urring.


    The ship creaked a little less as the runes were formed which showed the lessening stress. But it was also showing that the wind carvers were doing their best to ensure that the job was done perfectly in line with the other elemental runes already in existence on the ship.


    Surges of mana permeated the ship making many working stop. They could feel the changes urring. The mages aboard were even more sensitive to the differences. Wind mages in particr were able to grasp the changes and enlighten themselves. The changes in the wind from a grand wind elemental spirit were more profound than any other elemental spirit could be.


    "A little more!" The process had only felt like a few minutes. In reality, Walker and Gil had be focused. They could sense their teamwork in this matter. It was a different kind of battle but one that made them able to get closer overall. In the future, their cooperation as a party would only rise.


    "That''s it! Next ship!" however Gil and Walker had thought and felt about the situation suddenly changed when the rune carver in charge said this. Neither of them had fully grasped the bigger picture. Neither of them had caught on that they unintentionally volunteered to do this to every ship that needed it. They had a lot more work to do.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1647 1647. Learning Winds

    By the time that Walker and Gil and returned from the other ships, they felt like they had been put through the wringer. It was a rough job channeling the wind elemental mana constantly for others. They had not done much when it came to carving runes. However, saying that they had learned nothing, would be a blunt lie.


    The wind rune carvers had been able to show them the patterns they used. This had gone in to in depth conversation that the two had been d to hear. Neither had seen or heard much about the specific origin runes since they were a tough topic to research.


    The origin runes for wind had been just the same, hard to understand. Where there was normally a simple wind pattern that represented a wind rune, there were more details that couldn''t be seen by the eye.


    The origin runes would have branching swirls carved for the mana to pass through. These small carvings represented even the tiniest of breezes and the fact that wind was always around even if it was not able to be felt. The idea was what the rune masters had been able to take from the origin wind runes found. Adding this to the runes they had used for years made their altered runes to be double effective. A massive break through for the entire study of wind elemental runes.


    Things didn''t stop there though, the efficiency that the runes and also increased. It made most current runes obsolete, they still worked well though. Yet, the third rune that had been thrown in to the mix were the draconic runes. The runes that the dragons had made as their own through many years. The runes that were not perfectly linked to elemental mana but helped the dragons improve using mixes of elemental mana.


    What Gil and Walker had heard was that the draconic runes were not as pure as a dragon''s elemental affinity. The runes were made to improve strength or certain aspects of what they were used on. Some even improved an area''s ability to bring mana around it.


    The meaning behind this was that the runes the dragons used unknowingly mixed elemental mana. Therefore, they were able to be used in the terms of research toward natural mana and used to influence all other runes.


    By taking the parts of the draconic runes that helped their goals, the wind rune carvers had advanced further. This created a draconic semi- origin rune that was strong and had multiple facets, including the ability to better work with other runes of other elemental manas.


    Furthermore, there was the potential to work with runes that were not inherently about mana. Runes that would help people replenish their body''s mana or runes used to create storage rooms. Even runes that were made to create unique seals that would normally only be produced with certain skills were possible. The world of rune carving was in turmoil.


    This was a lot like how Remey and the old master alchemist had upturned the world with the affinity potion. Tris had already gathered some of her elven friends that worked in other professions such as rune carving to bring affinity potions, rune carving, and magic together. The three would be abination well above what some people could even dream of.


    Naturally, these thoughts muddled in Gil and Walker''s minds. They had been able to learn so much at once that they would have to spend a decent few hours to absorb this knowledge. But they had also learned more about cooperative and fine control of wind.


    The fine control came naturally to Walker since he had the ability to manipte all elemental mana and natural mana. This was like opening his eyes a little wider. It was the very same as training any muscle in the body. The more he had channeled the wind the more efficient he had be in a short period of time.


    There was a difference for Gil though. In terms of manipting wind, he had to have Zephyr''s assistance. He was an arcane archer, not a mage of any sort. But he had a unique privilege when it came to wind. He was the avatar of the grand elemental wind spirit. Something that put him above anyone else with even the highest wind elemental affinity.


    Thus, when Gil had started to use the same skills to manipte with under Zephyr''s guidance, he had found that it came naturally. Instead of struggling, he had felt the changes in his body and flow of mind. That made Zephyr able to better control wind as well. The two worked together and therefore became closer. The next time that Gil would use the skills that came with the avatar of wind title, he would be much more proficient with them.


    The best part was, that Gil felt he would be able to use archery better. So far, he had relied on his skills to make arrows that helped him bring out his skills andtely, his closeness to the wind. He was able to wrap the arrows in wind since he used his skills, rtionship with Zephyr, and ability to manipte wind to move inside an arrow. But with the newer understanding, he could tell that he would be able to better mold wind in to arrows and even more easily make arrows out of pure wind as one of hisst resorts. His final trump card had be stronger and more usable.


    "Dragon iing!" The shouts echoed to every ship and soon there was a gust of wind that made everyone hold on tightly. Four unfortunate souls were knocked overboard and had to climb back aboard the ship but there was no harm. The reason for this was that a familiar dragon wasnding on the deck and changing in to her dragonkin form.


    "I sensed that some interesting things were happening so I came a little ahead."


    "Ventus, we should have known you would sense all that. Gil and I were working on some alterations to the runes of the ship. The wind rune carvers used the wind elemental mana was brought in to help adjust the runes. Zephyr and Fleur also helped so I''m sure that made it easier for you to sense as well." Walker was tired but he was actually very happy to see Ventus.


    When it came to dragons, Ventus put her children and their growth forefront over everything. He believed that out of all the dragons, Ventus was the most transparent with what she cared about. Mordant was curious and enjoyed delving in to secrets, Current went with the flow while remaining calm and collected, Rise was traditional and built by her past deeds. Putting Ignus on the spot would bring a fiery heat of emotions, and Terron was stubborn and solid like the ground. They all embodied their wills and elemental affinities well. But Ventus had stood out to Walker. He too valued family.


    "That would make sense. I had to leave the ship I left with for some time. I was very surprised when I sensed a lot of mana as soon as I had returned and neared the ship again." This made Walker furrow his brows in confusion.


    "Why did you have to leave? Was everything alright?" If something had happened, he would have to alter the ns or potentially even leave. Catching up again would be much harder.


    "My children were confronting a few demons that did not agree with the changes and restructuring of their society. Some seem to still want to rule with force instead of standing united with equal power. They had to learn a lesson and my children did as well. Now they will understand how to deal with those that only care for causing violence and pain. I learned a little about the human terms of imprisonment."


    "Oh¡­" Walker was sure that the dragons did not imprison each other when rules were broken. Yes, there would be punishments, but not the same ways that humans had. Yet, hearing that Zephyr went with human terms for punishment meant that she had taught a decent lesson that would rehabilitate those causing trouble. It was a sign that Ventus held respect for human society as well.


    "I''m d that things worked out well. If you hadn''t done anything I''m sure it wouldn''t have gone as smoothly." Thepliment was also out of respect. Walker knew he didn''t have to say anything but he did because it was only fair. Respect paid back with respect.


    "The real question is, what will happen when thest two ships get here? Will they be altered then we leave?" Ventus clearly had some excitement. Behind her calm breezy personality hid a violent and powerful dragon. A force of nature.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1648 1648. A Smart Move

    "Of course they will be. We need the ships to be able to keep up with the golem ship. That should have the fastest speed since it was made to house water elemental spirits. They already have the ability to make it travel faster through the water." Ventus seemed to think that the golem ship was just a moreplicated ship. She had yet to hear enough detail about what was going on with it.


    In the next half hour, Walker exined the details of the golems made for their journey, the ship''s abilities, and the high number of water elemental spirits within the ship and golems. This seemed to bring Ventus up to speed with why the modifications to wind runes had to happen.


    "In that case, let me take the carvers with me. The ship I was with should be fairly close. They can begin work without you. If I am there, the wind elemental mana will be more than enough." Ventus gave a tone that told Walker and Gil that she would not take no for an answer.


    This was a surprise since they both expected that she would want to remain around to speak with Current, Rise, and Mordant. However, none of them hade to greet her. It was odd but to be fair, this was the time that they had to begin preparations.


    When things came to the open ocean, the only monsters they were assured toe across wererge monsters. This wasn''t because the ocean was just massive, it was also because the ships wererger than the average monsters that would be out there. That made the ships appear to be prey for thergest of monsters that would live in the ocean. As many people that thought of ways to counter this, there weren''t any,


    Any monster would go after arger food source if it could with the size that it had. That was a basic survival instinct. The monsters lived in thergest environment in the entire world for as much as everyone knew. This meant that they would have to hunt food in a ce with so many different hiding spots that they might not find food often. The traveling ships were sure to attract the eyes of a few of theserger opportunistic monsters.


    Ventus had gathered up the wind carvers who were resting in the open and fresh air of the top deck. They seemed happier to have a chance to get the work done sooner than anything. Walker would have thought that they would be happier to work with a dragon, but it seemed that rune carvers were an interesting breed of people. A kind that preferred to be able to focus on the fact that they could improve their skills over meeting higher ranking individuals.


    "If that was Ventus, then those two are Ignus and Terron?" Gil pointed up at the direction Ventus was leaving in her dragon form with a lifeboat full of rune carvers. The figures that Gil pointed out were very high up but soon came in to shape.


    "Yes, that would be them. I knew that Terron would end uping. Whether Ignus talked him in to it or he came because he wanted to fight with the other dragons, doesn''t matter. It''s another dragon that we have to help us." Walker was very happy with this. He knew that Terron was an earth dragon. The open ocean would be tough for him.


    It wasn''t that the earth dragons were afraid of the water, this was just not their element. They also didn''t often fly so seeing that Terron had used his wings meant that he had a lot of determination to be there. There were even some lesser earth dragons born without wings. From what Walker had heard, that was actually seen as a blessing. It made it easier for them to travel through the cave and tunnels made in the earth.


    What Walker had seen of Terron was different. He still had wings the same way that any dragon would. A royal dragon had status and the ability to take to the sky was part of that status. A royal dragon had the most majestic features that stood for their elemental affinity. They could reign in the sky to the depths of the earth. It would be foolish to expect them not to take all that they saw as theirs. Their pride already saw the world as something for them to explore and take as they saw fit.


    "Oh, they are going tond. Let''s get away a little." Walker pulled Gil back as Terron and Ignus changed forms andnded with a little force. The ship rocked slightly making everyone nce around but then return to their tasks. They had no concerns about reprimanding two royal dragons. They knew of the strength they had and would not be pushing them away.


    "Gather up nice and neat huh?" Ignus seemed like he was actually impressed by the ships waiting and preparing. It could have also been the dragonkin that were openly training that made him happy too. Some of the fire elemental dragonkin had clearly improved their skills since hest saw them. But that was a pure result of seeing the other dragonkin and races train. Their skills were sure to grow in adversity.


    Terron was just looking around at the ship. He seemed to be more interested in going to the lower decks than wasting time above. But that meant that he would be morefortable under the metalyers of the ship. It would be dark and a tight squeeze for him. Therefore, it was more closely rted to the caves he preferred.


    "Care for a tour? The runes were just altered to help with the weight and speed of the ship while we travel." Walker gave a nod to Gil who was clearly looking for a chance to move and try to work on more archery rted experiments. There was also the fact that he had already been dragged away to work on rune things. Now he was free again. He could apply some of the new things he learned about wind to dome arrow training.


    "Tour, it''s the same as the other ships. Just bring me to the forge. I want to be somewhere warm. Terron wille too. He is sick of flying around aimlessly. He dealt with a few things on his way here." This attitude was normal for Ignus. He was fiery as ever. But Terron was clearly a little off.


    "Should I be worried about what happened?" Walker saw Terron change facial expressions finally. He grimaced slightly.


    A dead wyvern was found by a few travelers. That is why I left your vige. It was a bit old and died after fighting a skeletal dragon living alone." there was a harsher tone in Tereon''s voice than Walker had heard. "The skeletal dragon was unhappy to see me but I made it bow. It told me that it was flying to hunt for food and was attacked. It lost an arm to that wyvern before killing it."


    The skeletal dragons were known for living alone. Same with some of the darkness dragons. They didn''t always like to be with other dragons which was fine as long as they were not rogue dragons. But what made Terron angry was that a dragon could be hurt to such a degree when it came to a weak and pathetic bloodline like the wyverns.


    The wyverns shared some of the blood dragons had but at a significantly smaller amount. They did not have the pure elemental affinities that the dragons pride themselves on. Nor did they have intelligence. Just the fact that they had even a drop of dragon blood in them was a massive insult. Unintelligent and corrupted by multiple manas without it being a natural mana? That was a vicious insult of nature to the dragons.


    "If one was found, then that skeletal dragon saved many. A single wyvern could have caused a lot of issues. I think we should have left more to protect the viges¡­" Walker was worried but saw Terron shake his head.


    "Terron dealt with that, the champions left behind are patrolling the skies. Every single elder is as well. He went to the royal dragon court to ask the elder for reigning authority. The elder took over from there. It is a special rule of the dragons. The oldest among us has the right to take control of every vige in unique circumstances." Ignus spoke as if this was just an average thing to say before moving to the stairs. He wanted to be somewhere with fire and Walker just had to go along while listening more.


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 Chapter 1649 1649. Surprise Forces

    "Too many dangers were here to risk leaving it to everyone without me." Terron finally spoke enough to get his point out. Ignus wanted to keep walking but he stopped. He was looking at Terron who he knew absolutely hated being so far from his elements.


    For a dragon to be so far away from the elemental mana that they needed was a tragedy. If a dragon was to be kept from absorbing their elemental mana, they would just get weaker. This meant that Terron would not have the ability to absorb earth elemental mana while they were in the open ocean. That meant that they would have to find inds or he would have to wait for them to get to where they were going.


    "I''m d that you came. Both of you. If we face the cause of this problem, we will need strength. What could be strong enough to make another powerful monster leave the ce it was living? Just overpoption? Or is there something else?" The way Walker saw this was simple. There was a more terrifying monster that must have caused the wyverns toe looking elsewhere for food.


    "I will break them down where I can¡­I will need to rest somewhere." Terron decided that his best option was to let the other take the journey as their focal point. He would only be a liability. Thinking of himself as a liability damaged his pride but he was too stubborn to admit this was the case.


    "There are many rooms. Take any that you choose. Ventus is helping with thest runes on the shipsing this way. We should have everyone here soon. It means that by the morning we should be heading out to the open ocean. If you need, I would say you should head to shore and gather some extra mana. That''s what Mordant and Rise have been doing. Current should be somewhere under the water nearby."


    "We don''t need to waste time getting ready. We prepared for this trip already. I''ll be in the forge." Ignus huffed a little because he was sure that Current would be bragging about being at home in the water everywhere they went. But this was just to be expected. Ignus was not in an advantageous position either.


    Water was what put fire out. Ignus would be facing a very high chance of being damaged the entire trip. Being on the ship was actually more risky than going in to the air. However, flying that far would cause a lot of energy to be used up. The wyverns were lighter and smaller than dragons. That was how they managed to get across the ocean. They used their size and weight to their advantage. They just took the air currents across.


    "I will have Midnighte down and show off her me breathing skills. She needs guidance from an expert after thest forging we did." Ignus just grunted hearing this before he was out of sight. Walker knew that he would actually be interested in this. He had seen Midnight growingtely. She was still very young but as a true dragon champion she had more than what any dragon expected.


    Adding in the fact that a true dragon champion had some skills from birth because of their blood, another dragon would learn a lot just from watching her actions. She had the instincts to do certain things that other dragons had to learn by seeing.


    Even further was the fact that Midnight was going to be able to use natural mana at some point. She was bonded with Walker. Midnight could already use every single elemental mana. All that was left was to reach the same understanding as Walker. Then, she would be able to mix the elemental manas to create natural mana.


    That would make Midnight the natural mana true dragon champion. A mouthful when Walker considered it. But also a boon. She would have the ability to teach any dragon younger than her or less experienced than her elemental skills. The other major boon would be the fact that she would be able to adjust much better to just about any situation. Overall, it was a good thing after good thing.


    "Have patrols gone around the beaches?" Terron spoke softly. It was strange to see him breaking his stoic character so much.


    "Yes, we checked things out and even gathered some extra food. There are a lot of monsters in the tidal pools. Some with venoms and poisons. But the vige we are thinking of making here would be excellent. Plenty of resources and chances for growth." Walker wasn''t sure what Terron was thinking. When it came to Terron, he was a closed book kind of person. Hard to read but overall honest when he spoke.


    "I will see what else I can find. Another vige may be good." This made Walker realize that Terron wasn''t sitting here stuck on his thoughts about being in the ocean away from the earth elemental mana that would be under so many feet of water. Instead, Terron was worried about the future vige and those that woulde to make it up.


    "I would assume that the earth dragon hatchlings and other young earth dragons might be able to teach some skills to the earth mages. We have to clear some stones and rocks from the river on the way here. I am surendslides will happen again. It would be better to see them be able to take care of emergencies faster." This was the rope that Walker threw to Terron. A way for him to bring his dragon elders and hatchlings closer to Genesis while still maintaining some distance.


    "Teach? They wouldck the understanding thates from living in true earth elemental mana. It will be done when the building begins. I will send three of my dragonkin to prepare this." Terron left from the spot they had stopped to speak below deck. He was sure that Terron appreciated the timeline to go back to the shore and enjoy the earth elemental mana before they were in the open ocean.


    Meanwhile, Walker decided that he had to get back to the top of the ship. There were already a few shouts reaching his ears meaning that the fourth ship was properly arriving. It also meant that theirst and fifth ship should be close behind.


    What Walker didn''t expect to see was that the fourth ship would have more people aboard than nned. There were multiple people that seemed somewhat familiar. Some Walker had seen while they went after the demon viges and towns to free them and others that he had seen in passing in Genesis city. But the thing they had inmon was the fact that they were from the tamer''s guild.


    If this wasn''t a surprise, then when a familiar facended right in front of him, Walker was very surprised. "Elise! How did- you can''t just let Ste drop you like that!" Ste had flown over holding Elise in her talons then dropped her right in front of Walker.


    "Oh calm down. We just caught up with your second tost andst ship. This is the special tamer''s guild force that I brought to meet you. I also have an advanced harpy group. You have missed out on a lot of changes the tamers'' guild has been making. Especially since Ste gets along very well with the harpy queen!" Elise seemed very happy to see another familiar face.


    If Walker were to say anything in particr about Elise, it was that she looked radically more mature. Her armor and gear appeared to be higher quality and better upkept. Her face was smiling but her eyes had a determined appearance. Even the aura she gave off was more educated than thest time he had seen her.


    "You''re right. I haven''t heard much about the taming guild. Last time I was there, I just had some guidance about helping the dragon hatchlings grow. I''m d you areing. Having more warriors will help us a lot in the ocean." Walker was clear that he was happy about it. With Elise leading the tamers, he didn''t have to worry about a few bad eggs like before. She would keep them in line.


    "Oh, you will be excited to hear what I have to tell you. Come on, let''s find Onyx and Midnight. Ste wants to see them too! We haven''t seen how they have grown since thest time we were training together. We are too busy. Since there''s time, let''s go!" The energetic and free Elise was still there inside a more mature looking Elise. Just because the outside appearance and the inside had matured, didn''t mean that Elise wasn''t still Elise.


    "Sure thing. Let''s go find them."


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 Chapter 1650 1650. Final Ship Arrives

    The waters were soon filled with the merfolk and the tamer''s aquatic tamed monsters. They were meeting one another to incorporate in to different mixed forces. They had to find the best ces for everyone to be so that the ships would be bnced. Leon found this task just as arduous as it sounded.


    "I thought this would help a little morale. We even brought more food with us." Elise seemed a little apologetic now that she realized she was causing some trouble for everyone.


    "No, we are d you are here. We just didn''t expect to have more troops. I actually prefer that there are more people to face some of the problems we might have in the ocean. We also need people to guard the ships when we are on the new continent. There aren''t any promises that there will be a port city to protect them." This was a very true fact.


    Since no one had ever been and returned to their homes after attempting to make it to another continent then it was only right that it was a mystery. The only things they had to go on were ancient records that were certainly different.


    However, that presented a good potential. Monsters that they had never seen before. Resources that they might be able to bring back that were unique to another continent. And even more, another race that could be their newest and greatest allies. So many potentials and all they had to do was cross the endless blue of the ocean.


    "Well, the harpies came along to act as map makers and scouts. They can also get ces faster than we can and potentially deliver messages to settlements there." Since Elise had thought this through, Walker had no issue with it. The harpies would be taking on a dangerous role.


    "We will only send them out if it is necessary. I don''t want to send them to the unknown just to be attacked by a wyvern." The risks were clear to Walker. But he also had to ensure that they would be making it safely back.


    "The harpy queen understood that there was a chance that some of her harpies might not return. That was why Ste and I had toe too. Not just for the tamer''s guild''s sake. We made a promise to be by their side even when the worst happens." Elise had a resolute attitude. Whether this was the end of her days or the start of a new history she wasmitted to.


    "When we are on the same page about everyone here. I n to stick with them no matter what. Even if we all have to split up to explore or speak to those on the continent. We will be returning together if we can manage. Maybe we will even bring a few people back with us." There was a potential to make allies instead of enemies. Just because they were so far away didn''t mean the people of this continent would be ignored.


    While the forces that Elise had brought were organized, Walker began to recognize some of the tamers. A few were demons that had been taken in by the tamer''s guild. Even a few more were elves that had branched out after leaving the forest elf vige. It seemed that those that hade were familiar with the party more so than anyone else.


    "And here theye. Thest ship!" Elise was not surprised. There were harpies and tamers on thest ship as well. But even more, there were plenty more humans. That was the final surprise. Additional support from King Augustus was sent their way. They had been sent to march to genesis and Walker had missed it. But he was full of pride to see familiar faces from the home city of Diamond he had grown up in.


    Not everyone hade to Genesis. Many had stayed where they were raised or stayed to protect their families who preferred Diamond. The main difference between the ships that had arrived and thest one was the atmosphere. This final ship was full of sea shanties being sung and bigger smiles than anything. They had brought everyone that had the smallest knowledge of sailing to assist along with those that wanted to repay the favors of those in Genesis.


    "Final bridge going down! We leave at daylight!" The orders were out and the final preparations were underway. From here the sailors, troops, and other staff would be divided between ships. The golem ship would be the head of the group while traveling due to its unique development. But every ship would be kept up to par to maintain speed and efficiency.


    "Excuse me!" The man in full armor that approached Walker and Elise was unfamiliar to Walker. But he seemed to know Walker. "Under the great king August, I havee to report to the hero leading this excursion to newnds. The king sends his hopes and well wishes that you sent to him for the birth of his daughter." This was good news since Walker had been worried that the king would be too caught up with being a father to worry about such things.


    "The king has instructed myself, James F. Rein, to take control of the newly assembled continent exploration toon ande here. We are at your disposal and will guarantee a fight to the death if need be to save even a single life." This promise was from a true knight. Walker could see the markings on the man''s armor. He was a knight for good reason. He had both the merit and the system to prove it.


    "I look forward to working beside you. Report to General Scy and General Leon. they are organizing the troops now. Your toon will be split in to groups of four or five to defend every ship. Learn, listen, and be ready to face mysteries. We will be the first to see things that no one has ever seen." Walker used his highest professional response. His energy matched James''s and caused the man to grow more respect for the hero he had never met before. He had never even seen Walker. But after being called from his post for this quest, he was worried he would being head on against a rag tag bunch.


    After seeing the shops and all of Genesis which seemed to have bloomed overnight, James had been filled with a great sense of awe. Now that he stood before so many different warriors of different races, the feeling could only grow. Many of the other human soldiers felt the same.


    "It looks like things will be pretty busy. I will check in with Scy and Leon. maybe I will find Onyx and Midnightter." Elise was slightly perturbed because she wanted to see how much the two had grown. But she had duties and they were calling. Her tamers had to be organized and it was best that she instated team leaders for the split groups. It would be easier for the chain ofmand and respect for those captaining the ships.


    After he saw that Elise had gone to meet Leon and Scy who were organizing the soldiers, Walker looked around and saw that a few changes were already being made to the ships. There were parts of metal and other deterrent pieces being set up along the railings and the sides of the ship.


    These thin metal curtains had spikes that would prevent anyone who didn''t know about them from climbing aboard the ships. The merfolk and demi-humans would be fine, but monsters would find themselves injured immediately. It was a small way to keep people safe but very smart. Walker felt that he would have never considered this while building a ship. It just went to show what an experienced sailor had to contribute.


    Other things being done were simpler. The mana gems were being set up to absorb more mana so that they were at perfect capacity. The forges were being stoked to provide better flow of heat and mana to the ship. Some of the alchemists were getting the seawater they could convert to freshwater stocked up as well so that there would be no dehydrated sailors. They also needed the water for brewing potions.


    Most notable were the royal dragons that had finallye together after just going their separate ways. The focus seemed to be on Terron who had his dragonkin remaining on one ship so that they could protect him. Since he would be far from thend, he would need extras protection. Overall, things looked to being together in fine fashion. The ships would be more than ready to leave the shoreline and make the long journey across the open ocean to a new continent.


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 Chapter 1651 1651. Out To The Ocean

    "You did grow so much!" The shout of Elise from across the ship when she saw Midnight was enough for anyone to hear and help them wake up. But it was to be expected. Everyone seemed to have woken up from their rest with a lot more energy.


    The fact that everyone had been instructed to rest after they had received their assignments was just good thinking. There were many people that had been preparing to set for the open ocean for days. Some had not slept because they feared that they would be needed while others had been working on the final details tirelessly.


    "Brother, I will enjoy having Elise along. It has been some time since we could spend time with her and Ste." Onyx was also very happy to see Elise. He had a positive opinion of her since she spared no amount of effort when he would go to the tamer''s guild branch for assistance with the hatchlings. Especially when he was looking for additional affinity potion herbs.


    "I think so too. She has a lot of energy so it should help everyone stay awake and ready to go." Walker chuckled but was a little unhappy to see that Elise would be on the fourth ship instead of his ship. However, that was to be expected.


    Each royal dragon had taken up residence on a different ship. Not that they seemed to want to stay on it but for Terron. Terron was the only exception because he would be remaining below deck since it was better for him to conserve his strength. There was also a n set up for when they found anynd.


    Since Terron had the best control of earth elemental mana, he would be the first one toe to thend if they stopped on an ind of the continent. This would be so that he could better establish a defensive position where the ships could have people anchor. With the rest of the dragons patrolling the skies, it was an ideal n.


    Leon would be on the golem ship since it was the most in tune with water. Scy was also nning to move between skips since she could step between the air. That left Walker and his party as the only ones staying together. It would be better for them since they would be able to react and move with ease to another ship or against whatever issue they had.


    The main worry was that the party who had the hero titles would be injured. From what Scy had warned them about, they needed to stay prepared for any danger. They were first and foremost chasing the king of the demons and thest two sin title holders. They were the ones that had caused a great deal of trouble already. If they were forgotten in the travel to another continent, then they would rise again, potentially worse than before.


    This made Walker want to split up the party a little, however, when he looked at everyone as Scy had said this, he had felt torn apart. He could not take them apart because they were stronger together. It was a n and simple exnation. The royal dragons were all strong separately. They never worked together because they had grown and always stood alone for strength. The party was different. They trained on their own but worked best together.


    "Bridges are off! Ships apart! Move in to formation!" The calls were echoed by those in the watch towers on each ship. The arrows that Gil had made with the other archers were all shared evenly while the dragonkin that could have, had been given the improved bows. The supply of harpoon arrows for the draconic bows were lower than expected because of materials and time but they were ready for deadly attacks.


    The golem ship took the central position. Many of the dolphins and the narwhal golems were already in the water moving around the ships'' formation to ensure safety. The dolphins were scouting out the deeper waters that they were moving in to while some of the merfolk took up positions on the sides of the ship ready to jump in to the water at the lightest of worries. They would be the first to battle any monsters that got in their way.


    "This is pretty great!" Gil was standing right at the front of the ship with the rest of the party, but he was enjoying it the most. Ever since they had worked on the runes, the wind seemed to have picked up around the shore. This wasn''t necessarily a bad thing because they could use the wind to push them faster. But Zephyr was enjoying it since she was the grand wind elemental spirit. She and Gil were able to absorb more wind elemental mana this way.


    "All this open water seems endless. It''s very peaceful." Su was more calm and rxed at this sight. She was sure that the ocean held danger. It was practically a guarantee. Yet, when she nced at the endless blue, she was rxed. This sort of natural scene put her in awe of the world and everything it had to see. She felt that she would never have enough years in life to see everything. She could only hope to see half of it before she left for the afterlife.


    This atmosphere was contagious. All of them were soon looking out at the blue ocean while the ships maintained their pace. The runes glowed on every ship as they were utilized to maintain speed and efficiency. The rune carvers had split up in to smaller teams so that they could monitor the usage of mana through every rune. As far as Walker knew, the additional wind runes had been a massive sess.


    Ventus was high in the sky. Walker took the chance to leave the ship behind. He was confident that with his elemental maniption skills he could keep up in the air. He was proven correct when he stepped in to the air and used the wind to push him upwards in arge gust.


    "You have courage to be this far from the ship." Ventus''s voice was booming since she was in dragon form. It was best to be in such a form in case arge ocean monster tried to attack the ships. She would have more power to defend.


    "I thought you had the best view of the world so I came to see it too. It''s even better up here." the blue extended for as far as the eye could see. Small white peaks were here and there where the ocean waves broke. It was an amazing sight.


    "Yes, it is what I live for. This is something everyone should see whether they are a mouse or an ancient dragon. Many would never believe this if you told them. They find the world to be small but they are mistaken." The life of a wind dragon was unique. They were always well above the world in the air. But they seemed to be the most free flowing and caring dragons if Walker assumed they were all like Ventus.


    "I think I understand why you like to be up here so much." Walker felt free but also could sense the wind that Ventus was manipting. She had a much finer control of the wind than he did. It came from years of experience. It was also very enlightening since he had started to create the wind elemental wings on his back. They were the best choice for speed at the moment.


    "Why did he have to go up there? Were we really so boring? Pfft, I''m going back to theb." Remey walked right away seeing that Walker had ditched them. But Su and Alice remained staring at the ocean. Midnight just decided to curl up right there for a nap and Onyx couldn''t do much but join her since the clear blue sky gave him the perfect amount of sunlight.


    Gil could only smile a little and went to the side of the shop that faced where Alma was on another ship. He wanted to jump over and swim to that ship but knew that he was getting closer to his party. He had ensured that the elves around Alma had the best arrows and were ready for any danger. It was part of his duty to protect those he cared for.


    It was a new day and a new adventure. they just needed to face the mysteries of the ocean and hope for the best. But they were prepared and that would go further than anything else. Even for the smallest things, it was best to be prepared.


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 Chapter 1652 1652. Free Food

    "Jumping fish school ahead! Prepares!" The call that went out was from an experienced sailor. He had worked with merchants that traveled the coat line for many years. When he saw the jumping fish he knew it was the same as seeing gold leaping on the ships.


    The jumping fish were a monster that was considered dangerous only to those unaware. The leaping fish didn''t leap to attack anyone, they did so because they enjoyed the sun. they would swim as fast as possible to reach the surface then leap out of the water extending their fish as much as possible. From there they would enjoy the sun before falling again. This was the ideal chance to catch them.


    Since Walker could see the approaching school of jumping fish, he used his all around appraisal skill and caught up with what was going on easily. He exined this to Midnight who thought that the heavens had opened up and that a heavenly lord of creation had gifted her food that jumped in to her mouth.


    The other dragons seemed just as energetic even though they maintained theirposite for the most part. However, none of them could hide the slight glimmer in their eyes. They had never eaten these fish before other than Current since he was used to being in the water. Now they would be able to eat as much as they desired without repercussions.


    Some of the water mages directly used the water to reach out and take the jumping fish from the waters. They trapped them in small bubbles that they brought on to the ship. It was a surprisingly efficient waypared to the merfolk who managed to spear multiple on a single spear before climbing right back on to the ship.


    The sheer amounts of these jumping fish surprised anyone that had never seen them. No one had assumed that the ocean was such a bountiful ce. No one had even thought to assume that they would face such an amazing boon after just being away from shore for thest few hours of calm sailing. But this was what the bright open sunshine on the ocean brought. A feeling of warmth and jumping fish.


    "Get back from the edge!" The sailor that had made the original call pulled back one of the water mages as arger monster broke the surface, it was all within his expectations. The moment he had seen the shadow of the monster he had been quick to keep everyone out of the path.


    The hard blue and green shell with many spikes made everyone wonder what had just appeared. It was even more confusing to see the green webbed skin with algae growing all over it. Yet, the shape was somewhat familiar to what some of them had seen before.


    ''Spiked water bear


    The spiked water bear is a unique monster that enjoys jumping fish more than life itself. They only eat jumping fish and will fight one another to even follow behind a school of them. When there is arger school of jumping fish it is not unexpected to see over twenty spiked water bears attempting to feed.


    Their shells can be made in to impromptu shields and are often done so by sailors. Their fur is actually an algae that allows them to better process the high amounts of sun they get from living on the surface of the open ocean. Many will never touchnd in their lives.


    Due to their tough shell, most monsters leave them alone because they are too hard to eat. The only things that actively hunt them are the adult leviathans because they can swallow them whole without much issue. However, they are still not the leviathan''s favorite food so that is normally a rare urrence.''


    "Spiked water bears that might never see thend. That''s pretty different." Walker was sure that the bears he had seen were very different. But in front of him was a monster very simr to them. They had just lived and grown in a massively different environment that caused them to leave behind their diversity in diet for one single thing.


    The temperament that only cared about their favorite food also amazed him to a small degree. The spiked water bears would only fight amongst themselves which made them a less dangerous predator for the ships. A few of the spiked water bears even went out of their way to avoid the merfolk swimming in the waters to hunt the jumping fish.


    Yet, there were a few of the merfolk and demi-humans that seemed angry uponing aboard with their broken spears and other weapons. They were victims of having their prey stolen by the water bears since the fish stabbed on their spear were much easier to eat than the ones trying to swim away from them.


    "Pull back! The school is moving away!" The sailors called to those on the ocean to return to ships. Some had already done so since it was safer than being inpetition with the spiked water bears.


    ? The royal dragons remained with the school for some time. This left everyone in awe of how a dragon hunted. The size of dragons was already awe inspiring. But when it came to the fact that they could easily scoop up sixty or more of the jumping fish stunned people. Even when Ignus managed to get ahold of a spiked water bear by ident, he just crushed it with his teeth as if it was nothing to him.


    The only one that had not joined in on the feast was Terron, but that was not an issue. There were plenty of his earth affinity dragonkin that had taken the spoils of their catch to him below deck. It was a sure thing that they were remaining loyal to their lord through their actions.


    "I guess we will have a lot of fish to eat tonight." Walker''sughter as he saw the fish being set up already for preparation was one of sheer amazement for the ocean. He was sure that this was just one of the many amazing things he would see.


    "Boy, you haven''t seen anything yet. This is a sign from the goddess of luck. We were blessed to get fortune as soon as we set sail. Now we just need to respect the waves and tides to make sure we sail smoothly." The sailor sitting by Walker was just resting. He had left the catching of fish to the younger deck hands. But he had been right there to shout out orders and advice as any wise sailor would.


    "I definitely did not see those spiked water bearsing. I would have been scared to death if I had jumped in to the water and found myself next to one of those." Walker''sugh made the sailor straighten up.


    "There are worse things to find yourself in. just wait until night time and I will point them out to you. The night will show you exactly where you should not sail under any circumstance." The resolute tone made Walker understand that this was something he would have to memorize and abide by. Any danger worth this amount of seriousness had a fair reason behind it.


    The energy on the ship slowly died down returning to the normal patrols and watch while some of the best chefs on board worked on preserving their surprise food reserves. Walker could only think about what dangers mighte at night while sailing.


    He had been sure to look for a few books here and there along with asking around about sailing in general. He knew that there were monsters tough enough to chew through the hardest steel orrge enough to swallow people whole and then some. But he wasn''t sure exactly what would be more dangerous during the day or night other than the fact that they would be unable to see the monstersing at night.


    "Wait, you actually managed to catch a spiked water bear!?" Su was the one that was shouting. She had found that Gil had managed to shoot an arrow right through the neck of one while it tried to grab a fish. He had asked the merfolk to bring it up and they were all impressed with the precise shot and the toughness of the shell.


    "Don''t tell me you want it as a new shield? A spiked water bear shield? That would be perfect for the ship but do you really need it?" Gil was teasing. He was clearly going to be giving it to Su since he had heard what the older sailors had said. But Su was just stunned that he had managed to hit it while it was moving through the water and the school of jumping fish.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1653 1653. Spikes And Affinity

    "Now that was worthing back up here for. Did you see those water spike bear turtle things!? They were vicious. I bet my punches couldn''t even scratch them. But Ignus crushed one like nothing!" The fact that Remey was excited by the spiked water bear stunned Walker a little. He would have imagined that it was Su that was interested in the defenses that came with the shell.


    "Are you saying that you want to have a spiked water bear shell as a shield now? What happened to having just your fists to defend yourself?" Walker was sure that Remey would have a snide response or try to punch him. But he had to y off the energy she had. It was just too much fun. It was also an amazing first ocean experience.


    "What? Why would I want a shield? I want armor. Armor! That shell could be the coolest spiked armor ever. I would be able to run in to the center of an army and not get hit in the back!" This was not at all what Walker had thought Remey would say. She was actually thinking about fighting an entire army.


    "Shouldn''t you be thinking of these things? You have seen the vice guild master of the adventurer''s guild, a general of the demi-humans, and even a general of the merfolk rush in to battles by themselves. They can do it so I want to be able to do it." Remey was seemingly stuck in her own head over this.


    Yet, the more that Walker thought about this, the more he agreed. They knew many people that could fight alone against many powerful foes. The most that the party had done was team up with other warriors in some capacity and fight the smaller battles within arger battle. To say that the party could fight an army would be a blunt lie.


    Normally, those that could fight an army were far and in between. Through the guidance of the world and just a ton of luck, the party had been able to bring so many powerhouses together. This would never normally happen. Even in the dragon race, there would be the separate dragon viges with their separate royal and elder dragons. None of them would be together in one battle.


    This alone could be astounding but it had been taken much further. The best young and general of demi-humans was in Genesis. There were the best crafters, the most promising alchemists, and even the best of the best when it came to researching magic. So many different things hade together based on what the party had done. Some of the things they did weren''t even the greatest events! Others contributed more.


    "I guess we are kind of like glue or cement." Walker''s weird words made Remey wonder if Walker was losing his mind. But she just shrugged and thought about stealing the shell from Gil since he had managed to capture one of the spiked water bears.


    "If you want this you will have to make it work my while. I want a high wind affinity potion. I need to see if I can help Zephyr regain even more wind elemental mana. If I can I might be able to use the avatar of wind title skills more often." Walker came back from his inner thoughts to hear Gil and Remey bargaining.


    "That''s all? I can do that. I have materials for all the affinity potions here. But If I make one you know that Ventus will need one too and I will have to make one for every single dragon here." Remey knew that this would not go unnoticed by those sensitive to the manas that the potions would influence.


    There was also the fact that she might not be able to make a high potion of every single affinity. The materials might not be perfect and the process for the high affinity potions was a little harder. She had the research notes from the old master alchemist and Trish but that was it. She had to fully rely on her own strength to ensure that the potion was of the highest quality. Something she still needed more experience in.


    The materials themselves were gained from connections and not farmed by the alchemy guild. If it were farmed by the guild then there would be a more refined elemental mana within them. The people that focused all their energy on nurturing the herbs were able to maintain a certain purity that some of the wild herbscked. It was the natural developments that were kept in pristine conditions while in a farming environment watched with a careful eye.


    This led to an easier process for alchemists since the herbs were grown with the intention of giving up certain qualities and manas. Therefore, it gave the alchemists a better chance of sess and quality in their potions. But what made Remey worried were the herbs she had. They were wild and some of them had been dried by others.


    "That''s fine. I will settle for whatever you can make. If I can take a day to iste myself on the top of the tower to try and sense the wind¡­well, just let me know. I might even ask Ventus for guidance. Maybe Ignus could teach Midnight more about fire too." Gil thought that this would be a good chance to let those around them take the lead.


    There was also the fact that the party could follow Remey''s train of thought and learn more to be able to take on armies. It was the difference between relying on others to be strong and being able to stand by themselves. Gil wanted to be able to do that as well. But his thoughts leaned toward protecting Alma and those he had formed bonds with. Remey just thought of being able to stand and keep building the better future she had created already.


    "What''s going on?" Su had managed to catch on that the three were talking about something with a lot of energy. The bargaining that Gil and Remey had going was enough to catch a nce from others already.


    "Gil managed to shoot a spiked water bear and Remey wants the shell so that she can have spiked armor to protect her back in battle." Walker summed up the conversation simply. "They are debating the potions Remey will make once she makes one for Gil. But if we ask Ventus to help Gil with a potion and Ignus to Help Midnight for a potion it might be a fair trade."


    "I see¡­" Su caught on easily. She could catch on to her friends'' thought processes easily. It was just something that came with spending longer periods of time with others. "I will ask Terron to help me then if I can join this." Since Su had the earth affinity too, she knew that Terron might want to teach a little. Especially because she knew that Walker could hand over a few earth elemental crystals with a potion to help him out. It could do well to increase their bonds.


    "Perfect, that leaves Mordant and Rise to Help Onyx and Current to¡­ well, we can see if he wants to help the merfolk since they are all rted to water. I bet that he has some secrets." Gil caught Su''s goal and was happy that they could make things work out.


    "I will help with that. Here I thought that I would just be taking a rest aboard the ship. Now I am more interested." Current was standing behind them watching this entire conversation with amusement. No one had noticed that he had taken his dragonkin form back.


    "I''m d that you agree. Let''s do it!" Remey was already in motion. She pointed at Gil before she moved to go back to the alchemy Lab. "Make sure you save that shell and have Walker store that away. I want to find a cksmith that will carve that perfectly in to a back armor for me."


    "Back armor should be good. She is a forward fighter. She will need her back covered from physical attacks. I have a few dragonkin that carry a shield on their backs for that reason." Current pointed this out to Walker and the others. No one had truly noticed this but it was very true.


    "You''re right. I have a secondary shield just for that and in case I need to switch shields. Actually, I should begin thinking about getting another shield. My twin shields can''t be used everywhere." This spurred a whole new thought process for Su. It also caused Walker to wonder if he should consider helping Su create a shield that could gather natural mana. She would eventually match the same affinities that Midnight and he had through their bonds.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1654 1654. Just A Swim

    As Walker considered making Su a new shield, he wondered what kinds of materials he might need. The eternal orb was already a unique piece of equipment. It literally felt like a part of his body at this point. The materials for that had been rare enough that he had yet to see them again. But Walker also felt that the shield would no0t need the same materials.


    The eternal orb had to have mana rick materials because they were going to have to change their form. The idea to change form had been with Walker''s unique system in mind. He had the master of none system so he had to have tools and weapons of all sorts.


    Su needed to have a shield. If he could also find an armor that matched it would be ideal. The current focus that Su had on earth was because she was partnered with the grand earth elemental spirit. However, that did not limit Su. She was bonded with Midnight and Walker who had all affinities. She was already able to use skills that required other elemental manas than earth.


    That meant that the materials needed would have to be flexible enough to hold natural mana but also have the innate strength to resist the strongest attacks. That meant that Walker needed a wide variety of tough ores. Ores that even Ignus couldn''t crush the way that he crushed the spiked water bear''s shield.


    With this realization, Walker sighed and looked at the others. He was sure that Remey and Gil could handle things when it came to the affinity potion. He was suddenly motivated to handle some small hunting. But even more, he knew that the waters around him had others patrolling. He was just sitting there losing the chance to explore a little and gain a better understanding of water and air.


    This was the distraction from his current train of thought and no one noticed him walking to the edge of the ship. "Leon is on patrol now, right?" The demi-human that Walker asked was one that had just returned from his patrol.


    "Yes. The merfolk team is out. Their second team is spread on the opposite side of the fleet." The demi-human was surprised to see Walkering up to him. He had just finished patrol and expected the heroes to remain in preparation for anything terrible or dangerous ahead in their journey.


    "Good, I will go and find him." When Walker stepped over the edge of the ship and in to the water, no one that witnessed it could keep their jaw from dropping. Some even rushed to the edge to see if Walker had been left on the top of the water floating and stranded.


    What they didn''t imagine was that Walker had considered the ability to swim to be too low to keep up with the ships or merfolk. He had already seen it before in the underwater battles, he would be too slow so he had to use his skills. But the question was, which skills would be best?


    For that, Walker looked toward Current. He was a dragon. He was the one that was closest to water when it came to all the dragons. He was still able to move through water the same as the air with his wings. That meant Walker just had to use some of his elemental maniption and create a slightly altered pair of elemental wings.


    The formation of the wings was simple, Walker was surrounded by water. It was there to take shape. Adding in his control, the water was able to solidify slightly in to ice in some parts. The bones of the wings he emted became ice and the open webbed portions remained a semi frozen and semi liquid state. It was a slushy mix that allowed Walker to use the grand elemental maniption skills that he had to boost the speed that the wings carried him.


    Naturally, some energy burst around Walker as he did this. He had altered a significant amount of water at once so why would the water remain calm? The saves alerted everyone looking down before they saw Walker jump in to the air with the newly formed water and ice elemental wings. They thought that he had jumped in to a fight with a monster but in reality, he had been creating the elemental wings they had heard of.


    With a wave, Walker was off back in to the water. He was able to bring the air that hid in the water to him. It was something he had realized he could sense better after helping with the wind runes. The main reason was because some of the water around them had been separated from the wind elemental mana that it had mixed with.


    The runes had been good at pulling these manas apart to be used elsewhere, it was why they made the ships speed up so much when there was little breeze or currents at the top of the ship. But knowing that they were mixed together was a basic part of mage knowledge, the act of separating them perfectly was harder. Yet, when Walker added a little natural mana, the elemental manas separated easily.


    Therefore, Walker had no reason to worry about breathing. He could constantly make his own air while under the water. This didn''t stop the merfolk that he found from wondering how he was doing this. The look of a human moving through the water with dragon like wings and creating breaths of air was a sight to see. It was something none of them had seen and now they could only wonder what new amazing things they would see next.


    Since the other merfolk on patrol saw Walker, it made sense that they would report to Leon. That made it easy to follow the few swimming around the ship and meet Leon. He had been leading the ships underwater with a sharp eye toward the darker deeper waters below them.


    As much as Walker wanted to look up at the ships and enjoy the strange sight of the hull floating in water, he had a sense of eeriness from the deeper waters. This was the sense that there was somethingrger hiding in the darkness waiting to swim up at any moment.


    It was a sure thing that the dark waters held danger. But they also held mysteries. Deep mysteries that many would struggle toprehend. No one had explored the oceans. They were too dangerous. Ships couldn''t even pass through the topyer let alone someone diving deeper in to unknown territory.


    With a few hand motions, Leon got Walker to move to the surface while they kept swimming slightly slower. "Did you get bored of the ship ande to see what life was like here?" Leon knew that Walker would get curious easily. How could he not? There were many things to explore here.


    "I just wanted to help out a little. Learn a few new things. Challenge myself to make some skills bend to the form of water. I can keep this up for a little while so I can join you. Just show me the ropes." Walker didn''t let Leon keep talking. He dove back under the water and joined the other merfolk near the front of the ships.


    Their ability to swim was natural. The Merfolk''s speed came from that. They were born in the water and lived in it. They even breathed it along with the air if they so desired. These facts were not lost on Walker while swimming near them. He could only emte their fluidity and adjust himself ordingly.


    When he saw a shape out of the corner of his eye, Walker prepared the eternal orb to attack. Its sword form shed and made the Merfolk react instantly. They rushed toward Walker and stood in his way. Leon showed himself after catching up with Walker and shook his head.


    ''Sun bather


    This fish is unique to the surface of the ocean. It bathes in the sun constantly to umte warmth. It will then dive deep at night to blind prey with bright shes of light. It is known as a deceptive fish because it can actually expand its mouth four timesrger than its body. It can consume prey muchrger than itself.


    But it is not overly dangerous. The true dangeres from the blood in their bodies. It holds a unique scent that attracts all manner of carnivorous fish. They are literally called the sh of death when something kills them and releases the gathered light elemental mana from inside of them.''


    Walker was stunned. He nearly brought ruin down on the ships if he had not checked the all around appraisal after being stopped. Now he would have to be much more focused. He had too much to learn.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1655 1655. Age And Food Chain

    Walker was stunned. The number of sun bathing fish that he saw were only increasing as the sun rose in to the sky. The surface of the water was also warmer which made the merfolk patrol closer to the ships. It was just a habit to avoid the warmer streams of water that would flow around. Many of the merfolk preferred the slightly cooler waters instead of the hot sun heated waters.


    There were many things that Walker was catching on to while they were underwater. He was seeing that the merfolk had to carry their weapons in certain ways. He had seen some of this before but was jo able to see it in better detail.


    The way a weapon, or anything, was held underwater would cause friction. It was why Leon used a spear for battle instead of an ax. It was actually very umon for any merfolk to use an ax at all. It was hard to keep in water because the broad side would catch the most water resistance causing them to swim slower and slower.


    Swords were a different thing all together though. They had the sharp edges to cut through the waters without any issue. Therefore, the sword was able to facilitate the faster swimming speeds that the merfolk were used to. It was also why they were made in one single piece.


    Normally, swords were made as one de with a handle. The difference between merfolk swords and other swords was that the merfolk made swords out of a single ore, stone, or monster part. That way when they swam, the sword maintained a constant singr dut through the water instead of having any divots or holes that could catch the water.


    Leon also went out of his way to show Walker the formations that the merfolk used while patrolling through and around the ships. They would split in to groups of three or five to go to the edges. Not many issues appeared during these underwater rotations. Sometimes if they got too close to a ship, the merfolk would just use the slightly sharper than usual nails on the ends of their webbed fingers to hold on to a ship. This was also the perfect way for them to take a break. Luckily, the craftsman thought of this and also added railings for the merfolk.


    The way that the ship was made greatly helped those underwater. The ship could be turned easily to avoid things that the merfolk warned about. But the small divots and railings were made in a way that only those that knew they were there and had a certain level of intelligence could use them. A basic monster would never be able totch on to the side of the ship easily and resist the currents around it while the ship moved.


    Every now and then, one of the sun bathing fish would dive down. Walker was sure that the system all around appraisal had told him that they did this at night. Therefore, he was curious as to why this would be happening. When he saw that Leon was surfacing, Walker took the chance to ask the question.


    "Why are some of the sun bathing fish we see diving now? Isn''t that bad for them since they still need to absorb the light elemental mana at the surface?"


    "That''s kind of sad. When the sunfish get older, they start to forget how much light they need. Then they dive too early. That''s how they be food. But with how many of them there are around here, we might be in an older school. It means we will probably see some red tangs." Leon could see that Walker was lost. He had definitely never heard of red tangs before.


    "There are other fish named tangs but they are not actually dangerous. They are fairly docile and small. But red tangs are not nice at all. They had an almost diamond shape with two red sharp fins to cut through the things they fight. Then they eat the pieces left behind." Leon looked more aggrieved as he spoke. It was clear that the merfolk had dealt with red tangs more often than not when these monsters hunted the sun bathing fish.


    "So I will freeze them in ce before they ever get close." Walker''s general idea was to use the water against them. He could freeze the water around the red tangs so that they would be unable to fight back at all. It would even defeat them or simply trap them before any damage urred.


    ''You can try. But they will travel in small schools of ten or so. They are family groups. One school will fight another unless it''s breeding season. Then they will migrate and join in torger schools. Luckily, it is not that season¡­ If it was, I would have warned every ship personally." This was the perfect example of how Leon thought ahead. He would have been sure to protect everyone from this danger.


    Unfortunately, fate seemed to enjoyughing at those that inhabited existence. As if on cue, a single sh of red caught Walker''s eye. He had just enough time to use the all around appraisal skill out of instinct and habit.


    ''Red tang


    The red tangis is considered a dangerous ocean predator even though it has a smaller sizepared to the truly dangerous predators. Their fins hide razor sharp bones made to cut through weaker scaled fish.


    They are known for using their slim size to move faster to cut apart prey better. But where the true danger lies is that they leave behind some parts of their prey and attractrger predators. This is just part of the food chain and the red tangs always fleece before arger predator appears.''


    The dangers of the ocean began to show themselves. There was no longer the feeling of awe from the open blue waves or the depth of darkness that stunned Walker. Now he could feel the adrenaline growing. He had to face whatever these monsters brought head on or else somebody would be hurt.


    "Move!" The shout from Leon was enough to make Walker lower himself again below the surface. He didn''t need tomunicate because he saw the four red tangs swimming around attacking one of the sun bathing fish. But the merfolk had already set themselves up to take down the dangerous monster.


    Three moved from different sides with swords extended. They had their arms out holding swords so that they seemed bigger than usual. This confused the red tang as it felt like arger predator was trying to swallow it. This was a wise tactic that many would have missed.


    The result was the panicked red tang swimming with speed to flee from the danger it felt. In its panic, it literally swam head on in to one of the merfolk''s swords. Walker was a little surprised but thought that this was ingenious.


    Finding the simple way to fool the red tang''s instincts was perfect for the situation. The merfolk had learned this through their hardships. Now they had grasped a fool proof, yet dangerous, way to defeat the red tangs almost every time. But as Walker could see, it was not always as nned. One of the red tangs had managed to slice in to the hand of a nearby merfolk sending him toward the ship quickly. The wound would bleed and attract more predators if he did not work fast.


    This was the added danger of being in the open sea. Regardless of the situation, it was better to consider that there was always somethingrger and more dangerous nearby. That meant that even the smallest injury should be healed. Even the tiniest cut should be thought of as a bait that lured in a monster.


    This thinking made Walker reach out to heal the merfolk before he even made it half way to a ship. He had the skills to heal others and instead of risking a technique to hunt the red tangs that he was not familiar with, Walker knew it was better to heal. He could reduce the injuries that the merfolk had while also ensuring that they did not lose a single fighting force.


    The merfolk saw his hand heal quickly and used his better swimming skills to return to battle. A single nce portrayed the respect and gratitude he had for Walker. Being out of the battle and letting his fellow soldiers perish or be hurt was a worse punishment. But he understood he would have been a bigger risk if he stayed in the water.


    Meanwhile, Leon showed why he was the best of the best when it came to the merfolk. His swimming speed was faster than a red tang. Therefore when he spread one, every merfolk felt their pride swell. Walker even felt himself getting a little more energetic too, the battle was on!


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1656 1656. Face Of Ocean Danger

    The look of triumph that Leon had by showing off how easy it was for them to defeat the red tangs quickly changed. He had bolstered their morale but that was not all he had done. In spearing the red tang through he had made things more dangerous.


    Walker had originally seen the blood from the red tang and thought that this was the danger that was making Leon''s face scrunch up. But in reality, it was something worse. However, Walker couldn''t do anything. He saw that Leon made hand motions to everyone around then Walker was being pointed toward the ships. They were all being ordered to leave the water.


    The sudden change of mood was enough to put Walker in a rush. He quickly pulled at the water elemental mana around him and created ice to block the lowest point of his vision in the water. He wasn''t sure if there was a dangerous monster approaching or what. But whatever it was, he would be preparing to do whatever he could.


    The red tangs that had already been defeated and hooked to ropes to be dragged up were suddenly cut off. The ropes were left to float on the surface of the water. Walker only noticed this as he reached one of thedders to climb in to the ship. He used his wind ripple skill to let the merfolk use thedders and got to where Leon was giving orders.


    "What happened? Why are we not taking the red tangs? What monster is around?" The merfolk were all busy checking their bodies while the soldiers that had been pulling up the red tangs looked like they were narrowly escaping a great danger.


    "Are you serious? Did you not see the mouth of that one? I stabbed it and I saw the tongue eating parasites. They will take over every school of fish they see. No matter the strength of the monster. They are basically a one way trip to death for anything that lives in the ocean!" Leon knew that Walker didn''t know the dangers but a lot of the sailors had exined how these affected fish needed to be thrown back.


    "Just touching the body of something with them has a chance to leave an egg on your body. Then you are stuck with a parasite that makes its way through your body and to your mouth. It eats your tongue and takes the ce of it. From there it''s torture." Leon seemed pale. The merfolk didn''t have the much of a different set of features when they became emotional, but Walker could tell that the adrenaline and fear instilled by these monstrous parasites was real.


    "They will eat whatever you eat. Eventually, they will eat everything and you will starve to death. After that they wear your body and swim around to infect others before dying. Those red tangs were barely alive anymore. They were just infected things!" Leon called over the nearest healer and had her begin an examination of his body. Every single merfolk was doing the same with the healers that rushed to see if anyone was harmed.


    Feeling that he should check himself now, Walker began to look carefully at his own body. He didn''t feel or sense anything different but knew that he had the ability to ensure that even if there was something it would not make it to a hatching state.


    The sudden burst of mes around him shocked a few people. However, the sailors all gave a shout of approval. They knew that fire was the best way to cleanse anything that had been in touch with such tongue eating parasites. They were never able to survive the heat and that was why some of the sailors would dry their washed clothes in the sun. yes, it left dried salt on their clothing, but it protected them.


    There were only two or three of the merfolk that had reacted negatively when a healer told them to sit down. Leon''s quick thinking had prevented most of them from exposure to a dangerous parasite that would easily kill them over time.


    The healers that found evidence of this tongue eating parasite quickly used their purification skills. It was a slightly different variant than purification for poison or other negative effects on the body. This was one that was specifically aimed toward parasitic monsters.


    The world was a dangerous ce and many adventurers would have to go to a whaler to handle anything they got while out in the wilderness. Some of the younger soldiers also had this issue when they would drink water without properly sanitizing it. Some healers would also use the same skills to purify water to make it safe to drink. It was an alternative to boiling it.


    When Walker saw that the healers had finished, he nced at Leon who was still on high alert. Now they would not be able to go down under water and protect the ships until they were a good distance away from this area.


    ''I think the golems will need to handle this for a while. We can be ready to jump down at the slightest issue. Whatever is attracted to those dead red tangs will be infected too. The faster we leave here the better. No monsters to bother us and no parasites wither." This was a wise choice since it was the safest. If they stayed the dangers would only multiply.


    The other ships received the full message and threats in the area causing them to keep themselves under a tighter watch. The golem ship was sending out all the golems at once to perfect their patrol. The king of the surface''s orders were perfectly in line with what he had gleaned from the way Merfolk and aquatic demi-humans patrolled.


    There were some exemptions when it came to demi-humans though. "Those demi-humans have traits from the pistol shrimp, long tailed anemone, and even the spiked hunter fish. They all eat the parasites and are natural predators of tongue eating parasites. Especially when they arerger. Scy has a very well gathered variety of soldiers." Leon praising Scy was a little blunt but it was true to what he saw and what he appreciated.


    "I didn''t realize that there were such things. A tongue eating parasite could even infect everyone here. It will be important to share this with the port vige that is going to be built. We need to have patrols there so that monsters with them are not brought in to port." Walker was thinking of this risk even more than the others. His mind had wandered to the future of the port vige.


    "Agreed. I will ensure that we handle that when the time is right. We can worry about the fish brought in. but they won''t live near the mouth of the river. They do not survive in fresh water." Leon seemed to have much more information than everyone else. It was a basic foundation for him being from the merfolk city. He had to know every single danger that his people face.


    The look out towers were suddenly shouting for everyone to look behind the ships. Walker didn''t feel that it was a good sign at all. But the sight didn''t need to be seen from the towers. Those on look out had seen it first because they were there. However, the greater dangers of the deep ocean had just shown its face to them.


    Therge plume of water that had attracted everyone''s gaze wasing from where they had just rushed away from. Every single red tang, sun bathing fish, and whatever else had been attracted to the area had just been swallowed by arge blue skinned monster.


    ''Ind swallower


    The ind swallower is a whale monster species that has lived for hundreds of years. They mayck intelligence but they make up for that in toughness. They can survive in the deepest parts of the ocean only rising to feed once every year. They can block many manners of attacks naturally and are often peaceful unless angered or hungry.


    When aggravated, they have been known to swallow small inds. They also do this to create nests for their young. It is a rare sight to see one but if seen, it is better to avoid them unless one is sleeping on the bottom of the ocean when seen.''


    Walker nearly whispered this. He was stunned. The massive size of this monster was enough to swallow a dragon if it wanted to. It was even enough to make everyone wonder if they could possibly fight against this ever. "Full sail ahead. Get some distance!" There was a rush to get far from the danger. As far away as possible for the moment.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1657 1657. What Will Come In The Night

    "How was your little swim there? Manage to find yourself a few good things to eat?" Scy found it hysterical that Walker had just encountered a dangerous ocean parasite. She could see that he was still trying to put what he had seen together from the parasites to the giant ind swallowing monster.


    "I think I don''t like to swim at all anymore. I am more surprised that you had soldiers with traits that resist them." Walker looked at Scy was definitely amusing herself with his worry and sense of awe.


    "I have many soldiers. You already see how well some of them battled. Now you are seeing more specific situations where they exceed. If you want to be surprised, look at your friend the tamer. She is directing aquatic monsters as if they are her own."


    Scy was pointing out Elise. the tamers that hade with her were more or less aquatic or flight based when it came to their skills and monsters. This was because it worked out better for the situation. The water based monsters would be ankle to protect the ships and the flight based monsters would leave the ships with her to help explore thends.


    "With the rate that Elise is going, she might be the next tamer''s guild master. She keeps advancing and I don''t think she has realized it." This was Walker''s honest opinion. Every single time he met Elise, she had been given more responsibility. She was also showing her growing maturity in her actions on a daily basis. It was truly a perfect example of someone growing in to where they truly belong.


    "So you are saying I should be friendly with her because she will be able to mobilize the entire guild to help me in the future. I would not mind having more troops to rely on." Scy''s grin told Walker that he had just given her dangerous ideas. It was not what he had intended but what was done, was done.


    "It seems pretty quiet up here. I thought more people would be worried about that ind swallower we just saw. It was easily able to fight a dragon if it wanted. Maybe multiple." The worry that Walker still had would be lingering for some time. Luckily, he remembered the all around appraisal and that the monster would not be surfacing that often.


    "Not a big problem. We are no where near the bottom of the ocean and the sailors with experience have already said if they attacked us we would be dead and gone. No point in worrying over that. But I heard something more interesting. You had a small n that made all the dragons return to seclusion?" It was easy for Walker to understand that this seemed to be a bigger achievement.


    "Well, they all want affinity potions or mana gems that perfectly rte to their elemental affinity. I just gave them something to do in return. The rest of my party and a lot of the troops here need help learning things. Why would we avoid the chance to learn them? I was the one in the water doing a patrol so it had more free time where I was learning naturally." Walker shrugged his shoulders. He believed he was doing the best with what time he had.


    "The best with the time you have? I see, so what will you do now?" The look that Scy had on her face told Walker that if he didn''t have a good enough answer then he would be caught up in something.


    "If you need help, I can only do what I can¡­" Walker trailed off seeing that Scy''s smile grew.


    "The sun is going to set in a few hours. We need to be prepared for the night on the ocean. I have already gathered information on what the most important things are. We can make two decisions. No light at all and remain silent and dark, but our ripples from movement will attract predators. Or, we can have lights and be prepared to fight off the small feeding frenzy of nighttime monsters in the water, but absolutely no one can be in the water because we can easily lose them to an ocean of darkness."


    This was no small decision. It sounded like Leon had already said his part along with a few of the sailors. They all recognized the dangers of either side. However, Walker was certain that this choice was up for debate because of what dangers there were in these things.


    The first choice was to stop moving altogether. They would have to remain on high alert all night. It would be stressful and dark, very dark. It would have asting effect on the entire crew for every single ship. Regardless of their fear of the darkness, Walker was sure that this would be many times worse due to the foreign environment.


    The second option meant that they could keep traveling. They had some map makers that could read the stars. This was ideal for them because the stars could be recorded better when the ship was moving. It also saved them time on the journey. Threw could not be a hold up even though they would have to fight some monsters as they went.


    The monsters were the main issue of the second option. The nighttime monsters could be dangerous to everyone. So much so that no one would be in the water. Even the golems might not do their best and may have to be cut down to a minimum patrol. There were also the predatory monsters that woulde to feed on the weaker ones attracted. They were the ones that could cause issues to the ship as they attacked prey, or them.


    "As much as I think we need to keep our food storage high, we have a lot. And the monsters that we just ran in to had parasites that would be harder to figure out at night. I don''t think we should try fighting things in the dark when people could fall in to the water." The loss of people to the ocean was what Walker wanted to avoid the most.


    "We could lose our soldiers in the night no matter what. Just because we sit idle does not mean we will avoid the dangers of predators that can travel on the ship, or onnd." It seemed like Scy knew even more than she was letting on.


    "What are you worried about?" Scy didn''t even flinch when Walker asked. She was prepared to be open about what could attack them.


    "The merfolk are a decent race. I like them and their battle spirit. But they are not aplete race. They used to live in the depths of the ocean withrger cities. Apparently, there were records of them doing so before they lost them to some unfortunate circumstances. You have also seen lizardmen, correct?" Scy saw Walker nod.


    He had not seen lizardmen much. They were instinctual monsters that formed tribes and did not learn much. But they were strong and lived in the swampnds. "There are simr lizardmen and merfolk monsters around here. They live in the ocean like a nomadic tribe of demi-humans. And they will attack at night no matter the situation. They also travel on to small inds at times."


    "What are they called?"


    "Adaro. They are the same if not too simr to merfolk but they are what was left after their deep ocean cities copsed many years ago. Instead of following the merfolk and refining their knowledge, they became more monstrous. They are tougher and haverger physiques to battle in the water and thend. But they are weaker mentally. Not that it will be an easy opponent for the merfolk." Scy was speaking about this for a reason. She knew it would be hard for the merfolk to fight another monster that resembled their ancestors.


    "I understand. It''s just like some of the demi-humans and elves. Your ancestors are all over the world and might not be the same as you are now. Even the goblins were nearly a race before they fell back toward being monsters. It''s a tough thing. But I think that Leon will lead his soldiers well." Walker''s faith in Leon and those around him was unshakable. He just had to support them when the hardships came.


    "I agree, I am not going to stress myself about it until the battle is in front of me." Scy seemed to have finished what she wanted to say. She had her own ns to prepare for the night and it was clear that Walker needed to get himself ready now as well. It would be a long first night on the open ocean but hopefully a simple one.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1658 1658. Moonlit Night

    The potential threat of a monster species that had the same ancestor as the merfolk had made Walker think a lot. He knew that he had to rest while there was a chance. Such a threat could appear anywhere at any time or not at all. It wasn''t a predictable thing unless he had some sort of future sight skills and even if he did, anyone with those skills would be the first to tell everyone of the massive downsides that came with them.


    The idea that a species could branch off over time was simple. It was clear in the horned rabbits and the rabbit jacks. They had once been from the same species. Even some monsters changed over time, their ancestors being regr animals without the mana that made them monsters. But that was unique.


    The merfolk being from an older species made sense. They had a word of mouth history of being in the deeper oceans. But they could not survive there as they were now. That meant that their bodies had to have been different. They had to have more strength to resist the pressure, coldness of the water, and even more dangerous things that were in the deeper waters.


    Knowing that the Adaro were a distant cousin of the merfolk made some sense. They had given up the intelligence through the years and be monsters with tougher bodies. If the merfolk had not focused on survival with intelligence, they could have remained in the open ocean as well. There were positives and negatives of everything.


    Knowing that the ancient race that had created the ancient ruins and origin runes also lived to know of the intricate ways of the world was an important puzzle piece. Walker was sure that following their footsteps and chasing the demon lord would bring them to a lot of puzzle pieces and answers.


    The ancient race was surely still alive in some fashion. Some may have left the world as they knew it for another ne of existence. That was already recorded in some fashion based on what the party and researchers had found. Yet, the real trick was where they found that the ancient race had split itself.


    Two cities with two different paths of belief. One that focused on the origin runes and the natural ways of the world. Another that focused on what was outside the natural world. The unique skills and unique affinities. They may have shed at times but no war had been recorded meaning that they ended up respecting their opposing thoughts. This was just Walker''s theory though.


    "Helloooo." The nudge that came to Walker''s back was a curious Alice. She half sang the greeting which was definitely not the first she had offered. But Walker had been so lost in his thoughts that it was easier to say that he was meditating under the sinking sun.


    "Sorry, I was caught up thinking about how things change over years and years. I feel like it is making me closer to natural mana. If I could say anything¡­well, naturally mana might be changing the world." This was just a gut feeling for Walker but Alice readily nodded her head.


    For whatever reason, she had managed to grasp a few key ideas while being around people that studied these things. The researchers that came to her with ideas about light elemental mana had not been few in numbers. They hade to her because they research origin runes and heard of her natural affinity to attract light elemental mana. That alone was something they hoped would enlighten them.


    But even more, Walker had always been open to sharing his thoughts. Therefore, Alice had a general idea of what manas were and how they worked. Could she influence other elemental manas? Not really. But she could still understand them as she heard things. Anyone could gain knowledge, that was the best part of living. The world was always full of new things to learn.


    "Could be. The world is changing all the time." Alice sat down next to Walker and leaned against him. He could only nod along. It was clear that Alice had been hard at work preparing some additional bandage wraps in case they were needed. There were plenty of little strings stuck on her clothes from the work.


    The two managed to take the time in silence and watch the sun set beyond the waves. All that was left was a silent night and a wide open sky full of stars. Many of the soldiers and crew that had never been on the open ocean were caught by the sudden change. The stars seemed to stretch out endlessly. Some were even slightly reflected in the waves thatpped the sides of the ship.


    The moon that rose made everyone wonder if the moon they had always seen was actuallyrger. The vibrant white light that came off of it was almost weing. If they didn''t all know that there was danger under the waves, they would have believed this to be the safest ce in the world.


    As if waiting for the chance, Walker saw the slight bursts of light deep under the waves. "Those must be the sun bathing fish. They are heading deeper in the water to hunt now that they have absorbed the light all day." Walker stood and pointed out the little burst of light to Alice. The sight was another level of wonder.


    The changes weren''t only there. In the distance, there were more solid portions of light that glowed in blues and greens. The odd purple here and there also surfaced. From the conversations around, the experienced sailors told them that they were various seaweeds, monsters, and even some extremely distant inds that held rare nts.


    Naturally, when Remey made it to the top of the ship, she was drawn in by this. But when she found that the inds could take weeks to get to it stumped her. "If they are that bright here, what can they do? Why do they do that?"


    This question was what Remey wondered. Luckily, there always seemed to be a sailor with more knowledge. "Those nts are called beacon ferns. They glow all day and all night but when they are touched they sh like that to make whatever is eating them run away. They don''t do much other than that but wherever little ind or rock outcropping they are on has monsters around it."


    This was even more of a deterrent. Remey just shook her head. Even if the beacon fern was useless for alchemy, it would be useful to cultivate as a night time guardian of sorts. "They drift on the surface of the ocean. I will have the young ones keep an eye out for them.'' This revitalized Remey''s spirit before she gave the older sailor a tough pat on the back and a promise to share potions with him.


    Walker felt lucky to watch this all happen. He didn''t think Remey would be leaving the alchemyb for a breath of fresh air at all. She would have normally been fully absorbed by the potions she was making. She had plenty of affinity potions to make but they had all been set aside to enjoy the night.


    The more Walker looked about, the more he realized that everyone was doing the same. The royal dragons, dragonkin, demi-humans, merfolk, dwarves, and even the tamers had all stopped. They had to enjoy the peace while they could the small moment of calm and beauty while they were on their journey to an unknownnd.


    As far as any of them were concerned, the entire night could pass like this. But the ocean was a big ce and had a lot of different things living in it. That was why Walker paid a lot of attention when small floating white dots began to surround the ships.


    ''Lunar algae


    The lunar algae is a type of algae that can only grow when the moon is out. It absorbs the moonlight to grow at a rapid pace. In a few hours, it can be a mass of solid algae that traps anything that it grows around. The monsters that feed on it often crawl on top of it to eat the small bubbles of softer algae that begins to decay in the sun.''


    A simple all around appraisal that held a lot more worry than he thought. The entire ocean around the shops was floating with these little white glowing lights. The small little things that would grow immensely in the next few hours and easily trap every single ship from being able to move without moving as an entire entity. And it would even attract monsters to eat it.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1659 1659. Breaking The Algae

    "Get moving! Speed up! Use whatever mana we need!" Walker''s booming voice was amplified by his maniption of the wind. Every ship heard it. Everyone that was enjoying the moon and stars was shocked. But when they noticed the small gatherings of algae seemingly growing before their eyes they started to realize something was wrong.


    Scy and Leon were the first to begin rying the same orders. They had enough experience between them that they knew or had heard details about the lunar algae. If they remained here, their journey would be as good as over. They would fall even further behind the enemy that had enved their own people.


    The ships seemed to rumble as the runes on them began to flow with higher mana than before. They had not truly been mobilized to manipte the waters around them. So far, it had been minimal mana used to manipte water and a higher reliance on the natural winds of the ocean.


    Since the night had been fairly calm, the speed had been reduced so that any dangers could be better fought off. Unfortunately, that had caused this situation. The algae had been able totch on to the ships partially. It had also allowed the growth of the algae faster than expected. no one thought that they would be facing so much danger from a naturally growing nt than a monster. But here they were.


    A fire mage released a stream of fire that burned up a small portion of the algae on the side of the ship. They would be tracking it with them all night if they didn''t release it. This didn''t seem to work though. The algae resisted the heat with the water that had been absorbed with it. This was why it would not fall apart in the harsh ocean sunlight. It would just slowly rot over time.


    "Stay back and let a real me destroy this annoying pest!" The roar that followed shook the ships even more. The glow of embers highlighted Ignu''s maw as he had taken off from the ship and returned to his natural dragon size and shape.


    The mes released around every ship were spectacr. They were guided with extreme precision above that of any fire mage that hade on this journey. They wrapped the metals of the hulls without damaging the runes or the ships themselves. Some mes licked the railings of the ship but everyone had jumped back at Ignus''s order.


    The smell of burning salts made everyone''s noses and eyes sting but they knew this was the algae losing the moisture it had saved. One ship after another appeared to lose the small pieces of lunar algae that had built up on them. It was an incredible disy of power in mes.


    "Awesome." Walker could only say this. He was in awe of Ignus''s disys. He had seen some of the things Ignus was capable of. Yet, he didn''t see it so up close. He was clearly feeling the might in the mes that Ignus had within his body. A deep heat that waspletely bonded with who Ignus was and what he could do. It was the many years of umtion that no one else could reach. An understanding that he was a fire dragon and the fire was there to be part of him.


    Thending of Ignus shook the ship Walker was on but he didn''t flinch. Instead, he ran toward the edge of the ship which was still steaming. The lunar algae had been burned up but the waters still held many of the glowing white dots. There was plenty of algae growing here. It was going to keep growing as long as the moon was out and the ships were in their way.


    "Faster, speed up the mana usage. We can replenish itter!" Walker''s following order had already been given by the king of the surface. He hade here to join the movement and invest in the golems that were part of the fleet. He had less experience joining the others in battle but felt the energy and seriousness in the situation. Therefore, he gave his best.


    As the orders increased, the liveliness of the golems became clear. The dwarves controlling the aquatic golemstched on to the ships here and there. They had tools at the ready scraping away portions of lunar algae from the ships that attempted to reattach themselves. This was a key order from the king of the surface, the best strategic mind of the dwarven kingdom.


    This went on for three hours. Everyone moving here and there to burn, scrape, and help those working. The algae went on for as far as the eye could see until the moon fully reached the zenith. It seemed to glow even more brightly causing the algae to grow at a faster pace.


    ''Emergency quest- lunar growth


    The algae in the waters is growing at an elerated rate due to the high amount of lunar light falling on them. Many people are in danger along with the heroes themselves.


    Requirements- block out the moon and save the people on their journey


    Reward- oceanic mapping skill''


    The system spurred Walker even more. He had no idea how he would achieve this but he was willing to attempt it. He was willing to do whatever he needed. Such an important situation was clearly rewarded with the best skill for them.


    The ships needed saving. The people on them were working themselves to the bone for it. Now, if they survived, they would have a skill that could map the ocean better. Walker had no idea how it would work but he didn''t care. He could use the skill in any way he had the ability to.


    The only issue was that he had to somehow block out the light of the sun. His first thought was Rise and Alice. But if they helped, the light would still reflect on the algae. It was clearly why Alice and Rise had stopped their attempts to assist. Rise knew that her light elemental mana would just bolster the algae and act against them. She didn''t want to be flying back tond alone. That would be an incredible insult to her and all dragons for failing here.


    Alice was just wise. She saw the light causing a faster growth of algae. How could she not hold herself back from using her songs? They would just cause pain instead of helping anyone. That would be against her beliefs in and out. An incredible let down for everything she stood for as a healer.


    "Mordant!" Walker realized that one person had more power here than anyone else. It was those with darkness affinities. The dragonkin that Mordant had around him were already moving the fastest and helping the other the most even though theycked skills to do anything about the lunar algae.


    It was nighttime. The most ideal time for darkness elemental mana. There were no shadows to use but that isn''t bad, there was an endless ocean of darkness around them. How could they miss this? Walker should have felt it the second that the moon rose. Yet, he had lost himself in the beauty and the dangers.


    "Mordant, I need you to work with me!" Walker had neglected manipting the darkness elemental mana. He had been too focused on light and other elemental mana as ofte. But now, he could unleash skills with Mordant as strong as he needed. However long he needed to stop the algae from growing, he would do it.


    "What do you need? I don''t have fire to burn the algae like Ignus. If I use my darkness mes I will ruin the ships as well." Mordant understood that he could not help here. If he did he would cause irreparable damage to the ships and potentially be the reason all the efforts thus far failed.


    "No, not that. We are going to use darkness elemental mana to manipte the darkness. We are going to block out the moon entirely. You have the mana control and I can add natural mana to improve your skill. We are going to work in tandem." Walker spoke quickly. He knew that the sooner that he did this the sooner they would be able to move from this ce safely.


    The moment that the lunar algae lost the moonlight would be the moment that it stopped adhering to the ships. Then it would be smoother sailing. They would not have any resistance cutting through the water to the spaces they could see in the distance without any glowing dots. They just needed to push through to get to that point.


    "Block out the moon? That''s a new one." Mordant grinned. He had heard about blocking out the sun but the moon? An interesting idea.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1660 1660. Covered In Shadows

    Blocking the sun? That was amon dream of some monsters or people. They would think that was a massive goal that no one had before. But blocking the moon? That was a first for Mordant. He was perfectly set on it. The darkness mana was already stronger around them. The added bonus that the ocean held a very dark atmosphere already helped too.


    "Just try to make a ball of shadows. I will try to tten it like a disk in the air. It should be possible. I don''t think it will be stationary either, it would move with us since it would be attached to us." Walker knew it would have a high mana cost to do this, but it would be worth it.


    "Shadow covering?" the familiar elder voice of Shade made both Mordant and Walker smirk. "And interesting thing to be doing without the most powerful dark spirit here, don''t you think?" this slightly arrogant attitude was not poor. It was clearly the show that Shade wanted to put on instead of being silent and continuing to rest.


    The situation wasn''t so dangerous that Shade felt he had to protect them. He was just interested and acting on a whim. He was still different since he had fused with Mordant''s partner. He had epted that he was not just Shade but more than that. He had the memories and feelings of care for mordant. He also had an interest in the world more so than before.


    The reclusive attitude he had had before waspletely tossed aside. He would not just run about speaking and acting around as the other grand elemental spirits did. But he was still interested to see what would happen when Walker and Fleur added natural mana to something he helped with. Any elemental spirit would want to be part of that. A rising natural spirit was going to use natural mana, wasn''t that tempting?


    "We will make it happen then." the surge of darkness elemental mana around them grew instantly. Mordant mobilized his full strength to pull at the shadows. Even the ocean''s dark mana rose quickly to gather around them.


    It only took a quick look for even more to appear as Shade melded back in to the spirit marks on Mordant body. Walker was shocked. He did not feel that Mordant had such a masterful control of the mana before. It had seemingly jumped to do as hemanded. Especially with Shade''s minimal addition to the cause.


    "I will get to work too." Walker couldn''t ck off. He felt Fleur stirring in the spirit mark after she heard the conversation. She would dly help by using some natural mana with Walker. But they had to work hard and together, just because Mordant and Shade had the skills and knowledge to easily manipte their elemental mana did not mean it would be a simple thing for Walker. He was still younger and had split himself between many manas.


    The natural mana seemed to be a little slow but the moment that it mixed with the darkness elemental mana that Mordant was pulling toward the ships, the darkness red up. No one knew what was going on until they looked over to see that Mordant and Walker were pushing mana toward each other.


    The sudden rise in shadows and twisting darkness would have shocked anyone if they were not aware that there were people that could manipte the shadows around. But the sudden change was still awe inspiring. It was changing the way that many people were able to do since the light around them seemed to be dimmer. Thenterns burning had to be stocked by those that noticed the lesser line of sight they had.


    Before everyone''s eyes, a ball of darkness began to take shape. The shadows and the darkness mana were condensed in one ce. The natural mana had begun to mix and show what it could do. The rate of the condensing darkness mana was faster. Other elemental manas were forced away. This was the strength of using the natural mana over other manas to help. Light elemental mana could not have been used at all.


    As the ball of darkness began to tten out with Walker and Mordant''s will, the moonlight above the single ship was blocked out easily. However, this was not the goal. They wanted to spread the mana in a wide disk to cover the entire fleet of ships.


    Soon, there was a collective eptance that the sailors needed to begin working together even more. The ships that the algae touched were an issue but the moonlight was blocked out. That stopped the lunar algae from growing any more. It was like a fire that had been doused by water, it was an instant change.


    Without the light from the mood, many people were able to understand the overall purpose. They hurriedly scraped away the lunar algae that was built up on the hull. The golems even began scraping themselves while there was a chance. It was like a spot of darkness on the glowing pale moonlit sea. A sight that was equally amazingpared to the light that had blossomed as the sun fell below the waves.


    As more mana gathered and the darkness disk formed, it was made thinner. But the moonlight was weak and had no way to prate the darkness. It had been boosted greatly by natural mana and had radically taken over the sky above the ships. The pure darkness was barely able to be illuminated by the lights around.


    The lunar algae started to suffer immediately. Besides being scraped away at a fast speed by everyone working together, it was also losing its vitality. It needed the light of the moon to even grow. Otherwise, the lunar algae was supposed to be small and dormant. Now it could only die off.


    The full speed of the ships made their way to the unlit areas of ocean nearby. No one dared to move forward without any approval. Ceasing their movement, all eyes fell on Mordant and Walker we were now back to back. Mordant was grinning like a child that had just been handed a key to a candy store. He had not expected that being bolstered by natural mana would feel so amazing.


    The boost he had was much greater than when he had experienced the affinity potions. He believed that every part of his body was awakening to a full understanding of his own abilities. This was enlightening. Even Shade was feeling the closer connection to the mana he had made his body from. the mana that he had originated from. It was a moment that neither could have imagined before now.


    When they saw that there was no more need to force the darkness mana to spread above their heads, the two released it. This sudden pulse of darkness mana caused the shadows to warp again before dissolving in a ck fog. It was an unexpected oue but also another enlightening experience.


    ''The user has manipted darkness mana at a higher level in tandem with an experienced being. The results have ssified the user to gain two skills from the shadow wizard system.


    Shadow cover- 4 mana cost a minute


    The user is able to condense their own shadow and cover themselves with it. They can block out the light of the sun and protect their body with it. This skill is very advantageous depending on the race of the user. Some vampires that acquire this skill and known as daywalkers.


    Shadow fog- 10 mana cost


    The user can condense a ball of shadow then force it to disperse in a wave of dark fog. This fog has a slight decaying effect that is easily resisted. However, this skill is perfect for blinding others while also warping shadows. It is partially an illusion skill that is more powerful at night than in the day.''


    The system reported this to Walker but it was not what he was focused on. Instead he was focused on the tired and heavily breathing sailors and soldiers. They had given their all to peel away the lunar algae while the two had the shadows protecting them. It was hard work and had massively paid off.


    "Everyone should rest!" Walker gathered his voice and shouted as loud as he could. He wanted everyone to know that they were safe for now. That they had done well. That the danger had passed.


    "It was perfect. The natural mana¡­I will be below deck." Mordant did not hold back. He went to meditate on his new understandings. The other royal dragons saw this and looked at Walker. They too would need to experience this. They could also be enlightened by natural mana.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1661 1661. More Races?

    To say that everyone was on high alert all night was not wrong. Everyone that had seen the tiny little beautiful lights be a massive danger had reached a new understanding of the ocean. They had gone from thinking that they were prepared to realizing that even the dangers that seemed small could be massive.


    Ignus seemed to be the angriest. He had tried to burn up all the lunar algae. It was a simple matter but he had been unable to burn it with his higher ranking me breath than others. It should have been simple, however, the saltwater, growth rate, and massive number of algae in the ocean had been too much. It had beaten him in a way.


    The other dragons were in the same thought process. Rise had known that she could do nothing because her light would have made it worse. Terron had been under the deck and still avoid fighting, for the most part, he knew that he was the weakest in this situation.


    Current had seen the issue and knew that he could not do much. If he used his skills and forced the water to move too much he would further spread out the lunar algae. That would have caused many more issues than help.


    The same could be said for Ventus. She could have attacked using sharper wind des. That would have cut away the lunar algae. Unfortunately, the fact that the wind would then carry the lunar algae to the top deck and cover all the dragonkin warriors that followed the royal dragons would have been much worse. She would have watched the ships and her loyal warriors be victims of her own attempt to help them.


    These situations were few in their lives. The royal dragons had rarely found times when their strength would have been more of a problem than a solution. Most of dragon society was based on strength. That was why there was such a strong respect for the ancient dragons that had studied their affinity for so long. They had strength that could lead and protect their viges just by being there.


    Walker understood this. He would have barely been able to protect one ship by using his mana. The lunar light was weaker than the sun but that didn''t mean it would be easy to manipte shadows on such arge scale. Mordant was able to do so because he had understood and learned about the darkness mana he had an affinity for.


    The real key was that the natural mana had boosted things. The royal dragons had seen this. They were unsure about the true strength that the nature dragon had in the past. They had heard the stories and been guided by the elder in the royal court. But seeing what natural mana could do multiple times and even in a specific situation, they were impressed.


    The small thing that Mordant had done was faster because of the elemental spirits helping. Normally, Mordant could have done this with more time. He hadn''t been using a skill but just manipting the mana in a way he was asked. Anyone would struggle with that to a degree if they were not prepared in advance. But that struggle had not urred and even gone to cause Mordant to be enlightened in a way.


    It was beyond what they had imagined could happen. From this point, they would have to wonder just how weak the dragons had gotten without a nature dragon for so long. The final royal dragon that they had heard about had undeniable strength, especially now that they had seen what a very young person with the same power could do.


    This was all small scale though. They had trouble grasping what the scaling would be like as Walker became equally powerful inparison to them. It was already easy to understand how the entire party had defeated beings stronger than the party itself. Now they could understand why there was such a drastic change in the other races too.


    The way things evolved had been guided by unique thinking and the involvement of natural mana. "Walker, we need to clean things up. The sun will rise before we get this all done." Walker had taken the time to sit and also reflect. The new skills seemed useful but he had been more focused on one thing, the fact that one skill could be used by beings to ignore their weakness of light.


    In particr, Walker had been caught on the fact that the skill mentioned vampires bing daywalkers. "Sorry, I got a new skill. I was thinking about it a lot, but do you think this continent has monsters called vampires?" Su was caught by the question. She had originally been working to help others and saw that Walker had recovered a bit so she went to get him to help too.


    "I think that they might not be monsters any more. From what the books I have read said, they were intelligent. They can even be created by humans. Maybe they are on the other continent and they are a respected race now." Su thought this for a moment but wasn''t sure that Walker was going to let the thought go.


    They both understood the world to berger than they had imagined. Just the fact that there were a variety of races on their own continent made it clear that they did not know much. There could easily be multiple races on this new continent and even on other continents on the same world. That wasn''t even taking in to ount the elemental nes that might be a destination for the party in the future.


    Too many things to think about and too many possibilities. They all made Walker''s mind feel like he was in a fog. "I should stop thinking about this. It''s already crazy that there are so many things happening. If we happen to run in to a race like that we will try to make allies if we can. Maybe the stories we read are not that bad."


    Walker could try and think that the stories were just that, stories. However, he didn''t forget the immortal king. The undead trapped in his home eternally. That ancient ruin was already evidence that races had existed on their continent before and did not anymore.


    The one thing that immortal king had said though, was rted to vampires that he had fought once upon a time. Vampires that were all hiding in slumber somewhere. This memory nagged at Walker for a few moments before he finally shook it out of his mind. There was always something to worry about but he had to remain focused. But it did make him wondered if he should look to return to the immortal king and have another conversation one day.


    Bringing himself back to what was happening around him, Walker saw that the dead lunar algae was being gathered in one spot on the ship. Remey had emerged from the alchemyb to examine it. She knew she had no way to help earlier but now she was able to look at things and find a way to avoid this danger again. What was better than using mana to defend against this every time? She might be able to make a potion that helped them resist it.


    "Can you two get some people to bring this to the alchemyb? It has a dormant state, right? That means that I might be able to find a potion that stops it from waking up at all. We can put it on the hull of the ship and it won''t even grow on it!" Remey was taking this theory from the other potions made to prevent herbs from spreading.


    Any herbalist or farmer would have experience with this. They would buy these herbicide potions to protect their livelihood and also to control dangerous herbs from growing. Remey just had to experiment. Once she was able to make it she would be ankle to protect every single ship every single night they were on the water. It would more than make up for her inability to help earlier.


    "You can really make that happen? If you do we can fix it to my arrows too. I want to make sure that our path is clear as far as we can see." Gil joined in on this immediately. He had understood that any of his arrows would have caused more issues in thisst event. Fire arrows would have failed to burn anything, ice arrows would make obstacles, and wind arrows would cause more lunar algae to breed around them.


    "Looks like you have everyone''s help. We will bring it to the alchemyb." Walker Su and Gil immediately got to work so Remey could focus. It was just right for them to help out like this.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1662 1662. Feeding On Algae

    The algae that Walker and the others brought down to Remey''sb proved not to be thest. They managed to be on the top deck when the sun was rising. It appeared that there had been a lot more lunar algae than they expected.


    The sun had illuminated the waves which carried chunks of already dying lunar algae. It had been killed the moment that the sun rose and it had been overloaded with too much mana. The reason that the algae grew was the moonlight. It was gentle and not as harsh as the sun. note it was getting too much light all at once and unable to grow topensate.


    The glowing pieces of alga were turning brown and sticking together. They were more or less chunks of useless seaweed. The ships didn''t need to worry about them while they moved. They could cut through them as long as they weren''t toorge of chunks. This was why those on lookout were guiding the steering of the fleet around therger floating sections of lunar algae.


    Naturally, Walker paid attention to the smaller chunks nearby. He saw that sem fish had already started swimming up to bite chunks off. What was surprising was the fact that there were even small rock crabs and other small monsters on it that were eating too. They were too young to hunt yet so this made sense, the algae was ideal food for them.


    "Plenty of things to catch but I wouldn''t do it." Leon had been making rounds and found that Walker was looking over the edge watching the little chunks of lunar algae.


    "Let me guess, the defeated things we choose for your meals will end up attracting predators?" Leon nodded because Walker was exactly right. He had already learned that the best way to avoid trouble was to avoid being a predator in general. The action of hunting attracted much worse than most other ces here in the ocean.


    "How did your warriors recover? Were they able to rx afterst night?" Since it seemed that the merfolk had been busy helping where they could so they have clearly been worn thin.


    "Some had to be ordered to rest but for the most part they got it through their heads. Some of them started toin and wish they were mages. They liked that you and a royal dragon worked together to defeat a weird nt. Not that they hadn''t seen lunar algae before. But they had not been afraid of it like that."


    The perspective of the merfolk had always been that the lunar algae was weak and not with looking at. But that was the life of those that didn''t go to the surface to hunt when it grew, nor those that lived on the surface while it grew. They had never had to worry about it trapping them or anything.


    "So they faced the danger for the first timest night. I''m d we got everyone out of the water. If they had been stuck underneath they wouldn''t have been able to get up at all." Walker breathed a sigh of relief. It was a truly good thing that they had made an appropriate call at the right time. Too many dangers existed and it was clear that the ships would need better building in the future to counter everything.


    "Are you thinking that the ships might be too weak?" Leon seemed to be able to read Walker''s mind today. It was exactly the thought on his mind at the moment.


    "More or less. If the ships are having this much trouble¡­ I just wonder what we will be able to do when we have more time to develop them. When we have the time to make better ships that can change the ocean from a dangerous and terrifying ce in to one with potential. Just imagine, what if we have farms of ocean nts floating on the ocean?"


    This was not what many people would think about. But as Leon processed it, he understood that it was just another thing that set Walker and the party aside from others. They thought of these things constantly. Instead of being selfish and thinking about what they could get for themselves, they thought about what they could get for others. It was the real reason he believed that they had gotten the hero titles.


    Leon had heard the stories about the party''s actions. He even heard right from Walker how they got the hero titles originally. They had saved someone, yes, but that seemed too small of an act to be recognized as a hero. However, he could tell after getting to know the party that their actions were just part of it. The world had seen the party''s potential. Their desire to care beyond reason for every race. A hero wasn''t born of one action but consistent and many actions.


    "Well, in any case, I have a nap that is calling my name. Get some rest too. Remey has to make some potions forter tonight." Leon said this like the day would be gone in the blink of an eye. There would surely be more to the day but Walker just nodded along. He wanted Leon to get to rest as soon as possible too. Before someone distracted him.


    ''Salt fly


    The salt fly loves the mornings after lunar algae blooms across the ocean. It will eat the salt that dies on top of the algae constantly. It will then fly in to a frenzy looking for a mate. They are just insect monsters with a small size but they are a delicacy to certain monsters. If there are many salt flies, be on the look out for the ribbon fishing to the surface.''


    The all around appraisal of the salt flies which were tiny but visible to walker made him wonder what a ribbon fish was. Luckily, his answer came with the sound of water being disced. The smaller waves were being broken up by a snake like figure moving through them.


    ''Ribbon fish


    The ribbon fish blend in to the waters of the ocean easily. They have a light and water affinity that helps them alter the light around them in the water to remain nearly invisible. They haverger unhinged jaws that allow them to open their mouths and capture hundreds of infant salt flies at once. This is their favorite food.


    The ribbon fishck sharp teeth inparison to the endless eel which it is rted to. The endless eel has many teeth and can grow hundred of feet long whereas the ribbon fish can only grow ten feet long. It is often kept as a pet by those that enjoy exotic pets.''


    The bit of information made Walker wonder what could keep these monsters as pets. It seemed like a tough job to have since they would need special enclosures. This wasn''t like the tamer''s guild which would have a special way for them to exist onnd or other waters. The ribbon fish would be limited to salt water and need certain foods.


    In other terms, a pet of this kind of monster would be all cost and no benefit. The all around appraisal made him wonder what exactly would be keeping these as pets and why. But that was for another day. Right now, Walker was watching the ribbonfish reveal themselves and snap uprge amounts of salt flies.


    Here and there, a few small ribbon fish were caught ins so that their blood didn''t get in the waters. This was the best they could do to capture some additional food. Not that their storage of food was low but having more would be good. It was also a way for some of the experiences to learn about the ocean and what they might find there.


    ''Leech fish


    These small fishtch on to any fish and draw nutrients from their bodies. They are always small. They are considered a past and some fish specifically became poisonous so that the leech fish will not feed on them. But the leech fish are very tolerant of poisons making them still a pest. Some ancient alchemists used leech fish after they absorbed poisons to make antidotes.''


    Walker saw this on one of the smaller ribbon fish that was brought aboard. He jumped to grab the leech fish and collect as many as possible. It was a good excuse to capture something valuable. He threw them in to a bubble of floating ocean water as he called for a bucket. He couldn''t keep them floating in water that he controlled for long. Especially since his goal was to bring them to Remey. A perfect excuse to see what she had started to experiment on when it came to the lunar algae.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1663 1663. Future Potentials

    Many of the soldiersting the ribbon fish heard what Walker said. They worked together to gather the leech fish quickly. They were d to hear that they could be used to make more advanced antidotes. This would help many of them.


    Things went further when one of the tamers caught wind of what they were doing. He was a skinny man that had a signal hawk as a tamed monster. The signal hawk was a very small hawk known for using very loud chirps to warn entire forests of danger. They were a respected monster and hunted smaller insects but were still simr to hawks.


    The tamer had started to hear that the leech fish were being caught for the respective reason of helping make antidote potions. "Excuse me, if you are catching those, can I take two? I can try to tame a breeding pair so that we can have more of them forter. I have a taming system that requires me to take only smaller monsters. It would be perfect for me."


    The man had caught Walker just as he was about to go below deck toward Remey''s alchemyb. Theb would have just taken the leech fish and kept them alive to use on the poisonous or venomous monster bodies that they captured for the rest of the voyage. It would have been a simple way to create a quick potion that was tailored to the poison or venom that was ailing others.


    But with the tamer volunteering, Walker had no issues. He allowed the tamer to check the buckets he was carrying and take the healthiest pair of leech fish with him. Now there would be more assurance that the ships would have longer term medicines. There was also the simple fact that the tamer could make a full business from this.


    Many people would want the leech fish to be able to help their potion making. but, even more, the tamer could sell to healers so that the healer could have unique medicines made for every situation instead of using cleansing and purifying skills. It was a guarantee that these skills would always work without fail.


    This left Walker a lot happier and even had a few of the healers talking before he went below deck. It was a good thing to be thinking ahead, especially since there were many people that would benefit. He could only hope that this was just another sign that things were going to continue to improve based on the actions of those that fought for Genesis.


    The soundsing from below deck were not that wild. Many of the dwarven cksmiths had been checking the hull for any minor damages on the inside after the lunar algae had grown. A few had feared that the algae had caused distress by growing on the metal and bent the shape of the hull. They knew that it was very important that the hulls as streamlined so that the ship was able to keep up the speed it was moving at.


    Many people had seen the trees and nts that had grown on a cobbled road and upheaved the entire thing. A single root could cause a lot of trouble for carriages and be a costly thing to fix. The ship was the same, if the algae had the same effect then it would have ruined the entire journey for a single ship. It would be a massive loss.


    Luckily, it sounded like the cksmiths checking things were in a very impressed mood. They had found nearly no damages. The damages they found were easily fixed because they were simple scratched or marks from the scraping off of the lunar algae but that had not caused any issue at all.


    By the time that Walker made it to the alchemyb, the herbal scents had filled his nose. He could tell that Remey had been breaking down and improving herb concentrates for some time after she had returned to theb after taking a breather in the fresh air.


    There were more people than Walker expected to be in theb. He had expected that Ignus would have left to fly or gather more fire elemental mana in the forges. But he was sitting and watching Remey work carefully. It appeared that he was actually trying to understand the alchemy fire a little more.


    "I wouldn''t have expected you to be here." The other alchemists seemed to be fairly far away from where Ignus was. They were working silently so that they didn''t interrupt his thoughts. It was easy to see that they were wary of his temper.


    "I had things I wanted. The fire affinity potions made with alchemy mes seem interesting." This was a bit of a cold shoulder since Ignus didn''t even look over after saying this. His eyes were fixed on the mes.


    "He came a while ago. I said that I wasn''t going to be asking anyone for help and that the mes I used would be simple alchemy fire." Remey was true to her word. Walker didn''t see her partner anywhere. The grand fire spirit was certainly resting because of the mes it had used prior. But that was a good idea. The grand spirits should be resting to prepare for any danger that came while on the ocean.


    This also went for Fleur who had quickly returned to the spirit mark after helping Walker with the darkness elemental mana. She had been trying to remain resting for the most part other than exploring the ship and watching people work. She couldn''t quench her curiosity much at all.


    "Well, if you are making affinity potions then it makes sense. But you do use alchemy fire more fluently than anyone else. I bet that it is more important to see what influence a grand fire spirit had on your mes like that." The fact that Ignus remained focused proved this. The grand elemental spirits had already proven their effects on mana. Add in unusual elemental variations and natural mana, and things were very interesting. Many things could be gleaned from just watching.


    "If you take your head out from under a rock and think about what happened before then you''ll do the same as I am. Mordant has a lead with affinity potions and natural mana now. I will not allow him to show off shadows over my fires!" Ignus was angry about this. He knew that Mordant had received an enlightenment of some sort after feeling the ways that darkness and natural mana reacted with one another.


    "If that''s what you need then just let me know. You have helped Midnight with mes a little so that will be a great help to all of us. I think that when you try to meditate again, I can see what I can do." Walker was sure that he would also learn something.


    Ignus had a high control of mes. He even represented fire to a degree. He was matching his temperament with the fire he could control. But the fact that Walker would be able to see mes controlled at a much higher degree than what he had already seen was great.


    Adding in natural mana would cause a bigger improvement. Walker wanted to be able to better understand everything before he faced the unknown of the new continent. He didn''t doubt that everyone on the ships would band together to be able to make it through the ocean. He also believed that things would be much smoother once he grasped a better understanding of how every elemental mana rates with natural mana in the mix.


    "You can help if you want. I will make the most of a single affinity potion. The more I can burn the better." It was clear that Ignus''s pride had been injured after this lunar algae event. He had been unable to burn through the algae because of how fast it grew and the fact that it was wet with saltwater. This failure had rung heavily in his mind.


    But that could be said for anyone. Walker would only have been able to protect a single ship if he had not had Mordant there. There was also ack of dark affinity mages. They were rarer in the world in general but on the ships there were fewer than could be counted on hands.


    They weren''t even able to do much. They were mostly there for the scouting that they could do at night. Having eyes that could see through the dark better at night was the answer to many dangers in the ocean. Especially when it came to rocks and potential snags that the ships could hit.


    "Stop just standing there. Tell me what''s going on." Remey took Walker out of his train of thought and looked at the buckets he had brought.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1664 1664. Half Fire Half Water

    The patience that Remey had for the two getting in to talks about getting stronger then interrupting her alchemy was done. Ignus had already been watching her every move for a while now and that alone had been enough to get on her nerves. The only thing that had stopped her from turning around to punch him was the fact that Ignus would surely hit back. And a fight in theb could ruin her potion.


    "I brought some leech fish for you to keep. If you let them consume the blood of a few poisonous or venomous monsters we run in to you should be able-"


    "I can make better antidotes. I might even be able to keep them alive instead of killing them with every single feeding. That means a better everything. Instead of potions, I might be able to condense it in to a pill. That would require an herbalist or a better alchemist but it''s possible." Remey had already heard of the leech fish and she was ready to see what she could do.


    In the corner of the room there were barrels of water that were set up for use when making potions. But some of the barrels were filled with salt water for other uses. Now they would be used to house the leech fish. From what Remey could tell, they would be durable enough to live in them. If she spoke to the right tamer, they would even be able to go dormant until they were needed.


    "That''s why I brought them. The ribbon fish beingted on the surface are all carrying a few of the leech fish on them. I thought it better to gather them." Walker was still proud of this and was certain it was the correct call in the situation.


    "It''s perfect. If you hadn''t gotten them I would have to beat you up in front of the whole crew and take over the ship entirely. That would just be embarrassing." Remeyughed a little and Walker knew she wouldn''t actually do this. She just had her own ways of showing how she cared and was happy.


    "I have a few of the affinity potions done. The high affinity potions are still too elusive but I have one mid tier affinity potion for most elemental affinities. Right now I am condensing one that will be low or mid tier fire elemental affinity potion. It depends, the ingredients are not cooperating." Remey seemed to not only have trouble with the herbs she was using but looked to be struggling with the actual condensing process.


    "Think I can help?" This made Ignus look at Walker carefully. He had been listening intently to what Walker had brought for Remey. But now that he heard Walker might be making potions too it was more important to focus. Walker might use the natural mana he manipted to add to the potion. If that was the case then he would have a chance to see the mes react here. It was a perfect start to getting ahead of the other royal dragons in terms of strength.


    Coincidentally, every royal dragon was thinking the same. Even Rise had the idea that she needed to remain ahead of everyone. The singr reason she worried was because she was the strongest of the royal dragons and oldest. If she was not still ahead of them, it would be a massive insult to her pride. That could not be abided by.


    "Sure, give me a boost and use the buffing skills you have." Remey didn''t even flinch. She answered right away. Her thoughts were simple, if her body was buffed with whatever skills Walker had, then she would be able to work better. She could even use the extra mana around her to better condense and heat the potion.


    The fact that the fire affinity potion had too much water in it was strange. That came from the impurities in the herbs since they were mostly dried. When Remey had added purified water to make the potion, the herbs had released small amounts of dust, impurities, and other things from storage. This alone could ruin a potionpletely.


    The reason that the potion would be a very low tier fire affinity potion was due to the fact that Remey had already altered the form a little. She had added a few small ember herbs that she had fresh which normally were used to treat burns. But they had a useful effect on making the fire elemental mana in the dried herbs react with the fire elemental mana being used to heat the potion overall.


    The reason that the potion was not fully losing the effects it should have was that the form and ingredients were still good. It was a sort of bnce between the impurities and the good qualities. Unfortunately, that meant that the potion was stuck. Therefore, more heat and control were needed.


    It wasn''t that Remey couldn''t make that happen. If she really wanted she could have Ignus use his me breath to heat the potion up much higher. The problem she had was control. The fine control that she had would make potions without issues. Yet, when it came to impurities, the level of control was much MUCH, higher. That was why she worked with the old master alchemist or Trish more often than not. They had the years of experience to have the extremely fine control in alchemy.


    The other alchemists that came on the ship had that degree of control in some aspects. Unfortunately, they were not at allfortable manipting the affinity potions that Remey was much more experienced with. It would be the same as asking someone to do the hardest task on the first day on the job. A foolish expectation.


    "If I use some natural mana to mix with the mes, then I can control the heat while you use other skills to make sure that the heat is being directed to the right ces." Walker figured that all he had to do was use the natural mana around to increase and decrease temperature as he was told. That left Remey with the free mind to focus solely on the ways that the impurities were being removed.


    "That''s simple in context but I need you to change the temperature as I say exactly. It can''t fluctuate at all. If I need it even a half step hotter, I need it exactly that. No more, no less." Remey''s harsh words made Walker feel like one of her younger siblings in the orphanage. He could be scolded at any time and had to watch out for Remey''s wrath.


    "I can do that." With his full focus, this would not be an issue though. Walker had more experience with mes than other elemental manas. The water and earth were the next closest then air darkness and light. It was a long process and Walker believed that one day he would be considered a master in all elemental mana without having to have a mastery skill in all the elemental manas. But that was still far out. He had too much to learn at the moment.


    "Then let''s do this." Remey started to pull at the alchemy mes around the cauldron. The potion seemed to react and bubble within the blink of an eye. Without wasting time, Walker pulled at the elemental mana.


    He could sense the water elemental mana being taken from the potion and also the fire elemental mana within it. They seemed stuck together making it feel like a fusion skill of some sort. It would have been interesting if Remey made it a water and fire affinity potion.


    Like lightning had struck him, Walker looked at Remey with a wild grin. "Why not make this a water and fire affinity potion? We don''t have anyone that can use it but since the water elemental mana is trapped in the potion with the fire elemental mana and it seems stable¡­"


    There was a single breath where Walker was sure that Remey was going to lose it. Yet, she slowly started to shake a little before a wicked grin bloomed. "You are a damn genius! I can beat that old man by making a fire and water affinity potion. I should have realized that the ember herbs had leaves that absorb water elemental mana too. They are from the desert. How could I miss this!"


    The quick changes that Remey made involved dragging boxes and jars toward the cauldron. She was working like a mad man to get as many herbs as she needed to make it a true fire and water dual affinity potion. In the meantime, Ignus just sat there wondering how he had managed to lose the fire affinity potion he wanted. But he also wanted to see the opposing elemental manas bnced in a potion that didn''t yet exist. He knew he would be the first to witness it. He also recalled the steam dragon child of his.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1665 1665. Fire Against Water

    Ignus was thinking of too many things to remain focused on the potion for the moment. He was caught in the fact that the potion would be water and fire dual affinity potion. He knew that it was possible to make a dual elemental affinity potion. Remey bragged and made her theories out loud while she worked.


    However, he was more caught in the memory of how he and Current had once fought at every turn. The two were literally opposites, water and fire never seemed to get along. Luckily, they had been forced to y nicely after they had exchanged four separate territories on the edge of their main territories.


    The other royal dragons had not bothered them in their battling. It was normal for them to let the others do as they wished. But when Ignus had found part of his territory at the timeing close to theke that Current called home, the two had be angry.


    The territory that Ignus owned was, at the time, a smaller erupting volcano that fed magma in to theke. This alone was enough for the two to be annoyed. The steam was constantly drifting toward Ignus''s vige while the magma heated up Currents'' underwater vige. they both had a lose lose situation.


    Current believed that Ignus was causing the volcano to erupt more while Ignus believed that Current was forcing the steam to travel toward him. Neither would budge at the time due to their pride and had fought over the territory. Their dragonkin suffered the most as they attempted to take thends between the two viges.


    Sometimes one side would win over the other and take morend or viges. But one thing ended up stopping them. The elder had intervened citing the fact that when the royal dragons battled they had the potential to fallpletely.


    This had happened once in their history when a wind and an earth dragon had fought each other. The wind dragon had given everything to defeat the earth dragon. Luckily, neither were the royal dragon at the time but the damage had been done. The two lost all their dragonkin and the ability to rule a vige. The elder wind dragon was even banished from the viges under any dragon for killing a fellow dragon without just reason.


    This lesson had been told to the royal dragons many times. It had made them wonder just what could happen that would make any real elder dragon fight. Yet, here Current and Ignus were. If the elder dragon had not stopped them after they had fought for fifty years, then they could have escted even further.


    ''The solution was simple, have themselves or the elders mix to share a vige. Give birth to a dragon of both water and fire to rule that vige one day. It would unite them and show them exactly how they could live in harmony.


    Over time, the volcano stopped erupting and theke had dried out. Both had moved their own territory naturally but the steam dragon had still been born. The vige between the two had still be created. Now they were considered close to an elder dragon of water and fire but they were stuck where they stood.


    The attempt to learn both me and water was a harder endeavor than just a single element. The royal dragons were pure in theory elemental pursuit because that was their affinity and they could fully focus on the deepest meanings of the single elemental affinity. But when it came to dual elemental affinity things were harder.


    The steam dragon had to remain bnced. If they focused on more than one elemental mana then they would suffer some bacsh. There was a nice benefit of bonus higher resistances to water and fire elemental mana which a single elemental dragon wouldck. However, that was not the best thing since growing would be double as hard.


    For most dragons that believed in elemental purity, they thought that a dual elemental dragon would always be weaker. Always be trapped never to go beyond an elder if they could even make it that far. But now, Ignus was looking at Remey and Walker trying to manipte the mana in a potion that might be able to do exactly that.


    If anyone were to say it out loud, Ignus would blow up in a huff. But he was a doting parent to every dragon that grew beyond adolescence in his vige. Many young were cast out if they were deemed weak but that was the reason that every fire dragon was tough and could fight beyond expected limits. The best of the best were given everything.


    This mentality had kept the fire dragons powerful over many generations. But in just a short time it had all changed. Walker hade in to their dragon culture and turned it all on its head. Hut ever since Ignus had started to listen, he had changed his mind slowly but surely. Now, he felt that he might have missed some chances.


    This chance would not be missed though. "I will control your fire." Ignus took the lead and made his way to the alchemy fires he was unfamiliar with. He never used alchemy fire but he was sure that he could control it. The familiar feeling of mes were all around him. He had bathed in them for more years than anyone would count.


    "Really? Are you going to use dragon fire?" Remey''s excitement only grew as she saw Ignus give a slight nod. The dragon mes might be able to fuse the two manas perfectly. "Walker start bncing the water mana in the potion. I will start to add more herbs!" The order was prompt and Walker knew that he had no choice but to obey. This was a very big deal.


    The mes grew and a small wisp of dragon fire escape Ignus''s lips. He felt the fire grow and change from the normal alchemy fire to a strange red and deeper red coloration. It was a mix of his dragon mes which burned lighter but hotter than any other mes that Remey could create. The alchemy mes mixed in were actually cooling spots of the potion which helped the inner bnce.


    The herbs fell in one after another as Remey ground some up or crushed others. The potion had a strange swirling as the fire and water manas chased one another. When Remey dropped in a piece of snowke moss, Walker was forced to work harder.


    The water elemental mana had spiked in the potion after seeing the snowke moss. It was a rare moss that Current had been able to bring to the alchemy guild after speaking with Remey about the affinity potions. It had a high water elemental mana concentration that made it freeze things sound it when the colder seasons began.


    Now, the water mana was resisting the mes that surrounded the cauldron. Yet, Walker felt Ignus''s intentions with every single movement. He didn''t hide what his mes would do. He was gradually increasing the heat and forcing the mana to reach a maximum. Walker could only rival this with his maniption as well.


    Both of them were waiting under pressure for Remey to do what she needed. Thest handful of herbs fell in to the cauldron and it began to bubble wildly. Gray steam was released as more impurities were released from the potion. The fume would have made anyone cringe but the three were stalwart in their endeavors.


    "This is it." Remey mmed a lid on the moment thest bubble popped. She tied it down quickly and waved Ignus and Walker away. She began dumping water on the cauldron to cool it rapidly. "This is it. This is it. This is it¡­" Remey''s nearly silent chanting only grew as he watched the cauldron steam until it was no longer hot at all.


    Ignus leaned forward waiting to hear good news. He was tenser than he had been. He wasn''t thinking about the fact that Remey was not a dragon of equal standing as him. He didn''t care that Walker had changed his mind. He wasn''t even thinking about who he was giving the potion to anymore. It just mattered that they hadpleted it.


    "Walker, open it while I get vials. We should have four left." Remey watched Walker open the cauldron with a pop. there had been some pressure in it when she sealed it. But therger vials easily came to sit right in front of her. Theb had been made for perfect efficiency.


    The three were greeted with a small amount of purple potion. It was reflective and seemed to have a pleasant scentpared to the toxic fumes from before. Ignus and Remey both looked to Walker for his all around appraisal. They wanted to hear in depth details while Remey filled the vials with what she could.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1666 1666. In Alchemy History

    Walker was already doing the all around appraisal of the potion they had just made. How could he miss the chance to see what their work had made? He could already feel the bnced mana in the potion. The water and fire elemental mana was perfectly mixed without causing any vtile reaction.


    But what was making him more amazed was the sparkling purple color of the potion. It had be so little in volume yet had be much purer than expected. He was certain that the first attempt they had made to make a dual fire and water affinity potion was not going to be some low tier potion.


    '' mid tier Dual affinity potion; Fire and Water


    The potion created by sudden inspiration used rare herbs which held both Fire and Water elemental mana naturally. Normally, the herbs would lose one mana or the other while being refined. Instead, they reached a bnce using alchemy and dragon fire. Added water elemental maniption also yed arge role in this.


    This potion can only be made by multiple individuals at the current time with the surrender form. It has room to improve if fresher herbs and a better trained alchemist works on it.


    The enhanced ability to understand and use Fire and Water elemental mana in tandem will greatly help educate whoever consumes it. They must have a prior affinity to both water and fire elemental mana to use this potion or else there will be heavy side effects that may even cause death.''


    The appraisal was nothing to scoff at. All three of them were amazed by it. It might not be a high potion but it was a low tier potion that clearly only existed because they had worked together.


    The risk taken hadn''t been that great but the reward was massive. The herbs had mostly been dried or preserved herbs so high tier had been impossible. Yet, they had achieved mid tier as the first affinity potion due to their skillsbined.


    "It''s way better than I thought! It even smells good and not like some of the experiments we have done making regr affinity potions. The earth affinity potion smells like swamp mud!" For whatever reason Remey was ecstatic about the smell over other things. However, Walker just added this up to being so excited about the entire potion and this was all she was able to say before she exploded with energy.


    "This is ideal. I will take this when we return to your vige and bring one of the children from my viges to try it. It will be a good learning opportunity for you to see a dual elemental dragon consume your potion." There was not a single drop of anger in Ignus. He was truly proud of this and how it could be used to improve the dragons.


    "So, when you write the first form down Ignus and I will have credit in the history of alchemy now?" Walker looked at Remey to see her nod before rushing to grab a notebook. She had nearly forgotten to write everything down so she could pass it on to otherster for more experimentation.


    " the ember herbs were the first change. Worth the investment but they have to be the newborn leaves next time. The snowke moss helped with cooling but caused a drastic change. Next time we should use the ivory ice moss or snow crystal mold. It could be¡­"


    "And that''s how we lose Remey." Walker knew very well that Remey would be caught up in her own mind for some time. She had a lot to write about the potion they made. It would not be a surprise if she filled the entire journal about potential changes and how the potion reacted to certain herbs.


    The depth that she went it to crushing and grinding some herbs had to be documented. The order and exact way of addition also had to y arge role. If some alchemists attempted to try this differently then they could cause an explosion or worse. Especially since the three had just used abination of alchemy and dragon mes to make this potion in the first ce.


    "You will store two of those for me. They need to be protected in an alternate space where they must not be damaged!" Ignus made a solid order of this. It wasn''t out of cruelty or anger but worry. If the potions broke during the trip then all their work would be lost.


    "I wouldn''t let them get broken. It''s a great chance to meet a younger dragon from your vige. But I am curious, have you decided to invest in Genesis without holding back anymore?" The reason Walker asked this was a simple one. He wanted to hear Ignus admit that he had changed and stopped being stubborn.


    "If this is the future you see for dragons. To work I''m alchemy and ignore their true calling to be strong¡­then no. I do not ept it. If you mean to tell me that they can be powerful and create a hierarchy where the weaklings can help the strong rise, well, I would prefer that than sending them to theva fields to fight for their right to live."


    While Ignus had a slightly askew point of view, it was better than before everything had happened since Walker met him. If Ignus wouldpletely change his methods in his vige and allow the future weak fire dragon hatchlings to grow, it was spectacr.


    "I promise you, when you see those hatchlings in Genesis when we return, you will see new dragons. They will not be what you expect but they will hold power in a new ce. Maybe even as an alchemy genius." This seemed to appease Ignus. He moved to sit and growled slightly which Walker had heard Midnight do when she was happy.


    "I will leave you to wait for Remey to make a fire affinity potion. I''m sure someone has gotten in to trouble on the top deck. I should check in." Walker wasn''t clear on how long he had been in the alchemyb. The thing about alchemy and focus was that it could take hours and only feel like minutes.


    The sweat and build up of fumes on his clothing and skin made Walker feel that hours was more like it than minutes. Especially since he also had a surprising amount of soot on his hands from parts of herbs that burned off. "Ugh, I''ll need to clean up too."


    After changing and washing up a little, Walker made his way to the top deck and found that the ribbon fishting had long ended. There was a normal patrol and the sun was actually setting. But Walker was not too surprised since he knew that he had the chance of missing the entire day just by focusing on alchemy in a windowless room. How could he have told the time?


    "Finally out of seclusion somewhere? I was looking for you!" The energetic voice came from none other than Elise. She was holding a stack of papers and had been working constantly. "I wanted you to take a look at these ns to set up a port when we stop the ships on the new continent. I had them from when I left Genesis but we keep altering them the more we think. You should have a skill that draws ns and maps, right?"


    "Umm, well¡­about that." Walker had not focused on paperwork. He had actually avoided it more than anything else. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to learn new skills. He just didn''t want to sit and do a lot of work sitting. It just wasn''t what he thought an adventurer should do.


    "Then we will help you get one. Then we can do anything else. The faster you learn a skill the faster these can be gone. Great way to learn, right? You love learning new skills, right!?" Walker heard a smallugh and caught Gil and Su looking his way. It was clear that the idea for Walker to help Elise had started somewhere. But he had been caught. He couldn''t just say no.


    "I have avoided it for too long. I might as well help out. But what is this about building a temporary port? That''s what it says here. Why temporary? We should just make a permanent port if we don''t see one when we first get to thend again."


    "What about the races that live on the continent? We might be seen as invading their home if we make something permanent. That would start us off with a perfect chance at war." Walker felt like an idiot. How could he forget that the continent they were traveling was most likely full of other races with their own territories? He truly had been too tired after alchemy.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1667 1667. Arcane Threads (1)

    "I''ve exined to you before, we need to ensure that our employees have a clearly written contract. You must take them to a contract specialist to write one that clearly tells them their job and payments." Hilda was lecturing Lisa for the fourth time about this matter.


    Lisa may have stood out when it came to her skills as a seamstress. She had her own shop at such a young age and had grown mentally to match this. Unfortunately, Lisa still had a lot to learn and her mother was there to help her. Especially since Walker was away again and couldn''t magically teleport back to help his little sister.


    "I know I do but the appointments take too long to get. If they start working and learning now, they will be ready for bigger orders sooner." Lisa''s train of thought was not bad but contracts were important for any business.


    "I also promised them that they could start right away. They finally have a ce to work so they can have their own homes. There are still a lot of demon children that came to live in our mansion because Walker helped them! They already found their systems because they started to help me." Lisa was dead set on this. She was not going to stop helping the demon children halway.


    The idea that her daughter was just like her son made Hilda very proud. She could see that they both cared for everyone in the world and not just themselves. "But this is a business. The other jobs you helped some of them find already contracted them. You are no exception. Today you will handle that before you close shop. Is that understood?" Hilda saw Lisa nod and then decided it was enough scolding for the day.


    "I have to get back to check on the bakery. I had threerger orders for a few small parties celebrating the building of new homes and the farmnds. I will see you at hometer." Hilda left Lisa with this in good spirits. They all had a very prosperous position in the city making them all busy but very happy to be so.


    "Miss Lisa, is it alright to keep working now?" One of the demons that Lisa had recently hired had been taken from the demon cities. She had been rescued from a fate that would surely be death or torture. Now she was able to find her way through many things to Genesis.


    The travel for a lot of the demons had been hard. Some had found positions working along the way while others had gone to return to their homes and rebuild anew. One of the earliest demons rescued from Pride''s army had taken up residence in Walker''s mansion to be a maid which was already an amazing achievement for anyone due to the high status of the hero''s families.


    But seeing that many of the demons had integrated or begun to do so was a warm thought. Lisa was proud that she yed a small role and could offer one of the many guestrooms of the mansion to anyone. But the fact that she had been lucky enough to find new employees was even better.


    Some of the demons that were her age or even younger had found systems that were seamstresses as well. But she had a handful of new employees that specializes in money handling, sales, and even a few that had fabric making systems. It was a massive boon for her since she wanted to be the best of the best when it came to making clothing in the entire city.


    "Miss Lisa? We have a guest that requests your attention." The same employee returned and pulled Lisa from the back work room. This time she looked a little stressed out which made Lisa question if there was an issue.


    ''Major Quest- royal order


    Markus Raven hase with arge order to honor the birth of the new princess of the Diamond kingdom. The human child requires the best of the best baby clothes. Markus Raven wishes to send the best as a gift to the king he still represents even though he is now living within the new Genesis city.


    ¡­''


    Lisa saw this pop up and was instantly excited. She knew that the first half she had just read meant that she was about to get one of the most important orders she had in a while. Lately, she had been bombarded with the elvesing to ask her for the rune sewn clothing in the human styles that she knew. Learning the rune stitching had made her fairly famous. Especially some of the adventurers who wanted the best underclothes for their travels.


    Putting that aside, an order that was going to a princess was even more fantastic. That meant that Markus Raven trusted the quality that she could produce even though she was young and her business was still fairly new. This was a major growing point for her dreams. She had been so excited that she hadn''t even read the requirements or the reward for the quest, Lisa was dead set on making it the best she could no matter what.


    "Hello! My brother told me about you, Sir Raven!" Lisa had heard that Walker didn''t like him at first but after getting to know him had learned of his extremely caring personality for the kingdom he lived and represented. Sometimes passion could be confused with other negative feelings when someone first met. It was amon mistake that many could make. But it was why it was best never to judge someone too harshly at first.


    "And I have been told about you by many of the nobles that had moved here to Genesis to assist me with my duties. You have made a veryrge ssh in fashion young miss Lisa. I havee today to ask a lot of you but I believe you will be up to the challenge." Markus was very polite. He had been impressed by the records he had seen so far from Lisa''s business.


    Being in charge ofmerce and the treasury of Genesis meant that Markus Raven saw all kinds of paperwork from all kinds of businesses. Lisa had been seen and there were no issues which was impressive since she was so young. But a genius was a genius and it all came from passion and hard work. Markus knew this well since the two demons he had trained under him were exceptional when it came to managing money.


    "My king has recently weed a daughter in to his household. I wish to ce an order of royal clothes to be sent for her. The princess will need the best of the best. I specifically want rune clothing of all elemental attractions. I hope that she can have more than just an average passed down system. There are historical records of an elemental princess and elemental queen in the royal family after all."


    Many people had heard of this. The oldest of the queens recorded in the Diamond royal family had a lucky princess that was born with affinities for the four main elemental manas. They became known as the elemental princess since they could use magic and rule over the kingdom. It was the start of a major growth period for the kingdom in a time of drought. Now would be an amazing time for another elemental princess to rise, even if it took years to show.


    "Of course I can do that! I will personallye up with new designs that can be altered until she reaches the age of five!" Lisa was very confident. Baby clothes had long been designed to be altered to fit growing children. Ti was only practical since fabric could be scarce at times.


    "I knew I wasing to the right ce. I expected exactly this answer. And do not worry about find. I will spare no expenses when ites to this. I will even procure the fabric-"


    "Say no more Sir Raven. I can handle everything. I need to show off to my newest employees what we can do here. I will have them all in one week exactly. If I have to, I will make the fabrics myself!" The promise was made and Lisa''s energetic smile put Markus at ease. He had nothing else to do other than sign some documents before leaving a downpayment for the clothing.


    "Twenty rune sewn baby clothes. I will make this perfect!" Lisa''s promise to herself hade on stronger than she imagined. In her joy she looked at the quest again and saw the rewards, the regards that she would never have imagined but many people had been whispering about within Genesis thisst month.


    ''Reward: System advancement''


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1668 1668. Arcane Threads (2)

    The fire in Lisa''s eyes was enough to tell every single employee that she had about her feelings. She had not had energy like this since she had shown them all the things they could be capable of. Now she was fired up and ready to work toward a new goal. A new potential that could further her abilities. How could she give up?


    The desire topete with Walker was strong. He was her older brother. Her amazing, hero title holding, older brother. Why would anyone ept that they would be second best? There had to be a better way to do this. A higher potential. And the world seemingly saw this.


    Not only had Lisa already started to break the mold when it came to being a seamstress, she had been given the chance to fully shatter the mold entirely. The rune sewn fabrics had been the first step after making things for her brother and family.


    She had stepped above what others her age were able to do and pursued things that they would be unable to evenprehend yet. It was the same that Walker and his entire party had done but in a different realm. The oldest master seamstresses and tailors had even seen her skill and gone to see her.


    Many that had been in genesis for only a short while had seen her work and expected that she was just an apprentice. When they found that she was indeed in charge, they were shaken. In their world of clothing making, crafting, and general sewing, geniuses rarely surfaced. Lisa had already proven that she had stepped beyond the realm of normal but her system had not reflected that.


    The elven techniques to sew runes using elemental energies and crystals was already beyond what a normal seamstress could do. Adding in the ck needles set that Walker had given Lisa from Midnight''s baby dragon scales, her work had be much more advanced.


    Runes, magic, and higher quality materials led Lisa to a new paths that should have been impossible for an average seamstress. Now, she stood as a revered figure at a young age. A figure that was always looking for new designs to mimic. New designs to create. Some things she had done only came from her mind instead of trusted books that many would reference.


    that was why the order she made would be representing the seasons. The heat of summer would represent the red fabrics and fire runes used on the first set of clothing. "Miss Lisa, we have the rouge, crimson, faded pink, and stripped scarlet fabrics for you here. Would you like the cherry wood stained thread?" The assistant already saw that all work needed to be halted to support Lisa.


    Many had seen inspiration and drive before. But the state that Lisa had fallen in with the massive encouragement from the system reward was enough to fully fall in to a state of enlightenment. Focus so intense that no matter what Lisa did, she could not be distracted. She could barely even change her facial expressions.


    "Miss Lisa, I have just taken the winter fabrics out. Would you like them?"


    "Miss Lisa, the previously stored harvest season fabrics are here."


    "Miss Lisa, I will spread the growing season fabrics left over and untouched for you. They will be ready in three minutes."


    Four more demon assistants worked. They had seen the older assistant''s actions and followed suit. They might not have much experience but they can copy what others did. They could follow and learn. They were about to see the forefront of fashion right before them. How could they not understand that they were being blessed right now?


    The difference between seeing someone work and seeing a master''s work was like night and day. There was a chance that they would be able to grasp skills and techniques ahead of what they normally would by following the system. They could work beyond their level just like Lisa did.


    Fabric was unrolled and stencils created. Time was nothing to consider. The door had been shut and the orders for pick up paused. All business had ceased for a special order which was not unheard of. It even made the customers more excited because they knew that when this happened, new styles would arrive. For the fashion world, it was a major event to gossip about when a shop locked its doors for a special order.


    Wind patterns were made on green spring fabrics. The matching sets of leaves and colors of sun became the base for the seasonal theme. The patterns slowly changed as the runes also did. Lisa had mimicked the seasons as inspiration while also letting the entire set of clothes match the gradual change.


    The princess would have the influence of the elemental manas around her due to the immacte sewn runes. But there would also be the feeling of the colors that matched the outside world. Just like Walker, Lisa had gotten in touch with nature by doing this. It was not unheard of for nature to be a theme for many seamstresses.


    However, Lisa had gone above and beyond. The feelings of her mana and the manas that were pulled by the rune sewn fabrics were powerful. They were everything she felt while the season changed. Only a true master of any artisan technique could bring out the emotions behind something. The hidden feelings that everyone had but couldn''t describe.


    Those working with Lisa found themselves being pushed to their limits to keep up. Lisa had been sewing since she had found her system. She had been made to practice and fell in love with it more and more. She had a head start in her young age but now she had truly shown what they got her.


    Many parents would be bad mouthed for making their child learn their system earlier than others. But Lisa was grateful. Her mother and father had seen her potential and passion. They had made her practice when she waszy and stubborn which helped her learn the basics. Her brother had supported her through this as well. Giving gifts that let her mind expand.


    This expanded view was enough for Lisa to lock herself away for five straight days. Mana potions were gathered and used. Sleep was taken only when it was impossible to work anymore. The rumors of amazing new designs for a princess had spread while the assistants learned many things.


    Those that judged Lisa on her age were put to shame as she proved she was deserving of the many good things being said about her work. She was not simply living off the heroic brother of hers. She was forging her own path in another unique way. That was why Markus Raven rushed over and waited outside the door eagerly after the seven days had passed.


    When he walked in to the showroom on the seventh day, he found everything moved away and multiple mannequins disyed the new baby clothes. The seams perfectly sewn to be adjusted without damage. The elegant runes that copied the very essence of seasons and their matching elemental manas.


    The colors that seamlessly flowed as if they were the very embodiment of seasonal emotions. Joys and sorrows of winter to summer were reflected but the warmth he felt was all he needed. Even the cold and darkness of the ice and snow was reflected but still filled Markus with glee. It was a feat that none had achieved. He felt this way about the ancient artifacts he collected. Feeling this way about something new was foreign to him.


    ? "Magnificent. Work that even I could never procure from a master."


    "Miss Lisa worked tirelessly to present these to you today. She is currently unwell after her work and will be resting for some time. Please submit the final payment and host a disy for these items before you send them to your preferred destination. We hope that you can understand why." The shrewd business woman that had taken up the front room for Lisa was exactly what Markus expected. He would do the same.


    "I will be hosting a function to show this to many. I assure you of this. Please leave this for young miss Lisa. I will visit again." Markus had already nned to boast to other nobles the things he bought. He hade here for a reason. Lisa was surely the best of fashion in all of Genesis.


    Meanwhile, Lisa had exhausted herself. Her age and the immense stress days of endless work put on her had taken their toll. She could not stay away and Hilda hade to check on her many times. She had brought food and did not interrupt her in the slightest. She had once felt this way during her baking too. But what Lisa had missed while being unconscious was a simple notification.


    ''The user haspleted the quest with immeasurable sess. The world has not seen such items in this age creating a new guiding light in the seamstress artisan careers and systems. The user has perfectly aligned multiple races'' techniques while adjusting them to match nature and other aspects of the world.


    The title; of elemental seamstress has been granted by the world.


    The user will be able to better use elemental manas to create unique fabrics, threads, and overall items. This will be able to possess additional effects based on materials and the sewing used. The affinity for all four major elemental manas has been granted to the holder of this title and will gradually appear as the body of the user grows further.


    The system advancement of the user had been changed from the projected path. The user will now be granted the Arcane thread master system instead of the arcane seamstress system. The first of the era to hold the arcane thread master system is one of great reverie.


    " Stun the world with immeasurable magic. Let mana be weaved in to brilliant emotion. Let all the world see the brilliance of the heart and mind in clothed form."


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1669 1669. Land Sighted!

    "All hands on deck! Ind spotted!" The single shout out had gotten everyone on every ship moving. Those that could were trying to see what details they could from the ind. The more that they could discern the better.


    Those that had the ability to do so, were preparing to leave the ships and search the ind if the order was given. The odds were high that an ind might have fruits and vegetables that could be eaten. One of the few things that were easily eatenpletely on a journey since they could not be stored in the same ways as meat that was cured.


    The dolphin golems were already sent out to survey the waters around the ind. So far, no one had heard back anything important. But that was just the matter of waiting. They wouldn''t see any results for the time being. Rushing things would only cause more issues.


    "I heard that an ind is sighted!?" Walker made it to the top deck from the cabin that he and Elise had been working in. He was secretly very happy that he had been freed from paperwork. Yes, Walker had gained the skills to more urately draw maps and blueprints. It had taken some time and some very poor drawings but it had been worth it. But it was still very hard to make everything urate enough for a real professional to alter them easily.


    "I am going to mobilize the avian tamers I have to take a look." Elise was gone in a sh. Walker could only hear the gathered screeching and chirping of bird type beasts that were being told they could fly freely and explore a little. That was going to help a lot when it came to understanding what they might find on this ind.


    "I sent out my soldiers to scout the area. But should we be stopping? Our momentum has been very good. If we stop we may bring on unnecessary risks." Leon was ying the voice of reason. He was very right. The longer they were at a smallnd mass like this, the more dangerous it was.


    "That''s even better. If there are monsters around here then that means there is food on that ind. We should gather what we can. Even if we have to send over more of the flying monsters tamed by the taming guild. The more that we get the better in case we don''t see a single ind for the rest of the journey." Scy had an even better point. The risks of not having fresh fruits and vegetables was too high.


    The experienced sailors had been clear that they had to bring extra fruits and vegetables because there were many illnesses that one could get after not having them on the ocean for too long. These things had been valuable pieces of information for anyone that had never been on the ocean. No one would have guessed thatcking certain food for a little too long could lead to fatal straits.


    "I agree, we should look in to it." Walker found Leon and Scy easily. He also saw that Gil. Remey, Su, Alice, Midnight, and Onyx had gathered at the railing to take a look as well. They all looked curious and excited which made him want to go to the ind as well.


    "If we can take a look, we can mark it on the map for other ships one day. They might be able to stop there and resupply or even if there is a danger, they can hide there. It is better to be able to leave more details for the future. Even the smallest things are important." Neither Leon nor Scy argued with this. They both believed the same.


    "General, the king of the surface is looking for your input. Will we be stopping? Should he send more golems to explore the waters around the ind?" The soldier that came to report was one that had just spoken with a harpy. Having the harpies to help the shipsmunicate was a true blessing.


    "Yes, we will be stopping. We have more reasons to do so than not. But the more golems we have investigated the safer it will be." Scy was not going to hold back. She knew that it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to an unknown ind in the middle of an ocean full of monsters.


    "I thought we would see birds or something flying around the ind. Wonder why there isn''t anything?" Walker was trying his best to spot anything he could. But even though his eyes were fairly sharppared to others, he was finding nearly nothing.


    The shapes of green trees and some dunes of sand were all he could really make out on the entire ind. The size was not much, they could easily traverse it three or four times in a day. The search of the ind would most likely take all the patrols a few hours. But it was still odd that there were no animals on it.


    "If you''re wondering why there might not be many birds or other animals, it''s simple. There are storms out in the ocean that never seergend masses like our homes. That means that we will miss the destruction that they bring. But inds like these get hit hard and often. There are no homes to be made there." Leon caught on to Walker''s thoughts. He had learned this from his people but also the sailors that had traveled the shores.


    Many people who lived near the oceans had seen storms on the horizon drifting by. Never to make it to shore but still bringing their powerful winds nearby. Those were the days when the waves would pick up and the damages to the docks would be high.


    "I see, so that''s why we don''t see anything. But I won''t doubt that there is nothing living on that ind. It''s ces like that which seem calm that have more danger." This was what Walker could say about many ces. In a way, even the ancient ruins seemed calm but held undead, traps, and other dangerous monsters just below the surface of what someone saw.


    "Let''s prepare the lifeboats for a journey. We won''t go too close to the ind in case there are rocks around it." Leon gave the final order and groups began to form.


    "Midnight, Su, Onyx. We will go to the ind together. Gil, Remey, Alice. You three will go together too. We can split up and go to opposite ends with the patrols. It will be easier to find more things that way." Walker split things quickly without thinking much. He intended to do this so that the patrols had help equally from them if need be.


    No one objected to this since it made sense to split up on a smaller ind. That didn''t mean that Alice wasn''t looking at Walker and wondering why she wasn''t sticking with him though. Or why Remey and Gil wondered why they were stuck together since they could begin fighting at any moment. However, Walker had his reasons. Gil could cover for Remey as she fought and Alice to heal Remey''s wounds since she was fighting up close.


    It was much the same with Walker since he could act as a healer too. This was all just a small thought in Walker''s mind. It really paid off having everything memorized. He had long memorized everyone''s skills as they had grown. The real issue was understanding their strengths based on the training they had done. Just having a skill was not all that was needed, people had to have practice in them.


    ? "The initial report is back! There are underwater caves around the ind but no monsters sighted. There are also no fish or anything else. It is strange but it could be the ships that scared them off for now." The dwarf that arrived to report this was one of those that piloted the merfolk modeled golems.


    "That is strange but if we have already made waves, we could be causing all the marine life to run." Scy knew that this was also a big sign to invite monsters. However, they could need the fresh food on the ind so she was going to push forward. "Maintain a tightmunication with all patrol groups. Be ready to evacuate the ind at the slightest shout. Understood?" Scy watched everyone around her respond before she gave Walker the nod to begin leaving.


    "You heard Scy, be careful and stay focused. We will get what we need and then head out. But if you see anything strange, retreat and use one of the all around appraisal scrolls we brought with us." Walker knew that this would save many lives. Just knowing about danger was a head start against it.


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 Chapter 1670 1670. Island Explorers

    Taking the life boats to the water made them all worry a little. They had not been in the life boats out in the open ocean and they felt too small. But in the grand scheme of things, the ships were even very small. They had already seen an ind swallowing whale that could easily eat every single ship and still be hungry. Everything in the ocean was small byparison.


    But what was even stranger was the fact that as they moved, no one saw any movements in the water other than the merfolk, demi-humans, and the golems. That was all. Not a single fish or any monsters to be seen. It made everyone ufortable.


    Walker was constantly using his all around appraisal skill on the water to make sure that he was not missing any monsters that had the skills to hide invisibly. He knew that in the open ocean that this might be the only way for some monsters to survive. What better ce was there to hide than in sight?


    "There aren''t any rocks that I can see below the waters. The ships should be safe toe closer. All I see is sand." Walker told this to the sailor that had taken control of the lifeboat. He was rowing carefully while keeping his eyes on the horizon.


    "Kid, what''s below that sand is always stone. Sand is just stone that the waves break. Keep the ships far away and we can use our muscles to get back." The sailor was very used to younger sailors asking these things. It was the dangers that hid just below the sands that would normally sink the wooden ships. The same would be said of the metal ships if experienced sailors like him weren''t there to speak words of wisdom.


    "I see, thank you for that." Walker was surprised that the sands would be like that. He had an idea of how they were formed but didn''t expect that they could be perfectly hiding the rocks that made the ind up. Since that was the case, one wrong move would trap a ship or even worse, sink it.


    "Just keep in mind that there is always more than what you see." The sailor made a little more effort and got them to the shallow waters where the lifeboat stuck itself in the sand. The slight scratching made the sailor''s words proof since that was rocks under it.


    "We will be back sooner thanter. The entire survey of this ind should take a very short time." Midnight and Onyx were way ahead of Su and Walker. They were excited to explore somece new. Midnight wanted to find whatever food might be hiding while Onyx was falling for the general curiosity anyone had over a new ce.


    "Stay close and remain focused. We didn''t see any animals or monsters from the ships but they could still be here." The other survey teams were moving carefully while some of them had brought extra people with them to map the ind. This would help when others stopped here in the future.


    "These trees look off. They have a very rugged bark. What kind are they?" Su was looking at a tall tree with a single stem. It didn''t have any branches but had a few long ruffled leaves at the top. The round brown buds at the top looked like they should be coconuts but were slightly different.


    ''Storm bloom


    The storm bloom is a parasitic nt that grows onrger monsters. They will grow and absorb nutrients from the monster until they encounter arge storm. It will use the nutrients to grow rapidly in the manas that naturally form inside a storm and bloom.


    Their flowers are rare and contain varying elemental manas. The mostmon fusion of these is known as a lightning bloom which can shock people just by touching it. Those killed while touching the nt can go to feed the host of this nt. It is a symbiotic rtionship in some situations.


    The flowers are valuable but even more so before they bloom. They hold seeds that can be used to create dense elemental medicines for those that have be ill due to absorbing too much of a single elemental mana. Not many alchemists or apothecaries can create this medicine.''


    Walker read this out to everyone making them wonder what was going on. The nearby survey teams also heard him and looked at the rough blooms at the top. They weren''t sure what to do with them since these nts could be parasitic. But for whatever reason, they had ended up on an ind to live.


    "So they are valuable for medicines. We will let the others harvest them. But it is very odd." Su was sure that there was a good reason that these would be here. But since there was nowhere else nearby for them to grow and she knew that there wererger monsters on the open ocean, this made sense. They could have just ended up here identally. Weirder things had happened before.


    "I will let everyone know. There should be no chance of harm since they are not in a sto0rm and won''t bloom. I wouldn''t mind seeing one bloom though. It could be beautiful." Walker did want to see how these pants worked. But he was still having a strange feeling about them. He couldn''t put his finger on it and chose just to go with the theory that it was a coincidence that these were here.


    Midnight was sniffing the trees carefully and was not happy that this was not yielding any fruits for them. She did feel like there was nothing much of a scent around at all though. She huffed out some air to try and clear her nose but found that nothing was blocking her. She just didn''t smell anything.


    "Sister, there is nothing on your face. This could just be the result of a recent storm. There is nothing to smell here." Onyx reassured Midnight as they moved. Midnight was still shaking her head a little but was more interested in exploring.


    "Hmm, this bush isn''t giving me an appraisal at all. I wonder why? Even the smaller things like sticks will give me something." Walker was very uncertain about what was going on. He kept finding more bushes and outcroppings of rocks that gave him nothing.


    Soon he started to hear that the other survey teams were finding nothing as well. The teams they passed by had been talking loudly enough about the fact that there were no washed up driftwood from atoms that would be all over the beaches. There were no toppled trees or overgrown patches of grass either. It was all too perfect and clean.


    "Walker, maybe you should get a bird''s eye view of the ind. The harpies seem like they have seen things but if you use your skills on the ind you might be able to figure out what is going on." Su had thought of this as ast ditch effort to figure out the secrets of this ind. She had a few theories about why it might be odd.


    Her first idea was that the ind might have been hit by arge storm recently. The wounds could have been strong enough to blow away debris and the currents strong enough to take them awaypletely. It was theoretically possible.


    Her other theory was that the mana on the ind was off. It could deter animals and monsters because it would be different. Walker and them just haven''t sensed it because they were not used to being out on the ocean in general. This could exin a lot since they had already dealt with strange mana phenomena when the elemental mana was unbnced because of certain people.


    "That''s a better idea than I have. Midnight, want to take a look in the sky with me?" Midnight jumped in to the air and spread her wings. She was well ahead of Walker without even saying a word. Walker was just smirking while watching her fly higher. He wished she would talk more but it was tough to force her since she always seemed to be enjoying herself nheless.


    Walker let the sand and water make a pair of elemental wings behind him. He let them carry him in to the air while also manipting the wind somewhat. He easily caught up to Midnight to take a look at the small ind. He passed a few harpies and gave them a wave until he finally looked down at the ind as a whole.


    It wasn''t the shape that shocked him. He expected it to be small and have nothing much on it. That he had already learned. What shocked him was the appraisal as soon as he had used the all around appraisal skill. It was why he used a lot more mana to rush back down to where the others were.


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 Chapter 1671 1671. More Than An Island

    ''Living Ind- dormant


    The living ind is just that, it isnd given life through high mana density. It also has a flesh and blood core that is able to feed on the monsters that it captures with is sand, stone, and nt like body parts. It is often confused for an abandoned ind but the telltale signs of it being a living ind are theck of nts, fruits, and living monsters.


    The living ind starts off as a floating mass of sand that slowly grows. Eventually, it attaches to rocks in the ocean and makes them part of its body. From there it can only grow. The more it consumes the more it grows. It has been known to grow to the size of four or five ind swallowing whales. They often attempt to eat each other.


    One tamer once found the core on the ind and attempted to tame it. Unfortunately, such arge species of unfeeling monster is impossible to tame. They have no emotion for the connection to form with and therefore can only be destroyed. They are not overly destructive but do not discriminate in their meals. They have been known to consume entire ecosystems.''


    There was more information that Walker could have read. However, he was already falling toward the others with Midnight in tow. She sensed his worry and was reacting ordingly. "Everyone! Off the ind now! Retreat immediately!"


    The order boomed out like a roar. Walker was already pulling Su toward the lifeboat they had just left behind. Onyx was right with them trying to understand what Walker could have seen. If he had taken the time to tell them though, they might be toote.


    The scouting groups had done nothing to wake the ind yet. That was a good thing. If it awoke while they were there then there was the chance for it to eat all of them. The ind was sorge that the chances of fighting it were too low. They would most likely be unable to even make a move against it.


    The caves under the waters would be the anchors it had put down when it was dormant. The parasitic nts made sense now. They weren''t feeding off the ind because there was no other living thing for them to feed off, it was because the ind was perfect for them to feed on. Everything else that they saw around them was part of the ind. Part of the ind that could eat them if it wanted.


    The ships saw that everyone was rushing back. Lifeboats were setting off again with speed that made it clear that there was something wrong. In just a few more moments, the flying tamers, demi-humans, and the golems began to return. The merfolk also made their own guesses about what was going on. But they all trusted Walker''s appraisal. They heard him say retreat and that was that.


    Before Walker''s lifeboat had reached the ships again, Scy was already off the ship and in the air to meet him. "Tell me what monster you found. Will we beat it or should we retreat?" Scy had the idea that the ind was home to monsters and that was the reason for their retreat. They didn''t have enough forces to defeat the monsters living there.


    "We retreat. The entire ind is alive. That''s why there is nothing living there. None of the nts are real. They are all part of its body. It''s asleep-"


    A massive groan and the sound of cracking stones rang out. The waters began to bubble around the entire ind. The groan that followed was from the massive area changing before their eyes.


    The ind stretched out slowly before their eyes while the beaches rippled. The stone that has been underwater had broken off and was rising up to meet the rest of the living ind''s body. Seeing that the ind was no longer dormant was all Walker needed to shout out again. His roar of warning put even more urgency on retreating.


    The other lifeboats had luckily already left the ind. They were all using their utmost strength to escape back to the ships. The merfolk in the water swam to push the boats along as well. They could tell this was something they had never encountered. For them, this was a living nightmareing true from storybooks they were read as children.


    "The living ind is real!" This was shouted out more than a few times by those on the ships that had heard tales about them.


    The ind''s movements seemed blind as it changed shape and started to drift in the waters of the ocean. Whatever they had done had made it wake up but it was not moving toward them. It was not something with ears as a human had. It couldn''t hear their shouts but had felt them on it before. Now it was trying to find the food that had woken it up.


    The moment Walker was close to the ship he jumped using the wind to get aboard. "No one attack it, no one even sneeze toward it. If it feels us it wille this way to eat us! The entire ind is alive and trying to find food!" The warning made many shudder. They couldn''t imagine how such arge living thing would go about eating them. But it was clear that it had done worse before.


    There were parts of wood that had been trapped in the sands. Everyone could see them now from the ships. Pieces of wood that had once been a ship. It may have only been enough for one but that was enough. Enough to show that the ind did not discriminate about what it ate.


    The other things seen as the ind moved in the distance were less clear. But the white shapes were clearly sun bleached bones. Many things had been consumed by this monster. None of them had managed to escape their fate. They had only be nutrients for a monster that was nearly impossible to deal with unless its core was found.


    "That thing is basically a golem. It might have a flesh and blood core, but its body is made up of sand and stone. It''s not something we should face. Next time we see an ind, we will appraise the entire thing first." Walker was firm on this. Scy just stood next to him and nodded. She had already made an order for the harpies to transfer this information to every single ship captain.


    The moment that thest lifeboat reached a ship, every single ship was moving away from the living ind. They were thankful that Walker had caught the all around appraisal from the air. Many had attempted to use all around appraisal scrolls on things while exploring the ind but found they didn''t work. It was amon report being made to all the captains at the moment.


    "So that was alive?" Gil was more stunned than anything. He waspletely fooled in to thinking that was just a random ind they hade across.


    "I am just a surprised at you. I didn''t think that was a living thing until I went up to the clouds and used my all around appraisal. It was just a shot in the dark to see what was going on since I couldn''t identify much of anything. But now we know why the ind was so clean and perfect. It ate everything that touched it."


    "How would I even punch something like that? You said it had a core right? Do I just dig it up and hope I find it like a buried treasure?" Remey wasn''t too angry. She knew that some materials had been taken from the parasitic nts on the living ind for alchemy. She was very happy with that but a little defeated that the ind had woken up and left. Not that she would have been happy if it woke up and stayed.


    "This puts the ship in a bad position. We might need fresh food sooner thanter." Su made it clear that this was not a good thing. Stopping for nothing earned was bad all around since they were not closer to their destination but had be hungrier.


    "We can make it." The positive response from Alice made them all wonder what she had in mind. They knew that the healers might have some hidden tricks to treating certain illnesses but they wouldn''t beoolproof.


    "Before things get that bad, we will figure it all out. I won''t let ite to healers having to take action." Walker''s promise was mimicked by onyx who was watching Alice carefully. He was certain that she was considering using light magic somehow to supplement others. That was the basis for most healing magic. It just depended on the way it was used.


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 Chapter 1672 1672. Train A Little

    The energy that everyone had spent when they were worried about the living ind left all the crew a little extra tired. They had not expected that they would be dealing with such a situation. They had been told about the monsters of the oceans that might never have been seen before, but this was too much. It was a monster that was thought to be fantasy.


    We should stay moving tonight. The more we can make up for the time we lost the better." Walker was sure that they would not have to deal with the lunar algae tonight. He could see the clouds blocking the sun slowly. It wasn''t a storm but a soft misty drizzle. Much safer than a storm. There were also no winds and waves building which reassured him.


    "I agree with that, we will make up the time and try to find a current. One of the water mages we brought with us had been monitoring the deep ocean currents. She has struggled to find one that keeps us on the path we are following based on the stars until now." Scy had been skeptical when Leon told her to follow this water mage''s guidance. Now she fully epted it.


    "That''s good. I want to help us too but I doubt I can sense the water currents like that." Walker wanted to ask Current about this but found that he was long gone. Apparently, after the living ind had appeared, the dragons had all been convinced that they might find worse soon. They had all gone in to seclusion in some form or another to strengthen themselves.


    This had left Remey with a harder task to make more potions for them. Not that she was going to do anything else, she had the desire to perfect some potions after thest breakthrough with the dual water and fire affinity potion that had surpassed low tier quality.


    Knowing this, Walker didn''t want to ruin any chance that Remey would be distracted he was sure that this would help them all in the long run. The dragons getting stronger, the potions being better developed, and whatever else came with these two thingsing together. Therefore, he volunteered to take the night watch with Gil instead of Remey joining Gil.


    The others that were watching the sun set and the ships light the beacons that would help the stay in formation were also taking the ces of others. Many had the same feelings after seeing the massive threats in the oceans. They had the desire to get stronger. Especially the mages that hade with. They felt the weakest.


    Many of the mages had seen the growth of the warriors that came with them. They had already faced multiple monsters that they could only throw their magics at. The warriors were able to train with one another on the top deck of the ship without damaging anything. If the mages did that, then they would cause magic damage that could ruin the runes all over the ship. If they did that they would be known as the ones who ruined the chances of saving many lives from the demon king.


    "So, what should we work on while we keep watch? We can only see so much under the water. The merfolk are mostly resting too so they won''t be anywhere near the water." even the golems had been set back in ce for the night since they had used a lot of mana to search the waters around the living ind before it had woken up. Gil knew this.


    "I have no idea. I keep thinking that I should try and learn more about the water. There is a water mage that is able to sense the currents below us. That''s pretty amazing. That''s why we are able to stay on course all through the night and even keep ahead of schedule." Walker''s ideas were simple. He knew he should work on other elemental manas, but couldn''t justify it after hearing how amazing this one mage was.


    "If she is able to do that, then it''s her ce. She is helping everyone so let it be. You don''t have to do it all. But you also can sense other things. Without Rise and Ventus in the air, we will have to figure out other things to keep watch around us." Gil had a good point that Walker could not argue with at all.


    "Then I will take to the air. If I am above the ship then that will be good." Gil also knew that Walker needed a little encouragement. That was why he gave Walker a push after Walker had said this. He knew that Walker was worried about what could have happened to all of them when the living ind woke up.


    With this, Walker left Gil on the top of the ship to keep watch. He had a feeling that Gil would end up finding some way to train his dagger skills or archery while also doing the watch they needed to be on.


    The goal that walker had as he stepped in to the air was to mix other elemental manas from the air. He was sure that he could mix the wind and water all around him easily. But what about the darkness mana and the water? What would dark influenced ice look like? This wasn''t something that he had tried before in a pure form. He also was training his ability to focus on multiple things by using mana to walk through the air and not use the wind ripple skill exclusively.


    This was the ideal way to train his mind more while he used different elemental manas. It would improve his control and hopefully, help him make a better natural mana maniption in the future. He would be relying on natural mana more and more, this he could be certain of. There was no way for him to argue against this feeling, it was too strong.


    The water he pulled from the air was simple. It was easy to make it freeze, turn in to a mist or mix with the winds. But as Walker stepped forward, he found it harder to pull at the darkness elemental mana around him. This was partially because Mordant had a decent hold on it with Shade while he meditated somewhere. But also because he wasn''t used to splitting himself in to three trains of thought at once.


    As the shadows finally started to condense, Walker found that they were very resistant to mixing with the water in his other hand. The small ball of water and shadow seemed to be the same when he had mixed light and darkness or fire and darkness. They needed additional mana to force themselves in to a bnce.


    Luckily, Walker had done that before with other elemental manas. He could easily do this with the additional help of natural mana and the eternal orb made in to a staff for him to use his own mana through.


    The two balls of different elemental manas floated in the air moving with him. All of this strained his mind. But for Walker, it was like stretching a muscle that he had not been trainingtely. After a few moments, a fog lifted in his mind and the feeling of openness surprised him. Walker was better able to grasp the manas easily. It was just a matter of warming up so to speak


    When the two manas collided, they resisted each other. The darkness and water tried to swirl around each other until Walker began to force them to condense more. To get closer. The water started to freeze in to ice. This trapped little bots of darkness elemental mana.


    The frozen darkness elemental mana was odd. It was dyeing the ice ck but still left it somewhat translucent. It was the same as coal colored ck ss that some of the cathedrals used to create characters on ss. An odd technique but a very beautiful creation when seen as a whole.


    The ice crystals started to crack meaning that Walker had lost the bnce he was forcing. He had to excerpt more mana which caused him to slightly stumble in the air while walking. Gil had a close eye on this and wondered just what Walker was doing that would make his steady pace falter.


    Since he was cleaning his bow and arrows, Gil had decided to keep an eye on Walker just in case he started to wander off toward another ship or the ocean in general. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Walker but that he would worry no matter what. It was the same for any family member anywhere. But when Gil saw that Walker was fusing elemental manas, he could only grin in anticipation. It was always a sign that Walker was going to be learning something interesting.


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 Chapter 1673 1673. Darkness In Ice

    The shattering ice was the challenge that Walker encountered over and over. For whatever reason, he was losing the bnce. But it could all be added up to the division in his attention. Having to walk through the air to keep his pace and also to maintain the bnce between two different elemental mana that would prefer to be separate was taking its toll.


    However, he would not be giving up. He knew that the more things he could do the better. The more fusions of mana that came naturally to him would be more means to defend those he cared for when he was in danger.


    This desire only grew the more he forced the two elemental manas together. The falling ck ice crystals were like a shadowy snow falling around the ships. Unknown to Walker, many of those on watch had noticed this and were wondering what was going on.


    They did see that they were slightly more covered than before though. The shadow ice crystals falling were covering them from view to a small degree. In their eyes, they saw Walker doing his best to protect them in case anything out in the ocean spotted them. It was just another reason why they had to praise the heroes that had already helped create a new home for them and show them the beauty of the other races.


    After another slight stumble in the air, Walker wondered why this was so easy when he formed the dragon wings on his back. The elemental mana always came together with the skill no matter what he did. It wouldn''t fuse but even though it was in battle with the other elemental manas, it did not react so negatively. It remained bnced and somewhatbined.


    The idea that the natural mana and his manaing together in those skills made the most sense. But that was what Walker was doing at the moment and having no result. Why could he not fuse the shadows that came with the darkness elemental mana in to the ice?


    ''The skill shadow snow has been taken from the dark snow queen system. The user has learned the skill shadow snow through the constant creation of ice crystals bonded with the darkness mana linked to shadows.


    Shadow snow- 10 mana per hour


    The shadow snow is ideal for cloaking things in darkness when in the icy cold parts of the world. While only effective in the night, it is an ideal way to hide somethingrger from prying eyes. It has a higher mana cost but can work very well with the environment to cut down on the cost of mana.''


    The system responded with exactly what Walker expected. He knew he would end up with some form of skill but for now, it was just a shadow snow skill. His efforts to force the shadows in to ice was not working which led him to this. A skill that had a very specific usage in very specific situations. It would even cost him more mana if he wasn''t in a snowy and icy area.


    "wait¡­I keep fusing the darkness mana inside the ice and not the other way around¡­" Walker''s ideas changed as he read through the skill and thought of his process getting to it. The shadows that he manipted with the darkness elemental mana were causing the ice crystals he made to shatter. That was the reason for failure, the darkness was not something small.


    Walker was taking the shadows and darkness elemental mana that would naturally spread out all around in nature and forcing it to condense. This added pressure to the ice and water he used. Naturally, the shadows would expand immediately after losing Walker''s control so that they could return to their spread out state. It was the same when trying to control the wind. It was not easily bound.


    Therger amount of water that came up to Walker now that he was confident in what his mistakes were made many look back toward him again. They had seen the falling shadow snow end and wondered just what they would see next. But they were shocked to see the shadows wrapping around Walker even more as well as the water.


    The ice and slush mix that formed reminded Walker of the time he first made the frost whip. It was an interesting skill that he really liked for its versatile battle uses but also for the fact that it used two forms of water. Now, he did the same with the water as he let the shadows surround it.


    As the darkness mana condensed slightly, it did not immediately spread out. Waker was no longer forcing it in to a certain shape. Instead, the dark mana was being the holder of the ice and water that Walker added to it. Instead of translucent dark ice being formed, Walker saw that the shadows themselves seemed to wrap around every piece of ice, dying it darker than coal.


    The ice was somewhat sinking in to the shadows. The odd way that Mordant had helped Walker travel through the shadows came to mind. The biggest problem that Walker had was that he treated the darkness mana and shadows as if they were a t thing. But they hadyers. Manyyers. How could there be an entire ne of darkness mana if it was only a t thing!? He had been too naive.


    This realization caused Walker to double down on what he was doing. The icy shadows that rotated around him like strands of ck ink were standing out inparison to the sky. The mist that fell from the clouds only made the scene more dramatic to all those watching. They witnessed the birth of crystalized darkness which could still flow.


    ''The skill abyssal ice has been taken from the shadow wyrm system. The user has learned the depths of shadows and used it to fuse with other elemental manas to create a skill unique to the ne of darkness and the ne of water''s ovepping edges.


    Abyssal ice- mana cost depends on amount and environment


    This ice is known only to those that have mastered the use of both water and darkness. Those born in it can control both toe together within their bodies and be used to attack, defend, and many other things. There are even some creatures that can be born from it if in the correct ce in existence.


    The ice is as dark as the abyss of the dark elemental ne but has the form of flowing water and ice. It can be used in many ways and is a skill only made to facilitate the easier creation of this abyssal ice. The uses depend on the creativity of the user.''


    The moment that the shadows flowed around Walker creating pitch ck crystals, he knew that he had seeded. His thinking had been wrong in the beginning. He should have looked to bring the two together instead of forcing one to merge inside the other. It was a simple mistake but one that had stopped him from gaining a new understanding.


    But the system had given him the abyssal ice skill nheless. It was interesting since he was stepping in to another realm of understanding. The pure elemental nes ovepped. That was new news to him. It was surely news to others as well since the ne they lived on was separate to a degree. However, just like Ibis, it was possible to call the monsters from the elemental nes to them. It was just a matter of understanding how this all worked.


    The theories and potentials for these things swarmed Walker''s mind. If he put too much more thought in to it he would end up melting his brain. For the time being, it was better to shackle these thoughts away from his mind and focus on the main fact before him. He had finally seeded in fusing darkness mana and water mana by changing forms to ice and condensed shadows.


    "Hey Walker, want toe down here and tell us what you just did?" Those watching were very curious. Walker had not realized that he had be the focus of many on look out for the night.


    "Sorry, I was probably a big distraction. I fused darkness mana and water mana. I changed the water in to ice and used the shadows as the carrier of the darkness mana. Then I tried to put the darkness mana inside the ice but that made weird snow. So I did the opposite and made the shadows wrap around the ice. Now I have abyssal ice which is found in the darkness and water elemental nes. Kind of cool, right?"


    "You say that like you just threw together a simple sandwich. Do you know how many water mages you woke up? Even the dragonkin with darkness affinity came to see what happened." Gil just shook his head at how oblivious Walker was at the moment. It was altogether stunning.


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 Chapter 1674 1674. Work Together For Once

    "Well, I kind of just did throw it together. I might have used my skills but it''s not like I had these things already. I just get a feeling and follow it." Walker really wasn''t sure what to say. Gil might tease him no matter what just for fun.


    "So that ice. Umm, abyssal ice, what can it be used for? Do you think I can make anything with it?" Gil was always focused on arrows. It was normal for any archer.


    "If you want arrows made of it, then give me an arrow to copy and I will see." Walker watched as Gil handed him an average wooden and iron arrow from his quiver. It was nothing special but the easiest arrow to make that he knew Walker had seen many times before.


    Having some abyssal ice that Walker was already maintaining, he started to shape it. The process brought all eyes back to him on the top deck since he had already gained the attention of a few water mages and dark affinity dragonkin.


    The crystals that had been formed in the shadows of darkness mana were hard to shape without manipting both manas perfectly. Some of the crystals shattered as they appeared from the shadows. Others were able to mold themselves in to the shape of an arrow darker than coal.


    This was the second time that Walker was making waves with the water and darkness mana. Enough to finally draw the attention of Mordant and Current who had been studying their own affinities for mana.


    "Shh, he just fused water and dark manas. It made some abyssal ice thing and he is making it an arrow for me." Gil saw the two dragonsing and warned them of Walker''s concentration. They were not at all offended since they were interested in what was happening in the first ce.


    Seeing the fusion of the two elemental manas gave the two royal dragons a strange feeling. Mordant understood it better than Current though. He had touched on the ne of darkness mana. He knew that this skill had to originate there from the density of mana and how it did not flow the same way as the usual shadows.


    Current was more confused though. He could feel the odd way that the ice froze and how the water elemental mana was denser than usual. But if he tries to prove and take it to understand it, he would ruin the skills Walker was using. This wasn''t normal for him, he had always held the highest understanding of water, now he felt a little lost.


    "It''s kind of rough. The arrow doesn''t want to stay a solid shape so the shadows are being affected by the extra darkness mana in the abyssal ice. But it should still fly true. I would say it will cause some decaying and very cold freezing effects on whatever you hit."


    Walker came out of his focus in a slight daze while exining. He hadn''t noticed Mordant and Current arriving since he dedicated his full focus to manipting the abyssal ice that he was still a little lost about when it came to manipting and using it.


    "You haven''t been to the true ne of darkness or water?" Mordant didn''t even wait to ask. He was sure that Walker had not but he needed to hear it.


    "No, but this is a skill that some monsters have that live on the ovepping areas of the darkness and water ne." This confirmation made Mordant more excited.


    "I stopped my elemental absorption at the right time. This is much more worthy of my focus. Can I have some to watch it?" Current looked at Walker too and he knew that both wanted it but Mordant had just asked first.


    "Let''s make a little pile here. The three of us can try to understand it as the ice melts and breaks down. And Gil, that arrow won''tst. The mana is escaping it."


    "Well, I knew that. I just want to see if you can make an arrow with it. If you can¡­we can use it in battle too." Gil was sure he could have Walker make him plenty of unique arrows. He wouldn''t have to use his stash of arrows which he spent a lot of effort on at all.


    The water mages and the dark affinity dragonkin saw the three sitting down and Gil leaving. They understood that those above them would be learning a lot from the fusion of darkness mana and water mana. So they decided to find others to take their positions from them and learn as well. Just being in the presence of other elemental magics could help them improve. That was why it was important to train under a mage with much more experience or a better system.


    "Did you make this so that we would work together more?" Mordant stopped what he was doing for a moment. He had been trying to feel the depths of the darkness in the abyssal ice until this thought had urred to him.


    "To be honest, no. But since you mention it, yes. We should get all the royal dragons working together more. What had you aplished aparttely? You are better together. If the earth and fire dragons worked together, then the armors you all want can be made faster. If the wind and water dragons work together, then the affinity potions might be higher quality from the herbs being grown better. Those are just a few examples to follow."


    "You understand that you are asking us to change our ways again. I am like the water, I flow with what is happening. But it might not be possible for me to flow in that way.'' Current had epted a lot of what Walker had said. But he had also understood that there were lines he did not want to cross.


    "Then why are you sitting here? There is a perfect example of what cane of fusing your two abilities. The condensed manas that you both nourish can be this. Something that both of you can''t obtain on this ne. What would happen if you both encountered a monster from the elemental nes? Would you win? Or would you lose?"


    The way that Walker went around this was harsh. He understood that Mordant was already more open to changes. He would definitely work with other dragons. However, he had not imagined that Current would resist. It was a strange change in personality. Yet, it most likely came from the fact that so much was happening and none of the dragons were in theirfort zone any longer. They had left their viges for the first time in a long time. Even Terron was braving the ocean depths.


    "You think that I would lose to-"


    "Yes, we would lose. You have not yet touched the ideals and values thate with the water elemental ne. I have touched upon the shadows that shift in and out of the darkness elemental ne. I know what resides there. We are weak byparison. Have you not understood why I am so epting of everything? My pride is worthless if every dragon perishes under my orders."


    The angry side of Mordant never showed. This shook many around him. The waves of shadows seemed to shift in turmoil while Mordant red at Current. This wasn''t just for show, it was theplete idental release of power while Mordant became angry.


    "That is why I want you both to work together. You already know that nature dragons were the most powerful of all of the dragons. They are rare, but they are a fusion of all elemental mana. If every single dragon works together, then you can all have the power of or even above the nature dragons of history." This seemed to calm Mordant and little and stop Current from reacting with anger.


    "If you believe that to be the case, I will give it a chance. You must convince the others. I will take no part in that. It is not something I wish to bring down upon others." Current was stalwart in his beliefs. However, seeing the reaction that mordant had made him realize that he was not necessarily in the best shape. Mordant had definitely believed every word he said. That being the case, it would be foolish not to take caution.


    "I will talk to them too. I might not have seen the elemental nes¡­ but I know there are monsters there that use this ice. And they can''t be the strongest there are. I have seen a few from the light elemental ne. Maybe I should speak to Rise next. She is the oldest out of all the royal dragons. She might have already touched the ne of light too." Walker made this his goal forter before the two royal dragons around him calmed down for the time being.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1675 1675. Fight Three

    "Why? For some potions? I know you think they will make a lot of difference, but I am here. Trapped by this ce for now." Terron''s mood had turned more and more sour as he was in the ships. He had found that he could not take any more earth mana crystals or else there would be a deficit in the ship.


    The earth mana crystals were needed for the ship''s runes and a few other things. Not to mention potential repairs if there was damage to the ship during the journey. Therefore, there had been those that stopped Terron from going to get more of the crystals from all the ships. And as a result, it had put him in a worse mood.


    It wasn''t just the fact that the other dragons were able to use their elemental mana freely. It was the fact that the affinity potions for earth were made for him and left there, taunting him. Terron could not drink them and improve by leaps and bounds as the other royal dragons were. Even the ind they had found was proven to be a monster and useless to him.


    "I know that you want to keep gathering mana. I do too. My partner is in the same state as you. That is why they are resting and waiting. But I still want to learn from you. If I can be tougher like the earth, like you, then I will be able to defend more people I care for. Stop more from even nearing my family." Su didn''t hide a single thing.


    When it came to training, Su had maintained her own training. She had told the others that she had somewhat trained with Terron, but in reality she had just trained nearby since he had been so stubborn. Now that she had grown sick of not improving in the ways that she desired, she had pushed him. Her stubbornness against his.


    "And why should I agree to that? Train someone weak in a skill that will cost me? I think not!" the growl resounded through the part of the ship that Terron had taken residence in. his eyes closed again as he tried to pretend he was nowhere near the ocean.


    "Because if you help me, I can have Walker prioritize things for you. I can also use my title as hero to get you things you need. Haven''t you been to the desert elf city? That ce was where the mage tower came from. There should still be many earthen treasures there. It''s only right that someone goes to collect them for you.'' Su also had this care in her back pocket.


    The reason that she went with the desert elf city that had been built over the ancient ruins was simple. It had many things left behind by the elves and even those that came before them. But since it was in the middle of the desert, there was a high chance that the plentiful earth materials they would have had stored were still there. They would not have decayed or been snatched up.


    The reason that theft was not a thought in Su''s mind were the monsters. They had been trying to get in to the deepest part of the ruins, yet, they had been unable to do that with the mage tower or any other part. That meant that the vaults and treasuries would most likely be safe for her to take things from. They would be full of what she could use to appease Terron.


    "Treasures are what I have. I am a royal dragon, I have collected many things in my life. What could they have that I do not? Why do I need old and useless things?" The rebuttal was not what Su was hoping for.


    "Then what about what Current and Mordant are doing right now? You haven''t left here, right? Do you even know what they are doing and what that means for them?" This was like a p in the face. Terron''s eyes opened and red right at Su. she could feel the pressure he radiated as a royal dragon who had lived many more lives than she had.


    "I went to the top of the ship for water and food before I came back here. Walker was mixing water and darkness to make ice. It didn''t go as nned though, he messed up and made some skills that brought the mages out to watch. Now, he has a skill that is from the ovepping darkness and water elemental nes. A skill that is unique to beasts that can fight against dragons."


    If anyone could walk in the room at that moment, they could feel the sinking feeling in Terron''s heart. He had not touched the earthen elemental ne. He believed himself too far away currently. But Current, who had also not touched the water elemental ne was studying magic from it? How ridiculous was that? How insulting was that?


    There was a lot of frustration and anger in Terron. He felt like he could blow up at any moment. He wanted to p his wings and bring up an earthquake to deal with the problems he faced. Not that it would solve a single thing. At most, it would make a few waves that trapped him in the ocean forever.


    "But what if Walker focused on earth next? He manages to find a new skill fused with wind or another element so you can study how the ovepping elemental nes work. So you can see a different purity of earth magic and mana?" Now Su knew she had Terron''s full attention. She could feel it in his gaze. It was no longer angry and frustrated but it was hungry.


    "The skill most of my dragonkin learn is called the metal scale. They grow with their training. Spending time with metals, ores, and earth. This is the essence of where we live and what we dig through the caves for. My scales can not be pierced by average metals. They are toughened by the earth as I dig through it. So why would my dragonkin not desire to be the same?"


    There was a moment when Su thought her heart had stopped. She was very excited that she had finally found something that Terron wanted and that she could learn. "You will find my dragonkin and defeat three of them while they use this skill. If you can do that, I will let you see me use my own version of the skill. If you can not deliver the price you have offered¡­"


    "Then I will be failing you as a hero. It would be worthless to say I am a guardian if I can''t even learn a skill that would help me protect others." Su made sure to finish what Terron was saying. She didn''t want to hear a threat of destruction. However, it appeared ying on the pride as a draconic guardian made Terron happier. Dragons and pride were hand in hand.


    "Leave before I have changed my mind. My dragonkin will report to me after you have managed to win if you can." Terron knew that if Su failed, then he might lose out. However, this was also a challenge for his dragonkin. They had remained idle for this trip so far. They were doing small tasks and he hated it. He wanted them to fight and show how indomitable they were. He wanted them to represent the mountains he had eaten hollow, the true strength of earth and stone.


    There weren''t any more words to be said. Su ran from the pce immediately. She had toe up with theories about how to beat the earthen dragonkin that hade aboard the ships. She had not fought with many of them or even seen many fight. The moment that they hade on board the ships, they had be very downtrodden since they were not in touch with the earth as usual.


    "Where are you rushing to? If I have any sense, you are looking for a fight." Of all the people to run in to, Su nearly ran right in to Scy who was finishing up a walkthrough of the ship with a few of the cksmiths and rune carvers.


    "I need to fight three earth affinity dragonkin to get Terron to teach me how to use a skill. If I can''t win then I will fail to get stronger before we make it to the unknown continent." Su knew that hiding this would just draw Scy in more. The best method was to be honest and hope that Scy didn''t want to fight her too.


    "Good! I like that Terron! His ideas are grand. I will watch your fights then. You might learn even more!" Scy was feeling like she had just found a seat in the arenas back in the demi-human city. It was just like home.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1676 1676. Roaring At The Earth

    There was no effort spared as soon as Scy had be involved. She knew that she was going to see a good battle between the earthen dragonkin and Su. But she also wanted to see what the skill was that they knew and Su did not. That would be a very interesting addition to her battle knowledge for when she directed all the soldiers under her.


    Naturally, the change in the top decks set up drew a lot of attention. While a lot of the soldiers remained on looout, there were more than enough to end uping toward the top deck to watch. Before Su knew what was going on, there were many soldiers that had formed a ring around arge open area for her to battle.


    "Here and now, we have a challenge issued in the name of battle knowledge. Su, the hero had challenged the dragonkin of the royal dragon Terron. Thee shall battle their way through intensebat for the chance to learn from the royal dragon himself. If they fail, they will prove that they have mountain to climb before they can look back up at the sky!"


    As much as Scy wanted to just watch, she had fallen right in to her favorite activity. She loved the arenas of the demi-human city. The entire act of battling, announcing, and challenging were ideal to her. They were the best activities for growth. Even watching a battle could bring someone from a full stop to aplete revtion of where they should be in their battle style.


    "This has gone too far." Su was incredibly embarrassed being put on the spot. However, she couldn''t hold back her blood. She could feel it starting to heat up at the thought of battle. The dragon blood that was affecting her was truly stronger than she gave it credit for. Even though her emotions had not caught up with the situation, there was the fact that her blood was already preparing for a battle feeling the energies around her.


    "Sister Su! You can do it!"


    "Fight! Win!"


    The two cheers surprised Su a lot. She had not expected that Midnight and Onyx would take a break from their own training to watch her. But when she looked, she saw that it was more than just them. Rise was looking down at them with Ventus nearby as well.


    The reason that they hade to pay attention to this was simple, they wanted to watch the human draconic guardian improve. While Rise may have been more stiff when it came to the reasons she wanted to see Su improve, Ventus was more rxed.


    Sicenventus had seen so many unique things and even trusted her children to learn around the human heroes, she wanted to see more. It was like a curiosity that couldn''t be sated. She wanted to see just what more could happen. How much more the humans with these never before had positions could do? They were so amazing already that they could step in line with dragons, what else could they show her?


    "Why am I so in my head? I need that metal scale skill. Or even better, I need a skill above it." Su started to let her greed win a little. She wanted more than just the basic skill that the dragonkin used. She wanted the direct skill that Terron used when he fought. She wanted to be able to have defenses that rivaled a real dragon''s defenses. Who cared about having the second best, she wanted to be the best guardian there was.


    The sudden mming of the twin shields made everyone draw focus on to Su. she had finally warmed up for the fight and all the earth dragonkin that coulde were facing her. They had not chosen who would be the first to battle, But she was already facing them.


    "Come and show me what dragonkin that hide under rocks can do! Can you deal with a real fight? Or will you go back to hide in your caves!?" Su''s taunt was enough to rile anyone up, but for the moment, the dragonkin were incredibly incensed by it.


    Before they could step forward, Su took a depth breath. Everyone saw it and wondered just what she could be doing. If they thought for a moment., they would remember that S had been growing and changing over time. The dragon blood shared with her through a proper ritual had affected her greatly. It had altered her body and she could even breathe small mes if she wanted.


    But these were mes. This was a thing any dragon could do. And any dragonkin could do too if they were strong enough.


    Therge breath Su took ion was released with a higher pitched roar. The echo never returned since the sound went around the ocean. Every ship heard it along with the nging of metal as the twin shields mmed back together. Those that were not ready were stunned but the dragonkin were immediately hyper focused. They had been challenged. pped in the face and challenge for their territory and pride.


    "The roaring guardian calls for your first fighter, earthen dragonkin, send your warrior!" Scy was nearly shaking, she was too excited. She had never imagined that Su would be standing out so much. She would be putting on such a spectacr showing of her current strength. There was not a doubt in Scy''s mind that she would be seeing Su crush three dragonkin before the night was out.


    The first dragonkin warrior took a stand ahead of Su. he had a long sword with him and a small buckler shield. It seemed to be an odd pairing. However, he also had longer limbs making him tall for a dragonkin warrior. The added height would definitely give him a unique battle style that would make him harder to face. Su saw this but she looked at him like he was a bug. She knew that she had to enrage them more. Knew that it was a key to victory. But her blood also screamed at her, she had to be the best of them!


    The longswordshed out toward Su but her shields mmed together. Therger defenses from the twin shields when linked made the attackpletely useless. It didn''t even make Su budge. However, when she pushed back, therger shielding at him made the dragonkin take a slight step back. It was another provocation.


    The earth affinity dragonkin should be as stable as stone. They shouldn''t be pushed back. Yet, they had in just a moment of battle. They had already been beaten in a small matter. The next attack had to hit and defeat Su.


    That was why the buckler was abandonedpletely. Why defend when they could attack? They were earth dragonkin. They had tougher bodies than all others, which made them able to defend a human''s attack with no problem. So what if this human had already proven that they were strong? They had trained longer, they had worked under a royal dragon, and they were not willing to lose!


    The long sword came down with double the force as the dragonkin used both hands in his attack. The attack made a loud metal ringing when it came in to contact with the twin shields, But what surprised the dragonkin was how Su countered it. She split the shields letting the sword fall down to the deck. The force had been perfect to deflect the word to the ground and make a perfect opening.


    Using the split shield, Su turned her left and blocked the long sword from being able to be brought back up. The right shield mmed in to the shoulder of the dragonkinpletely throwing him off bnce. She didn''t stop theory though.


    Su had the advantage to keep this energy rolling. She was setting the pace for the battle, not the dragonkin and she was going to make sure of that. Therefore, Su used her momentum to charge forward using as much force as she could. The downward momentum and the shield mming back together in to onerge shield ensured that the dragonkin could not move fast enough to block it.


    He either had to drop his sword or he would need to take the full attack. But he had another option. In a sh of silver and brown, a metal like skin seemed to form over his scales. This was the metal scale skill that Su wanted to learn about as soon as possible, the skillet that would make her defenses reach another level.


    "Let''s see how tough you are!" Su growled out her will to fight more. She knew that the real battle had finally started. She was going to test out every aspect of the skill she needed. Every single little detail.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1677 1677. Taken By Emotion

    Su seemed to only be improving with every attack she blocked or used a shield to deflect. This battle was against a much tougher opponent now that the dragonkin was not taking her lightly. It had trained for a lot of time and was certainly better when it came to battle instinct. If that was all that decided the winner, then it would be an easy win for him.


    Unfortunately, Su was not simply a human fighting him. She was a draconic guardian that had epted the ritual and pledge their life to protect a dragon champion. The blood and the system had been connected from the start. It was not just some small symbolic gesture that someone would use to show status. It was a key to a draconic guardian truly awakening who they were.


    This fact was making the blood boil in Su''s body. She was feeling more and more instinctual pulls to dodge, attack, and withstand the foe she faced. It wasn''t so much the pressure that was tempering her, but the fact that she was properly using the mana that she had not used yet.


    The water that had started to ssh on to the deck around them was not fazing her in the least. Even the wind picking up around her was considered as more encouragement. The earth elemental mana that radiated around the dragonkin just exacerbated Su''s focus on gaining the metal scale skill.


    Furthermore, Su had not been holding back. She had already adapted and changed with the dragon blood within her. It was calling her to use the mes that she could use. The mes that she was unique to using as a draconic guardian. The mes that made the opponent she faced retreat every time she managed to fit in in to her movements.


    This wasn''t all though, Su already had the ability to make a light shield around her that was recovering her bruises and small scrapes while battling. The glow of light caused the shadows around her feet to lengthen and whether she noticed or not, those shadows were slightly wrapping her feet.


    This all came to be attributed to the fact that Su was no longer just a single elemental affinity being. She had epted the ritual and been weed by the blood she bonded with. Midnight had awakened her true dragon champion and bonded with Walker very closely. The natural mana had stimted the blood in her to fully awaken every elemental mana affinity. Since Midnight had that, so would Su, it was only natural that under such battle and emotions, Su would start to show that she subconsciously used these elemental manas.


    This was what Rise and Ventus wished to see. They wanted to see just how a human would defend a young dragon champion. How it could be possible that someone they had thought of as weak because of their race was able to adapt and ovee the barriers that would limit them.


    It was a sad thought that Terron''s dragonkin were being used for this. However, in their eyes, it was worth watching. Those that were fighting here were just acting as stepping stones to bring up a truly respectable draconic guardian. Every dragonkin would feel pride to see a guardian born even stronger due to their training. Due to the fights that they had to guide them.


    That was why the next two dragonkin were already itching to take the fight to Su. they wanted to drop the act of waiting and charge right in at full strength. As any good host would do in the arena, Scy noticed this. She saw that Su was under enough pressure but was pushing to a whole new level. Was straining herself to break the mold restraining her.


    This wasn''t just about getting a single skill to help her defend everyone, it was about the stagnant feeling that many of them had by sitting on the ship. Sy couldn''t just jumbo in the water and defend the ship from underwater monsters. Like many, she was forced to sit and wait.


    This was the same feeling that many tamers had. They couldn''t fight like the monsters they tamed. Their partners often held a lot of the negatives. Some were able to learn to fight but most were stuck as just a tamer in the background. That was why they had also been attracted to the fight that Su was in. they could feel her emotional energy as well.


    "You! Join the fight. Let the pressure rise and show them what our great guardian can do!" Scy shouted above everyone for the next dragonkin to join. There was not a single second of hesitation as they entered with their ax.


    The pair of dragonkin easily adapted to fighting together. They had done so for many years already. The second dragonkin did not hold back in the least. The ax mmed down on to one of Su''s twin shields forcing her to step back. It was a sign that she had to adjust and ovee or else she would break, just as the ax wanted her shield to break under its de.


    The additional stress of being attacked by both a long sword with great weight behind it and an ax with great weight behind it made Su a little angry. She wanted to look at Scy and fight here. The blood inside her wanted to fight the source of the issue. However, Su was still able to hold her emotions. She had once heard that the most powerful people could identally crush a mountain in a small swipe of anger. That was why they trained their minds to resist everything.


    That sounded exactly like what a guardian should do. Train to resist everything. Taunts would be useless. The elemental attacks of magic and physical attack of nature would be nothing. That was what Su strived to be. Unaffected in the face of any danger so that all behind her could keep living safely.


    When the two attacked at once, Su was unable to m the twin shield back together, there was no if ands, or buts about it. She had to change the way she was fighting. The defensive battle she had going would never work. She couldn''t just retaliate. But that in itself was the issue, Su needed to change.


    Without thinking much, Su held the shields tighter and let them fall closer to her arms so that she could use the pointed eggs of them. It was something she had already thought about doing, but she had not wanted to turn the shields from their defense to attack. The point had been made so that when the twin shields were together, they could be forced in to the ground and defend a spot better. So that she couldn''t be pushed back.


    This drastic change was something unexpected. In battle, having something so unexpected would throw anyone off, especially the two dragonkin that had just gotten used to how Si had been moving. There was a moment that the two couldn''t move after Su had let their sword and ax deflect off the shields with a loud scrape. This moment had left them open to the stabbing attack of the pointed shields. ''


    "And now, you! Join the fight!" Scy had shouted the moment she saw Su adapting. It was the perfect chance to see the limits of what Su could do.


    The third metallic skinned dragonkin raced in and used the fallen buckler to deflect Su''s shield. The other he managed to knock to the side with a short sword. The third dragonkin had perfectly filled in the new gaps that the other two had. And it perfectly showed Su that she had to fight even further if she wanted to win.


    What no one sawing was that Su would be even angrier after this. So much that she let her emotion take over for a second. Just a second. In that second, the thicker skin she had developed showed the scale patterns it had gained. The dragon eyes that had appeared were seemingly glowing.


    Su''s nails seemed to elongate and mimic a dragonkin''s even more than anyone could have guessed. There were even small spots on her head that made it seemed that horns may sprout to mimic a dragon''s horns. Su had unknowingly awakened a simr skill to Midnight''s dragonkin transformation skill. She had awakened the draconic battle form known to many of the draconic guardians.


    While this form was based purely on their emotions, mana, and situation, Su was using only the most basic of this skill. It was like putting a single toe across the line, but a toe was all she needed. Su had already taken a deep breath and released a wave of mes that hit all three of her opponents. Perfectly masking her actions as she charged and began to unleash a fury of attacks.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1678 1678. Incoming Waves

    Seeing the changes in Su made every single dragonkin watching want to kneel down. They weren''t sure since only a few had seen the draconic battle form, however, they could feel it. This form was higher than them. It was much closer to a dragon than they were and it had power.


    Unfortunately, after just a few seconds, the dragonkin fighting Su had been radically mmed back. Her mana had been burned up and Su had started to return to her normal state. The only issue was that she was barely conscious and was close to beingpletely unconscious.


    Scy jumped in between where the three dragonkin hadnded and Su with a gust of wind. Her face was much more serious than before. She had seen the strength that came with Su under pressure. It was incredible. But the reason she had jumped in between the two parties was that Su had managed to deal damage through the dragonkin''s metal skin.


    They had been pushed farther back than anyone had expected and the metalyer of scales was cut apart. While the dragonkin were still breathing and conscious, they were injured much worse than one would have expected from a shield. That was what the incredible burst of strength had done. That was what just having a toe across the line to using the draconic battle form was.


    To a draconic guardian, this was their most powerful trump skill. Theirst ditch effort to protect their dragon champion. For Su, the only reason that she had just stuck a single toe over that line was her inexperience. She was too far from being able to understand and master the elemental affinities that she now had. She needed to find more skills and more ways to train them. Eventually, her body would catch up and she could truly start to use the skill when in need.


    "The winner today is the indomitable Su. An intense performance showing the polishing of a mighty diamond! The top of the food chain! The sole human draconic guardian known to man that bringsfort to all that need protection!" Scy spoke and there was a collective cheer. Everyone that had watched could only agree they had witnessed something amazing.


    Meanwhile, there were already healers helping the dragonkin that were injured. They had enough strength to bounce back from such an injury. However, that didn''t mean Su hadn''t realized that she had managed to cut right through their metal skin skill. She had felt it. The feeling of her pointed shields hitting them.


    "What abou¡­are they¡­"


    "Sister, you are strong. They are safe." Midnight leaned on Su. she had felt everything from their unique bond. Every small desire to get stronger. It had made her blood boil. It had made Midnight rush to Su and be there as her support.


    The rtionship between a draconic guardian and a dragon champion were not so small that they were just one way. This was their closest bond other than the dragon champion to the royal dragon. They were linked closer than siblings would be. That was why Su could also feel how proud Midnight was. How happy Midnight was to have a sister that was so strong and could easily protect everyone around her naturally.


    "That''s more than enough. I will show you a thing or two when you can stand. I will share it with your champion as well. I don''t want to see such a young dragon harmed." Terron made the excuse to also show Midnight, he had silently arrived without anyone else noticing. It was a surprise since he had done so in his dragonkin form. Not many people would expect the earth royal dragon to be stealthy.


    "Perfect." Su heard what she had desired and fell heavily on to Midnight who was more than happy to help carry her to bed.


    "So you felt that too. A draconic guardian for less than fifty years just started to use the draconic battle form. We have never had such a true born guardian for a champion before." Rise was high with praise. She had never seen nor read of such a thing. How could she not give credit where credit was due? Especially after history was clearly made.


    "You are correct about that. I did not expect to see such a thing in such a ce. Especially with the storm brewing like this. Maybe that was a reason. The stress of an iing storm affects everyone at every level." Ventus looked in to the dark clouds that had begun to roll in with the wind and the waves.


    "You both should mind your own business. This was a challenge issued by me. I was testing her to see if she would be worthy of learning the skill I use to defend myself. The metallic skin skill is nice. But that is a child that could learn the diamond skin skill." Terron said that before returning below deck. He only needed a look for his dragonkin to know that they needed to go with him and a few needed to remain with their brethren who had been injured.


    "Since you are here, Is it possible to use your wind to block the winds against us?" Scy knew that this would be tough, but if anyone could do it, it would be Ventus.


    "This storm is notrge. I can not change nature though. I can only block some of it from the ships. Remain on course and take measures to prevent the worst." Ventus saw that Scy was being honest with her and could only say she would help. There was the added bonus that a lot of mana would be around them during a storm. It was one reason that Su had reacted the way that she did. Higher mana in a chaotic state would always affect someone with multiple affinities.


    "Are all of you prepared?" Leon ran up to them he had seen the battle but had focused on getting the merfolk out of the waters. He had also told the dwarves that it was best to keep the golems out of the waters under any circumstance possible. They could easily be swept away from the ships and be lost forever.


    "Yes, we are preparing some maneuvers. I have asked Lady Ventus to help us prevent the wind from throwing us off course. I was going to ask you to organize the water mages." Scy was already working well with all of them. She had taken the lead against the storm even during the battle that Su had been doing. No one had noticed the demi-human soldiers moving around to alert and awaken anyone that needed to be woken.


    The change in the ship were also clear. There had been things set up for the ships to battle against storms. The runes were activating at higher levels since they had been set up to use the manas around for this instance. There were also preparations to keep the sails from getting torn in the storms. The sails were partially there to help the ships move, but right now they were going to be harmful to the course and making it through the storms.


    The issue that they all encountered was the fact that the waves were growing. The water mages would be key in this. Naturally, it had already started to alert Walker, Current, and Mordant. They felt that changes around and had started to join in the preparation themselves. Mordant had specifically set his dragonkin to be on watch for the rails. He trusted that they could use the shadows to react fast enough to capture anyone falling over the railings.


    Current was in a different position. Just like Ventus, he had been asked to help. Walker had started to ask right away as soon as he felt the changes in nature. He wanted to make sure that there would be someone with very powerful water magic skills to save them if a major wave came at them.


    Therge waves were the true tests that would potentially flip the ships or sink them. The ships had not been tested in storms yet, they had been designed by the best of the best. However, the ships were still the top of the line. Those that had worked on them had a lot of knowledge and had contributed everything they had to offer to them.


    There was also the issue that the storm clouds brought themselves. Mainly lightning. No one knew better that there was always one thing that lightning liked to strike the most. It would go for the heist point. But it also liked to strike metal. People knew not to walk through fields during lightning with metal on their bodies. They would be a target. Right now, the ships were metal in an open space. Only water was around them.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1679 1679. Issues In Storm

    "Water mages! Wave ining!" The warning went out and the water mages sprinted to the side of the ship. They used their collective strength to hold off the majority of the iing wave.


    This had been the way they had started to resist the small and medium sized waves. The person responsible for therge waves had been Current. He was flying without any trouble through the wind. Ventus could easily keep the ships from being buffeted by the strongest wind and no dragon would have trouble flying during the storm.


    Between Current and Ventus, thergest threats were being resolved or at the very least, reduced. However, this had just been a few moments in to the storm. There was still a major issue of the lightning. That was what the others needed to figure out.


    Most people that could not use magic were forced below deck or were paired up with the mages. This was to ensure that the mages did not fall overboard during the jostling of waves or wind. However, there had already been three close calls. The merfolk had already dived in to the water to pull someone back on to the ships since they had been knocked overboard.


    The keen eyes of archers and the tamers were watching like hawks. Between the beasts and the archers, there had not been a single thing that escaped their watch. It was a great way for everyone to rest slightly at ease while the storm only seemed to get worse.


    Communication had be rough. The ships were close enough that they could use light and a few other unique methods ofmunications. The real issue was the fact that the roaring of the storm winds and waves stopped the ability to hear properly. That meant that every single time that Scy, Leon, or the king of the surface shouted an order, it was missed.


    That was where the dragons came in. they had the sheer size and strength to shout over a literal storm. Since Current and Ventu had taken their dragon forms, the other royal dragons had taken roles elsewhere in their dragon forms. Even Terron hade to the top ship and was roaring orders to others after seeing what was wanted. He wouldn''t pretend to know what was going on with every ship or how they worked. He was stubborn, not an idiot.


    Walker found himself with the water mages. Every wave he sawing he felt to some degree. Every gust of wind, he could feel on his arms before it actually came. This storm was proving to be his kind of ce. His kind of environment.


    For whatever reason. The natural mana within the storm was fairly powerful. It was causing the elemental manas to mix and build causing many different effects. This was very simr to how Walker had to bnce the manas to stop them from going out of control. If they did go out of control, Walker believed that he was seeing arge scale version of the risks he took fusing elemental and natural manas.


    The real thing that he was focused on was the lightning. He knew that to be the main issue in this situation. It was clear to everyone. No matter what they all did, there was nothing to resist the lightning that coulde down. It was destructive and fused elemental mana that could easily ruin every rune on the ships with one strike if it was powerful enough.


    Yes, there were earth ruins to reinforce the ships. That was made just to prevent stress from warping the metals badly. Unfortunately, they were not made to resist lighting of all things. Earth was the most resistant elemental mana to lightning since it was not mixed within the lightning at all. It was not conducive to the same degree and everything else.


    There was a sudden growth of green seaweed in front of them. Walker was sure that Alma had acted to protect the ships from arger wave for a moment. It would not do much but it was already a lot. The downside was that Walker knew that Alma would be under a lot of stress doing this.


    ''Wild Bull kelp


    The wild bull kelp is a hearty and dense seaweed that doesn''t need to set roots to grow. It can growrge and rapidly in the middle of the ocean if needed. It is known to be food for many monsters. It is very tough and some people without much gold can make armor out of if dried wild bull kelp. Otherwise, it is just known for being longsting and tough.''


    The all around appraisal was somewhat helpful. Walker had seen pieces of this floating in the ocean so it made sense that Alma would have taken the seeds when she saw them to use. She was always on the look out for new seeds to use her nt growth skills on. However, the massive wall of wild bull kelp that she had made was too much.


    However, it had inspired Walker. The bull kelp had grown very tall and was very tough, since it was controlled, it had the guidance and strength to remain upright without bending. That being said, Walker knew that he could make it taller than the ships. It could be the perfect way to redirect the lightning that appeared because of the storm. So far they had just been lucky that the lightning had remained in the clouds.


    The ships were close enough since they were in formation that Walker could run through the air and get to the ship that Alma was on. She had been using her skills here and there while directing other mages to work on the waves and win. However, she saw Walker and was clearly pale. She had used a lot of mana to block an entire wave with the wild bull kelp.


    "Listen! I need your help to manipte that kelp. We will use it to block the lightning and direct it to the ocean around us to lessen the damage!" Walker''s shouts were loud enough to be heard since he was using the wind maniption to make his voice heard.


    "I am out-"


    "I have mana potions and I will reinforce you with my mana and the natural mana. Just give me the seeds and use your skills since you have them and I do not." Walker was going to fuel Alma''s skills. That was the goal here. Instead of Alma using all of her mana, she would be using her mental strength and skills without her mana. The mana would be nearly all Walker. Especially since he would be using natural mana.


    The additional natural mana always worked better with nature. That was a fact. Natural mana and nts were hand in hand since it was part of nature in elemental and could contain all sorts of mana. That was why alchemy and elemental herbs were a thing. They held mana easily because they were a mixing of mana elemental manas in to one thing.


    "Are you sure that will work?" Alma had her worries. She knew that Walker could do many things, but provide her withrge amounts of mana didn''t seem right.


    "The storm is a mix of a ton of manas. I just need to pull on the natural mana to make them work for us than against us!" This was the pan he had. Since the mana around him was chaotic and full of natural mana changing forms, he could use it. It would take a lot of focus to bring the mana to him then channel it in to Alma''s skills. It would also use almost all of his mana to do. That meant a lot of mana potions would be used in tandem with him.


    "Fine! Just don''t go too far!" Her worries were justified, but the situation was not light. They had to make a solution to prevent anything back from happening. As if to mock them, the lightning struck the ocean in the distance. An arc of lightning spiderwebbed out across the surface of the ocean and touched the ships.


    A slight jolt of electricity hit everyone but did zero damage. It was the extent of a static shock. However, it had been enough for every single person to realize the situation they were in. the waves were annoying. The wind was brutal. Yet, the true danger was the bright sh and boom of lightning and thunder that could tear them and the ships apart. It would leave a metal hull floating in the water without any life on it. A true danger. A true fear.


    There was a reason that most beings feared lightning. There was a reason that most lightning affinity monsters were. Having the triple elemental affinity to make lighting was very rare and Walker understood why he had only seen one monster with it so far.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1680 1680. Caged

    Manipting the mana around him proved to be a tougher task for Walker. He was trying to pull at the natural mana around him and found that it was not allowing him easy control. Since Fleur had gone in to rest, he waspletely alone with this. It would have been nice if she was awake, however, Walker had felt her begin to slowly absorb natural mana.


    This alone meant that Walker would be having a harder time with this. But it was also good. The natural mana that Fleur needed was much higher than the other elemental spirits. That was because she needed the mana of all elements formed together to create natural mana. There was rarely dense natural mana around.


    The storm was different though. The changing of manas left a lot of dense natural mana. Therefore, Walker could sense the manas changing and moving around him. The water elemental man was the most prevalent. That was followed by wind. They were both being pushed up, down, left, right, and any other possible direction. Every time the water sprayed in is face, it was blown away by the wind.


    There was also the fire elemental mana. That was the surprise. Walker had always wondered how storms were made. He had forcefully mixed the manas before and even found that when he used a lot of his mana to use the lightning sword styles, he was creating small arcs and sparks. But that was just it, that was not real lightning, it was just a mana reaction to his actions. He could not control that.


    This meant that Walker was seeing the natural creation of lightning for the first time. It was a perfect storm for him to learn. Unfortunately, this was not the ce to learn. Not that he would miss the chance to learn something. Just by extending his senses he was learning.


    The fire elemental mana wasing from the top of the clouds. But reaching out with his mind, Walker could feel that the fire mana was built up from the sun hitting the dense dark clouds. The wind generated was making the wind react and in turn the wind made the water react. All of these reactions mixed the two and made lightning form. It was a wondrous feeling.


    Just understanding this movement all around them made Walker better able to grasp some mana as it came by him. If he couldn''t mobilize all of the natural mana, he would mobilize parts as the mana shift around him. He wouldn''t be inplete control, but he would be able to change the course of things.


    "Are you ready?" Alma felt Walker ce a hand on her shoulder. He was starting to pull mana toward him and make it condense around them. The contact with Alma allowed him to sense her mana flow so that he could add the natural mana behind her skills.


    Since Alma had consumed a few low tier mana potions. She was looking a lot better. The mental stress was being ignored for the time being. The water elves had also moved around them to prevent any idents. It was a collective feeling that they were needed at the moment while the two prepared their skills.


    "Make a cage to redirect the lighting. We can take the secondary arcs, but not the strikes." Walker made sure that Alma heard him over everything. She had already figured this out though. If she were to make aplete dome over every ship, then there would be a major issue. It would burn her mana and fall right apart. It would not be maintained.


    "I am going to channel my mana in to these seeds. I will send people to ce them around all the ships!" This was the small caveat to the entire n. It depended on everyone moving ship to shop through the storm. Not many people were able to do that.


    The harder grasp on both Alma''s and Walker''s arms made them look over. They found Scy who had Leon right with her. She had seen Walker moving and knew that he was working on a n. Without a single second of hesitation, she had grabbed the strongest to help too. Behind her were Terron, Mordant, Ignus, and Rise. It waspletely unexpected.


    "Take the seeds. Alma has added her mana to them. We will make them grow. Just spread them ahead of us. We are making a cage!" That was all they needed to hear as each took a handful of wild bull kelp seeds. They had no intention of letting these ships sink.


    Other than the fact that the dragonkin that followed them were on these ships, the dragons were prideful. How could they fail to defend against a simple storm? How could they be so weak that a storm at sea would defeat thempletely? That would make them the lowest of the low when it came to dragon history. That would make them just pathetic worms inparison of the greatness left behind for them to follow.


    The royal dragons were tough enough to fly no matter the wind. Even if they pushed themselves a little, they could tough out the hardest gusts and therger waves. Even Terron knew that he could fly through it all. He was a dragon, even though his affinity was earth, flying was a natural aspect for them. His wings had formed before he could even understand what they were!


    The seeds left Alma and Walker in their hands. But through the connection of her mana, Alma could sense them all. It was like they were an extension of herself. But that was the nature of her skill at the end of the day. She could mix her mana with the nt she chose and make it grow rapidly. That wasn''t just temporary though, she could leave them living in the state the altered them as she wanted. She was truly part of nature herself.


    "Walker, they all just hit the water. As long as the ships stay in formation I can keep the kelp here." Alma felt a reassuring squeeze. Walker had no mind to speak right now. Before he had been training, he had been able to split his attention. That was all and good, but now, he had to focus everything he had on the mass of natural mana he had gathered.


    The storm seemed to be trying to tear away the natural mana again. It was still changing the manas around them. The water, fire, and wind manas were pulling at his attention butpletely blocked every time they tried to break up the natural mana. The major effect that Walker had over everything was purely from his training and skills. If hecked a single one he would be lost here in the ocean.


    "Guided overgrowth!" Alma shouted the skill she was about to use. She wanted every single person around her to be warned that she was using a skill that would have arge effect. It was a warning so that they avoided any issues that came with it. To make sure that they avoided the lightning that mighte off the wild bull kelp.


    Feeling the influx of natural mana around her made Alma grind her teeth. The seeds soaked up every bit of mana that suddenly hit her as if they were endless voids. The skill would normally be used as ast result since she knew that overgrowing a nt was risky to its life. Yet, what was the point of holding a trump card here? Never using it to protect others meant that it was a waste to have.


    The waters churned in the waves around the ships as they reached the locations of the wild bull kelp seeds. There were tendrils of watery roots that snaked out away from the ships to direct the lightning toward the outer ocean around them. The long andrge wild bull kelp stalks shot up with unparalleled strength. Normally they would flop over, however, they were braiding around each other forming a massive framework cage. It covered the entire area of the ships'' formation.


    Everyone knew who was using this skill. There was only one person that could manipte nts like this on any ship. Their respect for Alma had always been there, unfortunately, Alma had never used her skills like this in front of so many. She had always used smaller scale skills and kept herself with some mana to ensure that she was able to give orders after.


    "You have all the mana you need! Don''t stop!" Walker roared out and forced more control over the natural mana. He would not let the skill drop until the storm blew over. Even with the rumbling from the sky, he didn''t blink. Even seeing the first sh of lightning getting closer, he did not hesitate.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1681 1681. Growing Through Lightning

    "Lightning!" The shout was from those that saw the distant shes getting closer. It was the warning that more of them would feel the small zaps that were currently hitting them now and them. It was still not enough to cause anyone damage, however, it was worrisome.


    Walker felt that the air was bing more energetic. The manas were changing faster and faster around him and Alma as they worked to maintain the newly risen wild bull kelp cage around the ship''s formation. It was of the utmost importance that this remained.


    Many people saw this, especially the mages. They knew that they had to maintain Waker and Alma''s safety. That was why the ship formation began to change. The king of the surface had made the shipse together a little more with a focus on keeping everyone steady. The cage was their protection while the ship with Walker and Alma was the new center for the formation.


    The water mages worked even harder to keep the waves from discing a ship by a single inch. It was the only way for them to maintain that the ships would not be damaged at all. It was also the best way to keep Alma''s magic skills working. The less stress she had, the higher the result that the wild bull kelp would be strong. Especially since they could not add to her skills in any way other than blocking the waves.


    As if to mock them, the sky shed with a bright light. The ocean was illuminated showing the rolling waves and the water caught in the winds. Some would see it as an apocalyptic sight while others might even say it was beautiful in a chaotic way. But when all was said and done, it was nature at its finest. A disy of manaing together and changing the very world around them.


    "Brace!" Walker roared out loud enough for everyone to hear. He had used a small amount of mana as a warning. However, they all felt the hair on their arms stand up. Some even felt the water they were touching be slightly energized before a massive sh of light hit the wild bull kelp cage.


    The following boom was full of the smell of air itself burning. The wild bull kelp sizzled and ckened as the lightning traveled to the water. Alma flinched as the roots in the water were burned up. The dissipating lightning was causing the wild bull kelp to die right there on the spot. Yet, that was not all Alma could do. She was stronger and had raised many nts higher than this. She would not raise a nt to just lose right away.


    With the influx of mana that Walker was still working hard to gather, Alma pushed life back in to the wild bull kelp cage she had made. It reacted with vigor and wrapped around itself more. The burned ends bing a guide for the new growth. Even more roots spread away in the waters around while the stalks continued to intertwine.


    The next sh of lightning came all too soon. The sizzling or wild bull kelp made everyone hear and smell the danger they were in much more than before. The ckened bull kelp appeared even stronger than before. Walker and everyone knew that they were crossing through the center of the storm now. The winds and waves had reached much higher strength and the lightning that had been in the distance reached them.


    There were arcs of lightning n the ocean as more strikes rained down over the water. Current roared in retaliation as he used his body to break through thergest waves. He could feel the remnant lightning in them and didn''t even flinch. It was proof of his dragon might over others.


    Ventus was much the same. Thergest gusts of wind brought familiar lightning toward her as well. She had long been in the sky and had fared through many storms. She was not unfamiliar with lighting, she had more resistances than many did to storms. However, she had to avoid direct strokes, the secondary arcs were all she could handle without actually taking damage.


    The roaring of dragons and the extreme growth of kelp. No one would have imagined this to be a sight that appeared in the open ocean. Yet, if someone were to look closely, there was a boy gathering mana like a mad man. A boy grinding his teeth with a furious smile.


    While Walker did not realize the expression he was making, he was filled with energy opposed to being tired or strained. He had been feeling more and more energetic as he pulled at the mana around him. Even the shocks of residual lightning made him feel better by the second.


    ''The skill lightning apostle''s cloak had been taken from the lightning apostle system. The user has learned the lightning apostle''s cloak but creating lightning, being shocked by lightning, using rted lightning based or inspired skills.


    Lightning apostle''s cloak- 30 mana cost, dependent on lightning hitting the user


    The mana cost is very high to begin with, however, the cloak does not actually generate lightning. It attracts the lightning around the user and makes it in to their protection. The stronger the lightning, the less it will harm them. There is also a mana and stamina replenishing effect when attacked by lightning. This skill is very dependent on the situation, if used when there is no lightning, it is basically useless.


    This skill is part of the lightning god''s blessing. Those who can use it are always limited to the ones blessed by the one with the lightning god system. If achieved without the blessing, the skill may be weaker or cost additional mana.''


    This was not anything Walker could read at the moment. He felt alive. His blood was roaring along with every stroke. As if to challenge the thunder and call down more lightning. The yellow arcs that wrapped around him appeared to be a protective cloak. It even extended to protect Alma as well.


    The next strike of lightning around all of them caused arger cloak to appear around Walker. He could feel it in his blood. The rtionship with Midnight and Fleur was showing its true colors. Walker''s body had been advancing without him knowing. He had dragon and nature mixing together within him. His human status was still there, however, he was not entirely that any longer.


    The sheer amount of mana that was flowing through him was proof of that. Between the lightning apostles cloak giving him more stamina and mana, he had the natural mana that had begun to flow in to him with higher density. The chaotic mana that had not wanted to cooperate was now following his orders much better.


    This had alle to be with the fact that he was grasping a better understanding of lightning. The storm''s ever changing state made Walker focus on these things. Yet, it also made him try to understand the exact fusion. It was a rush of understanding, awakening, and even more all at once. That was why he could only grow more encapsted by it.


    Every bolt of lightning that flowed down was redirected, was taken away from them. Even Alma felt that she was being recuperated by Walker''s skill. She had no idea what skill it was, but she felt somewhat refreshed because of it. Especially as the lightning began to move further away and stroke less often.


    The winds began to shift and the waves were already falling. The storm that hade on in a sh was dying away in a sh. By the time it was a distant show, all that was left for everyone to look at were the small damages and Walker who was standing still releasing dense natural mana in to the air.


    Alma felt her mind finally release the wild bull kelp and the overgrowth skill she had been using. As she stepped away from Walker, she knew that he was in a strange state. He waspletely focused on the mana around and within him trying to understand it. But the spirit marks on his body shown strongly since Fluer was also gaining a lot from this storm.


    ''The skill lightning surge has been taken from the lightning mage system. The skill lightning surge had been gained because of rted lightning skills and the direct experience of lightning to the user''s body.


    Lightning surge- 15 mana cost


    The user can fuse elemental mana to create lightning in a burst. The surge will send small arcs of lightning around the user. The lightning can stun and cause damage to others depending on how much mana is used at once. The better the understanding of the fused elemental manas that create lighting, the better that this skill can be used.''


    Walker just smirked as he closed his eyes and his face softened. He was going to meditate until Fleur and him dealt with all the excess mana around him. He could not move an inch until then.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1682 1482. After The Storm

    If Walker had not been afraid of falling asleep while he meditated. It was actually expected since he had used so much mana and stressed his mind greatly. Fortunately, everyone on the ship had seen him sit down and start meditating before he had fallen asleep. It was fair to let him be after what he and Alma just did.


    The elves rushed to Alma after they had seen her also sit down. He had been pushed to her limits and beyond. No normal person would have as much mana as they had just used. The single reason they had been able to was that she had barely used her own mana to make the nts grow. It had all been natural mana from the storm.


    The fact that this was the case allowed Alma to reach a higher usage of a skill she was not able to use all the time. She had felt the minute changes in the wild bull kelp as it had grown, been destroyed, and recovered. All these things pushed her mind to a new way of guiding both it, and other nts in the future.


    That was the sole reason that she too had to sit and think. It was a great change in her understanding of her own skills. The elves knew how valuable an opportunity this was and took over their duties after helping her to her room to rest. Gil had also rushed over after he had done his due diligence around the other ship.


    Meanwhile, the royal dragons had all taken up ces on the ship Alma had been on. They were there since Walker had been using so much natural mana. They had also seen the skills that he used. Current and Ventus had missed a lot of it since they were blocking waves. Small patches of their scales had ckened a little but were unharmed since they were very tough in their age and strength.


    The lightning had been unable to harm them truly. It had made marks on their scales which felt like an attack of nature. Yet, they did feel when Walker had begun using rted skills. The lightning had literally wrapped around him and the ships to such arge degree before suddenly ceasing all together. No one could miss that.


    The remnant natural mana also kept them around. They knew that Walker was using it and releasing what he and Fleur didn''t need. Just being around the denser natural mana was beneficial to them. They could sense their elemental affinities within it. How they mixed and how they could not grasp it the same ways that Walker could. It was both frustrating and amazing.


    While Walker sat cross legged, he had felt the mana in his body. The natural mana and his own mana seemed closer than before. It was as if they were friends greeting one another. Using his own mana and using natural mana was close to the same thing for Walker.


    The changes in his body were also very different. Walker remembered that he had suffered from losing his mana, to being able to store ess mana in his body to train himself, and finally to fixing some problems by understanding natural mana. These had all been side effects of what he had done to himself.


    Using the mana and forcing it out or to be used over and over was rough on any body or any race. A body needed to grow naturally, Walker had definitely not grown naturally. That was the main reason behind him having so many issues when it came to mana being within him. However, that had begun to change.


    The closer that Walker had gotten to the bonds that he could sense between him, Midnight, Onyx, and Fleur, the more he had changed. It was normal for a tamer to take on characteristics of their tamed monster and vice versa. It was just how theymunicated and became closer. However, Walker was bonded right to the soul. A perfectly equal bond at the deepest level.


    That meant that he shared more than just a bind. He shared everything. The dragon aspects he had taken on that made him the new nature royal dragon would show more as he grew. It was also why he was getting closer to Fleur and being able to control the natural mana and other manas better even though he was not actively training them to a high degree.


    This storm had shown this. He was able to condense so much natural mana for Fleur to take and for others to use through contact with him. These things were hard to understand. Furthermore, he had gained valuable knowledge about elemental fusion. The fusion to make lightning but also how fire, water, and wind interact in general.


    The bond with Onyx had further helped Walker. He had sensed the shadows and the light in the air as well. The lightning would cast light around that had been sitting at the top of the clouds. This in turn had cast shadows and brought out the darkness elemental mana. All of this had been a great way to stimte this bond and further push Walker to understand it. The mysteries of an ancient abyssal serpent. The strangeness that woulde of it was definitely going to be showing itself more to him.


    It wasn''t hard for Walker to find that Midnight, Onyx, and Fleur all sensed this too. They were connected to him and were also going to learn from this. Midnight would sense elemental manas better while Onyx was sure to see where his affinities fit in to the storm. But out of all of them, Fleur gained the most.


    She had been gaining a lot moretely. The knowledge she gained while her intellect improved stood out. She had been resting and exploring the ships constantly. That helped her have deeper reserves of natural mana, solidify her body, and learn new things. That was why she would be able to speak better and also understand what was happening better.


    Fleur was filled with mysteries. The world and nature itself were present within her consciousness. That should be clear to anyone how much was left to her in life so far. She had to understand it all just as Walker had to learn to understand all mana around him.


    But it all was a drop in the bucket. All the condensed natural mana that she had soaked up while the storm was around was just a little thing. She had so much more that he needed to be a full fledged nature or world spirit. It would take a lot more time unless she was pushed as well. The world was sure to see this and issue challenges. It was only a matter of time before she would need to show her own strength as a grand nature elemental spirit.


    "He really fell asleep like that. Meditating." Ventus had not cleaned up yet, but instead sat looking at Walker trying to grasp more understandings about the wind in natural mana.


    "Yes, he is just like us. Who of us has not had a great breakthrough and found themselves asleep after it? Mental stress is greater than physical at times." Current smiles. He had fought the ocean, a great body of water. He had broken waves and faced lightning. He felt greater than ever.


    "Making us throw seeds like human farmers. It was degrading. But powerful." Terron was d to help but had believed it to be worthless. He kind of liked being proved wrong at the moment. But more than anything, he had liked being useful instead of hiding away from the storm.


    "You are all talking too much. He used fire elemental mana in his mix to make lightning. I need to focus." Ignus was just annoyed that the others were not meditating themselves.


    "He did more than that, Ignus, he managed to use more mana than he could even store. He definitely just became a lot stronger. I just wonder if he realizes that he has a different look when he does that. If he even realizes that his eyes and skin looked a little more like us." Mordant didn''t look too closely. He was sure though, that he had not seen wrong. Walker had been just a little more like them through this.


    "I should expect these things. He has already shown me enough." Rise was the only one that did not look in to things too much. She wanted to fly to the sun and see what light she could feel. However, the temptation of learning more just now was too great. She had to understand more about her own mana and the rtionship it had within natural mana.


    ? There were too many tempting things within their meditation now. She was missing too much. There were too many things, too many fusions, and too much theycked. For the first time in a long time, Rise felt like a young dragon again. The world was new.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1683 1683. We Can Do It Too!

    "Brother has been working hard." Onyx could see the other ship and had gathered what had happened from what others had told him. Midnight and him felt a little left out. The two had wanted to help more, but found themselves at a loss.


    Onyx was limited to staying on the ship. He knew how dangerous it would be to risk swimming out even with hisrgest natural size. Midnight on the other hand could not have withstood the waves and wind. She was still too young for that. It had been why she was left to just help hold some mages from falling overboard.


    "Not strong enough." Midnight''s response was exactly how Onyx felt as well. The two didn''t feel strong enough. They were up close and personal fighters. Even with Onyx using light and shadow to make des from a mid ranged distance, it was still not much at all. The same could be said for M midnight''s mes breath attacks.


    "I know you want to ask the other dragons for more guidance. I''m sorry that they are busy now sister." Onyx could feel that Midnight was annoyed by this. However, she did see that they were also training to get stronger. It was just how things would be for now. There was a lot to learn.


    "Brother used lightning just now. I saw it wrap the ship. And Alma redirected the rest of the lightning. They did so many things¡­" Seeing his older brother do so much had made Onyx truly feel small again. It was the same feeling he had when he hatched out of the egg for the first time. Small and weak, but with powerful guardians.


    Naturally, Midnight had felt that way for much longer. Walker and the otters had appeared out of nowhere to find her when her mother had left her to protect her. In a way, Midnight had been feeling just as small even though she was gaining the strength of dragons more and more every day.


    "I bet you can mix your dragon breath attacks to make a lightning attack like that too." Onyx had no sooner said it, that he regretted it. Midnight had already jumped in to action and was looking to start practicing. Even after the storm, the two had enough energy for a little training. Onyx had just wanted to rest though since they had no idea when the next thing would happen.


    What was scarier, was the fact that both Midnight and Onyx had sensed what Walker was doing. They had had a strong bind and as much as Walker sensed things, they did too. This was something that Walker often forgot about since he was focused on what wasing through to him and not what he was sending them.


    That meant that Onyx and Midnight felt every single moment of Walker learning how to manipte all three manas to create lighting. How he was using natural mana and understanding his control of it. And how he had been able to constantly let mana flow through his body to more or less forget that he had a limit on the mana within his body. A true way to use the bare minimum of his body''s mana to manipte mana around him.


    While using natural mana was not something that Onyx could achieve because he had not even figured out how to manipte anything other than light or darkness, Midnight had already grasped skills that were rted to all elemental manas. She had the true dragon champion bloodline that allowed her the affinities naturally. Onyx was limited to his bloodline as an abyssal serpent.


    However, that was not a reason for anyone to look down on him. Onyx had already figured out a few things about his ancient origin and how his species was split in to two versions. He had also understood how to use the light elemental affinity he had without learning that he had that ability as a species beforehand. It was already considered something great for him and naturally, Onyx wanted to pursue this further.


    Midnight suddenly huffed out arge puff of smoke making Onyx worry. He had been too distracted with his sudden thoughts that he did not realize that Midnight was trying to mix elemental mana inside her body to make lightning breath.


    "Sister, you should try it in very small amounts. Brother does that when he starts to mix things as well. He does it outside his body too, not inside!" The worry that Onyx had for his sister was the same that she had for him. Even though she was technically the older sibling in their family, he worried about her much more. She was a dragon that could fight head to head with other powerful beings, it would be wrong not to worry.


    "What if you made a me breath stop in front of your mouth then let it shoot out?" What Onyx was thinking of was when Walker used the fire bolt attacks. They seemed to make a small ball form first. But if Midnight did this at arger size, then she might be able to have the time to mix mana. If there was an explosion or anything negative when mixing them, the damage could be healed better than if it happened inside her body.


    "Try it will just fire first. Then move on to mixing fire and wind if it works." Onyx was like a teacher. Between the two, Onyx was definitely the smarter. He was a schr of sorts because of his goals. He was trying to find his past and his species'' future. Midnight on the other hand, was carving a path herself. She just used her natural skills and bonds to do it. She didn''t need the hyper focused intellect that onyx did. It wasn''t that shecked it.


    "I can try!" The following growl was not just Midnight''s additional approval of the idea. It was her determination and clear happiness knowing that she was not alone in this endeavor. However, she was even more surprised when she saw Onyx start to manipte his shadow to form a ball of moving shadows.


    "Sister, I can do this with my shadow, you can easily do it with your fire!" Onyx''s guidance was even better. He had a very close control of his own shadow, let alone darkness mana. He had purely focused on it and light so it was easier to show than just tell.


    The fires that normally built up in Midnight''s heart were slowly released from her maw. She had done simr things when forging and training. She could make slow mes and they could be used to deter things. However, they were better in forging because they maintained a constant pressure and heat.


    Since Midnight had not worried about controlling the mes after they left her maw, she had not realized that she couldn''t do it first try. The mes just moved away from her and dissipated. It stunned her. She hadn''t expected it at all after seeing how easy it was for Walker and Onyx and many other mages.


    This made her a little angry, but as she saw Onyx slowly observing and looking for any tiny thing he could do to help, she calmed down immensely. Her heart even beat steadier after feeling that he was right there supporting her. She was his big sister and he was her little brother. They were family and couldn''t get angry around each other if they were both working to make the other stronger. This was something she had seen and was d to be able to live up to.


    This reassurance made Midnight reach out with the mana that normally stayed close to her body. She used the same feeling of when she formed the bone armor around her and when she used the shadow wrapping skill. Instead of focusing on her whole entire body. She focused on her mouth and right in front of her.


    The mes acted like soldiers pulled back in to attention. Midnight had the control, she just hadn''t exercised it correctly yet. Now that she had kept the mes from moving forward, she watched Onyx move the shadows out of the corner of her eye and copied him. The mes obeyed her quickly.


    A small ball of fire grewrger in front of her. But it was also growing more dense. The moment that Midnight felt it had reached a strong level, she released it in to the ocean and watched it fizzle out. There had been no reaction yet.


    "Sister, we aren''t filling the center of it! Ipletely missed the feeling. The entire thing needs to be solid!" Onyx felt like a fool. But Midnight just nudged him with her snout and reassured him. They were learning together. Onyx would use light and darkness and she would use elemental mes. They would be using the same attacks together.


    ¡­..


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1684 1684. Teach Themselves

    The moment that Midnight and Onyx tried this, there was an interesting reaction of all the mana around them. Onyx had forced the darkness mana he was bringing together to create a dense ball of swirling darkness mana. It made all the other darkness mana around him want toe closer. However, it had also released a small pulse of darkness mana.


    Midnight had done the same with pure fire elemental mana. The mes had condensed to fill the center of the fire ball. It was the same with how she had acted before, she felt that she had just changed the way she used her mana to manipte fire. But it also caused a small pulse of fire elemental mana to leave her.


    The two had the attacks prepared and naturally shot them in to the open ocean. The results this time were not small. Before, Midnight''s fire had just fizzled out and Onyx hadn''t tried to use the darkness in this form at all.


    Onyx''s attack had hit the water and caused a burst of shadow in arge circle. The water even took on a darker coloration as the small piece of seaweed corroded. The decaying effect had surrounded this entire spot causing everything to decay. It was a dangerous but also a clear demonstration of the negative effects of darkness mana.


    Since Onyx had intended for the attack to be an attack and not to just hide away something, the darkness mana had been the same as any other mana, violent. This alone was enough for the mana to cause a heavier decaying effect. Along with the darkness mana being condensed, Onyx saw it double the effectiveness. The attack would surely be a great long ranged attack on a small orrge group.


    Midnight''s attack had been simr. However, the mes had reacted violently with the water. The saltwater had immediately evaporated as the mes burst out from their condensed ball shape. The steam covered an area double asrge as the mes had covered in the blink of an eye.


    The violent force would easily cause someone severe burns or even turn parts of them to ashes. Since Midnight was a dragon, she could do this with many different mes or manas. It would be a violent attack that could freeze, decay, sh, burn, bury, and pierce with light.


    There might be the potential to develop a less violent attack using elemental mana like light. It could be a group heal, that would make this the first healing skill Midnight had. However, that would be an incredible challenge. Changing the form of a condensed mana like this would take a lot more strength and knowledge. Both of which Midnightcked at the moment. Not that shecked the ability to use this attack violently.


    "We made a fire ball and a darkness ball attack. They were perfect. But they can be better!" Onyx was curling up in joy. He wanted to shoot up in joy but kept himself in one spot because he had no reason to surprise anyone by leaping out of his curled position.


    Since Midnight also felt happy with this, she was leaping around side to side. She didn''t hold herself back much and directly tackled Onyx. She rolled with her little brother celebrating the victory they had. A few of the mages around saw the two and their actions and knew exactly the joy they felt. Many would run and hug the nearest mage to share their breakthroughs. It was the same with any family or colleague making a major breakthrough, pure joy.


    The mana did not go unnoticed. Mordant and Ignus both felt the darkness and the fire mana being used. They knew the feeling of condensing mana and were able to understand that there was someone training a new skill. There was too much mana lost as the skill was being used which meant that it was untrained.


    That was the reason that Onyx and Midnight experienced the small bursts of mana from forming the darkness ball and the fire ball. They had not properly captured all the mana as they made their attacks. They did seed in drawing Mordant and Ignus''s attention though.


    The two had already sensed the natural mana and had some insights on what they could do with the respective affinities in rtion to natural mana. The main thing they had learned was how they would be able to meld their skills and maniption of mana with Walker. That had been very clear since Walker had already shown and acted on the ability to provide natural mana to others. The dragons all saw this potential.


    "I will go and see what that is all about. That little champion isn''t doing it right." Ignus sounded a little unhappy, however, he was interested in how Midnight had happened upon a fire ball skill without guidance. Mordant was much the same. He could tell it wasn''t Midnight that used it since she couldn''t use two skills like that at once. So his mind went to Onyx since he had seen him before but not interacted too much with him.


    "I believe that it could be interesting. Maybe just as interacting as this." Mordant knew that Onyx and Midnight had a bond with Walker. That meant that the two definitely had some insight after Walker had used so much mana. The two also had to have had some breakthrough of their own. Why else would they start training the moment that Walker had started meditating and eventually fallen asleep after understanding something?


    "Sister, we can finally use these skills and learn about them. Now we just have to figure out how to add them to our battles!" Onyx was still very happy about the progress they had made.


    "No, you will not be using those skills!" Ignus stomped a foot down as soon as he and Mordant hadnded behind the two celebrating. "You lost too much mana. You think that small attack can do anything in a fight to the death!?"


    "What Ignus is saying, is that you two have barely started to use the skills. You are being too foolish. But you are young." Mordant was the calmer of the two, however, his words still rang strong. He was ready to start teaching.


    "Show me that again, I want to see if you can actually use a fire ball skill with your weak fire.'' Midnight growled back at Ignus in contempt. She didn''t like that she was suddenly being told that she had weak mes. But this was how Ignus had motivated her before.


    The way that Ignus saw mes was with inner heat. The heat of anger and raw strength. When he had Midnight learning from him, he had pushed her and made her angry. Only then had she let her anger fuel her me breath attack to a higher level. It had been an instinctual key that she had missed while learning fire breath. That was just a side effect of not being raised with other dragons.


    "And you are not using the shadows to your advantage. There is too much light here. It is causing you to be unsteady. Show me the formation again and use your shadow. You already hide your true body there, why waste the strength of that?" Mordant also saw through Onyx easily. It was just a single nce and he could tell where Onyx had gone wrong without even seeing the skill. That was the level of strength that Mordant and Ignus had.


    When the two started to form the next darkness ball and fire ball, Ignus and Mordant immediately felt something different. The speed that the manas were gathered was impressive. It was well above the level of someone their ages should be. Yet, that just came from Walker.


    The two were bound with Walker at the deepest of levels. Just like Walker, they gained understanding of all manas. Their closeness to natural mana let Midnight and Onyx learn subconsciously how to better gather their own manas when they needed it.


    "That is where you lose it! You are letting the mana move away and get thrown aside. That''s where you are weak!"


    "Ignus is correct. You are both increasing the spin to maintain the condensed center. It is throwing mana away from you. You have a weaker attack because of it." Mordant pointed it out as well.


    The two of them were a little harsh, however, together, they knew that they would be able to make the pair in front of them develop a proper skill. They already possessed the darkness and fire ball skills. They could do it and just show them. Yet, they both had the same thinking. Watch the two in front of them learn and try to take more away from it. They could learn too.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1685 1685. Up To Date

    "Well, it''s a good thing you woke up. You should get back to your ship." Alma was awake before Walker. She had already found that he had fallen asleep meditating and was finally back up standing and moving around.


    "I will if I can manage to walk after that. I fell asleep like that for like a million years." Walker was mostly joking but he really did feel like he had been in the same position for way too long. "What happened while I was resting?"


    Walker had experienced a lot. So did Alma. However, he had needed the rest. The skills he used to channelrge amounts of natural mana that was within the storm were too much on his mind. It wasn''t the limits of mana or anything else that had burdened him. Just what his mind could handle.


    It all reminded him that he had to keep working to improve himself. He had realized the strain on his mind and was training multiple magic skills at the same time to work on that issue. He needed to make it greater though. Walker knew they could face anything when they got to another continent with unknown races. For all he knew, they could be much more powerful than anything Genesis had faced before.


    "Just a few small monsters along the boats. Mostly just the mages being exhausted like you. But you were the one that stole mana from a literal force of nature." Since Alma knew that Walker''s role in defending against lightning was thergest, she didn''t dance around it too much. He was surely still tired.


    "I got two new skills from all that. But I would say what I learned is the most important. Fire, wind, and water making lightning is very hard to handle. I just wonder what things will be like when I can fully understand and control it." This was a small goal. Walker had already seen the danger of a triple elemental monster.


    The forest elves had put him in a position to face a single monster capable of creating lightning. It had been tough and pushed Walker to develop better earth rted skills. That alone should have been a bigger sign for him to improve his understanding of dangerous elemental fusions. Unfortunately, he had not been in any ce to properly do that yet. Now was an ideal time.


    The understandings of manas that Walker had were very stable. He had reached a good point that allowed him to more easily manipte the natural mana around him. If he were to start making more and more fusions of elemental manas, then he would be able to expand his strength to protect others more easily.


    "I learned a lot too. Especially when I forced the wild bull kelp to grow past its limits. I have a skill called nt mutation now. It can make one characteristic of a nt a focused point. Like how the wild bull kelp was recovering from the lightning that struck it. It sacrifices one aspect of the nt but it can really help. I just need to learn how to use this properly." Knowing that Ama also gained a lot from working with him made Walker very happy.


    "By the way, how is Gil doing over there? A few archers were asking about him. They haven''t been able to see what he''s working on." Alma tried to be casual, unfortunately for her, Walker could see right through her.


    "He has been doing the usual, making arrows and causing some trouble. He has actually been training with Remey a lot. Something about finalizing what he believes to be the high elven dagger techniques. He hasn''t said it was right yet though. But I see him practicing while on look out. I think he might just need that little push to fully put it all together. When he has it, I think it will be a very big deal." There was a light in Alma''s eyes as Walker said this.


    "He also has a few arrows madetely. Something about how he needs to make sure that he has mages that can make arrows if they run out. Most of the time it''s the archers that shoot the monsters on the top of the water approaching us. Not that many do, I just know that they do in general." This was less about Gil and more about the archers overall. Walker had seen them working hard to maintain a safety range around all the ships and the entire fleet.


    "Ah¡­you say that the archers on the other ships are worried, mine are as well. The arrows we have seem to dwindle every day. I can have the mages rotate from shop to ship. Having arrows is the same as having an arm for an archer. If they don''t have one then they will feel naked against the wolves." Alma had to understand and put her elven fighters first. The archers needed something, so she would act.


    "I will tell Gil that you learned a lot. I am sure that he will find a reason toe over here and check on you. It''s Gil you know." Walker stepped in to the air and headed for his ship. He could tell that the royal dragons had just been there but he didn''t press on that. If he had been manipting high amounts of natural mana he had surely attracted their attention.


    "Oh, awake are we?" Scy seemed to beughing at Walker a little. She met him in the air with an open hand. It fell on his head making Walker wonder just what Scy was doing. "Don''t look at me like that. I am much older than you and I see a lot of the human soldiers praising their juniors like this." Walker had done the very same action to Midnight and Onyx and now understood how they felt.


    "It''s just weird to be in this position now. But, why did you meet me in the air? Do you need help with something?" Scy shook her head at Walker''s question. She didn''t seem to have wanted anything other than to tell him he did well.


    "That lightning was rough. We all worked to resist the wind and waves. Even the dragons rushed to your side after. I think they learned a little something after you used all those skills with Alma. make sure you speak with them. But until then, stop the two over there from yelling and making your siblings create darkness and fire balls." Scy smiled sweetly and left Walker to it. He wasn''t sure what was going on until he focused his senses.


    Walker could sense the darkness and the fire elemental manas being manipted. It was easy for him to find where Onyx and Midnight were training though. The explosive sounds of their attacks against the water gave him a direct line to the end of the ship. "So this is what Scy was talking about."


    "Good, you are here too. After we finished checking on you we have toe over here and fix these two. They wanted to go in to battle with these weak attacks. Have you not set a proper example for them? Is this how you will teach all the dragon hatchlings I bring to your vige?"


    Ignus was right in Walker''s face. However, Walker could tell that Ignus was in good spirits.


    "It isn''t that their attacks are weak. They need to focus on their elemental control. They can start the process but not refine it. You should make both of these little ones focus on it. I believe they can create the skills at higher levels if they do." Mordant was right with Ignus. It was very odd seeing the two so perfectly in sync. Walker found himself at an immediate loss for words.


    "Well, if they have made progress, they should reflect on it. They might have too much on their minds with what you have taught them." Walker felt the pleading gazes of Midnight and Onyx. he knew that they must have been trained to the end of their strength. It was also clear by their weakened appearances.


    Onyx looked like he could curl up and sleep right there. Midnight was barely holding herself up. If they used another attack right there, Walker was sure the pair would be asleep for at least a full day. Even now, they most likely just needed rest and food. "Good idea, I will go to reflect as well. You showed a lot of things to us earlier." Mordant took the chance to head right out.


    "And don''t let them just sleep. They should reflect carefully. I never want to see such a cold fire ball ever again." Ignus growled this out as he made a direct route for the forge where the fire was strong.


    "Alright, that''s that. Let''s get you two some food and sleep." Onyx and Midnight were immediately relieved of their stress. Walker just had to see what had been going on so far.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1686 1686. Why Not Join The Training?

    "Su did what?" Walker had made sure that Midnight and Onyx were well fed and somewherefortable to sleep. However, he had not expected to overhear a few of the dragonkin discussing the fight that Su had while Walker was upied earlier. He had gone right in to the storm and had not seen what happened with Su at all.


    "We are literally on the same ship, how did I miss this." Part of Walker felt bad that he wasn''t there, yet, he also knew that it was better that he wasn''t there. If he had been he might have altered the results. It could have also taken away from the newfound fame that Su had with the dragonkin.


    Since Su was a draconic guardian, it was ideal that the dragonkin had a high evaluation of her. This alone would help her and everything she did when it came to them. She was a draconic guardian, but Su was also human. That had to be a big reason why Su and the dragonkin might not immediately get along even though she was changing more and more every day after the ritual with Midnight.


    Having the peace of mind to know that Su was able to learn more skills from the dragonkin while also letting her instincts take over and teach her was good too. It meant that Su had epted her role a lot more clearly. It also made Walker understand that Su was letting go of burdens on her mind and heart.


    What did surprise him though was that Su had used the pointed ends of the shield made to help her dig in to the ground. Since Su had gone that far, it meant that she had been dedicated enough to learning a new skill. So much so that she was going to stop the perfect defending that she always did and begin using a more offensive style ofbat new to her but definitely more like a dragonkin''s battle style.


    With these things on his mind, Walker made his way to where Terron was staying. He had apparently been around when he was meditating, however, that was not something he could have paid a single second of attention to. Walker''s meditation had been on the changes in natural mana and the natural changes in mana during a harsh storm. Not that it was the worst storm that the ocean could conjure, Walker was sure that it hadn''t been nearly as bad as it could have been.


    "Armor is for the weak! If you can not block that attack with your true body then you do not deserve to be rted to a dragon in any way!" The shout was from Terron. Walker hadn''t heard him so harsh before. But he knew what was going on already.


    As Walker entered therge room that Terron had imed as his own, he saw that Su was training directly with Terron. Terron was in his dragonkin form and had managed to find some wrapped pieces of wood. They were like clubs but with padding on them. It appeared thatyers were being removed the more that Su used skills to learn.


    "Don''te to interrupt me. I am teaching the dragonkin guardian that you have not spent time with how to truly defend herself. You will owe me for this." Terron''s re made Walker want to turn around and walk right back out. Unfortunately, he needed to learn some defensive skills too. And he knew just how to do it.


    "And will you still make me leave even if I start to break apart some natural mana to create earth mana around you?" This stopped Terron in his tracks.


    "What do you want then? I am already helping you here."


    "Walker, please leave me to train. I need to learn this skill better than anyone else does. It is mandatory." Even Su seemed like she didn''t want to stop at all. She knew that if Terron got ahold of any earth mana at all that he would stop and meditate. He would be looking at every new understanding or theory that he had gained while looking at natural mana.


    "Oh, no, I will be joining you. That''s why I want to break down the natural mana to make earth mana. The other manas will also make it rough in here so that will be a nice challenge." Walker didn''t have much experience breaking down natural mana since he was more focused on making it. That was another reason he wanted to do this.


    He could both learn a new skill and also see the reactions of natural mana being split. On top of that, he would also be training his mind to be able to do multiple things at once again. That would strengthen his mentality for the next time he burdened himself with a big task. He hated that he was not able to easily use multiple skills constantly. Just for a shorter while even though he did have multi tasking skills.


    "Fine, then do it. Put your champion''s guardian through tougher training. She might need the resistance to activate a real metal or diamond skin skill." Terron had not managed to get Su to use the earth elemental mana provided to her by her partner well enough yet. Su had enough mana in her body because of her spirit mark. That was clear, unfortunately, she had been unable to awaken the skill metal skin or anything like it.


    That being said, Su had grown just as frustrated as Terron. He had expected that she would be able to awaken the skill much faster after she had shown so much prowess in battle and other aspects. It was a disappointment that this was not the case. But Terron knew that with Walker offering more mana then it would be more likely. He could also take advantage of whatever Walker was doing. Having earth mana created in a ce that shouldn''t have any would be a massive boon.


    "Just hang on a few minutes, I haven''t done this before so it might be a little rough." Walker knew that Su was watching him carefully. She clearly had a few thoughts of her own when it came to Walker''s addition to training. But with what she had already been through, she knew that there would be a definite change in her progress.


    The bruises and scrapes from defending against Terron''s attacks had built up. Walker hadn''t hesitated to use a healing skill on Su before he sat down. But it was very clear that the steel skin skill could only be gained through harsh training.


    This was another reason that Terron was annoyed with the progress. Normally the dragonkin under him had to train against each other and take many hits in training battles. This was how they would awaken their skills. Some were less talented and gained the stone skin skill but that was rare. Normally all of dragonkin would awaken the steel skin skill which was very powerful for them. Especially against the monsters that lived underground in caves.


    Sensing the natural mana was the easy part now. Walker was more easily able to grasp it and draw a small amount toward him from the air. A lot of the natural mana still resided around the ocean after the storms. It seemed to have settled on the top of the ocean waiting for the next change in the weather.


    Breaking it down seemed harder though. Walker could sense the individual elemental manas that came together to make the natural mana one mana. If he added fire to it, then the natural mana would enhance the mes using natural force. That was why Walker was able to help others boost or alter their skills to some degree. It wasn''t just because of the way that he used his skills in tandem.


    The pulling of the elemental manas seemed to want to stay in bnce. It was a direct opposite from what Walker had experienced when he firstbined elemental manas to create natural mana. Now that they were locked in to a bnce, they don''t want to leave. It just proved that mana was a stubborn thing all around.


    Using his pull on the earth mana proved to just make the mana agitated. Especially since there was a high amount of water and wind elemental mana around them due to the ocean. Yet, this seemed to be the way that it would work for Walker. It would help him. The water elemental mana and the natural elemental mana were already close, why not use the denser water elemental mana to help him break apart the natural mana.


    This would require using the water elemental mana to pull from one end and pull the earth elemental mana with his own mana. It would be stressful to use two elemental maniptions in different directions. But possible. Now there was just the fact that he had to do it.


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 Chapter 1687 1687. Breaking Mana

    Latching on to the water elemental mana was the easiest part. Walker had the knowledge and the strength to do that at any time. The very reason was the seemingly endless water all around them. That meant that there would be a very powerful source of water elemental mana wrapped around whatever Walker wanted it totch on to until he was done with what he needed to do.


    The tough part was that walker had to hold the natural mana between himself and the small amount of earth mana that he had already gathered from Terron and Su''s training. Even though there was not much of it to spare, Terron had used some to demonstrate the skills that he wanted Su to strive after.


    She had seen the stone skin skill and noted that it made the scales on Terron seemed to be covered in a hardened y type stone. It would definitely reduce any damage taken while also making it harder to break defenses overall.


    The iron and steel skin skills were much tougher. Su had seen these two used by the dragonkin warriors. She had felt her shields bounce off them and have to work triple as hard to cut through them. Deflecting and straight out blocking skills using these two skills was exactly what Su thought would be best.


    That was until Su saw Terron use the diamond skin skill. It was the highest skill that he had been able to reach as the royal earth ancient dragon. He had worked years to perfect it when he was younger. Now he was willing to show it to Su.


    Terron''s scales had be reflective and clear like diamonds. Every single little facet appeared to be able to block and deflect anything that was thrown at him. Su knew that diamonds could break under the right conditions, all gems could. However, she had a feeling that the diamond skin skill was remarkably different. There was an entire aura of unbreakable strength that appeared around Terron when he used the skill.


    Furthermore, the earth elemental mana that was used when Terron showed off the skill was surprisingly low. Because of Su''s rtionship to earth and her spirit marks, it made her able to sense the usage of earth mana much better. Add on the fact that Terron was willingly letting her see the entire process and Su was able to feel how well trained Terron truly was. Every little bit of mana made the skill work perfectly without any ws. It was a true pinnacle of the skill at the moment.


    With all of this, Su would be able to try and reach a level that would make her defenses nearly impossible to damage. That would make her the real draconic guardian she wanted to be. Not to mention the additional skills that she would be able to use from other elemental manas. Those would just keep healing, defending, and even replenishing mana if she continued to study different defensive skills from other elemental dragons and dragonkin.


    The moment that Walker started to pull on the natural mana between the earth and water elemental manas, Terron and Su were hyper focused on him. They could feel their own manas reacting to this.


    Not many people were able to grasp natural mana in general. That alone made them a focal point in many ces and normally noted down in history. At this moment, the reason was clear, because they could grasp all mana and cause it to react in calm or violence.


    Not that they didn''t know this. However, they could both feel the violence that the natural mana was causing. The fire elemental mana and the light elemental mana that broke free first was causing a lot of heat and blinding light in the darker depths of the ship that Terron had been calling home.


    This change in the air was enough to cause even more mana to start reacting. The wind and the darkness mana broke free causing torrents of damaging mana to surround Terron and Su. these violent manas would normally not be around. It was intense and forced both Terron and Su to actively resist them.


    Terron had a lot of natural defenses. He was an earth dragon. They represented the hardest to harm and the toughest dragons overall. This alone was why he had resistances to almost every elemental mana there was. Magical attacks were hard to damage him with. Physical attacks were even harder to damage him with.


    But with the natural mana being torn out of bnce right beside him, Terron felt that he was being challenged by the world itself. Every single little bit of violent mana that touched him made his body feel like it was being bombarded. That was perfect, he grinned like a wild beast. "I will be much stronger now!"


    Gaining training in his elemental resistances was unexpected. He believed that just Su would gain this benefit. Especially since she was so weak at the momentpared to other draconic guardians or dragons in general. What Terron did not expect was that Su would be sitting in the middle of it all with her eyes closed. She was taking every wave of mana and every bit of pain it might cause without even flinching. She was a monster among guardians.


    If Terron knew that Su was in much more pain and turmoil than she looked, he might not believe it. Down at the deepest levels of her being, Su felt that she was being attacked. The manas were sweeping through her body in ways that she had never imagined. But she could feel her blood boiling again. It was just what she needed to bring about the changes that had been slowly umting.


    The dragon blood was d to have this. To have the manas stressing the body it lived in. to feel the changes that coulde upon the body it existed in. Su could sense this. She could tell that she would be much stronger just by sitting there.


    Walker, on the other hand, felt mental stress like no other. The manas were under his control to a degree. He could feel that they were not going to harm him. Some of the manas even wrapped around him as if they were blocking the other waves of mana from touching his skin. The only manas that didn''t do anything were the earth and water manas.


    As the earth was pulled and gathered on one side of Walker, he could feel the water elemental mana gathering as well. It was dense and gathered much faster. Especially since the other elemental manas had been made violent out of unbnced natural mana breaking down around them.


    All the natural mana that Walker had gathered was suddenly broken. The violent manas reacted all around. Darkness, wind, fire, and light were all out of bnce. Water and earth were the only two under control. The only two that had been forced to gather and sit calmly within their own bubble of Walker''s mana from his body. The rest of the elemental manas had to be dissipated. And the only way to do that was by traveling through Su, Teron, and Walker outside the ship.


    The runes on the ship seemed to work as a catalyst for this. They trapped the manas and used them as fuel. It was an unexpected benefit to the entire situation. Walker had not expected that the manas would act as fuel and also train Terrona and Su. But after remaining in the same position for over an hour he managed to open his eyes and look at the two.


    "I have some earth elemental mana here for you." Walker''s breathing was heavy and his head felt like he had just been hit over and over with a club.


    "And I will be taking the water elemental mana there from you. It might be all around us, but that is very concentrated." Current couldn''t let the water elemental mana get away. He had sensed all the elemental mana reacting around Walker and noticed that there was condensed water elemental mana just here on the ship waiting for him.


    "Take it and leave, you are in the way of training a guardian. Unless you have some skills you wish to impart too?" Terron had thought this would push Current away from interrupting them. However, it seemed Current had actually wanted this attention.


    "In that case, I will join you. This little guardian hascked a true skill from the water elemental side of life for a while. Walker has one and his champion has one. How could I be so cruel as to let the guardian miss out?" Current was clearly messing with Terron but the stubbornness Terron had was not shaken in the least.


    "Can you both take the mana? I need to stop this." Walker released control of the two manas and immediately fell back t on the ground. He was done with everything for the moment. Breaking natural mana apart was much tougher than making it. He had been a fool to think it would be doable at such arge scale.


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 Chapter 1688 1688. Frost And Mud

    "Stone skin? Steel skin? Diamond skin? Why let it go that far? Never let it touch your skin at all. Use the water to create a better armor. Cover yourself and don''t let a single thing though. My elder''s children have all learned to make themselves ice armors. Just learn that." Current was clear that he thought strengthening the skin was not as important as making a tough armor. Especially one that could be replenished by water.


    The water in the air could even be taken and used to make the armor stronger. Need a shield? Make it from water. Need a new chest piece? Make it from water. Broken gauntlet? Repair them with the water around you and freeze it in to a solid and unbreakable ice. It was an endless armor in the eyes of the water affinity dragons.


    Even the pieces of armor that were broken could be taken right back. If the dragon was good at using the water elemental mana, every single piece of it would melt and return to them. In the case of Current, this would take less than a few seconds. That meant that Su might be able to have an armor that would be never ending.


    "I will do both. I will not have a single spot missed. If your armor breaks, you have to be able to resist with your body. If I can repair your armor, then it won''t let my skin get pierced. You two should work together!" The sudden reprimand from Su shocked Current and Terron. They hadn''t realized she had snapped out of her sitting position.


    Su had resisted the elemental chaos that had been around her. She had done so with great pain and even had some blood dripping from her nose and ears. It went to show the depth that the mana had gone. Yet, when Walker went to heal her, he found that she was barely injured at all. It was just her body repairing itself and changing under extreme conditions. Another boon of having dragon blood within her.


    The results of her change in resistance would not show themselves yet. She still had to adjust over time. It wasn''t like she was a moldable ball of y. Su was a living and breathing person. Just because the dragon blood had started to affect her even moretely, it was not going to be an instant change. There was just a higher amount of dragon influence on her which in turn made her start to feel the changes happening naturally even more. Even at an elerated rate.


    "What do you mean both? Can you truly boast that? You can not easily just do both. The mana required¡­ no, have you touched natural mana yet?" Current was going to reprimand Su. he thought that she was getting too arrogant. That was until he brought one thing in to consideration, natural mana.


    Walker could manipte and fuse the elemental manas easily. It was just how he was going to be changing as he learned. That was the path he was walking. The path of a nature dragon. Was Su the same? Of course she was! She was a draconic guardian of a true dragon champion. She should have an affinity of all elemental manas too!


    "I have not created it, but I have been around it enough to know that there is true power in the manas brought together. If I make my skin as hard as diamonds and a secondary armor of replenishing ice¡­" Su trailed off. Her imagination started to run a little while. "Then add the light shield that heals my body and protects me, I can do so much more. I can even coat my shields in earth too. I need to learn wind, darkness, and me defensive skills too."


    "You want an elemental defense. To block every single thing thates at you." Terron spoke without emotion. Then he looked at walker and Current that had questioning looks already on their faces. "That is what a real guardian should aim for! Perfect defenses. The perfect guardian for what they defend. I will not let you strive for anything less, you will be powerful. If you are not, I have failed as a dragon to instill true strength within your soul!"


    This was Terron''s promise. A true promise from the core of his being. The earth dragons were the most defensive. Attacks were nothing to them. They could battle on for ages without a scratch. So what if they didn''t like flying that much? So what if they lived in caves? They were beasts of their own nature.


    "Well said. Watch me and tell me what you see!" Current didn''t hold back. The dense water mana he had started to draw water from all around. It began to form sharp and pointed shards that came together. They melded in to a knight like armor covering the skin and seemed to shift with Current''s body.


    Every movement had a slight cracking of ice as the ice broke and reformed around the joints in his body. Even his wings were covered inyers of ice. "I would normally use flowing water as my armor. I do not like the solid ice that covers my body like this. However, I will give you the exception. Today you see me in an armor perfected by some of my dragonkin and ice dragons. This is the ice shard armor. It can move and change with you better than any other but still be repaired easily. You just need to control the mana you use."


    "Why are you focusing on him!? Stay focused on the earth and defend yourself!" Tarron whipped out with his tail toward Su. she had not missed the attacking though. She was in a heightened state after being bombarded by manas. It was like she had been given a shot of adrenalin.


    Walker casually manipted some of the earth and water mana around Su. he could see that she was hyper focused on what was going on. He had to support her. The more she could grasp the skills she saw, the faster she would be learning them right then and there.


    Since Su had seen Walker manipte the water and create ice many time, she was able to envision the process of creating the ice sharps armor over her metal armor. That was an easy vision to make, especially when she thought of the flowing frost whip which was like a slushy water and ice whip. It could move but also be solid in seconds.


    The attack from Terronnded on her body but carried a dense earth mana left behind. This was Terron guiding her to cover her skin in the mana that he had been given by walker. It was also a much closer controlled style of teaching. He could ensure that Su focused on specific parts of her body before fully covering her entire body in the skill she developed.


    The water and earth mana would normally sh. The water would wash away earth when it came to rivers and rain. But they coulde together as part of a swamp, forest, and even in the ins. There were many ces where the water and earth mana melded together to create life. How could Su miss this simple thought?


    With this in mind, Su threw aside the thought of two separate skills. She was going against the direct teaching and following a little of Walker''s path. Nothing abnormal for their group though. They did the unusual every angle day. This was just another day.


    The earth and water manas seemed to wee the changes. Su already had a firm grasp of earth with her spirit marks and slumbering partner. The water was also easy to grasp with such a dense source and guidance from Current. It was also being directed to her by Walker.


    What none of them expected was for the small bits of dirt and mud in the room to be pulled toward Su. every ship had them. Even the newest. Mud from dust and building would be trapped in the cracks. It was a ship. How could it be so perfect not to have some mud and dirt?


    This mud moved and condensed on to Su while they watched. Her grasp on the water and earth became much more powerful as she became more determined. Su had grasped a small part of what she wanted, she was not letting it go.


    When the small amount of mud attached to her arm over her armor, it was covered in shiny frost. The shards of ice and the malleability of mud would defend her, stop des, and resist cuts. It could also be replenished by the water elemental mana and water in general. It wasn''t the perfect skill yet, but it was the start. "This is going to be my frost heave armor. Freezing the very earth." Su gave the skill a name, Walker wasn''t sure if she had just invented it or not, but it was perfect. The small portion she had just covered her arm with was enough to prove she had thought this through and it would work once refined.


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 Chapter 1689 1689. Pressured To Grow

    The small portion of her arm that was coated in the reflective and mud armor was still a tiny thing. Terron saw that su had only just melded the skill. However, she had directly fused the earth and ice that she had around her to do it. Not just that but she had also directly taken the mana she was offered and deflected one of his attacks with it.


    Was Terron using weaker hits? Yes, that was how someone trained a new skill. The attacks couldn''t be full force at once. However, he looked at the frost heave armor Su had just proudly announced and mmed his tail at her harder.


    The skill shattered and chinks of frozen mud fell away from Su''s arm. "Break it again and again until you do it perfectly. I want to see metal and diamonds on that armor with ice. I want to see it better!" Terron''s shout was enough to rock the room around them. It seemed to vibrate with the metal of the ship and even made Current wince slightly.


    "Now we are really going to see what can happen." Walker heard Current''s mumbling and understood exactly what Terron was doing. He was making diamonds. He was going to pressure Su beyond her limits to see what she could do now that she had grasped the feeling of a new skill. He wanted to see what apleted version of this frost heave armor skill would be.


    A skill that adhered to Su''s skin and over the armor she already wore. That was what she had done. When she saw the skills Terron showed her, she had decided that she wanted it. When she saw and heard the skill that Current had, she wanted it too. But Su didn''t want to be the same as other draconic guardians.


    Su knew that Midnight and Walker were very unique. She trusted that they would always be standing out against others, even against her whenpared. Now she had to stand out too. And to do that, she had to make these skills that had gone unchanged for years her own skills. To do that, she had to steal the fusing of elemental mana that Walker and Midnight were already doing.


    In this, Su had grasped the idea of a skill that would cover her skin and make her amor. That way she would be able to fight the people she wanted to fight with all her force. Thebined resistances of her skills, passive resistances, and armor would push her to a whole new level. A whole new battle style that would keep allowing her to fight beyond where she was in terms of level. That was what the party did. They fought enemies that were well above what they should be fighting.


    Current let a little of his purer water elemental mana mix with the denser water elemental mana that walker had gathered. He did this for one reason, curiosity. Current wanted to see just how strong Su would be. He had been the first royal dragon to actually see these heroes, this new royal dragon. He had every right to see more. He flowed with the situation and wanted to flow in to something unknown.


    This addition let Su grasp water elemental mana much better. Especially since she could sense that Walker was pushing more mana toward her as well. She could feel it in every single beat of her heart. Walker was synchronizing himself with her so that they could better focus on the usage of mana. It was like being handed all the tools for the job she was doing the exact moment she needed it.


    She was sure that Walker was using more skills than it appeared. Su was also sure that Walker was getting closer to being able to fully give over mana from and made by his own body to someone else. If Walker could do that, it would be the perfect healer''s and supporter''s skill called mana transnt. It was something very highly valued by the church since it was so rare. But if Walker managed it, he could literally give someone all the mana he had. And with how much mana he had¡­it would be major.


    Ignoring these distracting thoughts, Su grabbed hold of the feeling she had before. She forced the water and earth together again. She made the water form in to bnced ice crystals within the mud that came from around the ship so that it bent around her.


    The gaps in her armor were the most focused. She wanted to cover every small weakness that she had. Instead of just focusing on her arms likest time, Su made her entire body the focus. Before, she had just attempted to make the skill cover a small pce. That was the level of her understanding.


    The reason that was her focus was theck of understanding of how the two elemental manas wereing together. Now, she had more elemental mana and a feeling. The sense of the two forming together was rooted in her and Su was not letting it go. That was why she focused on a thinneryer of frost heave armor around her entire body with a hyper focus on the weak points of the armor.


    Current and Terron saw this and both grinned at the same time. This jump in understanding was why they wanted to push. Why they were both attracted to Su and how things were progressing. Naturally, Walker was also enjoying this. He could feel the changes in the mana and how Su was influencing them. He was also gaining a lot of understanding when it came to the fusion of earth and water, especially the form change of water to ice within earth.


    It was a lot like his skills that made water and ice flow. But the addition of earth made much. It was a lot harder for things to travel through mud than just in water. However, when mud became ice, the earth would literally shift. That was why certain roads were harder to travel in the winter. The frozen mud altered the stonespletely. Walker was able to better understand this as he watched Su.


    The next attack from Terron was still harder than thest attack. It cracked and shattered the armor again. This time though, the fallen pieces were already being pulled back toward Su. a sheen of silver had grown around them that was reflected but eh small ice crystals within the armor she made.


    These were signs that the steel skin skill was being mixed with the skills that Su had. It wasn''t just that she had made a new skill entirely, she was proving that she was showing off more than that here.


    Since Terron felt this, he motioned at Walker. With the same motion, a wave of dense earth mana fell toward him. This was all controlled and directed by Walker as Terron attacked Su in a flurry of tail whips. Current followed Terron''s lead without a single blink of his eyes. The two were entirely focused on Su now. It was a state of focus that only a dragon''s curiosity and pride could create.


    Piercing dragon eyes increased pressure on Su. she felt them wearing away at her mentality, but she also felt her blood boiling at the feeling. She wanted to roar out in protest. She wasn''t someone small to be looked at like this. She had already awakened a skill to take a powerful form. She was growing in to it and would be taking herself to a much stronger point in life.


    Every single broken piece of her frost heave armor was bright back stronger. Denser. It shined with a strange blue hue of ice and silver. When Terron suddenly stopped and Current walked to join him, they were looking at a panting and angry Su. a draconic guardian ready to throw aside everything to fight them, royal dragons. She was ready to channel all her mana and inner fury. Exactly the way a dragonkin should fight.


    But they were also looking at a fairly adept usage of the frost heave armor skill. Su had been forced to get to an adept level of understanding in just a few hours of being attacked. The silver icy armor that covered her was mimicking the ice shards that had covered Current. However, they had a thin silver core of condensed metal inside them.


    "Silver skin and ice shards. Combined they made a truly new skill. Frost heave armor, I like it. You should use it more." Current hummed softly. He was impressed.


    "It''s not a diamond yet. But for a hatchling, this isn''t bad." Terron sat down and took back the earth mana he could. He didn''t even nce again.


    "I will heal her a little. Both of you should get it now though. You can work pretty damn well together." Walker felt that Su was much more tired than him. The frost heave armor falling away from her molded itself in to a pile. Walker didn''t hesitate to store it away before he caught her. Su was more tired than she had been before. Thesest few training sessions had brought about great change in her body. They had awakened her new path of growth while throwing aside her emotional turmoil.


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 Chapter 1690 1690. Coral Traps

    "Stopped? Why do we have to stop?" This was the question that every single person on the ship asked. However, the moment that they made it to the top deck, everyone understood.


    Thanks to the golems, archers on look out, and the merfolk, the ships had stopped right before they had be wrecks. In front of them was a seemingly endless field of waves and coral. There were clearly ces where the ships could fit through, unfortunately, there were more ways to get trapped and wrecked.


    Many ships and even some other vessels that didn''t look anything like something made on their continent were there. Beached on top ofrge rocks covered in coral or trapped and shattered betweenrge portions of coral growing just under the surface of the water.


    "This is a massive coral maze." Walker could see that the coral had not been grown intentionally like this, it was just the natural growth of the coral over more years than any of them had been alive.


    "I would say it''s a massive pain in the butt. I want to see this new continent and the archers say that the block way off in the distance is the start of thend. It should be where all my new herbs are growing. But noooooooo, we are stuck here." Remey wanted to personally start carving a path through the coral. She didn''t care what would happen to her if she ran in to any monsters living in it.


    "You kids can all calm down. I have my golems working on it. I won''t be sending a man to battle in a mess like that. But this is why golems exist. The dangerous tunnels that no one would risk exploring. That is where they go." The king of the surface had brought arge team of dwarves to the top deck when he hade to speak about this problem with their course.


    "The dolphin golems and the narwhal golems can handle this?" Su was still slow and groggy after training with Walker. She had slept for a day at least. Yet, she still felt that her body was sore and her mind weak. She had stressed herself greatly awakening a lot of new skills and a great new defensive method. She had even fought using her shields on the offensive instead of defensive which shocked her muscles that had been used to the same motions.


    "Exactly right. Our golems will be mapping a way through that. It will be a simple matter¡­" The simple matter was proven to be less so than expected. As soon as the king of the surface had gone to boast that his golems would be easily traversing things, one was thrown from the water.


    The pieces of metal and a shattered golem core fell in to the water like a strange metal rain. Everyone focused on it and noticed the spiked fish that had used its tail to shatter and throw the dolphin golem out of the coral maze ahead of them. While Walker could only see part of it, he still used the all around appraisal.


    ''Explosive puffer fish


    Using the water it stored under pressure in its body, the explosive puffer fish will expand rapidly and release the water. This causes a powerful attack that can cut through some of the toughest metals. It is ideal for breaking the tough corals and finding the snake eels it enjoys eating.


    Beware of the female explosive pufferfish. They possess a sharp set of spikes that can poison just about any bird or fish that attempts to eat them. There are some things that naturally eat them, such as the berzerk shark. They often hunt the reefs for any and all food possible.''


    "It is time for a crusade against this coral hell! They have harmed my soldier!" the rage that presented itself on the face of the king of the surface was immediate. He could barely hear what Walker had just said about the explosive puffer fish.


    "Brother, should sister and I go back to training? We can try to break some coral from here." Walker shook his head. He had already started to ignore the king of the surface. He had to avoid the desire to rush in to this coral maze and explore.


    "If you send attacks at it, you might wake up something else we don''t know of. I am going to ask Leon what we should do." Walker looked around and spotted Alma, Leon, and Scy walking toward them. It was clear that everyone that coulde hade to the same ship.


    "We all see why there have been absolutely zero returning ships. Anyone that can make it through this has struggled to make it back. And those that had been trapped¡­" Leon was taking the lead on the conversation. It appeared that Scy had also just seen the golem destroyed so she was more apt to fight than anything. Which was why she let Leon speak first.


    "I can sense that a lot of that coral is alive. It''s like a nt type of monster. I can''t control it but they are stopped where they are and won''t be moving much. But when I try to search for more¡­it''s hard to say. There are a lot of other things around under the water. Normal seaweeds. But they are all oppressed by something. They aren''t growing to the surface of the water at all. There''s a defined limit." Alma broke in with her worries. She knew that Walker or the other might be able to figure things out here.


    "I really don''t like that. I said it before, and I am saying it now. That does not put me at ease. Especially when I need to send my merfolk out to search that ce." Leon raised his worries yet again. But he didn''t have much time to say anything since Ventus descended from the sky while changing back to her dragonkin from.


    "Ny two ship wrecks. That is how many are visible to my eyes. Some leaving that ce and others entering. What I cannot see may be impossible to handle. But even the air currents are strange here. I believe we should stay here for the night. Everyone prepared for battle." Ventus motioned to the many dragonkin that were deathly serious. Even the other royal dragons were around having conversations with their most powerful dragonkin warriors.


    "That does not bode well. I will see what I can sense." Walker had felt something scratching at the back of his mind. However, he had chalked it up to the situation they were in. It was not ideal. Many unknown things were in this massive maze of coral. It wasn''t easy to guess what monsters, pathway should take, or magics were at y here.


    The moment that Walker reached out with his senses, he found a huge amount of mana around. It was much higher than normal. The manas were not bnced though. The mana that was being focused here under the water was-


    "Darkness mana. It is mana that I know. But I have no say over how it''s used. Because that kind of darkness mana, is mixed with death." Mordant spoke as he revealed himself from the shadows. He was grim and determined to set this ce right. "It''s just as bad as that city of undead. If not slightly better here. So many things have died here. The coral has trapped them. The monsters eaten them. The storms shattered them on the rocks." Mordant could guess all the ways someone had died here.


    "It is!" Walker felt the same things that Mordant did. The pair of them could feel the darkness elemental mana mixed with death itself. It was a dense energy that might not even be mana. Midnight had touched on this before to awaken her innate skeletal armor skill. It came with darkness dragons but it was not necessarily death.


    Even worse, the trap that immortal king had yed left Midnight potential stuck in a little world of death being chased by skeletons and spirits. Now they were in arger ce with the same feeling. "We are going to need to prepare for the night. I mean heavily prepare. Every ship needs to be ready for a battle against the undead. Fire will not work here." Knowing about the undead was a requirement for many. Too many graveyards had sat too long leading to undead surfacing. That was why there were burial rites.


    "Scy, the skills that I have are not enough to burn them up with all the saltwater here. I will speak with Rise about skills I might be able to use after the sun sets. Alice will also be a major yer in this." Walker took on the responsibility. He knew that healers would be their main force during this. The water mages would even be behind whalers when it came to beating undead.


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 Chapter 1691 1691. Undead Movement

    "Knowing that there was a danger of undead around made everyone on edge. The ships were immediately set up to be able to defend against any undead monsters of ship wreck victims. They all knew that the undead would be a tough opponent if they managed to get on to the ships at all. However, this was not the main concern.


    "We can prepare to face undead and unknown monsters. We have the ability to scout out the maze. We just need to be able to actually make it through, and breaking the coral will not work." Leon was making this a focus since he did not want to attract anything more dangerous by breaking the rocks and coral.


    "We have the earth mages. It might be the only way to get through all of this." Scy was ready to ept attracting dangerous monsters if this was the only way to get through all of this. The coral maze was a mess, but it was something that she knew they had the tools to handle.


    "I don''t think we should do that. The corals are alive like nts and monsters. Some of them will attack whatever tries to break them. Even the seaweeds under the deathly energy here could attack us if we try to break away its home." Since Alma had this knowledge, she had to make sure to speak against this dangerous idea to break their way through.


    "Then we use water mages to rise us over the coral. Walker should be able to provide natural mana for us. If the worstes to worst, we might need to ask all of the dragons to fly us through this." Scy was not giving up. If she couldn''t use the water to get them over this, then she was going to have to look to the sky. The only ones strong enough to work together and move a single ship would be the royal dragons. However, that woulde at arge risk.


    "I can''t use that much natural mana on every ship here. You know that it would be able to bring us part of the way but there is a difference between making the water higher in a river and the ocean.'' Walker could easily counter this idea. The natural and water mana he would need would be massive. Well over what he could control let alone safely control.


    "And if the royal dragon try to work together to move a ship¡­It is not the best idea." Su knew that she had to counter the idea that having the dragons just carry them over was good. The royal dragons did not all get along but it was also risky to have many powerful pulling forces lifting a ship out of the water with risk to pull it apart or drop it.


    "That means we anchor here and map a way through. That''s that. And we will have to prepare the golems to handle heavier damage from exploring pufferfish. I will also activate the repair golems to build us the resistant walls we have on the ship." The king of the surface was already walking away. But luckily, Gil had heard of the resistant walls.


    "The walls are the tes of metal slid in right by the railings. They can be brought up to make a harder to climb wall. It was made in case we came against monsters that wanted to climb on board. We lose some sightline but we gain a better defense. Since there might be undead, I would rather have the defenses." Gil had asked around a lot and was still happy that he could shoot arrows over the higher walls of the ship.


    "That is the n then. I will let the merfolk, my aquatic soldiers, the tamers, and the golems map out our way as we go. They will lead the ships through step by step so we can defend them if needed. Someone speak to Ventus and look for a mapping of the coral from the air. That will be our baseline. And all of you, return to your ships and prepare for whatever battles areing. The sun is setting." Scy is unhappy not to make major progress. She could seend right there, but they couldn''t just abandon the ships and fly there. They had to set up their own small port if they wanted to leave ande here again.


    It didn''t take long for everyone to find ces to help. The crews were on the move with a ticking clock mocking them. The more that the sun set the more that everyone felt the increase in ominous aura around them. Ti was like the death energy in the darkness mana was mocking them. It was saying that it wasing to take away their lives too, just as the other ships before.


    The good thing was that the ships were firmly anchored, the waves could not push them in to the coral. The bad thing though was that the mana seemed to be a little chaotic due to the higher amount of darkness mana and death mana collecting together here.


    Walker had been hard at work helping where he could. The movement had brought out a lot of dangers. Many of the crew had been bruised or cut by the moving parts. So that the whalers would not use all their mana, Walker had been healing first. He could easily take on some burden instead of Alice who would be singing for most of the night.


    The real worry came to the healers that could be making the defensive arrangements. Alice had already written a new song to expand her shield in to a bubble. The song of shields was altered a lot to be the song of protective light. She was able to alter it very easily for the way that she wanted it to work. Unfortunately, it would be iming more mana. That was where the healers woulde in.


    Forming a light barrier with a healing skill was rare. Not every healer could do it. Yet, providing their mana to help a light barrier was much easier. The healing skills they used could be used to keep a light barrier active and full. That way the undead monsters that appeared as the sun full set would not be able to board the ships at all.


    Gil had also joined the movement to pull out and distribute the light elemental arrows he had. These wither spike arrows were the arrows that he had found could heal someone from a distance. He had not used them at all since they damaged someone to heal them. It was also hard to heal someone with an arrow in their body. Overall, it felt like a very rough cost and loss every single time they were used. It wasn''t fair and only helped in specific situations.


    Yet, the arrows were perfect for this. The undead could not be exhaled and instead would be damaged. That meant that the arrow could damage them and then heal them causing more damage. That waldo worked well with the other light elemental arrows he had that could just wrap themselves in light. Especially since Alice would be attracting a lot of light elemental mana around them.


    "Ship sighted!" The call that went out and made everyone stop moving was a simple one. Ship sighted. It waspletely unexpected and even shocking that another ship would be anywhere near here. Especially since there were so many ships wrecked on the coral and rocks ahead of them.


    "Walker, get over here and use the all around appraisal skill on this thing!" Gil was halfway down the look out tower of the shop. He knew that what was approaching them was wrong. Just looking at it and the strange glow around it made it wrong. But Walker would have the remaining questions answered as soon as he used his all around appraisal skill.


    Without hesitating, Walker sprinted and got to the lowest height he needed to be able to spot what Gil and the other archers had seen. When the greenish glowing shop appeared, Walker could tell it was made from wood. Rotting wood. There were also figures moving on the ship which had to be crew. The sails were torn but it still moved without issue. It was also much older than any other ship Walker had seen before.


    ''Ghost ship


    The ghost ship was formed from the souls and the rotting ships that crashed on this coral reef. The undead that live on it have a slightly higher intelligence but are all controlled by one powerful undead. The undead captain has to be defeated to destroy the entire ghost ship. It is the core of the undead and the ship itself.


    The ship is considered a deadly undead since it can be repaired by the other broken ship parts. It is often only formed after many have died in the same spot over a long period of time. Those that attempt to resist it will often find that they are overwhelmed since the ship can also control undead monsters. Many of the¡­''


    Walker didn''t dare to keep reading the all around appraisal. This was going to be dangerous. This undead was more than just one undead. There were many.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1692 1692. Defeat The Captain!

    ''Undead coral stingray


    The stingray was identally killed as it was crushed between a ship and the coral. It is one of the many monsters killed in this way. As the souls of those that were unaware of their death or unhappy with it rise again, the sting gray followed.


    Undead Salty seagull


    The seagull known for having its feathers always coated in the salt from the ocean perished as it fed on rotting flesh from the undead. It is now following the ghost ship as a permanent member of its forces¡­


    Pirate zombie


    Responsible for many of the dead, the pirates in the area caused countless deaths before the corals grew uncontrobly. Now that they were trapped, the pirates soon were victims of the coral reefs that they used to trap ships. Many refused to ept their ends and rallied under their captain even in death. They are the most dangerous undead connected to the ghost ship other than the ghost captain.


    Ghost captain


    This is the core of the ship. The undead with the highest intellect that can somewhat control the entire ship, undead, and the mana within them. They can spread a decaying aura around them while debuffing the living. They are stronger at night when the deathly energy is stronger within the darkness mana.


    This captain has long been here after the crashing of their ship. The ship was stranded on the rocks before the coral was here as it was fleeing a battle among the great Rize empire and the great Fell empire. The opposing views have caused many deaths among the people and the popce of the Sigil continent.''


    Walker was using his all around appraisal as often as he could. He was not stopping for a second as the ghost ship and the many different undead monsters appeared. However, when the ghost ship neared even more, he was able to finally get a clear enough look at the taller zombie that was leading them all; the ghost ship captain.


    The rotting clothes appeared to be a blue military uniform. It was too rotted to make much out from it, however, the system gave Walker some very important information about the entire continent. He wanted to rush to the others and tell them, unfortunately, this was not the time. This was too dangerous of a moment to worry about who the Rize and Fel empires were.


    "This is the continent of Sigil, we have to beat these zombies before we get to speak to the two empires here. Stand strong and make sure you focus on that ship''s captain. It is the control of all these zombies. Unless you burn them to ashes, they will not be destroyed properly. Be aware!" Walker''s warning was repeated throughout the entire ship and the other ships. He could barely hear the message being passed on


    "Sigil continent? So you learned more?" Gil asked this questions somewhat casually as he aimed an arrow at a salty seagull. The seagull was pierced by a light elemental wither spike arrow. It started to fall before a burst of light caused it to begin to fall apart to dust before it even touched the water. The only thing left was an empty arrow without any mana within it.


    "You just said that we have to take down that captain?" Leon caught Walker before he could get far from the watch tower he had been on.


    "Yes, we need to somehow get there and use the right skills to beat him. That ghost ship captain is probably one of the oldest undead here. He''s left over from a war between the two empires of this continent." Leon gave a nod and immediately started to pull Walkern toward where the healers that could use light elemental skills were together.


    Alice''s sweet voice was standing out against all the loud orders and shouts. She was truly an outlier in every situation. It was just one small reason why Walker could never get her out of his mind. "We are going to beunching an attack on the ghost ship. Can you handle the defenses while we take Alice with us?"


    Although Walker wanted to tell Leon this was stupid since she was the best healer, Walker knew he was the one being foolish. She was the best healer and user of light elemental mana on any of the ships. Rise was not going to act with the other continent so close. They could be faced with wyverns at any moment. If they were not prepared, then the dragons would watch the wyverns tear apart the ships they traveled on.


    "Alice, we will need you toe with us and fight the ship. Can you manage?" Walker saw Leon giving orders to forget the defensive barriers and to focus on directly fighting the undead. Meanwhile, Walker was stopping Alice from singing so that she could prepare to go in to battle with him and the merfolk.


    "I can do it. Bring Onyx too." This wasn''t surprising. Onyx and aurora would be able to make a difference here. Aurora was still young and had been resting most days. As a heavenly serpent though, she was able to manipte the light and attack with it. The undead were extremely weak to it, so that made things even easier for the younger serpent. Onyx would also have this advantage.


    "He is already getting ready. I can feel him waiting for me over there. Su,e with us too! Remey and Gil have the ship covered. Midnight is already moving to the skies with a few of the harpies to handle the salted seagulls." Su was right nearby. She had stayed near Walker the entire time even though she was still not fully rested. She had a light shield skill and had to be ready to use it in these circumstances.


    Everyone had fallen right in to battle. Perfectly. It was also easy to see that the king of the surface and Scy were allowing Leon to lead the charge against the ghost ship since he was the best option to get there. Scy could walk through the air but if she did she would have to fight the flying undead that were swarming the skies. That was why it was better to remain on the ships for her and protect them with wind and water attacks.


    Gathering the healers that were willing to take the battle to the ghost ship was surprisingly easy. Not every healer had battle training, some were just very good healers and hade with the ships to ensure that everyone was safe. Although this might be the case, there was a united spirit in many healers. They were not afraid of rushing in to a battle. They would be making a difference if they fought or if they healed. This was a rare chance to fight.


    "Clear the path for the healers and merfolk warriors!" The dragonkin that came together were very familiar to Walker. They were the light affinity dragonkin that hade on the ships by order of Rise. they were wearing permanent scowls on their faces after seeing the undead. This was simple, the undead were the opposite of the healing and purity of light. Any light affinity being would feel some hatred toward them.


    They were already shing out with their swords and light elemental attacks to defeat the zombies that were attempting to crawl on the ship. They had three lifeboats lowered, two of which had other dragonkin and merfolk on them. The waters were dangerous, but they didn''t care. They would be fighting until the undead were truly dead and gone. It was their duty. It also showed that Rise was not idle, she was giving them close orders to fight even though she was not around.


    Rise was unable to directly interact, she was in the higher skies with the other dragons looking for any approach of the wyverns. They all wanted to take to the continent in the distance, yet, they did not want to go without every single force they could muster. They had no idea what was waiting for them there. They had to take caution to properly destroy their enemies.


    "Lower the boat!" four more lifeboats well from the ship as the ropes were released. The undead in the waters around proved to mostly be small fish and monsters that were barely held together. The spears, swords, and other weapons easily cleaved through them.


    Once Alice started up her song of swords, many light elemental swords appeared around them. They were thin and weak, but to the undead, even the weakest light sword that Alice''s song conjured was enough to slice through them.


    A wave of light elemental mana fell over everything as a single roar came from the sky. Rise was not just watching, she saw the skills being used and wanted to help where she could. Her hatred of the undead proved to be stronger than Walker expected since she was willing to use her mana in the night to help them so much. No one was wasting this chance. They had to make it to the ghost ship and defeat the ghost ship captain.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1693 1693. Boarding The Ship!

    The waters seemed to bubble with undead monsters and animals. They were trying their best to attack the lifeboats but were constantly failing as the light swords shed in to the water. The light affinity dragonkin were just as strong as when Walker had first met them. Every sh of their swords caused many of the undead monsters to fall to pieces.


    These attacks were not the end of it though, the more powerful dragonkin had been able to awaken skills that normally only a guardian would have. This was due to their constant training when they were not in the main vige.


    Three of them together could breathe in the light mana that Rise had sent down from the higher skies toward them. This was the main reason she had done so. She did know the capabilities of her warriors. That being said, when the light breath was released, many of the undead were forced to be purified by it.


    The attack didn''t do much damage to therger undead, but the smaller fish that had been brought back to life by the ghost ship were reduced to the ashy powder that they should have been by this time if they had decayed naturally in to sand.


    Thebined efforts of the dragonkin and Alice were proving to be immeasurable. They were allowing for Walker and a few water mages to work well together to move the lifeboats closer to the ghost ship. This also allowed the merfolk to finally take to the waters and start their own attack with the golems as their partners.


    The golems and the merfolk had been waiting for a chance to get in to the water. The smaller fish had been their major issue since the swarm of them would be able to surround and destroy them easily. Without that worry, they could easily start to take on therger undead monsters that were not as easy to defeat.


    What is surprising was that a few of the healers were able to add a purifying aura to a de of spear. This was not a skill that Walker had but wished he did immediately when she saw it. The reason being that those who had allowed a healer to add this buff to their weapon were cutting through tougher undead easily.


    There were shes of light that appeared under the waters as the undead sharks tried to attack the merfolk. These shes of light were the spears being thrown through the water and piercing the bodies of the undead sharks. The merfolk would then swim with incredible speed to retrieve the spear and slice through the undead shark''s body again.


    The terrifying monster that the reef sharks were waspletely ruined by being undead. They normally would be a tough and hard to handle monster. Their tough skin and their powerful jaws would cause many other monsters to quiver in fear. That was the same for the merfolk that had faced them before. Now, however, the reef sharks were undead. Their tough skin had rotted. Their strength was gone the moment that a purified spear touched them.


    The ghost ship was right by the lifeboats now. The dragonkin did not hesitate to use their ws to stab in to the soft decaying wood and w their way up. Walker used the wind to allow him to step right through the air with Alice in hand. As theynded on board they saw the many undead that had been brought on to the ship as a crew.


    The roar of unintelligible words or growls just went to prove that there was no chance that any of these monsters were ever intelligent to begin with. Some of them were simr to the merfolk while other seemed to be strange decayed zombies of unknown races. Others were almost just skeletons which could have been human or any other bipedal race.


    What was even scarier was the fact that some of the undead seemed to be newer. They were a bird like race that had wings but were missing fathers. It was terrifying. No one wanted to look directly at them at all. Even the analysis of the all round appraisal skill justbeled them as zombies controlled by the ghost ship captain.


    The ghost ship captain was the most disgusting though. His face was a bloated and rotting mess. The Hair that fell was actually a type of seaweed that was eating through the undead captain while it rotted further.


    The ghostly green and ck aura around the undead captain was somewhere between life and death. It was mystery whether it was part of the mana or just a strange fog released through the constant decay of the undead ghost ship captain''s body.


    Furthermore, there were rotting clothes that seemed older than any other Walker had seen. If he had more knowledge, he would have recognized it as military attire for a navy that had long been left behind by history. Not that this was the focus of the attack. The true focus was to get through the undead that were now charging at them and defeat the captain.


    The ship itself was moving still toward the ship''s Walker hade from. It was perfectly aimed at attacking and boarding the ships to take them over as its own. This was the control of the ghost ship captain. The speed only increased when a ghoulish roar echoed from the ghost ship captain. It even raised a chipped and rusted sword toward them as it willed its undead crew to battle.


    Alice''s song grew in volume as the light of the stars themselves was being gathered. The process was slower but the strength was condensed right before their eyes. A wave of purifying light spread and started to show the true state of the zombies and the ship itself.


    The ghost ship was barely held together but eh darkness mana and a great deal of seaweed. As soon as the purifying energy hit it, many pieces started to fall off the side. The zombies that were hit with the wave of purifying light mana were also substantially weakened. It let the dragonkin deflect their weakened attacks and sh through them.


    For such a terrifying situation, Walker felt that they had been greatly prepared for such a battle. They had the right affinity fighters for it. The right amount of healers. And the right royal dragon to bolster their attacks. Now it was time for him and the light affinity dragonkin to attack the captain that was heading for them.


    The added intelligence of the ghost ship captain was still nowhere near a real person. It was limited by the rotting body it inhabited. But that didn''t mean it was stupid. It was able to bring the decaying darkness mana toward its chipped and rusted sword. The coating made everyone realize that it was a greater threat than it appeared.


    Likewise, there was a wave of darkness mana that enveloped the undead itmanded. This was a buff to their attacks that started to push the dragonkin back slightly. It was unexpected that there would be this effect on them, however, Walker didn''t feel like letting them have this moment at all.


    With a single movement, two swords appeared in his hand and the light elemental mana from Alice''s song coated them. Walker''s entire body was supported by Alice who saw that he was about to charge in to battle himself. She would not be letting a single piece of the decaying mana around them touch the person she cared for. She was here to ensure that every single warrior came back without a single wound!


    The two swords seemed to spark with lightning as Walker moved at a faster pace using the wind elemental mana around. He was using the lightning sword style to dash between and attack every single undead. The dragonkin that were assisted easily defeated their buffed opponents and followed Walker without hesitation. They were battling shoulder to shoulder with a royal dragon. The nature royal dragon. Hesitation would be an insult.


    This momentum pushed Walker and the four dragonkin that had managed to keep up with him to the captain. What they didn''t expect was that the undead ghost ship would not be a hollow shell. Instead of finding a captain that was weakened and waiting for battle, they found that the captain was slowly being surrounded by three coral octopuses.


    they reared up with undead and rotting tentacles. Their bodies had been covered in coral to hide themselves in the coral reef. But they had still perished and be one with the ghost ship. Now they would face a living enemy with the ghost captain''smands. It was a sudden change yet again in the battle that Walker had not expected. But it was not a reason he would be losing.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1694 1694. Bring The Light...Sword

    ''Undead coral octopus


    The coral octopus has symbiotic rtionships with unique corals of its choosing. They will grow in to armor to protect it while bing one with itpletely. The coral will then excrete poisons thate from what the coral octopus consumes.


    The coral octopus is still perfectly bnced with the coral that had now taken a deeper root in its body after it died. With the undead darkness mana and energy within its body, the coral had mutated and grown too. It is tough enough to defend the coral octopus while still consuming whatever it eats. This is an extremely unique undead monster.''


    Walker cursed internally seeing that he was facing a tougher undead. The coral octopus would have been weaker if it wasn''t an undead. The reason it was so hard to beat now was because the coral that it had been bnced with was now taking over. With the undead ghost ship captain in control, it was now a force to be reckoned with.


    The sword of the undead captain also carried deadly attacks. Every sh sent a wave of strange undead energy and darkness decaying mana at them. The only things that could block them were the light elemental attacks of the dragonkin and Walker. He was silently praising Alice for the fact that she was buffing everyone to help purify the undead.


    "We will hold the monsters here, you face the controlling monster!" The dragonkin that said this growled as soon as he had finished. Every single dragonkin reacted together with this decision. It was incredibly impressive to see them all move without even looking at one another. It only came with the fact that they had trained together and knew each other so well. No one else could do this without such a bond.


    The dragonkin sprinted toward the coral octopuses. They were already prepared to take a few hits and trusted that Walker would easily defeat the ghost ship captain. Especially since he had the strength to attack and defeat many other undead using his control of mana. They had all seen the strength that walker possessed. Now they would be the reason he could use this strength.


    Coral octopusesshed out trying to kill the dragonkin over and over, but as the swords covered in light elemental mana struck the coral, the octopuses found that they were losing parts of their tentacles. The dragonkin''s strength was much more than it appeared. They could easily break the coral that had overgrown on the rotting bodies of the coral octopuses. The result was enraged undead that were even more reckless in their attacks.


    Seeing that the light affinity dragonkin were more than living up to their word, Walker did not hesitate to use the light elemental mana around him to create some light elemental dragon wings. He didn''t want to charge through the octopuses and possibly get struck by their tentaclesced with poisons.


    The poisons were already hitting the dragonkin and making their white scales look weaker and darker. It was fast moving proving that Walker had to push himself even harder. He could not allow a single warrior to fall here. They had so much preparation with the healers and light affinity attackers on their side. This unexpected situation was actually perfectly countered. Losing someone would be a massive hit to the morale of the entire army traveling to this new continent.


    With a blinding sh, the light elemental mana condensed on Walker''s back. He had copied the style of Rise''s wings and shrunk them to fit his body. They were radiating a light aura that started to counter the buff that the ghost ship captain had used on the undead. This was a massive boon for those fighting anywhere near Walker. But it was not the intentional result.


    The wings pped and Walker leaped over the octopuses fighting. One struck out at him but he had already shed down with the light elemental buffed swords. The lightning sword style showed its speed and efficiency as it cut apart the coral octopuses'' tentacle. This didn''t slow Walker down in the least.


    The ghost ship captain let out a gargled roar as it gathered more of the death and decaying manas around him. It seemed that the ghost ship captain had finally been properly threatened. It was ready to fight face to face with Walker.


    The darkness mana that attacked Walker wasing front he chipped and rusted sword. It directly collided with the crossed swords that Walker had used to defend himself. The decaying mana started to make the light elemental buff that Alice provided fade. It truly spoke to how corrupted this undead ghost ship captain was.


    With arge push, Walker added some wind elemental mana to his back. It gave him enough strength to force the ghost ship captain back a few steps. It also allowed Walker to regain more of the buff from Alice''s singing. This boost was what he focused on. He had the light elemental mana from Rise and Alice that he had gathered on his back, now he just had to use it correctly.


    The focus of the mana on his swords was something that Walker had already learned. Light elemental mana could be used to make a second de that would attack after the real de. He had done this, but he had not created a wave like de the exact same as Alice''s that was made ofpletely pure light. Purifying light focused on purifying undead.


    The light mes that walker had made when he was in the undead filled ruins were clear in his mind. They were purifying mes that had turned many undead to ashes. Now he had to channel that same feeling in to the light elemental mana that he wanted to throw as a thrown de. The same as skills he had seen.


    So many things Walker had seen and learned could be brought together. He had missed this since he had not been in the right situations to spur his imagination. The right pressure to force his hands. Now was the right time.


    The light on his wings faded and Walker was left with the light elemental mana forming arger greatsword in the air. It was the same style as Alice would use but it followed Walker''s movement. The ghost ship captain thought that Walker had weakened when the light wings disappeared. It was foolish since it had not noticed the light gathering above Walker.


    The charge from the ghost ship captain carried an immense amount of darkness decaying mana. It was the core mana that brought the resentment and strength of the ghost ship together. Fighting with all it had was why the undead captain had only grown in strength. Why the ghost ship had persisted for so long. Why the undead bowed to it and followed every small order. It refused to perish so long after its death.


    Walker felt the puzzle pieces connect. He didn''t even look at the system since he could tell the mana had settled in to thergest light elemental attack he had. Even in the day, the light would have shined stronger than anything else Walker could make. But in the night, it was blinking.


    Therge light elemental mana great sword struck down with Walker''s two swords together. Thebined attack hit the ghost ship captain and the entire ghost ship. The results were as anyone expected of Walker,plete and utter victory.


    The light radiated from where Walker was causing the entire ghost ship to lose the darkness mana that had long been holding it together. The undead around followed suit falling to pieces orpletely bing ash before everyone''s eyes.


    The purifying great sword had done its job, but it had also used a muchrger chunk of Walker''s mana than expected. He felt that he had just been drained dry and needed to take a knee to recover the mental faculties he needed to move on. Unfortunately, the ghost ship crumbled and everyone on board found themselves in the waters. If it weren''t for the merfolk and golems, they would have sunk right to the bottom.


    Alice surprised everyone by being the only one that he managed to somehownd in a lifeboat without being soaked. However, her job was still just starting. With Remey and herself bing the focus of everything, she had begun to heal the wounds and poisons that everyone had taken on due to the undead.


    No one had died, but the poisons were guing their bodies. Even Walker could tell that he had small scratches from the attacks of undead around him. He had been too caught up in the battle to notice them, but the ck lines leaving from the scratches proved that poison ran in his veins. It was going to be a long night of healing for him and many others. The ships would remain anchored.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1695 1695. Rises Interests

    Alice''s face had a permanent frown. She saw how many people had been poisoned in this battle. She was sure that they weren''t able to avoid it but it was still too many in her eyes. No one had expected that the undead decaying aura would carry so many poisons too.


    "I promise that we will have time preventative potions ready the next time we face a ghost ship." Walker didn''t help by saying this. Alice was busy singing but her eyes told him that she didn''t want there to be a next time at all.


    Walker was also thinking how d he was that so many experienced healers hade with them. Hecked in depth experience in purifying poisons. When it came to a battle like this where the poisons were unknown, mixed with darkness mana, and also had strange death energy it was better that experienced healers handled it.


    Yes, Walker had healing skills so he didn''t hesitate to use them. But he was also lower on mana after using his mana and the ambient light mana to do onerge attack. There was an upside though, his attack and Alice''s singing had brought Rise back down from the sky where she had been absorbing starlight.


    "It''s night. That attack should have been drastically weakened. You used my mana and her mana to do that. Exin." Rise had felt the entire process. She never had moments where someone else had stronger control of light mana than her. The only being that had a closer connection was Horizon who was slumbering in Alice''s spirit mark.


    "Well¡­I''m not really sure." This made both Alice and Rise flinch a little. The surrounding dragonkin did too. They were all being healed with light elemental mana and were lost as to why Walker couldn''t figure out his own use of the same mana that''s as around them.


    "I have seen the elemental thrown des from the elves. The swords made as after images by your dragonkin. The swords and shields made of light when Alice sings. I took all of that and envisioned the same purifying effect as these white mes I learned while fighting undead. If there wasn''t a ton of water everywhere, I would have used these more." Walker showed the mes he had originally learned as purifying not as light rted mes. His thoughts had changed now that he knew more.


    The mes had carried purifying light elemental mana. Not some mystical life energy. They just directly burned through the darkness mana at the core of undead before burning their bodies. This was the level of understanding he had at the moment. This wasn''t to say he could even grasp the concept of life and death energies or manas if there was even a solid term for them like those.


    From hearing this, Alice increased the beat of her song. She was happy that just seeing her sing and how she used her mana had helped Walker. She always worried that she was doing too little. It was funny to Walker since he valued Alice so much. Especially now as her dining slowly pulled away the poisonous lines around everyone''s wounds and stitched them back together.


    In contrast, Rise was still unhappy. She had sensed the strength of the attack. It was more than she expected. Especially in the dark where only starlight and the moon were a focus of light. That was why she had used the light elemental mana stored in her body to release and assist them.


    A second of understanding bloomed on her face, "have you ever used the moonlight for skills or channeled moonlight in any form?" It was unexpected but Walker recalled the elves and how they had entire rituals to attract moonlight to certain trees. It was a requirement for their growth.


    "When we were in the elven forest, we helped with a tree that needed moonlight and a special ritual for a single elf''s growth. We have also spent time around the ocean during full moons and faced enemies during a full moon. I didn''t directly use the moonlight but it would make sense that it did have an effect. I also have decent water elemental knowledge and I know the moon and water are connected to a degree."


    It appeared that this matched up with Rise''s thoughts. " The moon is deeply connected to light and water. It reflects the light of the sun from the day. It gathers it in the waters deep inside it and sends it back out. That is why it is unique light and water mana reacting to it. It is also unique."


    Since Rise had meditated and absorbed all sorts of light elemental mana, she had long understood the core differences in them. She even understood some of the why and how of it. These things had been learned by her or passed down from fellow light elemental dragons. This knowledge came from those who had met unique beings such as a lunar goddess system holder. Or even monsters said to havee from the moonlight mana.


    "Hmm so just having been in different situations where the moon light fell on me gave me help. I''ll have to ask you to teach me more about it." This surprised Rise. She didn''t expect that Walker would instantly want to be taught. However, Alice was also looking at her with desire. Furthermore, her dragonkin had fixed fazes on her as well.


    "As Amy royal dragon would, I will share my knowledge. It will advance your understanding and show the world the strength of every dragon. However, that willeter. There is healing and purification to do." Rise remained somewhat cold but returned to the air leaving behind another bit of light elemental mana which was easily used by Alice to keep healing.


    "That seems to have gone well." Leon and Su were standing nearby. It appeared they had been waiting for the chance to speak while also listening carefully. They too wanted to understand how everything had happened with the attack squad that had left the ships to deal with the ghost ship.


    "Yes. Yes it did go very well." Walker was partially dazed. He wasn''t exactly sure but felt that Rise had be embarrassed after speaking about teaching. It was a very odd change of personality. Or maybe it was who she really was now that she had let down some of her strict and cold walls that blocked off others.


    With her mana nearly empty and the other healers prepared, Alice stopped singing. She had managed to purify everyone that was brought or came right to her. It was a massive example of her strength when it came to her skills and light elemental mana.


    "You are the reason that my soldiers did not suffer in The waters. Your songs more than helped purify the poisons that could have crept in to their gills. Even Remey said that her potions were more of a precaution." A wave from the breast Remey proved this along with a nod from Su who had been helping with the application of potion soaked bandages.


    "Thank you very much." Alice beamed with pride. These moments were like gold to her. It was a much better feeling to know she had saved and helped people than to feel she had failed. Or even worse, to blindly collect gold when she used her skills like some worse healers.


    "I also wanted to take Walker away. This incident proved that there is more than just a continent of monsters here. Those were humanoid shapes that those zombies had. Wings simr to a harpy, bones thicker on some, and even a few that clearly still had fins." Walker knew this wasing. He was sure the other leaders would have questions.


    Since Alice had finished what she could do, she followed Leon, Walker, and Su toward a group of people. Scy, the king of the surface, Mordant, and Current were already waiting for them. Gil, Onyx, Midnight, and a few others also rushed over seeing that they might get answers.


    Walker looked at them calmly. They all knew he would have some form of answers for them due to his all around appraisal skill. He couldn''t have missed so much as he analyzed the ghost ship, the undead, and even the ghost ship captain.


    "This continent is called Sigil. It is home to the Rize and Fel empires. I believe these are the two split ancient races'' descendants. They might be at war still or not. But I feel that the Rize empire is named as such because they believe they rise above others and the Fel because they have fallen from previous ideals to make their own. It makes sense with what I''ve learned from ruins when they split up. I also have an idea of their race. I believe they are angels of sorts."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1696 1696. Step Back, Get Ready

    "The naming technique is not poor. However, they do not deserve a name that sounds the same as mine." Rise was a little prideful but the other royal dragons that had arrived in full gave her a look that shut her up. They were all putting aside their pride for the moment, she could too.


    "I think that they are angels because some of the second ruins we found in the demon city were showing winged people that were not harpies. We have proof that angels exhausted at some point in Alice''s bloodline, Horizon approved this. An elemental spirit has to have a clear exnation of this." The information from Horizon was trusted because he was a grand elemental spirit. Lying would not be what their race was all about.


    "I expected that one. We have seen some undead just now that were simr. If you didn''t say there were angels then how could there be so many stories made up about them? Lately, it seems like every fiction has proven to be real." Gil had said what everyone felt. So many races had fairytales that had been proven to be real and just left in the pasttely.


    "Do you know anything else about these two empires?" Scy cut off that train of thought. She was more focused on how they would be handling two warring empires. That was the crux of where they stood as an entirely new entity.


    "I have no idea. If they are still at war things will be harder. I just didn''t think that differences over time would end like this. A war between two halves of a continent." Walker and everyone thought the same. But they all knew that time could smooth or make things much more rough for people. Values could be tradition and tradition could spur war.


    "I think you have all forgotten where we have anchored and how many have be weak after this battle." Leon and Current nearly spoke together. They were the foremost leaders of how things should progress in the water. They also had looked over the soldiers the most.


    "That is correct. My dragonkin worked the hardest to defeat those disgusting things. They deserve the time to prepare for the next battle, especially if there will be more things like that." Rise also wanted time to recover her mana. That way she could battle wyverns the moment she saw them.


    "That is a good point. So I propose we worry about getting through the coral tomorrow." Elise spread a map. "Some of the tamers were working during the night and day before all this happened. They managed to get a rough outline of the coral growth. Now the dwarves and the merfolk can finish it." Elise had not spoken up since she was not sure she should. All the figures here seemed higher than her.


    However, Elise was a growing representative of the entire tamer''s guild. She had been leading tamers, and even teaching them. Now she should be allowed to stand tall and speak with everyone about how they progressed. Surprisingly to her, everyone looked over in approval. They were very happy that this had been produced in such a short time.


    "The sun should be rising any minute now. It will be time to plot a course through the coral. By then we can focus onnding and setting up a temporary camp. Then we send people out ordingly. If they are wars¡­ we should avoid them."


    "No, we should not avoid wars. You were giving us good ideas until then. That is why you and a few are too young here. The wars will be where we find high ranking generals to speak with. We find the border and or a war. Then we make them listen to us. If they both want peace and allow us help in finding out enemies, great. If not, we will join a war." The king of the surface was much harsher than others. However, it seemed the royal dragons and Scy agreed with this for the most part.


    "No war. That is not what we are here for. We should not fight people that we don''t know. We have no business in their conflicts. We can learn from them. We can find out enemies and finally stop that demon king. Then we can also find the wyverns'' cause and see what we can do. If the cause is the war, then we can try to garner peace with them and exin that they caused wyverns to flock to our homes." Walker put his foot down. The way he spoke made everyone pay attention to him. He hadn''t realized that there was some natural mana leaking around him in every word.


    "We would need more troops."


    "We would need the entire dragonkin poption. A whole continent of territory would be hard to manage." Terron and the other royal dragons had the same thought.


    "No War! And if we had troops, still no war. And the territory would be the one person who didn''t want it. That''s the only person that would not abuse it. Alma, can you grow some seaweed so that we can protect the hulls of the ships from coral?" Walker ended it there. He was not entertaining any form of fighting.


    "I can do that. There are enough of my elves to support me. I just need to prepare the seeds. I have some but I will get more. If you can help me with some more natural mana, we might be able to get rid of that energy." Alma looked at the ocean. The slight rays of rising sun reflected off the water and reminded everyone of the darkness mana and the undead energy that seemed to be sitting there.


    "That is not my realm of understanding." Mordant saw many look at him. They assumed that darkness and death went hand in hand so it would make sense that he understood the best. "Darkness mana is pure and bnced, it is not always death. But death mana or energy¡­ that is not something I touch." Mordant seemed even more resolute as he said this. Now with everyone listening, even his fellow dragons, he would be able to exin a little more.


    "We have seen the darkness dragons that chose to be skeletal dragons, or fall to be skeletal dragons. Some go in to the wilds and live alone as darkness dragons do. They can maintain sanity but have angry dispositions. That is normal. But when they decide to ignore darkness and follow death, they lose their minds. Not unlike rogue dragons." This made sense, the energy was a mystery and it was not something easy to understand.


    "I never touched it to remain pure in my mana. But you have met people that have. Or should I say strange undead that even we would not wish to fight because of their secrets." Mordant nced at Walker and his party. He knew that Walker had met a powerful undead before.


    "The undead mana seems to be scared by the light. We can have Alice sing while Alma works and I provide natural mana. One ship at a time through a route. Just like the river. We can move through one by one." This was the best and easiest way to make sure that the ships would not be damaged and a safe route through the massive coral reef and rocks could be made. It was also known so it would be easy to jump right in to it.


    "We will have everyone that needs it rest then. Those who don''t need it will start their work." This was the king of the surface''sst words before he walked away and began to give his soldiers orders to get the golems prepared. They would need to map out a lot while working with the merfolk and tamers that could control monsters that could fly.


    Onyx. Midnight, Gil. Su, and Remey gathered around Walker. Alice was also paying attention even though it looked like she was ready to fall asleep standing where she was. "So, two empires at war, wyverns, and the same evil demon we have been after from the start. Why does it seem like things are getting moreplicated with every step we take?" Gil sounded even more stressed than usual. He had a lot on his mind with just the elves, now there was a whole new thing to worry over.


    "You and I both are asking that question. But we have everything we need between us. I think the best method is to step back and let them work to map the reef. When we get tond¡­we will go exploring." Walker knew it would be a whole new tough set of trials. But for now, they needed to be ready.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1697 1697. Another Mana To Think About

    The process of mapping a way through the coral was slow. It appeared that the tide was also in their favor since it had risen. What was more surprising was the addition of life after the ghost ship captain didn''t reside in the waters anymore. A lot of the darkness and death manas had faded away in the direct area.


    This made Walker stretch out his senses to see what was really going on. He believed that the death mana would always be around here. There was no way that it would go away unless it was exposed to light for a long time. This was because of how many ship wrecks and battles had been fought here. It had already been years after battles and the undead ghost ship captain had already remained.


    Another surprise was that there were many pieces of old ships, armors, and even some weapons found. The ships that had crashed here were useful as learning resources for the development of the races that could be on the Sigil continent.


    The weapons and armors also went right to the forges where the dwarves were hard at work making their analysis. They had already mentioned that the quality was increasing in the shops that seemed newer. However, one thing was clear, there were not any ships that had recently crashed.


    This could have been due to a few reasons. People had stopped trying to get to Sigil from other continents because of the growth of this massive coral reef that was slowing them all down immensely. Or, it was that the people on Sigil had be too caught up on their own differences within theirnds and that had stopped them from sending people out to explore.


    Either way, this was a strange happening. It would need to be investigated just like many things. The good part out of all things though, was that they had learned some new things already while not even getting a foot on the continent. There was also the added bonus that Alma had not had to use her skills much as they led the first ship through the coral reef. The rate they were going meant that it might take two days, but that was fine. Meanwhile, they would all be preparing.


    That was also the reason that Walker found himself reaching out his senses while the first ship made its way through the natural maze formed by the coral and the rocks. The reason he had tried to focus wasn''t just to pay attention to how things were changing. It was because he wanted to grasp a little of why the darkness and death mana had stayed here and what they were.


    Walker had officially decided to just call the death energies that seemed so close to the undead and the darkness mana death mana instead of death energy. The simple reason being because of the ancient library''s books. The section outside of the normal flow of nature. In that section had been spatial knowledge, life, death, and many other things. It just made sense that there would be mana that wasn''t necessarily part of the normal flow of nature.


    It was odd for him to think that death and life might not be part of the normal flow of nature. This could be seen as saying that death and life were not how things should be when it came to the changing of elemental manas. But that wasn''t truly what Walker was thinking. His mind was slightly different.


    The idea of life and death wererge. They were things that could exist without the life that Walker knew. The perfect example were the elemental spirits that clearly had a mind and life of their own. They were not made of flesh and blood like other races but they still lived. Death could easily still exist to them. When they fused with others or they faded instead of going dormant could be seen as a death to them. But sometimes it could be considered as life too.


    The decaying aspect of darkness mana seemed to be what Walker considered the connecting factor to the death mana. These aspects were connected because decay was a source and also a symptom of death. Darkness caused this because living things needed light to some degree to function. It was a part of natural mana, therefore, part of how the world worked. Without it, then the being would not be bnced and start to decay.


    The decaying part might also be why the darkness dragons that dared to dwell on death mana were going mad. They could have a slight rot in their minds that caused this to happen. Midnight had missed that because she had been affected by an item given by the immortal king. Yes it had nearly trapped her mind, but it could have been a massive drawback such as driving her mad. It didn''t though, it was a purer example that led to her gaining the skeletal armor skill she had in action almost all the time now for safety when she was out in the world.


    These thoughts brought Walker to therger question about the undead king. He was a powerful trapped undead that sent his undead out and about as his eyes. But he was capable of leaving and using undead in far off ces every so often. It was limited as of thest time the undead king appeared, however, it was a potential.


    If Walker were to begin learning about death, life, and spatial skills then he may have another encounter with the undead king. There was one thing that Walker was sure of though, that the undead king would show himself again. He had not forgotten that the so called demon king was once a ve that the undead king''s people had trapped and harmed. That alone would be enough for the undead king to appear. To see the end of a problem he caused. And potentially, to free himself.


    The second that walker came to that conclusion he made arge frown. If the demon king that had harmed his own people and many others was defeated, then what would happen to the undead king? The demon king had been one reason the immortal king was trapped. He was stuck there because of his own failures and what the demon king had done. If the ties loosened, the undead could be a worse issue.


    Furthermore, what about the undead here on Sigil continent? There were already powerful undead like the ghost ship captain. He had existed because of the war here. What about the other battlefields? Would there be more undead that lead armies or toons of undead soldiers? What about other powerful undead that could control many as their hands and eyes like the immortal king? What about undead mages? The potential for terrifying undead was there and it was enough to make Walker shiver.


    The shiver also came from a sudden flush of cool breeze. Walker opened his eyes and looked but didn''t see that anyone else had felt the breeze. It had only been him. It made Walker realize that it wasn''t physically that he had felt this, but in his soul. He had managed to reach in to the depths of the waters and natural coral maze to the darkness mana that had receded in to the cracks and crevices during the day. That was where he had finally sensed real death mana without the hold of any other being on it.


    The sense wasrger than he could understand. The seemingly small amount of death mana within the darkness was minuscule ifpared, but it was powerful. It held mysteries that Walker could not understand. It was also hard to discern without Walker''splete hyper focus on it or else he would lose it again.


    The only issue with all of this was that he had no knowledge of what he was trying to grasp. An understanding of death mana? A new bit of knowledge of how and why undead form? Of how he could avoid death? How he could use death? Walker was just trying to understand any little piece that could help him in the present or the future. Potentially even to fight the undead when he had to face the immortal king again.


    "Walker, I need help up here! There are Large rocks that might scrape the ship!" lsa broke Walker''s concentration bringing him back to reality. He had a job to do and could not fool around with a new mana that was outside the natural mana flow he already was barely understanding at the time.


    "I will be right there. Let me gather some mana before we move forward again!" Walker quickly got back to his job helping Alma when she was needed to protect the ship.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1698 1698. Land Oh Land

    Through the long effort of getting every ship through the coral maze, everyone had been able to take their time and recover from battles, training, and anything else that had stressed them. The goals they all had were cleared up to some degree. Every soldier, warrior, and leader of their ships knew that they had to arrange a port for themselves to stop. It would be their base camp for the time being.


    The main issue was that they had no idea of where they were or of what empire''snds they would be setting up on. It could cause some issues if they just went out and started to map things out without a thought.


    The terror that a dragon would bring was also clear. Not only this, but just the fact that the scent of dragons would be around was sure to attract a wyvern, this was theirnd. One thing though that Walker decided to do was to take a walk in the sky with Ventus. She could maintain her dragonkin form while he made the water and the air form a fog that seemed to be a cloud in the morning.


    The idea to hide themselves hade from Elise who hadined that the fog in the mornings was annoying for the harpies to fly in. Ste also didn''t like it because the fog would settle on her feathers making it a little harder to fly.


    Hearing this, Walker had the smack in the face idea to hide their surveying of the immediate area. He and Ventus could check out what was going on so that they could have a better n of where they would travel. It would be better to spread out in small groups unless they had a n of transit for everyone. The main forces would have to remain back and protect the ships though. If the ships were lost, they would lose everything.


    "Walker, there should be a good height for now. There are clouds in the sky so we are camouged against them." This was even better. The perfect blue sky that was around all the day before had be the partly cloudy sky. No storm clouds had gathered but they were puffy and pure white clouds. That seemed to be made of cotton. It was ideal for them to hide in if they spotted something dangerous.


    From the height that the two had gone, they could see beyond the beach that was just near them from the waters where the ships had set their anchors. The beaches were long and covered the coast as far as they could see. But there were no signs that anyone had been around them at all recently. Even the trees and grasses that came right up to the beach were thick and seemed full of nts both familiar and unfamiliar.


    "Remey is going to go wild as soon as we set foot on the beach. I would not doubt that she has an alchemy and herbalist group prepared to catalog everything. The old master alchemist and Trish are going to be very jealous when we get back." Walker''s chuckling made Ventus wonder just how Walker could remain so positive at all times. It was a strange infectious attitude that greatly seemed to make everyone around him want to be more.


    "What about beyond those trees? There seems to be a trail." Ventus shook her head and cleared her mind before focusing her eyes. She was a wind elemental dragon. She had the sharp eyes to hunt from the highest of heights in the sky. That made her able to make out the small details of a trail cut through the trees and moving beyond them in to a small opening in the forest.


    "That could be the first way we head. Can you tell if it is older or newer?" Walker knew that his eyesight was nothingpared to Ventus''s eyesight. The more she was able to discern the better.


    "It''s well used. There is not a single bit of growth around it. They even lined it with sand from the beach. A smart decision since the salt should stop basic nt growth." Ventus saw this as a smart use of natural resources without putting in much effort. She would be sure to use such strategies like this when she returned to her viges. Moving a little beach sand would be easy for her.


    "That means we might have a vige nearby. Let''s see what we can find if w- That''s smoke right there. That''s the first location we go. We can send a small group to investigate. It should be simple." From what Walker could see, it was a simple fire. The smoke wasn''t ckened by anything burning that shouldn''t be burning. Just the average burning of firewood.


    "Then that is our goal. We will send a few warriors too so that things are safe. They can hide. Mordant should deal with that." Ventus knew that she would not be able to fly freely and drop her dragonkin right in to the midst of whatever was there. But she still wanted to. It was terrible that she could not use her full power without the risk of drawing many enemies. Holding back was not a dragon''s strong point.


    "We will have a lot more information soon. The moment we do, then you will be able to get a real look at this Sigil continent." Walker could feel how Ventus felt. He wanted to go with her to the skies and see just what this ce looked like. He already understood that this continent was massive. But that would have toeter.


    The second that the pair started descending, everyone began to move. They had already prepared lifeboats to go ashore with a few people that could start building the temporary camps they needed. Archers and Mordant''s dragonkin were the most active because they would be handling the majority of protection while hiding in the nearby trees and shrubbery.


    "We have a lead on a potential vige. We will go and check it out the moment that we set foot onnd. There is a ban on using fire or anything that could signal an enemy. If you break this until you are told otherwise, you will remain on the ships until we return home." Walker said this loudly enough so that everyone would have to understand. It would be passed to the other ships as a heavy order.


    "We are moving out!" Walker''s second shout was a little louder and caused everyone to move faster. Scy walked through the air while Walker did as well. She wanted to step onnd first but was rivaled by Leon swimming just as fast. Even the royal dragons wanted to be the first to step on a new continent. Not a single person on the ship had a different thought. They had to be serious, but to be the first on a newnd? That was a wondrous feeling that made their heart hesitate to beat for a moment.


    Yet, they all should have expected that the darker brown sh that moved passed them all was Terron. The earth elemental royal dragon that had been tough through a journey away from the earth that he was so deeply connected. He had managed the ufortable position and even flown in the air to defend the ships when need be. Now that he had his earth back, he would be able to strengthen his knowledge and catch up to the other royal dragons that had chances to advance where he had not.


    As Terron touched the sands, they seemed to move with his will. Slowly, the sands ttened themselves and made a better ce for the lifeboat tond. The scary part was that there was no loud sound of all the sand moving. It was nearly silent. This was the depth of control that Terron had over everyone else when it came to the earth maniption. The depth of understanding that made Walker''s seem microscopic.


    "Wee back tond Terron." Walker made it to the sands with the others and saw that Terron was hopper than he had seen him yet. This was a true love for his affinity and the desire to be one with it. It was a side of a royal dragon that was normally seen as stubborn and harsh that no one ever saw. It was even funnier seeing his dragonkin act the same. They were all overjoyed.


    "Get your information. I will change thend to create the camps afterwards." Terron only responded with this before he focused his eyes on the harder earth that made up thend ahead of the beach. It was clear that he wanted to go out searching through these unexplored territories.


    "If you go out there without my golems, you will lose the chance to excavate more tunnels. The caves here have to be massive." The king of the surface managed to get to the beach as well and immediately started bargaining with Terron for control of caves for them and the dwarves. It was a strange sight.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1699 1699. First Met Friend

    It was easy for everyone to feel that it was too quiet. They were all in the mindset that the moment their feet hit the sands that they would be facing monsters. However, because the beach had long been guarded by a natural coral reef maze, not manyrge or dangerous monsters had taken up residence on the beach. Instead, there were only those weaker monsters that led when the boats neared them.


    This was a good sign for the immediate area though. There was a better chance that they would be able to locate the trail that Ventus and Walker had spotted along with following it. Walker wanted to keep more people back when they arrived, Terron had already made a move to set up a perimeter on the beach and was prepared to move in to the more solid earth.


    The other soldiers were looking around while supplies were unloaded with care. Even the mages were hesitant to make a move without the express permission from any leading figure.


    "Midnight, Gil, Onyx, Su, Remey, Alice. We are moving out. Alma is going to be sending a few of her archers behind us to ensure we have a safe trail to follow." Walker started to move with the party. He knew that Remey was having a lot of trouble remaining focused while looking at the unknown nts. Luckily, Walker had the all around appraisal skill and could tell her that none were valuable herbs.


    The second that the group left the sands behind, it was like a new world. They felt that the sounds of the waves were much more distant than they had thought a second before. The trees here had perfectly cut off the sound of the winds and waves. The long grasses also helped to stop them from even being able to spot the beach from where they were.


    "Walker, there are a few wild rabbit tracks but nothing much else around here. I think wended on pretty good spot, undead aside." Gil was using all of his skills to see if he could find a single monster track. He was having no such luck which was in turn lucky for them.


    "Then that means we can find this trail easier. The sooner we get a real base the sooner I can start getting the herbs I want to document for the first time." Remey was having trouble focusing since there were so many nts that she had never seen before.


    "Forget the nts that you haven''t seen. There might be materials I can make new arrows out of." Gil was ready to start the usual argument with Remey, however, Midnight and Onyx both stopped in their tracks.


    "Brother, you said that there was a vige nearby, right?"


    "Yes, we think that the smoke we saw was from a vige, why?" Walker looked at Midnight and Onyx only to follow their gaze.


    "Then that might be where that little boy came from." There was a single boy standing and looking right at them. He had on casual brown clothing that was certainly not made with fancy fabrics. He had a hatchet on his waist and was wearing a pair of gloves. The small pile of firewood attached to his back with rope proved that he had been doing morning chores.


    "Um, hello there. Can you tell one of the adults of your vige toe here?" Walker assumed the boy was a human which surprised him, that was until the boy turned and sprinted away from them. They saw a pair of undeveloped wings on his back, the feathers were white tinged with a little green.


    "I think that might be an angel''s descendant." Alice''s whisper was very loud in their silence as they watched the boy run.


    "Let''s go find out." Walker started to follow the boy and even picked up the firewood he had dropped as the boy had run away. It was a simple kind gesture that might help them a little when they got to whatever vige was nearby.


    The trail was even more clear as the group got to it. Gil immediately found that there were plenty of footprints on it from being traveled. There were also horse tracks and other farm animals making it clear that the vige nearby had reasons to travel this way often.


    "You will be stopping right there and not moving an inch if you would like to leave unharmed." The harsh voice came from above them. A single man pped simr green tinged wings as his voice boomed over them with strict power. He held a dark iron spear ready to throw it down at any moment. The leather armor he wore also looked equally dark and wornpared to anything that the group had. "You don''t look like you just crossed the border. But that doesn''t mean we will let you off easily. Exin why you are here in thend of Rize."


    Walker raised an eyebrow seeing the man in his worn armor. He was also a much older man, but the appearance and stature was very clear. This man had been to battle, he was definitely older with gray facial hair and a fair set of wrinkles around his eyes.


    "Now that is the question, if we did not cross a border and actually came from another continent, what would you say to that?" Walker watched the man keep his poker face. It was a sign of experience under pressure. "Oh, and I picked up the firewood that the boy dropped. Sorry if we scared him a little. We saw the smoke from your camp or vige and decided to head over with a small group."


    Upon seeing that there was no ill will, the man slowly lowered himself to the ground and took a better look. "Wingless angels? And a baby wyvern? And a snake? What an odd toon. Where did youe from again?" The man questioned them more and Walker smiled a little.


    "I am Walker, and we are from Genesis city, the Genesis alliance that we created on our continent with every race living there. A fugitive escaped using magic to your continent and we came here in search of him and two others. This is Onyx, he is an abyssal serpent and this is Midnight, she is a dragon, not a wyvern."


    It looked like the man grew even more confused hearing all this. "I hope that you can help us a little. You have already told us we havended in the Rize empire, that is good, but otherwise, we are lost. If things are peaceful, we hope to find emissaries from both empires soon. Then we will proceed with our business, hopefully leaving friends." This was definitely beyond what the older angel could handle. He was confused but definitely not high enough ranked to handle this.


    "You few cane to my vige. I have no powers to hold you here, especially if you decide to fight. I can tell that you have eyes on me." The man looked around but clearly couldn''t find where those watching him were. "We have some food but not much. It''s just an outskirt vige. Thest battle left this area barren for a while, it is finally safe enough to return. I can''t tell you much, but if you have the materials, you can trade for a map to the embassy built along the border."


    "Thank you very much. That would be very useful. We actually have some healing potions if you happen to need them. We also have other medicines that you may find interesting. Especially for a small vige. If you need something specific, my party member Remey can help you make it. She is an alchemist of sorts." That made the man hesitate slightly. He wasn''t sure how an alchemist was traveling, especially since the girl that had been pointed to didn''t appear to be one to his eyes.


    "As I said, I do not have the power to hold you. If you wish to be on your way, that would be best for the both of us. We can not amodate many right now." There was a clear sense that the man was worried but was trying not to start a fight.


    "We swear that we will not be fighting or causing trouble. It would be very rude to cause our first met friend on the continent troubles." Walker was paying very close attention to every move made by the man. The way he walked proved that he would be able to jump in to a fight at any moment. "I also want to ask about a few things if you don''t mind, I can pay for the time. I won''t let you lose out." Walker was thinking about the wyverns and the demon king. Anything they could ask to help them.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1700 1700. Earning A Warm Walcome

    The tiny little vige that soon appeared before them was nothing that anyone would call developed. The entire ce had four small wooden homes and one slightlyrger wooden home that was clearly more of a storage area instead of anything else. There wasn''t even a real fence that could stop beasts or anything.


    "This is it, as you see, we are not worth stealing from." The man still held them in arm''s reach since he wasn''t sure that they were actually some strange people from another continent. Who would outright believe a story like that right away?


    However, their appearance and the fact that they were not acting hostile made the man trust them a little more. "It is a nice ce to start. I would say you need a little more help making it safer though. What happens if beasts run over? Can you block them with a wall or fences?" Walker was worried that this might overstep. Yet, he also wanted to show that he was going to look out for the best interest of them as they helped him. This was the best way to begin a better rtionship.


    Many faces watched from the windows while a few taller men were guarding the doors of every small home. Even some of the younger boys were prepared with a hatchet or pitchforks so that they could join their fathers in defense of their vige. However, some of them rxed as they saw that the group of strangers was following their elder calmly and with interest.


    The real problem was that these vigers were clearly on edge with everything. This told Walker that the war issue here on the Sigil continent was more prevalent than he had imagined. The war must have made many of the people on edge if they were even miles from the border between the two empires.


    "We can sit here in the open. It will be the best ce to have a talk." The man clearly chose this because everyone would be able to keep an eye on things. It was also so he could easily take to the lies if there was any potential for a fight.


    "Thank you. We are grateful for the chance to speak." The others say with Walker while Midnight and Onyx kept a watchful eye around. They were going to remain careful as well just to be sure.


    "So, can we have any form of map? We can offer some healing potions and medicines." Walker took them out and ced them on the small wooden table that the man had sat them down at. This was surely a meeting ce for the adults as well but was seeing reused for them at the moment.


    "These are very high quality for this area. Do you have lesser potions?" The man looked at them with worried wrinkles on his face.


    "These are actually just low tier potions already¡­" Walker didn''t have anything less. He knew that it wouldn''t be allowed for them to even think of having anything like that since alchemists would see them as failures.


    "Oh. You muste from a very influential family to have such things." The man became a little better mannered and proper in his speech as Walker showed the potions.


    "I assume these are harder to get here in a small vige. It should help to have a few better ones?" Walker left a few mid tier health potions on the table now shocking the man.


    "They can be watered down with purified water after you boil and cook it for ten minutes. It will be safe for all ages too. Make itst if you need to." This was not rmended but would be useful for extended healing. Remey knew healers did this even though alchemists mostly hated this action since it diluted their hard work.


    "This is. My vige will give you a local map leading to the border embassy. That should be what you want. I can also share a book of local fauna and flora with you. I believe you may not know what is and is not dangerous here."


    "Yes. We would like one of those. I will take it so we can study it." Remey didn''t even let Walker finish speaking. She agreed to that immediately.


    "Can we ask about the current state between your empires? We would like to avoid stepping in to Army battles by ident." Su managed to get them right back in track which made Walker very appreciative. She was always right there to keep everyone honest and straightforward.


    "There is a peace for now. Thest five years were too heavy on everyone. We are one of the first viges to return here so that we can rebuild. I would rmend avoiding the border because it is safer. Also avoid the mountains, there are dangerous monsters there. Simr to you dragon¡­but it''s been years since a dragon existed here. How is one¡­well, where did ite from?"


    Now this was news. The way webs were clearly an issue for both empires but especially the Rize empire since it had a mountain region. Yet, the fact that they thought dragons to be gone forever really made Walker want to know more.


    "What do you mean that you thought dragons were gone?" Onyx''s voice was the one to ring out. He sounded angry that anyone would dare say that his precious sister might not or should not exist.


    "It''s fine onyx, he isn''t threatening Midnight. He just hasn''t ever seen a dragon. Some people were stunned to see here at home before you came along. Now they ept the dragons a lot more." Walker patted Onyx''s head making the man stunned even more.


    "I see that you value everyone around you like family. I see this vige as family. My name is Neil. I Al the elder here. And to your question, dragons don''t exist here that we know of."


    "It''s been about a hundred years since the dragons joined the wars for territories. They used to ally with each territory before the full strength of the empires fought each other. They lost many as well and soon had no way to reproduce."


    "That led them to other means. Soon they passed on their blood to weaker monsters and failed to create a proper race to pass on their knowledge. Their temples and ruins are taken or lost to us now. But that is where some other draconic monsters came from. Especially the wyverns."


    The small amount of history hit hard. It hit very hard. To think that the proud dragons were pushed so far by their own wars was brutal and inconceivable. Even Midnight growled slightly at the very thought.


    "The dragons are a powerful race. I would not say things so bluntly if my fellow dragons were around. Luckily for you, I am not born a dragon. But I am one as far as the world is concerned. But I don''t take any insults." Walker made this clear.


    "It is good to know the history though." Walker frowned a little. "I hate to ask, but do you have a history book here? I can memorize it and rewrite it for the others." Walker saw Neil shake his head.


    "That''s fine then. In other means, would you like some help here while my friends learn from your people? I could build you a small wall to protect you. Alice can heal with Su''s help. Gil can repair some bows for you. And Remey can make you some basic medicines. Onyx and Midnight are very good at ying games with children. They even take care of some younger siblings of theirs."


    The change of topic made Neil a little shocked again. But seeing the genuine kindness in Walker''s eyes was all he needed to rx fully. He could tell that by their actions and how they desired peace over everything that they were not here to burn their vige. They truly were who they said they were.


    "Yes, let me call the adults." Neil stood up and looked around, "gather here and wee our guests. They need a tour!!" It was like the vige had been unfrozen. The doors opened and many children ran out to see the unfamiliar people visiting them.


    "It''s good to see that children are the same everywhere we go." Walker watched the children around Midnight and Onyx. "Midnight is still the star of the show here." He chuckled a little as he watched the children slowly get closer while getting even more curious.


    "Excuse me¡­ where are your wings?" This was the first question Walker heard directed at himself. This made Him smile. He felt very lucky to be the first one to exin all the kinds of races that hade together to make Genesis a one of a kind ce for everyone even monster races.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1701 1701. Priorities

    The map that Neil, the vige elder, gave them was smaller than expected. It at most showed a small piece of the continent with details of the surrounding area the most. The further out it got the less it showed. It was as if the map had been made with a magnifying ss over one section and the rest was zoomed out.


    The changes in size were even marked to show arger distance. This made Walker understand that those who had sent these people to establish this vige only wanted that and would have a strict hold on the vige once it was builtpletely or if it had sess.


    There was a decent line drawn throughout that led torgendmarks. The northern side of the map was a littlerger and contained a vast mountain range that nearly split the north in half again. The south possessed arge tundra that seemed to do the same as the north. It was a very odd natural formation, but it made the two somewhat equal in a way.


    "What are the roving cities?" Walker looked at the map and saw that the two spots that were marked saidst known locations.


    "They are the locations of the battle cities made by each empire. Using magic from the elders before they ascended to the elemental nes, they made cities that float in the air. Two to be precise. They used them to battle one another and move the entire poption at any time. Now they should be stopped there and there. Both empires had the same ideas because we have the same elders when they were thought of. But they were used very differently¡­"


    The fact that there were two seemed to make Neil unhappy. Most likely because the cities were equally in both hands of the two empires instead of just one. However, the fact that they were both bnced out whether the empires liked it or not was interesting. As if they were meant to always be in an odd bnce or as if it was intentional.


    "There are really cities that float? They can''t berge¡­right?" Walker saw that Neil was smirking a little.


    "We are winged beings. Large floating cities would surprise you? It is very normal for us." Neil finally seemed to be showing a little emotion. But he was also catching on that Walker might not be as old as he thought. Everyone that hade with Walker might not be as old.


    Neil had caught on that Walker and the others were very strong. Much stronger than they looked. That was clear in the fact that they were casually showing off valuable potions but also able to do somerge things casually. One being how Walker had used earth elemental mana with just a wave of his hand and without much build up since Walker was assisting in making a wall out of earth for them along one direction.


    "Can you make more? If you can it might be a better way to cross the ocean than ships. We have to make a few just to get through but between the storms, monsters, and literally living inds¡­well, I would prefer to fly. But the dragons couldn''t carry everyone and go without rest. That wouldn''t have been fair to them." Walker didn''t need to hide this. He knew that the elder could fly and see the ships if he wanted.


    "Does the angel race still have records of living on our continent? We have found ancient ruins from your predecessors." Walker tested the waters and looked at Neil who had stopped to think about the prior question. He was again stuck in his spot without being able to walk forward.


    "We might make another city one day. When the next generation discovers the ways of the ancestors. And yes, we have records of the great migration, the great divide, and much more. But it is very limited. They are grand tales, not detailed history." Walker thought as much. It was a normal thing to lose records and history during wars.


    "Well, we have some records on our continent. We can share the details. We have the dwarves and some earth elves working on the excavation now." This made Neil look curiously again.


    "Can you tell me more about these dwarves? What are they like? They are another race like you told one of the children before." This made Walker smile even more since he got to go in to more details.


    "Due to some issues, we had the goal of uniting our race as hero title holders." This froze Neil in his spot again. These young people had titles! "The elves of all elemental affinities have been reunited, the dwarves an underground race, the demi- humans with monster traits, the goblins and harpies both monster races, the merfolk an under water race, and humans have all been united. Even the royal dragons have been weed toe together in Genesis. I am sure many more will too."


    Seeing that Neil had dropped his jaw to the ground, Walker just smiled. "I will have your angel race join us too if you can. I want everyone. Oh, and the demons are with us as well after we freed them from being oppressed by a small group of powerful demons. I know I said we were after the demon king and his two Sin title holders, but they are not representative of all demons." Walker made sure to point this out. He didn''t want the demons to sound evil.


    "I am hoping that the elemental spirits are considered a race too. They are family. I even have a bond with one too." Walker let the nature spirit mark that had extended and was normally invisible appear for a second. Neil was even more awestruck seeing such a sight.


    "This is well beyond what I am capable of at my age. But I can share a little more about who we are. I know angels and that is it." This was fair, Neil was an old retired soldier, that was clear. He had been sent here to help the vige establish and it was a more or less shot in the dark. If they failed, a retired soldier and small number of angels were lost. If he seeded, then great.


    "We, as all do, have different affinities, like those elves you spoke of. Not that I thought elves existed, their ancestors were in our fairytales growing up." Neilughed a little but he kept going on afterwards, " you see my green feathers, they represent my wind affinity. As we grow, we gain mana through our wings. A wingless angel is rare but they use their entire body to gain mana. They lose their wings but gain powerful magic. It is a blessing. That is why the little ones thought you were wingless angels or different."


    This made sense, it was simr to the elves and the dragons. Different affinities for different representations in their physiques. However, hearing that angels primarily gained mana through their wings was interesting. It sounded like they didn''t naturally make their own mana but were instead closely rted to the mana around them instead.


    Knowing that the angels had affinities that showed on their wings was also helpful. When the party came in to contact with others they could be prepared if things went poorly. Especially if the angels reacted negatively at the embassy. It was certain that they would be on edge the moment that the party arrived. But before that, the party would have to return to the ships and get the royal dragons that might want to go with them. They would be having words with the Rize empire about wyverns.


    "With that earth moving ability, could you make a well for us?" This was the first thing that Neil had asked. Naturally, Walker had no qualms with it.


    "Of course I can. If you need anything else, we will have a temporary camp set up soon for our soldiers and a few others. If you are interested, they can help you build things up. It''s better that you are safer since you are our first friends here."


    This both made Neil happy and worried. Having foreigners here meant that they would be a focus for others to check out. But having them help meant that they would be able to grow faster. Again, it would also mean that if the negotiations went poorly, they might be seen as taken hostage by the foreigners.


    "I would prefer to do the best for my little vige. Those kids need a stable ce to grow so I will


    take the risk. Please bring over a few more people for me to meet." Neil had priorities. He cared more for the lives that it would help than political drama. A proper choice for a soldier.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1702 1702. Bring The Others!

    The feeling that Neil was a good man was even stronger. Walker had decided this because Neil had made a logical and thought out decision. Faced with the fact that Walker and everyone that hade with him was clearly more powerful than his vige, Neil should have been on edge. It made sense. However, Neil had calmed himself and thought properly.


    There were risks, yes, there would always be risks. Yet, Neil saw that Walker and his people could help them immensely. If this meant that they would take on risk, then so be it. Those around him were the people entrusted to him to care for in this project.


    Just because Neil and the others would receive help would not mean that they were tossing aside their citizenship as Rize empire citizens. It was just that they were making a diplomatic choice to ally with them and beginmunications for their people. It also meant that they might have a safer and better ce to grow.


    ? Walker made a point to exin that he and his people wanted to set up a small ce for them to dock their ships. That being said, this would make the vige a seaside vige with a harbor. The coral that had gued so many ships and lives through the wars was now going to be a protective barrier. Monsters, ships, and other things like stroma would be held off. An ideal situation.


    The further that Neil pursued this in his mind, the more potential that he saw. It was all a great chance for growth, both as an individual and as a vige. Walker also saw this and grind even more. He had helped them a little and shown off what they could do easily. Yes, he still felt that there was fear around, but they could take time to scare that off. Fear was there due to uncertainty. As long as everyone did their best and was transparent then these vigers would understand them better.


    "Who is that? That is now one of our vige''s children¡­" Neil saw a smaller figure joining the kids ying. But he soon saw the scaly wings and the smaller horns on its head.


    "That''s Midnight. She can change in to her dragonkin form if she wants. It was probably easier to y that way. Just watch out, she likes good food so she might try and steal some snacks. Onyx might be able to do that one day and take a humanoid form, but we don''t know enough about his race. He really hopes he can though. I do too." Walker felt that it was a very high chance that Onyx would find a skill like this. Onyx just seemed to have this kind of luck.


    "Only the strongest and cruelest wyverns can do that¡­ or the queen of the wyverns can do that. That''s what I have heard. How powerful are these dragons? They really are dragons?" Neil was epting it much more. His questions didn''t even need to be answered. However, Walker managed to get another good piece of information from Neil about the wyverns.


    They had a queen. They had powerful members that could take other humanoid forms as the dragons could. This meant that some of them might have some sentient thought inparison to what Walker knew them as. But it all depended on their strength. Would a very powerful wyverns even care about the sentient thoughts and emotions? Wouldn''t it just be the same as the rest of its kind and maintain it''s emotional and hatred for dragonkin and dragons? It was all too hard to specte.


    "Gil, can you take a break and go get the others from the ships? Terron could help make this vige muchrger so they can build some better homes. The dwarves might also want toe and start building too." Walker shouted and Gil perked his head up from a group of four other hunters. They were all immersed in hearing about the bow and how they could better use it.


    "Sure thing! Let me just finish showing them how to make an impromptu bow out of a birch tree sapling!" Gil had managed to find the hunters that had just started learning in the vige. It made sense that those with hunter systems would be sent here. Especially the hunters that were less experienced due to the danger here.


    With that shout, a few elves also walked out of the tree line around the vige. The same was said for two of Mordant''s dragonkin. "You can all help too. We are going to help them establish their vige so that they won''t worry about monsters and losing their homes. They will be helping us make this our port vige too." Walker gave them the order, Mordant''s dragonkin were more than happy to follow a royal dragon''s order while the elves thought this was great since they wanted Alma to be safer. Building this vige a little would make it safer for her. She was a future queen after all.


    "Elise, you didn''t even give me time. I saw you and Ste hiding for the whole time we were here." Walker looked right up toward a tree and Neil''s jaw dropped again. He felt that he might have to wire it shut if he wanted to be able to keep his calm. He hadn''t even heard the pping of wings as two beings had hidden so close.


    "Walker! We were here to protect you. We were definitely protecting you." Elise leaped from the tree andnded in front of Walker. Ste flew down too andnded right in front of Neil who was even more lost wondering what Ste was.


    "This is Elise, she is a representative of the tamer''s guild from our continent. This is Ste, she is technically a tamed monster but is truly Elise''s sister. They grew up together and were together until this very moment. They even helped a bit in the harpies bing their own race instead of just monsters. The world even recognized it. I''m sure that the world let you know too." Walker saw realization hit Neil.


    "How much of what the world has blessed us with have you witnessed?" This was a sudden and a hard questions. But Walker knew that Neil had started to grasp the true strength behind Walker''s group.


    "The goblins, harpies, changes in elemental manas, elemental spirits, and a few other changes might be rted to us." Walker was a little embarrassed since bragging like this was more rude than anything.


    "Don''t think that Walker is messing with you. He and his family have done a lot more than just that. He is a founder of Genesis. I''m sure he will exin a lot more about how he stopped wars, brought races together, and even caused many races to put aside differences to make massive break throughs in their understanding of mana and knowledge in general." Elise didn''t hold much back. It Was just what she had seen and believed.


    "I am in over my head¡­I''ve been buried." Neil just mumbled while Elise and Ste looked at him. Ste seemed more interested in Neil since he had wings that were pure white with green tinges. Her wings were much different since they were colored more simrly to brown at the moment because of the season and her natural features.


    "It''s not that bad. You will start to catch on as we go. It''s your vige right? I mean, that''s what I assume." Elise realized that she had just inadvertently admired that she had seen everything and not just the protecting lie she told.


    "I can''t say I''ve caught on yet. I''m not used to it at all and I''m stuck in the middle of it all." Walker wanted tough but he felt that way much more than usualtely. He was literally standing on a continent far from home. It made him wonder just how far he was going to go in adventuring, in life in life in general.


    It was only a short while before Neil heard themotion of othersing over. The dwarves in their golems were stunning. Such mechanical creations were not normal. But every single angel felt the mana flowing through them and saw the weight of the materials they carried.


    "This is a vige? I''ll have my builders and cksmiths start properly here. You need workshops, homes, storage cers, hell! You need everything." The king of the surface relished this. He had a lot to n and strategize. First and foremost he nned to set up a patrol parameter.


    Things were going to move fast. Especially since the dragonkin and other soldiers were prepared to build an easily defendable camp. The Main focus of defense was against the wyvern threat.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1703 1703. Plans Moving Forward

    The speed that things were getting done had made Neil so stunned that he could barely stand. The other adults of the vige had rushed to him and asked many questions as he had stopped to take a breather. They were soon stunned too but fully supported his choices. They wanted to live too, they wanted their children to be able to have a safe ce. Even if there was some risk from other things, they were willing to take that bet.


    This made all of the children very excited. They were not old enough to understand what political or battle potential existed, however, they were old enough to be amazed. Onyx and Midnight had take on a great job when it came to keeping them away from danger. The magics used around were enough to make things even more dangerous for them.


    The earth moving magics were the first danger. Terron had many of the dragonkin move things and instantly ttened arge area ofnd to expand in to. It even worked as a ce to connect therge t road he had just created. His show of strength made everyone amazed, but Walker saw that Terron''s normally stubborn act had broken. He was happier than a kid in a candy store to be able to touch the earth again and manipte it as he desired.


    "So, you gathered some information?" Scy, Leon, and the royal dragons had all gathered at Walker''s call. Even Terron was there just in time to hear what Walker had to say.


    "The two empires are technically at peace now, we need to head to their embassy along this route. The information this vige had was smaller because they are not that important. We also have to worry about the monsters and nts that Remey is learning about right now. She might be a small expert before we leave." Walker knew that knowledge was power in this unknownnd. Especially when war could break out again all around them.


    "The Rize empire is where we are now, just to the south there is the Fel empire. If we cross the border by ident it could cause issues. But that should be fine since we can remain focused." Walker knew that exploring thends around them was a desire they all had. It was best to set limits first.


    "The wyverns are apparently only in the Rize empire mountains, but I think they are having greater issues with them than we think. Especially since they don''t really go in to the mountainous regions because of the wyverns." Walker breathed slowly while he decided to tell the other royal dragon about a potentially more sentient enemy.


    "The dragons on this continent fought side by side with the empires they backed. That ismon historical knowledge here. But they killed too many of their own kind and could not produce proper offspring. Apparently, they bred with other simr beings and that was where wyverns came from along with other monsters with dragon blood."


    This change was drastic. Mana from every royal dragon escaped as they became angry hearing this. It sounded as if they were being looked down on as a race. As if they were some pitiful race that could not even keep themselves alive.


    "That made the wyverns cruel and brutal. They had strength but lost their minds. That is until they get stronger. If they reach a certain strength, they can take a simr form as dragonkin. But different since the elder here said he had seen it in books. That means the wyverns might be more sentient. They also have a queen that rules them, the most powerful wyvern."


    "Before you want to rush in, there is also the fact that the wyverns have left the area. We don''t know why and it''s certain that there might be more going on. We have to get to that embassy and learn more. From there we can see what the angels are up to. It also is notable that there is arge desert in the southern Rize empire. If there are some major problems with the wyverns who fly from the mountains, what about beasts with dragon blood in the deserts?"


    This was a guess but Walker knew that something major would have to happen in both empires for them to want to stop fighting. It didn''t make sense that years and years of fighting between different opinions would suddenly stop.


    "Then you think they have equally powerful monsters to deal with?" Scy knew that war was her thing. She was a general. It doesn''t make sense to avoid this advantage. "If the Rize empire was weak, then the Fel empire should maximize their chance to win. They did not. So your theory should be correct."


    "What about this demon king we are hunting? What does he have in this?" Ignus growled out. He was still angry but he sensed that there was more going on here than met the eye. It was a simr instinctual feeling that every royal dragon had.


    "Well, if there are two powerful empires and two terrible monster groups causing problems, then no one can focus on what he''s doing. He came here to a newnd for more power. The angels have a race that was more advanced and even ascended to another ne of existence on both sides. what''s left might be more powerful and give him a key to taking everything for himself. Or destroying everything for power." Walker worried about the d goal the demon king had other than just power.


    "So we establish our base here. I will stay with the ships since I can protect them the best. Scy should take thend here. The dragons should go with Walker and the others." Leon made the decision himself. He knew he was not as useful onnd as the others were. He also knew that Scy was strong but gave off a bloodthirsty aura. She would scare away the two empires at the border. It would cause potential drama and even start up a war again.


    "I can go and show them that they can not fight while Genesis soldiers walk theirnds as guests. I would show them that we are not to be touched." Scy fought this but as soon as she spoke she realized that this had to be more peaceful. It was exactly the kind of mission she hated the most. Peaceful negotiations.


    "I will have Elise work with the harpies to createmunication back and forth to us. They should be able to speak with updates between all of us without issues since they are very good at keeping a low profiletely. Same with the tamers. They need a base here to begin documenting new monsters that might be tamable by others." Walker made a point to say this since he wanted the tamers to keep themselves under wraps for the time being.


    The taming of monsters might not be normal here, he hadn''t heard anything yet but Neil had seemed a little confused about the taming guild. That meant it might be better to hold off on this for now. Especially since the angels were more rted to elemental affinities too.


    "Angels have simr characteristics to dragons. They all have their own affinity. That makes their wings look different in coloration. That should help us if we get in to trouble. It should also help us when we look at how they build their cultures. What I am worried about are the things outside the normal flow of things. Those angels that don''t have a basic elemental affinity but something like space, or death, or whatever it might be."


    "I remember, you said that in that library there was a new section. One that was about the other affinities. The rarer ones.'' Mordant seemed to understand what Walker was getting at.


    "You think that there might be some in the Fel empire since they believe in those things more than the Rize empire. It will be harder to get through all that." Current also grasped this along with the others. They were all looking at the potential to face magic that none of them had ever seen before.


    "Exactly. Things will just get harder until we know more. But they don''t know us and we don''t know them. They have no idea what a harpy is since they don''t have them here. They somewhat knew goblins but dragons were considered extinct here. Imagine just what kinds of surprises we will have for those that cause us trouble. Keep your cards close to your chest." Walker made this very clear. They all had to keep their secrets from the potential enemies while leaving enough said to enhance the mystery. It would only help their negotiations.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1704 1704. Speedy Building

    Everyone easily epted what Walker had said after talking a bit more. The royal dragons had managed to calm themselves while they thought about what would happen if their young and inexperienced offspring suddenly found that there were no more dragons around to carry on their bloodline.


    This fear was what made them want to deal with the wyverns even sooner. It was naturally a species of monster that could easily threaten them. Especially if they had managed to take on enough of their dragon blood to have simr characteristics.


    There was also the fact that Walker had brought up a theory that another type of more hidden monster might be causing problems in the southern side of the continent. The Fel empire might have issues they needed assistance with that could also threaten the dragons.


    Adding in that there was a massive desert in the sought, Rise, Ventus, and Terron became interested. A lot of wind, earth, and light elemental mana might be there. However, Terron could go to the mountain too. That would also have a lot of dense earth mana for him to experience and take for himself.


    There was a better chance for Ignus though, Mountains meant that volcanoes would exist. Between the mountains would bekes and rivers for Current. And the shadows would be ideal for Mordant. This was why they had all silently agreed that there would be a chance for them to split up if necessary. Unfortunately, that also required more information. They had to know more about what was going on before anyone risked splitting up.


    For the time being, they had prepared the forces that would be staying. The king of the surface was staying with Scy, Leon, and many of the soldiers. The dragonkin, some elves, and other select soldiers would be going with the royal dragons, Walker''s party, and Alma. Elise was also hanging back since they needed to set up a base of the tamer''s guild. That would be where they started to gather the information about new monsters.


    Naturally, Remey had put a few of the alchemists on the ships in charge of creating a small alchemyb to begin building toward another alchemy guild location. She was not going to be defeated by the tamer''s guild when it came to a base of operations. It was even more important that Remey had information about new herbs here on this continent. Along with the fact that the guild needed to be expanded sooner thanter.


    All of this had been worked out and told through chain ofmand to the others. This was just how it would be for now. But no one argued even a little. The only people that were feeling lost were the vigers. They couldn''t believe how fast they were watching their little vige be transformed. The more it happened, the more awestruck they were.


    The space that Terron had cleared was easily four times the size of their small vige and was already mentioned to be too small still. This alone made all of the vigers wonder just what a vige was like on the other continent. But seeing so many unfamiliar races working together was also stunning.


    The children had made a game of picking out new people to pull aside and riddle with questions. The adults were also beginning to fall for this and no one seemed unhappy about it. Genesis was all about getting to know one another and uniting races, that was a core ideal that even the dragonkin had begun to understand since they had met Walker''s group.


    Overall, the progress was enough, they had all worked and spoken for the entire day since Neil had weed them all in as the elder of the vige. As sudden as it was, Neil didn''t object to them leaving the very next morning. Walker had made it clear that there were goals to be at the embassy as soon as possible. It made sense that it was better for Walker''s group to get there than stay and build a vige while risking looking like they had invaded the Rize Empire.


    It was also because Walker knew that the longer they waited, the longer that all the issues grew to be something that couldn''t be handled. There was a major risk in the fact that the demon king was unchecked. What could he be doing? What power could he be gathering? Was that Slime breeder making more dangers? What about the other demon that had gone with him? The three were a major issue that had to be controlled or defeated sooner thanter.


    Unfortunately, there were also more people with issues here. The angels were clearly divided more than it appeared from what Walker had learned from ancient ruins. That alone would make things even moreplicated since Genesis was a third powering in to the conflict. Not to mention the two issues within the two empires that were spilling over in to other continents already. It was a big head ache for anyone when they thought about it.


    "Brother!" Midnight charged and grabbed Walker before he could fall creeper in t thought. She was in her dragonkin form and had been ying with a few of the vige children from thest day. Now that she had woken up ready to head out with the rest of them, she was looking for food and Walker was one of the first awake that could get it.


    "Midnight, you are going to want to switch forms again soon. We are going to be getting everyone else awake. But If you help me wake them up, I will cook a little something." Walker saw the light in Midnight''s eyes grow before she charged off toward Gil''s tent. He felt a little bad but also thought it would be funny to hear the growing cries of surprise as Midnight woke anyone and everyone up that she could.


    Just a few minutester, Gil found Walker by the fire and met him with a slight re. "That''s how you send a wake up call now? A dragon pouncing on everyone? Shouldn''t it just be you and Onyx that have to risk breaking ribs?"


    "Oh, so you''re saying you''re not strong enough to resist a yful nudge? Rough life. I guess we will have to wrap you in furs to cushion any fall you might have." The two fell in to a treasing argument as Walker added a few spices to some of the fish that had been hunted by Leon. it was a great smell to wake up to for the entire vige. Especially since they had barely put down roots and not fished too much. They were easily attracted by the smell of food.


    By the time the rest of the party had joined him, Walker had given away more spices than he would have liked to the older vigers. They wanted to experiment with their own food since most of them were parents and had trouble getting their kids to eat what they made. It didn''t matter where someone was, children would still be picky to some degree. Having new spices would be a great way to tempt them.


    "You know that we should bring spices and herbs back for your mother too right? the first bakery to sell foods made with spices and herbs from another continent?" Su made a point to tell Walker to keep an eye out. He was already nning on this but was d to have the reminder. He might space out and miss something.


    "Furs too for Lisa." Alice chimed in and added to it. She had high praise for Lisa since she had made Alice''s robes and even a few extra pairs of clothing. It was veryfortable and helped her gather light elemental mana. She could only be thankful and want to help. There was also the fact that Lisa had already said she would be fine with Alice as an older sister. not that Walker knew that conversation ever happened. But that would be a story for another time.


    "Alright, everyone has eaten and set up what they need right?" Walker saw the nods from everyone. "Good, we are leading the walk from here. The trails seem thin and not very developed. That means we have to travel in a line of smaller groups. It should be fine since we can reinforce each other but we shouldn''t let the dragons fly above and defend us. That could be seen as a wyvern attack since the angels don''t know dragons." Walker began telling everyone the walking n. It would take them a few days and they would pass other viges. They would have to be prepared for a number of monster encounters. The only hope was that they could easily handle any threats along the way.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1705 1705. Find Your Instincts

    The groups were already walking. Neil had flown up in the air a little ways to watch them go. He was still stunned about the changes that had happened in such a short time. For a while he had looked down at what his little vige was bing before his very eyes. Magic that could alter thend he lived in was rarely used, but now it was being used as if it was nothing.


    The level of teamwork that he witnessed also made him disappointed by his own race and empire. He had seen so many fights in his time. He had been on battlefields where the only thought for every angel was survival.


    Different opinions and even the slight differences in affinity had led to the death of entire families. To call the angel race a mess was too small. Especially whenpared to the races he had never seen in his life and knew nothing about that had shown up right where he lived and had already offered a helping hand.


    The decision to ept that hand and shake it with a smile was the best he had ever made. Even if it led to his entire empire fighting against him, he didn''t care now. He was able to say that he made the best decision for the families he was put in charge of. His entire life of fighting had finally been brought to a turning point where he could create a better future. Why would he ever be unhappy about that?


    While Neil was pondering this, Walker was marching ahead as the lead of these groups. He and his party had taken the lead with the royal dragons right behind. They were very angry that they needed to walk. However, in the interest of defeating the wyvernspletely, they did not argue much. Instead, Walker had begun to catch on to something.


    The others were marching in their own groups far off behind. It was spaced out so that the entire route they took could be easily enforced but also better mapped out as they traveled. This was just a precaution since this was still unfamiliar to them. The entire continent was a new ce, an adventurer''s dream.


    What Walker had begun to grasp was not the new nts and other things around him. It was the fact that the royal dragons were some how walking and still gathering mana for themselves. Rise in particr was greedily pulling light elemental mana toward herself. Onyx and Alice had noted this very early before Walker had sensed it.


    Onyx was the same as usual, he needed the light elemental mana as food for himself to grow even more. He was also keeping an eye on Aurora who was feeding on the light while benign wrapped around Alice''s arm. He was always keeping an eye on Aurora since she had been the first heavenly serpent to hatch as he was the first abyssal serpent to hatch. They had a unique rtionship as the two forests of their race to return to the world after being thought of as extinct.


    Alice had the same deep sense of light elemental mana due to the fact that she had recently learned of her own bloodline rted to the angels. It was odd that she carried it but now that there was an entire continent of angels, it made sense that some bloodline would remain within the bodies of humans who now lived where angels'' ancestors had. Would every angel truly have left? Every race had outliers.


    What walker had been surprised about was that many of the angels had not been light affinity. They had the simr wind affinity that Neil had with the odd fire and water mixed in with the children. Their wings had shown this off but just subtly. The angels that had light and darkness affinity might be rarer nowadays or they were more powerful in some aspects so they were with other simrly strong powers.


    That was all just a side thought for Walker. Right now he was trying to copy the royal dragons and gather mana to himself while walking. He had meditated while sitting. That was the best way for Walker to gain mana. He had also pulled mana toward him by manipting the natural mana in a specific way. However, he had never split his mind to force mana to gather and be ready for use at any time. He had to rely on mana gems in his armor or the eternal orb for this.


    "See, I told you that he would have an idea." Remey handed Gil a piece of jerky with an annoyed look. Walker nced at them with his own annoyed look.


    "If you two are going to bet on things, you should bet on whether I will help you make potions or you make arrows any time soon." Walker''s threat made the two look away and pretend that they had done nothing.


    "And that is what I told you would happen. Midnight and I will scout ahead now. You two can take up the rear while Walker figures something out. Alice, you shoulde too, those two will just give you bad ideas." Alice giggled a little and walked with Su and Midnight ahead.


    "I will stay with you brother. I want to understand what they are doing as well." Onyx had grasped where Walker''s thoughts were and taken his favorite ce on Walker''s shoulders in his smaller form. He was more than happy to learn about moving and gathering mana faster at the same time.


    "I know you might want to teach it to your little ones." Walker could tell that if Onyx learned it he would immediately begin to figure out how he would go about teaching this to the younger abyssal serpents. The simple reason being so that they wouldn''t have to spend their time sitting in the sun and watching. That way they would be able to move around and keep learning while they were able to also grow faster. It was the perfect bnce since a young abyssal serpent was so weak at first. The heavenly serpents would be able to use this too if Aurora learned it. But Onyx knew that Aurora was still too far behind in growth to worry about this too much.


    By watching how Rise was moving mana toward her but also keeping her eyes open and focused, Walke caught on that she was actually using her instincts to keep moving. As a dragon, Rise had powerful instincts. They could smell and sense things around them very well. It was why Midnight often alerted the party of danger if Gil couldn''t catch it or Walker couldn''t.


    Therefore, Rise was using her instincts to remain with the others.s he could sense her fellow royal dragons and the unique scents they had matched with how their footsteps sounded. Even the breathing and mana around her from them was enough to guide how her body moved in dragonkin form. It was amazing watching such a precise form of eptance when it came to basic instincts. Walker knew that he would have to change his focus to copy this.


    As a human, the basic animalistic instincts were often put aside for intellectual thought. This was just years of habit based on how they formed a society. That wasn''t a bad thing, it had allowed humans to be very adaptive to different situations which was why they had survived and created multiple kingdoms and cities elsewhere.


    Tapping in to that while splitting focus to make manae to him and gather was going to require some assistance. The eternal orb would be that assistance. Walker knew that it had a perfect connection to natural mana already. That meant he could use it in its natural orb form to gather mana and channel it to the spirit mark to help Fleur better.


    From there, Walker needed to find the instincts that would allow him to walk and act in an instant. The lightning sword style along with the de zone skill were the two skills that walker felt had a link to his instincts. The reason that he felt this way was because his speed was more than he felt his mind could normallyprehend when using the lightning sword style.


    Furthermore, he had the idea that the de zone was a unique way of sensing the areas around him. Not that he used it often since he knew that it took a toll on his body due to the movements he used when under the skill. His mana drained fast but he also had to put massive mental strain to force his body to move in ways that shed at his blind spots. That was why he never used it, it was taxing and dangerous in a real battle.


    That left Walker with the problem of finding his basic instincts that he had grown to oppress in some way to reach the same level as the other royal dragons.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1706 1706. Real Instincts

    "Walker is trying to gather mana from the air and use it in his body, right? Like the dragons?" Gil was chatting with Remey. The two had finally stopped arguing while they walked since they had gotten tired of the same run around.


    "Pretty sure that''s it. He keeps looking at the royal dragons were are meditating and walking at the same time. It''s kind of weird but they are dragons so they are going to be different." Remey just shrugged her shoulder at this. She felt that this was to be expected. Walker would eventually be closer to the dragons as time went on.


    "But isn''t that kind of important? He said that the angels absorb and use the mana around them naturally by bringing it in through their wings. That could be why Alice had all those problems with light mana. She used her mana because she was too close to the mana in the air and couldn''t absorb it. But she made her own mana because she''s human. Makes sense right?" Gil felt that his theory was very solid.


    "I don''t see why you think this matters? They are different situations. If Alice learns to take mana from around her too that''s great but she already has Horizon to help her. We all have our elemental spirits helping us now or something else." There wasn''t a point in sight when it came to this conversation. Remey just wondered why Gil was so focused on it.


    "That is it though. What if we can do the same while still making our own mana? Could you make potions ten times longer if you could do that? I couldunch a hundred more arrows at enemies. Su could make her light healing shieldrger. There''s so much more too. We should be watching and learning so that we can train the same thing."


    There was a slight pause in Remey''s steps as she looked back at Walker who had begun to walk slightly slower and with a less straight pace having to constantly readjust himself. "So we should make a human version of dragon and angel mana absorption and usage. Store elemental mana in our bodies since we have spirit marks and use mana from the air with less and less use of our own mana because we are already connected to the mana in the air."


    "We have to keep up. Walker and everyone else will get way too ahead of us." Gil knew that this was true. He could feel that Walker was about to break through again. Remey had been focused on potion and he on arrows. Not He and Remey had to catch up again to the others. But they had their ways. Remey had her elemental fists and Gil had the high elf dagger techniques. It was time for them to break through to a higher level as well.


    While Gil and Remey just looked back at Walker, Walker was in a different situation. It wasn''t often that people focused on themselves. Their deepest thoughts and basic emotions. This alone was off since normally a mage would meditate to understand their flow of mana and the way that their elemental affinity reacted with the world so that they could better understand it.


    Now that walker was focusing on his instincts, it was different. He was having trouble maintaining the path they were on. Mostly because he did not have the same instinctual awareness as the others which left him stumbling. It also left him splitting his attention and losing the small feelings of catching on more and more.


    The single thing that he had grasped for the moment was the feelings he had of where people were. He knew that he had his family in front of and behind them. His party was always going to be his family that he would defend and that would defend them. But that emotional connection made him keep track of them subconsciously. It was something that Walker had somewhat realized before this.


    The more that Walker tried to grasp that feeling, the more he understood that it wasn''t a trained feeling. It was an instinct that he was chasing. The desire to protect family was something that came naturally. If he cared for someone, they would always be in his sights. This was what a father would feel for a child or a mother would feel for a child. It came naturally but most people thought of it as just emotional. But that wasn''t fully true.


    As Walker felt that single thing reach his mind fully, he started to feel many other things. He was closer rted to dragons, abyssal serpents, and natural mana now. He had those bonds that shared things with him and vice versa. How could he think of himself as just having human emotions and instincts?


    The scents around him along with the sounds seemed to double in just that moment of understanding. Meanwhile, Walker felt like his body was growing hotter. As if he was finally releasing pent up mana and understanding from his bonds.


    The sense that there were powerful beings near him were from both Onyx and Midnight. It was like a sixth sense that came from the basic feelings of mana, sounds, sight, and scent all around him. There was the deeper connection to mana in general provided by Fleur. Walker already had sensed it but not to this degree. It was as if he had been representing the true degree of what he could feel because he had not bothered to properly look at all sides of it.


    ''The passive skill instinct release has been taken from the beast man system. The user has learned the passive skill instinct release.


    Instinct release- passive


    The instincts that humans had learned to repress for many generations are always there. Many lose sight of them until they are under great stress or they are trained to get closer to them. Some humans fully understand them over time and can use them. This skill is the full release of instincts so that the user can grasp things beyond their normal actions.


    Any human or living being can learn to return to their instincts if trained properly, regardless of system, age, and other factors. The process will result in simr skills, some passive and other not. But the basic instincts will be released and the user will be able to better understand themselves and the world they interact with.''


    The information from the system was not the clearest. Walker could still not understand what he had unlocked. But in the next second it was like a bomb going off in his mind. He was suddenly stimted by much more. His mind was focusing on the smallest crackles of leaves under foot. His eyes picked up smaller details and every tiny piece of grass moving. Even the feelings of his heartbeats wererger and more intense.


    This wasn''t even considering the mana that was flowing around and through him. Walker could feel it all much more than before. It was simr to a dense liquid all around him just waiting on his attention. Waiting for a dam to be broken down.


    The bonds between Midnight, Onyx, and Fleur red to life even more powerful than before. Walker felt that he was understanding things much better. The bonds were just some ties to his soul. They were a channel so that he could learn from those he was rted to and them from him. They were a pure connection of nature that let them all understand each other well beyond what was normal.


    Yes, they all understood this, but at a base level. Now, Walker was feeling it to his very core. His soul seemed to rejoice at this. The freedom that he felt and the understanding of where his emotions, additional instincts, and many other things came from. Walker had changed since he started his adventures. He had been influenced by his family, party, and these bonds. But they were his power, his strength. They made him better and that was all he needed.


    Midnight and Onyx stopped for a moment feeling this through their bond with Walker. They could feel his emotions fluctuating. Even Su could sense it slightly through Midnight. But Fleur was the most sensitive to this since she was resting in the spirit mark on Walker''s body.


    These feelings were the reason that many would advance over time, but right this second, Walker was using it to learn and adapt. The natural human adaptation was starting to flow as it should, the real thing Walker needed was time. But time was always something everyone wanted more of. Especially when Walker smelled a strange musky smell that he wasn''t used to. With that was also a stronger iron smell that he could easily ce.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1707 1707. Good For All Races

    The reaction of Walker taking a battle stance was instant. Everyone else prepared to face whatever might be around. Midnight had smelled the same thing while the royal dragons just stood still as their dragonkin surrounded them. Any monster on the ground was too weak for them to worry about. Why would a royal dragon worry about some small thing?


    Normally, the dragonkin would fight to protect the vige and keep the territories clean. That Was how it worked unless a powerful threat arrived, only then would the royal dragons have to make a move. Meanwhile, they would be gathering their mana and understanding the depth of the affinities.


    Walker''s stance was facing toward the direction the slightest breeze had blown the smell of blood from. The musky smell mixed in was clear whatever monster had carried that scent of blood, but he couldn''t see it through the trees.


    What Walker could see was the alternating coloration of greens and browns that made up the grasses and trees. However, it was clear that there was a gray figure moving through the trees, it was just not clear enough to make out the exact monster that it was. Luckily, the all around appraisal skill just needed to see some of it, not all of it.


    ''Road gremlin


    The road gremlin is a distant rtive of the goblin race. They were once goblins before fully falling and epting their madness and bing true monsters of their own species. Now that they are their own species, they are considered a great pestilence on the Sigil continent.


    The road gremlin hunts long trails, mountain roads, and anywhere well traveled by sentient races. This is so that they can ambush the weakest prey and steal it away to consume. They will often live in groups of twenty or thirty due to their high ability to breed.


    They are less than rats when ites to the food chain since they do not develop fat bodies that provide nutrition. However, they have sharp teeth and very sharp ws. Their spindly bodies also allow them to easily climb trees and drop down on prey.''


    While some goblins hade with them on the ships, they had all remained with the ships since they were not the best at exploration and battle. They were also one of the monster races that had not been with other races for as long. Therefore, they needed more time to be more eloquent. That was the same for the gray haired spiders. They too were a little too rough to meet a race and form diplomatic rtionships.


    Seeing that it had been spotted, one of the road gremlins tried to run away but was easily pierced by a quick arrow from Gil. Unfortunately, this had set off a chain. The other road gremlins had fallen from trees and started attacking the front section of the trail trying to get whatever they could. Unfortunately for them, the dragonkin saw them as nothing but a nuisance.


    The immediate reaction of battle was quick and road gremlins began to fall as if they were just straw dummies for training.


    Walker had reacted first with Midnight and Onyx. This put him at the front of battle. His eternal orb had taken a staff form and a single stomp down with it had channeled the earth elemental mana around to attack.


    Spikes of earth shot upward causing three of the road gremlins to fall to their death in seconds. Meanwhile, Midnight had taken in arge breath. The earth mana that Walker had used was thick around him so Midnight Had taken some of that and the wind elemental mana together. With one burst of her breath, sand flowed at the road gremlins that Walker had not defeated.


    The sand was not some weak little breath attack. This was a fusion of elemental manas that Midnight had trained. She had sat for a long time learning to mix elemental manas near her heart. She could add her mes but chose not to. They could burn down all the grasses and trees, she was being smart.


    The sand caused the road gremlins to effectively be bombarded by the worst sandstorm possible. It tore at their bodies beforepletely suffocating them. This left Onyx to find the few that managed to hide from Midnight''s attacks. A single p of his tail was all he needed to handle them and keep moving on.


    The ambush had been quick and instant. Yet, it was over in seconds because the gremlins were foolish and mindless monsters. They had the chance to flee even before they had seen the group. If they had let their senses act for them, they would have sensed the power of the dragons and soldiers around. They would have been able to run away and live another day. Instead, a single one had fled when it saw them while the others had fallen to attack them regardless.


    "These things don''t even have a use." Gil looked at the spindly bones and didn''t even want to try cutting away the bodies to make one of the road gremlin bones in to arrows. They were too weak. It would be worthless to even attempt it. A waste of time.


    "They are just rats. That''s what the appraisal said. Less than rats. That means they are amon and annoying pest here. We should send more scouts to beat them as we travel." Walker sent this message down the line to everyone. The few dragonkin that Mordant had with him nodded and moved to act on this. Such weak opponents could be handled quickly while anything else would be appraised first.


    "So, are you going to tell us?" Remey stretched and rolled her shoulders after having beaten a few of the road gremlins herself. It wasn''t even a warm up to deal with them. Just amon courtesy to the new continent they were exploring. Exterminating pests was a gift to everyone.


    "I am interested as well. What did you learn that helped you before? I could feel something." Su was sure that it was Walker''s understandings that had changed. She had felt it the same as Midnight and Onyx.


    "Instincts. There''s a passive skill called instinct release. Anyone can use it. It might be slightly different depending on race, but it lets you release your instincts so that you can use them better. I can sense mana and a few other things better. Like my sense of smell, I could smell blood and well, monsters." Walker felt awkward saying this since he knew it was most likely how Onyx and Minfight sensed things already.


    "I see, it is simr to how my senses are changing the more I grow in to my bond with Midnight." Midnight huffed in approval as Su quickly realized that they were bing closer and more simr when it came to sense of smell and other things. Midnight was always happier to get closer to her family. Su was her sister too!


    "So you are saying that you are going to start acting like dragons more?" This seemed to snap a few of the royal dragon''s head toward Walker. They were clearly still keeping some of their senses on what Walker might be doing. However, their main focus was elemental manas.


    "Somewhat. Just my senses for now. But I can also feel mana better too. I have Fleur to thank for that. She had been helping me all the time and now I have something to show for it." This had made Walker the happiest. He could clearly feel the subtle touches that Fleur made to mana all around him. She had always been doing this under his nose. It made his heart feel just a little more full.


    "We should move." Alice was the voice of reason here. She saw that everyone could stop for hours and talk about this. But she knew that those behind them would be stopped as well. They had a goal and she was sure that she could help them stick to it.


    "Thanks for the reminder. Alice is right, we can all try and share the skill as we learn it. I still only partially understand what it is doing. I will probably stay upte when we stop to meditate on it." Walker was honest. He believed that they all should try to learn it. The system had even said that everyone could learn it. That alone would make it a great boon for not only the whole party but also every race in genesis.


    "You can show me after you make yourself useful and show me what herbs I should be picking. We have passed by so many while you were spacing out." Remey immediately started walking but kept Walker close this time. She was not letting him go back into his own head to think.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1708 1708. Herbs And Monsters

    "Red tipped ivy, it is basically just amon weed unless you harvest only the smallest red leaves before they turn green with only red tips. The baby leaves can be used to make a tea that helps the stomach calm down." Walker had listed a significant number of herbs so far but he had just realized that thend around them had started to change.


    The grasses were growing in less dense groups as the trees and bushes had started to take over. They had only been walking for a few hours but the tall grasses and fewer trees had been reced. The beach was far enough behind that it was impossible to even see anything without flying above the trees and in to the air by a decent margin. The party had forgotten how fast they could move now that their levels were higher.


    ''Pig tail grass


    The pig tail grass is known for the curly tops that it has. They are rarely used for alchemy due to their weak healing abilities. However, they are used in high ss cooking to brighten and enhance a dish. They have a strong onion vor that mixes well with many things. The slight healing properties also transfer over making it perfect for spiritual cooking.''


    "Spiritual cooking?" Remey was confused. They had nothing of the sort back home. The only cooking that came with healing or added bonuses were extremely rare systems that were closer to alchemists than anything else.


    "I assume it is something that is unique to Sigil. If there are foods that can be made using these kinds of herbs, then it means that there are better ones. It says weak healing properties, that must mean that there are those with strong healing properties." No one rejected Walker''s theory. It was actually kind of amazing to imagine wounds could heal just by eating a certain dish.


    "Yes yes yes, don''t worry Midnight. If you can''t make Walker learn it then I will. It sounds very good for when we need a good rest between adventures." Su was already conspiring with Midnight. Walker could only ept his fate. He would have to learn the new form of cooking before he even tried to leave this continent after they finished their business.


    "Wait, Walker, that herb looks weird. Don''t let Remey touch it." Gil stopped Walker and Remey from moving for a second. He was looking at a small nt with arge bell shaped purple flower. The shape was odd since it was toorge. It appeared that it shouldn''t fit on the nt it was growing on.


    "Oh, that looks like the powder blossoms. They went extinct in the elven forest because there was a species of rotten sparrows that ate them all. We killed the rotten sparrows but they did their damage years ago. I read about it in books." Alma had been silently walking further behind but had managed to catch back up after sending more elves around to scout the area. Now she was looking at the same nt with them.


    "Let''s see what these ones are all about then." Walker wasn''t surprised that Alma had caught up. He knew that she would catch back up after finishing her orders and evaluations of the area with her trusted guards. She would also be right with Remey when it came to nts. The two could be the very reason that his mind became the same as an alchemy textbook for anyone in the alchemist guild.


    ''Purple powder blossom


    This is a nt that grows only after arge rain. They are simr to mushrooms however, they had a more nt like structure. They are a strange mix of mushroom and nt. Inside the bell flower is a massive amount of pollen and seed. When the flower blooms, it spits these seeds and pollen all around it in one burst.


    The pollen is often poisonous causing many symptoms depending on the color. The purple coloration in this powder blossom is able to cause fever and sweating. The other colors can cause a range of side effects such as paralysis, blindness, numbness, and even death depending on the mana it has absorbed over time.''


    The group listened to this with some surprise. Gil, Remey, Alma, and even Alice all saw that there was value in these nts. They could be used for healing, potions, and even in battle.


    "I could use these to paralyze an entire hoard of monsters with this." Alma also thought she could do more. If they encountered an army she could stop them in their tracks without killing a single soldier. That was the best kind of victory when it came to war. One without spilling even a single drop of blood.


    Rmeey''s thoughts were different, "I could make numbing medicines to use for people who hadrger injuries, but I could also make sure that we have better antidotes against nts simr to these. That would make the herbalists morefortable hunting for herbs we can''t grow." This practical use would greatly help the herbalists just learning or trying to get the rarest and most dangerous herbs. Not every herb was all good.


    "Those are great uses but what about bringing them back to the forest?" Alice had taken a more sentimental thought. She recognized the uses that these nts would have. They were pretty but useful for medicine. She was healer, how could she miss the chance to help others?


    There was also the fact that Alma had shown some sadness not being able to see a nt that had once existed in her home. The forest had definitely been affected by the loss of a nt that had once been there all year round. It was certainly a food source for certain animals and monsters.


    "Alice, you are great! We should bring it back. The elves that used to collect them will be ecstatic!" Alma jumped and jugged Alice. She was d that someone was supporting something that she hadn''t even considered doing yet because she had been too focused on the fact that she would have to use them to fight.


    "I guess that means we will be looking for every color then." Gil stretched a little and started to nce around. He was going to keep a sharp eye out so that Alma could gather more of them as they went. The bugs of the flowers could be taken and stored carefully so that the pollen wouldn''t get anywhere and cause any issues.


    Meanwhile, Su pulled a few people aside that were close to the party. She had them send the message down that these herbs and nts were dangerous. It was best that if anyone encountered them of any color that they were wary of them so that they would not bloom and cause any issues.


    ''Weeping oak


    That is a not actually a tree but a monster. It is not active during the day and will ce its roots in the ground. At night, it will lower its branches and start to use them to help it move. In the center of the trunk it has an empty space where it will trap prey and slowly dissolve them simr to some of the venus fly trap monsters in other forests.


    The dangers these possess is that they will match the trees around them, however, they primarily copy oaks since they naturally have limbs and bark like skin simr to them. However, the leaves they grow are actually closer to feathers which are great for use in many home goods.''


    "Oh, and that tree is actually a monster. It''s sleeping now but it''s nocturnal. It might try and eat us at night." Walker stood in front of it and pulled one of the leaves off. He found that it was actually very close to a feather. The leaves had smaller pieces that came together to smoke a leaf shape. they would definitely be useful for pillows, beds, and nkets. Not to mention anything else that could be rted to jewelry.


    "And you just decided to pull off a part of it? Brother, you need to be more careful!" the sudden reprimand from onyx made everyone raise an eyebrow. It was rare that onyx was the voice of reason since he was always watching and learning instead.


    "I knew it was sleeping so I just checked it out. We should just keep an eye out for them. I doubt they can harm us if we let a little mana flow around us." Walker pulled some wind mana around him and saw the branches stiffen against the small breeze he created. The weeping oak clearly felt the threat instinctually. "See? We can make them steer clear of us. Just let everyone know to keep themselves prepared at night." This was a quick addition to the messages passed down from them but a very good one for those that might take a night watchter.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1709 1709. Boom! Fruit

    "One more! Just look at that one right there. It''s weird and has some spiral leaves too!" Remey knew that Walker might bite this time with the rtion to the weeping oak and other herbs or ns he had checked out.


    "It''s just a spiraled spruce. They grow like that to get more sunlight. It doesn''t have medicinal or potion uses." Walker had grown pretty tired of using the all around appraisal skill. He did have to admit that he was making great progress in other means though.


    Since Walker had been forced to split his attention further from trying to gather mana without thinking too much since he wanted it to be instinctual, he was able to train his mind more. The all around appraisal skill, speaking, and focusing on his instincts all came together to help him pursue his goals.


    The small changes that Walker had realized already was the ease to grasp at mana in general. He had already felt that his connection with mana had increased due to sensitivity, yet this was only a small part of it. Therge aspect was that he could gather it faster than before when making it take the form of a skill.


    Walker had already started to y with the water in the air idly to test this out. It easily formed a water ball which had already earned him the water ball skill. As specific as that was, he realized he couldn''t do much with it other than gather the water in to a ball to use in other ways. He did see that it would be helpful elsewhere though.


    Forming water in to a ball could be useful for farming, healing, and household matters. It made sense that it hade from the water maid system. Not that Walker had ever heard of a maidpletely based around water affinity and skills. The world was always bigger than he seemed to understand.


    The additional observation was that he could freeze that water or turn it to mist much faster now. Since before it would require a skill or take more time, Walker felt this to be a great thing. He could easily freeze the water faster and with less mana making his frost whip skill appear faster and slightly more powerful since he could push more mana in to the skill without it going out of his control.


    "Walker, what are those fruits?" Gil, Alice, and Remey all asked at the same time. It was enough topletely take Walker''s focus from other things. He even saw Midnight and Su showing interest. The only one that didn''t seem to mind it was Onyx since he was asleep on Walker''s shoulders. Alma was simr since she was distracted withmunicating with the elves that had returned from scouting.


    The spiky red and ck fruit that they pointed out was hanging from a very tall tree. The leaves even looked like they had small spikes on them that would make them very unpleasant to touch. After spotting them too, Walker looked at the branches and bark only to find that they also had little spikes on it. The entire tree was slimy and sharp!


    ''Caltrop fruit


    The caltrop fruit was named for the spikes used in war against cavalry, caltrops. It is known for the spikes it has that make the tree a massive pain for anything that wants to eat it or the fruits.


    The inside is a surprisingly sweet and soft white meat while the outer spikes hide the seeds. When the fall the spikes shoot around on to the ground exposing the fruit.


    The smell attracts animals and monsters that eat it and stomp the seeds in to the ground unintentionally. The fruit itself can be made in to extremely smooth and sweet wine.''


    "Hmm, so it''s supposed to be really sweet and good to eat but also makes wine. Let''s get some." The idea of food attracted everyone''s attention. Walker didn''t have any reason not to try it.


    "Just keep an eye out for monsters. There are definitely tracks around." Gil focused himself after hearing Walker''s appraisal.


    Alma had a close eye on things, she had been taking the role ofmunication since the other groups behind them would need to know every detail they could. The dangerous herbs and beneficial ones had already started to pay off. Finishing a fruit that might attract monsters but also feed them was great too. It came with some good and bad, but they needed a lot of food to feed their hefty pace of travel along the trails.


    "I''ll just use wind to cut them, don''t try and catch them since they are spiky." Walker used his mana to channel the wind in to a small focused de. It was much easier than even making a gust of wind now since he had gained the passive instinct release skill.


    The little des of wind shot out cutting ten fruits down in a few seconds. However, they were not prepared for when they hit the ground.


    The thuds of ten fruits hitting the ground were followed by the cracking of the fruit skin. the next thing everyone knew, there were little spikes shooting in the air while the sweet fruity smell assaulted their nostrils. Naturally, midnight charges head on in and grabbed a fruit devouring it in the blink of an eye. Anyone could see that she was happier than all else with her new snack.


    The others had shielded themselves with their hands and arms to block the spikes that had been shot up around all of them. They were all either covered in them, had pieces of fruit on them, or were looking around at the mess while Midnight was having her own feast.


    "Now I see why these are a pain¡­" Remey thought that they smelled good but that they were clearly not going to be worth the trouble.


    "They are awesome. I wonder why they explode like that!" Gil had other thoughts. He was very amused by the sudden explosion of fruit.


    "Are you going to bring your mother back some seeds? I''m sure she would grow these!" Alma was right there supporting him while even grabbing a piece to try herself. From the expression she made, the sweet and smooth taste of the fruit was exactly to her liking. She even went as far to wave over two of the elven archers that hade to report to her. They made the same delighted expression when they tried the fruit. It was sure to be an elf''s favorite when they returned to Genesis.


    "Walker, you should store them away quickly, I can hear a few more of those gremlins around." The simr cackling and hissing that the gremlins had made thest time the group encountered them could be heard. That meant that the smells of these fruits spread very quickly.


    "Done and done." Walker sent a few more wind des up to cut the fruits down while also cushioning their falls with wind. This time they did not fall and explode. They were perfectly fine to save for another time. Midnight had even gathered a pile of spikes so that the seed could be brought back. It was very clear to everyone that they had made the top of the snack list other than the roasted horned rabbits.


    "We don''t need to worry about leaving now, we managed to attract a new monster." Gil found the movement in the corner of his eye. It was keeping away while looking at the fruits on the ground.


    ''Scaled bear


    The scaled bear has a very minimal dragon bloodline while having a major forest bear bloodline. It is usually wary of other monsters and prefers solitude. It is rare for it to attack anyone or anything making it a beloved monster around small forest viges. It is considered a guardian monster to some smaller viges.


    The scales that grow on their body are tough but not tough enough to be used for armor. That makes them less hunted. Surprisingly, they have been known to help lost children get back home when lost in the woods. This has made many fairytales to be created about them. Some even believe that they are the kindness monster in existence.''


    "Oh, go offer it some fruit. They are docile monsters." Walker smiled and pointed at Gil and Alma. The entire group gave him a confused expression until the scaled bear slowly crept up trying to steal some fruit that had fallen a few feet away. After that, they all understood that the scaled bear was a herbivore that just wanted some snacks too. It also made Midnight very interested since it had scales and enjoyed fruit like her. This was also one of the first monsters with dragon blood, however weak, that they had encountered.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1710 1710. Kindness In Dragons

    It took a few moments before anyone actually believed Walker. They were still not convinced that such a calm and kind monster could possibly exist. However, the appearance of the scaled bear had drawn the attention of every dragonkin and the royal dragons nearby. They were all still walking so it was natural for some groups to catch up to Walker''s group at the front.


    However., it was the dragon blood line that was within the scaled bear that they sensed. This was the same as sensing a distant rtive. Many of the dragons could sense that there was something simr about them and the scaled bear, it wasn''t just the growth of the scales.


    Ignus scoffed seeing it, he believed that dragons should be prideful and powerful. This little thing was nothingpared to a dragon. Yet, before he could move to kill it out of disdain and insult, Mordant had stood in front of all of the royal dragons and red down the dragonkin that had also felt this.


    "I want to see how our distant cousins passed on what they had when they were faced with the death of what they believed to be the entire dragon race." Mordant had a very domineering aura around him. The other royal dragons had never seen him in such a state. Even Walker could sense that Mordant was infuriated.


    Now that all of the royal dragons had settled on the fact that this continent had truly lost their dragons, it made them bitter. They all dealt with it differently. Ignus wanted to reimnd while Rise thought that it was just a step to grow as a race. The weaker dragons would naturally not survive to rise in height.


    Mordant, however, wanted to see what is left. He believed that the dragons that had been here so many years ago were pure in their intentions to allow even a drop of dragon blood to live on. It was their duty to save even the tiniest existence that was dragon. Their great race which had spanned thousands of years deserved to remain in any form possible to exist. Even this small and weak scaled bear that showed absolutely no porosity that would associate it with dragons.


    "It is very different than us, but it is proof that we dragon roared and stood here. Do not insult their memories or the elder may bury your existence in the records." Mordant made a harsh point. Yet, Walker understood. It would be insulting to every one of that bloodline to say that what was left was nothing worth living. Even the weakest existence was proof of the greatness that a past age held.


    Meanwhile, Midnight had beaten everyone to the point. She had stood tall and carried a piece of fruit toward the scaled bear. Naturally, the bear had tried to retreat until it realized that the strong being before it was leaving a fruit for it. Instead of retreating, the kindness in the scaled bear acted.


    It took the fruit and looked at Midnight with strong eyes. There was a calm around them that made everyone wonder what the scaled bear must think. "You all should think of it this way, there is strength in dragons. That''s clear everywhere. But when you wonder, should a dragon be kind, you have evidence here. That scaled bear didn''t get power or pride from dragon blood. It got kindness to help others weaker than itself. So what if its scales are weaker than others? It is still doing right by the dragon blood it has. Do you not protect your vige as a royal dragon?"


    When Walker backed up Mordant, it earned a slight smirk from Mordant out of respect. It also earned a sh of understanding from the others. They all had their own ideals. Many of them could even die by their own ideals and be happy with it. That Was a dragon''s pride after all. But when it came to honoring the dragon name, they took it deathly serious. It was paramount to their core ideals no matter how they lived.


    "If that thing runs from a fight I will end it, for now it can breathe." Ignus gave up any intention of hating on it and so did the dragonkin that had shown hostility as well. Midnight also left the scaled bear alone and started to walk ahead with a happy pep in her step. She didn''t have any ill will against the scaled bear at all.


    "If they want to join a vige when we build one here, they can. I won''t stop them. They can be a bridge to thosee to us for your strength." Current summed it up with a slightly different view. But this seemed to make Terron agree along with Ventus nodding along. Rise just looked at the scaled bear and then walked away without a word.


    "I guess we are back on the way? No new bear friends?" Remey was sure that Midnight would have insisted that they bring the bear with them. She hadn''t realized that one of the harpies had already left to inform Elise.


    Walker had thought. "Just give it a few months, I''m sure that there will be tamers that specifically train and care for scaled bears to find food in forests while also helping find missing people. It could be a huge start for the tamer''s guild to build a whole division of their tamers around." That was already something that the tamer''s guild did well. Yet, it was not asrge as hiring adventures at a lower cost. Nwpo there as a better chance to rival adventurers to find missing people in forests. Especially if an elven tamer found a scaled bear to tame.


    These were just small thoughts for everyone as they continued on their journey. No one really noticed the scaled bear and the fact that three cubs hade out of the leaves around it to eat fruit too. They had also not noticed the fact that after they ate, the scaled bear and her cubs had started to follow them. As much as they had all just arrived, they had already begun to leave asting impression on the Sigil continent. Even in the tiniest of ways, the dragons had returned.


    "Can you make an ice arrow for me?" Gil suddenly asked this. He was looking at Walker with a very firm gaze.


    "I can, but why?" Walker was confused. He was thinking that Gil was bored since everyone was doing something by themselves.


    Su was speaking with Alice about the light healing shield and how to better form it inparison to her shield. Midnight was walking the lead on the trail now. Remey and Alma were raving about the seed of their new fruit and how they could grow differently with Alma''s guidance and skills. Naturally, it made sense that Gil would be bored.


    "I saw you ying with water and ice before. You should be able to make me arrows much faster. And I was thinking about how you had made those earth weapons once while fighting in the arenas. You remember, when you were fighting the demi-human arenas? You made swords out of earth all around you. They weren''t perfect but I want to do the same with ice or earth. I just think Ice would fly better with wind."


    "I do remember that. It wasn''t really a skill to be honest. It was more of earth sculpting on arge scale. But I''m sure if I refine it more I can make it a real higher ss skill. But to do that with ice¡­" Walker felt that he hadn''t even given it real thought. It was simr to the ice dragon domain that he had, but in specific forms. Sculpted ice that could be used by others.


    "So if I am fighting and I can''t just grab from my quiver because I have to dodge in various ways, wouldn''t it be better to be able to just pick up arrows from all around me? I doubt a monster will be able to make a bow and use my arrow in the same way, right? And I can''t just throw all my arrows around us to fight that way."


    "I see what you are saying. It is a safety when fighting an opponent you can''t take a second to grab an arrow from your quiver. It''s insurance that could buy you more time. I can try that. I''m not sure if I can change the ice dragon''s domain skill like that but if I can¡­" Walker felt that he had been given an interesting challenge. Meanwhile, Gil felt that he had done the right thing. He had spurred Walker in to a very profitable potential skill. Knowing Walker, something amazing woulde out of it.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1711 1711. Partial Success

    "Gil! What did you do?" Alma and Remey were ring at Gil as they watched Walker make another wave of cold air all around him.


    "We are trying out some skills that we can use in battle. It will be fine." Gil tried to brush it off but he felt that the res were getting more powerful. Even Midnight and Su and looked over at him and Walker with a slightly unhappy look on their faces.


    "Onyx seems to think everything is fine too, he is watching the magic form to help us. Why don''t you-"


    "If we get hit by another wave of frost then we will make you stay up all night with the fire to keep us warm." Gil knew that Remey was already telling him that this would be the case. He would have no choice so he just sighed in eptance. But he was also very focused on what Walker was doing. They all were to a degree.


    The frost ring skill that Walker had enhanced and focused on to eventually create the ice dragon''s domain skills a powerful. It was a very strong skill that froze things around him so that he could use the ice to his advantage. It also helped him utilize the water in the air since the cold ice would cause the water to begin to form mist and ice all over again.


    That was the thought behind using the cie dragon domain. It would weaken and freeze opponents but it was a domain. An entire area would always be affected when he used the skill. As much as Walker wanted this, it would not work with what Gil was after. He was after making the area around him covered in arrows that he could use. Just as had been done when Walker sculpted multiple rough earth swords at once.


    The issue was that if he used earth, then the arrows Gil wanted to use would be too heavy. They would not be able to fly in the same way as an arrow should. If they did fly, then they would end up falling very short of the target due to their weight. Overall, they were just not eptable for use.


    The ice arrows were also something that Walker considered not to be good. That was until Gil had exined that he wanted to use the wind to enhance them. The reason behind this was that the light weighted ice arrow would normally not break through tough defenses. It was too fragile to do so. However, adding the wind would change things.


    There had been people that could use skills to speed up even a brittle toothpick to pierce metal if it was made to move fast enough. The ice could be the same. Make the ice arrow fly faster and harder withwind to make it pierce the opponent. Then the ice would melt and leave a wound that would bleed. Monsters would be taken down from further away and in a faster speed.


    Adding in the fact that Gil could use this when surrounded and on the run, he would be able to pick off the monsters around them without having to use real arrows from his quiver. The arrows that were filled with mana that could explode, freeze a single opponent, cause blinding light, travel in shadows, and much more. These arrows were valuable and for specific situations where they would be the best choice. Not for use against every single monster. The right weapon for the job was always the best practice.


    Therefore, Walker was imagining the usage of his ice to sculpt it in to an arrow. He had done this before with Gil to make the ice arrows individually. Now he had to focus it in to the air around him at arger scale but focused. That meant that he had to put the focus on the distant water around him.


    Surprisingly, the water ball skill he had learned seemed handy here. Walker knew he could control water further from him. He was able to use his own mana to pull water toward him. Why wouldn''t he be able to separate arger amount of water from him and let it freeze and sculpt? It was slightly different but still the same as controlling the earth under his feet to make only certain shapes rise from it. This time he just didn''t have the solid connection he would if it was a mass of earth.


    The waves of cold were the result of this. Every time that Walker tried to reach his control in to the air and make the water that was naturally in the air bend to his will, he would end up causing the wind to carry a cold mist. Then the most would hit things and make frost. So far this had just been like making smaller frost rings. Not at all what he wanted.


    The condensing of the moisture in the air was where the problem was. Walker struggled to bring it all together at multiple times and at multiple ces. Not that this would have been hard for him to do if he remained focused on one specific ce at one specific time.


    ? It all went back to the control over mana overall and the fact that Walker needed to further train his mind to be able to handle these more intricate tasks at different times. His will had already be clear when it came to influencing the manas. Even Fleur could help him control the natural mana to increase his control over them. That was not an issue at all even though he still had the desire to increase his personal understanding of the elemental and natural mana.


    By gradually lessening the ces around him that he was trying to make the ice arrows appear, Walker began to slowly cause fewer and fewer bursts of frost around him. This seemed to be what made Gil get more excited. With his sharp eyes he was watching the form of an ice arrow graduallye to being before it often crumpled and fell back to watery mist. But the form had changed as it went on.


    Over an hour of this made Gil feel that he was just waiting to let the ice arrows loose. Instead of the ten different spots that had been forming ice arrows, it had reduced to three. But those three were perfect dark blue ice arrows that had formed at once around Walker. Spread out in equal distances, Gil immediately took off and dove at one.


    The ice arrow came to his hand while he was rolling. His bow had also been slung off his shoulder and in to his hand. This would all be missed if someone wasn''t watching carefully. Gil''s speed in these motions came from many repetitive training sessions where he had tried to improve his skill when it came to dodging and preparing a notched arrow for firing immediately.


    The wind pulled around Gil while the arrow took on a green hue that proved Gil''s wind and Zephyr''s wind were abined effort in the arrow. It was released at a nearby thick looking tree only to shatter on impact. Yet, the damage was clear.


    Bark had been shattered with the arrow while a piece of ice had been lodged deeply in the tree. The wind that had wrapped the arrow also left slight cuts in the wood making it appear that some strange thing had fallen from the sky and hit this tree. After a few moments, the ice melted revealing the full extent of the damage Gil had left.


    "Walker, this will work perfectly!" Gil was ready to celebrate until he saw that everyone but Walker was ring at him and Walker. Their experiment had frozen more than a few ces while the failed ice arrows had also made the ground slightly muddy. Overall, the entire section of trail had been roughed up just by this casual experimentation.


    "Ehm, well, it''s not a skill yet but I think I can make an ice arrow creation or armory area or something like that when I''m a little stronger." Walker tried to make it seem that he was sorry that he hadn''t actually done anything, but he also saw that there was no way around this and conceded. "And Gil will stay up with me while we stay watch for the night. I guess we can all stop on the trail after another hour of walking."


    "Exactly, we will even make sure that we set up the tents for our group." Gil''s additional apology seemed to make the rest of their party happy. The royal dragons could care less though. They were more interested in seeing Walker manipte mana more. They still found that his way of discovering and experimenting was different because of his use of natural mana. It was incredibly eye catching for them since he could influence mana they spent years learning about. But they could meditate on that any time.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1712 1712. More Pests Around Camp

    "That meal was great! We should roast more of that fruit, the exploding one, next time we find it." Su was the most impressed. She always went out of her way to get different fruits when they visited other cities. Now that she had tried the newest fruit to their discoveries list, she had fallen in love with it too. Midnight was right with her. The two would have roasted fruit on the fire all night if they were allowed to. Luckily, there was not enough to go around since the other soldiers that had stopped to make their own small camps had also picked up some along the trail once they knew it was safe.


    "Su, you can''t be so nice to them just yet! They still might make it cold while we sleep tonight." Remey and Alma were still partnered up against Gil and Walker. The two felt that they had lost the battle already. Now it was just additional insult. Even Alice wasn''t offering any defense since she wasn''t happy that she had been hit with some frosty mist earlier.


    "Just go to bed and rest. Everyone else is. We''ll keep watch to make sure the bugs don''t bite¡­ oh wait, we just have to stoke the fire now that we''ve made food." Gil grinned evilly making Remey punch him in the arm before going to her own tent.


    "I will try to grow a few of the herbs we found before sleeping. I think I could make those powder blossom seeds grow if I can understand how they grow better." Alma was more mumbling to herself. She was in love with the nt that was thought to be gone forever. The other elves had also raved when they heard that Alma would be putting them in her sights.


    Having the boost in morale because the elves might see a formerly extinct species return to the elven forest was amazing. They were all much more upbeat and had been interacting a lot more with the other soldiers to share what they had heard about the nts. This alone was a major way for the forces to bond and be better at working together. Even the dragonkin listened carefully to the stories.


    Midnight and Onyx were the only two that didn''t end up going to their tents. Midnight and Onyx both preferred the warmth of the fire more so. For Onyx, it was a learnedfort because of Midnight. For Midnight, it was the fact that she was a dragon. But it was better than Ignus who had literally instructed his dragonkin to light a bonfire around him while he meditated. The sight was very abnormal, to say the least.


    The other royal dragons did simr things, they did what they could to be surrounded by their elemental mana. Even the mages that had been further down the line of soldiers hade up to help. But overall, it was just another good thing. This cooperation made the royal dragons appreciate the mages of other races more since dragonkin were normally not mages at all.


    "So what do we do now?" Gil was a little tired but knew that they were all strong enough to go multiple nights without sleep without issues. It was just a perk of being higher levels. That was why the dragons were able to stay awake for months, even years at a time. Some would even say that they were considered to be in slumber while they meditated because it would go on for so long.


    "We just sit here I guess. I Was going to meditate but I don''t want any of those weeping oaks to get wise ideas ande toward our camp. They shouldn''t be bothering anyone though since we let the dragonkin spread out down our line of camps. That should deter them since it seems that monsters on this continent easily sense dragon blood. I bet that''s because there are species more powerful because they have dragon blood in them." Walker''s theory made sense. Powerful monsters always had some level of deterrence.


    "I guess that just means we have to worry about whatever else might be around. What did the vige elder say? I know he shared some books with you." Gil was more curious than anything. Especially since he didn''t know what he could hunt here. He was out of his element. Back home he could use the hunting knowledge he had and easily procure food. Now he might hunt the wrong animal or monster, therefore, causing danger to himself and others.


    "Well, for nighttime, there are different bats, some nocturnal spiders, something called a stalker lizard, and some other insects. But he said we should watch out for something called a cyclops silkworm. I didn''t think they would have monsters that used the title of an ancient monster but they do. It sounds creepy." Walker felt that he was tempting fate just speaking about monsters. But he also understood that he would have to tell the others about them eventually. It was just the best practice for their safety.


    "Walker¡­ are they a white work with a single eyeball at the end that is actually a mouth and not actually an eyeball? And it eats through tree branches?" Gil sighed with his head in his hands before pulling an arrow from his quiver and shooting up in to a tree.


    The small worm the size of a fist fell to the ground pierced through and through. Walker nced at it and used the all around appraisal skill.


    ''Cyclops silkworm


    So that they could scare predators, their skin developed eye patterns on their mouths to make it appear they were just part of arger monster. This works to defend themselves as they grow. Their teeth are very sharp and they are able to consume entire trees let alone other things easily as long as they can bite it.


    They are a weak monster in all essence other than the fact that they live in nests of twenty to thirty. Once they are prepared to form a cocoon, they will begin eating one another to let one live with the most nutrients.


    Over their one week growth, they will grow ten times in size to be an overseer moth. These moths have four eyes on their wings and a simr sharp mouth as their silkworm form. They will float above forests looking for prey before floating down to bite in to them silently. They will often hunt alone because they are extremely territorial against their own kind. However, they will often find a mate for their short life of one year.''


    "Yes, I would say fateughed at us and showed us one right away. We are going to have to patrol now." Walker stood up and identally made Midnight and Onyx wake up. However, they could sense something was wrong from Gil''s movements earlier. The only reason they had not awoken was because Walker was still calm and not freaking out at the sight of a weak monster. Their bonds could show each other something simple like that.


    "Enemies?" Midnight didn''t have to ask more than that before going to sniff the cyclops silkworm and starting to target more.


    The fact that they had seen one and used his all around appraisal, Walker and Gil were able to pick more out. Walker used his eternal orb to take the form of a bow for the first time. He was using the basic arrows that he had stored for Gil and others to use. It was rare to see him using archery, but his shot with an arrow was good enough for this. It was nowhere near Gil''s skill but enough.


    With Midnight and Onyx hunting them as well around the other tents, every guard for the night was able to learn what they were keeping away. Surprisingly, the smoke from the fires also deterred them. This made sense though, no insect would like to breathe in smoke instead of air. It was just normal for most living creatures.


    The sounds of these monsters dropping from the trees was enough to wake a few people up but not enough to raise an rm. They weren''t trying to attack them but they could attack them and harm people easily. Especially whenever the night guards found that these cyclops silkworms were eating in to tents. They just ate everything they could get to.


    "Why is it that we keep finding the pests of this continent and that''s all? They are really annoying." Since Gil felt that they had only seen the annoying parts of the monster life here, he was wondering why it was somon.


    "They aren''t hunted like where we are from. These two empires are at war. Why would theye here to the border regions to hunt them? They deter each other." Walker summed up their reason for night guarding right there. It was a little depressing, but it made sense. This was their nightly routine for now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1713 1713. Early Rude Awakening

    "That''s forty three for me! How many for you?" Gil was counting and bing unhappier as he realized that they had been doing this all night. The moon was just starting to set yet here they were, still hunting the cyclops silkworms.


    "I''m at thirty seven. I saw Midnight and Onyx have hit their twenties at least too. This is like a wave of them or something. I thought we would be done earlier with this pest." Walker was also very unhappy. This had woken up just about everyone at this point. The sounds of arrows being shot in to trees and other night guards running around camp had been the cause of waking those that had earned their rest.


    "How many did you just say? There are that many of these ugly things?" Remey was the most disgusted. It wasn''t that the cyclops silkworms were that bad, but they were too many and not the cutest monsters in the world. Not to mention that they didn''t even make enough useful materials out of their body to really be that big a deal.


    Before Remey could get any more annoyed, the group heard the sound of scraping metal and Su''s angry shout before the m of her shield. "What is this thing!?" the m of the shield echoes again and again before they were a dense thud.


    Rushing over, the rest of the group found that Su had a small chunk out of her shoulder armor. On the ground was a broken and still twitching moth with eyes on the wings. "That is an overseer moth. That''s what these things grow in to. It''s probably the home territory and all the drama tonight attracted it. I would also go to bet that they are here because of this thing. It might be some breeding season or something." Walker looked at the overseer moth very annoyed.


    Not only would Su need to get her armor fixed because one of these moths had the strong mouths just like the cyclops worms, but she was also very angry. They had all their rest interrupted early while also damaging their supplies. "We should have everyone get up and begun breaking down camps. We are clearly in the wrong area to camp." Walker made the official call. It would also help get rid of more of the cyclops worms as they came at them.


    There were more calls in return of other dragonkin, archers, and a mage that had also taken down the overseer moths. This proved that there was an unusual situation going on. The all around appraisal had said that these moths were territorial. Why would many be in one spot unless they were somehow producing more of the cyclops worms? That was the best exnation.


    "Walker, I know you are going to hate this, but since the moon is setting, moths should be a little more active, right?" Gil seemed like he had another point so Walker just nodded his head. "Then that means we will have to deal with whatever hunts these overseer moths?"


    "I wish you didn''t say that¡­but you''re right. We might encounter another monster that can easily resist the bites of cyclops silkworms and the overseer moths. We''ll have to be prepared." With this in mind, Walker started to make the eternal orb change again in to a staff form. He wanted to have some mana at the ready in case he had to deter another monster with a little more magical force. He also wanted to take control of the campfires and put them out a little faster, and by manipting the fire elemental mana he could do that.


    He had no sooner pulled the fire elemental mana toward him with the eternal orb staff form that he saw the sun starting to slightly break over the horizon. That wasn''t what had his focus though. It was the tops of the trees that did. The small reflective pieces of silk that the cyclops silkworms had left behind and what was now crawling over them.


    ''Trapeze spiders


    The trapeze spider is known for using the silk of other monsters to walk through the trees. They adore hunting the cyclops silkworms worms and the overseer moths. They do this by using their own silk to trap them.


    The trapeze spiders have unique pointed and oily legs that can grasp the silkworm threads and weave them in to different shapes. By doing this they can wrap the things they create and use themter. They are also known as fabric hoarder spiders since their nests will haverge amounts of the cyclops silkworm threads.


    They are often hunted so that they can be used as trapped monsters that would weave threads. others are hunted for their sharp legs that can be used as rough spears by the rock goblins. This is often only done during the colder seasons when the spiders are slower and spend time in their solitary dens so that the rock goblins can outnumber them.''


    With this all around appraisal, Walker shouted out the important information before creating a wave of mes that he pushed through the air toward the spiders above. The sudden shock of heat burned the fine silkworm threads while scaring the trapeze spiders. Some fell from the trees and were pounced on by midnight and Onyx while others desperately clung to the trees and didn''t move. They knew they had been targeted by a predator.


    The lucky part was, the trapeze spiderscked venom. They were only hunting monsters they could cut apart and consume. They also used the hunted monster''s own threads as a way to hunt making them a very unique species of monster that depended on one prey. Overall, this was a very unique situation to be seeing, but it was not a great one due to the many spiders the size of small children in the trees.


    "This is odd." Alice was very unhappy to be facing spiders like this right after the cyclops silkworms and seeing an overseer moth. Her song of sword had been sung for a moment before she realized that the brighter light she was summoning up with her words was scaring away the spiders.


    "Alice, good find! Walker, they are afraid of light to work with Alice!" Alma didn''t hesitate to pass on the information even though Walker had already seen it. The single shout was also information for everyone in the line of camps to pass on to one another.


    The next song that Alice started began to gather the early moring light that was just starting toe around them. The distance was still dark and dim but it was enough to help Alice''s song and for Walker to begin to channel.


    The light orbs that Walker made with the assistance of Alice glowed a bright white causing the trapeze spiders to retreat further in to the trees. It also left behind arge amount of the cyclops silkworm silk for them to be able to take. It was a win win when it came to the situation they were in.


    Walker had to move down the line of camps leaving light orbs as he went. Surprisingly, the light affinity dragonkin that were around had the ability to add their mana to the light orbs due to their affinity and rtionship with light. They had also been able to use the light elemental mana inbat, so adding some of the mana to the already created skill was absolutely no issue. Walker could also see that Rise smirked after he returned from a quick run down the line of camps.


    After this sudden rush and defense, Walker felt that the horizon became brighter and brighter faster. The morning sun was soon illuminating the trees showing off even more strands of silk that they hadn''t noticed. The trapeze siders had been forced to retreat to their dens where they were away from the light. Many had gone hungry while many of the cyclops silkworms were still left defeated by the soldiers that Walker led.


    "Well, we will not be sleeping here again." Su made a very firm point that everyone supported.


    "And you all thought it was bad that Walker and I were messing with frost. Those things were wild." Gil was checking his bow while he wondered just what was going to happen if they had to camp in this area again.


    "We are not camping here. It''s already decided. Let''s gather this silk then move out. No point in wasting it." Alma was short since she wasn''t happy to be woken up by the ugly cyclops silkworms. However, Walker saw that she was d that Gil and him had maintained a good watch. Overall, it was a very strange way to wake up extra early. But it was a win in the end since no one had been hurt and Su''s armor could easily be fixed. It did make them more wary of the skies in the early morning though.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1714 1714 Fellow Travelers

    "So what''s next? We had monsters descended from goblins, monsters that looked like they had one eye but it wasn''t an eye, and monsters with four eyes that could fly. So what monsters are we nning to run in to next?" Remey made it sound like this was all some grand n that they were thinking of this entire time. However, it was clear that this had all been by chance.


    "Don''t forget about the tree that we passed by. That weeping oak was actually a monster in slumber." Su also seemed to be enjoying this game since she found it funny how Walker had immediately looked at Remey like there was some big problem tempting fate.


    "It''s probably going to be another pest so sticking with the theme, forest rats." Gil''s surety made them all nodded a little. They somehow had a trend of pests right now and it just was not fun at all. However, it was following the theme.


    "Or we could all rx and hope not toe in front of another monster at all? That would be good. Especially since the trees should be opening up in to a little more of a grassy in ording to the maps." Walker had looked at the map carefully and had it memorized.


    The next portion of travel would take them across a few streams and eventually stopping t to be a nice grasnd for a few hours of walking. It was right before they hit some rolling grassy hills that should be tall enough to give them a view of the embassy that would be another short while of travel from that. It wasn''t that this continent was massive, but it also wasn''t small. The pace they had set was inn crediblepared to what a normal person would travel in a day.


    "Or, we could greet the people that are camping at the edge of the trees ahead. That might be a better choice." one of the harpies had stopped in front of Alma and exined the small camp set up just ahead of them.


    "Small camp? Of what?" Walker was instantly ready to fight again. He and the others felt the same. Midnight let out a soft growl in preparation in case they would have to be put right back to battle. It made sense since they had to fight a lot recently against the weaker pests than anything else.


    "They apparently haverge packs and seem to be traveling merchants. I would assume they travel along the viges trying to get something good from them since they are along the border. But we could be wrong, looks aren''t everything." Alma knew that some merchants had pretended to be merchants in the first ce and actually were spying on kingdom borders once upon a time. That had been less popr through the years, however, it had not been forgotten.


    "Don''t worry, we can also hear youing from some distance away and came to see you too. Since you aren''t merchants, nor even of our race¡­ we might want to speak for a moment." The woman that hade to them was sitting in a tree. She had red tinged wings and was not carrying a single weapon. However, Walker could feel that she had gathered a decent amount of fire elemental mana around her.


    "So you have a fire affinity and are a mage. That makes you the first angel fire mage I have met. I wouldn''t mind seeing what you can do if our conversations go well." Walker chad sensed it and he was not going to hide the fact that he could. It would set some important limits and protect everyone. Why would he hide this?


    "So a fellow fire mage but certainly not wingless? Now that is interesting." the woman was wearing rugged clothing that was clearly made from traveling long distances. She was also slightly smudged with dirt on her face which made it clear that the journey she and others had been on as fairly long.


    "Not just fire, that''s a little dangerous to assume. Especially since I can feel the water mages behind you. So, what would you be doing if you are mages with merchants? Body guards? Or did you take a pilgrimage to learn about elemental mana." there was just something telling Walker that this hunch was correct. Why else would decently strong mages be out and about like this?


    " We could just bemon mages. But I would say we work well as guardians for our clients. Or we were born in a merchant family and stuck with it even though we learned to be mages." There was a small smile starting to bloom on her face as two more angels showed themselves and pped their wings to get to the ground with the woman.


    "And we could just be travelers looking to get to the border embassy so we can solve some problems. Why not share a little information and food?" Walker saw that this was already being epted before he said it.


    "In that case, My name is ne. I work with the me wing merchants. Feel free to buy something if you have the gold with you. We have camp ahead, please only bring your group. I don''t want to feed an entire army since that might be what you brought." ne looked like she was worried that Walker actually had a massive army marching behind him. It was clear that she had not checked all the soldiers out yet.


    "There may be a few more thate if they are interested. But it seems that they are going to stay meditating for now." Walker looked back at the other royal dragons and saw that they could care less about the angels that had juste across their path. Mostly because they were focused on gathering even more elemental mana now that they realized there might be even more dangers than just the wyverns.


    "That will not be a problem, I can see that many are worried about your safety." The respectful attitude came with the fact that the dark affinity dragonkin and the elven archers were not hiding their presence. They were sure to make their presence known to a small degree. It was a slight threat that they would not allow their lords to be harmed, especially not the nature dragon that they guarded.


    "I am surprised, you have interestingpanions. I can''t say I have ever seen people like them." ne was clearly fishing for some information. However, she could also tell that Walker was going to be asking her questions too. Especially since the entire party that was walking behind him was listening intently and adjusting themselves with every movement made by himself and ne.


    ? "They are, wee from a pretty far off continent. The alliance I helped form is called Genesis. It''s just a small city for now, every race is wee there. I am sure you understand that." Walker paused making sure there was emphasis on this. Even if these people were not the best merchants, gaining a small connection to any merchant would be valuable for potential trade between continents to be born.


    "I am somewhat human, Gil is human as well, Su is part human and part dragon, Alice is actually slightly rted to angels, Midnight is a dragon, Onyx is an abyssal serpent, Remey is human, and Alma is an elf. But you will meet more than that. Demi-humans, harpies, goblins, grey haired spiders, demons, dwarves, merfolk, and many more toe I''m sure all are united." Walkerughed seeing that ne was slowly beginning to show shock.


    "Well, I can''t say we are as diverse here. The angels are the only race that I have met in my life. But I am still seventy years young!" ne tried to y it off like this was expected however, she saw that no one flinched at the age. It appeared that they also shared diverse ages that didn''t seem to matter much.


    "I heard that there is peace in some form now because of the wyvern issues and the issues in the south. Dragons no longer live here but their blood lives on. That must be troublesome as a merchant. You lose ess to some important ces." Walker made his move after offering a lot of information on the races that lived where he was from. Not that ne could fathom all of it. She was lost as to what some of the races even were. However, the world had sent notifications for the monster races joining intelligent races. Therefore, there was some understanding.


    "You are correct. It has been a struggle. We do operate very small though. Just traveling and finding things along the way. You understand how that may be. It''s better to explore the world we live in. Fly freely." ne didn''t give up much but she knew she would have to keep talking if she wanted to gain anything.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1715 1715. Trading Information And Goods

    "ne!" The shout came from an older man sitting on a rub near the fire that was in the center of the camp made. There were a few other angels around. They all more or less had red tipped wings that made it clear they used fire elemental mana. There were also a few monsters that Walker didn''t recognize other than their simrities to a horse.


    ''Winged horse


    The winged horse is simr and rted to a pegasus. However, they have a weaker affinity for wind making them unable to use strong wind magics. This makes them ideal for transporting goods using the wind under their wings. Many breeders will train them to fly for long distances easily.


    They adore the green apples from the elder treant ordinances near the mountains. However, they are rarely able to eat them because the treants do not give them away easily. This is the danger thates with these monsters since the flying horse will often change course in attempt to steal some if they are too close and smell them.''


    The small details made Walker want tough. The flying horse reminded him a little of Midnight. She would totally try to steal away a good smelling snack if she was given the chance.


    "You were gone too long. Now we are behind in nning the next move. But it seems like you brought us over some new customers?" The older man looked at Walker and the rest of the party, "You were the source of all that marching? Training a border patrol army?" The old man seemed to be unable to see the differences between them and the angels. It made Walker realize he waspletely blind.


    "That''s a good guess, but I would have to say no. We are actually marching ourselves to the embassy to build rtions with both empires. It''s not too long of a journey now that we are on your continent." Walker''sugh made the man raise an eyebrow. He had jot expected this turn of advance.


    "I am surprised to find merchants here. But it''s good, we can make some good trades. I hear that you take gold too." This seemed to lighten the mood even more. The man turned his head where he had heard ne and the others before turning back to Walker.


    "You can forget this old man. I just handle ounting. It''s what I have left in my head while teaching my granddaughter. ne can handle everything while you pass the gold to me. But if you want to tell us a little more about yourselves, you can share it. Maybe you''ll get a discount." Now, this was a sneaky but wise tactic.


    The older man knew well that good information could outweigh gold any day. Knowing something unique about a new force appearing on the continent could be a massive source of rumors. Knowing real facts would go very far for him in the next ce they stopped to do business.


    "I have shared a little so far with ne. But it is good to know that we can do a little business. It would seem that we could learn a little more about herbs, monsters, and other things. If you don''t mind, I will let my party members speak with your other merchants?" Walker was still polite. The old man nodded his head before reaching for a bag that had a few journals in it.


    "If you want herbs, this book was taken from a retired alchemist two viges down. They were relocating because of the mandrakes screaming all night. Annoying monster nts but they are valuable. He said he was too old. If you have a book to trade?" This seemed more fair. Remey walked forward and immediately began bargaining with him while Ene refocused on Walker.


    "If my grandfather is fine with it, so am I. But we will still stay focused on you for now." ne made a nce at Midnight. It was clear she was ufortable with the creature that seemed to be a wyvern. It made sense though. How could they understand what a dragon really was? How could they just easily believe that Midnight was a dragon which they had only ever heard about in books? In fairy tales that were supposed to be false nowadays.


    "I know you might think of them as extinct, But Midnight is really a dragon. Technically, I am too." Walker looked at ne carefully while he said this. She was still very skeptical. "I know wyverns are your first thought, but I promise you, that dragons are much better, we will be handling some of the wyvern problemter. We have to get rid of the ones that have made their way to our continent at least."


    "Wait, you have wyverns crossing the vast ocean to get to your homes?" ne reacted without thinking. She had not expected to hear such a thing.


    "Yes. That''s one reason we came here. So, anything you can offer us when ites to handling them would be valuable. Especially to my fellow royal dragons that came with me. They are very angry that the wyverns have even thought to touch their territory."Walker let some of the natural mana react to him. This way, everyone around him knew that he was serious. Also that the strength he had was not some false arrogance.


    "You are in luck. We have been in the Rize empire for quite some time. All our lives if you want to be so bold to ept that. We can easily share some things we have learned." ne reacted very promptly. It appeared that she had more than picked up on Walker''s intentions.


    "And also more maps. We seem to be more lost the further we go. It would be a shame if we were to wander in to someone else''s home and anger them. We aren''t here for a war. We are still handling a fugitive from one we just experienced." This was not entirely true since it made Walker and Genesis seem like they were tired. However, showing this small lie made it more rtable. The Rize and Fel empires had been fighting making them tired of fighting as well. That made them easier to ept someone simr to themselves.


    "Now that is a little tough. The border is still not set in stone. Right now we walk on a very gray line that is the border. It has many potential gold mines when ites to us. But it has some very harsh mapping due to the changes and battles." ne wasn''t lying. She was just stating a sad fact.


    "Then don''t worry about it. Even a generalrge map of your continent could make us morefortable. We heard there is arge desert in the south. Some trouble might be there too, right?" Walker saw that ne didn''t even flinch. However, she did seem to have heard a rumor about it.


    "On another note, we also have a few potions that you might like to trade. We have some high healing potions. If you manage to dilute them, you can sell quite a few weak healing potions on your way." This seemed to pull a few of the angel''s attention toward him. It also brought Remey back in to the conversation while the others had the chance to split off even more.


    The healing potions seemed to be a rarer urrence than any of them had expected. In just a few moments, there was an all out debate between ne and her grandfather about how many potions they could buy without being overburdened. It resulted in Walker limiting how many he would sell along with a boost to Remey''s arrogance when she told them she was the alchemist that has made most of them.


    Knowing that she was an alchemist had burdened the entire conversation. Remey was quickly getting information about where rare herbs were and it even caused another angel to bring out some more advanced maps to show the locations. This rtionship with merchants and alchemists was what became key for their current talks.


    Hearing more details was always good, but it was just enough to help them without directly rting any of the merchants to Walker''s group. It was a wise path to take since there was turmoil in the area. However, Walker also knew that he would be seeing more merchants interested in them as time went on. Genesis had many things that he had brought in his storage. These were things he had yet to see here that might be able to shake up both empires when it came to products in general.


    "So, I was curious. What are the empires like when ites to magic? Are origin runes used a lot?" Walker suddenly found that there was no reply but silence when he asked this. Runes seemed to be a trigger to cause everyone to be quiet on the angel''s side.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1716 1716. Lack Of Spirits

    "Runes are only used in the cities by the high archangels. It is forbidden to use them in any form or else it could be a sign of war." ne made this very firm. It was proof that there were many things that had happened but the use of runes being banned? That was a ridiculous.


    "Let me take a guess, Runes were used in ways that caused many angels to die between both empires?" Walker never intended for runes to be used for wars, but he understood that they could be. It was too easy to see that potential.


    Runes were able to gather elemental mana without the constant care of someone else. If they were made in the right way, then they would be able to influence massive amounts of elemental manas to cause catastrophic damages.


    This was evident in the youngest and least experienced rune carvers. When they failed to make a rune, they could cause damage. The perfect example were the fire elemental rune arrays that could cause arge explosion if too much mana was gathered and the rune failed. It was all toomon of a story and why these rune carving workshops were often built to be tougher and handle the potential explosions.


    "In Genesis, we use runes to help every day life. In The City and on our weapons and other things. But we do not makerge rune arrays for fighting. We fight face to face using other methods if we need to. However, I understand that the Rize and Fel empires had different views. Elemental and non-elemental views on things. I have seen some of the history before the elders of your race left to other nes of existence." Walker said he had seen but it was better to say that he had learned.


    Hearing what Walker said and how seriously he was looking at them made her open her mouth then close it without saying a word. She had no idea how to respond to such arge statement spoken with such confidence.


    "I will say it again. Tunes should be used to better everyone, not just one ce. If there is war between your empires, then it should be ceased. The world clearly doesn''t support it if it is letting growing problems exist among both empires. They are so kept up with them that they can''t fight. If I were the world, I would let it remain like this." Walker felt that his hunch was correct, however, he got an odd feeling that he had more than just been correct. He couldn''t say why he felt this way though.


    "That is not the issue. Runes are dangerous. They can not be used so casually." ne remained steadfast, but as Walker thought about it more, he began to understand why the angels might feel this way even more.


    "Since angels absorb mana through their wings or if they are wingless, from the air, then this is bad for your entire species. Runes also take mana from around them. You could basically stop an entire group of angels from using mana at all. Why don''t you rely on elemental spirits to stop that? The elemental spirits have no problems with rines. They even stop the runes from working if they are failing. We''ve seen it in Genesis." Walker felt like he was uncovering and understanding a lot.


    The confused looks for more than just ne nced back at him though. It seemed like he had just found another mystery. "Walker, I think they don''t have elemental spirits here. Zephyr hasn''t felt a single one. It''s normal for them to be around even in their weakest forms." Gil had been pulled in to the conversation. But as Gil said this, everyone began trying to sense this too.


    Soon the whole party had some sense that there were not any elemental spirits around at all. Since Genesis had be a haven for awakening elemental spirits, they had all be very used to them existing everywhere. Now that they couldn''t even sense a since one, it felt too quiet. As if the air itself was missing a little part of what it should be.


    "Now I understand. Elemental spirits aren''t around here anymore. That''s why there were always so many dormant elemental spirits around. The elders of the angels must have used and abused them instead of learning or figuring out true spirit forging. That means that spirits here are gone, dormant, or hiding. And if you saw the world''s message when we bnced mana, well, no one understood how elemental spirits and that rted."


    The more puzzle pieces that Walker fit together with the history of angels, the more he understood. Because the elders had different views and split up then ascended to who knew where, the rest of the angels brough to this continent were left without the proper information. They were lost.


    From that lost ce, the angels took their views to the extreme. They began to build a new way of living that prioritized fighting. That focused on the fact that they needed to beat those different from them. From there, they involved dragons and eliminated those that could threaten them, like the elemental spirits. That was why the angels were in the shape they were now.


    Many angels most likely didn''t want to fight anymore and could even be said to struggle with resources as a bacsh of constant wars. On top of that, the mana had partially be unbnced here because of theck of elemental spirits. The world was supporting Walker''s party so much because of their actions. That was why they gained so much all the time. Everything they had been doing was also helping the world return to its best shape. It was just that they had too small of a view to grasp this before.


    "I seem to have learned more than I expected. It''s not your fault. I will bring these issues up with your leaders. Whether it''s one empire or the other. I am not happy to know that a group I care for was hunted like this in the past. From this point on, the elemental spirits are more than just spirits. They are a race recognized by all of Genesis. I doubt anyone will argue with me when I return home." Walker made this both out loud and in his heart. He never wanted to see Fleur hunted and used for some terrible deed. He felt that way about his whole family.


    As if to return this feeling, Walker felt the natural mana stir around him and the others. "I think it''s time we were on our way. I can tell that the rest of our group has be restless. Walker nced around at where he could feel there were dragonkin and elves watching. They were waiting to report things back to the other but also waiting in case any issues arose.


    "We might see all of you again. Things will get busy once we get to the embassy. I would prefer things remain calm and collected, but wherever we go, things get dramatic." Gilughed a little, breaking some of the tension around. However, the merchants didn''t seem to want to move. Eventually, the old man and ne started whispering as Walker''s party started to leave.


    "Wait, can wee too?" ne''s single question made Walker wonder if it would be alright. These were angels that clearly didn''t have a solid home. Ones that surely just wanted to be merchants.


    "If you want, I don''t see an issue. But if you do and the other empires don''t like us, you might be thrown in with us. Same with the vige we met when we came ashore. The vige we started helping build themselves up." Neither example of why things might go wrong seemed to shake the look in the merchant''s eyes.


    "How could we ever say we don''t want to explore a newnd? We are small time merchants. I am old and never had a chance to really see things anew in all the fighting. But I might just be able to see things despite my age here. ne will take us with you if you will have us." The old man spoke for all of them.


    "Then wee to the march. I would rmend changing names. You aren''t just angels now. You might be the farthest flying angel merchants ever after this." Walker didn''t see threats in these angels joining them. It was actually a very wise move. Sever ties with merchants here to build awork that went to another continent? It sounded like starting over but it was actually better than that. It was stepping up massively to a whole new game. One they had never seen in their entire lives.


    "Perfect. It means we get new herbs constantly." Remey mumbled her approval while Alice and Su joined in as they thought about the whaling potentials. Even Alma soon joined the conversation after considering the other nts they might find that had disappeared from her elven forest.


    ....

 Chapter 1717 1717. Prepare To Meet Angels

    Walker had started to look through everyone''s status. He wanted to be ready for whatever could happen when they began to near the embassy. It was a sure thing that they would meet angel soldiers. There was now also the fact that there were angles ranked higher called archangels. They were definitely going to be powerful and need to see that they were not just some easy people to fight off without a thought.


    Among this, was also the chance for him to double check their progress. Many of the things they did as a party were not looked at immediately. It was why Walker always felt like he was losing track of skills or was just ignoring them. The system could constantly send information but that was just it, he couldn''t keep up with it in a fight or while he was training.


    The many skills were also full of different systems. The skills might sound the same or simr but for a different system, they would be slightly different. There were multiple skills that helped Walker gather mana or sense mana. They were different through for other systems. For example, the forge sense was something Walker hadn''t even noticed getting. But when he looked at it the description spoke of sensing mana traveling within metal while forging.


    This was different from the general mana sense from a mage system. That was a skill that made it easier to sense specific elemental manas in the air around him. Both were useful but most people would chalk them up to being the same. However, they had their uses. It was just strange that Walker didn''t often notice either since they were passive skills used in specific situations.


    All of this was hard to wrap his mind around as he looked at Onyx''s stats first. The changes were slight since they had not battled a lot. However, it was clear that in not leveling up much, they had identallypleted small quests and also trained their skills. Just because someone was higher levels did not mean that they would be stronger. Sometimes a creative use of skills could greatly trump another person of higher level.


    Onyx


    Level: 39


    Exp until next level: 132892/1638400


    Species: abyssal serpent system, Twined Ancient serpent


    Title: Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Young Patriarch, emancipator


    Hp-115


    Atk-105


    Matk-135


    Def-110


    Mdef-125


    Agi-115


    Mana-146


    Midnight


    Level: 46


    Exp until next level: 2300800/800000


    Heroic quests until next level: 33/65


    Species: True dragon champion system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Dragon Genius , emancipator


    Hp-235


    Def-165


    Mdef-165


    Atk-190


    Matk-190


    Agi-145


    Mana-166


    Gil


    Level: 76


    Exp until next level: 5000/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 5/10


    Arcane Marksman system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Avatar of the wind, One with Elves, emancipator


    Hp-96


    Def-101


    Mdef-101


    Atk-103


    Matk-103


    Char-87


    Agi-97


    Mana-105


    Stat points for distribution- 20


    Su


    Level:76


    Exp until next level: 3215/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 7/10


    Draconic guardian system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Avatar of the earth, half dragon, emancipator


    Hp-100


    Def-115


    Mdef-115


    Atk-102


    Matk-80


    Char-80


    Agi-99


    Mana-102


    Stat points for distribution- 25


    Remey


    Level: 76


    Exp until next level: 7230/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 2/10


    Alchemical Brawler system


    Title: Hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, avatar of Fire, Groundbreaking alchemist, emancipator


    Hp-100


    Def-100


    Mdef-98


    Atk-106


    Matk-101


    Char-79


    Agi-104


    Mana-108


    Stat points for distribution- 25


    Walker


    Level: 80


    Exp until next level: 3405/10000


    Heroic quests until next level: 1/10


    Jack of All Trades system


    Title: True hero, Friend of the goblins, Educationist, Growing sage, Growing Dragon, emancipator


    Hp-107


    Def-112


    Mdef-107


    Atk-112


    Matk-127


    Char-101


    Agi-117


    Mana-117


    Stat points for distribution- 45''


    The changes seemed to be enough to allow them a little more of an advantage. They were all still holding on to some stat points along with the recently gained stat points in case they wanted to use themst minute against a tough opponent. That was the safety they all wanted to have. Especially if they found that they were slightly weak against something. It was a good safety to have without having to rely on the royal dragons to defend them.


    The dragons were already steadfast in the fact that they would not interfere too much. They had their own goals and it would be wrong to force them in to others. Even before they wanted to deal with the demon king and his two subordinates, they wanted to handle the wyverns that had encroached on their territory.


    The addition of angel merchants could make or break the first negotiations. If the angels from both empires saw that there were already some angels with them, it might make things easier. It could be assumed that the strange beings that were marching up to the embassy was already friendly. However, this could also go the other way.


    The angels of both empires could assume that the angels with them would be hostages taken to scare them. if this was how things went, then it could be a dangerous situation right away. There would be yelling and even potentially fighting. It could cause a whole new kind of war to break out that could span to two whole continents. A dangerous possibility that everyone had on their minds.


    The good thing was that there was enough power on Walker''s side to deter rash actions. Walker was not nning to keep everything hidden and weak. He wanted to make sure that their entrance to the embassy was proud and forward. It had to show that they were not just a rag tag group. It had to show off their royal and high status. That was the best way to make sure that they were taken seriously and wish some form of respect immediately.


    "So you want us all in our best armors?" Remey was looking at Walker as if he was trying to make her change in to the worst possible armor.


    "Yes, we have to look the part of royalty and act like it. We need to make sure that they see us as the highest powers of Genesis." Walker knew that Remey didn''t care for the way she looked. She was more focused on alchemy and fighting. Especially alchemytely. If anyone ever saw alchemists, they would see some ragged researcher that didn''t care about ash or frizzy hair. It was the same with anyone that was a cksmith. They could care less for their appearances.


    The royal dragons had all been calmly walking and waiting. They had finished their own preparations and wanted to know what Walker thought too. "I can feel you looking at me and yes, this means you should look like dragons as much as that will scare anyone. You definitely won''t be confused for wyverns if you look like you should. Especially if I send you new merchant friends with some harpies ahead of us to call out our entrance properly." Walker smiled as he saw Ignus finally grinning.


    "That has been the first time you actually act like a dragon. We will be showing them a real dragon for the first time in their lives." Ignus seemed to be vibrating from the thought. His energy was clearly about to break away from what he had been since they went on this journey.


    "Alma?"


    "I am already preparing the groups to return together and take affirmation. We will split in to ranks that represent elemental affinities so that it is more uniform." Alma had done something like this before. She was going to be a future queen of the elves. How could she not learn something so simple as how to build formations?


    "I will be organizing my tamers. Alice is grabbing the healers, right?" Elise was basically trying to rush off already. Even Ste was trying to contain herself and not fly. If anyone had ever wondered, they would be sure that the two were raised together like sisters now.


    "I will prepare too." Alice smiled. She wanted the healers to be seen clearly too. This would be a massive new ce to show off the whaling skills that had been years in the making. They would be able to help many more people if they could expand themselves here. She also couldn''t help but think of the slight angel bloodline in her body. This might be the key to learning more about how the angels had left behind some and traveled here. A key to her own heritage of sorts even though it was such a small connection inparison now.


    "I agree. We should show off. Gil and I will be ready.'' Su grabbed Gil and pointed him toward a ce to set up a tent. Gil could only bend to her will and set up the changing area while Su ensured that he did a good job for them.


    "Midnight, I will help you and Onyx clean your scales. I know you want to look your best. And Onyx, you will be at your full size. It needs to be clear that we aren''t just something small." Onyx and Midnight agreed fully. It was time to get ready to meet the real angels in charge of the empires. Or at least their representatives. Their entrance would be one for history books. The only worry that would be left was how they would move on from their first greeting, but no one was worried about that, they had prepared themselves for this moment.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1718 1718. The Grand Entrance Of Genesis

    "Is everyone ready?" Walker looked around and behind him. He was impressed with everyone. The shining scales of the dragonkin and the royal dragons made it feel that they were royalty without even having background information.


    The elves had changed in to the best battle armors and cleaned everything perfectly. It was as if he was looking at an elite group of elves prepared to do their best in every single task assigned to them. Walker would never doubt their skills in a single aspect of this trip.


    The demi-human warriors were the most disgruntled but hadbed fur, washed faces, and even were pushed to keep their armors in line. From this point of view, Walker wondered if it would be more of a challenge to stay this way or keep them from intentionally dirtying their armors again while fighting amongst themselves. It was veryical to see them this way.


    The tamers were the most impressive byparison. All of them had been whipped in to shape by Elise and Ste. For two very sweet people, they were very harsh. Many of the tamers had needed her approval to be able to show themselves. Those that did not pass her inspection had to fix everything she told them or be left out of the march only to return to the ships by themselves. It was a little scary to witness.


    The healers looked perfect and pure in their white healer''s robes. Alice led their way with the white and gold healer''s robes that Lisa had made her. There was a great aura of light that seemed to follow them. Walker swore that people could receive healing just by being near them. That was their nature though, to help others no matter what.


    There were a few mixed forces among the groups that Alma had assembled; she had grouped the humans and demons together. Their strong magic of the demons and the strategic battle style of humans seemed to work well so this was a great choice. Especially since the humans had taken it to heart to educate the demons about looking their best. The demons had naturally epted this and even grown closer to the humans as they learned these things. Walker''s heart could only grow to embrace that humans had shifted and followed his lead in weing the demons to Genesis like him.


    The odd other groups formed by some demi-humans that could fly with the harpies were even more shocking since it made an entire flying group that stayed with them. This would have its own impact as they all waltzed in the area of the embassy to make arge impression. The first step would be to get within sight of the patrol and make a proper appearance.


    "Alice, would you mind making a signal for us?" Walker knew that Alice had a song for this. She had tried to hide the quick scribbles she made in her song book while they took breaks and snacked. But Walker had seen her slight smiles and excited expression. This didn''t ruin her surprise.


    She looked around at the party a little shy before she raised her hand and grasped at the sun. "Please wee the Heart of Genesis, a bad of unity." She had gone so far to name it which meant she had attached much more than just her feelings to this song. Alice had attached the deepest beliefs in Genesis''s future within this song so that she could show what she believed would be the future of Genesis.


    A soft light glowed before Words of struggle broke through the air. Higher and lower pitched singers joined in, the healers might not all have the skills Alice did but they didn''t hesitate to join in as they had learned her song as well. The light became stronger as the song grew, golden auroras blossomed over their heads.


    With a single unified step, everyone marched forward. They only needed half an hour to reach an expansive in with a massive building within the center. It took only seconds for little dots to appear in the distant sky while they marched forward.


    "Onyx, show off your size a little. My fellow dragons, fly!" Walker spoke with steel. He was ready to show exactly what his will looked like.


    This had been what they were waiting for. Every dragon took to the sky, even Terron. Flying in a circle around the light that Alice''s song making the air full of more than just light elemental mana. The golden light reflected this as it seemed to bind with the addition of natural mana that Walker calmly provided.


    Before the small dots that had been approaching neared them, Walker roared out a dragon''s roar full of reverence and might. It was met with the royal dragon''s roaring as well. Midnight had joined in along with an abrupt shout from every soldier marching with them. This was the peak of Alice''s song.


    "Don''t forget the elves." Alma waved her hand and sent many elves forward. They scatter seeds upon the great ne ahead of them in a line. This simple motion was nothing until Alma ced her hands upon the ground calling to the seeds. In a single sh of green, small grasses grew and bloomed with small white flowers. They were not toxic but gave off a sweet vani scent. It weed many to rest and rx. It was a simple but beautiful.


    This march toward the embassy brought out many angles in to the sky. Some came from the forests around the embassy and in to the ins while others were from the embassy itself. Walker''s group had note directly from the central border but from the slightly north side of the Rize empire. This was nothing to misunderstand though, there was clearly no way that these people were from the Rize empire at all.


    From what Gil could see, there were over a hundred angels in different armors that appeared. Some wore ck and darker themed armors while others wore lighter pale white armors. This was the difference in attire for soldiers from either the Fel or Rize empires. The Fel being darker and the Rize being lighter.


    However, when Gil saw arger angel with dark armor and arger angel with lighter armor moving toward them, he alerted Walker. "They have four wings each. I assume that means that they are ranked higher than other angels. Is that one of those archangels?" Gil wanted to know but Walker couldn''t tell. He had never seen an archangel.


    "Heree the merchants to join us." Su and Remey both saw them at the same time before the merchant angels returned.


    "We are here to join you in the march. They know you are not here to fight but you scared them.'' The angels tried to kneel before Walker but he stopped them immediately.


    "I''m not a king or anything. In Genesis, all are equal, which means you will be too when you go there." Walker left them a little stunned. That wasn''t how angels worked at all. They had to bow a knee to the powerful. To those with more wings, but these people didn''t care. It struck a chord in the merchant''s hearts. ne could only wonder what genesis must be like for this to be one of their beliefs.


    "I should put in more effort since I took the lead, right?" Midnight huffed back in approval. Onyx just nced at Walker waiting to watch it all happen. "That''s what I thought. Let''s make a dragon aspect."


    Elemental mana surged around Walker forming wings and features simr to a dragon''s. Using more mana than normal, Walker pushed the elemental dragon aspect to take a more defined shape. He took the ws of Terron to be made from earth, the wings of Ventus, the scales of Ignus with mes, the horns of Rise, the arms and legs of Mordant, the tail of Rise, and the eyes of Current. It created a wondrous picture uniting the elemental might of dragons.


    Not only that, but it embodied the nature dragon that the royal dragons wanted to see in their lives. It might not have been perfect since the tales they had heard from their elder were different, however, it was still a wonder beyond what any dragon had seen as of yet. It was an example of why they should be together and not apart. It reinforced Walker''s beliefs.


    "The Genesis Representatives havee to call for the Rize and Fell empires. Let us sit at the same table and share our wonders. Speak our piece. Understand our futures." Walker used the wind elemental mana to make his voice boom over the entire area. It was enough to say that he had directly ordered the entire embassy to open up to him.


    In response, the two four winged angels flew toward him slowly. There were solid looks on their faces forged by many years of fighting. Yet, Walker could still feel that he had inspired a bit of awe in their eyes.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1719 1719. Entering The Embassy

    "I am Walker, One of the representatives and founder of The Genesis alliance." Walker didn''t say much else once the two angels flew before him. He gradually released the dragon aspect form he had taken and stood in the air. The other royal dragons had changed their form as well,ing to fly in their dragonkin form next to Walker. This act had again showed their strength.


    "I am a simple hand of the Great Rize empire."


    "I am the simple hand for the Greater Fel empire."


    They both seemed to have a distaste for the other but stood in the same positions as their representatives. They also didn''t share names meaning that who they were was of no value. This told Walker a little more about the Fel and Rize empires.


    First that they didn''t value who a person was but they gave everything for the position that they held. This was simr to the dragons but not in such an extreme way. The dragonkin under the royal dragons still had their individuality and didn''t just live as dragonkin warriors. That was not all that they were but it was something they strived to be and lived up to.


    The angels also showed Walker that the two empires were very alike. They had split many years ago but still had simr or the same titles for their people. This meant that even though they had different underlying beliefs, that they had the potential toe together. Or at least that was how Walker saw it. He was sure that the empires were blind to this.


    "Do you ept my offer?" Walker allows them a moment to think. They were clearly the two that could ept this at the moment. If they were the hands of their respective empires then they would be able to wee Genesis within the embassy to speak.


    "We both wee your representatives to speak." The two didn''t even need to look or talk about it. They were here just for show. They had already decided this along the way.


    "Good. we will being. We already have some agreements for you to look over. However, the Rize empire is where wended so we will require more from you for the time being. But that does not mean we do not wish to invest in the Fel empire either." Walker said this just to keep things clear that he was thinking of both.


    As the royal dragons and Walker moved through the air, those below them began to march again. The rest of the party was keeping everyone in line and prepared. It was a great split effort between everyone making their way through. The ground soldiers wouldn''t have been able to keep their calm without someone leading each group. That was the height of their nerves at the moment. This could go very poorly and it put them on edge.


    "We do not wish for your wyverns to enter. They are currently standing against the Rize empire." the hand of the Rize empire spoke calmly before he wanted to move forward again. He was adamant about this.


    "Then it is a good thing that you are looking at royal dragons. Do not sully our names with that rtion again. Your continent may have allowed dragons to go extinct, however, we still have them. You are listening to right now." Walker made sure to put some anger in to his voice to show just how insulting what had just been said was.


    The res from the other royal dragons were barely held back. But they were royals. Even Ignus knew that silent anger was enough to properly show off that they could not be abused. It was a powerful weapon of any royal in any ce. The look of one that could tear someone apart.


    "We also know that the Fel empire suffers as well. Their plight just hasn''t made it to our continent yet. But do not worry. We will clean up some of the mess if your terms are proper." This caused both the respective hands of empires to flinch slightly. They had never been spoken to like this but understood that they had brought it on themselves.


    "We will continue inside." The hand of the Rize empire didn''t apologize but instead continued as if nothing had happened. It wasn''t good but it wasn''t the worst that could have been done. Especially since he could have been foolish and ignored what had been said in response to his words prior.


    The slow move through the sky and ground ended closer to therge embassy. The massive white structure was made from a perfect marble. Half on the side of the Rize empire was carved to represent the elemental angels. It was clear that the artistic renderings had been made so that it perfectly showed off the strength of these angels with multiple wings.


    The opposite side was melded with darker stones to carve in to it the external manas. Those that didn''t fit within the elemental manas. There were depictions of space, time, death, life, and so much more. Walker felt that he was looking at a world he had not been able to grasp yet. However, the odd feeling he got looking at it made him wonder if they were truly out of the flow of the natural elemental manas or if it was just a slim view that made others believe this.


    Walker didn''t have the time to think on this topic now though. The two hands of their respective empirended on the ground and the tworge doors, one of ck and one of white opened. It revealed a massive room with arge table made out of the simr ck and white stone. This was clearly the meeting ce for both empires and nothing more.


    "The archangels have been called and will arrive within the day." the two seemed to know what Walker would ask next. It was clear that these two were just keepers.


    "I did not expect that an archangel would just have four wings. A hand has four, and arch must have six or more? Then what of the fables twelve wing angels? Were those the elders?" Walker did not hold back his questions. He was sure that he had to test the two and see what they were thinking here and now or else he would miss the chance to get a little more information.


    "You may observe the art and learn as you wish. These are scenes of the greatest of our empires showing their might." The hand of the Fel empire saw right through Walker and did not give anything away.


    "I see that. I will gather my own representatives to watch as we speakter then. If you want anything to eat you are wee to what we bring out. You see, a hard journey deserves a meal to wee others." Walker made this a clear point. It was something he wanted to bring to them so that the angels had the chance to see that Genesis wasn''t just here to deal with harsh issues. But actually here to grow an alliance.


    Remey, Gil, Alma, Su, Midnight, Onyx, Elise, and the Royal dragons all stood with Walker while preparing things. Alice came in a little after them and stood tall next to the group as she had need her song for the time being.


    Seeing the prepared foods being set on their meeting table, the two hands of their empires slowly opened their eyes wider. They had not expected that someone would be taking things out using a spatial magic skill. It made the Fel empire wonder about what the Genesis alliance believed. It also brought a re from the Rize empire.


    "I managed to learn many things. Surprise and res will be constant if you focus on them. But can anyone use natural mana between your two empires? Or do you notbine all four elemental manas and then look tobine other manas with less study?" The slight wave of elemental and natural mana made the hand of the Rize empire open his eyes wider too.


    The two hands were both stunned by the causal showing of both their ideals in one person. Let alone one group that was saying they stood atop an entire continent. "We do not believe that knowledge should be divided. Nor that people should be divided by race. Please feel free to ask some questions and eat while you wait for your superiors. We will not make any deals with you now. Just show off what we have brought to eat."


    With this, Walker presented the now full table of food. He did not show a single paper or anything like that. He would be true to his words and make asting impression of what kind of ce Genesis was striving to be. Food was just a start. Especially since seasonings and some food items were specifically from their home. It would inspire trade right away.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1720 1720. Archangels

    Neither the two hands of the empires nor the other angels touched the food. However, they did seem to be attracted to the scents. Since this was the case, Walker''s group did not eat either, however, it was clear that they all were ready to eat if it was a possibility. This was mostly due to the journey taking a toll on them but also because if they did not it would be a waste of food.


    There seemed to be other interests that the hand of the Fel and Rize kingdoms had. They had seen Onyx''s shape before he entered the embassy but were clearly caught up in the fact that he had changed his shape and be smaller. He was stillrger than he liked to be though since he was curled up next to Walker instead of on his shoulders.


    There were also looks toward the royal dragons and Midnight. Especially since midnight had also taken her dragonkin form without even batting an eye. It was so simr to the way that the powerful wyverns were said to be able to take a humanoid form. Yet, the more the higher ranked angels looked, the more they saw that these were not wyverns.


    The simple fact that they were looking at beings that had been written in ancient books made them wonder. Was every fairytale that had been written about extinct dragons true? They constantly second guessed themselves trying to figure out if there was really a few dragons sitting in the embassy or if this was just some grand illusion caused by shadow cats, illusion clouds, or any other monster.


    It made Walker amused to think how the angels would react if they were seeing the merfolk or the dwarves in higher numbers. The dwarven golems had more or less stayed with the ships so that they could help the vige and guard the ships. But there were a few with them, they just didn''t stand out so much since they had been the smaller golems that could be operated without the dwarves.


    Without much warning, every angle stood slightly taller and the air felt heavier. Walker could feel that the mana was being pulled away from them and so could everyone else. This had to be the angelsing to speak with them. "It seems we don''t have to wait much longer." The strength was quickly covered up and the mana calmed down as two figures with furled wings walked in.


    One had on carved pure white armor while the other had the opposite carved ck armor. "Archangels of the Fel and the Rize empire I presume? I am Walker and these are the fellow representatives of Genesis and all the races upon the continent thate to meet with you today. Please take a seat and eat if you want. We have a great deal to talk about before we get to forming any alliance or other things." Walker gestured to the table where the others had already taken a spot standing before a chair.


    "You have already marched through ournds and from what we have gathered, created a vige. How can you use this tone in the embassy we made?" The angel in white armor spoke with a clear distaste. However, it was time for the royal dragons to interject. Specifically Rise spoke.


    "Not only do you use a name simr to mine, but you have the audacity to insult us, child, your problems have flown across the sea and been spotted on ournd. Your wyvern problems are encroaching on our territories. If you dare to raise that voice again, I will personally teach you the length of your indiscretions." Rise didn''t hold back but remained firm.


    "As she says, it is true. We have seen the wyverns on our continent. A very disheartening thing. Luckily, we have not seen the Fekl empire''s problem. They might not have crossed the waters just yet. But in time they may so we might lend a hand there as well. But that is only one reason wee. So, will you sit?" Walker exerted a little force causing the natural mana to flow toward him.


    The results of this were the two archangels looking right at Walker with incredibly confused faces. "Yes, I know it''s odd that I can use natural mana. You can also sense that I am sifting through my storage skill. I have skills thate from both your empires. You should just take that as a reason that genesis exists. For the unity of all races. Now sit please." Walker''s calm smile trumped everything that the angels would say.


    "There are foods here made with herbs from fields, the spice trade, and even the highest mountains. There are wines made with medicinal ingredients which were refined by my alchemists. You can see that the ptes we brought were forged by dwarves and not humans by the etching here and here." Remey stood there pointing out the details to the two angels which could barely muster words after realizing theplexity of the situation.


    "You two can take a minute if you need it. But we aren''t on your continent to cause trouble. We have alle so that we can clean up an escaped mess of ours the same as stop those here froming to us. But while we are here it will be a great way for you to establish trade with us. Both of you. My people shit themselves from other races once upon a time. Now we are much different after meeting the founders of genesis and joining them." Alma spoke with great calm but also showed her joy for their current situations.


    "The saint of elements sent me here to speak with you on behalf of the Rize empire. We expect that you would exin what you are doing here properly. However, you are clearly not here to cause trouble. If you were, I surmise you would have killed more angels when you found them along the border?"


    "We try not to kill at all. And we have not harmed an angel at all. We met a poor vige after wended on our ships. We helped them build up a little. Then we came across merchants and offered them a chance to be the first to start trade between our continents. Especially since we are the only ones that can navigate the great coral reef. It''s a tough maze. Oh, and we got rid of the undead ship captain haunting the area. The undead from your wars have caused some significant issues I suspect?" Walker was calm and matched the pace of the conversation. Yet, he did not give too much away.


    "Both empires are creating livable homes for our people along the border. The Fel empire has the same viges. You may assist them if you wish. We do not desire one port for one empire." The archangel from the Fel empire made it clear that he wanted equal treatment here.


    "I don''t mind that. To be honest, we were unsure where wended. But if you both would like to set aside that shoreline for Genesis, we can make it a joint port where thews of Genesis will meet thews of both empires. That way, we will be able to share culture without fighting. Naturally if a fight urs there would be severe consequences."


    Hearing that walker refused to tolerate fighting in a vige made by Genesis to bring them together went more than just that. It said that Walker and his entire alliance did not tolerate fighting at all. "That could be agreed upon. There is no war at this time and it is strictly maintained." Both archangels agreed with this after the Rize representative said it.


    "Now, the reasons we are here. Wyverns are one that you already heard of. They are making their way to ournds and they try to fight the dragonkin and dragons. That is uneptable so we will be assisting in your wyvern queen issue. If they truly won''t gain proper intelligence like any race should¡­well, they can be handled." Walker saw that the Rize representative seemed to ept this. The assistance of powerful beings would be great for them.


    "However, we know that the Fel empire has a simr issue in the deserts. Specifically another monster with some dragon blood in them? We can discuss that as well since they may attempt to get to our continent as well. I assume the reason for both of these would be the fighting on the continent in these areas." Both representatives nodded.


    "And finally, the final reason we are here is because a demon king escaped with two subordinates. He enved his own people and caused war. He also intends to take power from your ancient history and use it for himself. We know this because we have excavated many ruins rted to the far past of your race." This was like dropping a bomb on the two archangels. They didn''t have words to even ask a question.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1721 1721. Opening Their Eyes

    " You allowed a war criminal in to ournds?'' The Rize empire archangel looked livid once he grasped this. He had heard the other things but this had trumped it all.


    "No. to be clear, it was a library that was excavated in the demonnds. They found it and discovered knowledge from your race before they split. Specifically, a half finished evil magic rune formation that teleported him and his two subordinates to yournds. It nearly killed an entire city of demons that were but victims to his reign." Walker clenched his fists thinking about it. However, his words made an even bigger impact on the two arch angels.


    Neither had imagined that Genesis had such an in depth knowledge about their past. So much so that they had knowledge of ancient runes, magics, and an entire library.


    "The knowledge there can greatly help make any mage or other system user grow. But it also includes the things that the Fel empire believed. That should be where the beliefs of your race started to differ. The different beliefs that elemental and natural flow should be set aside from the other forms of knowledge. Such as space, death, life, and others." Walker made it clear that they had found the origin of some beliefs for the angels.


    "We naturally have found more. Things before a city above the ground was made. Before you had your floating rune cities. Before you could even handle the ancient monsters that battled each other on the surface. We know a lot of pieces of the angels'' history that we could share. Would that be a good price to pay so that we can freely hunt the criminals? Of course we would allow you to join us."


    There was a veryrge point made there. One that both angels had to take time to think about. Meanwhile, Walker reached for a ss of wine that had been poured. He sipped it slightly to make the point that he was not trying to fight. Instead, it showed that he wasfortable here and expecting a peaceful negotiation rather than using knowledge against them.


    "It is our lost history. Many years have passed since that day. Many things are unknown. The Fel empire would greatly take back these relics so that we may assemble more historical uracy." The arch angel from the Fel empire seemed interested more than the Rize empire.


    Walker could only theorize that this was because of what the Fel empire believed. Their knowledge was obscure because of the rarity of it. Yes, those concepts of space, time, and others might be obscure, but they could be powerful. That was why they were able to wage war equally with the Rize empire that only believed in elemental and natural flow of mana superiority.


    "You have disturbed the remains of our past. Why would we note and take them away if it is our right?" The Rize archangel said this slowly. But he held a firm gaze on Walker and all the others with him.


    "Oh, if you believe that you can survive a journey to our territories then you may try. However, thebined might of the royal dragons will dly erase every angel that sets their eyes on a single thing near us. You do not realize the depth of the dragons since you are foolish and young. Even our youngest has a hundred of years over you." Rise was the one to speak, however, every royal dragon looked at the Rize empire archangel without blinking.


    "Of course they did not know what to think of us. They most likely have not been able to find the territories that used to be dragonnds. I am sure that they were forced out by those bearing dragon blood. They may be monsters but they are clearly stronger than angels." Mordant backed up Rise calmly. He didn''t even stop looking at the archangel.


    "That means that we have the right to reim those territories in the name of our ancestors. We can even tell the elders to properly record this in our history." Current further took this and showed the angels what it meant to oppose them.


    "Now, now, I am sure that even an archangel can misspeak. If we ask him again, I am sure that he will realize that his words could be taken as an insult." Ignus seemed to speak a little too nicely. Everyone felt this out of character for him. Yet, the malice in his eyes showed that he was intentionally pushing for a fight.


    "I feel you may be correct Ignus. I have raised my children not to say foolish things about taking away what has been found by others. Just because one believes they are strong does not mean they will be the strongest. That''s why we have spent hundreds of years to master our strength." Ventus showed them that they were foolish. The archangels had not understood the years of training the dragon had that could easily whip away an angel''s home.


    "Now that you have all thrown your weight around, can we return to the topic?" Terron remained stubborn but stopped them all from pushing any more.


    "That sounds fine to me. The Fel empire will not move to attack or steal anything back. We would rather share what we have and regain what was lost. You may have found more than we know." This simple fact was the greatest deterrent. They had no idea how much ancient knowledge was understood by Genesis.


    "The Rize empire will follow that lead. We have to repay the kindness for the vige you assisted after all." This was a nice cover but not perfect. However, it was a good reason to continue on.


    "I''m sure you have already understood that we use runes constantly too. The runes are a veryrge part of our life in Genesis. Unfortunately, they are less used here. I can see that this entire embassycks them. It''s unfortunate, however, they are not used in the same ways there as here. We will not be following your examples. We will follow your ancient examples to make our races better and more unified. That might be a good example to follow as well." Su''s calm interjections made both archangels worry a little. Runes had already been seen as bad now that they had been used in many wars.


    "Beyond that, I also worry that they might be a danger to the elemental spirits. Unfortunately, we have not seen any since getting here. I would hate to know that my partner is still alone when not with me." Gil made it clear that elemental spirits were also alive and well.


    By highlighting these differences, the arch angels were shown that they truly missed the depth of Genesis at first nce. "We ask that if any dormant or trapped elemental spirits are brought to us to be released or awakened. Yourndsck the proper flow of mana right now. All manas. If released, the natural order can return and I am sure you will all feel a little more connected to the world and each other." Walker didn''t say this as a reprimand. It was just a fact. The angels let fear rule them when it came to elemental spirits. That was clear.


    "And the repercussions of this? You know how we live as angels." Other archangels seemed to want to ask this but it was the Fel empire that said this.


    "Of course we will educate and share knowledge. Working with elemental spirits has created things beyond what you could imagine. Such as this." Walker showed the eternal orb. Fleur also showed herself and melded with it as the eternal orb changed form.


    "This is my eternal orb. It can hold the natural mana that I and my partner Fleur provide it. It can take swords, shields, armor, and a few other forms. But it mostly stores mana for us to use. It also channels our mana better than anything else made. Especially if I had trapped Fleur in an item, it would be radically weaker than this. This was made with true spirit forging and other advanced techniques."


    Seeing such a creation and not understanding it was where the two archangels sat. they had not realized they had missed something for years because they had followed the fears of generations before them. But now that they saw things new, they had to know how it happened. What it meant. They needed to see how it could help them in their efforts.


    "Oh, and these are not to be used for war. The elemental spirits will help us against evil and monsters, but it was made clear that they do not go out of their way to harm others at all. They will even abandoned criminals. The guards noted that in Genesis. That means they have their own morals." Walker handed over reports from guards that no one had realized he had. It was just one trump card he had brought without telling anyone.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1722 1722. Alliance Progress

    "I believe that because my party has taken such close rtionships with them that the elemental spirits have more than lived up to their own beliefs but allowed our beliefs in their hearts as well. They were never the kind of beings that liked murder and war. Your ancestors had some dormant ones hidden away. That proved that they were even hunted during wars or when the world was all fighting."


    Walker pushed this theory home while speaking about the ancient times and theories they had. Also the elemental spirits found in the ruins. "But they are part of nature. War shouldn''t be a natural part of war. No matter how fighting is enjoyed, war should not be. The demi-humans know this well and channel their battle prowess in to arenas that bring their people together instead of tear them apart with war." Walker made sure to incorporate examples here and there as he finished his thought.


    "You are very against war, yet you have not witnessed the length of wars that our people have fought. That have forced us to alter our ways." The Rize empire archangel made sure to point this out. He was certain that these younger people were too foolish to see the length of war.


    "ording to the elven history, War forces us against our core values. Being one with elemental mana and forcing us to fight one another. Our own race was forced apart by the simplest of differences, elemental affinity. Now we are so different that our ancient bloodline is too thin. We have to unite yet again to properly reim the high elf heritage." Alma spoke with authority and steel the same way that the elven queen had spoken when the party met her.


    "If you have a hard time believing them, then you can ask about the fact that the dark elves and the earth elves nearly killed off each other while fighting in the underground. Or the sand elves that once inhabited an ancient angel city before they faced a Sin title holder in battle. Now that Sin title holder may be cleansed, but the past that forced them to that ruin is still there." Gil finished Alma''s point causing the two arch angels to realize that these weren''t just foolish children in front of them.


    "And don''t forget the dwarves. They split themselves in to sections. One such section being an entire king and force set up to keep their overworld patrolled. So much so that they developed golems to fight for them and protect them. So they didn''t have to worry about their enemies so much anymore since theycked the mages to defend against certain races. In doing so, they gained knowledge of runes, forging, and other things." Remey''s addition just made it even clearer.


    "And what if we sign agreements not to fight amongst each other? You have no basis here on ournds. You have no way to stop our floating cities. No way to cease our battlespletely." The Fel empire archangel wasn''t challenging them, but instead was making sure that these unknown beings that hade across the ocean had more than just sweet words.


    "You don''t think that the hero title is worth much? What about the sage title? Or literally any title that united us with both monsters and other races? What about our newest titles that everyone who got here on our ships received? The ocean pioneer. A title that helps us make our way through the ocean safely more often. Which means only one of the many soldiers or our need to be on a ship for us to make better and safer calls to bring even more people here." Walker left that as it was. He had not shared the new title. However, he knew now was the best chance to use it. Especially since no one had a talk about it just yet.


    ''Ocean pioneer


    The title given to those that have been the first in many years to travel by ship throughrge and small dangers. Those that have pioneered a new form of travel to get to a new ce. To discover and create brand new experiences in their age. Those with this title have a natural instinct that allows them safer travel when on the ocean. They will also have a higher chance of learning rted skills while on the ocean along with protecting them if all else goes wrong to a degree while on the ocean.''


    This was a simple description but a title was a title. It could not be underestimated. Even the smallest title could push someone to do great things. Take the friend of goblins title. It was one that showed every goblin that the party was friendly, even before they were a proper race. It also showed the world that they were closely rted with the goblins and would clearly not hesitate to assist them. It was both defensive and deterring.


    The mention of titles seemed to be enough. Both The arch angels didn''t ponder anything more. "We are at an important portion of our empire''s history. Peace has been here for some time. The redevelopment of viges on the borders is here for both of us." The Rize empire representative seemed to have finally epted what they were here to speak about.


    "That being the case, we still have animosity, however, if you share what you know of our ancient counterparts, we may learn why we became the way we are. We also may solve issues we have now." The Fel empire arch angel also started to show a bit more of his own emotion. It seemed that the two had been hardened by years of fighting, but actually had softer hearts than they let anyone see. Not that they showed it allpletely.


    "To speak about the wyverns¡­" The Rize empire archangel paused and then continued, this was his way of epting that they yed a part in causing the wyverns to fly across the ocean. "We went to the mountains to gain materials for armors and other such efforts. We were rewarded by finding massive nests and ancient structures which housed the wyverns. Our soldiers attempted to take one and instead killed the youngest wyverns under the wyvern queen. Instead of fleeing, she used intelligence to force wyverns together. They are less mad now."


    And to speak about our deserts¡­" The Fel empire archangel spoke not hiding it either. " one of our space mages started to learn about elemental ins. They brought out a jinn or what some would call a genie. Their elemental power caused them to call up a storm of sand that disturbed ruins long buried. The number of undead creatures there is higher than we imagined. Especially from an unknown race possessing dragon blood in its veins even now that they are dried up corpses. The mummies and rulers, they are undead with magic and more."


    Hearing that the archangels had finally given them some ground made everyone rx. However, knowing these problems brought a whole new aspect of issues. These were the problems that the two empires faced that forced them to stop their war. So much so that they were stuck.


    "If they use magic they have to be intelligent undead?" Walker had a bad feeling. One that made him think of the previous undead he had met so far in his life.


    "Yes. The same as we have heard of the wyverns. There is intelligence but also a great deal of madness. I doubt they could ever defeat their natural urge to fight the living unless great changes ur. But they attack anything within the deserte the night. The ruins are buried in sand unless they use magic either." The Fel empire was basically divided. That was the conclusion that Walker reached.


    "So the wars stopped because both of your empires are effectively cut off from your other halves. That means you have people suffering. We''ll have to fix that." Walker didn''t even bat an eye at this. He just decided right out that they would also aim to help people while they could.


    "We expect you to help find our escaped criminal. Beware of slimes need to cause poison and corrosion. There are also lord slimes that are much more powerful. I fear what the slime breeder subordinate could create now that they have ess to more information on the Fel empire''s ulterior mana and affinities." Sharing this was important for all of them. "We have reports on what we know of them along with sketches of them. They should help hunt them down safely. I just hope the three are not taking power somewhere."


    Knowing that there was a lot of risks here, the three finally got down to properly filling out contracts for their alliance. Assistance with issues woulde sooner thanter but trade and other things could be slowly worked out over time. Now that the mental and emotional block was gone the angels and Genesis could look at moving forward.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1723 1723. Pushed Together

    "By the agreement, the Fel empire will not impede the attempts to apprehend and will assist the genesis alliance in capturing three escaped war criminals that have fled to our Sigil continent. In turn, Genesis will abide by thews of our empire to the best of their abilities while also sharing knowledge as they travel."


    "Furthermore, after the fugitives are captured or during, depending on the climate of the empire and continent, the genesis alliance will assist with internal strife caused by the weak dragon bloodline within certain monsters of the past and present. They will be allowed ess to knowledge the Fel empire has gathered in return for this."


    "Upon the end of these terms, a new alliance can be adjusted with more trade potential, knowledge sharing, and even alterations to certainws that would otherwise force either party to be ipatible with either continent''sws. In no way will either side cause war with the other or their current peace treaty members. This is absolute." The Fel empire archangel felt that this small summarizing statement was enough for now.


    "As you understand, The Rize empire has the same basis. The adjusted portion speaks of the assistance with the mountain region''s division of our empire along with the altered status of many angels due to the attacks of wyverns. There are even the allocations of discovered ruins so that there may be a return of history from us and you to the angels as an entire race."


    "There is also the alteration ofws for elemental spirits to be identified as a proper race by our angel race if there is basis and approval of the highest ranking angels of both our empires. The final addition is about the growth of a dedicated port which will act under genesisws." The Rize arch angel seemed more up tight when it came to the alliance terms. Especially since he had made it clear he wanted the historical knowledge of the angel''s ruins near Genesis.


    "We will allow the growth of a port where younded as long as the Fel empire sets aside the same portion size ofnd to expand it. Genesisws will apply there the day that genesis embassy is built on thatnd, before then, thews of the empire''s bordernds will apply."


    "We agree to those terms for the time being. The details about current trade and the changes in traveling rights will be held for now. There will also be no expansion of Genesis troops without clear direction provided. I am d we coulde to an agreement today." Walker was sure that he had read everything carefully.


    After the hours of sitting at the same table and everyone reading through the proposed and finalized documents, the alliance between Genesis, Fel, and Rize were created. There had been some small points that had been stuck for a little bit at times rted to runes and the usage of elemental spirits.


    The main reason that this hade up as issues were the floating cities that existed. Both empires had one which kept each other in check. They utilized runes to a massive degree and even held some of the most important buildings and angels. This meant that Genesis was the only member without such defensive cities. It also meant that they did not have the runes to defend from the old cities that could attack with the angel''s guidance.


    However, Walker had countered it by raising the fact that there were royal dragons that could easily fly in to the air and destroy the angel''s cities themselves. These rune cities would have tough defenses for sure but since the rune craftsmanship was more or less banned here, they had fallen in to disrepair. The floating cities were surely not up to the same standards as they had been once upon a time. Neither empire could fight Walker on this.


    The elemental spirits were anotherrge alteration to what the angels had said to begin with. The angels feared the use of elemental spirits when it came to freedom. Since the angels relied on the mana around them the same way that elemental spirits did, they didn''t want to lose their perfect control of it. Yet, when Walker and the others introduced grand elemental spirits t the, they saw that they were wrong.


    The grand elemental spirits were no where near the most powerful beings in the world. But, they did have the ability to manipte mana to a great degree that would stop the angels from using their affinity towards mana. Absorbing mana through their wings was a major drawback at times.


    When this was raised, Fluer and the others were able to show that they could control mana and guide it to them as well. Along with helping them clear the blockages out that had gathered between them and mana because they did not properly study the methods of absorbing mana.


    The reason that angels had these issues was simple, war. So many methods of their growth had been lost as they fought. Libraries had been burned with whole viges. That alone had been enough to set the angels back. Therefore, when the elemental spirits demonstrated that they could help the angels, the two archangels had changed their minds. They would rather befriend and apologize than lose potential growth for their empires. Especially if the opposing empire would have chosen to ept them where the other would not.


    This attitude had helped Walker a lot. The two empires did not want to give up ground to one another. They wanted their ideals to ring true over the others. This thinking had made them at odds for more than just part of the time they met with Walker. It had put Walker in the ideal position though, that was why things had gone so favorably for him and genesis when the documents were signed.


    Getting things properly in ce for trade was now one of the higher priorities. Especially because both empires wanted to see documents about the ancient ruins found in Genesis. The great library below the demon capital city was what attracted them most. Ancient knowledge about both the Rize and Fel empire''s ways of thinking when it came to affinities and mana were there.


    To them, the two archangels could use it to push their own agendas and make one value higher than the other. But to Genesis, it was a way to unite them as one again. The same way that the elves had started to unite under the return of the high elven ways.


    This aside, there was a nice benefit in having the angels ept them to a degree. Now they would have maps and other important information about what was around thend. The unfamiliar monsters would not have to be appraised before battle. It would make things safer.


    "Will you stay at the embassy or prepare to search sooner?" The Rize archangel was looking to glean more information about the ruins that Genesis had found. He didn''t want them to rush off right away.


    "We will need to prepare ourselves to hunt for them. We need to gather information. Weck awork here, we just began having the harpies take overmunications for the kingdoms. They are recognized by the world so it will give them a great start."


    "Then you will want us to send scouts. We have some unique ways to gather information since we study unique systems and skills outside of the natural flow." The arch angels for the Fel empire took the chance immediately. He was looking forward to learning even more about ulterior manas.


    "If you have scouts like that then we can learn from them too. It would be good to learn some new skills. But we can also send some dragonkin to scout too." Walker was going to dly look in to unique skills. It could lead him to expand his view.


    "We have scouts as well. The light elemental angels that travel the air can make very detailed maps. They may be able to narrow down any new building that is not part of our ns." The Rize empire archangel did not want to be left out of this.


    "Then I think creating a joint scouting force is in order. Dark affinity dragonkin, light angel map makers, and the unique space elemental mages. It''s a good way to learn from each other and also to see how well both empires can stand together to properly defend themselves from an outside threat. This demon king will certainly be a threat if left alone." Walker knew he was pushing this a little too much but it was the best optionpared to working apart.


    "In the situation. we will do so." The Rize empire archangel begrudgingly epted this.


    "I see no issues. The dragonkin are unknown to us, we could experience many new things.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1724 1724. Small Tests Of Values

    "We should be having a delivery soon. You wanted to see the monsters we are dealing with, correct? Through a lot of effort, one of them was trapped for us to understand them. But we have been unable to gain much since they resist the light elemental manas we use to attack them. Even the weakest pawns of the mummies had too much resistance." The Fel empire''s archangel surprised Walker and the others after they had stopped their conversations.


    "You have one trapped and you have iting here already?" This was not at all what Walker had expected from his meeting. He was sure that the empires would keep them at a ten foot distance for a while. Mostly because they were foreign and dangerous in their eyes.


    "Yes, Imunicated with one of my subordinates to have it brought from the research building we have near the desert. I believe that you are more interesting than you admit. I also wonder if you encountered many undead from yournds too? We have a few mages that specifically research the undead." Now that Walker could see the Fel empire archangel more clearly, he could tell that it was curiosity in his eyes.


    The Rize empire believed in the elemental superiority of the natural elemental cycle. That was clear. However, the Fel empire believed in the minute and small details that were between them. They believed in the things that were not just part of that cycle and that expanded outward from it. That made up the very world that could cause the elemental cycle to exist.


    One was the study of the cycle and one was the study of what caused the cycle. Two very simr but different things. It made Walker and the others wonder just what thoughts went through these angels'' minds when they''d decided to go to war over these ideals.


    "I would take it that the Rize empire does not support this? Is it because it doesn''t fit the natural ways of the mana you pride?" Alma saw that she had hit the nail on the head with this.


    "These things are not as they should be. Studying them will just expand their abilities. I do not condone it but I am not one to force my ideals on the Fel empire. It would cause more battles than we desire right now."


    "And the Fel empire will not force our research on the Rize empire. We also do not wish for more battles right now."


    They all saw this exchange and the respect held in these words. The two empires had clearly learned from their issues and were forced to a hard stop in battles because of this. It was a strange stoppage that had resulted in their researchers turning backwards on themselves instead of them sharing knowledge.


    "Well, maybe there are elemental magics that could help youbat the light elemental resistances. I have a white holy me that can burn with light and fire elemental man. It won''t burn me, but it will burn darkness and death mana." Walker showed the white me off and the Fel empire archangel shook his head.


    "We had a light priest with simr purifying abilities use skills of the same against them. They were too resistant to it and only weakened slightly. It took three days to defeat one of the weaker undead fodder that gues therge expanses of desert these undead control." That didn''t sound good. But Walker felt that he was already learning a lot about the empires.


    "Fine, then we should check this out. Would you all like to join me?" Walker saw the royal dragon''s interests. These were undead monsters with dragon blood in them. Humanoid monsters that had once had dragon blood in them, that had died and managed to somehowe back. It made them very curious as to how it happened but also brought up a lot of questions. Were there once dragons that also had manas outside of the elemental norms?


    "Of course we will be seeing this. I believe that knowing enemies will lead to a much safer interaction. Knowledge is of course, power." Ventus made sure that she spoke before any of the other royal dragons. She wanted to be leading this endeavor since she would get a better view of everything. She had already yed the long looking part of a mother so far. Making maps, seeing what is ahead, and even looking at the future were all a part of her character. A great bnce to some of the other royal dragon''s views.


    "You wish to also see what your heritage did in the past?" The Rize empire archangel thought it funny that the dragons showed so much interest on something that was clearly going to be an insult to their current standing. he had already changed his views the more he looked at them and realized how different they were from the wyverns.


    "Do you think that would not? We may share the value that you have for the past and wanting to know what has happened, however, we do believe that we are the current. We are the ones that are writing the current history. We guard our territory and expand it. We make a name for the dragon race as a whole. These things are small things that wish to tarnish it. Many have arrived and disappeared as time goes on." Rise red down at the Rize archangel before looking away toward the Fel empire archangel. "Show us what''s left of the dragons here. We might write their history in to the books."


    "If you want to argue, go outside. I want to see them too. The others are also curious. We are going to be helping. We have to see a wyvern too if possible. I still have only seen some small remains." Walker knew that he and the rest of the party would do better learning what they could about these monsters.


    The more information that he had from the all around appraisal the better. He and the others would be able to build a n to take things down. But even more, they might be able to understand what the demon king was doing here. What power might be able to be taken from these monsters for himself?


    "You want to see the body of a wyvern? That would take a little time but we do have them. They are not a useless monsters. Once defeated they have significant use in materials. That is why we did not hunt them heavily at first. It was a mistake we made as a race. Even the wyverns that snuck south were not killed. Their scales and horns are great materials. But they also were a mystery to us at first." The Rize archangel made it clear that not just his empire had let the wyverns live at first.


    "That may be true, but we also didn''t understand your plight. Just as you don''t see ours until now. Because of them, you will see what we face and we should see what you face." the Fel archangel was using this to learn more about the Rize empire as well.


    While both saw it as a way to get more information and gain the upper hand on an enemy, Walker saw it as a way to unite them through their troubles. The shared losses from their fights against monsters could bring them together. Then add in the joint effort with Genesis to defeat the demon king¡­it could lead to a real joining of races that expanded across continents.


    However, that was forter. Walker and the others were ushered out of the embassy to an open space where a veryrge metal crate had just been ced. The grasses had been ttened and multiple angles with dark and white armor stood around ready to fight at any moment.


    "Dropped off by our mages and kept guard by both empire''s soldiers. We have a single one of the pawns trapped here. It is chained in that box and can not break free. Will you open it or should I?" the Fel empire''s archangel''s eyes gleamed with curiosity.


    "Since you are so tempted, then let them open it. I will use some skills on it. Especially because this is your own little test for us. You want to see what genesis can tell you about undead. But you also want to see how much we have ventured from the elemental cycle that Rize enjoys as their core values. I can''t say that you hid that well though. Both of you are using this as a test. Unfortunately for you, we have united both your values without even knowing you had opposed one another. Or that your empires even existed. Our world is viewed differently than you expect." Walker watched as soldiers approached the metal crate while making his point clear.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1725 1725. Immortal?

    The chains along the metal crate contained light elemental mana. They clearly had been made with materials that could channel it to contain and purify mamas. However, there were still parts of the metal crate that had begun to degrade and rust away.


    "So these undead are able to make metal rot and decay. They have powerful mana within them." Mordant approached the edge of the metal crate before the soldier could open it. He used his darkness mana to probe it slightly as if he was looking at an interesting new toy.


    "If it has darkness mana that is so powerful, should I be ready to use some light elemental mana?" Walker have a wave to Alice who could start dining. He also nodded at Rise who could call up powerful light elemental mana to help push away the decay.


    "It''s better safe than sorry. I want to see this monster too now." Mordant was very curious. From what he could feel, it was not just darkness mana within. It was a mixture of mana that was stopping him from controlling the darkness mana and taking it for himself. This made things very odd for him since he was a royal dragon and not used to the feeling of being unable to control mana he was suited to.


    Feeling this, Walker mentally prepared himself for worse. He knew that if Mordant was being cautious then it meant a lot. Mordant had been very trusting and even very open to new ideas. Walker had grown to feel very close with Mordant, especially since Mordant had wanted to connect himself and Walker when it came to their rtionships as dragons and leaders in their own societies.


    Beyond that, the darkness that Walker could sense was also not at all in control, however, he could sense the addition of another mana. A darker and more mysterious mana. "I guess this solidifies it, death energy or other energies are definitely their own kinds of mana. Just harder to grasp." Walker mumbled to himself.


    From the time that Midnight had experienced death energy through the immortal kings'' tricks to now, he had not been able to grasp such a concept for certain. Walker had made theories and worked on things that rted but had remained focused on natural and elemental manas. But with the perfect example of an outer force that might be greater than just the basic elemental manas before him, he was presented with death. A mana that was unknown for the most part.


    A small thought reached Walker while he tried to grasp a little of this concept better. Death mana was somehow rted to darkness mana because of whatever reason. It could be the people that made it or the control it had over things. However, death was also part of the natural flow. Darkness mana appeared where death was because rotting things would breed new life in to a forest. The rotting leaves could feed the newest growth. Didn''t that mean that life mana would also appear in the same ce at some point?


    Unfortunately, the metal crate shook while Walker tried to grasp this small theory. The tiny thought that could have be a great meditation theory. The shaking metal crate came as soon as the soldiers began to remove the light affinity chains.


    Both archangels watched carefully with their stances showing that they would not hesitate to attack. They needed to be certain that this monster would not escape and cause harm all around them along the border. It wasn''t just the Fel empire that feared this. The Rize empire could sense the manas within the crate and knew that the Fel empire had not made up this threat just to bolster forces.


    "You appear to have brought a creature of strength here." The Rize empire archangel mused this point for a moment.


    "No, this is a weak one. Just a pawn that was risen from one of the many tombs we found. The desert we hunt is now filled with these things." That alone made the entire group of soldiers prepare. Such A powerful mana wasing from a weak being? How could the Fel empire handle such a threat? However,pared to the wyverns, it made sense. They were equal threats. One was brutal in killing and the other was organized and held unknown secrets.


    The metal crate fell apart revealing a skeletal figure with many white chains wrapped around it. They were slowly turning darker and darker as they rotted right there in ce. The skeletal figure was wrapped with dark gray bandages which seemed to be immune to the mana that was rotting the chains. However, there were clear red eyes and sharper teeth that showed from the head of the skeletal figure.


    ''Mummified worshiper


    This undead is considered the weakest of those that once worshiped the great kings of their civilization. The small amount of dragon blood in the veins of a once powerful race made them obsessed with strength. This pushed them to try to keep the bloodline pure, having fewer and fewer children.


    Upon realizing this, the worshipers ran to their powerful leaders and begged for eternal life to fix this issue. In this means, they gave their minds and souls to be kept alive in death. They are just mindless pawns of a greater undead that allows them to gain more mana and subordinates.


    The strong darkness mana is a side effect of the forced death mana in to their bodies. This results in everything they touch beginning to rot away in decay. However, their bodies are kept solid by the death mana within them. They can be reduced to dust and slowly reform over time until their controller of them is defeated. The time it takes depends on the damage they receive. It could be hours or years.''


    The information was a lot. The all around appraisal had not given the best specific information about the mummified worshiper. Yet, it was enough to raise the eyebrows of everyone watching. But for the moment, everyone was focused on the struggling mummified worshiper that was about to escape the white chains.


    "Ignus, burn this for us?" Mordant was sure that this would give them the most time. Especially since he wanted to see if the darkness mana would dissipate if the mummy was brought to dust.


    "I dislike this thing as well. I am acting to purify the world, not for you." Ignus seemed annoyed but his serious expression proved that he was also wary of this monster. An undead that could reform its body was a terrifying idea. Especially since they all knew of a powerful undead hiding in their own continent.


    A powerful red me appeared in Ignus''s hands. He slowly pushed it on the head of the mummified worshiper. No one needed to see more. They knew that nothing would survive the me that Ignus had created out of nothing.


    The mes slowly melted and even destroyed the light affinity chains. By the time that there was only dust remaining, everyone had already absorbed the information from Walker''s all around appraisal. But Mordant was still looking at the dust.


    "The mana is trapped in it. Even though it is all dust, the mana is trapped there." Mordant could see that the darkness and death mana was still there. It was somehow condensed right in to the dust. It changed shape easily without even making waves around it.


    "That means it can reallye back. We will have to trap it again." The Fel empire archangel seemed to be grinning. He had seen something pretty amazing in the way that Ignus had used mes. But so had the Rize empire archangel. He too was interested in the depth of elemental knowledge that the dragons possessed. It was beyond what he had seen.


    "Do you understand a little more now? You can trust us since we can handle these things to a degree. But because you haven''t defeated the one controlling them, they wille back again. That means your problem lies in the most powerful undead. And now, I want to see a wyvern." Walker maintained a cool and calm attitude. But it seemed that his words had a greater effect than before. Now that he had gleaned information from an undead, the two archangels had epted him more.


    Neither had understood what genesis was or what it could do. Unfortunately, that had been the angel''s fault. If they wanted to even grasp a little of the knowledge they were missing, they would have to give more to genesis. That was clear. Walker knew this and now the angels did. Their deals would have to change while the wars between the two empires might have to cease for longer and longer.


    "I should have a wyvern body here soon. We will learn from it as well." The Rize archangel did not hesitate to reassure Walker and the others.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1726 1726. Not Enough To Eat

    It seemed that a lot of the distrust had been washed away seeing that Walker had given more information about the undead monster that had been brought. He was sure that it was also because he had been willing to help with it. The reason that he thought this was because after the Fel empire archangel saw this, he was also willing to share more about their situation.


    The true fact that things had loosened up was also because the Fel and Rize empire archangels had started to understand that they were both in a massive losing point for their empires. If they were cut off from half of their empires for too long they could end up with not two, but four empires. That would cause wars to break out all over the ce.


    Four borders would be a huge issue. There would be too many fights to keep track of. Not to mention the ideals and loyalties would shift constantly. If the two did not start being open and honest with those that actually wished to help them, then they would always be at a loss. That meant that they would be facing problems for much longer than just the foreseeable future.


    From that point, it would be better just to flee to this Genesis alliance than to stay on their own continent. It wasn''t their original home anyways. If they chose to believe the ruins and other things that Genesis had spoken of, it would mean that they should return to Genesis so that they could retake their ancient homnds.


    That again was just a fleeting thought for the Rize empireArchangel. His eyes were on therge package been carried by a few tamed monsters from his empire. They hadmunicated efficiently using crystals as Genesis used. But it appeared to Walker that these crystals were moremon here on the Sigil continent. This was clear through the fact that there seemed to be some crystal outcroppings just on the general earth that made up the entire continent. Therefore, it was probably a more obtainable material to createmunications crystals.


    ''Sky eagle


    The sky eagle is a veryrge eagle monster. It has a very powerful wind affinity and used to roam free until captured by the angels. Now they are bred to act as transporters for the angel civilization. That does not mean they live poor lives though.


    For the angels, they share a unique bond that only those with wings can share with each other. The sky eagles are the same as family to them even though they have a lesser intelligence. It is verymon to forget the taming act that connects some angels with the skill to the sky eagles.Instead, they will live together in general.


    The cities have thergest poption of sky eagles from young to old sharing in every day life. It is verymon for someone to find a sky eagle and feed it out of general kindness. This is one aspect of angel culture that even the world feels pride in.''


    Walker didn''t bother sharing this information with anyone. He silently use the all around appraisal to gain this information. It was good to see something positive about angels. Yet, he wondered why angels didn''t see other flying monsters like this. It would have to be something that Walker learned slowly.


    However, knowing that the angels could actually show general kindness over an entire species of monster was good. If the sky eagles could be guided to grow more and reach a higher intelligence, then another monster race could be fully recognized by the world. If that were to happen, then the angels would have an entire race that they were so deeply connected to that it could smooth out a lot of potential hatred between two empires.


    "That''s the wyvern. That''s what you want to see." The wrapping was of thick fabric that appeared to have been frozen. "We used ice elemental magic to stop the degradation of the wyvern body. This is one of the research materials that we have to use for a short while. But you should not worry about that. We just need you to see the full body and tell us what you can see."


    This was a clear challenge. The Rize empire arch angel had seen what Walker could do. That alone meant that Walker would have to deliver better or the same degree of information. That was why he secretly prayed to the world that the all around appraisal would give him something good. The information he shared could make or break this rtionship beginning here.


    He had already seen that the Ruse archangel was giving the Fel empire more face since he had epted that their threat was equal to what they faced. It also showed that their views could be changed even though they had different values. Over time they had changed their values and started fighting, but maybe with a little more time, Genesis could bring them together again.


    The cloth wrapped body was not that long. It was slightly longer than what any of the dragons would call a younger dragon. One that could fly but would still be growing. Naturally, it wasrger than Midnight but Midnight was a unique case. This young wyvern was thinner and the scales all came down to a point.


    The gray tinge on the scales mixed with the brown striations proved that it had some earth elemental affinity. The earth affinity would show that it was able to live in the ground or the mountains easily.


    Larger spikes made a frill around its head allowing it to be able to stab side to side with its head. That would give it a strong way to fight in battle. The teeth were sharp and more simr to very thick needles. That would be able to puncture and make their prey bleed. That was vicious within itself. But the all around appraisal was able to tell Walker a little more.


    ''Juvenile earth wyvern


    This wyvern is too young andcks the nutrition to grow at the rapid pace it requires. Because of this, it has perished and been easily killed by others. Its materials such as horns, teeth, bones, and scales are mostly useless because of their weak and brittle nature due to malnutrition.


    The reason for the downfall is theck of food in the mountains it lives in. Due to this, it was forced to fight within its own kind and pushed further away from where it hatched. The further issue is that the dragon bloodline within it is awakening earlier and earlier within its species as the dragon aspects of its bloodline show themselves.


    The reason this is happening is due to the rising intelligence of the oldest wyverns. They are able to refine their blood and mana to return to their own species separating themselves from the dragons of past generations.


    The hidden strength within them and creating a new bloodline requires the wyverns to grow much more. Unfortunately, that is not possible at the moment.


    The wyverns have a slight ability to use breath attacks butck the current age to use them efficiently. The madness brought on by the dragon aspects of their bloodlines ensures that the wyvern prefers physicalbat¡­.''


    Walker saw a lot more information about the physicalbat abilities. He believed that the world had heard his silent prayer to ask for more information. However, he kept some of it to himself this time. He wanted to tell the dragons by himself that the wyverns were reacting to the fact that their dragon blood was reacting within them.


    The awakening of a bloodline was important. However, the fact that the older wyverns were trying to create and awaken the bloodline so that they could create their own unique bloodline was more amazing. That meant that the wyverns might be trying to be their very own race without rtion to any other race at all. If that was the case, there might be more to the fact that the wyverns were getting more troublesome. It could mean that there would be a battle between the Rize empire and the wyverns on the horizon.


    The information about fighting style and the fact that the wyverns were in malnutrition was important. It gave the Rize empire a reason for the energetic battle showing up more and more. it also made it clear that there were more issues in the mountains than just the wyverns. Since that was the case, the Rize empire could investigate more than just the monsters the wyverns fed on but even the pants around there.


    "We willmunicate with those that must know sooner thanter. I will take a moment." The Rize archangel moved to speak with someone immediately after hearing what Walker said.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1727 1727. Student Exchange

    The others saw many of the Rize empire soldierse to speak with their archangel. It was very clear that they were going to be sending information to change methods and update battle strategies. But most interesting was an older angel that came.


    The man was wearing a robe with white patterns instead of armor meaning that he was not a soldier. "You''re an herbalist right?" Remey spoke up and approached them while they spoke. The Rize archangel looked at her a little displeased.


    "I am an herbalist. I have many years advising many archangels on what is and is not needed in the wilderness. Not of all, I am the herbalist responsible for the return of the charred mountain recovery effort." This should have sounded amazing, unfortunately, Remey had no idea what the charred mountain was and what had happened.


    "Well, I am an Alchemical brawler. I have founded the alchemy guild back home with two other master alchemists. I have documented some herbs from your continent butcked someone knowledgeable. You should share notes with me. If any anyone has an issue with you you can let them known that I will crack my fist on their heads." Remey left it at this but also left the Rize archangel with a stern look.


    "Remey? Did you really have to add thatst part? And did you really need to interrupt them?" Su was sure that Remey had just made herself look very poor in the eyes of the Rize archangel.


    "How else was I going to speak with an herbalist from here? He is about to send him off so I had to make sure he would being back. If I asked the archangel he would have forced us to agree to something else. You know that." Remey made her point and from the nce that the Rize archangel gave, it was absolutely true.


    "Then why not speak to one of our herbalists? We have a few individuals that experiment with unique potions and unique herbs that grow in areas touched by unique mana. We do not hold our knowledge hostage from others. You are free to visit the small libraries we have throughout our Fel empire." The Fel archangel spoke making the Rize archangel fairly aggravated.


    "Unfortunately, the quality of those cooks could be poor at best. They spread them out and allow any and all to touch them. Their quality is lowered and the knowledge will be lost since it is not preserved to the highest degree."


    As the two began a debate right in front of them. Walker understood another w that these two empires had. One shared knowledge without a system that properly preserved knowledge at the same time. The other preserved without properly distributing it. It all stemmed from their ideals of a closed elemental cycle and an open cycle that had ulterior manas hidden away.


    "I believe it would be better if you did both. Copy the preserved library and send copies to all those across yournds. Use their method and yours. Instead of hiding certain pieces of knowledge from, everyone in a maze of a library as your ancestry did, it would be better that you just shared it all. Anything dangerous could be specially hidden but that would need to be approved by everyone equally."


    "Why are you trying to help them already? If you tell them this they might have to change their names from two empires to one and we''ll have to change our maps." Gil teased Walker but it lightened the mood even more since the two archangels listened to Walker a bit. However, they had shown sour faces when he had said what they should do logically. Their stubbornness was very clearly on disy for them to see today.


    "He just wants them to work together. They should heal their injuries instead of letting them be infected." This was the first that Alice had said for some time. However, instead of wearing the bracelet that Walker had given her, she had taken it off and let the light be influenced by her voice again.


    This change in the light drew the attention of every angel since they had not seen such things in a long time. "You are blessed by the light? The light elemental mana beckons to you in every single word. You shoulde to the Rize continent hall of light to visit with our highest ranked light mages. They will wee you even though you are not of our race." The change in attitude from the Rize empire was shocking. It was clear that he was seeing Alice as very valuable now.


    "Not unless you and your empires vow to heal instead of harm." Alice remained stubborn prompting the royal dragons to somewhat huff. They were very proud that everyone was not bending to the angels.


    "Oh, a child of light that doesn''t just give in. How do you think that works? Is it the fact you hide them away and make them stuffy book after book for fifty years before they are allowed to go anywhere? Or is it because they are treated like they are royalty unless in the face of a powerful angel? If you learned from us you might have angels that took pride in being lowborn and rising higher." There was another clear cut exnation of differences between the empires when the Fel archangel mocked this situation.


    And you let talents run around without any protection. By the time they have power they are battle hardened soldiers instead of schrs. That is why you have such a low poption. You may have the random few that are strong but the rest are lost to death." The Rize archangel retaliated. This debate seemed to also have happened many times before.


    "I see that you both have educational standards that are different as well. We have simr mixes as well. The demi-humans send soldiers to the arena to fight and train. They be injured or harmed. Byt the elves keep theirs in the forest or their homes from the world. Humans have guilds that allow exploration or other things that spread them out to get experience but also keep the young in academies or other apprenticeships."


    "Of course there are some dragons that send their young in to the world to fight and grow. Or the merfolk that remain to teach within their city. It is all different based on what works the best. However, inGenesis, we will be doing a mix of all of these. Learn inside and out of the city. Learn from other races. You are both wee to select children from your empires toe and learn in genesis. We can do the same with some lucky children as well toe learn here. Wouldn''t that help us share values and learn from one another?"


    The sudden interjection made both archangels'' jaws drop. They had never sent young angels to their enemies to learn. That was tantamount to sending them to death. Yet, Genesis had just offered this as if it was amon and easy thing?


    "Some hatchlings are currently learning in Genesis city instead of being in the viges. They were weak and could not normally live in our viges to our standards. Now they have changed their fate and learned things that dragons would not normally learn. Ignus has one hatchling that has be an alchemist. How odd, isn''t it?" Terron spoke for the first time in a while. But he hit the nail on the head. His words were heavy and were driving the point home perfectly.


    "Even those of higher status have done so?" The Fel archangel wasn''t sure if he could believe this. But he had seen many things in his life from unique experiments that he wouldn''t have believed until he saw them. "Then I will ept this. I will send five angels to learn from you for a series of months. That would be the least I could do with my power here." The Fel archangel didn''t want to lose the chance to learn even more.


    "The Rize empire does not fear losing the young. We will expand our elemental knowledge by seeing your continent. We will send appropriate guardians as well. I am certain that you would allow that." The Rize archangel was telling not asking but that was fine.


    "Of course. We have a few adults that would want toe here to explore as well. We actually hope to alter travel as well. if the Fel empire can fix issues with spatial teleportation or travel, we might be able to bring people and items in the future. It would be beneficial." The Rize archangel frowned but understood why Walker would be interested in this. It could bring them closer together than before. However, it had shocking battle potential if it actually happened.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1728 1728. Agreements Made

    The new agreement was very quick. Walker had not sat and just let things be said that were not written. In a blink of an eye, he had shown the documents of other kingdoms, and more specifically, what the dragons had agreed to. This helped the two archangels understand the depth of why the agreements were in ce.


    However, it also showed what could be gained. The dragons had the promise that they would take over rulership if they were not shown skills that surpassed what they expected of the dragons brought to learn. yet, it seemed that there were already reasons that they were priding the actions of these hatchlings.


    Especially since Ignus had spoken out. Walker had been surprised by this. A dragon alchemist was something that every single dragon wanted right now. Specifically, because they were unsure about the affinity potions and how they would get more and more of them.


    Relying on Remey and the alchemy guild would surely make things harder. That was due to the fact that it would mean there had to be closer to Genesis at all times. There was also the mage tower though. The boosted mana gathering and ability to use that environment to understand mana was bing very clear to them. If they did not use it then they would fall behind since those hatchlings in Genesis would eventually grow more knowledgeable than them.


    These twobinations changed Ignus''s perspective. Whether he had shown it yet or not, had not been a matter to concern anyone with. Yet, now that Ignus had shown it, he had managed to surprise everyone. Especially since Ignus had been the most heated and opposed to the fact that walker wanted to take weaker dragons and make them stronger. He hadn''t believed it possible.


    The more that the affinity potions had been shown to be important to the dragons, the more that Ignus had changed his views. But now that they faced a new continent with new threats, he was certain that it would be even more important for the dragons to be stinger. Adding in the fact that the dragons were far from their ancient strength, he had to return to a peak higher than he had ever even imagined. With that, he would need every dragon to make a difference.


    "We have made many agreements and seen many things from you so far. Before you are to go, we will say it again." The Rize archangel showed a slight smile, "The Rize empire recognizes you as an ally at this moment in time. We will assist you in finding the path to your escaped criminal."


    "The Fel empire sees the potential you possess. We hope to learn from you further so that we may catch your escaped criminal. We also hope to see what other new knowledge you possess." The Fel archangel seemed to want to learn more but had to let them go for the moment. If he pushed even more then the Rize empire would see that as Genesis gathering together with the Fel empire. It could start another fight which no one wanted at the moment.


    The leaving arch angels left the soldiers to Walker and the others. While they had been speaking for hours, there had been arge camp constructed for them. The angels seemed to want to assist more but they had to also keep their distance to a degree. What Walker and the others had done though was push the food toward them. Inside the hall had been a substantial amount of food that the archangels had not touched much at all. But the soldiers were more than willing to eat it.


    In doing so, the lower ranked angels had already decided that they didn''t dislike the Genesis representatives. They had also started raving about the unique vors of spices from another continent. It was exactly what Walker and the others had hoped woulde of their meetings to a degree. A path for trade to be opened even more widely than before.


    Furthermore, the potions that had also been taken out when Remey had started on about alchemy and herbalists had been left to be seen. The archangels had not examined them much but the equal sets with exnations were in their care. However, that move had brought two herbalists from the Rize and the Fel empire to Remey. She had her own meetings to attend to now. Even Alma had left with her. The desire to find more herbs that may be lost from her forest and to return them was very strong.


    This had also left Gil to move with her. He had to keep an eye on both Remey and Alma. Remey because of her potential hard headedness and Alma since he cared for her more than he would admit out in the open here. But that wasn''t an issue. Walker wanted everyone to split up and do these things the best that they could.


    Furthermore, Alice had also attracted a lot of looks. She and Su had managed to gather a few of the healers that resided with both empires. Their attention was mostly on Alice because of her light affinity. Yet, that didn''t make any of them look away from Sty once they saw that she could use light affinity skills as well. That had surprised them. But the knowledge Su had about healing even though she was not a healer at all hit them again.


    Development of medical and healing knowledge was always important to any race no matter what. Even if everything fell apart, healers would be the core of an army and nation to protect the people. That being said, the desire to learn more about healing and medical knowledge spurred the empire''s healers to ignore any distaste of values and pursue Genesis knowledge. It was a clear cut exnation of why the two empires were cooperating in front of Alice and Su at the moment.


    Elise seemed to be different. She had taken interest in the sky eagles. They were a monster that had chosen to be with angels. It was reminding her of her sister, Ste. A monster that was now a clear race of their own but still had been close with her throughout life. Not only could she establish a tamer''s guild with these beliefs within the empires, but she understood that it would be a profound and beautiful rtionship between tamers and monsters if there was a guild branch here.


    Meanwhile, Walker had stepped in toa private tent with the royal dragons, Midnight, and Onyx. Onyx had stayed with Walker out of curiosity and to keep him protected. Midnight was the same, however, she wanted to hear what Walker said. She was building her own thoughts on matters revolving around the wyverns as well.


    "The wyverns are trying to make their own race and separate themselves from the mixed blood that is within them. That is another reason for them getting more and more aggressive." Walker dropped this like an explosion. Every royal dragon grimaces.


    "They want to toss aside royal dragon blood so that they can be something else? How could they insult the dragon race as such." Rise was the first to show her distaste for all of this. It was clear that she saw this as a direct attack on thempletely.


    "They are worse than that. They attack ournds and take our heritage. Disgusting things." Terron showed his anger as well. This was nodded along with the other royals.


    "Their attempts are condemning them. What would they be if they are driven mad by doing this?" Current raised this question which made it seem that it was better to stop thempletely.


    "Things are not right with the wyverns. But if they wish to separate themselves then so be it. Won''t that remove their actions from disgracing dragons? If they be wild monsters then so be it. If they be somewhat strong and intelligent then that is what dragons shaped them to be." Mordant thought differently. He saw positives in both side that could make dragons even more powerful in a way.


    "I support Mordant''s approach. Maybe we should guide these children and make them know what true power is. Do they not attack us because their blood sings when near us? They can learn why that is." Ventura further supported this potential.


    "I can''t speak to what history might say but I think finding the Queen that has intelligence would be the first step. Maybe they can be reasoned with. If they prefer to be monsters then there''s nothing we can do." Walker knew that the wyverns, however crazed they might be, had a better potential than the desert undead. They were the real hidden problem. They could cause a lot more death than the wyverns could in a shorter time.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1729 1729. Split To Thirds

    "The head of the spatial scout team is here to greet the guests of Genesis." An angel in darker armor came to meet Walker as soon as he had finished his meeting with the royal dragons that were currently thinking about what they had spoken about.


    "The head of the white wing observation fleet has arrived." The slightly behind scouts from the Rize empire spoke louder to make their presence more known. It was clear that the two had met before and certainly had some issues.


    "Good. I just finished a meeting with my fellow royal dragons. We have decided we need information about the whereabouts of three important groups." Walker nodded as the dragonkin under Mordant showed themselves shocking the two angel leaders.


    "These are dark affinity dragonkin representing the royal dragon Mordant. They will work with you closely to ensure cooperation and efficiency. They are also representing Genesis and are extremely skilled." Walker felt he had to make this point or else he would hear about more pushbackter.


    If the two angels did not understand the strength that the dragonkin had, they could offend them. Or worse, they could ignore them and fight amongst themselves. This was a major concern since the two empires had animosity towards each other. If that was the case, nothing would be gained but a strained rtionship.


    "You should already know that we are looking for three demons. A demon king that is extremely dangerous and unknown. A slime breeder responsible for creating destructive slimes. And a third demon that holds the title of Sloth, he is more or less unknown." The exnation was short but Walker knew the dragonkin could give more details on what demons looked like and other characteristics to help.


    "We need the locations of dragon ruins where the wyvern queen may be. The dragons have ruled that we will give them a small chance to speak with us before we annihte them. If they can control themselves it will be of better benefit to the world than topletely kill off a monster species. You should understand how something like that could affect an environment."


    Seeing that Walker mentioned the effects on the environment proved he was not a simple young person. He saw the ups and downs ofrge and small monster poptions. But it still made the Rize empire scout ufortable to allow wyverns to live. He had personally seen their strength and devastation.


    "Finally we need to locate the central ruin where the mummies or undead leader is. We need to strike them down before they be more organized and gain any more intelligence. From what we have been told, they do have some intelligence left over. The more we know the faster we can act to purify them."


    This wasn''t just fear for whatever undead was in charge here. But for the potential of the immortal king learning even a shred about this. He was definitely not a kind entity. It was possible that he could take the entire world if he escaped or found a way to make himself the center of an immortal rebuilding undead army. The very thought made Walker shiver.


    "Understood, we will send our forces to the desert and get more detailed information"


    "We will send our forces to the mountains to do the same."


    "No, neither of you will do anything like that. You will mix your forces. A third will go south, a third will go north, and a third will look for information about unknown people moving through viges or trails." Walker saw discontent on the two leading angels'' faces. They were very against this.


    "You will work together to get this done. You are under Genesis''sws and beliefs. I see no difference between angels here. You may believe that the elemental cycle is superior and you may believe it is only a piece of everything and not as important as other forces. I could care less."


    "Everything and everyone is important. If you spend time fighting you''ll all end up dead without a single aplishment in life. That''s just a fact. How many angels have you lost that you''ll never remember because you can''t just put your pride aside?" Walker''s sudden outburst was harsh. However, it was necessary.


    "If they do not wish to learn lessons that will keep them alive and providing for their lord, I will instruct them in the way of dragonkin soldiers." The dragonkin appointed by Mordant understood Walker''s point. Many young dragonkin attempted to rebel for one reason or another. Dealing with them to force and some teaching but it would lead to a better soldier overall.


    "I will leave it to you then. But don''t you think it would be wise for them to understand why first? Spatial magic that can help the angels in the sky make the most urate maps yet? Or do you think they need to be told about escaping the dangerous areas with impable magic and flying capabilities? It would be easy for shadows to be mixed in to guard their backs as well. A perfect scouting trio. No, quad, we can add in some elves to assist since their tracking skills are levels above all of you."


    The logic was sound and could not be argued. If any of the angels would have even attempted, then they would find themselves at a loss. As much as both empires valued their beliefs, they could not defeat a sound logic. It just required a lot of mental strength to reduce the strain between them.


    "Understood. We will split our forces to create these maps properly and of the best quality."


    "And we will be sure to provide them to everyone equally. I''m the same quality."


    The two looked at one another knowing that the other would be getting high quality and very urate maps of their empire''s territories. Something that would be very dangerous for anyone that was at war anywhere.


    "The maps wille to me. If I find anything hidden or different between them then I will have all of you in prison. Even the dragonkin we are sending with you. But don''t worry. I think it would only be a crime worthy of fifty or sixty years since it wouldn''t really cause a war. If it did you would be known for causing a massive war so you would be famous." Walker just theorized this but it was an I timid sting idea. Enough of a deterrent that he was sure he would get the best of the best work from them.


    The angels promptly left to organize themselves after that. Walker was very proud of his performance but felt a bit tired. A lot had happened in the past few hours.


    "That was how I imagine a dragon should speak. Use your power and make them work to the best of their ability. But you could have used a little fire." Ignus sounded very calm. It was impressive that he had evene out.


    "So I take it you all listened in on that?"


    "Why not? You did it right here for a reason. You wanted us to hear how you nned to put our ideas in motion. You also wanted to make sure we don''t leave without a n." Ignus''s calm attitude threw Walker off before he understood why.


    "Now that we have figured a lot more out, Everyone seems to have calmed down." Ignus nodded to Walker''s guess. "That''s good. I think when everyone is calm we will make a better future than when we are rushing around. But I''m not sure I like that you''re so calm, I''ve gotten used to your heat."


    "If you want a fight you can ask for one. You''re too young to even understand what we can do." Ignus scoffed a bit but Walker swore he saw a small smile.


    "Things will get very busy soon. I think this will be the best time to prepare anything we need. The archangels may be busy for the entire night speaking and getting their things together. I just hope we can help them solidify a bnce here. Maybe Genesis will be their middle ground."


    "They should just fight. Those Demi-humans have the right idea. Battle over differences and force your opponent to believe what you say. That is clearly the rule of the world." Ignus sounded a little too much like Scy at this point. But the two had clearly wanted to fight one another anyways. This was just a natural progression of this.


    "Maybe they would do well with a coliseum. Anyone that got too hot headed like you could go there." The simple teasing started Ignus on a small rant about strength and the ancient dragons. But that was to be expected. It was a weing moment after so much seriousness.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1730 1730. Ways Of Healing

    "Humans use only light elemental mana to heal? What about life mages?" The question had stopped Su and Alice in their small conversation with a group of healers. One wasn''t even a healer but a doctor system user.


    "It''s not like light magic or myself. The life mages say they are using the essence of life mana. But life mana is just something thates from light and other manasbined. It''s not unique." The argument had started right before their eyes.


    "How about you stop fighting? We have already said that before!" Su added some strength to her voice and stomped her foot down. It halted the second argument like this.


    "I understand your doctor system and medical skills. You are able to use ulterior methods that utilize the body to heal wounds. There are doctors like that in our home as well. It is just much more rare unless someone goes to the dwarven kingdom. They had medics or other medical professionals. They do not rely on mages in their society." Su started to slowly exin things to the angels that hade looking for the healing knowledge of another continent.


    "Priests or light affinity mages might have healing abilities but are often supporters. Some people will have healing systems overall. Or a unique case like Alice who is a songstress. She can heal but do much more with light if she decided to do so. But because of her kind heart, Alice is one of the most well known healers in all of Genesis as a young age."


    "We can''t say we have life mages though. Even if it is abination of mana affinities, it is unique and should be respected. Especially if it can protect and save lives. I would personally like to learn more about them so that we canpare what we found in ruins to what you know now. Because we have found simr ideas in ruins from angels that lived very long ago. So from this point on, if we are going to speak it will be to respect of all forms of healing."


    The small speech that Su gave to them seemed to have made the angel''s eyes glisten with awe instead of scaring them at all. They were healers too, of many different forms. They had their own ideals about what kind of healing was the best, but they did believe deep down that healing was important in any way and shape. It would be denying healing overall for them to say that they didn''t want healers to work together because of differences in the way they healed.


    "Ehm, we can change our methods of listening. That will not be a problem." The healer that had just been fighting with the life mage made sure to point this out. He was slightly embarrassed but more in awe of Alice.


    "Some of us are not healers at all. Some of us are guardians to dragons and choose to follow the healers assisting in any way possible. Even without the skills thate with it." Alice spoke up and pointed right at Su. The healers were all slightly stunned to hear that she was held in such high regards. Especially by a healer like Alice who could literally control light and would be dragged to the hall of light by the higher ranked angels if possible.


    "If you have others like me, I would like to visit them. While I have a ce among the hall of light, that is because I have some low leveled magic that cleanses and prepares my equipment and tools. But I would enjoy meeting more medical professionals if that is the same term used in your continent." The doctor seemed to be telling Alice and Su that he was very rare here.


    "Of course you can. We wouldn''t turn people away that want to learn. You should know that Walker already set up groups to be able to learn ande to genesis. Even adults will be allowed toe in limited numbers. Just speak to one of the archangels." Su made sure that she had a mental note to bring the doctor as well. That way she could see what the dwarven medics had to say about the far off angels that learned the same things.


    "And do you have light mages like the hall of light? Or are they all priests or higher?" The light mage with them was sure that they would be more divided if they were speaking of different races so much.


    "We have light mages and healers. Not to mention morel. We don''t make them join one hall of an elemental mana. You can study freely. But if you join the church they have a lot of healers. Some of them even travel at times to find others in need. It''s a rite of passage for a priest." This seemed interesting to them so Su let Alice exin it. While that happened, she looked at the life mage.


    "We might have life mages hiding here and there but those systems and affinities are far and in between. We rarely see them so it would be good to learn a little more from you." Su made it clear that she and Genesis would want to learn more.


    "I would like that. As a proud member of the Fel empire, I would learn all that I can. We research and strive to be part of the unknown. Life mana is obscure and healing is all we can do with it other than helping grow nts and animals. But a life mage is best suited to helping everyone and everything grow." This made it seem that a life mage could be as simple as a farmer.


    "You might get along well with Gil. His mother is a farmer but she can make nts grow faster by adding her mana. I wonder if that''s the same thing you can do but under a different form and name." Su had a lot more to think about now.


    "I can have some of the better mages I know explore the values of life with you and others. I believe that it is one of the core aspects of existence. We will discover the center of all existence one day." Su had not heard this said yet. However, it was easy to understand that this was what the Fel empire had believed in.


    "For the Rize empire it was the elemental cycle. They believed that it was the very making of existence. That everyone was because and created of the elemental cycle. That was why there were also pure elemental nes of existence as well. All of it made sense to them. The outside forces were nothing that should be mentioned since they were not the same as the elemental cycle.


    The Fel empire believed that everything was just part of arger whole. That being said, they wanted to find out how everything came to be. How all these parts and methods came together to be what they saw around them.


    These beliefs were slightly different since it was clear that the Fel empire was a little closer to finding more. But since they both rejected each other''s beliefs so much it stopped any progress. If the two empires worked together and the ancient angels hadn''t fought at first, they could have been able to bring the ideals together to understand it all much more. That also would have been easier if some angels hadn''t left to travel to other ces.


    There was still the matter of where the elder ancient angels had gone. Elemental nes? Another existence? A higher ne? It was a mystery that no one would be solving any time soon. Especially since there were already too many issues to handle where they were now.


    "I would like to learn more too. How many different healing skills there are to use that healers know here? If they are different from what I know." Alice was pushing to learn more. She also knew that she might be able to direct Walker to learn the skills as well which would be another way for her to get closer with him. It was a very sweet drive for knowledge.


    "Of course, healers should always strive to learn more together. I can have books brought here. It would be better if we went to the hall of light''s library though. We have volumes written by grand healers and other such works."


    "Your library is not detailed enough. We have works of light mages and life mages. Even written journals of the study of anatomy." The two angels began to bicker again but it appeared that they had be happier than before. As if they had started to see each other more as allies than as opposites now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1731 1731. Different Herbs And Potions

    "I am a basic herbalist. Nothing special. I use the light elemental mana within these light crystals to grow white clover, winter poppy, and even some feather jasmine nts. They are all just what they sound like. But they are the best materials for making purification potions. I usually sell them to the hall of light. Their alchemists focus only on light elemental mana so they will create almost all of the antidote of purification potions."


    The angel from the Rize empire that had been brought as an herbalist to speak with Remey and Alma was very polite. He seemed to be the kind of person that would prefer to spend time alone within an herb garden than anywhere else. It was very refreshing to be around him even if someone didn''t know his personality.


    "Really? You want to focus on just one? You should get out of your little fenced in life and see the world. Do you know how many things are deep the caves? Or what about the abandoned graveyards? Have you even tried to touch the acidke that causes too many known herbs to grow?"


    "And what about finding the gloomy mushrooms that cause hallucinations? Or the melting spike weed? Have you even considered how valuable a toad crocus would be if you were to be able to carry it in a vial of acidic water?" These herbs were also a mystery to Remey and Alma. however, they were more focused on the radical difference in the angle''s personality.


    It seemed that the research driven attitude of the Fel empire was strong in many. Here in front of them was an herbalist that seemed dedicated to extremes. The more dangerous the ce the more likely he would go to look for the herbs growing there. The cost of this was clear on his armor and body.


    Even though this angel had armor instead of the normal robes an herbalist wore, it was covered in cracks and scrapes. His body had many scars of burns that showed off just how dangerous roaming this continent''snds could be. Especially the ces that had a naturally tough environment.


    "I am very happy with what I am doing, thank you. But if you wish to share the herbs I will take note of what I may be able to grow." The calm attitude took all the steam out of the Fel empire herbalist. He was ready to show off a lot but felt that it wasn''t as much fun now that he had a calm wall to face instead of a dramatic and energetic person as usual.


    "Show us everything you know. I want it all. Copy your books and describe everything to me. I need to use my alchemical brawler skills to record everything." Remey spoke with a vicious tone in her vogue. As if she was a ravenous beast that had finally found food after a winter of starving.


    "Remey, what if they don''t have the books we want. I need to see pictures to see if I remember the herbs they show us. I ended to see what other species of herbs might be here that have gone extinct on our continent. maybe we can even bring herbs here that they have lost too." Alma''s desires were not perfectly in line with Remey''s but they were not far off.


    "It''s fine, we can look over everything together. I might be able to make a higher elemental affinity potion sooner. I also promised I would figure out a natural elemental potion for Walker. I just need to figure out what these herbs can do and what qualities they have. Then we can figure out about growing them in genesis." Remey was waving off Alma''s worries but she was not going to forget what Alma wanted. She had the same thoughts as well.


    "What is an alchemical brawler? Is it the same as the alchemy explosion artists I have heard of from the fire elemental hall?" The Rize herbalists seemed lost as to what Remey was. He had never heard of such a system user and wanted a little more information. Seeing that the Fel herbalist was wondering too, Remey decided it was better to handle this sooner thanter.


    "I am a unique ss that only I hold. I am one of a kind for now. A brawler and an alchemist. Basically I fought with my siblings, became a brawler. They got sick, so I went to the alchemy building and met an old man. I learned from him because it was important and now that I''m a hero and did a bunch of stuff I was able to advance to a ss that I truly wanted. An alchemical brawler."


    The two looked at her even more confused than before. "What Remey is trying to tell you is that she can both fight with her fists and also create very good potions. She also has skills to memorize and note down herbs that will be useful. If you want, she also can use alchemy fire very well, it has helped a lot. Buttely, her partner has been resting so you might not be able to meet him at the moment. However, the grand elemental spirits are their own choosers, he might show off a little." Alma''s exnation made the two herbalists even more confused.


    They had not learned much about elemental spirits. However, they knew them as dangerous. But hearing that a grand elemental spirit, a title known for the powerful to use, was resting within Remey''s body made them a bit more off put. Adding in the fact that Remey was apparently a fighter and a great alchemist it brought them to the conclusion that they were looking at an enigma.


    " I was able to make an affinity potion that was much better than the previous but with unique herbs here. I might be able to fill in the missing gaps. The light affinity potions could get better and purer. I wonder what I could use." Remey started to look at the first book that had been taken out from a bag the Rize empire herbalist brought. Her mumbling just stunned them since it appeared Remey was building new potion forms in her head without even considering them.


    "Did either of you bring any dried or fresh herbs with you?" Alma made sure that there was progress here. She was sure that Remey had already piqued their curiosity and also started to show what they could do. "I definitely want to see seeds or bulbs too. I can make them grow once I understand them a little. Then I can see how we can alter them to be used in a battle or even grow them to produce certain things. I''m not very good at making fruits but poisons and other things are better off for me anyways." Alma again shocked the two herbalists. They had not expected this turn of events.


    "It appeared I have been speaking to experts and not the younger children I imagined. It is my fault for judging your appearances. Please take a look at my personal journal and these herbs." The Rize empire herbalist looked at Remey and saw her eyes glint.


    "Ha! My herbs are better. Just look at these. One whiff of this one and you will be knocked out for a day at least. And this one here is called a dog ear leaf. It''s from a tree that''s covered in sap that can''t be washed off by anything but boiling water. And this one is¡­" The Fel empire herbalist trailed off as he dug out more and more vials from his own bag. It was very clear that he could ramble on for hours now that he knew someone was so interested in what he had to show.


    A few of the angels and elf guards saw the sudden changes in the four talking. Not many would follow what was happening, but it seemed that there had not been a single hitch in their sharing of information. Whether it was alchemists or herbalists, no one could ever describe the unique ways they thought. It wasn''t driven by the desire to help others or to create something amazon. But alchemists and herbalists seemed to be driven by a mysterious urge to create and explore. Whether they liked one species of herb or one kind of potion, they had the desire and that was that. The world could only provide.


    That was why many of the angels from both empires that guarded over the four were sure that even if Geniss became an enemy, that their potion would somehow make their way throughout the Sigil continent. It wasn''t that they would be traded, but that the knowledge would be shared at a rapid pace. Especially when the topic came to affinity potions.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1732 1732. Sigil Continent Materials

    "What are these?" Gil and Walker were looking at the angels that hade. Walker had already read through the small documents that had been approving of Genesis moving through the continent as they saw fit as long as they respected both empires''ws and did not cause harm. However, they would have escorts to ensure that they did not stray too far from their goals.


    However, with them came a few extra books. Especially from the Fel empire. "They look like books about magic. These are all elemental books with theories about elemental nes and how to draw more mana toward magic skills. These are theories about spatial magic. I guess the Rize and Fel empires want to show us that we should be investing in them more since they know a lot."


    "So basically they want to curry favor while they are helping us so that we will help them after we defeat some monsters?" Gil felt that this was a dangerous political game. The two empires were stillpeting to s degree without even having to face one another.


    "Pretty much. But we would expect that. It''s why we should put other people in charge than us. We aren''t the best to handle these antics. But we are definitely taking these books for now. I want to see what they have to say about these things. Especially how their values are spelled out. I still want to see them together and not apart." Walker was sure that the angels could be brought back together.


    "What about the rest of these things?" Gil was looking at therge packages around.


    "I would bet that they are materials or rare things from the continent. We did express interest in trade. Especially herbs and spices. But I''m sure that they sent us materials from monsters and even a few other things. They do have the path to get to another continent now." Walker had been thinking about this a lot.


    The angels had wars on the waters around their continent. That alone had been enough to cause undead to appear. It meant that besides the great coral reef that was all around the continent, they were dangerous waters. Add in the monster and other nature rted issues, then the angels could only attempt to fly to another continent. They surely wouldn''t be able to do that.


    But now, Genesis had appeared with ships tough enough to travel through the dangerous ocean. They could maneuver the coral reef, and fight off the monsters and undead. It was a great chance to expand trade and boost both their empires. whether Genesis stayed in the middle or chose one didn''t matter. It was a massive boon without any political reason. But if they could convince Genesis to choose one side, then it would be fine for them. That was why they were adding knowledge and other things to the mix.


    "Find any arrows?" Walker saw that Gil was already opening the crates and other packages that had been brought.


    "Listen, I haven''t seen a single angel with a bow since we got here. I don''t even see any of the soldiers with them. What if this entire continent doesn''t use a bow at all? That would be the end of the world!" Gil''s drama was not lost on Walker. He was sure that if this was the case then Gil would lead a proper protest to get people to use bows and arrows in battles or against monsters.


    ''Purified wind crystal


    The purified wind crystal waspletely purified of the natural manas that attached to it. Now it contains wind elemental mana and only that. The crystal body has been altered by a magical process within the angel''s hall of wind to cause this urrence.


    The wind mana within is denser than a normal wind crystal. So much so that this could almost be called a wind gem. The angels will often use these instead of creating mana gems since these are able to be crushed and returned to thends where the crystals were formed as nutrition for thend to create more natural mana crystals.''


    This was an interesting theory. The all round appraisal had reacted giving Walker a decent piece of information about how the Rize empire was able to make their elemental crystals and avoid heavy usage of mana gems which took more time to create.


    "Gil, what do you think about using this to make an arrow? It''s a purified wind crystal. It should work pretty well." Walker hadn''t even heard Gil react before Zephyr showed herself and looked at the crystal with great interest. She seemed to want it more than Gil. "Nevermind, Zephyr can have it." Walkerughed a bit as he tossed it in to the air and small wind currents caught the purified wind crystal.


    "We''ll have to get a bunch of elemental crystals then since it seems they are useful." Gil watched happily as Zephyr stole away the mana from the crystal causing the crystal to show cracks. She was perfectly taking the mana faster than normal. "Get plenty!" That was all Zephyr could say after she had been resting for so long. But neither Gil nor Walker were upset. They knew that the grand elemental spirits required time to rest and absorb mana at all times.


    "What else can you find?" The two left Zephyr with her new purified wind crystal. They already had decided to hold all the crystals they could get for the elemental spirits knowing that if they brought them to Genesis that they would be able to help the elemental spirits grow. But it would do more than that.


    Genesis already had areas with higher densities of certain elemental manas. This was both due to the residents of other races and also because of the elemental spirits. If they were to use some purified elemental crystals to make them even better, it would help everyone. Not only those that study elemental mana but those that needed it to grow.


    "We have some fabrics, some more books about monsters, and then there are these things." Gil was pointing out a few different monster materials that Walker had not seen before. He wanted to use the all around appraisal on them but his eye had been caught by a few of the other items in another crate brought to them.


    ''Spatial essence crystal


    This is a unique mana crystal that holds spatial essence. It is from an unknown ne of existence that is between most other elemental nes. It can be used to research space elemental mana but even more so used to create a teleportation array.


    The magic needed to use a teleportation array requires special runes carved in both locations. The runes must be carved using these crystals so that the spatial mana is buried in the runes to be usedter. Once the skill is activated the spatial essence will be used to call out spatial mana at a pure capacity. Most beings have trouble storing and holding spatial mana due to the rarity of the affinity and theck of understanding.''


    "Now this is interesting." Walker grinned as he found that the crate had things from the Fel empire. New things he had not seen before that all rted to the outside forces the Rize empire did not look to learn about.


    "That''s space mana in there?" Gil heard what Walker had said but he was a little confused since he wasn''t sure how it would alle together at the end of the day. He knew that Walker already had a spatial skill to store things so it made sense that Walker knew more.


    "Pretty much the same as an elemental crystal. But since we have this here, it proves that there really is more than just an elemental cycle. The real question is how much and how many things are there? Are their time crystals? Death? Life? What else is there?" Gil felt that Walker was intentionally trying to melt his brain with theories. It wasn''t fair.


    "I could spend weeks trying to figure this all out." Walker shook his head and stored away the entire crate. He knew that he didn''t have that time. The scouting teams had gone out and the archangels were finished with their conversations. They had spoken with their leaders and now they would be returning to speak with Walker again at any minute. Walker didn''t have a second to give when it came to researching. It felt too unfair.


    "So you have to wait. That''s fine. It''s fair that I have to wait to make arrows too." Gil nudged Walker and the two proceeded to get in to a small childish argument as Walker stored the rest away so that he could find the others. He knew that another conversation would be happening at any moment so he should be prepared.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1733 1733. Getting Time Straight

    "There have been no sightings of anyone from unusual ces or anything associated with the sort that we have found in the Rize empire. However, there is evidence that along the far border there was a surge of unusual mana. Mages sensed it but the signature dissipated too quickly. We assumed it was a Fel empire experiment."


    The archangel from the Rize empire showed Walker a document with the information and exact date that it was found. It was nice to see that there were very few differences in how they told time, day, and year. However, it appeared that things were slightly off since the two empires disagreed on their exact style of time keeping. That could be easily tranted though since the world seemed to already be working on that.


    "We did not schedule any such experiments. We also sensed spatial magic along with other elemental magics in that area. The only issue is that the area was unable to be examined due to the fact that it is the border and we did not want to be attacked by the Rize empire." The Fel empire archangels showed documents as well.


    "I assume you both just saw what I saw?" Walker knew that the mana around them had changed slightly as he read documents. He also knew that his thoughts about their time keeping was not just his. The sixth sense that he had was one that he felt through Fleur. Not a fluctuation in mana but in the natural mana that the world had already used to help issue quests to him and also the statements through systems.


    "Yes, we just received quests to allow for changes in calendar creation. Is this created by you?" The Rize archangel thought that genesis was stepping over the line. Yet, when Walker shook his head he was sure that Walker had just seen it too.


    "The world has interfered a few times that I know of. When new racese to be when I gained titles, and even when my partner grew. She''s a natural elemental spirit so she is going to be a world spirit one day. I had a feeling that there would be a chance to make your time sensee together and then felt that a quest would appear. Should I assume it''s a world quest or something?" Walker saw a flicker of understanding in the Fel empire archangel''s eyes.


    "We rarely get quests of this magnitude. If it is to align time with others then we will have the time mages we have begun their work. Understanding of time is fleeting. They can barely slow their minds to understand the world around them a little fast. Some can even change the flow of time in a room for a certain span of equal time. But their skillse far and in between. They are better off in archives than most other ces."


    Hearing this, Walker was tempted again. The curiosity was very powerful whenever he heard things like this. "Time mages are just those that study time. But the sun and moon rise as they should. They are part of the elemental cycle and so time is just a symptom of them." The Rize archangel shared the view and Walker could understand where the thought came from.


    "I would say that time is strange. If we are on this ne where the sun and moon rise, then yes, we have a set time and that is all we can worry about. But if we are on a different ne, I wonder what time is like there. Time mages could help us understand if a day is really a day there."


    Where the Fel empire archangel seemed excited to have someone that saw both sides, the Rize archangel frowned. " You may wish to see it that way but we would still require the elemental cycle to determine time." This was the stubborn side of beliefs that made Walker think of Terron.


    "It is just how things are. You can see that we are not all that there is. Space mages have already sensed the connections between nes. We already know that once upon a time elders left here to go to other nes. Could you take a moment to believe that there is more than one existence?" The Fel archangel seemed to be using the same argument as before but the Rize archangel just ignored it.


    "That aside, the quest is most likely the way the world wants to guide the alliance we made. Isn''t it already noticed that we have quests to share our knowledge and experiences?" Walker was not just pulling this one out of thin air. He had received a quest to do this but hadn''t actually read it more than he had to since he wanted to use it when he saw the archangels again.


    ''Alliance quest!


    The alliance has created the first multi continental group that is striving to solve problems of each organization within the alliance. Three major issues had been presented that can be fixed with cooperation. However, the representation of time in days, months, years, and even in seasons is not equal due to different histories.


    Requirement-e to a conclusion with those that are experienced in calendar making, time understanding, and age to reach a unified alliance calendar.


    Rewards- unified calendar that will be applied to all systems so that all in the alliance will have ess to an updated and organized calendar with the alliance creation as a holiday to celebrate for the duration of the alliance.''


    This was what the world had intended for them but also proved that the system had taken a lot of their actions in to ount. But it also said something else. That they were on the right path. As much as the two empires wanted to fight about beliefs, they had no records of this sort of thing happening. None of them had received a quest that was of such arge scale since they had been at war.


    Thest time that either archangel had read about such a quest was when their first tentative alliance had been made not to fight one another for thirty days. After such an alliance progressed with the building of an embassy. When the embassy wasplete they had gained another quest to create a temporary truce. Clearly, the will of the world was acting to ensure that they would not continue their fight and end with an entire continent of battle and war.


    "I see your point. We have already voted to make this quest a priority. We wish to see every angel have ess to a calendar within their own system. It would help those thatck education to grow and stand side by side." The Rize archangel did not hesitate to prove that he did desire this. It was a change for the better no matter what system or person used it.


    "We also see a great value in this. Experiments with magic or otherwise can cause many people to lose sense of time. There have been some mages that will spend years meditating and forget themselves. Many have missed important meetings and even familial arrangements. This can change that." The Fel empire archangel agreed on this as well.


    This may not have been how the conversation was expected to go, but Walker was happy about it. He hadn''t expected to reach a solid ce where the demon king and the two other demons hadnded after their terrible teleportation method. He was much happier finding even a small bit of information on possible area. It was even better that it was a matter that both empires had discovered since that meant neither was the cause.


    "Then we will bring time mages, archivists, and a few people from Genesis to create a calendar. We will not interfere at all. They can allocate the holidays, seasons, and everything else themselves. I do wish that we call this the first year of the Multiple continent alliance though. The first year of the MCA. it''s short hand, but it exins why it would be the new start of an era. A new start that is clean of the past pain we may hold."


    The way that Walker said this made the two archangels look down. They had their own ideas that pushed their own empire''s names and values. Neither had such a clean intention to only show off the fact that they desired an equal and bnced alliance. This proved the good intentions that radiated from Walker naturally.


    Furthermore, it brought out a feeling of goodness that neither had in a long time. One that made them feel proud to say they were a part of it. Meanwhile, the other present saw that Walker was starting to rub off on the two archangels. The atmosphere that had made him a hero title holder appeared to be stronger than ever.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1734 1734. Where To Go First

    "Is this is the area where the strange magic pulse was felt?" Walker was looking at a detailed map of the border where the magic had been noticed by two empires.


    "That is urate. The higher cliffs by that area is why we do not send many to create viges there. If we were to do that then they would need constant guards chrome the crag lizards, night stalkers, and even the bald headed vultures. They may appear to be a bird type monster that would feed on the already dead, but they prefer to hunt for fun. A cruel monster."


    "You say that the cliffs are worse but the deep ravine with a river houses even worse. There are multiple species of monsters there that we know to hunt anything and everything. The skeletal fish is a dangerous river monster with bones that grow outside the body. Or you would need to face the cave crawlers thate from the many caves in the cliff. They are dark type scaled monsters that resemble wolves. Very simr but very odd monsters that can see in the dark of the ravine and caves."


    The two archangels seemed to have done their research before bringing this to Walker. He could tell that the monsters being presented to him were not the most friendly in any sort of the sense. Additionally, the terrain where the magic had been sensed was very hard to traverse making it a wonder why it had been explored so well that a report could be given at all. However, Walker remembered that the angels could fly and there was a chance that they had taken a survey that way.


    "So we can assume that the three teleported there using their rune circle. In their escape they would have appeared in dangerous ces where it was hard to travel. They could either still be there or they could be elsewhere. What I need to wonder about is what they may have found there. The caves are my worry." Walker had exined a lot so far that the two archangels seemed to understand where he was going.


    "You have a theory about the caves housing some ruins or other ancient home of angels." The Fel empire archangel was sure this was where Walker was going.


    "Yes, I was sure that there might be more to it since the angels that left our continent must have used a simr teleportation back then. But I hope they used one that did not cost so much to use." Walker did worry that the angels had done worse experiments with mana and magic in the past than he could even understand.


    "And from that you believe that your criminals and they may havee to the same location to begin with?" The Rize archangel wondered what the reason behind that could be.


    "It might be that the magic was only able to be used in one way to go one ce. But if the runes had been carved in two ces, then someone hade there to make sure it was possible. Or, what I wonder about is if there are ruins there in those caves or cliffs. I already know of a human city that made cliff homes because it was the only option. That city in my continent is a famous port city with a veryrge cathedral."


    They all thought about this for a moment before they were certain that they needed to investigate this even more. The entire area would require many soldiers to check. that would have a hard time being explored along with keeping the monsters at bay while creating a camp to properly explore the area. That wasn''t even counting what might be found in caves or along the ravine''s river.


    "We can begin the process for now but we should make advances on the other issues for now. We are limited in the battle against wyverns and against indeed. Both our empires need to make moves. I understand we are more limited due to the fact that we need to gather a muchrger amount of information." The Fel empire archangel was sure that the wyverns could be dealt with first. He also knew that the Rize empire would not dare make a move if their issue was solved first because it would risk too much.


    Everything that genesis had offered had been attractive. If the Rize empire decided to wage war as soon as they were helped, they would push Genesis awaypletely losing the path to their ancient history. It would also guarantee that genesis would join the Fel empire and potentially overtake the Rize empire in a much shorter time.


    "I am fine with that. We have nests marked out that we believe are the main homes of powerful wyverns. Naturally, we have the scouting teams checking the information for current uracy but they should be able to move more easily through the mountains. There are hidden trails and paths we have created to watch the wyverns since the mountains rarely change. Earthquakes are not frequent here." This was a surprise. Mostrge mountain ranges suffered from earthquakes. Especially since this one was muchrger than anything near Genesis.


    "We are more concerned with what may have been left behind by the ancient dragons. What may have been the start of the wyverns changes? Could they have unique skills that resonate with dragon blood?" The Rize archangel looked at Walker and the royal dragons beside him. But none of them moved to speak.


    "It is unlikely. They have a strong distaste for dragons. That is just part of their instincts since we do not live with others of our kind unless we share an affinity." Ventus finally spoke up and ensured that there would be wyvern unique skills instead of those that a dragon would have.


    "That doesn''t mean that they can''t breathe fire or anything like that. I am sure that they have multiple affinities. I just assume they have more specified affinities forcing them to use them specifically or just in a physical sense. Especially since they remain on the same mountain range." Walker was trying toe with theories, however, Ignus was the next one to speak.


    "The mountains have volcanoes that are both active and dormant. I already looked at detailed maps. I expect them to have strong earth and fire affinities. They may even have a fusion of the two depending on their nest. Metal dragons are rare but they do exist. That is why we should worry about them. There may be metallic wyverns." This was very informational since even Walker had not seen a metal dragon. But he had the idea that they could exist because of the different affinities he had seen so far.


    "We have seen some wyverns that appear to be extremely physically resistant along with magically resistant. They are not to be attacked normally unless a higher ranking angel mage is around for long range attack. If that is the affinity, then it would exin things greatly. Weck the bodies with proper study to find elemental fusion affinities. These dual affinities are rare even within the angels.


    "So you are saying you have rare wyverns that need research." The spark in the Fel archangel''s eyes made them all freeze. "I have mages that would spend their life researching such things. If you are willing to amend a few portions of the current agreements between us, we can do the research for you."


    Even though the Rize archangel did not want to do this since the information could be very valuable, he understood the line where Roize and Fel sat. The Fel empire was extraordinary when it came to researching things. It was something they were well abovepared to many. Even though the Rize knew elemental mana better, the Fel empire was able to understand why and how things worked better. It was just their natural result of growing curious minds.


    "We will speak about that in private. As long as Genesis is willing to moderate the actual research, we could be willing." This involved Genesis as the middleman again. But that was a good thing. It meant that both empires were starting to trust them as a third party that had already set themselves to neutral. As long as they maintained this, then they would be the go to people for both empires and it would bring their fame even higher.


    "Genesis will dly assist with this. Now we can begin our ns to march in to the wyverns'' nests. If we bring arge force we can stall them while the dragons and I enter their nest to speak with the queen. It will be tough but the results would be better if we were all united. So I hope to bring some Fel empire mages as well. That way we will have a back up n for anything that goes poorly." This was Walker''sst test of trust for them.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1735 1735. Work Together, Or...

    ? "If you bring them in to this they will have forces within the empire." The Rize archangel was sure that Genesis was telling him that they were already taking the side of the Fel empire.


    "Why would you turn them away? They could be of help and you are not at war. Not to mention the fact that you will be invited to bring more light mages to their desert to help with undead. It just makes sense. The Fel empire has unique mages that can trap powerful wyverns so that we have a chance to get things straight. And you have powerful light mages that can stop the undead. Both of you need each other. Do you really believe that opposites exist to fight one another? Or do they exist toplement andplete one another?"


    Walker''s words sounded like he had been alive much longer. However, it was because he was young that he had learned this lesson. Besides the fact that he had many opportunities and experiences that the others had not had, Walker was able to imagine differently because of his age.


    The young always were the ones that would try things differently. Even when they often would fail, the young made those failures constantly to find ways to get what they wanted. Therefore, it made sense that Walker would see the world differently. A world that was better united because every difference was something that was intentionally there toplement the other.


    "You already have ns to let them bring their light mages and other soldiers with light affinity n to your desert. Across thends that we have valuable research ongoing that can not be moved under any circumstance?" The Fel empire archangel took their turn to shake their head. But the archangels were both on the same page. They were both stubborn but also had hard why Walker wanted this.


    "Then I guess Genesis will no longer be helping. We can handle the issues of the undead and wyverns after they take more control. The three demons we search for might make them their army before that anyways." Walker knew this would be the worst case. If the demon king had wyverns and undead at hismand.


    "EWe will not let such a thing happen. The lives lost and the facilities destroyed would be something neither of us would survive. I will not allow you to recall on your agreement so easily." The Rize empire archangel showed his distaste. His clear anger and distaste. It was the first time that Walker had broken through the shell kept up to keep emotions in check by the angels that had been trained so carefully to be logical and calm.


    "You think we would just sit by the side as our people were turned in to mindless undead? Rotting corpses that were used as pawns without any desires. Research would be lost. Growth that could be achieved in any field of research lost. It would be a loss for the entire world and all people!" The Fel empire archangel broke as well. He showed his true feelings.


    "So research at your core, could you ept the Rize empire archangel and his belief that he cares for his people over the values of an elemental cycle? Or would you rather toss aside all the lives and research they have done with their own beliefs? Angels are one race, not multiple. Regardless of your beliefs, you should stand as a race united." Walker looked like a king that had just yed a trump card in their game of war. He was smiling softly while every dragon and party member behind them raised their heads slightly higher.


    "They will be allowed to bring five of their best whaling mages. I expect them to be the best of their crop of researchers or whatever their terms. But I will not allow them to bring any other. No map makers, no scouts, and especially nobat oriented mages that could assassinate anyone if they escaped." The Rize archangel was gritting his teeth. He was very unhappy that he had broken his calm attitude but even more unhappy that he was faced with logic.


    "That means you will only send five as well. Of the best holy light mages you have. They will only be able toe if they are monitored by us at every single turn. If they harm our research then they will forfeit their rights. They will be locked away in prisons for the remainder of their lives along with whoever helped them cause trouble." The Fel empire archangel also showed that he was able to negotiate here.


    "Ten, from both. That will be the start. Five will be too few. The wyverns are massivepared to the size of an angel. There will be many hurt and the more healers we have working under Alice and Su, the better. They are our best when ites to healing methods and how healers should act. Alice will handle anyone that steps out of line. Her partner Horizon, the grand light elemental spirit could cease their grasp on certain elemental manas. Or boost Alice''s."


    Walker didn''t say what Su could do. They had already felt her strength but Alice having the power to stop mana to a degree or boost hers was a deterrent for both the Rize and Fel empires. "And she will remain in charge of light mages when theye to the Fel empire. That way you can be sure that she is able to hold both ountable."


    There was also the fact that Walker had chosen Alice because she was a healer. Having a healer that was seen as weak, take control, and show off power was a shocking thing to anyone. That would show that the entirety of Genesis was stronger than the two angels believed. Furthermore, it would highlight the fact that Walker was giving them a fair chance. They could heal with them or they could be punished by them. A firm line that was epted more easily than just letting the empires sh.


    "epted." The two agreed and began to write up the agreement there and then. It would allow for proof if anything was broken in the agreement so that they could get justice against it.


    "Now that you have all shown off your strength and been tested a little, can we prepare to leave? I want to solve the problems that may threaten my children sooner thanter. It would be better that they do not handle wyverns in the time that we waste here. I sent them to learn for a reason. Not to be sitting prey for lesser beings." Ventus exerted some force causing the air to move slightly around her. She was done with being patient here.


    "You are very right. I am also tired of waiting. I would like to make progress. The talking had all been out of respect for what walker had given us. He may have weed us in to Genesis but he is not our controller. Each royal dragon has our own power to move." Current even reinforced this. But they all knew that keeping the wyverns away from them to deal with the wyvern queen was advantageous to them.


    "We will have our preparations within one day. You and your forces may leave when you desire. We can meet at the locations already agreed upon. But there are important sets of reading that should be done about the young wyverns that can not fly." The Rize archangel was a little pushed off because of the strength that Ventus and Current showed. Yet, this was the best move to progress past the fact that they had just been angry.


    "We can have our mages here in less than a day. We have kept many prepared for whatever was to happen since these meetings began. We are not going to risk anything that we do not need to." The Fel archangel was more confident but that was all due to nning. It was very clear that he was certain why would be able to remain safe during the travel but not during the battle as seen in how he acted before.


    "Good, we will leave in three hours. That would work for everyone. Alice and Su will be waiting for your mages to catch up and then we will divide you in to your healing groups. If you send life mages, which I expect, then I will speak with them a little." Walker was sure that there would be some powerful life mages. To him that meant he could learn a lot more. But also the fact that they might have more knowledge about what life was and how he might be able to grasp that in his meditation.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1736 1736. Three Hours

    The short timeline seemed to be a lot shorter than the Rize or Fel archangel expected. However, they did not say anything in argument against that. Walker had already shown some of his steel and they didn''t want to see what else he was capable of.


    "You are using your authority better and better you know." Mordantughed a little before sending off his dragonkin to help the others prepare. "Most at your age would be unable to use any form of intimidation that didn''t rely on their blood."


    The only skill that came to mind was the dragon''s intimidation. "I thought that the dragon''s intimidation skill was only used with a roar?" The fact that Walker had not realized he was using some skills instinctually or just out of situation made the other dragons smirk. They had all seen a newborn dragon make this mistake. They just didn''t expect that Walker had been doing it so often at such a level without even noticing it.


    "You are not raised as a dragon so you should have missed it. Every hatchling will eventually start to let their power flow in to their words. It is simr to using your words for a spall like many have to do to use a mastery skill. But it is specific to certain races. The high elves used to speak to nts or the every mana they used to enhance their understanding. Dragons use this to deter and create an intimidating feeling. Just having the dragon''s intimidation skill is enough to start using this form of force."


    Ventus exined it calmly. Knowing that she was a mother to three dragons currently made Walker understand that she had this exact conversation before. But now that it was him she was reminiscing on it with her own children.


    "So I have been using a skill without realizing it. And since I use the skill at a lower level that''s not trying to create a massive roar that forces my will on others, I use significantly less mana. Not to mention replenish that mana faster than I use it?" Walker saw a few nods of approval. He felt that his eyes had been opened a lot.


    "I wonder what other skills I might use without realizing it." Walker started to ponder this while he casually gave orders here and there. It was mostly to a smaller group of soldiers that should be able to handle the battle with the wyverns. Mostly because having arger force would draw more enemies and also because some of the soldiers needed to stay at the embassy to keep Genesis representation there.


    "So you really just went and started telling everyone to get ready without telling Alice and I why you put us in charge?" Su knew exactly why she and Alice had been put in charge of light and healing mages.


    "Who else would I want to keep my back covered? Alice can make the light bend to her will. That means that she can adapt to whatever drama urs. It''s the perfect ability to use against the Fel and Rize archangels who are not familiar with her. Then you have healing knowledge along with massive defensive potential. You can keep them safe while also keeping them in line if you go on the offensive. Not to mention that you are a mystery to the angels as well. You are part dragon now." Walker smiled softly while looking at Alice and Su. he knew they just wanted to hear some praise.


    "Gil and Remey will be with me too though. They are going to handle some of the stronger wyverns. Gil can distract them with elemental arrows while Remey will easily keep them ufortable with her potions and different elemental knuckles. The biggest attempt will be around distraction and maybe some chaos."


    ''''So that should mean that Elise and I will remain here? I would be representing Genesis as a whole. Correct?" Alma had already guessed Walker''s next move. He wanted to make sure that someone that was already used to leading was at the embassy to collect any information that came regarding demons, wyverns, and the undead.


    "Exactly. Both of you can act as the base of Genesis in the embassy. I will keep Onyx with me. He should be able to bind some wyverns if he had to with his size. It will be a good hidden trump card. Then Midnight is a dragon so I expect that she wille to face the queen with us. I have no idea what that will be like though." This was the truth. Walker had no idea what the wyvern queen could be doing or what her personality may be.


    "Understood brother." Onyx shrank his size and returned to the tattoo form on Walker''s body for the first time in a very long time. It was less of his favorite thing since he didn''t require as much sleep as he used topared to when he was younger. But he also liked to be ready to strike out at anything with his attacks on Walker''s shoulder. But staying that way would give up his presence to an enemy.


    "I am the first life mage reporting under the grand Fel empire. Please pardon me for my slow movements. I was preparing my robes." The angel that had justnded had unique robes. They were all stitched together with what seemed to be nt material. They also had very carefully stitched patterns depicting the entire cycle of death and birth of a tree across them.


    "You are here faster than I believed. We have some time for you to tell me about what you do as a life mage." Walker was very d that this life mage had already been here. It meant that he could have the chance to poke and prod the mind of someone that might be using life mana.


    "Of course, I was told to fully cooperate with you as long as mymanding archangel does not give other orders. My main position will be to heal." It appeared that some very strict words had been used by the way that the life mage acted. But seeing that Walker was about to take some time to get some knowledge, everyone had left to prepare themselves. They also knew that Walker was not in need of much preparation himself.


    "Tell me, what kind of mana do you use?" Walker looked at the angel. He saw that the tips of his feathers were a mix of brown and blue meaning he most likely had a water and earth affinity. But there were also little strands of a unique green. The same that appeared when healing magic was used.


    "I have an ability to manipte earth and water. From that I was able to stumble upon the growth skill set along with a regeneration skill that I can buff others with. That was what led me to research what that meant. I have touched the life mana and begun to find it within my body. Just by doing so I can use my skills at double the efficiency when growing nts, healing, and even improving the buffs I give to others. That is also how I was able to undergo a quest to leave behind my path as a forest mage to be a life mage."


    "A forest mage, that sounds very unique. Wouldn''t you have preferred to stay a forest mage?" Walker was curious. He knew that forest mage could one day control an entire forest. That alone was very powerful.


    "I understand why you may think that. But as a forest mage, I would be limited. I was one of five within the same forest and only one of us would have be the true caretaker of that forest. I chose researching life itself and found that I could study it forever and still be in awe." This was a good answer that also seemed to make the life mage rx.


    "And for now you can''t control life so much as help it along? That sounds good to me. If you can help people heal and grow uniquely, I will not stop you from your work. I would like to see you gather some life mana though." Walker was sure that by witnessing it he would have some sort of epiphany or he would be able to remember the feeling.


    "It''s more of something in you than around you. Life is small and hidden to the eyes. In nts and little animals it is smaller. The more powerful the being the stronger it is within them. so, " The angel touched Walker and he felt something in his stir. "When a being is full of life, they can find that center and be able to manipte it or grow it one day. It just depends on your affinities and how you find the life within you and the world around you. But even that is hard to exin. I need about another eighty years and I might have a guide for you."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1737 1737. Just A Little Life

    The touch from the light mage had shared a little mana with Walker. But that mana had the small amount of life mana that the life mage could control within himself. It was very easy to see that the tiniest bit of life mana carried a decent amount of strength. However, that was just it, life mana was hard to gather in general. But the same could be said about death mana since Walker had attempted to grasp some understanding over that as well.


    The heat that he could feel now though was his own life mana. Every being had life mana in them. That was what the life mage had said and that made a lot of sense. Everything was alive at some point in time.


    That meant that everything should be able to sense the life mana they had eventually. The only issue was figuring out when and how that would happen. At the moment, Walker had started to meditate right where he stood. The others that were around had looked at him and understood the situation since he had done this before.


    The life mage on the other hand had clearly exhausted himself with just a small gesture. It proved that using the life mana in one skill like that was his limit. But if he had spread it through all his buffs and healing, then it would have made a major difference. The only reason he had done this was because he had been asked and also that there was time before he would be needed. He could recover.


    On top of that, the Fel archangel had specifically told him that he needed to help Genesis as much as possible. Since Walker had shown interest in learning skills from the life mage system, it made sense to help in that regard. Especially since the rumors about someone that could learn all sorts of basic skills was already spreading from the higher ranked angels to the many lower ranked angels.


    Any researcher would find that they were amazed by this idea. Walker was going to be a massive attracting feature to them. The Fel empire was all about knowledge. If someone could learn all their skills, then that person could be the greatest source of knowledge they had ever seen. Let alone what other skills that person might learn. This was also another reason that the Fel archangel had so easily given in to everything. The values he had were fading in temptation with a greater research.


    The flowing warmth that Walker could feel was more than just the mana that had been shared with him. It was also his own. Not his mana though, but the central mana that stayed around his heart.


    The mana that the body generated was more of a mystery. Many people believed that it was just the way of the world but after a lot of time, many believed that it originated in the heart before traveling through the body. This would be considered a hard thing to judge though due to the fact that many of those that experimented with it had to do some rough things.


    Those rough experiments had made the study a harsh subject to traverse, making many people interested. It was also due to the skills needed to actually research such a topic that many people didn''t do it either. Therefore, the origin of mana within the body was just said to be the heart and that was that.


    But now that Walker could feel the difference between his mana and the life mana, he had realized that within his heart was a small ball of life mana. Just sitting there fused with him and adding strength to his body. It was the same feeling he had gotten every time he had used stat points or he had gotten stronger by receiving experience. All of those feelings were the same life mana radiating through him with his mana.


    "Ha! That was¡­? " Walker looked around and found that he had been standing still for over an hour by himself. Most of the people were ready to move minus one or two groups still lining up and preparing.


    "So you managed to figure something out?" Remey was snacking on something while organizing her potions. She had sets of them in multiple bags. Some that she had made, others that she had traded around with the angels from. But most of the sets were the potions that she had already given out but now was reorganizing to be prepared for this journey. Different situations would need different potions at the front.


    "Umm¡­" Walker was a little thrown off since he had not intended to fall in to meditation so quickly. He was just d that he had the proper time to still prepare mentally. "I felt the life mana in me so that''s good. But where did the life mage go?"


    "He''s with the others that arrived. Those archangels seemed to already have many of their mages and soldiers ready. The Rize empire one isn''t back yet but the Fel empire one seemed to be giving some final orders to the mages he''s sending since he isn''t allowed to cross the border." Remey causally spoke while still working. she sounded a little bored since she had been doing this for a while now.


    "That''s good then. I didn''t think that he would just show me what life mana was. I can''t use it or even understand how it really works, but since he showed me how to sense it then I should be able to start. But that''s all I can do with life and death mana, sense them. But at least I can do that. It should help with other skills." Walker tried to understand how he would be using these new understandings.


    When they had faced the undead in the ocean along the great coral reef, he had sensed the undead. The death energy all around that had sunk in to the sands was enough to warn him. Just having that ability was enough for him to be able to make them all wary of their situation. It had also been a heads up that they would have a tougher fight in the future.


    If he applied this same thinking to the life mana, then wouldn''t he be able to sense life? "I think if I study the life mana while we travel I might be able to create or learn a skill that can sense life around us. Like a scouting skill but better. I will have to try it." Walker wasn''t certain it could be done since he had no idea whatplexities that life mana had. But he was sure he could try.


    "If you can sense things better then I want to do that too. I want to be able to punch things better without even having to look at them. There are blind brawlers you know." Remey stood up and stretched while showing off the potion sets she had just finished.


    "Blind brawlers had a battle sense skill though, right? That''s what lets them feel where their opponent is. Wouldn''t you prefer just to have that skill?" Walker knew that blind brawlers were rare but since it was such a unique niche system, it had been spoken about. Simrly with blind swordsman and other simr systems.


    "What you''re talking about sounds like a ten times better version of that. Who cares about battle sense when I could have a life sense? Nothing could hide from me." Remey seemed to think only of the battle potential. Walker only wished that he could hear what Gil would think. Eh was sure that Gil would want the skill to scout and avoid enemies instead of fight them.


    "Sure sure sure, you can fight with more people if I can learn and teach the skill. But just let me take my time. I have no idea what else I will try and learn. They still have time and space manas too. I have no idea what else the Fel empire has. Not to mention what the Rize empire has hidden when ites to elemental magic. I still haven''t mixed many of the manas to do a lot yet.


    "I just want to meet their alchemists. They had some herbalists but it feels like they were hiding their alchemists from me. Maybe they are jealous that I was able to make affinity potions." Remey had a point. Walker had wondered why they had not been focused on affinity potions too much yet.


    "We''ll just have to wait and see what will happen. Maybe they haven''t tested the affinity potions yet. Or they have theories and want to copy them first." Walker teased Remey with this while he helped her distribute the reorganized potion sets to others.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1738 1738. Elemental Metals

    "What are you two so in to here?" Gil seemed like he wasn''t ready to leave. However, Walker knew that it was just him being annoyed that they were splitting up even more. Especially splitting up and leaving Alma behind.


    "Remey and I were talking about the affinity potions that none of the angels seem to have tried yet. It''s weird, right?" Walker was looking at the elvesing along. He was d that they were with them since the map he had looked at showed a forest around the base of the mountains they would be heading to.


    "Really? How have they not freaked out yet? They even got all excited when they saw that the elves and I could make elemental arrows with multiple elemental affinities. They said that they have to forge special metals to make arrows or any weapon that holds mana in the same way since runes are not allowed due to the dangers they pose." Gil seemed to have found a little more information.


    "Did you manage to get any of their arrows as examples?" Walker saw that Gil was already shaking his head since he had guessed what Walker would ask next.


    "I think every angel is still holding back. Haven''t you seen them keeping weapons and even some of their armors covered while we are here? They probably think that we might bite them all the sudden since we brought dragons and a bunch of other monsters. The tamers really throw them off since they don''t recognize any of the monsters that were tamed." This made a lot more sense.


    "I''m d someone heard some of this. I want to make sure that we are growing a connection with them. But they can''t hide their armors and weapons anymore. Those look like the Rize empire archangelsing to meet us. I think my timeline pushed them a little." Walker smirked watching the angels approach.


    From what it appeared, there were twenty groups of five angels. It was a split force but they could all fly. There were some that were prepared with magic staffs, swords, and even a decent few morning stars which was a surprise. Yet, the all around appraisal of the weapons and armors was what walker was interested in.


    An angel with greenish tints to his wings was pping his wings much less than others. It was very easy to guess that he had a wind affinity. The morning star in his hand was simrly matching the coloration. The silver metal that it was made of was tinted green as well. Walker could already sense the wind elemental mana within it.


    ''Sky iron morning star


    The morning star is a brutal blunt spiked weapon for battle. It is normally used to crush and harm opponents in one strike. This is forged from sky iron which has a natural wind affinity. Through forging with wind elemental crystals this sky iron has gained the ability to naturally attract wind elemental mana. The only downside is that it will need upkeep more often than other weapons would due to the wear and tear from having mana forced within the metal beyond the normal means.''


    This was the answer that Walker had wondered. He had wondered just how they were able to make weapons without runes that didn''t have any elemental spirit within them. The only reason they would have elemental weapons still would have been trapping elemental spirits but even that normally required runes along the weapon in some form so Walker had been stumped.


    "Sky iron, dew iron, me iron, white iron, shadow iron, and brown iron. Those are what all their armors and weapons are made out of. Some of them have multiple of these pieces to defend certain areas or they are prepared in ways that enhance the tip of their sword or de. That''s interesting."


    The mumbling that Gil and Remey heard told them that Walker was rapidly using the all around appraisal skill to learn more. But hearing that the angels used specific metals to produce specific materials for specific elemental affinities made a lot of sense. It was what most of the dwarves did but the metals they had were usually different than what was here.


    "Some of them are named differently on Sigil, the all around appraisal told me that much. But what I wonder about is what else could be made with them. If they don''t overload those metals with mana while forging and instead use runes¡­well, we could have much better everything." Walker wanted to farm these metals. The more that could be mined and brought to Genesis the faster people would develop. It would be a great boon for any society to have more specialized tools for their work.


    "We were able to gather twenty of our best teams. They are prepared to enter battles with you at any point. They will be walking along with you so that we do not alert any flying wyverns. I will not being due to myck of battle skills. However, one of the guards assigned to this region will journey with you." The Rize archangel arrived and quickly gave Walker the rundown since it was easiest to stay efficient that way.


    The man that stood next to the archangel had substantially more muscle. He was also wearing armor with brighter red patterns proving him to have a fire elemental affinity. "I an arch guardian Seran. I am going to be your defender while you journey to battle against the wyvern gue. I will be at the ready to order my teams when necessary. Do not worry about any threats." The man was very prompt but showed how strict his training in life had been.


    "Wee to the effort. I will be depending on you to stop the wyverns from interrupting our conversation with their queen. Depending on you and your soldiers, we may have a new ally or a defeated monster. But I know that we will have a solution by the end of this adventure." Walker was polite and prompt in return. The three all seemed to be on the same page now.


    ? "Understood. I will take the time to review with my team the two desired oues." Seran moved away and began meeting while Walker turned his attention to the ten mages behind Alice and Su.


    "Walker, we have the life mages, healers, and the Fel archangel with us." Su was waiting for the mages to step up and introduce themselves with the Fel archangel.


    "These are some of the nearest mages that suit the whaling need. Seven are life mages of varying age and studies. Two are healers that pursue the anatomy of a body to enhance their methods. Thest is a crystal healer, he is able to match someone''s affinity with an elemental crystal to facilitate healing through the mana they prefer. It is a very mysterious process that was recently discovered. Our Fel empire only has four of these mages."


    The look that the Fel Arcangel was giving Walker was one that proved he had caught on to Walker''s curiosity. The fact that the life mage had also helped Walker sense life mana, however slight it had been, must have further confirmed this.


    Yet, this was also a way for the Fel empire keeping the Rize empire on its toes. If this rare mage was lost to the battle, then the Fel empire would have a massive bone to pick with the Rize empire. It could start conflict or at least warrantrge payments of resources to the Fel empire. Most of which would harm the Rize and help the Fel empire.


    "Very good. I like to explore everyone''s systems. I saw that there is a water de swordsman in the Rize empire teams so I will speak with them too. It''s very nice to see the variety in the people here. I never imagined angels would be so diverse." Walker felt this way but also did this to make sure that both archangels saw his view.


    "Before we all set off, just a random question." Walker wanted to know but also had a reason to ask. "Have you seen the affinity potions in use yet? We were sure that you would appreciate them as a gift. If not, we can change things a little. We mean to show appreciation since we were greeted well by angels as soon as wended on the Sigil continent." Walker was clear with why he wanted to know but had sweetened up the words.


    Both archangels looked at Walker cautiously but he was sure that they were not hiding anything. "Naturally we have to appraise and research them first. A mystery potion is always a good game for a researcher." The Fel archangel gave the best answer. But the Fel archangel also held back a little making Walker prepare to ask even more.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1739 1739. Loose Ends Tied

    "Appraise them first? Are you worried we would give you something improper?" Walker paused a little while looking at the Fel archangel and then the Rize archangel. "I''m just joking a little, I should have shared these too. Since I have an all around appraisal skill I had an arcane scribe make magic scrolls with the skill." Walker handed over five of each scroll.


    "There''s a very small chance you might get the skill if you use enough of them but it is taxing since they are tough to make. But they are pretty urate. They just might show some random information or not all of it. It''s not a specific appraisal, just an all around." Walker saw the two archangels'' eyes light up. They clearly didn''t have such scrolls.


    "The magic scrolls we use are very rare. Not many angels have the proper skills in either empire to create these. How about we extend the shared knowledge portion of our agreements? We could bring some of the more specific books we have about elemental theory." The Rize archangel saw a great benefit in getting arcane scribes toe to their empire. Regardless of the race of the scribe.


    "You were faster than me on that one. But we do have the same thought. Having arcane scribes is a hard to find system here. Even amongst the researchers it is rare because we are attracted to other forms of research andck the current materials to mass produce valuable magic scrolls. We would also trade more knowledge for this." The Fel archangel seemed to be more aggrieved since the system would be a very valuable one to have when it came to researching new things.


    The reason being, that the new skills or spells created could potentially be saved and archived for further researchter in the future when there were more researchers to do it. Or the current skills that started the research could be saved so that they could be safely analyzed at ater date. Overall, the more scrolls they had the better they could research and eventually make even more breakthroughs in their respective fields.


    "So, that means you can use one right now on my potions." Remey took out a mid tier fire affinity potion and set it right on the ground. "It''s best to test things right away so you won''t worry about itter." The two archangels realized that Remey had been the one that caused all of this. From the one and slight excitement in her voice they could tell she had been bothering Walker about her potions.


    "As it appears here, an alchemist''s passion is hard to resist." The Fel empire archangel was very used to researchers and their pushes for their creations of theories to be proved. Therefore, he did not hesitate to use a scroll right then.


    "The potions are one reason that the dragons are here. They like them and want us to develop better ones. That''s why the herb sharing with your herbalists will be very important. The alchemy guild will be extending those that know how to make them in the future. Once we have enough students with education." Remey calmed herself a little while watching the all around appraisal scrolls tell the two archangels everything.


    From that second, the two archangels were convinced. They would be using these potions more than they expected. "And can you do other things? Other kinds of potions mean? If we get materials for other forms of mana that require more study?" The Fel archangel was the first to react. He was certain that if space, time, death, life, or any other ulterior form of mana affinity potion was created it would be revolutionary.


    "I am sure in the future that will be possible. I have many of the best working on it. That''s why I want alchemists from both of your empires to visit and potentially join the alchemy guild." Remey good just a bit taller. She hadpletely taken the spotlight from Walker even though there were so many things happening around them. It was almostical that alchemy had taken over the conversation when they were about to leave to handle the wyverns.


    "Then we will do that. The Rize empire would need these potions and would prefer to learn how to create them. I can not say that I agree with the other research you may do but we have the materials. We can provide high quality elemental herbs from unique areas made to grow them of certain elements." The Rize archangel had already approved of this. He knew that it would be a very simple thing to convince the elders of this.


    "Then we have a deal. We can work out moreter. Let''s go beat up the wyverns. Alice and Su are ready to go too since the healers have already gotten in line." Remey was happy as could be now that she had straightened that all out.


    "Well, I guess we are ready to go now. As you can see, things are a little back and forth at times. But I''m d we can get to know one another a little more. I will start the journey now." The Fel archangel seemed unhappy to let them go. It was curiosity that was calling thin to drag everyone from Genesis back there to help him learn more about everything they might know.


    "I will wait for the news. I expect my mages will be safe." The Fel archangel gave onest word before turning around to return to the embassy.


    "I will be expecting more from what I have heard as well. I trust you with Seran. May the problems be solved swiftly." The Rize archangel also left even though it was clear that he also wanted to hear more.


    With these loose ends tied up to a degree, Walker was ready to get on the move. The dragons appeared to be a little antsy since they were ready to leave by themselves if need be. But if that were to happen, the royal dragons would surely use brute force to enter the wyvern''s home potentially destroying a lot. Especially the ruins that they wanted to see.


    The angels that hade under the orders of the Rize empire were very silent. It appeared that they were instructed to act with the highest level of care when it came to this. But that also made a lot of sense. The angels of the Rzie empire were the hardest hit by the wyverns. They had seen viges attacked, soldiers in battle, and surely some of them had family that had been taken away by them.


    "What can you tell me about the capabilities of your soldiers Seran?" Walker made sure to ask about what the angel soldier could do. He knew that the rest of the party would want to hear about it sooner thanter. Especially since there would be a need to know what they could do that would supplement the other soldiers that hade along with the party and dragons.


    "We should be able to handle them in groups. One team of five can keep a single wyvern held easily. But if need be we can distract up to three. This tactic has been devised after studying the chaotic attacks of four viges within thest month. I approve of the methods and because of them we have managed to lead seventeen wyverns away from highly popted areas."


    "Magic we use is limited until we have had the swordsman and other physicalbat system users move the wyverns to a safe ce. After that we will use cover of trees, rocks, or anything else to protect ourselves. That way we can slowly deal damage to the wyverns and make sure that they are defeated or scared away. We have only managed to kill five as arger group. But these are the most experienced so we expect to be able to do more now that we have been united properly."


    There was more it seemed but that would have to be askedter. "So you were formed in to groups based on individual experience. Will there be issues working together?" Walker was worried that they would hit some snags if they were not used to one another.


    "No, these teams were formed months ago but were always at the read. Because of you, we have all been brought together as soon as it was known that another group had appeared. Now that you have given us reason to battle with one another I can only theorize that our strategic prowess will grow. Please enlighten me on what to expect from your Genesis forces." Walker liked every word. This man was definitely the best of the best. He only wished that he woulde and speak with the king of the surface and Scy because they could be great strategists at times as well.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1740 1740. More Alike Than You Think

    The speed of their adaptation to each other was much faster than most of the soldiers had expected. The angels in particr had not expected that the strange races around them would wee them to their side so quickly. But that was the key here, they were already used to other races.


    The dragonkin, elves, demi-humans, and humans were the main forces being brought with right now. They were united while they had left the remainder of dwarven machines and dwarves behind with the merfolk. That was already a radical spectrum when it came to race. The angels were just humans with wings in the bluntest sense even though they were different internally.


    However, because that was such an easy rtion to make, the soldiers of Genesis were easily able to evaluate and wee them. The dragonkin were clearly the hardest to understand along with the demi-humans. Yet, when the angels found them suddenly by their side, they saw the same strict trainings and tough skin as them.


    Yes their methods were radically different. That was how culture was. It could be like night and day just because one grew in the light side of the mountain and not the shadow. Instead of spurring the expected push back that the angels expected from the Fel empire, they found that the soldiers of Genesis had immediately begun to ask what was their skill set and how they could work together.


    When the angels met the first demon mage they were again shocked. A few of their stories painted demons as a mythical monster and not as an actual race. Naturally, they had no idea that demons could fall to be monsters or they could remain sane and keep their race. Upon hearing this, the angels began to open up even more.


    "Do you see what''s happening here?" Walker looked over at Su for a moment. She was smiling slightly which proved she had been listening carefully as well.


    "They are all much more alike than they were prepared for. That''s what you want to hear?" Su was smiling even more when she knew she had caught right on with Walker.


    "They are. I''m really surprised that the angel soldier started to show off who they were so fast. Some of them are even starting to share stories about fighting the wyverns and avenging their families. I think helping both empires is going to be more important than anything else even though we are after something else."


    It had only been a few hours of walking by this point. But it had been a few hours of uninterrupted walking that had ced a single seed worth more than millions of gold in Walker''s eyes. "But I also think we are hearing a lot about who the angels are. Specifically how they are very simr to the demons."


    "You heard that too?" Walker was sure that Su had been listening in to them as well. But when they had both heard the same thing, they were a little stunned.


    "When they said something about angels falling to be monsters as well? Yes. They are like demons in that way. But all races can be monsters. It''s just rarer for humans and elves." Su had already heard this before. But now that she had heard that angels also experienced this, it was a very connecting topic.


    "You are both correct. We angels know demons like that mage ahead as a species of monster. The only ones on The Sigil continent are small ns of monsters. We have never seen a demon like that. The archangel told me not to see them as monsters as a warning." Seran shrill had a stiff tone. But for the moment, he seemed much more approachable.


    "So that is also a difference between continents. I assume the demons that were here became monster then kept changing to be a real species of monsters over time." Walker could theorize all he wanted but he was more interested in the angel''s side of things now that Seran had involved himself in the conversation. "What happens to angels?"


    "That is a hard topic. Many different things have happened. We have seen them be the lowest ss of fallen angels with ck wings and sickly appearance. Their eyes also turn ck with brutal tendencies. They can still speak but they will only try to kill or destroy." pain shed in Seran''s eyes. It must be a hard thing for an angel to imagine.


    "Others have changed differently. The education I was provided with showed angels that became faceless or gained multiple golden wings. But they were certainly not angels. They were fallen with unique affinities. Strange strengths. And magical prowess only for destroying or ruling over monsters." That was a lot more textbook than it had been a moment ago but it was still educational.


    "I would not mind studying that. Humans are often faced with bing vampires which are technically monsters even though they have once been thought of as a race. Werewolves which skirt the line of monster and human. Then a few other varieties. But merfolk can be sea monsters, elves can be unique elemental monsters, and demons, well, you know about them. I even heard a rumor that dwarves have fused with their creations to be evil golems. Every race has the potential for evil."


    Su was sure that Walker would have said all of this as well. But she was also part of this conversation and she wanted to show off a little as well. "But for every race that turns monster, it should be known that monsters can be a race. The goblins were once close and lost their chance because of evil. But they recently became a properly recognized race, the harpies and grey haired spiders as well."


    "I remember the world speaking. It was stunning since we had no idea what they were. We know spiders but not spiders with grey hair. Goblins are not a monster we have here. And harpies unknown to us. Now I see them, I wonder how we are different. The harpies have wings like us just closer to their arms. And they have feathers more than we do. It''s enlightening. But I am not a schr. I am a soldier and I will follow my orders."


    The sudden catch and change back to the soldier''s demeanor was clearly Seran realizing he had altered how he spoke. The rxed attitude hade from seeing his own soldiers melding with others to prepare themselves. But he had also be swept up in whatever aura was around this group of people. The charisma that brought people in and helped them open up to different ideas.


    "I hope that we can share more like this. If I can make it happen, both your empires won''t fight again. And maybe we can visit each other''s continents more. But for now, the scouts seem to have found something." Walker seemed to be spouting sweet words. But they felt deeper than just sweet words. Seran believed he had not heard something so honest in all his life.


    As the dark affinity dragonkin appeared near Walker, a few harpies also moved over. "What did you find ahead?" Walker knew that he would have to get serious. They were still far from the mountains but for some reason, there was reason for them to be stopping.


    "Lords, there are groups of odd monsters moving ahead. They are pretending to be part of a vige. However, we see that they have no shadows at all. They are just moving through the actions but they are not actually doing anything." This report made Walker confused along with everyone else. However, Seran recognized what was being said.


    "Those are skin walkers. They are a gue to many small viges because they are always trying to take over a body. They will find someone alone, attack them, then try to copy their looks after eating them. Then they will multiply and do the same to an entire vige. Then they pretend to be that vige while attracting more prey. The only solution is to trap and burn them alive or else they could escape and start over."


    "Three years ago there was an outbreak that we needed to handle withrge forces because they attempted to surround five viges. We have no idea how they survive outside of viges. But from what we understand, they are everywhere no matter what region, temperature, or monsters live there. They are a gue of their own kind."


    "The Fel empire handles them constantly as well. They are banned to be researched unless it is methods to defeat them. This is something both our empires understand clearly. They are an enemy to all life." one of the life mages spoke up when hearing this. It made Walker nod along and look at everyone carefully.


    "Ignus, your dragonkin are perfect for this then. Want to show off your mes?" Walker saw Ignus grin. He had waited to let his fire elemental dragonkin show off for a while now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1741 1741. The Fire Dragonkin

    "Sending a dragon to take down such pathetic things? You have a head full of air!" Ignus growled but Walker could clearly see that Ignus wanted to order his dragonkin forward. He had been bored for some time and his face had been showing it.


    "I just thought it would be right to show off the fire elemental dragonkin. I hear that a few of them have a certain skill that uses your fire?" Walker knew this already, but he had never seen it. Yet, with the angels present it was better to show off some strength. Since Ignus was one of the most vocal dragons due to his temperament, it was better to let him have it.


    "Showing off even more? That''s smart." Current whispered a little as he saw what Walker intended. It was easy to see the goal. The other royal dragons saw it clearly and they were sure that Ignus picked up a little on it.


    Since they were going to face a monster with some dragon blood in it, they should show off what a real dragon could do. In The least, this would just be the tiniest of showings. Especially since Ignus would just be lending a little power to his fire affinity dragonkin that could show off in his stead. If a being controlled such a powerful force, wouldn''t it mean they were more powerful?


    "Come." The immediate order was loud enough tomand the fire elemental dragonkin with them. Twenty moved as if they had been called by the most powerful being they had ever seen. Even Walker had not seen this sort of movement from the dragonkin as of yet. He had barely scratched the surface of what it meant to be a loyal dragonkin. But that was normal, he did not have dragonkin under him at all.


    Each dragonkin brandished a sword or ax. The only ones that had acted were those with offensive ability making Walker feel that they understood Ignus very much. Since he had saide, it must have been in a way that they knew from previous battles. That Ignus didn''t need any defenses but only wanted certain dragonkin. This was especially clear when certain dragonkin had remained in ce.


    This was just more evidence that the dragons were moreplicated than Walker had thought again. But it was about to be more impressive. "Take my mes and crush our enemies," Ignus growled out as he created a small ball of fire in his hands.


    Every dragonkin ced their weapons within it and growled. Their scales seemed to shift slightly while steam appeared around their bodies. It was as if Ignus had just buffed them with his fire. Literally and metaphorically passing on his mes'' strength to them for the battle.


    "That is the fire''s blessing. Each of us can do that. You should be able to use nature''s blessing sometime soon." Mordant saw Walker''s intense look. But for whatever reason, he had a feeling that Walker would be trying to copy this in every sense of the word even if he had not spoken just now.


    The fire on their weapons seemed to grow before the dragonkin separated and moved through the trees. When they appeared within the small vige, there was no warning. All the skinwalkers which had been moving with the false actions stopped instantly. The false faces and appearances were instantly thrown away as their limbs extended. It showed off the grotesque skeletal shapes they had. As if their skin had been stretched over bones and nothing more.


    The true shape of these monsters proved that there were dangers in Sigil that Walker had never expected. He knew these kinds of monsters existed but never appeared inrge numbers like here in Sigil. He was very d that there were angels with him that had knowledge about such things.


    "Should we assist?" Seran asked calmly. He wasn''t sure of the strength that dragonkin had. However, he was certain that his angels had faced skinwalkers before. This was the safest bet since they had the experience. It would stop anyone from being hurt. Or at least that was his thinking. Not that it was a bad way to think.


    "Do not doubt those that hold their unwavering loyalty and wield my strength." Ignus growled out his words without even looking at Seran. The other just ignored the question from the angelpletely. Not out of disrespect but because they were watching the battle.


    The mes from the swords and axes were shed out towards the skinwalkers which had finally shown their true forms. Wherever the mes struck, massive bursts of fire grew. The speed of which was insanepared to what Seran had imagined. He had rarely seen mages even use fire that grew at such a pace.


    What stopped Serana and the angel forces, even more, were the dragonkin controlling the mes. Every move they made stopped the fires from traveling outward from the vige. They would attack and send another wave of mes that burned up the homes that had been made in to monsters'' nests on the inside.


    Each wave of me even stopped monsters from moving. The cries of burning skinwalkers was retribution for the vigers they had stolen from life. In fluid leaps, the battle experience of the fire elemental dragonkin proved themselves over and over. This was even a sight that many of the genesis forces had not witnessed since the blessing from royal dragons had not been shown off as of yet.


    "Now tell me, angel, why would my dragonkin need your help." Ignus stood tall before walking toward the mes overtaking the vige. In one single p of his wings while in dragonkin form, he put out every single me showing off his dragonkin standing in line before him. Showing off was more than just that. Ignus had grinned with all his teeth showing the sharpness and viciousness that he and his soldiers could maintain easily.


    "I believe that the wyverns will rue the day they decided to take ournds." The other angels stood at attention hearing Seran speak. They had lived for defeating wyverns since they had been sent to their first battle against them. Seeing such strength and power was enough for them to know that they could make a massive difference now.


    "I''m d that worked out then. I knew you would do better than I would at that." Walker made sure to let Ignus feed his ego. But that wasn''t the only reason. Walker still had to learn to show off leadership and skills like that.


    In the grand scheme of things, Walker relied on others much more. One could say he was a leader but in truth he was just bringing people together who could lead in their own ways. That left Walker with a lot of room to learn from all of their different styles. Every single little way they acted was a lesson to him. And he would never be forgetting them.


    "You''ll have to show me that skill again. I want to use a nature dragon''s blessing. All of you will have to show me." Walker was feeling his curiosity take hold the more that he was thinking about it. If he wasn''t careful he would end up with the entire rest of the walking trip like this.


    "You are not learning another new skill. Keep focused." Gil elbowed Walker in the side. "If I have to stay focused and scout more, then you have to stay focused and keep an eye out for monsters. Also, you should make sure that those mes stay out so make it rain." Walker knew that Gil was mostly messing with him but it was important.


    "Move out and search the ruins of the vige. Find any identifications about who sent these angels here. We will be remembering them and sending their families what we find." the downside of Seran''s order was that there was not much left. Ignus''s dragonkin had burned things up very well. But that was the only way to avoid the chance that a skinwalker would survive.


    "This would be a good time to rest." Alice stopped everyone yet again. They had walked for one hours and it was a good idea to keep themselves at the best possible condition. The wyverns were a dangerous threat. If they wanted to avoid being caught by surprise when they were weaker than normal, they had to be ready now rather thanter.


    "I agree, stopping now is the best bet." Su seconded this and the dragons didn''t show any pushback. They all appeared happy that Ignus had shown off their skills well enough. Especially since the angels now understood how much strength they really had in the long run. How the dragons would handle the wyverns.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1742 1742. Crystal Healer

    Since the royal dragons had been focused on the wyverns, they had not considered the other monsters that might be able to cause them issues. While Ignus had his dragonkin handle the skinwalkers, they had seen the potential for those monsters to cause them massive issues.


    It wasn''t that the dragonkin wouldn''t be able to defeat such monsters. As everyone had seen, Ignus''s fire affinity dragonkin had easily beaten them with enough strength to spare so that they could show off a little. But if one of the dragonkin was attacked while alone and weakened, then it might be a different story.


    "I believe we will be learning a lot about the territory and how our ancient predecessors used to live." Rise was looking at the ashes while she sat and enjoyed some food that Walker had brought along. She was the only one eating but it seemed to make everyone more rxed since Rise was the strictest dragon out of all of them.


    "The more that we can learn here the better. If we can find how thest dragons spent their time here we may be able to find what they had done in theirst days. We may also find the elder''s dwellings." Current had been wondering what might have happened to the elder''s dwellings that would be in the royal dragon hall of the Sigil continent.


    It wasn''t like the dragons had just thought one day to make a royal dragon hall. It was the first known territory to them. The first dragon vige. But over time the dragons had split up and taken differentnds. That made their first ever territory a very important ce to them. It was why the eldest dragon would be their elder and keep the records of their history. It was how a royal dragon hall was created.


    "When we manage to find the royal dragon hall of this continent we will need to see about gathering the memories there." The same method that the dragons currently used was something that Terron had a hand in. He knew the value of the crystals they used to build the cave and help the elder keep records.


    They were simr to the mana crystals used tomunicate from person to person but these were rarer. They were found by him and all brought to the royal dragon hall. The way they worked was a closely guarded secret by every elder but it was something that was sure to be shared as the dragons got closer to the other races. Especially since the elves appeared to take very detailed records of everything they could.


    "Have you noticed that this continent is less explored? There may be fewer angels than they are letting us think." Ventus came with a very interesting theory while she stood with the others. Their conversation wasn''t being listened in on at all since they were terrifying figures. But that also meant that they had the ability to porpoise such thoughts without any issues.


    "I thought that too." Mordant had thought this for some time because the angels were able to get certain authorities so quickly. "They have been at war with one another for some time. They can not manage to keep up. They also don''t have many viges with proper protection. I assume they have everyone and everything on their floating sky cities they told us about."


    This seemed to be the collective consensus by the time that they were all reminded that they could take the time to meditate a little more. But they did all hear Ignus mumble about how it didn''t matter how many there were. That the wyverns were the real problem they needed to handle. But that was a fair point.


    Meanwhile, Walker was able to find Alice and Su. They were having basic conversations sharing their healing methods. The only one that was not speaking much was the crystal healer. The very person that Walker had wanted to speak with to understand a little more about the ulterior healing methods that might be appearing the more that he researched the Sigil continent.


    "How are things with you? I know that healers won''t have too much to do since the dragonkin are very tough and these monsters are nothing to them." Walkerughed a little since he could see that the healers were still very surprised and impressed by the dragonkin.


    "We have been sharing techniques. The healers from the Fel empire do not focus on musical systems due to their research oriented society. They rarely have musical systems in general so they are very curious about Alice." Su had been carefully paying attention to what questions were asked. She could tell that they were prying a little to learn more about Genesis.


    "I kind of expected that. But what about the life mages and that crystal healer? Learn anything?" Walker figured he would speak with the crystal healer in a moment but he wanted to feel out what Su thought.


    "The life mages are odd. They research how bodies work but also want to understand the source of a body''s mana. But the crystal mage barely speaks. I assume because the way he heals is so different and relies on multiple things rather than just one aspect of mana." Su had a decent grasp of it so all Walker had to do was look in to it a little more.


    With Su''s information, Walker approached the crystal healer and looked at him. " so you''re the crystal healer? Care to tell me how it works? We don''t have crystal healers in Genesis so any information is new."


    The healer seemed to brighten up greatly. He had been more or less silent so far. Now she could finally join the conversation and speak about what he had found.


    "It''s all based on affinity. The mana that everyone can use changes person to person. That''s fine, our body produces mana that is tilted to one side or the other. I was lucky to be born with mana that favors earth which helps me use crystals overall." The crystal healer was getting more energetic with every single word. The attitude was a bit infectious.


    "From there I can take the mana and use it to push the body to heal. Your affinity is part of everything in your body. To use your own mana and that affinity together your entire being is needed. So why wouldn''t your body respond when the mana returns the flow."


    "Instead of losing your body''s mana, I can give you elemental mana that spurs the body to heal and repair itself. It''s temporary because it''s not really your mana and will fade, but it removes fatigue from you due tock of mana due to an injury or other reason. It can even be used to stop someone from going unconscious fromck of mana when they use too much!"


    This was all very informative. The crystal healer was full of blossoming energy now that he had been focused on. It was as if he was presenting a hard thought n to a battle council. There was clearly a lot of time spent to understand even this.


    "So when you use an elemental mana crystal, you are channeling the mana within to allow it to flow safely to the body. The crystal won''t crack and the mana won''t be able to harm someone. All you need to know is their affinity."


    "Yes! That''s it and I can do that by using my affinity appraisal skill. It''s not amazing but I can see a person''s affinity." This was another thing that the crystal healer seemed even more pride in sharing.


    "And my affinity is?" Walker knew it was a little rude to tease the crystal healer but he wanted to have a little fun.


    "I can look at that easily¡­" the crystal healer''s no eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Walker harder and harder. "You have¡­well, it''s most elemental manas. But there are other things. I''m not really sure if you even have an affinity since everything is so mixed up. I might be too weak to see it."


    The crystal healer was looking at Walker with a very downtrodden expression. "Sorry, I expected that. I can learn just about any skill of any affinity with my system. It''s hard to exin easily but my affinity changes. I also have natural mana which willplicate it even more." The crystal mage rxed but had a steel gaze caught on Walker. He was extremely curious now.


    "Gil can channel mana from elemental crystals too. But he learned from the elves who make arrows from them. You two should check your techniques against one another. It could help smooth things out in the processes you use." Walker tried to push aside the curious looks the mages, healers, and crystal healer had on him but it didn''t seem to work well enough.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1743 1743. Mountain Base Forest

    The little bit of discretion had been enough to draw Gil toward the crystal healer. The two easily hit it off when the crystal healer had begun to show how he was able to use the elemental crystals to heal. Walker had also watched carefully though.


    The way that Gil channeled the elemental energy in to an arrow had some requirements. He had to have a ce for the mana to go. It couldn''t just be melded around the arrow and held there because it would just dissipate. It would also potentially cause the elemental crystals to shatter which was dangerous for everyone. That was why it was verymon for the elven archers to have protection against such idents when making arrows.


    But for the crystal healer, he could take the mana from a crustal and as long as the affinity was correct then it would be able to flow right in to a body. Part of this was because the healing was changing the way the mana was used. It was not remaining in the same shape but spreading out in to an entire body. It was dissipating in a way instead of staying in one spot.


    There was also a clear secondary skill that was leaving some of the elemental mana around the crystal so that it was not cracking or shattering. This form of protection helped maintain the rate at which the healing happened while also keeping the safety of the crystal assured.


    "So you should end up with a few perfectly clean crystal shards that can be used to make mana gems? And from those, why don''t you use mana gems to heal?" Walker was sure that the mana gems that were left would be of better quality than what was left after forging or other activities.


    "That''s the thing, we crystal healers do not use every bit of mana. All the elemental crystals are left with the smallest bit of mana. It is part of my system to return them to ces where they can naturally grow and return to nature." Now, this was interesting. Not many systems worked like this but for research purposes, this meant that the Fel empire was directly studying how mana crystals could be recovered over time.


    "I see. So you don''t break your mana crystals like we do. I can work with that. I need to know what skill you use to keep them from breaking. If I can use that while experimenting with arrows then I will be able to make so many more." Gil was ready to change the elven world of arrow making again.


    "It''s a passive skill that works while I use my other skills. I have no idea how I would teach it or if it could even be made in to a magic scroll. But one day you may find the path." The crystal mage felt the pressure that Gil was giving him and everyone knew that Gil was not about to stop trying right there.


    "Walker, you are going to learn that passive skill somehow, right? When you do you can then figure out how to teach it to me and then I will show the elves. It''s very important." Gil was totally losing sight of where they were. He was dead set on figuring it all out.


    "And now Gil sounds like Walker and his learning. Nice job. Walker, you made a second you." Remey teased both of them but when the two looked back at her she knew that they were easily able to say the same about her obsession with alchemy.


    "Can you use light crystals too to heal? Are they stronger?" Alice''s question was heard by the crystal mage as Walker, Gil, and Remey went on their own tangents.


    "Of course I can. They are the easiest to use when healing since many healing skills use light elemental mana in the first ce. But it is still based on affinity so only those with light elemental mana can be healed by my kind of healing when I use a light elemental mana crystal." This seemed to be what Alice had been wondering.


    Since the healing using light elemental crystals was not able to be used on anyone, that meant that the healing that Alice and other light elemental healers used was unique to them and their system. It also meant that the mana made within their bodies most likely made it possible somehow for the affinity to be ignored when it came to targets of that healing. A unique theory but one that would be with keeping note of since Alice wanted to be a better healer in the future.


    The healing talk was about to end though. It seemed that everyone could spend hours learning new things. However, the angels had seen that there was nothing left to do in the remains of the vige which had been taken by monsters. This left the break to end and the travel to start again.


    "The way ahead will be a little harder. The forest ahead is going to getrger. I see the notes on the map say that the trees getrger and the growth of them stops most paths from even being able to be made?" Walker was asking this directly to Seran since he was the angel that was in charge of the other angels'' soldiers. Also the angel who should have the most information for him.


    "Saying that the mountain range forest isrger is an understatement. You can see the trees from the higher hills here and when you enter therger growth you will find yourself in a new world." Seran seemed to have exined this to younger angels and was falling in to an instructive flow.


    "The mountains are veryrge and gain a lot of ice through the colder seasons. This then melts when the sun brings the warmth of a longer dry season. The water will melt and fall bringing nutrients to the forest. This causes rapid andrge growth that will make all trails carved during the colder season useless."


    "Some trees will grow sorge that they can not be cut through using normal means. Even the roots that grow will be unmistakably tougher. It is also very dangerous to attempt to cut in to the unique nts that grow here since some of them are monsters, owned by monsters, or even poisonous."


    "So you are saying that the forest will be the elves'' best territory once we get there." Gil was looking at the forest elves that had maintained a close position near him. They had been waiting for this chance since they were bought specifically to handle the dangers of the forest.


    "That may be the case, or it may not be. This forest is hard for angels that have spent years within and around it to traverse. We do not have any viges inside due to the changes that it undergoes each year. Entire viges could be taken over by vines or mosses in just a week." The rate of growth that Seran was speaking about was very hard to grasp. So much so that it made Walker wonder what else might be going on.


    "If there is more to it, then I would assume that the nts are more than just unique. I would assume that they also have a higher ability to absorb mana?" Walker saw Seran nod and approved of his theory.


    "That means that we will have monsters that could have once been nts appearing? Or more monsters that are nts in general. The elven forest had them but they were lessmon." Su made a point to look at the elves who were already making their own mental preparation so that they could track and identify such monsters ahead of time.


    "I can alter potions on the go so that we can have better antidotes. That''s not the best for everything we might face but it can get us time if we face some bad poisons." Remey chimed in with a lot more focus now. She had ingredients that Walker had stored. She had also been focusing on antidote potions for the duration of their time on the ocean. It was a very good thing too since they would be facing potential danger.


    "We should worry more about the monsters that roam the area. The wyverns will be feeding on some of them. If we approach too far south of the territory we may begin the drop in to the ravine. Those cliffs are very dangerous. That is why the border begins where it does. The ravine is dangerous and neither empire will risk sending our soldiers there." Seran didn''t hold back sharing all this. Walker had seen in on the map but didn''t expect it to be such arge issue.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1744 1744. Forest And Caves

    "The cave crawlers, right?" This was one of the monsters that the Fel empire archangel had brought up. Walker had remembered it because he was sure that they would show up at some point when he was going through his travels in this area.


    "Yes, they are one of the more dangerous monsters. They prefer the dim light of the caves and their entrances. They will often make sounds like an injured animal or monster to attract their prey to a cave. But the moment that the sun starts to set, they will travel outside of their cave to other nearby caves. It is partially to hunt but also to find others of their kind."


    "If they are mostly a species of monster that will avoid others, why would they look for their kind? Can they make packs?" Walker had to get as much information as he could before they were faced with nighttime in these mountains. From the sounds of things, caves were not umon. They were going toe across the caves often.


    "They will gather around this time of year to make nests. But they are one of the more unique monsters when ites to this. Their nests are ces where many of them will group up andy together. It is very odd since this will even make some of them crush others due to their size." Seran seemed a little off put by this since it meant that some of them literally made nests that included the dead of their own species.


    "They hatch from eggs and are very small. If you find arger cave crawler then you are seeing one that has been alive for over ten years already. I rmend that you watch out for them greatly." This drew Walker in even more. He was wondering what they looked like exactly.


    "What should I be on the lookout for? What skin colors do they have and do they have teeth and ws?" Walker wasn''t sure what he should be imagining when he thought of how to defend from these monsters. He was sure that they would be simr to lizards since that would make sense that they grouped together in nests. But he was wrong.


    "They have frog like limbs. They can leap and jump far. They do have front ws that they use totch on to their prey. They also have needle teeth with small barbs that keep prey they bite near them. They don''t have poison but they keep rotting food in their mouths to poison their prey instead. It is a disgusting method. The scarier fact is that their mouths seal so they can hide the scent of their stored rotting food." Seron looked like he was describing something truly terrible.


    The angels had all been to this area. They had hunted and fought with wyverns. It made a lot of sense that they would be able to see these kinds of monsters. But since Seran was being so thorough, Walker was able to start grasping an idea of what they might face. Especially since the bite and ws of these monsters would keep them attached to the prey they attacked. It also went to say that they would need healing and purifying if they were bitten.


    "You can aim for their eyes. They arerger so they can see in the dark. That is thergest weakness and even their own kind avoid hitting their eyes when fighting. It is odd to think that they are respectful of each other since they are monsters." Seran felt perturbed by this before shaking it off and returning to his prior attitude of disgust towards these monsters.


    "That''s good to know. We can use light or fire to blind them too then. It would probably work as a good deterrent." Walker was sure that this would be the best methods.


    "Unfortunately that will not be the case. Inside a cave that would be fine. We can blind them and get away. But out in the forest that would be the same as attracting the biggest predators to us. There are more than just the mountain crawlers that will be around to hunt at this time. There are things that will prey on them." Walker felt that he had asked for this since he had been too confident in what he had thought just a second ago.


    "What do we need to watch out for in the forest that would start going higher in to the mountains to hunt the cave crawlers?"


    "Flying spiders." Seran said this as if that was all that needed to be said. But when he saw that Walker was just as confused as the cave crawlers, Seran began to understand the true differences continents had. It was not only races that were radically different but also the fact that different monsters had survived or been lost.


    "These spiders are a mix of bat and spider. They are very hard to handle since they are entirely ck. Their sharp legs have small talons on them. Furthermore, these monsters carry three sets of fangs that do not inject poisons but so tear holes in the bodies of what they hunt. Then they will fly away and eat for their prey to bleed out. It could take hours and they can watch it perfectly in the darkness with the same ability to hear sounds as bats."


    Now this was a terrifying beast. Completely ck to blend in with the dark of the night and any shadows. It would be very hard to stop them from attacking unless someone was prepared to stop them at all times of the night.


    "They wouldn''t be attracted by the light but instead the sounds of things leaving the area because of light. They also enjoy the warmth so fire is out of the question. Now you see why this area is very hard to travers. The wyverns have to grow in these conditions as well."


    Since Seran had gone even further to prove that the area was just that dangerous, Walker made a very calm mental note of every detail. He even realized that this was a very specific reason that the wyverns were so tough. " I would think that this environment would make the wyverns lesser in poption. yet , they seem to be growing?" Walker found this very strange.


    "They could be watched over by this wyvern queen we were told about." Rise was listening in to all of this. She appeared to have been wondering the very same things as Walker. But he and Seran had not tried to hide their talk at all. The more people that passed on this knowledge to the soldiers the better. Especially when it came to fighting these monsters.


    "That could be it. I see where you are going with it." Walker could understand this. It made sense that s''more intelligent monster would want a way to get stronger and keep breaking away from the thing they saw as stopping their growth.


    "If they want to grow so much, are we really certain they are monsters still? Where is the line? Are they really descended from dragons?" Terron was showing very clear doubts when it came to this. He had a little experience hearing and seeing how other monster races had changed to be recognized races.


    "If you are thinking what I''m thinking¡­ then it might mean they are getting closer to bing their own race. But if they are stuck it could mean they have a small higher wyvern poption with intelligence and a lower group that isrger than them without." Mordant stood up from where he had sat after speaking with a few of his dragonkin. He had a very good point.


    "So we have the smarter wyverns protecting the weaker. The weak are causing issues and moving to find food while the smarter are trying to change their status. With the world speaking about monsters bing races then it makes much more sense to think of it this way. But it''s moreplicated now." Walker felt that this was just bing a deep rabbit hole they were falling down.


    "This is always the case. I have never dealt with a situation where wyverns are easy to deal with. The vige may not want to leave, the wyverns may attack during a crop shortage, and many other factors. It takes a lot of self control to handle these things." Seran was blunt but he was certain they could muddle through this with their current course.


    "The n will stay the same and we can learn more as we go. I don''t worry about how we will handle this now. We aren''t even there yet." Walker ended the theories for the moment. If they spoke any longer the sun would set before they found a camp.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1745 1745. Camping Finds

    Conversations about why the wyverns were split or why they might be doing this or that ended. But the conversations about the cave crawlers and flying spiders continued. Especially because the Genesis forces were not at all familiar with them.


    "Have everyonee to us. We can give them a buff that helps them in the dim lighting or even the darkness. It''s called a night eye buff." The life mages were surprisingly useful for these things. They had a very wide variety of buffs that helped the body.


    "Then start making rounds. You don''t have to act as a single group. Alice and Su should have told you what the priests are like. They and their nuns or higher ranked priests often work alone. Some may travel to viges but they will work one by one to heal someone unless they absolutely need help." Walker had already caught on that the life mages were used to working together.


    This kind of made sense since they would need the back up for doing research. If they wanted to find all the secrets of the body to heal it better or just to find the sources of life, then they would indeed to pool their knowledge. It was only a few specific researchers that would divide themselves so that they could research their topics.


    "We did tell them. They are still trying to figure out how I am able to heal without actually healing. But since I have the light shield skill that heals those behind me while I defend them, I could technically heal." Walker was still in awe that Su had managed to make it work. She had been practicing the light shield skill while alone. Some of the mages had even given her advice on how to control her mana even though she was not a mage like them and could actively move their mana to attack.


    The results had been a gradual thickening of the light shield that appeared when Su used her skill. This light shield over the top of her normal shields were significantly powerful. In the sense that the defense ability had increased along with the light elemental mana pulled toward her. For someone that was not a mage, Su could fool someone in the right circumstance due to how well she had adapted the skill to her body and uses.


    "You have spent so much time in the cathedral learning what everyone needs that I would expect you to have helped ten times more people than most healers do. I''m pretty sure that thest time you helped at the cathedral every single person that visited saw you." Walker was a little teasing but this was not an understatement at all.


    "It''s true. Some of our elderly onlye to see Su even though they do not stay to listen to the music." Alice''s back up proved that Walker was not just making things up here. The life mages saw this entire interaction and wondered just what it was like that people would need to be healed every day. But they didn''t voice the question since they were so lost as to what Genesis looked like or any kingdom in or around the Genesis alliance.


    "Walker!" Gil caught back up with the main group. He had taken the time to leave with some of the scouts. The simple reason was to scout for a camp area that would be easily defended. "We found a good spot but everywhere seems to have evidence of monsters in the area. If food was really the start of all problems then I have no idea what''s going on."


    "There are that many tracks around?" Walker was surprised that the tracks were so evident and constant that Gil would think that the wyverns shouldn''t have any issue getting food at all.


    "I can help with that." Seran drew attention again and looked at Gil who had just returned. "You may think this is a lot of monster activity, but there arerge monsters we have begun to see less and less which caused the smaller monsters to grow. The flying spider is one monster that used to be preyed upon by therge toed tree frog. Or the root digging hawk. It''s called that because it cannot actually fly. It will use its wings to leap or glide tree to tree. It digs holes under the roots of trees to hide food."


    "So basically you''re saying that the wyverns lost all the bigger food they ate. Now they have to hunt a lot more and don''t always seed?" Remey shook her head. It was even worse than she thought. Missing out on a real meal was a tragedy. Meanwhile, Onyx and Midnight both looked at Remey with agreement. The three shaking their heads together made everyone wonder why food was the only thing on their mind in this.


    "We can eatter, but it does make sense. The food chain was messed up. So if we see any of therger monster we should deter them and not defeat them." Walker''s idea was simply to conserve the habitats in the area. Just by saying this many of the elves who were much closer to nature voiced their approval. The angels could only nod along since they would rather see these monsters return than the wyverns be stronger or moremon.


    "How far is the area for us to make camp?" Su redirected the conversation to the camp they could make so that they could get to work. It would be a better idea to make a decent defense so that they could block the monsters that would surelye out in the darkness of night.


    "It''s only about twenty minutes. I would say that the trees were knocked down by a storm at some point. There are only burned remains that probably came from lightning strikes. Therge logs could make for a great natural barrier on one side." The thought process was great so no one argued with it.


    The walking was indeed quick, but when Walker saw the open space, he realized it was perfect. Everyone in theirrge group of soldiers could fit and make a small camp if need be. However , that was not the n. The angels had already started to grab longer stable branches to cut in to spikes to ce in the ground around their camping area. It was ideal to defend anything swooping down at them.


    The trees that were fallen around were muchrger than he had imagined. The theme of trees gettingrger had continued as they walked without issue so far. But directlyparing therge tree that had been broken was dramatically different.


    Most trees Walker couldn''t wrap his arms around but in theory, he could cut them down with magic or an ax. These fallen trees were easily triple the diameter. It was easy to say that he would have issues cutting them down.


    ''Thunderstruck redwood


    This is a rare tree that can only grow due to high nutrients that run off the melting snow from mountains. It is able to survive tougher forest fires and live for hundreds of years. They provide shade and homes to many creatures.


    Due to being struck by lightning in a thunderstorm, it has taken on unique mixes of elemental mana even though they are weak within the wood. If a staff is made out of the wood, it would be very useful for drawing lighting orbing elemental manas to create lighting.''


    The all around appraisal have Walker more than he expected. He would not have guessed that this tree was actually an amazing and rare material that could help when mixing elemental manas.


    Yes, he already had the eternal orb. But when he was studying how to better create lighting himself this would be valuable. Furthermore, Walker could bring this to the Rize empire mages so they could experiment and use it for their own magic growth. It would be a very strong bonding find for them.


    "What''s so interesting?" Gil thought that Walker was amazed by the lighting patterns in the wood due to it being struck.


    "It''s a good material for a staff. But you might be able to make a lightning arrow with this if I think about it enough." Walker didn''t know what he had just said. If he had thought of himself before he spoke he could have saved the bombardment of questions he was about to get.


    "The elemental manas inside would allow it to more easily make lighting andbine elemental manas overall. If you want to use it you have to be careful and confident in your skills. Don''t make me make them." Walker was quick to cover himself but it was already toote for that.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1746 1746. Engenuity Before His Eyes

    "There is a perimeter made for us to enforce. But it will be hard to watch the sky without preparations." The angels that reported to Seran had tried their best to spread the news about the monsters that they may face. However, there was a lot of worry about fighting in the dark now that the sun and nearly setpletely.


    "That is for the archers to worry about. The elves have better eyesight and the Fel empire''s life mages had given buffs to them for night vision. We will trust that for now." Seran was not bringing any problems here. He may have his own beliefs but the wyverns and survival came first. That was just the fact of life right now.


    "Understood." The angel soldiers spread themselves out again among the other soldiers. They had to be where they were needed most and would be able to operate in any situation. Meanwhile, Seran turned his eyes to Walker and Gil that were working to cut a few more pieces from what they had said was thunderstruck wood. He had no idea what the point was to do this right before they would be facing dangers.


    "You may not trust them yet, but you should be excited for what''s about to happen.'' Mordant had silently appeared next to Seran. Compared to the other dragons, the only two that had actively watched the angels were Ignus and Mordant. The others had been focused on preparing for battles.


    "What do you mean? I would not be preparing new weapons before a potential battle. They should sharpen their swords as they are." This was from a veteran fighter. Naturally this advice was sound.


    "If they were just another person. Just another weak human, I would say you are right. They should be preparing their strengths rather than what they are doing now. But they are very odd. Walker can fight alongside and against any race. It was strange to see that he was willing to look me in the eye without even the slightest sign of fear. That''s one reason that I listened to him. But I saw a lot more. Sit with me and watch what they do. I promise that you will wonder just how they managed it."


    Mordant was not giving Seran the option. There was still enough light for Walker and Gil to see what they were doing so he wanted Seran to see the strange way that Walker''s party worked. The odd ingenuity and imagination that seemed to grow their strength at every step. The tiniest of quests that appeared to assist them in growing stronger.


    "Walker, if I make an arrow from this I need an arrow head that can handle it. Don''t you have any mana gems that could fit together?" Gil had been stuck for a while now. He had the wooden arrow shaft that he had taken after Walker had used water magic to help cut the log in to a smaller part. The massive log was still there but the small portion cut off had been ideal for carving in to arrow shafts.


    The fins were easily made from three different feathers that Gil had. He was sure to collect materials whenever he saw the. So he had water sparrow, hollow finch, and me hawk feathers. The three feathers fire water, wind, and fire elemental affinities so that Gil would be matching the potential to create lighting arrows.


    The issue had presented itself when Gil had thought of a way to mix the manas within the arrow head. He had to store elemental mana there so that the arrow shaft made of thunderstruck wood could be the catalyst for creating lighting. But how could the three elemental manas mix without breaking the arrow head when he didn''t have a lightning material that was natural?


    "The mana gems we have are toorge. And the mana crystal shards might not hold up and pierce anything. You would just be hitting things outside the monster with lighting. It would be a stunning effect. That wouldn''t be bad." Walker proposed using elemental mana crystal shards instead because that was just the best method from where he sat.


    "That''s the problem. If the minster has thick skin then a zap of weak lighting is useless. I have to pierce the monster and deliver a concentrated zap to stun or kill it right away." Gil was also thinking of the scales that the wyverns had. They would be harder to break through.


    Even if he looked for spots in between scales, the skin a wyverns had was sure to be very tough. They were majority earth type beasts and levied in mountains. Not to mention that they had already been praised as a powerful and very tough monster to face. A small zap was nothing to help him in battle.


    "Then we can try breaking a mana gem. But it could go bad." Walker had no idea if making a mana gem shard was possible. It might not hold mana at all.


    "We can carve them in to shapes, right? Mostly they get fitted in to armor but what about the ones that are cut to fit in armor already? We saw the wandering cksmith do it. So why can''t I made an arrow head out of them? Then break it in to three parts to make sure they fit together on the arrow shaft. It will have three manas with stronger density than a shard. And it will work better because it''s from the same mana gem."


    Walker was nodding along. He was very interested to try what Gil had thought up. In theory it all made sense. That was why he immediately pulled out one of the mana gems and handed it over to Gil.


    When Gil took out his carving knives, Walker felt a little pain in his heart when he watched one of the mana gems get smashed after Gil made breaking cuts. The pieces were surely the size to be carved by the tougher knives, but Walker still felt sad seeing something he had made and stored forter broken.


    "He''s carving a gem? Isn''t that a unique skill for other systems?" Seran was wondering what he was watching.


    "They have been to multiple kingdoms. Met with many people. Gil has met elves with many skills. He might not really understand it but he is closer to a high elf than any other elf. He gathered arcane archer skills from every elven elemental type. Not just one. He is the leader when ite to reuniting the elven race. Even more than the future elf queen, Alma."


    The two sat in silence as they witnessed Walker helping shape the crystal with Gil and slowly adding three different manas to it. When it came to adding the strange arrow head to the arrow shaft, Seran wondered just how it would ever work.


    "It is longer than it should be. The arrow head isn''t pointed but like a crescent shape. Did he make it to stay within a monster instead?" That would make the arrows hard to recover during a battle but most likely reusable more times than any other arrow. But the type of arrow was well known to be used in smaller game hunting since the cost was less.


    "He does that for good reason. I learned that he and his family lived on a farm near the wilderness. He learned to hunt at a young age. That''s another reason he has different standings with the elves than others." Seran was a little amazed that Mordant had carefully watched the party so much. But it just went to show how much the dragons and humans had bonded without it being said.


    "Now that''s what I wanted you to see." Walker helped Gil channel the mana at first so that he would be able to use the eternal orb and his own mana control to stop anything bad from happening. But what the two managed to do was more than that.


    There was a small yellow flicker around the arrow shaft and the air in the area seemed to be charged. Many of the soldiers stopped to watch and the elves returned immediately with excitement. This was the first prototype lightning arrow ever made. It was the first that didn''t use a purely magic skill. It was an actual arrow that any arcane archer could create with the right materials. A massive breakthrough in magic and archery together.


    "They did it just like that? It only took them a few hours." Seran was unsure what else there was to say.


    "Exactly what we have seen. Did you think that royal dragons would easily ept a human as one of us? Or did you think that they had power over us? No, we saw a future. Those humans were able to ept everything around them and open a future. I expect you to soon see more and change your ways here. If Genesis is dragged in to war, dragons will rampage." Both a warning and a promise were made by Mordant before he walked over to see what had been made as well.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1747 1747. Test The Lighting

    Walker and Gil had not seen a single thing when it came to Seran and Mordant having a conversation. The other royal dragons had somewhat noticed the conversation but let it be since Mordant had been more active with Genesis already anyways. It wasn''t their business.


    "So you made an arrow to create lighting? Will it work tonight?" Mordant''s sudden questions topped the murmurs of the elven archers around Walker and Gil.


    "It should, I''ve gotten good at this. I bet I could make ten more before the sun is set and we can''t see anything." Gil knew that he was setting a tougher goal for himself but that was fine. It would be an ideal test of the arrows in the night against potential cave crawlers and flying spiders.


    There was also the fact that even with the life mage''s buff skills for night vision, he was sure that he wouldn''t be able to carve the mana crystals carefully enough.


    "Gil, save the mana gem dust. I want to see if that can be used for anything. I think it could be used for repairs. Mixing it with a resin or wax to help fix things back together. It could help runes too. I think mana crystal dust is used like that when making certain rune ink to paint temporary runes."


    This was mostly theory based on what Walker had heard. He didn''t know that he was more on the spot than he thought though. "Rune painters usually use mana crystal dust from grinding used mana crystals. There were some painters like thating to Genesis."


    "Was itmon or were they a small group?" Walker hadn''t even known this but he had been pretty busy.


    "There were seven that came from the dwarves'' kingdom to study origin runes. They are simr to magic scroll making system users and rune carvers or scribes. But they are an art based system. Rune painters even make small temporary runes to ward off the cold." It appeared that Mordant wanted share this more because he was proud of what he knew.


    "So you want me to just save it all? Got it." Gil half responded while carving at a much faster speed. His actions showed that he had really gained a high skill in carving. Even carving crystals was beyond what the average person would be able to do unless they had studied from higher level carvers.


    "If you learn rune painting you can create me a few things. I was interested to see the inspirational paintings. Runes that helped rx the mind. Temporary but calming. It could assist in learning about darkness mana." Mordant''s sly way of getting Walker thinking about something new seemed to work.


    "I can look in to it. For now, let''s focus on the fact that the sun is down." Walker''s tone changed as he looked at the life mage near him. "Give me a longer buff so I can see better. I might be moving too much to get another er."


    The feeling of the buff being reapplied was like opening his eyes wider. The dimness around disappeared and a slightly green hue entered his eyes. It was just like his energy had changed in his body to facilitate this buff too. As if it came from within. But Walker already knew about life mana and how it should be in every living being.


    The reason that Walker had stopped immediately was because he saw a few of the angel soldiers stand up. That alone was signal enough to pay attention. They had their hard earned instincts for these situations.


    When one of the angels took to the air slightly he was brandishing his sword wreathed in a slightly brown glow. By the time the angel soldier had lifted and shed it, Walker saw some of the earth suddenly leap up and join the sword. The sh down sent the earth on the sword like a thrown de.


    The style of fighting was interesting since it was simr to other styles that he had seen. However, the mana had been stored while he sat on the ground. The angels'' wings were how they absorbed the mana so he could use it quickly.


    That might be the thing that Walker started to remember most. He would be able to ask the angels to attack in faster ways than some of the other races. It was simr to the demons but the demons had power and the angels had speed.


    However that didn''t matter right now. What mattered was the fact that the attack front eh angel had just shed a wing off a flying spider. It had already hit the ground where Midnight had growled before leaping on it to sh it to pieces further.


    The way that Midnight had attacked shocked the fallen spider shocked the angels. None had expected the tearing sharpness and speed she had. But what was even more shocking was the fact that she had easily broken the harder shell of the spider legs.


    They were clearly sharp and the angels even had some wounds from fighting them before. It was a dangerous encounter for anyone. The sharpened legs and fangs would cut their skin leaving very harsh wounds.


    But all of that had been useless against Midnight''s scales. She had resisted the cutting attacks of the flying spider while it iled in death. She had even cut through it in seconds. The angels knew the dragons had power but had not expected this degree.


    Since they had heard that Midnight was a young dragon and was very smallpared to what they heard and saw when Genesis arrived, they expected that the dragons would only be strong when adults. Clearly they had been wrong and underestimated Midnight greatly.


    Now that they understood, the Genesis forces were much more important to them in this battle. The small monsters here were nothing but the wyverns would be troublesome. "Ah, there''s one."


    Walker spotted another flying spider and created a frost whip much faster than he could before. He had used a small amount of natural mana to enhance it and whipped it out shooting ice needles in to the darkness.


    The life mages boost had massively helped his vision and now he was able to spot the differences in color. The dark shell and skin of the flying spiders'' wings were lighter than the ck of night. This difference showed Walker a clear target.


    When the angry hiss of a spider echoes out after Walker''s attack, onyx followed it up. His size becamerger shocking the angel soldiers again. When his tail pped the slowed and injured flying spider from the air, they could only watch it get crushed.


    Two single spiders had been defeated without issues. The following rm being raised made all the forces prepared for attacks. It was the night and the silence of therge forest was broken so soon.


    Anything that could hear was already being attracted to them. "Move aside, I see something in the tree there."Gil had better eyesight in general as an archer. Yet, he could see even better with the life mage buff.


    His arrow was already drawn along with a glimmer of lighting. Gil wasn''t waiting to test his new arrow. With a glint of a smile he released the arrow.


    All the elves watched as the arrow flew through the darkness. It was brighter and showed off its strength before lodging in to something darker In the trees.


    The screech and immediate burst of yellow light was followed by a small pop of thunder. Many of the nearby flying spiders found themselves shocked and stunned but everyone had seen the cave crawler illuminated as well.


    Its odd body andrger mouth were high kites along with the eyes. But that one was as good as dead. The lightning had left a darker spot in its body and the fall from the tree had cracked its bones.


    This was the end for it but that was that and there was nothing more that the cave crawler could do. Especially because the slight bang had just scared many of the monsters away. However, it had attracted more.


    There were many of the other flying spiders recovering. But with the life mages buffs many soldiers and archers were attacking. The flying spiders barely noticed the wooden spikes set up around them too. The camp was defended well causing spiders to fly right in to spikes.


    Remey and Su were prepare for intercept where they could protecting any healer. But the time that Alice started dining it was already over for the flying spiders that had been deafened by the shocking sound of thunder from Gil''s arrow. Everyone was being bugged by the fairest of lights due to Alice''s careful and quiet song.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1748 1748. Welcome Seran

    The next flying spider that dove down met Su''s shield bash head on. The cracking sound of the flying spider''s carapace proved that she was more powerful than many had thought. Especially the angel soldiers that had not imagined for her to be able to move so quickly to defend a life mage.


    The warmth that everyone felt as Alice''s soft song had reached their ears was apanied by the slight glow of light that Allice could control. She had managed to manipte the moonlight to help them all see the ground. But the incredible control that they all saw was that the light had remained dim and low to the ground. It would not be attracting any other monsters.


    The sound of something ignoring all the attempts any monster could make to be silent soon caught the attention of Onyx. His tail whipped out between two spikes pping away a slightlyrger cave crawler. It didn''t seem to stop it though. One of the angel soldiers that had just received a buff from a life mage pped his wings to finish the job.


    Beneath him, three dragonkin were moving as well. Without any shouts or signals, the three dragonkin moved to each side of the cave crawler. The moment that the angel let gravity take control was when they attacked. All their swords struck at the same time causing the cave crawler to be trapped by the attacks.


    The final attack came from Walker whipping out with the frost whip. The tip hit the cave crawler''s open mouth. The result was a sudden freezing effect that caused it to freeze from the mouth down to its stabbed body. Before the ice could spread, the swords were removed and the dropped jaw of the angel was seen for a second. He had never fought with people who didn''t know his style but worked so well on instinct.


    Before any other of the flying spiders could p down, there were three arrows that were shot out. They all had wind around them. Gil was right next to the archers that had fired them. They were the wind tupe wither spike arrows that he had made long ago. He had shared some of his arrows with the elves he had worked with so that they could all get a better feel for improving them. The result had been a better carved wither spike arrow.


    This speed and uracy was another shock to the angels because their archers were never that amazing. They were better able to create some arrows out of elemental manas but that was that. They were better for getting above an enemy and raining arrows down. But the elven archers could move and fire with extreme uracy. They could also use elemental arrows with a better degree of control.


    "Midnight, iing spider!" Remey had jumped up off Midnight''s back to punch down a spider. The result had been a sickening crack but the slight me that had appeared on her fists had shown her another spider near them in the air.


    Midnight had heard the warning and used her own wings to leap in to the air. The boost had brought her right in front of the flying spider. It had absolutely no time to dodge as Midnight''s maw closed on its wing snapping it apart. The following attack was a small breath of me that roasted the spider to a crisp.


    Seran could only watch as so many monsters were attracted but so many were defeated before they could actually attack. It was slowly looking like a hunt rather than a defensive setting. This wasn''t a camping spot, this was a baiting spot to collect materials and create the perfect gathering of warriors to warm up and train.


    "We aren''t fighting, we are getting to know each other," Seran mumbled this out loud attracting the attention of Ignus who had begun to growl slightly. He loved the heat in the air as his dragonkin had begun to get fired up for the battle. They were enjoying themselves but the dragons were also being affected. They had been waiting for the wyverns slowly but surely. Battle was in a dragon''s blood.


    "What did you think would happen? Can your soldiers keep up or should we send our dragonkin to do all the work?" Ignus gave Seran a harsh re that pushed Seran to draw a secondary sword.


    "Then I will enter the battle without holding anything back. I need to prepare myself as well." Hearing that Seran was finally jumping in to battle properly, all the dragons looked at him. They wanted to see the true extent of a real angel soldier. One with the backing of an archangel. One that had the power tomand others.


    As the second sword was swung, arge force behind it shed a flying spider in half. Seran had been a strong soldier but as he had risen in the ranks he had faced a hurdle. The Rize empire wanted the strongest of the strong to maintain their leadership. It was their numbers and strength that was able to hold the border during wars. Since Seran had seen some of these fights in real life he had been able to see where the numbers had let them down.


    Therefore, as the numbers had always been their reason for winning, Seran had focused on strength. Those he trained as a highermander and himself were always trained in strength. Individual strength that would let them be able to face multiple opponents at once. That was also how he had be amander that controlled multiple teams that could handle wyverns.


    "Team one, take down the tree to the right. There are fifteen spiders waiting for ambush. Team three, take to the sky and ambush the four cave crawlers fighting over the fallen spiders. "Team five, split up and help the life mages. The Fel empire expects them unharmed." The orders were followed immediately.


    With the additional order changing how the angels moved, the elves reacted as well. They fell back even more and started to take out the targets they could spot in the trees only. The dragonkin and demi-humans had returned to the circle of pointed branches made to pierce the spiders and cave crawlers. With the defensive line reinforced again, it was a simple matter to start cleaning through anything on the ground.


    It appeared that the sounds attracting more monsters were bing less and less since the monsters in the area had understood that arger predator was around. Little did they know that it was actually a group of powerful warriors and not a predator. Yet, they could be called predators with the strength they had.


    "Light fires!" Walker made the call as soon as five minutes had passed them by without a single monster appearing. The after dark attack had been many in number but the incredible teamwork that had flowed once the angels and the Genesis forces had understood each other had stopped everything. Without a hitch, many of the human soldiers took to starting small fires to light the area. The life mages stopped their buffing skills and focused on healing. Alice also changed her song.


    The light that rose up from the ground and became muchrger was healing every small scratch or bruise that had appeared. Almost no one was injured due to the shielding of everyone the entire time. The life mages night vision buff had been the key to this.


    Every flying spider that had been defeated was being gathered up along with the cave crawlers. These monsters hunted at night but were just so sopared to the strength that the group had. "Gil, you should be able to use the spider''s bodies for arrows. They have a hollow leg once you get rid of the inner muscles. That shell could be a makeshift arrow." The idea was enough to get all the elves started on breaking down the bodies.


    "Remey, focus on the cave crawlers. You should be able to make many different antidote potions against their odd way of poisoning things." Remey grimaced but used her dark red alchemy fires to begin making what she could.


    The sudden change was too much proof that this was not a simple group. To go from battle seamlessly in to resting and preparation was something only those that trained for years could do. "Seran, that was very impressive. You should be able to split the wyvern scales, right?" Walker had seen the powerful strikes that easily split spiders in half.


    "I can manage on my own but I am still not a match for an adult wyvern."


    Seran did not boast or brag. He was honest.


    "That''s fine, you can handle weaker ones but when ites to adults you can be the perfect attacker while others distract. I look forward to working with you." Walker offered his hand to shake Seran''s. This was the official wee he had been waiting for since he had no idea what Seran could do in battle.


    "I am interested to see more of your magic." Seran gestured to the frozen flying spiders and cave crawlers with an impressed look. Walker had intentionally used the frost whip with extra mana to freeze the monsters in ce. It was a show of control and power.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1749 1749. Remey Strategy

    In the grand scheme of things, the attack by monsters at night had been small. But it had done much more than just defeat a few monsters. It had let anyrger monsters around know that a stronger being had entered their forest.


    Many people would be worried about this attracting territorial monsters. However, the angels had already exined that in this area of the Rize empire that the monsters were fewer in number. The normal instincts to battle for territory would be stomped out by the fact that they needed to survive. It would be surprising how the survival instinct took over any instinct to protect a small territory in a massive forest.


    The elven scouts were moving around with mordant''s dragonkin. They had confirmed this a few hours before sunrise. "Since there are a lot of monsters leaving the area, then we will have a better chance moving forward." Gil was happy with this since would be able to focus on refining the arrows he was making.


    "I was more worried about the terrain moving up. We already saw that massive tree that was struck by lightning. If we encounter more fallen trees of that size¡­" Su was the one that had the worries over this. It was mainly because she was sure that their movement would significantly decline due to these obstacles.


    "As the forest bes thicker, you will not want to fly either. That is why from this point on we are marching." Seran had made his point as well. If the forest thickened then everyone would need to be on watch for what might pop out or just in general block their way.


    "This forest isrger and will get thicker with bushes and other nts. That we already know, but what about as we climb the mountains soon? Will there be more rocks and abination or is it a dead set change from forest to mountain?" Walker''s question was valid. He had no knowledge of what the terrain might change to be like.


    "They are indeed a mix. The rocks will jut in to the forest causing many falls and unexpected small cliffs. But this also creates a decent ce to get water as we travel. It is also home to more cave crawlers before we enter the real mountains. Here we will need to rely on hiking and some earth magic to check the route for safety." Seran''s knowledge was just what Walker needed to make sure that they were traveling in safety.


    "Then from here on out we will need the scouts to pull back and stay closer to us. Any earth mages we have will pair up with scouts. Su, can you handle organizing them?"


    "It can be done easily. I want to see what buffs the life mages can give them that will help us sense the dangers beneath our feet too." Walker nodded. It was a good idea. The life mages had a very wide range of buffs that had already been proven to help them at night. If they had a body sense buff or simr buff, it could help them with the feeling of the ground beneath them.


    "Hiking the mountains will be fine. I can put my earth affinity knuckles on and try to dig in to the cliff more. Just leave me as an anchor." Remey volunteering this was a little of a surprise but as the group took the lead and let scouts ahead, Walker started to catch on that Remey had been feeling a bit useless. Herck of ranged attack had been an issue.


    "What about the progress with your explosive potions? Any new ones that you have been able to learntely?" Walker knew that Remey was definitely feeling that she was not able to help the best that she could. It was written on her face.


    First, they had been on the ship for some time where Remey had been unable to do anything other than alchemy. That was nice in the sense that she had made some major advancements in her potions. She had also learned to make specific antidote potions for some poisons that monsters naturally had within their bodies. But that had been the extent of things.


    Besides the training she had done, Remey had stayed stagnant in most things because of herck of swimming, long distance battle, and generalck of flight. Even Su was better able to move against the threats around since they had gotten to Sigil.


    "I have a few potions that can be used but they are dangerous. If I use them in the wrong ce at the wrong time I will hurt everyone instead of helping. Take a poison fog potion. Once I toss it and break it, the potion evaporates and bes a numbing mist that causes everything that breathes it to pass out. Great against groups but if the wind moves¡­"


    This was a lot more thought out than Walker had expected. He had thought that Remey was just silent because he was annoyed but he had actually been very wrong. She was contemting how to best use the potions she had to fight while they were on the move. It wasn''t just that, Remey was trying to diversify her alchemy and closebat skills. Lately she had just been an alchemist.


    "If you use it on a wyvern you might be able to slow it down. Let alone a group of them in a cave¡­" Walker thought that Remey was going to be able to do much more than he expected.


    "That was what I was thinking. I have the antidotes already made. It would be easy to add it to some fabric we could tie over our mouths and noses. That way we will be able to cause the wyverns to weaken without using skills at all. Then I can dig in to a spot on the mountain and take them by surprise. How often do you think a wyvern looks up? They think they are strong like dragons. Dragons never look up either. They are arrogant."


    Thisstment was heard by Rise who opened her mouth to respond before realizing that Remey was incredibly and undeniably correct. She had always been the highest in the sky to get closer to the sun. to absorb and meditate about the light elemental mana around her. Why would she look up any higher? It was stunning to know that a major weakness had existed within her and every dragon''s actions for so long that it was an idental habit not to look up.


    "So you want to smoke out the caves or ruins with potions, we will all have prepared masks with antidotes, and then you want to climb a wall of a cave using your earth affinity knuckles so you can drop down on a wyvern and beat it senseless?" Walker shook his head with a smirk. He should have expected this from Remey. She had never changed. She was just a bit more strategic.


    "That''s the rough n. I can have the angels pretend to be bats and follow me too." Her evil grin proved that Remey was more or less saying that she wanted to take the angels to be her new battle partners.


    "Then do it. Talk with Seran. I''m sure that he and his angel soldiers will like your tactics. Onyx should like them too since he could bind a wyvern while everyone else pushes in to defeat it." Remey''s eyes glistened a little as she heard Walker telling her to take over. It was clear that she had been worried that the tactic would seem too dangerous.


    However, Walker could tell that the tactic would work. It was a gut feeling mostly but also the fact that he trusted Remey and her potions. If she said that they would numb and slow something, he believed her. If she said she would trust her strength to climb to the top of a cave, he would trust her. And if she was nning on knocking a wyvern senseless with her fists, then hopefully the wyverns found religion and prayed for their protection. Remey''s real punches were no joke.


    "Up ahead is arger dip. We are going to bypass it and take a right path along it. Watch out for the edges." The scouts passed on this information changing the course of the walk they were taking. From what Walker could see, therge dip wasn''t too much. But there was stagnant water at the bottom. These spots would berger and moremon the higher they moved.


    Even though the entire force didn''t feel they were moving higher, they certainly were. The size of the trees proved this to be true. They Were receiving more runoff from the mountains. More nutritions. They could all say that they had finally entered the real depths of the mountain base forest of massive trees.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1750 1750. Seeds And Rotting Wood

    Stagnant water had seemed to pool here and there as Walker looked at the random dips. "What causes these random dips in the ground? It doesn''t look like it''s shifting from the mountains shifting. I would assume trees, but these ces seem to be missing trees." Since Walker wanted to know, Seran and the other angels that heard his questions were fine with exining the difference in the terrain. They hade through here many times and needed the knowledge to survive.


    "It''s actually from where trees used to be. The monsters and insects eat away tree stumps from fallen trees. Then the space is washed away by water. After all the roots and stump are gone, this is left. Rocks are exposed makingrger andrger pits as more water pools."


    "I see, so that means that the roots and stump must be pretty nutritious to those monsters and insects.'' Walker was thinking about how the trees must grow and knew that because of all the nutrients from the mountain and in the soil would cause the tree itself to be the perfect food. "That must be why we don''t see many smaller trees either."


    "If there are not many smaller trees it is because things eat them. I wonder what they are." Gil overheard this and wished that he had Alma there. He was sure that she would have more insight about the way that the forest grew and survived. The trees were massive after all and he had a feeling she would be able to answer more questions about their seeds.


    "This forest is also very fast growing. We have tried to take the wood for a few generations. The Rize empire used to get all the wood we could from here before we have trouble with the wyverns. The forest is self sufficient. Any tree cut down often is reced with two or three in the next year." Seran had a good appreciation of nature in general.


    "Midnight avoid the water there. It''s not worth the risk." Walker caught Midnight exploring the smaller dip that they were passing. He could see pooled water and some rotting wood in it. In response, Midnight hissed at him before she began scratching at the rotten stump and revealing small brown seeds.


    "Those are seeds from that tree? What tree is it Walker?" Remey had seen the small interaction and wanted the seeds immediately. It wasn''t because she wanted to grow them but just like Gil, she wanted to show them to Alma. She had been with Alice, Alma, and Su when examining some herbs and talking about healing potions. As far as she was concerned, she would be helping out here.


    Walker gave Midnight a slightly annoyed look. He wasn''t happy that she had scratched at a rotting log in a ce that could definitely have something dangerous hiding in it. His face told Midnight everything and she stepped back a little.


    ''Swamp oak seed


    Even though these trees can grow everywhere, they require a very watery and muddy area to take root. The seeds will be stored in the center of the tree so that when it lives its fifty year life cycle and rots, the seeds can use the body of the tree to grow.


    As water pools and eventually overflows the space where the swamp oak grew, they will float to other puddles and in the streams to find a ce to take root. The wood is surprisingly soft and great to be used for growing certain grubs if one is to tame insect type monsters.


    The wood is also very buoyant until water logged so it is ideal for temporary fishing bobbers or small floating tforms. It also has a great deal of nutrients that helps smaller nts grow. These smaller nts will hide the smaller seedlings until they are able to go through a massive growth spurt. They can reach a height of one hundred feet after fifty years. Then it will be top heavy and fall.''


    The all around appraisal was very informational. The uses for the swamp oak wasrge since it could make things as simple as fishing bobbers to floating rafts. Even better way the fact that they could be used to add nutrients to the soil after it was already rotten and water logged. But the true key was that the tree could live for a set space of life; fifty years. That made it predictable as long as it was protected.


    "So it can be used to help us grow herbs and be sold around Genesis. We can give these to Gil''s mother." Remey didn''t see much use for her other than helping herbs grow better. But this was a good thing. She wouldn''t hound him to grab even more seeds since there would be people with better systems that could grow them.


    Midnight looked at Walker with her own re this time. He had shared the appraisal and she was sure that she had found something decent. "Don''t give me that look. What if there were monsters'' eggs or parasites or something in there? What if that pool of water around it had something venomous?" Walker was a little harsh but Midnight was being rebellious and shook her head at him.


    "Walker is right. I expect you to have him check the next pool before you risk anything. You are a dragon but that doesn''t mean you are invincible." Su chimed in and Midnight lowered her head. If Su was joining Walker then it was true that Midnight had made a poor judgment of risks.


    "Neither of you will want to explore the uing dips. This portion of the forest had a storm pass three years ago. It is more dangerous but lessrge monsters live around it so we will follow through with our march." Seran had talent he map out to show Walker. Everyone gathered around and saw what he was speaking about.


    "We know of the storm as well. There were many along the border that had to flee from it in our kingdom." The crystal healer had listened carefully since he was very curious about what the others were doing. It was also slower for the whalers since everyone was just marching along right now. No one needed healing.


    It also went to say that the life mages, healers, and crystal mage were researchers in their own right. They wanted to see what Genesis had to offer. They had also been instructed to study the actions of genesis soldiers since all of the Fel empire was interested in what genesis had to offer them that they had yet to share. It would be an important report.


    "The storm traveled through. It was thought to be a failed experiment before we realized that a typhoon tiger had been born in the area. A very rare monster that will ignore most things before it ascends to the wind elemental ne. It onlyes here to defend its young. It had run in to monsters and sent a tornado to fend them off."


    "I''m sorry, but a typhoon tiger?" Gil looked at the crystal healer as if he had just heard anothernguage.


    "Yes, a typhoon tiger. There are many different monsters thate to this continent to have their children at certain times. Just because a being goes to an elemental ne does not mean they can''t return. We also have summoners but they are too rare in the fel empire. We have yet to attempt research within the elemental nes. Weck the strength to go there." Now, this was news. Not even Seran didn''t seem surprised to hear this.


    "Genesis is just beginning to touch on pure elemental manas and the fact that the elemental nes can be reached. But it seems that the Sigil continent isrger and has more ess to the elemental nes because of this. We should look in to the information we haveter." Walker made it clear that this was something both empires could use to trade information with them as their own cards.


    Doing so did one thing, it gave the empires a little power and an important way for them to feel more equal with Genesis since Genesis had many unique things they had shown off already. But it also showed that Genesis was willing to learn in everything.


    "Regardless of causes, the trees here fell sooner than they should have and this area was gued by some monsters immediately. Now it has many pools and sharper stones exposed. Not to mention falls in to the pools from the topyer of soil." Seran reiterated the dangers while the soldiers passed the warning down the line. This left the party and especially the dragons to think about the elemental nes and what information they might be able to learn.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1751 1751. Slimy Salamanders

    "I am going to scout ahead this time." Walker felt that he would think about things too much. Having all this tempting knowledge about the elemental nes was the worst thing. First it was life mana, then the addition of new skills such as crystal healing, and now it was the elemental nes. He felt that there was so much that he had not had the chance to even begin to explore.


    Moving ahead with the group was also to clear his mind. He knew that the dips and falls ahead were much more dangerous. Especially since they had a lot of standing water. But he saw it all in person less than ten minutes after he had started to move ahead.


    The ground was softer where there was soil. It had been water logged and standing for some time. Even just moving through made some of the soil fall away toward the ground. The sliding mud in to the pools of water made the silent forest seem as if it was being tempted. It was an eerie feeling.


    The tall andrge trees here and there had also shifted because of the difference in soils and rocks. Walker could only imagine how powerful a monster like a typhoon tiger must have been to create a storm that was able to topple and break so many trees. Especially judging just from the trees that wereying around rotting. They were already smaller but must have been double the size.


    What stunned him, even more, were the sizes of roots that arched up and overrger stones. It seemed that the stones had cracked and broken while still being held together by them. It was truly a forest of unimaginable growth. Nothing like it was in genesis. Especially the elven forest, it was nowhere near asrge. Even the spirit trees could barely rival these red wood trees let alone any other species.


    The pools of water were lively with little bugs and other things. It wasn''t hard to spot them as he moved. Every step that would vibrate the little pools was more than enough to stir the bottom. However, there were signs that monsters had been roaming about.


    ''Rot moth wings


    The rot moth isn''t actually a moth that can cause rot. It is just one thatys its eggs in rotting nt materials. These wings are inedible to the slime smander, the rot moth''s main predator. It will eat everything but the wings while moving through the forest. The wings are a good material for ornamental fans and other artistic means.''


    The all around appraisal on the pair of green and tan wings that Walker spotted near an overturned log was enough. He could see that they were not sitting there long either. This was due to the fact that they were not covered in anything like dust or mud. Not even moisture had built up on them.


    Being alone again was a little nerve wracking since he wasn''t sure when he would face a monster. But Walker knew exactly where everyone was and what they were doing. He also knew that other scouts were closer to the main groups walking behind him following his tracks. Knowing that Gil was literally tracking him made Walker morefortable scouting in general.


    As if to reinforce the fact that he was alone, the sound of soft rotting logs being pushed over came to his ears. Upon looking up, Walker managed to spot a brown shape with a red stripe down its back. The lizard like body was moving in odd ways making Walker wonder if this was the culprit that killed the rot moth.


    ''Slime smander


    This is not a smander monster made of slime. But it is one that lives with water and rotting slimes. This is due to its diet and habitat. The slime smander requires a very damp environment to keep its skin hydrated and to hunt the monsters it likes to eat.


    When it is dormant during the winter months, it is able to secrete a slime from its body that attracts water and rot slimes that will enter its den. They will live together for the colder months without any issues. The rot slimes will assist in preventing parasites and mushroom growth on the smander''s body. The water slimes will keep it hydrated and not frozen.


    The lifespan of the slime smander is around thirty years which is short for their species. Yet, they are able to grow based on the food avable. Some of thergest have appeared during the periods of rot moth swarms forming. It is a natural predator prey growth burst.''


    This didn''t bode well. The entire section of forest was toppled and rotting. Very few trees had taken root to return while even fewer were still around making the entire area shady and cool. But what was right in the a round appraisal was the fact that the more food that the rot moths had, the more food that the smanders would have.


    While Walker didn''t want to believe that the smanders were dangerous, he already knew that rot and water slimes could cause issues. Add in the fact that the smanders intentionally attract them, and he was left with a direct exnation of what they might face. The groups of soldiers were more than just him. Walker had already caused some disturbances in the area. What would happen when more things were disturbed?


    Leaving the area where the slime smander was foraging, Walker started to back track. But he was already toote. He could hear the sounds of fighting just ahead of him. This caused him to speed up and start using the wind ripple skill to step through the air.


    As he did so, the view of an angel stabbing a white grub was clear to him. It appeared that a log the group had been stepping over had broken and revealed the rot mothrvae living within. Thervae had naturally attacked as soon as they could even though they were slow and only had a blind attack with their pincers.


    It was just a small issue since the angels handled it in literal minutes. They were so efficient that genesis soldiers didn''t even have to make a move. Walker hadn''t even attempted to help either because he knew that they were more than enough to handle this issue.


    "These are rot mothrvae eating the rotting wood. It''s natural to see them." One of the angels reported to Walker when they saw him since they had separated from the main group by a few minutes. But the rest of the group were right behind them.


    "I found the wings of a rot moth ahead. I assume we will be seeing more of the slime smanders or slimes as we go on from this point. Ahead the terrain is even worse. But I know we can''t go around this area due to the size of it and the cliff on one side or the stone mountain side on the other."


    "Walker, you saw those grubs too? They are everyone. They are even tiny like a normal worms. But then they get massive like those things." Gil had run to catch up with the closest scouts then was going to link up with Walker since it was better to be together after finding danger.


    "Yes, I saw them. I also saw one of the smaller slime smanders. They are eating these things. I have no idea how aggressive they will be but the one I saw is fairlyrge. It could deal some decent damage if it bit or charged us. I don''t know how manyrger ones are around." Hiding what he had seen would be foolish. With the main grouping up, it was time to be more serious again.


    "They don''t like the cold so we could use the ice wither spike arrows. But that could make them attract slimes. It is a rough situation." Walker was saying this mostly for himself. He had a habit of relying on the easy water elemental mana to create the frost whip or other ice attacks. It was just easy to use the most abundant elemental mana around other than earth because water was faster.


    "So we use fire. Remey will like that. All this rotting wood and water? How could we catch something on fire? If we do, then we can handle it fast enough." Gil smirked a little while preparing the fire elemental wither spike arrows. The few archers that caught up to the after finding danger also looked to Gil immediately for orders. He was like the captain of his own archer scouting group.


    "Remey! You''re turn to fight a little as we go forward. Take the lead and get your fire ready!" Walker saw Remey in the distance and yelled to her. She was already cracking her knuckles after he spoke.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1752 1752. Fire And Slime

    Small bits of red mes grew around Remey. "I have wanted to let loose for a while." The sounds of battle had already attracted a little more attention. The terrain had stopped a lot of movements from some of the soldiers from genesis.


    The elves had taken to the trees while the humans and demi-humans were stuck onnd. The angels were using their wings to the best of their abilities. This left walker to see what he could do to even things out. Naturally, most of the soldiers were guarding the healers and life mages. That way they could keep fighting safely.


    "Remey, I caught your bait!" Walker had jumped in to the air and copied the hammer fist that Remey used. In doing so, he had knocked a fluttering rot moth that had been disturbed by the soldiers while killing the rot moth grubs.


    The rot moth hit the ground but as it did, a small dust fell off its wings. Like any mother or butterfly, they had small bits of dust on their wings to help keep them dry. It was definitely why the slimy smanders would pick off the wings and won''t even try to eat them. But it was also a great way to attract any of the slimy smanders that were alreadying their way to the spot that Remey would be waiting.


    "Walker, you know just how to treat a friend." Remey narrowed her posture and took off to the spot that Walker had just attacked. He had also let the dust from the rot moth fall on him by attacking. That meant that he would also be able to be living bait.


    The reason that Walker had chosen this method was all about terrain. He knew that the groups of soldiers would struggle to stay in their formations. That alone was a good reason that he should keep the focus of any and all monsters away from them. But on top of that, he and Remey had the best ways to adapt to the stranger terrain without injury.


    Gil could manage, but he was better off following the elves in to the trees. Su and Ailce were protecting the healers. That was their main focus. Midnight was helping sniff out the grubs so that they wouldn''t blindly attack anyone as they went by. The grubs were dangerous just for the fact that their pincers could cause severe injury even though the grubs didn''t actually want to hunt them.


    Then there was Onyx. Onx was taking the unique role of transporter. Therger gaps created by the dips where the stumps had been were the biggest challenge for those that had the main job of carrying supplies. Yes, Walker carried most things using his storage skill. That was just a blessing to all the soldiers since they could be better prepared for the monster attacks. But having items ready at a moment was often more important.


    The key exnations were for bandages, small snacks while moving, and most importantly, and additional weaponry. These things couldn''t be kept in walker''s storage or else there would be a loss overall. This meant that the groups of soldiers could attack and defend without worry of having what they needed to do so. Not to mention the people who were literally born with the ability to be these key supporters in battles.


    Just because people did not speak about them often did not mean such supporters were nothing but mules that carried items. They were often the weaker soldiers that were learning or actually specified supporters. They could buff their squad while also perfectly anticipating needs. It was akin to having a healer but instead of a healing skill, they would have a healing potion to share. Overall, a very reputable position in any group, especially an army.


    "So that''s a creepy crawly? Seems weak." Remey had a vicious grin on her face. Everyone could feel the heating off her now that she had truly fired herself up for a fight. The angels were very interested in how a brawler from another continent would fight. Especially one that was focused on alchemy.


    It wasn''t that most of them doubted that Remey was actually an alchemical brawler. But the story that she had gotten a system that allowed her to do both that was entirely unique made them wonder. It was very far fetched. Many people would have doubted them if they hadn''t heard so much about Remey in Genesis. The angels didn''t have Genesis gossip to go on here and believed it to be something else or a false sense of security.


    When Remey charged at therger smander that had ignored the log it was looking under a second ago, it reared up and tried to appearrger than it really was. But that just gave Remey more of a target. The mes condensed on her fist as she sent a harsh right hook. The thud and following sizzling sound was enough for Remey to show off her power.


    When the damp and slimy body of the smander resisted the mes, it also burnt and blistered easily because of the water on it. This caused the smander to wriggle in pain while Remey charged back up.


    The snap of its mouth as the smander tried to bite Remey in panic was enough to ensure that she had to use her leg to kick and block the attack. The stunning kick that had hit its chin made the smander il again. But it also showed the weak belly that the smander should have kept protected instead of showing at all or ever.


    The next punch shifted to a defense breaking fist, the move that Remey had carefully trained from defense breaking palm, was also covered in mes. This was the technicalbination of three skills. A hard right hook, defense breaking palm, and alchemy me maniption. Three skillsing together at once that caused a burst of mes to prate the stomach of therger slimy smander and end its life instantly.


    "Remey! Three more ahead. They look like they were hunting together. Gil!, two more moths escaping ahead, beat them down so we can see what we can do with them." The moths panicking while flying away were letting more dust off their wings which would cause more trouble. Iof the soldiers marched over it all, then even more monsters might be attracted when they got through this area. The smanders couldn''t be the only things that ate rot moths.


    "Already doing it. We have five down ahead." Gil had been letting the archers find the best ces on the trees. They were getting the moths taken care of well ahead of them while the smanders being attracted to the sounds and smells were scaring them. Gil on the other hand, was in charge of the nearby one. He and one other archer were easily taking them down while the angels used their wings to retrieve them. It was perfect teamwork without muchmunication needed.


    This left Walker to be able to push forward with Remey again. Eh could store away the smander body againter. The fact that three more were headed toward him made him a little fired up too. He couldn''t let Remey have all the fun.


    "I will use fire too." Walker let the eternal orb change form and make gauntlets. The additional defense as mes from Remey joined Walker''s control made the angels wonder just what was going on. Now there were two brawlers easily maneuvering the tough terrain and fighting with smanders four times their size as if they were easy little battles. They were just kids still byparison!


    With Walker showing up next to her, Remey felt a little challenged. She wanted to show off and use her strength to the fullest. That was why Walker was surprised when a string of fire seemed to blossom behind Remey. Almost at the wait for her to use as she desired.


    Before she could act, one of the smandersshed out with its tail. The mes around Remey came in contact with it and burned the tail heavily. It seemed the mes that were hanging around Remey were just as condensed as the ones on her fists.


    Even more terrifying to the angels was the fact that they were finally seeing the grand fire elemental spirit floating around Remey as if it was dancing with joy that Remey was fighting using mes. They could feel the strength it had over fire elemental mana. Those with fire affinity that had to take in mana from around them could even sense the danger it posed if it wanted to attack them. A terrifying moment but also awe inspiring. This human girl was working with something so incredibly powerful!


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1753 1753. Larger Salamander

    "To the right!" Remey shouted as Walker jumped to copy her kick to thergest slimy smander they had seen yet.


    "Done and done!" Walker used the mes that Remey and her partner were creating to attack.


    ''The skill me kick has been taken from the me brawler system. The skill has been learned through the replication of a brawler and through action.


    me kick- 4 mana cost


    The user is able to manipte the mes in the surroundings or that they create. They will wrap the foot as the kick is used on an opponent to deliver a burning effect. The increased power from a burst of mes will also cause more blunt force damage. If used with other skills in tandem there are other skills that will be boosted in strength or this skill can be improved.''


    Having the skill made Walker move much more easily. But he had not been focused on getting a skill. He had let himself get swept up in the battle with Remey. The two are leading the soldiers through the terrain. But most importantly, they were handling nearly every monster that came their way. The rot moths were easily taken down by the archers.


    ? What was left were therger smanders that woulde. They could smell and see the food that they wanted falling around the area. It was much easier inparison to flipping logs to hunt for the rot moths or the grubs. But it was only easy in their eyes, they had no idea that all the noise and drama would be their downfall.


    The grubs left in the logs were easily taken care of by the soldiers marching behind. Since there were so many slimy smanders around, then they could just find where the smanders had been hunting. Easy to deal with them. What the issue was, was that there were so many monsters at this point that it was a wonder what would happen with them.


    "Walker, Remey. You are still battling but we have a problem. There are not enough soldiers to carry the monsters defeated. We must get rid of them with your mes or have the fire mages spend more time behind." Seran felt it was wrong to interrupt as he had just seen Remey and Walker work together to defeat a fairlyrge slimy smander in just a few minutes.


    "Walker will deal with it. I have another one up ahead." Remey was clearly in the zone. She didn''t even look at Seran for a moment. She just prepared to charge ahead. But this wasn''t bad. They were cutting down on the monsters that were growing well over the usual poption in the area due to all the rotting trees around.


    "Gather them together. We can use themter. If the wyverns find a massive pile of food, won''t that distract them? We can use it as a distraction when we start climbing the real mountain." Seran had been thinking this. Many of the angels had used simr tactics to attract one wyvern alone. But never to attract multiple.


    Yet, they all saw that the number of monsters being defeated was exceptional. Every attack that Remey used was defeating or nearly defeating a monster ahead of them. It was even harsher when Walker joined in. He was able to finish and defeat the monsters before or with Remey. It was perfect teamwork that could match her voracious battle style.


    The fire didn''t even seem to another Walker at all. He was battling around Remey who was slowly showing that her body was affected by the heat. She was clearly sweating more and had a red tinge all over her skin. But Walker was fine without any ice magic or even using wind magic to cool himself.


    This was a simple result of the dragon bonds he had. Midnight and he would both be fine because of their bonds. But add in the fact that natural mana flowed through and around Walker, and it would mean that mana shouldn''t harm him too much. When he got stronger in using manas, he was also increasing his own affinities. Even if he didn''t notice this, it was happening.


    Seran didn''t hesitate to order his soldiers in particr to begin bringing monsters to Walker. And without any change in his own battling, Walker started to store away the bodies of the slimy smanders, rot moths, and even the grubs. He would just change his movement style to the slightest degree.


    Naturally, he took a slower role in the fighting because of this, but Remey liked that. She was showing off to a much higher degree and battling to her heart''s content. She had not been in such a frenzy for a while. This was what she needed.


    That was until the forest seemed to shake slightly. Ahead of them was a cluster of rotting logs that appeared to have been pushed by powerful winds in to arge mess of a pile. They were rotting slowly but surely in the cluster of holes where stumps had once been. It was certain that this would be an ideal ce for rot moths toe andy their eggs. That also made it the perfect ce for a slimy smander or smanders to wait for prey.


    The sounds had finally woken up arger monster waiting to eat what it could. When Walker felt the shaking of the ground and saw the pile of logs shifting, he knew that somethingrger hade to sleep there.


    ''Behemoth smander


    The behemoth smander is a smander that lives in and around slimy smanders. They will look simr until they hit a growth spurt. In that time they will growrger bone horns and their skin will thicken to be tougher. If given enough food they can be a dominant monster in their section of forest. They also have a strong water affinity that they use to keep their skin moist and attack with water balls from their mouth.


    Due to a small amount of dragon bloodline, they are able to resist many of the elemental manas and conditions in nature. It is also why they have the desire to take over territory from otherrger monsters causing them to use the horns that grow on their bodies as ways to attack. They even had sharper ws than a smander would normally have.''


    "Behmouth smander, prepare to retreat!" one of the angels called this out but Su stepped up and stopped them. She then took the lead to catch up with Remey and Walker.


    "The angels are backing up but we can handle it, right?" Su didn''t wait for an answer from Walker. She knew that they would be fighting it no matter what. They had woken it up and even found another monster that they had never seen before.


    "It has dragon blood. You can feel it, right?" Walker nced at Su then at the dragons. They had all focused on this aggressive monster in front of them.


    "Who cares, we punch it the same. And even if it attacks with that water, I will burn it." Remey jumped aside as a ball of water flew through the air at her and the mes she wielded. It was clear that the fire was what had truly awakened the behemoth smander. It must have felt threatened. Adding in the dragons, it would have the instinct to fight and defend itself even more than before.


    "Watch out for the ws, horns, and that tail. The water can be handled. Gil is already gathering water mages behind us." Walker trusted that Gil would be ready for whatever they needed. He also felt that Alice had begun to sing a new song that was boosting their speed. It was just a way to help them at a longer distance. But Walker could only grin as she saw that Remey was already taking advantage of the boosted speed she had.


    Therge behemoth smander knocked over the rotting logs and revealed the green and red patterns that set it aside from the slimy smanders on its body. The smooth scaled skin was definitely tougher making it seem more like arger lizard. But the bone white horns set it aside even more. Walker could tell that the horns and the skin were from the dragon blood it possessed.


    With a single p of its w, the forest seemed to shake again. There was a lot more strength than it hadpared to the weak slimy smanders. But that didn''t mean that it could avoid or intimidate Remey. She had already reached its side and sent a jab out at its neck. The behemoth smander had not expected that it would be facing a tough opponent that was much faster than it so soon. It had thought of them as prey due to their size. A good snack that might have a little dragon blood in them. It was foolish.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1754 1754. Poisoned Bait

    "You''re a big one!" The second follow up punch that Remey used caused a solid crack as the defense breaking me punch hit. Arge ck mare appeared on the side and the crack was a bone breaking in the behemoth smander''s body.


    The instant reaction from the behemoth smander was to turn in pain and attack with its tail. But Remey had already moved out of the way. She was falling in to a dangerous battle flow that put her right up front with the danger. That was what she liked though.


    "Keep trying to bite me like that and you might get a mouthful of something bad!" the mocking tone was simr to what Su did to taunt. However, it didn''t appear to be doing the same thing. There was no mana in it making the taunts useless. Yet, Su and Walker kept themselves back, they could see that this was a goal Remey had.


    The taunt was also not empty, Walker could see that Remey had clutched a small purple potion in her left hand while getting a little closer to the behemoth smander''s mouth. It was not an explosive potion but one of the potions that Remey had said made toxic gas. One that would make people numb and paralyzed.


    The danger of using it was clear to him, however, when the smander snapped at Remey out of anger for the attack just moments ago, the potion was tossed in to the air. Crunching ss was the only inclination of trouble for the behemoth smander before it felt the ss pierce its tongue and cheeks.


    That was only for a moment though. The pain that caused it to hiss drastically stopped its ability to even raise its neck. Remey watched the head fall lower before she dashed forward toward the now sluggish behemoth smander.


    The sheer size of the smander stopped the potion from doing too much. Just numbing and stopping the muscles around where it had chomped the potions. But it was enough to cause there to be a lot of time for her to attack.


    Thebination of punches was growing by the second. Jabs to the ribs, defense breaking punches to the back, and heavy kicks that started to break the tougher skin since the mes from punches had already dried it out. This flow of attacks was too fast for the behemoth smander to keep up with. It opted for arge sweeping attack with its tail to make any progress.


    Unfortunately, the attack only managed to graze Remey for a second. The result was a smallest of bruises that could ''t even make her stumble. It did make her hit back even harder. "


    Walker, give me a boost!" without any other hesitation, Remey leaped up in to the air preparing a heavy hammer fist attack with mes wreathed around her fists.


    Hearing and feeling Remey''s intentions, Walker used wind to push Remey up more. The positioning was simple for him since he could manipte the wind well. But he was surprised to see that the system had reacted to him using the wind to boost the attack that Remey was using. Not surprised enough to miss the attack though.


    ''The skill wind boost has been taken from the wind saint system. The skill has been automatically learned based on understanding of wind elemental mana and current buff skills learned.


    Wind boost- 3 mana cost


    Using a small amount of wind elemental mana, the user is able to boost the speed and jumps of the target, it is a one use skill that will work for that moment before needing to be used again. The buff can be extended if used with arger amount of mana but it will weaken the effects.''


    A very basic skill that let Remeye crashing down on the behemoth smander''s head with much more force. With enough force to cause arge cracking sound and a muchrger burst of mes than before. The results were easy to understand.


    As the behemoth smander copsed, it had been left as thergest defeated monster of their trip through this areas. It also appeared to have scared away everything around. Even a few grubs had left the safety of the rotting logs while the battle had gone on. They were taken down by the soldiers, but that was besides the point.


    "You should cool Remey off, she looks like she is ready to burn up the entire forest." Su looked at Remey and felt the heat around her was very strong. Walker didn''t hesitate to mix wind and water mana to send a cool breeze toward her. It was wee since Remey appeared to be finally feeling the effects of all the heat she used.


    What was more stunning than all of the fighting was the fact that Remey didn''t have a single burn on her. Just the bruise from the smander''s tail that had grazed her. Yet even that was small and nothingpared to other injuries she had gotten in the past. It was easily healed by Alice who was still singing her song to boost their attacks.


    "I thought I would be fighting with you. I think you stole the show." Walker had imagined he would be battling too. When he had seen Remey getting in to the flow though, he had felt a reason to stop himself. As if he had the gut feeling that he wasn''t needed at all in the moment.


    "It was just an easy fight. You didn''t need to help until the end." Remey stretched her fingers after taking off the fire affinity knuckles. Her partner had already retreated with the mes clearly tired from the fight.


    "Well, I would say you won a lot of respect from the angels. They saw the first elemental spirit that we have had join us in battle. They might actually be afraid of you now." Walker''s chuckled a little but Remey just shrugged.


    "They need to deal with it somehow. We are going to bring the elemental spirits back in a big way. They need to ept them now." She shrugged again before pointing at the body of the behemoth smander, "I got us more bait, and I even poisoned the bait so the wyverns that eat it will be slow and useless."


    The fact that Remey had thought ahead while battling was exactly why Remey should be feared. Her alchemical side had grown much more to the point that she could use it during a battle. The fight between her and the behemoth smander was much easier than anyone else would have had when it came to the soldiers fighting alone.


    The strength that the party had was definitely not shown when someone looked at them. Adding in the mental aspect of things, and it was again, radically different. Such arge monster that was aggressive to start out was defeated and even prepared to use as poisoned bait for the wyverns which were much stronger. The angels felt that if they were going to fight multiple wyverns, then now was the best chance they could havepared to any other time they had attempted simr feats.


    "We can store this and the other monsters before we move on. I think there will be far fewer monsters to worry about for thest section here." Walker had taken the map back out and estimated their position. He was showing Su and Remey where they were and what they should do for their path. He still nned to let Remey take the lead.


    "I can still fight if I need to. But it won''t do much since they are all too afraid now." The annoyedment made Su shake her head but she was wearing smile. Remey was Remey and that would never change.


    "Now that was fun to watch. I think you did a pretty big number on the monsters around here. Even with Walker helping I doubt you needed it." hearing praise from Gil was a rare thing since Remey and Gil preferred to tease each other and fight a bit.


    "You should have fired more arrows than watching then. You might have been able to learn something. Well, you probably learned a little seeing how I was able to crush them." Remey made a show of punching the air. It lightened the mood a bit more since some of them had been worried that she was stop tired or had some injuries.


    "Seran, how are things looking? Do you think we''ll have enough to attract many wyverns to one spot away from us?" Walker saw that Seran didn''t even have words. His head could only nod up and down while he and a few of his soldiers were still ncing at Remey with awe. Neither the Rize nor the Fel empire had seen such battle styles.


    ....

 Chapter 1755 1755. Lost Territory

    The sudden change to a quiet and unstopped journey made many of the soldiers unhappy. Not that they wanted to fight, but because it felt odd. This wasn''t a normal situation. They had seen so many monsters for thest few hours of travel that the change was too drastic. But that was what they should have all expected as they moved up the mountain and through the area with the fallen and rotting logs.


    The steep incline was growing because of the stones and rocks of the mountain bing more prominent. There was soil washed down inrger mounds here and there. Walker was sure that he would be able to bring some back for Gil''s mother if he really wanted but that would be a whole other task.


    ''ck mountain soil


    The ck mountain soil is called ck due to the high amount of nutrients that makes it a deep and rich fertilized color. It is considered one of the best soils in all of the Sigil continent. The nts that grow in it regardless of their normal size and growth rate will grow faster andrger. Even delicate nts have a higher chance of surviving when it is used.''


    Knowing that Remey would want to excavate the entire mountain because of this, Walker also bit his tongue here. He had to make sure that he was not just here to carry around soil for growing. Yet, when he thought about it again, he stopped and stored a little away. He knew if he slipped and told anyone he would be in arger world of trouble.


    "This is very weird. All of the scouts are saying that the trees are less and less but the monsters are even less. They aren''t even seeing signs of cave crawlers as much any more." Gil was worried the most now that he was seeing the changes. As a scout he could directly find the monster tracks and evidence that there had been more than just nts here.


    "This was what we expected to happen. The trees have a harder time digging in to shallow soil and putting their roots down through stone. So it will change from that to bushes and overgrown grasses for a little while. But the monsters are a problem. It means something is hunting them. Something that eats everything." Walker knew it was wyverns. That was just the fact of things now. They were here for that reason.


    "What kind of nts are up ahead? Why isn''t anyone bringing any possible herbs to me?" Remey was a little annoyed since the low frequency of monsters was an ideal chance to grab the herbs she had never seen. It was more than that though, they could take the time to familiarize themselves with what grew around this area before they worried about baiting wyverns.


    "We aren''t just going to go touching herbs here and there. The scouts know that they should wait for all around appraisals. And since the scrolls are limited, they are waiting for Walker." Gil was sure that this should make a dent in Remey''s attitude. He had underestimated her and felt the punch already hitting his arm.


    "We should stop fighting, there are weird nts up ahead. That should make Remey happy, Gil on edge, and Walker can appraise it." Su seemed to have watched the entire interaction and waited to say this. It was only natural though, she had be like this more and more as they had traveled together. Thest line of defense when it came to getting off focus.


    "Is it the brown grasses up there?" Walker looked ahead and saw what appeared to be dried brown grass.


    "Yes, there are patches of it and in the middle of them are shapes that might be sticks and logs or they might be bones. We can''t see them from here and the scouts don''t want to get closer yet." Su had spoken with the scouts that went ahead after Gil had be focused elsewhere. Some of the scouts swore that there were bones in the grasses.


    ''Biting grass


    This is a type of monster that splits its body the more food it eats. It is able to use its long thin body to replicate dried grass. When it finds prey that wanders on to it, it will use many tiny mouths to deliver a strong paralyzing poison. It will then slowly eat away at its victim.


    It is only able to split its body to move unless someone uproots it or it bes uprooted identally. Natural disasters have been known to bring it to radically different areas. It hates salt water and can not survive near beaches.''


    "That is a nt type monster. Not many of us run in to it but they are able to grow enough if there is food. I believe they can even eat the young wyverns which is why there might be some bones mixed in." Before Walker could exin the all around appraisal, Seran had noticed what the genesis scouts had found. He made his way back to the front to exin it to them. This was the best method of moving forward.


    "We have armor and foot protection but that doesn''t mean we can walk right through. It is still safer to avoid therger patches and cut the smaller to quell the poption. It appears they have grown more due to the increase in wyverns and the wyverns chasing monsters from the top of the mountains." Seran had his points but that didn''t mean that Walker was happy with them. This was the growth of an otherwise weak monster because of the small monsters being forced out of their homes. Now it would also die if left alone. It was a very odd dynamic.


    "We can get rid of some of it but is it useful for any materials?" Walker could only hope that therger portions of biting grass could be used for something other than just as grass. These were technically very small monsters byparison.


    "Not really, they are very small and can not be eaten by anything other than a few insect type monsters. It is best to let them naturally die out over time. Eventually, they will be fertilizer for the mountain. It''s a theory that these are why the mountain is able to stay so good for growing and feeding the forest." thee small theory was appreciated by everyone who heard it. There was a lot that Genesis soldiers didn''t know about the area, and even this put them more at ease.


    "We''ll avoid them as much as possible. Even though it might not look like people are being hurt, they will have damaged armors." Su made this clear to everyone and then passed it on to the soldiers behind. The dragons and Midnight were more or less ignoring this since they would not be hurt by such small monsters. That didn''t mean that Walker didn''t tell Midnight to avoid them with Onyx.


    With the decision made, the marching started again. This time though, it was hard to see over the various bushes. It made everyone instinctively collect together even more. As they had all walked, the groups had be tighter and tighter. This was partially due to the terrain changing but also because of the monster battles.


    The genesis soldiers were thinking about the dangers that had been seen so far. Just because the scouts were not able to find anything, did not mean that nothing was around. The wyverns could appear anywhere. Or more cave crawlers. The only benefit was that there were no nighttime monsters out at the moment.


    p¨¤§ád¨¢-¨¾?¦Í¨º¦É.§ã¨®§® "Stop here. We should rest before we go higher." Seran made this a hard order. He did not leave anyone to argue it.


    "Why would we stop here? We have only climbed for an hour after we got out of the main forest and avoided the biting grass." Walker felt that it was rude for Seran to just stop everyone.


    "Because, from here we will want to send scouts to n our baiting area. We are entering the mountains. It is not worth pushing in without a npletely. We won''t even go higher in to the mountains than this normally. It is only to target specific wyverns." The difference in where the map showed the wyvern territory and where they were was different.


    "So the Rize empire has lost a lot of ground here. You keep getting pushed back and aren''t even up to date on this map." Walker wasn''t antagonizing them. He was stating a fact that he now understood.


    "You are correct. Even with our best efforts, we have been failing to hold them wyverns off. If we use the strength of our floating city, then there is the chance we would be invaded by the Fel empire or we would lose the city. Things are not the best when ites to this." Seran didn''t hide this. He was more down to earth than the archangels were.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1756 1756. Best Bait Spot

    "When the wyverns first started to be prominent in the area, it was noted by those that escaped that the skies were filled with young wyverns fighting one another. We believed it to be a breeding event. One that every monster has." This made many of the group think about how this could have happened.


    "Unfortunately, we lost the viges around the mountain and those that were exploring the mountains and forest below. Those that escaped told us about the battle between the wyverns barely the size of dogs. Others told us about therger wyverns that attacked the viges eating whatever food they could. Especially the cattle kept there." Seran sounded even more pained as he recounted the many documents he had read. It was certain that he had seen the ruins here and there through time.


    "That was when we could still climb the mountains without worries. But the ruins that you can see on a clear day above the clouds around the mountaintops were still not reachable. Many tried but they were far away. The climbing was rough and flying in those gusts impossible. But there was still hope until the wyverns started to attack any explorer, archeologist, even merchants that used mountain passes to get through. They attacked them all."


    "After another yearter and the territory had been pushed to the lower mountains, then another three years to the crags and rocky hills, and after even more years, to here. Where we now have the issue of the wyverns leaving here and the forest to hunt for food. That is why we have random wyverns attacks among the viges just outside the giant forest that should house enough food for them."


    With Seran finishing his run down, every angel that stood at the ready behind him was showing clear pain. This had been their battle for most of their lives. So much so that they were sure it would fall to their children or their children''s children. Even without Genesis arriving, it was certain that the Rize empire was going to fall to the wyverns or be forced in to an all out battle against them. Who knew, maybe they would be the ones to make a ship and attempt to reach another ce through the dangers of the ocean.


    "This means there should be more angels here attacking with us. But they only sent you. Why do you think that is?" Walker didn''t want to say this. But he could feel the pressure from the royal dragons on him. They were thinking many things. Once being, why were the angels of the Rize empire only sending such a small group of experts?


    "We are able to be here and represent the best chase we have. The other soldiers sent have no clue how to handle wyverns since they are too young, or they only know how to fight other angels. Wyverns are different. They don''t care about research or obscure things like the Fel empire does. They just kill."


    "If your empire cared so much, they would send their full force to help us. They are not trusting enough to allow Genesis to see their full strength. They are afraid. They are weak." Terron growled out this answer and the earth beneath them seemed to shake slightly. He had not wanted toe all the way here. He had expected to remain in the little vige the entire time but had made his way all here to the mountains for the battles about to start. Why would he havee here if it was just to give a half effort battle against a problem?


    "They are weak. They have no dragon blood to respect like some other monsters that act more arrogant than they should. They gained a lot from a single drop of blood. Imagine if they understood the strength we had with our purity?" Rise was sure that the angels in front of them would learn the strength of dragons as they went forward from here. The strength that was sure to be unmatched.


    "It doesn''t matter what or why now. They might send more angels after we handle things. I want to see if the wyverns can separate themselves first, if they can, they won''t be anyone else''s problem at all. Instead they can be their own race and negotiate a peace with Rize and Fel themselves." Walker was hoping for the best possible oue. However, he had a nagging feeling that he was going to see more than he wanted to hear.


    "Walker, we should stop worrying about these things. I am going scouting with Midnight ahead. We can hide. Onyx shoulde too. It''s colder on the mountains but we have to find the right spot." Gil ended things there. He wanted to scout ahead. But he also wanted to prepare himself mentally. The silence in scouting would do that for him perfectly.


    With Midnight at his side and Onyx taking a spot on his shoulders, Gil gave a wave and headed out leaving everyone to rest. He didn''t feel the need to rest much since he had been able to remain stationary during the battles. That was the perk of being an archer sometimes, less running around when you were with your squad.


    "We can head up toward that small hill. It looks like we can get a good view of what might be going on." The hill was rocky which showed just how much they were beginning to get in to the mountains. Surprisingly, the rocks were able to leave spaces for tougher bushes to grow on the more or less barren hill.


    Midnight tugged at one of the dried bushes covered in what had once been flowers. She was sure there would be seeds in them so she wanted to bring it back. Gil understood this instantly since he knew Remey wanted him to keep an eye out for these things. Plus, the three of them could work together without saying much.


    This was key in scouting. Not only was the unspoken teamwork important but Onyx could speak without saying a word out loud. It meant that when he saw something they were able to prepare without showing their intentions.


    "Scratched up ground, broken rocks, and bits and pieces of bone here and there." Onyx saw them first because he could uncoil himself and raise his head higher than Gil or Midnight could.


    "So they are here for sure but not right now. The hills might be a good ce for the younger ones to eat. But we can''t lure them. We need to lure more of the older wyverns." This wasn''t a good ce to set a trap but might be good to have in mind since there would be the youngest wyverns in the area to watch out for.


    All it would take was one of the younger wyverns to make a sound and it would echo all over the mountains. Many wyverns would hear it giving away the position of every soldier. An army of younger wyverns would be a terrible thing to face right now. It would spell the end of the attempt to meet the wyvern queen who was supposedly able tomunicate with other sentient beings.


    '' Quest: baiting spot


    Requirements: find the perfect location to set the bait in a great trap for wyverns.


    Rewards: 500 experience, 10 heroic points.''


    Gil had been ignoring the system for a while. Through everything that was so busy, he had been doing it all through memory and feelings. That Was how the rest of the party had been doing it too. That was why he was very surprised when there was a notification that gave him more to do revolving around his current task.


    This also showed that it was a muchrger task than he expected. Instead of just finding a ce to set bait, it was to set a major trap. This meant that it had to hold more importance in the world than he had imagined. It also meant that he wasn''t the only one with the quest.


    "Sister and I have it too. We are ready to get serious." Onyx started to move on to Midnight''s back as the shadow wrapping skill started to help Midnight hide. They were going to split up for a little bit and in the perfect ce. It was much more important now than before.


    "We''ll find two ces to set traps. Remey can give potions to poison both. That''s the best option. Attract more wyverns, make more unconscious, and then we will be able to handle things better." Gil made th4 executive decision before Midnight and Onyx went on their way. This could make or break their future travel up the harsh mountain to a pce that the angels had not been able to go before.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1757 1757. Scouting Success

    "Sister, can you smell that?" Onyx had been careful to keep a good eye around them. But between him and Midnight, he knew they could sense more by smelling the air.


    "In the wind." Midnight was still having a rough timemunicating. She was keeping the ability to speak mentally with Onyx but she was trying to form her thoughts in to humannguage. It was a strange way to go about things but Onyx was impressed.


    Onyx had an advantage over everyone. He had no idea how to speak since he was unable to do so out loud in general. He could only hope that as he got older he would have the chance. But since Midnight was going so far to think she was speaking innguages in her head, he had to pride her. Normally he would get a gist of what she wanted to say just sharing the telepathy with her.


    "It''s not blood, but it is simr with a rotten smell." The smell was familiar and the two had smelled it between many monsters. It wasn''t the same as undead but it was simr to what they had smelled around undead. It made them both go on higher alert while they were scouting the area.


    Since the two had sped up their movement by moving through the shadows of rocks and the hills, they were able to travel without being seen by anything that might be looking. The issue with this was that they had alsoe across evidence that a few monsters lived near here still even though the wyverns'' young hunted here for food.


    The bones of a few flying spiders'' wings were here and there meaning that something had dragged them from the lower forest. However, when Midnight had foundrger bones the size of a wolf, she wondered if there were the y wolves she had been warned about.


    Walker and the others had been verymunicative, "Sister, if they are the y wolves, we will have to watch out for underground dens." Onyx also remembered the worries that the others had. He always listened to what they had to say.


    While the two archangels had been d to share the dangers of the area, Walker had read and memorized the books about monster species of the mountains and rocky areas. The y wolf was a fairlymon monster that would get in to groups of five or six. The reason they survived was the fact that they would cover themselves in y to help them easily slip in to underground spaces between rocks.


    The further boost from their earth affinity allowed them to carve out perfect ces to hide for weeks at a time. They also dragged prey underground to hide it from others. This made them an annoyance to wyverns that fed themselves here. They stole food from them and escaped. Not that it was always the case. The wyverns often ate them as well.


    Midnight stopped stepping without care. The perks of being a dragon were everywhere when it came to senses. Since she had trained since she met the party and became family, she had been able to focus on her senses. When it came to Mna, she had learned a lot from Walker. Remey had shown her sense of smell when it came to herbs. Su had focused on the feel of physicalbat and healing. And Gil had been the key to her finding her eyesight improving.


    Without anyone noticing, Midnight had learned from all of them. That didn''t even factor in what else she had learned from the various people that she met. But that wasn''t the focus here, she could spot the small ce of the earth that had been shuffled here and there. "You found six y wolves here? Do we take them out?" Onyx wasn''t sure what Midnight was thinking.


    "More bait." Onyx felt that Midnight was being greedy. But she was right, it would be more bait. "Wait for brother." knowing that Midnight was willing to wait meant that she had taken the fact that she couldn''t finish their current quest in to ount.


    Not to mention that carrying around six y wolves would need Onyx to take on arger form. It would also attract any and all monsters around. the scent of defeated wolves dripping blood on the ground would be tough to hide. They were better off letting Walker hide it away in his storage after they defeated them. Plus, Walker could use earth magic to defeat the unsuspecting wolves in the blink of an eye.


    The two pushed away from the area without alerting the y wolf. It was easy for Midnight and Onyx to memorize the location. Neother worried about Gil who had also pushed up to the rockier areas closer to the solid rock mountain. They were focused on therge spikes of stone that jutted out.


    Here and there were some ckened crystals. Thend of Sigil was already full of areas like this. They were not strictly mana crystals but normal growth of crystals due to the minerals in the ground. They seemed to appear in certain areas with densely packed minerals and changed the terrain.


    Since the mountain had so many nutrients, it made sense that crystals would appear here. Onyx didn''t hesitate to break off a few smaller ones to hide in his mouth. That way he could give them to Walker when they got back. He wanted to know what they were specifically since they had a ck and gray tinge to them. Surely they had to be rted to iron but that was just a guess.


    The rockier the area became, the more that the two realized they were on a very tough to climb mountain. Just being able to get over onerge piece of rock was a triumph that led to another. The way that the rocks were piled here and there proved that when the earth shifted more mountains came to be. It was as if two mountains had been smashed together to make this singr mountain. But every mountain that came together like this had somehow formed a long chain of mountains to divide the territory of the Ruize empire. An amazing feat of nature.


    "There, sister, that is what we need." The space that Onyx looked in to was the one between the two mountains. An ideal space where the mountains had shed and left a natural tear in the earth. Rocks were jutting out from either side creating a very tough ce for any monster to crawl. But if tempted by food, it would be a natural trap for every monster that went in.


    "If we lure them here then they will be stuck for a while. Brother said they are very hungry so they won''t fear the tight space." Onyx was proud and Midnight''s sudden huff of approval made him even happier. He knew that Midnight was praising him for spotting it before her. The two had found their goal when it came to the quest, now they just had to scout the area a little more. It also left Gil to still work on his quest.


    "Those two won''t believe me if I told them I found a better spot." Gil was standing near arge pit. One that had clearly been carved out here on purpose. But he had already figured out what happened. He just wanted to brag when he told the others he had found the best spot.


    While Midnight and Gil had been scouting through the shadows of rocks and hills, Gil had been checking the hills and tracking something interesting.


    With his sharp eyes and hunter''s instincts, he had followed the scrapings on rocks that were clear markings of territory. Most of the time, Gil would avoid predators like this. Yet, he had been briefed on what monsters loved in the area. This had allowed him to make some assumptions as to what he had found.


    The sleeping beast was not one that would normally be found near Genesis. It was one that was unique to Sigil as far as he knew. A solitary monster that would cut outrge chunks of stone to show off strength. That when hunting left marks on every rock to attract females to itself. A mountain lion.


    This wasn''t just a maned lion that lived in the ins. This was a slim beast of a monster that used the stones it cut apart to create its own armor. A smart monster that could go head to head with other monsters. Its tough ws were enough to cut through stone while it was able to even bite through tough ores too. A monster that he was told to avoid since it would fight with the young wyverns to defend territory. The perfect ce toy bait and cause a fight that would distract multiple wyverns.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1758 1758. Alchemy Or Poison

    ''Chain Quest- setting the perfect traps- link one


    Requirement: poison all the bait with the best poison.


    Reward: knowledge about the stone fruit''


    Remey''s head shot up. She was sitting calmly while resting and waiting to see when Gil and Midnight would return.s he knew that she would have a lot to do when it came to the traps that would be set. She already had told everyone that she would be using whatever poisons that she could get her hands on to set traps.


    "Walker! I have to have the wasp poison that we got from the riversides. I ended every poisonous or venomous monster we have ever fought now!" Her sudden shouting brought Walker to his senses from his own rest. He had no idea what was going on.


    "Did you get a quest or something?" He wondered what was going on until Remey grabbed his arm and dragged him to a more open space in her temporary camp. The moment that she had started ranting about what she could do to make a powerful mixed poison, was when he also saw the quest pop up for him.


    "This is a chain quest? Why now, everything we have been doing have been quests we barely even look at." Walker was sure that they had just been getting small quests. They had gotten ones for getting through the forest, defeating the smanders, and surviving the night before. But now they were getting a real chain quest to set these traps? There had to be more to it.


    "Who cares Walker? We need to get these baits ready, take out the cauldron I had to handle. Midnight,e start the fire so I can save mana, wait, she''s not here. Ignus, want to make some poison to mess with the wyverns more?" Remey''s viciousness made Ignus turn his head.


    As much as Ignus would normally not help with something like this, he wanted to battle the wyverns and win. He also wanted to make the ones that could potentially grow to attack his territory. The desire for revenge and his hot temper were all that he needed to break the normal attitude he had as ofte. He didn''t need to meditate and gain energy, this would be worth the spending of some energy.


    Walker felt a little pushed around as Ignus and Remey were now both staring him down, but the cauldron he had been pushed to bring along with other alchemy tools were easy to take out. They had an impromptu alchemyb made right there in the middle of the hills. The soldiers had even been drawn to watch some of what was going on since it seemed pretty interesting.


    Naturally, the healers were also drawn over. The Fel empire was full of researchers, naturally anything rted to potions would attract them. Especially since they had seen the effectiveness of Remey''s healing potions already. Not to mention that they had been briefed on the affinity potions that were a mystery to them so far.


    As the cauldron started to be heated, Current moved over and added some water to the cauldron. He had been purely observationaltely, now he had decided to start helping since he wanted the process to move along after while waiting for Gil and Midnight to return.


    It wasn''t that the dragon didn''t want to help much, but saving the mana for battle was more important. Unfortunately, boredom and curiosity were out to get them. Since Current had already broken his meditation after Ignus, the others soon came to watch as well. Mordant normally was the first to act on these things since he had be closer than the other dragons to genesis. However, Current was one of the first to actually meet them.


    "You can use water to mix the poisons? Won''t that cause your poisons and venom to contradict one another?" Current had seen monsters that could influence poisons. It wasmon in underwater monsters that were smaller and had to do so to hunt prey. That Was also the case for many nt type monsters of the world.


    "It''s simple, I can control how the heat that Ignus makes is manipting them. The liquid inside is all different. Each position has its own boiling point. I just need to use that to make it sit differently." This process was simr to how the antidotes were made. But many alchemists would not go around making condensed poisons. They would rarely be able to do so unless it was for a benefit to people as whole.


    Remey had learned these things from the old master alchemist. Many healers would rely on plumbing potions or simr poisons to be able to help people in pain. Some things would not be able to be treated with own healing session. This was all just a fact of life. Sometimes things weren''t so easy.


    When the old master alchemist had taught Remey these things, he had never thought that she would one day be using the knowledge to actually make poisons. Remey was just a brawler ck then that had alwayse to watch him work.


    "I can find the heat that the paralytic poisons sit at, then I canyer it and make it more condensed. After that, I will focus on the poisons that make people bleed, dizzy, and that makes things swell. For a person they would be dangerous, to a dragon or something with dragon blood, they would just cause very bad symptoms. What I really want to know is what would happen if I condensed them all." there was a very evil glint in Remey''s eyes. It made everyone wonder if she really had a hero title.


    "Walker, start helping me separate the poisons, that yellow hue is from some of the slimes we have battles. The acidic slimes were perfect for breaking down the other liquids that help monsters protect themselves from their poisons. We need that to be dissolved and then we can separate that for the other poisons." Remey had already started giving instructions and Walker saw a lot of potential.


    Since Walker had learned how to make potions from Remey and others, he was sure that he could use the water maniption and control of heat to do just that. He wasn''t sure if he could control the acidic body of the yellow slimes they had battled. He didn''t have a specific skill that would control acidic substances. He was sure that there was one somewhere though. There were skills for everything.


    The only issue was thattely he had been seeing a lot of simr skills. skills that ovepped or that he just in didn''t use because there was so much to think about. He was better off just staying with what he could use the best. Especially when it came to skills that used a lot of danger and mana. Danger for his allies because of their effects and mana because of therge costs.


    The control over the acid was surprisingly easy. Remey had taken on the brunt of control over the temperature and the poisons. Feeling the flow, Walker isted the small streams of yellow in the cauldron. As he did so, he felt that there was a flow of heat that was pushing the acidic liquid away from the poison. That was what he needed to attack. That was what would protect monsters from their own poisons and venoms.


    As the reaction began, a white and ck smoke mixed above them. Ventus used a single hand to start a breeze to push it away from them. It was surely toxic as well and would smell terrible. To a dragon''s sharper senses, it would be too rough to handle while watching the strange poison making process.


    Furthermore, Walker found that he was able to bring different poisons close. Remey was controlling the changes in the poisons with her mana. It was great to have alchemy fire ying a role in this because it could delicately remove the added water or impurities within it. It also helped the different, yet simr poisons tobine.


    Even the opposing poisons that would cause headaches and dizziness were able to mix with the poisons that would make the body feel heavy. These different herbs were being mixed in that caused these issues as well. The opposite side of alchemy which was poison making was being shown off in full.


    ''The skill poison sense has been taken from the food tester system. The user has been around many poisons, venoms, and impurities through alchemy to gain this skill.


    ''Poison sense- passive


    The skill allows the user to better sense poisons all around them. It is only effective when near poisons that are not living but they are in food, items, or other non living things. It is always active and will depend on the senses of the user overall. The stronger and more sensitive the user, the better the skill will be.''


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1759 1759. Poison Remnants

    The new skill appearing made Walker feel a slight unease while he was working on the poisons that Remey was making. It was an odd feeling because his logic could ovee it. However, he could not shake the slight skin crawling feeling that forced him to check his system to see what had just happened.


    "Hmm, I have been around enough poisons to get a skill called poison sense. Remey, this might be your fault." Walker had stopped the movement of the acidic slime body and made it form a ball. He felt that his time had finished with it since he couldn''t see any more separation between the different poisons.


    "That''s good for the future when I might have more potions that make a mist of poison around. But otherwise, wait to tell me thister and take the slime acid out of the cauldron all together in that ball you made. Remey was struggling to keep the liquidbining with such a vtile ingredient within the cauldron. Once it was removed she could make the finalbinations needed.


    "Normally charcoal is used in healing!" One of healers was stunned to see that Remey had reached for a jar of ground charcoal as soon as she had seen Walker use his water maniption and heat maniption to take the yellow ball of acidic slime body from the potion.


    "It''s made using processes that allow it to absorb impurities. The fire that created this left a lot of spaces within it. If you look closely under a reading ss or magnifying ss you can see the structure. It''s not that important to know why it works though." Remey mumbled the answers as if she was teaching a student. It was fairly amusing to the rest of the group since they rarely saw her act like that.


    "It is used to help remove poisons too. Some of the poisons from mushrooms will easily be removed just by letting someone drink some charcoal boiled water. But here I am sure that it is taking out something that prevents the poisons from resting together." Su backed Remey up and watched as the color of brown and ugly potion was changing as the charcoal forced sediments and other impurities to condense in the bottom.


    The color was changing as Remey motioned for Ignus to change the temperature lower and lower. Without missing a beat, Ventus changed her wind flow around the cauldron from getting rid of fumes to helping cool the entire thing. Remey also started using a skill to cool the cauldron before grabbing the tools she had set to the side to remove the topyer of shiny purple poison liquid from the top of the impurities.


    Fifteen vialster, Remey stood tall wearing the thick leather gloves needed to protect her from the poisons she had made. "This is the poison we will use. It can absorb in to the skin of the monsters we hunted while being scentless. Without a skill like poison sense, the only thing that gives it away is color." Remey knew that she had achieved something very great. She had used all her knowledge and control to make it happen.


    "That''s so little, what will the effects be?" Ignus was a bit annoyed that he had helped to create just fifteen vials of a poison that should be able to make even him, an adult dragon weak.


    "Trust me, it will mess someone up worse than a drunken bar fight." Remey was sure that this was the worst thing she had ever made. Most of the time she was proud of her potions. Yet, looking at the vials of semi clear purple liquid, she felt disgusted. Everything in her was telling her that she had made something dangerous and opposite to her beliefs overall.


    ''Condensed poison potion


    Using the poisons of various monsters and herbs, the condensed poison cocktail within this potion are very dangerous for anything with flesh and blood. Even golem cores may take damage ifing in direct contact with this poison.


    The acidic quality used to burn away the bonding solutions was removed along with the impurities created from using it. This process condensed and made a more dangerous poison that can take root through contact rather than the air. It is safe to breathe easily around this poison.


    Touching in any form will cause this poison to absorb easily in to the skin due to the oily nature thates with it. It will cause paralysis to varying degrees, blood clotting, dizziness, swelling, and multiple other symptoms. It can only be removed by high heat and a specific antidote. It is highly rmended to have a master alchemist prepared to create such an antidote.


    The effects of this potion will depend on the creature it is used on and the amount theye in to contact with. The shelf life is one month before it will degrade in to a rotting ooze that has a high potential to be a slime type monster ifing across enough natural mana.''


    Walker read everything out but thest part. He didn''t feel that it was important to anyone that this could create a monster. He was interested though. He had never found anything that he might be able to intentionally make a monster with other than potential golems. But to make a slime all by himself? That could be interesting. Especially since he had seen the dangers that came with the system of a slime breeder.


    "So?" Everyone looked at Walker for the next move.


    "Only the strongest of us will poison the beasts while we set the trap. These vials will be watched over by the royal dragons. No one will touch them. They have the highest resistance to them and I will not be allowing anyone to be harmed by these poisons." Remey heard this and visibly rxed. Having the most resistant beings watching over this danger was wise.


    "I can purify this with light but not to the proper degree to fully heal the damage. It is a very dangerous poison that even I can be worried of." Rise made a point to say this which made every royal dragon respect it more.


    "Good, then you will be able to guard it." Remey rted even more. Knowing that even the dragons were able to protect it because of their own fears it could affect them. It meant they had full seriousness.


    "What about the remnants here? We need to get rid of them too, right?" One of the healers was curious about what would happen to any remnants of the potions. The impurities had been drawn out of the poisons but surely they were still poisonous. It was a very good learning lesson for a foreign alchemy they had never seen in theirnds.


    "Normally yes, we would throw it away and wash it elsewhere. But we might want to burn it up instead." Remey was ready to ask Ignus to super burn this to nothing before Walker raised a hand and stopped her.


    ''Crystalized poison


    This is useless to anyone when ites to using it as a poison that could hurt someone when touched, ingested, or even burned. It is a great ingredient to use to create poison steel. A forging method lost to time with a family of assassins that once specialized in forging with extremely condensed poison and metals.


    The demi-human cksmiths that created this were known as the purple shadows. They were able to create unique sharp des made of poison steel. By doing so they never needed to carry additional poison. Unfortunately, they were rooted out after they had begun to take power from the previous king of the demi-humans. This fact was buried in history and forgotten as the generations grew.''


    "We can save this. I will make use of it in forging. I think we can ask the demi-humans about it." Walker saw some curious demi-human soldiers but didn''t see any understanding. That was fine though. He hadn''t said what these items would be for. Instead he stored it all away and then started to help clean things with water mana. He would not touch a thing.


    "I guess we have good timing. You would not believe what I found." Gil stood tall and proud of what he had found.


    "Sister and I found something better. Gil says he found the best trap but his is not like ours." Onyx was in directpetition and did not hesitate to push Gil a little. Midnight seemed to be the most mature of the three which was odd since she was normally the most childish.


    "Then tell us what you have." Walker didn''t skip a beat. He made sure to let the three exin right away while the others were already drawn in after watching the poison making process.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1760 1760. Better Traps

    The timing was too perfect, but that was just the luck that the group had. Timing was all they needed to make things flow efficiently and to get the n on the roll. "A space where the mountain tore apart and created a crag with a lot of sharper rocks? That''s great. We can get the wyverns stuck there and seal the top if we want. They will be affected by the poisons and trapped." Walker was happy to hear what onyx and Midnight had found. He was sure that it would be a perfect trap that only required a few of the earth mages to work together.


    "If we do it that way, I can send three of my team. They have the earth affinity to assist earth mages." Seran didn''t want to see a royal dragon having to work on this. He had a feeling that it would bring a lot of hate toward him. He had already seen what the dragons were capable of to a small degree.


    "Then that''s what we will do. I want to see what my poison can do against these wyverns. Especially if they think they can fight through it." Remey was showing her viciousness still. It was the adrenalin that was coursing through everyone after knowing that they would have a solid n. But they still needed to set the traps and poison the bait, just because they had poison didn''t mean they were ready.


    "Oh, so that''s that? You don''t even want to know about the second trap I want to set?" Gil had stopped them all in their conversations of how to prepare the trap quickly and easily.


    "What did you find Gil?" Su and Alice were the most interested since they remembered that Gil had said he found a better spot when he hade back. Onyx and Midnight had even acted a little more forceful meaning that they were probably a little jealous of what he had found.


    "Just a monster that will be able to fight a few of the wyverns at once." This brought a lot of raised eyebrows and questions to mind.


    ''What monster did you find? Crag spiders? Or did you find a cave full of cave crawlers?" Seran was much more serious since he knew the dangers of the monsters that might be in the area. Especially monsters that might be able to fight the wyverns.


    "I found a mountain lion that has carved itself a very good home. At first I saw the cuts in stone before I found arge circr hole in the rocks that it had dug out." The angels all knew of the monster that Gil was talking about. They had even told him about it.


    "How did it look? Young or old? Was it covered in scrapes and cuts? If it was then the wyverns will tear it apart." Seran knew that a lot of the older mountain lions would be too damaged to be able to take on many young wyverns or even an elderly wyvern that had experience in battles and a lot more strength.


    "It had a full set of stone around its body. The armor it made was a little roughed up but there were plenty of bones and other signs that it has been eating well enough. I think that it is a young and strong mountain lion. I wouldn''t hunt it but If we set some bait¡­"


    p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® "Then there will be wyverns that attack it will be in for a hard battle." Seran stomped his foot down with a veryrge impressed grin. The angels around also showed that they were very happy to have been ced with such good scouts.


    Not only had the Genesis, Fel empire, and Rize empire scouts been working together, but they had made some of the best advances in maps as of yet. They had great details to add to their route which prevented their travels from slowing. Furthermore, they had detailed information on monsters in the area. Specifically, one that they would normally avoid at all costs.


    "I forgot the best part, the mountain lion was asleep when I saw it. That means that we have plenty of time to set a trap, right? One of your soldiers told me they will sleep for days if they aren''t bothered." Gil also remembered being told that the mountain lions would wake up very hungry every single time that they woke up.


    "It will be hungry. This is the highest priority. Bait the wyverns to attack and draw in the older wyverns. If we can manage these two traps we can climb without being hunted. We can reach the ruins with the earth mages helping." Seran felt that this was a much greater challenge than before. However, he also felt that this was a greater possibility for sess.


    "Then we move now. Gil, I will go with you and prepare things. Remey, you should go with Midnight and Onyx. we are splitting up. The others will go down the center with Su and Alice to ensure that we are prepared. We will meet up with them since there won''t be anything bothering them after we set the traps." Walker knew splitting in to three groups was dangerous. But that was the deal, the royal dragons, Su, and Alice toward their goal with the main group of soldiers, then the other two groups to separate traps.


    It was the time for action. The earth mages followed Remey without hesitation. Gil started off with Walker behind him. He had already split the monster bodies and given them to the other group. They carried the smaller monsters and knew that Midnight and Onyx had found some monsters in hiding.


    While Walker wanted to see the y wolves, he didn''t have the chance right now. He had to go where he would be able to do the most. The area that Gil was going required more strength to ensure that the trap was set. Keeping the mountain lion from being disturbed would take better magical control than the others had. Let alone the fact that Walker could most likely stop the mountain lion for a moment to direct its anger when it was woken up.


    The fact that he could also manipte the poison using some water elemental mana was beneficial. The water mages that came with them would be able to remain with the main group since Remey was able to deal with the potions safely because of her skill in potions as an alchemist. This saved mana overall for the entire group of soldiers.


    "Just stay slow and remain on high alert. The second that a mountain lion sees prey, it will attack relentlessly. They are vicious and can hunt something for days. Especially if you touch its home." Seran gave thest warning before he remained with the group of soldiers heading down the center. It was best that he also remained at the ready since he was the main captain of the angels. Walker also wanted to reduce risks of going to the traps.


    Five elves had gone with Gil and Walker. There were also three dragonkin that Moedant had sent. He was sure that they would be of use moving the bodies and making any fine cuts that would house the poisons without showing it too much. Just because wyverns were known as blunt and hard headed creatures, did not mean they would eat something odd.


    "This is where I was when I found the scratches. I thought it was just messed up stone until I saw this." Gil showed off some stones that looked like they had holes in them. w marks of the mountain lion testing them to see if they were hard enough to be used as armor. "That''s when I realized that they were monster marks."


    "Perfect, so the mountain lion is just this way?" Walker crept ahead and moved with Gil. The two were much faster now that they and their group were smaller. It was a great way to set their trap and run as fast as possible.


    The time scouting was much longer than what it took for Walker to be sitting over the edge of the cut out stone Gil brought him to. Down in the center was the mountain lion Gil had seen, still slumbering peacefully.


    ''Adult mountain lion


    This fully armored adult mountain lion is still fairly young for an adult. But it is in its prime. Able to fight head on against the many mountain monsters living near it. They are also able to consume the mountain buffalo that roll in rock dust to toughen their bodies.


    This mountain lion has slumbered for seven days and will wake up naturally in three more days. It is undergoing arge growth spurt before it pursues a mate. This is a stage where it will be exceptionally aggressive in life while trying to gather arge amount of food¡­''


    Walker didn''t need to read in to it even more than he had. Without hesitating he began to add to his n to set a trap.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1761 1761. Active Traps

    The life mage that had been called over had no idea why Walker had requested him. All he knew was that he was told that he would be a very important part of setting the trap with Walker now. He didn''t have any issues with that though. He did wonder, he was just a healer. How could he be a very important part of setting a trap when he couldn''t set traps at all?


    "Just be careful there, if you are going to have those lowered around and down that stone, the poison might seep out." One of the cave crawler bodies was already cut open and had some of the poison spilled in to it. Not a single drop had fallen anywhere but Gil had to make sure that Walker was careful. Having a poisoned leader was not part of his personal ns.


    "It''s fine, I can use wind to lower things down even more softly. I have been using it to stop the scents of the smander bodies from warning the mountain lion. That''s why it''s still sleeping." Walker had asked Gil to speak with Zephyr for assistance here.


    The wind magic needed was very delicate. Therefore, the first thought had been for Gil himself to try and manipte wind. Unfortunately, Gil was not a mage so his win elemental mana maniption was all based on arrows and creating arrows. He did say that he would be able to deflect arrows at some point too though which was something that zephyr had told him was a part of using her strength as his avatar.


    "This is really going to make something bad stop attacking people?" Zephyr''s question was putting Walker and Gil on the spot. She was more interested in the mountain lion than the wyverns who could potentially be flying around in just a short while since the smell of defeated monsters was being blown toward the mountains.


    "We already said that there are enough wyverns to be causing trouble for everything living in the mountains. Why don''t you believe us?" Gil was having this slight argument with Zephyr which made Walker wonder just what went on between the two on a daily basis. It was funny though since they both seemed happier working together than before Walker had asked zephyr to lend her some strength on controlling wind elemental mana.


    Fleur on the other hand was even happier than Gil and Zephyr since she was helping bring Zephyr''s control and Walker''s mana together. Not to mention that she had a veryrge storage of natural mana due to Walker''s careful attempts to absorb and draw more mana toward himself while they were travelingtely. It was all in an attempt to get stronger.


    When the behemoth smander''s body was brought out, everyone became serious. It was hard to move and Walker was a little hurt to give up the materials from therge smander. It could have been used for other things, however, it was too tempting of a smell for wyverns. It was already pungent since it was arge monster but with dragon blood in it, the wyverns would be more tempted toe and figure out what was going on with it. This would also make them a bit more aggressive which would in turn make the mountain lion even more aggressive.


    "Everyone, help me lower it down." Walker had cut in to three ces with a dagger to create a poisoned portion of meat. The slight vaporing from the wounds proved that the poison was reacting with the behemoth smander''s body. It was dangerous, to say the least, and put everyone more on edge to know what they were dealing with.


    As the smander was lowered down, Walker and Gil both received a notification that their quest wasplete. That was great, but the screech they heard meant that they didn''t see the next link to the chain quest.


    ''Third link- infiltration


    Requirement- infiltrate the wyvern''s nest and find the queen of the wyverns.


    Rewards- ancient dragonnguage trantion skill.''


    If either had seen this, they would have been amazed. The dragonnguage that was now tranted with the skills and the will of the world were able to be understood. But ancientnguages? The same could not be said for. That was why the origin runes were a mystery. The ancient dragonnguage was sure to be the same, a mystery to them without trantion.


    "Time to do your part. The mountain lion heard that and is waking up. Wherever that wyvern is, it has started toe this way. That behemoth smander attracted it and whatever else heard that screech. We are going to make sure that the mountain lion can battle for a long time." Walker had thought of an addition to the n which was why he had a dragonkin rush to get a life mage with many skills that could help.


    "Just start applying every single buff you have to that monster down there and then we run." the smile that Walker had could only be described as reckless. No one else would ever ask someone to buff a monster. It was crazy. It was a monster that no one had any control of, not a tamer monster that bonded with a tamer and was kept on a tight leash.


    "I understand." The life mage did see the benefit. He also watched as Walker applied the buffs he had to the mountain lion and even dropped two poisons that crashed and became mist around the lion. Did the life mage know that they were special healing and mana potions? No, but they clearly would have a positive effect on the mountain lion.


    Just as the buffs were being ced, another screech broke through the air and made Gil along with the other archers turn to see the approaching shapes. It wasn''t just onerge wyvern, at least six wereing. Two were snapping at one another in the air trying to get to the food they smelled first. One of the smander bodies being left near the top of the rocks was the perfect bait to draw them toward the real trap. It also let everyone have more time to begin running.


    "We need to leave." Walker used the shadow wrapping skill she had learned from midnight to begin hiding them. The dragonkin that Mordant had sent with him also helped manipte the darkness mana to help hide them. Their skillspounded with Walker''s to hide them from sight almostpletely behind the rocks they were crouched and sneaking away from.


    The screeching of the wyverns did little to help the mountain lion stay awake. The buffs also brought the mountain lion back to the waking world faster. It couldn''t miss the danger approaching. Any monster would sense the feeling of dangering from the monstersnding and attacking the defeated monsters on the ground.


    With this sudden attack, the mountain lion started to roar and tore in to the young wyvern thatnded too close to it. This immediately alerted the other wyvernsnding around that there was danger. But they too were fighting one another to get to the meat they wanted. Food was in short supply so only the strong could have it. And with the mountain lion pushing them in to a frenzy, the group only had to look back and understand the trap had been set much more heavily than they needed.


    It had only been a few moments and the sounds of battle were growing loud enough to echo off the mountains. The distant screeches of more powerful wyverns had begun to grow. "Push it faster, I have shadow wrapping around us so just stay close to the shadows." Walker didn''t need to put much mana in to his skills. He could feel that the wyverns would ignore them if they noticed the small shapespared to the scent of food that attracted all of them.


    Meanwhile, the same sight was happening in the crag that Remey had just kicked another flying spider in to. However, the scene there was full of smaller wyverns. The young had sniffed out the smaller prey they would normally hunt fairly quickly. But instead of attacking the shapes above the crag, they had dove right in to attack what they could. Their shrill screeching attracting more of the youngest to feed on the food they found. Especially on those that they found of their own kind who were poisoned and falling down in front of them. Ack of food was ack of food, it didn''t matter what kind.


    "Remey, we need to close this even tighter. Leave the rest of the bait around the entrance." Thest three flying spider bodies were left with thest of the poison since the group could see more little wyverns approaching. Safety was the highest priority.


    Remey stood tall and looked at Onyx and Midnight were on guard and kept an eye on her safety. She turned to the earth mages, "Close it up tight then create spikes all around it!" The order went out as the earth mages worked together to shake the ground.


    p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® A chorus of shrill screeches grew while the entrance to the crag was closed leaving the smallest of space that nothing could get out of. The wyvern younglings would need to cut and scrape themselves away to even get through it at all. The lure of food would make them do that though. A small constant trap of poison and food. A terrible trap indeed.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1762 1762. Cliff Climbers

    "That''s Remey up there." Gil spotted Remey and her group rushing ahead of them. They were clearly moving as fast as possible to reach the main force that was waiting for them to make the final move up the mountain.


    "You all look like you were sessful. Especially since I can hear the fighting. Onyx and Midnight said they heard it a few minutes before we started." Remey was slightly out of breath since she and the mages had rushed as fast as possible to avoid the young wyverns flocking to the trap. She had seen more than she imagined would be showing up which truly drove the wyvern issue home in her mind.


    "Says the group that has such high pitched screechinging from their trap. I assume that you attracted a lot of the youngest wyverns? We managed to attract some of the older wyverns. Not adults but stillrger." Walker knew that they would have been able to battle the wyverns he saw. They were not old enough to end their lives but together they would have caused a lot of issues.


    "Brother, the wyverns we saw were very small. Sister was bigger than a lot of them." With OPnyx''sparison, Walker could understand how the trap size was very valuable here.


    "Onyx is right, plus the crag is full of them. They were even attacking and trying to eat each other. I don''t think the poison will be important untilter when arger chunk of the wyverns are already dead from their own fighting." Remey wanted to say that the wyverns were better monsters who would not defeat each other. Unfortunately, they had already seen proof that the wyverns would normally attack and eat their own siblings just to get the food they needed.


    "The group should be just ahead. We have the best chance at getting to the higher peaks now. The angels have mapped out where they could see the ruins. Just beyond the cloudline, there should be our target." Walker snapped back to the problem at hand. They had to get to the ruins atop the mountains.


    "Then we push to it." Remey and Gil looked like they were about to start a race. The mages behind Remey were not as enthused as they could be since they had barely managed to keep up with her, Midnight, and Onyx on the way to this point.


    While this was the only result they had hoped for, the traps set had a growing battle on each. The young wyverns going after one another was definitely enough to gain the attention of the older wyverns and soon became a slightlyrger fight. The trap where the mountain lion was soon became absolute chaos. It was such an ordeal that an adult wyvern arrived shortly after Walker and Gil''s group had left.


    "Alice, the healer will be closer to the front to maintain pace. Make sure the life mages know to use speed and climbing rted buffs. Whatever might help us get the group up that cliff there." Su had taken the main lead of things. The royal dragons had heard the noises and told her that the group would be together again any moment.


    "We can do that. The angels said they will use ropes and spikes to help." Since the group had stopped to evaluate the route up, Alice and Su had not been idle. That would be foolish. Instead, they had been preparing for when the rest got to them. That way they could climb as efficiently as possible.


    The result had been the angels spreading their climbing knowledge. Su and Alice had learned the angels who couldn''t fly because of wyverns and dangerous wings around the mountains had be adept climbers. Even The Fel empire archangels had to learn to climb since there were arge number of cliffs as the mountains ended across the border.


    "Mordant, your dragonkin were a very good help getting us out of there. I didn''t realize that they could help me boost the shadow wrapping skill that I learned from Midnight." Walker''s sudden appearance was only seen by the royal dragons. He was still using the shadow wrapping skill but this time he had more assistance to cover the rest of their group from Midnight and Onyx.


    "I am d to hear that. We were just preparing to climb here. Ventus said she would be controlling the wind to protect the angels and us as we climb. It has been a while since we climbed a mountain in these forms. It should be a little fun before the battle." Mordant showed a soft smile that definitely didn''t match the atmosphere around him.


    "That''s because the mountains are our home. Dragons live in mountains originally. Climbing one in any form feels right. Even for Rise and I." Ventus spoke to back Mordant up and even Rise showed some approval meaning that this must just be a general dragon thing. But to be fair, it was easy to see that Midnight was excited too.


    Climbing a mountain was the same as conquering it in a way. Especially for a dragon that imed territory through battle and domination. This was like testing their strength and power as a dragon against the world or nature itself. "You know what? Yes. Let''s see what we can do and what skills I will learn about climbing. Terron, I am going to copy from you since you are an earth dragon and can easily make the rocks of mountains your own." Walker''s sudden enthusiasm was contagious.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    Not only did the angels and Genesis soldiers hear this, but the rest of the dragons did as well. The desire to follow their path was more than what they wanted. They had not wanted to ept Walker at first. Now after learning about genesis, Walker, and the general state of the world, they wanted to be major yers in the grand scheme of it all. Knowing that Walker was going to learn more about dragons and how they move meant he was bing closer to the nature dragon they wanted. The nature dragon they had grown up learning about.


    Without waiting for any approval, Walker saw that three teams of angels had already started to climb the cliff in front of them. It was slow but steady. The important part was though, that they were linking ropes and stabbing spikes of metal they had brought in to the cliff as they climbed.


    "I hate to say this, but the earth mages should climb up next. We can do more." Walker started to follow the rope up and was using his earth sculpting skill as he did so. The spokes that he had jabbed in to the stone cliff face were being tightened while Walker ensured that every grip he took became a perfect handle.


    Beside him, the dragons had started to climb as well. They were just as enthusiastic as their dragonkin were behind them. Their ws tore in to the cliff face easily allowing them a safe grip to pull themselves up. If they were night fighting gravity, then it would be a simple thing to say that this was an easy activity for the dragon in general.


    As Walker used the high earth sculpting skill to stay ahead and match where the angels had made it, he heard the earth mages making more handholds behind them. Thebined effort would make their travels much easier as time went on. Especially when it came to exploring these ruins in the future. The earth mages could make a path that was safer for anyone researching the area. It would also help the dragonkin if they decided to settle down here after better rtionships with the empires were formed.


    "Walker, can you make a resting spot? We have some people that look like they need a solid ce." Gil and Remey were right with Su behind him. They saw that some of the soldiers had never been this high and were clutching the ropes much more tightly than needed.


    Without hesitation, Walker let his hands sink in to the cliffside. He pulled at the earth mana to create a small ledge where someone could rest their legs and breath. It was a solid spot that would let everyone calm their nerves. The downside was that this was barely a fifth of the way up. That meant he had a long way of making ledges all the way up. Eventually, he imagined there would be a full set of stairs carved in to the side of the cliff.


    What made the most interesting sight was that Onyx was climbing the cliff alone. He was using his full size to wrap and clump up the side of the cliff. His body''s muscles were able to grab on and slither up. It was a very odd but impressive work of nature. Not many monsters could do such things.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1763 1763. Final Cliff Stop.

    Cutting in to the stone seemed easier than done. It was a simple matter as the earth mages and dragonkin moved up, however, when Walker found that he was having some issues it was because of his mana.


    The constant mana control of earth elemental mana was wearing away on him. But it wasn''t wearing away on everyone. Terron, the earth affinity dragonkin, and Su were fine. This was all due to the closer earth elemental affinity. Walker had been using his earth affinity less and lesstely. He was slightly off practice.


    It wasn''t a major issues until he tried to manipte a particrly tough piece of stone. Using the same mana he had before, the stone barely budged making his grip harder. When his hand slipped he managed to use his wind ripple skill to step on the air for a moment.


    Upon doing so, Walker carefully looked at the stone he had just slipped on. His ability to sense the differences in stones and earth has been duller due to hisck of using a lot of earth mana. That was why he couldn''t see that the stone was actually not really stone at all.


    ''Ancient earth wyrm fossil


    The ancient earth wyrm was a powerful wingless dragon that was thought to create mountains. Upon its death it would always bury itself in stone to be able to remain where it conquered for years toe even in death. This fossil is exposed due to the shifting of time against the Mountains. This fossil can be used by certain system users to create an image of the far past. ''


    The fossil was very interesting. It had to be from even before the dragons had created their ruins here. So far in the past that it would be insanely hard toprehend. A time when dragons just took territory without their minds in control at all.


    "Terron, when we finish all this I have something we should dig out of this cliff." Terron heard Walker but wasn''t sure why it mattered at all. There were more things to worry about other than digging. Yet, when Terron nced at the small perusing fossil that showed off a single w, he felt Walker was saying something important.


    "What is it? That pieceing out of the cliff at your hand?"


    "It''s a fossil of an ancient earth wyrm. Most likely one of the oldest ancestors of earth dragons like you. Older than the mountain potential or even the creator of this mountain. More Powerful than just about every dragon we have now." Walker didn''t hide the all''s round appraisal. He just shared as much as he could.


    "Earth dragons are always the most powerful. Many just fail to see it." Terron mumbles this with a nod toward Walker and continued to live up. But there were a few handholds that appeared ahead of Walker making it easier to climb. Walker didn''t say a word and took it as a thank you. History was very important to a dragon. Especially about their own ancestors.


    With this passed them, Walker focused on the climbing more carefully. As he reached up and found he was pulling himself in to arge indent, he realized that he was pulling himself in to a massive cave.


    ''Hanging sky moss


    The hanging sky moss is a moss that can only grow higher in the air. Its blue and green hue is perfectly able to show off the wind and earth affinity it has.


    The moss can be drunk to alleviate stress when boiled in water or it can be used in specific potions. Not many have the skill to work with this earth and wind affinity herb nor the proper abilities to grow it. This is a high quality herb.''


    The moment thatRemey came to the same spot Walker was and looked up at the moss, Walker knew it was over. He had to start collecting as much as possible. "This cave will be the final resting area before I create a path in to the nest." Terron had made this choice already and began to widen the cave carefully to hide his existence from wyverns.


    The cave was smaller since it didn''t go in to the mountain more. It did have a lot of room though. The perfect space to gather more of them and stop. Especially when Terron was using his earth maniption skills to easily prepare to break in to ruins above.


    "This ce is untouched. It''s perfect for growing such amazing herbs." Remey raves about how perfect the sky hanging moss was. She was blown away by the fact that so much of it grew in one ce.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    "Hmm, dual wind and earth affinity. This is made for the sand dragons that Terron and I manage. Those little ones are our children''s children. But they are definitely different breeds." Ventus didn''t often speak of her older children let alone grandchildren. And Terron never did. But they bother were very old dragons capable of having many children over time.


    "They are troublesome and live in the sand. Don''t imagine you will spoil them with special affinity potions. They might cause a storm again. The damage to other territories could be higher thanst time." It was clear there was a story here somewhere. Unfortunately, neither Ventis nor Terron were telling it.


    As the cave was expanded by the earth mages joining Terron, Walker saw that Terron had no issues giving orders to the earth mages. It even seemed like they had a respect between them. It was only possible because Terron had been the earth royal dragon. A being with refined and powerful earth mana. It means that to an earth mage, Terron was basically a king of earth mana, therefore, they would learn from his every use of earth mana in front of them.


    "Maybe the royal dragons can teach elemental magic." Walker was mumbling out loud but he managed to catch the ear of Ignus.


    "Teach mages? You think we would do something so low?" Ignus was arrogant but he couldn''t hide his true curiosity. But his louder response had attracted Current too.


    "I could teach water mages and those water elves a few things. I saw they like to live underwater at all times. What if they could do more than just live underwater? What if they could always bring it with them? It would be interesting to create their own terrain." Current sounded as if he had done this which made a lot of sense when it came to domain skills.


    "Well, just watching all of you use your skills as royal dragons with higher affinity and years of meditation on elemental manas is education. Why not teach mages? You are sure to have dragonkin, dragon, and every race''s elemental mages learning from you. It''s a pretty great way to see the newest young growing up around you and to keep the name of dragons at the peak of everything."


    Knowing that the dragons had pride was just part of the battle. Unfortunately, Walker couldn''tmit more to this thought. Terron had stopped expanding the cave and was waiting for thest of the soldiers toe. He was ncing at Seran who was clearly in shock with the fact that things had gone so smoothly so far. It was easy to understand that the battle switch wyverns had not been easy at all.


    "We will be breaking through the undergrounders. The cave was a blessing when Terron found it. That means we can enter the nest and ruins the wyverns call home. When we do, we will split off based on strength. The weaker soldiers will pair with a squad of angels to battle the wyverns that remain. Any younger wyverns can be held off as much as possible but the odds are we will face the older wyverns. That means you do whatever you need to keep them distracted and you alive."


    "Under no circumstances will we run. Under no circumstances will we ignore the orders of the angels who know how to fight wyverns better. Share your skills and work hand in hand. If you need more, the potions Remey and I handed out are with you already. The life mages are also splitting up. Be ready for Alice''s songs to buff you too. We will not lose a soul."


    The strength in every word that walker said was nothing tough at. He was putting so much emphasis on it because he knew that there was a guarantee that people would be injured here. Whether or not they did their best was not a concern. It was just how would they be healed and when they would be saved., the goal was surviving while Walker and the royal dragons faced this wyvern queen. That was all.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1764 1764. Ruin Breakthrough

    The moment that Terron ced a hand on the ceiling of the cave he had expanded, everyone was silent. They knew that he was using his exceptional control of earth mana to sense where and what might be above.


    As his face showed different emotions, Walker also ced a hand on the wall next to him. He was able to use his own understanding of earth elemental mana to feel the same things that Terron was doing.


    This would be foolish if he was going to add his own mana. However, Walker felt that it was best to learn something and just see what Terron might actually be doing to make him change his facial expressions so much. But when Walker felt the small flow of Terron''s mana he could see that things were much different than he thought.


    Above them, the ruins that everyone had been telling him were years and years old were surprisingly well kept. The earth and stone that had been carved out appeared to still be defined and carefully organized. Statues of dragons and other powerful monsters were outlined in the shapes of earth mana that Terron was seeing.


    The fact that this we all so well upkept told many tales of what might have happened. Was it magic? Runes? Or was it the unlikely fact that the wyverns had been somehow keeping things proper here? Too many things were possible with such an ancient ce. That was until Terron''s mana found that the earth had been carved out in certain ces to expand the ruins.


    They were poorly made areas set up to mimic the ruins. ces that were made to house eggs, sleep in, and also to store food. It was as if the wyverns had begun carving their own history to copy what they had seen. If that was the case, why would they attempt to break away from the dragon bloodline? It was something that Terron had clearly understood and be torn about.


    It was bad that the wyverns didn''t want to be the same as dragons. Dragons were powerful and the top of all. That was what their pride dictated. However, the wyverns clearly cared a lot about the dragon ruins they found. It was even kept so nice that it would be seen as worship in a way.


    When Terron found the earth moving in ces, he was able to sense the existence of six powerful wyverns slumbering in their own out caves. The stones oriented as if they were nests. Beyond that, thergest of spaces carved out had many more defined earth shapes cut from the mountain stone. This was where the mana seemed more erratic. As if the being there was causing the mana to be unsteady just by existing.


    "There is a chamber where there is a powerful wyvern meditating. That would be the queen. I will be going forward to meet this wyvern queen." Terron had made up his mind. A monster with dragon blood that wanted to be their own race was a lot to handle. But one that could mediate the same way he did and understand the workings of earth mana to try and break away from the norm? It was extremely tempting and needed answers.


    "Terron, I watched your mana and sensed the same things. I know it was rude but I think we will have to speak with the wyverns much more closely than before. Don''t try and end them right away. I think there might be a little confusion in how they have grown from here." Walker also sensed that things might be different than how the angels perceived things.


    "If you want to just walk in and treat them like they are anything but monsters¡­" Seran had a moment of anger. He knew too well what damage wyverns caused. To pretend it didn''t happen was already an insult.


    "Distract the wyverns that wake up when we get inside. That''s all you need to do. We will be solving this problem today." Walker''s steeled words made Seran remember the strength that the elemental spirits had over elemental mana. Along with the simple fact that Walker could also manipte mana that no angel could. It was just the slight flutter of Walker''s mana when Seran had shown hostility just now, but it was enough to make Seran take a pause.


    "Good, now we move." The groups had already been selected as Terron and Walker had taken a careful look. Tunneling up in to the ruins was not something that could be hidden. The cave could be made but the ruins themselves had harder stone made by dragons and tread on for years and years, it would take Terron some effort to break in.


    "Just do it and we can repair what''s brokenter." Walker made this problem and nced at the earth mages. Terron gave a nod and the tension in the air grew. Every single dragon and soldier knew this was the moment things were serious.


    The second that the earth shifted and the opening appeared, the crack of stone proved that the stones that had beenid to create the floor of the ruins were shattered immediately. The earth that rose beneath their feet pushed everyone up. It was followed by the thuds of wyverns awakening and their angered roars.


    ''Adult earth wyvern<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    This adult earth wyvern is normally able to live for days and days without food. They will absorb earth elemental energy to strengthen their scales and bones then slumber for a longer time to adapt. When woken up they are instantly enraged. However, they are able to calm themselves by attacking and releasing some pent up anger.


    They have spiky protrusions of bones that angle back so that they can use their heads as weapons against their enemies. This is clear in the way that they will swing their bodies causing blunt force damage. When they breathe in deeply, they are capable of releasing a fear enduring screech due to the small stones that will lodge in their throats over time as they consume some earth. This does not harm them due to their higher earth affinity.


    There are often weaker points on their joints since they had skinnier legs and arms. Their tails are either spiked or smooth like whips. This depends on their male or female orientation. The bone spikes on their elbow are also a method of attacking simr to the bones on their wings. It is safe to avoid them at all costs¡­''


    Walker could read more and more information. The all around appraisal showed such in depth information that he was sure that the record he wroteter would be one of the most detailed ounts of wyverns written in years. But priding himself on the all around appraisal skill would need toeter.


    "Together!" Seran yelled and sent his teams ahead. The soldiers followed as they saw the massive wyvern ahead. Without hesitation, multiple skills and buffs were used. Some confused the first adult wyvern to charge at them while the others were boosting the speed and defenses of the soldiers.


    "We are moving forward." Walker pushed ahead ignoring the first wyvern. The group in charge of distracting it was already taking all of its attention while they pushed out of the ruins toward the open cliff. Their goal was to lure it further away using their ability to fly.


    The rumbling of the ruins were increasing. Walker had not realized the massive size of the ruins from underneath but now felt that he was in a giant''s world. Even the dragons of this era were smallpared to what the dragons used to be. It would be a massive learning point for the dragons and every single race that did not know enough about the ancient times of this world.


    "Stop, they areing." Terron had a closer sense of what the wyverns were doing. He felt them rushing toward them and stopped so that everyone could prepare their skills.


    "We can roar together. Midnight,e here." Walker saw the other dragons nce at him and begin to take in deep breaths. Theirbined roars would be enough to shake every single inch of the ruins and dug out caverns. That way the wyverns would be shaken by the power behind the dragons.


    Feeling that it was better to remain in their dragonkin forms, the dragons felt tied down. But they also understood that doing so brought them to the wyvern queen faster. To put them in front of someone that might be their toughest fight in many generations. "Now!" Onyx used his skills to send the signal to the dragons and the others. The soldiers with them held their ears while the roar was released.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1765 1765. The Wyvern Queen

    The roar that echoed caused many of the soldiers to still fall to their knees. Alice had started aiming to buff all the groups and the life mages hade out of nowhere with a sound dampening spell.


    The skills used were enough to lessen the attack of sound on the soldiers but to the wyverns inside the ruins, it was vicious.


    Not only did the sound hurt their eardrums, but it carried with it the purer dragon bloodline strength. A roar that totally pushed them away when it came to bloodline dominance. Any monster would understand the feeling of this sort of strength. A strength that was older and more powerful than theirs.


    The secondary echo of this was a simple screeching roar in retaliation. "That was the wyvern queen. All groups move!" Walker had Onyx send these orders to everyone as the engraved wyverns appeared in the open space of the ruins. This allowed Walker and the royal dragons to move in to the dig out area with ease.


    Thest nce at his party proved that Walker would being back. It was also their promise that they would be holding things down safely. Midnight had done the same nce back to the others before rushing away as well.


    "Brother, I will be waiting for you." Onyx''sst words to Walker before they left the range that they couldmunicate mentally were just more motivation for him to push and do his best.


    The rumbling of the wyverns fighting and attacking was much more than expected. Even now that the royal dragons were pushing in to the area that the wyverns had dug out to replicate the dragons'' ruins, they felt them. The soldiers were surely battling with all their might to distract the wyverns. The adult wyverns muchrger than themselves.


    But that was nothing that the royal dragons and Walker or Midnight could think about. The things they had to think about were not their dragonkin or soldiers battling. They were concerned with the power that the angered wyvern Queen.


    "It has strong earth affinity. It can feel using." Just like Terron, the wyvern Queen had an earth affinity. Terron''s warning prompted the royal dragons to each take their dragon forms. This was not to cause an immediate battle but to show that they were strong within their own right and that the wyvern Queen should not attack them.


    There was also the fact that it made the royal dragons show off their true elemental prowess. The different manas would show off the strength they had gained over years. All dragons were able to show off the depth of their elemental knowledge this way to show that they were supposed to be higher ranked than others.


    As the passageway became evenrger, the sudden pressure increased. Before the royal dragons could push in to the massive carved out room, Terron stopped and raised a w. He wanted to be the first.


    With Terron''s first step, the earth mana was forced to calm down and the shaking seemed to be halted as well. Terron was using a lot of his strength to make this happen and resist the effects of battle outside.


    As Walker followed with by the other royal dragons, Midnight seemed to be feeling pressure more than usual. Her skeletal armor skill had long been in use but seemed to be close to deactivating. The royal dragons and the wyvern queen were very powerful.


    The massive head with a bone spiked brown and the many more slim bone spikes protruding from back and legs proved the age and strength of the wyvern queen. Along with the clear dark brown scales that had the influence of earth mana within each one. Defenses and attack that grew naturally.


    "You are the wyvern queen that allows your children to flock over thends and to our territory to eat! What right do you have?" Terrons growl and anger held a lot of earth mana but it was firm. Terron would negotiate like a dragon should.


    There was a wide eyed nce at Terron as the wyvern queen rose from the rocket nest of dense stones it used to sleep on. It''s badly shifted and appeared to be ready to attack at any second, however, the pressure it felt only told it that it would perish.


    "Speak!" The order came again from Terron with a lot of earth mana involved.


    '' earth wyvern queen


    This earth wyvern queen has lived for many years in slumber to separate its bloodline from dragon bloodline. It has nearlypleted this endeavor to create its own earth wyvern bloodline on par with dragons.


    Due to constant mediation, it had reached deep understanding of earth mana along with the ability to store it in its scales. This only increases the physical abilities it has along with the magical skills to manipte the earth.


    Due to the wyvern queen true form, it is unable to speak anynguage. However, I. The wyvern humanoid form it can speak thenguage it has seen for its entire life after being born and abandoned in the ancient dragon ruins.


    The best¡­''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Change in to your other form and speak to the royal dragons that have graced you with their presence!" Walker''s interjection earned angry nces before they saw the wyvern queen begin to shift and change.


    As the pressure from the royal dragons and the fact that Terron was pushing her down with earth elemental mana hit her, she had realized she had to obey them to survive. This also revealed why she had not risen from her rock nest since they came in.


    ''Pure earth wyvern egg


    The egg was formed with all the earth mana and knowledge the wyvern queen has gained in life. It will be the first pure earth wyvern hatched and a brand new species of monster to the world. This egg should hatch within three months.''


    The all around appraisal from Walker proved that the brown scaled eggs, all three, were the very first of the earth wyvern species. The very thing that they had theorized the wyvern queen wanted to create.


    The form that appeared after the dust and dirt settled was that of a woman with multiple bone horns forming a crown around her head. Her scaled features were simr to a dragonkin. However, the wings wererger and there was also a long whip like tail behind her.


    "Now speak!" Terron delivered even more pressure and seeing that the wyvern queen was forced down slightly released a little so it could speak.


    "Are you the descendant of the great lord that created this pce?" The question was raspy and clearly hard for the wyvern queen to say, but it told a lot.


    "Dragons. We are dragons. You still hold our blood and the wyverns fighting out dragonkin do as well. Why do you impede on our territories?" Terron didn''t respond directly to it but it was enough for the wyvern queen to connect her own dots.


    "Those failed children need food so I can find the best to grow my children. We will create our own a pce as great as this. We will be the-"


    " you will disrespect the blood in your body and throw it aside!? How dare you insult the dragon race as such!" Ignus burst out with mes but Current stopped the mes with a wave of water. The silence afterwards was full of tension.


    "You understand the ruins around you. The pce of an ancient earth dragon that once created this mountain." Terron used the information from Walker to speak. He saw a slight nod for the earth wyvern queen.


    "Then you know you are rted to dragons and that you are outmatched. Can you not control your children after you deem them weak?" This question was hard to ask. Terron and the other royal dragon understood a lot from this moment.


    The rogue dragons that had given up their mental facilities to get food and survive gued their territories. They had let that happen through their own actions. Now that they saw the wyverns had done the same, how could they judge harshly? Even the slight nces to Walker proved that they were seeing the same thing they did in some monsters with less of their blood.


    "Impure. They cannot be wyverns if they live off weak blood!" The wyvern queen spoke with pressure or her own and anger. She clearly wanted to be her own race without the connection of others.


    The pride that dragons had was left here with wyverns. Even with so little of the connection left, pride was powerful. To be her own race, many children had been born. Many wyverns brought together. All seem as weak to the queen who wished for purity. Somewhat tragic, but also harsh and loving.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1766 1765. Royal Pressure

    The looks from the royal dragons to Walker were enough for them to realize that he was angry. He had been angry when they told him about sending away their young. About how they tossed away the weaker hatchlings because they didn''t believe that they could be strong at all.


    Yet in the time when they had met Walker and seen Genesis, they had been proven somewhat wrong. He had managed to find ces where the weak dragons could learn. Awaken unique skills that the dragonscked as a race at the moment.


    Alchemy, appraisals, bodyguards, and so much more could be found. The dragons had just been blinded by pride. And now, the wyverns were behind to travel the very same foolish path because of their bloodline. It was the start of history over again in some aspects.


    Mordant saw the mana gather around Walker and remembered the first time he had seen the elemental dragon aspect. It was Walker''s strongest skill. The skill he would use to ensure a victory but also to make the sturdiest points. But it also used the most mana to make that point.


    "You know nothing of value!" Mordant''s voice boomed out and his ws scraped in to the ground beneath him. He showed the anger that Walker had and knew it was enough to make the point.


    "Do you think you can be like those you praise as great by throwing aside the young that can not do anything yet? Purity!? Do you not understand that every element works together in this world? You are young and foolish!" Mordant continued to put darkness elemental mana in to the air and pressure the wyvern queen.


    As if cold water had been poured on Walker, his anger was snuffed out and his mind cleared. He knew that Mordant could have stayed silent but had spoken for him.


    "Stop. This wyvern queen is foolish and young. After the problem children are cleaned up we will re-educate her. I see no issues in that. A child must learn the hard way if necessary." Ventus spoke calmly but her words were terrifying. They held a mother''s disappointment.


    "Those pure wyverns you say will be born. They will be allowed to live but you must leave here and control your children. You are mother and queen. Whether all of them are actually your children does not matter. Call them to you and order them to follow your every word. You will never be able to rival one of our children, let alone us, if you do not learn to lead. Dragons are rulers of territory. We are the strength or those that serve us."


    Rize was calm but her eyes pierced through the wyvern queen. This wasn''t even a battle. Walker had expected much more. A vicious fight tooth and nail to get the wyvern queen to calm down and stop her antics. But here they were, the literal pressure and strength of the royal dragons was enough to outright suppress the wyvern queen.


    "I can not leave my children!" This was the pushback all of them expected. The eggs were the single most important thing to the wyvern queen. Rightfully so. Ventus could closely understand this since she had just given her children the roles of protector to the demon viges as their first experience as the dragon in charge. She was a mother most recently too.


    "You will." Walker spoke and his voice also boomed. He had been calmed down but he knew he had to act as a dragon. He could not stand back. This time he would use his strength with a clear mind.


    The mana that shifted around him was mostly earth. Walker mostly replicated Terron''s dragon form to make the elemental dragon aspect. Small bits of darkness and water flowed about too making him seem stronger andrger than before. But the terrified look of the wyvern queen proved that she had been underestimating him the most.


    Someone so small. A little thingpared to the massive dragons. A little thing standing next to a young little dragon. But now she knew that she could notpare to the potential in front of her. Every being could sense the control of mana and she felt that she was sure to lose her own control of mana if he absolutely used his strength against hers.


    "Do you doubt that with all of us here, that your eggs would be in danger? Are you foolish or just looking down on us? Can you understand the situation you have brought upon yourself? Because of your actions, because your wyverns do not obey you, we came from across oceans to destroy you if you were not able to be reasoned with. You are already being granted leniency by every royal dragon in front of you. Are you going to throw it away so that we can destroy you and your children?" Walker felt his heart hurt with these harsh words. These threats.


    They did have an effect though. The wyvern queen that had been built up to be so powerfully was shivering. Pressure from every royal dragon made her understand she was just small before their eyes. Too young and weak as of yet even to this ages'' dragons. Let alone their ancient ancestors.


    The wyvern queen could not even speak. The pressure was too much for anyone to be able to even respond to. However, they all saw her struggling to move her head and agree. But they also saw that she had taken a deep breath. The moment the pressure was released, the wyvern queen released a massive screech that echoed through the ruins and the caves. The outside even heard them causing the sounds to bounce from the mountains.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The immediate response was that every bit of rumbling ceased around the cave. There were even screeching roars that responded and many of the wyverns that were closest had flocked toward the ruins as quickly as possible. It was so quick that some would say that they were possessed by something to return.


    The sudden change of events was so different that it made many of the soldiers pushed toward where the royal dragons were. Su had taken the lead to order them to do so only to find that Walker was still using the elemental dragon aspect skill to stand before the wyvern queen. The intimidating aura all around them was ensuring that the soldiers all stopped and stood still.


    "They will return and await my orders. I will make this-" The wyvern queen stopped suddenly as she spoke in front of the royal dragons. She turned and rushed toward her eggs with rage in her eyes. "Do not dare touch my children!" The shift to her natural form was clear and powerful as sheshed out a tail toward something falling from the ceiling.


    Therge yellow block that fell was going tond directly on the eggs if the wyvern queen had not pushed herself and covered the eggspletely. The sudden sizzling of acid and stone caused the wyvern queen to hiss out in pained rage but she refused to move as she was attacked.


    "Oh, you are faster than I expected." Theughter that echoed around the cave was familiar to Walker and the entire party. "I wanted to burn away those little things but I will dly let my little slime have a snack of wyvern meat. I already procured what we came for anyways." Theughter faded away as the yellow acid slime lord showed its true appearance and continued attacking the wyvern queen.


    "That''s an acid slime lord. Destroy it now! It is going to kill the wyvern queen and the eggs!" Walker was quick to control the earth and send multiple spikes toward therge slime lord body. He was sure that he would be slower. He had not expected such an attack from his enemies.


    When Mordant heard Walker''s warning, he immediately acted. But to his surprise, he felt his mana meld with Walker''s attack. The two had the same goal and Walker was focused ont the earth elemental mana. A great bonding of the two.


    Adding in natural mana and the change was great. Larger and faster spikes of condensed stone shot pout attacking the acid slime with extreme force and spearing it like a pin cushion. "Current, all the water you can muster, Now!" Current didn''t hesitate.


    With the boost from Walker using natural mana and also conjuring up his strength to create water, Current felt the same changes. He pushed with his will and made arge flowing ball of water over the wyvern''s queen''s nest.


    It was only moments but the damage had been done. The wyvern queen was barely breathing as she had protected her nest with all her strength. The acid had dug in to her body causing extreme burns. "Healers, together!" Su and Alice were already in motion. They did not even need to think before they acted.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1767 1767. Immediate Healing Needed

    Alice had been focused on the injured from fighting therger wyverns that were now bowing their heads to the strength of the wyvern queen''s call. The amount of mana that had been used by her to call them here was nothing small. It was a very powerful skill that must be because she was their strongest and their queen. A call that Walker was sure that some other royal system users could use in times of need. The pressure from the royal dragons had been that need.


    Yet, the wyverns dared not move another muscle. That was how ingrained this strength and power was to them. The wyvern queen had such power which could even halt the most powerful of them. While the royal dragons were impressed, they were more appalled by what they had just seen.


    "I could not sense that monstrosity!" Ignus was raging with anger. It was one thing that they had fought wyverns. But it was another that they had finally found a solution to their issues and were doling out punishment to then be interrupted. It was a sin for them, royal dragons, to be ignored and mocked by some wicked demon and his slime.


    "None of us felt or saw that thing. It was camouged in a smaller form before revealing itself." The tone that Rise used was one that leaked of her anger. Forget the wyvern issues, the fact that they had just been ambushed in an attempt to kill off a powerful monster now under their control? An insult to every dragon.


    "This was in draconic ruins. In our history. Whether or not we have issues with these wyverns is of no concern. We were attacked in a home territory. We will not let this rest." Both Current and Ventus was saying the same thing when it came to this. Their agreement was going back and forth while they controlled their anger. Mordant was simr, however, he was observing and searching the remainder of the area they were in.


    "Hurry the healing. Where is that alchemist!" Terron saw Remey and acknowledged that she was the alchemist that had shown off so many potions and cures for poisons. He didn''t care that she was slightly cut and covered in dust from battle. Instead, he wanted her healing.


    "I am already here. Walker, bring out the potions and the cauldron. Ignus, I need your mes. We are going to make a condensed healing potion for this wyvern. A small potion will do nothing for her." Remey was ignoring her soreness. She had been hit with stone and other damage during the distraction battles. Many of the life mages and healers were focused on soldiers because of the same injuries.


    "My mes? That''s all you want? What are-" Ignus was about to release his anger on those around him until he felt the murderous anger from Terron. This was a definite sign that Terron was unwilling in all essence to move from his stance here. Especially since he had been the one pushing forward on this matter.


    It wasn''t just the bond of earth affinity beings that Terron saw. He had learned some things from Genesis and understood that the dragons had been stuck in ce for too long. The wyverns were like the dragons. A race that had the ability to be powerful and more than met the eye. Yet, they were about to follow the dragon''s path and be stuck in stone. It would be an insult to the dragons from where the wyverns came if the wyverns lived the exact same lifestyle for hundreds of years.


    "Walker, you will heal as well." Terron knew that Walker had skills that were very useful. Especially since he had seen Walker constantly using the smaller healing skills on everyone.


    "I wasn''t nning on standing around. We already worked together to defeat that acid slime lord. We will hunt down the slime breeder soon. But I want Ventus and Current to search for what may have been solemn. Why would the slime tamer send slimes to get something? What did they need?"


    Refocusing the issues on hand was all Walker needed to do. Hearing that something may have been stolen from the ruins or the wyverns made them much angrier. Even Current was showing a disgusted look as he changed forms to search the smaller spaces and start ordering his dragonkin around. Ventus followed suit because she was sure that what was stolen could be more of a threat in their enemy''s hands than where it had been.


    "Hey, can you hear us?" Walker approached the wyvern queen and saw the true extent of the damage the acid had done. Some of the bone spikes that naturally grew on her body had been damaged but her scales were far worse off. They had been meted to expose a lot of the muscles underneath. Defenses were far from possible now that she had been hurt this badly.


    "I will be using water to clean your wounds while we make potions. You are being guarded by the strongest of dragons right now. Do not worry about your eggs, you protected them." Walker had shown strength and pressure as the other dragons had just minutes ago. However, this was where he had to change.


    If Walker continued that hostile attitude and did not show that he had kindness, he would not be able to live up to being a hero in any regard. He would just be some bully that was going around with false promises. Someone forcing his ideals on others without understanding them. Especially if he ignored the simple fact that this was a mother that wanted the best for her children. That was a very clear andrge part of who the wyvern queen was.


    ''Emergency quest- wyvern race savior<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The wyvern queen wishes to be the same as the dragons. Powerful, have their own bloodline, and be a recognized race by the world. Her desires are that of a true queen even though her methods could be frowned upon. Regardless, she was able to throw her life down for her children as any mother would.


    Requirement- save the wyvern queen''s life at all costs.


    Reward- advancement in the wyvern bloodline, the one time use skill; nce to the past.''


    The system quest was nothing to worry about. Walker nced for a second at it but dropped any care for it as he was already healing the wyvern queen. He was simultaneously using his healing skill while creating water from the air to wash away any acid from the slime that might still be around.


    He could tell that the wyvern queen was still alive and somewhat conscious. She was showing pain in every move that Walker did to help her. But she was still solid in her foundations to protect her eggs. The earth had risen under her to cover them in stone. The nest had lost its shape as materials for her sudden usage of mana.


    Alice''s song was causing the light mana to rain down with Walker''s water. The melding of the two skills made him wonder just what Alcie was singing about. His ears couldn''t pick up on any words though. But her meaning came through. The feeling of spring rain that would bring the world to life after the cold winters. The feeling of knowing that the water around was moving to bring life to crops. It was that which pushed Walker to bring natural mana in to the air around him.


    As Walker made the eternal orb change form to a staff, he was able to bring the natural mana around toward it. This was dispersing the natural mana evenly around the wyvern queenpletely. When a life mage rushed to his side, Walker didn''t hesitate to motion for the life mage to hold the eternal orb staff form with him.


    As this was done, the natural mana flooded the life mage''s body. This drew the crystal healer as well who again was motioned by Walker to share in the mana he was gathering. The two were feeling a rush of mana in their bodies. They had not felt such a thing. The life mana and the healing skills they used reacted in such a powerful way that they believed they had to use their skills or else they would be overloaded.


    Without hesitation, green healing skills were released around as Remey and Ignus had begun to create condensed potions. Their work was quick due to the extreme heat of Ignus''s mes. So much so that Remey was having a hard time adding potions to the cauldron fast enough. The water building out of the potions was making a deep red healing potion that would normally cause someone to be ill if they even dared to consume it. Even the greatest medicine could be poison depending on the usage.


    The goal was simple and shared by all of them. Heal, save, and then hunt down the perpetrator. But this was not all so simple. They needed to focus on healing right now. Especially since they were all able to feel the encroachment of death on the wyvern queen''s body. The feeling that she could slip away at any moment. This feeling had been familiar with the entire part and the royal dragons. Anyone that had seen the sick or the ill. Even if they had defeated a monster in battle. The feeling of imminent death was able to be picked out by anything alive.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1768 1768. Well Beyond

    Healing was an art. To say it was as simple as using skills was an insult to many healers. Walker had been lucky that he gained skills but he was far from able to use skills that could take someone so close to death that it would seem impossible to save them.


    Walker had managed to save people before. He had done many amazing things. That didn''t mean that he was able toe right to a monster like the wyvern queen and bring her from the depths of death. She was right in the hands of the end of her life. How could anyone think they could undo the incredible damage that the acid lord slime had done to her body?


    "I will not be sitting here without anything. This wyvern queen is now under my territory. I im the earth ruins of the ancestral earth dragon as my own!" Terron roared out before he started to manipte the earth around the wyvern queen.


    The life mage and crystal healer were stricken with fear since they thought they would be losing the clear line of flight to heal the wyvern queen. However, they were shocked to see that the earth was forming shapes of scales. Terron was using an incredible amount of mana to form stone scales to cover the open wounds all over the wyvern queen''s back. He was also taking the natural mana that Walker was radiating and using it to boost his skills.


    The sudden connection that Walker felt between himself and Terron was nothing like he had earlier when they defeated the acid slime lord together. Now it was emotional. It was full of desire to protect and defend. The very thing that earth dragons held above every other dragon. Imprable defenses using the earth mana that would normally be slower than other manas.


    "Fleur, I need your help!" Walker called on Fleur who was still rating within his spirit mark. He rarely called on her but the sudden bond he felt between him and Terron while also adding natural mana to the healing skills of the life mage, Alice, and the crystal healer was more than he could control alone.


    When Fleur appeared, the natural mana spiked. She was immediately using the natural mana she had gathered here. Whether it was just because Walker asked or if she had sensed something important, didn''t matter.


    What stunned the others was that Su had also started to act. She had called her partner out from rest as well. The sudden appearance of two elemental spirits, one grand earth elemental spirit, and one nature spirit was enough to make the angels understand that they were far from their league. This sight was one that he might never see again in their lives.


    The moment the earth mana and the earth manipted by it was made more solid to be a scaled covering for the wyvern queen was the moment that the natural mana surged yet again. The life mage and the crystal healer became boosted by the skills that Alice used in her song. A song of healing that made focused light snow fall on to the wounded.


    Not only did these skills boost healing, but the life mage took full control and began chanting. He was not just some low life mage, he was an older angel that had studied in the Fel empire for years to be the best of the best. That was why he had been sent. To gather information, knowledge to change the empire. But he had also been sent so that he could show Genesis and Rize empire how the Fel empire worked.


    " the seed of life rests within all. Burn bright the me that drives a soul to strive for life. Feel the passion and the sadness of those harmed in the glorious world we are born. The cycle of life and death does not end suddenly, it is a flowing stream that ovees. Grow your life! Spark of Regeneration!"


    The mana suddenly disappeared from around everyone and fell in a small spark of white and green light on to the wyvern queen. This mastery skill had been used and the life mage copsed before it was even finished.


    In a glow of light that pulled every bit of mana around them fell on the wyvern queen, Remey and Ignus threw the condensed healing and nutrients potions they had over top of the wyvern queen. This was the catalyst that finalized the mastery skill. The perfect timing that brought the best of the best together to allow healing.


    Whether the wyvern queen would survive would be up to her, but for those watching, they knew that this skill was abination of natural mana, healing, and potions. Efforts of their empires and Genesis.


    The wyvern queen immediately lost the harsh breathing that clearly resulted in pain. What she had now was the calm and restful slumber that she should have when safe. The wyverns watching also felt that their queen had been saved. They slightly lift their heads to see the beings that had done so. The imminent order to return still clear in their minds and hearts. They were servants to the queen and held her high above others. They had just been allowed to run rampant until now.


    "That can''t be all, the quotes is notplete yet!" Walker pushed toward the wyvern queen feeling his own sudden loss of mana. The life mage had not only used all of his mana but all of everyone around hims'' mana. The mastery skill that cost everyone around him a price to heal someone using the nutrients and everything avable. It was a high cost and exined why some of the soldiers had copsed. Even Gil was on his knees forcing himself to remain away. It was also clear that the royal dragon had suffered a bit here. Enough to force them to exert extra effort to maintain their tough faces.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Walker was using the all around appraisal constantly to see what was left that had stopped the quotes from beingpleted. He soon found after the seventh all around appraisal one line that said it all.


    ''The acid has damaged the spine of the wyvern queen causing potentially irreparable injuries. If left alone, the wyvern queen will perish in three hours regardless of current healing.''


    This single sentence added on was heartbreaking. A master skill had just been used and yet that was not enough. The number of potions that Remey had condensed had not seeded as well. Two amazing and powerful measures had just bought them three hours?


    "The bones in her sine are damaged! Any life mages awake need to get here now. We need to fix her bones!" Walker was not done. He managed to grab the life mages only to see that none had any knowledge of a skill that specifically focused on bones to heal them.


    "Walker." Alice softly spoke. She was low on mana herself and had just drank a mana potion to help her. She was clearly worn out and her voice was slightly raspy from rushed singing that changed meaning and ability as they battled or healed.


    "You are not in the shape to do-" a single shake of Alice''s head shut Walker up. She was already moving toward the wyvern queen and started to hum a soft tune.


    Echoes around the now silent tunnel proved that a somber and heartfelt melody was being sung. The wyverns around screeched out softly as they felt the depth of these sounds. The silence bing a chorus of heartbroken vows. The dramatic change appeared to be the direct influence of Horizon appearing around Alice. The normal high energy and bright personality had changed to a scary and intimidating elemental spirit. One that clearly lived more than many others.


    As hands made of light appeared denser than most skills Alice used with her sings appeared, everyone stopped breathing yet again. The light hands reached and melted in to the wyvern queen''s body causing the remaining life mages to approach andmit the remainder of their manas to Alice. The fusion of manas seemed small but wasrger than many could understand in the moment. Alice had sessfully melded manas that were not of her affinity using the healing abilities of her songs.


    "An angel in your human form. She is descended from angel blood." Seran mumbled this as he tried to stand. His eyes glistened with extreme awe.


    "She does have some angel blood. It must be left from the angels that were left on our continent when your people left. But that''s in the past. No angels remain. Just the best healer of her generation." Walker approached as he saw Alice fall and the light dissipate. She had started running a fever while Horizon appeared to have offered all of his stored mana as an elemental spirit. This was all well beyond the means and the expectations of what they hade to do.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1769 1769. Visions Of The Past

    The angels from the Rize empire were amazed to see such mastery over light elemental mana as Alice had healed those around her and the extremely injured wyvern queen. It had greatly proven that she was well above what they had expected from the healer that had not spoken too much since they had been introduced to her.


    Those that had seen the Rize empire''s hall of light were even more sure that she should belong there. A ce with such high light elemental skills between those that studied there that they would have such miraculous effects as they had just seen. However, none of them realized the cost and requirements of Alice''s songs.


    The fact that Alice was always losing mana through speaking was still troublesome. She had the bracelet stop that from happening but she had not mastered being able to speak without using mana yet. Then there was the constant use of her mana as she sang. Each song took great deals of mana to be made possible. Since Walker had added natural mana to the air, Alice had been massively boosted. The further addition of her meanings behind how her skills worked was just another cost when it came to activating the intended use age of her song.


    ''Emergency quest- wyvern race savior-pleted


    The wyvern queen wishes to be the same as the dragons. Powerful, have their own bloodline, and be a recognized race by the world. Her desires are that of a true queen even though her methods could be frowned upon. Regardless, she was able to throw her life down for her children as any mother would.


    Requirement- save the wyvern queen''s life at all costs.


    Reward- advancement in the wyvern bloodline, the one time use skill; nce to the past.''


    There was a sudden calmness around the entire mountain where even the youngest of wyverns had bowed their heads. Small bits of mixed and natural manas along with manas that were not necessarily elemental appeared to be moving around. The soldiers braced thinking it was an attack but ur had shown herself again and was floating silently in the middle of the room. Walker knew exactly what was happening. "Listen to the world here." Walker knew the world was about to speak. Or whatever it was that guided the systems or existence. The mystery behind it all.


    ''The world recognized the will of the wyverns. The wyvern race shall be allowed in to the intelligent races after slumbering. Struggles that have held their race to the dragons shall be severed. The world quest; guidance of wyverns, will be handed down to the royal earth dragon Terron.''


    The notifications from the system were quick and powerful. The wyverns glowed and fell in to slumber wherever they were. Even the wyvern queen seemed to be washed with a mysterious power. "Is this what it was like when our system''s changed?" Su finally understood what the high priest and Alice had seen that day in the cathedral after the group had returned yet again.


    "The wyverns shall follow my lead and represent the earth just as much as the dragons of my lineage have!" Terron roared out a promise in to the air. This was his promise to the world for epting such arge quest. He was the guide of an entire race now, not just his earth dragons and dragonkin. A massive responsibility for him, but also a massive boon since he would be seeing the ancient dragon ruins more than the others.


    Walker would have congratted Terron or been in awe of what was happening. However, he was seeing something else. The skill that he had been offered by the system when it gave them the emergency quest to protect the wyvern queen and heal her.


    ''The skill; nce to the past is automatically activated by the world''s will. The past will be show¡­''


    Darkness had clouded Walker''s vision but he did not feel difort. Instead, his heart was racing with excitement as a massive mountain covered in vegetation appeared. He was standing well above it looking down at the many monsters unfamiliar to him moving.


    ''Mountain drilling mole


    This ancient mole is the progenitor of¡­


    Green ringed chameleon


    This monster is known for siring eighty¡­


    Goliath bat


    Thergest ever found when ites to bat type monsters. It was alive for generations before it split in to three different species¡­''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    So many were appraised in the a round appraisal before Walker found his vision changed to the much cleaner ancient dragon ruins.


    The ancient draconic that Walker had been unable to understand until the system had granted understanding to the world when it came tonguages was easier to read. However, the words being spoken was also very clear.


    ''Earth dominator dragon


    The most powerful of ancient earth dragons ever to live. Only those that be powerful enough to casually create and destroy mountains can gain the title of earth dominator dragon. The other elemental dragons have simr names.


    This dragon has lived through generations that would be considered an eternity to many normal races, yet it has seen them pass by easily. The massive power of earth that this dragon wields is enough to shift the continent if it desires.


    Greatly injured due to war, the earth dominator dragon had returned to therge nest it had built. These statues¡­''


    The information was a lot when it came to such a massive earth dragon. One that seemed to be growing impossibly dense horns of stone on its body. Covered in literal armor made from mountain stone. An impossibly powerful being that surely did not exist now yet was right before Walker.


    "My brethren, the children have been sent away. No longer will they face war. Dragons shall not fight one another to the death. The rules shall be followed as I required them to be by the young ones I sent to be their elders. Look down upon me in your statues and heavens to see the end of my reign as the ruler of mountains. The creator of ravines. The greatest of earth dragons, but I swear, not thest!"


    Walker understood this was the earth dragon''sst words. The moment before his death. Blood was leaking from the wounds around his body. Many different spots showed that he had been hit by attacks or bitten. It was heart crushing to hear that such a great being was about to lose its life. However, Walker was feeling pride in the worlds of the earth dragon. It had clearly been a part of sensing the dragons off. This was their natural home, and yet, the earth dominator dragon had ignored that to protect them from war.


    "Rest with me, my ancestors and I shall watch with you in my own grave. The greatest hall that I once sat in. the great hall which will hold the records of my lineage. Rest with me and wait for those of our blood to return and im what I have left." the earth began to rumble and bring the dragon underneath. This was his self made grave¡­ The resting ce he was choosing. But also, the wall behind him was lowered as well. Small bits of earth mana radiating from it.


    When Walker had nced at the wall he had realized there were bits and pieces that looked removable. As if they held something important. "Walker!" The sudden feeling of being shaken and yelled at brought Walker back to his senses. The entire part was around him while Midnight was pushing on his arm. He didn''t even realize he had fallen to the ground.


    "What happened? First Alice fell unconscious, Gil is halfway there, then you were justying there mumbling about ancient monsters." Remey was panicked trying to understand what had happened. This was the same for everyone around him.


    "I got a temporary skill when wepleted that quest. It went to me because I was the only one that could use the nce to the past skill. I am alright. Just short on mana." Walker spoke slowly as his mind adjusted to being around everyone. He was a bit dizzy after that experience. The shifting of the vision and the fact that he had just seen a dragon more powerful than all the dragons put together was stunning.


    "Terron, raise that wall back up from where it rests!" Walker didn''t hesitate to give Terron an order when he came beach to his senses. "And call the other dragons back. Those are the records left by the earth dominator dragon for you and all the dragons when you return to thesends!" Walker''s words made Terron''s eyes widen. He did not hesitate to make the move while the wyverns slumbered. This was what they hade for as well. The key to the dragon''s past.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1770 1770. What Was Stolen

    The earth rumbled as the group moved away from the wyvern queen. The soldiers had begun to sit and rest within the chamber. From the way that Terron had red, they knew that they had been assigned to guard the wyvern queen. Naturally, some had issues with this.


    "Seran, you do not need to stay in that chamber to guard her, but now that is another race of the world. The world saw that they struggled and with the dragon''s guidance, the issues that you face will be solved. There will also be more diversity in your continent. It means improvement." Walker was still very tired, but he had drunk some mana potions after he had asked Onyx to remain with Alice to keep her protected andpany.


    She had worked hard showing off the true strength of her singing. Her healing. And overall, the determination to outperform many others in effort. The other healers, life mages, and the crystal mage especially had also gone beyond what had been expected. Anyone with healing skills seemed to be prepared to go the extra mile to use their entire mana pool to get the job done. This made Walker sure that the healers would fit right in with Genesis helping mentalities.


    "The choices made are not always the correct ones. However¡­ I see that these wyverns are controlled now. I will not push for more fighting. Especially since we barely wounded any of them in this fight." Seran clearly didn''t like the idea of letting the wyverns live. Yet, it was also clear he knew limitations.


    "Hatred for the wyverns will be there until they change their ways and prove they can be trusted. The wyverns here are slumbering and could be taken advantage of. Why not show them that they need to take another path? Join Terron and guide their entire race to a more peaceful and epting tactics toward other races. They can immensely help the Sigil continent when ites to protecting viges and the cities that are losing their rune protections."


    Since Walker offered this, Seran was pushed in to a deep thinking moment. Walker didn''t keep pushing after that and kept walking with Terron who had changed to his dragonkin form. The wall that had rumbled up was much older than what Walker could recall. Yet, he had seen a glimpse of the past. Surely time would have affected this.


    The writings on the wall were simr messages that prided the earth dragons and the power they held over the very earth they walked. It was simr to the royal dragon hall. It also matched the caves that the other dragons had within their own viges. Or the basic storage areas. Yet, Walker could make out the small indentations that would be able to slide out using earth magic.


    "Despicable." Rise and Ventus returned. Current and Mordant had already met them while Ignus was just getting caught up on what they had all discovered. It appeared they had found something and put the pieces together about what the slime breeder may have been. That had greatly disgusted Rise enough for her to speak out so much.


    "We are just about to investigate something left behind by the earth dominator dragon that ruled over this mountain range before passing away." Walker caught all of their attention but knew that they would not be checking the wall just yet.


    "That slime stole bones and bodies. The wyverns had another passage where they ced their dead. Many of them have parts missing, especially the majority of what appeared to be an older male wyvern." Rise was quick to speak about what was angering her. She didn''t even hide a single fact about what they had found.


    " A burial chamber is simr to what we have done the old ways. Every statue normally holds a dragon''s bone beneath it. At least part of them." Ventus exined it. The wyverns had celery taken some stock from this and made their own burial area. It just went so far to show that the wyverns truly wanted to use this method to be their own society. Follow the path of dragons and separate themselves from the other races as their own powerful race.


    "That was what they meant when they said they had what they needed. They had the bodies of wyverns that have perished." Walker mumbled and the rest of the party overheard what he had said. They had all wondered what might be the reason behind this.


    "You don''t think that they are trying to make an undead using the wyverns?" Su offered this and everyone stopped in their tracks. The royal dragons all focused on her before showing anger.


    "Undead dragons are not allowed to exist. It is a stain on all that lives. If they dare to raise an undead wyvern we will annihte it before it can so much as open an eye." This reaction from the normally calm Current was enough to tell everyone what dangers and history the dragons had with undead of their own kind.


    However, the undead that the party had defeated came to mind. Hard to fight and unfeeling. It meant that if a powerful monster like a dragon or wyvern became an undead, that they would be much more powerful. Able topletely defeat many creatures out of basic instinct. Add on something controlling it, and the undead wyvern would be a massive bane to all living things on the Sigil continent.


    "They came here for power. If they couldn''t have a dragon but got a wyvern body¡­" Walker felt that he understood things a little better. Remey and Gil both appeared to have grasped this even though they were also very tired after what had gone on.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Midnight was the one that was struggling with this the most. She remembered the undead king and how he could control the undead. But she had no idea how a dragon would be undead. It appeared to be something that would be impossible. The dragon would greatly push back against it. She had the same pride as a normal dragon, it rejected the very idea. Yet, the royal dragons seemed to have records of such a thing happening. And having a wyvern bing a dragon should also be just as impossible.


    "We will destroy that demon and every slime they possess. It will not gue us any longer." Terron made this vow to them. He was sure that he would be able to make a difference if he went deep in to this fight.


    "You will be guiding the wyverns upon their awakening. You will not join us in this battle." Ventus spoke calmly. She had returned to her normal calm state of mind and looked at Terron then to the sleeping wyverns. She knew there were many but not as many as there had been before they set their traps. Some clearly showed the injuries from being part of the battle at the traps which had been set.


    Terron was clearly torn by this. He wanted to take the lead still as he had here. He could do much more when he was pushing through to the source of all this drama. All this fighting. But he also understood the role he had taken. The role the world had bestowed upon him as the current royal earth dragon. "I will send half my dragonkin warriors with you. They will battle under Walker as his warriors until I am able to leave the wyverns." Terron''s decision was hard to make but a very important one to make.


    "Now, what''s in there?" Ignus was forcing himself to ignore the anger he felt. He had understood quickly that he could not track down the slime breeder. No matter what, the slime breeder was able to even hide lord slimes from them somehow. It made him uneasy to chase it without a guarantee of destruction.


    The wall had already been risen up from where it sat. the thickness was enough to call it a massive block instead of a wall so much. Yet, with Terron''s control, the multiple slots slid open revealing many things.


    ''Memory crystal


    The memory crystal stores the techniques and memories of the past earth dominator dragons. They have stored their knowledge within these crystals before great battles to pass on their knowledge to the next most powerful earth dragon. The elder earth dragon¡­''


    Walker had seen a massive crystal like this in the royal dragon court. The hall behind that the elder used to record many happenings of the dragon''s history. "Terron, these are all earth dominator dragon memories. These crystals are their legacies. If these are here, that means there should be other ruins with each elemental dominator dragon''s legacies." Walker stopped the thoughts of every single royal dragon in one single moment.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1771 1771. Muddled Thoughts And Rest

    While Walker had shocked all of the royal dragons with the potentials of ancient legacies left behind for each of them to search out, the others had calmed themselves down quite a bit. Midnight was one that had remained the most observant of everything.


    Since Midnight had not been able to battle, or even stand up in front of the wyvern queen to do anything, she was in a very poor mood. However, she felt that she had seen a great deal of things. The wyverns who hade from dragon blood many generations ago. The things left behind by ancient dragons. Now there was even the fact that Terron was taking a different role than any dragon ever as a guide to the wyvern race.


    All of these things were bouncing around within her mind making her still and trapped in thought. This wasn''t missed by Walker in the least. The massive battle that they all thought they would have had been reduced to a rushed attack and healing session to save someone they had originallye to fight.


    "We need to do a lot more work now. The demons are definitely causing trouble here already. Do you want to look around the cave? The ruins might have something for you to learn from. There had to be hatchlings here many years ago." the glint on Midnight''s eyes was all that he needed to see.


    Whether Walker was tired or not didn''t matter. He could tough it out to help Midnight find her own path. She was unique as well. Since she had affinity to all elemental manas, then she would be able to learn from every single ruin that the royal dragons found. Walker would have to learn as well, the real question was, what would he be able to learn and what Would Midnight be able to learn?


    "I doubt you could learn everything from what the earth dominator dragon left behind. They are purely earth rted, but the young earth dragons had to be somewhere within these ruins. That means there isn''t a way to learn from them the way they would be taught as young dragons. The perfect level for you, right?" Midnight nudge on his side was strong enough that it almost knocked Walker down. "Alright, alright. I will start looking."


    Gil saw Walker and Midnight leaving, he was sure that they would all be in the wyvern''s home for some time. Especially since the royal dragons were all huddled around Terron who was immersed in learning. They were acting as one rather than apart. The change was drasticpared to the dragons he had seen argue. All because of Genesis and Walker''s influence.


    "Su, you''re still awake, right?" Gil looked at Su who was sitting and dozing where she sat. He was sure that she would need some solid rest since she had been tempting the wyverns to chase her more than the others. Drawing their ire had been rough and caused her a lot of attacks. The majority of which missed since the life mages had buffered her agility. Yet they had still sent stones at her causing scratches and cuts before she had been healed by Alice''s residual singing.


    "What do you need? I can''t do much but I can help." Su thought that Gil was going to start pushing to do more right then and there. She had the feeling that he wanted to keep training after seeing how weak they were against such massive adult wyverns.


    "I want to see where this all goes. The wyverns aren''t that bad. They were misguided and needed more than just a helping hands. It''s like the elves and the goblins. They were all divided and fighting alone for the most part. Now they are together and have a chance." Gil could see the simrities. This made Su wonder just what he was thinking here.


    "I want to make sure that they are part of everything. Walker keeps throwing himself alone at whatever is in front of him. I''m pretty much sitting here doing nothing. Making arrows without getting stronger myself. I haven''t even finished the high elf dagger arts that I am putting back together." This was what Su had somewhat expected.


    "If you want to stand for the elves, you want to do more and make more progress." Su could understand. She had been looking in to herself and the changes she was going through. The bonds with Midnight were changing her quickly. She was strong because of it along with the fact that she was gaining strength without advancing in levels. But that was just passive. It was using her bonds to grow instead of her own efforts.


    "Yes. I want to make sure I can do more. So I want to learn a mastery skill. Using my bow and using the high elf dagger arts. I read about one that arcane marksmen can use and it''s not the one I want. Instead, I want one that only the high elf arcane master archers should be able to use." Gil''s ambitions were not small.


    "I will help you. But I want to master more elemental manas. I need to increase my defenses. We are already higher levels than just about anyone our age of five to ten years older. But what if I could actually use all that strength and have an absolute defense? None of you would ever get hurt." Su shared her own current ambitions with Gil. The two of them rarely pushed one another in training because of their recent business. Now they had their goals to pursue so they wouldn''t be left behind.


    "You heard them, right?" Remey was half awake next to Onyx who had been watching over Alice.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I did. They want to stay ahead of us and keep up with Walker and sister. Once Alice has woken up I will begin preparing to get stronger. I need to get to a level that is safe enough to protect Aurora and the other abyssal and heavenly serpents." Onyx''s current goal would not be changing. He too had barely been able to bind and hold a single wyvern for a minute during the battle. He had been easily beaten by strength.


    "I couldn''t punch through their scales. The wyverns were tough. How can I fight some lord slime alone too? I didn''t even have potions ready to use against it. I had to ask Ignus to help me at the moment. I was a risk. Not an attacker or protector or anything. A risk to everyone around me." Remey had taken it harder. Her alchemy knowledge had increased by leaps and bounds every day. But her battle and elemental strategy was suffering.


    "Then we agree. We will also work harder to get stronger without relying on the others. We will not be a party then. Until we can stand alone." Remey and Onyx didn''t really say they were leaving, but their goals to stand alone had been clear between them. Onyx would stand alone as the most powerful abyssal serpent. Remey as the best alchemical brawler there ever would be. Her heated words had to be backed up instead of used as loud sounds.


    "Mountains. Ravines, earthquakes, there are even ways to work with a me dominator dragon to create a volcano. This knowledge is something left behind by the most powerful-"


    "You''ve said that ten times now. I need to know if it tells you where this me dominator dragon was. How can they be known as a me dominator? Huh? I am the most powerful fire dragon right now." Ignus was stubborn and clearly trying to get more from Terron who was barely able to keep his thoughts straight.


    "All the knowledge of where other ruins could be is important. I have no knowledge of this continent that would tell us the locations." Ventus was the most focused on what they needed to do to find more ruins. More ces that the things they seek might be hidden.


    "I would guess that the darkness dominator dragon would be in the undead area of the Fel empire desert. Darkness and undead are closely rted. That also goes for the light dominator dragon. Rise, you would have to be there to oppose the darkness, right? Two halves of a whole darkness and light. A desert that gets the most light, right?" Mordant looked at Rise and saw that she was grudgingly agreeing.


    "Then that leaves me. Maybe there is a hiddenke or something. A ce where water is the top priority. There are floating cities, maybe there is a dragon made one for Ventus." Current was just amazed by everything and mixed in someedy. He was breaking his normal character just out of the fact that he was incredibly happy to discover ancient dragon history. Naturally, this brought the conversation even deeper with the royal dragons. These conversations, rest, and inner thoughts went on for hours.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1772 1772. Hatching Ground

    The ruins were massive. The ancient dragons that had created this ruin were sure to be able to make the entire ce essible to thergest of dragons. Hut that was just how it should be. They didn''t need to worry about the other races. They were the dragons that stood at the very top, they were more advanced and made their homes with many items that other races did not have.


    The ancient dragons had ess to the memory crystals that they stored their legacies within. They had the ability to be able to create statues and hide away secrets. They also had the power to make literal mountains. Overall, it was an amazing thing for anyone to be able to see.


    When it came to the areas that midnight and Walker were exploring, they were just stunned by them. The stone carvings in the wall made with incredibly advanced understanding of earth elemental mana could make any artist unsure if they were capable of art in the least.


    When Walker examined the sculpting of statues and the walls, he recognized that the earth sculpting skill had been used. How could an earth dragon now have it? This was a basic skill that earth mages had. Walker had even learned it fairly early and had it as one of his most advanced earth mana skills. That was simply because he had the power to imagine buildings and things she had seen and memorized before.


    This had been very useful inrger battles. Being able to create walls or towers using a lot of mana was very useful. But the earth dragons that had created this had done things with intricate details. Walker could not sculpt the intricate battle scenes of dragons fighting against massive ancient monsters. He could not create leaves that appeared to be real leaves from a tree just cast in stone. It was well beyond him.


    "Could this all be beyond what earth sculpting can do? Even the high earth sculpting is nothing like this¡­" Walker''s mumbling made Midnight examine everything more closely. She could not create earth spikes or manipte mountains. She could just use breath attacks that had earth mana within them. A sandstorm somewhat that came from her fusion of manas within her and outside of her.


    As much as she wanted to do things like the other dragons, she was young still. She had barely scratched the surface of one elemental mana. How could she grasp many? The closest she had gotten to any elemental mana was darkness elemental mana because that was what she had been born with. Fire was second because she had used it the most often. Forging and just generally helping out. Not to mention the fact that she had slept near mes and fires since she had been born after joining Walker''s party.


    "Why not switch to your dragonkin form and practice normal human speech? It would help you out while we search." Walker knew that the wyverns were all forced to slumber. They were also unable to attack them now that the queen had used a massive amount of mana to exert her will unto them. It made sense that Midnight take advantage of that and move around in the form she used the least. She had alreadye further than any other dragon by taking a dragonkin form at the youngest age ever to be seen by dragons.


    "Brother." Midnight did as she was told but let out aining response. She didn''t want to train this way since she was more interested in getting stronger.


    "Don''t bother me. Elise should never have taught you that. I won''t let you get away without being able to walk around andmunicate with everyone the same way. Onyx won''t always let you be a silent hero." Walker tried to poke Midnight on the cheek now that she was in her dragonkin from but she dodged him and nudged him right back.


    If anyone was watching they would swear they were blood brother and sister fighting a little. But Walker and Midnight were closer than just blood now. The bonds that held them were by their souls, not just blood.


    "I can already feel the earth mana all around that was left from years and years of work. But I have no idea what to do with this pce." The passageway that Walker and Midnight had traveled appeared much less used by the wyverns.


    The wyverns had clearly kept the ce clean. A surprising fact about how they respected the strength of the dragons they saw depicted her. But the wyverns had now shown that they were trying to take a path as their own race. They just had the powerful ancient dragons as motivation. Yet, there was also the simple fact that the wyverns had seen this area before.


    The area that Walker and Midnight had made it to were somewhat smaller. They had many more pictures of dragons fighting one another. Fighting for strength over the other and taking the dominant positions above mountains. A clear way to show that dragons had fought to show they were the toughest and strongest among the elemental families.


    Since this was dragon culture, it made sense that this was the same culture that had let the current dragons to toss aside the weaker hatchlings. Unfortunately, many had been lost before their minds had begun to change. Luckily, it had changed. Now the battles like these were not needed. Especially since the ancient monsters that could fight these powerful dragons were no longer around.


    Instead, the picture showed history. Along with this, Midnight was able to catch on that there were smaller and smaller dragons being shown in the pictures. "Brother, this way." Her excitedment made Walker rush to catch up with Midnight who had run toward anotherrge chamber. A dead end within the ruins.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    To say that the chamber wasrge was only inparison to Midnight and Walker. Compared to the others, it was somewhat smaller. What was left behind within it though, was what walker and Midnight had been looking for.


    Therger divot in the ground surrounded by stones much denser than those of the walls or the statues proved that this had once been a nest of some kind. While time had taken its toll on the space, there were clearer signs of eggs hatching here and there on the walls. A ce that many of the earth dragons had been brought to hatch.


    Just smelling the air seemed to make Midnight even more enthusiastic. She could sense the mana around was purer than what was elsewhere. From what Walker could see, there were draconic runes on the walls that drew in the mana. They still functioned after so many years because they had been carved deeply in to the toughest of stones. A feat that only the ancient dragons could do and the current dragons would struggle with.


    Even more, Walker was able to follow the carvings along the ends and realized that the entire chamber had been made to bring the mana to the center of the room. The draconic writings on the walls even gave descriptions of how the hatchlings would need to fight for dominance. To show their strength before they were allowed to leave the room.


    "Midnight, I think this is the ce to start training your earth mana. Not in your dragon form but your dragonkin form. What do you think? Want to try and use some skills like Su and I can with the earth?" The enticement of being able to copy Walker and Su was enough to bring a glint to Midnight''s eyes and a toothy grin.


    "Better. I can be better." Midnight''s immediate rebuttal made Walker smile as he decided that the two of them would be training earth skills for a little bit. Walker saw the chance to n from the walls and runes he saw. The high earth sculpting skill had to be able to change. He needed to understand how that change coulde to be.


    Midnight, on the other hand, had to learn to use skills and grow herself in a dragonkin form. She had the two forms. The downside right now was that she could barely do anything in her dragonkin form. Yes, she was stronger and could fight physically, but she had nothing else. She wasn''t like the royal dragon that could attack like mages did with their elemental manas at a wave of their hand. Midnight could barely even breathe mes in her dragonkin form.


    "The first one of us to learn something new wins. What will you try?" Walker looked at Midnight scrunching up her face in thought before she said something unexpected. Something that was definitely inspired by Su.


    "Shield." The single word made Walker understand exactly why Midnight would want to learn this. Who she wanted to protect with an earth shield.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1773 1773. Hard And Soft Stone

    Walker''s focus was not on gathering earth mana. It was a pure focus on the fact that the carving surrounding him were better than many things he could create. His mind had to focus on what kind of skills would have been used. Was it a sculpting skill better than a high sculpting skill? Or was it a skill of a better ss altogether?


    These questions were what Walker was stuck on and needed to figure out. Especially because he was unsure whether or not he would be able to use them. It was definitely a fact that the earth dominator dragons or the ancient earth dragons had not used mastery skills to make this. This brought him to the next theory, a mix of skills used inbination to create them.


    The hardness of the stones around him was not natural. The only natural stone that would be this tough would be stones that were from naturally forming mountains found very deep underground. The party had seen this in the dwarven city all around them. Many of the dwarves had used it to be part of the city''s structure. Nature provided their home in some part.


    ncing over at Midnight, Walker saw that she had mimicked his seated position and grabbed a nearby stone holding it in her hands. Her focused eyes were following the movements of her ws as they scratched it. Her hands were more or less like that of a human''s hand in her dragonkin form, she could still show her ws when she desired. This ability was something that set aside dragonkin from dragons since the dragonkin could only lengthen their ws that always showed on their hands whereas the dragons could shift between the two forms easily.


    The scratches that Midnight was making were very faint, they were testing the strength of the earth in her hand. How tough the stone was and what she could do to manipte it without mana. Aqs Walker watched, he felt that Midnight was on to something. She was focused on toughness whereas Walker had been focused on the shapes and how it was formed.


    If the toughness of the stone was the focus first, then the shaping while making it tougher, then it made more sense. The walls could have been made more dense with a skill while the high earth sculpting was added slowly. It would take longer because Walker was less experienced and weaker than a real dragon. That would change as his experience changed and he grew more powerful. Especially if he watched how Terron concealed earth more.


    " see if you can channel your mana in to your ws, then see if it cuts the stone more. You might be able to make that stone cover your ws as armor." Walker felt that Midnight should already be able to do this. She could wrap her ws in mes if she desired, why not stone as well?


    Hearing Walker''s sudden involvement made Midnight stop what she was doing. Her thoughts had been solely on the density of the stone. It was heavier in her hands and made her wonder why it was different than a stone just on the side of the paths they traveled.


    As she focused her mana and used the earth mana around her, the stone seemed to resist her influence. Walker had felt this as well when he probed the ruins following Terron''s use of earth mana. The reason was the strength of the mana within the stone and the singr fact that mana was left over from generations of earth dragons being here.


    When the earth mana hit Midnight''s ws, Walker saw the stone start to bend under her pressure. The stone was slightly scratched more than before but the earth formed up more easily came to where she was pressing the stone. It was easier for her to draw the softer earth in than the stone itself.


    "Hard." Midnight dered the task harder than what she felt when it came to fire. She wasparing the two side by side. Her other hand had be covered in mes from the slight sparks she breathed out when she wanted to use the me ws skill.


    "Try pulling the earth than making it condense. If you can make the earth cover your hand, then you can make itrger andrger until it is a shield like Su''s. But that''s not enough to defend anything. You have to be able to make it tougher like this stone. I also need to learn that." Walker wanted to just mix in the natural mana to help them.


    The addition of the natural mana would make his skills stronger. He also would be able to learn how to add the natural mana to earth more efficiently. After a while, he was sure that the natural mana control that he possessed would start to increase at a faster rate as well. Furthermore, he would be able to push his knowledge of natural mana and the role that earth mana yed in it.


    Reissing this curiosity came from the fact that he wanted to purely understand earth mana. The earth that had been changed to stone and then to condensed stone. He and Midnight were entirely focused on this process.


    Both could control the earth easily. That was nothing to them. Moving earth and making it follow them or stick to something was simple now. Midnight coil easily covered her hand in soft dust from the ground. Walker could feel that he would even be able to make a tougher earth wall or spikes here. That was not outside the realm of possibility for him.


    As the two delved into the stone with their mana, the density resisted them. Walker grabbed anotherrger stone and held it firmly. He and Midnight both had their own piece and focused their mana into a single point. Their minds were separate but their instincts were one. Their bond showed through in this manner. Their knowledge would be shared as instinctual movements together.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Due to the bonds between the contracted beings, Midnight and Walker, the skill low shared instincts had been learned. The skill can be learned by any contracted beast, monster, tamer, being, or equals depending on level of trust, bonds, and time working together between them. Other factors are also applied.''


    ''Low shared instincts- passive


    Based on the bonds of two beings, they are able to share their innate instincts. This is different from other skills because it is only even activated when the two work on the exact same task together. This is used to share the instinctual feelings as the task ispleted. These shared instincts can allow both to learn at a faster rate depending on the task and focus between the two. The closer the bonds the better this skill can grow.''


    This feeling that the two had as they were hyper focused on the stone didn''t feel unnatural. Walker didn''t notice the skill, nor did Midnight, but they were gaining their knowledge faster. It felt that as they pushed on the stone with their mana to make it follow their will that it was bing easier faster. As if they were under some form of inspiration. Walker had other skills that did this but he rarely used them since they came with some restrictions. It was also better to learn something through experimentation and learn more skills or advance his skills. That Was his thought on the matter.


    As the two realized that the dense earth mana was just slow because of its state, Walker tried to separate the piece of stone in to a smaller pebble. When he seeded he found that he could overwhelm it with his own mana easily. Midnight learned the same thing just secondster.


    The small pebble was easily shaped between their pressures. Midnight ttened it out using her fingers while Walker made it change in to a perfect circle. This showed that they could control something smaller and how the ancient earth dragons were able to make such defined details. They had so much control of the earth mana that they overwhelmed it and made it change in to extremely specific shapes.


    The mental strength for this was easily trainable. It just took time and mediations along with imagination. The overwhelming mana was the tough part. That meant that both Midnight and Walker would need to condense the earth mana with their own mana before they were able to make a massive shield of such dense stone like the stone here. But a weaker stone? That would be easier. Especiallyter when Walker delved deeper in to the natural mana that he had to use in tandem with the earth mana.


    "Midnight, let''s make a shield together. Then we can separate and focus on it alone as we get better." Walker and Midnight agreed. The small yes that Midnight mumbled was enough to tell that he was not the only one in a hyper focused state of mind. Midnight was extremely focused on the challenge before her. Her dragon''s pride did not allow her to hesitate when making these leaps and bounds for strength.


    The others were all resting and focused on their own states of mind while Walker and Midnight did this. The wyverns still slumbering. However, the royal dragons had begun to refocus themselves on the potentials of other ancient ruins. They were preparing to change their ns if need be. Walker would just need to change his approach if they did.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1774 1774. Stone Advice

    When the entire room shook, Midnight looked up to see that walker had just failed in creating a small wall. She had sensed him gathering earth mana to try something. She had been doing the exact same thing. Yet, when the stones scattered across the floor from shattering, she was instantly up on her feet.


    Walker was looking at the small scratches on his hands wondering just how he had messed up. It had been a long time since he had failed such a thing. The stones were sure to have caused issues to anyone that was so close to them when Walker had broken them. But the stones that had cut him werepletely because of the unsettled mana that he had used.


    Controlling too much mana was an issue that many mages worried about. The simple fact that they could cause such disasters when working with their affinity elemental mana made sense. Fire could explode, stone could shatter, water could spontaneously freeze, wind could make des. The light could blind them and the darkness could cause rot to suddenly bloom on their body. All were possibilities.


    The reason for Walker''s failure was easy to see. The small piece of stone that he had started with had been overwhelmed with pressure. The idea that midnight and Walker had was to condense the stone through pressure. This seemed to work and the two had been ying with a fist sized piece of stone that was almost double as dense as what they had before when it came to the small pebble the size of a marble.


    Unfortunately, Walker had tried to go bigger and released the pressure on a single point. that caused the stone to shatter at that point and send shards everywhere. Midnight had been fine since she still had scales over most of her body in her dragonkin form. But Walker had been cut because he was fighting against his own strength. Luckily, a quick healing skill fixed it.


    The experience from the mistake was key though. Walker and Midnight just had to look at one another to understand the failure. This failure had attracted some attention though. Specifically from Su who had gone looking for the two after she had properly rested and made her own ns for her future growth.


    Su didn''t immediately approach the two. Due to her rtionship with her partner, the grand earth spirit, she knew that they were training very closely in the earth mana that was naturally all around them in this secluded passageway. Especially in this pce where the carvings showed many young dragon hatchlings.


    She had expected that midnight and Walker would go exploring. The royal dragons had also done this when they had finished speaking. Terron was too busy and the others had grown impatient waiting for him to have more things to tell them. Therefore, the royal dragons had taken it upon themselves to see what the wyverns had done with their section of dug out caves and also see what other secrets the ruins might have. Their history was right there before them.


    When Su saw that Walker had healed his cuts and started to draw more of the weaker stone to him, she felt that he was trying too hard. The stone was stubborn and needed a lot of force, but that same force would break it. She didn''t approach that mindset when she used the earth shield or created a thicker earth shield on her own twin shield.


    The reason she didn''t was that she believed that the earth was already open with her. Whether she had adapted that mindset because of her partner or because she had gained a much higher affinity for earth elemental mana, didn''t matter. The mindset had let her learn and use the earth to strengthen her defenses better.


    As she saw Walker and Midnight both controlling a part of stone, she was impressed to see that midnight was working so hard in her dragonkin form. She had not been using it much at all since they were on a long journey that required her toughest form. Her dragon form was massively more powerful when it came to protecting and defending. Survival was airways at the top of the list.


    The dragonkin form had almost no use in battle other than some physical attacks. Midnight could use mes on her ws and she had trained this with Su. However, now that Midnight was learning to use stone, that meant that Su would have a much harder time to defend against Midnight''s attacks if they were to fight each other when Midnight was in this form. It was a good thing.


    "Now let the earth wrap around your ws and the stone be one with you. It isn''t separate from you. It is always part of you, you are just using it now. It''s an extension of your own limbs." Su calmly walked toward them and gave the softmands to Midnight. Walker also heard them but his mind was intently focused on the condensing earth that he was unable to try anything just yet.


    The feeling was shared with him. Midnight found that Su was giving her advice and listened without hesitation. She trusted what Su said as she started to let the earth close in on her ws more closely. The idea of making a wall or shield was forgotten for the moment.


    "Keep on doing that. The earth is where everythinges from. It is the ground you walk but also the origin of food. Let it stay close to you. It isn''t malleable like water but it is your support. The thing that holds you up." the stone slowly coated just the ws on Midnight''s hands. It was a small matter since it didn''t cover her entire hand and arm as some dragonkin could when they learned attacks that Terron had shown them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The tougher stone ws were easily better than what Midnight''s normal ws could do. Even just by a little bit, they cloud cut in to tougher defenses more. "That is the start, let it expand more or make it support you with more strength. Ask it with your mana and it will bend to your will. It is stubborn but so are you because you are the same." These pieces of advice were just about changing mindset. Stone was tough but if you were tough as stone, why would it not move the same as you? A simple thought.


    When Su looked over, she saw that Walker had coated five of his fingers on one hand with stone. The small shaping that followed was the stone moving to mimic ws like Midnights. She had no idea how the two were mimicking each other but she smiled nheless. This was very interesting and proved that she would most likely be able to do something simr. She would be able to try and copy the skills that should be a dragon''s. She already had the blood and the bonds, why not?


    By the time that Su stopped speaking and sat down too, she had already removed her heavier armor to allow her to be closer to the stone. The three just sat calmly changing the stone in their hands while letting the soil pile up near them. Their clothes were getting fairly dirty but their learning was growing.


    Su could feel a slightly stronger bond with Midnight when she started to try and pull stone toward her. She had no idea how she could also do as the two did since she had no mage skills like Walker. But with the help of her partner, she could make an earth shield. The real challenge was making her own without her partner.


    Her training was different, yet, it was very simr to what the two had been doing. That was why she started making the earth shield t on the ground between Midnight and Walker. That way she could just focus on making the shape. She didn''t notice that Walker was also starting to copy the same thing.


    ''The skill, earth hardening has been taken from the stone cutter system. The skill earth hardening has been learned to a higher degree than necessary for a basic skill. The skill high earth hardening has been learned instead.


    High earth hardening- 5+ mana depending on area


    The earth focused when using earth rted skills can be hardened to a denser level depending on the mana added. Further mana being added can condense search of a greater area or of a greater density. The dangers in doing so are greatly reduced through training for this skill. The mana used must be bnced and not overly forced.''


    The skill appeared and Walker immediately felt it flowing more clearly. But he was getting a bit frustrated since he was still struggling to shape the earth in his ideal way.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1775 1775. Refocused Training

    "I could break that." Remey was sure that she could break the stone that Midnight and Walker were working on. She could be sure that a solid punch would be able to crush it and break through the defenses. However, she could definitely not break the defenses of the stone that Su had.


    Between Remey and Gil, the two had realized that Su, Midnight, and Walker had been missing for quite some time. This wasn''t abnormal since they were all doing their own training and resting while waiting for the wyverns to awaken. But it wasn''t normal that they would not be around somewhere visible.


    The small exploration after Remey and Gil had taken a break from their own matters had brought them to the same ce that Su had gone to. But when Remey found the three, she saw that they were all trying the same thing. Walker was trying to make a shield just like Su could when it came to earth shields.


    Su''s was much stronger because of her higher earth affinity due to her partner. Having that affinity grand earth spirit proved to be the main boon when making such a skill. Especially when it came to toughness and dependability. Walker and Midnight had just started to do such things. It was a little odd since Su was not a mage, but taking in the ount that she had used a shield primarily made of earth in the first ce, it did make sense.


    The only thing that Remey found herself wondering was, how she could fare against the shields. Could she break them with defense breaking punch? Or would she need to stop and use the earth affinity knuckles to do anything to them?


    "They aren''t just making shields. Look at them addingyers to the shields they are making. Walker and Midnight should be trying to make them denser. Su might be doing the same thing without too much help from her partner." Gil spotted the differences much more easily with his sharper eyes. But he was also wondering if his arrows would have any effect. Not that he had any of them with him right this second. He had another focus. One that he had set himself up to use no matter what.


    The high elf dagger technique had been too stagnanttely. He hadn''t focused on it in the past days since he had been too focused on the current journey., but he also knew that when they returned to the vige along the border, that they would be seeing Alma again. Alma would certainly have more to say about his rate of progress. He would be letting her down if there was none.


    Therefore, the focus on using daggers was all that Gil could do. The reason he had gone looking for Walker, Midnight, and Su was also due to the fact that he wanted to ensure that he could train against someone other than Remey. He wanted to fight multiple people that could defend every single attack he used. That was the pressure that could push him to another level. Especially since it would be enough to make sure that he would see the ws in every step very clearly.


    "Remey? Gil?" Midnight was the first to break her concentration and look at them. It was because she had smelled the two closer than they had been before. The strength of a dragon''s nose was nothing to be underestimated.


    "Midnight, we came to train with all of you. Feel like testing out that shield?" Rmeye put on the earth affinity knuckles and patted her armor a little. She was waiting to see if Midnight would get fired up a little for a battle.


    "I need some battles too. I want everyone to attack me. I need to push the dagger technique more. It''s stuck." Gil didn''t hesitate to get himself in to it too. This brought Walker and Su back to focus.


    "You two came looking to train? There is still no change in the wyverns yet? What about the royal dragons?" Walker was looking a little more tired than the other two. The issue for him was the constant expenditure of mana and mental strength. He was using the natural mana to help him pull at the earth mana now so that he could meld them together. It was a very tedious bnce that should only be used short term and not over the long term like this training. At least until he was better at using natural mana all the time.


    "We had toe to train. The royal dragons have all started to meditate while waiting for Terron, Alice, and Onyx are training with light and darkness mana, even some soldiers are working with them. The angels have all calmed down finally and are basically just examining the wyverns without touching them to gather intelligence for their empires. The healers are the same. The life mages are actually the most interested." Gil sounded bored.


    "It''s not anything interesting. The life mages are talking about lifespan, and size. It''s very boring. They are a lot less like healers now than they were." Remey grumbled a little. It was very clear that the life mages had tried to do this to Remey and Gil at some point. That just left them to want to train somewhere else even more. Therefore, here they were with multiple reasons to find the rest of the party.


    "We cloud use a change of pace. I can only test my shield so muchpared to what my partner and I can do. With this, I can break it many times. I might even be able to use the skills that Midnight is using to coat her ws in stone." Su looked at Minfight who had already shifted the shield shape to covering her ws.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The changes that Midnight had figured out were greater than the other two. She had managed to make stone ws and created a small stone shield. It wasn''t necessarily as condensed as she wanted butpared to walker, Midnight had an actual stone shield skill now. It was sure that she could learn a stone armor skill if she wantedter with more training.


    Walker had been slightly behind. When he had focused on coating his body in stone, the stone ws skill was foreign to his human body. This led him to focusing on the ws he replicated more. It was very simr to the dragon aspect in that way. He was mimicking dragons. Now though, he was a little jealous that Midnight had gained a skill first.


    "I don''t think that we will be focused on the defenses really." Walker looked at Remey and Gil. But the one that responded to him the most was Remey. She grinned and cracked her knuckles.


    "He wants to fight face to face. What, are you jealous that you can''t get the skills you want?" Remey had picked up on Walker''s frustration easily. It was just something that came with the fact that they all spent so much time together as a party. Anyone would be able to pick up on these things over time.


    The singlement had started a battle right then and there. The desire to train taking over their minds as they knew they would have to begin their journey toward the Fel empire and the desert that held the undead causing issues. The real wonder was what would make the undead so powerful? What had awoken them after so long? And what would happen if they were to continue to grow to the point that they were able to leave the continent?


    These thoughts were in the back of everyone''s minds as they trained but it was much more forward in the royal dragon''s minds. Their conversations about what would be happening after the wyverns awoke and where more ruins might be had been long. The eventual end of them before they all sat to meditate and prepare had been simple. What dragon ruins might be in the Fel empire where the desert is strong.


    Were there light, wind, or fire ruins? They could find more legacies for the most powerful dragons that had sent their race to the other continent many years ago. So many that the dragons had not known they were once residents of the Sigil continent at all. That history had been lost to time since they were too young in a new ce as a race.


    This would have been thought about more if after hours more there had not been a stirring in the ruins. In the wyverns. Some had begun to show signs of waking up which pushed the royal dragons to send their dragonkin to get Walker and the others. Just a few hours of training had been left for all of them.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1776 1776. Half And Half

    As much as the party could train for days and hours, the mana they were using was too much to allow that to happen. Their mentalities greatly outweighed their ability at this moment in life. However, that did not limit the pressure they could put on one another.


    Walker was able to start pushing the earth condensing skill on to the earth sculpting skill. The two high level skills were mixing very well. Enough that it seemed that he would be able to do much more when it came to earth mana in generalter in time. He also had started apetition to make the earth ws that Midnight was using tougher. The two had a simple goal of beating the shields that Su made.


    While Midnight and Walker struggled to create a quick and tough earth shield, Su was able to make one much more easily once she was in battle. Something had clicked in her mind that was definitely rted to her affinity. The shield she could make barely required any of the grand earth spirit''s assistance now. She could make one whenever she needed as long as she had the earth mana to do so.


    That didn''t stop Remey from trying to make sure they all broke through. The fire elemental affinity knuckles have been forgotten momentarily for the earth affinity knuckles. Ones that Remey barely ever used since she had such a great affinity for fire now. In doing so, Remey had been able to greatly meld the defense breaking fist with the earth affinity of the knuckles.


    Thebination was proving to be tougher because of the added affinity of earth to her punches. The earth was tougher and allowed Remey to simrly pull earth or stone to her knuckles as a sort of gauntlets protecting her. This defense added to her fists allowed Remey to punch with more of her strength without any bacsh that would normallye from adding too much force to a hit. Many brawlers struggled with the concept when they were younger because they believed that hitting harder meant that they would win a battle faster.


    Faster wasn''t always better though, Gil had shown this in his current state of training. The speed at which Gil had normally pushed himself was greatly held back as form and technique waspletely followed. Especially when it came to the defensive abilities of the earth rted dagger techniques from the elves.


    The reason that Gil had slowed down was simply because he was able to focus on defensive measures that way. Where the defensive measures had taken ce specifically were with his ability to deflect then counter attack. In doing so, he needed to focus on the qualities of earth and stone that the sand and stone elves had greatly focused on.


    These aspects were able to resist the tougher attacks that the rest of the party could throw at him. Just like Remey''s punches, when they hit, the effects would be different. To resist the defense breaking fist enhances by earth, Gil needed to understand what the earth affinity in them brought and how to alter that with his solid movements.


    To resist through sheer defense was not a bright idea, but using the strength of the de and the earth stance of his dagger technique, he could use his own force to deflect and alter the path the attack was taking. Such movements were a test of Remey''s mentality while they were a challenge for Midnight who had not expected that Gil would make her attacks useless in a simr way that Su was able to deflect attacks.


    Although, Midnight was still the one making the greatest progress. Since the entire group was using earth styled attacks, earth affinity items, or earth mana, she was able to make her own progress greater. Midnight had the earth affinity due to her blood and true dragon champion status among dragons. She was able to ess the earth affinity and train it through her actions. It had just been slumbering in a way. Waiting for her to adapt to it. To be familiar with her own defenses and strengths.


    "Reporting from my lords! The wyverns have begun to stir. The wyvern queen still slumbers but the wyverns are going to awaken." The sudden interruption of a dragonkin reporting to Walker stopped everyone. None of them had been focused on time but their mana had run thin so this was surprisingly ideal. Not that they would have stopped if they didn''t have no choice in the matter. The group was clearly on a roll with their training advancements.


    "We will head there now." Walker didn''t hesitate to follow the dragonkin immediately. He found that the words were very true as they all followed behind. The smaller wyverns that had rushed to the ruins and caves were twitching or beginning to grumble as they awoke. But that was not the half of it. Walker was able to see the changes using his all around appraisal.


    ''Half wyvern


    Due to the awakening of the earth wyvern bloodline that was created through years of hard effort by the wyvern queen and the recognition of the world, the wyverns born with said bloodline had be half dragon half earth wyverns. Those born between them may be full wyverns or lesser dragons.


    The half wyverns is much closer to a pure earth wyvern like some of the younger or more focused of their species. They are able to manipte the earth to create tougher scales along their bodies. They will also be able to follow the teachings of the wyvern queen to learn other skills unique to their race.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Wyvern is able to bring a berserker skill in to battle using their monstrous instincts. When in effect, the wyverns of older times is brought out of them. They will go in to a vicious physical battle¡­''


    There was more but Walker could already see the differences. There were no mentions of mindless wyverns. Instead, there were skills that could bring them in and out of these instinctual battle mindsets if they needed to be. But there were also many more mentions of earth rted skills that were directly linked to their earth wyvern blood. A very good change in the all around appraisal from what they had been before.


    On the way toward the wyvern queen''s chambers, the entire party stopped as they felt the shing of manas. Specifically of condensed light and darkness mana that was not what they had expected in the moment or at all. They all knew it was Alice and Onyx, but they had not expected that while they had been training in earth mana, that the two had been focused on the condensing of their own elemental manas.


    Specifically, Onyxx showing his ability to make the shadows around him bend to his will. To make the shadows act as his own personal ce to hide and attack with. Adding in the nearly inaudible song that Alice was singing that seemed to be intentionally quiet to condense and attack more secretly, then there was an impressive scene of power and strength.


    That didn''t mean that Walker didn''t want to know what the skills he saw were. What the shadow serpents clearly made of shadows that Onyx controlled were called and what the skill Alice was using was called. The two had changed their focus on condensing and created new skills to use or at least the start of two clearly powerful new skills.


    When the rest of the party passed them by, Walker saw Onyx and Alice stop immediately and start to follow them. A dragonkin had told them as they went by what was happening, but the two were clearly worn out from their own training. Walker had expected that Alice would be resting for much longer after using a skill that had taken so much mana and focus. But she had pushed herself in to training the moment she had woken up from resting for just a short while. The few potion bottles around where they had been proved they had both used mana potions to push themselves along.


    "Brother, we can help out here for a while." Onyx had changed his size to a smaller and more manageable one but he and Alice still looked too tired to do much.


    "Just rx. We should let Terron take the lead. He is their guide for now. But you should tell me what skills that you two were using. They looked powerful. It''s impressive." Remey and Gil backed Walker up on this, making both Alice and Onyx look slightly shy at the sudden praise. Yet it was well deserved. They had all taken their resting time and thrown it away for their desires to be stronger yet again. Even though they had not fully rested, their shoulders had less weight on them knowing they were even slightly better prepared for the future.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1777 1777. Awakening Wyverns

    Alice looked more embarrassed that the group had just seen her and Onyx training. It was clever that she was not at all adapted to such a skill. But the almost entirely silent song had moved the light in apletely different way than they had all seen her use it. Therefore, everyone had some curiosity. It was the same case for Onyx, they all wanted to hear what he had to say about his skill while they were walking towards the chamber of the wyvern queen.


    "Luby" the single word made all of them feel a little dumb. The luby skill was one that a lot of mothers got regardless of their system. It was entirely because they were mothers that they would get the skill.m then they would have the ability to sing songs softly and peacefully for a small duration. Usually ending so softly that no one would hear it for a moment.


    "So you use the luby skill with your other skills to make therge force of light with almost no sound?" This made Walker wonder if it was the singing that was the key to Alice''s skills or if it was just the act of verbally adding will to her words. But who had to hear it to take effect? Was it just Alice? Or was it the person being affected by her skills?


    Or did it not need to be heard at all since the skill was working with the light? Could it be that Alcie wasn''t singing to anyone but the light elemental mana itself? That was what seemed to make the most sense. She was a songstress, yes, but what if her unique blood since she was somehow descended to angels that had long ago left their continent made her system slightly different?


    "My skill is called shadow serpents. It allows me to make the shadows in smaller images of myself to attack and bind something with them." Onyx saw that Alice was getting a little more red faced. She was embarrassed by the attention on her. Therefore, Onyx came to rescue in a way.


    "I assume they don''t have venom?" Remey seemed to be more interested in this right away. She was already imagining that onyx would trap monsters for her while she could brush in and beat them down.


    "No, they are my shadows, I can''t use them well enough to give them that. I never use my venom either." Onyx was very adamant in not using bis venom when fighting. It wasn''t because he was afraid of it, but because he knew the dangers.


    The venom of an abyssal serpent was potent. Onyx knew this and Walker had seen the skill. It could easily harm monstersrger than Onyx but it could also destroy them now that Onyx had gotten much stronger. Due to this, onyx had realized the danger and the fact that he could destroy parts of monsters unintentionally. It would hurt the party overall in that means, thus, he had decided not to use his venom.


    "A very effective skill that will be very helpful. Congrattions Onyx. Alice, I also think your skill will be very good to use. Many people can be healed or attacked without the enemy hearing it. I think I would want to train against you using that kind of skill. I would have to heighten my instincts." Su was appreciating both skills for what they were and how they would force her to adapt to them.


    Entangled by shadows would be troublesome for her movement. Especially since she was always working to improve her agility due to carrying heavier armor and shields as a draconic guardian. But knowing that silent attacks made of light could attack her from anywhere was rough. It would mean that she had to be able to react without thinning. A perfect chance to train her instincts.


    "So a silent light attack and a silent shadow tangling attack. Pretty crazy, I''m not going to lie." Gil was just as impressed but he was wondering if he would see them both getting higher ss skills as they trained them. Especially since they had just learned them and started to push toward them due to their personal goals recently.


    "It took you long enough. Terron got all of us up and ready in just a minute. Now you are all here after many!?" Ignus showed a clear annoyance for the party not being right there when things had started to change with the wyverns. Some of the youngest had already awoken and were moving near the queen. They were slightly defensive even if not all of them were her direct children.


    "We are here as well. Please show us what you are nning." The tension that came with Seran''s words as every single angel stood at the ready made everyone wonder if they were nning to have a battle right here and now. Especially since they had not wanted the wyverns to be alive at all. The ideal for the Rize empire would have been defeating the wyvernspletely so that they would not be causing in further issues with the empires.


    "What i am nning?" I am nning to raise them as if they were their own vige. The mountains will be theirs. Your empire will need permission to pass through certain areas. They will have their young guard it. But you should understand, that also means you will have safe travels through here. A dragon''s word is unbendable. So the wyverns shall live that as well." Teron was an earth dragon. They were stubborn and powerful. The wyverns were earth affinity was well. It was easy to believe they would have the exact same stubbornness.


    "But we will make sure that it is understood when she decided to stand up and look at us." Terron and the other royal dragon had all been looking at the wyvern queen''s body. She was still solidly curled up over her eggs but she was not breathing the same way. Her soft breathing had stopped and she was taking a long deep breath. She had heard them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The time it was supposed to take for her to finish healing had been constantly shortened by the life mages. They had not stopped helping her since they were given the task. They had rested and some hadpletely passed out, which was normal for any healer. Yet, when they had woken up with enough mana, they had gone right back to the task assigned.


    This wasn''t because they cared for the wyverns greatly or because they had a great attachment to their orders. They were healers. Healers sent because they were considered some of the best avable at the time. Therefore, they would be pushing themselves to do the very best they possibly could based on their honor as healers and the skills they had. No healer would leave someone harmed to heal by themselves just because they had been brought back from death''s door. They would spend as much effort as needed to bring them back to near perfect condition.


    As the wyvern queen''s voice rumbled, she spoke before rising up. "I feel new." The three words made everyone understand. They knew that the wyverns were awakening their own race and bloodline that was taking clear control. Some of the wyverns had more pronounced bone horns or spikes along their body to show this fact off.


    The wyvern queen was the same. She showed off the fact that her scales had more or less regenerated where Terron had brought earth to cover the open wounds. They were different colors because they were still new and were not fully finished healing. The color would never be the same since they were scars. Yet, the scales themselves were more pointed and sharp. They would cut something by rubbing on them the wrong way.


    "You are now a wyvern queen. The blood of dragons is but little in your body now. Your children will be fully pure earth wyverns. You have what you would risk everything for. Now what?" Terron did not add pressure but showed equal standing out of respect.


    A deep rumble echoed before the wyvern queen took the more human form again. The rush of dust that kicked up this time was more impressive before revealing the scared face and scales from the attack. Yet, she looked somewhat calmer. Happier than before as of arge weight that had been on top of her was gone.


    "Those that built our home are our reason. I will learn to rule a vige first. As you and those I followed have done." Terron seemed to like this answer and nodded his head slowly.


    "Then I shall share with you the strength of earth that you have missed. Until your children hatch. After that, you will need to return thisnd to prosperity since you are the one that ruined it. The angels will only respect your strength if you can raise and destroy your territory with wisdom." Seran appeared surprised at Terron''s words but the respect that appeared was true to the core. The angels would allow the wyverns to live if this was possible. A powerful dragon was saying it and they understood the potential for this to happen


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1778 1778. One Step Behind

    The wyvern queen was clearly very different. There was a lot more control over her movements even though she would havesting injuries from the attack of the yellow acid slime. But what contributed to the sudden change in mentality wasn''t only the fact that she was seeing the beings that she had seen in the ruins as statues. She was different because of her bloodline changing.


    The wyvern queen was not influenced by the simple brutality of dragon blood within her anymore. She was now able to discern the differences in a proper intelligent species and a real species. The differences that had been between them and their race before was simple, anger and instincts.


    The wyverns had been many in number, enough that if they were more intellectual, then they would have already been recognized as a race. When the dragons had appeared to take the lead of them, the world had enough reason to push for a world quest. A racial quest to help the wyverns.


    This turn had shown everyone that the wyverns were not necessarily evil. They were mostly victims of their blood and beastly instinct to battle, fight for their territory, and kill whatever they could for food when theycked it. These instinctual drivers were too much to resist causing a loss of intellect. By oveing them, the wyvern queen had already given birth to eggs that would be separate from that brutality and be able to be real earth wyverns.


    Therefore, the wyvern race had already been separated, it was just a matter of time before the wyverns would be recognized properly. By finishing the quest, the world was able to ce its influence in again and free the existing wyverns of their burdens. Their blood was still mixed, but some of the clouded judgment and brutality had been washed away. Now they would be able to live.


    While the world seemed mysterious, the clear message of all of this was simple. The world or mysterious existence that governed everything, the systems, races, and even the mana around did not want to just watch war and death. It wanted everything and everyone to live a pure and true existence. That filled Walker and the others with a great amount of pride and joy.


    As Terron had taken the full lead, the other royal dragons had backed off slightly. This wasn''t fear or anything rted to that. It was respect. Terron had taken the wyverns as a race under him. It was the safe and a dragon taking a vige under their own territory. That made the wyverns and everything they imed as their homes, theirs.


    On top of this, the entire mountain had been created by an ancient dragon. One of Terron''s blood. An earth dominator dragon had left everything behind so that the dragons could one day find it when there was not war any longer. It was something meant for Terron and the same would be elsewhere for the other dragons. How could they trample on that? It would a great disrespect.


    The wyvern queen was listening to Terron as he spoke talking about the rules of a territory, the control one would need over their people. But when the wyvern queen nced at the royal dragons and to the party, she looked back at Terron before he gave her a nod.


    "You are not like them. How are you able to stand with them?" The curiosity was something that had bloomed when the wyvern queen first saw that Walker had acted and used skills to mimic dragons. It was clear to her that he had power she did not. Yet, with this new rity in mind after bing her very own race, she did not understand anything. The world wasrger than she knew.


    "I am human. Just that. But I have blinds with dragons, abyssal serpents, and many other friends. I am not necessarily human anymore due to all of that. But I started simple, I believed in things and stood up for that. I met people that changed the course of my life and got stronger. As I did, I embraced many things. That put me here in front of you and gave us the chance to help you instead of the full war which would have happened if we did not appear on this continent." Walker knew this wasn''t really an answer.


    "One day, when your wyverns are ready, they cane visit the home that myself and my family, my bonds, my friends, and so many more are making. It is open to every race. Monster races like you, ancient races like the dragons, and younger races as well. Everyone has a chance there. I wouldn''t mind seeing the world like that."


    A small glint shes in the eyes of the wyvern queen as she absorbed this information. A potential where she would not be fighting and killing for her chance to grow the race she desired. It would be different, very much so, but it would be better. It would be better. "Terron might even bring you there one day. He has some of the young earth dragons there to learn things. Not many yet, but I know he will be happy with what they learn there.


    "First though, Terron should be showing you to help your people be organized. He has already created entire spaces for a vige near the water. I bet he will show you things I haven''t seen yet. I bet he will also show you a way to live with the angels instead of fighting them. In the future, they should also help you in return. Food, safety, and family. You''ll have it all."


    Walker seemed to be putting words in Terron''s mouth but Terron didn''t even flinch. What Walker was saying was true. Terron intended all of this as the guiding dragon for the wyvern race. The earth wyverns would be able to learn all that and more. They might even be a dramatically different society because of their time in the worldpared to what would have happened if the eggs the wyvern queen had birthed hatched in to a world of battle instead.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Seran, you should have already reported this, right?" Walker looked at Seran who nodded quickly. "Then we should head away. Terron has a lot of work to do and the wyverns are calmed down a lot. Even the little ones that came back are waiting for their queen to say something, we can''t get in the way of that, right?"


    This was a little pushy but Terron appeared to be grateful for it. He had a lot to do and had just shouldered arge amount of work. Things that would keep him from his own territory. "As agreed, we will watch your home. Nothing will touch your elder dragons." Current made a simple promise before following the party away. None of them stayed in the same chamber. But just as they left, Walker swore he saw one of the wyvern queens'' eggs shake just slightly. Even if it didn''t really happen, it made him that much happier.


    "The things we are left with is a loss of a dragon to our cause. Terron is strong. He is not with us now." Su was torn because she knew the importance of Terron being here.


    "I will manage without him. One dragon would be enough to handle this issue. My light will cause those undead to fall and we will find those demons. They have the bodies of wyverns and have dared touch a dragon''s ruins." Rise was understandably worked up. She was just showing now.


    "These slimes are what I''m worried about. That slime breeder had more lord slimes with him and managed to get whatever wyvern bodies using them. He even left one to attack as a disposable attack against the wyverns. If the queen died, they would have gone berserk." Gil made a clear point that the worst could have happened. But they hadn''t actually thwarted any ns. Just prevented the side effects.


    "It feels like we are just reacting every time we have to deal with the demons. How do we get ahead" Remey spoke with a frustrated tone that everyone felt. They all felt the same way when the demons were brought up.


    "I have a feeling that they will be with the undead too. They took a wyvern''s body, why would they need it?" Mordant growled a little after saying this. "We will take down the undead and erase that potential. We just need to speed up our ns." Mordant seemed willing to make some sacrifices for this. He would not be fooling around now.


    "Then that''s that. We will start moving in a few hours. Seran, we can leave you here to handle things. You fought wyverns so you can help show them the opposite of battle. It should be better for those that were at odds for them to learn about their future. You can be biased and have your view altered by what you see changing." Seran didn''t respond for some time until he nodded a little.


    Walker had imagined some pushback but saw that Seran truly wanted to keep the Wyverns ountable. His soldiers would be the same as well. "The Fel empire might not be ready for us, but we areing. We will need to rely on the life mages, crystal healers, and everyone else we meet to help us out. Hopefully they can handle a speedy movement to assist." Walker looked at everyone and saw they were already prepared to move. No one had expected a long rest after this. It was a little sad but just the truth they had to face with their goals and ambitions.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1779 1779. A World View

    To say that the angels were pushed in to disarray by this didn''t even sum up a little of what was going on. Seran had rushed to report things and so did the healers and life mages from the Fel empire. Even though they all had their more specific reason for being there, they also had their duties to the empires they served.


    Seran had told the archangels about what had happened. None had liked it much and the information had already been passed on. The Rize empire was slightly shocked to hear that they might have something safe in the mountains now.


    Unfortunately, the information had spread like wildfire as soon as the earth wyverns had been recognized as a race. Some of the less knowledgeable angels in the Rize empire believed that this was the start of a different war. A racial war where they would be fighting a race of monsters that wanted them all dead for food and territory.


    Others knew that something was happening with Genesis. They knew that Genesis had taken the lead fully without enough influence from the archangels at all. This made them very unhappy because they would have preferred that the wyverns were gone forever. Having another race made thingsplicated.


    Unfortunately, these thoughts had already been stomped out when the archangels and their superiors heard that the earth dragon Terron would be staying to lead the earth wyvern race. That alone was enough to hold off. Every single angel with strength had heard of the power that a single dragon had. It was why the reaction against Genesis had not been a battle. It had been to create a working rtionship with them.


    Furthermore, the thought that the earth wyverns might be brought over to their side also bloomed. The thoughts of having their enemies somehow controlled by a dragon that could send them to war for them was very tempting. Those that raised this potential were given a lot of face in their meetings.


    One thing that didn''t sit well with anyone was the fact that Genesis was immediately leaving to help the Fel empire. This meant that the Fel empire could take away the thing that the Rize empire had already grown with the Genesis people. Unfortunately, there was nothing the Rize empire could figure out.


    The shocking addition that the dragons of Genesis had worked to save the wyvern queen hit even harder. The fact that some demon hade and let loose a monster that could have killed the powerful wyvern queen they had been unable to hint so far made things worse. This demon had control of lord slimes that could easily rival their top warriors. That could destroy their prized floating city. The gem of each empire.


    If the lord slimes escaped on to their well protected floating city, the elemental halls, knowledge of generations, and many of their race would be destroyed. It was the core safe haven for the Rize empire overall. Losing it was the same as losing everything in the eyes of the Rize empire top angels.


    The Fel empire was slightly different. There was a massive halt in research. Not because they wanted to stop, but because they were receiving the detailed reports of things they could not understand. Dragons were barely recorded in their research, the skills and systems that Genesis used were also not recorded anywhere also. Add in the mystery that was Walker and how he could use skills of other races and even some monsters. Well, that brought even the most reclusive researchers out.


    They had also received the report that lord slimes had appeared. Some of the Fel empire knew about this monster. What ce in the world had not seen a slime of some form? They were just toomon for the Fel empire not to know of them. Yet someone who could breed them in to such powerful monsters that did what they desired of the lord slimes? Impossible.


    Bing a tamer was a research field that some of the Fel empire angels focused on. The specific reasons usually rted to skills that would alter the tamer''s body or the way they acted through the binds of the tamer and their tamed monster. Specifically the sharing of blood and spirit. A mystery that caused many researchers to feel lost for words over and over.


    It truly made them wonder what was going on with demons that hade to their continent. Especially since they had somehow managed to steal away a wyvern body and body parts from a wyvern burial in the mountains of the Rize empire. It made themugh that the Rize empire had lost something, but that wasn''t it.


    Every single member of the Fel empire that mattered knew exactly the sanger in their core deserts. The undead that were being held back but could not be killed. If a powerful monster joined them, that would be a ridiculous tragedy that could deem all their research useless.


    Along with this, the Fel empire understood that this Genesis alliance had been damaged to help a monster be a race. Something that seemed too impossible. Too hard to manage. Yet, they were hearing that this had been done more than once. Shocking, dramatic, and just impossible. The archangels for the Fel empire had shouted out with this over and over since they had no data to support this being possible. No matter what manas they had studied. They were at a loss.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    On the exact flip side of the two empires, Genesis was rejoicing. They had seen the world announcement and they had also received some reports usingmunication crystals. None of them had wondered if they would hear of failure from the ships that had sailed. It had actually been a great talking point.


    For some of the authors, storytellers, and more creative people, this was a great chance. They all had begun to fashion stories and arts that depicted what might have been going on while the ships were away. Those who had actually heard of reports were able to create grand talespared to the imagination of others.


    Those that had been unable to take the journey had been d to hear of the current sess. They had also begun to worry since they were sure that trouble would be around every corner in the ocean. Not that they believed anyone that left would fail to make it back. They knew that the heroes that represented genesis woulde out of this using their greatest strength to ensure that everyone would remain safe.


    The faith that was kept was great, but that didn''t stop family like Lisa from using everything she heard as inspiration. Her clothing business had birth in to an even busier time as the season had changed again. She had been making more and more that she had expanded from just one shop to multiple. Seamstress hade from many different kingdoms to learn and work with her. The lure of rune sewn clothing was enough for them. But the rumors that she was making rune pattern clothing as well was somethingrger.


    The research of runes was giving birth to new system users. Rune cravers became more prevalent since they had a ce to study now. This brought in the rune carpenters. Rune stitchers, and even a rune swordsman from thends. They had not had homes or just been travelers, but genesis was not a hub for the rune research of the continent.


    There were two continents in dramatically different emotional states. Whether it was good or bad, it didn''t matter. Problems had been solved, things were growing, and the heroes were on the hunt for evil. What else would the people of the world want to hear?


    Meanwhile, the party was back preparing to leave again. Their minds could not bother to care for the states of the ces around them. They trusted everyone in Genesis to maintain its safety and prosperity. They knew that the Rize empire might try and halt them, but they would handle that when they saw it. They had to stop the undead in the south before things got worse and the entire Sigil continent was a victim.


    The Fel empire would surely hold many temptations. Walker already steeled himself against this. He could stay there and research unique manas for years and still not be satisfied. That was a fact. But if he stopped, he would miss the criminals he pursued and the dangers he promised to save the angels from. That would be a crime of its own.


    "Are you certain you want to carry everyone? All of you?" Walker saw that all the royal dragons were certain that they would carry along every soldier possible. They were truly angry at this slime Breeder. They could ignore some distaste for carrying others so that they could capture this viin. Seeing the nods from the dragons, Walker nodded as well. They would be off in the air shortly.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1780 1780. Push To Get Moving

    Many of the soldiers had not been carried by dragons. However, they knew that the dragonkin and some of the others had been before. What struck them was the fact that the dragonkin all moved to thank the dragons immediately when this was decided. The respect they had was ingrained within them. But to be carried by their lords was more than just an honor. It was a great promise that they were trusted to be with their lords under any circumstance.


    That was why the strongest dragonkin hade with them. The royal dragons had not selected just any dragonkin. They had brought their best of the best with them. While some had remained at the ships, at the embassy, and would also remain with Terron in the earth wyvern cave, they still moved with the entire army.


    Luckily, the dragonkin had not just kept their mouths shut. They had been bonding with the other soldiers of Genesis closely. They had already figured out that there were many ways for them to get along. whether it was training or just general learning about their races. The dragonkin had expressed their beliefs and the fact that the dragons were their lords. protectors and leaders. Therefore, the soldiers knew how big a deal it was to be carried anywhere by the royal dragons.


    "I will make you the stone carriers you want. I have no reason not to." Terron had been sure that the others would reject this idea as they thought more. He knew that they were not stubborn as he was, yet, he knew that they were more prideful.


    "We have to deal with the things causing us issues. We already have allowed for certain insults from the demons, now we are insulted again. Our history was nearly destroyed. One of those that fell under the dragon''s protection was harmed. It was a threat, an insult, and a blunt attack." Rise showed her teeth more and more as she spoke.


    From what Walker could see, she was already unhappy about undead gaining strength around here. But with the ancient dragon ruins as treasures hidden away within the Sigil continent avable for them to find, even the slightest little thing was enough to add to her anger. The demon king and his slime breeder were enough to push her right to an edge.


    "I would normally disagree with the violent intentions, but right now I am inplete agreement. Terron, while you stay here and guide the new race to represent their ancestors and our ancestors properly, we will clean up the mess of our ancestors as well." Current spoke out against for the first time in a little while. He was thinking about the dragon history on Sigil and how to properly reim it and clean the remnants that had be dishonest.


    The rest of the party including a few of the soldiers that witnessed this ongoing conversations started to get the feeling that they were now being swept up in things and not really putting things in to action themselves. Walker had seen thising though and was sure that it would work out for the best. ''


    The main reason that Walker felt this way was that the dragons had a good attitude. They wanted to help others while also keeping their reputation on high. That meant that the dragons had already altered their mindset to stop thinking of just themselves. They had begun to add in other races and the state of the world around them to their ns.


    The rumbling of stone bing multiplerge carriers that were simr to the one that Walker had in his storage made the angels wonder what was happening. A few of the wyverns even approached against their better judgment. It seemed the curiosity that the awakening young wyverns had for Terron was blooming already.


    Now that the earth wyverns had lessened their anger and instinctual anger, they were able to think more clearly. The older wyverns were the fastest to begin to rethink their actions and try to understand themselves. The younger wyverns started to explore and try different things. That meant that Terron was now the most interesting thing to them. A powerful source of mysteries when it came to earth affinity along with strength. Whether they were afraid or not, they tried to look at him.


    This also made Su a small target for their curiosity. She was easier to approach and the earth affinity they felt from her and the grand earth spirit made certain that she was a strong mystery. They could sense it and Su didn''t hide that she knew they were looking at her. Those that approached were not pushed away by strength either. That meant she was willing to let them near her for a while to learn what she might be able to do.


    Unfortunately, time was of the essence and Su could not show them the same time and kindness she would show curious children or any other person. She had to make sure she was leaving with the others. The wyverns also felt the slight stress and understood they would be in the way. The instincts monsters and beasts had was enough for them to know to stay slightly away as the dragons took their full forms again and the angels started to truly push themselves to follow.


    Seran saw the Genesis forces moving to leave and started to sweat a bit. He couldn''t leave. He had a duty to be here with the wyverns and monitor them. That took precedence over leaving for anything else. Even though the threat might eat away at him, he had to focus on the promises he made and the world quest he was given. Not that he believed the other royal dragons needed him. It was better for them to pursue this matter.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Terron was defensive by nature. Earth was strong and tough. That meant that the royal dragons were losing a defender. Where would the defender be best? Protecting a new race or leaving to be an attacking force? Not that a dragon could bebeled as just a defender or attacker. Their strength was more than just that.


    "We have a general location for where we are going, but the life mages should be able to guide us further." Walker interrupted and made sure that the royal dragons heard him. He wanted to make sure that they would not keep harping on their negative feelings for the situations they were in. He also wanted to make sure that they were keeping in mind that everyone going with them would be preparing to push themselves to battle as much as possible regardless of the enemy.


    "The sooner we leave together the better. I would use my skills to move all of us if I could. Unfortunately, that would leave me weaker than flying will.'' Mordantmented theck of strength he had in this means. He had taken Walker in to the shadows. The very edge of what was between the world as it was and the darkness ne of existence. A dangerous and taxing skill. If he could do this with an army¡­ Well, the uses were unprecedented.


    "Forget that, we are leaving now or we will be forced to stay forever. The more we push this off the worse it bes." Ignus growled out making sure to push everyone in to movement. The silent agreement from Ventus made certain that they were under the gaze of her eyes. She was sure that the desert would hold a lot of secrets. Dragon or otherwise.


    "They are really just going to carry us?" Walker heard one of the life mages asking Alice this. Her nod in approval made them wonder just how things would work out. But what made the party smile was the fact that all of those who had not traveled with a dragon would soon understand things.


    Their experiences had not been simple the first time they were carried as such. They were forced to endure the powerful wind that came with the strength that dragons had while flying. Even worse would be the fact that Ventus was clearly ready to help all of them fly even faster. "I think I will make sure that Zephyr and I keep everyone a little more protected. Walker, can you help me with some wind buffing skills?" Gil''s idea was brilliant and Walker had no reason to argue with it.


    While the royal dragons looked at the two a little unhappy, they understood the need to keep the soldiers ready for battle at the drop of a hat. Plus, Walker was ready to try to learn a new buff. A skill that defended from wind and boosted wind resistance would be useful if a sandstorm blew up. Not to mention useful to prove his theories about more elemental resistance buffs he had from a while ago.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1781 1781. Resistance Buffs?

    The methods of learning buff skills had been simple for Walker so far. He had been lucky to learn how to use the multi buff skill and heal skills through simple actions. The focuses on them were mostly to help others. But using elemental mana to specifically resist something was a newer endeavor.


    So far, the entire party had been gaining skills to resist certain elemental manas. That was mostly because they had been in environments dense with them. The snow helped them gain resistance to water elemental mana in the form of cold resistance or ice resistance. The hot temperatures of Ignus''s home had greatly helped some of them gain resistance to fire. Not to mention all of their time in the forges.


    These resistances would greatly help any adventurer let alone any person. That is just a fact of life. The stronger resistances someone had, the better they would be able to resist the unpredictability of life. Whether it was weather or the changing conditions of nature''sndscapes. Even The attacks of others would be better resisted when there was a natural resistance skill built up.


    This was different from the resistance buff skills though. The personal resistance were built over time. It was the same way that someone pushing themselves in training would gradually be able to increase their levels and bring themselves to a tougher defensive nature. They were getting stronger as a whole permanently. The buff skills were temporary.


    This was why Walker made a point to speak with the life mages. He had found that when they focused on the life mana within someone to try and buff them, that they were pushing their will on to the person''s life mana. Their natural life mana inside their body.


    Now this wasn''t negative because it was easily resisted. However, when it was not resisted, then the result was the life mana taking form to create a specific result. It was the same as healing skills that were used with personal mana, light mana, or otherwise. There was a specified result that the affected body would react to.


    The healing would then take ce using the body''s nutrients as the key to make that happen. Furthermore, there was the fact that the skill woulde at a cost. That was why the life mages knew that the cost for certain buff skills would be more energy or higher mana cost. Whether the mana was provided by the one Beijing buffed or the one giving the biff mattered.


    The idea to resist fire would require the body to take in water elemental mana around them. This would allow the body to cool itself with less of its own natural moisture. The cost was normally from the person giving the fire resistance buff. Therefore the secret to a fire resistance buff was having the ability to manipte water if the person wanted a stronger buff.


    An odd theory to be sure, many people would wonder if it was just adding water veils to protect the person or if it was stimted in the body of the target to produce more water and guard the skin from the fire. Both could be true depending on the type of buff. It made Walker''s head hurt a little to think about the different forms of buffs and how he would make his own focus on creating a wind resistance buff for everyone so that they could handle the much faster flying speed of dragons.


    This left Walker with the idea that he would try to stimte the earth mana that was within everyone to temporarily boost their wind resistance with earth. The manas within everyone were there because of natural mana or life mana. Both were there since everything had to be made up of the core elemental manas in the world.


    While there were other manas around that also yed parts within a being''s body, the maid were the four elemental manas. This meant that when Walker looked at someone and sensed their mana, he could sense the small bits of mana that were not attached to affinity but just naturally part of someone''s body. The fine control was just harder to grasp than most other things.


    Many of the life mages watched as they saw Walker working through this problem. They had openly volunteered while they waited to see what he could do. Their researching mentality was fueled by the very basic curiosity when someone met someone new. They had to see what this person could do besides the fact that Walker could stand next to dragons casually.


    The life mage that felt Walker sensing mana within his body was surprised when he felt that the multi buff skill had been used. Walker had done this to enhance the buff of the life mage and be able to sense where his mana went. A smart move to figure out how mana affected another being.


    Many mages and healers had skills to diagnose injuries. Simr methods were used but using a buff to do it was very surprising to the life mages. They all agreed that it was a nice alternative for someone like Walker who had the skills to sense mana but not the skills to be able to directly diagnose things.


    When Walker had done so, he was able to pick up the basic pieces of earth mana within the life mage''s wings. Luckily he was an earth affinity angel in general. This would help immensely in developing a wind resistance skill.


    The moment that Walker mixed natural mana and sent it to the earth mana within the life mage''s body, the earth mana started to pull toward more earth mana around them. Smallyers of dust were attracted to the hand that Walker held while using his skills.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In a quick test, Walker used the air around him to push on the hand from different angles. Each pushed offyers of dust causing the mage to wonder what the point was. He was making a resistance skill but instead had caused the mage to be covered in dust. Yet when Walker released his hand, the dust didn''t fall. It was an odd experience since he had no skill to make this happen and had not used any skill at all.


    ''The skill dust veil has been taken from the snow shaman system. The skill dust veil has been learned through attempts to enhance the elemental resistances of a single being with natural earth affinity.


    Dust veil- 2 mana cost


    By using mana to stimte the natural affinity or the small amounts of earth mana within a person, the dust and earth mana around will form over the being. This will allow for resistance against wind, sun, and heat for a short time. The buff can be extended by the one with the buff providing their mana through stationary movement. The multipleyers of dust can easily be removed with water or stronger earth magic.''


    While it wasn''t a pure resistance buff, it was a skill that served the purpose that Walker needed. He was sure that he would have been able to make a resistance buff if he stayed with this theory and worked harder. However, time was of the essence. He just had to manage everyone that might need a boost with this skill.


    The sudden use of a new buff that the angels had not seen made them want to push Walker right in to their researchbs. Any pce where they could continue this method to learn new buffs that they had just witnessed. Unfortunately for them, Walker stopped this instantly.


    "I promise we can work moreter. But we have bigger goals. Or would you prefer that the Fel empire be gone along with all the research done by your empire by the time we get back?" It was a sharp reprimand but one that worked. Keeping the focus here was the best bet Walker had to made sure that everyoneplied.


    "Good, you can help everyone move faster." Ventus had understood why Walker had stopped them from immediately leaving. She appreciated that with this buff that they could fly faster. But she also appreciated that he had thought more about the strength of the soldiers when theynded. If they had to go right in to battle then it would be a much better state of being for them.


    "I didn''t notice you watching. But maybe I can make other skills like this to resist earth or fire or water. I need to spend a lot of time just learning about buffs. I think that every single time I look around a corner there is a mountain of things I could never have the time to learn." Ventus heard him then generated to everything around them. Her point was clear. They had all found a literal mountain of things to learn from. It was a funny moment but Walker hadn''t even meant to make that pun.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1782 1782. Talk In The Sky

    The soldiers were quick toe around and revived their dust veil buffs. The ones that had experienced the pressure of the wind before knew the dangers of traveling so fast. The only ones that did note were the dragonkin directly under Ventus. They were few in number but they were extremely resistant to the wind already.


    The angels had not fully understood the degree of wind they would be put through. However, they saw the other soldiers and followed suit right away. Especially since the Fel empire mages wanted to experience the buff and learn more about it for their own reasons.


    The moment that every single one of them had been buffed was the moment that the royal dragons began to get a little more forceful. They started to push everyone in to their spots with orders. The splitting of forces was not an issue, however, Mordant had made a point to take his dragonkin and the party. Not the anyone was unhappy with this. The only one that appeared a little annoyed was Midnight who wanted to fly herself. Unfortunately, she was not strong enough to keep up with them and fly for that long. Walker had also epted this fact. He wouldn''t be able to keep up either.


    The sight of the royal dragons taking full form and carrying massive stone baskets with soldiers in them would forever be ingrained within the Rize empire angel''s minds. They could see the power and strength that came with lifting massive stones and soldiers like it was nothing. Seran himself was mumbling about how good it was that the dragons had not used their full strength and followed the non aggressive approach. He understood that if they had been violent, that they would have taken over a massive area with battle.


    "I made sure to have you all with me for a reason." Mordant was able to freely speak with the party while flying. Onyx was ensuring that they could all easilymunicate mentally. It was very useful. It was hard to hear over the rush of wind. Luckily, Walker''s dust veil buff was helping keep everyone free from any abrasive pressure due to wind.


    Ventus was also using her skills to push them all faster. The added boost from wind was easily known as a slipstream skill. A very powerful wind skill that was often used by pack monsters of avian species. Walker had heard about it since the harpies used it to travel around. That was also why they were able to be the best mail carriers for the genesis alliance so quickly. They saved the mana that would be used onmunication crystals. Especially since there were not manymunication crystals that could be used many times.


    "I thought you would have a reason to ask us all to get together, is it about the undead we are going to face?" Walker had a feeling that it woulde up. A private conversation with just Mordant meant that he had some worries.


    " Yes. about the dragon ruins as well." Mordant appeared to have thought this through but didn''t want to leave this with the other royal dragons. "I believe that the ruins may be within this ancient civilization''s ruins. That they may bebined or near one another." the idea had not just passed through the party''s minds. They had also thought that this would be a possibility.


    The idea that the dragon ruins had yed arge part in deem of these events was clear. The only question is which ones? The earth wyverns had found the residual earth mana from the ancient earth dragons. Therefore, they had almost worshiped them and followed the strength they believed in. This had pushed them to be able to take on the greater strength to push themselves to their own species. That Was what the wyvern queen had done.


    If this was the same as the wyverns, then the mummified worshippers that were in the desert were worshiping something powerful. A being that had used powerful skills to make itself in to whatever it was now. But if it used the dragon''s knowledge of darkness then pushed in to death mana, that would make a lot more sense. The energy would be different, but it would be powerful.


    The fearful thing for Mordant was that he may lose the darkness dominator ruins or even find that they were no more. That they had been destroyed or broken down in to something else. It could mean years and years of history and knowledge lost forever or at least shattered in to just pieces of what it should be.


    If they were lucky, then the ruins might just be nearby and have had a small influence on everything. But that was nothing to bet on. There was also the chances that the light dominator dragon ruins were there or the sky dominator dragon''s ruins were there. It was too up in the air to know for sure.


    An expansive desert that could hold the underground darkness mana, the powerful and unyielding light mana, or the powerful wind mana that swept across the entire desert causing sandstorms. The only thing that everyone hoped was not there were the fire elemental ruins. If the me dominator dragon ruins were there then the chance of using fire to burn away the undead would be gone. me resistances would make them much tougher to any light and fire fused mes the party and soldiers might use.


    "If that''s the case then Onyx will help you. Midnight can also go looking. They have the closest rtionship with darkness mana. They might be able to sneak in to ruins and find things for you. A scouting team.'' Gil''s positive addition made Midnight and Onyx both a little surprised. Gil normally took on scouting but leaving it to them did make a lot of sense. It also showed his clear trust in them.


    "I was also thinking that they would work independently from us. Their ability to hide away would be easier than I could use. They may enter and find things for us before the undead notice them. Only one is truly intelligent. They just have to avoid the leader." Mordant''s n for gaining information while everyone else held off the undead became very clear.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I can work on making potions against them. If they live in the desert and look like that one, they are dried and worn out. Maybe a potion with fire and light affinity, well, an explosive fire and light potion will be useful. We can search for more herbs when we get close." Remey could only think of this other than wielding her light affinity knuckles for the battle. She would be able to do a lot with all of this.


    "I can defend Remey while she uses these potions. Explosive potions may not be anything these soldiers are used to. Damages from our own attacks would be worthless while carving a path to any ruins or buildings in the desert." Su understood the dangers of this. Many potential risks were around while using these means.


    "Good. I wanted the support to discover this as soon as possible. There are too many unknowns." Mordantpsed in to silence while he thought more. The journey through the sky seemed full of unspoken stress even though many other things could have captured their attention.


    While many of the soldiers felt better with the buff, the speed of traveling only increased. Ventus led the way and had memorized the maps she has been shown. Knowing where she was is a high priority since she could end up flying everyone to the wrong ce. That would cause more issues than good with the situation only getting worse without their intervention.


    For Walker, the wind had be a secondary thought. He was now focused on what they could find due to the dragon''s ruins being part of the Fel empire''s undead problem.


    There was already the issue that the slime breeder had stolen powerful wyverns'' bodies. Adding that to the immortal undead in the Fel empire and tension could only grow.


    If the key to these undead was stolen and used by the demon king to bring about undead dragons and wyverns¡­ problems would be too small a word for it.


    Having the benefit of Mordant and Rise with them made things better. Control over darkness mana and light mana could help a lot. It could clear the sight of these death mana using monsters. The light could then purify them more easily without darkness interference. Two valuable tactics to use together.


    While it sounded simple, this required the dragons to work together causing fusion attacks. That was the wall they would be ovee here. Challenging to say the least. Especially for those that butt heads more often than not.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1783 1783. Border Stand Off

    The air was filled with the normal weather of a day, Walker was sure that it should have been night, but with the fact that they were all resting for some time in the earth dominator dragon''s ruins before flying, and training, they had managed to pass through the nights and in to the daytime again. It was odd since it threw off his processing of time, not that time mattered since they were moving so fast.


    The issue was that when Walker started to pay attention again, he noticed that there were easily a hundred angels ahead and the royal dragons were slowing down to approach them. The angels were wearing the same armors as the Rize Empire, proving that they were soldiers sent from the Rize Empire to hold the border in some fashion.


    "Mordant, stop here, and let''s see what''s going on." Walker felt that this would not be good since there was the chance that the Rize empire would be wanting them to stop and remain in their empire. Or they would want more exnation as to why the wyvern queen had been left alive. There were also the ruins and a few other matters that could catch the group up on their way.


    "The border shall not be crossed! You are asked tond and remain here until soldier-"


    The soldier with the most armor almost got out a full sentence before Ignus released a roar that sent many of the angels falling through the air toward the ground. The look of fear was extremely clear on the soldier''s faces. It was said and done at that point. Instead of figuring out what to do, it appeared that the next move was to give them their own speech.


    "We are the genesis alliance. We are carrying members of the Fel empire after saving the Rize empire from the encroachment of the wyverns before the world recognized them. We will not be stopped as we have full ability to move through your and the Fel empire. If you stop us we will take it as an act of aggression. Remove yourselves or face the consequences of your actions." Walker used the wind maniption to push his voice around the area as loudly as possible.


    The firm tone was enough to make the angels look around and be very uneasy. They were not nning to make this a big event but they had their orders. "We are required to stop anyone from invad-"


    "There is no invasion, this is thest warning before we force through without any respect!" Walker was warning them mostly because he saw that Ignus was done with the angels'' drama. None of the royal dragons could care that the angels did or did not want their enemies to be helped. They had no choice since Genesis had their own goals to achieve.


    When the angels saw that mes had appeared around Ignus''s mouth, they followed suit and started to lower themselves from the air in front of them. It was enough for the flight to start again toward a second further group of angels wearing darker armor. Clearly, there had been a standoff between the Rize and Fel empires knowing that Genesis would be on its way to the border soon.


    The moment that the darker armored angels saw the group, there were some that waves them on toe to the ground in a clearing. Some small homes were built around the edges of the forest in the clearing but mostly, there was space tond. Before they had even set down, the life mages, healers, and crystal mage from the Fel empire jumped up and sped toward three of the more heavily armored Fel empire soldiers.


    They seemed to have known something like this would happen and a little bit of annoyance showed on Walker''s face. It was inconvenient after all. "You made it safely, that we are very happy for." the Fel angel that approached made it clear that he was trying to show respect. However, his eyes were hungry. He had a lot of curiosity.


    "Well, you are lucky that we did. It appears that you and the Rize empire have had some meetings. If you start a war again, there will be issues. Genesis will not support either side and we will take away any races allied with us. That includes the wyverns and whoever else we find." Walker made a point to say this very clearly. He was not happy that there was almost an issue as soon as they started to head to the Fel empire.


    "Of course! We will not be battling at all. We had a small meeting and the Rize Empire desire you to stay for a longer time. They are in some disarray. Luckily, you have made it here with our healers and we are grateful. We can provide you with anything you need while in our empire. Even if you decide only to stay here on the edge." The respect felt surface deep. The angel''s eyes showed a hungry curiosity that was trying to learn as much as possible just from being near the dragons and Walker''s group.


    "We came to handle the issues with the undead. We have reason to believe that the criminals we are chasing are heading there to have a wyvern corpse brought back to life or even to steal the knowledge to create immortal undead. We will be heading there to battle sooner thanter. We expect help in any form. Especially since you should already be fighting them. Also, allow ten of the Rize Empire light mages in. They will be a great help to you. You also sent ten healers with us to the wyverns. It will be fair and start a bonding of friendship instead of war. Genesis will notpromise on this."


    This was all already set up from the time that they had met and decided to go to the Rize Empire from the embassy. But making sure that it was said all over again was very important. It really drove home the focus on creating bonds and respect between them. Especially the fact that they did not want the two empires fighting at all!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hearing that there was absolutely no room to push or pull, the Fel empire angels halted their thoughts on pushing the Rize empire in to a corner. "We can send a delegation to the border immediately then. I assure you we will wee them the exact same way that we were weed."


    "Good, since it is light affinity soldiersing then Rise will go with you to make sure they are up to the task and you all meet properly." Walker looked at Rise and saw an approving nce in his direction.


    It wasn''t just that Rise would have the best opinion on anyone with light affinity. It was also because she had no intention of giving room to anyone or anything that would stop their progress. Her strictness would be ideal for this situation where tension was high and the two empires needed to be held in check. She also had no qualms with using her power to enforce that precedence.


    The tense atmosphere slowly started to break away as the life mages came back to stand near Alice''s side. Some were looking toward Su as well. It appeared that they had gained a significant respect for the two of them due to their healing knowledge. The feeling that they would rather learn beside them than go back to their usual tasks was almostical. Especially since they clearly cared a great deal about research.


    That was the thing though. Genesis was new. A bunch of new skills, systems, races, and so much more. Any researcher could get swept away in the wonder of something new that they had never known. It would clearly be a major facet in making the Fel empire rx and stop any negative intentions.


    "We will need the most in depth maps that all of the scouts have created of the desert area. I understand that it may change based on sandstorms and shifting sands." Walker made sure that he didn''t ignore the fact that nature couldn''t be controlled here. Nature did what nature wanted. No one could stop a desert from changing shape and form with the sandstorms.


    "We havepiled a few. Those you sent to scout around greatly assisted before they went off to hunt for signs of your criminal. It was very impressive since they used methods that tracked monsters. They even memorized some tracks faster than most would without taking any copies of our journals." It appeared that a positive impression of Genesis had already been created. A good way to change the emotions in the air and work towards some progress.


    This just left them to actually begin nning and then head toward the desert. The main goals were to make a solid n and be prepared for when they reached the tough environment that could easily hold the soldiers back. Especially Current and his water affinity dragonkin.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1784 1784. Two Way Road

    Knowing that the royal dragons and the other soldiers had heard and understood the situation at the border, the Fel angels did not hesitate to make way for them and go to speak with the Rize empire archangels. Under the careful watch of Rise, they followed what needed to be done. Meanwhile, the angel that had been speaking to Walker finally introduced himself.


    "While I am not the highest ranking of the researchers here, I am one of the few that enjoys the travel. I am Ethan, the wandering researcher." The introduction was short and sweet but told a lot.


    Since the Fel empire was focused on research, many of them had systems that were focused on one thing or were research systems to start with. The fact that their angel in charge of moving around with forces as a soldier would be a wandering research made sense. While broad, the system would allow Ethan to be able to learn many things at all times about the world around him.


    "I know that might sound odd. A wanderer taking the position of a soldier, but I assure you, that I am up to the task." The attempt atedy was enough to show that just because the Fel empire was focused on research did not mean they forgot to have some personality. Many researchers were known for forgetting their emotional roots unless their research topic was a hand. But Ethan appeared to still be somewhat focused on people.


    "I wouldn''t say it''s odd. More that you are a wandering researcher and not some soldier though. I wonder what you like to study?" Walker focused on this to be nice. But he also understood that he would need to know much more about the Fel empire to keep moving forward. The Fel empire was a mystery in terms of what they did overall.


    "Of course, I prefer to research the changes in the world around me. I recentlypleted a study on the growth cycle of the ck cap smoke shroom. A very odd mushroom that only grows in the shadows of burned wood. It sprouts white but absorbs the smokey remains of trees. Then it turns dark ck before exploding to release more spores. Yearster it will evenly sprout upon the next forest fire. A very odd mushroom with both darkness and fire elemental manas within."


    "And what if it''s harvested?" Remey heard everything. She had been somewhat unfocused because she was waiting to see what the ns would be. She wanted to see the maps so that she could be ready to make a move. Especially since she had less experience using her light affinity knuckles. The better prepared she was the more she would be able to fight. Especially if she had Alice boosting her attacks with a song that helped light elemental mana gather.


    "It is often used to create some interesting effects within health potions. It can actually make the normal health potion in to a longsting poison! It will cause a burning decay within the veins of anyone that consumes the health potion. It also causes the red potion to be a deeper scarlet. But I believe it can be used for food for me smanders or red magma smanders as well." Ethan appeared to be the same as anyone who wanted to share knowledge. A researcher didn''t research to hoard their knowledge but often to share it in some way.


    "I''m going to need more information about it and some of them. I should be able to use them pretty well to make a dual affinity of fire and darkness. Not many people have fire and darkness dual affinity but who cares? I haven''t made one of those yet." Remey was very interested. A new path in alchemy? Great. A new chance to show off her favorite set of skills that weren''t fighting? Perfect!


    "I have heard of these affinity potions. Some were brought for research and they are still causingmotion. I was wondering if I should change my method of study to the reactions alchemists were having to something new. It was very interesting." Ethan seemed to lean forward toward Remey waiting to hear more.


    "You should have also heard about the alchemy guild. If they are that interested, then they will join. We have tests for entry and can allow entry to sses that study many different potions. That is, if you are a member. Genesis is all about learning about one another. Your researchers would have a ce there." Remey seemed to be taking over Walker''s job. Not that he disliked it. He would rather hear Remey doing this than stealing away more herb knowledge right away.


    "Yes, I have also heard of that. Guilds are not that popr here due to the nature of our empires. Elemental halls are popr in the Rize empire but here, we call our groupsboratories. The alchemyboratory, the monster anatomyboratory, historyboratory, and many more. Unique, right? I once studied the creation of the historyboratory. It was founded because someone gained the first recorded archeology recording system. Oddly specific but they have recorded multiple archaeological discoveries with a very tough team of diggers."


    More tangents seemed to appear that made Walker curious. But that also made everyone else wonder what other odd things the Fel empire studied. One thing had be very clear though, it was a very divided empire. That was the reason for the lesser poption and battle forces. Sure, those of this smaller poption were powerful.


    A focused mage on one focused learning could definitely rival many with their attacks in their best practice. Unfortunately, that would not mean that they would always be the best option. Therefore, there needed to be many varied mages of different affinities. It meant that the Fel empire was like a spear. Perfect for piercing shields but would fail in overall defense due tock of coverage. They had managed to rival the Rize Empire because of their devastating strength and the Rize Empire kept them at bay with theirrge poption in defenses.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That also raised the question, how many hidden researchers were there? How many angels had hidden away to research some extremely specific things that yielded unheard of results? How many had delved in to unspoken or dangerous topics? These questions couldn''t be answered right away but would easily weigh on Walker''s mind while he met more and more of the Fel empire''s people. He just had to figure out who was the good and the bad. Some research topics would easily be seen as evil if they were not careful.


    "I will need to see some of those when I am free. It would be very good for both empires to share more knowledge instead of fighting all the time." Walker made the casualment before he noticed that Rise wasing back. Ten angels were flying behind her and immediately stood in line to report to the other royal dragons.


    "Gil, do you want to go and make introductions with the tent that came with us? Su too?" Walker knew that between Gil and Su, things would be handled. The ten angels from the Rize empire appeared to be uneasy since they were across the border. This would normally be putting everything at risk. Especially if they did the wrong thing while here.


    "Done and done." Gil moved toward the new additions to their ranks while Su followed beyond. The two appeared serious enough but when Walker looked toward Ethan, he noticed that there was also a growing unsettled expression.


    "Those Rize angels are part of the same army that will be helping you. The same as when your healers helped them. It''s a two way street." Walker made sure to put more force in his words so that every angel heard it around him. None of them dared to say a word in response since the royal dragons also looked at them with sternness. "Now, we have to check out the current maps." Walker lightened his tone to ask for this.


    The dragons had already made the moves to change in to their dragonkin forms which amazed the Fel angels the same as it had the Rize angels. Not that this stopped the Genesis soldiers from finding it just as amusing since they had already adapted to such changes.


    The angels that heard this rushed forward and began to set up a table right in front of them. Upon doing so, four more angels poured dirt on it. They started to shape the dirt created a map of earth that was very detailed. Even two ces showed that sandstorms were moving over it. "This is thest known map we have of the desert area. This is where the ruins we have issues with undead are."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1785 1785. Earth Maps

    "This is a great use of the earth elemental mana and mapping skills. What are their systems?" Walker looked at the Fel empire angels and saw that they were d to be praised. It was ideal for them to be making a show here for the Genesis forces since they were certain that they would be able to explore a newnd if they managed to impress them enough.


    "They are callednd mappers. It was an odd system when we first discovered it. The first one was able to make detailed carved maps. After ten years of study it was found that the earth sculpting skill could be used. Soon they began to discover thebination of earth mapping, earth sculpting, and earth''s vision skill. Now they can be taken to the air higher using skills from wind mages. Afterward, they can show everything they have seen in the desert."


    "While the range is limited, they are able to give us the best possible maps urately while they use their skills." Ethan was sure that he was able to show off some of the best research potential in this mappared to other maps. The water diving mappers were harder to show off since they had to userge amounts of water to show things. They also weren''t able to travel to the hottest parts of the desert easily due to their water affinity needing more water around to use their skills.


    Ethan watched as Walker started to examine the map more closely. The royal dragons were more or less silent but clearly had an interest in the details. Especially Ventus who would normally fly higher in the sky to scout an area. She had done so when they invaded the demon territory back home. This was a wee change that allowed her to continue to save her mana for another time.


    "As all of you can see, the sandstorms will limit the routes we can take. They go higher in to the sky, which means flying a very dangerous endeavor. When a sand tornado forms, we will also be limited. That is when the two storms will collide. The wind currents are bringing them toward one another to meet here." the angels making the map began to use their skills more.


    As they did, the sculpted sand storms moved to collide halfway between the edge of the desert and the ruins. The result was arge swirling tornado of sand that blocked arge section of the desert. "We can not travel through this area. If we risk doing so we will definitely lose soldiers and the mana we have stored up.'' Ethan made it clear that this was also stopping some supplies from reaching the soldiers that were already there. Especially those that had been fighting for a long time against the undead to hold them off.


    "You are in the presence of someone with greater strength than you believe. Do not underestimate a royal wind dragon. I can make this sandstorm move on in this direction. You have already told me of the existing wind currents." Ventus knew that the projected collision of storms to make this sand tornado was based on very good information. Therefore, she just had to alter the direction it moved afterwards.


    "Then we are going to leave it to you, Ventus. That will let everyone move quickly through the sands. I should assume that the storms will make the monsters in the area burrow deeper in the sand or avoid the area altogether?" Walker was hoping that this would be the case but saw that the angels all were shaking their heads.


    "The storms will draw more monsters toward them. This is to hunt what the storms dig from the sand or to be able to attack the prey monsters running from the storm. We will have to catch the running saw tooth sandworms, the camel spiders, yellow back scorpions, and many other monsters. We may even need to deal with the red sand ant colonies that may be in the dunes destroyed by the sandstorms. They will often swarm when a storm destroyed their nest and they need to relocate to a new sand dune." Ethan had a grave expression.


    "That means the area will be dangerous no matter what. How can there be paths through all of this ever?" Remey was sure that traveling through the desert was annoying. But it didn''t sound like the Fel empirecked information about the area at all. Instead, it appeared they had researched these things soften enough to have working understandings of what will happen during these natural events.


    "We are able to predict which monsters are around from many signs and time of year. It has taken a lot of time to discover this along with many tamers and unique puppet builders sending in their creations to explore. The cacti puppets are a very interesting creation from a desert puppeteer that can explore the terrain." Walker held himself back from asking about this kind of system user and their skills. He had not thought about the fire puppet or the earth puppets he could make. They were always less usable in real battles and better for training. It made him tempted to explore the ideas here. He didn''t have the time though.


    "I know you may have noticed it too, but the shifting sands are somehow held back by the ruins. There shouldn''t be so much of these structures showing, but the undead are clearing the sand somehow with magic or else." Ethan looked troubled. Some of the angels around him appeared to have theories but their frowns and shaking heads proved that they were nothing that could actually work.


    "So the undead are not just attacking but also reiming their ruins. If they stay this way they may uncover more strength or they will create a greater territory that is harder to attack. But why are the digging." Current leaned over the map and looked at some of the structures.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although this was detailed, it was definitely different now than what it was when the mages had seen it. These earth mappers were sure to have not seen any runes orplicated structures either. That didn''t even go in to what might be underground. There could be much more than just the small portions of what was seen.


    "That is actually part of a theory." another angle stood up to the map. "There are forests and evidence of forests around the desert. We found evidence of a dried river outside the desert. We believe that this was once a jungle. There may be a veryrge set of ruins. A ruined city underneath the sand stretched the entirety of the desert. There is some proof here and here. There are desert towers that stretch up. They are stone lookouts from what we have gathered. We can not move the sand to check them. But some of them are crumbled while others still have stone pirs tough enough to prove that they had been used often many years ago."


    The additional theory was enough to make everyone wonder just what had happened. A jungle turned in to a desert could not be a small event. Especially if there was arge body of moving water that had dried up. The theory that this massive group may have caused it could be the case. But it also made the question arise, what were these undead before they were worshippers or they were undead in the first ce? What made them what they were? How could this all happen?


    "Regardless of whether this is a city under the sand or not. We have a clear destination. We will go there and begin exploration. Those we have with the ability will sneak inside and find some key bits of information. The rest will join the defensive operations to keep the undead within a single area. They will not expand before we have solutions to our issues." Mordant made it clear that this was the method they were taking. It would be better to push this way than keep theorizing.


    "That is agreed. We will take a path through the collision point of the sandstorms. Then we will wait for Lady Ventus to clear the way. The monsters will be battled on a need only basis. We need to avoid hunting them and causing more issues. If we run in to sand giants, we will retreat." the angels all nodded but the fact that sand giants had been brought up stopped all of those paying attention from Genesis. They had not heard of such a monster or race or anything. It was a mystery to them.


    "We will need to know what sand giants are." Su rejoined the conversation and calmly asked for the information. She had a very bad feeling about what she was going to get back in an answer.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1786 1786. Sand Giant Plans

    "Think of a golem made of sand. Falling apart and reforming itself. Now imagine if they could also get stronger and solidify their bodies with some intelligence. Sandstone and other things. They have a core made of jewels. Often they live in groups and will often pool their energy together to make other sand giants when they find valuable gems. They are dangerous. Hard to kill. And they will hoard valuable treasures they find within the stones andnds beneath the desert or from those that travel it."


    The group looked at Ethan as he looked around at them. It was clear that the sand giants were a fairly hated monster by the Fel empire angels as a whole. The simple reason would be that they had caused a lot of issues since this desert fiasco started. The undead were one thing, but very tough monsters that could form their body over and over were an issue.


    "The longer they live the harder they are to handle. Some of the oldest will have bodies made of the toughest sandstone hardened by their constant gathering of earth elemental mana. They also are unaffected by sandstorms once they reach over a year of age because of the tougher sandstone bodies."


    "The worst is that when we damage them, they can fall nearly to pieces and reform. Their limbs can be remade from sand using their mana. They can just start over with a fresh body if the gems that they use to house their mana is not handled. It is ridiculous and deadly." Ethan had shown a little more emotion than clearly intended. But that was fine. He had to make sure that he got the danger across. Without this point he could send all these soldiers to death.


    "It is a worthless endeavor to escape from them as well. They have the potential to be able to melt their bodies back in to sand. They move through it close to the speed of the saw tooth sandworms. If they are able to remain below you, then they may drag you down like quicksand. Naturally, this is different for the older sand giants. They will not be able to break their body apart so easily because of the toughness they created."


    There was a lot of information to absorb. But when the earth mappers created an image of one of the sand giants then proceeded to show multiple forms that they had witnessed, every soldier knew the dangers. Whether they wanted to fight or not would be ignored. The sand giants would be an issue no matter what.


    "If we have Terron here he could cause them issues when reforming their bodies. But now we are limited because he is still with the wyverns. It appears we have left the wrong dragon behind." Current was a little surprised. He spoke but it was more of a surprising, oh no, feeling towards himself. He felt he had made a mistake. It was a rare feeling for him.


    "If Terron were here we would have let him handle it all." Ignus mocked Current then grabbed a pile of sand from the map and heated it. "I will melt it in to ss. They can not reform from that, can they?" This was a good point.


    Ignus was a dragon and had the hottest head out of all of them. He could surely lose his focus and go on a rampage against the undead with little repercussions until he ran out of mana. But using his head, he brought out a vital weakness that he could exploit. ss.


    Sand was sometimes able to be melted. As a fire dragon, Ignus had lived in a volcano,vands, and many other ces with temperatures that could melt ores and rocks easily. Now his mes could do the same after his studies. Therefore, why would he not be able to melt the entire sand giant in to a solid piece of sand ss?


    Furthermore, the sand ss could work to trap the body parts that did not melt inside it. It could trap sand giantspletely for a long time if not forever. A way to trap them for the study of the Fel empire while also allowing the soldiers to safely pass through.


    "If things get worse, then we can fly in to the sky and attempt to attack from there too. No need to worry about underground quicksand attacks." Ventus added more to the strategy, she didn''t mind having to bring the soldiers in to the air again. It would save lives and make sure they were still a strong army to fight the undead.


    Thest benefit would be restoring the supply chain to the soldiers that the Fel empire already sent in to the desert. They had been cut off while fighting the undead. To them, even seeing one sk of water would be enough to send them to the moon and back. The morale of hearing that they had a solid way to get back and forth food and water was enough to push them to greater heights.


    "First we work with fire then we work with light. That will be the goal. We can start traveling. Ventus will cause the sand tornado that should form to travel away from us. Then Ignus will handle the sand giants and make sure that they stay trapped. Ventus will be our safety. She can save us if young sand giants try to trap us underground."


    Walker was sure that all the soldiers were agreeing. Even the Fel angels were massively impressed by the speed that their ns wereing together with the addition of the Genesis soldiers. "From there we will meet the Fel empire forces and resupply, heal, and prepare them. That leaves Mordant, Midnight, and Onyx to go exploring in to the shadows with the dragonkin under Mordant. If any Fel empire darkness affinity soldiers can sneak, they will fall under him."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Of course, We can make sure that the scouting is done together and with perfect skill usage." Ethan agreed wholly with this. He did not see any negative to this. Only benefits.


    "From there, we will let Rise prepare the light attacks to break downrge groups of undead. That will be the way inside wherever we need to be so that we can handle the thing causing all this. Meanwhile, everyone else will be guarding and watching for intruders. For thieves trying to steal away knowledge they want to use for evil. Slime breeder, demon king, or whatever thest ally he has is; sloth."


    Walker was not foolish. He knew that thest remaining mysterious sin title holder had to be Sloth. How could he not? Every other sin was ounted for. The slime bread had already proven himself to be Envy. he had partially said it in everything he did through slimes and in stealing things away.


    Furthermore, Walker was sure that they would see some sign of the demon king''s intervention. This ce had too much to not do so. Immortal undead would make to be the most powerful army something evil could ever have. A deadly force that would stop at nothing while continuing whatever it was ordered to do. Something that could haunt the nightmares of every living thing in existence.


    "That only means that we have one thing left." Su looked around at everyone and motioned to the supplies and the other items prepared. "We need to gather whatever we need in an orderly and organized manner. Walker can store it away with his storage skill but we should not leave it all to him. What would happen if he was injured?"


    The Fel empire''s angels had known of Walker''s amazing skills and were ready to rely on it after offering him more of a payment. It was a very useful skill they had seen before and had data on. But theycked it right at the moment. Therefore, they had been presented with a great opportunity. Yet, Su raised a great point and the many backpacks that were set up for supplies were pointed out by Ethan.


    "And I will need to see what else I can prepare before we leave. Explosive potions can make a big difference right now, right?" Remey looked at the image of sand giants. She saw that they could be broken with her alchemical strength. So what if she wouldn''t be able to break the tough stone bodies? She had other means of attacking that could use her defenses and alchemy to make work.


    "Then the ns are set. We will leave in ten hours. Preparation will begin. I will send my healers and alchemy experts to meet with yours. I will let you handle the light soldiers from Rize, it appears they are morefortable with you anyways." Ethan had sharp eyes and Walker didn''t reprimand him. This was still a tough situation for the two empires.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1787 1787. Keeping Covered

    The preparations appeared to be moving swiftly. The supplies were easier to split in to manageable portions because of the amount of angel soldiers that had joined them. There was also the fact that the dragonkin did not flinch at havingrger backpacks added to what they needed to move through the desert with. The only ones that seemed to be showing signs of suffering were the water affinity dragonkin.


    "Current, what can we do to get your dragonkin through this? They are going to suffer more and more just like the amphibious demi humans with us." Walker had immediately started to address the issues. But unlike the demi-humans who had been able to look for ways to solve this issue, the dragonkin were less prepared. They rarely pushed in to extremely hot areas to battle. They stayed in their own territory.


    "I was looking in to that as well. I want the water you store away to use water magic easier." Current had thought about it and saw that Walker had a much better solution than he did. Was this really true? No, Walker had no idea that he was carrying a solution to this issue at all. He just knew that he would be able to help Current.


    "What do you need it for?" Walker was originally nning on storing the water and saving it for the chance that he might use it. He didn''t have it purified in any manner to be used for drinking but in a pinch, he could use it for magic or even forcefully purify it with someone else''s skills to be able to use it for cleaning wounds or drinking. There were also many other things it could be sued for. Camp items would need water since they would need to put out fires, wash away blood from monsters, or even just to protect something from the heat of the sun. water was a valuable thing in the desert.


    "I will be using my mana to cover myself and my dragonkin in a thinyer of water for when it is needed. It will be the best method to prevent them from falling. If there is reallynds underneath this desert sand and sun, I can manage to find it when we get to the excavated ruins." This seemed to be very viable.


    The ruins would be the deepest underneath the desert. Current was a water dragon. Out of everyone, he had the sharpest sense when it came to sensing the water that would be hidden under the ground. Especially if it was a river, pool, or well. It would be best to leave it to Current and allow him to take the lead. It could also mean that Current could make a temporary pond or evenke in the middle of a desert.


    This could have many good ramifications that would be able to save the soldiers from suffering. There was the simple fact that a temporary water source that didn''t require travel would save lives from the heat. It would also allow the research and battle in top quality for those that have ess. Basically, it would keep them able to use their minds without the fog of dehydration.,


    Further, it could be the start of a well and permanent source of water for those that remained at the ruins after. It would be foolish to believe that the Fel empire would just stop researching and leave the ruins after the undead were handled. Even if the history was proven to be useless, it was a history that should be recorded. Everything was valuable. Even The smallest of details.


    "You can use that as a buff to block the heat in a way. But I only have a few barrels of water. Wouldn''t it all evaporate? Or can you keep it from doing so?" This was where Walker found a w in the n. Wrapping the dragonkin and himself in water would just cause the water that Current used to evaporate quickly and leave them weaker than before. It would be very temporary for the traveling portion of their journey. Not to mention what would happen if they were to fight and get attacked. Battles could just increase the evaporation and losses of water.


    "I have already considered this. I will use what the little water and earth dragon affinity dragons do while they grow. I will create mud." Current was annoyed at himself for having to do this. It would cover his beautiful scales and ruin his appearance. Not to mention that his dragonkin would also appear weaker and nothing like themselves.


    However, he had seen the dual affinity dragons between some elder water and elder earth dragons. The mud dragons were often ignored because they literally lived in the mud or even swamps. A disgusting idea to many pure elemental dragons.


    Yet, when the fact that they used the cover of mud to both blend in to their surroundings and also to be able to cover themselves from the environment, it had stuck with Current. It was a great idea right now. The heat would be blocked by the water and earth mud mixture. Current could easily hold the water from evaporating because the earth would actually work with him to trap the water close to their scales.


    "Oh! That''s actually a great idea. I didn''t think of that. I can have the soldiers do this too. We have some water mages that can help everyone keep themselves from being burned and losing the mud off their bodies. Then the earth mages that are still with us can help too. It will be a heavier mana cost but a worthwhile one." Walker felt that Current was a genius.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If Current had known what Walker was thinking, he would have let his pride swell. While Current thought that Walker was just trying to be nice in the moment, he was actually thinking that Current was using some better dragon wisdom than he had imagined. The two were a little off the same page but had good intentions.


    When the order to start making mud had gone out, the Fel angels thought that the human, demi human, and the other soldiers were a little foolish. The dragonkin with better resistances also saw this as a bit foolish. However, when the idea had been exined, the Fel angels embraced it over their cloaks and other equipment. In their minds, they could remove some heavier armor and be able to move much faster.


    This was a sacrifice using a little of the defenses they lost as a price. Their dignity was not that important. Researchers were only that prideful over their subjects and not their own pride in this way. If they managed to make a result with this sort of action, then they would take it. The result they found here in this mud covering theory was simple. Speed. They would travel faster and be able to reach where the two sandstorms were soon to collide faster. That also meant that they would be able to run from the sand giants and make it to the ruins even faster than nned. It radically influenced the n.


    The water and earth mages were joined by many of the Fel empire angels with applicable magic skills. Mixing the mud was a drastically more important task that was proven to need more control. Current also joined in wishing that he could have Teron there. If he did, then the mixture would have contained more y instead of the average dirt. In his eyes, it would be safer.


    That aside, Ignus made sure to let everyone know their weakness while Rise pretended not to see it. The only ones that also backed the idea were Mordant who saw the benefit of having the soldiers in better conditions and Ventus who was more motherly than the other dragons put together. She liked the added protection from the surrounding environment. She did choose not to be covered in mud though. She would lose control of her flight if she did so. She had to be able to get in to the air with the currents and change the flow of the tornado that would form.


    Midnight and also showed disdain for this. She liked her scales clean and shiny. But when Walker showed her that the scales she had cleaned were making her more visible to a monster, she realized her dangers. She would be putting everyone in danger from any airborne monsters that wanted to attack something shiny. Even if Midnight killed that monster, she would attract it and others to them. A dangerous risk for those she was trying to protect and help. It was a good enough reason to change her mind. Not that it stopped her from fighting Walker along the way a little. She was a younger sister and she had a job to do in that regard.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1788 1788. Unnatural Growth

    "Why couldn''t you use the dust veil again?" wouldn''t that just work the same?" Gil wasining but he was still going along with the mud idea. It seemed that he was just more annoyed that they had to slowly make the mud and cover themselves in it to help.


    "I could try and make a skill that does the same thing but with mud. If I use too much mana I might just crush you with tough mud balls though. Do you want to be my test dummy?" Walker casually asked and looked at Gil while holding a mud ball. The viinous smirk showing a little more evil than intended.


    "And Now you aren''t allowed to buff me at all. I can''t trust that evil in you. The hero that turned viin. I knew it would happen eventually. I just thought it would be Remey since she likes to beat people up and make poisons now." the resounding smack sound that came as a mud ball hit Gil in the side of the head was more than fair. Remey was not having any of this.


    "Otherwise, we are able to keep ourselves better covered with this. I did learn the mud ball skill though. It literally just uses a single mana to shape mud in to a ball though. Not a bad earth and water fusion skill though. I can use it as a base for study." Walker was not surprised that such a skill appeared. But he barely looked in to it except for the fact that it said water and earth fusion skill. That was the best part.


    As much as Walker had focused on the fusion of elemental manas, he had taken a pause from that focus of research and growth. The single reason being because he had been too focused on the fact that they had a criminal to stop. He also had just discovered new manas to focus on, specifically life mana that seemed to be an even deeper key to understanding the world and how everything worked than he had expected.


    "Oh, there''s really a skill like that? I was just messing around when I was saying that you should get a new skill from this." Gil had made sure that the mud was covering him better than before. Now he was looking at the mud balls that Walker was forming and passing it to other soldiers. It was a very quick use skill that was definitely using less than one mana because of Walker''s familiarity with earth and water mana.


    "I think it would be a basic skill for some swamp monsters. We already know that some of them make mud balls to the fire from their mouths or to throw at one another in battle. Why can''t we learn it and use it simrly? Earth and water function can make other skills like a mud slide on a mountain. This is just something simr but in different context.'''' Walker''s point was a good one and even a few of the Fel angels took a mental note to retrace their steps in fusion elemental skills.


    It was always easy to see a fusion elemental skill as something of its own kind. It was moreplicated and definitely cost more mana. But if using the base for arger skill with one that cost significantly lesser mana, they could draw costs ofrger skills down. The saved mana could go to altering the secondary skill needed.


    While this was used by some mages already, the idea was often forgotten since the skills would just happen out of instinct or basic progression. Not that they weren''t always nned out. Some of the more powerful earth mages had to gather earth and greatly prepare themselves for therger earthquake or earth pit skills they could use. It just mattered how fast they could do so to set up their traps.


    "This feeling is horrendous." Current growled out but was d that he was in his dragonkin form. He could use less mud and easily clean it off wight he water had held from what Walker had shared with him. He was actually very d he had the ability to be able to control water and keep it clean aside. It meant that he would suffer from this feeling for a much shorter time than the others. But that was just his pride talking.


    "Are you done yet? You have been wasting timeining about the heat for too long." Ignus continued the same grumbling as before. Whereas Rise had already found a spot to absorb extra light elemental mana due to higher light in the air around them. They were still rtively far from the desert but it was just a short span ofnd away. The trees and the nt life ahead of them was few and far between showing that the desert was not remaining the same size.


    What made all of the group wonder was this fact. Even where they were, small piles of sand existed here and there. As if it was being dropped in to the holes of the ground or the sports where water had once pooled. It meant that the desert was more than just expanding to take over arger andrger area over time. It couldn''t be naturally doing this.


    When Walker had reached this thought he had looked over at Ethan who had followed the idea to cover their skin in mud to protect from the heat and drastically reduce their water consumption. Overall, Ethan was d to save mana that would have gone to the life mages for reducing the strain of heat, sun, and other desert effects. This also helped them protect from the winds of the desert that would cause the sandstorms. Not that they wanted to deal with a sandstorm any more than what they were dealing with already.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "The desert has expanded a single foot in radius each year we have begun to measure it. We assume that this has stopped but is increasing again due to the increasing storms in the area." The idea was just a theory. The sandstorms definitely contribute to the sands being moved around, but that would not mean that the heat, Light influence, and the drying effect would also increase in the areas with normal soil and nt life. Something had to be taking away those important factors.


    "You don''t expect that this is an effect of the awakening undead? They might have been active in the underground longer than you realize.'''' Mordant found his own theory. One that clearly had a base here. But a few of the Fel empire angels nodded along with it quickly. This clearly proved that they had simr ideas the entire time of what might be happening around them.


    ''The theory is not new. There was one that said the ruins could possess certain runes, magical items, or even cursed objects that drew the life mana toward them or even the elemental mana in general. If that is the case, then it could have been why the entire area has be like this." Ethan was not happy to follow this theory. If it was the case, then it meant there was more than just defeating one undead to do. There was finding the cause of everything and working on it.


    Furthermore, it meant that there would be an entire massive effort to reim the desert. The changes would lose arge portion ofnd after reiming it. There would be many disced monsters that might go crazy because of the forceful changes. And furthermore, there would be a power struggle over the research of whatever caused all this or was left behind under the sands.


    All of this together was nothing that anyone wanted to deal with right away. "We can work on that as we go. If we beat the undead we have to, then we can search. I would not be surprised if we don''t find something. Runes were used a lot more in the past than what we think. Especially by the angels that made the floating cities we have yet to see. And we do want to see one eventually." Walker made sure to add in his own curious opinion ion. He wanted the Fel and the Rize angels to know that he was curious about the great floating cities that they bragged about constantly.


    "We can visit that desire after we have handled the current events. But if there is more to this, I hope the same help can be asked of." Ethan saw a chance to let the curiosity strengthen the rtionships between the Fel empire and the Genesis alliance. It was a chance and he gave it a shot willingly before the conversation died down and the soldiers started to line up for the march toward the desert.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1789 1789. White Sands

    The march toward the desert was going to be a short one. The sun had clearly begun to feel hotter now that everyone had it on their minds. This wasn''t really true though. It was the illusion in their heads because of where they were going. But just because of that, many of the water mages had gone out of their way to add in a frost spell to the mud covering of those that wore it. This sudden addition was wise since it also helped maintain the body temperatures and morale of everyone moving.


    The party was a little different though. They were less focused on the fact that they were covered in mud to resist the brutal heat that they were walking toward. Instead, their eyes were on the surroundings as they marched toward the front.


    "There are piles of sand everywhere. Not just here and there but every small spot with rocks or where puddles would be. It''s like the sand is attracted where the water would normally flow." Su made this theory and everyone agreed. Alice wondered what might happen and opened her sk of water.


    "What are you trying? Isn''t that for you to drink?" As much as Gil wanted to grab Alice''s hand and stop her, his curiosity made the best of him. He watched carefully as the dribble of water fell on to the pile of sand around where a bush was slowly but surely dying.


    The result was that the water hitting the sand soaked in and dried up in just a few breaths. The sun was not directly on the sand and to the touch, the sand was not actually that hot. The entire party had just witnessed something extremely odd.


    ''White sand


    This is white sand from the nearby desert of Sigil. It is spread through storms and strong winds. It is not ideal for growing anything.''


    "The all around appraisal is not that detailed. It just said it was white sand. But it definitely has something else going on with it. Remey, I am going to use one of your vials." Walker had an idea. They could watch what happens to the sand and water when it was mixed through the ss. The idea should be enough for them to be able to use the information to find out if there is anything else going on here.


    No one seemed to notice that the party was moving a little slower. The royal dragons were prepared to handle what needed to be handled and knew that it was better to allow the party more freedom. As much as they had begun to trust the party and learn from them, what they knew best was that the party was odd.


    The party had already proven multiple times to exceed any expectations the royal dragons had of them. Perfect fact was about the hatchlings and rogue dragons. Even the wyvern incident proved that the dragon''s view would have been wrong in the grand scheme of things. Instead of killing the wyvern queen, the dragons had helped save her and weed a new world race under their guidance. A mighty and high honor from the world itself.


    As Remey watched Walker fill the small potion vial with sand, she prepared to try her own experiments. She had a few herbs she could put inside that were able to help someone from getting a dry mouth. It was made to make people stop their lips from drying and other small medicinal effects. If the water stayed in the sand, she wanted to see what the effects of the herbs in the sand would have. It was just curiosity but she was an alchemist, of course she would have a few herbs that were medicinal for those that suffered from dehydration or harsh temperatures. The forge masters needed these herbs constantly.


    Alice helped Walker by adding water to the vial. Before Walker could even cap off the vial, they saw the sand start to dry again. Once Walker capped it, the sand was still seemingly drying. It was a very off thing that he was sure that no one had yet to notice. "Ethan, have any of you researched the reactions of sand and water from the desert?"


    The simple question stopped five of the Fel empire angels in their tracks. Their faces showed clear despair as they celery understood why Walker was asking. "We were unsure if you would discover it, but yes. We noticed that the water would evaporate instantly. We believe that the sand has drying effects for some reason. A higher concentration of minuscule mana that we can not study due to ourck of proper instruments or skills."


    "So it''s not the first time you have seen this. That means this had been doing that to the puddles and everything too. But if the sand is somehow ending up where the water flows, then that has to mean more." Gil felt that he had just uncovered arge part of the mystery. But when they started to get to the cusp of the hill they climbed, he was forced to be silent.


    The sight in front of them was the blinding white of endless sand. Dunes and dunes of white sand that stretched as far as they could see. There was also the sudden hit of heat that radiated off of the sand from the sun.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The reaction of most were that this was too much. But for Rise and her light elemental dragonkin, it was a wee sight. The sunlight that was reflected was a great source of mana for them to draw on. Rise was sure that she was going to have a lot of mana to be able to deal with the undead. But that was where she realized an issue.


    "This sunlight is powerful. She is plenty enough to stop undead from properly forming. Why would they be weaker to light if they endure this during the day?" The sudden question of hers carried a dominant tone that made everyone wonder what she meant and how she could ask this. But the Fel angels all stopped yet again.


    "It is odd, we have no exnation. We just have documentation when ites to what the undead do and the fact that they are ten times more active in the night. Almost every battle to keep them isted happens at night because of this." Ethan was sure that this had something to do with the immortal effect that the undead had. They could easily return to their previous form and keep battling.


    "So they are weakened but not stopped by such intense light. We saw that they were wrapped in cloth of some form. Mummified worshipers. Maybe that is the key. The process. That they became undead protects them." Mordant had thought of this after only seeing one. That enough was a show of his wisdom and flexible mind.


    "Then we will need to weaken them by removing such parts. Even if they are considered their body parts now as undead, we remove them and show them the purifying light I can muster." Rise cooperate with mordant. The two almost seemed to be in their own world and not actually talking to the groups around them. Even Ethan''s addition seemed more like they had just read it off a paper and not actually heard him.


    "We have two more mysteries to solve brother, but I will use the light here to strengthen me before we get to the ruins." Onyx made a promise for his strength and Walker had no issue seeing that Onyx was curling up on his shoulders to absorb more light and save every single little bit of energy possible.


    "That''s fine. We can study as we go. There has to be a curse or magic in this pce. Even if the desert should be here, then it shouldn''t be expanding. I think that nature has this desert here naturally but there is a reason that it expands." Walker stated his theory and knew it might be a stretch to prove anything. For now, everyone just epted their own ideas while the Fel empire angels pushed away their desire for answers.


    Taking the lead in to the sand dunes from the hill made them wish that they could solve the issues sooner. They had been through this journey before. The challenge was not small and they were heading right toward two sandstorms that would be colliding. To say that they were unsettled was too small of a feeling for the things that they would encounter.


    "I would like to say that we will be fine, but just in case, everyone should have a healing potion on their hip." Remey had the same unsettled feeling and made sure her party was ready. It was odd for Remey to act this way which made them take it much more seriously.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1790 1790. Nature In The Desert

    With the sudden addition of mysteries to worry about, no one had anything they wanted to add. Not to mention that they were now all feeling the heating from the sands and sun. while some of them enjoyed it, the rest were not as happy. This was mainly because any of the frost magic that had been used by the water mages was instantly forgotten. The mud had to be held in ce and they were not able to keep it all working like that.


    Current had quickly realized just how hard this would be. He noticed that the water was being stolen from around him by the sand and it made him struggle to keep the water in the mud on people''s bodies. This was causing him to utilize more of the mana he had stored which in turn made his need to focus more. The only good thing was that in his dragonkin form he was not losing the same amount of energy from moving as he would.


    Every dragon was grateful for their muller dragonkin form. They also were d they had not brought their elder dragons with them. If they had, then there would have been a massive issue with the sun. That was simply because they would have been covering more area without the ability to transform their form at all. They would have had to turn back and lose their elder dragons for the battles that would happen.


    Ventus took the chance to take to the sky but returned shortly, "I believe that the wind currents above us are much worse than I expected. I can still alter and use them but we will not be flying." The Fel Empire angels nodded along. They were trying to speak less since they introduced the theory that speaking cause more water to evaporate from a body.


    Onyx had taken over conversations as a side job while he focused on absorbing as much light as possible. Multi tasking was not that hard for him since he was able to sit on Walker''s shoulders safely. It also helped them all get the message across faster. This could help since they were all moving very slowly now through the dunes. The very first they had crossed had taken much more time making every soldier understand why the Fel empire struggled so much.


    "The wind will stop us from flying and will also halt us from being able to handle any monsters that can fly. It means we will have to rely on you Ventus." Walker made sure to let Ventus know of his trust in the matter. ying to a dragon''s pride was always a benefit.


    "I will have to take my full form to handle the winds. But this area should have avian species that specialize in battling the desert beasts on the sand." This wasn''t Ventus being negative but just honest. She liked that Walker was letting her have free reign of the sky here. It put her one foot up when it came to the freedom to fight those iing in the sky. But it also made her think of what monsters might reign over the desert in general.


    "The heat isn''t that bad. It is cooler than myst territory. I hate the light though. The warm heat of magma or mes is better." Ignus was still grumbling to himself about the bright light. However, everyone could tell he was more than happy to have the sun on his body. He was definitely siphoning out the fire elemental mana from the sun and taking it as his own. Not to mention that his dragonkin were clearly more energetic now that they were moving around the army as the unhindered protectors. Not that they weren''t burdened by the soft sand.


    "Hey, that sand dune ahead just shifted slightly. It was only a little sand hut that has to be bad. Should we skit it or face it?" Gil and the elves were watching the sands with their sharp eyes. One of the elves had noticed and drew the attention of the others. That was how Gil managed to spot the next slight movement ahead.


    While the entire dune did not shift, it was more of the top. Upon looking carefully without moving, Walker saw a small amount of sand start to shift from the top and fall down. "I agree, we should skirt it and avoid whatever is there. If it starts to move we can fight but I would prefer to let it pass by." This seemed like the best move in Walker''s Opinion. Time was already a harder subject right now.


    Before they could keep moving though, the dune shifted more and the entire army at the top of the dune ttened themselves along the sand. The Fel empire angels knew the dangers and had ryed this warning right away.


    As they hid themselves, the sand ahead moved and showed what had been hiding just beneath the sand. The monster buried was waiting for prey but had clearly been in the process of shifting itself to move to another due to the right for a new hunting spot.


    ''Camel spider


    The camel spider is very simr to many other trap spider monster species. It is developed to have longer limbs so that it can hide itself below the sand better, it is thin so that it can more easily cool itself under the sand. Normally, it will move three to five times a day to find better hunting spots. While nearly blind from the sun, it has sensitive hairs that will sense the sand moving around or above it.


    Normally people will avoid the camel spiders if they see them, but if they fall in to the trap the long sharp fangs will erase their life from their body. While the camel spidercks venom, it is quicker than anyone may expect. It needs to be to avoid burning up or being hunted by the ck jewel wasps that dig holes to hunt them.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The all around appraisal presented some very good information. Walker had never heard of the ck jewel wasp but was sure that if it wasrge enough to hunt a camel spider the size of a small shed, then it would be very dangerous.


    What they were all d for was that the Fel angels had been quick with their movements and orders. There was a clear level of experience when it came to surviving this desert. One that should be respected regardless of the opinions one had. That was why the light affinity Rize empire angels did not hesitate to follow the order as well. They too had heard of the Fel healers acting on the orders of their empire and needed to act the same as not to damage the genesis opinion of the Rize empire.


    As if wanting to prove itself to Walker, naturally allowed the normal process of things to take ce. He heard a soft pping of wings before a shiny ck shape dove down and stabbed in to the body of the moving camel spider.


    ''ck jewel wasp


    The shiny body that it grows to protect it from the sun is often coveted by some traders since the armor is always good looking no matter the shape. The venom within the wasp''s sting is very potent and will paralyze anything it stabs in to. This is used to paralyze the camel spider''s body as it is dragged back to the nest of the ck jewel wasp.


    The ck jewel wasp hunts the camel spiders because they are the best food for the youngrvae to consume so that they can grow faster. The ck jewel wasp will often ignore anything that is not their prey unless they are attacked or their nest is disturbed. Many have identally copsed the entrance to their nest causing an attack on themselves.''


    "So we have all seen nature take its course here. But we should avoid wherever that ck jewel wasp is taking that camel spider." Walker made sure to point out the direction therge wasp carried the spider off to. It was not a beast they should fight.


    "I believed there would be avian m monsters that flew higher. Maybe the ones lower to the sands are more dangerous." Ventus was sure that the sharpened stinger could easily break through basic armor. She was impressed with how different the monsters on the Sigil continent were. But the small dragon pride in her wanted its body for herself. The dragon''s greed was truly there for every dragon. But they could easily break it away with logic.


    "I have to get some of the wasp bodies for antidotes. Not that I can make them here. The sand will ruin it all." Remey sighed as she realized the new danger of a poison she couldn''t perfectly counter.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1791 1791. Wind And Light

    Remey''s worries that she wouldn''t be able to make an anti venom was enough to put Walker on edge himself. He was sure that the poison would be very hard to handle. What was keeping him on edge though was that he would need to think of a way to deal with the speed that the ck jewel wasp had.


    Whether it was using a skill that slowed it or not, he was sure that he would not have his key focus to use. As he had been thinking about the downsides of this cursed desert, Walker had realized just how much he relied on the water mana around him. Normally, he would freeze things and use ice a lot. His unintended focus on bing a water mage hade to get him now.


    The entire area he was in was already a downside for any water based system user. Yes, Walker could use the sand to attack but that would be useless against a sand giant or a beast that traveled through the sand. There was earth mana around to make the sand react and be tougher like stone or earth. However, that would not work either.


    Earth mana was slower. That was a clear fact overall. But where it was focused on was the fact that Walker had to both condense the sand and also use the sand to attack. It was a slower process overall even if he used the fastest skill he had to attack using earth mana. Even Su was clearly struggling since she had been attempting to use her strength and her partner''s strength to be able to move through the sand better.


    That brought a whole new issue to Walker''s attention. Their speed was naturally reduced. Even watching everyone move again proved this many times over. One step would cause the sand to shift and everyone to sink about an inch in to the softer toptter of sand. This caused them to move as if they were fighting in a loose snow. The same slowing effect as a winter terrain but with the chance that they could slowly fall in to the sand at any time as a dune copsed. Normally an open field would not have that worry with snow, a mountain would though.


    It was a bad experience overall. Worse even was the repercussions of using fire mana. If Walker focused on this, then he was battling monsters that had a naturally high heat resistance or ways to counter the heat. But that wasn''t bad. He could make them run away by overheating them faster due to the powerful sun''s rays. That would work in a way.


    Another downside would be the effect on the others around him. Walker would cause the others to heat up as well by using the fire elemental mana naturally around him. Therefore, he would cause them to fail their travels due to dehydration at a faster pace. It was a very hard situation.


    Mordant was struggling as well. The darkness mana that he knew would be around the ruins and at night was useless since it was the heat of the day. The sun stopped him from being able to use the darkness to the height of what he should be able to use. That left two manas avable for him to rely on that he couldn''t control. A powerful dragon weakened just like that.


    Seeing that Walker had grasped these thoughts, Mordant made sure to keep the mana he had saved. He also trusted that Walker would take the roles he had with a grain of sand since it meant another dragon was basically useless until the day changed to night.


    With only light and wind mana left as the best options, Walker started to change his ideas. He had never fused the two together before since he had never seen it done before. The wind mana was something that would always be around the light mana. They existed high in the sky all the way down to the weather. But why was it so rare?


    The idea that it was because the wind moved through currents and the light traveled straight down made sense. There was no base for the two to naturally fuse often. Only during specific storms or specific situations would it happen. But that was not the main focus of what walkers Wanted to handle. He looked at Ventus and Rise so he thought he would get more information. "Are there any dual wind and light affinity dragons between your territories?"


    The sudden question caught the two off guard. They had not expected that they would be hearing this from Walker or be able to answer such a question. It stumped them both before Rise seemed to recall something. "One existed before I was the royal dragon I am now. He was called the light storm dragon and preferred to live solitarily without many others."


    "He could make rays of light bend with the wind and cause a storm of light and wind des that caused a lot of damage and pain. It was dangerous for him to use his strength around others because the wind and light fusion breath attacks caused powerful light burns that were hard to heal and pierced through other dragon''s scales. He was peaceful though. Little else was known about him before he passed away."


    "I believe I heard such stories when I was young. I didn''t think I would hear them again. I know that you and I have never attacked together to make our elemental manas mix. It has never been needed." Ventus seemed fairly confused about how she would manage this but Walker had his answer. The possibility was there.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Wind and light will be the strongest elemental attacks we have against monsters while here. mes are a risky double edged sword. I wanted to think about using the wind and light together to make sure that I am able to battle at a higher strength. I need to forget about using water and ice as I like to do." Walker made it clear to the two of them his thoughts.


    Rise seemed to appreciate this more than normal. She would normally prefer not to be involved and want to be left alone to continue her absorption of light. She wanted to be stronger and now had an entire dedication to bing a light dominator dragon. A powerful dragon that had not appeared for years upon years due to wars appearing in the Sigil continent.


    "I believe that you should use them in a dual sense but not fuse them. If the records and stories of the fusion being unstable are true, you could harm yourself and our forces here. Focus on what you need to do but keep them separate unless in dire need." Rise gave honest advice.


    "I agree, risks are there for everything else and you are removing the risks that would face all of us. No need to add yet another by experimenting. But if you do use it, allow my assistance if possible. Rise and I have the highest control of light and wind. Even the two grand elemental spirits may struggle to handle such a fusion right now.'''' This was a very good point and Walker respected Ventus and Rise''s opinions.


    "I will try that instead. I can copy Alice and make light des or follow what Gil does and see if I can make wind arrows or shes. I can also use a sword to channel them." Waker was not happy to throw aside the rangedbat more than before. He had been ustomed to long rangedbat more and more as he relied on magic. The desert was truly beginning to push itself on his weaknesses and his current tendencies.


    The two seemed to agree and went back to their own thoughts. This left Walker to put himself in a new mind set. A wind and light dual casting mage. Someone that could attack with both. Not only would this mean that he would have to toss aside some of his habits that use earth and water, but it meant he needed a better outlook.


    That was what took his mind to the wind dragonkin and the Rise angels who could use light as their abilities in battles. The two could give Walker valuable knowledge when he attempted to use the two elemental manas. Especially since each of the angels that came with the light affinity had been using swords. It appeared that they had the same system and were chosen as such. It hid some information from the opposite empire but also made sure that they would be a cohesive team. The perfect group for Walker to learn from. Also, the perfect way for him to learn skills from a specific system and potentially make them his own through alteration.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1792 1792. Colliding Light

    "You are looking for us?" the Rize empire angels all looked like they were expecting a harsh word or two. Not many people had been speaking with them since they joined. This was mostly because of the problems that came with being stopped while they were crossing the hoarder.


    This wasn''t that bad of a problem though. Most of the soldiers would just need some time to open up to the newer soldiers from the Rize empire that they had never seen before. It was expected that they would be starting over and that the events Genesis had helped with had not berge enough gossip yet. Especially since the archangels and their higher authorities had not yet done much but wait for information.


    Once the angels that were ranked higher than the archangels came to speak with the royal dragons then things would truly move forward. But since they didn''t and instead stayed within their cities, it was fine. Walker knew very well that the royal dragons and his party could at least move freely without much issues. Even the border stoppage had been for a moment and nothing more.


    "I was looking at you and your systems. You are all some form of light swordsmen I assume?" Walker saw that there were some of the angels that appeared worried. But that was fine. He wasn''t going to force them out of any information. He nned to exin himself.


    "I can learn many skills from many systems. Light and wind are the best elemental manas to use here. I n to learn from you and the wind mages what I can as we move through this. It will make things harder since it is so hot and I should focus on the water in the mud covering but that will be fine. I will treat it as training for my fire resistance. It''s already high from forging but I can always get better, you know?"


    The casual words and show that he was looking to improve to help them all out made the angels rx a bit. But when one of them stepped forward, Walker could tell he was the leader of their group. "I am the head of the white sword wings. We are the flying light swordsman group ten. We were sent because we are normally patrolling the border you crossed. What is it you would like to know?"


    Seeing that there was a head of the angel''s group sent by the Rize empire helped a lot. It also took pressure from the others who were less likely to speak out because of their positions. Not to mention the clear fact that the leader had some sort of order pertaining to them. Most likely to build better rtionships where they could since the two empires were still vying for attention from Genesis and to take a step ahead of the other empire. An annoying but useful situation.


    "I would mostly like to know what light attacks you can use. I can already use a sword to use a light sh skill or a thrown de skill. I can even make a sword with light if I really want. But I believe you may have skills I have never seen. Especially since we have never had a flying light swordsman system user that I know of in Genesis. But we are still growing." Walker was d to hear of the new system. The angels were sure to have many more unique systems like this.


    "We have seen the light sword skills. There are the magic swordsman system users that can conjure living light swords as their temporary partners. That is a very unique magic swordsman skill that seems to make them more like summoners than anything." The small bit of information from the head of the angels made Walker wonder just what he had seen when it came to magic swordsman.


    The thing was, that Walker hadn''t asked about this. But he realized that the angel was inferring that Walker could summon beings from other nes of existence too. Unfritnaly, Walker caught on and shook his head no. "ah, I see. Well, we can not do such things either but it is a very revered skill in the light elemental hall. We have other skills though."


    The angel was walking and suddenly started to grow brighter. Specifically around his skin and armor. The sword on his hip focused light as well. "This is called light boost. It is our method of using light to make us stronger overall. We can take ambient light to better move ourselves on battle to a degree. It''s almost like letting the light give us a tform to stand on."


    As if to demonstrate, the angel showed that he was better able to move through the sand. Smallyers of light seemed to form around his feet as he did. "Our skills work well together so these light steps allow us to move at an increased pace while using the light boost. It works with our wings too. Winged light shield. That is." The light gathered on the angel''s wings and he wrapped himself as hended on the ground.


    The thicker light around the wings made it clear that attacks would have to break through the shield of light before anything could attack him. The three skills all needed each other to work better. It was a very interesting way to battle but a clear one that didn''t waste the gathered light mana.


    "And for attacking, we will use light to cause damage." This was what Walker wanted to see, he had originally thought that they would focus the light on their des to make a sharper more damaging edge. However, Walker had been a little wrong.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The light did gather on the de but it seemed to be two separateyers. The twoyers of light seemed to be moving very quickly against each other causing an odd smell around the de. When it touched the sand, the light caused the sand to begin to melt. It also seemed to make things meld together in unnatural ways.


    "This is called light vibration. It is simr to metals vibrating together. But it causes fire elemental mana to be attracted that causes melting. But it also mixes healing a little and causes living things to be forcefully grown in a bad way. We are still studying the skill more in depth but that information is held by our leaders. The more advanced winged light swordsman."


    As much as Walker was impressed by the odd damage the sand had taken, he was more interested by the fact that the sword could somehow manage to cause damage through healing. But that made sense. Those that healed improperly could be left with bones mended in the wrong ce. If it was simr and too much mana was used in a healing spell, there could be negative effects. That was why healing magic was never used to grow nts, there was always a negative effect.


    But that was all beside the point, Walker wanted to see what else he could do with this theory. "I can make light des that go against one another. Literally making light scrape against itself. What if it were to collide?"


    "That is a very tough question. Those that forced the light to close caused bursts of light that sends small shattered bits of it through their bodies. They had a long and hard healing process. It was thought that they used too much mana as well. Lack of control in this skill causes self and area damage."


    Leaving this thought, the angel realized that they had started to fall behind while speaking. He pushed the others to make a move while Walker clearly fell in to thought. It was the answers that Walker had been after.


    The things on Walker''s mind came down to what light was and how it could easily attract certain manas. It made sense that it would cause issues for people because of the fire mana attraction. But at the same time, the idea that it would shatter and pierce the body causing odd damage and healing struck him. It meant that light might be radically moreplicated than he had ever realized.


    It also raised the question of monsters like Onyx that could feed on and absorb light elemental mana. If Onyx came in to contact with such a skill that caused this damage, would he be harmed or would it be the same as getting a highly concentrated boost of mana? That was a dangerous thought alone. Mostly because overloading on any mana caused issues. Especially one that someone had an affinity with. There were limits. These limits protected people. Therefore, Walker needed to put some major thought in to this before he pursued this method of attack.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1793 1793. Desert Nature

    "Those aren''t flies, are they?" The small tan thing that one of the archers made out was definitely a fly. But what had stopped him and made everyone gather toward the sight was that the fly was easily the size of a horse.


    "That is a fly. The tan desert flies will go after any scent they think of rotting flesh. They prefer to go after the dead saw toothed sand worm bodies." Ethan caught everyone''s attention and began to exin. "The saw toothed sandworms will go to the surface when they die. They have eggs in their bodies so when other monsters eat them, the eggs hatch and seat those monsters inside out. The flies will help spread the eggs unwittingly like that so the sandworms live. But the flies also use the leftover body as a breeding ground. It''s symbiotic."


    Now that they all knew the disgusting facts about how the two monsters bred, no one wanted to push forward. "I would assume that if we are seeing one here, then there is a body somewhere? What should we worry about now?" Walker was sure that there would be more to this. He knew that he couldn''t remain thinking about the light and wind attacks he wanted to learn when danger could be just over the next sand dune.


    "It is best to avoid the bodies of anything here. Even the flies will leave when they have had their fill. Many other monsters wille for the scarce food they need to live. The flies don''t attack living things but they will be prey for other things. They can''t fly high either so they will stay low to send, that makes them easier prey for other monsters." Ethan was exining thai while Walker examined the odd look of the fly.


    "However, that fly we are looking at is no longer alive. I would say that it is dead and has been dead for about three days. It is just bait for the devil toad that attached it to its tongue to attract anything that tried to eat that fly carcass." no one wanted to know what a devil toad was. But they were already in the position that they had to know.


    "I can see it now. Just under the sand there are eyes." Gil managed to spot it and point the spots out to everyone. Walker soon caught on and was able to use the all around appraisal skill.


    ''Devil toad


    The devil toad is one of the many monsters that hides in the sand. Their tan skin perfectly melds with the denser sand and their white spotting matches the lighter white sands across the surface of the desert. It also assists in keeping their body cooler in the sun.


    The best way for them to hunt is to use their barbed tongue to capture prey. They will often capture a weaker prey and absorbed the moisture from it through their tongue. Then they will let their tongue remain outside their mouth waiting for another prey to attack the already defeated prey.


    Once they attract another prey, they will release the old prey and attack the new prey to start the cycle over again. This leaves a dried and non nutritious body to slowly degrade back in to the sands of the desert. They are called the devil toad because they have sharp horns that are reminiscent of devilish drawings.''


    "I can see it too. It''s been waiting for another prey¡­ I wonder how it learns to attack like that?" Walker was more amazed that a monster was able to develop this way. It truly showed that the world was an odd ce. The desert itself was definitely one of the ces that he had not expected to be in again. There were so many odd things here.


    "We are taking a path around it. Time to move." With the new danger exined, Su pushed everyone on. The royal dragons just looked at the monster they deemed weak and wondered if they should hunt it. But Ignus began ignoring it since there was no merit in hunting it for food or anything. He was too far above it.


    As they rounded the sand dune that the devil toad was waiting in ambush on, the group caught sight of even more tan sand flies. These ones were moving though. They were moving dune to dune clearly trying to get in to the sands around them. "I would say that there is something around her under the sands." This made everyone wonder what might be uncovered as they watched. Moving coil alert whatever was here.


    The result of their sudden stoppage rewarded them with the sound of flies buzzing past them. Therge flies were all attracted to the same ce around them. A perfect angel that the army could see from where they had stopped. "They will dig things if another monster has hidden it under the topyer of sand, I have never seen it." Ethan had taken a journal from under his cloak. He was writing notes. Many of the other Fel angels were doing so as well.


    This was definitely a sight that not many had seen, but what the tan sand flies began to pull from the topyer of sand was nothing but terrifying. Just as Ethan had exined, there were saw toothed sand worms here. The one being brought up was easily five times as long as Onyx in hisrgest state. "They managed to find a juvenile saw toothed sandworm. I assume it was hunted by a prickled mantis. Rare but they like to bury their prey until the night sets in. Then they will be able to survive the temperature better to dissect their prey. That should mean¡­ ah, over there is a perfect ce."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    All of the Fel empire angels looked toward a small mass of tan bushes. Anyone would expect that they were just wind blown dead bushes, but it soon became clear that this was only half true. The bushes were being held together by a tan colored praying mantis. Small prickles on its body made the little dried bushes hold to it so that they became its camouge.


    "There are more monsters around this desert than I could have imagined. We are even nearing the sandstorms and these sights are unaffected. I thought that monsters would run away or something." Remey was sure that everything they knew about deserts was a mystery now. So many monsters somehow living here. None of them are fleeing the storming. All of them are ready to kill one another or dig out food in any way possible.


    "I am still trying to figure out how that massive sandworm thing is just a baby. It''s massive!" Gil was trying to understand what size the adult saw toothed sandworms would be. The one they were looking at was clearlyrger than anything he had seen. Even the other worm type monsters he had read about were small byparison. Much smaller.


    "Look, the mantis has started to get angry that its prey was found. But the flies will gather more and more. Let''s see what will happen.'''' The sun was deadly to the prickled mantis which was why it was forced to use camouge and cover itself in the dead bushes. It blocked it from certain heat death.


    However, the group watched as the mantis started to move slowly toward the flies. With a sudden burst of speed, it struck out and decapitated one fly. Walker was barely able to see the explosive force the mantis used as it sliced at the fly. Its sharp arms easily cut the attacker that tried to steal its food.


    As a result, the flies took to the air but some were too slow. The mantis struck out again and again while trying its best not to sit in the sun too long. Unfortunately, it was fighting a losing battle. As the sun hit it, the group could see that the body of the mantis was suffering. The tan coloration was darkening which was a clear show of how fast it cost the moisture in its body.


    In just a few moments, the mantis was forced to bury itself in the sand causing the small bushes attached to it to appear like a cluster again. The flies returned to the dead sandworm and began their actions again. They had found food and a ce toy eggs. Why would they abandon it just because a few of them had died? They were not a pack or swarm. They don''t care about losing fellow flies. Just survival.


    "What a great chance. We can keep this for fellow researchers." Ethan and the Fel empire werepletely in their own world upon witnessing all of this. It was a great addition to their knowledge. But it made everyone else wonder what other dangers were around. What else they didn''t know about.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1794 1794. Angry Ignus

    "Research aside, we need to know how to handle these monsters. It''s very clear that even though this ce is expanding and somehow incredibly tough to survive in, that the monsters are more than anticipated." Mordant finally snapped at all of those doing their research. He was very unhappy to find that there were more monsters around every corner they seemed to turn.


    "That is very unusual. The increase in life here is not what we have expected. We may have started to research these things by habit, but I do promise that thest records we had were not as such. This ce should be harder for monsters to breed in. I would say that they are in a massive breeding cycle."


    The idea that monsters could go in to a breeding cycle was not unusual. But for such a terrible ce like a desert to have one made a lot of confused faces appear. "We have never recorded one. That is until now but you have all seen the evidence." Ethan stopped. He was looking at them all and especially made sure to show his sincerity to the royal dragons that all appeared annoyed now.


    "It is clear that this is urring but we have no idea why. That is because we have no information of such things happening until now. But we all know what it looks like, correct?" Ethan seemed to gain more confidence that speaking like this wouldn''t harm the rtionship he had made so far and proceeded. "The desert is often not researched due to the problems here. The dangers and the undead. But we clearly see that it is possible for things to flourish here¡­ somehow."


    Seeing that there was not enough knowledge for the Fel angels to show a theory of why there may be an increased number of monsters, the soldiers and dragons started moving again. The policy for the moment was clear. Move away from the danger and make sure that they did not keep running in to so many monsters. All it took was a group of powerful monsters and they would be severely weakened or lose everything they were carrying for supplies.


    "I would assume that there are many prey items. The real question we should ask is, what started the chain of reaction to cause a breeding cycle this powerful? Your empire had research, people don''t just start hunting one thing less, the same for monsters in the wild." Gil made a point to get the angels talking. He knew they had information they could take and learn from. Genesis was still vastly uninformed about Sigil.


    "Well, the weakest monsters that breed the most are the sand mites. But we have yet to see a single one while here. They do not attack living things but instead will survive by eating sand. It is odd but they are an earth type monster. They also like to attack sand worm eggs so they are a bit of a pest." One of the Fel angels was sure to tell Gil an answer as soon as he had the chance.


    It appeared with a new monster came more curiosity for the Fel angels. Clearly, they were very simr when it came to curiosity as a whole. But where things seemed to be separated was what they researched. The Fel angels that cared more for healing, the life mages, were less interested in the monsters being around more often due to some breeding cycle. They were having conversations about how they would heal someone based on the attacks of the monsters they saw.


    While Walker wanted to praise all of them for learning in these situations, he too was annoyed. The Fel empire clearly could get very distracted. But he saw the benefits of it. They Fel empire was learning at every step so that they could help their people get stronger and survive in this pce. That alone was enough to prove that they would keep getting stronger.


    "What''s going on Midnight" Midnight hade next to Walker and was looking around carefully. But this was not the only reaction out of everyone, The royal dragons seemed unsettled and so did the dragonkin.


    Walker felt this and began to check his senses. The sudden increase in earth mana made it clear that he and the others could instinctually feel that something was off. "There''s something under us in the sand." Walker made everyone stop again. This was the third or fourth stop in just an hour. The progress of the day had dramatically slowed. But the feeling of sands moving beneath them were clearly about to answer one of Gil''s questions.


    Before anyone could say a word, arge amount of sand shifted near where the tan sand flies and the prickled mantis were swallowed up revealing what had given birth to the adolescent saw toothed sandworm.


    ''Adult saw toothed sandworm


    This is the adult form of a saw toothed sandworm. The fourrge pincers are the sharpened serrated teeth that it uses to easily cut through tough defenses of its prey. Those that it does not swallow whole are cut to pieces by the inner teeth of its digestive tract. It is known to sense the struggles of things on the sand and attack them.


    The saw toothed sandworms will often dig very deep within the sand onlying up to the surface to eat. Some of them will hunt more when they are preparing to go in to a long term slumber. This will only happen when they reach adulthood due to their high energy requirement.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The tough skin is considered a great material if someone can get ahead of a fresh sample. The saw tooths that they have are great to make weapons out of but are often toorge to wield. Some will harvest the rare gems, jewels, and other things they consume as they tunnel through the desert from their stomachs. Many things get stuck in their bodies throughout their lifespan.


    The best way to scare them off is by using fire. They too are very susceptible to the what of the desert. This means that they will not stay close to the surface for a long time. It also is why they prefer to be very deep in the sand or even tunnel in to the earth if possible. Not that they can easily move through denser earth due to theirrge size.''


    "We should run? Or we should-"


    "Weak little worm!" Ignus roared as he saw they were stopped again. It was clear that he had reached the very end of his patience. But when Ignus took his full dragon form, Walker started to call others to him.


    "Pull back and wait. Everyone that had buffs or shielding skills, use them now!" The order was enough to make everyone do so. They could tell that the fire mana around Ignus was much more powerful. Meanwhile, the other royal dragons just looked annoyed and too. But they were annoyed that Ignus had lost his temper again. So much so that mes were billowing from his mouth as he charged at the massive adult saw toothed sandworm ahead of him.


    Just as multiple skills were used to resist the heat and defend from Ignus''s anger, his ws reached the sand worm that was attempting to retreat within the sand. The tearing of ws made it sound as if they had just been brought in to another world. It wasn''t the heat that was getting them but the fact that Ignus''s ws were also searing through the body of the sandworm.


    The intense heat wasn''t just burning but also causing the sandworm to be encased in mes. It was not a surprise when the rest of its massive body started to writhe ande to the surface. The whipping motions made it seem as if the entire area was brought in to chaos. Almost another storm as a whole for the desert to handle.


    Ignus was still attacking without hesitation. His anger was being fully released on the powerless sandworm that was over four times the length of an adult fire dragon. Something that should have shocked everyone many times over. Yet, it was more of a state of awe due to the intense strength that Ignus demonstrated as he shed apart the massive sandworm without any resistance.


    The strength of a dragon was not clearly defined yet by the Fel empire. Now they were frozen on the spot. They had not seen the strength that a dragon had properly. They were seeing it now though. The clear and undefined rage that Ignus had showed just what they were capable of. Defeating a single monster that annoyed him which the Fel empire angels would struggle with unless they had a solid n and army. A truly frightening event.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1795 1795. Long Time Coming

    Watching a dragon tear apart a monster that everyone had deemed as impossible to beat was enough to make most people wonder just where they stood in the world. However, watching Ignus let his pent up anger out on a monster he was annoyed at for just a second was more terrifying than that.


    Even the other royal dragons were looking at Ignus and reminding themselves why they no longer fought. Why dragons had taken major lengths not to start wars between themselves and their territories. Especially against fire dragons since their anger would make a fight go on much longer.


    This was highlighted in the fact that the massive saw toothed sandworm adult had been brought to pieces in less than five minutes. It was also still burning in certain spots of its broken body. Many might even have nightmares after seeing this fight. But what surprised Walker were the Fel angels.


    They had stopped their awestruck looks and shock after just three minutes. Now they were furiously writing what they were witnessing for the first time in their lives. For some of them, it appeared that they were seeing the newest and greatest thing since they had begun keeping notes. Yet, Walker understood.


    Whenever he heard of something new he was stuck on it too. A dragon to the Fel angels and the Rize angels was the very same, if not more. They all saw a powerful being that they had never expected to see in their lives. This was even more apparent when it came to the weakness that wyverns and massive saw toothed sandworms appeared to be byparison. The two powerful monsters of their empires were reduced to nothing now.


    "I feel better now. Walker, you can take that and use it as you wish. I am sure it will be decent for someone to craft with." Ignus changed forms while mes burned off the blood from his battle. He looked much happier and more calm than before. Especially since he and his dragonkin were finally moving forward without any worry.


    The showing of strength had done more than just show the marching army what a dragon could do. It had sent an aura of power throughout the area. Any monster that had been near had heard the roars and the battle. It was only natural for them to remain buried in the sands much deeper than normal. No matter what the monster was, they understood they should avoid the more powerful monsters to keep their lives intact.


    "I would like to ask for some parts as research material. We can make a dealter." Ethan was being pushed by multiple angels and did not hesitate to make sure that he spoke up. Walker just nodded since he really didn''t have much else to say. He had a mess to handle.


    The skin and shredded flesh of the saw toothed sandworm was major. Walker was not sure how he would store it all since there was just too much. He had never stored so much before. But as he began using the skill pierce by piece, the other soldiers moved to bring things to him. Soon the fire dragonkin returned and started to help. It appeared Ignus had realized he caused them to be stopped for a decent bit longer now.


    As Walker stored more and more parts, he started to notice that the body of the adult saw toothed sand worm was even more developed than he imagined. The stomach alone hadrge sharp rockers and chunks of ore within it. These had gathered through years and years making them valuable but also purified by the stomach acid of the sand worm. It was worthy enough to be held for the wandering cksmith as rare materials for his experiments or general forging. Especially since Walker had promised good materials already.


    Even more so were the pieces of crystals that were being pulled out by some of the soldiers. It appeared that this adult saw toothed sandworm was exceeding everything that the Fel angels believed should be within the stomach of a sandworm.


    ''Ancient rune shard


    This is a shard of rune carved rocks. It was broken off of an ancient temple when monsters swarmed the area. Once part of a small temple town made by an ancient race that fell in to madness due to fanatical worship of undead. The runes were an attempt to create a portal to a world of the dead but failed due to weak knowledge and control.''


    It was just a single all around appraisal on a rock that appeared odd. Butpared to the ores and mana crystals, this was shocking. Walker dropped what he had been holding and grabbed the ancient rune shard to look at it better.


    The small ck carving was definitely a corner of a rune. But Walker had not seen the shape before. If he could see more of it he might be able to make out what kind of rune it was or get even more information. However, his clearly stunned expression caught the attention of Mordant who was already keeping a very close eye on what might be going on in general.


    It was hard for Walker to notice that Mordant was walking over to him. "It''s a shard of a rune carved stone. It''s ancient and the all around appraisal said it was from a town of worshippers that went mad. They failed some attempt to connect to an undead world. I have no idea if that''s a real ce or just crazy. But that''s not good."


    Mordant was silent for a few moments before he looked at Walker carefully, his mind had clearly absorbed what Walker had just told him. "Now we know it was not arge city and the entire desert was not some massive ruin or will ever be. It means that something came here to make something and they failed. Now we are seeing whatever is left of that now that the desert isn''t covering the secrets anymore." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The idea that the desert had been covering the ruins intentionally made Walker''s gut tighten. The theory seems too good. Too right. But that was just it, a theory without all the puzzle pieces. It actually made things harder to wrap their minds around since it was another factor. Another part of the history that might have caused multiple problems.


    "I will see what else we can find here. But the towers mentioned might just be ancient road markers to this town. That would make more sense. The Fel angels said they were hollow as far as they could explore." Walker believed this was the right idea now.


    "Following a river has been the smart move for many races. I wouldn''t assume ancient races were much different. Even us dragons have followed rivers and such." Mordant believes what Walker had thought of. Making a marker for where water would be made a lot of sense. Especially since the two of them would be able to prove some of this if they went to these ancient towers.


    ''The skill advanced spatial storage has been taken from the spatial merchant system. The skill advanced spatial storage has been automatically learned due to the constant and continued usage of the spatial storage skill.


    Advanced spatial storage- 0 mana cost (depends on usage and grown affinity to spacial mana)


    This is the advanced spatial storage skill that can only be learned through constant exposure, usage, and bonding with spatial mana, anyone can gain a spatial storage skill. Mainly unique beings will naturally learn them at birth or specific system users can learn them.


    This skill can store massive amounts of living things such as nts, non living things, and general items. They will be frozen in time as they are and will also be unharmed without any contact with one another. Some have even found ways to store mana filled items that remain mana filled within this advanced storage.''


    There was more but Walker was stuck yet again. Mordant had watched him store the rune shard away and was confused why Walker appeared to have stopped breathing out of awe. The light that grew in Walker''s eyes only became brighter.


    "The spatial storage skill I learned first out of many of my skills. I just got an advanced version of it. But it exins that the spatial mana exposure and usage of the skill is the reason. And that others can learn spatial storage skills through being exposed to spatial mana. Do you know what that means?" Walker looked right at Mordant before looking around at his party and the other royal dragons. The excitement in his voice was all too telling.


    "That means you can help people gain a spatial storage skill." Mordant showed the same excitement paired with a toothy grin. He was always amazed by Walker.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1796 1796. Spatial Theories

    "Spatial skills¡­ you will be learning to manipte spatial mana at some point, correct? Can you make scrolls with it? This spatial skill? Can you show others how to use it?" Mordant has keeping a highly focused gaze on Walker. He wanted to be able to learn these things. He wanted to be able to do more.


    The reason that this was such a focus wasn''t just the rarity and strength of skills. But also the fact that light and darkness mana were rted to space in a way. Light could take up space and could be thought of as a unique mana that interacted with space differently than all other manas.


    Shadows and darkness were different. The darkness mana was odd already but everyone has seen that some monsters could use shadows to hide themselves. Some systems even came with skills that let others be one with shadows and travel. Therefore, it was clear that shadows and darkness already interacted with space in some form or fashion.


    "I think I will be able to make the perfect environment for others to learn spatial magic. But I had no way to make the skill a scroll before. It would be gone as soon as the scroll was used, how would someone get something stored back?" this made sense and Mordant nodded. He was just hoping for something random and amazing again. It would not be the first time Walker hade out of nowhere with something amazing like this.


    "I also have to figure out how exactly to sense spatial mana. I literally got this skill because I have been influenced by my spatial storage skill so much that it was pushed to a higher level. It took a long time of constant usage to get here. I wouldn''t even have noticed it if the system didn''t say something."


    This was the most important part. Walker had gained the skill without being able to sense the spatial mana. That alone was astounding within itself. Therefore, how could he have gained a higher tier skill without his unique system that let him use many skills. Not to mention that he should have to learn what spatial mana felt like in general.


    Luckily, he was in the Fel empire. Their research was sure to have many puzzle pieces and keys to what he wanted to know. He had also seen a rare spatial system user that the world had given a quest to. But that was a whole other thing. A mystery that Walker still could not understand and had purposefully ignored since it felt too far from his grasp.


    That might not be the case now. He had managed to store things away constantly and even was able to store more things now. With this, he could start to pursue more of this kind of knowledge. Maybe he could teleport or send things through space better. He might even be able to use it as some form of advanced movement skill. There were too many potentials.


    So many thoughts were rushing through his mind but his clear joy was something that stood outpared to everyone. Su saw it quickly and decided that she wanted to know what he had done. Especially since he kept looking at everyone with clear intent in his thoughts.


    "I see that you learned a new skill, what would it be?" Su''s curiosity was surely something that everyone else would have. But she did feel a little happy that she would be able to learn it sooner than the others. It was a small thing that had be like a game in everyone''s mind. Who could hear about Walker''s new skills first?


    "Justa spatial skill. One that makes my storage skill a lot better. It also gave me a little information about how others could potentially learn the storage skill. Think I should learn more about spatial mana?" Su hadn''t expected this. Now she could have the same skill she had seen Walker use all the time? That very same skill that made so many people incredibly jealous at all times?


    "When are you going to start teaching it then?" Su didn''t even hesitate. She was sure that this was the same reaction that Mordant had. The slight chuckle from Mordant proved her correct.


    "As soon as I have the chance. But we can see that spatial mages might not be thatmon. There aren''t any with us from the Fel empire. But with their researching potential, I am sure there is some information. I just need to figure it out." Walker looked around at the remaining parts from the adult saw toothed sand worm. He was sure that it would be cleared up soon. It also reminded him of the current situation.


    "I have to say, you are able to make us all jealous. But don''t worry, I will have my own storage soon." Su''s attitude became much brighter. She also made a line directly for Gil to tease him a bit. It seemed that the heat had brought her mood down a little but now that she heard something interesting like this, she had be much lighter. That kind of attitude broke from her seriousness, but it also helped everyone be much more rxed. Joy could be contagious too. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    By the time the group was moving, everyone had heard of the changes in Walker''s spatial storage skill. They were all amazed he had learned such things. However, it seemed that Ethan was the most interested. The Rize angels had been able to more or less ignore it even though they were seeing that their values might not be the most solid any more. Other manas were yingrger roles in thingstely after all. Their elemental mana focus might not be able to remain strong as it had been.


    "You don''t seem surprised that spatial mana is a part of my thoughts now. What do you think about it? Can your researchers help me learn a little more?" Ethan heard Walker''s question and knew that this woulde up. His eyes shifted to the Rize empire angels who were not so sneakily listening as they marched. But this was all fair in their stand off. The two empires had never crossed their borders like this and all information was useful, even things like this held a lot of weight.


    "We do have research for spatial mana. It is very rare and hard to handle. Most of those that have chosen this path are rare to encounter. They often hide away and focus on the space in the world rather than speak with others. If you even find two spatial researchers together, then it means a breakthrough has already happened. But that is still rare. Spatial mana is moreplicated than I can even speak to."


    The slightly cryptic nature of how Ethan replied made Walker understand that Ethan was not willing to give anything away. It also proved that the archangels had left this to an important crossroads. A chance for the Fel empire to keep the Genesis forces closer to them for longer. To be able to develop more of a rtionship with them. A well yed card that would get more useful the longer it was used.


    "Well, I would like to meet them. I have met one spatial traveler before. He was well above what I have ever met and he appeared human. Not that I have proof of this. But spatial system users are far and few between. I want to get more knowledge to start some of my own studies started. Even if it is books or a spatial mana crystal. They have to exits. It only makes sense that some will since other rarer mana crystals exist."


    Walker was mainly ying with his theories. But he knew that doing so would bring out some information from Ethan. The sudden reaction of awe that Ethan had before fixing his expression perfectly exined what Walker had just won. It proved that Ethan knew of such mana crystals and that they were indeed very rare. Therefore, the Fel empire had at least found and recorded one to exist. It even proved there might be other rare mana crystals of certain manas that Walker had never seen. Such as life, death, and maybe even time mana. Too much to consider right now.


    Yet, there was a small reaction from the Rize Empire forces. This was a surprising thing since they denied these theories and manas. But if they had rumors enough to cause their soldiers to react to such statements, then it proved that the Rize empire might have some unique items stored away to hide them. It just proved that upholding their values was tougher and tougher. But it also proved that there was something Walker could still glean from them in this subject. Great information for him to know.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1797 1797. Storming Sands

    "We need to keep moving, the sand storms can somewhat be seen already." Vetus spoke up and everyone snapped to attention. It was clear that she was preparing herself to manipte the wind and cause the very distant storms to collide. But what everyone saw when they looked in to the distance was not what they expected.


    There were two massive dust clouds that were causing the forward area to appear as nothing but a mix of yellow and white sands. The two sands seemed to create a massive closing wall. The resulting tornado of sand and wind would definitely cause a muchrger area to be consumed by a wall of sands.


    Yet, when Walker looked ahead, he and Gil were ncing at one another. The two could see that many of the dunes were shifting and many monsters were reacting to the storms. It wasn''t that the monsters before hadn''t felt the storm but that they had yet to react to it.


    There were already more monsters around and those that were running right now from the storms would be the perfect prey for most of them. It was a dangerous gambling game that the species of monsters yed in this desert.


    While they could be torn apart by nature, they could also use it to gain a massive reward. The food they got from hunting other monsters as the storms passed nearby was too valuable to them. They would be able to grow , breed, and even be the top predator in an area if they were lucky. It just depended on nature and other monsters.


    If the winds kept the storms away from an area, but close enough, then there would be fleeing and most likely damaged monsters to hunt. This was also a good thing for the army. They were one of the only groups actually heading toward the storm. It meant that they would see injured monsters that they could hunt or defeat while they moved.


    For the Fel angels, it meant that they could see monsters that they might never see. They would be able to take these monsters with them or at least record some information about them. Everything was valuable. Every single little detail would be able to show them more about this environment that was mostly a mystery to them. Especially if the sands managed to expose the rarest monsters of nts of the desert they had trouble traveling.


    But what Walker also felt was the dangers that came with it. He was feeling the unsettled win and earth mana that were kicked up. But he also felt an odd tension that hade over everyone. Even those that could not feel the manas that nature was kicking in to chaos, they could feel something instinctually. While the dragonkin clearly felt this more along with the demi-humans, everyone could tell.


    Ventus had just put more focus on what she would worry about. Whether she could naturally fly through such conditions didn''t seem to be on her mind. Instead, she had started to focus on the sense of wind currents. It was where she excelled as a wind elemental dragon. Every dragon had some small sense of wind currents it was in their blood. Every dragon could fly even if some like the earth dragons did not prefer it.


    However, Ventus was showing why she was the best. Walker could sense that the wind mana she was releasing around her body was controlled solely by her. It was a powerful example of what many years of gathering and understanding wind could do. Even Gil was stunned by it since he didn''t even have a tenth of the control over wind without the help of Zephyr.


    Speaking of Zephyr, she had arrived outside the spirit mark on Gil''s body and was currently witnessing what Ventus was doing. She was celery amazed that the dragons had such a powerful gras of the wind. It made her wonder just how long training like this took. The mana that made up zephyr''s body was definitely being effects which showed the true depth of control that Ventus had.


    While winds could be peaceful, Ventus showed them the calm dangers that came with wind. She pped her wings and took to the skies as she took her full dragon form back. Rise nced at the sky and debated following her before she gave orders to her dragonkin to begin moving forward and to be at the ready for battle.


    "Zephyr, I need to catch up to the dragons. The elves will teach me some things but I think I will ask Ventus to train me after I understand these dagger techniques." The sudden promise to her made Zephyr d. She had bonded with Gil very closely and knew that Gil heavily relied on her mana and skills. But hearing that he would be even stronger through learning from someone with worthy strength made her happier than before.


    Once she had returned to the spirit mark, Gil had already drawn his bow. He moved with everyone but arrow after arrow was notched. The wind elemental wither spike arrows were specially made by him and Walker along with the wandering cksmith. With his skills and keen eyes, the closest running monsters could be sniped from a distance. A much further distance than the Fel angels imagined. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "These elves and your archer are impressive." What walker had expected to hear from the Fel angels actually came from one of the Rize empire light swordsman. He was amazed by the range and precision he was seeing. This was very unlike the wind elemental hall he had seen training. "I think that the wind elemental hall will wish to see what this kind of archery is. I don''t believe they have records of it."


    "I would say not. These are arcane archers and arcane snipers. They use elemental manas in their arrows or with their bodies to make the arrow fly further. Basically, they rely on mana and physical attacks. The arcane snipers are pretty hard to handle when ites to long ranged attacks. A ce like this is ideal for them." Walker gestured to the open expanse where nothing could hide unless they were below a dune or the sands.


    Since the monster were running so much above the sand, there were plenty that were being fired down on. Spiders, lizards, and even the odd fly were shot down. The fact that some of the monsters like the flies which were often in the air to a degree were forced on to the surface only helped them. The archers could see them much more clearly.


    "We are moving faster, picking up the pace and maintaining the formation. We will not be flying unless absolutely necessary!" Current and Mordant issued this order. It wasn''t because they feared flying in the storm. Yes it was dangerous, but they knew that the monstersing would be running and not fighting directly. It was a good way to push forward, battle a little, and keep up with Ventus who was gathering wind in the skies.


    What truly pushed them to do so was the fact that they could seerger stones and some random nts in the storms as they neared one another. Their timing had been very good but also showed them the dangers that came with the storms. The wind could carry things that would be thrust in to the sand tornado. These things would definitely crush their soldiers so flying would only save the dragons. Therefore, they would be carrying injured or dead bodies. Not solidres. A rough reality.


    This also proved that the desert held a muchrger danger. They could be buried here by the storm. Some sand was already falling around all of the soldiers while they moved. It was a steady soft rain of sand that showed just what the storms did. These dunes would not just shift but could be picked up and rained down elsewhere. It also showed how the desert was expanding.


    Regardless of whatever curse of magic was working on the odd white sand, this storm would pick a lot of fine sand and drop it on the edges of the desert as a whole. Therefore, the desert would expand and entire dunes would be moved. Furthermore, the monsters would move and take over different territories. This showed a greater danger overall since there would be a power shift. None of the dragons wanted to take this ce as their own territory. It would be annoying to constantly shift homes and take over territory.


    Finally, Walker was left with the fact that he could only struggle to manipte the chaotic mana. He felt that the natural mana around him was being stirred up by the wind and earth mana seemingly battling one another. It brought many ideas to light in his mind. Many different feelings to learn from.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1798 1798. Extreme Winds

    The buffeting wind was picking up while more monsters appeared around the soldiers. But with the wind came the pressure increasing. Walker sensed that Ventus had begun to ignore the control over her natural dragon pressure that she released. Many of the monsters could sense it just by instinct. They could tell that there was a powerful monster here ready to attack them and defeat them in a single move. Especially one that was well higher on the food chain.


    What Walker didn''t notice was that the storms had seemingly been caught up even more. The storms were pulling at one another. This sight of nature fighting itself was off. Naturally, the same elemental mana would not fight against itself. That was why some people would use their skills and meld them together. Mages of the same type would work together.


    Yet, when Walker looked and sensed the air, he could feel the opposing wind currents grinding against one another. This was simr to the light skill that he had just seen. The skill that caused heat to be generated as the light des would grind against one another. That was already unnatural since it was a forced creation of a skill made by a living being. It wasn''t a naturally urring event.


    When Walker saw that the wind was colliding and causing chaos right in front of him, he began to understand how some of the other forces of nature came together. Lighting had already been proven to be an odd melding within a storm. The manas came together and created a high amount of energy that showed itself in the form of lighting. But even that was bnced.


    The idea of a tornado was easily understood too. The warm air and the cold air chasing one another within a perfect bnce. The two sets of wind manasing back together as they changed their forms. However, this was two of the same high temperature wind manas hitting one another in opposition.


    The currents had carried the two storms together at a much faster pace than many of the group had understood. The sands had been heated by the sun for days and days before this happened. Now everyone was witnessing the heated sands in the air which allowed for even more opposition from the two separate storms.


    Everyone with the ability to see could tell that the sands carried by each storm were colliding. It just added to the fact that the wind currents naturally collided here. That was the key. Physical collision pushed the storms to collide even more dramatically. It also forced the currents to alter themselves. "This is natural!"


    Walker''s understanding blossomed after a moment. "The extreme conditions here make the entire area shift, right? That means the wind currents are never settled down due to the high heat and expansion of the desert. That means these storms collide, the wind currents collide, and the sands collide. Once that happens, natural mana is able to settle down again. That''s why it happens. There is nothing to cool the sands. If the sands weren''t so dry then the sand storms would be rarer."


    The idea hade to Walker as he watched the storms with awe. He had been trying to learn what he could, but now he was able to understand nature a little more. It was unexpected but also very useful. However, the earth mana was also at odds with itself, which created the rain of sand that was forced away from the storm and carried by other wind currents. That brought about the growth of new dunes, expansion of the desert, and caused the nutrients that might be in the sand to spread elsewhere.


    "So if we manage to figure out the mystery of this heat filled desert we could fix it all?" Gil looked at Walker with a curious expression before refocusing on another target. He saw a spiny mantis heading toward one of the soldiers and knew it had to be dealt with. Gil''s arrows had been used over and over, sadly disappearing under the sands before anyone could get near the sniped targets.


    "I think so, if that all stops we will get this back to a natural flow everything. The wind mana, the earth mana, and the natural mana. Let''s just watch Ventus manipte nature a little here." Walker smiled as he used all his mental strength to bring in more natural mana. The chaos making it infinitely harder for him.


    As he did so, Walker started to send it toward the wind mana that Ventus had gathered. The sudden burst of wind that attracted to Ventus made everyone feel an even greater pressure. However, it was necessary. They would feel pressure but it was just for now. The winds would alter the storms that were beginning to collide in even more dangerous chaos.


    As the storms pushed closer, the sand rain suddenly stopped and a pulling force appeared. The wind currents had broken and were now trying to find a new path. The resulting change was in the flow of the storms. They had too much energy and force to be stopped, therefore, they began rotating around themselves to be one storm. To be the distant sand tornado that had been expected.


    The distance that they were from the storm, the devastating sand tornado that appeared to be growing as the wind and earth mana found their flow, was enough to cause everyone to step back. The monsters around even halted knowing that running was no longer an option. The monster, no matter the species, began to dig themselves in to the sand. Even if they were able to fly, they forced themselves as deep in to the sand dunes that they could. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The only hope for the monsters in this situation would be for them to dig and hope that the storm did not pass above them. That the sand tornado would not cross their sand dune and pull them in to the twisting mass of sand. If it did, they would be sliced apart by the extremely fast moving sand, the intense wind des that pushed it all along.


    The group of soldiers almost wanted to follow this as well, but when they were about to ask for orders and they were going to act a single roar burst around them. The royal dragons looked up with gleeful smiles. Their understanding of Ventus was that she was normally peaceful, however, they had seen her strength. It was rare for her or Current to fight or act out with their power. Water and wind could maintain a calm that was unlike any other. Even Rise was unable to match it.


    Yet, as Ventus roared out, everyone could hear a deeper storm within. A storm of pure wind that could slice through the world easily. This just went to speak to the depths that Ventus understood the ways of wind. The level she was at where she could easily step in to the wind elemental ne if she were to force herself.


    The insane amount of wind mana that she gathered around herself was forced forward in an extreme gust. The air around everyone seemed to shift as well, trying to follow the sudden new current of wind that made the sands shift in a new way.


    The earth mages, Alice, and anyone else with the ability to make shields did so. They used their skills in a sudden burst to hold them all in ce. Walker found that Midnight and Su moved to hold him in ce since he had been feeding Ventus natural mana. He had not properly secured himself in ce before he had acted. But they had been there to help him. Likewise, Remey was holding some of the mages that were making shields in ce. She had a hand on Alice and an earth mage to keep them safe.


    The wind current created screamed through the sky causing the sand tornado to halt and begin pushing back. This was the key moment before a new current of air was formed. The force used had altered the natural formation pushing the sand tornado away. But it was not just pushed away. Ventus had more than just nned to push the sand tornado away from them.


    Without letting anyone know, Ventus had carefully looked at the direction of the ruins on the map. She had also been sensing the wind carefully. She knew if she sent the tornado to the ruins, she could alter the path enough not to hit the camps where the Fel empire soldiers were. She had used this all to hurt and bury the ruins even more. It was an incredible show of power and genius. The wisdom of a wind dragon that had lived for years and years to reach the pinnacle of what she was now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1799 1799. The Trail Of Sands

    ''Desert quest- following trails


    The flow of the wind has changed because of the disruption in wind and earth mana. The natural mana is settling but the sand tornado produced has increased in speed. Due to this, the desert will be altered differently than it was going on. As the causes of this, the local desert quest has been created.


    Requirement- follow the trail of the enhanced sand tornado until it dissipates.


    Reward- skill depending on quest participant.''


    The systems gave their quests as soon as Ventus started to float back to the ground. She had used an immense amount of her mana along with the wind mana in the air. That alone was enough to tire her out. But the addition of natural mana had aided her ability to recover from this leaving her able to shift back to her dragonkin form.


    The strength that Ventus disyed was enough to make everyone respect her much more. Her fellow royal dragons moved to surround her and keep her protected. The weakness that she had was not enough for anything that was running from the area of the storm to harm her, but it was out of equal respect.


    Everyone from Genesis understood that Ventus was a mother. She had taken her children with her to the demonnds. They had been left there to help the demons restructure and remain safe. That alone brought her a great amount of respect for the soldiers and demons of Genesis. Therefore, they also fell in line to protect her. The Fel Empire and the Rise Empire soldiers all saw this happen.


    This showed that the dragons were much more respected than they knew. The strength of dragons already broke any ideas they had of what dragons were, especially since dragons had been extinct to them just recently. But now, the dragons were powerful living bearings that demanded respect due to their strength and their actions.


    "That was spectacr!" Ethan broke the silence as the winds around them appeared to calm somewhat. The area had just begun to settle since there was much less sand iling from the sky and the winds were not pushing or pulling anyone. But since the Fel empire had just seen enough to shock them, Ethan could only express his own amazement.


    "It was an amazing disy of wind authority. The wind elemental hall would be blessed to have you visit them." The Rize Empire soldiers knew they could not just stand and let the Fel Empirepliment Ventus. They had to act as well.


    "Walker. I have held my part here. What do you see next? You received the quest as well?" Ventus didn''t show her weakness. She was clearly on the edge after such a disy that altered nature itself, however, she still held her head high. She still maintained a focus on the goals they were all working to achieve.


    "Yes, I see the quest.l applicable skills to the quest means that there is a variety of things we might encounter. I assume we will all need to work carefully. Remey is already giving potions for you to drink so just follow along with her. I know that we will have what we need done soon." Walker''s promise was simple. He needed Ventus to rest in case the sand tornado did not dissipate properly.


    None of them had imagined that Ventus''s attack would somehow enhance the sand tornado. This meant that they had made a much more dangerous force of nature that headed for the ruins they were after. But it also meant that some of the undead might get buried, defeated temporarily, or might even get swept far away by the storm. All of this could greatly help in the battle ahead.


    "That means all soldiers are to move out!" Walker shouted much louder. While he had taken a toll when it came to his mana through this event, he was still fone. He could maintain his pace and keep gaining his mana back. But the problem they faced now was simple. Chase a literal force of nature that was already far from them. Especially now since the sand tornado was bing a small dot to them in the distance.


    While the others had also taken their mana to protect others or themselves, it was nowhere near what Ventus and Walker had used. Alice had managed to impress many with the light shields that appeared. They had even managed to hear her song through the bustling winds which surprised many. It was enough for the Rize empire to understand her strength over light while the Fel empire had some that were now curious about her and her skills.


    Overall, it had brought more questions at the end of the day than many would have wondered before. Unfortunately, there was no time for them. They had to get moving. But that was also an issues. The sands had shifted and were been softer. Normally, days would pass where the winds were still or consistent. That would let the dunes settle. Especially since the sun would beat down and cause the trapped air or moisture to dissipate. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But this desert was no longer natural. The white sands were unusual and definitely causing the moisture to disappear faster. That alone was a huge issue that was still a mystery. It made everyone see the white sands as slightly evil. It also caused the mud that had been made to be dried and cracked through the effects of the storm.


    Now with the white sands on top of the dunes, they were all facing the potential of dehydration that woulde while they moved much faster than before. Current was definitely the hardest hit since he had been the one maintaining the majority of moistureyers over everyone. He was also the reason why any form of freezing effect could have been able to be used. His strength was key to that.


    The final new issue were monsters. The monsters that had expected the sand tornado toe for them were going to resurface. If they felt the softer white sand shifting above them, it would make them jump out faster. Now that they didn''t have to worry about nature, they could worry about something else. Prey.


    The sand flies were already showing themselves. They were the weakest that could be hunted while in the sands. They were meant to fly over the sands and not be under them. If they were caught then they would be dead for sure. However, there was a silver lining here.


    The archers had been very diligent in protecting everyone. That left many defeated monsters just below the sands that still had the scent of blood around them. A few monsters had already been attracted by this. The sand flies were the perfect example. They had the most sensitive smell and were busy moving to dig up the defeated monsters or even the injured monsters that smelled just the same.


    The cries of injured scorpions or spiny mantis being uncovered was enough to push the soldiers in to a battle ready stance. Their formation tightened up as the marching increased in speed. It was a good motivator to make them all ready. The archer also took this chance to keep showing their prowess. While Gil had not stopped until a moment ago, he didn''t even take a second to speak anymore. His eyes were moving constantly.


    The vision that he had was much better than most. That just came with being an archer. The skills he had for seeing far away targets exceeded many, therefore, he used it to spot the injured monsters as they came out of the sands. He was able to point them out or snipe them with others. That left more prey to attract monsters away from the group.


    While some of the Fel angels were unhappy with leaving so many research specimens behind, some others like Walker, were unhappy to lose the materials. Overall, this was not a concern though. They had to make sure that they were moving forward. There were many things to do and a clear trail of sand that cut through dunes and even maderge wave formations in the desert.


    The path of the massive sand tornado had made a path of sorts. While it was a tough route to travel, it was one they had to follow. What the group was surprised to see was that things had been uncovered as well by the tornado.


    There were pieces of sand sted wood that had be show, parts of nts that had long dried up years and years ago. A few skeletons even showed the saw toothed sandworm bodies that had long been forgotten by the deserts. They all were valuable all around appraisal targets for Walker as he marched forward.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1800 1800. Hidden Monsters

    ''Sand sted oak


    This is a hundred year old sand sted oak. It has been preserved in the sand for over a hundred years through sandstorms and other natural events. It has not been touched by monsters due to the depth it was hidden by sand. There is no moisture within it due to the heat and time in the sands. This has caused it to be ideal for carving, firewood, and many other crafting needs. It is valuable to the right carpenters.''


    While this was the case for most of the wood that Walker saw and stored away while following the massive carved path the sand tornado made, he was unsure why there was so much. It was odd that so many trees would be within this circle of the desert.


    From what Walker could recall from the map, he knew that there was enough desert around to take up a massive region of the Fel empire central stretch. But if the desert had been expanding longer than they knew, then this made a ring of sand for miles that had long been taken over. It also showed that the things that were left under the sands might still remain.


    ''Heat tempered quartz


    This is a quartz rock that has been constantly baked under the sands and sun. due to the fact that it was covered by the sand, it was not broken up by winds over time. Instead, it was condensed with the earth mana and heat causing it to change itself naturally. The fire and earth elemental uses for this make it an idea dual elemental staff material. The stone can better channel the two elemental manas for fusion skills. It can not store the mana though, it is just a conductor.''


    This was one chunk of stone that had drawn interest. Ignus had felt the strange fire mana that was able to travel throughout. But he could also tell that it was not just one thing. Upon seeing it, he had pulled Walker to him and made him use the all around appraisal on it. Just because they were removed didn''t mean that they could not make the most of their travels.


    There was no way that the army would be catching up to the sand tornado. The only one that could easily do that was Ventus, and she was not in the state to do so. But following the path was part of their quest. They had to follow the trail and see what was dug up, whether it was good like these things, or bad, didn''t seem to matter.


    ''Condensed ck sand


    A small pebble of maic sands that have been forcefully held together by their unique mixture of manas. It is rare for atoms to appear within a desert, however, the trapped water, wind, fire, and other minuscule amounts of mana have created a unique kind of sand. The lightning affinity is a perfect fusion of manas to create this.


    The condense ck sand can be further turned in to a proper ma which is useful for cksmiths, runes, and other things. Some unique mages could give half their life to gather enough of them to create an entire staff. This would greatly strengthen their possibility or ability to use lightning.


    These are very unstable though. The addition of other manas or any tampering will cause the ck sands to forcefully repel each other. This could cause wounds and other internal injuries due to the manas leaving the condensed lumps of ck sand.''


    When Walker read this, he made sure to instruct everyone around not to mess with the clumps of ck sand. He rushed to gather them ahead of everyone to make sure that they would be isted. But this also brought more to his mind than before.


    There was a chance that he could strengthen his ability to make lightning with this. Yet, his mind drifted to the wandering cksmith. Such a material was created here because of the unique urrence of rainstorms that might or might not happen within a year of the desert. It was so rare that these were buried deeply under dunes of sand. Only found when entire dunes were torn in to by the power of a sand tornado.


    This being the case, the maic ck sand might be the perfect material for the wandering cksmith to use. He could experiment and potentially create something that no one else had before. Let alone anyone that might be able to use such unique items crafted from it. There could be system users that might now have a chance to grow because of this unique find. Too valuable to mess around with for now. Just another thing Walker would need to hold on to for a longer time.


    While some of the Fel empire angels tried to take one or two, Walker made sure to tell them the all around appraisal. He found that the more he shared with them, the more cooperative they were. It was easy enough to show them that he was just being kind by sharing this, but after they understood the dangers, they would not y with fire. They did have a sense for what they really needed to do. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The positives didn''t end there, the Fel angels had even started to call him over. "Fellow researcher Walker, there is a different bone here. Can you appraise it?" Some of the Fel angels had even recognized that Walker must be a researcher to be looking at these skills and such too. It was a sign of respect. The term, fellow researcher, was showing that they recognized the things that were being learned and shared with them. It was respectful in many ways.


    ''Sand whale bone


    This is a small rib bone of a long endangered species of monster. The sand whales were once the hardest to defeat monsters of deserts. They can tunnel through said using the unique small scales on their body that was reminiscent of a dragons. They did hold a small amount of dragon blood too which led to this evolution over time.


    They could storerge amounts of water and hibernate deep in the sands for many years. However, they were not carnivores, they ate both meat and nts. Their favorite food was the rolling cactus. A very quick growing small cactus that would roll on top of the dunes with the winds. Many monsters could not eat them because of the tough spines but the sand whale was able to.


    This bone is ideal for crafting small tools. Many older races that hunted sand whales would use the bones for tools if they managed to hunt one. Those races no longer exist while some are in worse shape or have changed and migrated to othernds.''


    This was a very good historical find. But what stuck out to Walker as he read the all around appraisal allowed was the term, long endangered. This meant that these monsters were not extinct. It also meant that they were able to survive whatever was happening within the desert. If this was the case, then they would be able to hibernate with the moisture within their bodies long enough to live through these dangerous times.


    "I did not expect such a thing to exist. I believed that this would just be a bone of an ancient sand worm. Or maybe another escorted monster. Sand whales are not something we believed to have existed. A whale had been seen before off the coast, that was expected since other records were proven of them existing. But a sand whale was a child''s creation to us. A fantasy." the Fel angel that found the bone was more interested in the appraisal than the bone itself and let Walker take it.


    The others that heard what the angel told them about his find stopped and listened carefully. They all reacted with their own theories. The conversation just grew more as they wondered if they would see such an endangered species. However, they also brought out their own worries. The monster could easily eat them if it existed. The single rib bone was small but it was part of a muchrger whole.


    The added danger sobered some of the soldiers that had begun to rx too much. They had not stopped worrying about the mysteries of the desert. Some of them were sure that the dangers would only grow as they approached the ruins. Yet, none of them had thought that massive monsters even bigger than thergest saw toothed sand work they had seen already were around. It made everyone sure that the desert was unexplored for very good reasons. How many people had disappeared in the desert because a monster had swallowed up an entire army? Would they even be able to hunt something sorge? How would the dragons handle it? Too many questions came to be.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1801 1801. Extinct Or Not?

    The thoughts of a different and a mostly unknown monster potentially lurking beneath their feet was something that was able to be pushed away fairly quickly. It wasn''t because everyone was not afraid of it. It was because they had to keep moving. Worrying about a single monster wasn''t what they had to do right now. Instead, they had to worry about what they might find ahead.


    There was a trail to follow, one that was definitely more than anyone had expected. "Ventus, your addition to the sand tornado seemed to be digging up more than I thought." Walker pointed out the earth crystals that had just been found by a few of the soldiers.


    "It was not the n to increase the strength. You can''t say you are not happy to find those things though." Ventus looked at Waker. There was a little smile ying on her face. She knew that many who were finding the uncovered items lost to the desert were happy to do so. But everyone was also enjoying the clear path to follow rather than climbing over dunes here and there like before.


    ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom "It is a little fun. I am learning a lot more and faster. But I am worried about what else might have been dug up by the sand tornado. We were originally going to move around to the opposite end and pass by one of the towers here in the desert. Now we areing from the opposite side to follow the tornado. When it collides with the ruins, there''s no telling what might happen."


    "What do you mean? More will be uncovered. We already see it. The tornado is putting sand around for at least a mile. But where it hits is nearly swept away. The sands we are walking on are much denser too." Ventus was acting like a parent exining something anyone should have seen. She was being nice but it was also a little condescending.


    "That''s what I don''t like. We are going to show off more of whatever the ruins are and we might uncover more undead than we want. We might be fighting right away when we get there. The only hope I have is that the sun will still be high in the sky." This seemed to catch Ventus a little. She had regained enough energy to move without any soldiers directly around her. Not that her dragonkin didn''t keep near her.


    There were times that Walker wondered why the royal dragons had not brought their dragon champions or the draconic guardians. Unfortunately, they had left those in charge along with their elders. Their territories were a very important part of being a royal dragon. Having the most loyal being in charge while they were gone was required. It was much more important to them than even the risks they were taking by traveling here. They could be reced but their territories could be lost.


    It was an interesting thought but it really spoke to the culture of dragons. They were easier to understand the longer that Walker was around them. He also noted that the dragonkin were just as loyal, if not more toward the royal dragons. Therefore, there was always someone moving to protect the royal dragons who were much more powerful and could defend from even more than the dragonkin could.


    "Care to tell me what that is?" Ventus interrupted Walker''s thoughts with a single question. She had been observing things around them as well. Therge channel of dug out sand had not only revealed a few ancient things, but also some useful monster parts. Ventus saw one such potentially valuable find and had to ask.


    The small ck spike of wood sticking out from the ground was what Ventus had pointed to. Without much hesitation, Walker moved toward it only to find that it was still buried deeper than he thought. He couldn''t just pull it free and needed to add a little maniption to the sands. The earth mana could help him draw it up.


    What was revealed was nothing of what anyone expected. The all around appraisal spoke clearly about what they had found. But that didn''t mean that everyone understood it. Not that it would make sense in a general way anywhere or any time. This was not the ce for such a monster to be found.


    ''ckwood treant head


    The ckwood treant is a desert growing monster. It is known to be born from the ckwood tree that grows mostly under the sands. It will only rise to the surface during the rare rain storms of the desert. They can be dormant for a hundred years without water until they gain enough to sprout and use their gathered nutrients for a massive growth spurt.


    This ckwood treant head is long dead. Inside are unique pockets of condensed ckwood filled with nutrients great for growing nts at a higher quality. Unfortunately, the wood is fire resistant and will not burn easily. But this was a good thing since many ancient tribes once used them to make primitive forging tools.''


    "It''s a type of treant head. And apparently, there are trees that remain buried under desert sands waiting for the rare rainstorm to grow. I wonder how long everything here has been buried. It says that the ckwood trees only hibernate for a hundred years. They might be extinct or almost there with the way the desert is. With the odd white sands soaking up any possible moisture." Walker''s theory seemed to make sense. It was sad though. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That is actually something I can enlighten you about. We discovered juvenile ckwood sprouts a few years ago. A researcher managed to put them in a state of dormancy and bring them to active states now and then. We are able to keep a living species for the time being. Our Fel empire is not going to allow any form of nt, herb, or monster to go extinct like that." Ethan made sure to speak his praise of his own empire.


    "We of the Rize empire would not allow that either. However, you are forcing them to exist in different ces than they should. You should keep them in their natural environment. The desert and not your research areas. Not your fake greenhouse made to pretend as a desert. With your potions and prodding." with the Rize empire angels immediately pushing against the Fel empire angels, everyone learned a little more.


    There wasn''t just a difference in how the two empires thought when it came to elemental manas. It also came to how they operated. The Rize empire did not take kindly to the fact that the Fel empire would keep and iste things within their research. Stopping them from their natural progression with potions and other skills. But the Fel empire saw this as necessary for research and species preservation.


    "If the ckwood tree can be returned to the desert naturally without the influence of the weird expanding curse that is going on here, then I am fine with it. But if they can not do so, then it might not be worth it. There are limits and lines to everything. If you two can find a bnce in your conversation, keep talking. If you refuse to listen to one another at all, then don''t waste any time." Su spoke up with a slight growl in her voice.


    It wasn''t that Su was being mean. Instead, she was trying to encourage them to remain talking. The growl in her voice was mostly for show. It was a warning that if this was just baseless arguing that she would make sure it ended. A forceful, but clear way to see if the two empires could reach any form of bnce in their ideal.


    Everyone that heard her speak had a little more respect for her. The two empire''s angels looked away trying to avoid her. However, the Genesis forces, especially the dragonkin, looked at Su with a better light in their eyes. They believed that Su was already amazing in other ways. Her level headed intrusion in a conversation like this was just like their leaders though. A fair threat with a fair oue. It was respectable.


    "It was a good find. A different monster we have never seen and a different tree we have never seen. Ventus, I think you might have caused more mysteries than you might imagine." Walkerughed a little after he stored the treant head away. He was certain that they would see more things like this. He also had some hope they might find the cores or dormant slides of these monsters.


    "This entire ce is a mystery. It''s hiding a lot. The wind currents are odd here and I want to understand them too." Ventus seemed very d to see something unusual. For a dragon of her age, she had seen a lot. It was nice to feel curious and a bit of wonder.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1802 1802. Nature To Death

    The movement through the carved out path of sand was proving to be much faster than expected. In just an hour of walking, the group had been able to cover a substantial distance. There was even the bonus of the sun being blocked by some of the higher dunes that had been built up by the tornado.


    This shade gave the soldiers a wee rest from the constant heat. It also was the perfect chance for everyone to drink water and snack on something. This was better yet because a lot of the monsters that had been seen were either defeated already orpletely injured so they could be easily beaten. The few that had been unharmed rushed away after seeing such arge force moving through the desert.


    The sand tornado was a very dangerous force of nature, however, with danger came fortune as well. The things that had been presented to them were too good. Many earth elemental mana crystals had been harvested along with other random chunks of ore. Some of the soldiers had even brought ancient golden coins that held small runes. They were roughly made proving that the quality of forging for many years ago was lesser but still decent enough to make something.


    The insights from these ancient pieces here and there were very telling. It proved that this entire area of the outer circle of the desert had once been well off. It had not been a desert at all. It had been a forest or a prairie of sorts. Plenty of water and natural growth. Enough to have different monster bones and animal bones being found too. It had been radically different too many years ago.


    While this was a little sad, time was that way. Nothing should stay the same forever, things would adapt and change as time moved on. This was why everyone was always trying to grow and push for new knowledge. The world was full of mysteries and with time, new things were learned.


    "It looks like another pile of old bricks and stones. I wonder if this is just another thing blown by winds." Remey took a little extra pep to her step to get to the pile of stones. But when she made it there, she found that it was still partially buried in the sands. "Hey Walker, this is another ce to check out with your appraisal!" she realized it was more than what she had thought and had to get him to take a real look at it.


    "Sure thing. I wonder what this might be." The stones were somewhat carved but had been damaged through the winds and sands over the years. Any runes were far faded to the point that they were unable to be read or understood. But looking at the stones as whole left Walker wondering. The all around appraisal gave him a lot more insight.


    ''Fallen waypoint temple


    This ancient temple was once left for those traveling to their main temple of worship. It was a resting point for worshippers and travelers alike. Many woulde here and pray to their gods and even make some offerings. It was a ce for peace in a way until it was altered by ulterior beliefs.


    The red colorations on the stones are ancient blood that had stained the stone beyond what should still be left. It is a permanent marking of cruelty and evil. The changes from worship to a goddess of nature to a god of death left behind the desecrated fallen temples like this. There is nothing worth uncovering such a relic of an evil past.''


    While the words were very strong, Walker still said them out loud. He was sure that it would be important for everyone to understand what they were dealing with. The level of danger that came with such an ancient culture changing their views.


    However, this did enlighten them yet again. The small part of this fallen temple had been able to tell them that the race that lived here had once worshipped a goddess of nature. One that would be seen as good. One that definitely had to do with the growth of their ancient culture and race.


    Unfortunately, it highlighted that blood had permanently stained the stones and bricks of this fallen temple. That the worship had be twisted and broken as some had worshipped death over everything else. That meant that the offerings had be sacrifices of evil. A very poor and nightmare causing thought.


    "So, I don''t like any of what you just said. Can we just get rid of it?" Remey was looking at the bricks and wondering how much might still be hidden under the sand. Her slight battle stance made it seem that she was waiting for an undead or a monster to just leap out of the sand and start a battle right then and there.


    "I think we can just seal it back in sand and pass right on through. That seems best. It even said in the all around appraisal not to uncover it, right?" Gil hade behind them and listened carefully. He also thought it best not to go looking for something that literally warned of trouble. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I agree. Every horror story I read in the library always had someone that ignored the basic facts. And the appraisal I did were part of those facts." Walker pulled the sands around the bricks he could see using his high earth sculpting skill. The sand started to condense as well causing the bricks to be left under a mass of harder sand.


    While this might not make it remain covered forever, he could only hope that anyone else that found it would let it rest until it eventually returned to nature fully. "Goods riddance. I don''t need any unhappy undead or cursed whatever with us. We already have to catch up to a literal sand tornado!" Remey seemed to fully support everything as she red at the Fel angels who appeared to linger at the area Walker had covered up too much. Her harsh looked did the trick and everyone moved forward well enough.


    As they did though, more stones appeared here and there. They highlighted what had once been parts of a winding and crossing path of stones. This was only a small section here and there. The way that thend had clearly moved was enough to make the path they saw change here and there to avoid things. These things were found by Walker as he walked.


    Whether it was part of broken stone or sand sted trees, he could tell they were the reason why there were paths that appeared so oddly made. Many trails in the wilderness would follow the flow of nature and not be carved out. This was not like the dwarves who could make solid paths of cut stone toward a pce. That was more recent technology and magic than had ever been used. Especially since the kingdoms in Genesis had organized to make this happen.


    The trails being found showed that the culture had been much less advanced than they had believed. Especially with the added worship of gods and beliefs in nature and death. While many knew that gods and goddesses were a thing, it wasn''t that they needed someone or something to worship them. The dragons had once been revered as such but had put that to an end since they were not some unyielding force of nature.


    But that brought up even more thoughts of what might have been around to cause a society to alter its beliefs from nature to death. That was a dramatic change. Nature was the growth of new things while death was, well, death.


    "There are too many things we need to understand. I can see that there is a rtionship with shadows and death. My darkness affinity leads me to it as a potential. That''s why some of the younger dragons falter." Mordant was unhappy seeing this as a potential here.


    "All dragons falter in ways. Even my light dragons have once be undead or lesser things. They were cleansed but it is more than a loss of morals." Rise saw that Mordant was questioning things. However, so was she. For a change like this to happen was drastic. Therefore, it should have been caused by an important puzzle piece they were missing.


    "I will ask Walker to do more appraisals. We should gather more information. I don''t want the ruins we find to hold the darkness dominator dragon ruins. If that''s the case, I may have to destroy them instead of learning from them. I will not have our history tainted." Mordant''s promise made Rise respect him much more. She saw him as her opposite but she had never doubted his standing. This just reinforced her feelings of respect to a fellow royal dragon that upheld their race.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1803 1803. Natural Changes

    Mordant''s sudden questions about appraisals didn''t catch Walker off guard at all. He had expected that one of the dragons would be asking him more questions at some point. There was a sure chance that the dragon blood that had been passed down in to whatever ancient race this was would have some effect on their history.


    However, Walker also understood that this was just part of things. If there were dragon ruins somewhere under the sands, it would be imperative that the dragons found it. The undead in the ruins the army was marching to might hide secrets that involved this. It was just something everyone understood.


    The Fel angels were paying close attention to the fact that Mordant had begun to carefully listen to every single all around appraisal. This had made them sure that the dragons might share some of their love for researching. They didn''t have enough information to fully understand why Mordant was curious about all of this.


    "I think that whatever is going on, it won''t be the cause of dragons. You said that there is always the chance that a dragon might be undead or a rogue dragon can be evil. It''s fine since there have also been unique dragons like the bone dragons. Midnight''s father should have been one." Walker looked at Mordant. He wanted him to understand that Walker would not at all be holding him or the dragons ountable for the actions of others.


    "Basically, those causing issues now aren''t even around. Even if they are undead, there is no way that they have the same mentality after who knows how long. Their minds will be warped. Even if they were the greatest of heroes, they might not be able to act as one today." This was just Walker trying to put Mordant at ease. Yet, it did make Mordant rx a bit.


    "There are light crystals too." Alice had been mainly focusing on those that had begun to suffer from dehydration or heat rted ailments. It had been a lot to handle since some of the Genesis forces looked fine one second and then were walking like they were drunk another. This was just the reality of the desert and the fact that none of them were used to it.


    Only a few of the demi-humans had the characteristics to easily resist the desert conditions. One was a feline trait demi-human. They had never been in the desert before but always had an affinity for the hotter seasons. Now that they were here in a desert for the first time in their life, they found that they were surprisingly more energetic and had an easier time moving through the sands than others. It was enlightening for them.


    This was a very rare urrence though. It made said demi-human and others simr to them have to join the healers as assistants. The fire affinity dragonkin had also been made to be assistants to the healers, and Alice in particr since she couldn''t keep up with everyone due to the number of soldiers they had. Luckily, there were still some life mages that had remained with the group from the Fel empire. Their buffs were helping very much.


    "More elemental crystals? We aren''t just finding the earth crystals now?" Walker looked at the small light elemental crystal that Alice had brought Walker after finding it on the ground. It may have been small and lower quality but it was important.


    "I haven''t seen one yet, I wonder if this is because we are passing deeper in to the desert. Why is it not above the sands?" Mordant had even more questions as he had not seen anyone finding one. He had expected that the earth crystals would be moremon and that even a darkness crystal might be found here and there. But a light crystal under the sand where light didn''t hit at all was odd.


    "I''m not sure, if the light hits the right spot constantly, then it makes sense that the light elemental crystals will form. But if it was buried then it may have degraded from whatever it was." this was not unheard of and Mordant had been thinking the very same thing. But that would mean that the light elemental crystal had been muchrger. It had formed on the top of the sand during a very long period of constant light before it had been buried by a sand storm or other means.


    "There are more though." Alice''s small voice spoke up pointing ahead of the font line of soldiers marching. The small glittering of over a hundred tiny light elemental crystals made them all wonder just what had been uncovered next. There were too many things uncovered by the sand tornado that created new mysteries for them to wonder about.


    ''Sand won crystal bed


    This is a great span of stone that used to be a mountain. Over time, the water from rain and storms broke it down. Many yearster, the constant exposure to hotter temperatures caused fire and light crystals to form. Over more time, the crystals were buried by the natural formation of a desert from high amounts of silt and hot weather. What was left is the base of the mountain forming the perfect crystal bed.


    The mana crystals that are left are poor quality but will create spaces for high quality earth mana crystals to form within a hundred years.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Walker read the all around appraisal out loud. He was certain that this wasn''t some act of the desert expanding or a great mystery. Instead, this was the sign that they had entered the inner circle of the desert. "We aren''t in the expanded section of the desert now. This is the spot where the desert naturally began to form." Walker was very happy to see this.


    These signs were telling him that the desert did indeed belong here. It was an act of nature and would have formed anyways. But the race that had somehowe here had managed to expand it beyond this area. Knowing the start of the desert might not seem that important, however, it could assist in the Fel empire''s maps.


    "You said this was the start of the desert!?" Ethan called over the mages that had shown him the maps before. In just a few seconds, they had the sand and earth map made yet again. This time it was less detailed to just show distance.


    They were able to use their location, the time they had traveled, and the new information to show the massive expanse of sand that had grown. "We can learn how many years it has been expanding. If we trace it back, we might be able to understand when the undead began excavation. It may have been a mana signature or a set of runes that caused this, stored mana running out or a sealed monster." Ethan was making less sense.


    "Can it help them? Will it make it easier to fight the undead?" Alice was still interjecting here and there. But her focus was the very same as Walker''s, she and he, were both focused on how this information might directly be used to face the undead.


    "The more information we have on anything is always better. We can use it in too many ways to count. We might be able to use it to counter the expansion and return life to thends around here. Do you know how much we found just up to this point? You stored it all away with your spatial skills. The number of items that we will find under the sands could build entire cities!" Ethan''s rambling was echoed by the other Fel empire angels. It was clear that this could be extremely valuable information to them in more than just this instance.


    Soon the Rize angels were mumbling more. They clearly saw that this was a threat. The recovery of this desert region would cause the Fel empire to expand its strength rapidly. They couldn''t let this happen while the Rize empire wanted for the mountains to slowly be upied again. They would not be able to keep up with the Fel empire in this case.


    "No, you can''t just start digging this ce up. There will be years and years before you can manage the storms, the monsters, and whatever else is buried here. You haven''t forgotten the dangers just because you are excited?" Mordant looked down on the Fel and the Rize angels getting worked up. To him, these were just the ramblings of foolish people.


    This let Walker breathe a sigh of relief. The angels getting all worked up could have caused many more issues. If they had gotten on each other''s nerves too much with the situation, then they may have failed to cooperate as they moved further forward. "Can we take these light elemental crystals? We can use them to strengthen ourselves before we get to the undead." The Rize angel captain asked quickly as he saw the topic being forcefully changed by Mordant.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1804 Cursed Theory

    "You can use the light elemental crystals to get stronger?" Walker knew that the mages and many other system users had a way to use the light elemental crystals. Even Alice could coax the elemental mana from the light elemental mana crystals to help her healing songs.


    "Yes, we have ways to pull the light from them and enhance our bodies. Ites at the cost of the crystal because it makes it unstable. These weaker crystals are ideal for it since they are not as useful in other ces." The flying light swordsman of the Rize empire knew well that they were limited.


    While Walker didn''t know it, the angels of the Rize empire had their own rankings inside of the general rankings from angel, to archangel, and higher. The angels within each elemental hall had their own standings that allowed them to have ess to certain things.


    This went from elemental mana crystals, armor, weapons, and so much more. They wouldn''t get ess to certain qualities of food nor would they be able to take on certain quests. It all came down to the carefully controlled flow of information and education that the Rize empire believed in.


    Because this was the way the angels of the Rize empire grew up, they believed it too. But they also had their own core beliefs that elemental prowess was the key to the world. That should have been the end all be all for them. Yet, the addition of the Fel empire had altered that and caused many fights and wars.


    Now with Genesis intervening, the Rize soldiers saw their chance to get more things they could use in battle. They had been sent because they were lower ranked and would not have the risk of causing a war if they were lost to some undead. The empires would still fight but the strength of the Rize empire would not be massively brought down as it would be if higher tier soldiers were sent. This was simr to the Fel empire but they had sent their life mages and a unique healer so that they could show off and attract the Genesis empire to them.


    While this made the Rize empire out to be a viin, this was just the product of years and years of being pushed to one side of beliefs. The Fel empire was no different with their solitary and research focused attitudes. They were less emotional and could not make the proper moral decisions at times because of their beliefs. There were many downsides to either empire''s beliefs. It just came to a heading here where some of the angels that met Genesis had seen new potentials.


    While these may have been theplicated cases, Walker didn''t hesitate to ignore any underlying issues he could sense. He had no knowledge of most of this because he had not been able to delve in to the true cultures and inner workings of either empire. The tasks at hand had covered everything that they needed right now. The entire Genesis force waspletely focused on helping either empire and then pushing to capture the criminals they were after.


    "Take whatever you need, but any extra can be brought over to me so that I can take them out when Alice needs to sing. I know there is plenty of light here now, but starlight will not be enough for Alice to sing for a long time when the sun sets." As much as Walker felt the sun would set here, he was certain that something was amiss in the desert. It had been many hours now and the sun had barely moved.


    "You understand it now? I can tell that you have understood what is going on other than the curse affecting the sands and turning them in to this white and water stealing sand." Rise spoke to Walker for the first time in a little while. Just as Mordant had been worried about the ruins and the potential that the ruins would be tainted, Rise had been focused elsewhere.


    "The sun here isn''t moving. The desert seems to have an odd mana around it causing the day and the nights to be longer. It is even slowing more although time for us is passing. It is not normal under any sort of natural means." The entire party and group of royal dragons stopped after hearing this. Eleven the Fel and Rize angels were stopped in ce.


    They had all been so busy with pushing toward storms, battling monsters, and avoiding other dangers that they had not realized that they had just been trudging along for more than should be normal. Their sense of time had been entirely lost to the slow moving sun and the intense heat that worse away at them.


    "You''re saying that it may have been more than just a few hours. It could be days and we are somehow still in the sun." Ethan softly mumbled. His fellow Fel empire angels all understood that this would be some form of time maniption. A greater and worse possibility since they had nearly no knowledge of it at all.


    There shouldn''t be any time mage strong enough to do such a thing. Time runes weren''t even possible to craft because the form and idea of them was too wild. It was all just theory for the entirety of the Fel empire. Their research would take many generations just to get close to properly manipting a small area of time rather than an entire expanding desert. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "So you''re saying that just the space and time of the desert are somehow being manipted? These undead may have messed with this entire ce in a much worse way. But maybe it''s not space and time at all. What we know is that they messed with death mana. Isn''t life and death part of space and time naturally? Something needs space to grow. Something needs time to die. Wouldn''t there be a cost for messing with death mana?" Gil sounded like he was some wise monk having a brilliant idea.


    Everyone heard it and wondered what the cost would be. "To use life mana, I had to pull at my own life mana inside me. The cost of abusing it could definitely cause issues to me. I know that. But if used right, I can help everyone and even attract more life mana to me. Not that I can yet. What about death?" Walker had a barely surface level understanding of both life and death. They were some hard things to scratch when it came to knowledge.


    "Exactly, so what if they went against the death mana and forced themselves to stay here? They worshiped some god of death instead of a life bringing goddess. You said that at the waypoint temple. So basically, the natural flow of things got angry and they were cursed, right? But since they haven''t been dealt with, the curse expands. Pretty much a natural retribution or something." Remey made it even more blunt.


    From what she had said, the entire group could think wider. Everyone always believed nature and the will of the world to be the end all be all. However, they could be wrong. What if it was greater. What if the elemental nes were not just the sum of everything? What if it expanded more? The thought was hard to conceive since no one really had the knowledge to understand it at all. Yet, what if?


    "If this is all the results of what they did while they were Alice, then they probably had some messed up senses and twisted minds. They came back as undead and whatever bigger and badder undead that controls them is following the way they worshiped causing things to get even worse. I think that makes a lot more sense." Walker believed that their theories had a lot more basis now.


    "We saw a lot of proof. All of this can be somewhat exined. Messed up nature because the natural cycle is broken. Elemental manas not acting as they should, the sand and the heat, then add in the way the sun isn''t moving properly here¡­ it''s all this area and it could spread to everywhere if left alone." Su knew that things were harder to understand since the sun still could set and fall properly outside the desert. But if space and time were brought in to it, then anything could be possible. It was just a bigger mystery.


    "That means we should all start saving these light crystals. Ignus, you should look for figure crystals too. If the sun sets, we are in for a very cold and dark night." Walker realized that this was the ideal time to prepare before they made another push toward the ruins. The moment the sun set in this cursed desert was the moment that things would begin to shift away from their advantage. It would be all against them and in favor of these undead.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1805 1805. Crystal And Stone

    e¦Áglesn?¦Íel ?


    The collection of the light crystals became a focus. The small amount of fire crystals that Ignus''s dragonkin collected for him were also weed. Ignus seemed like he was more annoyed than anything that he and the other royal dragons had not noticed the shifting of the sun being slowed. However, they also lived much longer. It was hard for them to have the same sense of time as a human, let alone any other race. No one put the dragons at fault for this.


    Whether Walker and the others realized it or not, their sense of time had been influenced too. They were human for the most part, but they too had other influences. Elemental spirits had bonded with them causing them to change at a fundamental level. That alone was enough for their lifespans to beyered. Adding in the elven, dragon, or other influences and the entire party was subject to a radically different flow of time than any human byparison.


    That wasn''t the issue though, the crystal bed was. The soldiers marching through and collecting the many small glittering elemental mana crystals were slowed by this. Luckily, the crystal bed had mostly been cleaned of sand by the sand tornado. This allowed everyone to move unimpeded for the most part.


    While this would normally be a food thing, the problem that they all faced now was the fact that the crystal bed was surprisingly sharper than many would think. As the words had naturally broken away from the mountain and turned it to sand, it had made the rocks sharper and sharper. The shaping of winder and sand over time didn''t leave a perfectly smooth surface as many would think.


    The stone tops were somewhat curved and sharp in odd directions that had followed the flow of winds over them. This allowed for the walking to be a challenge since many of the dragonkin did not have shoes nor required them. Their scales were often enough to resist many things. However, the addition of mana around the stone was causing some of the less resistant dragonkin to suffer.


    There were also the angels and soldiers from Genesis who were noticing that their shoes or boots were being cut in to. Even those with forged metal boots or greaves were seeing the added wear and tear of them. It was making everyone ufortable when it came to the continuing exposure to these conditions.


    Luckily, there were still earth mages and Walker with the group. It only took a littlebined efforts to smooth things out. Therefore, a small group of mages formed with Walker at the front of the moving group. They were smoothing the more dangerous path while working in small sections they could see. Thisbined effort just added to the bonds with every soldier present that would have suffered some form of damage from all of this.


    "Huh? I can''t smooth this small hill here." One of the mages found that their skills was having absolutely no effect at all. "I''m not out of mana and this looks like the same stone as everywhere else."


    The confusion was enough to reach Walker and two of the other mages drawing them over. "Maybe it is just more condensed. Let us add some mana and push it down." The spot didn''t need to be forced down so much but it was better to have fewer things to trip over. That Was why they were working together after all.


    While the four pushed their mana in to the ground to manipte it, the sudden sound of cracking and the view of cracks appearing on the ground made them all jump back. "I think we might not have found stone." The other mage spoke and Walker pulled all three back with a little burst of wind mana added to his surroundings.


    ''Stone crystal golem


    Naturally formed under the mountain as multiple elemental manas collided over time, the stone crystal golem is an earth and light affinity golem. It would have slumbered for the entirety of its lifespan but the exposure to both light and earth mana was enough to activate the core that formed over many years.


    The stone crystal golem is able to use the light and earth mana within its body to cause it to rapidly assemble its body again after limbs are destroyed. It is also able to use the light mana to coat its body in a defensive light. Furthermore, it can manipte the earth to make primitive clubs.


    The stone crystal golem is considered rare because they can only form as the earth and mountains shift over time. They can not be tamed unless the core is taken and engraved with special earth and light elemental runes. Not many tamers have enough skill to do so without unique systems being present.''


    While it was interesting to read a new appraisal for a golem that Walker had seen before, he had never seen a golem that was formed in this way. He had seen them in caves and knew that they existed in a crystal form. However, the golem that had broken through the ground was partially stone with light elemental crystals jutting out of its body. They appeared sharper but were just the natural formations of crystals. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The core was actually very easy to see. It was a stone and crystal orb that appeared to be surrounded by dense light elemental mana protecting it. The golem itself held arge shard of stone that itshed out with. The earth mages and Walker had already retreated, but they still felt small bits of stone hit their bodies as the golem''s club hit the ground.


    "Now that is more fun!" Ignus growled out as he jumped forward. Remey was unsurprisingly, right next to him wearing her earth affinity knuckles. The two appeared to have been bored from all the calm and simple traveling. It was hard to believe that Ignus and Remey got along in this way since they were dragon and human. But many of the soldiers had already seen this happening within battles and even treated them somewhat simrly. Especially after Ignus had assisted Remey in controlling mes to make potions.


    "Left and Right!" Remey shouted her moves out to Ignus and the two dashed to opposite ends. It seemed more like they were ying than they were fighting. The move pushed them to opposite ends while the stone crystal golem lifted the club back up. This shard of stone club started to sweep to the side trying to hit both of them, but that was nothing to the two.


    Remey was agile enough to bend back andnd on her feet again. The club had missedpletely. Ignus had used his strength topletely knock the blub to the side. A dragon''s strength was high even in a dragonkin form as Ignus was right then.


    The two punched out at the sides of the golem causing a crack to form toward the core. But as soon as it had formed, a burst of flight overtook the body of the stone crystal golem. The crack was repaired and a solidyer of light mana was protecting the golem even better than before.


    "We should just stand back." Gil stopped Walker from jumping in, but he had missed Midnight jumping forward. Su didn''t manage to drag Midnight back either before a burst of mes left her mouth and hit the golem. The attackpletely took the golem''s attention and let Ignus and Remey have another chance to punch with even greater force.


    The defense breaking punch that Remey unleashed with the earth affinity knuckles coted with the light mana. Before everyone was able to react to the cracking light elementalyer, Ignus had shed with his ws. He had used his dragon advantage to shed through the light elemental mana and the stone.


    This left two massive craters exposing the stone crystal golem''s core to the air even more. Just in time for Midnight to follow up with another attack of her own. She took a move from Onyx''s books and spun around using her tail to attack. But what no one expected was that she had focused earth on it. She had watched Terron and Su use earth mana. She had trained with Walker. Now she used that experience.


    The same feeling she had when she used her skeletal armor skills as used to draw earth mana instead. It gathered on her tail and she was able to perfectlybine them in to an earth hammer tail skill. The resounding crack as the stones shattered along with the core of the stone crystal golem left everyone wondering just what kind of people would y around like this. It was even more confusing when Remey and Ignus went to Midnight tough with her over their attacks. "Battle maniacs," Walker mumbled and shook his head hoping that they wouldn''t be fooling around too much more.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1806 1806. Climbing Dunes

    "Are we certain that we need to bring them?" Ventus sighed as she looked at Ignus and Remey as they looked for another stone crystal golem. It was clear that they wanted to keep fighting opponents. All the long ranged attacks and the fact that they were just helping gather items had made them too pent up. The battles they were prepared for were noting.


    "I was wondering the same thing. If there wasn''t a messed up wind current, I would ask you just to tell them to fly ahead. We can handle the path of the tornado ourselves." Walker joked a little with Ventus as he saw that she was looking at Ignus like she would a child. But she was the older of the two dragons in this case.


    "Midnight, why did you rush right in? What if Remey or Ignus hit you with their attacks? You didn''t evenmunicate to them that you were going in to join the fight!" Su was right on point reprimanding Midnight but only got the cold shoulder in return. It appeared that Midnight had been the very same as Remey and Ignus. Tired of moving around and not acting on what they could do against the monsters here.


    "I''m surprised you used an earth hammer tail skill. I wasn''t sure what you were doing when you pulled all the earth mana to yourself." Walker decided to break up the tension between Su and Midnight for the moment. He didn''t want them to be like this for too much longer.


    "I was also surprised. I could sense it when you made the move. I believed you would make a shield or some form of arm." Su caught on to Walker''s desire and decided to support it. This did instantly make Midnight a little happier. She even went so far as to pull more earth mana toward herself and her tail again causing the stone to appear on it again.


    She showed off the fact that she could whip her tail around with more force, but she was also slower because of this. The cost of a heavier attack came with the fact that she would have to slow herself and attack at the right time. While this was good in most ways since she could break tougher defenses, the cost was speed. Midnight was very fast when it came to attacking. She could use her shadow wrapping skill to efficiently move near something and attack with speed and surprise. That Was her strong suit.


    Now that Midnight had developed a skill somewhat in opposition to her normal fighting style, it could be harder for her to use the skill. She would be unable to use it when she was hidden. But this also had some merit. It made her a more versatile dragon. Just the experience in eternal helped her learn how to apply the training of earth mana to other skills. It was simr to how Walker thought.


    Walker didn''t miss this though. He carefully examined the skill that Midnight used and thought about how Onyx moved his body to put more force in to the attacks with his tail. "If you wind up more and let gravity carry out more, then you will be able to hit harder. Your wings were more open when you used it in battle. That caused you to hit softer because they caught the air." Midnight heard Walker''s thoughts and she nodded her head slightly. She seemed very d for the attention on how to use the skill she just showed off for the first time.


    What Walker and the others missed though was that the other royal dragons were watching. Ventus may not have said it, but the skill that Midnight used was one that the earth dragons often used and learned. She hadn''t needed any teaching to figure it out, just the chance to understand the earth elemental mana around her.


    That meant that Midnight would need less teaching than the average dragons as they grew. It was better than the natural battle that life threw at a young monster. She would learn through multiple means making her stronger overall. Making her a true dragon champion in more than just name and blood. It was the genius that they expected from a dragon champion.


    It wasn''t just that they found more respect for Midnight because she was able to learn the skills that dragons used more easily than others. It was also the fact that she was able to jump in to battle without hesitation and without destroying the teamwork of others. This was what they expected from the nature dragons champion. A bnce between all of the elemental dragons.


    "We need to keep the movement up, there are a lot more things we need to do before we get there." Ethan surprised the dragons and party with his sudden instance in movement. However, from what they saw, all the Fel empire soldiers had begun to prepare themselves for moving faster.


    "It''s the dehydration. If we stop pushing now, we will have to break in to the water we are bringing. If that''s the case¡­" Ethan exined why and one of the other Fel angels showed his calctions for what the amount of water they needed to use and could not use was.


    The time they had lost track of while moving here had added up. The cost was water used by the soldiers. Therefore, they were significantly lower on the water they should have. That being the case meant that either the army marching would soon lose some of their number to the sun or that the water would not be enough for the Fel empire forces waiting for them. Both were bad situations.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Take advantage of the dunes'' shadows. Move in them and save water. Only drink enough to wet your lips and mouth. Whoever has buff skills to deflect heat, reapply them. We are making this the full focus. We have water time." The strict order from Current put everyone on more of an edge.


    As the water elemental dragon, Current was suffering more than others. As were the water mages and dragonkin. The water affinity Demi-humans also differed their fair share. Making the strict moving formations would help them all but it also showed the degree that the sun had already affected them all.


    The formations were hard to maintain while following the shadows. Mordant was able to assist by ordering his dragonkin to watch the edges. Having that be the case, they used their skills to stretch the shadows a bit. It helped block some heat and light from getting to everyone.


    While the formations changed making it appear that travel was slower due to the thinned out marching lines, the angels watching the maps said otherwise. The path they were taking was following the sand tornado trail. It was allowing them to get through faster. Especially since they had mostly passed through the sharp storm of the crystal bed.


    The further push to get over some of the massive sand dunes rted to the oldest sections of the inner desert was where the trouble re-emerged. The natural winds and chaos of the area were the reason that some of the massive dunes existed. Even thergest of atoms could only influence them slightly. This was the case for the sand tornado. The massive dune they faced which separated them from seeing what the ruins looked like and potentially the current effects of the sand tornado on them was their obstacle.


    As the forces began to march up, Walker found that they had to link arms in a massive chain. This was because everyone was shifting down with the loose sands. Especially because the storms had caused the sands to be piled higher. It had not settled under the sun''s rays yet. Instead, the soft sand caused them all to slide down. Every step only made it half the distance that it should causing everyone to use more energy.


    The earth mages attempted to force the sands together to maintain more of a base. The linked arms were only enough to start the formations up the dune, however, bypassing it was not an option. This was just the direction they had to travel. If they were to attempt to go around it, there were multiple dunes that rivaled this one in size. Not to mention that added hours to travel around it.


    The only bonus to this was that there were many things that had fallen here when the storm came through. The sand tornado''s winds had hit the dune ande up against tough to break object. This became a drop zone for many items small enough to be dragged and carried by it. Therefore, they were able to gather multiple crystals, wood, and other small bones to store away as they climbed in the heat.


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 Chapter 1807 1807. Ruined Desert City

    Making it over the massive dune brought everyone to a sight to behold. A true sight that showed off the strength of nature and the forces that were trying to resist it. Naturally, the forces were always the intelligent races that tried to create their own ces against nature. While this protected them, it also seemed to challenge the very flow of the elemental world.


    The entire army took formation but witnessed the sand tornado colliding with many partially uncovered stone structures. The stones seemed to have been carved and assembled like puzzle pieces. They fit together in ways that would cause many people to wonder how they had even been carved. The race that did it definitely took many years to properly assemble it.


    This way of building had made itst years and years though. The uncovered stone temples and other buildings were perfectly resisting the high winds and sands as the storm burned itself out atop it. The winds were pushing the sands to break away the weakenedyers of stone yet also allowing the entire army to see the depths of the city uncovered.


    The massive dunes on either side were also being built up. It showed that not only had nature made this area like this, but also that the race had purposefully made these structures to redirect sands brought by sand storms and sand tornados alike. It required a lot of careful thought and years of understanding when it came to the ways of the desert storms.


    Furthermore, the storm had drawn attention to another dune as well. On top of it were many soldiers preparing for battle. This was when the Fel angels saw them and began to move towards them. Ethan made it known that those were the soldiers stationed here to fight the undead that emerged. They hade out to see the storm pass over and be trapped in the unnatural structuring of the city. But they seemed not to worry at all. Apparently, this was not the first storm that had evere to collide with the city while they were there.


    The movements to meet the other forces of the Fel empire made everyone refocus where they were looking. However, this did not stop Walker from taking another look at the city. The uncovered ruins seemed to have been cut away and even repaired in ces. While the winds broke some of the spots down, he still used his all around appraisal to understand what might be hiding within.


    ''Death''s marrow ruins


    These ruins were from a unique race of lizardkin. The lizard kin were somewhat peaceful until radical ideals began to grow during a famine. This famine pushed the beliefs toward the darker side of things and also brought about multiple theories that were only founded by those that desired power over all else.


    The small amount of dragon blood in their veins had long separated them from the average lizardman, unfortunately, they would never be dragonkin and were stuck in between without wings. Their worship of death caused many necromancy rted experiments. The death mana was not easily controlled and caused many unique undead to form.


    Through these experiments, the blood was forced to crystallize within the bones bing a crystal marrow of condensed life and death energies. Therefore, more undead were born in this unique way further encouraging the growth of their ideals. The city slumbered for many years before the mana within finally resurfaced. The race had sealed itself to be able to survive and reawaken after a certain time.


    Cheating the natural flow of existence is foolish. The city and all thends around were cursed to cause the beings never to awaken. Unfortunately, there were other forces that still caused some to awaken. This had caused the current growth of curses, death mana, undead monsters, and further issues.


    There are many other creatures born within the depths that still slumber. If the ruins are properly uncovered, then the worship rituals of a false death god will continue causing more to awaken. Forced of over ten thousand undead slumber within the depths of the city ruins¡­''


    While there was much more, Walker was caught up for a moment trying to understand the little he had just been able to read. He couldn''t believe that the famine had caused such a drastic change in a society. There wasn''t even evidence that he could appraise from where he stood that they had ever worshiped a goddess of life or harvest at all. They hadpletely altered everything about their culture.


    While the loss of food was drastic, it seemed that there was some sense to save the people. By putting themes asleep, they could have managed to save some. Yet, they had chosen to go through the use of necromancy to make undead. A system type that was naturally hated because many resorted to evil means when using it. That didn''t mean there weren''t good necromancers. There was bad and good in every side of everything. It just depended on the being using such methods.


    What truly hit Walker, was the sheer number of undead that were underneath the ruins. The entire poption of ten thousand that had once grown to live in this ce were put to slumber as undead here. That meant there would be more of the undead mummified worshippers and worse. It also went to say that the other undead monstrosities that were created would show themselves. There wouldn''t only be the screeching evil things Walker had already seen once. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There was also the fact that these were another instance of having a small amount of dragon blood. While it was rough being less than a dragonkin but more than a lizard man, the only reason it seemed that this was used was because those that worshiped death had used it to pursue their goals. So much so that they had forcefully condensed all the blood in bodies to be crystals. A disgusting a brutal thing. But it created undead that could reform and recover from being crushed or broken. That was the monstrosities that Walker came to think about.


    Looking toward the others, Walker showed everything he felt on his face. His anger and disgust were clear for his party and the royal dragons to see. It didn''t take them long toe to him and hear every word of the all around appraisal he was able to do on the city. While the ruins were one thing to look at and wonder about, the information as an entirely new thing.


    As Rise recoiled hearing about everything done here, Mordant looked ready to unleash his own wrath. He hated that some race had fallen so far. That they hadtched on to the small amount of dragon rtion they had to create even worse creatures. Ignus wanted to just burn away everything while Ventus hoped that the increase in the sand tornado caused even more damage.


    "If this is going to be a losing battle, we need to get deeper in to that ruin and get rid of the source or defeat the sleeping undead." Su understood that beating them while they were not a threat would be the key here.


    "That''s why Midnight, Onyx, and Mordant are going to scout through those ruins. Right? Ventus just has to send a little power to break that tornado. It''s already slowing." Gil was able to sense thecking wind mana around. The sand tornado was being forced to a stop because of the intricate stone structures. But it would still be a while before the storm could dissipate due to the wind currents an added boost from Ventus that caused it to grow even more.


    "Who cares about scouting, we should just charge in during the day and break it all down to nothing. Those demons will get here if we don''t break it all first. Then we can wait and set a nice trap for that slime breeding bastard!" Remey was thinking a little differently. She wanted to get everything crushed here so that they could turn around and capture their original goal.


    While it wasn''t a bad thought process, it would not be able to get them where they needed to be. "We can''t rush this. We have to carefully eradicate everything here. We have no idea if other ruins are here either. The crushing we need is not a kind that destroys it all. Instead, we need to crush the sources of it all with purification. With pure light." Rise was speaking more now that she knew where their enemy was. It also made everyone feel that they were a righteous force defeating evil. It was a unique trait that Rise seemed to have.


    "No, we need to meet the other Fel empire forces. They don''t know us and need to be in on a n. Let''s take it slow." Walker and Su spoke the same things. They wanted to guarantee a win here under every circumstance.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1808 1808. Joint Forces Planning

    The Fel angels that were prepared to fight were still caught by the storm''s presence. They had not expected it to this degree. They were watching many different things ur. The sands being torn up and thrown away. The pieces of ancient stone being torn from where they had been ced and thrown away toward the dunes. They also witnessed a few unfortunately undead reduced to broken pieces, but that actually increased their morale about their current battles.


    What they had also not expected, were the forces from Genesis being so organized and prepared. They saw Ethan and recognized him as a leader within the Fel empire. He was someone that had been sent to deliver supplies before. They knew this and hadmunicated with their leaders enough to have this understanding.


    The supplies had made Ethan and his team of soldiers well respected. This was their link to life. But when the Fel empire angels had heard that a new group from a different ce entirely wasing to help, they had been very skeptical. Especially since there was mention of Rize empire angels being allowed toe.


    This was something that put them on edge until they heard that two storms would collide and it was nned to be sent toward them. This made it feel that the new force and the Rize empire were working to cause problems. But themunication through magical means had been enough to tell them that there would be a sand tornado created specifically to destroy the enemy and prepare them for an attack on the ruins.


    It was an odd and oundish n. Yet it also made it sound like there were forces that would be joining them that were much more powerful than they had ever known. Alone, they would wonder what was actually happening in this regard. But together, they saw the strength that was radiating from the dragons as they approached. Pure elemental strength that the Fel angels had discredited before they had actually seen it.


    Their research and battle had not ced them in a position to understand these foreign beings. Let alone the fact that there were many races that the Fel empire angels had not seen. It was odd and made them all wonder just what were these traces and what strength they had. But when they saw that they followed younger people as well, it brought about even more questions. Yet, these questions were all already answered by themunications they had received. The information as alling together as they saw the impossible sand tornado and the forces they never imagined.


    Walker, on the other hand, was looking at many things. He saw the unique systems and weapons of the Fel Empire soldiers. He was watching their movements and how they acted when seeing the ruins be destroyed to some degree. While they were not witnessing the entire destruction but only a beginning attack, they were watching what the dragons were capable of to a degree.


    "Your supplies have arrived!" Ethan called out to the Fel empire soldiers and a few came forward. One was clearly the highest of ranked angels there. He was not an archangel, but from the feeling that Walker got from him, he was definitely nearing the level required to be one. It was very simr to the archangel that he had met at the embassy.


    "These are the Genesis and the Rize empire forces who havee to assist us. The storm will be allowed to rage on while we n the attack. We want to begin it before the sun sets. It may be only a few hours¡­" Ethan had seen that the day had been going on more and more. The Fel angels reacted with seriousness hearing this. It meant that the nning phase would be done and over within an instantpared to how long the night would actually go on when it fell.


    "Then I will prepare for the meeting. Soldiers, guard the dune and watch the ruins. Anything that changes is to be reported as soon as possible. Speak with the soldiers here and gather the supplies appropriately. Make your battle preparations!" the order from the powerful angel that spoke with Ethan went out and the Genesis forces also acted since they already knew what to do.


    Meanwhile, the royal dragon, Walker''s party, and a few of the more powerful soldiers followed them toward the Fel empire tent that was set up for battle nning. The tent was full of maps made of the immediate area but there were a few angels within that were clearly upset. They had been the ones to make these maps which were now forced to be altered due to the massive sand tornado which was rapidly losing strength outside.


    "We are here to discuss battle tactics. I will not apologize for ignoring basic courtesy, but this is not the time. We are about to battle. We might proceed." While the dragons didn''t care to learn about the names of these angels, Walker''s party would have preferred to meet them. But the angel was right. They had to go to battle. There was not a little bit of time to waste with casual conversation.


    "That''s fine, we have some information from my all around appraisal skill. This pce is a grave made for the slumber of over ten thousand beings. They condensed their blood in to crystalized bones and they are fanatical worshippers of death. The poption of this ce was once high until famine. That means that these monsters have some intelligence but were lost to their beliefs. They used the small amount of ancient dragon blood to push their beliefs too. Their god is also regarded as a false death god. It means that they may be a little worse than we imagined." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since Walker had so much information from his all around appraisal skill, he shared it immediately. This made a lot of the angels that were within the tent stop what they were thinking about entirely. They had not found any information about such things. Theycked the all around appraisal skill but had appraised other things in other ways. Now that they did have such information, they understood the degree of dangers.


    "We will be pushing the storm to end sooner thanter. The sun will set while we build a perimeter. The undead are lesser in the day so we can battle them appropriately." Walker knew this would be the n regardless of his input. Therefore, Mordant stepped up next.


    "As the sun sets, myself and others will enter using darkness rted skills. We will scout every potential entrance and find ways for a small and powerful force to enter. They will be using condensed light, healing, and whatever other means possible to find the slumbering undead. They will eradicate them and hopefully find a way for more forces to enter the buried ruins." Mordant spoke and the Fel angels felt the serious force he was releasing as a royal dragon.


    "Now, I understand you may also have some scouts, they will fall under myself and my dragonkin to be able to learn and find more. That is not up for debate. I am more specialized in this than any one of you." The Fel angels didn''t even doubt this. It was just a feeling.


    "From there I will use my mana to crush any undead that I can get a sight on. Especially when I have a path. They will be purified and defeated. I can not let the light see them unless I can see them myself." Rise spoke with a high standing tone. She was clearly ready to use the mana she had been forcefully gathering since she appeared within the desert. The high amount of light mana she gathered could not be looked down on in any way. It was simr to the high amount of mana that Onyx had also gathered. It was why he was still resting.


    "That means that the Rize empire angels will also be joining us. Their specific light elemental skills will help us immensely. But Alice will be pushing in with us. She is a songstress with a small amount of angel bloodline. Enough that the Rize Empire light elemental hall wants her. I rmend that the light affinity angels stationed here join her." For Ethan to speak so highly of someone else made every angel open their eyes more. The Fel empire knew of the Rize Empire elemental halls and their beliefs in them. Therefore, they knew this was arge statement.


    "Now, the genesis forces need to know where you will all fit in here. What you can do. I have not been here for some time and will not force my will on you." Ethan pointed to the powerful fel angel and looked for answers. It was only right to let him exin their strengths now that they had been fighting for some time.


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 Chapter 1809 1809. Flames Sneak Traps

    "Our forces are mostly light elemental system users. It has been researched to a degree that these brutal monsters can be handled with a few different methods. mes are somewhat effective but the ashes will still eventually reform them in to undead. Therefore, our me mages and flying me swordsman are able to handle the weaker undead easily along with weakening therger undead here."


    The Fel angel in charge had a single hand from an undead brought, he made sure to show around the half ashen appearance as the undead hand was being reformed slowly but surely. Walker had wanted to see this sort of thing so that he could understand how long they would have when defeating the undead. It clearly showed him that the undead would only take minutes to reform when burned to dust. The hand was almost entirely reformed finger by finger as they watched.


    "Then we have some light affinity soldiers. Some that match the style of the Rize forces you have brought. While our beliefs differ, the world seems to share the systems readily." There was a tinge of distaste in this but that was just the Fel empire angel''s beliefs melting through the colder exterior that he put on as a researcher.


    "We will have some called light shapers battling with you. They are not a group of battle soldiers. They create temporary weapons of light elemental manas. They are valuable and experiment with the shapes that light can take. While a sword they make out of pure light elemental mana may damage the user to a degree, this is mitigated through the special gloves or affinities someone may have. Then their weapons willst for ten to fifteen attacks depending on battle styles." Now this was what Walker wanted to hear. He had never heard of such a system use or skill set.


    "You should be able to send them to me then. With my mana influence they can do better than they could following you. I can create an aura of light elemental mana readily avable for those I deem as my own." Rise was very forceful with her words. She was not going to let anyone sit and waste their strength. She also liked that her dragonkin would be able to use the light weapons created easily.


    "That can be arranged. I would prefer them to use their skills freely in this battle. I want to end the expansion of these undead sooner thanter. A group of them sheared off from their city originally and caused five viges to perish at the edge of the desert. It is believed that they were collecting blood, body parts, and other things to bring back more undead. The angels lost in the battle have since gone missing permanently."


    This was the kind of new information that they had to know. Knowing that the undead were actively taking bodies of defeated soldiers back with them was drastic and exceptionally important to the survival of the armies. They had to know that every loss was the growth of another undead that coulde after them. That meant that if they failed, the undead would be much more powerful.


    "That means that these things are racing each other by defeating living things. This is definitely bad." Mordant growled a little. He was sure that this meant that the undead they would face would be going after their blood as well.


    Since the undead might have a sense that the dragons had more power to them, they would attack the dragons in mass if possible. That would then cause the dragons to act out with their strength more. Therefore, making the new battlefield much more dangerous. "I want to make sure that we attack with enough force to handle this. I will need to prepare to break that sand tornado sooner than." Ventus saw that they should speed up their nning. The sooner the better so that the scouts could get inside the ruins even if it wasn''t the perfect time that would expand shadows for them to hide in.


    "No, work with me." Ignus seemed to be thinking calmly for once. But it was clear that he had already given Remey a look. The two working together had made them understand their simr tendencies. But since Ignus had seen Remey''s partner in action, he knew the value of the fires he could create with her and her partner backing her.


    "The grand fire elemental spirit will add to my strength. That sand tornado can be altered. We make a me tornado. I know it is written that we will not do such a thing in our records. But this is an outstanding time and situation where it will add a great deal of value to what we are trying to achieve." Ignus was looking at his fellow dragons who all had changed their expressions to ones of distaste.


    "If fusing wind and fire to make a tornado of mes is against the rules, there must be a good reason." Su looked at the dragons and partially understood already. "Many things die when that was used. That was the case?"


    "You are correct to assume that. When thest royal wind and fire dragons fought over territory, there was a set of attacks that destroyed the entire territory. The winds and the mes battled one another before leaving the control of both dragons. The result was an entire area of mountain melted and turned in to an uninhabitablend for ten years. The elder punished every fire and wind dragon for that and created new traditions to follow. That is why the current territorial disputes between Ignus and I are handled differently."


    Since Ventus did not hide this, the Fel and Rize empire were able to learn a lot about the two elemental dragons. But it wasn''t the information that they were stuck on. It was the years that the area was made inhospitable. "We can not destroy this area entirely. They are underground as well. The surface being attacked and made unable to attack would harm us more." The Fel angel that had been left to take the lead by Ethan was sure that this would hurt their entire process instead of helping them. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That is why I am trying to gain the benefit of a grand fire elemental spirit. We have the ability to work with them unlike you and the other angels who killed them off." Ignus showed some anger at this. He had grown to respect the elemental spirits much more upon seeing how well they worked with others. Some might be mischievous or just in annoying in his opinion. However, he did not see them as a poor or worthless race of creatures. They had strength and they were able to use it in too many ways to count.


    "That is the being that will allow me to pull back the mes and stop them. I assure you that Ventus will do the same with assistance from Gil and his partner." Ignus pointed out Gil and proved that he was nning things much more ahead than anyone had given him credit for. His hot headed attitude had made Walker forget that this was a royal dragon, leader of an entire group. The one above all other fire dragons.


    "Turn the undead in the ruins to ash, send in the scouts with a safer chance to learn about the ruins. They will also get some buffs to resist the fire. Then we have a better chance to learn and to make it through overall. I like it." Gil agreed. He was certain that he and his partner would more than make this all work. Especially since Ventus was always open to working together with others. She was very adaptive.


    "That leaves us with a chance. Alice and I will spread some unique light elemental traps. I believe that she had a purification song?" Rise had not missed a single thing Alice did. That was just how she was when it came to light elemental skills.


    "I do." Alice immediately agreed. She was prepared for many situations. Doing this would only help that much more.


    "Then we have our n of attack first. Burn them away, scout thends, ce purification traps, then n the forces to enter the ruins appropriately. Let''s do this." Walker saw that the Fel angels were surprised but did not hesitate. They agreed with this n. It was more than they could do alone. That was why they had been stuck there defending and not attacking for so long. Now they would finally be able to push forward with their attacks and do something about an ongoing issue.


    "I will leave it to all of you. My forces are ready at any time to fight. We will not lose years of research and blood today." The Fel angels all appeared to be much more battle hardened after hearing this from their leader.


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 Chapter 1810 1810. Controlled Flames And Winds

    The idea that Remey and Ignus were about to work together again made many of the Genesis forces wonder just what would happen. They knew that Remey was able to work with her partner very well. The grand fire elemental spirit had always yed around in the mes. It even moved around Remey with high energy when she was annoyed by something.


    However, the idea that the mes Ignus used would be controlled to any degree was baffling. Many had seen him use his physical strength to crush monsters just because he was bored. Now they were going to see the same attitude used to battle with mes. mes that he warned he may not be able to control since they would also be mixed with wind!


    Many of the earth mages were already working to create barriers. The sands were harder to manipte since they were broken up and soft. Some of the sand didn''t even react to their earth mana maniptions because of the mysterious curses caused by the ruins. This alone made things feel more unnerving.


    What Current also seemed to be doing was adding the water around them to the sands that didn''t steal it away. Walker had made sure that Current had control of whatever water necessary. The Fel angels had also moved to make sure that they would be able to drink what they could and be able to hold out for a proper amount of time.


    The many months and even years that some of the Fel angels had been in the desert had led to very good calctions when it came to water usage. This made it easier for Walker to give Current and the water affinity soldiers water. Therefore, they would have their skill reinforced and more usable when it came to battle. Not that anyone would be able to form ice anywhere during the heat of the desert. Even in the night, it would be too warm for some time before a sudden drop in temperature came.


    Furthermore, there was the fact that some of the water mages needed the water just to use skills at all. They could not rely on any hope that within the ruins there might be trapped water. The undead had all proven to be very water deficient. They were just wrapped bones and some dried skins. It was the strange way that they had been preserved. The mummified looks were not just what kept them different from other undead. It was also the fact that they had been preserved with their very blood condensed in to their bones. No water needed. It also appeared to keep the normal rot of undead down. A scary thought.


    As Ignus condensed and prepared to attack, Remey was speaking with her partner to also prepare. Their role would be to boost Ignus''s control of mes after he had let them mix with the wind. That would allow Gil and Ventus to remain focused on breaking thest of the wind that caused the sand tornado to exist.


    The bonus was that the fire and wind elemental mages would also be joining the battle for control after the skills were used. It would make things easier even to the smallest degree. While this seemed like a massive use of mana before a big fight, the benefits would pay for themselves. Eradicating the few undead that were out in the sun would make it easier for the scouts to enter the surface ruins and discover what was going on. That would be making things safer and more efficient overall.


    The moment that everyone felt the air around them change ande to a new hotter level of heat made them immediately move away from the ces they stook. The entire force moved behind the runes and the sand walls made. Walker did his best to cast the multi buff skill on as many people as possible. The benefits of having the buffs would allow them to move and escape the direct heat that was growing.


    mes had coated the entirety of Ignus''s dragon form. He was showing off the nearly white mes that came from extreme heat boosted by the natural heat of the desert. These white mes were nothing like the mes that were melding with light elemental mana. They had grown because of the highest possible temperature instead of the purification abilities of light.


    With one single explosive burst of heat, the mes left Ignus and were spewed in to the winds all around the breaking up sand tornado. There wasn''t a single bit of smoke because of the intense heat. Those with resistances were able to witness things much better than others, Walker being one of them was able to standpletely in awe of a specialized dragon breath attack.


    This was the level of someone who had risen to their elemental pique. A being that had studied mes for years and learned the best ways they could to condense the fire elemental mana within them. A dragon that had expanded their strength to use their elemental breath attack to the best of their ability. As Walker was amazed, so was Midnight. She had never expected that this was the degree a real fire breath could reach. It made her want to witness every single elemental dragon''s breath at the highest level possible. Even Ventus seemed to have held something back when using her wind elemental breath attack on the tornado to control the wind currents.


    The instantaneous melting of sand within the tornado was what changed everything. The molten sand became ss when it hit the dunes. This was why there were multiple barriers of sand to protect everyone. The extreme heat had made some of the sand melt just as the winds and the mes mixed. The intensity was casting the dunes around to solidify and melt. It was easy to see how it would create an area that was inhabitable. Covered in molten rocks and stone. The magma fields even seemed coldpared to such high field mes.


    "Now we stop it!" Remey shouted out as the grand me spirit started to empower Ignus again. The sudden draw of fire elemental mana was like someone draining a pond. The mana had been forced to move in a certain way to join the now ming tornado. Yet, it was under double the concentration as before. The fire elemental was benign forcefully torn from where it wanted to be as the natural creation was more important to the flow. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Gil allowed his partner to join Ventus from the sky, the changes were more drastic. The angels witnessing this saw the superiority of elemental spirits. They only knew these as the fire and wind grand elemental spirits. Powerful beings that could somehow influence manas better than others and would really attack others ording to the genesis forces. Yet, what they saw now was terrifying.


    ''


    The fear that angels had since they relied on the elemental mana around them to sue mana overall wasrge. Their elemental spirits could halt this as that was why they had been hunted on the Sigil continent. Now that the fear was being shown, the angels believed they had to respect Genesis much more due to their rtionships with such beings and the fact that they had enough control over them to cause such events to ur here.


    As the wind was forcefully changed again, the build of the runs was helping. The design that broke up the flow of wind naturally caused the wind mana to break down from the flow that the mes needed as fuel. The mes were being pulled away and Ignus was greedily taking the fire mana away. It was a tiring event for the two dragons and two grand elemental spirits. Yet, it was much quicker than expected.


    It seemed to have only been minutes since all this happened, but it had been nearly half an hour of constant elemental pressure. The show before every soldier had be something they could never forget in their lives. The dragon race working together would make anyone wonder just what they were byparison. Just how they could get stronger.


    What was revealed after the mes and wind were suddenly gone was nothing that anyone could exin easily. There was an entire section of sand dune sides melted in to a molten slowly moving ss. There was also the fact that many undead had been reduced to dust that was falling on to the ruins. Their attempts to reform failed as they continued to burn on the molten ss.


    The ruin design showed much more wear and tear than imagined. Some of the stones had shattered under the drastic change of heat while others had burned because of the materials that held them together. This was good though, some dark passages had been exposed letting the scouts have a view of where they could go to gather information.


    All that was left was Current''s order to make it rain. The final step to cause the area to be safe for the scouts that would need to resist the literal molten area. There was barely steam though. The cursed sands caused the water to be absorbed rapidly, but that held the temperature drop much more dramatically than before. It even made more stone structures crack and opened more for the scouts to explore.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1811 1811. Scout It Out

    "That was¡­ intense." Su looked down at the cracking ss that had been sand. She also looked at the ruins which had changed their form in just a short time. She could also feel the elemental manas around them. It was still chaotic, but the dramatic changes brought out her sensitivity to her surroundings.


    This alone would not have been worth mentioning. However, through her teamwork training with Midnight and Walker recently, she had learned to open herself up more to the mana sensitivity that she had gained through properly bonding with Midnight. Just because her body changed in certain ways did not mean that she could forget the other ways it changed. The sensitivity to all elemental manas was very important.


    "Su, we are going to start a mark in to make a set of barriers. Then we will let everyone else go on their own missions." Walker made sure that they could begin to work better. He had said this to Su since he knew that she would be helping Alice directly. She was the best person to keep defenses set up while the healers and other light affinity soldiers made their moves.


    Just because the healers were healers didn''t mean that theycked skills that could be used here. Many of them had some form of purification skills. This was just important for them to have when it came to battling certain poisons or illnesses. However, the purification skills could be used for undead as well. Most undead had rotting and disease like things within them. Even the dried out and wrapped up mummified worshippers would have something that would be affected by the weakest of purification skills.


    These were things that everyone was thinking about as they neared the top of the dunes to begin moving downward. They had to prepare things so that there would not be a single chance that the undead could break out. This was a focus because everyone could see the dark shadowy areas that had been broken open.


    While the me tornado change had made the area more essible, it had also made it more dangerous. There were more ces for the undead to escape and attack. If the thousands of undead were anywhere near waking up, then they could flood the entire desert and reduce the Fel empire to shrinking borders in just a few weeks. A fear that was more than fair for the Fel empire angels that were here for reasons beyond research. They too had families.


    "The water is going to end now, send in the scouts." Current showed the weakness a little he had been feeling since he and any water affinity being had entered the desert. Theirplexions were poor while their actions were very much slower than usual. This sluggish action made them less useful in battle but still ensured that they would be watched by the others. The weak, even in this army, would be protected by the strong. That was why the light, wind, and fire dragonkin were acting much more than usual.


    "Mordant, I will leave it to you and your team. Good luck." Walker didn''t really need to wish anyone good luck. But Mordant, his dragonkin, Midnight, Onyx, and the Fel empire angels joining them needed to know that they were trusted. The simple words would be enough for them to lean on if the worst began to happen and they found themselves retreating from a horde of undead. They knew that there were people waiting on them outside. That they were not forgotten at all.


    "We will be back brother." Onyx slowly slithered in to a nearby shadow. It was almost unnerving how good he had gotten at bncing the higher amount so light elemental mana and the darkness mana in his body. The dual elemental strength that he now had would make anyone believe that he was not just an abyssal serpent but a bnce of both abyssal and heavenly. Not that they were actually different species. But many would still believe they were since the information about them was not well known still.


    A short huff was all Walker got from Midnight as she used the shadow wrapping skill to blend in to the ruins shadows just a few feet from where Walker wasfortable traveling for the moment. He knew that she didn''t say anything because she didn''t find it important to do so. He could also sense that she was ready to prove her skills here to the Fel and Rize empire angels that still were ignorant of Genesis''s strength. It was a small goal of hers to represent Genesis to the highest of standards. That was the dragon''s pride though.


    "Walker, you can help us, there are some light affinity angels from the Fel empire that you should work with. They can inscribe purifying light runes too." Gil had separated from Ventus after some time and was sure that he could help out here and there while his partner rested. Remey was more or less the same when it came to this and had already handed out some light affinity potions to help everyone in the smallest of ways since the potions had been watered down to spread them to everyone.


    As the shadows had wrapped Midnight and hid her from most things, she had slipped forward toward the ruins. The ssy surface of where the sand had melted and hardened was easily crackable, but with the natural instincts and skills Midnight possessed, she was able to sneak by. This was an added benefit of having skills like shadow wrapping and the highly sensitive draconic instincts. She could move more silently than others.


    Adding in the fact that Midnight had been able to get closer to her darkness affinity over time by using the shadow wrapping skill, she was able to sneak quickly toward therger of the open spots in the ruins.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She looked around and witnessed many worn away runes, they had no use to anyone since the ruins were damaged even more than before. That meant the undead were pushed back much more if they had the intelligence to use the left behind runes of their species. It also showed off the fact that their building was amazing.


    Midnight saw the stone surfaces and bricks that fit together like puzzle pieces. She understood that destroying them with her ws would be much harder. Some even seemed to have been fashioned with heat resistant materials. The slight glints of a crystal like substance in them made her understand just how much tougher this was than the bricks used in Genesis for roads and buildings. It would be worth mentioning to Walker since the method to make them might be found. But that was forter, after she had found better information.


    The hole she found was not a hole at all. It was arge stairwell that had been uncovered in the sand tornado. Small piles of sand remained on the worn staircase. There were also spots where the sand had melted in to sand ss and melted with the stairs. It made it more challenging to traverse, but not at all an issue for Midnight.


    The darkness of the underground ruins was a drastic change, but since the light affinity soldiers were making their moves above ground, Midnight had not wasted any time with above ground. She had gone right for the underground since that was what her mission was. She had even noticed the slight sound of the system starting a quest. Not that she focused on that, she had to focus on the task at hand.


    The darkness was easily seen through with her dragon eyes. This showed Midnight the many runes and foreign writing on the walls. To her eyes, they were a lot of mix matched things. Nothing that made a single bit of sense. That was until she noticed some of the ancient draconguage written here and there. That made her spine shiver. The cold feeling that made her understand that Mordant and the other royal dragons might have their fearse true here. The fear that a dragon ruins might be here somewhere.


    What struck Midnight the most were the slight blue and gold colorations here and there. The blue and gold colorations that she could also sense mana moving through. Here and there would also be a shiny red iy as well. They were artistic to a degree, but Midnight''s senses told her that the gold, blue, and red colors had been added to specific carvings in the stone to draw mana to something. It was an ancient design that had survived. The important fact would be what they were doing and where they were going.


    With this, Midnight steeled herself to continue down the stairs. Her senses told her that nothing good existed here. That she had to be sure that she was moving safely. That she needed to use every single small part of her instincts to ensure her safety.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1812 1812. Disgusting Undead Forms

    "This is not good." Onyx had mumbled this in his own mind as he slithered along. His mind had gone the same way as Midnights. He had figured that the others would handle exploring the surface and that he should find the nearest ce to go under the ground.


    This had brought Onyx to the smallest of cracks in a pile of stones. They had clearly been some sort of structure. However, the storm, heat, and sudden cooling had opened up a small hole. This was enough for him to shrink his body and slither in to while maintaining his ability to hide within the shadows.


    While hiding his body limited his strength and the ability to see everything, it had not limited what he had found. Unfortunately, he hated what he found. It was nothing that brought any joy or happiness. Instead, he believed he had found a true horror hidden just below the surface. A ce that should be cleansed and buried forever.


    The room Onyx was in was some sort of medical room. It seemed that way since it was very simr to the healer''s and the dwarven medical system user set ups. However, the tools were ghastly.


    There were stone tables with many runes carved in to them. Furthermore, the stone and rusted metal tools were made to cause damage in very specific ways. There were even carvings on the stone walls that depicted exactly how things were used. It was as if it was some form of guide for how to cause terrible pain to a living being.


    What Onyx also noticed was the simrities to lizardmen and dragonkin in the figures carved on to the wall. It appeared that these mummified worshippers would alter their bodies to a dramatic degree. Some willing and others unwilling.


    They would cleave off their tails and make the bones in to odd rune carved nes. A strange and clearly painful ritual. Then there were some that would carve holes through their scaly skin to allow the addition of herbs, mana crystals, and even other tools. A dramatic and horrifying practice. Yet, with what Onmyx already knew of this race, it was clear that their madness had caused many of these things.


    Surprisingly, Onyx also found that there were some dusty and dry rotted books. They were on some form of animal skins but they were books nheless. They would be invaluable to those with the skills to properly save them and ensure that they were read. After they were cataloged, then the information about this fallen and insane race could be kept to avoid the same things happening ever again. This was a good reason to memorize the location he was in forter.


    When the sounds of something scraping slightly on stone made their way to Onyx''s ears, he made sure to hide himself well in the shadows. It was clear that his invasion of this area had somehow attracted an undead over to him.


    As the protruding bones from pale and dusty wrappings made their way on to Onyx''s vision, he was able to understand what some of these tools had done. The undead that appeared before him had a rusted metal de fused to the bones of its hand. Something that has been done while it was alive and so that it could awaken more powerful. Clearly a terrible thing to do to any living being. It made Onyx was to summon therge amounts of light mana he had stored for battle and end this undead.


    Unfortunately, that was not possible. He could notpletely eradicate this undead without discovering the source of this evil. The source of the undead. It just caused Onyx''s resolve to strengthen. Especially as he saw the limping undead leave to return to whatever it had been doing before. It just left Onyx to slither deeper ahead in to the passageways that he could sense more movement from.


    Meanwhile, Midnight had pushed down the stairs and found herself in a muchrger hallway. It appeared to be a main passageway toward whatever ces had been built here. But upon seeing it this way, she could rte it to how a castle was. Or how arge mansion was. Therge main hallways that would lead toward a grand open chamber or hall that allowed meetings to happen.


    This idea made it seem that the entire ruins were still buried quite a bit in the sand. While they were all technically under the sands, or underground now, the ruins might not have actually been built underground at all and were just covered over time by sands. This would make more sense to how they were built and how the ancient race had managed to make something sorge.


    But that wasn''t what Midnight had on her mind. An odd and moldy smell had juste to her nose. The flow of air through the ruins had changed when the attacks on the surface of the ruins had happened. There were many ces that had air getting to them that had not in many years. That alone would cause things to change, but this scent was different.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Whereas the undead she had smelled before were rotting and pungent, this dry and moldy smell stood as a brand new disgusting scent that Midnight would not easily forget. The scent was something for her to chase though. If she could look for it and discover it, then she could exin what she found and what dangers there might be hidden in the dark.


    The side passageway that midnight was taken down was fairlyrge. Enough for more than ten of her sized young dragons to walk down. That was saying something since she had grown a great dealpared to howrge she had been when she first found Walker. The side passageway was also reinforced with clear stone structures making it able to withstand a greater force over the years. A sign that this was built in intentionally to oust the forces of nature.


    When Midnight found the scent getting too powerful, she used her dragon eyes to re-adjust in the darkness of the underground. When she noticed therge stone coffins, she understood this was a resting ce for the undead. But the next thing she saw proved that it wasn''t just one kind of undead. Some of the stone coffins wererger and others smaller. But the proof of this was right out in the open.


    From what Midnight could see, some had been opened in preparation for the undead to awaken. One suchrger stone coffin had what appeared to be an undead reinforced with roasted golden, red, and blue iy armors. Almost like it was an undead knight of sorts. Yet, it was off. There were parts of bones protruding from the armor as if it had melted on to the undead when it was alive. This sent shivers through Midnight''s spine. The idea was too painful to imagine.


    Furthermore, even some of the thinner undead with opened stone coffins had parts of armor or weapons as their body. Drastic and terrible experiments that had clearly been done for them to be able to kill more. This entire undead area was filled with what anyone could understand were undead soldiers waiting to be awakened. And the small amounts of mana traveling through damaged runes were feeding them.


    The smell of iron made her realize that it wasn''t just the scent of undead. There had been blood bought in. The scent brought her to a row of rooms made for storage. But inside were various parts of monsters. Even worse were the angel wings that she glimpsed. It was a sight that she had not expected and had not wanted to see.


    The sight filled Midnight with disgust. However, she also felt the burning of rage. These undead had hunted and dragged back these soldiers and monsters to tear them apart and use them as fuel to bring back more of their cursed undead. It was a stain on the natural flow of the world. Undead should exist but not in this twisted way. Undead formed naturally, that was just a fact of life. But undead should not be forcefully made and awakened at the cost of those living. That was a tragedy.


    With the determination bing clear and the fact that Midnight had discovered a route to a ce of sleeping undead, she knew she had to return to where she hade. Should could lead soldiers here to eradicate the undead that were attempting to be awakened before they had the ability to reform their bodies. That would greatly protect and help the soldiers and the entire effort. The only issue were the sounds of approaching undead that she could hear when she turned to leave the many stone coffins she had found.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1813 1813. Colder Rage

    Just as Midnight felt the undead were going to enter the room she had made her way in to, she felt a shake that made every ruin appear to be in torment. The unique darkness mana that was flowing around was only from one ce. One being. Specifically, one royal dragon in anguish. Mordant.


    As Onyx and Midnight had felt this, so had the undead. Those that were moving through the ruins as they were guided by the unseen forces of the controlling undead began to follow the source to attack. Likewise, Midnight and Onyx used that distraction to weave through smaller passageways, cracks, broken walls, and many odd rooms. They ignored the things on walls and the ghastly sights within the rooms.


    Every bit of their effort brought them further from the slower undead. The undead were slower due to their weaker state. The daytime was still able to affect them to some degree since the light elemental mana was in the air. It might not touch them, but natural weakness was still weakness.


    Therge hallway that reminded Midnight of a grand hall or show room for kings or queens was where the two managed to sense one another through their bond. Therger side passageways that the two followed from thergest on the met in brought the two to another massive room. One that had a clear purpose. One that was not for creating, but for awakening undead.


    When they saw the shattered bodies of undead trying to reform and that Mordant was barely able to control the rage and overflowing darkness mana, they understood why. The room may seem simple since they were distracted by the darkness mana, but it was not.


    There were multiple draconic runes in use on the walls. Some had connecting veins dyed with blue, peoples, and reds. These weren''t an issues though. The iy of a dragon skeleton was the issue. The walls were written in some draconic along with other runes and symbols that were more or less unreadable. That didn''t mean that the two couldn''t read what Mordant had read.


    The wall had the tale of the undead high priest of death gathering their fellow high priests. Finding thergest desert cave containing the barely alive remains of a single dragon. A dragon that they had found directly as it had sealed its legacies behind imprable walls of mes that created tougher stones than they could even scratch. A dragon that they had rejoiced and celebrated over after ending its life.


    The weakness was clearly ignored in the drawings. Instead, it was celebrated as a sign that the dragons had failed to remain while they had managed to remain instead. That their race was better than dragons. The flesh and blood was used to create many powerful undead. These dragon wrapped undead were known as the death dragon guardians.


    The bones were unable to be brought back as a skeleton undead dragon. That left the high priests to fuse the bones in to a wall disy that they would return to when they had enough strength. When their ruler had properly understood all of the death god''s powers. The death god they worshiped could certainly force a pathetic dragon to rise again and be its pawn.


    These words were the clear and blunt insults toward the entire dragon race. The fact that Mordant had found it greatly pushed him toward a breaking point he didn''t even know he had. The instinctual pride of dragons was more than spit on right in front of Mordant''s eyes.


    As he witnessed the disy of bones. Bones from a great dragon ancestor that had used thest of his life to protect a legacy for the next dragon. But in thest breath to be brutally murdered and desated. It made Mordant want to tear away at all he could. He could care less about the fact that the rune carvings appeared to reference mes. How could he care? A dragon was a dragon!


    "Mordant, my sister and I will be bringing all of this back. It''s nearly time to drag these undead to their final demise." Onyx''s voice rang in Mordant''s mind. But before Mordant could react, Midnight had spoken up.


    "Destroy all of them. Bring out true justice." Midnight more than understood Mordant''s feelings. She felt her heart falling in to turmoil. However, a greater feeling arose. Not one of rage, but a feeling that she always felt through Walker and the others. A feeling that made her and all of them what they were. The desire to right this great wrong. To erase any chance that this would be done to another being, let alone dragon or other race. The hero title appeared to be resonating with exactly who Midnight was at the core of her being.


    This clear intention in both Onyx and Midnight''s voice was what snapped Mordant to attention. Which made him instantly alter his mana and change the way he looked. His potential shift to his full dragon form halted while all those scouting the ruins with them had made their way toward him.


    The other darkness affinity beings halted away from Mordant, stepped forward. They pledged their own desires to stand with him after leading their fellow soldiers. Whether they were dragonkin or otherwise, didn''t matter. The angels that were able to scout had found their brothers and sisters as well. They had seen the remains torn apart that were used to raise the undead from slumber. They seethed for justice as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Then we all leave together." Mordant''s voice rumbled as he drew everyone in to his shadow and brought them all out through his usage of shadows. It was nearly instantpared to what anyone had expected, but Mordant had done so to seal their promises. To ept their feelings with his own hands.


    The appearance of every scout that had left at once made all the soldiers halt. They had already retreated due to the sudden release of darkness mana from Mordant. They had sensed it and believed battle wasing. Yet, when they saw the current state of every scout, they knew it was bad.


    "What is going on?" Ignus growled out. He knew if something had angered Mordant then it was an incredibly serious situation. One that warranted his immediate intervention. It wasn''t like the other royal dragon hadn''t stepped forward either. They all knew what depths something had to reach to cause Mordant to lose his control on such a level.


    "We discovered the atrocitiesmitted by the rave here. We discovered the disy of the great me dominator dragon and found evidence that there is apletely sealed legacy below this ruin. We discovered the images painted and carved of these monsters killing the great me dominator dragon while it was at itsst breath of life then using the body to make more undead things."


    The cold tone made every single soldier that heard it clearly fall in to their own cold and disgusted state. While the words were enough to share one specific detail, the looks of the angels and Genesis soldiers proved that there were more than just one set of horrible sights to be seen.


    The angels slowly reported in monotone and cold tones about their brethren left to be shreds of what they had once been. For the monsters caught and torn apart viciously to awaken undead. For the depictions of terrible tortures used to make undead with weapons fused on the bones. How the undead were using ghastly tools to make this all happen.


    While everyone could feel their own emotions growing, there was a coldness that was taking it over. A cold anger, a cold sense of emotions that should never need to be shown. While most of the time, a dragon, or anyone would let their anger show, this was not a case.


    The situation had a true sense of disgust and horror to it that trumped all other action. That brought about a deepest desires to erase the chance of any other torrid thing happening. This snuffed out the potential mes of rage that Ignus would have by hearing this. That Any of the dragons had. Instead, steeling auras took over. The auras of the royal dragons ready toy down judgment on those that had wronged the entire dragon race.


    Simrly, the angels appeared to unite. The Rize angels could sense more than they ever had the feeling of the Fel angels. In battle, their fellow soldiers were family. Closer than that, they were their left and right hands. The Fel angels had lost them. And so had the world. Revenge, but more importantly, justice would be served by the hands of an angel. Regardless of what they needed to do, they were here to persevere and make thends safe from this threat.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1814 1814. The Odd Feelings

    The retelling of what the scouting teams had seen made every one of the soldiers feel as if they were bing one with nightmares. They were the witnesses to terrible things that definitely should not be. Especially when they heard about how the undead found any living thing to tear apart and use as fuel for their evil.


    It wasn''t that they felt bad for monsters, yet, it was the principle of respecting life. When the undead hunted monsters, it was for causing even more death for the sake of death. When a hunter or a soldier hunted, it was for safety, food, and the materials that would improve life for many. These reasons justified the cycle of life.


    The descriptions of the different undead made many want toe up with new battle staples. So far, the only undead that had left were the mummified worshippers. The lowest of the undead that didn''t really carry weapons. The Fel angels had seen these undead moving sand, repairing stone structures, and also wandering around in patrol. They were vicious since they could rebuild their body. That was clear. However, they were also dangerous because they used their bodies as weapons.


    The mummified worshippers were an undead that didn''t mind the extra destruction of their bodies. Therefore, they would cut their own hand bones and dig in to living flesh even more. It was a brutal fighting style that caused brutal death. More than a few of the Fel angels had been victims of these attacks or even witnessed their fellow angels dying by these attacks. Now they knew what happened to the bodies dragged away.


    The undead described asrger than the mummified worshippers were definitely the soldiers. The fact that they had rusted metal weapons meant that they were able to cause more damage while following the same brutal battle styles too. But since Mordant had found that there were even more powerful undead within the ruins that had parts of a dragon as their bodies had made things very tense.


    This meant that anyone or anything that tried to get within the ruins could be defeated by them or would cause a massive scene when fighting. Even if the dragon attacked, they would find themselves battling against an undead with armor that is made from a dragon''s body. From a dragon that was much more powerful than them. The fact that it was from a fire dragon just meant that Ignus had lost all chances of burning up those very powerful undead as well.


    This brought the tension among the entire army much higher. They could feel the threat looming over them. Whether it was one of these super powerful undead of just a few didn''t matter. They were unsure of what level the strength they had was. They were unsure how the undead controlling them all was able to boost them when it came to the skills it had.


    These were the many questions that arose as the sun had started to set. The news that there were worse things than they had realized just below the sands had taken their time. The light runes, light skills, and many other methods used by those with light affinity had been set to a small degree. There were a lot of lingering runes and manas that had stopped them from going too far. This fact left a weakening area for the undead but not as great as desired.


    If the sun was to set, then there would be many undead leaving the ruins. They would even have the chance toe out and battle at a higher strength. Therefore, it was time to take all the emotions the soldiers had and begin their entrance. Because of Midnight, they had a pathway toward some of the undead resting within their eternal slumber. Or soon to be eternal. Especially since they had no means of awakening if they didn''t have the proper unknown rituals.


    What a few of the other scouts had reported revolved around the maze of passageways. It appeared that there were many ritual rooms to create undead along with a few to awaken them. However, those awakened undead had been guarding the rooms with greater scents and signs of blood. These ritual rooms were the ces that had to be destroyed no matter what.


    "You feel it too?" Gil looked at the rest of the party. He had been fairly silent for the time as he listened to the scouting reports. He looked around carefully. As if he was waiting for some sudden attack out of nowhere.


    "You''re right. I feel it too. It''s not the stress in the air but a lingering weight. Like we only saw the surface and that we are missing something." Su also had the same sense as Gil when it came to this. She couldn''t put her finger on it yet though.


    "I know. You are all forgetting that slime breeder demon. We didn''t see a single bit of him anywhere. No signs of demons. Nothing from any of the roaming scouts in the Fel and Rize territories. Nothing. That''s worse than finding them." Remey was blunt but she knew exactly where her stress wasing from.


    "I hope they don''t make it here¡­" Alice spoke softly. She was less speaking to them and more speaking to the world. She didn''t want to run in to two different enemies right now. She would be using all of her mana against vicious undead that she couldn''tpletely purify because of their annoying existence.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Bad." Midnight and Onyx echoed one another with this. Their opinions were short, sweet, and showed exactly their instinctual feelings with the entire situation.


    "Just focus on one thing first. We are drilling through these undead to make our way to the core of these issues. We will break through to the slumbering undead, erase them, then push through the ritual rooms. We have an army of angels. Those left behind will be enough to send out warnings if another enemy appears." Walker could feel this weight on them too. He didn''t want to add any other pressure though. He knew that the dragons were already fully focused on the fact that dragons were involved here.


    Ignus had spoken with the other dragons as well. There was a ruin here from the me dominator dragon. A sealed pce that nothing could get in to. If the undead were awakened and there was a powerful controlling undead here with intelligence, he had his own theories to its goals.


    They had been trying in life to get to the ruins of the me dominator dragon. Therefore, it made sense that in death they would be after it as well. That alone was enough to ensure that they would find the powerful undead and the me dominator legacy together.


    "We will be unable to take our full forms. The ruins are built around the ruins of our ancestors. But the passageways are too small. Know that if we must take our full forms, that everyone is to retreat. We can bury the undead and start another attack exposing the ruins to the sun more and more over some time. It is better to survive than to fail and attack again." Mordant made sure to put some force in to this little speech. Everyone had to understand that if the dragons used their full forms then things were going to be rough.


    It wasn''t just the dangers of copsing ruins and dragons forcing their ways back to the top of the sands and stones. It was the fact that the soldiers behind or in front of them could be trapped. If the dragons had to face a foe at full power, then it wasn''t what any slider could handle anyways.


    "We will be sending groups of healers, dragons, and soldiers to the five discovered resting chambers. We will clear them and converge on thergest hallways discovered. We will need to move with speed. The undead have been riled up by the trouble before." Rise gave warning but also showed off a slight glow of light around her. She was clearly ready to step in to this battle and put her trust in the light affinity soldiers, healers, and dragonkin. She knew they were ready to follow her orders and would be certain to weaken the undead at every single turn.


    What was left were the actual movements. These split groups weren''t so much split since it was only small passageways dividing them. The mapped out sections followed by the scouts were enough to give them all a start to their battle. Especially since they would not be allowing the undead to separate them. There had also been no traps seen yet which meant that for the time being, they were able to focus on the known areas. It was time to start the quest.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1815 1815. Just The Top

    The level of stress that everyone was under clearly made it certain that they were taking extra precaution as well. The groups that had split off from one another to head toward multiple entrances were all led by the healers and light affinity soldiers necessary to get the undead properly purified and would cease their abilities to awaken.


    The n for them would be to keepying down the same light runes, purification skills, and any other light skill that would disrupt any attempts to be able to awaken the undead that slumbered. When it came to this, Alice had naturally stayed with Walker''s group. The royal dragons had also gone their own way since Rise would be able to handle many things on her own.


    The fact that this was the case had actually improved morale. The soldiers that knew of the party and the royal dragon''s strength had been very invigorated knowing that even if they lost their missions, then they would be able to see tworge sections of slumbering undead destroyed. It was a guarantee in their minds that this would be the case.


    Naturally, this was a brilliant red g for fate to mess with them. Therefore, those with somemon sense had squashed the foreshadowing and ensured that everyone went over every detail of their gear, skills, and ns. That way, there really would be less worry. That had managed to straighten out any foolish people that were not ready to face a potentially gruesome death or those that were unable to properly focus because of the opposite.


    "We are going directly to the area that Midnight scouted, right?" Gil knew that he could not fire arrows in the ruins unless he managed to get them in to the open and long passageways that he been described to them. It would limit his ability when fights happened.


    "Yes, Midnight is already checking the forward area right now. I wanted to see what Onyx had found too, but he is leading a small group of the Rize empire angels through the space that the earth mages broke open. Apparently, they are going to be using some of the light elemental crystals to force light mana to flow in to the underground better." Walker had wanted Onyx to stay with them. Yet, when he had tried to argue it, Onyx had stood up to him.


    From what Onyx had said, he was certain that he could stand alone here. That he would be showing off the strength he had been gathering. That he was going to be the one that erased these undead from the face of the world. The sudden resolve was nothing unexpected, but it did worry Walker.


    There was always extra pressure on Onyx since Midnight had always been right here to show off her higher strength as a dragon. Furthermore, Onyx was always a little self conscious as he didn''t have the hero title that the others had. It was even worse when it came to their growth. Onyx had the goal to make the abyssal and heavenly serpents be their own race properly. He wanted to lead that which meant he had to be stronger and stronger.


    How could he do that if he wasn''t even strong enough to show the world the value they had as a race though. He had been working with the young hatchlings and left them a good base to grow in Genesis. But what had he dely to make them proud. To follow his path and be strong and upright serpents that protected instead of bing monsters? What had he dely that showed every other race that they were able to be put aside from what monsters were?


    These things had hit Onyx hard and he decided that he was living in a shadow. Especially when he saw the pain of the dragons and the angels when they found the truth of what these undead had done. This left Onyx with one single question. Would he stay with the party and only act in a small manner? Or, would he separate himself and prove to be a leader among the soldiers? Would he show the undead the true justice of light purification and save this desert? Save many lives?


    While Walker had felt these emotions within Onyx, he had trust. He knew that Onyx was able to stand well above others. He cared and was smart enough to learn many things. That eased any worries that Walker naturally had. Especially since Walker knew that Onyx was going to fight for the best of the best and not let himself be blinded by any troubles he had. He knew and understood that Onyx had the resolve to make the righteous decisions.


    "Hey, Onyx will be fine. Midnight already said that before too." Su saw right through Walker just as Midnight had when Onyx had split from them. It was too easy for them to catch on to what Walker thought about. Especially since Walker kept reaching up to his shoulder where Onyx would be curled up.


    "Just stick to the n, Midnight already brought us down these stairs and the entire ce feels like it wants to jump out and bite us." Remey was the most on edge. When it came to battle instinct, Remey was a natural.


    It made sense that a battle instinct from fighting with siblings and fist on face style fights would be different from Walker or Su who had some dragon instinct. For them, they could sense the mana and the general unsettling aura. For Remey, she could feel the drip of what some would call bloodlust. The desire to kill things. That was the difference between those with instincts and those with a battle instinct that developed over a longer time. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I think there will be traps deeper when we push past these first floor areas. I just wonder what the shape of this pce will be. I wanted to get more all around appraisals since it is hard to tell from the ruined surface area." Walker knew that knowing more about the structures of these runs would only go to help them. But he also understood that it was way too limited. There just wasn''t enough uncovered surface area.


    "We already know that the sands covered it. You said that this was going to be above the ground if the sands weren''t here, right? Then we are probably on some top floor instead of on some bottom floor. That means we managed toe from the roof, right?" Gil felt that this was the best theory. They had to just imagine that this was a massive roof to arge building. A giant mansion roof and they had broken in from the sky.


    "Won''t that be bad? One big roof covering the entire city?" Alice had been more or less silent. She had been dropping the small light elemental crystals around behind them so that she had a trail to follow and there was more light mana to draw from. It was a good idea she really liked that the Rize angels used. She had dly joined in using it too.


    "Oh¡­ you''re right." Su stopped for a half step before she fully understood what Alice had gained from the theory that Gil gave. "Walker, Alice is saying that we aren''t actually in the real ruins yet. This is just some protectiveyer they built up to block the sun more. That this is just ayer of protection. The real city might be deeper¡­" Everyone felt that this was correct the instant that Su said it.


    "Since that''s the case, we need to get moving faster. We are all meeting in thatrge hall that was found. Since that''s the case, we can exin it to the othermanders. We are marching in to many more undead then. If these are just some of the forces¡­" no one needed Walker to finish that though.


    The fact that a city had survived in a desert in the first ce when they first had believed in a goddess of nature and growth had been odd. But what if they had a source for that? What if they had built a city around that before they had their famine and fell to some insanity? What if before they worshiped a death god they had built something around a ce they could naturally live? Then because of their actions the desert tried to bury them?


    Everyone had this theory growing in their minds. It was an unwee distraction the group pushed down the side passageway and had begun hearing the actions of moving undead. Of creaking bones as they scraped the stones. Nothing was making any of them feel better about where they were or what number of awakened undead may be below their very feet still.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1816 1816. More False Things

    "It''s another mummified worshiper. Then the one behind it is an undead mummified tomb guard." Walker was looking with the all around appraisal skill. He was not liking what he saw when it came to the undead with the de where one hand should be.


    ''Undead mummified tomb guard


    This is an mummified worshiper was used as an experiment when in creation. The result was an undead with a de attached to its bones. This allowed it to be a more powerful mummified undead that can battle with more brutality. It is slower than an undead mummified worshiper but it is stronger.


    It can take more hits and will be able to deal more damage. Unfortunately, the de is not truly part of its body and can not be reimed if it is broken. This was considered a partial failure to the one that created this undead. Yet, it is able to use the de as part of the awakening ceremony that the mummified worshippers assist in as well.


    There are many of¡­''


    While Walker kept reading, the information that he saw after thest paragraph was just things he already knew. He understood there were many undead just like this undead mummified tomb guard. It even seemed that this was one of the weakest tomb guards.


    What struck everyone when he said it though, was that this was just a tomb guard. "That means there should be different levels of guards, right? If this is the weaker one that was just considered a failed experiment¡­" Remey trailed off as she watched the two undead from their hiding ce. She knew that fighting these would be annoying but the slumbering undead were just a few passageways ahead.


    "I would bet on it, and they are going to be annoying. But we can probably trap those one with some earth magic?" Gil looked at Walker and Su who were slowly observing the undead.


    "I want to see what they are doing, that mummified worshiper and guard are both touching the wall here and there." Su made sure to hold Walker back. While he wasn''t about to rush ahead, he also saw that the two were doing something.


    As the two undead touched the walls, they saw that runes were starting to flow with more mana. The colored manas were rted to what kind of runes they were. These undead were both patrolling but also checking the flow of mana. This was much more intelligent than they had expected from the lowest undead. But their actions were too stiff. More like they were following strings. Like they were puppets and not just shambling around.


    "I think they are trying to follow and repair runes. I think there might be more control that the boss of these undead have on them." Walker knew that everyone thought it, but he had to say it out loud to ept it. If he didn''t then he would not be mentally prepared for undead with sneaky tricks.


    "And yes, I can seal them in rocks or sand. It should give us time to handle them. Remey can take the guard while Midnight can take the worshiper. Between the two we can break them and I will force the sand on the ground to trap them for a while." Walker watched as Midnight slinked forward wrapped in shadows.


    The two undead were not able to sense her in the least, but they did sense when Remey burst forward with mes on her fists. The crack of bones as the guard''s arm shattered was enough to make the two undead turn to attack Remey. But again, they found that their bones were shattering. Midnight had leaped out of the shadows shing her ws four times in session to break away the dried and weaker bones.


    Without any hesitation, Su joined the attacks and used her shields to m the two undead against the wall. Since Remey and Midnight had easily stopped their arms from any attacks, Su used her shields to stop them from moving. This left Walker to manipte the earth mana and create arge mound of sand. He just had to add some extra force to it and the sand on the outside was able to be much more solid and dense. While it was not a permanent solution and the broken undead could still move around inside, it would drastically slow their ability to repair their bodies.


    "That was pretty good. We can keep doing that for the one or two undead we face. But what about those ones?" Gil looked over and saw that the passageways that midnight was taking them had multiple stone coffins with slumbering undead in them. It was nothing good to look at since they would definitely berger in number to face.


    "We start using light elemental mana. Alice, Midnight, and I will begin." Walker sighed as he looked at midnight who had not used much of her light elemental breath attacktely. But that would be the best way to remove any chance that the undead would be awakened in their stone coffins.


    "What''s with the runes here? They don''t even look like runes but I kind of know they are. It''s like they feel like runes but are off somehow." Remey had dropped the battle after they had so easily won in just a few seconds. Especially since she knew that these weaker undead would be able to be held for a while. She wanted to save her prowess for when they found a tougher undead. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''False Death rune


    These are the death runes, or what the worshippers believed were death runes. Due to their beliefs in death, they followed a false death god that shared false knowledge on how to attract death mana. The death mana attracted by these runes is not the same as real death mana.


    These runes allow the control over undead but also drive the living that are influenced by them mad. In this, the false death god is able to steal away life mana to use as their own. These are considered part of a rune group called cursed runes that should not be used. These runes are often bombarded by the will of the world to resolve curses, that is one reason why they are often forgotten in time.''


    "That''s nothing good." Su thought that they had just opened another can of worms. A much worse can of worms than before.


    "There might not be some false death god any more. It could be dead and the undead here are just controlled by whatever ruler they had that made themselves an undead." Remey tried to be positive, but they all knew that some system users would have god systems. They had all heard the one about the moon goddess and a few others.


    "At least we know that if there is some god system user, then they will be extremely limited. They couldn''t take things from people, right? They had to use another ruler and corrupt others to get strength. That itself proves that they can''t do much." Walker revered to the moon goddess that was a statue during the day and only moved under the light of the moon. Many other stories were simr about the god system users. They were powerful, immortal, and many other things, but they were bound by rules. Strict rules.


    "Forget all that, we have to break these runes instead of breaking the undead. Basically, Midnight can beat them all with one w." Gil gave Midnight and nod and Midnight used a w to scratch the rune. In an instant, the undead in the stone coffin wall looked like it had aged even more. The wrappings and bones crumbled slightly proving their point.


    "And I can use my daggers to do that too. Especially with the light elf style of dagger techniques. It doesn''t bring much light elemental mana, but¡­" Gil shed out and cut three runes off the coffins. He watched his handiwork and smirked a little.


    "That does make it easier. The mana is what links them. The runes move through the runes on the walls, then to these false death runes or curse runes, whatever we want to call them. Then we have to handle the undead. But if they are also brought back with rituals, then I assume they aren''t really controlled yet until they are brought back." Walker figured that there was so much aging damage that things wouldn''t work perfectly.


    "I will use amunication crystal to alert everyone. Let''s start." Su looked over but Remey had already taken out her light affinity knuckles and began punching any rune she saw. It was brutal and barbarian like, but it worked. She also knew that it was best that every single group leader knew the identity of these cursed runes. There might be more to them if the group left them be.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1817 1817. Chained Undead

    ''Chain quest: The mummified curse


    There has been a sudden spike in resurrection ceremonies done by the mummified worshippers trying to bring about their false god. They are cursed by the world for their damage to the natural flow of mana and encouraging the incursion of certain putter elemental forces.


    Requirement: disrupt therge scale ceremony to tribute bodies to awaken the mummified wall guards


    Reward: 1000 experience ritual rune formation broken, 10 heroic points per ritual rune broken, second link.''


    The errands for the quest looked small but for the amount of heroic points that the party would get and the experience with their multiplier, it was incredible. There was a guarantee that they would level up and be able to grow significantly. However, knowing that the rewards were sorge hit them hard.


    The fact that the world was pushing a chain quest on them meant that the party was now acting in the world''s interest. They were certain that the curse here finally had be too bad for the world to allow flow naturally any longer. With the heroes here, it was going to give them the incentive to act on its behalf. That was why the rewards were so good.


    As well as that, there was the fact that the angels had been facing this for some time. If the curse here had appeared because of more than the world''s disapproval because of the actions of the undead, then it meant that the undead had somehow be cursed in another way.


    Walker and the others had already learned through si all around appraisal that the false death god they worshiped yed a part in this. If he had cursed them in a way to steal their energy or mana then this made sense. They were first cursed by their false god and now were cursed by the world. It wasn''t that thend was cursed, but them that caused thends to be cursed.


    Furthermore, the hero titles were the perfect way to clean up this ce in many ways. The party could work together and use their abilities to destroy the undead trying to rise and cause a worse disaster. This was now more than just protecting the Sigil continent from bing a massive desert in years of abuse from these undead. It was rising above just the Fel empire angels too.


    The system and the world was warning them that the sun had set and that the undead were bing more active. The fact that the party had already stopped two undead that were being controlled to move through the passageways to check runes just proved things were gearing up to be worse and worse. Not to mention the runes on the stone coffins that were all connected. The party could only sh so many of them while they would be better off stopping the entire act of raising them.


    "Stop them all." Midnight''s growl was enough to make everyone want to put in more speed. She was already forced on the passageway ahead that led to therge room with plenty of undead slumbering in stone coffins. She also knew that there would be an undead soldier of some form there. One that looked different than all the others. Not to mention the body parts and a connection to one of the ritual rooms she had not even bothered going in to because she had felt Mordant reacting to his discoveries.


    "Everyone should have this quest, It''s time for us to get our butts moving. I will see what else I can do to cut these up as we move." Gil did his best to sh faster using the light elf dagger style. His speedy and straightforward dagger attacks on the false death runes were something that many would envy.


    This additional action pushed the party to follow behind Midnight''s speedy guidance. They didn''t sense or hear another undead ahead of them, further showing that something major was happening. If there was a ritual of any kind, the controlled undead would be there. They weren''t mindless in the sense that they shambled around looking for things to attack. They were guided. Therefore, they would be brought to the room that needed the most protection.


    While this speed would have surprised many, it was Gil''s movements that shocked the party. He had trained his different elven dagger styles more and more. But what they all saw was his footwork.


    Gil had ensured that he had studied the movements from every potential book, elf, and old records he could find from every variation of the elven race. This was just part of his promise to return the high elven dagger style to a whole instead of being divided. It would be a major historical aplishment that properly brought the elves back together for once and for all.


    The reason his footwork stood out was because Gil had begun to move in the dagger styles'' footworks constantly. He wasn''t just walking like he would when he snuck to scout or when he was in the forest hunting. He had been moving like an elf in battle. The steps wouldn''t be noticed if he had been making more of a show of it. Now though, the party could see that his movements wererger and held more force. They were the same but with meaning and structure to them throughout his entire body. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The speed of footwork also let Gil more than catch up and pass Midnight while he focused on his shing of any false death runes he saw. While the party knew they could manage these things as well, they had not been able to use the same efficient motions as Gil. It was a clear show of what his training had done for him and what the dagger styles were beginning to meld in to. The only thing that stopped him was the sudden pressure of a nearby undead.


    The pressure was partially darkness mana but not to the strength that would make it a major threat. However, it was enough of one for Gil to hold himself back from attacking and entering the room that Midnight had been leading them to. It was even further warned by Alice that showed the light elemental mana crystals seemingly dimmer because of this.


    ''Dark tomb guardian


    The dark tomb guardian is an altered mummified guard that was forced to have multiple darkness elemental runes carved on this very bones. this has caused it to absorb and radiate darkness mana that will increase with the time of day. It is able to make it harder for those that attempt to invade the area to do so. This is a moving trap.


    Unfortunately, the result weakened the ability to battle and use any form of mana. It was deemed another failure and fixed to certain structures. It will awaken when the proper amount of mana is filtered through the chains on its body. If it is released, the runes cause it to go to the densest area of darkness. It will then absorb darkness mana until its body breaks down. It will be unable to reform because of this mana overload.''


    "Break the chains on it!" Walker gave the order the moment he saw the stretched chains. The reason that Midnight had not noticed it when she had scouted the area was simple. The undead had not gained a single bit of mana while the sun was so powerful outside the ruins. Now that the sun had set, this undead had awakened and was working on the forced instincts it had.


    "Just let it leave this pce. It will end its own suffering." Walker knew that this undead was in no way evil. It was a clear victim of what had been done to all of the undead here. There was no way that the undead slumbering here had all been on board with what was done to them. Especially since it was hard to believe that an entire race could fall to a false god from a different, kinder goddess.


    Remey and Gil jumped forward. Together, Remey grabbed the chains and stretched them while Gil shed down with all his might. The older chains shattered under the new stress which was not a weaker undead constantly pulling at them. When the undead was let free, the sounds of metal echoed through the ruins. The echo made the entire party worry about what might be tipped off.


    However, they were very d to free this undead from constant torment. It would have been absorbing and losing mana constantly for years and years. Now it could finally rest forever. "There are more here." Alice''s whisper brought attention to another sound of chains. Multiple pirs that Midnight had seen before now had undead on them. They had been hidden before but now were very active.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1818 1818. Break The Rituals

    "So, the willing undead became some sort of messed up worshippers, soldiers, and priests? Then the experiments became messed up undead like these that are always in pain¡­" The first was somewhat a question but the second was angry as Remey trailed off. No one bothered to answer. They knew that she was saying it out loud so that she could hold it closer to her resolve as she fought more undeadter.


    "We just managed to free these ones so they can live out their lives. Midnight, don''t be angry that you didn''t see them. I can feel it. There was no way you would discern darkness rune carved bones in the darkness while you used shadow wrapping. As much as you knew, there were just littered bones until the night fell." Walker made sure to keep Midnight out of her own head.


    Since they had discovered and Walker had shared the all around appraisal with them, Midnight hadn''t even made a soft growl. She had just moved to begin cutting every rusted and semi broken chain that he could. Her efforts were clear to the entire group.


    One positive thing though, was that the more they freed the dark tomb guardians from their fate as Being literal moving attractions for darkness, Alice managed to set up more light elemental crystals around. They were also able to brighten the room more. In turn, the party managed to discover more runes and the fact that the pirs were also carved with the faintest of false death runes.


    "If these runes are here, then I bet anything they go deeper too. Everything needs to be supported somehow. A treehouse won''t stand without a tree." Gil used amon elven analogy. It stood for the structure that holds something. Most often used when someone is talking about training. But it did fit here very well.


    "Then we can follow them below floors and crush things more easily." Remey grover her fist in her hands and even Alice appeared to be more motivated by this discovery. It was odd to see her mirroring Remey a little, but since Alice and Remey could work together with the light mana, it made sense. Reney''s light affinity knuckles could be greatly boosted by Alice''s songs.


    "That''s good. We can try to see where the main structures are. These pirs might be like keys that lock everything together. Walker, you already said that all the stone work holds each piece together based on how it was carved and assembled. That''s how itsted for so long, right?" Su was analyzing it in her own way. She knew if this was the case then they wouldn''t be able to just copse this entire ce. They would need to break multiple parts to copse it.


    "I don''t think we should break it. There is a dragon ruin sealed somewhere here. And we might want to go through all the ruinster and destroy any chance that the knowledge here could be found. Yes, some things are important but other stuff should be lost to time." Gil looked at the room he had just seen for the first time. The small parts of bodies made him feel that this shouldn''t be.


    Yet, Midnight''s sudden angered growl proved that there was something very wrong. "Gone! All gone!" the growling dragon voice was filled with rage. Midnight had seen multiple body parts from other monsters and even the lost angels here. Now though, there was almost nothing. Just bloody remnants and the odd piece of a sand worm.


    "Calm down, you already showed us the passageway to the ritual chamber you found before. We are about to put those monsters and angels to rest. The undead that dragged and used them are going to be gone soon enough. Especially when Alice starts singing in their precious cursed room." Walker felt every bit of anger from Midnight.


    In the time that the scouts had been inside to the point that the groups were moving inside the ruins, the undead had begun to act. This was certainly because of the timing of day changing to night, but it was definitely worth the anger. This meant that the bodies of angels and monsters were about to be used to awaken worse undead. These abominations could rise and battle immediately. That would be terrible, the system even proved that with the chain quest starting.


    The entire party had already made their efforts to scrape off the false death runes. Gil had not let a single one escape his sharp eyesight. His goal here was to make sure that he used his daggers to slice through each one without anyone needed to work harder. The closeness of these ruins made it harder to use his bow, therefore, he had to put in different effort. But that was fine, he knew that he was still acting above and beyond what he was expected to do. Especially by using the elven skills to break this tragedy.


    As the party oriented themselves in front of a new passageway, everyone sensed the changes in the air. It wasn''t just the fact that there were multiple different manas radiating from it. There was also the fact that there was just a general feeling of dread from it. The sounds of undead moving and bones breaking also ensured that things were not going well inside.


    "We are going to wrap everyone in darkness. Alice, keep the crystals ready. When we enter and you get the signal, throw the light mana crystals in the air to make things harder for the undead." Walker and Midnight worked together to use the shadow wrapping skill. But Walker manipted it more as Midnight let him take control of it. The shadows expanded and wrapped everyone in the party, easily hiding their walk in to the passageway.


    More undead came in to sight very quickly. The open space was the cleanest yet, to a degree. The space had been cleared and the party could tell that some stone coffins had been moved in. They sat in perfect formations with cleaned runes leading to them. Some of the coffins even had new rune carvings on them. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was the undead that caught Walker''s attention though. Many mummified worshippers moved around here and there cleaning, moving parts of bodies, specifically blood and organs, here and there. But a group of three undead stood out most because they had bone staffs with different monster skulls at the top. Beside them were also two veryrge undead that appeared to only follow their orders whenever they would point at something with their bone staffs.


    ''Lesser mummified priest


    The lesser mummified priests were the weakest followers of the false death god. They were more than willing to trade their lives and flesh for the chance to worship their god for eternity. In doing so, they used their own bones to create staffs by fusing them with monster bones. This caused them to be able to absorb more mana from around them. At the same time, it caused them to be physically weaker.


    They will often use their control of death mana, darkness mana, and ritual runes to raise the slumbering undead. Each can only control the mummified worshippers and the mummified amalgamations to work with them in raising the other undead. They will send many undead at any attacker and will try to weaken enemies with debuffs. These undead were never able to be necromancers in life like some higher mummified priests.''


    ''Mummified amalgamation


    Simr to the undead amalgamations, these mummified amalgamations were the flesh and bones left over from those that betrayed the faith of the false death god. They were forcefully mummified and stuck together with unique threads made of darkness beast furs.


    They are without minds and can not be controlled due to their odd anatomy. Instead, mana must be used in close proximity to make them follow orders. They are very strong and can be beaten many times without being defeated. However, they are slow to recover, some even take a week to reim an arm. They are strictly for meat shields and lifting heavy things.


    While they are slow and strong, they are also used as materials. Some of the experimentations that do not stop need materials. The mummified parts of these mummified amalgamations can still be used and are torn from them. It is a blessing that the mind is not present in this undead.''


    Realizing that the mummified amalgamations didn''t have a mind hit Walker hard. That meant that some of the trapped undead had minds trapped within them. Some willingly, and others unwillingy. It brought him more and more anger the more he thought of it. The horrifying fact that some experimented beings might be trapped in their own hell for too many years to count.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1819 1819. Crush The Lesser Priest

    "Alice, start singing. Midnight, you are going to use the light elemental breath attack with Alice''s boost to hit as many of the stone coffins as possible. Those undead are dripping blood on everything and trying to awaken them. They are adding it to the runes. We have to break this ritual. There are too many set up to happen all at once." Walker understood some of what they were watching.


    Instead of doing one small ceremony to awaken an undead, it appeared that the lesser mummified priests were doing at least fifty at once. It was a terrible thing to know was happening since it required so many parts of living things and blood. It was also clear that the undead involved were about to more than gain a few allies. They would have powerful allies that could battle against the party here for a long time.


    "That means I will take the outer edges while Su heads to handle the mummified amalgamations? She should be able to hold them both off since she is much faster than them." Gil knew exactly what Walker had in mind.


    "And I get to go crush that mummified lesser priest thing. Makes sense to let the strongest here break it apart while you try and break all the rune formations here." Remey nodded as she stood up and stretched her arm. Alice had already started singing and making the light elemental mana with her and the elemental crystals they had brought resound with strength. The undead had sensed them the moment that Alice had begun.


    The light elemental mana that also formed around Remey''s fist was enough for the weaker undead worshippers to immediately feel the difference. Walker saw this out of the corner of his eye while Midnight was gathering some of the light elemental mana to use for herself.


    The mummified worshippers tried their best to rush toward Remey as she moved but she was faster. With a single jab, she easily broke through the bones and wrappings on their bodies. The three mummified worshippers tried to repair the shattered bones but the light elemental mana was interrupting it. Especially since Alice had brought the sensed light mana in to the air to be used.


    Before Midnight could attack, however, the lesser mummified priest had gathered a small ball of darkness and whipped it at Alice. What it hadn''t realized was that Su had also made her move. Without even having to look at the attack the mummified priest had begun to send at Alice, she had already started charging forward.


    The ng of her shield locking together then mming in to a mummified amalgamation caused the entire chamber to be louder. But it also showed off the sheer power that Remey had when therge mummified amalgamation was sent flying right in to the path of the ball of darkness shot toward Alice.


    The ball of darknessnded on the mummified amalgamation causing the random parts that had been forced on its body to rot and decay. The off curses and skills that allowed the undead to rebuild itself appeared not to work since the same powers that kept it moving were breaking it down. Whether Walker could use this or not wasn''t even a question.


    To be able to use such skills and the mana that kept these undead moving would mean that he was also one of them or somehow connected. He didn''t want that. If it happened, then things would get infinitely worse since he would also be controlled by something. There was also the fact that the mummified amalgamations were made to be taken apart if parts of its body were needed. Therefore, it made sense that certain parts could be torn apart and destroyed to a degree.


    When the lesser mummified priest noticed that its attack had done nothing, it screeched out in anger. It had enough intelligence to know that it was going to fail the mission it is being controlled to do. Unfortunately, the undead that it called and controlled to attack ran right in to Midnight as she released her attack.


    Blinding white light was emitted from Midnight''s maw. She had gathered arge amount of light elemental mana in to her chest as she would any breath attack. But this time, she had Alice backing her up. It allowed Midnight to use more mana at once and even increase the spread when she exhaled.


    The force of light hitting many of the stone coffins was enough to make the stones crack. Some of the false death runes were cracked and broken immediately while others were damaged to the point that they would not be able to work at all. Both situations were great. Even better though, were the dormant undead that had crumbled away. They had been released from the slumber and sent to rest for eternity.


    The result was another rage filled screech. Not that it mattered. The other mummified amalgamation was already under attack. The mummified priest tried to control it and force it to move faster while also waving its staff across the room to cast a debuffing spell.


    The skill rolled through with an eerie sense of dread. But none of the party felt it take effect. It was easy for anyone to guess that the lesser mummified priest had attempted to use a skill that induced fear. Unfortunately for it, it was facing a very tough party that rarely let their fear overtake them. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    So many different emotions took control of the fear that could be there. Worry for the safety of others. The desire to make the world right for those that worked hard. Even the simplest desire to help others to a happy life was enough to trump the attempt to make them feel more fear.


    "You tried yourst attempt and now you can break for me!" Remey jumped in the air and sped her hands together so that the light affinity knuckles wouldnd with double the force. The hammer punch was rarely usedtely, but seeing how Remey felt about the actions of these undead, she wanted to put as much strength in to incapacitating them as possible.


    The result was a massive hit that spread light elemental mana all over the crushed lesser mummified priest. It couldn''t reform at all and it had already been too weak to resist the brute force that Remey used. The additional light elemental mana was perfect for keeping it down.


    The mummified amalgamations instantly stopped their attempts to battle and remained still. The mummified worshippers were quickly taken down as Walker helped Alice shoot light elemental mana swords towards them. Her change in singing with Walker''s added light maniption was ideal to send more powerful and less mana wasting attacks at them.


    By the time that they were able to see the bones and broken bandages from their wraps, the undead were already starting to reform in the smallest of ways. Walker immediately began rushing around while Gil shed any of the remaining false death runes. The entire ceremony that had been made to bring about multiple undead had been halted. Each individual coffin had been set up on its own rune formation.


    The rune formations were where these rituals had begun. Some of the undead had begun to awaken slightly but began to crumble when the runes were broken. It was faster because of a backless from broken rune formations hitting them. The flow of mana in the room had also been disrupted because of the opposing light elemental manaing to a pce that had been kept away from the light for a long time.


    While the rewards from the system were high due to the multiple coffins on their own ritual tforms, the party could sense that this was not over. Thisrge room had been set up for everything. Su knew that she could hear more undead down the connecting passageways along with sense battling in one of them. "Walker, there is another group ahead. I will move to them while you seal the undead here."


    Knowing that there were soldiers fighting a tough battle was just a gut feeling that Su had. The party had been involved in enough battles to know what it sounded like when someone was stuck in a stalemate. "Remey is going with you too. Just make sure they are safe. We will be behind you. I don''t sense any darkness mana or undead down the side passageways and the forward one has no airflow so we are ignoring them. Midnight, scout the other passageway while Su and Remey assist things. Gil will finish off these runes here." Walker knew that everyone had a part to y. It was the best move from here on out. They were not stopping yet.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1820 1820. Much Larger

    Hearing that the two other passageways were most likely dead ends and one was being scouted allowed Su and Remey to push themselves away from their previous battle with more ease. They didn''t worry about their party since they could tell the battle ahead of them was harsh. Especially since the soldiers that were fighting most likely were injured as well.


    When they managed to get in to the passageways and started to be able to see the light skills being used to brighten the area ahead, they noticed a healer was already injured.


    The injured healer had cast many skills to make light radiate around him and the soldiers with him. What was different though were the little balls of light that also radiated buffs. The unique skill that was being used was one that only came with specific system users.


    Due to the fact that Su had spent a lot of time in the cathedral, she had learned a lot about these skills. Therefore, when she saw it, she immediately identified it as a blessed light ball. A skill that would help allies heal when in range of the light and also purify an area. It was a valuable skill when someone went toward an area with pistons and undead present. Or even when there was a small group of injured that needed slower healing over time.


    The healer appeared to have been speared with a piece of bone, this brought Su''s eyes to another undead that was tearing bone from its own body to throw. Unlike the other undead, the wrappings that were around it appeared to have been cut away peacefully. It was using its own body to attack since it could easily repair itself with time. A disgusting strategy that showed intelligence.


    There were also two lesser mummified priests to go along with the spear throwing undead during its own bones as spears. "Remey, you crush the priests, I will defend the healer." Su dashed ahead while Remey split off of their running route. Remey was noticed by the demi-human soldiers with the healer and the Fel angel that had been with them. They instantly started to renew their battle with a group of ten mummified worshippers. They were certainly using everything they had, but the mummified worshippers had just been shields while the lesser priests and the spear throwing undead attacked. It had been enough to halt their advancement and put them in a poor position.


    The sound of Su''s shields mming down as a barrier and the following sounds of breaking bones made it certain that she would easily be able to block more attacks. The healer looked up and recognized her. This allowed the healer to ignore the battle around and started to pull the bone from their stomach.


    Self healing skills and the light ball were enough to help the healer stop the wound from bleeding. While the healer needed time to recover, Su knew that she was also the key to this. She had managed to easily grab bandages and start to wrap the healer''s wound so that nothing could get in to it before the healer was able to properly heal themselves enough to move around.


    While Su and the healer were working under their own pressure, Remey had easily dodged through the undead worshippers and managed to make it toward the undead that was throwing its bones like spears. It was ready to stab at Remey but it was much slower than Remey was.


    Three jabs flew at it before the spear throwing undead could even grab another bone to use as a weapon. It was broken in to a pile on the floor while the two lesser priests worked together to pull stones and darkness toward themselves to use as weapons. It seemed that one was able to use earth magic and another could easily use darkness magic to attack. While it was weaker, it was still an attack.


    Remey had a lot of skill when it came to movement. She had brawled a lot but she had also developed more and more as she was thrown in to new fights. Therefore, she had this boxer''s bounce that allowed her to easily duck and jump the side letting the two attacks miss her. The smirk that grew on her face would have made anyone tremble. But the undead were not fazed. They attempted to create more attacks without any sess. Mostly because Remey threw right hooks at them, easily smashing their skulls and breaking them apart as well.


    In another few breaths, Remey had jumped back toward the undead worshippers that had now been massively overpowered by the soldiers. Without the additional ranged attacks, the soldiers were able to battle much more easily. "Why is your group so small? Where are the Rize angels that should be with you?" Remey made sure to ask this the moment thatst undead fell to its injuries. She needed answers before she started anything else.


    "They are dealing with a group of undead behind us. There were twenty of them marching down the passageways and they saw us. We rushed to this room and began battling so that we could use it as a base. But we did not realize that this was a ritual chamber as well. The rest of our forces are still holding the back passageway and will be fine with the other healer there. We can not stop the undead reforming though." the demi-human soldier immediately reported without even hesitating. He knew that it was best to do so without wasting precious time.


    "Su, I am heading to get them. You stay here. Walker will seal the undead in a minute." Remey could already hear Walker running toward them. He would seal the undead to slow their regeneration. It was just a matter of time.


    Once Remey had dashed away toward the back passageway, the soldiers returned to the job of cutting the runes as they had been told to do. They only halted for a moment when Walker caught up. He saw that Su was helping the healer but also noticed the odd bones of a different undead. He immediately used the all around appraisal to see it. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Mummified spearman.


    The mummified spearman is a soldier made from an undead while using additional bones. It can both use its bones as throwing spears and regr spears. The sharpened rib bones are often used to do so, but it was done while the undead was alive to force the undead to take this unique form.


    It is slower due to the fact that it carries extra bones on its body. However, when it uses all of them, it will be able to rbine them faster. This is harder to face since those that are attacked with its bones will suffer more damage as the bones are taken back from their wounds.


    They are able¡­"


    Walker could visibly see the bone reforming much faster and understood the additional danger to this undead. These mummified undead were created in dastardly ways but were incredibly deadly. Having such a variation caused many injuries, especially to the healer that he had seen Su helping.


    With so many undead to seal away for the time being, Walker needed to keep himself focused. He was just left wondering what might be connected to the other passageway that he sent Midnight down. Especially since Gil had just followed her that way and Alice was remaining toy some purification skills she had learned in the previous room.


    The passageway that Midnight found herself in smelled worse than the others. Not because it was rotting undead, but because there was the scent of blood around more. The ritual chambers had been the source of many dangerous things so far, it also seemed that many of them were being used right now. Therefore, Midnight had the feeling that another was being used just ahead.


    The shadow wrapping skill gave her the advantage as she snuck in to the room and was greeted with a ritual chamber easily four times the size of the one she came from. She heard Giling behind her and his sharp intake of breath when he noticed six mummified amalgamations movingrge pieces of monster bodies and stone coffins.


    They also saw ten of the lesser mummified priests with fifty undead worshippers around. Gil had managed to catch up fast enough, but he and Midnight both shared their worries without even saying a word. They knew this chamber had over a hundred slumbering undead that could be awakened and were about to be so. If they didn''t get the groups behind them to move soon, they would be facing much harder battles. Especially because the mummified worshippers could block and ovee them alone if they managed to rush in to a passageway.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1821 1821. Stronger Battle Force

    "This undead spearman will be annoyingter. If we encounter more we will need to deal with them first since they can use their own bones to hurt us and keep hurting us." Walker made sure to warn the soldiers and his party. He wanted everyone to know that the bones thrown would still harm them since the undead would repair its body and take back the thrown bone causing another injury.


    "The wound was much worse because the bone was shifting within the healer''s body. I Was able to help remove and stabilize them while they healed their body." Su affirmed this and ensured that there would be more damage if someone hadn''t helped remove the bone. It was just worrisome since the healer was lucky they had been hit in the stomach and not in the ribs where the lungs were.


    "So basically, you want me to rush ahead and crush any of those born throwing undead? They Were slow so that should be fine." Remey just shrugged a little. She wasn''t taking it lightly but she was certain that they would be able to develop a stronger tactic to beat the undead now that they knew about the greater range of skills they had.


    "We will be joining your group. The remaining passageways aside from where we came are safe. The rest of our group has joined and we are prepared to move forward with greater speed." The Fel angel and the Rize angel with the soldiers from Genesis had taken a bnced leading role. Since the two had been ced in the same group, they had made sure to stop one another from conflict.


    This brought about an interesting bnce when it came to their values. The Rize angel had at first, wanted to ignore the Fel angel and take over. Yet, the more they spoke the more simr their orders were. Especially when the Fel angel exined that they were a light mage. It made things easier since the two could actually work together with long and close range light elemental attacks.


    From that point, the two were fine with splitting up their duties. The Genesis soldiers hadn''t even argued. They all understood that the angels had a better handle on this continent than they did. From their standpoint, Genesis was just there to assist as well. With that being the general understanding, the only differences had been in what the Fel angel wanted to learn about light magic skill from, Genesis. The Rize Empire angel showed the same though.


    The light elemental hall held too many secrets and the Genesis forces didn''t hide much at all. They were transparent and honest, allowing for both the angels to glean some knowledge from what the Genesis forces shared. It was a way for the Rize angel to grow and surpass the limits that their elemental hall ced on them. It was also a way for the Fel angel to learn more and research deeper than before.


    "Good, I wanted all of you toe. We have another passageway we scouted but that should connect to thergest grand hall passageway that was found earlier." Walker was d that they had their n together. But he was worried that Alice had note yet. She had been leaving light elemental mana to purify thest ritual room. While it was important, it should have only taken her another song or two to perform the task. Therefore, Walker wanted to go back and check on her, she might be with Gil and Midnight after they had scouted ahead.


    Without needing to say much, the soldiers came in to formation behind the party and followed to the previous room. The room was still filled with some light mana and signs that light elemental runes had been made by Alice''s singing were clear. But what Walker found was that Alice was singing a song that created a shield over the entrance of the passageway that Midnight and Gil had scouted. Meanwhile, Gil and Midnight were seemingly preparing themselves for a battle.


    "Good, you are back and you found more people. We have a big one ahead of us. Over a hundred mummified worshippers, multiple priests, and a bunch of those mummified amalgamations. They also have a ton of sacrificial blood and body parts. This is going to be bad." Gil tightened the wrappings on his hand and adjusted his arrow quiver. He was going to be able to use his arrows since the room ahead was sorge.


    "That bad?" Su sounded less like she was asking a question and more like she was preparing to battle mentally. Facing so many enemies was the same as starting a battle of war. But the conditions were worse. They were isted within the underground ruins. The undead were at an advantage.


    "Bad" Midnight growled out the word as light elemental mana seemed to sh between her scales. With Alice''s assistance, she had managed to gather much more light elemental mana while she waited for the rest to arrive. Her seriousness was strict, the light in her eyes proved that she was ready to fight more than before.


    "Alright, then we can''t waste any time. Alice, thank you for blocking the passageway. We are going to march right down there." Alice gave a slight nod and ceased her song. She was not tired in the least yet, but the light elemental crystals had begun to run out. That meant that she would be more limited as time went on. Luckily, Walker had ensured that many were gathered from the crystal bed under the sand. Their quality was still very low, but that was fine. They were helping immensely. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Stay behind me. I will need you to be my sword in this battle." Su made sure that Alice took a ce behind her. She was sure that Alice could attack while using her song of swords. That way, Su could remain defending and use her light shield skill. They would double the usage of light elemental mana by recycling the mana that radiated in to the air. Alice''s attacks would deal stronger damage because they would be affected by Su''s skill and Su''s shield would be stronger because of Alice''s songs.


    "I will take a ce behind you too. I n to bring out an arrow I worked on a little while ago." Gil smirked. He had been looking for ways to reuse some of the partially damaged arrows that he had fired before. Some would be destroyed, some needed basic repairs, but others were left as an irreparable but still usable mess. His idea had left him with a lot of free time tinkering that finally resulted in something he wouldn''t use against real people or monsters because of the dangers that came from it.


    "Another new arrow? You really have it in your head to be an elf outright, huh?" Remey teased Gil just like any other day, but when Gil looked at her, she was a little worried.


    "The arrows I will use are a bit more dangerous, so just stay where I can see you and hide if you need to. Hopefully we can make use of all the light mana that will be around due to these two and the angels behind us." Gil was dead serious. Walker didn''t even bother saying anything since he was so interested too.


    "The flow of the runes that we noticed in the past rooms were all going toward theserge pirs. I believe that there are more rooms below us. By the way some other runes are carved suggest a field of protection. Especially from light elemental mana and any interference otherwise." The light mage for the Fel empire saw the runes that Alice had made with a song/. He had been amazed by the versatility of the songstress and wondered just how powerful songs and mana could be together.


    But he had also wanted to share his own research thus far. "Yes, that makes sense. We have a theory that this is just a massive stone protection or dome. There is most likely more undead and a ruined area beneath this. The sand wasn''t always covering the ruins. We came in through the roof." Walker shared the theory more clearly and the soldiers along with the two angels looked like they fully understood.


    With this to think about, they could not fathom howrge or how many undead were in this ruin. Yet, they also understood that disrupting such arge ritual chamber would do them good. They would stop the undead below from getting any stronger while also ensuring that they had more space to operate as soldiers. They would get much closer to their own goals from this point on without having to worry about the undead reaching back up to the surface and harming their defending forces that remained behind.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1822 1822. Destroyed Instantly

    The movements of the group were close and quick. They were all ready to face the massive force of undead in the next ceremony hall. They could feel the pressure of mana as the rituals had begun. The lesser mummified priests had certainly begun their process to ensure they awakened more undead. More evil things that would continue to kill as much as they could.


    "Let''s get ready for this." Walker took a deep breath and used the multi buff skill on everyone. He was sure that they would need it since they were about to rush in to the thick of battle. However, his attempts were shaken by a sudden increase in pressure when it came to the mana ahead of them.


    "They are raising those undead!" Everyone heard Walker. It was clearly what the mana and pressure was all about. What else could it be that was causing such a change. The cracking of bones, the sounds of undead, and even the feeling of dread that came around all of them was surely the rise of new enemies.


    "Attack now!" Walker charged in to the chamber and began to create mes instead of another attack. He was sure that fire would be the most time against the high number of mummified worshippers. Even though it was dangerous to use mes in such a setting like the ruins, he had to do what would defeat the most undead at once.


    Yet, when the entire group came to see what was in the massive ritual chamber, they all halted. Silent and in awe.


    The pressure everyone had felt was not the undead. It was the royal dragons. Standing in different spaces with multiple undead torn to pieces before them. Their ws had even torn through the stone coffins destroying runes and shattering the bodies of the slumbering undead. Mordant stood in the center next to multiple lesser mummified priests. They were all shed apart with a slow w attack. As if they were nothing.


    "You have impable timing Walker, we managed to find this room just now and proceeded to end any chance that they will raise these undead. I see that you managed to gather another group to meet us." Ventus spoke calmly. She was the only royal dragon that was not silent other than Rise who was using a light elemental skill to engrave a light draconic rune on the ground. One that radiated the light elemental mana she pushed in to it so that it would cleanse the area.


    "We were about to go to battle against this massive ritual hall. It seems you were faster though." The strength that the dragons had was overwhelming. The weak undead here were nothing in front of them. The entire group of soldiers behind the party knew that they would have taken five if not ten times the length of battle that the dragons did. They had dealt with such a ce in an instant.


    "Then we robbed you of the experience. I assume you also gained the quest to destroy the rituals. We managed to clear eighteen chambers smaller than this and now this one. I believe that we have also managed to find the direct route to therge hall. We would have gone from where you came next." Ventus was still calm, but there was a slight glint of violence in her eyes. She had not shown her battle prowess much. But in thest few hours she had greatly shown her power and violence.


    "Then it sounds like it is time to group back up and march down to the real ruins. I assume you all already figured it out? Those pirs hold this entire dome up. We are breaking in through the roof. The ruins weren''t always below the sand." Walker saw the other dragons react to his words finally. Especially since he had made a move to seal the undead in the sand too. They could all understand what he thought. The theory hade to them as well.


    "That means we might have room to fly. I will bring the light of the sun to them."


    "No, I can rain mes on them. It would end their attacks easily."


    "Stop wasting mana. Both of you know that battling physically will be the best move. We may face a real challenge soon." Current was acting as the voice of reason. Lacking water, he was forced to fight with his strength and not use any skills that required water. It was very annoying and definitely causing him some strain.


    "Current is right, reserve mana since Rise can make them all weaker with the light skills she has. Then Mordant can handle whatever masses there are while Ventus and I head to crush their leader." Mordant was acting as if there were no soldiers for the party even there. He had be wholly focused on defeating the undead himself now. It was odd, but none of the other dragons ignored it. The only one seemingly struggling was Ignus who wanted to burn away the undead and reim the ruins of the me dominator dragon left behind.


    "We are ready to keep moving when Walker finished encasing the undead remains in sands and stone. Alice and I were ready to battle with light but we can hold on to more mana now that you are here." Su took a step to keep in line with Rise. they all knew that the more they relied on one another, the stronger their light skills would be. Especially since Rise had a massive amount of light elemental mana with her. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Very good, I also see that the archer has an interesting arrow too?" Rise was focused on Gil who looked slightly disappointed but also had been prepared for battle.


    "I did, it''s a new way to use damaged arrows. I stuck the arrow heads together to make an exploding elemental arrow. A little of Remey''s potion making and a lot of my arrow making." Gil showed the arrow head that appeared to be ready to break at any moment. Attacked was the tiniest ss vial of an explosive potion that Remey had made. It was just enough to shatter the arrow head on impact.


    "Hmm, very good. I can sense unstable light elemental mana within that crystal arrow head. If you use it, the undead will suffer greatly. I expect you to be using it when we make it to our next location." Rise was showing a lot more interest. It appeared that she had be very focused as well on battles against the undead. Right now she wanted to see one thing and one thing only, the destruction of more undead no matter the method.


    "Mordant, we are heading to therge passageway now. That great hall or whatever will probably have some stronger undead. We will need to let the soldiers heal before pushing in to it." Walker made sure to speak with Mordant calmly. He knew that Mordant had the strongest ability in the ruins because of the darkness mana around. But also that Mordant was very angry when it came to the fact that it appeared those in this ruin had abused any and all darkness affinities they had. It, made him and anyone with the same affinity look evil to the core.


    "I will let the soldiers gather. We are leading a grand battle to whatever leader they have." Mordant''s calm response left only Ignus for Walker to worry about. But Remey was already speaking with him.


    "Gil already bragged to Rise about my explosive potions, but I have more for us to use. These ones have a weird powder ore that was found. It''s called yellow phosphorus. It''s unpopr in alchemy but used in some forging. I managed to add it in to my explosive potions when my fellow founding alchemists showed it off to me." Ignus had been easily distracted by the red and bubbling potion in Remey''s hands. "A bigger space means I can finally let it loose."


    The wicked grin that bloomed between the two made it certain that Ignus and Remey were going to be using these potions for all they were worth. It appeared that while Gil had been holding a new card to use, Remey had been holding one for some time as well. They had held them aside because of the dangers they showed and the brutality they had when used. But now that they had an evil force to use them on and could use them away from others, it was free reign to let them out.


    The defending of their own force allowed Walker to ept the usage of these new weapons. But he also worried that the two were getting a little entric with their creations. The two had made some dangerous things again. The only one that seemed to feel the same as Walker was Midnight, but she was still handing on to a lot of light elemental mana so she did not focus on him or the others too much. She wanted to use a powerful attack when she had the chance as well.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1823 1823. A Worse Undead

    Now that the group had grown again with the dragons joining them, they were in a good position to meet the other groups. Therefore, they made a move toward thergest of the passageways that midnight had deemed the great hall. It was the best way to describe therge space that some of the dragons could even take their full forms in if they wanted. Not that it would leave them much room to move afterwards though.


    The groups that were already waiting had many injuries being healed by the healers. Alice and Su jumped right in finding that many of them had wounds from bones and even a few decaying wounds from the darkness skills of the lesser mummified priests.


    Overall, it seemed that the angels had been the ones to turn the tides on the ranged attackers while the Genesis forces had burned through the forces that moved the stone coffins. This had been confirmed by many of the soldiers who were d to split up and attack where they were needed. But what really bugged everyone was the quest to disrupt rituals.


    They had all expected the quest to end as they reached the grand hall passageway. It wasn''t a ritual area at all so that meant that they should have destroyed the rituals they found here and there along the way. It also meant that they should have at least sensed where other rituals were taking ce. If they could defeat all these ceremonies, then the issue would be stopped.


    "I would say there is another ceremony of rituals happening. And I would also assume it is right in front of us. We also confirmed your theory that this is arge dome and that we are traveling above the real ruins." Once the Fel angels gathered tobine their observations, they hade to this conclusion naturally. Ethan made sure to share the information immediately with everyone.


    "Each stone on the floor has the slightest curvature. We broke in to the side with enough curvature to allow us to slowly walk, but the passageways that drift down are impossible to travel and can not be used for anything but flow of runes and mana over time. That leaves the grand hall as the very top of this dome roof and also the central point that would allow us to travel safely to the inner ruins."


    While this sounded good, the Fel and Rize angels all looked ufortable. While the Genesis soldiers had suffered some wounds, they had not suffered as many as the angels had. Regardless of that though, the fact that there were more undead ahead made them ufortable. The rituals had been close to seeding. Therefore, there would be more undead already awakened ahead of them and still being awakened ahead of them.


    "Listen here! We are marching on thergest chamber ahead. We will allow the dragons to take the lead. They will be using powerful attacks, do not get in their way. Their dragonkin are well educated on the safe ces to be, listen to them. We are going to end this first link in the chain quest!" The one that spoke up was an unassuming soldier from Genesis. However, Walker had already heard a little about him.


    The scorpion traited demi-human had been part of the army when taking over the demonnds. He had also been around when the party first visited the demi-human kingdom as a whole. This alone could just be a coincidence, but now that he was still here and not back in Genesis, it made an important note in everyone''s mind.


    This demi-human had been pushing himself and growing stronger. But more than that, he had developed a lot of respect from his fellow soldiers. Not just because of his strength, but the leadership skills he had. Now that he had taken the final step in leading the soldiers as a whole, no one argued. Even themanders above him had already epted that this was an equal, if not a future general that deserved the respect.


    "A good call. We need to march now or we will fall behind. Stick close and be ready for a good fight." Walker made sure to acknowledge the demi-human before pushing toward the front with the others. He wanted to make sure that those pushing to be better in everything they did had the proper encouragement. The demi-human had definitely earned it with just how the other soldiers treated him.


    "That''s one of the good ones. He was in a group with my dragonkin. He apparently can use his tail to deflect bone spears, arrows, and even weaker attacks while he is able to summon a stone scorpion w. This under the sand ruins is ideal for him." Current shared what had been reported to him. He had not missed the fact that Walker had his eye on a new soldier standing out.


    "I just wanted to give some extra encouragement. This is why Genesis is the way that it is and will be. Those who stand up and push to be better will rise while those that don''t will remain where they stand. It all wille down to how much potential they want to have." Walker made sure that his views rang clearly as Current nodded thoughtfully. This was just a momentary distraction before the real fight.


    As the entire force had rejoined, some had definitely proven to be stronger than before. Everyone had gained experience points for their efforts in defeating the undead and breaking the rituals. Therger ceremony rooms had many more rituals that had been broken causing many more experience points to ring out. This led to the soldiers more than preparing themselves for future battles. It was almost like an advanced training amp with everything risked on the line.


    Before they had reached the end of what they expected to find, a massive stone door blocked the way. Without even thinking, Ignus stepped forward and wreathed his ws in mes. He shed out sending dense mes at the door. Many would have been forced back just by the heat that radiated around him, but he managed to keep that in check while they all watched the massive door shatter and in some ces burn. It was proof that Ignus had long stopped messing around. He wanted to battle with all he had now.


    With The door crumbling, the massive great hall they expected was shown. Inside there were many undead. Lesser mummified priests, mummified amalgamations, mummified worshippers, undead spear men, and two more undead that they had yet to see. Walker was quick to use the all around appraisal on them. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Mummified priest


    Having been more devoted to the false death god, this priest is ranked higher than the lesser priests. In doing so, they have gained the better staff and the better skills of a higher ranked priest. They are able to controlrger amounts of darkness mana to assist in raising their fellow under but also to attack.


    The multi debuff skill; decaying field causes the enemies around the mummified priest to lose some of their strength constantly. It is a rough skill to face since it does not affect the fellow undead around them.


    There is also¡­''


    Walker was unhappy to see a higher ranked priest. But thergest undead that he saw was what caught his attention. It had on thicker armor which meant it was not normal at all.


    ''Undead heavy guard


    The undead heavy guard is the special guard of the false death gods'' ruins. Normally at the surface, the heavy guard would attack any that attempted to enter the resting ce of many. It is an undead that has never slumbered due to the many runes it has carved on the tougher bones of its body. It has one goal and is not controlled at all. It can attack and move without orders as long as it guards these ruins.


    The tough elephant bones added to its skeleton allow it to keep the heavy rusted armor on its body. It is able to withstand physical and magical attacks to a very high degree. This undead is considered one of the stronger of the ruins.


    Many had to perish for this undead to be born. Therefore, defeating it would free many trapped spirits rted to it. These spirits can only be seen with unique skills but cause a natural debuffing field for physical and magical attacks around the undead heavy guardian. This is simr to a curse to those that attack it and to the undead heavy guardian itself. However, due to its experimental nature, it is immune to the effects of the curses.''


    Walker could have read more but he chose not to. Getting in to details on the suffering that came to creating this undead heavy guardian was not what he wanted to know. Instead, he wanted to be able to find a way to defeat it and make sure that there would be no more undead rising from their coffins. He had already seen three or four stepping out to attack them. He didn''t need more.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1824 1824. Just A Little Water

    "The undead heavy guard is the one in armor. It is the toughest here and has the ability to move without control. It is somewhat mindless in that way. It only wants to attack and defend. It is here to protect this ce or wherever it is moved. Be careful since it''s already being strengthened by those priests. But the mummified priest leading them has a debuff, we need to counter the rotting attacks it will hit everyone in the area with."


    Sharing the information from the all around appraisals was a key, but also sharing that these two specific undead were the most dangerous was the most important fact. Especially since the mummified priest had already started to make a move while the lesser mummified priests were attacking as well.


    "Midnight, start it off right!" Walker knew that Midnight had prepared and been holding an attack. The light elemental mana she had condensed was easy for many to sense, but Midnight was especially prepared to show it off. She didn''t even need to be told twice, instead, she moved to the front of the group while the soldiers waited to be able to charge in at the mummified worshippers that were already reacting to their appearance.


    Normally, the light elemental breath attack would be powerful, but since Midnight had held and condensed the light elemental mana in her chest longer and longer, she had been able to make it fuse with her golden mes. The white breath that spewed from her maw was much more dangerous to the undead or anything that was within its range. And that range had also extended.


    "She fused her natural golden me heart with the light elemental mana to create a fire and light fusion breath attack. Ignus and I should be able to use this." Rise sounded impressed But Ignus just huffed at her for suggesting that they worked together. He was stubborn after all, not that he didn''t begin to do so anayways.


    The two watched as the white mes hit the multiple mummified worshipers and even caught on to some of the mummified amalgamations. Even the darkness attacks sent by the lesser mummified priests were destroyed. It was the simple purifying effect that was added to the mes by the condensed light elemental mana.


    Walker knew that it was the same as the attacks he had used on the undead in the first ruins they had ever gone. Unfortunately, these undead could rebuild themselves and his white mes would not be able to maintain a constant burning on them if they repaired themselves after they burned.


    Rise had breathed in and so had Ignus. The two hade behind Midnight who had just lost her mana and needed a moment to gather herself. While the two had not clearly said they easily cooperated in fusing their skills, it was actually child''s y to them. They understood light and mes well enough to make the two cooperate without much effort.


    That was why everyone was easily epting the second wave of more powerful white mes that came together and struck out over the many undead in front of them. While the duration was intentionally shorter, they had more mana behind them. Midnight''s attacks had hit the mummified undead and managed to weaken them. Thebination of Ignus and Rise attacking had been powerful enough to break away some of the runes that were on the coffins. They had perfectly interrupted multiple undead starting to awaken.


    "Charge now!" Mordant gave the go ahead to the soldiers to push forward. He saw the opening and the weakened mummified worshippers. He himself, started to move through the shadows and ambushed two of therger mummified amalgamations. He was certain that he could handle them in one single w attack which would open up another path for the attacksing from others.


    The first ones that saw this were Remey and Gil. Remey moved with a much faster pace to take the lead and ignored the undead Mordant had just struck down. She had the lesser mummified priests in her sights while Gil brandished his daggers behind her. He was slicing at runes while he moved but also utilizing his flow of elven dagger techniques to maintain the safety of the area around him.


    Any mummified worshiper that even got near him and Remey was shed down in a single or dual cut. The daggers were sharp enough to sever the wrappings over the dried flesh and bones. But even more, Gil was using his refined eyes to be able to slight directly at the joints of the undead. Therefore, the attacks caused arms, legs, and even some ribs. His attacks had greatly damaged them due to the extreme uracy. He was even appearing to be in a flow better than what Walker had seen him doing before.


    The speed that the undead were being defeated was more that Walker could keep up with. He was d that some of the earth mages had been there to cover the other undead in sand and earth to trap them before they could rebuild themselves.


    Unfortunately, the entire army felt the sudden lowering of their abilities as they were hit with debuffs. The mummified priest had been able to gain enough space and time to attack while the undead heavy guardian was moving towards the first of the soldiers near ut.


    The debuff was weakening their defenses and would only keep pushing them. Therefore, Alice was forced to start her song. She would have been attacking but right now she had to focus on buffing everyone. She knew that Walker was going to use his multi buff skill over and over, yet, that would not do as much as she could.


    The sweet words that came from Alice were enough to promote a calming sensation to everyone''s minds. But the light that radiated around as some of the Rize angels tossed their own light elemental crystals around to boost the light elemental mana was better. It brought an invigorating feeling that also slightly healed upon contact. The light was simr to strings reaching out and briefly touching those that were most affected by the debuffs from the mummified priest. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Su saw that the undead heavy guardian was moving toward the front row of soldiers without a care for the mummified worshippers, she pushed her way ahead as well. She watched the undead heavy guardian crush many of the mummified worshippers before lifting arge stone coffin cover and throwing it toward them.


    The ng of Su''s shield mming together along with the sharp crack of stone was enough to make everyone shiver. But Su stood strong. She was only pushed back slightly because of how quickly she had reacted. She was not some weak woman here, she was the draconic guardian that had grown more and more powerful every single day.


    "Let''s see what some weak undead can do! Huh!? Think you can eveny a hand on me!" The taunt that rang out made the undead heavy guardian focus solely on her. It was perfect for leading it to crush more of the mummified worshippers while avoiding her allies.


    "Defend!" the shout of warning came from Gil as he noticed all of the undead spear throwings had been guided to attack together. All of them were targeting the same what a battalion of archers would. They threw bone spears at the soldiers instantly and at the same time. If Gil had not had a dangerous feeling he would not have noticed to even shout let alone use his daggers to deflect one of the bone spears.


    "Healers, pull back the injured and remove the bones. Have the earth mages seal them." Walker saw that no one was close enough to push in and crush the undead spear throwers. That meant he had to stop sealing undead and take the initiative here.


    Without any hesitation, Walker pushed forward and began stepping through the air with the wind ripple skill. The dual swords appeared from his high spatial storage. The slight flicker of lightning reminded everyone of the lightning style he was able to use that made his movements quicker. But more importantly, Walker drew in light elemental mana from all of the light elemental skills being used.


    The coating of light elemental mana that formed over Walker''s dual swords seemed to react with the remnant white mes. Walker could only wish there was water around. He had the sense that he would have been able to call real lighting at the moment.


    "Walker, use what I have!" Current had been silent and reserving his strength. But since he could tell what Walker was sensing, he reacted. The instincts of a royal dragon were truly worlds apart from others. Especially from one so versed in water elemental man that he could see where it would fit in ideally.


    The feeling that Walker had as soon as Current sent a mist of water in to the air made his entire body feel like it was guided by an unknown force. Fire, water, light, and air elemental mana fused nearly effortlessly. But the addition of light elemental mana appeared to be the ideal boost to what Walker wanted to do.


    Bright white sparks rippled off and around Walker''s dual swords as he shed at the undead spearman. Their bones cracked and shattered while the force of lightning spread around them. Walker could only breathe in a quick gulp of air before he turned and shed at five more undead spearmen to his left. He could read the systemter for whatever skill he had managed to gain while in a small state of enlightenment.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1825 1825. Another New Undead

    ''The skill white lighting sh has been taken from the white lighting knight. This skill has been learned throughbination with skills thatbine the proper elemental manas, utilize movement skills of the system requiring the skill, and the cooperation of additional buffs.


    White lightning sh- 10 mana cost


    While the mana cost is high, it can be reduced by understanding the fusion and maniption of multiple elemental manas. It is not required to have the affinity with all these elemental manas, but to have an affinity with the fused versions of these elemental manas, lighting.


    The sh gathers the elemental manas to create lighting while focusing on the light elemental mana as a purifying force. It is incredibly strong at fighting poisons, undead, and darkness type beasts. It is stronger when surrounded by water or in a storm situation. It is the prerequisite skill to multiple other skills.


    The user gathers lighting on their sword or ded weapon to sh and attack an enemy. It can be thrown a very short distance but will not be able to hit urately. Lightning must be controlled for that. The strike attacks with physical and magical damage.''


    If Walker were to read the skill right then and there, he would understand that this was a more in depth description of skills than he was used to. This was odd, but would easily be figured out by one specific section of the description. The part where it spoke about a prerequisite skill.


    This meant that this was a base line skill for other skills that a white lightning knight would learn. That alone would be enough to show off how adapt the system of a white lightning knight. But it also showed that the world had started to give more and more information than before.


    From this, many theories could be made, some rting to the way that the world worked. Some that focused on the fact that Walker was always getting closer to the world in some way with his natural mana affinity. But some would create the simple theory that now, the mana was more bnced in the world. This alone might be letting the world move toward how it should have always been. But those theories were something Walker woulde acrosster.


    For the moment, Walker looked at the shattered and lighting burned bodies of the five undead spearmen that had attacked him after he shed through others right in front of them. This had made the mummified priest react and begin to move backwards while it used darkness magic. The reason to retreat was clear, it was moving towards a section of stone coffins that were a bitrger. That might hold more dangerous undead.


    This did not escape the eyes of Mordant, he saw that Walker was making a move to catch the mummified priest. He, in turn, ignored the lesser mummified priests to allow them to fall to his dragonkin. In doing so, Walker sensed Mordant appearing behind the mummified priest while he attacked from the front.


    The sudden meeting of Walker''s sh and Mordant''s ambush of w swipes covered in darkness mana made the mummified priest split in two. Unfortunately, in thest moments before Walker shed again, it vacated all of the mana it had in to the nearest stone coffin. The glow of runes increased before the coffin lid cracked open.


    ''Mummified soldier


    The mummified soldier is one of the more powerful sessful undead. By having runes carved on and in its body, the undead became more powerful while losing all will of its own. It follows close orders and is very deadly since it has a sword attached to its hand permanently. The wrappings used on its body have metal weaved in to increase its defenses.


    It can wield a rotting darkness mana on its sword causing the wounds to bleed and be incredibly hard to heal. This also applies to its sharpened finger bones and toes which can scratch or jab at enemies. The same is for the teeth which are sharpened to be able to more easily cut in to enemies.


    The undead soldier was one that waspletely loyal to the ruler of its kingdom. Unfortunately, that loyalty was returned through destruction of its mind and the forceful alteration of its body. It is unable to think for itself and the soul that lingers is trapped until its entire body is destroyed for good.''


    Walker took in a sharp breath before reading the all around appraisal out loud. He heard Mordant take in a sharp breath as well as he understood the horror of this mummified soldier. This was just a soldier. This entire ruin was sure to have many. That meant many trapped souls that had been loyal to their kingdom but betrayed and tortured to be eternal tools. Something horrendous to happen to anybody, even if they worshipped a false death god. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I won''t stop you from using a little more strength here." Walker saw a glint in Mordant''s eyes. The desire to put this right so they could move on faster. That was why Walker stepped back. It was the only way to control his own heartache for the poor fate this soldier had endured.


    While Mordant and Walker wrestled with this new threat, Su was in the process of guiding the undead heavy guardian toward a small group of mummified worshippers. It had been mming its armored fists down on the ground to hit Su and failing. Its slow speed was easy for her to dodge.


    When it finally swung itsrge arm again, it took down even more of its fellow undead, but with that, it had cleared enough for Su and Midnight to cease its existence. The armor had been an issue for ranged attacks, however, Midnight didn''t need to worry about that. She had been gathering light elemental mana and attacking with breath attacks here and there. Rise was perfectly doing the same, but Rise had shifted to firing small shards of light elemental mana condensed in to spikes from her mouth. A skill that no one had expected but was greatly wee.


    This new form of elemental dragon breath proved that with greater maniption came greater attacks of the same kind. The breath attack could easily disintegrate some of the undead, therefore, Midnight knew she could pass the armor on the undead heavy guardian''s body to defeat it from the inside out.


    Paired with Su who stopped and used the light shield to block the next attack, Midnight was able to get right up close and personal with her target. The moment that she leaped from the ground andnded on the neck of the undead heavy guardian was the moment that Su knew this fight was over.


    No matter how tough an opponent, the closeness of an attack from Midnight could radically change the damage. The light elemental breath attack released and spread from the gaps in the armor to the inside bones and dried flesh of the undead heavy guardian. This left it more or less unable to even move in the least.


    The copsing armor signaled the end of the battle. Every other soldier had already defeated multiple opponents. All that was left were those that had to move with as much speed as possible to separate parts of the bodies and seal them in condensed sand for the time being. There were also those that immediately started breaking runes, cutting down the stone coffins, and looking for further passageways from this room.


    The process was filled with a lot of rushing, but also a lot of sharing of information. Those of the Fel empire had begun to go through as much as possible to exin what they could. Walker''s additional all around appraisal more than helped with what they were looking at. They had seen a lot of dangerous things in their time, one being the undead above ground. Now they had seen undead they had never faced. More powerful undead that needed documenting.


    "There is a massive staircase behind this coffin!" The coffin that was set up appeared to have been a temporary and movable seal for the staircase. It had been moved enough for the mummified worshippers and priests toe up and down. There was a dead silence that existed with it. But even more, was the sense of danger that came from below. As if it was a sign that no one living should dare to move down in to the nest of evil below.


    "We are going to have to keep moving. Before that, everyone drink water, rest for an hour, then eat something!" Walker stopped the royal dragons from pushing on. He knew that they would keep going, but that would leave the soldiers with too much weakness andck of energy.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1826 1826. A Small Stacking Strength

    While the royal dragons showed some unrest in this decision, the entire force was able to rest properly. It also allowed for some of the scouts to check the massive stairway that had been found.


    The scouts had discovered that the stairs were made of the same interlocking stones as the surface. They spread the weight out so it was incredibly hard to break the stones. Therefore, it would hold the weight of many soldiers easily. They could even carry up and downrge items if they desired. That was how some of the stone coffins had made it here and there between ritual rooms.


    This had made the group wonder just what was going on here. But for the time being, they were certain they had done as much as possible. The system had even reacted to prove that there were no more ceremonies going on. The rituals had been broken for the time being. But that didn''t mean that more would not start if they remained resting.


    ''Chain quest: The mummified curse-pleted


    There has been a sudden spike in resurrection ceremonies done by the mummified worshippers trying to bring about their false god. They are cursed by the world for their damage to the natural flow of mana and encouraging the incursion of certain putter elemental forces.


    Requirement: disrupt therge scale ceremony to tribute bodies to awaken the mummified wall guards


    Reward: 1000 experience ritual rune formation broken, 10 heroic points per ritual rune broken, second link.''


    ''The first link has beenpleted¡­


    Chain quest: mummified curse- second link


    Requirement: descend to the true ruined city of the false death god and begin the invasion.


    Reward: 1000 experience for every undead trapped, 5 heroic points for every undead trapped, small insight on manas, third link.''


    Walker and many others saw their versions of the second link in the chain quest appear. They all knew that they had temporarily seeded and the reason that they had to invade was simple. They had to get in to the main ruins so that they could cease any further attempts to raise even more undead. They already knew that thousands slumbered here. Any that awoke would be an issue.


    Furthermore, there was the surprising bonus of a small insight on mana. That meant that every single soldier that participated and seeded in this quest would be able to be stronger overall. While it wasn''t just experience that they gained, it would be a direct way to lower the cost of the mana they used on skills which would drastically improve their battle styles. It would be a massive boost to the army as a whole. Even small increases could add up greatly.


    "We are going to be marching down the steps in a formation. The scouts have warned that there are no rails or much protecting us from falling halfway down. That means we must be careful. You are not the undead, if you fall then you are dead!" Ethan came with the warnings for the soldiers without wings. He also worried that there would be magical skills that would stop them from being able to fly at all as well. He didn''t put it past this odd ruin.


    "After this set of the chain questpletes, you will all need to rest for a short while again. It will be slightly harder to move forward if we do not take the time to rest. But if you do not have enough time to grasp the gift the quest is rewarding you with, let your superiors know. We are going to be getting stronger by leaps and bounds because of this. That can not be achieved if we do not move together to defeat the undead here."


    While everyone had heard Ethan clearly, it was Walker''s words that they dwelled on. Specifically because having a reward so obscure as insight to manas was hard to wrap their minds around. But knowing theplications of the world made it certain that it was a great reward. Mages were the ones that understood it greatly bypassion.


    Some mages would receive quests to strengthen their understanding of their affinity elemental mana. Therefore, they were limited to a degree when it came to their growth. But for the normal soldiers, they were unsure how much stronger they could get. But they did understand that sometimes they received rewards that sped up their recovery time or even allowed them to gain slight enlightenment in a certain battle style they struggled with. Therefore, they understood this was a simr reward. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Walker, if we manage to get this reward, I mightplete the high elf dagger technique. I am close and using it here has been perfect. Forcing me not to use my bow and arrows to a degree since the area has too many allies and too tight of space was what I needed." Gil was fairly quiet while he spoke to Walker. He wanted to keep this to himself since it would be a very big deal for the elves that were with the army. Especially since they had left Alma behind and she would not be there to witness iting together finally.


    "I thought as much. It uses elemental mana to a degree as its inspiration. But when you use the light elf style, you have a little bit of light mana on your dagger des. That means that the high elf technique can suit any elemental mana, right? That means that you might be able to use them the same as you use the arrows. I hope that''s the case." Walker saw that Gil''s eyes were very bright. He had been able to sense the same things but was having trouble catching the feeling that raised his main and really only affinity was Wind elemental mana.


    "Then we can just keep going." Gil tightened his quiver and smiled widely while he headed toward the stairs. A few of the more diligent elven soldiers had been waiting for him. They always treated him better, but their eyes had been on him even more than usual. It was clear that they felt the growth of the elven dagger techniques and wanted to see what would happen. None of them had been able to split their learning to understand all dagger techniques, but a few had asked Gil to teach them corresponding techniques for their dual affinities and other reasons.


    "Don''t get away that quick. I need to make sure you''re fine with something that Ignus and I will do." The rough question from Remey made Walker flinch a little. He had a bad feeling about what he was about to be asked.


    "You already know about the explosive potions I have and that some of them make a st of fire. That''s what we want to use. You also said the scouts found some openings on the stairways. So, why don''t we attack from above? Gil and the elves will attack that way too, so it should be fine, right!?"


    "While I want to say no because It makes me get a bad feeling, yes. I don''t see why it would be a bad thing to attack from so high up. But we should let everyone with good eyesight choose the targets. They might see some things we don''t. Work with the archers." As soon as Walker agreed, Remey gave a vicious, devilish smile that one she could give.


    After just a moment of Remey leaving Walker alone, he heard Ignus growl out with excitement. It was already clear that Ignus was ready to battle more and take back a draconic ruin. But knowing that he was able to use even more force without any worries of angering others was enough to bring him joy. But he wasn''t the only one. The elves had heard Remey and Ignus and also looked for their explosive arrows and any other weird arrows that Gil had managed to help them with. It seemed that attacks from above would be the main attack method as the soldiers invaded.


    "I think that using their attacks from height is wise. But it might have riled them all up a little too much." Su chimed in with exactly what Walker was thinking. Alice just silently nodded along. But Midnight was the only one that looked sad.


    "I know you don''t have any ranged attacks, but that''s fine. I believe that you will do fine." Walker''s cheering up of Midnight brought Su to a realization. They had been so involved with battles that she had not realized that Onyx was still not back with them.


    "Walker, where is Onyx?" The single question added tension to the air.


    "Don''t worry, he is doing fine. He snuck through and guided a small group of Mordant''s dragonkin, the elves, and a few others toward the ruined city already. He told me before he left the range of his skills. I think he is in the middle of a big breakthrough." Walker looked at the stairs they were all entering with a slight feeling of excitement. He knew that Onyx was working hard, so much so that Onyx might be many times stronger after all this.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1827 1827. Onyx The Scout

    "Did you report to brother what we found?" Onyx waited a moment and saw the nod from the dark affinity dragonkin. The group he had taken after had been mostly made of those that could hide within the shadows or move without letting the undead notice them at all.


    This made them have three of the dragonkin directly under Mordant, two demi- humans, and a few misceneous soldiers. One was an elf with a darkness affinity that had grown up in the elven city. They had been one of the few that were able to use darkness mana while also being a ranger.


    The reason this was odd was because most elves hunted during the day and did not have a darkness affinity unless they were a dark elf. But this ranger had been able to gain a darkness affinity and also had a more unique system called a dark ranger. Therefore, they had been in charge of some night hunting and night protection of the city. When they came to Genesis, they fit right in and soon joined the forces leaving with Walker''s party. This was simply just the best process for them.


    The reason it was all so important was simple, they had grown very fond of the abyssal serpents and little heavenly serpents. The small interaction they''d had with them was when the little abyssal serpents had spotted them hiding in the shadows while doing a night patrol of the city. From there, they had be quite fond of the little serpents ying tag in the shadows. So much so that Onyx had allowed them to be one of the many babysitters and waters of the serpents as they had started to grow.


    There may have been many that did so, but not many could y the same games and hide within in sight to help the little serpents grow up faster. To learn to spot dangers while keeping a lighter heart. When it came to this being the case, Onyx grew very respectful of the dark ranger and weed them to apany his group to scout the passageways and stairway they discovered.


    When they had all discovered that the stairwell had changed and was open to see the ruins below, they had sent one of their group to report and wait. Now they were back to moving down the stairs. Their goal was to search everything below and report back with the best n to head deeper in to the ruins. However, as they descended, they learned more and more about what they had not expected.


    The ruins were not some abandoned and dead stone city. Instead, there was evidence of trees here and there. Bushes and fully grown farms. Not that any of them were living now. They were all seemingly petrified in ce. Like they had been somehow turned to stone with the life sucked out of them.


    While this was unnerving, it proved that the city had not always been some deste pce. It had once been alive and prospering. There were also ces that appeared to have once been a small market or town square. Things that most ruins would not have once they had been left for so many years without upkeep.


    Yet, again, there was the fact that the city appeared to be more than met the eye. It wasn''t in a ruined state. There were no piles of rubble or broken stone. Some dust, yes, but nothing that screamed ruins. Someone had cleaned things up as they fell apart. Even some stones appeared to have been poorly reassembled. As if the hands that had done it were attached to a drunk and not a talented craftsman.


    "There are a few undead here." Onyx managed to spot them while the group of his moved faster down the stairs. They reached the bottom without any issues and discovered a group of undead holding short swords attached to where their hands should have been a shields in the other. The small round shield were made of what only could be bone and wrapped in a dense white fabric. The swords had rusted slightly but that had given them a more dangerous appearance.


    "These undead are tougher. I will report it." one of Mordant''s dragonkin moved back torn apart the dangers of more deadly undead below. Especially the fact that they guarded the bottom of the stairs. Luckily, the group was well versed in hiding and the undead didn''t show any sign of movements.


    "Move this way, toward therge building to the side." The building wasrge and appeared to have once been a ce of storage. Inside, they found that there were empty stone coffins. The door which had once been there had long disintegrated. Most likely it had been wood and slowly rotted to dust over the years.


    What was astounding were the small piles of sand everywhere. It was not the yellow desert sands but they were small piles of white sand. The same that was already theorized to be part of a curse. That made everyone more ufortable. The reason being, that the sand shifted ever so slightly when they neared it. As if attracted to anything that might be alive and has any moisture in it.


    "Be wary of the white sand. It is cursed. We should avoid it inrge quantities." Onyx noticed this but didn''t do anything but warn those that were not able to hide in the shadows. The undead were more deadly here and the curse that they all knew about was apparently stronger. But the area was cool. Almost cold. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Theck of sunlight had been able to keep the sand buried ruins cooler than if it was open to the sun. The dim light here was odd though. Onyx was looking for the source wondering why he could see well without needing to use his natural night vision. It wasn''t that he was an abyssal serpent that he could see but because of something bringing a safe kind of light that didn''t affect the undead. Most likely something from many years in the past that the undead no longer needed. Most of them didn''t have eyes anyways, they were rotted undead bodies.


    Without much effort, the group skirted by the undead around the stairs and toward the light. They soon found a massive crystal pir that radiated mana through it. The light was from the mana and not from actual light elemental mana. Instead, it was the crystal naturally giving off the blue glow of what Onyx could feel was water elemental mana. Naturally, the pir and white sand all around it. A seeming counter to the white sand and the curse that made the sands steal away water.


    "The undead are smart enough to leave these here and allow the sands to remain. That''s why the curse hasn''t destroyed thempletely." Onyx had a revtion then and there. The undead already had dried out and brittle bodies regardless of their strength. That was because their bodiescked the natural water even in the average skeleton.


    Yet, when the curse attacked them, the white sands stole the water to disintegrate their bodies and return them to the natural flow of nature. But without doing so, the sands of the curse constantly attacked everything causing the desert to grow and be worse over time. That was why the world had issued a quest with such a high reward.


    The issues with these wyverns could be managed. They would be a terrible species to fight, but they were headed toward bing a kind of intelligent race already. The undead here would never reach that. They would breed death and pain. They would ruin the entire world and push in to everything they could to destroy for their false god. A drastic difference between the Rize and Fel empire territories and issues.


    "We are going to send another to report this. Then we are heading inside those other buildings. We need to make our way to therge temple." Onyx had spotted one ce that had stood out over everything.


    Onerge temple with massive stairs all along it leading to a massive tform. This tform was clearly set up for arger ritual. The guarantee that Onyx felt was that there were powerful undead within that temple. Undead that were waiting to be awakened and brought to the surface. That was why things were so quiet. The rituals above had been stopped but what was happening below was still in the works.


    As if to prove this, there were sudden sounds of marching. This made all of the group hide and watch as over a hundred undead mummified soldiers marched by them and began moving in to other stone structures to retrieve stone coffins. They were preparing.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1828 1828. From Up High

    "Wait, three scouts returned?" Walker knew that they had just started moving down the stairs, but the fact that three scouts hade within just a few minutes of one another was a bad sign. Especially since the army was just starting to descend.


    "The first scout said that they had undead right at the bottom of the stairs. That means a fight. The second said that there were many empty stone coffins around and they were being moved. The third said that the scouts are about to enter thergest building where the most undead are moving in and out. They wanted to let everyone know that they would have to enter there for them in battle."


    Gil had been the one to speak with the scouts. It was easy to see that Mordant was preparing mentally for a real battle. The undead that the royal dragons had faced were nothing inparison to what they could do. The fact that this space below them was the real ruined city proved that they would be able to take a more popper form.


    There was also the added fact that the party was ready to support the dragons in finding the me dominators'' ruins. The legacy there was what Ignus would be after over everything else. Especially if the undead had dared to break or harm it in any form. That would cause all the dragons to run their rage as fuel for their skills and attacks on the ruins.


    "So we are going to meet after we handle the undead at the stairs. I assume they would be stronger if the scouts came to warm us." Walker nced at Su, "Onyx and his group are doing well. They managed to get very deep in these ruins without any trouble yet. But I think they will be preparing for an all out attack soon."


    The reason that Walker had this feeling was simple, he knew that Onyx had saved a lot of light elemental mana. So much that he had been processing it and able to grow slightly in his time just resting on Walker''s shoulder in the desert. For a monster like an abyssal serpent, the constant sunlight was a huge boost to his health and for him to store the much needed mana for battle. Not to mention the fact that he was now in such a dimly lit and shadowed area that was high in darkness mana. It was the perfect bnce for Onyx with his dual affinities.


    "That''s not all though. There was more. Some water affinity magic rune pir. Apparently, it has some water mana trapped in it that attracts the white sands. The scout said it was older so it was most likely there to help nts and such in the city. But now it was left to help the sands avoid the undead. They are smarter down there." Gil''s voice took a deeper tone as he repeated what he was told. The scout had reported and left with the other two immediately. They had to return to their jobs as well.


    "Now that''s not good." Remey sounded annoyed more than anything. She didn''t want to deal with more of the sands that they had already figured out were cursed by the world for the things the monsters here had done.


    "So the sands were definitely part of the curse and the undead someone figured out how to avoid them. I kind of hate that.'' Walker was very annoyed. Even Midnight was growling slightly. She was very unhappy to hear that she would have to worry about sand sticking to her scales and ruining her looks. But her pride aside, she was very annoyed that the undead would be using something very valuable like special runes to block the natural flow of the world.


    Just as Walker had been getting closer to the world, Midnight had bonds with him. She too had been growing closer to the world. Without her noticing, her affinities had been growing too. She had trained in different elemental means. That Was normal, but she had used them and mixed them now and then. Not to the degree that Walker did, but enough for more natural mana to hang around her and flow through her body. Therefore, she felt wronged hearing that the undead stopped the world from returning them to the natural flow of things.


    "If there is water mana down there, that''s a very good thing. What would happen if the more powerful undead suddenly found that they were more hydrated?" Current had been keeping himself silenttely. He had done a lot to keep everyone from overheating and bing dehydrated. But now that he saw a way to use his strengths again and stop relying on physical force, he was excited.


    "So you can make them get encased in the white sand. It won''t bother us while we crush the weaker undead." Remey was right behind Current in this n. It did seem that the turn of a bonus to the undead in to a bane for the undead would be a great way to make use of what was all around them in the ruins.


    "Gil, this seems to be the spot. You should take the lead. Remey and Ignus too." Walker saw the starway change. The opened up section made it feel that they were a little freer than before. But it also brought some stress. The stairs went well in to the airpared to where the ground was. The massive interlocking stone dome that was made clearly took a lot of effort. It also blocked all the sun. it was a mystical thing when realizing the depths of the construction and the knowledge needed for it.


    However, that was fanatical. Those that worshiped a false death god had also been obsessed. They had been able to force terrible experiments on their fellow people while also creating such a thing. Countless lives would have been lost to make things along with countless undead raised. The entire thing was amazing but also tragic. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    From where Walker was, he could see the massive structure that Onyx had sent a scout to tell them about. It was simr to a pyramid but had more steps. Therge tform on the top also proved to be covered in a high density of darkness, death, and other manas. Walker could only sense them slightly from the highest he was at, but he was still able to sense them.


    With sharper eyes, the archers could see some of the trees andrger bushes that had be ghosts of what they could have been. The once vibrant life that could have been here was stuck in a deathly state. Unable to rot away and return to the proper cycle of life. The elves in particr felt a sense of dread while witnessing it. A sense of pain that made them want to fix it all immediately.


    "Now for those arrows." Gil looked down and spotted a moving group of undead. His arrow was the odd one with multiple light elemental arrow head pieces fixed together. On the tip was a very small vial of Remey''s explosive potion. The perfect bnce of unstable and dangerous. In a single breath, he drew it and released the arrow. The slight amount of wind that gathered around it pushed the arrow toward the direction he intended.


    The arrow was not able to fly far due to the added weight on it, that was why Gil had used the wind to boost it. However, he had also understood the unstable nature of his creation. The fact that this arrow was only good for ces that he would not hit an ally at all.


    The arrow seemed to fall for far too long. But when it did, every single soldier saw the results. A single burst of light followed by multiple smaller bursts of light. Some of them even appeared to be shards or spikes of light that jolted back upward in to the air. The resounding bang that followed a secondter was enough to prove the force that had just hit the undead group below. "Now that, is an arrow that can clear the undead. Fire!" Gil shouted and multiple elves fired simr arrows with lesser weight.


    "Don''t let them outdo us. Ignus can fly in here and I can carry three bags of my potions!" Remeyughed like a mad scientist when Ignus grabbed her up after Walker returned her potion bags. He had asked her what they were potions for and now he knew. He just worried that Remey was getting out of hand by making so many when she could have focused on healing potions.


    The following explosions of light arrows and the red mes of explosive potions were enough to make every soldier shake their head. They nearly felt bad for the undead groups moving below. Especially as they saw Ignus holding Remey in the air and dropping the explosive potions on groups of undead that were trying to carry stone coffins. A vicious aerial attack has begun.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1829 1829. Chaos For The Undead

    While there was a lot of awe and stopped soldiers while the attacks rained down from above, there were also many undead moving. From what the archers could spot, many undead had emerged and begun to look for the source of the attacks. There were also undead that used spells to create ces with dark shields.


    The dark shields were a skill that Gil and the rest of the party had seen before. Dark wall was something that the darkness mages were able to use to block many attacks. It used darkness mana and their own shadow to make a wall that defended them. The fact that the undead mummified priests could use it was to be expected.


    What Walker could see as he had descended was also the rising quality of the undead. He did not spot many of the lesser mummified priests and only saw groups of mummified priests. That also meant to him that there would be many more high ranked undead when the soldiers tried to invade the massive central building.


    As much as exploring the entire ruined city would be important, they all understood that therge building, the pyramid, was where they should go. That had many undead going in and out with the stone coffins which meant there would be a ritual happening there to raise them.


    This also meant that this was the most likely ce for the me dominator dragon''s ruins to be. It had been below the ground here somewhere which meant that the me dominator had gone far to make sure it was protected. Unfortunately, this twisted race had somehow found it in a desert and built over it using decent rune formations. Then they became much worse and started twisting their ideals and seeking greater power. Therefore, they tried to break in to the legacy of the dragon and became undead.


    It was a rough guess at the actual events but it was enough. Now the n was simple. Since Ignus, Remey, and the archers were moving slowly to maintain their attacks on the ruins, the soldiers were marching faster. They would get to the bottom and the archers would be behind them. If all went well, then a lot of the weaker undead would be broken and could be trapped while therger and more powerful undead were injured. This could make them easier to defeat.


    "I can see three more of those undead heavy guardians. They are marching toward the stairs and will most likely be an enemy for you!" Gil''s shouts made it to Walker. He was ready to face whatever threat he had to. With thest battle just above he had managed to find a better form of swordsmanship to use. The lighting style with the white lightning sh would be great to carve through the tough armor of the undead heavy guardians marching towards them.


    There was also the added bonus that Current was beginning to sense the many rune pirs with trapped water mana. He was able to easily feel it and take control of it. Then he would be able to use that mana to lead the white sands to attack certain undead. It would be the same as nting traps. A little water mana here and there would cause the undead to be trapped by the very curses they caused.


    "We are pushing ahead." Ventus saw that Ignus was taking advantage of the wings that the royal dragons had in their dragonkin form. She wanted to take to the air as well and knew that she could skip the stairwayspletely.


    "I will head down too. Midnight, you too." With a leap off the edge, Walker and Midnight took to the air trying to glide down. Walker used the wind ripple skill to step here and there while Midnight utilized her wings. The skeletal armor ovepped her body making it appear that she had another growth spurt without Walker even noticing.


    The winged demi-human soldiers also jumped while the Fel and Rize angels didn''t see any reason to stay behind. The Genesis soldiers left behind would join them shortly, they were just going to use their wings to clear the path below in advance. It also showed off the superiority the angels had when it came to versatile battle styles using their natural wings. They didn''t want to keep being outdone by the new forces that had shown up to make waves between their two empires.


    It was also easy to see that the Fel and the Rize angels had long passed their differences to the side. It wasn''t because they had the desire to make friends and forget what the others believed. It was the very simple understanding that the threat here was not caused by either of them and would cause a lot more damage if left alone. Just like the wyverns would have tried to take more territory and been a gue to both empires, the undead were a gue here.


    No one would have missed the very clear future that the undead would bring both the empires. An entire continent of cursed desert that would dry up the oceans next. The many undead roaming while new undead were created from every single innocent being that dared to breathe. Too many dangers that no one wanted to worry about under any circumstance. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Su hadn''t missed that change in cooperation. She had already started to reinforce it when she heard the Fel and the Rize angels interacting. They had shared their knowledge of light elemental skills with one another. That had also drawn in the dragonkin that Rise had brought with her. That left them all speaking about was to use the light elemental mana against undead enemies and how to get stronger. A very good way of bonding.


    The fewments about the Rize empire and a dragon named Rise hade up. But the moment that it did, the light affinity dragonkin had moved and mped hands over the angel''s mouths. They knew very well that their royal dragon would not take kindly to an insult. They also understood that the foolish angels might rte their royal dragon somehow to the formation of their city. But that would be foolish. It would just cause some trouble. For now though, they did their best to make sure the pronunciation were correct and no new allies were lost to an insult of a dragon many times stronger than them.


    Stepping down from where they were, Walker was not surprised to see that Rise had carried Alice down. It seemed that she was very happy with the way Alice used her skills. The songs seemed to greatly please Rise while also showing her the unique ways that Alice could manipte light with just the will behind her melodies. It enlightened Rise who felt she had long made her way close to the pique of what she could do with light elemental mana before she tried going in to the light elemental ne where she would be weak byparison.


    "Alice, Rise. if you two want to start setting up an area of control, we can deal with those undead soldiers." Walker saw a nod from Alice and Rise. the two seemed to want to begin like that already. Especially as the light elemental angels flew down to join them. They had be somewhat of an unofficial force that followed the two by this time. Not to mention the light affinity healers that also joined Alice in everything she did because of their close ties to the cathedral and education around Alice.


    When Current and Mordantnded next to them, they saw the damaged undead heavy guardians meeting up with the mummified soldiers. They knew that they would be able to challenge one each with their physical strength easily. But Walker had moved ahead of them already toward one of the undead heavy guardians.


    "As much as he says he wants peace, that smile on his face says he is more of a battling dragon than he admits." Current''sment before he made his move to charge in as well proved to be exactly what all the dragons had thought when they saw Walker in battle.


    As Walker had never noticed it, the serious expression he usually had was long gone. He had slowly shifted to a brutal smile while he solved the problems of battle. While he used mana in different ways to attack. While he felt himself getting stronger again and again. It was the same feeling that came with any reward after a lot of work. But for Walker, it also came with the knowledge that he was making the world a better ce for people. They he would be able to help others with this effort. That''s what he was thinking as his sword stabbed forward toward the gap in the undead heavy guardian''s armor. Right by its knee.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1830 1830. Invade The Ruins!

    The shes from Rise''s ws came with dreadful consequences for the undead. Each sh was simr to how Mordant would wrap his ws in darkness mana and send out long ranged attacks with them. But when it came to Rise, she added light elemental mana. These attacks easily cut through the undead like butter.


    This led Walker to immobilize the three undead heavy guardians by using the white lightning sh. It was enough to cut their knees in the small spaces of the armor they wore. Stopping them temporarily was perfect for lining them up. Rise just had to sh at them and end their lives while the earth mages came behind to seal them for as long as possible.


    The added bonus of Alice''s song became a buff that slightly gathered around every soldier as they began facing the mummified soldiers. It was enough to both weaken the undead struck and help the other replenish their energy.


    The flow of mana was a little harder to grasp since the darkness mana in this ce was ovepping with what the group wanted to handle. Not that it was an issue for those that use the darkness mana. Once Fel empire angel was standing out significantly when it came to what Walker and Mordant could see.


    From what they had learned, the angel that was directly working under Ethan was known as a shadow whisperer. It was a mage that dealt with the darkness mana of shadows specifically. While he was not able to hide in shadows or move through them, he was able to do simr things as Alice but much smaller.


    The whispers he used were embedded with his mana. At a word he could create spikes of darkness from his shadow that pierced over twenty of the mummified worshippers. Even greater than that was when he used his skill to raise multiple dark walls made of other soldiers'' shadows. He was both offensive and defensive in this area because he had more mana to manipte than he normally would.


    He had been sent because Ethan needed someone to counter some of the lesser mummified priests'' darkness mana. Yet, now that he was here, he was showing off the strength of the Fel empire very well. So much so that a lot of the dragonkin and mages had begun working with him. His support was perfect for weakening the undead that were grouping up and trying to push in to the soldiers'' formations.


    Midnight was also using her abilities in the shadows to her advantage. She had been able to tear through the undead very well by replicating Mordant and Rise''s use of w attacks. What had surprised Walker was when she took her dragonkin form as well and still manipted the mana around her ws. But what truly took his breath away was when she used one w with light elemental mana and one with darkness elemental mana.


    It was easy to see that this hade from Onyx. She and Onyx were very close. To her, Onyx was her little brother. But when it came to elemental mana, Onyx was the boss. He could control darkness and light elemental manas together within his body to feed himself and to battle. Therefore, it would only make sense that she learned from him. It was the same way that he had learned from her in battle. To put force where it was needed and to sneak through the shadows better. They had both worked together to be stronger in these respects.


    All Midnight had needed were examples to follow. The two elemental dragons with her were royal dragons thought to be at the very top of what they could do in their own elemental affinities. The light and the darkness opposed one another but had worked well together before. Midnight used her past experiences and those she watched before her eyes to unlock skills she would naturally learn sooner.


    This made a very impressive show as Midnight struck out against the undead again and again. The wings on her back pped out pushing some wind as well, knocking multiple mummified worshippers down or in to a stumble. This gave her the freedom to attack over and over without losing her pace. Let alone being stuck by a single undead.


    The attacks from above gradually died down. A silence that made everyone feel shivers slowly crept over them. "This doesn''t feel right." Su had rejoined the group and was watching the surroundings. There were no undead arounding from buildings or even trying to group together. The only undead in the distance seemed to be retreating from the area toward thergest pyramid which the army would be going toward next.


    Before Walker could speak back to Su, a rumble began. The entire ruins seemed to shake slightly as darkness mana surged around them. The entire ruin was in chaos around them as the mana seemed to be manipted by an unseen being. Runes lit up here and there as the mana surged. But suddenly a cracking sound stopped it all.


    A set of runes along the nearest building appeared to have shattered due to weakness. This was the case over many different areas which had stopped any control over the entire ruined city. While that made many breathe a sigh of relief, it also presented an issue.


    "I can not halt that control. The runes around are able to bolster whatever controls that mana. I have a lot of control over darkness, but even with a grand elemental spirit as my backing, we can not forcefully remove whatever that was." Mordant put a nail in the coffin by saying that. Everyone understood that royal dragons were powerful. Yet even he couldn''t stop that and take over control.


    "That has to be whatever impurities seeped through. That wasn''t only darkness. The feeling that chilled us all was worse. It was death. While weak, it stopped my light for a second. That is what controls all of those undead." Rise had sharper senses as a light affinity dragon. However, it appeared that everyone with light affinity had sensed that most of all.


    "So basically, you''re saying that Ignus and I just bombed those undead constantly just to have it do nothing? That whatever undead death darkness monster thing is in there can stop purifying, raise more undead, and then ignore our attacks?" Remey appeared to be more than unhappy with what she had heard. She and Ignus might have just returned to the group a moment ago, but they both looked angry.


    "That is exactly the issue. That monster is our target. Mordant can weaken its control of darkness. Rise can use her strength to deal with whatever guards it has. Ignus and I will burn it to ash. That is all we need to do. The rest should destroy more runes." Ventus saw a clear way to make them get the upper hand. Her calm thinking and flow of battle strategy never ceased while they fought. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Then that''s what we do. All the soldiers will spear out on their groups and begin destroying runes. It looks like we have some distance to cover until we can get to the pyramid there. That means we have a lot of undead to fight." Walker''s eyes turned to the chain quest next.


    Chain quest: mummified curse- second link


    Requirement: descend to the true ruined city of the false death god and begin the invasion.


    Reward: 1000 experience for every undead trapped, 5 heroic points for every undead trapped, small insight on manas, third link.''


    ''The second link has beenpleted.


    Chain quest: mummified curse- third link


    Requirement: the runes around the mummified ruins are causing the undead to rise, repair themselves, and worse. Destroy the runes to weaken all the undead.


    Reward: 300 experience for every rune destroyed, 2 heroic points, insight on rune formations.''


    The chain quest seemed to be helping them understand mana and runes so that they could handle the issues around. But for the moment that the invasion started and the undead were forced back, they had all gained something.


    The reward to have insight on elemental manas was different for everyone. While only a small insight, everyone felt that they were slightly closer to what they had been training. That was why Midnight had so easily brought together the light and darkness w shes during battle. They had already jumped in to battle.


    For the others, these insights just smoothed out their training. While some soldiers had been close to a breakthrough in understanding already, it had been thest little bit they needed. Now the army would be able to use their skills more efficiently in the longer battles toward the pyramid itself. Towards the source of the undead and the issues they faced.


    "Walker, I will need you to help me out here. I have an idea." Gil just needed to ask, it was clear that he had gained a lot more from an insight on mana than expected. Especially since he was preparing his daggers. It meant only one thing.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1831 1831. Results Of Insight

    "You are going to take advantage of the small insight you just got in to multiple elemental manas so that you can fullybine and refine the high elf dagger technique. I had a feeling." Walker smiled as he saw Gil''s eyes sh with determination.


    "I knew that everyone would get some insight in their affinity rted mana. That made sense. But when I was sitting here, I was thinking about how the elemental mana seems to be attracted to the styles I use when I battle with them. You saw it with the light elf dagger technique. I Can''t control the mana but it wraps around the dagger slightly and gives me more strength."


    "I am not like you, I don''t use natural mana but it''s definitely clear that the high elves used to be able to. I would say that they were high elves because they knew how to skip their affinities and call out all of them using their dagger styles and bow styles. Specifically, they could bring them all toward them and use natural mana in their dagger styles to be able to counter anything."


    While this was impressive, Walker could only nod his head. He had thought of something simr when Gil had bounced ideas off him before. Whenever they rested, he and Gil seemed to find a few minutes to talk about their progresstely. It was just friends talking, hit now, it made a lot more sense. Walker would never have been able to influence the dagger styles of the elves. He just wasn''t as passionate to fuse them and discover their intentions. But Gil was, he could do that and find new ways to reach the origin of the dagger styles.


    Because Gil had such passion, it made Walker understand himself slightly. He too had his own goals. Lately, he had focused on natural mana and the other manas around. Life mana and death mana being the focus with a bit of space mana mixed in. These ideas had inspired him while Gil had been inspired by the fusion of all elven dagger techniques.


    "Elven soldiers! Report to me when you have finished your rest!" Walker boomed out over everyone. Gil just smirked while heading to the edge of the temporary camp. He was going to start the lead toward the pyramid while Walker kept the elves upied with other orders. This wasn''t to stop the elves from learning of Gil''s attempts but to keep them from breaking his concentration.


    The elves had epted Gil as another elf. Not as a human. But because of their admiration to the human that had fully immersed themselves in to elven culture, they had grown attached. It was the same for any hero or general. Their soldiers would do anything for them. Therefore, the elves might get over excited seeing Gil begin to seed and identally break his concentration at a key moment.


    "I will be asking all of you to take the rear position. No matter your range of attack, I want those with forwardbat ability to search the buildings near you. Those with long range physical and magical attacks will clear enemies lured out by those with forwardbat ability. Those that can sneak will monitor the rear from any reforming, rear attacking, or other enemies that may try toe through hidden sections in this ruined city. I trust the sensitivity of the elven race to be able to protect us from these threats. We can not get ambushed while we carve our way through at the front!"


    The change in positioning was harsh for the elves. They did not expect to be separated from their groups in this way because they had believed they would maintain their groups and follow Gil. But Walker had given them enough warning and exined that their high sensitivity to mana would be imperative. Especially since Elvers were naturally in tune to their mana more than other races. It was simr to the way angels were but without the need for exterior mana at all times.


    "Dragonkin, follow the orders of your royal dragons and take the lead. The demi-human soldiers will be backing you now. Your strength will carve through the weaker undead faster." Walker was changing things for everyone. Some of the other soldiers already saw where they fit in and began moving. The humans in particr began taking the support roles.


    It wasn''t that humans were weaker, but they had less advantage than other races. They did not have mana sensitivity like elves or the general strength boost like demi-humans. Nor the toughness of a dwarf or dragonkin. But their minds worked well. They could adapt and alter their movements to support others perfectly. That was where humans gained their superiority to stand among the intelligent races of the world. Adaptability.


    The royal dragons noticed things changing along with the rest of the party, but they all trusted Walker. Especially those that had fought beside him for a long time. The angels wondered what was happening since the groups they were about to separate in to were changed. But when the angels saw that a tougher formation had been created, they felt proud instead.


    The angels had thought that they would just divide and conquer. Yes it was risky, but they had powerful dragons. They had gotten somewhat arrogant. As if they had realized this and were about to alter their battle styles, a leader had already caught everyone and managed to bring them all back to focus. It was smart and efficient. Praise worthy for those that saw it and acted on it. Therefore, the angels respected Genesis just a little more if that.


    The moment they all began marching forward was the moment that the ruins pulsed with a little more dark elemental mana. It seemed that whatever had just failed had seeded in a small way. As proof of this, a few undead finally showed themselves. "Gil, it''s on you now." Walker pointed at the mummified worshippers ahead of them. The side buildings appeared to have housed many of these worshippers and now was a ce for them to hide and store more stone coffins. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As Gil dashed forward, other groups went in to the stone homes looking for runes to break. Their jobs were simple. Lure out undead and destroy the runes. The process could be done easily while the rest of the forces focused on the enemies ahead.


    While the party took their ces, Su prepared to rush in and defend Gil if need be. But what they watched was his flowing movements take advantage of the slow mummified worshippers. "That''s the water elf dagger technique. See the slightly blue mana around his dagger?" Walker mumbled this but the others heard him. Especially Current who was unsure what the party was holding back.


    But they did see the slight blue water elemental mana gather. A tough aplishment since the water elemental mana was not very bountiful here. Yet, the pirs ced for years and years had trapped water elemental mana. Gil had managed to attract some of it regardless of his affinity. An amazing aplishment for some.


    "There''s the shift to wind." Gil''s body turned and leaped in to the air with a series of quick dagger stabs breaking apart the head and shoulders of one of the mummified worshippers. It was fast and looked as if Gil had hovered for a moment.


    "Now for the earth style." Walker watched as Gilnded and took a strict stance. Immovable as one of the mummified worshippers struck out. Gil met the attack with both daggers and didn''t even move an inch. His defense was solid while he followed up with a brutal cross sh attack as vengeance. "That was the fire elf technique.


    The changes were wless. Each style used to attack and defend in the best way. But when Gil seemed to duck and dodge under and behind the target, Walker was seeing the dark elf technique for the first time. Eh had not seen Gil use it yet because he had not watched Gil train. But here it was. A style that relied on dodging and hiding away behind targets to defeat them. Very great for assassination or major hits.


    The white light that gathered around Gil next was an added bonus since Alice had long begun to sing again to help everyone get a buff. But for Gil, the light elemental mana had been attracted by his dagger style. He used it to sh downward and deal devastating damage to another mummified worshiper.


    This wasn''t the end of it all though. The more undead lured out by soldiers the more that Gil pushed himself to join the fray. The rest of the party didn''t need to watch anymore. They trusted Gil to continue on without worry. They could separate and begin destroying runes now. Their focus was not needed right now. The small reward of insight on mana had already proven useful to many. Now they would use that insight to fight.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1832 1832. Combining Parts

    "Walker said it was all connected. A cycle of elemental manas that came together to form natural mana." Gil was mumbling to himself. Some in his own head and some out loud. But he had not stopped since he started letting his body follow the hard trained movements of the different elven dagger styles.


    It had been a long time since Gil had made his muscles memorize every single movement he could discern. While some had been easily learned from elves, others had been taken from ounts. Books from older generations. Or even ruins that were still not tranted fully. All of it would be tougher to understand if he didn''t have the help of the elves of today''s generation.


    This didn''t mean that he was ahead of anyone though. Many of the elves had heard of his goals and begun to learn. The elemental dagger techniques had already started to resurface. Especially since the elves had begun toe together again. But there had been friction.


    Not every single difference had been erased. The dark and the stone elves had been able to rectify their differences over many generations of istion from the world. They chose to keep their union locked away from the rest of the world for safety and growth. But that wasn''t followed by all elves.


    The water elves and the fire elves had the same issues. Some of them wanted to assert their dominance over their elemental affinitypared to others. That was why Alma had so much trouble when the fire elves had begun to join them in Genesis.


    The elves had all taken different sections to create their own homes. The water elves were near the rivers and got along amazingly with the merfolk. But the fire elves had wanted more space and a hotter environment. That would have encroached on the water elves'' cool water. This had caused basic spats and arguments between the two showing why the elves had split in the first pace.


    The small differences would grow in torger issues over time. Just the call of the dagger techniques wasn''t enough for them to look and study each other''s styles. Instead, they wanted proof that the high elven ways could be brought back. That the high and mighty elves that had wielded multiple elemental manas and united them many generations ago could even be glimpsed.


    This had been the stubborn stop that Alma had found them at. The fire elves had refused to go further and the water elves remained stubborn as well. They had blown things over the top and imed that they would not budge unless proof that the different elven ways could be brought together. That the hero of the elves would show them the proof since he had so highly pushed the high elven dagger goals on everyone.


    As this had been one of thest issues that Alma had faced, Gil was not oblivious when they were leaving Genesis for this adventure. For this major quest to keep everyone safe. With this thought in the back of his mind, Gil had been worried the entire time. The elves that came with him were getting along greatly, but that didn''t mean that they didn''t have hidden enmity with the other elves. That they also weren''t waiting for some sort of reason to split back up.


    The elves had split and a generational and elemental gap had formed. This was an issue that gued Gil while he trained. Even here, on another continent, he strived to put the pieces together. Every single dagger style he shifted between was wless. He had trained and was able to switch them instantly, but that was the issue.


    With every sh and shift, Gil defeated an undead. The mummified worshippers fell to the flow of the water dagger style and then were brutally shed by the fierce fire dagger style. But that was it. He used each one separately. That was why he was growling to himself within his mind about how he had to fuse them. How he had to unite them. That was why he was so trapped when he felt the small insights to elemental manas as the reward from the system.


    The inspiration had been small, but Gil had been watching everyone. Asking the elves, the mages, and anyone he could get his hands on. Especially the elemental royal dragons. While some had barely given him the time of day since they didn''t understand why they should help him get stronger, he had still asked and gotten some answers.


    It wasn''t that the dragons didn''t care, but a dragon got stronger through their own effort. Gil did not hate them for this but understood that he was going to have to find these answers for himself. That he had to understand the elemental manas more deeply and put them together. Therefore, when the system had opened his eyes more, he saw that flow of elemental manas around him more clearly. Especially when Walker brought them together in his body. When the natural mana that was attracted to Walker and Fleur condensed around him.


    The tiniest of feelings had awakened within Gil. this tiny feeling that he was on the edge of something. This was his small insight. That the natural mana was everywhere, that elemental mana was just part of that. "I have the parts, I need to make them whole." that was what Gil had felt scream through his mind.


    The elemental elven dagger techniques were perfectly crafted parts. They were amazing alone. Yes, they could even support entire kingdoms and groups of elves in everything they did. But they were parts.


    This understanding began to shift how Gil saw himself. It was as if he was looking at his body. He could feel and sense the jerky shifts between the different styles. How he was striking fluidly then stopping and forcefully changing his stance. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It may have looked to others that he was ideally executing moves. Even to his party members, it was a flow to them. A perfect style. However, it was just using parts. The next mummified worshiper that came near Gil found itself locked in his gaze. It wasn''t that Gil was doing anything, but the mana around him was being drawn toward the styles. That was how closely the elves had developed their style based on their neutral mana affinities.


    When Gil had felt the enemy approach, he had let his instinctse over him and act. The odd way he moved used the darkness dagger style but he felt something else. A steel in his muscles. As if he had used the earth dagger style to take a strong and powerful stance with toughness in mind.


    Gil''s body moved around the undead worshiper and then struck upwards with force. A dodging and agile movement with the power and stability of the earth elven dagger style. The melding of earth and darkens had been enough to change the mana flow around him while also opening Gil''s eyes.


    This was like an explosion to Gil. he felt his heart beat faster and his eyes open wider. The world around him seemed to have faded a little. All that mattered was the battles and the instincts within him. He stopped caring about the reasons behind fusing the dagger styles and the fact that they were one style, not many.


    As this event happened, Walker looked on and felt a change. The change had brought him from his sealing undead in sand and breaking of runes. The reason for this was because he had felt the mana shift. When he found Gil, Walker could see that the small amount of mana that normally attracted to each style had begun missing. That Gil''s movements had melted together. He wasn''t just attacking with single moves anymore. He was seemingly making new ones that were half one and half another.


    "He''s doing it." Walkerughed a little because this was an amazing sight. Gil did not have all elemental affinities, but the dagger styles were attracting significant elemental manas to Gil and mixing them. Specifically, they were blending the very same way that Walker had first learned to mic elemental manas to create natural mana.


    Therefore, Walker and a few mages reacted. They sent mana toward Gil. For just a few moments, Walker watched as a mummified soldier charged at Gil. Yet, when it approached, the mana shifted and Gil appeared to gain much more strength.


    In a sh, Gil moved to dodge and sh at the mummified soldier. The loss of an arm was nothing to it. But to Gil, it was the start. The natural mana that had gathered around him was strengthening his body. Making the dagger strike and break away the undead.


    The thing that shocked everyone was that Gil''s next overhead sh caused the mana around to ripple. The same way that Walker could when he used small amounts of natural mana to attack. But the result that no one expected was that the dagger strike caused the mummified soldier to crumble to dust. As if it had been severed from the control of the enemy behind it. Gil had been the first to properly purify the undead that had been causing issues for years.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1833 1833. High Elf Dagger Style

    There were many eyes on Gil as they all realized what he had just done. The soldiers weren''t the only ones that had frozen when the mummified soldier had fallen to dust and was not starting to move back together. The undead had also sensed something wrong and hesitated. This was proof that wherever was controlling the felt the attack somehow.


    "Defeat the nearby undead and push harder!" Mordant shouted out. The invigorated replies of multiple soldiers proved to make all the difference. While Gil was panting from the over exertion, he had shown them that they could destroy the undead. It was a major step.


    "You managed to do it, huh?" Walker approached Gil with a mana potion in hand. He also had a small health potion. Gil hadn''t noticed it, but he had gained many scratches, scrapes, and forming bruises from battling the way he did.


    "It just makes sense now." Gil finally responded after drinking the potions and grabbing Walker''s shoulders. "There is mana always around us and it just is. But the styles replicate the way those manas move so that they can be used to some small degree by everyone. Even the elves without the affinity, they should be able to use it. That''s what the high elf dagger technique was. A way to fill in the weakness of an affinity."


    The excited words and emotions that Gil had going on was enough to make anyone stunned. He had not reacted with such fervor before. "Then the high elves took the styles and fused them in to multiple. They weren''t ever supposed to be elemental styles but moves. They are moves and the high elves had been able to mix them to create a better flow of moves and and and"


    Walker grabbed Gil by the shoulders to calm him down this time, "and then the elemental manas mixed in to natural mana and gathered on the dagger. You felt a boost to your entire body then shed. It used all the styles and natural mana to purify the undead. That means that using natural mana can sever the link between the undead and the one controlling them.


    "I didn''t think to use pure natural mana every single time I attacked. I never do that. It only use it to boost individual elemental manas or to help others boost themselves. If you attacked with natural mana alone, then I should be able to make a simr skill or attack. But should I really use natural mana to attack?" Walker was mostly talking out loud. But Gil was smiling like a fool. He saw that his own quest had beenpleted when it came to the high elf dagger technique.


    Yet, Gil was more focused on the feeling he had. He could still feel natural mana within his body. As if it was trying to settle down there. He knew that he had a high wind affinity, that was just as it should be. However, he had spent time around Walker and been influenced by natural mana a lottely. This had to have some effect on him since the natural mana that came to him was not dissipatingpletely.


    This feeling was the same as being woken up. As if half his body had been asleep and slightly numb for his whole life. "Walker, I am pretty sure that I will have a small affinity with natural mana now. I just feel it. That dagger style. The high elf dagger style can help people awaken affinities. And since you had natural mana around all of us at all times¡­" Walker opened his eyes wide and his jaw dropped.


    "Then you were able to awaken some form of natural mana affinity because you were influenced. I get it, and the dagger style draws in natural mana which wouldn''t normally happen with your system as an arcane archer or any form of rager or ranger. You basically broke the expectations of your system since you shouldn''t be like that. It''s awesome." The two seemed to be bonding over this while the undead seemed to have retreated.


    "So, I know you two are binding, but can we keep moving? Gil looks fine enough to go off and sh some runes too. The other elves all just saw you too and are kind of upset. You shouldn''t show off like that." Remey wasn''t being mean. She left Gil with a soft punch to the shoulder. A sign of encouragement and congrattions while also reminding the two of their goals here.


    When the two looked at the elves fighting vigorously, they understood it clearly. The elves had sensed the return of something that was lost for multiple generations. While there were not any high elves, their styles had been returned. Specifically, the high elf dagger style that had been revered as the top of the closebat styles to follow for any elf. It would radically improve their people to see and learn it.


    On top of that, they saw their own weakness in Gil''s sudden change. They all understood that while he was younger, he had aplished more than them. He had managed to be their pir of strength. How could they defend him if they were just some weak elves?


    "I would say you lit a fire under them for sure." Walker prepared the multi buff skill again and released it toward the groups of elves heading in to the small stone buildings. Their efforts would not be ignored since they were working even harder to prevent everything. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Don''t just stand there. We saw that too. You have to use your manas to defeat the undead and cease their regrowth." Current stood in front of the two and was demanding their action. But the two didn''t seem ready to do so yet. That was why he was slightly angry and demanding. He knew that things could move faster and that the party could take a more dominating role in this battle.


    "I have to learn how to make an attack with natural mana. I use it to boost others and share mana to make skills stronger. Gil can''t use that high elf technique constantly. If he does that before we face the real undead problem¡­" Walker left it at that. He knew that Gil could now battle with the undead at a much higher level than many of the others in the entire army that they hade with. Especially when they got inside the pyramid and found more powerful undead. They all knew that they would find them there.


    "Current, take the time to let them rest. They will be more importantter than now." Current had been on edge since there was so little water to use on his attacks and just in general. That was why Ventus and stepped in and calmed him down. She understood that she could manage things a little while in the ruins since she would also be at a disadvantage with the tighter spaces. Especially when they went inside the pyramid. She would be able to handle things where.


    "I saw that as well, the attack was what we needed. I expected as much." Ignus nodded. He didn''t seem as fired up as he was before. Instead, he seemed calmer than earlier. It was odd since he should usually be angry that the undead had retreated and were nowhere to be found all of the sudden.


    "Both of you can purify the area. That is a good thing. Now stop waiting here." Rise snapped at them from the air. She had taken Alice above the others to heal everyone and to also help spread light elemental mana around. Alice just kept up her song but definitely looked more energetic as well. She knew that they had another valuable attack to use against whatever undead was in charge here.


    The only royal dragon that did not approach was Mordant. He seemed to be pushing further ahead than all the others. One of his dragonkin had just returned and given him a report. Clearly, the information was important since he had begun rushing toward the pyramid. It also proved that the scouts had been working hard. In that case, it meant Onyx was working very hard.


    "Now that you two have discovered a way to fight, the world might share more information with us. The rewards of elemental insight and next, rune insight might be important. They might be the best way tobat these undead." Su had calmly returned to their side before speaking. Her mind had reached out to these possibilities first. Especially since it seemed that they would be making more use than everyone expected of the rewards the system gave. The rewards that were guided by the world.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1834 1834. Worse Ahead

    While the soldiers all had a lot of morale boosts due to the fact that some had witnessed an undead bepletely destroyed, they also understood that they were not done with their jobs. Although they had neared the pyramid, they were finding more and more of the death runes on the buildings, stone coffins, and even on the stone roads that they walked on.


    "Some of the false death runes are carved roughly. They are new too. It means that some undead can carve them." Walker had been watching the runes they found carefully after he and Gil had finished talking. He couldn''t focus on what they had witnessed Gil do too long. Other things came up.


    "That''s a problem since we have only seen the lesser mummified priests and mummified priests. I doubt they can make runes like that." Su wasn''t just hinting at what everyone else was thinking. She was sure that there was more. "There has to be a high mummified priest that''s doing it. Or a mummified rune carver. We already know they experimented with undead. How could they not make something like that?"


    "I knew you would say that. But I can''t break those things like Walker or Gil will. So how do we deal with that?" Remey seemed more frustrated knowing that she would be very limited in battle with an even more powerful magical undead that focused on resting more undead.


    "Fire and light." Midnight grabbed on to Remey''s arm and made one of her ws light up with light elemental mana. She made a punching motion. Midnight had stayed in her dragonkin form after she had seen the other royal dragons fighting. Now that she could use the light w attack, she wasfortable remaining like that until she saw a more powerful undead to fight. Then she would go back to her dragon form to give it her all with elemental dragon breath attacks.


    "Yes yes, my elemental knuckles can do damage too. But If I had a natural elemental knuckles then I could crush them forever." Remey and Midnight both wished they could use the natural mana but were both staring at Gil and Waker hoping for some sort of guidance.


    "The high elf dagger technique just fuses the small amounts of elemental mana they attract. It''s not really something I control. It just gathers it and it boosts my body. But it also costs me a ton of mana and energy to use. You saw me after I used the high elf technique once." Gil tried his best to get their curious gazes to shift away.


    "I will work on a way to buff everyone''s weapons with natural mana. But I still need to figure out how to imbue an attack with only natural mana. Gil''s style gathers mana all around him. The natural mana is just resting on his de and in his body. But it''s also because he has an affinity with natural mana because he is around it so much. His body grew to ept natural mana. All of you spend a lot of time near me too¡­"


    This was the same with spatial mana. Walker had seen that the others might awaken a storage skill or a skill with spatial mana because he used it around them all the time when using his storage skill. Therefore, the same had happened with the natural mana. It was very clear that as they had all leveled up and trained, that the natural mana had been able to seep in to their bodies. This would be odd but for the fact that it was very healthy.


    Natural mana was the key to the world in an essence. It was the perfect bnce of elemental manas which made up the world. This could be seen as the foundation of all things that they knew to a degree. Thus, the party would all have some affinity with natural mana develop.


    Midnight already had one due to her bond with Walker. She also had all affinities because of her unique blood and being a true dragon champion. Su also benefited from this as she was rted to Midnight through binds as well. Her earth affinity would be stronger while she gained more affinities. But it was worth pointing out that she also had a light affinity by always being around whalers and training with them.


    For a lot of those that had seen this and understood things about affinities, it was stunning. Many people would grow up and only have the affinities they were born with. Only in unique situations would anyone gain other affinities. Yet, here they learned that being exposed to a certain mana for long periods of time while growing could cause them to develop an affinity. That did make sense though. Everyone adapted to the life they lived while they grew up.


    "Fine fine fine. I will figure things out when I can. But as soon as we find a way to make a natural mana attracting knuckles that attach to my gloves, I am using that thing every day!" Remey pointed at Walker knowing it would be him of all people that figured this out.


    "I think we should be worried about what the undead are doing. They retreated after that attack by Gil." Ventus voiced her worries. She wanted to ensure that they were really safe for the moment while they were destroying runes. It was easy to see that an intelligent force had made the undead retreat. But would it still let them keep breaking away the runes it needed to keep attacking the rest of the world?


    "I would expect them to be preparing to defeat us. They already know we are attacking on arger scale. Whatever undead is around wants us to walk in to a trap." The surety that was behind this theory made a lot of sense. However, it was the one that said it that shocked everyone. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Right in front of everyone was Onyx and the other scouting members. They had all revealed themselves from the shadows. "Onyx, good job. But what do you mean an ambush?" Walker wanted to praise Onyx and the other scouts more. But his words and sudden appearance put everyone on edge.


    "We managed to enter the pyramid but had to retreat after just a few corridors. It houses powerful undead. Even some undead monsters. Some which are preparing to ambush at the closest row ofrge stone buildings. They look like lizards but they are covered in metal spikes and bandages." Onyx motioned with his head for one of the scouts to move forward.


    The scout showed a drawing of what they had seen. It was exactly as Onyc had said. Therge size was easily more than would be able to be taken down by the average soldier. It would be an ambush that could take down half the army if not more! Not to mention the fact that the undead could reform and be a much harder beast to face as it attacked them from behind after reforming.


    "Can you show me where? I will get an all around appraisal on the undead so we can prepare better." Walker didn''t hesitate to start moving. Mordant also joined him so he could help them hide in the shadows while getting more details.


    The sudden changes made the soldiers stop. They could take this chance to rest for a moment and also prepare for a harder battle. They had all known this woulde. Dangerous undead that were more than just mummified worshippers, soldiers, or even the heavy guardians that required them to work together to defeat. These undead were made for killing and nothing else.


    Rise took charge along with Su and Alice to begin healing and preparing anything they needed. The pushing from Rise was enough to ensure that every single soldier, no matter their affiliation, worked hard. She was the driving force behind a lot of the blogger pushes to purify the undead here.


    "I don''t like the idea that we might be facing undead monsters. We already know that some of these undead used the weak dragon blood in them to be these twisted things. What would happen if they had worse monsters?" Mordant said this as if he was trying to avoid a future he had seen.


    "I thought of that too. It''s why I keep holding back so much and relying on the soldiers to work on the weaker undead. It''s the same for the other dragons too though. There''s enough space to use your dragon forms out here in this domed city. You all know there are worse things though." Walker pointed out the obvious.


    "Like an ambush. We should be prepared and not give away our actual strength." Mordant spoke softly before they hid themselves in the shadows following Onyx toward the pyramid.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1835 1835. Starving

    The shadows that the three used to hide themselves were thicker than normal. A group of ambushers would definitely be careful for any slight disturbance. They had to be ready to pounce on their enemies if they wanted to be able to properly ambush anything.


    "This is the ce." Onyx brought them to an open space. It seemed thatrge roads had been made all around the massive pyramid. While it was barren now, there were signs that this had once been a popr and flourishing market area. Naturally, it made sense. This was the focal point of the city.


    "If this was built to worship a goddess of nature or growth, then it makes sense. A ce where all the produce and goods would be brought is right near where they worship. But now¡­" Walker didn''t even want to say another word. He hated that some ce like this would seem so deste.


    Just creating a ce like this would be a massive achievement. But one test of strength. One single famine had caused an entire intelligent race to fall in to madness and be monsters. If these beings had strived for more and resisted the temptations of evil, then they might be yet another race that stood high in the world. A race of advanced beings different from the dragonkin and lizardmen all together. Not monsters, but powerful in their own right.


    "This is the cost they paid for losing their way. It can''t be fixed now." Mordant''s solemn voice just reinforced the depressing feelings that Walker had. The tragic sadness that was just what anyone would feel when they realized how much was lost because these beings had turned their backs on the natural flow of the world. Turned their cks on their beliefs because of one failed experience.


    "Those streets are the trap. It''s open and therge stone buildings are filled with stone coffins that are empty now. It''s the perfect ce for them to hide." Onyxx directed the two toward therge stone buildings. They had been some form of mercantile warehouse or goods storage at some point. Many years ago for certain.


    Now, they held attackers. Violent undead waiting for their prey to walk on by. "So that is why they retreated. The undead leading them realized we were arger force than before and has decided to ambush us and destroy us in one swoop. Efficient, but foolish." Mordant knew what he would do in opposition to such an attack. He would show his draconic strength and destroy the enemy. The undead was different. Devious and brutal in the methods chosen.


    "Let me get closer for an all around appraisal." Walker used his darkness mana maniption to draw more of the shadows out and around him. To anyone watching, they would see the shadows shifting slightly, but other than that, no one would notice that Walker was there.


    What Walker saw though, was much worse. He could make out the shapes in the darkness of the storage area easily. His ability to use darkness elemental mana made it easier for him to sense things in and around it. Therefore, he could sense the general shape of therge undead monster hiding.


    ''Mummified spiky lizard


    The mummified spiky lizard has had its bone spikes reced with metal spikes to make it more deadly. This process was done while the spiky lizard was alive and caused great pain. In that process, the basic intellect of the spiky lizard was lost making it a nk te to be controlled.


    The mummified spiky lizard can use its spikes to dig in to many opponents while fighting. Because the spikes are covered in dried rotten flesh, it makes the attacks have a very high chance of infection. There is also the fact that the wrappings on the body of the mummified spiky lizards are dusted in different poisonous powders.


    These are very dangerous undead monsters created with a brutal mind. These mummified spiky lizards should be destroyed or they will repair their bodies to attack again. However, they have a very high weakness to fire due to the fact that they have been active longer than many other undead around them.


    These¡­''


    Walker could have read more from the all around appraisal. Yet, he didn''t feel like dragging himself any lower by reading about the brutal experiments done on these spiky lizards before they had been made in to undead.


    Upon walking back toward Onyx and Mordant, Walker shared what he had learned. "I think that they began experimenting with monsters first. Then they gained strength within their own race and caused them to be fooled. The one behind all of this grew too strong and took over. That''s my theory." Walker ended his exnation with this. The theory of how the city and race had ended up like this made a little more sense.


    "Every race has its evil. I assume this evil was lucky enough to grow in silence before they took over. Ignus will be d to hear this though. Weakness to fire and the fact that the closebat fighters should not approach." Mordant was sure that he would y a role in trapping some of these mummified spiky lizards. He could stop their movements while Ignus burned them to ash. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Brother, the undead with them too." Onyx had mentioned more than just he spiky lizards. From what Walker saw, there were five mummified spiky lizards. However, he had not evaluated the other undead around. They looked simr to the mummified worshippers so he had not focused on them.


    ''Starving mummy


    The starving mummy is an undead that was starved and then changed in to an undead through specific methods used by a high priest of famine. This act caused the mummy to be exceptionally ravenous and brutal in its attacks. The bones of its fingers have be cut and sharp by its contact wing.


    While the starving mummy will attack everything it can that is not like itself, it will also sometimes attack itself just to get a single bite of anything. Its hunger can never be satiated, but it will attempt to do so with anything living.


    They have a very high speed of regeneration because of this powerful hunger that assailed them in life and death and now undeath. Furthermore, they are able to resist elemental mana attacks with this obsession over hunger.''


    "That will be a problem. They are resistant to elemental manas because they can reform their bodies faster. They can all attack themselves and others at the cost of harming their enemy. They will also eat anything that lives. Meaning, they want to eat us alive." Walker saw the starving mummy scraping at its own unwrapped bone arm. Its ws cutting in to it as if trying to tear away flesh that was no longer there as a snack.


    "It is the one I worry about after the lizards. They are many while the lizards are few." Onyx had managed to count them all. He knew exactly the number of danger they would face. "Five mummified spiky lizards and twenty starving mummies that want to destroy us and eat us." Onyx''s words were heavy, but important. Unless Ignus used more strength, then even he could be overwhelmed for a short time.


    "Then we have to let Ignus battle openly, or we all fight him. It hurts that there are more than there should be when ites to enemies. They are spread out too. They block every path we could take. Even if we start to circle around toward the opposite side of this pyramid, I have a feeling they will prepare more for us to face¡­" Walker''s thoughts were simple but troublesome. From what he could tell, the undead had nned to attack their army here. It was an easy attack too since theirrge space around them could be a better route to move the ambushing undead in to position again and again.


    With this new information, the three slowly retreated. Walker made a point to sh away any runes he saw on the way. It would hopefully help them in the long run. It also might make the undead in control shift the positioning of the ambushing undead slightly. But it was unlikely since the army was all in one spot and about to head to the pyramid.


    "I think we will send Ignus to battle. It''s the best option and Ignus will be able to do the most." Walker said this to Mordant specifically. It just made sense to reserve overall strength while Ignus kept the undead outside at bay.


    "I agree with that. Ignus can do more outside than inside. His mes here will be able to handle many more undead as they escape the pyramid or try toe to the pyramid." Mordant''s agreement was all Walker needed before they reached the army. He would ask Ignus immediately before he had a few words with Onyx.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1836 1836. Burn Them To Ash!

    The figures appearing from the shadows was enough to bring the party and royal dragons together. A few of the angels moved as well. But from what everyone could tell, the angels appeared to be suffering the most. It was something that Walker took note of before he even made a report or put his n in to motion.


    "Ethan, what seems to be the issues? Both you and the Rize empire angels are slower and look worse off than before." Walker didn''t say this to put them down. It was his worries that made it clear to them that he was trying to ensure their safety over all else.


    "Mana, you already know how an angel relies on their wings to gather mana for us. But here, there is only that odd toxic death mana and a lot of darkness mana. We are all different affinities andck the mana we need. We are losing elemental mana crystals too fast as well." This seemed to be worse than Walker executed.


    "I was lucky to stock up then. I always have a lot on hand when ites to my spatial storage. I have to keep a lot on hand." Walker had emptied his storage when they set out on their journey, but that didn''t mean he left behind important items.


    Since the storage had been emptied, Walker had gotten rid of excess monster parts, weapons he would never use, and odds and ends that just piled up. He had kept potions, elemental mana crystals, his useful weapons, and the things he needed to use the portable forge skill. Otherwise, he had the newest items he had found or been given sinceing to a new continent.


    Upon seeing the many elemental mana crystals that Walker had, the angels immediately looked to be in better spirits. Once they each started to take the mana crystals, the other soldiers also started to get a little more upbeat. Even though no one had said anything, when they had seen some of their fellow soldiers weaker than before, it had affected their mentality. These things were always there when it came to an army mentality. They could be swayed one way or another based on feelings. Morale was important!


    "What did you find? Any way around an ambush?" Gil was the first to ask. He was sure he could fight now, but as Walker had said, he should prepare for worse battlester. The fact that the high elven dagger style could allow him to manipte the natural mana to even the tiniest degree and attack with it was amazing. He had to use it when he needed it most so that they could destroy powerful undead without needing to seal them in sand.


    "We were able to find the mummified spiky lizards. Monsters that were experimented on and ruined in to old and brutal undead. But they were not alone." Onyx started recounting the things Walker had used his all around appraisal on. "The starving mummy is the worst since they will do whatever they need to take a bite and eat things alive. They are faster and regenerate faster. All that''s left of them for life is the feeling of hunger that they wish to fulfill."


    This left a silence among those that listened. A being that died of hunger was brought back just to keep feeling the torturous hunger that had killed it in life. A terrible existence for those that had no choice in how they suffered during life. "We can rid them of this forceful resurrection." Rise softlymented on what they could do. She would dly purify them forever so that there would not be any suffering.


    Compared to those that suffered as experiments, the starving mummies were more pitiable. They had no choice in anything just like those experimented on. However, they also perished in another way that most likely happened before the ruler of these undead hade to power at all.


    "The idea is that we can''t just let them wait for us out. They can move wherever we move since there is a very clear cut market area around the old pyramid. Even the buildings there arerge enough to hide many undead from us. That means we can only face them. Or we could only have one person face then." Walker took the lead after Onyx finished telling everyone what they had scouted.


    "You want me to deal with them?" Ignus was slightly annoyed that Walker was trying to look at him and put everything on him. He was a royal dragon and should be respected more. How could they just drop it all on him.


    "That''s not just the pain. Because you can take your full form here and can easily reduce these undead to ash, we want you to handle it. The spikes on the mummified spiky lizards and the wrappings on their bodies have poisonous powders all over them. If we touch them we are poisoned. But if you burn them, the poison is gone and they can be sealed or continuously burned."


    The exnation with Mordant nodding behind Walker helped to calm Ignus a little. "Then I will stay here too. The earth mages will move inside the entrances of the pyramid with Walker at the lead. They will handle the undead here. Between Ignus''s mes and my wind, we can create mes that constantly burn the undead to ash. No matter how fast they regenerate." Ventus saw that the reason Walker wanted Ignus here was simple, a guaranteed defense against undead that were ravenous and quick to heal themselves. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I didn''t want to lose two of you here, but the undead that might be hiding around the city¡­" Walker knew that there were surely more mummified worshippers and starving mummies around. The entire popce of this city had be undead. Therefore, it was easy to guess that many of the undead would fall in to these twomon species. Two troublesome species.


    "Then we will turn them all to ash. I can let loose a little." While Ignus took this in stride and relished the fact that he could stretch his wings in his full dragon form, Remey appeared a little saddened. She had been fighting with Ignus and enjoyed someone with a more brutal style that matched her head first battle style. She also had been taken to the sky to throw explosive potions and crush many undead while they descended to the ruined city. A perfect reason why undead had retreated earlier.


    "Bring the mes of battle within and crush the undead there. I will not ept anything less." For Ignus, he saw promise in Remey. It was her attitude, but also her devotion. He had seen many dragonkin dedicate their lives and dragons dedicate their lives in return. Hut when he looked at other races, he was always disappointed. Yet, Remey was an outlier along with the rest of the party. Unshakable devotion to her interests.


    The fact that Remey dly threw aside her other wants to create affinity potions among other things was enough to change his mind and fill the gap he had when it came to humans in general. "Pfft, my fists will do all the work. Your mes will have to do work out here." Remey''s stiff reply was enough to prompt a growl from Ignus. Yet, no one saw it as unfriendly.


    Without any warning, Ignus jumped in to the air and left them all behind. The roar of his that echoed through the ruins next was enough to probe that he had taken his full dragon form. "Well, I didn''t expect that he would actually like working with another person. A human at that." Ventus was less rough and even smiled kindly at Remey before taking flight herself. She would help Ignus after the poison powders were burned away. From there, she would fuel his mes and let them burn undead constantly. It would stop them froming back for a long while.


    The rest of the soldiers began taking their positions. Onyx''s fellow scouts had already told them about the entrances and how they would be moving through each one to make the most of things. However, they also told them about the fact that they could not scale the surface due to powerful dark elemental skills stopping many from trying. Even Mordant had backed this up saying that he wouldn''t be able to force his way through.


    "Onyx, you did really well this time. I can''t say I wasn''t worried, but now we are going to do much better." Onyx didn''t reply to Walker. He silently took his usual spot on Walker''s shoulder and enjoyed the praise while he prepared himself to fight undead. They had a lot of work left to do.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1837 1837. Enter The Pyramid!

    Heat. That was what everyone could feel. The somewhat cool interior of the massive interlocked stone dome had been blessed with heat that was unlike what they felt outside. This was for a simple reason, battle.


    Ignus had left them with a roar and a feeling of security. Every single soldier knew that Ignius could easily handle an entire army of undead by himself. Therefore, when he left, they had expected that he would attack and defeat the undead in record time. What they didn''t expect was that he would use mes that were much hotter than they realized he could create.


    The fact that the royal dragons had been in their dragonkin form had limited what the angels and some soldiers realized was possible. Because they had a limited view of dragons battling, they had lost the fact that the dragons were always holding back to protect those around them.


    It wasn''t just the space that limited the dragons. They could easily use their full forms and barrel through the ruins. The spaces wererge enough to some degree for them to fit. If it was too small, then they could just smash their way through without any issues. But where would that leave their dragonkin? Where would that leave their allies? Where would that leave their goal to properly end the undead that definitely had tricks up its sleeve?


    Now the strength that Ignus kept in check was able to be put on full disy again. The angels in particr were some that had never seen such a monster in terms of strength. The mes were as bright as the sun, but perfectly guided toward different stone buildings. Many undead even rushed out towards therge red scaled dragonnding here and there to open the roofs of the stone buildings and send mes within.


    The follow up attacks after Ignus had blessed the entire former market area with mes was a singlerge gust of wind. This came from arge green scaled figure of Ventus flying higher in the dome. Her winds were controlled with the perfect bnce that would increase the duration of mes. They kept burning to prevent the undead from reforming under any circumstances.


    The metal spikes that had been attached to the mummified spiky lizards had not been able to resist even with the rune carvings on them. They had melted in to molten puddles that would be unable to reform. Even if the mummified spiky lizards had the chance to reform their bodies. They would be in a much easier to defeat form than before. Theycked the normal bone spikes since they had been reced.


    The starving mummies and mummified worshippers were different. They were trying to reform but had no way to resist. Even the additional speed of recovery that the starving mummies had was nothingpared to the mes that were blossoming all around them.


    As the soldiers marched forward, they witnessed even more incredible me control. Ignus wasn''t just burningrge areas. That had only been to remove the poisons that were around first. He was now focusing small dots of mes on every single pile of undead ash that he found. That way, they would not regenerate at all. It meant that in just the smaller space that the soldiers could see, Ignus had over fifty undead constantly burning.


    The awestruck faces of the soldiers and angels only grew more amazed as they did the math. They could understand being so powerful and firm in control that fifty mes were able to be manipted. But hundreds? That was a level that they never thought attainable. The only ones to act as if this was normal were the dragonkin that had full belief and devotion to their royal dragons. They knew exactly how powerful those they served were. Their loyalty wasn''t something they gave just because of what they were as a race. It was rightfully earned by the dragons.


    "The entrances are unguarded. We can not climb the pyramid but we will enter!" Walker gave the order as Mordant, Rise, and Current took the lead. The massive openings were very ornate. Compared to every single stone building, this was the only one that did not look rundown or even close to what a ruin should be.


    The runes all over the pyramid were intricate and coursed with mana. They were in use and clearly being manipted to allow for the defenses that kept the soldiers from climbing the pyramid. Such strong rune formations were ancient and closer to the origin runes that the group had seen before. Yet, they were also strong enough to stop a dragon from forcing its way through. An example of why these undead had to be stopped.


    When Walker tried to use his all around appraisal on the entire pyramid, he only received information on the outer parts. Unfortunately, the pyramid was much like every other building here. It was made with interlocking stone pieces. A brilliant architectural technique that managed to keep things stable for many years. But it also made his appraisal identify all of the pyramid as parts and not one whole. Therefore, he couldn''t get information about what it was used for overall.


    Upon entering the massive entrance, the heat seemed to die down instantly. The entire inner passageway of the pyramid was strangely quiet as runes pulled with mana. "I would say there are some sort of barrier runes here. The temperature isn''t changing which means Ignus probably wouldn''t be able to send mes in from the outside." Su had a feeling that this was the case with many elemental mana attacks from the outside. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That means that even the light attacks from the outside would have done nothing. I dislike this ce immensely." Rise was looking at the runes with disgust. She could feel some of the light mana being oppressed by darkness mana and the odd false death runes. The feeling was enough to make her want to attack the source of it all even more. She didn''t just want to purify these undead, she wanted to thoroughly defeat them.


    "I can''t even get a proper all around appraisal. Everything is made with locked parts. The runes were carved before they were ced together. This race was very smart. But they fell to this state¡­" Walker was very impressed with what this race had done before they fell. He wished that they had not be undead. If they still existed, then the entire Sigil continent might be more united. Might be stronger.


    "That doesn''t matter right now. We have to understand what we are walking in to. More runes, more mana, and more danger." Walker saw that Current and Mordant had be fully focused on the fact that even the white sands were not here. Whatever had been done with runes and mana had stopped even the biggest curse sent by the world to handle this undead. That meant the undead was stronger than they had believed.


    "Some runes are new." Alice stopped them to look at the runes near the floor. They were clearly carved from the older stone walls. New runes that were made to add to the strength of the existing formations.


    "Good eye, I nearly missed those too. I bet we can cause some trouble by cutting it to¡­damn." Gil tried to cut the stone with his daggers and found that they didn''t chip at all. The stone had mana over the top perfectly holding off damage. He would have to use much more force to break these runes.


    "Another problem then." Current growled a little as he spoke. He already had to tolerate being in a pce with very little water elemental mana. He had barely been able to gather some from the water crystal pirs around the city. And now, they were unable to break away the runes around without destroying too much.


    "We can wait to destroy the runes after. If we do it now, the entire pyramid might copse and hide the undead we have to stop." Onyx also seemed to want to begin using attacks to destroy the runes. He had hidden away and not attacked much at all. Now he was ready to use all the light elemental mana he had stored up. He would be able to properly fight and defeat undead to clear up this gue now.


    "No. we can destroy the undead first." Alice spoke calmly before starting to sing. She and Gil had looked up from the runes and seen the approach of undead ahead from the leading group. Therge passageway allowed for the undead toe in a group of ten across easily. But it wasn''t that the undead came in a small group of ten. It was their appearance. The difference in their strength was evident.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1838 1838. Brutal Mummies

    ''Brutal mummy


    The brutal mummy is a mummified soldier that was over saturated with darkness and death mana. The manas were forcefully added causing the mummy to be more violent and able to be controlled through mana with much more ease. Those that allowed this to happen were the most loyal corrupted soldiers.


    This has caused them to maintain some of their muscles, especially since they were kept from the cursed white sands. They also have the ability to poison others with decaying aura when they strike with their bone ws and sharpened teeth. This causes a decaying effect on the body of the living that also causes the affected to weaken for some time with debuffs to their healing abilities.


    These mummies are tougher and will recover at a faster rate the closer they are to the source of their control. The wrappings on their bodies are also made with small bits of bronze to help resist magical attacks. Especially fire elemental attacks since they could be weaker to them.


    The best way to defeat them is from a long range position. They are mainly closebat monsters because they desire to tear apart their enemies up close and personally¡­''


    Many more things came with this all around appraisal. It seemed that this undead was a little special since it had been kept in a ce where the white sands had not been able to prate. The looks of them were very different from the starving mummies or the mummified worshipers.


    These brutal mummies were muscr to say the least. The muscture could be seen moving underneath the wrappings. The added decaying scent that came with them was enough to throw some of the more sensitive demi-human soldiers off. If anyone were to find these monsters in the wilderness, then they would smell them for a mile away at least.


    "I will try to manipte the natural mana to wrap some swords. If I can make a natural mana attack buff or something then-"


    "Forget that, we need to beat them down and seal them. I hope you can manipte the stones here." Remey took the lead with five dragonkin following her. She had equipped the light affinity knuckles which pulled in the light elemental mana from Alice''s song.


    Along with this, two swords of light appeared since Alice had started her song of des. The song had been refined more and more as Alice had time to think about them. She had put different meanings between her song of swords and song of des. Some were refined while others were rough. Both had the same purpose but at different qualities.


    While Remey was still a few steps from punching the first brutal mummy, Alice had already stabbed in to one with a light sword. The result was not what anyone expected. The brutal mummy just ignored the de of light elemental mana stabbed in to it and kept moving towards Remey who was unleashing a heavy defense breaking punch with light elemental mana on to the head of another brutal mummy.


    The fact that even Remey''s attack seemed to do only a little damage brought everyone to another level of focus. These brutal mummies were boosted by the closeness of whatever ruler was here. On top of that, there was the fact that they had some special wrappings to resist elemental mana attacks. It mixed with their tougher bodies to be able to survive these attacks constantly.


    "Back off, let us get to them with swords!" Su took the lead while Remey fell back behind her. With Su came the Rize empire angels with their swords cloaked in light elemental mana. But it came with a bit of a boost.


    Walker had pulled at the natural mana and was already supplying some of it to the angels. However, he was forcefully pushing it only at the light elemental des that the angels held. While they felt that the light elemental mana around them grew, Walker did not feel that he was doing anything that could make the natural mana more offensive in nature. He was just using it as a booster for the light elemental mana already there.


    While it was a frustrating failure to create an offensive buff for the angels using natural mana only, the light elemental mana that surged was more than enough to be able to prate the bolstered defenses of the charging brutal mummies.


    The angels were very adept with their style of light swordsmanship. They could easily dodge the violent attacks of the brutal mummies. Especially since they were more rudimentary considering that they only used their bone ws and attempts to bite them. What stopped the angels from most of their progress was the simple fact that they actively saw the brutal mummies recovering from the attacks on their bodies. Even the wrappings seemed to repair as well.


    "Midnight, think you can add in some¡­ And there she goes." Walker gave Midnight the multi buff boost and watched as she was already in motion. She easily took in a breath of light elemental mana before she released the white me breath. She didn''t care for a second that the brutal mummies were resistant to fire. This was a dual elemental attack that used light and fire. It would be able to weaken them enough for the angels to take the lead again. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    While it was only a quick attack, the blinding white mes were enough to shock the brutal mummies. This was something that they were weak against normally. When the wrappings on their bodies were somewhat burned away and forcefully cut by the des, the bodies underneath were exposed.


    The soldiers at the front managed to see the skinless and dried bodies of the brutal mummies. A horrible appearance would haunt their nightmares for some time. Yet, this did not stop the angels from attacking. They burst forward with their swords and an added boost from their wings.


    The slicing of light infused swords caused the mummies to lose their hefty limbs in just a few minutes. Even the dragonkin with light elemental sword styles were impressed by the decisiveness since that was also something they prided themselves on.


    "This will not be enough. The earth mages can not break the stones here. They are protected. That means we will have to keep fighting these undead." Rise saw the issue immediately. The earth mages had be very limited. Walker had also sensed the massive resistant force when he tried to reach out and manipte the stones that made up the pyramid.


    "Then that means we will be leaving soldiers behind to keep them down." Walker didn''t hesitate. He knew splitting up was on the list of this battle already. They had many steps to take to get to where they needed to be. The massive tform on top of the pyramid was where they needed to be. The amount of mana gathered there was all too telling about where the ruler of these undead was.


    "One group break off and keep cutting the undead apart while we move forward. Prepare to march in to arger chamber." Current gave the order while a few dragonkin began to push forward and away from the current undead. However, no one was prepared for what was in the central chamber.


    In front of everyone, a massive space was opened up. Ornate carvings that rted to crops dying and the dead rising again were everywhere. It was a twisted show of what had happened to start all of this. Yet, what Walker noticed was one thing that connected all of it.


    "There is one thing in every single stone wall here. An undead with dark stone wrapped around it. It''s hiding there while the crops die. It''s raising undead there, then it''s leading a group of others right there. I think we might be seeing how this all happened." The rest of the party were also looking around. But they also focused on the undead before them. The undead that had been waiting for them.


    "So, I know you want to understand everything and all that. But we already figured that this undead ruler caused all of it to happen somehow. Evil is evil, they don''t just happen to show up at the right time to be evil. They have ns and grow when they aplish it." Gil shrugged before he prepared an arrow. Therge open space would help him fight.


    "Gil''s correct. It''s time to focus on fighting instead. Try to use natural mana more. We will need to fight a lot here before we can start climbing one of the staircases behind that massive shrine." Su looked ahead at the shrine that the undead were guarding. This was where they offered sacrifices. Where their high mummified priests were. Where some of the angel''s bodies had been brought.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1839 1839. All Out Undead Battle

    ''Sacrificial rune shrine


    Using the false death runes that the worshippers were gifted with by the false death god, this shrine is made to absorb the life, soul, and mana of any being sacrificed or offered to it. It is strengthened when blood from dead beings are added to it.


    The runes will channel this mana and energy of multiple forms to the one bound to it. This is how the being is able to control many undead, contain their life, and further raise more undead. Many other functions are able to be used due to this shrine made for sacrifice. However, it is an affront to the world since it relies on forcefully resisting the natural flow of the world and most of existence.


    The being that this is used to worship is known as¡­''


    Walker wanted to keep looking at the all around appraisal, however, battles had broken out all around him. Multipole undead had been waiting for them here. Not just more brutal mummies, there were other undead that Walker had yet to check out.


    Some were smaller, the size of children. When Walker realized they were starving mummies, his heart nearly shattered right there. This meant that even the children of these people had been changed in to horrendous undead. Had been tormented for many years without rest.


    This was enough to show all of the soldiers more of the truth they were fighting against. The evil that made up the army of undead that had been here waiting for the chance to grow and cause more harm. "Move forward, protect the main force!" The orders were simple. Many of the soldiers moved in to formation.


    While the party and the royal dragon had been prepared to be the forward force of battle, the soldiers moved ahead of them. The formation was very simple. They took the lead to be a fighting shield around the royal dragons. The dragonkin took the outer edges while the ranged attackers took the inner. Those with shields were the best defense from the rushing mummified undead that tried to force their way though. But that was not all.


    The angels had enough space to use their natural born advantages here. Therge room within this pyramid showed the angels that they could take flight and dive down attacking the undead that manage dottch on to shields or weapons. Not every single soldier was able to make a one hit kill with their weapons or magical attacks. This wasn''t their weakness, but proof these undead were more powerful here.


    Some of the mummified undead struck down were even still fighting with their limbs removed. This was because the high concentration of mana and pulsing runes along the floor were bale to help the undead regenerate even faster. Walker was able to witness this happen right before his eyes as an undead managed to reattach its own arm and heal within a few seconds. This was where the true dangers of fighting these undead existed.


    Remey''s tactics had grown a little more reserved seeing that the undead were able to resist many of the attacks from the soldiers. She was willing to step back for the moment as Su was also with her to ensure that the undead with not able to reach them. Meanwhile, Gil was able to fire arrows at therger undead that had begun to make their moves. These undead were the ones that the party and dragon might need to focus on.


    ''Mummified monstrosity


    While most of the mummified undead were experimented on unwillingly or just out of their own loyalty, these undead were created out of experiments done by the high mummified priests. These undead desired the strongest bodies to bring their own aplishments before the god their worshiped.


    Between the two willing and insane high priests and extremely loya worshippers, multiple bodies were brought together along with some monster parts. This created the mummified monstrosities that have increased bones to support massive bodies. They have much tougher wrapping made of flexible metals. They also have metal reinforcing their bones.


    Furthermore, the long tails were taken from spiky lizards and their ws are make from the stingers of multiple scorpion monsters. This causes them to be extremely dangerous but also very hard to control. It takes multiple high mummified priests to channel mana to these mummified monstrosities so that they can battle.


    The high mana cost that these monstrosities have is normal due to the nature of their bodies. They are very strong against magical and physical attacks but they are slightly slower than most other undead. This can be changed if enough mana is channeled in to them but they are also limited to the mana they can contain. If they take in too much mana then their bodies will degrade and revert back to their normal undead forms. This is extremely hard to do because¡­''


    Walker saw the all around appraisal of these undead but was also looking at the chain quest from the system.


    Chain quest: mummified curse- third link


    Requirement: the runes around the mummified ruins are causing the undead to rise, repair themselves, and worse. Destroy the runes to weaken all the undead.


    Reward: 300 experience for every rune destroyed, 2 heroic points, insight on rune formations.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Chain quest: mummified curse- fourth link


    Requirement: destroy the worship of the undead by eliminating the rune formation covering the sacrificial shrine of the false death god.


    Reward: fifth link, 15000 experience, 15 heroic points, unique skill.''


    The rewards were amazing as always, but it showed that the attacks from Igus outside had done more than just their job. They had managed to destroy even more runes that the soldiers had been unable to find an attack. It even proved that there was more to what had been going on outside. The flow of mana had been disrupted!


    "We need to push and destroy the shine. The outside mana will already weaken it. But we have to hold off thoserger undead. They are controlled through the mummified high priests near the altar!" Walker shared the information. With Onyx on his shoulder, they were able to pass along the message to everyone within just a few seconds. This was the advantage to having POnyx back with them. He was amazing inmunication with his skills.


    But what Walker had yet to take in to thought was that Onyx and Midnight had been preparing for their own ns. They had a direction to attack that the soldiers could not get to immediately. Therefore, they had to make a move.


    The moment that walker had shared all the information about the mummified monstrosities with them, Onmyc had slithered off Walker''s shoulders and on to the ground. The path that the army was making for the party and royal dragons was already enough to help them immensely. But with the additional space, Onyc was able to make himselfrger. To take his real size.


    The fact that it had been some time since Onyc had entered the desert and shown his real size outside of his shadow was enough to shock many of the soldiers. Onyx had been constantly growing while absorbing light elemental mana. But other than that, he had been storing it to use his skills to wrap himself in it as a battle shield.


    This sudden growth of light around only and the size he showed off was enough to force some of the weaker mummified undead back. But it also made a bridge for Midnight to run along. A bridge that brought her up in to the air without having to spread and p her wings.


    This space gave her the angles she needed to leap over the undead and directly release a full force light elemental breath attack in the faces of the mummified high priests. This attack caused the mummified monstrosities to hesitate. Their mana had been halted for a single breath, but that breath was enough for the angels to swoop down with swords of light. It was also enough for Onyx to whip his tail around and trap three of them.


    Walker had greatly underestimated the battle prowess that Onyx had been growing. So much so that Walker could only force himself to look away and push forward. He didn''t want to sit there and do nothing while Onyx worked so hard. It was an insult if he were to ignore the chances being given to them.


    "Push through now! The enemies are weaker!" a shout from one dragonkin came out which spurred the entire army to fight harder. Their battles here would stop the undead from even getting near their leaders. Those that would be pushing for the end of this war against the undead. Those that would face the leader of the mummified undead that had been attacking, killing their people, and trying to raise the evil of their past back to the present.


    "Purify the vile undead from this ce!" The light elemental mana that onyx had bathed himself in was further enhanced when Rise saw his actions and added her own maniption. She was impressed by the efforts of Onyx and showed her true support. He used light in a way that she would as well and could not look down on that. A pure and valiant light elemental man that deserved some of her praise.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1840 1840. The Final Undead

    The sudden advantage that had been gained caused many of the soldiers to push themselves in the fights. The change was also where the mages who had been trying their best to attack were able to shine. Specifically the earth mages.


    Many elemental mages carried around some of their elemental items with them. Water mages carried more water in drinking containings. Fire mages carried charcoal. Earth mages would often carry stones or earth that they kept close to their body to use as a weaponter. The other mages often had something that allowed them to use the mana around them faster.


    Due to this, the earth mages finally were able to pull the stones and earth from nearby their bodies and begin to use it. They knew that once they used the earth to trap undead, that they were at a loss. They would not have it to fight any longer.


    With Onyx''s attack and Midnight''s breath attack, the two had weakened and even broken off parts of the bodies of the mummified monstrosities. There were also multiple mummified high priests that were hit by the light elemental breath attack. But where things shined was how Onyx attacked with his tail.


    The light elemental mana that had shown on Onyx''s body was perfect for containing the dangerous undead in front of them. But it was an inspiration. The tail that wrapped and trapped four of the mummified monstrosities made them one target and not three. This allowed the earth mages to group up and begin encasing them in the earth and stones that were always on their person.


    Walker did not hesitate to join them. He used earth maniption to assist the mages and push on the earth around the mummified monstrosities more. This additional forcepressed them and broke their bodies. The process was damaging them but also trapping them. They would struggle to reform whilepressed with the earth mana. Not to mention that they would be unable to receive more mana from the high mummified priests.


    "Sister, sh apart those high priests!" Onyx yelled out as he retracted his tail from the earth around the monstrosities. He could not attack fast enough but Midnight was still close. She easily darted toward the high mummified priests. Her ws shing out in her full dragon form to cut through their weak bones. Light elemental mana radiating in to them and causing their attempts to reform to fail.


    While the high mummified priests found themselves broken and unable to attack, Onyx acted again. His tail was still violent and unrelenting. Without hesitation, he changed positions and scooped up the broken bodies of the high mummified priests. His strength and size were enough to force them in to a crushed ball of undead. The very same that he had done with the mummified monstrosities.


    While this was only a few of the undead, this was enough to shift this battle even more. It was also enough to open a direct line to the altar that everyone had fixed in their gaze as their target. The runes that pulsed and shed were showing that the undead around were still drawing power from it. But the altar would be gone soon.


    "I will purify this ce." Rise took a heavy step forward. Everyone felt the shift in the room. The light elemental mana that was controlled by others appeared to be lost to them. What no one had realized was that Alice had ceased singing and her partner had revealed himself.


    "I agree, I hate this thing. It is not at all what should be here." Horizon, the grand light elemental spirit, had shown himself. But instead of helping Alice, he moved to float around Rise. This didn''t make Alice unhappy at all. She had stopped syncing so that she was no longer pushing at the light elemental mana that Horizon was going to push toward Rise.


    As the light elemental mana shifted, arge w of light formed behind Rise. her hand raised mimicking the appearance of therge w made entirely of light. "I detest these undead and their gue. This altar is the cause so I will leave my mark." Her words were enough to make the undead shiver. If it was because they understood her or not, it didn''t matter. It might have just been the feeling of impending doom that radiated from Rise and her power over light that was their opposite.


    With one swift sh, Rise struck down. Her w directed the massive light elemental mana w to crash on to the altar. It was a moment of silence as everyone halted to see the attack. Even the undead appeared to have felt a change. A change that stopped them from moving. Whether it was them or the one controlling them, no one would know. But with these results, the ruler of these undead surely felt something.


    The crash and blinding light that followed their moment of silence was enough to shatter the stone altar. Light elemental mana pierced through the stone causing the false death runes, the darkness runes, and any other unknown runes to crack in to pieces. Nothing could resist this powerful purifying attack from a royal dragon. Something that could resist it would have to be equally or more powerful.


    With the pieces of the altar crumbling around the ground, the undead lost some of their strength. Especially the mummified high priests still remaining. Now the soldiers were able to hold them back. Able to keep breaking them away from the stairs behind the altar.


    Chain quest: mummified curse- fourth link-pleted


    Requirement: destroy the worship of the undead by eliminating the rune formation covering the sacrificial shrine of the false death god.


    Reward: fifth link, 15000 experience, 15 heroic points, unique skill. Final link''


    ''The unique skill; purification aura, has been temporarily learned by all following this quest. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Purification aura- passive


    The light purifying elemental mana will naturally form a slight aura around the user as they battle against beings that the world deems as dangerous and evil. Due to this, the attacks of the user will better harm those evil beings and take on a slightly light elemental purifying ability. This is able to cause longer term damage to undead in every way.''


    The unique skill may have been temporary, but every single soldier gained it. The sudden addition of this passive skill was enough to change any battles that were still too hard. With a single reward from this chain quest, everyone had gained strength and power that helped them fight the regenerating undead.


    Without any worries, Walker started to feel the changes in the skill and easily connected it to the natural mana he was already trying to use to boost others. It was as if a switch had been flipped within him. His mind instantly linked the two feelings.


    ''Nature''s aura has been learned due to the unique natural mana affinity and the temporary skill gained. The permanent skill, nature''s aura has been gained.


    Nature''s aura- passive


    The flow of natural mana and nature is a very strong thing in the world. It is guided by the world in mysterious ways while in other ways, it follows its own flow. The natural mana around the user will be more easily manipted as it is attracted at a faster rate toward the user. It is also able to better return other elemental manas to the flow of mana that should be in the world when natural mana is used to attack or purify broken flows..''


    The skill was perfect for Walker. It also didn''t say it was temporary. This would always be actively helping him with natural mana. It also helped him right this second since he could feel the ease of natural mana around him and wrapping around his sword. The eternal orb also channeled this mana in to the sword he held with ease.


    ''Chain quest: mummified curse- final link


    Requirement: the undead pharaoh is the ruler of the mummified city. Defeat them and return the flow of nature to the cursed desert.


    Reward: 20000 experience, 20 heroic points, return of the desert, removal of the cursed sands, purification of the cursed desert by the will of the world.''


    Walker saw the new quest immediately pop up. He also saw that the undead above them was special. He would need to appraise it and gain more knowledge the moment his eyes caught it. But at this moment, he noticed that everyone had begun attacking the runes around that they could.


    The system had rewarded them with understandings of runes with thest link. That understanding might not be clear to many, but the feelings revolving it had been. They could feel the evil in the runes. They could also pick out the key runes to destroy that would break away the control over the undead still reforming near them. This started a whole new round of rune shing.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1841 1841. The Very Top

    While the soldiers had all understood what they needed to do, that left the party and the royal dragons with a lot more to do. The angels had also found their ces. Their strength and knowledge when it came to these kinds of battles had shown a lot more.


    The Rise Empire angels were showcasing their light affinity swordsmaship right beside the light elemental dragonkin. It was odd to see them working so well. The angels in the air and the dragonkin on the ground.


    However, this was also matched by the fact that the Fel empire angels were acting with incredible adaptation. The fights they were involved in appeared to be easier for them the more the undead regeneration. It was very clear that they were learning the weakness, speed, and dangers of every single undead enemy they faced. Some of the Fel angels were even calling out warnings or advice now.


    This was enough to make Walker and the others very confident that they would not be needed. Even though more undead were showing themselves from other passageways, they were nothing that the army they had brought couldn''t handle. Especially with the runes being destroyed more and more.


    The understandings from the suet reward about runes was nothing major. Many had such a limited understanding over runes in general that this reward was small. The mages seemed to gain the most since they at least had some understandings when it came to the runes of their elemental affinities.


    Where it really helped was that the soldiers were finding the important runes. Most had learned to discern the active, or the more powerful runes. From there it was a simple matter of being able to work in the destruction of the runes as they battled the undead that were regenerating.


    Therefore, they were left with the new issue that everyone knew they would be facing at some point. Endless battle. The undead would keep returning no matter what. This put a pressure on their shoulders. A pressure that was telling them they would die eventually. That their mana and stamina could not keep up. That even if they survived, that the undead would not stoping for them. That was what would haunt every single soldier until their powerful leaders handled the one behind it all.


    The shattered altar was still in front of Rise as Current, Mordant, and the party came up to meet her. She was looking at the blood stained stones and monster parts with disgust. It was something she never wished to see. Sacrifices should not exist.


    Once upon a time, dragons had been seen as a powerful being that could be swayed by such things. Riches or sacrifices, but that had only been foolish perception. Those dragons that created that perception in the minds of the weak had done so because they were weak and wanted power. Eventually, the royals dragons had stamped out such foolishness from the dragon race, but it had left some unfortunate misconceptions.


    "We need to climb. I have a bad feeling that we will see much worse up there." Walker could sense that the mana was more erratic above them. As if it had been stirred up. As if someone had kicked a ho''s nest to make the stinging insects angry enough to chase anything that moved for days on end.


    "I used a significant amount of mana to crush this and send light elemental mana through the rune formations. It was more than I believed I would need. That is why the grand elemental spirit helped me. It was a purity issue." Rise spoke calmly. Only those that knew her would understand that she was very unhappy to learn this.


    "If purity was the issue, then that means the controller of these runes is on par with us." Mordant spoke out loud what they had all just realized. This ruler of undead or controller. The pharaoh mentioned in thest link of the chain quest was powerful. It could rival a dragon when it came to mana and the purity of said mana.


    "Horizon needs to rest too." The grand elemental spirit had returned to Alice and she could feel that it had used a lot of its mana to boost Rise. That was the price to pay since they were in an area nearly devoid of light elemental mana already.


    "But that did save my mana for the uing fight. I will work with the songstress to improve the chances of a victorious battle." Hearing that Rise was going to focus on buffing them caused a slight shock. She was acting out of character. Yet, this also made some sense. She had one goal and one goal only here. Rise wanted to purify the undead that were an affront to her light elemental existence and also that harmed a dragon many years ago. It was only right to sacrifice a little pride to do so. The pride returned with victory vastly outweighed the cost right now.


    "Can everyone sense that though?" It was Su who spoke up. She felt that her blood was rushing through her body a little faster. That her heart beat slightly harder.


    "Yes."


    "It''s an enemy." all the royal dragons replied but Midnight spoke the loudest. She growled out that it was an enemy. They all sensed it. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I would say that it is whatever that thing did with dragon blood. We saw some of the pictures carved in stone of what happened to the me dominator dragon. But what else happened to it? What else did the sick and twisted monster do with the body of the dragon when it was also experimenting on many more things?" Gil was calm as he spoke. He knew that the wrong word might bring the royal dragon to anger. However, he began to be the one that was angry. The more he thought about someone experimenting on so many beings¡­


    Without even another word, the group began to move. The stairs that led upwards were made to be ceremonial. They could be seen from behind the altar and it was clearly showcasing the strength of those climbing it. Furthermore, it was showing off the appearance to all that would climb it to everyone that would be watching. Set up just to show off to those that worshiped the one at the top. It was arrogant.


    Every step brought the feeling of danger closer. But for Mordant, it brought the feelings of uncontrolled darkness closer. He could sense that he could not tear away the darkness mana around him from whoever was controlling it. He also could sense the additional, more mysterious, manas within the darkness. It was a sickening mix that made him feel he might lose his lunch. That was hard to do to a dragon that was naturally resistant to many things.


    "I am going to use a multi buff skill on everyone first. When we get to the top we will see¡­" Walker already noticed that the top of the stairs was close. He stopped speaking and began to use his buff skills on everyone. He also mentally called out to Fluer for assistance with natural mana. He would sue as much as he could to battle against this undead. Even if he had to use the eternal orb and lose it, he was fine with that. As long as they defeated the evil existing here.


    As they emerged, Walker sensed the death mana around. It wasn''t proper though. It felt like something broken. Like it was only trying to mimic death. But he could also sense hostility. The same feeling that anyone would sense when facing a wild monster trying to make them as prey.


    ''Mummified pharaoh


    This being is what is left of the great gue that came upon all who lived in thisnd. The mummified pharaoh was one who desired control over all things. After finding broken runes, they began trying to im the power of death for themselves through raising other undead and experimenting with living beings.


    Bymitting many great acts of evil, it became evident that controlling death was harder than they knew. To grow their strength, this being caused a gue on thend while also manipting the people of thend. After sessfully convincing some and murdering others, this being was able to attract a great amount of death mana.


    Unfortunately, the failure to grasp it caused them to lose their mind to a degree. Now they only care for reversing the failure and causing a greater cataclysm that would attract more power to them. This way, they believe they will rise above the others and be a true god of death.


    The fact that they have failed left them to create false death runes, be what is considered a false death god, and also brought them to a cursed state of undeath. The more that¡­''


    Walker could have read more in to it, but the being sitting on the top of the pyramid had started to shift in therge ck gold throne in front of them.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1842 1842. Evil Undead

    From what they could see, the throne on top of the pyramid was entirely made of ck gold. It was carved with runes that were clearly not normal in any way. On top of that, there was an ominous darkness mana emanating from it.


    The mummified pharaoh sitting on the throne had started to shift. Its body appeared the same as any of the other mummified worshippers, however, as it twitched, the mana seeped in to the pale white wrappings. This was nothing that made anyonefortable. They could see the changes in the undead before their eyes. As if it was just waking up.


    The wrappings began to turn in to a deep ck color as the bones were reinforced with a golden color. The mana was protecting the bones while also showing off the changes that had been made. It was easily understandable that this undead had experimented directly on themselves.


    Furthermore, Walker had already started to recount the all around appraisal while he prepared to buff everyone again. He knew that they should know that the false death god was none other than the undead before them. A mad mage that experimented with raising the dead. That had strived to be a wielder of death mana so much so that they had twisted their own existence.


    "That, is the false death god? I expected more." Current looked at the undead with disdain. It was simple for them to all understand that this death god had been created out of nothing. Built for one mage to create a famine, then control the living, then cause so much twisted evil was stunning. Even more, that the same being had been able to attempt anything that would change them from what they were to a god? What did this thing think a god system user was?


    The god systems were rare for a reason. They were birthed by the world to wield specific powers. They weren''t something someone would just bump in to or could just take. That was why they were almost always just written in stories or passed around as rumors. They were often considered just to be false or fiction.


    "This thing is due for all the evil they caused. We will make it pay the price and purify it." Rise spoke first. She was already preparing to attack since she saw the solution to all of this before her. However, before she could take a step, darkness mana radiated from the throne.


    Bones and wrappings seemed to materialize from the shadowy darkness all around bing undead. This was the skill of the mummified pharaoh that allowed it to sit in such a pce without issues. It was what allowed the undead to sit and gather its power without worry.


    ''Mummified royal


    Created front the most powerful of the living from this fallen society, the mummified royals are elite mummies that have been created by the mummified pharaoh. Because they are able to hide within the darkness mana that is controlled by the mummified pharaoh, their bodies are protected. They have not decayed, degraded, or even started to fall apart as a normal undead would.


    Therefore, their bodies are still able to regenerate the muscles and the added experimental parts. They have an extremely high resistance to magical and physical attacks. They wield heavy swords that are coated in darkness decaying mana. The slight death mana that attracts to them also makes the wounds they inflict deeper and harder to heal.


    They are normally weak to fire as mummies, but that is held back by their unique nature as mummified royals that have not sat out in the desert heat. With the direct control from the mummified pharaoh, the mummified royals are able to move faster and with more force.''


    Nothing that Walker had read was a good thing. He was sure that the mummies they faced right now were the roughest that he had seen. But worse off, they all saw other shapes emerging from the shadows. Arger shape.


    "This undead piece of garbage!" The roar that escaped from Rise was enough to shake the entire pyramid. She had not been enraged like this yet. However, Current and Mordant had taken the same anger. The same rage filled roar.


    ''Partially mummified dragon


    After dying and being used to help create many undead, the remaining dragon skill and ws were specially modified to be used to create an undead that was able to be controlled. Due to the massive resistance, the bones were only able to be used whenbined with over five hundred bone pieces from innocent living beings.


    The result was a partially mummified undead capable of attacking with darkness and death mana to a small degree. The physical strength that this undead possesses is much higher when using the dragon ws and head to bite and w. However, the rest of its body is limited by the fact that they are not dragon bones.


    It holds a high regeneration due to the closeness of the mummified pharaoh. It is able to move as long as it is attached by the hundred of false death runes carved in to every bone and stone around it. It cannot leave the area of the mummified pharaoh. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Due to the many years of abuse, the bones have degraded and the impervious fire resistance that it had in life has been lost. It is exceptionally weak to mes now since the pathways in the dragon bones for fire mana are still in existence¡­''


    More and more of the things Walker read went in to details about the hundred of bones carved and forced to attach with the dragon bones. The many living beings that had created blood stained bones that now formed a false body of a dragon. That formed the skeletal and half wrapped body of a monster.


    "Su, shield!" Walker called and Su took position in front of everyone. Just before the three royal dragons could follow their rage, Su had blocked them and shielded from the massive breath of darkness mana attacking them.


    The mummified royals were unaffected by all of it while Su saw that the mana leftover from the breath attack she had just ck had seeped back in to the runes. It would be used again without any loss. A deadly field to fight against this undead on. "Walker, the runes are gathering the used mana again. We need a n."


    Seeing this, Walker already knew the best way to work this. "Mordant, ignore your anger and start stopping the runes from soaking up our and your mana. That partially mummified dragon is going to get all its mana back when it attacks if you don''t. Current, those royal mummies have liquid in them still. That means you can use your control over that water to crush them. Rise, I need you to target that throne. That''s what allows the mummified pharaoh to keep controlling undead. That''s the key to it all."


    Some of the things Walker understood were in gross. The royal mummies still had moisture in them. That made them the perfect target for a dehydrated Current. Especially since he had gathered a decent amount of water mana from the pirs left behind. It had double helped them since Current had also stopped the white sand from piling there.


    "My arrows don''t even pierce those ck wrappings. Walker, I need a boost." Gil knew that he had to get some better attacks in. The arrows he fired were light elemental arrows, but the thick darkness mana on the mummified pharaohs'' wrapping stopped him.


    "Weak little things. Join my empire. Join the creation of a new god to rule all that is and all that will be." it felt as if the voice speaking wasing from all around them. The mummified pharaoh was repeating words from its past life. The maddened goals that had kept it moving toward a darker and darker evil.


    Without any warning, the mummified pharaoh raised its hand holding arge staff. The staff was covered in false death runes and gathered both darkness and a small amount of death mana from the throne. With a single m of the staff, the runes lit up and the area became trapped in a massive dark barrier. The stairs that had been open to the group from retreat was entirely blocked off. The only thing that they heard was a muffled and gruesomeughter from every single mummified royal.


    "Remey, think you could break that thing? I need someone to get some hard hits in. There are bones under those wrappings." Walker knew that Remey was a good bet here. She could attack past the dark wrappings and deal damage internally to the mummified pharaoh.


    "You never needed to ask. Just make a pathway while you get ready to attack too." Remey had the light elemental knuckles on already. She was looking at the enemy before them with a frenzied grin. She didn''t need a reason to hold anything back here. It was fight or die.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1843 1843. In To Battle

    Calm was thest thing that could be used to describe the changes around everyone as they went to battle. The royal dragons immediately began their movements toward their enemies. Current was the most prominent since he was able to find the water elemental mana in the royal mummies. They were like beacons for him in this dry environment.


    The massive changes that everyone saw instantly when Current acted proved why a water elemental dragon or anyone with higher control of water elemental mana was incredibly dangerous.


    While most people would never use their skills to harm the cores of someone''s being, Current could care less about the undead. With a single burst of water elemental mana controlling a small stream of water, he pierced every single royal mummy.


    The results were enough to stun everyone. The moisture that had long been in these undead royal mummies'' bodies was instantly stolen away. However, the results were still not enough to make them fall. It just caused them to reduce in size slightly. A debuff that stopped them from being as strong as they should be.


    Furthermore, there was a clear stoppage when it came to Current''s strength. He felt that the remaining water mana had instantly be covered in darkness mana that prevented him from taking full control and robbing all the water from the royal mummies'' bodies. It had been an instantaneous reaction from the mummified pharaoh. Proof that it was able to match his strength in many ways.


    With the decrease in strength evident, Alice and Su were able to make their moves with Rise backing them. The light elemental mana from Rise further pushed the song of swords to attack the royal mummies. Every time that the royal mummies even attempted to dodge or step forward, Su would be there.


    The twin shields were like a rotating barrier against the royal mummies. Her movements were adept and able to constantly leave small shield bashes that pushed them back. Even with theirrger size than Su, it was Su''s strength and ability that gave her the edge. She had spent a lot of time learning to use her shields in a defensive manner, but even more time beginning to learn how to make them an offensive skill above others.


    The further addition of light elemental mana within Su''s shield skills was proof that she had grown more than met the eye. Normally, Su''s light shield skill would be used when she mmed her shields together to block arger attack. Yet, when Walker nced over to Su, he saw that a smaller light shield had covered both of the twin shields. Every attack was doing more than just pushing the royal mummies away from Alice and Rise. It was helping Su remain strong without any damage.


    But furthermore, Walker saw that the light we being to be manipted. This wasn''t Su8, but it was Alice! She was somehow managing to sing two songs at once. The two light elemental swords floating in the air and shing at the royal mummies was expected with her song of swords. What was unexpected was the unknown song that seemed to ovep with the song of swords.


    It took Walker a few thoughts to figure out where he had heard of this before. But from what he understood, this was a skill called rounds. A musical skill that many who sang, yed instruments, or wrote songs knew. It would let a secondary or more musical piece begin slightly after the first. It could build up an entire set of powerful effects. This skill was used by the older musicians to y healing songs in the cathedral.


    While taxing, Alice was using it by herself without another person with her. That meant that she was holding double the burden when it came to mental strength and mana usage. A terrible pressure that would make it hard on anyone if they attempted it casually let alone in battle.


    The results of the second skill were clear though. Small spikes of light had appeared on Su''s light shield skill causing those royal mummies that were attacked to gain holes made by light elemental mana on their bodies. It was an effective attack boost that pushed the undead away and kept them in line. It also made the three of them more dangerous, therefore, it took more focus from the mummified pharaoh.


    Looking even deeper in to this, Walker could have learned a little more about how to use light elemental ana. Rise was boosting all of this and providing potent light elemental mana while also adding small concentrated light elemental breath attacks. But the issue with focusing on this battle was distraction. If Walker did not maintain his focus he would be lost to the battle around him and in front of him.


    the partially mummified dragon was approaching them. The put together half of its body made of bone pieces, made it clear to everyone that it was not strong at all. The only strength that seemed to hold it together were the dragon bones and the fact that the wrappings on its body were toughened by some unknown process.


    The darkness mana that it absorbed also seemed to be more condensed. That was the issue with the runes. Yet, when it came to runes, Walker and Mordant had already noticed a slight change. Even if it was the smallest of changes, it was a change. The runes were pulsing a tiny bit slower than they were before.


    This had to be the work of the soldiers below. They were able to grasp some knowledge from the system''s reward earlier. Furthermore, they were able to destroy more important false death runes here and there. It naturally would have an effect on the runes here. The mana that flowed at the very top of the massive pyramid. All the mana in the city was being drawn to it, therefore, damaging the runes was important. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ventus and Ignus were also to thank for this. They were destroying the undead and the runes all over the city. Their strength was enough to make a major difference in the flow of mana. The longer that all of them worked like this, the faster that the runes would show weaker pulses and mana would flow slower.


    Because of this, Walker could feel he had been able to grasp a little more control over all the manas around him. Especially the natural mana that he was using to begin attacking. He had to boost his movements and prepare for Remey to get close for a defense breaking punch attack. Therefore, Walker looked at the skill he had just gained after thest part of the chain quest.


    Nature''s aura- passive


    The flow of natural mana and nature is a very strong thing in the world. It is guided by the world in mysterious ways while in other ways, it follows its own flow. The natural mana around the user will be more easily manipted as it is attracted at a faster rate toward the user. It is also able to better return other elemental manas to the flow of mana that should be in the world when natural mana is used to attack or purify broken flows..''


    The natural mana that Walker felt around and within him was easily pulled from the air to be used. Walker changed the elemental mana in to a staff form knowing that he will be better off ying a mage role in this battle. He had to make sure he held more and more of the attention when it came to fighting the mummified pharaoh. That was what he could do with his control of the natural mana which was clearly deadly to the undead here.


    Gil was simr though. While he fired arrows trying to cause damage to the partially mummified dragon, he also mentally prepared himself to use more mana than he should with the high elven dagger technique. He understood that it could damage the royal mummies, partially mummified dragon, and the mummified pharaoh more deeply than his other attacks.


    This also brought to mind the fact that ending this battle would greatly rely on natural mana. That was why midnight was moving right alongside Remey to keep the pressure on as attacking the mummified pharaoh would be more important than other things.


    This was not missed by Mordant, he could feel that the air changed around them too. His eyes were still focused on the dragon, but he also let himself feel the movements around him. The fact that Walker was starting to run ahead with Midnight and Remey ahead of him meant that they were going to attack. Since Gil was the only one with him battling the full force of the partially mummified dragon, then it meant he had to use a lot more strength. He had to call on his own partner.


    When the burst of powerful darkness mana came out, everyone knew it to be Mordant and the grand darkness elemental spirit making a move too. Powerful control of multiple elemental manas all at once would definitely cause more chaos to the mummified pharaoh''s attempts to defend itself.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1844 1844. Not A Scratch

    Strands of shadows spread from around Mordant. This terrifying show of force from the royal darkness elemental dragon was something that not many would see in their lifetime. Just like when Walker was brought through the shadows by Morant, he was equally in awe for a moment when Mordant had acted just now.


    It was just a moment, but the massive tendrils of shadow that arced out trapped the partially mummified dragon. It was nothing that could hold the powerful undead for long since it was also using darkness mana, but it was enough for the attacks of others to get through and for Walker to begin assisting Midnight and Remey to move forward.


    With the dragon halted, Gil had taken the chance to fire multiple light affinity arrows towards it. The partial mummification of the dragon was surprisingly a good thing. From what Gil could see with his sharp eyes, there were plenty of openings. Openings that the wrappings and bones didn''t cover.


    These openings were easy targets, therefore, when Gil fired the next light elemental arrow, they hit that target. "I just weakened it, keep moving!" Gil had drawn another arrow and seen the instant results.


    The light arrow had fit in where the dragon bones met the wrappings and smaller bone pieces that made up the partially mummified dragon. These spots only existed because the experimental nature of this undead. The opening showed with a slight glint of light in the darkness that was the insides of the dragon. The results of it were a very clear weakening of the bones around that area.


    This attack proved that the light elemental mana from the inside was forcefully weakening the connections between the bones. The key weakness behind this dragon undead was what anyone would discover with a little searching. The connections to the different bones were precarious at best. With the power that came from the dragon bones came a massive drawback in connectivity. Dragons were resistant uncontroble beings. Especially the bones of a me dominator dragon.


    Mordant saw the arrows that Gil fired and the shout to Walker. Without any hesitation, Mordant took it as a signal to tear away one of the smaller exposed bones from the partially mummified dragon. This act brought about a silent roar from the dragon and the next attack of darkness mana on them.


    Without any bit of flinching, Mordant stood and resisted the attack on him while shielding Gil with his wingspan. This attack of darkness elemental breath was too weak to do any real damage. But where the damage appeared from was the slightly graying color on his scales. The small amounts of death mana forced in to the undead dragon were enough to affect him. Mordant was not happy at all with this.


    "Remey, push to the left, midnight, take to the air and breath down a cover of fire for Remey." Walker called out his n to the two. He knew that if Midnight distracted and blinded the mummified pharaoh, then that would be the ideal time for Remey to strike with the light affinity knuckles and defense breaking fist attack.


    But while this happened, Walker was pulling the natural mana that Fleur immediately released for him toward the eternal orb staff form. Therge crystal that had formed when the staff form solidified was enough to show the mix of elemental manas fusing in to one another and taking on a unique array of elemental colors.


    Trying to understand the natural mana with the natural aura passive skill was already seeming easier. It wasn''t just that though. The title that Walker had rted to being a young sage also meant that he was closer to natural mana. It was a uniquebination that had brought this moment to a deeper level than many would have understood just by watching.


    There had been many opportunities for Walker to see different ways that mana was used since he had appeared on the Sigil continent. The very fact that he had met angels was one that greatly influenced his thoughts. They relied on mana around them to cast their skills. They needed their wings to gather that mana. Even if an angel did not fly, they used their wings to get the mana they needed rting to their affinity. It was a key part of their existence.


    This left proof that gathering mana and bringing it within oneself to use was entirely usible to do in the what of battle. To reuse and gather all manas around under one''s natural flow. The natural mana was the same. Therefore, Walker should be able to condense all the natural mana around him in to the eternal orb. Mimic the angels and jeep bringing the mana together so that it was his to use.


    It wasn''t that Walker couldn''t already do this, but thinking of the intricate ability that the angels had to only rely on this method proved that Walker could utilize it much more than he already did. Adding the insights of a new skill to the mix, and Walker was already taking a leap in understanding.


    The sh of mana that came around Walker''s body was evidence of this. He had pulled a great deal of ownerless mana from everyone else''s attacks. Even the cold feeling of death mana seemed to react slightly. But the silent yfulness of life mana reacted as well. Much more than Walker expected since he had barely grasped either of them at the moment. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But where things seemed to be pushing him was the gathered mana within the eternal orb. The mana that Walker felt was more than just part of him as the spirit marks on his body showed themselves. It was the bond between him and Fleur that was bing more defined by the fact that Walker could be closer to natural mana. The melding of affinities that Walker already had and that he had used many times over.


    "Let''s go!" Walker saw Midnight leap in to the air and breath out arge burst of mes at the mummified pharaoh. The attack was weak inparison to the pharaohs resistances. But that was not the reason for the attack. The red mes had covered the pharaoh. It hadpletely stopped any sightline that the enemy had.


    But the mes weren''t stopping, Walker had reached out to control them as well. The dragon mes that Midnight controlled were easily able to be caught by him and fueld by his own mana. Adding the bonus of natural mana made them rage even more intensely before Walker immediately shifted his focus to boosting the light elemental mana around Remey further. He knew that the more she had the better.


    Due to the boost from Walker, Remey became even more focused. Her fists with the light affinity knuckles attached to her gloves began to shine brilliantly. They had attracted the light mana just as they should by design. The best possible weapon to diversify her punches. But even more, to boost her effectiveness against a brutal enemy like an undead.


    The sudden stoppage of mes cleared the way for Remey to punch out. The mummified pharaoh had no reacting but to stand there. When the punchnded, arge cracking sound echoed. The ck wrappings were not damaged at all, but the light elemental mana pierced through since Remey was using the defense breaking fist she had created by fusing her defense breaking palm and punching skills together.


    When the punch had been delivered, Remey immediately retreated with Midnightnding next to her as a guard. Walker saw a skeletal hand wave through the mes causing darkness mana to force the fire back. From what they could see, the mummified pharaoh was standing there without a single scratch. The cracking sound of breaking bones appeared to have already been healed by the connections it had to the throne.


    The mana it had control of could heal it too, but that wasn''t just the one problem they had. The single wave of darkness mana that the mummified pharaoh had used to push away the mes hadn''t stopped. It was heading right for Midnight and Remey.


    With the force of a powerful attack moving toward the two was enough to make Remey fall in to a defensive stance. She was sure she would be able to resist it but when Midnight let out another breath attack, Remey saw the full strength of the attack. The wave of mes from Midnight were snuffed out and the wave of darkness kepting.


    The two were in the worst possible position to defend themselves from the attack now that they understood the true strength of what wasing at them. The true force of an undead being that had control over massive amounts of darkness mana and even some death mana.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1845 1845. Stalemate Battle

    When the dark wave of mana hit Midnight and Remey, the two had taken their best defensive positions, but the force had stillnded cleanly. The force had been enough to send the two tumbling and leave clear bruises all over Remey''s arms. If Mndight had not deflected some of the attack, then Remey would easily have a broken arm.


    Midnight wasn''t looking well either. The attacks had cracked the skeletal armor skill and some of her scales. Her higher resistance and tough scales had taken the attack and lowered the damage. However, she felt every bit of what had affected her. The slight decaying aura that hade with the attack was more potent.


    This affects was because of the death mana mixed in to the attack. It was what left damage that was not being healed as Walker reached out with the heal skill. Therefore, Walker realized that the only way he could erase it was with direct healing using life mana or by using more natural mana to boost his healing.


    Not that this was what Walker was allowed to focus on now. He saw Remey standing up to prepare for another round of attack. Walker himself though, had pushed forward and sent multiple light spikes toward the mummified pharaoh. He had used the light mana that had been relieved by Rise and Alice as fuel since the area was slowly bing more abundant with such mana as they fought the royal mummies.


    The pharaoh didn''t wait for them though. It was already taking a step forward in clear annoyance. The attack from Remey had sent light elemental mana right inside it. This might not have actually affected it, but it had irritated it. The gold bones shined as runes were made clear on them. This was how it had managed to remain full of mana. The throne it had sat on and the bones in its body were carved with the very same runes allowing for the pharaoh to more easily heal itself when attack.


    Without saying a word, Midnight and Remey grasped what Walker''s nce told them. He was going to take a direct battle with the mummified pharaoh while they attempted to get to the throne. The issue was, that the partially mummified dragon was fighting Gil and Mordant right around the thrown. It was the guard that the mummified pharaoh had created to guard the throne that held all connection to mana in the entire city.


    "Alice, use your swords to pierce the ground around those mummies." Su''s shout to Alice drew a little attention from Walker. He had not realized that they had been fighting so closely next to him. But when he saw Su take a stance and ASlice send two light swords in to the ground, he was impressed. The runes that Alice had shed by doing so hadpletely severed the connection that the royal mummy had with the pharaoh.


    The runes along the floor had been the flow of mana allowing for the royal mummies to be able to regenerate. Rise had been making small spikes of light mana while pushing the light mana toward Alice and Su to boost them. When she had managed to sever a lot of them, the strength of the royal mummies had begun to fade. However, now that the fading strength of the runes was evident, Su had told Alice to directly attack the runes.


    This had worked perfectly. It created small spaces where the royal mummies were lured to that didn''t allow them to regenerate. Therefore, when Su mmed down with the pointed ends of the shields, they shattered the royal mummy. It fell and began breaking in to smaller and smaller pieces with each strike. It was unable to regenerate right away without the linked mana that it had the entire battle so far.


    The change in how fast the royal mummies were regenerating was noticed by the pharaoh in an instant. It turned toward the three fighting them with darkness mana fluctuating around its hands. Unfortunately, Walker had already stepped in to the air with his staff raised. The eternal orb staff had a heavy amount of natural mana wrapped around it. This might not be an attacking skill, but Walker knew that some of the natural mana would certainly make contact.


    As if to mock him, the mummified pharaoh opened its skeletal wrapped mouth and tried to catch the eternal orb staff form with its teeth. Vicious gold teeth wrapped with liquid like darkness mana seemed to have been created so that the teeth could bite though the hardest of defenses. A way of the mummified pharaoh to attack even stranger opponents. Even more alterations to its own body before it had be what it was today.


    It did not realize that the natural mana would hold its darkness mana off though. The teeth stopped the attack but it also put the mummified pharaoh in a terrible position where it could not stop the royal mummies from being stopped one after the other. It did leave Walker right in the line of attack though. A close range that could not be stopped.


    When the pharaoh realized it had a chance to attack, it raised the odd staff of its own and channeled darkness mana around it. The wrappings on its body also moved to form a sharp ck point of mana that could stab in to Walker''s body. Something that seemed like it could pierce through dragon''s scales as well.


    Feeling the threat, Walker called on the light mana to also attack, but he was also focused on the natural mana he was pushing in to the eternal orb staff form. The natural mana was causing the pharaohs sharpened gold teeth to degrade. As if it was trying to force the entire existence of the mummified pharaoh to return to the natural flow with force now.


    That was important though, Walker could sense the fact that all the manas that made up natural mana were acting to return to the flow. It felt the blockage that was there. In that respect, he knew that natural mana was doing its job. He just had to get the mana in to the pharaoh better than he was now. But that woulde at a cost. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Mordant and Gil couldn''t do anything with their position to help walker. They both saw that he was in a stalemate for the moment against it. The battle between the two was enough to make them want to abandon the dragon and fight more. However, they saw Midnight and Remey joining them. If the throne was destroyed, then the pharaoh would be weakened greatly as well. They just had to handle the dragon.


    With their trust in walker taking the lead, Gil and Mordant began adding even more mana to their attacks. However, the results of Gil''s constant light elemental arrows entering in to the partially mummified dragon had already shown some results.


    Due to the fact that the wrappings held the smaller bones in ce, the partially mummified dragon had relied on them a lot. It needed those bones to move around and also to channel mana. The light elemental arrows had put enough mana inside it that the flow was being interrupted. Small bones were falling off its body because there was not a perfect link between them. They weren''t dragon bones so why would dragon bones adhere to them?


    That left one thing for them to do, to attack now or else the light mana would be filtered outside the partially mummified dragon''s body and it would regenerate properly.


    Mordant made his move to push close. His ws growing with darkness mana much more condensed than before. Every tendril of shadow or darkness that mordant had used to halt the dragon a moment ago absorbed back to him.


    Gil also dashed forward. His bow exchanged for his daggers as he decided to use as much mana in the high elven dagger technique as possible. They had to halt this dragon permanently so that Remey and Midnight could make their move.


    Both Remey and Midnight hard noticed this ,move too. They ignored the dragon that had turned to look at them and was about to release a darkness breath attack. They trusted that Mordant and Gil had the strength to keep that from happening. Even with their bodies injured, Remey was certain that she and Midnight would crush some ck gold throne covered in runes. It would just take the right punch.


    "Attack it now!" Rise growled out as she sent arge amount of light elemental mana to cover Remey''s fists. The light affinity knuckles even started to crack under therge force of light mana that it could not handle. The royal mummies were more or less handled, the partially mummified dragon was about to be shed by Gil and Mordant''s powerful moves, and the mummified pharaoh was stuck with Walker who was trying to figure out how to inject natural mana in to its body. Nothing was looking to be perfect, but it was moving.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1846 1846. Use It All!

    Remey''s fist struck down toward the golden throne with its ckened runes covering it. This was the item that had to be destroyed so that the group could weaken and put away the undead forever. Midnight knew this too and was ready to give Remey another boost.


    With a hard push from Midnight, Remey jolted forward with even more force than before. This wasn''t anything that threw her off. She had instinctively felt that Midnight moved behind her to help her. Call it a sixth sense for battle or just her trust for her family, but this was the best improvement for Remey''s attack at the moment.


    Walker had also seen this and was letting himself smile even as he battled the force of the mummified pharaoh holding him in ce. But when he noticed that the mummified pharaoh had stopped moving and that it even seemed to be allowing things to happen around it, Walker knew something was wrong.


    The moment that Remey''s fistnded on the golden throne and the light elemental mana radiated out of her fist, everything seemed to go silent. Darkness mana and an odd aura of death radiated away as well. "Pathetic fools who can not see the path." The mummified pharaoh spoke again but this time the voice seemed to be all around them.


    The darkness mana rushed to the mummified pharaoh and Walker saw that the golden bones slowly turned ck as well. The ck wraps that had been on the mummified pharaoh''s body seemed to expand and became a cloak of sorts. The wraps seemed to have a mind of their own and formed in to sharpened shadows. "Now you will all join my rise to be a true god."


    The throne had been destroyed, but it seemed to have just been a holding spot. A thing to hold on to mana just like the spirit marks or the eternal form. That was why the stalemate had been broken. So what if more mana couldn''t be easily gathered? The mummified pharaoh now had all the mana it had stored up to use and it could do so now without issues. It could store moreter. This wasn''t anything that would stop its ns.


    When Remey saw that her attack had somehow made the mummified pharaoh stronger, she tried to raise their fist. Unfortunately, the shattering light affinity knuckles had left her hand bruised and even a few fingers broken. She couldn''t punch again with her full force unless she wanted topletely cripple her hand. She needed healing but she realized that the light elemental mana all around them had been repressed.


    No one had noticed it until this moment, but even Alice''s song appeared to have been hindered. The light swords that she had been using had faded and were barely able to condense. Even Rise was appearing to be weaker than she had ever been before. The slight mist of darkness wasing from the mummified pharaoh.


    The only one that appeared to be without struggle was Mordant, but he had already made a move to forcefully stop the partially mummified dragon from moving. If he moved now to do anything else, then Gil would be the one to die. The partially mummified dragon was losing multiple bone pieces from its body due to Gil''s flurry of dagger strikes.


    Each attack was weakening the dragon bone connections with the wrappings and the smaller bones. If Gil stopped, then the partially mummified dragon might be able to recover. Even with the fact that some of the bones that fell off started to crumble, the mummified parts of the dragon were still incredibly powerful. It could easily stand against the entire party as long as it could still regenerate. Gil could not change his attacking style or try to help Walker or else they would all lose. He was trapped in essence.


    Su tried to make a move as she saw the wrappings of pure darkness mana true to pierce Walker. They had formed in to onerge tendril of sharp darkness mana. The lingering death mana around it spelled death for anyone and anything. Su had vowed to defend everyone precious to her. She would be losing one of the people that meant the most if she did nothing here.


    As if moving in slow motion, everyone saw the spike heading for Walker. Even he was unable to make another move since the stalemate had been broken and the mummified pharaoh had the upper hand now. Everything he had tried to do to hold the mummy off was useless now. It looked like he had signed his own death warrant.


    "Fine, if you are going to hurt me then I will use all the damn mana I have!" Walker felt it was futile, but he figured he should use all the natural mana he had to use at once. It might do nothing without actually getting inside the mummified pharaoh. But it might help his family end the mummified pharaoh after he was gone.


    "Did you really expect me to remain behind, brother?"


    The single voice reached out to Walker as Onyx shattered through the barrier on the stairs. He had been behind to fight the many indeed below them in the pyramid. But no one had expected that Onyx would be able to break through. The force needed would be extraordinary.


    Right before the spike of darkness could pierce Walker, Onyx had taken his full sized form and be the shield Walker needed. It was clear in the slow motion view of everything that Onyx was already losing scales after forcefully breaking through a powerful barrier. But the attack that broke through him even more caused scales and blood to take to the air.


    Walker felt his heart crack when Onyx was harmed. The unimaginable feeling of trauma that shot through their bind was more than Walker could even fathom. However, seeing his family hurt had flipped a switch. The threat that had reached out to him before made Walker feel he had to use all of this mana no matter what. But he had no guide in form of how he would use it. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Now there was a chance.


    Now there was a clear opening to use all his mana.


    Fluer seemed to feel this as well. Her reaction to let Walker have full control of the natural mana she stored up was what he ended to push him forward. He released the eternal orb staff and fell down right in front of the mummified pharaoh that was in disarray because of Onyx''s sudden block.


    The opening that Walker saw was the space where the wrappings had left exposed. The ckened bones with hints of gold were right there in the open. Walker reached out with full force and pushed his hands in to the core of the mummified pharaoh.


    With all his intention and belief, Walker pushed natural mana in to the core of the mummified pharaoh. For an instant, the world seemed to have stopped turning. No one could tell what this feeling was, but for anyone that had ever experienced it in their life, it was victory.


    A single pulse of natural mana seemed to reverse flow through every single rune in the entire city from the pyramid. The mummified pharaoh began disintegrating along with every single undead that it had controlled. Small amounts of mana appeared to be bleeding out of every rune as well. They had effectively been destroyed when the natural mana flowed backwards through them. All the false death runes had not been made to allow natural mana throughout their form.


    The only bones left behind from the partially mummified dragon were the ws and the skull used to create the partially mummified undead monster that had fought them. But more importantly, the natural mana seemed to have purified them. The same could be said for the mummies around the ruins that did not choose their fate as undead.


    But none of this seemed to matter. The runes falling apart, the changes happening all around them. The fact that there was chaos happening around as some of the mummified undead began losing their forms and in turn, the city was bing truly lifeless. The only thing that mattered was that Onyx was still hurt and Walker was barely able to remain awake to get by his side.


    "Alice! Come heal him with me!" Walker barely yelled out this distraught sentence as he tried to call any mana to him. Any mana that could possibly be used to heal Onyx. he even threw out tons of potions from his storage all to be poured on the bleeding wound and the empty spaces where Onyx''s scales had been. He would do anything to prevent Onyx from dying here.


    "Brother, we won¡­"


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1847 1847. Earned

    ''Chain quest: mummified curse- final link-pleted


    Requirement: the undead pharaoh is the ruler of the mummified city. Defeat them and return the flow of nature to the cursed desert.


    Reward: 20000 experience, 20 heroic points, return of the desert, removal of the cursed sands, purification of the cursed desert by the will of the world.''


    ''The cursed sands are reverting to their natural form. The desert sands will recede over time and return the natural flow of time.


    The will of the world is expressing its gratitude.''


    "Who cares, stupid system. Alice!" Walker shouted again and saw that Alice was already right by his side. She was singing very quickly trying to heal the massive hole that was left where Onyx had been attacked. The small spots where scales had been torn off by the barrier also leaked blood. The more that Walker looked, the more that he felt he was breaking too.


    "You need a potion too." Su forced Walker to open his mouth and drink a potion. The mana potion helped restore some mana to him but it was still too littlepared to the state he was in from releasing a massive amount of natural mana in to another being as he had just done. It was not something that his body could handle without some massive side effect.


    The health potion that followed made Walker realize that he had also been injured. The fact that Onyx had been hurt was what Walker had focused on most of all. But the cuts from the mummified pharaohs'' attacks were clear. It had used the wrappings on its body to attack in the end and had grazed Walker''s arm. If Onyx had not taken the attack, it was clear that Walker would lose an arm and his life.


    As the gash healed, Walker also noticed the bruises from the stalemate with the mummified pharaoh on his arms and legs. All the ces the pharaoh had grabbed him to keep from stepping it with the eternal orb. "That''s it!"


    Walker realized that in not using the eternal orb stuff form to attack in the end had left natural mana still in it. A residual amountpared to what walker had forced himself and what Fluer had used before, but still enough to help. The natural mana could boost the mana in Onyx''s body and hopefully help Alice heal him.


    The eternal orb reacted to Walker''s desire and floated up from the group taking the orb form again. It hadnded there when Walker thrust his hands inside the mummified pharaoh to send all the natural mana possible inside it and force its body to crumble. The result had been great since it had ended this matter and sent natural mana throughout the entire mummified city. But that was just part of it. Walker hadn''t even seen the other undead falling apart or the runes beginning to fall apart. He didn''t care.


    The eternal orb was pressed against Onyx''s head. Walker could tell that Onyx was in a very bad situation. He was still bleeding too much while the healing seemed too slow. Then there was the fact that onyx had burned through a very high amount of mana to break the barrier that the mummified pharaoh had ced on the stairs to trap them when they came to fight.


    Without Onyx, they would not have won. But with Onyx slowly dying, it was too much to handle. "Use the rest of my mana as well. I can hold on until I reach the sun again." Rise spoke calmly. She looked at Onyx carefully, the abyssal serpent had made a very clear impression on Rise. able to use light and darkness manas together without any issues. Proof that there is a bnce between them that was not only in the nature dragon that united the dragon royalty.


    Rise ced a hand on Alice''s shoulder and the reaction was immediate. Light gathered more easily as Alice sang. The healing process also improved. When Walker began adding in natural mana at the expense of his own stress, the healing increased even more. What walker didn''t notice though, was that as his mentality faded from the pressure he put on himself in the moment, was that the life mages and other healers had been sprinting up the stairs to them.


    Just ast Walker finally lost his consciousness, he managed to spot the life mages using multiple skills on everyone. Including Onyx¡­


    ''The title, hero, has been earned. The alteration of levels and growth will be applied. An additional title has been earned. The dual hero of light and darkness has been earned. The hero title has been removed in change of this additional higher ranked tiel. The world smiles upon you.''


    Onyx sensed these words. These feelings within him. In this darkness, he felt that he was warm. But he also felt the brightness of light all around him. A strange way to be blind. Both in light and darkness. However, he didn''t frown at it. Instead, Onyx felt this was all the right way. The best way. How things should be.


    As he recalled what had happened, Onyx could only feel better about himself and the world. He had finally be a hero, even in death, that was fine to him. He saved many people who would have suffered if their efforts to defeat an evil undead failed. But he had also stood beside his family. Protected them. Showed everyone, even the world, who he was.


    The feelings didn''t fade though. Whenever Onyx had heard soldiers speaking about death, there were many theories. Many ces beings went. Some even believed that they would just restart in the world as other beings. A fresh te. But Onyx felt that he was just sitting in a strange mix of light and darkness. Just stuck.


    "Wake up already." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Sister?"


    "Get Up!"


    The shout and hard headbutt from Midnight brought the world of color back to Onyx. His eyes shot open as he looked around finding every royal dragon present and his party members with him. Walker wasying on Alice''sp unconscious while the others all sat watching carefully. Even the angels were around waiting.


    "But I-"


    "You are bad." Midnight''s growl of unhappiness was masked by the fact that she hadn''t moved her head from in front of Onyx.


    "Don''t worry, I will give you a good hit once my hands are healed." Remey looked at onyx with a solid smirk.


    "Woah, I have to give him a talk about dodging hits first. He just went right in front. He thought he was Su or something!"


    "Gil, he is not a tough shield user like me. Don''t give him ideas that he can go and take attacks like that again. There were many healers around to ensure he did not havesting side effects other than a scar." Su was a little more emotional than usual as well. But from what onyx could see, everyone still had some kind of happy face.


    "When Walker awakens, you might have some trouble. But when ites to Rise and I, you did well." Mordant spoke softly. Just enough for Onyx to hear without interrupting too much. With The way he and Rise were looking at him, it was as if there had been a new and unspoken understanding about Onyx and what he represented.


    "I didn''t want anyone to get hurt¡­ I saved mana for this battle and I was left behind. I could see it though¡­ Brother was going-"


    "Yeah yeah yeah mr. hero. Or should I say dual hero of light and darkness? That''s right, the world shared your new title with everyone. We all know that you finally caught up to us." Remey gave a toothy grin to Onyx who was about to apologize and ramble on. But seeing that everyone was looking at him without a single bit of unease of happiness made him lose the ability to speak.


    "Oh, it looks like we finally managed to make him speechless. I would expect that to be the case. Especially when Walker wakes up. I am sure there will be even more issues with anyone speaking again." Ventus looked at Onyx then the others. As a mother, she saw this as a very adorable situation. A Very emotional family event.


    "Now that we know they are all fine, let''s go find the ruins. I need to make sure nothing was damaged." Ignus was pushy, but he nced around with pride. They had won and left nothing to be questioned. The soldiers that fought had battled with everything. Even the seemingly weakest of the group had shown up to be the key in ending this battle. Now there was just what came afterwards. It was a mystery what that would be though.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1848 1848. More Things To Do

    "Brother, you are awake."


    Silence was the only response Walker had as he slowly woke up and rubbed the dust from his eyes. He knew it hadn''t been too long since he had passed out since he was still missing a lot of mana. He could also feel that Fleur had just gone back to resting to regain natural mana.


    However, Walker also could see that Onyx was somehow fine. He could also see that there were many system notifications that he had not read. That the others were also nearby speaking with each other about the next moves. This was still a dangerous ruin afterall.


    "Brother?..." Onyx sounded more worried this time. His eyes did not lose focus on Walker''s nk expression.


    After a few moments, Walker finally took a deep breath before he ced a song hand on top of Onyx''s head. "You''re gonna make me lose my mind if you ever do something like that again." Onyx finally rxed a little. It was as if he had been worried there would be a much worse reaction. Not that Walker had ever screamed or yelled in any way due to worry or anger.


    "You did pretty good though. Actually, very good. You gained a pretty decent title. Better than a general hero title." Walker could see the title and its details because of his ties with Onyx and the all around appraisal skill. It was surprising, but what Walker expected Omnyx to be capable of.


    "I didn''t do it for a title. I would never let my family get hurt like that." Onyx was steadfast in his reasoning. But that just made Walker smile more.


    ''Dual hero of darkness and light


    This title is given because of the use of light elemental mana and darkness elemental mana in unison to protect many. To uphold the values of the user. This title also represents the duality that is light and darkness mana. How they can unite to grow or separate to protect. Only those that truly bring the two elemental manas together in their entire being will have a chance to gain this title along with a path to unique skills.


    The holder of this title will have an altered leveling system in ce. There is also a chance that unique rted quests will appear. The holder of this title also gains a better ability to understand, manipte, and absorb light and darkness elemental manas. There are other factors added as well.''


    This alone was too much for many people to grasp. The title was different from the heroic title that the rest of the party had or even the true hero title that Walker had. But it was impressive nheless. This was all proof that onyx had worked with his ideals upheld. That he had been striving to unite the two halves of his species constantly.


    The fact that Onyx had done so much that he had achieved this title was amazing. He was a young abyssal serpent by the standard of their species along with many. But he had grown significantly to stand above that standard. He had pushed himself to be a force that could be seen as the leader of the abyssal and heavenly serpents.


    Furthermore, Onyx had stepped ahead of the others and found the core of their species. Not two different, but one species that used both light and darkness elemental mana. One that stood out when in ancient times or nowadays. It was already an astounding achievement, but would not help the abyssal serpents and heavenly serpents be known as a new recognized intelligent race. It was just a matter of time before the world gave the announcement.


    "So, what do you think Genesis is saying right about now?" Walker looked at Onyx andughed a little. Onyx slowly slithered over and took his smaller form right on Walker''s shoulder where he felt the most at home.


    "They might be wondering what we got ourselves mixed up in right about now." Onyx felt that it would be more apparent when they went home. But also that Genesis would wee them all regardless of Onyx''s new title.


    When The others noticed that Walker was awake, they managed to make their way over. Alice also helped Walker stand all the way up since she could see that he was still a little off. Not that she minded, she cared about his safety and was too short on mana to manage any more healing at the moment. She had also taken a hefty toll when it came to healing Onyx and the others. She trusted the work of the other healers.


    "So, think you set a good example for Onyx?" Su was clearly proud of how Onyx had acted. But that didn''t stop her from giving Walker a small talk about how he had managed to get himself trapped in a position where he could be easily killed. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I really wasn''t thinking when it all happened. I at least thought I had things held in ce before the throne was broken. I didn''t think-"


    "That''s the issue. You have all these skills and your head doesn''t seem clear. Take some time and figure it out. Maybe get a way to think faster or decrease the skills you have." While Walker had at one point thought this too, it was more important now than ever.


    This true statement about Walker''s skills being so varied and higher in number caused trouble. He could have broken that stalemate with the mummified pharaoh. All of the group thought this. But the fact that he hadn''t just proved that he was truly stuck.


    Yet, there was also the fact that Walker was able to use mana and his physical strength now to resist the mummified pharaoh. A clear example of his growth due to his rtionship with Onyx and Midnight along with natural mana. Su was also an example of changes because of ties with Midnight. Her body was much stronger now.


    "Instead of lecturing Walker any more than we need, can we try and focus on this pce? This ruin that is still buried under the sand and the fact that we now need to hunt for some dragon ruins in the ruins? Ruins in ruins¡­ weird." Gil mumbled a little at the end but had a very good point.


    " That should be easy. Between Ignus and Myself we should sense it. They were trying to break through to it somewhere. So it has to be under this pyramid somehow. And then we let Ignus take it and do what he needs." Remey also had a point. She and Ignus should be able to sense the fire elemental mana. Remey because of her partner, and Ignus because of his high fire affinity.


    "It is the best move for the moment. Once we understand what was left behind we can search for the wind, darkness, light, and water dominator dragon ruins. There should be ruins for all of us.'' Ventus calmly added her own input while looking a lot more distracted now. But that was to be expected. They had aplished a major event here. From this point, there is a lot to wonder about.


    "I will rest above ground first. I have more to do than just search for ruins over an entire continent." Rise was back to the usual uppity self. However, her eyes did linger on Onyx and Mordant more than they had before.


    "I am more concerned about therge amount of darkness mana dissipating from here, the ruins are still breaking down here and there. Some ces only seemed to be held together by the runes that flowed with mana." Mordant had eyes around him that were focused on the runes that had broken. They were not looking the same as before. But the runes that were standing out were elemental runs of the formations breaking down, not the false death runes that had already evaporated.


    "I will examine runes in the area while I gather those water crystal pirs. They may be useful for me in the future." Current had been somewhat quiet while he thought of what he nned. He had disliked the desert. The heat and the cursed sand had been hard on him. But now he saw the high potential that the water crystal pirs had. The fact that they held water elemental mana for many years at once could be very useful.


    "I think everyone already has a goal for the short term. We can figure more things out soon. But for now, the army should rest. We need to figure out the further future after that. Not that I am too worried. We still have three demons to hunt down." Walker looked around almost expecting someone to jump out from nowhere. He worried that they had missed the demons here.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1849 1849. Finding The Flames

    "I know that you are thinking. But we need to begin looking. We can not rest.'' Mordant calmly spoke with Walker. He could tell that Walker was in depth thinking about why they might not have seen the demons here. It was written all over his face. A very easy thing to guess since they were all thinking about it.


    Yet, when it came to their current task, they had to focus on the draconic ruins somewhere under this pyramid. The pce that the undead had been trying to break in to as well so that they could utilize more of the strength of dragons to take over more space. So that the mummified pharaoh could live out the desire to be some all powerful god of twisted death.


    ''I know, I just feel like something is off. How could we have missed the demons? They mocked us at the wyvern territories. They knew we were there and watched us before attacking. Then they stole the wyvern body from a passed away powerful wyvern. There has to be more. They wouldn''t pass up power here."


    This drew a few worried looks from Su. She was certain that Walker was right and she too had been trying to figure out what would stop the demons they knew to be roaming somewhere from entering here. "First we handle the ruins. Then we will handle the demons. It is unavoidable."


    After a thought or two, Su decided to remain focused on what they could do in the moment. Anything else would slow them down. Especially since they had to make sure that they made time to properly rest once they had handled the issues revolving around the false death runes and undead.


    With the rest of the party ready to move, regardless of their tiredness, they started to head down the stairs. What they found were many soldiers setting up ces to rest within therge pyramid. It had been checked out and the remains from anything they had fought had either crumbled to dust or had been piled up. Especially the metal parts here and there.


    It had been one thing that really stuck with them when they had fought. The remaining metal parts forced on to the bones and even as parts of the bodies of undead. Many soldiers worried that they would be faced with crumbling rune covered metal parts that could no longer contain their mana. However, they were very rxed to see that this was not the case. With the runes breaking down along with the undead, the metal parts had be useless.


    Iot did bring the issue of using themter. There would be many pieces that could be reforged and made use of. But the history from them would make many of the angels feel bad for doing so. Yet, some had already started to state that using the metals for important things that could bring life to the area around the desert might be better. To make farming tools and reim the cursed nature of the desert.


    "What''s wrong? Your hand still hurting?" Gil noticed that Remey was shing her fingers and looking at her knuckles.


    "Of course it is. I literally shattered metal forged knuckles over my gloves. The mana was way too much and I never thought I would break them. Now my hand is healed but Alice and the other healers said I should hold off for a while since there would still be damage. It wasn''t like they could just magically fix it all perfectly. It was light mana that helped damage my hands. Light elemental healing mana wouldn''t perfectly fix it right away."


    The annoyance in Remey''s voice made it clear that she didn''t like the fact that she would have to hold back at all. She needed to repair her own body and get new light affinity knuckles. "What the heck will happen when I fight another tough monster? More broken hands and broken knuckles? I need new one. Tougher ones." Her thoughts seemed to drift elsewhere.


    "It''s not just our equipment that we will want to improve. Our bodies too. Su and Walker are already tougher. But you me and Alice are all pretty weak byparison. Onyx is at least a serpent. Tougher scales. Midnight is a dragon. And they all have some dragon things working out. We have ourselves."


    With Gil bringing Alice in to it too, the three of them were able to look at the rest of their group with clear eyes. They had a disadvantage byparison.


    "You are acting like we have more over you. But you have an entire fighting style that I could not rival. If I was not familiar with you and your battle, I would lose in a fight." Su made it clear to Gil that he had lost some toughness by following the elven ways and adding points to a certain bnced magically and physical attacking style. But that wasn''t a downside.


    "Alice trained in healing and as a songstress. She has not been physically battling as long as us or anyone else. She can remain focused on her task and gradually improve physical resistances." This was also a fairly well analyzed position for Su to see.


    "And Remey¡­well, I think she can gain a lot of affinity resistances. She already has the basics started, just needs to work on a few more things instead of being in the alchemyb." Su finally broke her seriousness and smirked a little at Remey. She knew that Remey was already nning to do just that and begin a hardcore focus on physical training again. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Listen up, I will be tougher than you and run around like a nonstop berserker. Barry will have nothing on me too when I get stronger than him." Remeypared herself to the vice adventurer''s guild master. They all knew that this was a very lofty goal, but with how much they gained from this trio, it might be a very good start. Not that Barry or anyone that seemed to be on his level were simple. Even if they matched his level they might be considered behind him in toughness.


    "This ce seemed different without the runes. The altar was broken a bit because of our attacks, but it looks like it was pulling mana from below too." Walker had stopped paying attention to the conversation around him. He was more fixated on the fact that Ignus appeared ready to start tearing up the floor to find the ruins he wanted.


    "Here we are. There are multiple ces that someone might insert poles to move the entire altar.'' Walker pointed out space. It would have taken at least twenty of the undead to move it. Specifically, the stronger undead such as the mummified amalgamations or heavy guardians. But when Ignus heard Walker, he casually mmed a single hand on the altar and flipped it over.


    The loud sound of stone being mmed over itself was enough to draw attention and even make some of the soldiers jolt from their resting ces for battle. With a small wave, Walker made sure that they knew it was safe. However, the hole revealed underneath the altar proved to be more than he had imagined.


    What he would have assumed to be a small set of steps to a ruin were actually just open space. A massive space left to allow anything that tried to enter to fall. The runes that had been carved connected only to the mana that was hitting the bottom of the altar. It would then pull mana upwards to it.


    "I thought that they were trying to break in to this. Why would they have a massive hole here and locked it away just to siphon mana away? Ignus looked at Walker for answers. He knew that the all around appraisal should have some sort of answers for him and everyone else. But instead, Walker shrugged too.


    "I will look¡­" Mordant trailed off while cing a hand in to the empty hole and sensing through the darkness mana there. He slowly looked as if he was learning more and more before he refocused on Ignus.


    "They appear to have given up. The stone is too tough and a small me remains around the ruins. It was a defensive mechanism that burned undead that touched it. Instead, they seem to have tried to drain the mana over years and years until they could enter it. They could not beat the power of a truly powerful dragon." Pride came with these words. It was proof that the me dominator dragon may have died but the strength it had was still there. Waiting for the right descendant.


    "Then I will go down." Ignus didn''t hesitate to fall in to the pitch darkness.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1850 1850. Two In Flames

    Fire. That was what Ignus was. What he studies. Who he thought he would always be. With fire, came brutal strength. The ability to turn every enemy to ash. It did not matter how often he was challenged or what he was challenged with, fire made Ignus a force of nature. Unstoppable.


    The more that Ignus had seen, the more he had begun to change. He had recently found something that stood out from his many years of life as a royal fire dragon. He had found some humans that changed their ideas and pushed themselves in to every single race. Every single kingdom. Every single facet of the world.


    These humans had broken traditions. This had originally stirred Ignus''s anger. Breathed more life in to the mes of hatred for any weaker bearings. Yet, he had been proven wrong. His mes had done nothing to such humans. No matter how he threatened, he was met withpromises, promises that seemed impossible, and aplishments that did not match the perceptions he had.


    These events had opened up his stagnant path to a brand new possibilities. The fire elemental mana that he had spent years studying had begun to advance. His understanding that he had gripped through emerging himself inva filled volcanoes had been pushed forward just by humans taking their own efforts to join hands with even the dragonkin below him.


    From that point, Ignus had seen how even a few weeks with this new ce called Genesis had brought the useless dragon hatchlings that he tossed out to have a future. A useful future as alchemists which was the first for a dragon. Something that no dragon had wasted time on before.


    However, that was also an age where affinity potions had not existed. Potions that had a direct impact of speeding up elemental understanding. That every single dragon had immediately wanted more than territory, strength, or even pride. Not that pride lost out for long. Dragon''s were a proud race, it would be impossible for them topletely ignore that.


    Yet, Ignus found himself following what the humans had said and even sitting next to a human to assist in creating such potions. Things that had never been recorded in history happened right as he had thought that he would remain at the same position for the rest of his life. Leaving only the same legacy as he had been given by his predecessor.


    "For a fire dragon as myself to have friends¡­ what aplicated world." Ignus mumbled as he thought of the hours in the alchemyb and the massive changes he had witnessed. The impossible things. He hated that he had changed somehow, but he also felt the fires burn stronger for a future that no dragon had seen. He would grab on to that me and make it his no matter what.


    Around the darkness, mes sparked up from the walls. Large stone carved pirs were made to hold embers. The proof of attempts that had been made to break them and use them were everywhere. Runes forcefully carved seemed to have been left to defend the ruins here. The legacy of the me dominator dragon.


    But more evidence that someone had attempted to enter the ruins was clear. In the center of this massive cavern were manyrge pirs covered in draconic fire runes. Small mes burning around it that seemed to burn anything that would get near. Ignus even felt the mes directed at himself. But he was a fire dragon. They could not harm him.


    As if to prove this, Ignus walked toward therge pirs. He became engulfed in mes hotter than most. Everyone from the top of the ruins could see this. The darkness had been driven away. The fiore elemental mana densely erupted through the opening. This was why the altar had been sapping away mana. This intense fire elemental mana had been left condensed by the me dominator dragon to protect his knowledge. His legacy.


    While the earth dominator dragon had left a legacy only an earth dragon could ess, the me dominator dragon had done the same in a different way. With Ignus here, he was able to touch the pir and instantly shift the mes to expose the true form of these pirs.


    Therge bs of volcanic stone had been carved with unique draconic me runes. They all spoke of strengths that Ignus had never imagined. Things that he still could not touch upon without learning more about fire elemental mana. "I will expect even more high fire affinity potions in the future!"


    "Ha! You have to pay for those!" Remey roared back in her own way earning her a slight growl from Ignus. But this was something only the two could share. Remey had been able to somehow match Ignus. She wasn''t just a human to her anymore.


    "Get down here and learn something then. You have that grand fire spirit with you. Or do you want to be some weak human that relies on someone else''s power?" Mordant, Ventus, Current, and Rise all took a sharp breath in. None of them couldprehend what they had just heard.


    "I''ll help you down. You might be stuck studying for a while, but I don''t think-"


    "You better not hog all the good fire knowledge for yourself. I can''t do much with whatever is left over!" Remey jumped right down through the hole. Walker just felt that his words were nothing as Ignus casually caught Remey and went back to looking at the runes. However, he also began to show her things he found interesting. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Who is that?" Current was still stunned. He had never imagined that this would happen. Ignus never shared. He never called anyone, even his dragonkin, to share something with.


    "A fake dragon. We have failed to see the imposter that has stolen the strength of our lost royal dragon Ignus." Ventus was also fairly convinced they were looking at someonepletely false.


    "He may have lowered himself in to a hole, but he isn''t who I imagined him to be anymore." Rise just epted it before walking away. She had every intention of reaching the sunlight and regaining therge amounts of light elemental mana she had already lost.


    "It seems that he isn''t the only one of us that has gotten closer to all of you." Mordant had thought he was the one that took the lead in gaining rtionships with humans or any other race in general. But here he was, outdone by Ignus of all people. It was both a little depressing but also very impressive.


    "We might have left them alone too much in the alchemyb. Now he might be closer than we are with Remey." Su was just as shocked that Ignus and Remey had bunched up to learn about fire elemental mana and dragon skills like this. She hadn''t seen thising in the least.


    "I think it makes sense. They are both hard headed and ready to blow up like volcanoes. A perfect pair to bond over more destructive mes." Gilughed a little while he looked down one more time. He knew he could finally take a nap now that this was sorted out.


    This left Walker just standing there wondering what he could do. He was very impressed with this change, but also wondered what it meant for the future. Remey had such an odd meld of skills now. She was learning the mes of alchemy and dragons. Something crazy by anyone''s standards. But adding on a unique system and battle style made things all the more mysterious.


    "I guess we might see something a little more out of the ordinary in the future." Walker felt that he couldn''t do much about this situation. Instead, he watched as Ignus and Remey began collecting all the volcanic stone bs. It was clear that Ignus did not intend to keep himself here as Terron had when they were in the wyvern territory.


    It was true that remaining here would not be beneficial. There was very little fire elemental mana to keep him training his understanding. Along with that, there was also apleteck of materials to make affinity potions for him to learn. Then on top of this was the fact that he did not want to miss the other ruins being discovered. He did not wish to see the other ruins from the dragons forgotten. He had to join his fellow dragons to discover all of their past. Not just one or two parts.


    "I guess we can rest here¡­" Walker looked over top Midnight and found that she had curled up and fallen asleep right next to Walker while watching things. But Alice was there too, using Midnight as a pillow. It was exactly as it needed to be.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1851 1851. Seeking The Past

    Resting seemed to take a lot longer than before. But all the built up stress from having the undead threat look over them had been released from the army. The Fel angels proved to be the most at ease now. It was as if they had finally taken off an unimaginable weight from their shoulders.


    While they were known for their research focus, the Fel angels were not unemotional. They had families. They had loved ones. They cared for them with everything they had. therefore, it made a lot of sense that they would have to feel something when they finally defeated a threat that had been there for years now. A threat that could have defeated their entire race if left alone.


    This wasn''t the only group that felt this though. The Rize angels had felt odd. They had hated the Fel ideals because they were different. That they had to remain solid in their own beliefs because the Fel empire would just take things away and abuse the knowledge that the Rize empire had stored.


    That there was no feeling or values from the Fel empire. That all they cared for was brutal research at any cost. That they would push for power without thought. Or at least all this was what the Rize empire had grown up thinking. The false stereotype and ideals that they had been led to believe and never told otherwise.


    Just like when the life mages, crystal healer, and healers from the Fel empire had seen that the Rize empire had fought for their safety, the Rize empire was seeing the same. They both had massively misjudged where the core values were of each empire.


    The fact that they had different views remained. But it was seeming less and less important that they forcefully separate them. Right here, they had all seen that the elemental mana used were very valuable. That the other manas that the Rize empire tried to stamp down were important to the flow of life too.


    Natural mana had gone to destroy the undead that guing this area. That was something that the Rize empire rarely pursued. It was abination of all elemental mana and was a natural flow. Yet, it was not a huge focus because it was not one of the elemental halls. It was not one of the changing and flowing elemental manas that fit perfectly in the guidelines of what the Rize empire had believed for so long.


    The Fel empire was simr though, they had seen the focus on the elemental manas by the Rize empire and rejected that as a main research topic. This had led them to focus on research and discover the powerful manas such as death, life, time, space, and many other things. By doing this, their strength was different, but it was also too focused.


    The Fel empire had lost how they could connect all these other manas to the elemental manas. Some had tried to focus on one thing and bring them together, but because they had hit walls with their research, they had be blinded. Their blind hatred stopped them from the potential to bring manas together. It was simr to the elves in that respect.


    The elves had separated based on their elemental affinities and beliefs for the most part. That was what happened to lose the high elves which had affinities for even natural mana. It was a shame for them. Now the angels were somewhat simr. Divided without thebinations of mana that truly made the world, or even everything flow.


    Now that they had the chance to rest and open their minds, they felt that just returning to the way things were was foolish. While they knew that the higher angels would immediately begin thinking about, was how to retakends, the angels who fought here were thinking otherwise. So were the Rize angels rted to the wyverns. Their thoughts and future ns had changed.


    With this potential, they just needed to make the right move. And that right move was joining the Rize angels and the Fel angels to further research, rebuild, and show off the gathered knowledge. The fact that this was something they all felt now was a single result from Genesis being involved.


    The soldiers of Genesis had not pushed away either empire. The angels from both had been spoken to as equals. As brothers and sisters fighting together. How could that happen? That was a constant question to both the Rize and the Fel angels. How could so many different races exist across the waters and be together?


    They had asked many questions during this time of rest. It had be a grand story. The history of separate kingdoms. Lands that were separated and even wars fought between them. It was enough to make the angel''s heads spin with these tales.


    When they finally reached the tales about how heroes arrived out of nowhere, many of the angels already understood. They had seen some of the world''s system announcements. Amazing things with the bnce of elemental manas. The changes in racesing to exist. Monster races being some of the most outstanding aplishments recorded in centuries!


    From there things only went even more wild. The story of the heroes meeting kings and queens. Taking on challenges from everywhere just to get them all to agree to one thing. A unified city. From that story more followed. Demons being freed from oppression, dragons being weed as friends, elemental spirits being awakened and freed, so many things that were hard to wrap their minds around. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, the angels found themselves lost in silent contemtion. Their eyes drifted to where Walker''s party and the royal dragons had taken spots to rest. Their thoughts wondering what amazing thing might just leap out in front of them if they took their eyes away just for a second.


    "Walker, are those two still yelling and arguing about all that?" Since Reney and Ignus had been looking at the many volcanic bs of draconic writing, one thing had started to happen. They had started to argue and debate fire. They had begun to try and challenge one another with what some things meant. The fact that gil had seen this pushed him to find a quieter spot to sleep for a bit.


    "They haven''t stopped. I thought Remey would pass out with her healed injuries,ck of mana,ck of energy, and just general hunger¡­ But there she is. She and Ignus are still trying to get over the first b and understand what it means. It''s kind of¡­"


    "Super weird and odd and you have no idea what to do about it?" Gil saw Walker nod in approval since they had all felt that very same.


    "I just think that they are much closer than any of us realized. All that time locked in an alchemyb with the fumes from potions might have gotten to them." Mordant spoke up after a little contemtion. This was the only solution that came to him.


    "Ignus might just have epted humans and other races. They are somewhat simr. I just didn''t imagine it would be in this way." Ventus was older than Ignus. She looked down and wondered how someone like him had apparently grown faster than most other dragons. Adapted better than even she had as of yet.


    "We should not judge them. They are living proof that shared interests can prove more to us than anything else. Dragons and Genesis are destined." Su spoke softly, but she had thought this for a long time due to her bonds with Midnight.


    "Food." Midnight had long sat quietly since she didn''t want to wake up Alice. But the group''s sudden talking had made Alice sit up letting Midnight go free to ask for the one thing she wanted most right now.


    "You''re right, we should have food and start moving around here. This city is long lost. It might not hold enough for us to understand anything. But I want to understand what it was like before that madness had taken it over. Before that evil... I would rather know what it was like when it fostered growth and caring attitudes." Walker felt he had only seen the evil this ruin had be. He wished to see the opposite side. Before evil had hooked it.


    "I agree. I would like to see that before we depart. I expect that you can find a ce possibly untouched that holds history with your all around appraisal?" Current wished to know more. He hated this journey in the dry heat. He hated the cursed sands. He hated these mummified undead. Yet, he did not hate that there had once been a haven here. The haven in the desert almost seemed like a jewel to him. Something magical.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1852 1852. Searching The Past

    Walker and many of the soldiers had split from one another. Groups of three or four to explore the ruins. They all knew that there would not be any monsters around. The undead had ensured that was a thing. Therefore, the safety was fairly high when it came to battle.


    This was not the same when it came to copse. There were some heavy battles that went on. Ventus and Ignus had been burning very high intensity mes all around. Just because they focused these mes and wind attacks on the undead, did not mean that the ruined city would not be affected.


    The ruins had been tempered with mes and wind through Ignus and Ventu attacking. Therefore, they would clearly change. Some of the stones showed ck marks where undead had burned next to on them. While other ces showed the heat and cooling stress cracks that any stone super heated too fast or cooled too fast would have.


    This showed a lot of warning to others. The soldiers had listened to Walker and the others about this danger carefully. They understood that they had to tread carefully to avoid copsing this entire ce. If they identally broke a key piece of the stone work, then it was not impossible for the stone city to begin to break away and copse. Especially the massive dome above.


    This also brought a lot more to thought. The massive dome had been constructed with interlocking stones. It created an entire bubble of twoyers with a protected space inside for guarding the city. An impressive and amazing aplishment that superseded the building of today.


    Genesis had some amazing buildings, but because of how the builders had grown on their continent, wood had been more of a focus than stone. That was also the fact for the dwarves who had somewhat focused on the metal and underground instead of interlocking pieces. They also focused on gears and steam to power things. A changepared to this more ancient ruin.


    The architectural knowledge alone could massively advance some of the current building practices. This was something clearly overlooked by the undead. They had focused on their goals because of twisted and evil intentions and practices. Therefore, they had missed something that they excelled in over all else. The pure skill to build.


    The fact that the entire city had survived in decent condition regardless of the undead awakening was still spectacr. Ruins that the party had explored before had been in much worse shape. Therge ancient ruined city that the Immortal king was trapped in with his undead were perfect examples.


    That city had rotted, crumbled, and be a mess in general. The underground portions had even flooded in ces leaving worse undead monsters or just terrible conditions. It was all due to the stagnation left with being unable to move and leave or have new materials brought in.


    This city had been controlled carefully and because of that, the city had even begun to get cleaned up to a small degree. Not to mention that runes had been protected by the building. Therefore, when the undead had awoken, they had been able to fix something better than others. While some small homes that weren''t even fit for storage had fallen or broken, thergest of storage buildings were intact.


    This was where Walker, Onyx, and Midnight found themselves. They had managed to find a veryrge storage building. The stone coffins inside had also crumbled when the runes were entirely destroyed. That left a rather dusty floor making things a bit rough to travel through. Yet, that also presented some decent clearing.


    The fact that the space was more open helped Walker look for things left behind before the city had be full of evil and twisted intentions. It was already easy to see just roaming through the barren streets that the city had lost a lot.


    The normal items that would have been here and there around homes and market areas were nowhere to be seen. Rugs and fabrics would have long rotted away but that wasn''t what Walker was sad not to see. Pottery and anything that would have stood over the test of time were missing. That was proof that when the undead had taken over, they had gotten rid of anything that could not be of use.


    The fact that this was the case also meant that the twisted madness of the mummified pharaoh had been deeper than just taking over to attempt his growth to bing a god. It hadpletely tried to stamp out the past where there was a goddess of harvest or growth. It was a rough reality to ept but that was why Walker and the others were looking for things. They could bring back the past and prove that this wasn''t always a pce of evil.


    So far, the small pir tops they had seen buried in sand would be proof of this. Those were small stopping points and alters. Walker had gotten some all around appraisals from them to prove this about. Therefore, he could further prove that as the surroundings were buried in cursed sands, that there were things held safe to prove a good past. To prove that there was kindness and goodness here at some point.


    "Brother, there are some small coins here. Rusted, but they are here." Onyx managed to push aside some of the dust piles to discover that small rusted coins had been left with some of the undead coffins. It seemed that they had a decent currency system at one point.


    "I bet there will be a lot of those. They look like rusted iron so nothing tooplicated. Especially since gold seemed to have been used for the throne and some runes. This iron probably wasn''t important so it was left on whoever was holding it. Especially for the mummified undead that were not as strong." These coffins had to hold more mummified worshippers than anything. That seemed to be the majority other than starving mummies that also were high in number.


    "I hate this though, theypletely tried-"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Walker was a little annoyed and tried to kick the dust away. Instead, though, he managed to kick solid stone and fall t on his face. It was a very embarrassing event that made Midnight struggle to hold back some of herughter. She had taken her dragonkin form back after thest battle since she knew she could safely keep training herself in it while she explored.


    She has begun to really like the dragonkin form. It made her feel closer to the party since she looked a little more like them. Not that she didn''t enjoy her dragon form. She knew that was very impressive and powerful as well.


    But that wasn''t what the focus was, midnight had also discovered some coins and a few rusted metal pieces that had been carried on the undead before they had been ced in these coffins.


    When Walker had fallen he had managed to uncover a piece of stone that would have been missed in the group of storm coffins. His recovery brought him, Midnight, and Onyx to look down at the dust covered opening.


    Below from what they could see would be what anyone would consider a basement storage. An ideal ce to put away the more valuable goods in a storeroom. Even the ancient races and civilizations would have things like this. Regardless of how developed their markets were when they were alive and thriving.


    "This should be a good ce to start looking." Walker forgot the embarrassing frustration and fall just a minute ago. He traded that for the excitement of making a little progress.


    Just as he wanted to share what they had discovered about the ancient angels with the current world''s angels, he wanted to discover more about these ruins and people.


    "Brother, would there be monsters under here if the undead did not go inside?" Onyx raised a good question.


    "I doubt it. They wouldn''t be able to survive without leaving. The cursed sands would have harmed them even more here. They also would have to avoid the senses of the undead. That would be very hard." Walker didn''t like this fact but it was all too true. Even pests like rats wouldn''t be able to escape.


    "Then I believe we should explore. There must have been a stone coffin here covering it." The undead were not stupid but these undead followed orders. They definitely didn''t seem to have ignored this slight opening and just ced stone coffins regardless.


    "It''s settled then. I will use the light orb to see and we will explore. Or should we train our night vision more?" The suggestion was more of a game than anything. Walker figured it could be more fun to train a little while searching this storage space.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1853 1853. Sewers

    "This is more than I thought. Brother, should we be here?" Onyx was incredibly surprised that when the three of them had jumped down in to the space lit by the light orb that it was not small in the least. The space seemed to stretch further than Walker''s light orb could reach. The darkness was enough to show that they would be challenged regardless of whether they decided use the light orb or just tried to improve night vision.


    "It is muchrger. That might not be good though." Walker was thinking about the fact that the storage space above was veryrge. It was as sure thought that the space was erged to hide more things. But as they looked, there were not goods here at all.


    "No food?" Midnight was sniffing around and moving forward with onyx and Walker.s eh had sworn that she would be able to smell a little food here and there. Even if it was rotten remnants trapped in a storage space for generations.


    "That''s what I thought too. Even the ruins with undead closer to the human kingdoms had evidence that food has been there. The rotten marks on stones or even the fact that some had died and been left petrified." it would be easy for them to find many things here that should have been long forgotten after the undead took over.


    The fact that some foods would store for many years already was something that some adventurers and races alike. Cheese and wines would store for a very long time in the right environment. Especially if they were sealed properly. While the dried meats would just be bricks of dry rotted leather for the most part. The fruits and vegetables would just be found as dusty marks or some ckned piles of solid dirt for the most part.


    None of what the three saw anything like this though. It was as if someone had swept this entire area clean before everything had been moved. The fact that runes we also left undisturbed proved that it had not been the undead that did this. Their runes had broken down and begun to deteriorate if still present. Therefore, these runes were left behind from before the undead had taken over.


    "We should explore more, if we head this way, it will take us under the streets." Walker pointed toward the direction that the door to therge storage should be above them. With this, midnight and Onyx took the lead since they had much better night vision. Not that walker was much behind them.


    Due to the bonds between them, Walker had also noticed more changes in his body. While he knew for a long time that he was less human, the more natural mana that he absorbed seemed to change him. It was natural since the natural mana was a mix of all manas. It would facilitate life and growth to a degree. Especially with the life magic that Walker had begun to learn about.


    Adding in other manas, and Waker had no idea what effect it would all have on his body. He literally had the affinity or the ability to learn all things. He had not really understood that and still didn''t know no matter how much he put his mind to it. The limit of being unable to use a mastery skill seemed minisculepared to the fact that his bonds and affinities were changing his very form. His being.


    "It''s broken." Walker stopped as he noticed a change in their path. He couldn''t let his mind wander so much that he was unable to pay attention. Since they found the broken wall, then it meant that there was more to the ruins that he had missed.


    "The ruined city had an underground. I assume for waste and water to run away. But if the city was being taken over¡­" Walker''s mumbling brought rity to Midnight and Onyx. this pace was already untouched by the undead. Why would they move to look at the waste of their previous still alive forms? That would be wasteful and something that the undead the controlled them ignored.


    "Since we have this path, we should follow it." Onyx knew that they couldmunicate this to others, but the searches throughout the ruined city were too important to stop them all. Instead, it would be easier for them to scout out and see what else they could find.


    "Then we go in." Walker epted this idea easily. He had thought the same as Onyx. Midnight clearly thought so too since she started to be more fixed on sniffing the air as she walked ahead. She clearly wanted to return to her dragon form in case they found any monsters here. It was a small possibility now.


    "So the mad mage leading undead trying to be a god makes his move. People start to follow but naturally, some of them resist since they believe in a nurturing goddess of harvest and growth. Where do they go when they lose their chance at surviving? Down. so that means we should be able to find evidence of the past and records here."


    This all made a lot of sense to them as they moved. All three understood that if they had been forced to the underground, it would all be natural for them to push through to hidden storage areas to gain food, water, and anything else they needed. The only question would be, how deep did these escaping beings go? <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I believe I learned a thing or two about this from the dwarves." Onyx had learned a lot while he had been out and about with the newly hatched serpents. So had Midnight since she had spent time in the forges with the dwarves and the wandering cksmith.


    "Sandstone." Midnight knew what Onyx was getting at. It wasn''t their bond between one another but just intuition. They had a very close mindset since they had spent a lot of time together.


    "Brother, there should be sandstone caves under any desert. That is why water can pool around and make an oasis. The sandstone is dense so when it rains, the water is slower to seep in. This might be a veryrge oasis." Onyx spoke with more pride since he was happy to share these things with Walker since it was new information.


    "That means that the race that lived here might have survived in some way. Not that it''s likely. They could have just left a lot of evidence that they had been here. I doubt that many escaped the nned famine and then attacks from the undead. If anything, we will find records of them surviving and potentially leaving their stories for the future." Walker knew that finding anything living in some massive sandstone cave would be slim. But he liked that it was a chance he could take.


    This idea was enough to invigorate them as the three made their way past the broken wall. From the sight they found, it was a sewer.


    "This is rough, but they carved it out pretty well." The carved stone had shifted with time, but it was the same way that the entire city had been built. Interlocking stone pieces that came together to create a very tight build. Everything that had once been waste was long dried and turned to dust. The only remnant were the stone troughs that were stained forever. It also was why there wasn''t anything but a musty and dusty scent here. Nothing that made anyone want to retreat.


    "They even have runes here to purify things. I would say that they were more advanced than we realized when they were alive." Walker examined the ancient light runes that had long faded away. They would easily be able to have stopped any diseases or illnesses from spreading due to the higher amount of waste in one ce. Something that Walker knew was used in cities already but not as specified. He quickly memorized it to show otherster.


    "We just follow this then. Brother, Sister, keep up." Onyx started to slither ahead. His focus on more than just discovering the past here. He clearly was ready to push further in his journey to strength. Not only because he had finally be a hero of sorts, but also because he wanted to avoid being injured in such a way as before again.


    The fact that everything looked so clean made it clearer that this had be a well traveled space at some point. Not any longer, but since nature hadn''t gotten to this pce, nothing else had piled up. No spiderwebs, molds, or nts. It had remained this way for many years. A good sign for those exploring simr areas.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1854 1854. A Silver Lining

    ?An error urred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data/script/email_list.txt''.


    Following the ancient sewers would sound like a bad thing to many people, but at the moment, Walker felt like they had somehow ended up on a ridiculous treasure hunt. Without the oppressive darkness and hints of death mana here and there, things seemed to have calmed down everywhere. Especially above in the ancient city,


    Where things were still off though were the things that Walker found himself thinking when he was moving with Midnight and Onyx toward a sloping path that would have run whatever waste and water that was in the city toward whatever the final destination was.


    He found himself thinking about the entire process that had brought the city to its end. The fact that some madman had been enough to orchestrate all of this. It was something from an evil viin fairytale. No one would expect that one person could cause all of this.


    Yet, the one person being powerful was the key. Many of the kingdoms back him had powerful individuals. Taking Barry as one of them as an example proved that point. He was able to leave the human city and venture off toward any monster wave or outbreak or anything. He could handle it with minimal effort then return to his home.


    This had made many people respect him for protecting their farms. In turn, it also had been able to save many of these farms, a source of food. Therefore, the one person in this situation was very important to keeping the entire kingdom and its people alive.


    If the situations were reversed and Barry had lost his mind, it would have spelled an end to many people. They would not be able to resist him goingpletely berserk with his skills and level of power. Theparison helped Walker make the pieces of this puzzle fit together. He just didn''t have the exact details of how it had all fone. But he might find more down here.


    "There are some paintings and scrapes on the walls. I think they were made by children." Walker mumbled as he caught some faint colors on the walls. It looked like they had been done with dyes and stones. Specifically, some different stones that had beenying on the ground here and there. ced down and not touched for many years.


    There was almost a sadness to the way that the stones had been just left behind at some point. That a child had to use little rocks as toys since their entire home had been taken over by corrupted evil. Both Midnight and Onyx felt the same as they all remained silent for a moment before they kept moving.


    "More things here." Midnight stopped again just a few steps ahead. She had found soem pieces of metal tools.


    ''Rusted rake¡­


    Rusted shovel¡­


    Rusted trowel¡­''


    Walker used the all around appraisal to figure out what they had been once upon a time. "Farming tools. Those are what''s left of the farming tools that I am sure the people tried to escape down here with. They believed in a harvest goddess before. It makes sense that they would want to maintain some closeness with that ideal."


    "What about that brother?" Onyx had spotted a different thing. One thing that was slightlyrger but still seemed to be made of leather.


    "That''s armor. It was apparently partially made of leather but that''s long gone. I guess they dropped it while fleeing. That storage area was cleaned out. I would bet that whatever was in it was taken away quickly. So maybe the undead were startled when it was cleared out. They could sense some living things. That''s how they attacked in a way, right?" Walker''s theory seemed to hold water as they kept moving.


    They left all the random rusted tools and armors behind. These random parts were heavy and would have stopped anyone from fleeing faster. It was much wiser to maintain light when traveling fast. That would allow the person running to keep up their stamina. Especially if here were children to protect that could not run as fast and would need to be carried.


    "This must be the main chamber for all the water and waste to flow. We should be in the middle of the city by now." Judging from Walker''s estimate and how long they had been walking, they would be directly in the center. The things above them would be the me dominator dragon ruins, the massive pyramid, and therge streets.


    "I expected there to be some caves connected above, but it seems that the race that was here had ignored the me dominator ruins. They must have thought they couldn''t go near them. They also might have just had arge open square without that massive pyramid. That entire thing seemed to have been made by the mummified pharaoh before it was, mummified." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Therge open space connected to a natural cave. Clearly formed by the flow of water and pressure on sand over time. But there was also evidence that the stones made by this race had been operated to hold the space together at some point. They may or may not have known about the dragon ruins slightly above this space, but they knew of the caves.


    This meant that there was a much higher chance that something of this previous race might survive. Whether it was good or bad didn''t matter. Walker could explore these caves because the way that nature had carved them was very straight forward.


    "Once the first raines here, this will most likely flood. We should see what we can find while we are here or else the path could be lost forever." The idea hade to him with a little stress. This meant that anything living down here or any remains would eventually be washed away.


    The more that Walker. Onyx and Midnight moved toward the sandstone caves, the more they felt that they were able to rx. It wasn''t anything in particr, But Walker noticed the mana around was calm. It didn''t seem to be tense or unbnced. This could have been from the curse around the desert being removed. This area was deeper underground and had been able to return to the normal flow much easier because it had a high amount of earth mana naturally.


    More signs that living beings had been here once appeared. Crumbling bones from what had been monsters but nothing that appeared to have been a race. The cave also seemed to twist and turn less and less as Walker and Midnight found themselves standing in a rather dusty area.


    ''Underground dried river bed


    This is a dried riverbed of the great sandstone cavern. It used to flow through the mountains and in to the desert before falling deep underground. It would then wash out to the saltwater of the ocean.


    It has been dry for generations and will easily flood during arge rainstorm. If it returns, it will nourish multiple oasis as it used to. The silt is ideal for mixing with y to create very good hardening cement used to create buildings.''


    The all around appraisal gave Walker what he needed. It proved this was a river bed and also that there was something that helped the race that lived here before. The fact that the silt from this deep underground river could be used for building meant that it had been used before.


    The fact that it once was used to hold many things together probably inspired unique building methods that brought the city above to be. Yet, this was just part of the knowledge Walker took from this.


    "This river used to run all the way to the ocean. That means the race that fled this way escaped to the ocean." Walker smiled slightly. He thought he would find a lot of dusty and crumbling bones. Maybe some runes that had been scrapped on the walls. Instead, the fleeing people had escaped here through waste and fear. They had pushed for their lives and escaped to the ocean.


    "I guess we are going back up to tell the story. We might be able to follow this all the way to where the race went. We might be finding a part dragon race different from lizardmen and dragonkin still alive. They might be different now though." Walker felt a lot more positive. As did Onyx and Midnight as they seemed to be ying a guessing game of what the race would be called nowadays.


    "I am really d we walked all the way down here. And eventually, this pce will be back to the way nature made it." Walker hummed slightly as he walked ahead of Midnight and Onyx. now he looked at the odd drawings here and there with a smile. A silver lining for all of this darkness.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1855 1855. Good And Bad News

    ?An error urred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data/script/email_list.txt''.


    "Why did Walker ask all of us to meet again?" Remey was unhappy that she had been distracted from her explorations. Apparently after she and Ignus had decided to clean out the me dominator dragon legacy, they had started to explore to see if any signs of dragons were left elsewhere in the ruins.


    "I would assume he found something. But when he shouted he was happy, so probably found something cool." Gil was sure that he was going to learn something amazing. He wanted to at least. Especially since he was sure that there would be a lot to learn in general from these ruins.


    "I do not sense light mana around yet¡­ there may not be healing knowledge here." Alice had been very focused on making sure everyone was healthy and ready to fight. Many of the soldiers had been harmed and needed her help along with the other healers.


    There was also the fact that she had been trying her best to ensure that everyone was healed mattered a lot. But when she and Rise had spoken, they had not felt that the light mana was able to make its way to here just yet. That sloweed healing and also the method that the light affinity soldiers gathered their mana back. It was one reason that Rise had gone above ground already.


    "I don''t expect anything to be left behind like that. It was surprising to find that there are hidden storage areas with evidence of rusted coins, tools, and other important items left." Su had been one person to note the storage areas near what they had believed to be merchant areas were still full.


    Many of the soldiers had also found simr ces. ces that had the remains of whatever that ce had stored or sold. These things would go a long way for the Fel empire to solidify what the people here had once upon a time done. How they had lived. What else had grown here that might be able to regrow once the sands naturally washed away by rains. Once the desert returned to its natural size.


    "Sorry for making you all guess but I managed to find Current and Mordant. I have no idea where the others wandered off to. And there''s a few of the Fel angels too. Apparently their leadership is shifting now that things got wrapped up here." Walker felt it was a little odd that the Fel empire was moving angels around. However this was a big event so it made a lot of sense.


    "It will sound gross, but it was all dried up and cleared out when Midnight, Onyx, and myself explored the sewers." The looks from the others made Walker understand what they were all thinking. Naturally, any waste system underground was something thought of as terrible. But since it was possible that the curse on the sand had affected it, everyone started to understand why Walker would even go there.


    "We checked thergest storage area we could. The stone coffins started to break down because they didn''t have the runes to hold them together anymore. That made it possible to find a hidden storage. But where things get weird is when a hole in the wall of it showed up." Walker pointed out therge building he hade from with Onyx and Midnight. Naturally, Midnight was also pointing it out just like Walker was, like a shadow.


    "That broke through to the sewer system they put in ce. Following it led to some sandstone caves and an underground river bed. There is silt on that riverbed that is great for making stone buildings and a form of cement. I bet it will be great to learn from. But the reason this is all important is what caused that wall to be broken."


    The pause made them all wonder what Walker was about to say that made him so excited. He clearly hasn''t found monsters or anything dangerous. "It was broken from the sewer and all the supplies were cleaned out. There were child''s drawings on walls and even some signs of items dropped in a rush."


    "You mean that they escaped through an underground river!" Current was very animated as he heard that there was an underground riverbed that would surely return to being a river after time had passed. But knowing that the race of beings that once lived here might have survived in some form or fashion was also very good news. It meant that there could be records or evidence of what this race was like before the famine and evil mage.


    "Exactly. If they used the sewers as a way to get out, they followed the river from there. When I used the all around appraisal on the riverbed, it said that it goes all the way to the ocean. A perfect ce to escape and make way to a new area for them to live. Another race that is simr to both lizardmen and dragonkin but with a different amount of dragon blood left behind in their history."


    The proud look that Walker had on his face proved all the more worthwhile as he saw everyone contemting what he had said. This opened a lot of potential knowledge that the Fel empire could pursue, however, it was also something that Walker wanted to understand. "I want to go back that way and follow the same path to the ocean. I know that I should be able to find a little more than what I said before if I keep going. But the further I go the more the desert will be left behind. I can also not take all of the Genesis soldiers down there in case there is rain and the riverbedes back to life."


    "I will go. Underground rivers are an important way of travel. I am able to maneuver them and understand how it will return to life. I have seen it before." Current was fairly forceful in what he wanted. It was to be expected though. He would want to get closer to water since he had been dealing with the desert for so long. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There was also a lot of truth in his words. As the royal water dragon, Current had the most knowledge of such things. Especially since he would have moved from dry river beds to flowing water beds to better gain ess to water elemental mana. Not that he wouldn''t know the natural cycle of how water would move from one river to another over time.


    "Then Current and I are already settled on going to wherever the river leads. I think it would be good to stay here with others for a while though. We still need to make sure that there wouldn''t be any bothering from the demons." Walker''s worries about the demonsing to explore the undead city were still clear.


    "That is a good point. We all know they wille here. That demon lord in charge wanted power and stole the body of a king wyvern. That''s a problem." Remey cracked her knuckles. However, her words seemed to have been thest straw for their luck.


    A worried looking angel approached that hade from the outside of the ruined city. The report in his hand had drawings of monsters on them. But what stood out were the drawings of arge brown slime.


    "It seems that the slime breeder you warned us of is leaving this area already. Ten earth lord slimes had been defeated leaving the area. I am unsure if they managed to get here then they might have already gotten something." The angel showed the paper to everyone.


    "I did not sense any of them entering the area. I may have been distracted in battle, but those slimes are not something I forget about." Mordant growled slightly as he felt the pressure from the demons intervening on his mind.


    "I don''t think they entered the city either. It would have been seen by our forces of the angels.'' Su agreed fully with Mordant''s thoughts.


    "Then they may have found a tower or other evidence left behind. Search the area and see if anything appears different from the leftover maps you have. I know the massive sand tornado changed things, but if those earth slimes moved anyrge amount of sand, we will see it." Walker made sure to say this to the angels and also the Genesis soldiers nearby. It would be time to scout again.


    "If they are already here and gone, then we need to figure out where else they would go. It''s not like we have actually seen the demons. They should be somewhere hiding for now. Gathering whatever n they have." Gil knew there had to be signs somewhere. The question was where.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1856 1856. Slime Sightings

    This sent many of the scouts back out again. They had to be sure that there was nothing left around them. The fact that five lord earth slimes had been seen was a major deal. Even though they had been defeated, they had not been transporting anything. That just meant they had roamed the desert with a group potentially.


    There were also those that thought the demons were just setting the slimes up in random ces to distract them, but since the slimes had been moving away, it was a more important delta. That was what sent the idea home that the slimes had already done their job.


    "I hate to say it out loud, but, if they were somewhere near here and even checked an outer tower then I bet they were here for false death runes." Gil really felt that this was the best guess. There was his own desire not to say it though, it was worse imagining what the three criminals could do with this knowledge.


    "And if they have those then we might have to fight an undead wyvern king sooner thanter¡­" Gil also finished off his thought by making a small show of checking his bow. It was the undesirable conclusion that they had more or less all reached. A conclusion no one wanted because it could be a lot more trouble.


    "I hate to say it, but you should be right. We know nothing about thest of the three demons. It might be a necromancer of sorts. If it has that kind of system then that demon would be able to use the bodies of any monster. Add in the knowledge of false death runes to manipte some death mana¡­" Walker trailed off wondering what the slime breeder and the other demon could be doing.


    That also left the end goals of the demon kind up in the air. If it was power, then he should havee here himself. There were powerful undead that hadsted for too many years. They had even built a very hard to attack city buried in sand currently. There was the downside of a curse though. The question was, would the one that raised the wyvern king to an undead also have this curse? Would another desert start elsewhere?


    Too many possibilities seemed to be moving around that it was hard to keep up with. At the end of it all, they were all left with less information than what they had before. The only positive was that they were not missing the demons entirely. They were still somewhere nearby. It was just a matter of searching in the right ces and the right times.


    "I would say that we let Ventus take the lead here. She can scout with the scouting team and be able to find us as we leave the underground river." Su took the lead when it came to nning. She saw that Walker was focused on thinking about natural mana. He definitely wanted to be able to attack and use it better to defeat the demons before they had to fight them again.


    "Demon''s aside, Current and the party will explore the river bed. I will take the lead over the Genesis forces." Mordant looked around and saw that no one had any issues with this. "We can learn more about this pce before we march back to the embassy. If anything is to happen, I will use darkness mana to travel through the shadows and find you all again."


    The promise that he would do this was important. It was a warning to both the Rize and Fel angels that at the drop of a hat, he could find the party. That he could bring them to the embassy or wherever there was trouble. It would help ensure that the two empires did not act out against one another while their issues had been solved.


    This was not probable though. The forces of the two empires that had worked together had clearly developed a joint bond. Their new rtionships would be the perfect way to start a growing tie between the two empires. If this was left to continue, then there was a lot more hope to fix this messy disagreement.


    That didn''t speak to what the higher ranking angels thought though. They had remained more or less hidden. The only archangels that the party had seen were in the embassy. That meant that there were either very few of them, or they did not see this as important enough to act.


    Either way, it meant that the highest ranking angels might push the lower ranking angels to maintain their opinions about each opposing empire. That alone could keep much more conflict than anything else. "Then it should be clear what we are doing now." Walker looked around and saw that Current had lost patience. His dragonkin were also gathered with just this bit of conversation.


    The water mages and a few demi-humans with water affinities had prepared themselves the moment that the idea of a dried river bed had been found. They knew that they would be able to finally utilize their skills. The fact that the river bed was dried up didn''t matter. Where water once flowed, water would flow again. Some would even be able to draw out the water that was buried deeper underground than one could normally see.


    "Then that will be the n. I am sure that where wended has already been well built." Walker made the casualment while thinking about how Terron had originally stayed to build up the spot they had left the ships in. but hade to join themter because of the events going on. It was very important that they all united again once they had followed this trail. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When the entire party, army, and dragons were together they were at their strongest. With a potential battle against the most powerful demon in many generations, it was very important to ensure they could win. Especially since they would need to fight the two demons that had been brought with the demon king.


    These demons were definitely stronger than the others. The slime breeder was already clearly powerful enough to manipte too many slimes. The varieties in them and the fact that there were many lord slimes just enhanced that fact.


    Without more thoughts like this, Walker made sure that they started to prepare. The desert had taken arge toll on everyone. The sooner that they moved out and got to the the remains of whatever the race that escaped the better. It would answer many questions and also bring them more solutions to issues they faced.


    The reason it would bring solutions was simple, the race that had been here was more advanced than what the angels had shown to a degree. The angels of the current time could not fix their floating cities or make mire. Their wars with opposing empires had caused them to decline in a way. They just clung to their ideals and values. Therefore, this race might be the same since they lost many of their people to the undead evil.


    Uniting the two empires and whatever people were left form this race could be an amazing thing. It could be a permanent force that joined the empires together while also advancing their knowledge base. This would be able to solve some issues with rebuilding the angel empire territories.


    "I just wonder how the Fel angels might have missed some of these things. Like, they missed a massive underground sandstone cave system and also the race that might be living on a beach somewhere?" Remey had her own worries. She looked annoyed that it might be the case that the Fel empire could have hidden these things.


    "The desert''s cursed nature probably hid the deep sandstone caves. They are older than a lot of things and even fell underneath a dragon ruin that the race couldn''t ess. But if there are others on the beaches or something then they might have left the maind too. If they noticed a threat, They could have fled further. I would consider it." Walker thought this to be the best example of what might have happened.


    It was easy to figure that this could happen too. If the race remaining had imagined that the entire continent they lived on would be taken over by evil undead, then they would flee elsewhere. They would do anything to avoid thend that was cursed. Furthermore, they would never leave their safety area keeping them isted from the Fel empire or even the Rise empire''s eyes.


    "I just hope that they really are out there." Walker mumbled a little as he prepared thest few things he had set up around their temporary resting area. It was time to take a long trip through a dried riverbed.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1857 1857. River Bed Exploration

    With this decision passed throughout the entire Genesis force, the group was able to begin preparing easily. Remeyu was the first to be ready to move. She had long ago passed out whatever potion that the group wasn''t keeping. She also had been waiting to get a move on further ahead.


    "I thought you would want to stay with Ignus. He said he was leaving to head toward the embassy with the others so that he could meet Terron and then focus on learning more about the fire elemental path of the me dominator dragon."


    "Walker, if I stay and miss this then what''s the point? I came all this way and saw the fact that there might be something left after the terrible stuff that happened here. I''m not just leaving that halfway done." Remey grumbled a little as she spoke making it seem like this was perfectly clear to see anyways.


    "And Ignus will tell me what he learns. He knows that if I don''t I will break the fire elemental knuckles over his head before refusing to make any more fire affinity potions." The slight flush in Remey''s cheeks as she clenched her fist and pretended to punch the air. Walker wasn''t really sure what to say about it all.


    "When ites to your elemental knuckles for your gloves, we will have to rebuild them. I bet with the metals and other things we bring back that the wandering cksmith will make something much tougher." This made Remey even more energetic. She wanted to be able to punch harder, this was no surprise at all to anyone in the party.


    "We are heading out now, right? I just let the elves know that they would have to take the leading scouting positions while they traveled back. It will take them much longer since they aren''t being flown to the edge of the desert. There are sandstorms already being seen around." Gil''s worry was written on his face.


    "I heard that as well." Alice chimed in. She had been speaking with the healers nearby and the Fel angels had already brought news of weather changes in the desert. "They say it is the return of rain soon."


    "That''s good then. The desert rains will begin to bring monsters, animals, and nts back to where they should be." Su sounded very d that she had been a part of returning the desert back to how it should be. Who wouldn''t be though?


    "I think you are all forgetting a problem." Current had been ready to push them along before hearing what they were talking about. Now he was ready to start dragging them all through the caves to the underground river bed. "Once that rain falls, it will travel through the sands for the first time and flood the underground riverbed. We need to move with haste."


    "Good point." Walker put even more pep in his step as he moved through the underground area he had found. The sewers were still bone dry. That was a good sign but it was certain that water would also make its way to the mummified city. "Midnight, you might be swimming again soon.'' Walker saw Midnight focus on their conversation silently.


    He could tell that she wanted to work on her elemental dragon breath attacks rted to water more now than before. She had not been able to branch out moretely. But the light and darkness affinities had been trained more because of where they were. Not to mention the fact that she had some more sense of what else was around. Life mana and death mana being two that she was able to slightly understand better because of Walker''s newer understanding of them.


    "I was sure that Ventus would want to go with us, but I understand that she wouldn''t want to see the cave scratchings and drawings of fleeing children forced to live in sewers." Walker had thought that it was just that they were going further underground. Ventus being a wind dragon might not like that. But he remembered she had three children that were younger on the dragon spectrum of age.


    "It is certainly worse seeing them now. I do not have any children around at the moment. But it would spur any parent in to anger." mordant had been looking here and there for any signs that there was a monster or more than met the eye in this ce. If this wasn''t all dried up, then having a dragon here at all would be impossible. A dragon in a sewer? Not a thing.


    As the group moved, Walker was able to check out what everyone had been doingtely. Specifically when it came to their gear. Su was the major focus though since he had already noticed that the twin shields were due for arge upgrade.


    The fact that a lot of darkness mana mixed with the odd death mana was being used when battling so many undead had been very hard for them. The twin shields showed more wear and tear than they had ever since they had been forged.


    With the fact that Su used them all the time to attack and defend, it would be a matter of time before they were broken. However, Walker wasn''t sure if he could use the portable forge skill to fix them. It might not be within what he could do with his skills.


    There was also another issue, the materials needed to fix them or to improve them. Using dragon scales would be great since Midnight''s baby scales had been used to create them in the frost pce. However, it was an issue that Midnight had not grownrger to the level that she would shed more scales. Forcefully taking scales waspletely off the table since they would harm anyone.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Onyx had offered his scales since many had fallen off when attacked, but no one wasfortable with that yet. Onyx had instead brought on another round of lecturing about his safety and how they cared for him. Not that he shouldn''t have seen thating.


    Otherwise, Walker started to think about the additional materials to start storing away with his high spatial storage. If he managed to get some elemental herbs, metals, and unique things from the Sigil continent it would be good.


    "Hey Alice, are there any pieces of equipment that would help your buffs and singing?" Walker also wondered what might be good to n for when it came to Alice. She was certainly a major yer when it came to their entire army now.


    The buffs had been a major addition to the way people could fight. Not to mention the job that the healers had while trying to make everyone healthy and safe. Plenty of them relied on the healers led by Alice after their fights.


    "Nes and potions." Alice appeared to think a little harder. "Robes or fabric dresses with unique materials."


    "So musical systems would benefit with equipment made for further boosting their abilities. I''m sure if there was a fabric made with unique light materials and also rune sewn it would help everyone." Su was very happy to hear that it would be easier to find things for the healers and Alice.


    "I will look for something then. We might find something good along the river bed. Since it''s all dried out many things could have been washed away and opened up that would be underwater." Walker''s thoughts were simple but Current was nodding along with him.


    "Many monsters will show themselves too when a river dries up. It''s worth hunting for better food." This wasn''t necessarily as important a fact as everyone expected from Current but they listened nheless. Not that they were unhappy to hear about what else they might be able to find monster wise.


    "I know fish burrow in to the mud and sleep for a long time. Once this water returns I assume that many wille back" Gil''s opinion has formed when it came to how the elves hunted during the forest dry season.


    He had learned a lot more about hunting from them. The elves had to adapt with the forest and cared for nature a lot. "If there are monsters, then they will be very hungry. It will be hard toe here."


    That future problem was going to make any exploration here very tough. The Fel empire angels would need to n ahead to travel on the river once they had let the monsters pass through this Howe active phase. It would be a good idea to invite the aquatic Demi-humans to help. Or the merfolk, but that was a thought forter. Now their group was starting to get to the riverbed and needed to focus on their exploration.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1858 1858. Pulling Water

    "The water has gone deep." Current seemed less d to be here now that he could physically touch the dried river bed.


    "Can you feel if it would start a sh flood and give us any warnings?" Walker was more focused on the safety side of things. Their group could move easily through this space, the river had not been small and the cave system it had carved was equally so. But the idea of being washed away and pushed in to stone walls was not pleasant.


    "Yes, to some degree. But the issue with that will be moving faster than water." Current seemed to be using a lot of his mana and senses to find the depths of the water that had not been forced away by the cursed sands.


    ''There are a lot of ces where the stone has isted the water beneath this thick silt and yyer. The sandstone has also dried out and be weaker. Do not use any skills that cause a lot of sound or rumbling earth." This was also a very good warning.


    ''I know sandstone is weaker and we could more easily break it. But if it is weaker because water hasn''t been here for years.." Walker knew he would be banned from using earth elemental skill. Midnight would also be slightly limited since she could not use the earth affinity breath attack that was easier to use in the underground.


    "That also means that we will not be taking full dragon forms or using a roar." Mordant made this clear after hearing what Current had to say. He trusted Currebnt''s evaluation of the water and the safety around them. It came from many years of experience. Ignoring it would be the same as asking to get hurt.


    "So, I don''t like that at all since I won''t be able to use much for arrows. And I am already limited by the side of the caves." Gil seemed the most hurt by knowing these dangers. He had to rely on the high elven dagger technique much more than before. He could use the individual elven dagger skills since they would not take a higher toll on him.


    However, now that Gil had united these skills and found the right path to train and develop his style, he couldn''t ignore it. The high elven dagger style was one with him at this point. It seemed to be the only way to properly use any elven dagger techniques. That Was just the nature of the high elven dagger techniques. It was the origin and just made sense.


    "You can stay in a good position with Remey and I. You won''t be a long ranged fighter down here but a closebat with a shield waiting to protect you." Su made it clear that she wasfortable protecting both Remey and Gil without any worries.


    As if to prove this, Walker saw that Su was adjusting her position as they began walking down the river bed. She was focusing on the two sides where Remey and Gil walked, always taking the central position. Even though there was not a threat currently, if she was close enough to both of them, she could adjust and defend without taking a breath.


    Whether this was just a natural act because of how Su desired to protect her family or not, it was very informative. Walker also adjusted himself to y a role in the party. Usually magical because he was able to use the most magic. But for this moment, he had be the back row fighter. He would be the only one able to do so since Gil was too limited now.


    "We should focus on my darkness affinity." Mordant made it clear that he and Walker would need to work together. Onyx also paid close attention since he knew that he would also be acting with this n in mind if they faced dangers.


    "I thought you would say that. I saw how you make tendrils of shadow to trap and attack. I want to heighten my understanding and do the same. My shadow maniption is not that adept just yet." Walker knew he could replicate what Mordant did, but not on the same scale. That Was what came with higher forms of trainingpared to what he had done.


    "You can mix elemental manas much better than using an individual. I noticed it a long time ago.'' Mordant didn''t sweeten his words. He spoke a blunt truth.


    "With that said, Mordant is right but why don''t you mix more manas with water? You make more ice than anything." Current had also noticed this bringing this to the focus of the conversation. The others walked quietly listening. They were also interested in how Walker had made his decisions when learning to manipte water. They saw the frost whip often enough or the frost ring skill. Even the ice dragons'' domain was impressive but a single elemental skill.


    "I find it easier to mix them. I just find that there are situations where it makes more sense in the flow of elemental mana. Since I can sense it all, I just seem to lean that way. But whenever I use water, I find that I need it in both solid and fluid forms. Therefore, Ice." Walker kind of thought this was an odd question, yet he also understood why it was asked. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There had been plenty of times where he could say he looked back and would have used a better skill. It was why he was thinking about trying to learn some skill or process to condense skills better. Or to just begin finding ways to better simplify how he used skills. Especially when it came tobat based skills that used different weapons. They were getting too many to speak of or keep track of without stressing his mental skills.


    "I could probably learn a lot from you about using water. You are able to do much more with it than I can. I bet that you could pull water from the air much faster too since you have a longer time focusing on the water around you." Walker knew that praising Current a little would be helpful.


    Where Mordant was more of a cautious dragon which let him explore ideas and be more open, Current was give and take. He was within reason and would flow with what was going on. But he would notpletely give without something being offered. It was a two way road in a better sense of words.


    "I can easily take water from my surroundings. I am already gathering mana from deeper below ground but limiting the speed. If I were to take water too quickly, then the space around us would crack and copse." Current knew the effects that water had around them too. But Walker had not noticed the slow speed of water elemental mana gathering because it was too slight.


    "Water is in everything for the most part. Fire causes water to leave logs when they burn. You even breathe out water every time you exhale. Is it a lot? No, but it can be used if needed. Using water from within a living being''s body is a taboo though. No water affinity monster, race, or anything I know of would do it. An unspoken rule."


    While most would not consider using the water in someone''s body to manipte, it was possible. With enough mana to override the mana within someone''s body, it could be done. But something deep inside Walker told him that it would be a horrendous use of power. Something that would be uneptable no matter what.


    "I agree, that would be something no one should do. Even thinking about using the water that makes up my body naturally makes my skin prickle."


    "Exactly. Water in fluid form is more adaptable. Using it as ice is a limit. But using it as water is better. You can encapste an enemy, create shapes that your opponent can not break because they reform around them, or even flood an entire area to better change the terrain to what you need." Current spoke about how he fought but also how he knew others battled.


    "It''s easy to think that all of this can be done, but I never tried. The only reason I managed the ice dragon domain skills was because I managed to use the first ring skill that snow elves apparently use. If I can think of the domain skills properly, I might be able to create a natural mana domain and work closer with natural mana to create attack and defending skills."


    This was somewhat of a small enlightenment. Walker hadn''t thought that creating a natural dragon domain skill would be on his to do list. But it seemed like a good way to pursue a better handle on natural mana overall. Not to mention all elemental manas.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1859 1859. Mud Mantis

    "The rocks are all smooth Brother." Onyx had taken to slithering a little ahead on the riverbed. While it had been many years since anything walked through here, everyone found that the silt had settled and be fairly hard.


    The rocks that Onyx found had been revealed as the river bed dried out. They showed themselves as the silt and y bottom of the river was able to recede. now the smoothed rocks that had been buffeted by the water for too many years to count showed themselves clearly.


    The many patterns on each rock showed how the earth had oncepounded through nature''s wrath. It revealed when the river had not been a river and only been a stream. It showed when the stream had been a mountain splitting in two and allowing water to flow. This was just the amazing nature of, nature.


    Besides the amazing patterns of water smoothed rockets, Walker was able to notice that the silt left behind very defined footprints as they moved. This would be good for when they had to return or if anyone had to follow them. But it was also a bad thing. The potential that any monster down here could also track them with little to not effort was there. Very much so.


    "Do you really think we will find much just sitting here?" Remey was unsure what they would find. From what she was looking at, they had just found pretty looking rocks. They weren''t even valuable. Someone might want them as art, but that wasn''t work digging and cutting them from wherever they were.


    "I think we should focus on what we can. This was a river when the race escaped. But if it was during a cursed era, there might have been more room for them to stop. We should look at walls and everything we can to look for signs. What if the rover splits?" Gil made a good point. Current nodded with him. He could sense the water and knew how rivers flowed, but he didn''t know every single specific of how this river flowed. That would onlye with exploring.


    ''Quest- the lost race


    The beginning discoveries of a lost history have been found. The dragon rted lost race that fled their home for generations are finally being discovered. What evidence and proof of their current or past existence will be found?


    Requirement: discover as much about the ancient race as possible.


    Reward: 50000 exp., 100 heroic points, unique title.''


    The regards that came with the requirement were astounding. The entire party had not expected this. Even Mordant and Current were too amazed by what they are seeing. This quest was what their goal was originally. However, it came with a veryrge reward.


    Titles were amazing, they gave abilities, skills, and whatever else that was needed depending on what they were rted to. A unique title would be one that could not be gained any other way than pursuing this current quest.


    Therge amount of experience was also much more than usual. Most quests were smaller in experience value. But for the party, this experience would be multiplied which put them in a different amazing situation.


    The additional heroic points would be enough to make them all level up multiple times as well. This meant that there was arge rtion to their heroic nature and the fact that this race might be in some form of trouble or just generally need attention from the world. It also meant that this race might be more than just still alive. If they were isted somewhere, then the party would be responsible for bringing them back to the focus of the world and other races.


    "This is better than what I thought we would find. We need to work a little harder. Everyone spread out more and began looking." Current immediately pushed ahead a little. He was now even more focused on the river bed. He was already an expert in water and wanted to fall in to what he wasfortable in after the desert. However, he was changing his mindset now.


    "I am going to use my all around appraisal skill on anything that stands out. If anyone sees anything that they are unsure of-"


    "Walker, look at the walls here." Su had barely even looked at the wall that she had not been interested by before. Now that she had a goal and focus, she acted with extreme focus.


    Since Su had gained the dragon eyes when she grew closer with Midnight through their bonds and ritual, she was able to see more. The things that she saw right now were cuts in the sandstone cave walls that had held the river to its flow. She could notice the lines as the water level had changed forever being engraved in to the sandstone. About one thing was standing out as off in her opinion. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "There Are deeper cuts in the sandstone here than where the river naturally caused lines to appear as it lost its water flow over time. I don''t think that these cuts would be natural, but because the water never rose again to was them away, they stayed." This theory was easy to follow and the others let Walker go take the lead while they remained searching. Mordant kept a careful ear focused on what he would say. Walker always made sure they knew what he found. Communication was key.


    ''Mud mantis shes


    The mud mantis sh leaves a very distinct design that proves what caused it. Somewhat like the way a certain swordstyles can leave defined cuts on training equipment. The reason this is a mud mantis sh is due to the unique shallow then deep cut as its triangle sickle like arm des cut in to the sandstone.''


    Walker was a little unhappy seeing that the all around appraisal hadn''t told home what a mud mantis was. He had not encountered such a monster before. Yet, he felt that if they did encounter it, that the group would be fighting something stronger than them for sure. Mordant and Current would need to help if they faced more than one for sure since the cuts were easily proof of the danger.


    "Do you know what a mud mantis is Current?" Walker left it up to Current since this was the best way for them to be able to get more information.


    "I do, they are rare though. They rarely bother to leave the muddy spots where the river lowers in the hot seasons. They even try to dig themselves mud burrows so they can stay alive and hunt more. When they dry out they lose their basic instincts to hide and go mad. From there, they only care about attacking anything around them for food and any water elemental mana they can get to create mud again."


    Current had eaten a few but mostly ignored them. The only times he found them annoying was during the dry season when those in cut off pools of water lost their minds and began to attack anything around them. "I rarely see themtely, but they would have been here as the water level had begun to drop because of the cursed sands. This was the best ce for them to go until they realiZed there was less and less water to make mud."


    Current also began to exin the traits they had. The brown colored exoskeletons paired with the long sharp brown des made of earth and bone. They were dangerous to many beasts. But what everyone understood more was that all of the mud mantis would have been forced to popte in this river during the cursed sands time period.


    That alone would make the mud mantis unable to survive on the food. Pushing them to battle one another and go mad faster. From there, it would make sense that they would have fought and potentially starved to death.


    "Don''t think that they would have all starved to death. Their madness would allow them to be solely focused on food. They would be undead mud mantis if they did not burrow and go dormant before they perished of hunger." This stopped everyone. Another undead monster to worry about. One that was much more dangerous.


    This brought the danger level much higher. "We will have to watch out for more undead that were not at all under the control of the mummified pharaoh. I assume they will be more monstrous as well. Only focused on food." mordant sounded very unhappy. This kind of undead was more natural in a way. But it was more troublesome since they would attack constantly without worry for their body. It was all due to their entirely food focused mentality that had brought them back as undead in the first ce. The entire party had to prepare for this.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1860 1860. Exposed Ores

    "So you''re telling me that we beat up a bunch of twisted and evil undead, just to have to deal with some insane undead monsters?" Remey wanted to p Walker. She looked like she was being told she had justpleted a massively troublesome job and needed to redo it all.


    "That''s what it looks like. If he says the all around appraisal told him, then we should believe him. We can always use one of the all around appraisal scrolls if you don''t trust it." Gil was a little snappy when it came to his response. But that was mostly because he was also annoyed that they would eb facing more undead.


    "The mud mantis is enough to cause trouble. There may be enough for them to cause more trouble than we think though." Current couldn''t smell or sense anything. Mordant was the same. Even Midnight was looking at them confused since she didn''t think there was a single sign of monsters down here.


    "None of us can sense anything. That''s why it''s going to be more troublesome. Let me guess, the mud mantises are probably undead and they are so covered in silt that their scent blended with what is already down here?" Walker was slightly sarcastic. However, he had hit the nail right on the head.


    "I assumed that would be the case. I cannot see or smell anything either. I know Mordant and Current have the sharpest sense though. But if they have been undead for a long time, they might not smell like rotting any more." Since Su had agreed and tried her best, it was just what it was.


    "Brother, you should focus on the wind elemental mana around us. You and Gil can sense where something is moving based off it." with Onyx''s quick thinking, he had made the best idea out of all of them. The only other person that could do something simr was Mordant with darkness mana. But it was better for him to keep using the mana to replenish himself than to use it for sensing what might be ahead of them.


    "Then that''s what we do. Gil,e take the lead with me. We have to change the formation we were going to use or else we will be in trouble." Walker knew that him being the back row magic attacker n had fallen apart. Not that it was a big issue, he was sure that he could fight up front too.


    " Dagger battle where wee." Gil shed his daggers a little as he prepared to walk forward. The idea that the undead mud mantis might be quicker than him was at the forefront in his mind. He wanted the best chance to react first to defend or deflect attacks. Better yet, he would be able to attack first and deal damage to the undead monster.


    "I don''t have enough light." Alice made it clear that she would have to hold off. She could buff them with the minimal light elemental mana she had. However, she would be losing too much mana that was stored up by Horizon. Therefore, it was better for her to forget about bluffing and only put the focus on any healing that was needed. That Was where she exceeded too.


    What was left was the fact that they would all need to be more careful. Walker could heal as well, but if he was focused on fighting monsters then he would not be able to take the time to focus on healing. It was also harder because they didn''t want to force Current who was stillcking in water mana and Mordant who needed to rest as well to fight. They were powerful dragons but they were limited right now. Especially with the weakness of the old caverns.


    There was also the fact that as they traveled ahead, the group had begun to notice that the rover wasplicated. In the walls there were holes where the sandstone had been washed away many years ago.


    It had created small streams that would have carved and flowed in to over pools or underground caves. This alone was enough to show that monsters would have many homes to hide in. varying ces to take refuge when the water was too high or too strong. It also ces that could be used to ambush the party right now.


    "I think that is what we should be looking for though." Su pointed out something that was sticking out of the ground. It looked like it had been scratched up by moving water and debris for years. But it was a dried pir of stone and something else.


    ''Grain crystal ore


    This is called grain crystal ore because it often breaks in to small grains. This crystal is an odd ore that only forms in ces with heavy flowing water. It is considered a great conductor of water and earth elemental manas together. It can also be used to resist both these elemental manas.


    The best way to harvest it is to smash it and collect the grains. The crystal can melt and will be able to be fused with metals that have a simr toughness. While it is not often used for other things such as building, it can also be used to prepare unique sses. sses that can handle having runes carved on them.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The all around appraisal was not what anyone had expected. They listened as Walker spoke calmly and wondered just how unique this was to be able to house runes. ss made around Genesis was not normally able to hold runes unless made by someone with very clear skills. The fact that this kind of crystal ore was able to be made in to ss and just hold runes regardless of the higher skill used was amazing.


    If the party was able to bring this back, people would be able to discover better ces this ore developed. The dwarves in particr might be able to find the best ces since this was not an ore that the party recognized. Even Current was curious since he had not seen it in river beds before.


    This would also be a good material to experiment with. If other metals could be fused with it, then there might be tougher sses that could be made. That alone would help protect from nature. Wind atoms and harsh thunder might cause windows to break. In ces near the shoreline, it could resist very dangerous storms that came every single year.


    "Let''s see how we can do this-"


    Before Walker could take out the hammers he had in his spatial storage, Remey moved forward and punched the small pir of stone. The result was a rain of crystal pieces on the dried river bed around her feet. She looked at them as if she was waiting for someone to say anything. "You could all have just done that. If you look up, that pir isn''t connected to the top of the cave ceiling."


    The other looked up and realized that Remey had looked at everything while they had all just focused on the odd crystal and new possibilities behind it. "More!" Midnight had rushed forward and discovered more pirs like this with exposed crystal ores. The grain crystal pirs had clearly formed from water dripping before this had be an underground river. They had sted the test of time and now were posed. Almost as if they were presented to them.


    "There are some tracks here. There shouldn''t be with how few things coulde down here." Gil stopped everyone, especially Midnight as she attempted to discover more pirs to make crystal rain like before.


    When the group gathered and inspected the tracks, they noticed that they were clearly from insect legs. Nothingrge and too deep in the silt top but enough to know that something had drunkenly moved around here before pushing off ahead. It looked like the exploring of something lost. However, they all knew this kind of traveling. The movement of undead monsters was just like this.


    "Then we should get ready to fight. Do you think we could use a light orb or some fire." Walker contemted this out loud knowing that the best way to handle them would be to burn but he also didn''t want to smoke them out. However, using the light orb might attract more. But the ability to see better was what he was after between the two options.


    "No, we should remain in the darkness. Let them not see using as much. Even though they are undead and might just sense us." Mordant knew that the darkness was the better option. He just wanted to ensure that they would make it forward safely since he also had the quest to find the lost race.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1861 1861. Weak Undead

    ¡¤?¦Èm ?


    Walker, Mordant, and Midnight began pulling the shadows closer. They knew that if they ran in to undead mud mantis that they would be facing a harsher challenge. However, they still wanted to do the most that they could to avoid detection.


    At the same time, Walker and Gil stayed closer together, this wasn''t to hide better but to put their heads together with the wind. The air was all around them. Therefore, the wind elemental mana they could sense was also all around them.


    Gil was not adept in sensing it in the same way that Walker was. He had the higher affinity because he was strongly bonded to Zephyr. However, she was noting out at all. Instead, she had been helping Ventus earlier and still needed to recover. That was the price that came with helping a dragon use massive amounts of wind elemental mana.


    "Just stick with me and tell me if you feel any small changes in the air around us or ahead. It might be some distance away, but you will still feel it. It''s specifically the wind elemental mana reacting to something moving. You should feel it when we move." Walker talked softly to Gil. it was how he felt the wind elemental mana around him.


    Walker could easily sense the manas around him. He could help manipte the darkness mana while also manipting the wind elemental mana. That was just the perks of being able to manipte all manas. Not to mention his training thus far in controlling manas overall using natural mana as the key to do so.


    As he exined the best way to catch the small changes around them, Gil was clearly starting to understand himself better as well. Every single step, the air around the group had to move. It didn''t stay the same as they pushed through it. Just like water, there were changes in some small way or another.


    These small changes were what some monsters with natural wind affinities would use to hunt. They could wait in ambush and react instantly. Some monsters had very fine hairs on their bodies that helped them do so. This was what Gil thought as he felt Walker''s sensing of wind and how it also enveloped him. It was a learning opportunity that was more than anything else most people would ever have.


    When Walker used the abilities to manipte elemental manas, he was already doing it differently than mages would normally. This was because he had sensed the natural flows of manas due to the natural mana affinity he had. Therefore, he used his senses and his body''s mana to manipte elemental manas at a more natural level.


    This was why he was able to show Gil the way that the manas moved around them even though they were not necessarily controlling the wind elemental mana. Just by sensing it, Gil saw that there was more around him.


    The natural flow of air through this dried riverbed and the many sandstone tunnels was extremelyplicated. It was something that most people only picked up when they were trained to do so. "What''s that?" Gil felt that they were having some sort of push back. As if the wind around them had just be slightly stronger.


    "That''s something ahead of us. It moved and the air can flow better now. We have a monster ahead." Walker and the others crouched down more. Mordant and Current watched carefully to see what the party would do. They were technically recovering their manas too but they also didn''t see a reason for a powerful dragon to be involved in this.


    Not that they wouldn''t act if needed. It was just impractical to use their strength and risk copsing the entire sandstone cave which was finally able to begin recovering. Even without water here yet, it was a sure thing that water mana would being more and more. Current was having an easier time drawing some small amounts from deep in the earth below the dried river bed already.


    "There it is." Gil whispered as the shape which everyone would have assumed to be part of another cave pir shifted. The shadow looked odd but it was enough for Walker to get an all around appraisal.


    ''Undead mud mantis


    Starved to death by the rapid decrease in food and habitat, this is one of many undead mud mantis forced to wander with food as its focus. Due to their sharp instincts, the undead mud mantis was able to dig out and attack many of its own kind from the silt. This caused it to be bloated as it rotted since it is unable to properly absorb nutrition.


    The twisted form that it has is dried out by years of being unable to find moisture. This leaves an odd weak shell around it and whatever it dried out within its stomach. The earth that normal forms around its sharp bone des fell off leaving a weaker bone de with high sharpness.


    They are very quick and will attack anything nearby them that moves. Their eyes are more or less blind leaving them to focus on their instincts more now. This causes them to attack walls, falling dust, and anything else that makes a sound. The best¡­''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Walker stopped what he was doing and called for the eternal orb to take form. He felt it bing a spear in his hands. But this wasn''t just the average spear. Walker had once seen a spear with a small round shield on it. This attachment made it possible to attack while somewhat hiding from counterattacks.


    It had just been a random weapon he had seen. Nothing that he imagined he would use. But when he saw that the undead mud mantis had a weak body and was fast, he knew that he had to be able to deflect an attack while dealing one. Instead of sending Su with a shield charge, it was better to end it with this one attack. Therefore no one would be hurt and they could keep pushing forward.


    As Walker left the group while waving everyone back, they watched him take a stance. The scuffle of his feet made the undead mud mantis jerk around. Walker could see where some parts of its body were oddly stretched when it had long ago eaten its own kind. But he could also see the holes from dry rot in its exoskeleton. Not to mention the remnants of packed earth on its body.


    With a target found, the undead mud mantis moved as if it was screeching. But no sound was able to be made after being dead for so many years. It charged at Walker with a ded arm slicing out rapidly. The speed was definitely above what Walker would have been able to react to. If he had not used the all around appraisal and just attacked, he would be gravely hurt.


    Now Walker had been prepared. He took a hard stance and thrust the spear forward. The scythe like arms of the undead mud mantis struck the shield part of the spear causing the des to chip and deflect upwards and downwards respectively. The spear tip of the eternal orb spear shield form kept pushing forward.


    The sound of dry cracking as the spear prated the center of the undead mud mantis''s body was loud enough to echo along the sand stone caves. Enough to notify anything else ahead of the party that they wereing. Fortunately, Walker only had to face one enemy right now.


    Feeling the weakness after attacking, Walker jerked the spear to the side andpletely severed the undead mud mantis in half. This was impressed by the standards of battle since everyone knew Walker had not used this form for the eternal orb before. Yet, it was also a testament of how weak these monsters would be. They were nothing like the intense undead that had been above. These were a more natural undead formed more naturally in a way.


    "Hear that?" Remey grimaced while she and Su started to push to meet Walker. Remey knew she could end an undead mud mantis with a single attack. Su knew she could easily defend that attack since she had seen the speed these undead monsters had. Both would be able to efficiently take them down as they came.


    The scuttling legs and the slight mming as things his tone proved to be evidence that many more of these undead mud mantis had been left behind by time. But there were also sounds of fighting. "I would say they aren''t friendly with one another." Gil smiled as he knew this made things easier. The undead mud mantis did not differentiate between ally or foe. They just attacked blindly to try and get food of any kind.


    "That should make it easier to attack as well." Onyx used the shadows topletely cover him. He wanted to take a shot at these monsters too.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1862 1862. Body Changes

    While the party watched, everyone managed to grasp one thing. The new title that Onyx had gotten was clearly more influential than they had believed. More so than what onyx had yet to realize too.


    The dual hero of light and darkness was an interesting title that focused on those pacific qualities that onyx represented. But it hade at the willingness to sacrifice himself using both of these elemental manas in every aspect. Therefore, when Onyx had been healed and survived, he had felt a deeper connection to both elemental manas but just chalked it up to a title and how he was growing.


    The fact that he had been healed so quickly should have been the thing to stand out. But no one had realized that the changes in Onyx had been more than just a title and ability to bond with both elemental manas.


    What the party saw was Onyx efficiently and quickly slithering in and out of the dark edges on the riverbed and sandstone shadows. The fluidity was something that Mordant even praised because he had spent a longer time mastering that in his younger years.


    While the scales that had been damaged showed back up after healing, no one had noticed that Onyx had not shown a single scar after the healing. That his scales had seemed to gain a slightly darker luster. But his eyes even showed a brighter glint of light mana.


    These things were small and hard to grasp but had been making arger effect on Onyx''s body overall. He had gained better control over the mana he fed on and the mana he processed within himself. The control over these manas had pushed him beyond what he had been before.


    The trainings that he had done all brought results, but now that he had been able to step on to another level, the results that had beenpiled seemed even more evident. Especially the ability to hide himself in the shadows. Especially his try body size.


    When the sounds of multiple undead mud mantis fighting got louder, the entire party was ready to jump in and defend Onyx. to fight alongside him. But when Onyx had reached the enemies before him, his tail shot out of a shadow below an undead mud mantis''s body. In a single m, the mud mantis folded like an empty paper bag.


    The next thing everyone saw was Onyx lower himself back in to the shadows and leap out. His full size head appearing before his mouth opened and he bit down on another undead mud mantis. For anyone watching this without knowing that Onyx had a truly kind heart, they would believe him to be a vicious and brutal monster.


    The attacks were quick and exploited the weaknesses of the mud mantises. Their weakened bodies form being undead for years. From being altered due to eating their own kind many years ago when hunger was all they cared about. These weaknesses made them only able to perish for real when Onyx made a move.


    The speed that Onyx had was also better than before. While the manties could still be faster than him, their attacks seemed to be deflected. When Walker focused on his darkness maniption, he found that each individual scale was wrapped in shadows. It acted as an armor. This was radically more advanced than the dark and light elemental mana armor that Onyx had used before. This was more refined and would be hard for any enemy to grasp.


    "Not sharing!" Midnight leaped forward. She was annoyed because Onyx was hogging all the enemies. It went from the entire party looking at the potentially dangerous opponents to wondering just how fast Onyx would handle them all.


    The bone scythes on the mantis''s arms were weakened by years of sitting unused. They had easily chipped and cracked against Walker''s defenses and attacks. Since Midnight knew that was the case, she did not fear that she would be hurt. She had dragon scales. She was a dragon! She was tougher.


    That was why no one batted an eye when she leaped in to battle and used her ws to sh apart one of the undead mud mantises. Onyx did hesitate for a moment though. He had apparently been very in the moment attacking and realizing that he had altered his body. That he had started to get stronger without even realizing it.


    Not to mention that he now had the same leveling system as the others now. He would be able to get stronger the more that he worked towards heroic goals. One such goal was to get through this dry river bed. They would get closer topleting a quest but also in finding something amazing.


    This one minded focus was enough for Onyx to keep battling and moving ahead. This caused Midnight to start running ahead too since she didn''t want to be left behind. Naturally, the party had to follow. No one yelled at the pair to stop or slow down. Instead, Walker began to forget the darkness mana and hide the party. He focused on using the wind mana to sense everything ahead. It was like doing scouting but a little less telling since it was just with a feeling of wind. It was the same as seeing.


    "There are no more." Midnight slightly growled out. She seemed better at speaking human words every day. But for whatever reason, she still barely spoke. Unless it was to announce her frustration at times. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It left Onyxughing a little since he had started to have fun racing ahead of Midnight using the shadows. However, he could feel the drain on him. He had used a lot of mana moving from shadow to shadow. Altering his body rarely cost mana but doing so in particr ways was draining away the mana in his body much more. Not to mention using the shadows as a shield from any attacks.


    "You look like you are going to adapt well." Walker had a little praise for Onyx who was clearly feeling the tiredness now. "But you might need to do a little more training since you don''t know your own strength anymore." Walker chuckled as Onyx took his favorite spot on Walker''s shoulders.


    "It is easier but harder." Onyx only replied like this. That Was his overall opinion while his mind dwelled on his understandings of light and darkness elemental manas.


    "You can train with me." Alice spoke up for the first time a little bit. She had seen how Onyx used darkness but she wanted to see him in a pce where he could show off his usage of light elemental mana more. She wanted Arora to learn from him a little when they were all back outside in the light safely. Especially once they were home safely. That way Alice and Arora could both learn more about light elemental mana in a new way.


    "I will." Onyx had already hoped to do so. The idea of training with heavenly serpents and abyssal serpents alike was enough to make him happy at the moment. The future would only show what amazing things they would be able to do.


    "Should we keep moving then? The river seems to widen this way." Current began moving ahead again. He didn''t want to stop, especially since he saw the changes in the rover bed. "Normally when this happens, there is either an underground pond or pool. The water slows down a lot before it enters the ocean. We have been walking for awesome time but might not be close at all. It is deceiving."


    From experience, Current clearly understood how an underground river would flow. This was just the facts that came with learning about water. especially since he understood how water flowed naturally. The flow here was easy to see.


    Changes in the sandstone walls of this cavern. Some changes in the pirs that the water had been eroding before the river dried. It all told stories of how this river flowed and how much they had moved. Even going on foot was deceiving. This was a natural flowing path to where more water would be.


    Nature had done this without anything or anyone telling it to. It had be an amazing road right to the ocean and i t was better than any pathway carved or created by anything above ground. That was just a fact. Underground there were no hills or mountains to climb. Just the fastest possible path of travel.


    "I might need you to start looking for herbs. I can smell something." Remey seemed to have been in a bit of a daze before her eyes brightened and she realized she was smelling nts now. The desert and the mummified city hadcked this smell. Now it stood out greatly.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1863 1863. A Hunch

    "There is more water here. In the air and a little in the dried river bed." Current supported what Remey was smelling and feeling.


    "That''s because we are getting closer to the end of this river, isn''t it. The desert being dry and cursed wouldn''t affect way out here." Gil caught on easily. He could sense that this was a better ce too.


    They had all caught on that their group had traveled fairly far. It wasn''t just the fact that they had been walking for a while in the dim light of a dried river bed and sandstone cave. It was what they could feel in their bodies. The wear and tear if walking faster to find their end.


    "There it is." Remey was very d to see a tiny little sprout. It was on the side of the sandstone cave which surprised Walker. Naturally, he used the all around appraisal skill to see what it was that Remey had just found.


    ''Prickled sand weed


    The prickled sand weed is somewhat like a cactus. They grow in very harsh environments with very little water. They prefer dim areas and will grow faster when they are exposed to damp conditions while still as seeds.


    They can grow through sandstone easily causing them to be the foundations for somerge sandstone oases in the desert. Their leaves may be incredibly prickly, but they hold a very potent earth mana that can be used to treat the poison from other nts on the skin.''


    "I read about this prickled sand weed in a book. It is hard to find since most beaches are not good enough for them to grow. But it''s here and I see even more seeds and sprouts around here. I would assume there was a small rain storm recently near here. That would make it grow." Remey rambled off details. Walker had expected he needed to share details from the all around appraisal. But he had been wrong.


    "So you will use that for medicine? Or will you use it for potions?" Gil had an inkling that Remey was thinking about potions. She only got like this when she was thinking about potions and how she could use the herbs better. But since she was looking at the unsprouted seeds too, everyone knew that she would bring them to the herbalists in Genesis to grow them.


    "If you want better herbs there will be some at the mouth of this river. Where the water has barely touched during floods in the area. That is where many herbs had perfect growing conditions." it was clear that Current had regained enough water mana and was greatlyfortable. He hated the desert because it was his enemy.


    In a way, the royal dragons perfectly kept one another in check. Ignus could be doused by Current''s water attacks. But if Current entered Ignus''s territory, then Current would be the one to evaporate. This was just perfect since they would be able to be equals as long as they remained in their own territories. Specifically when it came to the royal court, they would be able to keep each other from acting out.


    Not that actring out was an issue to a dragon. Ignus was hot headed just like the mes he used. Current was flowing and a little maniptive just like the flow of water around the world. Neother let the other get away but both had respect for one another. This was the interesting dynamic of dragons that Walker and many others missed before they had actually met the dragons and begun to learn about them.


    "Let''s push ahead and see where this end is. The river mouth might also have monsters surrounding it. Nothing hase here in a long time." Su made sure to remind everyone of danger. But Current and Mordant did not concern themselves with it at all. They clearly wanted to see where things led now. It almost felt like the party was just on the backs of the two dragons who were doing whatever they wanted.


    There was a slight light as the group began to near what they believed was the end of the dried river bed. From what Walker could see, small tracks had been made in this area of the silt covered floor. There were even signs that water hadpped up and hit the floor and walls at times. Exactly the same as the ocean might or argeke.


    "Cat tails are growing around here too. They are way taller than us." Alice was very impressed with the very tall nts seemingly walling off the sandstone cave and the river bed from the outside. This was why so little light wasing in.


    However, it felt safer even though Gil and Walker were both seeing many monster tracks checking out this area. It meant that there were many monstersing here for shelter or water nearby.


    "I would say that this is most likely ake right? If it was the ocean right away then there would be the smell of saltwater." Current agreed with what Walker was saying. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "It''s more than that. This is the spot right before the ocean. The water flowing from multiple rivers and streams flows in to thiske then filters through a marsnd to the ocean. Slowly bing saltwater." Current had sensed all of this the moment that they started to feel the light and stepped out. But what was astounding was what the group saw as they followed him through the cat tails and in to a more open space.


    Flowing reeds and other taller nts seemed to stretch around a massive body of fresh water. Even beyond that, the group could see the water moving through thend in snaking streams before it connected to the vastness of the ocean. A slight breeze carried the smallest of hints that the ocean was beyond this. If the group was not standing where they were, then they would not have been able to tell where they were at all.


    "I will be back." Current did not hesitate to take his full dragon form and dive in to the waters before him. The desert had taken its own toll on him. But right now, he was faced with thefort of water. Naturally, he would be surrounded by it.


    "We should do a little scouting too. There were a few monsters to handle but they were not as big an issue as I thought they would be. We just have to get a good ce to set up camp then guess where the ancient race went." Walker calmly made the n while pointing to a few directions. He was going to take to the air with Midnight to get a better above ground look at what might be here or there.


    The others looked ready to make a camp as well. Some of the lingering effects of their recent battle still sat with them. They could feel the tiredness that still hung out in the back of their minds. It would be a little while longer before they were all back to perfect states. Not that it was an issue to feel a little tired. That kept them honest and from overworking themselves.


    Remey on the other hand, was already searching for herbs. Walker gave Gil a little nod to let him know to keep an eye on her. She might wander off in her focus and end up gathering every herb here. Not that it was an issue, this way just unknown territory. Splitting up would be a poor decision.


    As Walker stepped in to the air and took the scene in better, he understood the majesty of the marsh. The different environments mixing differently than the swamps he had seen before. It was very peaceful and perfect for life to grow. Not to mention the multiple different elemental manas constantly shifting. It was a great ce for natural mana to exist.


    But what he saw in the distance was what caused his smile to grow. Walker could see all the way to the distant ocean. All the way across the water and toward therge inds off the coats. The inds that he would rush to if he was trying to escape something on the mainnd that he believed would gue the entire maind.


    The ocean was dangerous. Therefore, it was the perfect barrier that nature created. So what if a few people perished crossing it. If they were trying to save their species, then they would make that sacrifice.


    Since Walker put his mind in their shoes, he knew that he would be able to check this pce for signs that a race had been there. The inds were his hunch. A near perfect hunch. All he had to do was get everyone on board with searching it after they rested.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1864 1864. Marsh Nights

    "What about this one?" Remey had dragged Walker to look at a small mushroom she had found. The odd green and purple color of it had screamed for her not to touch it.


    ''Marsh mushroom


    The marsh mushroom is incrediblymon. It normally grows in the colder months, but can be found all year long. It has very vibrant colors but is perfectly edible. They are a very nutritious source of food for many monsters and other races. They can be dried out for three years without any worry that they will rot or mold.''


    "It''s not for alchemy but it will be a great snack." Walker picked up the odd green and purple colored mushroom wondering how it had such a color but was perfectly fine to eat. The odd way that nts and monsters evolved over time would never cease to amaze him.


    "That''sme. I thought it would be some poisonous mushroom that I could experiment with." The annoyed grumbling from Remey was enough to make Walkerugh again. He knew that she would be unhappy after she had rushed to get him for his all around appraisal skill.


    "Are you two still looking at random nts?" Gil found the two looking at another cluster of marsh mushrooms. Walker was about to pick them when he had interjected.


    "We just found some things we can eat for dinnerter. I know that Su and Midnight have gotten more or less set up. I also saw that Alice got a fire going. I would have done that when I got back." Walker was feeling a little bad since he had ended up not helping much with camp set up.


    "It''s all set up. But you said we were going to head to some ind nearby?" This was what Walker had mentioned to Gil and the others before he had started to help Remey before. It was easy enough to just say that but without many details, that was all it was.


    Current had already returned after searching the depths of the massiveke and finding the currents that caused the march andke to mix. He seemed very jovial now that he had done so. Returning to the water and being immersed within it was the same as being home. Especially after the desert and underground.


    When the three returned to the small camp that they had found, Alice had already started a small pot of water boiling on the fire. "This is still the best spot that I saw. It''s up high enough to see over the grasses but not too high that we stand out." Walker was very happy with where they were camping.


    "Staying the night here is definitely better. We can watch the tide too. Current said that the tide would make this area flood slightly every night so being higher is better. I did want to go above the cave we came out of though." Gil had tried to convince everyone to climb the rocks where the dry riverbed cave hade from. But after some debate, fear that the sandstone rocks would crumble proved to be too much.


    From what they had all gathered, the sandstone had been formed by the flow of water over many years. Eventually the river had altered and be smaller creating the dry river bed they now knew. It also left behind an odd sand stone rock formation for miles that went under somerger hills that naturally would trap a desert from expanding. An interesting flow of nature.


    "Now that you have made it back, tell us why you want to go to the inds even though Current did not find a trace that an ancient race had been around thiske." Mordant had been exploring on his own. He had nearly taken to the sky to go and search the ind himself but had held back. He preferred to stay with the party. He was one of the closest to them and felt that it was better to have them with him.


    The past had proved that the things the party did brought about amazing results. They had managed to show off hidden events that most would never know of. Besides the fact that they also seemed to have some hidden skills to do the impossible. It was just better overall to go with this flow.


    "Where else would they have gone if they thought the entire continent was lost to some evil undead race that wanted to worship a god the opposite of theirs?" The casual response that Walker gave was the same as any hunch. Yet, it was an understandable theory.


    "If this was also closer to the ocean, then the ind would be right there to show them a ce to go. I don''t know what was here years and years ago. I could never tell you either. But I do know that regardless, this river had flowed enough water here to make it to the ocean. So, it would make sense that even if this was the same, there would be more water here."


    "Current already said that the tides made this ce flood. If that happened when this river flowed, then it makes sense that a sightline to the ocean would be much clearer. Therefore, the ind was right there as if it was a beacon of hope." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "It all makes sense. I can''t refute that logic. I will go to the ind with you." Since Su was the logical type, she supported the idea. She wanted to get back with everyone, but the quest they had to find a lost race made it a priority to search here sooner.


    Midnight and Onyx didn''t seem to mind and just kept doing what they were doing. Alice gave a slight nod as she watched the pot above the fire and started to add a few things that they would be eating as a stewter.


    "Then we will search it in the morning. I can use the night to replenish even more mana," Mordant was better off replenishing his darkness mana. He wanted to have more than he had currently at his disposal. This was simply because he knew that there were other threats to handle. The search for the demons was still ongoing.


    "That''s that then. I think we can take the air though instead of the water. We shouldn''t need a ship or anything to travel the distance." There was a slight happiness that came with flying through the air instead of going back on the ship. It would take forever to get a ship around the coast and potentially through more danger.


    Especially since the group was very limited on where they hade out on the continent. It was just a fact that they were on a far shore of the Fel empire territory. The maps that they had been shown were not very specific. It was understandable since Genesis was an entirely new empire in the eyes of both the Rize and Fel empires, they had to take some precautions while understanding them.


    "On another note, what do all of you expect from the night here? I saw plenty of animals and monsters moving around here already. Nothing too crazy. A few birds and other flying type monsters. I even saw a scaled mouse earlier." Walker''s all around appraisals had mostly been smaller monsters that would not be too much of an issues. A surprise since this ce should have somerger predators somewhere.


    "That''s what I was scouting out. I think there are some lizard like monsters in the water. Current might have seen them." Gil and found tracks and followed them to the water. He was sure that they would being out around the night time to make more tracks here and there.


    "I discovered burrows in the mud. I do not need to explore them. They are small and whatever made them could sense me. They did not bother me at all and I doubt they will be unwise." A dragon''s aura was strong. Current could easily stave off the monsters in the water. But that was the issue, they all might be fearful and attractrger monsters that were too foolish to run away from Current.


    "There are plenty of monsters with dragon ancestors around the Sigil continent. I believe you may attract more monsters than deter." Su''s blunt worry was enough to make Current frown. But he did not argue this. He knew this to be true. He recalled the scales on the bears that had been peacefully following their group on the way to the wyvern''s territory. They were peaceful, but other monsters would not be.


    "We will just have to keep watch and see whates then. I think having arger fire might help. It can deter anything afraid of it too." Since Walker wanted to be more prepared to attack, having arger fire meant he could use fire attacks faster. It was just smarter.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1865 1865. Wild Marsh

    As the sun set, the sounds of the march only grew. It was odd hearing the differences between the desert and mummified citypared to the marshnds. This entire ce seemed toe alive ten times more than any forest the group had been in.


    When the sounds of sshing water were heard, Walker could use his keen eyes to find that there was some monster capturing another as prey. Thepping of water only grew as well as the tide rose in its cycle.


    This growth of tide brought many fish monsters in to theke and the march. It also brought a stronger smell of saltwater that had traveled back up through the mathnds and toward the fresh waterke that was around where the group had camped out.


    Tackling the first watch had been Walker''s way to see what might be around him. He had seen Mordant wander off to look for the darkness ce. He also knew that Current had settled at the bottom of theke. Both would be doing what they needed to prepare to encounter a potentially isted race that had fled the destruction of their home many generations ago.


    While the others had clearly been more exhausted than they let each other seem, Walker was amazed to see that Midnight had stayed up with him and refused to sleep. "It''s kind of nice to be awake and see something new, right?" Midnight just huffed a little at Walker. She had given up on her dragonkin form to return to her morefortable dragon form.


    Walker had taken the chance to help her clean her scales as he had promised earlier. Small bits of sand were stuck in the crevices of her scales which were definitely irritating. This was just the cost of having scales in a desert. Midnight was a dragon and had not grown to adapt to the desert sands. She had to deal with this until she had left the ce that caused it.


    What Walker noticed even more though, was that Midnight''s scales had grown tougher than before. It appeared that as she grew, the scales were gaining a unique toughness shaped by the elemental manas that Midnight brought in and out of her body. Each scale seemed to hold a small amount of these manas that her body was using to shape them. It was an amazing realization and show of a dragon''s strengths.


    Every single dragon had their affinity. The water dragons had water elemental mana which helped them shape their bodies and grow. But for Midnight, she had affinities with all elemental manas due to her true dragon champion bloodline taking over. This made her able to bring natural mana inside her body just like Walker.


    The result was clear. Touger defenses along with increased growth. Walker had already sensed these things through his bonds with Midnight, but he had not looked closely enough to fully grasp what it all meant.


    It was more than just her scales that grew tougher. It was her muscles, her skills, and her mind. That was why she was more adept in battling. Why she had jumped right in to the flow of fighting when Onyx had been showing off. She didn''t want to be left out since she knew that he had been working harder than anyone to prove that he had caught up to them.


    Just seeing her little brother taking the lead ahead of her had made Midnight realize that she was growing too slow. Not that she was the only one that felt that way. Walker was slightly astounded and jealous as well. He felt that he was progressing too slow as well.


    When it came to using natural mana, Walker felt that he had let himself down. He had not developed attacking skills with natural mana. He had only been able to use it slightly better. Had only been able to find better ways to buff others or just generally send mana to others. It was too little and had been too risky in fighting.


    The next ssh came from a little closer than Walker expected causing him to use the all around appraisal skill to see what was causing it before settling back down in to the scale cleaning routine he had going.


    ''Blue maw skink


    This is an odd beast that will often hide in the dry mud of a march during low tide. However, when the tide shifts, they wille out to hunt small fish so that they can store it away within their burrows on small marshnd hills.


    They are very quick but will never fight anythingrger than themselves. Their blue mouths are this color because of the unique water affinity poison that they produce. It has the ability to thicken water and force fish to get stuck temporarily before dissipating too much.


    They are able to swim but would prefer not to since they are easily slowed by water and eaten byrger predators. This is why they are¡­''


    The blue maw skink caught on that something was watching it as it had just snapped up a fish. It jolted away from the area without even hesitating. This let Walker settle back in to his thoughts and routine with Midnight. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Sensing that Walker was stressed and deeper in thought, Midnight nudged him softly. She was sure that he was going to be trying harder to get stronger before approaching the demons again. Especially since the Fel empire had opened his eyes to life, death, spatial, and time manas. Not to mention what other mysteries were outside the normal study of the world.


    These manas were something that she also wanted to learn about. especially since she had seen that they held a lot of power. The undead they had faced, all the mummies, had been influenced by the smallest of death manas. All because someone had gone mad and thought themselves abv to manipte something they had barely even scratched the surface of.


    Yet, it was true that the false death runes and false death god had been created right there. Had be some insane undead beyond what the party had been able to understand yet. That was too much for all of them to just let go. The entire party felt that they had not been able to grasp any part of the world just yet.


    While this was all true, both Walker and Midnight were left in a position that meant that they had to learn. That they had to expand themselves and somehow condense what they learned in to one thing. The very same that they had done with elemental manas in to natural mana.


    "I know, we have a long way to go for now." Walker spoke softly as he looked over Midnight''s shiny and clean scales. She had a slight white hue to her scales like a little bit of light had been trapped in all of them. It was touched seeing that she had grown up a bit more even through the recent chaos.


    "What do you smell?" Walker noticed Midnight arch her head up and sniff a few times. It was clearly a sign that another monster had managed to get closer to them without him noticing yet.


    Through the reeds and grasses, Walker noticed the glint of the fire reflected back at them. His eyes sharpened while he used the all around appraisal skill yet again. This time he was able to jump up and prepare for battle since he didn''t like what he saw.


    ''Saltwater crocodile


    This is considered one of thergest crocodilian monsters in the world that can exist today. They do not fear going out in to the ocean outskirts when they grow to adulthood. This is a young saltwater crocodile that will hunt within the marshnds looking forrger fish and anything that dares enter its territory. In the next twenty years it will be able to hunt along the beaches.


    Some have a small amount of dragon blood within them, but that is rare due to their slow aging and naturally slow reproduction. However, this allows them to develop very tough leathery skin along with powerful muscles. Do not underestimate their speed and strength.


    While they will often hunt prey from the water, they will often ambush from the reeds or charge on tond if they sense prey nearby. The best way to scare them is using magical attacks since they are less resistant to magic than physical attacks. They will also¡­''


    Walker ignored the small hints that they will make a lot of hissing and grumbling noises to warn other predators that prey is here. It is a strategy to get at least a bite of food from prey. Instead, Walker pulled a ball of mes from the campfire and prepared to scare away the predator before him. Even if it was considered a young one.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1866 1866. Ominous Feelings

    "The journey there was proving fruitless until we discovered thest parts of false death runes remaining within small altars. They were fairly valuable since our enemies managed to gain ess to the ruins and purify them." slimes shifted from side to side as the slime breeder''s voice echoes around the stone walls of arge room.


    Many patterns and runes had been carved in to the stones. None of them appeared to make much sense since the area itself was too dark to truly discern much. "And any more remains?"


    "The purifications ruined the remaining monsters, undead, and anything that had been influenced by the small amounts of death mana. I was able to find remnants that the earth slimes sealed before they were ruined as well."


    As pieces of stone with false death runes fell to the ground in a showcase, there were also some small ck mana crystals. They appeared to be on the verge of shattering just by being there. "That is enough. You may prepare to send your creations across this continent. Begin gathering the soldiers we need."


    A slight rumbling came from everywhere around the stone room. A darker figure stretched an arm out and grasped the death mana crystal. While a small amount of death mana had been condensed due to the twisted chaos of the mummified pharaoh, it was enough to create these items.


    The small amount of death mana faded and was taken in through many runes and patters on the armor of the hand and arm that had grasped it. When the crystal shattered, it disintegratedpletely. The only thing elft behind was the ominous aura of death and looming destruction.


    "You can wake up and begin your work. I expect you to use every bit of mana and effort you have to bring forth the vessel that will carry my armies. Then you may slumber again." The order went to a huddled figure that was breathing softly in their own dreand. But when that breathing stopped for a moment, the entire room shook more violently.


    A massive amount of mana had surged all around causing unknown changes. The changes seemed to be shaking the very flow of mana all around. High densities of mana coursed through the runes and patterns. Some of these runes even appeared within the air as changes were made more and more to the room.


    "As you wish my lord." a single nearly silent voice responded. Only a hint of tiredness behind it before the huddled figure began to stand.


    Meanwhile, Walker had just thrown arge fireball at the saltwater crocodile. It had immediately seen the mes and tried to move aside. However, it had not dodged the attack. The sparks that came off and around it while the mes hit it were enough to light up the marsh a little more. But the magical attack had its effect clear as day.


    The young salt water crocodile rushed away in fear since it understood that a magical attack like that would make it prey if it was hit over and over. The small burn mark on the tough leathery skin was proof enough that this was not prey in front of it. "That Was easier than I thought it would be."


    Midnight had watched Walker attack and knew that she could have easily scared off the random enemy that hade to bother them. However, she had let Walker do his thing since he was the one on watch and technically she should be resting. Not that she had any intention of doing so.


    "I know, it''s just one monster. I will handle it when anything elsees by too." Walker knew that Midnight was looking at him because he had made a big show of getting rid of just one monster that was cleary not able to understand that it would not be able to harm them at all. But he had still done it just to do it.


    "Why don''t you go wake up Gil, we can switch watch and sleep." Walker sent Midnight on her way. Before the group knew it, the night had passed with everyone getting some rest. However, Walker had found himself awake all night without getting any rest. Midnight had been the same.


    He had it in his head that something felt off. Nothing that he could put his finger on, but it was like a gut feeling. Just enough not to have a full understanding of what might be going on. He chalked it up to just being over tired or too in his own head about skills that he wanted to learn.


    On the other hand, Mordant and Current had met up at some point early in the morning to discuss what they had found. "I still believe that there is more on thatrge ind than you think. I did not see any signs of light, but there is a distinctck of movement in the waters and at night around it. Not a single flying monster went near it."


    "I know you did not see anything because you were focusing on just the shadows and changes in the light and darkness at night. But you should also consider the movements of the water. There is a perfect flow of warm water around that ind bringing a lot of food for any monster there. If we were to look for something hunting then it would be in the water. The avian species might not care for them." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The two were trying to discern what might be on the ind when it came to life. However, it appeared that the entire ind from their point of view was too overgrown. Especially when it came to the beaches. Walker and the rest of the party could clearly see nts growing right in to the sand which was odd since not many could survive the sands and saltwater.


    "I can see those nts from here. They are called salt saps." Walker had used the all around appraisal to see what he could. He also saw some of the same nt in the marsh near them. But they only seemed to live right on the edge of the water where saltwater met the fresh water flowing through.


    ''Salt saps


    These nts are small tube like vines and roots that will grow randomly through sands. They prefer to absorb the nutrients from the waves and the tops of sand. They do not need much light and prefer the warmer weather. However, they need high amounts of salt to be able to create their protective skin. This causes them to live only where salt water grows and will stop them from growing anywhere with fresh water.


    They have a strong earth and water affinity that allows them to be used to treatments in dehydration andck of nutrients. However, depending on the water they soak up, they can be filled with toxins that will make those that eat them very ill.''


    "So I can use them but I will have to make sure that they don''t make anyone sick. It sounds like getting a priest for a nun to purify them is a first step." Remey made a mental note to gather some and see if having Alice purify them would make them safer to eat. But she mostly wanted them for making specific medicines and potentially cleaning water of salt. That would be useful in the herb fields that needed unique flows of water.


    "I think we should make a move to get out of the marsh. You said we would fly over but I think it will be more valuable to walk through the marsnds here and learn first." Su had thought of this during her time on watch. It made more sense to learn from this area than to skip it. They could learn more about herbs and the area they were in in general.


    "I think that''s a good idea. I have less tracking skills in this kind of ce than anywhere else. It''s not the same as the open fields or the forest at all. There is a lot of mud and it shifts with the tide. I need to learn how to pick out fresh tracks and old tracks in mud that doesn''t dry. And, Current can help us learn." Giul made a very solid point that even Current thought was a wise decision. Waiting a little to learn was wise. Especially learning from a dragon.


    "Alright then. We walk through the marsh. Onyx, do you want to make a move alone or stick with us?" Walker had noticed that Onyx appeared to want to explore. He could take his full size and travel through the reeds fairly easily. It was like this area was ideal for a serpent or snake monster like him.


    "I will explore and let you all know what I learn." With this, Onyx was off and the party had their small walk to look forward to. They needed to get through the marsh and to the beach which was a fairly straight forward shot.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1867 1867. A Peaceful Nature

    Having onyx go off again was nothing bad in Walker''s eyes. He wanted to take the time to explore this area since it might have signs that there were other races here at some point. But it also looked like there were no angel steps here either.


    The Fel angels had been here on this side of the Sigil continent for a long time. However, they did not have the time to explore and research the environments. It was clear that the Fel empire was lower in poption already. But they did not build grand viges orrge structures. They researched at a more individual level so that they could move through their lives.


    This reclusiveness also led them to more or less work and live separately without expanding. Let alone the fact that they also had a floating city that would allow them to have a ce to go when they needed to go anywhere. This stopped them from building a city on the ground. Their viges andrger towns were all they needed.


    This made a lot of sense going through Walker''s mind. He could fathom why this marshnd looked very untouched. However, it made him feel that the Fel empire was more in touch with nature and the flow of nature in a way.


    Leaving these areas untouched for the most part allowed the monsters and nts to develop as they should. They held a natural bnce that walkers could sense. The manas flowed s,ootly and he even caught a few elemental spirits here and there that would have been pushed away if the angels hade here before.


    "I just realized, we have to begin working with the elemental spirits between the two empires. That will have to be a focus after we figure things out here." Walker''s realization as this topic came to the forefront of his mind was enough to make the entire party think.


    "You want them to return to thends or do you want the angels to develop rtionships with them?" As far as Mordant saw, Walker just wanted the elemental spirits to take a more forward stance in the world since they had always been one with mana and literally were made of mana. But when it came to the elemental nes, it was easy to understand they might be a greater force.


    If the elemental spirits took a forward position, then they would need the grand elemental spirits to take the lead and leave those that bonded with them. It was a whole possibility that made things hard to imagine. This could be thought of in many ways, but for the moment, would need consideration.


    "For thisnd, the elemental spirits should be allowed to return. They are dormant and we already know they are intentionally made that way. The angels fear that they would lose ess to the mana that they bring within themselves from the world. That is the separation of angels and other races so far." Su''s evaluation was logical but she also understood the problems this would cause between the other races.


    "I am a dragon. I take the mana from myself and the world. I use both. The angels should learn to adapt." Current saw that this was all avoidable if the angels focused on developing other ways of gaining mana rather than just letting their wings take the full brunt of this. They let their biology rule over their values in this way. They could be more innovative.


    "They should just use runes. The runes can be the bond between the two. Angels can use manas with the help of runes so that they won''t lose it all and then the elemental spirits can help make the runes and bind with angels. The spirits wouldn''t lose to the runes either since they can hold on to their own mana. It would be a good stopgap." Since Gil used the runes to a degree on his arrows when he had met other elves, he thought this was an easy solution.


    "That would mean I need them toe to the mage tower. They should learn the origin runes that everyone else is learning." Walker thought that this would be an additional challenge. Not a bad one though.


    While this thought caught everyone for a moment, there was one thing that demanded their attention. "Walker, want to appraise that thing? I''m pretty sure it''s what''s left of an adult monster." Remey had spotted a pool of mud ahead of them. There weren''t any reeds or cattails growing there which struck them all as odd.


    What Walker saw was thisrge spot of darker brown mud with a few pieces of wood rotting on top. The white rib bones were definitely left behind by a monster that had long ago died. They had bleached white in the sun on top of the mud which made it seem safe to walk over the mud.


    ''Mud fish rib bones


    The mud fish is simr to what some would call a river catfish. However, the mud fish lives in thin mud that allows them to swim through the mud like water. They can very easily burrow in to mud and await something foolish to sink in to the mud and perish. From there it will eat whatever is strapped. It is a master of letting nature work for it.


    When they get toorge, they will be forced to move to the surface where they find a partner and perish afterying ten thousand eggs in their nearby den. These eggs hatch and¡­''<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This was a lot more information that Walker didn''t really need. However, it was a clear example of what nature and monsters did if left alone. These monsters were amazing in using the thin and dangerous mud to hunt. But it also proved to Walker that the marsh held dangers like fake solid ground.


    ''Sinking mud


    Due to underground water currents, thin mud pools form that nts can not survive in properly. Some pieces of light wood or animal bones will float to the top. This is a foolish example of solidity that some monsters fall for. Mostly birds when theynd on the wood or bodies to eat, will fall in to the mud and be food for those monsters living below. The best way to escape is to float and slowly swim and crawl out.''


    Walker''s exnation of this made everyone understand where these dangers came from. But Current was the most amazed. He could feel the flow of water deeper in the mud and marshnds overall. He had epted that underground water here was just how nature went. Yet, theyers of nts that lived over the top of it made up what they believed to be solid ground.


    This amazing understanding was even further pushed forward by the fact that an entirely different underground ecosystem existed. The thin mud that moved through the marshnds made a beautiful contract between above and below ground. Water currents being the medium for this natural creation.


    "So what you''re saying is that we shouldn''t go anywhere that pants aren''t" Remey looked at the ground and stuck closer to the cloisters of reeds growing away from the sinking mud hole. She did not want to drag herself out of it and be covered in mud for the next few hours.


    However, everyone felt that they were learning a lot about this new environment. They might not be facing monsters and battling things out due to the dragon auras around them. Yet, they were learning about a natural flow better than before. It would be very valuable to educate others and share this with them.


    Alice in particr was making mental notes. She could see the sun and the light reacting in the water and the nts all around. It was like seeing the light illuminate the right path of peaceful nature. Things might not always be peaceful, but they were bnced and that was peace in a way. The perfect inspiration for a calming song to stop a fight or to sooth harmed emotions. Many musical system users found inspiration in nature.


    "I think we shoulde here again. The elves would enjoy a ce like this." Gil thought back tot he elves around. He also looked at Midnight who was curiously sniffing around monster tracks and other spots of interest. "Midnight can bring the hatchlings to explore too. They might have a good time."


    Both Mordant and Current nodded. It seemed that untouched ces like this would fit well with the hatchlings growing up under the influence of Genesis. They would gain more understandings of elemental manas working to create entire environments. That Was how dragons learned and grew too. They went to the ces that their affinities could grow better. But that would be for another time. The marshnds were just a side stop before they went to the ind in their sights.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1868 1868. Marsh Discoveries

    Taking a full day to move through the marshnds was something that the group had not expected. However, it had proven very worthwhile. Many monsters and different things had been seen. Especially things rted to the underground flow of water.


    Tnhis flow of water was something that Current had been more and more specific about and they moved. He had started to move with his eyes closed prompting Mordant to keep himself focused on guarding him.


    The odd change was nothing that they expected as a party. Mordant had exined that this was a simr situation to the selection of territory that a dragon would do. They would roam around areas high in their natural elemental affinity. In doing so, they were connecting themselves and learning.


    The new flowing water and changes in how salt and fresh water interacted here was something that Current could learn from while also deciding if it would somehow linked him to any sign of a water dominator dragon ruin. It was the same thing that Mordant did at night when it came to the darkness mana. However, this was more focused on water mana and there was a higher chance that this ce would have some form of connection for Current to learn from.


    Walker''s mind had picked up on the potential. If there was a unique ce like this marsnd where the eater and earth directly connected so closely that it brought unique monsters and natural flow no matter what, then it would make sense that a dragon woulde here. However, many years had passed by as the dragons had long been away from this continent.


    The Sigil continent also was gued by the changes because of the curse that was just lifted. The flow of water might have changed and this ce might not be what it should be until the water flow of an underground river returned. Therefore, Current might still have a lot of time before he was able to find the ruins that he desired to find. To discover the history of his personal ancestors.


    These things aside, Walker had also been moving and sensing the flow of elemental manas. He noticed that when Midnight was exploring things, that she was taking the chance to absorb elemental manas the same ways that she had noticed the royal dragons doing.


    This act was her way of discovering more about herself and also how to gather natural mana for herself rather than get it from Walker as she had been mostly doing. This was why Walker had focused on fusing elemental manas while they traversed this ce. To gain strength but also to awaken Fleur sooner since she was slumbering within the spirit mark after using so much natural mana to help destroy the mummified pharaoh.


    ''Serrated grass


    This grass grows taller in damp mud. It is called serrated because of the sharpness and saw toothed edges it has. It will cut anything that brushes passed it along with also leaving a very annoying itchy poison.


    The oils that it produces cause itching for at least three hours. This will deter anything from touching it again. The oils can be boiled inrger quantities and used to make an ideal medication for skin dryness along with some specific illnesses.''


    One of the things that Walker''s all around appraisal had found was the very resilient serrated grass that Remey had insisted he stored some roots of. She would dly take any herb that could have medicinal uses. Let alone potion uses.


    ''Tunneling turnip


    This is a unique root vegetable that only grows in very soft mud. It requires the watery nutrients from shifting waters for it to grow rapidly. It will grow very thick water filled roots in erratic ways to lock itself in the mud.


    These roots are ideal foods for those that are dehydrated, require condensed nutrients, and also need a way to carry water outside of their body. This is an exceptionally hard nt to grow, but those that can will certainly be able to grow them in to a flowing state.


    The flower of a tunneling turnip will only bloom once a month. It has a very condensed nectar that is considered the perfect food for any tamed insect type monster. Specifically for the marsh queen bee that will make honey capable of being used in a unique mana potion that helps increase mana storage and growth in any child under the age of three.''


    This had been the appraisal that had made Remey freeze in ce. She knew of legendary potions that could help increase mana that someone had. These things were considered incredibly hard for even a master alchemist to make. Let alone materials for such things. Even the forms for such potions were all considered to be wrong since the items, herbs, and techniques were all lost or particr to one alchemist.


    The fact that they found an herb here that could give them a single item needed for such a potion, regardless of limited users, didn''t matter. She had to have it and was closer to Walker guarding him even more since he now possessed every single tunneling turnip that they found. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    With the many possibilities that this left them with, Walker had been sure to remain focused on the surroundings. He had been sure that an undertaking like this would be the same if not greater in challenge than the affinity potions that had taken an entire lifetime for a master alchemist to create. Remey would surely give the old master alchemist a heart attack when she returned to the alchemy guild.


    Other than the herbs, Walker had seen many other little things. Specifically, little monsters getting away from them as they moved toward the beach. He had managed to learn about them and found that some of them could definitely exist on their home continent, just out of sight from where he had ever been. But some he had never heard of and never knew existed.


    ''Green walking stick


    These are camouging insect monsters that will wait on reeds for smaller flying prey. They may look like a patch of reeds from a distance, but they are actually holding their bodies in a way that just replicates them.


    Their sharp pointed legs are used to trap and kill flying prey. They will never move and show themselves even when faced with a predator they can not beat. They trust that they can hide under any circumstances. They will never go after prey that is not flying, they are unable to digest other things since this is the unique way that they grew up.


    Their bodies are surprisingly tough since their outer shell is developed from the tougher y that they will absorb and dye green through also eating reeds around them. This method of hiding is unique to them in the marshnds since they are considered the most specifically evolved monster for this environment.


    Capturing one and removing it from the marshnds is considered impossible without the very best of care. Therefore, there is not a tamer in history that has yet to tame a green walking stick.''


    This would be valuable information for every single tamer that hade to Genesis. Elt alone the tamers that hade to the Sigil continent for knowledge. They would surely look for the tamer that could take this monster for the first time in history. This alone would be an epic goal that would surely gain a title and shake the taming world. The information is as valuable as gold to some.


    There were many monsters that Walker saw as well. Small blue flying birds called the marsh finch. Their pure blue deaths matched the sky so that they could avoid such predators as the green walking stick. However, when the sky would be overcast, they would never be seen flying if they wanted to live.


    They would eat the small ck marsh berries from tiny little flowering nts known as the mud berry bush. They were only edible by birds due to the unique seeds and digestive systems working together. It was a very informational all around appraisal that Walker would dly write down for anyone exploring this ce in the future.


    That was just part of the many things the group discovered while traveling. However, they managed to make an amazing time with their furious pace through the marshnds. They made it to the saltier areas and narrowed in on the sandy beaches filled with unique nts of their own.


    Fewer monsters were also seen since the group knew that the dangers of the beach were all around. It was a good time to camp before exploring the ind across the water afterwards. All that was left was to properly prepare for whatever they might find ahead.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1869 1869. Above The Jungle Island

    "We are taking to the air. I will carry you in my ws. There is a slight wind, but nothing to worry about." Mordant was fine with letting Current take to the water. He saw that Current wanted to take down some prey in the waters as they neared the ind. Not to mention exploring some of the underground water flows that he had already mentioned.


    There was also the fact that the rest of the party would be staying with Mordant when theynded on the ind anyways. Walker would be the only one, along with Midnight, that would be able to fly through the air and reach the ind without any help.


    "That''s fine with me, Let''s just get a better view of whatever is going on there." Gil''s thoughts were simple, get in to the air, and then see what he can see.


    He knew that with his sharper eyes as an archer, that he would be able to spot anything that might be going on. From what they could see at this beach shoar, there were many nts that grew on the ind. So many that it appeared to be an ind jungle which was very unusual to understand.


    There was also the size of the ind. It appeared to be somewhat manageable to explore in a day, but Mordant and Current had already mentioned it stretchedrger than what the others expected. Since this was the case, then it would be harder to get a handle on if the party were to search it from the ground. Which seemed to be the necessity due to the growth of nts everywhere.


    The nts added yet another challenge though. They would not all be known to the group. It was the same with the elven forest. The party had once explored there and seen many things that could pose a danger to them without the proper knowledge. Specifically, what was and was not safe to eat let alone touch.


    Due to this, Walker would be on high alert with the all around appraisal skill since he was the only one with it. None of the party had yet to get it when using the a round appraisal magic scrolls. It was such a slim chance for them to get it that they had not expected it to happen. It would just take a longer and longer time since they just had to keep trying.


    "Walker, what''s on your mind?" Remey noticed that Walker had just stepped in to the air as Mordant pped his wings to carry the others. Remey had grown used to this slightly since she had been carried by dragons before, but Mordant was being incredibly careful as not to harm the party. Therefore, she easily spoke with Walker nowpared to the first time they had been in the air.


    "I was just thinking about skills and how it would be easier if everyone had the a round appraisal skill. I know we have the educationist title and it could help everyone learn the skill. But if we use that then it would put us at a disadvantage. It''s the same with spatial mana and the fact that I want everyone to be able to get the affinity or learn a skill rted to it. If we all had the spatial storage skill of any strength or level it would be great, right?"


    As his thoughts were a little broken up since there were so many potential possibilities, Remey had to think for a moment before replying. They were still getting higher in the air after all. There was time to speak and think.


    "Forget about us learning the all around appraisal skill. We can work on that in our own aways. I can already somewhat get information about herbs just by looking at them and tracing the characteristics. It''s pretty simple since I''m a one of a kind alchemist." Remey was a little arrogant but had a good point.


    Since Remey was an alchemical brawler, she could record the information about an herb or potion materials easily. But because she ha d learned so much, she was able to deem certain qualities valuable or safe to interact with. This was just something that came with knowledge. By this example, she would eventually gain a skill that rted to appraisal specific to herbs and potions. She already could ascertain the quality of a potion as it was.


    But this was also why she had stuck around Walker. It was a form of training. Walker had noticed it and nodded with Remey even though she was a little arrogant at the moment. He realized that Remey had been around a lot of appraisals and a lot of him storing herbs away. Whenever they were out she was right there. She had been closer than the others in some way. Onyx and Midnight would be the next closest since Onyx normally rested on his shoulders and Midnight at his side. Even now, Onyx had taken a ce on his shoulders.


    "You are right. You should be able to figure things out. I will just keep doing what I can." As much as EWalker wanted to think on this more, they had finally reached a height to get a full view of the massive ind that stretched out below them.


    The jungle filled ind was longer than he had imagined. Walker looked around and noticed the many rocky outcroppings proving that this ind was more than just sands. It had a solid base that had risen over time from the water creating thisrge ce for life to grow. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This alone was enough to understand that the ind would not just be some hollow sandy ce that could be washed away by a few storms. It had roots and stones that held it there. It would be able to getrger over time too as more sands and other things washed up and became part of it. This meant that there would be a guarantee that this ce would potentially connect with the maind.


    As if to prove this, Walker noticed the dark lines of sand under the water. These were shifting sand bars that would only be essible when the tide was far out. However, it was enough to show that what he was thinking was already happening. The currents of water around the ind were eventually going to connect it to the maind.


    "Oh, that might be a little hard to handle." Su''s exmation was matched with Alice and Gil who both had been surprised by what they saw. Midnight''s slight roar also drew Walker''s focus. It wasn''t the size of the ind that had drawn these reactions. It wasn''t the nts that they had seen. Nor was it the fact that Current had already dove deep in the water and resurfaced showing that he had easily hunted arge fish type monster that was living in some rocky underwater cave.


    All of this was important and a way to learn from what they didn''t know about the area. However, what was ticking out were the ways that some trees had clearly been cut to allow something to climb them.


    This reminded the entire party of how the elves would shape the trees over many years to be natural treehouses. These natural tree houses were perfect homes. But the trees here were cut so that something could climb them and seerger spaces across the jungle. It also looked as if they were perfect ces to use as a traveling road above the jungle. A path that let something explore or move from ce to ce.


    The entire ind was covered in lush jungle and had clear pathways that went through the treetops. Nothing truly built out of metal or stone but just out of the wood from the tree branches cut to make this happen. Even the jungle vines had been grown and used to create everything necessary to hold it all together.


    With this to focus on, Walker tried his best to spot anything moving. Anything alive. Yet, he failed. There was nothing to be spotted. "We scared anything from showing itself, but now we have proof that something is here or was here." Walker spoke loudly enough to make sure everyone heard it. This meant that they would have to be better prepared when theynded.


    There were only a few ces for any of them tond. For Mordant, he would have to drop the part at one of these natural forest clearings. From that point, he would need to lose his dragon form for the dragonkin form. Current appeared to have spotted more things underwater. A cave of sorts below the ind that he was beginning to explore. It was a divide and conquer exploration.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1870 1870. A Glimpse

    As Mordant let the other down, Walker had been the first tond on the most open space that he saw. This ce was an odd spot in the midst of this jungle ind. While there were no signs that anyone had ever been in this spot, Walker found out what had happened to make the bare spots here and there.


    Small burned pieces of rotting wood were strewn about here and there. "Lightning stuck this area and it went out before it spread.a jungle is a pretty wet ce." Walker studied everything he could and still didn''t spot anything that posed a danger. But it was clear that everything avoided this area. Even the monsters didn''t walk through here.


    As the othersnded and Mordant took his dragonkin form, they noticed this oddity as well. Naturally, the investigation started instantly. Gil was the one that was the most vocal.


    "It doesn''t make a single bit of sense that there aren''t any monstersing through here. Look, there are small berries growing that they could eat. It''s because they finally have the sun to grow. But nothing touched them." he was stumped too.


    "I used all around appraisal and all I see is wood. Burnt wood and some ash." Walker supported Gil a little. But this area had been destroyed fairly recently by lightning. Enough that the small nts had started to regrow, but others had not.


    "Did a monster do it?" Alice knew of the monsters that the party had faced. She also understood that some others could use lighting in some form or fashion. This was more believable in her mind. Especially when it came to the odd way that this space was not the only one showing signs of lightning strokes. They had all seen more spots like this through the jungle.


    "No, I think Walker will like what Su and I found more than if it was a monster." Alice turned her head in curiosity while Su and Remey showed off what they had just dug up from their awkwardnding spot in this jungle ind.


    ''Lightning crystal ore


    The lighting crystal is a forced fusion of elemental energies. Normally, lightning crystals can not form unless forced to fuse for a temporary amount of time. Specifically, a temporary amount of time before the manas are forcefully dispersed through teh shattering of the crystal.


    When lightning naturally strikes certain ores, the crystals can form and be trapped in a bnce with the natural earth mana within that ore. It creates a lightning crystal ore that would only ever be found in areas often struck by lighting. Even tops of mountains will only ever have a small amount. Forcefully creating this ore is also extremely hard due to the strict bnce needed to create it.


    Due to these ores existing, there is a very high chance that lightning will strike again in the same ce. This causes monsters and anything with sharp senses to avoid the area.''


    Walker read all of this out loud while looking at the yellow and white crystals within the rough rocky ore that Remey and Su had dug out of the ashes. It was clear that lighting had struck here many times and this was the result. It also meant that there were multiple chunks of this ore all over the jungle ind.


    "That''s amazing! I never heard of such an ore!" Mordant was the most amazed by this since he believed that they would not find something so astounding right away. They had barely set foot on this unexplored ind. A new continent, a new ind, and even more new things just seemed to be attracted to the party. It was as if he was part of a grand story that brought amazing things right to his view without any effort.


    "At least it all makes sense, but can this really be used to make things? Wouldn''t breaking it or forging it ruin the bnce?" the question that Gil had made sense and was directed at Walker who should have an idea since he had the sharpest mana senses.


    "I would say yes, but If we gather some more of this and hand it to our trusty wandering cksmith¡­" Everyone knew that doing this would be the same as gaining another amazing weapon or armor. It would be a great gift and challenge to thor friend who wanted nothing more than this.


    "Brother, sister and I smell something." Onyx looked around carefully. He and Midnight both smelled something different from them. A monster or something else. Mordant had caught it too but was impressed with how Onyx and Midnight had also easily caught the smell. He hadn''t expected their senses to have grown to this level yet.


    "Less like we have something around but more that we are being watched." Su caught a glimpse of a shadow moving through the jungle just further away. It appeared that there was something curious about their group.


    "No, we just found it. But I doubt they are ready to just speak with us." Walker followed Su''s sightline and picked up on what she had seen. However, he was using the all around appraisal as the figure darted from tree to tree and around vines.


    ''Echidna<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This is an echidna. Due to the dragon blood that once ran through their veins, over the years the ancient echidna bloodline rted to medusa, gorgon, and other great serpent type monsters has awakened. The birth of an echidna is what most would call half human and half serpent.


    The most powerful of echidna can appear within three forms, serpent, humanlike, and also half serpent half human like. This is simr to what many would see as a demi-human in the world. However, they are vastly different because of their unique speed, magical abilities, and incredible flexibility.


    Jungles are their natural habitat but they are extremely adaptable to deserts and even mountains.


    After being forced from their homes, the ancient echidna founded the jungle ind. Enhancing their ability to be one within nature, they gained the minute ability to manipte natural mana and grow the jungle even more.


    The echidna can vary in elemental affinity while also mix their elemental affinities. They have isted themselves on a single ind for generations creating an extremely unique culture and race. They have not encountered another sentient species in generations¡­''


    There was even more information that Walker couldn''t keep up with. The form of the darting echidna was moving quickly away from them after it realized that the group had narrowed in on it. Yet, Walker was sure that this was what was left of the race they had been chasing.


    "That dragon blood inside them when they were in the mummified city was making them more simr to dragonkin or something halfway between a lizard and a dragonkin. But after generations it awakened an ancient bloodline rted to ancient monsters like gorgon, medusa, or great serpents. Now they are called the echidna race. Half serpent, half human is the best way to describe them."


    As much as Walker wanted toplete the quest and learn more, the quest had notpleted. It made him realize that just finding the ancient race was too small of an action. The group needed to do more than that.


    "We are going to meet them, right?" Gil''s smirk told everyone what they were thinking and what he was thinking. They had just gotten a glimpse of what they were here to dio and what might expand the world''s knowledge as well. All they had to do was find this echidna race and meet them.


    "Onyx, you might be doing the talking." Walker forewarned Onyx since telepathy might be the best way to speak to them. They might have their ownnguage that the world might not help them with right away. But then again, Walker considered that the world might have already tranted everything but wanted to be sure no matter what. It was always a surprise regardless.


    "Let''s go." out of everyone to begin to take the lead, it was Alice. She appeared to be more driven after seeing that onyx had really been taking the lead. She had spent a lot of time with him as he helped the hatchlings in the cathedral. She believed that it was her turn to show off a little and take the lead since he had shouldered a lot of burdentely. This just made everyone else a little more motivated to see too.


    Alice was a pure person, always caring for others. The fact that she wanted to meet this new race even more than them made it all the more evident how she had be one of their party. She was an adventurer too now, different continents, a different path than others, and even more so, a different discovery every day.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1871 1871. Jungle Serpents

    The soft humming that Alice had begun to use to sing with brought a soft light filtering through the jungle leaves. It was not necessarily a song but a way to bring attention to the group. The party waspletely illuminated within this light.


    While some would see this as intimidating, the tune and the emotion behind the song that Alice hummed was peaceful. It was calm and soft. Enough to make anyone rx when they came in to earshot. But that wasn''t all, the light was gradually purifying any rot or damages to the forest around.


    This would have been something that many priests or nuns would need to use their skills on carefully. But for Alice, she was able to do so because of her unique systems and skills. The songs she sang came with many bandits that would buff, attack, and defend. Compared to many healers, she was the most advantageous.


    For the record, she would choose peace over everything. She was raised properly within the cathedral and valued life. However, through her own eyes, she had seen some evil. She had learned many things from the party besides the fact that there is greater ways to be stronger.


    The things she wanted to stand against along with the things she wanted to protect. Adding the bonds she had forged between the party and the new city of Genesis, she had changed who she was. Be more confident and be able to speak without watching heer mana fade away. Alice found pride in this and always attributed it to the things she learned from her family beside her.


    Watching her, Walker felt that he couldn''t have met anyone better. Alice mightck a hero title, but she was a healer of light., she was a singstress that had shown everyone that she did not have a curse but a blessing. Her ability to make her songs and light in to one was amazing.


    The small amount of angel bloodline within her had also been discovered. It had given some of the angels that heard this proof that their ancient ancestors had still remained upon another continent in some ways. That they had other connections. Even now, while the party was further away, this rumor had spread.


    Stopping people from speaking about something new was impossible. Both the Fel and Rize empires were speaking about Genesis and the party that showed up at the embassy. They had their own ideas about Genesis and the higher ups were hard at work deciding what to do about them. However, the people had already begun to speak in their own ways.


    The fact that someone with angel blood, the dragons thought to be extinct, and someone that used natural mana with hero titles was here put them all in their own mind sets. To the people forming viges and striving to be more than what they were, Genesis forces were spectacr.


    The undermining of values had also begun to happen after seeing the way that Genesis brought together so much. All of this was going on without the party even realizing it. However, the only things that they focused on right now were the newly darting shadows around them. The ever increasing shadows that made them know that more echidna''s were around.


    These shapes were just watching and trying to remain hidden. A normal response for anything isted that was curious but fearful. However, the fact that they had been witnessed going near a pce that nothing traveled was why the echidna did not approach. They did not understand how it was possible since they had been unable to go to such ces.


    "There''s arger oneing." Gil managed to spot more of the leaves moving. The speed was also slower, but this was to be expected. The smaller echidna were definitely not any types of fighters and definitely scouts watching the group''s every move. That was what any race would do to remain safe.


    "There are more than you see ahead, in the trees too." Mordant calmly spoke as he looked up and pointed to the shadowy branches. Right above them, where the light flowed through the trees due to Alice''s song, there were many shadows. Shadows of serpent like tails and human like bodies.


    "Well, they should juste to see us already. I think they would catch on by now that we aren''t here to attack them." The annoyedments from Remey were slightly loud but no one shook her head at them. She was casually exining that they were not going to attack anyone. It was a sneaky way to say that they didn''t want to fight but they wanted attention to speak.


    The worry that Onyx would need to speak for the group proved to be nothing as the figure moved a little in reaction. The figure that was bing more apparent ahead of them was what Walker''s eyes had to focus on. Not to mention that the figure was holding arge wooden staff carved with unfamiliar runes.


    The echidna that was there was somewhat unlike what Walker had imagined. The half serpent tail and lower half was longer and thicker than any snake that Walker had faced. While it seemed simr to Onyx in ways, the scales were smoother and the patterns were green and brown. The upper half was still scaly but had smoother portions that were reminiscent of a human in a way. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The sharp ears and features that matched more with elves or demons were surprising. But the slitted serpent like eyes were even more focused. Not to mention the sharer teeth that stood out as the snake like forked tongue moved in and out sensei the area for dangers.


    As the echidna approached, it suddenly stopped while looking at the party. With a harsh drawn out voice it spoke to them. "This is not your home." The slightly slurred words made it appear that this was not a race that often spoke out loud. But if they lived in a jungle and remained close to nature, it made sense that they wouldmunicate through actions more than anything.


    "No, it is not our home, but we are here nheless. We came we looking for you and your race though. To see a race that survived the test of time and fate." Walker''s words were calm and soft. Especially with the addition of Alice''s song in the background.


    However, the echidna did not flinch. It maintained its focus on the party while some of the other echidna in the trees moved from ce to ce. "I understand that your fellow echidna may not know of what is happening in the world. But I can promise that I will dly share anything you wish to know. I also want to learn from you too. I know that you and your people are very close to nature and some can do this."


    The sudden burst of natural mana around caused every single echidna present to shift and move around. Therger echidna facing them reacted a little and prepared the staff in front of it. The runes glowed with a variety of hues. Some fire elemental mana and some earth elemental manas before a blue water elemental mana hue appeared. It was a clear shift in the manas being sensed because of the natural mana usage.


    "You are in tune with life.'''' The single sentence proved that the echidna race truly believed in nature and how life grows. As if to prove this, the staff was touched to the ground and the jungle vines moved to form a better path through the jungle ahead.


    "You maye with us. You will not harm the home we have raised." While some would see this as a threat from the echidna, the party knew it was a weing sign. They were not saying that they would attack the group before them, but that they were giving them a chance. It was because of the goodwill shown and the fact that the party was not threatening anything at all.


    As the party moved, more echidnas in multiple forms allowed themselves to be seen. Some with purple scales, others with unique mixed patterns. Some were in a serpent form moving through the trees while one or two were in the human like form seemingly prepared to attack if needed. Many more were in the mixed form that seemed to be the morefortable form for all of them.


    This looks like we are heading toward a vige. I wasn''t sure if they would have one to just live somewhere as part of the forest. But it makes sense that they have treetop pathways made." Walker appreciated the things he was seeing. He liked the way that they lived within the jungle. But that wasn''t all he saw. There was a lot more.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1872 1872. Elder Echidna

    The more that they moved through the jungle, the more that the party was able to see what the echidnas did for homes. There were many wooden hits made with jungle vines. However, the vines grown had been guided to naturally grow in a way that helped the pieces of wood stay together. It was a unique mix of building and also natural growth.


    Furthermore, there were echidnas that were using skills to create things from nts right before the party''s eyes. Some were fashioning staffs and bows from vines and other jungle materials, some of which the party had never seen.


    ''Water gourd


    The water gourd is a unique nt that can only grow in the jungles. Just like any vine, it will grow up and around trees to get closer to sunlight. It will absorb water naturally until its flowers grow in to arge gourd. When it is close to the end of its lifespan, the gourd will fall and shatter releasing seeds and water for another vine to grow.


    This water gourd is ideal for use in creating water elemental staffs for water mages. It will allow the staff to better channel water elemental mana. It also flows better with the natural water elemental mana around allowing for a slightly better understanding of any water elemental skills used.''


    This was an amazing nts to say the least. Especially since the staffs being made were ideal for water magic. They could help use the skill overall, including gather the mana. But they also helped with the understanding of water elemental mana skills. This would be something that would greatly help anyone within any stage of learning for water magic.


    The fact that it only grew in a jungle meant that it didn''t have much of a chance to grow anywhere near Genesis. It might grow in the elven forests, but that wasn''t the ideal ce like this jungle ind. If it were to be taken to another ce, it would need more attention and care.


    This wasn''t everything that Walker saw though. He could see many pathways cut in to the trees. Boards ced in positions that would be unnatural to anyone who did not understand how a jungle grew. The trees were pruned in ways that created ideal stairs to slither down along with perfect grabbing ces to hold anyone up as they traveled. It took great understanding of both nature and carving to create such a thing.


    "I can tell that your people are very close to the jungle and have many skills to create homes within it. I haven''t seen many races as adept at wood carving as yours." Gil''s suddenpliment was not reacted to. However, everyone could sense that it went over well.


    To be appreciated for the closeness to nature had be something very dear to the echidna. Generation after generation they had learned that this ind was their only safe home. The monsters on it were part of their survival. The nts were a part of their sustenance. It all came together with them to form life.


    As arger open area came to be seen, the party understood that this was a meeting ce. Naturally, there was arger hut that appeared to have been modified many times. Since this was clearly a ce for many to meet, it would be understandable that it was rebuilt from time to time.


    Yet, when they earned it, the hut shook and a single serpent began to slither from it. The size of this echidna easily dwarfed Onyx by many lengths. Its eyes were gray and seemed to see through the party to some degree. When Itsrge forked tongue flicked out, the echidna appeared to have grasped the party and what they were.


    "Ancient dragon in the flesh. I did not believe that the ancestors spoke the truth. There have not been any proof of your race, just the lingering essence within a monster. Thank you for you blessings to our ancestors."


    The slow speech that came from the gray scaled serpent form echidna made everyone understand that it was more knowledgeable. However, there was a sense of dread that came from it. As if it could easily attack and destroy them all if they showed any will to attack.


    "So you can smell me? I am just following these ones here. You do not need to worry about me. I trust that those with me will be able to properly gain your trust. I will explore your territory here. I have not seen many things and I wish to enjoy it." Mordant saw that the echidna elder was carefully watching him and would not be able to pay much attention to Walker if he was there.


    "As you wish. Please enjoy the home we have built." respectful but not servile. That was how anyone could take the elder echidna''s words. But it was still peaceful.


    "Now you havee to our home. Why have you journeyed here from thends of death and demise?" this told Walker all he needed to know. The entire Sigil continent was known as thend of death and demise to these echidnas as they had grown. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "We purified the mummified ancient city that your ancestors fled many generations ago. We followed an underground river bed to fund the marshnds. Then we came here to see if that race survived. I am very surprised to see that you have found your ancient ties and bonded with nature to such an amazing degree." there was not a single lie in Walker''s words. He truly felt amazed to see this.


    The long andrger gray serpent body left therge hut and curled around itself while the echidna elder lifted its head. Its eyes searched for lies. "Your mana did not tremble. You are not telling falsehoods. You truly speak words that have never been expected in any generation since the great elders came here and left us tales of death and destruction."


    It was very clear that the elder echidna had not thought that such a thing would be possible. Never had it expected that there would be a day that it would hear that the elders before it who always told them never to leave the ind would now be wrong. That it would be possible for them to leave.


    "The world you know and have heard about may have changed. Your ancestors were victims to an evil monster. A necromancer that created a famine and forced their beliefs that they would be a death god on others. They created many undead, false death runes, and caused a curse over thends your ancestors lived in."


    "After your ancestors fled here, the city ended up being damaged by the curse and the undead went dormant. Their slumber ended as enough mana was gathered and the angel race began fighting them. It was a stalemate before my gathered races came to explore the entire Sigil continent."


    "Now that it is purified, there are other things to work on. The two empires of angels, rtionships with my gathered races on another continent, the Genesis alliance, and I hope to wee your race to join hands with us. Your knowledge about nature is clearly further along than many. Especially natural mana and the bonds you have with it."


    All that Walker said was true. Although, the elder echidna did not appear to fully understand all of it. Too many things sounded foreign to it.. The fact that there were more continents. Empires. Even the fact that angels still roamed thends.


    While its people had heard of angels, they had barely existed in their distant stories. They had not been around enough for their ancestors to leave details in their stories for them. The stories that their ancestors gave them were of their beloved goddess of growth and nature. Otherwise, they were warnings of evil and death that took over the entire home they fled.


    Furthermore, the fact that there were many other races was hard to grasp as well. The other races would be hard for anyone to understand though. Even looking at Walker and the others was troubling since so many scents were mixed together.


    "Many tales from our ancestors are passed down the same with every single generation. You appear to have other tales to tell. I will wee you here for the time being. If you dare harm the bnce of our beloved home, there will not be any further chances."


    "I would not dare to do so. If we could learn from your people, I would feel blessed." Walker showed a lot of respect. He knew that these echidna had clearly grown to be even more strict than the elves when it came to respecting their home and nature. If any race believed themselves to be thest living things, then they would surely feel and do the same.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1873 1873. Peaceful Nature

    The slit gray pupils focused on Walker''s every word. It was the elder echidna ensuring that he was speaking the truth. However, Walker also felt that there was more to it. As if the elder was looking through him and at his abilities further.


    "You may share what you know of the world. I wish to hear how you understand the past. How you managed to see the remnants of evil that once threatened the entirety of nature." The elder appeared to want more knowledge under this.


    "The story of that is shorterpared to the stories of how we got all the way here. But we can share anything you want to know. I didn''te here for anything other than to learn and offer a hand." Walker was still honest. The quest might still be there but that was secondary. There was also the fact that the quest was still not beenpleted. It meant that there was so much more to discovering the race than they thought.


    "Then you may follow me to the altar and offer your greetings." therge gray serpent form started to shift and condense. By the time that the elder moved again, the party was looking at an older man in a more humanoid form.


    The gray scales still covered his body and there were sharper features that matched the other echidna. Yet, the look of his body betrayed the strength that he actually had. Many would assume he was weak and frail, yet, the party had seen therger serpent form that could dwarf Onyx and even risk a small challenge to a dragon if necessary. Strength was not something easily seen in the echidna species.


    "While the ancestors feld thends of death, they held our great goddess of life and growth in esteem. We did not allow that to leave us. Even though we may not see her, she is all around us." Something seemed to click in Walker''s mind as he listened to the elder.


    The introduction to their goddess was what the echidna had believed for many generations. But he was clearly telling them this as a counter to the stories that the party would share about the false death god. A show of goodwill.


    However, this goodwill made Walker think about their goddess. The connections between nature and natural mana. "This goddess of harvest, nature, and life. Is it the same as the world? Is it an avatar of sorts?" Walker''s sudden question made the elder echidna show the first expression they had seen yet. One that appeared to be slightly impressed.


    "The goddess is many and one. Natural mana and the world are one. You wear the mark of the world and hold close one of its hands. Do you not?" Walker had not imagined that the elder echidna had seen right through him. That whose blind gray eyes had seen the spirit mark and Fleur residing within it.


    "I do." Walker thought for a moment. "We have many titles between us but I am the only one with a sage title and the ability to use natural mana at will. Only one other of us can use natural mana and it is more of a skill effect." Walker didn''t spill all of Gil''s secrets. Neither did he mention that Midnight and the others would definitely gain some ability to use natural mana by being around him.


    " A unique group of unique individuals. One that sings the soothing melody of life. One that mixes their blood and pledges to defend the very world. One that walks the line between brutality and healing. One that epts a nature unlike their own. One that strives to bnce two sides of a moon. And one that wishes to live beyond any of its kind."


    Each phrase said clearly identified one of the party. Walker could guess who was who. "And you, the one that appears tock an end goal. But is able to stretch beyond the ordinary. The goddess may speak about this. I did not know." This was wisdom from one that could see more than anything the party could imagine.


    While the words were not hard to grasp, the abilities were. There seemed to be a gray mist that expanded around the elder echidna. The forest seemed much more peaceful. Even Alice ceased her singing as the light no longer prated the mist as it grew. This was a skill of sorts, one that was based on illusions and not necessarily based on anything else.


    "This is a sacred ce. One of the altars we have created to thank our goddess for bringing more life to us. For sparking the light of our souls. To repress the evil that could have followed us here."


    "Generations of my people have been blessed. We lived and perished here in the nature we grow. You are outsiders. If there is a single sign that you are here to harm the life we grew here, I will act. For the moment, please greet the goddess."


    Arge stone altar appeared. However, this was vastly different from theyers of broken monster and body parts that the mummified pharaoh had created. There was not a single bit of gold or embellishments that would have made the altar seemrger or overly fancy.


    The simple stone shape was one that represented elemental manas. The figure of a single hooded woman stood among them with open arms. Moss grew here and there while some small vines with yellow flowers bloomed around the base. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The altar was simple, yet everyone felt that there was more to it. "It feels like this is a better ce than that entire city." Remey''s bluntness came loud enough to make them all sense the manas around.


    Calm mana that was nothing like the brutal and oppressive manas they had sensed as ofte in their battles. This was a ce kept safe and sound for everyone toe as long as they respected it. There weren''t any outer forces, just calm here.


    As the party stood and looked at the altar, multiple elemental spirits moved around. Those of certain elemental affinities moved around the party finding those that dwelled with their fellow grand elemental spirit. It was natural that the water and the darkness spirits didn''t show themselves as much, but they were still there. They cloud sense the bnce that came with Walker.


    ''The world smiles.''


    A simple response that came was enough to make the entire party shiver. It was odd to get messages from the world, yet it apparently smiled. The very existence that created all the systems, created life for all they knew. It had reacted many times, creating quests and such for the party. However, it rarely made notifications like this.


    Before anything else could happen, all the elemental spirits that had shown themselves darted away. A single pulse of natural mana left the altar before the mist strengthened and the party found itself back next to the elder echidna.


    "Ah, how sweet the world is. I feel the love for all that flows in life, can you as well?" The elder looked at Walker who was in an understanding daze. "You might learn more here from us than you imagined. We trust the flow of nature and you are wee here." It appeared that any district was washed away as the altar had shown natural mana. But Walker believed that it was something more mysterious than that.


    "Come this way and tell me your stories. I will bring the children to listen. They may act up at first, but I am sure they will listen carefully." hearing that they would be meeting children of this echidna vige, Midnight and Onyx felt morefortable. They had long helped the children around the cathedral. They saw themselves as experts in the matter now.


    "Can I learn how you manipte the nts to make those bows? I know an elf that can manipte nts and I would like to bring some good things back for her to learn from." Gil''s somewhat shy question made the elder echidna chuckle. It was a dry sort of hissing chuckle but was easily understandable.


    "You may learn from them. I can tell you will respect the craft more than others would. And you, the one that walks a line. You may walk toward that hollow tree. I believe your medicines will be weed there as well." Remey''s attention was instantly drawn.


    "I feel like you know us better than most people do. You are very insightful." Su was very impressed but the elder just chuckled again. He did not reveal his entire hand. He kept some cards to himself. Not that any of the party felt ufortable. They realized that this was a race of beings that had greatly grown differently from what the party could ever understand. But they were not vicious nor evil.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1874 1874. Seen Right Through

    Walker found that the group split up faster than he would have expected them to do. But this was the first time that someone had seen through all of them. Their goals seemed to be on perfect disy. The fact that the party valued all life and just wanted to unite the echidnas with the other races was right there in the open.


    "This is kind of different from how things have gone with other races." Walker found himself with the elder echidna. He was still unsure what the mans'' name was and what he would do from here. But he wanted to learn.


    "At my age, I have been able to see more than many could. Even though my eyes have be like this, I still see every single movement. Every desire. And even some other odd things now and then." Walker easily caught on that the elder was speaking about his ability to sense mana. That the elder used that in ce of his eyes.


    "I have been alive for thest ny three years. When I was a child, the elders were a group of four. Now they have shed theirst skin and returned to the natural flow. Their trees are growing tall and strong. Their vines reach up to the sunlight that we bathe in as children. It is a true flow that brings us great connections to thends we walk. Their spirits may show us a true path to nature''s secrets."


    From this, Walker began to understand the lives that were lived by the echidna. The beliefs within their species and within nature took the lead. They had believed so much in their nature goddess that they had begun to find the best way to be closer to it. In death, they would be buried with a tree that would grow and represent their spirits. But because of this, there would be a memory of them for the youngest to remember.


    The elders would pass down these important lessons and traditions bringing every generation closer and closer to what they would believe to be the center of all that was the world. That was the will of the world or nature itself. Just being able to gain this closeness brought them a sense of fulfillment.


    "You are not the only sage. I can see that you are trying to wrap your mind around the way that mana does here. It is very abundant. Nature''s mana that is." The elder seemed to chuckle in his raspy hissing voice again. His movements were slow in the more humanoid form, but they had purpose in every step.


    "It is more than I am used to. I would say that it is because so many of your people seem to be able to use the natural mana around. But I think it is just because over so many generations, the jungle has be a perfect bnce. Just setting foot on thisnd, I felt it."


    "The call of nature. The whispers of how to grow. How to flourish. How to ept the manas that gather. I know that feeling. When I first felt it, I was six years old. From that moment, I began exploring and isted myself deep within the caverns. I grasped how the wateres below. How the roots drive down in to the stone and absorb the water that is filtered in the earth. How it travels through the nts. Evaporates within the air and the sun."


    "Later it rains down and the darkness allows the earth to take it back in. an interesting flow that allows the jungle to blossom over and over. But one of many flows that can cause one to grow closer to nature.


    "One as young as you are well ahead of what others should be able to do. But you are in disarray." Walker hesitated. He was still trying to understand how the elder was able to see all of this without actually seeing.


    "Do not worry. I am walking you through my home and my people so that you can learn as you wish to. But you need to stop trying to branch out so much. You should condense. Skills are amazing. They are. Many elemental manas are fused ande together. But you are keeping yourself separated."


    Saying that the elder echidna saw more than what Walker had thought would be a massive understatement. It was easily just the surface that Walker had thought that the elder had grasped. Yet the elder saw the main problem guing what Walker was handling right now.


    The fact that Walker was having trouble keeping all his skills in line. That Walker struggled with what movements, attacks, defensives, anything in general to learn and use were clear. It had made him nervous and much more stressed than before.


    "I was thinking about that. But Ick the skill to condense my skills. I also need to learn about spatial mana more. Death mana, life mana, and even time mana which seems to be impossible. I need to learn it all so that I can figure out what I can and can not do." Walker''s energy seemed to be drained just talking about it out loud for the first time.


    "If I can''t learn these things, then what will happen when I find the demons that aren''t even demons. They are basically monsters trying to destroy and potentially kill everything and everyone around. If I can''t get strong enough to counter their mastery skills, which I can''t use, then how will I be a true hero?"


    These doubts had gued Walkertely. These thoughts of needing to grow even more but being incredibly limited by what he could and could not train at the time. "You are young and you have time. While the mana may shift towards good or evil, it is a natural flow. Just forget that you have reasons to spread out. There are paths you can take." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "You may speak to one of the young ones. She was born uniquely. Only one in every other generation may be born as she is. You may also find other paths. But you may never reach higher understandings ofrger manas. Ofrgerws of existence. You are too spread out and can not understand what natural mana really is. What nature really is."


    What Walker felt like was happening was that he was being given both advice and reprimand. For trying to branch out and understand the mostplicated manas that not many could grasp. Even the fact that he was able to use some of these manas right now was insane in a way.


    The life mages were able to gain these systems that guided them. Walkercked that. He was a jack of all trades. He couldn''t just grow the same way as others. He had to grow in his own way. He had not done thistely. Instead, he had looked at others and learned something here and there. But even that had stopped since he had been fully focused on strengthening himself and the party.


    "So I should step back and-" The elder was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Walker found himself in front of a somewhatrger hit. One that was made with arger opening covered by a vine door.


    The other nearby huts were smaller but they were busy enough for Walker to understand that it was a very popr ce in the vige. A ce where many woulde to sit and speak or to trade what they worked on. Some were braiding ropes or created baskets from the vines that grew around.


    Others clearly prepared fruits and other game that they had hunted. All of this was normal, it made Walker rte the echidnas to the rabbit demi-human caravans that would only make a vige in the winter months. However, this had an entirely more mysterious feeling around it.


    "Pleasee in. We can speak with you as much as needed. The elder warned me that we would have visitors. I didn''t think he meant that one would being to speak with me though."


    "Or me, we both thought that you would note to us. Well me. Well us?"


    Both voices were nearly identical. But for some reason, they seemed to be confused and also united. It put Walker in an odd spot where he felt that he was intruding. However, when he took a deep breath and walked inside the dimly lit hut, he was met with another echidna in a serpent form.


    This one was pale pink in hue. A set of scales that would not be able to handle harsh sunlight. This was to the thing that Walker focused on though. He focused on the fact that the echidna he was looking at had two heads. A dual headed echidna.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1875 1875. Misty Jungles

    "I understand that it may be odd. That you may never have seen someone like me." The pleasant voice seems to be somewhatughing at Walker''s surprised expression. "We are one but two. The same but thinking separately. But we are of one mind. Just two thoughts."


    "I just didn''t expect to meet someone so unique. I normally do the surprising¡­" Walker had a lot of things he could ask but for the moment, he realized that he had been thrown in to the position of the surprised. How he made the party feel often.


    "The elder may be a sightless sage, but I am a dual seer. I can see both the flow of mana and see the depths of mana. That is why you are here. To learn to think twice yet of the same mind." now this was what tripped Walker up. He had an idea of what was being said but he was trapped in the odd way it was spoken.


    "A sightless sage and a dual seer? Those are your systems?" this seemed like the logical conclusion.


    However, Walker looked at the serpent and saw that there was not a reaction of approval that he was correct. "A system for all, that was the world''s promise."


    "A path to follow for all. That was the world''s goal."


    "An unfinished masterpiece, that was the result."


    "A tainted path was created as a result. A dramatic tale put on pause by the will of the world."


    "A solution born from those that live. those that desire truth and justice."


    "And now, a mending. A true brightness as the worldpletes its work. Thest step is all that remains. The final key."


    A slight wave of mana drifted over Walker as he felt that the manas around were trying to do something. But it was as if they had been held back at thest moment.


    "I apologize, sometimes I tend to do that. Two sides of one vision. I am a seer. I see and know. But I will not exin. That is the nature of nature. You must discover it yourself. Why I might not answer your questions."


    As much as Walker wanted to dig deeper, he felt that he was about to pry in to something he wasn''t ready for. Count it as an instinct or something else, the feeling that Walker had when he was about to ask for more information was enough to stop him. But part of him resounded with this small prophecy of sorts. Something about it just seemed to feel like it was right. Like it was the world still adjusting.


    "Maybe fixing the mana in the world was just a small part of things¡­"


    "You seem to grasp what is needed. We should start looking in to things then." the dual seer started to shift slightly. Before Walker could refocus his eyes, a half serpent half humanoid woman with two heads looked at him.


    "You wish to learn even though you are stretching yourself out even now. I see you have something inmon with me."


    "A split mind skill that allows you to focus on multiple tasks. Multitasking. Very useful, but it is just a stepping stone." The seer handed Walker a wooden cup of water. She seemed to be weing him but from the scent in the hut, he knew that things were off.


    "You came to learn and so you shall. The herbs here cause hallucinations. They are based on every form of mana that we find in the natural flow. You may rest well here. Allow your body to heal from the inner damages you may not see. Rest well here while you find your path within your own mind."


    The two heads speaking in unison drifted off as Walker realized what the seer might be saying. If he was anywhere else, he might have felt panicked or b relieved himself to be in danger. Yet, he trusted things here. It was as if he was closer to the world than anything he had felt before. He believed that this was something he had needed to do for a long time but missed the chances. But had ignored the potentials.


    "Two heads are better than one you know. You can think of two things at once. See two views. Find two sides to every story. But that''s all good and well until you split up. What if you merged the thinking? Draw new conclusions?" The drifting voice sounded like it was muffled by cotton.


    Walker heard all of this and snapped his eyes open to find himself within a jungle. Alone and full of an odd mist. But the words still rang in his head. He understood what was meant to be understood. The voice had bluntly told him that he was looking through a tunnel. Only focusing on the direct path ahead." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This had been the way that Walker had been thinking. Focusing on one skill he needed, learning it, then letting it get lost in the skills of everything else. He had tried to learn more about natural mana and the fusion of elemental skills. All of this had been one focus and not split.


    Even with his multitasking skill, Walker had been spread too thin to properly advance. It was the same result as if someone tried to cook too many pots on the same stove. Eventually, everything would not get cooked evenly leaving some spots raw and others burnt.


    Right now, Walker had to learn to equally split and push back together his viewpoints and focuses. Let himself learn from more than one perspective while gathering things together before acting on one small whim.


    The ideas that came to him immediately as he stood isted within nature were elemental manas. The manas he sensed and tried to bnce together constantly to make natural mana. These focuses had always been on one elemental mana at a time. When he fused them he gave them all a small piece of his attention. It was splitting his mind but not bringing the overall thought process together until he already had natural mana.


    Therefore, Walker would never put his thoughts to fruition. He just took what he thought to be the finished product. " journey through the jungle and return to me. See the pathways and understand the destination."


    While Walker felt this was surely a dream, he also believed that this was his own lost focus. His mind was lost in the jungle where he had been unable to condense it on a single goal. With these things hitting him, Walker believed he was starting to understand what he was doing here. What he was meant to understand about this mental space he had forsaken.


    His thoughts came to the mental archive skill. The skill that allowed him to remember his skills and the things he read like he had done it yesterday. This mental space was filled with all the solutions he came up with. Especially with the all around appraisals he saw. But he never essed it as a whole. Just a small space of it.


    This ce was a literal mental library full of everything he needed. But he only ever took knowledge from one book. When he used fire he looked at one book. Instead, what if he mmed two books together and worked on both as a whole?


    This potential caused the mist to shift and a slightly worn path to appear within the jungle before him. An invitation to keep walking. Yet, he sensed something behind him. Another path shifting open. Two paths but one thought. Two potentials but one way to go.


    This mental struggle caused Walker to freeze in ce. He had no idea what to do now. He wasn''t able to split himself. He couldn''t devote enough to go both directions and decide which was better¡­


    "So you are a seer. I have only ever met a small handful of seers in life. I have lived for a long time." Mordant had drifted out of the shadows and looked down at the sleeping figure of Walker. The dual seer stood by emanating a slight mist from her body as Walker drifted in and out of his dream.


    "Honorable dragon. I am not going to harm this young one."


    "We are sharing the paths they may take. Showing a potential they forsake."


    Mordant calmly looked at the dual seer. He did not appear angry. Just frustrated. "I am a dragon, yet I can not grasp what has be of your people and race. You are ahead of all of us. Potentially the same as some angels from long ago that left their people on this continent and the other. I hope that we will understand you soon." Mordant sat down to witness what might happen here. He understood that he was unready to grasp what was before him. The dual seer just smiled softly. She truly respected those willing to learn and grow with the world.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1876 1876. Natures Alchemist

    "Agora root. Able to remedy the many sap based poisons within our homes. Especially the sickening vines that grow in rotting still water." The green scaled echidna in half serpent half humanoid form was sure that Remey was the most energetic child she had ever seen.


    For Remey to be seen as a child would not be an understatement. The woman echidna was certainly older by at least fifty years. Yet, she saw that Remey had not begun to grasp the flow of nature and how the herbs reacted to that flow. Instead, she identified Remey as a child for missing that.


    For the echidna, grasping nature was a step towards bing a true adult. Therefore, since Remey did not follow this, along with most of the party, she and they were children in the eyes of the older echidna.


    "You say it''s best for sap based poisons, is that because it is an oil based sap or because it is a water based sap? What are the other benefits and downsides? Is this a potion for the skin or outside of the body? Or does it need to be swallowed and take longer to be effective? I know some potions need to be put on open wounds or right in to the blood but those are rare and harder to use. Not that I want to avoid them. I need to learn every potion."


    The flurry of questions was more than the echidna needed to hear. She had seen right in to the fact that Remey was nning to fully delve in to the herbs and potions of their tribe. Of their home jungle. "You are unlike the warriors we send to hunt. Why is that?"


    It wasn''t what Remey expected to be asked in return. She had hoped that the echidna she spoke to would just be as alchemy focused as she was. Unfortunately, she was wrong. "I have a unique system, I am an alchemical brawler. So I can get stronger fighting and making potions. But I have always wanted to be an alchemist. It''s pretty useful to help a few people out."


    It wasn''t a lie at all to say that Remey would have dly been just an alchemist if she had chosen her path. But the brawler system had taken root first. That Was what the world had seen for her and where Remey had gone. The only reason she had deviated was her pursuit of more heroic endeavors. Because she had be part of the party that literally founded a brand new alliance.


    "You have not¡­ I see. You can learn from me for the time being. I will show you the path of one who wishes to be nature''s alchemist. Just as all in our family have be." The odd way that the echidna hesitated to speak on her first thought made Remey confused. But when she heard that she would learn about alchemy that was all she needed.


    "Nature''s alchemists are a, it is a way of life, you will venture in to nature and find what it gifts you. What those responsible for caring for the life out there nurture. You will take only what you need and nothing more. Using the manas around you, using nature, you will create a potion. A salve. A cure. A poison. Whatever it is that nature guides you to create."


    While the odd interruptions as the echidna changes how she would say things put Remey off, she was very interested to know the difference between a regr alchemist and a nature''s alchemist. "So you focus more on how the herbs grow and need to be harvested to create your potions than just having them brought and following a form?"


    This seemed to be the difference that Remey grasped. A nature''s alchemist appeared to focus on the fact that the herbs were there waiting for them instead of purchasing or sending those to find them. It was a more renewable way to alchemy. One that puts nature first.


    "You may not use mes to create our brews. You must trust the flow of mana to naturally create them. To wee the herbs to meld. You will learn."


    As Remey watched in awe, the natural alchemist picked up herbs from around her. Slowly but surely, they floated from her hands. A slight film of water elemental mana carried them toward each other.


    Some started to tear themselves up and bleed their sap in to the water while others were crushed. Some of the herbs were then coated by these oils or crushed herbs slowly making a dense ball. It didn''t require a cauldron or anything to heat and mix them.


    Yet as Remey watched, heat grew as fire elemental mana was added. Small gusts of wind went through the hit as well bringing a cooling effect over the heated water ball of herbs. It was off yet it felt better than what Remey had imagined.


    She would never have considered trying alchemy without a cauldron and her fire. The mes she had purified herbs and left only what was needed. But as the water separated and the remnant herbs fell to the ground, the earth pulled them in to be fertilizer.


    Normally Remey would have remnants left over from alchemy. They could be used elsewhere but needed to be purified or submitted so that they were not toxic. Hence why some aliens were kept to dispose of them. But natural alchemy didn''t need that. It was like watching a world wonder happen before her eyes.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    " a small pill made of dense herbs on the shell and a liquid potion within. It is basic and simple but is exactly what is needed while returning waste to nature. It does not harm anything and will allow the herb to return to the flow. Even seeds can be exempt from This process to allow their future growth."


    The natural alchemist handed the whaling potion pill to her. Remey had seen different healing potions. Many using different herbs or techniques. Yet she had never imagined this sort of process.


    "I have to learn this. I can use fire to purify the herbs because of my partner and the alchemy mes I learned to use. But that''s too little¡­" from what Remey said, she noticed that the natural alchemist didn''t react. It was clear that Remey''s method was already clear to such a master at natural alchemy.


    "I helped create an alchemy guild. Master alchemists that use different forms to make potions are joining along with herbalists to grow herbs. We could use a master natural alchemist to show us things we have never learned or considered. You could help change the history of alchemy. Join us and you can have whatever benefits you might want."


    The sudden change had been something. Remey had started to think the moment she had realized just how different alchemy was for each race. Especially the echidna race.


    The natural alchemist remained silent while looking at Remey. She appeared to be searching for greed or any negative reason that Remey would offer such a thing. It was the elders that taught the children how dangerous the world was. What evils their ancestors had fled.


    "I will take a journey and see nature. That journey will I close your home. The mana will guide us there as the world returns to a state that it should have been in many years ago before it was halted by fate."


    As Remey smiled she realized that this wasn''t a direct yes. However, it was enough to not be shot down. "Can I show you some of the potions I have made? They are called affinity potions and I promised Walker I would try to make a natureaffinity potion and even other affinities. Ick everything to do it though."


    The natural alchemist was clearly holding unknown knowledge back. But from what she saw Remey pulling out from her satchel, she knew that Remey was willingly trusting her. That the hero titles the elder had told her about was not a false hero. A kind heart was right before her just as some of the children she had taught before.


    "I will see how you have failed and guide you to learn. Fire may not be wrong. You just need to grasp the real flow of mes and you will not need to create things that are only half of what they can be."


    Simply hearing that the high affinity potions Remey had made were only half of what they could be was hard but what the echidna said next really stuck her. "The ancient me knowledge you have started to learn is a good start. Remain close to it and you could discover the origins of fire."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1877 1877. Locked Potential

    "Why do you rest alone? You arrived with others." The single voice came from therger echidna that the party had run in to first. Su looked at him wondering what he would approach her.


    "I just wanted time to myself. I need to think about what I will do while the others meet with your people. I have not decided yet." Su gave a somewhat vague answer but it was still true in many ways.


    She had seen Onyx show off his growth and she was incredibly proud of him. Just as he was Walker and Midnight''s younger brother, he was her family too. Her younger brother too. But in a way, she was jealous.


    All of her goals to protect people and those she cared for had seemed to be foolish in the sense of real danger. The thoughts of Walker being held in stalemate against a powerful undead had rocked her mental stability. But when she saw Onyx struck down and on his death bed, it had shaken her heart.


    "You are a warrior, a guardian, are you not?" The echidna warrior clearly saw that Su was not the same as the others. She did not carry a bow or perform magic. She carried shields and moved around the others as they had walked. Something only those with protective instincts would do.


    "I am a draconic guardian. That''s the system the world gave me after wepleted our quests. It changed everything." Su did go in to much detail. She felt that it would be odd to recite the entire life story of starting off as a guardian then turning in to something that literally altered her body and race and affinities. It would be too much to handle.


    "You are simr to what our ancestors were. Part dragon. Influenced by another race until they discovered the path of nature and reunited with our ancient blood. But you are not embracing your nature. You are fighting your instincts. Relying only on your past values."


    The calm statement made Syuu immediately feel angry. She turned with a re toward the echidna warrior. She was sure that this was some kind of mocking, some form of taunting that would be enough to solicit a battle of some kind.


    Yet, when Su looked at the echidna warrior, she saw nothing. No hatred or jealousy. Not a single bit of malice at all. He had stated it calmly and without trying to look in to any other form of battle because of it. It was genuinely an honest response.


    "It is right to be confused. As a child, I wanted to follow the instincts of my ancient blood. I thought that they were what makes me closer to nature. But as I learned from those instincts, I learned that I was not trying them at all." a somber mood seemed to grow around the two as the echidna warrior spoke.


    "I was following my views. They were of one eye, not of two. I followed the one path that I had imagined made my blood and path clear. When I failed over and over to be a warrior worthy of nature''s blessing, I realized that I had failed myself by keeping one eyes open and one eye closed."


    " Venturing in to nature without any weapon or armor, I learned of what my true instincts were. The silent flow of nature all around me. The fact that I could take in some of that and carve my own warrior path. I can sense things better with my ancient blood. Smell, see, and feel things. I have not epted those properly because I focused on the achievement, not the path."


    "We may be of two races, yet we both exist within the world and the flow. You just need to take to them to reflect on what you are now and where you must go. Find the path between them. Use the things you already have and let them act openly instead of controlling them. Then you will find your true potential."


    Su''s eyes gleamed with understanding. She knew there was more. The exact reasons she would need to find would be more than what she imagined. However, she was sure that just these words would be enough to make a dent in what she needed to do. As she stood up, the echidna guardian seemed to rx more. It was clear that Suyu had epted his short story and was willing to take a gamble of allowing herself more freedom from her own control. From the rigidity of the earth affinity, she had begun with.


    It wasn''t normal at all for Su to feel so epting of some strangers words. But she did. Especially as she noted that the flow of mana around the warrior was more than it had been just a moment.


    "Can you sense the mamas around you? I''m out home nature provides us a way to find the paths we must travel. You are very much like the respected young dragon. The bond you share is clear to us. You both can feel every part of nature. Yet you have limited yourself."


    The echidna warrior struck a stance. Therge staff he held gathered mana and showed the spear like form of earth that gathered on one end and water de form on the other. "Both mamas are equal yet flow around me still. Your shields could be the same if you opened your eyes."


    While it appeared that this was more than just a show of strength, Su felt that there was something else deeper. A bit of proof that this warrior could sense her mana as well as his own. He clearly showed he could move both earth and water which Su could not. She was closer to earth and had focused on it.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I would be-"


    "Your partner would not disapprove of this. The elemental spirits are the embodiment of nature''s aspects. Deeply connected to the world. You are one of the chosen by earth. But you are more than that. It does not limit you. It gives you a rock to stand on. The same as how we build our huts."


    Su opened her mouth to respond after being cut off but she couldn''t respond at all. She felt her spirit mark thrum with a little extra earth mana. As if the slumbering grand earth spirit she trusted so much had still heard the echidna speak.


    "Fine, I will copy you and see what I can find in your jungle." Su set the twin shields aside with great worry. She always had a shield. It was part of who she was. An extension of herself.


    "May the world bless you, hero." The echidna warrior smiled. His thoughts a total mystery to Su. Yet, she felt that it was more than what he said and did. That he was somehowpleting his own quest and looking at someone who was about to grow. The very same way that Su liked at the children in the cathedral.


    As Su felt a slight pain from leaving her shields next to the trees, she also felt light. As if she had been carrying an added weight. She had put an insane amount of pressure on herself when it came to carrying the shields. Weapons that protected those around her.


    This weight had been holding her back from experiencing what had truly been going on with her body. She had been limited to defending and attacking with shields only. Other aspects of her training falling being held back, limited by her ability to understand clearly.


    As a mist rose I''m the jungle, the hot air proved to be easily ignored. Even the sweat that gathered on Su''s skin was something she barely noticed. Her resistances to the environment well above anyone else''s.


    Her mind resting on the simple fact that she had not flinched at journeying in to a wilderness with no knowledge. But she could sense it all. Different mamas around her just out of grasp.


    Su felt the differences between the city, viges, and even the broken flow of mana in the undead ruins. This ce allowed everything to exist as it should be. Even the system she had felt less attached. She felt more free than she ever had.


    A slight tingle around her body began to be clear to her. It was mana she had never lete so close to her Naturally flowing toward her. All manas, the manas she had affinities for because of her system and bonds that she had not pursued as of yet.


    A clear picture of who she was started to form in her mind. Not just a draconic guardian, but of someone meant to protect more than just a dragon. The truth of a true draconic guardian and a nature dragon that had appeared for the first time in a great many years. What she needed to learn to stand beside them and fight for their values.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1878 1878. Crafting Nature

    "Well, that was odd but I guess Su went off to train alone." Gil had kept a sharp eye around as everyone had split up.


    He had already grasped that this pce was by no means dangerous. The feeling of mana around was already calm and clear. He could feel the slightest of breezes through the jungle that brought an even more peaceful calm to his mind. Just that alone reminded him of the way the elven forest was to a small degree.


    Yet, there was more to this. The entire ind appeared to be different. The children were not running around trying new things to get their systems. He had noticed that the children that Midnight and Onyx had naturally started ying with were already using so,e skills.


    Furthermore, some children were directly learning from some of the adult echidna. Therefore, they either already had a system or they were trying to get one. But that was enough to make him confused.


    "What''s going on with everyone here? What are the systems you have? I can''t really catch on too much." Gil wasn''t trying to be rude and saw that the echidna he had begun speaking with earlier just smiled a little.


    "It''s nothing odd. Just the way it should be. You''ll catch onter I am sure. The world is almost as it should be. Nature flows properly. Just like the vines we grow arrive at their maturity just as they need to be." The echidna had a brown and green patterned set of scales along their body as he made small movements to guide a very quickly growing vine.


    Gil had originally approached the echidna growing the vines because he saw the same vines being made in to bow strings. That was something that clearly made any archer wonder. How could a vine grow and naturally be perfect for a bowstring? The strings needed to be braided or made to be more reactive. Made to be used as a bow to propel many arrows further or with more power.


    The fact that the vine didn''t need any braiding or magical additions was odd. "Everyone here is mysterious¡­aren''t they?" Naturally, Gil was left wondering what the deal with the echidna vige was.


    They all seemed to use many elemental manas. Seemed to praise nature constantly. Seemed to be perfectly in harmony with everything around them. It was all very perfect. Yet it was also just unsettling. Not in a bad way though. As if the party was still doing something wrong byparison.


    "We might seem that way. It has been many years since my father''s fathers father learned to grow these vines and ept the natural role he discovered. You could call him and I a nature craftsman. Very odd term. Craftsman and nature don''t seem to go hand and hand with what the stories passed down to us were like. I assume that''s the same for your people?" the nature craftsman looked at Gil to see that Gil was nodding in agreement.


    "A craftsman usually deals with things after they are taken from nature, monsters, or the like. None that I have ever met have been able to just grow something in to the right form. It''s beyond what the elves do too."


    While Alma had the ability to grow nts faster, she had never just grown them in an instant to create a weapon or anything else like that. It took many years for the elves to guide trees to be huts or be treehouses. They spent the time and mana to grow them slowly and with strength.


    "The seeds we mix have been changing with each growth cycle. They grow as we will it to by activating the natural mana and life within them. They will provide fertilizer to the jungle with their death, but their parts create the bow strings, ropes, and even weaving materials we need for baskets. It is a give and take."


    "My mana helps these seeds grow and takes a toll on the home we live. Therefore, I return to thend the remainder and guide my mana to replenish what I have taken. All must return to the natural flow without destruction. To grow bigger I have to take more, but when I do not return to the ce we live, then others suffer."


    "It''s simr to the way the desert grew with the curse. The undead took and took trying to be some twisted god. But now that the undead are gone, the desert will reim the ruins and the undead to create a bnce. The dry river will return and that marshnd might return to the way it should be." Gil''s perspective was on the recent events they had just faced. Naturally so, since that was the freshest thing that gave a perfect example.


    "Hmm, I would like to hear more of what was left of those that forced my ancestors to flee. Thends of death and evil seem not too great as we believed. I might look to venture there, to thends of my ancestors." a simple peace seemed to grow around the nature craftsman. As if it was a child asking about their grandfather and hoping to see the source of the stories they were told.


    "I doubt I could learn much about crafting nature. I''m an arcane archer. That''s the system I have. I learned it from the elves to a degree but the world allowed us a quest to do that. So, I just want to learn a few things to help someone I know that can grow nts and influences seeds like you do."


    With his kind snapping back to the core of why he had been drawn to their nature craftsman in the first ce. Gil proceeded to ask his question and state his reason.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "You can share what you see, but maybe one day you can do this too. It just takes the effort to learn. You rely on the wind already to be able to sense things around you. I feel you now, you are learning the actions one vine takes as it grows in to the shape I guide it."


    The nature craftsman didn''t even need to look at Gil to know that Gil was carefully feeling the motions in the wind mana around. "But youck everything you need to understand things like this."


    A small sigh escaped the nature craftsman as he finished pulling the vine in to the shape of a short bow.


    "You are arcane as you say. But you fire arrows of more than wind. Why do you not learn to sense all of those manas? Why not learn more than what you have a close rtionship to? Is it your affinity? Do you believe yourself limited? Would the world and nature truly force you to remain one thing for all of time?"


    "Wait, what?" Gil felt that he had just been asked a question that made no sense. Of course he was limited by his affinities.


    But, his mind focused on Walker and Midnight who had changed. Even Su had as well due to her binds with others. But Gil couldn''t just do that.


    "Now you are starting to think. You should reach out and see what you really are. Try to learn more and help the world to get to the form it intended to be. Release the chains that sat for too long. You imed the title of hero as well. I can feel it."


    A smallugh was all that the nature craftsman left Gil with as he walked away with the short bow to hand it to another echidna nearby.


    Of course Gil was confused but he was also enlightened. Because of Zephyr and his rtionship with wind, he had never focused on learning about elemental manas otherwise. He focused on making arrows with them, yea, but nothing other.


    However, he could pull the manas from elemental mana crystals already. Why not focus there? That could be his start. Even if he failed everywhere in that respect, he could reach others that knowledge. All he needed was an understanding.


    As if to praise this change in mindset, Gil felt the manas around him grow. To be clearer than before. Almost like they were excited that someone wasing home or at least closer to where they were meant to be.


    "Alma better be excited to learn about this stuff. I''m either crazy for trying all this or I''m going to be sl sort of genius." Gilughed to himself while he started to look around for a good ce to train his high elf dagger technique while relying on the mamas around him being drawn in. He might just get to master natural mana without the technique one day. Aical thought at the moment.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1879 1879. Light Game Of Tag

    "Sister, these children can already use all of the mana around them. It is amazingly hard to catch them in this game." Onyx struggled to catch even the youngest of the echidna children. They had not all perfected their abilities to change forms and some ran around in their mixed forms while others in serpent or humanoid.


    Midnight was huffing here and there. She had long switched to her dragon form to boost her speed. That was her natural form and it was what she would use to be serious. Not that she was able to even touch one of the kids. She felt that she was at a massive disadvantage.


    "They can''t even sense us!" Theughter came from behind a tree as two children tried to taunt Midnight and Onyx and little. They were having the time of their life with two new people to y with.


    Not to mention that there had been a few adults that told them that the dragons were too proud of a species to attack them or doing anything unbing. Therefore, the children fully epted that Midnight would y with them when Onyx and Midnight hade over to them.


    "Sister, I think they are saying that we can not sense them with mana. They may be correct." Onyx coiled around himself. He was a little frustrated. He could sense the light mana and the darkness mana around him. But he couldn''t keep hold on their shadows. It was very annoying to find that the children he was ying a game with had outdone him when he had just showed off his strength so recently.


    "Nature mana." Midnight returned with just that. She could feel it being used. Natural mana that Walker used was being used by children. They didn''t even appear to have systems yet while others did. Yet, right now they were using mana like it was nothing.


    This confused both Midnight and Onyx a lot. They had no idea how this all worked. Especially since they couldn''t understand the fact that everything in this little vige seemed to radiate natural mana. Their bonds with Walker had ensured that they were more sensitive to it.


    The two of them saw that the rest of the party had drifted off here and there. The only one left without going anywhere was Alice who was softly humming nearby as she enjoyed the weing atmosphere. "Alice, can you help us win this game?" Onyx thought that this was the best method. Getting a third member of their team to capture the children and tag them was the best way to get ahead.


    Being snapped out of her own thoughts about light elemental mana and the calming feeling of this jungle, Alice looked around and smiled. She normally was busy with those that were injured in the cathedral or the adults. When she had been a bit younger, she had been allowed to spend time with the other children since shecked healing ability. Once she gained her system, she had been unable to rx and y a game like this.


    "Of course!" Her cheerful voice made the light in the forest vibrate slightly. She didn''t hold back when she wanted to rx. She could control the ability to manipte light with her voice. What was the point of doing it all the time though?


    "Let''s round them up," Alice spoke and the light started to form in to a fence. The same kind that she had seen on farms before. She found herself very invigorated after realizing that the echidna children were having the time of their life just ying some games with Midnight and Onyx.


    But the addition of a new yer made them all shout and yell in joy again. They started taunting andughing here and there as Alice started to sing about the senses built around farms. Her songs made the light take on shapes that many had not seen.


    This drew the gaze of a few echidna parents who had been working nearby. They were amazed to see such things since Alice was not of their race nor was she able to use natural mana. Yet the light mana she used was spectacr.


    The sheer control was more than most echidna in the vige had over any elemental mana. It set aside Alice as someone that would be outstanding if she was born an echidna. Little did they know that this ability was something she was born with and she had thought of as a curse at own point.


    With Alice''s addition, onyx started to copper her and made the shadows of jungle trees arc upwards. He created his own walls by manipting the shadows against the light fences that Alice made.


    This left Midnight with a clear sight. She could spot the children being blocked and darted through the shadows that Onyx made. She couldn''t use natural mana the same way that Walker could. She couldn''t even understand how the kids of the echidna could use it without seemingly having systems yet.


    She yed in to her strengths and ambushed one deep red scales echidna child. Her sudden pounce brought about a shrill giggling before the echidna turned and joined her team.


    The more this game progressed, the more that Midnight found herself sensing the uses of natural mana. As she pounced and found other children hiding, they started using mana right around her, Onyx, and Alice.


    "You won''t catch me. I''m going to be the next jungle dancer when I learn enough to get my-"


    A still feeling came through the air that put pressure on the child taunting them. A single echidna slithered I''ve run serpent form. Clearly the mother of the echidna child.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "You know the rules the elder gave us. They are not as knowledgeable as we are and are still learning. Do not tell them anything that will trouble them." The stern warning was barely audible as the mother dragged away the child for some punishment.


    The oppressive stillness was gone instantly leaving everyone with no target. The game hade to an odd end. Yet, it felt like the three had nearly heard something both amazing and confusing.


    Besides that, Alice found herself without any loss of mana at all. She had felt the light elemental mana around and it was oddly stronger than usual. The same strength that came when Walker shared natural mana to help everyone.


    "Comfortable mana¡­" Alice mumbled this while she realized that Onyx and Midnight had just noticed this too.


    "This is a good ce to train our senses¡­we were just now without realizing it." Onyx spoke clearly making Alice and Midnight snap out of their own thoughts.


    It appeared that the interruption had scared the children back to their own parents and huts. They didn''t want to be caught up and in trouble. Especially since they could meet the others that hade to visit their vige. New things were always very tempting to a curious child.


    Midnight shifted back to her dragonkin form. She wanted to train like that. She wanted to see how much stronger she could get while here. With the fact that she could already grasp more mana around her, she was sure she could catch up a little more to the others.


    She couldn''t let Onyx surpass him and she had to get closer to the level that Walker was. He was already making advances. She could sense it. A feeling between them. Their bond sending some signs that Walker was starting to learn something more. Something that she hadn''t grasped yet.


    "Sister, you won''t be getting ahead so easily." Onyx knew exactly what Midnight was thinking about. He was sure that he could keep up his rapid growth. He had prepared himself and pushed himself farther than normal. The reward was a clear path that he could take to strength and all he needed for it was determination.


    "You won''t beat me." Alice knew there was a major gap in understanding. Both Midnight and Onyx could sense more than here. Could learn through their bonds with Walker.


    She knew she could still grow though. The mana around here was practically screaming at her that she was nowhere near the end of her potential. That she hadn''t even started scratching the surface yet.


    Back in his hut, the echidna elder sat calmly while most drifted in odd shapes around him. "Oh great goddess of life. Please guide these heroes as needed toward the true path of existence. Please allow my people to act as your hands. May we bring your will."


    The solemn prayer was met with a soft pulse of nurturing natural mana. Just enough to acknowledge the prayer but also the promise. The silent sound of a quest appearing to the elder yet again made him smile slightly before he focused himself on the tasks at hand.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1880 1880. Boxed Up

    While all these things happened at what could be seen as the same time, the mists around the jungle vige and all the jungle grew. A slight rumbling could be felt from deep under the water. It was the first thing that had made Mordant start to move since he began watching Walker and the nature seer start their process.


    "It seems I must go and meet my fellow royal dragon." Mordant disappeared within the darkness and the natural seer showed a small frown. One that clearly said there was already an understanding of what would be found.


    Appearing under the water was not something that Mordant would normally do. He did not have skills to breath under the water and it was ufortable to hold his breath for a long time. However, he was an older dragon and he had the strength to be able to hold his breath for a very long time when need be.


    using the ability to hold himself and his body ountable for a long time without breathing had allowed a degree of higher focus. This was normal for someone in deeper meditation while trying to understand themselves and their skills. Mages in particr had these events. Therefore, mordant holding his breath was nothing unusual.


    When Current noticed the familiar form appearing from the shadows of the watery caves he was in, he didn''t say anything for a new moments. The two just stood near one another as the cold waters drew away at their energy. Current was used to this and the cold of the darkness was normal for Mordant. But the cold here was something else.


    This cold was the kind of cold that only a few people ever encountered. The depths of this cold came from the fact that this ind was crumbling. "In just a few more years, this ind will return to the ocean. It will sink." There was a very sad tone as Current spoke through the water. Mordant could understand every word of it.


    "The water currents have changed over time without the river flowing. They are eating away at the structures nature made beneath. The earth has be sands that flow with the tide and current. That sandbar nearby is not the growth of the ind but the degradation of it." This meant that the entire jungle that the echidna lived in would sink along with them.


    Mordant nodded as he saw and epted what Current had found, the rumbling had been Current stopping the current underneath the ind temporarily so that he could see the true depths of what was happening below. So that he could begin to form some sort of n to potentially save it if needed.


    Both dragons looked beneath them. They saw the fact that saving this ce was beyond them. There was so much space between the deep ocean and the slim pirs of stone that held the ind up. It had been too long. Even with Terron here it would be too little toote to recreate the base of the ind.


    While the two stayed under the ind for hours trying to convince themselves otherwise, they had to ept that this ind was doomed. That they had discovered the end of what would be the home of the echidna. While they hade here searching for a race lost to the world, they had also discovered the possible end of the echidna.


    As Mordant left the underwater caves, Current followed him. The two made their way back through the jungle collecting the important materials they deemed valuable. They wanted Walker to save what he could of this ce.


    Their minds had changed from the desire to just save the ind to their desire to bring everything possible from here to a ce safer. That included the echidna and every nt, ore, and even some monsters if possible.


    "You came back." Walker spoke calmly without looking at Mordant. Walker had woken up just a short while ago. He looked calm but it was clear that a massive amount of thoughts were running through his mind.


    "You may have just woken, but meditate there. You should have seen the path." The natural seer was still creating mists around her hut. She was also clearly weakened by a significant degree. Her heart beat fast enough for Mordant and Current to take note of.


    While Mordant and Current had been caught up in their search of the ind''s underneath, Walker had been fighting in his own mental world. The mental jungle of paths and mysterious mists. But he had discovered something.


    The manas he had followed had taken him many different ways. He had been frustrated to follow one or the other while trying to find the sources of natural mana. But he had just moved in circles over and over while trying to use his skills. Being lost without any direction had made him lose his calm multiple times.


    But he had been learning. The manas split up caused him to move inplicated paths. His attempts to sense each path and follow it with his mana had failed. But in doing so, he had noticed a pattern.


    The pattern was not physical or in a flow, but in the fact that with each individual mana, Walker would find that he was right back where he started. He wasn''t better or worse off, just there. This felt exactly the same when he tried to keep focusing on one skill here and there as he grew. He would still be weaker byparison to certain beings. Like kings, dragons, or even the wyverns.


    Yes, Walker was strong because he was adaptable. He could fight monsters or people stronger than him because of his adaptability. This allowed him to use better attacks and skills against them. But he had recently faced his potential death because he was not stronger overall. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    That issue proved that he had not been able to unite things properly. He just squished manas together without actually controlling them when he did. Especially the natural mana which he pulled and used constantly without being able to truly grasp the core of how to use it in everything.


    It made him wonder why he had the high fire mana maniption. The separate high water mana maniption. The separate skills of all of this. Wouldn''t it be better just to have a general mana maniption?


    This thought had shattered everything he was thinking about. That was the second that he had woken up. His mind had forced him to push himself awake from the visions he was given by the natural seer.


    Upon opening his eyes, he immediately took a sitting position for meditation. The manas all around him were drawn in as he realized he had been dividing everything up. He didn''t split his mind like the seer could or other beings could to use natural mana. He was putting everything in their own little box that isted them.


    Even when Walker pushed manas together, a fine line remained that they were all individuals that made a whole. But that just made elemental natural mana. Not the manas that he could feel around him.


    ''Through enlightenment, the skills rted to elemental, natural, and other mana maniption have been properly condensed. The user has gained the skill, high mana maniption.


    High mana maniption- passive


    Through the study of all mana, the user is able to manipte all mana understood by them. The more that elemental mana is understood, the better the maniption of it and how it works with other manas. This allows the user to better manipte manas within and outside themselves.


    Being able to learn more about unique manas will also increase the ability to manipte seemingly unrted manas. This skill is proof that mana is mana regardless of the type. When this skill reached a higher level, there is a chance to change mana at a miraculous level.


    Due to this skill, the high mana sense is also earned which allows the user to sense all manas regardless of their unique type. This skill will also grow more as the understanding of manas is risen¡­''


    There was more as Walker sensed his skills condensing and the small boxes he had ced everything in breaking down. It was a very heavy weight leaving his mind as the skills melded together. He had been forcefully keeping the true flow of these skills apart. The manas he had been seeing were forcefully held back. That was why he felt so powerless or was unable to keep growing as he had seen fit. He had been using all of his skills in the wrong way.


    "I might have been a bit foolish.'' Walker mumbled to himself as he felt thingsing together. He felt that it was more than just mana sense and maniption. There were plenty of skills that coulde together now.


    ''The skill, skillpression has been learned¡­''


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1881 1881. Unshakable

    ''The skillpression has been learned through the actions of the user. This skill is unique to very specific systems. There are only five that currently hold this skill with the description it has in this instance.


    Compression- mana cost is not applicable


    This skill is not the normalpression skill known by some beasts thatpresses their size temporarily orpresses muscles. This is a skill that relies on the understanding of skills and the manas needed to use them.


    This skillpresses skills together so that the skills will have a clearer influence. The perfect example of this is when two sword skills arepressed to make a sword style skill. While it may appear simple, the understanding of the skills needs to be very high to achieve this. It also requires the user to be able to spend the time training the produced skill as if it is a brand new skill due to the potential changes needed to be made to the use of the skill.


    Many other factors can be applicable to this skill and the skillspressed. The user is required to spend a significant amount of time using this skill topress other skills. This skill can be used on skills that do not normally rte, however, it may result in failed attempts that can cause harmful results.


    There is potential topress title skills, however, that is equally risky since a failure could lose the ability to properly use the title skills.''


    While this was something that Walker readily understood as he read, he did not quite wrap his mind around it. This opened up many potential skills that he could bring together. As the system description said, he couldpress sword skills together.


    The idea that he could take the lighting based style he used andpress it together with the double sword sh or the thrown de shes would be amazing. This would make a much better skill. Yet, he had topress all the elemental shes together first. He had to make a natural mana sh.


    But even that thinking felt wrong. He had just understood that it wasn''t just natural mana. That pushing the elemental manas together was wrong. That there were more manas that made true mana. It wasn''t natural mana, that was the elemental manas perfectly in bnce, but with all the manas that were around, it would be considered a true mana. Apletely flexible and all epassing mana.


    These terms and thoughts that came to his mind were putting a lot more pressure on him. He could clearly sense that he was on to something. But the amount of ways he could think. The different potentials were various. He would need a longer time to grasp everything. Especially since he was sure that these things would lead him to a very powerful positionpared to the him he was now.


    His face scrunched as he wanted to make things more simple. He wanted to make the skills he had allpress and just be done with it. But that was asking too much. Anything worth doing came with an equal challenge to ovee. Right now, he faced a new challenge to get rid of the many separated skills that had gued his focus.


    Once Walker managed to deal with that, he was sure that he would be able to refocus his mind and multitask properly. To be able to do so would allow him to use strong skills in battle while also focusing on his surroundings more.


    The reason he had also fallen in to his thinking wasn''t just because of how he thought. It was because he needed to be able to envision so many different skills being used or how what he was doing woulde to be. Having the ability to lessen that stress would smooth things out. Making him more aware of his surroundings and many other things.


    "So you see that things are not as you believed?" The soft voice of the dual natural seer made Walker snap out of his own thinking. She had perfectly timed her question when he had finished one thought and made his decision to focus on condensing certain skills first.


    "I didn''t think that natural mana was more. The natural mana that I think of is always just the elemental manas put together. I never considered that the other manas that have to exist to make everything exist should be taken in to ount. I should have realized it a long time ago. That true mana should be the goal, not natural mana."


    The dual seer calmly looked at Walker before nodding slightly. "We just have ess to the natural mana. We are limited by our current understandings and potential. You have much more room to grow."


    "You would grow faster too."


    "Just hold on to your path."


    "We will reach the end. Reach the beginning." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The two voices of the dual seer were somewhat excited. From what Walker could tell, it was as if she had been waiting for him to catch on to everything going on around him. Although, he had a feeling that there was plenty more that he had somewhat felt. Somehow heard. Things that were right in front of him that he could still not see for some reason.


    "You look better. Less stressed now." Mordant casually added himself to the conversation. Walker took note quickly that Mordant had been there too. But now, Current had also joined them in the hut.


    "I was wondering what you were doing. I thought you would have gone off to explore. But both of you made it here." Walker felt lighter as he stood up. Justpressing the mana maniption skills in to just mana maniption was amazing. The mana sense skill also allowed him to begin a new way of seeing the world.


    "We gathered some things for you. Especially those lightning ores everyone and everything stays away from. There are monster eggs too. A few are waiting outside for us to carry them away. No monster will act out with our pressure on them." Now this was enough for Walker to make a very confused face. He was certain that Mordant was acting oddly. But it was Current who had been nodding along as if this was expected.


    "I think I am missing something here."


    "You are, the entire underside of this ind is being washed away. The caves are close to their ends and we are going to evacuate this entire ind and bring everything possible to the shore. We have gathered what we can aplish already but we can do more with the entire vige and you helping." Current clearly had a goal and Walker didn''t want to trample it.


    "You know, I respect saving everything here. But why don''t we just save the ind?" Walker looked at the two with a smirk. He had been sensing the manas around and discovered the odd patterns of earth mana below him.


    While his senses would need to adjust, the more open and clearer mana sense he had was already acting. He could feel that there was a way to fix all of this. He just needed the help of a few more people.


    "Good, you have already realized a small part of the truth. It''s been years since my old bones have been so energetic." the elder echidna returned as if he had been there the entire time. Even Mordant and Current flinched slightly since it was very hard for anything or anyone to sneak up on them.


    "You knew of the dangers you faced?" Current was certain that the elder had definitely known of how the ind was eventually going to sink back underwater and kill them all.


    "I did. Everything happens in the flow for a reason. A new ind is sure to be born here when the river returns. When the currents alter themselves again. That is just how nature works. But I trust the world and its guidance. Now we will move our little home and return to thends we feared."


    "Elder, is it truly time for what I saw toe to be?" The dual seer clearly had hope shining in her eyes. It was very clear that she had seen this potential future as the seer of her vige. As the dual seer of the echidna.


    "Yes little one. We are going to do exactly as your great grandmother said woulde to be. The very same thing the world has shown you in dreams for your entire life." The elder looked at Walker with a soft and weing smile. "Follow me to the center of the jungle. As the elder of the current echidna vige, I will be guiding our home to its future." Walker couldn''t even see a single doubt in the elder''s eyes. His foundation was unshakable.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1882 1882. Calling To Nature

    Now this was where Walker, Mordant, and Current were a little lost. Naturally, they were fine with the fact that they could save the echidna and whatever they could. Mordant and Current had even made a lot of the more intelligent monsters bow to them. This was just the strength that a dragon had. The monsters understood a hierarchy and that they were not in danger from the dragons.


    Even more, the materials that the two had collected were important since they could be used to regrow the jungle nts elsewhere. It could be the best way to properly save the jungle and the environment that it created just by growing. Although, it was a fresh start which would take many years.


    Walker had said to save the ind. That was just the idea that came with what he wanted. It would be the best way in his opinion. They could somehow redo the structures underneath the ind and make sure that it is solid enough for many years. Later, they could go back and add more strength to it over the years. That would save the ind.


    However, what Walker was thinking was not what the elder echidna had in his mind. He had changed the npletely the moment that he saw his own quest arrive. But was that what everyone else thought or knew about? No, he had yet to say that he had a n like the one he was about to put in to action.


    "Everyone should be arriving soon. The altar is rarely essed by anyone. Even you saw just a small part of it. This was built by our ancestors when they came here. Before the jungle had grown around us. Before we had learned of the true path of the world and how things should be. Call us a small test batch if anything. To see if the world could get where it was meant to be."


    The elder didn''t make much sense, but as other echidna began to show out of the mist while the group walked, Walker noticed the rest of the party we were also guided by echidna.


    He could see that Su was walking taller with her head held high. It was clearer than ever that she had grasped some form of new understanding and more importantly, a new confidence within herself. Every single step exuded the pride of who she was and what she was capable of. Very simr to a dragon''s pride, although it was more controlled.


    Gil was another story as well, he was carrying his bow over his shoulder and instead had a dagger at the ready. It was a little different from how he normally traveled. It seemed that he was forcing himself to keep a hold of a certain feeling. His expression was the very same that Walker had on him when he was trying to grasp an odd concept or new skill. Just the slight wince or flinch was enough to see that he lost his grasp of what he was doing before he managed to grab on to it yet again.


    One of the weirdest sights was Remey. She was walking beside an echidna who was pulling herbs from pouches and mixing potions right in the air or in her hands. Remey was naturally amazed every single time she saw this. But the pair was clearly conversing and Remey was learning. It was very weird to see Remey acting like a student of sorts. Someone that was ready to sit quietly and learn. The normal Remey attitude seemed to be a distant dream byparison.


    When Midnight and Onyx returned to Walker''s side, he realized that the pair had definitely grasped some bits and pieces of natural mana or maybe more. Midnight was actively pulling all forms of mana that she could towards her body. Simr to how she would when she was trying to gather an elemental breath attack.


    This being down wasn''t for an attack though. She was letting the manas flow through her body and out. It was an ideal training method for her to be able to better use the manas at any time while also making her stronger. She had grown in to a more simr way ofr strength that all dragons had. The only difference was her affinity for every elemental mana.


    Onyx was a little more unique. Hecked the affinities that others had and was somewhat limited to just light and darkness mana. However, Walker could sense a vague building between the two elemental manas within Onyx.


    The sense was very faint, but it was there. That the two manas were even more united than they had been. It could even be said that Onyx may have grasped the fact that all manas were united at one point and that the opposites everyone saw between light and darkness were just a false thought. The unity they had between themselves was not just a bnce but a reason for each other to be.


    As there was so much more to this that couldn''t even be fit in to a simple thought, Walker realized that he would just have to find his own ways to interpret this. He would just have to keep himself moving. However, he still felt invigorated to know that just a simple time in this vige had managed to allow them all a great amount of growth.


    On that thought, he realized that he had not noticed the sun even moving while they were in the vige. Iad, the mist around the jungle had been constant. It was an odd illusion used to make the echidna in the vige work more easily.


    Since this illusion was still in the works, the sense of time had slipped slightly. Walker couldn''t say how long they had been on the inds? Had it been a few hours? One day? Or five days? "Don''t worry, it has only been three days since you arrived. I maintain the mists around the ind to allow us a better ce to live." The elder chuckled as he realized that Walker had finally raised the question he knew woulde.


    "I just hadn''t caught on. I was too amazed by everything here." Walker''s embarrassment went with everyone else''s as well. They all felt a little embarrassed realizing that they had been on the ind for three days without even noticing the time pass. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Little ones, this is the true altar of our great world goddess. Life and growth relies on her and the world once breathed through her. She may have gone as goddesses may perish. Her ideals lived on through us, she left us the way of the world. The path to existence that we strive to be one with."


    The mist through the entire jungle cleared immediately. What was presented was an ornately carved altar. The stone was carved full of vines and trees. Scenes of life and deaths revolving in a cycle were all over it. Runes that carried mana through the carvings also looked elegant and unlike most other runes.


    Just the feeling of looking at the altar were enough to make Walker realize that this was something made with the desires of naturepletely in line. It represented the ideals that the entire existing echidna race lived by every single day. It also paid homage to the goddess they once worshiped. That their ancestors had followed and learned from.


    The mists cleared and from the open space above the trees, the party noticed the glow of stars in a perfectly clear sky. The dim lights of the jungle were not enough to hide everyone, but it was a drastic difference when the illusion mist was in effect.


    "Under the very sky and stars, Iy my life on the future of my people. The path that will be followed by all life as time goes on. I beg the world and existence to allow us to return to the flow as it must be."


    These words made Walker confused. He was unsure why the elder was offering his life. It made no sense to what is happening here. But Alice grabbed his hand and reassured him. She had been softly humming while watching everything happen. She was sure that it would all be for the best.


    "The elder is one and we are one. We will tell the story of the elder and allow history to be remembered. Never shall we forget." The entire vige responded to the awe of the party.


    "My children, I will not fade. Nor will you." the elder smiled and took back his serpent form before wrapping around the altar.


    "Take my life and shatter our foundations. Lat my mana be the birth of this home. May my strength be made in to the new foundations. May we drift and be one with all that must be. I plea to the true path, allow us to continue."


    Just as a mastery skill would work, the words resounded around everyone and everything. Every single echidna lowered their head in respect while sharing some of their mana. That was when the ind shook yet again.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1883 1883. For Future Life

    There was a surge of mana. Not just one kind of mana, but all the manas that Walker could sense. He had been able to feel the increased density of mana all around him since they got to the ind. But this was on another level.


    All of the mist had disappeared, meaning that every skill that the echidna elder used had been taken back. That he was fully focusing his mana and any mana gathered within the altar on this very task.


    However, the others of the vige readily gave over some mana. Even Walker sensed that this was the right move to make. He easily sent over some natural mana that he had gathered, but he felt that he was just adding a small drop to the bucket byparison.


    The next thing that everyone knew, the entire ind had started to shake as the elder started to be encased in a massive white mist. But it wasn''t anything normal. This mist seemed to prate the ground causing the elder''s body to evaporate with the mist. The shaking and rumbling of the earth elbow the ind just shook more and more.


    Everyone felt the ind moving. "He broke the supports below the ind!" Current realized what was going on. The elder echidna had just forced the ind to break awaypletely.


    The ind was as good as gone if this did not work. It would sink below the depths of the salt water. It would be the end of the echidna racepletely. Yet, there was not a single bit of stress within the air. Not a single echidna doubted that the elder was doing the best for the people. That they would somehow be safe and sound after this.


    While the mist seemed to disappear along with the elder, the intensity of the mana around the ind only grew. It was the very will of the elder and the world seeminglying together. A true unification of someone who had managed to follow the path before them topletion. Someone that had truly understood what they had been asked to do.


    While the movements of the ind caused many to be unsteady, the echidna were still silent and sending additional mana that they could spare forward. The altar glowed with runes before it slowly started to evaporate in to mist as well.


    The ancient altar created by their ancestors was disappearing. It brought tears to some eyes of the older echidna. The feeling of losing something precious. However, they clearly understood that this was just a step on the road to the future they need to take.


    The party just watched with awe as all of this happened. They felt the harder rumble of earth and the massive shake of the ind as it came to a sudden halt. It had been dramatic in a way. The changing of the mana around them, the feeling of an entire ind being moved by mana that they could not understand.


    "May you find your paths¡­" the single soft voice of the elder echoes through the jungle. It was a farewell of sorts.


    "The elder just gave his life to move this ind to safety. He didn''t even need my help to do it¡­" Walker spoke at barely a loud enough voice to be heard by the party. It was more of something he was telling himself to make himself believe it had actually happened. He wasn''t sure how the elder could have done something like this.


    It didn''t make sense that the elder could do something like move an entire ind to the shore of Sigil. It would require a unique system and much more. Yet, it had happened and taken the rest of his life as a cost. But was that really all? Had the elder really been stuck with one system?


    That was the thought that stuck in Walker''s head. He had felt that things were different on the ind. That the echidna had somehow managed to break through some invisible wall that Walker couldn''t fully understand or see. They had definitely gone beyond what the current understanding of having a system or the world was. It was frustrating not to understand it yet.


    ''Quest- the lost race-pleted


    The beginning discoveries of a lost history have been found. The dragon rted lost race that fled their home for generations are finally being discovered. What evidence and proof of their current or past existence will be found?


    Requirement: discover as much about the ancient race as possible.


    Reward: 50000 exp., 100 heroic points, unique title.


    The lost race, echidna has been discovered and ensured a future on the Sigil continent.


    The title, friend of the echidna has been gained.


    Friend of the echidna


    Due to the close rtionship with the echidna and their unique existence in the world, the holder of this title will be naturally closer with them. They will have a better rtionship with every echidna while also being able to grasp certain concepts and learn more from them more easily.''<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Walker drew in a sharp breath. The quest finally becamepleted as soon as there was a suritty that the echidna would survive. Furthermore, there was the title that made them all a friend to the echidna. But Walker felt this was undeserved since they had not done much.


    ''The echidna race has returned to the world properly. The world will begin issuing more quests rted to the flow of mana.''


    A single announcement went through the world. There had been many world announcements like this that the party had some hand in. It also was a major event since another race had been discovered and added to the long list of intelligent races. Especially since there were monster races that had already joined that list too.


    The flow of experience and heroic points hit the party quickly. They could feel themselves stronger than before due to the level ups. But this was still just pushed to the side. There was movement from the echidna around them.


    "The elder has moved on in life and death toward their great path."


    "I shall take the lead as the elder wished and as the path guides."


    "Join hands with those that wish to join the true flow of all things."


    The dual seer came to the center where the altar had been. They had be the new leader of the vige. It was as if this was nned in some way. As if all the echidna felt this was the way of things.


    "Heroes, we will join you in ways that you might not understand. We have our quests and our purpose. Please look forward to the days our paths cross again."


    Walker couldn''t even respond before arge mist covered everything around them. The echidna disappeared from in front of them. Only a few remaining that had clearly started walking off toward the Sigil continent. Even the monsters and monster eggs that Mordant and Current had gathered were mysteriously gone and returned to where they should be.


    The odd way that things had changed left the partypletely unsure of what was happening. "So, I think that the systems we have are different from theirs. I think that the world got stuck for some reason and we are seeing things change." Su was the first to speak up and break the silence around them.


    "I would say you''re right there. I heard them say things that didn''t make sense while I asked questions or they taught me some things." Gil was racking his brain for a better answer but was stuck on it too.


    "Sister and I heard the children say things about their system. We watched them use manas that were not specific to one system." Onyx spoke up with a clear agreement from Midnight beside him.


    "This is what we believed as well. They say the flow of mana. I say that they are talking about something that could influence how everything exists here." Current''s opinion was simr but even grander than just systems and the world. He meant everything.


    "They understood mana. Not natural mana or just elemental mana. Mana. the real source of mana and how mana was everything and nothing. I can still learn a lot more still to catch up to them, but they were able to choose their paths. It means that we might be living an older lifestyle. But I think that''s fine. We will keep pushing ahead." Walker spoke with heavy confidence. He could feel that the world agreed with him. The mana seemed to pulse ever so slightly around him and his words.


    There was plenty that everyone wanted to say. However, they found themselves caught up by something they saw in the distant sky. Something that they knew they shouldn''t see.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1884 1884. Danger Rising

    ''World quest: The Demonic Ind


    The long lost floating city of the ancient angels has been discovered and revived. Due to the control of two powerful sin demons, it has risen again to go to battle. Due to the influence of the demon lord demon king, the ind has been corrupted by an unknown demonic mana. Many undead, corrupted monsters, and other soldiers have arisen there.


    Requirement:


    First: hunt the demonic ind and purify it.


    Second: defeat and purify the sin demons.


    Third: defeat and purify the demon lord while uncovering the truth.


    Reward: ??????????????????''


    The entire quest did note the same way that Walker was used to. He felt that it was a scream through his mind. Something that made him want to run toward that ind. A mana and desire that shouted that he could do nothing but focus on the trouble ahead.


    "That is nothing good at all." Remey clenched her fists after reading the world quest. She knew very well that there was much more to this than what they were seeing. But the world had given them a lot of information when it came to the ind and what was going on in front of them.


    "That was the first shaking feeling we felt. That wasn''t the elder at all. Was it?" Gil spoke with nervousness. He knew that what they were seeing was a massive trial to them and the others of the world. He also knew that anything on that ind was the same, if not stronger than what the other angel cities were capable of.


    "It''s against all of mana." Alice could see the light mana bending away from the entire ind. It was being repelled. Her sharp senses when it came to light elemental mana told her that the ind was the bane of mana as a whole. As if everything the ind was made for had been forced to the opposite. That this ce would snuff out the light that was one with her.


    "Yes it is. Even the shadows around it are not darkness mana. They aren''t even the real demonic mana that a demon gets when it bes a monster. I looked in to that when we were in the demonnds." Mordant seemed incredibly hostile while speaking. He felt that the darkness mana was calling out to him to right this wrong.


    In the time that the group had been in the demonnds, they had been fully aware that there were demons who let their instincts go too far. Who gave up their sanity and became monsters. This was possible for every single race, not just demons. However, it happened often with demons.


    Because of that, it was knowledgeable for every demon to know that their mana could be different. That it would shift to an odd form that was called demonic mana. But it had nothing to do with demons. It was the rejection of the world that made it that way. Yet, that was what everyone saw now. A corruption and rejection of the world and mana as a whole.


    ''Corrupt undead wyvern king


    Forcefully raised from its eternal slumber and bombarded with corrupt mana, this undead monster is forcefully made much more powerful. It is able to reform its body partially while still fighting. It can cause corruption in other beings that it kills and bring them back to life as a fellow corroded undead.


    This is a monster controlled directly by the demon lord.


    The devastation that this monster brings is considered greater than any force of nature. It can devastate great expanses ofnd while also creating more of its own kind. It will hunt any living thing that follows the flow of existence. The only way to survive it is to defeat it totally. Purify every bit of corrupted mana.


    the ¡­''


    Walker didn''t even feel like reading the rest of the all around appraisal he got from the massive red and ck scaled wyvern that he could see. The corrupted undead wyvern king was a monster brought back to bring death and destruction. Intentionally made just to destroy everything that was possible.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That city has a guard too." Current growled out as he saw the body of the wyvern king turned in to that. The wyvern queen they had met may have been doing the best for her children and future. But the dead wyvern king had been dead. Gone to rest for all eternity until whatever was left became one with the earth. The fact that it was risen again made Current and Mordant extremely angry.


    The wyverns may have finally gained their own race. Their own bloodline. They had risked it all for that. Found a way out of their own monster like instincts and seen light. But that wyvern head died. The king had died with some dragon blood still in it. Its body had not changed. That little bit of dragon blood sang out as it was corrupted. Every single being with dragon blood in them felt that there was a great affront to their kind in existence.


    "I can feel it too. That thing is a monster unlike any we have seen. But there are angels all around that pce too. In the sky. The armor looks like older armor that both empires wore too." Su''s gaze was better than before as she was epting more and more of the dragon instincts that came with her binds with Midnight. She could see much further and clearer than earlier.


    The armors that the corrupted undead angels wore were old. Definitely from when the two empires battled over this city. Before it had fallen the first time. It was a city ind that had floated above with extreme power. Now, it had been taken and altered by the demon lord. The very target that the party was after and had believed would be causing such danger here.


    Walker could feel himself shake slightly. He had rarely felt a deep fear like this. The massive amount of corrupted mana that wasing from the footing demonic ind was enough to pressure the entire world. Just the existence of so much corrupted mana shook the foundations of the world as a whole. He could feel it deep within him.


    As the floating demonic ind began to move, the party was finally able to move as well. The floating corrupted ind was moving toward the opposite ocean. But there was nothing to tell them that this was where it was going. The party had no idea.


    "We need to get back to that embassy now. Then we need to see how we are going to gather every able bodied soldier, healer, and whoever else can fight. We are going toplete this quest." Walker spoke with a deep confidence. It can from more than just him.


    This entire desire to rescue the very world he lived in wasn''t just because of a hero title or his loved ones. It was a deep desire right down to his soul that told him to right the wrongs and allow everything to be as it should be in bnce.


    "Then why the hell are we standing here? Mordant, Current, let''s go. The echidna here are safe enough and the others said that they would see us again. We can trust them so we already know they are Allie''s." Remey''s outburst snapped everyone to attention. Sometimes blunt and forward we''re exactly the traits needed to make a move.


    "I could care less about saving some mana. I will be using my shadows to-"


    "No, Mordant, I will take you all. You are able to use mana to appear anywhere after than I can. I can take you all. It will be slower but all of you must maintain your strength. I can recover the mana I use easilypared to the toll it takes to travel in shadows."


    Current knew the dangers that Mordant faced by delving partially in to the darkness ne to move through shadows at such a level. It was better to be safe than sorry here.


    "Good, I need Mordant to make sure we can get to Genesis if the worst happens. Everyone there should know what''s going on already." Gil saw the potential that Mordant had to bring them to Genesis in the worst case. While brutal, it was an option if Mordant was capable of such a distant journey.


    Current didn''t waste any time. He leaped in to the sky taking his full dragon form. He used care when grabbing the group in his ws. A few of the echidna warriors jumped and held on. They were clearly guided by their own path to follow the party and Current allowed them the space to join the party before he pped his powerful wings.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1885 1885. Angel Stress

    The speed that Current was moving at was fairly intensepared to what the party was sued to. Walker used his ability to manipte the wind mana around them and create a shield that buffered them to a degree.


    The echidna were not as experienced moving like this, but they clearly had their own ways of being able to resist this. Yet, when Walker nced at them, he found that they were seemingly meditating. More like they were sending prayers to the world and looking for guidance.


    While this was odd in a way, Walker knew that the echidna were very important to the world. He could tell that they hadprehended and were able to be some of the first to get to what they called the true flow. It was a feeling and a something he could see.


    Since Walker could not understand it yet, he just ignored it. The thing was, he could feel it nagging at the back of his mind. That he couldplete the world quest and be able to to understandpletely. He just wasn''t sure how he would be able to do so. The world quest came with a lot of stress and a lot of challenges. He would need to be able to defeat multiple powerful opponents.


    The slime breeder was one that he already knew. The sin title holder had been able to hide themselves easily while using a variety of slimes to mock, attack, and destroy others. It was despicable that they did such things while using the monsters they bred together.


    The many people that would want to see the slime breeder ced in chains and made to fix any problems that were possible to fix that their actions caused was innumerable. The dangers of this were too great though. Leaving the slime breeder alive meant that a monster capable of using slimes was going to be atrge.


    Walker could also imagine that this was for sure the sin title of envy. He knew that Sloth and Envy were the remaining sin title holders left. Since Sloth was somewhat self exnatory, then this must be Envy. That was the one that they would need to deal with first. Especially since they would have slimes to battle constantly if the party did not.


    The mystery of Sloth would need to wait. But that did not escape Walker''s thoughts. He knew that Sloth was a demon and a sin title holder. What their powers and strength were was a mystery. But it had to be rted to theziness that came with sloth.


    It would make sense that the power that Sloth had would be able to be used if the party started to push the three demons they needed to battle. that they would be facing a sin title holder powerful enough to remain by the demon lord''s side without any worry. It just depended on what else they could learn before than that might help them.


    With arge sigh, Walker pushed these two things from his thoughts. He knew that the additional appearance of corrupted mana would make everything harder. There were plenty of people in the world that might see this as a chance. A way for them to grow stronger.


    If such a me mentality picked up, then this would only get worse. It was already worse that the group had no idea what the true intention of the demon lord was. Did he want to destroy the world? Was he after the death of all? Was he trying to reign over everything? Or was this all just so that he could gain power and potentially take more power of a different kind? None of these questions were easily answered.


    "Walker, we learned a lot while there. But I still feel odd about everything." Su managed to get Walker''s attention. The space was a bit cramped since Current had them held within his ws while flying. But it was still spacious enough since Current was a fully grown adult. He was many timesrger than what Midnight was but a good example of what she would look like after many years.


    "I know the feeling. I feel the same. The echidna elder showed us a lot of potential. It was more like the quests they had were to show us a glimpse of a perfectly bnced world. But I wondered why and how. You know?" Walker''s sigh at the end made Su understand that he was in the same ce as her.


    "You two are going to break your brains thinking about all that. Just take it for what it is. The help we got was for the quests they had and we have. But it''s perfect since we will see them again. Their natural alchemist is going to visit my guild." Remey''s pride in her alchemy and the guild made both Su and Walker rx a little. It was just what came with some one acting the same as usual.


    "And I managed to learn a lot about growing nts at a fast pace and even got some seeds for Alma. but I think I caught on to more about natural mana than I realized." Gil''s addition made Walker snap back to.


    "Natural mana is all elemental manas together. But they are still considered separate. When all manas are brought together the concept of real mana is there. I learned that from them. Mana is mana. It has different types when it is manipted. But all mana is the same too. It''s hard to exin." Walker had a feeling that even if he shared the skills with them, that he would still find the party in the same position. Looking at him confused but also slightly enlightened. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Mhm, all mana is mana. Light is just my side if mana." Alice''s sweet voice intruded in to their thoughts as a little bit of light came around all of them. Even though Alice had not trained or been given specific directions for growth, she had learned a bit.


    She had looked at the vige more and the fact that the mists hadn''t bothered her light when she hummed or sang. Instead, the two worked together proving that she also had some illusionary ability. It had opened her eyes to another potential of her songs that she had not thought of before.


    She had also understood the way that the echidna thought. They did not think in terms of separate elemental manas. They thought in terms of a whole that they could use parts of when needed. The world and mana were the same. All aspects of it were one at some point. They could use those pieces or they could ess all of it if they had the time to learn and use it.


    "Sister and I also learned a lot. We are going to be much stronger when we use our skills in the future." Onyx was sure that everyone would be impressed.


    "The dragon way." Midnight''s addition was simple but to Mordant, it meant that she had begun to grasp the same feelings that they did while they meditated and learned about elemental manas. In Midnight''s case though, Mordant had a feeling that she was going to be grasping something deeper. Somethingrger than what he was able toprehend.


    "Besides everything we learned, we also saw that there was a better potential within all of us. We have been training and growing but we haven''t been able to reality solidify everythingtely. Because of the new dangers we face¡­ I want to be sure that we will be able to win.'' Walker held out a hand. He made sure that everyone reached out to. This was their silent promise to one another.


    "I believe we will need to work a little more when wend." Mordant spoke quietly. He had been able to look outside and saw more than one thing that was standing out to them. One thing for sure that stood out most were the many angels all around the embassy. The second, were the two veryrge floating inds that hade.


    ''Those two cities aren''t as big as the one that just rose up. They also don''t look like they have any fighting abilities." Gil looked at the two with a little disappointment. He was worried that this would be bad. That the angels might be unable to fight back.


    "I think we will be dealing with the angels and their separate empires first. This isn''t the way that I thought we would unite them. But this seems to be the best chance we have." Walker took a few deep breaths as Current eased up on the high speed he was using to get them to the embassy. The stress in the air was tangible as theynded.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1886 1886. Edge Of War

    The appearance of a fully grown dragons as enough to silence a lot of yelling and arguments. The sheer forces of mana that were being thrown around by what was clearly the more powerful angels was enough to tell the party of the dangers.


    From this point, Walker knew that things would be more troublesome. But what surprised him most were the other royal dragons. They were all here at the camp and clearly staying in a position that proved they would be defending the genesis soldiers entirely. Even a few angels hade to join the genesis camp and were clearly allies with them.


    Those familiar to Walker were some faces he had battled with or he had seen within the vige that they first set foot on. Terron was also there, he had said he would remain with the wyvern queen. But that was just another thing that surprised Walker. She was there too!


    The wyvern queen was in her dragonkin like form. But it was clearly very different now. The scales on her body were more fused which made it more simr to a rougher snake skin. Something like a dragon but different at the same time.


    The additional facts were that the wyvern queen still had very clear injuries. But they were covered by earth that she controlled and held on to her body. Furthermore, she appeared to be apanied by three very small wyvern hatchlings. Her children had hatched and were right beside her. It was incredible.


    "Ventus, you are here too. When did you arrive?" Mordant spoke up when Ventus approached. The other royal dragons moved toward them as well along with the wyvern queen.


    "It was a short trip back here. But we have seen the growth of both angel empires'' forces here over thest three days. It is a very trying event since they are very¡­stubborn." The way that Ventus spoke told them all that the angels had been pretty close to dragging themselves in to a battle with the dragons present. Enough that Walker felt he had to get a handle on things soon.


    "These weak birds think that they can just im the ruins of our ancestors because it is within their empires. I will burn their small little inds to ash." Ignus was a bit more dramatic. However, he waspletely distracted when he saw Remey.


    "You learned more without me. But I learned to mess with fire even better than you think." Remey didn''t hesitate tond a punch on Ignus''s shoulder while she started to ramble on about the deep connections fire had to nature and how making potions could be done without a single piece of equipment if there was a proper control of all elemental manas. Even if someone control natural mana, they had the chance to be able to do so.


    While the other dragons were surprised by this, they had already epted that Ignus and Remey had the most unique bond over fire and hot headedness than anyone else had ever had. Understanding whatever they were going on about would be an impossibility that only creation itself could understand. Even then, they doubted the possibility.


    "The dragon ruins are the dragons we already know that." Walker steppe din and made sure everyone knew he would keep that as a major factor. "But I see that there is more going on. We know about the corrupted ind floating towards the ocean. But we don''t know why the angels brought their cities here to the embassy. That''s not normal, right?"


    Walker saw that Rise was the one to catch his words and begin to react. He knew that she would be looking down on the angels for their actions, but she also had the eyes and ears to find out what the causes was.


    "They are deciding who caused this corruption. Who is at fault for their sacred city for being found and rising? There was an agreement not to touch it. That neither angel should desecrate their greatest historical sight other than the unknown ruins near Genesis." The rest was easily understandable. "They are foolish to me one another. They want a war."


    This was the idea that Walker and the rest of the party was beginning to generate within their own minds. That they clearly saw that there were not any living angels that were involved with what was happening. They just wanted to use this as a reason for the war to start again and one empire to reign over all of the Sigil continent.


    "Basically, they are trying to fight and this is an excuse. Pathetic if I can be that bold." With Gil being so blunt, it was a little odd. But he celery saw that the angels had their deep seated hatred for their opposing ideal. Now they were about to face the results of that and have to work through them.


    "Forget their hatred for whatever values they have. We have history and proof that there is something greater going on here. I am going inside. Everyone who wishes toe with me can."


    Wince Walker had some grasp on what was going on. He had decided just to go inside the embassy. However, when he began to walk towards it, multiple angels in ornate ck and white armors took ces in front of them. The soft ps of their wings were the only sounds being made. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "There is no room for an outside empire today. Please remain within your camp. You may leave this continent with your soldiers. If you step forward, the fel empire will deem you to be attacking."


    "There is no room for you here. The Rize empire will deem this as an affront to our entire people. Leave as soon as possible."


    The Rize Empire was a little more eloquent, but the Fel Empire also shared the sentiment. They both wanted to start a fight here if Walker were to step forward any more than where he was now.


    "If you do not allow me to pass, then both empires will be no more. Beside me are the great royal dragons of my home. They are strong enough to easily burn through your content with their breath attacks. Behind me, there are those that foster ancient bloodlines. They can manipte the verynd you attempt to exist on. And do not forget¡­I am the one with the power here. Your two empires are weak and foolish. Both your cities will fall if you do not allow me forward."


    While Walker didn''t add any steel or hatred to his words, the mana around him spiked. He used his mana control to make every single mana feel chaotic around him. It was a dramatic show of his strength and the abilities he had. Enough that every angel flying ahead and within twenty feet of him faltered.


    The fact that the angels needed to draw in mana from the air around them was their greatest weakness but also a strength. Pen that made them afraid of elemental spirits who could take the mana from around them and use it. This caused the angels to be weaker. But as Walker manipted all the manas, they felt a drastic threat.


    Walker could more than just manipte the manas and make them unable to use these manas. He could manipte them and use them against the angels. Every single affinity they had was nothing in front of Walker if he was using his full force with the backing of others. It was just the center of having control and a grasp on the concept of true mana. The true mix of all mana.


    With this pressure, every single angel around and in front of Walker, had tond on the ground. They had their hands on their weapons, but they understood that their lives were at risk. "I will not be killing anyone though. I, and my people, went to great lengths to help a vige struggling. To free a monster trying to create a race and stand beside an empire. To purify ruins that were creating a future of death. And to find a race lost to time. I am here to unite you all instead of cause a war."


    The same tone came with a drastic difference. The mana that Walker manipted this time was calm and soothing. It made all manas smoother and easier to absorb by the angels. It also showed that Walker was just demonstrating the degree of which he could manipte these manas now. He didn''t necessarily have the massive power to cause all this trouble, but he had the potential if he used his skills correctly.


    "Gpo alert whoever hase from your cities to argue with one another. I will be taking myself to them in an hour. They should be prepared to have a real conversation this time." Walker turned away from the angels and found that the few angels that had joined the Genesi camp were smiling widely. They wanted a future where they did not have to worry about war any longer. And they felt it was possible right now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1887 1887. Blunt Mocking

    By the time that the angels had rushed toward the embassy, Walker was left with a minor headache. He was sure that this was all somehow the n of the demon lord. He knew that this sort of war was not being ignored by the most powerful city and the being controlling it. Instead, it was clearly a nned event that would trouble this entire continent.


    "This is just something to stop all of us from moving after that city." Mordant growled. He wanted to pursue the one that had threatened dragons. The one that had clearly been their target all along. It was rare for him to show such hostility.


    "You understand that whatever is part of that corrupted ce can fight us off. We need all of our forces. We need the elder and the knowledge of every ruin." Ventus was the most logical. She would not risk leaving her children without a mother.


    Instead, she wanted to find the wind dominator dragon''s ruins and be able to learn from them. When she gained the knowledge to be more powerful, then she would take the corrupted city to the ground once again. The sky would be hers.


    "I already have the strength. I will have the ability to control it soon." Ignus spoke up again. He had been speaking to Remey about the me dominator dragon knowledge he had fully taken in. He even had the stone bs ready to be stored away by Walker so all the dragon knowledge could be united together. That was one thing every dragon saw eye to eye on.


    Since the elemental dominator dragon ruins had been separated, it only felt right to bring them together and unite them in to a single ce where all the future dragons could go. It was an interesting thing to witness since every royal dragon silently agreed to this. It was a signal that the dragon race was uniting even more.


    "You can say the same for me. I have the knowledge of the earth deep in my mind. I carved it all piece by piece in to who I am. I am not yet a dominator dragon. I am still just this." Terron spoke calmly but deeply. He was certain that he was not yet ready to be such a powerful being. It could take generations.


    "We must gain the knowledge and then attack with unified force. So much power that it will not be resisted. And we must prepare quickly. I will be leaving after these issues are worked out." Terron motioned to the wyvern queen and the angels. He would not leave with the wyverns under threat.


    Before anyone could continue their talks, the angels arrived yet again. This time, the familiar arch angels that had been the first to speak with the Genesis forces had been sent. However, they held solemn expressions on their faces.


    The two spoke at the same time, but it was clear that they were notfortable with what was happening or what their orders were. It showed the true strain between everyone and everything happening right now. "The great pure angels wish to speak with you."


    "Good. we will march forward." Walker took the lead. The stress was still there but he was falling more and more in to the act. He could sense that the few echidna warriors were already with him. But he could also vaguely sense that they were curious. They had not seen the world yet, but they were the most connected to it. Therefore, they felt the wrongness of the flow of mana around them.


    Many angel soldiers flew through the air and were prepared to fight. However, the Fel empire side was clearly fewer. But the mana that Walker felt around them was higher. There were many specialized elemental mages that studied unique skills and their uses. This was what the dangers the Rize empire had felt.


    The Rize empire clearly had elemental attacking forces. Many physical in nature, but well trained in the same methods to work together. One was a strict leadership and the other was a focus on individual growth down their own path. Both different styles of growth and leadership yielded strong people. But both were too specific and did not bring unity in any way.


    This was clear in the Rize empire where the angels had been exceedingly interested in the light elemental dragonkin skills. They had not been allowed to learn more and were immediately amazed to learn anything they did not know when the opportunity was presented.


    In the Fel empire, theycked focus. It was a certainty that some of their strongest hadn''t evene because they were busy with their own personal research. They were not united enough to even show up as an entire empire to face one another. It was a clear example of what happens when there is no control at all.


    Stepping inside the embassy was radically different. Instead of just a few angels, every single space had been made for the powerful leaders of booth empires. A space had been cleared for the Genesis leaders but it was cramped. When Walker looked to the sides, he found tworger angels. They were wrapped in many bits of fabrics clearly from unique monsters. The Rize empire had many elemental magical rings and other items adorning their leader. The Fel empire had many unique magical items as well, but all centered around different manas that were being studied.


    "Presenting the grand archangel, the pure angel leading the great empire. Rize. The one who shoulders the empire and give up their name for the sake of the empire." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Presenting the greater grand angel who ignored their name for the price of true insight. The grand pure angel that sees through the fabric of mysteries. Fel."


    The two seemed to bepeting with this announcement and it made Walker want to dunk his head in cold water. It was too childish. It waspletely foolish to bepeting like this. "Huh, maybe we should do that." Current felt that it was less elegant to just walk in. Walker had long noticed that Current liked the high end of introductions.


    "I present myself. A real person that could care less about both your empires being incredibly hard headed and trying to fight over something that both of you do not understand and that a race that lived on an isted ind understands better than any other living beings." Walker let some of his annoyance ooze out in his words. It was blunt enough to hit harder.


    "What? Did you think the Genesis alliance would praise you? If the Rize empire had realized that the wyverns were being led to madness they could have gone to the cave and begun to speak with the queen. Instead, you decided on genocide as the only option. But you were too afraid of giving your soldiers more knowledge because of strict tradition. It made them too weak to grow properly at their speed."


    "The Fel empire couldn''t even get themselves together. The same group fought against the cursed undead letting the curse dessert spread too much. If you had united your people then they could have easily started a proper attack on the undead. Easily begun to discover the solutions to keep them trapped or possibly defeat them. But yourck of focus gued you."


    The entire embassy hall was silent as Walker spoke louder and let mana in to his words. Pressure was all around him as he, someone young byparison, berated the two powerful leaders.


    "You will not mock the empire that spent years to create elemental halls full of exceptional knowledge. I will not allow you to send us to ruin!" Rize shouted the most while Fel appeared to be seeing this as an interesting experiment.


    "You both think this is a game?" Walker calmly spoke. He asked the question but didn''t expect an answer.


    "These are echidna. They are a race that fled the cursed city and discovered the source of their bloodline. Their ancient rtionships to ancient monsters allowed them to open their eyes and begun a journey to the try way of the world. The Rize empire''s focus on only elemental mana is iplete. The Fel empire''s research on only manas that are not elemental mana is iplete. That is why you are both weak."


    Thement made many angels show anger. But many of the soldiers. The lower ranked angels did not show anger. It was clear that within both empires, there were angels that were tired. They did not want to fight any longer. They did not want to deal with differences that were clearly wrong. The moment that Genesis had appeared and knowledge of their way of life had spread, that then empires were only parts of a whole. It was the perfect time to show this fact to the lower ranked angels of both empires.


    The angels that had waited for a chance to properly build themselves a safe ce free from war.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1888 1888. Falling Angels

    "The true path of elemental purity can not be thrown away so easily. You are not of our people. You do not know to the struggles to preserve our strength. You are not even someone who has seen the proper path. Youck the knowledge to even speak on the elemental purities that every single angel should strive for!"


    The angered reaction was to be expected. Especially from the Rize empire angel that took up the name, Rize. he was clearly filled with anger as Walker had made such bold ims. He had just listened to both empires get mocked and told that they were fools. How else would someone react?


    "Elemental purity!? Your empire is full of fools. They can''t even research their own elemental purity because there is nothing to learn! You should care for the factors that truly govern this existence that we find ourselves in."


    "What would you be without life mana? Where would you live without spatial mana? What would you be without the fear of death mana? Would you be some coward trying to live forever? Or would be be some fool that pretended that none of it existed. Oh, a fool, that''s what the Rize empire is. The Fel empire at least cares for what makes the world turn!"


    This response for the angel that had taken the name Fel from their empire was enough to bring a whole entire room to yelling. But it was enough to show off the truly foolish examples they had. Neither wanted to agree with one another. Both just wanted to ensure that they were the one in the right.


    "Fine, then go to war." The simple phrase went out to the entire room. It was soft but it was reinforced with light elemental mana. Walker had asked Alice to assist him in this with the help of Onyx''s mentalmunications. It was a simple matter to make all of them listen a little more.


    Slowly but surely, Alice spoke in a sing song voice. Her words making the show of angels appear in the air. ughtering one another over their ideals. The burning small viges where angels thatcked the strength to fight ran in fear. Monsters joining in and preying upon the weakened angels.


    But this wasn''t a future. It was the past that the party had seen. The past that the dragons had recoded before they perished. The dominator dragons had perfectly recorded their fights against one another. Their fights with the angels. This was the history of the angels. Death and weakening over time.


    "What? Do you not like the history that both of your empires have? Or do you forget?" Mordant growled out as shadows grew around all of them.


    "You two perfect little empires fought many generations ago. Back there there were many floating cities. Many angels. Many viges. My great ancestors were sure to record asll of this. We went to some of their tombs. We found their records. We know what terrible things you have all done."


    Heat gathered around the embassy as Ignus red around as well. "Pathetic little chickens think than they had any right to decide where a dragon goes. Once our ancestors were with you. They held your ideals of elemental this and elemental that. Some delved for the future. But you caused them to perish! Dragons do not fight!"


    This was a key fact of dragons. They did not fight among one another. This was something that has existed as a hardw between them for a long time. Ignus was showing some fury, but it was a clearly controlled fury that showed the power that Ignus had over his emotions but also the information he had.


    "Do not forget, that dragons were powerful enough to once raze your cities to the ground. To make them cease to exist. Do you doubt that we have that strength now? We have our own values brought together by Genesis on a continent you know nothing about after your ancestors fled." Ventus chimed in and threw down the very fact that the angels had left their home continent ande here to wage their wars.


    "Ah yes, the angels did leave their history behind so that they could slowly weaken and turn in to nothing but weakling garbage. The flow of time is just like the flow of a river, but the angels did not flow. They stagnated and became a swamp." Current''s addition was just rubbing salt in a wound.


    "Your pathetic empires can not easily be purified by my light. The foolish Fl empire that thinks themselves all knowing. The weak Rize empire that attempts to giarize my name. Rise the greatest light royal dragon of this age. Both of youck origin runes that your ancestors had. The great structures they built while surviving ancient monsters. Now what''s left is¡­useless."


    These words from Risepletely pped every single angel. For her to bluntly say that the angels were nothing was enough to really hit them hard. But for them to bepared to their ancestors in a way that made it seem that the angels had been on a nonstop downfall was even harder. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    They had no knowledge of their proper origin runes. Even the strongest of the angels knew this. They had altered many runes and they did not have the knowledge to repair any runes in their cities. This fact was one that both the Fel and Rize empire had to deal with. Unfortunately, it didn''t stop there.


    The angel history had also been lost. Theycked much of the knowledge that they had once had. Some angels had books that were written telling of their libraries and grand shelters against the strongest monsters of forces of nature. But they only had that, they didn''t have the actual knowledge. That way beyond them now.


    So many things were not racing through the now silent angels'' minds. But one after another, they realized that many of the weaker soldiers that had been dispatched to the wyvern battle or to the desert battle had arrived inside the embassy behind the Genesis forces. This would have been a small thing if they didn''t have cuts along their emblems.


    This wasn''t just a group of weak soldiers that were saying they didn''t want to fight. These were angels that had tantly turned away from their empires to leave and follow Genesis. Walker had seen this and knew of it. He wasn''t a fool. But he had no intention of turning them away.


    "You can already see it. You both sit with your stronger and older angels in cities without any ability to flight. You sit there and pretend your are powerful when you are not. You have lost the very will of your own people because of your blind hatred for those thatplete you. You are two empires of fools who don''t even realize that without one another, you are not even close topleting what true mana is. Let alone what it means to be an angel with such a powerful history."


    "You can sense it. This girl here, she is a healer, a light songstress, and an amazing person born and raised in the Genesis alliance territories. She discovered her small angel blood because of her rtionship with a light grand elemental spirit. But it is so small that after a few generations it will be impossible to tell. That is what happened to the ancient angels that were left behind. They became one with all the people of my home."


    This was thest straw. It broke some of the older angels to know that they had fallen so far that even the angels on another continent were considered gone forever. It was the same way that all the royal dragons felt when they realized that this Sigil continentcked dragons all together. That they had diluted their blood entirely.


    "So what are you going to do? Sit here like fools or listen to the guidance of people who know what''s going on? We already have hero titles and a few more. We already have some decent forces. And we know that we are going to go destroy that corrupted city. So are you going to learn something and try to recover?" Remey was blunt, but blunt was all that was needed.


    The p in the face that Remey''s blunt words had were enough to make the angels start to think again. Many emotions shed through their faces. Many of anger but also of great pain. Even though the angels had not seen their ancestors, they felt the pain that came with knowing that their ancestors were lost to them as they were now. That their very history was within reach and they had been pushing it away.


    "There are differences in your opinions. But even the soldiers you sent us were able to help a wyvern queen gain her rightful racial recognition. Even the angels sent by your enemy were able to help purify a curse. This is all up to you. I expect a better answer this time as you debate your differences and your futures. Before the ns of Genesis enemiese to fruition and we see more undead angel soldiers around that corrupted city." Walker mmed the hammer down with thesest words. The angels in the room started to think much harder than ever before.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1889 1889. United

    Faced with more than just a war made both the Fel angel and the Rize angel stop their attempts to argue. It was very clear to them that they would lose the majority of their people. Not that they would lose them to a war but they would lose them to another empire.


    Genesis was standing there offering open arms to those that wished to leave and never return to the Sigil continent. It wasn''t tantly said, but seen as there were already soldiers,mon angels, and a few of the leading captains that had met the Genesis forces.


    They had seen the battles and how the opposing angels might not be so drastically different. There had been arguments, but with Genesis forces there, it had been pushed toward learning about one another.


    The thing that had stood out to these angels the most were the times they saw the Genesis forces speaking and learning about one another. All of the genesis forces were still new to one another. Their different races made it very clear that they liked different lives with different traditions. From that alone, the angels felt that they could ask things of their opposing empire that they may neve have had the chance to ask before.


    The seemingly small actions had started something that had begun to affect both empires at a much deeper level than either of the angels that imed to represent their people had understood. It had started a massive desire to leave behind the empires entirely if they would go to war and continue to cause the deaths of those themon people loved.


    When the two representative angels understood this fact, they understood that thest of the foundations they thought that they had to stand on was gone. It had left the moment that their strict ideals and grown hatred for opposing idealscked the power to keep the weakest of the angels with them. The angels that numbered the most. The angels that had not been allowed to grow because of the constant fighting and strictws.


    "You have heard what my party leader and the core founder of Genesis has said. You know what you must do and what you must not do. But for the moment, take it in. This is thest time you may ever think about the angels you might lose to war between your fellow angels. You may not like what they believe. You might even hate it. But you are all angels and without one another you are not angels at all."


    The simple but calm statement from Su echoed through the silence of the entire embassy. It seemed to echo more than normal as Ventus had ensured that Su''s words were spoken so that all could hear them. That level of wind maniption was child''s y to Ventus who was certain in the words that Su hade to speak just now.


    "As we speak, that corrupted city is floating away. Weck the information about that ruin that might help us. We don''t have the number of angels that were brought back from the dead with corrupted mana. We don''t even know what kinds of weapons that the city might still have that now are used by the three demons we have to defeat. So what should we be speaking about now?"


    It was the finishing move from Walker that made the angels start to move. Some stepped away from the space they sat entirely. It was clear that their beliefs had won out and they were leaving behind their positions. But they had no heart that told them they should fight. Instead, they had the feeling that they had to leave. But that was better than pushing forward with their current negative ideals. They were wise enough to see that they had to leave or they would cause more pain.


    A few of the guards that had been here in the embassy their entire lives looked at the Genesis forces and followed suit to join them. Emblems were scratched out and they took ces around angels they had known their entire lives. It was an odd feeling, but they appeared to smile enough to prove that they finally felt free. There was not a single bit of pressure to hate one another when they had seen the same guards from their opposing empire for years without issues.


    "The masters of the elemental halls refuse to give in our halls to the outside forces. We will bring full force-"


    "Arrest and strip every hall elder that stands against the current situation. Send them to the wilderness and let them begin building viges for the people they have forgotten. The people we have forgotten." While the worlds were loud until the end, it was clear that the elder angel that went by Rize was able to understand the position that he was in.


    For thest ny eight years, I have been the angel to look to. The grand pure angel that also governs the elemental hall of fire. I miss the days when all I needed to worry for were the books in my hall." Rize spoke softly. But everyone heard.


    "From this moment I dere that the Rize empire is no longer in name, powerful. The suggested creation of the new angelic empire of Sigil will be born of this day of this time of this people."


    "Oh? This experiment has progressed rather interestingly. I will not hand over my entire empire, but empire is a strong word. The Fel empire and name are more closely resembling a group than anything. Our numbers are a tenth of what they had been due to research and the fact that our viges do not evenmunicate at all times." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Fel, the angel that represented the entire empire shattered the Rize empires'' and even Walker''s perception. He had known that the Fel empire was weaker, but so much that it was hard to evenmunicate at all.


    "At this day, as thest one to go by the name Fel, in the hopes of continuing the research of many generations and lives, the Fel empire will ept the proposal. The future experiment, the angelic Sigil empire project can begin nning phase now."


    This appeared to just be the way that the Fel empire was. They were experimental and sounded a little stiff, but they were speaking true. They did not want to lose everything because they had researched for more years than they could count. They had broken in to topics that the rest of the world had barely touched. Yet, they had also lost some of what made them angels. They had be too focused on research that they feared they would evaporate in to nothingness.


    While some angels in the room were clenching their fists, the feelings of defeat climbing in to their hearts, others looked free. It was the first time in many generations that the word war was not going to be used between angels. It was only being used against one group of demons that were more easily called monsters than anything else.


    "Then let me be a little forward." Walker channeled a little mana in to his words before taking a deep breath.


    "From this point on, Genesis is witness and ally to the newly formed angelic Sigil empire. As an ally, it will create a method to trade between both continents. Genesis will support the growth and the learning of every race within the empire. The echidna and the Wyverns will be represented equally within the empire and within Genesis."


    "From this point, Genesis will wee the sharing of knowledge and the visitation of angels to their ancient ruins that are being researched by the genesis research forces. Genesis will also look forward to the uncovering and research of the ancient dragon burial grounds so that the dragons may see their past which was lost to them."


    The promises could go on and on, but Walker kept it short and simple with some of the main focuses being set out.


    "Finally, Genesis calls for the newly gathered ally to join them in uncovering, preparing, and attacking the corrupted city that is attempting to take over all the power of this world. To ruin the flow of existence as a whole. Genesis calls on all its allies to join them and bring everything to the true path it should travel." The echidna warriors all reacted with a m down to the ground with whatever staff or weapon they had. This was their pledge to assist the world as well. Just as they had been born to do.


    Even with everything said out loud, there was a small bit of tension in the air. Some would say it was the sudden seriousness, others would say it was the tense changing of times. But what Walker felt was a soft bit of mana praising all of them for avoiding a war that would have ended the angelspletely.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1890 1890. Unique Guidence

    As if all the strings had been cut, some of the angels had fallen to their knees with tears in their eyes. They hadpletely expected that their leaders would have gone right to another battle. This had been their lives. Their recent and even distant history.


    Everything that the angels knew was war and fighting. They had not been able to even worry about the simplest goals in their own lives because they had known that one day they would be forced to fight over ideals yet again.


    This was one of the reasons that so many of the angels had not been bright or motivated to go to small viges and grow them. That was also why some of those within the viges epted that they were just there to wait for their death because they were weaker angels.


    "Make this embassy the very first building of your new city. The capital of everything. The ce you proved you would change from constant loss to a future where angels can live with each other. From there, it will be on you." Walker was not afraid to say any of this. It was simr to Genesis.


    The only difference were the races here. The angels were one race and they had to figure out how to exist with themselves. In Genesis, there were multiple kingdoms and races. They had to learn to live with one another and the vastly different bodies.


    The perfect example were the elves and merfolk who needed water to existfortably while being represented. Genesis had created ake and even added to the flow of the rivers to be able to amodate them so that they would not be ignored or forgotten because of their differences.


    The angels didn''t have such an issue. They would be able to have any form of facility or city building made. They could focus on rejoining their knowledge while pursuing the lost knowledge of their past. Even the angels that were against this joining of empires had to admit that they wanted to know where their ideals and history came from.


    For far too many years, the angels had been living off of their ideals. Their hatred had been passed down to them but the reason behind it, the origins, had been lost. Therefore, it was a fruitless war without backing. A war that was all about feelings without true reason.


    The party had already sorted out these puzzle pieces. They had managed to discover the libraries and the knowledge that there had been schools of thought drifting apart because some believed in elemental purity while others believed in therger and more mysterious forces of mana.


    These two thoughts had shed and the angels had pushed at one another. This caused them to eventually head in different directions after relieving the continent where they had once lived. A dangerous urrence but one that led all the way to Sigil and its many wars.


    "So you think this will work fine?" Gil''s eyes said that he thought that there would be a lot of arguing here and there. But he also was clearly looking for Walker to keep pushing things forward.


    "I think it will be better than it was before. So many angels were pretty clear in throwing aside their empire''s ideals. I didn''t expect that so much as anything else. But it forces the ones in charge to ept their errors and make a difference or lose their people."


    This was a certainty. It was already clear that the angels below their leaders had made decisions for their own well-being. This alone was proof that the leaders would be alone in their floating cities. That they would be lost to the bustling cities they wished to see. Lost to anyughing children growing up in their race. Losing Something like this was akin to poison to a leader of a people.


    "Regardless of the angels, the wyverns now have a pce. A clear cut ce and a seat at the table. They will remain in their mountain but we will be taking back one of the children with us. They will be the representative in Genesis for all wyverns thateter." Terron spoke up around the other royal dragons and the party. They hadn''t expected this of all things.


    "But weren''t they just born? How could a mother just ship off a newly born child to start learning? They don''t even know about Genesis or about their homes yet. They are babies." Remey clearly saw this as abandonment. She had the same reaction she had whenever another child had joined the orphanage she grew up in. Every time she gained a new family member.


    "You see it as cruel. But we are the wyverns governing our own people. My children are the first pure born wyverns. They already feel the need to meet their fellow wyverns. They have respect. And just like dragons, they have some of my knowledge passed to them." The wyvern queen sounded slightly weak which exined why she was still so close to Terron. Her injuries looked better but that was surface level. She had forced herself here to stand as a representative. The price a ruler must pay to their people for the people''s well being.


    "You are a lot more like our race than you believe. We are still coins in a way. With Terron to give your little one some guidance, I am sure that they might be able to grow well next to other dragon hatchlings. Then when they are older, they will have dragon representatives to watch and learn from while voting home often." Ventus was more calm and bright. She was a mother too. It was just natural to look at a more positive future for a child.


    While Ventus moved to speak more with the wyvern queen, Alice also made a move to add a little more healing magic around the wyvern queen. She could never look past someone clearly in pain. Meanwhile, the other royal dragons looked around with the fact that they would be watching a new race that had once been mixed with their dragon blood growing beside them. It was an odd feeling to know that this was the case. But also slightly uplifting since they had been there to see the full change in a race.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Echidna warriors." Walker saw them already looking at him. "I take it that you all have some sort of quests and goals¡­ I am still somewhat blind to everything you already know. I won''t stop you from acting. Just don''t forget to let me know what you''re thinking or what you need."


    Walker''s casualment and reminder to the echidna warriors was enough to draw a few angels'' attention to them. They had been a group that was not standing out. The wyvern queen at least had been standing with the dragons and therefore had gained some acknowledgment.


    But when the echidna responded by tapping their staffs or weapons again, the manas that echoed out were enough to stun every angel. It was because of the angel''s sensitivity to mana in their wings. They felt that it was peaceful and open instead of harsh or domineering. It felt right.


    Even though no echidna had spoken, the angels had instantly grasped the odd nature of the echidna. It made them feel behind the times. But it also gave them peace since they were already faced with another issue. The corrupted city.


    "I believe it is time for more light to be shed on what may be hidden. That city, exin what you know of it." Rise spiel with a booming voice. The echidna had opened the ideal chance to push on to a new topic.


    The angels could organize themselvester. Right now they needed to share information. They needed to exin the dangers that everyone who went to purify a literal floating fortress of corruption could face.


    "Once upon a time, our forces worked to make a city. We know do the desire for a home on this continent to act as the origin of angels. A holds ground of sorts. To allow angels a ce to go with purpose to remember the elders." The Rize angel elder spoke with deep sadness.


    "That was before thest war. The efforts to build such a ce caused a focus on it. Naturally after multiple battles, the exact information on such a ce was lost. But it still became a focal point."


    "Many battles caused knowledge to be lost and Ang to perish. Thestrge war was when the city failed to remain in the sky and why our remaining cities are harshly controlled not to fall." The Fel angel elder responded as well.


    Both showed enough information to prove that this city made when the angels first arrived had been bombarded by battle and eventually fell in the most recent of wars. It meant that the information was limited after every battle causing mystery to be amon focal point of this floating corrupted city.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1891 1891. Missing Knowledge

    The fact that many records of what this city was and what it was capable of being lost hit Walker hard. He wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible. But even using the all around appraisal when he saw it was useless since he was just given the basics. Corrupted mana, corrupted undead, and more powerful dangers hiding within. It wasn''t enough to be able to attackfortably.


    "Where was this city before? Where did it fall and stay for years and years?" That Was the solution that Current hade up with. Searching the location of where this city had been might yield some good information. It was a smart move since they had to gain something before attempting to follow the corrupted city in to the ocean or getting back to Genesis and boosting their forces.


    "The location is abandoned because of the remnants of war. We do not even attempt to tread those ces. The ins that were there are now littered with magical craters, shards of risen stone, and even lingering magical skills that have caused deaths in the past. Even some weapons there are still active. That is also to go with the active rune formations we can not even begin to research to remove."


    Fel spoke carefully. He was clearly the angel with the most information because of his previous knowledge gathering within the Fel empire territory. Now that they would be united, he had to get over his distaste for sharing it. Especially since it meant that he might gain stronger allies and learn more from genesis by being more open. That was very tempting to a curious mind.


    "You should not think yourself all knowing when ites to the sacrednds of our people. I have kept half of those borders secure for longer than you have. For many more years. We know of multiple rune formations along the trails carved by monsters that will allow or halt anyone entering from the Rize territories." This was just a basic rebuttal since Rize did not want to be pushed back.


    The two angels that had taken their empire''s names clearly had been at one another''s throats for longer than Walker needed to know. But it was true that the one going by Rize was older and would have more information from years of delving in to such an area. The knowledge could save many lives as the group tried to get answers.


    "You forget that we have more unique soldiers. The trap makers and trap hunters are the best of the best. You did not allow your people to explore such systems. They were unable to be strong enough for you to truly enter an area."


    "Even when you failed, we seeded in making it through certain areas. I promise you, the Fel empire soldiers were made to explore these areas." Fel was sure that he had won. Walker and many others just gritted their teeth seeing that the two elders of the angels. The grand pure angels as they were called, were acting like children yet again.


    "Wait, speaking of special skills, what do you have for spatial images and what are they capable of?" Su broke her calm expression and spoke out. Her words rang louder than the two angels arguing and trying to one up each other. But Walker grasped what Su had caught on to right away.


    "We do not have much for spatial mages within genesis, but we have knowledge. I can use a high spatial storage and that influences those around me to possibly gain a spatial affinity or the same skill. But if you have spatial mages, we might be able to get those with better rune knowledge than anyone here from Genesis. We might even be able to make travel between the two continents possible. You might not know this, but the oceans are incredibly dangerous. So much so that our ships were lucky to get here."


    Walker''s addition to what Su had said made both the elder angels and many of the angels in the embassy halt their thought process. They had expected this battle against the corrupted city to take months to prepare for. If so, they didn''t know what dangers they would face or what consequences woulde out of all this.


    "We have spatial mages and we have rough spatial runes! I can order them toe here immediately. We can begin more research. You can add what you like. If you have any information at all-"


    "You are like a cat jumping for a fish! It only took a few words to bend you to their will. They are allies now, but they can easily control you research loving fools. If it wasn''t just the differences in purity of mana, it would be the differences in your madness to our calmness." Rize was sure that he had the right mind here. The Fel angels were too caught up in their research to realize what they were giving away.


    "Who cares!? You are for the purity of mana and hiding away your knowledge. We seek it. Just as Genesis said, we are two sides of one coin. While you hoard and make libraries, we will fill them." such a statement was proof of the potential for adapting from the Fel angel side of things. It would be amazing to see them change so easily. But for now, it was greed for knowledge that motivated them. But it wouldn''t be a problem in a way. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "If the spatial mages and us can work on some rune formation and use some scrolls I have that can teleport things or people¡­well, we could go to Genesis. You could all have healers, resources, and knowledge. The mage tower will be essible which has various elemental magic knowledge. We have libraries being built that can be joined with the libraries here. And your ancestors'' ruins will be closer to you." Walker boosted what the benefits were.


    Naturally, there were many other benefits. The benefits that living breathing people of other races could hand the angels. But it was also a way for them to open their eyes and minds to more. They would see the union of different races that they had never witnessed before. A truly enhancing experience.


    "Yes, we would share what we have and you can share what you have. From this point on, why don''t you two worry about unifying your empires. The royal dragons can oversee it as the third party that would act impartially. Terron and Ignus are both able to stand as that force. The other royal dragons might also wish to hear about any dragon ruins you know of. In return, they might enlighten you about their massive wealth of elemental knowledge and history."


    Seeing that all the royal dragons appreciated the fact that Walker had remembered the ancient dominator dragon ruins, he smiled a little wider. They could take their positions above many others because of the power which yed to their pride. In turn, the angels would be able to rely on that power to keep each other from going right back to their old ways. Especially since Ignus''s hard head would not allow them to stray from the topics at hand.


    "It will be a full day before we can rush any spatial mages out of hiding and to you. We will have it done. In turn, I will be the first to send my angel representatives to Genesis." Fel was quick to grasp this chance.


    "The only way you would do that is over my dead body. I will send an equal representative. The two will bnce one another until one angel is able to stand at the top of our empire''s unity." the Rize representative angel clearly saw the potential treachery in the Fel angel''s statement to send someone and countered it. But it was the right move for equality.


    "That leaves us with time to recover and start our own preparations, right? A lot of our forces are tired and very worn down. But they all got much stronger. We also need to get Scy, Alma, and well, literally everyone else up to speed." Gil was joking a little as he realized just how hard it would be for the party to split up and get everyone on the same page. Then on top of that rested and prepared yet again.


    While it was just a statement that they were tired, it was a tiredness that was deep in their bones. They had not ceased moving for some time. Their higher levels and everyone else''s level increases only did so much at this point. Now they needed to properly rest or they would suffer the consequences that came with not stopping. Constant battles. And even more, the constant drama of emotions.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1892 1892. Single Day Break

    As if to mock the entire party, when Walker made the announcement of the following n and everyone had been notified, all the built up tiredness came to fall on him. Every angle soldier and force that had marched with them felt that they had been holding back a massive river of exhaustion.


    This was to be expected. While everyone had been through some sort of life and death experience, they had also experienced massive growth. Some more than others. Walker was able to clearly see that some soldiers had more than just stripped themselves of their older style of thinking.


    This was evident in the angels that were still mixed within the Genesis forces. Especially those that had joined from the vige that Genesis was helping and now had im to as their vige which united them with the angels'' new empire.


    The vige had clearly been remade much better at the foundations and wasing along very well. Or at least that was from the reports that Walker received. Not just this though, that the vige had dly epted the Genesis forces left behind and begun to show their own skill. Skills that they had been unable to use since they were limited by the Rize empire and its hoarding of elemental knowledge.


    While it had been a method to help keep the growth of their people in a linear way, the Rize empire had left too many angels at the bottom of thedder. Too many with skills that were important. Such as builders or craftsmen. They had not fallen in to the normal elemental pools that the higher angels valued.


    This caused them to stagnate in a way. The viges had been unable to grow due to theck of investments in those angels there. Now that they had the chance to learn and grow from the experts on the ships from Genesis that made the ships maintain their solidity, the angels were able to build their own homes better.


    This caused a state of growth that even allowed the Genesis forces to teach about the runes they had learned. A massive boon for the angels that could use them to make a better vige than any vige they had around. Also an example to the two empire''s representatives of what unified future with genesis as allies would be like.


    When Gil found Alma, there had been a bit of an uproar as he listened to what he had found. The elves also rushed to be able to report to her and the other elves that had remained within the ships of the vige. It had been an interesting interaction.


    The fact that the echidna race had appeared was one thing that had made the world wonder just how things would progress. It wasn''t that the other races knew what was happening with the echidna and what their skills were. It was the fact that yet another race had juste to light after the wyverns and the previous races were recognized.


    This was another race after the other monster races had been discovered and recognized. But in the case of Genesis and the angels, they had not known who or what this echidna race was until Walker had arrived at the embassy. Now it was Genesis that was in the dark.


    For Alma, hearing that the echidna were even more deeply connected with nature than any elf was miraculous. The fact that they were also mysteriously able to use mana and the way that they spoke made her even more confused and in awe.


    Gil had gone so far to say that he even believed they were more of a guiding world force for nature than any other race. That meant that he put them above Walker in understanding of the flow of nature in an entire world. Walker! The one person who had sage titles, hero titles, and even the ability to use natural mana.


    But that was just one shock. Gil had actively begun to show off the high elven dagger technique. Such an action was something for the records of the elves. But even more, for another story all together¡­


    Unsurprisingly, Midnight had found herself the leader of the three young wyverns. It was something that was sure to happen at some point since the three were very young and still had the minds of a child.


    Just like the dragons, they inherited the basic instincts to understand who they were and what they were. Therefore, their extra energy was channeled in to understanding the knowledge that was in their minds as they yed. It meant that she was now going to be more awake than what she wanted. But it also meant that she would be able to act as a somewhat older sister to show them the ways of Genesis through the camp.


    Only one would be the representative of wyverns in Genesis, but that didn''t mean that all of them could learn about Genesis. It would just help them allter. Or at least that was what Onyx thought as he took some pressure off Midnight to they could both rx some.


    Walker''s thoughts on the matters of wyverns and dragons only fluttered through his mind for a moment. He was still caught up in his own tiredness while he had rushed here and there speaking with others. Scy had been the only one that had more or less shrugged things off. She had a new goal focused in her eyes. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The fact that there was a new battle target had greatly attracted her. The corrupted floating city was thest ce they would have to go to defeat the target she had hunted the entire time as the representative of the demi- humans in Genesis and as a general.


    The fact that they had also gained strength made her incredibly more focused. She and Leon had managed to begin preparing already. Leaon was a merfolk, he and his people were more focused on being in the water. Luckily, the corrupted ind was floating toward the open ocean. A ce that they could knock it in.


    The n they wanted to develop was the sinking of the ind from the air to the ocean. Then to swarm it with many soldiers and the ships. But that n was not an easy one. Just a look at the corrupted coyote proved that there would be dangers in this.


    The corrupted undead wyvern king ruled over the coyote with absolute power. It was a mystery what strength it had, but it was strong enough to rival Scy and many of the other powerful forces of Genesis.


    The corrupted undead angels were also powerful enough to clearly take on multiple soldiers of Genesis and the angels of today. These were bodies of angels that had fought more powerful battles. Fought a more powerful war than anyone alive today had fought.


    Therefore, the undead corrupted angel soldiers were strategic, had skills lost to the angels of today, and were empowered by the corruption. This also fell in line with being controlled by the learned false death runes that were now flowing with whatever the corrupted mana was.


    From their movements, the archers had been able to spot a few things and report back to Scy and Leon to prove that they were not an easy enemy to face. The angels clearly had intelligence enough to move and adjust themselves while following the demon''s orders. That alone made them harder to handle because they were not mindless undead. They were an undead soldier. An undead army. Ready to attack and defend.


    Additionally, Scy and Leon were held back by theck of knowledge of what else the corrupted city might have. This led them to await more information from Walker. The idea that they could forget the ships and return to Genesis to get more forces was perfect. It was also the best n to be able to ensure victory in this uing war with the demons.


    As of now, Walker knew all of this. He had added it to his mind and felt that the information would help a lot as he researched where the corrupted city had once stayed in slumber. They would be able to create new strategies with what they learned. But for the moment, his mind was focusing on the rest he needed and the spatial mages that woulde.


    When the spatial mages came here, Walker could open his mind and fully immerse himself in the knowledge of space magic. It might not develop the same as his other skills, but it could grow. And when it grew, Walker would find himself able to do much more.


    The spatial runes that might be able to be used would be invaluable. But teleportation of others could change everything that Genesis did.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1893 1893. Spatial Goals

    Walker didn''t even realize he had fallen asleep. When he woke up he was certain that it had been a few hours. But he was surprised that he found himself with a new skill at this time. It wasn''t a skill that would break the world or that would shock everyone. It was just a useful skill that came from the fact that he and the rest of the group had been pushing forward and resting for shorter times. He was sure the others could learn it too.


    ''The skill, trained resting has been learned. Every being that requires sleep can learn this skill.


    Trained resting- passive


    This skill can be learned through controlling the times the user rests. It is also gained through perseverance to abstain from resting. Due to this bnce, the way that mana flows is enhanced when resisting. Therefore, the body, mind, and mana are all better recovered. There is also a better sense of refreshment from resting.


    Shorter periods of rest will better enhance the user. The rest will be just as efficient as a longer rest. The more that the user improves this ability by using their own bnce needed to active and inactive periods, the better their quality of rest.


    This skill is often gained by schrs as they work on grand studies or learned by soldiers who travel and strive to grow.''


    While Walker looked at the skill, he realized he had not woken up by himself. He had been woken up but the sound of voices approaching the small tent set up for him slightly away from others so that he could take some time for himself.


    The voices were not overly loud but they had mentioned his name. The first thought that came to him was that these people were here to wake him up. But when he heard the words space and teleportation runes, he realized that these were the spatial mages or researchers that hade from the Fel empire.


    With a deep breath and a little water maniption, Walker washed his face and stepped out of his tent. He was d to see that he was actually able to sleep for six hours which was a massive boonpared to how much he had been able to resttely. But even better, he had been able to gain a skill that allowed him to feel better.


    The knots in his shoulder and the dark circles under his eyes had faded which made him look like the leader he was to the party and to Genesis. He was clearly more refreshed. But the fact that he had recovered some of his mana, specifically, natural mana in to the spirit mark helped immensely. He could tell that Fleur was still slumbering within the spirit mark to regain strength, but he could also feel that she had gotten stronger along with his understanding of mana opening up as a whole.


    "You must be the leader we were sent to find. I was dragged out of myb you know. I had to put research I was doing for thest twenty years on hold. Do you know what-"


    "This is Ezra, he is an odd one of the Fel empire researchers. He has led three breakthroughs in the understanding of spatial mana. His efforts developed the unique item, spatial bag which is yet to be replicated, the rough spatial rune that created it, and also the ability to use spatial magic to teleport small objects within the same home to different areas within that home. I apologize for his rudeness. He does not often meet with others that are not his assistant."


    The angel soldier that apologized looked like he was used to these actions. It was easier to understand that this soldier was most likely a guard for such a valuable researcher. He would have dealt with many things this researcher did that could have caused trouble or even would have been dangerous in one way or another. Not to mention the general amount of time the two most likely spent with one another.


    "I am Wakker, thank you foring as fast as possible. I should let you know though, that whatever research you were doing might get forgotten after you see this." Walker smirked as he pulled out the eternal orb from the high spatial storage skill.


    While Walker was limited in the spatial skills he had, this being the only one, he was certain that just by using this one skill he would have trumped whatever this researcher was all caught up in.


    Ezra stopped speaking. He even stopped breathing when he saw Walker putting different items in to the high spatial storage and out of the high spatial storage. It wasn''t just the sight of the skill, but it was the fact that the skill was openly showing off spoken spatial mana even though Walker couldn''t control it.


    The single bit of spatial mana that would escape every single time that Walker would use the skill was enough to resonate with the small spatial affinity that Ezra had. He had enough knowledge to be considered a spatial mage, but his actual system was different.


    "I am only a spatial magic researcher. They call me a spatial mage, but I can barely manipte the spatial mana. How can you so easily do that without researching and controlling the mana? what is the source of spatial mana for your skill? How can you sense what is within that storage? Is it an isted space from time? Or is it a secondary ovepping space? Did you create an entire world to store items? Is this a spatial creation type skills? What-"


    "And now you have done it. Thest time he found a spatial mana crystal the size of a thumb nail he was like this. He will run out of things to say in just a few moments. For the time being, why don''t I show you the journals he used when learning how to use small teleportation for objects within a singr space. Then we can go over the diagram of the rough spatial rune."


    "The rough spatial rune was a broken rune discovered and then Ezra altered and repaired it. He technically created the rune based on what it is now since it was modified to work. I am sure that it will be the center of whatever you may want to research. I amcking details. But I assure you, that I will be able to trante Ezra''s ramblings."


    Walker looked at the angel guard and felt that it was even deeper that the guard had learned about spatial magic from Ezra. Also about Ezra''s personality. "I have a feeling that you might have gained a little from working with him. Can I ask what system you use?" Walker saw a glint in the angel''s eyes.


    "I am a rarer swordsman, it is called the dashing swordmaster system. I have the ability to focus on my speed to use higher ss sword skills. I also have a master title called the unseen sword because of my speed. It makes me the ideal guard for someone trying to y with the essence of space. I have saved my researcher from multiple idents with such speed. Sometimes space does not like to be tampered with." This was both a good piece of advice and also enlightening about the stronger of the Fel empire angels.


    The strength of the angels in the Fel empire was high because of unique qualities. Hence why he was with such an important figure. But knowing that there was danger in spatial mana was important. Walker appreciated the warning again since he knew that he might get lost in this sort of task.


    Learning about mana was dangerous. Magic could go against the user if they were not careful. Walker had felt this danger multiple times while experimenting. If he had not used the senses and skills he had to manipte mana, it would have been riskier. He was lucky up to now that he had so many good pieces of knowledge to help him. But where he was even luckier was the fact that he had affinities for all manas.


    "I look forward to learning with you then. We are going to be trying to make the first ever teleportation rune formation that can send us back to Genesis and possibly back here faster. I have no idea how we will do it, how long it will take, and what we need to research. But I have some scrolls left from a unique individual that should enlighten us." Walker smiled widely as he prepared himself to delve in to this mystery. Especially since there was a very tempting unknown resulting because of him opening scroll to be able to use as his textbook.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1894 1894. Space Runes

    The arrival of a spatial mage and his assistant along with guards made a lot of noise throughout the camps. The angels that could not rest within the embassy had set uprge tents to rest and work in. It would be months to work on things and build a city around the embassy. On top of that there was also the looming issue of the corrupted city floating away slowly but surely.


    These issues meant that the united angels would be working here constantly. Therefore, they had already nned spaces for certain things. This caused the Genesis forces to begin moving and help here and there. Their main goal to understand the angels better and to also allow those that had openly shifted to their side to learn from them as well.


    The reason that the spatial mage arriving had made a buzz was that the Genesis forces had heard about how Walker had somehow gotten spatial magic scrolls. Some that moved an entire mansion to Genesis city and also that he had more weaker scrolls that were attempted to be copies.


    These scrolls were the same as treasures, but the knowledge gained by those with applicable skills to copy them was more valuable. Even though the copies had been poor or failed, they had been made. This had been a massive boon because many future generations could learn from them and even potentially awaken systems more rted to spatial magic in genesis.


    But this was just one reason. The other was therge space moved so that the rune formation of spatial magic teleportation. The space that everyone had to move away from was so that a massive building could be made.


    The idea that different groups would be able to teleport one day between continents was hard to grasp for many. But it meant that there would need to be a building that facilitated that. People to guard it against those who would use it criminally. People to register travelers. Others to be able to handle the merchants and their goods. A great many more reasons to have arge space as well.


    Other than that, the rune formation was still unknown. Nobody knew howrge it would be or how many mages would be needed to potentially create it. The building would need to be able to house those that managed these things along with repair or improve them.


    The ideas that they would also need to be able to store spatial mana in crystals or other means came to light. But Walker knew that couldeter. He could ask the wandering cksmith to create some unique mana gems that would be able to store spatial mana. It might require unique materials, but that was an endeavor forter.


    For the moment, the tent that Walker and Ezra had been guided to with his guard was full of tables documenting many things. Specifically Ezra''s studies and his current ideas on making a spatial rune to teleport things.


    Walker only had to look at the rough spatial rune for a moment to use his all around appraisal skill.


    ''Broken space rune


    While this rune has been repaired by a spatial researcher, it only works at one thousandth of its prior abilities. This rune is only able to transport small objects simr to the size of an apple around a very isted and controlled space. It has a high degree of error causing it to identally teleport the small objects within other objects and cause small explosions. It can also cause damage to the space around that will force mana to be drawn near it and repaired. It is not permanent damage since the world naturally heals itself with the flow of nature.''


    The all around appraisal of the rough space rune proved to be a broken space rune. Even though Ezra had repaired it, he had no idea that it was still this bad. "So, that is the all around appraisal of your rune. I''m sorry to say, but it is only one thousandth of what it used to be as a whole space rune."


    Now this was shocking. Ezra had believed he had made some extremely low tier spatial rune from a damaged spatial rune. Itn was clear in his eyes that he had researched the proper direction of repair. Yet, he had so many issues, not because of his inexperience, but because of the rune itself!


    "There''s no way that this has been an issue since I began! The research, the mana that I sensed. It was there. I have the ability to create this rune and guide it with my mana and the spatial mana I can sense!"


    "But what if I was¡­ no, I should be able to optimize functions the more I can manipte spatial mana. What if I managed¡­ no the form was not proper. That caused a breakdown and destroyed a whole wall."


    Walker watched as Ezra fell in to what anyone would call a downward spiral. He would have been able to help Ezra, but the guard responsible just shook his head and pointed at the next few things that Walker could read.


    The journals that had notes about the broken space rune were very detailed. They were even more detailed than many of the documents that Walker had read elsewhere. It more than proved the title of research empire that the Fel empire boasted.


    However, as he read, he found that mana was spoken about as an individual thing. That spatial mana could be gathered alone and did not need to interact with other manas. This was very simr to the way that dragons and specifically, Rize empire angels thought.


    "It seems like the Fel and Rize empire are exactly the same but with a little difference in what they think is important." Walker sighed. He knew this already but it was constantly reinforced in every aspect that came with the older angels. Especially here in the research that only focused on the importance of the spatial mana over all other mana.


    "What do you mean!? All manas exist, sure, but spatial mana is the most important. Because it exists, we can exist. There are things like your body that take up space. The entire world we exist in is in space. Without spatial mana then what would hold it all together? Huh?" Ezra ranted a little before going back to the broken space rune and pouring over it with even more rants.


    Regardless. Why do you limit yourself? You need to take in to ount how spatial mana maniptes everything around you. Especially when you want to move things. Do you think that with spatial mana you can just move a body that has all elemental manas and other manas within it? If you can''t take in to ount the manas within whatever is being transported then it''s expected that it might, I don''t know, explode?"


    Walker''s words hit hard. They were the same as when the Fel empire angels above Ezra had ridiculed him for being stuck on a rune that was only partial before his breakthroughs. But this was the kind of fuel he needed. This kind of anger and fuel was exactly what he was in need of. Now he could research and prove Walker wrong with a breakthrough that even Walker''s all around appraisal might not seeing.


    "I see you caught on to what makes Ezra work better. He is verypetitive sometimes. He will start working a little better. But how do you intend to use his research?" The guard was a little impressed. He could tell that Walker had worked with hard headed people before. Especially those with different opinions.


    If anyone were to tell the Guard that both the empires he grew up knowing to be harsh enemies woulde together, he would haveughed then mentioned a futile dream. Now, he wondered just what this kid was all about. How someone like this could just appear out of thin air with so much knowledge and power that he could throw entire empires up on their heads.


    "One of my party members is an alchemical brawler. She fights and uses alchemy the same way. Hard to make her do anything but if you challenge her, she wille back double as strong to beat you back. With her fists or with her alchemical knowledge. I guarantee you will believe me when you see her potions." Walker chuckled while wondering what magical things Remey woulde up with now that she had gained insight in to natural mana and nature alchemy. Only time would tell.


    Focusing back on the research, Walker began to take a grasp on spatial mana a bit more. Ezra had detailed his feelings while manipting it and the effects on his body, the perfect information for Walker as he was now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1895 1895. Space Around

    It had been a while since Walker felt the intense desire to study magic. He had wanted to take time to do many things while he traveled. He had also just touched upon the fact that all mana was mana and that they all came together to a real form. The natural mana that he could meld together and use was just one part of true mana. But using all mana and true mana was a different endeavor.


    The simple reason, understanding.


    Walker had yet to begin understanding life, death, time, and space manas well enough to be able to use them and use true mana as a whole. It meant that he was left with natural mana which still needed a lot of learning as well. Not to mention all the elemental manas that he was still not as versed inpared to the royal dragons or some others.


    It was a long road to take, but for the moment, the spatial mana that Walker could n was the full focus of his attention. This was mostly because he needed to create a way to get to Genesis and prepare everyone. Just because the corrupted city had begun floating toward the ocean didn''t mean a thing. It was a threat that needed to be dealt with.


    The pressure was also a great motivator for him to do everything he could to fully immerse himself within the spatial mana studies. Especially with so much knowledge and documentation to go through.


    Even though hecked the understanding of how spatial mana could influence other elemental manas, it was still useful. The feeling of space around him was everywhere. Space was everything and it was also hard to grasp. The other mana stook up space but could exist without it to a degree.


    This feeling was odd since grasping what space truly was, was harder. To think that space was physical would be foolish. There were different nes of existence that contained high amounts of specific elemental manas. That was also a space. Would it make sense to say that life and death that existed within those spaces were both physical? That mana itself was physical? No.


    That meant that space was the same as all manas. It flowed through everything. It was part of what made everything but also didn''t need to be there to affect everything. Theck of space was also a reason why space had to exist.


    ces thatcked space allowed for other factors to appear. One that Walker came to mind with was gravity. Space needed to exist so that gravity could pull water in to a hole or make it flow down a river. That was something he had missed. But an important exnation.


    The way that space would flow just in nature had to be rted to such things. With these thoughts on his mind, Walker left himself an important mental note to think about gravity and its potential to be part of space and another manabining. There was also the potential that it was apletely separate form of mana altogether. But that was a thought forter.


    Seeing that the broken space rune was right before him, Walker decided to use that as the key to being able to grasp at the spatial mana around him. It was a sound idea since he could physically touch the rune in front of him while using his mana sense.


    The second that his handnded on the broken rune, Walker felt the illusive mana trying to be pulled to the rune. It was odd. The feeling of it was not bright like any other mana he sensed.


    When Walker sensed water, he got a cool and bright feeling that came with it. For fire, it was a hot and bright feeling. These feelings were how he could rationalize using and manipting these manas. But that was the same case for every mage. They would have their own associations but all of them would be able to use the same or simr skills.


    The spatial mana that came around the broken rune was gray. But it shifted to darker wispy shape. This wasn''t necessarily the thing she could see but what he interpreted as he sensed the mana.


    Every time that the color would shift and get darker or lighter, Walker would feel a heavier or an emptier feeling. As if that was the difference between a full space and an empty space. With that in mind, Walker sent out his will in to the mana.


    The spatial mana didn''t actively resist him. This was surprising. However, the mana also did not bend to his will. It was harder than expected to insert what he wanted the mana to do. Especially since he could sense that there was spatial mana all around him. Specifically in a way that made him want to reach out to the spread out spatial mana.


    The mana all around was sparse. As if the spatial mana was trying to spread out and not be touched. The only thing making it more dense was the broken spatial rune. But that made Walker even more focused.


    Having mana spread out over arge area was very simr to the ice dragon domain skill. It made water freeze and drop the temperature of an area greatly. Therefore, it made sense that the skill must interact with space in some way.


    "I need to go outside to test something. I need the broken space rune too. But I don''t want to freeze anyone to death so keep a distance." Walker saw Ezra''s eyes snap to him. Hearing that an experiment would happen was a great way for him to learn more. Especially with the fact that Walker was a mystery overall to the angels and to Ezra.


    "You do not need to worry about our safety. I am able to wield a sword with enough skill to break away any attacks or skills thate my way. I have even been able to split apart gusts of powerful wind or mes that attack my charge." With the guard''s approving words, Walker pushed himself to grab the broken space rune and head outside.


    Luckily, the area had been cleared and remained that way for safety. Many knew the dangers of what woulde if they invaded the space during testing. This respect came from the Fel angels and their fellow researchers. But for the Rize side, it was because they were ufortable opening themselves to unknown manas and danger just yet. But that was fine for the time being.


    The broken space rune on paper was going to be the focus of what Walker would try. But first, he channeled his mana and created the ice dragon''s domain. The chilling mists that escaped around him froze the area. It was a dramatic change since the sun was high and the temperature was warm.


    Therge ice crystals that formed and the frigid cold that grew caused an icy breeze all around the embassy. It was a dramatic skill to say the least. That was how it drew the attention of many angels. Naturally, they flew around the skies checking things out with curiosity. ''


    Walker was ignorant of this though. He knew that he had grasped on to something good. The simple reason was that the mana on the broken space rune had spread out suddenly. Walker could tell that the spatial mana was part of this skill and he hadn''t even realized it existed.


    This made him want to p himself in foolishness. He had used spatial mana without even meaning to. But knowing that it was there now was fine. He could manipte the ice dragon''s domain skill a little and sense where the spatial mana was ying a part.


    The spatial mana allowed the water mana in the skill to drift further and bnce where it went. It was like a guide for how much to spread out and where to go. It also gave the perfect spread that caused the ice to form perfectly. The spatial mana didn''t act as a controlling factor but more of a guideline. That Was how Walker interpreted the mix of the two.


    This was enough to begin developing a deeper meaning though. He saw the way that the spatial mana moved during a skill and around him. When he released the skill, some of the spatial mana returned to the broken space rune since that was a natural focal point for it. But the rest remained spread out within the ice dragon''s domain skill. This was because it was part of that skill and the mana couldn''t flow away yet. This was a melding of the water and the space mana at a very low mixture that didn''t require control of spatial mana. The perfect starting point of an expansion of other skills.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1896 1896. Playing With Space

    Walker had found himself with a new audience watching the skills he used. He didn''t miss that Current hade out of the negotiations with the angels to look at the mana he had sensed. It was natural that the ice dragon''s domain skill would attract Current since it technically used the water elemental mana in the air to cause this skill. However, he noticed that Current was perplexed.


    With a single wave, Current moved toward Walker, his curiosity strong enough to remain silently waiting for Walker to speak. "I just realized that there is spatial mana in a lot of things. We can all use it without realizing we use it. But that doesn''t mean we all have an affinity for it." This didn''t make much sense to Current.


    "The water mana manipted by the ice dragon''s domain skill is pulled apart by the spatial mana because of the way that the skill expands to cover arger area. It is focused on changing the already existing water elemental mana in to ice. That''s normal. But the spatial mana makes it evenly spread out instead of just here and there inrge spots. It''s why the skill can happen. But when the spatial mana is pulled back."


    Walker exerted a little force to make the ice melt more. He saw the spatial mana able to move and used the broken spatial rune as a focus again. The spatial mana also snapped away and the ice started to break away even faster.


    "You might not see it, but the spatial mana being forcefully pulled back once I started melting the ice made the ice dragon''s domain skill fall apart faster. So I should be able to replicate this with other elemental manas using minimal spatial mana to use as the key to other dragon domain skills." The small rant was a little odd and not perfectly put together just yet.


    "I can understand what you mean. It is the same as the life magic healing. We have life in us, but not all healing uses it. But everything has life mana even though we may not use it at all. It is there because it is part of us." Current couldpare what he learned of life mages and healing. That Was enough to show that he was somewhat following how Walker used the ice dragon domain skill.


    "Sort of. But the thing I need to figure out is how to make the spatial mana do what I need. I can make space somewhat follow my will, but it does not bend to what I want and it does not stop doing what it naturally does. It''s not a matter of force but a matter of understanding the flow it should have." This was the results of what Walker had read and seen.


    "Let''s see about fire." Walker saw Current back away as a ball of fire took shape in Walker''s hand.


    The fire was easier to call up now that Walker understood that fire and even natural mana was just part of a whole. The true mana maniption skill was really helping keep mana cost down as well. The mes in his hand came with a very fluid feeling that was only because of his higher degree of control.


    As the mes spilled down to the ground, Walker tried to let his mana pull on the spatial mana that naturally gather around the broken space rune. This time, he felt it shift with his will. It was as if it knew that Walker wanted it to join with the mes this time. Not that it remembered, but that it was the same shape it had taken before. Or maybe it was Walker who had the same feeling and was able to grasp the very same effect because of this.


    Regardless, the mes spilling and growing around Walker began to spread out. Some took root and burned the ground making thend in a circle around Walker turn ck and cracked with steam exporting off. Some smoke appeared, but it was gone too quickly to cause any issues.


    The circle of mes all around Walker were hot and could cause many issues if they were having to fight or even walk through it. This was an intense field of danger for even the most basic users of fire. But for someone like Ignus, this would be an ideal ce to use to his advantage.


    Walker could sense that he could make fireballs appear all around him if need be. That he would have no trouble making his fire elemental skills work faster. That they would even be more powerful andst much longer. It was a very empowering feeling.


    When the system responded saying he had gained the me dragon domain skill, Walker ceased the skill and began to pull on only the spatial mana itself. Instead of resisting, the natural environment helped him. Without the mes dying down, the spatial mana pulled back this time.


    The fire wanted to retreat since it was not in a ce it could easily burn. Without the spatial mana holding it apart, small bits of fire mana came together leaving certain spots burning while others had gone out already. This left a barren and burning area. Spots that burned and spots that smokes while others just looked like they had already started to cool. It was an odd spot that seemed like someone had failed a skill instead of seeded.


    "Now that was interesting." Current moved back toward Walker with an even more curious expression on his face.


    "That Was what happened when I pulled at the partial mana in the same way that I pushed it before. It didn''t exactlye to me and go from me as I wanted, but I had a better grasp of how it moved. That caused the fire mana to gather together without much guidance. Meaning that spatial mana ys a bigger part inrger skills than we know. It is just the way that mana flows. Space is everything andck of space is also an effect. Interesting, right?"


    Current looked at Walker as if he was looking at a child that had just figured out how to use a new toy. This was surely the way that anyone else would also look at him too. But that aside, Current also looked fairly impressed.


    "You understand that you are already starting to show results after a few hours, correct?" While Current was sure that Walker would keep learning things, he wondered just how much Walker had changed. It was clear that he was learning faster and even grasping things that no dragon he knew of was able to grasp.


    "It''s definitely been a lot longer than a few hours. It feels like I have been working on this for days. Especially when I was just looking at all the work and the broken spatial rune¡­" Walker realized that his sense of time had gone off. But that was weird. How could his sense of time been affected like that?


    After shaking his head a little to disciple the thoughts about time and space interacting with one another, Walker refocused. Trying to understand how space and time influenced one another would bring him down a rabbit hole that he could not study. It would take a lot more time to figure out.


    "I think that teleporting must be some way of moving faster through other things. Like space mana is able to gather in one ce and make someone move without the influence of other things. It can naturally influence other manas to make them remain in bnce. But what if there was ack of something in one ce caused by spatial mana." this sounded even weirder.


    "For example, the apple was a test object. Theck of an apple in one ce and the fact that an apple is somewhere else in space. So, using the space mana to make it go to where it wascking would make some sense in theory. So basically, I need to learn a lot more about whatck of space and space might have inmon." Walker felt he had a lead on how to make what they needed. But making runes with that in mind was still a lost concept to him.


    "That''s it! Lack of space!" Ezra reacted with arge yell. His voice rang out and made all the angels witnessing Walker''s skill to look at him with curiosity. "We can make a space where spatial mana is linked with a rune. Then I can make one runeck the mana it wants then one rune too full of mana. That is how we move things. That should work. We just need a rune. What kind of rune though?" The rants had begun, but this time, Walker was right with Ezra.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1897 1897. Arrows And Target

    With the two ranting constantly, the audience slowly left. It wasn''t that they didn''t want to see something amazing. But it was just that they had no idea what was even going on. There was a lot of talk about space runes and spatial mana that they just didn''t understand. Current was one of the people who returned to the embassy to keep helping elsewhere since he saw that Walker was on a roll and didn''t need any guidance.


    "Hey, are you going to do something or just keep talking?" Walker turned around to find that Gil was back in the camp and was no longer surrounded by the elves.


    "I thought you would never be left alone. Where''s Alma? Didn''t shee with you?" Walker was sure that Gil would have been very busy after unveiling the high elven dagger technique. Yet, here he was by himself.


    "Alma is preparing everyone for another journey. The elves wanted to celebrate¡­ but it''s not the right time. I will tell you about the unveiling of my dagger skillster." Gilughed a little before he looked at the burned up space around Walker. He had barely seen what had happened before he got here fully. "Think you can make us a way home to get ready for whatever that is?"


    The pointing finger to the slowly moving away corrupt city was enough to make Walker reaffirm his goal to destroy it and somehow save people from whatever the demons were nning. "To be honest, I have no idea. We just caught a lead toward using spatial mana. It''s a lot harder than I realized."


    "Well, just try things then. Don''t you normally y with elemental mana to learn about it? Why not just try more and more things?" Gil had a point but the difference between elemental manas and spatial mana was clear. Spatial mana repercussions from messing around too much came at a higher cost since it would affect the space around them.


    "I would just try things, but the rune we are using isn''t reallypleted. I can barely carve runes in the first ce. How can I make a new rune?" Walker pointed out the rune andpared it with one of the wind elemental runes that he knew Gil had seen many times.


    "So? You have done crazier things. Why not just use the origin runes we know about to connect the broken parts? You said that space is everywhere at some point. Like we live in a space, right?" Gil wasn''t sure if he had any real idea of what things were when it came to spatial mana. But he did have his own interpretation.


    "I was thinking that. I can see that other manas work very well with spatial mana. It even moves without direct control of the spatial mana. But the issue I have is that I have no idea if I would create a teleportation like the scrolls we used on the mansion. Or if I would make some sort of elemental domain skill like the ice and fire dragon domain."


    Gil''s eyes widened thinking about the dangers that woulde with a rune that channeled all the elemental manas together. It would cause some chaos and make a ce too dangerous to stand. It would also be very hard to control without deeper knowledge of runes and the manas associated with them.


    "Make it small then. The same way that I test my arrows. We can make an arrow with the space rune you create and shoot it somewhere without people. That way when it fails, no one will be hurt. If you want it to teleport, we can use a piece of paper as the base and then the arrow as the moving element of this attempt." Gil''s idea was basic.


    He thought that if the target and the arrow matched, then it might trigger teleportation or some effect that allowed Walker some insight on how spatial mana and space runes worked. From there, they could develop something more tangible. But it would limit the area of danger very much since arrows and a target were smaller than making a massive rune formation to test first.


    "Arrows? That''s the same precedence that I used when testing the apple teleportations within a single home. The house I used was full of these space runes. I was able to do that on a small scale but the space had to be set. It wasn''t something that could go without direction." Ezra seemed to like the idea that Gil had.


    For Ezra, this was just a smaller scale to test things more safely. But he could care less about safety if he managed to get a better result doing something bigger. The only issue was that if he lost the lead he had and the help he had, then he might fail. He finally had some leads after years of working on this and being stuck where he was.


    "Then that''s that, Gil, hand me the toughest arrow head you have. I know you have some carved from steel alloy that the wandering cksmith folded to reinforce it. I know you thought you would save items for when you were able to find a way of imbuing wind in to them. But now''s the time." Walker smirked a little as he saw that Gil was rolling his eyes.


    "I don''t even know how you know about all of this. You always have an idea of what arrow I am trying to make or what I might try next. Are you sure you don''t have a mind reading or a future sight skill?" Gil was mostly teasing Walker, but it was just a matter of time before Walker eventually got something like that. Especially researching other manas like Time mana.


    "No such skills yet, but I have some good eyes to keep track of what my family is up to." Ezra watched the two mess with each other and reminded himself why he always worked alone. The assistants he had were trained not to fool around like this. He couldn''t lose the flow of a breakthrough that would be able to delve deeper in to the unknown. Be more powerful. Find even greater mysteries.


    "So, you have tools for us to carve runes?" Gil looked at Ezra and held out a hand to introduce himself a little since Gil had yet to meet the angel researcher.


    After a quick moment of introduction, Ezra had an assistant bring him the tools that they ended up with. But what surprised Ezra more, was the fact that Walker waved a hand and an entire forge appeared. An entire outdoor forge that shouldn''t even be here hade out of nowhere.


    "This is a skill called portable forge. I know it''s a little much for just carving runes, but it''s better to have the right tools in case we need them." The tools that Ezra had handed over were just more specific tools for carving runes. He clearly saw that Walker already had the tools to do the basics. But they were not as high quality.


    "I use the high spatial storage to store all the items and with some unique circumstances, I gained the ability to put them all together in to a literal forge that can go anywhere with me. If Ick certain items It is a useless skill thug. Like, if I didn''t have the anvil, then the skill wouldn''t even work." Walker rarely used the portable forge skill but it was incredibly useful.


    "The spatial mana you used to make this happen was more than normal. How does it work?" Ezra nearly got distracted. But he caught himself. "You will show meter. I can document this spatial skill research notes. This is a skill that should be documented while it is still unknown to us." From what Walker saw, Ezra had no knowledge of this skill. It further proved that some cksmiths back home in Genesis were further ahead than the angels. But that''s what war did to some people. Weakened them and their knowledge.


    With the broken rune and multiple origin runes on paper drawn out, Walker started to imagine how to connect them. He had Gil''s expertise in using the runes on arrows to help him along with the fact that Gil had seen how some other elves made runes to match the form of the arrow. This would be a valuable test to see if this was even possible.


    The basics of the target would be simple too. Walker could use a straw target with rune drawings matching the arrows on it. All he had to do was prove that he could create an arrow that teleported itself to the matching rune formation. From there, it was refining and making it safe to use on people. But this was still a massive challenge.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1898 1898. Stepping Toward Dragons

    "I don''t see why you are staying here. They are doing fine." Remey managed to find Ignus within the embassy along with the other royal dragons. She had seen Walker experimenting and Current leaving to check things out. That was also with Mordant, but she wasn''t too concerned. She had rested a little and wanted to try more with alchemy and fighting.


    "It is part of the duty I took on. These angels will not fight unless they wish to fight all the dragons within our court." Ignus was naturally proud, but he was clearly tempted to leave. It was just too tempting.


    Between the fire dominator dragon''s knowledge and the things that they had learned around the echidna, they could experiment a lot. Regardless of what it meant for the affinity potions, Ignus knew that levels of strength that neither of them fully grasped was possible.


    " I want you to use your fire to do something. The alchemy mes I can use might not be strong enough to manage the way that the echidna used manas to make a potion without a cauldron." Remey pushed more. This time she gave Ignus a solid nudge to his arm.


    It was only natural that this made Ignus finally turn his head. But instead of being angry and trying to push her back as Ignus might do with anyone else, he just looked at Re,ey for a moment. "Fine. I will see what I can manage. Ventus, you are fine here?"


    The two watched Ventus nod with a slight smile. She clearly didn''t care that Ignus was leaving since the dragon had not needed to intervene in any arguments of negotiations. The angels were on their best behavior as the realization that they had fallen very far behind the rest of the world hit them deeper and deeper.


    The fact that the angels could not even manage to battle with themselves without being destroyed hurt them deeply. That meant that if they ever managed to journey across the ocean to where Genesis was, they would immediately be forced out. Therefore, they were lucky to be allies instead of enemies.


    This was a chance to rebuild what it meant to be an angel. That, and they were able to see a thin rope connecting them to their ancient history. When the angels had been more united and held greater knowledge than they had now. It was a rebirth of sorts. Something that angels had deep faith in since rebirth was something they had many stories about for when they failed. But that was a tradition they could exploreter. For now, they focused on the present.


    The way that she manipted her mana was so clean that it was able to pull away all the bad parts of an herb. She literally purified it with the smallest and purest control of fire and water. Then she removed the good parts of the herb to perfectly meld it in to a potion or a pill. I can''t even imagine how it is done with so mana manas. It wasn''t just fire mana. But she said If I understand fire better I could purify my potions more. Especially after she looked at the affinity potions."


    Remey had been ranting since the two of them got out of the embassy and began walking toward where some equipment had been set up. It was natural that there would be some things that could be brought here and there for alchemy. But because of Remey''s position as a leader in the Genesis forces, she was able to get more tools brought to a set up tent than others would be able to. It was a nice perk.


    "Just look at the fire affinity potion that the natural alchemist made. It is better than a high fire affinity potion but it isn''t a grand fire affinity potion. It has an entirely new category that I want to call pure fire affinity potion. One that has all the negative side effects that could possiblye with using it often left out."


    This wasn''t anything that would be able to be made by any alchemist that Remmey knew. She understood that impurities were a guarantee in alchemy. Every single potion made or medicine would have some. The lower the skills used to create it the more normal it would be to have some issues with the potion.


    However, this potion had nearly every single impurity pulled out of purified. That left the best of the best left in the materials that had been used. The herbs had been taken and perfectly used regardless of what state they were in.


    This alone was enough to make the skills and process used to make this potion valuable. To be able to see a dried herb the very same way as a freshly plucked herb was spectacr and mind blowing.


    "There is no way that this potion was made using some dried herbs. You told me that it would make a worse potion. All the effort we went through to preserve a potion from fresh herbs¡­" Ignus was equally amazed. He could barely believe it. But when he felt the purer fire mana within the potion just waiting to assist him in gaining new understandings, he was lost for more words.


    "You told me that the alchemy guild you created would be the top of all alchemy. When are you bringing that natural alchemist to your guild." Ignus wanted to see the way that the alchemist created potions. especially how she manipted fire. He needed topare the two methods. Specifically the way that he used his mes and the way that this natural alchemist could use fire.


    "I offered her a spot, but you saw all the echidna but for a few disappear in to the mist. They are doing their own quests to help the world. But if shees to Genesis, then I know that will mean everything is changing and we are aplishing our goals. I am willing to bet that the echidna will be showing up in ces where nature is returning to the proper flow." Remey knew this and focused on what Ignus was thinking too.


    "Then we have to break that floating pile of ruins sooner. Why create more potions now? We should attack." The fiery attitude matched Remey''s shared desire to strike down the corrupted city. But Remey easily held herself back.


    "You really think that a little fire will hurt them? That''s why I wanted you to help me. You have the dominator dragon knowledge that already helped me get a handle on the fire I use. Imagine if my alchemy mes could break down materials when I punch. I can possibly bring both sides of my skills together. Be a real alchemical brawler than a divided fighter."


    Ignus opened his eyes wider. He had thought that Remey was somehow divided. But he liked the way that she was brutal and could fight head on. He really enjoyed seeing the fury of a dragon in her fists even though she was not a dragon at all. And her pursuit of fire knowledge to help alchemy was very simr to his desire to understand mes and use them better. It was a sharedmon ground that lived deep within them both.


    "Then let your mes coat your fists. You have those knuckles to help you. But carve the runes and the mes right in to your bones." Ignus looked at Remey. He had pure mes in his eyes as he said this. But it was more like he was offering a pact. Something that wasn''t necessarily spoken out loud. But that Remey understood.


    "Then with my fists, I will bring real fire and real power to every fight. Forget using potions as explosive right now. I will make my body the explosions." Remey knew she wasmitting herself to something intense. An endeavor that might push her past being what a human should be. But she had to.


    The corrupted city was floating to the ocean. She knew that it was moving somewhere for some reason. And that reason could not be good. Genesis had enemies in that corrupted floating city. What if it was headed to her home. The home where her siblings from the orphanage had finally managed to find homes for themselves?


    Who would Remey be if she did not do everything she could to protect them still? Who would Remey be as a hero if she didn''t think of the many people that she could protect with a single punch?


    Remey was a hero title holder and was treading a path of alchemy never walked before. Whatever the trials were. Whatever the hardships may be. She knew that with Ignus, she could ovee them and rival even the dragons. She just had to take the first step.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1899 1899. Two Open Minds

    "Su? Are you here?" The soft voice of Alice was not one that Su thought she would hear when she had just woken up and was cleaning her armor.


    ''I''m in here. Just finished my armor cleaning. I forget how dirty it gets walking around so much. It was very overdue for some care." This was very evident in the dirty rags that Su had. Each was covered with dust and dirt. Even monster blood had dried in a few ces here and there. But what was the worst was the little bits of bone stuck in them that had once belonged to undead monsters. Extra troublesome to clean.


    "Oh, do you have time to fight me?" out of all the things that Su thought that Alice asing to ask her, this was never one of them.


    While the two had trained together before, this didn''t seem like the time for fighting and training. But Alice was standing tall in front of Su. she had gained the courage toe and ask Su to fight with her, therefore, it was a big deal. Su took the time to think about it before she swiped once more over her chestte and stood up.


    "I can, but what''s going on that you want to fight right now? Are you worried that you won''t be able to trainter? Or is it that you think you might be left behind when we go after the corrupted city?" This was the understandable worry that Su thought for first.


    While the corrupted city was a dangerous endeavor, the group and all the soldiers would surely need healers. Out of everyone, SXu and Alice would most likely be the ones in charge of the healers. They were the most experience with them on top of also having some form of healing and protection skills.


    "No, I learned some things. I need to test them. You also looked like you needed to fight more." This had been Alice''s outside looking in opinion.


    From what Alice had seen from Su, she had been given enough of an insight on what was going on with her own body. Since Su was still adjusting to the dragon blood she shared, it made a lot of sense that she would need more training to fully learn and understand herself.


    "You''re Right about that. The echidna are a very odd group. But they were aware that I was still growing in to the new fact that I am¡­well, part dragon now? Midnight shared her blood with me and I gained a lot."


    Su''s thoughts revolved around the better resistances, the tougher skin she had, the eyes of a dragon that she had. Even the fact that she could not breath mes at will was a major skill that not many others would have. As a draconic guardian, Su was definitely one in a million. No human known to the dragons had ever been a draconic guardian.


    "When I went off in to the jungle following the echidna warriors'' advice, I went without armor and weapons. I stuck to what I knew of my own body. That let me see what I could really do." Su paused and then looked at Alice. "I will leave my armor here. I can use my shields but I think it will be better to show you what I can do without them." This made Alice wonder just what Suu was thinking.


    "I will just use my singing. I won''t move." Alice made a move out of the tent that Su had been working and resting in. They made their way to an open area that some of the other soldiers had been using to prepare themselves. Many had skills they had learned, or started to adapt with the impact of other races around.


    The angels and the Genesis forces were clear examples of this. Especially the light elemental angels and the light elemental dragonkin warriors. Both were sharing their light elemental swordsmanship skills. This was basically an enlightening episode for them.


    Not only would both be able to expand their knowledge on the light elemental affinities that they shared. But they would also be able to learn other skills that worked in their styles. Some had even started to brag that they would be able tobine the angel and the dragonkin sword styles. If this happened, there might be a future of light angels and light dragonkin. But that was something to worry aboutter.


    With an open space, Su copied Remey''s habit of cracking her knuckles. "Just because I don''t have a shield doesn''t mean that Ick the ability to use some skills. Just so you know." Syu was being nice, but Alice sensed that Su was acting a little differently.


    It wasn''t that Su was going against her normal peaceful and protecting attitude. It was more that she was showing some of her inner fire while she spoke. Especially when she took a battle stance more simr to a brawler or head on fighter.


    As Alice started to sing, there was a clear tune that took hold. One that was more like growth and spring. A bright high pitched tone that made everyone nearby look over as the light began to alter.


    From what Alice had seen from the echidna, she was able to do much more than just manipte light to attack and defend. She had used this sort of light and singing to heal others. But what if she sang about a bright and beautiful living jungle? What if she took that same style of singing but made it act the same way she did with the sign of swords?


    What if she imagined the song of a jungle controlled by an elf like Alma? Someone who could control the vines, flowers, and the very trees to attack other things? If this was possible as Alice had in her mind, then she would be able to create an entire illusion of light trapping others and defeating multiple enemies. All while remaining hidden within her own song. Safe and sound.


    Things just increased in speed as Alice sang and Su stomped forward. Her armor weighed her down often. Especially when Su carried her shields. This was the downside of being a guardian or any kind of defender. The weight of tough armor would always make someone slower. Feeling the wind around her, made Syuu smirk. She rarely felt this free when she fought. She was more used to feeling anchored to the ground. Tough and unmoving,.


    Not that this was the focus of the battle right now. The lightndscape taking form around her made Su wonder what she had in store. Especially as the tree made of light elemental magic started to twist and threw its branches down. Almost as if it was alive.


    "This is just like some of the jungle nts that Alma told us about actually being monsters! I am going to break them!" Su looked at Alice as she used her shield bash. But without a shield, Alice just looked with confusion before realizing what Su meant before.


    Su used her body as the shield. As the solid thing that blocked the damage. What Su had learned by focusing on who she was now and her instincts was very important. She had learned that she could not hold back and be a defender the same way a human was. She was tough as she was. Her skin and defenses were naturally very high. So why didn;t she use them.


    This armorless style of fighting was something that brawlers or Barry, a berserker, would use. But Su was changing the rules and using it herself. This method put her well above others in the defensive category. Directly making her an attacker by using her own defenses in a way that not many others would use.


    The shield bash using her shoulder caused Alice''s light tree to crack and shatter. The very idea that Alice had put behind the song had been unfinished and too weak to resist the attack. "Come on, are you just going to let me break your little song?" Su''s taunts seemed more vicious as she fought this way. But she also appeared to be having a lot more fun.


    Anyone watching wouldpare DSu to a brutal dragonkin finally getting the chance to show off her strength. But to Alice, Su was finally developing her own style of battle that would stand above what everyone expected of a defender. Su was clearly making a move to change the opinions of those who would imagine a defender to be calm and able to just stand still and defend.


    Multiple light vines shed towards Su as Alice took more intuition from her memories to develop and change the song she was testing. It was still rough and the light broke here and there, but this was the process of learning. Of opening her mind to a new potential for battle that she never expected to have.


    The same could be said for Su as she pushed her body faster with every attack. As she thrived in the fact that she wasn''t bound down by armor or shields. But she also felt the movements more. She was more aware of her own body and how she moved with every single step.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1900 1900. Rune Focus

    "That has to be it! There is a connection between the mes and the bnce in the rune by breaking this section and carving a water rune here." Ezra had been rambling for some time as Walker and he carved runs.


    They had Gil standing prepared to fire whenever they made these runes. The papers used were made from special trees that allowed a better conductivity of most manas. Gil had been sent to run from side to side cing these papers with rune experiments on them.


    From these, Gil was in charge of firing arrow after arrow with different patterns carved on them. The goal was to allow the runes to take in his mana as he would let any magical arrow do when he fire it. From there, the rune would react to its copy and teleport from the air where Gil fired it to the target.


    This fairly simple endeavor had proved a failure thest forty six times. Specifically because when the runes would absorb the mana, they would break. The result was whatever elemental rune section of rune was used would cause a reaction with that elemental mana.


    This test was one that had taken some time. Adding in runes to just one section of the broken space rune had proved that making itn a flowing formation was impossible. The different manas being attached to the rune made it unbnced.


    Now that the water and fire had been bnced, there was a flow of bnced mana s moving though the central space section of the rune. It was more of a confused rune to be clearer since it was not necessarily one rune anymore.


    This also flowed with the idea that they would need to allow all elemental manas to flow through the space rune. The reason for this was that those manas existed within a person. A living person.


    "I was wondering, what would happen if we made this rune activated by life mana? Every living thing has it in it, that way, the elemental manas will also be bnced by it." Walker was thinking of used the runes that the life mages used.


    These runes were not very developed or used by anyone else. Even the life mages from the Fel empire said that they had a very minimal study and very minimal usage since they did not have much effect. But in Walker''s opinions, they were just not used properly with the right knowledge.


    "I think that if the life runes are researched more along with space runes, then there could be a healing formation. It''s the same as jin cathedrals where they make items that use light elemental mana to heal. So why not add in that with the life mana rune that is known. It can be improvedter."


    This idea was more than what Ezra was thinking. Gil had just been about to take the rune arrow and fire it before Walker snatched it away and Ezra began creating yet another paper. This time though, the pair had grabbed the paper and more tools. There were also a whole new set of inks made with different materials to represent different elemental manas.


    The process was bing more in depth and Gil watched in awe. The formats of the runes copied some of the patterns of runes that Walker''s younger sister had sewn in to their underclothes beneath their armor. It helped them naturally recover mana better but it was also a very stable rune. This rune was also taken from the origin runes and the elemental mage tower runes. all were working well together.


    While it was a surety that the runes would be even better studied by the time that the party returned to Genesis, this was still way above what the angels knew. They had lost some of their knowledge due to their own wars. This was what the knowledge in the Riuze empire was so closely guarded. Due to their elemental focus and the loss of knowledge, they had be too strict with their knowledge.


    The records ording to some of the Rize people were too slim pickings. Theycked important documents that exined some runes while some of their books were written by those that believed it too important and they coded it. These codes were hard to follow since they used brokennguage instead ofpletednguage.


    This left Walker with a mystery in what had been brought about when it was found that the Fel empire side was contributing more than the Rize empire side. They both still had the mentality that they wanted to be somewhat equal in all of this. Regardless, it had helped them look at more runes that Walker understood better than most people.


    ''Due to the constant consecutive study of the runes and other manas, the skill rune speech has been learned. The skill rune speech is a skill used by a variety of races on the elemental nes due to their abilities to use elemental manas naturally. It is also anguage that some must learn to ascend higher in their existence.


    Rune speech- passive


    Using the elemental manas, carving runes bes easier. It also helps the user to trante what the meanings behind certain more advanced runes, rune formations, and the study of runes is.


    There is a higher chance of creating new runes, rebuilding runes, and understanding rune mana flow when this skill is learned. The more information about runes that the user learns, the more useful this skill will be. The better the user knows certain forms of mana, the better this skill will be used.


    This skill is not an enlightenment and will not instantly increase anything. It is all based on the user''s knowledge.''


    While Walker was surprised to see the specifics of this skill and how it was entirely based on multiple factors, he also felt that he had broken some unseen barrier. Like he had been forcing his mind full of rune theories and ideas for hours and it all suddenly started to fall in to ce.


    It wasn''t that Walker had suddenly be enlightened. It was more that someone had been stopping him from the next step. That his attempts to carve runes the same ways that he had seen had been held back because he had been shaky. Now it was like someone had removed his nerves and allowed him to be more open minded.


    This rity was what he needed. "Stop what you''re doing. I have an idea." Walker took a fresh arrow and some of the metal tools. His hands started mocking in unique patterns replicating some of the harder to carve runes he had seen and watched carved before.


    While his hands flowed much more smoothly than before, Gil recognized the runes. "Those are some of the runes that are on the outside of the mage tower. They help gather manas from the air and bring them inside the tower. It''s why Genesis has more mana and increases the understandings of elemental mana for everyone living within the city." Gil was very proud to say this. He didn''t care to notice how stunned the angels that heard this were.


    Out of all the things that some of the angels had heard about genesis, they didn''t realize that even the manas in the air would be increased there. Having some rune formation that increased the ability to use elemental manas and to learn them was stunning. Something only they could dream of. Naturally, some angel researchers wanted to teleport to Genesis first and understand everything possible.


    ''The skill high rune carving has been taken from the rune master system. The skill high rune carving has been learned due to the heightened and new understandings of runes through studies and constant experiences involving broken, false, and original runes.


    High runes carving- mana depends on use


    The user is able to channel their manas and other manas around them to create various runes. There must be a certain understanding of the runes being carved, the mana flowing through the rune, and the intention of the rune when carved.


    Due to this skill being higher than the average rune carving skill in the world, this skill is considered one of the heist rune carving skills used with tools. This skill boasts a better chance of creating rune formations that are bnced due to natural instinct. There is also a significantly lower chance of being harmed when the runes fail.


    The speed of carving runes is increased while the time to activate runes formations is decreased. The runes also cost less mana to carve.''


    Walker didn''t notice this skill. He had hyper focused himself in every aspect on the runes he was carving and how to connect them to the broken space rune. But the more that had created runes around the broken space rune, the more that everyone could see how they could connect. How the space rune could bepleted by the elemental runes all around it by using life runes to bnce the broken sections. It was a full masterpiece.


    "How can the runes all be one puzzle piece like this. They are all created by¡­ there''s no way that¡­ I need to see it bigger." Ezra started to copy what walker was making to put it down on a clear andrge record. It was about to be a formation that went down in his research notes forever.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1901 1901. Lots Of Runes

    The furious carving, painting, and scrapping when the ideas failed was enough to make Gil lose his mind. He was certain that Walker''s hyper focus would bring them something good, but he had no idea that this would be so trying.


    "You have thrown the same paper away six times. What was wrong this time?" Walker looked up for a split second before starting again. This time, he was carving directly on to the arrow.


    "It was perfect. I just needed to feel how it flowed with mana first. I can''t make the space mana move the way i want. I can''t understand it yet. But I can feel better how it is interacting with all the other manas. When that happens, I can tell if this shape, formation, and even the mana flow is right."


    The number of times that Walker had sensed issues was too high. He could feel the lines stopping the way that mana should flow. Understanding that all manas would unite in to one form was a major improvement for him. Especially since he also understood that this was the very reason that the runes were able to work in the first ce.


    The other benefit to sensing that all the manas coulde together was the fact that he began to feel how they all interact with the spatial mana that he was attempting to manipte. Even without their interactions, he was still at a loss though. The spatial mana was stubborn. Or at least that was how Walker interpreted it.


    He could not force space to do anything with his miniscule understanding, but he could make other elemental manas push and pull the spatial mana knowing that it would react when he added the manas to it. Especially when he added the elemental runes that would constantly regte it.


    Before ling, the arrow was carved and had multiple runes carved around it. The elemental runes were attracting elemental manas but holding those manas within them. The flow of those elemental manas met the life mana runes that Walker had seen the life mages use.


    These runes brought together the elemental manas much better and surprisingly facilitated the mixing and unmixing of natural mana. A surprise that Walker took an important note of since he could use it.


    Simply knowing that the life runes were valuable to helping create natural mana would be able to help Walker in the long run. The eternal orb was his specially made equipment. It could alter its form based on what Walker needed it to do. It adapted just like him. But what if Walker were to find a good material and carve some life rune sin to it? What if he looked even further?


    The chances that the eternal orb could be stronger meant that Walker might be able to use it with more bonuses. Armor or weapon forms that he would be able to use with other manas other than just natural or elemental. Or he could even use it as a focal point to be able to manipte harder to control manas.


    The real challenge was one day making it able to house all forms of mana to unite in to true mana that Walker was now aware of. Even though Walker had no ability to control true mana in a real form, he was sure that when he had learned sufficient knowledge about death, life, time, space, life, and whatever other manas came to be seen, then he would be able to control true mana.


    Walker looked at the rune formation as a whole and looked carefully at the flowing designs. He saw the broken space rune was nothing like it had been before. It appeared to bepleted in this bnce of elemental manas. The life runes working perfectly to make up for the parts and formations that the broken space rune had been missing.


    ''Elemental space rune formation


    The bnce of life, elemental, and spatial manas were perfectly reached within this rune formation. Therefore, it will not tear apart any living items or shorten their lifespan. This rune formation can perfectly teleport an item, being, or other things based on the manas used.


    The activation of this rune formation requires life mana from a living being. It can not be done with mana crystals of any form. An adequate amount of mana is needed based on the things being teleported. It must be matched in formation with the ce that the teleportation is desired to go. If not, the teleportation will fail and the mana will escape in a violent manner.


    This rune formation requires heavy upkeep due to the stress on it. Until the improvement of the space rune in the center, there will be a massive degradation when the rune formation is made. This will require multiple rune carvers to repair and improve the formation every single time it is used.


    The usage of this rune formation is limited due to mana and strength. It is the first revitalization of rune formation teleportation since ancient times. This is capable of teleporting long distances which is more than many spatial rted uses are capable of. This may expand after improvements¡­''


    The words seemed to go on forever as Walker looked at the runes. He also felt that there was more to learn if he tried to carve it again. He could easily fall down the rabbit hole of constant improvement. All he had to do was start carving again. But he had to stop.


    After using a lot of his mental strength, Walker stood up and stepped back. The rune glowing on the arrow was enough to be certain of the bnce. But he still used his all around appraisal on the arrow as a whole.


    ''Spatial arrow.


    This arrow can teleport when life mana is added to it. This life mana can be added mixed with whatever mana is within a being. When activated, the elemental space rune formation will cause the arrow to teleport directly in front of the matching formation. If it strikes a target, they will suffer the slight magical damage of extra elemental manas but mostly suffer physical damage equal to the force of the arrow when teleported.


    This rune formation will cause the arrow to shatter after use. The materials the arrow is made of are too weak to hold the great power of the spatial mana that would dwell within the arrow due to the spatial rune on it as the core of the formation. This can be improved with better materials.''


    Walker noticed that the arrow was the weak point here. But that was fine. He expected such a thing since the rune formation was literally carved in to the arrow and would next be carved in to literally stone and elemental materials to teleport people or items. It would never be carved directly on to a person again. Especially if it would cause them harm.


    It might be something to think about when he understood spatial mana much, MUCH, more. But that day was not today and he would not have to worry about anything rted to that for now. He just had to get the same rune formation on the target and then let Gil fire the arrow. This was going to be the first working tests of a possible teleportation rune formation.


    Everyone around seemed to sense the anticipation. It wasn''t just Ezra shouting and rambling on as his guard brought him toward the straw target they were using. It was also the fact that the manas attracted to the elemental space rune formation was causing things to feel different.


    The mages were the ones that sensed this greater than others. But the angels were naturally sensitive to elemental manas because they were able to absorb it through their wings to use for themselves. That meant that every angel with matching affinities to the manas being drawn in by the runes sensed a change and came to look.


    This even drew the two grand pure angels that had been representing both empires. They hade because they sensed the changes in the manas due to the formations. However, they had also had their angels watching the happenings of experimentations. As soon as they got word that something might be sessful. They hade.


    This wasn''t because they feared Genesis, but because they could feel the growing tension due to the corruption of their ancient floating city. They could sense that things were off. It was an instinct that was brought by corrupted mana just existing in greater strength. Even with that floating city moving away slowly, they could feel it.


    But for the moment, the focus had turned to Gil who was drawing back the first spatial arrow that everyone had ever seen in their lives. Now they just had to see if it worked. What the results would be. And what they could do next.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1902 1902. Balanced Teleportation

    The deep breath that Gil held before sending the arrow high in to the air was the very same breath that everyone felt to hold. They knew that the importance of this research had been forced to the forefront because of a dangerous position they were all in.


    The fact that the corrupted city was floating away wasn''t necessarily good. They knew all about the fact that they had just lost one of their off limits holy grounds. A city that had been made with a lot of knowledge and had been home to the bodies of many fellow angels. That alone was a major loss for their people. It was a very clear insult to their entire race.


    Every single race had a great respect for the people who passed away. That is just something that came with their living state of being. Some races ensured that they would be able to rest without any issues in the afterlife. Right now, the angels saw their ancestors forced awake by evil intentions. By a corrupted mana that didn''t make any sense, but made their very skin crawl.


    This was also a sign that the researchers of the Fel empire did not all hold their fellow angels from the Rize empire in protest. They had some expectations for beliefs, but would still open up and share themselves as a people. Especially their research which could change the world in their opinions.


    As Gil felt his mana be taken from the arrow, he noted the higher amount of it that was taken than what he was used to. The arrows that he normally used were able to drew on his mana and then the elemental mana within or around them. That led to the amazing skills that the arrows demonstrated.


    The light arrows that could be a literal beam of light, the shadow arrows that seemed to race through the shadows of an enemy and pierce them, and the elemental arrows that matched the elemental manas that they were made with. The various effects all had a cost but an amazing reaction that was many timesrger than the arrow would have if it wasn''t used in this way.


    "Here it goes. It cost me triple the mana as normal." Gil watched the arrow fly upwards as he did so. He had felt the mana leave him and knew he should say it out loud for everyone to understand the cost that this elemental space formation took when it was engraved. To teleport something more than an arrow, it would definitelye at a price. Itf they were not careful, then there was a chance that they would fail the teleportation.


    This left many potential disasters. Someone failing a teleport could leave the injured. It could also cause an explosion of mana. It could do many other things that were only left to the darker thoughts of a person. The fearful parts of any researcher.


    "Look! It is starting!" Ezra started to scribble many notes in his own short hand. Walker saw this but was fully focused on the way the manas interacted.


    The fact that Walker had suddenly cut out all other things was simple to understand. Walker would be able to understand the way that this teleportation worked and how the different runes worked. Therefore, he would expand his knowledge while also bing better able to manipte all of these manas.


    The elemental manas seemed to be drawn in to the arrow and lock in ce due to the rune formation. That seemed normal since the runes needed their elemental matching mana to work. The life runes red to life with natural mana which surprised Walker. He could sense the elemental manas mixing together without a single hitch.


    From there, the life runes seemed to feed off the mana that Gil provided. This was the life mana that had been needed to make all of this flow. Yet, even more surprising was the natural mana being able to attract more space mana.


    The space rune had begun to pull toward it a lot of spatial mana. More than Walker had seen it do in the broken form or when he had observed the existence of spatial mana within the dragon domain skills. Therefore, Walker knew that it was a sessful endeavor with just creating a working spatial rune formation. Even if the teleportation failed, he knew that it was possible to draw on the space mana and the runes.


    The thought that rang true in his mind was simple, he needed a catalyst to make the space his own. Spatial mana was stubborn and did not like to be attracted by just will. It needed something to channel through it to be used properly. Or at least that was the perfect theory that Walker understood now. The spatial mana was able to be called on because it had a way to flow that would allow it to remain separate and also influencing of other things.


    The sudden influx of mana toward the target was what changed everything. The target was absent on mana and matched the pattern of the arrow. The rune formations were the same along with the will behind the arrow when it was given mana and fired from Gil''s bow.


    The desire was to send the rune covered arrow to the target no matter where it was fired. Naturally, the spatial mana was in bounty within the arrow''s rune formation. The absence of it in the target was what the spatial mana wanted to bnce.


    An odd twisting of the light and even the air around the arrow appeared. This was the teleportation that Walker knew had happened when they moved the mansion to where Genesis was built. It felt the same but this time he was able to sense more. How the spatial mana was striving to bnce things.


    Some spatial mana was left behind in the spot where the arrow had been before the other elemental manas were pulled back in to a natural flow. The arrow and rune formation had left behind a hole that was properly filled by the formation because it was made in a bnced manner. That was the key.


    The arrow made a solid thump as it embedded itself in the center of the target. The paper with the matching rune formation was torn, but the manas bnced quickly before a sudden dissipation due to the arrow piercing the paper.


    It wasn''t a violent loss of mana nor was it dangerous. It was just the breaking of a bnced and capable rune formation. Walker could sense the spatial mana perfectly spread out where the arrow had appeared. It had pushd other manas aside in a way that didn''t cause any damage to the surroundings. The only thing that caused damage was the physical arrow itself.


    The arrow was also not damaged. The runes on it appeared to fade because of the loss of mana but they also appeared worn. The carvings were a little rougher now than they had been before firing. It was proof that the rune formation cause a lot of wear and tear on the arrow itself. This was all to be expected.


    "It worked!" Ezra let out a triumphant roar. He wasn''t sensing things at the same level that Walker was, but he could tell when he seeded. "Years of research and I finally see a teleportation in perfect means! We need to test this on something alive. No, a nt? Or should we go to testing on living breathing animals or monsters? Maybe we should just take a proper step and test out between two rune carved stones?" Ezra''s rant continued as he tried to decide the next step.


    "What about the elemental mana? Whas that too much or was it not enough? Should we have crystals to properly bnce everything? We might need to do that to reduce the wear on the rune formation. But that would also make the cost more. How many mages? Maybe a hundred to teleport one person? No, that''s too many and would give too much mana. We should try with thirty and see the results." This could go on forever.


    Walker had already bnced his mind though. He looked at Ezra with a small but determined smile. "It''s time for us to make this work out better. Let''s see if we can teleport a live chicken egg or something. We know it''s alive and it will be food anyways, so we can make sure that if it''s harmed it will just go to lunch." Walker knew this was the best option. Everyone had plenty of eggs or something like it.


    The others who just witnessed this were still in shock. The Rize angels being the main ones to wonder just what path they were taking toward the future now.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1903 1903. Make Me Move!

    "We need a sheet of metal! No, we need the toughest stone circles we have!" Ezra was barking orders. He had managed to begin his build of the first teleportation area that they could use to test this. He even had the eggs already that they would test things on. But most of all, he was making more angels work for him.


    "He has wanted an entire workshop working on spatial mana and the study of space for a long time. He finally has it and he might be going too far. I will manage this." The guard that had been there as the calming factorpared to Ezra had to make a move and smooth things out.


    However, none of this took away from the excitement in the air. Now , on the day of the two angel empires being forced toe together whether they liked it or not, they could boast that their union brought together a way for spatial mana research toe forward. That they would be able to say that they made a massive difference in the future with teleportation and travel.


    "This is moving very fast now." Gil was surprised at how many angels and Genesis forces were moving together. The mages that hade with them to the Sigil continent couldn''t care less about what affinity mana they had. They just wanted to be part of these experiments.


    This was normal for mages though. In the elven side of magic, many of the mages got together and had their own specific training area. They wouldpare how their elemental manas worked against it with one another. That was where their research shined.


    This wasn''t the only race that did this though. Many mages from many races worked together in some way. It was the angels who had been divided for their own reasons for too long that held themselves back from being able to make unified advances as a race.


    "I think it is moving just at the speed we need. Genesis is going to be a little busy when we get back, but for now I think we will be ready for what we need to do." Walker was mostly thinking about the alliance they had with the angels now.


    "We have the ships that will stay here. The vige needs them to be able to protect its shores as they make themselves the Genesis Alliance embassy vige. But to be fair, it will end up as the same as a city. Especially the speed that the angels are moving now. I would bet anything that some of them were sick of fighting over an older generation''s hate."


    While this mentality was somewhat unique, it wasn''t the first to happen. There had been many that rose up and represented things that were needing change. That was the entire ideal behind the demi-humans right now.


    King Rorik hade in to power after his father passed away and he had made things much smoother. He had generals that were more divided that were able to represent entire portions of his people. Then he had multiple coliseums to represent the battle traditions of their race as a whole. It was a maintenance of tradition and an improvement of overall life. A perfect example of the young being able to learn from the past and grow.


    "I just wonder how everyone else will take all this. Teleporting to a new continent? What dreams and imagination would someone need to think this would happen in our lifetime?" Gil''s awe over the entire event was enough to make Walker understand a little more. But with all themotion, it was hard to put it all in stone.


    "It just means that the more we explore our world, the more we will be able to do. Inds, continents, and whatever else will be open for us. For the people we represent." Walker''s positive attitude momentarily outshined the fear anyone had from the corrupted city floating away slowly but surely.


    "Brother, can you use me as the first to teleport to Genesis?" Onyx had been waiting for the chance toe over. He had seen the arrow work and was sure that the egg would work too. He felt it in his bones. The deep trust he had with Walker and everyone else was on another level.


    "That might be too dangerous just yet. We don''t have any rune carvers making these rune formation in Genesis yet. We need tomunicate with crystals to tell them how to do it and then test it first. I don''t want you getting hurt." Walker''s honest reactions are expected. But it also showed that Onyx might be getting a little too ahead of himself.


    "No, I need to get there and begin preparing the other abyssal and heavenly serpents. They will most likely fight too." Onyx made this statement as if it was more than expected. As if everyone knew that they would be joining the battles.


    "I don''t think they are old enough to all be battling in a war. shouldn''t they get more training?" It was only natural for Gil to interject and point this out. He knew that they might want to fight and protect their home, but if the battle was in the ocean or the sky, it would be harder to bring them with the entire army.


    "No, they will fight whether I want them to or not. That is how we are. I would fight and they learned from me. That means they will find ways to sneak in and fight. They also have been left behind growing and learning from every race there. They will be more than ready. Some might even grow differently than you think." It was a confidence that filled Onyx''s words that made both Walker and Gil look at him more seriously.


    "We will start making the teleportation tform here. I will speak to the rune carvers on in Genesis with as manymunication crystals as we have. From there, we will decide when to teleport. We will send one person before sending everyone from the party and leadership. We will also bring the angel leaders so that they can join the council. Or whoever they send as representatives."


    The rity that Walker made sure to put behind his voice was enough to make Onyx understand that this was just the way it would be. He would have to wait a little longer before returning to the abyssal and heavenly serpents that he had worked with to help grow. That he knew as his younger siblings in a way. That were below him and rising to meet the expectations needed to be recognized as a race within the world.


    "I will go first!" Midnight had overheard all of this. But she clearly wanted to be supportive and wasn''t pushing to go back for the same reasons as Onyx. Yet, Walker did sense that she wanted to be able to see the hatchling dragons as well. She had sent them here and there to help them find their ce. Now she wants to see what they had done to grow recently.


    "I heard that! I will not let anyone else be the first to try the very thing I''ve wanted for my entire life! You will all make me move first! Through the very space that separates bathrooms!" Ezra had only heard Midnight, but it was enough for there to be a major response.


    Not only this, but multiple assistants reacted along with fellow mages who wanted to experience all of this as well. To be able to be part of a break through that the world had not seen on this level in who knew how many years.


    "We will send only those that are necessary. We need to test it first on a living being then create everything we need. We will not cut corners or risk lives here by rushing!" Walkers should was louder than any cheering or arguing. He made his point so that no one could push back.


    While it was a safety oriented goal, he did want to move faster. He wanted to return to Genesis and see what had grown. But most of all, he wanted to see how the elemental spirits were doing.


    The flow of mana was clearly off. Not just with the corrupted city here, but also around the world. The echidna had said this, the world was clear on it, and the corrupted mana was an example of this too.


    Knowing that there was more to this and how the world should flow meant a lot. If everyone coulde together to defeat the evil they faced, then there was a clear path for growth. Massive growth that would unite many racespletely.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1904 1904. First Tests

    The buzz in Genesis City had be much more than many could handle. The adventurers guild, the forging guild, the alchemy guild, and the tamer''s guild had all gained a lot more strength after their buildings had been finished, resized, and even improved.


    This was why all of their leaders had made their way to the Genesis building. Why they had found themselves sitting at a table behind the representatives on the Genesis council.


    Many had arrived at the Genesis building as more quests had appeared. World quests in particr had begun to appear more so than what Walker or the party knew. One person who had been documenting them much more closely than before was ra.


    As the head guild master of the adventurer''s guild, she had been keeping a close eye on what the party had been doing while also on the unusual quests appearing to every adventurer. This was why she understood some of the world messages about the echidna a little better. But in particr, she had also gained some information.


    The other representatives of Genesis had also received all the recentmunications through their people in the Genesis forces on the ships. Every detail was sent back and documented. Specifically, the states of the angel empires, the corrupt city, and now the fact that world quests were given out.


    The entire world had felt this when it happened and ra had made a move to work on these. "As everyone knows, the world quests are not just one major quest to defeat the corrupted city, the demons remaining, and to purify the corrupted mana. There are smaller quests appearing." the old master alchemist looked at ra. He hade from the alchemy guild immediately.


    "Multiple of our alchemists have gained quests to create more health and mana potions. But the higher level alchemists have received unique world sub quests to create specific potions that only we can create. There is a even arge alchemical quest to discover the natural alchemy skills. We are lost about that right now."


    This had been a big deal when the quotes appeared. They all believed their usage of alchemy was proper, yet, here they were finding out that their alchemy was apparently not the natural method. Even more so, that there was something called a natural alchemist! They had yet to hear anything from Remey about this development, but the old master alchemist knew that she would be right in the thick of this. It was just like her to be so.


    "The same in the forge. I had a quest appear just yesterday to create a de with affinity for every elemental mana. I had to forge multiple des to match every affinity in front of fifty young cksmiths as a world sub quest. It is clear that it is preparing us for war!" The cksmiths all had this opinion. Their quests all revolved around armor, teaching, and bing able to create more for Genesis forces.


    "I agree. I know that between the taming guild and the adventure''s guild we have simr quests. The taming guild presented us papers, take a look." ra pushed forward everything they found for the representatives and guild masters.


    "You can see that they have found more beasts in a mad state that can not be tamed or controlled. They are clearly affected by some outside first. The monsters are worse than ever before. If this spreads, there will be many deaths in the wilderness and definitely attacks on our viges, farms, cities¡­if not worse."


    "The adventurer''s guild has many world sub quests to y these mad monsters that the taming guild has scouted. Therefore, I believe this to be a result of the corrupted floating city. I believe these monsters have somehow been corrupted by the same mana. I believe it is intentional and will only get worse. That means we need to prepare even more than before."


    Everyone began to speak much more. Sending underlings to go and tell their guilds to get even more strict with their works. Or even more, to train guards and soldiers while they still could. Once things became more dangerous, even a second more of training could save lives.


    "I believe I should speak next." An older and clearly more frail man walked in to the room. His face showed the age that he had very clearly. Yet, everyone quieted down. They recognized him as the master rune carver that had appeared to examine origin runes on the mage tower. He was also the man that had more breakthroughs than any other rune carver or rune researcher in the city right now. His word was worth listening to.


    "I was just contacted to create a rune formation. A rune teleportation formation that will allow travel to the Sigil continent. I will need help. The heroes areing home."


    Before the next hour was up, the entire city had heard about the magical rune teleportation formation that a hundred rune carvers, mages, and guards had been called to prepare. The massive space set aside for it was also something that would yet again expand Genesis City.


    In thest months, trusted craftsman had been pushing to move farms to better ces, expand buildings, and make it perfect for travel. By it, Genesis was meant. The city that was growing at tremendous leaps with great care. Every single building held more meaning.


    Now, there was an elemental space rune formation that needed to be carved in arge space. A ce that could handle the peopleing to and from at certain intervals. Yet, it also needed to be guarded properly. This challenge came to the builders, engineers, and every possible rted system user. They were ecstatic to be part of it.


    The rune researchers, carvers, and any other rune rted system user also flocked nearby. They could learn things from this that no one else could teach them. It would greatly strengthen their future. It would also strengthen the city as a whole. Which would in turn allow the people to thrive regardless of the situation in the world.


    Thismotion would have spread even further if the representatives had not already managed to send their own methods ofmunication about the projects happening at the moment to the allied kingdoms. This caused many more forces to begin preparing to both bolster Genesis but also to bolster their own defenses.


    It was easy to understand the threats that they all faced and how they should be even more united than before to handle them. Furthermore, that they were more than in an age of massive growth. They would be pushing for a better future while also trying to maintain a safer future.


    If one were to look back on this moment in history, it would be known as the mana corruption period. Where monsters grew stronger and even fed on their fellow monsters. Where weak monsters known for being peaceful acted out in violence. But even more, that many of the people were brought more closer together than any time in history.


    The process of developing this rune formation also became an event for themon people. They walked up to see the process and enjoy the undertaking as a whole. The ships had been the first major event for Genesis, and now it was a spatial rune formation that would allow the people to teleport elsewhere.


    The growing merchant guild had been silent as of yet since it was more of a controlling force that allowed for the craftsmen, adventurers and alchemists to maintain clear rules within Genesis. They were regtory and made certain that merchants did not abuse power. They saw the potential in this and how they would be able to actively trade with Sigil.


    Therefore, they were active in the area ensuring that no merchant snuck in and jumped in to the teleportation without being stopped. The risks of such things might be low since people should not be so foolish, but safety was safety


    Having so many guilds and guards was a big event alone. But when the rune formation had been carved after three days of nonstop work by those with the highest of skills and ability to procure the materials, everyone found themselves dumbfounded.


    The rune formation activated after everyone cleared it and the master rune carver had used amunication crystal. They all imagined something amazing appearing in front of them. However, not a single person imagined the simple basket of choice eggs that appeared right in the center of the formation.


    Completely unharmed. Completely normal. So normal that one of the rune carvers even eximed how one of the eggs had just broken out and a chick had hatched chirping happily at the bright blue sky above. Not a single person knew what to say about this as the first ever living teleportation test.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1905 1905. Successful Teleportation

    "It must be weird to see a whole basket of chicken eggs randomly appear in the center of the rune formation carved out for a literal day." Gil''sment was exactly what many were thinking.


    The process of activating the rune from formation after it had been carved over a veryrge area had required thirty four mages. The mages needed to use about a quarter of their mana to be able to help the rune formation activate.


    This was a few more than expected, but proved that it could be reduced since the elemental space rune formation had been thought to require much more mana than what it did take. Furthermore, the process had been surprisingly faster.


    The rune formation had easily taken the mana. Possibly because the carvers had gone over their work well over a hundred times. This was followed by Ezra''s strict evaluation and then cleaning. Especially after Walker had used the all around appraisal skill to check the formation.


    What Walker had found interesting more than anything was the fact that the all around appraisal had changed. Instead of just saying this was an elemental space rune formation, it was a showing up as arge elemental teleportation formation.


    This change proved that the size of the formation also influenced how it worked. For a moment, he had been worried that changes might be needed. This had already been fixed though. The rune carvers had their natural skills and instincts with the systems they had. Therefore, when they noticed the issues, they mended them.


    This was how multiple life runes had been added and a recurring space rune pattern came to be. While it would have just been a few interesting changes, Walker and Ezra had seen the runes ovepping and understood that it had to do with the amount of mana needed and the amount of mana flowing through the runes smoothly.


    But even more, when the space rune had been ovepped in certain areas, they were able to oddly piece it together even more. Walker had been more silent than before because he noticed that Ezra already grasped what this meant. With a steel will, Ezra had held himself back from researching the potential that this was a moreplete form of space rune.


    If Ezra had not been able to control himself, then they would have missed one of the rune formation carvings that had been chipped due to the first test after sending the basket of eggs. This would have led to a failure in the second use of the formation. The wear and tear in the formation was clearly more than expected. But that was also because of the materials.


    The materials were rough since it wasst minute. The metal sheets brought by the angels and the stone underneath were not made with all elemental manas in mind. They had been brought because they could handle, for a time, the elemental manas. There was also the fact that no one knew what might be able to handle the spatial mana better yet. That would need more research which Ezra would surely be thinking about spooner thanter.


    "There was a hatching chicken egg in Genesis!" the announcement came out in a loud roar. Mordant had rushed to be the one that wouldmunicate with themunication crystal. Hist desire to return to the continent was high since he wanted to n to get more of his dragonkin together,


    The other royal dragons held this idea as well, all but for Ignus and Terron who had already found the dominator dragon ruins for their own elemental affinity. They wanted to study as much as they could so that they might be able to get strong enough to handle the corrupted undead wyvern king that was currently flying around the corrupted city as a ward. It was dangerous opponent that the dragons were not confident in facing while also handling whatever dangers came from the corrupted mana.


    The sess also drew the rest of the angels from the embassy to celebrate but also look and see what was going to happen. Many of the more powerful angels had always needed to remain calm due to their positions of power. Yet, with the changes going on right now, they were letting their curiosites show much more than they would normally show.


    This was all a good thing though. It meant that the representatives leaving with genesis forces would be able to meet genesis with a more open mind. Not that they would be able to handle what they saw. Even the party would struggle with some of the new andpleted buildings that they had missed being built since they had been gone. But that was all forter.


    "We are finally heading home, right?" Remey spoke like she was about to burst. But when Walker turned around toa answer, he was stopped speechless.


    "What happened!?" His eyes were focused on the small burns here and there on her body. But even more so on the fact that she had bandages all over her arms to her fingers.


    "None of your business. Training is training and I will punch you all the same if you bother me. So just spit it out, when are we going home? I want to check on the alchemy guild and get people ready to fight for real." Remey''s annoyance was clearly a goal mixed with pain, but Walker still wanted to know how she had burned herself and also managed to do it so badly that she needed bandages on her arms.


    "Seriously, just let Walker heal-"


    "No!, this stays this way because it needs to." Remey''s instant kick toward Gil made him jump away from her. But no one dared to say a word. Even as Ignus made a move to stand between them as well. It appeared that he also would not let anyone interfere with what Remey wanted. It made everyone a little more tense.


    "Remey is not the only one brother." Onyx voiced his own concern as Alice and Su walked up looking haggard. Su didn''t even have her armor on. She was carrying it using the twin shields as a method to carry it all at one. Her arms and legs were clearly bruised and she walked as if she had just trained with immense force.


    Alice was much the same, but the look in her eyes was that of someone whose mentality had been shattered over and over. It was especially worse when she tried to focus her attention on what was going on around them.


    "What did all of you do!? Why does it look like you all went to war without anyone knowing?" Walker might have known that everyone was doing their own training in some way or another, but the fact that they were all so beaten up proved that it might have been deeper than training.


    "We prepared ourselves better. That''s all that you need to know for now. We are just following our own paths. You learned the same from the Echidna." Su spoke softly. She had a bruise on her cheek that stopped her from being louder. Not that it stopped Walker from hearing everything.


    "I brought some of the archers that I think should return with us. I know that there are more, but they need to remain here to protect the vige we began to build. Leon and Scy will be here soon too. They have their own ns for their people and what else needs to be done." Alma made it clear that the ships were not the ce for them to remain now that there was proof of teleportation being possible.


    "It''s going to be very busy when we get back." Gil made a head nod towards the elven archers that hade behind Alma. She knew as well that the elves would be very talkative and wish to see the high elven dagger technique returned to their people. Gil would also have to teach it. That would be the true challenge.


    "There will be more than busy. We have a lot to do and clearly a lot that we don''t know about each other." Walker shook his head slightly as he saw the Genesis forces that were leaving beginning together. It would take some time to send everyone, but it was possible.


    "Before you make any moves. We have our representatives." the voice of Rize spoke loudly enough to silence many angels nearby. Fel also arrived next to them with a younger angel in two. The two had chosen angels that were young enough to grow in to a position which was a wise choice. Walker nodded calmly as he saw the two angels move toward him for introductions. This would be one of thest steps before they began teleporting people.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1906 1906. Young Angels

    "My name is Ebon. I am the youngest quad elemental mage of the Rize empire. I can use water, wire, wind, and earth. It is the very reason why I have studied every single elemental hall but for light and darkness. I will be representing the angels within our alliance." The young angel was wearing colors to match his affinities. It seemed to be more traditional clothing than anything.


    Ebon''s demeanor was one of confidence. But it was clear that he had been raised very carefully to hold the superiority of the elemental mana higher than others. Especially since his eyes would dart to the Fel empire angels with a slight disdain. But that was fine, he was tongue and his opinions would change with time.


    "I am Lim, I am the representative taken from our research institute to represent the Fel empire. I am better known as the young archive. I have perfectly memorized every single research theory, goal, and researcher within the Fel empire. I am able topile data and properly record it. I was going to pursue the path of grand archivist before such an interesting new world was opened to us."


    Of simr stature as Ebon, Lim appeared to be very confident. But that confidence came from the fact that he clearly took his time to learn facts over and over. The skills to be able to memorize research information were clearly simr to some that Walker had. But to be able to use these facts was where Lim''s confidence came from.


    He was also holding some weight over the Rize empire side since his eyes matched the same darting and slight re that Ebon had. But since Walker could easily see through these two representatives and their prejudice, it would be easier to manage.


    "I am Walker, I am one of the founders of Genesis, a hero title holder, along with other things, and one for the people that assisted both of your empires to be united. The future may be hard to adapt to, but that is a challenge every race is facing together. For the moment, I hope that you both keep an open mind."


    Walker paused looking at the two. Ebon held less curiosity in his posture than Lim, but that was fine. Ebon would definitely be enamored when he saw the elemental mage tower. Lim would most likely be amazed by everything he saw in Genesis.


    "Genesis is a ce where all races can be united. A ce we bring all information together to share and grow as a united people. That means that whether or not you both dislike your past, opposing empires, or anything else, you will be held to Genesisw. You will not disregard a race for any reason. All are equal."


    "Furthemore, you both represent the angels as a race. Not your empires. If you dare to fight amongst yourselves, you will risk the angel race''s future within Genesis. I can tell that you did not fully ept this weight, but you should know that as you are now, your race can be wiped off existence easily by the royal dragons with me. I wouldn''t even need to lift a finger." Walker allowed mana to be slightly erratic around him. Just for a split second to hit his words home.


    "However, I wish the angels to regain their past. To be able to see their history and grow to see the world in bright colors. If you have the same vision for a future where all angels can have a chance to live full lives, then you have nothing to worry about. You will only need to work together to achieve that goal. United angels and united people working together to a brighter future."


    Walker was in no way trying topletely beat the two angels down. However, he knew that both the Rize and Fel empire would struggle to unite themselves, that was a fact. It was also why some of the genesis forces would remain here throughout their negotiations. Furthermore, that they would most likely be caught up in their own struggle for power.


    Both angel empires would want to take the forefront of their people. It would take a lot of time for them to actually unite at the higher ends of their race. But the lower people that lived in viges were going to be the motivation they needed. They outnumbered the higher ups living in their respective floating cities. They were the ones that wished to get more ess to knowledge and strength.


    With this said, Lim and Ebon both called themselves. As angels, the chaotic mana that Walker had manipted was incredibly intimidating to them. But they hadn''t felt what genesis would be like. The mana there was sure to be more dense than what they had ever experienced.


    "Now that you two seem to agree, feel free to meet the rest of my party, fellow founding members of Genesis, and other representatives you may have seen briefly." Walker pointed out the arriving Leon and Scy along with Alma and the party. The two younger angels naturally felt a little more fear when they saw Scy, but the others made them a little more rxed. But also curious.


    "Did you really need to scare them so much? I thought that they would pass out right there in front of you." Gilughed a little before giving Walker a pat on the back. He knew very well that it was important to make certain the angels did not carry any negativity in to genesis when they saw it for the first time.


    "I just wanted to make sure that everything worked out well enough. Especially since the angels have lived very separately for their entire existence. Even when their ancestors were in our home continent, they were more or less separated from all the other races." Walker''s point was very valid. The other races had developed around one another, the only outliers were the wyverns and the angels.


    "It''s better that they ept other races before they get to Genesis. I agree. They will be weed regardless of their beliefs though. All races are wee in our home." Su made a point to say this loudly. She saw the two angel leaders nod in appreciation.


    While the two leaders knew they could overpower Walker, they understood that he had abilities that they did not fathom. They also understood where they stand as a race right now. Well behind many others. It hurt to admit even internally, but it was the truth. They had lost their path.


    "Looks like you have been pretty busy. But that doesn''t mean that we have been too." Leon came up to Walker to great him after not seeing him for some time. "You''d be pretty impressed by the reef we came up on near that vige. Without that death mana around as much, there are tons of fish and monstersing to explore. We managed to get a good perimeter set up." Leon''s pride in his merfolk soldiers was truer than ever.


    "Your people did that? I remember having to step in to deal with a coral octopus mother that wished to use you as a toothpick? Or should I say eat you and use your little spear as a toothpick." Scyughed at her own joke but Leon just shrugged. It appeared the two got along much better after helping to develop the vige and protect the ships during this time.


    "As Long as there is a vige and a Genesis embassy being built, I think we will be good. Especially since we just managed to build the teleportation runes. We get to go home and back here whenever we want. It means we have a whole newnd to help explore." Walker was more positive but Leon and Scy clearly had their own excitement about the Sigil continent.


    We can explore it all once you introduce us to that echidna race we saw the world recognize as still existing." From the way Leon spoke, it was one conversation the pair had had with one another.


    "Most of the echidna are somewhere else. They walk their own path. But some of their warriors remained. They won''t share many secrets, but they seem to want to teach and help here and there. They are kind and connected to nature. Anything you learn from them is valuable. Just don''t insult them please. They deserve respect for their aplishments."


    The little bit of mystery that came with Walker''s words made Leon and Scy more excited. Alma was nearby and had the same thoughts about the echidna after Gil had told her about them. But none of this was the current focus. All of them had gathered and they were nearly ready to head home for the first time in months.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1907 1907. Teleported Home

    "Alright, everyone will need to channel mana in to the rune formation. Just let it work and do not resist it. Make sure you close your eyes since it might be ufortable. Teleportation is a weird thing you know!" Ezra stood with the party and the other leaders heading to Genesis first. Ebon and Lim were the two that were giving the most worried looks.


    While the angels trusted what they believed had already been a sess, it was clear that this was still a rocky ground to cover. Especially since they had only teleported hatching chicken eggs as the first attempt and sessful tests.


    Whoever, the results had been perfect. There was not a single issue and the mana costs and even been lower than expected. Thos on the Genesis side had even reported a perfect teleportation using the elemental space teleportation formation. This alone was something that could flip the world upside down.


    It was only to be expected that Ezra would not allow anyone else to go first. He had to be there to see it alle together and began testing more thingster. Especially since he had been researching space and spatial mana for his entire life. The real trick would be how he felt after being teleported for the first time.


    "Is everyone ready?" Walker saw a lot of nodding heads. He also saw worried faces and smiling faces. It was a somewhat perfect mix of emotions right before making a historical moment reality.


    "We should just do it already. Let happen what needs to happen." Scy had somehow managed to be even more excited than other people. It was the simple desire to be around the other generals and soldiers of the demi-human kingdom. She wanted to report and begin preparing the soldiers for an iing battle.


    "Well, with that note, let''s do it!" Walker let loose a positive shout to everyone.


    Multiple mages moved and ced hands at the edges of the elemental space rune formation. Their mana easily flowing in to the rune formation allowing for elemental manas and spatial mana to be gathered. The life mana runes perfectly held up as the formation was activated.


    It was a very interesting thing to witness. Walker could sense the manas moving through the rune formations as the formation began to activate. But even more, he could feel the manas within his body resonating.


    This odd feeling was one that he found to be simr to an enlightenment. He had never truly understood to what depth his body had when it came to elemental mana within him. His body like any other living being, had many elemental manas within it. They were in a perfect bnce for what he was and what he needed to survive.


    Yet, as they resonated with the rune formation dn the spatial mana also began to gather, Walker felt that his body was epting more mana than normal. This fact was proven by everyone else who appeared to be absorbing simr amounts of mana within their bodies.


    The density of mana clearly had to be increased to be able to bnce the mana absence that was on the opposing end of the rune formation. Therefore, Walker could tell that it would be very important to be able to mitigate this effect if someone injured was being teleported in the future.


    Some people who had been injured mightck mana and being forced to absorb more might be good or bad. If they were injured, the additional mana might force too much within their body and push them in to a worse injury. However, Walker could sense that his mana reserves were nearly refilled which was a surprising side effect.


    This worked better than a mana potion since the teleportation absorbed many forms of mana and allowed the body being teleported to use those. It was a quick way to ensure that any forces sent using this method would be able to battle when they arrived. Not that this was what the rune formation would be used for. It would be ideal for tired merchants more than anything.


    A sudden twisting feeling appeared around them. Walker kept his eyes open which was against what Ezra suggested. This was because he was curious what he would see while being teleported. When he had used the scrolls in the past, things had been instant. But this was a much slower processpared to that since this was a formation that they had just learned.


    The twisting feeling was more than just in his head, Walker saw the surroundings appear to warp and twist on themselves. It was the same as being spun around faster and faster. His vision was seemingly being distorted since the light around him wasn''t really there but somehow still seemed to be there.


    The feeling of spatial mana all around him and within his body made Walker realize that the life mana deep within him that had been there since he was born also mixed with the spatial mana. They were partners to give his body a pce to be. They were the keys to why he walked on this ne of existence.


    As much as that was enlightening, Walker suddenly found the world shifting around him yet again. But this time, familiar buildings and familiar guard uniforms started to take ce. Before he could even take a deep breath in, everything snapped. It was a slightly cracking sound as if someone had used a whip in the air.


    The next thing he knew, a tremendous booming sound had echoed around them as cheering erupted. Many guards and others that Walker was more familiar with began to keep people back who wanted to examine the rune formations. Others were there to wee home the soldiers and the party who had left so long ago on the ships.


    Many mages were watching carefully as the manas settled. They felt that they had seen something that they would never forget. But most of all, they saw that the manas were united in a way that they had never imagined. The elemental space rune formation had brought manas together and fused them in a special way that was unique to that formation. It made every mage wish to know more and how they might use such a fusion of elemental manas together.


    "Everyone go over your own body and then filter yourselves toward the healer''s tents. You will have a full exam before anything else happens!" Ezra shouted out the next orders. He was amazed that everything had worked, and was staring at his hands. However, Ezra did not forget the next steps that they had to take.


    The evaluations of every single person were incredible data that had to be taken. Especially since multiple races had just teleported for the first time together. Every single small detail could be a massive improvement to the future of spatial mana study. Even more, how to improve teleportation as a whole.


    Some of the soldiers that came with the group appeared to be dizzy or nauseous. This was to be expected since this was arge change in the manas and their bodies. But Walker also sensed a little bit of this even with his higher resistances to manas and other things. Therefore, he concluded that those who had these feelings had also had their eyes open. The fact that they witnessed the teleportation most likely pushed their minds in to an odd ce. Too much stress in trying to understand the process.


    There was also the mental note that Walker could still sense spatial mana within him more than before. The spatial mana that stayed with him would naturally dissipate with the other elemental manas. Yet, when he reached within himself to try and control that space mana, Walker found himself to get a better grip on it than before.


    His eyes widened as he understood this and began trying to sense everyone else''s mana. Walker found that everyone had an additional amount of spatial mana around them that was slowly dissipating. As it did, he managed to draw it towards him. The spatial mana affinity that he had was definitely better than other people''s affinity with space. But that wasn''t the focus here.


    The space mana that he sensed and drew in was perfectly dwelling within his body now because he had more than awakened his own affinity. Even more so, he could tell that the jigger spatial storage skill he used had a deeper feeling. As if he could somewhat grasp the size and space of such a thing. That the space separated to store things was also part of him.


    Because he had this skill and other affinities, he had managed to grasp a better understanding by teleporting. It just went to show that remaining open minded during this had paid off immensely already.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1908 1908. Corrupted Reunion

    Even though the whalers had already checked him, Walker felt that he was being bothered much more than normal. But it was mostly because of the people who had darted from the crowd nearby when he finally walked out of the healer''s examination tent.


    "You finally came back! I have so many things to show you!" Lias had been faster than both Walker''s father and mother. She had sprinted when she heard that they would be using teleportation of all things to make it home. But even more, she had been getting stronger and strongertely because of her hard work making top of the line clothing.


    The rune sewn clothes had be an art form in Genesis. Yet, the leader of that was one of the youngest seamstresses ever. Her imagination had been able to bring together rune formations that rune carvers would struggle to carve. But what really had brought things to another level was when Lisa had brought in rune carvers to tell her how to make runes!


    "I have seven new employees and two more shops that I just opened! I even hired rune carvers to help make new runes for my fabric designs!" The flexibility that came with fabric and string was where the rune designs flourished. They Were not stone or two dimensional. They were a flexible and moving thing.


    "I should have known that you would steal the show when I was gone." Walker was d to hear the familiar voice. He had started to forget how happy he was when he had his family closer to him. "How has the city been? Anyone causing any trouble?"


    "You know how it is, guards are guarding. But now I have a lot more young ones to teach. Apparently, they all take my ss to meet the father of some hero. Then they realize that they need to learn how to be real guards." Walker''s father had ended up as one of the most popr guards to learn from in the past months. Therefore he had changed professions in a way.


    "And you should know your father well enough to know that he brings the entire guard squad of trainees down to eat where I have my own cooks learning my recipes. To think that when the other races came here that they would be bringing ingredients and other things that helped give buffs to others. Now we are cooking herbs that should be in potions, in to our normal food."


    The joking andughter as they all showed off what had been happening while Walker was away made him feel that he had missed too much. Everything was very interesting and he didn''t know if he would have enough time to be able to enjoy it all before he had to focus on the growing problems he would be facing in the corrupted mana.


    Simr scenes were happening with the others as they met family, friends, and even a few of their stronger supporters within their race. Alma being one of them who had been surrounded by elves the moment she returned. She had been in constantmunication with the forest elf queen''s underlings. Now they would have a real meeting and she would be busier than ever before.


    The same would be said for Scy who was met with an entire guard of demi-human soldiers under king Roricks orders. Then there was Leon who had already been called on by his father, the current king of the merfolk. Therefore, the three would be busy in the same aspects for some time.


    What caught Walker''s attention right away were the things that he overheard as some of the soldiers met with their families or higher ups. Whispers of monsters going wild or people facing harder battles had already been heard. Walker knew about these. That was until he heard the term, corrupted monsters.


    "Should I even try and ask what''s been going on since I was away with the monsters?" Walker looked at his parents and little sister only to see that they were somewhat unwilling to say anything. They knew that he would be busier if they told him anything.


    "I think that Midnight is looking to say hello to you now that she already said something to me." ra''s voice was loud enough to make Walker turn around. She had somehow managed to capture Midnight''s attention while Walker spoke to his family.


    In a single leap, Midnight tackled Lisa then jumped to do the same to Walker''s mother and father in greeting. It was only natural that they were very happy to see her as well. They understood that Onyx had rushed towards the abyssal and heavenly serpents to check on them. They did not fault him for that. He was growing up too. But Midnight had wanted to see all three of them just as much as Walker. They were her family too.


    "I wish we could say that youing home was the end of a journey and it was time for a long vacation." ra sounded sad that she was going to be asking Walker to do more. Especially since she had watched him stand out and create his own path without needing her to guide the party whatsoever.


    "Unfortunately, it appears that the corrupted floating city you sent information about is not the only thing corrupted. There are monsters that have shown terrifying signs of corruption." ra handed a folder to Walker. She had carried these reports all the way from the adventurer''s guild and wanted for them to teleport. She knew that Walker''s fight against these corrupted monsters would spur everyone to help fight them even more.


    "There are some monsters that we knew would be acting up because of their natural lifecycle. But then there are monsters such as the horned rabbits which suddenly begin attacking one another. We isted one such horned rabbit and found its fur had turned blood red due to the mana within it going wild. We could not purify it, and in its madness, it managed to harm more powerful adventurers than it should be able to."


    "Worse off yet, when it was left alone, it perished because the blood color was its body rejecting the mana within it. The corrupted mana made it bleed and perish unless it could maintain nutrition. Theypletely lose the ability to eat nts and go after anything alive. Their species or not. That is the corrupted monster we have issues with."


    "I had a bad feeling that we would hear more issuesing to light, but the corrupted mana is spreading somehow?" Walker was unsure how this was possible. The corrupted city should be the only pce that is affected by the corrupted mana.


    "The theory is that all mana is in some sort of bnce. Therefore, the bnce was broken a long time ago and because it is not being enhanced, that it is affecting others. It is like an illness that is spreading through mana. Mana is everywhere so anyone or anything could be affected." ra pointed out a few more documents that had been researched.


    "We will need to work faster. I assume that the world has issued a lot of quests and that the adventurer''s guild is documenting it all?" Walker saw ra nod. "Then we should use that as our guide. The world''s will is odd and makes no sense, but it pushes us towards the right flow of mana. That I know for sure."


    With this new threat on his te, Walker looked at his family enjoying the reunion. He took a deep breath and decided to grab the party and get them together before they all went their separate ways. Then they could get to work where they needed to. "I will get everyone together. We will have a meeting of representatives tomorrow afternoon." This was the best n for now.


    "I will see you then. A few more faces had joined since the heads of every guild will be represented now. We have grown since you were away." ra pointed out the addition to the adventurer''s guild building that Walker could see from where he stood. It would be a very interesting sight seeing journey when he took that morning walk.


    "I look forward to seeing it all. But for now, I am going to enjoy some time eating with my family." Walker headed back toward everyone. He knew he would call the party together in a few moments. But letting them all enjoy these moments or reunion were worth much more. Especially since the reunions would be the fuel to stand tall. To be able to stand above the pressure of evil that was trying to corrupt the world they lived in. They could take their stand a littleter after they had let the weight off their hearts.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1909 1909. Bright Morning

    Catching up was a very good thing for many of those that were teleported back to Genesis. But there were also those that were teleported to the Sigil continent. Many of the mages that went were to share knowledge or to start building more rtionships with the angels.


    In particr, there are some of the management positions from the guilds and the Genesis building going over. They would share the processes that had been created to manage all the racesing together.


    This was going to be a revitalization of many things. The angels would be able to take the more developed processes for documenting their people, for setting up certain organizations, and evenbining theirws. It would help them in many ways to unite their empires.


    Once this was done, the angels would be able to develop better and begin to reim some of their history. It would also help with the sharing of knowledge that they tended to do. Especially when it came to the many topics that the Fel side of the angels had researched. They might be off on tangents that many people had not really touched on ever before. Not to mention the archives of the elemental halls that the Rize side had going on.


    All of these things would be ties to Genesis and to bring their people together. Especially the more that the viges that the angels started to grow in would have the ability to grow now. Genesis forces had already started to help one, that alone would be the base for Genesis as the embassy. Therefore, the other viges would feel the connection the most.


    They would have the chance to grow will the full focus on the united angels empire. A group of angels and Genesis forces that would allow them to establish homes, farms, and so much mirror. Just thinking about it was somewhat exciting for some of the angels that had always thought them too low ranked to matter.


    This wasn''t even considering those with systems that didn''t have a ce in the angel empire before. Now they would have ces to go to learn more, and to experience the things rted to their systems.


    "Midnight, did you really need to wake me up so early?" Walkerughed a little as Midnight nudged him in the shoulder again. The sun had barely started to push over the horizon. He could see the familiar scene of the clouds being pushed aside by the sun as it rose around the newly put up buildings.


    The same sounds of merchant carts and cleaners going along the streets in the morning paired with the smell of baked goods was enough to help Walker jump out of bed. "What do you say about going for a walk? Everyone will be waiting for me to have a meeting in a little while. I know we ended up pushing it all back, but it will be important so that we can get stronger and keep tracking the movements of the corrupted city."


    "Breakfast!" Midnight''s single desire was the very same as always. She wanted to stop at every possible ce to eat on their way.


    "yes yes, and make sure you show off your dragonkin form more. It will surprise a few people who have never seen it." Walker made sure to promise that Midnight and him would be grabbing as much food as they could. Naturally, Midnight already had the change of form in mind. She had wanted to keep training in it.


    Stepping outside their mansion, Walker found the same sights as always. However, he was feeling more at home and calm than he had in thest months. It was really telling how much he had missed Genesis just by the weight that came off his shoulders by getting back here.


    The buildings that had been changes were very clearly there to be seen. Many of the buildings had been expanded in to some of the spaces left behind just for that reason. Especially the family homes nearby the market streets. They had been widened or additions had been made so that some could facilitate a small shop as part of the family building.


    This was the newest and best way for the families to be able to help themselves maintain their future along with also living close to their work. There were also many new homes that had been built that Walker could see down the street. They were going to be for younger families or for those that were still moving to Genesis for the potential of a brilliant and new future.


    What really surprised Walker in the best way possible were the demons he saw. Many more were out in the morning going off to their jobs. They looked jovial and full of positive energy. This alone was the best feeling he had found in a while.


    The demon race had suffered a lot by their own people and the evil of the demon lord. Now the fact that there was another issue that came with the corrupted mana, it might hurt them again. The best goal for Walker to have was to get ahead of the problem and be able to face any issue that might hurt the demons again.


    For now though, Walker was enjoying seeing a few of the children sending their parents off. Many more people were waking up as the pair strutted through Genesis. Plenty of stalls had started to cook up food for the merchants out to set up shop. The freshest vegetables and fruits would always be sold first thing in the morning.


    "I should have known you would drag me to a stall with meat first." Walkerughed slightly as Midnight grabbed his hand and dragged him to a stall that smelled better than any other they had seen yet.


    "Oh, now I have seen you before. Is this a new¡­ohhhhh, you look so different!" The man that was working the stall had seen the party before. But this was his first time seeing Midnight''s dragonkin form.


    "Midnight has learned a bit more about herself. This is her dragonkin form just like the other royal dragons. But we still like to stop by and get some snacks. We will be very busy the next few days. I just thought a walk about would do us good. Just to see how everything it going."


    Walker looked at the garlic marinated meat skewers. Some of the eggs had been hard boiled and marinated as well. Both were a delicacy that made this small stall very sessful. It was a small stall that had managed to spread and be a full fledged family business of moving stalls that dealt in the very same product.


    "Well, let me grab you something good. We just started using this fruit that the elves brought. They call it a jack fruit. It takes any vor the same as meat. But the elves like it since it isn''t meat. They don''t all eat meat you know!" While taking the food and handing the money, Walker smiled while seeing the new products.


    This was exactly what he imagined would happen. The different races were bringing different foods and so many new things. They were able to unite their cultures and share these things. It was clearly working out well. Even the stalls that had opened for the morning workers had adapted so that other races would be able to enjoy the same foods as others.


    When the sudden flurry of wings came from above, all three of them looked up to see the first harpy mail carriers heady out. They appeared to be just as energetic. Genesis was truly a growing society where everyone had a ce to find themselves in.


    "Have a good day now! Try and check out some of the new shops opening up down the road. A lot of good thingsing from the demons down south. They were pretty excited to bring some of their rare fruits from theirnds." The stall owner gave a call of farewell as Midnight and Walker headed off.


    "We will have to see a lot on our walk. I also want to hunt down the wandering cksmith. He will want to try and use some of the new materials we got. Not to mention Su needs her armor sets adjusted to be taken on and off more easily. The twin shields also need work." Walker started mumbling a little as they passed by the improved guild buildings. All of them stood much taller andrger.


    The fresh scent of herbsing from the fields of space provided to the alchemy guild were enough to make the feeling of the air in Genesi even better. Not to mention the effects of the Mage tower helping everyone with mana and their affinities. It was calming and weing.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1910 1910. Fields Of Herbs

    The herb fields stood out as an amazing event. Something that could be said to be a focal point between all the guilds.


    It wasn''t just that they had been made so that they could grow herbs of all sorts. Streams, small flooded pools, and even entire trees had been transnted to be able to create the ideal living conditions for a myriad of herbs.


    It was the fact that the runes used to create even a frozen space were all set up to be used as a massive park. The herbalists made it clear that they wanted everyone to enjoy the area safely. Therefore, the herbs had been set up in a way that allowed people to wander in and enjoy the beauty. Specifically, the elves enjoyed this the most.


    The elemental spirits were another groups that enjoyed this immensely. Because of the elemental runes, a lot of elemental mana gathered in the specific areas ideal for certain herbs.. This helped the elemental spirits to grow while also allowing them to the peace of nature more than before.


    Therefore, the elemental spirits had started to actively assist the herbalists leading way for a few unique elemental spirit herbalist system users to appear. This was just another step in bing a unique a growing society.


    "I think walking through there would be very nice for the morning." Walker knew that making his and Midnight''s walk longer would just hold things off. However, he couldn''t stop himself. The herb fields that had been put right in the middle of Genesis were a wee bit of nature that would always remain even though the city was growing at a monstrous rate. It would always be a peaceful ce to rx that bolstered the city''s health.


    "That''s a lot of frost, but that''s what is letting those herbs grow. I''m surprised we can even get them here." Walker was using his all around appraisal skill to see what herbs were here and there. When his eyes focused on a frozen path ofnd below somerger trees, he was amazed to see some herbs he could not imagine here at this time of year.


    ''Frost drop herb


    The frost drop herb is one that can not live in any temperature other than one that allows frost to grow and protect its leaves. Even though it is an herb that requires water and cold temperatures, it is an ideal solution to burn injuries.


    The leaves can be used as a natural bandage to any burn. It doubles the speed of recovery from burns while also preventing infections. This also mitigates pain making it the ideal solution to burns in a forge, from battle, or from alchemy.''


    Just looking at the herbs made Walker understand the immense value they held with the cksmiths and alchemists so near to here. They could help treat the injuries that came from idents or from learning to use both sets of skills. Especially on those that were younger and would inevitably make so many more mistakes while they learned.


    The small white leaves were prickly looking from the frost on them, but without the first, Walker knew that the leaves were soft and pliable. They also were called frost drop because when the temperature got warm, the leaves would drop off the nt and send it in to hibernation while it waited for the winter again. A very unique herb.


    While the herbs were the focus, flowers were also blooming here and there. Naturally, some of the florists in the city had joined with the herbalists to make this ce more beautiful to grow their goods. Flowers were an important part of some cultures and always a good gift for anyone regardless of the time or event.


    "This is a good way to get a little fresh airpared to leaving the city. Some of the gray haired spiders even used their natural skills to set up ces for the vines to grow other than the trees or gates." Walker pointed out where the edges of these fields and natural park met the city again. It allowed a perfect ce for shaded herbs and vines to grow.


    The intellect needed to cause all of these things to mix perfectly was insane. Genius even. Walker knew that the herbalists must have spent hours and hours with the rune carvers, mages, and untold other experts to make all of this happen. It was a true feat that the world must recognize in some way. It was also evidence that the many different racesing together could produce beauty that many others would never be able to create alone.


    After being spotted and waved to by a few young alchemists out learning to harvest their own herbs from a teacher in herbalism, Walker moved back towards the guilds where he managed to make out two familiar faces.


    He and Midnight both were surprised to see Ignus and Remey moving through the open square when they thought both would be busy.


    Ignus would need to be busy with the other royal dragons or with his dragonkin. He still managed a vige along with the dragon hatchlings. Naturally he would want to check up on them a lot more than before. But the focus he appeared to have was on Remey.


    Remey was also striking Walker as odd. She was moving around a little less and had some of the exact same herb that Walker and Midnight had just seen. "She has frost drop herbs on her arms and legs now. That means she got burned more than before. That can''t be good. Just what has she been doing?" Walker wasn''t sure what was going on in training, but he was worried.


    Ignus looked over sensing Midnight and Walker. He stopped Remey while they walked up to them. "I thought you two would be busy or resting. I was going to call for everyone toe back together for a meeting before we meet with all the representativester. But we found you first." Walker kept a positive tone as IOgnus and Remey gave him and Midnight a few looks.


    "I had toe to the guild and share the records of what we found. There are at least fifty alchemists that would have hunted you down if I didn''t have written records of herbs and everything else before you drop them off to the guild." Remey sounded calmer than usual. Maybe it was just being tired.


    "Oh, I totally forgot about dropping off the herbs. There are a lot of them and they all need specific care and some are toxic to touch or eat. Good point." Walker had let it slip his focus that he had herbs to leave at the alchemy guild too. That was among the other materials he had for other ces like the wandering cksmith''s workshop.


    "It''s better that you reminded me. I wouldn''t want to leave anyone with anything dangerous. " Walker took a deep breath to rx himself from this worry. Meanwhile, he saw that Ignus was waving to a few dragonkin toe over. The fire dragonkin appeared to have been on a break.


    "I have already sent orders where I need to send them. Five of the strongest fire dragons along with three more hybrid dragons will be brought here fire defenses. With the origin runes, the fire dragon vige will move closer to Genesis."


    Beyond ground shaking was the best way to exin these worlds. Walker knew that many people would be shocked to hear the great and powerful dragons were moving right next door to them. Especially during this dangerous time.


    "If you bring them all over they might have some trouble you know. I don''t want to have to punch them In to line with ourws." Remey threatened to punch dragons and made Ignus of all peopleugh. It was a strange event to witness.


    "Actually, that sounds like it makes sense. There will be dragons here to protect us and also for us to protect them. It will help everyone. That''s what Genesis is about. Protecting everyone United." Walkers feelings were matched by Midnightsvigorous nodding of approval. She wanted to see more dragons around too.


    "The others will do the same after they find the dominator dragon ruins. I am sure." Ignus didn''t even need to speak to other royal dragons to know this was the case. They would all move here after the battles toe. Being stronger together had proved to be the right path to travel. Even with their traditions being against it in some ways.


    "I guess we shouldn''t hold off any longer then. Do you two want toe with? We can get everyone together for a party meeting before seeing the representatives." Walker felt it was the right time to begin making their moves.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1911 1911. Party Meetings

    "It was fairly quick calling everyone together. Walker went to the Genesis meeting room within the Genesis building. He was d that therge meeting room was empty and that there were not any representatives there just yet. It was ideal for him to have a full party meeting.


    Onyx arrived with a few abyssal serpents and heavenly serpents in tow. They were clearly the youngest and had started to follow him as he showed them a thing or two. But they were not too young to know when they needed to wait at the side.


    It was very adorable seeing the little serpents finding a ce to curl up and nap while waiting for the leader and older brother. Onyx also looked very jovial since he had gone to see all the serpents. Walker would dly pick his mind for what was going onter, but they had a little more to go over. Not that he didn''t expect everyone to share the new developments when they started talking. It was to be expected.


    Su arrived with Alice, both of them were clearlying from some form of training. What Walker hadn''t realized was he had actually been the only one at the mansion when he woke up. Everyone had either ended up staying somewhere else, training, or had been swept up in to a million different things. That was just the life they had led.


    "I figured we would meet before a reallyrge meeting. I told the elves that I would do a full demonstration of the high elf dagger technique after. I was even challenged by a few elves since they wanted to test it." Gilughed a little but it was easy to see a slight nervousness that came with this big event. It was very important to the elves.


    "If you have a demonstration like that, you might as well head to the coliseum. I know they are still building it, but they have enough space for you to amodate everyone. Walker was more joking but knew it was actually a better idea. There would be many people interested in seeing this.


    The elves had wanted the high elf techniques to return for many generations. Their records even had a rare instances where someone had somewhat managed to grasp the high elven techniques. But they had never reassembled a high elven technique to the point that it could be taught and remerged fully.


    "Oh, we can do that. If Scy agrees not toe and challenge anyone to a fight, we will be fine." Gil knew that Scy practically lived near the coliseum being built. It was moving so quickly because the demi-human part of Genesis had heavily invested in it being built.


    To the demi-humans, the coliseum would be their ce within Genesis. It would also be the ideal ce for them to train and show off the core values that the demi-humans possessed. Therefore, when it waspleted, there would be arge tournament held with many promising youthsing from every ce to fight one another and gain rewards.


    "I really expected that we would have more peopleing to join the meeting. But Ignus is waiting outside too." Su was very surprised seeing that Ignus had stepped away. But she also focused on Remey who she knew had been spending increasing amounts of time with Ignus as they studied fire and how to make it closer to certain other aspects of mana.


    "Mordant might pop up. I just have a feeling." Walker was somewhat joking, but he knew that Mordant might arrive at any time to speak with the group.


    "Should we talk about the world sub quests or the corrupted monsters first? Or should we hold off on those and just brag about how amazing the alchemy guild is?"


    There was some arrogance when Remey spoke, but she was clear. She knew that all the guilds had grown immensely when the party was gone. But even more so, that they had takenrge steps in building Genesis as a whole. The entire city was more than what it had been and was heading towards the greatest city built to their knowledge.


    "The alchemy guild cane first then. I know you went to meet with your old master alchemist and the elves that were put in charge when things shifted to exploration." Gil poked at Remey a little since he knew that she would jump in anyways.


    "Well, we have some good quests showing up. Three master alchemists and our elven side of management went to explore for unique herbs that would allow for certain rune formations and potions to work together. That was very important to the sub quests to bring back natural alchemy. The same alchemy that we saw within the echidna jungles."


    This statement was not small in any way. The fact that the echidna method was being pushed but the world in quotes mattered a lot. "We have started to research the natural alchemy along with pure alchemy methods. I am studying one myself. But that doesn''t matter. For now, the alchemy guild will be using the teleportation rune formation a lot. We need to connect with the Sigil continent and begin using herbs and potions we didn''t have ess to. Growth is a guarantee."


    "I see, so you will be transporting herbs and potentially building a branch of the alchemy guild in the Sigil continent already." Su''s opinion was that this was moving fast. However, she understood that it was imperative to people''s lives to do so. The potions and herbs that came to exist because of the speedy movement of these guilds would allow many to live in the uing battles.


    "That brings the cathedral up too. We are also sending healers to meet with angels to share healing methods. We also want life mages to visit us. We will work side by side with the alchemy guild." Alice spoke with a lot of confidence. She had dly epted this proposal when she returned.


    Many things had happened with the cathedral when it came to their return, but many things had changed in the world as a whole. "The cathedral here also separated from the normal cathedral that the northernmost city has as the original. The cathedral is now the faith of the world, but Genesis has created its own branch. It''s called the united world''s will."


    Changing in faith was normal, especially when peoples came together,. But the fact that Alice was so clear with it meant that the pope in the northern most cathedral had clearly disliked the genesis growth in power. But that didn''t matter.


    "Good, a new birth for the cathedral is what was needed. Now Genesis can ensure healing and open faith to everyone better." Walker saw this as an ideal way to avoid any matters with potential corruption from the cathedrals in far off cities that barely bothered with the rest of the world.


    "Agreed." Onyx and Su spoke together. They both thought this to be perfect. They had more opinions since they spent a lot of time in the cathedral.


    "The abyssal and heavenly serpents growing and living in the cathedrals have also gotten better. Some are able to use light healing magic and others have taken jobs with the guards. It didn''t expect this to happen. But it is what they wish to do. It brings be a lot of pride."


    When Onyx shared this, everyone smiled. The abyssal serpents joining the guards was making them a solid ce in Genesis. The heavenly serpents learning healing magic also made it clear that they would stand as a race that could help all. When they grew more it was a certainty that they would be recognized as a race fully.


    "I also noticed that the merfolk and the goblins are working together. Did you know that there was a tribe of water goblins?" Su spoke up after noticing this earlier in the day. It was good news.


    "That''s great! More racesing together and the goblins are able to grow a lot more. I heard there is an entire guard battalion made of goblin spider riders. It''s even better!" Walker knew this was the beginning when they left and that it was a surety that there was growth.


    "But we should also talk about the monsters outside the walls. Things are rough out there for the normal monsters and the travelers meeting the corrupted monsters." Gil was not willing to bring this up but felt he had no choice. He knew many people that went out hunting. He had already seen some dangerous things.


    "I wanted to avoid this before the main meeting. But we have no choice now." Walker took a moment to breathe before sighting and epting that this was going toe up between them first.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1912 1912. Tense Meetings

    "Corrupted monsters have been hunted a lot by the elves and the guards protecting the roads being built. Even the dwarves found some underground as they finished the underground roads to the dwarves city." Gil was blunt with what had been found. He knew that telling them the variety of ces that everyone in the party would understand the depth of this.


    "You''re saying that it isn''t just those that are hunting that are finding the corrupted monsters. The hunted ones are just the first that were found?" Su made sure that Gil was saying this overall. Naturally, Gil had been gathering some information before getting here to prove this was as true.


    "Exactly, the corrupted monsters are not necessarily stronger, but they are wild. They don''t have any senses or instincts that match the monster they were before. I think they lose everything mentally and gopletely insane. Attacking everything. That''s the danger."


    In Gil''s perspective, any hunter that came face to face with a monster was a risk. But that was what they signed up for as a hunter. They risked that when they went outside to hunt something to take home as prey. But when it came to the corrupted monsters, that was not normal.


    These monsters were killing machines. They went to whatever extent possible to attack, destroy, and kill other non corrupted things. "I worry that the corruption might start to spread to thend too. It''s in monsters, what about forests or the water? If this goes on it could get worse." Gil also had this good point which made the entire party think the worst of the future.


    "The dangers are not normal and I know that their patrols around farms had already increased. The tamers guild also will have a lot to say since they are the group that studies monsters the most." Walker knew that more representatives had arrived outside the meeting room. He also heard some of them with his hearing. That was another thing that had be more keen as he adapted to mana better.


    "Well, since you can already hear me, I wille in with the others." Scy opened the door and walked in with Alma and Leon. The three hade since they were representatives. They also knew that it was going to be a long meeting today.


    "Please do not request any further funds today representative Scy. The coliseum is already ahead of schedule with the higher number of workers that came from your home kingdom." Markus made his way inside as well. He had exceeded as the human representative along with the one managing all funds within Genesis.


    "It''s been a while. It sounds like you have a good hold on everything." Walker stood up and shelved the talk for the moment about corrupted monsters. He knew that hearing about the financial state of genesis would be helpful.


    "Of course it goes well. The trades within the city have exceeded any predictions made. The funds taken as basic tax for overall sales at any merchant owned shop or resident shop are higher than we needed to keep building. Excess funds have already been divided to be used as ways to learn and adapt certain parts of the city to be more avable to every single race." Markus had pride in his work. He felt he had found his true calling as a noble here in Genesis.


    "I also want to let you know, the king''s daughter is growing strong and healthy. He wished he could be here but is busy with your birth city right now." This small bit of information was for the entire party. Whey had started in a human city and left to make so much of themselves. But they still remembered their origins.


    "I will have to send a letter then. But that cer. I am d to hear you allocated funds to everything properly. I know your workers must be learning faster than anything." Walker knew that the demons that Markus took in were experts on finances by now. It was only the start of a great future for them.


    "Starting such ameeting without the king in charge of your literal underground highway with the dwarves!?" The bold voice was the king of the deep. The underground dwarven king that Walker had not seen in some time.


    "I ve away creating this underground highway for carts, monsters, and travel safely, and here you are sitting up on the nice chairs and waiting in the cool shade. How could you." The grumbling was clearly a joking tone to lighten the mood and say hello. This was just how dwarves did it.


    "I heard that you managed to connect the two digging operations well ahead of schedule and now you and your men are working on finishing the underground trade routes. Should I guess that the smile on your face means you found more caves with valuable ores?" Walker could easily read the king of the deep. What else would make him so happy.


    "You have a good head on your shoulders. It is great that everyone is back. The ships made are still talked about a lot even after we started making solid braces for the underground route. So many people are amazed by the things they see rather than the things they can''t see. That was until we found the crystal flower caverns."


    "Crystal flowers?" Onyx was intrigued since he had not seen such a flower before.


    "Yes! Crystals that grow in the shape of a daisy. Very odd because the crystals are nts! It''s very unique and there arerge caverns filled with them. We can''t travel in them yet, but they are a good ce for the earth elves to research. It will be amazing when we have answers of what kind of nt and materials they are." the king of the deep couldn''t hide his feelings at all.


    "Good news all around then. The dwarves and the elves working together." Gil naturally jumped in to be happy with this. The dwarves and the elves had a or history. Yet here they were, working hand in hand within Genesis. It was a good sign.


    "Hello, we are here to meet the heroes of Genesis?" a rough voice came from the door. A gray haired spider and a taller thin goblin came in.


    "I, Rickt and my ally Larn will be the acting goblin and gray haired spider representatives. We have been honored with these positions as the leaders of our race are busy growing our fellow people. I hope we work together better now that we are the first with a system that stands with these positions."


    "So there is a goblin and gray haired spider representative system now!? That''s amazing. I knew that such systems would show up at some point. But you can clearly speak better because of your skills." Walker was even happier to see this before a harpy flew in that he recognized as the harpy queen. It was all good signs that the monster races had gained a great deal of things in the recent months.


    "Wee then! We had your representatives working with the elf queen. Now you can stand on your own. If you need anything or have questions, don''t worry and ask. You''re equal to everyone here." Walker''s words made both new representatives nod. The gray haired spider was still silent but that was fine. The spiders rarely spiel In general.


    As everyone moved to the seats, different guild masters arrived along with ra. The royal dragons slowly appeared as well. The tension in the room grew because everyone understood the seriousness here. It was definitely going to be a meeting that set the pace for their future.


    When a Young demon woman walked ima me took a seat, nobody flinched. She had confidence and clearly was strong enough to hold her own. Distinct scars from Chains were on her arms and neck, proving she had risen from the bottom. An inspiration to all demons.


    "Wee back to the Genesis meeting room. All races equally represented. Unfortunately, we are not here to boast about the future any more. We have to worry about the dangers presented by corrupted mana spreading everywhere." The air reeled heavier as Walker spoke.


    "The corrupted undead, floating city, and monsters might spread even more. As we need to defeat the living monsters that call themselves demon king, sun title demon of envy and of sloth. All three are the source of this corruption."


    Not a single person felt harmed by the words spoken. They all understood the dangers and were here to prepare themselves. Troops needed to be gathered. ns and scouting made. This was the war council of Genesis that wasing together right now. A force that could shake the world.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1913 1913. War Plans

    "This would be the end. Right?" The room had been silent until Ventus spoke. She had a calm but serious look. She wanted this fighting to end so that the threat that constantly harassed every race here could be gone. The threat that had endangered her children.


    "If it was the end of everything, it would be better. I do not wish to push an unending war on the tamers explorations of the world and studies of monsters. It would make things too hard on the guild." Elise spoke up with a great amount of confidence. She had constantly pushed herself and other to be vetter tamers.


    Now that she was put in this position within Genesis, it was clear that her values rang true to most tamers and even the people around her. "I don''t want to promise anything. But the corruption is clearly something that started with the demon lord or king or whatever he can be called now."


    Everyone, including Walker who had just spoken, was clear of this. The demon king had clearly been the one corrupted for untold years. For long enough that the corruption had been able to dwell within him and finally spread outwardly. The chaos he had already caused with the elemental spirits and the manas of the world was too much. Now he was corrupting it as a whole.


    "I have multiple reports of corrupted monsters appearing within the rivers ,kes, and ponds. That is going to cause my people and the water else to begin moving with a greater goal. We must cleanse the waters so that they do not be a vessel for the corrupted manas." seeing that a few merfold assistants handed out documents proved that this was a growing concern.


    The oceans and water ways were definitely the most popted ces for all life. Thends and skies were full, but the water was vast. It was able to sustain monsters and lives that outnumbered many other kingdoms. That Was how the merfolks had struggled and were bing more powerful now.


    "We are worried about the corrupted water, the corrupted elemental manas too. But the monsters appear to be the most affected. This is even clear in farms. The elves that have joined hands with human farmers have called on guards, adventurers, and even a few more powerful system users to deal with the worst that has happened. Scy would also understand this." Alma let Scy speak up next.


    "Alma speaks true, the many farms we have in the demi-human kingdom are burdened by corrupted livestock. This will shorten the flow of food while also polluting the ces that these livestock touch. The cathedrals, healers, and other systems with purifying skills have struggles to handle the additional work. We will need someone with better abilities to work on these things."


    The fact that the kingdoms had trouble keeping up with purifying such corrupted mana hit everyone hard. Even the adventurers would be too short of specific system users to make this happen. "That might be a ce we can focus on."


    Feeling that he had a solution, Walker looked at everyone before calling for someone to open the door. A few echidna warriors walked in surprising everyone since they were very different. Yet, most representatives already knew of the echidna from what they had heard of the Sigil continent''s endeavors.


    "The echidna race is one that was isted on an ind after many years. They were able to find a bnce in nature. Their focus on nature was very big reason why they all have unique systems, affinities, and the like. I expect that they will be able to show us the paths we might be able to travel to reach a better way to purify the corrupted mana." Walker saw many be curious. Even the party was still the most experienced when it came to the echidna.


    "We all had a great deal of learning to do when we met them. Many of the echidna used all elemental manas and natural mana. It was hard to understand. My entire alchemy guild is currently studying the natural alchemy that we witnessed when we were there." Remey spoke up. "I am also trying to unlock a different form of natural alchemy with fire as the base. It has given me a new path to walk in both battle and alchemy."


    The entire room was silent. They had never seen Remey so calm and serious. Everyone understood the alchemy guild was a ce of advanced alchemy learning. The fire that drove the youngest clearly hade from Remey and her hot headed attitude. Yet, now they saw a calmness that spoke volumes of how valuable learning front eh echidna was. It really taught the representatives value.


    "That''s not all, I learned that archery and hunting can change as well. But I was able to better sense the high elven dagger technique while there. It helped me fully grasp the newly learned skill I used against an undead using powerful false death runes and death manas. It was a way for me to purify my own understandings of my skills." Gil spoke up and made many understand why the elves had been so energetictely.


    "That''s not to forget that they allowed me to open my mind to what I am truly capable of. The echidna have a view of the world that we can not reach yet. I understand that everyone may wonder more, but they are unable to tell us everything as they have their own world quests to handle. There are more of their race that may be roaming the world right now. We only have a few warriors that came with us."


    The fact that Su shared with everyone that many more echidna were out and about was important. They could arrive at any time toplete their quests and assist many people. They were all about getting the world to the true flow that was meant to be. When that happened, no one knew what would change. The world itself would certainly send something through the systems of the world.


    "That''s good for now, but we should be proactive. When ites to the funds we have spent, we used enough to open various paths for the young to take. Even the older people are revitalizing themselves. Some have regained the drive to strengthen themselves. Old craftsman have joined young in opening shops or joining guilds when they were retired." Markus had seen this flow of money throughout Genesis. He knew well that it was a city wide effort to grow.


    "Then we will first push the preparations of everyone. Studies and learning will be a focus while we prepare the forces needed to pursue the floating corrupted city. I expect that there will be multiple ships at the ready soon?" This was something that the king of the deep already understood. However, he was unsure how many shops they would have.


    "There will be a total of ten new ships within the month. We are also hoping that the tracking of the corrupted city will be kept to a close detailed map as well." Scy had a close eye on how the ships were being built and she felt at home when she was out on the ocean. The exploration of the oceans would be a massive endeavor within itself.


    "That means we will need more soldiers at the ready. Guards that will stay here for the protection of Genesis and those that will be leaving to patrol the areas we see the city floating to." Walker was sure that a division of these forces would be optimal. The only issue would be what else they needed.


    "Before you get ahead of yourself, you should know that we will have many more dragons around within the day. It wasn''t just Ignus who acted to bring dragons near Genesis. Every single Royal dragon as of thest hour has made a call for the move all of the dragon viges. We will create our own homes using origin runes nearby. It will be within the realm of travel for all of Genesis." Mordant spoke up whole every royal dragon raised their heads higher.


    "Then that means the elder dragon wille. That you will bring that history together with Genesis history." Walker grasped what this all meant. That this was well above what he could have expected.


    "You are correct. We will even wee our elder and the keeper of all our history here while we strive to discover the remaining dominator dragon knowledge." Rise spoke with reverence. She was certain that she was now walking a path that no dragon alive today could walk other than her. But that was the same for every dragon. Every single one of them was now learning skills from ancient dragon history. They would be the first in generations to stand this tall.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1914 1914. Various Changes

    A flurry of movement happened as every representative, including the party, sent people to contact those that were in charge of building the city. There were so many ces and people that would work on such a project.


    Creating the proper rune formations would take arge space. This would need to be mapped out since the dragons would need such arge space to reside. This was just due to most not being old enough or able to take humanoid form. The dragonkin form that they could take would allow them to easily walk through Genesis.


    That also came with a few details though. The hatchlings that were growing in Genesis had shown a massive boon. The one specifically working as an alchemist with her older brother had shown signs of being able to change form. Her horns had be able to shrink slightly. This apparently was a sign in fire dragons as they began to understand the skill needed to change form.


    When Ignus had heard this, he had understood why. The hatchlings were not able to develop near the dragons as normal. He had sent them out because they had been weaker hatchlings. While he had not directly seen them, his dragonkin had. He had taken all the information and begun to understand that their time in Genesis had clearly allowed them ess to skills they would not normally develop at all or without a lot more age.


    This was evident with Midnight who had gained a dragonkin form well ahead of any other dragon ever known. The reason had been, in theory, because she had been with the heroic part and had a hero title herself. Yet, now the theory has evolved to be due to the fact that she had been around humanoid beings so much more.


    The smaller size of the hatchlings already allowed them to move through Genesis much more easily than any other dragon would. Furthermore, the fact that they always saw unique magics, skills, and system users gave the hatchlings a better ability to learn and grow.


    These things had all been missed by the dragons isting themselves away from the other dragons and other races. Now that a nature dragon had arrived, Walker, they have a reason to unite again. But further, they had seen that Genesis was a great ce for development. Greatly changing the traditions and course of history for the entirety of the dragon race.


    The additional changes needed would be to expand the farms as well. The dragons could go out and hunt their own food, but with the ess to the great oceans now, the merfolk had begun a project to farm within the shores.


    The farms would produce edible seaweeds, ms, and other seafood that could not be gathered in Genesis. This development allowed for the races to be fed. Especially the dragons who would need more food. The idea was also supported by Current immediately.


    While this topic was less harsh than the corrupted mana, it was very important. The entirety of Genesis needed to worry about feeding themselves. Their poption needed a high number of foods to feed all of them. This also took the strain of the demi-human, elven, and human farmers working together to create the agriculture guild that worked closely with the herbalists and alchemists of the alchemy guild.


    Overall, it was a branch of farming that was simr to keeping livestock. But this development brought in mages to help control the farming of certain monsters. This brought in the tamer''s guild to allow people to learn to domesticate these monsters. The process would take years but after time, there would be a constant source of sustainable seafood from sea monsters that were controlled by the farms.


    For the moment, the focus was on hunting therger monster that had been spotted around the coast and could be hunted by the ships and the water dragons. That would allow them to more easily build their home and also make a trade rtionship with all of Genesis. Current was d that his dragons could easily integrate themselves as massive providers of food and protection in this way.


    Ventus looked like she was going to make her own ns still. The wind affinity dragons preferred to remain in the sky or the heist of mountains. This worked well with what they desired though. Her thoughts had been about travel. They had teleportation, but that was not ideal for everything. Therefore, she dly said that her dragons would be guardians of the flying routes used by many merchants. It could help them deal with any dangers that came with storms orrger monsters.


    This was different from Mordant who knew that the darkness affinity was ideal for hiding. But he had gotten along with Walker''s father when they met. This spurred him to decide on scouting and guards as the focus. His dragonkin already performed such a duty and it just made sense to push forward with that thinking.


    Rise followed a simr approach. She saw that the healers were a growing ce for the light affinity beings. She also enjoyed the righteous and healing atmosphere for it. This was definitely the proper ce for her to uphold her own values while also allowing her dragonkin to be the defenders of the healers. Alice also promised to take an active role in all of this since she had more or less be the face of every healer within Genesis.


    Terron had sided more with the king of the deep. Both wanted to be left alone to do their own thing. In joining with them on the underground sides of Genesis which would develop as the dwarves and earth elves became closer, they could create the second stage for Genesis underground. Space above and below would allow for different races and affinities to shine. It was just a perfect way for them to work together.


    These conversations had advanced so much that it was hard to keep up with. The dragons joining Genesis fully had been such a massive undertaking that the sheer magnitude was still not reaching everyone.


    The protection and growth of their forces would skyrocket with the dragonsing together. With the corrupted undead that were part of the corrupted floating city, the dragons had seen the dangers. Therefore, when the other dragons were called for movement and to prepare for battle, they knew that this was a real threat.


    The dragons had not gone to war in a very long time. They had small battles to switch one another, but not against another race and not between one another enough that any other effort was required.


    With the values and skills that Walker had shown the royal dragons, they had opened their minds more. They had believed in purity for their dragon race. Each kind of dragon stayed together. But now, some mixed dragons would have more chances to exist. They already had some that acted as keys to keep the two different viges from fighting. But now they could be hybrids with multiple affinities that strived for a new path of dragon race growth.


    These thoughts stayed with Walker for some time as more details were worked out. The dragons would maintain a lot of theirws and traditions while allowing themselves room to adjust with Genesisws and beliefs. It would also be clear that the dragons could not take their full forms around the other races since it would be dangerous to many weaker races or to the buildings created. This was just expected out of respect for their rtionships.


    By the time that this topic had finished, everyone had more preparations to make than before. Especially those that would be helping the many dragonkin travels and join in to Genesis. Every single one would need identification, food, and jobs to help create the spaces for the dragon viges to settle.


    Walker found himself walking out of the Genesis building with his own to do list of things. He had to first make his way to the wandering cksmith. Many materials from Sigil had his name on them and the sooner he saw them the better. What he didn''t expect was that the wandering cksmith''s forge had been closed.


    While this was a rushed visit from Genesis building to forge, Walker could still hear the constant pounding of hammers on metal from within. He naturally let himself in and found the wandering cksmith surrounded by many basic swords, armors, and other various tools for battle. A clear preparation for the battlesing.


    When he noticed Walker though, a silent smile grew on the wandering cksmith''s face. He had been ready to see Walker again for some time. He had even stepped away from the ship building when he heard that Walker''s party had returned. This was a big deal. New materials meant new tests, new theories, and most importantly, new forging methods that would challenge him.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1915 1915. Treasure Trove Forging

    Every single material that Walker took out of his high spatial storage was like a meteor hurtling down to present itself to the wandering cksmith. He was looking and listening to the all around appraisals in awe.


    But what made him more excited were the facts that he was being handed all the armors and weapons he had created for the party. Normally, a cksmith would be angry that the upkeep had suffered or that something was broken. But for the wandering cksmith, it was proof that he could still get better.


    The wandering cksmith had also been working on the better rune designs that the rune researchers , mages, and rune carvers had been discovered within the mage tower. These origin runes had the best uses and as the more that everyone learned, the better chances to use them were discovered.


    Specifically, the origin runes had been able to be transferred and were now in use. The structures were still harder to replicate because of the skills needed to do so, but that was fine. That just gave many people better challenges to work toward in their future.


    This was also met with many world sub quests to strengthen genesis and the forces associated with them. These runes were just a base for growth. Lost by a people from long ago, the origin runes were definitely the best way for anyone to start their path to rune understanding. The new patterns found had already been enough to rece some of the long existing rune formations on magically locked doors!


    This was just a baseline though. Many more things were in the works when it came to private businesses like the wandering cksmith''s forge. He had the materials to create metals that would be able to withstandrger rune formations with more mana traveling through it.


    A perfect example was the eternal orb that he had forged with Walker. The eternal orb house all elemental manas and could house natural mana. It stored all of that and used unique properties to be able to change shape in to just about anything as long as mana and will were perfectly and within it.


    But there was a chance that improvements could be made. Walker had the knowledge that all mana had an original point. That natural mana was just the bnce of elemental manas together. That alone was enough for many people to be shocked.


    When it came to true mana, Walker needed to use proper materials to alter the eternal orb. Life mana ,materials, death mana materials, space mana materials, and mauve time mana materials if that was possible to find. Not that any of these materials were something just sitting around for the taking. They would need to be researched, discovered, and properly used. If none of that happened, then they were useless to them anyways.


    "We will need Su''s shields made with improvements. She also needs them to be better equipped and unequipped in battle. She had started to learn an unarmed battle style that enhances her body with the manas and natural defenses she has. But in my opinion, I think she needs a set of armor that will break off and reduce in weight if she hits a button or activates a rune formation."


    This idea had been one that Walker had given a lot of thought over thest few hours. He knew that Su''s changing styles would be ideal for her to be able to face monsters and enemies more easily. But the fact that she couldn''t just drop everything easily without stopping mid battle, was an issue.


    Therefore, having armor that could shed weight and be a thinner defense when in battle would be ideal. Walker had seen certain armors designed to break at certain points when attacks to cause a lesser blow to the main defensive armor under theyers. But that was just the base of the idea and not an actual solution. Su needed stable defenses.


    "Gil will be along at some point with some ideas for new armor. He has to have a better dagger improvement too. He managed to awaken the full high elven dagger technique. He is going to need a dagger and armors that better channel natural mana since it naturally attracts natural mana when he uses it. I might work with him when we develop a natural mana arrow. But that could be tougher than we think."


    Such an arrow was one that Gil was already thinking about. But that challenge would mean a lot more than he thought. Making such an arrow would need higher quality materials and would most likely nor be usable after being shot once. If they were lucky, twice.


    "Then Remey should be along again for her knuckles. The elemental knuckles have started to break under the force she can use. That and she overloaded them with mana causing her some injuries. That means we need better materials. I was actually thinking of making something simr to the eternal orb but with a fixed shape. That way she could use all elemental affinities regardless."


    "But she had been working with dragon mestely. Trying to improve her alchemy with Ignus. I would assume that the two wille with ideas together. Remey and Ignus have been spending a lot more time together." Walker didn''t hide this. He knew that dragon mes would massively help the wandering cksmith with his work.


    Onyx is good, he can make armor with dark and light mana. Midnight is the same with her skeletal armor but I think getting something for her wings would be ideal. To coat her weaker scales around the wings and the bones. It would have to be thin and more for deflecting if possible."


    The wandering cksmith felt that he was being given a treasure trove of ideas and materials. They were all so good that he wasn''t sure where to start. "I know you had armors on order by the royal dragon so I don''t want to keep adding things, but Alice needs a thin armor that helps attract light elemental better than her current robes and thin armor. That way she can enhance her light elemental songs even more. I was hoping to use origin light runes."


    With the advances in rune knowledge, Walker had not missed the new runes being carved on some roofs to absorb light elemental mana that was being funneled toward empty mana gems. It was a genius method to save mana and also use it in the cathedral for healing. Whoever hade up with it would be considered a genius and marked in history since it was a valuable usage of the mana gems from broken mana crystals.


    This was just the start of things though. Walker had seen many forging wonders added to the streets of Genesis. Light posts that used light mana and specific types or rock to light the night. Unique turn formations using air and light mana around trash areas. And many more that were certainly the work of cksmiths and rune experts together.


    Not to mention the incredible designs of golems that Walker had seen. The dwarves had fully allowed themselves to create proper golems that could do heavier lifting. Incorporating themselves in to the building efforts of carpenters and other building rted professions.


    "So what do you think? Materials and ideas." Walker looked at the wandering cksmiths whose eyes were shining with determination.


    "What environments were there?"


    Walker expected this. The wandering cksmiths was known for traveling and forging in unique ces. Even theva near the fire dragons. This had made him a legend in multiple kingdoms and races before Walker had even met him.


    "Sigil continent has many unique ces. Marshes with rivers running underneath them to the ocean. Inds with jungles. Massive mountain ranges that house monsters and wyverns. Then there are massive deserts that have barely any water to speak of."


    All of these ces were engraved in Walker''s mind. They were ces that he knew had materials and other unique things for the wandering cksmiths to experiment with at some point.


    "Since the teleportation rune formation has been made and will be improved, you can go there and back any time you want now. How does that work."


    The grin grew even wider before the wandering cksmith spoke up. "That''s exactly what i wanted to hear." Walker knew from this response that a new flurry of creation woulde from the man in front of him. He was certain that titles and new skills would also show up from this man.


    "I can stop by with some help for youter. Once you''ve figured out your ns." Walker saw that he wasn''t being listened to any more. The wandering cksmiths was already making his diagrams and blueprints for new items and improved armor.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1916 1916.Genesis Goings Ons

    With another task down, Walker was a lot happier to be on his way. He knew that the errands he had to run were very important. It wasn''t just the fact that he would be able to look forward to new and improved equipment for the entire party.


    While it put his mind at ease, the improvements that woulde were just secondary. He was more interested in the things that the wandering cksmith would create that could affect Genesis. He had already made unique improvements to overall forging methods. But what if he had more things from Genesis and Sigil continent to mix?


    The fact that the two different materials could be mixed from two wildly different ces was astounding. Some people would have never believed that another continent actually existed. It was still more of a theory before the ships had proven it.


    While history said that there had been some different ces that angels or the ancient monsters might have traveled to, there was not definitive proof. There were not anyone races with records of thening from Sigil to the various kingdoms of the Genesis alliance. Therefore, it was always thought to be something that was impossible to prove.


    Now that it had been proved, there were various explorers popping up. Groups of people gathering to petition for the right to leave their homes and help explore the Sigil continent. While that was good, it was something that would need to be held off until the united angelic empire was able to put down solidws.


    This would be important for travelers to maintain proper edicate as they went. Many issues had been caused by a foolish traveler disregardingws of traditions within a certain kingdom. Therefore, it would be turned in to some form of paper to sign before anyone was to travel so that either kingdom or alliance could make it clear that it was not under their instruction that someone acted like a fool.


    Otherwise, Walker was more focused on the kids running around trying to explore their neighborhood while shouting that they were exploring thend of angels and wyverns. It wasical because they made it sound like the party and Genesis forces had bumped in to many wyverns and angels at every turn. They had no idea of the vastnds the Sigil continent had that werepletely unupied.


    "Walker!" The shout was surprising since Walker had gone off on his own for the first time in a while. He hadn''t expected someone to call out to him and grab his hand.


    "I was walking here and there looking for whatever new thing might be making it in to the market from the forces that went with you. But I managed to grab you instead." The jovial chuckle from the old master alchemist was thest thing that Walker expected.


    "I would have imagined you were locked up in the alchemy guild trying new things with herbs. Hasn''t Remey tied you down yet?" This was a big surprise. It felt odd that the old master alchemist wouldn''t be around the alchemy guild.


    "Stretching my legs more and more as I feel better. The potions and the cathedral improving have helped these old bones feel more lively than ever." The old master alchemist clearly looked happier and brighter too. His skin was a little more flush and he had gotten more suntely. It was all due to him getting out of the alchemy building and guild more.


    "That''s good. I would have thought you would be too busy to worry about your health. Remey should be d to hear that." This old master alchemist had been the father figure and mentor to Remey as she grew up. Whether either of them really expected it, that was how it worked out.


    "That girl is causing trouble in her own ways. She brought that dragon inside the guild and locked herself up for a few hours. But she doesn''t seem to care about the injuries she has. Those bandages can''t be good. I wanted you to knock some sense in to her. She barely listened to me." Now it was clear why the old master alchemist would shout out to him when he was just walking around trying to stop here and there.


    "I was worried about that too. I thought she was burned or something. But when Alice tried to heal her, she said not to. I think it''s something to do with her studies towards natural alchemy and natural fire alchemy. I am a bit worried, Ignus would stop her though. He might seem rough, but he is a very caring royal dragon. He would easily stand on his word and for his people to thest breath and then some."


    This was a promise that would easily make anyone feel better. Ignus was just that kind of dragon. However, Walker did share some of the worry that the old master alchemist had. "Eh, you can still try and yell at her for me. I have plenty of yelling for the new students I have." The normal grumply tone that came matched what Walker remembered from the old master alchemist.


    "So what have you been working ontely, other than teaching new alchemists?" Walker felt that the old master alchemist was worth more than just teaching. He was the original creator of the affinity potion after all.


    "Just small things. I made a few new affinity potions, but since Remey inherited my work, she surpassed me. Now I have focused on herb condensation potions. Apparently some people are powdering herbs to be tehundrated for potion. That''s foolish!"


    Walker found himself at the end of a lecture he didn''t expect. "The powdered herbs can not carry the same quality of any property associated with the herb. But condensing the herb in to a liquid is valuable."


    "The condensed liquid can make a hundred potions if done right. The method has to be different for every single herb though. That requires research record, experiments, and also determination. The time to create one is exceptionally high. Just for the midnight star vine, it takes seventeen hours to condensed a pound."


    While Walker had somewhat heard of this herb, he was lost. "I can''t say I know what that herb does¡­"


    "Midnight star vibe? It''s a weed. A ck leaves vine with white spots like stars at midnight. It''s used for poisoning of the liver. Specifically people who drink too much fermented wines. It''s used to help certain people recover. It will be a staple medicine once I master the form for condensation."


    Walker could sense the slight glint of greed in the old master alchemists'' eyes. He knew that this would provide a lot of funds for the alchemy guild. Therefore, it would lead to more potions being researched or created in the future.


    "It''s good to put a focus on the working people. The more that people can heal themselves after breaks or hard work the better for Genesis." This was an easy way to say that he expected this in the future too. But the old master alchemist already had that in mind.


    "Bah, well, I have work to do. Not many new herbs have shown uptely. Try and do something about that on your adventures." Walker felt like it wasn''t so much a farewellment but an order being ced, but it was still nice to hear that the potions were improving.


    Finding himself free again, Walker put Lisa''s seamstress shop in his sights. He nned to sneak by his mothers kitchen too, but knew that it would be busy and a little tough to do. Especially with customers everywhere.


    Both businesses run by his family have picked up a lot. It wasn''t his fame though. That might y a small part, but it was all due to their skills. The high qualities that they spoke and acted on produced every bit of hype around their work.


    Just looking at Lisa''s shop, Walker found an entire open seating area where many people were eating small pastries. It appeared the shop had evolved in to a massive tea shop that provided high end clothing as well. It was the ideal setting to show off the clothing and a nice atmosphere:


    Even more so when he looked down toward his mothers shop. Multiple staff were moving around outdoor and indoor seating. Some cooks and chefs even had side tables where they showed off skills while cooking.


    This entire atmosphere had developed many times over creating a weing business area. It lit up the future for Genesis and made Walkers heart desire this form of peace even more than ever. These were the things he wanted to protect. These thoughts were momentaryu though. For now, he wanted to bother his little sister and her work.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1917 1917. Compound Runes

    When Walker made a move to enter Lisa''s seamstress shop, he found himself cked by three clean cut and tall guards. "The seamstresses are all preupied by their clients. Please step back and consult the secretary team for an appointment." They were all standing tall and trying to act intimidating.


    This was fair since they definitely had not met Walker and were newer to the position. However, they saw Walker''s smirk before he waved to one of the first staff that had been hired. She recognized him immediately and made a move toe over herself.


    "You three, that''s Walker. He''s always allowed toe no matter the clients. He is the older brother of our head young miss here." The woman spoke quickly and acted like she was reprimanding children. To be fair though, she was higher ranked than them as an older employee of the shop. Not to mention the fact that she was growing very quickly here.


    "Don''t worry, they were just doing their jobs. I like that my sister is in good care. I Wanted to stop by and see what new things she might havee up with. Plus, I have some new fabrics made of different grasses, nt fibers, and even some monster materials that I wanted to leave for her. I can''t imagine what else she will be able to do with them."


    Everyone that came here was always stunned that such a young girl was so adult. She had taken to being a seamstress much more than anyone else in history. Yet, at her young age, she had managed to take little guidance and learn at a rapid pace how to run a business. Walker was multiple years wonder and yet, his sister was still catching up to him in maturity.


    "I thought I would see what new things she woulde up with. From the looks of things outside here, you have a booming clientele." Walker knew well thatplimenting the staff would be a good move. It was only right though. Their hard work was clearly helping things run much more smoothly and taking a lot off his sister''s shoulders.


    "We do work hard. I appreciate yourpliments. Our young miss is in the back working on a private design. She has been making more unique things that the other seamstresses will assist in refining then for sale. She also only sees certain clients that would like to purchase unique designs. However,. She does not meet with many. She is the imagination."


    This statement was not something that came down to a negative view. Instead, it was positive. It spoke of many benefits that came from Lisa''s hard work and imagination. The other seamstresses could learn and work to add quality and focus on their clients. Lisa just worked on the new forms and models that she could create. That was clearly where her genius flourished.


    Walking inside was another scene of bustling movement. The seamstresses and even some apprentices under them were hurriedly moving from project to project. They were not the average seamstress shop where someone would be repairing items. Instead, they were making outfits that matched certain posed designs. Measuring their clients. And even focusing on their own learning.


    This atmosphere was better than many ces because of the clear freedom to take clients and adhere to the current styles produced. But even more so, because they were all more or less using some form of rune sewing.


    The sewing of rune sin to the fabrics was why these clothes designs were so highly sought after. Lisa had managed to learn it well from the leven clothing but had taken it higher with the fact that she had seen the origin runes and clearly hired some rune researchers to work with her.


    This had given every single seamstress a better ability. But when Walker saw the que listing the employees and their skills, he was stunned. Right next to his sister''s and three other seamstresses name was the system, rune seamstress! His sister hadpleted quests and be a natural rune seamstress! Something that was well out of his expectations.


    The seamstresses all recognized Walker along with many who were clearly new and learning. But even a few clients that were here or there watching or watching for their outfits understood who Walker was. It wasn''t easy being him now that his face had been stered on posters or even made a statue or two. It was just part of the role he chose to y in helping to build Genesis.


    Once Walker looked inside the private workspace of his sister, he found a mess. A literal mess of fabrics with parts cut out. Different designs half put together. Even some longer spools of thread lined up to be used at the single pull. The needles all had ces on special sections of the wall. The design definitely a costume made holder just for efficiency in grabbing the ideal needle needed at a moment''s notice.


    "And can the girl buried in her own work take a moment to tell me why she is buried? What she is working on? And what she ns to do now that her brother has invaded her workshop?" Walker''s casual tone made Lisa slowly look up before she snapped back to reality. She hadn''t even noticed that she had be buried within her work for the hundredth time. She was just like Walker in that respect. Siblings to the core.


    "Brother!" Lisa jumped up and hugged Walker while some fabrics fell to the side. It was clear that she was very happy with his surprise visit after his meeting in the Genesis building to decide who and what would be the ns for the future battle against the corrupt manas.


    "I was just finishing one of the new designs that I learned to make. I have a bunch of things that have started toe together. You know that, right? Compound rune fabrics are the focus on the next design line I want to release."


    Lisa showed off a stretch of fabric with more runes on it than he had seen. But the runes were mixing perfectly. The flow even had an appealing pattern that would make it the most unique fabric he had yet to see.


    ''Compound rune fabric


    Focusing on all elemental manas, thepound rune fabric requires jeweled spider silk to be made and uphold its strength. This is due to the higher absorption of all elemental manas within the fabric. The runes draw in natural manas that hang in the air. This brings a natural boost to the body of those wearing it. Increased healing speed and ana replenishment. If worn at night while sleeping, the sleep is better, more restful, and the body can heal slightly faster.''


    Walker read the all around appraisal right out loud. He watched as Lisa''s grin grew. She knew she had seeded but she was d to see what else the results brought. She had yet to make an actual outfit from this, but she had swatches of fabric experiments.


    "I brought you some materials from the Sigil continent that I didn''t give you the other day. We had dinner to go to and a few other family things. I thought you would want me to bring them by today though." Clearly, Walker said the right things since Lisa only got happier with what he was slowly taking out of his high spatial storage space.


    "I bet you will have more things to show me when you exin what a natural rune seamstress is." Walker knew what it was in an idea, but he was going to humor his little sister. She had the fidgeting to show that she was more than excited to tell him.


    "I can use elemental runes better than anyone else when making clothes! I can even sew multiple in to a dress and make a natural fabric. They are better for natural mana absorption and also for battle. I can even make a dress that make natural mana for you. Well, clothes or anything! I just need more materials for you." Lisa''s pride was clearly on disy as she bragged about her new potentials. Everything she had been working for while Walker was away was clearly on disy here.


    "You expanded things too. I can see you being the only one making clothes in a few months. No one will be able topete." Walker knew that those in charge of expenses would definitely expect the shop to expand again.


    "Well, I will have new shops with rune seamstresses all around the ce. Three more will be built soon for the designs I made. They are working with me now. We might even have a school soon." it all sounded perfectly positive. A great future for it.


    "Well, why don''t you take a break before all that? we can go visit mother and see if we can eat with her." Lisa just nodded enthusiastically.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1918 Buffed Food

    1918 1918. Buffed Food


    Lisa quickly moved around and grabbed what she needed. She had the desire to start experimenting and trying to use the new materials that Walker had brought. She knew that they would bring her new inspiration along with being able to handle more sewn runespounded in formations that rune carvers used.


    However, she was way more interested in spending the afternoon with Walker and their mother. They could eat and hear more about what Walker had done in the Sigil continent. It would be a lot more fun hearing about the adventures that he had been on. Especially since she looked forward to them since the first time he had gone out as an adventurer.


    The blooming atmosphere that was surrounding those at the restaurant and bakery that Walker''s mother had grown was intense. Many people cheering when their food came out. Many people raving about the spicy and new vors that arrived with each special offered monthly. These things were just small parts of why every recipe had taken off instantly.


    This only grew the more that they walked in to the outside dining area. Many people were sitting there, they weren''t just nibbles from other kingdoms or adventurers. They were from all walks of life. From every race. It was a very clear example of what came from those that weed all and were willing to experiment with foods from every race.


    The elves were eating multiple dishes made of exotic fruits and vegetables. Some dried or some freshly grown. But when Walker saw that they were even baked in to different pastries that still were without animal products, it was amazing. The true essence that came with, right from the farm, was in every dish an elf had.


    The demi-humans had a clear favorite as well. Hearty meat dishes with piles of roasted vegetables graced their tes. They were enjoying the fruits of thebor that the many demi-human farms created in livestock and in produce. Two very different feelings from foods that were harvested just outside of Genesis on farms.


    But when Walker smelled the familiar scent of herbs before they reached the front door, he couldn''t stop himself from looking over and using the all around appraisal on the dish he saw.


    ''Spring tail sd


    The spring tail sd uses a picked spring tail dressing. The spring tail is a specific herb known to increase energy and help hold of weariness from work. While it is normally used in small potions to allow certain herbs to mix well, it is also used in unique methods of cooking.


    This dish will give increased energy and clear the mind due to the addition of this spring tail herb within it. This enhances the quality as well filly creating a buffed dish. Or what is also known as high cooking.''


    The fact that this dish waspletely outside what a normal dish would be stunned Walker. Especially with the fact that it could help rx and clear the mind. The boost in energy was also a great benefit to workers who needed a good pick me up between their day. It could make everyone work and feel much better.


    While looking around, many more dishes caught his eyes with other herbs added giving many moire buffs. One even used a green fire lily before it had bloomed. It was a way to help the one eating it gain a better handle on fire type manas. It was able to warm the body rxing the muscles too.


    A dish that both helped some one grasp an affinity they already had while helping them rx? Such a meal would be ideal for fire mages, especially the older fire mages that were normally hunched over their research often. This was peak cooking!


    "Wee to the best eatery within all of Genesis, what can I do you you two today?" The woman that greeted them was clearly just going through the motions. She clearly recognized Walker and Lisa as her bosses children.


    "Well, we were hoping to eat with our mother to talk and rx a bit. But I think I will head to the kitchens dn try to learn something new." Walker was too tempted. The special cooking methods that allowed herbs to be added must be amazing. They would be very valuable to learn when the party was out and about. Especially during battles.


    Having the ability to buff yourself and help heal or prepare yourself was important. For an entire army? It could change the strength immensely.


    Just being able to quickly heal the fatigue from traveling would make the army much stronger. Then the fact that they could on top of that use buffs from eating that would help them in controlling mamas? That was a game changer.


    "Well I thought I heard a familiar voice." Hearing his mothers voice over the conversations going on over meals made Walker''s head shoot up.


    His mother was clearly full of energy during this lunch rush. But she waspletely clean. Not a speck of food or dirt touched her apron. It was clearly the mark of a highly trained chef.


    "I heard that you are cooking buffed food. Or is it high cooking? I will try my hand." Walker grimes with a little bit of yfulness. He knew that his mother would throw him in the kitchen without a second though since she loved when she could share her time cooking with her children.


    "Then Lisa, you go start washing some vegetables. I have a lesson for that brother of yours. He hasn''te to try my new food in too long. He''ll be cooking a little more than he realizes." The slight motherly tone with a teasing expression made Walker feel like he was right back at home ready to cook a big meal for the family.


    The kitchen was full of herbs, spices, and mes. Walker felt like he was walking in to another world. The smaller kitchen had been expanded to triple the size. It was clear that they had purchased the storage rooms from the shops behind them and built the buildings together.


    "What do you think? It''s a real kitchen now." Walkers mother beamed with pride as Walkers jaw dropped at the many chefs working in perfect coordination.


    "Last week a few newer cooks came in. We had trials to see who could keep up. Now I have three spirit chefs that use elemental manas to create enhanced dishes. That''s besides the high cooks that came to learn more about ingredients from other kingdoms. We are making dishes that I didn''t even know were possible. Even the alchemists havee to watch!"


    Theughter was somewhat contagious and many of the cooks chatted while working. Their high energy and upbeat attitudes came from their desire to make new and amazing food. This lighthearted atmosphere was exactly the kind of ce anyone in this profession would want to be on.


    The shocking part were the extra chefs experimenting with new ingredients. Dicing and blending herbs to see if they could help their food. To make new recipes that would boost the abilities of everyone that needed them. It was like a lower affinity potion. These dishes could change everything.


    "Now, you want to learn what your mother can do, right? Watch closely as I show off a little." Walkers mother rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a knife nearby.


    While Walker had been away, he hadn''t know about the many changes and many system quests people had gotten. As Genesis came together and new things collided, many new system quests and systems came to be.


    His mother being one of the people offered a quest to change their system. Instead of the baker she had been, she was now a master spiritual chef. Able to bend mamas within ingredients to help those consuming them. Able to manipte the fire mana and water mamas within and around foods perfectly.


    Multiple mamas moving around as she forced up vegetables and simultaneously tossed spices in to pans to toast before mixing the two. It was a dance like he had seen growing up but now, it was ten times more enhanced. So much more hade to it. A sense of elegance and brilliance that stood out over everything now.


    Roasted meat was pulled from the stone ovens. A delightful Smokey scent around it with the freshness of herbs. It was met with a thin sauce full of hours of hard work. "What''s that look for? Didn''t think your mother could whip up something with a little magic in it, did you?"


    Walker couldn''t evene up with the words. It felt like a blink of an eye for the magical performance to appear before him. So many more amazing things still happening. Yet somehow, this dish hade together showing of the I credibly high skills his mother possessed now. It was too much to handle. He was too proud of his family.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1919 Elven Show

    1919 1919. Elven Show


    While Walker was off with his family, Gil was in a wildly different situation.


    The coliseum was filled with many higher ranking elves. The elves that he strived for more in their respective homes. The forest elves were not the only ones toe when something rted to the high elven ways had resurfaced.


    Nearly all the water elves had stepped away from their work for the day. They could continue working on their homes and the building of water ways another day. The same could be said for the dark elves and the stone elves that had stopped their own works to be able to witness the events here.


    What really surprised everyone was the arrival of the fire elves and the wind elves who had more or less kept to themselves since arriving within Genesis. It was almost shocking enough to the other elves that they went to begin conversing right away.


    The only thing that had stopped them were the snow elves. The snow elves had not been directly contacted much other than the usual letters ofmunication by the forest elves. However, the snow elves had long been living isted within the coldest ces away from most people. It was more likely for a dragon to see them than another of the elves.


    Like many of the elves, the snow elves had heard more and more before eventually making their way to Genesis. They had arrived and received multiple quests rted to their fellow elves and also the return of high elven techniques. This was a racial quest that was higher than anything in their opinion.


    "Here we stand. The elves united for the first time in too many years to count. We split our own ways and weakened our race. Not because we were at war or because we faced a threat. We drifted because of our believes in elemental magics. In the affinities we had. We let it drag us apart since there were fewer and fewer high elves that could remain in control."


    Alma found herself speaking. She was the representative of the elves within Genesis after all. This was where she had to stand tall and speak with the elves in mind. "You have all faced your beliefs that the high elven ways had perished. That they were just a record in the archives that our elders managed."


    "That is not the end! We are the elven race. All elemental manas working in perfect unison with nature. We value the flow of nature, but we were lost on that path. That a path was closed in mist because we allowed ourselves to be bitter and too focused on the individual manas that make up nature."


    "Today, we will see the truebination of the elven race. The fact that it took another hero of another race to see us from the outside to help usplete ourselves speaks to one thing. True determination. True pride. True love for all that the elves represented and strive to be. This human is already known as the hero of the elves. Now, he is known by more than that throughout the world, not just Genesis. But today, he is demonstrating the studies he has worked on to unite us. To teach us the past and offer us a way to see a new future."


    This speech was not anything that was written for her. Alma had made it herself as the one representing the elves. As the one called future queen of elves and not just as the forest elf queen. She was standing tall in the middle of the arena showing off the strength she had coaxed through the years and since she had met the party.


    Gil stood in ceremonial elven attire. He felt odd since he had been spoken out as human, but he wasn''t truly so. It was the race he was born as, but that didn''t matter. A hero was not defined by his race. A hero was anyone that stood for what was truly right. A being that could heal and bring others together. That was what a hero was. And should be.


    "Thank you for your introduction. I am Gil. A hero. But more than anything, I am your family." Gil''s statement brought many hushed whispers. He made a bold statement that caused every elf hearing his amplified voice to wonder how he could think that. Only those that were close to him grasped that he was just stating a simple fact from his heart.


    When Gil took a stance with two daggers, he was showing the basic stance of all elven dagger techniques. In one smooth step, his body flowed in to a series of shes and stabs. It mimicked the way of water before suddenly changing and bing vicious. Heated like the mes of a roaring wildfire.


    The next stomp of his foot brought up the defensive stances of earth elves and the records of the sand elves before Gil leaped forward narrowly touching the ground before spinning and shing in brilliant arcs. This wind style showed the folly of wind currents and their strange dance through the world.


    But when the movements changed and became harder to follow, the dark elves recognized the familiar foot work that came with every dark elf battle technique. The shes were perfectly times to be fluid and brutal assassination movements.


    This was before Gil changed. The light elves gasped out as a forward and righteous feeling hit them. They could sense the light elemental manas wavering at Gil''s movements. His shining dagger strikes that were to protect and uphold values while shining through over other movements.


    All these techniques were individual. Yet, they all caused the manas associated with the styles to react. Until Gil stopped and took an odd stance. One that made every single elf feel that the manas of their own affinities were reacting.


    The next moment that Gil moved shocked them all. Natural mana surged around him seemingly coating his body and daggers. The movements were parts of every technique he had demonstrated through his perfectly trained dance of dagger styles. Each pieces perfectly melding together in to an ideal form.


    The high elven dagger technique caused a silence that was like music to the elves. Their mouths could not utter a word. Their hearts felt like they had stopped. The few elves that had heard records of the high elven dagger techniques felt they were seeing history reborn.


    When Gil''s dance of high elven dagger technique came to an end, the natural mana flooded around him before dissipating. Every single elf was silent for some time before cries began to burst out from the stands.


    So elves directly challenge Gil to learn from him. Their desire to see how strong the high elven techniques were screaming through their minds. They could be better just by sparring today or any day against the .


    But for the older elves, tears came to their eyes. They knew they could return their techniques to a higher format. They could find their history and begin growing it again.


    The high elven techniques wouldn''t stop at daggers. Archery, magic, alchemy, and too many more things could return. The youngest of the elves would have the best chance to do so. They could find new ways to use high elven dagger techniques and even be born with high elven systems. It was historical.


    "As you all can see, it was on this day that a promise to unite all the elven dagger techniques was presented asplete. But what does this mean for the future? Will our people take this as a chance to grow? Will our people take this as a way to demonstrate our history to the world? Or is it the opening of a new path where the elves will unify with Genesis and create even better skills that the high elven ways we forgot?"


    The roar of answers and approval were even louder as Alma spoke. Gil was just proud to stand beside her. His promise to her more than met. He had desired this day more than anything, but as he wondered what he wanted next, he was left with only one thought.


    "Before we begin learning and teaching, I have an important desire. One I have felt since the first day my party and I visited the forest elves." The entire coliseum fell silent again.


    "Alma, representative of Elves within Genesis. Future elven queen. Not a single being could ever outshine you. I have met the promise I made to you, but I wish to make another." Alma felt her face go red. She could barely keep her heart from leaping from her chest.


    "Marry me. I don''t wish to live the rest of my life without you no matter how long or short it is."


    Booming cheers and surprise echoes through Genesis after these words. Gil didn''t hold back at all. The very thing that everyone could see when looking at how Alma and Gil interacted. Something they had held back themselves until now.


    "Did you even have to ask? You should already know I would say yes."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1920. Big announcement

    Chapter 1920. Big announcement


    Wildfire. That was what the words Gil had said in front of hundreds of elves were.


    By the next hour, the marriage proposal and eptance had been spread through all of Genesis like wildfire. Everyone was somewhat shocked since it was big news. Yyet, when it came to the party and those that spent a lot of time around them, it was the opposite.


    "Walker, you heard what''s going on in the coliseum, right?" Remey was the first to catch Walker after she heard the news and started to rush towards where she knew everyone would go, the coliseum.


    "Well. yes. We all knew Gil and Alma would do something like this at some point. But I guess Gil was just waiting for them to be home. Plus, He has been going on about the promises he made a lottely. Now I get why he was so in his head about it." Walker''s extra happy attitude came with a simple reason.


    Between Gil and Walker, they both knew who they cared for in these ways. The two were the two men of the group other than Onyx who was focused on other things in the realm of love. Gil however, had a much more in depth set of feelings though. His rtionship with Alma was growing much faster.


    Not that it was anything Walker was jealous of. Gil had managed to greatly bond with every elf he met. It was more like he was finding ces to put himself where he excelled. Then on top of this, he had hit it off with Alma nearly instantly after they had begun getting closer to the elves.


    From that point, everyone had some expectations of what would happen. It was just a matter of time and current events. While current events were concerned, it wasn''t a surprise that Gil chose now.


    Regardless of what they would feel about the corrupted floating city, this was something that didn''t need to take that in to ount. There was never an ideal time for increasing the bonds of a rtionship. It happened naturally when it was meant to be more.


    "Good! You two heard what happened? Can you believe that Gil just went and asked Alma to get married? We aren''t too young for that since nobles get married young or engaged. But that''s not the point. He should have told us, we could have been there."


    When Su saw Remey and Walker she burst in to a rant. It was very clear that she was happy for Gil and Alma. But she was very unhappy to have missed the moment. "I thought you would be the one yelling and maybe punching Gil. Now I think we will need to protect him from Su."


    The immediate elbow to his side that Walker got from Su seemed to sting more with the fact that she never did this. It threw him off a bit but the buzz around the colleagues where everyone had started to celebrate while trying to challenge Gil to a sparring match using the high elven dagger techniques.


    "It''s just too much. When are they going to get married in all this?" Su pointed out the hustle and bustle as they walked in to the colosseum. Walker couldn''t help butugh because he knew well that it would probably be quite some time for it to actually happen.


    "It''s an engagement. I bet there will be a lot of time to n and do what needs to be done. Wasn''t there a noble that was engaged for over ten years back home?"Walker could vaguely remember hearing a rumor that two nobles had gotten married after over ten years of engagement.


    This was a fairlymon practice since some families would make arranged marriages. This wasn''t the case though, some children just decided they wanted to be with someone younger than most people. Others just happened to meet their person and need more time to grow and prepare before a wedding was possible.


    "It''s good though. This is another positive thing that everyone can focus on. Especially the elves and humans who were two of the first races to begin working on Genesis like this. Not that it held any reason why Gil asked Alma. Those two might have been destined."


    "You''re telling me. Here I am rxing and watching Gil show off some fancy dagger techniques to the elves. The next moment their speeches had turned in to an emotional proposal and promises to their futures." Stepping through the air, Scy stopped and softlynded next to the three.


    "But it was a very nice change. Coliseums are normally for battling. Showing the true depth of strength. This is Genesis though, I can ept some new traditions." Seeing that Scy enjoyed the change a lot, Walker didn''t see how this couldn''t be something that happened more often.


    "Genesis is different. We will have plenty of new things to show off. Not that I would n to do anything public like this. I''d have to punch everyone that witnessed something like this until they forgot." With Remey''s opinion, she wouldn''t want so many people witnessing her business.


    "I still think someone should have told us. Now the entire city will know before we even saw them." Su''s opinion didn''t change.


    It continues like this while the four roamed through the crowds watching everything. When they spotted Gil finishing a sparring match in front of a group of younger looking elves, Su darted out first.


    "I thought you would have gone to challenge Gil first." Scy had assumed Walker would go to congratte and challenge Gil. However, Su was ahead of him and already standing in front of Gil.


    "I don''t have my armor or shields. That''s a problem for you today." Su gave a disapproving look and Gil could easily see why.


    "I can''t say I nned much of anything today other than showing off the techniques I learned-" Su dashed forward surprising Gil. He had yet to battle her using her armor less fighting style. He hadn''t expected her to be so quick.


    Before Gil could try and speak again, he found Su had grabbed him and was tossing him over her head. The stunned expression on his face was priceless. He''d never expected that Su had adapted and learned such an up front fighting style that used her defenses as offenses.


    "So, Alma, big day?" Walker found that Alma had left her conversation with a few elves ande over. It was surely busy since multiple elves who worked as advisors were rushed here to see what was happening.


    "It is. I thought he would have taken longer to ask. I told the queen back home when she was teaching me a few things that I wouldn''t be marrying an elf. Gil just had to take his time." This had been on Almas'' mind for much longer than Gil or Walker realized.


    "Well you have to make sure you tied him up before some other archer tried to. You know how many of them fawn over Gil now. It''s pretty gross." Remey''s reply brought someughter from Scy and Alma. Walker just felt a bit lost.


    "Challenging a worthy warrior to a battle to test their skills beforemitting yourself is also important. I hope that you had the proper time to fully test his battle prowess." Scy didn''t doubt Gil but still asked since it was a Demi-human tradition.


    "He can hold his own now. I feel behind if anything." Alma was sure that the entire party had overstepped her in strength. She had other obligations that limited her personal growth.


    While Su beat up on Gil, Midnight had heard the news. Unfortunately, she had found herself in a very odd situation of her own.


    "This is the first light dragon hatchlinging to Genesis. She is going to be in your and the other hatchlings care. Do not let me down." Rise had found Midnight early in the day after the meetings.


    She had hunted Midnight down for one reason. The most recent light dragon born had finally grown enough to leave the nest ande to Genesis. Rise would not allow the other dragons to get ahead of her. Having a hatchling use Genesis to the most was incredibly important.


    "I will take care of her." Midnight''s promise was strong and held her word. A dragon was full of pride and did not go against a promise. With the time they had, the little hatchling would be taken care of.


    The little hatching crawled out from behind Rise. It''s nose sniffing carefully. It was much smaller than most hatchlings but Midnight could send every pure light elemental mana around it. Clearly this little light dragon was uniquepared to even Rise herself. It would be a very interesting time taking care of the little one.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1921. Wonderful Light

    Chapter 1921. Wonderful Light


    The smaller light dragon hatchling was clearly able to handle being outside the nest. But it was very timid. The strongest light dragon had taken it personally from its home and out in to the world. This alone was a big deal to any newly born being. But for a dragon, this hatchling was still considered prey to many things due to its age.


    That was why they would stay in the dragon vige with many powerful dragons to protect them. The dragonkin would even take their turns educating them through the years. Yet, here a young light dragon was without any way for it to protect itself.


    This was just too surprising for Midnight who was wondering what such a dragon would be able to do. However, Rise just let the little hatchling walk over to Midnight and sniff her to memorize who she was and that she was the one that would guide her.


    "You will show me what everyone else had been boasting. I expect that this one shall grow in the most unique and appropriate way." Rise turned and pped her wings back in to the air. She would take her full dragon form and enjoy the sun way up in the sky. She had not been able to do sotely and wished to recover some of the light mana she could store in her body.


    This left Midnight with the in, bit confused face that anyone would catch on to if she sat there with it. But she had also be very curious as well. The little hatchling was very unique.


    While Midnight had already felt the very unique light elements mana within the little hatchling, she had no idea why it was so pure. The pure light elemental mana was something that people would On top of this, even elemental mana crystals needed to be condensed and purified to be able to have purer mana of whatever have to work hard for. Mages, light swordsman, or healers all needed to work much harder to be able to gather such pure light mana.


    On top of this, even elemental mana crystals needed to be condensed and purified to be able to have purer mana of whatever affinity they were. It was a process that many mages had to take to be able to study their affinity mana more carefully. Walker had purified multiple elemental manas where Midnight could watch. She knew the value of a purer mana.


    This was just part of it though. She could see that the little hatchling had tougher scales as well. They glittered with a slightly translucent light. This showed that light mana was naturally being absorbed by them. It was a necessary ability for any elemental dragon to be able to bolster their defenses with the manas that they had an affinity with.


    The translucent effect of this meant that the light was bending around the scales as they pulled in the light mana. Therefore, it would be defensive ability that might be able to deflect some magical attacks. The manas would be in interference with the light mana that already existed within the dragon''s scales and body.


    "Come with me." Midnight was in her dragonkin form and lifted the little dragon hatchling on to her shoulder where it dug its ws in to her and held on tightly. It was a little afraid of Midnight since it could sense that she was much more powerful than what she could ever be able to defend.


    Midnight had grown a lot. The fact that she could take a dragonkin form was already a clear cut way to show that she was stronger than most. But furthermore, it showed that she was able to control her strength enough to be around other simr beings. This was something that every dragon had to learn.


    Compared to the other monsters, especially the dragonkin that served them, the dragons were often stronger byrge margin. If they could not control their strength then they could harm the ones that they were supposed to protect. This was not something that had never happened before. It was just a fact that every dragon had to face and focus on learning about at some point.


    That was still not the only thing that the little light dragon hatchling could sense. She could feel that midnight was using more than just light elemental mana. The basic instincts that came to the little hatchling told her that she was not anywhere near the ability to counter Midnight if she were to use other elemental manas that were already contained within Midnight''s body.


    That was all just instinctual though. Many more aspects of how Midnight moved could show off to the hatchling that midnight was dangerous. The fact that the dragonkin and many others of Genesis waved or made actions to greet Midnight proved that she was held in high regard. Naturally, a dragon hatchling would see this as them recognizing Midnight''s strength.


    "The cathedral." Midnight pointed a single wed finder at therger stone structure that the little hatchling could vaguely sense. It was the light elemental mana within that she could tell was important. But even in therge square, her eyes were darting.


    Multiple light affinity beings were moving through. A harpy was flying by with pure white feathers as little bits of light seemed to dance around her. It was a demonstration of how she used her skills rted to light mana to move faster. But there were also light mages that moved.


    Before the little hatchling could see more though, Midnight pushed forward and cut through the open square and up the stairs of the cathedral. The healers recognized her and were very happy to greet her. A few children even rushed up and inquired about the hatchling on her shoulder. But Midnight did not share much. Even with the ability to speak most human words, Midnight preferred to remain silent at most times. She liked the dragon growls or huff since it felt better tomunicate that way still.


    This was why Midnight could understand the short shy and slightly fearful huffsing from the little hatchling. Midnight knew that this was a lot of activity and plenty more new things to see than what the hatchling would be able to handle most of the time. However, she was still not able to shake the feeling that the hatchling was more amazed than anything, even though it did not show.


    Therge amount of healing light skills and manas around were enough to show that this pace was an ideal home. But when Alice saw Midnight while speaking with arge group of healers, she made a move to separate herself and see what was going on.


    "You brought a friend!" Alice noticed the little hatchling and held out a finger in greeting. Aurora slithered up Alice''s arm and looked at the little dragon hatchling. A small bit of light mana escaping her and floating around the air.


    This was a mix of Alice humming a little and Aurora using her ability as a heavenly serpent to be able to manipte light elemental mana easily. The two actions surprised the little hatchling, but she raised her head and epted the little bits of light mana greedily. She was very d to see that some people were weing enough to give her what she needed to be able to grow stronger. Every hatchling knew that understanding the mana that they had an affinity for was very important.


    "Training. That''s what she needs." Midnight''s blunt exnation was enough for enough for Alice to get a handle on what was happening. But Alice just shook her head and pointed to the side where multiple light affinity healers had gathered. Specifically, a multitude of those who could use music to heal.


    "Learn and watch." Midnight could understand what Alice was thinking. Especially since multiple heavenly serpent hatchlings had taken up spots basking in the light elemental mana around the crystal and the stands where the healers were preparing for a performance.


    This was a normal urrence for the healers in the cathedral. It would both help heal those with smaller injuries but also help the elderly to regain a little more energy. This was a normal thing for any church or cathedral that wanted to help all the people around them.


    Feeling that Alice had a great idea, Midnight took herself and the little hatchling closer. Just before the first sound of a soft piano began ying, the little dragon hatchling sensed the light mana react. It was because Alice had opened her mouth and begun to sing an equally soft and sweet song about the growth of spring.


    The little light dragon hatchling watched as the light began taking shape. Forms of flowers and forests that she had never seen. Images of peaceful monsters living within the forest of light taking shape around the entire cathedral. The depths of this wonder etched their way in to the very core of the little dragon hatchling.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1922 1922. Growing Serpents

    While the others were in the coliseum and Midnight was upied within her own rite with a brand new light dragon hatchling, Onyx found himself in a very unique situation.


    "Ibis, when I left you, there were some eggs that needed to hatch along with many hatchlings learning from you. I understand that they would have ventured ording to my teachings. Some went to the guards to act as defenders and others with the healers to use healing light. But what of these?"


    The surprise that onyx had found was more than what he expected. The first ce that the party had discovered the eggs of multiple abyssal and heavenly serpents had been excavated even more. The ants had been dealt with already, therefore, it was just a matter of excavating the older ruins.


    However, this had yielded another seventy eggs. It caused Onyx to find himself in an expanded room built on to the cathedral. Furthermore, he found that some of the hatchlings had made it their goal to help others hatch. It had led to a very interesting development.


    "Well, this old man is not going to tell them what they can and can not do just based on what you taught them. The otherse back and teach the little ones, but they are still young and learning too. Why wouldn''t some newly hatched little ones decide to follow me instead?"


    It wasn''t that Ibis was trying to butt heads with Onyx. but it was very clear that he was just stating a blunt fact. Some of the hatchlings found that Ibis was helping make the light stringer. This helped the hatchlings grow and the eggs hatch. Therefore, the little hatchlings would be inspired by them.


    This had led to them changing the way that they were learning.some hatchlings were directly looking at the healers but taking it a step further. They were nurturing the eggs and learning to call out light mana to a purer level.


    The heavenly serpents born and trying this were able to purify light mana while the abyssal serpents were learning to gather it and bring it back to the cathedral. They had taken on an oddly symbiotic rtionship between the two that was above what they would be able to do at this point.


    Above this, they were also working to clean the area that the hatchlings lived. It had be aplete nursery where the newly hatch serpents had caregivers right there waiting. Ibis only had to ensure that he called on some of his light elemental summons to assist when the hatchlings were unable to provide enough light mana for the eggs. It was a massive leap.


    "You were als out there making a name for yourself. The other hatchlings that already moved out of here have been listening for any little whisper or gossip about you. I assure you, they will be back here sooner to see what you have to say. Not that you will be able to say much when you realize how many can speak now too." Ibisughed seeing th8at onyx coiled up and looked surprised. It was just a feeling though.


    "They can speak like me!? How are they growing that fast? They shouldn''t¡­ They are around too many people that can speak. They are adapting!" Onyx was overjoyed. He saw that this was just a needed step. While he felt that Ibis was cking a little, he was proud.


    The abyssal and heavenly serpents were clearly making themselves a name now. This step was an important one that had to be taken to establish them as a race. But on top of that, it was also a step that they had to take to ensure that they reached that point.


    If the serpents could not care for their young and keep growing, then they would just disappear as monsters and never a truly recognized race. That would mean that they were not destined to be anything other than what they were.


    What Onmyx also rted to them were the echidna. The echidna could take a more humanoid form or a partial snake and human mixed form closer to demi-humans. If Onyx would learn from them along with all the heavenly and abyssal serpents, then it would just be something even more amazing.


    "I was going to show them a few more skills. Shadow and light armor, but also the fusion of light and darkness manas. That is the true nature of our kind. The duality that we are able to house within our bodies. They will need to learn it at some point." Onyx knew that this would be valuable to their race in the future.


    The abyssal serpents had taken on guard cements because they easily hid in the shadows. But when they learned light elemental mana, they would be better at standing outpared to what they did now.


    When it came to the heavenly serpents, they would be able to heal or use light, but they would have to learn to mix the darkness mana and be sneakier or able to meld with shadows more.


    Both were challenges that they did not seeing yet because they were unsure of what they would be able to do in their own future. Every single thing was being written by Onyx as he delved in to what their species was capable of. "I also need your help to write records of what we have discovered so far."


    All of this was a very big thing to handle. However, Inyx barely got another word out before he sensed a familiar presence. "Sister, you have more than just yourself here now." The little hatchling shied away from Onyx as Midnight walked inside. It was understandable that the sudden change from the cathedral''s magical performance to the hatchling nursery would be hard to handle.


    "New Hatchling. Time to learn." Midnight pointed at Ibis then the little light dragon hatchling. It looked at Ibis before Ibis smiled and summoned out a small little bird with very strong light elemental mana.


    The little light birds was one of many little summons from the light elemental ne that Ibis could call. But it was strong enough to call up a whirlwind of light mana all around. The eggs greedily absorbed it, but the light dragon hatchling stuck its head up in awe. It was stunned by the many amazing showcases of light elemental mana.


    "So sister is helping you. Wee to Genesis little one. Feel free to look for friends among my fellow serpents. They are growing just like you." Onyx was still scary since he spoke right in the hatchling''s mind. But when she realized he meant kindness and for her to make friends, the little hatchling took the initiative.


    One little leap down from Midnight''s shoulder brought the light dragon hatchling face to face with a few smaller serpents that had just hatched not even a few days ago. The little dragon sniffed at the hatchlings as the hatchlings rose up and looked carefully.


    They could sense the light mana and also understood that this was a dragon. But they were very curious since they understood that they were face to face with a being like them. One that had the same affinity.


    The scene that unfolded was many little bosses and slight growling between the serpents and little light dragon. Their way ofmunicating was odd but it was seemingly working as they gathered together a bit more.


    Midnight eventually felt that the meeting was better than expected and focused on Onyx. The two had already heard the gossip around and didn''t feel the need to rush toward everyone. Their presence here was more important.


    "The two of you speak way too much." Ibis joked a little but found that neither Midnight nor Onyxughed. The two were having their own silent conversation about the hatchlings and serpents joining hands here and there.


    "I need to go to another meeting. Tell the others that I will be back tonight to see them." Onyx felt that he should go congratte Gil and Alma. Midnight nodded too while the little light dragon hatchling jumped back to her before understanding that it could remain here for as long as it wanted.


    "Yes, we will pick you up after you have made your friends." Onyx said his farewell to the new dragon hatchling he was sure to see a lot of. He didn''t say a word about how pure the light elemental mana was already in its body. He knew it had a bright future.


    The two left the cathedral and found Alice waiting for them. Clearly she had the same thoughts and wanted someone to enjoy the walk with. Plus, the day was starting to get on and they could grab a good snack together on the way.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1923 1923. Darkness Dragon Visits

    "ording to the research, the rune formations will need further improvement to teleport a dragon in its full form. The mana for you in your full size is too great. As of this moment, your shadow diving skills are still greater in the measure of the size that can be brought through it."


    The question hade from mordant originally. He wanted to know if using shadows to slip through ces was better or worse than the spatial teleportation that was being studied. He had gone out of his way to find the small group of spatial mages that were working very hard to improve the rune formation.


    Specifically, he had been wondering if the angels would be able to learn more. Now that the angels had been opened to the Genesis alliance, they had already begun toe over more and more.


    "I understand. The mana cost is higher due to the size. Using the ability to change forms makes the space we take up smaller and causes less mana to be used. That will be important when we are sending armies anywhere. Or if we must evacuate this city." it was understandable that mordant would find this as a bit of a disappointment but also very useful.


    Since Mordant had some curiosity about these things, he hade to ask questions. He also had left some of his most trusted dragonkin to search Sigil for the darkness dominator dragons ruins. He had yet to figure out where they may be and the angels were also lost. But that was alright.


    The fact that the darkness dominator dragon ruins had not been found yet meant that they would most likely be intact and untouched. The way of the darkness dragons was one of secrecy and solitude. That was why many had be rogue dragons or had fallen even further to be skeletal dragons. Not that they were truly fallen in a way.


    This was just the price of solidarity in their own beliefs. But that did not mean that Mordant had not called over other darkness dragons. On the contrary, he had called over eight adult darkness dragons while the younger ones were left to train until they were allowed toe to Genesis as well. Limiting them was a great way to push them to strengthen themselves.


    Byt calling more darkness dragons here, Mordant had drawn Walker back to where he had been asking the spatial rune questions. "I knew you would be alone shortly. Having eight of my most trusted dragonse here was enough to bring a lot of attention." Mordant nced upwards as Walker was also looking up at the dragons.


    "I was a little busy earlier, but tonight we are having a celebration for Alma and Gil. They are engaged now. Apparently they aren''t letting anything about the world slow down their own story." Walkerughed a little as Mordant had also heard this. But as any dragon would, this didn''t matter.


    "A dragon doesn''t need to worry about what others think or the time. Whether it is a mixing of viges for peace or it is for what true feelings someone has. A dragon would pursue whatever they must. Your family also understands this. That is why Gil pursued the one he swore many promises to." Pride came out from Mordant''s words. He believed Gil had acted appropriately.


    "I agree, he made the right choice. But you, what''s going on here?" it was clear that Miordant had been bothering these five angels for some time. But they looked happy to be around so Walker didn''t say this in a negative tone. More of a curiosity that came with everything he inquired about.


    "I was wondering if my dragons could teleport too. Unfortunately, they can not because of therge mana costs. They will need to be able to take a dragonkin form first." Mordant sounded sad, but it was more of an eptance than anything. He didn''t have to make them search for the ruins right away. But the sooner they were found, the better.


    "The more powerful dragons you have long for the dominator dragon ruins the better. I understand that, but what about the vige you will build outside Genesis?" Walker had heard that Ignus was already calling on multiple rune carvers to make a fire filled pce just for his dragons. Even Terron was apparently going to help build a fake mountain for them to create a false volcano.


    "I was thinking about using the spatial runes and just darkness runes to design a ce where it is dark at all times. Then we can have some light runes used to make a starry sky. The dark elves might like it a lot and the abyssal serpent. It would also be a good pce for the gray haired spiders since they dislike the bright sunlight on hot days."


    While Walker saw this as a very good way to allow for more unique ces within Genesis, he began to understand something else. "Genesis is going to be at least ten timesrger now, isn''t it? We are literally shaping thends around to make elemental areas for those that could use them the best way possible. That means that there will be a need for more people in charge." Walker looked at Mordant carefully.


    "My dragonkin would dly act as guards as well. For the darkness area, they would be the ideal guards that could prevent anyw breaking. That and some demons appear to be perfect for the darker environments. There was a dark alchemist that specializes in poisons and antidotes for poisons. Not to mention that shadow herbalist that focuses on growing herbs that only can grown in dark areas."


    "So you are saying that your area would be an extension of the main Genesis city in the center while every dragon has outer districts. The focus on their elemental specifics would allow for better growth? Then those that wish to use elemental and other things would move toward the center?" This was a good way to exin the new set up that Genesis was undergoing.


    "It''s simr to those city ruins we have seen. And the papers of others I have been shown. They will all be a very good base for what we n. The spatial runes will lock in whatever elemental mana we can focus on. It just needs research."


    "Exactly. We will have these problems solved faster than anyone could imagine. We are all working on new spatial runes. The study of space mana is only starting now!" The researchers listening to this were very quick to jump in and boast about the bright future their field of study had.


    "I agree, the more we study the spatial rune and the mana, the better. We should be able to make some breakthroughs. But I want to see what i can test too. If I can use spatial mana on the mage tower, then everyone in the entire city will gain more." Walker had a different view.


    The mage tower already helped all of them. Therefore, if he were to find ways to boost it, then these separated elemental areas could also wee a mixed elemental mana better. This would enhance natural mana, and the other manas that were harder to research. Not to mention the overall health of the poption. It would grow enormously with these benefits.


    "Well, that does sound great. The origin runes have taken arge leap in researchtely. Why don''t we keep focusing on darkness mana though. I will introduce you to the dragons that i have seen grow and even a few that have given me some trouble.


    "I would very much like to meet your fellow darkness dragons. I was surprised that you have already called them. But I wonder if we can improve the efficiency of the elemental space rune formation. We might be able to teleport one of them to Sigil. They can help the angels and also assist in finding the ruins of any dominator dragons."


    "I know that Ignus and Terron already have things covered with theirs. All the information as taken and the ruins were isted so that no one could bother them. But there are plenty of ruins left. I assume that Current will want to go back sooner thanter too." Walker knew this well since Current had already gathered a small team of dragonkin, water elves, and demi-humans to join his search. He would be helping them get stronger too.


    "Yes, they are ready to use what they have learned. But ording to Terron, it is arger step than we realized. Ignus would not speak a word about it. He said that he is looking at another possibility for the power he found. It was frustrating."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1924 1924. Darkness Dragons Meet

    <h4>Chapter 1924 1924. Darkness Dragons Meet</h4>


    While Walker was unsure what else might be needed to be a dominator dragon, he also understood that there was plenty that the dragons would want to hide. They were all of different elemental affinities. Their paths to getting stronger were their own and required their own focus. If they shared everything, then they might be giving up their weaknesses.


    Even worse, it would feel as if they were betraying the past dominator dragons that ahd carved out all of this knowledge to be passed down to them. They had to respect the privacy and the hard work of these ancestors.


    "I understand that they would not want to share much with others. Terron was already more quiet and preferred to keep himself to himself. It is a blessing that he is getting along with the dwarves. Especially since we are certain the dwarves want him to help with forging or other mining expeditions." Walker knew that this was just a small blessing though.


    "Terron said that they are asking him to direct them to new mines and ore veins. Apparently they wish to make every single piece of metal they get their hands on in to something new using carved runes, elven magic, and anything else. They even asked if they could learn draconic runes from Terron. Someone who barely uses them in his own vige." Mordantughed a little too much at this.


    The draconic runes were some things used in therger dragon viges. Terron did not establish a solid vige and preferred remaining underground. Therefore, he had focused more on the caves and earth mana over the runes they needed. The other dragon viges were more able to teach such runes.


    "Regardless, it is a good ce for him and his dragonkin to find a home. The dwarves respect dragons a lot more because dragon mes have helped them create things that only their young can dream of. You already know what the wandering cksmith did with Midnight and I. imagine if the most experienced dragons were helping the entire dwarven race that is vying for a chance to learn the wandering cksmith''s techniques?"


    This stopped Mordant for a single step before he smiled and nodded. He understood what Walker was thinking and how good it was in the long run. It meant that genesis would grow yet again. "I also expect that the earth dragon area will have a farm on the surface and the dragons living beneath. That just makes a little more sense."


    This additional fact was all due to the fact that the earth dragons were a subterranean dragon. they preferred to have the earth close to them and all around them. Even with their ability to fly, they preferred to remain in caves. It was just a fact.


    "This should be a good pce." Mordant stopped. He and Walker had been heading outside of Genesis for about an hour while they spoke about other dragons and their ces around. Especially about the dominator dragon ruins they still had to discover.


    Eight darkness dragonsnded in a row in front of Mordant and Walker. They looked down at him with their eyes focused on Mordant before lowering their heads before him. They did not speak but Walker could feel that they were waiting for Mordant to tell them what do do.


    "This is the nature dragon Walker. He is the leader of Genesis and the founder. We also yed a part in all of this, but we do not make thews and rules here. We are carving a new path for all of dragonkind and all of the world. You will be moving all the others to this pce. We will be making a dark rune formation to allow us eternal night in our home."


    The surprise was evident. The darkness dragons had yet to meet Walker. But they were more surprised to see that they were moving their viges anding here. Normally, they had their own smaller viges to look after due to their orders from Mordant. "My lord, this area is not suitable to raise our young. The darkness mana is too thin."


    "You are correct. The mana here is nothing like it should be. But with the runes we have discovered within Genesis, the formation can be made. A ce that will allow multiple races and our viges to unitepletely. It will give birth to darkness dragons able to do more than we ever imagined." Mordant''s positive attitude struck every dragon. They had not seen their lord acting in such a way. They couldn''t believe it.


    "You are all wary. I understand. I look like a human who can barely do anything. Let alone use every mana to make natural mana. But how could I use darkness mana and prove that runes would be possible to ce here? You might already feel the effects of the mage tower from here. But what of me?" Walker stepped forward with a slight smirk. Mordant shook his head since he knew what would be happening.


    Darkness mana surged all around Walker as he used natural mana to enhance it and draw a massive amount toward him. "Through a lot of training and opening my eyes, natural mana can attract darkness mana. I can already create a small space. I can already make myself look closer to you if I desire."


    Darkness mana surged out as shadows extended. The darkness dragons sensed that the entire area around them had matched a skill they had seen Mordant use. That their royal dragon had used to show them the strength of his darkness.


    "A darkness dragon domain. Very good." Mordant was pleased to see that Walker was easily using such a skill that he could use but his dragons still struggled with.


    The next moment, all the darkness lingering around the now dark area converged. The darkness dragon domain remained but Walker was using the darkness to take the form of a massive armored darkness dragon. His shape and face were still evident, but around him the darkness had be the body of a dragon. Nearly the same as Mordant in his royal dragon form.


    "If you can follow me, I will show you more. The power you have and the power that can be shared. You can all be teachers of darkness mana to those willing to learn. But what can you learn? What can you be that is more than what you are now?" Walker suddenly dispelled all the darkness mana and floated softly back to the ground leaving every darkness dragon wondering what had just happened.


    They had never imagined a human that their royal dragon had exined was powerful could outshine them in their own elemental affinity. They follows Mordant because of these things. The understanding of pure darkness. Yet, Walker could show some of that and even more.


    The natural mana used had resonated with them deep in their bodies. The mana they stored away for use had echoed with the natural mana and it felt as if they would lose control of it if they were not careful. Having such a high affinity for all elemental mana meant that Walker could affectrger areas that what he showed them just now.


    "We great the great nature dragon who has brought all dragons together closer than every." The darkness dragons officially greeted Walker in the way that their ancestors had recorded.


    The tales of dragons following the nature dragon and growing by many leaps and bounds had been passed down generation to generation. They all knew the greatness that came with this unity.


    "Wee to Genesis. While you can not venture inside until you can take dragonkin form, you can still meet with others and get to know them. Other dragons are here too." Walker felt it was sad that some of them could note inside.


    "My lord, I have recently be stronger and be able to take another form. Please let me prove myself." A single dragon wreathed himself in shadows bed for his form shifted. It was tougher than Mordant or Midnights shift but still proved to be ideal.


    The tall man that greeted Walker had touched ck scales proving he needed to improve this form still. However, he clearly had worked hard to reach this level.


    "Then I guess Mordant gets to show off to his first darkness dragon elder what Genesis is all about." Walker was very surprised and clearly so was Mordant. Yet, pride had bloomed on Mordants face a momentter. His elder had grown stronger and proven himself at the perfect time to walk this new path.


    "I will show you things you have never seen while the other elders speak and prepare to transport their people here. You will as well after we take a walk." Mordant left them with their orders as the elder followed him.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1925 1925. Pure Flames

    <h4>Chapter 1925 1925. Pure mes</h4>


    Knowing that the elder darkness dragons were appeased made Walker rx a little. He was also d to see that one had impressed Mordant by getting stronger while Mordant had been away. This would just bolster the defenses of Genesis by a greater deal than what anyone expected.


    "That was sure the show. I bet you could do that with the wind as well." Ventus slowlynded next to Walker while they watched Mordant head off and the darkness dragons converse.


    "I had to show off a little so that they were able to trust me a little more." Walker said this very mater of factly. He was sure that Ventus would ask the same thing to be shown since it was sure that they would have to show off his strength to the wind dragons.


    "I expect you will keep up that work. But when ites to my people, you will not need to worry. They are already on their way. My dragonkin and elders will also be visiting my children to test them." Now this was a surprise.


    Walker had expected that Ventus would have her children brought back here. However, the fact that she was sending the elders to test them and leaving them there meant that she was fullymitted to her children helping the demons grow. Especially with war approaching.


    "You want them to have a ce to protect if things go poorly? Or you want them away from the main fight?" There was a slight nod from Ventus. She cared for her children. It was different from what the other dragons did. Each type of dragon had their traditions. Their ways to grow their kind.


    For Ventus, the wind dragons, they kept their tongue very close and guided them greatly. This was simply due to the fact that all skies were their homes regardless of the location on the world. This let them understand the greatest fear and negative that came with that. Falling.


    If a wind dragon were to fall from the highest ces in the sky, death was just part of what they might experience. Therefore, the mothers of the wind dragon hatchlings would guide them in the ways of maneuveringrger wind currents. Of surviving wind storms higher in the sky than possible for most species. For how they could survive in the skies above the clouds and full of sun or stars.


    These lessons were steeped within the traditions that came with the dragons way of life. It also brought together the wind dragons in to a closer nit vige than the other dragon viges. However, there were the dragonkin.


    The wind elemental dragonkin were the reason that viges were build. Yes, they were on the highest of the high mountains. ces where many could not venture no matter what. But that was not the issue. There was the simple issue that they would all need to travel with the currents of wind.


    Protecting these dragonkin was the utmost due of the wind dragons. They were the ones that created the homes and the ability for the dragonkin to grow. Therefore, without the perfect cooperation and unity, it would fail. That was also why the draconic guardian of wind was taking a different role too. A protector of the vige instead of the wind dragon champion.


    "I came to ask you a question, before you get too busy." Ventus looked off in the distance. "Do you respect toe out of this new war with everyone still alive?" she was serious. Wind mana oozed from around her, putting pressure on Walker. Not because she wanted to hurt him, just to show the depths of seriousness right at this moment.


    "No. I don''t think it will be possible. The demon lord has been ahead of us in every step. The slimes, the ruins, the runes, and corruption. I think that he had years to slumber and think of this because of what we already know. But I think that we can beat him because the world is on our side. We know the problems and we can create the solutions."


    "Hmm, you are really trying your best. That''s fine then. I will be going back to Sigil. I will be a wind dominator dragon to appease the ancestors while the vige is built here. I trust you with the elders of my kind until I return."


    There was a moment where Walker felt this was too much. Yet, he knew this was proof that Ventus trusted him. That she wanted to go get stronger because she knew this threat was not something small.


    The dragons had been prideful. They believed themselves powerful. Now though, they realized that their species had grown very weak. That over the generations they had lost part of their history and begun to weaken more than they knew.


    The older ancestors, the dominator dragons, had been the top of the world. The most powerful dragons other than the most ancient originator of the dragons. Therefore, when they saw this stark contracts, the royal dragons had made a Solomon inner promise.


    "I promise you that they will be able to build their vige here safely. They will be weed as equals while you are away. Good luck my friend." Walker felt that Ventus was smiling as she pped her wings towards the elemental space teleportation rune formation.


    The weight on Walkers shoulder did not stress him out. He felt that he could take this mantle well. However, Ventus had not been the only one attracted by what had happened.


    "Ignus, I didn''t think you could be pulled from your training." Walker thought that Current might be drawn or Rise. Yet Ignus hade.


    "Since so much happened I knew you would be here. It''s time to have a conversation." This was not the usual Ignus. He was serious and exuded the pressure of mes from himsel much more so than usual.


    "What''s going on?" Walker wasn''t sure what was happening. The dragons wereing to him over and over with their reasons for doing something here and there to gain strength or toe together. But Ignus left a whole new presence right now.


    "It''s a proper step. Nothing wrong but you are needed as I finish what must be done." Ignus made it sound like this was a risk of life and death. Beyond what was needed or known. However, it was clear that Ignus hade for the sole reason that he trusted Walker to assist him.


    "Then let''s do what needs to be done. Tell me what I can do." Without any further words, Ignus grabbed Walker and leaped in to the air. He flew toward the alchemy guild and dropped on to a balcony made for those who can fly.


    Weaving. Through the many corridors and down stairs, Walker began to understand where they were going.


    Deeper in to the guild and beneath the earth. A single heat was growing that Walker could sense. "Pure fire mana"


    "Yes it is." Ignus had been growing this pure fire mana with the knowledge he gained from the me dominator dragons ruins. Knowing the levels of what he needed, he had grown it here where fire was used uniquely and unhindered.


    When the space opened up, Walker saw runes that made no sense. They were clearly draconic. But they were moreplicated and attracted fire mana I''m a way that was different from how Walker attracted it.


    "True dragon fire. The mes made for and by dragons. Using the runes gifted by the original me dragons to those they birthed. Before they ascended elsewhere. This is what makes a me dominator dragon. One that can walk forward." Ignus was speaking the same way he had when he spoke of the oldest dragon traditions.


    "And the one human who wishes to also wield them alongside me as an equal." Everything seemed to stop when Walker heard this. He felt his stomach and heart drop. The feeling of fear and worry.


    Remey was standing wrapped in bandages in the center of many runes. mes dancing near her more than they should.


    ''Pure fire dragon runes formation.


    This formation carries the will of the true me dragons. The ones that originated the fire dragon bloodline.


    These runes are able to create a unique me that allows for growth in a fire dragon of a certain age and strength.


    There may be other ways to use this but ites at great cost and risk¡­''


    Walker didn''t read anything else. He knew that Remeybahd decided this path was one she would travel for strength. But she had done some with Ignus at great risk. It was too far though. This was something that could bring her to her knees and then to her death. Yet, even Ignus looked at Walker with some worry mixed in to his determination. The two had sworn on this when they started. Not they would finish it with a little help.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1926 1926. True Flames

    ''Unique quest- me dragon''s bond


    The most powerful living fire dragon is close to taking the important next step toward their strength. However, through this endeavor, they have not been alone. A unique system user has stepped in to the path along with the fire dragon. Assist them in creating a brand new strength never seen within the world.


    Requirement- ensure that both the royal fire dragon and the unique system user, Hero Remey, survive this event.


    Reward- 20 heroic points, 5000 experience, dragon me enlightenment, draconic rune enlightenment.''


    All the rewards were something that would help make Walker stronger but when he was looking at Remey, he was beginning to understand the depth of what she and Ignus had learned and been working on when it came to fire. When it came to growing stronger.


    "I know you are going to get angry or whatever. But just listen and help us. That''s what we need." Remey put on a clearly determined face. But the way that she spoke made Walker even more worried and unwilling to allow the two of them to take this step.


    "When Ignus showed me that there was a unique set of runes that the me dominator dragons used that are closer to the origin runes and made for dragons, I thought that he would be able to use them to help me learn more about fire."


    "Then we spoke with the echidna and learned even more about how mana works and how fire is just one form that all mana takes. So, I figured that dragons shouldn''t be the only ones that can use their runes. Yes, they are made for dragons so it is easier for them, but Ignus and I made a deal."


    Ignus stepped closer to Remey then looked at Walker. "A human that can face me head on and not flinch when I threaten to eat her in a single bite. Not even the fire dragons of my vige or any vige are willing to stand in front of my face like that. Whether it is courage or madness. We share the same mind."


    This seemed to be something that Remey and Ignus had realized some time ago. Their brutal and unflinching bluntness when facing fights or just general ideas was too simr. They were two birds of a feather. But they had taken their own stubborn time to understand this. Overall, it was hard to really understand how it could be possible.


    "Don''t just sit there and look confused. We are saying that we are sticking together. So deal with it. Dragons are already allies and Ignus is definitely willing to unite with the other races. So this would happen at some point. But that''s not enough. Training made me understand a difference."


    There was a lot of worry and sadness on Remey''s face. "I wasn''t able to improve my strength, just alchemy. Physically, I was losing the ability to keep up because I was a human. I am only human and use spiritual mes from my partner. But that''s just it, I use strength from elemental spirits and alchemy. That''s just a line I can''t cross. My alchemy gets better but what happens when I face corrupted mana? I can''t clean that up. Only you and Gil have skills to do it."


    "So, Ignus showed me a path to take. We are going to mix the original fire dragon runes with my body and his. Then we will absorb pure dragon mes. My alchemical brawler skills can handle it while I change my body and get stronger. I won''t be some monster, but I might be more like a dragon myself." Remey seemed almost childish. Walker felt that he was looking at someone making fantastical ims.


    However, Su had be dragon like. She was a draconic guardian. She had epted a ritual and gained a lot from her bond with Midnight. Yet, Remey wasn''t bonded in the same way. This was vastly different.


    "I won''t be half dragon or anything like that, but I will undergo the same steps as a dragon to understand fire at the deepest depths. That''s what''s written in the me dominator dragons tes. The knowledge there is how to understand the change in mana that makes fire mana exist."


    Ignus finished Remeys thoughts. It was clear that Remey had been preparing and needed to conserve strength. But Walker could sense the threats in this. The dangers that came with trying to y with a concept like the creation of fire mana.


    "I understand why you want to get stronger, but you potions are already changing everything. Affinity potions, explosive potions, antidotes to poisons no one else has ever created. So much." Walker''s words were brushed off easily.


    "But that is just part of being a hero. I need to stand taller and protect the family we built here in Genesis. Being able to control mes to the core of their existence will allow me to be a hero that can purify corruption. A real step to strength. It is already decided. Just help us control the mana that escapes and tries to cause problems."


    "But what about-"


    "Walker! We have already started. Look at my body. The pure mes were used to ce these original dragon runes on my skin and even burned in to my being. Ignus is the same. He can''t even take his dragon form because a dragon is weakest while taking this step. That''s why there were always so few dominator dragons. They lose all strength while battling for their purity and their existence."


    It made sense now. The leaps In strength came with the risk. The cost for this attempt could be their lives. But it could also reshape their potential. Allow them to stand ten steps higher than they had before. But it would also be a major loss for the world if they failed.


    "It''s time we start. We will lose ability to move while the runes work and the pure mes absorb in to our bodies. Please protect the city while we work."


    Ignus stepped on to a matching rune formation. There was a sincerity and tenderness that Walker didn''t expect him to have. However, I''m the wildest and oddest way, he had finally found his match. Someone who could stand unflinching in front of him. Someone that would even dare to wield a fist toward him if he spoke out of line. Aical event for a dragon like him. A royal.


    A deep breath was all Walker could take before he watched the runes light up. The intense and pure fire mana seemed to be impossible to grasp. He just knew that he had been asked here as both witness and protector. Something that he was trusted to be regardless of what he was doing.


    The trust made his heart feel heavier as he understood the risk happening here. Remey was betting her life on her will. The strength that she had to resist losing to the power of pure mes and how they came to be. Ignus was the same.


    Regardless of Walker''s thoughts, he had been blind. Ignus had more than just taken on the values of Genesis. He was even willing to risk it all and defend it properly. Walker had missed this development because of everything happening around them.


    Walker had been blinded by his own opinions of Ignus. The rough words and easy temper had been what covered Ignus''s true thoughts. However, Walker saw clearly now. That a grand ally willing to step on as a shield and caregiver to Genesis and all races was right in front of him.


    A part of the family.


    Rampant fire mana tried to expand outward. Walker instantly called on his strength to manipte the mana while pulling natural mana toward him. Fleur even reacted and started sharing natural mana too. Controlling the mes was harder than he expected.


    The pure mes had caused the original fire dragon runes to glow on both Ignus and Remey''s bodies. The pure mes wrapped them like eggs. Allowing them to absorb them and shape them as they learned. As they battled against the mes as a whole.


    The pressure only grew as Walker felt the mysterious force of true mana showing its face. He felt like the world itself had held its breath as these rampant mes tried to break away those that dared look in to their origin.


    But the mes didn''t know what was looking back. They didn''t know the intense will that had started back at them. The origin of mes not seen by any being in years upon years without walking in to the ne of fire was finally being called. The grand fire elemental spirit was also resonating with it. Walker could only wait and hold on as the mes grew.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1927 1927. Past Flames

    <h4>Chapter 1927 1927. Past mes</h4>


    "This is just a new home for you. You can be here for a short time or for a long time. But I promise, that this will be your home no matter what." the woman that held her as she carried Remey ion to thergest room of the orphanage tried to be soft and sweet while speaking. Every child that came to the orphanage would be hurt in some way.


    The loss of family or just the feeling of being alone made every child hurt. It wasn''t physical, but as the caretaker of an orphanage, it was something that was seen every single time. Not that seeing it over and over didn''t still break her and everyone''s heart. But Remey was one that clearly showed the most reliance.


    Whether it was a tough face or just how strong she was, the caretaker left her with the other children. Remey was older than them by a few years ,making her a very central figure the moment she was brought in.


    Having an older sibling join the orphanage was rough. However, they would be idolized as the older sibling by everyone as long as they were willing to speak to them. They were alone without family, but they all understood that they could build their own family here. This unspoken understanding was the start to their new lives.


    a few small boys looked at Remey and decided to challenge her. There was also some form of hierarchy on a ce like this. But when they looked at Remey and noticed she already had her fists balled up, they hesitated. This gave the little Remey a chance to push back.


    That was the day that Remey gained her system and also took the lead of the orphanage. It was also the day that she realized they had almost nothing while there. All the money was spent on food and the basics. There were very little things left to use as medicine or bandages that could help the cuts and scrapes from brawling around.


    This led her to the one ce that she knew for sure had medicine. That every single person in the city of Diamond knew as the best ce to find anything herbs or healing wise. Not a single person stopped Remey from leaving the orphanage. Even? with her small body, she would have eben easy to catch and turn around. But with only one person caring for every child, it was easy to sneak away.


    The alchemy building was also not guarded well enough. The customers there took up all the assistant''s time and attention. Therefore, not a single person noticed Remey sneaking in the back door and through the small shop.


    When she walked up the many steps to the higher floors and searching through the many corridors, not a single alchemist or apprentice were noticing her. They were too focused on their tasks or on what they were working on. She was practically invisible while here.


    When she heard a loud noise of someone yelling at assistant and apprentices for interrupting an important process to make a salve and an experiment, it attracted the little Remey''s attention. She wandered in to arger room where three people had just been kicked out of. The older man looking over the ruined concoction didn''t see her while she wandered around looking at the many vials and potions.


    On top of this, she recognized some older vials that matched what she had in the orphanage. The weakest and the cheapest potions for injuries that not even adventurers would use since they were only good for the smallest of wounds.


    But when she saw the tea mixes, Remey knew instantly that they were good for her and anyone that needed a little healing. The smell of dried herbs was clearly an example of how potent and useful they were.


    "What''s this?" Remey asked out loud startling the alchemist working. However, when she picked up the team mix, she nearly walked right in to the highly heated cauldron. The alchemist jumped and pulled her back as her hand grazed it and burned her. But Remey didn''t flinch. She just held the tea mix and looked at the burn. She was a brawler now, little injuries couldn''t faze her.


    "Can this cure fevers?" the alchemist looked at the little girl who had seemingly appeared from nowhere with a stunned look.


    "Can this make people better if they have a hurt throat?" The questions were soft and sweet since Remey was a little child, but they were about the herbs in the tea mix. It wasn''t something any normal child would ask, yet, here this child was.


    "This isn''t a ce to y. You just got burned. Where are your parents? Shouldn''t you be outside ying or something?" The grumbly tone showed that the alchemist was clearly frazzled. He had never paid any attention to children. Nor had he had one of his own. He was not someone to y with them either. He was an alchemist through and through. Research and work were all he knew.


    "Can I make medicine here too? That''s what alchemists do." The rough pronunciation of alchemists made the older alchemist wonder just what was going on. His questions went unanswered.


    "How about I have your parent''se and get you?" He looked worried since the little girl still didn''t move.


    "I don''t have those. Can I learn to make medicine still?"


    The entire world seemed to get duller by the second. The alchemist heard this and wondered just how he would deal with this. An orphan somehow waltzed in to his alchemyb. A ce that even the most experienced alchemists knew they could not walk without risks because of the master that worked in this room.


    "Let''s get you fixed up and on your way. Since I should have locked the door and kept it safe for you, I will give you some quick remedies to help a sore throat and fever. After you have that burn treated. Alright?" the small nod from the little girls before him made the alchemist rx a little. He might not be so bad at this anyways.


    However, the next day, the littler girl managed to appear again. This happened week after week. A little girling in and bury him in questions about herbs, potions, and medicines. It never stopped. His frustration sometimes burst out, but the little girl started to push back. Even when he locked his door, he would find her leaning against it waiting for him toe out. Sometimes she would even be asleep. Covered in bruises. Or even carrying a few fold that she had found on the ground to try and pay him with. She even showed up with a random herb she found growning in the cracks of the cobblestone street.


    This didn''t cease for years and years. Before he knew it, she had started to hand him herbs. Had started to talk more. Had started to ask him how she could change herself and stop being a brawler. If she could control the mes the same way he did. If she could make medicines.


    This led the alchemist to teach her the basics to salves. Tea mixes. The things that even the most basics of basic people could do. These things that were not true alchemy but helpful to people. He saw Remey absorb every bit of this knowledge like a sponge.


    Slowly exining what she needed them for. Slowly exining why she needed everything. Every day was something new and she learned it without worry. That was until she rushed in at the middle of the night.


    It was an event that cemented the alchemist and Remey as a pair that was known throughout the alchemy guild. The little girl that burst in through a locked door with a fist that was stronger than it should be. The old master alchemist that left the alchemy building for the first time in months.


    The two that rushed to an orphanage in the middle of a night full of rain and cool air. But what the alchemist thought he would find was not what was there. The higher fever and fact that Remey had hidden arge burn on her arm from spilling the tea she tried to use to help the little boy suffering had been what was there to see.


    It made the alchemist worry immediately. A sick child on the cusp of losing a battle and one child who ignored her own suffering and pain to help another. Even injuring herself even more while already hurt.


    "You are a handful of trouble. Drink this healing potion and stay away from hot water and fire. And let me do the work now." This was the first time the alchemist had found himself in this situation. Even though he had worries about these children, he felt pride. His heart had found a reason to beat other than for the alchemy that had consumed his entire life before.


    The obsession that the child had found with alchemy hade with good intentions. A solution to problems. A reason for being. She had ignored the very basic fear of mes and heat just to help the other younger orphans. She had spent every day with an alchemist she didn''t know. A stranger, just for this.


    A determination that was with her since birth that outshined every single apprentice he had ever seen. This intense will to learn something that wasn''t at all rted to her system. The brawler that didn''t have a family that fiercely learned and observed everything to be better to protect the little family she wished to grow.


    "I will have to pay a little more attention to you before you go causing more trouble." This was the day that the old master alchemist decided that having someone else around might not be so bad.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1928 1928. Greater Flames

    "Weak! That is what you are. A dragon that can not even breathe mes! How dare you show yourself to me! If you were not the only hatchling in thest fifty years, you would have been thrown out of the vige with the other trash!"


    This was just one of the many roars of anger and hatred that came down from thergest of the fire dragons gathered on the highest volcano in the mountain range. It had only been ten years since the little me dragon hatchling has been dioscovered to be the only dragon egg to have hatched. The others had failed to break from the shells that ahd protected them while their parents watched over the nest.


    This was not unusual for dragons. Even other creatures would have these issues once in a while. Only those that were strong enough to hatch from the egg could be cared for. Not a single dragon would dare break the egg for another hatchling. If they did, it was the same as epting that the hatchling helped was lesser.


    A lesser hatchling in this way would be treated as food or a ve at best. Therefore, a dragon would not allow their species to be seen as weaker like this. They would naturally allow the hatchlings to hatch as they could on their own strength. Regardless of the pain they suffered due to seeing that there were not any young dragons being born.


    Within the fire dragons, this was even worse. They had a fiery temper along with a brutal standard. The pride they held had to be the highest among many dragons. They would throw aside the weakest hatchlings from the nest because they could hold back the stronger hatchlings from getting food or growing.


    Therefore, the fire dragons would all be powerful when they got older and they would face many rogue dragons. This was just how things had been for generations at this point. But it had also led to a lower poption and more fighting amongst the dragons in rtionship to the fire dragons.


    The small hatchling that had been in one of the smallest eggs had managed to hatch, yet thergest and seemingly most powerful egg had not hatched. It was a strange and oundish even that the fire dragons did not understand. Even worse, the one that hatched was the direct child of the current royal fire dragon that led their entire vige.


    The added stress from the other fiore dragons that a weak hatchling had managed to be one of the only hatchlings and young fire dragons caused a lot of damage. Pride had been hurt because this little hatchling struggled to grow. Barely ate, and even had a smaller chance of gaining fire breath or control than others. That was because it was the runt!


    The runt had felt this pressure even without needing to what the words and roars towards him. He understood that he didn''t even have the worth to be named. A named dragon was weed to the vige. Was a real dragon that was respected. Therefore, this little hatchling had been trampled on over and over. They were limited to what they could do.


    Leaving the vige was impossible. But since there had not been another hatchling in years because of unknown issues, the little hatchling was kept. The fire dragons had to maintain their strength to be able to rival other dragon viges. Especially since their vige was close to where the earth dragons were now.


    This added stress made the elder fire dragons attempt to force the little hatchling to eat more. To fight more. They even bathed him in mes to force the controlling of fire to grow faster. All torturous methods that didn''t leave a single care for the hatchling''s safety or mentality.


    Yet, the greatest disappointment was the hatchling''sck of anger. Of inner fire that the fire dragons prided as their true strength. The true source of mes that allowed them to charge in to the most brutal battles with vigor. They were fire dragons, they lived by mes and they showed every living creature the will of mes that they had burning in their hearts.


    When the royal fire dragon had seen that the hatchling was not born ready to fight but instead hid behind the nest, it had increased his rage. The w that had pinned the little hatchling down was nothing that it could resist. Iad, the little hatchling felt that it was destined for death if it did nothing.


    The constant bombardment of the other dragons left the little hatchling in the center of the vige. They had all gathered here to try their hands at teaching it anything. Instead, the pressure of all the elders and now the royal dragon were too much. The gathered mes too hot.


    "Will you always be useless? Worthless little thing, will you alwaysck the ability to create fire? Will you drag the fire dragon history through the dirt like a worm? You are not a member of the serpents or any other disgusting species, why do you stay here like a worm?"


    "You should grow, bathe inva and be a real dragon!"


    "You are worthless to this vige, will you remain that way?"


    "If you can not grow, you will be a waste. Thrown out to be lost forever."


    These shouts and growls were all directed at the little hatchling as he struggled with even standing under the pressure. Under the bombardment of mes.


    This only got worse before the royal fire dragon had reached out with a talon to give up on the little hatchling. The pressure had clearly failed to do what was needed. The royal fire dragon had discovered yet another waste of space.


    As the talon started to pinch, the little hatchling realized that it would lose everything. The chance to be able to live. To be able to eat. To be able to do anything! It was under threat of death greater than it had faced as of yet. And it felt something different.


    The hatred for its own existence. The hatred of the dragon race for making it feel this way. The hatred for weak beings. All of these emotions grew as the mind of the little hatchling gave up on its attempts to care for the others around it. How could it care for them if it was being treated this way? Why did it need worthless emotion like that? All it needed was fire and the power that came with it.


    These emotions erupted all at once in a small roar. But that roar was heard.


    mes grew around the little hatchling. mes that caused its baby scales to ke off and give way to new scales that had been slowly growing underneath. The wings that had been starting to grow showed themselves in a weaker state than normal since they were forced out by the inner rage growing within the little hatchling.


    The mes around it were stronger too. They appeared to be filled by more than just the mana of the fire dragon hatchling roaring over and over with all its might. It was fueled by the fire mana all around it. The little hatchling had managed to call all the fire mana surrounding it and used it as its own.


    Only the strongest of fire dragons could show such a force of will at a young age. That was why they were raised with higher attention. Why they were able to be elders or even the fire dragon royal that led them. The lord of all fire dragons.


    When the talon moved closer, the hatchling snapped out with its fangs. A single bite that could not even break the scales or talon moving toward it. Yet, the mes melded around the fangs of the little hatchling and caused a small, barely noticeable chip, in the talon of the royal fire dragon.


    "Now that is a real fire dragon!" The roar of sess echoed through the mountain. The volcano even shook slightly as the mes within seemed to react slightly to the roar of the royal fire dragon.


    "You child, have found the power that you should use. Grow it now. Be a real fire dragon and be the next royal fire dragon!" the elders roared and released massive me breaths in to the sky in celebration. The little weak hatchling had learned its lesson. It had shown that it was a true fire dragon finally.


    "Your name shall be Ignus. The next royal fire dragon taught by every elder. Taught by me. Taught by the elder of our race and the keeper of our history!" This was the title given to the smallest and weakest of the fire dragon hatchlings to have hatched in fifty years.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1929 1929. Mixed Memories

    <h4>Chapter 1929 1929. Mixed Memories</h4>


    Years slowly passed by as the little girl grew before the alchemists'' eyes. Her questions grew the more that he showed her. The more he added fuel to the fiery brawler that wanted to learn alchemy, the more he grew attached.


    "Get over here and away from the fire crystals!" this was a normal shout that everyone who knew the pair would do every day once or twice. "You can''t just y with fire elemental mana crystals so that you might be able to use an alchemy cauldron. If you release the mana without the right skill, you will blow your fingers off and they will be nothing but ash there on the floor."


    This reprimand was due to worry but also a true fact. Many apprentice alchemists had failed the first few times they created such things. Therefore, they had clearly ignored the steps to properly use such a tool during alchemy.


    "I told you I will learn it all at some point old man. Just stop trying to hold me back. I will be an alchemist and make every bit of medicine I need. Even if I have to beat the forms from other alchemist''s heads.'''' Thement was yet another that had been used again and again.


    "If every child is like you, then nothing will ever progress. Beat this person, beat that person." The grumbling response of the old master alchemist was just the usual response.


    However, he felt that this was one of the greatest alchemical tragedies ever. Never had he seen such a dedicated student that was willing to learn all manner of details. This girl had made the choice to force her way in over years and years just to learn the basics when no one would hand over the tools she needed.


    But worse again, she was already a brawler. The most promising mind to ever have the chance at alchemy, was blocked from it. These stories were many, but seeing it right in front of him hit him harder. Hecked the hope needed to change this fate. But that didn''t mean he would not feed this fire. She could be a master of theory. There were schrs like that. Those that learned how to teach something they could not do.


    "I know that look. Don''t give me some speech about bing a teacher of theory. I will be a real damn alchemist some day." with a salm, the door was shut and the girl was gone.


    "Remey, you will eventuallye around. You have already learned more than a basic alchemist and you aren''t even an alchemist at all." the old man''s bittersweet tone would agave made anyone feel their heart was cracking¡­.


    "Why do your mes weaken! You are still weak. Still worthless. Still unable to even show us that you even belong here!" The entire sentence was one hit after another. The hatchling had been locked in training with the royal fire dragon for an entire year.


    lesson after lesson and trial after trial had clearly made the hatchling stronger, but not fast enough. Not strong enough.?The royal fire dragon did not see a high enough level of improvement to even deem a singlepliment worthy of being spoken. This was terrible.


    The hatchling looked at his ws again. At the cracked and broken scales that had be that way from intense heat above what he could handle at his age. These trials were well over what anyone else would go through. But the royal dragon had decided that being harsh was the only way to bring out the true skills of this hatchling. It worked before.


    Another tail p sent the hatchling to the wall of the cave. Lava spilling around as the pool of magma was broken again and heat increased. "Now absorb the mes from within thisva. It is all around you. Your body is made to wee it. Justa ept it. Do not fight it!"


    This left the hatchling alone yet again. The royal fire dragon leaving Ignus to suffer while surrounded by mes andva. These lessons had been burned in to his memory. They would haunt his sleep, his waking hours, and every second he thought that he was safe. The very vige he was born in to was no more than another brutal wilderness.


    The bubbles from the flowingva spat up molten rock and me at him. He could only shield himself before it hit his damaged scales. But this didn''t stop him.


    The little haggling reared up and screamed out within himself. The roar of rejection toward all that would dare challenge him. That the mes would also bend to his will. He would refuse to allow them to harm him or anything he chose to hold close.


    This inner me burned differently from any other fire dragon. I drew in unique fire mana that could not be stolen from others. That was totally his. The mana was bent to his will, to his inner mes that raged hotter than what others could manage. This was his very determination lot ame through harsh pain¡­


    "This is the seventh time he is so sick. We can''t afford to call on the alchemists medicine any more. Healing won''t fix Illness was like this. His body is too weak." This was just another simr phrase said about the younger orphans around Remey. She hated hearing it.


    Without thinking, she darted off again. The old master alchemist in her sights. Regardless of the time of day or state of the weather, she went to him. The only person and ce that would help without offering too much money¡­.


    Ignus had grown significantly after rejecting the training of the royal fire dragon. His reward was a longer stay in the depths of the volcanos. Left to face the what alone.


    But in these depths lived monsters. Strongerva golems naturally formed. Smallval snails that spit liquid earth to defend themselves. Every battle was one that risked his life. But he stomped them down. His mes were stronger¡­.


    "You don''t have to evere back. You can leave and make yourself a life now that you are old enough with your own system." These kind words were ignored.


    "I will be an adventurer and make enough gold for all of this. Just you watch." Remey cracked her knuckles while heading toward a meeting of young adventurers set up because of their skills and slightly unique methods of battle¡­


    "You are not the royal fire dragon any longer. You wasted your potential with cruelty unbefitting a real dragon. Your spit on the pride thates with being a dragon. You will never be allowed within this vige or any vige again."


    Years had brought Ignus to this. When his strength grew exponentially, he ousted the current royal fire dragon and liberated the vige.


    The dragonkin knelt to him as he kicked out the previous royal fire dragon. But instead of leaving, mes bloomed. They all watched the previous royal fire dragon give up his life and fire for the future regardless of his past negatives.


    "The vige shall move to theva fields and a young volcanoes. Prepare to understand a new me that is stronger than what you will be capable of.


    Things would change but there were still binding traditions. Things that needed to change could not and he had too little power over the entire dragon race. He had to ept that and remain weak. But he refused to do so.


    The traditions must be followed. Ignus knew this. But he also knew he could push things forward toward something better too¡­


    Walker saw fire runes stretching through the air. Heat he could not handle burned him slightly as he held back what he could. Water had flowed due to his control over water mana to cool the air too.


    He swore he heard voices and other things from the eggs of pure mes he saw formed here. But he could not think of these things.


    Every second was too much. But when he saw a sudden stillness, he understood something unique was happening.


    The mes slowly melded with two shapes within them. A peaceful and tranquil emotion came as many strands of runes brown between?the two figures. Their minds separating while the single small me between them split in two.


    Walker released his control over everything and watched In awe as the mes took shapes of memories. People he recognized and did not know. Dragons that fought and monsters that perished. He could not understand them whatsoever.


    Yet, he felt this was a step well beyond what he could ever understand until he too had stepped down a path of purity in mana.


    That was when their eyes opened.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1930 1930. Pure Bond

    <h4>Chapter 1930 1930. Pure Bond</h4>


    Remey and Ignus slowly opened their eyes staring right at one another. There was a clear difference in the way that they looked at one another and even the way that they breathed. It was very surprising to see that their clothing and the runes on their body had somehow managed to stay.


    The runes had be simr to tattoos. They were bright red as if they were mes still, but they were different. The runes were hard to understand even when Walker tried to use the all around appraisal on them. This was just part of it though, the fire mana around them that still lingered was drawn in by the runes.


    This led Walker to understand that he could not beat either of them in any attempts to control fire elemental mana. Just as Ignus took a deep breath, the fire mana revolved around him and was drawn in. it was also being purified with every following breath. Walker could sense the higher quality of mana because of his true mana sense skill.


    It was clear that the mana had been focused on their bodies and soul. Not on their clothing or anything else in the room. There were not even scorch marks below them where the egg shaped mes had encapsted them. This alone was something that meant the mana had been acting with incredible control that outdid everything else that people were capable of.


    The things that the dominator dragons had left were methods to be stronger that not every dragon could do. The higher level of understanding of elemental manas was so high that it had been something that others would not be replicated or even able to understand without also have the same level or higher level of understanding.


    It was also known that these were records passed down to the dominator dragons from an originator dragon. One that created and shared all the knowledge to the weaker dragons. This meant that it was knowledge that superseded what anyone else had or could understand. Just the fact that both Remey and Ignus had managed to use this knowledge was an entirely unprecedented event.


    In his dragonkin form, Ignus showed many differences. His eyes appeared sharper but also a brighter red eris. The scales on his body appeared a deeper red and had the rune designs in a brighter red. Not to mention their sharper and more abrasive shapes that appear to rx after he had realized this new ability to control them.


    He also flexed his ws before allowing them to retract and be more human like in his hands. The same for his mouth as well. It appeared that he had learned to better control the way his form existed in dragonkin form. Able to make it appear to be more human like or more dragonkin like.


    It was something that Walker believed had be part of this because of his rtionship to more humanoid races. It tied him closer to them since he had said he would protect them.


    On the other side of things, Remey also had some changes. Her hair had changed color to a very bright red. Streaks of orange ran through them which made Walker wonder if her hair would burst ame at any moment.


    Her eyes were also the same red as Ignus now. But what surprised Walker were the small scales made of condensed mes. They were dissipating as Remey stored the purer fire mana within her body forter use. Something that was also new.


    Being able to condense mes as scale was a new skill that definitely came with the bonding between Ignus and her. However, it also signified that the control over purer fire was very forward in the skills and methods that Remey had learned and deeply understood due to this process.


    "You did well. I do not see damage." Ignus spoke, but his voice was smoother than before. It was like he had cleared away everything within his body that had been impure for fire to reside. It had seemingly made him healthier and more eloquent.


    "There was a lot of fire. Especially in the end. I had to bring in some water to help." Walker was slightly bashful since he was still worried that something bad would happen. But he looked around again and found the entire massive basement of the alchemy guild to be safe.


    "No, I can feel it, nothing bad happened and there isn''t any lingering fire mana around. It is all taken care of." Remey flexed her body as the runes lit up slightly. Her eyes focused on Walker for a moment and he could see that she had ovepping pupils. Dragon and human. Both seemingly working together to be able to see more than what was there for Walker to see.


    "I take it everything worked out well?" Walker held his breath while looking at the two.


    "Yes. I have gained the blessing of pure fire and the original dragon. I am now able to begin the next steps and be a proper dominator dragon. I will be unable to take a dragon form for a period of time. I must maintain my control over the pure me that is bing one with my being." Ignus spoke carefully. It was clear that this control was taking up a lot of his focus and effort.


    "I am the same. We split the pure mana that we gathered. We used all of our mana and reced it with that before we will gain mana back. I have the blessing of true mes and I received a title too." Remey was abnormally calm as she also was slowly controlling the pure mes.


    " True fire dragon blessed is my title. It means that I am recognized as a fire dragon and treated as one. I can learn to use some skills rted to them. I also can create a style rted to that. Pure dragon me alchemy. Pure dragon brawling." Remey spoke and a little excitement leaked out. But she quickly refocused and kept her control.


    What Walker understood from all this was better than what he had just looking at them. Having the two new skills for Remey meant that she now could create dragon mes. PURE dragon mes. mes that could not be rivaled by even the grand elemental spirit slumbering within the spirit marks. But what would that mean?


    This mystery could be figured outter. For the moment, Walker wondered what would happen. Was the better or worse than natural alchemy? Would Remey be limited by certain things now? Could she follow Ignus and gain control and strength? Or would she be carving her own path?


    "Stop that. You worry enough to make us angry. ept that this is what the first steps appear to be. You have helped us as we asked and trusted. But you might have seen more than we like for now. Just leave us to gain control. It will be a few days." Ignus was still remaining calm.


    Walker understood that the figures taking shape within the mes were memories that the two had shared. It was private and very deep. Therefore, they would feel some type of way about it. But when Ignus looked at Walker, it was more of a nce that told Walker he did not wish to speak about it all. That instead, he wanted to time to process everything now.


    As Walker left, he had his own flurry of thoughts about the future and what a dominator dragon really meant. On the other hand, Remey and Ignus had returned their attention to one another.


    "Half and half. That was your n?" Remey wasn''t sure if this was good enough for Ignus.


    "Yes. it will take time to gain enough power to break through to the next step. But you are the only equal I saw." these words were not filled with any negativity or anything that could be seen as bad. Instead, it held a pride and respect greater than what Remey and Ignus had used with one another before.


    "You saw it all."


    "I did. And so did you."


    The two understood how they had grown. Their lives to this point. Childhood, adolescence, and even the smallest details before they met and fought with one another. It was enlightening. Remey and seen years go by as if they were the blink of an eye. Ignus had seen the purely human emotions he never experienced before due to his own upbringing.


    The two could understand their differences and also their simrities. But when the two moved, they could sense one another. This was the purity of the fire they could manipte. It was the link they had created through sharing the purest of mes. Something that was beyond what would normally exist where they were. This was only something that could form within the deepest of the ne of fire.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1931 1931. Mixed Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 1931 1931. Mixed Feelings</h4>


    Walker found himself both amazed and confused. The sheer strength that he witnessed within the mes made him impressed. But the way that the two acted left him at a loss.


    Remey had clearly been affected. She had something known as the true fire dragon blessed title. Remey had said that made her able to be recognized as a fire dragon but Walker was certain that it came with more. Being able to use certain skills or more. But he couldn''t just ask them while they were in this state.


    Then there was Ignus who had made to gain his own skills and a blessing from the original dragon. Things that shouldn''t even be possible since there wasn''t an original dragon anywhere that they knew of. It was an ancestry so far in the past that even understanding what they were like would be impossible.


    This also brought his thoughts to Terron who would be trying to share these things as well. The knowledge that Terron had about the earth dominator dragon would be somewhat simr in a way. Therefore, he could share some enlightenment with Walker.


    The real question was, how would he do that? There were already wyverns in Genesis and the wyvern queen was here for the shortest of times since she had to return to the wyverns mountains where they were creating a safe home. But that also meant that Terron might leave and return there since he was the one standing for the wyverns as they grew and learned.


    This just left Walker more confused and wishing that he could just grab the information from here and there. It was annoying in a way. He always thirsted for more knowledge. It was just the way he had ended up since he knew very well that knowledge was the key to surviving in the world no matter where he was.


    But that was that. He just had to sigh and keep moving forward. He could pursue some other topics that needed strengthening before they were to go after the corrupted floating city. He could check in on the corrupted monster bodies being brought in. learn a thing or two about purifying them. That seemed like a wise choice to make at the moment¡­.


    "True me alchemy and true me brawling?" Ignus eventually spoke out asking Remey what they were. He had not seen mentions of such things within the tablets that contained all the knowledge needed to take the necessary steps.


    "They are skills I gained when the true mes begun creating a core within my heart. I can tell that they have done the same to you. We have matching cores." Remey and Ignus both spoke slowly and carefully. They were in a foggy daze as they slowly adapted to this odd state of theirs.


    "True me alchemy lets me freely call out pure mes and pure draconic mes to manipte herbs and other things. Because it is close to the origin of mes, it acts simr to natural alchemy. I can not push myself and be a natural alchemist. But I can copy it in a way. That is what this path gave me."


    "The mes can burn away impurities. Can pull out certain oils or parts of an herb. Then they can be used to properly bond them with other herbs all without needing a cauldron or anything to protect them. It even changes time and the way that the mana within the herbs flows. It means I am creating a new branch of pure fire and dragon fire alchemy. Two new things to learn and teach. I can even teach dragons."


    Ignus felt that this was more amazing than he fully understood. The joy that he had was definitely due to the bonds he and Remey shared. "And the brawling? The true me brawling?"


    "That''s easier. It''s using fire to battle. I ampletely immune to mes now. Just like you. We are part fire." Remey flexed her arm a little and mes grew from the runes on her body. They looked purer than what Ignus and she had used. Even the deeper red alchemy mes were weakpared to these.


    "I can mimic dragon mes and make my fire scales. Just like you can. Then they can be used to replicate ws, jaws, even a tail. You shared all that with me. How to use ws, a tail, and jaws. I learned it all from you." Remey was honest and open with this. She had learned a great deal from Ignus''s memories.


    "Can you take a dragon form like me or Walker?" Ignus already felt that something like this might be possible. Remey had seen it all. Felt it all. If she copies the way that he took dragon form, who knew what would happen.


    "I''m not sure. I still can''t control the pure mes enough. My mana is not stored up yet. I don''t understand how it changes and envelopes yet¡­" there was a slight annoyance in her tone that Ignus picked up on. He knew because he felt the same.


    "And you? What do you learn?" Remey wanted to see Ignus in his me dominator dragon form. However, she knew that wasn''t possible or even close to beingplete yet.


    "I feel separated. Half of myself isn''t essible. I can still feel it changing though. It''s in its own ce. Growing and adapting. I felt this way when I was younger. But Thai is more powerful."


    For Ignus, his real form was locked away. If he dared to use it, then he could risk himself a great deal. He would lose control of the pure mes changing his body. He would lose his mana flow.


    ording to what he had read and learned, Ignus knew that this could break his mind and kill him leaving behind a rogue dragon that only lived on instinct. A rogue dragon powerful enough to kill royal dragons¡­ a danger he could not allow.


    "I sense mes. But they aren''t mes. It''s mana. Fire mana changing and not being fire mana any longer. It might be true mana or other mamas. But I feel it clearer than ever before." There was a slight sh of mana in Ignus''s eyes.


    What he was saying was not a small thing. He had always felt the flow of fire mana since he started learning of it and how to gather it. Yet now, he understood that fire mana was just a form.


    He could learn other forms of mes now. He could manipte them and change them. He could even sniff them out and return fire to what it was before it was fire. The mana could be shaped and changes as needed. But he was too far from anything more than that.


    The step to true fire was just that. A step. But the chasm that was from pure fire to true mana was bigger than anything he couldprehend. Therefore, he knew he had to remain on this path. Learn, adapt, and travel where he needed to get where he was not.


    "We are both growing then. I am not sure I am human anymore." Remey was a little sad. She had always been human. Always been this way.


    "I might not be aplete dragon either. There''s more than what we know now."


    The two looked at each other with a depth of understanding that almost no one would ever have for each other.


    "A human life can be different than what I expected."


    "A dragons life is longer and more frustrating than I thought it would be too."


    Ignus and Remey didn''t have to say more. They understood. They knew what the other had faced tk stand where they stood. To breath the same air as one another.


    The pure mes revolving between them would continue to nourish them in This change. They would be able to keep growing and keep understanding their new skills. Time would let them grow now.


    " the alchemical brawler blessed by pure mes and recognized as a dragon. That is a first."


    "The royal fire dragon reiming the me dominator dragon ways and binding with a human. That is a first."


    The two seems like they would get in to their own fight. Instead, they just continued their mana gathering peacefully. They had what they needed and knew where to go.


    Paths they walked would be recorded in history with greater words than they knew. They had stepped in to the unknown even more than the spatial magic studies that were focused all through Genesis right now.


    When people looked back, they would see more than a hero and royal dragon. What they saw though, might not be what everyone expected to see. Not that it was an issue if they were surprised.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1932 1932. Underground Progress

    "That was so weird¡­" Walker was still caught up on what he was thinking. Ignus and Remey had been acting odd, but Walker knew it wassuch a unique experience that he couldn''t do much. However, he had managed to walk himself toward where he knew Terron was working.


    This was also a good chance to check things out underground. The main reason, was that he had not done so.


    The underground travel and merchant route was not yetplete. It was just connected and the road itself had not been fully reinforced or polished. This meant that the further stretches had more risk of copse and the older sections had been cleaned up for safety and appearance.


    But theta Walker really wanted to look at was the earthen and underground area that had been carved out for those that wished to live underground. This was also the pce that would connect the earth dragon territories when they were ready to move in.


    Surprisingly, Walker could sense that the mage tower''s buffs also reached the underground. It was an important note to make. The area above this was just a lot of work oriented storage or housing. But that was already nned to change since the dwarves wanted a well lit and open area for those that traveled toe out to. A few elves had already been contracted to be able to create arge garden to wee travelers.


    The good thing with this, was that there would be a screening and security stop set up within the travel tunnel. Calling it a tunnel was still making it sound too small, but that was fine. These multiple security stops would protect Genesis from any monsters that broke in to the area or the merchants that brought bad items inside. Not everything was safe to have in arge poption.


    The crafting of the stairs alone had been made very well. There were ramps or stairs. Both were made for the differences in travelers. Carts coulde easily up ramps that would bring them to the surface, while those walking could easily climb the stairs.


    What Walker noticed most was the high degree of crafting skill and magic usage. The earth skulls used were all able to shape the earth and condense it to strengthen it. But the addition of sand on top to make the surface more abrasive meant that even in the colder months, it would be safer to walk down. This was very fine tuned crafting.


    From there, stone had been carved to make railings along with an ornate set of walls and ceilings. This was just a showcase of quality. But when Walker looked at it, he realized that he was in some of the stone carvings. The records of Genesis being built and the meetings held. It made his heart feel that much more warm than before. But it also enhanced his determination to prepare for an uing battle.


    Speaking with Terron and the king of the deep were two steps that were needed for him to be able to do so. They were powerful figures that could assist greatly in what was happening right now within genesis and what was to happen soon.


    Before he got all the way down the stairs, he was noticed by a few dwarven workers. They had been polishing some of the more ornate carvings while adding colored paints. This was a very good addition since the entire underground tunnel was going to be dull and dark without it. This greatly made the environment easier to travel while showcasing even higher levels of skill to those venturing front he dwarven city.


    "Sir Walker, what brings you here?" The question was simple but the workers that gathered all looked excited. Having some prominent figures visiting meant that they could show off their hard work.


    "Well, I wanted to speak with Terron and the king of the deep caves. But I realized that just rushing to find them would waste a good chance to see how it was alling together. I am very impressed. Using the colors on the stone to help brighten the road will definitely make everyone traveling happier. A good way to keep kids upied too." it was easy to understand that such interesting designs and colors would captivate unruly children during travel. Parents could save years on their life.


    "It was just an idea to show off our skills. But we are d to hear it! We know where our king is. He just returned to check the next batch of supplies that will be used to reinforce the seventh mark tunnel section. Please follow us." The dwarf that spoke seemed to be somewhat of a leader among the painters and carvers.


    "We chose to start with the building of Genesis here and then the history of meeting heroes such as yourself in our home city. In the middle, we will have the events of when the heroes and dwarven race met. It will be an ideal way to showcase the history that led to the greatest tunnelever built by dwarven and human hands. Well, now, many other races." the dwarfughed while pointing over at arge selection of building materials. Mostly metal beams.


    The metals were forged with high heat to ensure that they could be made tougher. It was a very clear level of skill that Walker knew he did not possess. He could learn it, but it would take years to be able to handle such detailed and important materials.


    "Look at what came down to the dirt." the king of the deep noticed Walker right away. He had an eye out for the slightest changes. He had been a king that explored and mined the deepest and monster infested caves. It made sense he would be more vignt than others.


    Compared to the first meeting, Walker was surprised by how different the king of the deep was. He was less hands on and focused on directing many younger dwarves. He had learned to let them fail and grow instead of jumping in to everything. That didn''t diminish his capabilities though. He was a king for many reasons. His quality of skills easily made him one.


    "I came to see how things were going. Plus, I was chatting with one of the painters and carver team leaders. I like that we are showing off the events that formed Genesis here. It makes it more important to everyone." The king of the deep smiled softly before refocusing. He enjoyed hearing the good things as anyone would after working hard.


    "But I also wanted to see what the thoughts were on dwarven golems. I know that the dragon golem already managed to get a small following of elemental spirits. They are also working with the golem builders to create more unique golems that can be controlled by elemental spirits." this had been in the back of Walker''s mind. Something that could massive help the war efforts d the defenses of Genesis as a whole.


    "I expected others toe and bother me about that. But because of that one golem, I have had to drag four master golem builders and their entire teams to Genesis. They are in the area that Terron carved out for them. Their workshops are already producing multiple monster and animal inspired golems that the elemental spirits may or may not ept."


    "From the sounds of it, you have a decent challenge. The elemental spirits might be a little picky. I know they are strong though. I expect that they will be a race sooner thanter. They just need to be woken up and epted by the others."


    "That''s a guarantee. Those angels need to get down to earth and realize that elemental spirits are not here to harm them. I am willing to bet a year''s worth of ore just for that to happen. They will be a recognized race and gain bettermunication when they are epted by angels too." This was a going belief among the dwarves who had learned of their own foolishness when it came to elemental spirits and their failings when making items with them instead of for them.


    "Then I guess I should take your side on that too. But I wille look at some of the dwarven golems being made. I might learn something. I also want toe and see what new things there are." This was more Walker acting like a curious kid than anything. But no one would be unhappy to see it.


    "Then drag yourself behind me and let''s go bother those grumpy smiths." The king of the deep made sure to joke a bit but didn''t appear to actually joke since it was a sure thing that everyone working on the dwarven golems would be frustrated at being interrupted. But that was life.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1933 1933. Shiny And New

    <h4>Chapter 1933 1933. Shiny And New</h4>


    It had been a while since Walker had seen the advancements of the dwarven golems. He knew that the dragon golem had been moving around and joined the guards around the walls. Even going so far to start assisting in the movements of the farms to guard against pests and monsters trying to sneak toward the city to hunt.


    This alone had been a massive boon for the dwarves. They had been able to show off their highest skills when it came to their golems. They also were able to share the gears and mana fueled functions that they were able to create with runes and other forging skills.


    Overall, the general public had weed new dwarven golems. Even more so after the dwarves had begun putting their all in to helping awaken and wee the elemental spirits that they had harmed in the past. This change of heart had been exactly what the dwarves needed to step forward.


    Many researches within the golem topic had advanced. Letting the elemental spirits assist in forging, rune carving, and controlling the golems was an immense undertaking. It changed the way that the golems were used. It gave the elemental spirits a more physical body as well so that they could better interact with the world and grow their intelligence.


    The growth of the elemental spirits as a whole would be very beneficial to the entirety of Genesis. They already assisted greatly with the demi-humans and the elves when it came to the farms, let alone the herb fields. But it was just one part of the many different things that they helped around the city with.


    But this was the dwarven golems. They were not all just magical machines made to allow the elemental spirits a physical body. They were made to assist in many things.


    Golems had been used by mages, but that was rare. A regr golem was not often controlled by a mage or a tamer. But the dwarves built them. They could be made to plow fields, move heavier items, or more importantly, to be a better mode of transportation for the dwarves.


    This wasn''t even mentioning the fact that the dwarves had made their golems for battle. The golems that had worked on the ships were amazing. They had been able to move the ship''s parts which were too heavy for many others to move. But they had also been in the waters to act as guards.


    The water rune formations allowed the dwarves to breathe in the water without issues. They also allowed them to move and use built in weapons like spear, swords, and axes which the dwarves preferred. This seemed to be the general consensus though. Dwarves used axes more than they used other weapons at all.


    This was clear in their defensive patrolling golems that allowed the dwarves to control them or be controlled using special rune formations. They would walk a particr route and attack only certain enemies. It wasn''t foolproof, but it was amazing nheless.


    "Look at this, an entire work shop here for my men to work and rest." The king of the deep brought Walker to arge section carved out of the earth. This wasn''t a tunnel and more like the start of an underground vige.


    What really stood out above all else though, was that it was just part of the space carved out. The reinforced ceilings and walls went much further. They gave enough room to expand ten times the amount of space that had been filled with tools, forges, and other assorted needs for any workshop.


    The many dwarves working hard on their tasks were making gears and other small pieces. Every single time one of them waspleted, they would rush to one of therger pedestals where their master was teaching them how to install the parts they made.


    The efficiency had been a very clear goal for this set up. Each forge had enough tools to allow for an apprentice or a team member of the master golem builder to work and then bring parts toward the central project. This sped up the building of each unique golem that would be fitted with certain mana gems and then carved with certain runes. It was amazing to see what wasing together.


    "After they made that dragon golem using dragon fire and those elemental spirits, everything changed. They disassembled seventy three unique monster inspired golems. Now we even have a team dedicated to just making monster golems." This wasn''t a surprise at all. The monster golems would be a unique and powerful way to enhance Genesis overall.


    "I can see that the snake golem that I had seen before in your city is being rebuilt here already. But it looks more like an abyssal serpent." Walker looked at the golem being made.


    The intricate scales all locked in ce to allow the smooth motions. It was less like the snake golem that had beenrger connected parts. It was more refined. There was also runes that led up toward the head that would bring mana toward the fangs and mouth as a whole.


    ''Serpentine golem


    The serpentine golem is inspired by therger sizes of serpent type monsters. The main model was the abyssal and heavenly serpents that allowed for their bodies to be measured by the golem builders.


    It is able to channel mana from around them using the earth elemental spirit that assisted in finding the ores for its scales. It will be able to work in tandem with a wind elemental spirit to create a sandstorm breath of types while also being able to hide within sands, earth, and potentially spread its scales to glide through the air for a very short time.


    The smooth movements will allow it to be one of the most silent golems ever made of its size. It will also be able to better hide itself due to this. Therefore, it is being fitted with a unique paint that allows it to better blend in with the yellow sands of a desert¡­''


    Walker only needed to read a little bit of it to realize that even those the abyssal and heavenly serpents were inspiration, it was the earth and wind elemental spirits driving this creation. They were going to mix their elemental manas to make a dual elemental golem. Something ahead of what was used when creating the dragon golem.


    Furthermore, it would be ideal for the deserts in the Sigil continent. Therefore, the angels could greatly use this as an ally to guard the city that Walker and the party had assisted in freeing from corrupted and false death mana. It would protect those researching anything and everything about it.


    Even more so, it would allow for safer travel as the rains returned to the area and caused new nt life to grow. The elemental spirits would have a natural sense of where to go and what to do to help the world and nature recover from the expanded cursed dessert that was no longer growing.


    "Besides that, we have some of the armor that we were asked to build. The wandering cksmith took two full teams along with another thirty teams of other species to work on these. He will finish the important parts, but for now, the shell of the draconic armor is here." The king of the deep knew he was surprising Walker with this.


    "I expected just to see the dwarven golems down here. But that already looks like something amazing." Walker looked at the massive armor piece. It would only be for one leg of any dragon, but the way it was made was excellent.


    Easily fitted together pieces so that the armor would be durable and flexible. Metal alloys that only the dwarves could make with their massive pool of knowledge about metal working. Then to top it all off, the perfect measurements to fit Mordant when he came looking for the armor that would be his.


    ''Dragon armor leg guard


    This is one piece of arger project. The bonding of twenty different ores created one of the most durable, flexible, and easily repairable alloys known to the dwarves. It can resist the decaying effects of darkness mana while also naturally absorbing some darkness mana.


    This allows for runes to be carved and recarved. Multiple mana gem fittings. It also allows for elemental spirits to easily manipte the mana as well¡­''


    There were just too many good things about this single piece of armor. It made Walker even more excited to look around with the all around appraisal skill. The multiple monster golems and the armors were just too tantalizing for his curiosity. Something that Walker had in multitude. His curiosity might never be satiated by just looking around.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1934 1934. Expansions

    <h4>Chapter 1934 1934. Expansions</h4>


    ''Bat golem


    This is a unique golem being created with the lightest metal alloys. It has taken a lot longer to make due to the lightness and delicate parts. They are all smaller than any other parts used within dwarven golems. Only those with highly refined skills can create such metal works.


    The mana gems used are carved smaller and made using wind or darkness orientations. This is to facilitate the wind and darkness rune formations that are carved using the smallest needles as carving tools.


    This mix of elemental rune formations and mana gems allow for a wind elemental spirit to control the movements of this golem. Then the darkness elemental spirit can easily mix in ways to attack and hide within the night.


    This will be considered one of the best scouting golems ever created once thest steps are taken to polish the¡­''


    While this golem was experimental, Walker saw that there were ten more lined up waiting for thest parts. Waiting for the elemental spirits needed to properly create a golem core for each. However, the odds were they would have two golem cores for the wind and the darkness elemental spirits each.


    "I think this will be a very good addition to any night time scouting or any night guarding." Walker looked at the bat golems. They were just about the same size as him, but he could tell that the way they would be able to move would be highly adaptable. Having a wind elemental spirit controlling them would allow them to be silent in the air. Adding in the darkness elemental spirit, they could be invisible at night.


    "They have been working well. We found plenty of material to make more golems as we have mined out the tunnel. There''s even a small cave system right under our feet." The king of the deep bragged like he was showing off a child and that had taken its first steps. That was just the way dwarves were about the pride they took in their creations.


    "I thought I smelled someone familiar." the added voice was one that Walker recognized instantly.


    "Terron, I wasing to see you next. I know that you and the wyvern queen might be returning to Sigil soon since you had to show her where you would allow her children to learn and what they could do here in Genesis." It would have been harder for him to speak with Terron if they had already left. There was no telling how long Terron would be busy before he came back for the next attack.


    However, with the time being uncertain, it made a lot of sense that Terron would just move forward on his own ns to be stronger and help the wyverns develop. The earth wyverns were a young race in a way. They had a lot to learn about themselves and the world.


    "I thought so. I was not busy just now. The wyvern queen is teaching her little one to sense the earth the way that she knows how. I can not get in the way of that." This was a respectable statement. Having the mother teach her child was just normal.


    However, this meant that the wyvern queen was establishing her own way of teaching and learning for wyverns. This would allow them to pass that method down. It was a very important part of creating traditions and growing as a whole race.


    "I see why you wouldn''t want to interrupt that. Instead, I figure we can talk about the dominator dragon knowledge you have that I don''t. I have a feeling you can understand why?" There was a glint of understanding in Terron''s eyes before he nodded. The king of the deep had heard this but didn''t fully grasp what a dominator dragon was. Only that it was a very important part of dragon history and tradition.


    "We will take our leave then. King of the deep, you are still showing a very good effort in creating your part of Genesis. I will be expanding this area again within the day. I will need a space to prepare my own traditional methods. Along with creating a ce to bring a few of my dragons."


    "Well I knew that wasing. We have a road now, so just tell me when you do so I can send people to measure it all." The king of the deep knew that the conversation was going to be a bit more private. He didn''t mind though. Terron would be making a muchrger space for them and for his own dragons. It meant another massive project with more things to pull out of the earth. Ores, caves, and whatever else they could find would be theirs.


    Walker gave a wave to the king of the deep caves as he left. Both of them understood that this was a moment that needed to be taken to a private space. Following Terron, Walker started speaking, "Ignus took the first steps along with Remey to be a dominator dragon. I don''t know how different those steps are and what will change since he already changed things with Remey. But that doesn''t mean I don''t worry."


    Honesty was all Walker could do. He didn''t see the point in putting on a front. Terron wouldn''t help him or share a single thing if he wasn''t honest. Terron was stubborn and would hold everything back if Walker did not show sincerity.


    "I sensed it when it happened. He did not speak to a single dragon before making that decision. I sensed both of them. They are stronger than all of us dragons now. All of us." This statement was enough to make Walker freeze for a second.


    "That''s not how it felt to me¡­" He was wondering if there was something that he had missed.


    "You were not born a dragon. Our blood boiled when we felt the changes. I knew a dominator dragon is the most powerful representation of our elemental strength. The height of what we can learn before following in a path closer to the original dragons. We were all ignorant as to what that means. But we felt it in our blood. A challenge to get there. To be what we should and not what we are now. An awakening."


    From what Walker could understand, the connection through dragons and their heritage made them aware of such a change. The dominator dragons had been the revered group of powerful educators and protectors for drains at one time. If the dragons did not remember, their blood did. It could sense the true might behind it.


    "That Remey of your party. The hero, she is bound to dragons and humans now. Very different from both, but she is proving that there is more than what we understand." From what Walker heard, there was a slight tone of disbelief in Terron''s voice as they approached a massive open space he had made to rest in. enough space for both him and the wyvern queen to stand side by side with extra room in their wyvern and dragon forms.


    "I will be taking the steps to grow as well. Multiple materials are already on the way. My few dragons will bring me enough to take these steps. They will guard me. I will be what I should have be years ago. I am behind and held myself back. That is what I learned."


    This was a hard statement for any dragon to admit, but it was true. The dragons had been missing an important piece in who they were. "I can tell you that this process is not a single movement. Ignus may have split his chance up and slowed his true growth, but he can easily overpower any me around due to the purity he has now. I will be the same but I will be able to take the next step sooner."


    "Conditioning the very being that we are with the purest elemental mana we can create is the method he went through. Now that purity will shape the body and soul. Change the very being so that the pure mana can always be there. One with the mana born in to them and one with the mana outside. You should understand that now. True mana exists even in our records. We just did not understand that."


    "You''re saying that you will try and get closer to true mana too? Is that what the original dragon was able to use? Is that why purity is so important?" Walker felt that he could understand the ancient dominator dragons better. They all strived to get closer to pure mana through their own aman by increasing purity and control. It made a lot more sense now.


    "Good. you understand that much. Now you should understand that the step after purifying and bringing that mana within is harder."


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1935 1935. Nature Dominator

    <h4>Chapter 1935 1935. Nature Dominator</h4>


    The way that Terron was speaking made Walker feel as if he was the one being told how to walk his own path. Not that this was the goal of the dragons that they had lost vto history. However, Walker felt that this was a good chance to evaluate what it might mean.


    Approaching the true mana and the origin of other manas might be something that sounded small. It sounded like returning to a home town or finding theke that a stream came from. It would take a little work but it could be done.


    Yet, this was nothing more than a farce. Finding the source of true mana and the origin of mana itself was something that most races wouldn''t even be able to consider. There was also the fact that some mana was corrupted right now. Hope could one progress further toward some source of mana if it wasn''t even pure?


    These things were massive blockades to starting such a journey. "I think that matching the pure manas within each of your own elemental affinity will be a great achievement. But getting to pure mana. To true mana, will take time." Walker didn''t hide the fact that he understood the weight of trying to do these things.


    "It will." Terron could see that Walker understood the gravity of what the dragons desired to do and the path they now walked. "It was the same for our ancestors. We have failed to rediscover that path until now. When I be an earth dominator dragon, I will hold entire stretches of mountain within my hand. Before then, I can only shake one mountain."


    It appeared that Terron was thinking about himself as just another weaker dragon now and not at all like the royal dragon that he was. "The earth wyverns. You are going to guide them even more. That''s why the wyvern queen is over there meditating with her children. Right?"


    "You already understand. I have taught them a simr method. But they are already changing it to suit them more than it would suit us. The wyverns will have their own methods to grow stronger. More physical and less reliant on mana. They are simr to some warriors." Terron drew these connections after seeing those who did not use mana at all in their battle styles. Pure physical power.


    The earth wyverns could use their earth affinity, but even before they were a race, they used their strength. They battled physically to take their food. To hold their territory. To be able to survive. That was the start of their now, high, ability to grow quickly using physical training.


    But adding in the focus on gathering earth mana, the wyverns could utilize both and gain massive boosts in defenses along with other things. It just depended on how they used the earth mana and how they adapted as they joined the battles for the futures of all races.


    "Some of them are stronger. I assume they wille to whatever battlefield we are on. I look forward to it. Earth wyverns that follow the earth dominator dragon. Now that would be something." Walker saw Terron''s shoulders rx slightly. It was sure that he was thinking the same thing and waiting for Walker to say it too.


    "Before you leave, remember that Ignus and the others will be weaker for some time. They will be limited in their form. That is not the issue though. They must not fight for a certain period of time or else their mana may deviate from the natural flow they are reestablishing." This warning was heavy. Terron knew well the dangers since he had read the records of the earth dominator dragon.


    "I understand." Walker looked carefully at Terron before starting to turn. "Do you think there was a nature dominator dragon? Or do you think that was ever a thing?" Walker asked this. A small question with veryrge implications. But after seeing Ignus, he had begun to consider it as a possibility.


    There was a pause between he two of them. Not a heavy silence but one that seemed to be around because there was a lot of unknowns still. "Not in a single record or step that I found has anything like that."


    Terron was clearly holding himself back for the moment. Not because he had information he didn''t want to share, but because he was unsure. "If there was, I would say that it is fully lost. Even we have only seen a small few able to be nature dragons. But I do know, that we considered nature dragons to be the uniting force between all elemental dragons."


    "You may already know that, but I think that holds more meaning than you thought of before, right?" Terron left Walker with this as he walked deeper in to therge cave he had created. It was a surety that Terron was taking the next steps to be an earth dominator dragon.


    From what Terron had said, Walker fully understood. This was an area on which only he could figure out. That was the same for every royal dragon bing a dominator dragon. Finding their ruins that could assist them was a challenge within itself.


    For Walker, it would mean that he either had to understand everything on his own, or rediscover something that might not exist? anymore. It was highly likely that it didn''t exist any longer though. That is, if it ever existed at all.


    "Well, I guess I should head back up." Walker could sense that Terron was preparing runes formations for his process, but needed no help at all. He had earth dragons and dragonkining to guard him. The dwarves would definitely help him as well. That meant that there would be another powerful force ready for a war beside him. A good thing.


    The idea that there was never an nature dominator dragon was not as scary as some people would think. Walker had a different idea of what might have happened. An idea about why nature dragons existed and what they could potentially grow to be. It just didn''t have much basis yet.


    Right now, Walker was trying to gather mana, understand it, and then step ahead toward true mana. He could sense it, but making it useful to everything he did was a rough topic. Yet, what if he was able to fully use the natural mana and the other outer manas that he had barely grasped. Space, time, death, and life?


    This question was what led Walker to think of what would happen if those were all united. Would they just be a mashed up mix of mana? No, it made more sense that they would be more than that. Elemental manas made natural mana. So if all manas were able to be controlled, then wouldn''t they just be the same as true mana?


    True mana should be all manas and vice versa. It should be mana that can take any form. Therefore, it wasn''t necessarily a mix of manas but mana without form. Therefore, being able to control more than natural mana meant that he could control true mana.


    If there was a nature dragon that lived beyond the nature dragon step, wouldn''t they have be a true dragoon? The same as the original dragon that had control over all manas and had begun the knowledge and entire dragon race that they all knew?


    This wasn''t a simple theory without basis. It had a bit of backing with the beliefs of the dominator dragons that Ignus and Terron had shared. It also made sense. A dragon that was able to birth the current dragon race would have to have had affinities to all mana. But that raised more questions.


    Where were the life, death, space, and time dragons? Could they even exist? All these questions and growing theories could give anyone a headache. "Ugh, I just need to go and check on other things for now. I just wonder how Ventus is doing¡­" Walker grumbled out loud as he walked alone back toward the surface of Genesis. His mind was a bit more at ease knowing that Terron and the king of the deep were well prepared.


    Ventus had long left Genesis through the elemental space rune formation. She had returned to the high skies above the Sigil containment with one goal. Sense the lingering wind mana that should be left behind by the wind dominator dragon.


    She also made sure to check the progress of the corrupted floating city. It was still slowly moving along whatever course it had. But it had not changed. The slow movements were enough to allow the Genesis forces more time to prepare. Not that it made anyone feel better. They could not attack the floating city yet.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1936 1936. Past Breeze

    The wind was fickle. That was how Ventus had described wind and air her whole life. When teaching the youngest of dragons or the dragonkin warriors, she would tell them that wind was an adaptable but fickle mana.


    The air might be there for you to breathe, but it could change in an instant. The breeze could change and be sharp enough to cut through the very earth beneath their feet. Or it could shift and guide you along the currents toward home. Neither was a guarantee unless you could sense it.


    None of this had been taught to her in a timely manner. Compared to the other royal dragons, Ventus had been the one that everyone worried about in her young age. It was expected though. The wind dragons remained in the sky, but Ventus, had her feet firmly on the ground.


    The unusual fear of flying had appeared within her when she witnessed the previous royal dragon of the wind vige fall. This had been years in the making. A wind royal dragon too old and too injured to be able to maintain flight.


    A battle between a rogue dragon had caused this. They had been a skeletal dragon that attempted to force them in to a rtionship where the wind dragons could follow them and create wind and skeletal hybrid dragons.


    This wasn''t umon. Sometimes a rogue dragon just went mad. This happened to all races. Undead, magical experimentation, or just general illness could cause this. Yet, when it happened to a dragon, there was no telling what insanity might ensue.


    Luckily, the royal wind dragon had managed, with great effort, to kill the more powerful skeletal dragon. That was the first time many of the elders had seen such savage wind currents being manipted in to wind des. They had cut through the space between the two vicious dragons and torn the skeletal dragon in to pieces.


    This was after greater injuries though. Wings had been cut, bones broken, and scales were missing. Due to her age, the royal wind dragon had been unable to easily heal. A few yearster, her mana was gone and her life ended high in the sky.


    Many wind dragons witnessed this. Dying in the air was the same for a warrior dying in battle. It was a great achievement. However, what followed was terrifying. Especially to the little hatchling that had been told she would be the next wind royal dragon when she managed to live and learn from the current wind royal dragon. That was just how much Ventus had shown her potential as a newly hatched little dragon.


    But the scene of a powerful dragon that all of them looked up to crashing in to the earth with force enough to shake the entire vige terrified her. The sounds of scales and bones breaking as wind mana was nowhere to be sensed made her heart nearly stop.


    This had stayed with her for the entire time she was young. Until one day when she was looked at by the visiting royal dragon that hade to pay respects. They looked at the dragon that did not fly. They mocked the dragon that did not fly. Then even the earth dragon that preferred the depths, mocked the dragon that did not fly.


    These things made her detest the wind. Hate the dragons. But most importantly, it showed a clear difference. She listened to them. Without words of her own, she heard the methods used to teach others as each royal dragon said what methods were better than the current royal wind dragon could not teach the next.


    These methods all appeared different and made it very clear as to how poor she would learn. What truly showed her though, was when she heard of the eggs that had not been born. The failures to bring about a fire dragon worthy enough. She did not wish to be discarded like that. Like the many fire dragons left to be rogues without minds of their own.


    The logical exnation that this little wind dragon hatchling came to was something that not many woulde to. She had to create her own way through the wind and conquer it so that she would never fall. That no dragon would ever be able to make her fall.


    More so, she needed to create such a method of education so that even those without anyone to lean on, could be wind dragons.


    Years of istion passed. The wind dragon that did not fly soon began showing signs of control that none of the elder wind dragons understood. A purity of mana well above her age. When a storm brewed, that hatchling took flight for the first time.


    The elders believed they had witnessed her giving up on life. An insane and cowardly thing for any dragon. The elders roared out in anger and depression. They believed that they would be another hundred years without a royal wind dragon. That they would be losing their history for once and for all.


    That was until they all lost control of the wind mana that they could manipte. That was until they sensed the very currents that always existed around their vige for years change. It wasn''t the storm nor nature. It was a small drain still not even recognized as such calling the wind to her side.


    Even the slightest p of her wings brushed aside parts of the storm. The entire storm was at her will. The air currents guided it away and toward the ocean. Something that would have taken a decent amount of effort for the elder dragons.


    When the little wind dragonnded, the air currents returned to normal. But every single elder wind dragon, wind dragonkin, and even a few avian monsters surrounded her. They had sensed a power that theycked. A path that they wished to travel.


    What the little wind dragon had done, was unique. She had sensed the wind without immersing herself in it. Instead, she had not taken flight or ever allowed herself to be taught a thing. She found her own way to reach the wind. An unyielding control of the air around her. Incredibly sensitive. Incredibly unique. One didn''t need to be taught, they just needed to take the time to ept the very air around them and open themselves to it.


    This was why now, Ventus hovered in the skies well above the center of the Sigil continent. What everyone who had witnessed her strength years ago had failed to understand was simple. She had not ovee a fear of the sky or flight. Instead, she had understood that it was not a fear of falling that gued her.


    It was a fear of not being able to live. To keep ahold of the wind and the mana she had a natural affinity for. This consumed her dreams and made them nightmares. Therefore, she threw aside everything that could have been taught to her.


    Ventus opened herself up entirely to wind mana and the flow of wind. She let it reshape how she used her own mana instead of reshaping wind mana to suit her. In doing so, she was able to use it better than any other wind dragon to date.


    Right this second, she opened her being again. Sensed the flow of every wind current over Sigil. She allowed it to take her. Nothing she saw guided her. She was the wind and the wind was her. That was why she sensed it.


    A ce where the wind mana swirled for just a second. The slightest change that should not be there. Neither the highest mountains or the shores had such an odd current of the wind.


    As Ventus sped toward this, she saw the crumbled ground of a long split in half mountain. The natural shifting of the earth had caused it to crumble. But with her sharp senses, Ventus could feel the remnants of wind mana below it.


    A single p of her wings forced immense wind to tear away the earth that had fallen above the ruins. Draconic runes and incrediblyplex carvings that made it appear the stone that made the ruins had once floated made Ventus eager to explore.


    She could sense the stones had an integral wind affinity which directly shed with what most people would know about stone. There were even wind mana crystals that had been growing within the ruins as time passed.


    What truly made her gasp in surprise were the rune formations reacting to her wind. The ruins were reacting and opening to wee the first wind dragon in longer than she knew. Opening to reveal extremely pure wind mana left behind by the wind dominator dragon. More importantly, this wind mana was what she had been after.


    Untold secrets remained within the swirling winds. It wasn''t the same as what had been left for the other dragons. Instead of stone bs, the wind itself had been forced within the ruins and the runes. They were the records. They were the steps. But they were also adaptable. Showing Ventus the way to reach them that she had not imagined before.


    "Now I can protect my little ones. They will not see me fall. I will not be weak. I will be the first to show the world a real wind dragon at its highest form." This promation was unheard by all but the world.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1937 1937. Finding Water

    "I might be falling behind now." Current looked up at the sky. It wasn''t that he had seen or understood what had happened. It was a slight sensation. Just a tickle in the back of his mind that spread a shiver through his whole body. But it was a weaker feeling that he got when he sensed Ignus step forward on his own path to bing a dominator dragon.


    "What''s wrong? Should we be preparing more? I know that this newke and the canals will be harder to manage project, but we have the workers. Both the water elves, and aquatic demi-humans agreed to work with my merfolk builders to create this. We even have more earth mages." Leon found himself wondering what had changed all of a sudden.


    "No, I just got the feeling that I was falling beyond. I have to return my focus to other important things." Current was a little short, but it wasn''t out of rudeness or cruelty. He was just feeling slow.


    "I know that feeling. When I saw how strong Scy was when fighting on the water¡­well, I felt like I wasn''t really born in the water. She has the blood of ancient monsters in her, but that shouldn''t make me any less strong, right?" this was simr but a bit different.


    "It''s nothing of that sort. I am a royal dragon. You are working with my dragonkin and stand equal to us as a representative on the Genesis council. You know of our attempts to learn of arge part of our history." Current had a somewhat of a stronger bond with leon due to the fact that they shared water affinity.


    There was also the simple fact that Leon was notpromising when it came to bing a better leader. He was a representative for all merfolk in Genesis. He wanted to be the next merfolk king, but now, he looked at therger picture. The fact that he had to be stronger than any king of the merfolk ever to be able to maintain bnce.


    "The dominator dragons. You are still missing any evidence of where that might be. The ruins that hold your history." Leon seemed a bit downtrodden hearing this. It must be hard not to know where he came from.


    The merfolk had revered the water elves since their history and the water elves helping them before they left the oceans. Not the water elves were lost in their own ways. They had been manipted by Lust. That demon had ruined their home and burned away their history.


    That left the water elves with fewer surviving records. The records that were left which told of how they helped the merfolk many years ago were gone. This was disheartening, but because the merfolk remembered, it had allowed for the water elves to more easily recover their pride.


    "Why don''t you take some of the water mages? I''m not talking about the elves, but the merfolk. They are more unique to the awkward currents in streams,kes, rivers, you name it. You might be used to this continent after more years than any of us, but the merfolk water mages are more adaptable because they are younger. Use that to get information for Genesis and to find your path."


    It wasn''t that Leon felt bad. He wanted to see Genesis gain strength. While he was a spearman and focused on unique forms of spear arts that are deeply connected to his race. But sending mages, that could allow the mages to get stronger, information about Sigil continent water ways would be valuable, and the general bonds between dragons and merfolk may grow.


    "I will take that offer. I wish to find anything rted to what I need to gain the proper strength tobat threats. If it means I must adapt myself by learning from the young, then I will flow with that. Water is not stubborn. It flows together." this was something Current had said more and more.


    While he had originally been the frost royal dragon to make a rtionship with Walker, he had shown that it wasn''t just the heroes he spent time with. Even a few people walking in the street had learned that Current was willing to speak with anyone. Willing to listen to new or old knowledge from any race.


    That was the adaptability that came with water. Current was the royal water dragon. A pure water dragon that was able to control water and even make ice if necessary. Not that he made ice for any reason since he was more focused on water than ice at all.


    The fact that he opened his heart and mind so easily was part of his character and the beliefs that water dragons learned. They learned through the flow of water. Water bing clouds, water bing storms. water running down mountains. Water beskes and oceans. It was all water but it traveled everywhere and every way. Just understanding it wasn''t enough. Current believed that he too had to be open to the new flows of water mana itself.


    That was how he found himself walking toward the very ce he knew that the grand water spirit was slumbering. Leon had to remain with those working, but Current didn''t mind being alone. He understood that it was very strictly guarded since the grand water spirit had bonded with the previous sin demon title holder.


    While this space had been made in to a garden kept free of anyone so that the beings living there could remain in slumber while serving a sentence for the evil that they did while under the effects of the sin title that they could not control, Current knew that there was something to be learned here.


    The idea that Leon had was one he nned to take Leon up on. Current understood the lengthy process that was ahead of him though. A grand water spirit might just have the key to the knowledge that was needed so that he was able to make a change to his ns.


    Upon walking past the guards, Current felt himself losing some control over water mana. The small beads of water floating around the slumbering figure was enough to show the connection to the grand water spirit. Yet, there was more to it.


    The water was controlled by the grand water spirit in the peace of this separated garden. Many within genesis feareding near since they had seen what happened when all the mana was stolen from others. The risks that came of a rampage. However, they had slowly heard the history uncovered.


    They had also understood how the grand water spirit had been attracted here by a being that had greedily stolen mana for its own use. It had been a flow of odd changes that anyone that truly followed water would be interested in. to an elemental spirit, it was something to examine and understand just like their strong connection with nature.


    "You are not the usual guards. You are more powerful. Your water affinity is more." The words the grand water spirit spoke were not simple. The world acted as a trantor now of allnguages. That benefit came some time ago, but was still considered an massive blessing to all.


    " I am looking for assistance. In the new continent found, there should be ruins left by ancient dragons. Water mana more pure than anything I can currently use. I look to you for help. You understand water mana better than anything I can understand since I am not yet ready."


    There were more water balls floating around before the shape for the grand water spirit showed itself. It was for only a moment, but Current could sense that out of all the grand elemental spirits, the water spirit was one that stood out as powerful and just generally different. That was the nature of, nature.


    "Take one of the high water spirits with you. It was looking for a home and came to me. But it needs to explore. You will find that it is very much unique." a smaller ball of water took a somewhat humanoid form. It appeared that the high water spirit was trying to copy Current.


    "Thank you very much. I hope to return and show you the next steps fo what a dragon can be." there wasn''t a response, but the high water spirit attached itself to Current''s back like an odd water back pack. Anyone who saw this while on their travels would wonder what the royal water dragon was doing. But those with sharper eyes, would understand.


    This was just another step for a powerful dragon to be taking towards their future. Current hadn''t noticed that the high water spirit was watching him. Learning about him. And would be doing its best to take everything it witnessed in.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1938 1938. Testing Light

    <h4>Chapter 1938 1938. Testing Light</h4>


    "So, what is it looking like here?" Walker travel back toward the mansion had brought him to a ce he didn''t expect to be. At first, he had expected that he would run in to a person or two. That was just how it ended up going. He was a well known person around Genesis.


    But when he ran in to Su, he hadn''t expected that she would be right next to Rise of all people.tely, Su had been training with Alice. The two of them had been challenging each other in battles using mainly light mana against Su''s physique. It had led them to grow very much and start to create new battle styles.


    "We were just speaking about the usage of light elemental mana when Alice was training against me. She had to go because of her duties within the cathedral. But Rise stopped me." Su gave a quick exnation of what had happened. But that still left some to be desired.


    "I decided that Su wille with me when I find the light dominator dragon ruins. Her body is very unique and I believe that she will benefit from some proper guidance." For Rise to say something like this meant a lot.


    The level of scrutiny that Rise put on people was just because of her high standards. These weren''t due to her being cruel but her strictest when it came to what a dragon was and dragon tradition. She valued the light and the fact that it was pureepared to other elemental manas. Light rarely mixed with many other manas because of its odd existence. The same could not be said for darkness mana.


    But when it came to Rise, she also believed that being closer to then light meant separating herself from other manas. Not that this seemed to be the case anymore. Yet, here she was, proving that she still valued a lot of things that made the dragons and light separate. This being the case, caused Suu to be under her gaze.


    "Her body is sharing traits with a dragon and dragonkin. She must be able to live up to the dragon blood she shared. She has never undergone the trails that normal draconic guardians would hold. She has never seen a dragon champion fight in the same way that our traditions require. So she wille with me to learn."


    Now this was a bit more information. "I understand. As long as Su agrees and can learn from it, then i am sure it will be helpful. The other dragons have made their moves with their own dominator ruins. I am sure you sensed that and are working for that reason." Walker could tell there was a bit of tense aura around Rise.


    She could sense everything that was going on around the other dragons. Especially the fact that they were beginning to take the steps to bing a proper dominator dragon. Therefore, she was pressured to move and also stand tall. If she was the weakest dragon, then she would show the weakness of light as a whole. She would dishonor the dragons overall as a race. She could not be weak like that.


    "When we leave, we will begin proper training. A dragon champion would leave without anything to eat, drink, or to help them. They would fight a prey that is stronger than them to return to their lord and offer it. The draconic guardian would have a simr test." Walker could understand this. A champion had to show their true strength.


    "A draconic guardian will need to prove that they can use their body and the rights within their blood shared between the two, to survive and protect. If they can not do so, they will be cleaned from this world. They must live up to and beyond the expectations set before them by the many who havee before them."


    This was more than what Rise normally spoke like. She held a normally heavy tone that showed the true expectations for dragons. However, this held a darker undertone. One that showed the weight of dragon history.


    With the dragons discovering their history more than before, it was clear that there was more to this. Something that resonated with the years of draconic guardians and champions that had been idlepared to the ancient battles known and unknown.


    Especially with the royal dragons themselves rediscovering paths lost to them. The height to be reached was unknown. Su needed to show that she was capable of?reaching for those as well.


    "Walker, don''t look worried. I am a draconic guardian. That is the system I have. I started to learn about myself. I can see more with my eyes now. Like a dragon. I am stronger like a dragon. I can even breathe the smallest of mes like a dragon. But I have not been through proper training like a dragon."


    "Other draconic guardians can fight the elder dragons evenly or even to victory. I can not do that as I am now. I need to ept more of who and what I am now. I barely started."


    Su spoke with sincerity that made Rise show her teeth in a small smile. It appeared that this was the exact mentality that she wanted to see in Su and even more so, I''m those protecting the dragon champions.


    "When Ie back, you should tell Midnight that she might not be able to beat me." This made Walker very surprised. That sort of challenge was not normal for Su to issue.


    Normally the two trained and teased one another. However, strong statements like this were abnormal. Therefore, it meant that Su was expecting to be much, MUCH, stronger than she was now.


    "I understand. I need to grow too but you and I have different ways to do it. If you need me, just call. I will find a way." Walker knew that Rise and Su both hadmunication crystals. They epted them for emergencies.


    "Do not doubt that we have the strength to stay on our own. We will train and undergo what is necessary to maintain the great dragon race as needed." Rise said this as Su gave a wave.


    "Do we really need to leave on an ominous tone like that? Walker and everyone will be much more worried." Su felt a little bad to leave like that. Originally, Rise was ready to just take her away without saying anything.


    "Yes. We are going to the sky much higher than you know. Once you are out under the right pressure, you may advance to what you should be. You are unique and I believe you are stuck because youck the proper motivation to fully show your new strength."


    This had been something Rise believed from when she first started to ept Genesis. She saw that Su was somewhat half way between dragon and human. She was not properly mixing who she was on the Inside yet.


    Lately though, Rise noticed that Su had begun to properly look within herself. The perfect time to begin training like this. The perfect time to take the next step that she should take regardless of where and when she was In the world.


    For a draconic guardian to be weak was a crime within itself. They should be the absolute protector of the dragon champion as they grew. Never should the be weaker when protecting their champion as they grew. They were the solid foundation so that the champion could rise above them.


    As far as Rise saw, Su was behind and that was wrong. " when we get there, we will be in wilderness you have not seen. You will face dangers you might not know. You will do it without food, water, or help of any kind. Who me who you are and who you will be."


    Su felt that this was simr to the echidna. Showing her a path she could walk. Yet, this was different. Rise was showing her the speed of how she should travel that path. The encouragement to stand taller in that path. To be able to be powerful and properly show that path as the truth.


    "Whatever you expect from me. Double it. I will be the hero that protects my family and all people. I do not guard just a champion, but my sister. My family. My blood." Su''s steel gaze fell on Rise and she felt a slightly fear. This was not an average proposal or promise. It was one that was held with all of Su''s soul and being. A true will.


    "I look forward to seeing your words in action. Now hold on to me." Rise took Su by the arm and she pped her wings. They were leaving Genesis for the time being.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1939 1939. Where Walker Stands

    <h4>Chapter 1939 1939. Where Walker Stands</h4>


    "Walker continued to move through genesis. He felt that the day was longer and longer the more that he walked. He was meeting people and seeing things he could jot understand. But in reality, all of it had happened over the course of more than a day.


    The fact that their bodies had greatly stood out from the average now made Walker realize just what was different. Compared to the soldiers, the party was stronger. That was purely because of their levels and therge amount of points they were able to put in to their bodies and other aspects of their strength.


    This had made them all able to travel much faster and further than the average human. It also made their entire sense of time shift. While Walker would be able to stay awake for multiple days at a time without issue, a normal person would have be exhausted.


    This was evident in the amount of mana he used helping Ignus and Remey, then going to meet someone else even though he had felt tired afterwards. Yet, he had recovered from that feeling much faster.


    It made Walker feel that he wasn''t the same as everyone. He was still younger than most adventurers or soldiers overall. That wasn''t changing. He was still young, but with his bonds, he wouldn''t look the same as time passed him by.


    Walker had long epted that he was changing. Just like the others, he was undergoing different influences of manas and his bonds. Su was the perfectparison since she had dragon blood now. She had be tougher and even showed some traits that dragons and dragonkin had. Yet, that was still differentpared to what he was doing.


    In some ways, he was simr to how Gil was altering the way he was. As a hero that specifically spent time with the elves, Gil had been using mana and was influenced by natural mana and the higher amounts of mana around the elves. This alone would not be off, but since Gil was so close, he had formed unique bonds.


    Did that mean that Gil was somehow a half elf? No. but he had been honored as an elf and recognized even by the world with a title. Therefore, that title had changed some of how Gil was overall. He naturally would live longer to match the title and the elven race that he bonded with deeply.


    This was different from Walker who was deeply connected to the natural mana he used along with bonded with Midnight, a dragon, and Onyx, an abyssal serpent. They were two longer lived races. That meant that Walker would take on some things from the two of them making him less human. That wasn''t a bad thing though. He was still Walker.


    But the fact that he had the true hero title and was so deeply touched by natural mana had arger effect. Fleur was always bringing natural mana toward them through the spirit mark on his body. The two thrived because of that. Yet, it also influenced Walker''s body to adapt better. To use the natural mana better over time as he learned. It was a very good thing.


    This adaptability helped Walker pursue true mana more which would also in turn, influence him much more greatly. It was already something he could sense after perceiving life mana and also perceiving space mana to a degree. Both had some effects on his body.


    For Walker, that was him being able to sense his body better. He could feel the manas moving through his body. Causing it to grow stronger or weaker depending on situations around him. That Was how mana was part of everything. It influenced everything and was everything, hence, true mana being the origin. But that was another topic forter.


    Since Su was leaving with Rise to undergo trials that would allow her to better shop herself as a draconic guardian and overall help her understand herself, Walker''s thoughts naturally were simr.


    He had not been working thest few days to get stronger. Instead, he had been going around and seeing the changes to genesis. He had been supporting the others since he was the master of none. Versatile enough to do many things that could help many people. This alone was good for him and everyone, but it was not what he needed.


    The floating corrupted city was moving still toward an unknown goal. Corrupted monster reports were appearing more and more which was unsettling. But that wasn''t something Walker could just fix. However, maybe he could do better?


    The idea of understanding his own body better was a veryrge focus for Walker. He might live longer and remain appearing younger. That was nice. But what other changes might he be going through/ he was considered the nature dragon now. He had natural mana and dragon skills. Therefore, did that mean he had some dragon traits too?


    Did he have the ability to act like Onyx and hide away in the shadows of someone or be a shadow tattoo? What skills did his body take on? What traits from the abyssal serpent race? Would he even be able to differentiate them?


    These could all be answered through a bit more training. Or at least that was what Walker thought was the best way to see this. He could leave behind armor and stick to the basics. Mana control, then move toward techniques and physical skills. That would be a good baseline for what he was right now. Overall he could then pursue a corrupted monster and attempt to purify them using natural mana. He might have a good chance to learn something new.


    This decision pushed him through to head outside the city and take his chances. It wasn''t that he was worried about facing any monsters. Walker already knew that his strength was well above many others.


    The reason was to behind preparing himself. Hunting monsters would be something he could do to grey stronger and help Genesis remain safe. Few monsters around kept the farmers safer and the crop production higher.


    The real learning would be when he found a corrupted monster. Walker would be able to test purifying it and finding a way to handle them.


    It was worrying that they were more violent toward everything around them. That meant that the corrupted monsters might be troublesome in the respect that they might be stronger than normal. Simr to undead that didn''t feel pain because of their state of being.


    But the real issue would have been where the corruption was in the monster. The entire monster could be corrupted through and through without chances of recovery. If that was the case, then this was worse than they knew.


    Studying that alone was a major focus for many right now. Furthermore, it it was the opposite and the monster could be cleaned of the corrupted mana, then that meant people could also be saved from it if it effected them.


    This meant that the corrupted floating city might be able to be saved. That would mean a great deal to the angels as a race. This was their historical site. A ce that heals bnce and history that they could not forget or change in any way.


    With these thoughts in mind, Walker took to the sky. He used the wind ripple skill to walk through and out of the city without much issue. Some people saw him but such things weremon now.


    With all the different races within Genesis, people were used to seeing flying races above. Even dragons had be somewhatmon due to the royal dragons being around. Not to mention the other elder dragons now appearing closer to them and starting to build up viges.


    When Walker set foot in to the farnds, he saw the amazing work behind it all. The many expert farmers that came from multiple races to share their knowledge and grow better everything. They provided food for all of Genesis and even sent some to other kingdoms.


    This natural unity made Walker feel he was somewhere healthy and bright. But when he looked at the further fields, he noticed a darker coloration.


    Some farmers had many wilted crops. There were groups gathered around and they all appeared to be stumped. But that was just the reason Walker needed to stop by himself.


    It caused a decent bit ofmotion in the group of ten farmers around the groups in question when Walker stepped out of the sky and greeted them. If he had done this anywhere but Genesis, he might not have surprised them so much. But he was a well known hero at this point and his life was this way for ever now. Not that he didn''t enjoy the smiles when hended.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1940 1940. Corrupted Mana

    <h4>Chapter 1940 1940. Corrupted Mana</h4>


    Walker looked out at the small patch of withered crops before he spoke up. "I was heading out to look around the wilderness, but this caught my eye. Any idea what happened?"


    The ten farmers all shrugged or looked at Walker like they had the very same question as him. One of the oldest of the group came forward. He was a demi-human man with traits of a goat. Clearly he was very experienced with the rough hands and tanned skin to prove years on the fields.


    "It is a withering that we thought was caused by bugs or something. But some fo the pants here are still alive and seem to be growingpletely different from what we know. Not a single one of us have been able to appraise it since our farm rted appraisals are based on knowledge passed down or learned by us."


    This was a lot to grasp, but Walker had long ago learned this. Farmers were a group of unique people. They had systems that varied from specific nts to a wider variety of nts. That meant that they could take many roles in many parts of society. Especially growing food.


    But it was very well known that the farmer''s almanac skill and the farmer''s appraisal skill were licked. The farmer had a mental skill that stored the methods they learned for each nt they grew. It also held the information they were taught.


    By using their farmer''s appraisal, they could recall information about the nts in question. The issue with this was, that when they discovered a new weed or nt, they had to learn about it all over again. It was troublesome but also meant that they could pool their knowledge and know almost everything.


    Hearing that there was something that they did not know though, was odd. The demi-human farmers were some of the most experienced in farming. They fed arge demi-human poption within their city and that meant they learned to farm a lot. It also meant that they needed the widest variety of food productionpared to just about any other city. If they didn''t know what was happening it was very odd.


    "Let me use my all around appraisal then. I can see what dried out the ground and killed the tomatoes you were starting to grow. But these few nts do look like tomatoes¡­" Walker felt it odd that some of the tomatoes were still growing.


    The small number of nts still alive should have green leaves, but they were a darker green with a red mixed in. This alone was odd, but when he looked at the normally yellow flowers, they were a bright red. The tomatoes growing on them were also not green or red. They were a deep red color that made it seem these were from a brightly burning me.


    ''Corrupted tomato


    Due to the corrupted mana in the soil and the nt the tomato nt has begun to mutate in an improper way. The leaves will gather corrupted mana and? force the nt itself to change. It will also cause other pants around it to wither at a very quick rate.


    This corrupted tomato nt will grow ten times the size of a normal tomato nt before it growsrger fruit. Therger fruit will hold a condensed corrupted mana. When it reaches the proper size, it will explode with a burst of corrupted mana that sensed the seeds further away. These seeds with wither other nts and begin to grow.


    These nts can not be purified and must be destroyed since they are extremely resilient to normal farming skills and other such aspects of herbalist skills or healing skills.''


    "I am going to burn these. Even the roots. If we leave them, you will lose your entire field." Walker created a small ball of fire in his hand. When the farmers saw this, they were shocked. They did not expect that he would start to burn their crops!


    "You can''t burn our crops! If you do this, you will not be allowed here ever again!"


    "Put out that fire!"


    "Some hero you are. These are the biggest nts right now. That means more food!"


    Three of the farmers jumped to stop Walker. But he realized that he had acted too fast and stood his ground. "I have a good reason. You heard of the corrupted mana, right?" Walker slowly exined the situation and told them every detail of the all around appraisal.


    As they all listened, they began to understand that the threat was not small. They knew that the normal height of the tomato nts was already around four or five feet. But if it grew as much as Walker said it would, then it would be above them by many feet. On top of that, the explosion of the tomatoes would cause the seeds to go far. Pairing both height and explosion, meant that their fields would all be effected.


    From these small ces where thee nts had withered to a massive areapletely destroyed was not where they wanted to be. It would put a hard stop on what they could provide for their own families, let alone all of Genesis.


    "Many of these ces that look odd like this need to be pulled out to the root and burned. That is the the only way to recover the area. Purifying skills and other skills you might have might not kill these tomatoes. I think getting mages to help find them, like earth mages, then fire mages to burn them is the safest move to make. From there, you can recover the withered areas."


    While the farmers did not like what they heard, this was the right move. Through years of farming, they had experienced many things. Crop blight from disease or insect attacks were what they had learned to handle. Fire and other methods always worked. But knowing their skills for it would not hit them hard.


    "Just make sure that you report this to the guards when they reach her on patrol. I am sure that some people wille to research this and to keep watch more strictly. If any more crops or even herbs start to show signs, send more people immediately. The corrupt mana is arger issue than I thought." Walker left them behind. He had his own goals that were now more pressing.


    The farmers had begun to work and speak on this issue as Walker left them. He hade and gone quickly but he had made a deep impact. They all understood that their futures were on the line. If they did not act and act swiftly, then they would lose it all. This was a joint effort tobat corrupted mana.


    Walker thought about the other issues that might start showing up now that he had proof that the nts were already being affected. This could lead to a loss of food and cause people to face hunger. Genesis was not a ce that was meant to fail in this way. That was why so many people worked hard to develop the fields.


    It was even worse when he thought about the herbs. They all had unique ways to be used. Some were toxic until they were used to make potions. If they grew with corrupted mana, then what would happen? Would they be more dangerous? Or would they be monsters? It was possible for some nts to be monsters but that was pretty rare. Considering the mutation of corrupted mana made it possible though.


    Looking out ahead, Walker saw the changes where roads had begun to beid. Unfortunately, many of those projects were slowed down due to the recent events. But evidence that new farming fields were being set up also appeared. Many trees had been cleared so that fields could grow. But even more interesting were the farms to grow specific foods within a forest or a bushier area.


    Not that this was the focus still, Walker looked at thend ahead for monsters. He had to see if he could sense the corruption around. The mana that was corrupted should have been something he could sense as different in the nts, but he hadn''t. That could mean that he couldn''t sense it at all or that he just wasn''t attuned to it yet.


    The first step he had to take was sitting down in this wild area outside the borders of where people had begun to prepare thend for more farming and roads. A ce where fewer people came unless they were hunting for game.


    Using the true mana sense was already better for Walker to be able to find out what was around him. He could grasp on to the elemental manas much more easily. However, he noticed an awkward flow of mana in the air. One that he couldn''t nail down, but could feel.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1941 1941. Sad Beginnings

    <h4>Chapter 1941 1941. Sad Beginnings</h4>


    Normally the flow of mana was bnced. It had a direction and if Walker used his senses, he could track it. This was the case for many mages. As long as they had the proper affinity or skills, they could sense their mana and follow it. This was even how magical trackers could use their mana to find what they were after.


    Right now though, the wind mana that Walker was sensing was flowing against the air currents above him in the air. The way that he could tell that it wasn''t two opposing air currents was simple. There was nothing to cause the air to flow differently. No massive mountain to stop the air nor any canyon to greatly cause a change.


    This was a very open ce before entering some forests and other areas that would not change the air currents so drastically. Therefore, the proper method of solving this issue was to follow the problem overall. And with his true mana sense, that was easier than ever.


    Moving forward, Walker focused his eyes looking for any signs of movement. The leaves of bushes and dresses were tall enough to cover up many small monsters. This was normal for the area, he didn''t have a problem with that. What he did have an issue with, was that they stopped him from spotting anything.


    These nts were removing with the breeze too, but when he spotted one of the bushes moving in the opposite direction of the wind, that was where Walker began to use the all around appraisal.


    His eyes might not have caught what was making this happen, but the all around appraisal was better. It used his sight and mana to activate the skill. Therefore, when Walker received the information through his system, he was a little shocked.


    ''Corrupt turkey


    This turkey would normally not be a monster at all. Nor would it be a powerful animal. However, the entire animal species, turkey, was on the cusp of sensing mana. Before this happened, this specific turkey was infected with corrupted mana.


    The corrupted turkey is the first truly corrupted species of monster to be born of purely corrupted mana. This will define their entire monster species as they grow in to a monster species unless the source of corruption is solved.


    Upon gaining the ability to use mana, the wind affinity that these animals had was awakened. The corrupted wind affinity causes the turkey to naturally create small wind currents around it that will tear up the natural wind currents.


    They have a voracious appetite and will pick every bush clean of anything that they can eat. If they can not find berries or fruits, they will attack any living thing for more food. They have a unique skill due to their awakening called bulk stomach. This allows them to eat much more than what they appear to be able to due to their unique physical abilities.


    They can also use their wind affinity and control to shoot their toughened feathers at enemies. This is ast ditch attack since they can not miraculously grow new feathers. However, the corrupt mana allows them to also use this wind to attack as wind des carrying corrupted mana that stops other natural magic from being used of the wind variety.''


    Now this was just messy. A new monster had just been about to be born as nature and the world intended. Yet, corrupted mana had attacked the body of this animal on the verge of awakening. Now they were the first truly corrupted species of monsterpared to the others which were already monsters before this.


    While an animal growing over many years to be a monster that could use mana was amazing and many hunters would be happy, this case was bad. Instead of being a new species of monster that would thrive and have a chance to grow and be hunted as a massive resource to the world, it was a gue.


    This turkey had clearly picked every single fruit from these bushes. But as Walker looked around the area, under the bushes and around the grass, he realized that there were seven turkey bone sets all picked clean. This monster had gone from a potential new amazing find to a terrible creature that destroyed the entire small flock it was part of.


    Worse off yet, the turkey had a clearly vibrant set of feathers that had be more green with the wind affinity it had gained. But it was looking like it was going to suffer more with the effects of the corrupted mana. The awkward twitching it was doing proved that it was not healthy due to the broken mana flow within its own body.


    ''So the corrupted mana makes the monsters and animals it effects go mad. It must flow poorly and cause damage to the body." Walker understood why the false death runes and the undead were used by the demons. If they didn''t do this, then the living monsters would have been harder to control and most likely been worse off. The undead were able to be controlled and did not feel pain from the corrupted mana running rampant in their bodies.


    With a single more powerful wind de, Walker used his maniption to attack. The wind des he could make were definitely stronger. However, he attacked this way so that he could see what was going to happen.


    While he could have attempted to purify the monster, he knew it was not normal and it would most likely fail. But seeing the wind mana from his wind de hit the turkey and degrade quickly, made him understand the degree of damage that the corrupt mana does to the world.


    The wind de was weakened? even after it had still defeated the turkey in a single attack. But the wind mana had lost its form faster. This was against the control that Walker still had over it. Therefore, that meant that the corrupted mana could easily break downrger magical attacks or even have an effect physically on contact. Again, that was a risk to the soldiers that didn''t use magic.


    When the body of the turkey hit the ground, Walker could still sense the wind mana was off around him. The feeling had begun to fade though. "That''s the corrupted mana leaving the body. It could gather elsewhere though." This mumbled understanding brought Walker to his next attempt to understand it all better.


    With a hard look at the body of the corrupted turkey, Walker ced a hand on it. After a moment, he felt like there were pins and needles on his hand. It was the corrupted mana flowing from the body to him. The reason he felt pain was that he could tell his own body''s natural flow of mana was being affected.


    "Now add some natural mana." The natural mana moved in and directly shed with the corrupted mana. Instead of purifying it and stopping things, the natural mana became chaotic as it shed with the corrupted mana.


    This resulted in Walker feeling like his hand had been burned before both manas dissipated entirely. "That means I can''t use the natural mana to perfectly purify anything. If I did this to the living turkey then it would have died¡­" The long sigh that followed held a lot of unhappiness. Walker was further from a solution than he thought.


    The good thing that came from this though, was the understanding that the two manas could counter one another. Even though the corrupted mana wasn''t purified and was clearly missing something more to cause purification, natural mana had bnced it. That raised more questions too.


    "Is corrupted mana opposite to natural mana? Or are they both unfinished and that causes issues?" Walker started to mumble questions as he stored away the bones and the body of the corrupted turkey for research purposes. He was going to be looking for more simr monsters around. Hopefully he could find a turkey that had properly awakened so that he could bring a living group to Genesis for the farmers to raise.


    The thought that corrupted mana might be part of the world in a way made Walker ufortable. it was more like it was against bnce, yet, it also could be countered. That meant it might be something simr to how the angels thought. Elemental pure manaspared to the outer other manas like space, time, life, and death. Could corrupted mana be something even further out of his understanding?


    Regardless, Walker had a lot to think about and had to gather more information. The sooner that he did, the better, if he did not find the right information to help the researchers counter these issues, then these problems would spread like a gue along Genesis and the world. The only hope he had was that they were faster.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1942 1942. Eating Roots

    This wasn''t all Walker could do though. He had somewhat felt what the effects of the corrupted mana were. He could use this to be able to sense it if he was careful and remained focused on the task at hand.


    But he couldn''t base it off of this one experience. He had to ept that there were more monsters affected by the corrupted mana than just ones that might be monsters or were in that princess already.


    The monsters that were already monsters for many generations were the monsters that he needed to worry about. They were the monsters that adventurers, merchants, and even farmers all relied on for materials and food.


    These monsters might be the horned rabbits that provided many useful materials to alchemists and for food, along with merchants for their fur. But they could also be the cattle bred to be able to feed entire armies.


    The demi-humans had bred a unique species of bovine monster that was able to be used as food. They bred them to be able to feed the armies that wanted to train non stop because that was their culture. Yet, what would happen in the red leather cows were found to be corrupted? They had stronger bodies and tougher hides just as they had been bred to have.


    This meant that they would be a harsh corrupted monster that would easily tear through the weaker warriors that worked with the farmers to help maintain basic safety on the farm. It would require the army toe to the farms and maintain safety all the time. It would be a massive chunk of the army lost before the real war with the demons causing the corruption that they had to handle.


    But this wasn''t everything. The risks only continued as more people would be needed as crops and other things were infected with corrupted mana. It was literally a snowball effect that would get worse to the point that no one could survive.


    "If this is their goal¡­" Walker stopped for a second and believed that this might be the goal of the demon lord. To cause trouble and chaos and destroy all things in the world. However, something about that struck him as off.


    The corrupted city had not stopped moving from what they all understood. Therefore, it had a goal. A ce to go. If the corruption was the goal, then they might just be running to hide, but that didn''t match the progression.


    Right now, the demon lord, sloth, and Envy had all the strength they needed. But if they weren''t fighting and causing more trouble with it, then what were they about to do?" Walker just grumbled as he had no idea what the overall goal was. He had to keep studying the corrupted mana and see what he could do to handle it before they managed to get to the corrupted floating city.


    Before his mind could drift off, Walker sensed an awkward pulse of earth mana. His eyes tracked the direction while he flew through the air using the wind mana he had grasped on to earlier.


    This brought him to a ce where the grasses had all been ttened. Not because of battle, but because something had been digging underneath the grass and caused them to die. Something had eaten their roots. This was the work of a monster that many knew.


    "Let''s see where it is. Normally they don''t use their earth control like that." Walker knew of these monsters because they were opposing to farmer''s will. Specifically, these jewel grubs ate nt roots and the farmers nted nt roots. It was opposite goals in a way.


    "There!" Walker stepped in to the air and leaped ahead spotting a pile of dirt rising. The small shiny yellow head of the jewel group poked out as it crawled on to the ground. A very unusual scene.


    ''Jewel grub


    The jewel group is known to cause many nts to die off due to its voracious appetite for nt roots. It stores the nutrients and takes a pupa form after it has eaten enough. Eventually , it will hatch back out as a yellow gem beetle.


    They live for a year and will often go dormant if they do not have enough food. However, they are very sensitive to the earth mana that they have an affinity with. They will rarelye above the ground unless there is a good reason or a predator after them. If there are multiple above the ground, it is rmended to avoid the area.


    Their shiny yellow head is considered a great embellishment for those that wish to add color and shine to their armor. Otherwise, it is too weak to be of much use to anyone for defensive purposes.''


    Walker was sure that this one had a reason foring above ground. When he noticed another patch of dirt moving, he was worried that there might be an earthquake about to happen. It would exin why the jewel group moved out of the earth using a pulse of earth mana. That made a lot of sense. However, arge earthquake could make a problem for Genesis which was nearby.


    Yet, when the second andrger jewel grub showed itself, Walker noticed that there were bloody streaks on the yellow shimmy head. The earth mana around it was also too simr to that of the turkey he had seen before. "Corrupted!" The jewel grub was running from the corrupted jewel group. It was going to be eaten!


    Without any waiting, Walker used his mana control. The jewel grubs were all too weakpared to what he could do. They were a weaker beast that the farmers could easily deal with in their farms. A single shovel strike was exactly what they needed to handle their soft bodies.


    The corrupted mana was making the grub erratic, but Walker used his wind mana maniption to literally pull the corrupted jewel grub in to the air. With it separated from the earth, it lost all means to attack or even move. This was a simple task for him, but for the average person, would have proved slightly difficult.


    From the appearance of the jewel grub, Walker could spot the differences. The corrupted one was faster and easily movedpared to the normal one. The head was also covered in its own blood which meant that the corrupted mana was destroying its weak body.


    From there, Walker could see that the pincers used to eat through roots were also jagged. They had cracked by the jewel grub had persisted. It proved that the corrupted mana was driving it in to madness. Regardless of pain, corrupted monsters would still try and attack.


    These were worrying effects, but since Walker wanted to try more to experiment with his natural mana shing with corrupted mana, he saw the perfect opportunity. This corrupted jewel grub would perish sooner thanter if he left them alone. But with him using it to learn as a being holding corrupted mana, its death could save many people.


    The normal jewel grip was twisting its body even though it couldn''t feel the earth. It wasn''t as panicked and could even be seen as calm butparison with the corrupted jewel grub.


    The corrupted jewel grub reacted trying to snap any anything that might be around it. Walker even felt that it could somewhat send the wind mana around it and the grub wanted to chomp down on that to release itself. The violence and madness was much higher and worrying.


    As material mana became denser in the air, the normal jewel grub remained calm. This was normal. Natural mana was always around it. Yet, the corrupted grub was iling more and more as it felt the natural mana growing. It could clearly sense the dangerpared to before.


    This was simr to when anyone sensed something danger. Being too close to a fire made people jump back since they knew of the danger and risk. It made sense that the corrupted monster would react simrly.


    This grew worse as the natural mana was focused by Walker and pushed toward the corrupted grub. It''s skin showed the stress of the iling small tears bled while the corrupted grub tried to escape.


    When the natural mana came in contact, it released a hiss of pain that not many people knew such a monster could make. Then the skin ruptured more as it was colliding with chaotic manas.


    What Walker felt with his true mana sense was enlightening. He felt the corrupted mana was pushing back but also trying to be smaller and more dense to match the natural mana. It wasn''t being manipted but reacting in its own way.


    Before Walker could sense more, the group perished and all the corrupted mana shot out and away to dissipate. It happened too quickly but had shown him exactlywhat he needed.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1943 1943. Corrupt Theory

    <h4>Chapter 1943 1943. Corrupt Theory</h4>


    It struck Walker as odd that the corrupted mana would dissipate so quickly. It had literally just seemed to make itself denser trying to escape the natural mana that it was shing with. This was simr with any mana when it faced an opposing mana that would try and bnce it. But the corrupted mana dissipated and did not maintain its sh with natural mana.


    Walker could still sense the corrupted mana though. It caused the other manas in the air and around the area that he had caught the corrupted jewel grub to be slightly chaotic. This made Walker understand that there was some form of flow to the corrupted mana.


    When he closed his eyes and tried to track that feeling, he was sure that the corrupted mana was moving in direct opposition to the natural mana. As if it was filling spaces that there was not natural mana.


    This idea was easy to understand. But it meant that there might be even more to what Walker understood. Of natural mana was just a made up form of elemental manas, then what made up the corrupted mana?


    Before he could really remain focused on this, Walker remembered he still had a normal jewel grub too worry about. Without much worry, he released it and watched as it started to dig back in to the ground where it had been fleeing from the corrupted jewel grub.


    There was a clear rush to hide since it wasn''t sure if a predator was still after it, but the area around it appeared to be a little greener and brighter as the normal mana flow returned. The corrupted jewel bug had a clear effect on the surrounding area too. This was due to the condensing corrupted mana.


    "Maybe the corrupted mana is a form of manas I can''t understand yet. But if it is always here and is just made denser by the demons messing with it, then what would make more sense." this idea was the clearest that Walker had.


    The simple theory made a lot of sense. If the natural manas were elemental manas together, then the corrupted mana might always exist just like those. But it was such a small amount of mana that it wasn''t even noticeable. That being said, Walker came to another thought.


    What if the corrupted mana was being drawn here from other ces because of the demons. If it always existed, then it naturally had a ce but just not here in such levels. It could always be in other ces. Now with a focal point, the corrupted floating city, it was being drawn to where it could force all the corrupted mana around in one ce?


    This could be the goal that the demons had or not. However, they were already drawing in more corrupted mana and unbncing the world as a whole." This left Walker frustrated. He could only sense the manas bing chaotic due to the corrupted mana. He couldn''t sense the corrupted mana as a whole. Even if it was life, death, time, and space all mixed up, he should be able to sense those manas within the corrupted mana.


    That wasn''t the case though. Which proved that corrupted mana was something else. Somethingpletely opposing to natural manas. "Maybe it''s just the negative side of natural mana. Who said all natural mana works together?" Walker started to debate himself while heading back toward Genesis with his eyes peeled for another monster with corrupted mana.


    Unfortunately, by the time he returned to the farms, he was proved wrong in his endeavors to find more corrupted monsters. He had been lucky to spot two in this short time. There was a lot more activity within the farms as multiple fire and earth mages worked with the farmers to clear the withering and corrupted crops. It was moving swiftly since there was not a single reason to hold back.


    No one seemed to notice Walker stepping through the air as he moved, that was until a familiar harpy flew up next to him. "Ste, it''s been a while. I figured you would be staying closer to Elise?" It was odd to see Ste out and about alone, but Walker started to realize she was there for a reason since she was beckoning for him to follow.


    It only took a few moments to be brought to the expanded tamer''s guild in Genesis. It had been made muchrger to facilitate the many monsters being brought to be tamed. Not to mention the many tamers that came just to begin? living in genesis. It was a thriving new city after all.


    "Nice! You found him." Elise was sitting there waiting for the two.


    "So you and Ste had that nned? Is it because you heard of me leaving for a little bit to check monsters for corrupt mana?" Walker saw Elise nod. It was easy to keep track of what Walker was up to when so many people saw him moving through the city and working hard to meet with everyone that might need him.


    "We were going to ask for you toe by. You are working on the same problems as us. And we also have a few corrupted monsters captive right now. They were supposed to be tamed, but that didn''t work out." Elise had really taken a massive leap forward.


    Since she had returned to the tamer''s guild after adventures with the party, she had been learning and growing faster than any tamer in the guild. Therefore, she had been promoted and was a very prominent head figure in Genesis when it came to the tamer''s guild.


    It made her privy to certain information that others would not have. Specifically, about the study and capture of the corrupted monsters. Therefore, when she managed to notice that multiple corrupted monsters had spontaneously appeared within the guild, she had tightened security.


    Since the guild had them trapped and kept safe, it made sense that they would want to find a solution. "One was a rainforest caterpir that was caught a few months ago. It was being held for a tamer that is still learning how to tame it, but that was fine. Now, we might lose it and anything else around it. The rainforest caterpir has eaten five times the food it normally needs in a day."


    "I have seen that too. The corrupted monsters just have basic instincts. They are trying to eat and attack things for food. I assume because they are trying to heal themselves and also because they can''t be rational or follow their other simr instincts. The corrupted mana is painful to them too, so they might act erratically." it felt that Walker was learning the same as what he already knew, but it was being proven all over again.


    "Well, did you know that they can alsoy corrupted eggs? It wasn''t only the rainforest caterpir here. Its mother, the speckled butterflyid an egg. It was not the one corrupted, but the eggs was. The mother rejected it because of this and now we have a monster born corrupted. It hasn''t hatched, but it is gathering corrupted mana." Now this was new.


    Walker stopped in his tracks. He was worried about what this might mean. "If this continues, you expect that fully corrupted species of monster might be born. one that is basically berzerk since birth?"


    "yes, that''s what the most experienced breeders say. that it might be a mutated species that is impossible to tame no matter what. We have no idea if the corrupted monsters can even exist normally or otherwise. So, we have to make a choice. Break the egg or let it live and hope that a new system user or skill to tame corrupted monsters exists. Maybe one simr to taming demonic monsters. I don''t know. But you cane check it out yourself."


    There was a pause as Ste, Elise, and Walker moved in to the taming guild grounds. Many tamers moved around trying to remain organized. Some were clearly more stressed because of the issues surrounding monsters. The risk that their beloved partners might be gued by corrupted mana too.


    This was a new fear that put stress on them and their monsters. A danger they had not faced that they couldn''t control. The only things they could do were constantly ensure that their partners were in the best of health.


    "We have them isted and contact is minimal. Only the breeders can see them along with researchers. We have no idea if there is a way for the corrupted mana to be transferred to others. We surely can''t control it either." Elise moved toward a heavily guarded stone building. One that had been made so that monsters could not escape it. Covered in rune formations to do just that.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1944 1944. Corrupted Caterpillar

    <h4>Chapter 1944 1944. Corrupted Caterpir</h4>


    There was a lot to think about when it came to what this might all mean. Walker had already started in on his own theories. He had discovered a turkey bing a proper monster that has unfortunately been infected with the corrupted mana instead of taking the proper evolutionary steps to be a monster.


    If this had not been found, then Walker would struggle to believe that there was anything that happened making the egg born of these moths to be a corrupted egg of a monster. But here he was. It was clearly possible.


    There was also a corrupted jungle caterpir that had already been affected by corrupted mana. It was a good chance to sense how it was surviving.


    What really struck him though, was that he would be able to potentially see the differences between a corrupted monster born as one, and one that had been infected by the corrupted mana and forced to suffer due to that.


    The simple proof that this was a bad thing hade from many simple examples. The monsters that had corrupted mana gathered in them, had be in pain and lost their minds. Their instincts had been broken and they only looked for basic things. Fight and earth. That was it.


    This had been because of the pain that they were in along with many other factors. Yet, it was why everyone had immediately begun to think that the corrupted mana was something that the demon lord and his two demons had managed to create.


    If this wasn''t the case like Walker''s theory stated, then it might be a different thought process moving forward. Walker had one of his theories about the natural mana and the corrupted mana being two sides of the same coin. It would make a lot of sense that way.


    The corrupted mana was repelled by the natural mana the same way that fire and water mana were repelled by one another at times. That was a good test of what was going on. It wasn''t just the same as purifying poison. Hence why some purification skills had absolutely no effect on the corrupted mana whatsoever.


    If this was the case, then Walker would be forced to decide what was happening in arger picture. If the demon lord was bringing chaotic mana that directly opposed the natural flow of the world from outside the world or from different ces, then that was a new issue to handle.


    If it was just that natural mana was made chaotic and it was not called corrupted mana because it was acting in the most violent of ways, then it also made some sense. Walker couldn''t sense the corrupted mana the same because he had only been able to sense manas as they were naturally urring. Hence why he was now able to manipte the natural mana. It also would make sense that natural mana in chaos would repel normal natural mana.


    "Look at it, we have it restrained using a special harness. But it is still trying to attack us just for walking in. normally the jungle caterpirs will not eat a single living thing other than nts." Elise made it clear that this was an issue since they, as tamers, found that their knowledge was failing them right now.


    Atmers spent generations creating reliable information for young tamers to use. Even those that were not tamers relied on the information gathered about certain monsters to survive. Some monsters could be avoided entirely just by seeing the right signs to leave their territory alone.


    "The egg is even different colorspared to what a jungle caterpir egg should look like. The normal light green color is dull red with stripes of bright green. It makes me think that it is a different species of monster all together now." This was troubling more than just Elise, but if it was true, tamers would have a whole new set of work to do.


    Finding these corrupted monsters and documenting them could take years. It was not an easy task. The dangers that persisted while countermeasures and studies were done would also be forefront in many minds.


    " Let me use the all around appraisal skill on the eggs. Maybe I can make it work and see what it is. I know I had some trouble using normal skills of corrupted things before. But I can most likely do it." Walker feared that there would be some issues when it came to the skills working, but for now, he could only try.


    The first time, the skill failed. It was because of the corrupted mana. But when Walker started to pull in natural mana, the all around appraisal skill worked like normal.


    ''gue caterpir


    This is known as a gue because it is able to consume entire forests without issue. It is a new species of jungle caterpir that can easily consume the most toxic nts and even the monsters that would normally live in a forest or jungle.


    The guees from the fact that their bodies carry and secrete the toxic poisons of whatever they eat. This includes venoms. Therefore, even touching it is extremely dangerous.


    Because it was born with corrupted mana within its body, it is more limated to the chaotic nature of corrupted mana. It would easily survive the dangerous environments between the elemental nes where corrupted mana exists without order.


    The gue caterpir is considered highly aggressive and will show its sharp pincers and legs to anything nearby. If it finds anything organic, it might eat that as well. Its skin is easily able to be used to contain toxic nts and venoms but it highly dangerous to use due to being able to transfer it to those that touch it.


    If it is able to consume enough, it will form a pupa and eventually hatch in to a chaos spatial moth which is able to easily live between the elemental nes. However, this species does not currently have the ability to travel within this central ne of existence.


    This beast can not be tamed by any known skill due to the world being-''


    Walker was floored. His jaw had dropped and Elise knew that something major was discovered. He tried to read more, but when he did, he noticed that the system had somehow blocked the information. As if he wasn''t able to use it. When he tried again, he received a different line in addition.


    ''The world limits this appraisal.''


    That alone proved that there was more information about this new monster that he could not worry about right now. If he tried to pursue it, he would find himself with a new mystery. One that started and ended with things he could barelyprehend right now, let alone without even more information.


    The things he found the most useful though, were the corrupted mana and its source. It was the mana between elemental nes and this ne.


    That alone exined so much. The demon lord was able to draw that out and force the bnced manas of the world to break away from their current state. It was mana, that was clear. The corrupted mana wasn''t in order of any kind. The system had literally said that it was chaotic. Therefore, it waspletely understandable that it would be hard to repel and have within the body of a monster or person that had never had touched it before.


    A deep breathter, Walker looked at Elise. "This egg won''t be able to be tamed because the world can''t allow the skills to do so because of soem reason. I have no idea why but this is the first time that the appraisal was iplete like this. That''s not the good part though. I learned more that I need to exin to everyone about where the corrupted mana ising from and what it is."


    Walker first exined the species of this new monster. The gue caterpir was something that already existed, but was not this real of a monster. It was a garden pest. Now the name of that garden pest would be changed and this real monster would take that name. Furthermore, Elise was able to understand the gravity of the situation.


    She understood that an egg like this could hatch andy waste to a massive area. Therefore, they had to keep close tabs on every monster and breeder working with them or even within Genesis.


    She also understood that knowing where the manas came from and that this species would most likely not survive here was part of the battle. If this caterpir grew, it would perish because it needed to be somewhere with more chaotic mana, corrupted mana, or else. Thus, they had to be able to understand how to unite the ins if that was ever to happen. So many questions were not raised.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1945 1945. Grand Understanding

    <h4>Chapter 1945 1945. Grand Understanding</h4>


    "Wait, why are you rushing away? We have to figure this out!" Elise tried to catch Walker but he was moving too quickly. This left him just moving ahead towards the mage tower.


    "I need to start preparing more mana than what I have now. The dragons could delve in to the elemental nes if they want. If they do that, they have to be strong enough to pass through the in between, right? I am not that strong. And if I want to understand the corrupted mana, then I need to be able to live with it."


    "But what do I do about these corrupted monsters? Can I do anything even? I can''t have tamers touching them. Then what if this egg hatches?" Elise was at aplete loss. She had relied on Walker for help with this. She had half a mind to Let Ste try and capture Walker to drag him back as he rushed out of the tamer''s guild.


    "find one of the echidna, they might want to watch over it. They are deeply connected because of the way they are raised, with the natural mana of the world. The proper flow. But that''s a proper flow too. I mean, no, just find one and they will guard over it." Walker had a sense that that would be the case. He didn''t fully understand why, but he felt it was right.


    While Walker felt slightly bad for leaving Ste and Elise lost in their own problems, he also knew that he was going to be able to grasp much more than he had right this second about natural mana.


    He had grasped the understanding that the world was not the way it should be some time ago. Between the grand elemental spirits being established to be able to bring the proper flow of mana back to the world, and the demons causing trouble, Walker could understand more.


    The grand elemental spirits helping the flow if mana was just part of their existence. They were deeply part of the world because their bodies were made of the mana that the world provided. It was just a certainty that they would awaken more and be their own race sooner thanter.


    But that might cause different questions to arise. Were they meant to be the will of the world? Or were they that way because they were made of mana? Regardless, that was to the focus of Walker''s mind. It was a major puzzle piece.


    The false death runes in the Sigil continent were another piece. Runes that forced a curse on the desert from the world because it was using mana improperly and in a way that did not allow for growth. Therefore, it was another world wide interruption in the proper flow.


    Walker used these as a way to grasp that the world was supposed to grow in to more. That the system and everything about the will of the world was unfinished. This made it feel like he was opening his mind to much greater things.


    He didn''t even register anyone as he climbed directly to the top of the mage tower where thest floor was still sealed while waiting for the right mage toe and visit. But that did not meant that Walker wasn''t able to get to the top. The silent top that no one else was allowed by the mage tower to go to and sit upon.


    A ce in all of Genesis where manas gathered the densest and where silence allowed for him to learn what he needed. To organize his thoughts slowly but surely without stress other than what he put on himself.


    As he sat down and closed his eyes, Walker began to understand that so many things had happened that stopped the world entirely. The idea that the powerful beings could delve in to the elemental nes proved that there was a connection. But why was it all separated?


    The corrupted mana that was being put in to the world by the demon lord was clearly part of existence. That Walker knew. But it was opposing to the flow of the world as it was now? Why? Was it because it was a different thing entirely? Maybe. Or was it because it was in ces that it did not belong? Because it was in a ce where it was not bnced as existence intended?


    Pushing aside the theory that there was a greater being behind the world or above so to speak, Walker kept pushing his puzzle pieces together. "The elemental nes should be attached to us more closely, but they were broken apart for some reason."


    Just saying it out loud was enough to allow Walker to ept this. He didn''t feel any resistance to this theory. He actually felt as if the world had thickened the mana around him in response. It might have been his mind and emotions, however, he felt that it was the world agreeing silently. Unable to tell him all its secrets, but still encouraging him to pursue these thoughts.


    If the story about the hero that walker had heard and learned of from the Immortal King when they first went exploring in to the undead ruins, then this could finish the puzzle to a? degree. A boy who had been a victim and ve to an ancient people who researched skills pursuing immortality.


    The boy who had awakened to be a hero system user only to fail in his goal to save his mother''s life. The boy who rejected the world itself and be a true demon that was not even rted to what the demons were as a race.


    The demon lord that had reappeared yearster to destroy the race that had killed his mother. The demon lord responsible for the immortal king failing and trapping himself in the ancient undead ruins for too many years for anyone toi truly count. These things all fit directly within what Walker had begun to understand and learn.


    The enlightening feelings as so many things came together properly for the first time made him wonder just what was the goal. Was this demon lord pushing themselves ahead to destroy the very world that it med for being too weak to save its mother?


    Was the world trying desperately to fix the damages done when the unexpected happened and a beingpletely rejected and constantly broke away the very fabric of what the world needed to grow? Does that mean that the echidna had long ago grasped this fact?


    The echidna were closer to the world. Some of them had even said that they would go their own ways with the will of the world. Did that mean that they were also working to handle the issues surrounding the demon lord and the causes of many other issues?


    Walker felt his heart beat with every question. As if to scream yes, that is the right question to ask. He could feel it deep in his soul. These things were all rted. But what did that mean for the systems that the world handed out? Were they iplete just like the world was?


    If the elemental nes were supposed to be connected seamlessly with the world he lived in, then that meant things were all just broken. They, along with every race, had been living in a world that was hanging on by a thread. If it were to fully shatter, then what would the result be?


    Constant chaotic mana might tear it all to nothingness.


    The realization was like a whisper within Walker''s ears. A devastating understanding that there was a massive danger leagues above what he evenprehended. When Walker opened his eyes, he felt he had solidified every bit of will and determination that he had or would ever have.


    So many things came together for him to be born and gain what he had today. The master of none system. He had spent many days learning any and all things believing he would not have a system at all. But since then, he had grown.


    Managed to repair the world enough that those without systems had gained them. It was a fixed error already. Yet, now, he found that the damage repaired was superficial. There were greater issues that needed repairing. The world had guided their hands when it saw them capable of such things.


    The hero titles, the changes in how they could grow to gain the heroic points and experience points. They used that to grow faster and stronger than many people older and wiser than them.


    The changing of systems and awakening of new paths that had never been walked before. The world had given them all of this while letting them learn and grow with their own will. It might be presumptuous to believe it, but they had a greater goal that even they could not see yet. Right now, they had to tackle the corrupted mana. The floating corrupted city that the demon lord and his two followers used to hinder the world. That was the current goal.


    Whates next, they would just have to see.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1946 1946. Potential for Panic?

    <h4>Chapter 1946 1946. Potential for Panic?</h4>


    While it was a lot of information to process, Walker was struck by the sheer importance of it. Knowing this though, was not something that could change what they were preparing to do. ''


    Genesis was still preparing to go to war. Not the same kind of war that they went through to cut in to the demonnds and free the demon race. Instead, this was a united war against three figures that were bent on possible destroying all the order of their world.


    The idea that the world could even be threatened was daunting. That Was what stopped Walker from pushing himself forward. He had rushed all the way to the genesis building only to realize that this was unnecessary panic. If he were to tell everyone of the greater threats this fight brought, then what could happen?


    There could be people that tried to push ahead and fifth the threat ahead of everyone else. Especially the dragon who were prideful and would clearly see the demon lord as someone that was openly attacking their homes.


    The other race might try and pull back to protect themselves. The corrupted mana could be handled, but it might also be possible to use that. The issues were varying in that respect though. Some corrupted monsters or nts might not be able to be controlled. The people that attempted to do so could be damning their people in that action.


    While others would hold back, if they held back, then they would be properly prepared. As of now, that was what everyone seemed to be doing. They were nning safely and calmly. Exactly what needed to be done.


    With these thoughts in mind, Walker had some more insight on why some of the echidna had walked their own path and stepped away. The leader of the echidna had spent his life to move and join their ind with the main Sigil continent. It had been a sacrificial move for a better overall future.


    However, the others of the race that had not directly stayed with the party. They had left on their own ord regardless of what Walker had expected or been able to change. They were most likely all over the world influencing things as needed. They had their own quests generated by the world as a race that was closer to it than any other right now. Even the elemental spirits were not ready to take on such actions since they too had been dormant or unbnced.


    Pushing that aside though, Walker understood that the threats that might appear as the demon lord was dealt with might note immediately. He would need to be able to adapt to whatever happened from there.


    As a true hero title holder, Walker would be the leading example of how to handle such things. But what really came as the wild card was the knowledge that the world was somewhat broken and stuck with the demon lord and his actions influencing it. If the systems would change or even the size of the world, then he would need to change how he acted at that point. Not before it.


    But with this knowledge, he would be better prepared if such things and when such things happened. Therefore, Walkern roped in his feelings and worried. By doing so, he could retain his focus on what ended to be done while issuing new orders about the corrupted nts, monsters, and any other things found with corrupted mana.


    Especially knowing that the corrupted mana was outer mana that was in a chaotic state because it did not have form. It was part of arger existence that Walker could notprehend. Even if the elemental nes were essible to everyone, he still might be thinking too small to be able to understand just what therger existence was outside of all of that.


    This was enough to truly calm his heart. Instead of rushing forward with the information, Walker left more to be understoodter. After entering the Genesis building, Walker gave specific orders. "Remember that any corrupted seeds will be stored so that they can not grow. We may have use of them at another time, but they will be a good way to study the corrupted mana that is condensation within them."


    This was the first order that he gave, the second was simr. "The corrupted eggs that the taming guild is finding will also be stowed. They have many ways that should keep them from hatching. Otherwise, corrupted monsters can be studied but do not torture them. They are already in pain."


    These two orders traveled through genesis. Partly showing kindness since it was now better known that corrupted monsters were in pain due to the mana within them opposing the corrupted mana. Therefore, many adventurers took note.


    Specifically ra had been leading a lot of studies since the adventurers everywhere were reporting corrupted monsters. Some people had been injured due to them while others had been able to capture them alive. Most specifically, they had managed to defeat some that were running rampant through trade routes and farms.


    It was a lot of informationing inpared to what they had all known. But when it came, many people felt more at ease. Just seeing the transparency in these actions was enough for many of the citizens of Genesis. They had fears that the miraculous ce they hade to live in after so many world events would be ruins before it even grew.


    Hearing these orders and seeing the many different groups that made Genesis, Genesis, was like a hand giving them a pat on the back. Reassuring and calming. Even Walke could sense this since he had been worried himself since he had to think aboutrger andrger pictures.


    What walker had not grasped after he rushed from the tamer''s guild to the mage tower to the Genesis building was also simple. He had managed to understand a smaller piece of therger puzzle that he had been missing. Natural manas form without order.


    The world somehow managed to allow bnce in many things. Elemental manas and the like. But that bnce allowed everything to exist. If the world was attacked, then it made sense that it would not be keeping order.


    Fleur was a nature spirit. She was growing to be more and more of what the world needed as a voice. But she had been limited. No spirit like her had existed in years and years because elemental manas had been unbnced. Now that she did, the world had been giving more quests and making more announcements.


    That had to mean something more than just what it was. Once Fleur could grow again, then it might mean that the world would have a chance to voice itself and even show itself. What was the world? No idea, but that was just part of Walker''s theory. Regardless, he looked forward to the world being as it should be and not in the current state.


    Some injustice had been cleared in the form of people not having ess to a system because of a timer on the chance to have one. This being a result of damage to the world and the world trying to manage that. Therefore, what would happen if it was fully healed?


    "I will be preparing more things needed for the next step in our battles. For now, I trust that what I left you all to do will be followed. Please exin that we should also finish awakening the elemental spirits around. They are on the verge of bing their own race." This statement made many of those working in the Genesis building to gasp.


    "What? There used to be many of them all over the world. But due to ancient races and ignorance, they went dormant or were trapped. Now that mana is somewhat back in bnce, it should help the world to awaken them all. Then we can let them gain intelligence through their nature."


    Many had already seen the benefits that the elemental spirits brought. Working with races they had helped cksmiths, farmers, alchemists, and many more. By doing so, Genesis had only grown. It was an important understanding to have.


    Furthermore, if they became a world recognized race, they would be represented on the Genesis council and have more influence. It could make them show better and bigger skills. It would also make arger path that helped everyone understand elemental manas.


    The fact that elemental spirits were made of mana meant a deeper understanding of mana overall. One that could bring them closer to that mana or the elemental nes where some spirits and unique beings existed. Walker didn''t have to state that though. Many already understood such things.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1947 1947. Elemental Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 1947 1947. Elemental Awakening</h4>


    It was easily known what dangers and crimes the dwarves and a few other races hadmitted against the elemental spirits. This was out of sheer ignorance andck ofmunication. It was also how many of the elves had ended up with a hatred for the dwarves.


    The dwarves in particr had a history of using the elemental spirits as materials. They sealed them within their forged creations to give the creation more skills or inherent ability.


    Gil had found one such bow. The bow that had now been properly reforged to have its own new qualities while freeing the elemental spirit within. Little had they all known that this elemental spirit would turn out to be the now grand wind spirit, Zephyr.


    Regardless, this was a historical fact. Other races had also allowed the elemental spirits to go dormant or used them importantly. The demons had done so while the demi-humans had just tossed the dormant elemental spirits in to storage since anything magical was normally useless to them due to the physical focus.


    With these facts in mind, the party had been clear that the elemental spirits should all be awakened from their slumber. The world had more or less exined the benefits of them in nature and elsewhere.


    As people hade together within Genesis, they had seen evidence of this. especially now that the natural mana flow had returned to such a higher degree. With proper grand elemental spirits, there was a clear cut change in how mana was? everywhere. It was more readily avable and slightly denser.


    This led to some of the elemental spirits awakening on their own. That was a benefit since there were not any mages that had to use elemental crystals or gather mana to awaken them. But this was still the smallest percentage of dormant elemental spirits.


    Many were still dormant because they had not been awakened. Some were still being discovered in ancient ruins or in other storage ces forgotten because they had seemed like useless rocks or hunks of crystal. This became a rough topic for those that had begun to show signs of bonds between elemental spirits.


    Many mages had realized that by befriending such spirits, that they could learn more about their own capabilities and where they stood in strength. Furthermore, there were some sses being found that required bonds with elemental spirits. Even more than what had already existed before this in the eleven poption.


    Therefore, these issues had been growing. What really struck everyone as Walker made a very blunt exnation about how the elemental spirits should be their own race, was that they had existed for a very long time and not been recognized as such.


    What they did not know was that the world had been damaged. Therefore, the elemental spirits who were made up of mana, had been held back. It Was simr to the goblins who had been attacked by the demon lord''s minions. They had nearly been a race before they were harmed and caused to scatter and nearly lose their poption.


    The elemental spirits should have been powerful enough and grown enough to have been their own race? if they had not faced such a massive trial that sent most of them in to a dormant state due to there being improper mana flow in nature to sustain them. This being the issue that was somewhat repaired, if not almost fully, they could awaken properly.


    It was already proved that as they came together and gained more mana, that their intelligence grew. The high elemental spirits could evenmunicate now that the world trantednguages for everyone. It made things very clear that the high elemental spirits and beyond could interact just like any other race.


    The angels feared the elemental spirits because of their ability to control mana. The elemental spirits could stop the angels from absorbing elemental mana through their wings as they naturally did. But if the elemental spirits were their own race, they couldmunicate better and reach a better understanding. It would solve these worries a great deal.


    Just thinking about this proved to Walker over and over that this would be the right move to make. They could greatly increase the intelligent beings within Genesis while also encouraging others to be able to understand mana as a whole. The growth potential was massive for Genesis.


    From there, it would be clear for the grand elemental spirits to feel less stress. They had been the ones to exists for generations before moving on to the elemental nes. The current grand elemental spirits had taken those positions because the world needed them. What if the world didn''t need these pirs to stand as reasons to keep the manas flowing properly?


    The grand elemental spirits had to take a?rger roles in the flow of mana because the world was unable to be managing these manas. If it had a stronger ability to now speak through the system and also to be able to control the manas of the world, then couldn''t the elemental spirits separate a little?


    The idea of them bing freer wasrger. Walker was very clear that when the elemental spirits were all awakened, that there might be arge chance that the mana became denser in Genesis. But the idea that the manas of the world would be denser was what he was after.


    Currently. The manas of the world were more chaotic. This was because of the corrupted mana, chaotic mana, was being mixed in and directly shing with the natural mana flow. Within nts, beasts, and every day life. All was evident to Walker now that he had put more of the puzzle pieces together in to arger picture.


    From the changes in mana, he hoped that the elemental spirits would cause a push back against the corrupted mana that was pushing in to monsters and the world as a whole. It might also unite the elemental panes with this world of mixed mana more than before.


    That alone brought up a massive number of potentials. If the flow of mana through the world and elemental nes increased, there was a high chance that the corrupted mana would have arger trouble causing issues. This could stave off the ns of the demon lord by arger margin. If that was the case, it was exactly what Walker wanted to do.


    More time to prepare the Genesis forces. More time for the dragons to walk the proper path to bing dominator dragons. For some, the time to even find the dominator ruins that they were searching for that would take them to that level of strength.


    The echidna would be the outliers since they would mostly be affected by the flow of mana. They were closer to natural mana and the intended flow of the world. They would sense and be able to adjust their own quests and strengths to this. It might even speed up their efforts to help the world by a lot. Or at least these were the hopes that Walker currently had. He wouldn''t be putting this aside just so that he could fail in it. He would give it his all.


    "This is the room we have created for the awakening of elemental spirits. We have some that do not react whatsoever to the elemental manas ofmon nature. We believe that they may be unique elemental spirits. Either fused elemental manas or outside manas we can not manipte right now." the mage that brought Walker showed him everything.


    This room had been made underneath the mage tower. It served as a ce that gathered mana so that the elemental spirits could awaken faster. It was clearly a valuable idea since it had been working.


    "Very good. Regardless of what outside manas are around, we will help them when we have the means. For now, I will meditate and bring natural mana here in higher density. That should awaken a lot more elemental spirits." Walker looked at the mage who understood the benefits of this.


    He left the room and began calling other mages. When Walker brought the manas here in a more densely packed form, they could learn a lot. Any mage would gain a lot from seeing such things. Especially when the mages were young or stuck on a certain point in their path to bing a stronger mage overall.


    The word quickly passed around and more mages came toward the mage tower. They even brought with them some of the more unique sses that used elemental manas to fight. They too needed to learn when they could. It was the best way for them to take a major step in strength to understand their own strength. Meanwhile, Walker began to sit and channel the mana through him while calling for more.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1948 1948. Awaken Them All!

    <h4>Chapter 1948 1948. Awaken Them All!</h4>


    The senses of many mages made them understand, even if they had not heard a word of it yet, that natural mana was condensing. Some of them had been busy but quickly changed their ns. It was not an unusual sight.


    Many of the mages that had been in Genesis since the founding, had been doing this every single time that a major magical event happened. Even when the manas were just a little more dense, they were attracted. It wasn''t that they were nosey, just that they wanted to grow.


    The people that were family to mages, also had learned to understand. So many things were happening in Genesis that were breaking away from the natural history of their people that this was just what would happen.


    The sheer number of things that were considered groundbreaking and first of its kind that happened every day in genesis couldn''t be counted. Each of these events was a wave that would spread through the poption. That would change things for every single race. Every single being.


    Therefore, when the mages moved, so did some of the others. Merchants wanted to know what they could sell. Fighters wanted to see if a new opponent to test their mettle was being born. Even the crafters would appear looking for new ways to forge, carve, or whatever their skills allowed them to do.


    This inspiring sight was something that brought even more unity. It didn''t matter what the race was. They all came and began to discuss or learn from each other. It was one way that Genesis was able to stand out beyond everything else even though it was not necessarily a forced event. It just happened as people made new discoveries.


    With walker drawing in the natural mana, he found another thing. He found the small wisps of life mana that he had begun to learn from the life mages when in the Sigil continent. He also could sense the smallest, tiniest wisps of death mana.


    While ominous, these two manas were not something that he was well versed in controlling with his true mana sense or maniption. Therefore, Walker''s surprise was being suppressed by his focus in his current actions. He could not allow himself to falter here.


    If he was slowly able to draw these manas as well, then it was a sign that he was improving without knowing it. His senses were sharper whether he had meant to train them or not. It was just a boon he could ept and useter as he grew even more.


    The fact that the life and death manas were drawn though, was what the dormant elemental spirits needed. The dormant spirits were of all manas. Not just elementals. But he had already had the theory that there would be spirits that did not fit within the basics of elemental affinities. He knew that they could exist and this was proof.


    The slight gleam of some dormant spirits awakening because of the life mana wisps and death mana wisps proved it indefinitely. They were reacting because they needed those wisps of very rare and hard to draw in mana. The people that could control such mana was very rare and would not be in a position to be able to share that mana.


    Take the life mages in the angel race. They had not been able to learn enough to do more than heal others and work as healers. They were very far from making massive developments in understanding life mana since it was such a massive connection. But that was eptable. They needed the time and space to be able to do so. Therefore, Walker had managed to awaken something internationally that would help them.


    Since it was amazing that new healers coulde to be, they could be able to learn life mana and use that especially. It would mean a whole new step and path for the life mages and healer overall. Walker could only imagine what a life spirit would be able to do that would set them far apart.


    They could potentially heal the earth and help restore the damage done by magical battles or even worse, the corrupted manas that had saturated to damage things around the farms and even monsters.


    When Walker''s mind raced to death mana, he worried that the death spirits might not be the same. They were a wildcard to say the least. But death was part of the natural flow. The world ended things to rot and die. It was fuel for life and the end of a natural cycle.


    It was evident in how the nts and herbs influenced by the corrupted mana would cause damage if they were not properly killed. Sometimes certain monsters and gues grew too much. Death was what came to them when they were dealt with. Therefore, it was within reason.


    These death spirits wouldn''t be evil unless they were somehow manipted and forced to do evil. They had their own deeper connections with the world and the way it was meant to be. Therefore, they would naturally move with the flow so that they could make it all happen properly.


    But this was nothing that Walker could keep thinking about. Right now, he has amassed a massive amount of elemental manas that hade before the natural mana. He was slowly splitting it. When he began this, Fleur left the spirit mark for the first time in a long time.


    Feeling her resonating with the manas, Walker could tell that she was helping awaken the other spirits. That she was pushing them to wake from their slumbers and return to the world they could not live in so many years ago.


    The elemental spirits that began to awaken did not stand on ceremony. They too resonated with the manas they had affinity for. This helped in a chain reaction to awaken even more elemental spirits of their same affinity. Even beyond that, the mage tower seemed to be drinking in the manas too.


    The entity of Genesis felt the slight boost of the mage tower and their own bodies. This would grow and help them all over time. The mage tower already assisted in whaling and the general health of all. Now that it was slightly increased, some of the elderly felt that they had gained a few more years on the end of their lives.


    Feeling this as well, Walker reveled in it. He was d to help others in this way along with pursuing a better future for everyone. Shockingly, though, he felt the chaotic manas from the corrupted manas being pushed around Genesis being calmed. It was breaking itself down because it could not push itself anywhere.


    When he noticed this around him, he realized that the corrupted mana was exactly what he knew. It was mana without bnce from outside of this ne of existence. The world just had enough control in this small spot of itself, that it could calm it properly.


    It resonated with Walker as he watched Fleur grow once again. This was somehow a hidden major step for her that he had yet to realize. However, his theories were all proving to be correct. The elemental spirits were less responsible for the bnce of mana now. Therefore, they were making their own leaps in growth and intelligence. Some of them werebined to be high elemental spirits right in front of Walker without resting.


    ''Thee grand natural spirit Fleur has been awakened. The flow of mana has grown stronger.''


    This simple message was just for Walker. Just enough to signal that he was right. But for Fleur, it was a massive step.


    Her body grew. She looked almost the same as a human. It was scary to understand theplex natural manas that were all part of her before she suddenly returned to the spirit mark and slumber. It had been arge expense of mana to take this step. But it hade with a muchrger reward.


    ''The elemental spirits are weed as the spirit race. The spirit race is known to be made fo many manas. To be able to confluence the flow of manas. To take massive effect in the bnce of the world when the times is needed.''


    While Walker saw more, the world saw the phrase that the elemental spirits hade on the fully recognized spirit race. It was thest thing that Walker saw before he passed out due to using every single bit of his mana without realizing it. Not that he would have felt bad at all for doing so.


    Regardless, he had helped do what the world needed. He had followed his intuition and theories to the point that he had changed the world as everyone knew it. But he had also helped the many friends he made when he had first met the elemental spirits.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1949 1949. Spirit Race!

    <h4>Chapter 1949 1949. Spirit Race!</h4>


    This scene made genesis buzz. So many of the elemental spirits awakening at the same time was a massive sight to say the least. However, many people knew that this would be something that they could pass down to their children and their children''s children. The day that the elemental spirits be their own race known as the spirit race.


    These things were meant to be. The elemental spirits had also been held back by the way that the world was damaged. The manas that flowed was never meant to be their responsibility. Iad, they were meant to be the ones close to that mana.


    The spirit race uses elemental manas to make up their body. They were the ones that coulde together to make unique variations of mana that others could not. They could easily travel through the nes to this mixture of manas that had be the world. A pure bnce.


    Yet, the world had been damaged. It had suffered and many races had note to be races as they should. The elemental spirits just being one of the earliest that the world had been able to hold on to.


    The diminishing elemental mana flows had caused the elemental spirits to go dormant. A sad sight for the world overall. Now, the damage had been repaired enough to awaken them. But the hero that had been working with the will of the world had damaged to understand enough and awaken even more.


    Just enough to fully recognize the spirit race as just that, a real intelligent race. Therefore, it was a major step for the world inbating the corrupted mana causing other mana to go chaotic and dangerous.


    With that, the spirit race could pursue their own desires without the constant need to follow the will of the world just to stay functional. They could go about their lives and use their own wills to create vast forests or massivekes. ces where they could gather their affinity mana together. ces that they could teach others or show the way of mana.


    This was their true core. The beings closest to mana would be able to guide everyone toward it while also learning other things from other races. This was Genesis after all. A ce where all coulde together and share their knowledge. To progress faster and stronger than ever before in history.


    Just the simple act of Fleur joining Walker in his actions had made things much smoother. She had also managed to take all the natural mana she and he had attracted to grow stronger. Bing a race also proved that she was able to take a tougher form.


    The natural manas that Fleur used as the body for her will was simple. She could control the natural mana since it was part of her. But now, she would be able to stand closer to the spirit race and as an equal around Genesis.


    Regardless of what many people believed, the elemental spirits were technically regarded as less. Simply because they were not a race yet. The same for other monster races. It was hard to understand without having been in the same position as others had.


    Due to this, they had been eager to grow. Those with the right intelligence had wanted more but could not step aside from the will of the world. They understood that they were a driving force in protecting it. Now free of that, their collective will had brought the world to the proud decision of announcing a new race.


    Doing so allowed them to be stronger in their natural abilities. Form more humanoid bodies to interact with the other races better. All of this was a gift and a freeing of their hard efforts to remain as the bnces for mana.


    It proved that regardless of the demon lord''s ns, the world was strengthening. That the races gathering had truly made a massive difference.


    Some spirit races could still form bonds with others. They could cause spirit marks and meld with mana gems or cores. This was not going to change. They made their bodies from mana of course! But now, they would also act as their own.


    Some of the spirit race could now ess their own systems. They could be a spirit mage or alternatively, find mages or other system users to bond with as equal partners. It meant that massive advances in systems would happen too! New and unique systems would appear that required direct bonds with trusting spirit race individuals. A beautiful idea.


    "Wake up."


    The soft voice that pushed Walker awake was none other than Fleur. She was tired as well, but had recovered some mana before helping Walker recover mana.


    He had seen her form when she grew before passing out from using all his mana willingly. Naturally, Walker would have given even more mana if it was needed. However, he didn''t need to. The spirits had awakened. Some remained by his side to thank him.


    The many unique forms of the spirit race were surprising. One earth spirit looked like a snake while another wind spirit took the form of a sparrow. All natural things that had been around them when they had been awake before going dormant.


    Their words all mashed together as thank yous and greetings, while some just gave a look before drifting off on their way. Even some darkness and light spirits were quick to flit away after seeing that he had woken up.


    "Fleur, we managed to do it. The spirit race has a seat at the Genesis council." Walker groggily celebrated for a moment. He felt that he had been born for moments like this. Moments that would go down in history.


    It was a few moments in the now empty storage area built for the dormant elements[p spirits before Walker noticed that not all of the spirit race had left to go off on their own. To explore Genesis and do whatever their hearts called them to do.


    Specifically, there were two small spirits. Others appeared to have left them behind, but Walker knew very well what spirits they were.


    "One death spirit in a gray small body like a skeleton and one life spirit in a vibrant white and green color with a body like vines. Both of you are the first of your type that I have met. I don''t know what your manas are about to be honest.I am pretty ignorant. But good morning."


    The reaction from both was silence. While Walker had a feeling this wasn''t anything negative, it was clear that they were somewhat curious. They moved slowly around him while Walker wondered why they took the forms they did.


    As unnatural as the undead were, he felt that he was very wrong. He had seen the undead controlled by other monsters so his opinions were off. But naturally, undead could appear anywhere if enough mana was there. So, it made sense that a death spirit might take the form of a skeletal figure. Death was natural and undead were a form of that.


    The vines on the life spirit were a clear rtionship to new life. Small sprouts that woulde together and grow in torger things. But life also was a mystery. It was a very odd form that could be varying throughout all of existence.


    "You are both wee toe along with Fleur and I to meet everyone. I assume that Fleur might be taking the lead position as representative for the spirit race since she is a nature spirit now." Walkerughed a little before the two started to float beside him.


    The slight glow of the spirit marks that Walker had on his back proved that Fleur wasmunicating with the two spirits. Walker left that as it was while he drank a man potion to help clear the groggy feeling of low mana.


    After another minute of deep breathing, Walker left the storage area to find many people above and around the mage tower. Many mages were interacting with the spirit race while some streets had broken out in celebration. Whether Walker knew it or not, the same celebrations had happened when the other races were recognized too. It was a major event.


    "It looks like none of us will be sleeping tonight. We have a party to attend." Walker changed his direction and stepped in to the air. He had to head to the Genesis building to let them know of the new race and the other details that might be important.


    What he didn''t realize was that there were many other things going on. The corrupted floating city that had been moving toward the ocean from the Sigil Continent had stopped. The current state of a new race appearing seemed to have some effect on it.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1950 1950. Celebrating Spirits

    <h4>Chapter 1950 1950. Celebrating Spirits</h4>


    "You really started something big there, huh? I was rxing and enjoying learning more about the elven archery techniques and then this all happened. Zephyr is even more excited and rushed off to tell the new wind spirits about everything." Gil had managed to find Walker after thisrge event. He was certain that Walker would say more.


    "Well, I was working on the theories and puzzles we have to deal with to figure it all out. Is actually understand things a lot more. The corrupted mana is just chaotic mana without any bnce. I can''t even manipte it because I don''t know how it really works at all."


    "Then the natural mana can somewhat counter and repel it because that''s the main mana in the world. How the manas bnce. So it''s more bnced against unbnced mana. But the elemental spirits helped with that since the world was weaker because of the demon lord years and years ago."


    "Now that we fixed some things, the spirits woke up and we woke them up. But the grand spirits still had to bnce manas. That''s why they had to exist. But it''s still changing. We are helping the world return to the flow it should have and now they don''t have to be pirs of bnced manas."


    "Basically, the elemental spirits were free from their roles since the world is stronger now. Basically, that means they were free to fully be a race when they had developed the right number of them. That''s the spirit race. And yes, they are still very close to the world. Simr to the echidna but a little different."


    This long rant was somehow unending to Gil. he had no idea what Walker had been up to and this was all out of context for him. He wondered just what Walker was doing to have these ideas and what else he had learned.


    "I know I am out of the loop, but what else is there to do now? Can I just hang out and celebrate with the others? Or do I have to meet your new undead and nt friend?" it was clear that Gil had misunderstood the two spirits moving around Walker. They were still acting curious but not speaking a word.


    "This is a death spirit. The only one that stayed behind. And this is a life spirit, the only one that stayed around. I think they are curious about everything but also sensed that I could pull a little wisp of those manas in toward them. I feel like there were other spirits there too but I can''tprehend them enough. There was definitely a space spirit. I swear."


    These were all based on Walker''s instincts. Overall, he had no idea if there was actually more. But in his mind, there had to be. No other way that the spirits hadn''t gone dormant or weren''t in the world at all. Regardless, he was clearly strong enough in understanding to attract said manas to a degree to help the spirits awaken.


    "I just wonder when they will start to speak more and make their own names. What kind of systems they will have. They can still form bonds like we have with spirit marks, they can still help control golems, but they can do more now. I have a good feeling about it all." Walker also thought about the systems that already relied on the spirit race that would change or grow.


    "The more you dig this hole, the more you are going to be buried in it. You know that, right?" Gil wasughing because he knew that Walker was still well in to his own head. This could go one forever too. But it was all a good thing.


    "Just because I am making big events, doesn''t mean that I need to slow down or hold up. you''re the one who caused thest big stir through the city. Mr., I am going to marry the first elf queen of all elves because I am a hero that the elven race recognizes and respects."


    The mocking tone was just enough to make Gil take his best Remey style punch to Walker''s shoulder. But the two wereughing like fools while they moved through the crowds. "You know that some of the images are trying to convince the spirits to teach them magic. One guy even said he would purposefully stop everything he had done before to learn fresh. It''s a good idea. If Zephyr didn''t show me my wind affinity, I would have been way behind the rest of our party."


    Gil''s point was clear. This was also one thing Walker was excited for. "They are made up of their own mana. They are unique for a reason. If they start to teach, then everyone will grow along with them while they learn the other race''s ways. It''s Genesis after all." Walker smiled a little more knowing that they were a part of how this all came to be.


    "Did you really need to make so much trouble? I was just meditating as I needed to before leaving for the Sigil continent again. And here you caused so much chaos for mana. My elder dragons are very unhappy to note and celebrate." Mordant appear from the shadows. His elder dragon with a dragonkin form by his side.


    "Well, the celebration will extend to the outside edges of Genesis. If they are careful of the farms, then they cane eat and enjoy too. Plus, the farmers might like their attention since the farmers usually stay outside the walls to care for the crops." Walker saw this as an opportunity.


    The farmers were very strict with their crops. Therefore, meeting the dragons that would be creating their viges outside the farms would help unite the two before the dragons entered the city. It was a good way to smooth the knowledge gap between them.


    "Ah, thinking ahead again. Fine with me. But my partner has also left. Apparently, he sensed some shadows that were new and needed guidance. I can not hold him in one ce." Mordant looked a little sad. But the spirit mark was still there. He had a bond with the grand darkness spirit. They would not be apart forever. They both lived extremely long lives.


    "Go and pass this on to your fellow elders. Let them know that there will be food brought to them. Genesis dishes that they had never thought they would taste yet. I assume that the farmers may share some home brewed alcohol. It is a very unique family delicacy that they sip in small amounts."


    This was a thing that the farmers from the demi-human kingdom brought over. A habit of making their own unique wines. A small but was a nice vor and varied from farmer to farmer based on their family and what they grew. Walker had no interest, but the dragons had all taken some liking to such things since they rarely had such things in their vige.


    "Well now it will be a real party!" Gil was joking a bit since he was surprised that the dragons would want to be involved so quickly.


    "I take it that you also came to tell us that you were really leaving for the darkness dominator dragon ruins?" Mordant nodded slightly to Walker.


    "I sent some others to search for it. We actually traveled near it and my dragonkin managed to discover the hidden entrance. It appears that a few of the monsters in the caves found it and use it as a nest. Their mana made it harder to sense. But I will be handling it. I wille back sooner than you may expect." Mordant was gone in to the shadows after this.


    "It think he will be the strongest of the royal dragon by then. Just a feeling." Walker knew how close Mordant was to being able to step in to the darkness elemental ne. This closeness meant that he had reached the top of a royal dragon. But the next step wasn''t to go to the elemental ne where he would be a weak monster. He had to be a dominator dragon first. The missing step.


    "That''s pretty much every dragon now. Right? Thest before Mordant was Rise and she took Su with her. I wonder how Su is doing?" Gil was a little worried. He knew that Su was tougher than all of them. But she was their family. They would always worry to some degree.


    "If anything bad happens they will let us know. But I have a feeling that Su is rediscovering her instincts and what she really is now that she has such a powerful bond with a dragon. I trust her and Rise toe back stronger than ever." Walker''s pride seemed to light up the streets while he and Gil kept messing around and enjoying the upbeat atmosphere.


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 Chapter 1951 1951. Su’s Challenges

    <h4>Chapter 1951 1951. Su''s Challenges</h4>


    "It''s just a violent lizard. You are weaker than that!?"


    The shout was all that Su heard. Rise had stopped being nice and controlled the moment that the two had teleported to the Sigil continent again. Instead, she had be feral if that was even the right word.


    The kindness and controlled Rise was letting way to the true nature of a dragon. This wasn''t because Rise was cruel, but because she was focused on discovering the light dominator dragon ruins. She also knew that Su needed to be challenged properly if anything else.


    Therefore, Rise did not hold herself back and pushed Su to fight monsters well over her limits. For a perfect example, Su was fighting the earth affinity violent lizard with very high defensive powers.


    This wasn''t the normal challenge that everyone would expect. For Su, it was one that she could not turn down. She was a defender of the entire party and now multiple races. If she were to lose to a monster that had tougher defenses, wouldn''t that be an insult?


    This wasn''t an example of Su letting the dragon instincts taking over, it was a fair and clear example of her instincts and the dangers she had to deal with now. This challenge was just a? single step in the entire path to being able to properly protect everyone.


    What really was happening between them, was that like many monsters, this violent lizard had a trace of dragon blood. Because Su did not use the dragon blood now in her body, the lizard had seen her as prey. A way to get stronger by umting mire dragon blood overall.


    This was just the way of monsters on the Sigil continent. Everyone who hade here knew this. But Su had not realized how protected she was by having Midnight around her. Because Midnight had been around, these monsters had understood a syringe monster was around tem. Regardless of Midnight being part of the dragon race or not.


    But now that Rise was covering herself and hiding the fact that she was a dragon, then Su was out in the open. A seemingly weak dragon blood holder that could be eaten easily because of her smaller size.


    Rise knew this well and pushed Su with words of insult and determination. This was the same challenge that other draconic guardians would go through after they had managed to be able to take over the rituals. They would need to prove that they had established themselves. epted the more powerful existence that they were bing.


    Normally this journey could take years or more. Bit for Su, it was being pushed to a more intense level. Especially since she was a hero who already had begun doing so without a dragon encouraging her.


    What Rise had not told Su, was that she believed Su to be the best person to protect anyone. She had seen the way that Su thought. A calm andpressed method of growing stronger through learning and adapting.


    That had been the case when she watched Su and Alice fight. Flexible changes to form and technique in battle styles. A method to the madness of learning new skills that would normally be tough for many people.


    The light shield skill had already piqued Rise''s interest. It was a skill that allowed for healing and protection using the light mana in the air. Rise could do something simr. It was why she had pushed Su to learn more against Alice in the first ce. The casual words that no one else took as seriously as Su.


    But when the earth mana also joined the light mana, Rise understood that the benefits of a dragon champion having all affinities was more than even she knew. When she saw that Su possessed a massive ability to resist all elemental manas, that thought only bloomed.


    "That tail is going to break your body! Break that tail first!"


    Rise roared out as Su dodged the spiked tail of the violent lizard. The earth had bent around that tail to form sharpened spikes that could easily break through metal or other forms of defenses. Especially other hides or scales.


    Su rolled forward slinging her armor with a single pinch of sps. She was doing this intentionally to speed herself up. She knew that the changes in agility would radically change the battles she had. This was the advantage of being able to easily alter her battle style. Shocking an opponent and being able to beat them in this way was just part of her adaptable skill.


    As she dashed forward after the roll, Su reared up in ap before mming the pointed ends of her repaired twin shields down. This caused the violent lizard to release a massive screech of pain. It hadn''t naturally released its tail to flee, but now it was beginning to think that it should flee.


    The tail had been severed and Su did not let upo. The lizard had been distracted in this pain. The violence that it had was unable to reach Su since she had dropped weight from her body. The armor just sat watching for its wielder to return.


    When the next attack came from above it, the violent lizard screeched again. Su had gone right for the back of the neck. Behind the toughened earth armor it had pulled from the ground on to its body. The beck was always a weak point. And Su used her shields to attack it constantly.


    Five stabs of her shields ended the fight right there before Su saw Rise move up in her dragon form. "I remained hidden to avoid distraction. That was a decent battle." Rise used her ws to pull off the skin of the violent lizard and left it for Su. She ate it quickly to replenish her energy. But Su was confused as to what to do with the lizard skin after Rise had eaten the lizard body.


    "That skin will have meat on the edges. Eat it and leave the sin to return to nature. We can not take it with us." Rise was clearly waiting for Su to eat.


    Instead of being disgusted with the raw meat, she was actually starving. She had fought like this over seven times so far. Her body needed food much more than she could care right now about it. What she hadn''t realized, was that her body had been enhanced more than she knew. Especially internally.


    Her internal organs could easily deal with these sorts of raw meat. Now that she was able to eat it, she didn''t hesitate. She let her instincts work. Su ate what she needed as fast as possible. When that was done, she saw that Rise had used the light to blend back in tot he surrounding forest. It was easy to see that there was no way that Rise could get caught in the air or in the ground.


    The high degree of control that Rise had was immense. She could hide right in front of someone suing the light mana that she controlled. Something that Su could never think of doing with her measly control.


    "Seven more monsters heard you fighting and areing to scavenge the scraps. Defend your prey or run. What will it be?"


    Su smiled widely. Her teeth showed with a sharper glint than before. Her eyes were slits just the same as a dragon''s and the heat in her chest grew as she was ready to fight again. "Not a single weak monster will be touching my food."


    "That''s a real dragon''s answer. You are used to the tame world of humans. Of protection. Let the wild dragon that flows in your blood speak for the first time. Now we run toward the ruins I have sensed." Rise had sensed the quins some time again. But she had waited for Su to grasp her internal instincts.


    As the two ran, smaller monsters appeared. They were like dogs but had darker fur and a rotting smell around them. They were after the remains, specifically, the tail the violent lizard left behind. But with Su moving in her special battle style, she broke the snouts of every single monster before they could pass by her.


    This was a brutal style, but it mimicked the way that a dragon might fight in real life. It was brilliant. It stood out. It Was dragon!


    Su felt the energy in her body growing as she fought. The intense desire to stand above the others who dared attack her. When she eventually roared out with a me breath, she finally found the bnce she had been looking for. Rise didn''t speak. She didn''t have to. She could feel it. A draconic guardian bing one with the wild dragon they had epted in to their being.


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 Chapter 1952 1952. Light Ruins Nest

    <h4>Chapter 1952 1952. Light Ruins Nest</h4>


    Monsters had fallen to Su''s attacks more than ever before. She had not taken such an offensive battle style. But the more she fought, the more fine tuned her instincts were. She could defend and attack at a better flow than before.


    When Su sensed that enemies had appeared near her, she would reflexively strike out. It wasn''t that she was just letting the dragon instincts take over. Instead, it was the flow of air.


    She had not realized when it happened, but Su had begun to grapes the wind affinity while fighting. This affinity was an influence of Midnight''s blood. The ability to have affinity to all manas because she was a true dragon champion.


    This realization had allowed Su to feel the slight changes in the air around her. While it wasn''t amazing sounding like many other skills. This was a great skill that would always show benefits. The single change in air when a monster was about to attack was enough of a warning sso that Su would be able to dodge or defend. Even more, she would be able to counter attack too.


    But besides this, she had managed to make leaps in her own understanding of herself. This was more than just Rise pushing her to undergo a proper journey of training. It was more than a traditional ritual.


    Su had felt the differences in her muscles. The strength and tougher bones that now separated her from a human. These things were allowing her a much tougher defense and attack ability than what she understood before.


    "Rise. I have been unknowingly holding back this whole time. Haven''t I?" Su knew this was true. She could feel it.


    "As a human, you believed yourself only as strong as a human could be. Regardless of a hero title, you put barriers up to hold yourself back. To remain calm."


    "Many would pride their calm in chaos. For a dragon, controlling that is paramount to survival. But allowing it to take the lead when necessary is the true strength of a draconic guardian. Allowing yourself to be more of a wild dragon in survival."


    From the way that Rise spoke, her time had be more caring. She had been waiting for Su to grasp this herself. Now that it happened, she was d to exin it and wait to see the results.


    When Su heard this, she began to think while moving. There were not any more monsters that she could perceive around her. Therefore, Su took the chance to focus on herself.


    The toughness of her skin had definitely increased more as ofte. The earth affinity and her partner being the grand earth spirit had allowed her to gain more resistance. The fire affinity had altered her organs and she could breathe fire when needed.


    The light affinity was found in her defensive healing skill, the light shield. The wind affinity in her surrounding awareness. That left a water affinity and darkness affinity that she was missing.


    While Su knew that she had awakened many aspects of herself, she believed she was missing many.


    "Now we must clean the area." The space in the forest that Rise had led Su was odd. Many trees had been pushed over. w marks made on them to prove it was a monster and not nature doing so.


    Furthermore,rger pieces of rocks shown through the ground covering brush. Easily bing things for the tree roots to grow over and around. It was a very clear depiction of what Su believed forest ruins would look like.


    "Weak little things have made this their nest. Darkness beasts that have smothered the light left behind by my ancestors. Clean them out and prove yourself to be a true draconic warrior worthy of protecting the only true dragon champion the dragon race has. If you fail, your life will have ended where it was meant to end."


    Every word came from Rise full of weight. Su could tell that it was the challenge that Rise had expected of her from the start. Even more so, that this was something that would bring out more of what Su was truly capable of.


    A single w scraped up arge chunk of stone. Rise had opened the way. A hurried ruin that had once been above the ground but sank over many years due to the forest growing around it. Once upon a time, this was most likely a brilliant and open space full of light.


    The open passage that Su saw gave off an ominous vibe. She could sense the darkness manaing from it but there was something else. A coldness that made her body feel slower than normal. It was very odd.


    Holding her shield close, Su moved downward. From what she could tell, this had once been an upper floor. Sunken by years passing by and the changes in nature.


    However, many cracks and crevices were created by these years of change. Specifically, ces that Su could be ambushed. Hence, she changed her posture to make herself better defended by her twin shields. The armor she had left behind was held by Rise and Su had no reason to lose her added agility due to the extra weight right now.


    The same prickling feeling of the hair standing up on her arm made Su m her shield to the right. When she looked up, the tail of a ck shadow scorpion had been smashed to pieces against the stone wall.


    The ck shadow scorpion was a monster that Su had heard of. It was one that the angels had warned woulde out at night. However, the parry and the army had never faced them because the size had been enough to scare them away. But here, this was their nest.


    This ruin was the ideal ce for them to hide. Since they also knew that there was a deterring effect because of the light mana deeper in the ruins, the ck shadow scorpions liked this ce more. They didn''t have to deal with many predators and could openly hunt as they wished around these ruins.


    But for Su, it was a ce that was more dangerous than usual. Because the ck shadow scorpions were hiding in the darkness, she had to focus even more. The scorpion that had just attacked her was already trying to scuttle back in to the darkness where it thought it was safe.


    Yet, that was the trick. Su''s eyes were sharper than a normal person''s eyes. She was able to take a quick step ahead and m the shield on to the back of the already injured scorpion. However, the sound drew out more.


    Her senses screamed to jump back and defend. Therefore, Su did just that. Three more tails tried to sting Su before she pped them away with the other twin shield. With a speedy twist, Su managed to use both shields to catch the oing w that tried to pierce her. She was letting her instincts battle for her while keeping her calm in this situation where she was outnumbered.


    Yes, Su was stronger than these monsters. But she was outnumbered and had no idea if her body could resist the venom if she was stung by the scorpion. This meant she had to do a dance of damaging the attacking scorpions with her shields to force them back before she defeated each one.


    The three attacking her had already had their ws damaged and their tails were feeling the pressure after Su defended against their sneak attacks. The more they attack though, the better Su could spot their movements in the shadows. It was like she was beginning to see through the darkness better. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness mana that the ck shadow scorpions were using to hide better.


    Before she could strike down all threepletely, the ground gave out. Even without all her armor, she had been heavier than the scorpions. Falling down, Su realized that these ruins had degraded over time worse than what she or Rise had realized. But because of this, she had found why the area had such a chilling feeling.


    "There''s a monster with dual affinities here." Su gulped and took a deep breath before standing up and looking over the damage from the small fall. But the reason that she said she saw a dual affinity monster wasn''t the fall or the bruises and scrapes from falling. It was the ice around the ruined floor matching the shadows that were too long.


    Gritting her teeth, Su watched all around her. She could sense the eyes of a predator on her. The same shifting feeling warned her that something might attack. But the shadows were too dense and Su was still trying to grasp the darkness mana to see through it. The cold was nothing to her though. She had felt worse. That was until a burst of dark frost moved through the open space.


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 Chapter 1953 1953. True Draconic Guardian

    <h4>Chapter 1953 1953. True Draconic Guardian</h4>


    The source of what had kept these ruins trapped was right in front of Su. arger scorpion with a ck and ice blue color. It was clearly the parent to the ck shadow scorpions living above. But the ruins had been buried and offered this nest. Therefore, the scorpion had been able to make a nest full of young.


    Even without it passing on its ice traits to them, the ck shadow scorpions had been able to survive. The mother had been an ice shadow scorpion. Able to control ice and shadow. Hiding and injecting its prey with icy venom that could easily freeze and kill many opponents.


    Since Su could feel the deathly aura around such a monster, she knew that its venom would effect her more than the ck shadow scorpions. She had to resist such a venom if she wanted to survive. it was very clear that without her armor, when she was struck she would be at a disadvantage.


    But that might be a good thing. Su saw the scorpion moving toward her. Frost spreading around the area much more. The tone walls had been covered in ice and be dimmer because of the shadows around the scorpions. They sued their darkness mana to affect this ce as well. They made it their best ce to live.


    Therefore, this was also a reason why the light mana left behind by the light dominator dragon was missing. It was covered in ice and darkness mana. These two things blocked it from being able to be easily sensed by Rise who was waiting above for Su to die or to emerge triumphantly.


    As the ice shadow scorpion struck out with itsrger ws, Su moved backwards. She was fast enough to dodge. Even with frost being to gather on her body. She had trained in cold temperatures before. She had also battle against Walker when they were training.


    Walker''s frost whip skill and even the cie dragon domain had allowed Su to experience harsher cold. This alone had boosted her natural resistance. With the addition of her dragon blood now being stimted, the resistances only increased a lot, especially since she could tell that her skin was simr to toughness with the scales of a dragon.


    When the scorpion realized that the cold had yet to slow Su down, it was a little angry. It was already fighting a thing that came in and attacked its young. But worse off, it had fallen right in to its nest. The ce that it believed was the safest and was its one and only home. Normally, a monster would just attack and kill whatever was so bold. But this scorpion was enraged. It wanted to tear Su to shreds!


    "I won''t let you try that!" Su mocked the scorpion to make it angrier. She knew that forcing it to get angrier was risky because it wasrger than her. Yet, she also knew that it was going to fight her regardless. If she made it distracted and blinded by anger, then it would get reckless in its actions. It might even ignore its own instincts to retreat when she started to attack.


    There wasn''t a question of if Su could beat this opponent. This monster was here in front of her. Regardless, she had to fight it. She also had to ensure that she made it through this trial. But what Su did not realize while she dodged the w attacks, was that her heart was beating much more strongly.


    Her entire body had started to adapt to the cold and the darkness mana oozing around her from the ice shadow scorpion. Its constant use of skills to boost its own attack had begun to allow Su a better method of battle.


    Allowing her instincts to begin taking over, Su pushed forward. This sudden change from dodging and deflecting w attacks made the ice shadow scorpionsh out.


    Shadows filled the air around its tail. The blue and ck streaked tail arched down toward Su. but with the shadows acting as illusions, Su could not easily dodge or block them. She could only m the twin shields together and call on the earth to block.


    However, another feeling appeared. One that was more annoyed than guarded from danger. This annoying feeling was a normal dragon pride. Syuu suddenly felt that she was being insulted. A mere scorpion was trying to stab her and add its venom? How insulting.


    But the earth added to her shield wouldn''t do a thing. It would just block for her. So, she let her instincts take hold of the mana around.


    Water mana flowed in a sudden flow. It reached Su''s twin shields and became arger ice shield with severely sharp and domination spikes. The tail mmed in to it while the shadows dissipated. But when the scorpion tried to retract its tail, it found that the stinger remained behind.


    The stinger had been speared by one of the ice spikes. It was left behind because it was stuck there. The pain caused the ice shadow subscription to screech out as if it was being murdered. The entire ruins shook while every single ck shadow scorpion began to run. It had screeched like this when it was extremely hungry or angry. Therefore, the children knew to be far away when they heard this.


    But to Rise, this was the sound of music. She knew that seeing these little scorpions rush away was a symbol of Su defeating the reason there were there in the first ce. Her slightughter was unheard by Su who had instinctually dropped the frozen shields and leaped forward.


    Her hands shed with shadows as they were mimicking ws. Sharper ws grew out melded with darkness mana and with earth mana. Su''s leap led her to be on the scorpion''s back without risk of being stung. She also was out of the way of the ws because the scorpion had been too foolish while in pain to strike out against Su.


    The ws Su had created shed in to the hard carapace of the scorpion. Its ice armor was nothing since Su could also manipte the water mana that made up the ice. But when she cut in to its back, the ice shadow scorpion pureed to il and throw her off.


    Feeling that she should allow that much, Su jumped up. Unfortunately for the scorpion, Su was still letting her instincts guide her on how to fight in the most brutal and overbearing way. Her deep breath before leaping had been to bring in enough air. The scorpion didn''t even understand what was happening when the bright mes burned through its open wounds.


    The single roar of victory that Su released next as the ice shadow scorpion died before her as enough for Rise to know it had all ended. She had already taken her dragonkin form and moved within the ruins. Small symbols being enough to guide here to where she should be.


    Finding Su standing and panting while looking ahead of her was enough. "I see you have finally found the bnce. Letting your human side guide your tactics, your dragon instincts to guide your power. You are a true draconic guardian. One who guards the only true dragon champion. You have just been blinded by your own fears of harming others and limiting yourself by believing you may only be human and always only be human."


    Rise spoke in the most positive and matter of fact way that Su had ever heard from her. But when Su saw that the system reflected all of this, she was stunned. Her race said half dragon. Something she had not imagined was possible.


    The system also showed that it was not just a draconic guardian system it was the true draconic guardian system. The further Su looked the more that she saw other skills. The shadow w skill. The earth w skill. The ice spike shield skill. All of these things had been there but blocked by her own mind. She had been failing to grow as fast as the others because she had not actually been allowing herself to grow at all. She had only seen part of her true strength.


    "I was foolish. But I am the half dragon that will protect my family. Rise, thank you." Rise hummed out a bit of a proud growl.


    "Even half a dragon is powerful enough. You are young but I believe you may be able to beat me sooner thanter." Rise had shown a lot of strictness. Right now, she was showing unmoving pride and warmth. Su felt that Rise truly cared for all that dragons were. She was strict because of her love for her own race. Not because she truly hated anyone or anything. Su could only sense their new bond as Rise moved toward the light left behind for her to find.


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 Chapter 1954 1954. Earthquake!?

    <h4>Chapter 1954 1954. Earthquake!?</h4>


    Days had passed by Genesis as the spirit race began to be just a part of life in genesis. It was very busy since many of the spirits were looking for reasons to go off and explore or to find their own homes.


    With so many people being willing to join in partnership with them, it was a lot to handle. But it was also very amazing. Many people had not expected that this would move so smoothly.


    Some fear that the angels would be cut out because the spirit race had been treated poorly when the elemental spirits were not fully seen as a race was a worry. But when the angels approached on their own, the spirits did not show any anger or hatred. Instead, there was a unique bond.


    Many of the angels realized that the elemental spirits never truly held a threat to them. The elemental spirits had been a way for the world to hold itself in bnce. Therefore, the poor angels that had been caught in that were unfortunately. But it was a natural disaster of sorts.


    When It came to the elemental spirits that had been isted and forced to dormant states, they did not hold ill will toward the angels. It also was something that had made it possible for those spirits to wake up again. Especially with the manas fading around the world at the times they had been found.


    This had been oddly coincidental. The spirits would have remained lost in wilderness areas without the means to awaken. Instead, they had managed to be forced in to a dormant state and taken to Genesis where they were awakened and even more powerful as their own race and own beings. It was overall a better win.


    When it came to the dwarves, there was even more positivity. The intelligent spirits were immediately apologized to by some of the dwarves that had been falsely crafting items using the format elemental spirits. But when it was seen that they were sincere, the spirits did not retaliate.


    Instead, the spirits made a move to speak and start to help the dwarves undo their problems. Undo the mistakes that still had some spirits trapped. As this happened over thest few days, things were only getting busier. The bonds were only getting closer.


    That was how the first of the major discoveries happened. But Walker had yet to hear of such a thing just yet. Right now, the earth spirits were in an uproar. Not because of something bad, but because they could feel the earth mana shifting like crazy.


    Walker soon caught on to this. He had been dragged to speak to multiple representatives earlier and had been about to leave the Genesis building. Since ur was resting, he ended up with double duty. He was the one that was bonded with the nature spirit, therefore, he had to stand and help her represent the spirit race. It only made sense. Not that Walker liked the additional work that had appeared out of nowhere.


    However, he felt the mana shift when the earth spirits rushed forward. They were some younger spirits since they had greatly begun to awaken and grown when the mana was given to them. But the words that they shared were simple.


    "Shaking!"


    "Lots of mana!"


    "Growing!"


    "Hold on!"


    These were warnings that something was happening underground. But as Walker tried to want people, he felt the ground tremble.


    The shaking of the earth was not the normal earthquake that many people knew. The dwarves in particr could sense the difference. They had primarily lived underground for generations. Therefore, they had developed a sort of sixth sense.


    The dwarves that felt the ground shaking was not an earthquake. They knew that when the earthquakes happened, that they shifted the earth mana in a certain way. They moved everything in a? certain way. The trembling was also there for them to know. But this had happened all at once. And the earth spirits had reacted to mana, not to earthquakes that happened much more deeply than this was.


    "Wait, Terron!" Walker shouted out. He began rushing towards the underground. But as he did so, the mana was only growing denser. He also saw that there were many dragonkin making moves to guard the entrance of the underground. It was as if they sensed the potential risks that Terron could face.


    Before Walker even got in to the tunnels leading underground, he faced a single standing figure. "You will not harm my lord as he undergoes his ritual." The dragonkin was not at all a dragonkin. It was the earth dragon champion that had remained hidden to protect Terron. But he was showing himself for the first time to Walker fully.


    "I am not here to harm him and if you were thinking clearly you would understand that these earth spirits followed me to help as well." Walker gestured to the condensing earth mana all around them. It was very easy to see that the spirits were drawing in more and more warth mana. They were looking to assist.


    "I need to maintain-"


    "You will allow me to pass or I will end you and all the dragons that dare to oppose me. Do not think that I am not strong enough to do so." Walker knew that facing a dragon was not the same as any other race. They understood power and authority. "I am the royal nature dragon. I stand above you and I manage all that is around you. You will not be forced to kneel before me, but you will be forced to learn a lesson.


    With a single step, Walker used his skills to manipte the manas all around the dragon champion. It was suffocating. All of the natural mana forcing the dragon to cease his movements entirely. He couldn''t even take his proper dragon form if he wanted. He could sense that all if his mana was not at his disposal.


    This force was something that Walker never used. It was a strength that he felt he had after understanding manas to a deeper level. He could use that to overwhelm others. The density of the natural mana he could push all around someone was something their minds and bodies could not grasp. It was very different from stealing away the mana under their control like he had done before.


    But the result was more staggering. Because Walker also carried the given title as royal dragon and used dragon skills, his intimidation hit much harder to this dragon champion. Naturally, the dragon was terrified. However, a slight feeling of awe appeared as Walker walked past him like he was unaffected.


    The dragon champion understood the massive gap that had formed since the first time he witnessed this human appearing in the royal dragon court. The times he ventured to the depths of the earth to meet Terron. Naturally, this human was not a weak being any longer. He had not expected someone to grow so fast that they would surpass a dragon champion and approach the strength of an older royal dragon.


    The results of this were clear as Walker pushed deeper toward where the wyvern queen and Terron had been. As he approached, he found the wyvern queen on guard to protect. But also showing a look of worry. This process was dangerous and she waspletely upied with keeping the cavern created from copsing. ''


    The strength that the wyvern queen had was much higher now that she had received some education from Terron. She could hold and manipte the earth mana much better. She easily held this cavern but keeping the entire massive tunnel also up from damage was taking a toll. She could not do anything else since all the earth mana was drawn to Terron.


    The massive shape covered in dense stone was growing deeper and darker. The earth condensing on it was purer as the shell around what Walker knew to be Terron also solidified. It was forming new scales. Draconic runes melding with them as this all happened


    This was simr to what Ignus and Remey had done but purely with earth. It was also not separated in any way or form. It was pure earth mana that was reshaping Terron''s body. This process had begun when Walker hadst seen Terron. But now, it was finishing.


    The cracks that appeared as Terron broke out of this state was made faster as the earth spirit shared the earth mana with him. In just seconds, Walker witnessed the new form of Terron in his dragon form. That Terron had gained a lot more than anything that Walker had expected. It was astounding. But even more, was the rity that Walker could sense in Terron''srge brown dragon eyes.


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 Chapter 1955 1955. Young Dominator Dragon

    The scales of earth on Terrons body were a shiny brown. They looked the same as fossils hidden in the depths of the earth that the dwarves had collected and shown off as ancient relics of a past that no one here had ever seen.


    The deep brown eyes shed with some of the purest earth mana that Walker had event seen. Pairing this with the sharp spikes that ran along Terron''s body and massive ws, Walker knew that this change was much greater than he realized.


    Seeing the long and sharp teeth that dwarfed the teeth Terron had before this ritual, Walker knew that Terron had massively boosted his strength. That was putting aside the clearlyrger muscles all over his body.


    When Terron even moved, the earth mana shifted. Walker could tell that Terron was different than Ignus and Remey. Most likely because he had absorbed the entire condensed earth mana he had created from this process. A much different thing than what Ignus and Remey had. They had a more unstable ball of mana because of their choice to alter the ritual to suit the both of them.


    This made Walker understand that Ignus had taken an evenrger set back to ensure that Remey could move forward with him. It was staggering to know just how much Ignus valued Remey and he had been blind to that depth. But the two had worked together and she had been the only one to truly show no qualms with his strength or personality. Something like that held a lot of weight.


    Beyond that, Walker was more focused on the magnitude of Terron''s strength. When Terron moved his head and looked at Walker and the wyvern queen, the ground trembled. It was clear he was still bncing his newfound mana.


    Controlling purer earth mana was already something amazing. It meant that with less mana from himself, he could manipte earth much more.


    Before, Terron could cause earthquakes and other smaller events around the area he was. He was even able to break parts of mountains or more. But now, he could easily tten a mountain or create one using only a portion of his mana. That was just from what Walker could sense.


    As the mana flowed and the ground shook, shapes of earth rose up. Therge cave that Terron had created was being reinforced.


    The more that this happened, the more that Walker understood. Terron was rebuilding the earth dominator dragon ruins. They were a clear honor of the past dominator dragons who had long since left this world. But the details were extreme.


    The earth dragon statues that were being constructed out of mana and stone condensed by Terron were immacte. Incredibly realistic and hard to believe that they were formed in just a few minutes.


    Pirs full of draconic runes and earth dragon history rose to support the ceiling as Terron''s body shifted. His changing form made Walked shocked yet again.


    The dragonkin form that Terron could take prior to this was not at all the same. Now he had an even more human appearance. Just his wings and a few scales remained to remind others that he was a dragon.


    "You appear surprised. Yes, it is very different than before. It will take time to settle the mana in my body. A core of pure earth mana rests in my heart." Terron spoke and the earth shook slightly. A clear example of him slowly stabilizing the new strength within him.


    "I''m just surprised. Your body changed so much. Your scales were thicker and even now, if you hide your wings you might pass for human or a Demi-human." Walker didn''t hide a bit. It brought a curious look from Terron.


    "I have yet to see myself. I will ask the water-"


    Terron was about to say he would wait, but Walker had already acted. He brought water from around the atmosphere and created a reflective sheet of ice. A clear and detailed image of Terron and Walker standing beside one another appeared in it. Small balls of light gathered to illuminate them.


    "This is¡­" Terron was understandably stunned. The scales skin that he was used to seeing when he took the dragonkin form was gone. He was amazed by the brown tanned skin and slight hints of scales that was much closer to a humans than before. But it was beautiful to him. A unique appearance he had not imagined.


    "I thought you would be a bit speechless. When we go outside I will make arger ice mirror so you can see your new dominator dragon form." Walker was very happy. It was nice to see Terron showing so much emotionpared to his usual calmness.


    "I only took the first step. I must condense and control my own mana and the pure earth mana within me. I have made a core in my heart to allow myself that ability. I changed me as a dragon. I understand much more now." Terron appeared to still be lost to this new experience.


    There was not much that Terron understood even with the knowledge that he had learned from the stone bs left behind by thest earth dominator dragon. The feelings were unique and hard to grasp because it relied on his own senses and time to grasp these new sensations.


    The mana in Terron''s body was constantly resonating with the earth as a whole. He could feel the steps of those above ground along with the dwarves working hard at carving the tunnels. Every single movement could be felt because it changes the mana in the earth. It was alling to him without any deep meditation or focus.


    "It seems that Ignus is on the way. I can feel him taking the steps underground now." This shocked Walker since it was a clear representation of how much clearer Terron''s senses were now than before. Well above his own.


    "Terron!" The roar was loud enough to echo through the entire tunnel. But they both were not surprised.


    "Ignus." Terron responded quickly with a single word.


    The two looked one another up and down. Ignus was clearly still adapting his body but showed more changes than before.


    "Bastard! You ran out ahead of me like the world was ending. When we go back I am going to beat you to a pulp." Remey''s yelling came soon after as she stopped in front of them with her own surprised look. But she could sense the changes in Terron too. The same way that Ignus could. A shared feeling on the path of being a dominator dragon.


    "They are having a moment I think. But Terron took the full pure mana he condensed from his ritual. He did it here in Genesis too. I think the earth spirits came to help even before the ones I led here came."


    "I will arrive next to you in a week." Ignus said this before turning around and walking away. It was a simple statement but a clear one. He would gain the full abilities of the first step of the path they were taking. It meant that he understood the difference they took. He just made sure that Terron knew he would not remain behind.


    "Really! And now you''re leaving?" Remey ram after Ignus. Walker noticed a few small sparks of fire around her when she ran. Just a small example of her not being able to fully control the pure mes that now resides within her body. But they weren''t harmful whatsoever. Just something she was still stabilizing and bncing within her body as it had changed.


    "He is fairly annoyed with me." Terron understood this was not anger from Ignus. Just a promise between royal dragons who had known. One another for many years.


    "Well, he took the step first but had to hold back. He would be annoyed that he isn''t ahead of you right now. I figured he waspetitive." This was obvious to Walker. Ignus had the perfect personality as a rival for growth between dragons. He would never be afraid to challenge the others and definitely had done so before.


    "It''s time to take a walk and see the others. My dragonkin and the other earth dragons should be arriving and sensing me now." Terron could feel them all in the distance. The elder earth dragons who remained far away and separated since that was the earth dragons nature. Now they woulde to pay respect to the dominator earth dragon. Their lord.


    "I will walk with you then. I should apologize to your champion. I used a little force to iste him and push my way through to you." Walker felt a little bad now.


    "You are a royal. It is your right to see me as well." Terron just epted it. He had respect for Walker''s unique nature affinity.


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 Chapter 1956 1956. Changes In Earth Dragons

    <h4>Chapter 1956 1956. Changes In Earth Dragons</h4>


    While the two walked, Walker was able to gather more and more from their travels. The two walked up and out of the area where the tunnels were. The entrance to the underground sections of Genesis City.


    But what really struck Walker was that every single earth spirit made a motion to visit with Terron now. They moved around him even if they could not speak ormunicate because they were not strong enough to do so.


    "The earth spirits seem to recognize you much more. I have a feeling it will be the same with the others too." Walker''s voice was filled with expectation. He knew that Terron would have an idea of why this was and also Walker wanted to confirm his own theories.


    "They can sense the pure earth mana within me. They know that it is part of me just as they are also one with earth mana. Our wills are separating us from the earth mana, but that does not mean we are not still the same." Terron''s exnation was exactly what he had expected.


    "I thought so. Now that you have a closer rtionship with the earth mana that you have spent your life studying and adjusting yourself to, you are simr to a spirit. That''s why there might have been issues when royal dragons moved to explore the elemental nes in the past. They were not the right kind of dragon to do it and were too weak."


    This had been the theory that all the royal dragons had as they had learned for their dominator dragon potentials. Especially when it came to the fact that Mordant haad openly shared the fact that the previous royal darkness dragon had disappeared in to the darkness elemental ne. This alone had been enough to prove that there was something missing.


    "We all avoided the possibility of gaining strength after we reach a certain level. The past was missing so we believed that we needed to carve a new path. How foolish we were." Terron would not have admitted this if it wasn''t really true.


    However, when Walker looked at him, it appeared that Terron was somewhat happy with this. "We have a path to walk that will strengthen us enough to create a new history. We may find some ancient dragons within these elemental nes you know."


    This made Walker hesitate in his step. He had not been broad minded enough to expect this. The potential that he could see dragons that had left their world so many years that he might not even be able to count them was astounding. "The elemental nes are a mystery to us."


    Walker let that sink in. Terron had nodded along while maintaining his own inner thoughts about his own body and the pure earth mana within it rting to the rest of the world.


    But, I think that the world was cut off for too long. Even the summoners that can call on the beings within the elemental nes have no idea what they are truly like. I expect that they are made of the manas that they are, but the powerful elemental being within them might be stronger than we think. Look at the light gryphon that was summoned in battle before Genesis was even properly built"


    "To that summon, light was its food and its strength. It could easily beast everyone that was present at the time. Yes, it came at a cost to call it there, but that is paid. It just left all of us with an example of what we were limited to. If we had theplete immersion within the mana we needed and the guidance to grow, what powerful beings would we be?"


    Walker and Terron both fell silent since Walker had spoken about some things with a lot of unknowns. The world was just in the middle of these elemental nes. That had been learned. But knowing that they were blocked from properly interacting was newer information. The world was supposed to be united with them to allow a stronger flow of mana overall. Therefore. It was interesting to theorize what mighte when it was all united properly.


    "If there are threats within those ces, we will handle them. The dragon race will not abandon the homes it has built. We are far too prideful." Terron actuallyughed a little as he nced at Walker who was worrying over such things.


    "I didn''t think that you would. If my family wants to go explore, they can. But if you all try and run away, I will drag you back." Walker smirked andughed too. The pair seemed to be thinking about how they could go exploring and adventuring enough for them to appear aspletely different people but still united within genesis in the future.


    Those thoughts were quick to dissipate though. Especially when they noticed that there had been some slight panic in the streets. "That would be my fault. I should prepare a better ce for the elders I have called." Terron realized that Genesis above ground would suffer if the elder earth dragons caused shaking around the area.


    "I was worried about it, but no one was hurt by all this. It looks like small damages. We can release some news that you gained strength and it could appease some angry people. But overall, I would rmend that you introduce your earth dragons to the dwarves and help them a little gaining ores and other forging materials. The dwarves can make buildings tougher to hold off against the shaking that they might cause. A better solution I think."


    This was met with an approving nod from Terron. He understood that things like today might happen again. But even in general means, the earth dragons helping would greatly improve Genesis as they worked on such things. Earthquakes and other natural events might cause the ground to shake. Especially if the flows of manas, such as earth mana, increased in the world.


    "Then that will be something that my elders must work on. Come with me and meet them. They are nearby. I can sense their earth manas moving through the air. Such an odd feeling." Terron reveled in the weirdness of his higher senses for a moment before opening his wings and taking to the sky with Walker fallowing.


    The roads of nearby dragons reached Walker before he saw them. But sooner thanter, the figured orrge earth dragons moving through the sky appeared.


    Because of their earth affinity, the earth dragons rarely flew because they preferred the underground. Yet, they did so when they needed to. But by no means could they fly as fast as a wind dragon or other dragons. I while the earth dragons still had a decently high flying abilitypared to other flying beings.


    "They appear to be a bit worried. Do they know what they sense since you rose to a higher level than before because of the path you''re on?" Walker saw Terron looked confused before understanding.


    "Stand away." Terron watched Walker move before revealing his full earth dominator dragon form. The pressure form it was carefully controlled to not affect Genesis at all.


    This pressure was not adjusted for the oing elder earth dragons. They felt the profound purity and strength of earth mana that Terron controlled. This feeling resonated with their very blood making them grasp that this was both their royal dragon and also the most powerful earth dragon they had ever met.


    Beyond this, Walker understood their feelings. He could sense the unique changes in mana that was all around them. They could fly, but if the elder earths dragons wished to sue earth mana, they would need to be allowed to do so by Terron.


    "My elders. Wee to Genesis. You will bring your young and dragonkin here to the underground vige I am building. As the royal earth dragon, I bring upon a new age of unity for earth dragons. If you go against this order, you will be an energy of the United dragon race and Genesis. Unable to grow even a step ahead of any others."


    This ruling came with pressure than made every elder earth dragon fall slightly before they rose again with roars of approval. They could sense the strength Terron and and were impressed many times over. Their pride as dragons made them even more proud of who they were since they could get stronger. All of them sensed the potential they could reach now.


    "I would say that this is a pretty historical moment." Walker could feel the many eyes on them. Many people witnessed this event. The day that the earth dragons were brought together for the first time in generations. The first time that a change in the dragon race was out in the open for all to see and experience.


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 Chapter 1957 1957. Childish Fun

    <h4>Chapter 1957 1957. Childish Fun</h4>


    The roaring went on for a short time before Terron moved away from Genesis. Those who had witnessed it were talking a lot. Many of the dragonkin that ahd wandered about the city had already been there for some time because their elders and royal dragons allowed them so. Therefore, the information about what had just urred was passed around.


    The idea that a royal earth dragon had just called its elders and demonstrated its new strengths was a big deal. But as people knew that a war was happening, they saw it as a way to bolster their confidence.


    The demi-humans were the most vocal. They saw this as a reason to push others toward the coliseum that is being finished as they raved. They could keep training and find the best warriors to follow in to battle.


    The cksmiths used it as a way to push their weapons and armors. Their sales and drive to sell more to people would mean that more people would be better equipped.


    In turn, there was a much higher development in the ore sales from, the dwarves in the mines and the tunnel project. Since the tunnels had been made as a road to the dwarven kingdom, they doubled down.


    The speed of the workers increased while more of the dwarven golems were put in to action to finish it and allow the merchants through. Many of them had already been given permission to leave with just backpacks and what they could carry. But within a few hours, the dwarves had finished a smaller section that allowed single carriages over. A massive step for the merchants to begin traveling and selling more goods.


    Walker was able to witness all of this while he stood in the air. He didn''t feel it right to interrupt Terron as he showed the space where the dragons would be bringing their young dragons and also the dragonkin. If he were to push in he would feel disrespectful. Not to mention that the other elder earth dragons already sensed that they could notpare to Walker.


    It wasn''t that he was radiating any scary mana or had some form of control over the mana that was making them ufortable. Instead, there was a feeling that people had begun to have due to Walker''s constantly increasing understanding of manas and natural mana.


    The natural mana was clearly being drawn to him now. It wasn''t just when he wanted it to move ording to his will. His body had been assimting and adapting due to all the unique bonds he had. Therefore, with him and Fleur together, the natural mana was drawn in much more.


    This in turn, showed everyone with mana sensitivity that he was a powerful being able to control multiple manas and easily fuse them together. But where things stepped up, was that Walker could touch upon true mana to a degree. That left a mysterious feeling that made everyone understand that there was more than what they could see. Therefore, if someone didn''t know of Walker''s strength, they could vaguely sense it.


    Regardless, Walker was making his was slowly down to the city and thinking about the future. He wondered how Su had been over thest week. But the same could be said about Ventus, mordant, and Current. All of them had gone off on their own to search for their own paths.


    Mostly, Walker worried about u since the challenges she faced were more unique. What Walker had not realized, was that midnight ws waiting for him since she had been drawn out by the chaos of more dragons appearing.


    "Looks like you have been waiting. Sorry, I was thinking." Midnight huffed a little bit. She clearly wanted a little attention since Walker had been so busy. "Don''t tell me you wanted me to meet you to train right here right now?" He saw Midnight shing her ws in her dragonkin form. Clearly, all the growth of the royal dragons had gotten to her.


    The slight rumble from Midnight''s body made Walker feel like he should get moving. He could sense that she was also feeling a bit mischievous. "Oho? Going to try and catch me? I bet you can''t fly that well in your dragonkin form." Walker started to manipte the mana around him. Wings of wind and water formed on his abc as he did so.


    He mimicked abination if Ventus and Current''s wings. He knew that they could use theirs together better when they were able to fly. Especially since wind and water mana was always mixed together around the world. Therefore, if the two cooperated then they would definitely be much stronger.


    With a burst of mist, Walker shot off the ground where he hadnded. What he did not expect is that midnight was copying him!


    "You are trying to catch me with my own tricks!?" The two were in the air faster than before. Midnight was having a little bit of a shaky flight, but easily kept up with Walker.


    From what he knew, Midnight had been trying to adapt to the dragonkin form more and more. She would walk around Genesis and speak to people more. But she still preferred to be more silent. It was just a? preference. Especially since she was so used to Onyx often speaking for her. Regardless of that, she was definitely making some advances.


    As the two took to the sky, they attracted another set of eyes from the ground. Someone who had been waiting for their soldiers to make up the difference within the coliseum. "Looks like In can have some fun too.,"


    Another burst of wind took to the sky before the soldiers working around Scy could do anything or say anything. They were going to organize the tournament that Scy was inspired by as they spoke. Especially with the rumors circting about preparing tougher warriors for the uing battles.


    "You both thought that you could have a race without me? What kind of battle would we have without the greatest of the demi-humans participating?" Scy seemed to just be looking for a way to rx. Her tone was cheerful but also full of extra energy. Normally she would be a little more rxed when she was pushing around such topics.


    However, the wind that she had gathered soon burst ahead and pushed Walker off course. This gave Midnight the chance to easily catch up and left the three in a perfect line.


    "Ha! You thought you would juste and bother us during our flying training? I have more than enough mana to throw you off course too!" Walker didn''t push Scy away. In essence, he knew that she had a much more experienced wind affinity than him since she could always move through the air. "Let those partners of yours out to fly too!" Walker shouted as Scyughed. She would not let her other halves out but she could sense more peopleing to join.


    Ste appeared in the air with a little wind. What Walker didn''t expect was that a few more tamers and their tamed monsters appeared. "We were sent by Elise. She said to learn from you what we could and she sent Sta to watch over us." The five tamers all flew in the air. All with unique abilities that partnered with their monsters to be able to fly.


    "Then wee to the race. We are going to fly from here to the opposite end of Genesis. From there, we loop around and will try and blow one another off course with wind. No other attacks and no content can be made. Anyone else who joins can have the challenge too. But when I tell you that you will lose, just know that it will be to me!" Walker let himself get rowdy for the first time in a while. He saw this as a good chance to let Genesis see his childish side.


    While everyone believed Walker to be a serious and upstanding hero, they never forgot his younger age. Therefore, they all wished silently that someone of his age would act like it from time to time. When The wind elves came to step through the air and saw this, they smiled and would dly report this back to Almater. Their worries had been shared in the same way.


    By the time Walker and Midnight were about to begin such a race, they had fifty different people show up. One little dragon hatchling had even flown for the first time and was trying to hold on. This left one wind mage to provide wind to it to help. The two were instantly taken with one another and were fast friends. No one would have imagined this odd change because of some new dragons visiting Genesis. But it was soon to be an annualpetition.


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 Chapter 1958 1958. New Flames

    <h4>Chapter 1958 1958. New mes</h4>


    "You have already had six visitors since you came back here. Are you really not going to work on new potions?" The old master alchemist found that Remey hade to the upper floors of the alchemy building again. The guild had been waiting to hear fro, her since she and Ignus had isted themselves.


    "If I make anything, no one will be able to afford it right now. If I even seed. I would exin more but you will just keep asking questions." Remey''s attitude made the old mast alchemist want to argue, but he was old enough to not act the same age as Remey and be childish.


    "Well, you are a master in title only here. Remember that you are not really a master alchemist." the old master alchemist knew that this was the right amount of taunting to push Remey forward. He had used this once or twice as the two experimented.


    The results were an angry, bur driven Remey that was able to remain much more focused on the task at hand. Especially when the two of them were dealing with materials that they were unsure of. Not everything they made was nned out. That was the same for anyone crafting or creating something though.


    "You really want to test me today?" Remey reacted and small sparks of me appeared around here.


    "Yes, yes I do. Since you have way too much energy to burn and refuse to use it to do anything other than sit there trying to meditate like a dragon or a mage." The old master alchemist had seen Remey sit just like a mage.


    Whether Remey was able to do so or not, was nothing of his concern. He knew that she was an alchemical brawler. Not a mage and definitely not a dragon. Therefore, she should do what she did best. Charge head long in to something with her fists, learn, then adapt to it.


    "You think burning off all the fire mana that I have now would help me? Really? Then what would I be left with? Nothing but tired and useless. So just¡­" Remey railed off as she thought of a few things.


    "Oh? Did you finally realize that using the manas would let you control them more? Or are you thinking about the fact that the fire affinity potions you could make before might actually have a higher degree of quality than before just because you have so much fire mana to control now?" The old master alchemist was like a childish old man. He was teasing and mocking Remey just enough to spark her attitude even more than before.


    "What if I were to purify the herbs with the fires I can manipte now? I could hold them and purify them in my own hands without need for¡­"


    Many people would have been shocked by what Remey did next. She grabbed herbs from the many shelves in the alchemy office that she had for her personal use, and began to burn them. In her hands, herbs worth gold coins that many people would not be able to afford were burning.


    Without a single blink, the old master alchemist dropped his jaw. He had no idea what he had just done to anger Remey so much. This was beyond the expectation of what he thought she would do. He had tried to just push her in to action. Not to pure anger for destruction!


    But? before he could say a word, he noticed the ck ashes falling on the ground. He thought at first, that there was apletely destroyed herb. Nothing left. However, he didn''t have the chance to say a word. Instead, he noticed that there was really still something in Remey''s hand.


    "These are the firefly herbs that grow near the mouth of a volcano. They were dried out so that they wouldst, but because their sap also dried, their medicinal properties were lost. The only way to rejuvenate it is with heat and also the right amount of water. Otherwise, it is ruined. But that''s too hard for anyone that''s not a master alchemist."


    "With my mes, they are pure, I was able to burn away the shape and leave the specific dried crystals thate from the outside oils on the leaves that dried. And with some pressure," Remey pushed her hands together.


    Between her super heated palms and the pressure, a small bundle of white ash and crystal was pushed together. "I will have the best little ball of condensed firefly herbs. All the crystallized oils are stuck together and the white ash is protecting it since it also has medicinal qualities." Remey looked at the old master alchemist before cing the heated ball on the desk where it burned a small mark.


    "How''s that for condensing and making a new potion material? I doubt that you can do that?" Remey teased back since she knew that she had won. The old master alchemist had given her the little push but in return, she had pped him a little with her skill.


    "But this¡­how did you even do that?" The old master alchemist knew he could not do such a thing easily. To be able to condense an herb in this way.,. He would need another fifty herbs and also a very useful set of materials. Then those that he needed to help him would be providing mana potions along with many other things. This process would also have taken over three hours.


    The toll such a thing took on his old body would also make him rest for the remainder of the day. It was a process that he had learned through many steps and even with the natural alchemy bing possible, he knew it would take years to learn properly.


    "I have pure fire in my heart now. Just like Ignus. We split a ritual to make that happen. Because of that, my partner and I have a lot of changes. Plus, instead of a grand fire elemental spirit, my partner is a grand fire spirit of the spirit race. Free to travel through the mes and do what is desired by them. I learned a lot recently."


    Remey was not just talking herself up. She was showing herself as the one that stood well above others. The old master alchemist realized that Remey was more than just showing off. She was bragging to him since she respected what he thought.


    "I bother you to keep moving a little bit and here you are showing me that you already figured something amazing out. What am I going to do if kids like you keep growing so much every time I blink?" The old master alchemist spoke just loudly enough for Remey to hear. She didn''t reply though. She just smiled softly too.


    The two stood in silence for a moment before Remey gapped the cooled purified ball of alchemy ingredients. "I bet that if I use this in a fire affinity potion, that we would end up with a grand fire affinity potion. Or at least a pseudo grand alchemy potion. I would need a master to meld it with other ingredients though. I only have the mes that can be used in this process."


    The two looked at one another before the old master alchemist began shouting for assistants to bring them herbs. He was ready to jump fully in to this process. Especially with arge ss of new alchemists downstairs that he knew could watch and learn everything they could.


    "I will have you teaching everyone the fires you have some control of by the end of the day. Just make sure that you can keep up." The old master alchemist looked five years younger just with this positive attitude and a new challenge right before him.


    The business in the alchemy guild was pushed upward just by these orders going out. The fact that rare herbs, a very high level affinity potion, and unique alchemy techniques would be used was enough to make every young alchemist jump. They knew that every single note taken would be a major step.


    meanwhile, Ignus had been meditating to gather more fire mana and felt a thrum of heat when Remey had condensed the herbs. He was able to feel it happen and understand how the fires were used to purify them. He could sense this due to his core of pure fire resonating with Remey''s.


    These feelings dragged him out where he heard the fact that there was a process happening to make a better fire affinity potion. He would not be left out of such a thing. Especially since he wanted to be able to test it. His understanding of fire had reached a level well beyond others. However, he would still use a little help grasping the more mysterious theories he had.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1959 1959. Bursts Of Wind

    <h4>Chapter 1959 1959. Bursts Of Wind</h4>


    Midnight mmed in to Walker''s path while flying. She had seen him use the wind maniption to create a stream of wind that allowed him to fly faster with the wings made of water and wind that he had created. The race had ended up bing more than just a back and forth. It had turned in tops around Genesis as a whole.


    Many people had started to watch as more had started to participate in different rounds against one another. Even some of the younger citizens had joined in making smallerps around the main square. It was a surprising and fun event.


    But when Midnight interrupted the wind flow that Walker had created, he felt a shaking and was pushed down a few feet in the air. This left Walker with a mischievous grin before bursting higher in to the sky. His control over wind mana had been growing as he saw the many different system users using their skills.


    The unique flow of a harpy''s feathers through the air was something that Walker had not taken much note of. The shapes that they formed would be easily seen as any other bird feathers. However, the air mana flew around them and actually pushed them forward. Each feather was able to draw awesome of the wind mana in to a unique shape.


    This shape made their bodies more aerodynamic. Something that many people would not know and would not take advantage of. This instinctual maniption of wind mana was something that many people would need to study for some time.


    By seeing it in action, Walker had adjusted his own maniption around his body to do the same. That was how he had started to follow a stream of wind mana. It would push past him and cause a buffeting effect without his control. But with it, he would slip through the air as if he was dodging the air itself.


    An awkward feeling that had brought about a new skill which he used immediately.


    ''The slip stream skill has been taken from the cloud skier system. The slip stream skill had been learned due to understanding of wind and the flow of wind around other manas.


    Slip stream- 8 mana cost


    Manipting the wind allows for the user to create a small slip stream. They can move between other air currents and create their own that will prevent being stopped by opposing wind currents. They are able to make the wind mana flow with them and increase their speed as long as they use it along with wings. This skill constantly draws mana depending on the understanding of the skill and wind mana as a whole.''


    When Walker had begun using this skill, he found that Midnight had? started mimicking him. Her own wind mana that she controlled to copy the flow was naturally because she had a bond with Walker and also affinities for all manas. She was a true dragon champion, therefore, when she learned a skill like this that was perfectly in line with what she could do, it came naturally.


    Her instincts as a dragon allowed her to be able to fly much better than many others. Adding in the slip stream skill, she was able to move much faster. This put her and Walker right next to each other as Scy moved around taking a close eye on them and the others.


    From what Scy could see, she was amazed by some of the talents before her. A wind spirit and a wind mage had partnered up. She had seen them make wind wings and keep up with many of the demi-humans or the tamers even though they had just teamed up for the first time. It was an amazing event to watch since the two had clearly solidified a new bond that would help both of them rise much higher.


    Furthermore, she saw many of the young starting to enjoy this little impromptu event. They were starting to push forward and show their own skill. One child even used their skills for the first time and their parents were crying while celebrating. Nothing that made Genesis stand out.


    However, it was the approaching wind that truly struck Scy as amazing. She could sense the winds that wereing toward them. A gust that could easily take away all control of wind from her which was very hard to do. But Scy was not just a wind affinity demi-human general. Therefore, a pure wind affinity would most likely beat her.


    That was why she reached out and started to bring down the weaker people flying. It was clear that a few of them were upset until they began to sense what Scy guided them to sense. After a few moments, Midnight and Walker snapped out of their littlepetition and noticed the changes. The many people that had stopped to look at the sky beyond just the random race that had started. Beyond the additional guidance of Scy who was standing in the center of Genesis air space looking.


    "I have a familiar feeling. Do you?" Walker looked at Midnight. Midnight only grinned before taking her normal dragon form. "And of course you want topare yourself to her since she''s back." Walkerughed a little as he created a few moreyers to his wings with water as the focus since he knew it would be harder to control the wind in a few moments.


    The wind seemed to vibrate as arge green figure appeared from the clouds. A single thrum of wind that felt as if the wind was joyfully moving. "And there is Ventus, back stronger than ever. I bet she went to see her children too." Walkerughed seeing that Ventus was already bringing a few of the wind elder dragons with her.


    "Wee back!" Walker shouted out his greeting. He was met with a single roar that was only directed at him before the massive shift in the wind pushed everyone in the air other than the strongest down to the ground.


    Before any of themnded though, the wind caught them and let them down softly. It was the high degree of control that Ventus had. Her two wings had be six as she had grown to be a wind dominator dragon. The luster of her scales was much brighter and they were all drawing in wind mana naturally. Ventus had literally be a being that attracted wind just by being. It was interesting to feel the wind creating currents just around her. Walker''s senses were teaching him a lot from just being close.


    As she took the simr dragonkin form, he noticed that she was more humanoid as well. Especially around her face and the longer hair that she now had. It was a massive moment of unveiling for her and for Walker. But the motherly and caring smile that met Midnight and Walker was enough to feel that she had missed them.


    "I still have some ways to go in my own journey, but I have made it back my friends." Ventus greeted them with the only way she could expect. As friends. A united group trying their best.


    "I assume you check on the little ones, how are they?"


    "Very well. One of them even found a rogue demonic dragon that had let itself go after leaving the darkness dragons as a young dragon. A very good fight that left it with arge scar and a lot to learn. I am proud of them." while this would worry most people. It did not worry Ventus. Her children were there to learn and a rogue dragon was an issue all dragons were handling. Having one less was a great thing to know.


    "Oh, then they definitely got a lot stronger." Walker was d to hear things were still well. "I invite your elders to start building the vige you need. But I think a few of them might be following you for a tour." Walker saw two of the wind dragon elders take dragonkin from. It proved that they had been growing well for some time and were prepared to see what Genesis was all about. The ce that their royal dragons had spent so much time intely.


    "Midnight, you should go meet some of them. Especially since you were trying to beat me in flying before." Walker teased Midnight a little and watched her rush off to see the other dragons. She had been holding her curiosity back.


    "I can tell that the others have been working hard as well. I will need some help catching up." Ventus also wanted to share her explorations with Walker. The wind dominator dragon ruins had been very interesting and she had to find a good ce to store the information that she learned.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1960 1960. Greater Adventures

    <h4>Chapter 1960 1960. Greater Adventures</h4>


    "I take it that you found a little more than what you are letting on?" Walker could tell that Ventus was holding a few things back. But that didn''t mean that he was going to just jump right in to following her lead and listening to her stories. He was enjoying the view from the air where a few more of the younger citizens had begun racing again.


    "I did find some interesting things. Especially about the monsters nearby the ruins that i was hunting." Ventus smiled seeing that Walker didn''t want to move from the air. She too enjoyed the view from where she was. It reminded her when her children were younger. She could only find herself hoping that they would remain safe and sound guarding the demon viges for the time being.


    "We were a little bored and Midnight was annoyed that I hadn''te to see what she was doingtely. So, instead of her worrying about the hatchlings that seem to be more and more every day, she and I started a little training race. Go figure, it became all of this." Walker''s exnation was enough for Ventus to grasp the feelings that they had over such a situation.


    "Well, I see that you attracted more than just a few of the young. I can tell that a few more came along to add to the fun." Seeing that Scy had drifted off to give some advice and scout out talents, Ventus understood that there was a lot more happening than what she had first seen.


    The fact that they were all preparing for a battle against the demon lord and a literal floating city was enough to exin why Scy was so animated when she spoke to the many that could still fly even when Ventus arrived. Furthermore, there was the added fact that a few of those were very young. They needed the right guidance to be able to grow strong enough to protect Genesis in the future. Regardless of the current standing of this alliance.


    "I take it that you discovered a few corrupted monsters?" Walker moved the conversation towards what he had believed that Ventus had discovered. Why else would she have brought focus to the monsters that she had encountered. It just made sense.


    "On the contrary." this immediate response brought surprise to Walker''s eyes. That''s exactly what Ventus expected. She gave a slightugh before proceeding with even more details.


    "I found a species of bat. They are called cloud bats. The ruins were in a particr location that copsed over time. This allowed only a small space for the bats to enter and absorb some ambient wind mana left behind."


    "When I found them, they did not fear me at all. They had adapted to the dense wind mana that a dragon surrounded themselves with, therefore, i invited them here. About five hundred are currently flying in the clouds waiting for my permission toe and enjoy this ce as well."


    "Wait¡­ what?" Walker was unsure if Ventus was serious. Five hundred cloud bats were just casually brought over from the Sigil continent.


    "I know, they couldn''t use the teleportation rune formations so they had toe in the air currents with me. We lost about thirty of the weak and old on the journey. But that is nature and that is just the fate of those in time." Since Ventus just kept talking like this was normal, Walker could only feel even more defeated.


    "But five hundred monsters here is too many. How will we handle them here? Especially if they aren''t as intelligent or able to be a monster race?" Walker knew that it could be some detail he was missing or another aspect that was lost on him. Maybe they were more intelligent than he knew. Maybe they could be a monster race soon?


    "They are here to live alongside my wind dragons. They will be part of my vige. Terron is already moving towards us and waiting to speak with me. My voice was carried by the wind that I would like his help making a space for them to live within the ground in my own wind dragon vige." Walker felt even more defeated. Ventus could even send messages nearby with the wind which demonstrated her much higher control now.


    "I still don''t think-"


    "Because they are peaceful creatures that only need the clouds and the wind to live, we should be able to use them well. They can maintain the skies as watchers. They can warn us of monsters migrating or anything else happening that the average person onnd will miss. They also like eating insect monsters. They may help farmers for free."


    With a sigh, Walker just nodded along. He was sure that he had lost this battle before he even knew he was fighting it. "There were a few that had appeared to be unsettled. Their fluffy fir turning red instead of white. But when they returned to the ruins where purer wind mana was, they lost that. I believe they had some corrupted mana in their bodies. Dense mana may counter it if it is too little corrupted mana."


    Now this was what Walker somewhat expected. A reason that Ventus took note of monsters in the first ce. If they had not been some form of corrupted monster, then it would have made more sense that there was an issue in the way that the monsters were acting. And acting as potentially corrupted before purified definitely met those standards.


    "So you think that if we can keep the mana density higher, we can deter the corrupted mana even more. I agree. We have some instances where we tested this. But the corrupted mana is also part of existence. It''s not really corrupted. It is just mana without guidance. Or at least that''s how I exin it."


    "All that mana is out between the elemental nes and here. It is also outside of what we even know of the world and those elemental nes. So, I expect that it serves a purpose that I can''t grasp. For now, the corrupted monsters can''t be saved. But if it is caught fast enough, we can manage. You proved that so the theories can be applied more so than before."


    With Walker''s backing, Ventus would be able to share this with others and smooth out a few things making people hesitate. The corrupted nts, herbs, mana, and otherwise, were causing a lot of stress right now for the average person. Let alone the leaders of Genesis.


    "Then I am not telling you anything you don''t know already. That means we can rest a little easier. That the corrupted mana is meant to be, it is just a little lost." Ventus looked at it in a new light. But the way that she saw the world was different. Even from the other dragons. She had learned her values in a different way along with changed her ways to make them more open and upright.


    "Otherwise, how was the wind dominator dragon knowledge? Was it all intact?" Walker did worry that some ruins might have been broken or damaged as time had gone on. Especially since nature was still shifting over time.


    "It was clear as it could be. A gust of wind turning on itself that only a dragoon of my strength could have called on. A very interesting way to create knowledge. But there were some important records left behind on stone. They were cut using draconic runes with wind. I expected it to be destroyed, but I learned that the past wind dragons used to remain in the sky and nevernd. Traveling grand wind currents that caused storms over the entire world."


    "You mean that wind dragon used to travel beyond continents?" Walker was impressed. The wind dragons and the dragon race had been weakened significantly over the generations.


    "You are correct. The strength I will reim for the wind dragons and the dragon race is a lot to live up to. I expect a lot of help." Ventus hummed a little after she said this. She could see that Walker was more than willing to offer a helping hand to all of them. She believed that even just as a human, Walker would have offered help. Without a single title, he would have done so.


    "Then I look forward to the other ces you discover when you are able to fly over the oceans easily." Walker was actually somewhat excited to think of what else might be out there. The Sigil continents and their home on Genesis alliance territory might be just small pieces of the greater world. The world could be full of more mystery and adventure than he could even imagine.


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 Chapter 1961 1961. Too Many Appraisals

    <h4>Chapter 1961 1961. Too Many Appraisals</h4>


    ?


    The return of Ventus had caused even more stirs in Genesis than before. But with everyone knowing that there was a war preparation happening, it just further caused them to be more dedicated.


    Walker had spent some time meeting the elder wind dragons along with assisting some of their hatchlings that wanted toe in to the city. Because the elders were untrustworthy of Genesis, Walker took the role of guardian while they explored alongside Midnight. The elders knew he was also a royal dragon and highly respected his strength.


    While it was clear that Ventus had taught the wind dragons morepassion than they had in her childhood orpared to the other dragons, it was still hard for them to just open up to everyone.


    However, with the fact that some of them could take dragonkin form really helped. They were able to walk the streets quickly and explore alongside Walker and Ventus. They were amazed by what they saw and the many unfamiliar sights. It was enough to make Walker morefortable as well since he feared they would struggle to adapt.


    Overall, this led to a long day and night before Walker and Midnight were able to rest. Not that they were able to rest for long since Walker had promised he would move back toward the wandering cksmith to help him. He also didn''t bother to bring Midnight for her dragon mes. He had managed to understand even more about natural mana and other manas. Therefore, he could easily replicate dragon mes that the wandering cksmith might learn to use.


    What Walker found when he got there was a different story. The sounds of forging were non existent. But the entire forge was filled with materials. Cut open, broken, purified, anyone could name the numeral techniques used to prepare the materials that the wandering cksmith needed.


    So many of the basic monster parts had been broken down. Some feathers had been cut away so that the soft parts could be used to fuel the mes. This would add unique characteristics to the metals that naturally developed smaller porespared to other metals where they would bepletely solid.


    Then some monster bones had the bones scraped off the marrow. This was to add to certain ores to increase toughness or to cooling agents used to solidify the strength of the metals. It was a unique process that had to be done in a specific way. Things that Walker was clueless about since hecked the high skills and knowledge of a such a cksmith.


    From that, Walker also learned that some of the different crystals and ores were already being heated or used. What he was surprised over were the materials clearly sent by the angels. They were in small crates that had been organized by elemental affinity and usage. It was enough to make Walker understand that the angels had not just destroyed or thrown away what they did not understand.


    While the two sides of the angels had been at war with one another, in reality or mentality, they did not ignore the others'' sidepletely. This was clear in the elemental and other mana affinity materials.


    The elemental materials had been held on to and were powerful. Some of the crystals were purer than others. While there were even a few metals in one crate that had some spatial mana within it. Walker could even sense a free life mana crystals that had clearly been harder to work with and were not even able to be sued by the angels since life mana was a tough thing to influence regardless.


    This was clearly why when Walker noticed the wandering cksmith, he was on the floor with over twenty different blue print ideas surrounding him. He even had a space mana crystal and a life mana crystal in his hands. His eyes fully focused on understanding just how they worked. Just how he might be able to shape them and give the mana and forms to what he wanted to create.


    "I expected that you would have ended up like this." Walker looked at the wandering cksmith who was somewhat startled by his appearance. Walker normally would have not been a surprise. But this just showed how deeply the wandering cksmith was thinking.


    "Annoying manas. They do not conform to the shapes I desire." The wandering cksmith did not say much, but it was just what he expected.


    This man had traveled to many unique ces. He had created and learned many different forging methods. He had forged for dragons before they even were part of Genesis. He had lived a long life that had brought him in touch with things than many would not have had the chance to even see, let alone forge with. Yet now, he was stuck. For the first time since he had just begun to forge, he was stuck.


    "The space mana and the life mana in that are very hard to control. We already had to use natural mana and elemental manas to make the space runes work. They were missing the proper flow but some studies found was to guide it to a degree. We almost have a full space rune created. Not that I think it''s even needed. The space runes are somewhat naturally urring maybe."


    Sharing this and a little More, Walker knew might help the wandering cksmith. Especially since he might not be hearing what else is going on while he locked himself up in his forge to study.


    "Then the life mana is harder to manipte since it is matched with death mana. Tworger manas that are unknown and very tough to touch upon regardless. I haven''t found many that can manipte either. Just some that can use it for healing or eradicating weeds and such."


    While this was true, Walker found himself thinking about the life mages who were just slightly stronger healers. Then to the undertakers that dealt with death mana to help return bodies to the earth. It was a system that many thought evil until they learned more about it. Not that they knew, it was just a way to help the manas within the body leave it and return to nature. A very interesting way for manas to flow. But that did not mean that these people controlled death mana at all. Just touched upon it.


    "But, I came back because I thought you might want to improve the eternal orb. It is full of natural mana that Felur and I provided it with. Since the elemental spirits are now the spirit race, we might be able to have more influence on the manas that go in to the eternal orn. Maybe an improvement with life, death, space, and whatever other manas we have materials for."


    This made the wandering cksmith''s head snap up. He had been stuck on what to do with all these troublesome and mysterious materials. He was sure that experimenting with them would lead to a high amount of list materials. That was just the reality of anyone trying to learn something new.


    But since he and Walker could appraise these materials and learn more, especially Walker who could gather unique information from his all around appraisal, then they might have something here. He felt that his gut instincts were telling him to take this leap. But he also trusted that Walker would be that key factor as before that would allow him to make major breakthroughs.


    "Su''s dragon guardian armor has beenpleted. Adjusted knuckles are nearly finished soaking before forging, and other improved daggers and arrow heads were made." The wandering cksmith pointed outpleted or nearly finished things he had promised before pushing forward; it was just an honest proof that he had been working.


    Walker saw the armor and held himself back. He wanted to wait and see Su wear it before appraising it. But the multiple metal knuckles that Remey could use were soaking in a bath of liquid that Walker could not grasp. His appraisal of it was tougher to understand but he would try again after he nced around the room.


    It wasn''t that he was too ignorant for forging techniques. It was just that the amount of information he was getting by using the all around appraisal took his mind some time to process. Many of the materials were things she had seen once or not seen at all. The same for some of the new items that the wandering cksmith had made while he had experimented with a few of the more numerous materials.


    The number of all around appraisals that Walker had would be enough to overwhelm many. Therefore, he had to take it slow for the moment as the wandering cksmith took the eternal orb and began to prepare himself.


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 Chapter 1962 1962. Very Odd Materials

    ''Glimmering sands


    The sands from a unique ore. This ore is space elemental ore and is normally hard to grasp. Many people will collect it but find that it is gone before they make it out of the mine. This is due to the shifting space mana within the ore. However, whenever it moves, it leaves behind sands that are full of spatial mana. Therefore, the glimmering sands are able to be used to add very small spatial mana attributes to whatever they are used to forge.''


    The first bag of sadness that Walker looked at was enough to make him shake with excitement. This was something that wasn''t necessarily perfect, but very good. The glimmering sands were a name that made him expect a light attributed material. But it was space! The glimmering effect was the odd way that the sands were somehow here and also moving in ce.


    ''Rotten copper


    This is copper from a unique mine that existed under the roots of a giant treant for over a hundred years. When The treant perished due to disease, the roots rotted and caused a unique darkness mana and death mana mix to ur. The copper ore was greatly affected.


    This mix of darkness and death mana made the rotten copper impossible to touch without constant healing skills. It is also stored within a healing potion so that it will not decay and degrade whatever it is touching. It is thought to be a useful item to forge certain magical items. However, many cksmiths can not forge this due to the fact that the manas within will cause them injury. Three have already perished in attempts to forge this single lump of rotten copper.''


    This was another very interesting item. Walker was closely examining it within its high health potion. But he noticed that as time tickled on, the potion was being turned a darker and darker color. The potion itself was degrading while they spoke.


    "Fifteen health potions since it made it here." The wandering cksmith nced at Walker while he waited for Walker to share whatever else he had discovered about the item. But what really struck him, was that Walker was more curious than afraid of the dangerous materials. Not that the wandering cksmith showed any of this. He had his own poker face.


    ''Root of bursting life


    This is a root taken from a certain sapking. It is normally only found on the edges ofrge inds or isted ces where nts grow without predators. The roots that grow have a condensed natural manas that cause it to have a strong life energy and life mana. If not harvested, it would allow for the tree grown from this root to be ten timesrger than it normally would.


    This was harvested by an angel that identally found such a ce as it was destroyed by natural means. The tidal wave that hit this location caused the destruction of all nts on the same ce. Therefore, this nt root would have been destroyed. If not for the angel with sensitivity to life mana, then this would be lost as well.


    The items forged with this or the potions made with this, will have innate life mana within them. Therefore, it would be an ideal healing materials for creating a healing staff or a very good material for a grand healing potion.''


    Now this was another material that truly set everything else aside. The root of bursting life could have been the start of an entire forest. Or it could have given birth to arger and more unique tree that could have covered an entire continent. Such things were not impossible if the time and nature was enough.


    Unfortunately, the all around appraisal had given Walker a lot more information. The tidal wave that wasing would have destroyed everything that this root could have grown. Because it was harvested, the angel had saved something. However, it could not be nted again. It was impossible to do so.


    That wasn''t bad though. Now Walker was able to handle such an amazing thing. He could feel his heart beating in time with the life mana that thrummed through the root of bursting life. He could see that it was more than just what it was and what it would be. Especially since it could add in the eternal orb or even something else. He had half a mind to just make it a dedicated healing staff.


    The idea had not run past him once. He had thought of this over and over. Having a dedicated healing staff would increase his abilities to heal. Regardless of the eternal orb being so versatile, the eternal orb had to take more important jobs at all times. Armor, swords, staffs, shields, it had to be avable. A healing staff would take some stress off that.


    But that wasn''t the goal right now. If he did that, then he would lose the chance to add strong life mana to the eternal orb. That was one thing that he wanted to do. He wanted to assure that the eternal orb was able to adapt to more than just natural mana.


    The experiences that Walker had so far were already proof that there was something he was missing. He could not perfectly counter the corrupted mana that was running amok in the world right now with just natural mana. It countered it to some degree but was not strong enough.


    Adding in more manas that existed naturally with some smaller control on his part, should allow him to better handle the corrupted monsters. This thought in mind, Walker looked again at some other materials.


    ''Odd leaf


    This leaf is something that the world is confused by. Even the world is unsure what manas run through it. Due to the fact that no appraisal skill has properly worked on it, this single leaf has been sealed ina vial for over twenty years.


    This leaf does not radiate or absorb mana whatsoever. It is able to be used as a material in forging but impossible to control if used in alchemy or other methods of creation. This is due to the unknown manas within being unable to be controlled.


    As a forging material, it is able to move as it naturally would and able to be part of the forged item. Therefore, it would lose and run rampant in mana if it was used within a potion. The ability to control all the manas within the odd leaf may be impossible, but it might cause a unique addition to whatever it is made in to or used to make.''


    This was one of the things that Walker was stuck on. A purely green leaf that anyone would lose if it was tossed in toa pile of leaves from any other tree. There was not a single thing that stood out about it. But the wandering cksmith was looking at him as if he understood.


    "The appraisal I got doesn''t even tell me what it really is. Just that the world finds it mysterious." Walker was frustrated. This had not happened to him ever. Yet here he was. Lost in dessance due to the fact that even the world was confused.


    "Unknown materials appear often. For the first time, it means that it might be born elsewhere than the world."


    The wandering cksmith spoke after he saw that walker was stuck in internal debate whether to use this or not. But when he had spoken those words, Walker found himself drawn to the odd leaf even more.


    The theory that it might have been from something in between the nes might have made more sense. The fact that they didn''t understand anything about the elemental nes didn''t help. Yet, it also helped a lot since it meant that it could help Walker in the future.


    "I want to put this as a whole in the center of the eternal orb. If it is rted to the manas outside of the world, then I understand that it might help. Plus, it won''t be destroyed and I might be able to reshape the eternal orb to remove it of it proves a bad thing." Walker''s idea seemed like a good idea.


    It might help him, but it could be dangerous. The odd leaf was already sealed within the ss vial for over twenty years without bing a pile of dust. It meant that it might survive for a longer time within the eternal orb. But it also would be able to interact with natural manas and other manas being mixed within the eternal orb that Walker used. A chance to study whatever manas and events happened around this odd leave. Walker was taking on his own study project.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1963 1963. Cold Fire

    <h4>Chapter 1963 1963. Cold Fire</h4>


    "Hotter!" The order came from the wandering cksmith as he forged the metals he had to prepare for the many projects he wanted. Walker had already handed him the eternal orb and lined up mana potions nearby. This was also along with water and many other necessary things to ensure that he could constantly help in this process.


    Nothing was going to get in their way. The dedication that the wandering cksmith had for his job was more than anyone else had. Especially when he was just presented with materials he had never seen or used before. This would just push him even further towards his goals.


    The goal that the wandering cksmith had was beyond what many cksmiths had. Just being the best in the world was too small. He wanted to transcend it all and be someone that could forge more than just physical things. But that would be a story for another day.


    From there, Walker had imagined that the wandering cksmith would be working to discover the properties of what they would make. Yet, he was surprised once again to see that the wandering cksmith didn''t even start to make notes or adjust blueprints.


    Astounding Walker even more, the wandering cksmith threw some out!


    Upon closer examination, Walker realized that the blueprints had been made with many theories in mind. Different ideas about how the different manas might affect the metal and other materials.


    From that, Walker saw one with time mana taken in to theory. A weapon that could degradeyer byyer because of mana that might be causing the weapon to age. The metal itself to age. The idea was brilliant but there was no proof it could even work.


    But then there was the spatial weapon and metal blueprints that had been made. Something that could move and take heavy hits while being bent, stressed, and broken because of the pressure from the changes in the ce the metal was. Something that would have been thought impossible but might now be true.


    These ideas had been tossed out for other more usible theories. Blue prints that would work better because they fit better in what Walker had just shared with him. The wandering cksmith had not just made things for what he knew. He had been letting his mind wander to other potentials. To ideas and theories that would not have been able to be made with what they knew now.


    This was beyond researching. It was a genius that had been proven over and over again, not just here, but in every aspect of what he did. Even the young cksmiths that hade to watch him had learned things that they would not have learned in years of forging.


    This had been backed up when the crafting guild hade by. They had specifically offered whatever they could so that the wandering cksmith could teach the youngest.


    These apprentices that hade, were given the chances to see the basics in perfection. The perfect ,method to make iron ingots that were purer than what many others could make. The perfect way to hold a hammer and deliver a perfect hit to shape the super heated metal. The perfect way to take focus and use their mana in carving out runes of multiple types with the popper materials.


    All of this had made the wandering cksmith thought of as beyond just what a human should be. That and the fact that it was thought that he wasn''t human at all now! Many races and young had begun to believe that he was another race hiding as human. Even a few of the dragonkin shared this rumor and wondered if Ignus had just allowed another dragon to visit the vige years ago.


    But none of that was proven to Walker as he forged alongside the wandering cksmith. The heat of the forge furnace had grown massively as they worked. The mana that Walker put in while mimicking dragon mes began to get mixed with other manas as well. The wandering cksmith was adding mana from whatever Walker could attract to the mes.


    The water mes were the oddity. Walker had not tried to make cold mes. But the wandering cksmith had forged with an icy like blue me before. Omne that actually took away heat and created cold air and frost around it.


    This had stopped Walker for a moment since he knew the opposing manas that would make that possible would normally cause an explosion. Instead, it had presented a challenge. Since Walker was ready for the challenge and needed to understand more about mana, he had not flushed away.


    This pursuit of a different kind of me made Walker understand why the cksmith had his personal forge extended. Now instead of just three forge furnaces, there were a total of fifteen. Each so that different steps could house different mes. These mes would only be able to be fueled with certain materials and certain manas.


    Therefore, Walker also saw the newest runes made by someone the wandering cksmith would not tell him about. A friend he said, and that was all. But the runes were so unique that they kept alive a single spark of the mes created within them.


    That meant a forge furnace that always had dragon mes. one that always had the deep brown earthly mes that seemed impossible beside the insanity that was the cold mes. That was just part of it all though. Each me had that spark hidden within waiting for the right fuel or the right person to provide mana.


    Astounding technology in a way. The magical properties that could be given required a master. The techniques that required lifestimes of dedication. It was clear that this was going to be more than just a ce for the wandering cksmith to work. It was his legacy on full disy to those that had the lifespan and dedication to learn them.


    Regardless of the challenge that Walker was undertaking to create a cold me, the wandering cksmith still had him stoking the basic fires of the dragon me forge furnace. Enough that the ores were melting and bing purer ingots to be used when they were ready.


    This was all to develop the additional things needed for what the wandering cksmith saw for the eternal orb. Yes other things would be made. Armors, weapons, and essories that could be used by the a part and other important figures in Genesis. However, that was for afterwards. Right now the full focus was on the bnce within the eternal orb.


    "You want to make a metal cage with all of these. A super treated ingot that had notes of every mana we can possibly gather." Walker said this. More to himself since the wandering cksmith was too focused to respond with anything that was now an order.


    The goal was the same though. The metals treated would allow a more unique metal to be created. But when the wandering cksmith looked at the cold fire that Walker was creating, he pped his shoulder and looked at the mes. Walker had lost focus and the fires had begun to change to red again. They were not absorbing heat but giving it.


    "Make the mana go against its own will?" Walker thought of it like this. But that was still wrong. Even water mana was already devoid of mes. Fusing them was not the answer. But maybe there was another answer.


    His head felt like it was under extreme pressure. But his mind eventually drifted toward the ice dragon he remembered meeting. The ice breath that had frozen things but still danced around like a blizzard in the air.


    The inspiration that struck him under the pressure of the wandering cksmith''s eyes was enough to change the mes instantly.


    He threw aside the fact that he should mix the fire and water mana. Instead, he started to think of the ice itself as a separate mana. A unique mana that was always thrusting for warmth and energy. The idea that it was somehow alive and worked on its own wasn''t far from how mana acted already.


    The sub set of water mana that made ice was powerful; it was just another form of water mana. However, it was more solid. Combining the characteristics of flowing water with solidness of ice made the frost whip. But what if the solidness was not what Walker focused on. Just temperature. Just the control of the mes he wanted to flow.


    Flow of water and coolness of ice. The draw of mana constantly. The draw of energy. The draw of life too.


    When A? brilliant blue and icy me burst up, Walker was amazed by it. His eyes reflected the feeling of them as the wandering cksmith grabbed mire materials. He had more ingots to create.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1964 1964. Little Fire Spirits

    <h4>Chapter 1964 1964. Little Fire Spirits</h4>


    ''The skill cold me has been taken from the frostborn cksmith. The skill cold me has been learned through understanding of whatck of heat and abundance of heat is. This skill is not normally learned within the world due to the boundaries of existence.


    Cold me- mana dependant on the amount of mes and understanding of what fire mana and water mana is.


    Able to create a unique me using water mana as the fuel for it. This me does not create heat but instead draws it in. Due to this, a unique form of cold forging can be done that still needs to be quenched within a warmer liquid.


    The cold me can be used to freeze areas that the fire is created in. it is also able to cause a variety of other effects such as¡­''


    Walker wanted to read this in depth. But the moment that the smallest blue me appeared, he feltpletely drained. As if all the mana he had within his body had been used all at once. But that was actually the case. He had expended a massive amount of mana just to do this one thing.


    "It was possible." The wandering cksmith spoke at almost a whisper. He had thought this possible but was unsure whether it would work or not. Judging from Walker''s current appearance, it hade at a high mana cost along with the fact that it was hard to manipte and grow.


    Hearing this, Walker looked at the wandering cksmith with wonder. He wasn''t sure if he had just been asked to do something that waspletely impossible, or something that was just incredibly challenging. However, the mana potion he drank brought him back up on his feet after just a few moments.


    "The system gave me a description, but it said that this me shouldn''t be possible here because of how the world is and the barriers between ces." Walker made that clear. This was something that could not be kept here in this way. It was also not something that could be shared, moved around, or openly discussed.


    "Mine for now then." The wandering cksmith moved to ce his hands on the walls. Mana red around them showing that the entire wall had been covered in a thinly carved piece of of metal. The manas within the forge created a clear barrier that was able to protect this forge.


    "You were able to forge an entire metal barrier by carving the right runes. It even mixes the manas together to make natural mana." Walker''s awe only grew as he realized just how functional and efficient this was.


    "What about the others?" The wandering cksmith had easily understood that Walker was able to make many things possible. He also allowed Walker to take the moment he needed to use the all around appraisal on the protective runes along the walls. But he was still very much focused on what they were trying to make.


    With a slight sigh, Walker nced at the other forge furnaces. The ck mes were a mix of fire and darkness. The white mes fire and light. Then when it turned to a green tinted me, Walker knew that was the addition of dense wind mana from the wind mana crystals being burned within.


    Now all that was left were other more unstable ideas. The angels had brought a myriad of different materials. The wandering cksmith had gathered shards of spatial crystals along with a few stalks of illusion grass. A grass that had been discovered to somehow have spatial mana within it and it made it appear to always be waving in a breeze that did not exist.


    Furthermore, the wandering cksmith had other odd materials that had life mana and even death mana tossed in other forge furnaces. He literally had set everything for his own experimentations up so that Walker could keep moving along to try and make unique things.


    ''I barely can grasp at life mana since it is inside all of us, myself included. But I can''t say it can be used to forge in the way you think. I believe it would be better to use it as a material and add it with runes. There are some theoretical life runes already made that work pretty well."


    Seeing the wandering cksmith shake his head, Walker sighed again. But before he could do anything, he noticed a few lower fire spirits moving around the life mana crystals that the life mages had donated to the wandering cksmith for help in creating metals that they could channel their mana through to better heal others. Life magescked equipment to help them study what life was. It was a fair deal.


    The low fire spirits were small and could notmunicate. But they hade to exist after being awakened just like the others. Naturally they gravitate toward forges since fire mana was dense there. But they were definitely interested in the unfamiliar items around them.


    Before Walker could figure out why they were so interested, Fleur left the spirit marks on his back and moved towards them. She touched each one causing them to gain a decent amount of natural mana shared directly from her body. The instant reaction was her drooping lower because she had lost a lot of her stored mana.


    What Walker was amazed by though, was that the little spirits began to react. Their fires were drifting towards the different materials. Their strength had been bolstered by Fleur and their interest in other materials made Walker understand.


    While he was ignorant to the voices and desires of the youngest and weakness of the spirit race, Fleur could hear it. She could sense it. She understood it. That just came with the deep connections to natural mana and the fact that she had always been growing well above others due to her adventures with the party.


    Her bond with Walker also shared a lot of his strength with her. The human intelligence and emotions that she would have not had in the same way as the spirit race had now. The bonds that separated her and made her her own being. Her ability to see kindness amongst the flow of manas that she heard the world whisper through.


    Therefore, the strength she gave away to the little fire spirits allowed them to drag toward the forge furnaces the materials they liked. Pieces of sands containing spatial mana. Pieces of metal chips that were from different ore mines that were degrading and falling apart at a rate the eyes could see. Even other aspects of life mana and death mana that Walker was sure of.


    The spirit race was made of mana. They understood it. They had a wider variety of spirits that they were rted to. But unique spirits were something Walker understood. Remey had an alchemy fire spirit with her before it took the mantle of grand fire spirit to stand above what it had been. Therefore, why could these little fire spirits not do the same?


    "Stand back, they will do things we can''tprehend." Walker guarded the wandering cksmith whole eyes were wide with awe.


    Neither of them had expected this, but Failure had helped them. Whether it was because she desired the eternal orb that she could meld with to grow stronger, or just to help Walker, would not be said. However, when she did not return to the spirit marks and sat tiredly on Walker''s shoulder, a thrum of care went through their bind. Mutual respect and love. They were family after all.


    Fleur was the leader of the spirit race. Not just in name, but the world had once called to her to grow stronger. Therefore, she had to help the smallest grow. That was why she acted. She saw the potential from the little fire spirits that had been attracted to the amazing feats of the wandering cksmith. Not just of the mes they were made of.


    Fire with a gray color that seemed to be there and not there burst out in one forge furnace. An odd sense of mana moving around it. The same happened with a darker ck and gray me that made Walker feel he was looking at the end of his life. Yet another with pure golden green light of life that radiated new beginnings appeared. Then finally, one of a slightly bluish and gray color appeared. Mysterious and hard to grasp. Walker didn''t even think he should risk approaching any of them.


    "We can''t foolishly try to use these. The little fire spirits are guarding them and will not allow us to unless we learn properly." Walker could sense it. The fact that the little spirits had gained more. They had be unique and guarded. They understood what they were and covered their secrets. They would not just allow anyone to learn from them or use their mes. It was just a feeling Walker had deep in his being. A warning from something he did notprehend yet.


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 Chapter 1965 1965. Untouchable Flames

    <h4>Chapter 1965 1965. Untouchable mes</h4>


    Walker took a step and all the unique mes recoiled. It seemed that these newly strengthened and unique fire spirits wanted nothing to do with him. But this wasn''t because they thought that Walker was bad or anything negative. He just didn''t have the understanding to be near them.


    This thought came from Fleur, she was sharing her thoughts with Walker through their bond. Enough for him to understand that he had no right to be near such things that he could notprehend yet. Even the wandering cksmith had no chance to make a move nearby before the mes would shrink in to a tiny and unusable flicker.


    The all around appraisal showed some information though. Walker was sure that it was useful to him and everyone due to the fact that he would normally not be able to find such knowledge about the unique manas that were here.


    ''Life me


    This slightly golden and green me is made of unique properties. The ability of life mana is what many people would call, a god''s power. However, the flow of life is just one aspect of existence. Therefore, this is a me that many people would never be able to see since they can not even sense the life mana within them.


    Because this me is so unique, one must be able to use the life within them to influence and heal their own body before they are able to manipte such a me. However, the cost requires many materials with life mana and even requires a small bit of life mana from the one that is using it¡­''


    The first me that Walker checked in to was one that clearly came at a cost. The life mana needed would have to be his and also from many materials that were rarer than many other things within this room. Thus, Walker was left in slight awe. He had to learn more about the life mana that allowed him to even live before he managed to touch such a me and the life fire spirit allowed him nearby it.


    It was something that he had not really expected since he was sure that life was something that stretched much further. Luckily, it seemed that a life me was only a very small part of what life mana really was. An isted branch such as ice or alchemy fire waspared to the overall water or fire mana. It made Walker breath a slight sigh of relief since it was not exactly what he had worried it would be.


    ''Weak death me


    The weak death me is a whisper of death mana within mes. It is not something truly touched by death but it is a reminder that fire can easily cause death if treated poorly. The death of many has been in mes and that unique mana is left behind in history.


    The mes that are created cause a unique break down of the materials put in to it. Since it is able to do so, materials can be ages in a particr way that allow them to be stronger or weaker. Many materials unable to be forged can be altered by this unique me.


    There is no way to tap in to or understand death mana as a whole by using this me. It requires other means. The world limits this me even more to those that must be able to protect themselves with life mana to counter the death effects that would cause rotting and weakness throughout the body¡­''


    There was more but Walker was again very d to see that this was not at all a me of death. It was just a very VERY small amount of death. The rotting and degrading aspect. However, this was somewhat simr to the purer gray mes that were nearby with a bluish tint to it.


    ''mes of time


    These mes were uniquely made due to a myriad of death mana, life mana, and other materials fed in to a growing fire spirit. The mes of time cause arger effect on materials nearby because some items need the aging to be used well.


    This is also partially true for items that are past their prime. Depending on the understanding of time mana, there is a chance for the materials to reverse in age or be aged further. But this requires an understanding of time mana as a whole. No one currently living in the world is able to manipte time mana because they have been unable to sense the true essence of time mana. It is impossible for any living being to forge with these mes and the world is limiting thempletely¡­''


    This was what Walker expected. The mes died down to the smallest possible flicker of a fire. The unique fire spirit seemed to be slumbering and isting the potential of such a me. The world even had a denser natural mana that gathered around showing that the system was working to help protect something that not a single living being could handle.


    "Well, that''s two we should be able to use to some degree. One that''s isted, and one that¡­" Walker was speaking but realized as he used the all around appraisal on the odd flickering mes that were and were not there, that he could possibly use them.


    ''Spatial mes


    The spatial mes burn space mana. They are extremely dangerous and must always be controlled by a being with perfect control of them. Therefore, the space fire spirit that guards these mes is a unique being called the guardian of spatial mes.


    This guardian will allow those who have touched upon space to use these forging mes but none other. It requires a high degree of control and understanding. If someone is able to touch upon these mes, they might learn more about spatial mana as a whole.


    Many things can be learned just by watching and sensing such an urrence. These mes are fueled by multiple mana crystals and other materials with natural space affinities. Therefore, when they are not fueled by them, the damage potential to space as a whole is high. Burning space mana is considered a taboo in the world unless there is the ability to control and create space runes that attract more spatial mana to bnce the world¡­''


    This was a lot more than what Walker had imagined. But the mes that seemed to disappear around this new forge furnace were not shying away from him as much as the others. Instead, a slightly stronger me still sat there. Waiting for him to be able to make a move. Waiting for him to learn from it.


    There was also a presence of the new spatial me spirit. The guardian that the world had allowed to take ce here to guard such a dangerous thing that should not be here. That should not have made its way her because the world was not prepared due to the separations and limits between elemental nes.


    Beyond this, there was the fact that Walker could learn. He could easily learn more by just by seeing the mes. He already understood that he had used natural mana and elemental mana to help create a spatial rune formation that could teleport others. This alone had allowed him to touch on space mana and begin sensing it at the smallest levels.


    From there, Walker could easily understand more. He could take the time to be able to learn from it. To be able to learn space rted skills. Be able to use space mana just like the person he had seen appear when the world called him on a quest. But that was a side thought.


    From this, Walker had much more potential. The wandering cksmith saw him losing focus on everything but the mes. The same was for the wandering cksmith in a moment too though. He purposefully allowed himself to drift off in his own thoughts.


    The two ended up focusing on the ideas. The manas. The very essence of what these things were. It was an experience that no one else could have since these mes were so dangerous. It might be generations before others could even see these things.


    Regardless, right now, Walker was using every ounce of his mental control. Every single bit of his mana and energy toprehend what he could from this experience. He had no choice but to learn. If he did not, then he would not have the eternal orb improved. That would stop him from using more of the true mana control than he should have.


    True mana would be able to do a lot more. It would allow him to stand face to face with the dangers of the demon lord. But it also might help the world return to what it should be. So much potential.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1966 1966. Showing Off Changes

    The instant hit of desire and determination that Walker and the wandering cksmith felt was enough to make them very focused. Very caught up in what they had to do so that they could keep forging and working toward their current goals.


    Anyone else would have been a very confused person when faced with such oddities before them. But for the wandering cksmith, this was amazing. It was an opportunity to take another step on his path above forging just what he could see. For him, this was the next chance he had to be more than he was now.


    For Walker, it was the solution to multiple issues he faced. He had been trying to figure out spatial mana, death mana, life mana, and now even time mana was open to him. He had chances to learn from all of it without needing to touch them right now. Furthermore, he could see that there was more to all of it than he thought.


    The isted branches of mana definitely came with the mixing of other manas and the weakness of the main mana. Therger sources of these lesser mana was just another piece of the puzzle in the puzzle that made the world and existence as a whole.


    While Walker was trying to understand mana as a whole, true mana, he was lost in it. He had still barely scraped pieces of what natural mana was or what the elemental manas were. He was desperately trying to learn about it. To understand what true mana was. How true mana could take other forms.


    He had the skills but he hadcked the understanding. Eys, he could mix elemental manas, he could ever separate them from one another. Using elemental and natural manas was very easy byparison for Walker . but even trying to make space mana work for him? Impossible. The same about life mana. He was a novice, if that when it came to controlling and using them within skills.


    With these two being so upied with their growth in these terms, the world could have been turning the opposite way and they would not notice it. The wandering cksmith was examining every material that the unique fire spirits had taken as fuel. He knew he could gain information about properties of such materials. About what the mes might be capable of. He could learn incredible things that would expand his mind and even create new forging techniques.


    Walker was sat cross legged on the floor of the forge. He was allowing every bit of ambient mana to move through his senses. He was absorbing what he could and letting it influence him along with y at his senses. The unique fire spirits even sent a small wisp of mana from their mes now and then at him to help. It was clearly the result of Fleur assisting them to be stronger in a unique way as a nature spirit looking to grow herself and those of her race. A true leader, sacrificing her condensed mana to allow her fellow spirits to grow immensely.


    This distraction left the two very immersed while others within genesis worked. Midnight in particr was present as there was a veryrge reaction from the elemental space teleportation formation.


    It was clear that she had heard that there was a grouping through it from the Sigil continent. She had been prepared to meet them since she had already finished meeting the wind dragons some time ago. It has already been three days since Ventus arrived back. But that was just part of the problem guing Midnight.


    She had found herself bored when Walker disappeared to work with the wandering cksmith. She had wanted to train and work more with him. Unfortunately, she had let him wander off and get distracted. She could sense through their bond that he was entirely focused on meditation and mana sensing. She would not interrupt him only to hurt his hard work. That would be insulting.


    But that was fine. She found the new people that would being as very interesting. What she did not expect though, was that a familiar face appeared. A familiar face that was slightly different.


    "Ah, Midnight. You were waiting for us. It is nice to see you yet again. I will leave you to meet with your guardian." The familiar yet also unfamiliar face was Rise. The light mana seemed to surge around her as she returned and flew in to the sky. Her smoothed out dragonkin form was more human and significantly more elegant. The smoothness in her wings and the elegance as she took flight would make any angel jealous.


    Yet, when Midnight tried to look and follow Rise''s flight, she became distracted. It was a deep thrum of mana in her heart. A sense that someone incredibly important was right in front of her. "I am back home." Su spoke quietly but openly. Her eyes focused on midnight with some worries.


    From what Midnight could see, Su''s features were sharper. They had a little more strength behind them as well. Su had gained strength. Her skin also appeared to have slight dragon scale patterns on it but they were receding. Midnight could sense that Su could control this as an aspect of who she was now. Binded perfectly with the blood from the ritual they two had performed.


    But Su''s hair was no longer what it had been. It held streaks of elemental manas. Changing the colr in small strands here and there to prove that Su had fully epted the influence of dragon blood. The affinities of manas that Midnight and her shared.


    Furthermore, a pair of scaled wings was behind Su. a striking proof that Su hadpletely epted and opened herself to the fact that she was not just human. That she was not just a dragon. That she was an entirely unique true draconic guardian willing to stand above any that attempted to harm her family.


    Midnight pounced on Su. She was very happy to see her. She could care less about how Su had changed in appearance. This was her family! They could never not be happy to see one another. "stronger. " Midnight only said this one thing after the two had finished greeting one another.


    "I am a half dragon now. I had been holding myself back from being what I could be." Su didn''t hide anything. She actually looked slightly embarrassed. But that was just the fact of it. She had been embarrassed for what she was changing in to and she had let the mental blocks cease her growth.


    "Do you like the wings? I didn''t expect that when I epted it all and helped Rise fight that I would awaken fully. It was a little painful but worth the experience." Su recalled the moments after Rise had begun her own transformation.


    Su remembered her blood boiling and mana surging toward her. Then an overwhelming hunger that required her to eat and hunt for days on end. By the end o0f everything, she had not even realized that she had grown taller. That she had grown wings. That her senses had be even sharper. Not that any of that changed who she was. She would always be the guardian that many people looked up to within the church. None of that had changed.


    ''I think we should go visit the others. They might not recognize me." Su giggled a little as Midnight took her own dragonkin form to hold hands with Su and walk together. She was also excited to see what everyone else thought.


    "Cathedral to meet Alice and Brother Onyx?" Midnight wanted to head there first. Specifically because she knew that Su and Alice trained together very much before Su left to work on herself. She also knew that Alice would be spurred to work even harder than before.


    Then there was the fact that onyx was always at the cathedral. He went and left multiple times within a day depending on his own training. But from what onyx had told Midnight, he was nning to be at the cathedral teaching the little serpants how to better manage their mana. Therefore, it made sense to head there and visit them.


    "How is everyone else? Should we try to bother Gil and Alma? What about Remey? Is she still locked away in the alchemy guild with Ignus?" Suughed a little as she pulled Midnight to a stop nearby a street vendor. The two still enjoyed their sweet fruit treats and could not help but buy some. Naturally, the vendor didn''t even hesitate to wee them back. He recognized Su regardless of her changes and Midnight in dragonkin or dragon form. It was just good business.


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 Chapter 1967 1967. Spatial Balance

    Space. It was something that everyone was able to know without actually knowing. Without understanding, everyone influenced space and space influenced them. The space that their bodies and souls upied was a true fact of the world. A reason that they existed and a reason that they could influence other things in space.


    While the space they upied was not unique to them, it was something that everyone was able to be part of. Many had wished they could understand why they were and what they were. But not many had been able to directly understand what space was.


    There were many theories that came and went that had been written and lost over time. Many researchers that had no affinity or had a great affinity to space had been influenced by their studies of space. Some had even discovered space mana to exist but been unable to understand it.


    This was simply the bnce of space. The dangers that came with what it was and how to control it. But there were the unique beings that were able to conjure enough for that mana and manipte it.


    Those people could still be called on by the world with quests to be able to help or to influence the way of the world. One had even appeared before Walker and the party to change many things. This call of the world had influenced them and allowed Walker to sense mana he had not been able toprehend.


    At the time, Walker had not realized he could do anything. He had taken the scrolls and been amazed that the world was able to call on someone that didn''t even live in the world. However, he had been blind to the fact that the being hade front he world and chose to travel outside of it using the spatial skills and mana that they had.


    Therefore, now that Walker was faced with a space bring me, he was able to understand that the slight feelings he had back then, were more than what he realized. That the use of his high spatial storage was also more than what he could understand.


    He had been foolish and blind in a way. He had not opened his senses enough to be able to understand what the manas he felt at the time really were. His body had always had the ability to use and feel all manas. He had the affinity but not the understanding.


    This had been proven with elemental manas and with natural manas. But that learning had further blinded him in a way. Not that he could see less, but because he relied on that feeling. However, because he was in a more isted environment now where he could solely focus on the space mana he was looking at being used by the unique fire spirit.


    By letting himself forget and ignore all other manas, Walker recalled the feeling of being teleported. The bnces of manas being swapped to allow for the teleportation. The fact that space could not be entirely empty and it could never be entirely fully. This was because space held a bnce greater than everything. It did not interfere nor did it stay idle.


    Space was not some small bnce because it was outside of what they understood. It was arger mana force that governed more than just what they could see. But even space was imbnced right now.


    Simply because the areas between the other nes of existence were separated. Space as a whole should not be like that. There should be a bncing flow between all of them. This broken flow was something that space tried to fill but constantly failed to do so. Walker could vaguely sense the odd way that mana flowed around space. As if it was trying to find solutions to imbnce.


    This wasn''t some will of the world but just how nature was. If there was a hole, water would fill it. In Walker''s mind, space mana was the reason why water would fill the empty hole over time. It was the way he couldprehend space. It was his way to allow what he sensed to make proper lines of thought within his mind.


    But he also understood that by working with spatial mana, he could cause the reactions he desired.


    With a small pop, there was a small shift in the manas all around the room. The wandering cksmith looked up to see that a single pearl, one with high water affinity had been moved from the table to right in front of Walker.


    He had imagined that the space mana created a hole without manas where Walker wanted. Then the pearl had been moved there to rece the manas missing. "So space can be used by moving where mana should be and where it is currently." This theory meant that Walker could move dangerous manas away if they gathered. This included the dangers that came with attacks.


    Furthermore, there was the fact that he had managed to make the spatial mana react the way that he desired. It wasn''t by force, but by pushing mana away from a ce and adding mana elsewhere. That was how he was able to make spatial mana bend and shift. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This was why the rune formation had worked. The elemental space teleportation rune formation had worked because it was an equivalent exchange of denser manas that were moved to a ce where they be less than. If this was the reason, then Walker could further improve it with the right assistants. He just needed more expert rune carvers to show him the most advanced elemental runes and potentially other runes they had to show him. Stronger runes.


    This theory was just the start though. The mes that the unique fire spirit held close were reacting to what Walker was doing. The small amount of space mana that Walker had called on to help move the water pearl was enough to cause the mes to dance more. But they also became more solid when he had done so.


    This was the usage of the space mana in the space mes. They fed off of space mana and that brought them more solidity within the forge. It made them more clearly defined within this space. Therefore, adding the strength of such mes would mena that Walker constantly manipte space mana to make these mes denser.


    "OH!" the wandering cksmith leaped out of his chair and threw aside what he had been writing down as a new theory for a forging technique. His eyes were wide open. He might not have been able to open them wider even if he was forced to. He was looking at what Walker had done and the more solid space eating mes with curiosity and understanding.


    He knew that Walker had managed to make them more solid and that Walker had a slight control. But he also understood that he could make a metal that was attracting some of the space mana by removing mana from it. He had understood this just by seeing what Walker had done.


    "More, do that more!" The wandering cksmith took a solid piece of metal and began heating it in the elemental forge furnaces. He was stripping it of all the manas within. Something that a cksmith would do to allow metals toe together and remove the impurities. It would also remove certain opposing affinities from materials that could cause a worse effect on the overall product being forged.


    Regardless, when the piece of metal reached where Walker stood, he knew what the wandering cksmith wanted. Instead of bringing it to the mes physically, then remained back away from them.


    Walker made the move to make a space where the super heated metal could be brought to. He removes the mana right inside the space mes. The elemental manas which had flowed normally around and through it suddenly gone, made the manas around the ingot of metal the natural selection to bnce it.


    When another loud popping sound was made, the metal was gone and the entire area in the forge was full of wind and shifting manas. The mes of space danced wildly and had appeared very much solid as they burned the heated ingot. The inside was devoid of manas which was an imbnce. However, the fact that these mes held space mana allowed for the space mana to easily prate the metal. It melded with the mes before it was thrust from the forge because it was too dense.


    The manas reacted and the metal attracted all sorts of manas. Even manas that Walker''s mind did not grasp. The wandering cksmith used a hammer to shape it, the unknown metal they had just created. But Walker could sense it. The metal was drawing in manas using space since it still seemed empty. But the essence of what it was, the filled with space mana that it was, made it full. Therefore, this metal always attracted all manas. An astounding event.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1968 1968. Mana Resonance

    Walker felt like his heart was under pressure. Just looking at what was happening while he imagined how the metals and the manas were moving was hard enough. But the stress he was under as he tried to manipte these manas was more than his body was used to.


    The weight of stress from making other manascking in one spot was something his body screamed to fight against,. It was not the natural flow but it was also not harming the world. It was just different by many times over from what he had always done. How he had manipted mana in the past.


    Therefore, when he felt that the metal had been pulled from the spatial mes and that they had died down, Walker did not immediately find the strength to use the all around appraisal. Walker watched as the wandering cksmith stared at the super hot ingot of metal that had just dropped right before them. It was not perfectly shaped and he feared to touch it and ruin the current settling of the metal.


    He also was struggling toprehend how it could even exist. How it could be something that he had known for so long, metal working and forging as a whole, had so many secrets still. He felt like he was a boy looking at the first me he had ever seen. His awe and wonder at what could be done with it. The single emotion of pure wonder that any child had but many times greater now that he understood that he could definitely keep learning new things.


    After struggling to calm himself, Walker saw that every me had greatly shrunk. All the manas that had been pulled toward the metal had slowed while the metal had stabilized. It was not like the spatial mana or the mes feeding on space mana. It was solid and part of this ne.


    Additionally, Walker could sense something within himself had shifted. It was hard to tell what it was, but he could feel that a pathway in his body had opened. While it might be mentally or more, he could tell that the unique experience he had been part of and the new understandings he had were shaping him.


    Since Walker had gained his system and begun to learn more here and there about the world and beyond it, he had been changing. Not only had his bonds altered his growth greatly, but also his understanding and titles. Every single one gave him new potentials to change in to a different him than he was.


    This shift and opening feeling was clearly his understanding of space and spatial mana. The existence of that within his body because of him manipting it was allowing him to grasp true mana better. To understand what it might and might not be. Not enough to cause major advances, but enough to allow him more insight in to everything rted to mana. Especially his bodily flow and control of mana.


    When he settled himself and his emotions, Walker was able to calm his breathing before using the all around appraisal on the metal that was settled on the floor waiting to be used and forged on to what it was needed to be.


    '' starving steel


    The starving steel is exactly as it sounds. Due to the spatial mana being added to it through a unique me that uses spatial mana to burn, it was stripped of all elemental manas. It is considered empty in the sense that it can not naturally hold mana without ulterior influences.


    This allows it to gain mana and create spaces where mana iscking. Therefore, it is ideal for using spatial mana overall since it can cause small teleportations or gather and push awayrge amounts of manas.


    This also allows for it to be the core of influence for other manas. It was tempered with one of the major manas that upholds existence, therefore, it is able to resist many instances of damage. Furthermore, it will be able to reform and reshape itself if damaged as long as it is provided the right care and mana from the one who owns it and bonds with it.


    If this metal is not properly bonded to anything or anyone within one hour, it will decay and be broken down by the world due to its oddck of natural and elemental mana. The world does not detest it, but it is not in bnce, thus, the world''s manas act as the natural flow should and attempt to bnce it.''


    A shock went through Walker as he realized that they were not in a race against the degradation of this metal. Starving steel was extremely unique. This was why Walker spoke every single detail of the all around appraisal right out loud for the wandering cksmith to hear.


    It was also why he reached out to touch it and sensed his mana being absorbed by it. This metal was to be used with the eternal orb, this chance might note again since so many materials had been burned up and might not be found again to remake such a thing. The wandering cksmith knew this well too. He was already moving and preparing his best tools to be used. If he was going to alter a masterpiece, then he would do it with the best of the best he had.


    From what the wandering cksmith saw, he could tell that Walker was allowing his personal internal mana to feed the starving steel. This was allowing Walker and the starving steel to bond just as the all around appraisal had said. Iut was also going to allow the eternal orb to reshape as it was altered because Walker and this metal were already bonded and shared mana.


    A pale sheen came over Walker''s face as he reached for yet another mana potion. His mind ached along with his body, he had put himself under more and more stress but could not cease his actions yet. Even Fleur appeared to be losing her will as this went on because she was sharing natural mana to allow herself to remain perfectly bound to the eternal orb and this new starving steel. She refused to lose her strength and bonds with Walker.


    Sensing the changes between him and this starving steel, Walker was able to tell that the runes around the room and on the tools were losing their mana flow. The starving steel had affected them along with the mes around the forge. Each forge with their unique mes and even the unique fire spirits were allowing small bits of their manas to drift toward the starving steel. This was another reason that Walker knew he had to act now.


    The eternal orb had also begun showing some differences. Walker could see the manas within were moving much faster in a more chaotic way. He could sense that it was almost eager to change its shape yet again. Not that it was alive, it was heavily bonded and made for Walker and Fleur. It was just the reaction of Walker''s manas and bond with it showing his current state of being.


    The moment that the wandering cksmith took out his personal and best forging hammer, the entire forge seems to grow expectant. It wasn''t that everything was alive, but it was the same feeling as walking in to a forest where nature was silent because of a predator. A moment of silence waiting for something to happen.


    When the runes glowed they pulled manas toward them and the wandering cksmith showed a clear glint of energy in his eyes. He put everything in to mming the hammer on to the starving steel while somehow enhancing the internal manas that Walker had poured in to it.


    While Walker knew that these techniques were the core of who the wandering cksmith was, he also understood they were working together . their manas were in harmony as the wandering cksmith used his own mana to match Walker''s something that almost no person or being could do, a method of forging that the wandering cksmith had created to manage his own future and goals. Somethingpletely unique to him.


    Naturally, the instant that the hammer hit the steel, the room grew hot and chaotic with manas flowing in to the starving steel. The eternal orb began to shift and change with every hit as it resonated with the starving steel and Walker''s manas.


    Shaping the starving steel in to a cage of spurts to protect the eternal orb as just part of the process. Allowing the runes to be carved and even randomly new intersections of runes to be born was all just the art of it. A breathtaking and inspiring new form of forging thatpletely matched the manas of all involved¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1969 1969. Beyond Their Level

    Some runes were things that Walker''s mind could not wrap around. They seemed to be forming as if that was just the way of existence. As if the runes that he saw had always been part of what he knew but he could just never see them. ''


    As if to make him prove that to himself, he saw that some of them faded to the point that he would not realize that they were there. The thin lines of metal making the cage around the eternal orb were clearly covered in runes just a second ago. But they had faded because he could not understand the manas within them.


    Each of the six lines of starving steel were strong. They were made of this starving steel to ensure that the manas drawn in would be more. But the sixrge and thicker lines that had contained many runes he could not fathom. They had been enough so that he would be able to understand that they were unique and that was it.


    Otherwise, the starving steel had been shaped like twisting vines. This change has been instantaneous with the addition of the odd leaf. It was as if the nature around them and the world itself had acted to make sure that this piece of whatever it was truly sat firmly in what they needed the eternal orb to be.


    Walker felt that it was pulled within the eternal orb as it should be. That was the goal. A unique and powerful item that could radically enhance the eternal orb. However, he had been blind to what it was because there was not a reason for it. The all around appraisal had failed him in a sense. Not that it was an issue. He was fine with that.


    His heart, his gut, his entire being epted that it was meant to be part of the eternal orb. That it had somehow been waiting to be used as a material within such an item linked to such a person. Even the wandering cksmith had not been the one to make the odd leaf float inside the eternal orb. It had been the manas in the room themselves. Acting in unison toward something that they all felt and sensed. It was odd within itself to even think this way. But Walker had seen and been part of many more amazing things.


    With a quick nce, Walker used the all around appraisal on the starving steel as it shifted again. He was greeted with the very same as what he had seen earlier.


    '' starving steel


    The starving steel is exactly as it sounds. Due to the spatial mana being added to it through a unique me that uses spatial mana to burn, it was stripped of all elemental manas. It is considered empty in the sense that it can not naturally hold mana without ulterior influences.''


    The stripped of mana was the way to allow all manas to flow in to it. That meant that mana must take up space. Walker felt himself analyzing this portion of the all around appraisal first. He could feel this to be true. He could sense the bond with the eternal orb as he allowed his own mana to be pulled in through it.


    ''This allows it to gain mana and create spaces where mana iscking. Therefore, it is ideal for using spatial mana overall since it can cause small teleportations or gather and push awayrge amounts of manas.''


    Therge amounts of mana were happening right before his eyes. He could see it. The unique mes all allowed wisps of what their manas were to flow in to it. To make seeds that would be more active when Walker could understand and use them to make an evenrger amount of mana react to his will and the will of his goals.


    ''This also allows for it to be the core of influence for other manas. It was tempered with one of the major manas that upholds existence, therefore, it is able to resist many instances of damage. Furthermore, it will be able to reform and reshape itself if damaged as long as it is provided the right care and mana from the one who owns it and bonds with it.''


    Manas that uphold existence. Such a grand term was the proof that Walker was working on things beyond what he had expected already. He long ago took a new path that was walking through a ce no other had gone.


    He had met many unique people and beings overall. those that were partially responsible for the way that the very world he lived being the way it was now. Those that wished to change the course of the future and create new worlds or new paths.


    All of this was a fact that he epted but really could see now that the starving steel was being guided by more than just the wandering cksmith and himself. The starving steel was being allowed to form itself to a degree. It was benignly allowed to take the optimal form for more discovery.


    Walker sensed this all with his very soul. That was why the eternal orb and the starving steal were making such a close bond even with the odd leaf being a part of it. Walker had always been full of mystery as he grew. Everything he went after was a mystery. He uncovered mysteries. He didn''t shy away from them whatsoever. That was a fact of who he was. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''If this metal is not properly bonded to anything or anyone within one hour, it will decay and be broken down by the world due to its oddck of natural and elemental mana. The world does not detest it, but it is not in bnce, thus, the world''s manas act as the natural flow should and attempt to bnce it.''


    "Bnce!" Walker shouted out and poured all of his mana within the eternal orb. All of his mana was directed at the starving steel as the runes he could barelyprehend faded. He had a feeling that thest bit of the all around appraisal was the most important. That his mind was in this state of slowness and thinking because he had to be spo that he couldprehend what was needed of him.


    This eternal orb was not just the perfectly bonded weapon and item for him. It was his unique item that shifted to mimic him as the master of none. The jack of all trades system user. He had to be more than that and he had to truly embody that.


    The starving steel would provide the potential and manas he might need to keep being this. The eternal orb had only been partially finished this entire time. It shouldn''t even have been called the eternal orb since that was just one piece of what he was making. It was not the eternal orb at all.


    Walker felt his mana, down to the core of who he was resonate with the metal and the orb. He could feel the life mana course through his body. A me reacting to the proper fuel it had been missing. The same could be said of the unique fire spirits that had just offered another sip of unique manas to the creation before them.


    Teh same was between the hammer that the wandering cksmith used. It was part of him beyond all that could bepared. Even a lost limb would not be as important as that hammer to the wandering cksmith. Not because it was a tool, but because it was part of his very being. His own existence.


    "Bnce your being with mine and we will be one!" Walker shouted this out before he fell on the ground and was only able to look at the ceiling. Little did he know, that the wandering cksmith had fallen as well.


    The cksmith and exhausted every ounce of mental energy he had. Every bit of imagination that he had to use. Every little bit of mana. He looked up to the side with his eyes that screamed at him to close and rest. The shining silver metal with fading runes floated around the eternal orb which had the shape of an endless tree within. It was better than anything he could ever imagine. Yet, he still knew so little about everything beyond what he was capable of right this second. A call for him to grow.


    Walker could feel something new. The true connection of his very soul expanding. He could feel it as he drifted off in to a slumber he had not expected to fall in to. But the warmth in his heart made him realize that Fleur was also weing this new feeling. Their sess.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1970 1970. Hey, Wake Up

    Chapter 1970 1970. Hey, Wake Up


    "Are you dead?" There was a single question that Walker had not expected to hear. But when he opened his eyes, he found a familiar face looking down at him along with another standing nearby watching them from the door. It seemed that when the three of them had passed out, the protections the wandering cksmith put in ce had let the door open.


    Walker felt a finger poke his cheek again before he could move around and gather the information he needed to even be surprised. "Su! You''re back!" After a rush of adrenaline, he began to feel that there were more changes than he knew.


    "Your eyes changed, and you have wings!... you''re a half dragon now!"


    "Of course you used the all around appraisal. I didn''t even get the chance to surprise you." Suughed a little but felt that this was just like Walker. Passed out training somewhere. Working harder than anyone else could see.


    As Walker looked around and found the wandering cksmith asleep at a table with blueprints and a few books he had clearly been writing while forcing his mind to remain awake without mana to spare, Walker stood up. He could feel that Fleur was resting within her spirit mark and that she was exceedingly happy about their work.


    "Brother?" Midnight pulled on Walker''s other arm and pointed at Alice who had also some with Su to see what was happening.


    "We went to the cathedral to visit with Alice so I can show off how much stronger I got. Then came here to surprise you. But now we find you asleep again? What? Were you tired from helping the spirit race gain their natural rights? Or were you just making some weird mes that we can''t even sense or go near?" Su''s teasing seemed more energetic than what Walker expected.


    It appeared that Su had more than climbed out of her shell and be a much more energetic and happier person. Not because she had gotten stronger though. Because she had epted all that she was and taken her determination to the very core of her being. She had been able to advance herself mentally and physically. The strength she needed to protect everyone around her had finally fallen in to her hand. Now she would enjoy the bonds she had with everyone.


    "I wanted to awaken them. I just thought it was right. But it went very well. Fleur can even help the younger ones take new paths if they want. But she''s pretty tired now." Su looked at him and nodded.


    "She has been hanging around you so, what else would she be doing if not working until she passed out too?" Su teased Walker again before she looked around and pointed at something floating above his head. "So, before I share my adventure story, what''s that?"


    Walker looked up and saw thest thing he had seen before passing out earlier. The eternal orb was floating above him cages in elegant metal with multiple vines of metal moving around it. The shifting and changing of manas surrounding the image of an endlessly growing and changing tree.


    ''Eternal codex


    This is the essence of all that is mana. Almost every form of mana is represented within this and can eventually be represented within this. It ispletely linked to the soul of the true hero, Walker.


    Due to this, it is able to change and shift forms ording to his will. It enhances all of his senses when ites to manas and true mana. It is able to allow a path to learning other manas depending on what the starving steel is able to absorb..


    The smallest breath of unknown mana has been absorbed in to the center. This allows it to be able to grow along with Walker.


    The ability to gather manas and use them is greatly enhanced. Every skill rted to Walker is recorded within this along with massive amounts of knowledge. It will only grow more as Walker grows.


    The unknown essence that has taken root in the center can be studied through meditation and extreme events. The world has limited this item because it is unknown to it. A greater force appears to¡­.''


    Walker found that the all around appraisal failed after this. It was filled with a strong of unintelligible words that none of his skills or focus seemed to allow him to read. "It''s...well, it was the eternal orb but now is known as the eternal codex."


    "We added unique materials to help make unique mes. The little fire spirits grew and changed it help us but I still can''t evenprehend them to be honest. Now the eternal codex has the ability to absorb manas that I didn''t even know were really there. But there''s more that the world is blocking and that a greater power is blocking. Basically, I have no idea what I made."


    "So much confidence to say that you don''t know?" Su wasn''t teasing or mocking. She was just surprised. She had never seen Walker looking at something with awe and confusion like this before.


    "You can learn." the sweet voice of Alice spoke up as he leaned on Walker a little. It wasforting enough.


    "You''re right, it''s just more mystery to discover and explore. Just part of going on an adventure, right?" The air seemed to be warmer just as he spoke, Walker could sense the manas being drawn in to the eternal codex. Just enough to make him curious, but not enough to cause any worries. He would enjoy this new adventure.


    Before they could say anything else, Su moved a few chairs and began to tell him her story. The fighting in the underground temple that had once been above ground. The scorpions that had caused Rise to have trouble sensing the light manas and the light dominator dragon''s knowledge left behind for her.


    It was amazing to hear that she had embraced and altered herself. But even more that this was just something she had been holding herself back from. However, Walker felt that Su was always growing. Even when holding herself back, she had just been taking things on her own, step by step. Her path was clearly carved out by her and for her. No one else had done what she had.


    "Take your armor." the wandering cksmith spoke up, shocking the three as they spoke together. He had woken up and begun writing again. New forging techniques that he had just imagined. That he was creating within his mind.


    ''Reflective dragon armor


    This armor was made to mirror a dragon''s scale. It was made with extremely pure and valuable materials. It is both lighter weight but can be made heavier if the user allows their mana to flow within the armor''s rune formations.


    multiple manas can be brought in to this armor and used to direct the flow of such mana. This allows for certain magical attacks to be deflected back at the ones that are sending the attacks at the wielder.


    This can be enhanced with the shields that are paired with this armor. This is due to the highly skills craftsmanship that is forged to the certain person that these armors and shields fit. No other person can wield them after they have been properly bonded because the mana flow will cause massive backsh.


    This error can only be wielded by someone with, guardian, within their ss title¡­''


    Walker read the all around appraisal and Su nced at the armor. She was amazed by it. Shocked that it was so detailed and amazing. Each piece of metal had been forged perfectly to fit her. To deflect and channel manas.


    This meant that each rune formation had been carved on each scale of the armor. Such detail was not what anyone else would be able to create this but the wandering cksmith.


    The amazing things that Su had imagined would be possible with such armor only grew as she touched it and felt her own mana perfectly flow in to the runes. She nced at the twin shields and saw that parts to add to them were already made. That the wandering cksmith was still finishing this amazing pair. That the twin shields and armor would be one and the same.


    "It might need a new name. Maybe the dragon guardian armament?" su saw that the wandering ck sith ceased his wiring for a moment before he smiled and nodded. Su would wait for that to be finished. She could tell that it would be something she would adjust and use for the rest of her life. That was just how she felt. What she understood. It was a pure and perfect match for her and her new strength.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1971 1971. Test the Out

    Chapter 1971 1971. Test the Out


    To their surprise, the wandering cksmith took the twin shield right from Su. They witnessed him begin to work. The actions he had taken to prepare the materials were seamless. It only took him two hours to reshape and attach the new materials and parts of the twin shields.


    Now Su could tell that these twin shields would seamlessly adjoin with her armor. The gauntletts had been styled after ws. But those ws also had attaching rune formations on them. Therefore, that was how the manas flowed better throughout her armor and shields.


    From there, Su was amazed. The scale pattern had been added to the existing twin shields with even more details. It also kept the weight and added more functions. Specifically, when she mmed them together, two outer sides would expand to make the shield evenrger. This meant that she would be able to protect more.


    There was a also a retracting feature that could be activated with earth mana and Su''s mana. This would allow them to more easily attach to the armor and be used as a weapon. Su needed such a thing for her style. She was immensely impressed when it came to the wandering cksmith''s foresight in this matter. Especially since she had barely mentioned details about her fighting style changing.


    Neither Su nor the wandering cksmith asked Walker for the all around appraisal. Alcie and Midnight just watched in interest while having a snack in the background. They were enjoying this experience as a way to see the amazing things that had been going on while their attention as elsewhere. Not to mention that itn appeared Alice and Midnight had found themselves a new favorite snack.


    When Walker had asked, he found that they had managed to find a new fruit from the elven forest, apparently they were called moon blessed grapes. It sounded like some magical process, but apparently they were grapes that were covered and only allowed to get moonlight during the night.


    Thies led to them having a very unique sweet taste that was very different from the deeper brighter vor that they normally had. It became a very popr seasonal fruit for many people when the elves began to sell it in the market. So much sop that some dwarves had reached out to begin making unique wines and alcohols with them. A veryrge event for some.


    Regardless, when Su saw the twin shield next to the armor, she did not hesitate to put them all on and have the wandering cksmith make small adjustments here and there. She was enjoying the lighter feeling and how the wandering cksmith was able to make the adjustments for her slightlyrger muscles and wings. Bing a full fledged half dragon had changed some things.


    "Need to see it in battle." without another word, everyone looked at Su then to Walker. They all wanted to see what new tricks that Su had and they knew very well that walker was the best opponent.


    While Alcie and Midnight could fight Su, she could take Alice down faster than would be expected to truly test things. Midnight was also too vicious and might not control her strength causing too much damage to the new armor or shields. This wasn''t because Midnight could not control her strength, but because she was trying to adapt to the dragonkin from battle styles still and it was a little risky to train all out as they needed.


    Without even being able to say anything, Walker made a move. He nced at the forge furnaces and wanted to meditate, however, when he reached out a hand, the eternal codex shifted.


    Instead of the normal staff form, it altered itself and became a staff with a shield on it. A smaller shield that was made from the starving steel. A perfect way to block and take away mana from iing attacks while dishing out magical attacks. "This might be a mage weapon you should make for each elemental mana. Just saying."


    "Don''t need money. Blueprints though." the wandering cksmith nodded a little realizing that it could be an interesting thing to do. The magical staffs were something that he normally did not focus on. However, he might be able to learn some other technique to create them at a higher level. A potential way to learn about other manas rather than elemental. Especially when life mages came asking for healing gear.


    This aside, Walker was surprised to find that he wasn''t being led outside. When they had been away, the wandering cksmith had arger training and testing area built underground!


    This idea was excellent. Anyone that had ordered something could test it all right there underneath the shop. The dwarves that had been hired even reinforced it with manyyers of rune formation carved metals. Furthermore, some magical skills had been used on it as well. So manyyers that even Walker would struggle to easily cut through it all and cause a copse. But they were still reminded to hold back in their fight. This was to force Su to understand her improved shield and new armor.


    With their awe of a brand new testing area out of the way, Walker called the manas toward him. He felt that he was in touch with mana much more closely. The eternal codex was assisting him, but also still absorbing the additional mana that Walker could not control. He was not wasting any mana whatsoever any more in his mana maniption. The eternal orb could use it!


    Yet, when he noticed Su stretching a little, Walker realized she would be moving much more differently than what he remembered her battle style to be. Even though he had witnessed her being more aggressive and forward in battle before. This was because he noticed her flexibility had increased much morepared to her before she fully epted the dragon blood that was part of her.


    Before they faced off, Walker saw that Su was in a defensive stance. The first attack would allow him to see just what she had changed when it came to her strength. Therefore, he stopped preparing himself to fight as a mage. Instead, he focused on the eternal codex and chose to use a two handed ax. A heavier weapon that would test her defenses and strength.


    Using wind mana, the ax spun upwards as Walker took preparation to swing it down. Earth mana gathered on the way down with walker''s leap forward being enhanced by the wind as well. He felt that the mana was acting much faster to his mental maniption than ever before. It didn''t throw him off, but actually made him feel even morefortable.


    The weight of the eternal codex two handed ax form made the entire ce ring with the sound of metal. The mana around Su was drawn in to it, but there was now reaction otherwise. Su''s feet were pressed in to the stone floor slightly, but that was it. "Oh."


    Walker felt himself mmed back to where he had started his attack. Su had only used one arm to both block and retaliate. She didn''t even appear to feel the shock. "You will need more than that to affect me now." Walker grimaced as Su taunted him. He would not normally feel her taunts, but now, he could feel what their opponents always felt when facing her.


    She stomped on the ground causing it to slightly shake. This would have made Walker lose his footing, but he stepped right in to the air. He did not let Su keep pushing forward. He had to keep her on her toes instead of setting up an attack on him.


    However, Su jumped upwards and threw one of the twin shields at him. The result was Walker needing to use a lot of wind mana to force it to slow down while he dodged. This left him open to Su kicking upwards. Walker had not realized that Su could use her newly grown wings already to push herself upwards faster than before. It was a surprise of many emotions.


    When her other twin shield hit him, Walker had used mana to boost his defenses. A small bubble of water had formed around him a second before she attacked and it froze solid. This bubble shattered and left Walker with ammunition to attack. The shards of ice attacked her causing Su to be buffeted but not damaged. Her armor vibrated with mana before some of the ice was shot back at her.


    ''Then speed." Walker changed the eternal codex in to twin swords. But he attacked them with a chain of metal to one another. His mind was trying to think of ways to stress Su and her new battle styles. Any trick and unconventional means he could think of would be used.


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 Chapter 1972 1972. Paying More Attention

    Chapter 1972 1972. Paying More Attention


    Using wind mana to push him faster while also using a little earth mana to make the ground start to change ti sand, Walker pushed forward. He knew that he had much more speed than what Su could keep up with. His agility had almost always been faster.


    Yet, he found that Su was now keeping up with him. She had lighter armor. She had better shields. She had more strength as a half dragon than before. Her entire journey had strengthened her and allowed for her to ept herself. To awaken what was held back.


    She easily drew her shields up to deflect not one, but both of the desing from opposite sides. Walker had first started to make Su move and get her off set. He wanted to see her pushed to the point of her fastest speed before he let himself off the hook. That was why he held back his body and focused on using wind to push himself faster. He was clearly baiting her.


    Unfortunately for him, Walker had still underestimated Su. she saw through this trick and managed to attack back. He used the end of one twin shield to sh at him while using the other as a brace to allow her to kick upwards with bnce.


    This ingenious addition to her fighting style was what would allow her to keep opponents questioning what she could do. She clearly surprised Walker with a solid kick to the chest. However, she had not realized that he was also ying his own tricks with ideas he hade up with while they fight.


    Walker had willed the eternal codex to take the shape of twin swords, not because they matched what Su was using as twin shields, but because he knew that the eternal codex, just as it had before modification, would keep the swords attached to one another in some form. It was just easier to transfer mana that way and helped him.


    When he had done this, he had the idea that he might be able to use his agility and that fact to his advantage to trip Su up and catch her off guard. He was right.


    Wahne Walkernded, he rolled on to his feet using his natural strength at full speed. He burst forward. He also had a gust of wind push against Su to make her think that he was using wind alone just likest time. But his change in speed shocked her slightly but did not stop her from reacting.


    Yet, when she went to block the simr attack she expected, she found that a sword was spinning upwards at her attached to the chain of starving steel. This had been what attacked the two swords together and what Walker used to lengthen his attacking abilities.


    Going with the flow, Walker spun the swords again with his arm between the two and putting force on the chain. He had witnessed someone use a weapon with a sickle at the end in a simr way. While risky to use it here, this was a sparring match and he wanted to diversify his abilities.


    ''The user has replicated a unique style of fighting used by a smaller margin of people than many other weapons. Due to the visualization and usage of such technique, the skill, beginner chain maniption has been learned.


    Beginner chain maniption- passive and active. Mana depends on usage of the skill.


    Using mana or using physical strength, the style of using chains attached to weapons or not is very rare. It could take many years to manipte and use chains. Even as whips, chains are radically different.


    By using this skill, the learning ability when fighting with chains will be faster. It will be smoother. And the strength of attacks will be better. Using mana may allow the user of this skill to manipte chains using just their mana to awaken specific technique based skills or more¡­''


    Walker noticed the system mentioning this. He had seen multiple skills like this as he shifted weapons but he mostly ignored them. He didn''t even bother to mention them or read them sometimes. But right this second, his brain was running in overdrive to face Su''s newfound strength. He did not wish to just test her. He was testing himself and the eternal codex as well.


    When the eternal codex changed again, Su took it as an opening. She charged forward mming the twin shields together to cause a devastating attack. One that would not allow Walker any room to dodge or attack. It was just another unfortunate event that Walker had actually read one of the minor skill gains from his system for the first time in a while.


    Walker saw the twin shields expand but didn''t sweat it in the least. He just smirked through a serious expression as the eternal codex shifted and followed his mana. With his stronger control and better ability to draw manas to him, the chain room of the eternal codex was devastating.


    The chain wrapped Su around her legspletely bypassing the twin shields as they burst ame. This caused Su to react in an attempt to break them. She wanted to force her way out but found that her mana was being drawn away. He attempted to pull on the earth mana to boost her body more. She tried even more with light mana to heal her and create a better shield without needing to hold on to the twin shields that had slipped from her grasp. But Walker just tightened the chains before releasing them and offering a hand.


    "You made change the way I was thinking before. Your entire being is better than before. Stronger, tougher, and definitely faster, I had to hold back so that it tricked you, but you didn''t fall for it. That''s why I had to use an unconventional weapon. The starving steel also steals away mana that you try to use. It''s way better than I gave it credit for." Walker had been sure that this yed a major role in the entire match.


    "So that''s why it was hard for me to use other skills. I managed to learn a few different elemental skills since I have the same affinities as Midnight due to our ritual. But I tried to use the light to blind you and make you lose concentration before I made a shield. It didn''t work so I had to resort to a shield like before. But that failed too!"


    There was a lot that Su was shocked by, but before the two could keep raving about their new items. The armor and the eternal codex, the wandering cksmith moved and began adjusting the armor. He also looked at Walker and made him stand still since he would be crafting new armor for him too. Ti was clear that he could use the eternal codex more as a weapon than armor. Therefore, he would need improved armor more than anything in the future.


    Alice and Midnight quietly enjoyed their own talks about the sparring match. Alice wished to train against both of them while Midnight was nearly shaking with excitement. She wanted to see how much stronger Su really was when she fought against her in her dragonkin form. But Alcie also wanted to challenge Su since she had been her most recent training partner. The person that had allowed her to alter her own thinking when it came to how she shaped light in her songs.


    But none of them managed to do this any time soon. The wandering cksmith clearly was going to keep them busy for some time. Alice had not realized it, but the wandering cksmith had created armor for her again too. She had to be protected as one of the bestrge area healers. If she didn''t have the best armor she could, then she might not be able to be safe enough to heal anyone.


    Then it switched to Midnight who now needed two different armors. He was even theorizing that he could make armors that might shift with her to her two different forms. Such a thing might be possible using the rune formations and the space runes that had been discovered. But it would take a lot of time and effort. Not that this was new for him or anyone else around him.


    Things only grew more in depth as they started to talk about new skills and how they could adjust themselves to use them in battle. It just added fuel to the wandering cksmith''s imaginative mes. He was constantly changing and editing the blueprints he had in his mind. On top of that, he was digging out new materials he had not had a chance to work with. It was like watching a wild experiment bing a masterpiece. Well worth a sleepless night¡­or two.


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 Chapter 1973 1973. Unlikely Pair On a Mission

    Chapter 1973 1973. Unlikely Pair On a Mission


    The dwarves had made many golems. They had also begun working with the angels. This had brought the idea to create these unique golems that mimicked the angel''s thought process when it came to studying manas.


    This was because the angels would normally have their own focuses on research. Those that focused on individual elemental manas while others looked outside. Thai piqued a lot of interest when it came to the dwarves who had been working on golems that the spirit race could control.


    The simple idea that all three races working together could make unique golems was not new. Just as the wandering cksmith had been involved in some, if not all, the theories associated with this while the party was focusing on themselves.


    The wandering cksmith had even been open to the dwarvesing to ask him for more help. This had happened while he studied his own interests and had not been actively forging. Things had even taken off more so when the elemental space rune formation was created.


    That had driven many researchers to search for reason why space mana had not been properly studies. A lot of the races, besides the angels, had not been able to even think of studying such things.


    The demi-humans and the merfolk had their own focuses. The merfolk being focused on their own people and surviving in their smaller city. The demi-humans mostly caring about physical strength and less about the elemental manas surrounding and making them up.


    Therefore, the elves were some of the only ones that delved in to the manas of existence or the world. They focussed on elemental though because of their attunement to nature. Regardless, they were the first to begin their own process of stretching in to the other manas that no one else understood.


    Specifically, the younger elven more recently born had awakened unique systems that focused them on researching such manas. When the wandering cksmith casually mentioned this while he had been telling them his ideas for a changing armor, Walker was amazed.


    He had thought that such things would happen after years, not right away. But it was so soon! This was a sign that the gathering within genesis was already greatly improving knowledge without anyone needing to do a single thing. It should be an event shared in the history books yet again.


    But this alone was not enough, what the wandering cksmith brought out to show Walker was the partial space runes he had been looking through when information had been brought ti him. Partial runes were nothing special. Most of the time.


    "you think that these runes are partial because they can be used like a spatial storage?" Walker thought for a moment and wondered just how they wouldplete such a thing. He was lucky that elemental manas could be used to recreate a teleportation formation. That was already something that everyone that could research it, was researching it to improve it. That was the best way to get to the Sigil continent right now.


    "Iof we manage to do this though, Midnight will have armor in both forms. She has the skeletal armor in her dragon form, but if it can work together and change like your eternal or- eternal codex, then it would make her safer." Su yed right to what Walker cared for most. The safety of his family. Not that she was trying to really make him help more here. She knew he would work on this since it was just his nature.


    "I will see what we can make, but why are you guys hanging around? I thought this would be browning?" Su and Alcie both looked at Walker when he asked. The wandering cksmith was also a little interested as he set down his drawing utensils.


    "I want to see it work." Alice was honest and somewhat quiet. No one had the nerve to say a word.


    "Well, I want to test it out and see Midnight shift forms in the middle of a battle. She might be stronger, but she has to start mixing both battle styles at some point, right?" Su was much more practical. Regardless of what their interest was, Midnight and the others had just heard Su volunteer as the sparring partner for midnight when she began testing such a thing.


    "Then that means you two are sparring while we work on this. Alice is moral support and helping make sure we have mana." the wandering cksmith looked at Walker with a smile. The two began to prepare materials while trying to find different connections for the runes. Walker was prepared to use everything he knew.


    Meanwhile, Midnight felt that she had been thrown in to a trap. Now she had to train in the hardest way possible. She had struggled learning to speak like others when she took on her dragonkin form. Now Su and all of the royal dragons had improved themselves to look much more human than she could. She was jealous.


    Even worse, Su and the others had just pushed her from the struggle to just adapt to her dragonkin from better, and right in to switching between the two wlessly. She had trouble doing so in general because she had to expend her mana to do so faster. She even used the darkness mana with her shadow to house herself to properly do so since it would be unbing to show off her body as she shifted like that.


    Meanwhile, Gil found himself with Onyx. an unexpected event when Gil hade looking for the rest of the party. "I know that Remey is busy trying to make some grand potion but the others have really been locked away in the forge for four days now?" he had been astounded when Onyx had managed to bump in to him while heading back home for a chance to find the others.


    Between the two of them, they had managed to discover what everyone had been working on. "Even sister Lisa has been working without much rest. She said that she is starting to make affinity robes to sell to the mages that will fight in the next battle." Onyx was a little sad since he made time for everyone and they were all busy!


    "I believed you would be busier than everyone since you made arge effort to create arger bond with Alma." Onyx was curious about this to some degree. He wasn''t fully understanding the idea of marriages yet since he was still young in lifepared to the others. He just grew pretty fast.


    "We should have been, but apparently she needs to do a lot of work if we want to even think about doing it before a war. Traditions and just general leadership." Gil sighed since he would have to do his own side of things out of respect for the elven people and also for his own family since his parents had dragged him right to their farm after hearing about this. But they were happy at the end of the day.


    "Does that mean you will also need to prepare clothing and gifts?" Onyx was unsure if these were the right things to keep thinking about.


    "Actually, I need to prepare a ring. The elves are known to make rings from very precious herbs and other things in nature. But I want to mix a little human in to it and add some form of gem. I was going to ask Walker for help making a natural mana gem or something." This perked Onyx up a lot. He was thinking of many things.


    "I can help you with that. They might be busy and not able to help us, but I have brought some of the younger serpents to help in the forge. Those who learned in the cathedral were asked to heal the cksmiths'' apprentices. They have ess to plenty of materials to make the proper mana gems. They even have multiple elemental techniques."


    Gil stopped for a moment to consider this. The wandering cksmith was the best cksmith there was. No doubt about it. But, if he was busy, bringing multiple cksmith''s together meant more than anything. Especially if it was to help everyone learn more. He even recalled seeing a few young elves that had requested to learn from the dwarves in particr.


    "That might be the best idea yet, there are some younger elves that went to help the dwarves so that they could learn too. Since the others are busy, show me to where the younger serpents are helping heal. I bet we will find the perfect people." Gil was much more energized. He shook away the thoughts about breaking in to the wandering cksmith''s forge and yelling at the others.


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 Chapter 1974 1974. The Right Forging Technique

    Chapter 1974 1974. The Right Forging Technique


    "Who here has met one of the heroes that helped bring the races together to create all of what we live in now?" The older dwarf that was speaking was not just a dwarf. He was one of the higher ranking cksmiths that had taken the chance to help establish the crafting guild.


    Specifically, he had managed to both leave behind his older forge in the dwarven kingdom underground city and also walk by himself all the way to Genesis. He had done so because he believed what Walker and the others stood for the day that they had helped the entire dwarven poption from being homeless.


    The events that the slimes caused were well known. The dwarves had celebrated and begun to rebuild. But when this man had learned of the hero''s goal to have a safe ce for all races, he began his journey to the human kingdom city of Diamond.


    The results were clear. He had managed to be one of the first dwarves here in Genesis. Naturally, he established a forge to help those working repair their tools. He became well known for teaching others to maintain their tools and also how to build them.


    From that point on, he had a ce helping those wanting to make a real crafting guild. Then it was an easy ask when an instructor position opened up. While he had proven himself as a very good cksmith, he had gained a pretty damn appropriate title that went along with it.


    "No? Then you will now. Using a little of my authority as guide of apprentice cksmiths, I have given us the full day to learn and experiment in this outdoor forge with the hero Gil and the hero Onyx. what? Did you only think one of them woulde to speak to me?" The instructor looked proud to show off his title.


    He had be the guide of apprentice cksmiths and the world had handed him this title. He was never expecting to be a master or some amazing cksmith. But that was all because he had a system that pretty much said that.


    However, his own efforts gave him the chance to teach others. Even when it cost him his hard earned gold and time, he had kept teaching. That was where the title hade from. Hard work and the will to help the young. It made a lot of sense to Gil and Onyx who had found him on their way to bother as many people in the crafting guild for help as possible.


    "Today, these two will assist you in experimenting a little. I know that there are some of you attempting the forest forging techniques that have recently been improved. Others may be using the titans hammer techniques, and then even a few using the solid ice method. They are all wee today as long as you to make the right precautions." The instructor had said this for the benefit of Gil and Onyx, but it was also to give the students a warning.


    These were apprentices. The youngest members of the crafting guild wish to improve their skills. Since they were young, they had a natural disposition to get in trouble. How else would they just be kids after all? But Gil was here for another reason.


    "I think we will find some interesting techniques here. I already want to meet the elves that are using the forest forging technique. I heard that it can make wood bend and mold just like metal."


    "If you want to check that, then head to the back where the trees are, they were nted for that training." the instructor pointed it out and Gil moved along with onyx carefully ncing around.


    The drama of having two of the most famous people in the city ended quickly. Having free reign to send the entire day forging without lessons or demonstrations was rare. The younger a cksmith, the more they had to work to learn. But taking the time to experiment twas rare. Just because there was too much to learn about materials. Memorizing such things was of the utmost importance for a cksmith!


    The three elves wiring on their techniques were surprising not even touching a hammer. They instead, had stones with tree roots and vines wrapped around them. But runes covered them aligned with other manas which hade from the elves themselves.


    Since they heard Gil was here, they wanted to show their best. This was the man that had constantly helped the elven race unite and even put himself forward as a pir of them bringing back high elven techniques. Naturally they would want to impress him even more for that. Regardless of him engaging with their literal future elf queen!


    "So the forest forging method is simply using mana and natural items to create tools needed to enhance and alter natural items. The hammer controls the flow of manas within the tree causing it to be shaped like a forge and cksmith world metal." Onyx spoke out loud but also had an eye focused on his very clearly.


    "It is perfect to make the ring shape, but it would just be a ring shape and nothing more. The technique is good, but it''s not all I need. There should be a more human aspect in this." When Gil said this, he and Onyx watched a sudden whisper spread through all the nearby apprentice cksmiths. They shared this little gossip quickly. They all now knew he was looking to forge a ring. It was easy to guess who for.


    There was a moment where a few started to forge harder and caused some things to break. It was embarrassing, but losing focus would do that to them. They had to learn some how, better here where people were ready to help them or heal them when the worst happened.


    "What about the demi-human there? Three of them look to have learned the wild forging technique. It takes four or fine people, but it is very close to the beastial nature you might want to capture in a ring." Onyx noticed this unique forgoing method. The demi-humans had basic forging, but also their own unique methods as every race did.


    The three demi-humans were wildly punting on a heated metal ingot at odd angles. Their methods bnced one another''s strikes while the small de took shape. However, the errors were evident. The three were unbnced and the de slowly curved and showed cracked while they worked. It only took another ten minutes to crack in half leaving a broken piece of metal only partially shaped.


    "This might be harder than I thought. We need to find people to bring their techniques together and create the most unique ring with the nature of elven tradition and human influence. That''s the only way-" Gil felt something bump in to his leg. He was surprised to be suddenly interrupted by a small demon girl''


    "And who are you little one? Are you also a cksmith in training here?" Onyx spoke before Gil and the little girl nodded. What the tow did not realize until they looked closer, was that this was not just a demon girl. A half demon half dwarf girl.


    They recalled some of the demons managing to flee to outer viges but having trouble finding homes. This was before everything had happened with the heroes rising. These people had found homes far from the demonnds. Their homes had been mostly in small viges that rarely hadpany due to their locations. This was clearly a dwarven vige member who had been born just a few years ago in the grand scheme of things.


    Before Gil could say something, the girl pulled him. He was shocked to find she was stronger than what he expected. Also that she had one small horn growing from her head that proved without a doubt that she had demon blood in her. The muscles of a dwarf and the mana of a demon. Muscle and magic? Gil''s interest was piqued.


    "Put up your shields. She''s going to blow up the heroes." one boy spoke up before someone pped the back of his head for being rude.


    However, just from that, Gil and Onyx somewhat understood. Strength butck of mana control came from dwarves. Control of mana andck of great strength came from demons. Therefore, if they were mixed, it would be very hard to control everything. In turn, it meant that many materials would be destroyed because controlling both strengths might not work for this little apprentice.


    "Materials." the little girl opened a hand and Gil was unsure if he should offer anything he had brought. He had only brought things he had managed to collect and gather by himself or along with Alma. pieces of unique trees from the elven forest, mana crystals from their adventures, and even a few things they had gathered while on the ships in the ocean filled with dangers.


    "Gil, I think this is a good idea." Onyx stopped Gil''s thoughts of fear and worry. Instead, Gil caught on that Onyx was gesturing with his tail. Each spot that onyx pointed was clearly broken because of failed forging. Yet, they also showed a greater array of manas. Of multiple techniques being tested. As if this apprentice was looking for one that truly fit her.


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 Chapter 1975 1975. Layering Rings

    Chapter 1975 1975. Layering Rings


    "Stop that already." The half demon and half dwarf girl froze. She looked at Gil with a fearful expression. She believed that he was about to tell her off.


    It made sense. She had walked right over to him to show off skill when she could not even forge one thing. She had heard the others tease her and wonder what was even happening. Not to mention the fact that this was a literal hero! He had many better things than whatever she could forge.


    "Are you seriously just standing there looking at me now? Come here and watch this." Gil shook his head. He wasn''t being rude for fun. Eh was mimicking some of the ways he had seen the dwarves act. It was blunt and straight forward. But it also let her use the mentality of a demon. Watch and learn. Figure out the trick. Then take it for herself.


    "Gil, if you show her that she might not get it right away." Onyx added to this. It was clear to the instructor that the two were stealing small pieces of how they had seen some demons and dwarves act. It was even moreical that the little girl before them was a bit shocked and also unsure how to act.


    When she saw Gil taking out the bow he always used and grabbing at an arrow, she feared him even more. But she also knew that if he was that angry, she could do nothing. She was pretty weak after all.


    "This is my bow. Look At how the mana flows through it. My entire bow is full of mana. So why doesn''t this fire arrow explore? There''s mana crystal and the mana of my bow touched the arrow?" Gil asked while slowly drawing the arrow back.


    "And why is my mana being concentrated at my hand after going in to the bow?"


    "Now why is it that when i think about doing this¡­"


    Gil released the arrow. Those who watched witnessed it fly upwards before exploding in a fire ball. A smaller one since this was an older arrow, but a fire ball nheless. One that could easily have burned most of the apprentices here. One that even drew the attention of a few patrolling guards before they rxed it was just Gil showing off.


    "My mana suddenly pulses in to the arrow through me and the bow at the same time it is released, then the arrow reacts when it''s away from me?" Gil had an expectant look before moving backwards and just standing there watching.


    "Are you going to try it now? If you don''t, we might get angry." Onyx used a little intimidation. He felt bad, but knew that he had to strike while the iron was hot. Not metaphorically, but he literally was watching some pieces of metal cooling nearby the furnace. It was not good if it cooled too much.


    This didn''t seem to phase anyone. Even with Onyx slightly enhancing his size. He remained smaller because it was easier, but he knew the true size of his body and how it could scare just about everyone within Genesis. However, the reason no one was afraid was because his eyes were on the forge and not any one of them.


    A slight glint came over the girl''s eyes as she went to work again. However, she had seen the point of what Onyx and Gil were getting at with the demonstration. Specifically, she had understood this better than the way she was taught and lectured to. What Gil and Onyx saw was not a bad student or bad instructor. Just a poorly matched student and instructor.


    "The physical force met with my mana makes my arrow fly. I could shoot an arrow without mana. But I can only activate the arrow with mana but not shoot it properly. So, if I want to cooperate, I need to hold myself back in the booth physically and with my mana until thest second." Gil said this for those that were watching, the girl did not seem to notice him speaking.


    She had tried to just push themana and physical force at the same time. Even when she drew it back, she did not do so with both. She would just try and send her hammer down or the mana at different times. She always thought of them as two different forces. However, for her, she had to think of them as the same exact force.


    With the demonstration, she had seen physical force and mana working in perfect harmony for one second, not for extended times as other cksmiths did with their forging techniques. Therefore, she realized that she had broken so many pieces of metal because she was trying to copy people that did not have the same control of physique and mana as she did. They were more to one side or the other.


    When the hammer came down, she did exactly as Gil had. She pushed all the mana out and hoped for the best. Her mind and body was ready for a break or a crack or anything bad. But reality showed her metal that glowed. Metal that absorbed the mana from the hammer and even heated the metal more.


    "So you have an affinity with fire. I bet that you can do more with it than you think. Like maybe forging something out of this? You have a bit more mana than most people. If you manage to make a ring like this," Gil drew some figures in the dirt, "then I will introduce you to a cksmith friend of mine." Gil smiled and the girl opened her mouth in shock.


    Before she could even take a breath, she had the metal ore in her hands. Meanwhile, Onyx had already picked of five other students to forge other parts of what he had in mind.


    The symphony of hammering and flows of manas around them were all because of the materials he brought. Unique pieces of wood from the forest of the elves. Pieces of metal from the Sigil continent. Mana crystals he happened to have for making arrows. And even a few remaining slivers of shed scales that Midnight had let him keep.


    As time went by, Gil found that many of the apprentices were learning more. They were also amazed by the quick drawing that they were all beginning to learn and blueprint. The instructor was also teaching them different ways to create a blueprint from a customer''s ideas. That was why Gil felt that this was an even better ce to be since they were all learning.


    "One ring made from the spiritual wood of the elven forest. A central ring that will stand for the origin and home that Alma grew up in. then a steel band that will wrap the sides. That will stand for the metal ingot I brought from my home city, a human city. Next the green wind crystal shaped by the spirit forger over there and their spirit friends," Gil nced at another cksmith apprentice, "it stands for my affinity for wind, I will use it to send my arrows to whatever threats roam near those I love."


    Gil stopped for a moment before grabbing one of thest two pisces, " andst of all, the two outeryers. Made of pressed sap and seeds from multiple wildflowers and trees. They will be the offer of ast protection for the great elf queen that can grow nts in seconds to be her guardians. Her fighters. Her salvation in the dark." Gil smiles while pushing every piece together.


    When he had shown all the apprentices what parts they needed to make, they had not understood. But now, they fully grasped that each piece had been made so that they came together to one ring full of multipleyers. Each standing for something that meant more to each of them. Not just a ring to show their union. But something that showed their journeys as well as their origins.


    "I think that Alma will be proud to wear it. I''ll keep it a secret though for now. Only because you''re my brother." Onyx sounded like he might be on the verge of tears. But Gil just sat smiling in his own world. His mind captivated by the ring he had asked to be made by people who may never have had the chance to forge like this. To grow like this without the challenges and adventures he had already been on.


    "Now, all of you should have a good day forging. I will be stealing away your ssmate to meet a friend. When you see her again, you should catch her up on your lectures." Gil smirked. He wanted to have some runes carved on this and knew the people that could manage that safely.


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 Chapter 1976 1976. Shocked Forging

    Chapter 1976 1976. Shocked Forging


    "So, while we walk, why don''t you tell me your name?" Gil was careful to walk slower while Onyx slithered by their side. He figured since they had found someone to help them and that had a very interesting usage for their mana and body when forging, that he should make sure he knew them well before they ended up famous.


    "Allison!" She had a bright and cheery attitude now that she could somewhat forge. It was only somewhat because she was still understanding the feeling she had when she had sessfully forged.


    "Well, Allison, I am taking you to where my family is. They had to forge some things with another friend of ours. Well, he is basically family now since he has also lived in our mansion. That is if he ever left his forge." Gilughed a bit which made Allison very confused. But she was more than d to have the attention of two heroes who had already helped her before.


    "Allison, is walking too slow? Won''t you be tired by the time we get there? That would not be nearly as exciting." Onyx''s interruption made Allison nod a little. Gil smiled before anything happened. He could tell what Onyx was doing.


    All the time in the cathedral with Midnight as his partner in babysitting had made Onyx very good with children. It had also been why many people were willing to open their hearts and minds to monsters.


    An abyssal serpent who was considered nothing in the grand scheme of things had somehow managed so much. Protected and fought for them. Why would they allow themselves to believe this to be a monster rather than a race equal to them? Now Onyx was a bonafide hero too. It just made a ton of sense that he would be trusted with all his past actions. Let alone when he had first been trusted by those they knew him and Midnight as part of the heroic party.


    "Watch me carefully. I am not really this small." Onyx started to show off as he grewrger to the point of being able to rival a carriage on the road. Even he had not realized the depth of his growth since he kept his body hidden in shadows at all times that he would not scare anyone nor would he cause issues.


    But since he was able to, he could take up the roadway a little more than others. This being one instance where he wanted to show off a little and stretch. "And here we go." Gil wrapped an arm around Allison and hopped in to the air. A soft breeze let them down carefully on Onyx''s back. "Special transportation on the literal back of a hero. How about that?"


    Gil and Onyx reveled in the giggles of Allison while they raced through the streets and stopped right in front of the wandering cksmith''s forge. While the trip had been less scary than what Allison had imagined when she saw the shadows stretching and Onyx''s real size, she was very happy to have traveled the way they did. She never would have imagined that to be possible. Yet, she was in Genesis, a ce she realized was full of the impossible.


    "And the door is even cracked open." Gil sighed as he pushed it open. It was clear that whoever had walked outside for airst had left it open. He was ready to yell at someone about theirck of security but that wasn''t the main reason for being here.


    However, when they saw that the wandering cksmith was polishing a mana gem that ahd just been pressed, they were a little surprised. The mana gem was significantlyrger than most. It was also being fed mana by Walker who was attempting to draw spatial mana using the eternal codex.


    "Oh, we missed a lot." Gil saw that Alice and Su were clearly absorbed in polishing some parts of armor that they had been handed. They were so focused that they only gave a smile to Gil and Omnyx when they arrived.


    Walker, on the other hand, had noticed the odd trio. Odd because Gil had been very busytely to meet up with him. Onyx had been caught up with the young serpents. So much so that Walker was sure that any free time Onyx used would be to rest for some time.


    Then there was a girl that he had never seen. One that had an odd arrangement of features that Walker realized were more than just one race which brought surprise to him.


    "Well, seeing as all of you are busy, I guess I shouldn''t bring theyered ring that some of the young apprentices from the crafting guild helped me make. Actually, multiple made eachyer and piece of it. I wanted it engraved with runes that helped gather mana for Alma by our friendly wandering cksmith. But I guess I will have to wait another time." Gil shook his head sadly.


    "It''s a shame brother Gil. Now Allison can''t meet the best cksmith there is and show off her unique forging method. I thought he might want an apprentice." Onyx seemed to throw out thest important detail that made the wandering cksmith nearly drop the mana gem he was working with.


    The wandering cksmith had many people that wanted to be taught by him. But he refused every apprentice. Yet, the party had never brought someone to him. Let alone someone so young. Even Rodney, who had been right there to copy and learn from him, was a few years older than the young girl here.


    "Wait, you actually brought someone to be an apprentice? Shouldn''t you be asking him first?" Walker was surprised that both Onyx and Gil were in on this, but he was more surprised to see that the wandering cksmith was equally surprised as the girl was when he looked at her and she him.


    Naturally, Allison knew who the wandering cksmith was. Yet, she had never met or seen him. Now, she was in the same forge as him. HIS forge! A ce that could be called holy and filled with power and amazing everything to any cksmith. She couldn''t evenprehend that there were multiple forge furnaces with different colored mes.


    "She has a lot of mana and some control over it. She has a lot of strength too. We helped her figure out the trick to holding them both back and use them in unison. I would call her forging style-"


    "It''s called soul forging. It uses my mana and my body together. With me whole soul." Allison spoke up with a nervous tone. Her head lowered since she was worried that she was saying something wrong.


    "Very good. The essence of forging should be with the soul. Watch me and tell me what you see." the wandering cksmith spoke softly. Like he was afraid to scare the child in front of him off. It was a very different change from his normally quiet andposed actions. This even made Su and Alice stop in their actions.


    The wandering cksmith grabbed his hammer and used some tongs to pull out a small sliver of iron. He had it to use as embellishments just in case he wanted. But when he mmed his hammer down, his mana burst out with more flourish than usual. As a result, the sliver of metal was ttened, but it also curled even though he had not done so with any tool. His mana had caused it.


    "And?" the wandering cksmith waited a moment.


    "Your mana moved differently at the same time as your hammer did!" Allison had seen it clearly. She looked like she was shaking from literal excitement.


    "Then you can stay and watch for today. If you can forge a spring using your forging technique within the next three days, you can be my apprentice." The wandering cksmith didn''t hesitate to return to work while the rest of them were shocked.


    Making springs was delicate work. A very hard challenge for a child let alone a newer cksmith. But even more so, he had the added challenge of just using mana to make it happen while the hammer ttened it. That would mean that Allison would grow at a very fast pace.


    "Can I practice here?"


    "You can only do it here. Three days. Sleep here or leave here. It''s your choice." the wandering cksmith did not speak or look after this. He just returned to his experiments while the rest of the party looked stunned.


    "So I guess he likes her enough to give her a chance." Gil just stood stunned as Allison moved toward the smallest hammer and felt it bnced in her hand. No one else had words for the odd situation they were in right this moment.


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 Chapter 1977 1977. A Simple Love

    Chapter 1977 1977. A Simple Love


    "Are you sure you want us to just go and eat without you?" Walker felt bad that the wandering cksmith and the new apprentice, or at least who he believed would be the apprentice, were being left behind. But with a wave of his hand, the wandering cksmith left them all with their answer.


    Regardless, after working on small pieces here and there, along with polishing them, the wandering cksmith had stopped everyone from working. It wasn''t because they were doing anything wrong. It was simply because they did not have the skills nor the mind to be able to keep working on everything.


    Creating a changing armor that would be able to transform just the way that Midnight did was a challenge. Luckily, this was not something new in the thoughts of the wandering cksmith. For Midnight, yes it was new, but overall, it was not.


    The other dragons had asked for armor. But they only wanted armor for their dragon forms. Therefore, the wandering cksmith had not focused on creating armor that would change with them. But he had the idea.


    Now that he was able to put it in to practical building theory, he was very focused. But he too needed to eat, not to mention Allison, who was only a child still. It was also a good chance to let her parents know, even though they would trust the heroes regardless. The party had managed to get hungry enough while they had been doing their own thing before even getting to the wandering cksmith. Instead of just using whatever Walker had in his high spatial storage, he had to get something fresh.


    This led Gil, Alice, Su, Midnight, and Onyx to leave in search of food to bring back. Meanwhile, the wandering cksmith had discreetly taken theyered rin to begin his ideas for carving runes.


    This had been an interesting challenge. Many cksmiths worked together around the world. The dwarves as a perfect example.


    They would work together making multiple parts for each of their golems. These dwarven golems had gears, steam aspects, and sometimespletely rune carved magical parts. They made parts individually and would bring them together under a master cksmith or whoever was the lead of this project. It was why they were able to do so much as a race when it came to innovation.


    The challenge was because this was the case for theyered ring. Multiple very young and inexperienced cksmiths had worked using various materials. This was due to the meanings behind the materials but regardless, it made things much harder.


    The wandering cksmith would be matching the mediums used with the runes so that there would not be any shing. Iut made him think of what Walker asked him when it came to the eternal orb. Brining multiple manas together.


    But that was where the spark hade from. While everyone had left to get food, the wandering cksmith was working. So was the newly found apprentice, Allison.


    When the wandering cksmith began to dig through tools, Allison had stopped. She was watching her idol look around almost. But before she could get the courage to speak up again, she saw him pull a very small bag. More specifically, a roll of leather that held tools.


    Inside were a set of incredibly small engraving tools. He was clearly going to be using these on the ring. But when it came to what he was carving, he surprisingly began taking out swatches of fabric. These were from Lisa''s shop.


    The reason these had been the focus of his thoughts were the simple fact of how they came to be. Originating ideas from the forest elves and their sewn fabric runes was the main case. The ring would follow the traditions of the elves already while adding the bolstered effects of Genesis innovations. From there, they would be carved differently for eachyer in the ring before it was coated in a unique sent.


    The small mana gems that the wandering cksmith had shaved form other mana gems could also be used. They would fill gaps so that the runes would hold mana themselves. An ideal way to make use of the space made for the runes and also extra products.


    Seeing these things gathered was confusing but mystical to Allison. She could notprehend because shecked the knowledge. However, she could see that they were all important. It was why she began to learn. She saw the preparations to do something. The right tools. The right materials. The right control as the wandering cksmith took one very small and delicate tool to do the job.


    "Hello?" Walker was the one to speak. While they had left the forge, they had made their way toward the home of Allison. They had easily found it after stopping back with the instructor.


    "Yes, what can we do for you?" The dwarven man that greeted them was adorned with a small shield and an ax. His armor was a matching version of the guards. Therefore, he was a guard himself.


    "You must be Allison''s father. We came to let you know that we took her from ss to meet the wandering cksmith. She had an interesting forging style and Gil wanted to introduce her to him. She is working for the next three days at a chance to be his first ever apprentice." Walker didn''t cut corners or add formalities. He was right out in the open with what would happen.


    "What! Honey! Get out of the garden ande over here!" the small family homes built along the residential areas had a small gardens. Many families had nted basic herbs and a few of their favorite things. It was nothing like a farmer could grow, but it was something everyone naturally took pride in.


    When the woman rushed to them with a worried expression, Walker took note that she had scars on her face from what could have only been a dangerous escape from the demonnds years ago. Her horns were both cracked and showed the same history of dangers. However, the small mage staff that she had on her back proved she was somewhat of a magic user.


    "Our daughter is testing to be THE wandering cksmith''s apprentice!" The worry melted away and an expression of true pride bloomed on her face.


    "We were helping there and went to get food for them. If you would like toe along and drop it off with us, you are more than wee. I am Gil, I had the apprentices at the crafting guild help me with a task. But I found she had a unique forging method that needed her to control mana and her body in perfect unison to create an ideal effect. A little more challenging than other techniques, but it could do more in the long run ." Gil seemed to ramble on before the two hugged him.


    "We thought that our daughter would take years to figure it all out. She was always so sad after she couldn''t use the system skills she had because everything broke. We even tried building a small home forge for her but she refused to use it since she thought that she would break it." The mother was the happiest. Naturally she had seen the sadness in her daughter''s eyes upon so many failures at first.


    "Well, Onyx and I were more surprised to meet a half dwarf and half demon child. Because of you two she is strong and she is able to use mana better than others. She is the perfect example of both of your bonds. A true example of Genesis too." Gil felt awkward after being hugged suddenly.


    "Well why would we note here? Huh? The first ce where my wife can be seen as another person without being bothered? I hated that whenever we went to the city to see my family they were judgy. But now with all those heroes¡­ Oh holy dragon mes in the forge, you''re the heroes!"


    What proceeded was a clear example ofical overreacting. The husband and wife pair had not realized immediately that their lovely daughter had managed to befriend the heroes that helped found Genesis!


    By the time they calmed down, the party present heard the story of the wife escaping the demonnds and running for months. Afraid she had not left it at all. Sneaking through streams to hide and running in the dark to avoid certain monsters. When she found her husband, she tried to run, but he had stopped her in her tracks and forced her to treat the wounds on her body from herst daring escape.


    Before long, he had found an epting smaller vige and settled down. As time had gone on, things were rough with judgmental stares about demons being evil or turning in to full fledged monsters. But then the heroes arrived and flipped everyone''s perceptions on their heads. They created Genesis and offered a ce for these two to bring their young daughter to life happy and free.


    Besides making everyone listening feel as if they were hearing the greatest love story of all time, it also showed that these were the people that they fought for. That they wished to protect. Byt the time they made it to the forge, no one had it in their heart to interrupt the little cksmith Allison watching the wandering cksmith carve runes with the utmost care a master of their craft could use.


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 Chapter 1978 1978. Next Days Plans

    1978 1978. Next Day''s ns While the family of three ate, the party did so as well. However, the wandering cksmith had pulled Gil aside to show off theyered ring once it had been finished. As Gil looked at the enhanced polishing and artistic rune formations, he could only be amazed by it more. It was something that he had not even been able to imagine the real look of what he wanted to give to Alma on the fateful day of their union.


    While some would say they were too young, the aplishments, levels, and general fact that marriage was already eptable at the age of sixteen. The entire party had been together for a decent length of time now. They had birthdays pass and go during their adventures. The seasons had changed around them, but they had moved to different continents, naturally, they had missed some things in that time.


    Regardless, the runes that Gil saw were perfectly carved and even had small mana gem shards added to fill the space. Each had been polished and set ideally. He was more amazed to see that the manas being drawn in were different.


    When Walker used the all around appraisal to check it, he easily grasped what was shocking Gil so much.


    ''Grandyered ring


    This ring has multipleyers of unique materials that are incredibly important to the bond of two people. Only those two hold the emotional value in the materials this ring is made out of. However, the high ss embellishments added improved the message along with the lower skilled forging of young cksmiths.


    The rune carvings on each material andyer were different due to the high ss skills of the wandering cksmith.


    There as a small light mana gathering formation to draw in light that would be used in nt growth.


    There is a small wind rune formation to allow air for nt growth.


    There is a small water rune formation so that there can be water mana drawn in to assist nt growth.


    There is a small earth rune formation to assist the earth mana needs of a growing nts.


    These rune formations all intersect creating a partial natural rune formation. This is why fire mana was added to the mana gem shards that are embedded within this ring. Therefore, natural mana is slowly created in small amounts to allow the wearer to utilize a boosting effect to all nt based attacks, growth, and defenses that they use. It is the perfect match for someone that relies on nts to survive.''


    Seeing that this had surpassed that of a normal ring, Walker was incredibly impressed. He could tell that Gil''s smile would only grow as he understood more about the limits and uses that this ring had. Even the bits of wood used within the ring made everyone that looked at it feel that it might burst to life and change forms to be a great tree.


    Regardless, when the wandering cksmith and Gil had finished speaking, Walker was sure that there would be more to do in the future. The wandering cksmith wanted to grasp the right forging techniques and methods to be able to create a changing armor. The shifting armor that Midnight would wear might be the future armor for all demi-humans and dragons.


    The idea that such arge change might ur during his lifetime made Walker wonder just what they would look like.


    For the youngest of dragons, it would mean that they were safer. They would be able to change their forms at a younger age as they grew up in Genesis and learned more. That was already something that everyone began to think about whether they believed it or not.


    But when it came to the safety aspect, Walker knew that it would be when they went outside Genesis or when they challenged ces like the coliseum that was having additional construction to be ready for a grand wedding in just a short time away.


    The demi-humans were a challenge for this as well. Many of them had monster or animal traits. This was the reason for the shifting armor creation. They had to wear armor that could handle when they brought out the most in their skills.


    For example, a wolf traited demi-human could often have skills that brought out their ws or their teeth. Some of them even gained extra muscle or at most, could use a skill called werewolf which was a transformation that got them confused for being a werewolf monster. During that, they would be unable to wear armor that they had before because it would harm their bodies because their bodies would berger.


    Therefore, if a shifting armor was made, they would be more protected in battle. This would make coliseum battles much harder andst longer. But more than that, it would mean that battles and warsing up would be safer. Especially for those that gained strength by changing their forms in some ways,..


    This could also be used for the tamer''s guild. Many people would forget that they had some abilities to change their form as well. Clearly, they had not met tamer''s like Elise who could mimic the form of a harpy because she was literally raised with Ste as a sister.


    Many of the other tamers could meld with their beast or even share blood to change their forms. It was an entirely new realm of knowledge that Walker had not yet managed to understand. Mostly because there were many prerequisites to skills within the tamer''s systems.


    "This will be the exact thing that will make Alma cry or stunned in to silence. I know that''s weird to say, but it''s exactly what I think will happen." Gil felt that he had taken a massive weight off his shoulders by doing this. It was a major part of what he needed to do for him to fulfill a human contribution to the wedding.


    "Walker, I will need your help with the other half of what I need. Part of the elf traditions for a bond like this means I need to live for a full day in the wilderness forests. What I am saying is, I need you to help me get to the forest from here and take all my stuff. I have to do it with my own ability." this came out of nowhere, but with what Gil was focused on, Walker understood.


    Gil was looking to have everything he needed to properly marry Alma in his human traditions and also in the elven traditions. Things that would be hard for the average person, but since Gil was willing to stand for the elves as their hero who united their race yet again, it was just one step he had to take.


    "Then I guess that means when we finish up here I will be busy. Su, Alice, can you two handle helping Alma? I know that there are usually a few things that a bride might need." Walker was going to tell Midnight too, but from what he could see, she was too focused on the future armor she may have.


    "Brother, I will find Remey and ensure that she is ready to be present at such an asion. I know that she has worked too hard thest few days." Onyx spoke up for something that Walker was going to rush back here to do anyways. Therefore, it was a very big help overall. It was something that the entire party worried over.


    It wasn''t that they knew Remey did not care. But with her walking a new and dangerous path alongside Ignus, there was some fear. Fear that she would be unable to be there and keep the mana in her body bnced. Especially with the fact that she was not at all a dragon.


    "Then I guess we will leave you here for the time being. You will be fine?" Walker saw the wandering cksmith smile.


    "I will attend the event as well." This was proof that the wandering cksmith valued them more than just his forging. He had a love for the forge and the discoveries he had made. But, he had found connections with the party at levels well above any others he had in life so far.


    "And we will wait to hear how your potential apprentice does." Walker and the party gave a wave as they left. The family of three were having their own moment while they finished their food. But the wandering cksmith did not frown when he looked over at Allison and her family. Instead, his eyes glinted with a small bit of interest. Just enough that it was sure that he would be keeping a careful eye on what she would be doing. The entire party had a feeling that the wandering cksmith had more nned than he let on.


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 Chapter 1979 1979. Beyond Others

    1979 1979. Beyond Others The alchemy guild was abuzz with many conversations and events. But no ce was in greater contrast than thergest lecture hall that had been built. It was dead silent. Even the whispers were quickly silenced by those nearby the offender. They even tried to breathe silently. Some feeling the effects of such actions as Onyx slithered in behind them.


    The oldest alchemical masters had taken up positions to assist the two master alchemists that acted as two of the three masters of the alchemy guild. The third had ventured in to the elven forests to test newly awakened alchemists to see if they wished to join the guild. To find new herbs.


    The older masters were prepared to offer any herb they were yelled at to det. They dly followed even the smallest orders to uncork a mana potion or to open a vent for better air flow. It was amazing for the youngest apprentices who had just taken their first steps in to the world of alchemy to watch their high and mighty masters and instructors acting like this.


    What they did not grasp yet, due to their ignorance, was that they were witnessing the creation of a grand potion. Something that was considered once in a lifetime. Something that is often found to be some rumor to attract business. Very few alchemists could make them. Even fewer seeded more than once in their lives.


    Since the alchemy guild was formed, the alchemists had been forced to gather their knowledge. Change their ways of extorting people of high priced potions. To lower and focus on their alchemy for real. Others finally had the chance to shine because theirpetition was not stomping on them.


    But with the formation of the alchemy guild came promises. This event, was one such promise.


    All that alchemical knowledge brought together could create amazing things. One of which was a grand potion potential. More than one in fact.


    The guild masters that had sat atop this guild had shown their faith in the fact that the guild would produce grand potions within the future. Specifically, within a short time with their increasing power and knowledge. Therefore, this event was very important to the older alchemists.


    Beyond that, the ones who had more knowledge and had a burning me to learn more, had pushed their way to the front to stand. No one could sit, the hall was too full. Even some returned masters hade to watch and were helped up to see by others. It was amazing event which had been going on for over a full day so far.


    Those that had passed out had been carried to areas where healers had been stationed in case the process went poorly and people were injured. But the healers quickly realized that people watching were their main job. They had to handle those without the energy of body to survive witnessing such a process.


    Every now and then, someone would rush from the room. They had witnessed a technique that they struggled with. A technique that they had not used before and was somehow appearing simple. These small epiphanies were something that they would have taken a much longer time to reach.


    What they did not realize, was that even Remey and the master alchemist were in a state where they were creating some ways to make their potion on the spot.


    So many incredibly unique and challenging herbs were everywhere around them. Some needed to have the outeryer scrapped to get a singleyer of their pulp. Other needed to be dried on the spot and reduced as their own potion to be added. Even more were requiring other herbs to counter the toxic qualities of the desired herbs.


    This was so many techniques that only the alchemists with the highest amount of experience and knowledge were able to follow. But Remey, she had managed to watch the old master alchemist for years. She grew up watching him when she could barely understand what he did.


    The old master alchemist had also been raised on alchemy. His other the one that literally shaped the alchemy building that he had be the master of in the first ce. He had spent many hours of istion that allowed him to learn the ins and outs of alchemy to a level where he had even finished potions while falling asleep. His body and mind knew alchemy as it was part of them as well.


    The learning here was much higher than any lecture or spoke word could share at this level. Especially the me control.


    Remey was clearly using every ounce of focus to perfectly control every small wisp of me. The fire mana was in the palm of her hand. Some mes even lit on her body only to be drawn away to the mes boiling the cauldron. Or they were snuffed out instantly.


    When people saw that Remey was even using unique alchemy mes with a golden hue to process some herbs in her hands, they were shocked. Such me control was only seen on very unique systems rted to fire mages or other rare systems that were so rarely heard of, that most people would not know then anyways.


    They forgot that Remey was an alchemical brawler. The only one in existence. A unique ss that she had based on her desires and the world reaction to them. But a reminder that there was more beneath the surface was Ignus. He stood watching with eyes fully focused on Remey''s every single movement.


    While some only saw what was on the surface. Ignus knew that Remey was still settling the extremely potent fire mana within her heart as he was. The formation of a core of unique fire mana that was part of them was still a hard thing to manage since they had to allow their bodies and manas to revolve around it. It was like having a new heart that had to match the space of the current one. But it had to be controlled with intention at all times instead of a passive action.


    This took a lot of mental and physical energy. Yet, Ignus was surprised that Remey was adapting at a seemingly faster pace than him. As if she had used her sheer will to make it work better. That she was driving herself beyond what a human should be able to do at all times.


    That didn''t erase his fears. He worried that she would be a second too slow to help stabilize the mana if the worst happened. He feared that it would be impossible to do that if such a thing were to happen.


    Ignus noticed the very small shadow slither in to a very small serpent beside him. "I will let Sister Remey continue. She will need to be at the ceremony in a few days'' time." Onyx saw Ignus move a finger slightly as if that was his form of a nod at the moment. "And I will remain here to witness her grand aplishments. Families should be there to support each other." Onyx had learned his values from the party. Naturally he felt the same as they would.


    This made Igus seem to grin a little. But Onyx was unsure of this was just in his head or not. He was just thankful he could still speak to others mentally without causing any noise or bother for others.


    A feeling of tension moved through the entire hall. When Onyx saw the herb being taken, he wonder if it was real or just some fake item. Be managed to hear a whisper from someone before they were silenced. Luckily, he also saw that the item was in a container to disy it. That was proof of the rarity. The disy even had a description of the herb.


    "The golden phoenix root. A fire type herb that can be dug up and nted in hot environments. It is extremely temperamental and will be extremely resistant to any me or process used to attempt to take the unique fire mana and fire resistance properties from it. The oils will dissipate before they can be removed and processes." Onyx read this to Ignus who clearly had an idea of what it was.


    Ignus had seen this growing in literalva pools. An herb that was even tougher for dragons to eat. They would need to be at least a hundred years old to be able to handle the potent fire mana within it. Nowadays, he believed that his body will adjust think of it as a snack.


    But Remey, was using mes to manipte it already. Her mes slowly began to grow as her body was burning too. The armor and runes she wore to resist mes were struggling to keep up. Ignus had to maintain some of his own control to keep Remey safe at this point. It wasn''t her mes running rampant, but her control of them that required this. She was going much further beyond what any alchemist had before.


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 Chapter 1980 1980. Becoming Grand

    1980 1980. Bing Grand As the mes increased, the temperature within therge lecture hall became too much for many to handle. They were forced back away or even out of the room.


    Only those that had withstood mes for a longer time were able to handle the heat. They had been fighting heat and gaining resistance to heat for many years. That was what came with alchemists that used fire. It was simr to the cksmiths that worked in front of mes at all times.


    However, there was something that many had noticed. The potion in the cauldron was rapidly reducing. But along with that, it was also resisting the influence of the old monster alchemist and of Remey.


    Ignus''s eyes focused more on this fact than he had focused on things before. Onyx could sense the worry that wasing from Ignus. Specifically because of the mes growing.


    Since he and Remey had taken these steps to be dominator dragon together, Ignus could sense the unique mes that lived within her heart. They were growing and the mana was spreading even more through her.


    His heart beat made him feel the same. When he had attempted to use mes and controlled them beyond what he was able to right this second, he had noticed that a burning feeling pulsed through him.


    This was not a simple burn. Burning was hot and painful. A stinging that went deeper. However, this burning was like an abrasive acid melting through something. People could evenpare it to feeling something white hot melt through their skin. Intense pain that rivaled what many people would be able to handle.


    Because of Ignus''s understanding, he was ready to leap in. but what stopped him was Remey. She was still working. She was overexerting herself to force this potion to break the limit of the high potions that she had made before. Desiring this to take that step and break that ceiling was her entire focus.


    Due to this, she did not worry whatsoever when it came to the fact that her body''s fire resistance was no longer keeping up to the same level. She had not fully incorporated the unique new existence that she was yet. She was still more human than anything. Therefore, she still had some weakness to fire, even though it was a very hard to show damage from mes at all.


    Nothing ceased though. Remey continued to increase the heat. She had to be able to condense all the high value herbs they had added. Some had fire resistance that was bing much stronger due to being mixed properly. This meant that Remey had to bring the heat higher to remove impurities. Even the tiniest impurity would ruin the batch.


    The impurities were what could force the potion to be in greater volume. All the added liquid of whatever kind could make the potion had side effects. Make the potion fail overall. Or even make the potion just a high potion that was made with expensive herbs.


    Some of the herbs used might not get found for many years. Even lifetimes for some races!


    With a grunt, Remey pushed for more control. The result was arge increase in steaming from the cauldron. Even as it cracked, the cauldron did not release the liquid within. It had been made with multipleyers of runes and of metals. This allowed it to survive this process while it would bepletely useless afterwards.


    Many of the alchemy guild members wept when they heard the cost of a cauldron that would be considered as a one time use item. However, they also felt extreme jealousy because they knew that such a high quality cauldron was more than what they might ever be able to see in a lifetime, let alone use.


    "I need to move-"


    "No you don''t. They are fine." Ignus had started to tell Onyx that he would help Remey. The mes had gone out of control in his eyes. He could even feel the chaotic manas within Remey''s heart because his hummed in response. They were linked very deeply now.


    Yet, with Onyx taking arger size to halt Ignus enough that Ignus looked more carefully, he realized that he did not need to move at all.


    "Really? You are letting it control you. I wanted toplete the best potion of my life with my daughter before I retired and just gave lectures. But you tried to make this old man fail by putting it all on yourself?"


    The old master alchemist reached a hand out and grabbed Remey''s. His skin burned because he could in no way handle the heat of mes he would never be able to resist or control. However, Remey felt his touch and the calming voice that had spoken to him when she was the worst off.


    Many days when she feared not to have the medicine for the other young orphans she had taken charge of, this same voice hade to her rescue. Talked her in to sleeping within an alchemyb since she had gone days without so much of a nap. Or when she had cried herself in to a hoarse fear. Even when she had threatened to fight the world itself because she wanted to be an alchemist, the old master alchemist had used this tone.


    In an instant, the mes seemed to be peaceful and elegant. They perfectly wrapped the cauldron as the liquid within condensed in to a single vial''s worth of potion. Without hesitating, Remey finished the process and poured the liquid in to a high ss vial with many runes covering it.


    Those that had stayed in the room rushed to grab appraisal scrolls so that they could see what had been aplished. Only two people other than the master alchemist and Remey noticed that Remey had tears streaming down her face.


    "You got hurt too badly." Remey''s voice was barely a whisper. She feared she had just harmed the one person she valued over everyone else so badly that he may not ever do what he loved again.


    "Hurt? This was just the risk I took making a grand potion with you. What''s wrong with you? Too happy to have helped me reach my dream before I retired from making potions?"


    The two could only share this moment were Ignus and Onyx who saw this all happen. But it was broken away in seconds as ten healers rushed in and grabbed the old master alchemist to begin healing him with everything they had. Healing potions included.


    "Really, so dramatic. I barely can use these hands anymore. Old age does that to you." The old master alchemist still did not show a single ounce of pain. Just unbreakable pride when he looked over at Remet.


    Meanwhile, everyone else was shocked by what they were learning. The multiple appraisals of the created potion had broken history. It had done things that they had yet to record. Even amongst other grand potions, this way better than all currently written in to the books they spent years studying.


    ''Grand fire affinity potion


    This potion greatly puts the other fire affinity potions to shame. Not only is it guaranteed to increase the rate of understanding when learning fire mana, it does so by a massive amount. Those with the weakest of fire affinities will have a great chance of taking extreme leaps in understanding.


    Those with no fire resistance can also gain a high fire resistance after consuming this potion.


    The effects of this potionst for a full day which is greater than every other affinity potion ever created.


    The shelf life of this potion is fifty years which greatly outdoes every affinity potion ever created.


    This is a joint effort between two alchemists that consider one another family. Theirbined fire control, usage of unique fire mana, and incredible knowledge allowed this to be possible. Because of this, multiple theories of grand potions have been proved.''


    This was the recorded appraisal that every scroll came up with. Nothing less and nothing more. But no single appraisal of any potion had been like that. The people that had been forced out due to heat ran in to hear every word. They were almost worshiping this urrence.


    Meanwhile, Ignus stood carefully nearby the potion that had been set on a side table. He made a mental promise to guard it until both the old master alchemist and Remey were prepared to decide what to do with it. He did not need to speak to sense that Remey had taken a very important step in to solidifying the mana within her body.


    "Now that was something I can tell the younger serpentster. They will be amazed." Onyx felt that he was floating on a cloud while seeing everything. He wished he could have teleported the entire party here to feel what he had.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1981 1981. Some Preparations

    1981 1981. Some Preparations


    As everything that had happened made its way through the gossip of Genesis, many people did their best to show their support. This was a major event that helped establish the future of Genesis as a driving force altogether.


    Specifically, it let everyone who used potions consistently rx. They had been worried about the alchemy guild remaining as the force that governed the alchemists that had run rampant before.


    The high prices or poorly made potions were something that was fresh in many people''s minds. Humans had been at the burden of alchemists who charged exorbitant amounts of potions. That left them without much choice than to hope that healers were always around.


    The number of people that had perished while away from a healer and unable to afford a portion was too great to not worry still today.


    The worries that the demi-humans werepletely fair. They had been tricked by false potions that were really poison. This led to them banning potions entirely. A tremendous effort had been taken to ensure that potions were not sent, made, or used in their kingdom.


    The party had ensured that this changed though. Remey had taken the main lead on producing potions with high scrutiny for the dmi-humans to use. Their quality was checked multiple times and the demi-human kingdom rightfully used many appraisals to ensure that the potions were still good.


    Right this moment, as the information traveled, the demi-human people were impressed and knew that with such geniuses in the guild, that it could not cease to exist. This meant that they would have safe and effective potions for generations at the very least.


    Now that many people were seeing all the boasting that Remey and the other founding alchemists had donee true, they were impressed. More than that, it was a reason to rest easy with an uing war on the horizon.


    The people were not some sheep being herded and kept in the dark. They knew exactly what was happening. They knew that the three demons that continued to get stronger had greater ambitions than what were known.


    The people knew that these three beings could be called evil in nearly every sense, regardless of their origins. While some were falling in to a trap of their sin title, most had willingly followed such actions as documented earlier in these battles.


    The people understood the needed to fight them and return the world to a natural flow. The more that they saw quests rted to the world and this uing war, the more that they understood the gravity of their actions and other peoples'' actions. It brought them together much more quickly.


    But when it came toing together, there were two people that had left Genesis for their own reasons.


    "I can''t believe that you are actually going through with this. You are dropping your armor and only wearing a thin tunic. A wooden bow with whatever arrows you carve yourself. Then you are going to live in the forest without help at all. You even have to rub grave herbs on your body!"


    Walker had asked a few elves what their ritual was for the day before the marriage ceremony. When they had let him in on the details, he felt that Gil was crazy. But when Gil and him had left, Walker had seen Gil''s parents fully supporting him.


    Walker found that the grave herbs were a unique herb that grew over where the bodies of perished animals and monsters fell and became one with the earth. Because of their unique oils, they were known to be pungent and able to attract monsters much more than other nts and herbs.


    This meant that Gil would be facing monsters that were ready to eat him. He would not be as prepared as he could be. He had even asked Zephyr to stop herself from helping him, even if he was facing his own potential death.


    Naturally, when Walker heard this from Gil, he had pledged to silently watch from a hidden pce. He knew he could evade Gil''sdetection with his ability to use multiple manas and hide himself. There was also multiple other skills he had learned rted to stealth, specifically, the shadow wrapping skills.


    "Stop looking at me like that. I know you think I am trying to get myself killed. This is important though. Every young man in the elven race does this. Whether you like it or not, I pledge myself to be their hero. A uniting hero to bring them together. That means I have to live it in every way that I can." Gil was right. However, he also knew that he was cared for when he saw that Walker was clearly worried.


    "You know I am strong without my dagger and bow too, right? We are much higher levels than we should be at our age. Plus, you and I have both fought without weapons. Even with you having some hand to hand skills, I can somewhat keep up." Gil smirked a little, but he hesitated as they walked toward the forests.


    "By the way, did you notice anything different about my mother?" This was a question that caught Walker off guard for a moment.


    "No, did she nt something new again? I know that your father has been around the mansion more and he was talking about helping her with weeding and watering tomorrow¡­ but nothing else." Walker wondered what Gil was getting after.


    "Well, with me taking care of myself and them feeling more free to have time to themselves¡­ hmm, how do I say this, they decided that if I had a younger sibling it might be a good addition to the family and life in general." Gil sounded a little awkward saying this out loud, but his smile showed much more than what was spoken.


    "What!? You are going to have a little brother or sister? Why didn''t everyone start talking about that!?"


    "The healer just told my mother and father yesterday. They wanted to tell everyone but were holding off to share it at the ceremony to allow the entire family to know at once. I already sent a note to Alma to let her know. She should be pretty excited since she would be an aunt in that case." Gil seemed to blush more than ever after he said that. He was finally starting to ept the reality of his future.


    "It''s going to be a veryrge party then." Walker could only imagine what would happen when everyone heard this added good news. A celebration fueled by the marriage of a hero, the future queen of the elves, and now a new child being born soon? It would be insanity. But it would be very happy.


    "So, stop worrying all the time about me and this ritual. It''s part of the ceremony and who I am. Plus, there is nothing that will keep me from seeing my new little sibling born.


    There was a silence as Walker moved ahead of Gil a little. This prompted Gil to start to push ahead more. The two didn''t need more words. They had been the two guys of their party since the start. The best of friends that had melded right when they had gone on their first adventure. But they had also bonded many times through their adventures.


    As this started the big moment for Gil with Walker watching, more was happening with Alma as well.


    "We can help you get the best dress possible. I know that you have five elves that want to make your dress. You should have theme here. They can make certain nts grow that will ensure that nature is part of every single aspect. But I have more ideas." Lisa was looking at Alma carefully. She had made time to spark with Alma through Alma''s busy schedule.


    "I already considered you taking the lead. You already have business that beats everyone else. But I want one thing the most. I want a dress with patterns that match every single affinity that every elf has. Even though I want a ceremony for me and Gil, I want it to be for all elves too." this was something that Alma wanted the most out of all things.


    "Ipletely understand. I think that we can make you a rune sewn fabric that can draw in natural mana even for a temporary ceremony. How does that sound?" Lisa was young. Much younger than anyone else in her profession. But she had grown a lot. She had a big shadow to climb out of since Walker was a literal hero.


    "You already understand what I was thinking then." Alma smiled proudly while she looked at the designs that had been sketched. They had been carefully designed with her in mind and only her. Truly one of a kind.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1982 1982. The Hunt Begins

    Chapter 1982 1982. The Hunt Begins


    "That''s everything you are leaving me with?" Walker looked at Gil with a little more worry than before. Gil had changed to a in tunic that was covered in different elven symbols.


    They were made to create a pattern of growing nts and dying trees. All of them were made to show the cycle of nature that Gil was supposed to be experiencing within this full day. The back of the tunic even had some fighting monsters sewn in to it. It further showed that nature was violent along with peaceful at times.


    "I already said I was fine. Now I have to read this out loud as a pledge to nature. It''s part of the tradition."


    As Walker stepped back, he could vaguely sense that there was a little more natural mana around them than usual. It made sense though. Gil had been using the high elven dagger technique. He literally brought it back from being a lost art so to speak. Therefore, Gil would have more natural mana around him than most other people would in general.


    "By my name, I swear to spend the next rise and fall of the sun. The next rise and fall of the moon. Alone without my weapons. Only a bow to be my guide. Only the nature as part of this forest to be my path. I open myself and offer nature my pledge. I will protect what must be protected. I willy myself bare to the very flow of nature that allowed me to be born and one day will allow me to die. Show me the way."


    While Walker understood this was a version of this tradition that had changed, the words still carried the same meaning.


    For an entire day and night, Gil would be left alone. Just a man and nature meeting to decide if he was able to survive. If he was able to ept nature and nature could ept him. The elves had done this out of respect for nature that they relied on for survival.


    Even as the elves had gained strength, they never lost their way. In the forest, the elves did not cut trees to make their homes. Instead, they guided the trees to grow in ways that allowed them to live there without harming the trees.


    These acts were proof of how the elves valued the nature that gave them the very lives they lived. So doing this ritual, this incredible tradition, was a way for an elven man to meet the very thing that allowed him to reach the point he was at.


    Joining hands with another in the leven traditions meant that they may bring life in to the world as well. They would be part of nature that was incredibly delicate and needed the utmost focus and strength to be able to protect that piece of nature.


    So much more could be said or even just felt when experiencing and being a part of this. To shoulder that responsibility and everything that woulde by walking this path, the elves believed bing one with nature in this was was a method that had to follow.


    Some other cultures had the same or simr acts.


    Demi-humans would fight a battle in the coliseum against a rival or someone that they greatly respected. A battle like that would not be something that had to be won. It had to show the growth of the person and the strength they had. It was meant to show everyone and everything that they were not a weakling standing aside. It would show the strength they had that allowed them to stand by their words and their emotions.


    The merfolk would have a race through the water. Control of their body was important to survival when in the oceans. Therefore, they would race the fastest swimmers of their life to be able to show that they too could survive and protect in that manner.


    While there were many other methods based on the race and cultures, these were just examples that walker had researched or learned about within genesis. So many of them showed that this point, the point in time in Gil''s life, was incredibly important. He was just following the elves'' ways to do so.


    Before Walker could try and speak, Gil had darted off in to the forest. He had the bare minimum. No food. No water. Nothing else.


    Walker took to the air while wrapping himself in shadows. The trees of the forest were naturallyrger because this was a part of the elven forest. They had made an effort to assist it in growing on the outer edges so that it would be able to handle the wood taken from the edges because of building in Genesis.


    The fact that the elves and put so much effort in to boosting the growth of a forest and literally connecting their own major forest to it, showed a true trust that Genesis would have limits to everything. It also showed that the elves had grown in strength as a people.


    The other elves gained their understanding and rtionships with the forest elves back as a major event alone. But they had allowed the forest elves to share knowledge and help the forest grow immensely. There had even been some elves who could help nts grow better like Alma could that had gained new skills.


    On another note, it had also allowed for hunters and certain animals to return to forests that had been cut down for nearby viges. This teaching opportunity made the entire world better. Just a simple thought that Walker had while wrapping himself in shadows and stepping through the air with the wind ripple skill.


    Gil had run faster because he wanted to actually be alone. He also knew that the scent of the herbs he had rubbed on his body might be attracting danger to Walker. Regardless of Walker''s strength, he did not want Walker to have to fight. However, he also knew that Walker might be lurking around here and there in the shadows. He would be a fool not to think that Walker would do something like that. It was just how Walker was. Always worrying about his family.


    As Gil moved through, he quickly found some rabbit trails. Small trails that the forest rabbits had gone over so many times that they had beaten down any little nt seedlings that had grown there. They had effectively made their own trails that a hunter like Gil could track. He wanted to find himself a source of food while he was out here.


    As a hunter, Gil was able to use his bow to take prey and make himself a meal. He also knew that by finding this rabbit trail, that he could make arrows while tracking.


    In just a few moments, Walker had watched Gil move leaves on the forest floor to find small rocks. In another hour, Gil had smashed the rocks to make rougher arrow heads than what Gil normally made. Then he had even used the edges of some rocks to cut dead branches from trees to make arrow shafts.


    Surprising Walker the most, Gil had managed to use some of the tougher dried leaves as the arrow''s ends. Instead of feathers, the leaves would allow for the arrow to fly straighter than just if it was a shaft with an arrow head. It also bnced the weight.


    From there, the tracking was amazing. Walker had not expected that Gil''s skills had gotten so much better. Even the smallest scratches in the patted down mud wet enough for Gil to tell how often or how recently the rabbits hade here.


    In just a few moments, Gil had discerned which rabbit tracks were fresh and which were not. It was a level of scouting and tracking that Walker did not have. But he was learning from Gil as he watched.


    The sounds of birds chirping were allowing Gil to know that monsters were not around. A silent forest was a dangerous forest. That meant that a predator had been spotted by weaker animals. The birds would stop chirping. Other monsters or animals would silence themselves and hide. They would not even more to protect themselves.


    This was the best option for most of them. However, when Gil heard a sharp whine, he realized that the rabbit he was tracking had already been snatched up. He also realized that in this moment, the forest had gone silent when that whine was heard.


    Gil''s knees bent and he began using a few handfuls of mud to cover his body. It changed his camouge and allowed him to hide better. He had no idea what predator he would be facing with a scant amount of arrows.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1983 1983. Challenge From Nature

    Chapter 1983 1983. Challenge From Nature


    ''Quest- witness of nature


    Requirements: witness the traditional ritual of the high elven marriage rite. Do not interfere at all or penalties will arise.


    Reward: witness to a moment that has not urred within generations of elven history.''


    This sudden quest made Walker stop his breathing. Naturally, such a thing would not have urred. If it did, then he and Gil would know of it.


    However, it was well known that many of the ancient elven ways when the high elves had existed were lost to history. The elves had split up and a lot of their history was lost or justpletely forgotten. This was just the burden they had to carry since they had or held themselves together. ''


    The fighting and broken beliefs that they had because of who they had focused on their affinities and the differences between them was great. It was hard even now for them to properlye together. The reason that it went so well was the hero who pledged himself to the elves and only the elves. He was their anchor.


    Gil knew this and was trying to live that. He had already felt a connection when he met the elves in the first ce. He had strived to learn about them, teach them, and beyond that, love them.


    His ingenuity had brought the elves new arrows that they had not imagined and even brought back a lost art that the high elves had used to practice with the daggers they crafted as a second protection after their bows and arrows.


    From what the elves knew, this was the person that they would follow as one of the first kings of elves ever. Regardless of the hero title, he had literally pledged and promised his bond to their future queen of all elves. Something that had not happened in too many generations that some couldn''t even recall stories of it happening without consulting the libraries.


    "So I have to face a challenge from nature?" Gil spoke out loud after standing up. He had attempted to hide himself from predators, but realized when the system offered him this quest, that he was not in need to hide. He could not hide.


    In Gil''s mind, he felt he had learned more. He felt that Walker would surely be somewhere nearby, but that was a thought he pushed away. Especially because he received a much more in depth system quest an exnation that must be offered because of his unique circumstances.


    ''Quest- the rite of man and nature


    Requirements:


    Due to a bond with the world, the first high elf promised that every male would define their bonds and their values. The promise to always uphold nature and protect their bonds must be proven. To do so is to show nature and the world that they will properly live these values. That they will treat all as they should. That even soul would be able to match their actions.


    Survive the challenge from nature itself and face the monsters created by this promise to assert your power as one who can protect the birth of new life and the growth of powerful bonds.


    Reward:


    One title, information pertaining to the high elves'' rituals and ceremonies of marriage, family, and birth, one drop of high elves blood within your heart.''


    This was what Gil had seen. Much more of a reward but also a clear and cut exnation that this was something older than even the elves could know or guess.


    The idea that the first ever high elf had made a promise with the world and nature was stunning. A being that could do something like that would definitely have been powerful. The scion of a race!


    Gil didn''t feel this should be about the rewards though. Yes, the knowledge of these high elf ceremonies, rituals, and general familial information would be invaluable to the elves as a race. It would bring back many things that their people had lost to arge degree. However, what was that inparison to how he felt about Alma. the first being that he had truly felt waspletely and irrevocably part of him.


    When Gil even tried to consider arger view point, he was stuck on how he and Alma would be equals. Two halves of a whole. That alone was more important and overshadowed everything else.


    The rewards would just be a bonus that the elves could use as they wished when Gil recorded it all. Then there was the additional drip of high elven blood that would appear within his heart.


    Saying that he understood that was a massive overstatement. He had no idea that there had actually been a real high elven bloodline. He believed that it had been the result of elves being separate and believing that when they were together and not separated so much in to different areas, that they had made false beliefs of high elves.


    Yet he also knew that was foolish to think. They had clearly seen some sort of mention here and there of a diluted high elven bloodline. It was even written that there used to be high elves that used natural mana. That alone would have solidified it in his head. But like most things, this had been something that Gil could not focus on because he had other things to worry about. Adventuring was like that after all.


    The high elven blood entering him made Gil realize that it might make him simr to what Su did with Midnight. It might not be a bond with a specific person, but a bond with a race as a whole. This meant he would be closer to them. Closer to the one person he loved. Why would that be wrong?


    Walker knew that Gil was thinking. But he was also within the area around him. The predator that Gil had noticed wasn''t just a predator. Walker had seen it all. The leaves and branches of trees moving. The ground rising. Moss growing faster than what it should grow in this area and time of year.


    ''Moss man


    This is a natural benign that can only take shape when challenged by the will of the ancient elf. The world allows this monster toe to being when a certain ritual is undertaken by an elf or one that has an extremely unique bond with the elves.


    This monster is made out of everything natural. The earth, warmth of fire, light and darkness from the sun and shadows, the slowness of the wind and water causing growth to form moss. This monster is not able to harm any others that are not part of the ritual.


    They will challenge the one that is taking this ritual to battle. Multiple or a singr moss man is determined by the strength of the one understand this ritual.


    The moss man will fight as if they are defending all that nature is. This is because the one undertaking this ritual must prove beyond all that they are that they are ready and willing to take this step. If they fail, their life is forfeit¡­''


    Walker only read a little more from there. He knew that this was the end of what he could even do. He could not shout out. The system had never offered a penalty for what they did. Only rewards for their actions.


    Now, he had to witness Gil fight therge moss man that had grown out of the forest floor and was moving toward Gil. The hulking figure made of earth and had multiple varieties of moss growing all over it was stunning to say the least. It was something that many people would not be able to imagine.


    The dark eye sockets were clearly able to act and real eyes which were hard to understand. But the hands made of earth and small pebbles also carried some rotting wood in them. Before Walker could even use the all around appraisal, a rotted tree root had molded itself in to a club within the moss man''s hands.


    Gil''s eyes narrowed when he saw the figure through the trees. This entire day of challenge had be more challenging. He could sense around him that the manas were also growing. That nature hade alive even more. He felt that the entire forest was waiting. Was watching him.


    The bow was drawn right away and the rough arrows notched. Gil felt that he could not easily defeat something that clearly didn''t have a core like a golem did. But he also felt that he would be able to disrupt the manas that created it. Call it a sixth sense or just the instincts of a hunter. But Gil could feel confidence when he faced this monster, no, this challenge beyond anything like he had seen before.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1984 1984. Forest rebirth

    <h4>Chapter 1984 1984. Forest rebirth</h4>


    Seeing that Gil was moving at a much faster pace than before, made Walker feel a little more at ease. It wasn''t that he did not trust that Gil was strong. It was that he had not known to what degree that Gil had grown.


    The entire party has trained with one another and against one another. But with so much going on. With so many different aspects added to their lives. Things had gotten much harder. They had not seen each other''s highest skills and abilitiestely.


    Just their base stats had gotten much higher than any average human, let alone other races. It was clear that someone like Walker could even rival the dragon elders. If not begin taking down the royal dragons if they had not taken the steps to be proper dominator dragons yet.


    But Gil, he had also grown immensely. His connections to the win mana and the natural mana because of the dagger skills were higher. He was clearly using this to his advantage.


    His natural affinity with the wind had allowed him to edit and change the flow of his movements. His agility had also increased as he had trained himself. Having a well trained and flexible body would be a much bigger thing for someone when they had the strength the back it all up. But if they faced someone with the exact same level and skills, the training of the body would put them up above that equal.


    Gil was that person. Well trained. He understood his body because he knew well that it was how he would connect himself to nature. The elves used their instincts and bodies to better rte to nature. They were born closer because that was just hw their race was. But Gil had looked within himself and followed the practices of the elves to awaken himself more.


    When the moss man used the root club to swing down at him, Gil bent himself to the side and slid a little on the leaves. He used nature and his body together to easily dodge an attack that would take his head clean off. If not, smash it to pieces depending on his movements.


    Gil fired a single arrow in the midst of this movement that pierced the moss man''s mossy and earth arm. This arm was holding the weight of the root club and because of Gil''s perfect shot, the arm fell off entirely. When ites to a monster like this, the weight of a weapon might be detrimental.


    In response, the moss man swiped down using the other hand. It tried to use the mossy fingers to grab Gil but failed. Gil had already used a nearby tree as a foot hold and leaped in to the branches. He was using the elven techniques to run and jump through the trees.


    Gil was not done though, he had used a broken stone to fashion himself the arrow heads he had made. They were rough and the shard of stone he was using was rougher still. Using that, he could make a dagger of sorts. No real handle and no real de so to speak. But he would be able to use it nheless.


    When the moss man made a swipe over its head with its other arm, Gil was already moving through the air with force behind him. He had pushed off a branch and used the force of gravity to push him down faster.


    Using the wind dagger style of the wind elves, he knew that this move was ideal for the situation. It was also drawing in the wind mana from around them. Therefore, when Gil pierced the head of the moss man, arge burst of wind followed. It had cut up the earth and broken the moss away.


    Gil deftly leaped to the ground as the moss man crumbled back in to the earth. The only sound around was the next two moss men at smaller sizes approaching. Gil had not expected that only one was on the way. This was a real trial of strength that hade from an ancient originator of the elves. How could it be a small challenge?


    The stone had cut in to his hand a little but the manas were moving toward him more. Gil could feel something in him gaining traction. A feeling that he would have missed if he was not using the high elf dagger techniques.


    The mana was speaking to him, or at least that''s what he felt. He could sense that he was moving better than usual. He could feel that his body was epting the natural manas and letting him use it in split forms just like thatst attack.


    A whip of tree roots was used by the next moss man that attacked. The other threw a rock from nearby. The two attacks were mid ranged but were the next attempt to break him. Fighting an archer with longer ranged attacks made a lot of sense.


    "Thought you could fight me like that?" Gil toshed a stick from the ground with his foot and watched the rot whip wrap around it. This effectively stopped him, from having to dodge that attack while he could bend backwards slightly to allow the stone to miss him.


    The result was the second moss man charging him with all its weight. Gil deftly dodged this too though. He used the high elven dagger technique to sh its left knee. The leg crumbled since it was cut off. Therefore, the moss man charged head on in to a?tree before falling back in to a pile of dirt and moss.


    The whip wielding moss man used the root whip again. The sweeping motion made Gil change how he dodged. He had to take to the trees again. He was easily able to leap upwards and grasp on to it while leaving the rock shard in his waist band. Instead, he shot with the arrows at the head of the moss man.


    Rapid fire of three arrows was enough. They all hit the same target over and over. The crumbling earth was all that remained of the third moss man. An easy disy of what his skills were when it came to archery. He had trained to be able to fire multiple arrows at once with uracy. Not to mention rapid session of fired arrows at the same target!


    The battle only seemed to grow, however, Gil noticed that the sizes and shapes of the moss men were getting smaller. As if the battle was bringing less and less new earth to the area. But he had not changed the area.


    This idea promised Gil to look around. What he saw was a new wonder within itself.


    Every single pce that the moss men had fallen and been defeated was now growing. Seedlings of trees, bushes, and even small vines were growing. This was a step of nature to allow better growth of the forest or area that this was happening overall.


    "Ha! I am not just being challenged in battle, I am helping nature fertilize the forest." Gil nearly fell downughing while he dodged a few small rocks being thrown at him. The moss men were a creation of the promise made by the originator of the elves as a race. Yes. It was amazing alone.


    However, this was also a step for nature to allow for the flow to return properly. For a forest to experience better and new growth. The fertilizers that were carried by the earth and the boost that moss gave it, was all to help the forest bloom again. Gil had missed this idea and fact originally because he had been too focused on what it meant to be taking this challenge in the first ce.


    Now that he could understand, he started to change where the fight was happening. He would cover as much space in the span of a full day and night as possible. He would take down the moss men and would show nature itself what he could do.


    Walker saw all of this. He was using the all around appraisal on everything that the moss men started to birth when it came to nts. He saw that the seedlings were high quality. These herbs that rarely grew were taking root. Even mushrooms that had a long incubation time had bloomed in minutes.


    This would drastically increase the health of the forest. It would also make this part of the forest a great pce for monsters and animals to give birth to young that could feed here. It was a basic start of the forest expanding itself on these edges. Almost as if it was weing the high elven techniques home to a pce that it had long ago forgotten.


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 Chapter 1985 1985. Foolish Young

    <h4>Chapter 1985 1985. Foolish Young</h4>


    "This is amazing! The entire coliseum has been changed in such a short time!?" It took a while, but eventually, Alma had been brought back to the coliseum where many of the elves were hard at work.


    The current queen of the forest elves had already made her appearance clear. She would not leave the forest for long or often, she was linked to it at a level that made even her soul part of the forest.


    This was something she had demonstrated before when the party had firste there. She had shown them that she could call upon the elves of the past and have them share their knowledge. The elders also relied on those for the decisions of their people.


    But when the forest elf queen left, that left the forest and their home without the leader they relied on. However, when the birth of Genesis came to be, things became easier.


    Fewer young elves wanted to remain in the forest. Mostly because they were no longer blocked from leaving the forest at all. They could explore the world as they saw fit. Since Genesis was the uniting ce for all races, there had been roads made by both elves and the forces of Genesis.


    Since the elves were one of the first to ept this, they had been able to help the other elves join. Thest being the ice elves that wereing from the furthest away. It was something that had made the forest elf queen leave immediately and prepare a special pce with great help from many others to be able to remain outside the forest for so long.


    The elves and other system users with the skills able to do it, had helped a unique species of forest vine grow from the elven forest all the way to the center of Genesis. This connection was highly protected by multiple system users that had set up homes along the route. They maintained this connection so that their queen could remain wherever she needed to be.


    While Alma was the future queen of elves, she was also the current representative of the elves in Genesis. Therefore, the current queen knew that having this ability to be in Genesis for long periods of time was immensely important.


    Now that the elven garden had been created, the forest elf queen had enough connection to change the coliseum and also wee the ice elves, but they had quickly gained the older nickname of frost elves. Specifically because in this warmer climate, thor bodies naturally radiated cold manas that became frost.


    The garden created was why the forest elf queen had taken it upon herself to lead the changes of the coliseum.


    Temporary show of power was also to ensure that the unity of elves was further shown within Genesis for the future.


    She shaped nts that would die off after the ceremony between Alma and Gil. She had the help of dozens of system users that created wreaths of elegant flowers. Blooming vines that held sparks of mes. And even a few flowers that created a small snow falling from them. These were from the different kinds of elves bringing themselves together.


    The more that Alma looked, the more she believed that everything here was the perfect image of what it meant that she and Gil together were uniting the elven race once again.


    "It is already more beautiful than I expected this to be." Su looked over everything. She felt out of ce wearing the armor she had just been given. She felt that she would be more in ce wearing something a little more elegant as well.


    "Well, you are going to wear the address that Lisa is finished for you too, right?"


    "Me!?" Su was unsure how this happened. She had strictly promised not to wear a dress because she wanted to act as a guardian for her family. Gil and Alma would need protection in the case that fighting erupted during their ceremony. Many dangerous things could happen with the chaotic mana flowing in the world right now.


    "I decided to use my power to change that. You are family and so is everyone else. Even if you don''t think it''s your duty, you, Remey, Alice, Lisa, and everyone else will stand beside us and offer nature''s bounties to our bond."


    The ceremony that Alma spoke of was a special ritual where the closest family would offer fruits, herbs, and other things from nature to the marrying couple. This would be an offer of family to the two so that nature would be with them to solidify this bond. It was very important to the image of the elves and generally to the bond between the two.


    "I will sing a song just for you." Alice had already been making notes. She had been inspired by this beauty of nature created within a coliseum for battle. But she was also carefully crafting the right song with her improved mental images and skills after training with everyone.


    "I would not dare miss a single word of it. Your songs will shake the entire stadium with apuse before a fight even happens here." Alma giggled while saying this. She was immensely happy and could barely focus. All business she had was lost and pushed on her subordinates. No one else could work with this on their mind. It just made sense.


    "Lady Alma, I am sorry to disturb you, however, the ice elves have sent three of their representatives to meet you." a guard met Alma with a sorry expression for bothering her.


    "Why would I feel bad? They made this trip to see my ceremony and I have to wee them. Even if Gil is still away undergoing his own ritual." Alma shook it off. She couldn''t feel bad whatsoever.


    Three elves with light clothing walked up. Their pale expressions proved that they preferred the darker and colder climates. Especially since they were covered in frost all over their bodies. Their startling blue eyes dramatically reminded everyone of the depth of winter weather.


    "You are the future queen Alma, are you not? We have with us a written letter from six of the ten ice elf viges. We will not support this false ceremony. It is improper to im you stand for all elves. Especially when bringing a none elf within elven ceremony. This entire city is breaking the purity of everything elves should stand for. The high ice elves will not support this."


    The man that spoke had the hardest re. Ice even seemed to form at his feet due to his strength in water mana that led to ice.


    Hearing such a thing made Alma freeze in ce. She had expected a greeting. But she also knew of the distance the ice elves traveled. She knew they were divided within themselves. But she had gained multiple letters congratting her. She had also been given support by the ice elf elders. People that outranked these younger ice elves.


    "Alice, Su, please protect the nts and ceremony grounds. I have some young foolish elves that need to understand why I will be the future queen." Alma sensed that these elves were barely older than her. She also knew that they hade to challenge what they believed were impure intentions.


    It was not unheard of for some to be against Genesis and the way things were going. Just looking at the angels was an ideal proof that some still held on to their beliefs about other races and even their own. Naturally, the elves would be the same but they were very few and far between.


    The ice elves were cut off from many people. They did so intentionally because they believed themselves the only elves to be able to hold the purest high elven blood. These young and foolish ice elves definitely did not stand for all of the ice elves, just a more radical younger group that had seen too little of the world and other races just yet.


    As Alma reached to her side pouch for seeds, the ice elves prepared to fight. They dly challenged Alma for this was part of the ice elves'' traditions. Strength in battle with their affinity proved that they had stronger high elf blood within them.


    "What idiot made my Alma frown the day before our wedding!" a roar along with massive burst of wind mana shook the entire coliseum.


    "Really now? Did you need to be so drama-" Alma''s words stuck in her throat when she looked up to see Gil stepping through the air the exact same way as some of the murals of high elves controlling wind. It made her feel faint seeing rune patterns directly appearing on his skin. Rune patterns every elf knew to be only seen on the high elves that were no more in the world.


    "I say it again because I believe that some elves are too foolish to listen. Why is the love of my life frowning?"


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 Chapter 1986 1986. Heated return

    <h4>Chapter 1986 1986. Heated return</h4>


    The appearance of Gil was something that shocked many. They were surprised that he would be able to walk through the air with such ease. But they were also surprised to see the runes that they could not replicate except within their paintings and murals.


    The runes followed the designs of many elves carvings and paintings. Replicating the growth of multiple nts and animals. It was more easy to say that they were changing tattoos. But they were only active with the addition of manas from surrounding nature and not from within. This was why it was thought to be something incredible.


    This was a literal and metaphorical sign that Gil had met with the essence of nature and understood more key points about the flow of nature as a whole. That he had not only epted it within himself but also been epted by it.


    "I was just busy spending my full day and finishing my full day within the forest. I managed to gain a real challenge left behind by the originator of all the elves. Do you know why?" Gil let the wind push through the entire coliseum, Zephyr taking shape and looking down at everyone. She has clearly been given a major growth spurt beside Gil.


    "Because I hold unique titles of both hero and honorary elf. I also followed the ceremony needed to be challenged by nature in the way that it was meant to be done, therefore, I was challenged. Not only that, but I seeded and understand nature much more than any of your fellow change hating young elves do."


    Gil''s steps caused the stone to crack a little. Natural mana also gathered around him. "Now I hold the title of honored elf. Something that only those that pass the truest test of nature and bear their entire being to nature can possibly have. I earned that because I care for the elves as if they were my own race."


    More mana gathered as Gil held out a hand and the wind Zephyr controlled became a dagger. "I can use the high elven dagger techniques that were lost to all elves because they focused on their purity and blood but separating themselves. Now they are united once again under the love of my life and myself. Something that brings me and many other immense joy."


    "Not only did youe here to mock that, you are also looking down on other races by iming you are more pure than even your own race or beyond. But what if you were to actually open your eyes and stop blocking your senses. Because out of every elf currently alive, I have the purest elven blood!"


    There was a burst of natural mana that caused the rune patterns to make various patterns rted to forest and world predators. The same way that many ancient elven murals and books spoke about. The older elves, the elders, were shocked to see this was a true proof that such blood was present within Gil.


    "I was blessed bypleting my ceremony to inherit a single drop of high elven blood left behind for those that truly follow the elven ways to return things to a proper flow of nature. I have the title, honored elf. I even have knowledge of the high elven ceremonies and rituals. So tell me, why must the elves here, who are gathered for the greatest day of my life, follow your ways of istion and negativity?"


    This shocking disy of mana and bonds with the spirit race proved beyond a doubt that every word Gil spoke to be true. If someone were to look closer, green had ebbed in to Gil''s eyes. As if the forest leaves were reflecting within his eyes at all times.


    More than that though, Gil was more easily than ever before calling on the natural mana to assist him in his actions. The changing rune patterns on his body allowing him to wield it as more than just a side effect of his dagger technique. It was drawing it to him to be part of his every move.


    The second title that he had not told anyone about in this show of force was nature loved. As Gil had grown up hunting and falling in love with nature around him because of his father and mother, he was not loved in return by nature. The manas around him would act with him faster than the average person. But he would also sense when something was not right with nature.


    Years of seeing his mother care for every nt she grew with utmost care had taught him many things. Years of following his father''s footsteps to understand how predators and prey thought and acted in the forest or the fields taught him. Now, he could share that and sense that without even using all his skills or knowledge. It came naturally to him.


    "Can''t you tell that you made your point?" The small hand that wrapped around Gil''s was the only person he wanted to ever be near him at this moment when he was holding back his temper with all his might. He had not realized what happened when he gained this amount of control and sensitivity to mana.


    While he had to take time to adjust to everything, he had not done so yet. This was why the elves present along with many others had just witnessed him erupt in to such a fit. Yet, it proved beyond many other doubts hidden within their minds that this was meant to be. They felt that every single word was beyond doubt.


    The three ice elves were the most shocked. They could see every single thing that happened clearly. No matter how their minds tried to rationalize it, they found that they could only believe what they had just been told. So much of what they had believed and refused to believe crumbled down in their minds. It left them entirely speechless and unable to move from the spot where they had sat down inplete shock.


    "I would have stopped him, but when he started to have fun with the newfound strength he had¡­ well, how can a brother end that kind of joy and love?" Walker removed the shadows around him and waved a hand. The natural mana around Gil dispersed and Zephyr appeared to smile before she moved away with Fleur. The only reason Fleur had shown herself with her tired state was to see Zephyr''s growth. They were close friends after all.


    "Ohe on. You watched my entire challenge and you didn''t say a word until now. I bet you even got a quest that told you not to interfere?" Gil saw Walker nod and heughed out loud. The rune patterns fading away and leaving the slightly sharper facial feathers and ears that Gil now had to be seen by everyone.


    "So, this makes you a half elf now. A single drop of the purest elven blood, right? Now you are more than an honorary elf." Walker patted Gil''s back before he moved to stand near Su and Alice who had been just as shocked as the others.


    "I think we will have a lot to talk about. The only reason the elders aren''t biting your head off for that knowledge you just bragged about is because they are a little afraid of your temper now." Alma was almost on the edge ofughing her head off. She was impressed, but she was also very amused by how many of the elders didn''t know how to approach Gil anymore.


    Any opposition left would have been washed away with this. So much so that she could happily take the next step right now if they did not have a n and a ceremony to prepare for.


    "I knew having a route prepared for me to remain here would be invaluable. Now that i see what the heroes that came to my hall and the young left that stood up for their beliefs have grown in to, I can only imagine that i will be returning sooner thanter."


    The ground seemed to writhe with vines as new nts grew in to a small throne. The current forest elf queen sat calmly while she looked at the three ice elves. "And you three. I know of why you came and I already have ten of your elders on their way here. You thought you could escape their eyes, but they are much wiser than you give them credit for."


    This made the three young ice elves shiver slightly. They had all gotten in their fair share of trouble before. Unknown to many others, the ice elves were very strict with their punishments. Now they would be owning up to their actions.


    "Please rest and tell me your newest story. It has been some time since I met you, honored elven hero Gil." The smile showed more curiosity than anything from the elf queen that Gil had not met since she arrived. Alma smiled back in response though.


    "I want to hear it all too. Tell us all about it. You have an audience you know¡­ well, after you put on a better shirt. Yours is torn." Walker couldn''t help butugh after Alma said this. Gil had been so confident and driven that he had not noticed the tunic which had been torn to shreds while fighting the moss men.


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 Chapter 1987 1987. Future Battles

    <h4>Chapter 1987 1987. Future Battles</h4>


    "As the general drama calmed down, new rumors had spread about the entire event. but the time that Gil had a meeting with the current forest elf queen, many things had been blown out of proportion or twisted.


    "You know that some people are saying that the ice elves came to offer themselves as better husbands for Alma instead of you, right?" Walker teased a little. He was sure that this would bother Gil a little and it was only fair that he mess around a bit.


    "Walker, they are saying that Gil was challenged by a frost elf prince for the right to rule the elves. Not what you said." the blushing face of Alice as she joined in made it very clear that she was telling about a falsehood. No one would have believed her face here. She was too honest.


    "I believe it was a elven ritual. Fight the most powerful elves for the right to get married in the first ce. That''s what the demi-human workers were just saying." Su could not help herself. She spoke with deadly seriousness that caused everyone to burst out inughter.


    "If you all keep up with that, Gil won''t be able to keep up with all the rumors. We can barely pay attention to gossip as it is." Almaughed along as she started to change her attention from the scenery and the conversation with the current queen of the forest elves. Especially since the ice elf elders had arrived and taken the young ice elves for s stern conversation.


    While Gil had also lost count of the things he talked about and whatever the gossip might be, he had not finished being amazed by the coliseum. It had be such a magical ce that he was sure that an entire garden or portion of a mystical forest had been brought to Genesis entirely.


    But when he was about to say something about the brilliant artwork made of vines and trees, he was cut off from that train of thought. "I think Alma is still waiting to hear it. The exnation of what skills and abilities you gained from your ceremony." Su calmly pushed this on to Gil. she was the only one that had noticed the intentions here after all.


    "I should make it more clear than I did before. It''s a lot to grasp. But I know a few things for sure.'' Gil took a deep breath.


    "The ceremony for the high elven marriage requirements was not a real requirement. It was left so that elves can properly test themselves to see if they were ready to bring a life in to the world or to uphold a life they are building. That means that both men and women of the elven race can undertake it."


    This made a lot more sense. The ceremonies and rituals lost to the elven race because of their own issues would be made very clear here. Especially when Gil wrote it all down and showed it to the elders along with leaders in the elven race. It would be a very busy event when he did so.


    "There are other ceremonies too, but surprisingly, what I learned about the marriage itself is very urate. We just need a few other helping hands when ites to the time."


    "I gained a title because of the fact that the originator of the elves left behind the chance to face a unique quest. I got that quest because of my titles and it was slightly different than other quests might be because the world influenced it. That was also why I was able to get a single drop of high elf blood. Partially a magical work of something I don''t understand, but also that it was an ideal reward."


    Now this made a lot of sense. This was more than just the world. However, no one knew what things were like when an originator of a race lived. Beyond just ancient times, things had been very different. Even the oldest ruins might not have been far enough back to truly grasp what originators of a race lived through or existed to be like.


    "So, I am a half elf now. But even that is a purer bloodline than elves today. The whole pure elf blood thing. But regardless, it allowed me to tap in to a stronger affinity to manas overall. Ancient elves used to use natural mana and influence manas much more easily." Gil made it clear. This was a known fact to elves.


    " then I realized that I can now partner with Zephyr much more. She can condense wind and I can use it for a short time. I can also use my natural affinity with wind to walk through the air like the wind elves. Some of their dagger techniques are stronger with that now. But it will get better as I use the high elf dagger technique. I can split up the manas and bring it all through my body. That''s what''s going on with the rune patterns."


    "They are called kiss of nature runes. Runes that exist only when I match myself to the manas around me. It is risky since I have to focus a lot, but it also somewhat happens with my emotions. It will be interesting to learn about." Gil wondered what else he could tell them. But he felt that everything more specific would be a bother. However, he was a little sad not to be fully human any more. But this just felt right.


    "That is a lot, but let''s be real, after a few years, no race will be pure so to speak. We can''t have that talk around." Alma shook her head when she finally spoke before any one else. She did not want her people to believe themselves above other raves, not even each other because of their affinities. Therefore, she would make sure that not a single person spoke about such things. She would be the strongest advocate for equality within genesis.


    "A very good point. And since we have to get you ready, we are going to leave Gil to think about that. Especially since he needs to get a hold of his emotions before the day is over." Su suddenly swept Alma off her feet and dashed away. Gil tried to move forward, but a wall of light came to block him as a soft and sweet melody came out og Alice''s mouth.


    Surprising them even more, they found that Midnight was somehow flying right above the two. Walker and Gil had not noticed her hiding in the literal sky because of their distraction in the new appearance of the coliseum.


    "Ah, this somewhat reminds me of the older ways in some of the history books I was forced to read. Some demi-human warriors would choose a wife. If she agreed, he had to prove himself. She would run away with the help of many others. The warrior had to chase and capture her. It was romantic, but that isn''t done often because of so many different wedding rituals between different tribes."


    "Scy?" Gi''s surprise grew since he did not expect to see here right away. He had expected that she would be too upied with soldiers and getting battle ns prepared.


    "Yes, I had an idea after seeing the wharf work put in to the coliseum. It looks very unique. I believed it would be a good thing though." the sudden change of events was something unexpected, but Walker believed that to just be a fact of life at this point. He could roll with the flow of the river so to speak.


    "If we were to keep this appearance after your ceremony, the various elves coulde to show off their battle prowess. It would help immensely in bncing the nned groups of soldiers." Scy looked like she wanted to just see battle. However, many of the leaders from other races could learn a lot.


    "Make it an open challenge tournament. People will challenge whoever they wish that remains within the coliseum stages you set up after Gil''s wedding. That way you can see various people fight. And better off, we can have more people learning how to make those in to a proper strategy based on the unique terrain here." Walker jumped in to counter this and saw that Scy was very happy.


    "Using magic to change the terrain of the colosseum in the future will be the biggest source of tournaments and turn out. I can not wait to have dedicated mages that will create unique ces to test my skills." Scy appeared to be in her own world now. This was her coliseum after all, but it felt like she was building it a hundred times over in her mind.


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 Chapter 1988 1988. Shadow’s Return

    <h4>Chapter 1988 1988. Shadow''s Return</h4>


    The events that followed were exactly as what everyone would expect. Many of those that had finished what they were doing in the coliseum left to prepare. It wasn''t that they had to make any more items or tasks finished for the ceremony. They had to rest so that they could witness it.


    Regardless of Gil being a hero and Alma being the future elf queen, this was an event truly stabilizing the rtionship of elves and humans within genesis. It was also a show that there would always be unity within the races.


    Many of the elves had been very against humans and other races in general. The elves had even denied other races from nearing the forests where they lived for generations of other races.


    This had been both to protect the forest and also so that the elves could be safe. Their istion hade from their separation and beliefs differing from other elves that had gone elsewhere over the years. Furthermore, it had been caused by rtionships being disrespected on both sides.


    Now, this was a time when all of those negative events and emotions were being washed away and reced with bright new futures. Because this was the case, there was a greater chance that more events like this would happen.


    Especially now that the high elven ceremonies and rituals were being shared to the other elves. Specifically because Gil was making sure that there would be those same things in his own marriage ceremony. Not that much was actually different.


    The additional events of elves arriving that would not be living within Genesis was also bing very permanent. They had all mostly never been outside their own viges, cities, and territories. Especially the ice elves who were struggling to adapt the most.


    This caused many of the ice mages and water mages to help here and there. A small boom happened in the market regarding sales of specific materials and items. Mostly those that regted manas or temperatures.


    Some of the fire elf elders had already managed to set up home while others had brought themselves to be able to rebuild a small vige. They wanted to live closer to the mes. Therefore, they were shocked hearing that an entire elemental mana rune formation was being made.


    The details were shared because of the dragons and their small viges. But the elves saw this as a way for the more sensitive members to have a ce to stay. They could rest along the edges of the smaller dragon viges that would be denser in manas that they were ustomed to.


    While the generations had changed the elves and they now relied on singr affinities, that did not mean that theycked multiple affinities. Many elves were simr to the forest elves who had varying elves with multiple affinities. It was just more often that they were of fire or ice affinity because of environments over the generations. This was the same for the dark elves and earth elves who were more than likely to be dual affinity elves. An interesting piece of history for sure.


    These events and arrivals made Genesis be very busy in the night and evening. So much so that some merchants did not even intend to close shop until the wedding ceremony happened. This was because the elves and many of the people within genesis had already decided that this would be a holiday for the elven race.


    The idea was that this would be the cementing day that the elves united in presence and spirituality. It was an idea that the elves had pushed for themselves. Not the elders, but the elves that had been the first to genesis. They wanted a day every year to celebrate their arrival within genesis.


    Walker knew this would happen with every race, therefore, he just watched and listened before he realized he would be trapped in meetings to write it all down at some point with other representatives. He realized that equality meant a lot of talking and paperwork.


    What had truly kept Walker up at night though, was the sudden growth in darkness mana density.


    The shadows around genesis had extended and a lot of the dark spirit race began to move around. The dark spirits were more nocturnal since they had made their bodies of darkness mana. It only made sense.


    With Walker''s sensitivity to manas now, he had realized that there was reason for all the changes. That he was expecting a visitor at any moment.


    This visitor was clearly still adjusting to the newfound mana that they could control. Especially since they literally had?a spirit race partner of their own that had be a recognized race and grown immensely within their own right.


    "I waited for you here since I knew you would like the open air and the stars. I had a feeling you would prefer the view." Walker spoke allowed to the shadows while resting on his back looking up at the sky. No one would have noticed him up on the roof of their mansion if he didn''t want them to.


    The night was peaceful for the most part. Drifting sounds of joyous arrival and celebrations could be heard in the slight breeze. But Walker was focused on the mass of shadows that grew next to him.


    "Well, I should have expected that you would await my return. We are friends at this point after all." Mordant looked much more humanoid. He even seemed to carry the darkness of darkness mana within his hair now. A striking change since he had had more scales than hair in his dragonkin from prior to his growth.


    "I take it that the darkness dominator ruins were found well?" There had been some worry. Walker knew that Mordant had held himself back for some time.


    "Yes, they were lost within copsed caves. I could omnyl move through the shadows to get to them. I believe that was intentional. A test left behind that tested my control for dark mana. But I was blessed to learn how to alter my body. I somewhat understand how Onyx is able to hide his true body within the shadows. I will need to teach him to protect himself while in that form. He could be harmed."


    This was shocking news to Walker who thought that the shadows would be safe. "Do not worry, there are not any monsters I know of that can harm him. But I caught a glimpse of the darkness ne when I was changing. It is unlike what I realized."


    When Mordant had seen through the shadows so to speak, he had understood the depths and distance between the world and the other nes of manas. The distance was great and filled with chaotic mana, but he had seen through it. The ce where mana was purer and beings he did not understand lived. He also saw remnants of dragons who had attempted to get there. Otherwise, he did not know what else was there or not.


    Sharing all of this with Walker was enough to rest his own mind before Walker shared the events of Genesis with Mordant. "Then I will arrive at the opportune time. I believe that a dragon tradition can be shared as well. A roar of elders at the finish of the ceremony to show the world the event."


    "I heard of that from Ventus. It''s normally because it shows that two dragon viges no longer fight and that a bond between two elders will be the core of their agreement to peace. But it still sounds like a very good idea. Maybe it will change the meaning a little here in Genesis." Walkerughed slightly after hearing this said out loud. He felt very light and happy with all of the day''s events.


    "Tomorrow will be a very big day. I should get some rest. I am d you made it back and are going to be able to be stronger." Walker shared a knowing look with Mordant. He knew how much they all relied on one another with the uing war against the floating city and the corrupted undead. Not to mention the three remaining demons.


    "I will rest in a while. I feel that the night is too lively to just sleep right now." Mordant didn''t intend to go out and bother anyone. But he had truly taken a liking to walking the streets of a city. It just felt right when he did. He wouldn''t be the only dragon to think that though. He had seen things that no other royal dragon had seen in their lifetime before him. He was always lingering on that fact and counting it as a blessing.


    While he was technically at war, he felt it was just the necessary step to a better future. It was a step to a future he could keep seeing these new and amazing things. He liked that idea a lot.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1989 1989. One Large Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 1989 1989. One Large Ceremony</h4>


    As Dawn broke, things were already moving.


    The entire party had woken up early. More than that, so had their parents and siblings. Specifically, they were changing in to formal attire that had been made by the elves and handed down for generations.


    The reasons that they had to change in to such clothing was simple, it was part of the ceremony. The rune patterns had been carved years and years ago by specific elves that had done so in belief that the runes, which did not work, were able to promote natural mana to some degree.


    While all races had their own false beliefs, it felt foolish to the elves now that they knew so much about how to ess true natural mana. But when they saw some of the other races'' fairy tales, they believed that they were just the same as others. It was an odd way to rte amongst the races.


    Walker was wearing a very unique robe that showed off every elemental symbol. It felt right to him and he was d to what that this was worn by an elder that made his life bncing the rights of each elemental mage within the forest elves.


    But things were just starting here. They had all bathed to clean themselves of anything that could possibly contaminate the ceremony. Another thing that was just proper. Be clean when going to important events. However, the elven beliefs and superstitions were respected since that was just the right thing to do.


    While they all walked to the coliseum which was the venue for this event, they had to drop wild flower seeds. It had been chosen by Alma since she knew some of the wildflowers were at risk to go extinct. This was because of many world events and the harvesting of them by people who value their appearance.


    This one thing was a sign that the elves would be able to take a great handle on important things known like this. Some nts and even been discovered within the Sigil continent thought to be extinct by the leaves since they could not find when there are within their home forest any longer.


    Alma valued this species of wild flower mix and knew that it would mean a lot to Genesis to return something nearly lost. She had also spent a full day adding her mana to the seeds along with having some farmers, Gil''s mother included, assist her. Now it was a near guarantee that this would bring back many flowers to the surrounding wilderness.


    The coliseum had many people outside. They were there to hear the words spoken. The outreach of respect and learning was also well above. Many people had gone out of their way to learn the proper methods to respect this ceremony. especially the higher ranked beings from other kingdoms.


    Walking within the coliseum, Gil and Alma took the lead. They saw the dew beginning to fall or evaporate from the unique garden created there. As they stopped at the tallest point, the party knew of what they should do. They had studied the steps they were to perform.


    "As family and as witnesses to this event, we offer the strongest fruit for you two. Consume it and use the seeds to grow a source of sustenance for your family in the future." Walker spoke his lines and the rest did the same. They all offered different foods harvested from the wild. This was one thing Walker did on how way home with Gil the day before.


    The elves and others in attendance repeated this while holding out empty hands. It was a show that they were willing to offer themselves and their time to the growth of new life as well. A symbolic gesture of support.


    "What of death and decay!" the roar of a single vice shook through the air threatening to ruin the peace.


    "Then it is wee too. All things live and die. As one being perishes, it give way to another''s birth." Alma spoke out against this voice. It was a show that the two were willing to remain united even in the darker times of nature. In the worst cases of life.


    "When we stand alongside every aspect of the world, nature will stand beside us!" The two spoke out together as the elves responded with the same words. To Walker, it felt that the manas around and stopped for a moment.


    While everyone had doubted some ceremonial aspects of their elven heritage, the elves realized with Gil, that they should be looking in to their history more. That they might have lost their true paths. Now more than ever with the echidna race beginning to show themselves more often. Beginning to teach other races more often about natural mana and the flow of nature at its core. The bnce of nature.


    As multiple elves and elders showed their own words of bond and respect, the manas surged around the entire coliseum. The mages had begun their own work. Some of them were using their mana to burn certain herbs and others were using their to create a show. However, Alice had taken on an important role.


    Every single elven marriage had one elemental mana that was chosen by the couple in question. They chose it to represent what they believed their union brought.


    Gil and Alma had chosen light. Not just because they hoped to bring a new future to light. But because they felt that every instance between them had been a bright and new discovery. Of either their heritages or of themselves. They believed that light would represent this very well.


    Alice began singing. Words that were soft, almost dark. Her song held lyrics rting the istion and walled off mentality of the forest elves. But her pitch rose along with the light growing around the coliseum. It shows shattering walls that opened to floating orbs.


    The words changed again to show an open and a curious explorations. But soon it changed to a fast paced run. High and lower pitches to represent adventures full of risk and rewards. Sad points when terrible events happened or were learned. Happy points where they grew together to ovee these events.


    The images of various different ces were made of light. The song had created so many ces that the party had gone or that Alice had seen Alma and Gil in. it was enough to make many stare in awe with their jaws dropped. They had not imagined that Alcie had been able to develop her skills to such a mystical level.


    It was clear that at this moment, Alma and Gil struggled to even keep their own eyes dry. However, as the song ended and it left a halo of light around the pair, the entire coliseum went silent.


    Before anything else could happen, a ring of flowers bloomed around them. The current forest elf queen was signaling the new life beginning here along with the end of the ceremony.


    The coliseum finally erupted in to cheers and conversations. This was a major day for more than just Gil and Alma. the day was to also celebrate the official joining of the elves and the humans, but more importantly, the Elves'' roles within Genesis overall.


    "I still wouldn''t have expected that Gil would make the move to marry Alma so soon. I thought he would get all caught up and chicken out." Remey was holding herself away from the others. Clearly she was a little tired still from her alchemy work. Yet, Su definitely saw Remey hiding a tear from them, so, she wasn''t so sure Remey was really tired.


    "I could have told you they would. Gil was stuck on Alma the moment he met her. Even though he was a little afraid of the poison vines she controls. But those two have a lot inmon." Walker knew that Alma had her own views about the future. However, she and Gil shared a strong care for the nature around them. They also shared a view that all people should be together to explore that nature. That no area was off limits or isted from these adventurers.


    "I just wonder what will happen next. Those two are going to be way too much to be around." Reey kept talking to herself but it was clear that she was very happy to be around. Her eyes also were drifting off to some of the setting set aside for the representatives of the other races. But Walker pretended not to see that.


    "We have a party to get to. This entire space will be for representatives and for familiese the next hour. Midnight and I will be hunting for new snacks." Su and Midnight changed the topic and looked excited. Alice rejoined them and was roped in. Walker didn''t see a single thing wrong with that. It would be fun.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1990 1990. Bait A demon?

    <h4>Chapter 1990 1990. Bait A demon?</h4>


    "Reporting to the Genesis council of representatives. The floating city has left the borders of the controlled angel territories. Now it is nearing the beaches and inds off the coast. It is projected to be heading in to the unknown ocean. Hoover, there are further reports."


    The entire meeting room was full of stress. Being called for an emergency meeting in the middle of the night only two days after thergest wedding ceremony any of them had attended was not a good sign. But they had also expected something like this.


    Through thest few days, the floating city had been tracked by the best of the best. No matter who they were, the scouts had been gathered from every race. The information had been gathered and mapped constantly.


    With all of this effort, every single monster, undead, that had been seen was documented. Even sketches with detailed weapons and some elemental affinities had been documented. It would greatly help when the attacks on the floating city began. However, up to this point, there had not been a single instance of the created undead monsters attacking anything. The city had seemed weak. Just an observer of sorts.


    "A hundred or more slimes were dropped nearby the marshnds. It appears that they are varying in affinity. Decaying slimes, acid slimes, poison slimes, and a few more slimes we can not get sight of just yet were seen. They have extremely aggressive tendencies. They are attacking anything and everything."


    "The angels have already moved to destroy them, but they are having a harsh time in doing so. The angels sent are finding that their control of mana is weakening due to the chaotic nature of corrupted mana around the area. It appears that there may be an infection spreading from these slimes."


    This made the entire room feel heavier.?The entire party and every signal kingdom had some interaction with the slime breeder and the slimes that they created. Right now, they had known that the angels were hit next on the list. Even the wyverns had nearly missed their chance to be a race because a lord slime had been on the brink of killing their queen.


    Tragedy was all that this slime breeder could bring. Nothing more and nothing less. It was even worse that it appeared that the slime breeder had fully begun to attack everything and anything with their slimes. To the point that they had be infected with the corrupted mana causing problems all over the world.


    "We should focus our efforts on defeating them. Those that can use natural mana or follow steps to produce it should work to defeat the slimes." The human king was not present, but Markus Raven had greatly stood out as one of the leading forces helping with genesis growth.


    So much so that he was often met with many questions about the processing of paperwork and how to stimte the new businesses applying every single day. It made him a versatile and sought after person. He evenmunicated to the human kingdom often to ensure that every single detail was shared to allow the best cooperation. It was why so many humans had readily been able to join Genesistely.


    "I want to agree with you. But sending the mages would cause weakness elsewhere. we are not fully prepared to fight the slimes and the coyote if it continues to send down corrupted monsters." Scy wished she could fight. She wanted to send armies upon armies to defeat the enemy. But that would be a family strategy.


    Fighting slimes and the city full of powerful corrupted undead that most likely could heal themselves? What a foolish idea. They had to focus their forces on one thing at a time.


    "We know the name of the slime breeder. The sin title of Envy. if it was Sloth, they would not be acting. And the demon lord is not the slime breeder. So, what can we find out about that?" Walker''s opinion hade to this. He saw many other representatives sift through papers or have their aids run to them.


    He had not been the only one that wished for more information. "We know that the Sin title holders are considered the demon equivalent of lords so to speak. But the demons just focused on them since they mostly had these title holders. Not every single one was and has been a demon in the recorded history. Pride has changed and was even a human title holder once. It was recorded many years ago and only small bits appear." Markus Raven responded.


    "We have documentation that Lust appeared within the elves once upon a time. A rogue elf with darkness affinity. She caused a small vige to fight one another for her enjoyment before she was handled. This information does not leave this room. We elves do hide some of our history for the betterment of the people." Everyone understood this. The forest elf queen shared this since she was still present for a meeting. She was also helping Alma learn.


    "Goblins can remember." silence fell across the entire room yet again. No one expected that the goblins, as a monster race that had once neared bing a recognized race knew something.


    The history of the goblins was tragic. Ruined by the demons, specifically the sin title holders and demon lords, they had lost a chance to be a race. Then they fell in to servitude and nearly extinction because of that. After meeting the party, they and the gray haired spiders had gained their race from the world officially.


    "The ruins found. Many goblin bodies in them. Records from long ago." Everyone felt that they had not understood, but they had all seen documents from the ruins where the ant nest had been.


    This had been through the ruins that the ancient elves used. But it was easy to forget that ces like that were naturally overrun with monsters. The goblins had managed to get in to a small portion. This had been a big deal for the goblins who were learning more of their own past and also creating a foundation for a future as a proper race. This included reaching out to the small viges to wee them to therger gathering within Genesis.


    "Envy wants. Envy as a goblin want all power of goblins. What does slime maker want? Strength from slimes? Can Genesis make new slime to show them?" the broken speech was easier to understand by the day. The rate that the goblins learned and adapted was proving to be amazing. But right now, the first goblin that Walker had met had just shattered the entire case they were stuck on.


    "Search every citizen record of Genesis and see if the tamer''s guild can help.w e are going to do what we can to make a healing or a light slime. Two slimes that we are certain that the slime breeder did not make and has not used yet." the order went out to everyone. The room became a flurry of conversation and movements. Many aids rushed in and out as information was gathered.


    From what everyone had seen, it went from a single room full of important figures with a lot of stress on their shoulders, to a massive office of people looking for a needle in a haystack.


    "We can stop for now. The adventurer''s guild recently weed in another demon. It may be coincidental, but it appears that some demons are very good at taming slimespared to other monsters. This young man was rmended by one of Ventus''s children. They managed to tame a fire slime while a rampaging monster attacked their vige. The boy impressed the young dragon and they are apparently friends now."


    "ra looked like she was winning a massivepetition. Especially since this was a tamer that had been brought over to the adventurer''s guild and not to the tamer''s guild. A major event to say the least.


    "So, we have the tamer, now we need slimes and whatever materials we can get. Elise. Work with ra to prepare. I think everyone else knows what to do?" Walker''s smile was all that everyone needed. The other representatives were surely prepared to do the most that they could.


    "Ourdy lord will be joining us shortly after her recent trip to the viges. The elders will settle soon. I believe there will also be more warriors beside me when we are prepared." This meant that Rise would be returning to Genesis again. She had left for the elder''s viges. Now she would be here to help. She would also be the best person to help create a slime that relied on light.


    "With The cathedral helping, we should seed sooner thanter." Walker was even more motivated now. It was time to prepare bait.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 1991 1991. Slime Breeder Child?

    <h4>Chapter 1991 1991. Slime Breeder Child?</h4>


    The boy that was brought to the Genesis building was not what they expected. Instead of an older boy that everyone expected, it was a child. He was clearly only nine years old, but was definitely tougher than most his age. That was just the reality for those that grew up within the demonnds. The demons with power had beaten many down. Only the tough could survive.


    "This is Ebon, he is the young slime breeder that was rmended by Ventus''s child from a small demon vige. She cked him because he was d to stand against monsters attacking the vige without her fighting them. She naturally helped in the end, but was very stricken by his actions."


    ra introduced the young boy. He clearly was a bit ufortable in his clothing. This was most likely because he was not used to wearing better clothes than what he had had in the demon vige.


    However, a few of the dragonkin were surprised to hear that this boy had an attachment to one of the royal dragon''s children. It was not dom4hting thought to be easy. Especially since dragon''s were prideful.


    What they did not take in to ount was simple. The young dragons that Ventus had raised were not raised in the same ways that the past wind dragons were raised. Instead of hard circumstances and training from a young age, they had been raised with more care. They had been raised with more respect as well.


    Therefore, this different growth was made to help the young dragons learn to respect life in general more than others would. They were not blinded by the natural pride that came with being a dragon. Dragons were powerful, instead of letting it influence them in a negative way, they had been taught to use it to help and protect. That was just the start of their minds growing in a new way.


    Adding on what they saw of the Genesis forces, the young dragons had been able to open their minds even more. This only grew when their mother gave them the task to protect these viges. They saw that there was pain for all the demons there. They heard and learned of the gruesome pasts that they had.


    From there, they had begun their efforts to fix that. But in that process, they had also started to follow the way of Genesis. epting other races. epting the differences to grow together with other races. The young were very influenced by their surroundings.


    "My friend said toe here. She said she would visit when she was allowed." Ebon spoke softly. It was very intimidating being here. However, ra gave him a pat on the shoulder to help calm his nerves.


    "Your friend is one of my children. Her name isvender. She hatched the day avender bush bloomed. It was a sign that nature was waiting for her." Ventus had been busy but arrived at the opportune time. "I visited her recently, she said she was very curious to see what you could do with your courage."


    This was high praise from a royal dragon. More specifically, a wind dominator dragon. "I-"


    "Don''t worry, you can call me Aunt Ventus. I somewhat like the terms that humans use for family. I see why other races adapted them so easily and many years before us dragons. You are a demon that will live quite some time if you are wise. So, you should grow up with my daughter. Just make sure you meet her two siblings too." Ventus seemed to have a little more of an inkling of what her daughter thought.


    That aside, the room was full of surprise seeing that Ventus was acting like any other sneaky mother. "Now, please tell us what you think of our n. Do you think you can help us make a light slime or a healing slime to use as bait?"


    "I have only helped two slimes grow. I don''t know¡­" Ebon was young and inexperienced. It was just the way things were.


    "That would be the colorless slime, itcks a true affinity which would be the best slime to work with in my opinion. However, he has a demonic slime which was the one he gave all his mana and even some of his blood to help defend his vige from a few monsters causing trouble." ra specified for everyone present.


    Many of the representatives had left since they had other tasks to handle. Only those that knew they were able to assist in this event were left. Specifically, Walker, Alice, and Rise had remained closer than ever. A few elven mages with light affinity remained as well. They had been called on by Alma to help since they had been training with the light affinity dragonkin warriors.


    "First are materials. We have light crystals can be used, some ground white sands that have light affinity, and a few other things that we can gather or already have being brought to the cathedral. Let''s head there now. For the moment, tell us what you know?" Walker was blunt but also weing. He knew that Ebon might becking in knowledge, but he could share a lot more than he realized.


    While Elise had wanted to stay, she had headed to the tamer''s guild to prepare what she could for this. She knew that the tamer''s guild could use this to steal away a clearly powerful system user. The slime breeder they were fighting against proved that. This young demon might be a powerhouse to protect Genesis in the future. Not might, it was a matter of time!


    "I think that it will need to be able to have a solid shape and then be liquid around it. The colorless slime I made with quests was made from a puddle filled with herbs. I was ying when I found quests to bring leaves to the puddle." This made a lot of ssense.


    The many different quests that everyone received from the system were always a hard to grasp at first. Especially when it was chain quotes. However, for someone realizing their system, they had to follow them and understand the results of such quests. This was simr for alchemists and other systems rted to creating things like medicine.


    But creating a slime meant that a life was created so to speak. A slime core could develop from other slime''s bodies. Therefore, a colorless slime was most likely created because of the various manas within the puddle that has bled from the herbs. Then the slime body had been able to grow because the core was formed from these manas and natural fusion that happened.


    "We can get you a cauldron that has light elemental rune formations on it. That way you will be able to see the light mana being drawn in. Alcie might even be able to sing a song that channels more light mana in to it. That way you can focus on whatever the quotes you have are. How about that?"


    This made the most sense. The right puddle for the job so to speak.


    "Oh, that would work, right?" The boy was surprised. Ebon had not received much for items since he had not known what to ask for. He was still unsure what to do with the readily avable healing a food that he had not seen in his vige before the Genesis forces saved it.


    "Can i try to control it the way I did with my strong slime?" Ebin thought that he could just pour his mana in to a colorless slime again and get it to change the same way. But he was also nice in that way.


    "You can not do that. The demonic slime is strong, but it is violent due to the unique mana you gave it. It has a dark affinity that makes it have decaying effects along with a slight fire affinity. That is why it is demonic and not normal. But your blood caused you to be very weak afterwards and the slime to be bonded to you very closely. The light affinity we are looking for might not be possible if it matches your affinities."


    Walker clearly exined the reason that he could not have this happen. Ebon had heard that after he had fought with the monsters, that he had nearly died. He even was missing a horn tiup when he woke up. But ra had exined this to Walker before he ahd met Ebon which helped Walker keep Ebon on task to a degree.


    "Then I need to make a new one differently?" Now was the key to all of this. Ebon clearly had the imagination that only a younger child could have. A unique perspective that Walker felt bad about losing through his adventures. He ahd been growing a lot and his mind was less flexible. It was a loss of innocence. But he was d to see even children that grew up in constant danger had imagination. Had a chance for more.


    "A new way is the best chance. That''s what alchemists are doing right now. What cksmiths are doing right now. What mages are doing right now. They are looking for new unique ways to make everyone stronger. To protect everyone." this made Ebon open his eyes wide. He felt that he was helping something bigger. This was a littlete to realize, but he was young.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1992 1992. Gathering Slime Materials

    <h4>Chapter 1992 1992. Gathering Slime Materials</h4>


    When reaching the cathedral and finding that there had been an entire area dedicated to what they would be working on, Ebon was shocked. He had been in awe of the heroes and soldiers that hade to the demonnds when they had rescued them.


    Their vige had been in poor conditions, but the demon soldiers and demons that beat on them daily had been easily defeated. Then there were glimpses of powerful generals he had seen within the Genesis building. Now he was with the talked about heroes of Genesis that even formed the city!


    For many, this would be a major event, for Ebon though, he was more focused on the fact that he could be stronger.


    The strength he had always seen was used for negative methods. For hurting others and making the weka do their bidding. This was something that Ebon had detested as someone weak. He had witnessed his parents hide and grovel in front of the powerful demons until they were eventually killed. This had left him with many negative views.


    One thing left though, was a desire to stop all of that. Many weak people in the viges had thought of ways to grow strong enough to stop it all as well. But it had never happened.


    When he saw monsters attacking his vige again, he worried that they would lose everything. Without the demon soldiers, the vige was a weak little target that any monster could walk right in to and harvest as their food.


    The dragon left behind might not do anything. Trust was earned over time. So, he acted first. The slime he had made was not anything special. But offering it all his mana and his blood was enough.


    The colorless slime did mutate and change due to the massive flow of mana. It could use some darkness and fire magic. It had burned away the attacking monsters while Ebon copsed. Even if he had died, he would have been happy to know that he had stopped something terrible from happening yet again.


    He had not expected that the dragon had witnessed it all and moved to protect him. To help him recover. To even bring him to the nearest whaler that saved his life before she had helped him meet those that brought him to Genesis to grow stronger.


    "This is the space set aside. My young brother Onyx said he would have some of the heavenly serpents and abyssal serpents that were able to use light already help out if needed. But he will be along shortly anyways." Walker saw a few of the younger serpents slithering in the roof rafters. They were curious about what would be happening.


    "This is the light cauldron." Alice stood proudly showing off the white cauldron made of light affinity metals. The carvings were imbedded with light crystals shards that had beenid in specially by cksmiths that worked with projects like this. Many alchemists worked with them for the very same reasons.


    The creation of unique cauldrons was not a new practice, but it was a growing one. Not many people saw them sued for other things like making slimes. Yet, people had heard that they were used for unique food preparation. That was another story though.


    "So, what are your thoughts here?" Walker saw that Ebon''s eyes were slightly zed over. It was the same look anyone got when they couldn''t think fast enough to figure out what they actually wanted to do.


    It was a fair response since so much was happening so quickly. It was also because he had been offered a very good set of quests from the system. Some even referencing how he would be helping the formation of asting Genesis. A unity for all races.


    "We need something that will help make the ore. But I don''t know what would work." This was understable for Ebon not to understand what materials could and could not be used. He didn''t have an all around appraisal skill to help him learn about materials. He also was just not well versed in general about what materials were or useful for what things.


    Walker felt that this would be a good lesson. He might be able to learn more about how slimes were formed, but also how to defeat them. They, as a party, had managed to create many ways to beat and weaken slimes. That had just been what they needed to do so that they were able to survive and save others.


    "Use this?" Ebon grabbed a light crystal that had been broken and carved form. It left a slightly round ish light crystal that might work.


    "That''s a partial light crystal. It had cracks so it was discarded since not many things could be done with it. You should look at the metals. There is a light rted metal variety that many cksmiths would fight for in there." Walker suggested this since he thought a stronger slime core might mean more.


    "They might not work. They are not flexible enough. Slimes are malleable." Ebon was not arguing, but he was stating facts.


    ''Then what about the sunlight tulip bulb? They grow roots above the ground so that they can absorb more light. They eventch on to rocks in mountains to grow pure white flowers that absorb a lot of light before splitting off smaller bulbs from the roots." This caught Ebon''s eyes when he saw it.


    The slight flicker or interest proved that Ebon had quests rted to finding the right materials. When he dropped it in the cauldron, it was clear that Ebon was starting to seed enough.


    "I like this too."


    ''Light flounder bones.


    The light flounder is nearly translucent. It will float on top of the water to absorb light mana. It is considered a very rare fish due to this. Its bones are ideal needles and smaller materials for unique natural jewelry that has great light affinity.


    It is known to help with light mana channeling. It is also able to uniquely change its affinity to a singr light affinity instead of a light and water affinity. This flexibility allows a greater control over light mana when the bones are crafted with higher care¡­''


    "That is a fish bone from a light flounder. They are very flexible when using mana to be transparent. They also bask on the top of the ocean waters. I bet that a fisherman found that while out working on the shores. It can also channel water mana if crafted properly. But it is flexible, just like you wanted." Ebon looked more invested when he started to realize that Walker would tell him the qualities of all the materials here.


    It took three hours to go through everything, but Ebon just seemed to be more energetic. He had chosen nearly fifty ingredients to add. All were some form of light rted materials. All were able to be molded or crafted in some way other than being solid. When he added a light affinity potion, things seemed to be taking a new turn.


    The light runes had been activated as they worked and a small gathering had appeared nearby. Many of the resting healers were clearly interested. Even the light mages were helping pull small amounts of light mana at a higher density toward the center of the cathedral.


    This many people would easily jump in here and there if they were asked. Some had even made a join to offer Alice help by giving her personal materials that had light affinity. But the party would not take away from people when Genesis had gold set aside for these sorts of things. That was just how a good governing body worked.


    "So, what did you do after all the materials were added? We have quite a few things here." Walker wasn''t sure if this would work. A slime breeder seemed to be an interesting cross between tamer, breeder, and creator. Methods for all three were definitely being used in this process.


    "Well, I need my colorless slime toe here since we aren''t making a slime from scratch. It should be able to consume it all in a few days, hours? I don''t know." Ebon got quieter while he said this. He was inexperienced and low leveled. Naturally, he would not know everything.


    "Then let''s go with the basics. We can have mages and Alice help direct the light mana. Then you can monitor how your colorless slime is doing. After that, we can adjust as we go." Walker saw that Ebon was very much interested in this.


    "Brother, I have a few of the young ones that want to help. Aurora is also here too, she will help Alice this time." Onyx arrived back at the perfect time. He had twenty serpents with him that were all clearly excited to help out.


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 Chapter 1993 1993. Birth Of Slime

    <h4>Chapter 1993 1993. Birth Of Slime</h4>


    The many mages and people that came forward to help bring light mana at a higher density made Ebon silent. He was speechless. How could he be part of something that was clearly drawing so much attention. The only time in his life that anyone received this much attention was when they were a powerful demon sent to terrorize the weak.


    Yet, here the entire process that he was part of was being led by him. He had help. He had guides. He had the chance to learn so much. It was exhrating! It was more than he could dream of! ''''Gone were the days when he would dream that there would be food scraps given to him. Gone were the days when he was offered a chance to sleep under a roof or in someones'' small barn within he vige.


    Today,. Was the day he started his own journey. He even dared to believe that he could be a hero within his own story one day. His eyes shed as he looked at Walker and the other heroes right there. But more than that, the powerful mages and tamers that hade to help him as well.


    "Then I need someone to help me control the mana while I try and forge a connection with my colorless slime even more strongly than before." Walker nodded. He saw that the small colorless slime seemed to be sharing its bond out in the open,.


    It wasn''t that the bond was exposed, but that the colorless slime was showing a lot of activity. It was literally bouncing itself in ce. This was all because it felt the emotions that Ebon felt. This was what a true bond between a tamer and monster should be. Well, in this case, a slime breeder and its master should be.


    "I will start with the little ones then." Onyx slithers and wrapped his body around the white cauldron. Ebon opened his eyes wider than before when he noticed that Onyx was creating ayer of light mana all around his body.


    He knew that Onyx was also a hero. He had the title and he was even the patriarch of an entire race. The abyssal serpents and the heavenly serpents were all brought back to relevance because of his efforts.


    Yes, the party as a whole had helped. But Onyx had specifically done so much work in guiding the serpents that the energy of Genes had seen them learning. Ahd seen them growing. Had been able to spot the monsters that were clearly learning to be unlike any monster there ever was. There had never been fear of these serpents before because of what onyx had done.


    The opposite was true. The people of Genesis praised them and wished them luck everywhere they went. It was very much like the spirit race that spread themselves throughout Genesis. "Thank you for your help. I think you are doing exactly what we need."


    Ebon''s polite response made Onyx very happy. He called out to the serpents nearby who began sharing their light mana. The next step after that, the light mages present and the healers that were able to, began to concentrate the light mana.


    The density was increasing as Ebon began to prepare the colorless slime. To any untrained eye, they would miss the changes between Ebon and the colorless slime. The colorless slime body which was somewhat transparent was gaining color. Specifically, it was gaining a darker blue color. This was due to the mana within Ebon that he shared with it. But also because Ebon had a natural darkness affinity.


    "Ebon, drink the high light affinity potion now. It should help with the bond between you two." Walker had used the all around appraisal just a second ago. He noticed a key set of phrases within it.


    ''The bond between the colorless slime is influenced by the natural affinity of the master. Therefore, if it were to gain an opposing affinity to the master, it would need to be able to transfer some of that mana to the master swiftly. If this is not a smoother process due to opposing manas, then it may cause the changes within the colorless slime to fail¡­''


    The small section was enough for Walker to know that Ebon also needed the light affinity potion. One strong enough to allow his side of their bond to meld with the light elemental mana better.


    Hearing this from Walker and also noticing the song Alice had started to sing, Ebon drank the potion quickly.


    The colorless slime appeared to have calmed down as Ebon ced it within the white cauldron. "Now I will bring a little natural mana to really purify and condense the light mana going through the light mana rune formations on the cauldron. Do whatever you need to and tell anyone what to do. This is your show now." Walker smiled to reassure the slightly worried look from Ebon as he noticed Walker pulling out the ternal codex.


    "Then make the light mana as strong as possible. I need it to be so pure that it might bind us." Ebon surprised everyone with this, but not a single person disagreed.


    The goal was to make a light slime. By forcing the light mana to be as pure as possible, any opposing manas would be forced away. It was ideal.


    Feeling this, Walker used the eternal codex to draw in manas away from the cauldron while pushing the light mana toward it. This condensing caused the light mana to be much more visible. Especially with Alice singing to direct the mana right in to the rune formations.


    The cauldron started to crack and degrade, but Ebon had closed his eyes and was holding out a hand. As if beckoning for the colorless slime to finish eating and return. To partner with this, the sound of the slime moving and breaking down the myriad of light affinity materials was heard through the song that Alice sang.


    This reminded Walker of when they had forged the eternal orb. They had not known what would be happening or how it would work. But the manas had been forced together in a natural flow within the orb. Therefore, it hade together when learned more. Right now, Ebon was the one learning.


    The colorless slime was absorbing the mana and materials. It was forming a new core. It was building a new slime body. It was making itself anew entirely.


    A surge of light suddenly burst away from the cauldron as a slime body melted out of it. The slime was consuming the white cauldron entirely! Ebon clearly did not expect this, but he smiled. It was a sign that he felt something click in to ce between him and the colorless slime. Between him and the slime that was taking shape before everyone as thest of the materials and the blinding light faded away.


    ''Brilliant slime


    This slime is considered the purest of light slimes. Due to the incredible materials, herbs, and other light affinity things that it consumed, it was able topletely surpass the light slime that it would have been for over many years.


    The brilliant slime boasts higher intelligence which allows it to further create magical attacks. Specifically, light slikes, light wall, and sh. These attacks allow it to be able to fight and survive in ces that most slime would struggle. It is also how it is able toy im toces with high amounts of light herbs to consume. It will only attack monsters with light affinity to absorb them as materials.


    The brilliant light slime is not able to be a lord light slime. It is able to expand its body and split off parts to create light slimes at a hundred of its size instead. This process requires a very high amount of light mana at a high den dirty, but it is why the light slimes can grow safely in an ideal environment¡­''


    Every single person was silent. They were both in awe of the dense white slime that was where the cauldron had been. But they were also amazed by the light runes that formed within the white slime body. It perfectly proved that it could already use light magical skills without any more growth needed.


    "Come here, you are my second partner in life and you are going to help all of use fight the demon king that has been abusing demons for years." Ebon shared his hopes with the brilliant slime. It bounced in agreement. It even made a few balls of light appear around it without intending to do so.


    It was at this moment that the entire room broke its silence. Onyx had needed to move during the process, but now, his voice mobbed through everyone''s mind telling them that it was a sess. The message would be passed around Genesis shortly.


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 Chapter 1994 1994. Baiting Plans

    <h4>Chapter 1994 1994. Baiting ns</h4>


    Having a way to bait out the major threat that was pushing its luck within the Sigil continent was already great news. Walker was sure that as this news spread, he would be finding more and more people who had been able to make better advances in their own areas of expertise.


    The royal dragoons fully returning to Genesis and their elder dragons beginning to set up their new homes was already beyond what everyone had been expecting. The elder dragons joining meant that there would be a powerful force tobat the strongest of the undead corrupted monsters controlled by the demon lord.


    However, the idea was to weaken the forces that could protect such a ce.


    Many of the kingdoms had war strategies that relied on whittling down the numbers of an army. To make the strengths something less than what it should be.


    Some had dastardly histories that relied on cutting off water and food supplies. Others had histories where they copsed mountains full of snow to ensure that fields would flood in the warming of colder seasons.


    Each of these methods might not help the current situation, but they had been lessons. Whole these war practices would have brought multiple kingdoms to fight the offender out of justice, they had been lessons in history. They were a line that was not crossed any longer.


    The idea to bait out one of the sin demons, Envy, had already been a better idea in the first ce. The slimes that were controlled by Envy as a slime breeder, caused untold damages.


    Nature, cities, loving beings, and many other things had been victim to them. Now that they carried infective corrupted mana, things would be worse. The angels were reporting that the marshnds where the slimes had been dropped were massively polluted right now.


    Some monsters had identallye in to contact with the slime bodies, managed to survive the attacks on them, and then began to be corrupted with mana at a greater rate. Some monsters have even started to destroy the terrain itself.


    The angel forces have beenbating this danger because they managed to find a rampaging mud boar that had destroyed an entire span of marsh grass. Enough that others would not have the ability to feed on the marsh grasse the nest rotation in their migration patterns. Especially since the mud boars were considered vegetarians and would not normally consume food radically or attack others unless protecting their young.


    "You suggest that you bring a small force that can hide within the marsh?" Scy quickly flipped through papers and started to pass these ns out to everyone. The question hade from Markus Raven as he was unsure that sending a smaller force would work better. He wanted to ensure that the demon was defeated.


    "As you can see, the force I rmend will be made of the dragons, assassins, and others that would be able to hide from the prying eyes of the floating ind. That will allow a small, recognizable force, to bring the brilliant slime to fight the other slimes." Scys'' knowledge showed clear as day.


    She had hand writtenposed ns that detailed the kind of soldiers that could be dispatched. She also was going to use the party. The people that the sin demons knew best. That Envy had spoken to before and clearly thought he could always beat because he felt he had before.


    "The party of heroes will move with the brilliant slime. This means that Ebon will need to be hidden nearby. Up until now, light and healing slimes have not been used by Envy. if they have, they are not of the same kind that they should be. By bringing out the brilliant slime to fight, it will showcase that a new slime species might be used tobat its current slimes."


    "This will both make it appear that the party has gained the ability to control slimes and may attempt to steal slimes. Or, it will make Envy wish to steal away the slime that was created that is unlike the ones he is capable of making. We already know that lord slimes are created by Envy, but the breeding slimes? Yellow, purple, and a few other sub types. Nothing that rtes to light."


    With this, Scy smiled sharply. She was prepared to use everything at her disposal to enact this n. It was clear that she was a general for a reason. She had even mapped out a potential travel route for the party tobat slimes using the brilliant slime. So much so that the expected route of the floating city was marked as well. Incredible details with the assistance of the angels'' forces.


    "I agree, we already expected to go and finish this. We have fought the slime breeder since we were first heading in to the forest elfnds." Walker looked around the room and saw approval from everyone. They knew that the party had a major bone to pick with the slime breeder. The stories were already shared all around Genesis and the united kingdoms.


    "What about the lord slime that might be brought? We heard and saw the potential damage to the wyvern queen. They can take on monsters, or races, more powerful than themselves." This was something that Terron brought up. He normally remained silent. However, he was very angry to be reminded that the one in charge of slimes attacking others was still alive and causing trouble.


    "That''s why I want many guards to be around. Mordant has a very powerful ability to hide within the shadows. As does Onyx. the shadows, the guilds guards, are able to do the same to a degree. Then we have some more mages and assassins from other races that already volunteered. It is an ideal army toon that can take this on." Scy''s persistence came as she passed out more pages.


    These pages listed many different groups with their abilities to hide in in sight or shadows. "The marchnds are full of shadows and ces to hide. Merfolk can take to the underground underwater systems. That is where Current will take the lead as well. He can map and navigate them. That is when he fully adjusts to his newfound strength. I believe he is still resting within the Lake that he discovered his ruins in now. He only sent dragon kin and elders tomunicate."


    This was the only royal dragon not present. It wasn''t that he truly wasn''t. Amunication pearl was right there sending the voices to him so he could listen. But something about his process of growth required him to remain within water without leaving or moving it.


    However, he had made it clear that he would be arriving for this battle. He did not wish to see ice slimes or water rted slimes to be controlled by Envy. if they managed to gain them and corrupt their mana, it meant that the viges that would not being to Genesis could be touched. Even the coldest and highest mountains could be touched.


    "I already spoke to his elder this morning. He has solidified his mana. He will be arriving at the portal to meet us." Mordant chimed in. He had silently been meeting all his fellow royal dragons to see where they stood. He wanted to make sure that they all were fully ready to fight. He understood now that the manas within their bodies were delicate. Especially after meeting in depth with Ignus.


    "Then the n is set. Everyone will have three more days until the force gathers and leaves." Scy ended the final meeting here. Ebon had been silent throughout and was amazed to see how the governing body came together so fluidly. He was amazed and could only think about how many of the adventurer''s guild friends he had made he would tell about how it all works.


    "Remey, Ignus, please remain." Walker stopped the two. The rest of the part also hung back.


    "What do you need? I have to get potions ready for us." Remey''s annoyance was clear. But this was more important.


    "Can your body handle this? If we fight lord slimes more powerful than we saw, not to mention Envy, can you survive?" Walker''s worries were not unfounded. Everyone knew that Remey and Ignus had longer to go so that they would be able to handle the mana within them.


    The two had chosen a new path. Ignus was still walking on one to be the me dominator dragon. That stayed the same. But Remey followed the path as a human. she was changing herself at a key level of her being. It was a tough struggle to ovee. A path that she literally had to carve herself. It presented various risks if she could not control her mana.


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 Chapter 1995 1995. Forged In Flame

    <h4>Chapter 1995 1995. Forged In me</h4>


    "Three days is not that long. I worry that you both will not be ready. I don''t mean that in any way other than I want you both to live properly." Walker could see the grimace that Remey had made. He could also see that Ignus had married his eyes slightly.


    Inferring that a dragon was weak or could perish to an opponent weaker than them, in theory, was an unwise decision. Telling Remey that she was weak was the very same. But Remey would make sure you felt the punch for a very long time when she was insulted.


    "Don''t say a word yet. They do not fully grasp what you have done in thest day after recovering from creating a grand fire affinity potion." Ignus was extremely calm. Knowing his heated personality, this actually was scarier than other potential reactions.


    This made the party stand silently. They were unsure of what might be said. As much as Walker wanted to just use the all around appraisal on Remey and Ignus, he knew that this would be unwise. He had to show honesty and trust now. Especially when they were preparing to go to war against the slime breeder, Envy.


    The slightest distrust could end all of their lives. That was not a maybe, but a fact. It was easy to call one another family here. They had fought and grown together. To break that bond or damage it in any way would naturally throw them off by arge margin.


    "The process created to allow a dragon to be a dominator dragon is simr. Different for certain reasons rted to the mana, but simr." Ignus slowly spoke. Every word held fact and calm.


    "A core within our hearts is formed from pure mana. It is both physical and now physical. It is part of us to the very core of our existence. That is why it is such a tough process. If failed, that mana goes rampant and explodes out with elemental bacsh. We would not lie and arge area would be destroyed. That is why preparations for all royal dragons was incredibly important. And will be important for the future dominator dragons we teach when they are ready."


    Knowing that the royal dragons had reached this level of understanding was already enough to say that they were not foolish. To understand the risks and know that the information they had could not even be shared with the elders was arge step. They had to wait until the elder or dragon in question was able to take the step without the least risk possible.


    "I have calmed the mana within my heart. It solidified and became the me dominator dragon core. The center of my being. Of my soul. Remey, is entirely unique within her own right." Ignsu leaned over slightly to bump Remey''s shoulder. It was clear that her breathing had calmed. But there was a slight heat radiating from her that was beyond what was normal for her or for anyone.


    After a deep breath, Remey spoke slowly as well. She matched the way that Ignus spoke. Like she was following his lead or like she and he were walking a simr pace alongside one another.


    "I have not solidified any core. I am human, or not any more. But I will have it handled."


    "I saw you lose control of the mes while making your grand potion. I saw that the old master alchemist helped you and was injured. But when you calmed the mes, there was a new fire that I could not understand. Evenpared to the mes I see Brother and the wandering cksmith use."


    Since Onyx brought this up, the group did not hesitate to nod along. They had heard of the event and the injuries. The old master alchemist had retired after the potion naming Remey the heir to all his knowledge and growth through the years. Naming her his daughter through and through. It was a major moment within the alchemy guild because it cemented the origins of the guild as a whole.


    "I know I lost it. I let myself get too stressed by the situation. Used the pure mana running through my body. But that''s where I learned what I was missing." Remey raised her head more. She looked at Ignus as well. He had a slight smile that was still more out of cepared to the serious expressions he always wore.


    "I am not letting the mana shape me as it should. All the royal dragons let the mana adjust their body so that a core could form. I missed that. I might have gained some traits simr to dragons and maybe even the spirit race since my partner is helping me regte fire mana even now. But I have to let it run rampant to a degree to change myself. I will be the first to ever do this."


    "In that case, what do you need from us? We have three days." Walker did not hesitate. He was not going to push this down. He would not hold this back. He refused to step away from the duty he had to support his family.


    "That is the answer we wanted from you. We will take this outside of Genesis. You may all follow us. But you may not interfere. This is a new step for a historical draconic ritual and path." Ignus was firm in his voice, but there was a ring of worry to his tone. Enough that Remey looked at him for a moment.


    "Then we leave now." Walker followed?them out. And as Ignus flew in to the air with his wings carrying Remey, Walker used the wind to help everyone move through the air. With his stronger control of wind mana, he had managed to do this when he had not been able to before. It was also due to the natural mana he used to help him.


    They all moved away from Genesis quickly. Beyond the farmnds and well in to the wilderness where no viges were or roads were. This space was open and considered safe. But they were not there for safety, they were there to see if Remey could allow this to happen.


    From what Ignus had started to tell them after retreating from Remey, he had allowed the mana to course through his body and soul. That was the shaping of his new dominator dragon form. A form that allowed him to travel to the elemental nes safely.


    The reason this was important, was because the dominator dragons could not gain strength any other way. They grew stronger in their elemental affinity to be able to get to purer mana. Like many dragons of the past who lost the dominator dragon records, they had lost themselves when entering elemental nes.


    With the proper step to handle the ambient elemental manas, they were able to exist there and grow more.


    Ignus exined that this process brought out the natural shape and potential he had. He was able to grasp a deeper understanding that worked with his body in unison. Therefore, he was now able to wield incredible fire mana that could turn a massive area in to a wastnd of fire. Power he had to keep in control.


    Walker sensed a grating mana when he noticed the me around Remey. She had removed valuable gear since she worried for its safety. But they were unable to expect what would be happening.


    Cracks on Remmey''s skin began to form. A burningyer that clearly made her feel pain. Every heart beat released purer fire mana that caused more damage. The ground began to scorch as she channeled all of that mana around heer. But not a single sound was made other than the hissing of burning nts around them.


    Walker deflected the fire mana using natural and water mana. However, the entire party felt the heat. Su''s resistances were little to nothingpared to the heat they felt. The others began to retreat. Even Midnight felt she could not handle this. The only ones that stood closer were Walker and Ignus. Ignus could survive this heat easily. Walker was using more and more natural mana to be as close as possible to support Remey.


    As the mes grew more, Walker swore he saw the mes takingrger shapes. Mimicking dragon wings slightly before altering themselves. The familiar form of a grand fire spirit taking its own appearance here and there. The spirit marks that Remey had on her body were outlined by the cracks of her skin.


    Blinding heat that took shapes beyond what Walker could just call fire mana was instigating his own limited understanding of fire. But it was also educating him on the depths he had yet to travel. None of this overshadowed his worries though.


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 Chapter 1996 1996. Born In Flames

    <h4>Chapter 1996 1996. Born In mes</h4>


    This was something that had started a while ago. When Remey and Ignus had begun to share the information about the dominator dragon''s mes, and even before that.


    It was the fact that Remey had relied on Ignus for some of his fire control. He was a fire dragon, a royal fire dragon. Naturally, Ignus had an exceptional control of mes.


    Therefore, whenRemey was learning more about fire and alchemy, it made sense that she would look to him. But because of that, the two had developed more than just what anyone would call a working rtionship.


    Remmey had shown interest in the way that fire existed. she had not ignored his words. She had been able to ask and understand the way that Ignus thought. The two were hot heads which helped out in that matter.l plus, he had learned to respect her since she did not just fear hum.


    At first, everyone had shown fear to the dragons. It was only natural when someone met something or someone much more powerful than them that they would show fear. This was evident in the youngest of children when they met the adults of the world. It was just instincts to be wary at the very least of someone more powerful than them.


    But Remey had not been that way with Ignus. She had even been willing to butt heads with him when he was stubborn. That went both ways though. Instead of treating her like the rest of the party, or like his fellow royal dragons, Ignus had quickly treated Remey as an equal.


    This was the best way for the two to rte. For the fire dragons. The control of mes and strength was very evident. In The elder dragons that came, they had the same hot temper. The only thing that forced them to hold that together was the fact that Ignus could easily snuff their mes out in an instant. Therefore, they kept themselves very controlled.


    This was evident in the way that they had mostly remained within their territories. Some had even requested to return to their own viges after helping fight the war that they were now part of. Unfortunately, that would not be how the future developed. Just like Ignus, they would take a lot of time to get used to the new things within Genesis.


    But the history of the harsh nature of the fire dragons was longer. It had already been shown in the way that they treated their young. If they were not born powerful enough, they were kicked out and became rogue dragons. Something that they had learned was wrong the hard way. Not Ignus actively worked to change that.


    It was why there was such a stark contrast between how Remey treated Ignus. He had taken the time to learn from her and about her. He had heard the story of losing parents. Of Remey being an orphan. How she had spent years trying to learn something that was not even her system so that she could help them.


    All that had built up and she had be a hero with a?unique first of its kind system. Something that was already recorded within the history books and would be passed down for generations. It was even more evident that she was willing to go that extra mile.


    It had all been thest bit tio push Ignus over the line. So much so that he was now able to widen his view. This had created a bond unlike others. He had allowed her to learn and listened to what her thoughts were about her own strength.


    The bond they had now, shared between them a unique understanding of pure mes that no others had. It was a bond that came from a ritual that only dragons would undertake. He knew that he could easily manipte the fire mana within her body. He had adapted to the mana faster. He had already gone through the process and managed to adjust himself. He had just taken longer to manage that princess because he had less of the pure fire mana he needed.


    Yet, if he did this, Remey would not be Remey. He could not only harm her, but he could ruin the entire growth process and leave her without the ability to manipte fire mana ever again. Ket alone her own mana. It would be crushing every dream she had already achieved and wished to achieve.


    The day that the grand fire affinity potion waspleted, he had witnessed that she was not epting the fire mana entirely. Now, she was allowing it to run through her body. It was the same way that he had managed the fire mana as a dragon. As a dragon bing a dominator dragon.


    While he could sense the changes and knew the pain that Remey felt, he could do nothing. This made his mind and heart fill with undeterred rage. Yet he was calm. Yet he remained watching.


    The skin burning off and Remey''s form became a white hot me that seemed impossible made Ignus understand that this was why the path could not be the exact same for the both of them. She was human. He was a dragon. Yet they had been able to walk the same path. One not walked by a human and one that had been walked by a dragon.


    However, as the mana thrummed within his heart, he understood that having the unique bond with a grand fire spirit was why Remey could do this. She had already developed the inner match to mes that was within him the entire time since birth. She had matched this with her soul when the spirit marks were formed.


    While the grand fire spirit was not acting now, the mana had allowed Remey to be closer to mes in a unique manner that now yed a part. The draconic method that left Remey with slight signs of scales or marks on her body were still there from that method. She had a bond with Ignus now, regardless of anything, it would show through.


    As the sudden heat that had begun to make Walker work even harder to keep his resistance, Ignus closed his eyes softly. He had felt an intense calme through him. One that he knew was not his whatsoever. one that was somehow shared with him regardless of his thoughts and mind.


    "She is done now. It was a hard process, but now she has created a new path that brings dragon history, spirit bonds, and a hero title in to y. I am always impressed." Ignus had sounded like he was praising something invaluable. To be fair, Remey was invaluable to many people. Especially to family.


    When the heat suddenly ended, there was a space where Remey had stood. A single burned and molten spot of ground surrounded by a?wide ring of ashes and then burned nts. The spot that everything had just happened in was more than what was expected. However, Walker was shocked not to see Remey standing there any longer.


    The blinding light of the hottest mes had been enough to keep him from easily seeing things. But his mind had gone to the worst first thing. That Was how many caring family members would be.


    "Stop looking there. I am here."


    Remey''s voice was a little hoarse. An understandable thing due to herrge effort. But when Walker looked over, she was using Ignus to hold herself up. Brilliant red hair that appeared to be mes themselves cascaded lower than it had before.


    Burning red irises with the slightest of a slit shape. Spirit patterns that moved around her arms and to her hands showed off the way that the spirit marks had be one with her. No longer?a bond between grand fire spirit and human, but part of who Remey was. The bind she had now was the mes she had within her body.


    She also appeared more slender. Along with being taller. It was like a growth spurt of sorts, but not enough that she would be unrecognizable. What really struck Walker, was that the fire mana all around them could not at all listen to him. It seemed innately drawn to Remey in all forms.


    "You look as if you were born in a volcano and created thends we walk." Ignus''splement would have sounded odd to anyone. However, it made Remey softly hit his shoulder in embarrassment. Walker could only furrowed his eyebrows in wonder since this was an odd atmosphere in general.


    "You look so great!" Su chimed in as she was able to rush closer. Remey just smiled softly. It semed that her exhaustion would be making her sleep for the next few days at least. However, everyone had one question, what were the results of her battle with the fire mana just now. Walker was waiting calmly, he refused to use the all around appraisal to peak at her private stats right now.


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 Chapter 1997 1997. Other Existences

    <h4>Chapter 1997 1997. Other Existences</h4>


    With multiplepliments from Su and Alcie aside, there was a slight amazement as well. Alice herself was shocked. She had expected to need all of her mana and mental energy to heal Remey. Especially when she noticed that Remey''s skin was literally burning under the immense heat of the pure fire mana.


    The pure fire mana had even leaked out to push everyone but Ignus and Walker away from where they originally stood. The sweat on Walker''s forehead was proof of the genuine strength that the mana held.


    Yet, here they were. Remey was even better off than before. She had a slight shine of brilliance around her that betrayed the true essence of weakness she had right now after her body had been reshaped.


    "I will carry you back. A walk would be good to clear our minds¡­ and answer questions. I can sense you are unique now." Ignus looked at Remey who instantly began to protest being carried.


    "I can walk on y, ow two feet you know-"


    "And that was not a question or an offer." Ignus scooped Remey up without another word. Remey didn''t even protest past that. She just looked at him with a slight re that made Ignus softly chuckle. The entire event was slightly awkward for everyone who expected Remey to burst out in a fist fight.


    "Walker, just use the all around appraisal. I know you can use it and see what happened. I think that will be better for everyone." Remey''s clearly tired expression won out with this. He had held himself back to be polite. He did not want to invade his family''s privacy. However, Remey had given her approval. He also could supplement how he used the appraisal by looking through the party section of their systems.


    Everyone looked at him expectantly as Walker took a deep breath before doing his best to examine what the system would say about what Remey truly was right now. What her race and what she was at the core of her existence now.


    ''Draconic me soul- humanoid


    A unique being that has used a spirit race spirit mark to connect their body and soul at the deepest levels. Through the addition of draconic rituals and assistance, a bond was strengthened. Therefore, the soul and body are naturally one instead of two separate entities that make up one being.


    Normally, these beings are unique to the elemental nes since they need high amounts of mana to be able to survive. They can both live off of foods natural to the central world, or off of mana entirely.


    Due to a bond with a?me dominator dragon, draconic qualities are evident in the physicality and spiritual level. Along with this, the markings that used to be spirit markings have be the soul me runes that channel immense pure fire mana. They can not be influenced by outside forces unless a deep bond exists.


    The human like body can be healed with purer fire mana along with normal healing. However, it is much weaker to magical attacks of opposing manas. Therefore, water mana will noticeably weaken it. However, in a fire mana based environment, the strength will enhance the body by leaps and bounds.


    Controlling fire manaes naturally, it also is part of their body. A pure fire mana core allows them to gather fire mana within themselves while also using it to supplement their overall skills that require fire mana. Channeling other manas throughout their body is impossible unless unique equipment is used. However, that equipment will need to be highly resistant to fire mana since the heat of the body is significantly higher than others¡­''


    Walker''s head hurt a little. There was so much information that he was unsure what to say or do.


    They all knew that there were monsters, races, and beings in general that lived within the elemental nes. This was something that they could not deal with as they were now. They could not even attempt to understand or rival them. The entire party had witnessed the gryphon summoned by Ibis when he had defended against Pride.


    This thought alone was enough to understand the depths and strength that Remey had gained by taking an unknown path. "Because she was with me, this was possible. I have never considered that. If another human attempted this, they may parish." Ignus spoke softly. So softly that everyone barely heard it. His mind seemed to dwell on the potential that Remey would have died if he had not shared the mana he did with her when growing to be a dominator dragon.


    "So that''s why you have some scale patterns on your skin now. And why your nails are longer. But your hair is definitely because of the soul part. You have hair that looks like fire now." Su was unperturbed by the change in Remey''s race from human to a more unique being. She had already changed herself in her own path to being stronger. Why would she judge?


    "She is going to be very powerful. I guess the elemental knuckles will have to be reforged again though." Gil''sugh was because he found it very funny. Remey had nearly broken all of them while growing a stronger. Now, the wandering cksmith had an additional challenge.


    The elemental knuckles had been made so that Remey could fight with more strength against opposing elemental affinity monsters. Naturally, she now needed even stronger ones to even use those manas at a smaller level than before. But even if she did, the mes she could wield in her fists would be an immense challenge for any monster to face. Even fire affinity type monsters.


    "What does it mean that her soul and body are one now?" Onyx''s question was simple enough. They all understood that there was a depth of understanding they all could not yet grasp.


    "Well, it must mean that naturally, we have a body and soul that are notpletely fused. I know that there are system users that have skills called soul walkers or soul mages. They focus on using their souls as mediums. But normally, souls are not mentioned or referenced at all in the world." Walker calmly said this.


    "You have that correct. But dragon''s believe in souls more than most races. The elve may as well. The soul of nature or otherwise.?It is something that only the powerful dragons should be able to influence with their mana. I have a small sense that I can grasp it nowpared to before."


    "So you''re saying that only those that are able to master their affinities or whatever they are strong in can grasp at their soul which is already part of them? That is very interesting. I believed that a soul was just an expression of mental will. Or for the mana within the body. Brother, could this be what life mana is all about?"


    This was a lot to consider. Walker would not have said anything or done much about this since he could tell it was well out of his league right now. "I think this is something we will learn more about as we get stronger. But life mana was challenging to understand and grasp. However, if we put that together with souls and existences outside of this ne, I can see it. Maybe we just have not understood what life really is and how it is part of us."


    This seemed to be enough to push everyone in to thought. The only one that did not show much of an interest was Midnight. She was in her own world.


    Mostly because she was amazed by how the dominator dragon changes could be sued by Remey as well. She knew that a nature dominator dragon would be possible. But she also knew that because she was a champion and not a nature dragon, that it might now be a path for her. She also doubted that Walker would actually be traveling that path. They were both too unique.


    Yet, her mind sat on that. Remey had traveled a new path. A dangerous one. But she had done it. Why couldn''t Midnight do that very same thing with Walker as her partner through it?


    "You and I will grow stronger too. Remey just stepped in to a new realm unique to her. But she gave us a little hint on what the future will look like when we can adventure through the elemental nes." Walker found Midnight''s head to give her a pat. It was reassuring to her since she was worried but also curious. So much so.


    "That''s right, I am the strongest in the group now." Remey managed to say this before her eyes drooped and she fell asleep in Ignus''s arms. No one dared wake her up. She had done something amazing, she deserved the rest.


    "Ignus, you better protect her well." Walker said this just loudly enough for Ignus to her. The response was a soft growl that made Walker understand he intended to do just that.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1998 1998. Two Day Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 1998 1998. Two Day Preparations</h4>


    Apparently, many of the guards on duty at the outside edges of Genesisnds had noticed a pir of bright mes. This was an unintentional issue that came with Remey releasing the purest fire mana within miles. Naturally, It caused some issues.


    The party had found at least sixty guards ready to march toward the issues that they believed the party had just left to handle. However, when they heard that it was a small ritual to help one of their members prepare for the uing battle, they were slightly embarrassed.


    Walker had spent an hour approving of their actions. Protecting Genesis was their job. It was exactly what they needed to do. Especially since he had grown up with a?guard as a father. Therefore, he was able to show them the right words to encourage them to be on their toes and move as quickly as they had this time no matter what.


    Regardless of this little incident, the party had gone their separate ways. Gil''s focus was with the elves. He had volunteered the next two days topletely be used making arrows and preparing whatever they could.


    The elves that could sneak through shadows and hide in in sight were the ones that needed the most preparations. They would be hiding within the marshnds while the party baited out Envy. they would end up having the deadliest weapons tobat the many slimes that would surely arrive to attack them.


    The reason that Gil knew that help would be needed was that he had begun to realize a lot about the way that the elves made arrows.


    Simply put, he could sense mana better now. He had been caught up in thinking about his past experiences making arrows. Every single interaction he had was great for his and their growth. Until now, he had not thought of it as poor or full of ws, just lessons to learn from.


    However, with his personal growth, he realized that there was a lot that needed to be improved. The general channeling of manas in to an arrow could be enhanced. Runes used on arrows could be altered. Even the general materials might be better changed.


    Ince example was using the spongy willow, a tree known to grow near small brooks because it needed the open air and the water to grow. This wood would never be used for arrows. However, he was foolish to think that.


    Now that he could look back at his past experiences where he had ignored it as a material, he felt dumb. His mind now focused on the fact that it had excellent wind and water conductivity when rted to those manas. Specifically, they could be used to make an arrow that would increase the mist in an area. An ideal arrow to use when trying to create a ce for many soldiers to hide.


    They could make many of these arrows, sneakily fire them while Gil partners with the brilliant slime to fight monsters. That way, he could better bait Envy in to a ce where they could defeat him. in and simple.


    Su''s focus went to the focus on her body. But also the mana maniption that she had with it. She had epted a lot of herself and be a powerful half dragon. She had so much focus on earth and light mana, that she could tell she was unbnced. Yet, she knew skills that used other manas now. She had to change that.


    Simply put, she took a note from Walker''s book. She was going to the mage tower to meditate. She would meditate for two straight days while switching elemental floors. This way, she could focus herself and ensure that she could both resist and use manas within her skills better.


    Midnight followed suit with Su. Walker had expected that Midnight would stay with him to train with the wandering cksmith. Learn more about unique mes. Learn more about other manas that she could not catch a hold of just yet.


    Where he had been foolish in his thinking was simple, Midnight did not want to learn about space mana or time mana or death mana or even life mana. She wanted to grasp natural mana just like Walker. She wanted to be able to bring the elemental manas together within herself to be able to use them in one attack or just to generally strengthen her body as a whole.


    Where Walker had been blind, was that he had believed that Midnight was focused on just getting stronger by learning the same things as him. Not grasping the depths. He had missed that she was behind in the focus on natural mana. She could grasp it, because she had a bond with him closer than many others did. Therefore, she knew she could learn it. She just needed more work to do so.


    This left Walker with a small idea of what powers Midnight might show. Using natural mana to boost the strength of attacks and draw more individual mana sin to focus was ideal for Midnight. her dragon breath attacks would massively improve. Even the skeletal armor skill might be altered to reflect elemental properties. All things that would make Midnight much more powerful.


    It was already expected that Remey would be recovering. All the royal dragons had decided to do the same. Gather as much mana as possible within themselves to be able to unleashrger attacks.


    The only set back to that, was that Remey was the only one other than Mordant that would actually be able toe near where the baiting was happening. Morant could hide in the shadows. He could hide some people, but not every dragon. That would drain his mana too much and leave them all exposed. What if it took days to bait envy?


    This meant that the dragons would need to be in full battle ready shape further away. Then they could rush over when the fighting started. They would be a littlete to the event, but that was fine. It was enough to have them as back up for when the real fighting began to happen.


    It put Walker''s mind at ease that Remey would be beside Ignus gathering fire energy. He had some worries that she would not be able to adjust to her very unique new form. Yes, she was still Remey and just looked slightly different. However, she had changed at a very deep level because of her unique path. It meant it would still be arge adjustment.


    Onyx was different though. He had already called every single young serpent together at the cathedral. He had specifically done so when he returned and the day had already ended.


    This was not some small family meeting or meeting of a serpent race. It was a meeting to be able to exin that he was going to fight a massive battle.


    The serpents were still young. They learned at a very fast rate because that was just what they needed to know. None of them learned as fast as Onyx had. He was special in that respect. The reason that they had to understand was that this was the beginning of many battles. At least a fewrger battles to handle the remaining two demons that needed to be fought.


    He exined this hard topic to them and opened up the chance to join the battle at their own risk. They were young. Some would not be able to fight at all. However, he was shocked and brought to emotional moments when he noticed that many heavenly serpents had already volunteered to join partners with light affinity healers.


    That many of the abyssal serpents were training with those that had darkness affinity to help them hide in the shadows. When Alice joined in on their meeting with healers and some guards behind her, Onyx realized that many people had alreadye together to support the young serpent''s desires. Not just the serpents supporting them. It was a very good moment that brought the cathedral in to full swing on preparations.


    More healers on hand with partners just made things easier to fathom and prepare for.


    Knowing that the party was prepared, Walker found himself working on armor and focusing on the manas within the runes being used. He also took the time to meditate around the unique mes. Even the smallest boost in understanding of all of them would help. Especially since he had justid a finger on space mana. If he could grasp more, he might be able to use it.


    Right now though, he was focused on the armor for Midnight and the armor of the other party members. He wanted to ensure that the entire party would be as best protected as possible. That way he could push away a little worry here and there from his mind. It would easily take the full two days too.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 1999 1999. Walker’s Training

    <h4>Chapter 1999 1999. Walker''s Training</h4>


    ''Bending armor


    This armor was forged using unique methods that the cksmith has barely been able to create. Using materials that have whispers of spatial mana along with incorporating various other unique elemental materials, this armor was able to form a?cohesive alloy.


    While it might be incredibly challenging to repair due to the highly delicate and rare materials needed, this armor boasts incredible unique traits.


    Able to allow any elemental mana to be channeled through it, this armor has been carved with various elemental runes along with experimental runes of life, death, space, and an odd impression of time artistic rune. Not all of them are functional, but the decor addition is enough to add to the entirety of the work.


    Shed scales from a true dragon champion were used which allows this armor to perfectly meld with the skill; skeletal armor. Therefore, this armor will change form along with the true dragon champion it was made for. Along with this, it can be stored away using low spatial storage skill attached to the armor as long as the proper mana is supplied to it.


    Mana absorption is greatly increased while wearing this armor along with elemental resistances. There is also a great physical resistance thates with this armor as long as enough mana is provided to adequately enhance the armor.


    The best¡­''


    Walker just needed to see this much to know that it was ideal for Midnight. The wandering cksmith had worked on this almost exclusively.


    When the wandering cksmith had found issues here and there, he had taken a step back. Making something new and unique like this was a challenge. It was why he needed the assistance of unique mes and Walker there to support him.


    Not having the right material and needing to wait for it, breaking a portion of the armor, or needing to create a new tool entirely had been some of the things that had gotten in the wandering cksmiths'' way.


    In the time where he had not worked on it, he had made his way to therger dwarven forges underneath the crafting guild. This was where the armor for the royal dragons had been processed. Especially after they had changed themselves in to dominator dragons.


    Each team of one hundred dwarven cksmiths along with many supporters worked day and night. This wasn''t to appease the dragons or anything dramatic. It was solely because this was thergest project that any cksmith had ever been part of.


    Highly skilled forging was needed. Highly focused ns were made. A variety of different methods were needed due to the different elemental affinities of each dominator dragon.. Everything that literally screamed that the height of forging was happening all at once.


    Just watching was enough for the inexperienced cksmiths or even various crafters of other types to learn immensely. Even the mages and rube carvers brought in were beginning to show new skills that they had learned bypleting this project.


    Every time the wandering cksmith had arrived, everyone had managed to learn many more things. Just simple alterations to the ns that the wandering cksmith had begun was enough.


    When the measurements from the Sigil continent where Current remained for the moment had returned, thest armor set had been altered within the course of a single night. It was an exceptional effort with an exceptional result.


    There were multiple people that had already taken the tasks to deliver this armor through the elemental teleportation rune formation to the Sigil continent. That was aside from those that had brought the armors to the respective royal dragons waiting for it.


    Walker had not gone to look at it. Instead, whenever he had found that the wandering cksmith was leaving, he had focused on the elemental manas within the mes.


    The new forge furnaces had been enhanced further when Walker had been away with the others of the party. Their strength and solidity reinforced so that the mes could remain there. The unique spirit race that lived within some of them had been able to properly find themselvesfort even if they were not at all responding to Walker due to hisck of understanding of that specific mana yet.


    That did not at all remove the benefits he got while using the eternal codex to help him meditate.


    When Walker had started to channel the mana through the floating orb and the moving metal rings, it had changed shape to suit him. The result had been multiple floating orbs split in to individual manas linked by very thin metal wires covered in runes.


    This had allowed Walker to focus on the manas that he could manipte. The elemental manas being the focus while he noticed offshoots to empty orbs. It was clearly an example of some mana she had begun to touch on but not actually been able to use.


    What shocked him when he grasped this fact, was that the spatial mana section actually had multiple gray wisps that sparkled with a sliver flicker. He had actually managed to draw some space mana within the eternal orb while using his meditation to attempt to understand it.


    When his mind focused on this alone, he realized that it was always there. When he had first helped make the eternal orb, it had the unique ability to alter its shape in to other weapons, armors, and items. This alone should have been a ring enough fact that he could understand better.


    The eternal orb had always had spatial mana within it. He had just been too blind to see it. His hyper focus on the elemental manas and how they culd fuse together in to natural mana was enough to let him miss this incredibly important fact. Therefore, he now understood that he had just not been training himself properly due to his limited view.


    With this added to his view point now, Walker had improved slightly in space mana. He could make fire balls that appeared away from him. It basically helped him extend the space where he could influence mana away from his body. It was a special skill he had not expected.


    ''Distance casting- passive (dependant on spatial mana maniption)


    Based on the understanding of space mana, the user of this skill can influence elemental, along with other, manas further away from their body. By doing so, skills that are using these manas can be used. Specifically, magical skills that require understanding of other manas.


    This skill is not powerful unless used with greater understanding. It will remain a weaker skill if the manas being used are not properly understood. It also cost significantly more mana to use those skills without better understanding of this and those skills¡­''


    While the skill would have made anyone amazed at first since it was a passive skill that seemed overpowered, Walker reigned in his joy.


    Looking at the skill, it clearly came with rules to how useful it was. The first time he had tried it, a fire ball appeared only a single foot away from where he would have been able to create it from fire mana. Therefore, he knew that the small understanding of spatial mana was not enough. He did notice that he did not expend more fire mana than usual. Just a slightlyrger amount. It meant that he had decent understanding of fire mana and spatial mana was the weakness here.


    It took more time to experiment, but he could make this skill better if he were to focus on it. If he were to spend more time researching it. But that was not what he had. For the moment, he thought about the ways that he could use it.


    Skill like frost whip could be lengthened because of this. The same with the dragon domain skills. Mostly, every area of effect skill would be able to be used at a muchrger range. It was an unintended realization. But it made a lot of sense since it was based on the amount of mana controlled as well.


    This single distance casting skill would be able to change multiple magical skills that Walker already used. But he worried that would not be enough. He felt he had suffered in his physical skill learning. So much so that he might fail at the opportune time.


    He had already seen too many times that there were situations where some of his magical skills were not usable. Especially when fighting the regenerating undead from the Sigil continent. He just needed to find a way to improve his use of weapons. It would have toeter though. He had to ept that the strength everyone had now was enough to handle Envy. the current target that they had to defeat before the slimes he bred would take over the Sigil continent.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2000 2000. Showing Off Slime

    <h4>Chapter 2000 2000. Showing Off Slime</h4>


    "Here we go, all together." Walker looked around. Midnight, Onyx, Gil, Su, Remey, and Alice had gathered on the elemental rune teleportation formation. Beside them was the brilliant slime. Ebon would being behind them. He had to be hidden with the others who would be close behind or even within the party''s shadows.


    The first step to arriving was to show off their party as being alone and separating from the area near the embassy. This alone was something that was absolutely necessary right now.


    By making it clear that the party would be alone, they could prove that the demons or any eyes on them rted to the sin title holders right now, would be able tomunicate this to them. It was a first step in setting their trap to capture and defeat Envy.


    From there, they would constantly rely on the brilliant slime to attack. Walker''s goal would be to incorporate its ability to create light attacks in to his own magic. Therefore, he would be showing off that he and the slime could work together. As if it was another monster under his control.


    To the sin title holders, they would see that Midnight and Onyx were the very same. Under Walker''s control no matter what. With bonds that united them. If the brilliant slime was seen as the same, then Ebon could remain in a safer position even though he had to be nearby to send mental messages to the brilliant slime and maintain the mana needed through their bond.


    This was a major risk of sorts. Because the brilliant slime could create light slimes, it had stricter bind requirements. The demonic slime that Ebon also controlled was able to be further away because it could generate its own mana due to how it was created from Ebon''s blood and mana as a whole.


    The brilliant slime was more unique. All the light mana it gathered went to the potential that it could create light slimes or use attacks. Therefore, it requires mana from Ebon to be able to remain functional. Its core needed that additional mana to sustain its unique existence.


    If another brilliant slime grew from a light slime, it would naturally be fine to subsist off of light mana alone. But this slime came to be through a colorless slime that Ebon was already bonded with. It also was a breeding slime that a slime breeder was controlling. Made sense as far as Walker could think. But it meant Ebon was in a risky situation.


    Therefore, Walker knew his acting had to be perfect so that Ebon would not be found out by Envy. if Envy captured Ebon instead, it would amount to thergest loss yet. Another slime breeder or a boost in envy''s strength would be detrimental to the future of everyone fighting the sin title holders.


    The appearance within the Sigil continent brought many angels to greet the party. They had to show that they were meeting to deal with the current crisis. Therefore, after taking some time to greet them, the party began taking maps and gesturing to the brilliant slime openly. This was all an act, but it was a very good one that most scouts would be fooled by. Especially if they were looking through the metaphorical eyes of a slime.


    The surprisingly quick changes in how they moved did not seem to affect their mood. Walker and all of the party knew that the slime breeder, Envy, could look through slides and share their senses. They could not easily say out loud what their palms were. Instead, Walker had made a point to bring up the battle against slimes and how they were experts in them.


    "Since we have battled the slimes before, we are the best ally for the angels. We already have methods to beat the slimes here. Even lord slimes are easier to beat now that we are stronger." This was also a nice way to ensure that the party had boosted their morale.


    Their movements were already feeling quicker since they knew where to go and that the angels had made sure that paths were ready nearby the teleportation formation. Anyone else would notice that the party had moved too easily. But that was if they knew what the party was actually here for. If not then it just seems that they are rushing to an emergency.


    "We won''t be letting what happenedst time happen again. This time, the wyverns are not involved and I can easily burn away whatever the slime lord we find is. There aren''t many versions of them anyways. We have a slime tobat them. To punch that slime breeder right in his smug face!" Remey''s anger was not for show. She really wanted to punch the most troublesome opponent they had in his face. Hard.


    "Remey, you just attracted a monster over here. Now we have to handle that stone bison. They are migrating and it really doesn''t like running in to anypetition that could attract a female rock bison before it." Gil had studied up on a?few migratory monsters around the Sigil continent. The angels had been ready to warn them since it was safer that way. They knew these monsters better anyways.


    ''Stone bison


    These beasts are simr to the cows that live on farms. However, they did not get captured and trained by the various races of the world. Instead, they gave in to their bestial nature. They developed the tougher skin through fighting one another.


    Once they awakened their natural affinities, they began to eat stones instead of grasses. They can now consume tough stone that slowly breaks down within their bodies over weeks and months. This, in turn, changes their fur to the color of the tone and toughens their body with earth mana.


    Their violent tendencies during their migration and breeding seasons leaves them to be a somewhat dangerous monster to face. They will not care about their horns that break off during attacks since theyck feeling in them and they can grow back within a few days due to the consistent stone eating¡­''


    "It will be a tough enemy to face, but we can see how strong our brilliant slime partner is. Sounds good?" Walker spoke directly to the brilliant slime. It bounced in response while gathering light mana.


    Walker helped the brilliant slime by calling on the light mana. Naturally, this enhanced the light spike that was formed. Meanwhile, the stone bison was already charging the entire party. It seemed to care less that they were multiple. It just wanted to attack the foes it spotted.


    When the light spike condensed, it was shining bright enough to attract attention from others. Luckily, there were not any other stone bisons or monsters able to see it right here and then.


    With Walker''s boost, the light spikes got forward with much more strength and control. The brilliant slime also appeared to be unfazed at therger amount of light mana it had used.


    In drastic opposition to this, the stone bison with its very tough defenses, was pierced through by the light spike. The strength in defense that the earth mana and stone brought the stone bison was not enough to counter the brilliant slime.


    Walker mentally congratte their luck here. If Gil had not called out the opponent ahead of them quickly enough, then they would not have been able to show off the superiority that came with the brilliant slime''s light attacks. This would definitely make the slime breeder jealous.


    "Now that was a one hit kill attack." Gil''s whistled a little to add effect. He was actually very impressed though. The brilliant slime had just taken its form a few days ago. Yet here it was, fighting monsters and acting all showy.


    "It will be able to handle the weak slimes that the slime breeder is sending to the Sigil continent. We will have them all cleaned up within the week." Su made this boastful remark loud enough to show that the entire party fully believed this.


    Everyone understood that hearing about their hard work in this light would make them angry. The slime breeder would be no exception. He would certainly hear this through a slime watching the party if that was indeed the case. It would just further draw him in to the brilliant slime as bait.


    The next three hours of walking involved one other stone bison and more open boasting. They had even shown off the defensive light wall skill that the brilliant slime could use. Especially boasting that the slimes the slime breeder controlled could not do whatsoever. The perfect phrases to match the slime breeder''s failure.


    While the party had no idea if they had even been noticed as they wanted, Envy had just doubled his efforts. The angels closer to the marshnds before the beaches and nearby the floating city had just begun to reportrger slimes appearing.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2001 2001. A Little Everything

    <h4>Chapter 2001 2001. A Little Everything</h4>


    "We need to stop again, the pace is a little much for the brilliant slime." Walker stopped the party again. They had managed to keep up a very fast pace as they traveled. The forest area was a little harder to move through since it was the thickest before they would break out in to the marshnds.


    Therefore, the party had been mowing aroundrger trees along with stepping over fallen ones. Some ces the leaves were so dense beneath their feet that it was hard to walk over the ground in general.


    Naturally, this made it tougher for the brilliant slime to move around. Its body wasrger than an average slime. Therefore, it had issues bouncing up enough to roll overrger fallen trees or even bouncing on the densely packed leaves.


    "If we keep stopping we will let all the rampaging slimes destroy the marshes and then move more in to the continent." Gil''s rebuttal to this stop was enough to be fair. He wasn''t just thinking about their own pace. He also wanted to keep acting things up a little. Not that his worries were not genuine.


    "The slimes there will need to have the angels present handle them more. We are going to hit the lines where we know that slimes are not crossing yet and push them back to the ocean where they will not be able to survive."


    Reminding the party of this n was part of the act. But it was also the wisest idea. The high amounts of water and the toughness of the monsters that lived in the salty waters was enough to resist the dissolving slimes. All that would be left were the cores which would be easily dealt with by monsters or the party. It made sense to use nature as a weapon of sorts.


    "It''s the same way we dealt with the acid slimes in the dwarven city. That slime breeder is annoying but we can beat him. Especially since we have a slime that he doesn''t." Remey was getting really in to this.


    The party had expected that Su would be using her taunting skills while they acted a lot. It would make sense that even through some odd spying using slimes, that the slime breeder would feel the effects. The skills that Su used to taunt enemies would also have an effect on the mentality of the slime breeder at the very least.


    Yet, it was Remey that found her own personal joy in saying these taunting things. She was taking her anger out in a way. Therefore, whatever slime that could be watching them secretly, would be leaving all of Remey''s words for Envy to hear. It was fairlyical in a way.


    The only other thing that stopped Remey was that there were many herbs around. One specific herb was a weak wind affinity herb that they had found. Walker had been surprised that they had not noticed it the first time that they had been on the Sigil continent.


    ''Twirling sprout


    This herb is known as the twirling sprout due to the way that the leaves and flowers grow. It grows in a twirl shape to catch the wind which allows it to spread its pollen more than other nts can. It is why this species of herb will grow inrge numbers in windy years.


    The wind affinity it hases from therge amounts of wind mana that pass by it due to the way that it pollinates. Therefore, the moisture and sap thate from its ground and squeezed leaves greatly helps add wind affinity to the potions made with it.


    Specifically, by mixing it with sprint tail bush, snaking root buds¡­


    ¡­ this herb can be used to create an agility boost potion. A potion that only a very few people can create because of the natural mana needed to be infused within it. Therefore, this potion to boost agility is thought of as an extremely rare and potentially mythical story told by traveling merchants within the Sigil continent.''


    Walker''s surprise had stopped his steps making everything that they were about to face an opponent. However, when he brought up the all around appraisal of the twirling sprout, Remey and nearly exploded from excitement.


    As she was also an alchemist, she had heard the story that there were really potions that could really boost specific aspects of people'' physique.


    While many alchemists tried to create them, the forms were considered impossible to make since the herbs used normally would have severe side effects. But, some alchemists imed that these potions were safe and could be made without?a single defect or side effect.


    The angels also believed it possible, they just imed that the older angels had lost the potion forms. Recently, with the explorations of the ancient ruins that the party knew were the angels'' before they had fled to the Sigil continent, carvings of herbs had been found.


    Some congruences were found with todays'' herbs. The alchemy guild had truly been investing in this knowledge. Hence they hade to the myths about potions like this.


    As Walker had shared this, she had taken the time to write every herb involved. She would have to find them since she had never heard of at least six out of the twenty listed. She would also have to figure out how they came together. But Remey''s newfound strength would help with discovering that path.


    "Resting will be very important to our new member. It is still lower level than other monsters. But it is very powerful. Once we make it to the marshnds, we will have an overwhelming victory against slimes. A slime knows a slime best." Su kept up the act. But she also liked that they were resting more often.


    By doing so, she had the time to focus on her senses. She had been using it as a way to sharpen her mind even more before they were in a battle against multiple slimes yet again. She wanted to ensure everyone''s safety. Shr had to be perfectlyfortable with her improved armor and the much more improved twin shields.


    The changes in their weight, size, shape, and strength had been enough that Su would feel she had picked up new shields entirely. She had be amazinglyfortable with the twin shields before. Many battles and the closeness that came with using a weapon that fit her beliefs and system perfectly.


    With the strengthened and lighter metal, Su had also learned elemental skills to support it. Gil''s strong affinity to wind mana and now stronger affinities to other manas came in to y here.


    With the high elf blood within him, Gil had a sense for elemental mana that worked in a slightly different way than the learned manas senses most people had. He was much like an elf but shared the human experience of learning affinities and their mana better.


    He had shared some insight about her skills that he had seen. Especially with wind mana and her charge skills. Su could easily use shield charge attacks. She did so with her shield m abilities too. The skills had served her well as her battle abilities had grown.


    Using wind, Gil had pushed her to use that to make her hit faster and harder. Therefore, the push and assistance from Gil and then Walker using wind mana, led to her learning to use wind charge.


    This skill was one she felt could easily smash a slime t. Even therge slimes would take some form of damage since she had gained a skill called shock. A passive skill that increased the vibrations of metal that hit something. It would irritate the mind of someone she shield charged, or something.


    The feeling also hit Su tooo, she would be pushed off her senses if she was not used to it. Hence the meditation.


    Meanwhile, this break was a good way for Alice to look in to any small injuries. Or the general fatigue of the group. She had been singing to speed their travel, but now could delve deeper in to the physical wear on the body that traveling had. To a healer, being familiar with who they healed would allow faster healing. Amonly recognized fact.


    In stark contrast, Onyx and Midnight had chosen to scout the area. They also used this as an excuse to catch food to grill over the fire. Regardless of how mature they got, they were siblings left to their own freedom. The kind of freedom that always ends up leading to snacks. As far as the party was concerned, they had long epted it.


    Su even encouraged it since she and Midnight always went hunting along the markets when they had the chance. Too many times they had found a great dessert or nice snack forter. It was also why Walker had a decent few of those within his high spatial storage skill.


    "Did you notice? We had a little visitor today. It''s gone now." Walker stopped the entire group''s motions just like that.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2002 2002. More Slimes Falling

    <h4>Chapter 2002 2002. More Slimes Falling</h4>


    Everyone was stopped in ce. They had not expected Walker to drop this. They had all expected that he would use the mentalmunication skill that Onyx had been able to help them all learn it had been invaluable at times when they tended to be silent while moving. They even used it now and then when they were trying to just be a little more private.


    However, none of them knew the limits of the sin title holders. Especially the slime breeder, Envy, or the other sin title holder remaining. This was all assuming that even the demon lord was not someone that had some form of mental skill that allowed him to her mentalmunication.


    "What do you mean visitor?" Remey''s words came out like a gating stone. She was speaking with enough aggression to make everyone feel a little unsettled. They had all noticed that since she had epted the pure fire mana, that when she acted with real anger, that her tone was mixed with a slight bit of fire mana. This made her words feel oppressive in general as well.


    ''False finch slime


    This slime was made entirely to copy a finch. It is able to mimic the shape, cry, and even the flight patterns of a finch. However, it requires a lot of mana to do so. Naturally, this causes its lifespan to be very short. However, by forcing it to exist using mana from another being, it can be used as a beast that shares vision and hearing with its controller.


    This slime is a failed experiment to create a perfect mimic slime. Something that might be considered impossible if not for the ancient records where they were documented as being able to take the forms of other monsters and races¡­.''


    "I was using my all around appraisal skill on anything that we passed by. Mostly just because I want to be sure that we have the knowledge to handle whatever else we run in to. But the small brown finch that I saw was out of ce." Walker spoke slowly and calmly. He knew for the moment, that nothing was around them. But he had to speak slowly to ensure anything approaching did not speed up and start to listen.


    "What concerns me the most, is that this is a slime that can not live long without being fed mana. It also has the ability to mimic a bird that I thought was just a normal finch. Besides that, it also was able to spy on us. So a living being was created to be a spying tool and nothing more." Walker''s fists clenched. He hated that there was someone out there doing something like this.


    It was cruel to create a monster just to be used as a tool. It should have every right to live naturally rather than be used to harm others. The tamer''s guild existed to prevent this. They prosecuted the tamers that sued their beasts like disposable tools. It was a main reason they hade to exist in the first ce.


    The slimes had already been forced to breed, forced to be tools, some even forced to fight in situations where they were just meat shields. While this was also a gue of sorts, the slimes had been pushed to ces where the would not naturally form. Therefore, they were already disced in a way.


    The only option had been to destroy them. Now that another slime breeder existed, it meant that all of this had a chance to change. The slimes could be brought together in a way that they helped others. That they did not need to be destroyed. That they might have a future to gain some intelligence as other monsters. Was this likely? No, but why would anyone want to toss aside even the tiniest potential?


    Ebon could be the one to wash away the negative thoughts about slime breeders. While he was the second known slime breeder, he was also directlybating the belief that slime breeders would be evil entirely.


    "Mimic slime. He wants to make a perfect mimic slime. I remember that some of those ancient records say that mimic slimes used to cause entire areas of destruction when they mimicked ancient monsters?" Gil slowly spoke. He matched the way that Walker spoke, but it was clear that he understood the dangers of this happening.


    "If we have to face a mimic slime, what is to stop them from copying us. I did not wish any of you to fight against me with violent and killing intent. Even as a slime. Nor do I wish to harm any of you." Su''s worries were the fact that Walker was the only one that could easily and consistently use the all around appraisal skill.


    Because this was the case, he would be the only one that could point out the mimic slime if it mimicked them. Therefore, they would be in the dark when they were not right next to the real Walker. Especially if it mimicked Walker.


    That was also to say that they would be even able to fight Walker or Midnight. They were easily the two most powerful of their group. Midnight was very controlled and delicate now. She had grown faster and more mature than many. Not that it was always easy to see when she had food.


    Regardless, she could easily use multiple elemental attacks along with her incredible strength to fight the group causing grievous injuries. Then there was Walker. He was a literal amalgamation of skills and control over manas.


    If there was a mimic slime that copied him, then it would have ess to natural mana. That was terrifying enough. Yet, Walker had begun toprehend small bits of other more mysterious manas. What could a mimic slime controlled by Envy do with that?


    Everyone could sense the dangers in this. "My songs should be for healing and protecting. Not harm." Alice finally spoke up as well. She, along with Midnight and Onyx had been silent while this went on. Their own thoughts on the forefront of their focus.


    What would reality ruin Alice, or any of them, would be the fact that their skills were not used to defend and protect others. They loved their lives to ensure that they would be able to make the world better, not worse. If a mimic slime existed and copied then¡­ they could watch all their hard work undone if it ran rampant.


    "All things aside, that means that more might be happening." Remey fletxed her arms as she prepared to be on edge to fight something. She knew that if Envy knew what they were doing, it was only as matter of time before trouble came their way.


    "We just need to keep moving. Keep up our ns. That way we can handle the slimes thate our way. Then Envy will be forced toe out to try and im the slime for himself." Walker saw the brilliant slime bouncing softly nearby. It was clearly ready to keep moving now that Ebon had managed to send it mana from the shadows where he was hidden by Mordant.


    "Wait a second." Gil stopped for a moment. Themunication crystal he had was lit up. He was sure that the scouting elves had found something. He was not afraid that envy would see them usingmunication crystals. How else would everyonemunicate? Especially since it was bing more widely used and shared with all the racesing together. The angels also sued them often.


    A few moments passed by as Gil''s face showed more stress and even some anger. He clearly had just received bad news from the dark elf scouts that had moved well ahead with the angels to assist in fighting the slimes already present.


    "The angels and the scouts found out that there are seven lord slimes already on the ground. Apparently they fell along with a few hundred acid and decaying slimes. There are even some mud slimes that have been wrecking the root bases for some of the floating grass inds in the marshes." This was not good news. It meant that Envy had heard them mocking him. That he had responded by sending more slimes.


    "Then we have to move faster." Onyx spoke up loudly. He and Midnight had been silent until now. But the two were very clear on their intentions. They had taken the lead to make their moves. Onyx and Midnight would scout ahead while the party sped up behind them. That way they could handle any slimes getting nearby. A safer travel path to speed everyone up overall.


    This also showed off their own desires. The conversation about mimic slimes made them on edge just the same as others. But they wished to end that potential sooner thanter. That way no one they cared about would feel worried about having a mimic of themselves cause others harm.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2003 2003. The Angel’s Troubles

    <h4>Chapter 2003 2003. The Angel''s Troubles</h4>


    Speed was now of the essence for the party. They knew that the war between slimes and the angels was growing. While it was not necessarily a war so to speak, it was one of sorts.


    A battle that was the prerequisite to a war that is already under way. The party, and Genesis, wanted to take down the demon king, the one causing all the issues that they had to handle right now. Especially since he was clearly allowing more problems to happen.


    Envy, the slime breeder, acting out was definitely because he had gained more strength. Definitely because he was no longer being held back to gather materials or certain pieces of intelligence for the demon king.


    This was clearly evident since the party found that they were the ones being watched when they appeared. The entire floating city would not stop for then, but the slimes would be rained down on the Sigil continent? The demon king clearly had not cared a moment for the party now. He would have stopped the city tobat them if that was the case.


    Furthermore, the two sin title holders underneath the demon king had managed to do a lot for him. There had to be some arrangements by following him. The corrupted mana that had helped to awaken an ancient angelic city along with causing trouble all over the world was a start. The two sin title holders must have gotten affected as well. It only made sense.


    Having seven lord slimes appear was already a disaster that the angels had not fought before. They knew of slimes, but like everywhere else in the world, lord slimes were so rare, that most people had never had to deal with them. Even the most experienced warriors of each race had rarely seen or heard them appearing.


    But the party had battled them multiple times because of Envy. Now, the angels were witnessing the marshnds that they had started to expand to as needed be ravaged by them.


    The angels had spread out due to their ubiquity. The two empires being forced together was actually changing minds much faster. The main reason, their ability to rebuild the things they lost over many years of fighting.


    They had been looking for the lost viges and the other lost floating city parts that they knew were somewhere in the Sigil continent. Many years had passed them by while they lost so much of their own history. Beyond that, they had an entire awakening of young angels that desired to explore their home continent to discover ruins. They also dreamed of visiting the ancient angels'' ruins from before the angels had even been known as angels due to the ancient era they lived in on another continent.


    Due to this, many of the angels that had discovered the slimes that were not part of the scouting group set up to watch for the floating city, were too young to even think about handling a lord slime. They would not be able to do a single thing to such a powerful monster. Not to mention, that it was controlled by an even more powerful being.


    Gil''s worries had been made clear after he had received themunication from the crystal. He was sure that there were already injured and lost angels that had been in the area. Many angels had even started to leave toward the marshnds. The experienced angels that could fight much better.


    The shared knowledge from Genesis about how tobat the lord slimes, or slimes in general, was enough to start a fight. But if they could only hold them off, they would lose an entire area of the continent.


    The marshnds were not just a section on the edge of the continent. It was a ce that held unique monsters, nts, and manas. The water there, flowed through the marsh. If it was polluted by decay or waste of any sort, nature would clean it through various natural processes.


    This was learned throughmon sense and the elves sharing a lot of their knowledge. The angels also knew of how nature flowed in this way. Nmatrua was able to handle many different forms of abuse because of so many unique nts and monsters in existence. Yet, the slimes were not supposed to be there.


    Mud slimes might appear, and the party had managed to see three small ones just within thest three hours of pushing toward their goal. But the acid and decaying slimes were another issue. They would be in swamps or volcanic areas. ces with natural predators or limiting environments. Not here where nothing could handle them.


    "Look ahead, we have angel soldiers resting." Su prepared her shield as she saw that the soldiers had damaged armors already.


    They were all wearing bright green armor. It was not the healing green of some healer''s skills. It was the green of wind mana condensed in a unique way. Not necessarily a striking color, but one that the party knew well from some of their interaction with the angels already.


    "Stand and report!" the leader of the angels noticed the party immediately. They knew they wereing. It was clear that those in charge of angel squads had been prepared for the party to arrive. Especially since they were considered the ultimate back up right now.


    While everyone in the party made a motion for the group of angels to rx, they were clearly too on edge for that.


    "It looks like you had trouble. Please rest so I can heal you." Alice did not wait a moment. Su was right by her side with some bandages to help the angels who clearly had burns from some form of acid slime.


    "Thank you very much. We were here fro a brief time, but needed the time to return to our senses." The leader took a few breaths as his heart calmed. Meeting one of the leaders that was going to end this trouble they had never faced before was a big deal for them all.


    "We encountered twenty yellow slimes. We used water to cause them to slow down and lose size. Unfortunately, as we battled, we discovered an odd urrence." this was where Walker focused more. Odd urrences were never a good sign. Especially since they already had their fair share of odd urrences with the slimes before.


    "The slimes were not shrinking as much. One of them even was without a core. It was impossible to defeat it until we realized we were just fighting controlled slime bodies. The cores were forced away."


    Forced away/ what do you mean/ you knocked them out for the slimes but didn''t beat them?" Remey was ready to fight, but she did not like what she was hearing.


    "No, arge slime with multiple tentacles of slime were attached to each slime body. The cores were within it, like it was protecting them. But the slime was a deeper yellow. I assume it''s still acid, but not the same at all. More defensive."


    "I think I know what might be happening. Some slime can absorb others. They do that naturally. But these slimes are under control of the slime breeder. It is causing them to not break down the other slime cores and protect them instead. Forcing the slimes to go against their own nature. It''s cruel, but it makes things much harder for the soldiers like you fighting them. The brilliant slime with us should be able to pierce even the lord slime''s body. It has powerful light attacks."


    "We will assist you as we can. If we can use the wind sh skills we know to attack or boost the light projectiles, we will." The leader immediately took this as encouragement to offer assistance. They wished to fight back more. They might not know the real n, but they had been told to trust the party if they met them. No matter what.


    "Then we will bring you with us. We can have you spread out to the edges. It will help force the power slimes toward the center where we can defeat them easily." Walker said this out loud. He was sure that another slime had been watching them. Especially since this group of soldiers had been resting here for a little bit now. They Were the perfect targets to keep watch of. Ones that worked with the party.


    "I should have potions ready to beat it too. I strengthened them to work even better." Remey''s excitement to toss a potion at a lord slime and see how it worked did not fade. She had the entire alchemy guild make more potions like this along with all the healing and mana potions. Not to mention some affinity potions to help the soldiers handle their mana better in general while fighting.


    "Then we will heal all of them and head out." Gil also had his arrows at the ready. He did not want to waste any more time. They had a lord slime nearby. It was definitely after the group of angels they had just found too.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2004 2004. Find That Slime

    <h4>Chapter 2004 2004. Find That Slime</h4>


    "I can''t reforge any of your armor. I have no idea how it is made originally, and Ick the right materials. The acid damage is also a little too deep in it¡­" Walker''s sorrow for the pile of armor pieces was too great. He knew that hecked the higher ss skills to reforge it all.


    "That is not an issue. It is better that you can bring it somewhere that it can be reused instead of being left behind in the wilderness." the angels all felt this way. They knew that Genesis would have someone that could recycle the armor.


    Most of the angels also had to keep new injuries covered in bandages. The damaged armors would cut in to their bodies or they would worsen the healing injuries. As much as Alice had wanted to heal them fully, she had to understand why she could not.


    Just like Walker, she had limitations. If she healed all the angels that they had encountered, then the angels would be too tired to continue. elerating healing like this was something all healers could do. But it used the body''s natural energy. Nutrition too. It all was used to heal.


    Therefore, the angels were healed and bandaged. It was why healing in multiple steps always gave the very best results. Or using potions would be more beneficial for injuries that needed a lot of healing. It was why healers still had potions too, they supplemented each other. Especially now that the alchemy guild worked well with everyone.


    After Walker managed to kick aside the thoughts of how he should work more on solo forging to create and fix things, his mind went back to time.


    "We have the time for now to make our way toward where they saw the lord acid slime using the smaller acid slimes to fight. Between us, we can easily make an opening so the brilliant slime can pierce through the bore. Then we just have to wipe away all the slimes. By then, that slime breeder won''t have anything left to throw at us. He''s a one trick pony.."


    With this, the party began moving. The angels also split off. They were following the n to direct slimes from the edges of the area that they were faced with the lord slime. That way, the party could easily handle all the slimes in a quick moment. After that, they could easily fight in to the depths of the marsh.


    "I am worried a bit, the slimes already pushed in to the forest. We are an hour away from the marsh still." Su''s speed had picked up making everyone move.


    "Sister and I spotted signs of acid slimes eating away at the trees. They don''t do that¡­" Onyx and Midnight had scouted well ahead of everyone. They had managed to find some things that did not look right whatsoever.


    The acid slimes shouldn''t be trying to harm the trees or anything like that. They should be eating away at metals as they would where they normally existed in nature. But here, they were being controlled and forced to eat at wood and other natural nts. It was a very bad thing since it would certainly lead to them suffering or dying outright.


    "That just means we need to handle them faster." Gil took the lead this time. He did not like the sound of the slimes eating away at the forest they were cutting through. But his sudden burst of speed brought him right in to an oing slime.


    "That yellow slimecks a core too." Su''s eyes spotted it right away. The yellow acid slime had a small tendril of slime connecting it to something far off outside the trees. But the slime was not necessarilying for them. It was rubbing its body on the trees and absorbing small sprouts from the forest..?Intentionally damaging everything.


    "Disgusting!" Gil dashed ahead yet again, but this time, he used a dagger he had dipped in Remey''s basic potion to sh the tentacle attached to the slime.


    Immediately, the part of slime body was neutralized. The tentacle had been severed and it could not immediately reattach to the slime body that it had kept ahold of. Therefore, the slime body fell in to a puddle of acid slime slowly eating away at the leaves on the ground. Remey quickly poured a potion on to it so that it would not be a risk to anything or anyone.


    "We are moving! We need to follow that slime tentacle spo we can get to the lord acid slime. It might be affected by chaotic mana." Walker had a theory that the lord acid slime was destroying things and forcing the weaker slimes to do what it wanted for more than one reason.


    It was Envy telling it to do this, yes, as a slime breeder, he had control over this. But beyond that, there was the chaotic mana. This would make the slime more apt to fight anything and everything around it.


    Slimes already had a natural tendency to absorb things in their body as food or general sustenance. But with chaotic mana, it would be more easily manipted to do so. Especially since the slime breeder clearly wanted destruction as a whole.


    "Another two slime bodies being controlled there." Remey spotted them but ignored any chance to attack. She could feel that a bigger challenge was nearby.


    Just a secondter, the party heard some yelling. The elves were baiting and tricking the slime bodies to follow.


    "I think that they are blind without cores on them. The tentacles are like feelers instead of actual bodies controlled by something." Gil could feel his theory was spot on. Just the actions from the slimes were perfect. But they had not realized that the slimes were retreating.


    "I think that it knows we areing. Be ready for that to change. The slimes will be able to see us if we get near the main lord slime. That means they will be more violent." Walker''s warning brought Midnight in to a snarl. She did not like this at all. The slimes were already annoying because she had to be careful not to get covered in parts of it. They could ruin her scales for a long time.


    When they all came to a sudden stop, it was apparent that they had underestimate the changes in the lord slimes. The brilliant slime was also considered small byparison.


    Therge yellow slime was darker in color. Itsrger core also showed off the size and strength that it had. Each smaller slime core seemingly rotating around its main core. But the size it had was where things stood out. The lord acid slime wasrge enough that it had burned away three tree trunks along with all the leaves on the round around it.


    The small tentacles came off it toward slime bodies being pulled back toward the lord slime right that second. Yet, the party expected whips of tentacles or acid to shoot at them. The mana was enough to cause issues from those sorts of powerful attacks.


    That wasn''t happening though. "I think that it is too dense to move much. That means we can attack it as we want." Gil''s theory was quickly proved wrong as the slime began to slowly roll. "Or it is too heavy to move fast¡­" Gil fired an arrow for good measure.


    When the arrow was released, nothing special happened. Gil was using it to test the lord slime, not attack it with full force. He knew well that if the attacks he used caused an explosion or any violent reactions, that the slime body could be sttered all over. It would, in turn, cause the acid of the slime body to burn away many things, including them.


    The moment that the arrow hit the lord acid slime, it stopped. It didn''t pierce in to the body, but stopped, sticking right to it. Then it slowly started to break down. As the acid brought it in to the body of the slime. "So it is much tougher. That means it condensed its body already¡­"


    Remey remembered that the slimes could condense their bodies sometimes. The lord slimes could naturally use a skill that slimes were known for when they were powerful. But to be able to do so to create a dense armor was a troublesome idea.


    "Midnight, can you distract it while the brilliant slime prepares? Everyone else can manage the slime bodies. Take the potions you have and destroy the smaller slime bodies." Walker had orders already. Alice also backs the brilliant slime up so that they could help it make a light spike. They needed to drive home the apparent strength of the brilliant slime. Make Envy wish he had it. Make Envy want it so badly that he came down from the floating city.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2005 2005. Slime Hunting

    Chapter 2005 2005. Slime Hunting


    Gathering light mana was not hard for anyone. Well, for Walker and Alice that was. When onyx joined in as well, they were able to guide light mana directly to the brilliant slime. All of them had their own versions of understanding that came with their experiences with light mana.


    Alice was able to use a more calm version of light mana. One that came through ehr voice and the whaling effects that she normally used it with. This alone was a level of light mana that many would struggle to grasp since it was often not meant for defense or for offense. It was nourishing.


    This allowed the brilliant slime light mana that increased its own abilities. It allowed it to replenish the light mana that it was gaining from the other much faster. avery good ability to have when one was about to fight.


    Since the brilliant slime was also in need of light mana as a general means of surviving, it was very energetic when noticing that it was being assisted. It could sense that Ebon was pushing for it to grow. For it to show off its strength. That alone improved the mood of the slime as a whole.


    When the air gained the light mana density from Walker using natural mana as a bonus to it, there was only one thing that it could do, show off more.


    The light slime body condensed making it tougher. This immediately caused the small acid attacks that caused the slime bodies controlled by the lord acid slime to fall away from the brilliant slime like nothing. Just that amount of denses was enough to make some people jealous. Specifically, the angels reached the groups as they fought.


    Onyx''s light mana begging passed toward the brilliant slime was more viscous. This came through the way that he used it. To create light armor that was able to stand up to the darkness mana he used as well.


    Then the fact that Onyx used it as sustenance along with attacks made the light mana better for attacking. While different forms of one particr mana was not something hard to grasp, the control fo them was. This came from years of experience or having that affinity deeply carved within them.


    The brilliant slime relied entirely on light mana aligned with Ebon''s mana too. Therefore, it started to alter its body and core upon receiving these light manas used for different things. It was as if it was being handed the tools it needed to be all that it could be.


    The materials, herbs, and process used to change it from a colorless slime were amazingly being used now. They had their manas and nutrients dwell within the core of the brilliant slime. All the lingering effects were being enhanced. It was like a general potential buff since so much ideal mana was being added.


    When The light spike was created, Su took notice and used her twin shields to help separate more of the smaller slime bodies being controlled. The broken tentacles could only shrivel away because they also had the basic potions poured on them. Su had sneakily poured the basic potions over her shields so that she could cause damage while defending the others. A very wise choice.


    Gil''s actions had followed Su''s. but he had managed to coat the arrow tips he fired. Using some hollow arrow tips with acid and basic resistances, he was confident that he could break through the dense yellow slime body of this lord acid slime that was boosted by corrupted mana.


    Proving correct, he was sniping the tentacles causing multiple lime bodies to be left without any control. The slime cores under the lord slime''s control clearly suffered because of this. Small racks being created on the cores as they could not even be attached to their own bodies any longer. Just more nutrients and strength to be used by the lord slime.


    Midnight''s fire breath appeared to also have an effect. She was using small sts of fire breath to irstract and cause the lord slime to be more chaotic in its movements. It was already being attacked and whittled down slowly but surely. However, it was now abused by a dragon that could easily burn off the defensive dens body it created. While the evidence of this was small, it was easy enough for Walker to spot.


    Things only became more dramatic as the lord slime began to attack more often with tentacles. Its slow moving speed bing faster because it had less body to move. But it had still not even gotten close to what the party could do with their own agility.


    This was because they had strengthened themselves a lot. Especially Remey. She had been able to easily get closer and dash ahead. Her body already strong enough to resist any damage a basic potion could do to her fists or anything she wore. Therefore, she used her fists coated in the potion to pierce the slime body.


    This delivered the basic potions right in to its defenses before she retreated to do it again. The slime body losing chunks that melted away before the potions werepletely neutralized along with themed pieces of the slime body.


    These were devastating attacks that came from the knowledge and skills that improved between Remey''s alchemy and fists. They managed toe together here to allow a better attack for the brilliant slime that only had to use the mana shared with it to attack.


    While the iing attacks did not pierces the dense and powerful slime body the lord acid slime had due to the additional chaotic mana infecting it, the core was unscathed. Only the cores of the slime sunder control had cracked.


    As some of them broke, the lord slime just dissolved them as a way to get stronger. To return some of its lost strength. It was somewhat a sad thing to witness since the party knew that the slimes had never had a chance to grow naturally. They had been born, created, forcefully enved by Envy to do whatever he desired. Even fight amongst themselves.


    When the light spike shined brighter than the sun above them, everyone retreated. Walker used a little control to help the brilliant slime guide its slight spike. But the density was much more than enough.


    "Stand back!" Su mmed her shield down in front of Alice, Onyx, and Walker. The other backed away while the brilliant slime attacked.


    Like a sh, the light spike shot forward. The brilliant slime dulled as it also slowed due to the loss of mana all at once. But the attack was too fast for the lord acid slime to counter. To even prepare against. Even with it being controlled by Envy remotely.


    The chaotic mana also somewhat slowed it. This was chaotic mana. Even with envy controlling it, the lord slime was left in a maddened state to a degree. Therefore, the lord slime did not resist the attack.


    With the light spike piercing through the body, everyone had expected that it would pierced the cut through and through. But surprising all of them, the light spike stopped within its slime body. Instead, the slight spike exploded in to thousands of smaller light spikes. It shattered all the slime cores. destroyed the slime body. Completely broke apart any toughness left behind by the lord slime''s body at all.


    This strength was well beyond what was expected of the brilliant slime. Well beyond the capabilities when they had boosted it. Therefore, Walker had the revtion that the brilliant slime''s important and skills were well above what he had imagined


    He understood that the higher control that the brilliant slime had over light mana clear was on disy for them. That they had all missed to what degree it was better. To what degree it was stronger.


    They had been baiting Envy. talking up how weak his slimes as a slime breeder would bepared to the brilliant slime. But they had not even needed to do that. They had already gotten a slime that was overall much better. They had just failed to truly understand at what level this was.


    The brilliant slime could grow too. It might be at the form that it would stay at. But as it became better trained in its skills, it would be stronger. As it was able to create light slimes, it would be more adapted tobat with assistance. It might even spawn lord light slimes or alternate forms of light slimes.


    All the potentials that it had were hard to grasp for Walker as he began to conjure water from the air to wash away the massive amount ifo acid slime body around. He would only be amazed with everyone else.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2006 2006. Rotting Nature

    Chapter 2006 2006. Rotting Nature


    The sudden end to the battle brought the angel squad close to see the results. They were amazed that the brilliant slime had attacked with such strength right away. Especially since the party had already backed it up in previous statements.


    It wasn''t that they did not believe the strength that the party had. However, they believe that every member of the party would be taking a more forward battle style. Not relying on the strength of a newly formed slime.


    This didn''t bring the angels'' opinion down though. Instead, the caption of their group had another opinion. "You brought the brilliant slime because these slimes are too weak to trouble you and it''s the best way to let your new ally grow faster. I understand now. We will strive to share the same mentality in the future once we have repelled the enemies here."


    "It''s the hard work together with our new partner. If we are strong alone, we are just alone. Genesis is all about bringing together." Walker''s insanely positive response struck the angels much more than they expected.


    It had been generations of fighting. Generations of fighting their own fellow angels who had different ideals than the ces they lived and grew up in. Now that it was considered over, they had a chance to be unique with the same ideals that they heard from Genesis.


    Genesis forces had already moved toward the angels. Many of the first merchants hade to the Sigil continent to showcase things that would help the angels grow together and repair theirnds. Beyond that, a few of the stronger adventurers had taken long term positions there.


    Exploring the Sigil continent and remaking maps with more details was a major event for the adventurers and the angel''s futures. Along with that, there were the simr ideals that came with rediscovering the entire continent. What monsters lived there? What herbs now grew here? What ruins could be uncovered to rebuild historical records?


    "We can''t just stay here. Remey already poured a bunch of potion and you made the water rain around here." Su kept them moving. She snapped the angels out of their own awe which immediately sent them off to their next task. They knew well that there would be more slimes nearby. Hopefully none that were controlled by anything like another lord slime.


    "We are just about out of these woods and in to the marshnds. See the silt here? It''s mixed with some sandy mud. The smell of salt water and fresh water mixing too." Gil''s senses and eyesight had be more focused due to gaining some pure high elf blood.


    While this might not sound like much, he was already much sharper with his senses due to his training with elves and being an arcane archer. Now, he had managed to apply this training to an improved body that was closer to nature as a whole. Therefore, it was much easier for him to notice the changes in the area as a whole too.


    The slightest changes in soil was enough for him to discern changes in where he was and was not going. "Good spotting, we pushed ahead a lot more to get to the slimes and end that lord slime. Brilliant slime,e over here. Onyx will carry you. He can take hisrger size now that the tree are spreading out more."


    Walker saw that Onyx wanted to help the brilliant slime too. Alice was right there behind the slime too. She was singing softly. This was drawing in the light mana around to allow the brilliant slime to rapidly recover. It was definitely growing stronger.


    Besides that, the mentalmunication that Onyx was having with Ebon proved that the brilliant slime was in a very positive mood. It had understood the buffs and assistance it was getting. This had dramatically improved the young slime''s mentality. It also clearly increased its overall understanding of what it was. How it was growing.


    "Then we are racing to the most affected area." Remey did not bother to hesitate. As Onyx showed off his full size, evenrger than thest time the party saw him, she ran ahead. Gil caught up using some of the tree branches to boost his speed. It was amazing seeing how well adapted he was already to the changes within his body.


    "Midnight, they are not going to get ahead of us." Midnight growled in response to Su. They both unfurled their wings and took to the air. Su had learned immensely from Rise about how to use the wings that appeared when she fully epted the status as half dragon. She had even trained with Midnight to both strengthen their abilities to fly through tougher situations. Especially taking notes from the harpies who were naturally born to fly.


    As they moved, Walker stepped in to the air as well. He was gathering mana because he could sense the more chaotic mana ahead of them. He had greatly improved his abilities to sense mana. Therefore, he was able to grasp the chaotic mana much better. This in turn, made him want to draw more natural mana toward him to better counter it.


    The eternal codex changed forms to suit what he needed. Arge one handed magic staff with multiple metallic floating rune carved rings came to be. The central orb at the top rotated with natural mana as the focus. But the other manas that he had scratched the surface of were also rotating around it. Each step Walker took radiated a little natural mana other than affecting the air as the skills he used normally did.


    The speed that Walker drew in natural mana was enough that it showed all around him. The wind started to pick up, and even the earth well below him showed slight signs that it was moving along with the water in it. He was not surprised by the level that this had changed. His strength was greater along with the eternal codex being an amazing improvement upon the eternal orb. His perfect tool, weapon, extra limb.


    Yet, when the party broke free from the forest and saw the scene in the marshnds, they were shocked.


    The damage was much greater than they had realized. Acid slimes, decaying slimes, and a few more were ravaging the area.


    Squads of angels and a few from Genesis were in battle with them. The lord slimes standing taller and being attacked by therger groups. But the smaller slimes did not seem to end. There was specifically arger purple lord slime gathering the broken bodies and pieces of slime core from decaying slimes. Then it would somehow stitch them together with chaotic mana before sending them out to destroy more.


    Massive patches of tall marsh grasses had already been destroyed. Some smaller pools of water were turning brown and ck with rotting things. It would be incredibly toxic for anything that tried to live there.


    Here and there, monsters would burst out of the march trying to fight back. They were even ignoring the angels. The natural instinct to protect their home lining up against the slimes who the angels were also fighting. Even nature knew how to work together to protect itself.


    ''Major quest- destroy the slime gue


    Requirement: defeat the slime breeder, the sin title of Envy, a true monster


    Reward: 100 heroic points, 15000 experience points, world announcement.''


    The quest was for everyone. Even the angels were alerted. Even the Genesis forces were alerted. They all knew that this was a quest to protect more than just the Sigil continent. It was something that wasing from the world itself to deal with a threat to the flow of nature.


    "It''s time to go all out. Let''s use the brilliant slime to crush all of these-"


    "Crush what? You found a way to use a slime against me? Do you not know the title I have as Envy? do you not understand that I take slimes and raise them as the perfect extension of myself!"


    The voice caused every slime to vibrate and change forms. Those that could go berserk had just begun to thrash out with tentacles. Some began targeting the weakest soldiers and rolling at them. Some mes even burst up as me slimes came to be. They had seemingly been waiting.


    "Ah, how pathetic the little heroes are. They believed themselves strong because they were able to scratch the surface of one thing." the voice echoed again as ten clear slimes seemingly melded together. But they quickly melted as a whistling wind took over.


    Walker looked up to see a mass falling. Something he was trying to use his all around appraisal on. That was until he realized that their bait had worked. However, the bait had also brought something more with Envy.


    "Stop looking all worried. He''s a bigger target with that slime." Remey cracked her knuckles. She was ready to deal the damage they had witnessed ten fold in return to Envy.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2007 2007. The Ugly Side Of envy

    Chapter 2007 2007. The Ugly Side Of envy


    The massive slime body that fell to the ground was certainly a lord slime of sorts. However, Walker could tell that it surprisinglycked a main affinity.


    The acid and decaying slimes were very much the known calling card for Envy at this point. Everyone in the Genesis alliance knew of these two species of slime used against multiple races to cause damage and general havoc.


    Envy himself was a very thin looking demon. Tworge curling horns that wrapped back toward his head again. Then his sharp tail had what anyone would assume was a stinger. His skin was dark red, it made him appear as if he was an imp and not an actual demon.


    "So you can actually show yourself. I thought all you could do was send slimes to fight for you because of how weak you were." Remey''s immediately taunt made Envy''s face wrinkle with anger for just a single moment.


    "And I believed that you would remain a meat head full of just muscle. But luck allowed you to gain weak little skills in alchemy. Your lower species must be so proud of you." Nothing Envy said was apliment, however, not a single member of the party moved forward just yet.


    The two opposing sides were looking at one another carefully. Judging for weaknesses. Trying to find the best way to strike down the other.


    "So? You came to surrender?" Su decided to press the issue now. She wanted to force Envy to show a greater weakness.


    " Yes, YOU, may surrender yourself to me. I can feed you to my slimes and create a better version of slimes." Envy smiles showing off sharp teeth. Yet, Walker knew well that he was already moving to attack them.


    In a split second, Walker used the multi buff skill with arge amount of natural mana behind it. This boosted their abilities significantly while also drawing in more elemental manas.


    "How sad. Your little leader is only focused on the natural flow of the world. It''s a prison that limits you and how you can grow. We have followed a grand leader to learn new ways to break the mold. I will show you!" Envy looked as if his eyes were filled with an endless madness.


    Walker had already realized that Envy was not a demon at all any longer. The form he had¡­ was not his. It was an imitation of what he had been once upon a time. The all around appraisal had just proved this as Walker used it on Envy and the slime he stood as a whole.


    ''Slime breeder Lord, Envy


    Due to the unique slime breeder system, chaotic mana, unique title, and years of self experimentation, this being is considered a monster among monsters.


    Using their own body as fuel, the mind was forced to be confined within a slime core. The body was altered and grown to be an adaptable slime body with the intention of being a mimic slime that could breed any form of slime species.


    While this is still unfinished, the monster was created and it owns some intelligence. Unfortunately, due to these experiments, the natural adaptability thates from the sin title of Envy, were lost. Not the slime body is adaptable instead.


    Various manas can be absorbed and used to create chaotic attacks mimicking those of corrupted slimes. The strength, defenses, and agility of the slime body are greatly enhanced. The only weakness being the slime core housing the mind of Envy.


    If left alone, it is possible for a massive copse to ur causing an elemental explosion of chaotic mana. If bnced, the potential for an immortal mimic slime to exist is high¡­''


    Walker could have read more in to it, but I''m the split seconds that he did read the all around appraisal, he was appalled.


    Not only had Envy used slimes as experimental subjects, he had done so to alter himself. So much so that using chaotic mana he was considered by the world to be a true monster among monsters.


    Worse yet, if he failed, there could be an explosion of chaotic manas that would surely cause untold damage. But sess was worse. He would be an immortal slime that could mimic others. That meant their skills and untold atrocitiesmitted for many years.


    Onyx came in to amazing y here. His mentalmunication sent all the information that Walker had just read from the all around appraisal to the rest of the party. It drove home the immense importance that they now faced during this battle. Failure meant more than just losing their lives and a few years of evil existing.


    The ground trembled as slime tentacles whipped up. The slime body that Envy stood in had taken on some earth mana to use the earth beneath him as a weapon. But Walker had sensed this. Su as well due to her innate strength when it came to earth and her partner being a grand earth spirit.


    With their reactions, the attack of the earth slime tentacles and rock shards did nothing. Not a single one hit any of the party. Su had easily defended Alice and Onyx while Midnight was unfazed due to her skeletal armor and personal shifting armor.


    "Recall the brilliant slime!" Walker shouted out to Ebon as he saw multiple dragonkin appearing from the shadows along with other assassins or rangers.


    With a deep breath, Walker released stored natural mana in a vicious dragon roar. The skill caused the slime body that was part of Envy to shiver. It also haunted everyone else on the battlefield.


    In response, multiple dragon roars echoed from nearby as the manasall round grew rapidly in density. This was met by the royal dominator dragons with roars of their own. They were pushing toward Walker while flying, but also sharing their manas with him to allow the party more mana to use in their attacks.


    With this wee boost, Remey sparked a me all around her. The slight stop that hade from Walker''s loud dragon roar boosted by natural mana had not stopped her at all. On the contrary, it had spurred her a little more. So much so that her newer features showed themselves much clearer.


    The mes that burst up around her took the forms of wings, horns, and dense fire scales around her. The change in her race to a draconic me soul humanoid was perfectly showing off how strong she really was.


    Darting forward, her fist hit the slime body causing a massive chunk of slime to be incinerated. The reaction from Envy was instantaneous. He drew in fire mana and multiple tentacles of fire slime body whipped at Remey to defend. However, she was not somemon me wielder. The tentacles of fire slime that touched her became incinerated just the same as the body she had struck.


    Due to this, Envy quickly adapted and used water to make an opposing elemental strength. This forced Remey to retreat. However, Gil was waiting behind her. Su had set up her shields to be able to defend him better. He could have dodged or used his speed, but with Su defending him, he could fire more arrows in a row.


    Specifically, he anticipated Envy to adapt since the information that Walker had about Envy had been shared with all of them.Knowing that the slime body could adapt and change, Gil had used ice arrows. They pierced right in to the water elemental slime tentacles trying to chase Remey. The result was the water slime body freezing on contact and being unable to move the same way. It was just enough time for another arrow to hit it with earth affinity attached to the arrowhead.


    This caused a spike of earth to pierce upwards and break away the frozen slime body. Clearly, Envy was getting angry by all the counters to his slime body. The thin figure was showing much more anger the longer this happened.


    When the next set of tentacles mmed in to the earth to attack, everyone jumped back leaving room for Onyx tosh out. He was at his full size and using the light and dark armor he could create from light and dark manas. He had even grown stronger in his ability to shape them creatingsharp de at his tail.


    This shed through the slime body creating a hole in the front dense slime body. Just enough for Midnight to leap in with a devastating dragon breath attack. This in turn allowed Walker to greatly boost the attack with his natural mana and Alcie to also create a light shield with her song to reinforce the defenses as multiple shards of stoneshot up from the ground as the earth slime tentacles attacked.


    "Fine! I will ughter you all and take whatever you think is so damn valuable as my own!" it appeared that envy finally snapped and showed exactly why he had the sin title of Envy.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 2008 2008. Not Over Yet

    Chapter 2008 2008. Not Over Yet


    The chaotic mana gathered around Envy immediately. It was clear that the taunts the group had made already sat within Envy''s mind to constantly wear away at him. But now, he was finding that his slime body was being easily beaten.


    Every time he adapted the tentacles to use different elemental slime forms and attacks, he was countered or faced a perfect defense. It made him feel that he was not at all gaining what he hade for. He didn''t even see a single sign of the brilliant slime any more.


    That alone, he also noticed that there were roars of dragons nearby. Not to mention that the slimes he had sent in to murderous rage nearby, were being killed faster and faster. Hundreds of his bred slimes destroyed in minutes.


    Because of the anger induced by the party, Envy had yet to realize that he waspletely within a trap set for him. A trap made by baiting him with a slime he could not make and had not made which was actually much weaker than he even knew. Not that the party would have let him figure that out.


    Yet, right this moment, Envy was bringing all the chaotic mana that was around and within him. The slimes directly nearby sacrifice themselves but charging in to him. Due to this, the party was forced to retreat.


    They could have released multiple attacks or a wide range attacks that could stop all the slimes suddenly charging at them. But that would have hit the other forces fighting nearby. It would also make the area generally harder to fight in for everyone.


    Not that the party could take their eyes off the massive slime taking a different form in front of them. Envy''s body had proven to be the partial mimic that they already knew it was. He had not real body any longer. He had be a slime core with a slime body. A grotesque experimental monster. Everyone felt their skin prickle as they witnessed this proof.


    Multiple different forms of slime tentacles spread out from therger slime body that envy had be. Yellow acid slime tentacles. Purple decaying slime tentacles. Brown earth slime tentacles. Blue water slime tentacles, green wind slime tentacles. Even a few deep red fire slime tentacles.


    They all branched from a body where the manas were attempting to mix but constantly pushing one another away. "I think he tried to copy you Walker. Natural mana, but instead ended up being full of corrupted manas." Gil was spot on.


    From what Walker could sense, the manas that were attempting to meet the core within the slime werepletely chaotic in nature. They could not ever be natural mana because it would greatly go against what was allowing the slime body to even remain as it was right now.


    "It''s also using the mimic skills it has to keep copying the forms of other slimes. I can tell, it''s like slime bodies were mmed together but they are not able to actually move the way they should. Like a puppet moving on strings. You just know it''s wrong." Remey''s insult appeared to have been heard as one of each tentacle attacked her. This was Envy''s first real attack.


    Hitting Remey though? Not a single chance. She was too quick. That and Su was already making her way in line of the tentacle attacks. The twin shields resist the multiple elemental attacks due to the strengthening from the wandering cksmith. Adding that to her light shield skill? And Remey felt that Su had just slipped in front to help them ensure they were healed.


    "Brother, Midnight is ready to use a light attack as a distraction. Alice is helping her gather the mana while I can make an opening for Remey to deal with some of the acid and decaying slime parts."


    This idea was enough. The party could make openings so that Envy would be distracted. Walker knew well that piercing through the slime body would be tough, therefore, they had to wear away that body and weaken it.


    As Onyxgged out with his tail, Remey dashed forward with multiple potions in hand. She used the mes around her body to heat them. Right to the point that when she tossed them, they burst open in a cloud of boiling potion and steamy potions.


    The two caused Envy''s acid and decaying slime body parts to melt away in chunks. It caused an immediate crazed attack from other tentacles.


    Gil fired water affinity arrows to put out the growing mes from the fire slime. He knew well that maintaining the environment around them was enough to allow for a safer battle. But also because it gave Envy less space that he could see Midnight preparing for a major attack which wouldpletely distract Envy.


    As Alice had pushed a lot of light mana toward Midnight, it helped her condense a light dragon me breath that she had trained along with Su and Alice before. This was abination attack that relied on the draconic might that Midnight could wield.


    Since Envy was already being pulled in multiple directions due to the different attacks from Onyx and Remey, let alone being countered by Su, expecting Midnight to attack with a powerful dragon breath attack was not on the list of worries. Not that his intelligence wassting in this monstrous slime form.


    As Midnight released a beam of powerful light mana, the slight me like appearance was all that could define it as a dragon breath fire attack. Not that it at all had any of the kind healing effects that Alice''s light often had. Instead, it gained the purifying effects.


    Most people would not expect that to do much, but against the decaying slimes? It was a very good attack. The entire section of decaying purple slime body was destroyed leaving a massive chunk of the slime body Envy had made for himself fall apart in to a pool of useless slime. He couldn''t reattach it. He already called over nearby slimes to use them in battle. He had no means to heal right now.


    Beyond this, he had not noticed Walker changing the eternal codex in to a spear. A spear with darkness mana radiating through and around it. "Mordant, it''s time for you to show what adominator dragon can do."


    Pulling his arm back, Walker used all his force to throw the spear along with push against it with natural mana to boost the attack. However, he had called out to Mordant for a reason.


    The darkness mana that Walker channeled within the spear form of the eternal codex had not been to add a decaying effect that darkness mana could have. It was to allow Mordant the ability to better control the spear form of the eternal codex when it was thrown.


    Mordant was the only dragon that had the ability to make it to the battle almost instantly. Not to mention that he had been lurking in the shadows as a trump card. As the hidden power that could erupt out to help with the killing blow to envy as a whole.


    He could use the newfound strength as a dominator dragon to harness the mana that Walker gathered. Even when boosted with natural mana, the darkness mana that Walker could have controlled was easily grabbed by Mordant''s control.


    His hulking darkness dominator dragon form was intimidating enough. Yet, Envy couldn''tprehend that as Mordant''s shadow pushed the spear in to the center of the slime body. Piercing the slime core that should have been the reason that envy was unable to be beaten. The slime core that Envy thought he would be able to live forever and always adapt to every single potential issue in life. He had been wrong.


    "I would have had it all." These words seemed to echo through the now silent battle ground. Thest words of the sin of Envy title holder who had done countless evil things with the slime she bred and forced on to the world as destroyers.


    The slime body fell apart instantly. Mordant looked at the cracking slime core which appeared to be slower in breaking. However, the eternal codex had just pierced it and fall out of it before returning to Walker with Walker''s control. The slime core itself was notpletely smashed or broken yet.


    "Don''t rx! The chaotic elemental manas are going to burst out. We need to control it!" Walker jumped forward as he noticed the royal dragons arriving just in time. The battle had been short in the span of minutes overall. However, that was just the trap they had perfectly set. It was not the battle of chaotic manas that they were not about to face so that a massive area would not be corrupted by the chaotic manas.


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    ¡­.

 Chapter 2009 2009. Domain

    Chapter 2009 2009. Domain


    The sheer amount of chaotic manas that were leaving the breaking slime core that Envy had made his body in to, was too much. All this corruption would spread to the entire area as the all around appraisal had already said it would if envy became unbnced and failed to be a real bnced mimic slime breeder.


    The reason that it was even worse now though, was that the corrupt mana would do more than just spread. It would destroy the potential of the nearbynd of ever being bnced within nature again.


    That fact alone was enough to cause a high amount of stress to move throughout every single force here. The dominator dragons being the ones that felt this pressure the hardest.


    Each and every single one of them had a closer rtionship than any other to the elemental manas that they represented right now. Especially Current who had just advanced.


    Current had been thest to arrive. He had to purify the water mana within him and around him while remaining within the very water he purified. That step had been required by his process of being a water dominator dragon. Not because he was impure, but to ensure that every single aspect of his body perfectly adapted to the purer water mana that was forming a core within his heart. It was a very important safety measure.


    However, that very process had allowed him to sense the water mana all around him much better. He could tell that it was trying to exist as it should be. But to him, the mana was literally screaming out as it was forced from where it existed naturally.


    All the dominator dragons knew that manas were bound together through nature. Through existence in general. Water and wind manas mixed together all the time. The same with light and wind. Light and earth. Earth and water. And so on. This was what made everything and anything possible. The mixing of manas.


    Yet, when they all sensed this, they realized that the very manas melded together were being forced tobat one another. The true aspects of what it meant that the manas were corrupted was right there for them to sense now. Sense at a very clear and indisputable level.


    "We need to bring the manas back together to stop this chaotic mana from causing more corruption. From destroying this entire area!" Walker shouted out again as he used the eternal codex to draw much more natural mana toward him.


    The other also reacted. Gil, Alice, Su, Remey, Midnight, and Onyx all took positions around Walker. They Were sharing their skills, mana, and whatever else they could with him so that he could fully attack the slime core that was cracking more and more with each second of corrupted mana it released.


    They all knew that envy and pushed the slime core to the brink as he had channeled manas through the slime body to alter it in to multiple different slime forms. It had been incredibly unbnced. A terrible way to maintain a body. They were already lucky that it had not caused an explosion of corrupted mana right there.


    The fact that the corrupted mana had been forced in to some odd way of control also did not help. It had been made much more dense within envy''s body right away. That way, it had made things much worse. Causing the slimes that Envy had controlled to run rampant and also be corrupted themselves.


    As the dominator dragons moved forward, they used the strongest skills to control manas. The purer manas that radiated from their bodies made waves around the entire area.


    This sudden pressure forced every single other being away. Monsters nearby rushed away sensing the draconic might that could easily crush them. The joint angel and Genissi forces were also pushing back. They knew very well to remove themselves. It had been part of the meetings they had when they hade here. They knew that they could not wield the right skills to help here.


    The only ones of the forces that remained were mages or healers. The ones that could buff and send manas toward Walker''s party. This was not much, but it began to add up as more of the mages coordinated. More of the dragonkin started to help as well. It was alling together in away that allowed the party to work better.


    The dominator dragons wielding so much mana was something that should have driven Walker past his limits almost instantly. However, he had a sense for natural mana better than anyone else. This was all due to his rtionship with natural mana.


    He had created natural mana from other manas while studying how manas worked overall. From there, he had been part of creating the eternal orb which had be the eternal codex. The one and only item that was created to be able to use natural mana and always have natural mana within it.


    Then he had the powerful bond with Fleur, the only known nature spirit. Let alone one that was well on the path to be known as a world spirit. But even that future was changing now that the spirit race was a recognized race by the world. This meant that the natural mana and bond was infinitely more important to him.


    All of this cleared Walker''s mind as he understood how the manas came together to bnce out the chaotic mana in the slime core breaking down in front of him.


    To channel all this mana that was condensing through the eternal codex, Walker changed its form.


    Two gloves made from the eternal codex appeared on his hands as massive amounts of natural mana flowed through them. Walker''s mana was severely depleting. He was worried that all the corrupted mana that was already escaping through his fingers was causing more issues. But he could sense something else too.


    The same feeling he had when using the dragon domain skills. They came with a unique feeling. One that would be best described asfortable over everything else. It was a literal way to make the manas meld together properly. To fuse together as they should be. By manas, it was better to say, the affinity and the user of the skills manas. They would be all around in the entire domain skill allowing damage, defense, and strength overall.


    Walker took that feeling and used it with the immense mana that he was being handed from the dominator dragons. The eternal codex had improved greatly on what the eternal orb could do. The fine control of mana in general was causing Walker to be able to less stressfully manipte everything.


    As a burst of natural mana spread around Walker, the slime core began to crumble faster. Along with multiple waves of natural mana bncing the corrupted mana in the entire area. Burned spaces that acid had broken down or decaying slimes had ruined were being repaired. The smoldering embers of where fire slimes had attacked also appeared to be regrowing in instants.


    Even the air seemed to be more lively as the entire area was filled with extremely dense natural mana that was more than what any of them had been around even before.


    ''The skill, nature dragon domain has been learned due to the extreme amount of natural mana being created through the efforts of multiple dominator dragons and the guidance of one being at their center.


    Nature dragon''s domain- requires high amounts of mana depending on size. All manas must be used in equal bnce.


    While this skill offers absolutely no backing in attack or defensive powers, it is a truly blessed force that can even influence the life mana naturally in the world.


    It is able to help calm all manas that this domaines in to contact with. Due to this, the corrupted, chaotic, akdhef, and jfjffvv¡­ manas will be peaceful. Damages from various effects of these manas will be repaired to some degree based on the strength of the natural manas created within the domain.


    Enlightening has a small chance for those that use elemental manas or natural manas.


    Wounds will be healed while within the nature dragon''s domain along with personal mana being received at a high rate. It is an ideal trainingdomain¡­''


    There was a lot more to the skill, but if Walker were to look at it, he would find that there were mixed up words. Things he could not understand. A clear example of the things he had not learned yet. That he could notprehend until he was stronger.


    But this nature dragon domain was causing the slime core to rapidly break down in to nothing but dust. The corrupted mana was calming down immensely as the denominator dragons felt the weights leaving their backs.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2010 2010. Awakened titles

    Chapter 2010 2010. Awakened titles


    ''Major quest- destroy the slime guepleted


    Requirement: defeat the slime breeder, the sin title of Envy, a true monster


    Reward: 100 heroic points, 15000 experience points, world announcement.''


    Walker rxed a lot when he saw the quotesplete. He felt that they were all facing a massive issue here.


    When it came to the way that Envy fought, it was barbaric and untrained. It was also clear that Envy had been experimenting on himself but not out in the world experiencing things. This had alle from the fact that he was a slime breeder.


    He created the slimes. Manipted them. Forced them out in to the world to be able to fight for him. He had no real experience. Now real strength but for theta he had altered his body to do. The slime core that had crumbled was the only evidence of strength that envy had.


    "Envy wanted the strength of all the slimes and knowledge to be his. He even tried to take it and make himself part of it. But he never faced a real opponent because of that. He never trained or made himself stronger." Gil''s negative opinion on this was all truth. The entire party knew this.


    As the royal dragons changed their forms and stood around the party, they also shook their heads. "I hate that this monster caused so much trouble and was so weak." Terron was the one that felt the most annoyed. He believed that Envy had been a false strength. Someone that sent soldiers without having real power.


    "That''s very true. He was always hiding himself behind others. The slimes, the demon lord, and other sin title holders. I believe it was good we finally stopped him. All he did was cause a gue of slimes that could not even act on their own any more than they should." Su was d to get this massive worry over it.


    The more that everyone thought about it, this was somewhat amazing. The battle had not been long. But it had cost a massive amount of mana to be able to counter what Envy has changed himself to be. Especially when it required the might and purity of manas from the dominator dragons to be able to properly counter the corrupted manas within the slime core.


    However, it was also not that major. They had ended this battle and Walker had used a skull that managed to help the nature around them heal. Even the newly grown grasses and recovering bushes were months ahead of what they should be if they had to grow back without help at all.


    "You awakened the nature dragon''s domain that time." Ventus was proud. She was proud that the nature dragon they had all weed in, while human, was able to awaken a skill that had not been seen from generations when it came to the dragons. She also had spoken just to state the fact out loud. As if she had not fully grasped the understanding of it until she had spoken it out loud herself.


    Before they could ask Walker more details about the nature dominator dragon the world had the announcement that was promised. The announcement no one knew what would happen with.e especially since they had all seen a different quest, to be fair, some of the nearby forces were still fighting and dealing with remnant slimes.


    The only slimes that remained, were the weaker and further from Envy in distance slimes. They Were the ones that had not been able to near him when he called to sue them as fuel for his attacks. For his brutal and tant disregard for nature as he used multiple forms of slime body to attack at once.


    ''The world has seen the freedom of all but one sin title holder. The sin titles are being reborn elsewhere. May the holders be blessed instead of cursed.''


    The world announced this and it felt that this was a little more dark than what everyone expected. However, that was just that. The sin titles were never going away. They were part of the world. Part of a bnce that everyone needed to ept at some point. Not a single person could say that they wanted everything with titles to disappear. Because that was the only way to just get rid of the sin titles. It would be to erase all titles. All aplishments of great precedence.


    ''The virtue titles are being awakened due to the returning bnce. The manas being bnced allow for the virtue titles to return to the world as they should. Celebrate those who have achieved a title of virtue or a lesser title of virtue or sin.''


    The idea that there were lesser titles also meant something big. Many people already had lesser titles. They were titles that could be gained from doing known actions. While they offered almost nothing of a boon, the world still got them out to encourage everything to grow more through the system it was just part of the world. Just not an important one to mention.


    ''Titles will be more significant as the manas bnce.''


    Thest sentence offered by the world shocked everyone. Titles were significant in some ways. The hero titles were major. They were so major that they could help certain people change their systems entirely. Many people would wonder just how it was possible or how things could happen like this.


    Beyond that, the fact that titles would be more important and significant meant that the lesser titles would also be more important. Not that anyone was sure what this would meant. However, with a gasp, everyone noticed that Alice was somewhat glowing.


    The light mana around here had burst up in radiance. She was also clearly seeing system messages that the rest of the party could not see. The party had no idea if she had just gained a title or what was happening, but Walker could sense that it was only good things.


    From what he could see, Alice was always a kind person. She would stand against negativity and grow more to help everyone even at the cost of herself passing out fromck of mana constantly. This had happened so many times while she grew up in the cathedral, that is wasmon knowledge.


    The high priest had managed to help her grow as if she was one of his own children even though he had not had children of his own. This raising had allowed her to see the worst injuries, but also the ways to save them. Her performances had allowed her to heal many people through her singing.


    She had learned to hold herself back from even speaking a word or humming. This way, she had all of her mana saved so that she could save herself the mana to help others. She had also been able to learn other methods of helping people. Wrapping bandages, preparing clean water, and supporting other healers within the cathedral to save people.


    This had made her the one and only, so called saint of singing and healing within Genesis now. Many people looked for her as a guide to what one should do if they wished to help. A literal temte for how a healer should live and breathe. Beyond that, she had managed to be very close with Su because of this.


    When envy had fought, she had taken the chance to use her singing to heal and pass on light mana as much as possible. She also used her best songs to buff everyone. Not a single person was debuffed by her, even the monster they fought. She was protecting people. Shields of light, biffs to make them move faster, and even ways to heal their wounds as they happened.


    All of this showed that she valued every single person alive. She wanted them to be safe and sound so that they could return to their families. So that they could return to their dreams so that they could push themselves to the point where they could see a bright light in the future of all joined forces together. So see peace.


    ''The title of Charity had been blessed on to one being that has been raised and loved by those who save, heal, and protect. This title has found its first title holder.''


    The world had announced the first virtue title holder. It was a major event. One that everyone knew would have happened at some point. But it was nearly instantaneous with the virtue titles awakening.


    "Congrattions. You finally have proof that the world knows just what kind of said you are." Walker said this as a little teasing joke since he was so proud. But he had no idea how true this was now.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2011 2011. Charity

    Chapter 2011 2011. Charity


    Alice had a brilliant smile. One that radiated more than just her joy. It radiated a feeling of calm and peace. One that was much stronger than the aura had been around her before. Even the mana around her seemed to be allowing those nearby to feel a better calm, to feel more well rested.


    alice didn''t want a single second to share the information about the changes she had gained because she gained a title. While the rest of the group were unique in their own way and had gained hero titles and more, Alice had very few real titles. She had gained her first major title that not a single person had ever had that anyone knew of. All because the manas of the world had been unbnced.


    ''Virtue title of Charity


    This title is given to someone born and raised in charity. Their life was started out of the goodness within someone''s heart. Allowing them to grow and truly see the best in the world.


    Every step of life has been given with charity. Kindness that was allowed to be nted and taught step by step. As time went on, this charity only blossomed in to a beautiful expression of true caring for every soul.


    The injured were healed. The suffering was counseled. The lost were found. Due to fully showcasing these things in every aspect, even to the extreme, this title is well deserved.


    Every healing skill will be massively boosted to help those in need. The distance of healing skills will be expanded. The distances and strengths of buffing skills will be greatly improved. The more kindness and desire to help behind them, the more this boost will grow.


    Due to the ss being in rtionship to healing and protection, the unique system, charitable songstress of the masses had been created.


    This ss perfectly works with the charity virtue title. Allowing the light affinity skills to be greatly boosted with every song sung. Every word can hold potent light healing mana, defensive mana, and more.


    The only drawbacks of this title are that attacking skills and songs will be greatly weakened. They are not in line with what charity is based and grown on. Harming others is something that should only ur to face great evil and the title will be removed if used in any other way¡­''


    Walker and the others were amazed that Alice had gained this title. She was someone that had been left on the doorstep of the cathedral as a child. Mostly because of her having light mana move with every sound or word she made.


    This had been a major start for her life. Most people would have left her because she would have struggled to grow. And she had. The high priest had been the one to tear his hair out as he guided her with this immense trouble.


    Every time she used her mana, she would drain herself to nothing. Eventually, she learned to hold herself back. Eventually, she learned to sing properly. Eventually, she had some control.


    However, things had not changed until Walker had met her. She had gained an item from the elves that helped her with the mana that bled out of every word she spoke. But she had the habit of always being silent now.


    Even when she could not speak or sing, Alice had seen and grown up with healers and the high priests'' knowledge to learn from. She had always found ways to prepare and games to help those in need. Help the elderly with their joint pains. Help the greatly injured. Even help those who could do nothing but pass away regardless of the treatments do so in peace and warmth.


    All of this was the story of her life. Someone that truly represented the charity of what should be a healer. What should be a saint.


    "That''s not everything?" Walker had been ready to tell her how amazing it was that her healing and buffing songs were so much better. How it was amazing that she had gained a new unique system too. But then Alice showed everyone that she had more to show off. That she had a second title.


    ''Saintess of song


    Due to the constant focus on singing and using it to defend, buff, and heal, the title saintess of song has been awarded. The songs of the world should be to tell stories and truly warm the world, not harm. As one that lives this and ces all emotions within song, the title saintes of song was earned and given by the word.


    The additional rtionship with the virtue title of charity also influenced this title. Instead of just boosting affinity to light mana and the skills rted to song, this will also affect the strength of healing from song rted skills. The strength of buffs. The strength of mana that gathers for songs.


    There is also a better ability to teach those with applicable skills, how to sing and boost healing slightly. How to sing in general. Other Musical rted systems will also be influenced and enlightened upon hearing the songs from this title holder¡­''


    The second title that Alice had gained just pushed her up another level. She was not the best of the best beyond what she had been before. A massive leap in strength when it came to songs and whaling as a whole. No one would be able to stand up to this level now.


    From now on, Alice was a saintess of song. Someone that could represent the entirety of the world when it came to charity and healing. So much so that no one had the words right now to say what they thought.


    Yes there were some drawbacks when it came to the title of charity. If Alice attacked and used her strengths for wrong, she would lose the title. But this was better than the sin titles that hade with major drawbacks because of the ways that the titles worked. One of the people affected by the titles had even be an immortal without the ability to control themselves for so many years on end. They had even been sealed away in prison of their own making because of this.


    Yet, the virtue titles appeared to be something that would only go away if they were betrayed. If the title that they were was fight against and forsaken. Something that other titles could also be affected by.


    The hero titles could be easily lost if the party betrayed themselves and were acting as viins. They had to act as heroes now. Not that this was hard because they had gone above and beyond what they should to protect others. Ingrained in their beings so much so.


    "You deserve this title. Your voice shows the true emotions and desires that are within light mana. Not to harm, but to nurture the world as a whole. To bring hope and blossom the beauty of life itself." Rise spoke very softly. She wasn''t caring that anyone else heard her. Just Alice.


    While the rest of the party realized that Rise might have a connection with Su, they had not expected that it was also with Alice. They had not realized that Rise had focused so much on how Alice had grown and how Alice acted.


    But as a light dominator dragon, Rise was the closest to light elemental mana than anyone else was. She had been able to feel the purity in the light mana even before that. The mana was naturally drawn to Alice at all times. She had seen how Alice respected the light and allowed it to work to neuter others.


    The buffs were always enough to help and even at the cost of what Alice would feel harmed or weak, Alice had used the skills she had to help. This was what true respect had grown in her. What a healer should be. One that had ignored all negativity and grown their strength.


    "Does that mean we have to call you Charity now? I like Alice better." Remey questioned if they had to do what the sin title holders did. Change the names to line up with the major title that was held.


    "Some people may call you that now. The saintess of Charity. That would make many realize that you are powerful and also there to help.. But I believe that you can go by both. It would be a good nickname." Su''s thoughts were also simple in this matter.


    "Charity or Alice. I like them both. Congrattions again on bing very powerful and showing the world the reasons that you have to grow that powerful. Now you can help many more people." Walker hugged Alice, bringing a scarlet bloom to her cheeks. She was tied from the loss of mana due to the battle and so was Walker. But everyone felt that their hearts were even more full than before.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2012 2012. Change Of Slime

    Chapter 2012 2012. Change Of Slime


    While the party and the royal dragons were speaking about everything that had just happened, many of the angel leaders had gathered. They had followed the ns as they had been told and they had not been prepared to see so many Genesis forces hiding in the shadows.


    While surprised, they realized that this had been the pan to start with. They had been impressed that they had been kept in the dark but also been able to y their own roles perfectly.


    Because they had fought the slimes and had been on edge, they had managed to push back the weaker slime enough that the party appeared to be fighting a head on battle with the lord slimes as a target.


    This meant that the sin title of Envy had been perfectly able to see that the party was not backedby many other forces right then and there. It had yed a part in baiting out the strongest of these monsters the angels had begun fighting.


    But where the leader of the angel groups had seen a greater difference was in the manas.


    They had heard and some had seen the strengths that the angels had inparison to the Genesis forces. They had believed that they had managed to grow a lot because of how they wereing together and fixing the past mistakes of their people. But they were wrong on that.


    The Genesis forces were clearly more powerful than they had ever imagined so much so that they are sure that the angels had generations to go before catching up. Not that they didn''t remembered to consider that angels were already going toward Genesis to live and learn there.


    That meant that the angels would grow faster than any of these current leaders realized.


    When they eventually got over their conference, they had split up their forces. While the nature dragon domain skill had released an immense amount of natural mana created as all the dragons put their manas together, it had not cleaned up all the damage or the slimes still living.


    Ebon had also been brought out with his brilliant slime partner. He was a demon and a slime breeder. Some of the angels looked at him with wary eyes. Yet, as they realized he was a young child and had stars in his eyes while looking at the party, they understood.


    Ebon was learning from literal heroes. People who stood at the top when it came to how one should act. How one should strive to be when ites to the good of the world. If he was learning these things, then it was only a matter of time before the slimes were out of the right path as well.


    With a slime breeder on their side, the angels understood one very good thing. The slimes that gued this area would eventually work for and with them.


    The slimes could be taken and put in ideal environments. The decaying slimes could be trained to help break down waste and allow for better fertilization of the farm fields. This could boost crops by a huge margin. Ensuring that every single one of the people in this alliance would be fed. This would also give way to new slimes that might be more specialized in doing that.


    The acid slimes that had worked against the dwarves also had a chance to shine. They could now work with the dwarves.


    While many people would wonder why an acidic slime body would be good for this, they would realize that their opinions were wrong. They would believe that the acid slimes would just melt the metals and ores. That it would ruin everything.


    This was not correct in a controlled manner.


    The acid slimes could be trained to work with the dwarves in the forging process. They could use the acids that grow in their bodies to melt the improper portions of metal. To remove the incongruities within an alloy. It would refine the metals as a whole making a much better overall product on the very end. A great chance to change techniques and refine certain processes too.


    Then it came to fire slimes, who even had to ask. Imagine the benefits of heating in the winter. a slime that literally radiated heat and could absorb the more intense mes from forges? This would just bring in even more safety for those in viges or in the cities that were built. Not to mention those that could bring these slimes in to dangerous wilderness areas full of ice monsters that would freeze anything. It could be a massive deterrent and safety.


    This could go on and on. The boons of earth slimes would be everywhere in construction. Especially with how fast these ces would be rebuilt or be built anew. The wind slimes were something that the party had not even encountered. Yet envy had them somewhere and they might still be a few roaming the area. A newer slime that not many people had information about due to their rarity.


    Ebon was just a kid in a candy shop now. He had his own bodyguards as well. They were mostly the dragonkin that Mordant had led with him. This was because they had been the ones to better hide Ebon in the shadows with their skills. Meanwhile, Ebon was just happy to be able to help and learn more throughout this entire event.


    "I wonder who else will get the sin and the virtue titles. They were going to show up more and more. I don''t think that we need to worry but it should be something that we keep ourselves looking for. They might be able to help a lot." Su''s thoughts on this were the same as Walker''s


    "As much as I want to say that the sin titles will always be evil, we have to wipe that thought away before it spreads. Even in Genesis, people already think that the sin title holders are evil to begin with. But they might be different titles as time goes on. Imagine greed as the person in charge of money for a business. They could make that business thrive instead of other things."


    Walker''s hope was that they would all be able to see the titles change. It was already evident that the titles were different based on treason the title was awarded and the person it is given to. The world seemed to be allowing different strengths and effects for those that outshines others too.


    It was easy to understand that the titles might also be different in this age where the manas were bing more bnced.


    "Before we worry about all that, why is the floating corrupted city just staying there now?" Gil had noticed that the extremely slow movements of the corrupted floating city had halted. It had been moving slowly but surely in to the oceans. In to the unknown that was very hard to travel. Even with the ships, the party knew following the corrupted city would be an immense task.


    "Well, we just defeated a monster holding the title of Envy. it might be that they are watching us and debating to attack." Remey flexed at this. Her knuckles cracking as she wished to charge right then and there to defeat the city and the remaining monsters within.


    "I think that it is mostly there because Envy left. Even with him defeated, the remaining sin title holder, Sloth, and the demon king are keeping an eye on us to see if we attack them next." Walker heard this from his left. Current had changed a little as he adapted. His hair was long and his figure more elegant like a stream or brook made in to a dragon like humanoid.


    Regardless, Current was right. This would make the most sense. It was a leader and the strongest of the sin title holders deciding what to do with this urrence.


    "They didn''t care about one another. We already saw how the other sin titles were used as ways to attack and ignore. They never backed one another up or worked together. They just all attacked in their own ways while the demon king and one or two of them worked together." Gil scoffed at them. It was a poor way to make their goals met. Leaving behind those that had helped them along at every single turn.


    "Then we should not live up to their standards. We will keep gathering our strengths. We are nearly ready for a proper fight against that floating city. I just have no idea what will happen and what the goal of the demon king is." Walker had a lot on his mind as he looked over the battlefield and some of the damage that remained. He wanted to ensure this was not what the whole world looked like one day


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2013 2013. Not Done Yet

    Chapter 2013 2013. Not Done Yet


    Since there was no movement in the area with the demon king and the floating corrupted city, this allowed everyone to begin moving sooner thanter. Reports about the battle with Envy had already gone out to Genesis and the angel''s leaders. This in turn had brought information back to the party. There were already celebrations and even some people saying that it would be best to push everyone back toward the floating city to eliminate it. What that would do, would surely be a failure. Those people were not those that were taking the front lines. They Were the inexperienced or the desk warriors. Those who just wanted to get rid of a problem on paper and had no idea how to handle the physical side of the issue. Let alone the magical side. Luckily, plenty of people were around to deal with those kinds of people. Many of the leaders of each race were already acting and exining the future goals. It was definitely an issue that the corrupted mana was making more appearances. More monsters were appearing that were being pushed to the brink of running berzerk because of the corrupted mana. Worse yet, the elves within the forests had been exploring their territories yet again. This was the same as the other more distant elves who had been discovering mutated nts that had no real ability to help anyone due to the corrupted manas that made them that way. Just here alone, Walker had spotted ces where the angels had been forced to burn up and dig out spots of themarshnds as they hade to fight the slimes. This was due to the different nts that had been corrupted with manas running wild. It made him understand the growing severity of this issue. "Are we going to move right on, or can we take a break?" out of everyone to wonder this, it was Remey. From what Walker could see, the new state that her body was in was much more demanding than what any of them had realized. The royal dragons had been the ones to expend the majority of their manas. While the others had been more of a physical drawback. However, Remey relied on densely purified fire mana more than most people or even the spirit race did. This was to nourish her soul and body that were now on soul the same thing. Without the right sustenance, anyone or anything would suffer. To create the uniquely potent mes around her in battle, Remey had to focus on using a lot of the fire mana that lived within the core of her being now. In doing so, it left her weaker. Remey had trained her body alongside everyone. She had managed to be much stronger because of that. She was definitely one of the most powerful, physically that is, people in all of Genesis. But where Remey failed, was her mana and general ability to control and condense it. She ahd an extremely high ability to use it because of her alchemy side of things. But she had always had to focus on the physical side of her strength due to being a brawler and now an alchemical brawler. Fighting fist to face was her focus for a very long time. She ended to catch up to Walker in her understanding and gathering of manas. At the very least, just improve the way that she did. That also raised another question. Now that Remey was a unique form and race that didn''t normally exist within the world where they were, how would that affect her. She would obviously need more condensed and unique fire manas like the elemental fire nes had. None of which were here. It was also a wonder of what else she might need in rtion to that. She might have to do different things or need things that people couldn''t even know here in the world that were cut off from the elemental nes due to not having proper bnces in mana for so many years that it was impossible to count. "I will help you for the time being. My dragonkin soldiers are preparing for the battle ahead of us. They are on their way along with the elders that are not involved with creating our new vige." Ignus spoke up before Walker could snap out of his own mind. His worries were simr to Walker''s anyways, especially when he could understand the feeling of being low of manas right now. "I am surprised that you can stand. I fired plenty of arrows, but my mana is recovering naturally much faster now than it did before. But you channeled all of that mana and even used that nature dragon domain skill." From the way that Gil was speaking, there was a major question whether or not Walker should be awake now. "Fleur was helping me out, but I think that there is more to it. You all know that our bodies are altered by mana and too many other aspects to count, right? Well, Midnight and Onyx are bonded with me. And I am the nature dragon here, even if I am technically human. I also let various manas flow around and through me at all times. I really think that has a lot to do with it." Since Walker didn''t actually have a better answer than this, he had to just say it. He knew well that everyone would understand this. But he also wanted to wonder a little longer what was going on with him.


    Normally, he would feel tired or more strained. He had felt that way immediately after the nature dragon domain ended, but he also had a very quick recovery. The nature dragon domain skill had been focused on healing, bnce of manas, and overall buffing. Therefore, it could have been the reason. But for him, he wondered if there was more to it. Things he didn''t notice. "Before we move back to the angel''s city, we should begin setting up a major base in the forest nearby. It will allow us more options than right here." Su was staying focused while the others appeared to be a little distracted. This also managed to get the rest of the royal dragon''s attention since they were very focused on the fact that they were all low of manas. They couldn''t do much but physically fight right now, not that it was anything tough at. As the order was passed around, many of the Genesis forces began to bring more information back to the party. They were realizing that the area that the slimes had spread wasrger than they had expected. "We need to start sending out more forces to heal thend that was damaged. We can rely on the elves and some of the farmers that are helping the smaller angel viges. It will be temporary to take them from there, but we can save the marshnds that were broken because of this attack." Walker made the executive call on this. It was the best shot they had. There was a fear that a more major battle would happen here. The floating corrupted city could be the center of a major battle that caused much more destruction. "That will be my goal then, I will let you set up the camp and I will start on that. I have a few elves that have been learning the high elven dagger skills with me. They might be able to learn a bit as I cut away the corrupted nts we find with the naturally attracted natural mana." Gil didn''t even wait a moment for this. He was off. But that was the same for Alice who was off checking injuries right now. "Brother, sister and I will see what we can help with. The little serpents that came with us are joining in the search for damaged areas. They have been helping already and I just spoke with one that asked for more help organizing his siblings." Walker nodded as he watched Midnight and Onyx head away as well. It would have been a smooth process, if not for the fact that at that moment, a wave of corrupted mana left the corrupted floating city. This was matched by a guttural roar from the corrupted undead monster that was once parts of a dragon and a wyvern king. Every single person nearby saw the massive city begin to shift. The undead monster being the reason that it appeared to be pushing out in to the open ocean again. "They weren''t moving because they were waiting for Envy, but I also think that they made their forces stronger." Walker spoke with grim tones. He could see different monsters now effected by corrupted mana. Undead monsters. ¡­


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 Chapter 2014 2014. Ahead Again

    Chapter 2014 2014. Ahead Again


    "It''s moving a lot faster now, but it''s also dropping corrupted undead monsters in to the water. Why would it be doing that!?" Walker spoke out loud. He was mostly asking himself since he knew that there were no answers. Nothing that had happened felt that it made any sense. The entire n that was somehow unfolding at the end of the day, did not seem to have an end. Everything had been down to get power and knowledge. The demon king had literally been gathering unique strength and sending his underlings as pawns to cause more issues tro to gain what he needed. This made some sense, but the end goal was still shrouded in a lot of mystery. Yet, as the party watched, the undead monsters were various. They were not just the angels. They sawrger and smaller monsters. Some that had clearly been taken from the ground since they were just skeletal undead monsters. But others, were as if they had just been killed recently. "I can see acid and decaying slime marks on a lot of the bodies. I think that Envy was attacking this area more for the monsters around than what we thought. They aren''t just attacking here for the fact that they wanted to cause trouble." with Gi''s sharp eyes, he was gathering more information just from this distance. Walker couldn''t even see that many details and he was trying with all his might. "Then what would he need them for, the water is not a ce for them." Rise''s hateful tone was not directed at the question but the very fact that she had to ask why an evil monster such as this demon king would be literally creating corrupted undead just to get rid of them. "There are more monsters here. Whatever the reason for the actions, there is reason for the location." Current''s voice was loud enough for everyone to hear at once. But he was right. The more that everyone thought about thend they ran over, the more it made sense. The monsters in the forests woulde nearby the marshnds because this was thest ce where various streams flowed for fresh water to drink. It was also agreat ce where many monsters thrived due to the cross of environments between fresh and salt water. Not to mention that even more monsters woulde along the beaches before the oceans. It was a massive ecosystem full of many monsters that would roam various areas. That way, the variety and arge number of monsters could be hunted. Some that might not even have been named or discovered yet. But here, the demon king appeared to be mocking everyone. Seemed to be using the ughter of hundreds if not thousands of monsters to throw in their face that envy and caused a lot of damage before he was stopped. A big middle finger to their faces. "Damn this stupid monster. We can beat it now!" Remey felt she might lose control of her mana. It was clear that she was struggling to hold it in as Ignus approached her side more to assist. He knew the massive dangers that came if Remey were to exhaust all her mana. She could not damage more than her body, she could damage her soul by having this happen. It was just who she was now. "Then this is a potential attack on our minds. We will have to deal with the undead corrupted monsters washing up on shore. They would cause massive amounts of damage. Let alone the massive risk of monsters in the oceans ate them and created a harder to defeat undead monster group." Su''s fears were greater. If the demon king and hisst sin title holder created more of the corrupted undead and used the ocean to hide them, then they would just multiply within the ocean. Every single continent and ind would be surrounded around the world. Only teleportation rune formations could sense people from other ces. And that meant that there had to be those formations everywhere. But worse off, the isted ces could be attacked from the ocean constantly.


    Then there was the potential that thekes, streams, rivers and other bodies of water would be the same. Next thing, the skies would be full of avian monsters that fed front eh bodies of water. It all got worse if one were to think about it. "I need to do something. Brother, can we fly there now?" Onyx and Midnight had caught back up and listened in on this theory for Su. it was worse in their minds since they feared that the dragon hatchlings and little serpents could get caught up in this too. They truly wished to protect them as much as possible. "Wait!" Walker shouted and everyone stopped running. He even used wind mana to send his voice to the nearby angel forces charging ahead to see what was happening and handle more dangers. He saw that something appeared to be happening to the water where the monsters fell. Walker saw that the waters of the ocean were retreating. He then realized that every single one of the undead chaotic monsters dropping had been making themselves in to a wall holding back water. It was barbaric and disgusting, but it was happening. Some used theirrger size to tear apart others and force their pieces to plug cracks. But Walker felt that he had seen a simr creation. A wall of skeletons that had been made. "It''susing the same barriers that the immortal king used in his undead ruins." Walker spoke softly, but he felt shivers. This had been the first dangerous ce they had gone. The entire party remembered this evil ce. A prison made by cruel being attempting to find immortality but because an elder lich trapped in atower. The undead only able to go so far to be his eyes and ears in the world. Unable to make an army since the adventurers constantly cleared out areas of the entire undead ruins. "We already had a theory of the demon king''s origin. Right? The immortal king told us a story." Walker felt thising back to him. They had done too much the entire time that they had been adventuring and bing heroes. They had all forgotten the fear and knowledge they learned from this viin that they had all survived meeting. "So that means, the demon king is using other skills and spells that came from even the being that it hates the most and leaves there to torture it?" Remey knew she was telling the truth as she grew more concerned for what was happening. "And you all remember the echidna ind that was sinking because there wasn''t solid stone below it? Well, what if like that ind, another was fallen beneath the waters too? What if there were ruins and an ancient looking castle on that massive ind that was now being brought back to the open air." Everyone knew this was way too specific. They also realized that Gil was talking about what he and Walker could see. Because they were seeing the very thing he described rise due to massive amounts of corrupted undead monsters using themselves as a base to raise this ind. Multiple angel''s bodies, from the floating ruined city originally, moved as well. Channeling corrupted manas to bring it up on a stable ground. "There are other ruins we do not and the angels did not know about. And we know that there might be more dangerous and ancient monster bodies in there. We need to go. Now." Walker said this with a lot of worry building. An entire ruin had just begun to resurface. One none of them knew about. No angels alive know of them. Yet, here they were. Witnessing it happen. "Water is going to flood this area for at least a full day. We need to retreat the forces." Current sense the shifting water manas and understood that there was a major issue with this all happening. "The water is disced and will make waves. Larger waves than we saw even when we were in those ships." Everyone understood this as Su spoke her mind out loud. Her realization made the air feel double as heavy. It also spurred Walker to begin shouting orders to every angel that could hear him. Every single force nearby that could hear him. They all needed to retreat, now!


    The sounds of water rushing and bing waves was met by the cracking and rumbling of earth. Yet another sign that nothing good was happening whatsoever. They had to move faster. They had to ensure that no one would be dragged out in the unforgiving ocean right now. Then they could figure out their next move. The demon king was again at an advantage.


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 Chapter 2015 2015. Ruin Island

    Chapter 2015 2015. Ruin Ind


    The royal dragons took the natural dominator dragon forms. Current stopping and moving toward the water. The remaining water mana he had to spare being used to stop as much of the massive waves being pushed towards thend as possible. The sheer amount of water disced as a skeletal corrupted undead wall was made and used to raise some unknown ruins from the ocean was too much to grasp on to. There was so much wrong with what was happening. But the party couldn''t worry about the horrendous act of killing every monster possible to use as fodder for this one skill. They had to help evacuate the forces here. That was why the royal dragons had used their wings to take to the sky. They deftly scooped up groups of those that could not easily move. Thai was focused on the injured specifically. They could not move due to their burns, decay affected body parts, or other damages. They had to be healed still and this sudden wall of moving water was not going to help them whatsoever. Walker used his mana to step in to the air, he focused on finding Ebon and helped him move. He wanted to ensure that the newest slime breeder and the youngest on this battlefield was not harmed. He had made promises to protect him. He would not allow Ebon to be harmed. Some of those that had the ability, used the shadows or used buffing skills to rush away. This was the best option. Others, used their natural skills to create defenses. Earth walls to block water in a simr way that Current was holding back some of the first waves from hitting as hard. While it was just a small way to slow the water flowing at them, the earth walls made by mages had immensely helped. But it had also shown off the damage being done. The marshnds were already damaged from the slimes that envy had sent down. So much so that even Walker''s natural dragon domain had not done enough to save it all. Yet here they were, being bombarded by a lot of force. Grasses were torn up and entire channels of naturally flowing water were carved out deeper than they should be. Hiding monsters were torn up from their homes and ended up not surviving in seconds because they couldn''t handle the water pressure and salt water. It was terrible and not even the end. Once the water hit the forest, the trees that did not normally experience anything like this were broken. Many toppled or shattered at their base. Those that were uprooted were mostly the saplings. The future of this forest as time would have gone on. This was going to leave scars on thend for generations toe. Even if the living races forgot about it, nature would show evidence of it all. It took well over a lifetime for nature to recover from damage that should not have been done in the first ce. That would just be evident to anyone that looked. However, as the majority of Genesis forces and angel forces escaped, there was a profound stressful silence that came as the roaring water receded. It would not be a quick thing, but it would be a hard thing to fully grasp. "Get as many of the leaders here that we can. We are preparing to attack as soon as possible." Walker did not skip a beat as he ced Ebon down more in to the forest where the water could not reach. He ordered a group of the darkness affinity dragonkin to make their way toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. They would be gathering those that couldmunicate the current situation. "I already asked some of them to begin searching for any records of the ruins. I told them to speak with the people that were exploring the angel''s ruins nearby and the demon city where the demon king was. That huge library might have knowledge about this ce." Gil had through well ahead of Walker. He had been sure to sent this message as soon as he could. Meanwhile, multiple elves had already begun to record what they could so that they could consult with angels from the area. They wanted to ensure that they put nature first. Recovering this area would be a major endeavor that would take years. The more work done on it, the better. It was easy to already feel the chaotic manas taking effect here since the corrupted undead had been the cause of this event. It had spread small amounts of the corrupted manas within the water and waves that came. Therefore, causing more of the chaotic mana to spread all over this area in general. "We need to worry more about what we might face now that the water is all messed up. The entire poption of aquatic monsters will want toe looking for food, or for what caused the disturbance. We will end the merfolk warriors. Scy would also be the best option." Su''s analysis was smart. They could rely on both of these groups to handle the dangers that woulde up here. "Then we should also see if we can move the ships that are still on the angel''s shores. They cane this way and manage to fight or defend our forces from anything that mighte from the waters." Walker was issuing these orders quickly. The royal dragonsnding and returning to the party were also sharing this with their dragonkin. Along with issuing their own orders. A bright light started to gather and a small snow of light fell over arge area. Alice''s song began to be heard as she was taking advantage of her new titles along with new system. She wanted to heal all of those that needed it as much as she could while she had mana to spare. She waspletely ignoring the fact that she was already low on mana due to the buffs she gave while everyone fought Envy. When Walker saw Midnight and Onyx, he saw that Midnight was covered in water. She had made it to the edge because she was helping bring some of the injured with her. Onyx was the very same. They had ended up going toward the injured after dealing with some of their own worries. But when the water hade, the waves had caused Midnight to be hit. Luckily, she was far enough away and with everyone working against the waves, she was just sshed. The same with Onyx. but the two were still clearly on edge because they had never seen waves thatrge. And they knew of the reason they appeared. "Don''t worry, we are preparing now. They did this all on purpose. They killed off monsters and ignored that envy was defeated. We just happened to show up after they were ready to take their next step. Now they used those corrupted undead monsters as a wall to raise a sunken ind vige." Walker looked toward where the water had hit the forest and began to step back in to the air. He took to the sky to see the damage, but also to see what they had to deal with. Therge ind was nottruly an ind. It appeared to have been something intentionally sunk. He could tell from the marked towers. They Were in better condition and appeared damaged now. Towers that were a white colored stonepared to the dark gray and ck stones the smaller buildings and therge castle were made of. The oddly well kept together buildings and castle. White he could not use the all around appraisal due to the distance, Walker had a bad feeling. The ruins that had been brought up to the air for the first time in an unknown number of years just radiated danger. Made him feel that there were terrible things waiting within. That if they did not send an army sooner thanter, that this would prove to be an even worse event than the slimes being released earlier. "The wyverns are on their way now. They will maintain a flight area around the marshnds and forest to scare monsters away. They have orders from their queen." Terron had returned at this moment. He had been able to call on the younger wyverns who were still adapting to their newfound existence as a race. "That''s a good idea. We can''t have them getting more corrupted monsters for their army. Or for those walls." Walker returned with some descriptions but had heard Terron clearly since his hearing was sharp enough. But he still felt that things were getting worse by the second. His instincts were screaming at him that those bruins were supposed to be buried and never seen again. ¡­


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 Chapter 2016 2016. An Ancient Threat

    Chapter 2016 2016. An Ancient Threat


    the injuries from the water flooding parts of the marsnds and the forests were not small.Many people had been left behind in the rush to escape. Even with mages and the royal dragons working their hardest, there had been some people who could not be seen or caught up to. This was a reality that the party slowly gained reports on. It hurt them immensely to know that this was the case. But they hadcked the mana to change that. Stopping the entire wall of water would have been impossible unless they had the mana. Some people were wondering why the royal dragons had been unable to use their manas, but Current was the only one with the ability. He was currently passed out after using all his remaining mana to stop some of thergest waves. If this was not the case and he had had more mana, he would have stopped them all. He had the ability but not the mana after giving almost all of it to Walker to create natural mana. But that also raised the question, if Current had held back, would Envy have been defeated? Or would corrupted manas be flowing everywhere and the entire area destroyed? Reality was hard to ept when it came to the limits everyone had. But it also highlighted the fact that the royal dragons were not yet at the levels of the ancient ancestors. Everyone already knew that a dominator dragon could create mountains, destroy entire expanses ofnd, and even do more with their mana and control of it. Yet, what everyone did not fully grasp just yet, was the time it took to reach that level of strength. They had grown stronger. Very much so. But they needed the time to adjust and gather the proper manas to be able to control their power. If they did not, then they would remain the royal dragon strength that they had. They were dominator dragons now, but they had just ovee a hurdle that was stopping them from growing even more than they had before. Walker could understand this and did his best to send that throughout the forces gathering. But he had also needed to remain focused on the fact that the water was receding and many more Genesis forces were arriving. The forces gathering had already sent prominent information for the group to sift through. Especially since they had specifically said that they ended evidence rted to ruins that may be sealed and sunken. Ruins that might be part of ancient angel cultures. When a potential rtionship with the immortal king came up, it was thought that the party needed information about him as well. This would have made sense if Walker wanted to find a way to break the massive corrupted undead skeletal wall that had been formed, but that would just sink the ruins that had been brought up from the depths again. They would not have answers as to what it was or why it was there. However, it still was information brought to them. Enough information that those with the ability were called to examine it all. The schrs that had joined them from the angel forces were working hard with the Genesis forces to have answers sooner thanter. This was one thing that Walker actually felt blessed to have known. The schrs working together were much more suited to examine these pieces of information. They could discern more from them than he could in a shorter time. Thai was due to bother their skills and the high amount of experience examining important historical documents in general. "Walker, should we consider seeing if we can actually go over there? Scout things out?" Gil''s long sigh after asking this was something that he really didn''t want to do. The ruins were veryrge. A massive city almost, but the buildings were small like it was a vige built around a castle instead. "I would like to tell you that we don''t have to do that at all. But I have a feeling that we need to go over there no matter what. It''s starting to get darker though. We should focus on this camp first. It will be much better to have a dedicated and protected base for the time being." There was a part of Walker that told him the night would be much worse. Not being able to see the dangers of a ruin he had no idea about was enough of a stressor to keep him from sleeping. The rest was the look for information and preparations as more Genesis forces arrived over time. He was already notified that many rune smiths were rebuilding the elemental rune teleportation formation. Using it so much at once had caused it to wear away and no longer be safe to use. But that was just enough reasons to make another one. They had the idea to do exactly that anyways. Improved runes could be used for it. The rest of the party ended up splitting up. Remey''s mana issue had been helped by Ignus which led her to create a small outdoor alchemyb. Her reason being simple. Healing potions. Mana potions. Affinity potions. The more she made, the better for everyoneing here to their base camp. Su was right beside Alice. Alice had lowered her mana too much and the two were dedicated to bandaging. Alice and Su truly proved the dedication that they had to the cause of healing and helping. Midnight and Onyx were the surprising pair. They had managed to find a few monsters that survived the water. They had begun to aid them in healing with a few tamers who were crushed to discover the injured and even young monsters without parents. It was a different kind of healing for a different kind of being. Still righteous in every way. All life mattered. Gil''s focus with Walker had been brainstorming the things brought to them. But they wereing up without answers right now. Both of them felt that they could only say that they were missing something. "Freaking bats! There are a lot now that the night is here. I thought that the area would be clever due to the watering here. But it must have stirred up the bigs that the bats eat." Gil''sannoyance came from his heightened senses. He also could feel the changes in the wind mana as the bats pped all around in the air. "It must be an entire colony disced by the water. If I use the all around appraisal I can figure out how we can make them move tio a new home." Walker felt it was the least he could do. These were surely more of the disced monsters harmed by the cruelness of the demon king and his followers. ''Blood kin bat


    This bat and the remainder of its colony were forced in to a slumber when their masters were sealed away. Having the connection with their master''s renewed, their species awakened. They consume mostly blood and mana from their master or the things they hunt. Due to this, they are considered just as evil as their masters. However, they are often only use as fodder to allow their masters to use tricks, scout the area, and spy on others. Due to this, it used to be a normal urrence for the people of monsters of ancient times to hunt this species of bat at every chance. The worst aspect of these bats is their saliva. It causes numbing when biting and attacking with their small fangs. It may not kill, but it causes the attacked target to slowly lose control of their body¡­''


    Walker''s breath caught in his throat as he looked up and created a fire ball from a nearby torch. When he tossed it in the air he saw a few hundred of the blood kin bats. Enough to easily scout out the number of forces gathered here. Enough to grasp what the forces here might be capable of. "Kill every bat that we can. Tell everyone that these blood kin bats are spying on us. And we should know that it can''t be a good thing." Walker''s sudden words made Gil jolt up and prepare an arrow. A light arrow to use as a re. Questioning Walker was foolish. But understanding that danger was here was easy. The hundreds of bats made that simple. While this began, Walker wracked his mind for every monster that might cause this. But where itnded, was one that he had only heard from a few people. From old books, stories, and an immortal undead that had once cursed another seemingly immortal species of monster race that had lived when he was truly alive. "Vampires should use these monsters as eyes and ears." ¡­


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 Chapter 2017 2017. An Ancient Monster

    Chapter 2017 2017. An Ancient Monster


    As much as everyone wanted to ask if they had heard Walker right, they all knew that he was not joking or messing with him in any way. It was very clear that he had already used the all around appraisal skil. When Walker had called even more fire balls and started to attack the blood kin bats, it caused a chain reaction. The other forces nearby had begun to attack as well. Worse off yet, the bats had begun to make loud and sharp pitched sounds. Everyone knew that this was just how bats could see. They made sounds that would somehow make an image for them to see in their heads. Echolocation. It was amon fact when people who lived anywhere near forests or caves would see bats and learn about them. The different elemental attacks that went in to the air causing many of the blood kin bats to fall were also being disrupted by the sound attacks. They vibrated the air and even snuffed out one or two of Walker''s fire attacks. This was a surprise since he was able to better control the fire than most people. Even some of the fire mages were struggling to attack. The only ones that appeared to really give a decent counter to the sound based attacks by groups of bats were wind mages and others that used wind skills. The sound based attacks needed the air around to be able to carry their attacks. That was just how sound traveled in general. Therefore, when the wind would bepressed in to des or gusts, it stopped the sounds entirely from vibrating through the air to the ears of everyone. "There''s arger blood kin bat above us!" Walker managed to spot arger one. He even used the all around appraisal to see that it was a colony guardian. One of the bats that had lived the longest and received the most attention from a vampire master. "No, it won''t be there much longer." Gil''s sharp eyes did not fail to spot the pitch ck and red eyed blood kin bat colony guardian. Ten arrows fired so fast that it was nearly impossible to count them without the stats high enough toprehend it flew upward. Multiple shes of light from light arrows caused many bats to suffer due to the light that further hurt their nearly blind eyes. They might use sound to see, but they did in fact have eyes that could understand light to a degree. That was how bats could understand what time of day it was in general. The other arrows all hit their target causing the bat to fall. Its wings pierced along with the heart beating right in the middle of its chest. Well, not beating any longer. Gil had ensured that it would not be the cause any longer. "Weak little things!" an angry growl echoed through the sky as Ignus became annoyed. Before anyone could say or do anything, Ignus had breathed a vast spread out fire breath. Hundreds of blood kin bats fell and did not move. Some even turned to ash right then and there. It was a sign of his strength. Even though he was very low on mana and would need days to umte the right amount to fight at full strength, this level of attack was nothing to him. "I expect a full exnation of why my rest was bothered." Ignus''s anger showed right away. He was not a changed dragon by any means when it came to temper. He had just been holding himself back because he had many more important things to focus ontely. "Vampires. That must be what was brought up." Walker tried to exin more, but there were others still fighting. Ignus though, recalled the tales of ancient monsters that had existed. He knew well that there were records of these monsters existing once upon a time. A race that was more akin to monsters since there were more gruesome and evil ones than world loving ones that could actually be recognized as a race. "When I was younger, I was taught that ancient blood like that was only passed down to certain bat species. Incredible darkness affinity could be found in them and that they would make a good meal to strengthen my own darkness affinity." Mordant also spoke up. It was clear that he had sensed the bats and attacked many from the shadows in his own anger. He had been resting as well. "But we have no idea how to fight them and we can''t decide what is correct or fairy tales." Su saw a few more bats and watched carefully as the nearby elven archers handled them. While many had been defeated, she did not believe that an ancient monster appearing would be an easy event. Along with this, she also knew that it had to be a goal or a step for the demon king''s ns. This would not just happen out of coincidence. Things were too perfect. A ruin gets dragged from the ocean with clear signs of sealing skills, then these blood kin bats appear out of nowhere surveying the area and causing general annoyance in their group attacks with sound waves. "There wouldn''t be anyone that knows about them for real though. Everything is a story and old records for a reason. There hasn''t been a member of the vampire race or vampire monsters for lifetimes." Remey was very annoyed with this. But that was a fair reaction. It was the same for Onyx. When Onyx had been found and hatched, he was a monster that was thought to not exist but for in extremely small numbers or not at all. Therefore, information about him was sparse to say the least. Yet, they had managed to discover it in ruins and through lots of help. "No, there is someone. Brother, sister and I can take the time to go. Sister wants some revenge. She has told me about the thing that he did to her with a fake gift." Onyx had listened to Midnight about the adventure to the undead ruins. The gift that had allowed Midnight to strengthen affinities but actually forced her in to a nightmare of undead and death rted mana when she could notprehend it. But that had indeed strengthen her because sheprehended the skeletal armor skill that she even used at all times now. Regardless, Onyx was willing to go somewhere that no one was really allowed to go in general now. Especially since the party had discovered the literal source of all the undead in the area. "No, you won''t go there alone. It would be better to go there together as a party. But I thought that he was watching us. He used that skeleton to speak to us once. He didn''t do anything, but he said he could do that more times." Su recalled the skeleton that had dug itself from the ground and spoken in the immortal king''s voice.


    As an elder lich, he had been trapped, but that didn''t mean the other undead he controlled were not. But he had no reason to create an army. He was not free to leave his prison, why take over a world he could not roam?


    "We can''t just leave here though. There is clearly something happening. The longer we are away, the worse things will get." Gil knew that this split second choice in the midst of chaos could make or break everything. Time was a very big factor. That was why everyone was rushing this idea and trying to make sure information was found. "It''s that or we keep waiting for information. Just in the time that we waited while researchers dug through everything, we managed to get attacked by hundreds of blood kin bats. It''s sure not to be the end of them too. There will be more attacks." Mordant''s calm and precise response made it clear that time mattered, but also in the sense that they needed correct information. "When we saw the immortal king, he did tell us that his people, no matter how twisted they were, had wars with the vampires. If the demon king is working with them or something, then the immortal king might be an ally. If not only temporary." As a hero, Walker did not wish to see any chance for an undead powerful enough to literally fight him and the dragonsbined to be released. It was why he had pushed the elder lich from his mind. There was nothing to do with that trapped evil. Yet, if that evil could somehow save many and cleanse the world by sharing information¡­ it might not be the worst choice. No matter the disgust Walker felt going to this monster, it was a monster he knew against monsters he did not. Monsters that had been strong enough to fight against other ancient monsters that Walker couldn''t fathom. "We will go. The dragons and forces can gather here. Prepare and set a camp. Whether we can take that ruin or not will be up to us. If the demon king has to do something here, it can not be simple. Look at how low the corrupted city is floating. It must have lost a lot of mana. So we will take the chance to use this time to get the right answers." ¡­


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 Chapter 2018 2018. Not So Friendly Face

    Chapter 2018 2018. Not So Friendly Face


    Finding that just about every other leader within Genesis was against the party leaving the Sigil continent and heading back toward a ce where a powerful undead was, was not at all a surprise. Scy wanted them to stay right where they were so that they could help lead the gathering forces. However, she slowly began to reconsider when she understood the strength of what they would face. Scy was a general. With that being said, she was able to easily convince a few others that gathering the right amount of information was the best option. Even under this potential time crunch. Losing the chance to be able to defeat a monster returning to power that could be worse than other already powerful was what her focus relied on. This was because no one understood the real depth of what a vampire could do. The information was too unsupported nowadays. Especially since every culture that had some fairy tale of them was slightly different. Alma made a point to focus on the fact that vampires were considered to cause death and use decaying skills. This was what the elves believed at least. They would make their strength in destroying nature and literally feeding off of it while they killed it. This would allow them to be stronger. On the human side of things, vampires should feed on blood of humans and only humans. They would then control the victims that they left alive. From there, they would be used as ves of sorts. In many stories, entire cities or viges would be turned in to vampire thralls. Not to mention the skills that could charm the weak minded and control them. These stories were terrifying because they often turned in to ahorror like story where entire families would be turned against one another for amusement. The demi-humans did not have simr stories. They were actually the most tame since they had bat traited demi-humans. Some actually needed to consume some blood of monsters of animals to feed. But they could always just eat normal food which was what they really preferred at the end of the day. Every culture was different. Regardless of all this, most of the merfolk and the monster races were against the party leaving. They had been the ones that had relied very heavily on the party. Not just to help their races gain traction with the other races, but also to help them rise in strength from where they were. The risk was considered too great and before the next hour had passed, multiplemunication crystal arguments were had until almost every single representative of Genesis had arrived on the Sigil continent with the newly rebuilt and slightly improved elemental teleportation rune formation recarved. Those who remained behind were people who agreed with the party whole heartedly because of trust and past experiences. that , or they were not in a position to leave and face monsters at all. They did not have the systems to do so. Once person that did arrive, was a face that made everything much easier for everyone. "Barry, it is good to see you again. With you here, it will help organize the adventures to help a lot." Walker greeted Barry before trying to make another move. Barry was also blocking the elemental rune teleportation formation as well. His face having a fully serious expression. "I would say it is good to see you all. Especially since I have been away handling many of the issues and training a team of elite adventurers to begin exploring the Sigil continent with the angels." This was a well known new endeavor for Barry as the somewhat unwilling vice guild master of the adventure guild. He had been pushed to leave behind his post to be able to train some new and promising adventures with the best skill suited to explore and map the Sigil continent. While this was something that could be done with avian abilities and other skills, the adventurers would be cataloging certain areas that could be used as better camps for travelers. For new viges. And specifically, for people that would need to study the uniquends that even the angels werecking in knowledge of due to their history. "But I am here because someone is trying to head in to an undead ruins to maybe get answers from an elder lich which was listed as a monster never to go near for any adventurers, even me." Barry looked like he had caught children mocking the rules right in front of those that made them for safety. It was insulting but also a little annoying in general. "We need answers that only he has. It could be faster than what we are doing now. I also know that with the skills I have and some help from Ventus, we can fly there and back faster than any other person can." Walker also knew that the royal dragons were purposefully holding themselves back. They wanted to recover for the dangers that woulde. Ventus was just the one that could make it all progress faster and she knew it. She could remain away from the undead on the ground which was an ideal way for her to remain safe. Not that she would even give a monster the chance to bother her at all. She would be able to fend off the immortal king with low mana long enough to escape his range of attack. He was the one trapped, not her. "I am not here to stop you, just to remind you that everyone here will be waiting. That you all can not fail whatever you are doing. You might be able to fight me if you were a little faster at growing, but I was not standing still while you all grew too." Barry flexed a little and the air seemed to be forced away. The mana density within his body was clearly stronger than before. This small show of strength was enough to show that Barry was prepared to join them all in battle. So much so that it would make him indispensable. The royal dragons had even understood that he was one of the few that could fight with them without ending up defeated easily. Not that it would be the case since they became dominator dragons now. "So you just wanted to make sure we wouldn''t go around being dumb? Fine. we will be extra careful." Remey retorted when Barry showed off his strength. However, everyone knew she was not just being rude or blunt. She was being pretty damn honest here. She respected his strength since he had worked hard and shown how it could be used many times over whenever they encountered him. To be honest, they all didn''t know where his strength ended. They had never witnessed him using all of his strength to the fullest of his abilities. "Then go off already. I will handle things here while you are away." Barry walked toward the royal dragon and nodded to Ventus as she went with the party. The dragons all gave him a respectful nod. They could sense he had gained more strength and were somewhat speechless at seeing this. A human that had surpassed what humans should be. A berserker system user that was stronger than any that had used that system before. Even the demi-humans that had well known records of that system had not reached this height. "I''m d he''s here. I want to make sure that Alma and the other elves on their way here are safe." Gil knew that Alma had held back from the simple fact that she was bringing over more elves to battle here. To set up and help thend recover as well. He did not want to return to her being harmed. "He is the strongest we know pretty much. Or at least he always feels that way. I haven''t heard anything from ra in a while about him. I thought that she was hiding it to be a surprise for Genesis when he was done training his adventure team. But they are all here with him." Walker pointed out multiple people. All standing in order with where Barry had just stopped. The people all seemed to be older and younger talents of various races from various adventurer guild locations. All of them had clear strengths. The party looked forward to seeing and learning more. Yet, this was now what they needed right now. They were stepping on to the elemental teleportation rune formation for a reason. The mana they used to teleport back to their home continent was already activated. They would be him but not staying long. It felt wrong to leave the Sigil continent without even feeling like they hadpleted anything all the way. ¡­


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 Chapter 2019 2019. Familiar Ruins

    Chapter 2019 2019. Familiar Ruins


    Just as Walker stepped on the elemental teleportation rune formation, he sensed the manas more clearly. He had missed these things when he had been on it on the way to the Sigil continent once again. But the manas flowed more smoothly in some ces. This was the results of improving, and now recarving the formation for the second time. The rune carvers had learned from the past experiences. They had also made it clear that they had advanced their knowledge of how the runes could form together. Especially when it came to the other runes that were made from parts of the basic elemental runes. Natural mana runes had been somewhat formed, while rough, they were there so that the manas could all form together better. This was something that was not entirely possible before Walker had begun showing off natural mana everywhere. He had made a scene of sorts making manas fuse together better than other mages, even those with dual affinities. Because of this, the rune formations had all been improved rapidly. That was also due to the mage tower. But that didn''t exin how Walker was sensing more space mana everywhere around him as the rune formation teleported him. He could sense that a lot more spatial mana was part of the formation. When he looked at the recarved and improved runes, he noticed some that held on to that spatial mana better. That they were rough to a degree that they did not perfectly allow manas to flow in to them. However, the spatial mana enjoyed that to a degree. The spatial mana remained there for a short time. Walker could feel it dissipate while other manas came to rece it. This experience was short lived. It was only a blink of an eye in theparison of the time he had meditation around the spatial mes that were created within the wandering cksmith''s forge. But it was enough time to enlighten Walker here. He could understand that a spatial rune could not just be some t and smooth thing like the other runes. Mostly because this would need to be an in depth rune that allowed the space it sat in to be affected. That was why the spaces where the manas were being turned on jagged angles which were bad for elemental manas, were working. Space didn''t need rules like the way water flowed through a water rune. To be clear, the space mana was something that was everywhere already, so channeling it in a flow made no sense. Therefore, when Walker finally saw this happening, he was shocked. He had partially interpreted the space mana theories of his own improperly. "Hello there?" Gil waved a hand in front of Walker for a moment. He wondered what had just happened in a second of teleportation. "Sorry, I Was thinking about the space mana in the runes. It''s much better than before and I realized that I missed some things. I should have focused on earlier. But I will think about that while we move." Walker saw that Ventus was focusing on him with a slight smile. In the time that she had known this party, she had immediately opened her mind and heart to them. One, because she saw them as children just like her own. A mother''s instinct was not simple. And two, because she already knew that these people were living a new and wondrous path that others had not before. She could not expect anything by amazing things from them. "I will be taking you all from here. I will move quickly and ce you on the edge of that undead ruins. It is a cursed ce and I do not wish to remain too close. But from what you said, there will be reasons why you will get inside faster." Ventus understood that the immortal king was not simple. Yes, he was a monster. An elder lich that wanted immortality at any cost. Unfortunately, the forced research and gruesome means had trapped him. An immortal undead in a tower that chained him down. But that did not mean the twisted mind within that monster was anything slow or lesser. Ventus also knew that a dragon''s body and parts of a wyvern''s body were already corrupted and forced together to make an undead able to defend a corrupted floating city. How foolish would she be if she did not keep in mind that a powerful monster like an elder lich wouldn''t want to kill her and use her as its own servant? "Thank you for your help again. You can fly much faster due to your control over the wind." Su''s thanks was enough to make Ventus smile before she took her dominator dragon from. This made many of those who were nearby the elemental teleportation rune formation cheer and shout in surprise. The dragons were famous after all. But the people did not stop the party from moving. There were guards to ensure that the party could rush away. Some of the elder dragons were seen flying nearby, while many dragonkin had arrived who the party could spot before they were held by Ventus in her talons. The basket to hold them proved even more valuable every time this happened. The wind manas rushed around and Ventus created a small slip stream to push herself through the air. It was a short time before the party witnessed the human city of Diamond beneath them, but just as fast as it appeared, it was gone. The wilderness around appeared to be affected in small ces by corrupted monsters. Some of which still rampaged. Small adventurers and military were with each other taking down the issue. This was them working against the problems spreading around the world. While the manas were more fluid and the world was adapting, the corrupted mana also seemed to be growing. Partially because of the demon king''s antics, but also because the world was thinning the shields from the elemental nes. The ces so long ago blocked off due to the world not adapting and growing as it should. When the undead ruins appeared, the party felt that they had just barely been in another continent. That they had been false to think that anything like that happened. They Were here again, at their first major adventure with one another. Their minds had trouble keeping up with where they stood now as Ventus lowered herself to the ground. The many tents that existed as the marks that adventurers, grave robbers, and travelers had gone in to never return were still here. The marks of undead that strayed too far and were beaten outside the runs here and there. It was all too familiar. "I might be able to use a teleportation skill sooner than I realize." Walker said this out loud. He had been the one deep in thought the entire time. Understanding the way the spatial mana moved in all angles instead of a flow made him feel he was a fool but also more positive toward his own learning. He could already sense the spatial mana and could use elemental manas to help manipte it. But with the better grasp on it, he could probably make it teleport him in a bit. "Yes yes yes, you can maybe teleport us ces. Focus on this for now?" Remey sighed like she was being told something she had heard a million times. But to be fair, walkers always got like this. Midnight also responded with a growl, but she had taken her dragonkin from. She didn''t want to show off her dragon from to the immortal king. She could show her strength and level of growth by walking like this instead. It was her pride but also the threat she was giving to him for tricking her toying with her the first time. "They are right brother, we have more things to worry about. I see many skeletons standing still ahead." Onyx had picked up on the edges of the immortal king''s undead ruins. A city fallen because of the terrible deeds it was home to. A ce filled with undead of various kinds all controlled by one being. Yet, when they realized that the undead were standing still. Unmoving. It struck them all as odd. When they werest here, they saw the undead shuffling. Moving as if guarding or just exploring by their own instincts. Even undead in other ces would do that normally. Never would they stand still as if frozen in ce. "I would say that it is highly likely that the immortal king did this knowing that we areing. He was actually watching as he said." Su looked a little more tense. She wished that Alice hade for another person to use purifying and light skills, but she had remained to heal others. Now the party had to face their first threat again. The evil within the ruins. ¡­


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 Chapter 2020 2020. Unsettling Differences

    Chapter 2020 2020. Unsettling Differences


    "This does not look good." Walker was trying to think about why not a single undead was moving. Every single theory he had was being shot down before he could even formte it properly. Mostly because he had never seen undead act this way. "They are all out here just standing still. Zombies, undead dogs, and even a few that I haven''t ever seen." Gil was also feeling like this was somehow amazing. The variety of undead alone was more than what they had seen or expected. From just the outside edges of this ruin, they could see that a great deal had stayed the same since the party was here. But with so many things the same, that just meant that what was different stood out. Specifically, there were undead that shouldn''t necessarily be there. ''Skeletal lizard


    This undead was perfectly raised by an elder lich. Due to this, its flesh was taken perfectly off of it using a unique darkness mana to decay it and have it be used elsewhere. The rune carvings on the bones are enabling it to move faster and with more force than a skeletal lizard undead would normally have if naturally formed or raised by another. Due to this, it has exceptional battle prowess and a controlled instinct. It will not go rampage as more undead will¡­.


    Zombie python


    This is a monster taken from the depths of a rainforest. Preserved using powerful ice magic from skeletal mages, it was able to maintain the flesh needed to be a regenerating zombie. While a regenerating zombie is already exceptionally rare, it needs five times the mana to be able to use the flesh of those it consumes to repair its rotting body. Due to the strength of the python body used to create this regenerating zombie, it is able to move much more fluidly and with greater strength. It does not possess venom but due to its body rotting, the various illnesses that can be contracted from its bites. It is also able to eat preyrger than it. While it also carries strength that it had when it was within the rainforest that it was born. Other serpents will naturally feel this pressure if they are of a weaker species¡­


    Undead Night owl


    This may be a monster considered to be alive, however, it is not. The night owl is actually a skeletal undead which has not lost its feathers due to it being infused with powerful manas when being raised. It is able to fly easily while also maintaining the senses it had when it was alive. Due to it being bound to an elder lich, it can transmit what it hears, sees, and feels to that elder lich. It is created for the respective reason that it can scout and learn things from a distance. It is also able to use the talons to attack with much more viscous movements due to being undead. It will not fear pain. It will continue to attack until the talons and bones it is made of are destroyed. mes will burn away its feathers very easily though¡­''


    Walker could have kept using the all around appraisal on the many different undead scattered through just the edges of the ruins. He understood that they were stopped because the immortal king made it so. But he also understood that there was somehow a way that he had so many undead. The entire city had been a ce full of secrets. The research by those who once lived here was great. It covered a wide variety of topics in an attempt to find immortality. Believing that they preserved thousands, if not a hundred thousand monsters from all over the continent might not be arge matter for them at all. Even justprehending that when the party was herest, most of these ruins were falling apart. All but for therge tower in the center. The best buildings and the tower were the most unkempt. They were also certainly the most well built in the first ce. For many reasons. The tower was made to steal away life from others. It was unfinished and caused the elder lich to be trapped there, but it must also house the pieces of monsters, research materials, and many other things. Just the fact that the party recalled the many things within the chamber the elder lich lived and experimented was enough to believe that all of these undead had been hidden away. But why were they here?


    "You may enter and follow." The gravelly voice that came from the undead night owl put everyone on edge. So much so that Remey had some mes jump up around her. Yet, the undead night owl did not move again. "I knew you would be watching. You already should know why we are here, right? I expected you to use another pen of those undead to speak with us on the Sigil continent. But you didn''t use the pen, so, you can''t?" Walker was well aware that the immortal king could not use the same thing he had done again. When it had brought an undead to their garden to see a unique nt that was lost years ago but the immortal king recalled from the years he was alive. But that was one of the rare things that could not be done over and over. No reply came however. The party just took deep breaths and began to walk. Not a single undead moved. Even the air was oddly still. The scent of rotting dead still existed, but it was no longer being blown in their face by a breeze. The soft growls that dide from nearby were from Ventus. She wasn''t sure if warning the immortal king of what she would do was worth it, but she still did it. This put the rest of the party at a much calmer mentality as well. Even if the worst happened, they would have someone here to destroy everything that had caused them the worst. A viable threat indeed.


    Unlike the memories of undead gathering and chasing them from an exit door, the party found that a path was cleared for them this time. The winding through ruins of homes and other buildings didn''t need to happen now. Yet, when they saw the undead amalgamations that were gathered in one ce, the party felt even more stress. They remembered the toughness of this opponent,and now there were six of them in one ce. All frozen in their movements like the other undead. It was incredibly unnerving. Now though, the party could easily defeat them. They had the strength alone to manage this. The repertoire of skills that the party each had was enough to outmaneuver, overpower, and end the monsters that they were seeing. That was, when they were not controlled by the elder lich. The walk to the massive tower was short. Much shorter than the running from undead zombie rats that they had done before. In fact, they did not see one such undead the entire time. Instead, they had just seen the more unique undead. But they had also not seen any adventurers or grave robbers exploring. Clearly, the undead would still go after them. Or the people nearby would not approach this area at all any more. There was always someone foolish enough though. Which meant that they were also scared away by the odd actions of the undead here. Therge doors of the tower opened up. Now the party did not need to risk going through the underground. Facing the undead leeches, or rising water left there for unknown years. It also meant that they did not need to break through a skeletal door or wall with odd runes either. From what they had seen before, the staircase that led upwards and downwards was the same. Now though,rge torches burned with odd glowing green mes. They contained some different form of magic that the party had not seen before. "To the top." the voice echoed down. It was the immortal king. Instead of the lower area of the ruins, he was above them, at the top of this tower. Moving upwards, the stairs were fine. Nothing stood out. Nothing felt wrong. Just a general walk upwards that took them too long. Noone wanted to speak though. Every word would be heard. Everything they did was certainly seen by the immortal king. "You should already know why I have called out my legions of undead. Here they are organizing themselves." "Years of research without a solution to my problems. Years without a single opposing force that could cause me issues. Just the knowledge that the runt who caused this was running around full of his own evil intentions. Now, that runt has caused more trouble and brought upon the world the remaining hiding rats with wings. Those disgusting things that refuse to be undead or alive. Immortal but not truly immortal. A fake race that should have remained sealed!" The entire tower thrummed with trapped mana for a moment. The party could only keep walking while they heard the immortal king ranting.


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 Chapter 2021 2021. Immortal Kings Plans

    Chapter 2021 2021. Immortal King''s ns


    The unsettling rant did not seem to end. It wasn''t just the fact that the immortal king was ranting due to his anger. He clearly was using the mana all around him in ways that didn''t make sense. Like a child trying to break out of a closed room from a time out. He was pushing against the trap that kept him here. Every step that the party took brought it upwards. Toward the ranting. Towards the manas that were being pulled in and used to push against the tower itself. From what Walker could tell, the immortal king had changed something. Had be too angry just to sit and hope for an experiment to free him. "Rotten winged rats! I wille and take you down for attempting to destroy our kingdom! Our precious true path to real immortality!" The roar caused the tower to shake again. However, the party had just reached the top of the tower. Therge top floor was full of spacepared to what they could remember from the lower area full of experiments and rare items. All the things that the immortal king had gathered within his undead ruins. Had saved through the years. Taken from those who perished due to his entertainment. "Siding with the worthless brat that contested the flow of the world! You rats with wings will end yourself if you are smart. I will torture you until that fake immortality is washed away!" The final roar came with even more mana being thrown around. However, it reminded Walker of the unique feelings he had while trying to grasp more understandings about manas. Specifically, he sensed the odd way that death mana interacted with the world. Both part of the flow and also an end of the flow before it would restart. A mana mysterious and ominous. Death spirits were far and few, Walker had only seen a few since the spirit race had be a proper race and been freed from their bond with the world to uphold the flow of mana. He also recalled the nightmare that Midnight Had been trapped in. the feeling of death mana that had ebbed in to their minds. How he and she had gained some form of understanding of it without truly understanding what it was or that it was even a thing in the first ce. All of this seemed to be revolving around the immortal king. But that was not all that Walker and the party could sense. They saw a different being before them. A different monster. More bones were a part of the immortal king. The form he showed them of a simple ck skeleton sitting on a throne of other bones was not his real form. It was just the face he put on. now that they could see the hundreds of bones that came together to form the elder lich''s body, they realized that he had not just experimented in attempts to leave this ce on monsters and other undead. He had done so to his own body. The multiple arm bones reinforced each other making the skeletal armsrger and thicker. This was the same for his entire body, multiple bones reinforcing one another. As if multiple skeletons had been ovepped with that intention. The height that he stood at was more than any normal human would stand. The skull was the worst part though. Instead of normal teeth, bestial sharpened teeth were there. Glowing ck mes also revolved around his skull to make it appear that these ghastly and deathly mes were his eyes. Flowing darkness mana came off of his skeleton showing that he had both the affinity and the control of darkness to act as a barrier and protection for his body and bones. But what stood out more, was the small marble within the center of his body. This was the elder lich core that held the soul. Bound to the tower through unknown means, this was what kept the immortal king in existence and not moving on. The anchor so to speak that allowed him to remain immortal. Therefore, this was the true body of the elder lich. "You so called heroes. You have grown a bit. Not enough, but maybe enough to get my revenge." The growling voice of the immortal king made the entire party feel that they should attack while they could. However, their instincts warned them that they would fail. No matter what they tried. "That pathetic corrupted aman from in between the elemental nes was foolish. It is destroying the flow that the world has. It is forcing unstable mana bridges to the elemental nes where he can not travel. Where he can not use his power to destroy this world and live free in the power of endless mana." "That''s what you think is outside the world and the elemental nes? Eternal power?" Walker did not argue, but countered with a question. It was enough to trip up the enraged rant that surely was not happening just because the party was here. "Ohhh? Confidence now? You aren''t trembling as you have before. A short time passed you by and you think you have power? Is that what natural mana has for you? Or light mana? But you can not affect me with that. I have enough mana to stop anything you believe from harming me." As if to mock them, skeletal hands reached from the shadows all around. It showed the true hiding dangers that the immortal king had as an elder lich. He always had undead controlled and with him. They just were kept within the shadows. "You came here for a reason. When those rats with wings arose and began to call their kin, they caused more of that corrupted mana to break away my connections to the undead I sent out in to the world to enjoy you dance as my entertainment. Years passed and I finally had something to make new theories with." The immortal king rose up even taller to show off more strength. The manas around him causing pressure to suffocate the entire party. Yet, they still stood strong. "You wish to enter that ruinous castle and defeat the vampire scourge that will attempt to reim the world and rebuild their monstrous armies. Whether that brat wants them for their power or just as pawns does not matter." the immortal king ground his teeth together making a horrendous bone screeching sounds. "If you free me from this ce, I will end them. If you can not, you will still help me with what I desire since you will want the information about how to crush them. Make a choice. Free me, and I will destroy them. Or give me something that I can use as research materials for my own desires." It was very clear that the immortal king wished to use this as a chance to escape this tower. But Walker was already solid on the fact that he would not knowingly help free him. He was an evil that would ruin the world. "You still believe in the flow of mana even though you tried to break it by bing immortal?" Walker had not considered the differences between the immortal king, vampires, and the demon king. He expected the immortal king to be against the flow of mana. "Do you not understand? Are you so foolish that you believe death and the manas that assist it are not a part of the natural flow of the world? Beyond that the manas would be chaotic. No being would survive that chaos of colliding manas without reason or exnation." "The world did not trap me here. I am undead and wield manas more unique and powerful than you currentlyprehend. I am still part of the world. Even going against life, I am part of it." the immortal king made every word shake the tower more. It was very clear that he was looking down on the party as a whole. "Then what could you want? You could just tell us and watch us beat your enemies." Gil spoke up letting the venom in to his voice. He didn''t want the immortal king to see him fear anything ever again. "Little elf wannabe. Ha! Something like you shows confidence in front of me? But you are on the right track. I let you here without opposition because I want something. You have it. The manas and the connection to spirits. That new spirit race. I want ess to them. Their knowledge of manas. I want to leave this world entirely and give up this prison." While not impossible, Walker was unsure if he was thinking correctly about what the immortal king wanted to try. "You want to escape here by leaving the world entirely for the death mana ne that might not even exist?" the words fell like a hammer. ¡­


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 Chapter 2022 2022. Grudging Acceptance

    Chapter 2022 2022. Grudging eptance


    "I didn''t know that undead could dream. If you think we will let you out of your self made prison then you are dumber than you look." Remey ''sment following up what Walker had said brought another thrum of mana to shake the tower. Small pieces of stone seemed to fall where the tower stones had begun to crumble due to time. But almost as if being controlled by an outside force, the mana moving through the tower forced the stone back together. This was just a part of the mysterious way that the elder lich had been trapped here. Even he didn''t understand it. "I will get whatever I need eventually. You can not stop it. But you have no choice to help me." the immortal king spoke with a clear tone of mocking. He knew that the party did not like anything about this. Through the eyes of his undead, he had seen a lot. He had strived to break through the barriers that he could not ovee. Especially the fact that he could not leave this ce. That he had limited undead that he could send in to the world and show him what was happening. The party had already seen one undead that came to look at the unique nts they had grown. Some that were from when he was still alive. That had been one moment and a clear exnation had been given form the immortal king himself. He had said that he could only send an undead that far and see things like that maybe three times. That was something that made the party feel that even a powerful elder lich was extremely controlled and limited due to his position. Yet, here they were. The immortal king had said he witnessed many things that the party had done. He had seen them through the undead that he sent out. Therefore, this was one obstacle he had broken through already. He could send multiple undead in to the world to be able to see, hear, and somewhat experience what was going on. But that also brought another thing to Walker''s mind. "You can''t even let yourself see things properly through the undead you tried so hard to send out of here. Can you? The corrupted mana is getting that bad and you also want to escape it?" Just escaping this prison was not what the immortal king wanted. He wanted to avoid whatever wa happening with the corrupted manas that were too chaotic to control. They ruined the connections between him and the undead. Hence why he might have them all standing still and not moving. It was too hard to maintain perfect control over all of them at all times right now without using too much mana. "Oh, so you did get smarter. If you had a few more decades, you might realize that I will not frown at ending you all here and making you my undead as well. That way, I can gather whatever information your bodies hold. Unique hybrid zombies as well. It might be more entertaining." The immortal king''s threats came with even more skeletal hands reaching from the shadows. He was still showing off the powers he had over the entire tower. "Then what can you tell us about the vampires that are in that castle and ruins. They were sealed there by someone somehow. But they can''t be freed. They can''t share whatever knowledge that they have with the demon king or else you know what will happen. Regardless of leaving this ne or not." Walker did not y any more. He was disgusted as well as the immortal king was with them. There was no middle ground for them. They would always be on opposing sides of everything there was to be. It was just how it would be due to the gruesome evils that the immortal king had done. "You will provide me with death spirits or death mana items. Or you will give me the natural mana condensed to allow me more time to experiment." The payment that the immortal king wanted was not just items rted to death. Yes, there were items that would always hold death mana. There were plenty of cemeteries that had stones that had ominous energies around them. Now that Walker was more rified on manas and what might be, he could guess why these ces always felt a certain way. It wasn''t within people''s heads, it was the death mana there. Walker would never send a spirit race to here. To a being that he was certain would use and abuse them as tools. This was off the table. Completely. Especially since Walker had managed to meet a death spirit before and had the feeling that the spirit would always be somewhere around. Watching him since it was clearly thankful that it had been awakened properly. But it was a mystery within itself. But natural mana? He could provide that easily. He had the ability to bring manas together to make natural mana. The only issues were what the immortal king would do with it. Too many things could go wrong. Everyone knew the potential that came with using natural mana to boost attacks and other skills. Walker had already shown that he could also allow areas to grow and be almost like knew. If the immortal king had seen these things, he could be trying to use a skill that would free him from this ce or generally allow him to send an army of undead elsewhere. I can provide you with some natural mana. The spirit race is a living race and they will not be used as tools for you. I will not allow you to do that to anyone." Walker stood firmly even though the immortal king loomed over them. "That is eptable. I have multiple mana gems created with the same means that you used to create your little toy there. But I had them simplified to only store natural mana for a temporary time period." the immortal king dropped threerge mana gems in front of the party. "Brother, how can he do that?" Onyx spoke within Walker''s mind. His confusion clear since the immortal king could not be a cksmith of any sorts with his form and mana affinities. "Undead that he controls. I would be willing to bet he has undead with skills and methods for such things. It''s why he is more dangerous than we realize." this response to Onyx was correct. The rest of the party had also realized it. The immortal king could have undead cksmiths that retained some skills. Enough to make a mana gem capable of holding natural mana and not just one mana. It was hard to ept since it was a greater threat with more levels than what they all expected. "Share what you know too." Walker picked a mana gem up and felt that he could easily add natural mana. But he did not start until he saw the books that the immortal king was dropping. Two books had pictures. Diagrams that depicted different species of vampires. Some of the race that had once walked the earth as a recognized and controlled intelligent race. The others, the monsters that they became when they lost their intelligence or when they controlled others to be mothers. Vampire thralls, rabid vampires, bestial vampires, and many more were depicted. All important pieces of information that the party could use when they were fighting these enemies. That they could share with the joint Genesis and angel forces when they were about to go to battle. Things that would keep them all alive. "Many races failed to document the true terrors that they are capable of. They could use their charm skills to make you kill your own family. Then you would thank them for it before you offer your own life blood to them. They are not just simple creatures." the immortal king didn''t sound evil at this moment. Almost hurt. "Cutting them apart is a temporary measure to slow them. But you can read how to erase their false immortality. Thatst one, is how they ended up there. You may believe you have discovered the Sigil continent. But my people had traveled there when we were gathering the most important items." immortal king began to sound scarier. If his people had traveled the world, they would have been stronger than what the party originally believed. Yet, they had still ended up with only one city. With only one survivor. With only one who remembered the past. And even that might end if the party could get strong enough to defeat him. "Look through it as your leader gives me the mana as payment. You can learn from it, but you will not leave until I have full payment." The threat came with another vibration of mana. But this time, there was a clicking sound from outside the windows. Undead had started to move again. Making a pathway out of the ruins which could easily be closed. ¡­


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 Chapter 2023 2023. Worrisome Knowledge

    Chapter 2023 2023. Worrisome Knowledge


    Nothing wasfortable about the fact that Walker was putting natural mana from all around them in to the mana gems. His mind was having a hard time focusing on the fact that the immortal king knew too much about what had been happening. From just the time that they had seen him until now, it was very evident that the immortal king had learned a great deal. The party was at fault for this. They had been doing things that were out of the ordinary. Gaining titles, uniting races, and so much more. This has caused the world to change as a whole. New races had appeared that were changing the ways that everyone looked at the world as a whale. Especially since there were monster races that lived and acted different overall. The spirit race was a new race that had been on hold for so long. The flow of mana being returned more and more was the reason for this. They had been the holders of the flow of mana for so long. But they were also born of mana and made their bodies from mana. They even grew bybining themselves or using more unique sub sets of manas to create their bodies. It was too much unknown to study. Too amazing. This all put aside, there was also the fact that certain parts of the world had changed. The flow of mana changing was a big part of why the immortal king may have made more breakthroughs in his experimentations. He had been more free to try things that might not have worked in the past. Getting him closer to being free from his self made prison. Having one mana gem full of natural mana, the immortal king stopped standing still and witnessing it. He spoke again as Su had take the books and was holding on to them carefully now. "They are weak in the daylight and have magic skills to block the sun. They enjoy the fog. Some are called mistwalkers and can even walk through the mist which will protect them from physical injuries. They are just weaker pawns to the real vampires." The immortal king was clearly remembering the wars fought between his race and thevampire race. It was already known that the vampires were not just a race. They were mostly beings that became monsters obsessed with power and blood. That had already been very clear from the many fairy tales passed down. From what the immortal king had already said. "Many times we failed to eradicate the noble vampire creating his armies. They would move to another ce and start again. It would be months passed thest battle, and they would have an army of monsters yet again." This was something that none of them doubted. Many of the things that the vampires had at their disposal allowed them to create forces. Specifically, they would either control the minds or t out create a monster. It was ideal for creating armies. "A rotten undead creating armies fighting another rotten undead creating armies then?" Remey''s mocking tone made the immortal king lower his head and look at her carefully. The mes within his skill seemingly ring up more than before. "You are too young and foolish. My people were necromancers and experimenters of life itself. Not undead. We were flesh and blood as you were. Vampires were a foolish race that had been better off remaining the monsters hiding within caves that they had been before they sparked the pathetic intelligence that led them to build castles. To create armies of blood thirsty monsters. You do not know the challenge of fighting a vampiric bear." While it seemed like that might be a metaphor, the immortal king truly meant a vampiric bear. It wasn''t a metaphor for arge vampire at all. The vampires had created many different monsters with their skills. Had caused great harm when unleashing these monsters toward the living. Toward all that was around them. "We took the weak and gave their instances purpose. To discover true immortality. To bring new brilliant discoveries to this world. But vampires, they caused constant ughter and destruction. Only the smallest group of them left that senseless destruction and obsession with blood and power. You have no mind that canprehend that time. How many species were eliminated as their food." The scathing words were nothing that was wrong. Yes, the way that the immortal king and his people had acted was evil in a different way. Experimenting on living beings, terrible. Using lives as test subjects just to see if they could learn or manipte skills of certain people, worse and worse. However, it was not the same as senseless death just to have more strength and power. To kill so that the lust for blood could be met, only to grow greater. This was a difference. The immortal king had the intelligence to do more with things than the vampires who would just kill and that was it. Not that either were good. "That''s the third mana gem. Is there anything else you should tell us? We are finishing the war you started when you were not just made of bone." Walker stopped the ranting for the immortal king. He was certain that something else would be said. "Do not allow your little pet dragon to be food for them. Only a noble vampire, the proper race, not the minions they make can influence a dragon''s blood. But when they do, you will need to face the vampire dragon. Worse than those rogue dragons or the skeletal undead dragons. Even worse than the death dragons I witnessed before they ceased to exist." None of what the immortal king said sat well with anyone one of the party. Midnight in particr felt the need to give in to her pride and growl. But as she saw that the immortal king was not tricking them, nor was he adding any mana to his words. They were true and blunt. A true warning. But knowing that the immortal king had witnessed undead dragons and death dragons, made all of them feel that he might know portions of history that no one knew. That only his race had delved in to. This also reminded them of how he had told them that his people had been to the Sigil continent before. But they had done nothing but gather materials there. It was unnerving. "Then we will be leaving." Gil made it clear that not a single one of them had the intention of remaining here. The immortal kingughed causing the entire tower to shake yet again. "Take weapons with you. In the courtyard opened by the undead, there are the remnants of a special tree. One that had been dead but was an ideal weapon against the vampires. Perfect for properly imbuing with light mana and stabbing their hearts." the tower ceased to vibrate with mana as the newly filled mana gems were scooped up by the immortal king. The sounds of undead moving toe to him already sounding outside. Seeing that they couldn''t even be seen as something to watch right now, the party moved. They did not wish to see the immortal king rengage on his words. It was also very clear from his actions, that he disliked the vampires so much so that he didn''t care to speak to the party of heroes that might one day be able to fight him. The staircase already had a line of undead bringing materials toward the immortal king. They moved out of the way for the party, but this was just so that they could keep moving. The party felt as if they barely existed any more. It was a drastic change but a better one than what woulde of fighting the undead here. When they eventually made it to the entrance, the found that the lower staircase was blocked. Clearly, the immortal king did not wish for them to move downwards at all. Toward the many treasures and gathered experiments. But that was fine by them. The party also saw the line of undead. They were spaced out to keep them from going anywhere else. Compared to thest time. The undead were not free roaming or fighting. They were strict watchers that kept people from nearing anywhere that the immortal king did not wish them to go. It was an oddly strict take to happen fro a ruins. But that was all still fine. "Do you think that this tree will be as good a weapon against vampires that the immortal king things?" Su was worried, it was understandable. "The all around appraisal should tell us. I hope." Walker did not hide his own stress. Everyone had the same right now. ¡­


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 Chapter 2024 2024. Useful Wood

    Chapter 2024 2024. Useful Wood


    Moving with undead on each side of them was unnerving. Walker was seeing more that he did not realize. They were just standing and waiting for further orders. But this was also how the immortal king was gaining his energy back. How his mana was being held for whatever he was about to do with the natural mana that had been paid in return for his information. Various undead with limbs missing were here and there. They appeared to be lost due to the fact that they had be too old. Yet, this just showed that there were many undead that had been raised from their graves. ''Ancient skeleton


    While very badly damaged due to the time left in an open grave, this skeleton is one of the oldest within the runs. It suffered in life due to the experimentation on it and the skills it had. However, this just brought it more strength. It is able to wield strong earth magic that will allow it to be an ancient earth mage skeleton at some point. This will cause it to gain some intelligence if the master that summoned it allows. But it may also cause it to be a singr monster that can grow beyond being amonster¡­''


    These were the sorts of all around appraisals that Walker had been seeing. Ones that spoke more to how old the undead were. The bodies had been there for more years than what Walker had realized. While he had found that the undead and many of the things within these ruins were not that old, it proved to be wrong. This was because he had been too young and not been able to truly grasp the wide spread effect of the immortal king''s people once upon a time. The facts that they had even traveled over continents was too much to say that they were not a race that had been extinct and weak. They seemed to be a race that had their anchors in base cities first. From there, they had secretly spread throughout the world and gathered what they needed. A reclusive race but a powerful race. People that had gone to do evil things. So much so that they had made enemies with everyone that had been around them. It was something that was undeniable. But their history was longer than what everyone realized. Because of their secret experimentations, the history known and the city they had that had now fallen to ruins, might be older than what they knew. Especially since it was not considered that old of a city in the grand scheme. Therefore, there might be more that had been underneath the ground or hidden away. The proof was already all around the party right now. Undead that had not been seen or were made out of extinct species. This meant that the immortal king had hidden a great deal and might be even older than what he said. It was undeserving yet again. "That''s the tree that we are brought to?" Remey looked at the gray and deteriorating tree. It was full of holes from insects burrowing in to it. Parts fallen off and rotting there. Even some marks from where some undead had bumped in to it over time. It was not the picture of what anyone would thing about a vampire ying weapons would be. But Walker knew better than to believe what he was seeing here, many things would not be what they were at first nce. The all around appraisal had shown this. Especially when he had looked at materials. When he had gone to the markets within the demi-human kingdom, he had seen items that anyone would have bought normally. Yet, they had been cursed items that had allowed people to suffer there. If he did not look more carefully with the all around appraisal, then he would have missed a lot. ''Light ash tree


    The light ash tree is a species of tree that is normally called the brilliant ash tree. Many different races or people will have different names for it based on their own cultural differences. However, one thing is clear, when alive, this tree is naturally able to collect light mana to grow. It allows it to have white leaves that when they fall off in the colder months, be nourishing ash for the earth around it. They purify the decaying negative aspects of the soil and lead to a better overall quality of earth and nature. Especially in the fact that it is a constantly working aspect of their ecosystem. This is seen in the fact that they will attract light affinity monsters to it to nest nearby or to live peacefully nearby. The wood will perish when thend around it bes overwhelmed with darkness manas or other aspects close to decay and death. When this happens, it bes a light ash tree or a dead ash tree. The wood will rot from the outside in and be eaten by many things. But the wood at the core will be able to be used to make many things. All rted to light affinity, a wooden sword would be able to channel purifying light mana within. The same for wands or staves. Using it to make a stabbing spear would be ideal for fighting certain monsters that have a darkness and death affinity rted to undeading, undeath, or even immortality. While it will be weak and easily break, it will be strong when reinforced with the proper manas¡­''


    This all around appraisal was very in depth. Walker was amazed that this tree had survived and slowly rotted here. But he could clearly see that when he pushed in to the wood with his hands. There was a hard and tough core within the wood still. Enough to make at least five wooden spears. But when he pulled light aman toward him, he was equally amazed that the wooden core of the light ash tree drank it up. It was so efficient that he believed it would be the ideal weapon for many things. Especially for Alice if she were to carry another staff. One that would help her channel even more light manas. "Wait, before we dig in to this, we need to find the seed." Gil tried his best to search for seeds. If this tree was so valuable that they had both not heard of it and that it could y an ancient monster race, they had to get it. "You are looking in the wrong ce. I know where they might be. Many trees can put dormant seeds somewhere where they won''t die. Where they can live for many years. The immortal king might not have taken them because they were not valuable to him, but they can be valuable to me." Remey smirked. She had a smug look on her face while she started to dig her hands in to the ground. Beating Gil out in something to do with nts was hard. He had been raised on a farm and learned a great deal of knowledge from his mother, and then themselves. But Remey focused on herbs. She knew well that when some unique nts were able to grow seeds on their roots before separating the root and leaving the seed to be dormant for the chance to grow at ater date. Her hands began to pull seeds from the ground. Some were broken, rotten, while others still had some tough shells around them. "We can bring these to the elves and grow a few. They might be good for some small arrows that can be used against the vampiric monsters." Remey beamed with pride at her win here. "Wise choice. I did not expect that. I was ignoring something of value right here. But I have other things to care for. Leave mynds." The immortal king''s voice came from a nearby skeleton. It took away any of the positive atmosphere here. But the party had gotten what they came for. They already had everything that they needed. "We are leaving. We have a war to fight. And evil to protect the innocents from." Walker spoke with harsh tones but the undead did not move again. The immortal king went back to not caring about them. However, Midnight was focusing very much on the bodies of the lizard like undead. Some of them reminded her of the dragons. The wyvern and the dragon body parts that were not mixed together as a powerful undead corrupted by the demon king. They had to deal with it. Her pride as a dragon was being insulted. She just wanted to be sure that she was prepared and strong enough to take that step. Fighting the vampires would be that step. Challenge herself to be more as a true dragon champion. Walker could sense her feelings. He felt simr. The entire party did. ¡­


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 Chapter 2025 2025. Staring Undead

    Chapter 2025 2025. Staring Undead


    Taking the wood entirely was easily done with the high spatial storage. Walker even found that he was able to flow through the motion of storing it even better. Something he had not realized was that he had gained a better control of using this skill. The many times that Walker took things in and out of his spatial storage skill was innumerable. He knew very well how useful it was. The constant use of storing things was always happening. Especially as an adventure. The monsters that they defeated had to be taken care of. If they were not, it would be a waste. Therefore, even whole monster bodies were stored away with his touch. He had to butcher them sometimes to take materials, but with how they had gotten so popr, the party just dropped them off here and there to the ces that would do it for a small or no fee. From there, Walker also stored all their armor, weapons, food, you name it. There were too many things. That was also using other skills like the moving forge. That could be taken out of the spatial storage as long as he had every required material or tool to use it. This was something that made him even better at using the small amount of space manas. Therefore, when he went to touch the tree and it disappeared in to the high spatial storage while still a foot away from his hand, Walker realized that he had grown without noticing. His understanding of space had changed. He understood it much more and had a better theory about how to improve that strength. From there, he even understood that he was going to be able to do multiple other things in the future. Using the space mana to teleport would just be the start. Imagining battle style using spatial mana was something too fantastic to even talk about right now. The idea that he would be able to teleport behind monsters or enemies to fight them at an advantage was huge. Being able to skip over difficult terrain using skills to teleport small distances was also attractive. Now he couldn''t do such a thing. But one day, he knew for certain that he would. "The undead are staring at us. We should leave." Su made it clear that Walker was taking too long. They had gathered the light ash wood and now they had to retreat from the undead city. The ruins were not their safe haven like it was for the immortal king. Regardless of it being his prison. This was hisnd. His territory that should not be tread on. Beyond that, there were also the facts that there would be many other instances that the undead could cause trouble. Right now, they were the lucky ones. The immortal king was distracted by the mana he had gotten. While it worried all of the party that the immortal king now had some form of new toy to y with in the essence of natural mana, they were unsure what to do with the knowledge. They could worry a lot and manage to cause themselves a lot of stress. Whoever, they would not be able to do much with that. Especially since they were going to face a worse threat. As the party began their brisk run out of the ruins, they found that the undead had started shuffling toward the massive tower. Not toward them. The undead had only been looking at them as a warning to leave. The immortal king did not wish for distractions. He would be very angry if anything bothered him right now. Therefore, it was best to wish for the safety of anyone foolish enough to try and loot these ruins or explore these ruins in theing weeks or days. Who knew how long this would go on. Focusing on the fact that they were leaving, Ventus had seen them. She had managed to remain in the air without any bother the entire time. Her growls acting as a reminder to whatever was down there that she was not some easy prey or just a dragon flying around on its own fun journey. She was saying that she didnot mind attacking with all her might. The fact that she could jt break the tower in the middle was clear. She did not hide that. Especially since she could sense the odd manas and see the runes on it. Even Walker said he did not understand that ce. The prison of the immortal king. But she also knew that she would not stand much of a chance against the immortal king. It was a monster that was more powerful than that of what anyone could understand. While it might be age or the mysterious nature, no one knew. But she could still destroy a lot. As a wind dominator dragon, all the ruins that were not the tower, would be destroyed. All the undead would be reduced to bone dust at most. That was just the power that Ventus could bring using the full forces of wind des that shed through everything. It was a threat that she would be petty and destroy as much of what the immortal king had as she could if the party was harmed. This was just a set back to an immortal undead. As the party neared the outer edge of the ruins, Ventus swooped down and caged them within her talons. She did not see the point to them remaining here for even a second more. She didn''t care that they had yet to tell her what they found. Instead, she focused on the fact that she could not do anything with them the way that they were, in the ruins. After the ruins were left behind in the winds, Ventus finally lowered the party down outside Genesis. It was a longer way back, or at least it felt that way since they were all recoiling from the stress of their encounter. Many things were there for the party to think about. Midnight and Onyx had their own thoughts on what they had seen. Onyx had seen serpents that were massive which had been turned in to undead. He had fears that one day his little serpents could end up the same. Especially the heavenly serpents that were more rxed and less prone to battle. Mainly Aurora, who had followed Alice in healing as a focus. Midnight had her own thoughts, but Walker had alreadyforted her as he sensed her feelings bing unstable. "We need to make progress here. We need to get Alma to grow these trees." Gil''s thoughts had not strayed too much. He knew that they could use the elemental teleportation formation to get to the Sigil continent. From there, they just needed to grow their weapons faster. "We will need Walker to help with natural mana. He should help make them grow faster than what Alma can normally grow. Especially if he can gather enough mana to use that nature dragon''s domain skill." Remey felt that she would be ready to fight very soon. She could even have someone give her some shaped wood as a gauntlet, the elves were skilled in their growing methods. She could just stop herself form using fire on her fists. Su''s focus was on the way she would have to fight against these new foes. She would not be able to fight the same way if they were going againstmonster that was great at illusions, charm, and generally used others as their method of battle. Not to mention that she used shields and not wooden spears or other weapons. But all of this was not just her. Walker was considering it all as he retold every single detail to Ventus who was walking along with them after taking her dragonkin form again. She would be the one to tell all the others what had happened while the party and Alma focused on growing the trees and beginning to shape their weapons. It felt that they had only lost a few hours, but realistically, they still needed more time. The only hope was that whatever seals and defenses were left to trap these vampires would remain. But the question still stood, how had they been sealed in the first ce. Walker knew that one of the books they were given held the knowledge of how this came to be. He also understood that the vampires hadbeen the enemies of the immortal king''s people. The questions that came to mind all revolved around these things. But also about how some vampires did not be evil. Did not be a race focused on blood and power. What about them? Where did those good vampirese in to y?


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 Chapter 2026 2026. Build A What?

    Chapter 2026 2026. Build A What?


    The growth inmunication crystals being made and sent around the kingdoms was one of the best things from the new Genesis alliance. Not only because they were a shared secret production method from various racesing together, but also because they had sped many things up. Various merchants used it to be able tomunicate with their merchant caravans as they traveled through the wilderness. Others used it so that they could send out guards to different positions that needed assistance with crime happening at that moment. The usefulness had outshined everything that could be said about how rare and how hard they were to use before Genesis hade together. They had been improved to be used more times in a row without breaking. Be able tomunicate more clearly using them. And furthermore, just in general numbers. That was how Gil hadmunicated with Alma to have multiple elves, farmers, and other forces with unique nt growing rted skills prepared. She herself, was also right there with the will to lead that group on the other side of the elemental space teleportation rune formation. An army of them to be specific was waiting for the party. Easily a solid seventy five to a hundred people with rted skills were there waiting. Along with them, a multitude of tools, and materials had been gathered. They waited in perfect rows just for their skills to be used. many farms had been put on hold with the less experienced watching them. This wasn''t because these people had abandoned their duties, but had stood up to keep their duties. To keep the people of their alliance fed and safe. To be able to pull their weight and regale the world of their tales where farmers stood as the front line reason for victory against an evil. "Alma! You worked much faster than it even took us to get here from the undead ruins." Gil''s surprise was great since he was unsure if they would be able to gather so many people so fast. "If you were paying attention, you would know that the elves and the demi-humans have both finished their elemental space teleportation rune formation today. Genesi already built the matching spots for them as well." Alma sounded like she was teasing, but the hint of pride in her voice really said it all. The people of Genesis were working incredibly hard. "I have every single farmer, nt maniptor, harvester, and so many more here to help. What can we do?" Alma brought the topic right to the front. She was sure that there was something rted to nts, but Gil had only instructed her of that much. Mainly because all the details would have burned out the mana within themunication crystal that he had. It was better to be quick anyways. "I need you to grow a new forest with a tree that has been nearly extinct for a long time. It''s called the light ash wood or tree, or a whole bunch of other random names throughout history. Basically, that doesn''t matter. What does matter, is that weapons made of this wood can kill the vampires because of the naturally purifying light elemental mana that it gathers." Those that heard this were stuck on the spot. They had just heard that they would be growing an entire forest? How could that happen. But on top of that, they were growing it to be cut down and used as weapons? How did any of this make sense? "That would destroy thend. If we grew that so quickly, all the nutrients would be pulled out and nothing would grow or live here." it waspletely right. Alma''s reluctance was for the best of nature as a whole. She did not wish to pursue something that would destroy nature. It was against ehr methods as an elf and as a person. "It won''t destroy it. Walker will use the nature dragon domain to help bring in natural mana to allow thend to remain fertile. It is perfect. He can counter the cost by channelingrger amounts of natural mana. With mages helping him, it will be perfect. It will just exhaust a lot of people." Gil knew that the mana potions would be spent. Almost every bit that was here and prepared for this battle and more might be used to do this. But the vampiric threat was too great right now. They were something older and more dangerous than what the party or Genesis really had ever faced. "What about that?" Alma could understand when Walker was involved. She knew that he had skills to counter the threats of destroying thends where nts and animals would be unable to live. Yet, she was worried about the sky. "It will be light outter. It''s just the night?" Gil responded with a questioning look. His eyes nced around and soon realized that no soldier or force from angels or Genesis were asleep. He looked further off in the distance and understood where he and the party was wrong. Yes, they ahd taken a lot of time leaving and heading to the ruins. Yes, the day time and night time were different on the continents. But, here on the Sigil continent, it should be brighter. It should have been the middle of the day. Yet, there were dense ck clouds covering the sky for a great distance. It was creating a ce ideal for the light hating vampires to live. They ahd yet to break free of whatever seals remained, but they were able to manipte even the weather now. It was showing that they ahd managed to wake up more. Call more power to themselves. "Brother, Alma, everyone. I will handle this with my fellow abyssal and heavenly serpents. We will handle the threats that walk in the night. Just be prepared to watch over us as we do so. Many of them are too young." Brutally serious and somber tone came through from Onyx''s words. He knew well that the growth of his little serpents had been because they had been given the perfect environment to do so. Just as he had grown much faster due to his bonds with walker and Midnight. However, they were young. This would take a toll on them. Using their manas to counter a powerful skill that was literally blocking out the sun would consume all of their mana. And all mana that Onyx had to use. Because of this, they would be incredibly vulnerable during and after using theirbined efforts to open the sky so that the sun could help create the forest used as materials for this battle. "Ae you sure? You won''t be able to fight after that. I doubt you can even hide yourself after that." There was worry intertwined in Walker''s voice. The entire party felt the same. "Do not worry, we are the abyssal and heavenly serpents. We are going to be recognized as our own race so much so that even the universe, let alone the world, will recognize us." Onyx''s boasting pride was on full disy here. He nned to show everyone just the pure strength of his species. To show how much he and all of them had grown. "Then we should get working. I dragged myself all the way here from my garden just to help out my daughter inw build a forest. So get a move on!" "Mom?!" Gil had no idea that his mother hade to answer the call here as well. "What? Is your mother too weak and useless to do anything? Oh no, I think not. You might have the hero title, but you are my son and I will be the one that makes sure the world turns for you. Especially since you keep making my little daughter inw work so hard. You''re supposed to make things easier for her." Gil''s mother gave Gil an earful. "You should listen to your mother. I had toe to make sure she kept herself standing after giving it her all. I expect you to do your best too son." Gil''s father was acting as a body guard. The hunter ready for a fight in a forest made by his wife and daughter inw. An interesting event to witness. "All farming forces, prepare to create a forest!" Alma shouted out and caused many people to begin moving. Multiple moved to purify and strengthen the waters they would pour on to the saplings. Others began preparing the soil and removing damaged sections due to the saltwater and other attacks from slimes. Walker''s nature dragon domain would repair other things they could not do in such a short time. The flurry of movement was only brought together through years of experience and reliance on the best of the best. Not a single person moving was divided or alone right now. An untrained force working perfectly together with a goal to protect their futures. An astounding feat.


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 Chapter 2027 2027. Flow Together

    Chapter 2027 2027. Flow Together


    As Ventus had been the one to exin things to the other royal dragons, they had no reason to make moves toward the party when they arrived with their entire force of farmers. Especially Current who was extremely exhausted from stopping a mass of salt water at a moment''s notice. It had been the final nail in the coffin so to speak for the stored mana he had tried to gather back.


    The other forces around had also been doing their own preparations. As the forces that were behind the party had begun to arrive, the soldiers had already started to prepare thend.


    They knew well that there were many things that could stop the ns being formed. That could interrupt the skills that would be used to create a literal new forest with incredibly skillbination.


    The corrupted manas were still around and seemed to be growing. Along with the dark skies, this was already a worse issue that they felt that they had to handle right away.


    A few monsters were still roaming around, but had begun to fall in to wild antics due to the corrupted manas. These were captured and defeated by the angelic forces which had begun to patrol the skies. Especially since they were attempting to find any of the other bat kin that had managed to survive the previous night''s battle.


    Remey felt that she was not needed and made a move toward Ignus. She had her focus with him since the two of them together could better gather whatever fire manas that they could at a faster rate. This would both help her and him when they came to battle.


    The idea that she had was to use the fire mana that she condensed to counter the attacks of the vampiric monsters that might be awakening within the ruins that the demon king had risen. She also felt that she might be able to take some of the light ash wood and dissolve it within some potions.


    This idea had led her to search her mind for applicable potion forms and herbs that could work together. Potentially using the explosive potion forms that she knew could be the ideal possibility. Especially if she could make some stopped vials out of the wood. When the potion would explode, shrapnel of ash wood tree would hit the monsters. A great weakening attack.


    It was a brutal battle style that would be able to handle many monsters at once. Hence why many of the alchemists nearby that hade to assist and work alongside healers were inspired by it. Remey also had the skills to memorize all the herbs and forms which helped immensely. She was the leader in this idea.


    "Brother, we are prepared, are you?" Onyx called out mentally to Walker. He sat in the center of a hastily drawn light rune formation along with every single heavenly and abyssal serpent. They had alle when he called for help. Even some of the youngest who should realistically still be absorbing light mana and resting. But they had not wanted to let their elder siblings down.


    Arora had be a leader among the heavenly serpents. She was nearly matching Onyx''s size in such a short time away from Alice. But she had managed to gain her own unique skill to hide away her true size. While she did not speak yet, she clearly was using Onyx as a rival of sorts. A reason to grow. A being to match and stand next to.


    Alice didn''t say a word about this, but it was clear that she was proud of the heavenly serpent she had made a close bond with. Proud because she had begun to grow and represent the healing light that came with the cathedral and with genesis as a whole.


    "It''s as good as things will get, Ventus, please keep an eye out. If things look to be failing, you are thest resort." Walker did not wish Ventus to use arge amount of wind mana. She would be needed to fight powerful vampiric monsters. Not to blow away the magical storm clouds blocking the light.


    "Alma and I are ready too, Walker, it''s up to you and the mages that made that rune circle." Gils'' call from a distance was loud enough for everyone to hear. A wave of tense preparation happened. Everyone took deep breaths and began to focus their attention entirely.


    The mages had worked with a few rune carvers and used rough natural mana runes that had begun to be created. They formed together with various elemental mana runes to form an ideal formation that absorbed ambient mana and channeled it toward Walker.


    "Midnight, please keep an eye out. Once they notice what we are doing, I have a feeling that we might have some opposition." Walker heard the gruff growl from Midnight showing that she was Ready. He also saw that Su had taken a position where she could defend the key runes in case they were targeted. They needed the forest to grow to be used as weapons against these monsters.


    "Well, now I understand why nature called to me. I was unsure why until I felt the desires here. Let us grow these forests and remove the corrupted manas taking root within thatnd." the words came from more than just one being.


    The many echidna from the vige that the party had met were all standing at various points among everyone. Not a single person had witnessed them arrive. What they did know though, was that the manas had rapidly jumped as they had shown themselves.


    "I knew the echidna would arrive at some point in theing battles. But you chose now? A very big surprise. So let me show you what I have learned since west met." Walker knew well that the echidna hade because they sensed the natural mana. That they hade to help repair and enlighten the world to be within the bnce it should be.


    Their race had appeared from istion recently. They had reimed their title as a race. They also lived in mysterious and unknown ways due to their massive wisdom when ites to nature and the world. Yet, when they arrived, it was a very big deal. Everyone in Genesis had heard the tale of the echidna and their unique way of life.


    Walker pushed all the mana in to a single point. The eternal codex acting as the central core for him in a staff from. Various manas drawing together and forming a dense ball.


    "This is my nature dragon domain, and it will be the key to removing those clouds and building a forest." Walker said this more for himself before he released the ball of natural mana. It spread out in a wave making every single bit of nt life grow just by being touched by it. Things only grew more as the mages joined in to provide manas.


    While not as extreme as the previous use of the skill, the echidna had not acted yet. When they did move, they began to hum and bring more mana toward the domain. Elevating the strength and coverage.


    "This is our turn. Show the world what the heavenly and abyssal serpent race can do." Onyx roared out as if in a battle cry. All the light mana between every single one of them shot up in to the sky. Light mages joining in to help direct the mana to purify the clouds storming above. The clouds keep the light from reaching the earth where it should be.


    "And that would be my turn. Please watch my back." Alma spoke sweetly before a fan of seeds were thrown out. She and arge number of farmers had been using their skills to multiply the seeds from the light ash tree. A tough skill that required a lot of knowledge. But they had that knowledge.


    Seconds passed before more mana flowed. More skills were activated. Small sprouts were growing.


    The ground rumble as massive roots burst up and winding trees started to push toward the sky. The sky that was growing lighter and lighter.


    So much cooperation hade together in a spectacr disy of mana and unity. But the wondrous sight and feelings as mana flowed together with so many people working so hard were quickly interrupted.


    The blood curdling screeching that came with the sounds of shattering stones were from the ruins. The sound had traveled from far enough away that it felt as if they had been much louder. So much so that they could have made everyone deaf.


    The next moment, a breeze of bloodlust flowed over the entire area. Monsters wereing. Monsters in service to the ancient evils that had started to wake up within those vampiric ruins.


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 Chapter 2028 2028. Forgot Me?

    Chapter 2028 2028. Forgot Me?


    Midnight''s growl was the next sound heard. It was mirrored by multiple dragonkin that knew well what their missions were. They were to face the oing enemies that wished to interrupt their lord''s slumber. To fall in line behind the young true dragon champion of the nature dragons wishing to cull this great enemy from thesend.


    While this sounded dramatic, it was how the dragonkin thought. They levied for the royal dragons. They protected the youngest of the dragon hatchlings. They shared their lives within the viges. They fight beside their royal dragons.


    This was the life of a dragonkin. Therefore, they did not frown toward it. Genesis might have opened up entirely new ways for them to grow. Giving them entirely new paths to take which could allow them to be more individual. However, they had a dragon''s pride.


    The trusted the dragon blood within their veins that prevented them from being a monstrous lizard man. Or from being any other form of monster. Because of this pride, they stood tall and lived the lives of warriors.


    Hence why the demi-humans had gotten along with them so incredibly well. They shared simr warrior mentalities. But where the dragonkin really stood out, was their ferocity that matched the terrifying anger of dragons.


    When a dragon was angry, even the world shivered. A saying that many would use when referring to the very powerful. Now that many people of Genesis had met dragons, they believed it was founded in truth and not just a fantastical saying.


    With Midnight charging away from the party toward the shadowy figure that she could see, the dragonkin and other avable forces followed. The others were too busy growing an entire forest. They would be too tired to fight immediately anyways. Not to mention the crafters and others that would be too focused on creating weapons for the light ash wood trees.


    Walker''s focus was split and he could see where Midnight was heading, but he could not see what the enemies were. However, he could sense a surprising rity and understanding from Midnight. The same feelings that he would get when she would hear his all around appraisals.


    "You learned the skill from a spell scroll. You hid that from me." Walker whispered out loud as he channeled every bit of natural mana he could in to the magic happening where he stood. He was proud. Impressed. And greatly excited to hear what Midnight had to say for herself when she admitted to hiding her own secret.


    While it was not the same skill, Midnight had managed to gain the general appraisal skill, not the all around appraisal. But it was incredibly useful. She could use it on many things and understand it much better.


    The chances of her gaming the all around appraisal skill when using a spell scroll was very slim. Everyone had been purchasing them and hoping. especially the party members themselves. They had their own jealousy for Walker''s skills.


    Yet, Midnight had been the lucky one blessed with gaining an appraisal skill. Now she could ignore using spell scrolls or even asking Walker everything. Not that she wouldn''t want to hear what he had to say. But right now, she had the chance to see what monsters wereing at them.


    ''Vampiric skeleton


    Raised from the victims of monstrous vampires who even feed on their own vampire race, these skeletons are thralls to their killers in life.


    They have a thirst that can never be quenched. The thirst for blood can strengthen their bones but will never bring back the life they desire to have. This leads them to be full of blind rage. They can only follow the orders to attack and kill. Their intelligencepletely lost due to this rage.


    While they do not feel pain, they are incredibly hard to kill since they can repair their bodies with the spilled blood around them. They are also able to use shards of their own bones to attack along with the grotesque skeletal fangs that formed when they were created by monstrous vampires.


    While very resistance to physical and magical attacks, they are very weak to fire attacks. But they are also susceptible to the drastic cooling which would force them to be unable to move and easily be broken in to bone pieces that canter be burned to ashes¡­.''


    Midnight had not gotten any of the extra information Walker might have gotten. The details about how these monsters were formed. How they were controlled. Or even hope they could be purified using natural mana. These things were not general information.


    But what she had gained, was knowledge that was valuable to her. And since she ahd been working harder than any other dragon hatchling and worked to learn generalnguage, and she had the world tranting her words, she was able to shout out her orders.


    "Use fire! Freeze with ice!"


    The roar erupted in to the air as many roars from the dragonkin echoed behind her. She was not just alone.


    Now When she spotted the spiky skeletons, she understood that they ahd been broken. Damaged for years within the seal which was broken enough to let them out. They were not the most powerful enemies within that ruin, but they were the pens that ahd been freed and sent to kill everyone.


    Naturally, the vampires within the ruins who were waking up ahd connections with their bat kin. They ahd seen what was happening. They recognized the wood that could be used as damaging weapons. things that could kill them and end their immortality.


    When her ws reached the first skeleton, the tough bones were like brittle ss before her power. She was not weak by any means. She had been growing. She wasrger. She was tougher. She was not a hatchling. She was making records with her strength for her age as the one and only true dragon champion.


    As her ws were wreathed in mes, Midnight''s growls only grew. She allowed her instincts to guide her in battle. The many vampiric skeletons that wished to harm her family did not deserve to walk this earth. That was her pride speaking. Her pride looking down. But more than that, her desire to protect.


    Five dragonkin that followed Ignus came to her side and shed through the vampiric skeletons with ming swords. They stood as guardians for Midnight in particr. They disliked that a single monster of such disgusting origins would attempt to touch a dragon worthy of respect. It made their scales crawl.


    Feeling the fire mana all around her, Midnight breathed in. the five dragonkin lending their fire to her without hesitation. They had fought alongside Ignus. They could recognize what an attack would be that needed their aid to be easier.


    The horde of vampiric skeletons only continued to charge before the massive dragon fire breathshed out in a wide array before them. Unable to scream or even sense the pain, the dragon mes only grew as those with the ability to fuel them shared their mana to do so.


    "Now that is a real dragon!" Barry shouted out as his axes shed through ten of the attacking vampiric skeletons. Midnight almost jumped in surprise since she hadpletely forgotten that the powerful human and vice adventurer''s guild master had been there. He has kept himself back until he was needed. Right now, was the ideal time.


    Barry had so much experience dealing withrge hordes of gue inducing monsters. These were the very same that he had dealt with. Not the same species, but the same premise. They would cause ruin wherever they went. Therefore, he jumped in to battle.


    "Step back little dragon. Let me handle this so you can fight the big bad bossester. You can use that natural mana stuff. I can''t mess with magic in the slightest." Barry brandished his two massive axes.


    Midnight noticed that they were seemingly more terrifying than what she had remembered. But when she noticed the rune patterns on them and therge mana gems, she understood. They had been modified so that they would hold Barry''s mana. It would extend his berserk state so that he would not be exhausted after it. He would also be able to fight for longer.


    Behind him and nearby the many dragonkin, multiple adventurers took up arms. They were not all the strongest, but they were here to protect and explore the Sigil continent. They also had the jobs to help everyone here. They could handle these monsters while the real heroes and powerful forces kept their strength for when the real fights began. This was just a day''s work right now. Just doing their part.


    Midnight huffed slightly as she watched them push forward. Only a few dragonkin needing to act against the enemies being demolished before their eyes.


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 Chapter 2029 2029. Light Ash Wood Forest

    Chapter 2029 2029. Light Ash Wood Forest


    The sounds of battle began to be crushed as the silence of the soldiers slowly patrolling began to take ce all around the massive forest. But that silence was only there because therge light ash wood trees had finally stopped growing.


    The earth still showed with the dark and rich soil that it should have. The simple reason being the nature dragon domain skill that Walker had used. It was fueled by multiple mages so that he could ensure that thend was not destroyed by what they were doing. Especially when it came to growing things in the future.


    When Walker sensed that all the farmer rted skills and nt rted skills were ceasing, he stopped his own domain skill. This was due to the fact that his mind had erupted in to a burning head ache. He had used this skill just a while ago and not fully grasped it yet. He needed more training.


    He knew that the nature dragon domain skill would surely be doing more than just affecting the elemental manas. Using it again this time spoke volumes in that aspect. But it had taken its toll. Walker waspletely exhausted and could barely focus on the battle nearby.


    Midnight''s return from the sudden attack made many of the forces nearby rx. They knew well that she had dashed ahead with every dragonkin nearby for a reason. The battle had been enough to ensure that they had to focus on their task with trust that they would be safe here.


    Furthermore, there was the added bonus that they had no idea what energy they had to even attempt to look at the battle. Those in particr, being the farmers. They had never been part of something this dramatic. They had never used all their manas on something like growing a forest.


    For farmers, they might grow seeds to sprout faster with their mana. They might make a vegetable or fruit ripen faster. These things were a potential task that they had toplete. But a forest? Altering the way a tree grew immensely? Neither were things they were used to.


    Alma was the very same. Gil caught her as she fell forward with weak knees. She was still conscious, but she was exhausted beyond belief. She had used her skill to the absolute limit along with the others. Channeling massive amounts of mana while guiding the trees to grow as many twisted branches as possible.


    The twisted branches had been something she noticed Gil and archers speak about. Somc archers would ask for a tree to be grown in acertain way so that they could make even more unique arrow shafts.


    One in particr were the arrows made from the densest central wood core of the tree. But Gil had once said that he wanted to make arrow shafts from twisted wood. Specifically because that would be wood that was somewhat braided. That way. The arrow would move in a twisting action already. It would add to the strength physically and even the speed through the air.


    This idea was already somewhat proven, but to grow a proper arrow shaft like that took mana, time, and experimentation. Things that gil and Alma had not done due to how busy that they were every single day. But now, Alma had chosen to cause some of the trees to take this form out of her trust.


    Gil had long proven that he was able to change the way that the elves thought about arrows and archery as a whole. His outside opinions had stopped the stagnation of archery as an art of the elvespletely. They were moving forward now with many new arrow designs.


    When Su ran to where Onyx was, she found him and every single serpent that hade passed out. They had used every single little bit of light mana to provide the trees with what they ended. To free the sky of the dark clouds that were now slowly appearing again as one of the monstrous vampires made their magic active.


    Su felt that she had to protect them all, but many of the Genesis forces were already acting. They were creating defensive barriers that they had begun making at this location as a base camo for the battles to be had.


    The serpents needed the light mana and the time to properly recover before anything could be done. This made it clear that onyx could not join the next battle. He would not be able to handle things with such low mana. Even using his purely physical strength. Onyx might face a monster that could beat him down magically instead of physically.


    The same could be said about his skills though. He would be missing the light and darkness armor that he would form over his scales. That was a major defensive skill that would be gone. Leaving Onyx with fewer defenses was not an option that any member of the party would allow to happen. He had to rest whether he liked it or not when he woke up.


    The person that seemed to be doing the most though, was Remey. She was already providing mana potions in watered down forms to people. She knew that she would be unable to make enough to replenish what they had already used. She also understood that the side effects of using all mana within the body were drastic.


    Therefore, she took the high mana potions that she and everyone else had and began to split them. Using cleansed water that ahealer had purified, she was able to water down the high mana potions in to some water with healing abilities.


    Not healing in the sense of physicality, but with mana recovery. It removed some side effects that everyone had who participated in creating a little forest.


    The towering light ash trees were not small. While some believed that this was instantly sorge due to all the mana used, those that participated knew this was wrong. A poor assumption to make.


    These light ash trees had grown much more than what was expected, not only had the nature dragon domain boosted them beyond a level that was expected. It had also allowed them it remain at the top shape. This way, their roots had reached the nearby underground water sources. They had grown spectacrly.


    "Those of you that can do so! Begin making adjustments, thisnd is now a moving crafting guild!" This caused many to look up and notice that Walker gathered his breath and shouted out. He had to ensure that Gil was teaching and showing the arrows and other weapons to be made. Remey was already helping people recover some mana. Everyone else needed to work.


    Carpenters began to work the hardest. They now have trees for days. Specifically, wood that was easily being manipted by the mages and elves.


    With the order out, Walker''s mind was a little more at ease. He also went back to thinking about the mysterious other mana present within the nature dragon domain skill. He could have sensed the life mana in particr.


    Being the best option, Walker knew that this was also why thend was so fertile still. The innate life mana within all things had fueled this forest to grow. This forest to take the ce of broken trees and plenty of damaged wood. Some of the roots had crushed the fallen trees and used them for nutrients as well. Just guided by the farmers.


    Life mana within the nature dragon domain also meant that Walker was unconsciously controlling life mana much better than he thought. If this was the case, he might be able to use that against the monstrous vampires. They were immortal, but also stuck between life and death. They chose that though. They thought themselves perfect.


    However, if the light ash wood weapons failed, then there was the chance Walker could develop a skill that forced the vampires to be fully living and only living monsters. That way they could be killed by the general physical and magical attacks of everyone. Not just wanting to be pieced back together.


    The flurry of activity made Walker''s head hurt more. But when he leaned over and sat, he found that he was already leaning against a light ash wood tree. Alma had intentionally grown one to catch many of those she knew would fall down without any energy. Walker was not the only one giving it his all.


    More crunching sounds came from the distance. Barry had gotten closer to the ruins and battled more powerful vampiric skeletons. This being the case, Walker forced himself to stand even though he should not be at the moment with hisck of mana. He had to ensure that they keep moving forward.


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 Chapter 2030 2030. Condensing wood

    Chapter 2030 2030. Condensing wood


    The fighting was dying down more and more as everyone was moving in to their next tasks. The fact that the dragonkin and Barry''s adventure forces had seamlessly taken over the fight against the vampiric skeletons spoke much more than anything.


    There had been too many of the vampiric skeletons than what anyone had expected. This was simply because the monstrous vampires had kept them around ascheapbor. As a force to sue as fodder.


    Something that happened like that was easily considered horrible. Yes, the immortal king also used the undead as his tools, but the monstrous vampires doing it seemed worse. Simply because they had kept the undead within a sealed and isted ruins beneath the ocean for many years.


    This had been done to keep them around to be usedter. The state of their bones proved that it wasn''t a good way either. They had been kept in terrible conditions and shouldn''t even be able to rise again. The only reason they had was that they were still bound to the monstrous vampires until they became worthless lumps of dust in the wind.


    These thoughts were sitting in Walker''s mind as he looked at the forces in the distance. He was d that no other vampiric monsters had appeared in this time. It was mostly because so many people were going to be low on mana.


    Walker himself was low on mana but he was easily able to recover since he had the means to do so. His mana sensitivity allowed him to better draw in some mana to use as his own and heal hjis heavy mind. It was why he was able to use natural mana better.


    On top of this, he had the best quality mana potions ready within the high spatial storage. He was not holding back with them either. This was simply because he knew that powerful vampiric monsters might appear and attack them while they began to prepare the weapons from the light ash wood trees.


    Some of the farmers that had their mind still strong enough, the highest leveled ones, were making the trees create seeds. They knew that there would be many times they might need to create more of these trees for weapons. But they also understood that this was a species of nt that might not exist anywhere else any longer.


    Many of the elves had gotten the quest to preserve this species of tree. The same with the echidna that had used their connections to nature to help all of them prepare this forest. Walker was surprised about that. Not the quest to preserve these light ash wood trees, but that the echidna had appeared and were still here.


    He could see that they were retired, yet they were all directing others with their wisdoms. But they were clearly secretive. They held back when they were asked certain questions.


    How are you still standing with so much mana?


    How did you know how to draw in natural mana so easily?


    Why are you able to use so much variety in skills to help us?


    These were just a few questions that they were asked and only met with smiles or polite responses. The echidna were secretive for their own reasons. They were polite and not violent or mean about it.


    Understanding this, made many of those who asked keep themselves from getting annoyed that they were not getting straight answers whatsoever. But Walker had begun to realize that it might be the world itself that was preventing them. There might be some quest or requirement from the world to restrict what they told the other people.


    It was already clear that the ind that the echidna had lived on had reached a perfect bnce of mana. Yes it had been sinking in to the ocean, but that was just things changing over time. The echidna had reached a bnce so close to nature and the world that they had easily been considered one with it in many essence.


    Seeing the tway that they acted now, helping people recover their mana faster even though some of them were clearly warriors and not mages or healers, proved this many times over. Walker could only hope that when the corrupted mana was dealt with and the demon lord was handled, that there was a way to know what the echidna knew.


    "Walker, stay focused. You can do more than just sit there and use the all around appraisal on the trees and everyone to make sure things are fine." Gil spotted Walker still standing and looking around. He knew that Walker had recovered since the slight pale appearance in his face was gone.


    "I was just taking the time to appreciate the echidnaing to help us. I Was wondering what they have been up to." Walker smiled a little when he saw a few echidna that heard him smile and nod out of respect. They were d to hear that they were appreciated. Anyone would be.


    "I know, but we need to start making things out of all this wood. Some of the carpenters that came are already working on their second and third daggers carved with earth, water, and light runes. They say that they might be able to make some that can cut the same as an iron dagger or better." Now this was interesting.


    Walker knew that many carpenters and builders in general would use special runes or skills to make wood tougher. This was done a lot while the construction of Genesis homes were made. Many of the builders even added runes to prevent fires since they had learned from fire in the past. The party being some people that had helped save others from such a fire.


    "I think I can learn to do that. I have the mana control to possibly condense some of the wood in to a much smaller but denser and harder shape. Maybe I should make some daggers?" Walker''s idea was to make condensed light ash wood daggers for as many people as possible. Perfect for stabbing the monstrous vampires.


    "No, you will be doing that to arrows." Gil was sure that a condensed light ash wood arrow would be many times heavier, but hit many times harder. There was also a much higher chance that light runes could be added to it so that it gave a bigger attack.


    "You want to make an exploding light ash wood arrow that spreads the wood of the arrow and light mana all over the area that itnds. That way, even missed shots will handle many of the vampiric skeletons and other thralls of the vampires in there." Walker was not asking a question. He was staging exactly the thoughts that he knew Gil had.


    "Exactly. So let''s do it." Gil threw a branch at Walker.


    The branch was a very straight twisted branch. It was one that matched the theory that Gil had for the wood that would spin when it was braided like this. But when Walker felt it, he ryed that it would definitely be able to use the wind mana to reach a very powerful rate of spinning.


    But this was a piece that should be carved in to at least three or four times as many arrows as he would be condensing it. He wasn''t even sure if the mana he used to force the wood to condense would allow the wood to survive.


    Without thinking much more, Walker decided that the best method was just to ept the task. He was going to work on it anyways while he trusted the adventurer''s and midnight to keep everyone protected.


    His senses picked up the innate manas within the wood. Water, earth, and a very powerful light mana that had gathered. It allowed him to channel these manas within the wood easily. But that was not what he needed. He had to add outside pressure.


    The first second he tried this with all manas pushed the wood to start to splinter on the edges. Upon stopping, Walker realized that he was letting the fire and water manas sh at the edges since they


    were forced together in an improper way.


    This meant he had to direct bnced manas at the wood. Natural mana.


    Using this method, the wood began to release the air and other small impurities within it and condense. Very slowly, but enough. Yet, Walker felt that the earth mana was breaking free a little. That the natural mana was somehow naturally channeling itself in to the earth mana.


    It was a very odd feeling that the mana itself was trying to guide him. Like he had missed the true essence of what he was doing. However, he also believed that this felt familiar. Like he had felt this sort of pressure his entire life.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2031 2031. Great Weight

    Chapter 2031 2031. Great Weight


    Walker could sense it more and more. The familiar feeling that he had been able to feel his entire life. That every single person had felt the entire life that they had loved.


    Many people would only notice it when it worked against them. To be fair, it was something that they had all gotten so used to just by existing. Even the nts understood it.


    The way that Walker had begun to delve in to the more unique manas, was what had truly spurred this. He had found earth manas that were dense and purer. Being around Terron had driven that home.


    He had the mana senses to be able to greatly understand and use manas that were stronger than before. His learning was also well over what many people would be considering above average. These factors made Walker sense that earth mana was somewhat influenced by this but also partially made up of this.


    However, the concept that another mana would help an elemental manae in to existence was odd. It made his head hurt while he put more strength in to condensing the light ash wood. Again though, his mind was reminded of other manas.


    Space mana was the most mysterious and Walker was still barely scratching the surface of what he could possibly know about it. But he had learned to disce other manas to make spatial mana react. To teleport things.


    He had also begun to understand the space elemental mana runes. These things would be used by the rune carvers to make spatial teleportation formations. They would not rely on other runes at all sooner thanter because of the many people working so hard to create and understand these runes.


    Furthermore, Walker and started to theorize how to use spatial mana alone to teleport himself shorter distances. He was yet to be sessful, but that was enough. The theory and the ability to sense it more was what he needed. It had allowed him to open his mind to space mana at a deeper level where he could growmore than he already was.


    A thought appeared in his mind that suddenly halted all the manas. The light ash wood wasn''t under pressure for just a split second. But that was not a bad thing, the manas reacted with double the strength as a new mana emanated around Walker.


    Gil''s focus became much sharper and he could tell that he was feeling something different then he had even felt before. His body felt more pressure. Heavier. As if it was being weighed down from every side. That was due to the mana that Walker had begun to emanate after unintentionally drawing it in.


    ''The unique mana, Gravity, has been discovered for the first time within the world due to the break in mana flow. The chaotic mana has been broken down in the immediate area to release the unique Gravity mana.''


    Walker felt the notification from the system more than he could really understand at the moment. But in the back of his mind, he understood that the chaotic mana flowing in to the world was actually somewhat helpful.


    Different unique forms of manas that were not the basic elemental manas were able to grow inrger amounts. This allowed the chaotic manas corrupting things, when purified, to allow people to potentially understand these manas. To be able to grasp where theye from and the other manas that they work well with.


    Hot springs were an example of this. The water, earth, and fire manas together allowed for three to be very clear change when it came to the way the entire environment grew. They naturally worked with one another without vtile damage urring to thend and even causing amazing magical properties rted to healing.


    ''The skill, gravitational condensation has been taken from the gravity mage system. The skill gravitational condensation had been automatically learned through the maniption of earth and spatial mana rted to natural mana.''


    ''Gravitational condensation- mana depending on the item being condensed.


    Using potent gravity mana, it is possible to increase the density of an item. The tougher and more powerful the material, matter, item¡­ the more gravity mana, earth mana , and space mana is needed to make the item¡­ condensed.


    When condensed, the properties of the item material¡­ are massively improved. The purity is also improved. Due to this, it bes harder to forge, craft, and manipte in any way. Specific skills are needed to do so. However, the quality of the end products will be many times greater. Especially if properly used with applicable skills.


    There is a danger that the density will be causing too much pressure. When this urs, the target will be greatly broken and cause an explosion which will harm the area¡­.''


    The exnation had multiple potential targets listed. But what Walker was focused on was that he could make this even more dense. He allowed the feeling of gravity mana to spread over him.


    Due to this, he felt that his own body was weighed down much more. It made his body creak as he pushed for more aman to head toward the light ash wood piece. But it only caused it to condensed by half yet again.


    Not that this was bad by any means. Not to mention that there was another bonus that came with Walker allowing this mana to permeate his body. To put stress on him that he had never felt before.


    ''The skill, gravity mana maniptions had been taken from the star fighter system. The skill weak gravity mana maniption has been learned¡­


    The skill gravity sense has been taken from the moonlight walker system. The passive skill gravity mana sense has beenbined with existing high mana sense skills, and a hidden skill &^%^%*...''


    Walker understood that this was the world censoring some things. Things that were beyond what he could push for right now. He knew that this was a unique mana that was part of the corrupted chaotic manas that always existed. But it had been too thin to allow people to properly delve in to it for way too long of a time. It would only happen one in a million if that.


    His concentration broke as Gil tried to catch the light ash wood piece. However, it was the size of a single piece if light ash wood had be the size of a single arrow shaft. Gil''s catch was rough since it knocked him off bnce. "It is still the same weight!"


    His surprise made Walker looked up. The throbbing of his body and mind were due to the unfamiliar mana flowing through him. His muscles had been damaged slightly due to the pressure on every aspect of himself. But he was notpletely used up when it came to mana reserves.


    Walker was able to use a healing skill and feel his body repairing the muscles. His heart calming as he felt a rush of adrenalin that blocked the pain. He had managed to delve in to something knew by using the right manas that he felt were proper. He had been able to do so because the corrupted manas had been calmed by the natural mana he used in the nature dragon domain skill.


    All of this had provided the ideal environment so that he could sense a purer earth mana and ambient space mana nearby. That was when the gravity mana had shown itself. It would be even more abundant in the world now too. The world was growing to be what it should have been without so much interruption.


    "Besides what you just did, how is this now?"Gil wanted to hear the results of the all around appraisal. He could be amazed by what Walker had learned and whatever skill it waster. This was how used to these events that Gil was. Just another day.


    ''Extremely condensed light ash wood


    Due to being condensed, the wood is able to massively channel light mana. So greatly, that the mana will be drawn in making the area appear darker before it erupts with searing and blending light in arge area. The material can be crafter by unique carpentry, staff makers, carver¡­ system users. But other skills may influence it.


    This can be used as a rough arrow shaft due to its natural shape. However, it will require at least six light mages to add small veil of light mana around it when fired so that it does not immediately break due to the light mana rushing within it all at once.


    It is extremely dangerous for any vampiric monster, even those that once boasted noble and pure vampire race blood. It can also harm true vampires, the race of vampires that is recognized by the world¡­''


    There was more, but Walker and Gil had learned a lot. Walker was also focused on the feelings he had right now. But Gil was already wondering. "True vampire race should still exist then. The world didn''t say the extinct true vampire race."


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2032 2032. Greatest Arrow Yet

    Chapter 2032 2032. Greatest Arrow Yet


    Gil''sughter as he heard every word from Walker made him very excited. He had already started to dig out parts of arrows he wanted to use. The light affinity materials were being dismantled very quickly.


    The skills that Gil had gained and used throughout his arrow making experiments were all rted to him being an arcane archer. Beyond that they were also rted to how he lived.


    He was a part pure blood elf. It meant that with that high elf blood, he had gained some of the basic feelings of arrow making that connected the species to this style of fighting.


    While that would sound odd to many people, it was true. Every race felt that they were great at something. For the dwarves, generations had forged. They had crafted. They had been more than good with their hands when it came to creating things. It had branched out over time.


    With humans, it was words. It was adapting. It was the way that they took a problem and found solutions. This had been how they survived and were able to rival other races.


    So, when it came to the elves, the connection to nature and archery were always very clear. That was why there were always so many elven archers. Why they had so much history when it came to these things? They were easily the best because they had a natural affinity for it.


    Born to be an archer and create bows and arrows. That was why it was so amazing when a human hade from outside and changed tso many ways that they made arrows. Gil had been responsible for a new age of arrow making. So much so that he was already loved by them before he gained everything he had afterwards.


    Now, Gil felt that the connection was deepened. Like it had been forged int o his very soul. He was able to sense the very small differences in the arrows he used to make. To be able to change the small imbnces that had made his arrows slightly shift to one side or another.


    He had also been able to see the very specific skills that he had not expected to be able to see. Like the arrow shaft carving skill. The arrow head shaping skill. The feather splitting skill. These were all rted to the creation of arrows together.


    Because these were specific crafting skills, they are only able to be used when making arrows. Many people would often look down omn these skills because they were only useful to that one specific thing. But for Gil, it was amazing. He had already used such skills his entire life.


    When he had developed them more with the arcane archer system, things had gotten even better. Right this second, he was amazed by the changes he could feel.


    Every angle one of his old light affinity arrows that he touched were full of problems. He had known that they were not perfect, but he had been unable to sense the issues that were there. The ws that made them weaker. If he had the time, he could alter them and make them the best possible light affinity arrows that he could.


    However, he was focused on dismantling them right now. Repurposing the arrow heads to be melded and broken down to be used as just parts. The same for the feathers and other bits and pieces.


    Walker was the one watching now. He could sense that Gil was unconscious using his mana to be able to break down the arrows. This was because Gil was fully focused on the act of creating and making the best. Therefore, he didn''t need to worry about anything else.


    The arrow heads were offered to Walker. Gil had attached multiple light affinity arrows heads together. The metals used to make them had light rune carvings that could easily fall apart. They were unlike the other arrows heads which held light mana.


    The different types of arrows that Gil had made were too many to count at this rate. Especially since he had gained so many materials and methods through travel. But these materials were a light affinity metal called spark stone.


    Most people thought that they would be rted to fire since they were sparking. But it was small shes of light that came after they sat in the sun for too long. This was the release of the light mana. Because it had this effect, Gil had liked them. They could sh and blind opponents which would be an amazing way to distract people in the dark.


    This was an arrow that Gil had used before but not many times. He did not feel bad that he was breaking some of them so that they could be used here. Instead, he was excited. Mostly because he knew that if they were condensed, they would be even better.


    Therefore, Walker began using the gravitational condensation skill. It crushed the light affinity metals together more and more drawing a lot of mana. Gil just waited with his hands moving to take apart feathers as well.


    The light quail feather was a rare bird that he had been able to get feathers from. The Sigil continent had them in the mountains and the angels with light affinity used them to attract more light mana to themselves to use. It was valuable for them and not for many other people.


    Yet, when Gil found them, he asked for an entire crate so that he could make his own arrows from them. This would speed up the way that the light mana entered the arrow and expand the range that it blinded people. It would just improve the arrows as a whole.


    Now that Walker condensed the arrow heard, Gil handed the feathers and asked the very same. The arrow head was being chipped away using the natural mana surrounding Gil''s daggers. Using the high elf dagger technique ,like this, would shock many. But it was surprisingly practical and worked amazingly.


    Besides this, Gil was also focusing on the fact that he had to attach this. Using the clear vines that allowed light to flow through them, Gil sas able to wrap the arrow head base to the light ash wood arrow shaft. It was odd since the clearness of the vines would make many people wonder if they were actually a paint at all. But they were, they just had a unique existence as they grew on mountain trees where the sunlight was powerful and harsh. Not much could handle that degree of sunlight all the time.


    When Walker handed the surprisingly heavy feathers to Gil next. They were attached with some soft tree sap from the light ash wood trees. This was ideal since Gil used a small torch to melt it and then let it hit the perfect shed grooves he had made earlier.


    The entire process would be astounding to the average person. Especially since there was so much that Gil had done so quickly. But that came with thousands of arrows worth of practice.. That was why Gil could even use these materials. He had trained so much with the elves and even by himself. He found it fun. It was always new. Always experimental. And just brought him together with the elves and everyone else as a whole. Why would he hate it?


    The arrow soon began to soak up the light elemental mana like it was thirsty. Like it was greedy for light mana. Even the areas nearby Gil and Walker felt a little dimmer due to the amounts of manas that it was absorbing.


    The arrow was still notplete though. It was just forming together through this process. That Was why Gil was guiding light mana from a few light elemental crystals in to it.


    This process was speeding up what it could do and improving the potency of the arrow. Therefore, when he hadpleted it, a natural light rune disappeared on it. He didn''t even have to carve them the entire arrow was literally an embodiment of purer light mana that would normally not be able to form without a mage. That was the goal here.


    This arrow would be the ideal arrow that would allow for them to fight and use against the monstrous vampires within the sealed ruins. Therefore, he would be stronger. He would be able to deal with the strongest leaders sending monsters at them. This was the end result of what they needed to do. The best of the best


    Gil had made the best arrow that he had ever made with the most unique materials. It made him very happy before he stumbled in sudden tiredness.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2033 2033. Enslaved

    Chapter 2033 2033. Enved


    ''Legendary purifying arrow


    Created specifically to purify evil monsters that have purposefully fallen from being a world recognized race, this arrow is incredibly powerful. The pure light mana that is focused on purifying will cause any vampiric monsters ites in contact with to suffer immense damage.


    Furthermore, it will cause multiple light des to explode from it when itnds, which will causerge amounts of area of effect damage. From this effect, it will leave lingering purifying light mana that will radiate double the distance. This will make thatnd where the arrow fell to be damaging to vampiric monsters.


    Along with all this, the arrow had incredible physical prowess. It can better pierce many tougher defenses due to the condensed materials it is made of. With the right archer, it can even pierce the toughest of dragon scales with the highest resistances to the elemental affinity of the arrow. While it is strongest against vampiric monsters, it can still cause great damage to other monsters¡­''


    There was more specifics about how the arrow had been created. About the materials it was made of. About the unique skills that made the arrowe in to existence. It was all right there exined in the a round appraisal.


    The fact that this arrow had the name, legendary purifying arrow, made things much clearer. Walker and Gil both knew that this arrow was well above whatever else that they had made when it came to archery. Yes, if it waspared to everything that they had made, there was the eternal codex which stuck out as the best thing Walker had a hand in making ever.


    Regardless of that, Walker was amazed that Gil would be able to fire this arrow. He had just gained the trump card that they could y against whatever vampiric monster was within the ruins.


    "There is movement from the ruins!" The shout came from one of the adventurers returning from the fight against the vampiric skeletons.


    Since the forces of adventurers and dragonkin had managed to fend off the majority of the vampiric skeletons that hade out, there was a reason that the message had been brought back so quickly.


    It had been a short time since Walker had burned more mana and consumed even more mana potions. Now that they had the best arrow made and every crafter and archer here had made numerous arrows with so many more potential arrows to make, it was important to begin the real attack on the ruins.


    Walker also spotted Rise flying in the sky. She had lowered herself from well above the clouds where she had been absorbing as much light mana as possible. She was clearly ready to deal massive attacks from the sky on the ruins. The only issue was that the seal on the ruins was also stopping the party and the forces from entering it.


    "What did you spot within the ruins?" Walker saw that the adventurer was pale. A clear sign that he had run here with fear on his mind. Fear that made his heart work too hard and the man''s head feel too light.


    "There are more than just vampiric skeletons there. They appear to be humanoid beings covered in chains. It is not what we believe should be humans since they have pointed ears like elves. But they look like undead ghouls. They are pale and sickly looking." The report made Walker think of the things he had seen the system say earlier in the all around appraisals.


    "I would be willing to bet that those humanoid beings are the vampire race. Trapped by their own people who became monsters. The monstrous vampires preying on their own kind within the sealed ruins. Now they send them out as ves to fight or test the waters." Walker could sense that this was the truth. He felt it in his soul.


    "Walker, I just managed to make this arrow. Even if we fight a monster vampire, then it wood still harm the vampire race there. We have to save them first. Before the worst happens." Gil could only think that if they acted in the wrong way, that they would identally exterminate thest of an entire race. One that might be able to exist if they had the chance.


    "You''re right." Walker looked sound. He knew that they had to act and the seal that was holding the monsters within the ruins back was broken enough that it didn''t matter if he forced his way in. "Su, we are charging in and breaking through that seal."


    "Then why are we remaining here. Midnight is already nearby there. Onyx is resting safely with others here to guard him. Remey is on the move since Ignus is angry about the vampires being in chains. He heard already." Su was waiting for Walker and Gil to catch up. She didn''t want to stop the production of their best weapon right now.


    Since Walker could be sure that the light ash wood was valuable, he took various pieces with him. He knew well that he could shape the wood with mana and that the eternal codex could be used to make a weapon. Naturally, this caused him to create his own arrows using earth mana to cut the light ash wood in to crude arrows. Perfect for weak monsters like the vampiric skeletons.


    Regardless of that, the crude arrows would be fueled by his mana, the eternal codex in bow form, and the fact that they could generally deal massive damage to vampiric monsters in general.


    Their movements were swift. The party showed off their higher agility while they moved. Thends somewhat repaired due to the usage of the nature dragon domain skill. However, the marshnds still showed significant damage. The waves of water had forced the silt and mud of the marsh to be smoothed out. Many of the spots with holes of deep water had been filled in and were a mix of muddy quick sand.


    The party could easily dodge these areas though. They had the intuition to miss them without thinking kuch. But they all knew the length of time for this entire area to recover was growing. The longer that battles happened here the worse off that the ruins were. The more chance that the entire area would be full of corrupted chaotic manas.


    When Walker spotted the ck and rusting chains that were somewhat suffocating some of them nearly skeletal pale figures, he could only shiver. He could not imagine how many years these vampires had been trapped and used as food for the slumbering monster deeper in the ruins,.. The monster that the demon king was clearly here to use to his own advantage.


    ''Enved vampire


    Due to the monstrous vampire skill, eternal envement, this vampire is trapped by chains that will not decay or rust away. The monstrous vampire can feed on them while being forced to follow every order. Due to this, the vampire will weaken until they be undead in all aspects of existence.


    The only way to remove this eternal envement is to destroy the monstrous vampire that is controlling them and created the eternal envement skill¡­''


    Walker barely read any of the all around appraisal. He was sure that these vampires had seen many of their loved ones perish. That they had watched others give in to the evil intentions and be monsters themselves. All of this had happened. All that suffering. And now they had been awakened to be sued as pawns by one who had been an equal to them at some point.


    "I will be breaking those chains. You understand that, right?" Gil looked at Walker. His eyes had be dead serious. They did not flicker with the intensity as they normally did. A cold and focused calm had overtaken them. One that told Walker that Gil would not stop at anything to ensure this would happen. Everyone''s eyes had the same look.


    "That is the goal. Free the vampire race from the oppressive monster that caused them too much pain. Just like the demons, they will be allowed to live free of oppression and pain. They can learn and experience the joys of Genesis. This I swear to the world." Walker''s words made mana be chaotic for a moment. It was the world itself reacting to atrue hero''s promise.


    That moment, there was a roar from the royal dragons. They had begun to make their moves. They each had strength to attack and they knew it. But what they knew they had to do was something that the party could not do right now.


    The mana that the royal dragons had could be used to attack the sealing pirs that both prevented the vampires from leaving but also stopped the Genesis forces from entering. They would also have the physical strength to do so. Therefore, it was what they were making their move to do.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2034 2034. In To The Vampire Nest

    Chapter 2034 2034. In To The Vampire Nest


    Years of neglect on a seal was a simple reason that they might fail. This was why the party had been able to get past a bone wall seal when they had been exploring the undead ruins in their younger days. But right now, these were seals much more ancient in a way.


    These seals had been made by someone that wished the vampire race to be gone for good. That wanted the monstrous vampires to be out of the way and in now way their issues any longer.


    Therefore, the seals had been made out of stones that naturally held a purifying light affinity. One that caused many of the vampiric monsters to be dormant or even perish when they went near it. The sheer amount of bones around the massive pirs showed the royal dragons that these sealed pirs were definitely valuable in a way.


    Unfortunately, the way that they were made stopped the dragons from entering. If they waited, then the vampiric monsters within the sealed ruins would gain strength back and enter. The demon king was also a part of the people entering the ruins.


    If they allowed this without stopping them, then the potential for more issues to arise would be exponential. Simply because there was the fact that the corrupted mana that the demon king was using to cause chaos was already an issue. A vampiric monster more ancient than that of which more of the Genesis forces had ever faced, would be much worse. It was hard to imagine what a corrupted monstrous vampire would be like.


    When Ihgnus unleashed a me breath concentrated on one of the pirs, various runes appeared. They held protective light manas that tried to resist the attack. They had been made to do so. But the runes were cracking and broken. The pir was also showing signs of cracking.


    As Mordant released a shadowy breath full of decaying darkness mana, the same could be seen. But worse. Mordant had pushed forward the chain reaction of breaking that was allowing more and more of the barriers in ce to crack and fall.


    This was only more evident as the sound and feelings of manas being broken and unsettled grew. The other royal dragons had also begun their attacks where they could. Terron released a devastating breath of deep, almost metallic, mana. This attack was the product of him bing a dominator dragons.


    While every single of the royal dragons had grown, they had not begun to delve in to all of their new skills and strengths. This war simply because ofck of time. They had been forced to use their erged and purer mana reserves constantly to field the attacks and defense of the Genesis forces. But they had no qualms doing so.


    All of that had shown them how far the dragon race had fallen in terms of strength. They had not advanced in lifetimes due to their arrogance and their own forces being within small viges. They had been too prideful. Missed the chances to learn from other races. Therefore, they had not taken steps to be stronger in other ways than just mana purity.


    Walker witnessed the pirs that had been barriers to the vampire ruins iling, his breathing only increasing as the rest of the party had gathered with him to take the important steps within these dangerous ruins.


    They all had lost some of their mana because of what they needed to do. But the weapons they needed were made and being made. The forces that came with them were prepared. There was many things that could be better, but this was just life. Nothing was going to be perfect at all times.


    Screeching from vampiric monsters echoed through the ruins. The stone huts and homes were where these monsters had lived. Where they had been forced toy dormant for years upon years beneath the waters of the salty ocean. Now they were free and they were following the orders of their master. They were happy to have a chance to fight and feats once again.


    This would have been intimidating for anyone else, but the party could not stand idle. They wanted to eradicate the monsters here. "Try to stop the real vampires in chains from dying. They are not enemies. They are just a race held captive by a monster of their own kind. I assure you, that we will free them." Walker said this to one of the soldiers behind their party. He was certain this order would be passed to everyone.


    The dragons were looking to return to the ground and begin to walk in to the fight. But when they had started to get nearer to the ground,rge screeches that made everyone''s ears ring with pain were heard. Walker darted his eyes to ck shapes in the sky.


    ''Titan vampire bat


    Bred by the pure vampire royals, this enved titan vampire bat is considered one of the most powerful vampiric familiars of the vampire race. They are enved currently and have been forced to slumber for generations. While still weak from that, they are a very hard monster to fight.


    Due to their innate abilities to use sound to cause illusions and chaos with the senses of their opponents, they will be considered a tough opponent alone. But with their strong teeth, numbing saliva, and ws, they are even more dangerous.


    They have great strength and ability while flying, especially within the night. They will fight as much as they can against their opponents as long as their mastermands it. The only thing stronger than them is their loyalty when ites to any vampiric monsters bred by the true noble vampire race¡­''


    " Those are not a good opponent to see." Gil sighed as he drew an arrow back. One of the basic arrows made from the light ash wood trees.


    "No they are not. But they are also enved. Have the royal dragons pin them down. They can''t be allowed to fight and move. They should be connected to those enved vampires. If we save then, they would be the greatest allies for the genesis forces as they return to straight." Walker had to think of the future.


    His mind was on the when, not the if. They would save these vampires held in chains. They would save their history and the goodness that they could have within them. It just needed to be done the right way with the right time.


    "It looks like Ventus had already done that." One of the titan vampire bats was currently trapped in a wind stream of wind. It could not try andnd without plummeting from the sky. Ventus knew her strengths. In the sky, she had the advantage. Even as a dragon, she was the dragon of wind. The wind dominator dragon that could control the very skies that others just flew in. How could any monster in the air fight her?


    With a confident smirk, Walker''s eyes fell on the monstersing from the ruins. Many more grotesque monsters had started to show themselves. Some were even showing off their previous traits of where they hade from before they were made in to the vampiric monsters that they were.


    Most had the same things inmon though. Red eyes devoid of intelligence. They were just monsters used as pawns to fight and follow any order they were given. They were tools that did not deserve to exist because they only wanted death and blood.


    "Barry moved to the left, Scy to the right. So we are heading right in alone, right?" Remey took a step forward because moving in to a run. She didn''t wait to hear what Walker said to her as a response. She was prepared to fight already.


    The rough wooden gauntlets made for her could easily burn up, but she held back her mes. She was already very powerful. Every punch she threw would deal massive damage to the vampiric skeletons and the other vampiric monsters heading toward them with the foolish ideas that they could beat the party.


    "I was going to make a path. No problem." Su seemed to be wondering who the shield wearing hero of their group was. She had thought her shield charge would carve them a path through the basic walls of these ruins. Yet, Remey had taken that job.


    "Brother, wings." Midnight got Walker''s attention. She didn''t say much, but it was enough to call out the winged vampiric monstersing from a nearbyrger ruined home. He could tell that these monsters had once been somewhat humanoid. They were emaciated and weak looking, but their ws and teeth screamed that they could kill things easily even in that form.


    "Thank you Midnight, I will end this." Walker prepared arge fire ball in the next instant.


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 Chapter 2035 2035. A Worse Vampiric Monster

    Chapter 2035 2035. A Worse Vampiric Monster


    ''Vampiric harpies


    Due to being captured and forcefully changed in to vampiric monsters, these harpies were never awakened as their race became world recognized. They do not even have the intelligence to understand the great loss that they have due to them being changed in to this bat like form.


    Their wings were changes in to simr bat wings due to the vampiric influences. They were most likely changed as an experiment to be added to the vampiric monster forces of the monstrous vampire in control of them.


    While they lost the ability to see easily, they now have sonic attacks using their voices. They also have an innate strength in flying and using talons. Where they lose out is the strength that they would have due to their feathers. Without these, they lose the water resistance and innate wind resistance. But they have other resistances due to their vampiric nature¡­''


    Walker had read this from the all around appraisal. He knew very well that these monsters were dangerous. That they could cause some issue because they could make diving attacks of the surrounding forces. But right now, there were only threeing at the party from a nearby ruined stone house.


    They were targeting Walker because he was the one in the font of the group. Su clouds move because she would be the one normally defending them. But seeing that Walker had a fire ball condensing in his hand, she knew that she would just block his line of sight.


    Things only became more dangerous for the monster hurtling through the air at them with outstretched talons when Walker added light to the mes. They became a blinding white before he threw the fire ball at them.


    When it struck the central vampiric harpy, it only emitted a pained screech for a moment before it was drowned out by the explosion of mes. The white mes burned it and the nearby two vampiric harpies to literal ash in seconds.


    It was a tragic loss in a way. These could have been harpies that had a family line who lived to today, where harpies were their own recognized race. Instead, even though they managed to exist now, when that ahde true for the harpy race, they were still monsters. Mindless and forced to serve the vampire that turned them in to truly evil monsters that targeted others for blood.


    "Warn the others about that monster." Walker saw that there persisted a group of soldiers behind the party. Waiting to defend them but also waiting to learn more and pass on orders.


    This was not something he had expected or asked for. But apparently, it hade from Alma. She knew very well that the party would take their own path. That alone was enough for her to want some of her better trained soldiers nearby. They could pass on the information going on to the others. Especially when the party had better ess to the unique inner workings of any ce that they went to. That was just the luck that they had.


    Beyond this, it also sped up any of the changes that happened. Especially when there were monsters that were too strong for the average Genesis forces to deal with. This could appear at any time and the party might have to split up to handle them.


    "Hurry up! I have these ones handles." Remey saw the fire ball but she was focused on the monsters she had fought. The entire force that had appeared from the nearby ruined homes were defeated by her punches. The remaining ones had directed themselves toward the other Genesis forces.


    This was all clearlydue to whatever master they served. They had eyes on what was happening to direct their soldiers. It was bing even less and less believable that the monstrous vampire within the deepest of the ruined castle here would be slumbering still.


    There was also the fear that the demon lord had managed to get within this castle to be able to take wherever they needed for whatever twisted purpose.


    Partially to mock them, or at least that was the feeling, the party found that there were more vampiric monsters all around them. But far enough away that they would not be able to fight the party. It was the perfect show of mockery in this battle.


    But the evidence for the Genesis forces winning as they began to move deeper in to this territory was clear. The weapons made from the light ash wood were doing their job amazingly. Every stab with a spear made from it or an arrow made from it was causing devastating injury or death to them.


    Even the cries from the titan vampire bats were muffled with them being oppressed by the pure physical might of the dominator dragons. However, these things seemed just too small.


    The ruins trembled as more vampiric skeletons tore through the ruined vige walls. The ce had once been an entire city. That was easy to see. The ruins of the stone homes were easily crumbled now that they were free from the sealed state.


    As the chaos of fighting appeared, the ruins could not handle it. So much was happening that only the castle stood above everything. Seemingly stronger than all other things. The only possible ce that had been unkempt by the vampiric monster living within.


    However, the enved vampires had begun to throw themselves in harm''s way. cing themselves in danger while the soldiers tried to stop themselves from killing them. They were a race. World recognized and enved. The potential for their freedom had be the weapon used against the righteous forces of Genesis.


    The stress now being ced on everyone, including the party, was not good. It slowed the progression and made the gap between the party and the Genesis forces much greater. They not only had a very small force of soldiers behind them. This made them in a much riskier situation than they were just moments ago.


    "I will handle them. I can disable them quickly." Gil knew that he could use the daggers to harm these enved vampires just enough to where they could not move. They could also be healedter when they were free. He had the skills to do it.


    "No, I will use the ice dragon domain skill. It will freeze them in ce while we move forward." Walker took the burden on. He knew it was better for Gil to hold back. Cutting the enved vampires while in such a weak state might kill them slowly. He preferred to cause some frost bite instead. At least that damage could be healed and shouldn''t kill them.


    As the mana gathered, Su blocked rocks and other things thrown by the enved vampires. When they got near, they were pushed back. Su wondered how they could be so light and still be alive. Let alone withstanding their own small body weights. Their malnourished appearance definitely was not how it should be. Even if they were a being that needed to drink blood to live. They should still be heavier.


    It all pointed to the fact that they had been abused even before they had been forced in to a slumber within this seal. It made Su much angrier than she had been when she learned about their state before.


    "Large monster iing. Walker, what is that thing?" Gil pulled out an arrow and fired it before even hearing a word. He was purposefully holding off on using the legendary purifying arrow. He wanted to ensure he used it when they needed it most. But right now, he wasn''t sure. His regr light arrow didn''t seem to make much of a dent.


    ''Vampiric oger


    A very rare monster that mostly does not exist any longer in the world, this is an oger. Prized for its regenerative and strength abilities, it can not use its mana very much at all. Very rarely, they can develop some magical skills.


    Extremely resistant to attacks both physical and magical, when it was forcefully turned with great effort in to a vampiric monster, it gained the better resistance to darkness attacks. They did gain a major weakness to light attacks and a mild weakness to fire attacks.


    Due to their normally barbaric and dim witted attack methods, they were easy to defeat if one was smart about it. But under the control of a vampire, they are much harder to face since they are less foolish in the way that they move and fight¡­''


    This was therge monster facing them. Its face appeared as if it had been smashed multiple times only to heal uglier. Beyond that, it carried a hefty metal club, seemingly shaped from a fence after it was rolled up. Nothing appeared to be good about this opponent which Remey stood the closest to right this second.


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 Chapter 2036 2036. Carved Path

    Chapter 2036 2036. Carved Path


    "Mine." Midnight growled out as she wanted the vampiric ogre move forward. It was charging toward Remey since she was the closest to it. It had the strength to crush her with one hand. Use devastating strength over all else.


    But Midnight had dered that it was her target. She would be fighting it and that was that. Her will was loud enough that the party knew that they could allow her the chance to handle this monster blocking their way forwards.


    It wasn''t that Midnight wanted to show off. She had been calm for the entire time. Calm when they had been pushed back by the waves of salt water. Calm when they had seen the many vampiric monsters showing themselves from the ruins. Calm when she remembered that Onyx was unconscious and resting behind them due to all his hard work.


    But when she had felt the pains and worries of Walker and the rest of the party about the fact that the vampire race was literally being enved by their very own kind turned monster, she had decided to give this everything she had. Use every strength she had to break through the hurdles in front of them. To make it toward that castle ruins where they could destroy the evil within.


    If she was able to handle all these issues with the greatest strength that she had grown, then she would be the one that could save these people. She had been lucky enough to be born and find people that she could grow with. She was blessed andbecame the first hero of her kind. Beyond that, she had lived and taken on so many new aspects of the world.


    Why would she feel any kind of happiness if there were others missing the same opportunities that she had been blessed with? That was what her mind rested on now.


    So much pain hade from this demon king or demon lord. Whatever he was, it was evil and it was hurting people all over the world. Even those that could not think enough to understand what was happening to them. That hurt her more than anything.


    With all that, she was forced to focus on the fact that this vampiric monster was being sent at them. Itcked the mind and was just a body. If the demon lord managed to get what he wanted from the vampire monster within that castle, it would be stronger. Be more dangerous.


    Just the level of danger and control that it had now was enough to show that there was an ancient evil well beyond what they knew here. That was why she swallowedany thoughts of working together with the others. Not because she did not trust their strength, but because she would carve the path for them to reach the real threat at full strength.


    "Trust Midnight, she has more to work with than you think." Walker''s words stopped Remey from trying to back Midnight up. Through his bond with her, he could sense that she was going to use something interesting.


    Most of the royal dragons had helped Midnight. The same with their dragon champions and draconic guardians. Midnight had been the one to greatly learn from all of them. Especially as a true dragon champion.


    Midnight wanted to live up to what that meant. Live up to the title that she was given and promise that she would stand tall in the name of dragon kind. She was already doing so in raising the hatchlings that would have been tossed away. Preventing them from being rogue dragons without their minds to keep them sane. Stop them from bing monsters without purpose.


    "Gil, fire an arrow toward her and watch Midnight fight." Gil didn''t ignore what Walker said since it sounded odd. Instead, he trusted his family with this and fired a single arrow made of the light ash wood. The arrow was not meant to kill, instead, it appeared flying through the air right in front of Midnight between her and the vampiric ogre that had changed the direction of its attack on Remey who had dashed away.


    Midnight''s sharp teeth shattered the arrow as she swallowed it. This would have shocked everyone, but from the way that Su looked at Midnight, everyone understood that the reaction was pride. "She finally managed to learn how to do that, huh?"


    "Learn what?" Remey was a little out of breath when she jumped back to the rest of the party. She was unsure what was happening. Gil was the same while Walker had a vague idea.


    "It''s a special dragon breath skill called item destruction. It makes the properties of whatever is being destroyed by their mes help their dragon breath. Thest nature dragon had a true dragon champion too. That dragon was able to use this skill with various items instead of being able to use a normal dragon breath. It was a major aspect of dragon history that no one was able to understand."


    "But when the royal dragons began tio experiment to gain strength before they met us, they managed to match their own elemental affinities with the skill and make their dragon breath more unique. But they didn''t see it as valuable enough. For Midnight though, this is ideal."


    The white purifying mes that Midnight was using focused on light elemental mana. She had used this sort of dragon breath before. Walker had even trained her with light rted mes so that they could both better grasp the light and firebination of elemental mana attacks.


    But the idea to mix the destruction of an item, such as the light ash wood arrow, in to the purifying me breath, was amazing. The mes had taken on agreater and more intimidating light elemental mana. More dense. Stronger overall.


    The dense white mes from Midnight''s breath met therge hand of the vampiric ogre which was trying to smash her head. Midnight just kept forward with her breath and used her ws to dig in to the ground. It made every step burnaway the ogre''s arm more and more.


    When she stopped and took abreath, the ogre was missing an arm. Completely unable to regenerate the arm with the incredibly powerful regeneration abilities that it had. The light elemental mana had been the weakness that the vampiric affliction it had was. But beyond that, the burning also stopped the potential for easy regeneration.


    The ogre roared. Clearly angry that it had been so harmed. The next second, the ogre jumped with its other handing downwards toward Midnight with its full weight. Unfortunately, the dull mentality of the ogre was allowing it to act in anger. The control of the monstrous vampire behind it was not enough to allow even this monster to act with higher intelligence apparently.


    Midnight''s ws had bing covered in the same white purifying mes with extremely powerful purifying strength. She had allowed some of the mes to cover her mes as she had done before. Using her training to split her attention and control her own skills was like second nature now. Therefore, she was already prepared for her follow up attack. Thebination that matched the fire breath she had already used.


    Using her powerful wings, Midnight dodged the attack and met the ogres head face to face. Her ws spreading out to rend through more and more of his face. The mes slowly sparking and burning in to the vampiric afflicted body that should have been able to regenerate.


    Midnight was the best opponent to handle this monster other than Remey. And in just a few short attacks, Midnight had left the vampiric ogre with devastating injuries. So badly that it couldn''t even move or see.


    When she saw this, she stomped right on to the chest of the massive vampirig ogre. Her jaws opening before she used her sharp teeth to tear away the space where the heart was. This allows Gil to fire the second arrow while Midnight began to walk ahead of the party.


    The ogre''s heart being destroyed and stopping it from ever regenerating whatsoever. Midnight just walking ahead with an air of pride and power. She was the true dragon champion. Her skills were both the history of the dragons themselves. But she was also a hero. She could not let an evil win. She must rise above them and ensure the safety of all.


    "It''s time we keep moving." Walker silently praised Midnight with how much she had grown. She was a truly powerful dragon that deserved every single good thing said about her. Truly deserved the many different praises of all Genesis had to offer.


    This battle was not over though. There was more ahead. Many more vampiric monsters that Midnight was already shing down with her ws. She was carving the path.


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 Chapter 2037 2037. Butler

    Chapter 2037 2037. Butler


    The showcase of Midnight''s amazing strength and flexibility in battle stunned Walker. He knew he had to remain focused and serious, but before a single monster even neared the party, Midnight had handled them.


    Her leaps were boosted by ps of her wings. Her tail struck out, covered in different elemental manas to cause arge amount of damage to groups of vampiric skeletons of other odd vampiric monsters.


    Whenever the enved vampires would near them, she would use the darkness mana to make the shadows move slightly. They would trip up the enved vampires and allow Walker to trap them in earth temporarily. Even more so, Walker would freeze them in ce with the ice dragon domain skill which was still active.


    This allowed Midnight to keep using her ws and vicious purifying light dragon breath to deal with vampiric monsters. It was a mind blowing showcase of her skills. The entire party could reserve as much mana, even recover some as they pursued the cause of these attacks. The monstrous vampire in charge of all this.


    Since the other Genesis forces were upied with their own battles, Walker was only able to receive some reports from the small group of soldiers behind them. If he had been in battle, he would have been lost in the current state of things.


    The party was able to hear that the exhausted forces were being cared for, while the healers also helped any injured to recover. So far, the injured were not great in number. But unfortunately, some of the more vicious vampiric forces had caused some deaths to the Genesis and angel forces.


    This had made Walker''s steps falter. In his mind, they should have been strong enough not to perish at all. He already hated that some would be harmed, but die fighting? That was heartbreaking. He was a hero, not just some weak person. He should be able to end this battle all at once and not include anyone else that could die.


    When he heard that Scy had handled therger vampiric monsters that caused the death of soldiers, he rxed slightly knowing that they had been brought to justice. While some would call it vengeance, the vampiric monsters were not the kind of being that could be reasoned with. They were mindless monsters that only killed. Destroying them was a justice to the world itself.


    Barry was the same. He had been pushing his skills and the team of adventurers under him to handle the outlying powerful monsters appearing. So much so that they had be leaders of their own impromptu groups of soldiers. It could only be a good thing that they were melding so well with the rest of the forces.


    What Walker was surprised about, was that leon had managed to take to the waters surrounding the vampire ruins. He had encountered some monsters gathering around the ruins and begun to eliminate them. The merfolk forces were exceptional in their teamwork with the water elves.


    This cut off the corrupted monsters that had gained the unfortunate boost from the corrupted manas that the demon lord released. Along with also limiting any new potential monsters joining the older awakening vampiric monster forces. There was also not an escape by water since the merfolk and water elves had managed to surround the entire ruins with the aquatic demi-human forces joining them.


    Furthermore, the harpies had begun to take to the sky now that the titan vampire bats were all held down to the ground and unable to rejoin the battles. The royal dragons were acting with extreme care in this.


    The harpies were able to help deal withmunication much better. This sped up the assistance of each Genesis team to one another. Beyond that, they also showed that the harpy race was not weak at all. They were able to fight the vampiric monsters in the air and even clean up the old vampiric harpies that had never gained the chance to be a true race recognized by the world. It was a purifying battle for their race.


    When a screech louder than before caused the stone of the vampire ruins to crumble slightly echoed out, it wasn''t hard to understand why. Midnight had just pierced the heart of a massive vampiric monster guarding the gates of the vampire castle. Walker saw that it was an odd vampire thrall and the all around appraisal was clear on how it had been formed.


    ''Hulking vampiric thrall


    This monster was created from the dead body of a half giant child. When it was forcefully awakened and used to be an undead under themand of a vampire, andter the monstrous vampire, it was filled with a lot of extra blood. Due to this, it developed the muscles that caused its body to tear slightly.


    Now with massive physical strength, it is considered a great gate guardian. However, its slow movements just make it a moving wall. Theck of intelligence forces it to remain simple in its battle tactics. The only value left in it is the remnant giant blood mixed with another monster''s blood.


    This would make it a valuable monster to be consumed by undead that require these ancient blood lines to grow more¡­''


    The all around appraisal showed howmidnight was able to deftly move around this opponent. To find the optimal ces to attack. To use her agility more than normal to pierce the undead heart of this monster. By doing so, it caused the dark rotting blood of the hulking vampiric thrall to spill out and it to copse.


    Years of remaining dormant took their toll on this monster. So much that it was certainly half as strong as it had once been. Walker could only imagine what the world would be like if the ancient giants still existed. But he wondered where their blood line had gone. Why he had never seen monsters of a race with giant blood in them.


    Regardless, they stood in front of the castle gates. A single burst of mes melted the metal and burned the wood that made them up. Midnight just retreated after that attack. She was clearly tired from being in constant battle. But she trusted Su to protect her while the party handled the rest of the battleing up.


    From here, they would be seeing monsters with much more strength than what they had seen before. Beyond that, they would also risk fighting the demon lord outright. Not to mention the ancient monster that had once been a member of the vampire race.


    "I regret to inform you, that you have not been invited to meet with my master. Therefore, I must ask you to leave or toy your lives down before me to gift my master." The voice that echoed out was that of any proper butler. But instead of being old and weak, it sounded like it was annoyed. Almost angry toy eyes on the party here to bother him.


    The shadows around the center of the courtyard before the main castle entrance condensed as a tall slim figure appeared. Gray skin and a hairless head were unsettling enough. Not because of those facts, but before they were a telltale sign that something was wrong.


    Even though this being looked like it should be human, it was not. However, it was also certainly a monster. The sunken and pin point eyes mixed with the many sharp teeth caused the entire party to feel chills. This was also due to the encroaching shadows that the monster was controlling.


    "I didn''t think they could actually talk, I figured they were all mindless things." Remey mocked it. She felt that it was the best way to throw this monster off its calm and collected attitude.


    "Things? Is that how the cattle called humans understand the great masters nowadays? How times have changed since we were trapped here by those immortal seeking fools. And, since you have decided to leave your blood and bodies as gifts for my master, I will take your lives as quickly as possible."


    The shadows lurched forward as Walker used his own mana to create a light orb. It wasrge enough to counter the sudden attacks of shadows, but also showcased the nature of their opponent.


    The shadowsing from him weren''t just shadows. They were part of him. Part of his body that had fused with the shadows in some form. It made Walker shiver slightly. Not because he was afraid,but because this monster was strong enough to be able to survive melding his physical body with enough darkness mana to be part shadow.


    "Ah, while I could never walk in the daylight properly, the master brought out a storm to allow me to move about the castle. Since you insist on trying to remove it with meager force like this, I will respond in kind." With cruel tones and intentions, the shadows surged again.


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 Chapter 2038 2038. Arrows And Punches

    Chapter 2038 2038. Arrows And Punches


    ''Vampire spawn; shadow walker


    This is a monster that the monstrous vampire corrupted when they also became a monster instead of following the natural flow of their own race. This would normally be one of their vampire kin, a turned vampire from a sentient race that would follow and serve them.


    However, the monstrous change caused the shadow walker to be mentally unstable aand fall in to madness. They also were forced to fuse with the darkness mana within their body and be partly made of shadow.


    This made them incredibly closer to the darkness mana and able to control their shadow as a weapon and another extension of their body. However, damage to their shadow will also harm them. This drawback is why it is a very dangerous and taxing process. Only a true shadow walker would be able to do so without any dangers and mental damage. It would often take over sixty years of training to do this.


    While the loyalty to his master is still rodent, the monstrous side had driven that loyalty to obsession. Due to this, many twisted and evil cats can be done without a second thought. The brutality of this monster is alo massively increased making it exceptionally dangerous to face.


    To properly counter it, magical damage to the shadow and physical damage is rmended¡­''


    Walker wanted to read more for the all around appraisal. There was so much information about what a vampire spawn was and what a shadow walker was. The information could be invaluable to everyone while they were fighting such beings. It would also be invaluable after they hadpleted the battle.


    Unbfrotuanlty, shadows whips were reaching out of the ground and striking at every member of the party. Midnight was defended by Su who easily deflected them with her light shield skill. The skill proved to weaken the direct damage the shadow whips tried to inflict, but still pushed her back a few feet, which in turn, caused midnight to brace Su''s back so that they did not slide too far.


    "Remey, get close to that monster and try to break its face." The rough words from Walker only made Remey grin in a slightly maniacal way that said she would dly like to punch something in the face. She was an alchemical brawler, she liked alchemy and punching equally.


    "Su, guard Gil and Midnight while they attack from range. Midnight, regain your mana while Gil handles the ranged attack. I will start to cut away those shadows." Walker had a n in mind. He knew well that they had to damage the physical and shadow side of this monster before them.


    This thing might be a butler of sorts. However, he was not kind and weing in any way. His obsession brought on due to bing a monster controlled by another clearly made him aterribly dangerous threat. The shadows he used would be hard for anyone but the party to counter right now. The only other person that would handle him better would be Mordant, but he was upied with one of the titan vampire bats which could cause even greater dangers if left alone.


    The speed that Remey dashed out was surprising. She deftly dodged the shadows whips that reached out from the ground and around the butler''s own shadow. She easily showed off the speed that came from her training and recent changes while bing a unique existence within the world right now.


    Remey''s fist jabbed out trying to hit the body of the butler only to be dodged. It was easy to see that the butler knew that he had to dodge the first covered in light ash wood gauntlets or else he would be damaged severely.


    Meanwhile, the shadows continued tosh out constantly. It was easy to see how many people would perish to this monster. The shadow whips acted like they were an entirely different being controlled without much through from the butler.


    As the shadows whipped up and tried to strike Walker, he conjured up mes all around them. The ice dragon domain skill long ago released to conserve more mana for this singr opponent. Not to mention the fact that all those enved vampires that he had trapped would still remain so with the dense ice and stone he hand manipted to hold them in ce.


    Where things seemed dangerous was when Remey had to dodge the attacks. Every time she tried to make abination of jabs and heavy punches, she would find that the shadows wrapped the butler''s hands and ws. It allowed him to increase his range of attack and force him back.


    This left only a small window for Gil to fire an arrow which was also blocked by the shadow whipsing around the butler. It acted as part of his body but also as if it had eyes elsewhere. "Su, keep things safe, I found the source of trouble for us." Gil smirked with a victorious tone in his voice.


    This open courtyard would be easy to handle if someone was looking down and telling thai butler how to fight them. It was easy to see all their movement. So understand how to dodge Remey''s fists and also block Gil''s arrows without turning a head.


    When Gil looked up, he saw a single strand of dense shadow. This had crawled up the wall and held out to look over the entire courtyard. In the center of it, was a singr eye. None of the party had noticed that as part of the butler''s shadow walker abilities and fusion to the shadows, that he had created another eye.


    As a monster, this shouldn''t be out of the realm of possibility. Especially since he was a race that was turned monster. Not a natural monster that the world recognized as a part of its flow. With his eyes opened to this, Gil used his skill to fire arrows rapidly. Remey had already been forced a few steps back to defend the shadow w strike that was used against her.


    With four arrows hurtling toward the butler, shadow whips had to be forced upwards to defend. But the fifth arrow had not gone with the first four. Gil had waited to thest second and changed his focus. The fifth arrow fired upwards at a much faster pace. It had been boosted by wind mana.


    The sudden pain from a light ash wood arrow piercing the shadow eye boosted by wind mana caused the shadow whips to suddenly freeze. The pain was not normal for the butler. He had never been beaten like this or ever felt such pain since taking on the new form as a monster. He could not allow himself to fall though.


    The sudden freeze in attacks let Remey close the gap. Herbination of punches delivering severe damage to the butler. When the first punchnded, the shadows started to whip outtrying to do anything that they could to defend the main body that was also being struck.


    Walker was prepared for this though. He had seen what Gil had done. He was proud to see that Gil''s sharp eyes were already working perfectly. That as a hunter, Gil knew exactly what the source of their issues had been here.


    Therefore, Walker created more purifying light mes and began to pour them out along the ground. They interacted with the shadow greatly overwhelming them and forcing the retreat toward the main body of the butler.


    Thesebinations of attacks caused the butler to be unable to defend from the next punch and then the defense breaking punch following that one up. This further caused more destruction to the inside of the butler''s body before Walker tossed a small ball fo white purifying mes that hit Remey''s gauntlets.


    She shed her hands together and brought down a heavy hammer stroke on the head of the butler. This spread the mes out all over his body and direct shadow.


    The shaking of the shadows ceased instantly as the devastating force of Remey''s attack had more than done its job. Walker quickly extinguished the mes he had tossed in the gauntlets since Remey was conserving her own mes for the right timing. But regardless of that, they all watched the powerful monster burn to ash leaving nothing behind.


    They could all only be amazed by the oddity that came with the way that vampires existed and what happened when they lost their recognition as a race and became monsters. It was simr to so many other races who had forsaken their own race. But this wasn''t the end. Now the party could only walk through the main doors of the vampire castle. They could only leave the courtyard behind to face the next and worse threat within.


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 Chapter 2039 2039. A greeting

    Chapter 2039 2039. A greeting


    It was like walking in to another world. The party had used some mana but were overall uninjured. Small scrapes and scratches, nothing major. But still, the entrance to the vampire castle was like a barrier.


    As soon as they stepped through that threshold, the air felt stale and dense. The sounds of battle outside also were dampened. It was an entirely different environment filled with much more darkness mana than what Walker expected to find.


    Not that he was sure what they would find at all. He was very confused why there were not many monsters in here. There were so many vampiric monsters forced to slumber and wait for orders within the city around the vampire castle. Yet, there were none here other than the vampire spawn; shadow walker.


    Yet, that was just a butler. A servant left to guard the courtyard and the gates. What else could there be? What other members of the castle were sitting in waiting with unique methods of attack. Unique skills. Different forms that the party had no idea how to handle right away.


    The area was not as dark as what they had all expected. Not that a little darkness would be hard. The party had grown much stronger than what they had been at the very start of adventuring. They could easily handle themselves a lot better in dark ces. They could even see fairly well. especially Midnight out of all of them.


    They could see the surprisingly well unkempt stone walls made of carved bricks from some unknown quarry or magic sculpting skill. There were even rugs, red with gold trip along the floors and the two massive staircases that moved on the sides of the walls to allow arger opening for a grand entrance.


    Paintings adorned the walls, some that made sense since they werendscapes, others that were odd. Monsters or oddly twisted figures that were hard to say what they were. It was very hard to imagine that this ancient race had been so sophisticated even though the one that lived within this castle had fallen to be a monster and not a race at all.


    The vampires were from years and years ago. So long that it was hard to track their history. The very same with the immortal king''s people. The only race that was somewhat understandable were the angels. This was because of the sheer multitude of different ruins left behind due to the leaving one continent for another. But they had been a reclusive race.


    The vampire race and the immortal king''s race had lived out in the open at some point. The angels had always been locked up away from things. Underground where they could hide from the many ancient monsters which could easily kill off an entire race. That was just the dangers of the world back then. Chaos and survival within that chaos.


    Surprisingly, there were event tables. The only issue with the tables were that Walker noticed some odd adornments.


    "I know that some times monster materials are used to build furniture and whatever else, but those are other more human bones put inside the wood." Gil''s sharper eyes caught the teeth of what might have been humans or other simr race''s body parts. The tables were the scariest things, not mentioning the chairs ced here and there.


    "I would assume they found it interesting. The vampires and the immortal king''s races were always fighting. They fed on blood or used others as experiments. While it might have been the more ancient times, it definitely shows¡­well, it shows something." Walker lost track of what he was saying. He was unsettled by the furniture and potential ancient human remains used on them.


    They had literally been called cattle by the butler. A clear cut example of what the ancient humans had been to the vampire race. This might change as the Genesis alliance focused on saving the enved vampires, it would still be something the more ancient vampires remembered. They would have had changed and ovee their own mentality on how the world was radically different from what they knew when they had freedom all that time ago.


    "Wait, there''s movement on the two staircases." Su caught the movements from where she stood in front of Midnight. Her eyes focusing on them as they moved.


    "The master greets you. You are wee in to the main hall for a meal." The chorus of raspy voices matched what clearly was incredible suffering.


    Through the dim lighting, Walker could make out enved vampires. All forced in to the normal maid uniforms that any nobel would have their staff wear. The general staff that would clean the mansion they lived in. that would serve food. That would take care of general household needs.


    These were not the same. While the uniforms must have been created by some race at some time, these uniforms showed the wear and tear from being unkempt for years upon years. The bodies of the enved vampires were the same. They were skeletally thin. Their faces appeared to have paper thin skin on them. It was almost a surety that if they did not receive proper nutrition soon, they would perish.


    "They must have been forced to wake up during the years to maintain this ce. They weren''t dormant like the others in the vige houses out there. They have been ving away¡­" Remey''s voice was small but it held so much rage that Walker worried she would lose her mind here.


    Due to her changes in the path of bing her own form of dominator dragon, she had be a dragon soul. A unique race but one that still held pride and used incredibly pure forms of mana. Remey had to adjust herself. It took her great control not to run rampant right now and show whatever monster was ahead of them just how she felt about the cruelty it showed the strength she had, but that didn''t mean that the fuse wouldst forever on that bomb.


    The enved vampires moved. It appeared that they had only been sent to tell the party their message. "Walking in to a trap." Walker was in and simple on that. Clearly this was a trap. But since they had just walked in to a ce without much knowledge of what might be around the corner, they had no choice in where they should go.


    Carefully, the walked up the right staircase. Su in the lead while Midnight gathered her strength and watched the rear. Remey was prepared tosh out at anything foolish enough to attack Su and get blocked by her shield. Walker and Gil also at the ready to send ranged attacks. Walker even had the eternal codex in staff form to assist his magical attacks better.


    As they moved, the enved vampires moved in to side rooms. It was as if they did not have the right to even walk ahead down the hall and through the two massive wooden doors that opened up to a main hall.


    Before they even made it to the doors, they opened. Tworge armors had moved and opened the doors. The vampire wings on the back along with red dyed metals proving that they had been made with vampires and blood in mind. To represent the more brutal side of the vampire race.


    Their slow movement toward therge hall. They could already see the massive tables along the walls. The ornate and shiny red crystal chandeliers. Massive tapestries depicting vampires guing other monsters, races, and even each other. It was something that someone clearly took pride in. but would be horrifying to anyone walking inside.


    "Oh how the times have changed. My poor army has been weakened to such a level. Those angelic fools still let their cities float about the world. And I can even smell that false immortal on you cattle. But I smell a delicacy. A dragon."


    The rough voice echoed off the stones. Enough that it made the words even more ufortable. However, Walker still could not spot the source of the voice. He could only see the dim outline of a massive throne made of what only could be the bones of many different creatures.


    "Free the enved vampires and we may allow you a better death. You are not part of the world''s true form." Walker''s voice spoke up with strength. He was using whatever confidence he had to ensure that he did not appear weak to this monster.


    "I am much too old for a child to cause me any form of fear. Refrain from those attempts. It was many years ago that I took this throne from the other nobles. Now you walk in my domain." the castle grew darker at these words.


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 Chapter 2040 2040. A Meal For Me

    Chapter 2040 2040. A Meal For Me


    Walker thought that they would see some elder figure or some stronger looking vampire. However, he had not imagined what they would see would be more twisted and broken in the grand scheme of things.


    "What? Do you not find this existence beautiful to your eyes? Let me tell you child, the world was not some brilliant and bright ce. The ancient years¡­were dark." The monstrous vampire''s voice sounded as if it was full of seething rage even with the rough tone it had.


    The all around appraisal was used three times before Walker saw a proper response. It appeared that the years and years of life that this ancient monster had were able to resist even the world showing off what it was. What it had be.


    ''Twisted elder vampire


    Due to the various attacks and brutal effects of multiple damaging skills, the only way for this vampire to survive was to fall even further in to the depths of monsterhood.


    Giving up the naturally elegant and slim form, this vampiric monster sacrificed even more of the body that had survived countless battles against both ancient monsters and other races. Due to the damages suffered, they eventually lost partial control of their own skills and manas. This caused them to easily lose their mind and believe in only iming victory for their race. Bing a monster that enved his very own race.


    After this, the battle between the immortal chasing race caused him to give in to the changes even more before a vastly powerful sealing skill used by the lord of light with the support of the other elemental lords sealed him and his entire army.


    The loss of mobility gave better control over the enved monsters and vampire race. Using them as methods to see and battle constantly. However, the many years within this sealed state caused him to be unable to heal his wounds any longer. Therefore, the state currently seen, is the end of a lifespan useless darker skills are used to build a new body.


    Using darkness and a unique skill rted to blood and even the soul, this monster can manipte the body to alter its shape and control it. This was used by the three trusted generals he controlled to ensure that they never perished even with the loss of their first bodies¡­''


    Walker could have read more, but he spotted the skeletal remains of two figures on smaller thrones next to this monster. The twisted elder vampire.


    "Oh, not so foolish after all. I was saving thest of my generals. So that I may rise again!" there was a burst of mana then a sickening sound of sh testing.


    The result was a vampire standing covered in a sheen of red that had broken out of the twisted elder vampire form they had seen. While emaciated, the form was slim and clearly more spry. "Mild loss of strength, but you are a meal weed to my dining room. So give me your blood so that I may begin making this world as it should be. I will handle that little angel cityter."


    The speed which the twisted elder vampireshed out was too fast to spot. The only reason that Walker did not get caught by the sharp ws covered in blood and darkness was that he could sense the mana. His body could innately sense the manas moving toward him, which caused him to lean back.


    "How impressive. But you are still too young." the body that he had just taken control of to attack twisted. The bones broke as an arm became a bloody sharp bone sword. It was even worse to see this happen.


    This time Su was ready though. Her shield mmed forward and blocked the attack. But the blood melded itself and began to grind against her twin shields. The control that the twisted elder vampire had was strong enough over blood that it could causerge cuts in the shield.


    "You are too slow little one." The vampire twisted its body and shed Su. her armor breaking as she gained a red line along her arm. It might have been a shallow cut, but it was sudden how easily she had been injured.


    "Su, use that other form of battle. Remey, time to get serious. Gil, the other things back there. Midnight, Support Gil." Walker shouted out as he used his mana to force the darkness mana that the twisted elder vampire attempted to use for a binding attack to turn away from the party.


    He had spotted more things moving behind the throne. They had been still, almost like asatues. However, they were alive. He had managed to understand them using the all around appraisal skill. Know the dangers that they were to the group since they would not remain idle while their master fought for food.


    ''Vampiric hound


    Using darkness as the main method of decaying and wearing away at their prey for their master, the vampiric hound is a shadow hound forced to change due to the control of an elder vampire. It is incredibly tough to make this change happen and only the strongest mentally fit vampires can manage this.


    The ferocity and loyalty to their master makes these monsters incredibly dangerous. They will not only throw themselves at anything that threatens their master, they will also use potent darkness mana to infect everything that touches their ck fur, is pierced by their ck teeth, or scraped by their ck ws.


    They can not survive without their master. Therefore, if they are cut off from them, they will perish. This was the downside for them to be turned in to vampiric hounds¡­''


    "Do not hide yourself behind shields. You are the nutrients needed to change the world as it should be. In MY IMAGE!" The madness that oozed from these words came as a great insult but also as a clear example of what losing their way woulde with. A race falling to be a monster would lose all sanity. Just like this vampire.


    As the next attack shed toward Reney this time, the ng of Su''s shields dropping and parts of her armor were heard. She had known exactly what Walker meant by changing how she fought. She had understood him because she had been thinking the exact same way.


    The shields and armor that weighed her down were lost, but this freed Su to move faster. For her hands to take the w forms that they could take since she had epted the dragon blood within her to be a proper half dragon.


    This was why the twisted elder vampire was unable to adjust fast enough. He had been shing at Remey who had just ignited the ash wood gauntlets to create white purifying mes. How Su managed to sh through the arm of the twisted elder vampire before she needed to leap back from the vampiric hounds trying to bite her from the shadows.


    The follow up was more dramatic though. As the twisted elder vampire took a leap back, Remey leaped forward and punched down on the head for the vampiric hound. Not a sound could ovee that of the cracking skull and re of mes burning it up.


    "Worthless cattles. I raised those guard dogs!" The twisted elder vampire seemed to be down with the party after witnessing one of his vampiric hounds perish instantly. It could not ept that humans were strong enough to harm it. Not that anyone in the party was actually a human.


    Without hesitation, Gil fired arrows toward s the other vampiric hounds. He might not be killing them, but he was getting their legs as they tried to encircle the party while their master gathered strength.


    "My little maids,e and offer your blood." The appearance of two enved vampires who bowed at his feet made Walker''s heart lurch. He didn''t expect that this would happen.


    These enved vampires were already weak, yet this monster had them bow before him and even cut their own roast to take the blood from them. "Bow before the eldest of the vampires remaining alive."


    The party felt that there was more to this, but the monster had seemingly forgotten his own name. That was the results of bing a monster. Besides that, the two enved vampires slumped to the ground. Their livespletely gone. But the blood taken, although meager, was enough.


    Crimson armors covered the twisted elder vampire. An aura of pain and cruelty emanated from him as the party prepared for the next encounter. They had just barely started this battle. They had just been toyed with. They had yet to truly fight.


    All they managed to do, was anger this ancient monster.


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 Chapter 2041 2041. Just An Act

    Chapter 2041 2041. Just An Act


    A wave of the bone sword sent small bullets of blood at the entire group. Walker mmed his food on the ground to force the earth to make a wall. The speed at which he could control the earth mana and the stones was much faster than what it had been.


    Yet,pared to the strength that the blood had as it flew at them, the wall of stone was destroyed leaving the damaged castle floor as the only results.


    Midnight had leaped forward and protected Gil while Remey had dodged. Su was tough enough to take the attack head on while Walker had felt the changes in mana only to dodge just enough to only be grazed by the attack.


    Midnight had felt the force but her armor and scales resisted it since Walker had managed to break the force iing at them. But when Gil looked ahead to notch an arrow and fire at another one of the vampiric hounds, he noticed that he was the target.


    The blood armor seemed to move with the twisted elder vampire. His body not being the stiff thigh that most people would think bones and flesh would be. All due to the skills that this monster had rted to blood and more.


    That was why it was able to leap forward in an oddly twisted fashion to sh at Gil. he could only drop his bow and draw his daggers in that split second to deflect the attack. The force made his bones feel like they were grinding. It was intense and stopped him from being able to counter whatsoever. But he had managed to cease the attack.


    When the small burst of light had been spit at the monster, Midnight was the one that growled in follow up. Her anger clear as her attack had missed due to the monster in front of her dodging. However, she proved that even with this blood armor and odd way of moving, that the twisted elder vampire was afraid of the light.


    The weakness that came with focusing on darkness and blood as an affinity before falling to be a monster had made light the bane of the vampire''s existence. They were all already weak to it even as a race, but as a monster, that weakness was multiplied many times over.


    "Get back here and feel my fists crush your bones!" Remey used the mes around her body as a means to speed herself up. The fire reaching a heat that seemed to burn the air. But her gauntlets had be the key for all of this.


    They had been made of the light ash wood. Therefore, when she had properly ignited them, they had been the perfect way for her to wield some light purifying mes. They could harm the vampiric monsters much more but they were a temporary item now. They could not burn forever.


    Thebination of jabs and punches while Remey used impable footwork to boost her speed was amazing. It was like a dance of mes that made the entire room begin to burn. The small sport of purifying white mes that appeared with every step made the vampiric hounds constantly change their attempts to attack Remey. But they couldn''t even get near her or their master.


    Furthermore, Walker felt that he had found the best chance to handle the threats that he knew were distancing them. Midnight was low on mana and Gil was recoiling from the hard hit he had defended. Therefore, he and Su were the perfect ones to handle the vampiric hounds moving around using the shadows as strength.


    Su saw what Walker was thinking with just a nce. She had dropped her shields and her armor pieces to be able to fight with much more strength than usual. The simple change in shields was important since she now had the time to adjust and pick one up while still keeping the speed she had use.


    Her battle style too brutal and fast in that instant of attacking the nearest vampiric hound. Her light shield skill forking as an offensive skill rather than defensive. It was an odd and powerfulbination that no one would expect unless they had seen Su fight before. Naturally, these vampiric hounds and the twisted elder vampire had never witnessed this.


    "How dare you harm another!" The roar of anger shook the room as a spear of blood shot from the armor the twisted elder vampire wore shot at Su. But Walker was ahead of him. He had changed the form of the eternal codex. It took the form of a matching Shield just like Su''s but it channeled the light mana much better. With a much higher density.


    The deflected spear of blood followed up by Walker and Su attacking two other vampiric hounds just distracted and angered the twisted elder vampire. Unfortunately, right as that anger seemed to reach its peak, Remey was forced back.


    The gauntlets had burned up. Her mes had suddenly lost the white purifying light that they had before. And Remey needed Walker to hand her more of the light ash wood. It was why the vampire shed forward sending a de of darkness and blood at Remey. He saw an opportunity to strike her down.


    The attack was notpletely dodged. Remey felt the darkness mana begin to eat away at her arm and the blood cut her worse than she had been cut before. This attack was not simple and was just too fast to entirely avoid. Even with her mes acting as protection from it.


    The cry of pain from Remey made Walker and Su freeze. They had managed to crush thest two vampiric hounds, but at the cost of Remey being harmed and them losing the advantage of Remey''s purifying mes against the vampire.


    "One who can not stand after defending one blow. Another that is bleeding my meal on the floor. A little dragon too low of mana to properly fight. And now, two more that fear stepping forward. The world has grown dull without my influence to shape it."


    The tone was dripping with venom. The twisted elder vampire was angry, yet arrogant. He still saw them as little children delivering themselves to him. Weaker and more pathetic than he could ever be. He had saved this form to attack and recover himself after all. A wise and powerful vampire older than any other around.


    In a sh of red, the twisted leader vampire stepped forward and kicked Su in to the nearby wall. He was demonstrating the force he had without being oppressed. Especially since th white purifying mes had extinguished themselves. He did not fear regr mes. He could resist those. That came with his age and knowledge.


    "You said you would defeat me? Well, that went well for you, did it not?" The twisted elder vampire stepped slowly toward Walker as arge blood spear formed over his head.


    "He did say he would defeat you, but that''s only because he forgot about me being better."


    All the arrogance and fighting had left the wrong impression on the twisted elder vampire. That as an archer who had defended a single attack and shown the weakness from receiving said attack, that Gil was weak. That he could not move.


    But an act was an act, and Gil had yed that part perfectly. He wasn''t a fool that forgot the legendary purifying light arrow that he and Walker had made. They made it together for a reason.


    The act had brought him time to grab his bow and draw that heavy arrow. The light mana drawn in in an instant. The wind mana gathering around it while Walker held a hand out. The twisted elder vampire had seen the eternal codex change forms in to a shield. He had foolishly believed that Walker needed that to use magic.


    However, Walker could control natural mana and was not a mage. He was not limited like other mages could be.


    The boost in mana allowed Gil to release the arrow at a terrifying speed. One that the twisted elder vampire could not defend against. But that wasn''t the monster''s concern. In rage, he sent a blood sh out all around him hitting everyone as they could only use their bodies and skills to defend.


    As the pain hit their bodies, the party was suddenly blinded. All the darkness in the main hall being pushed away. All the senses that they had seemingly shut off as they could feel a purifying mana pulsing through their own bodies. The lingering effects of darkness mana that stagnated within the castle for years being thrown aside.


    Neither of them could see a thing, they even felt that they were deafened by the sound of the arrow splintering around them and embedding itself in the stone and even their own bodies. Yet, the party did not fully fall. Walker was already using healing skills on everyone since he could sense their manas through the blinding light mana pouring all around them.


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 Chapter 2042 2042. Walked Right By

    Chapter 2042 2042. Walked Right By


    With a great amount of mana, Walker managed to heal many of the injuries that had been caused by being so close to the light purifying arrow that he and Gil had made. But he could still feel the ces where splinters of wood from that arrow had hit him. He even still felt a few splinters till in his arms.


    The blinding effect that they had all been hit with due to the arrow''s explosion also left them seeing spots, but the healing had done its job. Walker could see the entire room and the damage done.


    Because the arrow had exploded with light mana in a ce where lots of darkness mana had been, there was a clear effect. Many stones had been eroded over time and nowcked the darkness mana that had ebbed in to the stone bing a part of it. losing that, had caused them to crumble.


    Walls were gone causing the entire room to feel unstable and unsafe. The same was said for the bodies of vampires that had been used as food or sustenance for the twisted elder vampire. They had been reduced to nothing but ash. Including the two enved vampire maids that had been turned to ash as well.


    The vampire as a race had a weakness to light. They also didn''t walk outside in the daylight for that reason. But it felt wrong that the two had been enved, and forced to remain weak so long. Just so that they could be used as disposable tools for the twisted elder vampire to create battle armor.


    But none of that kept Walker''s focus like the remains of the twisted elder vampire.


    "The blood armor kept you alive." Walker was not sure he was actually seeing this. He felt that this was all wrong. The arrow had definitely exploded after piercing the vampire in question. This messed up and evil creature should have perished.


    The garbled response was nothing that could be said to be intelligence. There appeared to be no light in the remaining eye of the twisted elder vampire. His entire body was basically fragments of what it should be instead of ash as the others was.


    Thest but of what had made this thing a vampire appeared to have been forced away with the pain of being beaten by the humans he called cattle. But the lower races that he believed were just there to be yed with as food so that he could grow his army and empire.


    "If he''s alive they aren''t free yet." Su spoke first. She had been the first one to stand up and walk to be beside Walker. Her clear anger etched on her face.


    The wrath that a dragon could show was something that many would understand as a reason not to attempt to antagonize one at all. But Su, was half dragon. She had enough of that wrath to be able to make this face. One that could strike fear in to many people''s eyes just by ncing at it. Compared to her normal calm demeanor, this was shocking enough to witness for walker.


    "We aren''t the ones to end it. They are. They already started to break free." Remey pushed Su and Walker to the side.


    There were multiple enved vampires walking toward them. They were shaking as they did so. Their legs almost unable to hold them up, but simply using their sheer will to enable their movements.


    Years of neglect had weakened them. Years of being forced to take care of this monster in the ce that their honored and noble vampires had once sat. it had been eating at them for too long for any one person toprehend. Now, they felt those chains loosening. As this monster started to perish, there was the right amount of freedom needed to break the chains entirely.


    "This might not be the best weapon for you to hold, but my eternal codex has some light mana in it right now." Walker channeled his mana and watched the eternal codex be a slim dagger. Perfect for piercing and injecting mana within something.


    The nearest enved vampire grasped it. Her arms fell lower before two more grabbed her hands as well. They all needed the strength to hold it even though Walker could have held ten more without any worries. It just showed him how weak they had be over this time.


    All of them united themselves while the party watched. Plunge that dagger in to the monster that had taken their freedom. It was a somber but brilliant disy of freedom. Even with the light mana harming their hands, they still pierced the twisted elder vampire''s heart to end his life and free everyone.


    The roars of victory from the battle field as the titan vampire bats were made to stop struggling by the renewed connections with their enved vampire tamers. The following roars from every one of the genesis forces that had gathered.


    This signal of victory was met by the tears escaping every enved vampire''s eyes.


    "I am going to send out some orders to begin bringing monster bodies to feed these vampires. They need blood and the monsters harmed by the water flooding things earlier, well, they should be put to use helping others rather than rotting, don''t you think?"


    Giul''s slowness as he moved to use amunication crystal and walk away was from the usage of the legendary purifying light arrow. It was an arrow he might never be able to replicate. One he might not be able to fire again. The drawback of using it with so much mana had injured him and everyone. But he could sense that he had used nearly every bot of his mana in that shot.


    Putting that on top of his injuries from fighting the twisted elder vampire, he felt weak. He had not felt this weak in along time. He needed the time to set himself right. To be able to grasp his ns moving forward. He had a great deal to protect now. He should never feel weak.


    "Yes, a very good job clearing the only obstacle preventing me from entering the vault within the castle. I rmend you cease your pursuit. You will not be able to stop my goals from being realized." The sudden deep voice caused everyone to freeze. Even the castle and the air felt as if they were afraid to be, let alone exist.


    The sh of dark armor that appeared to pass the party before leaving the room was too fast. Too powerful. But Walker knew very well that it was the very being that they were pursuing. That they had just seen a glimpse of the real strength behind the demon lord.


    Just as it had appeared, the pressure was gone and everyone could breathe again. Beyond that, the quests that had appeared were all beingpleted as the vampire race had been freed. The system had even given them a new title.


    ''The title, vampire race savior has been given to all that participated in the battle to rescue the vampire race.


    ''Vampire race savior


    As one who battled the worst and darknest monster that ever was born from avampire, the title as a vampire race savior will assist in the bonds between you and the vampire race. It will also allow you to better understand their cultures and more¡­''


    The title was simple. It boasted a lot of benefits for those that wished to bond and learn about the vampire. Especially their unique magics, runes, and forging techniques. All of that would be dealt with in time though. None of the party could think of the titles and quests at all. They had just felt something that made them feel much weaker than ever before.


    "That was the demon lord. He walked by us like we were nothing." Remey smashed a hand in to the ground. The stone cracking slightly in her anger.


    "He did, and we couldn''t even see him properly. What training do we need?" Su spoke to herself. But she also spoke for everyone. Midnight just growled. Her eyes sharp. As if she was expecting another threat to appear.


    "Gil, do what you were going to do. We will go to the vault and see what we can figure out. Regardless of our injuries, we are still needed. The vampires are safe for now and the monsters out there should all be dead and gone. So, let''s focus on what we can do for now."


    Walker had sensed Gil''s emotions from where he stood near the entrance of this hall. He felt the very same way that Walker did. Like he was too weak. Therefore, Walker spoke right to him and made sure that they could steel themselves. Focus on the one thing that they had to do to ensure that they could keep moving forward.


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 Chapter 2043 2043. Trapped For Years

    Chapter 2043 2043. Trapped For Years


    Finding that the only oneing with him to the area that the demon lord had juste from was Midnight, Walker understood why. The entire party had just been embarrassed. There were enved vampires finding themselves weak and free everywhere nearby. They had just fought and been injured.


    All of this was a lot to handle. This had been one of the most unpredictable fights just yet. Having affinity to blood rted skills was not something that they had considered, yet, nwo they had to ept that there were magics and manas that allowed more unique things like that.


    Beyond this, the twisted elder vampire had been powerful because he literally kept his subordinates alive to sue them as vessels for himself. He had been injured so badly that he had lost the ability to move. Just controlled his enved armies for his own gain while he could.


    All of this had been evil, but what if he had his own body that was in perfect health? What if this monster had not been weak and forced to use thest body he had avable? If that was the case, then that blood armor might have been ten times stronger. If that were the case, then would they have even been able to see the attacksing at them?


    So much is happeningtely that the party had lost their grasp of where they stood in the world in terms of strength. They felt that they could fight a regr dragon now. The elders that were underneath the royal dragons. But was that true?


    It would certainly be a hard challenge. Especially for those that were not Walker. Midnight would only be able to keep up because of her elemental adaptability. But when it came to the dominator dragons, the royal dragons, then they were going to lose for sure.


    The only reasons that the dominator dragons had not taken the lead when it came to these fights was simple. They would destroy everything.


    Their strength had immense power when it came out their elemental attacks. They would easily cause a massive area of effect damage when they attacked. They needed a lot of time to learn fine control of purer elemental manas that what they had ever had before now. Therefore, they were forced to deal mostly in sharing manas and physical might.


    The fact that they had been here to handle the titan vampire bats had been perfect. They had been the only onesrge enough topletely iste those threats at once. If they had not done so, then the mages needed would have been many and used much of their mana. Greatly weakening the Genesis forces that he been battling the vampiric monster horde.


    "Midnight, I think we are in a big gap. We all just gained different racial traits, titles, and other unique skills. But we are behind the world. We need to figure out how the echidna are so powerful."


    This was the key that Walker came to conclusion with. The echidna had been able to use skills that were innately more powerful. Not just in the sense that they could disappear without a trace from the ind after Walker helped them. Not that they could easily call out natural mana to help everyone create a literal forest.


    They had a bond with the world that they had kept secret. That they had gotten ahead of the general people and races byparison. Midnight let out a long sigh. She felta little bruised from their fight. Mostly her pride as a dragon had been insulted by the demon lord.


    Walker could sense that she was feeling the same way and had no idea how to reach the proper strength that they needed to evenbat the demon lord. Even the dominator dragons would struggle against strength that was too great to even properly see someone walk past them.


    While walking down the hallway that the demon lord hade from, the pair found a winding staircase. The steps were somewhat damaged and the walls were crumbling. Yet, Walker felt that this was only because multiple runes had been broken.


    There was a red glow in certain ces. Carvings of runes with more brutal and sharp edges. Clearly made after altering more elegantly carved runes. They all were appraised as broken vampiric altered runes. A clear example of changes made after the vampire had be a monster in this castle.


    That meant that this was the way to the vault. But if it was, then the demon lord had broken through these runes easily. That was why he might not have arrived whatsoever while the party was fighting. It was the chance he needed to not be bothered while dealing with these runes left by powerful vampires of the past and then enhanced by the monster that had lived now.


    In a way, the party had just made whatever the demon lord''s task easier for him. Ir made this all the worse for Walker when he reached the bottom of the spiral staircase with Midnight.


    The shattered door was only done so by force. An example of how powerful the demon lord was. When Walker looked at all the broken runes, he could tell that this was where the demon lord had realized that he easily could break through this since it was so weakened by time. Not every rune could oust hundreds of years.


    The room that had actually been used as a vault appeared to have quite a few things. Sets of armors clearly worn by many of the elder vampires. They were ced on pedestals beside weapons on ques. This was a preservation of vampire history. Things that should be avable for the entire vampire race to see. They should be able to visit and respect their heritage. Even if there were bad things in the past.


    Regardless, the potions that had once been here were dried up orpletely inert. Useless things that couldn''t be saved. Especially the many empty vials of what might have once held blood. The dried rust colored insides proved that Walker was correct in thinking this. But when he noticed that they werebeled bys pieces, it made him wonder just how the vampires lived.


    Had they collected bloods for the usage as delicacies? For food, that was normal when it came to other races. But vampires could feed on blood and life force. Therefore, this made a lot of sense. But if they fed on these things, then it might mean that Vampires have knowledge about life mana that Walker did not.


    In this pursuit, he was attracted to some book shelves. All holding detailed descriptions of history, vampiric magic theories, and various other things. Some were even written in othernguages that Walker could easily read with the world tranting everything. He was also surprised that the runes on these shelves were holding up.


    The mana crystal shelves were empty. The demon lord had stolen ancient mana crystals. Why? Walker could only imagine that these crystals might have been stored well enough and aged to create something a little more unique.


    A soft huff brought Walker''s attention to arge open circr space. The various tapestries detailing the value of what had been in this one small pir in the center. "Impotant." Midnight had rxed a little and changed to the dragonkin form. She pointed out the rough que with details of some sort on it. But she didn''t understand it.


    "Fragment of elemental purity. Wouldn''t that just be a purer mana crystal?" Walker wondered out loud, but he had also started to learn things. More things about the world and the fact that it was iplete due to being cut off from the elemental nes and even the spaces between and beyond them.


    Therefore, this might be like Remey''s new race as a dragon soul. It could mean that whatever the item that was here was unique to the elemental nes. A ce that the demon lord might be trying to do. A connection to that ce might cause him some sort of boost in power.


    "Young man, my name In Arnold, and in myst few hours before I can not maintain my life¡­ could you allow me to help you?" The sudden voice came from behind Walker and Midnight. They found a frail looking vampire. One who had managed to struggle to them under some miraculous power of will.


    "I used to curate the family vault of the noble line. After so many years, I finally found that this ce opened, and I saw that vile thing. Even the young lord fell, now more are fallen. I survived for a reason. Please allow me this chance."


    From what Walker and Midnight could understand, this vampire had trapped himself in the vault. Surviving on the blood in here for years and years until now. But he had not been able to survive well enough. The weak flow of mana an example of his fading life.


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 Chapter 2044 2044. Just A Hint

    Chapter 2044 2044. Just A Hint


    While very stunned, Walker was not going to ignore this old man. He was a vampire that had struggled to survive for so long. Since he had done so against all odds, he deserved to have a listening ear.


    "I will dly listen to you. My name is Walker. I am a true hero and helped found the Genesis alliance of all races. Your vampire race will be weed to join it once they are back on their feet."


    The warm tone in Walker''s voice made the old vampire smile softly. While his face showed wrinkles that had been etched through years of struggle, they were still able to show hope and joy. The eyes were the same. A smile that proved that he had finally seen his dreame true.


    "The Alvon family was what we could say are our originators. They were the first vampires to carve out a safe ce for our race to survive within the chaos." a distant look appeared in the man''s eyes. "You will find those records on those shelves. Read them well."


    "I will. I promise I will copy and create a library full of your history." Walker would not deny that. He wanted that for every race. Their path to this point where they had joined the other traces to protect their world.


    "Good." a soft smile returned to Arnold''s face.


    "That Alvon family lived almost eternally. The purest blooded vampires who controlled all. But as they grew older, they did as many did. They disliked their immortality. So they went in to eternal slumber of their own decision. A truly respectable end." This was a telling example of how the vampires saw a natural death. It was a choice when they had lived all they could and felt full.


    "Their descendants had many thoughts on the world as it changed. But the wars began. The immortal chasers, the angelic race, and other more odd races took their chances for power. Fornd. For whatever that guided them."


    This is the chaos that Walker expected to hear about as the old vampire looked sad. But it was the state of the world so many years ago. Even when the ancient monsters had begun to fade and became few and far between, there had still been struggle to fill that void of power. The world had just truly formed for the intelligent races to explore it.


    "As the wars became greater, the materials hidden away were bing greater. Smaller families tried to fight for control and steal what they could. If they had stronger fighters, then they would be the best and purest of bloodlines. But they could not beat some of the strongest families no matter how hard they tried."


    "Geniuses were born, anding with that was arrogance. The beliefs that all other beings in the world were just different sources of power, of blood. An old man like me, has read what things were like. How some intelligent races even tried to trade time and time again with us. But it never worked for long due to the way of nature."


    Threats would certainly appear. Ancient monsters that could whip them all out would certainly make trade rtionships hard. Any rtionships with other races would seem impossible most of the time. Therefore, the vampires had every reason to fight a monster each other for the chances to survive in their families. That was the way to survive after all.


    "When it became worse, the war with the immortal chasers became the focus over everything. It forced us to the edges. To onest vige and castle that you stand in now. Even though it crumbles." the sad look appeared again. But this was before Arnold looked at Walker again with more resolve and hope.


    "That was when the demon appeared. Made a deal from some knowledge regarding the restraints of the world. Many of our kind wished to research out existence because we lived for so long. We had great knowledge in some topics when the research was not buried by new families taking power."


    It made a lot of sense how their inner struggles would cause research to be lost. Then it would start again. Only to be lost yearster. A never ending cycle keeping the vampires behind in a way.


    "After that demon left here with knowledge on how to go against the world as he had done before, we faced some of thest angelic race. We had broken three of their floating cities and sunken them to the depths of the ocean. We even learned to master a vampire elder whale that moved our city to the continent that those angelic race fled to after we beat them in that battle."


    "Thosst many winged angelic race elders turned themselves in to pirs. White stone that forced us to weaken. That tapped us. Especially after they had seen our lord be a monster. I only know this due to my familiar. A small little fruit bat I discovered as a child." The memory before he lost this partner clearly made Arnold feel warm. But family always did that.


    "Las I saw, the armies of that elder¡­ that monster, had been put to slumber while others burned their lives to beat on the seal for the remainder of their lives. For us, that was what we thought the end would be. The cost of their lives for thest of our race. But that was not what the world had in mind."


    "I sealed off this ce myself and the greedy monster tried to get here. However, his seals did not beat mine. I was a vampire rune master at one time. But that''s just part of the system I had before I grasped a little glimpse of the truth."


    "That fragment of elemental purity was what one researcher discovered. He found that the elemental nes were not cut off from us. That with strength, the vampire race could go there. That was what that monster wanted. But he would have just stained that great research that was once the pinnacle of vampiric knowledge."


    "While that fragment was found when one of our elder vampires attempted to reach in to the darkness elemental ce, we realized there was a space in between. A broken space. But the bridges that connected them. That is what we believe that shard to be. A pure and perfect realization of the true will beyond just the world." the room felt heavy, this was said.


    It was as if there was another presence within the room. One that wished for all of this to be held back. "The world knows I am soon to leave it in a way. To my own eternal slumber. It wishes that you do not know it all. I don''t know it all though. Just that the systems we have are broken too."


    "They should all be one."


    "The split and the changes you have seen and that woke me before you even got here."


    "Those were all evidence of what you may already be thinking. A way that should be done differently. Something more united. Something called a ss. Something clearer. Something that the elemental nes already use since it is the proper way. But even they are cut off in a way too. Nothing isplete right now."


    There was a drop in Arnolds'' voice toward the end. His body appeared to be fading. His body was not turning to ash or bing light as some might think. Instead, it was being embraced by the shadows. As if the natural darkness affinity for the vampire race was weing him back to it. As if the vampire Walker had just met hadn''t really had a body left in the first ce.


    "Well, young man of multiple races unlike what I have ever thought, please help the vampire race. Please help the young ones learn a better way." Walker blinked and found that all that was left was him and Midnight standing still. Afraid to even breathe.


    "I think we might have learned too much." Midnight''s agreeing huff matched the stubbed feeling that Walker had.


    Years ago the demon lord hade here before ending the immortal chaser race. Before he had forced the immortal king in to his tower. He had gained knowledge. Had Learned what the vampires had. But not been overwhelmingly powerful yet.


    But he returned here for that shard. That fragment of elemental purity. It could be part of a bridge of sorts. A way to ess that ce in the middle of the elemental nes and the world they knew. It would mean dangerous things.


    But that could also be what Walker needed. He and the party could work together to perfectly bnce the elemental nes and the world. Returning it to what it should be. Before the demon lord caused more trouble.


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 Chapter 2045 2045. Memorial

    Chapter 2045 2045. Memorial


    "How is everyone doing here?" Gil found that Alma had managed to regain a lot of her energy. There were still a significant number of elven guards nearby, but they had been shouted at to give her space. Naturally, Allma had been a little annoyed that they were all over her before.


    "You should stop ring at them. They just wanted to make sure that you were fine and safe. You used a ton of energy to make sure that everyone had what they ended up with. You literally helped make a forest of a nearly extinct tree." Gil''s words did not make Alma feel any better.


    Knowing that she was a leader of the elves, she had believed that she should have remained functional. But she had passed out from over extending herself. She had used all of her mana to be able to handle the situation before leaving her people to fight by themselves.


    If she had saved mana and mental energy to join the battle¡­ Well, she knew that she could have done a lot. She had various nts that she had cross bred to be able to fight at a much higher level than before.


    However, her mind was also upied by new things. She felt that she had managed to learn a lot more about her own skills and the things she was able to do. Growing a forest had enlightened her.


    Not only was it the experiences that came with how the trees had grown and how they had changed their shapes based on the will of those manipting them, but it was the connection to nature.


    The forest had managed to connect deeply to them all. They had felt their own experiences being embodied within the forest right then and there. They had felt and sensed that they each had different ways to manipte a and assist the growth of nts.


    Due to this, the various systems that were used had been able to influence one another. It had opened up pathways of more unique uses of their own skills. They had been able to alter the ways that they also used their manas. The affinities were shared among one another moremonly due to their nt and nature rted systems.


    This alone had been enough to greatly help many of the weaker farmers who hade to use their skills. They had been enlightened to the point that they had made extreme leaps in what they had once believed they were close to mastering.


    With this, the Genesis alliance would be able to better farm food as a whole. That meant fewer people struggling to get food. Increased trade to many of the other kingdoms within the alliance. Furthermore, there would be a greater quality in the food produced.


    Beyond any of this, the elves also wanted to return some of the extinct or what they believed to be extinct, nts to the elven forests andnds. That way, they could help nature flow better and bring back many species of animals and monsters imperative to the growth and flow of nature. It was a massive step for all elves and for all people.


    "Gil. do you think that this ce can be returned to nature too? There is a lot that is crumbling. An entire city that is full of so much¡­ pain." When Alma asked this of Gil, he stopped in his tracks.


    While he had wanted to focus more on the demon lord that had burst in and taken something, he also did not want to worry about it right now. So, when Alma made this proposal, he felt that it was better for him to focus on it.


    "We might have some of the vampire race that wish for them to have this ce as one they coulde to as a historical location. But if you were to have the elves begin to make it, greener. Well, just cleaned up and more natural, it might help them move on."


    He knew well that many of the vampires would feel that they were visiting a dead ce. Some where that was all evil and torture to them. That''s how he would feel if he wwe in their shoes. But if it was also reborn and cleaned up with nature as the method of doing so, then they might feel differently. They could feel that this ce was also being reborn just as their race was.


    "That''s what I am going to do. They deserve a ce with better mana and feelings than what they suffered through. These are ruins, but they will be natural ruins instead." Alma picked through the backs on her waist. The ces she kept various seeds at all times so that she could.


    "I think the fairy lilies will be perfect. They bloom in seven colors. Then we can add in the mammoth vines since they will give good structure to the ruins. And then I can add in some of the dancing grass since they sway even without the winds¡­" the sudden rambling as Alma started to drop seeds on the ground here and there made Gil feel more rxed.


    All the stress he felt as he had worried over everything was beginning to dissipate slightly. Now he would be able to focus on the fact that they could create a monument of sorts for the vampires toe and see a reborn part of their history. Then they could focus on creating a new ce.


    "Brother Gil, you are working hard." The sudden interruption of therge serpent moving silently surprised Gil. but, he also noticed the many shadows and bright white scales around Onyx.


    "You and your whole race came to help us, huh?" Gilughed a little. It was more like all the other serpents were following an older brother than acting like they were calm and collected.


    "Well, I was woken up and asked if they could help.. So I began moving around more. Some of the heavenly serpents went with their friends to heal others. But most of them stayed with me. They want to do more. I can only support them." Onyx brimmed with pride in this. He felt that every single abyssal and heavenly serpent had shown that they were worth every single second of time to teach them.


    "Then you are in time. Gil was just about to gather the other farmers and elves that have the energy to help me. We will need light elemental mana channeled around here to start the growth of all these seeds. And since there is a lot of ambient darkness mana trying to spread out from being sealed in the ruins, you can also help keep that under control."


    Alma had taken on the job she made much quicker than what Gil had imagined. She was clearly pushing forward for more than just the reasons she had spoken out loud. But that was why he wanted to marry her. Why he wanted to spend his life with her? She was a pure and kind soul. She stood for her people and even the other races when they faced injustice.


    "I think this entire ruin will have to be a memorial. To the vampire race lost and to the new begining of the vampire race. Where they do not need to hide away and be guided by monsters. They can learn more than they had ever learned. Keep their history open and shared with the world. It will take time, but we will make sure it stays that way."


    Gil''s words resonated with Onyx. he had not been there to see the twisted elder vampire, but Omnyx had sensed the feelings of Walker and Midnight. He knew well that they had witnessed injustice and pain. That they knew a great deal more about the vampires. They definitely deserved a chance at a real life in peace.


    "You should also know, the echidna had mostly gone again. Only a few stayed behind to help us. They said that they need to keep working on the flow of nature." Onyx dropped this quickly. But he was not saying it in a sad way. More that he trusted them to arrive again when they were needed. That they would be there when everyone else caught up to them.


    "Good, then the pens still here get to help me make a new ce out of these ruins." Gil felt himself being pushed away. "And Gil will go get everyone." Alma was being pushy since she wanted to make sure that they got this done. She also knew that everyone else would be hard at work doing other things.


    Many of the Genesis and angel forces had been injured. They needed healing and so much more. Splitting up to get everything down would greatly push them all forward.


    The only thing that caused a break in all this was the floating corrupted city slightly moving again. This time toward the ocean again. An unsettling dark shadow that meant there was more battles to be had in this war.


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 Chapter 2046 2046. Talkative Vampire

    Chapter 2046 2046. Talkative Vampire


    "Alice, I came to give you some help. A lot happened and I felt it was much better to assist you then continue to worry." Su found herself where she found she was best.


    When Su was helping in the cathedral, even when she exhausted herself, she felt moreplete. Every single thing she did had a direct result. Most of the time, it was in someone being healed or helped in some way. Therefore, she would go there for sce now.


    With so many thoughts about the vampire race being tortured by amonster for years and the demon lord who was well above them in power, she needed the chase to calm herself. To do something that would show her a peaceful result.


    "I can use help. Many vampires are malnourished and can not eat. We need to feed them drops of blood slowly so as not to cause them to panic or go in to shock." This was unexpected.


    From what it appeared, the vampires had been taken to a massive area of tents. It was set up just for them with double canvas tentyers to help block the light which greatly weakened them on top of their already weakened state.


    It was also easy to see that the healers here had already begun to understand theplexities of the vampire race. This was mostly due to the many people that had gathered the rumors and fairy tales of the vampire race. But also because they had gained information from some of the more functional vampire race.


    "I understand. I will help anyone that needs it. Do you have a count on how many survived?" This stopped Alice in her next move. She appeared to lose a little of her very positive and bright action.


    Every ce that Alice healed and worked was bright. She would maintain a smile and a general positive air around her. That was just something that she developed while she was growing up in the cathedral. Just her very presence was a lot more calming than the average person being around.


    "There are only two hundred and fifty three vampires of the vampire race found alive and able toe here so far. We confirmed the passing of over one hundred and ten of them before they even felt the loss of those chains."


    This was a lot for Alice to speak. That was telling in its own right. Alice normally remained silent or said very few things even now that she had control over the mana that would bleed out of every word she said.


    Due to her speaking a lot, Su grew more on edge. It was only because this situation was so damn bad that she was sharing so many words. "We can help them. Don''t worry so much. Just keep doing what you are best at and I will be there to support everyone." Su''s wordsid the base for Alice to get a second wind.


    "I will begin to work. But we can not heal them with the skills I would normally use. The light mana will kill them." This made Su''s face freeze. She was sure that she had heard this wrong.


    However, the light mana that Alice used was strong. She had gained a lot of strength while she was with the party and generally healing people every single day. This was different though.


    The vampire race had an innate darkness affinity. Every single one had it. If they did not, they were a very rare vampire to say the least. But this darkness affinity gave them an aversion to light mana. Much more than a normal human would have,


    The light could weaken them during the day. During the weak state that they were all in now, they need nutrients to heal themselves before they faced any form of healing skill that used light as a base. They could survive a normal healing skill from someone that used light mana if they were in better conditions or more powerful.


    The degradation of these vampires was outrageous though. They were skeletal and could barely be seen as the vampires they should be. "Please stop looking at my fellow vampires like that. You are working hard and you will get to see what I can do once I am healed."


    The voice that caught both Su and Alice in a frozen and stunned stance was still weak. The girl that was facing them had serious scars on her arms and fingers. A clear sign that she had them broken and burdened. But she was sharp as a tac. She had definitely drunk some blood which gained her some better strength than that of what her fellow vampires had.


    "I am Gloria, I used to be a life mana researcher to see if we could repair the weaknesses we gained over generations. If Icked the skills I have from that research, I would be much weaker and not recovering at the enhanced rate that I am. Don''t worry though, technically I am an undead race. Partially undead actually. It''s very fun to talk about. I could share some with youter."


    "You are not the same as the vampires I expected to meet." Su had a wary expression. She didn''t feel that this vampire was right at all. This vampire experiments with life man based skills. It meant that she most likely had dealt with many dangerous situations over the years. Especially since she needed life mana from a ce with plenty of it. She couldn''t only use herself as an experimental subject.


    "You would be right. I am not normal. Instead of spending twenty or thirty years in istion, I could spend a hundred or more. Often finding that my home was moved or different families be stronger than those that guided me. That distracting look is the same as mine." Gloria coughed and used a nearby chair as a ce to rest.


    From the way that it appeared, she was used to things changing around her. But she also was putting on a false face. She was scarring that things were better than what they were right now. She was doing so, because she wanted the new people who may have rescued her to trust her more.


    "You can speak but you will not get everything you ask for right away. We will not risk too much of the vampire lives we now hold at risk." Su gained her calm again. This time, she reacted better to the vampire that had spoken to them. She also showed that she was not willing to force this vampire, while also not allowing the vampire to take control of forces that had not earned that trust.


    In the rity here, Gloria raised her head again and focused on Su. She sensed the risk that was there. It was only fair that Su did not show off all the trust in the world to her. "Thank you. I would rmend that you first look to help strengthen the life mana within us. We are a race that relies on it more than anything. The vampires are not undead and not fully alive. We bnce that where other races do not."


    Morecoughing showed that the condition that Gloria was in was not fake. She was struggling to maintain this air of intelligence and calm more and more. But Su still remained focused. She had to ensure that the knowledge she gained was truer than true.


    "I will be more aware of this situation than others. Su, I will watch over this one personally." stepping from the air and on to the ground, Scy focused her eyes on the vampire. She had been listening from above where none of them had noticed her. Mostly because Scy hade her silently to observe the actions of the vampires.


    Because she had known that a vampiric monster had been controlling them, she worried that others might fall and be monsters seeing a chance for power. It would not be unheard of after so many stressful years of envement.


    "General Scy, it is very good to see you are fine after that battle. You must have handled very many of the powerful vampiric monsters." Su was polite as ever.. She trusted Scy''s innate instincts.


    "I had my fair share of the battle. You and Alice are also handling your own battles here right now. But I have some life mages nearby. They can make all the differences here. The angels have started to work together with many of my demi-human warriors. They train together already." This was no secret. But it was clearly Scy trying to shake up the new vampire''s mind. Just enough to show her that she would not be pushed around.


    "I am Gloria, the life mana researcher." This was all Scy needed to see. Honesty before she opened her hands to properly greet the vampire.


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 Chapter 2047 2047. Not Many Left

    Chapter 2047 2047. Not Many Left


    "I am eighty four years old before I was forced to go dormant and slumber for longer than I even know. I can sense that the world is different and that even the few things I know might be false. I am extremely weak and lost all of my physical prowess thates with being a vampire. I also know that there is a lot that I can do to help my own race besides just sit still. That''s why i used a few skills to allow myself to be able to stand up and find someone important to speak with."


    This introduction hade after a life mage had brought over some of the monster blood taking from the monsters that perished when the ruins were returned to the surface. It was clear that this blood had been boosted with some skills by the life mage.


    While the life mages of the angels still have extremely limited skills due to the difficulty of learning to harness life mana, he still had very strong skills. He had used the innate life mana of the vampire before him to better absorb the nutrients from the monster blood.


    This rapidly increased the state of the life mana researcher Gloria. Her face looked slightly less gaunt while her hair regained a silvery color instead of a pale and dull milk white color. Beyond that, it was evident that the life mana residing in the dead monster blood had been boosted with some form of buff skill by the life mage. A unique skill that Walker wondered about.


    Unfortunately, he had to step on his curiosity before it ran away with him. He could sit there and meditate for days about life mana. He did not have that right now. He had to focus on the tasks at hand. Help the vampires. Then, begin to process what he had learned about the vampire race and the demon lord. From there, he would pursue the war with the demon lord.


    "I lost all my research to familial disputes five times. I was forced to start over with the test subjects, the collected information, and even the books I wrote and wanted to publish which were locked up and kept away from me. I wasn''t even allowed to reference my own notes depending on which family was in control of the researchb I lived in."


    ''Lived in? You were made to live in yourb?" Su felt this sounded more like a prison. No one should be forced to live in one ce and never go any where else.


    "No, not forced, choose. It was better to remain there than out in the city where I could be captured by another family. My research was based on the ability to walk within the sunlight without suffering a negative effect from the sun itself."


    "So, vampires do not burn up in the light? We saw some of that." Walker was testing Gloria. He still had a feeling that the vampire''s had their odd beliefs. Some that would not ept the other races right away.


    "When wwe be monsters, we can no longer walk in the sun. but as you can see, it is only making many of us pass out or slow down. Especially me. You saw the effects of my body before you had this life mage assist me and feed me." Gloria was trying her best to show her sincerity, but this was a foreign event for her.


    "I only knew of a few life mages within the vampire race. They were sought after since we can siphon life mana from living beings. Some of the most powerful can do it through touch. But that is rarer than being a life mage or life researcher like I am. It is moremon to have a darkness or blood rted system affinity. The blood stalkers are the scariest."


    "Royal family guardians. Only to the purest of bloodlines. They seek out the purest blood and bring it together. Protect it whether they want it or not. Vampire blood is mixed between others. Normal events. But often, that causes multiple changes to create a purer blood at times."


    Gloria was just rambling. It reminded Walker of the other researchers he had met. Tangents that ran off. However, Su was thinking differently. Gloria reminded her of Walker when he found new magic skills to learn. Or was studying different manas that made Walke think alittle too much.


    "I could never focus on the life mana bolstering the ability to resist the sun. Even if I could keep the weakness to just darkness and blood affinity, it was very temporary. But I could inspire the regeneration skill to appear in some more pure vampires. Not that other races can''t awaken this skill. It''s just infinitely rarer."


    "We understand. But you said test subjects. Experiments. What kids. Who did you test on?" This stopped Gloria. She felt the threatin Scy''s voice. Scy had listened as Walker and Su evaluated the vampire that they had sat down under a healing tent with the life mage. She was quiet and respectful since she was also still feeling out the vampire race as a whole.


    "Bats mostly. We have many blood kin bats that were created from our own blood. So it was more like my own body was made in to experimental subjects. Or better served, I used myself." the confusion on Gloria''s face slowly faded away as she realized how little they knew about the vampires.


    "Why are there no other vampires? Why are there no people here that know about us?" This was a shaky question. It was clear that there was some mimunication.


    Yes, this was a ce sealed away. But there was always hope that some nomadic vampires survived elsewhere. That the history of vampires had remained for the other races to know. That they would understand the grand history that spanned for a very many years of the vampire race.


    Even the thought that Gloria had rted to the vampires being hunted down to free them after seeing their historical ruins elsewhere had settled in her mind. She wanted to believe that the people where hade to rescue her and not just fight the demon lord and monster that had controlled and fought them.


    "Vampires were believed to be an extinct race for some time. Even the immortal chasers are extinct. The only one left was one called Immortal king. He told us about your race since he is the only remaining being other than the demon lord to know. I am sorry to say, but you were freed because the demon lord wanted to steal something from a vault."


    "We are the founders of an alliance, the Genesis alliance of all races. We freed the demons from the demon lord and their power driven society. Then we pursued the remainder of the demon forces. We helped the angels unite and fight against the demon lord''s ns. And now we pursue a war with the demon lord and the corruptedundead he controls."


    "We are just lucky to be able to free your race and wee you in to the world again. This time, in a more peaceful time than before." Walker wanted to say more, but he realized that his distrust had worked against them. He had missed the fact that these vampires were in the dark.


    They had knowledge of things from many years ago. Not now. Therefore, they werepletely blind to the state of the world or what might be right now. He had lost himself in the current events. Forgetting that he should cater to their needs since they were victims right now.


    "Then I start over again¡­ my research that is." Gloria looked at the ruins outside the healer''s tent. The open canvas allowing her to see outside all the way to the ruins from where it stood.


    "I did recover all of the records of history. All the research documents. And whatever other books or tomes from the vault. Everything will be avable within Genesis for any vampire to read. We will even make copies. Your history may be taking a new path here, but it will not be forgotten."


    Su reached out a hand and ced it on Gloria''s shoulder as her stunned gaze drifted baack to focus on the two. "Then I think I will be helping youa bit. Besides my position as a life researcher. I am one of the youngest children of thest reigning family of vampire nobility. I have a rightful position as the new ruler of vampires. It''s why I am able to sense all of my fellow vampires. Why I am recovering faster. I am connected to them through blood."


    This statement was another mystery. But Walker just nodded. He did not have anything more to ask right now. He knew that Gloria would need time. Time to understand everything. time toe to terms with it all.


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 Chapter 2048 2048. Familiar Smell

    Chapter 2048 2048. Familiar Smell


    From that point in the conversion, Su and Walker began to learn a lot about the vampire race. Midnight on the other hand, had left a while ago since she had wanted to focus on other things. Things that might be a little more pressing in general plus, she could explore the ruins to see what might be lost there.


    Scy also took a major lead with Gloria. Even though Gloria was a life mana researcher, she was now the head of the vampire race. Their unique connection between one another due to their blood and racial skills making them very important.


    The reason Scy honed in on this was simple, some of the demi-human species had the same sentiments and abilities. There were the royal hive trait demi-humans that shared traits with a species of honey bee monster. There were the bat demi-humans, and even the ant trait demi-humans. They all possessed unique connections to one another.


    While some of them had mental connections that allowed speech to one another, others shared emotional bonds. The vampire race had something different.


    They had unique affinity for blood and the odd mana associated with it. That was besides the darkness affinities that they had. Therefore, when they had enough of their own blood, they could bring strength to themselves by being with one another. Hence why vampires preferred to be together in general.


    Along with that, Gloria was clearly gaining strength from all the vampires that were being helped and healed. That was because they were able to properly gain their mana back and their nutrients back. Their strength was her strength in away. As their queen. She would be the one to represent them as a race. It was somewhat exactly what genesis was about.


    The representatives would stand as the ones to speak for all their people. Each race had one for this reason. Now the vampires had one. The strength of Gloria''s noble blood allowing her to tap in to more of the innate vampire skills every vampire was born with. Especially to a greater degree.


    It was an enlightening moment that Scy epted quickly. She also knew that the bettering of Gloria''s own health would have an effect on the vampire race as a whole. Therefore, she took the lead of this and after speaking a little longer, pushed away Walker and Su. mainly because she wanted to ensure that there was less stress. More talk about life mana couldeter.


    Scy also wanted Walker and Su to handle other things. They were two of the major yers in this entire battle. They had to share more information with the royal dragons so that everyone was on the same page.


    While this all happened, Midnight''s wanderings brought her past the efforts of Alma and Gil to make these ruins in to a memorial for the vampire race. She held the sentiment and appreciated it. She could also sense when Walker had gotten the news of these things. She felt warmer to be a part of that.


    However, the exploration she had in mind was focused on what Walker had mentioned.


    He had been able to go to the vault within the main castle of the vampires. He had managed to gain knowledge from many books that he would read and copy so that the vampire race did not lose their history.


    While Midnight herself was still missing a great depth of knowledge when it came to the dragon race, she wanted to ensure that no race lost their history. It was where they originated. It was important to who they had developed over more years than anyone could count. It was how mistakes would not happen again.


    "So that''s where you went. Everyone else moved away and went here and there ditching me." Remey looked angry. Naturally, Midnight was surprised that Remey was even here.


    Everyone had expected that Remey would stay with the main forces and remain making potions. But for her to head here meant that she might have had simr ideas to Midnight. Or, she had butted heads with someone.


    "I go to make more potions, and Ignus stops me. Says that I should keep saving my mana. I should save all my energy and rest. But who else is resting? Just because I used a lot of mana doesn''t mean that I can''t use a little more." Remey''s cheeks puffed out as she clenched her fists.


    It was only a moment though, she definitely knew that Ignus had stopped her for safety. Her situation was now delicate. She relied on purer fire mana than what was easily avable in the world as a whole. She had to ensure that she was getting enough at all times.


    "Explore with me." Midnight had long taken her dragonkin form. She looked at Remey with sharp eyes. Enough focus that Remey felt that she had now ay or ability to say now to Midnight.


    "Fine fine fiiinnne. We can explore. But what are we looking for?" Remey was clearly not opposed to exploring a little. She was curious about what herbs or even small remains of alchemy materials might be in this ce.


    The ruins had been sealed, which meant that the mana and other aspects within these ruins might have developed in unique ways. Herbs might have changed to suit this environment. The materials they found might have taken on new affinities. And the tools that vampires used might have been different due to how their society developed.


    "Lost history." The two words made Remey raise her eyebrows. She understood what Midnight was saying. Ignus hadmented multiple times about how the dragons had lost so much time because they did not have ess to the dominator dragon knowledge. They had lost a major piece of their own history for far too long.


    "Then we should check that really big building. There was one that I saw when I was punching those skeleton things." Remey pointed out toward arge section of copsed buildings. The battles had made many of the surrounding homes copse. The stone structures having been eroded by darkness mana and a lot of time.


    However, the standing structure, or at least the one with the majority of standing, was arger one. Larger stones had been cut and carved to ensure that it held arger roof which was mostly gone now. The pirs of stone were also carved a little more in depth than what the other ruined buildings looked like.


    "See? It''s very intricate. So I bet it was some sort of meeting ce or better." Remey was d that she remembered this. She also found it a little fun that she and Midnight could explore this ce a little ahead of others. The threats of monsters were null since they had all disintegrated or perished when the monstrous vampire was defeated.


    The only that was the slowly leaving corrupted floating city. But that was an entirely different issue.


    Looking at the ruinedrge structure, Midnight began to pull up arge stone that had blocked what was once an entrance. "Midnight, let me show you something. I bet you could do this with your ws. But, if I focus on the defense breaking palm and add a small amount of fire mana right in to my finger tips¡­"


    Remey struck out hitting the stone with her fingers. The crack and a small pop of fire mana was enough to crack the stone and made it easier to move without issue. "It''s interesting right? You have sharp ws and can use all the manas. Make this like, explosive ws or piercing ws." Remey smirked when she saw that Midnight was wide eyed and interested.


    Naturally, as they moved more stones, Midnight tried to replicate what Remey had done until they had a clear entrance in to the dark. A small ball of fire formed in Remey''s hand acting as a light. Midnight and her could easily see with their eyes anyways, but the light showed off better details.


    That wasn''t what interested them any more though. Midnight''s nose picked up an oddly familiar scent. And since Remey was a dragon soul now, she could sense the very same thing that Midnight sensed.


    "Dragon?"


    "I can feel it too. There shouldn''t be anyone here though. Thonly Teron or Mordant could have gotten in here without making a mess¡­" Remey felt that they had found something odd.


    "Was this a temple or something?"


    That was no sooner said out loud before Midnight started to delve in to the ruined structure even more. The pair finding the broken and barely recognizable statues of vampires and lizard like monsters. A more telling example of what they believed might have some connections to the odd scent of a dragon that they could smell. The potential for a dragon material or dragon to be here.


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 Chapter 2049 2049. Lost Piece Of History

    Chapter 2049 2049. Lost Piece Of History


    Both Midnight and Remey were questioning themselves. This ancient ruin of a building couldn''t have the second or the feel of a dragon. The statues couldn''t be a dragon. They had to be some sort of lizard. They both had to be sensing and smelling some dragon remains from ancient times that were stored here. All of this was more usible. The vampire race had been taken over by a monster of their own making. They couldn''t have managed to upkeep any temples. They couldn''t have managed to keep any valuable draconic history within. There couldn''t be a single bit of evidence that a dragon had even been here. "Midnight, that statue head, it looks like a dragon with more spikes than normal." Remey had calmed her heart which was trying to start beating faster yet again. The entire feeling of this ruined temple made her body react as if it was getting closer to something calling out to her. The statue head in question, was a dragon head, a longer snout and needle like teeth. On its head, instead of horns as some dragons had, it had spikes which reminded the two of them of wyverns. But they were more clean cut and pronounced. These spikes would have followed the neck making them an extension of sharper scales if the status had not crumbled from that point lower. It only left Midnight and Remey wondering just what they were on to here. "More of them." Midnight caught sight of more of these statues. Each one showing off slightly different variations of the same dragons. Or at least, the same dragon species. It made her feel as if her scales were going cold. Not in a bad way though. It was the feeling that she had not known that this sort of thing could exists. Like she was stumbling on to a piece of lost history from the ancient years before the dragons had properly refined themselves. Or even before they had begun to create their own viges with intelligence. "There is more space behind that falled wall there. I bet that it''s some sort of meeting area?" Remey curiously decked around the edge of the fallen wall and froze on the spot. Midnight''s curiosity brought her right next to Remey only to freeze as well. The wall had been blocking off what had once been an entrance to a massive chamber. Enough for any of the royal dragons to walk in to if they had desired. All the building around had just copsed and helped block off what had been a muchrger standing temple. Not in width, but in height. A dragon wouldn''t even need to duck under anything to enter this temple.. What was even more striking, were the steps. They were made so that there could be smaller beings that walked down many steps or arger being that could step down a few times and reach the bottom. As Remey and Midnight began to race downwards, they both sense the increase in what they could only call a shout for help. A sense that there was something weak needing protection. Their blood and souls vibrating in the anticipation of them reaching it. The very instincts were alive like no other time. When they reached the steps bottom, they found a singr pedestal. Multiple had once been there, but there was clearly nothing to put on them. They had all crumbled or broken. But the remaining one was glowing with vampiric runes. Powerful waves of mana radiated from them as their damaged rune portions allowed mana to seep out. From the rune''s both Remey and Midnight sensed a clearly draconic aura. A scent that was something telling of what any living dragon should let off. On top of the pir surrounded by a crumbling vail of mana, was what neither Remey or Midnight expect to see in a ce like this. "Dragon egg." Remey and Midnight shared this exmation. However, it was more like a whisper. They weren''t sure if they were actually seeing this here at all. But as they took tentative steps to look closer, they noticed something else. In draconic runes and anothernguage that must be a more ancient form of vampirenguage, was written a great deal. Midnight used a small burst of wind breath to push away dust. The words became clearer and were being tranted by the system of the world so that they could read them. Remey chose to read out loud as they looked at them. It just felt right. "Weep. for thest of the vampire dragon species is about to perish against the foes of the vampire race. Weep. for the remaining child may never hatch as the leader of vampires has chosen a path of great evil. Weep. for the vampires are enved to madness. Weep. for the end of my life is the end of thest living elder vampire dragon who will not be controlled and fall from my noble height."


    Both Midnight and Remey shivered reading this. A species of dragon lost to time. One that was wiped out and thest ending itself since it refused to be enved by a monster. The pride of a dragon an absolute even in more ancient times. "Weep tears of blood for the child if the runes withstand the onught of time and cruel evil. Weep tears of blood for the rebirth of the child and the vampire dragon races. Weep for the howling vampire dragons of wind and storms. Weep for the rumbling vampire dragons of me and earth. Weep for the hissing vampire dragons of darkness and blood."


    "I weep my blood on these runes. Behold my tears. Behold my soul. Behold thest of what I was¡­" Remey and Midnight noticed the slight red tint under the runes. They were not res because of their vampiric and draconic nature. No, they were red because they carried the very mana left behind from a dragon that had given the remainder of its lifespan, mana, and more to these runes to protect an egg. Through the attacks from vampiric monsters, this egg remained. Through the test of time, this egg remained. "Midnight, it saws to shed tears of blood. That might mean to bleed on it. We both have the right blood for it." Midnight was already moving. Remey had to catch up to her since Midnight was already holding a hand over the pedestal. Both used their sharper nails to make a single small cut on their hands. Noth their instincts said this was right and their own intuition. While the others of the party might think them crazy, this was clearly the right thing to do. When a drop of their blood hit the runes in the air, they shattered and crumbled away. The blood hit the red and ck egg on the pedestal. Mana rushed toward it instantly. Darkness mana and a more mysterious form of mana that Midnight and Remey felt was simr to life mana. Regardless of that, the red and ck lines on the egg glowed a few times before going dormant again. But now, the two could feel a slight connection with the egg. Like they knew it would hatch and that it was awakened in a way. A slight cry of mana came from the egg. It was like it was wishing for more mana. For it to be able to be brought somewhere more befitting of its affinity. Like it was crying out to a mother that was no longer there. "We are taking it with us, right?" Remey looked at Midnight''s resolute nodding. They both had the same instincts. The same desires. Whether they had found this egg and it would be a good thing or not, they would care for it. They would ensure that the little life within had a chance. That whatever history was lost would have a chance to blossom again. They believed this with all that they were. If they could be seen by the ancient vampire dragon that had perished here in sacrificing all that it was, then it would be praising them. The pride for the dragon race in all that it was no matter what was still strong. That even those that were not necessarily born dragons were upholding it beyond a benefit of the doubt. Midnight hugged the egg. She believed that between her and Remey, that they would seed in protecting this little one. The only thing that weighed in their minds were the other dragons. How would they react to yet another piece of lost history that even their eldest dragon did not recall. The dragon that literally kept their history had no knowledge of such a dragon species existing from so many years ago. It would break their mentalities. ¡­


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 Chapter 2050 2050. Another Missing Piece

    Chapter 2050 2050. Another Missing Piece


    "I aming Midnight, why are you so excited?" Walker could sense that Midnight desperately wanted him toe to her. But he had no idea why. Just that she was very excited and very happy. More than she had been in some time. The fact that he and the others were helping the vampires and helping create a better ce within these ruins was just part of what was happening. He was also taking the time to exin to the other leader of the Genesis forces what their next move might be. The knowledge that there was some fragment that attacked the word to the elemental nes was shocking enough. Now one had heard of this since the knowledge was more or less lost to time. That made sense with how the ancient times were. Violent and full of monsters or wars. They would never have been able to keep this knowledge. Even the angels'' ruins had never mentioned something like that. Therefore, it was also incredibly rare that a fragment of elemental anything would appear. The studies that came together just to discover and use the knowledge that came with this fragment would not be easy to understand. It was also lost and in pieces due to the inner fighting of the vampires. While in ancient times, the vampire race had fought one another for superiority. They had fallen victim to the greatest downfall of intelligent races, themselves. They allowed their emotions to counter their ubiquity. They allowed their sins to outweigh themselves when it came to their survivability. When they realized these things, a monster had already enved the remainder of the race. Ahd already caused a lot of losses that could not be recovered. Furthermore, there was a lot of lost intelligence since the vampires enved could continue their research, preservation of research, or anything else rted to it. "You can''t sense it yet?" When Ventusnded beside Walker, she looked at him curiously. She had expected that Walker would be the one to sense things first. He had more sensitivity.to mana. More focus on his bonds. And overall, just more intuition in general. "Ah, I am amother. I was the more recent dragon to have eggs around to protect. Of course I would sense the cry of a young one." The mumbling made Walker wonder what Ventus was saying, but the tone she spoke in was too little. It was more clear that she was intentionally hiding the details from him. And her follow up smile made him very certain of this. "Midnight, there you are." Walker was surprised that Remey and Midnight had pushed away a lot of crumbling rubble from some of the ruins. They had made a fairly clean and clear space where they could sit down with even more space to move around. It was saver odd that they would do this, but resting somewhere withfort wasn''t something that Walker would be unhappy with. "Finally, Midnight thought that you would let us sit here for ages." Remey tried to reprimand Walker, but her small smile made him understand that she was more than excited that he hade too. "Just give them a moment. You rushed here, now let them share what they have to share. And make sure that Sues along too. She will be very happy to understand the feeling from that little one." Walker furrowed his brow when he heard Ventus mention that little one. He didn''t know what Su would be interested in whatever was going on. "Close your eyes, and when you open them, use the all around appraisal right away." Midnight nodded a few times to support what Remey had said. Naturally, Walker would not say anything against it. He had to just go along with what he was asked. Closing his eyes, he heard Ventus gasp softly before making a small growling noise that could be better described as a pur. It was a peaceful note that made Walker feel that he was seeing a side of a dragon that he had not been able to witness. That he couldn''t mimic either. He justcked the knowledge because hecked an experience behind it. As his eyes opened and focused on the red and ck striped egg, Walker activated the all around appraisal skill only to wonder how wide his eyes could open. ''Vampiric blood and shadow dragon egg. Thest of the vampire dragon species of dragon, this egg was kept dormant by a mother''s life sacrifice. Using the nearly immortal life span and all the mana that came with it, runes were embedded around and on this egg to allow it to survive as long as possible for there to be a willing dragon to rescue and care for it. Due to this, it is in dire need of mana from the surrounding. Darkness mana will feed its soul, and blood can allow it to strengthen its body. If done correctly, this dragon can hatch and be allowed to grow in the world to return it species of dragon that used to reign powerfully over the vampire race alongside the strongest of vampires. While it has the affinity for darkness and a sub set of life mana, blood, it holds the concentrated blood of the vampire dragon overall. Therefore, it can return other species of vampire dragons back to the world if it is able to reproduce when it is of age. It also has the very high potential to be able to be an arch vampire dragon. The highest of vampiric dragons that can live among the vampires. They are known for their knowledge and their deep bond with other vampires. This is why they once stood as some of the staunch protectors of their vampire counter parts along with living amongst them in vampire forms. They may be lost to the world for a long period of time, but they were a connection that allowed the greater understanding of manas that the dragon race has lost due to the splitting of their race many generations ago¡­''


    This was another pieces of history that Walker was stunned by. He quickly exined to Ventus everything he had just learned. Even Remey and Midnight were more excited seeing what they had learned from the all around appraisal. They had no idea what they might learn. What they might not know. But this was amazing to say the least. "We will have to raise it. The vampires will have an important symbol that they might not remember returned to them. The dragons, well, we will have a pieces of your race returned to us that was nearly lost forever." Ventus cooed as she caressed the little egg. Ehr motherly instincts fully awakening even though her children had grown older and were on their own journeys to test themselves. "And even if this is just a way for the dragon race to be a little more whole, I wish to learn more. We might have records in that castle about the dragons that used to live here. Abitu what the system appraisal means when it came to splitting of your race. Not that I can''t guess." us looked at Walker who already grasped what she meant. "Many dragons used to go to the elemental nes on their own. We already know that dominator dragons needed to so that they could grow. We learned that in the ruins and form the tablets. But we now knew that there might be more dragons there than what we know. Especially since many years passed without dominator dragons existing." It made a lot of sense that the dragon race was split between these elemental nes and the world. The space between them was corrupted, chaotic mana, that they could not reverse. The royal dragons had attempted that int he past. Many of them leaving their positions to the younger royal dragoons only to disappear in to that vid of chaos. Or to be told that they should never try and go there due to the dangers. Mordant was the only one that had seen a portion of this. When he slipped deep in the shadows to travel through the darkness to get somewhere faster, he would be able to sense the darkness elemental ne. But he knew trying to get to it was dangerous. Was something that would get him killed. He knew better than to attempt that. "So, we are going to find the best person to raise this dragon so that they can be strong enough, right Walker?" Midnight and Remey looked at Walker when Remey spoke. She could care less about the history of things. She wanted to ensure that the little egg that Midnight had scooped back up in ahug had a future. They had found something precious after all. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2051. Future Terrain Issues

    2051 2051. Future Terrain Issues


    As the other royal dragons arrived to witness the egg that had been found, Midnight and Remey stood proudly. They also found that they had no choice but to take the royal dragon to the ruined temple that they had found. Even when some of the healthier vampires had been asked, they could not recall when they hadst seen the temple standing. So many years of torment had left them with very minimal knowledge about their own city. The state of their ruined city was ever changing now too. The farmers and Alma were leading a regrowth effort to change things massively. Especially when the life mages got involved. They could not necessarily grown anything, but they knew how to use buffing skills that helped the nts use their full nutrients. Basically, the changes were so great that even if the vampire recognized the ruined states of their buildings and other structures, they would be unable to properly navigate them. Not that it was a bad thing. The vampires that could get up and move about were mostly speaking about how they wished to leave. So see the world. Many years of being trapped in a sealed location under the rule of a literal monster had changed their races'' entire perspective. Their desire to fight themselves for power with the strongest bloodline had faded a decent bit. While Gloria was still feeling the benefits of bing a leader with the strongest bloodline, that did not change that the vampires wanted to explore the world now. It was even better in away though. From what the healed vampires could tell, Genes was very open to that. The alliance was willing to offer them a hand to more than just change the way that they saw the world. They Were willing to allow them entirely to enter their alliance with the requirements that they did not harm. That the vampire race joined to grow alongside all races. Very few did not agree with this. The stubborn ones were quickly silenced though. Not because they were inly wrong, but because the vampires healthier already made it clear that this mentality was what ended them in a terrible situation for more years than what they could count. Walker felt that he wanted to see this ruined temple as well, but he found himself with many more pressing matters to attend to. "When we finished circling the areas that were raised up to allow for those ruins to be blocked off from the water, we found that the skeletons used to make that massive wall were trying int in stone." Leon had made a way through the waters around the ruined vampire city carefully. The facts that the skeletons of many monsters and other undead had been forced toe back just to be used asa material for a wall was ridiculous. Especially since it was a skill that caused a massive amount of devastation and corrupted mana to leak around the entire area. Since there were those that could sue natural mana to stave off the corrupted mana, things were fine for now on that front. But there was another issue, the skeletons and undead had turned to stone. This left a massive stone wall made from what had once been undead monsters and other beings that the demon lord had killed, being left to change the way the entire area flowed when it came to nature. The wall would stop the water from covering parts of the beach that had once been flooded by salt water. There were already under the sand monsters and animals being forced up to die to the changes in the water. Not to mention the seeping water through the sands that had pooled up leaving stagnant water sitting all around the ruins. Even if the elves were to make the entire city a better ce for nts, they could jot prevent the future stagnation of water and rot that woulde. It would overall cause disease and illness in the area. Most likely spreading to the marshnds every single time there was rain or storms that made that toxic rotting water move. The future was bleach for the direct area. Therefore, Walker found himself facing the issue. The only dragon that did not pursue the temple that had been discovered. Mostly because erthe earth dragons hada lot of varying feelings about raising young. Hence the earth dragons being left within caves to naturally grow until they found other earth dragons. Or they would just be rogue dragons. That was besides the point though. Terron had seen the issue with the potential negative future. He also knew well that he could manipte enough hearth to create a more solid wall that would not potentially crumble like the stone that the bones and undead were turning in to. "Well, the undead might be changing in to stone because the skills are faulty. More so because it was used by the immortal king before, a purer skill not influenced by the corrupted manas. But the demon lord used it while he was corrupted by chaotic manas. So the results would be different. Actually, it''s a wonder he is still sane¡­ well, he may not be at all." Walker realized what a fool he sounded like saying that a literal demon lord was sane. Many of the things the demon lord had done showed a true insanity. An evil that only came from madness. It would be odd to say he was sane. "The corrupted mana shouldn''t be an issue. If Terron handles the structure, then you can handle how the water will flow bypressing the sands in to channels making it arger marshnd territory. It will also allow the monsters and animals that were not killed a chance to grow." Leon saw what the best method would be and jumped on it with Terron. The two would make sure that everything was perfect while Leon managed to have the demi-human, merfolk, and water left forces swim through the waters to check everything for damages or general issues. "Then I will start during that. Alma and Gil might get a little annoyed that we are making risky decisions while they work on nts and bringing things to life there. But, they will just have to extend that to the marshnd grasses too." Walker felt a little bad, but knew that this was the best choice. He could also see that there would be more issues if the wall of stone bones broke. The flood of held back water would cause many gallons of salt water to rush through the area again. More monsters would die. More nts would die. And the ruins would be partially submerged leaving them to be even more dangerous. The homes for aquatic monsters alone would be an issue. The more dangerous monsters could take up homes in the partially submerged city. It would make any shop traveling here at major risk. Furthermore, the partially aquatic monsters would have a ce to hide when they were hunting on the shore. Then they could also hit and run on travelers on the beaches. Plenty of other issues could arise, but Walker shook himself away from these thoughts. "Looking at the maps, I will start with thai span of sand." Walker pointed it out and waved over a group of earth mages that had naturally gravitated toward Terron. They wanted to be around him so that they could learn more about the earth mana that he used. It was a very pure earth mana that was much better for the fact that he was a dominator dragon. Using less of that pure mana was going the same, and better, results as the earth mages could perform with their regr skills. They had to learn while they could. Having a team with him, Walker pushed aside all other feelings of manas around him. He solely focused on the high earth sculpting skills and the condensation skill he had. Butbining these two, he could sue the earth mana being drawn in by his maniption and the earth mages. Having that backbone of earth mages to help was what caused the first rumble of earth that shook the entire ruins. Gil jumped up from where he had been resting for the moment. He noticed that Terron was approaching the wall of undead turned stone and that arge number of mages in the nearly created sand ts. But he was more amazed by the fact that the eternal codex was channeling massive amounts of earth mana. That Walker, was raising a literal terrain of dense sand stone all through the earth ts as he walked. It was something that walker and he would never have imagined when they had first spoken about Walker taking the role of mage in the party. ¡­


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    Creation is hard, cheer me up! N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2052. Expanded Marsh

    2052 2052. Expanded Marsh N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Shaping the world felt wrong. In Walker''s mind, he could say that he didn''t want to change the way that nature flowed. It felt wrong. Even the mana felt somewhat unwilling. However, that was just part of what he felt was wrong. He could sense that the manas around were struggling to flow in general with how much the entire area had changed right away. Especially since there had been a lot of corrupted mana that was used all at once to create a wall of bones bing stone, raise a ruin from the water, and even corrupted monsters around here. Beyond that, there was the simple fact that this area had been bathed in mana to force that corrupted and chaotic mana away. It had changed the growth rate and ecosystem as a whole already. Therefore, the mana was not able to settle and begin finding the flow of how it should be moving. Therefore, Walker focused on the earth mana with much more mental strength than before. He felt that he had to use the sands that had been uncovered and washed up with the massive wave of saltwater to be able to create what should be a marshnd. He also decided to use it as a way to create a path to these ruins. The simple t salt water area had already begun to allow thin pools of salt water all over. This caused some of the monsters and animals around to congregate within them. Most too afraid to move around or show themselves. They didn''t even fight their predators or prey that were right beside them. That Was just to show what happens when it came to trauma. Even nature could feel trauma and change the ways that it acted to protect the very fabric of where it lived. How it survived. This had prompted many of the tamers guild members present to begin their efforts. While they often did not work together or were used to their own ways, they easily banned together with many of the genesis forces much more fluidly when they saw these issues. Many of the monsters were guided out of the dangerous areas where the mages were working. Many were easily moved using other methods, the tamered monsters of the tamers. This process is a little harder since the monster tamed were not necessarily as delicate and the tamer were. However, it proved sessful as the time went on. This was one reason that the earth mages were so confident in working with Walker. They already knew that with their mana being gathered toward him, that he was able to utilize it much more clearly and in a defined manner. This was simply because they had smaller control of mana as mages versus Walker who had control over the earth mana in a way that worked with other manas around it. The eternal codex was also massively boosting the abilities to gather manas and manipte it. Walker had his heart and soul bound to this item. He was sure that no matter what, that the eternal codex would always work best with anything he did. Hence, he pushed himself a little more in this situation. As the sand condensed and raised slightly, the ces that marsh gasses and other bushes could grow only became more plentiful. Each section mimicked the way that the marshnds were when Walker had arrived. He was just building a temte for them to expand.


    The ces where the waters coulde in and around the ruins instead of flooding them waspletely controlled by the marsh that was being created here. Since the water woulde in with the tide, the pools needed to be deeper with a propeller flow. This was also for the monsters and animals. They would need to be able to dig in to the underlying sands which would create new flows of water and manas. They would even be able to tap in to the naturally flowing underground water ways that the marsh was known for. A hidden and unique ce full of life. When the paths of sand were shaped, Walker began pushing soem fo the sand up in toa denser stone. A solid path to walk right to the ruins of the vampire castles that were being changed from a deathly depressing ce in to a slowly growing wilderness. The ruins were still clear, but smaller sections of it had blossomed in to nts. Greenery matching the nearby area. That was all thanks to Alma taking the lead to rebirth the ruined area known only for the envement of the vampire race at this point. It is being reborn so that nature could wash away the evils that had happened there. Feeling that there was a better chance to change things, Walker called on the natural mana around. The manas that had seemingly been in disarray nearby suddenly took that as an invitation. There was a flow able to be established because of the changes to the sands. One that would have taken generations to happen after the stagnant water had broken down the ruins that they surrounded. After the area had been poisoned for so long. That was the step that was skipped. Instead of a toxic bog of salt water and rot, this area had been changed to prevent that step in natural reformation. Now, there was an environment where the natural flow could be established. Where the pants and animals of the entire area could explore so that they could begin making this what it should be. "It''s very amazing to watch all this happen. To know that as mages, we can even shape the world." one mage spoke, many others agreed right away. The reason that they felt this was simple, they had been earth mages. Just studying earth mana and trying to gain knowledge. Not using that knowledge for much other than more studying. With Walker as their guide of sorts, they were able to see why they studied. What they could achieve if they were to reach higher levels of elemental understanding. Especially if they pursued the ways of nature besides their ways of earth maniption and learning. It would normally take years to cause a change with mana like this. Earth mages could have gathered and worked for years to do all this. But the child, not so much anymore, in front of them had many achievements. Achievements that caused many to look ahead at unrealized potential that they could also reach. "I need a little help. The smaller inds of sand where we can allowrge marshnd bushes to grow need to be built up. On the edges of where we are working." Walker brought the attention to the edges of the areas they had just reformed. These ces were the roughest and would cause an interruption for water flow and for manas. Therefore, if he split the groups up, they could all focus on making this a seamless transition. Some areas had already been connected allowing for the flow of water from the marshes already. That water was causing some of the pools to form and flow which was exactly what was needed. Whoever, it also showed the issues present. ces where the water was being stopped. Where whirlpools formed. Where water shed and became choppy. This was everything that ended up being changed by the earth mages. They were replicating nature after all. They had to be observant and feel what was right. It was only bing easier as Walker pushed them to sense the ways that earth wanted to flow. That the natural mana also had a say in this. As it only settled where it felt it should be. Saying that the mana had a mind of its own was simply too littlepared to what was actually happened. The world flowed as its own entity. What they were doing was just helping it maintain that flow as it wanted. Those witnessing it could sense all of that. Could feel that the manas around them were beginning to flow as they should flow. This only doubled up when there was arger shaking. The sands pulled in from deep in the ocean by Terron had just begun to condense and be a wall of sand stone that would cover and be more solid. It was taking the ce of where the bones and begun to turn to stone. The undead that had been used as simple materials were not being wasted. They were being put to rest somewhere where they would be able to help the very area that they were taken from. A way to calm their souls so to speak. To return them to nature and even protect the nature that they had been brutally taken from. This sight filled Walker with even more determination. Determination that pushed aside his headache he gained from using too much mana. The natural mana also worked to calm him and refocus him. There was a great deal of work to do still. ¡­


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 Chapter 2053. The Average Shock

    2053 2053. The Average Shock


    When Walker heard a roar from behind him, he knew which dragon other than Terron had just arrived. He knew very well the only dragon that would have a deep understanding and belief when it came to the flow of the marshnds. Without much hesitation, he began to move the earth mages away. He had a feeling that they would easily get swept up in the flow of water that wasing due to that roar. Even they could sense therge amount of water mana that had just been channeled in to the area. "Current! Try and focus on those edges! They need some smoothing out!" Walker saw that Current had taken his full dominator dragon form. Simply because that was the best way for him to manipte therge area full of water mana. As Current did so, the marshnds water flow began to spread. He wasn''t forcing it to fill up faster, instead, he was using the water that was returning with the high tide to make its way toward the empty areas first. This would have happened over the course of months, but with Current, it is happening over the course of an hour. The speed was also enough to wash away excess sands that would have slowly been sifted out of the marshnds as time went on. that would lead to sand bars which could further block the flow of water. Right now, they were being prevented since the sand was being forced out to the edges and in to the natural flow of water. While feeling a little foolish once Walker began to actually sense the ways that the water ana wasmoving, he quickly began to spread the natural mana that he had gathered out along the entire area. Simply because, he could see that the water mana was being used to guide the flow of the water exactly as it should flow. Not in the ways that everyone assumed it would flow or if it was being made to flow, but the way it would flow if it was naturally filling the space due to the tides. Current understood the flow of water much better than anyone else. Even though he had not spent a great deal of time here, he could find the ways that the water flowed through the marshnds. He could sense it. This was just part of his bond with water and nature as a whole. Water could speak to him in a way. He could sense what way it was supposed to slow. Feel the way that it would fall even if it was rain. If someone were to ask him how he knew, he would say that water flowed through him. That he was water and water was him. As a dominator dragon, he possessed the purity of water mana to make water bend to his will. But that would limit him. As he knew that forcing mana to flow a certain way against its natural will would only produce a weakness. But using the mana and focusing on the natural flow of how it should be, he knew very well that he could sense how the water flowed within the normal marshes. How it would be away at the more solid sand areas,ter depositing softer silt in other ces. It would break down the sands in to a fine mud that the monsters and animals would hide in. 09:33


    But using the mana and focusing on the natural flow of how it should be, he knew very well that he could sense how the water flowed within the normal marshes. How it would be away at the more solid sand areas,ter depositing softer silt in other ces. It would break down the sands in to a fine mud that the monsters and animals would hide in. These small details and many more would lead to a better environment overall. It was also why the water flooded the area and left the risen spots untouched. It allowed for the nting and transference of other nts. The scene was witnessed by Alma who realized that she was long done preparing what she needed. She had distributed thousands of the seeds that she carried or were carried for her. All with small bits of her mana so that they would grow properly so that they would grow faster. That pushed her to make a move toward the new section of marshnds that had been created over the course of thest few hours. The massive area that had once been damaged and destined for destruction. She moved there with many of the most experienced farmers in tow. The movements were matched by the merfolk that were not busy patrolling nearby waters. These merfolk moved in to the flowing waters that Current was still bringing in. they carefully looked for anything that should not be there. Pieces of weapons or armors. Broken ruin parts that hade off during the battles. Even the simple facts that there might be rotting trees in the flowing water was something that they made note of so that they could be removed in need be. Their additional help speed things up but also made it clear. That the Genesis forces could literally rehabilitate a massive battle scene. That they could manipte the world''s manas enough to work with nature instead of force it along. ''The world smiles. The world waits.''


    A simple but immediate response from the systems of everyone present said enough that they could all understand. They were beingplimented, but the world could not reward them any further. Most likely because it was still interrupted by the corrupted manas that were not flowing all around and breaking the natural flow of manas. But that would not be the case for long. This entire building and checking happened for another three hours before anyone was able to walk away back toward the camps. The vampires that had walked out of the healing tents with their strength somewhat recovered had stopped and sat down. Their minds were in turmoil. Years septa trapped. Years spent suffering. Yet, now the monster that had done so was gone. The anger and rage they had pent up was also lost in this unique situation because they had no one to me or get revenge on. Yet, they still saw the wonders in front of them. No war happening between the vicious monsters as they remembered. Nobodying with armies to fight them. Just a joint alliance here to refurbish the damagednds. Take their ruins and make it green and new. It was such astriking difference that they believed they may be in an entirely different world. The only evidence of the grave and brutal past that they remembered being around was the distant figure of the corrupted floating city moving toward the ocean even deeper than before. That was the one shadow that was looming over the earth and whatever goals there was to be had to unite more people. "That''s just how it all goes. All of you are going to feel shocked like this for the entire time until you just get used to it. The Genesis alliance is bigger and more developed than what you are even imagining. Especially now that you are all joining us." Alice hade out to see the same sight. But when she took notice of the many vampires resting and watching, she felt the need to say a few words. Just to help them along. Everyone had these moments when they first came to Genesis. When they first met the party as a whole. So much had happened and so much was still happening. Even the people founding Genesis would be thrown for a loop every single day when something new was discovered. This was just their lives now. "Did you hear, a vampire dragon egg was found. Even your oldest history survived in that little egg. Maybe you will have a chance to meet it and watch it grow up besides other dragons." Alice continued to shock them. This time, she giggled a little seeing their recovering gaunt faces be even more surprised. She finally felt a little of what it must be like to be Walker. The person that consistently shocked everyone and everything that couldprehend his words. His actions. "Now, you should all rx more. Worry about how well you are healing so that you won''t die of shock when youe back to Genesis. The unique races all work together to build it. Even the dwarves made an underground area. No sun there if it will be morefortable for you." Alice saw them even more surprised. She stretched a little and waved to Walker who was slowly approaching. His eyes were a little downcast since he had mentally burned his energy focusing so much on the flows of manas over everything else. Regardless of the better understandings he had gained by doing so, he still felt the tiredness that came with that. "Alice, mind if I help you bandage and clean up? I could use a break from mana." Alice just giggled again before locking arms with Walker and making way back toward the healing tents. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2054. His Goals

    2054 2054. His Goals


    With The many things aplished, the topic finally fell on to things that no one wanted to bring up. "The corrupted city is moving further away. Too far away to easily follow." Ventus knew well that she was the only one that could easily leave thend and venture through the sky following the corrupted floating city. As the wind dominator dragon, she did not really need tond as long as she remained focused on the wind mana around her. "I could pursue it, but when I face some of the monsters asrge and even more unknown than I,..." Current knew well that some monsters in the vast oceans were a match for him at his size. Even as water dominator dragon, the monsters in the oceans could berge enough that they would cause him damage. Beyond that, they could make him lose track of the corrupted floating city. Bing only able to follow the currents of the ocean would lead Current away from his goals at that point.


    "We have no idea where the demon lord and his remaining follower is going. We only know that Sloth will most likely remain within the corrupted floating city since that is his sin title in action. That means we will also have to face two foes at once besides the legions of corrupted undead. And an undead wyvern dragon fusion. An abomination of a creature." The way that Scy put it, they were at a massive disadvantage. The Genesis forces could pursue the corrupted floating city with ships. They had made a few more with the assistance of the dwarves and the angels as well. This had massively improved their chances of trade along both continents without the teleportation rune formations. However, that was not enough. The dangers of the oceans were not small. Just sailing it through the open ocean once was enough to be thankful for. Again, it would seem somewhat impossible. Going further, to remain within the ocean while at war? Nearly impossible. That was all assuming that the demon lord didn''t kill and change more of the ocean monster sin to corrupted undead monsters that could fight for him. If that was the case, then the entire ocean could be a risky situation. An army of monsters that could not be handled. "I think we should focus on the item he gathered here. The demon lord did note here for the vampires or the knowledge that they had. He broke in to their vault to steal a fragment of elemental purity. An item known for being a potential bridge between our world and the elemental nes." "You mentioned that before Walker. But when you say that''s what else do you mean? What could it do? Isn''t it impossible to get to the elemental nes without potentially dying?" Gil''s focus was on the fact that he had no idea about the elemental nes being essible whatsoever. "Well, if it isan item that allows him to bridge two nes to us, that could be good. We can help the world return to what it should be. But the space between the elemental nes and our world. That is the issue." Everyone looked at Walker as they realized the risks of this. "If done wrong, then more corrupted manas will pour in to the world and ruin us. Everyone will be mindless, brutal, and corrupted monsters." Leon understood the massive risk here. While the demon lord had his ns, the world would suffer much worse. "That may be the goal, right? The demon lord hates the world itself and wants it destroyed?" From what Remey believed, this was the overall goal of the demon lord they fight. That the destruction of the world was the goal not the means or a side effect. "Then we will burn him to ash. He will not harm the world in which I exist." Ignus growled out trying to keep his anger on hold. To be fair, he had been fairly calm for arge amount of time due to his focus on pure fire elemental mana gathering. "Don''t think that would be the case. While purifying the world would be something he may do in his own twisted way. It feels wrong." Rise had been very distant. Her focus on other aspects of her new strength and also the usage of light against others. She had taken a domineering role in changing the way that others with light affinity used light mana. "And your theory is?" Mordant wanted to hear what Rise had to say. He had his own theories rted to gaining ever more power to an unknown end. "Well, there is something he needs a great deal of mana for. More than what is here. The elemental nes have pure mana of each form. Even ess to manas that are not dense within our world. Death, life, space, time, and maybe more. What if he wants this manas to bend the world to his will and potentially alter it entirely." "It just sounds like a bat throwing a tantrum and wanting everything to be his way. We should find a ce to fight him and handle it." Barry was blunt. This wasn''t unlike him, however, it was more forward than usual. "I see your sentiment there, but, I believe that sister and I believe that he has a different goal. Sister told me about the first time that my family saw the immortal king. The story of a boy who became a demon, then a monster." Onyx could recall this from when he was smaller. Midnight had shared the story with him through her eyes. Now that they were sitting in this position, there was a chance to take the story for another thing entirely. Changing the perspective to a more human side. A perspective that many of them were missing since they had only seen the demon lord as a monster from the start. "Onyx, you''re not saying that the story the immortal king told us might be the entire reason that the demon lord is looking for power? That the entire reason he went from herosystem user, to demon, to monster, is to regain what he lost?" Walker''s understanding of what Onyx was thinking hit everyone like a ton of bricks to the head. 10:53


    "That he pursued strength to gather enough knowledge to get what he needed. Years of weakness after fighting the immortal chasing trace left him slumbering. He took over the demons and grew in strength. Then broke in to their library''s secret area. Those were the ruins of angels who left the world." "From there, he learned that he could ess the elemental nes and even create undead that did not perish. That could rebuild themselves." Walker took a veryrge deep breath. The pressure around everyone felt heavier than before since they could grapes on to what the theory was at this point. "Then he gained the corrupted runes and tapped in to corrupted mana. He will use the fragment of elemental purity to use pure manas from any and all elemental nes, even corrupted manas, to bring back what was taken from him? Even if it ends everything. That''s what you think?" No one had words to speak out loud. Midnight had been thinking simr things as she understood humans a lot better since she had grown beside them. Onyx had just finished her and many other''s thoughts. Simply because he was able tomunicate with them and see the various points of view. "That just leaves us with where." Alma''s voice broke the silence that could have been heavier than any mana pressure that any of them gave off. No one wanted to guess what damage coulde of this or even if it was possible, yet here they were. "I believe that is where we will be of assistance." The voice came from a familiar natural alchemist. The disappearance and reappearance of the echidna was like trying to ask the world a direct question. It just didn''t have answers when it was wanted. They came as the world willed it. "There is a ce out there. Arge ind free of monsters or any life other than the ruins left behind by the lost race. The race that lost their forms and ascended beyond the mana that we know of. That ind houses the ruins of where they gave up their forms. It left a mark on the world. The ce in the world closest to the elemental nes." The natural alchemist was speaking sadly. It was clear she knew more because the world had shared it with her and her people. "Then that settles it. We need to prepare for a battle on that ind. In that ce closest to the elemental nes. Before the world and everything we know is forced to handle corrupted manas whole the elemental nes are damaged." Walker could see the dangers. Could see thest hurdle that they needed to ovee to remain safe. To have true peace. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2055. Guidance In Mana

    2055 2055. Guidance In Mana


    The decision to follow what the echidna had said was not hard. These were trusted people that had helped multiple times. The fact that most of the echidna had left again though, was what Walker focused on. That was why he had allowed himself to split from the meeting and speak with the natural alchemist again. "I was wondering, what have you all been doing?" He knew that it would be rted to handling the corruption. The chaotic manas were wreaking havoc on the world right now. It was not going away either. "Exactly what you think we have been. I was creating new potions that would help assist the usage of natural mana. However, we mostly received quests from the will of the world to journey to various other ces. Other continents." She looked carefully at Walker. "Well, I knew that there might be other continents other than the genesis alliance and the Sigil continent. Makes sense. The world is bigger than even I can explore in such a short time." It was really not a surprise at all to Walker. he would have easily guessed that the world was ten times bigger than what he knew. This was all assuming that the span of the elemental nes was something he could explore at all. He had no idea howrge they were and what things would be like if he were to go outside of the world to explore them. "You should know though, besidesing here to teachthe natural mana affinity potion created by myself and the quest from the world¡­ I am to teach you. How to unlock the real way of the world. You need to so that you can potentially bnce the uing risks of battle." This made Walker freeze in his thoughts. He was very d that he was not with everyone else. They had epted that he had asked to split off for a private conversation since he was the most focused on natural mana. Walker had an affinity for it. He also had Fleur who was slumbering to gather more natural mana. However, he often wondered if she would go off on her owning toward this battle. Not because he felt she would abandon him, but because Fleur was deeply connected to the world. She might even be a world spirit and embody more of the world''s will as a whole. That could take her elsewhere rather than with the party. "The real way of the world? I have a few ideas. Things that everyone felt were not entirely correct." whether it showed or not, Walker was feeling uneasy. He had long felt that there was more to the system that the world created for everyone. They were individual systems, each focused on the things that someone could do. Gil had been an archer who became an arcane archer. Yes, it was well above what others could do, but what if he wanted to be something else? The world somehow just knew what was best for everyone? Many people got systems that did not align with what they needed in life. That was one reason that people suffered. There were also those that didn''t receive a system because they had not done the right things to activate it. Yet, that had been removed. People had been given systems even though they had not received them before their cut off birthday. Due to this, Walker and many others had understood what it meant for the world to be interrupted in its flow. They had been unable to awaken their systems because the world had not had the time to be able to grant the systems as it desired. This brought to more questions though. Was this all the world was stopped from doing? Wasn''t there more to it? Were the echidna been using systems in the same way? They had all acted in ways that were aside from what they might be confined in to with a system specifically for their positions. The evidence of this were the echidna warriors. They had battle skills and other things rted to their warrior status. However, when walker and the others had been in their vige, the echidna had been able to do even more. They had been able to help around the vigebuilding, repairing, and various other tasks not rted to being a warrior. Some even used skills that walker had which he was surprised by. "I see that you already have ideas. While I am forbidden from explicitly showing you, I can guide you. But can you immerse yourself in natural mana so much so that you feel lost within it? Can you hide yourself within the mana so that all that is left is one eye witnessing the true path of mana. Can you look beyond just the mana you control and allow yourself to open yourself to the true depths of mana as a whole?" "You are talking about true mana. Aren''t you? Not just natural mana, but you want me to see where natural mana ends and true man forms." This was not really a question. Walker had caught on to the hints being dropped. While he was unsure why the world limited the natural alchemist from sharing more information, he somewhat felt he knew. If he were to learn how others did it, he would not find his own way to interpret all these manasing together. He would also be blinded by what he was told he should feel. What he was told he should see. Not what he did witness as the flow around him. Therefore, he had toprehend it all himself from his own perspective. That way, he could be able to grasp the real flow that should happen. Awaken the real use of the systems that the world created. While Walker''s mind began to race, the natural alchemist left him to think. She had done as her quest had asked and begun Walker on the path necessary. Now she had an alchemical Brawler to meet with. One that was already waiting for her. "Please tell the rest of your family that he will need to be moved while traveling for the next few days. He is entering an extremely deep form of meditation that will leave him vulnerable." The natural alchemist saw that Remey mentallymunicated with Onyx. That left her with a much calmer feeling since it was a little risky for Walker to delve so deeply in to mana when he was not raised doing so as the echidna were. "So, you came here to show off what you can make, right? I knew you would use those forms from the affinity potions. But I managed to improve them. I even made a potion that is considered a grand potion. Above all other potions for fire affinity boosting." Remey''s pride showed clearly on her face and in her tone of voice. Seeing pride in alchemy, the natural alchemist smiled widely. As an echidna whomuned with nature itself, alchemy came more naturally than most things. Feeling that Remey had advanced significantly and stepped within her own doman of alchemy, she was also proud. "You have grown a lot, but why are you not using your mes to create potions without tools? Can your methods not match your ability yet? You may be unable to create the lowest of the natural mana affinity potions unless you can create potions without cauldrons or other tools." "That is because she has been focusing on her new path. She is a dominator dragon through and through. She is also the only equal I have." Ignus had listened to this from the side. He had no reason to dwell on anything else other than the potential changes in alchemy that he had been working on with Remey. He was much more attached than what he showed. "I can sense the changes. She is not a being that should live here. Cut off from the elemental ne of fire. I can feel the purity of mana. That is why I question her. As you can also use mes of the same quality. Even though youck the understanding of alchemy required, you could create mes for her to use." It was odd seeing someone push back against Ignus. Only Remey felt that she and Walker could actively do so without risking him exploding in a fit of annoyance or anger. "If you im that I am limiting her by not pushing her. You are wrong. I was witness to the creation of that grand potion. I will be witness to anything beyond that as well." "Then you should be joining us in feeling the other manas that the mes you control can manipte within herbs." The natural alchemist hummed a little while she opened up a satchel full of herbs. Some of which Remey had never seen before. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


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    Creation is hard, cheer me up!

 Chapter 2056. In the Flow

    2056 2056. In the Flow n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "So, he will just be staying like this?" Gi stood next to Walker. He was wondering just what it meant that Walker would be in this cross legged position meditating for who knew how long. "Yes, he is apparently going to finally learn true mana and whatever else. But I have no idea what that actually means." Su was unsure. They had heard Walker talk about how he had to understand natural mana more. That he had to grasp more than just natural mana though. That he had toprehend what natural manabining with omre of the other mana meant. The idea to understand death. Life, space, and time was simple in theory butplicated inpractice.l he was already sure that he had to understand them all individually. Yet, the theory that he had to see the whole, was a little more interesting. However, it also confused the party members. From their perspective, the smaller manas made up the whole. That left the true mana which was allbined, as the final solution to understanding all of those manas. Not that they thought Walker would understand that all right away. "How long?" Midnight''s reaction was quiet. She felt that Walker would step too far away from them if he were to understand all manas. If he were toprehend True mana as a whole. It could greatly separate Walker from everyone. "At least three days. That''s what Remey told us she heard the natural alchemist say. But Remey is also studying with the natural alchemist. Haven''t you all seen the other echidna popping up here and there to teach their methods and skills?" Su wondered just what was going on here. While it was natural that the echidna were helping them, it felt off. Like the echidna were starting to share secrets that they had kept for good reasons. Even in another mindset, if the echidna had decided to share all their secrets, why now?


    "I feel wrong saying this, but are we missing the seriousness of all this?" Gil kept himself calm while looking at Midnight, Su, and Onyx. he also wanted to include Remey. But she was upied. She wouldn''t step away from making her alchemy technique for anything right now. "If the world is giving the echidna quests to share their secrets with us so that everyone can break through to the proper flow of the world, or whatever we should be part of. Then does it mean that the world might be too threatened now? Was that fragment that Walker told us about too dangerous? Did we fail?" A weight fell on all of them. They realized that if Gil was correct, then it meant that even though the evil vampire they had defeated was gone, that the entire party had failed. Beyond that, the demon lord was still powerful enough to beat all of them together. "You are probably right." Su showed some of her mental fatigue and sighed. The drawn out breath that followed was enough to make Gil and Midnight worry. The only one remaining still was Onyx. his eyes following the actions of the few echidna that he could spot from where they spoke. "If things are this bad, then we will learn a few things from Walker when it is done. Midnight and Onyx have the closest bonds with him. So I can bet that whatever the changes are he gains, they will too. I might get a little help because of my bond with Midnight as her guardian, but you have your own ways. You have the elven ways." Su knew well that if the real battle wasing, that the opportunities they had now were invaluable. "It''s the pure drop of high elf blood, huh?" Gil also sighed now. He had expected something a little like this. Not that it was a bad thing, but because he felt that he had barely begun to scratch the surface of the being that has literally been the source of the elven race. Gil had just made these gains when it came to bing closer to the elves a s whole. He also was still human. However, he had to change the way he thought and focus on his style of dagger usage. The one that allowed him to use natural mana that gathered around him. The high elven dagger technique allowed Gil to do this, but it also allowed him to resonate that mana with his newfound blood. Because of this, he had begun to sense the manas around him much more. The key to this being that he remained focused and open to the natural flow of manas around him. He also knew that in doing so, he had to understand what changed his body was going through. He had already seeing his ears be slightly pointed to match the elves. He had tried his best to ignore other changes. Slightly risen cheekbones. His height being slightly taller than it had been. And his body being slightly more flexible overall. All of this proved that he was more like the alves. But it also meant he might be further from being human like his mother and father. Like many others he cared for in the world and strove to defend. He hadmitted his life to Alma, his love. He just understood that he had roots. He had an origin that he did not want to toss aside. Yet, he had to ept that he was progressing and move to adapt himself. To be able to be the one that could protect many more than just the elven race. "Do you think the origin of the leven race felt burdened by what he was?" Gil''s question made You look at him with a calm but serious look. "I think that he created that burden so that he could feel the joy of it all. I want to protect everyone so that we can see them grow. See them smile. That''s why I will defend everything we work toward as a family to the very end." Su''s words resonated with the air itself. She was speaking from her very core. Midnight even nodded in agreement. Her eyes darting between everyone else. "Sisters, brother. Even if the world requires us to grow beyond what we would normally be. We are still us. We may change, I may grow toorge for one home to cover me. But I know that I will still feel that home everywhere in my memories and in your presence. So let us tackle the leading step ahead of the others. So that we can guide themter." "Pfft, Onyx the philosopher." Gilughed a little. But he didn''t look to be making fun of Onyx in the least. He looked happy. "You know you''ll always be the tiny little serpent that hatched from an egg and wrapped yourself around Walker to stay warm and absorb light mana. Right?" his hand patted Onyx''s head for a moment before Gil shook away his negative and fearful thoughts. "We move forward then. Just like always. And after we understand what''s what, we make sure we get a little revenge on Walker for trying to skip ahead of us. And Remey too, she''s doing the same thing." "Agreed." Midnight, Onyx, and Su all responded. Their faces holding a look of determination that would have scared anyone in to moving a little faster. Especially Walker and Remey who would feel that they could be beaten right here and now. "I will see youter. And I will bring Walker to the main camp where one of the dragons can help carry him along. We are going to gather the ships to pursue the corrupted city." Su took up the lead and easily lifted Walker up to carry him in his statue like meditative position. Midnight followed carefully. Her mind elsewhere as she was searching herself for the next steps that she could take. To match Walker. While this happened, Walker was allowing himself to fall apart. Allowing his very mind to meld with the manas flowing around him. He was trying to see beyond himself and the manas that were currently in contact with him. He could sense the life mana thumbing through him much more clearly than he had been able to sense it just some time ago. That was the same for the space mana. He could feel the ambiguity of where and how it existed. The mystery of it enough to drive anyone crazy. That was the same for the death mana that he had managed to grasp at. Like wisps floating by, there was death all around. Every monster killed had been a ce where death mana came to be. But it also inspired darkness mana to allow rot to happen. Then for life mana toe fill that ce. Furthermore, he sensed that time was passing in off intervals. As if he was being pushed in and out of a different flow. When he was focused and time passed quickly. When he was unfocused and time passed slowly. All of these feelings mmed in to one another. Over and over. It tempered him but confused him like nothing he had ever experienced. He tried to grasp these feelings but could not reign them in. They were wild and uncontroble with his force. So what was he to do now?


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 Chapter 2057. Just A Part

    2057 2057. Just A Part


    The feeling. The feeling that he was looking too small was eating away at Walker. He could feel the manas flowing around him. He could feel the natural mana pulled in by Fleur as she had woken up and begun to help with the meditation. She had not hesitated when she realized what Walker was trying to do. Her innate bond with natural mana helped him immensely. But she also knew that as a member of the spirit trace, she had to understand herself better too. Therefore, working with Walker would allow her to be able to walk in to that path much further than what she had expected at this point. The changes in Fleur were much more than what could be seen. Besides having a more solid body made of various manas mixing together and ever changing, she had mimicked the appearance of a young human girl. This was because she felt mostfortable in such a way. Not that she couldn''t change form as she made her body out of manas. Many spirit race existed as various appearances now. She knew that she had grown a lot bing world recognized as a race. A lot of the pressure and whispers from the world as a whole had disappeared. She was no longer pushed on the path of bing a world spirit for the sake of bncing the world. Now she was doing so because that was a unique path she could walk. Walker and her could share this through their bind. Especially since they had be closer due to Fleur bing a spirit race recognized by the world instead of just a spirit. Not that just aspirit was anything lesser. It was incredibly valuable. Regardless, their bond had only increased. Walker could sense the uniqueness of their bind and how the natural mana attracted to Fleur was many times greater. She had her own skills that were more defined. But she also had no system. This felt like something that was still in action though. The spirit raceckedmunication rity due to their methods of speaking. They preferred to rely on mana instead of openlymunicating. This just came naturally through the years of them being elemental spirits. They preferred the unspoken words that came with actions and the feeling of mana flowing. Because of this, Walker focused on how Fleur was developing the natural manas to strengthen her body. It felt as if she was more in tune with nature and the flow of those manas because she did not conform to the normal set of systems. But that didn''t mean that she didn''t have a system that the world provided. How else would she use skills if she didn''t? How else would she get experience if she didn''t? Therefore, as the two meditstied, Walker and Fleur focused on her unique situation. The manas that they could sense were just part of things. They could sense the elemental and natural manas easily. But the other manas, that was where they were limited. For the two to grasp them, did not mean that they were making the right kind of progress. Therefore, focusing on the systems that they had, seemed better. Fleur could sense the small attachment to the world that she had because she had been just a natural mana spirit, then a high natural mana spirit, and now on her way to be something else. The idea that they had to lookrger while also wondering about this true flow of the world made both of them grasp at a feeling. A feeling that they could follow other paths. Walker focused mainly on mana and magic. Simply because it had been what he was best at. However, doing so had brought him closer to the world and given him a variety of skills due to his jack of all trades system. Fleur had been only focused on natural mana. But witnessing the fire elemental spirits taking on unique forms of fire that she could not understand by adding the unique other manas to themselves, she understood that she could follow a path like that. She could branch out from what could be a world spirit and potentially look to be a true mana spirit. Something that she was unsure even existed. With these thoughts in mind, the pair felt a push back. Like a wall of sorts within them. The life mana that resided within them hummed though. That small reaction proved that life mana was deeply connected to the world and the system of mana flowing through it. How life and the will of the world that has created all the pathways for nature to follow came to be. ''The skill true mana researcher had been taken from the universal researcher ss. This ss skill would be inessible unless the user properly touched on therger will of existence beyond the will of the world. ''True mana researcher- passive n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    While in a meditative state, this skill will be active when focusing on the sources of manas and their origin. Byt doing so, there is a chance that the wider next of knowledge can beprehended. Skills, effects, titles, and various other aspects of existence can be understood due to this enhancement. Only those that have touched on true mana origin without this skill can gain this skill which enhances the ability toprehend all things. Learning the simple fact that the world is only a portion of all things causes this skill to be embedded in the soul of the one understanding this. Therefore, it allows any damages to the surrounding mana flows to be clearer and potentially more aligned with the proper flow. While the grandws used to create all things are inessible, they are never lost. They can be¡­'' Part of the words associated with this odd skill that has just appeared ended. Walker understood something though. The slight bit of fog as he had started to think that the world was just a portion of this was correct. The elemental nes were cut off which was the broken flow of all things. The entirety of what he should know was limited because he had always been in a bubble of sorts. Trapped separately from what he could understand and grapes due to these flows being broken. Furthermore, seeing that the system has proven that there was more to the world and not just what they knew was awe inspiring. The world''s will was trying to unite all things since it was just a part of what it should be. Therefore, the will of the world was more of a being or flow of manas that was cut off. Like a spirit trying to reform with its body. The idea that the system called it a ss skill though, made Walker think very hard. He had somewhat touched on this before. The idea that the systems were broken. If that was the case, then would they be called a ss and not a system? Was this what the echidna had? They had something called sses and not systems. Was the system just a guide for the ss skills being developed? If that was the case, then everyone should have ess to the system as the world had already repaired that possibly. Therefore, having systems be limited to one thing was only because the world could not support the proper usage of a system and what the unique aspects of them would be, called sses.


    10:57


    With Walker''s thoughts matching Fleur''s, they both also understood that they had not needed to research true mana in the way that they had elemental mana. They did not need to bring together all manas together to make true mana. Instead, they had toprehend something about what existence used and made up. How it should flow to allow all manas to exist in general. They had been led askew by their own ideas and feelings about natural mana as a whole. With their minds cleared, they saw how they had missed so many chances to look outside their own perspectives. The feeling of mana also changed around them. They could sense the more vague other manas rather than just the elemental manas. This was another boon from the true mana researcher passive skill. It was allowing them to see a little more of what they had missed that was always in in sight. This being the case, Fleur saw her chance to also use this skill and focus on the development of her body. She started to focus and meditate while remaining within the spirit mark in Walker''s Body. That way, she could grow andprehend more. She could also share those feelings with Walker. Meanwhile, Walker found himself catching on to the feelings of other things outside his little meditation hyper focus. The sudden hunger of his body from not eating, along with the feeling that he was not where he had been when he began meditating with every fiber of focus that he had.


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    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2058. Not Just A Statue

    Chapter 2058. Not Just A Statue


    "Why do I sense so much water mana? And why is the ground moving?" Walker spoke out loud. But he didn''t get an immediate answer. Instead, he just started toi register that he heard some very simr sounds as to what he had heard before. "Three days my foot! You sat there like a statue for a week!" The fist that hit Walker''s shoulder carried all the annoyance that was in the voice. However, it felt like a fair response if he had actually sat there for a week meditating when he thought that he would be much faster than that. "Walker, you didn''t even move when Alice called you." Su spoke up next. Before Walker had even opened his eyes, he had realized exactly what had happened and what had been happening. He could sense the manas around him with much more rity. It was like studying the world for the first time after never truly seeing it. He felt that he could better call on elemental manas than before. Better call on the natural mana that was also all around him. Yet, he also noticed the other manas flowing here and there. The life mana that flowed in odd patterns through the air and even within hemetal of the ship beneath him. The death mana that came and went to counter that life mana. He couldn''t touch them and influence them because he stillcked that information, but he could sense it. There were also the rare bits of space mana that appeared whenever someone would move or something would move. It felt odd to sense it. Almost like trying to hold on to an after image. It wasn''t really there to touch, but it could be registered. Even more mysterious was the seemingly heart beats like mana of time. It appeared every single moment that Walker tried to register what it was. But just like that, he would lose grasp of that feeling. Almost as if it was mocking him. Or ying an awkward game of tag. Always out of his perception but there on the edges. He had yet toprehend the time mana and where it sat in the world. But because he knew that it existed in therger picture, he could now vaguely sense it. He could feel where it should be and where it was. With all of this, he was picking up small bits of corrupted mana. The manas that were vibrating with their own life about them. They were having their fights with the manas that were calm and organized. Like they were trying to conform to the world but kept being rejected because they had not been merged with nature as other manas did. All of this stunned Waker since he was looking without looking. His true mana sense was definitely helping here beyond what it had. That could be said to be his perception of the world now. It had been opened up beyond what it had once been. A change of perspective was what he had ended the entire time for him to register what he was missing. Even the way that fire and light mana existed around him was different. The fusion that happened to just bring heat down from the rays of the sun to where he sat was odd and new to him. He had never properly focused on this interesting rtionship that didn''t really cause damage but made the world warm enough to even live in. As he opened his eyes, he found that the entire part hade over. Midnight and Onyx as the only two that were resting calmly. "You both told everyone that I was waking up from my meditation?" he could tell that from just their binds. He could sense them much more clearly. Besides just their binds alone, he could catch on to what was being shared between them. Small portions of their manas were being sent to him and his to them. While he had known that this was a potential and already knew that his race was changing in unique ways because he was receiving something from adragon and an abyssal serpent, Walker had not known how to a detailed method., Right now though, he could feel that the added manas that they would gain but their bodies didn''t need right away, would be traded. This brought along changes to all of them. Midnight was able to betterprehend the skills that Walker had rted to her. The elemental affinities in particr. The same was for Onyx. he was gaining more intelligence. His mental abilities were influenced by the dragon and the human emotions that came with Walker and Midnight. This sounded like he was thinking of Onyx as foolish and less intelligent. That could only be wrong. It was just adjusting the strength of a dragon''s mind and the adaptability of a human''s mind to the more instinctual mind of the abyssal serpent. Just realizing these things allowed Walker to understand why his body was naturally stronger now than it had been. He didn''t gain these things from just leveling up. It also came from the bond switch Midnight and Onyx. He was better able to use the dragon rted skills because Midnight had shared her mana with him through their bind. He was better able to manipte natural mana and understand it because of his bids with Fleur. Then, he was better able to absorb mana and draw it in because that was what Onyx did to sustain himself. It was all connected more than what he had even realized. "Look at me." Alice spoke with more rigid of a tone than what Walker had ever heard before. This snapped him right out of any thought about mana researching, his bonds with Onyx and Midnight, and anything else. The angry face he found Alice making did not match the slight fear he felt for himself. Not because Alice could hurt him, but because he had surely hurt her by being in this meditative state for too long. Much too long. "I''m sorry. I got too caught up and should have let myself be more observant. I promise to make it up to you." Seeing that he knew what to say and what he had to make up to her, Alice let the angry expression fade before taking Walker''s hand to help him up from the ground. "How have things been going? I figure that a lot has happened and I missed it all?" He felt ashamed that he had missed so much. Especially since he could see three shops to each side. Plus, five more were behind them. Genesis had more than done what they had promised when it came to the growth of their ships. Yet, he noticed that they were mostly undamaged. Not a single monster mark on them to be honest. "They made the teleportation runes big enough to teleport the ships! How much mana did that take!" Walker suddenly realized that this was the only way it all happened. "Now he catches on to the runes used. Not even that we are in the ocean. Or that one of the ships has trees on it since the elves brought trees in case they couldn''t manipte the nts on the ind we are traveling to." Remey also sounded a little annoyed. But she was also more rxed now that Walker had woken up properly from meditation. It meant a lot of new information for sure. "The elves needed that¡­ Oh, the ind that might be close enough for the demon lord to get mana from the elemental nes." Walker grasped the concept after remembering what he had been told. But he also looked around and realized that there were a few echidna warriors nearby. The echidna must had arrived to be able to join the final uing fight. "Well, you missed the ships arriving through a newly made teleportation rune that focuses on space mana which a first of his kind space rune carver managed to create afterpleting a quest to learn the space rune itself. Then it was used to move the ships from where they were created, two of them being unfinished." They were finished by the joint forces while the vampires began to show their strengths in regeneration. That''s how we have their entire race on the ships with us below deck where the sunlight will not bother them. They chose to join us in this battle so that they can show their will to change their race''s fate too." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "And we have also managed other things but you will catch up." Su said a little bit however, she also saw that the royal dragons who had been flying in the sky had noticed that Walker was awakened. They were surely going to ask him what he understood. "I guess I have to tell everyone what I understood first." ¡­

 Chapter 2059. Wider Perspective

    Chapter 2059. Wider Perspective


    "Let''s get Gil first. He should be here in a minute since the dragons already came down." Su made it clear that she wanted everyone to hear this once. That made a lot of sense to Walker since she would need to be able to show that they were all on the same page better. Since they had all been waiting for Walker and taking turns arriving to watch him, it wa easily to grasp that nothing much has happened. There had not been any major battles that had threatened the forces as they had banded together on ships. The ships had encountered a few monsters, but no storms after leaving the beaches of the Sigil continent. Furthermore, there were amazing guides in the echidna. They felt the existence of the ind in question. They also knew well that there was a lot that could be done to avoid massive dangers based on weather or the flow of elemental manas. This all added up to a surprisingly safe journey. It was also why they were able to maintain focus on therge number of Genesis forces that had been brought over through all of this. The cost of mana to bring them all here was massive. This was something that every kingdom of their alliance had voted on as the maximum priority as they had received the information from the party. The information that there was a potential that the demon lord could end the world, would have made them act anyways. They all supported the war against him and his singr evil focuses. But, when it was made known that the entire world could copse in to chaotic manas because of the choices the demon lord made, that was where all best were called off. The joint kingdoms sent almost every possible troop that they did not need to maintain peace. The threats of corrupted monsters, nts, and otherwise could be handled with the bare minimum troops that they had within their borders. While putting additional stress on their people, this was not a bad thing. It was allowing them to focus on the young regeneration left behind. They could take the lead to protect their homes while learning new things at a faster rate. It would make their entire poptions stronger than they had been before when the older generation returned. The young inexperienced forces would be ready to take over in the future while the knowledge from the more experienced veterans would return to nourish the young. It was all a good thing in the long term. That was if everything seeded as it should though. If there was a failure from the hero''s war¡­ that wasn''t worth thinking about. Only stress and fear coulde of it. As the royal dragonsnded in front of the party, Ventus had picked up Gil from another ship. She had seemingly grabbed him without saying much so he was a little out of sorts. But he was ready to listen when he saw Walker. When he felt that the manas around Walker were different. But not in a way that he could sense. "We heard that you woke up." Mordant was the first to speak. His eyes following the odd ways that Walker''s shadow moved. Normally, Mordant felt he could grasp on to the darkness mana around Walker. He could manipte it, specifically, the shadows which had innate amounts of darkness mana. But now, that sense of control or possible control was gone. "I learned about the echidna. By meditation. Well, I learned how they view the world and why they are so advanced. They were not only born that way, but they had the ability to look at the world as just a piece and not the manas as pieces of the world." Walker made them all look at him with the same expression. They wondered what in the world they could be saying. Heughed slightly. Especially seeing that everyone thought that he was speaking foolishly. "The world is just a part of what it should be. Imagine that you focus on your body. Your mind is your mind and has all the knowledge. But without a body, you wouldn''t be doing anything really? Right?" There were nods all around, and a small tsk from Ignus who thoguhtbWalker was treated them as dumb. "So, the world is just one part. One mind. The elemental nes are the rest of it. It''s all onerge part of all of existence. We just aren''t able to see it since it''s all cut off. By understanding that and realizing that manas are all cut up from true mana, then we should understand more." "It might take some time to grasp all this, but I got a skill called true mana researcher. It''s basically proof that I am studying the mana that should be, not the separate manas. It also allows me a little insight. Mentioning words like ss and letting meprehend a little more about the systems we have." "Ask yourself, why were the systems activated at certain ages? Why were they focused on certain jobs or professions? Why couldn''t we learn skills outside that? Why are we limited so much but after the world started to return closer and closer to the proper flow, did the age limit for getting a system disappear?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Why did the system''s start to advance to different systems. Like brawler to alchemical brawler¡­" Remey realized that she was an example of how the system had changed for her and she could do more. It made no sense if the systems were to be thought about as some solid things. ''The system is the system. It allows all of existence to see more and organize themselves. The world is just part of that and had to work without the rest of its parts. So, it was doing what it could while limited." Walker spoke with more pride and determination than before. He felt like he had peered in to an abyss of problems only to return with the solutions that had been scratching the sides of his mind for years. "You''re saying that we are limited because the world is, limited. That the world''s will is just a portion of the greater picture. We must examined our perceptions of what we think that we know?" Rise was raising her eyebrows at this. She had been wondering what the light elemental ne would be like, but she also felt that she had been missing a portion of what she needed to know if she desired to go there. "Purer manas were left to the elemental nes and corrupted mana between them and us. You said that. So, we can just fix that, right?" Gil was focused on solving the overall problem instead. He felt it was the better focus to have. "Does that mean all the world prompts from the systems were just it saying that we are working the right way? That everything it said was rewarding us for achieving what it needs to achieve to be whole?" Su felt that they had actually been doing more than a hero''s work. "Hero for the world too. That''s what we are." Onyx nearly whispered this out to everyone. It was a heavy sentence. It came with a lot more than just some pressure after all. "We can save it too." Midnight broke all their thoughts when she spoke up. From her perspective, they had already been working on helping the world too. No one just thought of it this way. They remained focused on the people. Not the entire world as one being. "We are. We are helping the will of the world and the world as a whole. When it alles together, we might have sses. Basically, my master of none and jack of all trade system, will just be a ss. Like a job. A mage could learn skills for survival, but focus on magic. Things like that. It would be different, but everyone would have more ability to learn more. To be what they wanted to be." Walker felt his body filled with energy. ''The world approves.''


    There was a single announcement between all of them after Walker had spoken. It made a lot of sense. "And we also get fewer quests. I have barely looked at the system I have since all the skills have be smoother. It''s more of a part of me now." Remey also brought up an important point. As the flow of nature and the world had improved, they had seen less and less of the systems showing quests or information. Not because it didn''t need to, but because they had been changing more than what they had realized. "So before we get to this ce of battle, we will need to change our perspectives more. I will do that." Current took the lead and leaped in to the waters to swim underneath the ships. He was going to work on his own perception of the world. The others sense that this was right. It quickly left Walker standing alone again. Only Alice by his side looking at him expectantly. "I guess you and I will have some time to spend with one another. Feel like a meal?" Walker smiled softly as Alice nodded in agreement to his idea. ¡­

 Chapter 2060 2060. Complete Worries

    Chapter 2060 2060. Complete Worries


    The sudden split up and the realization that they had all been small minded left many confused. They had no idea how they had missed so much. But they had never experienced more. They had only been limited because of their own minds and the state of the world. It wasn''t that everyone wanted space because they could not think well enough unless they were alone. It was more so that they weren''t sure how to handle this. Being told that you had always known the world to beplete and suddenly being told it wasn''t, were very different things. The changes that this could bring on top of the massive amount of growth already, were staggering. If the next generation could be born with a lot of open and free paths, it could mean that all races were more equal.


    While racial features would Influence everything much more, each race had their own versions of warrior for example. If someone grew up as a dragonkin, the might be a me dragonkin warrior. But they could also follow a different path.


    Potentially taking on the beliefs of the elves and bing a natural me warrior. One that believed in the nature mes that would appear to burn blight from thend or to help forests grow by freeing seeds from tough shells.


    More unique sses could also appear that fused different beliefs and styles. That was perfectly seen in Remey. The brawler aspect was one that the world gave her in her system. Due to the ways she fought with her fellow orphaned siblings, she had perfectly fit that position.


    When she pursued alchemy, she should have been able to develop those skills too. Especially with the the knowledge she learned from a literal master alchemist.


    Yet, as she learned, she could only act as a watcher and assistant because her system was that of a brawler not an alchemist. It had made her unhappy and in emotional pain to be unable to pursue something that truly struck her heart. While the world had allowed her an advancement and alteration to the system it gave her, it was still after years of effort in the way of alchemy. If she had not gained that reward, she would still be a brawler. Forced to remain in one small path that did not show her true will or strength.


    Many people were the same now. They had systems that they did not feel fit them. Some of those rescued by the Genesis alliance desired to follow in the footsteps of their heroes. Be healers or guardians. Be soldiers or mages. Unfortunately, they were limited without the potential to learn more. But, if the world managed to regain the proper connections to the elemental nes, then there could be more freedom. Whatever Inspired people would guide their ss. They would have the system of existence that regted how they understood things but otherwise, they would have more choices. That was also with the fact that people would learn different skills. Survival skills could be more easily learned by everyone. Would a mage learn how to fight bare handed? Maybe not unless they were learning both as a unique ss which ovepped but also limited them in other ways. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The potential was immense. Those were just a few thoughts as everyone shared this sort of information among the general Genesis forces. "You really think we have all only lived part of our lives?" Mordant found himself standing with Terron. Terron''s distaste''s for the ship and vast waters of the ocean were forced away by their current goals. "None of us had lived a real life until we began to change our perspectives. I was limited by the caves I traveled. The caves I dug. Even now, Ipare myself to then. It was easier to say that I was blind then."


    "Now, we know that we all have only ever had one eye open. Never really seeing anything." While Terron sounded like he was reciting a long famed quote, it was still very much true. "I assume we should try to keep growing ourselves. When we meet the dragons that live and grow in the elemental nes, we might have to act as intermediaries to bring them together with us. They may be too different." Mordant skins also lingered on this. The dragons knew that the elemental nes were a ce that they could go. But had stopped trying because of the incredible risks that came with it. But that didn''t mean that dragons had not made it their homes. "If each ne has dragons, I hope they remember their past. We can learn more. Understand more. I hope they also have more flexible minds. They may not have seen what we have." These words from Terron put Mordant in to even deeper thought. Both of them consumed by their own minds. "Stop pacing like that. Just because I came to theb to think doesn''t mean that you need to be here. The more that you pace the less that we are both going to understand this. It''s better to just do something that will make us stronger." Remey had been trying to refine herbs. From her training with the natural alchemist, she had begun to grasp some of the potential ways that she could refine herbs in to basic materials and even potions with mes alone. But the process was extremely difficult. Extremely delicate. Even the smallest changes in the room or Remey''s focus could cause there to be a failure. That wasn''t even when she had been using the newer theories in this technique. The basic ones that seemed to make the most sense and the easiest were still the toughest yielding most of the failures. "You are fine with this? The world is just a small part of what we know. We don''t even know that. Now we are to unite the world with the elemental nes and wee threats from those ces. We are joined to protect the alliance, not to allow more threats on to it." Ignus sounded like he was focusing on more than just the Genesis alliance and the dragons. His eyes constricted to only focus on Remey who was still trying not to look at him. "What do you want me to say? What? We should just stay this way? That I should ignore everything about how the world is literally cut off and iplete? Because the world had a chance to start moving again, I became an alchemist. My younger siblings were able to get systems to start with. They might still have a chance to get the ones that they want in this whole ss thing." The soft growl of annoyance wasn''t toward Remey it was towards himself. Ignus was unsure of what he should do. If he should sit here and pretend that everything would be fine, or try and continue getting more powerful over everything. "I also need to go there. The n of fire. My new body and soul, well my new me needs it." Remey''s voice was much softer now. She had yet to fully grasp the facts that she would struggle to live somewhere with lesser fire mana around. Right now. She was fine. She had a decent supply of fore mana because of the runes, the alchemyb, the cksmith forges, and various other things around the ships. Even the sun shared a decent amount of fire mana that was able to nourish her. But she still had to process it and purify it in to a more condensed form. This was a toll on her body and soul as a dragon soul. Therefore, she was always feeling some form of pressure. But if she was able to throw that pressure off, then there was a clear method of growth. Just by being in that ce where fire mana was literally everywhere and all around, would ensure that Remey was able to get everything she needed. "I know that. If you want to go there, just wait for me to get stronger first. You are the only equal I have." Ignus turned away and began to walk out of the alchemyb. His opinion of Remey being more than just the words he spoke. But that wasn''t how he showed it. It was what was unsaid. "Get stronger out there? Just sit your butt in here with me. You can watch me burn herbs in to ash when I lose focus." Remey threw a small bundle of ckened herbs at him. Ignus didn''t say a word before sitting down nearby and losing his eyes to look within himself. The only show that he had anything else in mind the slightest of smirks on his face. ¡­


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 Chapter 2061 2061. A Little Ranting

    Chapter 2061 2061. A Little Ranting


    "What do you mean that we have too small of a view on everything? Do you mean that we need to have a dragon fly us up to see the distance better?" Alma had no idea what Gil came to her trying to say. The way he had presented it was a little rushed and unclear though. But she also could sense that this was very important. The focus that Gil ad on it was just a smooch, if not more than what he had when he was making arrows and maintaining the boy he used at all times. "No, it''s not like, distance or anything. But it''s the world. The world is like a piece of the forest. Like the forest is the elemental nes and the world together. The world is just the central grove of the first." GGil changed the way he exined it, but he could tell that Alma was still a bit lost. "Because the world was all messed up, mana swerve never bnced. They were all messed up which also is why we all have specific split up systems that limit us much more. I can''t use a sword no matter how much I try. Just daggers and bow and arrows as an arcane archer." "But!, if I managed to have just the arcane archer as ss, then it could mean I can learn to use asword if I wanted. I would just be more limited than like, a swordsman or something." Gil made it seem even moreplicated since he was not giving the same context as Walker. But he kept pushing forward with this train of thoughts. As Alma began to decipher everything that Gil was ranting about,. She began to understand things more and more. Specifically, she had already understood that the world was not aplete thing. The fact that the world should be connected to the elemental nes so that more pure manas were moving around. That there used to be a way that this was all connected andthat was the threat they all faced right now. That the corrupted manas between those ces would flow without limit in to the world causing damages. With Alma being an elf, she understood that nature was a big deal. She could sense it more clearly than what others were able to do. But the echidna had even made a clear example that they were even above the elves. They could sense the changes in weather and where there would be dangers because of elemental manas changing. Due to this, Alma had tried to better herself in the ability to sense the manas that she could feel. That meant the manas that allowed her to help the seeds she grew in to nts grow. But as she listened to Gil, she began to think that she should think of things in arger picture. The nts of this world were limited too. Just as she apparently was limited, the nts might be limited because they can not grow properly without the manas that would be in the elemental nes. This could mean better yield for herbs or a unique growth in nts overall. That alone was enough for Alma to want to get things as they should be. "Then we can connect all the elemental nes again. This should make everything right. That should allow the system to not be all cut up due to the world being limited. Walker said existence made the system or something like that. So with the world united with existence, then everyone will have more opportunities. "I can try to mentate, but should I really only focus on these things? Wouldn''t that limit everyone more?" For the time being, Alma wondered if they should be saying all this to the elves. Especially since they had been working on the ship to train themselves. The elven soldiers had literally turned a massive ship in to one full of forest. It was a way to bring the life they were used to to the ind that might be smaller than what they expected. Regardless of the potential that it was in ruins or just uninhabitable. The elves would literally create their own terrain as they moved on to the ind. A devastatingly fearsome move that would surely make the enemies that they faced more terrified. Not that the corrupted undead controlled by the demon lord would be affected by it at all. They were mindless. "We have to share this with the others. If we don''t then they might not have a chance to begin to grow. The echidna just couldn''t tell us until they had managed to get to the right point in time to tell us and help us. That''s why so many of them had managed to get here right way to help. They had been helping the world but unable to speak any of the truths we know now." Gil knew he was looking at this correctly. "Fine. then how do I do this?" feeling that she would still be lost no matter what, Alma gave in to Gil as he began to exin how Walker meditated and grasped the understanding that all manas were one. That things had been inappropriately divided up because of the issues between the world and the elemental nes. Meanwhile, Onyx found himself with Alice. He had been worried that she would have stayed with Walker for a lot longer. But they had split up right after eating. This wasn''t because they didn''t want tow work together, but because Alice wanted to get back to preparing some bandage kits for the uing battles. She also knew that Walker needed time to keep meditating about what he had learned. "If I am to follow Brother''s example, I think I should do so with the others. Would Aurora like to join me?" Onyx was asking this because he knew very well that the others of the abyssal and heavenly serpents would want to learn this new method as well. They would want o to keep up with Onyx and take their own paths in to therger and proper flow of all things. This would allow them to move ahead more and more toward being the same as other races. For them to support one another and the other races as a whole. "I can learn too. While I make these." Alice wanted to join too. She could wrap bandages and use a soft purifying light song on them. This would make them safe to use on open wounds. Plus, it would add a calming effect to the surroundings. This would allow her to help the serpents meditate as well. When Onyx noticed that Aurora had popped her head out from Alice''s robe sleeve, he knew that he had also gotten her approval. While she still remained absorbing light manapared to what the other serpents did, aurora was actually growing significantly. She could use healing light skills along with making small light needles that she could fire at others. This was not necessarily the greatest attack and defensive ability there was. However, that did not matter. With Alice, Aurora could call up more light mana to manipte. That Was just the power of Alice''s voice. The light bent to her will naturally. With this, Onyx also called ove the many serpents that hade. They had been waiting for him to make an announcement. To exin to them what they needed to know. For them, they had been born in to the world during an interesting time. The serpants had learned that they were still technically monsters. That their kind had been lost to time until recently. That onyx had been paving a way for them to be able to grow and be a real race overall. Now, they were learning that they were growing up in a time where the world they all lived in, was threatened and just a small part of what was all things. This allowed their minds to be even better adapted to these ideas. With their young age, they could grasp the idea that the world was small. That the elemental nes were a major part of what should make the worldplete. But also that it was a part of their own history. Onyx had not hidden any knowledge about his fellow serpents. That their past was something of a mystery. Besides the fact that their ancestors could have traveled in to the light and darkness elemental nes. That was where they could use the mana to survive the best. Especially with the light elemental ne where they would have abundant nourishment. This has brought many ideas that they could see some of the oldest of their species resting there. Maybe not extinct, but just unable to return to the world since they had managed to leave it for an elemental ne safely. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2062 2062. Empty

    Chapter 2062 2062. Empty


    "Bigger picture? Do you really think that will change things? I can fight them just fine. The more I have studied my ancient bloodline, the more I have grown. We are stronger than ever." Scy had listened to everything that Su had to say. While Su had just bumped in to Scy, it was not surprising that Scy had wanted to know everything. However, Scy as a general was wise. She was able to do a great deal of organization and strategy. As a person, Scy was blunt as they came. She was a clear cut example of what it meant to be a demi-human. She followed the battle forward side of their society very clearly. She also stood for their traditions very often. This being the case, she did not care much that there was a way to look at a bigger picture and alter the system she had. As the holder of a unique ancient bloodline and the Scy''s inheritor, she was just the inheritor of the blood. She had her leviathans that were a part of her. She had the strength to control the wind and water. She had the power to fight hand in hand with many other powerful warriors. Regardless of any other reason, she did not have ns to try to look from the outside in. to discover true mana or anything like that. Her goals were simple. Eradicate the threats that were causing her people to suffer. Eradicate the threats that would cause her people to potentially perish if it was left alone. She would stand up and lead every army possible to ensure that this happened. "But it will change more than you think. You are limited because the world is also limited. If you can grasp the right understanding, you will get stronger in general. But you will also be ahead of everyone else. That means you can guide them." This just received a look of wonder from Scy. Mostly wonder why Su was bothering her. She did not guide people. That was not what Scy did. She barely even taught warriors anything unless it was inbat training for her soldiers. That was where she relied on training, not on looking at a bigger picture that would not truly affect the battle that they were nning to have. "Right now, it is better that I focus on preparing every single soldier for this battle. The aquatic forces with us will need to surround this ind to ensure that nothinges to cause issues. I will also have to use my most powerful mastery skill to ensure that we have victory." "So you are fine with everyone getting stronger and leaving you behind? that''s fine." Su had not wanted to use this method. But she knew Scy well enough that it would work without a doubt. "You can just be a general forgotten because you failed to see the entire battle. When we journey in to that chaotic mana, or the elemental nes, you will be unable to do so. Because you won''t understand it. We will have to get a new general." If looks could kill, then Su would have been on her way to the after life. She saw that Scy had not been this angry for some time. Whether it was because no one ever chose to push against what Scy gave as orders, or because Su had a point, didn''t matter. The thing that was clear was that Scy had changed her mind right then and there. "And what of you? Will you just sit there and let them grow stronger than you with Walker learning everything necessary to be this all seeing true mana wilding hero, then you will not be strong enough to defend him or the others." Sy pointed at Su. her words clearly pushing towards something. "I guess I will try to understand my body and focus on what it means to be able to sense all the manas that I can now. And move from there. I should be able to better sense whatever true mana is and how it works the more that I work on strengthening my understanding of what the world is as a part of the whole." "Then that means you will be training with me and my soldiers. Get ready." Su didn''t have a choice. She had already been lifted up and dragged. An impressive feat since she was wearing her full armor which was significantly heavy. But Scy was very strong herself. She also trained much more often than anyone else really. As Su found herself with a surprise training partner, Midnight was finding herself with another random encounter. She had expected to do what Walker had done. Follow his example and meditate for a few days. It was something that she thought would be easy. She could rely on their bond to sense the other manas and see what Walker had felt when he had grasped a new understanding of what might be beyond the world. From there, she could focus on what else she could learn. How she could grow using the other manas that she had yet toprehend. How she could be able to use true mana as a core aspect of all her attacks and generally in life. That way, she could be a true mana dragon or something like that. The most powerful dragon ever!


    While vain, that was still the pride of a dragon. "Little Midnight, Inded again because you looked like you were not going to focus as much as you should on this task. Soe fly with me for a little while." Ventus didn''t give Midnight a chance to say no. Since Midnight was a little more versed in elemental manas, Ventus also wanted to see how Midnight interpreted these ideas. That there was true mana and an origin to all these manas that made up the world. How the world was just a portion of everything and had been cut off by the actions of a being from years and years ago while the world generally was bing what is was meant to be. The concept that there was more of a will than just the worlds was hard to understand. But to be fair, Ventus had often wondered a little how the world came to be. What was beyond it. Yet, as a mother, she never wanted to venture to the wind elemental ne that she had heard other dragons mention from time to time. Year to year. As they took flight, Midnight sensed the wind mana move around her. Ventus was guiding her wings to move in a more fluid motion while also creating a slip stream for them to glide in. well above the ships but still safely within eyesight so that they would act if anything happened. It was also easy to see that Terron was flying nearby. Slower, but still flying so that he could have his own thoughts to himself. Remembering that feeling that Walker had when describing the subject of the world only being part of a while, Midnight spoke. "Brother was excited." She said each word deliberately. "He felt small and curious." "I would as well. I am a very grown dragon. Even more so now that I have be a wind dominator. I can even grow more if I reach the wind elemental ne one day where the pure wind aman I need exists. What else did he feel? Was there more to what he sensed in the manas?" As Ventus looked at the ship, she was equating the ship and the ocean as the world and the vast space of elemental nes around it. That would be all things not just the world. But it still didn''t click that there was more to it. She felt she was missing the key to all of it. A soft hum escaped Midnight as she flew with Ventus. Her mind trying to pick up on the memory of that moment she had felt Walker grasp the ideapletely. The moment that he had gained the new skill true mana researcher. "Empty. Brother feels empty without everything being right." The two remind in silent for a few minutes. "So Walker felt like he discovered everything, was curious and excited. But then he felt empty. It must have been like he found that a part of himself had been locked away. If there is a greater will and the world is only a portion, then it may extend beyond the elemental nes. I would wonder what that is like." Ventus felt that she was able to sense the wind tremble slightly. Like the world was giving her a hint that her words were in line with the right way to think. Midnight followed her lead. She was d that she didn''t have to focus on the flying aspect of things. She could just enjoy the calm breeze and think about everything. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2063 2063. Bubbling

    Chapter 2063 2063. Bubbling


    "Large waves approaching from the left!" The shout from one of the angels was nothing that would have normally worried the more experienced Genesi forces that had been on the ship before. However, when they nced over, they noticed that the angel was not exaggerating. Therge waves were actually enough to shake every single ship. "Water mages at the ready! Lower those waves and have the elves check the distance!'' the orders went out with even more panic. Not necessarily a panic that was keeping everyone from their ditty, but a panic that pushed them up from any resting that was going on. So far, the sailing had been very smooth. This had allowed everyone to take their time to begin thinking about what Walker had discovered. Furthermore, it had given them the peace of mind to be able to look more deeply at themselves and the roles that they yed in the world right now. Many things were changing. The calm waters were just amemory at this point though. The waves that were approaching were leather. They were like ripples of something that had caused the waters at a distance to be broken and in chaos. Walker snapped up from his meditation when he sensed the manas change. His mind had been on the feeling he had at the sides of his mind. The manas that he could not grasp but he could narrowly feel all around him. His goal to understand them was still very far away, but at least he had been able to hold on to that small prickling feel at the edge of his mind. Walker snapped up from his meditation when he sensed the manas change. His mind had been on the feeling he had at the sides of his mind. The manas that he could not grasp but he could narrowly feel all around him. His goal to understand them was still very far away, but at least he had been able to hold on to that small prickling feel at the edge of his mind. Seeing that the waves were being held down by the water mages, he focused on what might be causing them. He could see that many of the elves had taken to the crows nests of every single ship. The binocrs made by the dwarves had proven to be excellent tools since the elves already had sharper eyes than many others. With the added tool to assist them, they were getting incredible detailspared to what they could already see. The details that they saw right this second, were the small steam clouds that they could narrowly see above the wavesing from adistance. Otherwise, the steam clouds appeared to be bursting out of the water in random ces. Not a good sign at all. The slight burning smell of salt water made everyone crinkle their nose. But Walker noticed another familiar scent. He could smell molten rock. The same smell he had noticed everywhere when he was in Ignus''s territory before they had begun moving the dragon viges. ''There is a volcano under the water." Walker understood that there was a lot of danger that came with this. He wondered how the echidna had not noticed and warned of this being the case. However, Walker realized that he could not me them for a single thing. He had been meditating and focusing on the elemental manas all around them. Yet, when he had been doing that, he had missed this. Therefore, the event had just happened and the elemental manas that he could have sensed were actually well below the ocean water. So much so that he couldn''t sense it until therge bubbles were bursting from the waters. Before they could worry about another wave, arge shaking happened between multiple ships. Arge bubble of salt water steam had burst up from the waters. It had made the surface of the water harder to float on since there was a middle section of the ship floating in a much less dense substance for a moment. This could have caused the ship to potentially break in two! Luckily, it did not break at all. Instead, Walker could hear that there had only been some bolts and a lot of groaning metals. The ship was built with the best fo the best, the dwarves who mainly invented it would not allow for it to break so easily. The risk though, was that they needed to get through their area where bubbles of volcanic steam were appearing at random. The shouts from another of the ships was enough for Walker to begin thinking of a major n. "Onyx! Make sure that Current can sense the changes in the water. He could stop them before they make an entire ship sink!" Onyx heard Walker and did just that with his mentalmunication. Walker on the other hand saw anotherrger wave heading toward the ships. He used his water maniption to break it down so that it did not put too much strain on the already rough hull of the ship. He felt that the wave was easily pushed down. Unfortunately, another burst of gasses had escaped the underwater volcano. This time the ship groaned even more. But it also made the water mages focus on the density of the water that they could not see. Since there was a chance that they could be damaged just by sitting here, Walker tried to make the currents work for him. He wanted the ship to move faster. The wind affinity mages did the same. They started to call up the wind to push the ships faster. While this was not a monster attacking them, this was a threat from nature itself. Nature was not always weing and kind. Sometimes it is moving in its own flow only to cause a lot of unintentional damages. When Current took to the air from the water, he shouted down therge size of the volcano beneath the water. He knew well that this would be a spot that inds would form in five years from today. That was just the sheer size of the volcano that Current had witnessed erupted down within the salt water. This was all helpful though. Walker now had a radius of where they had to leave. If they could do that, then they would be able to leave the dangers behind them. It was also how they would be able to make this new location down on amap. It was a surety that the maps of the oceans would slowly but surely increase as more people wanted to explore the vast salt water oceans. Letting his senses reach out strictly below, Walker could feel it. The smallest sense of wind mana below the water. That was what the heat from the volcano had created.a bit of wind mana that was bubbling up to the surface. He used his mana maniption to force that bubble to the side. The seemingly weak act of nature would have hit the very end of the ship. It would mean sinking for sure. It didn''t stop those, the mages on every ship were expending a great deal of mana that only seemed to limit the damages. It had changed so quickly that many of the genesis forces were unsure how to handle this. Not that they expected someone to have knowledge of this. The sort of situation that they were in, was not one which people would ever find themselves in. "Full sails please!" The order came from the air above them. Walker saw Midnight and Ventus flying in the air in dragon forms. The pair appeared to have been working on their own thoughts. Walker could also sense this. When the sails all fell down the masts in to position, Ventus let loose a wide breath of wind mana. Not enough to harm anyone, but enough to force the ships forward at nearly double the speed from a moment ago. Meanwhile, Current manipted the waves so that there would not be a single chance that there would be an issue with the speed and way that the ships were moving. The sudden change was all due to the strength of the royal dragons. However, Walker needed to ensure that he kept the crew on the ships safe. He made sure that those nearby edges in this odd situation were not falling overboard. He made sure that they were preparing what was needed for the spots on the ship that had be damaged. As the bubbles were appearing all around the ships. They were not appearing right in front. The radius was surprisinglyrger than what Walker had imagined, but the elves had already recorded the size. It would be a ce they had to look for in theing tears for nting. Regardless of that, the smell was the next big worry. The poisons in a volcanic fog still needed to be addressed. Therefore, healing and purifying magic skills were being used on everyone. The ship that Walker was on was coincidentally the one with Alice on it. That meant that therge amount of light enveloping it was Alice singing a song of healing and purification. ¡­


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 Chapter 2064 2064. Life Is Everywhere

    Chapter 2064 2064. Life Is Everywhere


    When Current began to direct where the ships were removing, things were clearly more dangerous. All the aquatic forces had already retreated. This was for their safety. But the wind mages and other rted skill users were focusing on the added dangers. The steam was full of toxic poison from the bubbling waters. The magma that was cooling rapidly beneath the ocean salt water was filled with too much. While it could be useful in some instances, this sort of thing was not at all what anyone had expected. Walker had to focus on the wind as well. He used his maniption to cause fresher air to blow down from the higher sky where the clouds were. This was assisted by Ventus who did the same for multiple ships. Their teamwork proved to be a blessing to those who were unable to do anything due to their own affinities. But the situation was not getting better right away. There after being held back in the essence of waves was nothing that could be controlled for ever. Current knew that this was a natural event. That the oceans here were just part of the way nature flowed. They could not stop the flow of magma from an underground volcano. Even if Terron and Current worked together, they would greatly damage the future of this area. The ind that would eventually be formed by this phenomenon was somewhere that would be explored muchter. It was already written in to the maps that this area existed. Regardless of that, the manas being used were forcing others to pay more attention to what was happening. Specifically, how the manas were being used. How they were being used in tandem to other manas. Alice had started to sing and spread a purifying light all around the ships. Every single ship had a slight mist of light that was adding to their safety. That alone made many of those worried much more rxed. It allowed them to return to their thoughts using what they were seeing. The changes in the general soldiers was already evident. They were seeing different ways to help each other in this event alone. While it might be repairing small ces of damage or just carrying materials, they were taking in therge effect of the area around their ships. To them, they were able to begin thinking of it all like a metaphor. The world was the ship, the outside was the chaotic mana that was unable to be controlled, and beyond that, were the calm waters of the elemental nes. A way toprehend what they had been told about a greater existence that was just cut off from them. That aside, Walker felt that he could sense the deeper changes beneath the ocean now. The more he focused on manipting while sensing the manas at work, the more he grasped on to something. A small wisp of life mana said deep in the ocean. The smallest of life mana that was not what he expected. He would have assumed that there would be death mana because there was danger in volcanoes. That there would be strong darkness mana since there was a toxic fumes and poison. But, the death mana was less focused. It was more a result from the foolish monsters and animals that came too close to these dangerous waters. Therefore, it was just a side effect. The life mana though, was something that struck him. It wasn''t because there were new monsters around. The waters could easily be called devoid of life in that sense. The monsters could not adapt to a sudden events like this. While some nts might be adjusting since they were tougher due to the fact that these waters had been warm for so long, the new life in them was not great enough to make it stand out to Walker''s senses. Yes, he had minimal understanding of life mana, so he could just be missing things. However, he also could see a clear difference. The life mana within him alone was something he could sense as very stable. As focused for him and part of his very existence. That alone was enough for him to grapes that life mana was very adaptable. Very flexible since it could be different for all things. Especially since they were growing at different rates and forms. Life mana was hard to exin in that sense. But what walker had not considered were babies or new life. Or even new ces where mana and nature were changing as a whole. That the life mana involved within that was full of a more potent vigor, or, as many other manas, was at a pourer state because it was being influenced differently. The life mana that had gathered was not in a physical or even a living form so to speak. It was part of the rumbling volcano. Part of the magma flowing under water. Even part of the toxic steam being sent up in to the water and air above where the ships were right now. That meant as a whole, that life mana was more than just part of what everyone would consider living beings. That it was part of nature in the sense that without it, nature did not grow or progress either. That for the volcano to exist and begin forming this new ind miles beneath the water, that life mana had to be condensed. This understanding was why the echidna were all working hard and also somewhat distracted by looking down. They could sense the birth of new aspects of nature. Their connection to that being extremely deep to the point that they had also been able to tap in to the true flow of the world before any other race had done. It stunned him toe to this conclusion, but it also gave him an idea. Since he had understood this, what if he focused on that feeling? What if he tried to condense his own life mana instead of trying to spread it out and boost his natural healing ability? Therefore, what if he made his life mana act fresh and new somewhat like the life mana that he was sensing? Would he harm himself, or, would he react like the volcano and begin growing at a faster rate. Could he use this as a way to adapt his body forter? The thought had entered him at the same time something he hadn''t noticed in a while. The system had not given him a quest. And when it did, it was things that he didn''t notice at all because the party or he, was already aplishing it without needing the system to put him on that path. That was why the systems had been less and less referenced. That, and with the strength of the party changing based on their skills and new understandings, they did not need to rely on the numbers or the skills shown. They had to rely on their understanding. Theirprehension of all that they trained for. ''Major side quest: life mana potential n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Requirement: use your own life mana to fully ept the shared manas and bloodlines from your partners. Reward: world assistance in epting those changes.''


    Walker was even more stunned. So much so that the wind manas he was manipting shivers for a moment causing a shock to go through the ships. Everyone who knew what was happening and how important it was to resist these mists looked toward Walker in fear. They worried that he had been harmed in some form, but were soon rxed again to find him safe. "Midnight, can you use your wind dragon breath to handle this ship? I need to immediately meditate while I can still sense the manas deep in the ocean. If I do not, then i won''t be able to fight the demon lord when we get to that ind." The pressureing from Walker''s words told Midnight everything. She had sensed when Walker was shocked by a new understanding. She could feel his emotions in turmoil while he thought and acted at the same time. He was multitasking at a time like this, but that was a good thing. It meant that Walker was learning something very important right now. Seeing multiple mages step up and Midnight taking the lead to make sure that things were safe, Walker gradually released his control of the manas. He also saw that Scy was taking on aburden here. Using her abilities to make more wind rotate around the ships and also using her affinities with water to push away the mist that threatened to drift too close. Every bubble of toxic mist was handled. But right this second, Walker worried a little before hetchedpletely on to that feeling of new life mana. Of uniquely pure life mana. ¡­


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 Chapter 2065 2065. Pain And Changes

    Chapter 2065 2065. Pain And Changes


    The pain that surfaced as Walker literally yed with his own life was something that he could not understand. But something that he also felt waspletely right to happen. healing the body or changing the body with training always came with some pain, the healing pain was because the body was changing and growing to repair itself. The changes caused the body to stretch and change in ways that it didn''t before. The wounds would always be sore, the very same way that the body was sore after training physically for a long or hard time. Therefore, the life mana would naturally react to those things. Walker had already understood how the body and life mana would work together. The life mana could spur the body to heal better because that was how the body worked. Using light magic or other healing skills would focus on the body purely. That allowed it to heal and regenerate using the nearby nutrients stored within the body.


    Where the life mana method would use the natural regeneration, but speed it up. The healing would affect the entirety of the body rather than a specified ce. Therefore, the entire body could heal at a faster rate using nutrients from all over the body to heal instead of one location. This was simr to the way a healing potion would work. It was nutrients that would help the entire body to heal unless it was poured on just a specific wound. Thus, the wound would heal with those nutrients and the mana within the healing potion as fuel. This was different. Walker could sense that the life mana deep in the volcanic actions of nature was dense and causing the other manas to be stirred up. The earth and fire mana were pushed to sh. This caused magma and heat to generate. From there, a champion reaction was happening with the water and various other aspects of the ocean deep below. This spurred the death mana to gather where things were dying and even some darkness mana to begin rotting those things that had been killed naturally. It also caused a lot of chaos in themanas trying to enter the area that would normally flow naturally. There were even changes in the currents underwater which was why the aquatic forces had to leave the water, besides the dangerous poisons and heat that would harm them. This was very enlightening to the way that Walker thought about the other elemental manas and how they flowed when creating new aspects of nature like an ind. The forces all around the ships had been able to resist the nature that they had been thrown in to. The boiling ocean was even bing less chaotic with everyone working together. They could also sense that they were making their way out of this small section of ocean. Yet, Walker was still deep in meditation now. He wastched on to the feeling of purer life mana that was getting further and further from him. He was using that purer life mana as a guide. As a reason for his body''s life mana to vibrate at the same frequency. He was attuning it to when he had learned to copy other skills or to mimic the wind skills of the elves. He had done this when he had tried to step through the air using the wind ripple skill. That was used by some of the elves, therefore, he had copied them to make it happen. He had to copy the way that the wind mana was used and how it flowed around his feet. This meant that copying the way that the life mana was denser and causing the other manas to react, was possible. But because he was doing this, Walker was feeling much more pain. He was literally damaging his body by causing the other manas within his body to go in to a more chaotic state. With this, he also caused the natural mana to react. His body housed a lot of it along with Fleur reading within the spirit marks on him. She had sensed these changes and did nothing to stop it. She could feel that Walker was not in danger in the sense that he was fighting or fooling around. Instead, Fleur allowed Walker to take full control of all the natural mana that she and he had gathered around them. This just spurred the manas to react even more. Before long, the other mages sensed that Walker had a significantly dense amount of manas around him. They were keeping them self controlled in a way that they could not even reach out their senses to grasp on to. For the higher ss mages that had studied longer and understood their manas better, they saw the changes in these manas. They were learning from witnessing this odd event. Walker''s skin was turning red as his body was influenced by a stricter and more vibrant life mana. By forcefully matching the purity and density of the life mana rather than following the life mage''s methods to heal by spreading a person''s life mana through their body, Walker was making his body adjust instead of the opposite. Every single muscle fiber was slightly torn then repaired by the rampaging light mana as a purifying force and healing. The fire and earth mana seemed to influence his blood and bones over everything else. The water manas reacting with the organs of his body. The darkness mana was even breaking away at his skin slightly as he was still being healed. Wind mana buffeting his skin as well. The various other manas were also ying their parts. He could sense lingering death mana that was around him. Like it wanted to act, but was not able to flow in any way toward Walker. But everybody had some death mana in them. Hair fell off, kes of skin died and fell away, along with many other aspects. This meant that Walker was able to feel the death within himself and realized that just like life mana, death mana was also there. It was a bnce. A counter that kept time flowing for everyone. Besides that, time was also there next to the space mana. Almost like the two were watching the urrence. Both were part of how Walker could exist where he was, but Walker could not influence them as he wished. They were just present and he had to ept that until he mastered their understanding a little more. He did notprehend them properly. That was all. Yet, as the life mana surged suddenly, Walker felt that his body had a massive change. All manas around him flowed more smoothly. He felt that his hair had even grown slightly longer. Even his sin felt tougher as he felt the life mana cease to resonate in the same way it had once been. He felt a warmth move through his body as natural mana that he did not control wash over him. This was the will of the world. Walker could vaguely sense this as he meditated there. As his mind grew dark and he fell asleep. He had forced himself beyond his limit to use life mana to a higher level than what he could currently do. It was worth it though. The gains from this had been clear. Walker knew well that they were. That was why he had thatst thought before passing out and falling in to a deeper sleep than before. Before all the manas dissipated and left him to slumber. ''Major side quest: life mana potential-pleted n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Requirement: use your own life mana to fully ept the shared manas and bloodlines from your partners. Reward: world assistance in epting those changes.''


    Roars came through Walker''s slumber. His dreams were filled with massive coiling serpents radiating light and darkness. Ancient dragons stomped through his dreams full of power and pride. Deep within him, his very being felt a calmness and warmth that only nature could process. Whether he could say that these feelings were real or not, Walker knew that he had deeply embedded the shared bonds he had with Fluer, Midnight, and Onyx within his existence as a whole. Not just his soul, but in body and soulbined. This wasn''t at all like what Remey had done to change herself. Instead, he had more likely weed what he had already been sharing as part of who he was as a whole. While the bonds he had were already influencing him and him them, he now had taken that as part of his being. This major step changed who he was overall, but allowed him to also ept greater partnership from his family. Those bonds could allow him a better connection since he was more like them. It was a deeper and more profound existence that aligned with the way of the world. No, the way of existence. ¡­


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 Chapter 2066. Eyes Opening Again

    2066 2066. Eyes Opening Again


    Feeling the sudden change, like their eyes were opened, Midnight and Onyx be very focused. They could sense that Walker was providing them a purer mana from himself. Manasthat were the very foundations of their bands with him. While this was the case, they did not rush towards him. They could tell that he was slumbering for the time being. But that was fine. They could use this. Their shared binds had always been emotional and deep. It allowed them to share how they felt and even a little of their own manas with one another. This had shaped their growth very well through the time they had all been together. It was also why they had been able to push one another to get stronger through training. The bonds always gave them a sense of unity. That they always had a pir to hold them up even when they were the weaknesses. But right now, they could tell that they were better able toprehend some of the mana that they were already used to holding on to. They could also understand more of the manas that had been hard to grasp. While this did not help Onyx much because he focused on the darkness and light manas that he had affinities for, he could use it. he could sense the other manas much more clearly now. Regardless of using them, he could use this as a chance to be able to understand his opponents. This was a great chance for him to be able to understand how attacks wereing at him. How he might be ambushed. How he could fight back and defend from attacks. All of this was valuable to his battle style. It would even change how he fought overall. He could be much stronger now. Midnight was a little more advanced in her knowledge. She was a true dragon champion. She had various affinities the very same way that Walker did. But she had not been able to meditate and focus on them in the same ways that Walker did. Simply because she was a dragon and not a mage. Therefore, she could take this chance to focus the understandings that her eyes were open to and grow. Walker had connected them much more deeply by enhancing the binds and sharing more with her. Now, she would use that. The manas that she had affinities to felt closer to her. Felt more deeply connected to who she was as a dragon and what she was capable of doing. Adding this to what she had sensed from of the other royal dragons while she had been around them, Midnight could use that to grow more. Being able to follow the royal dragons in a way, to mimic the ways that they used their skills, was a great chance. With what she was feeling from Walker''s bond with her, she could both copy the royal dragons, and understand how they used their skills. The different elemental dragon breath attacks could rapidly improve. Beyond that, the w attacks that she used elemental manas to strengthen, would also improve. But that was only a small portion of things. Midnight could strengthen her entire body with these manas. She would be able to do so by focusing on the properties of the manas and how they were reacting within her body. Because of the bond she had with Walker, she felt that this was the right way to use the manas within her naturally. That she just had missed the facts that she could do this. The other dragons used their affinities to do this. Current would use the water manas within him to better control the water manas outside his body. This being the case, he was able to use the attacks and the defenses with water in mind better at every single level of his strength. Midnight had witnessed this various times. Now she was focused on it. With her mind changing rapidly, Su found herself standing next to Midnight silently. Su had vaguely sensed the changes but was too distant in connection with her bonds. That did not mean she did not grasp what was happening. She understood that Midnight was in a state of self enlightenment. That she was understanding her own body and the manas she could control much better than she was able to before. This spurred Su to start focusing on the elemental manas she used for defensive attacks as well. That would greatly strengthen what she was able to do in the long run when it came to defense. Beyond that, she would also be able to focus better on her sparring sessions with the other soldiers around. Using the various system users in the Genesis forces had be a grand pastime for the training of everyone within Genesis. They were able to rapidly grow their battle experience since they were always facing various individuals who fought differently. Each technique acting as a grindstone to focus their strength and mental prowess. Something that Scy saw as incredibly valuable. As all this happened, Walker did not notice that his body had grown slightly. He had gained a little height along with his skin bing very slightly tinged with a scale pattern as it grew tougher. Both of these things affected his resistances to elemental manas and other aspects attacks might carry. His senses were also refined, hence why his eyebrows furrowed as he slept to recover from the intensity of hisst meditation. But the sharpening of senses was a good thing. He was closer to how Midnight and Onyx sensed the world through their eyes, through their noses, and even in hearing. That would make him much more able to focus on battle. The greatest change though, was unseen. His body had learned to ept more manas that existed all around him. The life mana had allowed his body to change in that way. To ept purer amounts of elemental manas and natural mana as a whole. While this was the case, life mana also better condensed within him. Because of his bond with Midnight who had grasped death mana a little more due to her experience with it, he also had death mana gather around him. Not that this was surprising since he had fought and defeated many monsters with his strength. The space and time mana were the only two that had yet to influence him as greatly as the others. However, they were both present within him whether Walker could grasp that or not. They always would be a part of who he was. However, now, the two manas held a deeper connection to him than what they had before. This led to a stronger ability to draw in and meditate with all manas. A major step closer to being able to wield true mana in any form or fashion. It was exactly what he had needed. The only cost had been the risks that came with doing this, and also the pain that had made Walker understand one thing. There was always greater pain, even pain that grated on the soul. Regardless, Walker ended up sleeping for over a day with Alice acting as a constant caretaker. She was surprised to see that his hair was longer and body slightly different. Even when he opened his eyes from time to time, they were oddly more draconic and serpentine. The various spirit race that came nearby also seemed to share a greater adoration for him. While most of the spirit race always cared for Walker because of Fleur or his actions to help awaken them, things had grown. They were closer to him with these changes. Like they had be some long lost and distant cousins. "You should start training more too. You might find that you are falling behind him like we are." Gil found Alice sitting next to Walker as he seemed to be waking up. But she shook her head. She had understood very well that she and he would never stand equal in pure strength. That was why she focused on healing so much more. "Fine fine. Then at least do it since you have a virtue title. The better you understand that and your strength, the better you can rescue everyone. This battle will be hard." Gil saw Alice''s eyes widen a little. Gil was rarely this serious. It only went to show that he was worried about everything and the drastic risks that Walker was willing to take to be able tobat the demon lord when they saw him again. They had been vastly outdone just a short time ago. They needed to step up even more if they wished to be able to take him down.if they wished to save this world that they knew. If they wished to allow the world to be what it was meant to be. ¡­


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 Chapter 2067. Changes And Learning

    2067 2067. Changes And Learning


    Walker woke up and felt his body. Every sense that was rted to him felt different. He could hear the smaller waves and creaks, but also the distant conversations happening below the deck of the ship. He could smell the different breezes that were moving around the ship. Some that carried the cooking scents from other ships. Others that wereing from the distant oceans filled with amore concentrated salt. He could even taste better. The slight hint of thest email he had and the taste of salt in the air that he would not have noticed before. This was all overshadowed as he opened his eyes and found that it was the middle of the night. He was left sleeping out on the top deck. A pillow resting under his head with a thin nket to allow him a little morefort. He knew well that he should struggle to see. Yet he did not. The stars and the slim fingernail shaped moon gave off enough light that he knew that he wasn''t even in need of skills rted to seeing in the dark. Not that they didn''t activate on their own. While he had slept, Walker had dreams of various things. He recalled the ancient dragon shapes moving through the world with domineering will and strength. He could almost feel the coiling serpents that reached beyond the world and in to the elemental nes as they saw fit. He could also grasp at the strands of natural flow. An odd feeling that whispered to him. Secrets of how the world bnces itself. How life and death form a perfect cycle that allows peace and harmony for all that exist within this world. It spoke to him. These dreams. But they also weed him to another level beyond who he was. That was why Walker noticed the changes. The longer hair tickling the back of his neck. The sharper vision as a whole. The tougher skin that he could see slight scale patterns on which any normal person might miss unless they knew him well enough topare their skin to his. Beyond this, he could feel the manas around him. His mana senses had be much more clear. Exceptionally so. As if he could sense the individual resistances of every mana in the smallest of movements. When someone would walk nearby patrolling the ship, he could feel how that person''s body changed the flows of mana. Not in a bad way, but in the way that he could close his eyes and build the world in his mind. A much more defined sense of mana than before. This just went beyond what he had expected. He had felt a spur of the moment sense to pursue the same feeling of purer and new life from beneath the ocean. If he had not received a quest from the world, he would have most likely failed in such a risky move. However, he had seeded. His body had changed greatly. He knew all that he was stronger. However, he also noticed that when he tried to look at the system, he was not getting much of a response. So many words were jumbled now. Like he was trying to ess something that had just been smashed together and was partially blocked from his view. ''The will of the world requests patience.'' The single line that came up was something Walker would have never imagined to happen. The world itself was stopping him from seeing his own system. This didn''t make Walker worried though. He had a feeling that he had done something right. Not only had he looked at the wider picture, he had used the feeling of new life in nature to support his body in their view. If he was like the echidna, then he was surely closer to the world in a way. That he was simply closer to the true mana that he should be researching. That he should be grasping instead of just natural mana. The eternal codex connected with him again. His body seemingly acting on habit to reach out to the one thing that he had been bound to as another part of himself. When Walker looked at it, he found that the manas moving within were purer than what they had been before. They also swirled around one another much more closely. It was as if they wanted toe together, but they were held back slightly. Like there were a few missing pieces that should bring them to perfect bnce. It only took a moment for Walker to grapes that the manas could not fuse together in to true mana because he had notprehended enough. That he might have taken a drastic step toward doing sso in mind and body, but he was still somewhat far. He needed more time toprehend it all. Looking to his side, Walker found Alice sleeping. She had fallen asleep with a charcoal pen in her hand. Her song book on the metal deck beside her. She had her head to the side on another pillow. She clearly expected she might fall asleep working on a new song. One more powerful and full of emotions than before. Using the nket to cover her, Walker grabbed the pen and the book to set beside her. He looked around and found that Midnight had curled up nearby as well. However, her head raised when Walker stood up. She had been waiting for him. "I''m sorry I risked a little too much just then. Thank you for helping everyone get out of the danger." Walker felt bad that he had left things to rest on everyone when the ships were at risk. "We can protect you." Midnight was fairly soft in her voice. She quickly took dragonkin form and stood up next to Walker. The pair looking at one another. Midnight and him both sensing the newfound closeness of their bind being much stronger. "Brother is training too. He got stronger." Midnight almost sounded jealous of Onyx as she made it clear that Onyx had yet to sleep. But that was to be expected. Onyx had a drive that was all his own. One that pushed him to try and catch up with the rest of the party even though he was strong enough alone right now. Not that a single person would say that. Onyx was hard working and deserved every bit of that strength from that work. "I can tell that you understood a few things too. But why aren''t you training?" Walker knew this was because Midnight was waiting for him. But he asked anyways. "Can we fly?" Midnight asked this and Walker nodded. He could tell that Midnight just wanted to spend time with him. To grasp a little more of the new senses that she had about mana that Walker shared through their bond. As they took to the air, Midnight pped her wings harder. In The dragonkin form, she still struggled to fly a little more than what she would as a dragon from. But, as she flew, Walker noticed that she was unconsciously using the wind mana around her to help her fly better. "The wind is always moving. Even moving around you while you are making it move. So, try to sense the best way for it to move without resistance. It will let you fly better. It will only take a moment to feel that." Walker exined this while also directing the wind around him. The wind mana that resisted him moving as he used the wind ripple skill was less and less. Midnight could feel this being sent through their bond. It is why she was able to adapt her own way of flying. To angle her body more while relying on the natural shape of her wings in this form. The two spent some time doing this, although, they also shared feelings of other manas. Midnight with the manas that naturally gathered within her body as she prepared to breathe certain dragon breaths. And Walker how the manas might be better able to flow. He could feel that Midnight understood this much better. That she was bing more calm in mind because she was developing a better understanding of how her body interacted with the manas that she could control. Each one going further to work with her than against her. Especially since she had taken advice to mimic what the other royal dragons did as well. He could see their movements and techniques in every action that she took. He could only feel pride in seeing this. Midnight had done what he had done. Watched, learned, and absorbed information constantly. It was why she was proving to be a pir of Genesis well beyond her age just like the rest of their family. But moments like this were short. They always had more pressing matters. So he had to enjoy this while he could. ¡­


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 Chapter 2068. Minor Threat

    2068 2068. Minor Threat


    Small ball of light began to float around the ocean in the night. While Walker believed they were just nts or some form of monster carried by the sea breeze, he began to realize that they held a lot more manas than what he had rpsed. He could sense it and so could Midnight. One orange ball of light fell to the ocean and a burst of me appeared. The fire was hot enough that Walker could somewhat sense it. This burst of me caused the rm to be brought up immediately. Shouts from one side of the ships to another were constantly going out. Water mages began to send balls of water toward the small balls of orange light. They knew that there was a major threating from somewhere. But where? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Walker, what is this!?" Gil had arrows at the ready. The water elemental arrows had already shot down multiple of these orange balls of fire mana that caused bursts of me where they retouched. As Walker and Midnight had justnded, he had to take a moment to breathe. He was also stunned. "They don''t give me any form of all around appraisal when I try. We need to just repel them until we figure it out." The rm also passed to the royal dragons who roared out trying to scare off any beast that might be causing this. Unfortunately, this did not seem to work since the same number of light balls were still floating. The only ones able to cause a change in them being the fire mages, and Ignus in particr. Ignus was easily able to draw multiple toward him in his dragonkin form and take the mana to use as his own. His affinity for fire mana outranked whatever was causing these attacks to radiate around the ocean. The only worry was that they still did not know where it wasing from. Since Ignus could sense the manas, he had expected to be able to follow where it wasing from. Yet, when he tried, he found that the sheer multitude of these orange light balls was stopping him from getting a proper understanding of a source. It was very odd and not at all like what he had been able to do before. Things were only worsening as some of the orange balls of fire mana came in to contact with the sides of the ships. There were too many to resist all of them constantly. It would require many more water and fire mages to hold them off than what they all had. Adding wind mana was only making the mes burstrger when they did contact something. "We really need to see where this ising from. Ignus! Make it bright." Remey knew that Rise would use valuable light mana to light up the area. She could also sense that Ignus had gathered many of the orange fire elemental balls. Therefore, the best option was for him to use them to their benefit. "Fine." Ignus snorted a little. He still didn''t like being ordered to do something, however, he didn''t mind when Remey asked so much that he wouldn''t help. In a single massive burst of mes upward, Ignus created arge area where everything was bathed in orange me light. The waters reflected the light even more making it even easier to see. Causing thin tubes that stood out of the water to appear before Walker''s eyes more clearly than they had even with his sharper eyesight he had just gained. ''Vent tube m


    A deep water monster that feeds off the fire and water manas around a magma vent. It will cause the area of water to be colder because it filters out the heated water to consume the fire mana within it. Due to this, many monsters avoid this area making it safe to grow. It needs to grow long shell stalks that are in a tube shape so that it can safely filter out the excess fire mana that it can not consume. If it does not, it risks exploding and dying because of its own consumption. It uses the water affinity to circte out the minerals in the water to make this shell fairly tough.. It needs to be able to consistently grow and extend this shell so that it can easily survive. When it is young, it struggles until it finds an ideal home by floating around the ocean floor. Its real body inside the shell holds potent fire mana that can help someone understand their own innate affinity for fire mana when consumed. This is one of the few monsters with such a usability. The shell can be used to make medicinal pills because they hold a variety of nutrients rted to minerals. It is risky to kill them because its body is deep in the ocean. Therefore, it will often retract then regrow the tube ends of its body at ater time with stored nutrients. Not many people can hunt these monsters¡­''


    Walker didn''t need to see more. "Current, that''s a monster deep in the ocean causing the ocean water around it to be colder. It also has meat that will help someone understand their own innate fire mana better. The shell is also very nutritious as pills that can be made by Remey. Care to help?" It was like Current was waiting for Walker to ask him. He had a small smirk as he dove in to the water taking his full dominator dragon from again. He hade up from where he was meditating on water mana as the danger had grown around the ships. But knowing that he could solve this issue, he did not hesitate. As he dove down beneath the ocean, Current could see it all clearly. Therger tube shaped body that became fat and burrowed partially in to the sands where it fed on the magma vents. The water was exceptionally cold nearby it since it was taking the fire mana and producing the fire mana balls causing the ships dangers. He also saw multiple smaller versions of the same monster. All clearly trying to grow here but unable to due to therger one taking everything they needed. Without any hesitation, Current opened his massive jaws and shattered therge monster''s shell. It couldn''t even fathom how it had been defeated in that instant. Ambient fire mana rushed around Current and he had to bear the heat. However, with his control of water, he brought the water through and around him keeping himself from being dealt any damage at all from the sudden burst of fire mana and heat. This was all his strength. When he moved, he sped through the water and burst up in to the air. He dropped therge broken body of the vent tube m on the ship with the most room before returning to his dragonkin from. The stark difference between the ocean now and before a clear victory. "That thing was simple to handle. I see why it is useful though, it has a lot of bnced fireaman stored in its body." Current bragged a little knowing that this would greatly interest Ignus and Remey. He was enjoying having this over Ignus for the moment. Multiple fire mages also rushed over to thank Current. They had not been so foolish as to ignore what walker had shared with the all around appraisal. They knew that this was a vable chance to strengthen their skills before they had to fight yet again. There were others with fire affinity that also came forward. The cklist of the ships being one particr group finding interest in this. "You said I can make pills for people? Then I will do that." Remey ignored the grumbling Ignus. She had wanted to thank him for helping but seeing his mood, she just pretended everything was fine. It was safer that way rather than starting a fight between him and Current. There were reasons why they did not get along, the manas just did not meld easily. "Well, I felt rather useless." Su had barely even done a thing. But she was happy for it. An easy win and new knowledge was much better than a real opponent appearing here that could have sunk the ships. Not that the ships had not taken some damage at all. There were some that had very dark scorch marks on them now. "It''s better not to have to do anything. It''s just another pieces of learning we have here. When he have to handle other monsters with simr strengths, we can focus on how we can help." Walker knew that the world was still full of mysteries. Especially the deep and massive oceans. ¡­


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 Chapter 2069. The Time Is Coming

    2069 2069. The Time Is Coming


    The randomness of the encounter with the vent tube m made many of those that witnessed it feel that they were missing something. They had not imagined that monsters like that existed. Yet, they had also never been this deep in to the ocean and had just seen a space in the ocean where an underwater volcano was making iit boil. Therefore, they had to ept the oddity as part of their reality. What some of the fire mages had just learned though, was that there was a way to condense fire mana in to a small orb, and make it softly float around an area. Then that orb of fire mana could explode causing a burst of me. It would be an excellent attack. Regardless of this attacking one target, this would make an attack that could handle an entire army. They were all about to face an army of healing undead. The corrupted undead would most likely attack without fear since they had no sense of pain. This meant, that if the fire mages could somehow replicate the method that this monster had just used to send out wisps of fire mana that exploding in to proper bursts of me, in the same slow manner. Then they could restrict the movementsof the entire enemy force at once. This was not a bad idea in the least. Walker found himself being caught up in it and dragged to focus on the magic ideas. He wanted to see how he could help. However, he found that he was not able to do so. The simple reason being that the sun had just started to rise properly in the distance. The sun was showing off a lot in the distance.. Ventus and Rise also had kept to the sky, and were enjoying the wind and light mana respectively. However, since they were much higher in the air, they had managed to see that the destination they were after was well ahead of them. The worrying side of that, was that there was also the corrupted floating city. It had been out of sight for some time. This had worried many of the joint forces here. Now that it was spotted, the worries did not end. Everyone was still on edge. But, seeing that it had ceased movement over a massive ind that might not even be considered an ind at all because of the sheer size being hard to follow but from a distance. But when Walker saw that Ventus and Rise had made motions for every ship to stop for the moment, he had moved in to the air. Those who could do so also followed. They saw that the ind was onerge forest of sorts. Stone outcroppings jutting from it where some older civilization had once made a home or some sort of massive structure that celebrated wherever was here. The natural rocky mountain that was also at the center of this ind proved to be tough too. It was easy to see various rocky potions carved in and out of it. But also easy to see how nature had created the t faces that would be very hard to climb. Furthermore, there would be a challenge of wind that would stop them all from easily flying around the ind. Ventus would need to use significant wind mana just to make it easier. The worst part was, that the corrupted undead angels and the corrupted undead dragon were easily flying about. This proved that they were using the corrupted manas to break the natural order of things. They were resisting the flow of wind manas all around them and the ind. It would surely cause more disarray as time went on. And the demon lord would celery not care if that was or was not the case. No one wanted to speak as various soldiers prepared their weapons and armors. They were sure that the cksmiths would not have anything more that they could do. The battle they had all been preparing for was right there. Waiting for them. Worse even, there were seemingly more enemies than what had been expected. This also weighed on Walker''s mind as he could see things much more clearly from a distance after he had managed to tap in to true mana even more through altering his body. Everyone gathered on the forward most ship. They were sure that the forces they had needed to be better organized. Prepared for what the n of attack would be. They could not just storm the ind. The monsters that could be there might already be under siege and forced to be corrupted undead enemies. Trapped to follow the orders of the demon lord. "We caught up faster than we anticipated because the echidna guided us through the dangers of the ocean. They have been an immense help since they shared a great deal of their knowledge about the natural flow of the world and natural mana. I can see that many of you understand the benefits we have gained." Walker was earnest. He was d they had made it here sooner. Even though he felt he might still be way too weak to handle this major battle. "Right this moment, we should gauge our own strength. Many of those who began to grasp a little bit of what it means that the world is only a part of what everything should be. They should have gained some strength and insight. Some might not even be able to see their system right now. Mine is blocked after I went through my own process." This brought a collective shock through the leaders that had gathered with Walker to listen carefully. Alice and the party in particr felt extremely unsettled. They knew that the system was literally part of life. Having the view of it and using that to their advantage had always been what everyone did. But, Gil slowly raised his hand to get some attention. "I didn''t want to say anything, but the more I thought that elves might have the possibility to travel the elemental nes and see more to gain an understanding of it all. And how the elven ancestry was a high elf or had the ability to use all manas, that maybe there was a reason he was in our world. Well, I got some insight." "I can''t see how it all connects, but that theory seems to have ended with me blocking off my own system and it''s all gibberish. We even have a trantion skill that we learned through Walker." Gil made it clear that he was ufortable with this. This wasn''t bad though. No one could see how it was the worst thing. Yes, they didn''t have the system to give them a disy of strength and a few other things. But had they all actually needed that recently? Hadn''t they all been using their senses to better understand things? Weren''t they trying to change the world and the system as a whole?


    14:23


    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    Wouldn''t that mean that they might alter the way the systems worked and that they should not rely on the ipleteness of the world''s system''s anyways?


    "A few other elves mentioned that to me. Gil, I realize it may be how nature intended it right now. But nature might not just be nature. Nature might be existence or something else. It is not what I need to rely on now. Can you still fight?" Alma brought everyone to the right ce in this conversation. Eyes fell on Walker and Gil. their minds also on the various other soldiers in their joint force that may be experiencing this. "Even better than before. My mind is clearer. My body even feels like it has more mana somehow." Gil rolled his shoulders and nodded confidently. "I agree. My body was altered through understanding life man significantly more. I also changed the way I view all things. Since then, I have sensed changes in mana around me and my perception of everything. We can use these new perceptions. These new strengths, to our advantage. This brought a more serious tone to things. Walker had helped dismiss a lot of worries with that alone. "We will need to scout that ind. Split out goals for the moment. Some scouting that ind, some gauging our forces, and some doing whatever else they need to prepare. Anyone that needs help, can be offered it no matter what it is."


    "Make sure everyone understands, this battle will, be the end of all this. I will refuse to let the demon lord cause damage to our home. To the world as a whole. We are making our stand. We are giving everything we have no matter what. If they can not, they will remain on the ship. One will stay behind." That was it. No one questioned anything else. The royal dragons had to speak to their dragonkin, the elves needed to talk, the merfolk, vampires, goblins, spiders, harpies, dwarves, and so on. It was time. ¡­


    ¡­. N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2070. Battle Plans

    2070 2070. Battle ns


    Scy and Leon had already begun to create a battle n. The way that the two seemed to get along after having their merfolk and aquatic demi-human forces work together was spectacr. They could somewhat guess what the other was imagining before it was said. "Fifteen squads will leave and try to surround the main area where the ships will be letting off the remaining forces. This will also protect the ships as they make their moves inside the dangerous area within the ind." Scy knew very well that there could be more threats they did not know of yet. The ocean waters and the beach were already a ce known for threats. The high possibility that they would need to fight monsters whileing to shore or even on the shore was very high. However, it was already clear that the ind had some monsters on it. From what the scouting elves could see using their advanced vision skills, they had spotted various monsters fighting corrupted monsters already. The undead corrupted monsters were being sent out seemingly to fight and cause chaos. Not even to gather more for their army. This was further supporting the theory that the demon lord was done with what he needed to do. That he had more than got where he finally needed to go. However, this also meant that he was able to do what he had in mind for his goal. That he was able to move forward with his end goal. "The forces that can fly will be above the air matching the merfolk led squads. We will ensure that any flying monsters or enemy forces are dealt with. We will also ensure that the forces making their way on tond will be able to do so regardless of any terrain changes or dangers in the surf." They will be split up in to smaller groups of three, this will allow over thirty smaller squads the ability to move around faster. Join up where they are needed, and again split off. Using flight as their focus will greatly assist us." Scy made it very clear that they needed to make use of what skills they had. The smallest advantages were major here. "The ranged forces that will be following me to encounter that forest and overgrown ruins area, will be guarded by the general forces on foot. Your squads are already decided. You also understand that you must protect the harpies along with the abyssal and heavenly serpents joining you. They are your key tomunication. They will spread the word when you discover something." This was Alma''s idea. Having the smaller groups of foot soldiers divided up with dedicatedmunication members would allow everyone to trade information much faster. Especially since it was clear that they were all having some effect on their systems with the changes to both their perspectives of everything, and the world''s changing state. The manas alone had be more chaotic in general since they had heard this ind. Walker could sense that the manas were flowing oddly here even without the corrupted mana ying a part in all of this. Simply put, this was what the echidna had sensed from a greater distance. They knew that the manas were not flowing properly here because this was a ce once attached more closely to the bridges of the elemental nes. Therefore, the corrupted mana would also have some effect on this thin veil between areas. This meaning, that the manas would always be odd. But without the proper connection, the manas were even more stressed than what they had been before. The corrupted mana on both sides was wearing away at things. It surely meant that the demon lord was about to make a move and affect the general safety of the world. "That leaves the specialized soldiers. The spiders, goblins, tamers, and others. You all know your strengths. You can work freely with every squad created. You will report to your leaders. Remain prepared for the dangers that you will face. You will mainly find that you are assisting the dragonkin in their efforts." Seeing that Scy was still taking the lead, Walker did not see the need to interrupt. She was recounting the ns that they had all made. This was just a recap for the moment. "The dragonkin will, be moving ahead faster to explore the ruins. Especially the earth dragonkin. They have the skills able to clear any blocked areas along with prepare traps for baiting in the dangerous corrupted undead." " Do not forget the angles. We will be attacking the ancestors turned in to ves by that monster. You can allow us to put them all to rest." The angel that spoke up was one with six wings. He hade from the angel''s city entirely. His strength appeared every high, but he was also dead set on helping the floating city return to the ground to be put to rest forever. "That''s the n, the fire mages will be the best partners to the light mages. They should be able to handle the dangers of corrupted undead. They might even be able to get rid of it entirely, the false death runes around should not be that powerful." Walker spoke up. His focus on the fact that the joint attacks would be doing the most work at the end of the day. "Healers will follow me. We will prepare an entire healing area on the sans right where we touchnd. Then I will proceed forward myself. Buffing every soldier that I can." Alice said the most she had ever said in a while. Injuries were not an if. They were a when. This being the case, every healer that had gathered with the forces here were prepared to do the best that they could. With Alice and various other higher ranking healers here, they knew that even the smallest bit of support would be valuable. This was just the case for their current situation. "The vampires may not be able to do much. We will do something though. We were freed because of everything done recently. It would be a tragedy to ignore those who are our saviors." seeing the vampires were prepared to fight even still in a weakened state, not a single person denied them. This was simply because this battle was just that dire. The more help, the better. The fewer lives that might be lost. The mages were already gathered in preparation to leave. Walker could see that they even had some rune carvers with them. This had been a surprising joint group when he had first seen it. However, some rune carvers were gaining strength rapidly. They could make rune formation quickly. So quickly that it could be made to boost certain spells. This would lead to a veryrge enhancement of the mages as a whole. They would ensure that the mages were fighting with the strongest potential they had. In turn, the mages were acting as guardians for the rune carvers. "I will be heading right for that city. The floating one. That''s fine, right? There''s one more sin title holder on there. I can handle it." Barry taking on thest sin title holder was a big deal. If he managed to do this, then it was thest force that the demon lord could use as a pawn. However, it was also an unknown. The other sin title holders had been understood. Their power known. But the sloth sin title holder was still a mystery overall. Even information from the other races had not been enough to know what came with that title. What strength Sloth had would be something that Barry found out himself. "We will trust you to ground that city while we head toward the ruins at the top of that mountain. Defeating Sloth should make arge difference in the dangers we face. Especially since Sloth has been with the demon lord the longest after we defeated the others." With Walker''sst input, everyone moved. Not a single person was left behind. The fear that some would not wish to fight was entirely gone. Even the nonbat roles in all this had made moves to push ahead with this battle. cksmiths wielded their hammers, and alchemists had brandished potions that they could throw. Even if theycked the strength to fight otherwise. Tension filled the air as the ships moved ahead and the row boats were prepared. They all knew that some of them might not make it back from this. That they were facing a true evil of their world. This didn''t need a speech. Just the solemn determination that came with their goals. Their desires to protect their world and everything within it. ¡­


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 Chapter 2071. Storm The Island

    2071 2071. Storm The Ind


    The feeling that Walker had was not one that he had had before. He had experienced resolve before. He had experienced worry before. He had even been fearful before. Yet, what he felt now was new. This mix mash of emotions was enough to make his stomach churn. But also made him feel like he had an endless supply of energy just waiting to be unleashed. It didn''t help that everyone was doing whatever they could to boost their mana, check their armors, and prepare their squads for movement in the next few moments. This was just adding to the outer chaos that was weighing on Walker''s mentality.


    "We will make it right." Alice had stayed near them for the time being. She did not feel the need to return to the healers right away. They already knew well what their positions would be. How they would have to act. And what else they needed to prepare so that they could be the best healers they could be for this time. Many of the healers had prepared backpacks with various bandages. Healing potions and salves also had their ces within their packs. This would give them the options to save their manas for the more dire situation they would encounter. "I know, we have to win this. I think the pressure is a bit much right now though." Walker knew that he had support. That alone was taking a significant weight off him. But that didn''t take the sickening feeling he had in his stomach. The deep sense that he was going to face a situation where he had to challenge himself beyond what he would ever do normally. She gave his arm a squeeze before hearing someone calling for her. One of the healers was asking questions about herbs that they could wrap inside bandages to help healing burns. They didn''t know what they might face, being prepared for everything was important. This left Walker to survey the dwarven golems as they went back in to the water. Their semi aquatic build proving to be ideal for the squad approach on to the massive ind. They would be able to move many of therger obstacles that they might face. Especially since it was an ind full of massive ruins. They would also survey the area better with the dwarves controlling them. They would be able to tell the general information about the areas they were moving in to. It meant a safer and all around better speed of moving. Walker trusted that they would just be fine to counter the corrupted mana. He had asked this in worry because he had expected that the mana gems and the mana flow of the dwarven golems might suffer with so much chaotic mana around. But, he had been assured that the dwarves had made the rune formations with the metals more isted to protect them. That means carved runes underyers of very thin metal armor. It was a technique that was above what the dwarves had done with their golems. It was because they could not do this to something with too many moving parts. The golems would tear apart these thinyers in their natural actions. But after hours and hours of work, a tough alloy of not secret metals had been used to ensure that it would to easily be broken by even the battle movements of the dwarven golems. An astounding change in how well the golems would be able to fight and for longer. When it came to the other forces, he couldn''t even start. They were so developed and willing to take on whatever they could to ensure their victory. Even as he moved to help others board the boats, he was stunned. The immense feeling of pride within the joint forces that hade together to make Genesis were too great. Each had yed their roles so far. Made sure to stand tall and ept a new form of future that they had not expected to appear in their lives. Even the dragons who had been secluded and against allies in the world, had changed so much. It had shown other races the potential within their own race. How they could open themselves to knowledge instead of cutting it off. Instead of hiding themselves, they had managed to step out in the open. Be even brighter lights. The vampires stood out immensely. Many of them were still very weak. They were not recovering as fast a rate as they had once been able to so many years ago. However, they had a new leader. Someone who had immediately stepped up to take the right patch ahead. Their innate affinity for darkness mana would allow them to use that magic to ensure enemies. To counter potential darkness attacks. But they could also use their own blood for attacks. Step in to an unexpected realm that the corrupted undead would not be able to react to as well as they could more well known skills. While these corrupted undead were not wise, they were still instinctual. They had their instincts from when they were alive. Therefore, it was easy to guess that they would be limated to the basics elemental manas over the moreplicated skill using multiple of those manas. Or unique skills like blood skills. Taking a step in to the air after thest boat and thest aquatic soldier had taken their plunge, Walker slowly followed. The rest of the party spread out for the storming of the ind. They would rush in to take the space they could as a main camp before they began making their way in to the forested area. In to the lost ruins of a civilization older than any other currently in the world. This misterios race had been there when the world was connected to everything. Had been three when the world was developing. While they were shrouded in mystery, Walker had a feeling that they were out there, somewhere beyond the elemental nes. Waiting to see what race would visit them first. That was just his thought though. He couldn''t dwell on this. He had to ensure that his mind remained where it should. On the lives he would be protecting. On the people fighting beside him as equals. On the enemy that was ahead of them. As if to mock him, a sudden shaking took to the very mana in the air. The corrupted floating city burst to life with many more corrupted undead iling down on to the ind. The demon lord was making his move. The city had stopped and now the corrupted mana was spilling out even more. Everyone had hoped that they would have a base set up before something like this happened. But now, all bets were off. The demon lord has made a clearer move than just the scouting corrupted undead he had sent out. While he was not controlling them, they appeared to be still attacking the ind. They had been doing so for some time. Walker and the others had assumed this was to strengthen their forces. To ensure that he had a space to make his move without being interrupted. Now, it appeared that had happened and the demon lord would be leaving the corrupted floating city. "Walker." Ventus pped her wings in the air. The other royal dragons also moving nearby. Their focus on their own thoughts before they rushed in to battle with the city as a whole. "We will be ensuring that the floating city does not cause any more harm. I will also bring this human and Remey with us. They will be handling that final sin title holder." Ventus said this with every bit of intensity that one would expect from a mother who knew this battle would be deciding whether or not their children would be left in danger after it. This all depended on the results of this battle. "As the nature dragon of the Genesis alliance, I will give you every bit of my word and promise. I will give everything I have to bring victory here today. I will even give up every bit of strength I have if I must." his words filled with pride as he spoke. He was a dragon too. "Then we will leave when that ruined city returns to being a ruin." Ventus and the others flew off. Remey and Barry being carried through the wind as well. The following roars caused the air to shiver. It wasn''t the air, it was the manas in the air to shiver. This was a war cry. Dragons crying out in rage and strength to tell their enemies that they had trifled with the wrong being. That they would be using every bit of mana to crush them!


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    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 2072. Instincts

    2072 2072. Instincts


    As the Genensi forces took to the water, Remey found herself being held tightening along with Barr in the Talons of Ventus. She had never imagined that she would be taking this route. Separating from the party right away and having to meet up with them. However, something in her gut had told her that she had to. That she needed to take this route or else she would regret it. While most people would not follow their instincts, she did. Ever since she had be a dragon soul, she could not really grasp every little new detail. She was still discovering very many things about her new state of being. Besides the mana, she found that she didn''t really get as hungry as she used to. The mana that she absorbed was just as nourishing at times. Especially when Ignus assisted her in condensing a purer fire mana for her to use. But besides that, she felt the smaller changes in the manas around her. She also found that she reacted better to the things going on around her because of them. When performing some potion making basics, she found that she had started tion tweak her techniques without thinking. She wasn''taware of this until she had started to learn from the natural alchemist directly. It had been pointed out how she was already influencing herself to better heat the herbs even with using cauldrons. This had allowed Remey to grapes a lot more of what she had wished to be able to do. The high tier mana and health potions were easily half as difficult. That made her realize that she could most likely aplish grand potions at a staggeringly higher rate than before. Something that would be stunning to the other alchemists. Furthermore, she found that when the waves changed or the ship passed through wind, that she picked up on it before feeling it physically. It was something that Ignus had been amazed by and wondered how it influenced her battle style. That was how she had ended up having a small sparring match with him. The amazing acts just grew from there. As Remey knew that she didn''t have the pure physical strengthpared to Ignus, a dominator dragon, she knew that she was tough in her own ways. Yet, as she sparred, she found that she could better counter his attacks. Use his force against him because she could innatly sense his attacksing. Whether they were attacks that would harm her or could be deflected with the sides of her arm. Whether they were filled with mana or not. And even the general spots where he was aiming. All of her senses had been improved along with this unique intuition. That was why, when she heard that Barry wanted to tackle thest sin title holder alone, that she had to go. Her senses had screamed that she had to follow him. While Barry did not see himself as important, he was the vice adventurers guild master. He was also a well known powerful human that had made a veryrge legacy for himself. While many of the party had been human in some form, Barry had always been human but managed to be incredibly powerful. He was a living legend in that respect. Able to handle battles with entire hordes of monsters that threatened the farm fields. Able to handle the toughest opponents that the best adventurers struggled with. Even able to teach the younger generation important battle skills that they would need to learn so that they survived within the wilderness. Remey knew that if she let him go alone, that there would not be a favorable oue. But before she could think even more, the wind picked up as Ventus carried them. Looking ahead, there were corrupted undead angels blocking their path. Their partially decayed wings making it a wonder that they could fly. They damaged spears and swords making it simply pathetic that they thought that could harm Ventus and her dragon scales. When they even neared Ventus, powerful wind des would shoot out and half the corrupted angels in to pieces. But they clearly were not done. Their bodies were already repairing themselves as they fell through the air. Some of them had enough corrupted mana to even gather themselves before they hit the ground at all. Even with Ignus breathing out mes, he was finding that they were returning themselves from ashes at an astonishing rate. These corrupted undead had been brought back a more powerful being. The demon lord had been able to do much worse with them than that undead mummy. Rmeey wanted to fight them, but knew that if she took to the sky using the fire mana wings she could create to atack and fly, she would be at a massive disadvantage. The sky was not her innate strength. She was still not that limated to her own body and form. Regardless, the undead corrupted monsters were being pushed out of the way. That was until a guttural roar filled with the scent of decay erupted from nearby. The monster that they spotted was one that Remey knew lived on the Sigil continent. That the party had not seen but she had been described it since it was so rare.


    "That''s the sky bear. It''s a feathered bear that can fly and attack with powerful wind mana. It uses that wind mana to make ws and even fangs that sh like wind des." Barry nodded his head. He had also heard of it but Remey clearly had more knowledge. The feathers were stained from their normal gray and white to a deep brown and ck. All due to its decaying and corrupted state. However, it was still weidling wind mana trying to sh out with wind ws at Ventus. A poor choice, but it happened anyways. The size of it made this difficult though. It was a sky bear. Monsters like that were known for throwing around their weight. And that''s what it did. It flew through the air with the entire intention to bite Ventus or something, with its fangs covered in wind mana. The attack would have easily harmed Remey and Barry since it was using more power than it normally would. It was a monster that had lost its mind. It did not have the natural restrictions that a monster should have. Or any living being for that matter. us dodged for the first time. She had sensed another mana that Remey and also sensed at thest moment. The corrupted mana had drawn the decaying darkness mana in to a focus on the body when it used wind mana as well. This presented a very real risk to be poisoned with decaying darkness mana. It was an undead''s attack, but the corrupted mana was making it more potent and powerful. Ventus had understood that the danger, while small, was still there for her. She could not ept being harmed here. She needed to keep fighting. Seeing the change in the way Vetus acted, a dark gust appeared. It was an attack from Mordant. One using the darkness breath that he had to cause damage to the body of the corrupted sy bear,.. His understanding of darkness mana and the effects it could have were immensely moreplex than what the bear could do due to the corrupted mana in its body. Seeing that it was still flying though, Made Mordant and Ventus swoop forward together. Heir talons scraping out and shing in to the rotting body of the sky bear. They could feel their own growing annoyance that these monsters appeared to be getting tougher the more that they got close to the corrupted floating city. The city itself was getting clearer though. Barry and Remey could see the ruins that were the corrupted city. They Were broken and appeared to have been destroyed even more by rampaging monsters being changed in to corrupted undead. While Remey knew that this would just slow their search for the sin title holder, Sloth, she had to admit that she did not understand why this was so important to the angels. Every single piece that survived was a remnant ofa greater past. Many statues showing angels whose records were lost to time. The various different materials hidden away. And the literal bodies of their fellow angels that had taken this floating city as their final resting ce.


    Witnessing the city, Remey took the chance to jump free of Ventus''s ws. Her eyes on the walking corrupted undead on the ruins around the corrupted floating city. She would run wild to draw out the enemy. This appeared to be the best course of action. Especially as she could tell that there were plenty that wanted off the ind to be able to attack below. Where her family was fighting. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2073. One Root Down

    2073 2073. One Root Down


    "Barry and Remey are already fighting where they can. Remey is throwing potions and Barry is helping Ventus with the corrupted undead that fly too close. Who knew he was strong enough to even push back enemies with even the force of his axes through the air?" Gil was amazed. Due to his sharp eyes, he had spotted many of the battles beginning above them. Especially the dragons who were doing their best to deal with the dangers that were flocking toward them. It was a major investment in the longevity of this battle so that the ground forces could handle their own fight. The sheer number of flying corrupted undead that were in the air was much more than what anyone had imagined. Ignus was being forced to breath out massive gusts of me enhanced by Ventus''s breath of wind. This was destroying flocks of corrupted undead birds which were able to throw themselves at the dragons over and over. If they were toe to the ground and attack, they would cause a severe damage to the ground forces. Simply because they would be attacking and causing constant small injuries. Not to mention the massive wear and tear on their armors. It would be like cutting the army''s strength in half. The other benefits of the dragons came whenever Terron and Rise would attack. The light that Rise sent around her was overall weakening the corrupted undead. She was not necessarily attacking, but using her light mana as a purification. This purification caused the darkness manas that were naturally resting within every single undead to weaken. To be less stable. It made the corrupted manas act more chaotically which lessened the control that the demon lord would have over their auctions. Slowing them down. Terron was also in the air. But he had massive boulders flying around him due to him controlling the earth mana with extreme care. Walker had never seen Terron fight, but now, he wished he had before. Using the earth as a moving and changing weapon that could fly with him was incredibly brilliant. This form of fighting allowed Terron to enjoy the natural strength he had when flying while also causing great damage to enemies at all angles. One boulder had taken out three corrupted undead angels before they had even attempted to fight back. Beyond this, the real strength came when he divided these boulders in to small bullets of earth. They would defeat entire swarms of undead corrupted monsters before they could properly return to peak strength. There was also the difference between the way that they fought and the way that Currents'' and Mordants'' fight. While Mordant hid in the shadows dragging in corrupted undead monsters, Current was right in the waters bringing the water to the enemies in unique ways. The whips of water that would reach from the ocean were not just attacking the flying enemies. Current was using these whips of water to drag in the corrupted undead that could not fly or swim in to the water. There, he could crush them with pressure or throw them deep in to the ocean. Every single opponent he defeated made way for the Genesis forces on the water or getting to the beach to gain ground more easily. It was an incredible sight to see since the waters even flowed in to ice from time to time to create a defensive barrier for others. It would be too simple to say that current was just dividing his attention to support everything. Mordant''s methods were a little more specific. He targeted the strongest opponents. He was using the shadows that he could hide in to drag in the more powerful corrupted undead monsters. Some that were using elemental attacks on the Genesis forces or the areas on the ind itself. Their attacks would harm the weaker soldier, if not just killing them outright. Yet, Mordant was dragging them in to the shadows and crushing them with incredibly powerful decaying darkness that was stronger than what the corrupted undead had within their own bodies. It was forcing them to be in a state of constant stalling. They had the ability because of the magic used to bring them back to rebuild their bodies. That was what they did when they were harmed. However, they werepletely unable to beat the strength that Mordant had with darkness decaying magics. Therefore, when their bodies started to reform, they would break down again in a cycle that stopped their movements. It left Mordant as the warden to a shadowy prison of the most powerful corrupted undead he could capture. When the Genesis force reached the sands, things became even more chaotic. The monsters changed in to corrupted undead had already fallen on to the ind. They were rampaging as well. It seemed that the demon lord had allowed them to do so to cause chaos while he worked on his true goal. There was an immense amount of mana flowing from the corrupted floating city to make this all happen as well. The mana that Walker knew well wasing from something unnatural. It shouldn''t be yet, it was. So, he just had to trust that Remeya and Barry would be able to handle this issue for them. When Walker stepped through the air, he found that midnight was suddenly beside him. Her deep breath before released a roar was to start the battle of the ground. But her roar also shook the wind mana all around her. It made a wave of pressure descend on the ground enough to make some of the weakest corrupted undead struggle. Walker had not seen her use her roar with a specific mana in mind. This was surely something she had learned from Ventus when he had not been watching. A skill that used both her mana and the wind mana to exert force. A powerful skill that was also bolstering the mood of the Genesis forces that charged forward to begin attacking. Each squad taking down multiple corrupted undead as some of the echidna warriors joined in. their natural mana causing the corrupted undead to lose their abilities to repair the bodies instantly. This was the key here. They could still take down the enemies if they used natural mana properly. Walker had learned and done something simr. But he had been weaker at the time and it was harder to stave off the corrupted mana with that method. For the echidna though, it was easier. They had the knowledge and deep connection to use less corrupted mana to better defeat these opponents. Especially since the genesis forces were cutting them down, immensely weakening the enemies. Spotting that Su had also made headway in to therge beach, Walker began channeling the wind mana that Midnight had also used. He knew that he could use this to target multiple undead further in to the beach with wind des. Sending them forward with more focus, the wind des aimed at their limbs. Cutting the rotting corrupted bodies and exposing them to the attacks of the ground forces. This use of strength was not to just defeat them, but for the squads to carve out a base for the healers makingndfall now. It was a process of creating a decent ce where they could put down roots. Not the end of a war just yet. This was just a start. "Walker, three bats heading your way!" Gil''s warning made Walker look up to see threerger corrupted undead vampire bats heading toward him.


    15:21


    They had been stolen from the vampire''s city by the demon lord as more fuel for his corrupted army. Forces that should not have been there, but were to be sued as pawns. He acted immediately to spark up mes in three of the wind des. They shot out and burned viciously on the corrupted bodies of the bats. Nearby vampires witnessed this and silently thanked him. They did not wish to see any rtion to the monster that had been part of why they had been in such a dire state for years and years. But also, they knew well that if they had been captured by the demon lord, that they would have just been pawns as well. They had witnessed something rted to them be freed.


    Stepping through the air even more, Walker heard the start of Alice''s song. The growth of light all around the beach boosted his and everyone''s strength. Their minds cleared while some of the chaotic mana was forced away. This song inspired calm and bnce. It also was the first root of their base in this ind for their war. Multiple instruments joined as the healers with the ability to y joined in on the song. Alice had written more than a song, she had organized these musicians to create a solid barrier for the injured fighting. A massive statement. This is our base, stay away! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


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 Chapter 2074. Beach Clearing

    2074 2074. Beach Clearing


    "Sister, behind you!" Onyx sent a warning to Midnight who had just leaped over to sh apart a corrupted undead bear. Her ws had been wreathed in purifying light mes for the majority of her battle after suppressing many of the first wave of these corrupted monsters with a roar of wind. Her ws left the target she had just shed behind with white mes before she leaped to dodge the iing attack of a corrupted undead angel that was wielding a rusted and broken sword. Her counter was the whip of her tail also covered in the very same mes, however, she had condensed some earth on the end of her tail too. This little tack hade from Terron. She had watched him condense some earth as additional armor, but when she saw that she could use it as an attack instead, she was interested. Especially since she could add the earth, then set it aze to cause even more damage. The result was a shattering and ming amount of earth sent all around her to defend her from various attacks. It was also nice to know that she could cause a major knock back with this attack. Giving her time to take in the battles around her for where she should move next. Between her and Onyx, the pair had been moving through the battle field all over the beach. Their goals were more or less the same. Help those that were struggling, and allow for everyone to have more space while the elves guide Alma to the forested edge of the beach. It wasn''t that they were afraid that there would be some worse monster created by the demon lording from the frosted area of the ind. Nor was it that they were afraid of the unknown area. It was because the song that the musicians and Alcie had begun to buff everyone could notst forever. While these buffs were allowing small injuries to heal faster, they were also causing agility, magical, physical, and even health to improve. The rate at which everyone was regaining their mana was also very high. When Alice had written this song, she had channeled the emotions that anyone would have in battle. The steel will to make sure that the goal was met. The solitary struggle for strength that everyone had when they faced a possible death. Even more, the unbroken bond with those that stood beside them. This was why many of the musicians that had joined were finding that their resonance was growing. Every single tune that matched had increased their abilities along with the entire battling forces'' strengths. Surprisingly, this also calmed the manas that these buffs encountered. Therefore, it was countering the corrupted manas that were within the corrupted undead. All that chaotic mana which was slowly being countered with the natural mana from those that could use it, was also being calmed by the music made right now. Whether that was another sign that Alice and these musicians that worked with the healers had seen beyond the world a little or not, wasn''t the focus. Instead, the focus was on creating a path for Alma to get to the treeline. Onyx slithered out at his full size creating a massive sweep with his tail across arge span of the sand. The light mana gathered on his body acting as a second set of scales ensured that he did severe damage to all the corrupted undead that came in to contact with him. It was a massive move that left any standing opponents a perfect target for Gil. Gil had been firing arrows and using his daggers interchangeably. He was the main force followed by five elite battle archers from the elven forces. Normally, these elite battle archers would be acting on the forest elf queen''s direct orders. Her strongest leaders within the forest elf forests. They had been sent specifically to defend Alma in this battle since the forest elf queen herself could not leave the forest that far. She was bound to it and was barely able to leave to go to genesis. Let alone across an ocean or to the Sigil continent. When he saw that Onyx and Midnight had made ane of free space across the sand, he began preparing a major skill he and the elite battle archers had prepared with light arrows in hand. Each of them could fire multiple arrows in very quick session. The gathered targets that had been pushed together by Midnight and Onyx on opposite sides was a perfect time to use such a skill. In tandem with the elite battle archers, they began rapidly during arrows. These light affinity arrows directly pierced and purified the bodies of the corrupted undead. Their ability to regenerate their bodies was massively weakened with everything happening around them. Gil could also feel that the elite battle archers had trained themselves to be much more powerful in their skills than any archer he had ever met. Their actions were beyond what anyone would call trained. They were the perfect example of mastery. Each clearly having a mastery of their skills both physically and mentally. The peak of what anyone would call their field of study. But this was still just that, the basics of their systems. They still had mastery skills for what an elite battle archer would be. The very skills that they were holding to themselves to use for defending Alma when need be. That aside though, Gil watched as the arrows rained down on to the corrupted undead,pletely stopping them from further attacks. Meanwhile, Alma had rushed out behind the elite battle archer and Gil. She was dropping seeds here and there to prepare the camp that they were making. She would have preferred to be part of the battle, but she had been given a much stricter role in everything. The trees and vines she could grow very quickly with her skill would not normally live that long without her adjustment. That was, if she hadn''t been followed by most of the farmers that had been around when the battle with the vampiric monsters. They had followed her wanting to help. Wanting to be part of the reason why the world would beplete. This wasn''t an avoidable urrence, they had seen the majesty of what tier skills could do. They were part of growing an entire forest in an instant. They had their minds opened up to sights and potentials that weren''t even contained within the world. How could anyone say they would not charge head on in to that wonder even with the risk of dying?


    These would be the people maintaining the safety of the base after Alma activated all the seeds she was throwing. With her seeds and the naturally urring trees, she could connect everything in to a wall of wood and vines. This would be the towers for archers to defend while the others rested and prepared for the next journey. The ruins needed to be explored. It was a surety that the demon lord would be searching for what he needed. a grinding sound suddenly came as the beach sands shifted. Before Alma could take another step, Su had mmed down the twin shields right in front of her. She hadn''t even realized that Su had been right there to defend her. Arge snake like worm shot out of the sand, its body covered in decaying wounds. The sand shifted again as five more shot out trying to attack them. All around the sands this happened causing shouts for reinforcements to bemonce. This monster was not just a single one, but a group that had been found and used by the demon lord. "Attention! These are demonic worms from the desertnds near the demon city! They are weak at their jointed armor! Avoid their heads!" The shout was passed around more and more. The demons that hade in the Genesis forces knew these monsters the best. Their guidance and exnations began to flip the suddenly terrible situation back to the Genesis force''s sess. This sudden change and not shaken any of the Genesis forces determination. Instead, they had spurred their fires to attack with even more vigor. They felt that this underground threat had only appeared because the demon lord was beginning to realize that he could not have his pawns resist them forever. They were increasing their momentum, not slowing down. Seeing the massive improvements in the forces, Scy stepped center stage in to the air. She had been sending the squads here and there throughmunication while waiting for the foundations to be built. She saw that Alma was about to prepare their base, so, someone should try to clear the enemies before the walls went up.


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 Chapter 2075. Mastery In Perfection

    Chapter 2075. Mastery In Perfection


    While some had seen Scy use her full strength, not all of the genesis forces had witnessed it. Scy had also not been as adept in using her mastery skill either. Had not been able to use it properly as she could.


    However, since that one time, she had trained herself much more. She had looked within herself to focus on the ancient scy blood line she was named after. Doing so, had led her to many possibilities.


    The reliance on her other parts, the leviathans that were born at the same time as her who had all been united with her. They had been part of her since they were born and she them. This being the case, they were always with her, the closer the better. Because that was the only time that they were all feelingpleted.


    Due to this, the leviathan blood and Scys'' ancient blood had mixed better. They had shared this in a way to properly strengthen one another. Even battling against one another using their instincts to ensure that they were properly tempering their own bloodlines.


    This had awakened a closer bond with the water and wind elemental manas that Scy had control of. This greater affinity had led to her studying of how she used it. Looking at the ancient records of what ways that the real Scy had been rumored to use these manas as well.


    Every single bit of information had left Scy changing even the way that she walked through the air. How she battled in the smallest of ways. How she focused on battling with opponents at both closebat and a distance.


    The leviathans were just part of her strength. They could attack as if they were limbs extending from her. And when using the mastery skill, they fused with her doing just that. Reaching out to chomp down or breath out vicious wind des and water des fused together.


    She had learned to su those two attacks without her mastery skill though. The leviathans able to fight better with the water and wind manas that they had control of. Beyond that, she had also focused on the very essence of what it meant to carry ancient blood.


    The legacy of a monster as powerful as Scy had literally helped shape the world. That sort of power was something that most people would not witness. Yet, with the return of the dominator dragons, it was clear that strength like the ancient monster''s was not lost. It was just forgotten.


    The domineering strength she had on a battlefield had nevere from just her battle prowess. It also came from her blood and what it stood for. A being at the very top of the food chain. A monster without many equals able to counter it.


    That mentality created an aura of strength as Scy focused her mana and chanted allowed. Walker had heard this chant before. He had witnessed the immense strength that Scy had in this mastery skill form. But now, he sensed it much more clearly.


    The water and wind manas that gathered were literally purifying themselves. It was a clear sign that scy was using much more precision while she altered her form following the mastery skill chant.


    There were even changes in her body size and the sizes of the leviathan that were taking their positions on her body. But greater so, were the hounds of water forming all around her and on the ground. They wererger. More defined.


    Each hound growled in a watery rough tone. Targeting the remaining corrupted undead that the Genesis forces were battling. This addition to their forces greatly changed the focus on battle from pushing the corrupted undead away to defeating them entirely.


    The ces where Scy saw that there were more powerful corrupted undead, she struck out. The leviathans breathing outpressed water des that tore through the body of these enemies like nothing. She was even using powerful water and wind to cut out arge trench in front of where Alma had tossed seeds.


    This added defense was just an example of something that came from the strategic brains Scy boasted as a general. Her ideal control of the ancient bloodline showing itself in this form. She was not allowing it to take the lead. She kept her intelligence which could have been lost through poor usage of this skill. It was a pure and perfect example of a battle hardened and disciplined general.


    "General Scy has cleared the way from us and pushed the enemy away. Prepare the base now!" The roar from Genesis forces was inspiring. They all felt the power supporting them. They all understood the reason she had used this skill not.


    Scy could not use this in the space of the restricted ruins. She had to use it now to clear and save manas and injuries of the genesis forces. Therefore, she was giving this her all. Corrupted undead being broken to pieces was just a small portion of that. Especially the worms that had recently appeared to trouble the soldiers below.


    The moment that Alma touched the edge of the beach, a burst of mana forward through the ground. The farmers began to act as well. They had simr systems and abilities. Why couldn''t they help here at war too?


    While out of their norm, they were causing the seeds to sprout and grow yet again. The many vines and branches from these seeds criss crossing to create a toughened wall of wood and leaves. The elves jumped upon them immediately to begin firing arrows down from above.


    This wall of wood was also wrapping itself around the pieces of various corrupted undead. Trapping them from being able to rebuild their bodies. They were not able to be easily defeated, but now they were trapped so that those with the ability to defeat them once and for all could get to them in time.


    All thismotion did not go unnoticed though. The corrupted undead that had been dropped from the corrupted floating city were not all weak nor small. Some of therge ones had been dealt with already, but they weren''t all gone.


    The more troublesome ones had managed to fall in deeper within the ind and the ruins. This left them to be dangers that the Genesis forces would discoverter. Now though, they had been lured by the sudden shaking of the ground and variousrge amounts of mana appearing in the beach.


    The was Why Walker was forced to send out a warning when he spotted a more troublesome enemy. A warning that went from Walker, to Onyx, then right to Scy. She was in her strongest from, she could handle this threat while bolstering the morale of the entire genesis army.


    ''Gluttonous whip serpent


    This massive serpent is a very old monster now extinct from the world. Due to the changinges of the world, this monster could not receive enough nutrition to survive. However, its body was still discovered and stored within the ancient angel''s floating city as a disy, the fully dried scales and skin proving to be an educational portion of the disy.


    Now infected with arge amount of corrupted mana and being brought back to life as an undead, the whip serpent became gluttonous. It is hungry but can not feel the prey it swallows within its stomach. This is causing it to rampage toward anything with powerful mana that it might be able to consume¡­''


    Walker didn''t need to focus on much else. He already knew that the appraisal had made its way to Scy in more detail because Onyx had told her every word mentally. She was already targeting the enemy with her full force.


    The gluttonous whip serpent didn''t miss this though. Its senses were very sharp regardless of the state of its body. This was a testament to how powerful it must have been in life. Even as it reared up to target Scy who had decided to face it head on though, its senses screamed to retreat. Not that it had the mentality to do such a thing. It was told to rampage by the master that controlled it.


    That was how Scyl managed to make contact with it. Her fish wreathed in intense wind and water mana at herrger size. The leviathans supporting her speed and usage of manas.


    The result was enough to cause an even greater shake and dispersal of manas. She had caused an insanelyrge crater to appear at the edge of the beach and treeline. The serpentpletely shattered in to pieces. It couldn''t even reform because the various water hounds created by Scy''s mastery skill were continuously attacking them. A vicious and brutal show of power. Walker was just d that she was on their side.


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 Chapter 2076. Safe And Not

    2076 2076. Safe And Not


    The instant defeat of a powerful corrupted undead caused many of the Genesis forces to shout and roar. They were witnessing one of their strongest clear the entirety of the remaining corrupted undead or force them in to the vines that had just been grown in to a wall. As Scy pushed ahead past the walls, no one else needed to worry about the defensive line she was creating with every bit of her mana. They knew very well that it would be held while the base was set up. Alma and her forces who had joined together to ensure that there was a way for them to be protected felt that her mana had run low. The elite archers and Gil also made their move to support her as she stepped back from the wall created. This wasn''t because she was too weak, but because the corrupted undead trapped within them needed to be handled. Walker saw all this happening and started to gather a lot of natural mana. He could sense that all the released elemental manas from various skills haad made the very air dense with mana. It was creating a perfect ce for the corrupted chaotic manas to grow if they were not calmed as the healers stopped their buffs. The moment that Alice and the musicians stopped, Walker felt the pressure of corrupted mana bending in towards them. He released the natural mana with fleur taking the lead to control it. This wasn''t because Walker was unable to control it. He was letting her take control because she had finally woken up properly and left the spirit mark. Fleur was calling out with the natural mana that walker had drawn in. not to the soldiers below or the elemental spirits that hade with them. It was to the dormant spirit race members still sleeping within the ruins. She had sensed them the moment that walker had reached the air above the ind. It was like they had been calling out to her in their slumber. After the spirit race had gained a proper racial name and taken that major step, Fleur had be a much more central figure for them. Not only did she use natural mana as her body and control it, she had been beside the hero that helped awaken many of them. This had allowed her to also show them that she had yed a major aspect in all this. Gaining their recognition many times over. That was how she sensed that there were so many. Their weak manas in formant form telling her to share mana with all of them. The various spirits that had traveled with the Genesis forces all the way from their homes within Genwiss, resonated with the natural mana being controlled by Fleur. It was a repeating echo that gained even more mana as it was passed around one spirit to the next. This was not something that anyone had witnessed but instinctively knew as part of the spirit race''s natural skills. They were using the very mana to share between them. Tomunicate. To boost their own strengths so that they could both resist the corrupted manas and awaken their brethren. What was unexpected though, was the pushback. Fleur flinched and made Walker sense that there was arger danger that none of them had expected. A wisp of mana that was not right. That was more dense but also more chaotic. "There are chaotic mana spirits." Walker whispered this out as he saw a small spirit. The body was a little less put together than what it should have been. Instead of a perfect humanoid form, it looked somewhat broken. Like a child had tried to put something broken together with melting glue. ''Corrupted mana spirit


    This spirit race individual is one that has always lived within the in between of the world and elemental nes. It would normally never go anywhere with bnced mana since it thrives in chaotic manas. It is also very negative toward anything bnced due to this fact. While itcks intelligence in the same way as most members of the spirit race, it was one of the oldest and most true forms of spirit race. Due to this, it can easily use its chaotic mana to make small ces of disruptive mana which will stop skills from working. It was forcefully pulled through a crack in what used to be a sealed bridge to the elemental nes. Due to being unable to return, it wanders the ruins of a lost civilization that ascended toward the origin of existence. Its only proper counter is the origin spirit¡­''


    Walker wanted to read in to more of the all around appraisal. He was amazed that there was even a chaotic mana spirit at all. However, he was sure that the intelligence being lesser was due to the broken form that it took. It made a lot of sense though. The spirit race could make their bodies out of all mana. They were born of mana, so why wouldn''t there be chaotic spirits? N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Fleur, you and your friends are the only ones that can hold them off and wait for us to beat that demon lord. Then they should be able to return home." Walker had a feeling in his gut that the chaotic mana spirits would make a mad dash for the chaotic mana when they repaired the bridge to the elemental nes. That was the only way that they would get to where they wanted to go. If the chaotic mana spirits weren''t able to do so, they would remain here causing trouble and drawing in ore mana which would be chaotic. "I really underestimate chaotic mana. It''s not bad, but in its own form." Walker sighed a little as he sent a mental good luck to Fleur who had called upon the others for the spirit race. The genesis forces witnessed this and gave a battle shout. They were dealing with their own dangers right now. Seeing the spirit race taking a clear stance in battle inspired them much more. It brought all the races much closer than they had been a second ago. Su had taken charge of those that were transporting the injured. She had found yet another use for her twin shields. They could act as sleds to allow those who could not walk to be dragged toward the healers. It was amazing seeing the speed that a medical healing area had already been set up. There were beds off the sand already put up as if they had been there for hours. Even a tent was being erected right where they were going to be sitting to prevent the sun from burning anyone. This was all still too small to say that it was part of the n. The immense amount of effort that was going in to every move with perfect precision made the Genesis forces appear to have been working together for years, not a short while at all. But Walker could not focus on that. The battle still raged on as he stepped higher in to the air. The royal dragons had been fighting, Ventus had even managed tond on the corrupted floating city. However, that had drawn the attention of the major enemy that they had all be on edge about. The draconic roar twisted with corrupted mana was shaking the very air. Every corrupted undead angel still able to fly began to flock toward the corrupted city. Toward where Ventus had just dripped Remey and Barry. This had been the signal that the corrupted undead dragon had just let out. Since it was the most powerful corrupted undead being within the pawns of the demon lord, it was able to wield a certain amount of authority. It also somehow managed to have some semnce of intellect. Whether it was the natural instincts that came with being a dragon or whatever it was, this was not a good sign. The roar in response came from Ignus. His roar followed with a neutral me breath that spread for longer than what many people would have expected possible. The heat reaching down through the air and all the way to the beach. Heat of the forges wouldn''t even be able to handle. Walker was stepping through the air and struggled to handle the heat since he had gotten much closer. But these mes had burned through many of the corrupted undead angels that had begun to head toward where Ventus, Barry, and Remey were. He was protecting them, but also drawing the attention of the worst opponent out there. When a boulder shot down from above, everyone heard the cracking that followed. Terron had moved to support Ignus, but the corrupted undead dragon had shattered the boulder with its skeletal rotting tail. The spikes attached to it from the wyvern king. Easy was not a word for this battle. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2077. Powerful Together

    2077 2077. Powerful Together n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Pressure. That was what everyone felt when the corrupted undead dragon showed itself. The mix match of body parts that had been taken from the wyvern kings corpse and the bones of dragons made it even clearer that it should not be. That is was a creature that couldn''t even be called a monster since it wasn''t at all like any other monsters that were. "Walker, do not go up there. The ruins in the ind are where we will find the demon lord. Not on that corrupted city. Remeya dn Barry will handle that along with the dragons." Su''s voice was firm. She had reacted bying toward where Walker had justnded back on the sands. She knew very well that he would want to go help. "Midnight, not you either. You already know that the royal dragons want to return that one to its rest as it should be. Teron as well. Both dragon and wyverns together." Sunce Su was sure to stop Midnight''s movements as well, the two could only look on before refocusing themselves on what they could do immediately. Midnight wanted to fly in to the air with the royal dragons more than anything. She could sense all of what they felt. All the pain that came with seeing a part of their race be some undead. This was different than the dragons that had chosen this sort of path. Bing unique undead dragons due to their will to survive in death. Not that those instances were enough to even be properly remembered. But still, this corrupted undeadthat was trying to attack Terron with sharp cracked bone ws had never chosen to move and awaken. Ahd never chosen to have wyvern king bones grafted on to its undead body. The insult towards all dragons had made every dragonkin halt for a moment. They looked at the being above them who had once been a lord. Once been a dragon that they could have followed. Their ancestors had certainly pledged their loyalty ton a dragon like that. Now though, they were witnessing their ancestor''s lord''s body being used as a pawn. A disposable and powerful toy. It was gravely insulting. That was why the dragonkin began to charge ahead and lead the way in to the ruins. They knew that the cause of this horrendous instance was within those ruins somewhere. Was this without warning? No. it was what Walker and the others had expected. That was why many of the squads had been separated dragonkin. Therefore, now that the dragonkin had rushed off, they had trails of their squad mates pushing behind them as their back up. It was the best method to counter the instincts thate with being too prideful.


    If they had waited a moment, then they would have be able to witness one of the greatest battles in all of dragon history. Well, since the ancient dominator dragons had walked this world normally. Ventus roared out releasing a single almost solid de of condensed wind. It caused a ripping sound to screech across the ind and in to the ocean. This brutal attack was one of her most powerful. It replicated the fire ball but instead of fire, it was wind. However, this was to the highest strength. The peal of what a wind dominator dragon of her strength could do. 20:18


    Ventus roared out releasing a single almost solid de of condensed wind. It caused a ripping sound to screech across the ind and in to the ocean. This brutal attack was one of her most powerful. It replicated the fire ball but instead of fire, it was wind. However, this was to the highest strength. The peal of what a wind dominator dragon of her strength could do. When it sheared off one leg from the corrupted dragon, Ignus saw a chance.The leg might not be important since this battle was in the air, but it was a change in weight. This corrupted dragon was flying around differently now. Less bnced since that was just the case for what would happen to anyone when they couldn''t adjust their body properly. Ignus wreathed his entire body in a dense blue me. Not the hottest that he could create as a dominator dragon, but enough that it would damage this incredibly tough opponent. The massive talons that he wielded stretched out andtched on to the side of the corrupted dragon. it''s ribs beginning to burn slowly. Turing directly to ash. Even this was just another instance of buying time. Terron had recovered his earth and created another boulder. This time though, Rise was with him to attack. Thebination of light and earth was odd. It created a white earth boulder that seemed to carry an incredible purity. Whether it was the fact that this was a fusion skill using two elemental manas, or if it was just the natural methods of their skills, this attack yielded a lot of strength. This boulder was thrown toward the temporarily stationary state of the corrupted dragon. It roared in response to the iing threat and released its first breath attack. Denselypacted corrupted mana flowed out in an oddly ck and gray me. The manaswithin seeming to possess both death and a mix of mana that we not at all bnced. The air trembled as this attack spread all around causing the royal dragons to struggle in their normally stable flying. Even Ventus struggled due to this attack. This wasn''t a bad thing though, they had bought time. Mordant rose from the shadows. An earth breaking roar calling out to the others. To the dragons that had purposefully hidden themselves along the ind''s shores while waiting for the chance to take to the skies and face an enemy. They had all called on their elders toe with them. These elders had managed to remain hidden for the most part. Either well above the clouds in the waters themselves. These hiding ces keeping them full of mana and ready to attack when the time was right. This was the time. Mordant and Current had been waiting for the chance to attack the great insult to all of the dragon race. They had purposely waited for the time when they had weakened the monster enough for it to unleash arge amount of mana. To weaken itself enough that it would struggle to repair its body. Various dragon breaths tore through the space between the elders and the corrupted dragon. It caused a whole new feeling to retake the corrupted manas within the air. The uniting of these attacks as guided by their royal dragon whom they followed no matter where. No matter the threat. They had all seen the bnce that came with Walker. The nature dragon. They had all witnessed how the elemental manas came together to create a powerful mana that was able tobat the chaotic mana that was causing many monsters to be corrupted. That was causing destruction throughout the world right now. Walker witnessed thebined attack be a new attack. An unintended but controlled fusion skill between every elder dragon and royal dominator dragon. This attack was what a nature breath attack would be if Walker had been born a dragon and could breathe elemental breath attacks naturally. He would be able to use natural dragon breath. A somewhat destructive, but bncing attack that was forcing the chaotic manas that made the corrupted undead dragon corrupted, bnce. The forceful bnce caused the cursed skill that allowed this monster to begin to fall apart. Bones falling from it down to the beach. It was a sight that many would not have believed since these were nearly impossible to beat monsters when this war had begun. Now, it was apletely possible way to fight the enemy. A joint effort that matched what Walker could do with his skills. But at a scale muchrger. A scale needed to overpower the corrupted chaotic mana that was within the body of this monster. The elder dragons preparing for anotherattack were pushed forward by the royals. This joint effort was not over. Their victim was nearly defeated, they could not allow any of the chaotic mana that remained to allow the bones of an ancestor continue to be desecrated. "Brother, we need to go." Might spoke out as she nced away from the sight of the corrupted dragon being returned to a resting state. The bones slowly turning to ash that dissolved in to the wind to be one with the world yet again. "You are right. Those who can move! We are heading in to the ruins. Those injured, heal well and prepare for more attacks in that floating city!" Walker shouted out, his voice echoing and the roar of battle returned from the waters. The aquatic forces were being led to surround the ind even more than before. Many of the corrupted undead had been tossed partially in to the ocean during the battle. They had taken the positions of guards. Stopping them from falling to the depths and causing more harm. These joint efforts were still just the start though. The party was heading in search of their real enemy while Remey and Barry found themselves in aruined city. ¡­


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 Chapter 2078. Somewhat Empty

    2078 2078. Somewhat Empty


    "Come on, we were put here for a reason." Ventus had left them and began fighting with a terrifying foe. Remey and Barry knew that well, but Remey was still stunned. The royal dragonsbating the corrupted undead dragon was not something that could just be ignored. The pressure from that battle had been great. Especially when multiple elder dragons had finally shown themselves from all the ces they had been hiding. Even the fire dragons had pushed down their pride to hide high in the sky where the enemy would not notice them. This isn''t the case, it had been a great showing when they had moved to defeat the corrupted undead dragon. Even when it hade at the cost that they had used all their mana and would be forced to rest for a significant time. It was a reason why they would not be able to be relied onter. Not that the elder dragons could venture in to the ruins with their royals dragons as the leaders. Theycked the ability to make themselves smaller through transforming in to the dragonkin form. This was a major drawback in their strengths right now. Regardless, they had yed an imperative role. They had brought the very dragon that was dishonored by being brought back as a corrupted undead to rest. "It''s silent here." Remey noticed the dramatic difference. She had expected this ce to be teeming with corrupted undead monsters. So many that Barry would be going berserk to defeat them. Having to use all his power as the strongest human fighter there was currently. "That''s because all those monsters dropped downm to that ind. They are wreaking havoc so that the demon lord can control the situation. So he can do whatever it is he needs." Barry appeared to be much angrier than what Remey had realized. It wasn''t that he hated the demon lord or the fact that he didn''t want to be here. He would fight for the safety of others regardless of his situation. Right now, he was angry that the evil viin they had been fighting had been so shameless as to keep using pawns. To throw ast them the undead he had corrupted over and over just to ensure that he was left alone to grow his evil more. "We aren''t alone though. This city is dripping with it." Barry could feel it on the edge of his mind. The corrupted mana oozing out of the ruined floating city around them. So much of it had been destroyed. The floating city was in ruins, but what remained intact was being more and more corrupted as it went on. Some higher stone buildings showed off runes that the angel race had carved generations ago. They had various uses that were not all being utilized. However, they showedrge cracks around them. This was the stress of corrupted mana being forced through them. These runes were not made for the chaotic nature of corrupted mana. They had been made to maintain and grow this floating city alongside the angels that lived there. Because it was being abused right now, more structures were crumbling. Remey had even seen a few of the spires break apart just standing here now. "It''s a sinking ship." Her anger sparked up while they walked through. Her words more of a statement than anything. The demon lord had greatly disrespected the culture of the angels. Their ruins had been left alone despite the battle between the two angel race factions. The two empires had the respect of their history between them. They would noty a hand on this ce because they cared for their ancestors. To disrespect that was like spitting on their entire history. Exactly what the demon lord had done. "To the left!" Remey jumped up and dealt a heavy punch downward. The shattering stone that cracked and groaned under her forces did not entirely crumble. Instead, it began rebuilding itself before the pair. Runes with cracks around them were very clear on this stone figure. It was more like a broken statue weathered by the elements. Seemingly depicting an angel that had once lived, this statue clearly had an important part in the city. Not that it was ying on any longer. The cracked runes on this body and the fact that it had attacked them meant that the role it once yed was long gone. Now it was being used with corrupted mana to attack and defend this city from those who wished to liberate it. To put it back to rest. "Golem or magic. What a pain." Barry saw that Remey''s punch had damaged the statue but it had repaired itself using the corrupted mana and the false death rune. His ax shed down breaking it as well, only for it to begin rebuilding again. This time though, they had gotten a look at the embedded runes within. Runes that were focused around two carved stone beads. "It does have cores." Barry smirked as shed again. This time he targeted the monster they had just seen. His ax cleaved through one while Remey jumped in to punched again. Her defense breaking fist cracking through the stone and breaking the second beard. "Great, golem like statues that want to kill us because they naturally defend this city. I would have thought they didn''t survive." Remey growled out in frustration as she saw three more of them perched on the top of a nearly ruined building. They had just stepped off their pedestals. "Ignore them and move toward therge temple at the center. It''s the only building that is nearly full. That has to be where the controller of all this is." Barry knew that they could sit here and fight these statues for hours. If not hours, days. The faster they moved the better. "Since the ruins are falling apart, it should be fine to use my mes a little." Remey knew that stopping the statues was not really an option. However, the ruins themselves were already damaged a lot. She also knew that when this coyote fell from the sky, that the damage would be immeasurable. This all meant that the angels knew this would be the case and that they would most likely not be iming this city back. Instead, they wished to be put to rest. The corruption removed. The insult to their history removed by defeating the demon lord and the one causing this grave insult to their ancestors. 20:19


    Barry raised his eyebrows as he saw a dragon like figure in mes appear around Remey. The mes reflected her nature as a dragon soul. As a being that could ess the mes that only a greater dragon within the elemental ne of fire would be able to ess. The heat from this fire was unique. It began burning the stone at every step that Remey took. She knew this would be the case and had not hesitated. While stone did not necessarily burn, it would be affected by what. Especially since it was so damaged from years of disrepair. The statues and the structures nearby were the same. The ck marks that spread out due to the mes growing only proving that. Some walls began to break and crack even more. The statues that came too near suffered enough damage that a single swing of Barry''s ax allowed them to fall, the following mes causing the small carved stone beads to shatter. This was how they boosted their speed. They charged through the city with one goal in mind. Reach the massive spire, the central temple where the past angels had lived and controlled their grand city. More bodies appeared though. Not corrupted undead monsters, but bodies of monsters that did not rise. The pair realized that the corrupted mana had not worked on everything. They had failed on some of the bodies due to the nature of the chaotic mana. Walker had somewhat theorized this, but had been unable to prove it. No one had been able to control the corrupted mana. Therefore, they had not been able to test these theories. But proof was just that. Proof. Knowing it though, did not help. It just pushed Barry and Remey to clean up this area even more. It also went as fuel to her mes. Destroying even more of the tarnished ruins that the elves would only weep over seeing again. When her mes stopped though, Barry wondered why. She had been using them a lot, but he had not grasped the cost of that mana. Remey needed mana saved to remain as she was. She was unique now. So, she did not allow too much mana to be used. Especially since she had just sensed the danger ahead. They had reached therge space surrounding the temple and spire. But they had also reached the pressure emanating from it. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2079. Sloth

    2079 2079. Sloth


    The pressure was not just because they were higher in the air on the floating city. It wasn''t that they were just feeling the pressure of them having to handle a sin title holder. This pressure was all corrupted mana that was denser than ever before. Both Barry and Remey could feel it trying to push at them as well. The mana wanted to spread through their bodies. Remey in particr felt that this was very bad. Because of her unique race, she now sensed mana much more clearly. Therefore, when she felt the chaotic mana trying to push in to her fused body and soul, she knew that it would cause a lot of damage unless she fully focused on resisting it. But, even Barry was showing signs that he had to resist it. He felt his skin prickling as the mana was seeping slightly in to it. He had to circte his mana through his body while using his strength boosting skill. One of the berserker skills he could use without much repercussion. Luckily, it was enough to reiss it for the time being. Not that they would be able to do much if he and she had been infected with the mana. If the two were to fall victim to corrupted mana, then the situation would be dire. Barry alone was a berserker by nature. If he went mad with chaotic mana, then he would shadow a lot more damage than what the monsters or nts had shown. His strength would be without the limits that even his berserk skill had in ce to keep him alive. He would go wild attacking everything beyond what anyone else could haveprehended. He would most likely trouble the dragons align with the entire Genesis forces when they ended his support the most. Remey would surely also cause simr dangers. She would have the mes of dense fire mana that were more unique than what the fire mages could counter. The only ones being able to do so being Ignus and Walker. But with the corrupted mana behind it, that was going to be much tougher. These thoughts in mind made them much more serious while they walked up the worn steps of the massive temple. They knew that the spire must be hollow since it was flowing with mana. This was simr to some of the theorized towers that Genesis wanted to build. Ways to attract purer manas so that the mage tower could expand the effects it already gave. They wanted to have these towers expand that effect to the farnds so that crops could be boosted even further. For now, that was theoretical since the runes and the building process would be immense. The materials would need to be a very high quality above what everyone else could produce,. Even the dwarves had trouble thinking of metals or stone mixes to melt down in tova that could be poured and shaped. The runes too, were an issue. The rune carvers and even rune researchers had no idea how they would bring the runes together to be able to create something useful. They wanted to ensure that the runes would not use more mana than what they could put out. But channeling puree mana required runes to be more precise. More precise than what they could carve and create right now. Besides that though, the two moved inside. They found that many murals on the walls had been defaced, burned up or broken away. Not just by the fact that the temple was in a dpidated state due to time and weather, but also because they had been attacked. This was surely the damage caused by Envy before he had left the corrupted floating city to fight the party and Genesis forces. He was Envy. naturally he would dislike the murals of other races enjoying the world. Enjoying a bright and positive life that shared their history well. This sad sight wasn''t all though. There was a throne in the middle of the room. Everything else that had once been there had been destroyed and pushed away. The stone chairs and tables cracked in to rubble before being pushed back for the space. This throne was made of various bits of metal and stone. All pulsing with various false death runes and demonic runes. Some of them were cracked as well. It went to show that there was nothing that could handle the chaotic mana flowing through them. A dangerous creation that allowed the entirety of the floating corrupted city to float. Its life had already passed by since the city had fallen in to disrepair due to wars. Therefore, it would have never floated again without the corrupted mana and the changing of this throne used to control it. When the pair saw what was sitting on the throne, they were surprised. The demon sitting upon it was somewhat thin. He had longer dark hair and frail looking horns. This demon was very unlike any other demon that any of them had ever seen. Regardless of that, the chaotic mana was making a thin sheen of darker mana around him. Not necessarily darkness mana, but closer to the false death mana that they had seen before. "It''s¡­ snoring?" Remey found that the sin title holder in front of them was snoring.. A soft sound that escaped with the rise and fall of his chest. "Sloth. That''s more than fitting." Barry brandished his axes as he stepped forward. This sin title holder had been the cause of this city floating. The key to all the manas and damages that were happening. And with that came the fact that he clearly knew what had been happening because of it. "How can he control so much mana? Even the chaotic mana¡­" Remey realized that this Sloth title holder must have some skill that makes him slothful and tired. Yet this title also gives him impable control of mana. So much so that he can even guide and control chaotic mana within his slumber. "Still¡­.tired¡­.leave¡­me¡­.alone¡­." the mumbled words in the midst of snoring made Barry and Remey understand that this sleeping sin title holder was warning them not to approach. Unfortunately for him, he was the enemy. "You caused too much pain and suffering with your actions to be left alone. Today we will bring you to justice. I already have the quest to remove you from power." Barry wondered why the quest was not to kill this monster. This evil sin title holder. He didn''t think much about it though. He had to win this battle so that he would be able toe back to the Genesis forces and help them. This could be the way for them to put the demon lord''s army of corrupted monsters in disarray. They were acting chaotically because they were being controlled. If they were let off this leash, they might crumble as the corrupted undead that they had seen before. That barry had learned about from Walker. That would be the least case since they were having so much trouble right now. But in thest case, they would have a better way tobat the monsters. They would not be pushed to attack. Instead, they would act against one another in a chaotic way like the only monsters being attacked in the wilderness. The corrupted mana was reacting to them much more differently than what they were able to to the ones controlled. Regardless, as Barry said this, Sloth''s eyes shot open. Mana radiating from them. Not just corrupted chaotic mana. No, there were all forms of mana within his body. It was like looking at someone that had been made up entirely of mana. A filled being that was almost like a mana crystal with a boost. "He controls mana and is full of it. The density is much higher than what I can control with fire mana." Remey began to understand. The reason Sloth slept had to be because of this mana. The skill that made the entire negative focus for Sloth was that it gathered immense amounts of mana in to his body. That kind of pressure would have drawbacks. It would cause tiredness and extreme amounts of stress. Therefore, it would take a lot of focus and strength to be able to handle moving, eating, or doing anything. But if he were to use that mana, he would be able to do many things. He could probably cause a massive amount of damage if he were to do anything other than what he was doing now. Potentially destroying this entire ind, including everything on it. This was the most fearsome Sin title holder yet. And he had only opened his eyes!


    ¡­


    ¡­. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2080. Swear On All There Is

    2080 2080. Swear On All There Is


    The sudden change in mana shocked every single one of the Genesis forces. They felt the spike in chaotic manas all around. The corrupted undead monsters also reacted by bing even more violent. Walker nced up seeing the corrupted floating city start to shift to the side. It was proof that the battle with thest sin title holder had begun. "They will be fine. Barry is the strongest human we know. Remey is smarter than she lets on. They can win this fight." Su reassured Walker and herself. They had just set their own base safely. The corrupted undead monsters were still being fought at the wooden vine walls, but they were pushed back. The exposition in to the ruins was about to begin properly. No, the hunt for the demon lord was about to begin. "I know. I just hope that we can gain more than what I expect to happen." This wasn''t cryptic or anything of the sort. The fact that the corrupted floating city would fall and most likely be worse ruins than what nature would do to it was just that, fact. But if something could be salvaged, then there was a chance that more coulde out of it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The angels might get more of their history back. There could be lost knowledge in their ruined city too. Something valuable to the entity of the Genesis alliance. Or even in the slimmest chance, they could learn more about what is driving and empowering the demon lord. Helping them fight back. "Remey, we will need to work together. Thai is a stronger demon than we have faced. We need to kill him immediately." Barry Was taking this threat as one that ended an instant death. That was just the danger and level mana that Sloth held. He was so full of mana that he would most likely cause damage in whatever he did. Yes, it would even harm him, but that was besides the point. He was controlling this entire corrupted floating city. Whether it had weapons on it thatwere fueled by mana or not, didn''t matter. What mattered was the danger of it. All. The runes could not hold the sheer amount of mana that was within the city. That was within Sloth. If they racked and released that mana, then there was a chance that mana would erupt out. The manas that were calm and flowing as necessary would be forced to be chaotic. This was just a theory, but it made a lot of sense that this would be the case. "Wait, what will happen to all the mana that is in him?" Remey realized that there was another more dangerous potential. If they killed Sloth, then what would happen to all the mana within him. Thinking of him like a explosive potion was the best way for Remey to understand things. She could tell that if Sloth lost control he would react the same way as an explosive potion out of bnce. It would react with all the mana and the air to cause an explosion that would harm whatever it was near. "The others feared me for good reason. You fear me as well. Now leave me be or I will begin showing you why there are no others left. Why no others are here to witness my curse." Sloth was bing more and more awake as he red at them. The mana crackling around him. Some of the elemental manas were even starting to take form nearby. The stone shaking and bing broken due to the chaotic earth mana within him. mes sparking in the air where the wind twirled because they were unbnced between each other. Water condensing and then bing mist over and over. There was even a dance between shadows that should have just been the way the light fell around the natural shadow of Sloth sitting on the throne controlling the corrupted floating city. "No, we have to take the chance. We can not allow for this demon to remain." Barry started to push his body further. Hsi mana and his skills boosting his strength. If he was going to use everything he had, then he would do it now. He would target the throne destroying it while Sloth did whatever it was he wanted. The corrupted floating city would surely be lost and so would he, but that was fine. Barry had always been ready to give everything for the people and the world. "That''s still wrong." Remey clenched her fists and started to wrack her brain. "What did he promise you!? Why are you serving him!" Remey let out this desperate shout. She understood that the moment Barry acted, that it was all over. This wasn''t how she normally fought. She could figure things out and use her potions or fists to win a battle. She could fight with all she had. Right now though, she was facing a potential that would be a lose lose no matter what. Mana that would go out of control killing many below her. The floating city was still right above the ind for all she knew. Beyond that, they would lose Barry and most likely her own life. It would leave the Genis forces immensely weak. "Promise me? The lord promises the same he promised everyone. The removal of the titles that cursed us. The others were too foolish. They gave in to all of it. They epted that they were nothing but tools to these curses. I will not be a fool. I slumbered and reserved my mind. Now I am acting to ensure that I gain what I have waited for." At this point, Sloth stood. The mana in the air rippled causing Remey to feel pain. Barry resisted and began twirling his ax. His steps became more intimidating while Sloth kept putting more and more pressure out. While the mana was causing Remey harm because of what she was, a dragon soul, she realized that Sloth was most likely the calmest of the sin title holders. He was not ramaging or taken over by his sin. He was just trying to manage it. "Seventy years of this. Sleeping just to ensure that I would not destroy everything around me when I yawned or when I was woken. So many things I have been unable to do in my life. I will have it all as I wish." This length of time was not short. It showed that Sloth had grown up like this. Suffered like this. 16:35


    "Then why not put the world back as it should be. The demon lord used all the others as pawns. What about you? He left to go after something else. Used that fragment to go in to the elemental nes and use their mana. Who''s to say that he will return for you. He had his own selfish goals." Remey''s words were barely audible beyond the mana now surging around the temple. This was the reason that the demon lord had even left. This level of mana could most likely harm him too. "How else! You wish to kill me, then do so and see the results. Forget everything. Today I will die or finally be freed. That is the price I am owed!"


    "Sloth shouted out and Barry leaped forward with the intention to kill or destroy the throne entirely. Yet, Remey also moved. She punched out with brilliant mes on her fists. It was an unexpected attack that forced Barry to fly in to the nearest wall. She had never hit someone that hard, but right now, she had to ensure that he was pushed away. "Then follow us. We have already helped on of the sin title holders. He is resting with the grand water spirit now. They are bound and calm together. Free of their negativity and able to grow again. You can be free of it all too. We will remove that mana forced to you. We will fix it. We will fix the world." Remey''s words were red at. "I will swear on the world and all existence that this will be done. Forget the false promises the demon lord has given you. I swear as a hero title holder that I will do more than just free you from your suffering. That you will be allowed to live within Genes and experience a better life. For years and years toe." "I will swear on the lives of all I protect that I will be the one that takes the burden you hold. So sleep now and trust me." Remey''s words and the chaotic mana shiver. The pledge to existence itself on her title and all that she was could not be a small thing. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2081. Like A Snap

    2081 2081. Like A Snap


    The world seemed to be holding its breath after Remey had said this. What had been a battle the moment ago was suddenly a frozen in time moment. A moment that seemed to be inching along while the rest of time was just waiting to see if it should take the next step. "He refused to swear on the world, right? He refused to swear on everything he is, right? But I will. My family would do the same too. They would all swear that to help you because its the right thing to do." "We are repairing the world. Then you should have a wway to get through the pain you have been surviving so far. That''s why it is all wrong. The world is just a piece of everything cut off from how it should be because the demon lord caused it all." "He broke it and caused all this. There were no sin title holders back then. They appeared after. Plenty of negative titles began appearing then. Can''t we fix that?" while Remey wasn''tsure of the truth of her worlds, they flowed from her mouth nheless. She believed it too. So many things she had learned from Walker and while they unraveled these mysteries was clear. That so many of the wrongs of the world had cause and effect. The demon lord causing trouble had broken many of the aspects of the world that were still blossoming. Someone going against the very core of the world offering them a path to travel, even rejecting their race by throwing everything aside, had caused untold damage. The flow of mana had suffered in those times. The connection to where those manas were purest had been broken off. Shattered. The chaos of war that also rocked the world at the time had just caused it all to grow even worse. Since then, the races had grown weaker in overall strength. The ancient monsters disappeared. It was because the world was not growing alongside them any longer. It was stagnating. Weakening. Sloth''s eyes grew wide. Mana shivered around him yet again. This time though, his eyes changed to focus right on Remey''s looking for anything else that could be found. Any other words or emotions. Literally relying on the mana around him to decide how try these statements were. "He rejected the world. Said that swearing on it would only grow an imperfect system that steals the strength of the strong. That brutalizes the kindness they may gift. That the world shouldn''t have control like a real god over everything. That even the god system holders should perish since they were living under theplete control of an untouchable will. Pen that could care less about the real desires of those living with it." Each word carried a venom with it. Vile venom filled with hatred. Yet, Sloth also had a slight tinge of sadness in his voice. It made water mana drip down around him and a slow pool of water flowed along the floor. Barry had stood up at this point, but had frozen in ce. His ax still grasped in his hand, but unable to lift it. Not because the mana was too much, but because he could not understand what he was doing. He should be fighting here. Not speaking. But why did his body resist him? His instincts said that he was about to tread on a cruel path if he were to make a move and attack. That he would spill innocent blood. "That when he called out the corrupt mana, we could use it against the world that oppressed all of us. That decides our fate in every aspect. That tortures us for its own entertainment."


    "The cost would be a few lives, but for the future, those lives were nothing byparison." This seemed to get worse and worse as Sloth spoke them. The words almosting to life so that they could mock him. Control him. "Will you do that? Be the monster everyone believes you to be with your sin title? Or can you change that and show the world that the title is not evil at all. That it needs to return itself to the flow of existence to fix its wrongdoings?" "Because when he calls out all that mana from the space between the elemental nes and the world, the world will not exist any more. It will be a ravaged and wild ce of death and despair. Until no one lives at all." The mana shook again and a wave of joined manas pushed Reney back. She didn''t stop though. She stepped right back up. Her face pale and the slight drip of blood from her nose making things even more dire. But she still stood there. A hand held out. Her fists no longer clenched. "As existence as my witness, I will rid this ce of corrupted mana and return to slumber. The hero will give her being to ensure that my curse is lifted entirely. If not, may my mana run rampant upon all that is." Sloth spoke. a n almost quiet voice as his eyes closed and the manas suddenly calmed. Remey caught Sloth as he fell forward snoring. The corrupted mana splitting itself apart in to elemental manas. All of them being forcefully calmed in achain reaction. The same was for the corrupt floating city. The runes breached all the way as they lost their control and elemental manas split apart from them. Stone crumbled. Remaining buildings shattered in to dust. The city began to fall. On the battlefield, the corrupted undead monsters stopped regenerating. The false death runes fading away all over them. Leaving just corrupted undead that could be beaten much more easily. "How did you¡­" Barry didn''t have a chance to say more. He had not expected this oue. Nor had he imagined anything like this would happen. He was ready to lose his life but he had not even considered throwing out the lies of the demon lord who had used and abused the sin title holders. He had failed here in the clearest of days while Remey had shown her wisdom. Shown him the very reason why she was a hero title holder. She was not some brute that fought with her fists. Nor was she someone that only focused on making potion after potion in an alchemyb. Remey was a hero title holder that was willing to offer everything to help someone. Anyone that needed it. This was a hero and the world had given her the title for this very reason. To end a fight that could kill many, in seconds. She would keep her promise, it was written in all that was. On the ground, many saw the sudden changes. The corrupted undead that were not regaining their bodies pushed the Genesis forces in to a massive advancement in to the frosted ruins. They all understood that the corrupted floating city had been defeated. The iling city veered off in to the water even more. The mass of stone would cause arge wave of water to push on to the ind. However, Current and the water mages were already acting. Leon had already sent out warnings to the aquatic forces. They would stop any potential danger here. The rush of manas also put the mages in to overdrive. They could feel the manas were more dense than what they had been. The corrupted mana had also been pushed away. Stopping the debuff that the entire area had been under. Walker sensed this the strongest out of everyone. He could feel that the massive amount of mana which had been flowing within the corrupted floating city had ceased. That the corrupted mana had somehow unraveled itself and be just theponents of what it had once been. It was an astounding feeling. He had not been able to easily counter the corrupted mana with natural mana yet. He had not been able to control the chaotic mana. Yet, somehow the corrupted mana had been stopped like it was a snap of a finger. But whatever had happened was perfect. Berry and Remey had somehow managed to do whatever needed to be done. And now, the corrupted city was no longer spilling out corrupted mana that fueled the corrupted undead monsters around. It had also removed the resistance of the corrupted mana to the Genesis forces. Now those that were injured could be healed more easily. The forces could step ahead better than before. "Genesis forces! We will change ahead and find the demon lord. Bring him to justice!" Walker''s roar of determination shook the air. He was sure that they would be able to fight much better now. He just needed to get to the demon lord and handle the issues there.


    ¡­ n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2082 2082. Mountain Ruins

    Chapter 2082 2082. Mountain Ruins


    Before the party charged ahead, they watched Ventus speed through the air andnd on the falling corrupted floating city. Now free from the chaotic mana. Her swoop down was fast enough that a small burst echoed through the air all around the ind. But even more than what, Walker and Gil could make out three shapes held within her talons. Whatever had happened, would be exinedter. "I trust that Remey will catch up if she is able to. Barry will joining his adventurers squad. Everyone has their orders and we are breaking in to this mountain and forest ruins." Walker looked at Gil and Su. Midnight and Onyx had not kept themselves behind either, they had made it back to the other three after just a moment. Even before they could start moving, Alice had stepped in front of Walker and stuffed another set of potions and affinity potions in to his hands. "You will be back. Safe and sound." Her words made the light mana shiver all around her. It wasn''t that she had lost control of the light mana because she wasn''t paying attention. No, it was simply her worries showcasing themselves right now. "And I trust that you will ensure that every single member of Genesis is able to stand safely. To walk alongside us when we celebrate out victory." Walker didn''t make any promises. Just shared his heartfelt belief. He knew that if he showed too much emotion here that Alice would crumble. She would be unable to focus entirely on the healing efforts here. She was one of the most experienced and powerful healers. If she were to leave the base to explore the ruins and hunt the demon lord, then there would be a marked up loss of life. While some had already fallen to the corrupted undead monsters, that was going to change. The party was making a move toward the problem that has caused all of this. many , MANY, years ago. So he had to ensure that everyone and everything was perfect. There were still those that would be injured within this forested ruins of a mountain. Alice watched as the party began to move forward. As they passed by Alma who was watching Gil like a hawk. The two did not say a word to one another, but they could tell everything from just their looks alone. Neither was going to ept anything other than returning to see the other. "Brother, Remey is here." Ventusnded somewhat in front of them. Her speed more than what she normally did, but she had grabbed Barry and Remey before the corrupted floating city hit the ground. The massive earthquake that shook the entire ind was matched by the fact that arge wave of water was spreading away from the ind as well. If one were to have measured the ind, it would have gained another quarter of size from the floating city falling there. A newer ruins iling next to an older ruin. Somewhat odd. Many of the Genesis forces, mostly angels, split off to head that way. They would be dealing with anything and everything that could be useful. They would also see to it that no corrupted undead would remain anywhere near their past. The city that had once been an extremely importantndmark for their people where no angel of either empire tread. Out of respect and honor. The clear fist shaped burn mark on Barry''s face made them all realize that he had fought Remey. An interesting change, but the demon that he carried in his arms made them all wonder even more. "This is sloth. I sword on existence and everything that we are that we will help him. The demon lord lied to him and we should right that wrong." Remey said this before she nodded for Barry to move toward the base that was set up. He didn''t say a word. Clearly, he was reflecting on whatever had happened. Whatever he had done to be under the punches of Remey that left a much deeper more than just physical. Seeing that Remey had managed to harm Barry, a person they had all thought of as stronger than them by quite some but, the party came to understand a few things. They were stronger now. Much stronger than any human, even those at the very top of the food chain in terms of strength. Barry was the one that could boast the strongest human. He had been through many things to make him that way. Had a system that had allowed him to grow in a more speed based way. The brutality and general skill set being two things that highlights how he leveled so much in his life. But they all knew they could beat him now. Maybe not unscathed, but they could. They had grown immensely. Even just recently, they had changed how their strengths worked. Changing some of the core aspects of their power in general. "Then we will have to live up to that." Walker knew that he could have used the all around appraisal a few more times on Sloth. Naturally, he had used it when he saw Barry carrying him. But the first thing he got was all that he had to bother reading. One small seciton from the system. ''Holding the title of Sloth, this demon carries immense weight. By having this title, the natural affinity for every mana is boosted immensely. So much so that the body constantly absorbs mana. This stresses the body causing immense mental effort to ensure that the mana does not cause the title holder''s death. It also allowed unique magic skills to be used that no other could create or use. Using this stored mana, they can control many things that would need fine tuned mana. This is because of the overwhelmingly dense mana that builds up within their body. Beyond that, to maintain that mental control, the title holder must sleep a great deal. This is the only time they do not need to innate focus on the mana building up within their body. Due to this high level of mana, they can be easily overbearing¡­''


    Walker had read this part of the all around appraisal. Enough to know that Sloth would see this as a curse. Forced to sleep at nearly every single moment so that they would not lose focus. That they would not end up losing their love in a moment of tiredness. Sloth wasn''t slothful because he had the sin and lived up to it. Now, he did that because there was no other option. "We will help him fix his problems. If he was willing to crash that city and go against the demon lord, then that is all we need to know. He was just trying to save his own life when someone finally offered him a solution." Su''s protective aura naturally made the entire party support this even more. "I agree, Ventus, thank you for your help. I trust you and the other royal dragons will handle the remaining flying monsters?" Walker knew very well that Scy''s mastery skill was ending. That meant that she wouldn''t be able to help much any more. Her mana would be used up and her mental energy nearly gone. That left the royal dragons as the ones to handle everything. "They are already handling it. But Ignus will be doing with you. He is already in dragonkin form." Ventus helped herself back from more. She took to the air as Ignusnded next to them in his dragon form. "You are fine and tamed a sin title holder?" The words he said to Remey were held back slightly. Like he wanted to know more details from her. However, he just shared some of his remaining fire mana with her. It helped her recover what she had used to resist the mana pressure from sloth earlier. "I did what I had to. You should havee faster. We could have half the ruins dealt with." As much as Remeysounded like she was unhappy, no one bought it. Ignus just shook his head before they all walked in to the treeline. The green that grew all around them had even rooted itself over chinks of stone. most looked like they were not carved. Just chunks of stone that has been removed from arger stone. The mountain that was on the ind. "I would say that they literally carved out a mountain as their home. Whatever race built all this once upon a time." Gil wished he knew. He could tell how clean and perfect some of the broken stone was before the roots of trees had begun to reim it. Like the mountain and nature were recovering itself. ¡­


    ¡­.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2083. Ruin Forest

    2083 2083. Ruin Forest


    "I wouldn''t say that they carved out a ce as a home. Whatever race came here before us, made this entire mountain a temple because it was a ce where theyers between the elemental nes and the world were thinner." Considering what Walker said, Gil felt that it was a little odd then. This ce was a somewhat far off ind in the middle of the ocean. There happened to be a mountain here. Then that mountain just happened to be perfect for carving out the stone to be able to make some massive temple that was able to connect the elemental nes to the world? "Who could even do that?" Now Gil was sure that the race was the most ancient one. But how did they manage in a time when even the ancient monsters would have struggled. "You tell me. If we knew that, then we might know more about the ancient world. About everything that makes up the world. But maybe they are off in the elemental nes. A race none of us have met yet." Walker shrugged a little. Even in this situation, they could all wonder about these things. Imagine what might have once been. While they seemed a bitx, the party had already fallen in to their natural formation. They moved like this all the time. It was something of a second nature to them at this point. But they could also hear battles in the distance. The change to squads for the warriors of Genesis was a great idea. This was a way for them to work together while maintaining safety. Those that were fighting were not making loud sounds of defeat and injury. Walker could hear the cheers of victory as they defeated the corrupted undead monsters. Now that they had the advantage due to the monsters being unable to regenerate their bodies, things would move along much faster. "Remey. Are you alright one mana?" Su''s double check brought Walker to pull out one of the fire affinity potions and mana potions. He gave it to Remey even though he was sure she had some on her waist potion holders. "I will be fine. I just was under a lot of pressure when I faced Sloth. He is very powerful, but it costs a lot. Just being around him damaged me." Remey had streaks of dried blood on her face. No visible injuries, but the internal effects of being bombarded by waves of dense mana would be left behind. Walker also used a healing skill on her just to be safe. Not that it did much since Remey was fairly strong. Her unique new race had some damn good healing effects. The soul being perfectly fused with the body allowed it all to be more malleable and epting of its own natural regeneration. Basically, she was harder to keep down if someone were to fight her. In the end, she would be able to punch more. With Remey taken care of, Walker''seyes shifted to where Onyx and Midnight had taken a littlebit of the lead. They were examining some of the stone pisces that had been overtaken by the forest here. Vines and roots cracking the stones here and there while moss covered it all. ''Salt moss


    This is a unique moss that enjoys the salty air nearby a beach. Many inds can be taken over by this moss unless they are eaten by monsters. While normal people would not touch this moss, it is actually a very good soup ingredient. It adds salt along with important minerals before the rocks it grows on. It can also be used as a way to grow breathable oxygen in caves. Just put salt for it to consume as it grows in a damp caves. This was used by an ancient race to hunt for certain ores when they were more plentiful¡­''


    There wasn''t much more that Walker paid attention to. Seeing that this was a useful item from caves, he stored a few pieces away in his high spatial storage. But more importantly, he mentioned to the others that a race had once used this moss. Now it just grew here naturally. "So the race that was here did a lot. Brother, should we try to find stones with writing like we have other ruins?" Onyx had a good pint, but he was also thinking the same way as if they had more time to explore. "I want to say yes, but for now, we need to push in to the mountain. The trees here are part of the ruins, but that mountain is the vore we need to get in to." Walker looked up through the tree leaves. He saw therge mountain of ruined structures and overgrown forest that rose ahead of them. This ce would hold their long expected battle. "enemies." Midnight warned them of the sudden approach from the right. The leaves were being pushed apart by something moving fast from their right. The foliage had acted as a warning that helped the group prepare. Su having his shield set together to defend the entire party. A deer stopped right in front of them. A white fur covering its body along with antlers that carried the same moss on the rocks. But it was clearly alive. Frozen in ce due to fear alive. It had been running from something. Before Walker could look at the all around appraisal. A skeletal angel stabbed out trying to attack the deer. It was shot down by an arrow from Gil though. It had walked right in to the one hit kill. Its skeletal head shattering with the strength of the light arrow. This gave Walker the chance to focus on an appraisal quickly. ''White moss deer n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A species of deer monster that has been untouched on a single ind for generations. It loved to consume only the salt moss and other salty herbs that naturally hold a great deal of minerals. Their fur is higher coated in salt causing them to be salt bleached. Since it has no predators on its ind, it will have trouble escaping predators when they appear. This has been the case in various instances when the ind was invaded by aquatic monsters. Yet this species of monster has still survived due to the incredible speed and evasion they havepared to most others. They can have unique earth mana within their meat. This allows them to be eaten for greater benefits when someone studying earth mana is the one to do it. However, the salt content will surely make someone ill¡­''


    Walker shared this with the group while the white moss deer sniffed the air and slowly moved back in to the forest. From what they had grasped, it did not fear them since they didn''t show any hostility. But the undead monsters it would run from. "So there are real monsters here too. Not abandoned." Remey felt that this was just the case since they had seen some remains of monsters on the beach. Plus, it would be impossible for so many nts to grow in a pace where monsters couldn''t live. "We need to handle the corrupted undead before these monsters suffer." as if to support what Walker had said, the cry of a nearby monster made them all pay closer attention. What they had just heard wasn''t from a corrupted undead, but a monster feeling the end of its life. That meant more undead were attacking the natural species on this ind. "Great, now we need to fix this forest too." Gil was a bot annoyed realizing that as someone carrying the blood of a real high elf, that he needed to stand up for nature being damaged here. Especially a very rare monster that only lived on his one and only ind. "Gil, the other elves are following along. We are not the only group here. We need to go inside the ruins." feeling bad for being forceful like this, Su steeled herself. They had goals to fight the demon lord. They had to ensure that they could do so. The Genesis forces were here to allow them that opportunity. They all stepped forward in unison. Therger roots of trees curling around the forest floor as the stones caused them tioo grow in odd ways. The terrain was not the best, but it was all too telling. Large steps that had once been here to allow many people to walk through this area. Many different broken pedestals that may have once held anything from books or just been resting spaces. Regardless, these ruins had been incredibly detailed before the forests had taken this ce overpletely. The slight sense of mana made all of them begin to prepare for the worst. They all had sensed arger mana that should be a mages'' mana. The only one with such skills being Walker right here. So, it was someone or something else. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2084.Not Just Trees

    2084 2084.Not Just Trees


    The change in mana had put them all off. The party had wanted to push it to the ruin forest faster. However, they soon realized that the approaching manas had stopped. This prompted Gil to leap and sneak forward. His scouting ability being the best with Midnight a close second. He moved through the trees and the stone ruin pieces as if it was second nature. Eventually, he spotted what could only be said to be a a treant that had been altered in some way. It had various roots shooting from the ground constricting around a few of the corrupted undead angels. Their bodies unable to regenerate and therefore falling apart. This sight made him wonder what other natural monsters were here. But since the treant looked so different, Gil made a move to return to the sporty. His mind focused on how there were manyrge roots and trees within these ruins. That they appeared to have taken over the entire ruins. "Walker, There''s some weird treant up ahead. it moved to attack some corrupted undead and it is crushing them while bringing them under the soil. I worry about the rest of these ruins though." His worry was enough to make Walker wonder why. With only a look, Gil expanded on why he felt this was a bad thing. "The treant is using roots only. And it was able to move over the ground even though it had these roots burrowed deep enough to not be able to move around normally. I also didn''t sense the mana we all felt when it was just dragging them under the ground. So, where did that manae and go from?" These questions made everyone think for a moment, that this was important since there was a clear reason for there to be an issue here. The treant would normally not be a monster that could push enough mana around to surprise the party, let alone be known from a small distance away. The treant also often took more of a humanoid form. Not small, but giant. It would be able to walk around instead of burrow in the soil and somehow move around. While this was an ind not touched for a very long time, these were just facts of what a treant was. "You think therge vines and roots are connected somehow? That these ruins were taken over by a treant. Or a monster that looks like one and might be a mutated or a grown version of one?" Walker showed how close he and Gil''s minds were. He knew exactly what gil had begun to think. "If that is the case, it will be dangerous for the corrupted undead and our forces." Su''s t out realization made them push forward. While not wise, Walker would ensure that the Genesis forces were safe first. Especially since they would be the pens to suffer if they faced this sort of monster. The undead would just return to death where they should be. Seeing the tree with multiple broken branches and noticeably fewer leaves, Walker used the a round appraisal. "Evil tree


    This monster is rted to a treant. However, instead of developing as a protector of a forest, it is called a glutton of the forest. This is due to the fact that it will drag any prey that nears it to the soil beneath its roots. However, this is not where the issue of an evil tree ends. It is very social with its fellow evil trees. This allows them to connect their root systems. Sending warnings of enemies or food fromrger distances. By doing so. They will pull one another around underground. They will also be able to use each other''s manas to be able to better attack with speed. This causes them to be much more intimidating when arger area is infested with them. Luckily, they are deathly afraid of fire. This will make them retreat and burrow deeply within the earth. Often times just showing only their top branches. Their wooden bodies are an incredible recement for fire wood. It will burn for five times longer than a normal tree''s wood. It will also carry whatever mana it was most soaked in when it was defeated. Therefore, it is a useful crafting material¡­''


    Waller share this information immediately. The fact that these were social monsters made it clear that they had to send outwarning. Luckily, the harpies were still making their way around the ind. Theirmunication an integral part of how they would reach one another. Goil leaped to the higher tree branches of a tree that Walker said was safe. He managed to spot a roaming harpy. They had been roaming for this sort of situation. Ensuring that they were able to be called down or to scout out important happenings. With Gil waving her down, he exined the details. Easily sending amunication back to the base where they could make everyone knowledgeable about this new monster. About this species of treant that could cause the entire Genesis forces to be pushed back if they were not properly handled. The fire mages and torches would ensure that they were safe. The corrupted undead on the other hand, would be crushed and used as fertilizer. It would be a fine method for destroying them. Nature could reim them by some aspect. The corrupted mana would also be smothered by the natural mana within the earth itself. Even if some mana was stolen away by the evil trees. Midnight breathed out a burst of red fire. She saw that the evil tree immediately shed with mana and burrowed deeply. Only tips of its top branches poking out. Walker felt that she had taken the lead here with everything that they were doing. She and Onyx had been in the front for some time here. Unfortunately, therger roots shifted nearby. A clear sign that one of the evil trees here has grownrger than what would be normal. It had been left alone for long enough. Whatever was living within these ruins and also not be hunted the same way as if they had their absolute natural predators. "I bet that a seed or part of this monster washed up here. That means it''s not a problem if I burn it up." Remey smiled as she let her fists catch me. Therger root sliding by being caught ame significantly. It shipped around and buried itself in the earth. But multiple other roots shot up. Showing that this small section of the ruin forest were actually pieces of arger multiple branched evil tree. "You angered it, you fix it." Walker pushed Remey forward a little. Onyx also giving way for her to push forward. Bit Remey wanted exactly this. She was the weakness of this monster. She had to handle it while the smaller of its kind could act as a way to handle some of the corrupted undead. The cracking sound of Remey''s fist on the dark brown tree bark and then the crackling bruning sound were all they heard. "She is going at it very well. That tree won''t be able to keep blocking us. Some holes in ruins nearby are already visible." Onyx made an open note for this. The open spaces appeared to be where the stones had been covered by roots and vines attached to these monsters. They hadn''t hidden them on purpose. It was just how they had grown over time. With this though, they all understood that the entrance to the mountain was greater rin number. Mostly due to it weakening down as time passed on. The ruins had broken apart causing many passageways carved in to the stones to appear. But they all connected to the mountain. Eventually rising upwards to the mountain and the temple that was on top. The temple of top should have been easy to fly to, but when Walker thought about that while considering just taking the party up that way, he had a bad feeling. Liek if he were to do so, they would miss important facts about this ce overall. Like there were aspects hidden within the ruins that would be important in the followingbattles. That would be important in the battle against the demon lord''s pawns. "Remey! It''s retreating. Let it go this time!" Walker called out to Remey who didn''t have any idea why. She had just burned down arge chunk of the monster that had appeared. But now, she was being stopped. Lt it avoid us who know to keep it away with fire. Then it will hunt down the corrupted undead." Walker knew Remey would be fine with it. Making this mindless instinctual monster work for them instead. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2085. Nicer Inside

    2085 2085. Nicer Inside


    There wasn''t really a problem using the evil tree, but they all felt a little bad seeing that Remey was using the mes to cut through the roots that dared to bother them. But at the end of the day. There might be a raisin for this sort of path cutting. The evil tree might be able to live here for a long time, but if the genesis forces took this ind after defeating the demon lord, then there was a major chance that they would need to ensure safety on and of the ind. The evil trees would eb a risk for the forces that came here. For those that might need toe here so that they could travel to the elemental mana nes. There was a ce that could be used to repair the bride to the elemental nes here. The space was closer to the elemental nes than any other ce. Therefore, it made a lot of sense that this could be a very important location in the future. It also meant that the floating city would be needed to be blocked off to ensure that there was privacy for the angels'' historical city. They would need to do that or they would have to move the now ruined and copsed floating city. Both issues for another day and another mind altogether. When it came to the current situation though, Walker was keeping a careful eye on the changes in mana. He could sense where the mana was being passed around through the ruin forest. Each root that had a connection to the evil trees was almost glowing to his eyes. A big vibrant sh that told him that they were not nts and actually part of a monster. This was why Remey was able to fight so easily. Every root or branch that could cross in their way, was kicked away. She had Walker telling her every move. Every single warning was perfect for her to use minimal condensed fire mana. "We should be making our way up through the mountain that way, right?" Su pointed in to the dark cave that had once been part of the ruins. Stones were broken around it that had some evidence of carving. Not that they could be understood or exined. Too many years had passed by for them to have even a little bit of an appraisal other than an ancient rough stone. "We could climb the outside, right? There are trees and ruins all along the outside of the mountain too." Gil pointed up at the mess of green that was climbing the mountain. Trees, bushes, and other nts stuck out of the mountain. But along with that there were also pieces of the ruins underneath the green. "The only reason I don''t'' think we should do that is that the ruin aspect of that might shift. The nts have been growing on and around them for years. With our added weight, they might shift and stone might break and fall on us." Walkr definitely considered it. But he knew that there was too much risk. He also didn''t think it wise to fly up there. The chances of them being attacked were high. They would also be an open target for anyone to attack. This would just get worse as they got higher in the air. Beyond that, he could lose focus and not be able to use wind aman to carry everyone up. "I don''t smell anything." Midnight had been sniffing the rocky hole that was once some form of entrance. She didn''t get a whiff of any monsters. Something that was also somewhat odd. "The roots don''t go inside either. Just around and on the broken stones." Gil kicked a broken stone and saw that even the grass had not grown beyond a certain point.


    "Then it might be a little more intact than what we were thinking on the inside." This could be a good or bad thing depending on what was going on. But this ind and everything rted to it was overall very odd. As they moved inside, the air felt much cooler. But a soft breeze flowed through bringing in some warmth from the outside. Surprisingly, there were no mildew or stagnant water smells. This made it even safer in away. That meant there would be no nts or molds that could be poisonous to inhale. A good sign.


    Analyzing their surroundings, the party found that the inside was another surprise. The broken stones were still supported. Very faint runes were on the walls. Just strong enough to keep the main structures held up. They were the simplest of earth runes that allowed earth mana toi be brought in to the stone. It made the cave stronger that had been carved throughout the entire mountain. Simr simple wind runes were on the floors. It was why there were no piles of dust or other random things around the sides of the walls. The walls themselves were actually pretty t where they had not cracked or pieces of stone ceiling had fallen in. It was the flow of manas at the core that made everything feel odd. The mana was not reacting to what the party would normally be able to do with it. Walker found that he couldn''t call on any of the mana whatsoever. Fleur was even trapped within the spirit mark because the ambient mana was trying to push back at her. An entirely odd feeling. "I read about this before!" Remeyughed slightly at this. She saw everyone''s faces turn in to a stunned expression. "Oh right, I''m just the alchemical brawler. My fists can''t read. Nooooo." Her follow up response erased the stunned looks and reced them with the same t faced nces. "So you read about not being able to control mana even though it is literally all around us right now?" Since Gil was being pushy and actually asked, Remey began to exin. "I was reading about an herb called the magic block herb. It has these weird star shaped leaves and was written in an alchemy book about herbs that can be used for odd potions that many people don''t make or can''t make." "The magic block herb is useless until ingested. It stops mana from being used because of the way that its manas interfere with the mana in a body. But the issue with it was that potions made from it were very short shelf life. One alchemist made them useful though." "He made the potion in two parts. One that makes it in to a mist, then the other that when mixed activates the magic block herb. Therefore, mana stopping mist is made. But the same effects can happen when someone walks all over arge patch of these herbs. So there must be magic block herbs being walked all over in here." "You''re saying that there are herbs in here somewhere that just got trampled. And those are stopping everyone that breathes it in from using mana for a while?" Now it was odd to see Su so worried. But she was worried for one reason. Walker was their whaler besides many other things. Without him being able to heal, they were limited to only potions. Walking carefully, the party kept pushing forward. "It has to be upward. That would make sense since the breeze ising from that direction. Be ready for monsters or anything else." while Walker felt this would be a great natural defense to grow this herb. He also knew that it was much more dangerous now. They would all have to handle the facts that Beyond not being able to use mana, they were also not able to see as well in this dimly lit area. They were left to physical strength and that was pretty much it. Not that they were weak by any means. But Onyx was struggling. Technically he used mana to change the size of his body by hiding it in the shadows oftentimes. Now he was moving much slower.


    "Brother." "I know, we will move faster." Walker allowed Onyx in his smaller form to take the usual spot on his shoulder. This was the best chance. With Midnight sniffing the air ahead, they began to follow the slightly grassy scent of herbs that they could smell after a few moments of moving. When they found the cut out stairway, it was just another sign of the immense mana control that those that built this ce had. Yes, some of the stone steps were crumbling slightly due to time taking its toll, but they were still here and solid. They also had clear shapes spo that they could be used for every day use. Now they had a way up. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2086. Right Before

    2086 2086. Right Before


    With mana being blocked, Walker felt that he had his senses dampened. But as they moved up the carved stone stairs, they found themselves ducking under mire and more broken stone. So much of this ruin had been taken by time. Some of the ruins that the party had been to were covered in ornate murals along every wall. This was nk. If it had ever had some of these murals that most races left behind, they had be dust. This was a rough concept to believe. That this race had once been here so long ago that it couldn''t even be remembered. No race alive right now, even the ancient races like the vampires, the immortal chasing race, or the angels could recall them. That alone meant that whatever the race was that had been here before the other races and when the ancient monsters were more than at the peak of power, they had also been very powerful. It also meant that they had all left here or been wiped out by something. But since they had constructed these grand temples and cave systems within an entire mountain on an isted ind¡­ Well, it made more sense that they would have been very advanced. Very powerful. They had been capable of traveling through to the elemental nes too. ces that were fraught with danger. To be able toprehend manas well enough as the world was still properly forming itself, was an astounding feat. but what if it had been deeper than that?


    Walker could somewhat believe that whatever the race who had made these ruins were, had been better in many ways. Able to see the universe instead of the world. They had to have been able to see through things better than others. Had a bigger view. If that was the case, then they could have been simr to the echidna. But more than them. Able to peer in to existence as a whole. More than just the system that the world provided. But the overall system of everything. "There it is, these are the mana block herbs. I will mix them with alcohol so that I can throw them and the fumes will evaporate causing the monsters or that damn demon lord to have trouble with their mana. They will breathe it in and start to fail." Remey happily started to pick a few of the oddly pointed leaves from a small herb growing on the stone. They hade out on to a small tform before another set of stone stairs. Many different sections of the ruins could be essed from these tforms. They were just the main ess to the other chambers hidden away within this massive mountain on an ind. Unfortunately, exploring this ce to discover secrets, if any remained, was not what they had time for. Their focus was going toward the temple that they knew was on the top of the mountain. the ce that was most likely to have the demon lord trying to ess the elemental nes. "There are more of them here too. It looks like the seeds grew right through the stone. Tougher than you would think." Gil''s impressed tone came from the fact that he had not expected such a small nt to be able to dig in to and crack stone. "The forest and nature will take everything over. I thought you would be the one saying that though." Su''s slightugh made her take a deep breath. This was not the time to be teasing one anotherughing at all. They were in a dangerous ce where they could find themselves around their greatest enemy at any moment. "I would guess that they are growing because they are being exposed to more mana than normal. They look too green, so younger than what they should look like." Remey''sment meant that these herbs might have been influenced by something else. "This ce is supposed to be close to the elemental nes, correct brother?" Onyx seemed to understand that there might be some changes in these ruins. "We have caused a lot of things to changetely. It would make sense that we caused these nts to grow as well." Onyx''s theory made sense. These seeds could have been dormant for years until the sudden changes in mana oozed through in to the world. The chaotic mana might not have been strong enough to corrupt them, but the manas might have been dense enough to cause them to suddenly begin growing much more than what they had been before. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Sounds bad." Since Midnight knew that the demon lord intended to use the close rtionship of the elemental nes to the world here in this area, she had a bad feeling. Especially since it probably meant that the demon lord would have more sess right now. "I agree, it''s bad. Let''s move faster." Walker pushed himself to start taking the stairs two by two. He saw that some of the ces that they could stop were connected to passageways that had copsed. A dangerous risk that was getting worse and worse for them as they traveled. Now and then, they would all pick up on distant sounds of fighting,. More like echoes. But the corrupted undead had surely made their way to other areas of this massive mountain that did not have the mana block herbs. Even the effects of those herbs and started to fade as the party had moved past the section where they had encountered them. There was another feeling going though. Corrupted mana was feeling like it was stronger. The cracks in the ceiling and walls of the ruins were also more clear. New pieces of rubble falling here and there as the entire mountain and begin to feel stress. If these ruins were in the best state of being, then it would not even make dust. That wasn''t the case though. This as a ce many years old. It was ready to fall. "If this ce is to fall, many of our forces will perish. The ind itself might copse in to the ocean." with Su warning them, the party moved even faster. Walker had sensed that he could use his skills better. He used the multi biff skill right away to help them move a little faster. He had a bad feeling about what they would find. Besides the time that they had spent in the forest with many broken ruins, the sorry had been able to move very fast up until this point. They had been blessed by finding a route with herbs that literally stopped mana flow flowing properly. If they had not, then they would have been fighting more of the corrupted undead that were also moving through the ruins. What they did wonder was, how could there be so little in this ce. No monsters appear to live here. So, did it make sense that they had all been cleared out before hand? Or was it the fact that the monsters didn''t enter the mountain normally? The unstable nature of the mana just behind the veil could be for that. Along with the fact that very few monsters lived on this ind as a whole. It was arge, but isted, ce. Theck of monsters might also be why this ruin still exists, period. They hadn''t made this a nest for them, therefore, it stopped them from digging in and ruining it over time as they lived here. Marking their territory or by fighting. A small pulse of mana suddenly pushed through the mountain causing more runes that were nearly faded to nonexistence to appear clearer than before. Walker could tell they had been general runes, but they had reacted. "I would say it''s started." Walker mentally prepared himself. This sudden pop of mana was enough to tell him many things. That there was a ritual or something causing it. That there was arger source of mana nearby. That it all was likely the demon lord beginning to try to use the fragment of elemental purity to break in to the elemental nes. "What''s the n when we get there. He was very powerful when we found the vampires." Remey was usually not the one to show worry. But this time she did without hiding a single bit of it. "We fight to the best of our efforts. You throw your potions first. Weaken him. Gil starts using the best arrows he has. Su uses her elemental defensive skills. Onyx sensed the shadows and light to attack from a distance. Midnight will prepare herself to adapt where she needs to so that we can all fight better. I will see what else I can do." Walker knew that this fight would be hard. His role would be to cover everything that the other could not. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2087. Long Time Coming

    2087 2087. Long Time Coming


    It was striking that they had moved through these partially destroyed and damaged passageways so quickly. But it was even more surprising that they were not breaking over more. That they had somehow been lucky enough to move through an area where mana struggled to move because of a mana blocking herb. It was like fate had started to help them. Or at least this was what the party felt. As if they were being guided by unknown hands to the chances they ended so that things could be fixed and a proper bnce could be returned. From here, they knew that they were making it back in to the open. They could already feel the light of the sun. the what that came with it. But they also knew that the ruined temple at the top of this mountain ruin would be another issue to handle. The harpies and even the dragons had been unable to directly move toward it. The powerful magic and manas in general that were in ce had prevented all of this. That had to be the world of the closeness to the elemental nes or at least the race that had once lived here creating this. Furthermore, they were in a good state of mind and mana. They were not in their top conditions since each of them had yed parts in battling their ways through her. But that was fine. The party had begun theirst steps to grow stronger than they had ever been. While opening their minds to the potential that they had only been a small part of the greater existence that the world was a part of, they had lost the ability topletely see their systems. That would have made many worried but the party, could sense all of their skills. Their abilities. Everything. It wasn''t something they had to focus on any more than what they had to to breathe. It came naturally. That change made them more confident in their abilities when they were making it through thest few days. Beyond just that, they all had managed to understand what they were nowpared to what they had been. Seen how they had epted various manas and even aspects of themselves they had yet to do so. Su''s strength was more than what it had been since she was a proper draconic guardian. epting the dragon half and her duties to be able to defend Midnight and those she cared for as family. But also beyond that, to protect everything. Her kindness was known in every level of each race. The strong to the weak. Remey was the same in a way. She had always protected the orphans while ensuring that they could live properly. She had even burned herself low to do so. Now, she had found yet another new path to take. Defining herself as fearless and straightforward. A hero that any could look to as someone that directly opposed the word, can''t. She even stood equal to the me dominator dragon!


    When it came to Gil, things were even more radical. He had managed to step well beyond just a friend of the elven race. He had made it a goal to assist in uniting the entire race again. He had epted a challenge only elves had ever taken on. He had been gifted with a drop of pure elf blood that allowed him to alter his race. To stand as one of the greatest heroes of their people. A living symbol of their harmony. Where Onyx sat was also considered impossible. His once thought to be extinct race was thriving. Growing even more by the day. They learned and fit themselves in to every aspect of Genesis because he taught them. He had more than grown fast. He had grown as a genius of his species because he epted everything. He learned constantly. And he cared for family above all else. He was the patriarch of the abyssal and heavenly serpents. Midnight could break every mold of every dragon ever. She had not only managed to grow faster due to being around the party, she had grown faster than any young dragon ever. She also remained young, showing that she could keep pushing beyond these limits. Every elemental mana and every draconic skill was hers to learn. It was just a matter of time before she was able to stand above the entire dragon race using whatever means necessary to protect them. Walker just had to wait and see what his little sister the true dragon champion had in mind. When it came to Walker, he was still lost. Or at least to himself he was. The one who had thought he would not have a system was now looking for a way topete all that was in his world. To look for existence and the universe that had the entirety of the system instead of just the small piece that they had seen cause trouble for the world. The world had done its best. That was the reality that they lived in. Because of that, Walker had tried anything and everything to be like everyone else. Only, he had managed to do what no other had done and awakened his master of none system. He was a jack of all trades. Someone that could learn everything but a mastery skill. But he was also the only one holding sage titles, friends of races titles, rescuer titles, and the most valuable title to his heart, the true hero title. It stood for everything he was and everything he valued. "Regardless of what happens and how we got here, we will give it everything we have. I love all of you." Walker stepped in to the sun to see the t space ahead of them. The ruined temple had various pirs that had been holding up what was once a small stone roof on the ground. But magic skills were used to sweep that away creating a clear floor. The runes that he once been there were ttened by the being currently moving his hands around the air and creating what could only be more runes and magic skills. Ancient looking bones floated in the air surrounded by various rune formations. The bones were yellow and browned. Clear signs that they had been rotting and breaking down. But something had stopped them from properly bing one with nature as time would do. "You will not bother me. Your ideals are false. The world does not care for what you believe and will betray you. Even if it calls you heroes. You are not." The deep rumbling voice from the armor d figure made Walker feel the high amount of mana being forced through the demon lord''s body. "You have followed. At every turn. At every step. You have always been behind. That is all due to the simplicity of your actions. You have only ever seen the small steps and not the grand image." As the demon lord spoke, more runes formed as an odd glowing fragment began to levitate above the bones. "The manas without forceful control of this world or whatever will there is are what create life and death. They are what creates origin and destruction. It is foolish that all races had missed these grand views." With each word, the demon lord created a new rune. It caused ripples of corrupted manas to rush around. Walker could only brace against it while helping defend the party. This pressure was all due to the chaotic manas that the demon lord had forced within his body. The manas he was using to break through the world in a way. "The bridge that was broken when the world betrayed me, will never be reformed. Instead, its pieces will be drawn here to rebuild what was taken from me. Then the world itself will lose its will. I will put things back as they should be." Every rune shed as they condensed in to a singr rune formation with the fragment in the center. The space all around it appeared to ripple and tear. Chaotic mana spreading from it with intense pressure. Walker could feel his heart being squeezed by this pressure. The chaotic mana corrupting him as well as everything here. "Mother, it is time to be reborn and live as you should have. Then I will build you a kingdom befitting of your stature." The words caused the entire party to understand the madness that drove the demon lord. They knew his story. The one born with a hero system trapped within the immortal chasing race. The immortal king being one person responsible for everything. He had escaped and fought, but his mother had been experimented on and died. When he rejected his hero system, he had torn himself from the world using unimaginable mana and his own soul. Therefore breaking the flow of the world before he allied and destroyed many different aspects of the world. Wiping out the immortal chasing race. Assisting in the sealing of the vampires. Then going in to slumber to recover himself. Now, he showed his reasoning for it all. ¡­


    ¡­. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2088. Rebirth

    2088 2088. Rebirth


    Walker couldn''t understand what he was seeing. The flood of mana was so chaotic that his senses couldn''t keep up with it. Even the demon lord''s armor had begun to warp with the high amount of pressure he was under. His horns became broken and jagged, but more terrifying. The metal broke away exposing a monstrous face. One that showed he had taken on scar after scar along his many years of fighting others for this one chance. While Walker could feel bad about how the demon lord had gotten here, he could only be disgusted at this point. The demon lord had be obsessed with gaining what he had lost. Yes, it was a horrendous event to lose his mother through experimentation. It was terrible that the world had been unable to help him more. However, that did not excuse the many evils he had done to ensure that he got here. Trying to eliminate entire races from power. Attempting to release monsters sealed for years upon years. Creating monsters using corruption and false runes. Enving an entire race and letting them fight to the death amongst one another. Too many things made this list of evils. If Walker were to turn away from all this just because this person had suffered¡­ then what was the title of true hero worth?" Beyond this, instead of growing through the trauma and epting the role of hero, the demon lord had gone against the very fabric of the growing world. Had shattered the proper flow before creating a massive war. This was both an insult to the very essence of what it meant to be a hero, but also of the very way life existed in the world. He had caused harm just by breaking the flow that was building the world to be a ce for everyone to thrive in. The chain reaction was immense. The bones floating in the air were bathed in the chaotic manas that the demon lord was forcing out of the open hole in space. The fragment was still being held in ce by the demon lord''s control. It would have just shot in to the chaotic mana filled space between the elemental nes and the world if it was not being held by the demon lord. The bones being bathed in this chaotic mana with the demon lord''s control was forcing them together. Back in to the shape of a skeleton. Walker couldn''t push past the waves of chaotic mana hitting them. They were rooted in the spot. But he could sue the all around appraisal. ''Chaotic monstrosity


    This is a monster being created using chaotic mana. Due to the fact that chaotic mana from an uncontrolled space being used, this skeleton can not be used to create a proper undead. Life mana is devoid within it due to the chaotic nature. Death mana also does not properly rest within causing it to not be a truly undead being. This is an imitation of a being that should not be. In an attempt to bring this being back to life, it is actually creating a being that would be called a monster within any ne of existence. Even the beings that are made of and grow within chaotic uwful mana would believe this to be a monster that should not be. There is a very high chance that this being will spread corruption among the world and all the elemental nes if it is able to fully form. It will be incredibly weak in its first moments. This will be the best opportunity to destroy it. It also needs a proper body to siphon mana and nutrients from while it forms itself entirely. When ittches on to¡­''


    Walker used a burst of natural mana to attempt to push forward. He finally managed to get a whole step ahead before arger pulse of chaotic mana spread out and the bones came face to face with the demon lord. The madness in the demon lord''s eyes was enough to tell he had long be corrupt. Even the corruption from the chaotic mana now was not doing much at all. He faced the dense chaotic mana like it was nothing. Even as it damaged him, he just stood there. The chaotic monstrosity roared out in a silent motion. The chaotic manas bing threads thattched on to the demon lord''s body. His eyes rolling back and bing a mess of corrupted mana burning them away. The skeleton floating above him as he turned with a snarl toward the party. "That is not a demon lord and not a skeleton being raised from the dead. That is a chaotic monstrosity using the body of the demon lord as food so it can destroy more." Walker felt something grow within him. The true hero title was resonating with him as he believed this to be the singr reason he was even born in the first ce. The extreme amount of chaotic mana in the demon lord''s body now was nothing tough at. But his armor had been degraded by it. His body was also looking more damaged. That was also different from the bones. The chaotic monstrosity was gaijin small thin lines of flesh. It was growing. Consuming the demon lord. "Gil, attack now!" Walker shouted as he felt that the pressure of chaotic mana halted for a moment. It was chaotic mana, it wasn''t controlled. The pressure would not stay the same for the entire time. A multitude of arrows shed through the air. Bursts of ice tried to form where theynded, but the demon lord shed down with his sword. The arrows being shattered along with the mana escaping from them. But this was mana that was in order. It was interrupting the chaotic nature of his attacks. Stopping a thrown de of chaotic mana. The demon lord had been controlled before. His domineering strength within the vampire castle had been shown on clear disy. But that was before the party had opened their minds. Before the demon lord had burned his existence to attempt to bring his mother back. Bow, he was nothing but a degrading puppet for the chaotic monstrosity. "Take this!" Remey also threw out five potions. They were tightly wrapped together around a central potion. This central potion she had been burning and creating within her hands this entire time. The mana blocking herbs had been one thing that she was very d to find. While they would not be strong enough to sue against the demon lord, it was a debuff that they desperately needed right now. The other potions, had been explosive potions. The bang sent ss and fire mana all around the demon lord as he had struck out in an attempt to destroy the iing potions. Instead, he had prematurely released the explosive potions. In return, the mana blocking potion exploded and sttered his sword and arm. The mana bing unstable in a different way. Flowing backwards away from his arm since even the chaotic mana was dampened. This reverse flow caused him to screech out in sudden pain. What terrified them though, was that the demon lord dropped his sword then began tearing at the sh of his arm. The pain from the reverse flow being strong enough that he could not handle it. The chaotic monstrosity too focused on mana also felt the pain too powerfully. It was just beginning to form. Yet, it felt this kind of pain? It had lost a potion of body that it was feeding on? Naturally it was enraged by this and the demon lord waved the free hand. Longnces of corrupted mana began to point at Remey. Su''s quick movements brought a light shield and the twin shields in front of her though. The distraction freed up Onyx and Midnight to attack in tandem. Onyx releasing shadow spikes firm the shadows on the ruined temple. They shot up like vicious thorns. Stabbing at the demon lord and breaking away more of the degraded armor to expose weaker points. Midnight had breathed out an earth elemental breath. The sand was then boosted by wind mana she had also gathered. It created a desert sand breath which destroyed even more of the remaining armor. The demon lord also began to feel some of this on his skin. Since he was weakening, it would only get worse. With the sword on the ground, the demon lord could use magic now as the main attack. But using the magic and focusing on the others allowed Walker to focus his own magic. He was targeting the chaotic monstrosity. His entire goal to ruin the creature now. Erase a monster like this before the worst were to happen. A shard of ice flew at the chaotic monstrosity and began to grow in the air. It was Walker''s first attack to begin this process. Destroy the forming bones. Freeze the process then destroy it. Simple enough. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2089. What To Attack

    2089 2089. What To Attack n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The p from the chaotic monstrosity''s hands was enough to turn the ice that Walker had shot in to shards. But they also seemed to be melting at a faster rate because of the chaotic mana that had been infused in the p. This wasn''t the only attack though. He had shot more spears of ice to see what else the chaotic monstrosity could do. He wasn''t trying to immediately defeat it, but force its attention away from the demon lord that it was consuming. Halting its growth and even destroying it would be the overall goal. However, he fount hat the demon lord''s body was stillshing out with chaotic mana being sent in shes and even small balls at the group. Gil''s arrow had changed form just firing at the demon lord. But to defend against these attacks. These arrows hit the attacks in the air and shattered the bursts of controlled mana stopping the chaotic mana in its spot. But Gil only had spo many of the higher quality elemental arrows. He could not sit here and just keep up a stalemate like this. Remey tossed out another explosive potion. The result being a bright burst of orange mes that made the demon lord''s body roar in pain. This attack had managed to do more damage because the demon lord had lost his mind in the moment he called upon and the chaotic monstrosity in to existing. The attacks didn''t leave much of a dent though.t he demon lord''s body had taken decent damage, but the chaotic mana was somehow healing him. Not that this was hard to believe. He had the mana literally flowing through every aspect of him. Due to this, the demon lord was Using these manas as both sustenance but also as a way to maintain his mana while fighting them.


    Just as Walker felt that they were not able to do enough, the next burst of mes were breathed out against the pair. Onyx had lent her mire of his light mana after they had failed their first attacks. The sight of his shadow spikes being pped apart by chaotic mana made Onyx angry. He had not trained this hard just to be kicked away like he was nothing. With the strong light mana breath, The demon lord''s body was forced to endure a purifying effect greater than what he had even felt. His attachment to the chaotic monstrosity finally wavered as the light manas density caused the chaotic mana attaching them for the monstrosity to feed on him to be overwhelmed. Seeing this, Su used her shields to charge forward. The light shield in front of her twin shields bing denser due to the ambient light aman from Midnight''s light dragon breath. This allowed her to m in to the demon lord''s body creating an opening for Gil to fire five arrows. He had seen that midnight was nursing light mana. So he used his more powerful light mana arrows. ,


    They shed in bursts of hot light that damaged the demon lord properly for the first time. The arrows didn''t stick in to him, but they hit enough to break the bonds that he had created in this ritual of chaotic mana. A silent screech moved through the air. The chaotic mana radiating around and off of the chaotic monstrosity. They had finally managed to damage it significantly enough. Not that it wasn''t reattaching the bonds to the demon lord right now. His mind was clearly lost in madness since he believedpletely that he was bringing back his mother using this chaotic mana. It was an obsession that had been realized for the first time. This chance to potentially return everything he had lost to him was not real though. It was his monstrous delusions pushing him to attack even more. A whip of chaotic energy thrashed on the ground. This was the actions of a body with too much mana without any kind of direction. Especially when chaotic mana had reced nearly every bit of mana within the demon lord''s body. The monstrosity appeared to be recovering again. Growing again.Walker knew this was not the best, but he was adding attacks here and there trying to break down the connection between the demon lord''s body and the monster. When he noticed that the chaotic monstrosity was also keeping itself fairly close to the tear in space where the fragment was sitting, he wondered. Did it need that fragment to remain open? should there be that fragment allowing chaotic mana to keep pouring in? Or could they force that fragment in to the hole in space where it could hopefully return to being part of the bridge between elemental nes. Using a significant amount of his mana and the natural mana that Walker had ess to, he felt the chaotic mana seep in to him even more. He had needed to let his guard down slightly when he was doing this. The natural mana was simr but it was opposing in a way. Natural mana followed the flow. It was conforming to the ways that other races could use it. But chaotic mana is uncontrolled. Full of whim and wildness. Because of this, it resisted that natural mana which was why the natural mana had been able to stave off the chaotic mana multiple times already. With this, Walker sent a massive ball of condensed natural mana toward the chaotic monstrosity. It dodged to the side of the first attack that it had to dodge. This proved more so than anything else that it was very understanding of its unstable and risky state. What it didn''t realize in its chaotic nature. That the ball of mana that Walker and Fleur had created was never intended to hurt it. That it was just in the path of the natural mana ball, the real target was right behind it. The source of the chaotic mana it was using as freely as possible to get what it wanted. When it sensed the changes in mana behind it, the chaotic mana pulsed out in its rage. The ball of natural mana had hit a seemingly flimsy wall of chaotic mana. The ball shattered that and made contact with the fragment of elemental purity. The sudden burst of elemental mana mixed in bnce forced the fragment of elemental purity to wake itself up so to speak. It glowed with manas and even more rushed in. even the chaotic mana all around had greatly reduced as it was forced apart to conform with the flow of the world. The fragment shivered before it slowly took a new shape. It had been a dormant piece of a bridge without the right push. Because it had been fused with a lot of mana all at once, the fragment had been hit, and immediately sank within the hole in space. However, the hole in space did not disappear. Instead, the chaotic mana within suddenly stopped. It appeared that the mana was not able to freely move around the hoe in space all the sudden. Even more shocking. The chaotic monstrosity distanced itself from where it had just been receiving of chaotic mana without end. The realization that the fragment had not been a part of the bridge but a key to the bridge made Walker even more motivated. He was sure that they could use this. The fact that this was the case had already weakened the chaotic monstrosity. Now they had to break through the regenerative nature of this monster. Midnight let out another attack of light elemental breath. She was trying to push the monstrosity toward the bnced manas that were keeping the hole in space stable. But instead, it just caused the silent roar again. Chaotic mana to pulse through again. This just showed that they were making progress. Walker jumped next to Remey and grabbed her hand. With her denser purerer fire mana, he could channel mes with more power and strength in to onerge attack. That was all while Gil''s arrows were fending off the demon lord body and Su was defending them from the shes of chaotic mana. Marks had already been dug in to Su''s shield. The attacks were making the hard forged twin shields to be damaged exponentially. Unfortunately for the monstrosity, it was not able to just toss aside the master cksmith''s work. The next three shes didn''t even budge Su. She had used the degrading stone floor of the open air temple as a way to hold the shield in ce. She had even left it here. The only part holding it up the act of gravity. She had made the ideal trick to make it appear she was still there defending. This was her new battle style though. She didn''t need a shield if she didn''t have to use it. ¡­


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    Creation is hard, cheer me up!

 Chapter 2090. Flipped

    2090 2090. Flipped n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The chaotic monstrosity had been fooled. It made the demon lord''s body move to attack the shield directly while Su had already made her move. Compared to the twin shields mmed together and held in by the stone of the ruined temple, she was small. She was not noticeable byparison. Since the chaotic monstrosity was nothing truly intelligent, it was easily baited in to the constant attacking of the shield. Even when the demon lord''s body that it was leeching off of knocked over the shield, it did not realize the danger it was in. "Su changed at it with a light shield in front of her. It wasn''t the act of having a shield that made the light shield appear. It was her will to create a shield with the light mana. It was her skill to control the mana with her mind and body. Therefore, she could make a light shield without needing a shield in her hand. The shield just helped give it a more solid base. The ng that resounded was not expected since the light shield was made of mana and not of metal. But the force behind it caused cracks to appear on the ribs of the chaotic monstrosities'' bones. Small pieces of bone fell on to the ground. It disintegrates causing a roar of chaotic mana to bleed out in pain from the chaotic monstrosity. When Su jumped back to avoid the wed skeletal hands, Midnight had pounced forward. Dense skeletal armor mixed with darkness mana covered her body. mes of orange radiated from her ws. She had taken her dragon form for this entire battle, right fully so. But what that meant was that she was not fooling around. She shed out with her ws six times causing decaying dark mana to eat away at the bones even more. For mes to burst up and start to burn away more of the ribs. The chaotic monstrosity forced her away though. The m of its arm on Midnight cracked her scales and sent her tumbling. These sickening sounds of Midnight''s scales breaking and the sight of herying on the ground barely moving made the entire party''s hair stand on end. "How dare you rotten pile of garbage!" Su taunted it immediately, taking the danger of Midnight. But Remey was the one that red up the most. She had taken the residual fire mana from the w strikes that midnight had just used. They condensed as wings of me and ws of me appeared around Remey''s body. She had not used this form much, but she felt the strength of it. The herbs in her pouches on her hips began to burn adding even stronger effects to the condensed mes. No other alchemist could fight like this, but Remey could. She could bring the contained fire mana within the herbs and use them to enhance her mes. That was how she struck out piercing through the leg of the chaotic monstrosity which had attempted to dodge the fearsome attack. It knew well that the attack would deal more damage than just physically. That was just instincts that anyone could feel when Remey attacked. She could damage a soul. Could damage whatever was deeper than just the body. But again, the arm of the chaotic monstrosityshed out. This time sending a condensed sh of chaotic mana. Instead of corrupting things though, it caused Remey''s mana to go wild. The me body she had created to boost her strength flickering and falling avert. The sh also pushed her back and making her stomach bleed. Su could only catch her to hold her up. But that caused Su to begin to bleed too. No shield meant the full brunt had hit her as well. "Gil, distract it!" Onyx reared up and seemed to be preparing arge attack. Gil didn''t see a reason not to help. He had just seen three of his family get hurt very badly by this monster that was not only trying to create itself a body so it could destroy more, but also that could destroy the entire world she knew. All his family. All he had ever cared for. They could all perish. "I call upon my blood and the blood of my blood. I call on the wind that flows through the leaves. I call on the essence that I am and that is all around me. I praise my ancestors for their wisdom. I praise my children for their curiosity." The chant Gil began seemed short. However, the wind mana swarmed toward him while his arrows were pulled from their quiver.


    "Tread a path which had never been tread. Call forth a name that has never been sung. Be one with the very spirit of the wind and the very spirit of the forest. May every arrow strike true. May my people smile!" What could have been a chant made up on the spot, was exactly like Gil. he had ignored whatever it was that should make a mastery skill and summoned up what he felt. Said what he believed. He gave his own words power. To tread his own path as the first human to unite the elves. A hundred elemental arrows fired forward at the chaotic monstrosity. They all had been charged by his mana and guided by Zephyrs'' wind. They were aimed to cause the best damage possible so that Onyx''s attack could finish this enemy that threatened everything. What he had not noticed, was that the demon lord''s body was still being controlled. It was leaping back to defend the chaotic monstrosity. Every arrow hit the demon lord''s body. Every single elemental mana surging through his body destroying, tearing, disintegrating it. Whether it was just the price he had paid for what he had done, the remnants of his body fell to the ground. Barely bones and singed skin were left. But the chaotic monstrosity had done that to save itself from the damage. It whipped out another condemned de of chaotic mana forcing Gil to use the dagger she had to defend. But as they shattered, his arms were torn apart. The deep wound bleeding profusely. Onyx hadn''t stopped preparing though. He had never used his venom the entire time that Walker had been with him. The fear that his potent venom would harm someone. That it would kill someone he cared for. No, Onyx would never risk that. Yet., right this moment, he knew it to be the most powerful attack he had which might help them. So he would risk it. 21:49


    Onyx hadn''t stopped preparing though. He had never used his venom the entire time that Walker had been with him. The fear that his potent venom would harm someone. That it would kill someone he cared for. No, Onyx would never risk that. Yet., right this moment, he knew it to be the most powerful attack he had which might help them. So he would risk it. His mouth opened and the first spray of abyssal serpent venomden with darkness mana sprayed on to the chaotic monstrosity. In return, it attacked only to miss the majority of its attack. The arm used to attack had been damaged before, but was now being decayed by the darkness mana. The venom acting as themost intense acid cutting it away. The arm fell on the ground bubbling in to a pool of venom. "How dare you harm my family!" Onyx struck out with his tail. When he found himself being thrown away like a ragdoll, he didn''t know what to do. He had been thrust in to a world of darkness before he had understood the situation he had just been in. Walker had seen all this happen while he prepared attacks. He couldn''t understand how in just a few seconds everything had turned for the worst. Onyx had literally just had his tail m blocked and thrown away. Completely smashing him and creaking parts of the stone. The hole where the fragment of elemental purity had been pushed in to had begun to stabilize and less chaotic mana was flowing out. But the chaotic monstrosity was shrill here. Damaged, but here. And it was focused on him. de after de of chaotic mana was shot at Walker. He could only use natural mana to defend. The mana gathered in front of him only to be forced away. Even the earth when Walker raised it from the ground to block was destroyed instantly. Every effort Walker was putting in was being broken. The eternal codex staff from working itself even harder since Walker was constantly pulling mana through it to sue for attacks. It was bing more than what Walker could handle When a single de of chaotic mana made it through, Walker felt the skeletal remaining hand on his throat the next second. The dripping blood didn''t seem to even be acknowledged. Not that Walker could focus on it as chaotic mana was being forced toward his body. Being forced to corrupt him. This monster was trying to turn him in to a monster too!


    His shallow and rugged breathing could only be used to enhance his pain. The natural mana struggling to approach in any way shape or form. ¡­


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 Chapter 2091 Give Everything

    2091 Give Everything


    The feeling. It was unlike any other that Walker had ever experienced. Besides the pressure on his neck where the chaotic monstrosity was trying to strangle him. Besides the struggle to breathe in a full breath of air. Besides even the feelings of fear from seeing his family harmed as they fight this monster of monsters. Walker felt a new pain. It was the chaotic mana running through his body. The natural mana within him that Fleur desperately gave up to help push it away was not enough. The manas he naturally absorbed due to all his skills was not enough. Everything he did to try to resist the strength of this monster that had reduced the demon lord to a mess by feeding on him and using him as a puppet while he was blinded by his foolish ns, meant nothing. He couldn''t make any headway whatsoever. Even tearing at the damaged bones on the chaotic monsyristy''s hand wasn''t yielding a solution. He could feel the mana pushing in to his body. That soul burning feeling that proved it would eat through the bonds that linked him with Fleur, Midnight, and Onyx if it had the chance caused a whole new emotion to begin to appear. While he had been in tough situations that brought anger and worry, Walker had never felt this level of fear mixed in with his anger. His family had been hurt.. Those who had stood beside him since he had first taken a step in to the world. Before they were heroes. How could he let that happen? They were going to die if he didn''t do something. They were going to suffer if he did not do something.


    But what could he do? The natural mana he had used tobat chaotic mana before was not working. He had no knowledge strong enough to use spatial mana, life, death, nor time mana either. He had not managed to grapes those all important manas. Just the basics of them while letting himself be caught up in the general chaos of this war against the demon lord. He had opened his mind to the fact that the world was just a part of everything beyond that. The elemental nes he had never been to would never even have the chance to be properly attached to the world again. The flow he wanted to fix would remain a failure at this rate. What was he though? Could he call himself a hero? Could he be a young sage? What about a friend of any race? At this rate he would let them all down. What would he pay to aplish his goals?


    ''The true hero skill is being awakened due to the true hero''s desire to use all that he is to protect all that is.''


    ''The mastery skill limitations have been broken.''


    The mana thrummed as Walker felt his body suddenly flooded with more mana than he could everprehend. He could sense every small aspect of who he was resonating with the mana. Realization of what these manas were came naturally. The maniption of it took more forms than what he had ever been able to use. The eternal codex shot back to his hand from where he had dropped it. The from bing a more defined and pure colorless arb. Multiple elemental manas rotating around it. Some more mysterious than others. Some that Walker didn''t even know existed. While he understood the basic elemental manas, he had seen the more advanced manas in some way. He had even begun to understand them. But there were manas he had never even begun toprehend here. He grabbed the arm of the chaotic monstrosity. The bones broke effortlessly. The eternal codex floated above him like a halo of mana. "Condense within me." "Join my path."


    "Fight beside me."


    "Weep no longer."


    More mana surged around. The manas were literally taking physical shoes that represented even more than the more advanced runes which tried to embody what mana would look like. If anyone were able to properly witness this, their minds would be overwhelmed. Completely and irrevocably stunned. "Take all I have. Every level. Every strength. Every hope." "May it burn to nothing in my pursuit of justice."


    "May it be fuel for those that can not stand alone."


    "Hear the howl of those you''ve harmed."


    "Repent for those that you have broken."


    Walker raised a hand as all the mana gathered around himbined. The chaotic mana in his body had been taken by his will at this point. It disassembled itself then joined all the other manas condensing in to one mana. "Feel the strength of the truth." "May you find a new path to roam in bnce. May you return to origin."


    The ball of condensed mana fell. The chaotic mana was literally undone as the chaotic monstrosity disappeared from Walker''s sight. It had been unraveled entirely. The mana that had made it up was not even able to sustain it. However, that ball of condensed manas did not stop. It continued forward. When it hit the tear in space where the bridge to the elemental nes had been, it melded with it. The sheer amount of mana was ripping it open even more. Creating a more permanent pathway. Healing the fragments scattered throughout the chaotic mana. The elemental manas and more all began rebuilding themselves as Walker felt himself fading. Arge stone gate formed from mana and appeared to be open for any who desire it to travel through. A sense of peace rushing through as the chaotic mana was thrust away. As a m mana rippled through the world. ''Thee one time use mastery skill, will of the hero, has been used.''


    ''Will of the hero- mastery skill of the true hero title


    Breaking the limits of whatever the true hero is, this skill sacrifices all experience gained, including levels. This allows for the usage of true mana at its purest form to be able to right massive wrongs or to fight against those that do not align with the bnce of existence. While this skill uses the experience and levels as fuel, it does not remove the potential of returning to strength.. The true hero can never use this skill again. However, they can grow back to peak again in time. Skills rted to the level and otherwise, will be locked until proper strength returns. Other titles requiring higher levels will be locked as well¡­''


    ''The world cheers''


    ''Existence smiles with pride.'' n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''The title, savior of the world, has been given to those that willingly sacrificed all they had to ensure the safety of the world and the natural flow.''


    ''The world begins growing,''


    Walker''s eyes had already closed and his consciousness faded. The eternal codex remaining in the halo from resting on his head like a small crown of mana that he couldn''t currently control. Not that it was a worry. "Move forward! We have to assist them!" shouts came from the passageways leading up to the ruined temple. Many Genesis forces rushed inside while looking for the party. It appeared that everyone had managed to push through the corrupted undead monsters to make it here. Especially as they had all begun to fall apart when a pulse of mana moved through everything. Various things had started to happen with that pulse of mana. Those injured had healed remarkably faster. The chaotic mana had been pushed out of everyone''s bodies. The systems had all changed too. In an instant, nothing was as they had seen it before. None of that mattered to the Genesis forces though, they had to ensure that their leaders were safe and sound. Scy''s forces were guarding her. She had used all of her mana with her mastery skill. This left her weak. The dragonkin failed to keep the dragons from pushing toward the top of the mountain since the magic stopping them from flying there had disappeared. Alice had charged ahead with Alma as they felt the changes in the world. The pair made it right to the party the fastest of all the soldiers or even the dragons. Their immediate reactions to begin helping heal the party who were already healing at a remarkable rate. Various others rushed forward as well. Stopping when they saw that the best healer with them and the future leven queen were already treating the heroes. No one that arrived dared to speak since they knew the gravity of what it meant that the heroes were injured. Did they win? Were they going to heal fully? What had just happened? What was the odd gate that had purrer elemental manas flowing out of it and in to the world? All of that was in their minds. No answers wereing though. Just silence and their own worry. This was supposed to be their victory. ¡­


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 Chapter 2092. Changed World

    Chapter 2092. Changed World


    A shaking that radiated through the world came with every announcement. It wasn''t a shaking in the sense that the ground beneath everyone''s feet shook. It was a shaking of the very fabric that made up the world. Like it was excited. Or maybe like it had finally begun to turn as it should. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The world had announced to every sentient being that it shouted in joy. That was something that everyone had questioned. However, when they felt that the manas all around them had be more dense than before, they understood that something had changed. When existence had weed them, that the universe itself he weed them, they also began to wonder what that meant. This was a big deal. The manas of the world were denser. That meant that many of those that lived off of mana or that used mana as a whole became stronger instantly. Mages would have more ability to study. Runes would be stronger. There would be a massive advancement in all these things. What was more interesting though, were that the elderly and the sick had begun to feel better than before. It appeared that there was a massively positive effect on them. Whether it was the basic elemental manas that were helping them, or that the manas which couldn''t be normally sensed were, they were healing and felt like they had more life. The world itself also changed. ces with the focus on a certain mana reacted greatly. The mountain which had a very dense earth and wind mana became more focused. Certain ores and herbs absorbed more for their affinity mana than before. Altering themselves to better versions. But also growing. Some mountains even grew a foot in size as the world had trembled. Some herbs were able to take groot and multiply their field by five times. Growing in higher quantities and giving off new effects. The herbalists within the Genesis herb fields and the farmers within the fields witnessed this. They could sense them changing and begane working immediately. They had a sense of what was needed, of how to provide these changing nts and herbs with what they ended. This wasn''t just because they had done so for years. No, their systems had changed. They could see that they had something different now. They weren''t using a farmer system or a basic herbalist system. No, they were using the system of existence and they had a ss called herbalist, master farmer, apprentice herbalist, young botanist. So many things had changed. Their skills came more naturally. As if all their training had be clearer in their minds. They could also sense that their skills could improve just by using them more often. That they could strengthen their understanding of herbs or nts as a whole. A massive block to what they could be, to what their potential was, had been removed. A new life had been breathed in to their desires and goals. Besides this, the elven forest had thergest changes. Some of their spiritual trees grew over three feet. Their tree houses were now higher off the ground than what they had been. But more so, they had a great surprise. Many of the extinct nts that had been lost now somehow appeared all around. Some being herbs that had been attempted to be saved within their herb gardens. Yet, now they were sprouting as if the dead seeds had never truly been dead. Just in the hardest to understand dormant state possible. Cheers and cries of joy had begun to break out because of these things. Especially when they Also noticed the spirit race being able to take more solid forms. Some of them even choose to walk around , now able to converse with some of their closest friends within the forest elf city. These spirits had been around for so long, now they were able to actually act as equals in every way. They had the mana to make their bodies in this way now. The demi-humans had begun to riot. Not in a bad way, but with their passions high, they had rushed to their arenas. They had felt that the manas were more than before. They felt that energy within them. Their instincts screamed at them to show off their newfound strengths. Those that found that they had different sses than just warriors, sses like shield warrior or saber woman, began to show off their unique skills. Their new flexibility in battle that they had been somewhat halted in pursuing. The demi-humans were an instinctual group of tribes and races. They came together because of their features and battles. Now that they had been freed from that blockage that stopped them from diversifying their battle prowess even more, they would be making great leaps in their ability to fight. They felt the beginning of a new era of grand warriors better than ever before. When it came to the manas though, the royal dragons had roared even louder. Sensing the parity in the manas growing. They knew well that their people would be able to grow again. To return to the times when the dragons were all powerful. When they were considered beings that could do more than just level mountains, that could rule and create entirendscapes. The reason that the dragons had lost so much was the fact that they separated themselves in to their small viges and stagnated. Genesis had brought them together. Allowed them torediscover some of their lost history. Now they had the ability to be able to pursue more dominator dragons. More elemental understanding. The hatchlings would also have a chance to grow more diversely. They didn''t need to focus on their past actions. No more would they throw away the hatchlings that were weak. Genesis had already fixed that, but now it would be even more so that the hatchlings had futures. Currents through the oceans and rivers changed. They grew stronger and carried powerful water manas. The merfolk sensed this while they finished more of their city rebuilding. The thoughts towards their alliance with genesis and leon, how he had left to fight with genesis to ensure a better future. While as a king, Leon''s father had chosen to stay and remain stubborn, he believed he could sense it. The actions of his son in the flow of this mana. That his son had been part of who all this came to be. He felt pride. The joyful giggling that came from the pce where human nobles gathered was enough to silence all their worries and arguments over the current changes taking ce. The king and queen sat there with pride. The feelings of the world changing were bringing joy to their little daughter. How could this ever be a bad thing? Vampires and demons felt the manas changing as well. Two races where there had been incredible losses to everything that made them what they were. So much and caused them pain and suffering. Yet now, they felt that they had been reborn. The demons felt a sense of freedom superseding what they had ever felt before. A true feeling that allowed them to pursue their goals and dreams without an oppressor. They could finally break free of generations of harm. The vampires felt a weight disappear. One that had settled in as they believed they may lose the chance to rebuild their race if they failed in this battle. They could sense that they had been offered an opportunity to undo the negative history of war from years ago. To take the chance to build. To learn again. When it came to the now, various monster races, it was the same. Their minds be clearer after they had be a recognized race. With this, they felt that position solidified. They felt that their carved out ce in the world expanded even greater. No longer would they have to be formed through generic creation like the goblins from unique green crystal ores. They could change and act as a real race. They were recognized by existence now!


    ''The bridges to the elemental nes are being rebuilt. The world expands.''


    This message from the world made everyone understand. There was more mystery. More awe left. These adventurers to a new realm would allow for the races to grow. Maybe there were more races out there too. Maybe there was more. "Walker! You idiot! Wake up already!" "Remey! You should let him rest. He''s still stuck in bed healing like we all are!" Su winced as she reprimanded Remey. "What? Why should he sleep when we are being bombarded every few minutes by questions? Wake him up!" Gil began to shout a bit too. "Birthers can rest." Onyx was fine with Walker sleeping more. "No, brother will wake up. He''s waking up now." Midnight felt Walker waking up from the noise. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2093. Grow Again

    Chapter 2093. Grow Again


    "Is this what it feels like to wake up after being drunk?" Walker had never drank, but he recalled the few times his father had woken up after spending time with fellow guards at night. The headache had had imed was from a monster beating on his head. The feeling of thirst like he had never drank water in his life. "You are pretty bruised but shouldn''t be feeling that and with all the whaling. Alice fell asleep trying to heal us." Su pointed out Alice who was sleeping at the foot of Walker''s bed. It looked like she had set up achair but ended up crawling on to the bed and falling asleep at some point. To be fair, if she was that tired, anyone would have believed that they would just fall in to fortable position. "We are all in a lot of trouble¡­" Walker knew that they had promised they would be fine before this. Yet here they were. All injured in some way shape or form. It was rough. "You have that right. Alma has already sent three elves in here to yell at me. I think she is too angry toe in herself. If she sees me she might kill me herself." Gil wanted tough a little but he was genuinely a little afraid that Alma would literally kill him. "Well, if she kills you, we will find a necromancer to raise you back to life. Then you can get killed again." Remey smirked at this. She was sure that it would be possible. "I don''t know why you are making fun of brother Gil. Sister Remey, did Ignus note in here and re at you twice already?" Remey returned that statement with a re toward Onyx. it made Midnight huff slightly. She wasughing at her but had a hard time doing so since she was still healing her damaged ribs and scales. "Did it work?" Walker could already feel it. But he was sure that he was just making it up in his head. "Yes it is. I don''t know what you did. I was blurry eyed when you acted, but whatever it was, it worked." Su''s voice became a little high pitched. It was clear that she also worried about all of this still. They had done a lot. Seen something terrible. It was surely hard to take in since they had been working toward this goal for so long now. "There were notifications from the world. How it rejoiced and then notifications from the universe or existence, whatever that was. It weed us before a huge wave of mana changed everything." Remey made exaggerated hand motions as she tried to exin how the mana changed. "I can sort of feel that. It''s like I have cotton around everything though. Why is¡­" Walker stopped as he recalled what the system did as he shouted out the mastery skill. "I used a mastery skill that the true hero title gave me¡­" He nced through the system. He saw many things standing out that wherever different. But he also saw things that he had not seen since he had just awakened his system. The cost of him using the greatest attack and master skill for the true hero title that he had gained by living as a hero. But aplishing so much. "I gave it all up for thatst attack. I wielded true mana that I could not have a single bit of knowledge to properly wield. I can remember the feeling of it. Thepleteness that came with being able to use every form of mana united entirely. It was more than what I can exin." His eyes darted back and forth. The feelings and the ways to grasp the individual manas were all carved in to his mind. He could learn them again. Completely redo all of what he had thought he knew. He just needed the time to put it all back together the right way. It would take a lot of time, but he knew he could do it. "I''m level one again. I have my titles, but everything else is locked. Skills are blocked out more or less, and I have a ss now." "We know you have the same as us. But we''re pretty sure there is something else you aren''t telling us. Because you looks a little different." The way that Gil said this made Walker focus again. He looked at the system and felt it in his very body. In his soul. "My race." Slight lines had formed all over his body. Runes. Runes that were more than what any average person could create or manipte. They were of various manas, some that would not have been recognized by anyone since they had never seen that form of mana in their lives let alone been abel to decipher it without the right senses. "Your race is right. What are you after using true mana? After mixing some dragon abyssal serpent, human, nature spirit, and what else?" Gil pushed more and more. He was too curious. But Walker looked at him like he would keep it a secret forever. "You know we will just start using all around appraisal scrolls or better on you if you don''t tell us." Remey balled up her fist to pretend she was being more intimidating. However, the curiosity was too palin on her face as well. "Origin race. It says that I am the origin race which can use every mana. Only those that have managed to absorb true mana through various means have the ability to alter their bodies to ept all thates with existence." "I''m pretty weak though. A level one that can''t even fully understand all the manas. So true mana is pretty far from what I can wield right now. I know more though." he paused, his mind rushing as he thought about the race that had once used the ind to travel through the world to the elemental nes. "The ruins we just fought in and that the demon lord used. They are the origin race. They created that ce to be able to travel through the elemental nes to go further. I bet they are out there. Still exploring the existence that we saw notify us." Walker''s theory made it feel like the world was so tinypared to everything else that might be. "So you say that we have an entire vast something out there to explore now? Screw that! I retire!" the others appeared to be with Remey at this. They all wanted a vacation. To be done running around fighting for a while. Especially after thisst battle. "The demon lord got what he paid for. He tried to break the rules of everything. Ruon the entire world after he had lost something. He didn''t stand strong and fight back for justice even though he had been given the hero system. He broke it all by going against it all with everything he had." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Then he tried to bring back what he lost and instead it took what he had as a price. Chaotic mana between the nes and the world is uncontrolled. It might do anything. It''s not evil, it just can''t be manipted." Walker felt sad. The demon lord had been a victim at first. Instead of letting that guide a righteous heart, it led him down a terrifying and terrible path. He created wars, destroyed races, and even caused many who were suffering more pain. After that, he was weak and used the demon race as a method to grow stronger. To slowly gather what he was missing. All the allies he had made were used as pawns. Some of those pawns were just harmed and looking for a way to save themselves. It was a horrid way to live life. Now that he was gone, the world that had nearly been broken entirely, had been saved. Walker could rest easily with that knowledge. Yet, he still felt that it was all wrong. If someone else had been around back in those ancient times, then maybe the demon lord could have been saved. If the world had grown faster to what it should have been in proper flow, then maybe it would have been different. "The mana and everything about the world is denser. Brighter. It''s like it was reborn entirely. So we have a lot to explore again." Gil leaned over to Walker''s bed and bumped him on the shoulder. The two smiled for a moment. They were going to have a lot of exploring to do. "So we don''t have to end our adventures just yet. We can have some more normal ones. Maybe try some food or gather some unique herbs. See the sights." Walker felt that he was more excited to relive growing up again. Be stronger again. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2094. Take It Slow

    Chapter 2094. Take It Slow


    "Wonder what everyone will say when they realize they can beat you up now." Remey chuckled as she threw on a jacket.


    The party had already been healed enough to move around. After Alice had woken up, many healers hade in to use their mana to help her finish the most healing that they could. From what itappeared, the healers had all gained a lot as well. Many of them had be unique forms of healers. Some focused on bones, others on bleeding wounds, and even a few were focused on purifying the body of poisons. This was an amazing example of how the systems before had been just part of what they should have been. Now that everything was as it should be, the degree of sses was far greater. Each of the sses appeared to be affected by the experiences that everyone had. They Were not just given out as generic terms. As a generic set of rules to follow. If someone has healed with a focus on repairing bones because they had the skills to do so, then naturally they had managed to be a bone mender. From there, some of the healers had taken to forming their own smaller healing teams. They could handle various injuries at the same time. It was an astounding thing to witness happening without much guidance at all. The people that focused on certain elemental manas and healing were also very different. They focused on the manas that they had affinities with. From there, they used that mana within the body to heal. Those with water affinity were focusing on the regrowth of blood or the detoxification of poisons. An interesting take on how healing worked which would take years to study and document. "Alice, you can let go of my arm. Just because I am level one again doesn''t mean that I am unable to do much. I can still use a lot of the skills I had earlier. The all around appraisal is still working. Basic mana maniption is working, well, it changed names and condensed itself to true mana maniption, but regardless, I can still use it." Walker felt a little odd. He was not used to being the one treated as weaker. He had always thrown himself at the head of everything. Beyond that, he was also being looked at with reverence he had not felt before. Like he was a walking legend. But that was the entire party right now. They were all heroes of the hour. "I see that you managed to live through all that." Mordant walked out of a shadow and looked at the party and Walker. His eyes were slightly surprised since he had wondered if Walker was really this weakpared to what he had sensed when they moved to recuse the party after their battle. "We did. And yes, I am level one again. Apparently using all of my experience, my skills, and everything as fuel to control true mana was the only way out of that. I can never use that true hero mastery skill again too.Not that I think it''s needed." When Mordant heard this, he broke a smile. Losing his normally cool and calm exterior. "So you have to grow again. I give it a year before you can walk around stronger than anyone again." Mordant seemed to be cing bets. "I can have some of my children fight with you to train. Maybe you can be a better nature dragon that way." Ventus''s giggle was mirrored by the few wind spirits that had begun to follow her. They seemed to really enjoy her influence on the wind mana as a wind dominator dragon. "You have some new friends. Zephyr will probably bother you too when she wakes up." Gil could sense that Zephyr would be sleeping for some time due to him using a mastery skill. She had aided him a lot in that endeavor. Therefore, it made sense that she would need the rest more than just about anyone else. "I will keep that in mind. I think I will be taking a long journey around the skies to see what else we can find out there." From the way that Ventus spoke, she nned to map out more of the world properly. Especially since she didn''t feel prepared to go to the wind elemental ne yet. "Who cares about exploring this and that. You should just get stronger so you can find those other wind dragons who went off in to the nes alone.'' Ignus growled this out a bit. But his actions seemed to be different from his words. He had fixed his eyes on Remey. She didn''t break eye contact either. "What? Think I will just tell you that I''m sorry or whatever? I had to fight with everything I had and use most of my mana. You owed me for that grand fire affinity potion anyways. So you owed me some pure fire mana to help me heal." Her words were rough, but Ignus''s scoff at the end of them matched her tone. "Says the arrogant alchemist that should be heading right to the fire elemental ne instead of staying here?" The two proceeded to argue as they spoke. No one interrupted them but kept their own conversations going. "Terron and Current are busy on their own. Terron said that the changes in the earth will allow us more ces to build our viges next to Genesis. It should help the elders take human forms. Current wants to make sure that the oceans are also handled. He and Leon are already wandering the waters around the ind." With what Mordant had gathered, it appeared that many of the things going on now would be handled by the dragons to some degree. They were important members of the alliance after all. "What about Rise?" Su''s question was met almost immediately by the dragon in question. "I will be handling the issues rted to these angles. Many of them have a light affinity. They are not using it properly. Especially since they have many with issues that can not be resolved without someone witnessing their arguments." For her to be so hands on was surprising. Yet, she also had taken an interest in their floating cities. They were closer to the sunlight in the sky. "It all sounds like we don''t have to worry too much. Brother, sister, maybe we should go home?" Onyx wanted to head back to Genesis. He wanted to see how everyone was taking these changes. Especially the younger serpents that could note with him here. Those that were here were nearly all resting right now. But they had surely experienced a great change as well. "By the way, Scy already began gathering the demi-humans to leave again. Apparently, there will be arge tournament or tournaments she needs to put on. Something abiotic new battle styles she needs to test out and witness." Mordant felt that Scy was really single minded. She was powerful, but had a slight battle obsession. "That''s just part of her culture. The demi-humans have their own arenas in their home kingdom and now in Genesis. I would not be surprised if itsts for a year or more this grand tournament." Walker''sughter made it seem that he was trying to avoid being dragged in to this battle himself. "I think when we all get back, we will have to have a long talk about the state of the world. About what has changed. For now though, we can help everyone heal before we get back on the ship. This ind is going to remain in ruins. We should make it a historical ruin though. We might be using it to travel sooner thanter." Walker looked at the ruins on the tall mountain. He could sense the opening to the elemental nes. He also could guess that more areas like that had fallen in to ce around the world when the first had clicked in to ce. The fragment just needed the right amount of true mana to guide it back in to ce. To glue the parts of the bridge back to where they should be so to speak. "That will be a pain in the but we can handleter." Gil shrugged. He didn''t want to explore anywhere. He just wanted to sit around and be happy for a while. "You get up and you haven''t evene to me yet!?" Alma''s shout made Gil flinch. He had to get this talking to out of the way now. Avoiding her any more would make it all worse. "Listen, I had to try all I had to make sure that-" His words were cut off as Alma hugged him. Now he felt that he had been kind of dumb. "Let''s all just take our time to help out around the battlefield before we head home. The ships could do with onest examination too." Walker smiled and held Alice''s hand a little tighter before wandering towards the healing tents. He could still use a basic healing skill. ¡­


    ¡­.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2095. Worry Worry Worry

    Chapter 2095. Worry Worry Worry


    To the entire party''s surprise, the rune carvers that hade on the ships to maintain the runes, had already begun to use materials around the ind to create a rune teleportation formation. The rough spatial runes were surprisingly ideal to be carved on some of the stone that came from the ruins. This wasn''t by ident though. The stones that the ruins were made of had been treated by unknown methods. Carved from a mountain that had always been closer to the chaotic mana and elemental nes than any other spot known to them in the world. Therefore, when runes were carved on to them, they reacted nearly instantly. This was also paired with the world having denser mana in general since it was returning to the proper flow it should have. The massive changes that might have urred at sea were why the ships were not seen as a viable way of travel right now. The entire experience with an ind slowly being formed below the ocean waves proved this. If the world had changed, then a location like that one would be much more dangerous. The odds were, that asn ind might really have formed there b y now. Ending up with another obstacle that the ships would need to face on their way through the already treacherous waters. Beyond that, the rune formation was easily created with littlemunication throughmunication crystals. They were another time that appeared to be working even better than before. The messages were more clear than before along with the durability of them seemingly increased. That wasn''t all though. Everything that had been forged or created with unique materials had slight changes. The more high ss, the more they seemed to improve. Walker could see that the heroic styled armors that they had were much more efficient with mana flow now. Some of the runes had even twisted slightly to take on more natural forms. This would be something that the wandering cksmith must have been losing his mind over. Not that the party would bother him with such things right away. They all understood that he would be caught up in a wave of desire to learn new things yet again. For him though, this was like the world being new again. He had been in pursuit of such things for a long time already. These changes were just small parts of the overall changes that the party were observing. They wanted to keep looking through everything. The changes in herbs alone had caught Remey and stopped her from doing anything else. Not that she didn''t have anything else to do. Ignus was still arguing with her while she examined herbs. Not that she wasn''t arguing back. It was just how they got along. A few mages had created a meditation circle. They were passing around elemental manas trying to understand the changes that they had already noticed. This method had been used before by mages, especially those with more nature forward ethics. As that was the case, they had managed to use some of their fire elemental crystals as a center for their mediation. The manas within them had be denser. The crystals showing a clearer color that proved which mana they held. It had been much more faint before these world changes. With all of the good things though, came the bad. Some of the Genesis forces had already brought up how they had to return to their kingdoms or to guard Genesis. This wasn''t because they feared what the citizens would do now that they had more strength or more unique system usages in the essence of sses. No, this was due to the fact that the entire world had be stronger in asense. That meant that the uncontrolled monsters would be stronger as well. There was also a very high chance that the animals that had been developing mana as an aspect of bing monsters would be taking massive leaps in that way. In turn, that meant both existing monster species and new monster species would appear much more powerful than before. It could also cause the regrowth of certain species of monsters that are extinct. Let alone those that had been struggling to reappear in greater numbers. The pests that were in areas that they should not be would also be a greater area. For the demi-humans, that meant that the farms would be under siege much worse than what they had dealt with before. Their guards would need better strategies using their newfound strengths better. Some armies and guard forces had already begun showing off their ideas for retraining as a whole. They knew that they would be altering their personal battle styles. Therefore, they might even have to rebuild squads entirely. It was a fair evaluation. Since certain metals were also changing, a few kingdoms had even begun to ponder new currencies. Whether or not silver should be purely as a material for cksmithing, or if other metals would be better off being used to fight undead species rather than just silver. That was when Walker recalled the immortal king. The fact that he had said he would try to use the changes in the word. The elemental manas to break free so that he could pursue the elemental nes and more power. While the immortal king was still trapped in his tower for the time being, Walker did not know what would happen. He would not get there any time soon. He was also level one now. How could he even think ofbating a monster that was much stronger than what he had been at his prime. Not that he believed that the immortal king could have resisted his usage of true mana at all. That had been a power that even he couldn''t use right now. It was also unsettling since the immortal king had already had Walker give him some natural mana as a payment for the information that he gave them. If that was the case, then the immortal king might be using that to break free of the tower itself. Existence forbid, if the immortal king somehow attempted to use space magic to move the tower instead. With the denser manas there was a lot of variety in what the immortal king could do. But his curse could also grow stronger. That thought left Walker wondering. The immortal king had tried to be immortal. Instead, he had made himself an undead. A grand lich that was still alive but just made of bones. If he had actually been immortal, he wouldn''t have trapped his body in the tower and be forced to use skeletons or other undead as eyes and ears. The unsettling feeling kept lingering though. Even as he used his basic healing skill and took potions out of the high spatial storage, Walker could not shake the feeling that things were not done. That the immortal king had gotten what he wanted now that the demon lord was destroyed. Yes, it was fine that the demon lord was gone. The word had returned to the natural flow. Everyone that had been victims of the demon lord could rest now. But was that enough? Now, there was a chance for a greater, more intelligent, viin to grow. Whether he allowed for the world to keep peace or not was up for debate. "You can rest if you need it?" Alice made sure that Walker knew this but also was asking if he needed to rest. She worried that he had not been able to gain enough strength after being injured. After paying the price to use a mastery skill when he shouldn''t have been able to use one in the first ce with hsi unique ss. "I will be fine. I know I''m still a little roughed up, but I was just worrying about a few things. So much just changed, will I even recognize Genesis when we get back home?" to be fair, he did have a few worries that he would not recognize a single thing. The pair evenughed about it for a moment before refocusing on healing and helping. Meanwhile¡­


    "This mana I bought with information. It''s useless to me." The immortal king sat with skeletons all around him. Some crumbled to dust while others appeared to radiate with mana before breaking in certain aspects. None of them maintained the proper mental connection needed. Worse yet, the moment the word had repaired itself, the natural mana had changed. He had to start everything over. He did sense something more though. A new connection to the undead that had fallen to pieces had he had left alone. He could sense their bones. He could sense more ancient undead that he had been unable to control due to their age. The materials they had were that of his fellow race. How could he control them when they had studied the same as him? But now, how could he not with his growth in strength? N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ¡­


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 Chapter 2096. Heading Home Again

    Chapter2096. Heading Home Again


    "You''re trying to meditate again?" It had been three days since the party and the Genesis forces had started working on new things before they moved back to Genesis with the teleportation rune formation. Making them took time. Especially with the changes in the world as they were now. "I want to get back to being stronger soon. If I walk around Genesis and see someone that needs help, well, I can''t be the one that helps them trite now." Walker hade to realize that he would be a danger rather than a hero right now. If something bad were to happen during a building project, he was too weak. How would he lift something heavy that fell on someone? How could he leap ahead to stop that thing from falling? How could he heal those that were injured if he didn''t have enough mana to support multiple healing skills that were above a basic healing skill?


    What if there were new monsters that decided to attack the farms? He couldn''t use the multi buff skill right now. Eh wasn''t strong enough. If he were to be leading a group of soldiers, he would need to be protecting them rather than leading them entirely. He couldn''t stand by their sides. These thoughts had gued him the more that he had stayed still. The healers had already handled those with the worst injuries. Either they were in stable conditions to be transported back to genesis or they were on the mend. That left him to wander through the Genesis forces. To learn about things from others. "If you stay like that, you are going to get stuck like that. From what I can see, you just need to keep training like normal. You noticed that we are all properly getting experience points from our actions. Instead of hero points to help us, we get bonus experience when we act along with our hero titles. The same has to be for you too, right?" Su''s words were very clear. She was even sure that Walker would be a little off. It just made sense with his personality. He cared a lot about what others were going though. He wanted to save and help them at every single turn. But he had to remember to care for himself. While Alice had been very supportive with Walker focusing on regaining his strength, she had been worried enough to find Su. she knew that Su would be able to talk more sense in to him. Not that Walker would not listen to Alcie. It was a simple matter that Su had a more motherly and protecting aura around her. That came from all her work in the cathedral helping the healers. Beyond that, it came from the True draconic guardian ss. Even more so when someone were to look at her origins. When Su had first be an adventurer, it was to look for a better way to heal her mother''s illness. Therefore, she had always cared for healing and guiding others. "I went through many of the fighters and even spent a lot of time with the vampires. Some of the vampires are healing without needing blood now. Their entire race can now eat some foods. Mostly undercooked meats, but the world and the denser mana helped them expand their diet. They need help grasping the state of the world, Genesis, and I am not strong enough to keep up with all that." He had tried to show off some of the skills he had but kept finding that he couldn''t help the vampires in certain situations. He had too many locked skills right now. He had too much weakness byparison with the vampires whowwere naturally powerful. "It will take some time. But you already said that you had managed to understand how manas influenced one another in an entirely different way. You can even use those manas to help you recover your energy. That''s not something you could do before all this happened." Su made a good point and Walker couldn''t argue with her. "I am also something called an origin race. A race that literally grasps what true mana is. So I have to learn about it. Then I might be able to do what Remey will do. Go to the elemental nes and meet others like me." Walker and Remey had spoken about this just the other day. When it came to Remey''s pans, she would travel off in to the fire elemental nes when she and Ignus were ready. They would go there searching for the fire dragons and other me dragon souls that were like Remey. If they were able to find ancient dragons that had left the world and made it to the fire elemental nes, then it would be a major event. The dragons could meld their history together. Figure out what ancient dragons were like and how they had developed outside of the world. They could also reconnect with the dragon that were walking simr paths as them. Learn more. In Remey''s case, she might be able to meet the unique dragon soul race. A race that inhabited the different elemental nes. A race that was unique in the fact that they were melded perfectly with physical and soul. Then she would be able to grasp how long she might live. What ehr body was needing other than mana. How she could better live an every day life without needing Ignus to share condensed and purer fire mana with her. "I know, but I will be looking for more half dragons too. Now that the dragons have expanded their alliances, you know, Genesis. There might be some rogue dragons or dragons forced out of the viges that return. They could have half dragon children. I''m not the only one." Su was sure of this. It made Walker feel that they were all pretty much in the same boat. "Hey! You two should head over here. The rune formation is just about done!" Alma shouted out. She had managed to gather everyone else and found that Su and Walker were sitting on part of fallen ruins. A little too high up, but Walker had climbed there anyways while Su had used her still newly grown dragon wings. Su grabbed Walker and dragged him toward the open space cleared for therge rune formation. It was triple the size of thest one made. This was so that the runes could be maximized to teleport more people. "Oh!" Walker suddenly felt that he was looking at something much simpler than thest time he had seen it. The runes were almost like basic words to hum. This wasn''t the trantion skill being used, it was more so that he had just realized the proper way to understand runes. He stopped the rune carver and began exining a few things. The changes he pointed out were drawn with a piece of charcoal on the stones used. The rune carvers trusted his every word and made the changes. Smaller thin lines were added to wind runes. Deeper cuts to the earth runes. Then the spatial rune that was known was made with various additional connections to absolutely nothing. Thisst one stunned the rune carvers, but they felt it looked right when Walker had told them to do it. As if he had just created a proper runepared to their half drawn rune. When the changes had been made, there was an almost audible clicking sound. Like the mana had fallen in to ce and begun to flow. A slight glimmer of manas made their way through the air that everyone could see, not just mages. "That feel better." Walker wasn''t really sure how he had known it, but as usual, he had followed his instincts. "And you were worried about how you could help Genesis being this weak. Didn''t look weak to me." Su nudged his shoulder while the rest of the party nodded along. To them, this was a ssic Walker move. Just casually making something ten times better when he was seeing it for the first time after some adjustments. The entire party stepped in to the rune formation. They were going to be the first to leave. The royal dragons following with their more powerful warriors. This would be a procession.a victorious arrival. The vampires and angelsing to Genesis for the first time would be guided separately after so that they were not overwhelmed. Not that they were worried. More excited after hearing the stories so far. A deep breath was collectively taken as Walker sensed the manas food through his body and the space mana pushing them to a new ce. No, to their home. Many people were waiting on them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2097 Warm Welcome

    Chapter 2097 Warm Wee


    A rush of mana hit everyone as they appeared within the teleportation rune formation of Genesis. It had been erged more than what it had been before, and this one had been moved to the outskirts of the city. Thisrge space was made in to a hub for proper teleportation since the builders had realized that this would be needed. The smaller rune teleportation formations would be used for those that needed toe and go in emergencies. They would be highly guarded as well. That was the basic n. But the area that Walker looked at was amazing nheless. Horse stables were made so that the horses and monster pulling carriages could rest properly. There were some smaller inns just off in the distance tso that those working for the merchants had an easy ce to sleep. When it came to safety, there was arge guard building prepared that attacked right to the Genesis walls. The farms that spread behind the teleportation formation were just adding to the amazing scenery since the nts were growing muchrger. It appeared to be something out if a painting and not reality. "We wee the heroes!" The unified shout came from the guards and soldiers that had remained behind to defend Genesis. They and many of the youngest adventurers had lined up to be a procession of the heroes that they looked up to. They wanted to ensure that they were greeted with the same passion that the heroes held for Genesis in every action that they took. "How should we make it back if everyone is here waiting for us." Su''s eyes began to water as she spotted her parents. Spotted her parents who had arge bouquet of wee home flowers in their hands. "You say that, but look at mine. My mother is already starting to look like she should be in bed rest. Why did theye!"Gil knew he would have a little sister or brother someday soon. That announcement had made him have yet another reason to fight for the future of Genesis. Not that Su wasn''t the same. She just didn''t have the news just yet from her parents. That was just a result of the city prospering. The bright future gave a bright chance for the newly born generation to prosper. Opportunities would flourish while those that took ahold of those opportunities would grow faster than any had ever grown. It was well worth thinking about. Midnight dashed off ahead nearly tackling both Walker''s parents and sister to the ground. She had taken to her dragonkin form, but that was still a bit too much with how strong she was. Onyx was right there with her though, but instead of the family, he was the one being tackled in a way. The youngest serpents that could not go to battle had been waiting. Waiting to see the oldest of their growing family. The strongest of their family. The serpent that was paving the way for all of them to live as they desired. Now that he was back, they knew that all of their elder siblings would being back too. That they would be hearing of the battle where they stood out over monsters that desired to end the very world. How could they not be enamored with that?


    "You brats didn''t need toe. I would have just gone to check on you after I slept a little more." Remey pretended to crack her knuckles. All of her younger siblings had been waiting here. While they had all gone off on their own after she had brought the orphanage to a better state, they were still family. They would havee to see her return under whatever circumstances that they had. These warm wees were met with more cheers. Especially as Walker went up and gave his family a hug as well. "Just don''t squeeze too hard. I am the weakest one here right now." His parents and sister looked at him with worry. "I''m healthy and not injured. Just back at level one. I''ll exinter. For now though, let''s walk to the Genesis building. More people will keeping behind us too." The sounds of mages working together to provide the teleportation rune formation with the right amounts of mana that it needed. They would be bringing the other leaders after the heroes. This meant that the sky would be filled with triumphant dragon roars in just a short while. Before that happened, Walker wanted to be back at the Genesis building where he was sure that more people had gathered. More of the united races. While moving through the cleared streets, Walker could tell that Genesis had been busy since they had left and since the changes of the world had begun to affect everything. There was a massive difference in the mana all through the city. The magic tower and even the reason for the changes at first. This being the case, the city had experienced a lot of benefits from that. More mana meant that people would feel better overall. On Top of that, it made skills and research easier to learn. Right now though, that effect had more than tripled. The denser mana was refreshing. It would surely help a new generation of mages take a massive step ahead in the world of mana. That Wasn''t even considering what could be reaped from the exploration of the elemental nes. That could bring yet another even greater growth to everything that was standing now as a foundation. Just thinking about how much Genesis could achieve now that the world was in its proper flow. The sheer amount of things that could be done so that all the races could be brought together was impossible to write down. All of this rang through Walker''s mind as he looked over at the guild buildings within the first square that they made it to. Many of the staff from each were outside doing their own cheers to celebrate the return of the euros. Enough that they showed off enough for what it meant to be a member of the guilds. The crafting guild had every apprentice and cksmith out in front.. The wandering cksmith being one sitting directly in the middle. He had been waiting for the party to return so he could see them well. He also was ready to see what new things were brought back. The adventurer''s guild was even more dramatic. The rowdiest of adventurers were shouting out. Congratting them forpleting this massive quest. For they were seeing the legends that had grown as both adventurers and then heroes return. ra stood at the front door calmly. She was showing a small smile. Waiting to wee the party back from their adventure. However, she did not force them to stop the walk. Instead, she joined the procession. This parade through Genesis was picking up momentum as the first dragon roars broke through the air. A bright dragon me cut through the sky as Ignus called out to the fellow fire dragons. The elder dragons that had returned with him roared back as well. They had used a lot of their ana to help the mages on the rune formation, but they could feel their hearts beating in unison. They had returned victorious!


    This wasn''t all though, Walker caught Remey dashing ahead to the old master alchemist. The other alchemists holding back since they knew of the unique bond that Remey had with the old master alchemist. "Old man, I managed to make it back safely. Just a little bruised." Remey showed off the small bandages that would easily heal and be taken offter. But this didn''t stop the old master alchemist from forcing poisons in to her hand. He was not going to let his one and only proper family member suffer at all. Many other alchemists started to shout after a few moments. They grew impatient while waiting for their guild master to speak. "We have a lot of work to do. New herbs to catalog! Get back to work!" She shouted this out and the response was an astounding yes. The alchemists knew that their guild had a reason for forming. But also that they were standing together now. Nothing in this walk was over thorough. Thergeness of the Genesis building was all too grand for Walker now. He found that some additional statues of the leaders of each race had been added to it. This made it even more elegant. Even more historical. As the party made it to the massive square in front of the Genesis building, they began climbing the steps to stand in front of it. Awaiting the others to return to Genesis before they dared to step foot inside. They would meet with all the leaders once they all were there. ¡­


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 Chapter 2098. Great Changes

    Chapter 2098. Great Changes


    With how the races within genesis had grown, Walker now felt that the Genesis hall meeting room was too small. The table had been reced with arger one so that more races could fit their leaders. This being the case, it still felt small. That was a good thing though. It meant that there was more unity within the city. Fewer people would be looked down on as they were not represented equally. Fewer chances for injustice would be had. They had aplished a lot of what they had tried to aplish when it came to bringing the world together. The echidna were also there with the natural alchemist as their representative. She had been the one that made the most in terms ofmunication between everyone when they had been teaching more natural mana. She had a natural role as a leader and a teacher. It would be a matter of time before Remey managed to get her toe to the alchemy guild. Regardless of that, Walker stood again at the table. He had many eyes on him while he felt that he shouldn''t have those eyes on him right now. But, he kicked that thought from his mind. He was weak at the moment, but that didn''t matter. His achievements spoke for themselves. He stood here not because of his strength, but because of his ideals. "I don''t really have the words here. I''m not sure how to say this." He paused. He wanted to shout but he also wanted to just keep sitting and enjoying the atmosphere. It was much more positive than it had been since everyone hade together. "There are more races together in Genesis than any kingdom or city has ever had that we know of. We even have the return of a lost race and thought to be an extinct race. New and rising monster races, and those that have changed their ways to grow significantly after getting through their corrupt period and freeing themselves." Walker spoke while looking at many of them. Eh was sure that they felt the same. These amazing achievements had been part of the reasons they came together. "We also have a reason to stay unique. Now that we have handled the greatest threat to all of our futures and to the word itself. We have a future. And that''s it." The idea that before they had not had a future was hard tio grasp. The entirety of what anyone could call the future had been at risk with the demon lord as he was. He had been out to destroy everything that everyone was working for. A tragedy after a tragedy had been caused as he went through the world trying to get his selfish desires toe true. "Genesis is aplishing things that we have never dreamed of. I Can''t even keep up with the innovation happening right now. Runes are entirely different from what I recognize. Buildings have be outdated just months after they were built." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "When ites to farming and herbs, we have new and improved methods that are making massive leaps every single time someone puts pen to paper to document it. Our people are even changing their ideals to wee the different cultures they may have never thought that they would know."


    "In other words, we have aplished our major goals and have a chance. An opportunity to grow in to a never before seen future." Walker ws proud of how he had put it. He could see that everyone felt satisfied heraign this. Beyond that, they were all showing interest in what else they might be able to see happene the next day. "We need to remember. The elemental nes are connected now." Alma didn''t want to put everyone''s mood down. However, she had the elves she represented asking about them. The elves had some records of what the elemental nes were thought to be. They knew that they would be an ideal ce for any elf to go so that they could more closely rough upon the mana affinity that they possessed. Yet, they also knew that it would be a very dangerous ce to go. An unknown ce. "They are open. We will be venturing there ourselves. We are all dominator dragons in our own respects. We must continue our path to see what it holds. To see if we have ancestors living there as well." Current and Leon had return earlier than expected. They Hade to their own understandings. While the world had changed, including the ocean currents and many other aspects of water, they had a more important idea. How could they deal with the water elemental ne if they were to go there? How would they manage a ce where the water elemental ne might be closer and attached to the currents that they felt? They needed to see what Genesis nned to do. "I n to venture to the fire elemental ne with Ignus as well. I require the mana there to gain strength and understand myself. I am Current a race that we have only one of. The same could be said for a few of us now." Remey made a good point. As heroes, they had taken on more manas and unique aspects that had literally altered their races. This being the case, they had every right to represent a race on their own without even having to use their hero titles. But more importantly, they were blind in a way when it came to what their races were or needed. "I would say I am in the same situation. I am now what''s known as an origin race. I managed to use true mana when fighting the demon lord. I lost all of my skills temporality, and my levels and strength. But I merged my understandings and everything shared with me by the binds I have. There''s a race called the origin race out there. Somewhere beyond the world and in the elemental nes. I wouldn''t mind meeting them. The conversations became even deeper as they all went through the races that were within genesis now. How they were represented. How they would adapt as the world itself had changed. This brought on another round of conversations about the ss system and the loss of specific systems. It was actually a very positive topic since many of the races found that they were not seeing people as constrained. They were more free to learn and develop unique instances. Experiences now governed what they could do and not the one singr name given to what they could do. This allowed for so much more freedom. The guards had to begin helping the people change their identification already which was causing a very high work loaded for those that had remained within Genesis. Especially the guilds who had many members. This being the case, the idea to make more small buildings where people could handle these things was already in the works. They would all report to the genesis building where the matters would be handled. What was more surprising, the dragons had already been able to bring over some of their record keeping knowledge. The elder of their dragon race had ignored looking for the royals opinions and directly told the elder dragons remaining in Genesis and their central vige how to better keep records using mana. Many more subjects were brought up about the change in mana flows. The denser manas had changed more than just the world. It had changed the people as well. Many of the elderly having more energy and brought them back in to the working world. This meant that the retired dwarves had begun forging again. Massive change in the methods that had been improved under their supervision was now being directly raught. This experienced addition to the workforce had changed the speed of projects being improved. Specifically, the king of the deep caves was already sharing how they had transportation moving through the finished underground tunnel. This was another way that more of the dwarves and merchants were moving between Genesis and the dwarven city. The same could be said for the demi-humans though. They had also begun a faster pace in building a road directly to Genesis. Their speed of crop development would only lead them to be able to feed the workers better. This would allow them to work for longer and harder since they would be well nourished. A great boost to their trade would be right ahead of them in a few months. Beyond that, they spoke about the changes in mana crystals. They had denser manas within which allowed them to be sued more. To be more durable. This would change many of the magical items that they used daily. A potential for making better magical devices that were able to move water or heat things specifically. ns to do so were already spread on the table for everyone to see. So much was changing at a rappid pace. ¡­


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 Chapter 2099. Sleep And Rest

    Chapter 2099. Sleep And Rest


    The exnations of how Genesis projects were movingforward brought everyone through the night. Walker and the others wanted to rest, but they could manage. Walker himself felt that the fatigue was greater than what he had been used to, but that didn''t mean he didn''t have the strong mind to handle it. While his body had lost a lot of the strength he had possessed, his mind was still sharp. Eh easily resisted the desire to take a break and rest. Instead, he pushed forward on many of the proposed ns to expand Genesis and to set up more roads to smaller towns and even to bring the dragon territories up to a better state of building to help them meld better with the rest of Genesis. This surprised many who expected him to be unable to handle things right now. They didn''t doubt him, but expected that he would need the chance to rest so that he could get back to hus prime. What they had missed though, was that when Walker exined the new race that he was, the origin race, that he was also partially feeding off of manas now. His body had epted the aspects of dragon toughness and odd abyssal serpent mana consumption. Beyond that, the additions of natural mana and the more mysterious manas had allowed him to step in to a better standing of life in general. Things had only grown when he used his own life mana to spur a rebirth on the ocean. While he had be weaker due to using a mastery skill, he still felt the same spark of life energy burning brightly. He had a better potential than he had ever had before he had done all that. Therefore, he was riding on that feeling. Enjoying the fact that he would definitely be more powerful than he had been before he had regressed in strength. However, things could not keep going forever. Many other matters needed to be handled by the representatives of the races. The vampires needed to fit themselves in to a ce where they could keep recovering and learning about the world. They had missed so much and even more on top of that when Genesis appeared. This was a massive hole that needed to be filled. History aside, they had to learn how the other races worked. What they were about. What their cultures were. The vampire culture would radically change as they learned more and more about the others. They could not maintain the culture that they had before. The many generations of fighting amongst themselves for power could not remain. Even with their unique species being dominated by the more potent bloodline, they could not focus on that. They had to remain strong in the sense that they had a unity of species. Not something that divided them. This was what they saw while seeing the demi-humans. So many tribes worked together to be a clear race. A clear kingdom. They worked despite their differences and maintained simr values. All things that they did better than the vampires even when the vampires were considered the top of the food chain in a way. That was pretty much the end all be all of where the vampires had begun to channel their focus. Remove the ill will between one another. Especially the memories of fighting in the past. They had to drop those aside so that they could move forward. This understandably went in an expected yet unexpected direction. Especially since Scy became involved. She pushed the vampires to go to the coliseum. They could fight through their differences once and for all. After that, they would be forcefully bound to thews of Genesis. No longer able to take any issue with what had happened in the past. While some people would think this brutish, it was a good way. Especially since this would show off that there were many ways to handle things within Genesis. They were not a one sided alliance that forcedws and conformity. They could be flexible in the ways that people wished to live and to grow. The angels also somewhat liked this since many held animosity toward their fellow angels. The disputes with them had not been missed. The guards had needed to handle some of the two different empire angels fighting here and there. Not that it had managed tost. That was another good thing that Walker and the party had learned very quickly. The guards had grown significantly. Especially while the majority of the Genesis forces were away. It wasn''t that the guards had been out fighting monsters and managing their levels to grow higher. Instead, they had be smarter. New methods to apprehendw breakers. New ways to use runes and other creations to be able to halt someone in their tracks. Especially when it came to fights. Chains and ropes with unique materials along with runes to stop manas from flowing properly, were a major creation. The cksmiths from the crafting guild and the rune carvers had worked very closely together for this. The moment that they had seeded, they had made their way to the guards. Testing had taken ce for only a week before they had a working item. Now with the changes within the world, they had be much better. They could almost entirely block out mana since the runes had developed even more. "You two are heading to the elven district, right? You need to let the elves know what''s going on?" Remey saw that G and Alma were somewhat distracted. "No, we are going to the mansion. Everyone is eating together right?" Gil was sure that Remey was just messing with him at this point. "Then we will need a bigger table since I think everyone will being at that point." Remey gestured behind her. Everyone from the meeting was trailing behind. Speaking more rxed than before. Especially those that had been on edge due to some of the more stressful ns for the future. Many of the assistants that had been waiting had taken their writings or words from them to head to their other attendants. It would allow them tomunicate while they joined in the festivities. "I think you all should understand that the entire city is celebrating. The dragons haven''t been roaring from time to time because they are fighting. They are praising their ancestors." Su shook her head at the pair while they kept annoying one another. Gil and Renmey had a knack for being troublesome that would always seem to exist. "I heard that my mother''s restaurant sold out of food and couldn''t even get more in." Walker smirked a little thinking about how far his family hade since they lived in the human city. No, lived in a smaller home where they had wished for more space. So much had changed so quickly. It felt like a blink of an eye. "Brother, we should move faster. We will miss the chance to enjoy the garden before eating." Onyx''s excitement came with the simple desire to enjoy what the garden had be when they were away. He had a few favorite spots to rest and wanted to make sure that they were still there even with the garden growing more. "The firece." Midnight''s immediate response was to make sure that Onyx knew where she would be nappingter. "If we even make it to a bed tonight, then I will be surprised." Walkerughed. He was sure that they would all fall asleep in the chairs at the table or even just standing up. They had gone through so much paperwork. They had been too focused that mentally they would need to sleep more. "You should sleep earlier." Alice''s worried expression made Walker smile softly. But he had no intention of missing the fun. He had not sat down for a proper meal with everyone. None of them had done so for a while. This would be a family meal, but also a meal for all of them to share a moment with those that had gathered under their shared values. ''Peaceful quest n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Requirement: rest well and enjoy the world as it should be.


    Reward: none''


    Walker smiled even more when he saw that the world was sending them this quest. He felt that it was the best one they had ever received. "You got it too?" looking over at Walker, Gil held up a fist. Walker met it with his own fist and nodded. "It looks like the world gave us another quest. Time for us to have a banquet!" Walker gave a shout before dashing ahead of everyone while holding Alice''s hand.. The two rushed back to the mansion with everyone else in tow. It was time to eat!


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 Chapter 2100. Broken items

    Chapter 2100. Broken items


    "Brother." The single word was right next to Walker''s face. He felt a rough push on his shoulder asecondter and had no choice to wake up. "Midnight, I known I said we could walk around the city, but you don''t have to shape me up." Walker tried to catch Midnight but she jumped back. She had been spending a lot more time in the dragonkin formtely. But that was so she could more easily wander around. She didn''t have to be on the look out for a battle right now. They had made it home. Back to Genesis. Theta dh no pressing matters. No memories that were plotting to destroy the world. They had everything at peace which meant that it was their chance to enjoy things. Especially since they were all still somewhat healing from their wounds. Midnight''s scales were still a bit rough and she didn''t have the energy to fly until the muscles under those scales healed better. Walker was the same with how he was stuck at a weaker level than everyone else. However, he had been amazed that he was gaining more experience from the general sewage of his other skills. He had managed to cook a little bit in the morning and noticed hse gained a decent chipmunk of experience. Not that it would be a lot if he was higher level. Regardless, it was nice to see this new world flow working better than ever. He liked his ss, the jack of all trades. It was the same as his system but he was definitely able to see the bonus of it better now. Every single thing he did fit in to some other ss to some degree. So, even while he was tying a knot around the string of his pants, he felt that he had gained some experience points. This would have been the same for someone like a sailor who tied knots of wooden ships to maintain the sails and other aspects of the ship.


    "No, cksmith." Midnight knew that Walker had mentioned seeing the wandering cksmith in his forge the next morning after they had all spent a lot of time eating. The celebration had not ge. Everyone had been tired when it came to the work they had done for literal days on end. While it was mostly mental, the ideas and the paperwork were enough to put anyone at their weakest. That was the danger of paperwork. A hidden enemy tobat as much as possible, Or to run from if you''re fast enough. The entire city was still celebrating though. Most businesses were open. Many merchant still selling their wares. However, the city was in a state of joy due to the victory. Family members that were able to return home celebrated. Those who had lost their loved ones in this long term war against the demon lord and chaotic mana, created monuments to them. Thergest square in Genesis now had the addition of various statues. While they were small, they stood for every single being lost in this battle. Their names carved. Their features described by their families so that they could always visit them as they remembered them. The history of this time would not be forgotten. What had really pushed Walker to tell the wandering cksmith that he would visit him, wasn''t that Walker wanted to pass off all the random materials and monster materials that he had gained while adventuring in his battles. No, there was an issue. Or at least Walker felt like it was one. The eternal codex had stopped listening to him. While he had thought it was because he was unable to use the same skills and was weaker, he realized that there was a small crack on it. Pen that should have been repaired when the eternal codex changed its shape and form. When the mana was influenced around, within, and through it, the eternal codex could change forms. But when it had been used to channel the true mana, it had somehow cracked. The small crystal like center had cracked, but also the metals within it. This seemed impossible since it should reform. Whoever, Walker couldn''t tell it to since his mana was just being pushed back away from it. Since the wandering cksmith knew that Walker would being to see him, he ignored heading to his workshop that had plenty of his tools in it. Instead, he had stayed in the mansion while taking over the mansion workshop again. The forge was known to him, and still had all the tools he needed. So it was a fine change of pace for what he was needing to work on. The sound of rapidly scribbling on paper made its way in to Walker and Midnight''s ears. They watched as they came inside the forge to see a tall piece of paper on the wall. From what it looked like, the wandering cksmith was making arge metal staff of some sort, no, arge human sized metal hammer blueprint. ''Magma hammer blueprint


    This is being made by a grandmaster cksmith, it is using the best method of metal and strengthening to create an ideal hammer with dual earth and fire manas. The runes grafted on this blueprint will be able to channel the earth and fire mana to be able to create spans of magma with the right addition of mana. The weight will be very high due to the dense material needed¡­''


    Walker wanted to keep reading about the blueprint. However, he noticed that this was clearly one of a series. Multiplerge rolled up blueprints like this were nearby. Ones that had their own elemental manabels. A light and ice one was sitting right on the table waiting for more detailster. "You''re back." The wandering cksmith set down the tools he was using to draw and measure the blueprint on the wall. Instead, he was now focused on Walker entirely. "I know that you won''t be happy with this. So I am sorry in advance. But when I used true mana. it might have been too powerful. The eternal codex cracked and won''t do what I want it to do any more. Walker took the eternal codex which was just floating beside him. He was unsure why that aspect ifo it worked, but it didn''t really strike Walker as being that important right now. He was more worried about the weapon he could sense and was his literal lifeline was broken. The wandering cksmith took the eternal codex in to his hands. His delicate movements making the orb turn and shift to show him every single aspect. It was odd that the metal was sitll able to float at the side of the sphere core of the entire thing. But even weirder that the manas within were somehow halted from flowing normally. "I try to put my mana in to it, but it just bounces back.. I think whatever part of it broke was the part that allowed it to listen to my will." his voice sounded defeated. The eternal codex had literally acted as an extension of himself/. More like another limb since it was perfectly in tune to everything he did with mana or otherwise. "It''s fine." The wandering cksmith threw it back to Walker. But Walker had not expected it to be thrown at all. He tried to catch it but the eternal codex fell to the ground.


    The sound of metal hitting the ground and a cracking sound made it feel that this was the end of it all. The mana that might still be condensed within the eternal codex could be dangerous. But, how had it been floating before and now suddenly falling to the ground as a breakable item? "The metal broke off!" Walker tried to reach down to pick up the eternal codes. However, he froze as he picked up the pieces of metal. Something had caught Walker''s eyes. It wasn''t something normal either. ''Origin influenced metal


    This metal was identally tempered by true mana. The being welding it also allowed for the mana to greatly refine the metals making this up. Making them closer to the true source of mana and making them manipble by all manas. Due to the influx of mana when being reforged, it is currently still unstable. It will require another six days to stabilize before it is able to properly flow with mana again. At that, the mana efficiency of the metal will double what it could perform before. There is also a small chance that this metal can be reused if forged with every mana once again. The rate of failure is exceptionally high though due to the difficulty¡­''


    The wandering cksmith had no idea what to say. He hadn''t seen an issue, let alone an astounding metal! he had just seen theyer of metal that had to fall off to show the real metal underneath. like rust, not an amazing new alloy! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2101. Another Forge

    Chapter 2101. Another Forge


    "It can channel all the manas now. All it took was a small drop to break away the excess. It was definitely made much more efficient. Is it even my creation anymore" The wandering cksmith had a lot to say about this. Naturally, such a metal was more than what he had expected. He would never imagine that something like this would appear. An origin mana influenced metal is ridiculous to imagine anyways. How could one metal channel every single mana to a high degree. Even the runes added to armors and weapons were there just to channel the manas better. To use either the natural affinity of the materials used, or to help the wielder. Not that they would have perfect ability to channel the mana. There was always some form of losing out. Even the fact that it could be reused when portions of the unused manas were broken off was stunning. The manas moving through the eternal codex right now were not being pushed through half the metal. That residual half had broken off like rust since it just didn''t have any connection. That meant what was there was perfect as it was. That the efficiency of the eternal codex was easily added to by a half. It would mean that once Walker was able to better mix manas and begin using even the smallest bit of true mana at will, that he would be able to make this eternal codex much more versatile. No wasted mana meant that the attacks and skills that the eternal codex was part of, would be greatly enhanced. For something like healing, that meant a more potent healing skill with a lower skill in general. Beyond that, it also meant that Walker would be able to gather manas within the eternal codex much more efficiently. From there, he could replenish his own mana much better. The wandering cksmith had not missed Walker''s exnation of his new race and how he could consume manas the same as Onyx could with light mana. Now for the challenge of reusing the broken metal though. "I will need all manas to heat this. The forge might not have the right furnace. Make a new forge¡­" as the wandering cksmith fell in to mumbling, Walker felt that they had made a little mistake. Now the wandering cksmith would be dropping the projects he had in line to work on this. But it did seem interesting. There were many ideas about using all manas to forge something. Being able to do that with the right bnce of metals and other things would ensure that the product was not biased toward one mana. It would be good for someone like Walker who could use all forms of mana or useful to a rune carver that needed to carve various rune formations of different elemental runes. "If we make a forge that can channel all the different elemental manas and even more than that, what materials would we need? wouldn''t we need the spirit race to help since there are some spirits living in the mes of your new forge furnaces already? Then we might need materials from ces with denser manas. The elemental nes." While he wasn''t happy to say this since it would be very tough to just go off exploring the elemental nes, this was just the deal. The elemental nes would have materials that not just anyone could use. Someone of the wandering cksmith''s level would be needed to create these things. "How long?" The wandering cksmith had a simple question. Walker knew what he meant by it too. "I have no idea when and how we will travel there. I don''t even know how to get to every elemental ne from the bridge to them. It''s still back on the ind. We might need a lot of time to begin trying to explore that. We don''t know what''s beyond all that." From what Walker had said, the wandering cksmith was not too happy. But that didn''t mean he had to stop. He could begin creating his own designs for a forge that was able to handle the many manas needed to manipte and forge this new metal. This odd metal that shouldn''t even be, yet was. Besides this, Walker also wondered about Mordant. He had been able to skirt the edges of the dark elemental ne. This meant that he could have attempted to get there through the shadows and whatnot. But he knew that the dangers were great. That the odds of actually doing so were extremely slim. This was because the space between the dark ne and the shadows was actually very far. There was the unknown between them.t he chaotic mana that they now knew stayed between both. A deadly stretch that could either corrupt or generally cause damage to a body that was moving through it. This left Walker with an understanding that it might not be possible to go through that means to get to the dark ne. But if there was a smaller space between them made with a bridge of condensed elemental manas and other manas, then wouldn''t it be possible? Mordant could channel the dark mana within him so that he could better move through the shadows around that space. Make a path through it to the dark ne. But how did the nes exist? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Were they just there, ovepping on different levels? or were they outside the world in the stars? It was hard toprehend how this might all work. Especially with the unknown aspect of the universe as a whole. They had never been able to learn things about this because the world hadbeen cut off. Everything was new right now. That also brought up the idea that other ces with denser manas of other elements might have a chance to break through to that elemental ne. But distance between was a bit off. The space between would need to be kept focused when someone was evaluating this. That was where spatial mana coulde in. someone with the affinity could focus on the elemental ne along with the travelers. It would just mean that they had to have the proper affinity along with the focus to do so. Let alone the mana, which might need to be much more than average. "I will look in to safe ways to travel to the elemental nes while you work on examining these pieces of metal. I will also try to readjust myself. My understanding of manas is different now. The flow of everything is too tough. So, when I can make the eternal codex work again, I will have a better idea of how this might work out." Walker''s promise made Midnight huff proudly. She knew that Walker would not be giving up on anything like this. He enjoyed solving mysteries. "Oh, that means the royal dragons might be struggling too though." Walker understood that while he had to readjust, so would others. The royal dragons focused on their elemental manas very much so. Therefore, they would need to be prepared for the fact that they were not properly in sync with their affinity mana any more. Once they adjusted, they might have a natural instinct for where the best path to each elemental ne might be. Especially when they went there themselves. The royal dragons needed to go there if they wished to grow again. Especially their dominator dragon nature. "We can also use the dragon fires of dominator dragons when we manage to learn to use these materials from elemental nes. To forge that is. Maybe we can make a new piece of the mage tower that allows everyone better healing and mana usage." The idea wasn''tplicated. Use the true mana that he would one day wield to make eveyones'' lives better. Midnight agreed with this slightly before she leaned in to Walker. She had a look on her face that said she was done with the forge for now. But she was also focused on the fact that she and Walker could do more. He wasn''t letting her brother escape too easily. "We are going to head in to the city a little more. See how things are developing. I want to see what''s being done with the ships and that potential new ship being made by the dwarves." Walker had heard of the new ship being made. One that Ventus had be interested in very quickly. "The flying ship would be the greatest creation of this generation. Especially if it can carry more people without needed teleportation formations or mana." The wandering cksmith had a few blueprints he was working on for this. He had naturally been invited to work with everyone. There were over two hundred cksmiths brought in just to make the ns so far. ¡­


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 Chapter 2102. Wall Of Plans

    Chapter 2102. Wall Of ns


    With the allure of a new invention, Walker and Midnight took to the streets to head to the shops creating the blueprints for it. He had been interested the moment that the wandering cksmith had mentioned it. He had neve heard of such a ship. Nbbut, his mind soon came to the floating cities that the angels had. They had lost the ability to repay them and create them, they could only use the current ones. That would change though, they world had, so why couldn''t they recreate them? The facts that the dwarves who were the pinnacle of forging wanted to discover those things was massive. They would solely focus on things like discovering new metal alloys. Finding new methods to use a material within their creations. Some even dedicated their lives to a singr weapons so that they could always create a better version of it. So, why couldn''t they create some sort of floating or flying creation? They had the ships that traveled the ocean so focus on, using that as inspiration, they could definitely create a floating ship. Iof they could even create a way for parts of Genesis to float, it would be better. The thought of a floating city above Genesis for Ventus or for the avian races to enjoy in the sky made him think even more positively. That would be an ideal ce for those that needed to be closer to the light of the sun as well. Even if it was separated from the ground, it wouldn''t be an issue. There were teleportation formations now. People didn''t need wings or a flying spell to get there. They could just take a teleportation rune formation so that they were on the floating aspect of the city. However, what if the ship was made for long range transportation of goods at lesser mana? It would be a great way for those with less gold to travel. Slower, but worthwhile. This would also allow a better and more urate method of exploration when it came to the world that has changed. The maps had to be redone. People wouldn''t need to just rely on the harpies, dragons, and angels for doing so. Large areas could be mapped out by experts on a floating ship. I think this is going to be interesting." Walker made a move though the streets to get to the crafter''s guild. He knew that they should be working on the blueprints there. It was the ideal ce for something like that. What he had not realized, was that the crafter''s guild had already changed a few things. Had already made a new building in the city elsewhere. When he arrived at the crafter''s guild, he found a massive signboard telling certain crafters that they needed to report to the grand workshop. This signboard within the guild was why the entire guild appeared a little silent and dull. Only apprentices were here learning carefully. No one was working right out of it for their business. This put him and Midnight back to walk through the streets. This time though, they were focused on moving toward this grand workshop. It felt interesting to them that they would be heading to a newer building, but it made sense. The building of the ships had made it necessary for an entire area to be built along the river. This had be what was called the ship yard. A ce made to build and service the ships that were still being made for the transport through the oceans. The oceans that would need to be mapped over time. The open space which had been set up as a farm at first had been bought out by the crafter''s guild. Especially since the farmers had relocated since Genesis had already expanded enough that they could do better a little further out from the main city. They also knew that they would be able to sell their current farm for more gold to have arger farm.awin win situation for both the crafters'' guild and the farmers'' family. A massive amount of smoke came out of onerge smoke stack. From what Walker could see, this had been built with the massive smoke stack as the center. All the smaller smoke stacks moved through tougher pipes and stone pipes made to resist the what and whatever was being burned within the smoke. Therefore, even acidic and toxic smoke did not cause them damage. Multiple areas were open, windows and doors were made to be able to be expanded when more airflow was needed. This was for when dangerous fumes began to build up within the rooms needed for forging. A brilliant design that was surely created with the sole desire for it to be perfect for forging many things at once. Things only got better as Walker and Midnight saw therge material yard that was set up for deliveries. This was so that the people forging did not need to go looking for their delivered materials. It was all organized so that they could just call out for it and someone would bring it. "Fire dragon." Midnight spotted an adolescent fire dragon. This one was not one of the ones that she had been told to teach and guide. Instead, this was one that hade from the elder fire dragons brought here by Ignus. It showed that the fire dragons had been a lot less stubborn than what anyone would have imagined. They had allowed some of their typing dragons that were small enough to easily travel through Genesis to go to ces like the crafter''s guild. The adolescent dragon was near an outdoor forge. He was heating up metals and making molten crucibles which were rushed inside. The metals appeared to be fairly toxic so they had to be outside. As a fire dragon, it had a better ability to resist the toxic fumes due to fire dragons often living near volcanoes or magma which consistently spewed toxic fumes. This wasn''t what they were here for. They hade to see what was happening with this new flying ship that was being designed. Therefore, the pair''s amazement at this new building made to house hundreds of smaller forges, crafting materials, and master''s standing equally, could be looked through at ater time. Even if Walker was curious about the carpentry and other crafting specialities being done within thisrge building made for it. As soon as they walked through the front gate and in to the building, they found that there were many people running around. It felt very lively and focused. Like every single crafter here would desire nothing more than to work even faster on their goals. Easily moving through without anyone bothering them, Walker and Midnight followed the scent of ink. It was strong enough to stand out near the entrance that they were able to decipher it from the smells of metal and shaved woods. It brought them to arger room with so many blueprints on the walls that it would be better to say that they were wallpaper and not actual blueprints. The ink on them was drying with the assistance of small coverednterns that gave off heat but did not burn the papers. Some of the ink was still glistening in the light of thesenterns. Various people moved around while scribbling on papers. Their formtions take physical representation. Their drawings bing more specific for each part that they worked on. From what walker could see, they were using unique system skills to be able to make better blueprints for whatever they were focused on. Right on an entire wall with multiple changes and additional blueprints stuck to it, was the blueprint that he hade to look at. ''Flying transport ship blueprint


    While this siarough blueprint, it is inspired by the ships and the floating angelic cities. It was thought up by a dwarf that traveled to the angel''snds and abc with the hero party and Genesis forces. This idea is considered the future of basic transportation. Able to potentially use wind runes to move things through the air with little to norge mana const. It could be a refible replenishing mana source using mana gems and the proper runes. Currently, the rine formations desired are being created by a unique rune carver. This rune carver is trying to use a unique form of earth rune and potentially space rune to create a gravity rune formation that will allow floating. If sess is created, then the angel''s city can be repaired as well. This blueprint uses rock bat skin to¡­''


    The details were immense. So much care had already gone in to the designs here. And it was only a small part of therger picture. Many different blueprints needed to be made for the rune formations and individual parts. ¡­n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2103. Amazing Advancement

    Chapter 2103. Amazing Advancement


    Following the ns, Walker saw amazing things. He could still understand many things. Just because hecked some of the skills he had before did not mean he had lost the ability to understand the basics of what the world had to offer when it came to new discoveries. This right here, was new and amazing.. Using the elemental crystals, there could be multiple methods of travel. Like the ships, the water mana crystals could be used to prevent certain areas from bing wet. Thus would be paired with rune designs to resist the clouds and moisture within the sky. Something that Walker would not have considered at all. The wind mana crystals would be used to propel the ship in the air. Beyond that, they could be paired with fire mana crystals to make a more powerful wind and firebination that would allow the ship to move at a faster face. That alone would make this a much more dependable transport ship. Especially when it was carrying people that wished to reach a destination sooner thanter. From there, Walker followed the rune designs to the point where he discovered that earth runes would be used. Not just to manipte gravity in the form of unique gravity rune formations, but in defense. The weather could change leaving the ship free to be hassled by the wind and storms. let alone the wind currents that had greatly change swift the world as of now. 20:00 n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The weather could change leaving the ship free to be hassled by the wind and storms. let alone the wind currents that had greatly change swift the world as of now. Therefore, they had taken in to ount the potential damages of all that and the fact that avian monsters could attack the ship. Just because they were there, the guards would not be able to handle things right aways. The Genesis forces did not have those with flight abilities ready to just jump out at a moment''s notice. They had taken up the majority of other positions. When it came to the shape, it was actually much more surprising. Like copying the sales, the first ideas were posted on other walls. Large sails made to trap air rather than to allow it to push the flying ship. That had been changed to multiple smaller balloon like structure at each side of the flying ship. Now, it was entirely based on runes and gravitational magic that could be learned from unique mages who were studying the topic of gravity magic as a whole. So much would depend on these new topics of research, but as they were done, the cksmith''s and crafters could make the design perfectly. These blueprints would easily change another seven or eight times overall. The smaller aspects could change another hundred times. Even while standing here, Midnight and Walker watched as someone came over to rece a small section of what could be the deck to stand on and look out at the clouds on. The change showed different railings that could also be used totch on to. dropdders or ropes form so that people could climb on or off. Another change they witnessed was a secondary inner deck. This blueprint had ess to the insides where mana gems would be and sleeping quarters. What was amazing, were the forges and different alchemybs that could be put in to a literal flying ship. The ns were so wide range that it appeared people could life on this vessel for years if they needed to. One person even had a small section dedicated to blueprints that could grow small amounts of herbs within the ship for the herbalists traveling for a longer distance. "You managed to find this little project. And here we thought you woulde to check the underground road. Visit the caves we found along the way." The king of the deep cave had a few rolls of blueprints in his hand. From the ink stains on his fingers, it was clear that he had traded his pickaxe for a pen for thest few days. "We were with the wandering cksmith so that we could talk about some metal alloys and when we might explore the elemental nes. But then he told us about this. We have to look." "It''s amazing." Midnight backed up exactly what Walker was thinking. She knew that this would rival a dragon if there was a younger dragon trying to fight an entire flying ship. Simply because there were ideas to put certain weapons on the ship. Magical ones included. "I see that you like it. Well, I was just going over these few ns. I can tell you want to take a look at the defenses though." the king of the deep caves noticed that Midnight had been focusing on the defense ns. "We noticed the dangers that came with the earth wyverns. Also those bats we heard so much about. What if there are swarms of monsters within the skies. The exploring ships could also be attacked by bandits that have wings. All of that is possible." "A few elves came to help us with this. Wind elves to be specific. They helped us develop the mounted crossbows. They use wind arrows the size of a grown man''s arm." The king of the deep was very enthused by this. He had never imagined taking to the skies would be as much fun as exploring the deep caves with his men. Considering these threats that could arise in the future, Walker felt that he should focus more on the Genesis guards than anything. Bandits appearing would slow the growth of the races down. Especially if they boasted that they were from one race or another.. It could cause a little trouble. "Always will be some bad apples. Just ept it for now." The king of the deep learned this at a young age. He knew that passing this advice down to Walker might help a little. Especially since he was a hero who wished to do the best by everyone. But that was just it, no matter what, some people would be foolish. "Come look at a few other things. You can judge the monster skin we are nning to use in case we need to create a balloon of floating air to help stabilize the ship." The king of the deep caves waved them over. Compared to what he had been like when Walker first met him, he had smoothed out a lot. He also had a lot more energy to focus on things that were notnecessarily about the deep caves. This was all expected though. The king of the deep found himself as the representative for all dwarves within the Genesis alliance. He had greatly stood out as such and would keep doing so. The other two dwarven kings were d to let that be the case since their people all supported this happening. "These are the experimental fabrics, monster skins, and a few rune covered materials we are testing. We think that they can be used to protect the ship, or even be able to hold it up in an emergency. But we also have a few more things." one of the crossbows made for the ship was already on disy. "See this? It was made by fifteen dwarves that specialize with crossbows. Then the elves came to help. We used a spiral hawk tendon for the bowstring. It sounds small, but the spiral hawk is the size of a carriage. They are very powerful wind monsters too. Great for this." "Then we have the light root tree wood as the base. It''s a very light but powerful wood. It only gets tougher the longer it sits in the sun. Great for the open space of the sky." The king of the deep caves kept sharing. He was a proud king. His people and those they allied with made excellent items. Discovered great new things. How could he not let the energy infect him to a degree? "What else is there? How about controlling it, just a wheel like the ship? Or magic?" Walker had the feeling that he was about to witness something he had seen Sloth doing. The floating cities had a control section. Ones that allowed someone with enough mana proficiency to be able to reach out to further runes from one spot. This was how the entire floating city was controlled. Therefore, the ship would have the same. "Rune formations. The ones recovered from the ruins of the floating city were easily exined by appraisers. We couldn''t use them yet though. Too advanced. But there are teams upon teams making these runes. They won''t be able to carve until everything is perfect." Walker and Midnight enjoy learning all of this. They were seeing the future written before their eyes. Now they just had to give themselves the time to absorb all this new information. This amazing future information.


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 Chapter 2104. Awakened herbs

    Chapter2104. Awakened herbs


    "So these are the ideas for the gravity runes?" Walker was amazed that this had been made already. While they were not working at all, the rune formations that had been carved on these metal sheets were clearly working toward something. From what walker could tell, the formations were just missing important parts. Sections where mana had begun to flow had caused cracks here and there. The rune carvers working in this workshop had been able to make many different ones. Each test showed that there were multiple ways that the mana could flow through. Some used fire mana in an attempt to change the flow, while others stayed focused on what was known about earth and space manas. The issues were still there. Mana that overloaded the rune formation. Manas that were not able to flow properly. The shapes of the runes being too sharp. Even some of the runes showed signs that they were just basically the wrong rune in that position. It all showed each iteration and how they had failed or changed one from the next. "The runes are just part of it. This was a dedicated rune formation testing shop. They even made a smaller version of the elemental teleportation rune formation. It works on a thin sliced metal sheet like this. From there they can send smaller items. The only issue is the cost. We burn through one of these sheets every single usage. They can not be sued again. It also costs a lot of mana." The king of the deep caves was dly showing off more and more. However, he was more energetic than what walker could even recall seeing him in the deep caves or even fighting a monster. "You mean that in the next few years, we could have rune formations smaller than a book, that can send small items long distances?" This was shocking! The many things that this could be used for would change the world over again. The issues were cost and mana cost. Both would take a long time to be handled since the materials were not something that could just be made out of anything. They had to be durable metals or something that would not break immediately during the carving process like most stones. That was why the elemental teleportation rune formation had failed before. It had worn out too quickly because of how it was carved in to the stone of the ground. Hence it had been remade multiple times since the first. especially after the space rune itself had been discovered and was now being researched. These rune formations still had a degrading issue. Even with the world returning to the best possible flow and uniting with existence, there was the mana cost issue. Denser manas did not mean lesser mana cost for skills or runes. That was just a wishful desire. The distances of the world also changed. The world had been almostpressed if someone were to need to imagine it. When the world had returned to proper flow, the influence of manas that it desperately needed caused the world to expand. It was an odd happening that not many people even attempted to exin. The only facts were that the known maps had changed and people were working very hard to remap them. Luckily, many of the routes and the roads made had also expanded to a degree. Therefore, no damage and no changes to the basics that were known. So just adjusting of the scale on most makes was needed. "We can use these rune formations better though. What if there is an emergency right now in the demi-human tournaments? They need a potion that''s only made within Genesis, so, they use amunications crystal, have one of these, use rune formations, get the potions, save a life." Midnight heard Walker saying this and she looked at these sessful prototype rine formations in her own awe. She understood their benefits now. They could save lives even iplete as they were. "That is correct. It brings me pride to be called king. The dwarf thatpleted this one is called the genius rune researcher. He has a skill called runenguage proficiency. The more runes he learns and understands, the better he gets. Amazing, right?" "I feel like rarer sses are showing up everywhere. Basically, the limits we had are gone.'' Walker smirked wondering just how many amazing people he would meete the next few days. Besides this moment, Walker and Midnight saw a decent few other things before someone came to steal away the king of the deep caves. He was the one in charge of the building right now. Naturally, every n and move needed to be taken in to ount by him before it went forward. Walker and Midnight didn''t wish to bother him any longer either. "We can go see what else is happening in the city, I heard that the herb fields are looking pretty amazing. Even the ones burned because of corrupt nts were apparently recovered a lot." Walker saw Midnight nod. She had the thought that they would check out the changes happening within the alchemy guild afterwards. Especially since she knew that Ignus was resting there around the mes to recover mana and Remey would be working hard at some new potions too. If they were able to stop by the herb fields, they could sniff out some good herbs to bring with them. Midnight had a knack for that now since she had worked with Remey so much. The fact that Remey had always exined to ehr what and why the herbs were good really helped. Especially when it came to finding the best quality. Now Midnight had memorized how to do it. Leaving the forge and crafting area, Walker found that the herb fields had alsp been changed slightly. There were many spirit race moving around and creating a more weing atmosphere. This seemed odd for a ce that were supposed to be made for just farming herbs. But, that was the false thinking people had when it came to herbs in general.


    It was better that the herbs were in better locations. For example, a small hill made so that an herb that absorbed run off water would allow that herb to grow better. Furthermore, the addition of walking paths within the herb fields allowed people to enjoy the natural scents. The rxing aura of an herb garden. The elves greatly supported this idea bringing the echidna in to this as well. It appeared that the two races would be taking a major lead in this project as the spirit race had already begun changing things. The earth spirits were making new pathways to curl around the more unique herbs. Some people would fear that this could expose others to dangerous herbs. However, that had already been considered. Specifically, the more dangerous, poisonous, herbs had already been set up to grow in more isted areas. Those that were truly dangerous had their own simted environments controlled by rune formations and even covered in ss greenhouses. While not many people paid attention to Walker as he moved through the new pathways within the herb fields, some of the elemental spirits came over to see him. They could sense Fluer was still sleeping which disappointed theme, but that was just the price for her using nearly every bit of natural mana she had to help battle the demon lord with Walker. Not that this was a bad thing. She needed the rest and Walker was technically resting right now. He was also able to learn a lot. The changes in herbs were amazing. One specifically that he had seen before was what could be called the elephant''s foot turnip. It was an herb with a weak numbing effectthat had been able to be found within jungle environments. The reason it was called the elephant''s foot turnip was because the rough skinned elephants would stomp on it to help their feet feel better after walking for long distances. Now, the herbs were definitelyrger than they had grown from what he remembered. One thing that the all around appraisal now stated that these were a higher quality than before. Something amazing that hade to the world changing back to the proper flow. "What''s that?" Midnight had snapped up some leaves from a nearby bush. Walker took them from her hands and realized that they were incredibly delicate gold colored leaves. They even had a slight oil on them that made them seem shiny. As he used the all around appraisal, he was amazed to find that this wasn''t some tea leaf any longer. It had awakened the properties it should have had as an herb. One thigh hat Walker never considered, the nts had been unable to grow to their real potential like this either. This had always been an herb, not just tea!


    ¡­ n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2105. Busy Potions

    Chapter 2105. Busy Potions


    ''Sun drop tea leaf n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This is a tea leaf that was able to properly absorb the elemental manas it needed after the world was returned to the proper state. This tea leaf absorbs high amounts of both light and fire energy,.. Therefore it is a dual affinity herb that focuses on these two elemental manas much more powerfully than what other herbs do. Because of this, it has a very unique form of healing effects on the body. Specifically for soreness in muscles. While it is definitely useful to be dried and drunk in hot water as tea, it is much more beneficial when used to make very condensed potions that will relieve muscle fatigue in just a drop or two for the elderly or those who had harsh muscle training or work. The process to condense it is¡­''


    Walker knew that this would eb a very good thing to bring to Remey. He took the chance to follow Midnight to the bush of sun drop tea leaves. After a few moments, he followed what the all around appraisal had also told him and picked only certain leaves. While he had the skills to better see where herbs should be pruned or cut from, he didn''t need them right now. The a round appraisal had told him only to pick the leaves at the top of the bush. These were the newest growth and had the potent sap needed to transfer the benefits within the nt. This was also due to the fact that it was the most easily heble aspect of the bush. It was focused on growing from the bottom up. Therefore, the leaves at the top were the newest growth and the bush would repair damage there quicker. Especially since more sprouted leaves would appear there within a few days anyways. He also made note that the leaves should be used within at least a week after being picked. This meant that the seeds for this bush would be more valuable than the leaves unless they were pickled and sold very quickly and locally. Thus, Genesis would have someone that could start an entirely new business around growing just these herbs. Walking further, midnight and Walker gathered more here and there. The two enjoyed their time and were amazed to see how many people worked hard on these herb fields. The herbalists were pulling weeds along with pruning quick growing herbs. Nothing appeared to be out of ce


    ''Venom weed


    This is not an herb but a poisonous weed. The small fibers on the edge of each leaf cause a sharp stinging that gives them a name like venom weed. They can not be eaten and if they are will cause severe stress on the body. They did not exist as of a few months ago. They came about due to the chaotic mana that settled within them. Now they are a chaotic influenced species that will growrger the more chaotic manas are within the area. They can also be fully corrupted and be a corrupted venom weed monster¡­''


    This single all around appraisal shocked Walker. He had not expected to see anything left from all the chaotic mana that had pushed itself in to the world. Yet, why was it still there? How could a bit of chaotic mana anything exist? Shouldn''t the world eb regting its mana and chaotic mana would not be able to gather in the world any more?


    "I think we have all been idiots. Chaotic mana won''t just go away." Walker felt that they had all expected things to be too perfect. The world had returned to the flow it should have, yes. But what else? The chaotic mana would have normally beening inside from the spaces between the elemental nes. That Was just how having connections to the nes properly would end. Therefore, it was logical to conclude that the chaotic mana was just part of existence as a whole. It would have to be there because it was the foil to the bnced manas that were always all around the world as a whole. Naturally, the chaotic mana would have to be there. It was bnced after all. "Corrupt monsters, corrupted everything will still exist. Just rarer." Walker sighted and began walking toward the alchemy guild again. He would hold this off for a bitter. This was their new reality safer all. It would just be something that they had to focus on when it came to light. The direct route to the alchemyb is very well traveled. Many people carried bags or carts toward the alchemy guild. These were the family members of herbalists or transportation services. They had be a very profitable business for those that were able to snag the position. The herbalists need people to travel with bulk herbs, and the guild needed them delivered in a timely manner. As Walker and Midnight shook themselves out of their thoughts, they noticed how busy the alchemy guild was. It appeared that they had shown up right in the middle of arge potion shipment leaving for the markets. Many of the apprentices watched as their first potions approved by their teachers were sent away. This was very impressive to see since it was a big moment for any alchemy apprentice. Especially since in the past, many would have had to wait triple the time to even be able to make one of these potions. The way that the alchemy guild had changed the methods of learning how to make potions in to a more structured ss was spectacr. Instead of having apprentice that needed to pay their way in to an alchemy building, then follow the orders of a master for years before they learned, they were learning every day. It would make the potions better all over the world to follow this structure. As they walked inside, Walker smelled the potent scent of herbs. Even a slight acrid scent from the poor apprentices that had failed. He wasn''t surprised to see some echidna who hade inside so that they could help the many masters learn more. Some of them were focused on the natural aspect of herbs and how to better utilize manas to be able to meet the herbs with one another. This sort of learning would be harder toprehend. Yet, it would be invaluable to the alchemists that earned it. Moving upstairs, Walker and Midnight ignored the office that they knew was Remey''s they also ignored the old master Alchemist''s office too. Why would they sue them when there were high quality alchemy set ups just waiting for them throughout the entire guild building. Especially since it was going to be expanded again at some point. It was all due to more peopleing to Genesis again. When they made it to the highest qualityb, they heard the sound of ss hitting other ss. A clear sound that they had actually been lucky with their time of arrival. They entered to find that the old master alchemist was watching Remey pour thest of a potion in to a set of vials. The old master alchemist had retired after help with the grand fire potion. Now, he was just there to watch Remey keep changing the world. She was his daughter for every intent and purpose. He refused to miss even a second of what she could aplish while he still breathed. "Look who it is. The heroese to visit their fellow hero." the old master alchemist was teasing them. He appeared to be very jovial after seeing whatever potion Remey had madepleted perfectly. "Wwe stopped by the herb fields and found a few good herbs. Even one that was once a tea nt but awakened after the world fixed itself." Walker showed off the small bag of golden leaves that Midnight and he had picked. "It''s called sun drop tea leaves. They have a muscle rxing effect. Helps heal them from soreness. It can be condensed in to a potion or drunk as a tea. Thought you would like it." Midnight stood proudly as Walker handed over the leaves exining them. She wanted to try them since she enjoyed the smell of them already. Remey corked thest potion vial then immediately grabbed the tea leaves. A deep smellter, and she smiled more than she had all day. "This should be great to make a potion of. You have some ideas, right?" Her face showed that she knew Walker would have some good answers. His all around appraisal was always too good just to leave everyone wondering something. "And yes, we will make it with you. But we should make a cup of tea first? Take a break and see what it''s like?" Walker saw Remey nod as she made moved to grab what she needed. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2106. Potion Goals

    Chapter 2106. Potion Goals


    "So, what else have you two been working on?" Walker saw that many potion vials were set up in a row on one of the tables. They each had a varying shade of blue that was simr to a mana potion. Nowever, Walker was keeping himself back from suing the all around appraisal. He wanted to learn a little the old fashioned way. "Not appraising them?" Remey smirked a little. She had a slight intention to tease him and Midnight by saying that she was making miracle potion of some sort. Whoever, she knew that this would just be some trouble for her. She couldn''t keep up with Walker''s appraisals after all. At the end of the day, he would learn more and win out somehow. "They are actually the water affinity potions. I made a few in small batches. The colors are based on quality. I managed to figure out that we could make them with slightly less of certain herbs to make them at a spectrum. It would help the people too weak to handle everything with water mana and boosting affinity. Even the elemental spirits can use these." The idea that the potions had been made with the spirit race in mind proved that Remey and the old master alchemist had been working hard. In theory, the spirit race relied on mana much more. They had the highest affinities with their specific elemental manas. But, would they be able to handle potions?


    Some of the spirits were unable to even be around when options or certain aspects of crafting were happening. It was because they could potentially lose some of their manas from their body. They were made up of mana after all. Therefore, the idea to make a potion with a weaker affinity effect would allow the spirit race to be able to learn how to hold their bodies together better without needed to get range over all and be a high ranked spirit. Therefore, the low spirits would be able to learn how to create a more solid body from mana. From there, they couldfortably be around certain areas. For example, if a rune carver was making a new rune, the spirit around would wish to avoid losing some mana to the rune formation which could be broken or iplete. It could be a very dangerous situation if it is running out of control as well. So, it made sense that soem safety would be needed for the spirit there. Remeya and the old master alchemist had made that possible. They just ended to make sure that the varying strengths of the potion would not attract so much mana that the spirit using them would be unable to handle it. If they made a low water spirit consume a high ranked water affinity potion, then the mana could overwhelm the spirit. From there, it could lose its body entirely, and be forced to be a higher ranking spirit. Or worse, perish. It would be the worst case scenario for the spirits overall. "So we just need to verify the dangers of which potion will help a spirit at what level. I bet that there are soem high water spirits that would help with this no problem. But you made them slightly weaker and slightly stronger? Like a half step between each ranking of potion. So a low low and a high high ro something?"


    This made sense to Walker but felt that many people would struggle with the concept. Not many people were branching out like this. The world had never had potions that were in between two rankings that the world had exined through the system. A low mana potion was just that. But one that was stronger but not strong enough to be ranked more was very interesting. "We could make these for healing too. Some people buy salves, but they will go bad faster than a healing potion with a specially made vial. We can just make the potions weaker instead of having someone need to stretch them out with another potion or petitions." This was also a way for people to save Money. The selling potential for this item would be amazing for the alchemy guild. Truly a lot of effort and thought went in to all this. "I think it will work out pretty well. But I also have a few other potions I was hoping you would work on then." Walker saw that the old master alchemist and Remey perked up a bit. He was still not strong again after losing his levels. They thought he wouldn''t want to jump in to new things right away. ''It''s not that serious to be honest, I think we should have all expected this. But if you work with the echidna using natural mana, we should be able to make soem sort of mana calming potions. For the chaotic manas that now flow in the world naturally." "Ugh, seriously? We have to keep dealing with that?!" Remey leaned back and sighed. It was like a child had just been told to clean her room for the tenth time that day. "Well, I saw soem weeds that were corrupted by chaotic mana.w e should have thought about solutions first in the meetings with everyone. But we were too caught up in the changes that the world went through" Walker made it clear that this was nothing intentional. Just a fact for everything right now. "We could make a natural mana affinity potion that would help keep things bnced. Some people might suffer from corruption because of what they do or where they go. It''s just another aspect of the proper flow. Look at the bridges between elemental nes, what''s outside of them? Chaotic manas without forms or shapes. They just don''t meld with bnced manas easily or at all." "So, why would they not make their way in to the world or the elemental nes? It''s more the nes and the world that are pushing in to them." Walker shrugged. It felt that he was talking about living things and not manas or magic. Well, manas literally could be living, the spirit race came to mind again. All things had mana too, so mana was living anyways. "We could call for the natural alchemist again. She brought seven very good herbalists and alchemists that are helping teach some sses. She would surely wish to help with this since it will keep the bnce of things." The old master alchemist was already focusing on the sses and how they would be able to make this work. For the old master alchemist, returning just meant that he was not making potions by hand any more. He was still a master of alchemy. One that was living in the alchemy guild most times. So, he could share his knowledge. Create theories. He would be a massive boon to any project just with his unique mindsets in general. But besides that, there were many chances for this potion to grow. Some of the races like the angels would need them more often. They did not make mana gather within their body the same way that a human did. The angels had their mana absorbed through their wings. This was how they used their elemental manas that they had affinities with. It was why they feared the elemental spirits so much. If the angels absorbed the chaotic mana identally, it would go right in to their bodies. It could cause them to be corrupted and fall in to madness much more easily than what the other races would. A dangerous risk that they could not avoid. ''Quest: potion making


    Requirement: find those that are needed to create the first corruption purifying potions


    Reward: experience, the refined form for the corruption cleansing potion.''


    The system reacted between Remey and Walker making them smile even wider. They had yet to get a quest like this or any other recently. Especially with how the world had changed dramatically. Now they had a chance to gain some experience. Not to mention that the potion would be refined and changed in name by existence when theypleted it. Valuable reward that could push the research of such potions even further. Walker could also use this as a chance to begin getting more experience. The experience he gained from making potions and such would be valuable. He did still have some alchemy rted skills he could use as basic skills. The advanced skills required more mana than what he could use right now, but that wasn''t a big deal. It would just take him time to get to that level again. He also knew that he would gain a better understanding of manas with his new insight on them by using them in alchemy. A great boost. "Let''s start gathering what we need." Remey grabbed Walker''s shoulder and dragged him from the room. Midnight just looked at the old master alchemist before going back to ecploring the herbs in the room. ¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2107. Better Purifying

    Chapter 2107. Better Purifying


    Remey was moving with a lot more speed than before. She was sure that a lot of the newer herbsing in and changed. Especially with the facts that the world had denser manas than before. The natural flow had changed the properties of many herbs known to be weak or needed many to create a potential potion. The purifying effects of some herbs had even improved so much that they could be used to purify water just by having them dropped within a bowl of poisoned water. Not necessarily intentionally poisoned, but with rotten aspects of nature or from a ce that should not be drunk from. This had been found by an herbalist that was working with fertilizer for some mushrooms. The fertilizer hade from afarm and was leaking water from the bags. The water had pooled in rge puddle under the cart and would have been an issue to clean up. While toxic and not good for many other things than helping mushrooms grow which would be used for other herbal or alchemy reasons, the water was not easy to clean up and move. So, she had realized that it needed to be buried. Yet, one nearby herb had just shed some leaves, the leaves had moved around due to the winds of the day. When the herbalist saw this she had moved to clean them up but noticed that the puddle of water was slowly changing from brown to clean. Something that she had only seen with stronger purifying potions. The herbs had released the oils naturally causing the toxic aspects of the water to fall to the bottom and the clean water to be on top. This had prompted her to rush to the nt and grab a fresh set of leaves. After that, they were brought to the alchemy guild where an entire ss began examining them. The appraisals had decided that the green lemon thyme leaves had not been just changed by the manas in their environment. Iad, theta had grown much better than what they had been. They had often been used for cooking due to their unique vor and their very weak purifying aspects on meat or food when cooked. Therefore, the alchemy guild had dly pushed for them to be something within the herb fields for basic sale. It would make a decent profit while also smelling nice. The lemon scent that they had was earthy and herbal. Many candle makers would purchase it for the household iming that the smoke also allowed for a light purifying scent. While that was mostly just something said to boost sales, now it might actually make sense. The herb had been evaluated to have be able to use light and earth manas to help cause a purifying effect within water along with the oils specifically. Remey had heard of this herb along with several other herbs that had these sorts of effects. But when walker had caused the quest to generate, she had thought about how many people felt calmer when they smelled the green lemon thyme. She had the idea that the calming effect was not because of the scent and their mentality. Instead, it had to do with the manas within a person being rxed and made to flow a little more smoothly. When she mentioned this to Walker, he began appraising everything with the all around appraisal skill. His fingers moved to one leaf of the green lemon thyme and used a small spark of fire mana to burn it. The smell that drifted up easily made him calmer while also making the air in the herb storage feel less dense with humidity due to the temperature outside being a little warmer.


    As he tested this, he pulled out one of the weeds from before with chaotic mana within. It was a corrupted nt but it was not serious. He had been able to easily keep it controlled even when it was in the high spatial storage. As the smoke drifted around it, the weed''s leaves wilted even more than what they had been before. He could tell that there were a lot of good things about this enhanced herb, there were many aspects of what else could be done with the one herbpared to the others. While Remey had gathered them, she was not done dragging Walker around. She soon threw him back in to the alchemyb where the old master alchemist and Midnight were waiting. The pair had been enjoying the herbs while the old master alchemist was sharing facts about them with Midnight. The two seemed to enjoy this small lesson since the old master alchemist was truly enjoying the education he had been doing in the guild for the younger apprentices. Especially since he was retired now and could focus on such things. When Walker motioned for Remey to tell him what to do, she passed him herbs and had him grind them in to paste. This was done with multiple herbs while Midnight used a small spark of dragon breath to light the mes underneath the cauldron. Remey began straining the oils and the liquids from the paste of herbs while the cauldron heated them. These tools had been made for things just like this. They made sure that the dense and rough leafage was not within the cauldron. It ensured that the liquids had a lesser chance of burning overall. When it came to the control of the mes, Remey was able to do that with just a few thoughts. Her level of understanding for fire mana,especially alchemy mes, awas growing still. Ignus might have taken time to deal with his responsibilities, but he had been sharing more and more knowledge with her that he had gathered by bing a powered fire dominator dragon. It had just gone to show of what level the party had reached upon growing so much. Even if Walker went back to level one, he was powerful. He had the knowledge to understand what processes that Remey was going through. Soon, they had the entire room feeling lighter. The ambient light mana was not leaving the room, instead, it had spread and caused the air itself to be cleaner. Remey could sense that the room was purified by this but that the cauldron was absorbing the light mana again. The earth mana and water manas from the herbs added were actually being bnced too. There was an interesting reaction between the three mana smacking them a clearer crystal like green oil within the cauldron. When it came to this, there was a sense that the potion was getting denser and might even crystalize. When Remey noticed this, she realized that they were not making a potion of normal standing at all, they were making a crystal like fluid that was simr to dried tree sap! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The idea that a chaotic mana purification potion would be normal had been a foolish idea. Now they were witnessing what it would actually be like. Walker quickly used his mana to cool the potion crystals that had formed. They were gooey and hard to move but Remeya really did it with oil coated spoons and oil coated vials. The cut crystal like sap was easily dissolvable within water if they desired it too. This would be a random but amazing thing. It reminded them of soap, but was entirely different. It used the natural man from light to ensure that there would be a better purification than what else there was there was a lot that could be done when it came to the fact that this potion could purify many things. Walker tried to use the all around appraisal but was sure that he would prefer to see the results when the world system recognized it. Especially since he felt that they were sure to finish. ''Quest: potion making-pleted


    Requirement: find herbs that are needed to create the first corruption purifying potions


    Reward: experience, the refined form for the corruption cleansing potion.''


    Whenhe saw that the world had, he was overjoyed their sudden focus and work had only taken them two hours. But they had new information appearing within their mind. It wasing to fruition whether they liked it or not. An amazing amount of knowledge allowed Remey to work much more smoothly than what any other alchemist could do when it came to making new potions like this. It was years of learning andtely, experimenting. Because she had that working knowledge, she was able to produce these things much better than what others would even be able to imagine. Especially when it came to other potions that could be based on this. Without the experience of needing to make potions with simr effects out of different herbs, she would never be able to bnce three manas within a potionpared to one or two. It perfectly demonstrated knowledge and precision in the way she had utilized her techniques. Walker could only be proud to have been someone to help this happen. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2108. Potions To Healers

    Chapter 2108. Potions To Healers


    The change in the system that had led to the information being ced directly in the minds of people when the system rewarded them was amazing. Nwo they did not see some random item generated by the world condensing mana, which was inefficient. They also did not have to read from the system directly. Walker was amazed to find that the way Remey had made the potion originally, was actually all the ideal steps to take. Whoever, there was another addition that they had missed. They could have used something called white ginger extract. A secondary potion derived from acooking ingredient. The white ginger was a spice that was used in many baking needs. But since the world had beenbined with other ingredients properly, it had the flow of mana needed to awaken many things. One being this white ginger. Therefore, the effects of the white ginger that were not known, had to do with calming mana within the body of whatever ingested it. All known races could eat it!


    Due to this, Remey dashed down to the herbalist section. She knew that many of them worked well with the bakers and chefs within the city. They had the skills to create things from the non medicinal herbs that the herbalists grew. It was a major aspect of their business as a guild. With that, Remey was already making the next potion. This time though, she had Walker trying to control the heat more for her. It was an odd task because Remey had amazing control of fire mana and the heat in general that was all due to her training and the fact that she literally had fire as part of who she was now. The fire spirit was also there, but it barely helped with the potions. Instead, it was resting carefully within the spirit marks that Remey still possessed. From what Walker understood, the fire spirit wanted to go with her to the fire elemental one day. Until then, it was storing as much fire mana as possible to condense. That way it would be as strong as it possibly could when it met these different fire spirits. As Remey forced the potion to condense at a slightly faster rate, Walekr felt that he was getting closer to the fire mana this time. It wasn''t because he was growing in level or anything dramatic like that. He was getting experience points because of what was happening, but he was nowhere near experienced enough to be a higher level mage focused on fire mana. No, he was gaining more of an instinctual understanding of the fire mana because Remey was using that very same fire mana. This was her way of thanking Walker for helping her. She knew that Walekr had changed his point of view when it came to all manas. In her mind, that meant that he was able to betterprehend the mes that she condensed. Some benign alchemy mes, and others being normal mes. If he could feel the differences between them align with how she used them, she was sure that he would understand fir better. To Walker, this was just something fitting itself back in ce where it should be. The understanding of fire mana was second nature. Whether it was part of his race or not, he understood it. He could innate sense where the alchemy and regr mes originated. Where the mana they called fire mana was focused to the smallest point. ''Corruption cleansing potion N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This potion is able to cleanse the earliest corruption due to chaotic mana. As a mana that gathers randomly, many people will randomly find themselves affected by it. Most people can resist the chaotic mana better than others, however, when infected, they will experience many symptoms that can be cured with this potion. The light affinity ingredients are actually simr in nature to many time potions. Just different amounts and the manas are focused on light instead of all manas. The reason for this is because the manas in chaotic nature are able to be calmed by forcing a stronger orderly mana around them. Light is almost always the most orderly and calm byparison to other mana which can go out of control to cause natural disasters in the world¡­''


    The potion had an even longer all around appraisal then what Walker wanted to keep reading out loud. Especially because it went in to the ingredients, the methods, and the one who created it. But naturally, Remey was amazed by the potion she had. The potion glowed slightly more than any of the light affinity potions. On top of this. There was a clear feeling of calm around the potion when it had filled the room with its scent. Even if it was a failure at the end of the day, it could easily be used to rx an entire room. Dripping one drop on to the week that Walker had brought in caused the chaotic mana he could sense to fade. Enough that the entire single leaf that the potion had touched changed to a lighter green color. It was a sess for everything that they had wanted it to be. The real test would be when and if anyone were to be corrupted by chaotic mana. They would be rushed to a ce were someone could help them after they were restrained. But learning the symptoms of someone suffering from this would be imperative. The entire healing aspect of Genesis needed to both research this and focus on preventing these dangers. The fact that people could be corrupted would just be an aspect of life. people would have to ept that. With this though, people could grow. The world could also be more diverse. Everything alive in the word would have to adjust to this danger that was just an aspect of life. Therefore, they would advance and improve based on how rare these situations were. Due to that, there would be new monsters, new methods of survival, new nts! So much more too. Walker could barely contain his thoughts. "This potion is going to be great. But I can make it since I know the ins and outs. No one else will be able to do it right." Remey Was sure that the difficulty level was too high. Ensuring that the purifying effects were preserved required a fine control of temperature. The only reason that Walker was able to seed was because he had Remey there to show him tie methods. Plus, he already had reached a very grand understanding of most manas, let alone fire mana itself. Therefore, he had been able to adapt and ovee what he needed much better than what other would be able to do. "It will be a test then. We will sow the form and gather the ingredients. Some of them all basics. So, let me teach it with you demonstrating to a few lectures. Then, we will see what happens." the old master alchemist had watched it all. He saw potential. The lesser quality for some of these potions would be good to have for water or basic purification. When it came to chaotic manas, then it would be used at the higher quality side. It was the best way to experiment with ingredient recements and basic learning. They just had to implement this. "I guess Midnight and I need to take a trip to the healers. The cathedral might be busy, plenty of soldiers are still there recovering after they came home." Walker was not at all bothered by the idea of heading there. "Alice and Su!" Midnight jumped up from a chair she had sat in next to the old master alchemist. She wanted to go to the cathedral where she knew that Alice was for sure. But she had overheard Su saying she would be visiting there to help out as well. "Yes, you can tell Alice how we are going to move forward with these potions and that the healers will get a supply of them. They would be the ones encountering these symptoms the most." Remey felt that this was the best bet. She would most likely have an even closer rtionship with healers as they would want to replicate the effects of this potion with their own skills. "Maybe they will have some mana calming skills too. They could be changing the way helears work now." Walker amused himself with more thoughts about things changing. Remey just ignored him as she fell in to recording the in depth methods she used. Especially how she had moved the manas around with each ingredient added. "We will see you twoter." The old master alchemist went to help Remey record everything. He had years of experience with this. It made sense he would still check her work. ¡­


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 Chapter 2109. North City Visit

    Chapter 2109. North City Visit


    Midnight hopped along happily while they moved toward the cathedral. It was a nice day and plenty of the people within genesis were moving about happily. There was too much opportunity to be down on your luck. Even people who had once thought themselves incapable, had found themselves with chances to grow a life. Everything about this was part of what Walkr had envisioned for Genesis. Chances that would be there waiting for the right person to take up the challenge. No matter who the person is, they would have the chance to bring their life full circle. Even those that had been on the darker side of the world. This was perfectly exined to those entering Genesis looking to be a citizen. They didn''t even have to forsake their home kingdoms. They could represent himself as a member of their race and kingdom while also being a member of Genesis. That was the nature of the alliance that brought everyone together. Especially when it came to thews. They were made to ensure that there was nothing holding one race back or holding one race above another. Because of this, the demons that had begun to thrive, did not find themselves burdened by hatred. Especially when it came to those that had fought demon ace individuals before. The many demons that had been at risk of bing monsters themselves had been able to gradually repair the damaged bodies they had by being beaten down by the cruelest of demons. Those that had followed the demon lord''s oppression. Surprisingly enough, the demons that did manage to change their paths were bing the most weing. Whether it was because they found themselves with hope that they had been unable to grapes their whole lives, or another reason, they were helping the vampires that had recently appeared from the war with the demon lord. Walker had spotted multiple demons giving tours of Genesis as a whole. The newest arrivals would feel lost in all the hustle of progress or generally of how massive Genesis had be. Even Walker felt that if he hade here without any skills that assisted him in remembering theyout, he would be lost. To be fair, if he didn''t walk around as much as he did, he would be lost anyways because of how quickly the city changed. Midnight was fine with all this though, she was just dragging Walker to the food stalls that were just about on every corner. With so many different races around, there were various stalls that sold cultural foods to try here and there. Walker was pretty sure he could travel around for a year and not have the same snack twice. That wasn''t even considering the cultural sweets offered!


    As they came up to the cathedral, Walker noticed many more priests and healers than normal. Themotion at the front also proved to be enough to bring his attention. As he walked up, he listened to what was being said by the priest wearing the most ornate robes. "As I said, we are here to speak to the acting high priest. Not a healer or someone with power within this city. We are in control of all cathedrals and churches. You do not have permission nor authority to stop us." Walker felt that the leading healer was being rude. Especially to the young healer that was speaking with them in greeting and telling them to wait. "Actually, you do not have any authority unless you are allied with Genesis. As one of the founding members, you can exin to myself and my fellow hero why you are being so rude in front of a symbol of healing and protection within our home." Walker still had the title of true hero. Why would he hold himself back here?


    "I do not care what you think you are. Especially a lying child-" Midnight growled out. Even in her dragonkin form, the pressure was formidable just by doing this. It kept the priest in front of them from pushing more. Even the priests and nuns behind him cowered slightly. "Don''t worry bMidnight, they can''t hurt me or anything. Even with my low level, they aren''t able topete. I''m pretty sure I can use better healing skills than them too. They aren''t life healers or anything." The all around appraisal had already shown Walker enough information. "A high light healer, three light healers, four healers, and two light nuns. All of you are limited in mana or in healing methods. But you see, the high priest here and the new high priest in training can heal much more than you. If I also remember, we have contacted the city you venture from about the building of a main cathedral here. Alice ensured that trip was taken too." When Alice had gone off to help the demons, she had also been one of multiple trips to go out. One carried letters from her and the high priest. Because of how Genesis was being built and how a cathedral was being made, the main home of the churches had been notified. Specifically, the cliff side city in the north where humans lived but rarely traveled out of their so called holy city. It wasn''t that Walker had never wanted to go there, but he had never needed to go there. It was a smaller city that was built just for the church beliefs. It managed itself, and also never requested assistance or to join the Genesis alliance. Even after being sent an offer. So, it was more or less forgotten by him and others. "Walker, Midnight." Alice had heard themotion and appeared. Her presence itself made the light around even stronger. "Saintess Alice, I''m d you are here. I think some of the northern church priests havee to visit. They are a little confused about who governs this church and the rules here. But it''s fine, we are about to help them understand." Walker did not say anything with negativity. Instead, he was putting on a very weing show. Enough to embarrass these rude guests but also properly show that they did not have the power they expected. "Wee to Genesis. My father, the high priest, has almost fully retired. Our new high priest is currently touring the farmnds to learn more about the struggles of the people. You maye in, but you must follow our guidelines. We are no longer subject to your strict church beliefs." While Alice took control, many of the people around had frozen a bit in ce. Alice was somewhat of a celebrity since she did so much to help others. Especially after getting her title regarding one of the virtues. It was hard to not be amazed when people met her and felt the incredible kindness that came from her. The warmth of healing light that literally danced to her voice. "Walker, looks like you found the trouble we noticed. They keeping here trying to petition us to follow the rightfulws of their city. I think Alice and I will take a journey to the north if we can handle it. But they haven''t paid enough attention to the world being all cooped up." Su''s voice was followed by a slight huff as Midnight grabbed her in a hug. "It''s alright, I figured the north holy city or whatever it calls itself woulde knocking again. We never had reason to go there before. Should be interesting to see how different they are as a city run by the pope and the church." Walker knew that difference in opinions would always appear. He couldn''t be too angry about it. But, he would be angry if someone was rude to Alice, or the cathedral as a whole. Naturally, as Su, Walker, and Midnight moved in behind the priests and nuns that showed up, they witnessed their amazement. The crystal within the cathedral shined down a healing aura and a mana gathering aura that greatly out did what they knew. "I didn''t think you two woulde here. Any reason?" Su didn''t take her eyes off the guests. She remembered when the cathedral and church were more under the thumb of the northern city. Now, she saw the stark changes byparison. Having the chance, those here in Genesis had changed from a strict guidelines. They followed a more kind and honest approach to healing and helping the people. It was purer than what it had been before. "We were working with Remey to make a corruption purifying potion. It helps push out the chaotic mana within someone or something. We thought we would see if the cathedral wanted to test it and record symptoms of chaotic mana. It''s a part of the world now, might as well have practices tobat it. Plus, some healers might have skills to counter it." Su understood this, but she also looked like she knew one or two things. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2110. New Healers

    Chapter 2110. New Healers


    Su felt that she had known this. The idea that the world would just turn smoothly was an odd one to begin. But just as many people had, she wished for the best. She had that influence on what beliefs she wanted to take. Naturally, the result was ignoring that chaotic mana still existed in the first ce. "I should just ept that huh?" "It''s what I''ve decided to do. Midnight is the same too?" Walker saw Midnight nod vigorously in support. "Anwyas, I think there are healers who will have the ability to use skills that calm chaotic mana too. It''s not like the chaotic manas are wrong. They just aren''t in a calm state that flows with existence. It''s like they are the manas that haven''t been given proper form yet? I''m not sure if that''s right but it''s how I see it." With the way that Walker put it, Su felt she understood who the greater existence worked. Because the world and all mana had toe to being somehow, they naturally would have been in some chaotic state at some point. The only issue was that these chaotic manas were causing corruption. Therefore, the methods to calm them were needed. But that was also a bnce within itself. The chaotic manas with thewful manas. Or at least that was what Walker had been thinking. The manas that followed flow and bnce could be seen as a citizen that followed thews. The chaotic mana would be a citizen that broke thews and the flow. An interesting way to put it, but simple. "There are a few unique healers since we came back from our fight. The cathedral has been documenting everything to start a proper healer''s record. Some of them even have their own dedicated ces in the Genesis library now." Looking around, Walker was surprised to see many healers or rted nuns recording things in to journals. All of this would be taken from themter to be written in a more organized and clear manner. It was just a rough start to their own section in the soon to be greatest library of joint knowledge in the world.


    "That was troublesome." Alice hopped up and hugged Walker from the back to surprise him. But her cheeks were red with annoyance from the priests that had visited. "You sent them away again? They are going toe back with more of them again. They think that this cathedral and all the churches should follow their lead since they have the starting morels. But they didn''t fund this cathedral and the crystal they donated was reced already with a better rune carved one" This seemed to make Su suddenly angry. But from what Walker and Midnight could gather, the northern city had sent the priest here to add their will to things. Especially since Genesis had such a major following in its cathedral now. "I might as well march up there and put them in their ce. I can even see if Rise wants to go to scare them." This was the dragon side of Su showing itself. She wanted to make sure that they were respected and that none of them would be mocked in any way. "If you go up there with that attitude, they might think you are trying to burn the city down." Walker teased her which caused Su to go red next. It was fair though, Su was usually the calm one of the group. "I think we will have to set them straight. They have a different culture, but they don''t understand the unity of Genesis. That''s why the human kingdom''s churches chose to separate from the northern strictness. They can help more people." Alice shined a light on the greater issue that the north must see. They took fees from the churches more southern than then. They also provided the crystals that the churches were built around. The very crystals that allowed a healing aura to appear within the church. With Genesis having amazing rune carvers and mages, they now produced better crystals for the same process. It was only wise that the churches would rely on new ones from Genesis to improve themselves. Especially since they came at a fair price that the smaller viges could afford for their churches. And they did not have to send a single bit of gold to Genesis city to support them if they did not desire it. That was one hard rule of Genesis. All tax was fair and just. Not like some past kingdoms that abused it. Because all the races came together, they could call one another out of their greed if it grew. This had already shown its face in some lesser merchants and they became examples for what should be fairness. Naturally the harsh prison sentences for their greed also scared many would be criminals. "If you three go up there, maybe you can right their wrongs by offering them a way to join Genesis. They have people too, I know it''s a human only city, but it is technically part of the human kingdom." Walker was thinking about the future. The best for those people would be to have ess to Genesis and everything they had to offer. "They don''t even have trade routes nned to meet us. We could help them a lot." Su''s attitude brightened as she thought about how this was the same work being down through the kingdoms right now. "Putting that aside, Alice, let''s show him that new healer that showed up. She was an echidna child, right? She has a weird way of healing." This change of pace surprised Walker but made Sua nd Alice much more excited. From what he could see, this young echidna must be someone special. Alice pulled Walker and Midnight along with her to the side of the cathedral. There was arger room prepared that Walker knew had once been living quarters. Yet, now, they were made in to ssrooms. The cathedral had been added on to slightly and renovated. Inside were a few young healers learning from experienced healers and nuns. In the ssroom Walker was brought to, he spotted three young healers learning to wrap bandages around a wooden training dummy. Definitely a good method for how to learn the proper way of doing things. Two were dressed in nuns'' clothing. They appeared to be younger members of the church that had been brought in by those that were already members. It made sense that they would follow their parent''s footsteps. But the third, was a red scaled echidna. Her focus on wrapping was broken when she saw the visitors. "Hello, sorry to bother you, but I thought I would meet some of the future healers." Walker saw all three show that they knew him and Midnight. They were somewhat celebrities after all. "What kind of healers are you three? I know sses have been a tough adjustmenttely. A lot of new things to learn." He felt this was an understatement. It wasn''t a lot, it was an immense amount to learn for most people. "I am a me healer, I can heal with white fire!" The one young girl in nun''s clothing was d to share. "And I am a light healer. Just like mom!" the other shouted with pride. It was a natural reaction from a child. "I am a blood healer. I can purify the blood so it heals the body itself." This struck Walker as odd, but now he knew what Alice and Su were thinking. "Oh, so you might be able to help someone heal themselves by making their blood stronger? I bet you might be able to handle the chaotic mana in people''s bodies too?" His little push clearly made the young echidna think. But that was what he wanted. A potential to be there. "Soon, a potion from my friend Remey wille to the cathedral. It''s called the corruption purifying potion. It will be perfect to test yourself against. A way to help calm or purify the chaotic mana in someone or something. I have a feeling that you three can help find the skills to do what the potion does." Walker gave them a wave and Midnight did the same. He left them with that thought. "She definitely can do that. She has affinity with life mana" Walker had sensed it immediately. The echidna were close to natural mana, but this little girl had a powerful life mana affinity, hence the blood healer ss. "I''m d the echidna are settling down here too. I was worried they wouldn''t feelfortable." This also called Walker''s thoughts a lot. The echidna had been isted for a long time. Now, they might have struggled to mix with other races. Clearly, he had worried for no reason at all. ¡­


    ¡­.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 2111. Surprise Fighter

    Chapter 2111. Surprise Fighter


    With so much happening in the city, by the time that Walker and Midnight ahd managed to get back to their walk, the night and ended up iling on them sooner than they felt like it should. But that was just how it went with a busy day and so many people to see. The night was very busy too though. With the increase in poption, the increase in races, and the general expansion fo the city, Genesis was busy at all hours. Right this moment, the night life had started. Whether it was a group of guards off duty for the day heading out to celebrate something, or people going to their jobs, the city was bright. There were many of the vampires still getting some tours from demons of other residents of the city. They were morefortable in the night anyways. Walker liked seeing this change since he was sure that he was going to be seeing a lot more of it. But he was also not surprised at all to see that many of the demi-humans were out and about as well. Some swerve because of their traits. bat , owl, and other nocturnal traits would make the demi-humans want to be out during the night rather than the day. Since the city ahd developed enough, they were able to beoutside at night much more easily. Since there were entire groups of people out, the markets had also shifted. Some new people took over existing stalls, or others opened up entirely just for the night. Especially those that sold food. The entirety of the food stalls at night had shocked Walker and midnight. Theta dh expected that the stalls often would be for things that were needed for night jobs. Or just basic food. Not the variety of street foods that they were seeing right now. This prompted an exploration of the night city streets that Walker and Midnighthad somehow managed to turn in to an eating contest. Not that it was a bad thing. He enjoyed understanding what they had for options to eat within the city. Especially since he could pass on the ideas he got to his mother who would surely put them to good use. The jobs that Walker got caught up in witnessing thigh, were the ones that were rted to the coliseum. What Midnight and Walker found, were that many of the people passing out flyers were doing so because they were advertising the night and day battles at the coliseum. Especially those that happened at night since the tickets were a little more expensive due to the fact that the night battle were a lot more advanced. This wasn''t just because there were warriors of all kinds wishing to battle at night when the entire atmosphere was different. It was a chance for them to fight unique types of opponents that literally did not or even could note out in the day. This would make a warrior that fights in them much better whether they won or lost. That was why there were even small groups of guards within the coliseum areas. They might not be working, but if they fight here, they could win fame for themselves and their groups that they came from. Powerful men that have trained longer than many had. "Feel like watching a few matches?" Walker couldn''t say no when he saw that Midnight was bing very interested. It would be a sleepless night, but that was well worth bonding with one of his little sisters. Without even needing to see Midnight nodding to saying yes, Walker was headed toward the bright torch lit coliseum. The entire atmosphere was roughpared to the times that they had both been here. This was due to the way that the arena had been changed. While smaller battles were being done on smaller stages set up on the arena, there was onerge arena set up as the main stage. This was the one where some mages announced the results and the strictest judges worked. The main stage was not set up the same way. This was because there were obstacles set up. The night time arrangement made use of the dim lighting without the sun. Therefore, there were assassin like ss users that could use their stealth skills to beat an opponent. Many of the demi-humans with skill rted to camouge also had advantages here. The shadows created within thatrger stage made it optimal for hiding. This way an ambush could be created, not to mention that there were also some smaller trees grown by elves in the stage. It made it more of a natural stage than the other t and perfect stages. Watching a dark mage use darkness mana to lengthen the shadows around himself before using shadow wrapping, Walker was surprised. This was a good way to make the environment work for him better. Yet, his opponent was unaffected by the dark mage disappearing to hide after using his skill. Simply put the match up was a bad one for the dark mage. His opponent raised a sword to the clear and star filled sky. In A few moments, a soft milky white light glowed through the entire stage. "That''s a starlight swordsman. He uses the light from the stars to strengthen his sword before he attacks. Ites with a method to cut through dark mana and the shadows. He had the natural advantage." Proceeding twitch the battle, Walker and Midnight watched the mage get beaten in only three more moves. That Was just the essence of the match up. However, when Walker noticed a connection getting closer, he was suddenly hyper focused. Midnight was the same as she caught a whiff of who had just made their way in to the arena. Right in the middle of therger arena, Onyx slithered. He was in his full sized form and he was not looking at anyone in particr. Sad, it appears that he hade here with a full focus and attention to battle. Walker could tell what he was thinking. What if he ever had to fight another tough battle as they had just been in, then what would he do? Would he be the strongest one or the weakest one when a chance to shine was given. Onyx soon faced a man with arge sword and shield. He was plenty sure of himself that he was shouting to the crowd. That he was disying his victory earlier than he should. "Brother, I came to train and help Scy out." Onyx saw Walker and Midnight before this battle started. He sent Walker the mental message just to tell him he wasn''t here fooling around. Not that Walker would have judged him. But it was surely going to weigh on Onyxter on if this stopped him from helping all the little serpents. Yes, Onyx had a responsibility to the race he was building. To the youngest serpents to help them choose a path. However, he also had his own pathways and desires. To keep improving his strength more and more. The more opponents that he had, the greater his battle strength would grow. That way, he could challenge Walker fairly. He could be the strongest one in their group. What kind of fun dream was that? Midnight and Walker Cheered as they watched Onyx whip his tail around while creating different spears of light and darkness. Each attack showing off the prowess of mana that Onyx could use. the depths of how much he had trained to be able to use them as attacks and defenses. This wasn''t over though, when the announcement that Onyx could handle more than one opponent went out, Walkern and Midnight understood why he was being used as the one to show for the coliseum''s fame. Onyx had made it so that he would show off the real battle skills that he had used in a literal war. On top of that, also to attract those that wished to see him as an inspiring figure. When four warriors came to face Onyx at the same time, the coliseum roared with excitement. They all tried to get close to him but found themselves limited by the reach of his tail whipping through the air. This just prompted Onyx to attack more actively though. Overall, the change in the coliseum from night to day and now this, made Walker and Midnight feel that they had missed a lot while they were elsewhere in the city. But by the time that Onyx was finished with the battle, Walker and Midnight had plenty of questions for him. They spent the next few hours watching battles and enjoying the fighters showing off their skills in mock battles. Especially those that they had fought with and not noticed due to the chaos of battle. ¡­


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 Chapter 2112. Showing Growth

    Chapter 2112. Showing Growth


    After Onyx had finished his battle against multiple opponents, he had shifted to hide more of his size and moved to the seating. He met with Midnight and Walker to speak with them while they watched more of the battle going on. Plenty of the demi-human warriors were here showing off their new skills. They all had the desire to show off the strengths that they had now that the world had returned to its proper flow. Plenty of them were even testing out their skills since they knew the coliseum was the best ce for it. The roar of the crowd was enough that plenty of people who were still awake came from the nearby streets to watch the fights. This was just the addictive desire that the coliseum inspired. So many people were attracted here to see the strength of Genesis as it came together. The dragonkin also made a showing here. they wished to show off their own power. The power that they used torepresent their royal dragons inbat and in every day life. Some of them even turned their heads to give respectful salutes or nods to Walker and Midnight who were in the stands. They could sense them there. This drew a lot of attention to the stands. Walker was a hero of Genesis. So was Midnight. Adding on that Onyx had gone right to them when he had finished his battles, they knew what they wanted. The audience wanted to see the other two heroes entering the coliseum. "The coliseum is speaking, will the next euro take their time to bless the coliseum with their battle prowess?" The voice that echoed over the entire coliseum wasn''t Scy''s. Everyone would have imagined that she was the one in charge here. Especially se she was the one that always was spending her time helping the coliseum thrive. Yet, even while she was the one in the highest seat watching, it was not her making this announcement. Instead, it was Leon. Around him, stood some of his toughest merfolk warriors. He had brought them here to show off their new battle prowess after they had returned and exhaled. They had to be able to fight on thend and on the water. Regardless of terrain, he wanted to show that the merfolk with him were always on the top of their game. Due to this, he had been sure to partner up with Scy to be able to have them fight. They had all had their own battles tonight alone, let alone previous days since they had all returned to Genis. Because of this, many had begun to support and believe the merfolk forces within Genesis. This growing support was also due to the fact that the demi-humans who had fought with the merfolk forces understood their strengths. The aquatic forces had battled side by side with them, therefore, the bond had been born. Here in the coliseum, the aquatic forces only further supported the merfolk since they were now sharing their very own culture. Seeing that it was epted and supported, well, that was just something that Genesis was founded to do. While Walker felt that he would not be showing his best, he also knew that he had no choice in whether he was going to fight or not. Midnight had been fired up since they walked in to the coliseum. With how Onyx had already shown off and the fact that Leon was calling them out, she had to go. "Well, don''t leave them all waiting. Show off your dragonkin form. You are pretty good at fighting with it now."


    With Walker encouraging her, Midnight pped her wings and took the main stage. She released a small dragon breath in to the air making the entire coliseum ring with cheers. They wanted to see just this. See the force that one of the heroes had. But what they had not expected, was that Leon himself was walking down the stands and right in to the stage as well. "I can''t call you out and not fight myself. It would be rude. It''s a lot of fun though." Leon spun his spear around. The action caused water to appear and ripple in the air."I gained a few new skills as well when ites to my weapon skills. And my ss too." While Midnight had gained the ss, true dragon champion, the same as her race, so, it made a lot of sense that she would live what she was and how she had been walking her path. This had fit right with her too. Midnight felt that she was what she ended to be through and through. Every single aspect ofpetition, or strength, that she had grown, was what she was. A true dragon champion would always be important to stand over all others. Would always be able to be more flexible. That was why she felt that she was a true dragon champion and that she lived that as her ss. It just made sense to her. While on the other side, Leon had experienced a greater change. His ss had be something he had not expected. He became a flowing tides spear knight. A spear focused ss that also revolved around the tides and the currents. While this made him even stronger within the water, he could also use his spearmanship to conjure up water from the air as long as it was there. Since that was the case, he had been learning how to wield the spear all over again. Training his basics to add in the water that allowed him to boost hisbat abilities onnd as well as the water. When the match started, Leon swung his spear and caused arge ssh of water to push towards Midnight. She was surprised by this, but did not flinch. She repealed it by opening her wings and pushing the air away from her. It was pure physical strength. The audience loved this as they watched Leon charge ahead. The water wrapped his spear making it appear to be double the size. The dance that he fell in to made it appear Leon was following some unseen water current within the air itself. Midnight was made to p her wings to dodge and weave around his shes and stabs. All making the audience grow in awe of the two with very high skills. Midnight even began to use her ws to deflect the attacks here and there at times. Increasing the sshes of water that would catch the lights of the torches in the coliseum. A show for both skill and strength that perfectly showed why these two represented races. Why these two stood tall when they represented Genesis and its people. This was when Leon gathered even more water. Several water spears matching the spear he was now thrusting forward. This multi pronged attack made Midnight feel pressure. She opened her mouth and took arge breath before roaring out loud. This roar carried arge amount of water mana too. It disrupted the flow of Leon''s mana and caused the water spears to fall apart. But it also caused Leon to be tossed backwards. While they had fought together, Midnight had massively outgrown him in terms of strength and level as a whole. This was to be expected with how the party had trained and battled byparison. Not that anyone doubted this. When Leon tried to spin his spear again to gain momentum, he was surprised to find that midnight had touched upon the ground. Her legs had flexed and she shot forward. Her ws appearing to stop just in front of his face. "Ha! That was great. I haven''t been able to test that water spear attack against anyone capable of breaking it other than Scy." against what many would expect, Leon was d that Midnight had won. He had been able to test some of his new skills and find the ways that he needed to improve them. Plenty of training in the future for him. "It was fun!" Midnight was still ready to fight again if she could. But she could also see that the short exchange that she and Leon had inspired many of the others waiting to fight. It would be even more fun to see them show off next. This was exactly the reason that Leon felt that he had toe down and fight. He wanted to see the people inspired. Especially since they were all adapting to their new skills. Those that had returned from battle had suddenly seen changes but no way to experiment with those changes. The coliseum was the healthy outlet for all of this. The safe ce they could grow their strength. ¡­


    ¡­.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 2113. Mountain plans

    Chapter 2113. Mountain ns


    "You can''t just casuallye here and tell us that you are going to raise a mountain range and that the wyverns are moving here." Gil''s voice had risen in octaves when he found himself being asked for help on this matter. "It is going to happen. I am the one guiding the earth wyvern race. They will be under my care." Terron wa speaking with a calm and collected expression. He didn''t seem to find that this was something a little outrageous to ask in the east. "No, having me get the elves, and Alma, to make an entire mountain habited with nts so that it is a more natural environment is ridiculous. The area we have here is too small too. The dragon viges can''t have such arge space that won''t work as a farm or anything." Gil Was beside himself with the fact that Terron might not have thought this through at all. "There is a n in ce. The vige I have will be mixed with the wyverns as well." Teron still pushed forward. "The space is notrge enough. How will it work? The wyverns will need more food and that will mean more space for farms. That means more livestock. If there is not enough space, then they can''t grow." Whether it was just this that would be a problem or not, there was a clear disparity in resources for this to happen right away. "I am an earth dominator dragon. I have the ability to raise thend in to a mountain now. I just need nature to catch up to it. The flow of manas will not be broken. Genesis is already bncing the elemental manas better than what the world could do before." While this was true, Gil was still not convinced. He could only think of the issues this brought up. Yes, the dragons were makingtheir viges right outside Genesis. Basically, they were an expansion of Genesis as a whole. A massive growth in the territory which would allow the travel between the viges and the main city of Genesis like they were just neighboring districts. Even the map would only be divided by the farms between them along with the merchant routes. "When the mountain is made, it will give the alchemy guild a ce to nt unique herbs. Some of them need earth dragon mana to be in the air. It will be a veryrge benefit for them. Then there are farmers experimenting with unique nting methods. The earth elves have nts that can not be grown in a normal environment. The dark elves will also be able to help carve out a home there." The more that Terron started to speak, the more Gil felt that Terron''s more silent approach was being thrown away to be stubborn here. But that was what Terron was, stubborn. That was just how the earth dragons were. "From there we can also use sections of the mountains to grow the tumbling rock goats. They are a monster that can not be farmed because of the harsh mountain environment. But now that we will have a controlled mountain and wyverns to guard them, they can be." Terron had clearly thought in to this as well. Three things would be valuable to ensure that the mountain benefited the wyverns, dragons, and Genesis. "There will be a home for the wyverns and the earth dragons to live together. That is my responsibility. My goal." Terron had thought about what he wanted to achieve now that they had solved the major threat to the world. Now that he had seen how powerful he really was to the world and how he could grow beyond that byter heading to the earth nes. "Really?" Gil sighed out loud as he asked this. He didn''t feel like he was being asked for help any more. More like the ns had been made and he was just being updated about them. Like this was all prepared, he just ended to be told what his role would be. "Then you will be needing to pay me off." Gil decided that instead of arguing against this, he had to just ept it. But there was some other thing she needed. Terron was a strong ally. So why would Gil not take the chance to ask for a few things? "The earth elves are worried about the flow of water that goes over the dwarven city. The dwarves say that they can build a dam to redirect the flow. How about you make a more natural river bank that will not require so many materials. Then I will have you break up the harder y soil to the south where it starts to dry out more near the demonnds. That way the new farms can be grown better." This was what the elves were focusing on the next few months. Projects that would take time but also be valuable to Genesis. The earth elves had been helping the dwarves a lot. Their innate sense for the flow of earth mana had proven to be an abundant tool for the dwarves to have. The dwarves could focus on the best ways to extract a material from the earth safely instead of the risker mining with copse chances. The farms were also a big investment to all the elves since they were nting more of their foods from around the continent where they had once lived. If they brought more of them to grow here in Genesis, then they would shorten their trade routes. Increase the foods they wished to eat in general too. "That can be done. My few elders are ready to assist. They need to train their control of earth mana before they are old enough to take dragonkin forms." Many of the elders had made dragonkin forms a priority. This was for every species of dragon. They wanted to walk through Genesis as their royal dragons did. Feel what they had felt. See the results of their hard work. Yet, this was not an easy achievement. It took a lot of training and time. This would cause the understanding of their basic elemental affinity to suffer. Especially since the manas had be denser leaving new understandings to be made about each elemental mana. "You already looked for records of who the dwarves have hollowed out mountains too? For structure?" Gil saw Terron take out a scroll from therge robe he had been wearing when moving around the city. It kept the bulk of his dragonkin form covered while making it easier to carry things as he wished. Especially since it was covered in earth sewn rune formations, it was veryfortable. "I was brought several of them. They have created three small mountains with cavernworks in to livable areas. One had ruins already within that had copsed. They were able to support those ruins again and excavate them." Just the fact that the dwarfs had the technology and knowledge to do this was enough. especially since they would need just that to support a mountain. "So, how are we raising a mountain in the first ce? It will take a lot of mana that you will have to spend on it." Gil knew that Terron was a dominator dragon now. While he had room to grow, Teron was definitely able to raise or destroy a mountain. But the fact was, the earth and stone would have toe from somewhere. "That will require the magma mages, Ignus, and Myself working together. We already know of theva flowing deep in the earth. The dwarves refused to connect to it since there is a lot of danger with the heat and flow. That will fill the space deep beneath where the mountain will rise from." Now this was where things would be groundbreaking, literally. Gil had heard that the dwarves had put all the potential experiments and research in magma flow on hold. Not because they could not do so, but because there was a difference. The magma on the top ofnd where volcanoes and other events happened was weaker than the magma deep in the earth. The magma moving in cycles deep within the earth never solidified. It was always moving like unknown rivers. The entirety of it was a mystery that was very dangerous to study. Therefore, the dwarves held off because of safety. They didn''t have the correct materials. "We have the dragons now and the unique mages. Fine, let''s see how this goes. Start building the teams and the ns. I will get the elves that can grow things as you wish. I''ll also find the farmers." Gil gave in to it all. He felt that his life wouldn''t be boring in the least with everything happening. Now he just needed to get the right people together.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2114. Unity Project

    Chapter 2114. Unity Project


    "You are joking, right?" Walker was not sure what he had just heard. Of all the things to be brought up while they were having breakfast, Gil had suddenly told him that a mountain was being built? How wild was that. "I didn''t bring it up because I wanted you to double me. I want you to help." This was what Gil thought would be best. He knew that Walker needed experience points from whatever he could get them from. The number of quests that had already appeared to build this mountain and that would be appearing was ideal for Walker. Therefore, it made a lot of sense that he was added to the group for this. Besides that, there was also the fact that Walker was always interested in things like this. "I am just saying, a mountain is a lot. You literally just said that the mountain would be made from the ground up. Then there would be teams to create farms, lead cattle, and then also hollow it out for more homes? It sounds like it is an entirely new city." To be fair, it really was. The earth dragon vige would be taking up a lot of space. Especially since there would be a lot that needed to happen so that it woulde together. There was a great deal of space needed for the dragons that could not change their forms yet. They had to have the space that allowed them to rest safely. Regardless of that, there was also the fact that Gil had exined that the wyverns would being. the earth wyverns that lived right now were not small in number or size. They would need a lot of space to make their home along with a lot of babysitting. They were still learning how to go about life with some form of control. That was just how changing to be a recognized race was. "And think about what might happen when it is done. There could be arger bond with the wyverns for all the people that help them have a home alongside the earth dragons. Plus, the magma mages and dwarves that work to make the mountain will also be working with Ignus. The fire dragon territory will be changed to have that flow ofva. They will need the natural fire mana." From what Gil had nned out and seen of Terron''s ns, there was a lot more detail now. He was certain that this would only expand as others joined in to this. "It will take a lot of control and a lot of mana. What about the runes too? Will we carve rune formations over the entire mountain? we can''t just turn it in to a magic tower. And the runes would need to be unkempt constantly." This was a good point. There was a lot that would need to be focused on for this to happen properly. Especially when it came to the potential mana flow that would be needed. The earth mana would need to be condensed and channeled. If it were to flow through this mountain, then there would need to be a proper path for it. Without that, the mana might sh with other manas. "That''s why the mountain will have to be bnced with the fact that the other dragons have their viges made too. They will have the bnce across from each other with Genesis in the center. That means a lot more natural mana too." The idea that there would be a higher concentration of focus on natural mana was a good one. There were many spirits that would gain from that. Along with the races within Genesis as a whole. They could focus on the natural mana while they slowly but surely used that to leave about the natural flow of the world and the elemental nes. From there, the more nature spirits there were, the more that Genesis would advance. They would work to show off the facts that Genesis and the bonds needed to be in line with the world as a whole. Beyond that, it would inspire more mana between everyone''s affinities. Calmer mana that flowed properly within the world''s flow. This was all aside from the other manas that would be researched. Life mana and death mana could be studied with the assurance that natural mana could act as the udder to make that safer. The very same could be said about the space and time mana. If anyone was able to manipte them, they would need some safeguards to ensure that they were kept from losing themselves. Natural mana could do that better than other manas alone. All of that aside, Walker focused on what else this could mean. The size of Genesis was beginning to beughable. It was not just a city, it was nearly the size of three cities put together. The speed of growthpared to the size was astounding. He wasn''t sure if he should be impressed or stressed out. There was a lot more to having arger territory than what many people would believe. "When Ie to help, I will use manas to help bnce or build, I do not want to handle anything major." Walker knew that at his strength he was limited. He would prefer to focus on manipting mana along with helping with knowledge. He had a lot of mental storage dedicated to blue prints, books he had skimmed, and paperwork he had been forced to handle. Therefore, it made a lot more sense that he used that over everything else. "That''s all I need. If you start to share what you know about the dwarven cave systems, then they will have ess to the proper building records they needed when making it. The same thing for crop growth, the hearing of monsters, and even a few odds and ends." Gil knew that Walker had the memory backed up by skills. Therefore, he would not forget important information. "So, when do we start?" Walker felt that it was fair he had epted. But when Gil stood up from the table, he began to regret these things again. "Right now!" Gil began to drag Walker away. The small curses here and there from Walker were totally ignored. While he was higher leveled than Walker, he would take some advantage of it. He was sure that Walker woulde out of nowhere with something amazing to shock him or drag him alongter. It was just another bnce that he was making. As gil led Walker through Genesis, they came to arge section of spread out herb fields. Here, the elves and the herbalists that had the proper skills had begun to grow many of the seedlings that could be brought to the mountain. They had used their skills very well too begin the preparations well above what many people would have expected. ''Gravel sprouts


    These are small seedlings that have very tough roots. They will grow through stones causing them to break apart over time and be gravel. Hence, they gained the name grave sprouts. They are a very great herb to nt if there is rocky soil. These sprouts love it. While they remain small and only grow four leaves before flowering and dropping seeds, they are very valuable. The flower petals can be used to help create earth affinity potions along with treating earth mana rted injuries. This is due to their attraction for earth mana which will attract dangerous earth manas to gather in one spot¡­''


    Walker could see the alchemy benefits of this seedling. Especially since they would be grown in the toughest parts of the mountain. Any damage they did turning the mountain in to gravel could be handled. There would be many who could control the broken gravel to change back in to stone. Therefore, the mountain would not be damaged. Beyond this, it was an herb that did not grow in to arge form. It could remain small while regrowing itself. The other herbs that he could see were simr. Some of them were herbs that had once gone extinct and had appeared when the world had changed to the natural flow. Alongside the earth elves and the herbalists. These herbs would be returning. They would have a ce to grow that would help all of Genesis. The idea that Terron hade up with was looking better and better by the moment. Even if Walker was sure he was being dragged along on this journey whether he liked it or not. Things would only grow better though. There were plenty of amazing things that woulde for arge project like this. Plenty of races working together to make it happen. A great unity coulde from it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2115. Spirit Bonding

    Chapter 2115. Spirit Bonding


    The news of the project to create a mountain began to spread like wildfire. Many people believed that they could bring something to this. An opportunity to take their names a little bigger. To shop for their unique skills. The dragonkin that had been allowed to work as they desired to grow stronger also joined to assist Terron''s dragonkin. Their solidarity was something that spurred many of the other races. Especially since theta dh all heard of the differences between the royal dragons and past battles. Eventually, as the news had spread, Terron had been forced to find more people to help manage everything. Walker and Gil could not work in that level fo things. Especially since Walker was focusing on the thing she knew about mana. How to manipte enough of it at a weaker state than what he was used to. The reason that Walker had made that change to what he had imagined helping with was simple. Natural mana. He was one of the people with the best understanding. While Fleur had been moving around Genesis and not benign around Walker that often, she was still very interested in things like this. She also was deeply attached to Walker mentally. The spirit mark was more part of their souls than anything else. Especially when they needed to share manas. Fleur was a mystery to the spirit race itself. Because she had bonded with the will of the world and had a chance to be a world spirit, she had been thrown for a loop when the world had changed and the greater will to existence itself had melded back together with the world. Since that was the case, Fleur still was a nature spirit of sorts. Better than a grand nature spirit, but also embodied a greater form of natural mana. Closer to what Walker could manipte than anything. This could make her one of the first and only known spirits to have broken the flow of what the spirit race could be and would ever be. Hence, she had been moving around the city and interacting with many other spirits. But, she had grown to sense that Walker needed her assistance. Therefore, they had moved to the decided site where the mountain would be raised. The two mediated while focusing on the present manas and how they would assist in guiding them. Natural mana would be ideal to help push the project faster while also allowing life mages toe and assist with boosting the growth of nts and monsters. Because they had been here for three days straight now, Walker had begun toi grow a sense of understanding about how he and Fleur had changed. While he was now an entirely different race, so was Fleur in a way. She had managed to take on some of the true mana that Walker could sense within her more solid and defined body made of mana. Due to all this, he was able to feel their bond and sense the true mana within him. Something he had been ignorant of. Could he tough it or manipte it? Could she touch it or manipte it? No, neither of them could do so. They Were unable to do so because of their weak understanding of true mana as a whole. Where things were more positive when it came to this though, was the fact that both of them realized that their understandings of singr manas was growing just by taking the chance to pull those mana sin to their bodies.


    Since Walker had changed and be an origin race being, he was able to survive off mana alone just the same as a spirit race. It made him feel that the spirit race might have a little deeper connection to the world and existence as a whole. Regardless, he was very enlightened to find that he was able to circte manas within him. Therefore, he wasbining the natural mana in to his body and strengthening himself through meditation. This was just another example of how the world had changed. He was gaining experience just through meditation. And it was not small amount. But that was neither here nor there. The two had focused on the manas her for a deeper reason. With the assistance of multiple mages probing around, both Fleur and Walker were able to meld their senses for manas and find the best route in to the deeper earth where they could find aval flow. Find the magma that would fill the space where the mountain would rise from. After that, it would be up to the water mages, ice mages, and a few other unique ss users to cool the mountain as a whole. This would be an important step tio ensure that the mountain would not copse. It was inevitable that the magma would flow up the mountain. The method to stop it from doing so was to use a lot of mana. Yet, if they just did that, they would limit the creation of a teau on the top of the mountain being made. Therefore, they had to ensure that the magma did not burst out of the mountain anywhere. This would take a lot of guidance from the pair as they were focusing on the sources of manas and the flows of manas. Due to the fact that they also ended to ensure that there were no weaker sections of mana for those helping, Terron needed to be unblocked focus. He could not be distracted. Ignus knew he also had arge role to y. When Terron hade to him, he had made it clear that this could be part of creating the fire dragon vige section. creating a controlled flow ofva would allow for the fire dragon area to be better than it would be if it was artificially made with runes. Terron could ensure that there were the toughest, most heat resistant rocks around the ces where theva would flow. He could also ensure that it flowed back in to the earth and continued the natural cycle of flowingva. There would also be unique earth and fire runes that were carved by the best rune carvers. The hopes of both dragons in this case were that a certain new dragonkin rune carver would grow faster. From what they had heard, Mordant had discovered that one of the youngest and newly born dark dragonkin had a very high affinity for runes. So much so that as a youngling, the child had already begun to y with runes. Much to the dismay of those that were caring for it. This aside, Walker and Fleur began to record what they discovered. The magma mages copying things down in greater detail than what they had been able to sense earlier. "You two have been here for three days. Take a break or else I go and get everyone else to drag you away." Gil''s interruption made Fleur fly around the air and mock him. She was nowhere near ready to just leave. She had enjoyed this time meditating with Walker on such a deep connection to the manas around them. "If you keep arguing with Gil and everyone thates to bother us, they are going to stop being nice to you." Walker found that the normally sweet Fleur had be a little spoiled. But she had been forced to rest for a while after they had fought the demon lord. And now that she had seen the world return to a natural flow, she had wanted to explore. It was the reason for the mischievous nature. He also worried that Fleur had spent a little too much time around Remeytely. "Also, Gil, we have a lot of natural mana stored up around here. We have been drawing it in and making this entire area more dense with natural mana. Event eh eternal codex had started to revolve a little." Walker showed Gil the orb which was slightly beginning to turn and move again. While Walker did not understand true mana yet, this was putting him on the right track. He would be able to use the eternal codex again much sooner at this rate. "That''s actually great. You should meditate more then. Maybe you will move the mountain instead." Gil went right to messing with Walker. But Walker wasn''t having any of that. Before Gil could react, a ball of water was tossed at his head. "Fleur, we are going to see the others, let''s leave Gil to handle the work here." Walker smirked as a few of the mages came over to check and see what their next task was. Gil felt duped. With all that aside, Fleur and Walker had advanced a lot helping here. So much that neither felt that they could miss the chance to head to the mage tower again. Especially with the denser manas within. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2116. Mage Tower Improved

    Chapter 2116. Mage Tower Improved


    "What brought you here?" Walker found Remey for all people with some of the fire mages. She was standing around handing out potions, so it was easy to guess what had been happening. "Ignus said that the fire mages had to learn a lot more to be able to help him. So, fire affinity potions. You should have seen how much gold Ignus brought over from his vige. You know the rumors about dragons hoarding things?" Remey smirked as she thought abt it. This was something that they had heard from many people. Dragons were known to hoard things here and there. Naturally, they would also do so with gold ores, coins, and gems when they found them. But since the royal dragons were more intelligent, the entire party had thought that this was something for younger dragons. Not them. Yet, here Remey was backing up the rumor. And from the number of high fire affinity potions she had already handed out and still had with her to hand out, well, it was clear that Ignus had brought a decent amount of gold. Not that Remey wouldn''t have made him potions if he had just asked. This just went to show that the dragons understood how the city would work. The way that their economy needed to be fueled to run. The herbalists needed to be paid for their hard work preparing herbs. The alchemists that made the potions. Tune those that delivered them. All of this was very important and needed to be kept running. If people didn''t have the gold coins to feed their families, why would they do something for free? This also showed a lot more of the depth that genesis was capable of . Remey had a crate in her hands that held at least forty vials of potions. Nearby, there were alchemists of the alchemy guild handing out from simr, if notrger crates, the same potions. Therefore, it was to say that genesis alchemy guild and herb fields had already managed to be able to produce enough to create these potions. The higher quality and number of herbs needed was not something to scoff at. This was an aplishment within itself. What Walker saw in this was afort. He saw that genesis was able to feed themselves since the herbalists and the farms were hand in hand. They relied on much the same things just a little more specific for herbspared to the food side of things. This also meant that there would be a continuous growth from inside Genesis toward outside. But regardless, of all this, something else topped what Walker was seeing when it came to the number of fire mages outside the mage tower. From What he could see, there were over a hundred of the fire mages, magma mages, and earth mages that had gathered here together. They had been prepared to take turns within the mage tower to use these potions as they could so that they might have a chance to grasp a better skill or understanding of fire mana before they were to help. The earth mages were also holding the earth affinity potions. Yet, the magma mages had one of each. A show of how certain dual affinity individuals or sses would make it harder in life. Not that it was an issue. There was a greater strength in fused manas than what could be found in a singr mana or affinity. Therefore, it made a lot of sense that it would cost more. Take more resources to ensure that the dual affinity person or ss grew. But when it did, they would be a force to be reckoned with. The mage tower itself had also changed. When the world had adjusted to the proper flow, every rune on the mage tower had been enhanced in a way by the purer manas moving through it. While this did not mean that the tower had grown much. It meant that the tower was working as efficiently as possible. In turn, that meant that Genesis received the greatest possible boost from it. People were able to grasp mana much better in general. They also gained the health boosts that came with this. Beyond this, many of the mages within had mentioned that the books were easier to understand because of the purer and denser manas. That was also just second fiddle to the fact that the mage tower had begun sending out quests of its own vition. The mentality left behind within the mage tower had once told Walker that it was looking for a grand mage or an arch mage. Some form of great mage that was well above another to take over as the head of the tower. Due to this, the tower clearly had the right abilities to be able to cause quests to appear. It was just a after of time before it did so. With the world changing, it had the ability to take advantage more easily of those that wished toe. It could push for the only goal it had within the runes and mentality left behind by those that once created it. That left many mages working toward various goals. Some worked to be the masters of an elemental floor within the mage tower. This would mean that they were a master within that mana and could teach, share, and do many more things with the specific elemental floor of the tower. Especially when it came to the highest quality books stored within the tower. This included the bringing of new magic books in to the mage tower. That master mage would be able to bring knowledge that the towercked and expand it. Eventually, the tower would be able to expand as well. Especially since was an elemental magic tower, itcked certain manas, That was all after there was a tower master mage of some sort. That all to the side, Fluer and Walker made their move to leave Remey to her tasks. She was not very keen on talking since she wanted to do the job she had right now. Naturally, Walker and Fleur would not push her on that. She would just get angry and try to punch them. In natural Remey style. As Fluew and Walker moved through the mage tower toward the top area where he could use all manas, he was able to feel the deeper manas that were at work. The purer elemental manas on each floor were much more powerful. So much so that they would rival the pure manas that the dominator dragons were able to sue. That was due to the sheer number of runes used. Since the runes were always bringing in, purifying, and then condensing the elemental manas within the tower, they made this all possible. But since the manas were so potent, they were able to show off that in natural fashion. Some of the denser areas with manas had naturally urring elemental runes. These were studied by the rune carvers who moved around the floors with mages to guide them. They were doing so, recording what they couldprehend, then rushing to the next spot that a natural rune would pop up. This was entirely unexpected for Walker since he had not been thinking that the rune carvers woulde up here at all. Yet, here they were. Learning about the manas that their runes were able to guide. Even some forgemasters were here trying to do the exact same thing. To bring them both even more surprise, when the pair reached their training area, they found that there were three people meditating here already. Two of them were demons who naturally had a high affinity toward mana and magic in general. This was just surprising because they had not had the chance to grow much due to the state of the demonnds and the oppression of demons.


    The third was a woman who appeared to be half elf and half human. Another oddity since there were very few half one race and half another race. The races had not all been on good terms. Yet, here they were. This odd group of three appeared to be meditating on every mana as well. Not just one of them or a few of the manas fused together. They were meditating on every single elemental mana right here without much issue. "Oh, we have a guest." the woman opened her eyes in simr surprise. That surprise only grew when she realized who it was. "Don''t worry about me. I just came to deepen my understanding of the pure elemental manas a little more." Walker tried to tell the three that they didn''t need to greet him, but all three stood up to show him some respect. He didn''t tell them that it felt pretty good to be greeted like this though. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2117. Master Potential

    Chapter 2117. Master Potential


    The three looked at Walker with some unique expressions. Mostly because they didn''t think that Walker needed to sit and meditate any more. They all knew of the strength he possessed when it came to manipting mana and natural mana at that. But where they were confused, was that they could sense the manas revolving around him. All manas in the room had suddenly shifted slightly. It wasn''t like he was controlling them at all. Instead, it was like they had found something they liked and changed the flow of their own ord. Walker had noticed this too, but with how he had changed his race through every single thing he had done, it made sense that his affinities would be stronger. However, that was the issue sometimes. If he was doing abination skill with someone else, then they might struggle to have a firm grasp of manas that matched the grasp on them that he had. This could be avoided though, with his current mentality, Walker was sure that even at a lower level, he would have a powerful mind.Once that would survive the struggle that came with manas and how he functioned with them. "What about all of you, what are you doing here? The mage tower has improved again after the true order of things has appeared for the world. I''ve been pretty impressed so far." This was far from the truth. Walker wasn''t just impressed. He was amazed and in awe of the entirety of Genesis and the people. One of the demons spoke up quickly, his smile showing off slightly sharper teeth as one of his demon traits. "I am a mage of elements. Before I was just an elemental mage, the change sounds small, but it means I can use the elements if I can condense enough elemental mana and understanding within my body. I can use the manas around me as my own too, when in the right circumstances. I will be attempting to mix them and be a mage worthy of owning the tower." "You think that. But I am a schr of elemental mana. I can learn and record all I discover about elemental mana. That role is much better for bing the owner of this tower. The more I learn, the more all can learn on the floors. I am a living library of manas and what they are in their purest forms." The other demon had vibrant red horns, they seemed to be unique and attracted more manas toward them naturally. The two demons appeared to have a small rivalry going.It wasn''t a bad thing in the least. The more they pushed one another, the faster they would grow. That was exactly what Genesis needed. Especially with the fact that they needed powerful people to raise the future. In the future, more and more people will leave to explore the world again. See the changes within it, the new species and the literal new terrain. If they did not have the backing of powerful education from powerful people, then they might suffer. Specifically if they were those that went to explore the elemental nes. "You don''t need to worry about me so much. I am here to understand things. I had no ss or system before. I was too ill. When the world fixed itself, I finally found myself awake again. You are one of the people that helped the world return to as it should be. Thank you." This was very different. The half elf half human appeared to have her own story. "And I should guess you are very happy with your ss now? You look excited to be learning." Walker felt that she would have something interesting. She stood outpared to the others here right now. Therefore, it would make sense that she was able to do much more in general. "It is very unique. I always had low mana which made me ill. It would evaporate away and I couldn''t control it. That''s why my partner needed to work so hard despite our race and circumstances. They brought me here though and I recovered."


    "As I did, the world was fixed and I awakened the ss, one with elemental mana. I naturally absorb manas and can grow to take the form of an elemental of each mana if I desire. I just need to understand how to match them properly. Safely. If I can manage to learn enough, I can even go ces without much mana and remain safe. It is a test of my mind though." "You know, the angels are simr to you in that means. They rely on the manas around them toe in to their bodies through their wings. They have this unique physique but ites with downsides."


    "The manas they control depend on the mana around them and their matching affinity. They can be harmed if the mana is taken away. That''s why they used to fear elemental spirits. By wearing certain items and having certain runes they can avoid that though." Sharing this made the half elf half human girl appear very d. She could rest with a little morefort knowing that she was one of many who suffered through learning about unique physiques like this. "I wouldn''t say you are limited though. Once you learn more about manas, you might be able to stop the issue entirely. My friend Alice used to suffer from using her mana in every word she spoke. Light mana would react whether she liked it or not. Now she has control over it."


    This again made the half elf more excited. She seemed to be an honest person who was just out living her life. Especially since she had been ill and unable to do much before everything had returned to the natural flow. The manas had been her rise and fall whether she liked it or not. Regardless of everything else, she was also now able to experience the greatness of Genesis along with the other races. Even though it was clear that the three were here, they were all able to be here. They had not needed to worry about suffering in a long winded war because they had been able to find their new and proper paths to grow and understand the world. Something that Walker was very d to know. "Fleur is also here to meditate with me. We were helping by delving in to the magma we could sense beneath where the new mountain will be raised. But we can only do so much right now. Fleur is trying to explore her new means of mana since she is no longer connected to the world. She is still a grand nature spirit, but she is less driven by the will of the world and will most likely take arger role representing the spirit race." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I just need to rediscover the manas. I know of them, but before the flow of nature returned properly, I had certain views that were not in line with what they actually were. Now I am learning about them again. It''s actually really amazing." Walker showed off the skills he had a little. He pulled elemental manas towards him with a slight thought which proved that he had changed his affinity but also had the deeper control over them that these three were after. "If you three want, you can rotate the manas around the room with us. It would also help you bond with the others since you will most likely be here a lot. Even if one of you bes the master of the mage tower, the other two would be your right and left hands. that''s just what I feel though." This was easy to guess and feel. The three were very close in the sense that they were powerful. Whether one went ahead and became the master of the tower or not, they would surely work together here. "I would love that!" The half elf was the first to shout out. This was one of the funding heroes after all. Why wouldn''t she want to learn from him. "I''d like that."


    "Please teach me." The two demons joined in as well. They had no reason to go against this. It would be invaluable to them to see Walker''s and Fleur''s viewpoints on mana. Fluer was made of manas and Walker had a deep connection that let him understand the world along with manas that these three could never even grasp. If they were to learn from anyone, then Walker would be the most qualified. He had focused on all manas. That meant he understood how they bonded with one another greater than most people. It was much more valuable than what anyone could imagine. Especially mages like them. ¡­

 Chapter 2118. Deeper Understandings

    Chapter 2118. Deeper Understandings


    Between the three, the mana was flowing in an interesting form. Walker had been amazed that they were able to adapt to how he and Fleur moved the elemental manas around the room. Especially since he had a deeper understanding than them. But this seemed to be a boon for them more than he realized. It was like he had met three hungry beasts. They had just found the food that they needed for the first time in their life and they would not let it be. The methods that walker and Fleur passed the manas to them were full of secrets. Not so much to Walker and Fleur, but to these younger potential tower masters. They wanted to learn what they could since they wanted to prove that they had the ability to be a master in the mage tower. While they were seeing the manas in a more bnced format than what they had experienced, they were also able to feel the control that Walker had when passing them. This was because Walker understood how the manas flowed better than them. In reference, he was able to pass the water mana in a way that flowed something. Water mana could be rough like prickling ice or smooth like flowing water. It could also take the form of steam in some instances or mist. This made it a little harder to acertain because the way it flowed was always changing. Yet,. when the three felt the water mana, they realized that Walker was holding it in his control by making his own internal mana the very same. He was mimicking the way that the water mana flowed through their air so that he was closer to it. This was the same reason why mages or anyone with an affinity might meditate on their elemental affinity or mana. They wanted to understand it better. But with the way that Walker did it, he made that mana his entire being. He tried to sense the changes in it all around him, unconsciously making himself act more like that mana. This could have been seen by those that had witnessed him using those manas though. They had seen how he used the first whip in battle. The frost whip which flowed like water but struck like sharp ice. That was an example of how he understood that transformation within the mana. How he was able to match it to such a high degree. As the three felt this, they believed that they had been fooled in to thinking that water mana was just something that was one way. They had not taken in to ount that it would change through the day or in general just around them by them being there. Walker even went so far to create a small bead of water that he changed through various forms but kept at the same size. His demonstration without words spoke more than what they had each grasped within the entire time that they had known their own affinities. While each had made massive leaps since the world had returned to the proper flow, especially the half elf girl since it had helped her illness, they had not known anything as deep as this. When he switched to fire, a contrasting elemental mana, they felt the water mana pushed away. Their grasp on them weakening. They also sense the water mana pushing back though, the water and fire had to bnce within the air and was only out of bnce because Walker was pushing away the water mana as well. But the change that they sense before he put that change on the water mana, was what they had also missed. "I can feel that all of you have not been in nature much. You should go somewhere without many people using skills and just meditate for a few days. I once sat on the steps of my house and meditated. No one was around and I sat there for the entire night. No one changed the manas but the manas flowed naturally. It is the best way to see how the world is moving. How everything works together to create what is needed. The me in the middle of them started to change colors. Walker had mixed in light mana and dark mana making it rotate in a different flow. A ball of fire that was both light and dark affinity. "Even the two opposing manas that I mixed using fire as the bond are able to coexist. I learned this while working with Midnight, my little sister, she can breathe both light and dark mes now." "But, just because someone is lower leveled, does not mean that they can not beat you in control of mana. You just have more weight to throw around because of your strengths. What I mean, is that mixing manas is not all you can do when you have a better grasp on them as a whole." Walker suddenly focused on every mana around them. As he did so. The three felt that they lost all control of the manas within the room. No matter how they reached out and how they even tried to sense the manas, they were blocked from doing so. They felt that they had entered a manaless room altogether. They were blind in a way. "I am mixing the manas and forcing them to avoid you three. You only have the manas inside you now, none that you can call on from the outside to do anything. Because of this, I have the ability to make more natural mana and prevent you from using your skills." As he did this, the three felt that they had never been able to get such a pure look within themselves. They were looking and sensing whatever they could but they also felt that they were unable to sense anything. Their manas were moreplicated than what they expected. Within their bodies, they were not as bnced as what they had believed. The three had all believed that they were naturally bnced within. That they had the affinities to use these manas and manipte them whenever they desired. They had the skills, so why would they have to worry about the flow of those skills, themselves? "You should feel it now. You have the same manas that you use all the time in your bodies. But you are not matching them to what they are doing outside. If you miss this, then you are not mixed with the skills the ways that you think you are."


    As Walker saw them all frowning and realizing that they had missed a big part of themselves let alone how to use their skills, he was more impressed that they were able to grasp this so quickly. This he chalked up to the fact that the world was properly flowing now. The manas within people had also been influenced by this. Since the system had be as it should be, the sses were stronger. They designated the skills and experiences of people. Their innate abilities were able to shine much brighter as well. These three had the affinities to use these manas better than what others could. Therefore, they also had to grasp them better. "I missed earth mana. I didn''t pay enough attention to it at all and I ampletely unbnced!'' the half elf eximed this with a decent amount of frustration. She had been looking at all the manas and not caring enough for earth mana. This caused her to internally lose grasp on manas a little more because her body reflected her outer control. "I''m the same with wind mana. I was totally lost to the ways that it bonded within my body and caused fire mana to suffer." one of the demons was looking at his hands like he had just found a great w within himself. "What is the rotation of manas within us supposed to be? I can''t grab at it or change it." The other demon looked at Walker for guidance. "It will be different for everyone. I learned to move manas through me in a more passive way than active, but as I learned more about them, this grew stronger. I found ways to channel manas through my body and blend them to make natural mana. Now, I even know how to sense the life mana and the death mana within me. It''s always there, but it is mysterious and hard to even fathom." ''That''s the same for space mana. It''s slippery.. Time mana is lost to me since I only know of it and not how to sense it yet." Watching the three of them grapple with all this made Fleur giggle a little as she started to move about the room again to push the manas back toward the three and let them feel the changes within their bodies after losing and having mana control back. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2119. Memory of Manas

    Chapter 2119. Memory of Manas


    The conversations between the five of them kept going for a few hours. Walker began to look at the manas from their perspectives again. He saw how he had once looked at the elemental manas from their positions and realized that he had yet to change a few of the ways he thought. When it came to the changes in forms of manas, he had forgotten how he had used more force than understanding to meld the manas to the forms he wished. At the beginning, that had been the w in his thinking. Nwo that he realized it, he had to go back and think of the basics. The foundations of all learning were at some point carved in to the muscle memory of those that had trained them for many years or a higher amount of time. Walker has done so with himself to assure he could act at a moment''s notice to defend the others in his family. That meant that he still had some lingering muscle memory of force over the flow. Therefore, as he delved within his own mentality, he was able to sense where he was still pushing force over the flow. When it came to making water be ice, he exuded more mana than was normal for the process. This was because he saw that as the way to make the ice form faster. In actuality, he had to follow the formation of ice through nature better. The idea that ice could be slower water with less fire mana affecting it, was better for the way that cue formed. It also added a sharpness to it that was greater than what he could force ice to do. This was because a natural ice crystal was much sharper than anything that he could have forced in to form before. This was a great way to start thinking too. It would allow him to begin showing off the ways that elemental manas could change their flows to be able to take on purer forms overall. If this was done with stone or earth, there was a higher chance that he would be able to push for better building as a whole. Many of those within Genesis that were focusing on rebuilding and improvements would have a great time learning this. Especially the mages that focused on building. With the changes in the world, certain sses of earth mages, had changed. Instead of focusing on earth sculpting and maniption, they had entirely taken a step toward building as a whole. Specifically, toward how the earth was built. They changed in to stone mages, or they took the ss builder mage. Other specific sses like those were enough to prove that they had a proper path to follow. What was even more amazing were people like patterns, they had be magical sculptures, or sculptures of earth and y. Even more specific which allowed their skills to advance in the very aspects of what they were best at. This meant that they were not creating things that were massively more high quality than before. The Genesis walls had been rebuilt to some extent with such people helping. The density and strength of the stone used was beyond what the current rune carvers could have carved. Now, they were advancing to match this construction and pushing to learn how to carve in to the walls the best runes for defenses. To follow this lead, there were cksmiths needing to make them new tools that were also able to carve in to better things like this. It was raising a standard all around since there were better ores that needed to be found. Better mining skills needed for those changed ors and so on. This entire domino effect caused many changes just for this one reason. It was an amazing thing to witness. Walker thought of these things while he and Fleur had left the mage tower. They were certain that the three mages would be working well for the time being and taking what they had learned within themselves. Above that, they also knew thatmage tower master would appear within the next few years. Something that would make Genesis grow again. Finding himself wandering through the streets again, Walker was surprised that he barely needed sleep. He felt that he was always being filled with energy since the manas naturally flowed through him at all times. Especially since he was always focusing on the flow of it around him now. His senses of all manas had improved. Just walking around he was feeling his body growing syringe regain. Growth was something that was much more avable to him with the flow of the world restored. He was still a jack of all trades master of none. That being the fact allowed him to gain experience from everything. He was also not limited by the heroic leveling which the world had done to help them as heroes. He looked back on that and recalled how they had grown faster. They had also been guided to do smaller things that were heroic since they were able to put others on the paths that they needed to be for the greater improvement of the world. It was an interesting way to think of how the smaller tasks would affect the greater whole. Now Walker could see it all much more clearly since he had matured even more. But as he had matured, he also felt that existence was more hands off on how everything developed. That the world had needed to be controlling in a way since things had broken from the natural flow of what everything should have been. Now that it was as it should be, that hand was not there any longer. It was a little sad to think this, but Walker just shook that off. Everything was as it should be, why should he want the old ways to return? They Were iplete and had the risks of harming others. Especially with those that ended up going against the methods that the world needed so that it could flow properly. People had been cursed due to their titles. Now, that could change. He already sensed a change between the ways that the mana flowed around the sleeping grand water spirit and who had once been Gluttony. The water mana heading through their haad increased and the manas that gluttony had been freed of were changing, his body as well changed. Maybe he would be able to free himself from the suffering of his title and take a new path after many years of being cursed as such. That idea made Walker more hopeful for the future than anything. But he also realized that these peaceful times were not what he could focus on entirely. The development of the dragon viges were a focus that he had to take right now. Besides that, he had to look toward the elemental nes. Would he have the chance to learn about this Origin race that he was now? Would he be able to see the other dragon souls like Remey? What would the beings in the elemental nes look like? Had they already begun exploring the bridges to the world now? So many things could be asked, but he had to focus on what he could do right now over what he might be able to do in the future. Because if he focused on the what ifs, he would forget what was. He could lose the current reality that he faced. Stepping in to the air, Walker felt the wind ripple skill was easier to use. He also felt that Fleur had drifted off elsewhere to explore on her own. She was a free spirited being too, she liked to see what the night would bring Genesis. "So, you finally wandered my way?" The question seemingly came from nowhere. "Ventus, I see that you havee back from what you were doing." Walker was surprised to see that Ventus had been sitting in the air seemingly drifting here and there. A calm wind blew around her. "I have, my children are doing well. The dragonkin following me are looking to build new homes. It''s very much a benefit that we are all together. I just need to wait to see what will happen with this mountain being raised. I might get to use the wind currents around it, you know." She appeared very interested in everything happening right now. "I think you will be able to use them a lot more than what you expect. The entire flow of mana around Genesis will be based on the elemental dragon viges next. It will almost form a massive nature rune. The center will be a haven for manas as a whole." The two contemted this before heading towards where the mountain would be raised. Their goal to help the process. ¡­


    ¡­.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2120. Creating Mountains

    Chapter 2120. Creating Mountains


    Finding that Terron had a veryrge group of people ready, made Walker and Ventus feel as if they had arrivedte. But he also noticed that Remey and Ignus had arrived as well with even more potions. They had managed to distribute mana potions along with more fire affinity potions to everyone. The earth affinity potions were also prepared and the earth mages had lined themselves up to begin what they could. Everyone had a role to y and Terron was going to be providing some of the purest earth mana that he could. As an earth dominator dragon, he had the ability to do so. This was just how he would be able to help the most. The earth mana here would not be enough to properly shape the mountain that they needed. It was going to have a very defined set of rules. The ns were known to everyone within this process. The teau would be made so that a vige could be built for the dragonkin but also have space for dragons tond and move with ease. This just went to show howrge the mountain would be. Since the earth wyverns were smaller than the dragon species as a whole, they would not have any issues when it came to being able tond and move around. But to say the least, there would still be additional room even if they were bigger than the dragons. The same went for if they wanted to move around within the mountain. They would have the space to move with the mountain being reinforced by the dwarves and all the mages. They would ensure that the tunnels and the rooms within would be so stable that they could withstand idental usage of magic by young dragons and young wyverns. Not that it would be perfect, just safer. When it came to raising the mountain as a whole, there was not an issue in the process. The mixed affinity, magma andva mages had been prepared to move the magma deeper within the ground. They had already been able to move down through the tunnels carved out for them by the earth mages. This tunnel allowed them to move in to the earth and get a better grasp on the manas that they were manipting. Because Walker could feel the changes flowing from the tunnel made, he realized that the deeper manas were also very powerful. Their potent density meant that they could be held on to better by the mages while they were manipted. It just meant that those mages needed to use more mana potions to hold on to such arge and dense mana. Not an issue though. Ignusn was going to be assisting in the fire side of things while Terron in the earth side of things. While the royal dragons had rarely put their manas together, they had done so often with Genesis and their alliance. This had been facilitated by Walker mostly since he had been the one to help them bond their manas together. The fusion of powerful manas was harder to achieve since either side would want to have control. But bnce needed to be a guided event. Especially since the two sides were stubborn. Now though, they had learned to put those things aside. Emotions could cause the damage between others and the manas to grow very poorly. If they allowed the manas to explode away from them, not only would there be internal damage, but thend itself could be scarred for a very long time. Unable to be manipted or saved without a greater amount of mana being used. This was what the chaotic manas would do as well. The corruption had been damaging to thend as a whole, the same effect could happen with imbnced manas going in to a chaotic state. Walker knew this very well since he had managed to learn a lot about the bnces of manas and the true flow of the world. His insight was the bond between the two. As things began to move forward, Walker sensed the shaking of the ground. Every single mage had worked together with rine carvers to create runes within the first threeyers of soil that anyone could sense. These runes were spread out over therge open space that would be the mountain. The runes forced the earth and fire mana to well up from deeper in the earth. It could cause a volcano without proper control of the mages, but they had a grasp on the situation. That was why they were in control of how much mana the runes drew up. The magma began to push up in to the space being made where the earth rose up. An event that would seem fantastical if not for the massive number of people working on this. Terron didn''t speak, he didn''t need to. Instead, he made a motion for some assistance. What Walker had not realized was that the earth spirit normally with Su had made an appearance. It hade to assist at the request of Terron and the fire spirit with Remey. They both would work together here. As the two elemental spirits began helping, the manas grew in resonance. A perfect mix of earth and fire welled up from beneath Walkers'' feet as he cast out his own senses. The addition of Walker beginning to push forward was all that was needed. The ground heaved and the soil began to be denser. There were a lot of small and broken sections at first, but those with the ability to shape, sculpt, and carve the earth started to work their magic. They moved around with the assistance of harpies that carried them. This was another amazing show of cooperation that Walker had not expected. He had expected that there would be some peopleing to help but not like this. Especially since the mages would need to be in tune with the ground and not in the air. But he had missed that they were all carrying magic staffs with specific earth runes on them. They allowed for the mages to work with a distance between them. The runes matched some of the runes left on the earth below them. It caused them to transfer their will through the manas to cause the changes in shape with the mountain. An ingenious idea that was going to massively help the entire process. This allowed Walker to keep putting natural mana in to the flow as much as possible. So much so that Fleur came when she sensed it all. She was seeing the bond between the earth and fire spirits. Both grand and even above what they had once been due to the changes within the world. She could sense that Walker was using the natural mana to help with how everyone was using manas here. The natural mana was booting the rity of mana sense to all the mages. They Were able to better fall in to focus as massive amounts of mana surged everywhere. The air itself even became dusty and fiery since the magma was being brought closer to the surface. Terron and Ignus roared out in unison as they raised the magma below the mountain. The size of it tripled in that span of an hour while the air roared. They were exerting the force that came with being dominator dragons. They were dominating the earth and fire manas so that they would bend to their will and create a proper flow through the mountain. The mages sensed this and began to replicate their will. Use their own will to copy what they were feeling the dragons do. For some, this spurred their understanding of each mana to a higher level than what it had been. For others, it reinforced what they knew so that it would solidify their own bases. It was both a learning enlightenment while being a part of Genesis as a whole. The moment that resonance was made beyond this, everyone fell silent. The mountain began to take shape as the manas were condensed within it. Instead of the air, the manas were focused on the mountain. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Stone cliffs were sheer in some ces while others were almost cut out like steps. Climbing would still be necessary, but it was made so that it could be a training and a sparring ce. The herbalists would struggle toe here, but they would grow stronger by doing so. The dragonkin could feel at home moving through here along with the young dragons and the younger wyverns. They would feel at home with the challenging terrain that taught them to survive. But the height of the mountain as it was cooled, was where things became amazing. Because that was when Ventus began pushing the wind to move around it properly. Creating new wind currents that would move toward her territory across from the earth mountain.

 Chapter 2121. Completed Mountain

    Chapter 2121. Completed Mountain


    Feeling the cease in most of the mana flow that walker had been connected to, he began to sense the changes in the wind. There were many right away. Ventus was the one managing them though. The wind currents were well established. Making a lite mountain was something that would change that flow of nature again. But the fact that the system generated quests for everyone that was participating, let alone allowed them to gain experience points, proved this was not wrong. It was not an act that would cause massive damage to the world. This would have been something that would be stopped if it were to create a desert or destroy thend. Walker could sense that within he mana, if not just his gut, all together. Because the quotes had appeared, this would somehow fit perfectly within the flow of the world as it should be. In essence, because it would be bnced with the other elemental dominator dragon viges, walker believed that it would all bnce and not cause harm elsewhere in the world. The current state of the wind was that there were changing gusts. Not only due to the heat of the mountain coloring within, but also because Ventus was forcing the wind currents to change their flow. The winds around the mountain were very rough right this second. Since the wind itself was something that was always changing, it was not hard to assume that the changes right now were rough because the mountain was breaking a minor wind current that had once flowed well above the ground here. Ventus had sensed that though. With the way that the wind current flowed, she was able to change the direction. As she did so, she created two swirling wind currents that would blow the other currents indifferent directions as well. As such, this created a ce directly across from Genesis, the wind sweeping over the air within the city, where the wind dragons would be making their homes. The dangers of this were the facts that other avian races would struggle to adjust, luckily, Genesis was a young city. Things were always changing and they would all have the chance to adapt as well. There were also many people warned that the winds would change today and that it was best that no one was in the sky as the mountain was raised. To be fair, not everyone listened, which was why many guards had been put on duty to assist those injured. Listening to announcements and staying up to date was an important factor anywhere in the world. With the sudden change taking a lot of the condensed manas from all three royal dragons, Walker started to gather more natural mana to help others. This was until he sensed arger water mana flow. He had thought the Current was away at the moment. Focusing on gathering denser water mana while helping the water dragons settle in. there was argerke than what had been before since it was expanded to help the water dragons have a better home as well. But, he had been called on by Terron and Ignus as well. The water he had begun to rain down on the mountain causedrge steam clouds to form. They followed the wind currents that Ventus had altered. This not only helped the mountain cool, but it was able to show off to the entries of Genesis, the new ways that wind flowed. Many people were recording the wind currents as they were now. They could be copied and handed out to those that wished to understand it. Whether for curiosity or for safety. This was just another aspect of mapping that would be happening all around the world. Mapping was something that could be done with anything and anywhere. Making a map of terrain was valuable to those that traveled on that terrain, but making a map of wind currents meant that the maps would changed based on weather and season. It would be something valuable to the flying ships that were being created slowly but surely by the dwarves and other races right now. And they now had a method to perfectly map those wind currents. A next step in experimenting with all of this. A new way to show off everything that was happening at the peak of Genesis development. The sight of the earth mages still shaping through the water being rained down was something that proved their determination. Feeling this, Walker began using his skills to move the water from hitting them. He was spreading his mana thinly over the top of many mages. It was not something he was fully capable of right this second, but with how fast he could draw mana in to his body, he was managing to keep up. He could even sense he was growing as he did so. ''The skill water veil has been taken from the rain walker ss.''


    ''Water veil- three mana per hour


    The water mana used to cover the entire body thinly, allows water to be repelled and roll off the one this buff is used on. It can be used to resist water magic skills overall, but it is mostly used when walking in the rain or traveling within storms. The longer this skill is kept active, the more mana that is needed. However, it is significantly reduced in cost if someone that knows about the water mana used for this skill in greater depths. This means that understanding will enhance the skills'' effects as well. It will have a greater resistance to water based magical skills¡­'' n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It had been a while since Walker got a new skill. He had been focusing on using the manas as they were and not on skill development. It almost made him feel kind of childish for forgetting all this. He had the methods to solidify the magic he used when he manipted manas. Therefore, he had the ability to make things in to skills. His entire ss was about using different sses'' skills, just not mastery skills. It made him feel much better to see that he was also helping the mages that were dealing with the constant rain from Current helping to cool the mountain. This went on for some time. They had a lot to do so that the entire mountain was solidified properly. Not to mention the magma mages that were focusing on the reformation of the empty space below the mountain. When Ventus and Current finallynded near where Terron and Ignus were, the four elemental dragons had a seemingly silent moment of contemtion. To make the mountain, Terron could have done so alone. But he would have made a temporary mountain, nothing permanent. They didn''t need Ventus, but with her, she could focus on the flow of wind so that there were no adverse effects. So that the entirety of Genesis would be able to adapt to a calmer wind current keeping the air a safe ce for those that flew about every day. Then there was the fact that Ignus and ensured that the fire from the magma had not gone out of control. He had also guided the fire mana so that the additional mana would flow in to a section ofnd that would be his fire dragon vige. It brought about a better environment for both of them. The final touch was Current using the water mana to ensure that this mountain did not heat up again. It allowed the mountain to cool and remain being shaped without potential copse or damage. This was why the earth mages could keep working on things. All of their efforts together was also why there were not any mages or anyone at all copsing from mana exhaustion. They had all worked together to provide mana along with consuming potions as they did. Hours of hard work has led to no one being exhausted entirely. No one was hurt. Just an amazing event for the history of Genesis. "Looks pretty grand if I say so myself." Walker pointed at the highest of the mountain. They were all standing at the foot and were able to tell that they had aplished something well above expectations. "It will be a good home for many years. I expect that the mountain will only be better as time goes on." Terron''s joy was clearly written on his face. This was everything he had expected and more. Especially since he had worried if this would actually work. "I hate to agree with you. My vige will be better." Ignus huffed as he moved toward Remey who was still handing out potions to those that needed them. "I will be working on my own vige." Ventus left things at that with Current also leaving without much word. He had done what he needed and wanted to return to the water as well. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2122. Light And Dark

    Chapter 2122. Light And Dark


    All of themotion left the entire city very busy during the next few days. Terron was dragged to help Current move morend so that the water dragon vige could be built. The flowing water had been nned by multiple of the mages closest to the natural flow of water. This involved the echidna who were sure that they could assist in these things much better than the others that offered. Simply because they were closer to nature aswhole. But the time that the earth was moved, there were water channels created in the forms of water runes. As the water flowed through them, there was a massiveke with various water channels connecting different sections. Eventually, it all flowed in to the river again. This allowed the small sections of inds within the area to be used for specific herbs and crops. Current actually supported this more since he was sure that the herbs and crops would be helping to keep the water cleaner. Walker had agreed to this as well since he had been asked for his opinion. While he had not been asked for help in the sense of manipting mana, Walker found that every single dragon but for Mordant and Rise had asked him for his opinions. Even Ignus hadmented a few times about how he could improve the flow of mes without causing the what to radiate outside of the vige he was building. The reason for all of this, was because he was a nature dragon. Whether it was how he was born or how he acted with this itinerary title. That did not matter. He was now an important aspect of their culture. Now that they had be dominator dragons, it did not change that. Therefore, as more things came together and the flows of the basic four elemental manas grew, mordant and Rise were forced to begin their own nning. The two were finding themselves at the mansion with Walker and Su. the reason being, because they had to create their viges without causing damage. Su had a lot of experience rted to those with light mana and she had helped Su before, therefore, Rise had wanted to have Su tell her her opinions. Mordant had always trusted in Walker. Speaking about ns and working together often. It was only natural that he would be the one that came to Walker for this issue as well. Both felt that it was a good thing though. They would be able to work together to make opposing and bnced viges., "The darkness mana will saturate the ground. It might create a decaying swamp of sorts. The ground will be full of dark mana." Mordant knew what the effects of dense darkness mana were. How thend would reflect them very clearly. "Light will cause the area to be blinded. Scorched by the brighter light which will also bring heat." From another perspective, rise understood that light could also cause damage. It could cause the ce where her vige was to be too bright. Cause nts to dry out more often and fall apart because they could not live in the soil there. Hence desert tnds. ''That''s where the bnce needs toe in. the manas that the other dragons have focused on are already beginning to rotate. The what and the water are opposing, because that is just normal. The earth and wind oppose one another, because that is natural. But they can also all mix together."


    "The mage tower is acting like an anchor of sorts right now. It is letting those four manas move about safely. But the two opposite ends, north and south, have nothing. They are holes where mana will leak out and in time, there will be some effects. Weather or wind, some effects that will cause those areas to have some negative side effect." While Walker was working with a theory, he felt that this would be true. the manas would never truly be bnced without there being a light and darkness mana in the mix. Hence there would be natural mana formed. Genesis would lose a lot of potential worth it more natural mana forming all around the city. "What Walker is saying, is that when you two create your viges from the runes on the ground, they need to be created at the same time. Allow both manas to bnce one another before they arepletely within the flow of the other elemental manas already in bnce." Su saw what Walker was getting at. To be able to maintain the growth in the current flow of manas over the past weeks, there needed to be a careful and controlled addition of dark and light manas. If not, they would fuse with the other manas while still shing with the other manas and themselves. It would cause damage to all runes and whoever was within the city. Where the mage tower would enhance the manas, it would also enhance the damages being done. This was because there was not a single person taking on the lead of the master of the magic tower. That was the important factor in controlling the way that manas were enhanced by the runes on the tower itself. I already have the rune designs. It is making the rines that are the issues with us." Mordant was unhappy with the facts of this. But, he and Rise were limited. The other elemental manas had veryrge followings. Whenpared to the light and the dark affinities, there were very few who had the affinity with these manas powerful enough to help here. Light and dark mana affinities were rarer than the basic elemental manas as well. This was just because dark mana and light mana were not as dense as the other manas in the world. The light and dark manas would not naturally gather in one ce. They Were much more spread out at all times. "We will need mages who all have affinity potions consumed before we do this. The light and the dark ruins need to be activated at the same time. From there, we can cover the runes and use them as a guideline for the construction of the light and dark dragon viges. They would have the space to create whatever was needed. It was fine if thend changed since that was already the case for the other dragon viges. The real question would be how they reacted when the day and night reflected. Both day and night had their own effects on manas. But there was a flow to it all over time. The light and dark dragon viges were the most that would be affected by the day and night cycles of the world. Therefore, they needed to be prepared to sense greater or lessening of their respective manas every single day to a higher degree than the other dragon viges. Looking at the ns that Rise and Mordant had, Walker was impressed. The light and dark runes were something that could easily be inverted and tweaked slightly to be the same rune. It was just the facts of the world since they were directly opposing. Not that all the runes were like this. The rune carvers that would take on carving the runes in to the ground, would be using smaller runes that connected together. There would even be a set of smaller natural mana runes that had been discovered assisted in the flow of natural mana. These fused runes were valuable because they could promote the bnces needed. It would also allow for those bnces to lead way to more natural mana appearing everywhere within Genesis. "We will need to make changes for what runes are going to be the focal points of your viges. They needed to have the same strength." Su saw dangers in this so she wanted to have the runes created and put in situations where they would oppose one another. A smaller scale was the best chance. This was how Walker and Su found themselves being brought to where the rune carvers would call out their own skills. A section near the crafting guild since the rune carvings were a major aspect of nearly all carving. Those that had not gotten work elsewhere were here for the time being. The challenge of two royal dragons to create a better set of tunes that were in bnce attracted a lot of attention. While the rune carvers would be in charge of carving these runes in to the ground, it was mostly as a ce to use as a form for them. The runes would take up their own spaces in the world. Even if the earth was moved, the runes would be there. Especially once the bnces with other manas were made. This was where the four spent the next hours. Testing the rune carvers. Looking for leaders among them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2123. Center point

    2123 2123. Center point


    "Maybe we should have assumed this would happen?" Sue was sure that they had missed this and if they had noticed this, they would have saved a lot of time. "Well, what were the odds out of all the runes carvers, that there would ab e a light rune carver and a dark rune carver who were already creating new light and dark runes perfect for this?" Walker also felt a little foolish. He had not even thought to ask if anyone had sses specifically for light and dark elemental runes, Not that this was a big deal right now. They had managed to find two people that could lead the efforts within the light and dark dragon viges respectively. Their position would be to ensure that the runes would be mapped out and carved perfectly. This seemed like arger job than it really was, especially since there were so many people working on this project. Many who were already working on it right now. Thend had to be prepared to ept the runes instead of being full of rougher terrain due to rocks, greenergy, or monsters that had snuck in through patrols. But what made Walker and Su even more embarrassed, was that this pair of rune carvers were totally fine with waiting through all the interview to get here. They both were not known to one another, yet had perfectly peaceful and calm attitudes. The two were clearly made from the same mold. The reason this would not be that big of a job at all, was simply because of the massive amount of assistance. Every experience rune carver did not need to be micromanaged. They would be able to work fine without someone pushing them at all times. Therefore they would geta a lot done exactly as needed. The two rune carvers also had themunication skills that came with a boon in testing smaller light and dark runes right then and there. They had begun doing so after they had been told that they were perfect for this job. Hence, they were making progress already. Mordant was looking at a small dark rune that was made to reflect the shadow aspects of the dark mana. Able to show off the flowing of a tree''s shadow in the wind, at least that''s how he felt about the rune at least. The same could be said for Rise as she looked at the white glowing runes representing the sun. It was a simr pattern but somehow rougher than what she had seen of light runes before. Where that was not a surprise though, was when she sensed how the light mana flowed through the light rune. Instead of breaking or being slow, the rune forced the mana to gather much more quickly. It would be ideal for this purpose. For her vige. The small rune patterns were making a naturally repulsive gathering of manas. The light and the dark were pushing against one another because they were not being guided in any way yet. But the density of these testing runes were very impressive. "We will have you two begin making the blueprints for the entirety of the rune formations. Light and dark will need to be left partiallypleted and finished at the same time. That means specific sections that will not channel mana until they are all connected at once." Walker knew that this was the difficult part. But just as he said this, he could see that the two were already working on it. The entress of any artist or craftsman was unique to them. But these two appeared to be following in the style of the wandering cksmith. They had not spoken much, but they were showing their worth with their work in a very efficient manner. Right this second, they had already shown how to break up the runes they had just demonstrated. The five spaces that were broken were enough to stop the flow of any manas at all. Beyond that, there was not a single bit of other manas being attracted due to this. The worry that the broken rune formatons would starcraft other manas and ruin the flow entirely was a very real potential. Especially since the shapes of runes were very important. There was always a way to make a rune improperly or in general create a dangerous rune that caused too much mana to flow at once or an explosion. This was why there were ruins that had such broken runes and were in turn considered very dangerous. If the runes were activated, they could copse the entire ruins. Hence why Walker and his party had been lucky not to encounter ruins with many damaged runes. Only broken and inactive runes due to the age of the ruins. Not that they wouldn''t encounter this in the future. they just hoped that they would not. While the tow rune carvers continued on, Mordant and Rise began to gather the mages they needed. Walker and Su were left to figure out whatever else would be needed. They could tell that when the rune formation was made, that there would be arger effect. Because of the proper flow of manas, the natural mana would be denser. It would create a massive rune formation that was much greater than what other rune formations had ever been. Even the ancient cities that they had been to where evidence of the entire city being carved with runes, would be smaller. "We will have a lot more work to do after this alles together, won''t we?" Su sighed as she saw that Walker was mentally preparing himself. "We are probably starting the world to help engrave these runes tonight. Those two are just like the wandering cksmith." Walker felt that he was moving too slowpared to what the world around him was moving at. But every single thing he did was a little more experience. A little more of a step forward toward being back on the top of his game. While the two took the time to rx a little and help where they could without putting themselves in the forefront, the time for Walker to be the one at the center gradually came up. He was the best at manipting and drawing in natural mana. While some would argue that the echidna were the top of all this, that was frankly not try any longer. Since Walker had epted the manas and his bonds to change his race in to the origin race, he had gained a lot. He was now much more sensitive to natural mana and better at manipting it than others. Even the echidna. With his strength as it is now, he was still able to y a key role in ensuring that the natural mana that formed when these runes werepleted would not be chaotic. Instead, he had the in depth understanding that would allow him to push the manas to flow normally with the new rune formations as a whole. There were more rune carvers over the past few days who had been helping.the other dragon viges. Their rune carvings were a little more focused since they had already caused a proper flow the moment that the mountain had been raised. Now with the fact that Su could focus on the light side and Onyx showing up to assist Mordant with the dark side, Walker found the exact position above the mage tower where all the maas could interact. The perfect middle where the manas would eb able to be focused better while using the mage tower as a catalyst for the flow to get better organized. Since he was one of the only ones that was able to get to the top of the mage tower, the other mages with natural mana affinities or ability to touch upon it, mostly echidna, were at the bottom of the tower. They would be lending their mana and their maniption skills to this endeavor as well. It was a major way to show support for the dragons as a whole since they had made their achievements seem smaller in the grand scheme of founding Genesis. They had offered to protect it and followed Walker through multiple battles. Now the people would help return that favor to them. Especially after the battle against the demon lord where some had been injured. "Fluer, are you ready for another test of our natural mana control?" Walker looked at Fleur who had been floating restlessly between Walker and the edge of the mage tower. She had been waiting for this moment all day. She would much rather be exploring the city and enjoying it. This was a major task though. it would allow her to gain a lot more natural mana. That meant an ever more solid body. A greater strength. ¡­


    ¡­.


    N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2024. Full Of Mana

    2124 2024. Full Of Mana


    Deep darkness. That was what Onyx was sensing. He had been able to learn both light and dark mana. That was a blessing of his species as an abyssal serpent. Yet, he had not felt the true depths of dark mana that Morant had be privy to. However, that did not limit the help that he was giving to Mordant. He was there not to control the manas, but to act as a counterbnce so that they would not be running themselves out of bounds. What this meant, was that onyx would be the one that added the slightest amount of light mana around. This sounded counterintuitive to those that could not sense the changes in light and darkness manas when they came in to contact with one another. However, when the dark mana bing denser here was pushed by light mana,


    Because the light mana would push the dark mana, it would ensurethat the dark mana was being guided in to the rune as they werepleted. But he also had to focus on more. Onyx needed to ensure that the dark mana which Mordant and the rune carvers were not focusing on, did not bleed away and fall in to the flow of manas already active. If it did, then there would be a small amount of dark mana that was imbnc the current flow. It could turn the manas from bnce in to chaotic without a single chance at sess. The same was therefore Alice who had been brought over. She was the second choice to Su because Su was someone that Rise had trusted to train and share secrets with. However, Alice was a draconic guardian and not a person who could manipte light mana like Alice could. The best person for the job. Taking this as what it was, Alice had been told to ensure that she was stopping the light mana from flowing elsewhere than the runes. She had the ability to make the light mana act with just her voice. This meant that she could create a song that matched the flow of the runes being carved and attached together for this. The reason that someone with dark mana had not been brought over was simple. This was being done during the daylight hours. Therefore, there was always light mana in the air. That was just how things were during the day. This meant that the light mana would naturally be flowing through every aspect of the city. Every aspect of the different dragon viges. So, if they used dark mana to push it out of that flow, then there was a high chance that they would be the ones causing an imbnce altogether. The best method would be to have the light mana being controlled by multiple people with powerful abilities to do so overall. This would allow the light mana to not overwhelm the runes that were not finished being carved while they were connected. It would relieve the additional pressure that the runes would be under as the entire process waspleted. While everything began, the pressure over the entire city increased. Everyone had been warned that thest two dragon vige rune formations would be set up so that the dragon viges could proceed with building. This saved panic that there was something wrong instead of the massive feat being undertaken to improve the dragon viges and the city as a whole. It was more positive. This change in the atmosphere was due to the manas suddenly being controlled and changing flow even more than before. Thest few days had been off since the elemental manas had changed flow around the city. The spirit race had be unsettled along with the angels. The other races had sensed the changes but been somewhat unaffected. Now though, the entire city felt like it was stuck in a soup of sorts. Like they were walking through thicker air. Because of the manas being pushed in different ways by one another, they were stopping people from using their skills the same ways as normal. As Walker and Fleur sensed the light and the dark runes began to connect, they understood that this was why they had to sit on top of the mage tower. The distance between the dragon viges and the main city plus the mage tower, was much more than one would think. However, it was still part of Genesis at the end of the day. It was still within sightline from the top of the mage tower, one of the tallest buildings within the city. Feeling something in him click together, Walker sensed Genesis more clearly. This was not a calm situation since he had to focus, but the calm that washed over him made everything more clear than it had ever been. The sheer amount of mana that began flowing around trying to find the right pathways was like a dance within his mind. Just as he reached a hand out, he manipted the wind mana that had begun to cause a gust back toward the mountain that had been raised. With the other hand, Walker pushed back the water mana which had gotten denser and began to freeze a small section of the nearby waterways. Fleur was stunned by the sudden control that Walker had. She had expected that he would need help and that they would be working together with all this unbnced mana. That wasn''t the case though. Instead of working to bnce manas together, Walker was standing up now, silent but entirely focused on things his eyes couldn''t see from where they were. He was operating on pure mana sense. As she began to sense through their connection, she was shocked to see that he was gaining a lot more experience and strength. The denser manas were feeding his body while he manipted them. Walker was subconsciously using the denser manas for himself while in his focused state. Nothing of what he was doing while drawing in these manas was of any hard to what was happening. In actuality, it was beneficial. Some of the denser manas were causing different effects. The denser wind was getting in to sharp gusts that could harm a building. Walker absorbed that mana though. While that was one instance, Fleur realized that as an origin race being, Walker must have tapped in to something that was innately his. He had already exined that he didn''t necessarily need food. He was simr to the spirit race like that. He could subsist off of mana if he desired. Not that he did, he wanted the amazing tasting food all around Genesis. As a new avenue for strength, Walker took in the manas more and more. His mana sense was sharpening all the while that he did. It allowed his reach to extend further and further through the city without any additional assistance. To the very point that Walker realized he could feel the two new rune formations being shaped right that second. He could feel that Mordant was allowing extremely pure dark mana through the rune formation as twenty highly trained rune carvers connected every section on a counted nned timing. He could sense the light mana was being directed back toward the sky by Alice so that the runes being connected together could fully focus on just the pure light mana from Rise. When he reached both hands out, Fleur heard that Walker had begun to count down as well. He had started to count to the moment that the runes would bepleted. Both formations would click in to ce at the same time. This n had allowed things to move as smoothly as possible without breaking either rune formation and causing damages. "Three¡­two¡­one¡­" Walker sped his hands together and felt the manas pull toward the mage tower naturally. It was a beacon of runes and mana. Therefore, it would attract the manas and let them flow no matter what. Right this edmond though, Walker had caused the manas to twist and mix together. Flowing in to and through one another. Taking onrger forms that could be made with one, two and even three different manas. But as he pushed for them all toe together, he felt the eternal codex react. It had remained still, ever so slightly moving from time to time due to his weakness andck of understanding for the other manas other than elemental. Now though, so much mana was around in such pure and dense forms, that it had somewhat awakened again. Using this, Walker began focusing natural mana around it. The floating eternal codex brimmed with natural mana while Walker felt he had found a new strength within himself. What he had not realized, was that every single person from the dragon viges to the main city, also felt a sense of rebirth. A sense of closeness with all manas. Regardless of their affinities. ¡­


    N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2125. Must Go

    2125 2125. Must Go N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''The skill mana conversion is attempting to awaken.''


    ''The skill mana conversion has failed to awaken.''


    The entire flow of mana was suddenly stopped as everything connected. Walker felt the manas flow as they should flow in their nned form. He also could feel that the runes of each locations where the dragon viges were being built had fallen in to a perfect rhythm. The perfect bnce of each elemental mana had been reached which wallowed a greater density and purity of all manas within Genesis territory. Even spreading purer manas outside in to the world as a whole. The natural mana that formed caused nts and many people to be more lively. Even to feel healthier than what they had been. This was very clear in the herb fields where some of the struggling nts had begun to grow visibly back to their prime. But what Walker had be focused on was that the system had shown him something. It had mentioned a skill trying to awaken. One that was not being just taken from another ss. While he knew that some races had naturally urring skills, he had not expected that he would have one other than being able to consume mana as nutrients for his body. The dragons had their draconguage which would naturallye to them as they grew. The angels had the ability to absorb their affinity mana from the air and use that mana as their own. There were other examples depending on the race that someone had, yet, the Origin race was unknown to the world. Or at least, to Walker and everyone here. He was still yet to find any information about it. But he had an inkling that it had been the race that created the temples to the elemental nes. That would make sense to him. His mind was forced on to this subject as he wondered what the mana conversion skill was. How he could replicate what he was just doing so that he could awaken that skill. However, he felt that he had been missing something important. The manas had locked in to their flow between rune formations, therefore, the manas had imed themselves. He had no longer needed to be in a deep state where he focused on the flow of manas and only the flow of manas. He was not needing to bring the mana sin to him and allow every single one to flow in to his body as if he was one with it. But that was the key. He had done just that. He had melded himself with the manas at an in depth level. That was where the manas had be closer to him than ever before. Naturally, that had to be some aspect of what had changed what he felt. Had tried to awaken the skill


    Along with this, the purity and density of manas had to y arger role as well. The manas were much more powerful than what they normally were as everyone worked to ensure that the runes were controlled. As they worked to ensure that the pure manas were moving as they nned so that the natural flow created would not be destructive. 10:03


    Along with this, the purity and density of manas had to y arger role as well. The manas were much more powerful than what they normally were as everyone worked to ensure that the runes were controlled. As they worked to ensure that the pure manas were moving as they nned so that the natural flow created would not be destructive. Because they had done so, The manas had been avable for Walker to manipte. Been avable to awaken the eternal codex which was still floating around Walker because it was so full of mana that it was able to function partially. It was only functioning partially since it could not have the spatial mana, time mana, life mana, and death manas which Walker struggled to grasp on to. If he had better control of them, then it would be easier for him to make the eternal codex function at a level that no one had ever seen. the sheer strength that it would possess would be something above what he and the wandering cksmith had expected when they first forged it. "I need to go somewhere with denser mana and much purer mana than here¡­" Walker knew that he would not be able to properly awaken this skill unless he made the journey in to the elemental nes. The idea that they would be like the world was out of the question. He had already seen some books theorizing what they were like and had the ideas from those who had some connections with them. Mordant benign someone that had barely touched the rift between them. The darkness elemental ne could be thought of as an endless darkness. Some ce that took extremely high darkness affinity toprehend if one wished to even view it. A terrain that was made of dark mana and also had dark mana affinity beings living within it. But that did not mean that it wasn''t physical. The spirits were able to create bodies out of their manas. Naturally, the elemental nes were something simr. A terrain dictated by the pure and dense dark mana that made it up. Something harder toprehend since Walker had yet to reach that depth of understanding when it came to dark mana. Yet, he believed that just going there at this point would bring him to that understanding. When he came to the conclusion that he had no choice but to go to the elemental nes, he epted it. He felt that Fleur was looking at him with worry, but as he felt her connection with him, he realized a little more there. She wasn''t sharing feelings of worry or curiosity. Instead, it was a feeling of amazement. As Walker looked at himself and looked at the system, he realized why. he had leveled up significantly during this whole process. He had gained a lot of experience from manipting manas while reaching out his senses. His true mana sense was very high since he was able to sense a much further range.


    Even closing his eyes now, he coulde up with the shapes of those in the light and dark dragon vige areas checking the rune formations. Working to ensure mana flowed through them perfectly without any damage or issues to be seen. It was a wonder how his senses were so clear. Beyond this, he could also feel that his strength had returned a lot more. The natural mana was being sent from the eternal codex to him. That Was the mana he felt first. The eternal codex was still bound to him. It was part of him. He was the only one that could use it. Naturally, that connection was allowing him to transfer mana back and forth with it. But right this second, the eternal codex was allowing mana that was too dense within it to flow to him naturally. It was boosting him up more. "That''s what the mana conversion skill is. It makes mana my strength. Lets me get stronger just by existing in mana. That''s why I have been feeling better and my senses sharper. Fleur! Since I am subconsciously consuming mana I have been getting more experience!" This was a great realization to have. A worry that Walker had since he had used the one time true hero title holder mastery skill. He had lost his experience and so many skills were located because he was too weak to use them. But if he kept focus where he was and remained absorbing more manas, then he would get stronger. This also raised a question. The Origin race, how powerful were they? This was something that he hadn''t even fully awakened. If he awakened the mana conversion skill, how powerful would he be? He would surely stand well over the others. Stand over all other races that is. It would make him a lot more challenging to be around. He would need a lot more mana at all times. He would also have to remain within the elemental nes most likely. Or he would just feel significantly weaker if he was not within them. But that was all theory. He had no proof of this. But he also knew that Remey needed to go to the fire elemental ne at some point because of her unique race. As a dragon soul, she needed the denser mana to nourish her body as it had changed greatly. Would he be the same? Would he have to leave everyone behind? He also would need the other manas. Not just the elemental manas. How far would it take him? Would he go in to the chaotic manas in search of more? Would he have to travel outside of the elemental nes themselves? It was an overwhelming thing to think about. Walker''s head started to hurt thinking about it which made Fleur pull him a little. She wanted to go back to the mansion. A ce where everyone could be together and Walker could forget his stress. "You''re right, let''s go home for now." ¡­


    ¡­.


    Creation is hard, cheer me up!

 Chapter 2126. Exploring Decision

    Chapter 2126. Exploring Decision


    "So you want to just up and leave on an adventure because you think you need to travel there to awaken a skill? That''s all?" Out of everyone to be reprimanding him, it was Su who had taken the lead when Walker had said this in front of the entire party at the dinner table.


    He had called them all there to speak to them about the future.


    His goal was to figure out just what the origin race was. What he was. He had to unlock the skills that came with that so he had to go to the elemental nes. He even knew that the origin race had traveled there. So, if he wanted to learn more, then he would need to take that risk.


    "Su, he has a lot here too. But he isn''t leaving forever. Just for a little while. The royal dragons are going to the elemental nes. So will I. I have to." Remey was a little more soft spoken than normal. It was the fact that she had no choice but to venture to the fire elemental ne.


    "But you do not have a choice. You need to go there for your health. We understand that. But if Walker goes there just to search for this race that advanced beyond the others here¡­ well, he might note ck after chasing them." Gil voiced his honest fear.


    But this was the same for everyone. They all feared that they would be split up somehow. That they would be separated and never see one another again. The elemental nes were unknown and definitely vast. There was a chance that one could explore them for a lifetime. If not more.


    "I need to go there for more than that." Walker was adamant. He believed that there were many reasons to explore the elemental nes.


    "Their world, so to speak, had been different from ours. We were cut off from them for who knows how many hundreds if not thousands of years. Now that we are connected, to them, we should go there. They will being here."


    This was a very real potential. The races or beings that levied within the elemental nes would surely venture outside now that the bridges between the world and the elemental nes had been rebuilt. Now that the proper mana flow had returned.


    If the theory that some people had started to believe was correct, then the world was the middle ground for all the elemental nes. The ce where every race or being from the nes coulde together in unison. In equality. Therefore, making sure that those from the world understood the elemental nes was important.


    "If we wish to understand everything about the universe and existence, we have to take that risk. If we were to ignore it and a threat appeared, we can''t live up to what it means to be a hero. I assume there will be rulers of each elemental ne. There has to be, whether it be dragons or elemental spirits, something. We have to ensure that the effort we put together to unite all these races is upheld."


    This was the more pressing reason to go to the elemental nes.


    Since there were many races that might exist within the elemental nes that were not represented within Genesis, someone had to recruit them. Someone had to find the representatives and form an alliance with them. It could lead to wars if it was not done.


    Beyond that, there could be other issues that stemmed from ack of understanding. If humans had not remembered their wrongs with the elves, then they could be at war right now. They hadcked understanding and some evil humans had done very bad things in the past. Right now, things had been made anew between their races.


    "Whatever races are out there will be unknown to us. They could also be dangerous. We know that some monster races are necessarily ready to be races. The world used to tell us who were races and who were not. But the universe or existence that the world is just a part of¡­" Su had her worried.


    It was fair to worry about the fact that some beings might not be friendly. It would be harder to understand if something was a race or a monster in the elemental nes. Everything about it was foreign.


    "I will go too." Midnight finally spoke up. Her feelings were the same as Walker''s. However, when everyone looked at her, she held their gaze intending to speak again. "I want to see ancient dragons."


    This meant a lot. Midnight had focused on her growth and her rtionship with the party as family, she had been learning more and more from the royal dragons as time went on. So much so that it was a wonder how she still had time to spend with them.


    But where Midnight''s new goals were when it came to her future and feelings, were in the discovery of dragons. The ancient dragons were part of her history. Yes, through her life she had been bonded with Walker and family to the entire party. But she had begun learning from the royal dragons about their history. About so much more.


    When it came to the elder, she had learned that the dragon history was somehow broken. They had knowledge from when they had created viges and ces for dragon kind and dragonkin to exist together. But, theycked the information about what came before that. When the dominator dragons had been able to move to the elemental nes.


    This had been possible once upon a time when the manas around everywhere were chaotic. When ancient monsters roamed the earth as it was still forming. Everyone knew this. They understood that aspect of history due to the ancient ruins that were present.,


    Naturally, it had left Midnight with a lot to be desired. She felt that there was so much more. Things that the dragons never mentioned. Who were the first dragons? How had the entire racee to be?


    When it came to the abyssal and heavenly serpents. Onyx was searching for the same answers. "Brothers, sisters. I wish to travel to them as well. I will reim the history of my race so that I can act as a proper patriarch to the abyssal and heavenly serpents. Aurora will also being along with me."


    There were many reasons that Onyx would want this. He had managed to learn very much about his race even though so many ancient records had been needed to do so. As this was the case, he had managed to learn that the ancient abyssal and heavenly serpents had not lived within the world almost ever. Only when they were younger.


    When they reached age, they would pull open the barriers between the light elemental ne and the world to travel there. They had the innate ability at a certain age to be able to achieve this. That was how they were able to continue their growth since they primarily lived off of light mana.


    In turn, it meant that almost every single abyssal serpent would want to travel to the light elemental ne at some point. An important step for them. But it also meant that Onyx might encounter those that were his race but much stronger. Much older.


    If that was the case, he would learn about his history, but he might also lose the position as patriarch who had brought back his race from the edge of the end. Or maybe, there was more to it. His race might note to the world any more because of their mana requirements. He might have to remain as an elder of sorts.


    This additional worry just added on to everything.


    It made sense though. They all had many reasons for going to the elemental nes. The only ones without much reason to go were Su and Gil since they had no attachment to the elemental nes that called them there.


    "You''lle too?" Midnight looked at Su, her face was curious. She knew that Su was her draconic champion. The one bonded with her to defend her.


    "Well, if we are going together again. I might as well learn about the dragons too." She gave in easily.


    "Brother Gil, it is up to you." Onyx filled Midnight''s lead.


    "It seems like I have no choice. But there are things I need to know first. Does time move the same there? Will I lose my time with Alma and the elves if I go? Can we get home if we go?"


    This wasn''t fear that spoke purely. Gil had a duty to the elves and a responsibility to the person he loved. He refused to let them all down. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I''ll get those answers for you." Walker made the promise and started to n how he would do just that.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2127. Same Page

    Chapter 2127. Same Page


    With Their agreement made, the party didn''t have much else to talk about. Gil mentioned that he and Alma had been working to create more and more areas where the elves could spread out. There were arge number of them that wished to focus on nearly extinct or recovering nt life. This had be popr for many of the farmers as well. They had heard that some nts were nearly impossible to grow. This alone was enough provocation to push some of them to join in the elf mission to recover the unique nts. Beyond that, some of them had realized that they were meant for more than just farming. This hade about because they had joined the fight against the vampires when they were being controlled by a monster. They had seen h0w growing nts that were extinct and bringing an entire forest in to being was possible. All of this had led them to different sses as the world had returned to the natural flow it should be in. Just to add to that, they had also been very forting with how powerful some of their sses were. Some of the farmers could greatly speed up the growth of certain nts. Others could boost theirnd''s fertility which would help all the nts that grew there. It was an interesting expansion of the farming and nt rted knowledge that everyone had. Especially when a druid appeared. The druid had been a farmer that was focused on the basic crops. Corn, pumpkins, and even wheat were just basic staples that they rotated through their fields. However, the farmer said that he would often find time she fell asleep while working out in the fields. He would always feel a closer connection to the nts than he would feel to people. It was also noted that the human farmer often found that the rodents would not consume his entire field. He never had to worry about insects or monsters either. They just took a little here and there, but never pushed too far. He had never built a single fence on hisnd!


    It was all unheard of, but the records to prove it were there. Hence, when the time for harvest toe came, many people would be amazed when he would bring nearly perfect produce. Sometimes even the other farmer''s cattle would move to walk with him as he passed theirnds on a carriage. When he exined that he just felt at home when he was working with nts, just the same as anyone would be around his family, it was made clear. The elves also had a few records of others who had been in their cities but had chosen to leave to experience nature more closely. But they had always returned saying that something was missing. Those that did not return had left behind evidence that they had settled elsewhere. Knowing that they might have tapped in to natural mana in some form, Walker found this interesting. The druid had been a major participant in the recovery of the lost nts and herbs. Therefore, he wanted to meet this man at some point. "You should see what the cathedral is doing. Since those people keep trying toe and make themselves known as the originator of the healing churches and what not, they began putting them up in inns so that they wouldn''t bother the people that came to the cathedral. Apparently it''s be a game since they don''t understand why they are being sent away." Knowing that the cathedral was still doing well was a good thing. They were preparing an envoy to head to the north to deal with the false thoughts about the cathedrals within Genesis and the churches built within the other kingdoms. Especially since they had all adapted to the ways of life within Genesis. It wasn''t a bad thing that the churches were changing. They were being able to heal better and gain a better method for helping others. With a saintess now, they were also spreading the word to help others more openly. This had actually ensured that they recovered more funding in some ces. The demi-humans had been afraid of potions and did not have many magically inclined healers. With that being the fact, they had relied heavily on the demi-humans with natural healing abilities or bandaging what they could. It was somewhat simr to what the dwarves did but the dwarves were always using the medical side of healing. As the demi-humans had opened up, the alchemy guild and the cathedral within genesis had sent over some newly taught healers and alchemists to work together. The demi-humans had allowed them to take over control of certain buildings to rebuild as churches. From the reports that Su had seen, it went so smoothly that the demi-humans actually bragged about their churches after just a month of this. Midnight surprised everyone by speaking a lot more. She had not enjoyed learning to speak the humannguages, but the system had made it so that she could just speak the naturally learned dragonnguage and it was tranted for everyone. However, she still persisted on e learning thenguage as it was spoken by all of them. It was a very adorable aplishment, but what she had said surprised everyone. There were over twenty young dragons learning different things within Genesis. They were learning various aspects to gain sses or to show off their sses. They had begun learning from masters of different trades. But most of all, one of the just hatched dragons had slipped away from their water dragon parent to begin learning to be a water mage. They had even made their way in to the mage tower before they were found and reprimanded. This had caused a small scene, but it had shown off that even the youngest of the dragons existed to learn more. To follow new paths. It was arge chunk of history being written as Midnight was tossed in to the situation of fixing the small issues that came about. She was having to work a little harder now. As Onyx also exined that the young serpents had spread out further, he mentioned that many of them had partnered with the guards above all else. The guards were not epting a wider variety of applicants along with the guardian academy being formed. This formation was specifically for those that wished to train as guards for Genesis. They could be dispatched as soldiers, but they would also go to other kingdoms to help when more guards were needed. Some of the best guards from all kingdoms had made it their goal to form this academy within genesis. They cared for the safety of their people, and they would not allow any one of them toe to genesis and be harmed. So, they wanted to make sure all the knowledge of the guards came together for the best possible guard squadron. Because Onyx had mentioned this, he had also exined how some of the older guards that came to Genesis first had been pulled in to being teachers. Hence how Walker found out that his father had somehow managed to get to the academy as a novice teacher there. It felt a little odd learning this after the fact. But. it all made sense. So much was happening that he was sure his father was going with the flow. Enjoying life as a guard captain being promoted and helping the next generation. When Remey had not said much, everyone had wondered why, but when they looked over, they found that she was sleeping with her head on her hand. From what they knew, she had been forming potions and building new recipes to follow. So many new ones that it was hard for the guild to keep up with. The old master alchemist had retired and acted as a lecturer now, so from what they could all guess, she didn''t want to disappoint him. Especially since many of the alchemists at the very top had headed out to search for more unique herbs across the world. It would bring back very important knowledge that could spur more discovery. When Walker exined the situation at the mage tower and the three potential masters of the tower, everyone was d to hear it. People growing as much as possible with a strong goal in mind was what the city needed. What they had hoped for. To them, this was just a sign that they didn''t need to be as involved in every aspect of the city. They could take on therger goals of checking the elemental nes or other aspects rted to them. It would ensure that genesis grew instead of falling in to dangerous positions. Overall, the recap had brought them all back on to the same page before Walker went to work. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2128. Even More Changes

    Chapter 2128. Even More Changes


    While Walker had begun tio prepare to head back toward the ind where they had fought the demon lord, he realized that he should check up on a few things before he headed out. He knew that the wandering cksmith had begun to get called on more and more even though he had been dragged in to another one of his hyper focused moments. He had been focused on what Walker had brought to him again, but he had also begun to get caught up by more of the changes around the city. Specifically, the changes in manas. The stronger manas had resonated with other materials that had been rare or had seemingly been useless. This was also just part of the natural changes that the world underwent as it fell in to the flow it was meant to have. There were some pieces of iron that had appeared to be normal iron. It had just been held up as slightly off color or slightly heavier. Now, it has been found out that it had unique blends of elemental manas that caused it to change the properties of what was made with it. Someone had brought in a dagger that had a unique aspect of darkness mana in it. The wandering cksmith had just so happened to be within the crafting guild when he saw it. Walker was listening to this story as he wandered through the crafting guild towards arge experimental forge room where such items had been bought or temporarily borrowed to make a proper appraisal of them. "Sp they are calling it shadow iron. It''s going to change the name of a few lesser quality materials that had darkness affinity. But they are saying that shadow is just another form of darkness affinity but also rted to light mana a little. There are different manas or affinities now! They are fused and stuff! I can''t wait until I can work with them." Walker looked at the young boy who was rambling on. He was working at the front desk of the crafting guild. It reminded Walker of a simr boy who had worked the front desk in Diamond when he had just got to the forge for the first time. So much has changed. "There you are, why have you not been here. Too much ising in. too many new things to document. We ran out of appraisal scrolls hours ago." The wandering cksmith was clearly sleep deprived, but still able to go. Around the room, there were master cksmiths, master wood cutters, master potters, master everything. Ten of them were either asleep on tables, partially awake but too tired to function, or just t out mumbling to themselves while trying to examine something. "I had to handle the nning to travel to the elemental nes. But now I think I might be held up with what you are discovering here. If it''s not just materials, that means people will be born with dual affinities that create unique affinities. The mixing of mana creating branch affinities. I can''t imagine what it will mean for the future." As far as Walker could see, he should just ept all of this right away. If he didn''t, then he would struggle to do itter. This was a major discovery that could show off many of the greatest aspects of the future. How Genes and every race would need to adapt and change even more while growing. "Look at this one." the wandering cksmith was being exceptionally vocal due to all the new things he had been learning. Naturally, this was just a part of who he was. When he began to be focused on something new in the forging field, he would jump on it. He would ensure that he was able to learn it and use it. ''ss war hammer


    This is a unique war hammer that has awakened the ss affinity after the unique material yellow earth sand was melted down to make it. The crystal effect made it appear that it was a unique showcase item. However, when the world returned to natural flow, the earth and light effects that it absorbed caused it to refract light elemental mana and begin channeling it. While it is somewhat resistant to fire, it is strongly able to channel light elemental mana as long as the mana is used immediately in a swing or action. Because of this, the brittleness of the weapon is a worry. But that is only if earth mana is also not channeled within it. Having a ss affinity is extremely rare, but those who can fuse earth and light together might naturally be able to create ss out of sands without the need for fire mana or forging of any form needed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This hammer can also slightly purify the user of the hammer with the light mana that naturally flows though it from the sun¡­''


    "Two elemental manas forming a sub elemental mana. ss. Did you ever think that ss would be a form of affinity or a form of fused mana?" the wandering cksmith was beside himself with this. If the fused manas meant something like this could be considered a stand alone affinity, then that meant that more unique things could be forged. It would change the world the more that they appeared. The more that everyone with any ability to create or raft experimented. "It could mean that we have a lot more to learn about manas now. They are better fusing together with allowed bnce. Therefore, it means that these affinities can exist within someone''s body now. That''s my theory just based on this. It said that the materials within awakened the affinity. So, that means that there are more dormant aspects of the world now than before." "It also means that there are those born with pure elemental affinities that might have a better chance to do certain tasks. Naturally these dual elemental affinities or fused elemental affinities will also have their chances."


    This thought brought Walker another. That if someone with wind and fire dual affinities did something like ix the manas, would it be the same as someone who had an affinity that utilized both manas? Or would that sub mana affinity take precedence and the dual affinity person would be different? "If someone has a weaker water affinity and a strong earth affinity, maybe they will end up with a mud affinity. But someone with equal water and equal earth affinity would end up with dual affinities." His idea brought a few of the sleeping masters back to the waking world. They had been somewhat listening. As was the nature of a super tired master. Somewhat asleep but still focusing on the task at hand. The more that Walker began providing them with the appraisals, the more that they all realized that this information needed to be spread. Hence, multiple apprentices had been called in. the students that would be recording the findings and bringing them everywhere through the city. What none of them realized, was that they had just begun to scratch the surface. Multiple herbs, monsters, and other aspects of the world had taken on these unique forms of mana. They were appearing more fused in the wilderness because of the proper flow returning. "I really feel like this is going to make a lot of people jump to explore." Walker said this as he watched the many students copying the descriptions head helped record down. His sudden visit had really changed what he had been expecting for the wandering cksmith''s opinions on various things. The air ship building ns had been approved to move to another step because they had developed some lighter alloys to use. They were even talking about using them to rece some of the flying gear golems already created by the dwarves. Creating metal alloys with natural mana affinity was also greatly on the table. The many metals that they had begun using right now might have the smaller bnces of fused elemental manas. Hence, they could be sued to better understand what might be needed to make a perfectly bnced natural mana affinity ingot. Furthermore, it meant that when children were born, there would be a need for testing the innate affinities of that child. Everyone was often born with them, but testing was not important to many since they had no idea what would have awakened their system. Things were different now. There was a way to know where someone was going with their ss. If someone had a shadow ss,they could begin learning about darkness and light manas. That knowledge would allow them to move toward getting a ss better suited for who they were as a whole. Many different aspects of teaching would have to change too. Walker was pretty excited about it. The world he knew was new again.

 Chapter 2129. Things To Wonder

    Chapter 2129. Things To Wonder


    By the time Walker had left the crafting guild, he had been sure that every single master crafter had to sleep. He had personally yelled at them and pushed them out of the guild without another moment. Naturally, he was also very surprised to find that it was the middle of the night. To be fair though, he had spent hours using the all around appraisal to gain new information about the fused elemental manas causing different unique affinities. Some of them were thigns that already existed, like magma or steam. But since they were in a unique bnce of their own right, they became an affinity. The magma stone gauntlets were a unique existence. They had started to glow and radiate heat causing the owner to fear that the runes were broken or needed repair. That brought them to the crater''s guild when they had realized the uniqueness of the properties. Because Walker had used the all around appraisal, he had found that the rocks used were from a volcano. Originally, they had channeled fire and earth manas better so they had been used as a crushed up dust within the folded metal while forging. Since they had awakened their innate affinities, that magma stone had been able to take control of sorts of the gauntlets. Not only breaking the fire and earth runes, but causing a natural reaction that changes the entire gauntlets as a whole. Now they could be used to create a small pool ofva on the ground if enough mana was posted in to them by someone with the proper affinities. This could alter terrain while fighting but also came with other benefits. The user would wield them and cause fire damage to every single thing they hit. Not to mention the bonus strengthening that came with the earth affinity. It meant that they had a much lower chance of breaking. Even if they broke, they could be replenished by bathing them within magma from a volcano. A little bit of a tough requirement to meet, but a fair one. It was just such an amazing set of awakened traits that it caused all the crafters to have an entire hour of ranting and rambling. Besides all this, Walker was generally abuzz with how much this would change the future. She could not imagine what he would see in his lifetime. The number of potential sses and affinities felt unlimited right now. While he felt great pride, he also was shocked by it all. He felt he had lost grapes on reality with everything he was seeing. Like this could all be some amazing dream that just kept getting better. While moving through the calm night, he realized that many of those awake were still working hard. He was d to see vampires here and there. They had been iming their lives again. Jumping in to magic research with the other mages around. Finding themselves ces to work on alchemy. Even a few had started to tell the vampire history that had been lost. There was an entirely new section of the massive Genesis library holding all the records that Walker had stored away. The vampires had taken their utmost care to begin sorting through it all. Sharing what they learned that even they had not known about within their own history. Their past rulers. With all that aside, Walker also could generally sense the changes in the manas flowing through the city. Now that the majority of the popce was asleep, he could feel the smoother flow of things. How therge dragon vige runes had changed the way that the manas flowed. He could sense that they were moving smoothly in a rotation. Moving to one ce to bnce the other here and there. He could also feel them mixing without bing chaotic. Like the manas were greeting old friends. Before the manas had been mostly pushing one another away. Now they were mixing wlessly. It was an enjoyable feeling. Especially since the natural mana general made everyone feel more energetic. Promoting their health overall. This made Walker think, were the elemental nes like this? They were ces with denser elemental manas all surrounding the world in a way. Therefore, wouldn''t they be in bnce since they had not been having the same issues as the world had since it was cut off from the universe? At the same point, wouldn''t the purer manas there already have been in a bnced state? This meant that Walker could be seeing ces that were all around better for mana and understanding the very being of existence itself. If he could focus on this aspect, then he would have the chance to learn from the proper flow that had been there for many years. Beyond that, he knew that he would learn even more about the unique mixed manas that were appearing now as affinities. There was a lot he could learn, but the real test would be traveling there. He knew that the bridges between the world and the elemental nes would be surrounded by chaotic manas. Therefore, he had to be prepared for the potential that he might be corrupted slightly. Everyone going with him had that potential. Specifically, he worried about Fleur who was going to rest within him as usual. The spirit mark might be safe for her, but it was also a ce where plenty of manas were gathered. The natural mana within him and that fleur had control of might be used up to counter chaotic mana leaving her and him weaker to chaotic mana flowing through them. The question was, would that be bad overall? He might be able to grasp a little bit of an understanding when it came to how the world would progress as well. Especially if he was able to find and make allies with those that live within the elemental nes. He had not forgotten the light gryphon that had been summoned. It had easily handled Pride like the demon sin title holder was nothing. If every single monster or being from the light elemental ne, let alone all the elemental nes, were that strong¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Walker didn''t want to think about it. But he also had the same thought that he knew Onyx had often about his race. The abyssal and heavenly serpents had to go to the light elemental ne for food. So that they could absorb more light elemental manas to survive. They would not grow anyrger if they did not do such things. That and it was the best way to meet their fellow serpents. If this was the case, and there were more monsters or races that fed on manas to be stronger, then they could be going to a ce with beings much more powerful than the world had ever had even when it had the ancient monsters moving around constantly. No, it would be exactly like it was then. The fear that they could run in to a ne that was at war with another made Walker feel that things could get veryplicated. It was true that the manas did not always mix well. So, if monsters of those manas also had the same habits, it was risky. That being said, there were things they knew for certain. Since summoners often had their ability to summon monsters or races from the elemental nes through whatever mysterious magical means, there were records of what some beings from the elemental nes were like. They knew that there were lords of elemental manas. They were the more powerful beings that had lived the longest. But there were also those that governed the manas as a whole. They had reached an understanding that allowed them to greatly influence the manas and even change the terrains of the elemental nes while they moved. These things would seem like major achievements to many. But to the Walker, it told him that these might be the dominator dragons of the past. Or they might be other beings that had once upon a time been on the world and gone to the elemental nes. The question he also found himself asking, was how many ancient monsters would still be around within the elemental nes. If they were traveling through the panes to the world, then how many would still be around after being trapped in only the elemental nes?


    Would Onyx find himself the ancient abyssal and heavenly serpents? Would midnight and the elemental dragons have a chance to find those that they had thought dead and gone? Would he see ancestors of those who had small amounts of ancient blood within them? He could wrack his brain the rest of the night. But he had to keep preparing. The next few days he would check in here and there while also gathering some supplies. He was sure that a few people might want to undergo this trip too, but they would have to party up together themselves. Right now, he was looking forward to an adventure with his family.

 Chapter 2130. Another Mess

    Chapter 2130. Another Mess


    "I brought about twenty of every high healing potion. That way we can split them with some of the diluting potions I made. They are just bases that work for the mana and the health potions. Very useful for whatever is needed. You can make a lower potion easily in to smaller wounds, but you can also use it to generally make ves or wrapping bandages. One of the erbs is able to stop the infection potential."


    "Remey! Can you please stop? You have told us all a hundred million times over that you have potions to bring. This new thing-"


    "If you cut me off again Gil, I will drag you all the way back to the treehouse you and Alma have been living in and make very sure that she keeps you under house arrest there. You''ll be a great housewife that can''t go out hunting. Can''t make new arrows. How does that sound?" Remey''s threat was very real to Gil. he knew very well that Alma would side with Remey right now since she was unhappy that he had decided to take on this challenge. Their conversation had gone a few hours while he exined why he had to go to the elemental nes. How he and the party would be the only ones. Not even Alice would be going as a healer. It had taken Alma a lot of time to ept it. But after a few conditions along with some exnations about how the elite elves would have a chance to go in the second group, Gil had managed. "Oh and you don''t think Ignus wouldn''t listen to me if I told him you wanted to go off alone when we find the fire elemental nes? I bet he will have you sped in his ws just as soon as I finished speaking? Huh? HUHHHHHH?!" The two kept going at it though. No matter how much Remey threatened Gil with punches or how Gil threatened to ensure that Remey would be stuck being babysat by Ignus. "It''s kind of funny how Gil and Remey are still arguing just like they did on the first day we all met." Su was looking back at the time they had all met. How Remey had gotten angry at Gil just for looking at her. Not that it wasn''t the start of many smaller arguments between the two. That''s just how they showed one another that they cared. It was like two siblings. "We all haven''t changes that much. We grew stronger, but we are still us. Although, Gil has somehow gotten a wife before all of us, Remey made friends with a literal fire dragon and she can fight him without repercussions¡­ well, maybe we have changed." Walker stopped speaking there. Eh felt that he couldn''t keep himself as honest if he kept listing how they had changed. "I''m half dragon now and a draconic guardian with multiple affinities. You have some weird new but still old race that no one knows about. Midnight is a role model for every young dragon, even the ones older than her. Onyx is a patriarch to an entire race. Does that sum it up?" She giggled a little more as she checked her armor. The teleportation rune formation was nearly prepared, they had been waiting to head back to the ind. The rune formations had been used a lot but also improved even more. Every day they would undergo some form of maintenance while also being improved with better designs or even entirely being recarved. "Brother, I think that this will be an interesting adventure. We will see what the ind has been doing since people have gone back to explore." this was a good point from Onyx. he had been wondering what the ind would change in to as the bridge to the elemental nes was solidified there. "It will be a very busy ce at some point. Plenty of people will want to explore the elemental nes or experiment with the denser mana that will be around the ind. I just worry about how smooth things will go." to be fair, Walker wasn''t the only one with these worries. The genesis council had brought this up since the ind and the bridge to the elemental nes had appeared. They were both worried that the beings within the elemental nes woulde through and also that there would be those that pushed themselves to travel within without the proper safety measures being taken. While the beings that coulde through the bridges might not want to since the manas would not be as dense or as pure in the world. However, that depended on whether or not they were attracted to the natural mana which formed here. The odds of a perfect bnce of manas within the elemental nes were slim to none. Walker had already seen that in the records of the demon library. There were records that had been found and brought to the Genesis council about how manas being naturally formed together would be rarer. Especially if there was not a proper ce where they could all meet equally. Hence, natural mana would be rarer in general. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The beings that were in the elemental nes might also be burned with their own rules and methods of control. They could be limited to where they could go. The bridges to the world might be off limits because of the chaotic manas that surround the world and the spaces where the bridges were. It was a dangerous risk for those that relied on manas being within order. When the rune formation red to life, Walker and the rest of the apathy braced themselves. They waved to Alcie who hade to see them off. She and the few priests with her were preparing for their own journey to handle the northern city. They would be speaking with them to decide whether they would join the Genesis alliance or if they would ept that the other cathedrals and churches had changed the leading cathedral once and for all. It was something that Walker did not worry about at all. He knew how powerful Allice was if things went poorly. Not that he imagined she would harm anyone. Yet, he also knew that if she saw someone being harmed unjustly, that she would be willing to put everything she had on the line to help that person. Hence why she had be a saintess. The rune formation on the ind had been made much stronger. Walker could sense it as they appeared on the other side. Yet, he was surprised to find that there were not any mages to greet them who had activated the formation. instead, just piles of elemental crystals here and there which were enough to allow for anyone to teleport to the ind a few times before running out of mana. His head turned in search of people when he noticed the wreckage. One of the ships had remained behind on the ind in case the rune formations were to break. The others had taken it upon themselves to travel back toward the ruins of the vampire castle so that they could assist receiving more historical artifacts for the race. The ruined ship was partially sunken. The rest of it groaned and swayed with the waves. Looking even more closely, Walker could not spot anyone or anything else. There were signs that many people had been here working. signs that there were researchers hard at work examining stone or statue pieces from the ancient ruins. But none of them were to be seen anywhere. "Walker, do you remember what happens to an undead, like a skeleton, when it has nothing fueling it?" Gil''s tone was grim. He knew very well what the answer was. "It falls apart in to bone pieces¡­" he trailed off as he saw that there were pieces of bone on the ground nearby. As the party cautiously stepped forward, they saw that there were drag marks in the sands. Broken tents. Even a few skeletons that had been crushed instead of just left behind. "He came here somehow. He might have escaped that tower when everything started to move back to the normal flow. Him being trapped there wouldn''t be a natural flow of anything. But he''s a monster." Su tried to logic it all out in her head. But she couldn''t, there shouldn''t be any reason that the immortal king had escaped the tower where his very soul was trapped due to his evil experimentation. "We have to hunt him down now. Don''t we? He will only get worse if he starts to make worse undead with elemental beings." whether it was possible or not, Gil had no idea. But since the immortal king hade here, taken the people with him, and destroyed those left on the ind, they couldn''t just leave it alone. They had to do whatever they could to clean up this mess.

 Chapter 2131 2131. The Bridge

    Chapter 2131 2131. The Bridge


    "We need to check for survivors. There are a lot of ces on the ind for people to hide. We also need to deal with any lingering undead. They don''t have anything to control them right now. They could be going wild and killing whatever they encounter." Walker caught on to this danger right away. He knew the dangers of the undead that the immortal king had created.


    The worries that Walker had were only growing as he looked at the surroundings with even more detail. The number of damaged tents was much greater than the number of untouched.


    This made him realize that the attack must have happened at night when the majority of the researchers had been sleeping. It was a despicable way to fight, but for the immortal king, it was just the amount of evil he wouldmit.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There were signs that some had been dragged while iling for escape. The direction moved right toward the ruin mountain with the altar on top. The bridge to the elemental nes had opened up right there.


    It was already clear that this was the goal of the immortal kind. But now, Walker regretted handing over any amount of natural mana to him. It could have been the key the immortal king needed to fully escape his self made prison. "Walker! Snap out of it and help us. The researchers might still be alive. Gil found signs that none of them were killed.


    They are most likely captives so that the immortal king can learn about the elemental nes faster!"


    This also made a lot of sense. The undead would be extensions of the immortal king. Theycked self thinking intelligence. But he had always made them and used them as tools. Nothing more than a collection.


    He needed living breathing thoughts now though. He needed them so that he could quickly figure out how the bridge worked and the elemental nes worked as a whole. Without that, he could be bombarded by the chaotic mana. Even he was not foolish enough in his desires for power and experimentation to ignore that.


    Because the immortal king had so many undead, it was a surety that he had felt some of them be corrupted. No one doubted that this was happening and some undead might have been destroyed to avoid his own corruption.


    Yet, this forced the immortal king to need something to defend himself with.


    "I think he already had a way to separate himself from the tower he was trapped in. But he learned that he couldn''t handle chaotic mana at all. That is until he could manipte or use some natural mana."


    "So you think that the stupid skeleton just used us to get his shield?" Remey cracked her knuckles while she searched the ravage of arge tent nearby.


    She pulled a few documents out and passed them to Walker while still grumbling about how they had been used.


    "That''s exactly what I think. The immortal king had taken more years than we know to understand how he was trapped. Regardless of him being an elder lich or not, he was trapped because of his own failures."


    "Whatever method he used to escape, he would not have been able to survive. I have a feeling that the immortal king did not even want to remain in the world for some reason." Walker and the others thought about this for a few minutes. "Weak." Midnight''sment was simple but clear. "Sister is right, it''s an undead that is weak naturally, what if it cost a lot of power and the immortal king could be hunted down easily by us or others? We just defeated a demon lord." Onyx''s expansion made Midnight nod her head vigorously in approval.


    "So he was weak and needed outer mana to survive. And what other ce other than the elemental nes might have some aspect of powerful dense death mana outside it or within it."


    Gil stomped his foot as he spoke. He was very unhappy that they had not only found people kidnapped, but also a threat that they should have dealt with immediately.


    "We couldn''t have fought him right away. He has many powerful undead that we would have needed to fight first. Then we would need the mana to fight him. Walker was unable to do that as well. We would have lost one of our most powerful pieces in that fight."


    With Su''s logic, it made them feel a slight bit better. But they also felt that there was something they were missing. Something that had to do with how the immortal king had fled the tower he was trapped in.


    "When those skeletons appeared at the mansion and elsewhere, he was able to speak and move through them. What if it was like that?" When Walker came to this understanding, he slowly grew it and things became more clear in his mind.


    "He split off most of his soul or whatever parts of him to make a new main body. He wouldn''t be an elder lich in either ce, but he could leave the tower. So he took his most powerful undead, copied a teleportation formation somehow, and came here. The crystals were left with the extra mana in them since they were how he moved over his powerful undead."


    "Then he began taking control and will be looking for a solution to his weakness now. Once he''s strong enough, he''ll most likely break his old body entirely. He doesn''t need one that''s trapped in a tower."


    They were all angry with this situation. None of them had wanted to be put in any position like this. However, there was a lot that they could do now to fix the issue.


    Getting more Genesis forces here was a must. Beginning a raid on the undead city was also a must. Not that they would be leading it.


    "We''ll ask the royal dragons to lead the raid on the undead city. All they need to do is destroy the immortal king''s original body. Once that happens, the immortal king''s undead left there will just be that, undead without a will. Trapped within the city. We''ll leave that for young people to learn from."


    "Once the immortal king has no connection to the world, we can finish this fight once and for all." Walker took a confident stride toward the ruins. He knew the route to the top from what had been mapped and how he had gotten there before.


    He could already sense the skeletons left behind within. They were moving around aimlessly. Theirst order was to defend this ce. So, they would do so until they were destroyed or they rotted to dust naturally.


    The progress through the ruins was simple and easy. Walker barely needed to think to make the stone of the ruins move in to spikes. They crushed and shattered the bones of the skeletons in an instant.


    Besides that, he sensed the ces where the ruins might copse so he began fixing them as he moved. The temporary supports could be Improved by the researchers when they returned. When they were safe to resume what they wanted to explore the most.


    His fully focused mind didn''t even notice that subconsciously, he was absorbing more mana than before. Even when he meditated, he would not absorb this much mana.


    Part of it was that denser elemental manas were flowing from the bridge between the elemental nes and the world. The wisps of these dense and pure manas moved through the air slowly bing part of the world as it flowed.


    His body was feeling more alive, his senses sharper. When he managed to walk back out in to the open, was pleasantly surprised to see what had be of the broken stone tform and altar that had been on the top of the mountain.


    Ancient runes hade back to life with the purer mana. Not on the stone, but literally carved in to the space. In the air, these runes glowed and pulsed with every bit of mana that came through.


    The bridge was the most amazing aspect though. It was a literal bridge. Made of various manas made physical, Walker felt like it was close to the spirit race in a way. But the manas that made it up were unmoving. Solid.


    The space around it had warmed giving way to a view in to darkness and bursts of light. A strange expanse of unknown chaotic manas between the world and the elemental nes.


    "That''s it, right? The way to the elemental nes?" Remey was gravitating towards it. She could feel the dense fire mana that she needed.


    "It is. It''s amazing." Their minds snapped back to attention as the others came near. This was a major step towards an unknown existence. They would be the first to truly explore this in many years.

 Chapter 2132 2132. On The Bridge

    Chapter 2132 2132. On The Bridge


    Getting a quick message from Genesis using the improvedmunication crystals stopped them from looking at the bridge to the elemental nes with awe any longer. They had needed this to snap them back to reality. Right now, they were learning that there were people preparing toe there and to gather an army again. Genesis was already working hard It Grow and develop. But hearing that there was an escaped ancient threat¡­ Well, that had made things a little more dramatic. Except that one of those threats had been one that none of them had been able to handle. The royal dragons had all be powerful dominator dragons. Therefore they were able to take on stronger proponents. They could fly further and stand taller than even before. They didn''t even need much back up from the other elder dragons either. They could fight head on with entire armies if need be. The change in the world had only gone to benefit them as well. They were able to keep bringing in better manas that they needed to get stronger this would only continue until they were able to ready to head to the elemental nes. The only thing stopping them was the fact that they were currently being held up by the building of the dragon viges. Not that they didn''t see the viges as important. They Were So important that they were stopping their desires to explore the elemental nes. To look for more dragon history. But that was just a temporary thing. Once the viges were fully built, there would be more elders and dragon hatchlings than ever before to look over things. To guide their future. The dragon race had already changed greatly in a shorter time than ever before. That was still odd though. The dragons were long lived species. They were used to years passing in the blink of an eye to them. So having the time move so slowly and be changing so quickly, threw them off. Not for long though, they would be entering new ces with new forms of time and manas. It would be a wonder how they ever lived before. Regardless of all this, the party was d to know that Ignus had already begun to act. He had immediately gathered arge group of dragonkin to take over the head of the army. He would be heading toward the undead ruins soon. This ce was avoided and used by adventurers of all kinds. Hunting for treasures and risking their lives. This was the case for the humans that lived nearby which was fine. They had not understood much about the ce other than it was an ancient ce full of undead. After the party had discovered why and what lurked in the depths, they had changed this opinion. The humans had stopped others from going there more and more. Even had some guards nearby to ensure that people did not wander in. but somehow, the undead had managed to leave there. Plenty of powerful undead had left there with the immortal king. It had caused a lot of stress to the people in charge of managing these risks. What they were d for though, was that the threat within the undead city that had been able to rival the demon lord if they were to fight, had been weakened greatly. It meant that the undead threat would remain, but be easilydealt with. They could handle the elder lich that was controlling the undead. That would make the undead uncontrolled and easily handled over time. Yes, a ce like these ruins would always spawn undead out of everything and anyone that perished there. That was just what was left after the undead had been there for so long. The undead would always have that ce as their home now. Even without some powerful elder lich leading them. And that was fine. The wanderers and soldiers could train there. Or there could be researchers who wished to explore for the information from ancient times. So be it. When Walker heard that there would also be a group of healers going with Ignus, he hoped that it was Alice and her healers. He knew that they were going to head north, but they could easily be called in to this fight before that. Her light mana would make the entire fight much safer for all those that are going. Any pistons from the decaying monsters there would be able to be purified as well. Overall, there would be more hope which It Came to facing the dangers there. But the party had their own focuses. They had to face the dangers of the more powerful part of the elder lich, the immortal king. He had all the dangerous undead with him. The ones that they had most likely never seen and that had been greatly strengthened through the process of natural mana and even the changes in the world. Some of them might even grow stronger with the additional purer mana from the elemental nes. That risk was not gone. It would only grow as they pushed forward. He had to ensure that he protected them. "I will do my best to channel more lightmana around us if we face the undead. I want to purify them and weaken them before I push us to fight them again." Walker''s words strengthened the resolve as they all stepped forward together. The bridge and the manas were fluctuating, showing off the unique space and how it fits right in to the world wlessly. He could sense the space mana as he touched the bridge for the first time. The world around him faded and he was left as if standing in a sea of stars. Walking on the bridge felt etherealpared to how Walking in the world or even walking in the air was. The small bursts of light and of other elemental manas were the chaotic manas taking physical form. They were crashing in to one another and forming other things that Walker couldn''tprehend. If he were to sit here and meditate for years, he might just scratch the surface about how order could ever possibly exist within the chaos. But that was what the elemental nes and the world was, wasn''t it? Calm manas that had somehow appeared where there was only chaos. It Was hard to understand and would only make his head hurt. "It''s all so beautiful." Su had a few tears in her eyes while looking out at everything. She and the others felt the same. The existence that created all things and melded together has somehowe from all that chaotic danger bing bnced was hard to put in to worlds. Emotions could barely grasp how it all came together in this way. "I agree, but we havepany ahead of us." There was a slight darkness ahead of them. Enough to put Walker on edge. As they all focused on the bridge of mana that they traveled, they noticed that the figure standing ahead, was a skeleton. A in old skeleton with nothing in its hands and nothing that it could use to threaten them. When Walker looked at it, he found that it had grazed the edge of the chaotic mana over the edge of the bridge. It was frozen in ce and the chaotic mana corrupted it. Slowly causing the bones to disintegrate because it had no potential ability to resist the manas running chaotically. "It will fall apart soon, won''t it?" Remey felt a little bad that the skeleton had be an undead and managed to get here somehow. But it had just started to break apart and they had been here to witness it. "It will, it is bing a part of that chaos again. But we all came from that. I Can sense it. Just the same as I can sense nature, that is a greater nature. A way for all things and all flows. but it doesn''t have control over anything. It''s just it." Gil''s feelings were shared being part high elf. Because he sensed that, it was true, The others had trouble grasping at this but it was fine. They knew that there were plenty of changes and differences within their races. None of them judged each other for that. They epted it and trusted one another in every single aspect. Because Gil could sense it too, Walker knew that he was also able to feel that. They watched the skeleton begin falling apart and the manas that made up the skeleton''s unique undead existence flow in to the outside of the bridge. "Don''t touch anything and stay on this mana bridge. It is the only thing keeping us from the chaos out there." Walker didn''t need to say this, but he felt better reminding the others. They could only move forward now. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2133 2133. Undead War

    Chapter 2133 2133. Undead War


    "Follow me to thend where the greatest threat of the Genesis alliance has fled. Follow me to thend where the undead form naturally. Where death and life have fallen in to war with one another. An ancient city left in ruins by the evil that once lived there." Ignus roared out this small speech. He had done exactly as needed. He had gathered na sarmy. Prepared those that ended to be brought together. He had even gathered all the elder dragons under this lead so that they could bring all the soldiers that came together for this fight at the same time. The reason he had gone to such lengths was simple. He had been asked to lead this battle because he was able to burn away the undead entirely. The light could purify thend and the undead, but his mes were strong enough to handle the majority of undead regardless of their affinities or strengths. Beyond that, the other royal dragon knew that when it came to sheer power, he was the strongest. He could sue the mes to burn even the stones that made up the ruined undead city. Niot that their goal was to destroy it all. The goal was to find the main body of the immortal king and destroy it. The weakened body would not be able to be controlled by whatever mind was left within it. The immortal king had already separated from it so far that even the undead left behind at the temple on top of the mountain were not controlled. The mindless undead roaming through the city were also easily different from what they had all seen before. The records said that they hadst been seen sitting in lines and unmoving. But now, they roamed aimlessly. Some of them even attempted to roam outside the limits of the undead city. The failures to do so were clear though. The energies and the oddness of the area kept them trapped somewhere close to the undead city. But that wasn''t the case for all the undead. Some of the weakest were able to slip away because they had been formed from the bodies of adventurers or weaker species. This left a lot for the magesing here to wonder about. But the odd magics and evil experiments would not be continued. They would be recorded and banned forever. Even the records might be burned once investigated. No one wanted to see evil work like this continued ever again. That was the stance that the genesis council came up with. "Rise, rain down light over the entire ruins. Weaken every single undead possible. Your eldersa send the mana to the priests to form a bigger barrier so that we can protect the solidres from bites and scratches." The reason that Ignus had begun this way rather than burning everything was that the Genesis council had ensured that the ruins would remain unbroken. The ce was valuable for more than just research and training. This was a ce where the undead deformed naturally now. Anything that perished her would be an undead. Because of that, it was a ce that helped the world seem bnced. Unlike the cemeteries and other old battlefields, this ce was cursed in a way. It was and of undead that would remain controlled within this area without breeding disease or spreading. A battle field where undead formed would naturally spread and grow without being countered by purification magic skills. Culling the undead there was a matter of time and effort. Here, the undead could form even if all of them were killed. Thend could not be purified enough, even with the greatest skills. All due to the many years of terrible experimentation on various races. The immortal chasing race that had owned this had been hidden in secrecy earlier to all the kingdoms. But as the party had grown and learned more, they had shared what they learned. They had passed on the information about the immortal chasing race and what they had done. Therefore, they are now known. The immortal chasing race that had owned this had been hidden in secrecy earlier to all the kingdoms. But as the party had grown and learned more, they had shared what they learned. They had passed on the information about the immortal chasing race and what they had done. Therefore, they are now known. "Land with me!" The elders of various dragonsnded releasing therge baskets that they had used to carry the soldiers. With theirrge size, the elders could not roam through the ruins. But they could aid the soldiers with their mana and with their general strength when they saw arger threat. Because of this, the forces were able to feel more invigorated than ever before. They could feel the power that each dragon had while supporting them. Especially since the dragonkin warriors were right beside them. They were fighting with one another, but they were also fighting with the powerful dragon race that had once been a mystery to all of them. A powerful set of untouchable figures. As the light grew in the area, the buffs from the priests also were affecting everyone. They felt lighter and more resistant to the general feeling of death and the darkness mana in the area naturally. This made everyone begin to enter the ruined area much faster. In return, the undead milling about had targets. Living targets. The number of skeletons and zombies began to grow as they crawled out of every ruined home and ruined pile of rubble. Many of them wereing from underground where they had been left in waiting after their connection to the immortal king was gone. What was unexpected though, was the territorial burst of mana from the central tower. Ignus had sensed that there was something there with his natural instincts. But what he had not expected was the denser darkness mana that had gathered there now. "Mordant, what are your thoughts?" "There is something there. It started gathering dense dark mana that I might have trouble counting since it is very chaotic. There might be something going insane there. The body left behind without a mind." Mordant could sense the chaotic nature of the mana. "You are saying that the body left behind had been left empty. So it took in all manas, including chaotic manas that base in darkness?" Ventus felt that they were about to face one of the most natural chaotic mana monsters now. They had found out that chaotic manas would always be around. they would not be going anywhere. But that was just a fact of life now. With the flow of mana being normal now, they had to ept that there would be some aspects of chaotic mana always bleeding in to the world and having to find bnce again. "If we are dealing with chaotic monsters, we will need to use all of our manas together." Current could understand that the unity of royal dragons would be necessary. Especially with the facts that they were all powerful apart, but had to learn bnce through their past experiences. "We have done it with the help of others. We are dragons above all other dragons. We will unite ourselves yet again. Show the leadership of our race. It will be example to the wyverns and all whoe after we leave to explore the elemental nes." Terron had his own views. As the dragon race''s leaders, they should not need help. They should stand strong with their power and show off the unyielding power of the dragons right here and now. They were leading this fight to clean up arge threat left behind. And they had just sensed that threat. "The mana just left the tower and all the undead are going berserk." Mordant altered the others of this. The undead had begun to go wild with ayer of darkness mana on them. The light from rise had weakened it greatly, but the body left behind clearly had a connection to all the undead still. Just an instinctual one and not a fine tuned control as the immortal king had when he was in control. "Tofather! Push forward as a unit!" The order forced the soldiers following Ignus to group us. He took his dragonkin form and tworge balls of me appeared within his wed hands. He threw them at arger undead which caused an eerie explosion and brought ck smoke. This caused disarray within the undead that had begun to run wild. Enough that the grouped up soldiers had the ability to fight better. They could use their defenses in their squads to push through theyrger groups of skeletons oozing dark mana. des of water and wind also shot out from the sky where Current and Ventus did the same. They aimed at therger undead crawling from the massive open spaces that lead in to the depths of the ruinednd. The winding passageways would need to be cleared if they went that route. However, the tower didn''t require them to go underground. Ignus knew the route to it and would lead them there himself. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2134 2134. Dragons Might

    Chapter 2134 2134. Dragons'' Might


    "What''s the issue!?" The shout came from Rise who was looking over the entire battle field. She was sure that the ruins would not be that dangerous with the light that was weakening all the undead. She could even see the weakest falling and struggling to move at all. But when she had looked down, she saw that the healers were rushing arge number of soldiers back toward healing tents. This struck her as odd since she was boosting their light rted healing type skills. They should have a better time of healing them before they were so badly wounded that the soldiers were out of the fighter entirely. "There is arger undead. The appraisal experts are working now!" those that had taken thje the time to learn the all around appraisal skills and also make appraisal everything within their life, had been granted appraisal rted skills. Some had focused on monster parts. Others had focused on weapons or metals. Some even focused on herbs as a whole. But those that had focused on these things were incredibly valuable. They had formed teams to help with just this sort of event. Battles were full of uncertainties and having more information was very valuable to everyone. Walker had proven this to the entirety of Genesis forces many times over as his information had changed the way battle swerve fought. It could be the difference in victory or defeat. When it came to the information that they were in need of protection while they used their skills. They were not all focused enough or adept enough to get instant information. They also understood that their appraisals would yield different information with the all around appraisal skill or their own appraisal type skills. Thisption brought about enough information for the forces to make their move. "The reports are in, we have a zombified saber cat, it has force that is enough to cut through the shield of our main defenses!"


    Rise heard this from the dragonkin that had been assigned to her. She was sure that this would cause more issues and directed more light mana toward the area. As she did so, she saw the light mana she sent converging in to arger shield and sword within the air. The song that resounded ahead led forward an entire group of newly appointed guardians for Alice. The cathedral had been surprised by the many guards who awakened unique sses because they had always been assigned to guard areas around the churches. Because of that, they had been limated to light mana which they already had an affinity for naturally. Beyond that, they had a great respect and adoration for healers since they went out of their way to help so many. That was how the pdins of light and the warriors of light had appeared. These sses were focused around defending the priests, healers, and those that wielded light rted magical skills. The closer they worked with them, the more powerful they were. When they defended Alice, shields of light glowed on their arms. They had metal based shields that naturally absorbed light mana, but their skills just built off of that. Because they deterred the general skeletons and zombies, Alice was able to focus on the greater evil. The rotting body of the zombified saber cat did not lose the aura of danger that it had when it was alive. It might not be a monster that was seen alive any more, but the immortal king had left it behind. It was powerful and able to wield sharp ws sharper than any saber. But when the light sword that Alice created shed it, the rotting body was purified and parts fell off to return to nature as they should be. When it struck the shield, its broken ws were turned to dust as its ancient bones should have been. This additional light man only strengthened the attacks from all the warriors and Alice as they moved forward. Their movement pushed the other smaller groups to move faster in a unified fashion. They saw the royal dragons flying in the air in their dragonkin forms around the main tower which held the threat they needed to eliminate. When the mainforced reached there, various undead began breaking through spots in the ground. The copsed homes had covered the connected basements. The massive underground maze was their home. Was their resting grounds. But they were spurred on by the remaining body of the immortal king. The dark mana pulsed again causing the entire tower to begin to crumble. It had been years upon years that the ancient tower remained standing. The only thing preventing it from copsing was the uniqueness of the immortal king''s bond with it. He had needed to maintain it enough so that he would not fall victim to the damage it sustained while he was attached to it. Now that the immortal king was free though, all methods of holding it together were gone. As the dark mana spread from it, Mordant was forced to repel a lot of it. Rise even had to lower herself in the air to defend the many soldiers without proper defenses from the dark mana which she could counter. "Breathe in together!" Ignus ignored the dangers as the mana hit his scales. He was sure that they could resist these attacks even though he knew that they were enough to eat away at his tougher scaled defense. A little pain was a fine price to pay for a proper victory over an evil monster. Over a brighter future. The mana as each royal dragon affiliated with as dominator dragons were purer. They were able to control them much better. Therefore, when they channeled all of their wills in to dragon breath attacks of all forms, the air grew heavy. The twisted and jagged skeletal body that appeared shrouded in darkness mana emanated an aura of death and chaos. Its hold on the nearby undead drove them to be even more violent. Yet, as the dragons controlled their manas to even finer forms, there was a single thing that every soldier understood. They werebining their wills to create a nature dragon breath right here and now. The skills that Walker had used to take on dragon forms using elemental manas had been powerful. They had leftsting impressions and the ideas that a nature dragon form existed was more than true. The royal dragons envisioned this as they fought. The soldiers pushed for their mana to help their leaders as well. The force in the air was greater as the chaotic skeleton was being oppressed just by the incredible weight of denser mana. If the immortal king had controlled this old body of his, then they would have been attacked by now. But since the weakened body was left behind to be filled with madness and chaotic dark mana, there was no chance that it could resist. When everyone seemed to pause, the dragons had reached their capacity for their purer mana. As they released their dragon breaths all at the same time, there was a sense of impending doom. The only reason that the manas did not spread out was because of the fine control over them that the royal dragons had. They were dominator dragons! They controlled the manas that they were focused on. They had that control through many years of meditation and training. Not because they were born with it. They could not be dominators if theycked that control. As the breaths spiraled together and hit the body of the immortal king, the bones attempted to resist. But the natural mana created was forcing an opposite and more controlledw toward it. The chaotic mana could not overwhelm the natural mana which was bnced and orderly. The cracking bones fell piece by piece as the density of dark, death, and chaotic mana was pulled apart. It had been many years of growing this body. Centuries went in to making it able to resist powerful attacks that would have crushed any normal skeleton. A body of an elder lich needed to be powerful. But when It faced thebination of power from the dragon''s might¡­ it crumbled. The dark mana buffing and pushing the undead in to madness disappeared instantly. The entire ruins went silent as the undead were struck down and there was no evidence of any of them moving up from the depths any longer. Those who had healing abilities didn''t cease to look at anything though. They found those affected with decay and injuries so that they could heal. The dragons also remained standing as they slowly lowered themselves on to the tower to control the remaining mana. Their joint efforts proved to be greater than what they could do alone. A true symbol of unity for the dragon race as a whole. ¡­


    ¡­.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2135 2135. Boundaries

    Chapter 2135 2135. Boundaries


    "I Can''t keep track of how much the wind mana is changing around us. Walker, the mana that is making up the bridge shifts over and over." Gil had managed to catch on to the fact that the bridge they walked on was less solid than what it appeared. While the bridge seemed to be solid and looked like a bridge to the party, they all had begun to realIze that they were not seeing the same things. Su had mentioned that the bridge had a solid white color in her eyes. But that was most likely the fact that she spent a lot of time around light mana. Since she had gained the bond with Midnight and epted the dragon aspect of who she was, Su had limated to all manas. But because she had trained with healers and Rise, she had gained a better understanding of light mana. Remey saw the bridge as a deep crimson red, like the mes she used in alchemy to purify the more difficult herbs of impurities. Gil of a light green wind color which was simr to many birds that had higher wind affinities. Midnight and Onyx didn''t say much, but they clearly saw different things because they were constantly looking at the dense mana that made the bridge up with curiosity. Walker could also sense their awe. "I think the mana is bnced but always flowing. The mana pulses slightly when I focus on it and I see the different manas mixing within it. But the outer edges are always the most condensed manas which allow us to follow it. Like, we aren''t actually walking on it, you know?" Walker had a hard time sharing what he could sense. The manas were flowing from the elemental nes and to the world, then back. Like two people passing the manas back and forth constantly in a game of catch. That passing action bnced the bridge and allowed it to form a proactiveyer defending from the chaotic manas that were all around it. Like a tunnel without solid walls. More alike to a magic barrier than anything. The bridge was sealed within itself. But when it came to them walking on it, Walker sensed that the bridge was not actually t or straight. More like it was pulling them along toward their destination rather than them walking along it. The mana was a flowing thing, therefore, they were now flowing on top of the mana to get to the ce that they needed to be. "I get it, we are moving on an isted stream toward the ocean." Remey likened this to when they were on the ships. They had to make it through the river to get to the ocean. But the oceans were the elemental nes. And the stream of mana that they were taking also went against gravity. Bringing them up mountains and even in to the air. As she described her interpretation, Walker felt that they should write it down as a theory for researchers to follow. Everything that she interpreted made him feel that she was correct. It was simply the slightly child like exnation that made it all work. This came from years of living in the orphanage and teaching the youngest of her siblings at times. Simple education was best for some parts of life. "I wonder why we can''t see anything in the distance either? is it because it''s like a space teleportation rune formation?" Onyx came out of nowhere with the perfect exnation of why they most likely could only see the vast expanse of shing manas colliding around them. The chaotic area outside of the bridge was most likely cut off from them by space mana as well as some other more mysterious forces within mana. It actually made a lot more sense to think this way since the bridge also didn''t make sense in general. "Since the bridge seemed to make some sort of portal in the air without actually being seen from the back, I would say that''s exactly what it is. The runes that formed in the air were all made in space itself, not out of manas that we could sense right away. So the elemental manas must work together with space." Walker felt confident as he spoke. Something within him told him this was right. "Even time might not be affected. I feel like we should be moving at the same time as the world is too. Like time is bnced from the center out maybe?" This feeling was different for Walker. It felt off but not because he was wrong, but because he didn''t understand it himself at all. "Brother, don''t try too hard!" Midnight offered Walker some support, but before she could lean on him to show himfort, the sudden heat that hit them made everyone freeze. They were no longer on the bridge surrounded by shing stars of mana colliding, nor darkness hiding the chaos of manas. Walker took a chance and used the all around appraisal to take a look at where they were. ''Boundary of fire and earth


    This is the boundary between the earth elemental ne, an expanse of stone, earth, and mountains. And the fire elemental ne, an expanse of magma,va, and a sea of mes. The areas where the elemental nes collide and the manas are forced to fuse together are called boundaries. This is because they are the mes where the beings within the elemental nes will often sh or avoid depending on their strength. The intense earth and fire manabining to create theva flow steps and the scorched earth along the boundary will make any being with dual affinities gain natural enlightenment of the elemental manas. However, this is only for those that require the basic growth necessary for their race. There is a very dangerous risk of living within this area due to the chaotic appearance of fire and earth pure manas shing before they meld together naturally¡­''


    There was more information about the uniqueness that appeared here. But Walker was more amazed that the manas had be so dense that they were purely making up thends here in various forms. The fire elemental ne was intense. In the center was a literal sea of mes ording to the all around appraisal. A ce where the earth mana was pushed back leaving only pure fire mana and only that. The very same with the earth elemental panes bing mountains with only earth mana and that was it. An astounding idea that mana had be so dense and pure that it formed everything. But wasn''t the world that way? it was just more spread out and bnced. Therefore, someone couldn''t break things down in to just the manas without extreme force which would be akin to a god if anything. Regardless of that, Walker had more of an idea of how everything came to be. How the elemental nes that surrounded the world might have been the bnce that has magicallye together with the will of existence to be the world. To be that center point. But as the manas began to flow toward the world, the world would be more involved. Would have denser mana overall. That could change things, not that it would happen soon. It would most likely take a hundred years, if not more.


    "This reminds me of the deserts and the volcano areas. But if they were smashed together." Remeyu pointed out the areas that looked likeva had cooled and where the earth appeared to have melted slightly. Even some stones were scorched ck by mes. "That''s exactly what the elemental nes are. ces where the manas are so powerful and dense that they became thend themselves. Regardless of what this means at a deeper level, we have to figure out where the immortal king went. I have a feeling that tracking anything will be nearly impossible. We should find beings that understand the elemental nes. Or this boundary between them. Just as Walker spoke again, he realized that his mana sense was hard to understand. He was literally overloaded with the density of mana that he had to focus greatly to grasp the deep changes within the earth and fire manas around them. ''Scorched roc


    This is a being that is perfectly bnced between earth and fire mana. While some species of roc are mostmonly food within mountains, this is one that was limated to the intense heat within the boundary of earth and fire. As a scorched roc, it is able to manipte molten stones while using the fire mana to fly through the air. The strength of its bodyes from the rocky feathers that are smoldering with intense fire mana within. They are also the best defined and a greater offense when fighting other monsters. They are often intelligent enough to hunt along the boundary of earth and fire. They will rarely attack anything that they feel is too powerfulpared to them. But they are known for attacking things they are curious about to test them out¡­'' n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2136 2136. Way To Go

    Chapter 2136 2136. Way To Go


    The speed that the scorched roc had while moving toward them was more than what any of the party had expected. The mes building on its body also proved that it had a decent control of fire manapared to what was expected of a dual affinity monster. Walker was going to act by stopping the fire mana, but Remey seemed like she was more full of energy. She had already put a hand out to stop anyone else from stepping forward. As she stretched her fingers and rolled her neck, she fell in to a fighting stance. Ina single leap, Remey''s body was wreathed in mes. Larger dragon wings of fire, horns of me, and ws overtook her hands. This was the form of a dragon soul.A being that is unified in mind and soul which could feed on the very mana that it had an affinity for. The impact of her me wed fist striking the scorched roc caused the stone feathers to break off and fall to the ground. The entire roc fell to the ground right after. Remey just stood there looking at it as if she was not at all impressed. "So, Remey might have just doubled in strength the moment we stepped in to this ce. Is that normal?" Gil''s questions was more than fair. They all knew how she could give in to her temper and punch someone. But if she didn''t realize just how much stronger she was now, then she might hurt for real. "This thing is not as strong as I thought, but it was also not too smart to be attacking us. So not a race, just a monster made of rocks and fire." Remey dragged the scorched rock toward them. From what Walker had though, she had crushed it. But when he noticed that it was just knocked out. "What? I wasn''t going to kill something right when we arrived. This doesn''t seem like somewhere we should hunt randomly." Now it sounded like Remey was speaking the basic logic that they all had in their head most of the time. But to be fair they were looking at a much more mature Remey than usual. However, she also had a basic instinct.


    This was a ce where her newly acquired race would be at home. So, she might have a general feeling not to attack certain things or thathe would have the ability to figure out the natural flow of the elemental nes. Walker had noticed that Remey was looking toward the fire elemental ne a lot. That the boundary they were in was only a ce she was. Not where she should be going.Lack of focus, not that she wasn''t actually focused. "I am trying to make sense of all the mana. My mind is overworked right now. Remey, what''s the fire mana feel like to you?" Walker was still having a hard time to limate to the denser manas. It was like he could see much more now. It wasn''t bad, just hard to adapt to since the world had not been anything like this. He could feel so many manas making their way in to his body. Like he was reconnecting to a better ce for him in general. Anyone would feel put off. "It feels like someone just cooked a great dinner and is just waiting for me to find my way to the dining room?" Remey questioned this as she said it because she wasn''t sure that it was the exact feeling. But to say hungry, was making a lot of sense. Her body needed denser fire mana than what most people could find or condense. Therefore, she had the sense that she needed that mana for her growth. Of course the hungry feeling would somewhat fit the billpared to contemting which emotion fit the situation perfectly. "I think I understand what you guys mean. I can sense more mana around us, but not that I can do anything with. I''m not like you two. But it does feel like I got a bit of a boost all around. Like I am somewhat moreplete when ites to certain aspects of my body." Gil''s had the half high elf side of who he was. Now that this was the case, he was able to sense manas in nature better. Since this was how he sensed the earth and fire mana, he also caught on to the fact that it was helping them. Everyone had mana within their body. This was just a fact. Walker had many theories about mana making things up and whatnot. But those would be for a time when they had the freedom to explore these potentials. Gul was sensing that his body was getting purer fire and earth manapared to what they had gotten in the world. Therefore, his body was absorbing it to allow it to properly grow. to allow their full potential. Midnight huffed a few times as she was clearly feeling the effects. As a dragon she had resistances to all elemental manas of some form. Mostly because she also had the affinity for all manas. Thanks to being a true dragon champion. She could be the best dragon he could be. She also had the ability to begin mixing manas and using natural mana. She had learned the degree of control from all the dragons and Walker. Even from Fleur too which was an amazing aplishment when it was taken in to ount that Fleur was a grand nature mana spirit. Now the leader of the spirit race. Because he had such great teachers, she had managed to learn how to bring even more mana to her. The dragons all neededrge amounts of mana to grow. They used it as a means to create the foundation of their strength within elemental purity. Right now, Midnight was able to condense and store away arge amount of fire and earth manas. Much more densely than usual. Even Su had started to feel herself grow. The only one that appeared to be entirely distracted was Onyx. he was focused looking in the distance. He could sense the light elemental mana that was extremely pure. It was a bit far away, but it was close enough that he felt he could go there easily. "We all need to get a hold of ourselves. There isn''t a lot we can learn and gain from here. But first of all. We need to find an intelligent race and let them know of the undead that came here. They might be able to help." Walker snapped everyone back to their senses. It was fine if they gained benefits while they were here. However, they had to remain focused on their true goal. If they were unable to capture the immortal king before he went somewhere he should not be, it could cause a war. Let alone how powerful the immortal king could be if he managed to grow an army here or find a death elemental ne. As if in curiosity, Su looked down as Walker had tried to get everyone to choose a direction. Near her foot, she spotted a small brown figure. "You''re an earth spirit of the spirit race, hello. My friend and I are traveling through here looking for someone to help us. Can you point us in the right direction?" When Walker noticed that Su had attracted the attention of an earth spirit, he realized the boons that they had just for having spirit marks with grand elements spirits or with elemental spirits in general. Su''s partner was the grand earth spirit. Even though it slumbered often in the spirit mark for long periods of time, the earth spirits here could still sense it. Could still Su''s connection to earth which was stronger than other affinities. "King"


    "Sage."


    The little spirit managed to speak just those two options. It appeared that the stubbornness of an earth spirit was still plenty strong within the earth elemental ne. "Thank you. Can you take us to the sage? One of my friends has a young sage title and maybe something better by now." Su couldn''t for the life of her remember all of Walker''s titles and skills. She just went with what she thought she remembered him saying. The little earth spirit pointed ahead. Still somewhere close to the earth and fire boundary, but further in to the earth elemental ne. Since they didn''t have anything else to go off, this was the best option for all of them "Let''s go, maybe this sage came from the world once upon a time. Or they are an intelligent race we can properly form an alliance with while here."Walker was d that they had a direction to go. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2137 2137. Earth Plane Monsters

    Chapter 2137 2137. Earth ne Monsters


    "I''m surprised the elemental spirits here are friendly. I thought that they might be a little more adverse to us appearing here. We aren''t the same as what they might have seen." Su had a feeling that they would have been met with more resistance. After all, they were entirely different from those that might live here naturally. They were from a ce that had been cut off from the elemental nes for a very long time. Anyone would have found it odd or generally unsettling to see random new beings. "Think of it this way though, to a spirit race being, we are giving off simr manas. You were able to speak with it since it came to you sensing a grand earth spirit. Not to mention your own higher affinity with earth mana." What Walker thought was pretty simple. Most of the elemental spirits would probably get along to some degree. So while there was a weirdness, there was also a fondnessing from the simr manas that the earth spirit senses. Especially since a grand elemental spirit was stronger.


    Besides that, when it came to the elemental nes, Walker was beginning to sense that it wasn''t just all out chaos. That there were rules of sorts. Laws. which went to reinforce the fact that these powerful kings or leaders within the ne would be very powerful. Looking out at the rocky earth ne ahead of them, Walker spotted some rocks that were moving along. He was surprised but was reminded that they were in a different ce all together. That the monsters and races here might not make any sense to them. ''Slow rock snail. This monster uses condensed earth mana to help form a very tough shell. It looks like any other boulder which allows it to camouge from predators. It is also very hard to bite through when ites to those who attempt to eat them. Whoever, it''s very soft body needs the shell. Without it, the dense earth mana that it uses to keep its shell tough will bleed out. Hence why they are considered a very good food item.they are very heavy due to the shell they wear though, avian monsters can not possibly pick them up without significant wind mana being used. They can growrger andrger over time. If they are not killed when they are smaller, they have a chance to be a behemoth stone snail¡­''


    Some of the information went right in to how this monster could grow. Walker was not at all surprised that just like an elemental spirit, that the monsters here could keep growing in to amore powerful form. Not just an infant to adult form of progression. From what it appeared, many of these were easily defeated by the monsters around. One had even fallen in to the earth as Walker watched from a distance. Something had set a false ground trap and the slight puff of dust were thest moments of the slow rock snail. It also made Walker focus wholeheartedly on the earth mana. He had a clever view of all the manas around him, even the tiniest amount of wind and water manas. The earth mana was the densest though. He could feel it and draw it in much more easily. Walker could also feel that the earth rted skills would cost him next to zero mana at all just by walking through here. That was just one benefit that Walker had noticed. Yees, it might be because of his high mana senses and understanding of earth mana. Or it might just be because the earth mana all around was denser. However, Walker felt it was the fact that his race is origin race and that greatly influenced his ability to use manas overall. The thing that was a benefit of this, was simply the fact that he felt he was learning more about the race he had be. He also sensed that the more he pursued these feelings, the greater knowledge he would discover. The more he could learn. "That''s not a nt, is it?" Remey looked like she was doing her best to hold herself back. What could have been seen as the weirdest nt ever, left Remey wondering if this was just an interesting ,monster, a nt, or an herb that she should be trying to get information about. ''Thorny rock braid


    This is a unique nt which grows only in the earth elemental ne outskirts. It grows long vines which braid themselves together due to the thorns that they are covered in. The dense earth mana that makes this nt grow is considered weakpared to other nts. The densest earth mana will gather in the small bead like fruits which grow just below eachrge thorn. They can be gathered and used to help something or someone absorb earth mana more smoothly. It is strongly rmend for the young with earth affinity born in areas with lower earth mana. To create a more potent potion of earth mana speed absorption¡­''


    When Rem,ey heard Walker say this out loud, she wondered how he had known about the potion form being experimented with. "The guild is challenging our knowledge of new herbs and attempting to make that potion. The world and the system really know everything. I wonder how much it recorded. Or did someone seed and we just didn''t know?'' Remey wanted to know if it was possible that she was still working on something alreadypleted. "No, look, it says the ingredients to make the potion form, butcks the information on how to make it. That means you are on the right track." Walker noticed that the rest of the appraisal was still partial. As in this was a very new potion. Even to the elemental nes and the world, it would be new. "I was sure that Remey would go to war with the system of existence if it had given away the secrets to the potion to everyone else." Gil''sughter made Remey re at him, but she was very d that she still had the chance to discover an entirely new potion. "The potion will be very good. Drink the affinity potion then drink a matching mana absorption speed potion, and many people would grow much faster. Or you could use more powerful magic skills above your level of strength with the high amounts of mana you are absorbing."


    "It would be temporary, but it could also make potions, food, forge, well really anything better. Basically, it might be a method to refine to make something about your level overall. Break the bonds of the strongest weapon or the highest ranked potion." Remey''s theories could keep going with where these potions would be valuable. "I like the idea. To increase the rate of sess. If healers used them they could more likely save someone on the edge of life and death." "Exactly! Su understands it all." Remey was very d to hear Su expressing this. Meanwhile, Walker and Midnight were picking the small brown bead like fruits. He was fine with taking the time to pick many of them since this nt surely could not grow back home. If it could, then the environment would need a lot of mana to create. A lot of cost to build. "So the pants here might grow with only earth mana. That means that they are pretty much going to be very hard and nearly impossible to eat." Gil''s point of view was different. Even when it came to gathering food here, it would be troublesome to handle this. Beyond that, it was a good idea to worry about the survival side of it. If they had to, these foods would be a bad idea. It would be hard to eat especially if they were not earth affinity. "I have plenty of food in my high spatial storage. For now." Walker''s reassurance helped. What didn''t help, was the sounds of something fighting up ahead. Walker looked up to spot what could only be a golem. Yet, when he looked closely, he found that it was not a golem but a meld of stone boulders and skeletons. ''Earth brute


    A monster made of undead skeletons and high earth mana density boulders. It was an experiment made by the immortal king to test whether ancient skeletons can absorb earth mana without losing control. This is a failed experiment due to the dense earth mana breaking the bond with the immortal king and sending the partial undead monster in to a wild fit or rage. The only thing holding it together is the earth mana and the remaining undead manas of the skeletons. It can be broken with great force and the bleeding mana pulled away from it to destroy it. The force it wields is greater due to the denser earth mana¡­''


    ¡­


    ¡­.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2138 2138. Experimenting King

    Chapter 2138 2138. Experimenting King


    "Oh I hope that this thing is not the sage." Gil was being sarcastic since he already could tell that this was not a monster that should be here. That it was not anything that should be here whatsoever.


    "It''s called an earth brute. But it''s not a normal one at all. I am pretty sure something called an earth brute exists as apletely different monster. This one though, was made by the immortal king. He started experimenting." None of them wanted to hear that the immortal king was able to experiment since it got here. Especially since immortal king was weaker, in a foreign ce, and could not easily replenish the undead if lost. Yet here he was ying with multiple undead like they are disposable and nothing threatened him. "There might be more powerful undead with the immortal king than we realized." this was what they all had expected. But Onyx summed it up out loud to only reinforce that they would have a harder fight than what they expected. The greater fear that everyone had, was that the undead would be powerful enough to fight the monsters here more easily. Not that they would be stronger than them, but that the overwhelming might of undead in hordes would appear.


    All of them had seen what that looked like. It wasn''t the sheer power that the immortal king had. He was powerful because he had lived for a very long time. But the greatest strength was that an elder lich could bring back thousands of undead within a few moments. The fight would always be a long one if the onebating the elder lich was not way more powerful than them. "We have to deal with it. This came from our world and where we have been working hard. It will look bad on us if we don''t handle this." Remey was sure that this made a lot more sense right now. They were important in the world. They were heroes and created an entire unified alliance. Yet, what if the rulers of the elemental nes saw this. What if they found out that the party came here short after a great threat did? They could already be losing trust with a ruler in the panes because of the immortal king creating a bad reputation for the races that came from genesis or were from the world in general. Not to mention that they would also be under the new threat of losing their people and their own lives. So what time would they have to bother with some new people who came form the world? That would certainly take second ce to a threat. Beyond that, what about the simple facts that the immortal king had caused trouble for everyone in the world. There was a duty to the world and those that the immortal king ahad harmed. The sentence that the immortal king had brought on themselves was not long enough yet. Either remain imprisoned, or be defeated once and for all. The evil should not be allowed to remain. It wasn''t that the immortal had changed either, he was evil still. No growth to be a better being, just more experimentation and ignoring of any way to better themselves. "It''sing this way now." Gil let loose an arrow and cracked one of the skeletons mixed with earth. The monster stuttered for a second causing Gil to understand that cracking the skulls of the skeletons exposed did decent damage. He had just aimed for the skull since that was the way to destroy a skeleton normally. "So break the skulls and then keep punching until it can''t rebuild the earth part of its body." Remeyu just went with it. She was fairly certain that she could fight this earth brute much mro easily than what she was imagining she would be able to do back home. Not that the immortal king made this there, this was a result of a failed attempt to mix earth and the undead perfectly. "I really don''t want to see what else they might be ahead. " Su felt that they would be seeing more monsters like this. Things that definitely shouldn''t be and would just cause trouble. The skeleton and earth monster already had multiple other monsters killed on the ground around it since it was just violent. That was it. Gil fired an arrow that burst in to mes when it shattered another of the skulls sticking out of the earth brute''s body. Remey leaped in to the air and Walker channeled the fire elemental mana from Gil''s arrow toward her. The mana adhered on to her fist and she mmed it in to the top of the earth brute''s body.Large chunk ofpressed earth fell to the ground exposing three more skeletal bodies. Gil had been ready for this. Remey was the breaking force. He was the precise attacker dealing the instant killing attacks that made the entire monster they faced weaker. With Walker helping them mix their efforts together wlessly by providing a flow of supporting mana, they were easily causingrge chunks of damage to the monster. The earth brute had already lost half its body in the next defense breaking fist that Remey threw. A few skeletons were already cracked as the next chunk of earth hit the ground. "Gil, hold off." Su warned Gil and stepped in front of him. Not to defend him from a surprise attack, but because Midnight had used her wings to propel herself forward. The wind mana mixed in buffeted Gil and he was taken a little surprised. Su hade there in case he needed a hand bncing. It was better to be safe than sorry in battle. As Midnight made contact, the light mana that she had channeled in to her ws was made apparent. The dragon ws were powerful to begin with, but having the slight mana to purify the undead aspect of the earth brute was powerful. She shredded parts of earth from the brute. Unbroken skeletal pieces also fell on to the ground all around therge earth brute. When Onyx wound up his tail, Midnight had just leaped back for his attack to strike safety. Naturally, Onyx''s attack had broken the entire monster in half. Nearly every skull was exposed to the open. Meaning, that everyone could attack and destroy the earth brute entirely. "And there it goes, back to the pile of earth it should be. Just with some bone dust mixed in to it all." Remey stretched her arms above her head. As she rxed a little, she could tell that Walker was falling in to though. "There are going to be more. Don''t sit there and worry about what they will be like. We will break them." "I know, but the more that immortal king experiments with the purer manas here and his undead, the stronger he gets. The more of a problem he can be. Especially if he can get as strong as he was before splitting his mind up. "Walker, there are mana crystals in the soil and mixed in to the bones." Gil had investigated the remains of the earth brute. He was surprised that the earth mana had condensed right in to being an earth mana crystal within the earth brute. So much earth mana had been part of him that this was the result. Very shocking since the earth mana crystals were not thismon back home. "There is a lot more earth mana here. It would make sense if the condensed earth mana was forced in to the skeletons." This somewhat made sense to Walker. There was a high chance that the forcefully gathered earth mana would not just disappear after there was no control over it. Instead, it would be trapped and crystalize. "This would mean that the naturally formed mana crystals here would be significantly higher in quality along with purity. The purity would be the major factor. Pure mana crystals were hard toe by in the world but would definitely get moremon over the next few years. But not to the point which the elemental nes had. "Broken bones. Brother, bines." Midnight called out, she had scouted ever so slightly ahead and found that there was a spot with over fifty different broken bone types. "This is easily at least twenty skeletons broken in to pieces. Some are missing too." Gil and Walker nearly responded at the same time. They had examined all of these quickly and saw the number easily. But the danger was that they had no idea what these bones were here doing ahead of them. Also, what might have crushed themes so easily. The damage to the bones left some of them just shattered and not even worth counting. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2139 2139. True Earth Sage

    Chapter 2139 2139. True Earth Sage


    There was also a lot of dense earth mana moving around the skeletons. Like something had used denser earth mana to shatter them when the skeletons hade near them. "But none of them look anything like more than just normal skeletons. They aren''t the immortal king''s body." Gil''s interpretation was fair, but Walker still wondered what had happened.


    Learning what had happened and what was going on would be important to understand where the immortal king was going. What kind of experimentation he was doing? And for what goal? They all needed to grab this if they wanted to be able to handle anything else that wasing at them.


    "What is this sage that we are trying to find?" Remey made a single request. Simply because she wasn''t sure what they were even looking for in all this.


    A sage was someone deeply connected to mana and the flow of nature. The flow of the world. But how could a sage be here if there was not a connection to the world until now? Therefore., were they just a sage of the elemental nes? Or the nature that came with the elemental nes.


    I gained the young sage title when I was learning about manas and natural mana through nature and how they flowed. But the more I focused on it all and got closer to natural mana, the more I felt that the title was worth it. That it was part of me. I still have the title too." Walker felt that he was sure that the title would be useful within the elemental nes.


    "Another sage? And a human sage? Interesting. The humans were supposed to be a race that''s extinct within the elemental ne of earth. It has been quite some years before I heard or saw anything like you."


    The voice wasing from the ground itself. Right below them to be exact. But there was nothing there. "Ah, I forget that you are unlike the earth spirits thate to speak with me. Or the other beings that can see through the density in mana creating the very earth I am made of now. Please ept my apology." The slight roughughter was like an old man who was in need of a cup of water. But as the ground shifted, Walker understood.


    The figure moving and condensing before them was holding an earth stave. It has intricate natural earth runes that only appeared when the earth mana was so dense that it could manifest as such. While the figure was not thin, the density of their body was intense. Enough to make the area itself feel like there was a hidden pressure.


    Not a threatening aura of any sorts, but just a warning that they were a powerful being that deserved some respect. "I wonder how many years it has been between now and the time that I came here to search for the true meaning of earth. The true meaning of what might create the very foundation for manas to put their roots in to?"


    Walker had no idea what to say. The being that appeared before they had a gravel beard, stood ten feet tall, and was wearing what could be thought as a statue set of robes which still moved with it, without even making a sound of cracking stone.


    "I don''t think we have ever seen anyone of your race around. Anyone made of earth would be a member of the spirit race. An earth spirit stronger than a grand earth spirit like my partner." Su was confident that they had not seen anyone like this man.


    "Ah, I see why that may confuse you. However, you are following a former member of my race. These undead are all too familiar. I recall the necromancy skills and practices that some of the elders used to think would be the key to their immortality. They failed to pursue nature. How foolish, aren''t I correct?"


    Realizing that this was a moment of the immortal chasing race just like the immortal king, Walker immediately drew the next source of mana with higher density.


    mes sparked to life around everyone forming a dense wall of fire that sent heat outwards. Remey also took a battle stance with dense mes gathering in the body. They easily followed her will and showed off the full form of her body.


    "Oh, I would take it that you do know of my race. Please tell me that they have mostly been suppressed by another race. The angels should have returned from their trip through the continents some time ago. They should have been able to change the path of my people."


    There was still not any malice in his words as earth formed chairs and a table. They were simple but a clear show of how powerful the earth mana is. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Do you know someone that calls themselves immortal king?" Walker intensified the fire mana before Su''s partner, the grand earth spirit, burst out from the spirit mark and stood in front of Walker waving its hands.


    "Thank you for speaking on my behalf young one. They have a right to be unhappy with me. My race is vile. They follow orders to experiment with everything, including themselves. It is how I managed to identally find the remnants of earth spirits like yourself. They traveled through the elemental bridges, I followed and found myself here."


    "It''s been some time, but I have limated and learned the way of the earth. I''ve shed my body and even my former race to be the true earth sage. Please rest easy. I do not have ns on harming any of you. Especially those who helped bring the world back to us."


    Slowly letting the mes die down, they found the true earth sage sitting on the stone chair he had made. " Please, my fellow sage, rest here and help me understand the wood as it is now. I have yet to be home for a long time. I''ve yet to see anything as ofte other than that poor excuse for an immortal."


    "We came chasing the immortal king. He''s an elder lich that was trapped within the ruins of the immortal chasing races city. After battling many dangers, including the one that damaged the world, we found he had escaped his self made prison."


    "We will explore the elemental nester in search of knowledge and others like me. But for now, that is our goal. One earth spirit told us that you were here or we could go to the earth king and speak to him for assistance."


    Walker still held some fire near him just in case, but he did not sense the earth mana moving whatsoever around them. This true earth sage was not showing any animosity still.


    "So they did end themselves. It must have been a different race than the angels though. Please do not tell me that they caused the world to be shut off¡­" The true earth sage clearly feared that he could have left behind his race which caused even more untold damage.


    "They were involved, but it was a human turned demon lord that chose to give up bing a hero and turned to being a monster. It broke the delicate flow of the world as it was still forming. Breaking the bridges. There''s more but that is part of everything."


    The gap in knowledge might be arger issue than what Walker believed. He also noticed that the earth spirit before was not a spirit race, but an earth elemental spirit. Meaning there was now a difference between the race and just a spirit.


    That should have been expected though. Not everything would change. Especially when the worlds flow and the elemental nes flow werepared to one another along with the beings within each respectively.


    "I broke those skeletons. They emanated death mana. They tried absorbing earth mana to grow in strength. Death and earth is not an eptable fusion within this part of the earth ne." Pressure grew around the true earth sage.


    From what they could all tell, there were limits and rules to what manas should be where. This was all due to the purity of the let bal manas and their density within these ces.


    "Weck the knowledge of these rules. I understand we may break some, but if we allow the immortal king to flee and get somewhere with more death mana¡­"


    Walker didn''t finish the thought. He saw the true earth sage nodding along with his words. It was very easy to catch in to what the people he had met here thought.


    "The world is a mystery to me now. If I were to visit again, I would not like to be an enemy of those living there. I wish to see the nature I did as a child before I came here." Sentimentality was where many would find sce. This being had once lived in the world. They would wish to see it again.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2140 2140. Important Race

    Chapter 2140 2140. Important Race


    While the conversation grew, it was interesting to see the way that someone else perceived the world from outside of it. To the true earth sage, the world was some frozen in ce thing. Time could have stopped there. Everything he knew could have been just waiting for him to return. He had been cut off from it while undergoing his own journey here.


    Walker also found it interesting that he mentioned how he had been in pursuit of different earth mana rted strengths and theories. He had not followed the immortality exploration as his race mostly did and what they had literally been known for.


    Due to that, he had not been as epted. He had not been as supported as the others. They had different goals with their research, and just researching a singr mana to understand it at the deepest possible level was not what they focused on.


    Walker felt that the immortal chasing race might have had some simrities to the angels. They had divided themselves up by their research and what they needed to study. Such as the other manas that were not a part of the core manas or even when looking within one of their two empires, they cut themselves off from one another to focus on a singr mana or research topic.


    The immortal choosing race appeared a little more unified over all though. They mostly researched the key to immortality. They shared their research. They built their city up to literally create a core of their greatest research.


    It made Walker think that because their entire culture was rted to researching, experimentation on other beings, and finding immortality, that they might have been blind. That the immortal chasing race had lost the ability to see their actions as evil because they had created a culture where they believed they were doing something amazing.


    This idea that their perspective and allowed them to move forward ignoring what could be seen as evil acts put Walker in a strange mindset. Because to them, his actions as a hero would seem as those of a viin. Not that the immortal king remaining now didn''t have a new perspective. He had literally be an elder lich. A monster.


    The true earth sage appeared to have a more biased view point. He missed his people because he cared for them no matter what they had done. However, he was appalled by their work because it made his own research unimportant. It went against what he had learned as he grew within his field of earth mana research.


    The true earth sage had learned that all things can return to right. They can rot through dark mana, and what was left would be one with the soil. Would slowly nourish the earth so that other things could grow. That was an important characteristic of all earth, stone, gravel, all aspects of earth mana.


    It gave a solid foundation for all life to grow, and also allowed for other manas to have ces to use as a solid bond. Hence, magma could be brown when mixing with fire so that newnds and mountains could grow. So much came to be when the earth was potent and solid. Therefore, immortality would be against the earth. Against the flow of manas that he couldprehend and flow along with.


    Therefore, knowing that the way the others were researching undead and immortality through the experimentation of unique skills, harmed him. It could break his research since it would break the flow of earth mana that he had understood for many years now.


    "You must know, that when I return, I will explore the world as I see fit. I will not see it only through one eye." the true earth sage had decided that he would prefer to follow things as he needed. With the flow.


    "That''s fine. I just hope that when that dayes, you visit Genesis and try some good food." Walker knew that the true earth sage didn''t need food since he was literally made of earth and earth mana now. He had given up his form so that he could be truly one with his research.


    "That would be appreciated. It has been a very long time since I was able to rest easily anywhere with a banquet and a party." The idea sounded almost fantastical to the true earth sage after so many years he had lost count while being here.


    "You will seek out the earth king, the highest spiritual being when ites to earth. They are unique and they are stubborn within their own right. They represent earth and all that earth mana is. It is very unlike the odd little earth spirit you have. He is not like the earth spirits we have." this stumped Walker. He had thought that the true earth sage had realized.


    "This is a member of the spirit race, the grand earth spirit who bnced the world with us when it was unbnced due to broken mana flow."


    "Spirit race? Not the elemental race? I had my theories¡­" A hand came to the true earth sage''s chin in curiosity.


    Walker quickly exined that after the flow had returned to the world and they had awakened many dormant elemental spirits, that they had begun to take on their own race. That they had all believed the elemental nes were the same.


    "Elementals are moremon. Spirit race might be here, but elemental spirits are more likely. Then the intelligent and powerful spirits be elementals. Beings of denser mana that may look and act simr to me the more powerful they are. That is how I gained my form, I allowed the earth to take my being and shape me yet again as an elemental. Is that not what you did?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Ah, that was different. I epted manas and the binds I had with two of my family members. That led me to focus on life mana unique to rebirth and new life within an underwater volcano. I applied the same sort of maniption forcing the life mana to re up within my body. When I did that, I blended the manas, affinities, and everything about me together perfectly. I managed to be a member of the Origin race."


    "The what!?"


    "I will personally be taking you to the earth king. He will not remain in stubborn slumber with you there. Stop hiding your mana and let it free." This was not what anyone expected to hear. The change in tone was of shock and a little awe.


    "Is everything alright?" Walker felt that he might have done something wrong.


    "Not at all. Origin race, how much of an honor it is to see your people here. Thank you for your visit. I hope to learn great things."


    "Ture earth sage, please rx. I am blind to what the origin race truly is and what they do. Just treat me as you have been doing. I was once just a human before I embarked on my journey. Before I began this never ending adventure that brought me throughout the world and now even here." Walker tried tough it off but the others were also a bit worried.


    "Of course, I did not wish to rush you. You are one of the important beings that help unify the elemental nes preventing the elemental wars from returning. You can weave the very fabric of mana. See the very essence of what mana and all existence is. Your race''s ventures in to the unknown have only brought new creations to the elemental nes and their outer edges. Your race is one that can mold chaos in to order if they so desire."


    Such high praise was amazing. Walker felt that he was getting a very new understanding of what the origin race was. What they could do when they had gained enough strength. It was so powerful that they were able to stop chaotic mana and create things from it. An astounding feat.


    "What about dragon souls? Do you know about them?" Remey saw that the true earth sage had a lot of knowledge and decided to ask away. Why not?


    "Dragon soul? You mean those born with the purest manas among the dominator dragons and the elemental devourer dragons?" Now Remey looked excited and surprised just like Walker. He also looked at her with interest since he wanted more answers too.


    "I have no idea, I did a lot like Walker and followed a new path to a new race just like he did. I had toe here since the manas in the world were not as pure as here." When Remey said this, the true earth sage looked as if he was having a hard time. Too much was happening. Too much new information that really just did not make sense. What kind of ce had the world be for amazing events like this to happen?

 Chapter 2141 2141. Unique Earth

    Chapter 2141 2141. Unique Earth


    All of this was astounding to the true earth sage. There was a race of those that were known among the elemental nes as those that could shape the nes. That could alter anything and everything. That literally searched for the secrets of existence. Then there was a being here that would be able to match the dominator and devourer dragons. One that stood between them as the most powerful form that they could take where their body and soul werepletely unified. It was a form that was thought of as the pinnacle of dragon kind. Yet here was someone who was not a dragon that had be that? It didn''t make sense. This was all too much. The world had to be some spectacr ce during all this time. Whatever had caused all this to be isted and all that to be blocked off from the elemental nes had been some spectacr blessing. The sheer number of things that could be within the world that outside the expectations he had were just unfathomable. What the true earth sage wanted to do was immediately explore it all. The researcher''s mindset was pushing him to ask more questions. Unfortunately, the party was stuck on a few different things. "What''s a devourer dragon by the way? Never heard of that. But a few dominator dragons took their ces in the world.w e helped them find the hidden legacies they needed. They''lle here eventually too."


    Remey stunned the true earth sage yet again. She had just said that a dominator dragon was able to form without the elemental nes being connected to the world at all. "The dominator dragons all speak about finding their bonds they have with the elemental nes. They should be unable to grow to that form without the true and pure manas of the elemental nes. It shouldn''t be possible."


    The true earth sage''s high pitched voice now that he had be exasperated made Walker and the others feel a little bad.


    "We are pretty used to this sort of thing. A lot of random things happen that do not make sense. You would not be able to handle a lot of them. But you will catch on that more and more will happen the longer you are around us. I thought it was only Walker when we first started, but it''s all of us. Even some of our family and friends are doing crazy things that make events happen we can''t ever predict." Gil felt for the true earth sage. This was a man who had been part of the immortal chasing race. Was not trusted because he focused on the earth mana and not immortality. Naturally, it was funny that he had gained a form of immortality by bing one with the purest principles of earth mana itself. Regardless, he was now seeing things that made no sense. This was what anyone would expect from being told about so much. "We can try to tell you more as we go. But we need to see the earth king you and the earth spirit mentioned. There are a lot of things we need help with. Especially with hunting right now. We can talk about visitors from the world and the elemental nes going across the bridgeter." Walker took things back to the true focus here. Su nodded along with him so that it made the true earth sage morefortable with this singr focus. Having their minds linked on this topic would be easier than getting distracted by so much. "Brother, I will learn to be better here too." Onyx slithered around to take Walker''s shoulders as his spot for now. He was sure that they were about to move very fast and he didn''t want to fall behind. Just a feeling. He would bide his time until he could explore more in these elemental nes. "Onyx, we will be fine. We are probably going to walk there." Walker did his best to reassure Onyx that nothing weird would happen. "No, I will just move us on the earth." the ground shifted as the entirety of the ground heaved. They were all being moved on a tform of denser earth. "This is all a part of my body as well." The true earth sage had a muchrger form than he had shown. The size would equal a small mountain. "When I lost my form, I struggled to create another. Until I realized that there is no set form for earth mana. It takes the forms we see here. We see a lot of different fusions and methods for the earth to change, how the mana can flow and alter itself constantly. So, my pure earth mana can change the way I make my body." The true earth sage clearly enjoyed this little informational lesson. "And dragon soul, the devourer dragon is a simr form of dominator dragon. However, they consume the mana around them to sue where the dominator dragon''s control and refine it. One uses the mana around them and the other that they gather within them."


    "The devourer dragons will remain in dense mana areas and their form changes to suit absorbingrge amounts of mana that they process through their bodies. They are often slim and very quick. The dominator dragons arerger and slower, but can create massive amounts of power. They are harder to fight."


    "So you have fought dragons since you have been here?" Midnight perked up as she finally asked her own question. She didn''t see any reason to avoid something like this. In her mind, she would have to fight many dragons here so that they knew of her strength. She was very young and even the elder dragons of the world would look down on her if they didn''t know how strong she was. It was all due to her age. They could easily confuse her for being weaker and being younger in general. That Was just the facts of life. Someone young would often be identally interpreted as not being as powerfulpared to someone older and fully developed. Just a fact of life. But Midnight was able to use strength well above them because of her elemental affinities. Beyond that, she had also trained and fought institutions that had toughened her well above any standard for a dragon her age. That aside, the bond with Walker had greatly built her a foundation that could not be properlyprehended. She even had some attachment to death mana due to the folly of the immortal king. Hence why she and Walker had been able to awaken certain skills within her. Mostly, she had the skeletal armor skill which wouldn''t be something a dragon her age would have. Nor a dragon that didn''t ignore the other dragons would have. They would normally have to be a rogue darkness dragon that became a skeletal or otherwise dragon. Remey was in deeper thought because she had not expected that she would learn of a different form of dragon. But the records that the royal dragons had found never mentioned that. Hence it was a form of dragon that had to be unique to the elemental nes. A ce so dense with elemental manas in purer states that they had the ability to take the devour dragon forms. While it was nice that they would be faster in this form, they sound like they were not limated to battle. More like they were able to work with the environments they were in to alter them. More like a dragon that would stay in the back and help the dominator dragons to condense mana¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That thought trailed off as a massive mountain came in to view. It stretched well in to what the party thought of as the sky. So far that the end would be impossible to tell. Shifting stones and other aspects of the rocks nearby were monsters that lived within the elemental nes. Walker couldn''t keep track of how many different ones there were. He would have to use the all around appraisal and think backter about the answers. The oppressive force that they all felt, however, was growing. The dense earth mana which was reaching a density that was literally forcing other aspects of the earth and stone to change had been radiated toward them. "Don''t worry. The king just senses meing. I have some rtionship due to my uniqueness. I am made of unique earth mana because of how I changed myself. But I can not be asking because I do not embody what earth truly means as aw. The rules of existence itself. I can not embody something so grand. I can only be me." Nothing of that made sense, but Walker felt that he could explore that. Learn about that. The more time he had the better. He could learnws of existence if he so desired. They were all within his grasp with time. He could sense it in himself. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2142 2142. Odd Joke

    Chapter 2142 2142. Odd Joke


    As the pressure of the unique earth mana that the king of earth used grew, Walker felt he was learning through it. Like his body was limating to it. More like he was able to grasp the understanding between his body and the earth mana better than before.


    He felt tougher, his body overall, and not just because of the density. He also felt he could more easily use the earth mana to boost his defenses using earth in an armor form if he desired. While these thoughts came to him, he wondered if it was due to his race now. If it was adding more boosts to him now that he was in a mana rich environment.


    It would exin a lot about the origin race. They clearly had this deep connection with mana for a reason.


    The entire mountain shifted slightly before settingly again. Walker and the rest of the party could see that. It was also when the pressure of the mana subsided a little. "There it is, he has invited us in. Just a quick move inside to his hall."


    The true earth sage was showing that he knew much more about what to do and where to go with the earth king. But they had just moved in to one of the densest ces for earth mana. It was a true show of where they were. This wasn''t some partial boundary. It was all earth mana.


    The only thing that had allowed them toe to the center of the earth elemental ne was the true earth sage. The speed which they moved over the earth was spectacr. But now they were stopped in front of a massive cavern.


    The earth was formed in to many pirs. All forming unique aspects of earth. They showed their uniqueness in the forms of earth manas that they radiated as well. Walker sensed that he was able to grasp a different understanding of each as he walked.


    He saw raw iron ore as a pir, its shape was more akin to stone. But then he saw a pir of purified solid iron. Showing that there was a unique change that came with the iron being in an ore form and being solid iron without impurities.


    While everyone knew this was the case, it was this way to show off the magnificence of the earth manas. How they changed no matter what form of earth it was. These changes between each form would allow them different roles.


    The weaker dull silver would be used for jewelry that could be polished brightly. The moon silver would be used for unique tools that required soft and cooler light mana to flow through them. This was a metal that would bind well with moonlight if used to forge it. But it was still a part of earth, not light.


    He easily counted over a hundred of theserge pirs running along the walls of the massive mountain entrance as they walked in. Small rumblings like more were rising well ahead of them also caught the party''s attentions.


    The walls were not made of brick or anything. From what Walker could tell, the walls were also different bricks of different solid forms of earth. The surprise that Walker found this time though, was that they were made of fossils at some points. As if they were there on disy to show that even those that were buried in earth could be one with it somehow. A full circle of life that went beyond just walking on the earth.


    Small details like this was a very interesting thing to find. Because it was hard to imagine what it meant to be earth even in death. Regardless of bing fertilizer for nts and returning in that way, this was a way to be stone over time. A hard concept to understand.


    However, it made Walker think about how the earth could change something over time as well as the other elemental manas. How time would y a part in what earth was as a whole. How they might have its own unique connections to time mana. How else would a fossil be a fossil?


    Time had to move for the earth to gain a fossil. For a being to be trapped so perfectly that the body left behind would lose all mana. Lose all form and be left back with just bones. Trapped as stone forever.


    "Walker, that''s what the cksmiths were low on. That''s called azure cloud iron. It''s what they want to use as the main body for all the flying ships." Walker looked over at the deep azure colored pir. It appeared heavy, but the earth manaing from it was light and stiff. Meaning it was not heavy and could hold its shape fairly well.


    ''Azure cloud iron


    This is a very rare metal that only forms during extremely unique instances. It requires a weak iron vein to mix with various wind materials without losing contact with the ground. This means that the winds exposing the vein of iron this came on will be covered in small boots of iron dust.


    It is extremely lightpared to all other metals. It is also very tough to bend or break once it has been forged for the first time. Many people use it as a permanent art metal. This is because once heated for the first time in to a shape, it will always be very brittle the second time it is forged¡­''


    There was a lot more information on what manas were best to forge it and so on. But the azure cloud iron was very interesting. Nith that any of them expected to take anything from here. It was part of the earth elemental king''s ce. Or maybe it was even a part of his body. It was hard to tell to be fair. The way things worked here was arger mystery than what Walker could put together.


    Hoover, their movement deeper in to the mountain brought them to an evenrger chamber. "This couldn''t have just been hollow a moment ago." Walker looked up in to therge chamber they had walked in to. It was so open that at least a hundred dragons could fit. Full grown dragons at that.


    "Well, the king enjoys creating something for guests. Believe it or not, other sages and other unique beingse here often to speak. Not all can be one with the earth to be able tomunicate. They rely on the skill of the one controlling thisnd to make a ce for conversation."


    The earth mana shifted again showing off forms of earth taking different shapes. Arge stage with a throne of different earth crystals. It was made as if it was decorative and not at all something someone would actually rest on. Around them were different features of stone. Some were twisted to look like abstract art and others replicating monsters within the earth elements nes.


    "It is different every time I havee here." The true earth sage was still enjoying this. But to be fair, he relied on earth mana. This would feel just like home to him. Whereas for Walker and the others, this was still foreign and new to them.


    "It is interesting indeed. I just wonder how we are supposed to interpret that there is no one on, ah, I see." Su saw a forming out of the crystal throne and taking shape. It was a roughly made copy of what could be a human.


    It began to make movements to gesture them forward and the mana grew denser around it. "You venture through mynds. You battle those who live there. I know from where you havee. Answer me, do youe to do more than hunt the one tainting the earth mana purity?" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The way of speaking was odd, but Walker sensed a shift in the true earth sage''s mana as soon as the earth king spoke.


    "Wee in search of an evil great. Fleeing responsibility and prison in search of grand wisdom. We hunt it to atone for its evil deeds. We hunt it to prevent its future evils. We ask for the great earth king''s hand in assistance. Benevolent and powerful is he."


    "Ha! Estron, you have made interesting new friends with the first from the world to cross the bridge. I am impressed that they know jokes too!"


    The earth king''s manner of speech had been just a joke. An odd sense of humor but one it had.


    Walker shook his head while trying to make sure that he was still standing there. If he hadn''t realized that the slight shift in earth mana was the true earth sageughing, he would have missed it and been led on. However, he wasn''t sure how he had understood that it was augh in the first ce. Just instincts.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2143. A Unique World

    2143 2143. A Unique World


    Walker immediately felt embarrassed. But not because of the odd way he had caught the joke with the earth king. Instead, it was because the true earth sage had a name and he had yet it bother to ask it.


    "Earth king, this is a young sage that became a member of the origin. He is here from the world to hunt the one that brings dead around with him." The true earth sage spoke calmly and with a friendly tone. He showed a bit more energy too. It made the part feel that there was a darker side to the earth king if they didn''t follow proper procedure. Acting ordingly.


    The earth was tough, solid. And could easily crush or bury something. Therefore, if one were to think of it this way. Wouldn''t it be better to keep the earth as an unmovable foundation rather than a sliding mountain?


    "I sensed them. I worried that another had somehowe from the outer nes to the central nes. But it was not from outside. The world has returned to the flow."


    The way the earth king spoke now and the way that it was still altering its form through different crystals made the group wonder if the Earth King and any other elemental king did not have set forms. They represented all that their elemental affinity was, therefore, it made sense that they would just change what kind of that elemental variant they were.


    "We could tell you a lot about the world and how it has grown while being cut off from the natural flow of manas. But for now, we have to hunt down the immortal king. He is trying to experiment with manas while traveling through some elemental nes. But he is also trying to find a death elemental ne. He wants power."


    Siucbe Walker had taken the lead of the conversation and the rest of the party had be less awestruck and more serious, the earth king also became a darker more serious shade for crystal.


    "If you are just here to hunt it, then you should proceed. However, I will not assist. I am not moving against another. It will cause a change in manas. The change in the elemental nes nearby. It could recreate another war with fire or another war with the wind."


    As the earth king realized that the party did not fully understand why this was the case, he felt as a kin and someone of the elemental nes, that this was the difference between someone who did not live here and was cut off from the pure manas of his home.


    "You should understand, when the world was cut off in the time of settling manas, we were forced to rise. The kings of each elemental mana, like myself, became the central points for our nes. We embody all that is the element we are. The only time we meet is once every ten years to handle business of those young foolish beings within our ne causing trouble."


    "We used our strength to solidify our ne. When we move, it will shift. When we act at all, it will grow or shrink. There are lines that will not be crossed. Or else the unsettled manas will cause more than just trouble here. It will bleed in to your world. Bring more of the chaos through the bridge."


    The earth king had been there when the manas were in a more chaotic state. Hence he was there for when the world had been initially forming. During the time of the ancient monsters. That meant that the earth king knew well that there had been an order establishing before the bonds were broken between the world and the elemental nes.


    If those had not been broken, it was sure that there would be a different oue to the current situation. This current situation might never have happened in the forest ce. Regardless, they were here now and this was the reality of it all. So they had to make do with what was happening.


    "You and the elemental kings are all bound by your position. Can you help us follow the immortal king then? You are the earth. That means you can sense where the immortal king is, but you just can not act."


    Since Gil decided to jump in due to his ability to sense the nature aspect that came with earth much more clearly, the earth king had also started paying a little more attention to the guests here.


    The earth king could easily sense what was going on around those in front of him. Could sense that there was a powerful and pure fire elemental mana that came from Remey. That she would be morefortable in the fire nes, but had decided to travel here instead of following any instinct to go there.


    The same could be said for the abyssal serpent he saw. It could go to the elemental ne of light where it would befortable. Onyx had no idea that the earth king was wondering why he resisted this urge, the abyssal and heavenly serpents should rush there to keep growing. To the earth king, this was an oddity as well.


    Besides this, he sensed the grand earth spirit ying around Su, he sensed the bond they had. A spirit mark and her. But he was still shocked that within the world awesome elemental spirits had be more than spirits. They had be known as a spirit race. Entirely held within view of all existence.


    Considering Midnight was an even greater draw on the heart king''s mental power. The dragons were beings that rarely left their homes. They were territorial and reclusivepared to the other beings within each elemental ne. Especially since they would either need to absorbrge amounts of mana or learn to masterrger amounts of mana.


    However, this one was more than just one, it was multiple manas. The rumors of a potential true dragon being born might be correct this time. The dragons would stop at nothing to find this young dragon. But they might not be able to handle it, there was much more strength here than what should be from the the world cut off from pure manas for so long.


    ncing at Gil, an odd form of earth mana was reflected back at the earth king. One that was calm and sure. Like the soil that held the roots of a tree. It took a second to recall it, but the earth king remembered the earth elves that had developed and grown. How they had changed their forms and be an entirely different race within the earth elemental ne. How they would not be considered an elf any longer.


    Knowing that some of the extinct, or the previous forms of a race were still in existence could change a lot. Especially the hierarchy of some beings. Not just those of the world, but those that expected more from the elemental nes for their people.


    Then there was the major curiosity. Walker. The origin race that had once been human. But tapped in to the key of all races and manas.


    Even the elemental kings could not exin the origin race. A group of beings that had managed to tap in to the origin or mana. The essence of all manasbined in their purest form.


    Achieving pretty in what a singr mana was and represented was enough to make one an elemental king. An incredibly powerful being when it came to that mana.


    However, with all manas that they understood being so pure, the origin race was powerful. Many times over. Just as powerful as they were, they were mysterious.


    Seeking out unique aspects of obscure manas. Putting order to the chaos of the outer manas. Finding entirely new aspects of the elemental nes or new manaspletely.


    They were rarely seen, rarely interacted with, and rarely sought out. The odds that they would help someone were slim too. Not due to their superiority, it is their detachment from other aspects of social situations. They focused on mana and existence as a whole. In thews of existence.


    All this went through the earth king''s mind. There could be more peace with this new origin race child. One that resided within the world and brought more bnce to the elemental nes. A deterring force to stop any wars from breaking out again.


    "I will give you information where the one you hunt travels. While you are in my ne you will have this information. Otherwise, I will not act. When those I send to the work go, take care of them." The earth king melded back in to the crystal throne. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Various pieces of earth mana moved and formed a map of the earth ne showing them their location. The size only showed a small piece of the extremelyrge earth elemental ne. Many timesrger than what they had imagined. But it also clearly showed where their target was.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2144. Tracking Difficulty

    2144 2144. Tracking Difficulty


    From what the party could see, the entirety of the earth elemental ne was something that would take them months, if not close to a year to pass. That meant that the true earth sage had been an amazing help in allowing them to move so quickly. Just his ability to travel should be apuded.


    When Walker caught on that there were markings made by the Earth king on the map of earth, he focused on them. They were intricately carved designs. Each representing a monster or important figure. But as he looked with more determination for the immortal king, he found arge group of figures moving together.


    Some were small, and othersrge. But there were plenty that looked skeletal or like zombies. "I would say that is where they are. But where are they headed?"


    As much as Gil was able to spot them, he still had no idea how and where their target was going. Especially since the immortal king had brought some unusual undead. Walker also somewhat followed Gil''s thinking. They had made it all the way here, but what was the immortal king doing in the earth ne and how did he know where to go?


    As much as Walker chalked it up to mana sense, he realized that the immortal king had walked significantly deeper in to the earth elemental ne than away from it toward something else. It was an odd thing to notice. On top of that, the immortal king didn''t appear to have a solid direction to move.


    "You don''t think that it is looking for more things to experiment on, is it?" Remey was ready to crush the immortal king. She didn''t like the fact that there were more than a hundred powerful undead with him. Plus more that they might not be able to see or that were somehow hidden.


    "You should know that it will be easy for you to travel through the earth elemental ne. Those who live here are stubborn and prefer to remain where they are rather than explore. The other nes should have a lot more activity." The true earth sage was giving them much needed advice. The more that they were prepared for the better.


    "We are here, the immortal king is there. Any rmendations for reaching him before he had gone too far?" With Walker being so serious, the others were preparing themselves for the journey there and an imminent better they were sure that it would be a little more troublesome than whatever they had thought.


    "We can send you off. I will not fight, that is not what I spend my time doing. If I get involved, the other sages may sense it and wish toe explore what may make me move." The true earth sage was not being rude in the least. From what they had all realized, the bnce here was very important.


    That was the result of not having a focal point though. The elemental nes were embroiled in bncing wars between one another. After all the time that the world was cut off, those wars had ended. That bnce had been found. Now things would be even more bnced. But they still had to make sure that they did not cause any unnecessary roughness for those they had yet to meet.


    "It appears that the wind elemental ne and the earth elemental ne boundary is there too. You may need to venture within the air. Can all of you walk on pure wind mana clouds?" this was a dramatic difference as the true earth sage pointed it out.


    "How is that possible? The map changed?" Onyx looked closer to see if he had just lost his mind. He was very unsure of what they had witnessed when it came to the earth map.


    "Ah, I forgot you are not used to the elemental nes. They must always be shifting. Especially with the bridges to the world open again. Now we flow with your world. The world is the unity of manas after all. Or at least that''s how the sages see it. A ce where the bnce of manas should always be evident."


    Now this made sense. "I get it, just like in nature and real life, the manas will shift to bnce one another. That means the boundaries between the elemental nes are also shifting. This is happening at such arge scale, that we wouldn''t really understand it when walking there. That means we could stand still but still be moving elsewhere."


    "And that means that the immortal king is also having a lot of trouble finding what he is looking for. Scouting is very hard here without knowing the natural flow of the nes." Gil''s understanding made him begin to alter what he thought of the elemental nes. He had to change his way of scouting if he wanted to follow the immortal king at all.


    "I''ll need to see if I can follow mana more than physical signs. The wind elemental mana ne might be different. There are pure wind clouds and not solid earth beneath it. So I will need mana to travel there I assume¡­"


    Gil''s rambling made the true earth sage look fairly impressed. It was like watching a student grasp aplex subject in ways that they had not expected them to understand. He hadn''t taught anyone before, but now the true earth sage felt that he might wish to. Might wish to show off the earth elemental ne more. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    We should leave then. We might run in to monsters or other things that hold us up. But we might also need to figure out how to move through the wind elemental ne." Su pushed everyone a little. This was going to be tough.


    The ideas about the boundaries between elemental nes were clear. But the environment might not be. It could be made of various fused elemental manas. All making the monsters there and the terrains hard to handle.


    "I will send you off then." they followed the true earth sage out the passageway that they hade. The earth king was not there fully any longer, but there was a moment where the heart mana seemed to vibrate slightly. The earth king had heard it all and watched it all. He would keep witnessing what these beings would do within the earth elemental ne. Decide whether they would be ideal allies as the world settled back in to the flow.


    When the true earth sage gave a wave, the earth shifted up again as it had before. The party was on another fast moving earth tform with the true earth sage behind them.


    It was very odd how easily the Earth king and the true earth sage could change everything around them. Walker felt that hecked this speed when it came to utilizing mana altogether. If he had that speed, it would mean his closeness and understanding of that mana would be higher than anyone else in the world by a hundred times over.


    There was a great deal they learned by meeting the true earth sage. That some beings had been in the world ande here before the bridges had been broken.


    Those beings would have perished or changed to be part of the elemental nes. Hence the true earth sage. But what if those who were born here?


    There was still a lot left to wonder about. The abyssal and heavenly serpent race. The dragons. Elementals. And plenty more that Walker was sure existed here somewhere.


    Focusing on the surroundings, Walker spotted therger shapes of different monsters. Enough that he could gain all around appraisal of them along with their names for him to recordter for the records of the earth elemental nes explorations.


    Giant copper elephants, ebony worms, and even a monster called dust hare which was an elemental made of stone dust. It had the shape of a rabbit but was entirely made of earth elemental mana and stone dust.


    These monsters had been here and would always be here. Their understanding of earth mana was well above anyone in the world. Not just because they were made from it, but because they absorbed and learned from the pure mana here.


    That was thergest factor Walker caught on to. Just being here would strengthen them. It was strengthening him. Su was also showing signs that her natural earth affinity was growing.


    Walker saw smaller earth spirits popping from the ground to look at her. She had affinities for all manas, but she had earth well before those. Now it was showing as her body gained earth mana faster than other manas. She would definitely be a more powerful guardian with denser earth mana to use.


    That was all until the point as the earth tform the true earth sage made was slowing. Simply because they had started to feel a Breeze and the change in their surroundings.


    ¡­

 Chapter 2145. Spatial Skill?

    2145 2145. Spatial Skill?


    "Sand. It''s a desert. I should have expected this." Gil hated the desert. He had only understood it more as he got closer to the elves, but the desert was like the opposite of a forest. He could hunt and easily track anything through a forest. But a desert? the tracks could disappear in to the sand. In to the winds. "It will be fine. What else is a mix of wind and earth going to make? It has to be sand because we saw sandstorms get created with the exact same methods." Remey wanted to smack some sense in to Gil. they had used sandstorms to help them deal with the false death runes and regenerating undead. "It can make a lot of things, dust storms too. But I think we are just dealing with sand." There was part of Su that wanted to go back too, the sand would sneak its way in to her armor. However, she became distracted as Onyx buried himself in the sand. It wasfortable to use the sand to clean hsi scales slightly. The grains of sand were ideal from making sure that all the spaces were thoroughly scrubbed up before he had Walker use water to rinse him off. Midnight also picked up on this small habit and used it too. She was waiting for the chance since she had be very used to having Walker''s help polishing her scales. It was part of his job now. Not that he minded. "We should keep an eye out for any other dangers nearby. There was a lot of earth mana that [pushed us here. The immortal king is moving fast too. we can''t just sit here." Without much hesitation, Walker began to look ahead. The sands were not as built up. This meant that the wind ttened the dunes often enough. Just part of the elemental nes moving. That was the major issue they faced though. The elemental nes shifting was unexined to them right now. Walker had yet to gain a proper grasp of the massively dense manas around him yet. Therefore, he couldn''t track the flow of how the nes moved and changed around one another. In turn, this put them at a disadvantage. It also put the immortal king at a disadvantage though. He had to attempt traveling through it while sensing the death mana that he wanted to chase. Not that it would be easy to get out of these massive elemental nes. Traveling outside was also something only one race did. Well, one known race did. "What are those, just the wind and the sand making small sand storms?" The sharpness of Gil''s eyes never diminished. He had spotted what could have been dust kicked up, but when Walker used the a round appraisal on them, he was surprised yet again. ''Sandstorm elemental


    The perfect bnce of earth and wind manas, these are elemental monsters that perfectly represent their affinities. They are living sand storms that create small tornados out of their bodies to move. They will gather wind and earth mana bingrger. If theye against something that stops their rotation, they lose their mass. This makes their existence precarious since if they are stopped entirely, they dissipate and cease to exist. Naturally, they will develop again when arger amounts of wind and earth mana sh. Often times this will happen when massive sandstorm elementals collide, causing smaller ones to spin off of them. They are not violent, and will avoid others if possible. However, if they collide, the sand within their wind tornadoes moves so fast that they can cause heavy damage to a body¡­''


    He read out the appraisal to the others who were very interested in the fact that these little tornados of sand were actually monsters. They were called an elemental monster which meant that they were somewhat an elemental. But if they were a monster, it made more sense that they were not intelligent. But they werepletely made of manabut for the sand and wind''s physical aspects.


    "So we can just avoid them. That''s much better." Midnight huffed in agreement. It was better that they didn''t fight as much and Remey knew well that it would slow them down. She wanted to put fist to skull so they could go back to Genesis or explore the fire elemental ne. To be fair, the entire party had the desire to crush the skull of the immortal king at this point. Nothing was getting better with the things he was doing. Just causing trouble everywhere went. "There are other monsters too. They are setting up blockages? Brother, can you check?" there was a sandstorm elemental that onyx could see getting stuck. The puff of dust that came with that caught everyone else''s eyes too. ''Shimmer beetle


    Very simr to the dung beetle or the mirror beetle, these shimmer beatles gave a stronger and purer earth affinity to them. They are actually a dual elemental monster but as they age, they lose the ability to fly and lose their wind affinity. They are known as a monster that goes through transformative stages and must migrate when they reach a certain age. Theirrva will be able to use stronger wind energy with the earth silk that they create within their body by eating incredibly fine dusts. But when they gather too much earth mana, they formashell and begin turning in to a shimmer beetle. The shells have small clear crystals from the silt within which causes the light to reflect off of them. Whether or not this gives them away to predators is not an issue. They are tough and harder to eat once they have a shell. Hence why predators hunt therval form. As their shell toughness, the silk can not support their weight and the earth affinity takes ahold. They then speed their time trying to trap sandstorm elementals to absorb their earth and wind mana. Normally they fail and only absorb the earth mana until their shells are too heavy and they are forced to perish on the spot. The shells will then break down and nourish the earth where they¡­'' N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "So they just absorb earth mana until they die?" Now it was Su''s turn to be surprised and a little shocked. A monster that literally died by gaining the manas that they had an affinity foras they aged. It was shocking that a monster could exist like that. "They are definitely not struggling though. They are thriving here where they can be their adult form but somehow still able to live asrva in the windier side of things. They are nourishing thend too." Gil could see the benefits of this monster. Able to allow the earth to gain nutrients from the fine dust that built up within the shimmer beetlerva. "They might make some obstacles for us, but right now I am more worried about the skeleton bones that are being buried by sand right there." more regr skeleton bones were in front of them. The wind had begun to cover them in sand. But Midnight was still able to smell the difference in thempared to thwart the sands smelled like. "I really hate that there are skeletons everywhere we go, still! But how is the immortal king getting more skeletons? There can''t be so many dead bodies that he can raise skeletons as he pleases." Walker agreed with Rmey''s annoyance. He was wondering this too. There were a decent few undead of different sizes that they had seen when the earth king made them that earth map. How was the immortal king getting the regr skeletons though? They weren''t walking beside him. They weren''t with therger undead. "Maybe they are just inside another undead or they have a spatial skill too. The immortal king might have grasped space mana. If he was able to watch Genesis, then he definitely might have." "Gil, while I think your theory is good, I hate it." "Su, I hate it too." Gil wholeheartedly agreed. If the immortal king had even a weak spatial skill, then he could have a decent few skeletons with him that no one would be able to see. "So we will need to be even more careful as we move. Not just because there''s some weird wind mixed skeleton. No, there''s also the fact that there could be more that the immortal king is making." Walker almost growled in annoyance as he saw the skeleton that was extremely damaged but somehow still moving. He could sense the wind mana moving through the broken bones. It had seeded in taking the wind mana in to it. Therefore, it wasn''t breaking down any longer against the sharpness of the wind. And it was alsoing toward them, meaning it had sensed them using the wind around it too. A dangerous pecedance. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2146. Walking On Clouds

    Chapter2146. Walking On Clouds


    ''Wind flow skeleton


    This is a powerful skeleton that has been experimented with. It''s bone cracked due to the intensity of wind mana being forced within them. Due to this it has a very fragile physical body. However, it also possesses a decent strength within the body where the uniqueness of undead mana and wind have mixed. This caused it to radiate a death mana that is perfectly bnced with wind. Most people would feel this as innate danger that wind des, attack skill, and other wind rted battle skills possess since they can cause death. However, this is just the state of the wind maa that exists as the core of the skeleton''s bones. As such, it can now not survive without wind mana. It is forced to remain within the wind elemental ne as a failure to be a bnced being. Its intelligence is not able to function and the bond with the creator that raised it is gone. It is not aggressive unless ites in contact with another being. In that case, it will most likely attack due to the distatest for living beings naturally urring within undead¡­''


    "It has a lot of control over wind mana., iot also has some control over death mana because it is an undead. There is also something called undead mana. Might be a mix of life and death mana. But that doesn''t matter." Walker knew that the details and the information from the all around appraisal was not as important as other details. Right now, what was important, was that this skeleton had spotted them and was moving toward them. Especially since they would have to fight it. The attacks could carry a lot more dangers than what they had fought before. Especially since there was death mana involved. Deathly wind des would not be the best for them right now. They could leave wounds that might not be able to be easily healed. They might even need Walker to tap in to life mana to heal. The results could be wounds that didn''t actually heal, using some life manas that couldn''t be recovered, and a few other issues with their lives as a whole. "It''s starting to gather more wind. I can sense it." Since Gil could feel the wind closely, he knew that the attack being created would be very dangerous. It gave them all time to move away as arge wind de was condensed. A deep green wind de split through the space toward them. It could have easily sliced them up in to pieces. Especially with the ominous mana that tried after it. "That''s death mana, isn''t it?" When Su felt that ominous mana, she realized this was something that Walker had sensed before all of them. That he had started to make sense of along with other manas like it. More mysterious and hard to control manas than any others. Moving to the side again, another wind de passed by them. They were quick, but the formation of them was slow. The wind flow skeleton was too obvious with how it was moving the wind mana and where it would attack. Simply because itcked the intelligence to attack more often and quicker. That was a good thing though. It was already considered another failed experiment from the immortal king. If it was that, then there would be more. Luckily, there were no other wind flow skeletons around. From what it seemed, the immortal king was experimenting until a result was made. When he decided he did not like that result, then he moved on. If that was the case, then the immortal king knew that he was not getting any nearer to his goal right away. That he had to keep working on other aspects of what he was doing. specifically, finding manas that he was able to entirely meld with his undead. "He wants to find manas he can mix with his new body before getting to some death mana ne or death mana space. That has to be what he''s doing." Walker felt that this made the best sense. If the immortal king was going to need more power to control the death mana, then making the body he had just shifted himself in topletely stranger was a must before that. Without the strength of an improved body, he would not be able to handle the incrediblyplex death mana. Walker was very adept in understanding manas, he knew very well that death mana was on another level of power. "Another de to the left, then to the right." Gil''s sense of wind was improving. He was also able to sense that Zephyr was back to being awake but refusing to leave the wind elemental ne. She preferred to stay with Gil in the spirit mark. She wasfortable there and did not have to face whatever the wind elemental ne would attract. Simply put, she wasfortable and didn''t want to deal with trouble. That was to be fair though. The elemental spirits of the world where the spirit race now. Not elemental spirits. The elemental nes might remind them of what they had been and make it feel that they were traveling backwards and not forwards. After all, they were still establishing what it meant to be a spirit race. "You said that its body is weak, right? I can break it then." Gil didn''t hesitate after saying this to Walker. He mostly said it since he was worried that Walker might have another way to handle this monster. But he let Gil move with his n. In a swift motion, Gil drew an arrow with his bow. It radiated syringe rewind mana than the others. But it was not infused with wind mana. It was one of the rune carved wind arrows made from unique materials. This arrow was now in an area highly dense in wind mana on top of earth mana. While the earth mana did not do anything since the runes were not earth runes, the wind mana flowed freely. This dense wind mana was going to overflow within the wind arrow. It was not able to handle so much mana at once. Nor were the runes able to withstand the pressure. Therefore, Gil figured he would test a theory. As the wind rune arrow flew closer to the wind flow skeleton, it tried to send out another wind de. But because the arrow was forcefully drawing more wind mana, that skill was interrupted. Causing the wind de to fail and the arrow to have reached its limit. A single burst of dangerously pure wind mana shot multiple wind des in various directions. Su blocked them as they came towards the party. She was strong and able to resist them now that they did not hold any death mana. But the wind des that were right next to the wind flow skeleton wreaked havoc on its damaged and broken skeletal body. Because it had not developed within the wind elemental ne. It was going to be weaker than those that grew and thrived there. As its bones broke, the wind glow skeleton lost thest structure that held it together. It lost everything it needed to be able to function. Thest results were the wind flow skeleton falling to pieces and the light bones moving away in the wind with the desert sands. The party looked at the direction that the wind flow skeleton hade from. They all knew that this was the direction that they had to move. The skeleton hade from there so ahead would be the immortal king and the undead they were chasing. It was odd to see a world of dense clouds made of only wind mana ahead of them. The sands wlessly mixed in to them and they were surprisingly solid. Especially since they knew that this was really not solid ground so to speak. But it wasn''t like they would just fall through something. There was no ground to fall in to. Just more wind mana that was even denser than what theta already saw. Midnight leaped around happier than ever. This was an event and experience that no one else could have ever had. Moving on clouds purely made of wind mana? How could that exist? This was like flying but better since the feeling of flight was there without any worries of falling. "This is amazing, brother, we should explore this ne some day," Onyx also found the same enjoyment as Midnight. To be fair, they were all feeling the same. It almost stopped them from their goals. However, their hunt for the immortal king was still solid in their minds. That was why they were all able to catch themselves. Able to bring themselves back to focus and keep moving. The only one that still struggled was Gil who could feel the wind closer due to his bond with Zephyr.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2147. Related Races

    Chapter 2147. Rted Races


    "Cease your entrance on to this ne. You are contaminating this territory." the clouds themselves shifted as a white winged being stopped them. They were made of clouds, but the shifting of those clouds created features. The wings were the most defined though. Wind mana rotated around each feather. "We are in pursuit of an undead that escaped the world. They are attempting experiments with different manas to be more powerful. Heading toward the death mana ne." Walker looked at the odd being that had suddenly stopped them. This was another intelligent being, but not a sage. Nor was it the wind king that he had expected to do something when they entered the wind elemental ne. Naturally, this was odd, but not unexpected. The entire party had no idea of what they could expect from everything today or any day within the elemental nes. There was so much that could not be known just yet. Even with years of research, it would be a mystery. ''Angelic wind spirit


    These are descendants of the first angels to venture in to the elemental nes. While many of them foundfort within their affinity elemental nes, they had a harsh time limating to the vtile elemental wars that were going on. They found sce as they struggled to survive in using the purer elemental manas to reshape their beings. Some even managed to transcend the need for a physical body all together and change their very forms to be more like their elemental affinities. Due to this, they became unique new species of their own race, bing different in a way from their more physical counterparts still within the world. Only a few were able to make it to the elemental nes. Their reliance on ambient mana was what they focused on. Therefore, all races of angelic spirits maintain their wings over other aspects of their bodies. This is why they have a significant focus on detailing their wins. But they do not need them to sruvuve.a s long as the dense mana at their heart remains, they can rebuild their body with pure mana matching their affinity. The angelic wind spirit race is able to use wind mana with just a thought. They can even gather arge amount of dense pure wings mana within them. This is why they are considered elemental purists and will often involve themselves in the breaking of the boundaries between elemental nes to return order¡­''


    "You descend from the angels!" Walker was so surprised as he read the a round appraisal that the angelic wind spirit was shocked. Not many could know of this. But considering that Walker had first stated that they were from the world, some made sense. "We do indeede from what was once known as the angel race. However, that part of our race no longer exists. I find that your words are very odd. If you truly seek out the other that has brokenthe boundary, you may be of assistance." More wind whipped around as several more angelic wind spirits took form. They seemed to bemunicating through the dense wind mana being pushed between them. Their feathers fluttering as their cloud like bodies shifted. "We have heard the world has returned to its true bnce. We have also felt the will of existence within the air when that was mentioned. We will ept your visit to this elemental ne. We will monitor you as you travel. Maintain respect and safety. Do not contaminate the currents of pure wind here." They all released their forms and returned to clouds. However, Walker was now able to sense that the densest aspects of their wind aman traveled with great speed away from here. "So, they are reclusive?" "I would say that''s urate," Walker told Gil and the others about the all around appraisal. He also went in to his theory that they were allmunicating using wind mana. That meant that they had learned more about the word and how existence had weed the world back. It had been enough that the angelic wind spirits didn''t see a need to bother with them. They were trusted by distance after all. Naturally, this also raised the question of what they were doing tobat the immortal king experimenting with the wind elemental ne. It also made them all wonder if there were angelic earth spirits around. How had they missed that? In The next moment though, they recalled howrge the elemental nes could be. They could have been miles and miles away from the angelic earth spirits who would have most likely been kept at bay by the earth king in the first ce. It was another level of the elemental nes that they had not considered or expected. They could have expected that those of the angel race who had gone to different continents and once had exceptional knowledge about elemental manas, might have traveled here once. That those with such capability might have lived and be a part of the elemental nes. They should expect many things like this since there was so much potential here. The dense elemental manas could reshape who people were. What a race was as a whole. Especially since they had the potential to limate to the manas themselves. The entire party should expect these unexpected events!


    Itfelt a little unsettling to look at the changing clouds that made up the wind elemental ne. So much of this ce was shifting with different wind currents, yet that also bnced itself so that the entire ne was matching the others. It was hard toprehend while he was looking and sensing the elemental manas while moving. The more that Walker focused on the manas, the more that he limated to the density of manas around him. What he found even more surprising, was that even in the denser areas of earth or wind elemental nes, there had been tiny amounts of other manas.


    Right Thai second, Walker could still feel the boundary between earth and wind, but small bits of fire mana and water mana had caught his attention. Hence why the center of each elemental ne was more pure in the eyes of those that lived there. It made sense why the angelic wind spirits might focus on that. "There are monsters around too, they are moving through the clouds." Gil''s eyes focused on the shifting clouds ahead of them. They were not moving with the different flows of wind mana currents. Instead, they were breaking up in odd waves and circr forms. "You''re right, I can see it."


    ''Cloud koi


    This is a very rare monster that could not exist within the oceans of the world. As such, this ancient monster left searching for the water elemental nes. However, the ancestors of this monster discovered the wind elemental ne and found a hidden nature within them.


    After awakening their core wind affinity, they shed their scales and water affinity. Their wind affinity took form and they became pure white and orange spotted scales. This allowed them to develop a body that better melded with the dense wind mana. Now they can swim through the clouds that are up the wind elemental ne as if it was water. They are powerful wind elemental monsters that should be respected. They often consume smaller wind monsters to use as nutrients to boost their wind mana. They can grow up to the size of a castle if they reach adulthood. Many of the monsters within the wind elemental pane hunt them as they are the ultimate challenge to hunt due to their evasive and intricate movements. Their scales can be used to make unique armor and weapons that have the purest affinity with wind. Not many people can craft with it, but those that can would be highly regarded amongst those in the wind elemental nes¡­'' n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "So those might just be babies?" there was a slight bit of awe in Su''s voice. The three cloud koi that they could see were veryrge. Easily the size of barns or slightly smaller at least. But they were stillrge and demanded a lot of attention. "We shouldn''t have any issues with them. We don''t have the wind mana they want to eat. But why are they moving around like that?" Remey''s question was in their actions. The three cloud koi were moving around in circles seemingly surrounding something. But they were holding off. It was more like they were afraid to push inwards toward the thing they trapped. "I can see something there, but it is blending in with the clouds. I can''t make it out. We can go see, but should we?" Since Gil wasn''t sure, he would follow whatever Walker had to say. It made more sense that they waited for him. He was their leader after all.

 Chapter 2148 2148. rescue and Directions

    Chapter 2148 2148. rescue and Directions


    ''Sky orc


    This is a race that most people do not have a lot of respect for due to their long history of growth required to get to where they are now. Simply because the orc race was a monster that was known for being brutal andmitting various crimes against the women of other races. Once they gained proper intelligence, they began to stop these habits.


    It took them a considerable amount of time to reach this level of intelligence to be recognized as a race. Now very few orcs with intelligence remain. The sky orc being the only species that managed to do so. They lived within the wind elemental ne allowing them to follow the natural wind currents and use that as a basis for calm.


    Allowing them to have a method for calm was why they were able to shed the innate anger and madness that normally overtakes their species. They shed that violent urge and became magic wielding fighters. But they are weak when facing other more powerful wind affinity monsters. Their wind affinity can still develop significantly.


    They arepletely unlike the orcs within the world because they were forced to grow intelligence to survive¡­''


    The history of the orcs within the elemental nes could seem to go on forever. Yet, Walker was more impressed that this was another monster race. A race that had broken free from being a monster whether it had taken a long time or not. It was somewhat fair that they were judged on their past actions though.


    The orcs in the world were powerful monsters. But also ugly. They had no control of themselves when it came to their territories, their food, or travelers passing by. It was a guarantee that they would be violent with each other. But the fact that they kidnapped women was not verymon. The elemental nes seemed to have seen that though.


    It was something other monsters did when they had ack of them in their species and could breed with them, but that was very rare. It was understandable that these orcs may have only gained the smallest of small amounts of intelligence at first andmitted these crimes.


    From there, they grew over time to learn the errors of their way and would be judged on those crimes since they looked simr as a race now.


    The orcs in the world would be simr to goblins in a way in appearance too. Some would be green skinned or red skinned. They would also wear sparse clothing. Not that the goblins had kept that as they were weed as a race. They quickly adapted full clothing from various races as their own. It might be the case for the orcs too if they were able to learn and grow as these orcs did.


    "It''s an intelligent race called the sky orc. They evolved differently here and have intelligence and smaller bodies."


    "I thought this would be how it goes." Gil shook his head. There was something about the situation that had just made him expect this. It wasn''t a bad thing, he had been preparing.


    Another wind arrow was notched in his now. As he let it fly, the wind man was attracted to it until it briar again. This time though, Gil let less wind mana in to the arrow before he fired it. As a result, the arrow made it further.


    That intense wind mana attracted the attention of the cloud koi, they were after stronger wind mana, that was it. They could sense what they believed to be a wind spirit. Large amount of wind man all condensed together. Wouldn''t that be their perfect food?


    Gil sent three more arrows toward them, each going further in the opposite direction that the party was moving. As such, the cloud koi abandoned the weaker wind mana of the sky orc.


    It allowed the group to see the thinner white body covered in an odd cloudlike leather armor. Something made with it the wind elemental ne which the party had not seen yet. It was an interesting type of material that they could search forter.


    The sky orc looked at them, surprise in its grey eyes. Its features were much more human like than any other orc. They lost the vicious permanent angry wrinkles and only had slightly overgrown teeth for breaking in to tougher meats.


    Paying more attention, they realized it was not just one sky orc. It was actually an adult sky orc protecting a smaller sky orc child. They were all very d to have intervened now.


    The adult sky orc clearly wasn''t sure what to do or say. This wasn''t a normal situation after all. "I''m not sure we can help you get back to your home, but my friend will keep those cloud koi at bay. They are chasing the wind arrows without realizing they aren''t food."


    The sky orc looked at Walker carefully it wasn''t normal for this sort of thing to happen. He had been prepared to be eaten while protecting the child with him. Not at all expecting a savior of any kind. It was natural to be hunted by the powerful here.


    "We were traveling viges. They showed up. Thank you." This made even more sense. The wind elemental ne was always moving. Therefore, the viges or homes of the races here must also move. Meaning that traveling between them was a challenge.


    "We are d to help. We are on a hunt. You didn''t pass any odd beings. Undead?" Walker saw that the two rxed slightly. But he could also see that they were turning their bodies slightly.


    As he watched, the wind mana currents slightly shifted and the two sky orcs did too. They must have an innate sense for where their vige was based on wind mana currents. Something that any being within this ne would have to develop to survive.


    "We saw the winds shift oddly. The powerful angelic wind spirits went to defend the ne and force an enemy out. They moved toward the water ne."


    That was more than what the party expected. It appeared that the two were getting restless though. The longer that they stayed here waiting the higher the risk that there would be another monster attempting to eat them.


    "We won''t stop you any longer. We wish you a safe journey home." Since Su could tell they were unsettled, she pushed everyone ahead a little with a few quick looks.


    Walker caught on immediately and also gave them a farewell. But he also used a quick healing spell on them which made them feel lighter than before. The pair might not have been truly Injured, but they still felt very appreciative of the gesture. It showed that the unknown beings they had met were truly kind.


    As the sky orcs left. The party had the chance to think about the other potential races here. Many other monsters might have proper races and have grown within the elemental nes.


    However, their focus was the challenge that would be the water elemental nes. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    They had been lucky enough to be able to breathe everywhere that they went. But needing to use mana so that they could breathe through the entirety of the water elemental ne could be rough. Not to mention if they had to do so while also being involved in a battle.


    The only saving grace so far was that they had not needed to cross through the direct centers of any elemental ne yet. It was thanks to the odd ways that the nes were always shifting. If they were not, they would have had to travel much further than they already had.


    "Since we are hitting the boundary between wind and water, does that mean mist or fog?" This could mean monsters that used illusions as well. There was also the risk that they could be somewhat close to the light elemental ne.


    Walker could sense that Onyx was acting more energetic. Not because he was sensing the closeness, but because his body was naturally absorbing more small bits of purer light mana. Hence why the theory that it was closer came to be.


    "I expect we will have some loaners that use illusions. I wonder if there''s a race that lives there too. It''s such a unique environment." Walker''s theories became mumbled words that the rest of them listened to. Naturally, Midnight grew more energetic hearing them. She was very excited to see more.


    It was hard for all of them to remain focused on their tasks. But the elemental nes were literally worlds of wonder within their own right. Too many potential aspects of unexplored and unknown beings could be discovered. No normal person would be able to remain focused whatsoever.


    ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2149 2149. Unique Plane

    Chapter 2149 2149. Unique ne


    "We barely even made it in to the wind elemental ne and now we are hitting another boundary? I thought we would meet the wind king or another angelic wind spirit." Remey was sure that this didn''t make any logical sense. "If you think about it like something spinning, it helps. That''s how I am making it work in my head." Su''s idea to make it rational helped a lot. Especially since a lot of people could use that example when they learned about the elemental nester. "So, we are being brought around the edges because the ne moved enough while we weren''t moving. The angelic wind spirit stopping us really made that much difference?" as much as it didn''t make any sense, it made a lot of sense. "I really am going to get a headache thinking about all this. Besides that, Onyx and Midnight are distracted by something else." Since Gil''sattention has shifted to something else annoying, he pointed out that midnight and Onyx were already examining the boundary. Between the water and the wind, there was a dense mist. It was unique in the sense that seeing beyond with was impossible. However, they could all feel the dense cool water mana that wasing from it. Therefore, this was moving them toward the water elemental nes. "The boundary between the water and wind elemental nes is surprisingly small." This was what Walker could sense. However, the more he focused the more he understood the reason. "The water that makes up the water elemental ne changes to dense ice the further you go in. that manas that it''s not just a sib aspect of water mana but the densest form." This was good proof for his understanding of water and ice as a whole. Especially when it came to the frost whip skill which united the two forms together to create a flowing yet solid attack method. It also helped him expand the way he thought about ice and water as a whole. Come of the dragons had been able to mix affinities over the years through their children or rtionships. Therefore, an ice dragon had been born between water and wind dragons. Naturally, this could be seen as a unity of the two. But finding out that it was actually the blessing of an extremely powerful pure water affinity would shock many people. Especially since that dragon also possessed a small wind affinity which would have been confused for being part of the greater ice affinity. This was all a lot to think about before Midnight and Onyx began to retreat back. Something had caused them to feel unsettled. Their instincts were stronger since they were more sensitive naturally. Through his bond with them, Walker immediately caught on to what they felt. It wasn''t something small either. It was a denser wind and water manaing together nearby them. Enough that they knew that whatever it was could easily beat them without thinking much. "We''ve felt that before. That''s a kraken." Gil recognized it. Even before the tentacle had whipped up out of the mist and retracted. From what they could all see, the kraken had just moved because it had sensed prey in the mist. But it retreated after missing that prey. "That means the water elemental nes are infested with kraken? That''s not good at all. We could only fight one mother and all those babies because we had an army with us." everything in remey''s mind told her that this was wrong and dangerous. They couldn''t handle this sort of enemy if it was a fully grown adult, with many more just like it. "Listen, this is not going to be what we focus on right now. We have to consider that we need to keep walking on this tight rope or we will fall in to the abyss beflow." Gil''s worries were fair. They were walking a very thin and dangerous tightrope. Whoever put it across this chasm was really dumb. "Don''t be dumb. If we walk anywhere we will just fail because our feet are made of iron. We are going to sink to the bottom of this pond. We can''t fly out of this like Walker is." when Su spoke too, there was nothing making any sense. Or at least no sense to Walker. His party had suddenly begun to say things that were not clear at all. However, the more he tried to look around and guess the cause, the more he understood how hard this was. They had walked in to the mist a few moments ago without realizing it. The result wasplete blockage of their surroundings. Furthermore, everyone else was seeing some form of illusions. As Walker had the strongest senses for mana and he was rapidly absorbing various manas in to his body. This allowed him to constantly adapt and understand the flows of manas around. But he couldn''t sense the water and the wind being used to make a mist with illusions. However, he still heard someughter.. A giggle here or a smallugh there. Enough that he could use his eyes and ears to track the changes in the denser mists. After a few minutes of ignoring the odd situations that the rest of the party found themselves in, Walker spotted a slight movement in the mist. It was more solid. He focused on it and used the all around appraisal skill. ''Illusion spirit


    These spirits are from a unique ne of water, light, wind, and dark manas. It is often ignored orpletely unfounded since the beings there are perfect at illusions. Very few can see through them. These spirits often move out of their nes to areas they enjoy being in. Specifically to cause trouble and make illusions. Eventually, they will get bored and move on. They scare easily once they are spotted. But that can be challenging since they used unique mana to wrap their bodies to hide from predators. Many of the elemental ne''s residents dislike their mischievous and nosy natures. Hence many consume them when spotted. They have been known to bother sleeping dragons. Hence giving them the nickname, dragon pests¡­'' N?v(el)B\\jnn


    There were at least three of these illusion spirits. Something that Walker would have believed appeared within the world and much less some unique elemental ne. Yet, here he was seeing the all around appraisal to prove that these spirits existed. Furthermore, he was able to understand that out beyond these elemental nes, nearer to the endless chaos and the unknown nes, was a n where water, light, wind, and dark anas mixed well enough to give birth to illusion spirits. It was hard to wrap his head around. "Leave us alone." Walker waved his hand and sent arger burst of wind out. But with it came a slight bit of draconic aura. Enough that they realized they had actually managed to find a dragon awake!


    The sudden burst of manas with hints of dragons scared the illusion spirits away. The moment that they started to run, the mist lessened exposing more of the water elemental ne to sight. "Nothing about that was good." Onyx had lost any cheery tones he had to give. Right now, he was very serious as he wondered why he had even thought that they were all trying to polish Su''s armor while walking a tightrope. "Just some illusion spiritsing here to cause trouble. I scared them away. Midnight, the next time you wonder if that is good or bad of a situation, use some of your natural dragon aura that radiates from your body. Dragon manas are unique and can scare them away." Walker didn''t mention the fact that the illusion spirits like to bother sleeping dragons. They didn''t need to be hunted by her right now. "The kraken we saw was real though." Walker made every single one of them snap out of whatever curiosity or strangeness was left over by the illusion spirits. He had seen the kraken tentacle and had only been unable to appraise it due to the mist that grew when the illusion spirits arrived. "We still need to be ready to fight it." Su was already in a defensive stance in front of the others as Midnight moved to her side so that they could defend and attack at a moment''s notice. While therge kraken tentacle would be hard to defend against. It was not impossible. "No, just take a minute to stand here. It''s already moving since it can sense a better source of water mana. There''s only one." Walker could see sense it. The ripples in the water mana. They made out the certain shapes within the sprawling waters of the water elemental ne. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    1King_Rep1


    Creator''s Thought

 Chapter 2150 2150. Bad Waters

    Chapter 2150 2150. Bad Waters


    "I think he is sensing more mana than he was before." Su pointed out the fact that Walker was making slight movements every time that there was some movement in the water. Like he was making his mind one with it so that he could tell if there were any dangers within.


    "I would say you are right, there are plenty of water spirits that areing to see him. I thought that we wouldn''t see any." Since Gil saw the shapes of water spirits moving in and around the water, he realized that they had all been focused on Walker. Like they were talking using just mana.


    While the world had given everyone the ability tomunicate no matter thenguage, this was different. This was purely using elemental manas and not words. Conveying information and not spoken words or traditionalmunication in the least.


    Things only grew more intricate as Walker made a few motions causing the nearby water to shift. This was when everyone noticed that the ripples of water also moved upwards. In to what the group would have expected to be air.


    "And there''s even floating balls of water connected by invisible water. The water elemental ne is the most confusing." From this point on, Remey was able to grasp that the elemental nes were not t whatsoever. They were all around them.


    The entire party, minus Walker, had not focused on that aspect of the elemental nes. Mostly because they had not needed to. The mountains were easily climbable. The winds were always shifting so it was not easy to notice. But here, the water was divided up in to different forms before it froze in torge bodies of ice further on within the water elemental ne.


    Now they could see a much clearer outline of what the elemental nes were. They were not just t. As they traveled through, the nes shifted. So naturally, there was a hard chance that they would even notice that they were removing up and down as well as side to side, forward and backwards.


    Even as they stood on the boundary, the mists shifted and the entire party realized that they had moved slightly closer to the water elemental nes. To an even more shocking degree, Midnight leaped in to the air and started to swim. But she was not struggling to breathe. The water mana was water mana, it was also water itself. But it was not something violent by nature that meant to kill.


    Water was also a basis for life. Therefore, beings that entered the water could also breathe. Could also survive. Hence why Midnight had trusted the instincts she had and leaped in to the water elemental ne when Walker had given a slight nod.


    He had also realized that there was no danger in breathing when it came to the water elemental ne. Because there would always be minute amounts of wind mana along with life mana, there would be no reason to use mana to breathe constantly. A great bonus since the party would be able to maintain their mana levels.


    "You aren''t tired brother?" Omnyx realized that everyone had been moving rather quickly. They had forgotten to take Walker in to ount. He was weaker now than before. If he couldn''t keep up then they might unwittingly be forcing him beyond his current limits.


    "No, I''m still full of energy. It''s the mana here. My body is using it to remain in top form." Walker even made a few flexing gestures to make Onyx chuckle a little before leaping in to the waters himself. "You also have to remember, I am gaining strength by being here. Just like Remey will the closer to the fire elemental ne we are."


    To be fair, Onyx should have recalled this. He was already focused on the light elemental ne which he sensed was also in borders with the water elemental ne. Much more closely than what he had noticed when in the wind and earth elemental nes.


    Yet, there was the fact that things shifted. So he might just not be in the pce where the nes were close enough to sense one another clearly. Especially since the boundaries would also be a mix of manas which could confuse anyone''s senses.


    As they all got used to the odd feeling of swimming in what could be the air, the party started to move ahead. Waker could sense disturbances in the water mana. There was an awkward vibration that wasn''t making sense as he pushed forward. Not monsters fighting. Nor was it something that the water spirits seemed to know either. Especially since they were moving around Walker and warning him with their manas to be careful.


    "I can tell you sense something ahead. Let me tell you what it is since I can already tell." Gil''s slight;y surprised tone was because their voices still traveled normally. The wonders of the water elemental ne could be researched another time though.


    "Ahead, there are a few weird looking zombies. I am pretty sure that they are not normal either." without a proper appraisal, Gil had yet to get more information. But that would happen in a moment because they wereing closer to what they could see. Which was just more proof that they were following the immortal king still.


    ''Drowned


    The drowned is a living being brought in to the water elemental ne and forcefully made to absorb water mana as they perished. This is a very terrifying experience that created a violent undead with no intelligence at all.


    The only boons of doing this were that the undead has an extremely high ability to swim within water along with using water mana to enhance its nails and teeth to bite and scratch whatever it is attacking.


    These are the bodies of humans kept alive through unknown means but still able to be transported. It is most likely that they were rogue adventurers¡­''


    Walker and the others didn''t want the other information. They knew well that whatever else they learned would just make them hate this even more. The immortal king had somehow captured people, kept them alive, and then dragged them along with him to use as experimental subjects.


    Why he waited for the water elemental pane, who knew, but it was still wrong. These were zombies that could have been saved if the party had been faster. Which meant that they might have the chance to save others that had been taken here. There was still the unknown about how many undead or captives the immortal king might have thought.


    "They areing this way." Three of the ugliest zombies that the party had ever seen were moving toward them.


    The skin was pale, both from missing sun and also from being forced in to the water. The water mana had seemingly forced its way through the body causing a unique quick rotting process as the bodies were also forced to be zombies instead of just perish due to the over use of water mana. Most people would not survive dense manas being forced in to their bodies all of the sudden. Hence the experiment was even more cruel.


    Su blocked one of them and noticed that water had coated the nails of the drowned. It was even enough to make scratches on the improved twin shiels which the wandering cksmith took great pride in. Even as Walker used the water mana to make the water around them denser so the drowned struggled more, not that it really did. Walker saw the improved swimming ability right away.


    Hence, he took out one of the many swords within his high spatial storage and used it to sh at another approaching drowned. Remey also had made a move. Midnight backed her up so that she wasn''t pushed back as the drowned gained speed and tried to sp on to Remey. With Midnight''s help, the pair were able to stop themselves from moving away from the party. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Fighting in the water would allow them to separate much more easily with the flow and the forces of water moving. But Onyx was using that to his advantage. Moving his body to whip his tail forward, he was able to psalm the three drowned backwards much more easily. Opening up a chance for Gil to use his daggers to sh at the tendons in the legs.


    It wasn''t a defeat, but it weakened them for the time being since they were still reliant on their rotten and water logged bodies to be intact to some degree. This allowed Walker to channel the water mana the same way that the drowned did. But Walker channeled it alongthe de of the sword in his hands and used it to sh at the weaker joints of one drowned. The perfect method to slowly but surely cut them to pieces before he could use magic to put them to rest entirely.

 Chapter 2151 2151. Floating Undead

    Chapter 2151 2151. Floating Undead


    With the three drowned now incapacitated and struggling to use the water mana to move, midnight did not let them get away. Her next attack used her ws coated in water mana dense enough to form ice shed through their heads easily. Many people underestimate the extreme sharpness that ice could create. "The immortal king is getting worse. He might have more people with him." Walker was sure that this was the case. He could see that su and the others were put in a very unhappy mood learning all of this. Hence why their speed began to increase. Walker could sense various ripples nearby, but they weren''t anything to worry about. They had a purpose within the water elemental ne and they could avoid the monsters here. However, they did not realize that the shifting of the water currents was harder to predict. Especially sincerger monsters called this ce home. The kraken they had seen a tentacle of was not thergest. ''Tidal whale


    This is a monster known for traveling thergest aspects of the open waters within the water elemental ne. They are peaceful and do not cause harm intentionally. They only chase after the colder water flowing around the edges of the frozen sections of the water elemental nes. Their massive size is what causes chaos around them though. Every p of their tail which propels them through the water using water mana, causes the currents around them to alter. They can even cause the entire water elemental ne to shift when they are in panic. Due to this, they will cause many monsters and beings to be disced. Hence why they are seen as beings of destruction even though they are not intentionally causing said destruction. They have a unique water based fat that coats the inside of their bodies. It is extremely valuable to those within the fire elemental nes due to the fact that they will be able to use it to greatly increase their resistance to water mana attacks. This is important because many of the water and fire beings venture in to the boundary between them to battle one another¡­''


    The details about the water and fire boundary weren''t needed right now. Right this second, the party had the single instinct totch together as the massive tail pushed the evenrger blue monster forward. Large spikes of ice grew on the blue tidal whales back. This was because they always remained within the coldest water at all times. But the speed it moved was another story. The force behind its tail was enough to cause the party to be thrown through the water and even out of it on to a floating cier within the waters. They were the lucky ones though, based on how fast the cier moved through the water, if they had still been inside, they would be sent for who knew how far. The only bonus was that the immortal king must also be affected by this since Walker coiled spot signs that another tidal whale was some distance away. "This ce is a mess!" There was a lot of frustration in Remey''s tone since they kept chasing the immortal king but ending up where they didn''t need to be. Yes, they had managed to meet for a brief moment the true earth sage and the earth king, but that wasn''t what they hade here for originally. They had met a unique race for a moment within the wind elemental ne. But again, not the goal. And now, they had been thrown deeper in to the water elemental ne and hopefully being pushed towards the boundary of whatever ce the immortal king was being pushed towards. "Calm down, the immortal king lost some undead too. They are floating there." Seeing that Gil had been able to roll with the sudden chaos, everyone followed his sightline. After a moment, they noticed that within a semi frozen, slushy, water, there was evidence of broken undead. ''Mutated cyclops ogre n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Through multiple mutations and magical alterations, this was a zombie made from both the body of a greennds cyclops and a mountain ogre. The intention was to create an intensely powerful and easily repairable meat shield. It seeded. This undead zombie was able to take hits from an ancient dragon when it was in its prime. Over time, the species of its body parts began to be extinct and inferior species parts were used. As such, its body could not handle the pressure of water mana from traveling monsters. Therefore, it waspletely broken leaving only half the zombified body to rot for the final time. It was created¡­''


    The methods used were not important to Walker. He was a little d to what about two different species of extinct monsters that had once existed. However, He had no reason to learn how a monster like this was made. When it came to intentions of making undead, he had none. He had even stopped making the temporary golems and puppets using fire or earth manas. It felt wrong to make them and send them to attack now. Especially after so much time meeting undead used as ves. "He even had ancient monsters that he put together to make undead. The immortal king is not getting better." This was proof to Su that there would be more and more undead that would be tough to handle. Especially since they were already certain that they would be fairly powerful undead that they had never seen before. "It''s what we expected. But for now, we can just follow the damage. Its body was torn apart by the colliding water currents. It''s a blessing we didn''t have to counter those" Walker knew that he would have exhausted all of his mana to defend from that. Let alone the fact that he would have still been injured. The rest of the party would have been severely injured as well. The two tidal whales that they had seen were long gone too. They had appeared for a short time but causedmassive amounts of damage. Enough that their all around appraisal made a lot of sense. Peaceful monsters that traveled the colder water, but caused tons of damage. The elemental nes proved to be a weird ce yet again. "Brother!" Midnight leaped up and shouted. She was looking at the sky ahead, but it wasn''t really a sky. It was a boundary. The way that the elemental nes worked, this felt like up, but the party could easily travel that way without much issue. The reason that midnight had reacted so suddenly wasn''t that there was a boundary to another elemental ne though. What she had noticed was that there was something above them in that elemental ne which was very familiar. "It''s a dragon, I can sense it too." Su''s intuition allowed her to pick up on her natural instinct. She was a half dragon. Therefore, she had the innate ability to sense a dragon as she neared one. Just like Midnight. But when she focused on it, she could sense it much more clearly. The light that shimered through toward the slushy waters stopped Walker from getting a clear enough view that he could use the all around appraisal. However, he could sense it too. He was deeply rted to dragons, he was even recognized as the nature dragon. Therefore, his senses allowed him to pick up on the very same draconic aura that rise had as she moved through the sky. "It has to be a light dragon. Or it might be a mixed light and water type dragon. We should try to see what it is doing." Walker was certain that was the right move. As much as he wanted to try to follow the floating body parts, the elemental nes would be a tougher ce to traverse. Especially since he could also see that the light ws ahead, not just above. The way this ce worked would still remain a mystery. Besides this, it was a valuable chance to gather light mana to use in attacking the undead. They were dangerous and needed to be purified in some way or another. The best method to do that would be for Onyx to gain a lot more light mana while the others gathered what they could with their own affinities. Meaning Su, Midnight, and walker. Gil might be able to replenish some arrows though. "Onyx, we might meet some ancient abyssal and heavenly serpents. Don''t be hasty, take your time." Walker realized that there was a veryrge chance they would see thergest and most ancient of onyx''s race. If that was the case, he would need to be prepared. This wouldn''t just be a growth opportunity. "I will be ready." Onyx''s mind focused as he allowed his full form to escape his shadow. No need to hide it now. ¡­

 Chapter 2152 2152. Different Mix

    Chapter 2152 2152. Different Mix


    "I don''t want to tell you this to ruin what you are preparing for, but this is a triple boundary." Walker had sensed the strength in the fire mana increased, but he had not expected that there was such arge change in the surrounding sore. Remey had though. Because Remey had such a dependency on fire mana, she had sensed it the second that the nes shifted again. She could see the fire elemental ne shing with the light and the water elemental nes now. It created a singr point where all three elemental nes mixed which made itself a dangerous intersection. The odds were that this sort of boundary was not always asd powerful, but because the tidal whales had pushed the denser water manas around, they had changed the flow slightly. While not enough to cause imbnces, this was a unique event that would normally just be seen as something interesting. To a traveler though, this was an ideal ce to look in to something extremely unique. Such as herbs, monsters, and manas that gathered there. With the nding of light and water, a shimmering diamond like mist appeared. With the blending of water and fire, there was a steam filled area. Where the light and fire mixed, white mes danced bing shed of brighter me before dulling down again and gathering more mana to repeat. What happened where all three shed was hard toprehend. The light filtered through the sparkling steam creating an interesting sh of cooling and heating effects. The manas shing were a form of symphony that could create something even more intense. Lightning. Different forms of lighting existed. Some needed with mana to form while others could form with just fire and water shing. But when it came to this situation, the light was the catalyst to make the water and the fire even more reactive. It was also how Walker noticed one of the most unique elemental spirits that he had ever seen. ''Lighting arc spirit


    This elemental spirit requires three forms of mana to be able to function. It can grow by umting additional manas but they are limited depending on the bnce. However, it is considered extremely dangerous since it will send its lighting through nearby objects and beings unintentionally. This is due to the unique bnce within its created body. The lighting mana that can often be confused for chaotic manas is extremely energetic. It moved very fast as well. Due to this, it moved with seemingly random actions along with very dense manas that burn and also influence the functions of living bodies. When these spirits utilize the manas that they wish to fight with, they can cause massive storms of lighting. They can also draw in water, light, and fire manas from their surroundings to create a smaller lightning territory of their own. Fue to this, they are avoided by many other spirits and monsters.


    Depending on the binds with other beings, the lighting spirits can inhabit certain forms of earth mana. Crystals and metal being two of the major ones. If this is done, it brings stability and allows for the birth of a very unique spiritual golem only ever seen once in every hundred years due to theplexity of materials and manas that muste together to form it¡­''


    A lot more information was there about how much mana the lightning arc spirit could use at once. How it was able to bnce the three manas within it. Also how it was different from other lightings like the blue lighting spirit, the red lighting spirit, and the purple lighting spirit. Not that the all around appraisal told Walker what made them all different when it came to what manas made the other three up entirely. This was still amazing. It was how the manas came together. Not just the fact that it was these three specific manas. But the exact amount and densities of each fo the three manas, which gave very different results. Many people would fail to see how this influenced magic and mana theory in general. However, Walker had studied many manas. He had meditated on them for many, MANY, hours. That being said, he was sure that if he were to focus on the same manas he could senseing from the lighting arc spirit, that he could also make lighting much more easily. The reason he had never focused on fusing the manas to make lighting the way he had learned before and witnessed a monster do before in the elven forests, was simple. It was very dangerous. With how strong he had been and how much mana he could wield, an attack with lighting could cause severe damage. Because lightning was able to spread and the lightning storms that he had witnessed caused devastating random damage, he had avoided the risk. Killing someone while training this magic would make it pointless to use and understand. Now though, he had changed. Right this second his body had already begun to absorb the ambient manas that were left behind by these unique manabinations. These unique mana fusions. Walker had moved beyond what humans were and reached something called origin race. Because of that, he had been absorbing and limating to the manas of the elemental nes much faster. He knew this and now he could understand what else it was doing beyond just changing his perspective about mana as a whole. Right now, he could sense the mana that the lightning arc spirit was putting off naturally. He could even make it if he manipted the manas. More importantly, he could understand that the lighting arc spirit was in distress. There was something dangerous to it nearby. Arge brown figure moved toward it. from what Walker could tell, it was like an overweight alligator. Toorge and ground but still looked like an alligator from the swamnds. ''Smoldering alligator n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Due to the pressure of the fire mana burning within its body, the earth scales it grows are always red hot. This will darken or grow in color depending on the temperature hitting the scales. Meaning when it is entirely submerged within magma, it is at its weakest when ites to physical defenses. But highest in magical defenses. When it is outside of the magma and cooling, its scales harden making it extremely tough against any physical attack. However, it will be weak to the flexibility of magical attacks. This causes its predators to vary in number depending on their strength and hunting grounds. However, they are seen as a very tough opponent because they can control the what of their bodies by using greater amounts of each mana. Therefore making this dual affinity monster powerful. It often hunts dangerous prey for fun since it is a battle focused species of monster. They will battle even the strongest opponents just because they sense that they can. Otherwise, their scales are invaluable to many since they can adapt over the vast array of heat and cooling¡­''


    The reason that this smoldering alligator hade here was simply to fight the lightning arc spirit. A powerful opponent for sure, but that was only if it wanted to fight. The lightning arc spirit was clearly unhappy and wanting to run. But moving outside of the boundary it was in could be very dangerous for it. The manas were not bnced right this second. Walker didn''t see a reason to leave things be though. He didn''t want to watch the smoldering alligator just defeat this lightning arc spirit just because. The idea that an entire species of monster just liked to fight because it could fight, was incredible, to the say the least. He channeled the manas and caught the attention of the lightning arc spirit in a single sh, Walker sparked an arc of lighting. The control he had now was easily a hundred times better than the first time he saw lighting attacks being used by a monster in the elven forest. Just enough mana had been bnced for it to easily race along the lighting bolt that Walker haad created. The lighting arc spirit moved in front of him in a panicked manor. Walker resisted all the small arcs of lighting that sparked off it toward him where he split the manas and held them around the lightning arc spirit to help it keep bnce. The smoldering alligator had no intention of stopping its movements right now.


    "I think we should have just stayed away from all this. Maybe the immortal king would get eaten before we catch up to it." Gil''s joke fell on deaf ears as Su began to prepare herself to defend them from this veryrge opponent. Remey was the dame, small mes lit up around her. Between Midnight and Onyx, there would be a lot more trouble for this monster.

 Chapter 2153 2153. Changing Manas

    Chapter 2153 2153. Changing Manas


    While the smoldering alligator was a unique and powerful monster with versatile defenses, it was no match against Midnight and Onyx alone. That was saying that Remey''s fist wasn''t already hitting it. The fiery impact if Remey''s fist on the darkened scales of the smoldering alligator caused the side she had struck to glow bright red. Almost white with the intense heat. Remey had easily attracted fire mana from the boundary of the fire elemental ne. It was enhancing her strength much more than what she had been able to wield just a few moments ago. This made an opening for Midnight to rake her ws across the weakness scales. Because she was using her physical might, she easily tore through the sift scales. The magical attacks that could have been used would have been reflected by the softened scales. The information that Walker was giving his party was exactly why they were easily beating therge smoldering alligator. But the monster was not done yet. It had be much angrier as it had been attacked and even damaged during what it thought to be a hint. However, it was even worse that it had be focused on the party. Smoldering alligators loved to fight. So this was an ideal chance for it to have a real fight. One that would make it stronger. If it hadn''t focused on Midnight who had just injured it, the monster might have seen Su charging forward. While the smoldering alligator was much heavier than Su, she had channeled water mana in to her shield. A skill she had been able to learn by copying what she did with light mana but with water. The water mana had formed a thickyer over the twin shields before they hit the smoldering alligator. This massive monster was a fire and earth type monster. The fire that it relied on for the changes in temperatures would need to be kept consistent. When Su came in to contact with it, the wateryer over her shield which could be used to slow arrows, acted as a cooling agent instead. This made the scales and the smoldering alligator better with physical defenses than magical. Hence when Gil released an arrow and Onyx attacked with his tail coated in light mana, different things happened. The physical attacks from both Onyx and Gil consisted of the arrow hitting the scales and Onyx''s tail hitting the side of the smoldering alligator. Basically, it was a hard hit that didn''t do any physical damage. However, they had used mana within their attacks. Gil''s arrow had been filled with fire mana. This attack caused immediate damage since it was mana at different density in an unexpected method. Therefore, it did not meld with the fire mana being controlled within the smoldering alligator''s body. The pain caused chaos to that one side. On the other, an armor of light mana had covered Onyx''s tail. The density and defensive bonus made him safer. What really helped though, was that Onyx''s control of light mana was strong enough to alter that armor. In to sharp light spikes that burst on impact. So while no physical damage got through, the magical piercing attack of light mana did a lot more damage. With the disorientation of its strengths bing its weaknesses, the smoldering alligator began to radiate a lot more heat. It was pushing up its body temperature with the use of its fire mana to a very high degree. All the scales lit up bright red slightly turning white hot. This was the immense amount of fire mana that was stored within the score of the smoldering alligator. It stepped forward and charged ahead trying to push Su away. The rigidity of its scales had changed making it more resistant to magical attacks. Its'' speed was much faster than what it had been just moments before. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That was how Su got knocked back even a little bit. While it was not as defensive, this monster had used its skill to allow it to throw therge weight it carried around. In turn, that meant it was harder to defend against in an instant. Not that Su was hurt. She could only feel a slight ache that came from being hit at a fast speed. Otherwise, she had already mmed the twin shields down in a harsh shield bash. Thest of the water mana was forced to burn off barely changing the temperature of the smoldering alligator in the least. Not that it was a problem, Remey was already punching out. This time Onyx had matched his timing with hers as they both delivered heavier hits. The tail m had Onyx''s entire weight behind it. The blunt force cracked many of the scales and broke the leg of the smoldering alligator. Remey''s defense breaking fist stole away the vital fire mana because she had a much better grasp on the manas. On top of that, her fist caused a deadly wound and broke multiple ribs. It was a show of teamwork and power against thisrger monster. "Seeing that the original prey was nearby, the smoldering alligator made an dash to attack the lightning arc spirit and Walker. Foolishly, it charged at them with its jaws wide open. Attempting to snap down on them with the red hot teeth lining those jaws. Walker and the lighting arc spirit were in sync. Walker sensed the flow of mana and he pushed back on it. This had already channeled the lighting arc spirit and allowed it to realize what Walker nned. His hand reached out and touched the eternal codex. It red to life with the density of manas all around it. In a single swift motion, it changed in to the form of a staff while the lighting from the lightning arc spirit coursed through it. Walker just had to channel those manas, that lightning, and aim. A loud crack echoed through the boundaries to the three elemental nes. The smoldering alligator copsing came next, but at a much less shy sound and light mixed with the copse. Only a sigh as thest of the air escaped its body, the mes going out. There was a fizzling sound as multiple small lightning arcs shot off the lightning arc spirit. It was d to be alive, but even more excited that it had used the mana it controlled in a way that did not harm everything around it. Because of the chaotic nature of lightning, it had always seen the dangerous side of this existence, not the controlled and protective side. Walker had just shown it that though. It had sensed the way that he adjusted the manas changing the way that the lighting arc spirit thought of its own mana. That was mostly because Walker had seen safer lightning being used by monsters born with multiple elemental manas. Yes, that monster had not had light but wind mana instead, that didn''t matter though. Instead, the focus was on the smoothness of control over the mana. Because the world had been cut off from the elemental nes, there was a difference in how the elemental spirits had grown as well. Since this was something that would take a lot of time to realize, many people would have failed to understand the differences. It was one of the key reasons that the elemental spirits living in the elemental nes had not be spirit race like those of the world. Their manas were more original to how the manas should flow. Less isted and adjusted over years of dormancy, alteration, or unbnced manas. That made them more ancient in a sense, more true to what the manas really were. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just a different point of view than others. It was, however, where the manas would also cause growth. Right now, the lighting arc spirit was drastically adjusting its body. It had just discovered another way to understand itself after all! Something like this was very rare. When Fleur noticed this, she made an effort to leave the spirit mark. She had not done so since she was entirely focused on the changes in elemental manas all around her. The changes in density had been very hard for her to adjust to since she was not absorbing purer manas of all forms. When she had noticed the changes in manas though, she understood that the lightning arc spirit was bing a spirit race. It had adjusted itself to copy the calmness and order it had sensed from the way Walker used all three manas. A major change, but one that made it able to travel where it wished. To not be trapped within the unique boundary that lightning naturally formed, would be a dreame true. Many of the elemental spirits here only stayed in their unique nes. This could change that. Change their perspectives. ¡­

 Chapter 2154 2154. Elemental Flow

    Chapter 2154 2154. Elemental Flow


    The form of the lightning arc spirit altered to be more detailed while still being a mix of chaotic lighting. Fewer arcs of lightning shot off though. It was more controlled. The same way that Walker had managed to push the lightning to move as he had desired. Channeling the lightning was a requirement to be able to understand how the manas were mixed. Wjilehe had felt that through his body, he had not been damaged by it whatsoever. Instead, he felt morefortable. The entire time that Walker had been in the elemental nes, he had noticed that his body felt lighter. That he also felt his mind was clearer. It was like so many weights had been lifted from him. Right now, he could sense that the lightning arc spirit felt the same. Like it had been freed from the pressure of survival in one ce. Itpletely stepped out of the control of Walker''s mana which it had just relieved on a few moments ago. With a quick step, Walker stored the body of the smoldering alligator within the high spatial storage space. It was a great material that he knew he would be able to use when he needed it. Beyond that, he also knew that the wandering cksmith would find it to be an incredibly important material to research. The heat resistance was immeasurable since the scales could be cool or hot depending on the amount of fire mana. But the key would be the physical resistance when solid and the magical resistance when soft due to heat. That could give way to unique armors that changes based on someone''s fire mana and earth mana. Or a unique weapon that could channel magic or be used physically. A dual form of armor or weapons would be an excellent way to diversify what someone else had as their strengths. Besides that, it would give way to more potential fusions of elemental manas within materials. It might be possible to replicate an alloy with simr properties using other manas. Shaking his head free from this, he looked at the others who had their eyes fixed on the uniqueness of these boundaries shing right here and now. "We are d we could help you, but we are hunting a dangerous undead that came this way." Walker felt bad that he was saying they might just leave here now, but as he looked at the lightning arc spirit that had condensed its body significantly, he could see that there was more there now. A detailed face would shift in to form here and there as a more defined arm and leg formed. It was a real example of watching someone learn how to understand their own aman better. But this was at a much more rapid pace than what most images or other spirits could do. It was a sign that the lightning arc spirit had truly just stepped in to being part of the spirit race. Fleur was constantly sending out small amounts of natural mana which drastically helped the lightning arc spirit. From what Walke could understand, the two weremunicating. What was really happening was that Fleur was teaching the lightning arc spirit. As a member of the spirit race, Fleur was able to easilymunicate with others of the same race in ways that even Walker would struggle with since it was not his natural method. But Fleur, she could also sense the manas of any being that was made of mana much more closely, she was the same after all. As such, Fleur was sharing unspoken experiences. Communication, the way to move and exist, and even the best way to make it to the world where others of the spirit race were gathered together. Where the young lightning arc spirit would be able to learn more. Grow more.


    So, can wwe not fight more of those?" Gil was sure that things would be difficult if they continuously fight monsters that could alter their defensive prowess. especially since he would need to change the arrows he uses constantly. "I didn''t n of fighting that oen at all. But since it was attacking someone in danger¡­" Walker knew that the others wouldn''t have run either. They understood that the second Walker saw the lightning arc spirit that they were going to help it. Leaving a trapped victim was against their morels. "I feel like we might be getting behind in our efforts though." there was some worry in Su''s mind that they continued to be held up over and over. Like they were attracting more and more attention from the ones living within the elemental nes. The thing was, they had barely even crossed paths with the more powerful beings. Dragons, the elemental rulers, and the other sages. They had only met the true earth sage and the earth king. Otherwise, they had seen the angelic wind spirits and could have found other traces. What they needed to realize, was that these elemental nes were massive and changing. They had a very slight chance to ever run in to them in the first ce. From here on though, Walker was beginning to understand how they had run in to these situations. "We are following the immortal king, he is being led on by a single sense to follow the death mana. Basically, he is just going right ahead while exerting his way through. Cutting through all the boundaries and ignoring that the nes are shifting. He doesn''t know how to travel through this ce. Neither do we, but I think I get it."


    "Brother, did you figure out the flow of manas here?" Onyx had been enjoying the higher light mana density here. Especially since he could feel his body growing slightly. Not in the sense that he was gettingrger, but more that he was able to stretch a little more than usual. "There''s nothing for more to understand. It''s a mix of manas that are always on the move. Just the same as the world. manas never stop moving. They are always flowing. It''s why we have seasons. But the world is an anchor, every bit of mana moves around and through it because of how it''s fixed. The manas here are not so they flow constantly creating smaller fused elemental nes."


    "So, since it''s moving, they are in bnce. Yes they cross and collide, but they aren''t pushing in to one another at their denser areas. Meaning that every single movement makes the manas move. We are having an effect on everything but that''s natural. So, if we make a bigger effect, we can be sure that we will be able to move faster." Now the others were a bit lost. They had a sense for the grandness of the elemental nes. How they would change due to the influence of the beings within them. But now that Walker was saying something like moving faster by influencing them, they didn''t know exactly what he was saying. "Just like the true earth sage helped us move, he didn''t use magic or make the earth below us flow. He was changing the elemental ne as a whole." Walker raised a hand and the water beneath his feet moved. But this was water mana, not just water. In a sense, by moving the water, he was creating a space for them to be able to flow better. He took a step to prove it. In a sh, they all watched Walker step through the water but also moved double the distance that a step would normally take him. It made no sense. "See? The water was here but by moving the water mana below me at the same time that I moved, it pushed me further because the entire elemental ne shifts too. By doing that, one step was like ten." This made a lot more sense in a way. It was spatial magic nor was it something insanely advanced. This was just normal for the fact that the elemental nes were moving in general. Especially since they were all just moving along with it too. So, now they just had to understand how that moved in general. "So you are saying that as long as the immortal king doesn''t learn this, we can push ahead?'' Remey cracked her knuckles again. Midnight also growled slightly. She wanted to make sure that the immortal king finally got what he deserved for all the evil that he did. "I should also mention, our new friend here saw the immortal king pass by. He just told Fleur all about it." Fleur made a thumbs up gesture as approval. She had been talking and teaching, but she had also been listening. gathering important information about the immortal king that had juste through here with a horde of undead.


    ¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2155 2155. A Faster Chase

    Chapter 2155 2155. A Faster Chase


    "We know what else there is!?" "Know? We can see it too, there is enough mana to make some rough shapes. Isn''t that right Fleur, and our new friend?" Walker was smug while looking at how much mana that the pair had already gathered. Fleur was able to manipte all the manas because she was a nature spirit. She had once embodied the world in a way. Now she was embracing the unique path that came with elemental bnce which made her a natural mana spirit. Also the leader of the spirit race. Beyond that, the lightning arc spirit had just learned an immense amount from her. Therefore, he was able to take a more solid lightning form without sending any sparks at anyone. Walker had significantly eased off manipting the manas around them. It had a very defined control over the light, fire, and water manas mixed to make its body in to the unique lightning that they could all see. With Fleur and the lightning arc spirit working together, they were able to draw in the manas around and start to create rough shapes. Enough that the group could see at least a hundred regr skeletons moving with the immortal king. Beside it was a veryrge undead, this was more like an elephant type of monster than any of the others. From what Walker could tell, there were feline type monsters, zombies with bones protruding from them, and another potential race that might not have looked the same in ancient times as they did now. The features they had were simr to humans, but the bones that grew around their faces were strikingly different. The only others were the odd shapes of what could only be young reptilian monsters. They all had different pieces of their bodies missing though. As if they had been taken to be used elsewhere. The striking thing though, was that there was another thing moving too. It has arge covered figure riding it which would be the immortal king. Thisrge monster, thisrge undead, had a round shape and was pulling itself forward with ten legs on each side. That didn''t stop it from dragging the back half of its body though. The lightning that made it up was enough to show some details, but that thing was clearly the reason that so many undead had been able toe to the elemental nes with the immortal king. It had a massive size and was holding a lot of weight. Walker and the rest of the party could only assume that there were dead pieces within. Those pieces of dead whatever, could be used to make undead. Therefore, the immortal king had taken all of the saved undead specimens. All of the saved materials. All of them saved anything that could be useful and managed to create some form of spatial storage undead abomination. Now it was an undead used to create a small army of brutal undead. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That''s why even if the immortal king learns how to influence the manas of the elemental nes to move faster like I just did, he can''t there is no way he could force that much weight and mana draw to go anywhere. Its mana cost would make me dead tired in a second. And since the immortal king weakened himself¡­" Walker let everyone else fill in the nks themselves. Yes they hade here for the express reason to hunt the immortal king, but now they had figured out a great deal more just from doing so. Traveling the elemental nes would be a major aspect of that. "While we move, we just need to take the time to check that we aren''t causing too much trouble. The beings that move like we will be moving have respect for how it influences the elemental nes. Some are monsters that affect the flows in smaller ways, like pushing the boundaries a little."


    Walker was referring to the tidal whales that psyched the group towards this interesting ne where three manas came to a collision. But even that was small in the grand scheme of elemental nes. It was something that would happen naturally because these monsters traveled in very specific ways within the nes themselves. Following a natural flow. "If we make toorge of a ripple, then the sages, elemental rulers, or other intelligent races could feel threatened. We already heard there was a war in ancient times. When the world wasn''t connected to the elemental nes. They were shing. So, what would happen now that the world is mixed back in to things and we came here causing more elemental manas to sh than usual?" "I agree with Walker, we should let him take control of guiding us. Fleur will also be helping since she just demonstrated that she can do so." With Su so strongly supportive of this, the others couldn''t say a word against it. Plus, they knew that Walker''s idea would speed this up quickly. "Oh, and Fleur told our new friend how to get to Genesis so we will have a new member of the spirit race waiting for us when we get home." Walker tried not to think about the fact that he would have to handle the fact that it was more than possible for the elemental spirits within the elemental nes to take a step and refine themselves to be a member of the spirit race with higher intelligence. The positive though, was that step seemed to take time. It either required a proper age and amount of mana understanding which the elemental spiritscked right now. Or, it required a greater deal of outside assistance. Whether that was a change in mana flow all around or just general mana from the world which came with a different existence from the denser and purer manas of the elemental nes. Regardless, it was something to consider. Especially since they would have to create a better way for the new races and not just the spirit race to join the world. The angelic wind spirits would need to be weed at some point. It would be a veryrge challenge for the angels to meet those that descended from them and be reliant on just one elemental mana. Especially with the angel race''s history in the world. Everyone gathered together as the lightning spirit showed off the exceptional speed moving away from them. Lightning was fast. So much so that the lightning arc spirit was gone in a sh of light and left behind a vibration of crackling lightning. Especially with the lightning elemental ne nearby. Walker made everyone get close and hold together. He was able to see that Remey had purposefully pulled arger amount of fire mana toward her. She was filtering it through her body, increasing the mana that she needed to have within her to survive. Also, strengthening herself much more than she had been able to within the world with its lesser mana densities. She was able to better use the fire mana to her own ends. Not just increase her strength. Right now, level was of no concern to her since she was well over what she could have even when she was in the world. But the thought brought her much more to mind. She didn''t need to read anything about skills or levels any more. It was all in her head. Just how powerful she was and that her alchemical brawler ss was able to wield those mes better too. Onyx was much the same. But where Walker had expected Onyx to mention if he had gotten ass or not. Especially since he had been doing so much to lead the rebirth of his own race among those of others in the world. Looking closer, Walker saw that Onyx had indeed gained a ss. The reason that Onyx had not said a word, was simple. He was never one to brag about himself. Only when ying a bit with his sister or the others. Never to be arrogant. He only bragged about the young serpents. "Onyx, I''m proud of you. You were recognized as more than just the leader of your race. Not that you are called the abyssal and heavenly serpents any more apparently. Existence caught up with you on that." Walker was looking at two things. Onyx was no longer known as just an abyssal serpent, he was known by the system of existence as; equilibrium serpent, abyssal. It meant the bnced race of serpents, both of light and darkness affinities. They could achieve both in bnce. Then looking further, Walker saw the guide of equilibrium as Onyx''s ss. The very embodiment of leadership for his race in dark and light mana. A teacher to them so that they could learn how to be more than just a monster for generations toe. They wererge titles to live up to. Not that this would be hard for Onyx, he did well without anyone adding pressure. "Thank you. But I am still family. We do it together." Onyx didn''t need to say more. He focused on the denser light mana while enjoying the feeling of joying from the rest of the party. The feeling of warm loving pride.

 Chapter 2156 2156. Another Mana

    Chapter 2156 2156. Another Mana


    With a collective step, the group moved incredible distances. Walker was able to sense the mana and exert enough force on it to allow them all to move much faster. With every bit of mana that he grasped, it felt easier. Like he should have been doing this since the day he was born. The closeness with mana that Walker felt was skyrocketing. He was reaching out and grasping the density of elemental manas so that he could allow them to travel through the elemental nes. What he should have realized, was that by doing so he was touching on an entirely different mana. Walker had touched upon space mana before. However, it had been very difficult to understand. Very difficult to be able to use with his mana. Now that his body was gaining denser manas and he was leveling up to be stronger at a grander rate, his body had been able to begin adjusting. The limation to denser manas had pushed Walker further than what he had realized while he traveled with the party even in a short time. The origin race was a race that was well advanced in the grand scheme of things. So much so that they had all learned to go out in to the chaotic outer areas and discover more unique elemental nes. Walker was one of them. He had begun to properly act like one and learn about what that means for him. Right now, he had officially just grabbed on to spatial mana for the first time. Properly using other manas to disce himself and others to move forward rapidly. Yet, as he reached out to shift the manas again, he was not moving forward. Iad, they were all beginning to teleport. The reason that it was advancing so much better than seconds ago, was that the party was so deeply connected to one another, that their manas were resonating. The entire party was moving with Walker. In perfect synchrony. Their every step came with their manas moving too. They instinctively matched Walker''s lead as they had always done. In that action, the space mana that Walker had begun to use was covering them better. Partnering with them in their movements with a much greater and smoother degree. While they were unable to grasp the actual affinity for it and even grasp how to teleport like this, there had been something that every member of the party had been exposed to before. Every single time that Walker had used spatial storage, and thenter, high spatial storage, the party had been exposed to space mana. Even for the briefest of moments, they had been exposed to it. That was why, when they each saw the skill, spatial storage, appear, they were amazed. It was not as grand as Walker''s high spatial storage, which they all knew might grow again, but who cared? It was valuable for Gil who could make more unique arrows and even begin to fashion more unique bows since he had already begun to think about that as a hobby. Making bows would be very different from the thousands of arrows he had made by now. Remey immediately thought about the herbs and potions she could store. That and a few extra things. She had half a mind to try and bring an entire alchemyb with her wherever she went. When it came to Su, she also thought about potions and medical equipment. Yet, she also thought of additional armors and shields. Made for defending certain situations. It would be a very good addition to her goal to protect others. Always using the most advantageous defense would be perfect. Onyx and Midnight had unsurprisingly reached the same conclusion. Proving that race did not change the natural bind of siblings. As a younger brother and older sister, the two had already decided that they would stuff their spatial storages with something very important. Food. too much food. All the food they could get. Just food, food, and more food. Even if they had to beg Walker''s mother for years just to fill it. Walker didn''t pay much attention to the fact that even in perfect unison, everyone''s minds were racing on entirely different subjects. However, to be fair, he was distracted mentally too. His mana sense was telling him where the monsters of other beings nearby were. They were crossing through the boundaries of water, light, and fire as if it was just a quick walk in the park. The changes in his affinities and what Walker sensed though, was very rted to the mana sense growing to a higher level. This wasn''t just him feeling the mana better because of his race. Walker understood that he was adding space mana to his mana sense properly. That allowed him to sense more than just the elemental manas and how they moved around other beings. This gave Walker a feeling of something''s existence. The room that this existence took up was that being. Space mana was there to prove it. That space mana was everywhere like a very thingce hung over existence itself. Because space mana existed, beings could exist within that space. Without space mana, then whatever was there would cease to be. Not because they were killed, but because the area that they existed in the frost ce was no more. What would be left, might not even beprehensible. Walker couldn''t even begin to fathom this since he was still too inexpensive to even approach such knowledge. He could sense it, like an invisible wall telling him he wasn''t ready. ''The skill, high storage, is growing due to the higher purity in space mana within the user''s body.''


    ''The skill storage dimension had been taken from the spatial nes walker system. ''


    ''Storage dimension- requires all elemental manas, ability to fuse them, high amounts of materials, and incredible knowledge going beyond the elemental manas entirely. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This skill allows for more than just high spatial storage. With the right mixes of manas and understandings of those manas, the user of this skill can begin to create a space dimension of their own. It will upy a unique space that the user creates. It can ot be invaded or destroyed without the creator''s desire or death. The dimension is limited, butrger enough to build up over time. Potentially having an entire world within. For those that transcend deartina levels of strength, it is potential to have multiple worlds within. A grander knowledge is needed however. This costs an immense amount of mana over time. The more mana given, the more powerful the dimension can be¡­''


    There was so much information that Walker regretted looking at the system for the first time in a while. He had begun to grasp this skill when it had appeared with him. But the space mana needed was nothing he could control right this second. He needed the time to limate even more. Not to mention learn more intricate secrest about manas overall. With a moment of rity, Walker brought them much further. He could tell the best ces that he should move toward. He could sense how the manas were flowing in those ces. A more unique way of using the space mana while alo using his ability to manipte manas. Right now, he was even grasping the small changes of the elemental nes moving. Their shifting was all shown off by denser threads of extremely pure elemental manas. Some of which Walker knew were there now, but couldn''t yet sense properly. He just knew they existed in the senses of space mana. Putting that aside, Walker knew that he could use this feeling to begin creating his own storage dimension. If he replicated it after the library in the mansion they iced, then he could grow it from there. He didn''t need a world to be fair. He just needed a ce that he could bring others to enjoy things he wished to cherish. The safest ce he could put something precious to him that held plenty of memories. If anyone knew what Walker was thinking, they might feel embarrassed that they didn''t think this way first. It was too pure a reason. Yet, it spoke to the person Walker was bing. Why he had been able toe this far. "Is that what I think it is?" arge shape was moving, covered in mes but also standing out amongst the light mana because of the difference in color. "Yes. There is a figure moving from the fire elemental ne in to the light elemental ne, and it''s just a massive skeleton ten times my height." there was an additional actress in su''s voice while she looked at it. The manas radiating from it were powerful and intimidating. Especially with this size.

 Chapter 2157. Light Undead

    2157 2157. Light Undead


    ''Eternal Pyro giant


    This is an ancient being that embodies the eternal me. It is known as a burning skeleton to those who are not aware of the history and majesty of its being. While it eternally roams through all elemental nes, it is considered one of the key focal points for why the elemental nes are able to shift naturally without grand issues. In ancient times, there were multiple beings that gathered immense amounts of each elemental manas to create bodies for themselves. When the elemental wars began, they spent a hundred years sacrificing their manas and bodies to be skeletal beings with only the flow of the elemental nes as their focus. When they move in unison through all the elemental nes, the prompt rotation along with bnce. They even cross through the central areas of each elemental ne without any ability to stop them. They will never rest and represent the eternal aspects of the mana they embody. While they do not speak, they have been known to transferrge amounts of information through the manas that they naturally radiate. Even when they are within the opposing mana that they do not represent, their mana will radiate powerfully as it will be unaffected. Many of the ancient rulers believe that they will one day slumber as they deserve, however, they will not since they have be thew of eternal mana. Proof that mana will always exist in some form no matter what. Their minds long ago transcended to another from above their physical forms¡­''


    "Don''t worry about them. They are just a part of the elemental nes. They are an eternal representation of each elemental mana. They are also the reason that the elemental nes started shifting the way that they did during the elemental wars when the world was cut off from the proper flow of everything. They aren''t undead." The entire part was shocked that the massive figure moving through the light elemental ne had been traveling for thousands of years, if not long before that. These were beings that had moved well above what anyone could imagine. Even if Walker were to delve in to things, he was sure that he could spend a hundred lifetimes only scratching the surface. "So that''s why it makes sense." Remey was flexing her hands while they had all stopped and stood in ce watching the eternal pyro giant. Small sparks of me moving around her hands the longer that she did. "What makes sense?" Midnight''s innocent questions as what they were all thinking.e specially since Remey waspletely broken away from what she had just been focusing on. Regardless of everyone being exposed to space mana enough to gain a spatial storage skill, it was more shocking that Remey had been able to stop thinking about that so quickly after they had all been assured that they were not fighting some massive fire undead. "The fire mana that I have. It''s mixed with life mana so that''s why I struggle so much. Just like the fire dominator dragons, the process mixed life mana and fire mana. That''s how I became a dragon soul, because I mixed my body, soul, and fire mana entirely. I can separate it now after getting mana from that guy." "Excuse me!?" Walker was shocked that Remey had managed to make such arge revtion. "That means you won''t be at risk if you run out of fire mana! Does that mean you could show others how to do that too?"from Su''s point of view, there would be others in the future who became unique just like Remey. If they were the same as her and had mixed body, soul, and fire mana, or even a simr situation, Remey might be able to help them.


    "No idea, but I can keep myself alive better. That''s all that matters. I''ll need to show Ignus when we see each other again." The amount of calm that Remey was, made them all feel a little put off since they were the ones that were surprised this time. But to be fair, walker did this to everyone else all the time. It was a fair chance for someone else to take their turn shocking the world. "I have some good news, the movements of the eternal pyro giant made the immortal king stop. If we move forward right now, wwe might cross an odd section of mixed manas, another boundary I''m sure, but we can face him." The mes immediately lit up around Remey as she heard Walker''s mana sense was working perfectly. In another unified step, they moved across the light elemental ne. The white and golden light that radiated around made it feel like they were walking on polished mirrors. Or maybe they were just stepping through the most intricate marbles ever. Not that this was the only form of light. Different colorful hues radiated here and there. Straight and flowing lines that made up the many forms that light could take. Each bing their own steps or solid spaces. The light elemental spirits made many of the colors their entire beings. Some were blue, while others were striking reds and greens. It was amazing to see that the forms of light mana were so intricate, but it made them all wonder how these spirits were epting of the undead that might be nearby. They indeed were not pure. The light mana that many people used to purify undead should be a natural result. Or at least that was what Walker and everyone believed until they saw the skeletal figures ahead. Arge cloaked shape sat upon a massive monster moving away. But behind it, several skeletons stood blocking the way of the party. Radiating a potent light mana, they were moving forward with cking jaws. "Do not pursue me any longer. I will continue to create hordes to defend my research. I will find the key to all existence! Be a true immortal!" the immortal king''s words drifted to their ears as he moved away at a much greater pace. Clearly he had managed to use some mana to speed his way, not to the level that Walker did though. "Damn it!" Gil''s voice came out in a partial shout and growl. He was extremely angry seeing that the immortal king had taken the time to make messed up undead that somehow used light mana to attack them. ''Radiant skeletons n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    These are undead skeletons that had been forcefully fused with light mana. While this would be impossible, small amounts of starlight dove blood was used to ensure that this worked. It''s a method of altering the undead that the immortal chasing race used in ancient times. While they are able to wield light mana, it is not for attacking purposes. It boosts their defenses and strength substantially. It also allows them to attack with greater force to the point that even if their bones break, they will repair themselves. Only major attacks can break through their regenerative properties.


    If left alone long enough, they will either lose themselves to the light mana and degrade, or they may reim their minds due to the purification of whatever aspects of their souls may still be attached to their bones. This is an infantasmal potential though¡­''


    The idea that these radiant skeletons might reim their minds made Walker apprehensive. These skeletons were experimented on and forced to remain behind as meat shields for the immortal king. Sued simply to buy him more time to keep experimenting and move toward the death mana that he could sense. Whoever, there was the tiniest of tiny chances that they might reim what they had once been. Even if they remembered the smallest thing and stopped being angry life attacking undead, that would be enough to give them a chance. It was like witnessing the worst possible situation with the greatest potential good. "Can you trap them?" Su wanted to know if this was a chance. She had heard what Walker said and was ready to ept whatever time it took to probably seal these undead. Even if they just stayed there until they degraded, they deserved a chance. As a hero, they all understood this. "We can, but I will need to make something out of the light mana to do it. That means if they do get intelligence back, they can escape." Walker knew this was risky since it took time. They had already lost sight of the immortal king and the massive undead he rode on. Not to mention the horde of skeletons and other zombie like undead with them. "Just do it already. This is the first undead that the immortal king is giving up. If it works, they can make their way back to Genesis and we can use that to free others left behind." Remey just focused on the positive as the mes around her remained aggressive. She had to ept the situation and focus on the right things. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2158. Talking With Mana

    2158 2158. Talking With Mana N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The idea of trapping an undead using the very mana that it had been forcefully bonded with was already tough. But Walker was talking about using the elemental mana of the entire elemental light ne to be able to trap this radiant skeleton. It meant that he would be moving much denser light mana with a much higher purity to create a trap of dense and pure light mana which would not allow the radiant skeleton the ability to move until they either degraded in to bone dust, or they gained understanding of their self. Using his mana, Walker immediately began to pull on the light mana. Onyx saw that walker was focusing immensely on this while the radiant skeletons were approaching. Since he was the one with the greatest light affinity, he had no reason to ignore what was happening. He moved to defend Walker. The others had not just sat around, Gil began using his daggers to swipe at one of the radiant skeletons. This caused it to be scratched and cut, the daggers that Gil wielded were easily tough enough to leave marks on bones. He could sense that he was able to cut through the bones of the radiant skeletons if he so desired. That wasn''t the goal here though. The attacks were distracting one of the radiant skeletons. Su and Remey were doing the same. Dealing enough damage to force the radiant skeletons to use light mana to be able to hold themselves together and regenerate their injuries. But not enough topletely defeat them. The potential that they could gain their intelligence back was slim. Minute even. However, there was a chance and the party would not remove that hope from their minds. It was why Onyx had wrapped his body around three radiant skeletons and kept them held in ce. They were too weak to break through his tough scales, even without him using the light mana and dark mana he possessed to create an armor around him. Midnight yed a little more of a unique role. She was right next to Walker ensuring that none of the remaining few radiant skeletons approached. While she moved around Walker, she was able to distract their grasping hands. Their jaws slightly cking with every dodged attack. This made everyone wonder if the radiant skeletons had some form of intelligence above other skeletons right now. They were cking their jaws more and more as they missed attacks or were hit. As if they were getting angry that they were being toyed with while Walker had the time to gather mana. Regardless of them actually having emotions unlike most undead, these skeletons were still making attacks at them. Thest order of the immortal king and their natural resistance to life being a clear reason why they were so tenacious. Walker sensed the light mana reaching out to him. He could feel that the denser light mana reacted to his will in this way much better than the other manas had before. But he had already understood his grasp on manas was evolving as he lived and breathed in more manas within the elemental nes. All mana was reaching out to him in a way. When lines of denser white light appeared around the area, Walker made a motion to the others to lead the skeletons in to them. Every single radiant skeleton that touched the white light bars caused a reaction. More light would flow out of the small bar in the air creating an entire pir sealing the skeletons within. The light itself had be their prison while they rotted away or gained back their intelligence. As Walker had focused, he had recalled the ways that he had broken the immortal king''s sealed door before. How he had also seen beings sealed by him and also removed their seals. It was something that he had surprisingly seen enough. Especially with what and how magic scrolls were. They were being made and used more often after all. Genesis was always advancing. As he left the denser light mana behind for each skeleton, he began to sweat slightly. It wasn''t just that he was in tune with light mana at a much denser level than what he had ever done before. No, he was also sensing things he had never sensed before. He was struggling because it was a lot of information at once. He had experienced many things. The elemental spirits spoke through their mana. The world had spoken through the system in a way. Races had differentnguages. Onyx used mentalmunication skills, and there were even people who spoke with gestures. Right now though, he was feeling anguage he had never learned but was able to understand to a degree. The light mana made him understand how to better move it to his will. Even his soul seemed to be resonating with the knowledge that Walker gained. Especially as he realized how to make the light prison pirs he had just used. Why he was able to make it happen so quickly? And why he was now able to use light runes to leave a message in case the pirs were ever broken. Hence, Walker felt thest radiant skeleton get trapped and pulled away. Not very exhausted since his mana recovered at a rapid pace. Instead, he was tired because his head felt like it had just been forced full of too much right now. He literally could not handle the sudden mental stress from learning so much. ''Light prison- mana depending on the being trapped


    This skill uses the purest and densest light mana to trap a being within a light pir. The light pir can be undone depending on inscribed circumstances. Hence why knowledge ofwful light runes are needed. They are the higher form of natural runes. The trapped being will not be able to use their mana to break out due to the flood of dense light mana disrupting the flow of other manas. As long as enough light mana is nearby the pirs, they will remain functional. However, they can be weakened by dark mana to a greater degree due to opposition. The sealing aspect of this skill can¡­''


    More details of this skill and how it worked made Walker''s head feel even heavier. He swore that he had learned more than what he was reading from the system and what he felt when he was surrounded by light mana right now. However, he couldn''t properlyprehend it all. It was too hazy. After a moment of standing with his eyes closed though, the headache subsided enough for him to realize that he had awakened some aspect of his new race. The closeness to mana literally shared information with him. Hence how those eternal giants could also do that. Remey had literally experienced that a short while ago. But Walker had done it very differently. He had learned from the maa itself. Something that an elemental spirit or the spirit race would do. This put his mind to a different ce. One that was akin to a spirit''s better than a humans. Not that he was human technically. After another moment, Walker let his thoughts drift away. He couldn''t focus on this for too long. The real boon here was that he could now use manas much better. He would definitely have other experiences where he learned rapidly from the mana itself. He just needed to prepare his mind for that event. "Come closer to me. I just learned a lot from the light mana and I can catch us up much faster." Gis sudden focus made everyone prepare for a fight. They knew what Walker was like. And right now, his gaze was solid like steel. Everything around him, his entire aura, said that he was going to pursue the immortal king even more than before. When he stepped forward, the entire section of light mana under them moved. The party didn''t even need to step with him any more. It was like the light mana was a carriage now. Rushing them along at an incredible pace. The reason that Walker sensed the location of the immortal king was simple. He was fighting something ahead which caused a greater change in the different light manas. Yet, he also sensed more manas ahead. While the fire elemental ne was still near, along with the water, he didn''t understand what he sensed now. He could sense a greater mixing of manas right now though, almost every mana had been pushed together in one spot ahead, but it was dissipating and changing in unique ways that made itpletely fuzzy. But as they all got closer to the fighting and the odd mana, it became clear what it might be. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2159. Poison And Zombie

    2159 2159. Poison And Zombie


    The guttural and savage roar that the party heard when they approached the mana that walker had sensed was not what they expected. It sounded simr to a dragon roar, however, it was twisted. More like it had been done through a thickyer of water or mud, the sound had been muffled almost. What walker caught on to first though, was the changes in the manas. They had moved through the light elemental ne and even pushed towards what could be a deeper boundary to the elemental nes mixing here. The water and fire nes were still close. He could sense them. Yet, there was an oddness that made him reconsider the elemental nes and their positions. Specifically how there were others of his same Origin race that moved in to the unknown to find other elemental nes. The reason that he focused on this, was because he had not considered that these beings were bringing solid elemental nes toward the other elemental nes that had an established flow. Hence, they would be adding to the elemental nes rotating around the world and the flow. Chaos in to a form of unique order that remained bnced. This thought had been enough to shock him slightly. Especially since Walker felt that the chaotic outer areas between the world and the elemental nes was already sorge, but what if that was just the difference in the manas learning to flow together. Their chaos was also a bnce within itself. The true chaos would be outside the elemental nes flowing together. A ce where entire elemental ns could condense and get broken down by the different colliding manas. Hence why there was a great deal of randomness and desires to find different elemental nes that have never been seen before. There was also the chance that the powerful Origin race beings were finding unique existence within those randomly appearing elemental nes. Monsters, intelligent races, and other things that had yet to be seen before. Literal discovery of new everything!


    "I would say that there is more than just the undead fighting here." Gil''s words broke Walker out of his own thought process. It was needed though, he was also shocked by what he was seeing here. ''Great Poison dragon


    This is a dragon that pursued the unknown when they were young and able to manipte their bodies much better. Through unknown means, they were able to discover the poison elemental ne which is exceedingly small due to the uniqueness of its existence. However, that was enough for them to alter their body to be that unique form of fused mana. A poison dragon is rarely seen in this shape and form. While possible, normal poison dragons are not purely poison. Instead, they are mixed dragons that result in the bonds between forest dragons and another slightly opposing dragon, often a dark dragon. This is a dragon that possesses unique poison mana which can alter to match various forms of poison. The poison elemental ne allows for the poison dragon to livefortably, but the alterations to its body have pushed it to be very aggressive along with territorial. The damage it can do will often outweigh the damage a decaying dark dragon can do with its dark dragon breath. The poison breath has a decaying, weakening, and even soul poisoning effect.


    Being able to resist its various and constantly changing poisons is something that very few beings can do. Only the poison elemental spirits often have the ability to do so, even then, they could be swallowed up by the great poison dragon living here¡­''


    The form of the great poison dragon was simr to any other dragon. Large wings, defined ws, and scale. But it had a changing form, closer to a slime in some ways. The scales were hard, but when arge skeleton attacked them, they moved and the damage was reaped before solidifying again. Purple ooze came off of the glistening purple scales while the wings were also coated in the same. Wherever the purple ooze drifted, it became infected by it in a way. The skeletons that touched it were changing color. They were taking the poison on and adapting to it, but failing and melting their own bones. The immortal king was some distance away, but he was manipting manas enough to tell that he had sent the skeletons to attack the great poison dragon to take away the mana there which was unique. If the skeletons could take on that mana, they would be extremely dangerous weapons. The immortal king could also use that to rebuild his body more too. A poison that could even affect the soul? That was something that they all knew was rare. However, the issue wasn''t the poison of the great poison dragon, it was the fact that the entire ne was toxic and Walker was sure he did not grasp a proper understanding of the way poison mana came to be, to be able to defend the party. "Gil, start taking down the skeleton warriors with arrows. They have tougher defenses and denser skeletons, I have no idea what skeletons they are made of, but they have to be taken down before we can deal with anything else." Walker also reached out to the eternal codex, it had been absorbing mana like crazy, bing more powerful in the sense that its internal manas had properly awakened what it was. Especially since Walker had begun to grapes space mana much better. As it changed forms and became a bow, it appeared to have various additional metal parts that had formed the bow to fire a denser mana arrow from it which could coat a solid physical arrow. Walker''s thoughts were to match Gil''s attacks and fire arrows at the other undead he could spot surrounding the distant immortal king. The more he damaged them the better since he wanted to take down the immortal king who was still fleeing from them while gaining more power. As he reached out in the air, one of the arrows from his high spatial storage appeared. It was a basic arrow made of dense iron, something most people would struggle to fire. They had been made during one of Gil''s experimenting phases on arrows. Specifically for tougher bows and crossbows which used a lot more force overall to fire the arrows. The tougher arrow would deal more damage while also being able to handle more stress from the bows and crossbows. The reason that Walker had taken them was simple, they could handle the higher amounts of mana that he could cover them in. and since he knew that the eternal codex could change forms, he knew very well that these heavier and tougher arrows would be perfect to use with them in any situation. Especially since he had the battle skills for it. When he and Gil began releasing arrows, the immortal king did not stay idle. He sent more undead toward the party. Specifically some skeleton warriors surroundings arger undead. ''Zombified saber cat n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The earth affinity saber cat used to be one of the more dangerous predators of the world. As time went on, their size changed and they became lesser predatory monsters. This one, is an ancient body preserved perfectly using ice magic skills along with a unique method of parasitism. The formation of its body bing zombified greatly enhanced its strength, flexibility, and aggression. It is considered one of the greatest guardians of the immortal king. So much so that he specially altered its skeletal structure to allow for two young dragon teeth to rece its natural sharp fangs. Because of this, it also received a natural boost from the remnant dragon blood it consumed through the zombification process used¡­''


    "Remey, Su, Midnight. That zombified saber cat is very powerful. It was crafted by the immortal king using dragon teeth and enhanced by that even more. You three should be able to handle it while Gil and I handle the skeletal warriors. Onyx will be watching your backs." The n was fine, but Remey could sense the additional pressure that therge zombified saber cat let off. The slight bit of dragon auras around it proved very much that dragon parts had been added to its body. The idea that these were just parts to the immortal king though, that was what made her angry. Remey knew that many alchemy ingredients could be from monsters as well, but they weren''t just parts. They were important aspects treated with respect. They were not used to reanimate and create monsters. ying with life and death was not normal. It was on a line that should not be crossed. Offending the bnces that should exist. Definitely breaking the respect that other upstanding craftsman had for their trades. ¡­


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

 Chapter 2160. Flawless Teamwork

    2160 2160. wless Teamwork


    Midnight''s lead took the focus of the zombified saber cat''s attention. Specifically because Midnight had used her wings to push her forward at a much greater speed. A speed that allowed her to sink her ws in to the zombie fur protecting the saber cat. Unfortunately, Midnight had found the dangers of leaping right in to battle. This zombified saber cat wasrger than her. It also had higher stats than her because it was an experimental subject used by the immortal king as a guardian. It had to be tough.


    This monster had been designed to protect him when he could not protect himself. Right now, the immortal king was weaker. Unable to maintain the strength he had when trapped within the tower of the undead ruined city. That didn''t mean that midnight gave up when her ws did not cut through the fur and skin of the zombified saber cat. Iad, she channeled mana through her body and brought her ws to mes. The idea that they could damage the fur was not bad, but if anyone thought this was her n, they would be fools. Remey had dashed in to battle too, and the mes were for her to use. The mes sparked up around the saber cat''s body, the tough fur and skin would have resisted the fire since the monster had been built to resist all forms of physical and magical attacks. That was the benefit of having a great many years to experiment and rebuild the body itself. However, Remey could wield much hotter mes. Her defense breaking fish was a brutal orange, nearly starting to turn white as she absorbed Midnight''s dragon mes and punched inwards. This forced the super heated fire mana in to the body of the zombified saber cat making arge burned patch on its fur. While it did not feel pain, this was a great deal of damage to the underlying muscture around its left shoulder. It also wasn''t just sitting there being attacked like a punching bag. It had swiped its ws toward Midnight then Remey forcing them to leap back and dodge the dangerous attacks. Without natural limiters, this zombied was able to cut through their defenses, but not Su''s. The twin shields mming together were somewhat disorienting to the zombified saber cat, a skill that Su had learned along with taunting while using that sound. But her shield charge had a lot more weight behind it since she was in full armor. meeting the w attacks head on, pushed the zombified saber cat off its bnce, enough that with a follow up attack from Midnight who charged forward and threw her entire body weight on to the rubs of the zombie, it fell to the side. The perfect chance for Remey to deal another heavy defense breaking fist. The mes had condensed around Remey''s fist yet again, this time though, the mes were a slower deeper red. Simr to alchemy mes, Walker could sense that it was being used to break down the bones within the zombie. Battling like this tapped in to what Remey knew about materials for making potions. She had seen potions that failed to use monster bones, even dragon bones. Some taboo alchemy even used the bones of still living people. Yet, from learning this taboo knowledge, Remey had learned that she could use this in her battles. She was an alchemical brawler, therefore, she fought hand to hand. If she could sense me specifically targeting certain aspects of a body, she could deal worse damage. It was the same as using a poison potion that she had made, but using it with her mana. The punch broke through the tough fur and skin yet again, this time though, the burst of fire was slow. A slight smoke and embering appearance where her fist had struck only caused a momentary struggle as the zombified saber cat righted itself before lunging at her. The vicious bite seemingly cutting in to the light mana ''''ground'''' cueing a disruption in the direct flow of light mana. "Back up, the fangs it has came from a dragon, it''s more dangerous after being altered by the immortal king." With Su''s order, Remey got behind her to avoid the next attack. The shouting from Su and the movements of Remey to hide were enough to make the zombified saber cat forget Midnight for the moment. Perfect for Midnight to breathe arge ball of dragon fire at the wound that Remey had just made. The smoldering just increased as the alchemy mes that Remey had set were targeted at the tough bones. Able to burn them slowly like charcoal. Midnight just increased that process with her precise usage of dragon fire in the form of arge ball to strike that exact point. With the next moment, Su split the twin shields apart again and went more on the offensive. She had just deflected on w strike and knew that the lunging motion would be an attempted bite from the zombified saber cat. She had taken note of its movements and prepared herself to use that against it. One twin shield mmed in to the ground giving her an anchor, the light mana that was pulled up was all due to the light shield skill that Su had trained. But what was new, was that she was activating it on two separate shields. The twin shield she had in the ground of the light elemental ne was just holding her in ce while drawing additional light mana. The other twin shield had been covered in light to strengthen its defenses. In turn, that strengthened her attack as she shed forward with additional weight. The lunging bite of the zombified saber cat went right in to contact with the light coated shield Su prepared as her attack and defense. Its lower jaw couldn''t handle the pressure though. With that, the problem of its biting them had been dealt with. A slight smolder also escaped the turn off area of its face. Proving that the alchemy mes Remey had forced in to its body were still slowly burning away with the singr material, the dragon bones, as its fuel. A vicious form of attack against an even more vicious opponent. Meanwhile, Walker and Gil had been firing powerful arrows. The skeletons warriors pushing the poison dragon in to more rage were hard for Gil topletely defeat with a single arrow. Their bones were more condensed through various forms of experimentation that the immortal king had done. Hence why he had fewer skeleton warriors like this than skeletons he was experimenting on. An arrow hitting their skull would only crack it and disrupt their movements. Not that it was just doing that, the poison dragon was able to use that to attack them and crush them entirely. Its poison and physical might was striking them down fairly easily with Gil''s assistance. Not that it realized it was being helped, it was enraged, logic had no ce here. Walker was also releasing heavy arrows with multiple manas covering them. He started by releasing various fire arrows toward the immortal king and the undead protecting him. Specifically targeting the skeletons he was using to experiment on and creating unique skeletons to block them. The more that he destroyed them, the less resistance the immortal king could put up. The immortal king did not take kindly to this. Therge undead it had been riding was quick to spit up arger number of skeletons. These were more unique though. They appeared to beyered with something. ''Shedding lizard man


    This undead is a unique undead that was created from an ancient tribe of the lizard man monster race known for living within swamps. While they had little intelligence, they were able to form tribes. During their weakest time in life though, they would shed their skin and grow slightly. The undead were captured alive and forced to continue this process as zombies. The skeletal remains on their bodies are bones from fellow ancient lizardmen made to act as a first defensive covering for their bodies. The more damage they received, the more that these skeletal bones are shed off, then the skin, and then the final skeleton. This three stage undead would be immensely tough to fight since they are extremely aggressive along with being very hard to defeat within one strike. They are very resistant to water mana and also heavily resistant to fire mana. This is due to¡­'' n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Walker didn''t need to worry about the resistances. He saw the twenty shedding lizard man undead and prepared to use arger attack with the eternal codex in bow form. He had some of Gil''s arrows too after all. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2161 2161. Prisoner

    Chapter 2161 2161. Prisoner


    Notching an arrow, Walker aimed at the immortal king who had just called out many of his shedding lizard man undead. Walker knew very well that using a greater strength arrow would result in them losing a fewyers of their undead skeleton protection. The best bet was to really do more damage than that. Hit all of them with an attack that would crush their abilities to attack and defend. Naturally, this would be tough to do with just earth, water, or fire. However, using wind? That made things a little easier. Especially since they were technically still in the light elemental ne, even with the small poison elemental ne crashing in to it.


    The light mana could easily be drawn in, just as Walker sensed Su using it to her advantage, he would use it too. Especially pairing it with the wind elemental arrow he had taken from his high spatial storage. The wind arrow was an older arrow, it was a condensed elemental arrow using the hollow arrowheads that they had made together. Within it was a dense wind mana that was harder to contain since it was purified by Walker and Gil through the process. Now that they had entered the elemental nes here denser manas were always at y, there was an even greater chaotic reaction from the unstable wind mana within the arrow. Walker could still call more wind mana to him, especially with his sense expanded due to his racial features being properly awakened. Level didn''t matter right now. His understanding and perception of elemental manas had greatly grown. His knowledge was growing by the moment as he began to pull the light mana toward him. The eternal codex bow form channeled that light in to the arrow as well, slight cracks formed on the arrow shaft, but the light mana was used in a healing form.


    The cracks were repaired while the pressure from the wind mana also being drawn in were gathering. Walker knew that this was going to overload the arrow as a whole. But that was the point. Create so much pressure that the immortal king did not have a choice. Level didn''t matter right now. His understanding and perception of elemental manas had greatly grown. His knowledge was growing by the moment as he began to pull the light mana toward him. The eternal codex bow form channeled that light in to the arrow as well, slight cracks formed on the arrow shaft, but the light mana was used in a healing form. The cracks were repaired while the pressure from the wind mana also being drawn in were gathering. Walker knew that this was going to overload the arrow as a whole. But that was the point. Create so much pressure that the immortal king did not have a choice. Onyx whipped his tail out, he had been defending Walker and Gil since he had to ensure that they were not bothered while they fought the undead threatening the rest of the group. Right this second, he hadshed out knocking back three of the closest shedding lizard man undead. They were forced a way back which stopped them from being able to interrupt Walker''s attack. That was when Walker released the arrow. For an arrow with dense wind and light mana, it moved somewhat slowly. That was intentional though. The immortal king could sense the manas that Walker had gathered. Could clearly feel the threat behind them. Hence why he called the shedding lizard man undead back toward him. He knew that Waker was ignoring the undead so that the arrow could pierce him instead. So that the body he was using would be destroyed then all the undead would go wild. Without his control, the undead would be left mindless. Meanwhile, Walker watched the immortal king gather the undead he had just made the monstrosity he rode spit out from its stomach. This dealt with the issue of the immortal king gathering the unique poison mana along with also the undead that could have attacked him and Gil. Onyx had also knocked the outlying undead which got too close to them in to the line of fire of this arrow. The shadowing lizard man undead became meat shields as the arrows struck. The light and wind manas fused together in an imbnced chaos. Wind des carrying additional light mana sliced through the multiple craftedyers of the shedding lizard man undead. Skeletal aspects and flesh being knocked off. The core skeletons were shown to the light which purified them in ways that they could not recover from. The immortal king could only swear as the radiant wind sliced through his undead, as he lost the connection to them as he was controlling their actions. What he had not realized though, was that Gil had dealt with multiple skeleton warriors by now too. Walker had just been a perfect distraction.


    Now, the skeleton warriors had been cut down significantly leaving the poison dragon to be free to attack the one that had originally angered it. And that was not a single member of the party. They had not touched its territory. Had not ventured anywhere near it. The dragon could care less about being helped, but touching its territory and attacking it? Ridiculous!


    A dense breath of purple poison spewed out from the poison dragon and covered the immortal kings'' skeletons. The horde of undead began to rot, decay, and melt in an instant. The immortal king could only retreat since his weaker body could not resist the massive amounts of toxic poisons. Especially since they could also rot the soul. His weakest point since he had split off from his main body to travel here and create a new, better, body. "Go to sleep forever!" Remey''s battle cry was not just because she was fighting head on with the zombified saber cat, it was because her alchemy mes had finally broken down the main body of the monster she fought. They had broken through the bones significantly Caused them to weaken. Now, she had just delivered a defense breaking palm instead of a fist. The goal was to crack and shatter all the bones possible instead of a specific and focused single area. This caused the zombified saber cat to fall and weakly attempt to move. It was an undead, nothing really stopped it since it did not feel pain. But without movement, Midnight and Su also pushed in to attack. Destroying thest bit of undeath within it and putting the ancient monster to rest forever. One of the stronger guardians that the immortal king had fallen here. Forcing him to retreat even more. His strength was waning!


    "The poison dragon is looking at us now brother." Onyx coiled up prepared to strike. He had no idea if his venom would work on a dragon literally made of and using a unique poison mana. It is unprecedented and unique. So much so that Walker evencked the ability to use it. However, the poison dragon had stepped slightly out of its territory. This caused the light mana around them to shift significantly. "Return to your elemental ne. You will not disrupt the light ne. You are restricted from travel until you regain proper sentience within your vicious poison." the words came from the very light mana itself. A shaking of the mana made Walker realize this was a far away will. A powerful control of light mana over even the light mana making up the edge of the light elemental nes. "Young origin, please leave the prisoner and his elemental ne be. Your elders wish that to be raised higher to continue the growth of knowledge and understanding." The words vibrated through the mana before the light mana settled. The poison dragon retreated back, feeling the density of the light mana and realizing that it could not stand against it. The poison dragon might be violent and dangerous, but it was not foolish. Its territory had been attacked, it defended it. Now it was forced to return to its own territory and remain steady in its own growth. "We are chasing after that undead. We don''t n on touching the poison elemental ne." Walker had a lot going through his mind as he checked everyone for injuries. He could see some scrapes and cuts on Su, Remey, and Midnight which he exhaled immediately with some lower leveled healing skills. He couldn''t help but think about what this meant though. The poison elemental ne being kept here and isted as the poison dragon was a prisoner, meant a lot. That the origin race had brought it here for the respect reason that the light elemental king could stop it from moving around dangerously. It was contained as a prisoner since it had the chance to grow and have intelligence in their eyes. A chance to be a more bnced aspect of the elemental nes as a whole. Which meant that the origin race was responsible for bringing these elemental nes together and giving tasks to the elemental kings. That they were actively growing the elemental nes in ways that would be incredibly challenging and unexpected to many. It made Walker feel weak. He couldn''tprehend the manas here. How they were sued. How there was a chance to do more with it. The poison elemental ne was unique in its own way, but making it trapped in the light elemental nes'' edges, that was something astounding within its own right. ¡­


    ¡­.


    2161 2161. Prisoner


    Notching an arrow, Walker aimed at the immortal king who had just called out many of his shedding lizard man undead. Walker knew very well that using a greater strength arrow would result in them losing a fewyers of their undead skeleton protection. The best bet was to really do more damage than that. Hit all of them with an attack that would crush their abilities to attack and defend. Naturally, this would be tough to do with just earth, water, or fire. However, using wind? That made things a little easier. Especially since they were technically still in the light elemental ne, even with the small poison elemental ne crashing in to it.


    The light mana could easily be drawn in, just as Walker sensed Su using it to her advantage, he would use it too. Especially pairing it with the wind elemental arrow he had taken from his high spatial storage. The wind arrow was an older arrow, it was a condensed elemental arrow using the hollow arrowheads that they had made together. Within it was a dense wind mana that was harder to contain since it was purified by Walker and Gil through the process. Now that they had entered the elemental nes here denser manas were always at y, there was an even greater chaotic reaction from the unstable wind mana within the arrow. Walker could still call more wind mana to him, especially with his sense expanded due to his racial features being properly awakened. Level didn''t matter right now. His understanding and perception of elemental manas had greatly grown. His knowledge was growing by the moment as he began to pull the light mana toward him. The eternal codex bow form channeled that light in to the arrow as well, slight cracks formed on the arrow shaft, but the light mana was used in a healing form. 15:20


    The cracks were repaired while the pressure from the wind mana also being drawn in were gathering. Walker knew that this was going to overload the arrow as a whole. But that was the point. Create so much pressure that the immortal king did not have a choice. Level didn''t matter right now. His understanding and perception of elemental manas had greatly grown. His knowledge was growing by the moment as he began to pull the light mana toward him. The eternal codex bow form channeled that light in to the arrow as well, slight cracks formed on the arrow shaft, but the light mana was used in a healing form. The cracks were repaired while the pressure from the wind mana also being drawn in were gathering. Walker knew that this was going to overload the arrow as a whole. But that was the point. Create so much pressure that the immortal king did not have a choice. Onyx whipped his tail out, he had been defending Walker and Gil since he had to ensure that they were not bothered while they fought the undead threatening the rest of the group. Right this second, he hadshed out knocking back three of the closest shedding lizard man undead. They were forced a way back which stopped them from being able to interrupt Walker''s attack. That was when Walker released the arrow. For an arrow with dense wind and light mana, it moved somewhat slowly. That was intentional though. The immortal king could sense the manas that Walker had gathered. Could clearly feel the threat behind them. Hence why he called the shedding lizard man undead back toward him. He knew that Waker was ignoring the undead so that the arrow could pierce him instead. So that the body he was using would be destroyed then all the undead would go wild. Without his control, the undead would be left mindless. Meanwhile, Walker watched the immortal king gather the undead he had just made the monstrosity he rode spit out from its stomach. This dealt with the issue of the immortal king gathering the unique poison mana along with also the undead that could have attacked him and Gil. Onyx had also knocked the outlying undead which got too close to them in to the line of fire of this arrow. The shadowing lizard man undead became meat shields as the arrows struck. The light and wind manas fused together in an imbnced chaos. Wind des carrying additional light mana sliced through the multiple craftedyers of the shedding lizard man undead. Skeletal aspects and flesh being knocked off. The core skeletons were shown to the light which purified them in ways that they could not recover from. The immortal king could only swear as the radiant wind sliced through his undead, as he lost the connection to them as he was controlling their actions. What he had not realized though, was that Gil had dealt with multiple skeleton warriors by now too. Walker had just been a perfect distraction.


    Now, the skeleton warriors had been cut down significantly leaving the poison dragon to be free to attack the one that had originally angered it. And that was not a single member of the party. They had not touched its territory. Had not ventured anywhere near it. The dragon could care less about being helped, but touching its territory and attacking it? Ridiculous!


    A dense breath of purple poison spewed out from the poison dragon and covered the immortal kings'' skeletons. The horde of undead began to rot, decay, and melt in an instant. The immortal king could only retreat since his weaker body could not resist the massive amounts of toxic poisons. Especially since they could also rot the soul. His weakest point since he had split off from his main body to travel here and create a new, better, body. "Go to sleep forever!" Remey''s battle cry was not just because she was fighting head on with the zombified saber cat, it was because her alchemy mes had finally broken down the main body of the monster she fought. They had broken through the bones significantly Caused them to weaken. Now, she had just delivered a defense breaking palm instead of a fist. The goal was to crack and shatter all the bones possible instead of a specific and focused single area. This caused the zombified saber cat to fall and weakly attempt to move. It was an undead, nothing really stopped it since it did not feel pain. But without movement, Midnight and Su also pushed in to attack. Destroying thest bit of undeath within it and putting the ancient monster to rest forever. One of the stronger guardians that the immortal king had fallen here. Forcing him to retreat even more. His strength was waning!


    "The poison dragon is looking at us now brother." Onyx coiled up prepared to strike. He had no idea if his venom would work on a dragon literally made of and using a unique poison mana. It is unprecedented and unique. So much so that Walker evencked the ability to use it. However, the poison dragon had stepped slightly out of its territory. This caused the light mana around them to shift significantly. "Return to your elemental ne. You will not disrupt the light ne. You are restricted from travel until you regain proper sentience within your vicious poison." the words came from the very light mana itself. A shaking of the mana made Walker realize this was a far away will. A powerful control of light mana over even the light mana making up the edge of the light elemental nes. "Young origin, please leave the prisoner and his elemental ne be. Your elders wish that to be raised higher to continue the growth of knowledge and understanding." The words vibrated through the mana before the light mana settled. The poison dragon retreated back, feeling the density of the light mana and realizing that it could not stand against it. The poison dragon might be violent and dangerous, but it was not foolish. Its territory had been attacked, it defended it. Now it was forced to return to its own territory and remain steady in its own growth. "We are chasing after that undead. We don''t n on touching the poison elemental ne." Walker had a lot going through his mind as he checked everyone for injuries. He could see some scrapes and cuts on Su, Remey, and Midnight which he exhaled immediately with some lower leveled healing skills. He couldn''t help but think about what this meant though. The poison elemental ne being kept here and isted as the poison dragon was a prisoner, meant a lot. That the origin race had brought it here for the respect reason that the light elemental king could stop it from moving around dangerously. It was contained as a prisoner since it had the chance to grow and have intelligence in their eyes. A chance to be a more bnced aspect of the elemental nes as a whole. Which meant that the origin race was responsible for bringing these elemental nes together and giving tasks to the elemental kings. That they were actively growing the elemental nes in ways that would be incredibly challenging and unexpected to many. It made Walker feel weak. He couldn''tprehend the manas here. How they were sued. How there was a chance to do more with it. The poison elemental ne was unique in its own way, but making it trapped in the light elemental nes'' edges, that was something astounding within its own right. ¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2162 2162. One Day

    2162 2162. One Day


    It was only a few moments for everyone to catch their breath and get back to focus, but they all had their eyes on the poison dragon watching them from the poison elemental ne. It had retreated significantly, but it did not trust them. They hade close to its territory. Had been fighting too.


    "It''s a prisoner of the light elemental ne right now. Apparently a stronger Origin Race being brought the poison elemental ne here since that poison dragon can take control of it one day. Or at least that''s what I gathered from the light king''s words."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was a lot to unpack for the party. They had understood to some degree what they had heard.. But it had been hard toprehend since the light mana had surged so much at one time. It overwhelmed their senses. But Walker had heard it clearly and underwood it all.


    "I think that this is why the elemental nes are sorge and shifting. The way that their manase together is always changing, but outside of all this there must be chaos. We know that. So it makes sense that to stabilize the elemental nes without bnce, something has to be done."


    "You''re saying that once a ne has a king, it bes more permanent? So that poison dragon will be a ruler. And that lightning elemental ne was a boundary that will disappear." From what gil could see, this had to be the case.


    "I would say you''re right." Even though Walker was sure that they could take years to properly understand what all this meant, Gil summed it up enough that it could rest as it was in their minds.


    "I''m fine with all that, but if we have to worry about walking in to territories and nes that are prisons, I want to know about it first."


    "I agree with Remey. It''s safer for us to have a better understanding of where we might cross in to. We can not defeat that poison dragon as it is now. Even if we defeated it, we would perish afterwards due to the poisons it can not properly control." Since Su had sensed the dangers, she knew well what could happen.


    The chances of dying from the different elemental nes trapped as prisons so that they could grow properly was high. She had sensed that the poison dragon had little control over its own strength because itcked the mentality to learn about its own strength right this moment. Therefore, that was the reason it needed time to grow.


    Regardless of that though, Su also understood that they would need to adapt better so that they could handle these dangers. It was Walker taking the majority of growth right now. Partially because of his natural race being the origin race now, but also because of his adaptable mind.


    It wasn''t that Walker had gained the jack of all trades system at first because he had tried so much, it was because he could adapt himself to learning and trying so much in the first ce. Now that he had the jack of all trades ss, it was even more evident to her. The theory that Walker had this because his mind and soul were flexible enough to eptpletely unique situations as his reality. To evolve himself to survive them. To make those situations his.


    "Brother, we need to gain more mana. I am going to sleep on your shoulders while we move." Onyx had caught a hold of what Su was thinking. Remey also had an inkling of the situation. She had learned better control of fire and even made a new method of using her alchemy mes in thest battle. She couldn''t just pretend that didn''t happen. It was why she was getting stronger. Besides the pure fire elemental mana her body was gaining by being within the elemental nes.


    "Midnight, you shouldn''t get too close!" Gil''s shout stopped the party from thinking for the moment. Midnight had walked right to the edge of the light elemental ne and stopped before the harsh boundary that the light held back. The poison elemental ne was right there when she could step in to without much more effort. The poison dragon stepped forward, it raised its lips and showed its teeth. Yet, Midnight did not show aggression. She stood staring it right in the eye. Their ages were radically different. Their species of dragon also very different. This poison dragon was not a true dragon. It was not able to boast that right now. When Midnight lifted her w and cut off a scale, Walker was about to leap in front of her, but Su was there holding him back. Something in her had told her to allow this. To hold Walker back right now. That there was no danger that Midnight could not handle here.


    "Not alone."


    In draconic, Midnight expressed this as she set the single scale down. While she had harmed herself, Walker could feel what she did. Their bond was strong enough to portray emotions clearly.


    When she saw the imprisoned poison dragon, she did not see a monster trying to be a proper dragon. She saw a young and weak hatchling left to grow alone without a single bit of guidance.


    As such, she reached out.


    When Midnight had learned from Ventus, she had heard the story of how her children were born. All two of them. That raised the question of the third wind dragon she called her child.


    She learned that Ventus had taken in her sister''s child after her sister failed to break through to be a stronger wind dragon and perished. When her sister lost control of her own wind mana, had killed her. Ventus had found the egg left behind and gave it her blood, allowed it to hatch sooner and grown as a sibling of her two children.


    Midnight could stand as a dragon above all others. A true dragon champion capable of growing a lifespan of thousands of years. Even beyond that with her bonds to Walker and the others. Therefore, she would offer a path to take to join other dragons.


    Her scale was a symbol and a clear proof that no matter the time it takes, the in dragon can see others of this kind. Once it finishes with its journey.


    While Midnight retreated to the party for them all to leave in pursuit of the immortal king, the poison dragon looked on. It smelled the dragon scale left behind, it sensed a resonance in blood. It lowered its curled lips and roared once, not an angry or territorial roar. One of acknowledgment.


    "Good choice!" Walker smiled as he gave Midnight a soft pat on her head. He was proud of her and the way she thought. She was a hero too, she proved that every day.


    With their focus on absorbing mana, the rest of the party allowed Walker to manipte the manas around them. He had the skills to do so along with the focus. Especially since Fleur was pulling even more mana towards him as help. She knew that they would be using more and more the deeper in the elemental nes they got.


    While Walker used the spatial and light mana to move, many more events were unfolding within the world. Ignus had just finished burning through a massive undead that had broken through the floor of what had once been the tower trapping the immortal king.


    Even though they had destroyed the body and what else remained from the immortal kings'' control, they had found more and more.


    The soldiers that joined them had found thousands of pathways going deeper below the undead city. Not just crypts but entire floors of skeleton made caverns.


    The experimental rooms full of experimental undead were left behind as objects without value to the immortal king.


    Just because he did not see value in them did not mean that they were weak or worthless. The undead below had still been moving without someone to keep them in line. Some had even begun to go berserk since they were undead that still felt pain. And others... had given in to their insanity.


    "Thatrge thing is being appraised right now, Lord Ignus, we will have it in a moment." the dragonkin reporting to Ignus who had just taken down three suffering zombies wondered just how much worse this would get.


    They had all joined together to defeat the tough body of the immortal king. That body had been attacking based on instincts and general strength since it had been made strong by the immortal king to resist so much. However, they were now dealing with worse.


    The reason that the undead city was going to remain the undead city wasn''t only because of thend being steeped in death for so long. It was also due to the hundreds of years of experiments left below the ground.

 Chapter 2163 2163. Remaining Experiment

    2163 2163. Remaining Experiment


    ''Undead devourer


    Left alone for over three hundred years, this living ogre was forced to heal over and pover with a troll''s heart being forced in to its body. Later dragon blood was forced to flow through its dead veins. After that, various other monster materials were grafted on to make ws, tougher teeth, and improved muscture.


    It was deemed as a failure due to the zombie like process that cause higher rates of decay and a dependency on mana. Eventually the immortal king forced it in to slumber to preserve mana.


    Without control, this monster has awakened and will use the ambient undead mana along with various other means to survive. It has a singr goal to eat undead and living alike to continue its survival. It would be known as a gue on the world if it is not defeated sooner thanter.


    The undead devourer is a monstrous being that constantly needs a source of nutrients. That is to prevent the extreme decay thates with an imbnced body and the need to prevent degrading to the state ofplete death. Therefore, it will consume fellow undead along with any living being that it nears.


    It is extremely aggressive and incredibly powerful. The physical strength it has can easily tear in to dragon scales and break dragon bones. Beyond that, it also possesses immense resistance to all elemental manas and magical attacks. Including dragon rted attacks. Due to this, it is very hard to damage.


    Because it needs to consume so much to hold off the decay. It is always in a state of regeneration. The mismatched body created by the immortal kings'' experiments will be repaired in the state it was left in as long as enough sustenance is left for it to eat. The best way to defeat it is to starve it out of mana and physical nutrition...''


    The all around appraisal from the magic scroll was given right to Ignus when it waspleted. It did not make him happy at all for him to see this. The monster left behind should not exist at all. But it had woken up because the immortal king had left it behind like a used toy. Unimportant in his eyes, but a gue on the world if it was free.


    This undead had the potential to consume endlessly just to keep itself surviving. Which meant that it would devour the entire world if it could. From there, wouldn''t it go outside the world? Or would it try to get to the elemental nes and keep feeding on whatever it could? A monster that went beyond the world like this... no one would want to consider that much danger.


    The message was sent to the other royal dragons. Their focus grew even more now that they understood that the threat wing its way through the hordes of skeletons released from the crypts of the undead city was major.


    The first thought had been that there would be a long drawn out battle to defeat the skeletons, zombies, and other undead left behind. Especially with them leaving the crypts beneath the city. However, it was worse because the undead were actually fleeing.


    Undead never fled anything. Even purifying light mana skills would not make them flee anything. That was just the nature of the undead. They had died once, why would they fear death? They couldn''t even feel fear.


    Right now though, they were fleeing because they could innately sense that they were being hunted as food. That their entire existence would be consumed and used by the undead devourer.


    "Mordant, make it rot faster. We will carve pieces from thatrge body of its. That should slow its regeneration." Ignus knew that just burning it would not work. The multipleyers of flesh and skeletal bones would defend it for longer than he could maintain mes. On top of that, the resistance to dragon rted elemental skills was an issue.


    If they had gone in to this fight without an appraisal scroll, then this undead could injure, if not kill them. They were dominator dragons now, forces of nature beyond what the world had seen in many, MANY, years. That was nothing against this ancient experimental undead created just for evil. Just to be used as a tool for the immortal king who didn''t even value it due to high mana cost and unstable body.


    Right this second though, Mordant had released a powerful dragon breath. Therge body that rivaled even thair now that the undead devourer had the room to consume even more undead, was beginning to turn a dark rotten ck and green color. A pure show of decay as its body was forced to break even more than it did naturally.


    Wind and water des rained down cutting away small bones that were being regenerated to defend the undead devourer from the dark dragon breath decaying its body. The pieces of flesh that fell off rotted in to puddles of decay while the bones began to turn to dust. This was the results of everything that it ate. Turning in to nothing that could ever live nor be undead again.


    When Rise concentrated her breath, she spewed out a vibrant beam of light which purified an entire amro of the undead devourer. However, it quickly repaired itself and scoop up a handful of skeletons which were stuffed in to its gaping mouth. The scent of rot only grew more as it did this over and over. Sometimes evenshing out to grab at the retreating soldiers or the organs themselves.


    That was what spurred Terron to send condensed stone des from the ground at the monster/. The simple goal of forcing it to remain in ce was easily reached. He had channeled his earth mana to make these condensed des the same as arge spear. Made of the toughest earth.


    It wasn''t just the mages and Walker who learned from the dragons. Many others had as well. But nothingpared to what the dragons had learned once they opened their minds. Terron had seen Walker make earth weapons with a wave of his hand, then imbue them with other manas to train his skills. Why couldn''t he do that too?


    The stabbing spears of condensed stone stopped the undead devourer as Ventus moved behind Ignus and began to send him more and more air. To gather the mes in the core of his being to send down a brutal and infernal me that only one of the strongest dragons could create.


    Current sent arge wall of water around the undead devourer. His efforts to create a barrier were supported by Rise as she used the condensed light to reflect through the water and create an even tougher barrier. It wasn''t to trap the undead devourer more.


    No, this was to defend everyone from the attack that Ignus was about to release.


    As Mordant halted his dark dragon breath, the decaying figure of the undead devourer began to replenish at a rapid pace. The signs of every piece of bone or zombified flesh being repaired from what it had eaten enough to spur Ignus on to attack right away.


    The heat that radiated from the intensely condensed ball of fire was unlike what anyone had ever seen. It could be called a small sun, one that should have evenrger yet fit in the palm of a child''s hand.


    The instincts of every dragon prickled. This attack was something so intense that they might not survive it. Ignus had grown beyond every single one of them. They had no idea when it had happened. How it had happened. Yet, here they were, watching his greatest attack with the purest condensed fire mana that he could wield.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The barriers were reinforced by Terron as the small ball of pure mes erupted and shattered the water, light, and earth barriers made. The mes that escaped in to the sky as a pir made the entire surrounding area feel like a sweltering desert.


    The undead within the mes were nothing but dust. They were then changed to ash. Then even that ash could not exist. Turned in to the smallest of existences that they might as well not exist at all.


    The body of the undead devourer took in that heat whether it desired to or not. It had nothing to sustain its undead life. Nothing to allow it to continue to be.


    That was how it went to its eternal slumber. Once and for all. The tortured undead used as an experiment along with thousands of other undead had been put to rest in this one attack. Ignusnded on the ground with barely enough energy to stand, but he still mustered what he could to roar out in victory. The sign that they hadpleted their quest here.

 Chapter 2164 2164. preparing strength

    Chapter 2164 2164. preparing strength


    "What''s wrong? You suddenly looked back?" Gik had taken a few moments while they moved to check his arrows. He had a feeling that as they chased the immortal king again that he would need them. That he would have to have the strongest and best made arrows at the ready.


    "I just had a feeling that everything was going well." There was just a small gut feeling Walker had that things had gone well for the dragon''s leading the battle against the remaining body of the immortal king.


    That they had managed to seed. That the party could move forward without worrying about Genesis and the safety of the people there. "I think I get what you are feeling. Things feel like they are less heavy maybe?" from what Gil felt, that was the same feeling he had after he had checked his arrows.


    "We are getting close to another weird ce again, aren''t we?" Su''s senses had picked up on this. She and Midnight had been meditating together. Sui to understand the manas that she could use as her shields because she had managed to sense a slight change in her body, and Midnight because Midnight had felt a deeper change in her breath attacks.


    Specifically, Su had been able to slowly learn how to use the other manas that she did not have an innate affinity for. While her earth rted skills were powerful because of her partner, the grand earth spirit resting in her spirit mark, she still had learned a lot about earth mana.


    If Su wa sina deadly situation, she had learned to use the heart mana to greatly boost ehr defenses physically and magically for a very short time. It was one of her trump cards in case she was in a situation where she had no other choice.


    Yet, when she had tapped in to the light mana of the light elemental ne, she had learned that the manas around were here for the use of defense as well. That because she was half dragon now and also able to manipte all manas, that she could improve her natural defenses much more.


    Midnight had sensed that as a draconic guardian, Su was attempting to grasp these deeper changes and growth so her body. Therefore, Midnight had focused on the changes she felt.


    The changes that Midnight had grasped while Walker moved them quickly through the light elemental ne were not simple. She had been absorbing the denser manas and felt them entering her body. But as any dragon, when midnight breathed in, that mana within the space around her was drawn in.


    Because of this, she had sensed the growing density of manas in her heart, in the core of her being. It was not a bad feeling. It was an uplifting one since they matched her various affinities due to being a truc dragon champion. This was why she was able to make multiple forms of dragon breaths in the first ce. That and the training she did with Walker, which felt like a lifetime ago with how much they had done since then.


    These denser manas swirled around and circted through her body waking up some aspects of her body which were weaker because of the way the world was. Lingering injuries that she had not realized existed even after being healed had repaired themselves.


    Everyone had injuries like that. Scar tissues that were not considered injuries but still made the body feel weaker or generally slower. The manas which she unintentionally gathered were allowing her body to limate and better heal. In turn, she was grasping the concepts of purer dragon breaths.


    Between the two, Su and Midnight had deeply connected to their bond. As a dragon champion, the draconic guardian was their protector as they grew. A being that would remain their closest partner in battle no matter what. Therefore, sharing their feelings through their bonds was easy.


    Midnight picked up on the unique sense that Su had gained when she had drawn light mana from the elemental ne itself. That smoothed out the rate at which she was absorbing mana as a whale. Sy picked up on the feelings that midnight had about the manas reacting with her muscles and altering the way she breathed in and out, especially dragon breaths.


    Su had gained a bit of dragon breath, mes in particr, as a one time use skill until she had to rest for a long time to use such an attack again. It wasn''t something she could use often because she had changed over time to be a half dragon, she was not a full dragon. But she now understood why her body was damaged because she used that skill. She knew how to make that less of the case.


    When Walker nced at Remey, he was not surprised to see she had maintained a connection to the nearby fire elemental apne. She had been drawing wisps of purer fire mana in to her body with every breath. It was more like she naturally attracted it now rather than focused on drawing it in.


    He could tell just from the small smoldering mes around her that the fire manas were being used in different ways now. That she had grasped a deeper understanding of all mes byparison to how she had used them before. Especially when it came to her spirit marks.


    They had spread along her arms significantly, flowing with dense fire mana. The grand fire spirit was surely the cause of this. Working with Remey at a level that was deeper and deeper by the moment.


    Remey was learning about fire mana. In turn, that meant she was learning about her partner. A grand fire spirit which had made its body from purer and denser fire mana. It all made a lot of sense. Walker had done the same with Fleur when they meditated together.


    The only one that seemed to be unmoving entirely was Onyx. He had maintained a smaller form on Walker''s shoulders for every single second that they were traveling. Yet, Walker could feel that the light mana all around them had been pulled in. a hungry beast was attracting it all and devouring it like it was nothing.


    That was Onyx.


    He was absorbing light mana rapidly. The idea that he might run in to another serpent here made him feel that he had to prepare himself. He was going to live up to and beyond what was expected of him. He could take in dark mana. He could take in light mana. He would stand as the pinnacle of bnce between the two as the young serpents grew up. And he would stand to represent them as they found their ancestors within the elemental nes one day.


    Walker sensed every single bit of this. The unwavering determination was what let him trust Onyx. he didn''t push or prod, nor did he worry. He knew that Onyx was doing his best to ensure that he had the strength to achieve his goals while also defeating their enemy. What more could Walker say?


    "I can still sense him ahead, that monster he is riding which spit up more undead isn''t the same as it was. The immortal king is improving it while they move." The idea that came to all their minds was that the immortal king was creating an even more powerful enemy.


    Remey''s eyes shot open as she heard what Walker had just said. "He didn''t get any poison mana, did he?" She knew that if the immortal king wielded that, then she would be limited in how she fought. She only had so many explosive potions with her. She relied on her fists.


    "No, he failed since we beat the skeleton warriors. I think it''s worse though. The manas are thinning out ahead. The boundaries are off. Like we are nearing a ce where the boundary is weaker or something." From what Walker could feel, the manas were also denser too. Both weak and dense at the same time. It made him worry about what ways the immortal king would use this area.


    Would the immortal king still be able to wield powerful attacks and control the undead? Or would he also be weakened like others would by being in an odd area with less mana? Walker didn''t believe that this would be the case though. He had a feeling that they were nearing an edge where he needed to be wary. A ce where there might be something more dangerous than the undead who wanted true power over death.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Let''s just deal with it when we can." Remey didn''t care what the immortal king had. She was sure that they would win this fight.

 Chapter 2165 2165.Scary Space

    Chapter 2165 2165.Scary Space


    The unsettling feeling only grew as they moved faster. Walker was able to pull on the light mana. But he found himself struggling slightly. Especially as he began to sense more manas around.


    It was like a dark feeling. The same feeling that people would get as the shadows began to lengthen as the sun set. He knew that he could still sense mana, but he was struggling to feel it as clearly.


    This wasn''t because of anything wrong with him. It was the way that the manas were mixing here. The manas were not as solid because they had approached an odd border. A boundary that was full of another form of mana that he did not know as well.


    Walker was able to sense all the elemental manas and various forms of fused elemental manas. Even the poison elemental mana was clear enough for him to understand to a degree. Yet here he was being caught up with a bit of confusion.


    Clearly the immortal king also had trouble here. There were many skeletons that had been left behind. Maby had not moved forward. Something about the mana has stopped them from pushing forward. It made sense though, Walker was unsettled, so undead which could be hyper sensitive to manas would definitely not want to venture in to the area.


    The immortal king and hisrger undead were nowhere to be found though. Proving that he had willed them to keep moving and left behind a number of skeletons to either stop the party, or because the strain on himself to force them forward was not worth it.


    For the immortal king, the world was only avable to him as long as he had mana. That was the d for many undead. They needed mana to function. Hence why ruins often had ces where the undead slumbered to gather mana. Why they were found still within stone coffins or stopped against walls standing entirely still. That and they might not have had anything that made them move by bothering them.


    "What''s going on? The skeletons aren''t evening toward us right now?" Since Remey had seen the over fifty skeletons, she had expected a fight. But even now that they were close, they did not move at all.


    "I think some of them are trying to move toward us though." Su''s hand stretched out to point to one of the skeletons, but she yanked it back with a slight gasp. She had felt something wrapping around her hand scaring


    her.


    "I touched something in the air. Walker, can the appraisal skill see anything? I learned it from the magic scrolls and still nothing" her fear that they were in contact with something very dangerous wasn''t unfounded. Plenty of mysterious monsters existed within the elemental nes.


    "Nothing. Just the skeletons. But you''re right, they are moving and in front of us..." Walker trailed off as he raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    "What is it!? Don''t just do that to us!" Remey tried to step forward and hit Walker''s shoulder. But when she stepped forward, she was not right next to him, but actually ended up ten steps in front of him. Her confusion was clear on her face.


    "Space mana. This is a small space elemental ne right on the border of the light elemental ne." there was an astounded tone in Walker''s voice. Purely because he had no idea that this was here.


    Because the space mana was already everywhere around, he had not focused on it with his senses. Even while he used space mana and light mana to allow them to move rapidly through the light elemental ne. The simple reason he had not realized that this was space mana was due to the fact that it was always around him. Walker had also not spent the time to properly grasp all of the nuances that came with spatial mana. It was a challenging concept. One that he had to take a lot more time to understand.


    He had spent a lot of effort to even sense space mana around him. Now that he had a better grasp on it, while also identally helping the party gain a spatial storage skill, Walker knew that he should have a better handle over it. He had proven that already with their transportation.


    This elemental ne and the boundary it caused though, was warping the area they stood. The skeletons were not moving to their eyes, but when it came to the reality of the skeletons, they were just moving differently. Their movements were pushing them back to the same spot. Therefore, they appeared to not be moving at all.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The only way to break out of that loop was for the entire space elemental ne to shift, causing the space mana to warp again. Or, for them to gain some form of understanding about the space mana that they were surrounded by. Influenced by.


    For Remey, she had only been pushed over a small amount of steps from where she had intended to move. She had not been caught in the same ce because she had the spatial storage skill due to Walker always influencing them with space mana. It had made her and the rest of the party able to better influence space mana as a whole. Making them more limated to it and resistant to the oddities of this ne.


    While this helped a great deal, Walker was very unsettled by the fact that the space mana was so dense. He was feeling the resistance and Su had also just felt that. The way that space mana worked was not the same as other manas. It was always connected to other pieces of space mana in a way. As in, they were stubborn but fluid. These pieces of space mana could cause great changes while also being connected to the space mana within yourself too.


    Walker could never properly exin it, but he could sense that as he moved around, the space mana was forgiving of him reaching out to it with his mana sensing abilities. Due to that, Walker could gauge that he would not be tossed around the subtle warping effects of space mana as much as others.


    He slowly walked step by step to Remey and grabbed her hand. As a result, her frozen in ce act ended since she was feeling the lesser pressure on her body when Walker had allowed his mana to buff her. Affinity for space mana itself would not be useful here, just the understanding of space mana would make a great deal of difference.


    When he moved back toward the others, he felt Gil and Su both take hold on a piece of his clothing. Midnight wrapped her sail around his other arm. Luckily, Onyx was still meditating silently around his shoulders. That was everyone ounted for.


    In the blink of an eye, a skeleton warrior appeared in front of them. But it was missing half of its body. Either the sauce elemental ne was more dangerous than what they had just thought, or something did this. "There is a monster around, or someone angry that we are here." Walker could sense the difference in space mana around the broken skeleton warrior. While it was defeated due to whatever happened, this wasn''t a good thing. The different space mana was sharper, More solid as well. Denser than what the elemental ne had in the air so to speak.


    Before Waker could start to take another step, three more skeleton warriors were sent to where they stood, all cut in to pieces. By cut, the party was looking at what had been cut using condensed spatial mana. Literal aspects of the skeleton warriors had been severed by space itself. A terrifying concept since none of them believed they could defend against it.


    He looked around rapidly trying to see what or who was doing it, but all he could sense was that the space mana was moving ever so slightly. The other skeletons were still stuck in ce. Nothing about them had changed just yet.


    When he started to take a step back the way they hade, nothing changed either. No more skeletons appeared broken in front of them. Instead, it felt like the pressure from the space mana was lifting slightly. It was only when they had moved backwards for ten minutes when Walker finally noticed something veryrge. It loomed over the trapped skeletons. Five points of flexible thick tentacles a thatched together. On one side arge bottom mouth that appeared to be consuming the space mana along with a skeleton here and there. Sometimes pieces would fall down again after it ate them.


    "That thing was above us and we didn''t even know it." Walker knew this was a dangerous ce, but this was insane.

 Chapter 2166 2166. New Thing, New Things, New Things

    Chapter 2166 2166. New Thing, New Things, New Things


    ''Space trap starfish


    This is a massive spatial monster. It is often seen as clear because it can disce the space that it exists within. However, because it does that it causes massive warping to the space arid it. Hence why it hides within the space elemental ne for the majority of its life where space is often unbnced.


    It will use the space mana that radiates from its mouth to trap multiple prey at once. When it has the need, it will consume them and take the spatial mana within them. As a result, the space mana cuts up the bodies of the prey which falls and often degrades around it.


    Each long arm or tentacles can be cut off and a smaller space trap starfish can grow. However, it can never grow asrge as it had once been causing it to eventually be too small to feed and perish.


    They are monsters that will eventuallyy a thousand eggs. Only two or three will be able to absorb the appropriate amount and density of space mana due to them shifting through various spaces while in the egg form due to the condensed space mana within the egg before hatching. They often end up in ces that they should not be.


    If someone is to eat part of them, they have a higher chance of gaining space mana affinity, but they also risk having the space mana within their bodies break down. Causing them to lose parts of their body or worse, having their body torn apart buy the mana within them...''


    Walker knew that there were either small details he could reach about this massive monster. He was surprised that it had so many abilities using just space mana. It didn''t teleport nor did it use the mana to attack with des as he had first thought.


    Unstead, it just exerted pressure by opening its mouth and trapping prey. Many different prey at tha. Like arge next being cast, it exined why the size was sorge. Something surprising though, was that the party could see it now. Alright silver hue had appeared as it was no longer using the space mana to hide its body. Somewhat reflective, the space trap starfish moved its long tentacle like arms to grab skeleton warriors. The reason that they had been trapped was that the immortal king did so to keep himself protected. He had sacrificed many of his undead to this monster which he most likely could not fight against due to theck of space mana understanding.


    The immortal king had learned a great deal about all manas. He had added to the bodies he built and controlled to manipte all elemental manas and clearly had used natural mana to even escape to another body and leave the original body behind. But space, time, and other manas were lost to him.


    That was why he pursued death mana. It was the only mana the immortal king had learned about along with also being able to teach if need be. The more of it he got, the better he might be able to build a body that was even more powerful than what he had before.


    Walker could also sense the unsettled manas ahead. The immortal king had clearly used a lot of mana to push away from this area and head right in to smaller elemental nes that had yet to fuse with therger elemental nes which were already more established.


    "Do you think that all these boundaries are like this because Origin race beings are bringing them back and letting them slowly mix with the other nes?" Since Su had noticed that Walker''s mind was upied, she took a guess at why.


    "I was just thinking about that a little. But I am more worried that we might see other monsters like that." if they did run in to another dangerous monster, they might not be as lucky to have the immortal king foot the risk for all of it. Especially if it is a monster that developed specifically to trap their prey like that. Walker knew he would be unable to resist the space mana like that.


    "We might find the immortal king eaten or defeated already." Since they were not dead and had survived, Remey felt that she could just ept the positive.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I think we can only hope for that." Gil pulled his bow and fired an arrow in to the distance. The sound of a distant shattering proved that the immortal king was still leaving skeletons behind. A problem that came with the massive undead he rode on. The undead that had been influenced and was being changed more and


    "Brother, there is a powerful light mana ahead shing with a powerful dark mana. Can we look at it? There might be a monster fighting the undead." Since it was Onyx speaking for the first time in thest while, Walker knew that while meditating Onyx had to have picked this up. He also noticed a slight surge in mana from §°§á§å§ç.


    It appeared that Onyx had taken very well to the more powerful light mana he could get here. Even in his smaller form with the majority of his body held in the shadows, his scales shined with a little more light and even had a dim glow of dark mana.


    This meant that Onyx had been getting everything he needed. Bing more limated to the denser manas that he needed as someone bnced in both light and dark manas. If he had note here, he might have still been stuck in the strength that he had. Now he was certainly more powerful than what he had ever been before.


    Ahead though, the shing manas made Walker wonder if it was really the immortal king. Why would he be using just dark mana? And the immortal king didn''t use light mana often, or at all from what Walker understood. He relied on the death magic he knew. Or he sent the undead to preserve his mana.


    A skeleton covered on a cloak of torn dark fabric was standing face to face with a smaller figure. Scales covered the body of the figure but they were slim and clearly holding back. More like they were using this to y a game.


    ''Elder skelton dark mage


    This is a very old skeleton mage which was limated to dark mana and had all other manas that were not required removed from it. As such, it was able to regain some of the skills it had in life. This was one of the skeletons of the immortal king''s attendants.


    It wields powerful dark magical attacks which can decayrge areas easily. It also can use dark mana to recover its body partially since it has been perfectly limated and boosted by dark mana affinity materials. Lacking the intelligence to have its own personality, it will constantly follow thest order given. If that means war, then it will fight until it is no more if need be. That is often the case as it will use the remaining mana hidden within its bones to explode with decaying dark mana if it is about to perishpletely.


    It also wields a powerful dark affinity magic staff which was created from the bones of a weak dark dragon...''


    Walker hoped that Midnight had not seen the fact that a dark dragon''s bones had been used to make the mage staff the elder dark skeleton mage used. She might not be happy to see that a dragon''s bones had been used. Not that she was worried about that aspect, more about what was using it. A being that had once been part of evil experimentations and now was used as an undead.


    The other scaled being was more like a humanoid. But the slim scales and long lithe tail proved that they might not be. The entire party was wondering if they should let that being y with the elder skeleton dark mage, or if they should help. But to be fair, they might not even be needed.


    Small triangles of light floated about shooting down every dark mana based magical attack. It was like a game. Easy and just using basics. Even more, they seemed to also sense that this powerful being was also able to fight fist to fist if they wanted to be able to, but they chose not to.


    "Don''t worry, they are going to win. Then we might have to have a bit of a conversation since they know a lot about what we might want to know" Walker was looking at Su, Midnight, and Remey the most. Gil had a feeling he knew what this might be about. Especially since they had just learned about others of their kind.

 Chapter 2167 2167. Dragons Of The Planes

    Chapter 2167 2167. Dragons Of The nes


    The elder dark mage skeleton tried again to attack. The triangles of dark mana sliced through their air and were swiftly shattered by a single swipe of the scaled figure''s wed hands. The ws had extended with light mana as it had prepared to fight in that manner. Further proving that it was extremely powerful, the figure darted through the air and grabbed the skeleton''s head. The dark mana that poured out was the final attempt to destroy the opponent that it had been called out to fight. It was one of the more powerful skeletons that the immortal king could call on. Yet here it was, being crushed. The shattering skill was suddenly full of flight as the figure poured out purifying light mana all around the skeleton. "And that''s why i said it, it is much more powerful than the elder dark mage skeleton. But it could have used more mana if it wanted to." Walker''s calmness made the others figure that they weren''t in danger. However, as the figure lost focus on the remnants of the skeleton, its eyes narrowed and looked at them. Walker just waved slightly. "Can you tell us what it is now?" Gil''s worries weren''t unfounded, but the others seemed to be a little less stressed now than they had been before. He had already figured it was something familiar. "What kind of dragon is it?" ''Light Dragonoid This is a species of dragonkin that has lived within the elemental nes serving the various forms of dragons for many years. As such, it has developed more defined scales, mana affinity, and simr methods of purifying its own manas. As such, it has lost some of the bulkier muscles that dragonkin were known for and became more lean. Its strength is much higher than it hadbeen since the muscles now use the higher density manas to be able to feed its body. The greater the manas that it consumes the stronger it will be. In service to dragonkind, these beings will follow any order from the dragon that it serves. It will also go out of its way to eliminate threats that enter its dragon''s territory. Often known as the dragon''s might by lesser races. They will spend years purifying the small amounts of dragon blood within them, as such, they will have a very small chance to be a proper dragon over the course of a thousand years if they are able to survive that long while purifying themselves using their specific mana affinities. When they grow wings, they are proving that they have managed to take that important step.


    The longer¡­''


    Walker knew that Gil could use the all around appraisal skill because he had gained it from using the magical scrolls enough. But since this was an odd and somewhat intimidating situation, it made sense that he wasn''t thinking properly. However, the light dragonoid had already taken a step toward them. The light mana gathering in apprehension since it did not know what was happening. It could see Midnight and that she was a dragon. But a weak and young dragon. She could see that Su was a half dragon, something that hadn''t been seen in years, just spoken of. Even stranger, it could sense Walker. The uniqueness of his mana and the fact that everything about him screamed dangerous. It also seemed to scream that he was also some form of dragon in a way. That was the power of the royal dragon''s honoring him as their royal nature dragon. He had a title to prove it as well. "I think I am going to show off a little to make sure we get respect. The dragonoids are very territorial for their dragons. They serve to protect their dragon''s territory from whatever may cause risks. And this ce where manas are thinner and unbnced must be where the dragon currently is." Walker''s exnation wasn''t because he knew they didn''t grasp what was going on. They all knew now. He was warning them that he was going to manipte arger amount of mana. He had to utilize the recovered strength he had just froming here. His body had greatly limated to manas. His level rising even above what it had been just by the fact that denser and purer elemental manas nourished his being. The changes that he felt though, were in the manas and the skill he had intended to use. Walker had wanted to use the very same skill that had used manas to cloak himself in them. To look like a regain in a draconic form while protecting his body. However, his body had let the manas he gathered bedspread out more. Even beyond that, he sensed that he could pull at all the elemental manas at once. This caused the light dragonoid to freeze in ce. The density of manas shocked it while the manas formed. ''The skill, the nature dragon''s descent has been taken from¡­ the skill nature dragons descent has been altered due to the origin race using it¡­''


    ''The skill, true dragons'' form has been awakened.''


    ''True dragon''s form- requires true dragon blood or origin race. Must have an understanding of all elemental manas. Must have a growing understanding of additional manas. Must have¡­


    First form, a six headed dragon form, each head made of elemental manas condensed by the understanding of the origin race or true dragon wielding the skill. These can attack with the will of the user of this skill. Using elemental manas simultaneously. This allows for arger scale battle and stands as a symbol of true power amongst the dragon race. This skill is often only released during important times to show the strongest of the dragons. It has been many years since this skill was witnessed by other dragon blood. Mana absorption is massively boosted along with mana resistance to the six elemental manas. Second form, fuses all the dragon heads to create the nature dragons'' form. A powerful natural mana based form that requires true dragon blood line or origin race to wield. Understanding of all elemental manas is needed along with how theye together in various ways to create natural mana. This is the peak form of this skill since it uses all elemental forms at the same time. Alters them and is able to use various forms of attacks including the mending of elemental nes, the world, and other bncing effects. It is also possible to create chaos. Third form, the one above all dragons. This utilizes life, death, space, time, creation, destruction¡­. Laws of existence that can only be wielded by the origin race. A true dragon can never use this form of skill unless they have released their race and be an origin race. Something that has only happened twice in history since creation. Using thews of existence are iprehensive. The forms taken are impossible toprehend and using this form of the skill can not even be attempted without extreme cost and understanding of all things¡­'' n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There was so much that Walker did not understand as six heads of elemental dragons were above him and moving ording to his will. The rest of the party was blocked inside the manas around him as he had wanted to make sure that they were safe white he showed off his might. This had not been his intention, but happened organically as he had tried to use a skill that he had used before. To the light dragonoid though, he was a powerful being that hade here and it had disrespected them. "We are hunting a criminal. You just defeated one of their undead. Speak and tell us what you may know." The light dragonoid bowed its head fleeing the immense elemental pressure covering it. However, Walker soon heard another voice. "You are not of the elemental nes. You are also greater than those from here. You are not attacking my underling, but you are showing it that it should respect you. As such, I thank you for not killing them for such actions. I was slumbering here and did not sense you clearly to greet you." Out of the light mana nearby, a slim figure of a dragon appeared. Its body was twisting in an elegant dance with light mana. Intricate horns trailed around it as if they were hand blow ss trapping rainbows. The form of this dragon was very different from what Walker knew. "That''s the light devourer dragon, isn''t it?" Remey recalled what they had been told about the dragons here being different. "You''re right, it is." Su''s agreement made everyone feel that they were not only seeing something amazing, but about to learn way too much. The manas began to dissipate very quickly as Walker felt the strain hit his body. But he maintained hisposure while the light devourer dragon changed its form to a more humanoid one simr to the light dragonoid. ¡­


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2168 2168. Mana contract

    Chapter 2168 2168. Mana contract


    "It has been some time since another hase. Especially one like yourself. Young but able to do so much." The devouring dragon in a dragonoid form moved slowly forward. His face was a little more pointed due to the teeth and other strange elegant features of his body. However, Walker could clearly sense the calmness of the mana around him. This wasn''t a being that was threatening them. Sad, Walker could hear the curiosity but also some apprehension in the way that he spoke. "We are here hunting the master of the undead that your dragonoid just killed." Walker reiterated why they were in the elemental nes. He was certain that this was what the light devouring dragon was wondering about. "I can understand why. It has already tread in to territories banned to most beings of the elemental nes. You should sense it as well, all of you should feel it with your unique constitutions." this was very true in a matter of sensing the manas. The ce they had made their way to was a veryrge area of more imbnce and less dense elemental manas. Especially since there was a lot of different mana surrounding them. Wakker had sensed it first, but everyone had felt it since they had been limating to the much denser manas. Having those gone all the sudden was somewhat shocking. "We have noticed the changes as we pursued them. However, we are still doing so. They can not get stronger and rebuild their body." The emphasis on all of this made the light devouring dragon appear a little worried. It was not often that they encountered strangers that were hunting someone with such seriousness. "You havee to an edge. Well, an edge to what you may sense is the end of an elemental ne. This boundary is full of pieces of elemental nes being built. Some have unknown monsters, others possess unique fused manas. I guard thisnd while we grow. I only came because of what is sensed from you." The light devouring dragon hade because he had sensed the way that the elemental manas were being manipted. Partially the same as an origin being but also because of the dragon aura that he had sensed. It was very unusual to sense this when they were moving around this ce. Hence why the light devouring dragon had paid so much attention. When he hade and seen the party, he was more curious than before. Specifically because he could tell there was a half dragon there and a very young but much more powerful than they should be dragon champion. "I know it may be different to see us. We came from the world hunting that criminal." The light devouring dragon froze a little. It was clear that this was stunning information. "I have yet to hear the results of the king''s meeting. The sage''s meeting as well." This made the rest of the party raise their eyebrows. "So the elemental kings and true sages are going to have a meeting about the world? I thought that the true earth sage already seemed to want to protect and keep the world bnced." Remey''s assumption was enough to make the light devouring dragon even more confused. "We are learning a lot about the elemental nes and many of the different races that call it home. We hear a lot about the dragons and the origin beings. The ways that the nes are formed. But we are still new to this. We have met the earth king and the true earth sage. The angelic wind spirits, and a few others. Right now though, you are the first of the devouring dragons we have met. And the first dragonoid." "You are the first young origin being I have ever met, the first half dragon in a very long time, one of the few fire dragon souls, and one with the blood of the high elves. They do not leave their seclusion. And two very other interesting ones. You remind me of the older serpents. Those that have since traveled beyond the boundaries. But you, your blood contains that of the champions. How many years since a champion has been raised." A look of nostalgia took the light devouring dragon''s face. Both happy and sad. "The champions are still important to the dragon race. A draconic guardian like myself is also very important to every dragon champion and every royal dragon." Su stood tall next to Midnight making both the light dragonoid and the light devouring dragon look at them withpletely dumbfounded awe. "A lot has happened differently between the world and the elemental ne. Some things changed, the dragonkin here became dragonoids. The royals and elders dragons strived to learn about their lost history in the world while those here became dominator and devourer dragons. The same with angels, orcs, and so many different beings here grew up in ways I can''t even exin." "You are correct. The history we have here is very different. The history thates with the elemental nes is different even one boundary to another. Meetings between the kings and the sages are what holds the bnce. That is their role. We all have our roles in the bnces that are needed to avoid wars between the nes." From what Walker could tell, the bnce was something very important to every intelligent race within the elemental nes. The races that became powerful were responsible for upholding certain aspects of these bnces. Ensuring that they would not fall and would not be broken. That was how important the elemental wars had been between the nes at the beginning of the world being isted from them. "It appears your small group can change a great deal by being the academics we need." from what the light devouring dragon was considering, he would need them toe with him. But then he recalled what the party was here for. "What are your ns for when the world beginsing here more often?" A pressure of light mana came around them. The light devouring dragon had begun to focus on the seriousness of what may happen and what else could happen if there was not a guiding hand to the world. "We are the founders of the Genesis Alliance. We already have ns for exploration, learning, and much more for the elemental nes. If we do not handle the problem that escaped here, all of that will not work. That is why we need assistance. Can you do that?" "Can you guarantee that we will meet those dragons of the world. Those left behind by time?" Now Walker understood. Just as the dragons of the world had lost parts of their history, the knowledge to bing a dominator dragon, the dragons here had done so as well. They had lost the traditions and knowledge of champions and draconic guardians. They had developed differently causing changes to their traditions and other aspects of their lives. Things must have also been more and moreplicated as each dragon took the roles to defend elemental nes and more. It wasn''t just that they had to change these things to support their new positions as defender, but also because they could not create solid viges. The shifting elemental nes stopped this potential almost entirely. "I think that there is a high chance we can bring the dragons closer together. We wouldn''t stop the different dragons from meeting those of the world. The royal dragons have worked with us and are united within Genesis. We have even built their viges connecting to our main city. All races are wee. Even those that once fought one another like the vampire race and the angel race." "Then as one who devours the very mana that makes life possible for my kind, I swear upon my mana. I will assist you of the world in eptance that you will unite my elders with your fellow dragons of the world." The mana vibrated slightly at his words. Existence itself was holding such contracts. "I agree with you and swear on the world that I will make this promise true." The mana vibrated again as Walker felt that the manas around him connected to him in an odd way. He also saw the system notify him of a contract. He had never expected that this was possible. But with existence, apparently contracts could be made by swearing on mana itself. It was very good to know but also told Walker that he would be able to keep bonds and his words true. "Find the others nearby. We will be hunting." The light devouring dragon spoke to the light dragonoid. He would be gathering more of his soldiers to chase the undead. He had a very grand reason to do so now. Regardless of what they could learn right now, it could wait for what was truly important. ¡­ n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2169 2169. Dragonoid Forces

    Chapter 2169 2169. Dragonoid Forces


    The change in tone and seriousness could have thrown anyone for a loop. Walker and the party remained calm though. They had been in situations that had been kept more tense. The battles they had were often life and death. What shocked Walker, was that the mana around was clearly influenced by the way that the light devouring dragon moved. It was much clearer to sense them since they radiated manas that influenced the elemental nes. Therefore, he could imagine that when they were in the world, the same thing might happen. Some monsters and people often radiated manas. But what if they had never kept their mana in check? What if their affinities were so high that there were certain aspects that leaked out and potentially harmed others?


    For example, if someone with a very high affinity for water mana constantly gathered water mana around them to the point that it became ice, then what would happen? Frost and ice would always be around them. The very air might be cooler when they were around. It could cause some issues. Multiply that by someone who had always been in pure mana of some form. Along with dense mana of some form. Well, it would not end up as the safest area to be. It was something that Walker would have to consider. He also recalled the light griffin that had been summoned once upon a time. It was a very dangerous monster that had a greater light affinity. Just being around it meant that there was pressure and power. An oppressive area that could scare those at lower levels and worst case, harm people too. If this was multiplied by ten, then that was the danger that would be around if this light devouring dragon came to the world without methods to perfectly control their aura. Something that had not needed to be considered before. From what Walker knew though, he was also bing this way. A reason he needed to focus on mana control now as well. That way if he became that powerful he would not harm anyone based on emotions. Many people could have issues if that were to happen. Being able to protect people, sometimes meant from the hero themself. This aside, it only took a few minutes for there to be signs that other light dragonoids were appearing. They had rushed over as soon as they had been notified that they were needed in force. An oppressive force of light mana which formed in to weapons in their hands proved that their control over their affinities was greater than a dragonkin. The differences were not just there, they had much more agility from what Walker could see. They also exhibited more control in their emotions. Their loyalty was the same as dragonkin though. Walker could tell that they were acting with the utmost seriousness toward the orders of their leading dragon. "This is so much more than what we thought. We have barely seen anythingpared to what we have been told is in the light elemental ne." From Su''s point of view, everything had gottenrger andrger as they moved through the elemental nes in chase. They had barely even touched some of the elemental nes to be fair. Yet here they were making more bonds with dragons and another form of dragonkin.


    "Much more? It''s like ten whole worlds more. We keep ending up in these positions with someone else trusting us. Now this dragon just epted a mana contract which we didn''t know worked like that?" to be fair, Remey had not expected any of this. She was still on edge about how the light devouring dragon had so easily seen through their races and ended up trusting them. That was most likely due to their connection to dragons and clear honesty. Many people would be able to sense the truth and lie in their words. Not just because they would see the ways that the party acted. No, it would mostly be how their mana changed when they lied or told the truth. Not many people could stop their mana from moving slightly with a lie.


    "It''s because brother was honest with them through and through. He does not just ignore the cultures and shows what he should to bond with them." While Onyx had not begun to meditate again, he could still take his opinion clearly. Especially with how he could sense the dense light mana which was very nourishing to him. The more that all these dragonoids released along with the light devouring dragon the better for him. He was taking advantage of it. The importance of truth did make a lot of difference. "They already gathered together and have a n to march." Gil''s focus went on the light devouring dragon preparing to cover them all in arger amount of light mana. He could tell it was a method of travel and also a method of sensing changes in the nearby light elemental ne. The more light mana that the light devouring dragon had, the clearer it was that he could utilize it for various things. It was more reminiscent of how Walker uses elemental manas. Or at least that was the thought that Gil had. "I am prepared to take you all with us. Please do not shake away the light mana which I am controlling." The light devouring dragon did not fail to warn them as a dense light spread over the now sixty light dragonoids and the party. The mana swept over the party and they felt their bodies lighten. With light mana in general, there was often a purifying or a buffing effect when skills were used. Some were more defensive or offensive, but themon buff skills proved to be the most used. "It''s called light speed buff, we aren''t teleporting or moving with space mana too. Instead, we are just going to be moving much faster. Stay focused and expect to feel a bit off." From what Walker sensed and understood, this light speed buff was one of the highest light mana buffs there was.


    The step he took was nearly enough to cover triple the distance as a normal step. All because his momentum was visited by light itself.


    Many people used light affinity buffs for defense, but trying to move as fast as light itself? Now that was something which could be called impossible. Now, Walker understood it was a matter of purity and density in light mana which held those with light affinity back from greater speed buffs.


    As time went on, those in Genesis would surely be able to use this skill or simr skills. The manas were bing denser there, so it made sense that they could and would achieve this level of strength.


    From Midnight''s growls, Walker could tell she was enjoying this high ss buff. She was moving much faster while also using it as a chance to grasp more light mana. She could easily use a much more potent light dragon breath right now if she needed to.


    "You said this area is full of boundaries. That is why the manas are thinner. But does that mean we are close to the chaotic manas outside what is bnced?" Walker food. It was easy toe in line with the light devouring dragon. He had remained in his dragonoid form to stay friendlier with the party right now. He had a deal with them so that was the least he could do to show continued respect. "We are not close to the dangers of those ces. We are near it enough though. We must patrol this area since it is where nes mix. Where the new nes begin to be one with the purer elemental nes or be nes within the boundaries."


    This put Walker at ease. It meant that the death elemental ne which the immortal king was after couldn''t be nearby nor could it be strong enough for him to gain much power if it was somehow nearby.


    "More undead." Walker and the light devouring dragon sensed it immediately. Therger number of undead had literally disced manas nearby while preparing attacks. "More elder elemental skeleton mages. They are being released with skeleton warriors. No, those are another kind of undead simr to skeleton warriors." With Walker''s frustration growing, they all stopped moving only to find the wall of undead left to block them. The immortal king had been sensing them in his tail. They would need to handle this road block if they wanted to move forward. "My soldiers, purify the stain on the elemental nes. Your fight is here. Mine is ahead." A mentality that the light devouring dragon possessed was that he would take the most dangerous opponents. Right now, he was leaving the dragon lids to fight the skeletons and skeleton mages. Not because he thought them weak, but because he and the party sensed a more powerful undead just ahead of them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2170. The Worst Undead

    2170 2170. The Worst Undead


    Walker looked at the others and saw that none of them were shying away from the dangers ahead. They too could sense that there was worseing toward them. But what it was, made them wonder if the immortal king had managed to start capturing the right monsters within the elemental ne. ''Dual shadow snail zombie


    Normally, the dual shadow snail uses the light mana it hides within its shell to create two powerful shadows that it then maniptes. This is why it is considered one of the more powerful monsters within the boundary between the light and dark elemental nes. However, it also possesses the soft temperament that makes others still travel nearby them. They will rarely take any aggressive behavior against others since they are mainly feeding on light and darkness affinity herbs. This dual shadow snail has been killed and zo,bified by undead mana. There are also clear signs that an attempt to infect it withrge amounts of solid earth mana was made. In response to this, its shell cracked causing the light mana to spill out in an odd way. Therefore, instead of two shadows, it has three weaker shadows. The best way to crush it is to finish breaking the shell. This will still take significant force which would require potent mana¡­''


    A single sh of light mana shot through the air from the ws of the light devouring dragon. He wanted as the zombie fell and growled slightly. " Those monsters are harmless. They are why the many herbs within the light and darkness boundary do not grow too great. Without them there will be an overgrowth of herbs which causes many monsters and races to suffer." From what the dragon said, Walker learned a lot. There was a general knowledge that the devouring and dominator dragon would possess about what they needed to defend here. Especially since they had grown powerful enough to be ordered by origin beings in some way. If they did not maintain the bnces within the boundaries, then there were risks. "What happens if the immortal king caused too much damage?" Before Walker could ask, Gil had made the assumption that this would lead to a massive issue. "There could be a greater shift than what is normal for the two nes. We could lose the boundary or another smaller elemental ne being brought inside by the origin beings could move in to it. If that happens, there will be a shift in every ne. Many will perish." Respect was what every single being had for the elemental nes that they lived in. even the more powerful monsters understood the delicate bnce that they tread over on every single day. Some were the reason why their elemental nes moved, others were the reason why they stayed in harmony. Regardless, this was a clear risk that could cause even greater damage overall. "There are more of them too, it looks like the immortal king tried to turn them all in to zombies to stop us. But they aren''t the strong ones we can feel." Remey leaped forward. He steps leaving mes behind her as the fire mana dissipated. She punched out shattering the shell of another dual shadow snail zombie. The light mana released pushed against the dark elemental ne which they could now see more clearly. The dense shadows that hade in to view were what dark mana should be. It was a clear sign that they would have to rely on more than just sight if they traveled in to it. The light devouring dragon appeared to be using a thin pulse of light mana to sense what might be ahead. Walker felt he could do that same, however, his mana senses allowed him to feel the changes in the dark mana itself. In the changes that came with something traveling toward them through the denser darkness which was pushed aside by its natural control. ''Face stealer


    This is a tailor made zombified skeleton made of multiple serpents, insects, and other types of monsters. It was made to assist in the dissection of various beings for material uses by the immortal chasing race. It is one of the oldest undead that they created and considered one fo the more dangerous. Its serpentine body has various crimson scythe mantis des used to make legs. It has many more chitin armors around each segment that were created to ensure that it does not take much physical damage to the softer zombified muscles below. It will often repurpose the skin it dissects off of prey to use as additional armor. It was even once able to create an entire undead monster called the skinwalker using the skin of various other monsters and races it collected. This single event was why it continuously got improvement from the various researchers of the immortal chasing race. Now, it is still extremely powerful due to the additional runes carved on and inside its body. Self repairing false death runes were added to ensure that it will be able to recover if it is left intact. Be warned that if a single section is left behind, it can rebuild its body through parasitizing another monster¡­''


    The horror that came with this monster showcased the true depths of what evils the immortal chasing race had done. This wasn''t just an undead, it was an experiment that they had brought to life to make their experimentations easier. The scariest aspect was that the undead before them wasrge enough and smart enough to even raise its own kinds of undead if it had enough intelligence. Having something that could turn literal skin in to an undead monster wasn''t what anyone would imagine as possible. Worse off yet, there was no negative effect on it while it sat in the dark manas. No decaying whatsoever. All due to the addition of the false death runes that the immortal king had somehow learned of during the entire battle between the party and the demon king. Proving he had eyes on them the entire time!


    "That is from your world''" the light devouring dragon was disgusted. "It''s one of the darker sides of a race that no longer exists. Only one undead remains of them and we are hunting it. They do not exist for a reason. They hunted others to the point that everything turned on them. Made them in to experiments and painful memories." Su''s growl showed off the dragon side of her quite clearly. Showed off her anger upon seeing this thing before them. "Burn it?" Midnight''s soft but threatening question left Walker with a signal understanding. Everyone wanted to erase this old and evil creature. Not a single bit of it could escape. They understood that very well and they would not be letting it even think of getting away. "If the immortal king left this here, then they know that they need something better to hold us back. We will need to erase this quickly." Walker felt that a lot of his mana had already recovered due to the fact that the manas around were so dense. His body was also absorbing it at a faster rate than if he had sat and began to meditate. All part of him limating to the manas around. But right now, that didn''t matter, therge serpent like segmented body of the face stealer made its way partially out of the denser darkness. The party could see the many zombified faces that it had stretched over the chitin armor that it had been created with. The thing had literally made other beings'' skin in to a covering to protect itself even more. For even worse knowledge, Walker could see some of the skins moving, they had been made into zombies too so that it was an even better defense. This was truly one of the wrist undead that the immortal king had. Yet he had abandoned it to fight them. "The immortal king thinks that this will slow us down. Brother, I am bigger than it." Onyx released his full size. He had not just been sitting there idle. He had been getting the immense amounts of light and dark mana that his body ended. He had reached the perfect ce to focus solely on his growth. That was proven right here and now. Light and dark mana radiated through Onyx''s scales as dense light and dark armor formed over his massive coiled body. A second set of fangs had also taken root in his mouth while he hissed out a warning of dark and light mana. The entire party could sense the pressure that Onyx now wielded with his mana. His presence was beyond that of what an abyssal or heavenly serpent could wield in the world. He had taken the important steps needed to grow in to a full adult form. Just as the ancients of his kind had done when ascending to the elemental nes from the world. ¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2171. Onyx Fights

    2171 2171. Onyx Fights


    Holding back was not a phrase that onyx would have recognized as the oppressive force of dark and light mana melded together around him. He was not showing the lightest weakness as his head reared up and faced the face stealer. The enemy was just pure evil created by the immortal king and the others of the immortal chasing race. Now that this ancient monster had been brought here to the elemental nes, it was clear that the immortal king was showing off his most powerful cards to be able to achieve the power of his dreams. The armor that overtook the scales that onyx naturally had was impressive to say the least. The dark mana wrapped around him and even stretched put in to the shadows acting as the perfect grip for him to boost his speed. The more shadows and darkness mana around the faster he would be able to move himself while causing decay to any attacksing towards him. The light mana that made up the major aspects of his armor was condensed to the max of his ability. He was using the light to condense it in to physically tough armor that was hard to pierce with any basic weapons of physical force. Magical attacks would have a harder time getting to his already tough scales as well. This was all disregarding the natural healing that came with the light mana for him as he had grown and could use it to sustain himself. It was his and every abyssal serpent''s food source!


    All of that being the case, it wasn''t even close to the aura of mixed dark and light mana that radiated all around him. it showed the immense control that he had over that mana. Those two manas were a part of him. In every aspect of who onyx was, he had used his time to meditate, train, and generally learn how to bnce the two manas that he had affinities for. While he had also gained the unique low spatial storage skill because of being exposed to the space mana that Walker always used, this was nothingpared to what he had when it came to affinities naturally. He could have gained affinities through the bonds with Walker and through Walker, Midnight and the others. But he had never tried to do so nor epted that. Their bonds had strengthened him and allowed him to grow faster. He loved and cared for those that he had powerful bonds with. Onyx truly grew to respect and care for all those within his life. But right this moment, his focus on just two manas working as opposites and also as perfect matches was clearly superior. "He is not going to need our help. What an interesting turn of events." The light devouring dragon had yet to show much emotion since he had focused and be serious. However, as the face stealer showed more of its horrid body, he ended up stepping back. As a light devouring dragon, he had the ability to sense the light mana to a higher degree than just about anyone else. The light mana was his literal connection to life after all. Without it, he would be at death''s doors. Therefore, as he felt that onyx had even begun to take away some of his natural control of light mana, the light devouring dragon realized he did not need to assist here whatsoever. That the world was home to powerful beings he underestimated. 11:04


    As a light devouring dragon, he had the ability to sense the light mana to a higher degree than just about anyone else. The light mana was his literal connection to life after all. Without it, he would be at death''s doors. Therefore, as he felt that onyx had even begun to take away some of his natural control of light mana, the light devouring dragon realized he did not need to assist here whatsoever. That the world was home to powerful beings he underestimated. Without much hesitation, Onyx snapped out toward the face stealer. Its segmented skin and bone covered body was tougher than many other undead that they had faced as apathy, however, Omnyx''s fangs pierce one section entirely. Injecting potent venom. What the party had not realized that onyx had learned, was that when he grew the second set of fangs, he had managed to gain more than the abyssal poison created from potent and unique dark mana. He now had a light poison that was using the destructive aspects of light mana used in purification of rotten flesh. This was dramatically burning through the segment of the face stealer''s body. The dark poison causing rot to extend through the bones and the light poison melting away the zombified flesh along with the still undead zombified skin ced over all of it. The segment fell away detached as the face stealer did so to free itself from Onyx''s grip. In an instant, the broken parts of its body snapped together as if that destroyed segment had never been there in the first ce. In a single swipe, the crimson scythes used as scythes attempted a wide sh at Onyx. Grinding and crackling sounds came from the light and dark armor that Onyx wore. The scythe that had struck was ground to a dull edge. Some of the older ones hadpletely snapped or broken off. This forced the face stealer to drop off those broken limbs and attack another way. It was a brutal undead monster, created for cutting things apart to make more undead. To experiment more. However, it was failing to cut? Even without orders too, it was filled with rage that a living creature was unable to be cut!


    The reaction was to throw the back section of its body at Onyx in an attempt to force him to flinch. Instead, onyx struck out with his tail from the coil he had still been in. The end of his tail mmed down sending arge pulse of mixed light and dark mana around the entire area. This ate away at the body of the face stealer while also crushing the thrown segment. The manas were not enough to stop the regeneration of the face stealer, but it was clearly weakening overall. The drain on its mana from the way that Onyx allowed his manas to overrun it made the undead lose the race for healing itself. Adding in the darkness mana from the dark elemental ne it was still partially in, and the rate of decay was much higher. "You are a horror of the past. You should have remained there." As Onyx made this message heard to everyone around him, heshed out with his tail again. Three shadowsshed up from below Onyx while three more of light came from above. His real tail mmed in to the center of the face stealer delivering intense light and dark mana shing with one another. The light tails and the dark tails made of light mana and dark manas respectively also met their target. Each and every single section of the face stealer was being steeped in manas which were not harmonious. The decaying and the purifying effects shed causing the regenerative abilities left behind by false death runes to fail. The runes themselves were being torn apart by the imbnce manas. "I am the one who holds bnce between light and dark here. I can make it skew to one side or the other. I can make it sh as it has for eons in the vast existence beyond these nes." Onyx spoke what everyone realized was the start of a greater skill. His words resonated through the light and darkness mana before he opened his mouth and sent a spiraling beam of light and darkness manas intertwined. The burst of mana broke through every single aspect of what had been the ancient undead known for dissecting its prey. For being used as a tool for the immortal chasing race. All that was left couldn''t even be called bone or skin pieces. They were rapidly purifying or decaying depending on the manas present. "I''m so proud." Walker just smiled as he began to walk toward Onyx who had hidden his body again in the shadows. Clearly he had exhausted a little too much mana. "Thank you for the hard work." Walker felt that Onyx was already beginning to lose his consciousness. He was falling asleep before even getting to his shoulders. "Just like you." Onyx''s words made it clear that he had fought alone for a very good reason. To show Walker and the others that he had lived up to and beyond just being a hero like Walker. That he had learned to stand beside Walker as more than just a family member or an older brother. "We should keep moving. That was impressive. You have my respect." The light devouring dragon sensed that the light dragonoids were finishing their battles as well. He pushed ahead, but he let his gaze linger on onyx. His mind stayed with the fact that this was clearly a very young being, however, it was strong enough to stand against the older of their species. An astounding fact. An astounding existence that had came from the world cut off to the elemental nes. So much could be learned. So much was unknown. The world had to be a miraculous ce now. ¡­


    ¡­.


    N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 2172. Dark Directions

    2172 2172. Dark Directions


    Venturing in to the dark ne is not something that I have the right to do. Instead, I will call out to one who can easily traverse it. I can no longer sense the travels of your criminal." Walker was somewhat worried about the darkness elemental ne that they had neared. Right now, they had arge number of light dragonoids with them. Then the light devouring dragon. They would naturally be weaker within the dark elemental nes because it resisted them.The light mana would not be great enough to overpower the dark mana at such a higher density and purity. For these beings that relied on light mana, they would perish or suffer immensely. Therefore, Walker wondered if they would even be able toe with the party. The light devouring dragon and sworn to help them, it was arge bonus to have them along. Especially with the number of undead increasing. With the strength of them rising too. The light devouring dragon roared out making slight bits of light mana to flow from his body. He was not just using his roar, but mana to resonate with it so that a message was portrayed. Walker could sense it and understand that it was a call to other devouring dragons. They worked together as this was one thing that they had to do to protect bnce. It was only a few momentster before a few shadows moved out of the darkness that was the dark elemental ne. A ce where sight was impossible due to the entireck of light. Walker could rely on his mana sense, but the others were more limited right now. They couldn''t sense manas in the same way that he did. Part of Walker wanted to find a skill that allowed him to share his mana sense skill with others, but his focus was taken away by the dark dragonoids that had appeared. They radiated more dark mana than the light dragonoids radiated light mana. Not because they were trying to intimidate them, but because they just naturally released it since they were so in tune with the dark mana that they always remained within. This was the same as the rare few mages who meditated within denser mana filled areas to be able to better understand that mana. They would be known for being unable to keep their mana in control after only focusing on it for days, if not weeks on end. "Our lord has sent us with a message." one dark dragonoid stood in front of the others. It was clear that the light dragonoids already had an idea of what they were going to say. "After gathering arge amount of pure dark mana, the one you seek traveled away. They left the remnants of over a hundred skeletons. We have eliminated those that survived after being manipted in some ways." This meant that the immortal king had either moved very quickly, or he was beginning to grow in strength by altering his own body and the undead with him. Both were not good things to know that were happening. The experimentation and also not stopped at all. The dark dragonoids had just proved that the immortal king had created some form of dark infused experimental skeletons. The same thing that the immortal king had been doing within every elemental ne. It made it clear that the immortal king was influencing the skeletons to learn a certain way to add manas to his own weaker body. If anyone were to start over, it was a surety that they would do a great deal differently. Right now, that was what the immortal king was doing. He was rebuilding his body with better everything this time around. If they were too slow, then it would be more dangerous. "Follow the boundary in to the broken nes. We will travel with you to ensure that all undead hordes are handled. Our lord requires it." The dark dragonoids were all seriousness and that was all. They didn''t even ask about the sorry with the light dragonoids. Not that they asked anything. Right this second, the party had the clear examples of what other dragonoids appeared as. The dark scales on the dark dragonoids'' bodies were the same as if they had not been near the light of even the moon before. They wouldpletely disappear within shadows too, from what the party saw, they had the ability to travel within shadows if they desired to do so. Moving with so many dragonoids also had an interesting effect. Walker could tell that they naturally made the elemental manas within the boundaries move. The same for any monsters ahead. It appeared that the unique aura of a dragonoid and mana devouring dragon would scare them away since they knew the consequences of crossing their paths. The party did begin seeing small bone pieces here and there. Slowly decaying away or purifying due to the shing dark and light manas. They were only overshadowed by more dark dragonoids which had been waiting where they defeated the undead. A sign that they were also now invested within the battle happening. They had been ordered by their dark devouring dragon though, they were leading the group of light affinity dragonoids and dragon because they had been told to, not because they had a deal with Walker to visit the world. "You are here. I pursued them to this point. I can not leave the ne right now. We have bnce to uphold while another is away." The dark mana shifted as another dragonoid like figure appeared, but it was more developed in the same exact way that the light devouring dragon was in his dragonoid form. This was a dark devouring dragon through and through. "Yes, you are defending this entire area of your ne while the other darkness dragonoid is away to bring another dark ne in to bnce with this one. We appreciate the defense here." The light devouring dragonoid had information that the party did not. Clearly, he also knew this dark devouring dragon. "Know that for your assistance, we also appreciate it. When you are free to do so, you should visit the world as well. We will wee you as long as it is safe." Walker was not going to y games. He saw the many skeleton pieces breaking down in the darkness. He could sense it. This dark devouring dragon had just defeated many undead left behind. The immortal king had nearly been in a worse fight than before with the space elemental ne. A low appreciative growl vibrated the dark mana. "And to you from the world, wee to the bnce. Good luck hunting. The undead may have already reached the nearby imbnce nes." Walker and the party all gave a nod at this. From what he could tell, the dark devouring dragon had learned more from the mana sent between the light devouring dragon and it than what he had expected. This meant that the manas used to convey words were even moreplicated than what all of them had grasped before. Even with his mana sense, Walker had not realized that the entire situation was so clear to the newly informed dark devouring dragon.


    It was a good thing though. The dragon could visit the world safely now that he had met them. Something that would protect the people of Genesis. Another skeleton warrior moved in the distance but a spear of light and darkness pierced through the air. Destroying it in the blink of an eye. Only shards of degrading bones were left behind.


    It gave them all a clear direction to move. "Stronger. Getting stronger." Walker could sense the ease behind what Midnight had said. She still maintained her habit of rarely speaking. It was just how she was, more observant than anything. But she could sense more clearly that the skeleton warriors had been stronger than the first they saw. "That''s because the undead left behind are skeleton knights, and that one is a death knight." Heavily armored skeletons were right in front of them. They wore slightly degraded armor. Their swords and shields were solid metal. But their broken wings on their backs proved these skeletons came from the bodies of ancient angels.


    The death knight was the same, however, its body was coated in dark mana. It had an affinity with dark mana and was carrying a sword that gave Walker the impression it had control over a slight amount of death mana.


    "So the immortal king has brought out his best now? He''s close to what he wants." There was a slight crack and Remey stretched her neck and arm before darting forward to punch a hole in the first skeleton knight''s body.


    It crumpled in like soft tin, but the sword it held still arced down to strike at her. They weren''t easy to defeat in one move, even for Remey. These were tougher skeletons than the party had fought before. Hand crafted skeleton knights. a€|


    a€|. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2173. Unique World View

    Chapter2173. Unique World View


    ''Death knight


    This undead has been raised with various materials added to its body. Specifically focusing on materials rted to other undead and death mana affinity. This is due to the greater strength of the bones added to the skeleton knight while it was being limated to the manas within it. Because it has a greater affinity with death than other manas, it is able to resist many of the attacks rted to death and more destructive undead focused skills. However, that makes it slightly weaker to those using healing magic and life mana. They are opposing natures. It is physically more powerful because the bones and armor it wears are made from tougher skeletal remains of monsters. They were also condensed using various elemental manas to ensure that it hold greater elemental mana resistances. Normally, a skeleton knight will be naturally weaker to light mana than the other elemental manas. However, because of the tempering method, the death knight easily resists the basic light mana attacks that can be done to it. Physical strength and swordsmanship are ingrained within its body due to it being a skeleton knight before gaining death affinity. Its usage of single armed shields is also greatly boosted. Some will even regain or gain some intelligence from their past life or of their undead life. This is normally depending on how they were created and by what being. There is a chance that it can grow and be formed in to a death knight rider, using a skeletal or undead type horsea€|''


    Walker could look more in to the additional information about how the monster could still progress in the future, but that was not of his concern right now. He had no intention of raising undead. The idea of bing even somewhat like the immortal king was enough of a turn off. He did think for a moment that it would be very likely that he would see a necromancer born in to Genesis. Especially with so many different races growing together within the city, many of them were going to research the world and even the elemental nes.


    Not to mention that the vampires were technically a partial undead and living race. They were unique in the way that they were not entirely alive and had unique affinities. They could definitely be more focused on potentially raising undead. Not always a bad thing since they could be a lot safer to use for certain dangerous jobs. The dwarves could use skeletons to explore mines that copsed or might copse, along with other various dangerous tasks. Where things would beplicated were how the undead were raised. None of this was what he should be thinking about right now though. He was watching Remey step ahead again to fight the death knight which had managed to block her first attack without much damage at all. That was an impressive feat since Remey could wield a lot of power. Not just with her fire mana, she could deal a great amount of physical damage alone. Her focus had been on strength due to her being a brawler. Now she was an alchemical brawler, but over time she had gained more.


    The physical strength from being rted to dragons in any way would allow many people to be very powerful. But because Remey had both focused on strength and be a dragon soul. Therefore, she had better adapted to match her strength with magical attack too. The punch hadn''t prated the bone shield. The party could see that the bone armor dyed ck and gray was also somewhat made of metals. Infused with materials that couldn''t have ever been alive but still mixed with bones to make it a part of the undead. The death knight shed its sword at Remey, her speed was faster though. She leaned backwards so that she could dodge then made a few quick bouncing steps back as she realized that the sword was longer than what she had understood.


    The deceptive nature was due to the of the bones making up the arm of the death knight. Its armor also hid the proper length that it had making its reach greater. But Remey had not stopped her movements to attack.


    She knew very well that the death mana could deal very detrimental damage to her. However, she easily moved away from it while focusing on the shield which was turned to defend against her fist again.


    The defense breaking fist was sending some damage through the shield and breaking bones slightly. The chips being broken off were signs of Remey''s strengthpared to the much stronger defenses a death knight had over a regr skeleton.


    "Is this how a dragon soul battles within the world?" This was very different from what the light devouring dragon had seen. He had curiosity about what the world was like along with general learning. "A dragon soul isn''t possible right now in the world. The manas are too thin. That might change over time." Walker found. The curious look he received to be somewhatical. Especially since Remey was darting around the death knight dodging every attack like nothing while delivering constant attacks to the shield.


    "She has grown very close with the royal fire dragon Ignus. He managed to discover some ruins detailing how to be a fire dominator again. They had lost some of their history until that point. Now they have found the methods to be a dominator dragon of all elemental affinities."


    "When Ignus began the process, Remey worked with him. She had already be the first alchemical brawler. His own unique ss rted to fighting and alchemy, but now, she followed the same process."


    "They shared the same purer and denser fire mana to go through the process. It was harder for Remey and held Ignus back for a while there. But they managed. Now, she is the first human to be a fire dragon soul that we know of. And she is also still an alchemical brawler."


    The casual way he exined this did not match the vicious onught of punchingbinations that Remey used topletely outy the death knight. It was a powerful undead! The light devouring dragon was shocked to hear all of this. Nothing that these people from the world said made sense. So many things like this happened? "We didn''t know there were devouring dragons until we came to the elemental nes, but to be fair, it''s mostly because of the density and purity of manas here." Walker leaned forward as he felt fire mana surge. Remey had prepared for a bigger attack.


    She had been purposely moving slower when attacking the death knight. She did so, allowing it to block with its shield. The very reason that she had been unable to deal arger enough amount of damage at once to the main body. The fire folded around her fist while she struck again. The fire mana surged forward through her attack since she had focused it much more. Because she also used the defense breaking fist, it perfectly melded to push the fire deeper through the defenses.


    The metal and bone shield shattered as for mana surged through the arm bones right to the ribs where her mana was finally stopped by the natural defenses the death knight possessed. "There we go, she took a while setting that up because it had better defenses. The small cracks gave her the path for mes to travel. Good thing undead can''t feel things really." Gil''s interjection proved his keen eyesight. Something that was greater than what the light devouring dragon could see in detail.


    "It won''tst long, Remey already prepared her next attack." Su''s additional calm response was right before a much louder cracking sound reached their ears. Remey had used fire to reinforce her fists as she sped her hands together in to a hammer m. The cracking was the undefended armored head being split in to pieces. It had only taken some fire man to boost her physical defenses to ensure that her full force broke through any defense the death knight had.


    "That thing was definitely tougher. If there were multiple I might need help." Since Remey was admitting this, it meant she really believed it. She had to focus to set up proper strategy in that fight.


    "I believe I understand more now. Our deal has already been proven worthwhile." Theplete honesty the light devouring dragon had was all due to him wanting to know more. He knew that the more powerful dragon he served would want all this information and more. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "We need to keep moving, the immortal king is still trying to get away." Onyx hissed out in frustration after saying this. He could sense that the manas around Were less bnced byparison. It meant that this would be tougher going forward.


    "We will start moving again, Midnight, take the lead." Walker saw Midnight focusing on the way ahead. She was sensing mana more clearly now too.

 Chapter 2174. Mixed Boundaries

    2174 2174. Mixed Boundaries N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The reason that Midnight was so focused on the manas and how she could sense it was simple. She was focused on it because she could feel the changes throughout Walker and her connections. The bond that the two shared was sharing their senses to a degree along with some mana. While the pair had never utilized their connection to bring manas between them atrge amounts, it had happened naturally for their entire rtionship. The very same with Onyx''s bond with them too. However, because they had entered the elemental nes, there had been more manas around them at all times. Because of this, they had noticed that the manas flowing between them was growing even more than what they had been handling until now. Since Walker was picking up on the more mysterious aspects of manas, Midnight had started to grasp them as well. While her focus remained on the basics of manas and how they reacted with her body, and her dragon nature, Walker had begun to focus on the ways that manas changed one another. He had just seen the poison elemental ne. That alone was something very different. The amount of the elemental manas that gathered to create such a perfectly unique fused form of mana was incredible. Until this point, poisons had been something that he believed to stand alone. Not have a form of mana that also represented them. But here he was with the subset of manas, poison mana, being a result of various forms of manas working in perfect unison with one another. Other manas mighte to be because of this. He had mixed manas together to create mud, could that be its own mana too? Or could he look at the way that ice formed and think of that as a subset of water mana along with wind and water mana? Or would things change because they were also mixed together?


    The reason that this was so clearly in his mind was that he had already begun to move with the light devouring dragon as their lead. Midnight was taking the lead in the sense that she would handle the dangers that presented themselves. Walker knew that she had been itching to fight properly after seeing Remey take down a powerful undead as if it was nothing. The elemental nes that they were moving toward were nothing normal. They were elemental nes that had not yet been melded with the other elemental nes properly. More like this was a holding area for manas that had yet to limate or calm down enough. Just as the poison dragon was trapped as a prisoner while it adapted and grew, these nes were trapped too. They were here so that they could develop or fuse with the elemental nes in to one. Por they would be a unique boundary elemental ne that would make everything more stable. From what Walker could feel, these were pieces to a greater puzzle. Like the origin race was doing more than just looking for new forms of manas. As if they were using these developing elemental nes to expand the orderly existence that they enjoyed and knew. But maybe it was just a feeling and only that. Right this second, his mana senses caught on to a bit of darkness mana. The mana was flowing nearby because of the dark elemental ne which was right there. However, Walker knew that this wasn''t the case of the mana that he sensed. Right this cond, he was sensing dark mana stretching itself out. Dark mana was moving in a thin line, almost like a strong through another ne nearby. The ne that Walker sensed was different in the way that it felt as if it was also reaching out. But he had no idea what mana it was. From how he could see it, this ne was an odd mix that seemed closer to space mana. "We are moving between elemental nes now. We will have to handle anything we encounter with the greatest of focus. We may not meet what anyone could consider as real." Now this made the entire party feel that the light dragonoids and light devouring dragon were more knowledgeable about this ce than what they could be right now. Specifically, because they all knew that this ce was dangerous with just the manas that they could sense. ?"There are manas here that do not have names yet, others that require a greater deal of discretion due to those within. Beings that are sealed there for a reason. They are not prisoners, but monsters or intelligent beings that can not get along within the bnce and may take thousands of years to be able to do so."


    For asmall moment, Walker and the others thought that this was cruel. There could be beings like the elemental spirits trapped within these elemental nes. Or there could be monsters that didn''t even understand why they were trapped here at all. It depended on the elemental ne. Regardless, it was unfair for them to be trapped there for years on end. However, the risk of unbncing the elemental nes was very high. If they were not cooperative with the goal to maintain bnce, they could cause a war by pushing through whatever elemental nes they should not be in, or worse, they could literally change the flow of the elemental nes. It was clear that Su was considering this before they saw what Walker''s focus was on. "What is it? Is that dark mana and space mana?" her sense did not betray her. She was familiar with both. "It''s a dark elemental ne maybe the size of a house reaching out to a ne with mixed dark and space mana. I would call it some sort of shifting shadow ne? I don''t think it''s bnced enough to be unique. Stopping it would ruin it though." Walker could see the delicate rtionship between these two nes as they mixed. More like the space ne was absorbing the dark ne instead of the small dark ne joining therger dark elemental ne. "This entire ce is just made of these nes, so are we just in the middle, like a mix of it all? Isn''t that just like where we came from?" Since Gil understood how the world was a mix of manas, it made sense that his mind went here.


    "Our home is calm." Onyx chose to think that the difference between here and the world was the activity of manas. To be fair, that fit in a way. "This ce has the manas that leak from these nes. The boundary is too polluted to be well established." This was not the first time the light devouring dragon had been here before. "I think I understand it. Because this isn''t flowing the same way as the rest, there isn''t a chance to develop any set boundaries with set forms of manas. This is intentional though. So that it can all find a bnce naturally rather than forcefully."


    The fight devouring dragon did notment. There was a slight bit of respect though. One that told Walker that this might have been something told to him by those in contact with other origin beings. "There''s a broken skeleton here." Su''s voice cut through things as she pointed out the skeleton ribs near the strands of dark mana flowing in to the space ne.


    "It looks degraded, it got caught in the pure dark mana without any resistance. We will be fine though. It means there are still some skeletons that the immortal king is using to test his path." These skeletons were just tools to the immortal king. It was worse and worse.


    "Then that was a failed attempt to raise an undead then." The tension increased as Gil notched an arrow to aim toward the still loving skeletons surrounding a spearrger mass of monster.


    The light dragonoids behind them all prepared for a battle. They could sense the unease in Gil''s stance. They felt that he wasn''t acting like this in fear but because the unknown thing ahead of them was certainly dangerous. "It looks like one of the shadow web tarants. It''s missing the shadow hairs on its body. Its legs are also damaged." Having the light devouring dragon proved to be useful again. He recognized this monster and saw the differences here. "It''s moving." Midnight warned them before growling a warning out loud. Clearly, she noticed more movement than what Walker had seen.


    "It''s mana is still active. It might be nearly dead. But the skeletons were left to handle it. They were torturing it to death." Walker hated this as he began to buff Midnight before she faced the skeletons. She would handle them before they decided to save or end this monster''s life.


    Cautiously, Midnight prepares to battle. Her focus was entirely on the weak skeletons in front of her. ...


    ....


    ....


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2175. Broken Strings

    2175 2175. Broken Strings


    ''Shadow string tarant


    Known for moving between elemental nes so that it can make better nests and traps for weaker elemental prey, the shadow string tarant is rarely even seen. All due to the fact that it uses a very minimal amount of light mana to create shadows that it hides in with its dark mana. While it appears to only be a dual elemental affinity monster, it actually has a very minor space affinity. Because of this, it unknowingly is able to easily traverse all elemental nes and even safely move between them. However, this is all a passive affinity that it does not actively control. It will use the light and darkness mana to make somewhat invisible webs that trap prey within them. Then it will crawl from the shadows it poisons to them with its venom. This causes them to bleed away their manas rapidly so that the left behind body can be consumed by the shadow string tarant. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It is known as the shadow string tarant because it always leaves a shadow hidden string behind so that it can retrace its steps. This is how some monsters are able to hunt it. However, they are more likely to fall in to a trap than be the predator of this situation. As the shadow string tarant grows, they develop many shadow hairs on their bodies which allows them to better hide. This is because their proper adult form will often be veryrge. So much so that the eldest of the shadow string tarants are known to take over entire small elemental nes as their nests. When this urs, they will ofteny hundreds of eggs within the center of that elemental ne giving birth to a new elemental variant of their species. This is why some of the more intelligent beings will use these monsters as the ideal pets to take over smaller elemental nes and harvest the elemental manas from them¡­''


    The information about the weak monsterying crumpled after being experimented on by the immortal king was a lot to take in. Walker felt terrible to see that this was another monster, another living creature that became a victim. Worse off yet, this was a raremonster that was very seldom seen because of its reclusive nature. Beyond that, it was here to look for its new home to eventuallyy eggs. While Walker was sure that they would have fought this monster if they encountered it, that did not change the fact that there was a lot to show that there was a wrongmittee here. The party would have fought this monster for survival and used every single part of its body to help others or be stronger. That method of thinking was what every adventurer or being should think. It was survival and growth. It was respect for those that were true. Leaving bodies and other aspects of the ones that someone fought was considered insulting and terrible. The elves lived and breathed this along with the echidna who also used everything they could if they hinted. Even more purely than what many others did. The immortal king had stained all the growth and work that this shadow string tarant had gone through to get where it was today. Even worse, he had left some weaker skeletons to kill it the rest of the way after the immortal king failed to make it an undead. Instead just torturing it. "It wanted that space mana, didn''t he?" Gil wasn''t hiding that he had caught the same fact in the exnation of this monster while they watched midnight turn the skeletons in to nothing but shards. "I would guess so. The immortal king uses all elemental manas and was even able to use natural mana to some how separate his soul from the tower he was trapped in. I assume he wanted space mana to more easily move toward whatever he senses." This was pretty clear to Walker. The more that they pursued the immortal king, the more that they all understood him. The immortal king was obsessive. For him, he had spent years and years experimenting for immortality. Then he had spent years and years beyond years to discover a way out of the tower. Now, he focused on making the perfect body to reign over death mana. He was a monster through and through. Even if there were immortal chasing race members alive, they would not be able to see this monster as one of them. Regardless of their own cruel intentions, this was a monster. Or at least that was what Walker hoped was the case. He truly hoped that the immortal chasing race would be one of the few races that actually remained extinct. Midnight shed through the skeletons with her ws channeling wind mana. She had been limating to manas much better showing off her own condensation of purer manas within her hearts. Because of this, she had not needed to draw manas from her surroundings as much as she used to. Instead, she had them within her at all times. The slight mixing of natural mana within her hearts also made Walker proud to say that she had begun to grasp things he had hoped for her to learn for some time. She hadn''t hidden that she wanted to keep up with the way that walker understood elemental manas. Now she might be a new form of nature dragon champion. His mind didn''t have time to lean on that thought though. Right now, he was able to move near the barely alive shadow string tarant and sense the life mana within it. "Its legs are all broken. The hairs were stolen from its body. Its fangs are cracked, and it''s blinded in four eyes. You have chased a criminal without equal in to our bnced homes." From the way that the light devourer dragon spoke, he had epted the truth of the immortal king. An evil monster that should not be. The demon king had been entirely differentpared to the immortal king. He had been driven by madness and emotion. A broken heart caused by the immortal chasing race. The immortal king was unfeeling and cruel to everything in existence because to him it was all a tool to make him more powerful in any potential way. "You are right. And we will erase him once and for all. But we can save this one. Let it have a second chance." The light devouring dragon flinched away as Su spoke. What he did not know, was that Su had seen grave injuries healed by the healers in battle. Had seen manas used to rebuild entire limbs. Right now, this poor monster was born and on an edge before the abyss of death. To any sane person, this was the end. But to Su, who had seen the unsettling dangers of battle, this was just what she could help manage. "I hear you. Gil, use a light arrow on the ground here to bring more healing light mana in to the air. Midnight, support Onyx in protecting us if anything happens. Remey, healing potion watered down to be used on bandages." Walker cracked his knuckles while he reached out to the life mana within the shadow web tarant. While multiple light dragonoids and the light devouring dragon watched, they saw that the party was all working together to ensure that nothing interrupted the whaling process. The shadow string tarant was too weak to even move while the party moved. Walker reached out using the life mana that he had tapped in to before. His focus on healing was within the monster''s body. Bringing the natural healing to a higher rate using stored nutrients within the body. Remey soaked bandages that Su began to use on the open wounds. Especially the broken legs which flinched away due to pain slightly. However, the pain and flinching slowly stopped as the legs were straightened out. The monster finally realized that it was not being attacked any longer. It could also sense the intentions within the manas that were being used on it. Not cruelty or probing. Kindness and warmth. Gil release done for the light arrows, this was one of the arrows that caused healing effects instead of damage, an odd and often not useful light arrow that was finally being used better than it had been before. The light mana around had a natural healing effect while Walker channeled that mana in to his healing skills which also mixed it with life mana. The effects were slow, but clear. To bring this even further, Onyx had also released some of the dark mana he had gathered up since he fought earlier. It flowed to the shadow string tarant to replenish its strength. In just an hour of their hard work, the shadow string tarant had changed from the crumpled nearly dead being it was to a slumbering partially healed monster on a road to recovery. .¡­


    ¡­.


    ¡­.

 Chapter 2176. Dragon Hierarchy

    Chapter 2176. Dragon Hierarchy


    "You have never seen one of these monsters before. However, you were capable of healing it?" the light devouring dragon clearly had some issues with what he had seen. It didn''t make any sense. These people from the world had appeared with skills that did not fit the normal events of what someone would go through within the elemental nes. Even on top of that, they were growing stronger at a faster rate than what he had ever seen. Plus, he had just witnessed them heal a monster that they had never seen before. Nowt many could do this, even the sages had very limited abilities to heal. Therefore, it was a surprising fact that the party before him had managed to heal incredibly severe damage done by an undead. "No I haven''t. I used life mana that reside within every living being. Even undead have a little life mana, not that they really use it. The life mana knows how healing works, it''s different within everyone. So, using life mana as a way to direct healing skills makes them work much better. That''s why the shadow string tarant absorbed the dark mana from Onyx so quickly, the life mana was drawing it in." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Life mana is very rare. The life mana ne does not normally appear within the flow. It is somewhat hard to grasp. You may walk through it and never know the difference. Even those that swear they have witnessed it struggle toprehend or exin it." The light devouring dragon wasn''t saying that it didn''t exist, just that it was hard to exin. It all made some sense though, the life and death nes would berger and more mysterious. It was the same for the space elemental ne that the group had already seen. Since it was arger mana which had a lot more unique aspects than the average elemental mana, then it would clearly be harder for those focused solely on elemental manas toprehend or use. "It''s hard to show off, but I was able to fully incorporate all that I am made of because I used the life mana within me to bring it all together. That''s why I wasn''t just a human with multiple manas and races mixing inside me because of the bonds I hold. I was able to bring them together and step beyond what I was." Now that was even more shocking. To the light devouring dragon, it told him that others coil be origin beings if they followed the path that walker took. However, he realized that something like that could have created a monster without equal instead. To be fair, Walker also understood it and did not speak more about this topic. If someone were to foolishly try to do what he had done without every single experience he had had aligning properly, then the limits of what they could be otherwise were too high to count. So much so that he wondered if this might happen one day just based on people following the stories of his journeys. "Oh, and for a life elemental ne, you don''t need to worry. I can sense life mana mixed in everywhere. I would say that life spans over everything that has to do with elemental nes. Even if it''s the tiniest amount, it is still there. Other manas do that too, it just wasn''t so small that it is hidden behind everything so well. But without it, there wouldn''t be living beings like you in the light elemental ne, right?" Walker started to move on as he sensed that some of the light dragonoids took positions to defend the shadow string tarant. Its eyes had opened and shown a small glint that Walker could equate to thankfulness. It was not an unintelligent monster. It was not at the level of other races, but it had an understanding of survival. These beings hade and saved it from certain death. As such, it memorized their faces so that it could properly follow them. Walker somewhat understood that too. He could just feel it and was thinking that having it as a defender of the world might be a good thing. There would surely be some troublesome beings that made their way toward the bridges between the world and the elemental nes. Having someone there to defend them would make everyone more rxed. Especially since bnce was so very important right now. Traces of the immortal king were all around this strange area between elemental nes. The mixed boundaries also had evidence of defeated monsters, broken elemental nes, and some signs that others were patrolling this area. When it came to the defeated monsters, they were just remnants from elemental nes or other monster''s hunts. It was normal that some of the bodies would be left behind because they could not be eaten and would have to degrade naturally. The ones that had broken bones around them were ones that the immortal king had killed. The remnants of broken elemental nes were interesting though. Dried herbs that had grown from fire elemental manas before they had lost that source were scattered here and there. Remey gathered them and found that some had root balls or seeds which could be saved. If she brought them back, they would be entirely unique herbs that no one had ever seen. These signs were untouched because they had been left behind after an elemental ne was absorbed by another or drifted away in an unbnced manner. Since these herbs and other aspects were left behind, they would have slowly died and gone untouched. Therefore, when they were broken in certain ces, Gil could track them. The signs that others were patrolling came from the light devouring dragon pointing them out. He mentioned certain runes nearby the sealed elemental nes that the party passed by. They had been left as signs that a certain set of dragonoids or devouring dragons were responsible to check up on them. As such, Walker began to learn of the hierarchy in the dragons of the elemental nes. The devouring dragons led dragonoids. They were able to travel with them and aborbs greater amounts if elemental mana to use the very mana around them constantly. But without those elemental manas, they were on a short leash. If they lost their affinity elemental mana, then they would weaken slowly but surely until they could not sustain their own life. The dominator dragons were different. Because they could condense and purify elemental manas within them, they were considered purer dragons overall. Able to lead entire groups of devouring dragons even though they were not as quick with magic as devouring dragons. But their physical might could greatly influence the elemental nes if they desired. Beyond that, a dominator dragon could directly assist a king within their territory. They had the purer eternal mana to lend to keep bnce or to ensure that certain anchors remained within the ne. Therefore, they often lived a stationary life where they moved within the ne matching the shifting. The devouring dragons were more free than that. They could travel without being held down. "I think the death elemental ne would be the same. Stretched everywhere and always around. But I would think that it would gather in certain ces where life and death manas are denser. That''s how undead elemental nes mighte to be. So the immortal king will have to both ept death and life mana together if he wants more power." When Walker said this, everyone seemed to fall in to deep contemtion.


    The immortal king was an undead. He was not dead entirely and had been a member of an entire race that searched for immortality. However, how would he survive if he didn''t have some life? Could a being even exist if that was the case? "No, there are those that exist with just those manas. Spirits do, so a being that exists with just death would not be impossible. They would just not be understood by us or any others. The same for space, time, and life." The light devouring dragon stated this as fact. Proving that he most likely had heard of such things. Or that by living within the elemental nes he had begun to understand that all existences could somehow thrive but with unique concepts that he might not even be able to fathom. "You''re right, I forgot that I have met death spirits before. They were mysterious and I could barely sense them. But they do exist." Walker nodded in appreciation. He was sure that all this knowledge could continue to change how he thought. It could alter his perception of everything. "Then we would need to worry about an undead pane first. Because that''s where the immortal king might be the strongest right now." Su held her shield preparing for anyrger undead that could be sent towards them.

 Chapter 2177. Sensing Undeath

    Chapter 2177. Sensing Undeath


    None of them wanted to know what Walker was thinking. They all expected that he was ying with fate by saying this. That he had mocked existence itself by expecting that the immortal king was heading for such a dastardly ce. If the immortal king did manage to get to an undead ne, then what could happen? Would he have some form of undead spirits that he could control? Would there be some elemental ne undead that managed to survive there? Or worse, would the immortal king gain more power than before. As if to mock them, Walker looked at the rest of the group, including the light devouring dragon and dragonoids. He wasn''t saying any of this as if it was a what if. Instead, he was saying it like it had already happened. "No." "Wait, you don''t mean¡­"


    "He is saying that he senses some sort of mana just like the undead ancient city that we have all been to multiple times." With that, Su made it clear that she had understood what Walker had begun to sense with his mana sense. His mana sense had gone well above high mana sense and went to origin mana sense, no, true mana sense. His senses were so focused and true that he was able to pick up the variable manas that he had sensed before. Even without the understanding of those manas, Walker could pick them out. He didn''t need to be able to understand how they worked or what exact amounts of different manae together to make them. He didn''t even need to be able to manipte that mana anymore. As long as Walker had been exposed to it and managed to sense it, he could put his finger on the general idea of where that specific kind of mana was and how to follow it. Hence why he had been getting so much stronger and clear minded. He was sensing every single mana with such a great rity that he was moving above where he had been before. "There is an undead elemental ne ahead, and there are a lot of moving things within it. The immortal king doesn''t seem to be there though. He has death mana attached to him. He makes it clear that he is powerful. The undead there are most likely left behind for him to use at another time. Or because he gained enough strength to move faster without them. As they moved, the party saw the gray and white mists moving around trapped within some form of barrier. But it wasn''t necessarily a mist, it was partially mana mixing together and bone dust. They could all understand that very specific shade of white that came with ancient bones. They had seen skeletons with that color before. ''Undead elemental ne


    This small undead elemental ne is formed from various manas. Specifically, small amounts of dense life mana surrounded by a greater deal of death mana. There is also another form of mana called soul mana. Due to these manas being mixed in a unique way, this elemental ne will naturally raise the dead in to undead versions of themselves. They will sometimes lose their elemental affinities but can also retain them. Most have damaged souls due to this process and lose their mentality or the soul itself. Others can maintain intelligence which allows them to grow by leaps and bounds as an undead. They can mutate, improve their bodies, or even retain their elemental affinities using undead skills rted to them. Hence why they are able to be liches, undead high pdins, ancient skeletal dragons, or other undead¡­


    This ne holds various other manas which are influenced by¡­''


    There was a lot of information that Walker gained from using the all around appraisal skill. The others appeared to fail at this though. Most likely because of theplex manas that made the undead elemental nes up which they could notprehend properly. Not that he doubted that they could one day understand it the way he currently did. And he would also be learning more about it here and now. "That''s the weird undead that he was riding." Since Gil spotted the movement behind the odd gray and white mists, he was able to make out the shadow of the undead that the immortal king had been riding. However, it was different. Its body was opened up muchrger, its mouth had unhinged and there was arge empty dark space. Many of the bones around its body were pushed outwards like spikes. Along with this, there was also a greater amount of mana and many hands of different monsters stretching from that dark unhinged jaw. "It gained a morefortable living ce. So it gained strength and the immortal king left it here because he lost control of it. That thing had all of the undead inside it, so it released many of them." "Wait, you think that the immortal king lost control of it? Brother, that is too wild!" Just as Onyx said, the idea that the immortal king had lost control of all his undead was ridiculous. "It''s not as crazy as you think. He was an elder lich, but that body he has now is not at all the body that bound his undead. I have a feeling he used the undead ne to alter his body and it was better to release all of them. They are tools to him anyways. Even the ones he likes he can reim here if he desires. That what the bone white mists are, they are sealing spells he made." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''Bone storm mist


    This is a living undead spell. It is both a spell created by an elder lich and a piece of its body. Because of this, it is somewhat an autonomous undead that will act as it was instructed by the one that created it. However, it will eventually run out of mana unless it is consistently connected to a source. The bone mists cause unique rune patterns to form which traps mana in a singr ce. This is why some of the oldest liches are the most dangerous. They can seal other manas just by using pieces of their own undead bodies as payment. This undead bes singr due to being separated. This means it can never return to being a part of the undead it came from. It also means that it will always function as it was created to do. The bone dust it is made of will move like a storm around what it is sealing. Even if it is stretched thin, it will maintain the runes it creates. Many beings can walk through it and be trapped¡­''


    The spell was ingenious andpletely unique to a lich that could literally shave off a part of their core which housed their very being to make this undead. But the fact that this undead was also a spell was mind boggling. In a way, the immortal king had somehow managed to make life. Not true life, but an undead out of nothing but a part of himself. It hurt to evenprehend. "So he sealed his undead which are getting strong inside that thing with a piece of his real body? Or a piece of his current body?" This was clearly hurting Remey''s head as Walker exined it. "If it remains sealed, we have no issues with letting it be." The light devouring dragon knew that this was of no concern to it of the light dragonoids. Especially since there was a clear barrier that prevented any issues here. "No, we have to handle them. They are undead from the world. Experiments that should not be. That thing that carried other undead using some odd space or dark mana is the perfect example. It has already changed in to something else as it gains strength from the undead elemental ne." Walker knew that there would be a worse danger if this was left to grow. "You believe that we will be unable to handle this?" to be fair, the light devouring dragon was not used to being doubted whatsoever. Hearing Walker''s doubt was insulting. "No, none of us will be able to if we leave it be. Especially the skeletons that are changing before our very eyes. Can you not see them? Their bones are getting denser. One of them has even had its body grow new spikes along every outer bone as defenses." Since Gil was confident in what Walker said, he backed him up, but he could also see the undead changing. He was watching it happen. Just as the party had limated and grown a lot since they entered the elemental nes. So were the undead. They had just taken longer to get to a ce where they would be able to grow. The immortal king had given them that perfect ce. "Can you call others to help us?"

 Chapter 2178. Undead dangers Grow

    Chapter 2178. Undead dangers Grow


    "That may not be within my authority." While the light devouring dragon wished to assist here, he was unsure if he would be able to call for other devouring frgao9ns. They had been lucky that the dark devouring dragon had responded earlier. "There are risks to calling many of my kind to one ce. We bring a greater amount of mana in to ourselves. We can cause chaos without control. There are times that some of us have lost our minds temporarily¡­ or permanently." Walker understood exactly what the light devouring dragon was saying. They relied on the mana around them and used that. It was somewhat simr to the angels. Not in the way that they would be unable to do anything if they did not have mana around them, but in the way that if they gained too much mana, then they would be overwhelmed. For someone to experience too much mana, would mena that they would be pushed well beyond their ownprehension. This would mean that their body could degrade, or that their mind could copse. The body degrading was often the case, not that it happened in the world often, everyone had natural limiters built in to their instincts to protect themselves. But it was not impossible to go beyond limits in that way. However, when a mind copsed because someone was using too much mana, then the results would be different. Instincts could be forgotten. Instead, they might act violently because they are in a state of fear or anger. They could give in to repressed emotions and begin sending out manas in chaotic ways. This was the case for some of the weaker monsters with lesser affinities when they gained too much mana. They could not understand the depths that they had made their way in to with that mana. They would often just lose their ability to function until they dissipated all the mana within them, then they would perish or they would stand still until they did. But in cases of intelligent beings doing this¡­ they often caused problems. Again though, this was not somethingmon or even rare in the world. To have this happen to someone was something that might happen once every three or four generations. For the elemental nes though, this was a daily risk. The manas within the elemental nes were denser. They had higher purities as well. This meant that those who were training always had to keep in mind that if they did not control manas properly, they could be overwhelmed. If one of them touched upon a greater flow of mana than they were used to, then they could end up in a situation where they could not resist the mana flowing through their body. It was a story often found in the younger of each intelligent race within the elemental nes. A warning passed down here and there by any teacher that felt it was possible for someone they taught. Right now, there was the risk of that if there were many devouring dragons within the same space. They could identally cause a shift in manas which would bring more and more elemental manas to the same ce. Not only would they disrupt the bnce that the nes needed but there would be further issues with the devouring dragon trying to maintain their own bnce. They could end up doing more damage than good. That was all besides the fact that they wouldn''t be fighting the released undead from the undead elemental ne. "It doesn''t seem like you can. That''s fine. I Will see what I can do. I might be able to sue some for the purifying mes that I used before. Maybe we can send them inside and let them slowly break down the undead." Walker felt this was a long shot. The undead elemental ne might repair the undead there naturally. Or it would allow them to somehow grow enough to resist such attacks. ''Rolling thorn skeleton


    This skeleton has developed vicious bone spikes all over its body. It also had gained a gutter understanding of how its body connects. Due to this, it can roll itself in to a ball and speed forward to m in to things. This causes it to be bathed in blood often bringing it the name, blooming thorn skeleton¡­''


    There were already multiple of these rolling thorn skeletons that had changed as they were exposed to the undead elemental ne. They were changing still and Gil was waiting for the chance to send arrows inside. But the barrier sealing them would only let a living being inside, not an arrow. The manas would sh. ''Life swallowing monstrosity


    This is an undead that has been meticulously sewn together using various skeletons, ancient monsters, and even unknown materials by the one that created it. As such, some of the growth it is going through has radically changed it from what it once was. It continuously grows new skeletal arms along its body which attempt to drag more food, living beings, int o its stomach to continue to grow itself. It has a spatial affinity which allows it to store bones, flesh, and other materials it uses to build its body. It has lost the ability to store autonomous undead due to its mutations. It will use the many rib bones that it is made up of to stab in to prey or anything that moves. This makes it very dangerous besides itsrge size. However, itsrge body makes it slower, but also very defensive. It has a greater affinity for darkness as well, this makes it naturally radiate a decaying aura surrounding it, weakening anything that does not have a resistance or simr affinity for dark mana¡­'' N?v(el)B\\jnn


    There was a lot more about the undead that the immortal king had once ridden as his transportation and the holder of his undead. It lost a lot of its previous form as the biomes curved in strange ways. But the space affinity it had proved to Walker why it had been so useful. It was somewhat shocking that it had been some experiment that the immortal king meticulously added pieces to so that he could see what happened to it. Especially since he had used materials that he didn''t even know details about. Just that they might be useful to what he had been making.


    Right this second though, this thing was stabbing out at the nearby undead and pulling them in to it before they broke apart and were added to its mass. Not because it sensed life from them, but simply because they moved and it could. The long skeletal hands that reached out from the dark space within its massive maw were deformed. Some of the bones even twisted around themselves, nothing normal at all. ''Ancient skeleton puppet


    This is a skeleton used as a scouting body. It is somewhat made to be more resistant to natural elemental manas. It is also able to send its senses to the one controlling it. However, without a master, it will revert to its basic instincts to explore and attack anything with life mana within. The danger of this, is that it still retains some of the tendons making it not a true skeleton and somewhat simr to a zombie. Those tendons act as attaching strings which are incredibly hard to break withoutpletely destroying the skeleton itself. Without destroying the mana flow within the body, which is also inducible difficult, it can reassemble its body easily. Unless its bones are shattered, this will continue to happen. It is able to use its break away skill to fall to pieces and disce a great deal of physical and magical damage. Making it an ideal scout¡­.''


    Now Walker was wondering what else might be deeper than what he could see here. The idea of just leaving this undead ne alone felt better and better by the second. He couldn''t do that though., instead, he began bringing fire and light mana toward him. Midnight sensed this immediately. She had trained with Walker to use light and dark dragon breaths. This was a core memory for her since it was one of the first times that they worked together to make her dragon breaths better. So, when she felt how Walker is pulling the light and fire manas together in to his body, she knew what he was nning to do. "I should be able to assist with this as well." Su also caught on to what Walker and Midnight were doing. All three of them focusing on this together would allow for them to handle the living seal along with sending in a decent amount of damage. Su knew she would harm herself slightly, but Remey was right there with a healing potion for her throat after she released her own attack.

 Chapter 2179. One Big Breath

    Chapter 2179. One Big Breath


    The three hade closer together to be able to see the skill that they intended. They all had learned to use light mana. With the right amount of training, Su had also learned to infuse light mana in to this unique attack which she had learned more and more about since she became a half dragon fully. Walker was the only real outlier, but since he knew the way that manas flowed, knew the ways that he could make it move properly within his own body, it was easier for him to use. There was also the fact that he had long learned through his bond with Midnight how to use dragon fire even without having to use a dragon breath attack. In a burst of heat and light, the three released the manas that they had gathered. Walker used a little extra mana to gather the three streams of white purifying dragon mes in to asingr potent purifying dragon me that epassed the entirety of the undead seal left behind by the immortal king. This pierced through it causing the purifying mes to grow more and more intense. They naturally spread as they dissolved the moving bone dust which was the seal and the undead at the same time. However, it also spread inside toward the rolling thorn skeletons. Each one that was foolish enough toe in to contact with the white mes was made a vessel for them. Carried the mes in their motions. Made them spread as they attempted to roll up and target the party. Not that they were able to get anywhere at the rate that their skeletal bodies were burning. The mes were intensified by the second. Especially since the skeletons were all crowding around and trying to leave the undead elemental ne. Not because they wanted to leave it in general. But because they knew that there were living beings right in front of them that they could attack. The light devouring dragon and the light dragonoids watched in awe as they saw how Walker moved his hands to manipte the manas as they all ceased the continuous flow of purifying dragon breath. Walker showed some signs of whaling using his skills but Su had reached for the healing potion. While her body was extremely resistant to these sorts of attacks and skills, Su still pushed her body beyond the limit of what she was able to handle. The intense heat had gone right above her resistance to dragon mes. She was only half dragon after all. But her natural defenses should have protected her. Hence how powerful the purifying dragon mes were with the denser amounts of pure manas they could gather here. Midnight was somewhat exhausted too. She was taking deep breaths while watching Walker manipte the white mes that the three of them had just created together. Gil also began to fire arrows out from where he stood. Each arrow struck skeletons that had not burned yet, or were trying to make their move. As the ancient skeleton puppet made its moves towards them, the light organoids charged forward. They had watched in awe for long enough. They now understood their roles here. They were there to back up the young origin beings who was striking down the undead brought by an evil trying to take control of elemental nes. The light devouring dragon did not stop them as they made their moves. He too sensed the control that Walker had over dragon fire. Something that further proved he was a dragon too in a way. But mostly, the light dragonoid was watching the life swallowing monstrosity. It had begun to move too. Skeletons were pulled in to it, regardless of them being caught ame or not. This would have burned the life swallowing monstrosity too if it didn''t constantly pull the skeletons and their me snide its body. The space and darkness affinity smothered the light affinity dragon mes. While not impossible, this was something that showed how powerful this monster was now that it had the chance to grow in such a unique undead elemental ne. It was made of impossible pieces and parts strung together through constant experimentation of a bored undead that lived for far too long. Naturally it would resist its opposing elemental mana. The ancient skeleton puppet moved around the blunt attacks from the light dragonoids. They were trying to strike at it with their sword or ws, but they found that the damage they did just became nothing. It was rebuilding its body with the tough tendons which held its pieces of bone together. It was also using dark mana to stain their pure white scales. Small decaying patches showed that the light dragonoids were not as resistant to dark mana as they should be, but their attacks weren''t doing absolutely nothing. If Walker had the chance to speak, he would have told them that their attacks were wearing away at the tendons. The light mana was purifying them and forcing the uniqueness of undead mana out of them. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    In a swift movement, Walker caused arge ball of white mes together over the top of the life devouring monster. But he wasn''t doing that to allow it to fall or even attack. Instead, he nced at the light devouring dragon who had rxed that Walker had set this up for him. Had managed to manipte the light mana perfectly. Instead of shing with his own mana as another light monster''s mana would, the light devouring dragon felt that the purifying white dragon mes were perfectly limated to match the light mana he absorbed naturally. It was an astonishing achievement that came with the fact that Walker was just that adept in understanding the flow of mana now. When the light devouring dragon pulled too much light mana to him, he could cause problems for the light elemental ne. But when Walker had prepared this ball of mana perfectly set up for his body, he couldn''t insult him. He had to take it and make do. In a flurry of mana, the light devouring took his proper dragon form. Hisrger mouth opened to swallow the ball of white mes that had been gathered. The very air felt heavier when the light devouring dragon did this. Mostly because of the sudden change in manas now being focused on him. Feeling the push from their leader, the light devouring dragon, the light dragonoids all began channeling their own inner light mana to attack. They struck out with light cloaked swords or ws that shined with light. Their attacks shredded the skeletons that had yet to catch me. But more so, they caused massive damage to the ancient skeleton puppet. The tendons break in one leg entirely and beingpletely unable to reform to the body. The dangers were only avoided because Walker had already begun to use his multi buff skill with an even greater focus on using ambient light mana to buff them again. It was a partial buff that had yet to be used enough for him to have a proper skill, but in theory, Walker had expected this to work. But focusing on matching the unique resonance of each kind of mana, it made sense that he would be able to boost efficiency in mana flow for that specific person. Therefore, he did that with every single light dragonoid and the light devouring dragon. At that point, he witnessed the light devouring dragon released the purifying mes boosted by a purer light mana that the light devouring dragon used to survive. In a sh, the beam of condensed white mes bathed the entire area in the most potent purification that the light devouring dragon could muster. The life swallowing undead was unable to properly defend even with all the dark mana within its body. Many skeletal arms disintegrated in to bone dust within a second. Even more rib bones slowly degraded as mes sparked up all around it and within it. This only intensified as the light devouring dragon ceased his breath attack and assisted Walker to control the growing mes. They even spread over the entire area to cause the remaining skeletons to meet their final end. The ancient skeleton puppet was just the same. The organized attacks of light dragonoids and the light devouring dragon turned it in to nothing but a memory for them to have. These attacks had cost a lot of light mana though. So much that the light devouring dragon did not dare be reckless. Walker could sense that too. The change in the way the light devouring dragon acted. While he himself did not need the manas to survive right now, the light devouring dragon was burdened with the path he took. He needed light mana to survive and he could not remain here. "Go, your duty is fulfilled enough. We will meet again after my partypletes our goal." Walker gathered his focus and began walking toward where he knew the immortal king had gone.

 Chapter 2180 2180. Wisp Of Death

    Chapter 2180 2180. Wisp Of Death


    The sudden change in the way that walker moved and spoke deciding to leave them behind was odd to the light devouring dragon. However, he also realized that Walker was not stupid in any way. Iad, he was exceptionally insightful. The light devouring dragon dragon did not doubt for a single section that Walker also sensed the weakness in him, potentially even better than he himself did. Therefore, Walker was acting alittle colder because he knew the risk that the light devouring dragon would go through. As much as the light devouring dragon did not want to leave the duty unfulfilled, he had no choice. The light dragonoids had also used substantial amounts of light mana. They had even used some of it to ensure that the darkness mana spreading around after one of the undead were defeated did not cause issues for him. They had also been injured by that very same dark mana. Its density was too great and caused damage to their scales. If they did not get closer to a light elemental ne, then they would lose more of their scales and take much longer to heal. Walker had clearly seen this as well. it made the light devouring dragon have a greater respect for Walker. But he had already grown a decent respect for him and the entire party. They were not simple beings from the world. They had viewpoints that many people would never have. "We will return to our Lord and report this. Our mission will continue when we stand as representatives as the true light dragon. We will be the first to step in to the world and forge a path." This announcement spurred the light dragonoids to follow him toward the light elemental ne. Naturally, Walker and the others heard this and thought about how amazing it would be to wee the dragons from the elemental nes to Genesis. Once they had learned to control their manas though, it was better to be safe than sorry after all. "You sent them away because they could not gather mana there. It was smart." Su looked at Walker knowing full well that he had taken everyone''s safety in to ount. The small battle against undead had only been short because they had also used a lot of mana. Midnight and Su were both worse off than Walker. Walker had a lot more ability to replenish his mana though. Hence why Su and Midnight were moving next to him. He was pulling manas from the boundaries they traveled through. In turn, he processed them and shared them with the two. While this was not perfect, it was a better way to replenish mana since it was transferred through him. He was alreadyfortable with the bonds that he had to Midnight and through her Su. Therefore, sharing mana with them was much simpler than what it could have been. Not that he didn''t have a skill for that. "I''m less worried about mana than what we will do against the immortal king. That skeleton bastard definitely got stronger if he went there." Since it was clear that all the undead had changed, Remey knew that the immortal king had also been influenced. "I would say that''s true, his body was weaker because he had to leave behind the crafted body of an elder lich. But if he was making it more resistant to all elemental manas, then he most likely added them to his bones when he was there. Time doesn''t mean much here. I would say his understanding of being an undead was enough to change his body quickly."


    "Change his body? I would believe that he built on to it. Look at that weird thing we had to fight. Life swallowing whatever it was could have been made of a hundred different undead and was still trying to be part of more." This was very true. Gil had spotted many of the different parts that did not fit yet had be part of the life swallowing monstrosity. It proved that the immortal king was capable of still altering undead in many ways. So many that they could not assume he had lost the ability at all. "We are following him still, but we are definitely nearing more chaotic manas. I can feel the boundaries are gettingrger andrger." Walker looked ahead, the manas that formed elemental nes and the boundaries between them that the party walked were somewhat disjointed now. The water manas that flowed were crossed with wind mana here and there. The only reasons that the party did not struggle with anything was because they still had the resistances to manas to keep moving. Even he would find it to be harder to force the manas to move if he were to use some space mana somehow. A sh of light and then a strange tingling feeling made everyone freeze. Walker could sense a burst of mana flowing through the air. It was a cross between light and wind. Enough to make them understand that Walker had not joked at all when he said things were unsteady here. What they had felt was a smaller elemental ne smash in to another. The light and wind melded together butcked an anchor of sorts to fuse in tio a mixed elemental ne entirely unique in form. The result was the manas dissipating and being pulled different directions toward a ne of their matching mana. Basically, they were being broken down and absorbed. This was a natural urrence for the elemental nes. But what Walker sensed was that this was also a very dangerous urrence. If they had been caught in the collison. Then they would have been very hurt. So much that healing might not be enough to help them. Damage from pure manas might be worse than any other form of damage. "Walker, there it is." "What?" Walker wasn''t sure what Gil was seeing, but when he looked at Gil, he noticed that his eyes were somewhat zed over. The high elf aspect of his race was now reacting in some way to what was in front of them. ''There are ck and gray strands in the air. That''s the death elemental ne. It''s spread out but ahead it''s denser. There''s something holding it all together. I Can feel it." the way that Gil looked, he was notfortable with this sudden sight. However, it was gone in a split second. Walker was able to grasp the death mana with his senses though because of that. "It seems that having high elf blood in me is really making things odd. My entire body reacted to that. Not in a bad way, but like I was looking to touch something I knew was part of nature beyond what I understood. Like when you get too close to the firece for the first time. Something inside you wants you that it''s dangerous." "I can tell why you are sensing that. Your instincts are now connected to nature than they ever have been before. Mmana makes up everything in some way or another, so now that you encountered literal death mana in a denser form¡­ I can feel it too." While they stood there, onyx, Midnight, Su, and Remey also began to feel unease in their hearts. It was the smallest feeling at first. Just an ufortable feeling that didn''t have a basis. But as they stood there and focused on that feeling, they picked up on it bing more agitated. It was fear. That''s what they felt. Stand here for a minute and let me channel life mana. It won''t be veryfortable when we move forward and the death mana is definitely going to damage us if we aren''t prepared. But we should be able to bnce what is within us and the death mana outside." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Since Walker said this, the others began to focus on reading for the moment. He was delving in to what he could sense within himself and around them for life mana. Since there was always both everywhere, the death mana here had to have some bnce with life mana nearby. Therefore, Walker wanted to bring some more life mana closer to them to spur their inner life mana. That would act as some form of buff for the group so that they would not be harmed while they moved nearby and even inside the death elemental ne. It was not a sure fire way to be able to be perfectly safe, but anything would help right now. What really made Walker think was how he had pushed the life mana within himself once before to grow. Which allowed him to take a step to being what he was now. To properly mixing his bonds together in a unique way. He could tell that this wouldn''t happen to the others, but they would definitely feel an improvement if he were to make this work.

 Chapter 2181 2181. What is Death?

    Chapter 2181 2181. What is Death?


    With so many manas spread through these odd separated boundaries, Walker felt that it could overwhelm his senses. Yet, he found that they weren''t more like the mana was weing him now. Even though they were chaotic in some instances, the manas that were denser and calmer were taming those more chaotic manas. It gave Walker a clear understanding of how the elemental panes may have formed over years and years of this. The dense manas might be chapotic and unbnced outside of the elemental nes. Especially outside of the world where the bridges to the elemental nes were not. That was just their form when theycked a bnce and could only sh with one another. Nothing was stopping them from acting in this way. However, since the density and purity of the elemental nes was greater, they forced the manas to conform in a way. More like they had a weight which attracted the chaotic manas of like form to them and repelled their opposites. In ces where those manas were unable to change from to match the ne, it became a boundary or a new elemental ne entirely. This meant that the more elemental nes ovepped, the more that they formed unique elemental nes instead of just a boundary. Iut made Walker understand that there could be a boundary that expanded in to a full elemental nepletely unique within itself. An interesting thought. What really got to him was that all this happened for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or more years. This was just how everything appeared to exist. When that thought came to mind, there was a humming. Or maybe it was a buzzing. Walker wasn''t sure, but he felt his entire self had just resonated with something he couldn''t sense. Something that he was still unknowingly in contact with. That thought and feeling was fleeting, for the moment, Walker had to focus on the life mana which he had just sensed much better than what he had been feeling a split second ago. The life mana was what he needed so that he and the party could be safe. When he looked around them, he found that small strands, smaller than hairs of life mana had naturally flowed near them. This was because everyone within the party had a strong life mana within them due to their bonds, growth, and general fact that they wer younger than what many of their strength would be. Even Walker was sure that his strength and eclipsed that of what he had before he had regressed due to the skill he used against the demon lord. All because he had understood who he was and the race he had be. Mana itself was experience to him. The world had also returned to as it should have been. Making the actions he did be experience properly instead of requiring certain quests or whatnot. He could gain strength much more easily as a jack of all trades. The life mana moved around them and was easily pulled towards their bodies. But Walker noticed that it was just absorbing in to them without causing a single reaction. The focus of the group was resting a little while they waited for Walker to buff them properly against death elemental ne and death mana. When he grasped at these tiny threads of life mana, walker felt that they wereing toward their bodies because they had life mana, but also because they were in need of it due to the denser death mana nearby. Life moved in a way of bnce. And since life was arge overarching concept just like death, it made sure to bnce itself properly. As such, Walker felt that a theory rted to life stopping death mana from killing them prematurely was somewhat correct. While not provable, he had a sense that life and death had their own rules and bnces beyond his understanding. He had heard and learned thatws of manas might exist. Something that was a foreign concept to him. Right now though, he felt that this was very true. The connection to life mana allowed him a connection to the others in a new way though. He couldn''t pull away at their life mana or anything exceptionally dangerous like that. But Walker was reminded of the feeling he had when he spurred his own life mana to act. He did the same right now. He channeled his own mana and life mana to be more active. He had learned this when he learned the life healing skill so it was faster using this newer method. In turn, everyone else gasped and opened their eyes feeling a new flow of energy. Midnight also saw that the scale she had given to the poison dragon had healed and a new scale had taken the ce where the one she took was missing. Walker had managed to buff them so to speak. Given them a better healing and resistance. "I don''t think I can maintain this constantly, but you should all feel enough to get you through. The immortal king should be ahead, we just ended to make sure that we are conscious of what we feel at all times. Anything that feels off, you retreat with or without everyone else. Is that understood?"


    There was no going against what Walker said. They were heroes, yes, but dying while forcing themselves forward would leave their legacy as nothing but a foolish death where they did not take in to ount their own well being. All the work they could do would be lost. Not to mention that they would not seed in defeating the immortal king. As they all felt the higher energy within them, they did not hesitate to take positions to move forward. Su took her normal position at the font while Midnight and Remey took the sides. Onyx remained on Walker''s shoulder with his head turned to watch their backs. Gil next to Walker to fight from range using his arrows. Walker would be their magic attacker along with also keeping his appraisals ready to give them the edge in battle. They had used this formation so many times that it was natural to them. It made them better in every single fight. That was how a well trained team could work. They trusted one another with their roles and their lives. The death elemental ne felt odd. Not warm, but not frigid as they thought it might be. There were strange whispers. More like unintelligible voices speaking from the depths of mist. Shapes formed out of manas before dissipating. Nothing real, but just like moving clouds.


    Walking was odd as well. They were not on solid ground, but more so moving through the concept of solid ground. Or at least that was what Walker could describe it as. It was the best way to make sense of how they were walking through it. This elemental ne proved to be barren and very full at the same time. It was only a moment before they saw what could have been a tree, but the tree was changing. It was more like they had watched it turn from young to old and fade away before they reached it. "This entire ce feels like an illusion, but we aren''t actually hallucinating." Gil''s feeling was spot on since he was so used to using his keen eyes to help the party spot different things here and there. "You say that, but what about the grass and other herbs at our feet? They are here but then they aren''t. It''s frustrating." Remey pointed at a shape of what could only be a small mushroom, but before she could reach down, it had turned to mana and disappeared. "They aren''t illusions though. It''s just that the entire death ne is unique. It''s hard to grasp. Hard to understand." Walker had some more understanding than the others. So did midnight. The two reached down and grasped at what the others saw as nothing. But when Midnight moved her w and Walker moved his hand, they had both grabbed gray grass leaves and shown them to Remey. "It''s called wilting grass. It absorbs death mana causing everything enable it to die. But it can be used to clean an area of even the smallest living things. Basically, it will purify a cauldron in a way that you can''t do normally. Especially if you aren''t able to use heat to do it." Walker would record the information for Remeyter. But he clearly understood now. The death elemental ne required you to understand it better to influence it. The herbs, the nts, and surely the beings here wereplicated. They could not be interacted with unless they were understood. So while the manas shifted, Walker and Midnight would be the best guides there were when it came to the party. .¡­ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2182 2182. Comprehend

    Chapter 2182 2182. Comprehend


    As Walker understood that he was perceiving more, he was focusing on these new perceptions. The idea that he couldn''t influence anything here without some form of understanding of death mana was hard to grasp.


    Simply because he would need to also use his own mana to do so. It wasn''t that the herbs and anything else here weren''t possible to touch, it was just that they had rules.


    They still had physical form, but it was like trying to touch something surrounded by illusions. It was hard to gauge where it was or how close it was. More like impaired vision of someone were topare it properly.


    Beyond that, it was also the fact that there were plenty of other things with simr requirements. Herbs that would severely burn someone if they weren''t handled with fire mana. Wind repeated monsters that couldn''t be touched since they were mostly made of wind or air itself.


    So many different beings existed this way, death might be a mysterious concept overall, but it was still part of the world and existence. There was just more rules to it than what most people were used to handling.


    Walker looked ahead and pulled some of the life mana to focus on his eyes. This wasn''t to better resist the death mana, but instead bring more of it closer as well.


    The life mana bnced the death mana as Walker used to to change his literal vision while they moved. In turn, he found that the death elemental ne took on a more solid form to his eyes. Less gray shifting manas moving here and there disrupting his view. Instead he saw what could be called a gray world. Some herbs and grasses that he was certain he would see in a normal field. Even a distant gray mountain.


    But none of it moved like it was alive. More like it was a charcoal drawing of what the world should be. Instead of life, death mana moved to form these things. It astounded Walker in his realization that he had never understood death mana and was now realizing that he still missed a massive aspect of it again.


    Death was the counter and the other half of life. The two together were part of of all existences since they were spread so thin influencing everything. Life could make many things grow. It could create grasses of vibrant colors and intricate design. But why would death be unable to do that too since it was able to influence that.


    It moved through and changed the way living things existed. It has to know and understand everything about life to be death. In a way, that was true of death. Assuming it was just destruction or the end of life was poor. It was just the change in state in a way.


    Since Walker hadprehended this shape of existence, he wondered how else the elemental nes could be viewed if he were able to look upon them from a purer perspective. This might be the way the elemental spirits viewed things. The spirit race as well since they had once been elemental spirits. All this aside, Walker also considered if the life elemental ne would be exactly the same as this.It was the opposite of death because it created growth, so why wouldn''t it showcase the same thing as the death elemental ne. He snapped his head to one side as he saw a shadowy figure moving in the distance. It was there and gone in the blink of an eye, Walker had still managed to get an all around appraisal. ''Deaths'' soul collector This is one of the beings that follows the absolutew of death and souls. It is imperative that they travel through all that is to collect souls so that they may continue the flow. No barrier can stop them. Rarely can they be perceived by other beings without them having the ability to sense and use death mana. The reason for their existence is27&/@-9:$''


    Walker saw everything be garbled in the all around appraisal. The lore he focused on it the more he could somewhat understand, but it came with a lot of mental strain. Enough that he felt he was about to vomit and pass out.


    "I saw something I shouldn''t have. But this is all actually a grassy in that we are standing on. It''s just hidden by gray death mana moving around. I can make myself see it. It''s like everything was frozen in time. Not rotting but just not alive."


    This was the best way to describe it since he wasn''t sure how else he would be exining the ways he saw things. But everyone somewhat understood.


    "Well, things rot because they die, but that''s what happens after death, not during death. I would assume that death is the same thing, just not moving or changing anymore." Gil shrugged. Death to him was just that, death.


    To the elves, when things died they would rot and be one with the world in a different way. Naturally, death mana must be the key factor to that, but if it wasn''t, life and death didn''t rot, wouldn''t it just be the same as a statue? Never changing or moving? All of this was just the viewpoint of one person. A way toprehend what was around them and how to function with that in mind. But when it came to all this, Walker realized that he was foolish to try and force an understanding. Some people also thought of life as a git and death as an inevitable end. But there was more to it. The idea of a soul, that there was a very important role to death, also made sense. That there was anotheryer that would not be seen unless someone was so intrinsically tied to death mana and its concepts that they would embody it too in a way. "Walker, snap out of it. You are focusing too much on it. I can''t see whatever it is you see, there is plenty that you have seen that i can''t even think to see. But right now, we can see those things moving and I am pretty sure they have nothing to do with death mana or the ne we are in." Su gave a small p to walker''s back to push him out of his own head. She was right though, when Walker looked forward, he noticed that there were odd skeletal shadows moving toward them.


    ''Revenant skeleton


    Forcefully brought back using a failure to limate to death mana, this undead is going against thew of life and death. A proper revenant would only be brought about by the one who rules death to maintain bnce and continue their duty to the grand existence. This skeleton is a failure since it did not gain intelligence and was instead tied to the soul of another through twisted magical mana. Therefore, it follows the orders and attempts to gather more materials for its master. It is much more physically powerful than any skeletons because it was formed from the very principle of a being''s death. The physical body was only condensed out of manas because that is how the revenant skeleton remembers its body without proper intelligence and memories. The elemental manas are not very effective when fighting them, due to its unique form, it is able to deflect many magical attacks. This makes it very difficult tobat. It is also not able to harness grand magical attacks due to being unable to gather mana of its own. This causes it to require a stronger bond to the one that raised it. Due to this, it will never separate from the one that raised it. A constant drain on their mana for all of time¡­.'' n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Walker didn''t know what to do with these things. There were twenty revenant skeletons. The fact that the immortal king had brought them back was an insult to death and the flow of existence itself. This meant that there was a very high chance that a being more powerful than what the party had ever seen might take notice. If that happened, the word trouble would be the least of what could describe their situation. "Whyyyyyyy! Why do they fail! Why do they all fail to be reborn as they should! I will have all of them return to my side as immortals just the same as I have. I have the power to do it now! They will all return to me!"


    Rage. That was the only emotion that Walker and the others felt when they heard those words. It wasn''t their rage though. It was how the immortal king felt as he failed again and again. Creating more skeleton revenants out of what could only be wisps of what might have once been members of the immortal chasing race.

 Chapter 2183. Endless Obsession

    2183 2183. Endless Obsession


    Walker could see arge pendant that the immortal king wore around the dark cloak. It glowed with an odd light which was more mysterious than what Walker had seen the immortal king wearing before. But he could vaguely sense spatial mana. Meaning that it might be something left behind from when the immortal chasing race still existed. Judging from the way that the immortal king was shouting and mming his fists on the ground, it was clear that he was not making a sess even though he ahd made it to the death elemental ne. He clearly had some minor control over death mana, but the more he tried to force a full undead to rise, he failed. He wasn''t just trying to make an undead that was a servant, but an undead that was exactly like him. Mentality and all from when the body was alive. Once the immortal king stopped, he took out what appeared to be a small item. ''Shriveled heart


    Upon the death of those from the immortal chasing race, they will turn to ash and all their mana, mentality, and even what they believe to be a soul is sealed within their heart. It bes entirely dormant so that they can potentially be brought back while their ashen body is used to create a unique form of undead called an ash spawn. Because they did not fully grasp what they were doing, the sealed mana is unstable. The only reason it remains is because of theplicated sealing runes all over it. As they never truly died, they are already technically a form of dormant undead, not that they can actually be considered living in even an undead from within the shriveled heart form. Forcing their souls to be trapped within the shriveled heart is considered a grand taboo. The only reason that has not been reminded is due to the fact that the world has been cut off from the grand existence. It will adjust over time. The shriveled hearts will degrade once exposed to flowing manas and return the flow proper. Returning a being back to life using this method is improbable due to theck of proper body,ck of enacted mana flow,ck of intact soul without damage at all, andck of other varying factors pertinent to existence itself.''


    The all around appraisal was shocking. Walker had never imagined that the immortals chasing race would do something like this to themselves when they were about to perish. They ahd literally risked everything that they were for the chance that they could be reborn as proper immortals. An entire race that waspletely obsessed with bing immortals that they wer enot onlymitting grand acts of evil, they were literally causing themselves endless suffering for too many years to count so that they had a chance. They went against existence itself andmitted taboos so that they might be immortal! They broke the flow of mana so that they had that chance. The dedication was impressive, until it wasn''t.


    Now it was only evidence of their greater evil deeds. Showing off that they were not just a iling intelligent race but that they themselves had always had the potential for bing monsters above all other monsters. Not just in the sense that they would be considered bestial and terrifying. No, monsters in the sense that they could not be considered as part of the world order at all!


    "Those things are shriveled hearts. The immortal chasing race sealed themselves within it at the moment of their death. Those skeleton revenants are a failed attempt to bring them back to life using death mana."


    "You mean that the immortal king thought that he could bring them back because death was where they were then?" Too Remey, this sounded idiotic. Why would death be the answer to death? Wouldn''t life be the answer? "Don''t try to understand him. He''s an undead who was alone and created horrors for hundreds of years. The more you follow that way of thinking, the more that you will be like him." Su''s reprimand made Remey slightly annoyed, but she epted it since it was true. The immortal king had been warped. Twisted beyond sanity before he had be an undead. Now, he was even worse since it was freedom that he had finally gotten after too many years trapped. And of course, he was still trying to do things that were somewhat impossible. "So, with that all said and done, can we worry about these skeletonsing at us. Or revenant skeletons things?" Since Gil had been watching theme closer and closer, he was getting more and more on edge. Danger that he couldn''t handle alone was not what he wanted to be dealing with right now. "There''s another one now that he tried whatever it is he''s doing again." That meant twenty one revenant skeletons were not moving around looking for whatever they could gather for the immortal king. Following his orders. "You should handle the revenant skeletons. I will see what I can do with the immortal king. His body is weaker than it was before. Even after touching the undead elemental ne. I might be able to get him to remove the skeletons. Maybe we can get him to let go and move on while he''s here." Walker''s hope was not blind. From what he saw, the immortal king was losing sanity more and more as failure in this grand goal of bringing his immortal chansing race back as the immortal race continued to be a failure. The rest of the party watched Walker put Onyx on the ground and start walking out in the open. With a single movement, Walker leaped in to the air and dashed to where the immortal king could see him. Silence hung in the air around them. Neither spoke, but their full attention was on the other. "You are persistent." The two looked at each other again. Walker could feel that the immortal king had been able to better master the elemental manas than what he had before. Clearly the natural mana he had gained from Walker when he asked for assistance had proven valuable. Not only had it allowed the immortal king to somehow make himself another body and free his mind from being trapped within the tower, but it had increased the new body''s ability to use mana overall. That new body was still weaker though. Itcked the years and years of continuous growth that the immortal king had undergone by bing an elder lich. The bones had been perfectly limated for him existing as an immortal chasing race member then bing an undead. It was his and perfectly fitted to his mind and soul. Naturally any other body would not meld as well. "You think you have enough strength to achieve your goal of defeating me here? I have gained control of death mana. Enough to ughter that small city you created. An alliance like that would just be the next undead ruins for me to experiment in." "Do you think that we wouldn''t follow you? The elemental nes have been cut off from the world for generations. Now that the wrongs are put right, you are thest wrong that could cause a war between the world and the elemental nes. There are rules here and you have already broken many." "If you can surrender yourself and undo those revanent skeletons, I may be able to guide you to a proper end. Better than being imprisoned for your crimes." "You think I would die!" The angry roar came with the might of various manas surging around the immortal king. His unstable emotions paired with the clearly unstable mana showed off just how dangerous he still was. Even though the immortal king had changed his form to another skeletal body, he had not diminished in ability. He still had knowledge that allowed him to use magic beyond what many would and could use in a shorter life. Especially skills that boosted the physical aspects of his body. "You would want me to roll over and die leaving everything empty!? You would let me die and lose every single thing I have worked for!? Would you just let it all go if you were thest of your kind?" The mana surged even more causing the death elemental ne to stir. Walker could see the manas moving and altering the ne. The stillness was bing active. However, there was nothing about that. The death elemental ne might flow naturally with every other mana. But it showed a stillness that came with death. A peace of sorts. Now that was being disturbed. He had no idea what after effects this might have on bnce. He couldn''t afford to speak any longer. .¡­


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    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    1King_Rep1


    Creator''s Thought

 Chapter 2184. Instinctual Magic

    2184 2184. Instinctual Magic N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This battle was not one of physical might. WhileWalker knew that he could charge at the immortal king and deal massive damage to him using physical strength and the eternal orb, he waspletely unable to move. The mana around was forcing him to focus on just stopping it from running amok. The immortal king had shown his hand. Had shown how he had emotions that were not just cold and hateful things. He was actually sounding like a normal person. One that had been scared and broken by the things that they had lived through. If Walker was not knowledgeable about the evils that the immortal king hadmitted, then he might feel bad. His heroic side might even wish to help him. Luckily, Walker knew it all.


    He had found history to learn about the races in the years of war and ancient monsters. He had heard the stories and seen the ruins of what the immortal chasing race had done. Beyond that, he had seen the undead that the immortal king experimented on. So many people had been his victims. Whether it was from the years of guarding his own prison or the recent deaths he had caused while trying to find more information about how to raise those that were long dead to be proper immortals. Every single action came with a price that the immortal king exacted on others. Now was the time to put that to the end. Leaving the immortal king be was just going to lead to a worse future. One that might be a war. One that might be a ughter of other races. Or even worse, what could happen in the immortal king raised another immortal properly? Would they act the same? Or would they have consciousness that saw the evil and resisted it? None of that was what Walker wanted to figure out though. He knew that he had to grab on to the mana here and alter it. Stop it from being thrown out of control by the immortal king. The elemental nes were delicately bnced since they were constantly changing and growing. When one of them was negatively influenced, the others felt the waves. The boundaries between them might shift. Those living within them might be harmed. Battle should be born because those nes might be smashed too closely. Might ovep and cause new manas to form which were too dangerous to be near. As the immortal king drew on fire mana, Walker began to draw on water. The sh caused steam and a collision of manas which pushed both backwards. As Walker adjusted himself again, he sensed earth mana surge around him before hundreds of earth javelins flew through the air. They had been shot forward using wind mana that the immortal king controlled. But the wind was not only controlled by the immortal king. Walker was able to grasp it and alter the course, sending several earth javelins back at the immortal king. They gathered dark mana on them as well. Making it clear that the mana was sent toward the immortal king to degrade his bones and weaken him. Hence why he used light mana to create a shield in front of him. The immortal king had long surpassed the natural weakness that an undead had for purifying light mana. He had made sure that when he changed bodies that he would be free of resistances. Every rune carved in to bone, every material used to meld with the bones, and every single magical spell he used strengthened them. He had even used natural mana to forcefully unite the body together so that he would be able to tear his soul from the tower he was sealed in and meld it along with this new body. The bones were deneser for a reason. They had to resist greater elemental manas and surpass what an undead would be weak to. Hence Walker''s surprise when the immortal king used a light spell to boost his magical might. A buff like that was not supposed to work for an undead, yet here he was, watching it happen. Walker could only use his will to drag more mana toward him and keep it from spreading out in awave around the area. He could sense the unease though. The death elemental ne was meant to be peaceful. Like an image that showed true calm, now it was forced in to turmoil causing various shifts in the gray mana and the scene of a calm field with mountains in the distance to change. Walker used the natural mana he could meld together to create a biff for himself. He was able to call on denser manas all at once by doing so. It would cost more of his own mana, but he could substitute that with the mana around him. He was deeply connected to mana nowpared to who he had been before. "You can not bring back the dead from the death elemental mana. Nor can you bring them back from this ne. It is against the natural flow of all things. If you attempt this any longer you will bring worse fates upon yourself and the remnants of your people." Walker was not ying around. The mana being controlled by him had gathered and begun to take shape instinctively. "You are just a pathetic human! Your species ran and hid as they developed through the years. They were just experimental test subjects for us to use skills on. Barely worth the effort we spent on them! Take your sentiments and keep them to yourself. You would make a better undead mage than a hero.


    Hearing that the immortal king would want to turn him in to an undead as well hit a sour note in Walker''s heart. He would not fall and be a tool. He did not want all that he had aplished to equal just another undead in an army of evil. He would never allow his heroic efforts, and those of all within Genesis to be undone. As his mana solidified, Walker began to realize he was using magic he had never used before. Earth and fire fused in to javelins of magma which were boosted by light mana to pierce through the air faster. He was controlling the wind and darkness to make vicious waves of decaying mist when water mana was mixed. But more so, the eternal codex had taken the form of a heart. The eternal codex was floating right in front of Walker as if it was an outer heart. It shifted through manas drawing them in and returning them to Walker. Perfectly calming down chaotic manas that would get out of his control. "Petty tricks will not work on this body. I am the peak of what any indeed can ever be. I made these bones from an ancient dragon''s body. I made these runes from the blood of ancient monsters. I created these spirit veins from the ended life of a nature spirit just being born. You have no way to counter what I am capable of."


    As proof of what the immortal king said, mana surged like waves around him. Fusing together in to natural mana, but then taking on a gray exterior as he forcefully added death mana. The result was a shifting mass of mana that mimicked the look of a skeletal king. Standing over Walker as if looking at an ant. "Do not look down on me!" Walker''s anger seeped out. He felt every hateful feeling of those the immortal king killed. He felt every bit of fear that those experimented on felt. His heart ached with the knowledge that so many had suffered and watched those they loved suffer. The mana formed around him and rose to counter him. But when anyone would look at the skeletal king made of mana, they would still be unimpressedpared to the draconic, angelic, and mysterious form that Walker''s mana took on.


    Large wings reminiscent of an angels'' had taken form using wind mana. Scales made of multiple manas, mostly bnced natural mana formed like a define. The body mimicked that of a human without features. However, the bright sparks and dark shifting grays proved that more was hidden within. Both life and death mana countering one another. What would have struck Walker as wonderous would be the spatial mana and the time mana also reacting to him. Manas were brought to him in a bnced form from various nearby areas because of space mana. Time mana surged to counter the sudden growth in space mana. Something that Walker had barely managed to even confirm he could sense had appeared due to his instincts. If even just to naturally bnce the space mana. Being a member fo the origin race was on disy right now. Clear as anything else. The strength it came with too, was being shown to the immortal king who felt proper fear for the first time in hundreds of years. .¡­


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    08:26

 Chapter 2185. Eon

    2185 2185. Eon


    "How dare you try to force the mana away from my control. I am a king. I am immortal!" The roar of rage that came from the immortal king came with a greater deal of mana. It violently pushed against Walker''s condensed mana form. So much so that some small pieces of mana were torn away. However, that was only temporary. Walker''s will was unwavering. He was angry, yes, but he was not a fool. He had learned to control himself. With a little more will, Walker began to pull mana away from the dense manas that the immortal king controlled. His influence over them was naturally greater because of his race. The immortal king could only begin to attempt to draw more manas towards him. But it wasn''t listening to him. There was a sense of weakness that was spreading through the area when it came to the immortal king''s senses. He had begun to feel it the moment that Walker began exerting his full strength. It wasn''t that Walker was debuffing him or directly casting some magic on him. Instead, it was the fact that the immortal king had been cut off from drawing more manas towards him. And with the fact that the immortal king had just shown Walker how to shear off pieces of mana from their condensed mana bodies, he was the one being weakened significantly. All that mana and all that strength was being taken away. Years and years of making efforts to get where he ended, and he was going to be pushed down by some hero of the world? Now! This wasn''t how it ended. "If you chose to research life mana you might have stood a chance. But you thought that going after death would be the best way? You broke the flow of the world. You should have seen your evil ways and tried to build a better legacy than experimentation and cruelty for your people once they were gone."


    These words were filled with vicious weight. Walker was not holding back. Every word mixed manas together creating a new form of mana. Gravity mana crushed down on the immortal king before a mix of light mana and wind mana made radiant wind which cut down on the skeletal mana form. The gold flecked crown of undead mana began to crack. A clear strength being shown to everyone nearby. Meanwhile, the skeleton revenants were being battled by the others. Their bodies were tougher than what they had expected. Gil''s arrows bounced off them as if they were made of unbreakable shields. Only the arrows with the highest purity in mana and hisplete focus could prate their bones to break them. Su found that their hits couldn''t be blocked with her body weight alone. She had to deflect them. Had to use her shield m skill then switch to her aggressive shield wieldingbat. That was how she created openings for Midnight to bite through their bones. For her to sh through their shadow figures with mana cloaked ws. Remey found herself punching through the revenant skeletons over and over. She and Onyx had managed to put each other in perfect positions. Where Remey punched, onyx directed a skeleton. The revenant skeletons had no chance to avoid whether since Onyx had a muchrger size to push them around with tail ms and Remey had the force with mes in hand to burn them beyond their resistances to manas. Things only grew more intense as they saw that some of the skeletons were able to wield weapons made of different manas. It appeared that whatever connection they had to what they had once been in life was enough to allow them more abilities. But it was still nothing, they were heroes that could break through whatever evil they faced. How could they stop here? "Rise my strength. Rise my mana. Show all the true force of the immortals. Show the power we hold over death. Show them a world of suffering. Show them a world of true elegance. Show them the city of immortals willing to go to any length. Show them the domain known as eon!"


    The words resonated as more mana pulled around the immortal king. Vast changes formed causing the death elemental ne to be altered. It made Walker''s senses scream out in warning. The elemental nes should not be forcefully changed like this. Even with a mastery skill. He used the a round appraisal skill looking at the changes, since they were so defined by mana, he had the instinct to check it. Normally, skills couldn''t be checked with all around appraisal. They were skills, not physical things. But this one, had been made physical since so much mana came. Since it was a skill that did so. The form of buildings with a massive tower in the center came to his view. Streets with ghostly trees and swaying bushes on the sides. Plenty of shops showcasing experimental new magics and other aspects of a thriving research city. ''Immortal paradise, Eon


    This is a skill that exceeds what is known for a mastery skill. Because the wielder refined this unique skill for multiple eons with the same vision in mind, it developed well beyond a master skill. It can be known as an origin skill. One made, created, and refined to a level beyond what any other of its kind can do. No other can replicate it. Using immense amounts of mana, the vision of a real city is created as a battle ground which highly strengthens the wielder. It is mimicked after the home city of the immortal chasing race and the ideal from it would take for all that lived within it and would ever live within it. Because it pulls on every single mana, heavily focusing on death mana and undead mana, it massively boosts the weilder''s ability to use those manas. Resistances to all manas is greatly increased as well. The city can be used further as a method to attack from range as long as the target is within the skill''s boundaries. The wielder can also use any of the created buildings, magics, and other aspects within the city that they formed to such extremely high detail. Since this is the core of the immortal king, his soul itself has to be used to create the skill properly. Due to this, if the skill is broken, there is a high chance of mortality. However, as long as the skill is sessful, a greater growth rate will befall the immortal king due to the manas being limated to his soul¡­.''


    There was too much that Walker found within this massive skill. He couldn''t see the rest of the party. He couldn''t see anything but a perfectly empty silent coyote. One that felt like it was waiting for someone toe and enjoy it. That was until he felt the mana change. A massive spike of earth erupted from a building. It burst with death mana making Walker realize he couldn''t perfectly counter it without arger amount of life mana to defend it. This made him dodge. He felt like he was being oppressed now. Even his condensed mana form was smallpared to the grandness of Eon City created as the territory of the immortal king. "Feel the true might of my people. Do not mock our ambitions. This is what we created. This is where we built it all!"


    Walker could see the resemnce. The coyote mimicked those of the undead ruins. However, this had the nts and trees that the immortal king had spoken of as extinct. It had developed buildings that showed off many more methods of building that many could not currently create. The immortal chasing race had researched an immense selection of world aspects. Architectural, alchemy, skills, races, everything it possibly could research, the immortal race researched. They wanted to find immortality. The immortal king embodied that desire for research and knowledge. Embodied their search for immortality through any means possible. Hence why his vision and focus on such a skill was so clear. He hadn''t developed this skill just because he was in the elemental nes or because he wanted to. He had done so because this was the image that was within his mind and his very soul for years piled on top of years. His obsession began and ended with this very city. With this very image. The ce that he and the immortal chasing race would live eternally as immortals once they seeded. It brought Walker sadness. A tear that built up when he realized that if the immortal king had not been someone obsessed with immortality. That of the immortal chasing race had morepassion. That if they had not fallen so far, they might just have been one of the defining races within the world. Even a light of hope for others to push through the ancient chaos and grow in to real peace. That was all what ifs though. Right now, Walker was dealing with what was. .¡­


    ¡­. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ¡­.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    1King_Rep1

 Chapter 2186: Greater Pressure

    Chapter 2186: Greater Pressure


    Javelins of me rained down from the sky trying to arm walkers. But every single one was met by Walker''s superior ability to wield elemental manas naturally. He had studied them and had many enlightenment events. Now, he could even take control of another''s magic. It was an astounding sight to see if anyone could witness it.


    Within this City of Eon, Walker and the immortal king battled. The vague feeling of mana shifting were clearer than day as another spear of ice sprouted from a nearby shop. Every single piece of this city was the immortal king''s skill. It was a part of him.


    This made it clear that Walker was somewhat trapped within the immortal king''s soul. He had used his own core as the very catalyst to use this skill which surpassed that of a mastery skill. Astounding to say the least. Risky to say inly.


    Because if this skill had failed, the immortal king''s soul would have copsed. He would have failed to even think onest thought before the body he resided in copsed. The next attack was abination of fire, wind, and water manas. It formed a vicious arc of lighting that struck out at Walker. He felt the sizzling of different anas shing, the mana from that he had conjured became damaged for the first time.


    While Walker did not feel pain, he was assaulted by a feeling of severe weakness., he had felt the attack and realized that the arc of lightning had been enough to cut in to his control. Enough that the immortal king was able to create three more arcs of lighting right away.


    That was until Walker steeled himself even more to force control over the three arcs of lightning.


    The sudden change in mana caused a few of the buildings within the skill Eon to crumble. A result of the immortal king losing control of his own mana and being damaged as Walker forced the lightning arcs back from where they came.


    "I will bring death to you! Then I will sue your body to bring everything back! The immortal race will rise!"


    A potent feeling of danger fell over the entire area. Walker saw several buildings begin to shift as dark ck spears took form. They Were made of dark mana but that had only been used to carry the death mana which the immortal king controlled.


    Since Walker had the chance, he used the natural mana to connect to even more light mana. He wanted to oppose the dark mana of the spears at the core before he added life mana from his own body.


    Gathering the light spears using natural mana was faster. It caused light mana to surge around him at an increased rate which was extremely efficient for the density of Walker''s skills. He didn''t even need to think hard to imagine their shape.


    The time he spent within the forge with the wandering cksmith hand forged his very own understanding of every weapon. Every blueprint the wandering cksmith made and showed him was perfectly memorized. Just a blink and the image was there to look at again.


    The mental archive skill had a spectacr usage for every day life when it came to Walker''s actions. This just proved it beyond a doubt. One of the most valuable skills he had ever learned.


    The detailed light spear soon burst with light runes due to how dense the light mana was. The density of magic was always the better focus for a mage. Many would look at Walker''s current ability with awestruck amazement. They knew well that when runes formed on a magic spell that it was a show of how powerful that mage was.


    The natural mana allowed for natural light runes to form all over the light spear. It was also why Walker was able to push some of his life mana in to them. Causing vibrant light and slightly greenish runes to ovep one another all over it.


    He had focused entirely on making sure that he countered everything about the dark death spears that the immortal king had made. He had sensed the depths of mana sussed and could sense that the immortal king was trying to kill him in this attack without quarter.


    It wasn''t enough though. The dark death spears and the light life spears collided perfectly. The brutal force that erupted out, broke more of the city of eon skill down. Walker also noticed that a lot of his mana was lost and forcefully dissipated. The immortal king had to be the same since there was no immediate attack back.


    Instead, Walker realized that he could now sense the manas moving through the immortal king''s skill much more clearly. So much so that when he reached out, he directly broke down the majority of small buildings. It was aplete attack on the skill itself since Walker knew that it would damage the immortal king for forcefully ending the skill attached to his soul. "You dare!"


    "I do dare! I will end this here and now! I am tired of your evil! You were meant to rest with your people. Not cause worse and worse evils for everyone and everything!"


    "You don''t evenprehend the levels of which I strive. You are too smal-"


    The broken words of the immortal king only came as he noticed his skill breaking down. He felt the loss of control and had to silence his rage. His angry words were just destabilizing his skill more since every word bled out mana in this form.


    The tower which shined in the middle of eon, was the very same tower that had been built by the immortal king. However, this was his perfect vision given form in mana through his skill. A way for him to show off what it was truly supposed to be. A way to show off what it would be if he was sessful in changing the current state of his entire race.


    When it glowed with mana, death mana specifically gathered around it, turning it an odd gray and ck color. Slight flecks of gold burst out showing that the immortal king was directly using this aspect of the Eon skill to ensure that more force was behind this one attack.


    He is losing control over his mana and this form. He was taking damage at the deepest level of what he was. Now was not the time to be waiting to see if he could wear Walker down. Now was the time to give it everything he had.


    At least that was the n.


    Walker also sensed all of this. He was about to begin channeling manas to oppose this. But one thing was clear, Walker was not yet at a level where he could surpass a mastery skill. He was still learning more and more about the manas that came together to make all things. He might have taken on the origin race as his own, but he was still extremely young inparison to what they really were. However, he still manipted mana. Still affected the elemental ns as one would. Had still been seen by multiple races through the elemental nes. Met a sage and an elemental king. Even some of the unique forms of dragons that lived within the elemental nes.


    While not the point of it all, he was making waves that he did not realize traveled further than just where he had moved through. The immortal king had done the very same. Both of them had made their presence known to more than just those they came in to contact with.


    When Walker began to condense even more mana, he found himself chained. His entire mana form was covered from head to toe in chains of different manas. Fused togetherpletely stopping any form of movement or mana maniption.


    Matching this, the immortal king also found himself in the exact situation. Every single tiny bit of mana was lost to his control. Instead, he could only watch as the City of Eon skill began to fade and mana rushed back to where it should be.


    An immense pressure enforced itself down causing both Walker and the immortal king to the ground. A ground where the death elemental mana was showing clear signs of being repaired. Returning to the form it had been frozen in as the death elemental ne should be.


    However, when the pair tried to attempt to sense or look at anything, they found nothing but more pressure invading their senses.


    Neither could speak, regardless of the immortal king''s rage, he felt that he had finally found a being that could do what he wished. In that instance, he forced himself to look up. The cracking skeleton showing signs of ancient battle scars. Of an ancient experiment that had made it better. But also, of the swirling mass in the center of his chest which was the core where his soul resided.


    ....


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2187: 2187. Origin Race

    Chapter 2187: 2187. Origin Race


    "You are the ruler of this ne. You must be. I came to recover my race. You have that power. Return them using their remnants. They took these forms to be reborn as proper immortals. You have that power!"


    The immortal king had clearly misconstrued something here. While he sensed the death mana surging around and being put back in ce, he had seen that as the power over death. Not that the being which had managed to appear here was here to stop him and Walker from causing even more damage to the elemental nes.


    "Foolish child. You have gone against manyws. Cracks formed within your very own existence as you did so. Truly a crime that can not be equaled within the nes of today." The voice caused the mana to shiver. Not in chaos, but in authority.


    The being that Walker was looking at was humanoid, or maybe that was just how Walker could perceive it. Thepletely white form had a dense death mana around it causing the smooth humanoid shape not to have any features as a human, merfolk, or any other race would have. To be more specific, it was like looking at an unfinished mannequin.


    "What!?" The immortal king felt everything crumbling around him as the pressure grew and focused on the core within his chest.


    "I am bringing back my race. We will be reborn as proper immortals. We will-"


    "Silence now child. I will be the one to decide your fate. Those who have sealed their souls have also broken thews. Cracked their very existence. They may be unable to return to the flow built by existence itself. They may be forced in to chaos. Losing all form. Losing all that they could ever be and ever was."


    Terror.


    That was all that the immortal king felt. He could sense that every single word held a greater deal of truth than anything he had ever heard. No matter what he had learned through experiments, he had never felt so sure of what he had learned just this moment.


    ''Adult #$%DHds-''


    ''Appraisal is currently failing. All skills are being sealed temporarily.''


    "Little one. Wait while I handle this foolish child. I will lecture you in a moment."


    Walker wasn''t sure what happened. The system itself had responded that he had been blocked from using the all around appraisal skill. Something that had never happened since he gained the skill. But, if this was what he thought it was, then it was possible.


    He had first thought that this might be the king of death, just like the other elemental nes had their kings. The beings that ruled over and were able to embody what each mana that were made of and ruled was. Everything they did stood for what their mana was. That was why they were what they were.


    Now. Walker believed this was something else. "You''re an adult member of the origin race."


    "Oh, you understand now. Good, that is why I felt you. Using foolish methods to battle this equally foolish child. Both of you are too young. I understand that. Now hush." Walker felt he couldn''t speak even if he wanted to. He was being treated like a baby.


    Maybe he was.


    Compared to this origin race adult, he could be the youngest being it had seen in generations. Or he could just be that small byparison. Age was something that Walker was unsure of in the grand scheme of things for when he considered races and the races within the elemental nes itself.


    "You have broken thew of death. While bing an undead, you broke the flow by trapping your own soul. As the world system returned to existence, it learned all that you and others have done. Records of that are within the very mana you touched upon."


    Reading history itself from mana. This was definitely rted to time mana. Walker felt awestruck listening to this.


    "As you struggled to discover your failures, you caused a turn of events which sealed the world and broke the bridges to the elemental nes. The being that caused it has already returned to the flow as they should have. Their soul was collected by thew of death. It has moved on as it should within the flow."


    "You did not continue your research simply because you wished to return your race. That was possible in many forms. However, your species continued to break the flow even before the breaking of the bridges. Each one that trapped their own soul for the fools'' belief in immortality is at fault."


    The pressure grew as Walker felt as if he could be torn apart by his own mana at any second. "Now free, you roam the nes searching for more power. Causing thew of death to stir in anger as you awaken its peaceful stillness. Causing blossoming life to be frail and slow."


    "As such, you will spend ten thousand years repairing the damaged souls. Repairing the flow you have broken. You will be cut from any tie to the world and the panes after such. Then you will return to the flow to be reborn fresh. That is how your race will return. After ten thousand years. Not as immortals, as something new. Something precious and innocent."


    Mana surged and the immortal king was gone. Only small wisps of mana proved that he had ever been there. "Now you little one. Were not born of any that I know. Children are only born every few thousand years. No, you are miraculous. The world was your parent. An isted ce that became the perfect nesting ground to give a new origin to our race. Astonishing." Now Walker felt that he was being observed behind a ss wall. Or maybe he was just a small ant byparison. Being looked at from what could only be mountains above him. "No need to worry, I am speaking to the others that ventured here with you. They have done minimal damages. Nothing worth anything more than a talking to."


    For a split second, Walker almost felt a little relieved.


    "You have not."


    "You allowed emotions to taint your control of your own form. Brought mana to match the foolish actions of the one you chased. You are too young to realize your existence is part of all that is all around you. You were too naive to understand your ability to forgo the system and stop that child from using mana entirely. From even speaking if you so wished it. You could have even sent that child in to the chaos without a second thought."


    "You are not yet ready toe this deep. To the edge of what is and what one day may be."


    "The mana speaks of your actions. Saving others. The world sang praises of one who began with a simple feeling of hopelessness only to rise up and be a role model while inspiring others to be the very same."


    "Given new paths to those that had never believed that they may see them. Existence itself is even impressed. You have felt its call."


    "Still, you damaged the nes and did not grasp your true abilities. As such, you will be disallowed from any of the nes outside the elemental nes, the life ne, and the death ne. The space ne and time nes will not allow you near them unless youprehend


    them properly."


    "You may find that cruel, however, we are a race that upholds the flow of existence itself. Our work ripples through all that is. You wille to understand everything in time. Once you are no longer within that form and rise above. That is also not what you are prepared for." Since Walker felt he was looking at something unfathomable, he began to feel dizzy. "You can sense it. The differences between what you are and I am. You are not ready. As such, this is my only gift to you little one."


    A flurry of mana made Walker feel that he waspletely out of control of any situation. But he also felt that he was able to glean something from this. He was able to feel the differences between his control over mana and this older origin being''s mana control.


    Being banned for certain elemental nes until he had the right knowledge did not feel


    unfair. This was someone that could literally read through mana and see what had urred. Not just the mana here, but all mana. This being had seen how Walker had acted in every situation. Had seen how his party acted. Knew them as if watching a y.


    "I see you still desire questions. Come looking then. In a few thousand years once you have


    grown enough to learn something. For now, learn what you can. Grow as you should. Remain a human to your world. You are not immortal, neither are others of our kind. We just live much longer than others."


    The being stepped away and in that step, Walker could tell that all things had shifted. They were not longer within the death elemental ne. No traces of the immortal king were there. In fact, the party was all standing next to one another right before the bridge of the world. Their shock was the only thing remaining at the moment.


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2188: 2188. Time To Think

    Chapter 2188: 2188. Time To Think


    "Did that really just happen?" there was bewilderment in su''s voice. Clearly she was unsure what had just happened. She barely could register the fact that the party had appeared before the bridge to the world again.


    "Some weird elf that looked like they weren''t really an elf spoke to all of you too?"


    "Elf? No, it was a dragon soul with a huge amount of fire mana that they could use like nothing."


    "I spoke with a true half dragon with a bloodline linked to the true dragon ancestor. It was astonishing."


    "I recall speaking with the originator of the equilibrium serpents. Apparently there used to be a serpent that originated every single elemental serpent within the world. Not the others are very rare. only heavenly and abyssal serpents are left. I learned a lot." Since Onyx saw that the others had spoken to different beings, he did not hide what he had learned from the one that pulled him aside.


    "True dragon son. Very powerful." Midnight nearly mumbled this. She was still trying to understand the history that she had been told. The history of dragons since they were within the world and how they used to grow so that they could travel in to the elemental nes. Ancient dragons that would just start their journeys when they became a few hundred years old.


    "We all spoke to the same being. They were an origin race being that had much more control over everything. I was banned for using the mana improperly and helping the immortal king cause damage to the death elemental ne. I can not go to the life or death elemental nes until I am able to learn more about them properly. The same with time and space elemental nes."


    "That''s just how powerful they are. Being s that i am one of but I am too young. It told me over and over that I am too young and need to learn things properly. But I got a hint."


    Walker could still recall the differences within he manas that he had sensed front he origin race being. The massive amount of control that was more akin to excitement for the mana to act as it was asked to.


    Mana was somewhat alive in a way. That was the feeling that Walker always had. However, he now believed it even more powerfully than he had before. The manas way of moving had been so fluid that the origin race being had been able to manipte everything seamlessly. Even heal it back to the state that it should be in.


    "It told me that there were many we had helped and that would have vouched for us. Not in so many words, but still. They said that it looked at the history of mana, so using time mana." Walker sighted a little. He felt that there was so much that he had underestimated in the elemental nes. So much that hecked knowledge in.


    "If I had kept myself calm, I might not have done any worse damage. But because I let my emotions take over, I drew on mana improperly and caused harm to the death elemental ne too. That origin being fixed it for me. Also imprisoned the immortal king and his immortal chasing race for ten thousand years. I only escaped because the origin race being looked at everything we had done to get there."


    "Wait, we could have been trapped there for ten thousand years!?" This was exactly the fair response that Remey should have had. And to be fair, it was also the response the other had.


    "I didn''t even get told that we have vited some sort of rules orws. Just learned more about how the elves started as a race. How the world was the perfect ce for them to appear and grow over time. I even learned how the elves split up and why they did so I can prevent it from happening again." Gil''s conversation had taught him a great deal.


    "So that being was of the same race as you, but an adult. Walker, I was able to learn a lot about myself I did not know. I also learned that we can still grow. I don''t think it''s time for us to explore the elemental nes haphazardly." Since this was how Su felt, no one argued. They also somewhat felt the same.


    "I will have toe back to establish a proper dragon soul me core. It''s the next step to be a proper benign that won''t be injured or on death''s door without enough fire mana for myself." Remey had clearly learned what she ended to prevent the risks she lived now. Especially when it came for others to follow her path in the future.


    This wasn''t because they were just there. It was because that adult origin being could see everything they did.


    "I think the origin race is more mysterious than we expect. But they are definitely very kind." Onyx mirrored the impression of Su while also pushing for the fact that he would want toe back here again.


    "Mysterious, super powerful, and definitely connected to existence more closely than anything else is. The benign I spoke with said he was able to speak with existence and learned through it that the world was very happy with us. That''s why I didn''t face a greater punishment for damaging anything. It was all fixed too. Like it was a small mess of dust on a doorstep."


    Walker''s clearly shocked and slower words made everyone else realize how much he was shaken by what had happened. He wasn''t fearful as others might be, but instead he had his foundation shaken.


    The very foundation that walker had created so that he could grow and be more powerful might be the wrong way to use it all. Every elemental mana might be different than how Walker had perceived it. Even how he came to be as an origin race being, might have been different and wrong byparison.


    "Hey, stop whatever that is. You are still who you are and who cares how long it takes to be able toe here and do whatever you want. The elemental nes will take years to understand, period. No ifs ands or buts about that?" Gil pped Walker on the back. He decided to shake away his own odd feelings for the fact that they had somehow managed their goal.


    "You also know you have to exin about how you took that weird mana form thing too. We all thought that the elemental nes were going to swallow us up with how much mana


    rushed to you."


    Seeing that Gil was pushing himself a little to snap him out of his chaotic thoughts, Walker realized that there was a lot of silver lining when it came to their situation. "I guess it''s not that bad to be banned for a little while. We have to figure out how we are going to begin allowing others in and out of the elemental nes. Lots of stuff to work out."


    This meant that they would have to be able to catalog the new races and how they might influence the world. Some of them might not be able to survive in the world at all. That might be the case for plenty of the elemental spirits we relied on more potent manas.


    There were also those like the devouring dragons who could pull insane amounts of manas towards them, but required mana to be able to move around. That aside, there were then angelic sind spirits. Other races like them still relied on the potent manas within their elemental nes for pure survival. They might not even be able to set foot in to the world at


    all.


    If that was the case, they would need some special items or something to store the manas they needed to venture in to the world if they desired. But that would bring risks to the other elemental nes since they might see such items as ways to be invaded. The bnce to the elemental nes was first and foremost in the risks that had to be considered.


    The world had been cut off for so long, it was even surrounded by some chaotic manas which protected them. Hence why the brides were needed to travel. However, that bridge was not singr. It was bridges. Just multiple were not reformed yet. Soon, there would be many. Just as there were many elemental nes creating boundaries between them.


    "So we have to go home and figure a few things out. Maybe we should just take a vacation too. Once we settle our minds we can work on a few new things."


    "Remey, that''s the best idea you''ve had in a while." Su leaned on Remey prompting a small snort. But a vacation did sound perfect. They had a lot to think about before they focused on new goals for their homes.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2189: 2189. Fooling Around

    Chapter 2189: 2189. Fooling Around


    There was a lot of thinking that needed to be done. A vacation was great, but what did that really mean after all this.


    They had just gone through things that they could not normally understand. Just the situational thinking of this doesn''t matter right now, let''s keep pushing, mentality was how they had managed to get through the elemental nes.


    They had focused on getting the immortal king and technically, they had not even done that. They had been told the immortal king would be imprisoned for ten thousand years. But that was that. There was still no chance that they would be able to brung the immortal king to an end.


    however, they had all learned a lot about the way that the world worked and what the elemental manas really did. Especially how they had mostly false impressions and understanding of manas.


    Since the world was a mix of manas alling together to create a very unique situation, there was a great difference between the manas. They worked together and often fused in to unique forms that were not even noticed because those inhabiting the world did not have the senses to find those smaller density unique manas.


    In the elemental nes, those smaller density manas rarely appeared. The mana''s purity and density was much greater. That allowed even those with lower senses to be able to sense the manas being created between boudaries. However, this also showed off the real aspects of each individual mana.


    They had very specific characteristics that changed the way that they functioned. The differences between different forms that earth mana could take on was radically different than most. On top of that, there was a lot to do with how earth mana worked overall.


    That was just part of what they had found different. Especially since there were plenty of different beings that relied on those different forms of earth mana. So the same species of monster could bepletely different because they rely on earth mana that makes crystals and thenpared to earth mana thates together to make iron.


    It was hard to pick up on how those manas were different. Especially for Walker who was finding that he was sensing manas in a different way as time went on. The development of his body and his senses were a lot to handle. But when it came to those manas, he was able to feel that there were small differences in the purity and density of that mana.


    Everyone had experienced these things within the elemental nes. The entire party was going to be stuck on plenty of different thoughts about how and what they had used mana. What manas that they had used so that they could better understand how to use their own skills.


    Their reliance on the system itself was much lower than it had been when the world was isted. Most of the time, Walker found himself not even looking at the system of existence at all. Mostly because it had be something more instinctual. Part of who he was and who everyone was. Less of a separate entity that assisted them in learning and moving forward through their growth.


    That alone was a major effect of existence over the isted world. Just with that, the world was growing much faster. Now that the elemental nes were connected better, therefore making the purity of manas grow. That meant that the world would change a lot over the next few years.


    While the party did not believe this would make the world more like the elemental nes in other than mana density, they knew that it would make it easier to travel between the elemental nes and the world. As that happened, there would be a potential for more battles between the monsters and races within.


    That meant that the party would eventually be the peacekeepers for those races reaching out to the world and vice versa. If they were to do so, they could be pulled too far off elemental nes along with needed to maintain some positions nearby the bridges between the world and the elemental nes.


    And bridges was the proper term. Not just bridge singr.


    It was certainly going to be haarder. The bridges used to be the connection to the world. But they were developing. They were not something simple and they were not somethingpletely established. Hence how the vampire race had spent a great deal of time researching the pure elemental shards.


    That also meant there might be more of those that the party could find to repair other bridges.


    Just making it a goal to better rebuild the bridges would be major. It would decide on how the world were to advance along with the elemental nes. Not that some of the bridges would be repaired naturally as that was just the flow of the world and all of existence. The bridges were part of how everything worked together.


    While it was always a philosophical question of why the world was what the world was, why the elemental nes rotated around it. Why there was chaotic manas around everything? All of that and more was out there to question. If they spent all their time thinking about those kinds of whys, they would never make more progress.


    "Walker, stop sitting there like that. You are always thinking and I know it was a lot. But live in the now for a second please." Su''s was polite but Walker still felt like he was being reprimanded. To be fair, he did space out like that a lot.


    "We managed to live. The immortal king is paying for his crimes. And we know that there is plenty to learn about races. The elemental nes are toorge to even explore. They are growing too. So, let''s see how things go."


    With Su''s approach, they would have a better mind set when it came to the changing world. She also knew that Walker was stuck thinking about what might happen and what else might be. Especially since they would be taking such arge role in all of it.


    "Sorry, I keep thinking about how manas are different than what we knew and how we are going to watch so many people change as they discover new aspects of mana and everything else about it. We even have to bring races that diverged from each other over time together


    again."


    "The dragons will be fine." Midnight didn''t hesitate to state that she believed the dragon race would be fine. To be fair, the dragons of the elemental nes and the world would have to take their own risks to venture close to one another. But the dragons of the world were not forced to follow the flow of the elemental nes.


    That alone gave them more ability to move freely. Especially since all the dominator dragons were stuck where they were in the elemental nes. As the devouring dragon had said, the dominator dragons acted as anchors for certain elemental nes. A Part of the reason they stayed in a bnce. Therefore, the devouring dragons would be the direct interaction with the royal dragons.


    "I think it''s weird that we didn''t really see any elves. I thought they would be in the elemental nes."


    "Gil, they have to be since they are argely known race. I wouldn''t doubt that there are elves just hidden in the elemental nes. You said you learned why the elves split up in the long run. So, why wouldn''t they be around? They definitely were closer to mana in the past so they definitely moved in to the elemental nes." Remey spoken to Gil like he wa just benign


    dumb.


    But that was just what it was. They were all in their own heads. So why wouldn''t they be pushing one another to get out of their own heads. It was what they did. And Remey messing with Gil was just part of her job.


    "Says the girl who is sitting here wondering about what herbs from the elemental nes that we didn''t get to bring back." Gil immediately earned himself a punch to the shoulder. But he


    also jumped to try and get Remey back.


    Plenty of odd reasons to argue and mess around, but it was mostly because they had lost the pressure on their shoulders from chasing the immortal king. They could finally rx while they rested. They didn''t have the energy to move back through the bridge yet. Not that they couldn''t take a leisurely walk through.


    "Brother, I am excited to show the others what i learned. We have a lot to show to them."


    "We do have, plenty more than what we knew before." Walker found that Onyx couldn''t think


    of anything else. He waspletely focused what he would teach the young serpents.


    ....

 Chapter 2190: 2190. Waiting For Them

    Chapter 2190: 2190. Waiting For Them


    The decision to stop resting and move through the elemental bridge was enough to shake all of them out of their heads. This time, the party was able to observe the chaotic manas outside of the elemental bridge much better without worries that they had to fight a skeleton.


    Surprisingly, they found that a few elemental spirits were also traveling on the bridge. They had found the mana that was moving between the elemental nes and the word through the bridge interesting. To be fair, this was just part of the flow now, and they would be doing this naturally.


    This showed how some of the monsters might make their way in to the elemental bridge which could be troublesome. Regardless, the elemental spirits noticed Walker''s party and moved around them. They followed them like unspoken guides to the world since that just made sense in their minds. They had sensed the manas within the party.


    Not to mention sensed the spirit race binds the party had.


    While it was still up for debate, it wasn''t sure whether the elemental spirits leaving the elemental nes would be spirit race beings or if they would stay as the elemental spirits they were now. They would change and be intelligent or they would remain as deeply connected nature flowing spirits.


    Not that either were the better choice, both had their ce within and without the world. It was just an interesting concept to consider. Especially since there would be the monster races that began to appear which might exist in the world but not the elemental nes. Or revered.


    Walker used a little space mana since he could still sense it around them more strongly. He wasn''t allowed to go in to the space elemental ne, but he still had gained knowledge about the rtionship of the other elemental manas and space mana as a whole. Therefore, he was able to move the entire party faster ahead. Further ahead.


    Cutting their walk down the bridge in to a quarter of what it was when they entered the elemental nes. Definitely a perk of learning about the manas directly from the dense space elemental ne which terrifying monsters trapping undead. A good reason not to go there again until he mastered the space mana better too.


    "It''s weird that we were moving through literal mana and now we are just stepping back in to the world." Remey''sment was what they were all thinking. The way the manas felt different already were enough to make it an unreal experience overall.


    To be fair, as they stepped off the bridge and took in the sight of the sunny day, there were a lot of differences.


    Just the feeling of lesser mana within the air made the entire party feel like they had been disconnected from the manas that they had grown ustomed to since they entered the elemental nes. Simply the rate of mana that they were able to absorb or call on had decreased much more than what everyone expected. Remey specifically found herself stopped to adjust herself so that she would not waste pure fire mana.


    She needed it to survive now. But she wouldn''t have to worry about that once she used the method that the adult origin being told her about. She would have a defined ability to store more dense and pure fire mana within her body.


    Walker felt that he could still bring elemental manas toward them easily if needed. He did realize that they wouldn''t work the same as within the elemental nes. He would need to condense more mana here than there to use whatever magic skills he was focusing on.


    Although, from what he recalled, the mana around was still denser. Proving that the world was still bncing with the elemental nes. A good thing for all that lived in the world since they would continue awakening new perceptions of mana as a whole.


    "I think we should focus on the ships over there. I would say they came for us." Since Su had been the first to snap herself from a adjusting her feelings of her surroundings, she spotted the ships before the others.


    Large metal ships had been set to float on the distant waters outside the ind. A great deal of time hade to travel there. Meaning that the party had both been in the elemental a ne slinger than they expected. Also that the Genesis forces managed to travel here from the Sigil continent already.


    A new water map must have been made to get there. New routes through the expanded oceans that were certainly risky to travel in the first ce.


    "Well, we didn''t think it would take just be a few days." Gil pointed out that a few of the nearby well known wildflowers were in bloom. He knew from living on a farm that they took about a month to bloom. So, they had been within the elemental nes for a month or more. Still arger chunk of time but they could have spent more. All of them would have been fine to walk back in to them. Explore and observe even more. Reach higher understandings of who they were. Of what they were.


    "They have a camp set up too. Let''s surprise them." Midnight immediately liked Gil''s idea without a single breath of pause.


    The two of them began to race one another to the tents set up. The others watched before dashing off themselves. They all wanted to get home. They all wanted to see Genesis again to tell them stories about the elemental nes.


    The sudden appearance of some of the most well known figures within Genesis shocked the soldiers in the camp. From what they knew, the party could be on their quest for longer than a few weeks or months. It was why they had been sent here to establish a camp from the Sigil continent once the teleportation formation was not working.


    After getting there, they understood theck of a mana crystals to make it function. That was why they rushed the ships being made in Sigil to be used to venture through the oceans to the ind.


    While it took them a few weeks, the stance from all races was exactly what sped the process up. Building a ship had taken weeks before. Not that it took close to a full week with everyone working together.


    Following ns to ensure they were to the same specifications. Even some improvements were added by the young and uing cksmiths who were learning from the older master cksmiths.


    The party was surprised to see that the forces here were full of rune carvers, magic researchers, and others of simr sses. They both researched the ruins but were also the perfect people to improve the elemental rune teleportation formation.


    With their work, the party knew that they would easily reach home. But most of all, they were surprised to find that a few people hade here to make the ind their home!


    This wasn''t unexpected, but to Walker, it was earlier than he had expected. Genesis was pushing forward making this a small livable vige even after it had been attacked by the immortal king and various undead left behind.


    The undead had even been cleaned up by these people that came in ships sooner thanter. An impressive feat.


    "Reporting to the founders of Genesis and the heroes. We are the vige construction force sent to establish a proper dock for the ships and wee you back when your quest is


    complete."


    The soldier reporting looked vaguely like one of the dwarven kings. The king of the deep. To be fair though, it would make a lot of sense if one of their children or family members was their directmander sent here.


    "We are d to have a warm wee." Onyx treated them before Walker could. Mostly because he had spotted a few of the younger serpents here too. Hiding in the shadows waiting for Onyx to call them. A little shyness after not seeing him for a while.


    "We are nning to head back to Genesis if the teleportation formation is working fine?" Walker didn''t hold back and was clear with their goals and excitement to return home.


    "It is being carved again and iid with mana crystals. It should be done within the day." It was good news. Improvement meant the formation wouldst longer. "Then we will rest up and enjoy the beach. Maybe we will help a little here and there with preparing thend." Walker considered this a chance to adjust to their newfound strengths. They had all gained strength that they needed to hold back while in the elemental nes.


    The others picked up on this and nodded along. They didn''t want to make any mistakes now that they had gained a lot more strength than they had before they had left.


    ----


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2191: 2191. Day Of Waiting

    Chapter 2191: 2191. Day Of Waiting


    While resting, the group took their own chances to wander about. Walker had the mind to check if there were any lingering undead. He wanted to ensure that there would not be a single monster here that could harm those that were building a new home for themselves. Especially the guards that wereing here to settle and defend the ind.


    There were plenty of ideas about how they would be building up their homes. Arge ce to live on thisrge ind with ancient ruins would ensure that plenty of people were always journeying here. Whether by ship or space rune teleportation, they woulde.


    Those that came to research would need ces to take what they found and study it. Especially if they wished to study the ancient runes that were where. Therefore, the ideas to create a ce where research could take ce was already being mapped out and prepared.


    This was naturally next to a library, which would only house the research materials relevant to those researching the area. Basically, it would be an archive that kept the history of all the research done.


    This would in turn, allow for those that were starting their own research path to have a powerful basis. A direction that they could push themselves to learn in. Basically, they would be speeding up the research with knowledge from their predecessors and their bright fresh minds.


    While this had made most of the party impressed, Walker wondered if he should try and have another range tower built. It was the very thing he thought about most while wandering the nearby ruins and the forested sections of the ind.


    The reason that he had so much focus on this while he checked the ind was simple.


    There was a greater deal of elemental manas drifting through the ind because of the changes in the bridge to the elemental nes. Therefore, it was important to keep focus on that amount. If there were drastic increase or decrease, it would be signs that there might be trouble within the elemental nes.


    If there were people traveling from the elemental nes to anywhere in the world, this ind could act as a buffer. The less dense mana but still held in ce manas from the elemental nes could ease them in to how different they would feel.


    In essence, the mage tower would be to condense the manas on the ind and make it an easier shift from the elemental nes to the world as it was now. Even if it was still harsh, they would not be immediately finding themselves struck by so little mana that they would fall in to shock or suffering.


    While Walker pondered these things, Fleur had taken off with Midnight. The pair appeared to have decided that exploring with Walker to fight monsters that may or may not be there was too boring. Especially since he wasn''t speaking at all. Just thinking as always.


    To be fair, most people would find that somewhat boring. They had some free time now, so why not use it as more time off to just have fun? To ignore reality and responsibility for a short while.


    That led the pair toward the gatherings of elemental spirits which had traversed the bridge to the world from the elemental nes. Mostly they were earth spirits, but Fleur could see a few of the more careful elemental spirits with other affinities keeping distance.


    This was unfamiliar to them, so they didn''t want to spread out too much. But they also could tell that Fleur was different from them. While they were elemental spirits, Fleur was of the spirit race. The most powerful spirit of the spirit race since she had the control over natural mana which meant she was more than just a singr being. She had a defined body that was more than just mana now.


    Through their random ying andmunication, the spirits eventually made a point to be curious about Gil. Following their inquiry, Midnight and Fleur made their way to the portal, or the bridge, entrance. They found Gil sitting with many arrows spread out all around him.


    When he had heard they had free time. He did not hesitate to take the time to work on the arrows he had. Not because he was worried about having more, but because he wanted to rx and keep himself from overthinking.


    When he was stressed out, Gil would revert back to what he was mostfortable with. Because his father taught him to hunt and he became an archer that way, Gil fell back on themon practice of preparing his bow and arrows. Making sure the bow itself was well cleaned and oiled. Making sure the string was not fraying or beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Making certain that every arrow was perfectly prepared for the right situation.


    Since he now had hundreds of arrows, this process was much more involved. Especially since some of the arrows were experimental due to his training with the other elves. They had all inspired unique arrows using different manas to cause different effects.


    Hence why Gil had so many. But when a mischievous pair snuck up behind him, he had no choice but to join a sudden game of chase with Midnight and fleur. Not to mention the other spirits that joined in.


    None of this was noticed by Su and Remey. The pair had focused on the herbs that could be left nted here for when healers and herbalists were needed. The ind would be home to many and a passing point for even more. Therefore, they felt that with many of the herb seeds that they had gathered through travels, they could begin naturally replenishing herb gardens. Remey had the knowledge that allowed her to choose the right seeds for the right ces. Su had the kind heart to put in the efforts to ensure that the seeds were nted properly. Both were focused on their own sides of the hard work of finding these spots.


    They managed to find a few ces with older trees that gave the right amount of shade to nt some low growing healing herbs. Then a few good sections or hard rock that mana potion herbs could grow up for proper airflow. It was a pretty good game that made both of them feel rewarded more than what they would have felt by just sitting around.


    All of their growth, the entire party that is, had led to the party not needing as much rest as others. While they had this issue before, now was a clear example of why they needed to ensure they had days off now. They could go days, if not weeks, while focusing on their tasks.


    Not Many of the higher leveled people would have this situation ur. However, the party was one of the groups that had made it more evident. They had leveled up quickly and led many different groups of soldiers. That being the case, they had shown how they could keep pushing forward with extra energy to use. That was why they had learned to stop for the soldiers safety and health. It was hard to adjust to such a difference in energy.


    Onyc had learned quickly that if he kept moving he would lose his mental will. While his body might be energetic, he would tire his mind out. Be unable to make good choices for the future of the young serpents who he cared for.


    As that was the case, he had gathered the young serpents that had made their way to the ind with the soldiers and others. He slowly told them of their journey to these elemental nes. About the different beings there. How they had fought and traveled through ces that didn''t even make sense to him.


    Most of all, he told them about their ancestors. The originator of their entire species and how their ancient counterparts were still not even close to the original serpent which had begun their bloodline. Enough of a tale to astound the young serpents sp that they could share it amongst one another. Use it as inspiration for when they were strong enough to go off exploring themselves.


    All of this had gone on for over a day when the elemental rune teleportation formation waspleted. Walker was impressed by the addition of small bronze wires. One of the rune carvers had found that the bronze allowed for some manas to be able to be held back.


    Effectively lengthening the formation''s lifespan.


    While not perfect yet, it was already double as effective as it had been. New runes were being found every single day. The more that they were researched, the more that thenguage of mana and existence would be unraveled and shared amongst every race. A great note to leave the ind with.


    ....


    ----


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2192: 2192. Welcome Back Home Again

    Chapter 2192: 2192. Wee Back Home Again


    When The teleportation rune formation red with mana, the party felt the familiar feeling that came with changing ces. But this time, Walker realized that if he desired, he could influence the space mana if he desired.


    Not that he would be doing that. Nothing good woulde with that.


    But it did give him some better insight on how the space runes that had been somewhat deciphered could bring in space mana. In turn, that would allow him to be able to better attract space mana when he needed to since he might be able to manipte it and even create a proper space rune with some research and hard work.


    That was all forter. When the party appeared within genesis, they could tell that they were not just being weed back. They had plenty of people waiting for them.


    "I will see you allter. Alma is waiting for me." Gil was quick to bolt away from where they had appeared. The sharp gaze of Alma proved that she had been waiting for him and expected to have a long talk.


    To be fair, Gil was arge figure for the unity of the elves. Not having him around for a while was troublesome since he could not weigh in on some of the current issues appearing as more elves came together.


    Mostly, the elves that hade from their more isted viges, such as the young snow elves, were struggling to adapt to the ranking and hierarchy within genesis. They believed that they had kept their elemental purity better than what the other elves had. Therefore, they believed that they should be the priority for everything rted to the elves establishing a home.


    While it was part of the n to create a unique ce for those that ended ice and cold to grow and develop, they wanted everything stopped to be able to begin creating that now. Especially over the fire elves that were already developing their own homes along with Ignus and the fire dragons since they had be closer.


    The fire elves and the fire affinity dragonkin had gotten along marvelously since they were of simr mindsets. They believed in the mes and also held loyalty to their elders. The dragonkin saw this as a focus since they had great loyalty for the fire dragons. It was a hounding aspect between them while they learned from one another. Naturally, Ignus had been greatly pleased with this.


    Regardless, it would take some hard words to ensure that the elves were in line. Coming from Gil would be more important since every elf understood the depths of what a pure elf should be. They were a high elf above all others. And even without being born an elf, Gil had the highest bloodline of high elves that any of them had right now in the world. It meant a lot.


    There was also a lot of talk about his and Alma''s children being the most powerful elves to be born in generations. That was if and when they had children. The pair did not seem to like that the elves generally spoke about it without any shame!


    The old master alchemist had one of the young apprentices bring him a chair to sit nearby. He was resting in the shadow of a nearby tree nted in therge open space for rune teleportation formations. It was to brighten the area which was very open now since it was expanded.


    Remey was quick to walk over and steal a cup of the cool mint tea he was drinking. He had retired but he was still clearly working a little despite that. From the way he looked, he had heard that the party wasing back and left the alchemyb from whatever he was working on. Small bits of dried herbs were on his robes proving just that.


    As much as Remey pretended not to care that he had been waiting for him, her quick storytelling proved that she was very d to see him and share her adventures. It was barely a few minutes before Ignus appeared in the sky andnded to sit next to them in a dragonkin form.


    Not a single person flinched when a dragon flew overhead and changed forms. Genesis was used to these events now. It had just taken a little adjusting to get used to.


    Walker knew that he would have to speak with Ignus and the other dragons at some point. But from what he saw, Ignus was more interested in Remey returning. To be fair, they worked well together and Remey would have a lot to share with him about dragons within the elemental nes. Specifically about how she wouldn''t need to worry about getting pure fire mana from him or anyone else soon.


    Su was gone before Walker even realized it. From what he could guess, some of the church members hade to see her. She was pretty famous with how much she helped others. But Walker was sure that her family had also been there. They just didn''t stand out much since they enjoyed their quiet and peaceful life ever since Su''s mother had been healed and her father didn''t need to work himself to the bone for her treatments.


    While Walker noticed that Onyx had slithered off his shoulders, he knew that Onyx had no chance of getting far. The many little slithering shadows were all abyssal serpents that came to greet him. Even more surprising were the heavenly serpents that were moving through the air.


    From what Walker couldprehend, they were using the light within the air as a way to fly. Not technically flight, but they used the light as a way to slither over the ground well above people''s heads. An interesting method simr to the wind ripple skill where Walker condensed wind mana to step in to the air like normal terrain. But this was light. He might have to learn the skill one day.


    This left Midnight and Walker standing there without anyone greeting them. But when he noticed his father looking red faced after rushing there, Walker realized that his family was just as busy, if not more busy, than him right now.


    "Hurry up you two! Your mother has something to show you."


    "No hello or even a, d you''re safe?" Walker teased a little.


    "If I had to worry about you, then I didn''t raise you well enough. And after you started growing like a weed, I don''t think I need to worry too much. Look at how tall you are and how tall Midnight is. Both of you are going to be taller than me before I even get gray hairs."


    Midnight huffed a little at this before taking on her dragonkin form and grabbing Walker''s hand to walk beside him. She was weaning a clear smile. d to be home and d to have


    family around right now.


    "How''s teaching new guards and all that? Find any good ones?" Since his father was deeply involved with teaching gate guards and even taking them out on teaching patrols, he wanted to hear what that was like. Walker had never been involved with how guards were trained and educated in general.


    "You tell me, some of them ask for me as a teacher just so that they can ask about you. Then there are a few weird ones that have unique sses. One is called a rock guardian. He can hide himself within the very walls themselves and defend a gate without it even looking like a guard is there. Scary stuff." This continued on to the mage guards being recruited.


    There were many mages that wanted to protect Genesis and did not want to be soldiers that might leave the city. So they became guards that were trained specifically to handle other images. To prevent dangers when a mage lost control of spells or generally caused trouble. "This isn''t the way to Mother''s restaurant though." Walker wasn''t sure what his father was ying at.


    "I smell them though." Midnight''s keen nose picked up on her family''s scent. She knew that they were all nearby.


    "Well, you would be right. But with thest month''s revenue, your mother bought a second ce. Now it will have different chefs with unique skills, it will still serve the same popr foods. All taught by your mother. Think that''s great?"


    The surprise was worth the walk and the wait. Walker was amazed by the new building with an open air dining area and small garden. Various herbs for cooking had already been nted. "Let''s go surprise everyone now that you are back earlier than we expected." Walker was d to be in on this. He knew that the rest of his family would be d to see him and Midnight. Plus he knew that the others woulde along for a proper dinner soon too.


    ----


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2193: 2193. Catching Them Up

    Chapter 2193: 2193. Catching Them Up


    The obvious drama that came with sharing their experiences filled the next few days until it seemed like the researchers and those that worried about the risk of the elemental nes were asking the same questions over and over. Especially questions that the party couldn''t answer because they had not been there to study and document things.


    Not that Walker couldn''t share a lot more with his memory rted skills. Somehow, the answers and experiences he had to share with others were still just too little. But to be fair, the hunger for knowledge was massive.


    Genesis was growing at a remarkable rate. So many things were changing with every single minute of every single day. Hence where many of the theories arriving at any desk of any official within the Genesis building could be doubled up with the slowness of the people working on said paperwork for approvals.


    It wasn''t that the people approaching and checking the theories and rmended studies were slow. It was just that too much came through their desks. Hence why the rush to improve an education format was so great.


    Many of the races sharedmon educational basis. Basic mathematics,mon histories, and even a few different aspects of every day life were the same. But that was just a small part of how hard things would be to create a proper set of schools.


    The races all had different values, tools for teaching, and histories. Some histories were being rediscovered and changed right now since parts had been lost or forgotten. This was the case for the angel race which was finding that they had many different aspects of ancient angels which could revitalize their current course in the world. Many mistakes to learn from to prevent future wars or issues from within.


    Since education as a focus, it made a lot of sense that some of the questions Walker was asked was about how to bud and travel to the elemental nes. With that as a focus for some, the rules were very quick to be set up with how people could not currently go off to explore the elemental nes. Not until better regtions were set.


    For a moment, some of those within the Genesis council meeting room were angry. They did not see why it was valuable to let potential resources sit there unused.


    The king of the deep made it clear that he wanted to venture in to the earth elemental ne. A ce where all forms of ore, known and unknown formed was amazing to him. A perfect ce full of new discoveries that he could bring back to the dwarven people and Genis as a whole.


    Unfortunately, when Walker got him to calm down, he had to break the news that the elemental nes were shifting by their nature. That if he were to walk through the bridge to the elemental nes, that he might not even end up in the earth elemental ne at all.


    Also that he might encounter dangerous monsters with extremely high elemental affinities which could crush even the hero party if they were not prepared. That was what did it for everyone. They heard that there were beings and monsters powerful enough to fight head on and win against some of their strongest. The risks might be too high.


    When Walker spent over an hour exining that there had been a lot of events after the world was sealed off, he made it clear that right now the elemental nes were in a state of bnce. They had never stopped rotating around the world and the small pocket of chaotic mana that was also around the world due to the way the world was.


    Instead, the elemental nes had stopped flowing in and out of the world when it came to manas. Hence why there had been a drastic change in the way that ancient monsters did and did not exist. They might still be around, some of them, if there was more mana in the world. Just a theory.


    With that bnce within the elemental nes, the elemental kings had be the rulers. Beings that ruled over and embodied all that their manas were. They were also rted to the elemental sages. Beings that had mastered an individual mana at a higher form than many if not all but the elemental kings had. They did not embody their mana but they could even be made of it now.


    Stunning information that showed how some beings could rise higher just by studying their own affinity to adapt to it better. It began a slew of new theories right then and there. The record of the party saying it and exining the true earth sage made the first newspaper of the morning the day after.


    While the party did not go in to major details about the unique elemental nes that were beyond the core elemental manas, they did exin the boundaries and how entirely unique species and races could form within them. Hence how the monster race orcs were brought up. Eventually, the angelic wind spirits were also mentioned.


    If brought about a wave of questions about other races that might be there who traveled in ancient times or through unique means. Especially from Mordant who inquired about the dark dragons that had once tried crossing to the dark elemental nes through shadows using their deeper understanding of darkness mana.


    From what Walker knew as of now, he didn''t have answers for Mordant. But that didn''t mean that eerie single dark dragons that had gotten to a good enough strength to try moving through the shadows in an attempt to get through chaotic mana and make it to the darkness elemental ne failed. It could have just been that Walker didn''t move in to them. The elemental nes were veryrge and growing.


    As the conversations went on, the idea that there could be beingsing from the elemental nes sooner thanter finally caught on. So many of the leaders at the table had considered them going to explore, not that their world was also up for exploration.


    That was when Walker mentioned that he had been told by the light devouring dragon that their leaders would be meeting. It was also evident that the elemental kings were also meeting in their own ways. There was a very high chance that the sages would visit the world as well.


    When all that happened, there would be a lot going on. The world itself had to be prepared as long as the important figures were there. Not in the way of offending them, but mostly in the way that they would have to be sure that mana was not unsettled.


    If the beings from the elemental nes came, there was a jogger chance that they might identally break bnces within the world. Hence why they would need the space around the ind to limate. Walker was sure that he could make this a focus when it came to the travelers at first.


    Another risk that was brought up were monsters. The lesser intelligent beings that might happen to cross through the bridge that was currently avable to them. The entire party had made it clear that some monsters there were incredibly powerful, therefore, the conversation eventually moved to the risk that came with that.


    Especially when it came to the mention of Walker searching for more pure elemental shards and fragments. If he were to find them and the proper locations for them, more bridges could be repaired to travel back and forth. Deeply connecting the elemental nes to the world as it


    should be.


    That was only part of this though. There were bridges that didn''t fully break but lost their connection. Walker knew this and could vaguely sense that this statement was true. He chalked that up to him being an origin race being too now. Regardless, if those bridges were to form without them knowing, then it was a risk that indeed to be mitigated.


    Not just for the fact that powerful monsters coulde through, but those with poor goals might also move through. It wouldn''t be foolish to believe that every race waspletely focused on the best of the best intents. No, everyone understood that greed was not a racial aspect, but an aspect of all intelligent races. Some of them would see the value in a world of weaker beings.


    Not that this would be the case forever. The rate at which purer and denser manas flowed in to the world was growing. Mostly because the people using those manas were changing the flow of the world and it was also inspiring the growth of the world.


    Not at the same rate as the elemental nes, but the world had been held back for a long time. It was finally able to grow as it was supposed to. It would bring a lot more.


    Hence the days of nning and conversation to the point that the entire party put a hold on anything to do with the elemental nes for a week whether anyone liked it or not. Sanity was important!


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2194: 2194. As A student

    Chapter 2194: 2194. As A student


    Walker wasn''t sure what to do with this free time. He had a lot on his mind after he had been pushed to the point of telling every other leader on the Gneiss council that he was done with the conversations and questions. Especially since he had no idea how to ensure that


    everything went smoothly now.


    It would take a lot of time and there was also the fact that they might get a visitor sent by the elemental kings and the dragons within the elemental nes. The odds were actually very high that this would happen sooner thanter.


    The reason that walker thought this was simply because after they had arrived and the days had passed, there was a notable message about there being a little more mana flowing through the bridge than usual. Some of the more experienced mages waiting there had made a habit out of gauging how much mana they sensed flowing.


    There had been a sudden increase that was out of ce from what they had measured after the time they had been there. They noticed that there were a few elemental spirits that appeared after they noticed it at first. But then they noticed a little more extra mana and realized that another might be trying to travel the bridge.


    The reason that no one freaked out over it or raised an rm was that the manas calmed down and only burst up here and there. As if there was someone gauging the changes in their mana and how they influenced the manas around them. Basically, the traveler was moving slowly to force themselves to adjust even better to what they sensed ahead of them.


    At the rate that was estimated, it would be a few weeks before whoever it was made their way out of the bridge.


    This also raised some proof that for a lot of those within the elemental nes would struggle toe to the world as it was right now. It would take more time for mana toe to the world in higher purity and density. Therefore, they would have to go through a longer process now, eventually, they would have a much shorter travel process in the future.


    All that aside, it made Walker realize that he could change that better than anyone by searching for more fragments of elemental purity to establish better connections to the elemental nes through the world. He also had the mana senses that developed better within the elemental nes so that he could search them out more easily now.


    Just in general, Walker had realized that he could tell apart the different forms of each elemental mana now. Like he knew them, but was just rediscovering them. Instead of how he used to have to look at an elemental mana as a whole.


    This also applied to natural mana.


    When Walker gathered some natural mana, he realized that natural mana also shifted slightly between forms. Some of it was influenced when it was unbnced while other bits of it were different based on who was near.


    Basically, this meant that nature was more influenced by the affinity a being had than what he previously believed. It could determine the environment as a whole. Not that it had a massive effect, but say a fire dragon sought out a ce where fire mana naturally gathered. In turn, that ce would more easily be an area with higher fire mana in general because the affinity and natural manaing together was more inclined to guide that fire mana toward it.


    This also exined better how Walker was able to boost the effects of elemental skills and everyone''s bodies when he used natural mana. He wasn''t just boosting the mana specifically, he was boosting the way the environment gathered mana as well.


    It also exined why he found natural mana as a better method for growing nts, such as an entire forest. The affinities of everyone had also guided the manas to influence the environment with healing based magic skills. It was an interaction between natural mana boosting skills, flowing better with affinity, and also the entirety of nature as a whole. Something more intricate than he had realized.


    He had been doing it the entire time as well!


    Many of these thoughts guided him toward the area where the forest elves had been working. While he would call it curiosity, it was more that he was focused on the ways that mana flowed. The section of Genesis that many of the forest elves ahd be involved with was beginning to mirror the forests themselves. This was also because of the herbs nted here. Being able to ensure that these previously extinct and also natural herbs grew caused the entire area to be a new project. It focused on the growth of well guided trees to be homes instead of building them as other races did. But that was also why many of the monster races enjoyed the area and also decided toe live here. It was more like the nature they were used to.


    That was why many of the gray haired spiders and the goblins lived here. Making them a verymon sight to see. Walker found himself in a ce where some of the youngest were learning to guide the growth of a sapling.


    "Oh, if it isn''t the hero we hear about all the time. Come to see the new homes we are building?" The teacher that spoke up was an older elf. He was one of the elves responsible for making thergest of the treehouses that the elves lived in. He hade here from the elves'' forest territory when he heard that they would be building homes like this. It was too great an opportunity to miss.


    "I was just wandering with my thoughts, but I followed a little mana and found all of you." Since Walker looked a little apologetic for interrupting the ss, the teacher felt a little bad for drawing more attention. "I would be nice to y the part of student here. Why don''t you all tell me what you are doing?"


    One of the students immediately spoke upo. They didn''t appear fazed at all that they were speaking to Walker. Instead, they appeared very excited to be able to show off their skills to someone new rather than their ssmates.


    "We are learning to guide the first branches of a sapling so that they will be safe to live in when it''s taller. We have to make the bends in the branches more rigid so that when the tree sways, other branches won''t be broken."


    While Walker had seen a lot of these treehouses by this time, he had never made one. Let alone speed up the growth of a tree to be able to make one at all. The students here were doing so on a smaller scale, but as the student used his skill, the branches changes in to more angr shapes. Eventually, some of the longer bendy branches made triangle shapes.


    "Very good, using the knowledge from thest ss about bridges really helps here. Triangle shapes bridge supports allow for a stronger base. But you need to ount for the aging of the tree. You would have toe repair the shape more often unless you grew supplementary iron vines or other tough vines."


    "Why don''t we have An try." The gesture from the teacher was to a very small gray haired spider. But it moved its legs in response before another sapling grew slightly. The branches twisted to make more of an odd pattern.


    They ended up crisscrossing and growing more shoots than the others. It was more like a spider web. "Yes, your natural idea to make it like a strong web is smart. It will flex and move with the wind. However, webs are temporary and break down. Now, if the tree ever bes ill, all these smaller branches will suffer first. You will lose stability."


    "That being said, what if webine both ideas?" The teacher made a triangr base with the thickest branches then caused a few smaller shoots to grow. It was more like therge tree houses that Walker had seen. "While smaller, it is a scaled version of what you might find in


    my home."


    "So the forest elves learned from nature, spider webs and from the tougher bridges built by other races too. I assume most races make bridges simr though." Walker''s intuition showed that he was somewhat right when the teacher nodded.


    When Walker reached out to touch the leaves of the little saplings, he realized that he could also sense the differences in manas used. The way the earth, light, and water manas flowing interacted within the leaves and branches. "Have you tried this out in an open field? You might get some interesting challenges." Walker was already looking to add to the teacher''s


    tests.


    The students realized that walker''s curiosity was interesting, but dangerous. For their school work that was. They would be stuck trying new things and draining their mana until they were tired now. "And that''s a great idea. Why don''t we walk to the new herb field that was plowed yesterday. They should allow us to experiment a little. Some of the farmers are there giving fertilizer lessons too."


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2195: 2195. Twisted Branches

    Chapter 2195: 2195. Twisted Branches


    "He''s really heading off with them to try and learn to make treehouses. When they told me they saw Walker, I thought he would be finding a new ce to meditate. but making treehouses? I should have guessed he would do something weird." Gil''sughter made Alma a little more curious about what he was thinking about.


    "You know that there are plenty more of them now. So many new sses that are learning from those that have their older methods. But the best of the best are still showing off. That''s why there are so many more now. Maybe Walker will help those new kids be the best of the best."


    In Alma''s point of view, there were so many new sses, those that could potentially cause waves within the elves, let alone the entirety of Genesis. If Walker was somehow attracted to those that were learning how to make treehouses, then he might have seen a reason to be attracted to it. He might help them gain a new understanding.


    It wasn''t umon for Walker to just happen upon someone or something interesting. Especially when it came to those that had unique skills or unique sses. Before it was just those that awakened unique systems, now that had changed and everyone had ess to the existence system. It was now unique sses that gave people the best possible chance to be a better version of themselves.


    "And off he goes." Alma shook her head. While she loved Gil, she wished he wouldn''t get so distracted.


    He had to go to the archery range and teach a few of the new and uing elves how to best experiment with their different bows. They had to find the best materials and forms for them to use. Now she would have to assign someone else. It meant that she had another small task to handle. Besides the fact that she was also heading to the fire elf homes that were built so that she could learn about how they did so. She needed to learn about all the differences between elves as their united queen.


    When it came to the recently plowed herb field, the teacher had been right, there were a few young farmers and other rted sses here. They were learning from a few of the more experienced demi-human farmers from the demi-human kingdom.


    Many that hade here to teach the best farming practices were very experienced. They had gone through both good and bad years. Learned from various mistakes which pushed them well above what any single farmer was capable of.


    There was also the fact that the sheer number of the demi-human kingdom poptions demanded that farmers were their most important group of people. Without them, their warriors did not eat. Their warriors would not grow. And finally, they would not have warriors at all. Then their people would slowly suffer before they lost their entire kingdom.


    That was why they had learned how to grow nts that resisted diseases and droughts. nts that were able to grow and be used as seed nts so that they could be grown for years on end. Most of all, the farmers had learned to better make the soil adapt to the nts they needed to grow.


    For these herb fields, they needed a rich soil with higher acidity than what would normally be used. Specifically because this smaller section of the field was going to be used for the yellow moon rose. A rose that bloomed during a full moon once a year. At that time,. The moonlight was slightly more yellow because of the way it rose in the distance.


    Regardless of the way the moon rose, it was the oddity of the light manaing from that moon which the roses needed to bloom. The reason this harem was valuable was very simple, the petals after the roses bloomed and fell off within the hour had a greater amount of oil within them. This oil was ideal for preventing allergic reactions and general poisons from certain herbs.


    As many alchemists might touch such things, these roses were very valuable to be made in to hand creams that would be used after or even before the procurement of herbs that caused rashes or somewhat serious allergic reactions. Hence why there was a focus on teaching here.


    The farmers saw the elf teachers'' ss and waves letting him do as he needed. It was a polite eptance from teacher to teacher since the farmers were learning as well and needed to slowly teach before they focused on the entire field to prepare it.


    Walker noticed this and was quickly brought back to the focus on the lesson. Growing a tree here would be very different since the soul was different. And as such, they would all have a chance to reflect on how both the soil and the light in the open field changed the way that the saplings grew without the changing of the branches.


    "Go on, nt your seeds and share some of our mana with them. Let your skills speed up the growth but don''t alter their branch patterns. You might be surprised by what happens." Walker had the skills to allow the tree seed he was given, a simple acorn to grow a basic oak tree. But he wasn''t sure he should just allow lots of mana to flow in to it.


    "Ohe on, hesitating? I thought you were being a student here. That''s what the elves I saw said. You were joining sses.'' Gil snuck up and leaned on Walker''s shoulders. Walker had sensed him, but knew that Gil was justing to say hi. He didn''t have to stress out that Gil was attacking him. They were family after all.


    "I was just debating how much mana to use to help it grow. If I use too much natural mana I could ruin the field." Gil hesitated when he heard this. He had somewhat forgotten that Walker had brought plenty of farmers together and boosted their abilities by resonating with Fleur and a massive amount of natural mana.


    If he were not as careful as he should be, he could turn the entire field in to a single oak tree instead of a field at all! Or at least that was the smallest worry for Gil to have. What if Walker made something strange happen?


    "You might be right." Gil mumbled as Walker ced the acorn in the ground. The other students had started to add mana to their little seeds and various little tree sprouts were forming.


    As the teacher watched, he stopped at every student and pointed out slight differences here and there. Some of the saplings were smaller because of the slightly acidic soil that the tree seeds didn''t like. Others were able to handle that but were spreading out in to more small branches because of the higher amount of light they received.


    All were valuable things for the students since they wanted stronger trees, not smaller and weaker branches. "So we can restrict light so that they grow fewer branches. They will be stronger though!" One of the demi-human students with deer traits was very d to catch this. She had a lot of different thoughts about how to make this work with older trees needing the support of younger trees.


    "And if you all look at Walker, you will see what happens when you elerate the growth too quickly using denser mana than normal. Purity and density of mana is important too. Especially for species of trees that have stronger barks like the oak trees."


    The reason that the teacher pointed Walker out was because he had used natural mana to boost the growth of the acorn. It started off normally so Walker and Gil both looked at one another before Walker added more mana. That was the mistake.


    The added natural mana made the bark growth too thick too soon and the tree began to twist and be gnarled while still sending out more smaller branches. That also made those smaller branches twist.


    The small gnarled and twisted tree surely would not grow to support a treehouse. It would, though, look amazing in an artistic sun garden as a form of guided art or natural art. "See how he added a lot more mana and caused the bark to grow while the light caused more branches? It means the tree is less able to support weight but will have a very unique shape and form. Most gardeners may have trees they spend years guiding to make this shape, he did it in a few minutes."


    The students found their own awe in this, meanwhile, the gray haired spider student had begun growing a small oak of their own. They had seen Walker''s results and tried their own luck. That''s when Gil realized that they had to all back up as the mana surged.


    ....


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2196: 2196. New Oak

    Chapter 2196: 2196. New Oak


    "And now you get to see our newest student, he is a gray haired spider race with a ss called the mutant forest druid." The elf teacher had a slight spark in his eyes proving that he had seen a few interesting skills from the newest student.


    Ast first, Walker had been surprised that one of the gray haired spiders was able to awaken a ss rted to growing nts. But to be fair, he had not really considered the immense potential the gray haired spiders had when it came to things beyond their bonds with the goblin race since they had lived together for so long.


    Now, there were a few of the youngest that had seen the potential they could possess within Genesis and allowed their imaginations to guide them. This caused them to awaken various other sses that were not rted to being partners in battle or otherwise with goblins.


    The same could be said for the goblins which had begun to find skills that they had not expected to have. Some of them even finding that they had incredible ability to learn writtennguages and trante books in just a short whilepared to others who studied for years. Besides that, this gray haired spider had discovered that the closeness that their race had with the forest and nature as a whole was a core value of their own. As such, they focused on nts eventually awakening the mutant forest druid ss.


    The mutant forest druid was not a mutant themselves, it was actually a druid rted to the changing of a forest. How it adapted to be stronger over time. An idea that really fit with how Genesis existed overall.


    Since a druid would care for and defend a forest, the ss was somewhat closer to what the elves represented. Hence why this gray haired spider had managed to get in to a ss like this so quickly. But as they had, the teacher had seen them use their skills to push the potential of small seeds a little higher than what any others would imagine.


    The mutations that coulde with growing something faster were higher. Most farmers would try to avoid these events since they could ruin a crop or cause issues in producing the amount of food that they need. Therefore, they would not pour as much mana to push the nt to grow faster.


    As a mutant forest druid, this gray haired spider had the innate skill to alter the flow of mana causing potential mutations. While they could not control what exactly the mutations would do, there was some form of control over the speed of the growth and the direction it might grow.


    Since the idea about making a treehouse bearing oak with a spiderweb pattern was seen as a failure, the gray haired spider had focused on making it viable. Call it instinct and wanting the spider web pattern it naturally wanted to make as a gray haired spider a reality.


    The oak tree growing right in front of them had different bark. It was a sprout, but it was arcing out in arger pattern than what was expected. Instead of growing upwards, it was growing outwards. Bing wider. The small sapling was spread out three times the width of what any normal sapling would grow.


    Falling from it, were weaker small branches that leaned on the ground. They were flexible and prevented any rocking from the slight breeze that came through the plowed fields. But it was still growing and more small branches were arching out to the ground. The branch patterns were very much like spider webs built over one another.


    The leaves were wide open too. Larger than what many saplings would have. But by the time the mana ran out and the sapling stopped, an area the size of a medium toolshed had been taken over. While it was arger space, the density of the roots was also clear. They had followed the same growth patterns and spread out over the time of the soil.


    "This would be great to nt over the tunnels. It will help the soil from copsing but will also make sure that nothing grows through the ground in to the tunnels." Walker saw value in this. The dwarves had mentioned that over time, the underground tunnels that they had created would be under siege by nature itself. The nts and trees would grow in to them and it would both harm the tunnels and the nts.


    ''Spider oak


    This is a mutated oak tree guided by a mutant forest druid. It is impossible to grow this tree without the influence of mana from this specific ss. making it incredibly rare.


    While itcks rare uses for the wood it produces, it is a new species that could do with a lot of research to discover what else might be valuable about it. Time will tell.


    The way that its roots and branches spread out and lean on the soil allows it to remain stable even in heavier winds and storms. It also spreads out the weight of the tee and anything else on top of it so that the weight will not break the tree. Because of this, it can be a unique home to those that live in windier areas.


    This is...''


    Sharing the all around appraisal with everyone present proved to be very useful. All the students looked at their ssmates very happy to learn that they might be able to see new trees and nts like this. It also affirmed their own unique sses that they had gained through the time that they had begun learning or that they had started their own paths.


    Not everyone had such unique sses, but they had their own niches. If they kept learning new things and that would change their future uses of skills and how they nned things. They would also be able to connect one another for help when it came to situations that the other exceeded at.


    "I thought something like this would happen. Not that it might not if you weren''t here, but you kind of bring this sort of event with you. Want toe look at the extinct nt nurseries?" Gil was sure that by bringing Walker, he could push some of this very same potential in to the remation of extinct herbs and nts for the forests.


    "I don''t see why not, I think things here will be a little more focused on what they are creating for now." Walker could tell that the teacher here would be a little busier with what they were handlingpared to what the two heroes might be doing. It was a good thing though, they were living their own lives and learning plenty.


    Besides this, Walker also was curious what the area within this forested and farming section of the city had be. How the elves were bringing the extinct nts found on the Sigil continent back so that they could be nts in and around Genesis.


    With a smirk, Gil began to dash in to the forested area and even on to branches. Walker knew that this was still a very young part of the forest since it had been designed by the elves and many of those with the ability to grow them faster. But the speed and current state was still


    amazing.


    It was much more like the forest elve''s home city with towering trees and many different nts growing to their fullest. But the young ages showed in the size of the trees. To them, it was stillrger but to the oldest of the forest elves, this was just barely a seedling forest.


    The movement was amazing though. Gil Was actively weaving through the forest following paths that Walker could barely make out. When he suddenly stopped, Walker found that they were in a cradled area. The branches intertwined to make arge tforms that allowed light and shade between the branches.


    "The elves said that this area would be better because they could control how things grew and what kinds of light, water, and air they got. There are twenty different little nurseries like this. This one is smaller since it was made a week ago, but you can see how it''s doing." Walker could see. He saw a lot of things. The small seedling just sprouting had purple leaves which was surprising since even the youngest of multicolored nts would often start with basic green leaves.


    "Its main focus is the poison oil bell, a small nt that grows several leaves and then a purple flower which drips small poisonous oils. They are toxic to everything that eats them and touches them. But if you mix it with salt, it bes the perfect cure for rashes. Especially for babies. The more you know." Gil was proud to say the least.


    ....

 Chapter 2197: 2197. Crossed Paths

    Chapter 2197: 2197. Crossed Paths


    "I came because I need your help getting some of the new herbs you have. Mainly just one that''s growing." Remey had managed to track Alma down.


    Originally, Alma had been moving toward the fire elves so she could speak to them, but as hse had, she found herself being caught by Remey. Ignus just stood with them, not saying much, more like he was the one being dragged along. A somewhatical thought to Alma.


    Ignus was the older and more powerful dragon after all. Dominator dragon at that.


    "So you went out hunting for me?" Alma found this funny since she was sure that Remey must have run through quite a few different ces trying to catch up to her. Especially since there were many ces to go on her to do list.


    "And to make sure you had the time to help me, we made the arrangements with the fire elves and the dragonkin to have a space for the snow elves, frigid ice elves, and the water elves to have a chance to learn from their records once they have been copied."


    "Wait, what!?" This had been an argumentative point.


    Not because there was the information being hidden, no, it was because the different elf viges had started acting as if they were being repressed by the fire elves since their records had been somewhat damaged in their recent history before they came to Genesis.


    The snow elves were a separated group of ice elves that had left their vige to form a new one. This came about as they originally believed that genesis was a ce that would go against the purity of their mana. It made things much more confusing because that led the ice elves to take on an older name for their specific kind of elf. The frigid ice elves.


    Both groups had gone to the water elves who had simrities with them and decided to act as the middle group to keep the younger snow elves and the frigid ice elves from fighting. Basically saving the snow elves from getting their butts handed to them by their elders. Not that they couldn''t do with some heavier handed education and reprimand.


    "It was the snow elves that imed that there were hidden documents referencing how the ice and snow elves, or the frigid whatever, were able to use their fire mana to counter them and weaken their magical skills that used water mana in the form of ice."


    Alma was still trying to understand how something causing a lot of arguing had just been solved so easily. "The fire elves were angry at this,m but Ignus and the dragonkin told them that they would help trante and make copies of all their magical training and historical documents. It was easier for them to help that way."


    "Then we went to the water elves and told them, the frigid ice elves said they epted that causing the snow elves to be angry but without basis. Then Current came by to say hello and made it clear that he would have one of his daughterse by to babysit the snow elves if they caused trouble. Apparently they are very afraid of a cial dragon. I didn''t know that Current''s daughter had be a cial dragon rather than an ice dragon. We could have had a party."


    The way that Remey just easily moved through this like she was telling a quick story was too much for Alma''s mind to handle. She was easily beyond confused but also felt much better finding that one of the more annoying ongoing issues had been tightened up.


    "Plus, weren''t the fire elves making copies for the Genesis archives anyways? The other elves will have ess in a few weeks anyways. The same as they will to the rest of the older texts not at all rted to the magic side of the fiore elves and their history after every elf split up. Even the battle arts that might help find new sses."


    And then Remey just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed Alma''s shoulders. "So the herbs I need are the ones that you thought were extinct but we found seeds that the angels had stored away. Mostly because they couldn''t grow them but you could."


    The angels handing over seeds to the elves and Genesis as a whole hade when they heard about the demi-human farmers'' knowledge about farming. They wanted to expand farms themselves so they traded the seeds they had stored since theycked the knowledge to farm them.


    Surprisingly, some had been herb seeds from a vault an alchemist gathered years and years ago. Herbs that were either close to extinct or had been thought to be extinct in both continents. But that would be a story for another day.


    Before Alma even had a chance, Remey had conjured up the me dragon wings she could make at will and dragged her toward where she knew the herbs she needed were. Ignus just followed along. The look on his face told Alma that he was going whether he liked it or not, but he didn''t appear unhappy with it at all.


    "How did you even know where they were? And why did, ah, I made rules that none of these herbs could be taken until they weren''t considered endangered for potential extinction." Alma felt like she had set herself up for this one. She should have known that Remey would be after them.


    "I just needed these red maple sprouts. Not all of them, just five of them for a special process I need to do. It''s nothing that can''t be reimed by having a proper herbalist create new sprouts from the branches when they grow. We can boost one of them so you can take off branches to grow whole new trees."


    Remey was still pushing Alma for the sprouts.


    "The sprouts have the most potent aged fire mana within them. So much so that they won''t burn even when pure fire mana touches them. That''s how good they are. And that''s what I need. Even just one leaf from five sprouts is fine, I can make do."


    "Um, Hi Remey, Ignus, Alma..." Walker''s curious voice brought the three''s attention to Gil and Walker standing at the end of the small treetop nursery. The two looked more lost and surprised than Alma had been when she found out that Remey and Ignus had solved a problem on her to do list.


    "We were just exploring these nurseries since they were valuable. Walker said that some of these are false me maples and the seeds had been mixed. So we were separating them. They actually have no fire affinity at all." Gil tried to exin why they were here since it would look like he was giving the herb sprouts away to Walker if he didn''t.


    It wasn''t that Alma would hurt him if he did so, just that he knew very well she would not be happy. And if he didn''t keep her happy, well, everyone knows how that would go for the husband.


    "What!? False me maples? Aren''t they able to absorb fire mana but they just push it down to the roots causing a weird crystalized root like the aged ginger roots found in desert oasis? That could be very useful. I wonder if the condense crystallized roots have fire affinity strong enough to make potions that draw out or help process fire mana if it''s too dense within the body." Now Remey was brainstorming new potions for treating a body with too much fire mana within.


    While her mind was always working on potions like this, Remey had this first thoughtpletely because there had been a few people suffering from what had begun to be called mana sickness. People who were not adapting as well to the denser and purer manas flowing in to the world now that bnce was restored.


    They had build ups of certain manas they had affinities for within their bodies which had yet to adapt. Causing them to need special healers and mages to help move the manas along naturally. Or else they would be trapped with various ailments rted to the mana they had issues with.


    "Since I don''t think I have any control over any of this, just do what you want. Walker, thank you for helping. Your appraisal is definitely better than the basic appraisal most people are getting after using the all around appraisal magic scrolls made based on your skill. We might improve thatter as we learn more. Gil, since you have this covered, why don''t you help with my next task. There are still some new archers that are in a ss with a master archer right now." Alma smiled and Gil realized he was not able to escape now.


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2198: 2198. Just Eat Herbs

    Chapter 2198: 2198. Just Eat Herbs


    Remey, Ignus, and Walker watched as Alma dragged Gil away. Not so mcu dragged as he was doing his feet until the pair took to the trees and headed toward the archery range where Alma wanted Gil to be. She had won this round since Gil had not escaped the archery teaching he had to do.


    "You areing to help me make something cool, right?" Remey knew that Walker could easily be baited in to helping. She wouldn''t let him sneak away either. Especially since he had finished sorting the nts here. Each sprout was in a wellbeled section that a caretaker woulde to handleter.


    There would definitely be more interesting papers written about the studies of the nts and herbs that walker had seen today. Especially since some of them would be grown faster just to record the traits and viability of growing them faster.


    The reason this wasn''t down with everything was simple. It was not sustainable.


    There was arge chance that mutations could ur as Walker had seen with thest ss of those learning to grow treehouses. Especially if the ss creating the sped up growth had a certain mana affinity or skill that even caused higher chances of mutations.


    But theck of sustainability came in multiple forms. The mutations could potentially lead to adverse effects and qualities. Some herbs had already been found tock the seed that they would normally have. Once sped up, the bush had grown fruit without any nutrients within them. One even became poisonous when the nt had not been poisonous in the first ce!


    The second reason which was even more important, was that the soil could not handle it. The fertilizer and the water that was provided over time was the very reason that a farmer or an herbalist was able to handle and grow better quality nts and herbs.


    If the process was sped up, the nutrients food nts within the soil would be used up too quickly. The water would also be pulled out along with various manas taken from the soil and air too quickly.


    If this process was done to an entire field consistently, it would need various natural mana treatments to be able to keep being used as a field at all. And even then, there would be a great deal of weight put on harvesting at that speed along with the water which was still needed.


    This was all besides the mana needed to continuously produce these nts and herbs. Hence why the worry was there. Imagine a fire affinity herb grown without the chance to gain the fire affinity mana it needs. It would be a very low if not unusable quality herb!


    All that thinking aside, Walker easily stepped through the air and saw that Remey had learned to make proper wings with mes. Her knowledge of fire mana as a whole had radically grown since she had been within the elemental nes. That definitely would be showing within her alchemy too. The idea that she might make potions beyond grand level potions was hard to grasp.


    The grand potions were considered the best of the best. What a master would spend their entire lives making. A grand potion could be invaluable to someone if not an entire race. Therefore, Remey had already delved in to what was considered impossible to many people. And she had done it more than once!


    Once back at the alchemy guild, Remey moved quickly to argeb that had been created as an entirely new floor. This one had been made with new alchemy tools and a specific goal.


    Remey had designed it with the help of some of the best dwarven cksmiths to ensure that they could create the tools she needed. She had learned a lot about making a proper potion and how mana yed a part in it while she learned from the elemental nes. But more so, she learned the process she had to go through to be able to deal with her problem.


    The problem of needing pure fire mana consistently. When she would run out, she would be at risk for perishing or bing immensely ill. This caused her worry along with everyone else since she and everyone did not want to see her need to go back to the elemental nes for the rest of her life.


    Hence why they had focused so much on this alchemyb. It was made perfectly for her to undergo a specific process to ensure the growth of a me core.


    "So, I have these sprouts. The leaves are valuable since they can contain fire manas which were left from the seed when it was formed. That means it''s very pure and very old fire mana from plenty of years ago. More than we might even realize."


    Remey grabbed a magnifying ss. "See the slight wrinkles in this leaf? They are her because this is a newer seed than the others. The wrinkles came from the smaller seed pod that came from the nt adapting to lesser fire mana over time. So, we want these sprouts with smoother leaves since they develop within the seed with less pressure. Containing more purer fire mana."


    Walker felt like he had just been sat down in ss. From the looks of it, Ignus was being put on the spot too. He was just as much a student here as he was. But Ignus was also here because he was curious about the process that would help Remey.


    "So as that is the case, I need to eat it and a few more herbs to make sure that I am cleansing my body of impure fire mana. So, with you and Ignus here, you can stop that mana from surging elsewhere causing a fire or harm. And then you can purify and condense it for when my body will rapidly absorb it."


    "That origin being showed me a method to do it, but then I started to make potions in my head that would make the eating part smoother. It''s basically going to be a fire mana dense potion that would probably kill someone with high fire affinity. For me and others with tolerance and ability to handle that mana... well, it will be perfect."


    Remey Was clearly holding something back a little. "And you should tell us what else you are doing." Ignus finally spoke up and gave a hard re to Remey. He wasn''t letting her sneak by.


    "I might also be breaking down part of my body and soul to reform it in to a core since that''s what this entire process is for. I''m building a more natural flow of mana to the core which will be like a second heart. It has to be done."


    "That''s risky." Walker shared Ignus''s re. He knew that what Remey was saying was that she would be risking her life while doing this.


    "That''s why I wanted Ignus and you to be here." Remey smirked before reaching for a potion behind her and chugging it down in a few gulps. She then grabbed a handful of other herbs and the leaves she just got. All of them very rare, high quality, or even from the elemental nes that she had managed to gather while they moved. Some Walker had yet to even see which proved that the origin being they had met might have handed them right to her. Sneaky, very sneaky.


    As Remey suddenly red with various mes, the grand fire spirit appeared to rest far from her. Walker could tell that it had repressed its own fire mana and any control over mana to ensure that Remey had the full ability to survive this. The slightest maniption of fire mana could cause damage to Remey''s soul and body which were fused perfectly together.


    The massive burst of fire mana that poured out of Remey made the mes cease and her face to be pale. She almost looked like she was on the edge of death as it was. That was when Ignus and Walker began stopping the overflowing fire mana from melting and burning the room. The entire alchemyb was engulfed within mes of powerful fire mana. Walker was able to manipte them as his clothing burned. He felt a little annoyed but was not at all surprised when his body naturally took in some of the mana to resist it. His resistance to mana grew immensely while within the elemental nes. He even felt he could create some form of armor out of purer manas to defend his physical body. But that wasn''t for


    right now.


    Instead, he remained focused and gathered the mana while using natural mana to condense it and purify it even more. This process was the very same that Ignus was doing too. The pair working in tandem to make pure fire mana while Remey appeared fully focused on something else.


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2199: 2199. Purifying The Body

    Chapter 2199: 2199. Purifying The Body


    While Walker and Ignus dealt with all the fire mana that Remey had released, she was within her own head. Making sure that she followed every single step.


    If they could only read her mind as she went through this process, they would know how much she hid from them.


    "That guy said this was the best way to make a pure me core. That I should make a pure me core and not a fire core or anything else. But he also said I could try to make a true me core and be better." Remey''s mind shook slightly as she thought this to herself.


    Not because she was told not to make a true me core, but because the origin being that had told her what it thought best was the pure me core. But the true me core was stronger. It was also well within her grasp. Just a challenge to ovee. Why would she let that get away from her?


    "I made the potion with every herb containing ancient fire mana, pure fire mana, and even had some fire mana spirit race condense it and purify it. My partner even added part of their very own mana." Remey knew this was already well above what the origin being had told her about.


    She recalled the instructions. Find many herbs that had the fire mana she ended and consume them. Use all that new fire mana that she did not control as a force that repelled her very own controlled fire mana.


    Once that was done, she would feel the manas sh. The same fire mana that she would have absorbed was now being used as a tool to fight her own body and soul. Something that would seem idiotic and incredibly dangerous to any other that was not a dragon soul. Especially a fire dragon soul.


    That mana would force every single potential pore and aspect of her being to open up to fire mana. Parts of her being that had not properly limated to fire mana or had not grown enough would be influenced entirely. It was akin to an awakening.


    The issue was, that in repelling all that inner mana, it would leave her weak and on the edge of her life. Right there, waiting for death.


    As that was the case, Remey felt the pressure of everything around her. The air itself felt violent when she breathed in and out. Her own thoughts were like screaming. No, that was her screaming. Her soul was screaming as it was in pain. Or was that her body. Now, it was both. She had united them on her own path following Ignus. Allowing her to stand beside him as the only one that was not born a dragon who would not burn from his mes.


    Every slight move of her muscles proved that she had lost something vital to her survival. No fool would ever expel their own internal mana. It even left the life mana that acted as part of her weak. Barely holding on. It was the first time she had properly sensed her very own life mana. She now understood what Walker meant when he told them about the process in which he spurred his own life mana to act and change him. To be what he was properly going to be bybining all the bonds he had together.


    Now she felt that very same chance.


    "Make it boil. Make it roar. Make it howl. Bring it all through, my entire being."


    These instructions that Remey had gained were what she repeated within her mind. It was supposed to be for the fire manas she had within her stomach that she had used to expel the fire mana from her body. But instead, she had isted the life mana that resided within her as a living being.


    Since she had done so, she followed the method she was told about but spurred the life mana she had touched upon. Even a single fingertip on that life mana felt right. Even the tiniest inkling of what life mana felt was right. She could feel it. Her instincts screamed that this was the way!


    The fire mana within her stomach suddenly surged to follow the hectic life mana. Not to cause damage, but to bring forth a burst of mana that was much more pure to run through every facet of who Remey was. Her soul and body had be one, but now they were perfectly united in an extremely high form.


    Her very perception of what she had been changed. She found that the impurities left within her body and soul because of the way that manas flowed within the world had left her behind. Had stopped her from bing higher than what she was. She would need thousands of years within the fire elemental ne at the deepest level toprehend mes in this way. To be closer to them.


    Within her heart, she felt a spark. Not a me, but a spark that resonated with colors of me that did not even have a form or method of description. mes that she had never seen. mes that no one she knew could have seen. Even Walker would stand in awe with nessing them.


    ''mes of life have returned to the world. Existence is smiling.''


    Before Walker and Ignus could slowly start to send the purified fire mana back, they felt it stolen from their control. Walker was the most stunned at this as he watched and felt the fire mana being absorbed within Remey. Right at her heart, he could vaguely sense the density of that mana rising. The purity of that mana rising.


    The slightly golden mes that covered her would have been more akin to light mes, but he knew that this wasn''t the case. That they were a me made from Remey spending her very own life to create. A risk of her life that was causing Ignus to lose his calm demeanor more and more as he wanted to rush forward and stop all this.


    The paleness was receding though, that was what stopped Ignus and Walker from acting at all. They could also feel the resonance with Remey''s heart beating and the condensing pure fire mana moving with it.


    Within Remey''s heart, a pure gold core of pure mes hade forth from the spark. Her very life mana had fused together with the pure fire mana she had taken from various herbs, materials, and even her partner, the grand fire spirit. It had all been the perfect storm to pair with her challenger''s will to go beyond what that origin being had told her.


    When she felt the true me core settle and the energy within her body rx, Remey looked at the two awestruck people before her. "That went fine, no issues-"


    "You absolute fool! What would you have done if you had been unable to bring that core in to existence. That was your heart. All that mana within your heart forming a new core of who you


    are!? That was ridiculous!"


    ''Wait, no, Ignus-"


    "Why would you toy with your life like that!?"


    "IGNUS! I am fine! I formed a true me core and became a true me dragon soul. I am stronger and it all worked out so you can just..." Remey lost what she was saying as she saw Walker smirking slightly and Ignus looking entirely different from his usual self.


    "I get it. I''m sorry. But now even your strongest mes can''t burn me. I might even be able to burn you if you don''t get stronger. So catch up." Remey leaned on Ignus who had rushed to her. His actions were unbing of the royal me dominator dragon Ignus that anyone would think of when his name was spoken.


    "My mes would never have burned the only one I have met that I can call an equal in both mind and body to myself."


    "Well, my soul and body are the same thing, so why don''t you just pledge to stand equal to me for a few thousand years at least. Or can you not decide that even though you are a royal


    dragon?"


    "Just standing equal? No, we will stand above all others side by side."


    Walker didn''t stick around to ask any questions. He was just d that the two of them were finally being somewhat honest. Even though it was in a roundabout way of speaking. He also didn''t want to be here when Remey realized how much of the alchemyb she had just


    melted.


    He was pretty happy to see that existence had noticed what was going on too. Not that he was certain why he had also seen the notification. Something within him told him that he just had that much of a connection to everything now though.


    "Wait, why is everything melted and ash covered? I thought you two were protecting


    everything?"


    Walker was toote in his escape.


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2200: 2200. Golem Workshops

    Chapter 2200: 2200. Golem Workshops


    "Whoa, slow it down and move off to the left side... Good! Now lift your right hand!"


    The sight that Walker found himself looking at was not one that he had expected. Well, not that he had any expectations for what he might find at the new expanded workshops outside of Genesis.


    These workshops had been built for those that focused on forgingrge machines birthed from the sudden fad for new cksmiths wanting to create their own golems. The entire inspiration hade from the fact that many of the spirit race now wanted to be able to have more physical bodies.


    This was not a bad thing. The fire spirit that had taken the dragon golem as its body was the literal poster child for this trend. They moved around the coyote and assisted the guards very often. They even had an entire group of dragonkin that followed them as their own personal escorts since they represented dragons in a way.


    This all had developed in to a lot greater of an event than just some news or gossip. Especially when it came to the dwarves who were focused on creatingrger golems for mining, battle, underwater events, and even the ships. This also rted to the flying ship being created right


    now.


    These Mechanical and magical fusions of wonder had been pushing many people to grow at a rapid rate. The new runes being discovered also changed things immensely with every single improvement made.


    This led to very many ideas being altered, improved, and generally tired again when they had been deemed failures in the past. This applied to many ideas of some great cksmiths that the dwarves had over the years.


    It was not an unknown fact that a genius could be born before the right time. That they could create things only on paper that would be perfect if the technology or general knowledge was caught up to them. Right now, many of the cksmiths from the dwarven city were appearing with records form their oldest libraries. Blueprints form their oldest forgotten sections of archives.


    Every single one might not be viable, but making them viable became the goals of many. Those that were rted to those geniuses of the past, or even those that felt they could make the records known in this day and age. All motivational for the youngest generation finding their sses now.


    Regardless of the reason, this was an ideal learning chance for everyone. Apparently, it also managed to be some form of learning for Su who was currently directing arge cyclops golem on how to move.


    The golem had been created in the form of a cyclops because of the fire rted resistances that they had. Also because the fire spirit controlling the golem had seen the brutality and general strength of a cyclops once. Naturally, they wanted to be able to use the same when they fought and were within the forge. So, they pushed to be able to have a golem for themselves.


    As this was the case, a cksmith with enough time, energy, and materials had said yes. Now here they were. It still didn''t exin why su was here though. She was more rted to healing and the cathedral. Not the forge.


    ''Walker,e meet the newest spirit golem that has just started to learn how to use their new golem body. You should have seen the way that they lifted it up! They used all these chains and it was still glowing red with the heat form the forge and-" Su cut herself off as she realized that she was letting too much of her energy out.


    "You seem like you are having a great time here. And congrattions on your cyclops golem, I bet you will make a big scene in the coliseum." Walker saw the cyclops golem clench its fists. The fire spirit within must want to fight just as a lot of the spirits did. They seemed to be just as amused by the battles as the demi-humans race were.


    "I originally came because they wanted to see the twin shields and work off the design. They also said that there are a lot of materials that are being brought here and I could due with a new set of improved shields that were for training. They said they would make me shields that I can adjust the weight of while I train better."


    "I was wondering how you got here. If they are offering you that then they must really want to see the blueprints from the wandering cksmith. But he is hard to get a handle on with how busy he is. I heard that he was working with a dwarf to make the engines for the flying ship. Something about not needing mana for a slow descent if something bad happens." While Walker had heard the talk about it, he had not looked in to any of it. Especially with how detailed it was. If he went down that rabbit hole he could lose weeks of his life to just catching up. Then there was the fact that half the designs had been scrapped and redone due to small risks and errors as they all learned about new methods and runes.


    "Oh, they have been arguing about all that. They said something about how some of the golems are being rebuilt now since they have perfect frames to make more unique golems that the dwarves can use for forgingrger parts of the dragon armors."


    This wasn''t news to walker. He already knew that the dragon armors were being made and improved yet again. This time though, they were being made with some unique magics and even being influenced by some spatial runes that had been recently discovered.


    Just as there was some armor for Midnight that took to her shape better, the royal dragons wanted the same. They wanted armor that could transform from their true dragon dominator forms in to their dragonkin forms. But that was very hard to do on a spatial mana aspect and generally on a weight aspect.


    While the issues were there, it was a great problem to be part of improving and fixing. Nothing that anyone was unhappy with since there could be many new ideas that coulde from experimenting with it. Plus, the royal dragons wanted the best, they didn''t care if it took longer. Especially since dragons were a long lived species in the first ce. A few years was like the blink of an eye.


    That made Walker think about how the speed that genesis formed was very different in the eyes of different races. To some, it was slow because they lived shorter lives. But to others, it was incredibly fast. So much so that it was exactly like blinking or taking a nap and finding themselves in a new world the next second.


    "So, Su the golem tester, what else have you seen? I could use a nice and interesting tour after getting talked to by Remey about burning herb. And no, I didn''t burn it, she did." Walker quickly exined Remey and her risky situations. He also didn''t fail to mention how she and Ignus seemed to have gotten much closer in more ways than one.


    But Su just shrugged because she had long expected the two hot heads to findmon ground. She just feared that if they focused theirbined wills anywhere else that they might bring too much fire for anyone elses'' liking.


    "Oh! You should see the kids'' work. There''s a merfolk child that has been practically living here for three weeks now. He''s made a blueprint the size of a house while tolerating the heat. He has a ss called the deep sea golem architect. Really long name but he is a genius when ites to aquatic golems."


    "Don''t tell me that this is why the seafoam iron has been swept clean from the markets? A bunch of people used that for jewelry and now it''s all gone so some people are selling their jewelry. Especially the few merchants that make trips near rocky beaches in their travels." It wasn''t hard to listen and learn just by walking on the street. Merchants and shop goers were not subtle in their chatter.


    "You already know. Good, so you should know that at the rate he is collecting the materials he wants, it will be only seven months before they start making what he wants to make." Walker raised an eyebrow as Su dragged him through back hallways and passed byrge forges. The what and the mana fluctuations making him even more curious about every single thing being


    created.


    That was until he came to arge room with a massive wall covered in a singr partially opened blueprint. Perfectly made so far. Detailed enough that the one working on it wouldn''t even need to be there to show how to make what they wanted.


    The best part was, writing thoseplicated patterns and measurements was a single four foot tall kid. Not some developed and wisened cksmith. Not some uing genius. No, a kid that had apparently had a vision and was making it a reality. No one could say he was just drawing on walls with the immense details Walker could see in this. It was art.


    ----

 Chapter 2201: 2201. City Golem

    Chapter 2201: 2201. City Golem


    The merfolk kid was small enough that it would make anyone wonder just how he had gotten in here. Especially since it was clear that he was not able to move around the wall without the help of the golem that was moving and lifting him where he wanted to be.


    This also would raise more questions. How exactly had a child been drawing all this? How had a child gotten a golem like that? How was all this actually happening since there was a clear separation from the other rooms?


    Instead, Walker was thinking about other things.


    "Who is this? You came in here without even bothering to knock. You should know that this is my room and I am making something way better than whatever you think you need space for. So get out."


    "So rude? I thought he would be a little more mature if he was making massive blueprints like this." There was a little bit of confusion in Walker''s voice, but he was also somewhat teasing. Not because he wanted to be mean, but because he felt it would be a little fun tobat the rude attitude with a little bit of his own rudeness.


    "Rude? You are looking at my work. Trying to just steal it for yourself then? I would have had my golem beat you up if Miss Su wasn''t with you. But she is too great to walk around with someone not helpful."


    The more this merfolk kid spoke, the more that Walker replied he had grown up faster in some ways than others physically, he had the body of a child.. But mechanically, his mind was well versed enough to push and argue just like the majority of cksmiths. Specifically how the apprentice cksmiths argued.


    "So I would say you learned your attitude from the cksmiths. The dwarf specifically and you didn''t have an issue with that. But then you have the genius to begin learning the golems like it was just putting a small puzzle together. And now you have some in depth and specific ss that you want to use to make something amazing?" Walker summed everything he gathered up right then and there leaving silence in the room.


    "Kid, this is Walker. And he is much more than what I am." Su''s smirk proved that she was internallyughing at these odd interactions. especially since it was funny to see people not recognize Walker but like her over him. The word hrious came right to the front of her mind.


    "I was checking out the entire building. It''s hard to believe it was only recently built and so many new things are happening. I thought I would see more parts of the floating ship being made since there is a chance that they would be using thepounded rune gears. But Su mentioned she had started to help out a little here with the new golems being made for the spirit race so they had better bodies. Now, I am being shown what you are making."


    Walker didn''t see the point in hiding how he came to be here. But he was waiting for the merfolk kid to snap out of it.


    "What I am making? I''m just making the solution to the merfolk race''s issues within the ocean. I''m making a new moving city for my race!" Walker blinked then looked up at the apportion of the massive blueprint he could see that was not rolled up on arge storage at the opposite end of the wall.


    Besides the intricate designs and what other aspects might be more mechanical, the spaces made more sense now. ces to live. ces to eat. Even ces to grow unique herbs and nts that would provide food for those within.


    "It''s not a golem in the sense that it''s for battle or travel. It''s a living city of sorts." Now it was Walker''s turn to be properly amazed.


    "Do they know you are making this? I mean the proper king of the merfolk and not the representative. I know he would like it, but the king is more strict and even keeps his people more isted. That''s why so few havee to live here over remaining in their city."


    "I know that. It''s why I left when I saw the chance. They didn''t want to show me anything. By the golems from the dwarves that helped rebuild were too good. I had to learn. So I followed them and I found a cksmith. Then he showed me the blueprints to fix things and then I learned them all. My parents said that i could do whatever I wanted and no one stopped me when i came here-"


    "Whoah, wait, your parents just said do whatever? Isn''t that-"


    "His parents are advisors to the king of the merfolk, Walker. They are very busy with their positions causing them to be unable to spend a lot of time focusing on what their child is doing. So he was given express travel here so that he could flourish. They will receive letters from the merfolk side of Genesis leadership about their son''s current genius when the time is right." Her pointed look made him understand a little better.


    Now Walker grasped the situation. While there were some delicate bnces on the political side, this was still amazing.


    "I guess I will have to see what you manage to do. And you can just call me Walker. If you need any help when the building begins you can feel free to ask for me. I might be able to help you find the right water spirits to control the cores you n to make for controlling the golem."


    "One hundred and fifteen cores needed to be controlled together. Not just a few. And this will be the fortress whale golem. Moving city that can travel to ces no other has been to. Even the deepest parts of the oceans so that we can recover lost ruins, defeat new monsters, and even find ces that no one had ever seen before."


    "And my name is Kid, I''m not a kid. I am the only deep sea golem architect to be found and I am sure that no one else is making things like me." There was a lot of pride that mirrored the way that the dwarven cksmith''s would think of their work and how they would brag. It made Walker wonder if this kid, named... Kid, would be alright in the world. Especially as he got older.


    "Well Kid, nice to meet you. Have you seen the blueprints for the dragon golem that I helped make? It might help you reference how you want to bring the core and other aspects together. I can tell you already considered the methods of movement, but it might not be flexible enough to ensure that the ting doesn''t crack or bend."


    With the way that walker could look at aspects and use the all around appraisal, he had already picked out major ws. Not in the entirety of the design, but in smaller aspects. Simply put, the weight would not be a problem because of the fact that the golem was going to be within the water and also that it would be made of a unique ore. Instead, it was the stress on that metal that would be the issue.


    Watching Kid blink a few times, Walker wondered if he was about to see an angry child since he would surely be unhappy that someone messed with his design. Even telling him it was


    wed.


    "What problems? I don''t see it." and there it was, theck of knowledge that came with someone his age. The finally normal thing about him.


    "Using my all around appraisal I checked the small bit I could see and it noted that this unfinished blueprint has structural errors that put more stress on the bend and arching of the outside ting. And since it will need to be thicker, that means cracks are easier to form. You will needyers to stop that stress or relieve that stress. I would say that rubber or something else flexible that won''tpress poorly under so much weight when ites to the water and depth would work."


    It was like Kid was listening to some otherworldly being. No one had provided such perfectly detailed exnations of errors to him. He had just been getting apprentices that wanted to try top work on his project. A few cksmiths and other golem makers came by wanting to take over therge project he was given just by showing up.


    To be fair, they had their own superiorityplexes and that was all well and good but it caused some issues when they thought that they should be the pens to get arger room and work in a better space. They didn''t understand that Kid had a ss that allowed him to do these things. Not that he had just been lucky enough to be handed down a task.


    "I knew this would happen. Should keep Walker out of trouble for a while." Su hummed as she spotted a small dark spirit moving around and looking for help. A few of the spirits got lost when the first came here. Plenty of mana making these senses distracted. Now she could get back to helping out.


    ----

 Chapter 2202: 2202. Midnights Instincts

    Chapter 2202: 2202. Midnight''s Instincts


    "Sister, are you sure you wish to do this?" Onyx was still looking carefully at Midnight who had brought him out fairly far in to the wilderness from where they should have started


    within genesis.


    It had been a normal day and Onyx had nned to roam the city a little. Espeore what might be new while meeting some of the young serpents that had found unique jobs to help the city grow. It was a ce of pride for him to move around and find those doing their jobs. He wanted them all to know that he was proud of their progress. To encourage them further.


    It was an important way for him to stand as the one who helped raise them beyond what they would have been if left as eggs. Only hatching if they were lucky enough to get the light elemental mana needed. Only if they were lucky enough to survive after hatching entirely alone.


    So many what ifs could have led to the end of the species as a whole. But Onyx had been part of it all. Walker and the others had allowed him to take hold of his own dreams and pursue them. They had helped him do so to levels above what others may have done.


    Regardless, Onyx found Midnight waiting for him instead of being off doing her own thing. From what Onyx had gathered, Midnight wanted to test her strength properly. Not just to test her strength, but to test out a new skill that she had managed to awaken due to the consistent dense and pure mana from the elemental nes.


    While she had not grasped what the skill was while they had been within the elemental nes, she understood somewhat now. That was why she had not been around as much. She had also been eating a lot more. But no one had noticed herck of growth.


    When Onyx had been pulled with her, she had somewhat exined things in her own way. Using his thoughts and mentalmunication, Onyx always felt that he learned a lot more from Midnight than when she spoke out loud. Even using the dragonnguage that she naturally knew because of her bloodline, Midnight hated speaking out loud. It was just how she was.


    As she exined a little, Onyx understood that a lot of what midnight had felt was her instincts telling her that she had more potential. She was incredibly unique after all.


    As she had grown, she had done things and grown at a rate well above what any little dragon would have grown and done. Therefore, she had been able to go through the system and gain an awakening of sorts that allowed her to purify her own blood.


    While she had maintained the strength of her bloodline and affinities, she had gained the new ones to be a true dragon champion. Capable of using every single elemental mana just the same as Walker who was a jack of all trades. It was partially due to her bond with him that this happened.


    But even more so, as she had grown, she exhibited stronger traits that many of the dragons did not have. She also showed that she had an intelligence that grew. Especially an intelligence rted to battle. Her attacks were clear and powerful. No hesitation. She also defended those she cared for with extremely close care.


    As such, when Midnight had started to have a new feeling, she chased it. Onyx listened to how she told him that she could feel her scales itch. How she also had much greater hunger than what she had before. More simr to how she had felt when she first ever shed her scales.


    But that was when she was younger. She was not as developed. She knew that she would grow more though. That she would eventually reach a size the same, if notrger than the royal dragons. Especially with her bonds. She had gained a lot from Walker even if he didn''t realize just how much.


    The various manas that hade through their bins had allowed her the methods to bnce her body better than any other dragon. She wanted to be a true nature dragon champion because that would make her a symbol of the world. Make her someone that was just as important as Walker and Fleur to the world. Allow her to be one of the key factors in uniting all the races of the world since she was part of the world.


    That grand dream really fit her. Onyx found that it embodied what she had seen and how he felt about her. He felt that midnight was the younger sibling to the entire party that was also one of the guardians of the party. Whether it be emotionally or physically.


    She could stand beside Remey and fight with her. She could protect Onyx as he learned to fight. She could watch Gil''s back when he focused on targets. She could unleash vicious dragon breaths as Su acted as her guardian, preventingrge groups of enemies from touching Su. and she could easily be the perfect tag team to Walker when it came to magical and physical fighting.


    All of that made Midnight incredibly unique, but she still felt too little as she learned to bring the manas and the affinities within her together. Yet, as that happened, she felt that she needed space to unleash it all. To be able to properly do it. She also felt she wanted to surprise everyone. The same way she had when she learned to take a dragonkin form.


    "Sister, if you do this, I will be the only one protecting you. So focus on it all and forget about everything else." Onyx showed his full size, now easily being able to wrap around Midnight''s current size several times over. He knew well though, that she could beat him in a battle. That''s if they ever fought, that would be unlikely as she was his older sister.


    While Onyx watched, he was suddenly amazed.


    He did not have dragon blood, but through his connection to Walker, he could vaguely sense that there was a resonance within Midnight. Almost like there had been part of her too weak and too trapped to break out. But it finally had the strength.


    That''s how Midnight felt too. As if she had finally gotten what her body needed more than anything to break free of the limits she had in her current state. Even without the many years normally needed for dragons to grow, Midnight had done so much and grown so fast.


    Different foods, herbs, and even manas had been given to her along with battle experience. Now she had the time to use it all. Every bit of nutrients that her body had stored was being consumed. Every bit of condensed mana was consumed. All of it being guided by her dragon heart. The golden mana and mes that reached out form it proving over and over her true dragon champion nature.


    Her instincts guiding her along with her grand desires, Midnight felt that the manas she had stored away were mixing the very same way that she had felt it from Walker when he made natural mana from the surroundings. When he used it to buff him.


    She also felt the small me of gold within her heart bursting. Bursting with more than just natural mana, it was life mana. But bnced life mana. Her being trapped once by the immortal king using an item with death mana within which caused her and Walker to fight to free her mind had also given her something.


    While it had been the skeletal armor skill, it had also been an insight on death mana as well. Both her own life and her death mana melded together enough to cause growth in every affinity she possessed. Not entirely intentional when it came to life and death, but even the tiniest growth was something.


    All the while, Onyx watched as his sister shed scales. As her ws became denser and gave off a terrifying sharpness. When her heat beat, it made more dragon aura radiate around her. Small mes, shadows, winds, and even a slight tremble of earth resonated with her. But more so, small nts where shey grew faster before dying. Proof she had managed to touch upon natural mana along with a little more.


    "I really hope that sister gets a skill that allows her to control her size. If she stays in her new form..." Onyx''s mind raced a little as he wondered what everyone would think of when it came to how she moved. Midnight had a habit of sticking to her dragon form and running about in excitement. A little more dangerous now.


    ----

 Chapter 2203: 2203. Young Woman

    Chapter 2203: 2203. Young Woman


    In the midst of talking to the new deep sea golem architect, Walker felt a change in the body with Midnight. Specifically, he felt that she had gotten stronger.


    Through their bond, Walker can sense a lot. Especially since he was able to share mana


    through that bond to a certain degree. However,tely, he had felt that midnight was somewhat ravenous.


    While he didn''t worry that she was always hungry, he worried that it was more than normal. As any young dragon, Midnight would be very hungry because she needed the food to grow. The other royal dragons all needed a lot of food to be satiated, however, they were able to control their cravings since they also supplemented mana as a source of nutrients.


    Yet, Midnight had needed a lot more mana and a lot more foodtely. She had been eating enough that Walker was sure that something major was happening with her in some form or fashion. But right now, he sensed that the floodgates had finally been released and she was using all that food and mana.


    "I need to head out, one of my family members is working on seething. Su!"


    "I felt it too, Midnight is growing bigger again. I bet she was hiding it from us so that we wouldn''t worry. And I would bet a thousand gold coins that onyx is right with her too." Su had the bond between her and Midnight that Walker didn''t have. One that was her as a guardian and Midnight as her champion. It was unique and Su had a deeper connection to vaguely sense what midnight might think rather than just feel.


    She also shared a lot of the food hunting ideals since she and Midnight enjoyed moving around to discover the foods of other cultures. They could do it all day if they had not limited themselves. Not that this was a bad thing. Just a habit that they were falling more in to since they could eat a great deal if they wished. Su just had to hold herself back since she had other goals as well.


    As the pair made their move, they could sense the draconic aura radiating in the distance. They also noticed that ventus had flown slightly lower in the sky taking a look in to the distance before she moved back in to the skies and paid attention to one of her children who she ahad decided could use a little training before going back to the demonnds.


    Knowing that the other royal dragons surely sensed this, it was nice to know that they were letting midnight have her space. This was just a basic respect to them, but it was also somewhat of a nod to how they would be interested in what has changed and what was going on. Curiosity was, after all, normal for every race.


    As Walker used wind mana to speed up his and Su''s movements, he was very impressed how well Su was learning and adapting to her very own wings as a half dragon. She had been trying to learn to strengthen them since she was not born with them and they had developed fairlyterpared to any born half dragons. A race still not very possible as the races had not been united enough.


    That didn''t mean that Su hadn''t looked in to it. She had found historical mentions of half dragons but found that they would often live very remotely and would not interfere much in anything that was not directly rted to their dragon parent.


    Regardless of that, Su had found that learning to fly was enjoyable. Especially since she had the dragon blood within her that made her wish to experience the joys of flight. Even if she was a little more limated to earth mana, she was not afraid or deterred from flight.


    Instead, she had been relying on others'' help to be able to take weight off the wings when she trained. The muscles developed very well so that she could fly better and be able to carry the weight of both her body and the heavy armor she wore. That was beside the weight of the shields she carried too. It would take some time for her to reach the peak of her ability but it would yet again, change her battle style.


    As the two neared the area, they saw Onyx standing guard. Hisrge coiled form was the ideal deterrent that could crush many of the monsters within the area with a simple swing of his tail. He was just that strong nowpared to the average monster that might be foolish enough to approach him.


    When Onyx noticed Su and Walker, he shook his head. "Sister wanted to surprise you, but she definitely didn''t expect to make such a show. She has been feeling this growthing for a while." Onyx didn''t take the effort to hide what had been happening. He could tell that the two of them already understood it. They could sense it.


    As they looked over midnight who was in a somewhat meditative state, Walker could sense that she had made her golden dragon hearts more developed. Not just that, but she had taken her entire body to a much higher level than what it had been.


    "Have you guys ever heard of a dragon with ck gold scales? I wouldn''t think that any dragon looks like this." While Walker was impressed by the intricate flecks of gold running through all of midnight''s scales, he was more impressed by the fact that she had grown to the size of arge house now. It was like watching time itself be sped up as Midnight adapted to the depths of mana fusing within her.


    "Ah, it''s called the world dragon heart now. So she mixed the affinities she had to make a natural mana affinity entirely. This is amazing!" Walker''s mana senses and all around appraisal were picking up so many improvements that he couldn''t do anything but praise midnight. He was a little annoyed she kept these ideas a secret, but who cares? He was too proud to be angry.


    "You keep going on and on like that, but can''t you tell that she also made a lot of growth in her body so that she could defend us? She had wingsrger than they were before that can cover the entire party just like I do with my shields." The happiness that Su had was entirely rted to how Midnight could better defend from attacks. Keeping her from being harmed at all.


    "Sister is still smaller than the royal dragons since they became dominator dragons. She is also smaller than the elder dragons. She is definitely stronger than the elder dragons now though. I bet she could give the royal dragons a surprise." Onyx''s praise was enough to make midnight''s eyelids flutter before she stood up taller than before and looked over.


    Her eyes were a deeper shade of gold than what they had been before. She seemed to also feel more mana around Walker then she had before too. She could sense that he was able to easily weave manas together rather than just call on them. This was something that she had been able to sense before.


    Air was pulled in to Midnight''s mouth before she released arge roar shaking the mana all around them. It wasn''t a roar of anger or anything negative, instead, it was announcing her growth. Showing the entirety of the world and Genesis that she had taken arger step to bing a true dragon champion than she had been before. That she had more than epted and grown what she wished to be.


    "You know, if you try and sit inside the mansion with that size, you will crush it now. I can''t even call you my little sister any more. You''re growing too fast." Walker stepped through the air and ced a single hand on midnight before she huffed a little and changed form. Her dragonkin form had changed too.


    Now, she had slight ck gold scales on her arms, but appeared much more human in a way. The horns on her head were more slicked back rather than forward pointing as well. Her wings were more developed and easily tucked behind her. She also had a taller height showing off a


    more developed figure.


    "Walker, you know that Lisa is going to be very d to make Midnight new clothes. Especially since she has been waiting for Midnight to grow taller again. But I think we will need to think more of Midnight as the same age as us now." Suughed a little seeing that midnight was almost taller than her now. Definitely a young woman rather than a girl.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2204: 2204. An Honest Future

    Chapter 2204: 2204. An Honest Future


    "So, now that Midnight has broken records when ites to how fast dragons can grow, do we need to start teaching her other things?" Walker was very worried that some of the


    younger dragons would start to take notice of Midnight. As her older brother, he was ready to beat those dragons down in to paste.


    ''Walker, the next time you think of those things, remember that Midnight would literally shred anyone that dared to insult her or act poorly. She has a lot of good role models." Su''s words were very clear that if Walker continued to pursue these thoughts, she would take it as an insult and reason to scold him.


    Naturally, Su was also thinking that she would keep things on track. She was Midnight''s draconic guardian. A true draconic guardian would not allow anything untoward to happen to the dragon that they guarded. Especially someone like Midnight who was pure and innocent. "Look at us too though, we all grew a lot faster than we should. We would still be considered kids if we were not as strong as we were. Plus with all of us changing literal races through the insane events, well, we might as well have aged fifty years each."


    This was a little of an understatement. With the strength that they had, some of those most powerful within the world couldn''t even hold a candle to them now. Especially with the fact that Walker himself was able to literally bring mana to do as he wished just with a few thoughts. Basic magic skills were just a formality in a way.


    That aside, Walker thought about how it was very interesting to wonder what they all had the potential for now. They had outgrown any childishness in their actions. Especially with the fact thatv they were some of the strongest leaders within genesis.


    The best part about that, was that the party were not some hidden rulers or figures steeped in shadow and unknown mysteries. They were out in the open. Standing and growing with everyone else. They popped up here and there working onrger problems for the people. This was where the ideals of who and what leaders should be were growing from.


    Many kingdoms had be used to the kings or rulers standing on high mountains looking down. The humans were certainly like that. The very same could be said about the demi- humans who rarely had the chance to see their generals and kings outside of their ces within the coliseum.


    However, as Genesis set a new precedent, those kingdoms would be changing ever so slightly every day. Those kings and rulers would eventually find that they were thought of as do nothing rulers. But the humans had already started to adapt to such things.


    They had been some of the strongest to support and begun creating roads themselves towards Genesis for trade. Hence how they also began making their nobles travel those roads and move around to establish better conditions. All of that alone had begun making the nobles seem more approachable.


    It also helped weed out those with inted egos and ssist attitudes. A good way for the changes to begin.


    But back to the reality they faced, Midnight was standing much taller while the four moved back in to Genesis. It was a very short while before they found that Mordant had taken up a walking pace next to them. He had effortlessly slipped through the shadows to wait and hear what had happened. His eyes barely settling on Midnight before he focused on Walker. He had gotten used to Midnight not saying much.


    "Midnight went through arge growth spurt. She''s not asrge as one of the elder dragons. But she is close. And I would bet that she can use natural mana as she wishes now. Not to mention a little boost to life and death mana. Not that it''s usable. More like they both revolve around her since she is focusing on bing a force of the world still."


    "I can sense that. She was asking a lot about how my dark mana works when I fight alongside the others. How to mix my mana with theirs." Mordant had not hidden that he taught Midnight a few things here and there. She had gone to them asking after all.


    "It will be interesting to see what happens now." It was clear that Midnight had already grown more than what anyone expected. But Mordant didn''t show much worry.


    "Young ones will go through a few growth spurts. One day they are just eating and absorbing manas like they are starving, the next day they fall asleep and they are double their size. She takes that to another level, only sleeping for a few hours at the most. Very impressive. I assume it''s the purity of manas that she received through bonds with you. You are well above that of any other taming that could be."


    It seemed that Mordant had thought about the uniqueness of the skills that Walker used. In essence, the way he was viewing the bonds were not as a tamer to a monster but instead as a clear channel between family bloodlines and even more. Or closer to the soul itself. Able to share everything and anything with one another. A new form of bond that could potentially be passed down through generations as the dragons did withnguage and instincts.


    "I think I know what you are thinking, and I would assume you are right with that. Midnight is a true dragon champion, but she changed the rare golden dragon heart she had. Instead, it''s a world dragon heart or more now. She''s fused her affinities that she has as a true dragon champion and also with her bind with me. Now she has a natural mana affinity along with the lingering death and life mana affinity which are deeply part of natural mana."


    The exnation was a lot to take in. It was a lot for Walker to say. If Mordant didn''t have Walker to exin this, he wouldn''t have the senses to touch upon the intricacies of natural mana and the way they interact with life and death manas. He was a darkness dominator dragon, not anything other or more.


    "You know that this will cause problems one day. Manipting life mana within oneself to ensure that they can change things about themselves. Even their race. We will have to makews. Rules to follow. Limits to prevent bing an immortal chasing race."


    The topic shifted to a very heavy one, luckily, Su expected this would appear one day. "We will set rules for a thousand years at least. We will make sure that no one forgets what happened to break the bnce of the world. So much more cane of uplifting one another than using each other as tools. We just have to show it."


    "And If Su can''t ensure that they follow a good example with eveyrones'' help, we will dole out appropriate punishment as the elemental nes do. They have the strength and ability to ensure that thousands of years of imprisonment can be done. Then an entire return of a soul to natural flow. Impossible things to us as we are now, but in the future..." Walker trailed off thinking about the potentials still yet to be realized. There was a long road still to go.


    "Looks like I will head out for now. I just wanted to keep us all honest about the future." Mordant smiled a little toward Midnight before he stepped in to his own shadow and moved


    away.


    But in the next moment, a burst of heat weed Remey whonded on Midnight with a bear hug. Ignus just pped his wings andnded next to them. "He ran away because he can''t handle speaking with me. How dull." Ignus had been trying to get Mordant to speak with everyely, but Mordant had avoided everyone while focusing on a few of his elder dragons learning to take a dragonkin form.


    "It''s Midnight''s growth spurt! We need to celebrate! She''s going to get new clothes and we are going to throw a party! I even have some new teas we can make too!" Midnight didn''t shy away from Remey''s excitement. She had understood what happened as soon as she saw


    Midnight.


    "Then I guess I should go get Gil and Alma. they will be pretty happy to have a little celebration. Especially since they have been way too focused on melding the historical elven documents. Plenty of reading to melt their brains." Walkerughed a little as he stepped in to the air moving ahead of the others. He felt like this would be a fun night.


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2205: 2205. A trip And A Guest

    Chapter 2205: 2205. A trip And A Guest


    "Walker, everyone else has headed out. I am taking the day off. You need to go and see who is at the door." Walker had been sitting with his mother in the morning. Remey had made a few interesting tea blends and it was not a daily routine to try open at breakfast.


    Today on particr was called dragon breath tea. A slightly spicy tea that warmed the throat and helped wake someone up. Not a bad blend with the fact that it aso slightly boosted fire mana absorption to those with the affinity for it. Definitely unique and making full use of her herb knowledge.


    This left Walker with nothing to say in return. He wasn''t one to say no to his family, especially when he knew how hard they worked to follow their own dreams now. The restaurant was very demanding on his mother and he knew that she would eventually have to call it a day and retire. But for now, she could take the time to bezy when she wanted.


    Upon opening the door, Walker was surprised to find that the people who came knocking were not any of those looking for help with projects or anything else of the sort. It was a group of three healers. To be specific, one nun and two healers.


    He recognized them from when he had worked in the cathedral to help heal others. He also recognized that they were people that Alice would spend time with even when they were resting from their duties for the day.


    "What brings you here? Alice is still off in the northern shore city dealing with the cathedral there, right? Do you need help healing a few people?" This was the only reason that Walker could imagine that they hade looking. "I can find Su too, she definitely wille help too."


    "No, we didn''te here for the cathedral. We came here to ask you a favor." Now this was a surprise to Walker. He had no idea what the three might need of him.


    "Thene on in, my mother and I were enjoying some dragon breath Tea that Remey made. You can have a cup while you talk." Walker led them all in. While they seemed to be a little awkward since this wasn''t a ce they had been before, they quickly fell in to a morefortable flow when they had the tea.


    Their raving aside, the sudden serious change made Walker wonder what they had to ask him as a favor. "Go and get Alice back sooner."


    "Huh?"


    It was Walker''s turn to be confused yet again. He had no idea what they meant by go and get Alice home sooner. Whatever their reason was, it didn''t seem like it would be a good one. In the essence that Walker would feel that it was a good reason to go get Alice, but not for a happy one.


    The three shared worried looks before the oldest of them finally spoke. "The high priest has been resting more and more oftentely. Even with the healing effects within the cathedral, he has grown tired and struggles more than he used to. We believe that he has very little time left in the world before he moves on in to another life."


    The entire room felt cold. Walker had just drank warm tea, yet now he felt that it had been ice cold. No, that everything had been ice cold from the very start. He had just fooled himself in to thinking everything was warm and happy. Time was still moving, he couldn''t forget that.


    After a long deep breath, Walker looked at the three, "Then you three will be responsible for taking care of him until I return with Alice. I will not hear a single piece of bad news when we return. I expect the high priest to befortable and happy to see his lovely daughter so he can hear her story. We will not scare him nor her in either of our actions."


    His deep focus and seriousness made the three shiver. They had known how powerful Walker was, but they had not known that side of him. Just heard the stories and been able to see him show a kinder side. They had never seen him look serious like this. As if he could leap in to vicious battle in a moment''s notice. No, like he was always ready for brutal battles. "Mother,"


    "Yes, I heard it all. Go and get your little girlfriend so she can see her father. I will make him some soup before these three head back. They are very caring friends to make sure that Alice gets home. They even came after you for help. You are plenty scary to some people you know. My son, the powerful hero that can fight even dragons and ancient undead without a sweat."


    Choosing to ignore the teasing from his mother, Walker set foot out the door that moment. He had long since memorized the new route to the distant shoreline city where the main cathedral for the church was. He had done so before Alice even took off for her journey. He wanted to make sure he knew where to go if the worst case happened.


    Luckily, as the world returned to the proper flow, the areas between Genesis and this city had not changed much. Mostly, the distance had changed along with the slight flow of a few streams growingrger as there was an expansion of a nearby broken upke. Otherwise, from what walker expected, everything would be the same.


    He only wished that the city in question had been weing to Genesis ideals and changes. If that had been the case, they would have most likely had the beginnings of a teleportation formation there. Then he could just use that to get there rather than pushing himself to move faster.


    But that also wasn''t any issue, he walked in to the air and began gathering wind mana. Traveling was nothing tough for him right now. He had a deeper bond with mana than what he had before. As such, he began using his skill to make dragon wings yet again on his back. But he focused only on wind mana as the driving force for it.


    This drew the attention of a few small wind spirit race members who wanted to see what was happening. But they quickly realized that Walker was just using a spell and nothing interesting was happening. They had seen him fly about before.


    Yet, another pair of curious eyes focused on him. One that he had not seen around before. It made him hesitate before he noticed a familiar figure standing slightly behind the little one. "That isb Walker, he is the most important founder of Genesis and the reason why you were brought here to learn and grow by your mother before she went in to deep meditation and slumber."


    "Ventus, I''m sorry that I can''t stick around and ask who your little niece is, but I have an important task to handle." Ventus could see that Walker was much more serious than usual. Especially with the fact that thest few days he had been very bright and cheery. Many people gossiped about the party of heroes who went about the city with smiles and positive things to say.


    "Well, take Erica with you. She''s a hatchling with light and wind affinities. But she is curious about the world. She sniffed out where Midnight lives just by that very curiosity. Maybe you will have the chance to calm your nerves if you are bringing along a student." The light green scaled hatchling dragon looked at Ventus before Ventus flew off leaving it with Walker.


    "I am pretty sure that ventus just wanted to leave you with someone she trusted so she can go back to her duties. She was looking for Midnight to be a babysitter and now you are with me. How do you feel about flying with me for a while?"


    There was a lot more worry that Walker was heading quite far away for this little hatchling, but he also knew that an elder dragon meditating and slumbering could mean months of that. And if Ventus was leaving Little hatchling Erica with him, she knew that walker was going to do his best. But he also felt that Ventus had done so because of the look he had about him. A worry that radiated from his serious gaze.


    "I''ll try to show off some dragon rted magic while we fly. I will even tell you about how I met Ventus and the other dragons. But you have to be ready to fly fast. Think you can handle it?" Walker knew that hatchlings couldn''t respond, but if there was anything about a wind dragon hatchling he did know, was that they would love to fly sooner thanter. He had heard this said more often than not.


    The saying, a wind dragon hatchling would jump off a cliff just to feel the breeze sooner, wasmon for thos teasing the elder wind dragons. Naturally, this was also a phrase people used for those who appeared to be within their element. When they were talented right away whether they were ready or not to be so talented in that subject.

 Chapter 2206: 2206. Flight And Chains

    Chapter 2206: 2206. Flight And Chains


    There was a part of Walker that was thinking about how he would reprimand Ventus when he returned. Especially since he was sure that she had no idea how different this way of thinking was from a human''s thoughts.


    No human would just say, hey, I am in charge of this child, watch them for me while you go off on a longer journey to a city i''ve never been to. Bit for a dragon, a longer journey could be the same as a small nap. Their sense of time and distance were radically different from the other races.


    Tobe fair, this was still a step up. plenty of the dragons had tossed their young from their nests if they were not strong enough in the ways that they desired them to be. Whether it was affinity or not, a child like this hatchling that had a strong wind affinity with a lower light affinity would be disliked.


    The dragons believed in elemental purity along with various other forms of growing themselves using just their main elemental affinity. Hence why their viges were not mixed with one another. They were separated because that was the best method for them to focus on absorbing and gathering one elemental mana at all times.


    While that had already begun to change, the reasoning that the dual elemental affinity dragons appeared was simple, to stop fights. There would be a vige that got in to it with another of a different elemental affinity. As such, to resolve this issue, one dragon of each would have a child together. Causing there to be amon ground.


    Sometimes this wasn''t the case. Emotions still existed along with the dragons that chose to live somewhat away from the main viges which were governed by elders. They were not as strictly held to the elemental affinity purity. Not that this changed much overall.


    The future would surely hold many more of the dual or even triple affinity dragons. They would have ess to plenty of things within Genesis that could allow them to grow. Plenty of people would support them as well. It would be a new era for dragons overall.


    Right this second, Walker was using dragon wind wings to fly through the air at a little slower than what he had been nning on doing. It wasn''t that he had lost his desire to get Alice home. It was the fact that he felt some worries over the little hatchling with him. Although, Erica appeared to be thrilled.


    He had been speaking about how he had met Ventus and how Ventus had even introduced him to her children, but the more he got in to his stories, the more he realized that Erica was just too amazed by the fact that they were flying.


    As a dragon with a main wind affinity, the act of flying was just too great and amazing. The best part was, that she was still a hatchling and her wings would not be strong enough to take her in to the sky for a while yet. Unlike other dragons, the wind dragons would hatch with small wings already somewhat developed wings. Other hatchlings would take time to show them. Midnight was actually behind inparison since she gained her wingster.


    That was another story though. Walker knew the circumstances behind the way that midnight grew up and how he came to meet her. He could think about it another time.


    He watched as a little wing mana made its way over Erica''s baby dragon scales. The clear sign that she was absorbing mana unintentionally while enjoying the feeling of the air rushing over her body. On top of that, the way that Walker used wind mana made it feel as if she had been the one flying without any help at all. Something he had not considered as a bonus skill.


    It was worth remembering though. When he visited certain ces where children might get a little rowdy, he could offer some small flying lessons. Maybe even help them decide what path they might want to take in the future.


    Hence how he ended up on the thought topic of what ss this little hatchling might end up with. She clearly focused on her wind affinity with how much she enjoyed flying right now. But with the weaker light affinity, there was a better chance that Erica could end up with a better ss than what a normal wind dragon might get. Especially since the dragon race was developing in many ways right now.


    The royal dragons had all gained sses that made sense. They were royal fire dragon, royal dark dragon, and so on. But they were dominator dragons. One was their race, what they had be. And the other was what they were in the position of their species. Royals. It worked the same way as the royalty in the other races too.


    The emergence of the first dragon alchemist had already made a big wave within the dragons and even a few of the other races since they had never expected there to be a dragon that would prefer to spend their very long lives learning alchemy. But that alone was an


    astounding thing.


    That dragon who was very young, would have the chance to spend an entire dragon lifetime refining their alchemy technique. Most likely creating their very own form of alchemy which could also lead to them bing a new form of dragon.


    Just because the royal dragons rose to be dominator dragons did not mean all dragons of the world would do so. They had their own paths to walk. They could also follow the examples of the dragons within the elemental nes. Follow their steps to be elemental mana devouring dragons of different manas.


    "You know, you have a light affinity. If you mix that with the wind affinity, you might be able to move even faster through the sky than any other dragon. Don''t you realize how fast light moves? When you light a me in a dark room, it bes brighter faster than you can see, right? You don''t even need to blink and it''s bright. Both light and air together would be faster."


    Walker had thought about mixing the light mana with his wind to make himself a special buff. But right now, it seemed a little better to exin the feeling of doing so to this little hatchling. She was going to grow up with this dual affinity. He was just giving her a little head start when it came to sensing the two affinities being used together.


    As such, he mixed some light mana in to the wind dragon wings he had made. The re of light within the condensed green wind wings caused a burst in speed which brought a small surprised growl from erica. Walker could onlyugh a bit as he saw her eyes wide open in awe. The world which had been moving slower beneath them had be a blur to her eyes. That was all due to her low level and young age. That alone was astonishing to her. She had been born not too long ago when it came to the time of a dragon. Therefore, she had never experienced something like this. She had never even dreamed or imagined it!


    With this speed, Walker knew that they would easily push in to the area of the city that he wished to travel to. But for now, he enjoyed the time he had with Erica and the wonder that came from these new experiences. He couldn''t wait to show these sorts of magical moments to others. It was a good reason to keep putting his all in to Genesis.


    "We deny the existence of your cathedral and any cathedral that does not exclusively worship light and the existence of a god who created all light that brings about life. We will not ept your denial of those facts! The world and existence itself are part of what we believe created


    everything."


    "From this point on, you will be disallowed to ept any patients to be healed within your false cathedral. You are all considered heretics. If you dare to spread your false words to others, you will be hunted and imprisoned as you should be."


    "And you, false saintess! How dare you im to embody a value well above any other. You are no worse than those who represent the sins. Great evil that will lead the people astray. You will be imprisoned immediately!"


    As Walker was spending his time amazed by Erica''s reactions, Alice hade to a wall. A hard wall of controlled beliefs that perfectly exined why this city had not connected to Genesis. The people were fed lies and scared by the very people who should be their examples of care and kindness. It made her heart fall as armored guards began to move toward her and her fellow healers again.


    ....


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2207: 2207. False Purity

    Chapter 2207: 2207. False Purity


    "Here we are." The slowing down in flight speed made the little hatchling Erica a little sad. "Don''t give me that look. We have an entire new city to explore." Walker shook his head as hended before the city. He didn''t want to be disrespectful and just fly on. This wasn''t Genesis. There would surely be rules.


    "We can see what this ce is like and what we might be able to learn here. There isn''t much time but we can have a small look while we walk to the main cathedral. As a city founded by and for the church, there should be a very ornate cathedral from the leadership of this city."


    While he was saying this, Walker did not forget that this was also one reason that this city''s leadership did not immediately join Genesis. They had their own values and beliefs. Naturally, they shed with genesis which did not fully support and rely on the church.


    Mostly because the church in the human city along with genesis, had not been about worshiping a great god or anything like that. Their scriptures had been interpreted as ways to live and how one should help others. More symbolic and less literal. To be fair, there were also those within the world that had systems called god systems.


    While those people were far and few between, they did exist. The party had even encountered one, or at least that''s what walker believed. Those system users had been bound to very strict skills, values, and existences overall. It made them harder to run in to in a way.


    The moon goddess was considered to only be able to move under the light of the mood. Specifically the full moon. But there was a mystery and wonder in that aspect. Various other historical references of god system users existed. Those that embodied the sun or war. One even apparently embodying the idea of the unknown and human curiosity.


    In terms of creating experience and destroying existence, they were not really that powerful. They just were deeply connected to those aspects of their system. While the world had returned to the flow of what should be, it wasn''t hard to believe that those god system holders would be more active and even potentially more frequently seen in history.


    They would be people with sses that embodied what king of god they would be. It would not be a surprise for anyone to find someone with a cksmith god ss, an alchemy god ss, or even an education god ss. Walker exined this as he idly talked while walking up to the walls.


    The city was right on the edge of the water. If Walker had needed to walk or take a carriage, he would have needed weeks to get here. But with his control of magic, it was something reduced to just a few hours of windy travel. To be fair, a few of the flying monsters he passed by were terrified by him moving through their territory. Not that he noticed them too much.


    Regardless, he managed to get here and spot the clean looking white walls. They had been cut from stone and painted white to represent the light aspect of the cathedral and church. A little much but it was their beliefs so Walker just made a mental note about the potential for decorating walls around Genesis. Painting them and adding murals might be a great way to expand the artists appearing within Genesis.


    As they neared the walls, Walker had the little hatchling take up a spot on his shoulders. Erica was a littlerger for it, but he could help her stay bnced with a little wind magic. However, the sound ofrge bells ringing made plenty of farmers in the outer walls rush toward the coyote. The guards also were ushering people in.


    It struck him as slightly unsafe until he realized that this must be a time for prayer. In such a city where the cathedral was the focal point, it made a lot more sense that they would have times in the day for prayer that they greatly cared for. So, he took the chance to follow along. It was the ideal way to get to the main cathedral.


    As such, Walker took note of the many humans. No other races were present which made him a little disappointed. Especially since he had strived to ensure that there was a ce for everything no matter the race within genesis.


    The guards wore armor but had arge white covering with golden symbols on them. It showed the cathedrals representations very clearly. The same for many of the small shops all around the roads that he walked. They had markings that proved they were supported by the church. A clear sign that the church handled everything.


    This also meant that there were no foreign traders, merchants, or stalls at all. Limiting the items that could be purchased overall. A very sad thing to see since many of the people here clearly could do with new food merchantsing in. A lot of bread and very little fruits and vegetables were on the market stalls he spotted.


    It was also noticeable that the clothing here was very in, no vibrant colors or anything of the sport. Pale whites, cream colors, and even a few browns mixed in. plenty of wooden symbols rted to healing and light runes though. Although they were fairly out of datepared to the light runes that could be found within genesis.


    "Hurry up! We are going to bete for the grand priest to speak. He caught some haratics!" a young boy pulled his mother along. Yet, Walker couldn''t help but get stuck on this.


    Heretics? What child would be excited for that? why would so many people rush to see it too? Nothing about that made any sense to him. But he also didn''t know what might happen in this city. What thews or the practices around the cathedral may be. He could just be hearing about criminals being announced and sentenced to ensure that the public saw them being brought to prison.


    Some cities had done things simr in older times since it helped establish thews. Genesis did not do so, but if there was ever a worse criminal that appeared, walker might do so to put the people at ease that streets were safe.


    Walker wished he could see more, but with all themotion, he was forced to push towards the massive open square which existed with one side open to the ocean and another side with a towering cathedral.


    The white painted stone making up the cathedral was carved with delicate shapes representing the stories within scriptures. Iid with gems and gold that showed the devotion to the great god that their beliefs were founded on. Walker was somewhat amazed that they were able to build such a massive ce right on the edge of cliffs along the ocean.


    It made sense though, not many people could climb those cliffs or storm any beach nearby since there wasn''t one to bring a ship to. On top of that, therge walls protected the city from anyone or anything that mighte knocking.


    Along the edge of the square where the cliff dropped off offered a brilliant blue view where someone could see the ocean meet the sky in the vast distance. It was a sure way to see an amazing sunset. Walker was making a mental note to sit and watch it with Alice if she wanted to spend the night before heading back to the cathedral. Or at least when they came back here so she could finish her business with the cathedral.


    Before he could let those thoughts grow, Walker heard a magically enhanced voice speak over everything.


    "Children of light and the true god, It breaks my heart today to call you here to witness evil that has infiltrated our sanctified home." Many gasps of worry moved through therge crowd. "Their vile thoughts and false beliefs led them to go against the scriptures we follow with all our souls. As such, we have captured them and will ce them in the punishments they have brought upon themselves."


    "False healers, false priests, and even false nuns all spout brainwashed lies given to them by a false saintess. A truly evil being that wears the mask of a young woman. Today, we shall ce them within the stockades. We will disy the false followers and allow the light from the vast ocean to purify them. Today, the false saintess will be cast in to the vast waters so that it may be taken away in to the depths of the endless waters. Never to return to our pure homes!" Murmurs of positive support and breaths of relief moved through the crowd. However, Walker had tensed as he saw the familiar faces, one face in particr.


    "Erica, please do not be scared. I am about to get very angry. None of it is your fault. I promise you, nothing I am about to do is to harm you." The calmness in Walker''s voice was betrayed by the shaking of his hands as mana surged causing everyone within the square to feel suffocated.


    ....


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2208: 2208. Boiling Emotion

    Chapter 2208: 2208. Boiling Emotion


    Walker carefully ced Erica down. A barrier of wind mana shielded her, but she could still feel it. Deep rooted fear. A predator greater than any dragon had just been aroused from slumber. Had just been taunted by something well below its strength.


    The suffocating pressure that came from all the mana within the massive square, no, the entire cathedral city had pressed every single person to their knees. Children and parents alike. All those that had been jeering and murmuring about the heretics.


    Even the strongest of the guards here were unable to lift their feet to take a step. Some of the strongest priests attempted to stand tall while using skills to boost themselves or others around them. All of them found that they could not call on a single bit of mana. It was as if mana itself had forsaken them.


    "I believed that it was just a difference in values. A city full of people who did not understand other races. Who might not have traveled the world as much. Those who had their own cultures just as the demi-human tribes that refused to create a solid vige because they believed they could travel while living on thend as their ancestors did."


    Walker''s words resonated through the entire city. The icy cold tone bringing terror to every single capable person. His words were not carried through the air as speaking normally would. They were carried by the mana itself to them. There was no possible way for them to misunderstand or not hear him.


    "I believed that if we learned something about your culture. Learned how to trade and share ideals that we may find another ally. That Genesis might blossom as yet another city full of unique minds joined hands with us."


    "I would have never expected that I would be so wrong. That all my hopes and desires for humanity would be betrayed like this. By false ideals that shackle an entire people. That allow them to ve away in worship rather than move freely."


    "Terror governed by scriptures."


    "Control exerted at the fear that a family wouldn''t even be allowed proper food. That''s if you can even get it since trades are disallowed with any other kingdom."


    The disgust in his voice was greater than what he had ever shown. Not just because he knew that these people had so many choices to be better, but because they were even doing these things to their neighbors and family. The evidence was still there.


    Marks on the stone where people had tried to free themselves from the stockades. Red marks which could have been what was left by rotten foods thrown, but Walker knew better. And the scent of death in the square.


    It moved around, an essence of death where life and brightness should be. The mana was right there for Walker to sense. Nothing hid it. "No matter how much white paint you cover our city in. no matter how much gold you decorate with. Now matter how much you pray..."


    "You have done wrong on to your very own and now dare harm the first saintess to appear within the known world."


    Another wave of stronger mana radiated from Walker and he walked over the crowd through the air and softly stepped in front of Alice who had a single tear running down her cheek. The small chains broke away in to dust as he took her in his arms.


    She looked at him with a single expression. One that he understood too well. One that told him not to hurt a single person here. One that told him that she didn''t wish to see them harmed. One that said no matter how he felt seeing her hurt and spoken of as evil, that he should not act on his emotions right now.


    "I could erase your entire city. I could forsake my hero title right now and cast aside the human that I once was to fully embrace my race as an origin being. But that would only taint the love I have for the light in my arms."


    The other healers, nuns, and young priests that had traveled with Alice found themselves freed and floating up with delicate wind mana holding them. Any scapes, bruises, or injuries at all were healed with just a slight nce from Walker. Their worry a clear expression to Walker as he wrestled with his own emotions.


    The grand priest speaking before could barely keep himself taking breaths when Walker red at him. The intense fear making the man wonder if he could ever walk away from this. "No one from this city will ever find sce within Genesis. None will ever be wee. We will not assist you. We will not save you. We will not protect you. Only those that forsake citizenship, residence, and everything else thates with being part of this... disgrace, will have a chance."


    "The world was not returned to its proper flow for cruelty and evil to breed. It was done so for a brighter future." his words echoed as the pressure of mana was suddenly gone and so was the one that caused it.


    Gasps of those able to take proper breaths were heard through the square while the guards capable shouted to lock down the city. Some people seeing a chance grabbed what they could and rushed for the gates to leave. This chance being the only one they thought they might have.


    Not everyone loved living here. Loved living under control of others.


    Without any intention, Walker had used arge amount of spatial mana to teleport him, Alice and her entourage, and Erica a great distance away in to the wilderness. Walker just held Alice''s face after setting her down and looked carefully at her. Almost afraid that he might


    have hurt her.


    "I''m sorry."


    "No, don''t say that. I should be sorry. I shouldn''t have let you go alone. It''s nothing you did wrong. We didn''t know what they were like. We didn''t know why they were so different. I''m sorry I almost lost it."


    Never had Walker realized just how much he cared.


    He had seen how Alma and Gil had gone well in to more than what it meant to be together. They had pledged themselves to one another entirely. But Walker hadn''t actually realized what that meant to him and how he would feel if someone he cared for was in a danger that threatened their life.


    He had been with the party. They fought and nearly died. They had tense moments. Life threatening events. But they hade together and stood up. He had been there to help and to stand tall enough to protect them.


    He was almost not here to protect Alice. He was almost at a loss for what could have been the sole person he cared for the most. He could have lost thest piece of him that allow him to stay connected to the human aspect of who he was. He had met her when he was just starting out in the adventuring life. She had risen well above any limits put on her to keep up with


    him.


    Now, he had potentially lost it.


    "No. You came. You alwayse." Alice''s mind and heart knew that Walker would be there. She knew it. Whether it was fate or more, he had appeared right when she was about to feel


    doubt.


    "If they didn''t ask me toe and get you I might not have." He was just d that those three had gotten worried enough to ask Walker to get Alice.


    That was when he realized why he had been asked. "It''s nothing worrying, but a few of your friends worry that your father is feeling unwell and wanted you toe home. So I came. He''s fine now though. Just more tired than usual they said."


    A little understanding flickered through Alice''s eyes before more tears began to flow. "I might not have seen him again. I might not have seen you again." Her words began to be garbled as the light reacted and became falling rain made of light.


    "You will see everyone again. You won''t have to worry about anything like that." Walker brought a little mana around them. A warm calming light which tamed the light mana reacting chaotically with Alice''s uncontrolled words. It took a few moments, but eventually, everything calmed enough for them to sit and realize that the others had set up a little camp.


    Also they realize that Erica had made herself a few good friends who were showing off some small light rted skills that she found interesting. Small growls and roars in reply that they couldn''t understand at all.


    "You have another dragon?" Walker could onlyugh a little before he started to set up a tent. He had a lot to think over about himself and his own heart. Right now though, he could focus


    on the little things.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2209: 2209. How It Went

    Chapter 2209: 2209. How It Went


    Walker almost felt bad that he was the one tending to the fire while everyone else slept or struggled to sleep. As the night has grown silent in their impromptu camp, he couldn''t help but hear a few things.


    Apparently, when they had first entered, they had been weed well enough. Their entire group had been brought to the main cathedral where they heard of history and how the expansion of the churches had been to spread the scriptures to all people.


    So far, that had been a good thing. They had all thought that the cathedral as a whole would be very epting of Genesis. That the people who hade to see their cathedral within genesis had just been a select few bad eggs.


    That had happened in the human kingdom. A few churches bing corrupt because of their prices or false thinking. It had been cleaned up as time went on though. Especially with the influence of heroes.


    This stopped going well when the group had begun to question the state of the city. The way it looked was very nice, however, theck of variety in foods and in the shops was odd to them. The guards assigned to them did not feel this was important and were very staunch.


    It only got worse when they began to question why other races were not here. It made more sense that all races hear the words of the scriptures so that they could learn how to live a bright life. Especially since Alice and her group believed that the scriptures were all lessons on how to live a better life. Notw or strict rules.


    Some of the nearby people had stopped walking around them entirely. Others were quick to move away from the foreign priests. They knew exactly what would happen. It was only a few moments before more guards came to escort their group to the cathedral where the interrogations began.


    Hours of individual questions with threats of imprisonment. Larger forces of guards being ced around them as if they were captured monsters that might leap out and attack someone in a breath. The atmosphere had be suffocating and toxic.


    It was very quick that they realized that those within the city did not ept any other races. Did not ept teaching them. Did not even view them as races even though the system of existence did.


    Even worse, when Alice was asked about her title as a saintess, things went downhill. They didn''t believe that she could be allowed to be called such a title when she did not originate and practice the church''s scriptures as they believed it should be. From that point on, it was a lot more reprimanding and threats of force before they said that reeducation was impossible.


    She had been told that her ideals were the work of pure evil and that she had led many astray. That even if she believed her ideas correct, that it was worse that she supported so called heroes when it wasn''t them that had done a single thing.


    The grand priest had even said that all the heroics of Walker''s party. That the races banding together to help the world. That every single thing done involving unity within genesis was all evils. All the good that had happened was the will of some unseen crater god that was changing the world to be easier for them to live in due to their devotion over the years.


    Pure insanity.


    That was how Alice''s group had seen it. A madness that could easily be the cause of many people losing their lives. And they were not wrong.


    When the rest of the group started to hear what the charges and the punishments were, they understood it all. That those with the worst offenses in the eyes of the cathedral here weren''t just executed, they were taunted and beaten. Then they would finally be cast out in to the oceans to perish.


    It was also why no one could possibly bring ships or dock anything on the lower cliffs. They couldn''t even fish nearby their city because the monsters had grown used to food dropping from the cliffside for them to eat. For people to be tossed down because they didn''t practice a faith the way they were told.


    Their faith was not something to free them and allow others to live a better life. Instead, it was a shackle on their leg. It was a cage to trap them. It was used to control them with fear. It wasn''t even just that though, it was a way to manipte one another with false reports while cutting off any other potential contact with kingdoms outside. The entire city had acted as if it was the only safe and pure ce.


    After that, they had all known what it was like to be locked up. All their items had been taken, luckily they had not brought much other than supplies. It had still been a shock. Never given proper rooms. Just thrown in to stone cold dungeons that were not the brilliant white paint as any other ce where people could see.


    They had all seen under the mask of the monster that had once been an uplifting and vibrant ce. The faith that had be stagnant and rotted over time. The world changing had just been an excuse for them to use more control and power over their own people. A horrible thing.


    The rest had all been seen by Walker himself. He expected that Alice would be a little more unhappy with it, but she had clearly still cared for the people there. Proving that she had the hopes that they would break free.


    It was why he had said what he said. Making it impossible to be free unless they freed themselves and forsaken everything about what they had been controlled to do. They had still made the choices to stay there, but now, they would be able to find ways to make up for those events.


    The worst of the worst would most likely be stricken down by those that had lost family. Those that hated them. While cruel, Walker knew he couldn''t stay there. Not just because his own emotions might not allow him to remain steadfast in stopping crime. Instead, it was because he knew that if he had stayed there, he would have been the one halting those ready to make their move.


    Those people had waited for a chance. There were always some that would let their revenge consume them. As such, Walker would have stopped them as a hero. It hurt him to know he had allowed them free reign. Yet, if he had stopped them, that desire for revenge would grow and stagnate within their hearts. Turning them in to worse people in the long run.


    In the end, he was d he had gone to find Alice. And as the sun rose in the distance, he was even happier to see that she was sleeping well. Even if she used him as a pillow while he sat to


    keep watch.


    "Yes yes, Erica, we will get up soon. I have some good food from home in my high spatial storage." Walker noticed that Erica had been silently moving around them for a little bit. "Ah, sorry if I woke you up."


    He also noticed that Alice started moving right then too. But she just shook her head. "I''ll have us all home sooner thanter." Walker looked behind them and noticed the others cleaning up already. They had caught on that they would be home sooner thanter. Especially since Walker needed to let a few people know what happened.


    There would be a little stricter requirements for the guards at the gates. Especially the guards on the outer edges of the dragon territories. The new walls were more imaginary than real, but they were still patrolled for monsters and general safety. As such, they would not be looking for people fleeing the city in chaos.


    Having that in mind, Walker also mentally promised he would push for more equality. More eptance. He already preached that in a way, but now, he would go out of his way to ensure that others saw it in his actions. Especially if he saw foolish people looking down on others. He should lead by example and teach them.


    "You can ask her, she would definitely show you some of her light magic. Alice can sing very beautiful songs. They are almost as beautiful as she looks you know." Walkers'' suddenplement made Alice go beet red. But Erica just understood that she could see light magic before they went flying again. Something she was very interested in.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2210: 2210. Faded Light

    Chapter 2210: 2210. Faded Light


    The travel was quick as could be with walker''s magic skills. He easily made use of both the wind mana and some earth mana to make a literal flying tform for everyone. This was morefortable than being lifted and just floating along. Or at least that''s what everyone told Walker.


    It did have the downside of Walker needing to keep a closer eye on Erica though. When Alice had stopped showing her some of her light magic, Erica had begun to lean dangerously over the edge of their little tform. Naturally, Walker had used wind magic to stop her from falling here and there.


    The look in her little dragon hatchling eyes captured the hearts of Alice''s group though. They werepletely captured by Erica and Walker had a feeling that she would end up with the cathedral more than what anyone else expected. As a babysitter for her, He wondered just how eptable it would be if he left her with some of the training healers for a day or so to learn a bit here and there.


    Regardless, when they arrived near Genesis, there was a littlemotion since the guards were surprised that Walker was casuallynding right in front of the cathedral. There were some rules to flying through Genesis now, and arge tform of earth floating raised a few worries.


    Not that it all didn''t work out. They saw Walker and understood that things were very safe. They even had a few onlookers move over for safety so that there was absolutely no risk to them being hit by any earth or wind that Walker controlled. Definitely a great perk of knowing the guards and having a good rtionship with them.


    The return of Alice''s group made a bigger stir as the nuns, priests, and healers noticed them. They all rushed to ask how the journey was. Especially since they had traveled through some of the newly expanded wilderness and even encountered a few monsters.


    The stories that they had would captivate their fellows for a while. Not that this was the priority. Walker knew very well that Alice had someone else to see.


    The high priest.


    While returned, the high priest was still pretty active usually. He would move about the cathedral grounds and the cathedral itself helping others. Once he had decided on who would take over for him and how, he had dedicated himself to being always avable to give advice and show off methods he used to train himself in his skills. Hje even brought the newest healers together to give a lesson about how he first learned to use his healing skills.


    This had allowed most of his knowledge to be sent down to others in a way. Living records of his lessons. It was exactly what everyone hoped to impart on to the future. On to the youngest generation.


    The best part was, that the high priest had even seen a few new types of healers. He had been amazed when he saw them and even more surprised that they were able to use his meditation methods so that they could also grow in the same way he had while having different affinities.


    When he had taken on a student with opposite affinity to almost every healer they had in the cathedral, many had been shocked. The shadow healer was not a normal healer at all. The dark mana that they sued was known for decay effects and not healing at all.


    Yet, this shadow healer could use the decay to rot away at the injuries themselves, causing a re in life mana which healed the body faster. While a delicate bnce, it was astounding to many who researched healing overall. No one had expected that the concept of dark manas'' decaying effects were not just in rotting something like nts or items. Instead, rotting the very existence of a wound was possible.


    The wound itself wouldn''t show decaying effects, instead it was the damaged areas that were decayed by the dark shadows wrapping it. Then as a natural resistance to being decayed while alive, the body would re to life with more of the innate life mana within flowing through them entirely.


    While this made the shadow healer rely on the strength of the one they were healing, it made healing deeper wounds possible. Especially internal wounds which were harder to see. The dark mana could more fluidly move through the body to find those damaged aspectspared to light which was better overall on visible injuries. Hence why healers took higher skills or longer time to heal deeper internal wounds.


    Those thoughts aside, Walker found that the high priest was resting in his room. A few of the healers nearby clearly worried over him. They had water at the ready in case he asked along with a few small snacks too. They had been taking very good care of him since he had begun to say that he needed more rest even under the whaling light effects within the cathedral.


    When he and Alice walked in, Walker noticed that the high priest was clearly more pale than usual. He also looked more tired too. It was in the circles under his eyes and the wrinkles from years of working hard to heal all those that came to him. Evidence of his struggles and


    sesses.


    "Oh, you came back quicker than what I would have expected. How was it? Your adventure? Fight off monsters? Or did you sneak through the night to avoid a wolf pack or two?" the high priestughed a little before leaning back again. Clearly, he was having some harder times staying away.


    "Walker came to pick me up. I was able toe home to you sooner. He told me that you have been tiredtely. I was worried." there was a feeling nagging at Alice. The same feeling nagging at Walker.


    "Worried about me? It''s me who worries about you... what would I have done without you in my life? Would I have managed to lead everyone properly?" The high priest wasn''t looking at Alice. He was looking at what she had been in his memories. The little baby left at a church. The toddler that ran through the church hiding from him. The young woman growing in to a brilliant saintess that represented kindness itself.


    "I don''t need to worry though. You''re too big for that. You have people to lean on." His eyes drifted toward Walker with a small smile. "I would prefer to see more though." He hadn''t managed to see grandchildren, his daughter married, or what the cathedral would be as time went on.


    So many possibilities and he might miss them because he wasying in a bed too tired to get up muchtely. How annoying that was. It was the very feeling that many people his age had. Amon feeling for all races when they got older.


    "It''s just what it is. Time is fickle and slips away from us like the bright sun setting." Walker felt that he was right. The high priest knew exactly what was happening. He knew that the high priest could feel it. That he might be healthy, but his time was reaching the end of what it should be on this world.


    "Then can I ask you something?" the high priest smiled a little. Alice also looked at Walker with some curiosity breaking the sadness she had begun to exhibit as she understood the feeling she had when looking at the high priest.


    "I know that you have trusted me to take care of Alice. To protect her whenever I can. And I fully intend to do that. But I am pretty dumb sometimes. I space out and miss things right in front of my face. I even let my emotions get a hold of me when I realize how I really feel."


    "What I am asking is, can I have your honors to properly bond with your daughter in marriage when we are ready? Regardless of all that may affect us. Regardless of time itself. Can I have that honor?" there was unrestrained shock on Alice''s face. She hadn''t seen Walker asking this. But she had hoped she wouldn''t ever lose Walker to anyone else. Unspoken feelings. "It took you a bit too long to ask that t out. But I told you a while ago that I trusted you with her. I''m d you understand now. It''s better that you do. Especially since I have a ring in that side table drawer. It was one that my mother wore once upon a time. I intended to pass it down to Alice when she was older. This is better."


    As Alice took the ring out, she held the high priests'' hand. "And that smile is why I waited for the right time. It''s the only thing I ever want to see..." the high priest fell asleep then and there. As if every bit of energy he had left was exhausted.


    Even with the sun high in the sky, the night came quickly as the light had faded just a little more than normal that day. Some noticed it more than others. Some just felt that there was a cloud passing by. To some though, a piece of the light itself had gone missing.


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2211: 2211. Unrest

    Chapter 2211: 2211. Unrest


    It was a silent day. The news did not take the city by storm, but settled over it like a quiet and cold snow. Bad news tended to do that. It wouldy on people and wear away at them. Especially for those that had a deeper connection with that bad news.


    Alice had not taken it as poorly as others expected her to. She was standing taller than usual as she met others. Especially her friends around the cathedral.


    However, she was also very proud that her father had been the way that he was. The kind high priest who was always there for everyone. Regardless of his own situation. Guiding the hands that needed education. Speaking out when something was wrong. Opening his arms to those that needed a smile.


    There had been many moments that mattered a lot to Alice and others. When the high priest had made contact with heroes and even pushed them to help the healers without being a member of the cathedral had made waves. Whether it was seen or not, that had been a defining moment of his foresight for the future.


    To Alice though, she cared about every moment that came with him being there. Whether it was as a shoulder to cry on or advice, she knew that her father, the high priest, was always waiting for her to return.


    He had even waited for her to return to hear about her first adventure. Waited for her when she had gone out to a vige in need. Waited for her when she went to arge city that had been the seed for all churches and cathedrals. He had waited for her, a solid foundation to return to as he built her own.


    Even more, he had epted Walker multiple times. While his meanings in his words had been over Walker''s head at times, he had seen right through Walker from the very start. Had certainly seen the future that Walker wished to build. Not only as a united city and alliance, but as a man wishing to grow a family one day.


    Everything that the high priest left behind proved to be greater than what even his closest assistant knew.


    Within the old office which had yet to be cleaned out for those who would take over for him, it was discovered that the high priest had written clear and careful self biographies. How he had learned his skills. How he had faced troubles in his life. Even how he had made the decision to leave the human city ande right to Genesis to build something he would never see flourish beyond his lifetime.


    It was so amazing that there was a small argument over who would be able to read it after Alice. Naturally, everyone had epted that these were Alice''s to read first. So she could look at the world through his eyes. See what it was like while she grew up and her father figured out how to be a father.


    Even though they had never been rted by blood, the high priest had be a father above any other that would call themselves a father. Not because he had acted like it or just been there. It was the simple fact that he did not push an abandoned baby on to others. He had seen the problem and decided that he would take up all hardships rted to that child and raised them with love and care that many were envious of.


    His legacy had been cemented in stone in the small garden behind the cathedral. A ce where he and Alice had sat for tea. A ce he had rested in the sun. a ce he had enjoyed in life more than the cathedral when it was full of song.


    There was plenty more thought about and said on the day that he was put to rest. However, the news of the origin city of the church was hard to exin. Maybe the word exin wasn''t the best, the best would be hard to handle since it brought about a lot of anger.


    This sparked many controversies about the current state of the cathedral within Genesis and how it was so strikingly different. How the pure saintess who had helped so many had been harmed. How those that went to learn were instead ostracized and even threatened with execution.


    The spark was slowly burning more and more as the gossip spread. It was only until a crow formed in front of the cathedral that things seemed to truly be heading down a poor path. That was when Walker and Alice made their appearance.


    Recounting his anger filled words after Alice had stopped him fromshing out, therge crowd in the square around the cathedral calmed slightly. They could feel that as Walker exined he was struggling to keep himself calm.


    A hero should control themselves and their strength, however, the reason that Walker was so loved as a hero wasn''t just his actions. It was how people, felt being around him. Every single person in that crowd felt how Walker had felt. They could sense that he felt the way he did but many times more over.


    Beyond that, they could see that Alice truly held the bright belief that the people should have a chance to leave and try again. That calling for a war when Genesis alliance had be so brilliant would be a crime. That the roots would rot if they were to push everyone in to mes of war over this.


    Not only that, but the difference in strength was major. Their opponents would surely perish, even without the fact that an army from Genesis woulde, that their enemy would fall


    soon.


    When Walker made that point, the crowd was stunned. Alice soon exined that leaving them had set an unstable bnce toppling to the ground. Those that had forcefully controlled with threats and fear had been pushed to their own end. That when Walker, a hero announced by all systems of existence, had contradicted them, the people had taken a chance.


    Some fled immediately trying to reach a new home. Others had to fight directly to take control or power. The others, had clung to their cruel beliefs and either perished or locked themselves away. All of that was what Walker had been sure would happen, but a few of the sneakiest scouts had already left to find information.


    It would all be provided in time.


    It all seemed to calm down as many of the church members used their skills to calm and ease the situation. The people were rightfully angry, but they did not need to fight here. They understood that now.


    It was all fine until Alice spoke up again. This time, she kept speaking about what happened when she returned. How her father, the high priest, had smiled when she told him she was back. How Walker had ensured she got to him so he could properly rest. And how Walker had


    asked clearly for permission and for his honor.


    The response that Walker first heard, "Finally!"


    Apparently, everyone had been waiting for the official announcement that their beloved saintess and golden hero would make it clear they would move forward with their engagement and marriage.


    It quickly changed the way gossip flowed. Not about the enemy city that was falling to pieces in the distance, instead, it was about what dress Alice might wear. When they might get married. Howrge the celebration would be. How many great dragons would attend. Would there even be people from the elemental nes?


    It made Walker''s face turn bright red and Alice hide behind him. Yet again winning them a wave of shouts and adding to the gossip. Walker felt that he preferred being upset instead of this. He preferred standing ahead and fighting some monster with everyone watching rather than standing here and being asked what color his robes or suit would be.


    Things only got worse when Gil arrived from the inside of the cathedral. He had listened to it all but left things alone. Now, he was immediately messing with Walker about actually


    moving forward.


    Leaving both Alice and Walker to flee when they had the chance. But it did leave them alone for the first time. A chance to just sit and let time pass without issue. Some people might think that silence is hard to handle. However, with the right people, silence can be enjoyable. It can be more than words being spoken.


    Silence with those that truly understand you isn''t silence. It''s just a moment of peace to respect one another. To dwell on the emotions between them. To expect more from the future between them.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2212: 2212. New Starts

    Chapter 2212: 2212. New Starts


    Two weeks had passed before there was news of someone arriving at Genesis. They had listened to Walker''s words ande all that way. Encountering monsters and fighting with everything they had.


    When they arrived, they met with a guard who had asked for their identification. It was normal for them to need this since Genesis had ensured that they had made small metal badges with runes on it connected to the innate mana that each person had.


    The idea was simple and easy to put together within genesis. It made things much easier overall for merchants and everything else that was needed. Especially since there were plenty of matters that required approval from higher leaders within the city due to all the building happening.


    Upon showing the gold painted symbol that they had been forced to carry which was representative of a star shining through darkness, Walker was not surprised that they had thrown it in a nearby fire.


    The fires near every single entrance wall were there to burn certain pieces of trash or forbidden nts. Sometimes an invasive herb could make its way where it shouldn''t be. Hence how it had been added to the guard''s training. Just another thing to learn for the future.


    Regardless, the man that had made it was young. He was barely twenty but had managed to carry his younger sister on his back all the way there. He had sat down and interviewed with the guards about why he had left and what he had done rting to the cathedral.


    The news quickly became part of a report brought to Walker.


    How the young man had gone against his parents will to steal his little sister and leave. How he had been stopped from venturing outside the city at every single turn due to their strict rules. how leaving was the same as abandoning their faith entirely.


    The moment that his little sister had spoken out that she wanted to see what the mountains looked like, their parents had looked at him. Had begun to pray and talk about how he had corrupted her. How a pure soul was already tainted by heretical thoughts that prayer should release them from.


    What was worse though, was that the young man only had one arm. A so called method of removing impurities by forcing them to one part of the body through prayer. Then brutally severing that part.


    After learning of how the young man had been lucky enough to have a chance to flee and leave his family behind, the guards had asked for extra time off. They had not realized that the situation there was so bad that even families would tear themselves apart. Seeing the results right away without grasping that was a fair reason to go home and be thankful for their own family life.


    Once it was clear who this man was and the state of him and his sister, they had been epted and brought to the Genesis building. The guards that took them had exined a few things, but overall, it had been a very long day for them before they were given a room within an inn to stay.


    The relevant skills they were able to use were very basic. They had never been allowed to do much. A twenty year old without a ss since they had not been allowed to do anything after the world had changed and a younger sister of seven that also was not allowed to try for a ss.


    The reason behind this was simple, when the world had changed, they had been told that the message from existence was wrong. That it was the whispers of heretics trying to stop them. They had not been stopped because of they chose a ss without one automatically just appearing then they were against their god.


    A double standard that by praying their god would somehow just hand them a ss instead of them working to gain one. It was idiotic, but with so many risks if they did so they couldn''t. It just went to show more of the oppression there.


    Only a few hourster did a few of the scouting elves return with reports that a few hundred people were walking toward Genesis. All of them were injured in some way. Mostly because of the journey when they had never been able to leave and train themselves. Others from the resistance that they had to put up to flee from their past homes.


    This prompted many guards and healers to make their moves. Setting up tents to ensure that people were healed was a must. But the guards needed to be there to gauge those who would or would not be epted in to genesis. Because of the things said and done by these people, it needed to be carefully decided over all else.


    Many had shown that they had fear whenWalker was brought up. Especially when they mentioned the immense pressure that came with everywhere he walked. They were under the impression that Walker gave off that sort of pressure at all times. A smallical idea that the guards exined as being untrue.


    What shocked everyone, was when Alice arrived and began to heal those with injuries. Many feared that they would be turned away since they had been in the square when the saintess was brought out. They had not raised a single finger to help her or those that came with her.


    Yet, no revenge or anger showed on Alice''s face. Her song resonated with the light mana and began to heal all that were near her. Changing everything that they believed and showing that they had truly been cut free from the lives that they had lived in fear.


    Naturally this did not stop others from heading to the tents to take a look. Ignus and Remey made their own appearances. Ignus decided that shocking these people by showing them his full dragon form before he returned to his dragonkin form was a good idea. And Remey also set foot next to Alice with her body aze before she began refining healing potions suited for individual injuries on the spot.


    Booth made waves but showed what Genesis truly was. A united front of ideas and races that caused growth. These events prompted endless questions before Gil and Su also made their own appearances. The only pens that didn''t go out too much were Midnight and Onyx who had made their own efforts to ensure that these people would be able to have homes.


    The new buildings being prepared for the expanding citizens were always in need of more hands. Having Onyx there to help moverger items saved the usage of a few dwarven golems. Having Midnight to guide some enthusiastic young earth dragon hatchlings recently trying to master their earth skills also kept some trouble calm.


    Walker himself was thest to arive. Not because he feared he would scare them, but because he worried that he might lose his temper. Especially if he saw a few of the ones that came to cause trouble do or say anything to Alice.


    And those that came to cause trouble were not few. Out of the few hundred people that came, a group of forty had sworn they came to cleanse Genesis. They had led their own foolish attack to try and break in to the city and fight those within. To purify the heretical thinking that caused their own city to fall in to chaos.


    As such, Walker had allowed himself one slight in control. He had released arge amount of earth mana to create moving vines of soil that entangled all of them before leaving them to the guards. While he wanted to vent his disappointment, Walker knew that there had beenws for a reason. He would not be judge, jury, and executioner in this situation. Unsurprisingly, this had won him some faith from the people who came to find a new life and start again. It was odd in a way since they still held a seed of fear for Walker. Yet, it seemed that he had shown just what he meant when he spoke of Genesis. Just how he felt about defending the unity within Genesis.


    Although, there was another development within Genesis when these people had shown up. The idea that there would need to be a lot more recruitment for new people had been pushed again. That it would be worth setting up academies properly.


    The idea had already been pitched before. However, an idea that they should make a united academy for the brilliant top young people of the entity of Genesis was a decent idea. A potential new way to grow people that would be able to set foot in to the elemental nes once they had trained enough. Or to take hold of the forefront of certain guilds or industries


    within the city.


    A potential retirement opportunity for some of the masters that had already begun to pass on their knowledge.


    ----


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2213: 2213. Affinity Balance

    Chapter 2213: 2213. Affinity Bnce


    "Awake earlier thanter Erica, did you go looking for Midnight again?" Walker found that the little hatchling had sniffed out his location. She had definitely followed the smell of freshly toasted break and ckberry jam.


    In the short time that they had been together, she had taken a veryrge liking in the food that Walker''s mother made from scratch. So much so that she even refused to eat the strawberry jam that came inside a pastry from a street stall. The best was the best, and Walker''s mother made the best fresh at home.


    That aside, Walker had noticed that the little hatchling had calmed down a lot byparison with what she had done when she was first with him and gone flying. In turn though, she had been trying to make her own wings fly her up in the the sky. Even trying to use the light mana she had ess to to help her with that.


    Her spending some time at the cathedral and opened her eyes up to the second affinity that she had not valued as much. Especially since she had the sense that she might be able to do something like the instrumental healing that was done. Focusing on the fact that Alice made the lights dance with just a few hummed tunes.


    This was making it much clearer to her as a hatchling what she had to work with. Walker could only watch and give in here and there to her desires to see his magic using both manas. But he had shown her a mixture of those tow manas which he realized what what she was after.


    As a hatchling, Erica had trouble expressing what she wanted. She had not mastered the draconguage at all since she was too young to fully articte it. Onyx had some luck withmunicating with her, but since she was so young, the idea that she could fully form thoughts and ideas was a bit out of the game.


    Therefore, Walker worked with what he felt was right. At the time, he had mixed wind and light mana in different variations to see how it would work in her eyes. When he mixed equal parts, she had looked at the bright winds that filtered with a little rainbows and moved around the air. It caught her attention but she lost interest fairly quickly since it did not resonate with her.


    The next attempt was making the wind mana very strong and allowing just a slight bit of light mana in it. Erica had not even looked up. The very same happened when he focused more on the light and less on the wind. But when he had tried to mix seventy percent wind mana with thirty percent light mana, he had gotten arger reaction from Erica than what he had expected.


    This caused her to leap up and try to catch up to the vibrant green wind mana moving all around the air. The radiant wind was enough to match the bnce of Erica''s very own affinity. She could sense that it was simr to her and that she could easily absorb the mana. Even take some control over it, even if it was a minute amount of control due to her young age.


    Feeling that this had been the right direction, Walker had pushed together arger amount of light and wind manas to make the entire room full of radiant wind. As such, he had watched and sensed how happy Erica was. They had spent three hours ying with the radiant wind to the point that Erica hadid down to sleep for the rest of the night.


    He worried that he might have tired her out too much, but seeing that she was bright eyed and energetic now, he didn''t have that worry. He did notice that additional mana seemed to flow from between her scales. Proof that she had absorbed the radiant wind manabination enough to be able to store it. A perfect way for her to get a good base for her future growth.


    He even had learned a little something when he was watching how Erica had naturally absorbed the mana while they yed around a bit.


    Dragons were naturally close with their own affinities to whatever mana they were born with. Hence why their bloodlines were so very important. They allowed them to understand not only where they came from, but, also how they could grow in the future to be better at using the manas they had affinities from.


    Due to that being the focus for them, they had many limiting factors. If a dragon did not have strong enough affinity, they were cast out. That meant to the dragons that the cast out hatchling would perish or be a rogue dragon. They would never grow because they did not have the bloodline rted ess tonguage or any other form of dragon history.


    That was why it was a tragedy of a dragon to be weak. The exception were the dragons born of unions between pure elemental dragons. Just like Erica who had a strong wind affinity and a weaker light affinity.


    But how did those dragons learn? They had to focus on their innate affinities, but they clearly didn''t gain the proper pure bloodline dragons normally had. This led Walker to a simple conclusion.


    They didn''t need that knowledge through bloodline because as a dragon, they had nature''s guidance for their affinities. It was why Erica felt a resonance of sorts the moment that the manas Walker mixed matched the strengths of her affinities. Therefore, someone could be able to find the exact strengths of their affinities and create the ideal environment for them to train in.


    As such, Walker could apply this to everyone. Even going further to be able to teach the mages how to set up specific training that matched all affinities. Most people only had a singr affinity for elemental mana. But what if they had two? Or they had a powerful affinity and one extremely weak affinity?


    While this was already done in the mage tower and other ces using runes, this was not done for dual or triple, or even more elemental affinity beings. It meant that if they could learn to fine tune a small area for training, that the speed of growth for that person could be much faster. It could also make a much clearer test for those that wished to learn certain magics or skills overall. Especially when ites to the potential future of a joint academy for everyone to attend.


    The best students of the best could have their training areas perfectly crafted to match the perfect percentages of their affinities. Something that would be a luxury for those that showed the best skills. Something that could be tested and known to ensure that the person born had the best chance of using those affinities for their own unique skills.


    The potential of what this information could bring was very high. It also was something not perfectly shown in the system of existence. As if existence wanted those using the system to figure that out themselves. Otr at least that was what Walker had thought at first. He swore he felt like he had just uncovered a secret hiding in in sight.


    Using a little of his mana, Walker made some radiant wind and caught Erica''s attention. "Want toe to the echidna and elf living areas so we can see if we can gather some unique dual and triple elemental mages? Maybe we can test out how they react when we find their exact affinity percentages."


    Walker''s idea to test this out was to be able to prove it when he presented it to the entirety of Genesis. To be fair, he felt that this was something he had already touched on. Just not in such


    a specific format.


    Many of the mages and the dragons looked for ideal ces to rest and meditate. But more specifically, the dragons moved their entire viges to the best possible ces so that they


    could grow better.


    With that in mind, creating unique rune formation could also be possible. This could also be a better method to ensure that someone with incredibly weak affinities might be discovered. A test that changes the manas in the room might make it clear exactly what smaller affinities someone might have.


    For example, if someone has an affinity that is extremely small, they might believe that they never have a chance to grow. But even with the smallest affinity for an elemental mana, they could have the chance to learn skills rted. While it would take more effort, this was a major boon for that person in their grand journey.


    ----

 Chapter 2214: 2214. perfectly Working Theory

    Chapter 2214: 2214. perfectly Working Theory


    "Wait, where are you going with those kids?" Gil spotted Walker and his band of seven kids who had been on their way to learn a few things about potential sses they could pursue. Instead, Walker had found their teachers and taken them for a special lesson.


    All the while, Erica was meeting the elven and echidna children who were much more interested in befriending a little dragon than whatever lesson the hero wanted to show them. Not that they weren''t excited for the sudden change in ns. This was much more fun.


    "I heard that some of the teachers got a day off since they were going to show off some of the newly documented sses. But you are the reason they aren''t now? Today was a day where they would learn about the forest archery ss that they could get if they had the time to learn it."


    "Isn''t that the ss you were supposed to visitst week when Alma was ready to yell at you for going off and doing other things?" Walker haad the perfect counter to Gil.


    "That''s not what we are talking about here and you know it. Spill it, what are your ns?" there wasn''t much that could fool Gil. especially when he knew that Walker was just trying to get him flustered to make their walk faster.


    "Let''s get to the mana sealed room first. I set up a special stone room that was once a temporary storage area for tools. I had some rune carvers iste it so that mana was more or less repelled form flowing around it easily. With my mana control, I can alter the mana insidepletely."


    Now Gil was lost. He knew that Walker couldpletely stop mana from flowing in a certain direction. Even halt someone else from using the surrounding manas if he desired it. That was just the height of his understanding of manas overall. A level no one else had on the world right now.


    "Just listen and learn along with the students today. I chose the elven children and the echidna children small ss because they all have a closer feel for their natural affinities than what many other races have at a younger age. And, everyone here doesn''t have a ss so this might help them choose their own paths better."


    "Yes sir hero!" The response made Gil shake his head. Walker had the kids backing him up so it was what it was.


    The small room was a decent size. Everyone stood inside easily and could see where the temporary tool racks had been when there was building within the area. All that remained were the finished products and the small hut itself. All made of stone which was newly carved with runes by the rune carvers.


    "So, lesson time! Erica, you too. You are a student just like them. You just have a little more to learn." Erica huffed slightly in agreement since she was also very interested to see how the others would use what she had already spent time with Walker doing as a game before.


    "Your affinities, I am sure that you all have learned them. And I also know that all of you have more than one affinity." Walker made it clear that this was the focus of the lesson now. "Because I knew all of you had multiple affinities, I wanted to teach you the strength of those affinities."


    "Yes, a question." Walker caught one of the young elves wondering what Walker meant. "I just have a weaker fire affinity and a stronger earth affinity. So that''s all I need to know, right?"


    "Yes and no. Yes, you know which affinity you might focus on to guide your future path. No, it''s not all the information you might want. Especially when ites to the exact strength of your second and first affinities."


    "For example, Erica and I were ying with wind and light mana. She is able to use a very strong seventy percent wind mana and thirty perfect light mana. While she can not wield it at her age, she can absorb wind and light manas in those bnces much better. Because that is the exact strength of her two affinities. Can anyone guess our goal today? Why this is important?"


    Walker saw multiple answerse at him while he saw Gil''s eyes widen. "You managed to find a way to create the perfect environment for anyone. Better than just runes, but a specific and ideal way to grow, learn, and use those manas." Gil was ready to make Walker exin it all out more clearly so he could get someone to record it all. It would be very important.


    ''I am testing it now. Also helping these kiddos to find a better understanding of what they might want from their futures." Walker pointed at the boy who had asked first while everyone watched.


    The mana in the room shifted and only fire and earth remained. Walker slowly changed the values of the earth mana with a weakening fire mana. Both were dense because of his control, but the boy suddenly got more energetic and had a look of awe on his face.


    "So you have a ny percent earth mana and a ten percent fire mana affinity. Not very strong as a second affinity, but knowing that. You can ensure that you focus yourself on goals that would utilize that mix of manas. Potentially finding a ss that best suits your usage of those two manas in that mixture."


    "Can anyone tell me why this is very important to know if you be someone like a mage in the future?" Walker saw a smaller echidna girl look at him.


    "If I use mana bnced to match my affinity, I can grow an entire forest like my mom did. She helped and said that I can do it too even though I don''t use natural mana like grandma." "That is exactly right. But more specifically, if you use mana that matches your affinities, you will be able to ensure that every single magic skill you use is perfectly aligned with your will and your body itself. A perfect match to who you are. That means it will act like another part of your body, potentially."


    That was the feeling that Walker slowly guided them all to feel. The perfect match to their manas. The perfect match to their affinities. A feeling that would ingrain itself within them so that they could better use their affinities throughout their entire lives.


    "Will it be hard for Erica to grow without having the mana bnced the right way around her?" One of the young elf girls had caught on to this worry since she understood that Walker was trying to find an ideal way for them all to grow. And since the little hatchling was their new friend, it was only right to be concerned.


    "No issue at all. It just means that she will grow slowly. Every dragon born with multiple affinities learns about those affinities themselves. They have no teachers since they are not pure elemental dragons with one affinity. Does that make them weak? No, just gives them a longer path."


    "However, Erica knows her affinities and one day should be able to bring the manas in the air to her in that bnce. Or, we can work with very talented rune carvers to make a unique rune formation that perfectly matches her affinities. Allowing her to always have a small ce to go with perfect manas bnced to her and her alone."


    The children asked a few more questions while Walker was sure that they all had a lot to think about. A few of them had even sat down and started to meditate right then and there. They had grasped an aspect of themselves much more powerfully than before. They had to ept it


    inside and out.


    "You know that you have to share this with everyone. Especially with this as the result." Gil''s focus was on how this would cause another wave of change within Genesis.


    "I think that I need to find some talented mages and rune carvers to build formations to test this now. It will take a lot of work but will be well worth it." Many thoughts of how Walker could use this as part of the academy building ns came to his mind. He wanted to push through time and see it all finished already.


    If he did that though, he would miss out on all the fun surrounding it. He needed to take it slow and enjoy the life he was building here. He had plenty of time to do so, so why rush it and let it waste away?


    ....


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2215: 2215. More Support

    Chapter 2215: 2215. More Support


    "Why are you calling this meeting? There are very few representatives that are avable at such ast minute notice." While Alma was not very angry, she still felt that Walker had rushed this sudden meeting.


    "I know that you have a lot to do, I also know that The merfolk and dwarves are too busy to be here themselves. That''s why we have their second inmands here." Walker looked at the two unfamiliar faces that sat waiting to record everything for their representatives. It was a good look on their part with how prepared they were.


    "I came because your letter sent to me said that you have something that would make everyone stronger." There was a clear aura around General Scy that made it very clear she was ready to see what could make everyone stronger. Especially when she was setting things up for a host of smallpetitions within the coliseum.


    The recruitments from various guilds forming and growing and the city busy already. The usage of the coliseum space was always booked and waiting for someone toe and test others. Or forpetitions to begin to prove the skills of those looking for a chance to join the guilds with better starting points.


    It was not unfamiliar for the guilds to offer better resources to those that had more talent and experience. That was the same with any job or any ce in general. Making sure those with talent grew was well worth investing more in to them at the start.


    "This must be about the research that Gil mentioned when he called on me? I was sure that i would be consumed with budgeting even more than before when he mentioned you taking control of research and needing more gold to begin building new testing rooms?" Markus Raven had been advancing himself smoothly.


    The progress with his and his entire team''s budgeting was showing extreme benefits for Genesis. The expansion of trade routes and roads had produced a very smooth flow for every single item toe in and out of Genesis. Especially with the teleportation rune formations beginning to be refined and even described to other kingdoms for building within the very near future.


    "With the harpy queen''s representative here now, we can make progress." Walkered looked at Mordant and Ignus who had also taken their seats now. The other royal dragons were busy, but the two would be able to get the information to them without issue. Walker also saw that Erica was veryfortable sitting with Midnight watching everything calmly. A good boon since he was in charge of watching the little hatchling.


    The goblin representative was sitting with the gray spider representative while Fleur moved around aimlessly in the air as the spirit race representative. Not that the spirit race had much carte as long as they were able to freely learn and adapt to the entirety of genesis. Spirits were always free after all. They formed their bodies from mana so putting them in the same mold would be hard.


    "I am interested in how this will affect the future ns for development. The angels are sure that you are not calling on us from nothing. Especially since this would be something that might greatly affect us." As the angel race absorbed ambient mana through their wings, Walker knew his experiments with affinities would be valuable to them more than others.


    "We trust it too. The stronger Genesis is, the stronger our bonds with our saviors is." the demons had begun calling the army that went to the demonnds their saviors. Something that made it clear of their growing respect for a new way of life. It made Walker feel warmer since he could see the clear joy in their eyespared to the situation he had seen them in before all this.


    "I would prefer to sleep a little more. Why do we need to meet during the middle of the day?" A vampire was a vampire and no one expected how simr to stereotypes they would be. Sleeping the day away to live to their fullest at night. Fairly funny.


    "It''s about the ss he led away from their schedule yesterday. My niece was one of the students who rushed home very excited to tell me her test results from the hero himself." Now everyone looked at Walker after listening to the echidna representative.


    "My ns for an academy with general knowledge from all races is beginning to form much more clearly. As I said before, important things like testing general knowledge base first and also skills will be needed. Mostly to decide sses and find the path for them. However, I found a way to test their affinities with more rity than ever before."


    "The mages should be ready?" Walker saw a nod from one of ten mages who would be blocking mana for him while he meticulously controlled the mana within the room. It allowed him to maintain a perfect focus while exining rather than worrying about the outside mana interfering.


    "Erica, want to show off your affinity?" The little hatchling leaped up and jumped right on the table as the mages blocked mana around them. Walker began to exin affinities and how they could test what affinity someone had. But now, he could test the exact percentage of the affinity as a whole.


    He then proceeded to show them how Erica began to absorb the mana in the air naturally when it was perfectly catered to her affinity bnce. How that would allow her to adapt faster and also understand her own body better.


    "The better we can test everyone, the better that they will be able to choose what to pursue within their lives. Whether it is to learn new magic or to find new sses. All of it will be easier for them as they grow. If we look at the dragon race or the angel race, they absorb mana naturally. But what if they know what their perfect mana bnce is? Won''t they be able to find better ces to grow? The same reason why dragon viges always moved. And why I believe the angel cities once floated and moved too."


    "Wouldn''t a mage battling in an area perfect for them give that mage an advantage over a warrior?" The vampire representative made this clear question heard to everyone as they were contemting the usage of testing rooms run by rune formations.


    "That would strengthen them for sure. But what if a warrior was in the very same situation? Wouldn''t they replenish mana better too? It''s the same for everyone. But when ites to their growth, they would definitely grow better at the start." Everyone understood Walker''s


    point.


    "With this as the start of your academy, you could allow students to grow in their best potential environment. Meaning that everyone would be able to learn at a faster pace too. Not to mention whatever they needed topete inpetitions and one day join guilds or go out in to the greater elemental nes." Scy grasped what Walker was thinking beyond all this.


    "Exactly. A stronger base for a stronger future. This would give us the ability to handle some of the weaker beings within the elemental nes. Especially since they are often singr or dual elemental beings. It would also increase the potential that we can form better rtionships with beings within unique elemental nes since we would understand those manas better and the rtionship with multiple manas to one another."


    With such a point made, everyone was excited. They also wanted to have their own affinities tested since it would help them grasp their own bodies better. Scy in particr wanted to see if she had been training herself poorlypared to the ideal that she could have been following for the entire time she trained.


    If no one had stopped her, Scy would have been half way out the door wanting to find a way to create every single affinity testing room within the day. Regardless, after an hour of adjusting manas and testing everyone that wished to be tested, they all understood what


    Walker was so excited over.


    Upon feeling the flow of manas to a higherpatibility, those who had never been in that situation understood the dragon race much better with their moving habits. Mordant and Ignis also provided their own ounts of why they had always enjoyed these mana dense ces which they could grow in better.


    When it came down to it, they also decided that they would fully support building an academy outside of Genesis city so that there could be arger amount of growth for the future. They even offered to bring out some of the dragon race''s wealth from the elder who kept their history. A major show of support even now.


    "Oh, and this testing will need to be free for everyone that wishes to wait for the chance to be tested. It will be a basic right when a child is born when their parents choose to bring them."


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2216: 2216. Chase Walker

    Chapter 2216: 2216. Chase Walker


    Walker had made waves again. The information traveling throughout Genesis was enough to make many mages want to abandon their studies within the mage tower altogether. Not because they cared too little about them, but because they wanted to learn more about


    themselves to see if they should continue on that path.


    Some mages had stopped to reconsider everything about themselves. They were unsure if the foundations they had built with their study and strength were enough. If it was truly what they were meant to sue for their skills.


    To be fair, the idea that they might not have been properly using mana the entire time was a big blow to their minds. Especially if they could have done better in terms of understanding their own affinity. To a mage, it was like finding out that they hadn''t even taken the time to learn of their own names if theycked understanding of their own affinity for mana.


    Things weren''t just going crazy with the mages though. Plenty of other elemental mana focused ss users had been shocked by what they heard. The years taken to understand how to grow and use their manas could have been shortened through this process of using runes, a specialized mage, and testing?


    Impossible.


    Who had so many people missed this for years and years? Was it because the flow of mana was damaged to a degree and the world was separated from everything else? If that was the case, then it might not have been possible to fully grasp affinities at the start when they had been learning.


    If this was the case, then the fact that they had just learned this still gave everyone a chance. Not only the young regeneration a chance to start with a step ahead, but for people to reim their glory if they had be too old to hold their power the way they had been when they were young.


    It was not umon for some of the elderly to find a second wind in this city now. The mana and the growth of runes had already proven to give everyone a new way of looking at the world. However, it had also unlocked plenty of theories that had been seen as impossible.


    Testing the true affinities people had was one of those impossible things. Walker was quick to dover that some people had be traveling mages in the past. Through multiple races, there had been mages with higher sensitivity that believed they could find a spot in the world where they could better understand mana than others. Just the same as the dragons did.


    They had been limited though. They could only feel something was not perfectly aligned within their bodies and what they tried to achieve. Not exactly what that was though. There were pieces of the world missing. Well, the world was just a piece in the grand scheme of things. So any theory or attempt to fully find what that was couldn''t be done.


    Hence why it was so quick and sudden that walker had discovered this. He had just happened to follow that same thinking of others in the past but had the environment to make leaps towards a proper form. To ensure that he could seed.


    Many of the guards wished to have their affinities tested as soon as possible. Not just because they could defend Genesis faster, but because they might be able to discover something that helped them rise higher in their chosen profession.


    They weren''t the only ones that thought that though. There was a change in the dragons that had been more evident than others right away.


    Mordant and Ignus had been present to heart and even saw what Walker was speaking about. They had not been surprised to find that they had pure elemental affinity with dark and fire as they had their entire lives. They were pure elemental dragons. It made sense that this would be the result.


    However, this raised the question of the dual elemental dragons that had been born. Or those that had managed to get unique forms of an elemental mana by being born between two different elemental dragons for the union of different viges.


    If they could perfectly understand their own affinities thene to Geneiss to have their specialized training ce created, wouldn''t they also have a chance to be dominator dragons? Even if that wasn''t a possibility, they could grow to be as strong as the elders without being held back as they had been.


    It also meant that the dragons as a whole would have to change their thinking about elemental purity in the long run. There could be a lot changing that they had never considered. A grand potential for their race to grow in the future. Especially if they did not need to maintain their thoughts about elemental purity as a whole.


    The same thing that the angels had to fight against, just that their fight was slightly different since they embraced all elemental manas and not the ulterior manas like life, space, time, and death. Regardless, this was arge step for the dragon race to take and one that would need to be thought about in depth to ensure nothing went awry.


    Walker was very clear sighted when it came to the way that dragons thought. He had heard about the fact that there was a steam dragon. Something that had been between two major fire and water dragon viges. If that steam dragon was called to Genesis, they would have the chance to find out if they truly were a perfect bnce of water and fire. Or would they have a different affinity bnce that could change what they saw themselves as?


    This was all aside from the fact that a few of the rune carvers and the dwarves had rushed to be the first able to help make this all happen. The runes needed would allow rune carvers to test the limits of control when it came to mana flowing through rune formations.


    Especially whenpared to the other runes that were made. The focuses on runes right now were rted to improving the flow of mana to one ce. They rarely had to create runes that repelled mana from somewhere so that other runes could focus on the in depth control of the amount of each mana in particr.


    It would be a challenge that could adjust and create new rune formations that specifically created an exact form of fused mana every single time. Or, one that could be adjusted through extremely careful control of the runes themselves to create an environment. This could lead to training areas that may even cause terrain alterations. An idea only theoretical for now using the runes to make rune formations.


    The reason that the dwarves wanted a part in this was that many had already begun nning the academy and the academy grounds. If this would be part of the normal testing for the academy and for everyone within genesis, then they had to be involved. They were some of thergest contributors to the building of everything within Genesis. Missing out on this would stop them from leaving their marks on history!


    There was another group that saw this as unique.


    The echidna had all strived to learn from nature. Follow the flow of natural mana. But they were not all born with the te to follow that specific route. They had to learn to find the flow of natural mana. Some spending years to do so with very little sess. This discovery gave them the chance to find a unique ce within nature that they could exceed in. an opening of their eyes to a method they may have missed.


    There was no anger or distaste though. They were very happy to find this for their future generations and to keep showing off their culture to other races. They had be a very important aspect of life for the farmers and many others who had never expected that they could use natural mana in any form or fashion.


    Herbalists raved about the way that the echidna suggested changing the flow of their nting schedules. It had already shown progress overall, but things would just continue to change if the echidna without as much to teach found a method for growing.


    Everyone could only be amazed by the changes beginning to show. Walker was still at the very center of them since he was the only one able to fully alter all the mana in a singr space enough to test for affinities. Hence how he began to appear randomly through Genesis to ensure that he could surprise people with affinity tests.


    Until the ces he needed were built, he told everyone that luck would let them get their affinity tests sooner thanter. It was the fairest way he could think of so that he would not be swarmed by people. Although, everyone else found the idea of many children in Genesis ying hide and seek with Walker as the prize very amusing.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2217: 2217. Proclaimed Students

    Chapter 2217: 2217. Proimed Students


    "Twin shield arts. That''s the unique form ofbat I will show you all. Especially since you can all wield shields and are not limited to just one."


    The reason Su found herself in this odd situation wasn''t just because of the growing number of people finding sses that were simr to the heroes that they adored. That was just a part of it.


    Many people had begun to idolize the heroes along with the representatives on the Genesis council. That was to be expected. Those that decided to pursue Su''s example were those that had seen her kindness and ability to defend those around her. They had witnessed it and been inspired.


    That was also part of the fact that rumors and gossip about how much time she spent with healers and assisting those who were injured kept growing. People just couldn''t stop telling one another about the hidden guardian of all that had been harmed or who might being in to harm. A powerful twin shield that would block any attack then charge in to the battle to attack using the very same shield to prevent further harm.


    The otherrge reason that Su found herself in this situation was one person.


    "Walker is going to drive me crazy." Su''s mumbling was unheard of by the more than twenty students that had proimed themselves exactly that, students.


    They were not all young, but they had heard of the fact that those with certain sses might have the chance to gain education from the heroes and other higher ranked figures within Genesis if they had the proper ss.


    There was also the bonus that if Walker showed up while she was teaching them, that they might get their affinities tested by Walker personally. A major boost to their knowledge about themselves. Su knew this and so did they. Walker had caused this and now she was stuck with


    it.


    They had all begun showing up when she had volunteered at the cathedral for a few hours to ensure that it was clean and prepared for the inevitable injuries that would filter in to be healed through the day. idents were never perfectly avoidable. The world was not perfect but a constant flow of change.


    "As you all heard, I can teach you these shield arts. But they are both defensive and offensive. Offensive shield skills are always just shield charge and that''s it. Make a shield m or two rted skills. But never a full on offensive." the younger self proimed students looked at her as if they were seeing a chance.


    There were some older people that had gained their sster because they had never had a system in the first ce until the world had returned to its flow properly. It had taken time but they were ready to fully embrace whatever they needed to so that they could be stronger. To follow a path to a better future.


    "As you all understand, an academy will be built sooner thanter. Many are working on it and the project will be greater than what many expect since it will focus on educating those that wish to learn unique methods of growth. Or it will be focused on researching new sses. There are even the talks of making significant research on ancient bloodlines and their influence over growth."


    None of this was a lie and it was easily found information by those that went looking. Especially those that were closely following the potentials that the academy being panned had. So many people would attend it and have a chance to grow. It was easier to say that it would be a continental focus rather than just a small school of education.


    "But none of that will matter if you can not protect it. None of that will matter unless you have the courage to be both viscous and kind." Su''s mentality was like this. Now that she had epted her half dragon race, she knew that she, as a true draconic guardian, had to be able to fight with vicious brutality while defending those she cared for. Did that mean she was only that though? No, she would show pure kindness to those in need.


    "Sister Su is teaching a ss there. Should we join in?" Onyx was asking this to Gil who had managed to find Onyx for another small task they had alreadypleted.


    "I think we can do better than that. If you sneak in there and pretend to be a monster, we can start a little challenge to show off what Su means by defend and attack with shields. Plus, she will have even more people amazed by the skills she teaches. Making her ss grow when that academy is built." Gil''s small desire to cause a little trouble would easily get him pped by Su if he was caught.


    "Is that alright? Won''t he be angry?" Onyx feared that Su would just get angry with them for interrupting. Gil on the other hand, shook his head. He was skipping out on some of his current tasks so that he could join in the fun here. He had been the only one enjoying the fact that everyone was so focused on affinities and the future of an academy instead of other things.


    Not to mention that he had been sending out the gossip that those of the strongest within the academy once it was built would be able to travel to the elemental nes. A ce of mystery and strength that has yet to be explored. It meant that they would be trailzers too. A big deal.


    Onyx effortlessly blurred in to the shadows. Unknown to him, Su had noticed him and Gil a while ago. She know that Gil was trying to y something of a prank to get out of some work, so, she let it be. Now she was going to show him what he earned for doing so.


    As the shadows stretched out, Su dashed to the center where she saw Onyx appearing. "For example, the shield charge I just used was a good way to boost my speed and get to a ce that needs defending." shadows shot up and attacked but found that they had hit nothing but Su''s shields.


    "Your shields can be both your defenses and others. But traveling with them takes strength. Training your body so that shield is one with you means that it is like another limb. Like it moves to your will without needing to control it. Because it is a part of you, it moves like your body does." Su whipped a shield around and mmed it down breaking a small shadowing from beneath here.


    "Even using small amounts of mana mixed with your shield can disrupt the start of magical skills like shadow spikes forming as you just saw. Then using the base of your shield can be used to m down and create uneven footing for those that try and follow you afterwards." Using both shields, Su deflected another shadow then used the other to kick up a rock. "Using some earth mana makes it easier to direct a potential projectile like this. Did you think a shield user could ever have a ranged attack? No, because you all looked at shield users as a stationary wall. Or even as a moving wall without much else to do."


    The rock was boosted with Su''s natural earth affinity. In a swift movement, she mmed the shield kicking the rock in to the nearby trees and right in to Gil who fell from the tree branch


    he was on.


    "Or you can use your shield to stop someone''s fall." Su dashed ahead mming her shields together and creating an angel for Gil to hit and slide to the ground. It wasn''t a softnding, but he had been saved. At least that''s how su made t seem. Gil would havended on his feet if not for her intervention.


    "And if you think that this is all Su has to offer you, then you are wrong. She is definitely going to be teaching an entire ss on the ulterior uses of shields. Onyx will be showing off the duality of light and darkness." Gil tried to make it seem that he had been participating normally. He even made Onyx out to be teaching one day too.


    "Oh, don''t forget that Gil will teach a ss about climbing trees and how to prevent bruises and cuts when falling. He tends to fall a lot when he isn''t paying attention to his own work." Su smiled softly, but the gleam in her eyes told Gil that he had just ended up with even more work for the future.


    "Of course I will teach too. I can''t let down my family when they expect me to help out." Gil smiled through the future pain he would be in by gaining a student following just like Su.


    The students who had proimed themselves as such just looked in at the there in awe. They believed this all set upo to teach them alone. Amazing heroes who always went above and beyond any expectations. Or at least that was how the party was seen by many. Not that this was a bad thing at all. It would inspire people.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2218: 2218. Trouble In Flames

    Chapter 2218: 2218. Trouble In mes


    "What''s so funny?" Remey had just finished another batch of earth affinity potions. She was working on making a grand earth affinity potion next. The only issue were the herbs that she had to decide on. They all were very good, but the quality of earth affinity herbs needed to be improved by the herbalists due to the dried herbs being too old.


    Besides this, she was making a lot of progress making various recements other forms when it came to the high earth affinity potions. It meant that the same potion could be made with arger pool of herbs. A great fact for when there were harder times or there were herbs that took longer to grow.


    "That academy idea is making the younger generations go wild. Su has already been trapped in to teaching a group of shield users. One of them is calling themselves the future twin shield guardian." Ignus had flown over the area Su was teaching in and witnessed the entire situation.


    "How is that different from the future me broilers or the future alchemists that want to learn from me? I just have a guild to filter them through. Bi might teach a thing or two though. Especially if they want to gain a few bruises through the process." Remey was sure that if she taught anyone, they would have to learn to fight.


    "Making battle alchemists and better fighters?" Ignus was ready tough again. He found all of this hysterical since so many people were trying to im that they would be students to the heroes. Especially when they had the chances to meet many of those heroes wandering through Genesis in their daily lives.


    "You should be wondering why you don''t have an army of potential students wanted to learn from the royal red dragon. Oh wait, you do have a significant following that your dragonkin are stopping from bothering you. And more than a few swear that you will teach them to be dragons themselves."


    The sour look on Ignus''s face made Remey take her turnughing. Not because Ignus was going to ignore these people, but because it was somewhat true. There were ways for people to be rted to dragons. Even be half dragons.


    The unfortunate part of the party''s wild adventures was the fact that many people could change their race. Awaken ancient bloodlines within them. Or entirely alter their bodies to grow in to somethingpletely unique. It left a lot of hope for the people of Genesis who saw themselves as too weak.


    "Anyone that wants to learn from me can keep wishing. I will not teach anyone anything." Igniusb was stubborn but with a single nce from Remey, he stopped making hsi sour face.


    "And what if I ask you to teach someone? You know that I can easily break a few scales to make sure it gets through your head." Remey''s threat was light and somewhat full ofughter before she heard a knock at the door.


    "Come on in."


    "I thought you would be here. You know that it is easier toe here and find you rather than your own territory? Your elders are working to ensure that the runes are properly spaced." Current had been looking for Ignus since they had their own meetings to handle as the dragons were preparing to activate the rune formations within the week. At least the beginning rune formations.


    "The runes are already prepared. We have the main formations set up. These are just the second, third, and fourthyers that will help condense the runes in the center of the territories. They can be done without direct supervision."


    Remey nced at the two, "Ignus, you know that they expect to see you there. So I will just go along with you. If I didn''t go either someone would be angry." Remey knew that Ignus would much rather sit and watch her create potions. He would dly help too. She knew that.


    Whoever, she had be a unique existence. Besides being an alchemical brawler that was sought after by others for her potions and potential teachings, she was also a true fire dragon soul. A being that had taken major steps to be able to live in the world instead of moving to the elemental nes where she would be able to live morefortably.


    "Thank you. It would be nice to see you there as we move territory to territory activating them so that we can all live morefortably. We also have smaller areas beginning to be built in the middle of each territory. The dual affinity dragon''s are going to have better homes too." Current added this in with the recent information about the affinity tests.


    It wasn''t that they would all be changing a great deal of things. It was simply because there was a chance that these dual or triple affinity dragons could rise to be stronger than the other elder snow. If that was even a small possibility, then they deserved the chance to rise as any other cloud. Besides the fact that there might be a future dominator dragon among them too.


    With Remey flying toward the fire dragon territory, she noticed a few people looking up at them. They didn''t hang out in full dragon forms, mostly because Remey did not have one the same that Current and Ignus did. However, she could make mes imitate a proper dragon form. Potentially more dangerous than an actual dragon form since she would burn any and everything she came in contact with.


    As theynded in the central square that had been built for the fire dragon territory, Remey were very impressed. She had only been here when theva stones were being ced down. Now, she was able to see that the base which was built had just been the smallest part. Large stone resting ces had been made for the dragons so that they could remain in their dragons without issues. But there were many smaller homes for the dragonkin or for the dragonkin form dragon to rest within.


    Each had been ornately carved with historical art rted to the history of each dragon. The fire dragons were focused here. Yet, an addition of dragonkin warriors that had served greatly for their dragons also existed. This united them much more so that those visiting could learn.


    The mes and small pools ofva just made everythinge together. It was a specifically created part of the fire dragon territory which would allow the environment to adapt and change as the manas moved through each territory. The heat also allowed for hot water to be produced where the water dragon territory interacted with the fire.


    "Ignus, I havee to stand beside you as we activate the runes with fire mana." The voice that cut through the arrival of the other royal dragons was enough to make Ignus show an annoyed look immediately.


    "Liliana, I have told you many times, I will not allow you to take any ce beside me or around me. You are just another elder of the fire dragons and you do not have the right to stand as an equal royal. Nor will you take any further position."


    There was an angry gleam in the female dragon''s eyes. She may have been in her dragonkin form, but she clearly had expected more. "I have taken my dragonkin from now. I am one step closer to being the same as you. I will soon be a dominator dragon a few more years."


    "I do not care. Just represent the dragon race with respect. With pride."


    Losing patience and showing the fire that a fire dragon is known for, she retorted, "And you would rather some false dragon stand beside you? How does that represent pride and respect? You do not even spend time with your own kind. This would be to have a pure fire dragon bloodline in the strongest ce. Create the strongest next generation!" The mes soared around them as the other royal dragons stepped back a bit. They would not interfere with


    Ignus.


    "You are tainting our pure blood by associating-"


    A sickening crack broke through the air as Remey''s fist collided with the fire dragon elder Liliana. "You are barely a dragon. I have more control of fire than you. I have more control of any aspect of being a dragon than you, and I wasn''t even born a dragon. And you are not going to touch Ignus since he is the only one I trust to create grand potions beside me other than my


    father!"


    A brutal heat radiated off of Remey as mes took the form of a dragon. The different me colors radiating different heat which perfectly replicated the shape of a fire dominator dragon. "You are not a dragon!" Liliana took her elder dragon form. Her brilliant red scales covered in lesser mes than what Remey controlled.


    ----

 Chapter 2219: 2219. In Their Place

    Chapter 2219: 2219. In Their ce


    "I would have expected that Ignus would stop her. She will definitely get burned." Current''s interest was not on Remey but on Liniana. As an elder fire dragon, It would be very incredibly insulting if she were to be burned. Let alone by someone she had just called out as not being an actual dragon.


    "I doubt Ignus will. Liliana has been chasing after him to be the closest to being as royal as possible for years. Before hisst mate, she was already trying to take the position. She was just too weak back then." Mordant had recalled hearing of this.


    "I don''t see why you care about these things. He could have multiple mates if he desired. Isn''t that how most of you work?" Since Terron was an earth dragon, he didn''t understand most of the other dragons. However, he did know that most dragons did not limit themselves to


    partners.


    "No, Ignus is powerful enough to have many. He does not wish to have many. Ignus may be more like us light dragons than what he admits. I can respect that." Since Rise was dolling out some praise, the others were somewhat surprised. To be honest though, Ignus had gone against what the previous royal fire dragon did and only been with one partner at a time.


    "Stop worrying so much about them and what else might happen. I think this is very romantic. Someone came to take her man away. An unlikely but amazing pair. Remey is about to show exactly what happens when a foolish weaker female tries to touch their chosen partner. A dragoness is a dragoness. There is a very good reason why we are more powerful than most male dragons of our own kind."


    This was what Ventus believed and what she was excited for. Whether Remey had wanted to, she had once given her some small pieces of advice. Especially since Ventus had needed to show her own teeth when she had chosen a partner years ago before they moved on to a smaller vige. Now, she could see another younger rtionship bloom.


    "You do not have the control over mes that can defeat mine!" The roar of anger was in the draconguage, however, Remey knew exactly what had been said. She also responded with the same actions. However, her roar was nearly silent. Iad, it carried devastating heat which she could create using the fire mana naturally gathered within her body.


    In return, Liliana breathed inwards before releasing a ze of dragon fire. That would have devastated anyone or anything else. Ignus even took a wave of his hand to stop the mes from entering the other royal dragons. They were in his territory and he would not let them be harmed by someone that was supposed to be serving under him.


    To theplete dumbfounded astonishment of others witnessing the sudden spectacle, the mes from a powerful elder dragon who had devoted their time to bing just as strong as the royal fire dragon leading them, the mes became nothing.


    They werepletely tamed with a single motion from Remey. In return, the mes that had be a dragon from slurping Remey grew. In a single movement, insane heat was directed with extremely high uracy at Liliana. Remey''s anger clearly showed on her face for those that could see past the mes surrounding her.


    The beam of condensed fire mana didn''t hit anywhere but for the body of the elder dragon it targeted. However, the scales didn''t seem to be able to handle the heat. "You call yourself a fire dragon yet your scales melt under my mes! What does that say about you if you call me a fake dragon? Can you even fathom what it means to be a true fire dragon soul?"


    The ws of mes that struck next tire at those melted scales. Liliana couldn''t even utter a sound as she was too trapped by pain. Pain that burned through her. A pain she had never experienced as a fire dragon. Even a hatchling could withstand basic mes.


    However, Remey controlled mes that were many times greater than any fire dragon which had not stepped toward bing a proper fire dominator dragon. Her mes had been condensed within her body and were always in a condensed state. The fire mana within the core she created and also within her heart was incredibly potent. Even monsters that had been born and raised in literalva would have been burned by her attack.


    "I held back since you are an important member of the fire dragon race. You are not strong enough to even approach the fire elemental nes where my race would livefortably. You should understand your limits. Ignus and I can walk within the fire elemental nes and feel at home. You would be crushed."


    The mes receded as Remey stepped down right next to the eye of the elder dragon. "And if you dare try anything like this again, I will tear you apart in front of every fire dragon and dragonlin possible. There''s only one person that has managed to keep up with the heat in the alchemyb, and he has every right to stand beside me as my own family does."


    Remey pped wings of mes and made her way back to the royal dragons. "Sorry, a friend gave me some advice about these situations. I had to act a little more than talk." Remey grinned at Ventus who smiled openly. The others realized that Remey and Ventus might be closer than what they had realized.


    If they knew that Remmey had sent a few wind affinity potions to Ventus''s children at her request, they would understand. It only made sense that the two would be closer when Remey had helped her and Ventus had helped Remey. Just in slightly different subjects.


    "Now that this had been sorted out, I would like to continue. We all agree that Remey had a veryrge right to be here now? As a true fire dragon soul she is a member of our dragon race. She has the power to prove it as well." Everyone agreed with Ignus.


    The elder dragon Liliana was quickly tended to. The melted scales would take at least three years to heal properly back in to the normal shining red scales of a fire dragon. She had learned a dangerous lesson.


    If one were to challenge a dragon, then they should be prepared to be treated the same as a dragon. The fact that Remey had not been born a dragon of any form was just one step in her life. As she was now, she was most likely closer to the dragons than what many current dragons were. So much so that she could represent an important aspect of their culture.


    Pure and terrifying power.


    "We don''t need to be here, do we? Remey might want to fight us too." Su''s normally positive attitude was a little shaken. She knew that Remey held herself back a lot. But seeing that she could meld mes from her core proved that Remey would dly take a step further.


    "You would be fine, you know. It''s everyone else we would worry about. But yes, we need to be here. To be honest, I thought you would be happy that Remey stood up for what she felt." Walker'' was surprised that it was Su going against his thoughts here. Normally, she would support Remey.


    "I just feel bad. That elder dragon was arrogant like normal dragons, but she got put down very hard." Walker understood. He realized that it was Su feeling bad that the elder dragon would live with her unrequited love for a long time. Plus, Su had an idea that Remey would make a serious dent in her defenses nowpared to the past. It meant she hadn''t trained


    enoughtely.


    "Awesome." The two looked at Midnight who was just happy to see Remey''s skills. The form she had taken using mes was definitely a racial skill and not at all part of her alchemical brawler ss. So, it meant that Midnight might be able to copy it a little if she wanted.


    "You are not going to run around in a giant fire dragon from and melt other fire dragon''s scales. But you can learn how to do it just in case." Walker''s quick reprimand was enough to make Midnight sad until she heard that she could still learn it. She just wanted to be able to use cool dragon skills like every other dragon. Meanwhile, Walker was thinking that she would be doing a lot moreter in life. She was already well ahead of other dragons.


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2220: 2220. Recruitment Efforts

    Chapter 2220: 2220. Recruitment Efforts


    "How was it?" Scy had been waiting for Walker to return. He had said that he wanted to speak with her about the ns for the academy that would be built sooner thanter with how much excitement hade about because of it.


    While many people thought a more established education system was needed, the idea of an academy that started at a young age and had many sses and paths to follow was loved. People thought that it would be the best chance to ensure that all cultures could be taught.


    This was also the biggest benefits of joining together with Genesis. All kingdoms could have a free and safe ce for their people to travel for education. Especially those of nobility, royalty, or even those that just might be in risky situations.


    The very simple reason was that Genesis was creating guards that were considered unbribable now. The simple reason for that fact was the training.


    There was already an elite guard group being trained with incredibly intense training of all sorts. Illusions to strengthen the mind, armors with rune formations to ensure that they were incredibly tough, and even more the physical training needed to handle dangers of all forms. These elite guards were even going to be sent against elder dragons to ensure that they could only be rivaled by the greatest strengths of the world.


    Many had an unhappy feeling of this before they saw the methods of training. These were guards offering their entire futures regardless of race. Their armors wouldn''t even allow for their faces to be seen. The amounts of rune seals and magic used to keep them unbiased and secret about all things was also immense and evolving.


    That aside, Walker smiled a bit when he saw Scy waiting for him. "The rune formations'' second, third, and fourth activations went perfectly for the dragons. Their territories feel more alive than before."


    By alive, Walker meant that he could sense the greater density in manas. He was sure that there would be an increase in that as well as time went on. Especially since the world''s mana and the elemental nes were connected now. It would be interesting to see the environments of Genesis perfectly meld together over time.


    "Honestly, I am very impressed with the quality behind the formations. They can run without maintenance for a hundred years. Not that they will. They will be walked daily by the younger rune carvers and rune researchers for education and maintenance. They will also be updated as time goes on. The multiple formations will ensure that no issues happen."


    This had been something people worried about. If one rune formation copsed, what would happen to all the others? The unbnced manas would cause massive damage to the city and the people there. Luckily, the multiple formations ensured that if one failed or even three of the four failed, the mana would be bnced. It would also activate a fifth formation surrounding all of Genesis. A safeguard.


    "That''s very good. Some of the demi-human people worried that they would face dangers if there was an issue. We are often not magic focusedpared to other races." Scy knew this was changing though. More unique warriors were being born. Those who had found a chance to explore the magical abilities of their bloodlines, some being ancient bloodlines that surfaced due to the world returning to proper flow of mana.


    "So, again, what was it you wanted?" Scy wasn''t being rude, she just got Walker back on the main topic. She already expected that the rune formations would go over well. She hadn''t heard of Remey''s little fight, but she would be d to hear of itter. She wanted to fight a few dragons too.


    "I was thinking that you should be the one that designs all the battle sses. Find the instructors. Find unique weapons and techniques. Find whatever you need. All physical battle sses will fall under your design. ns for courses and the right instructors could change everything we know about battle." Scy''s eyes were already shining with her desire to create this.


    As a demi-human, Scy had found joy on the coliseums. And as she had grown she had be a general for the demi-human kingdoms. Now, she was a representative that represents all of the demi-humans within and even outside of Genesis for her king. Besides that, she wanted to do more. Make the coliseum even more lively.


    This was a chance to do all that and more. But Walker had not stopped. "Besides that, we will need a unique teacher that will be focusing on the outline students that don''t fit within some of the many sses. By that, I mean someone that can teach one on one unique battle styles. Preferably a proper weapons master."


    Scy was staring right at Walker as if she was trying to look through him. However, he soon caught on that her mind was running wild. There was so much that she could do. So many peopleing to ming. All people that would make amazing teachers that could easily provide what walker needed.


    "If you had not chosen me for this, I would have considered destroying all of Genesis in anger." Scy wasn''t serious, but Walker was sure that if she wanted she couldplete that task. Luckily, she was very involved and had a deep connection with genesis now. She would easily do anything to protect it.


    "Please stop making that joke. A few people actually think you might go wild and destroy the -city."


    "The city? Maybe a building or two. But that''s why I train in the coliseum where there are plenty of different protections." Scy''s sly reply made Walker give her a slight re. But to be fair, she wouldn''t actually destroy anything. She had trained her newfound strength and waspletely in control. Any warrior was careful with the power they held.


    "I will start to prepare ns and gather people to build their own ns. I have a few retired warriors in mind. They said that they wouldn''t even teach anyone in the coliseums. But I have a feeling that those old bones will want to make their way here since Genesis has better healing for them to feel like they are alive again."


    Part of Walker worried that Scy was just going to head off and kidnap these retired warriors. Plenty of them would have crossed her path during her rise to be a general. Yet, if she did find them, he might be able to see skills and strength that he had not seen in his life. To be fair, Walker had not studied every weapon or form of fighting yet. Just a few.


    "I will also find the right magic teachers. Plenty of mages had changes in their system to sses that are more in line with the kind of studies and affinities that they have. So many of the basic elemental mages took on different forms of magic or mage sses when the world returned to flow of mana."


    "I did hear about them. There is an entire group that came together calling themselves the mag archivists. They gather more information for the mage tower and also document all the magic sses. You should start with them." Scy''s advice was much needed. Walker had heard of them but not really had any time or chances to look in to it.


    "That''s good then. I will do that. I have to check a few things around the magic tower too. I heard that an arcane craftsman had a few ideas about starting to create a new magic tower. One that would exist near the bridge to the elemental nes. Also smaller ones that would be the key to the teleportation rune formations." part of this seemed like he was missing information. Enough that Walker was bing even more curious.


    "I know that look. You are going to learn something crazy again. I can''t wait to see it." With that, Scy left Walker behind who was sure that she was right. Whenever he wanted to learn something new, no matter what it was, something interesting would happen.


    Clearly, a ss called arcane craftsman would be interesting. But to be fair, plenty pof new sses like that would be very interesting. However, Walker had no idea if it would be something to do with all around crafting magic things or if it was crafting specific magic things. He had no idea. Too little was known.


    What was sure though, if someone had gained such a ss and they were interested in the magic tower, then they would have a lot to handle. Plenty of people wanted to see the full capabilities of a magic tower or a few smaller new magic towers getting built.


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2221: 2221. They Dont Know

    Chapter 2221: 2221. They Don''t Know


    The mage tower was busy as always. Walker had taken the chance to make a long walk around to see it. Mostly because he just wanted to feel how the city was doing. That and he had the fine tuned hearing to pick up on some gossip.


    When he saw a space set up by a group of mages wherein multicolored robes matching the basic elemental manas, Walker knew these must be the magic archivists.


    The group had seemingly popped up out of nowhere. Not a bad thing though. Having those that were searching for records of magical advancement meant that there were more minds searching the path of magic.


    Compared to what Walker knew, others that could use magic were far behind. That wasn''t because of any groundbreaking knowledge or lessons. It was simply the ability to manipte and understand manas as a whole. Walker had been put in situations where he had to learn more whether he trulyprehended it or not.


    His walk to the tower for gossip did prove fruitful though.


    He had heard of a few people mentioning the potential for magic rted guilds to appear. One being the magic archivists that had set up a ce to work right next to the mage tower.


    The development of magic guilds was something struggling inparison to the crafting guild, alchemy guild, and the adventurers guild. Mostly because magic was such a massive concept to fit in to the concept of one guild.


    This had led to multiple single or dual elemental magic guilds appearing. However, they couldn''t make any progress due to the changes in the world.


    Too many different multiple affinity people were being found to fit in to a single elemental magic guild. Especially with the fact that people now understood the rtionships between manas better. Not many would want to risk losing that aspect of learning by focusing on a single elemental magic.


    This left an awkward space where a magic based guild would work but it would need to be massive. Rivaling the size of the adventurers guild which spread out through multiple kingdoms. The funding of which wouldpletely ruin any chance at another project starting or finishing for the time being.


    "So, you are all the magic archivists I heard about came to check out new magical advances." Walker smiled as he saw a few heads look up from their table.


    "That would be the case! We are mostly a wandering group but we left our small library to bait this city and decide what our next goals are."


    The older man speaking seemed to y the role of, old hermit learning and growing magic knowledge. Walker wanted tough thinking about how this fit so many novels and stories he had heard.


    "So you have an evenrger ce that holds lore knowledge? It''s the first I have heard of it." Clearly the older man and the others didn''t recognize Walker. He was beginning to believe that they were all shut ins who studied documents constantly.


    "That would make sense. We have very few members who wander and collect Information. We store it away while documenting the changes in the magic of generations. Our oldest member is constantly referencing the changes in water magic in reference to tidal flow between oceans, the moon, and the rivers."


    A few of themughed since they had all heard the same story over and over. "Hmm, wouldn''t it be more valuable to make arger library somewhere like Genesis? Then You can expand along with the city and the changing ideas of new magic."


    They all paid attention to Walker now. "That is an idea. We could do so. We would need building permission and more knowledge. We mainly settled here for the time being since we believe there to be a chance we can ally with a future grand mage that will control the tower. Rumors of one appearing one day reached us."


    Now Walker understood. These magic archivists didn''t believe they would be able to create a ce for themselves here. They were outsiders that didn''t even mix with individual kingdoms, let alone a gathering of all of them.


    "If that''s all, you can do it. I can assure you that a group like yourselves would be wee. You should try to create a guild too. Magical archiving is something stretching the Genesis library thin. Archiving multiple races'' knowledge is stretching them thing as it is."


    "We are also looking for a few different magic guilds to appear. One focused on documenting, storing, and sharing magic information would allow for other guilds to partner with you. Then they can focus on overarching ideals in their pursuits of magic."


    With every single archivist''s attention, Walker had them somewhat stunned. A boy walked up to them and just told them they could do something like this? How did that make any sense? This wasn''t a normal kid at all!


    "Oh, sorry, My name is Walker. I am one of the founders of Genesis and one fo the forces that drives the alliance to remain and grow. Please enjoy the city. It''s nice having new visitors. By the way, we also have a library within the demonnds with ancient magical knowledge, multiple ruins with magic knowledge, and the angel''s knowledge on the Sigil continent being brought here."


    As Walker stepped away, the stunned archivists were trying to make sense of what they had just heard. They had literally met a hero that so many people raved about. On top of that, he was much younger than they thought. On top of even that, there was the fact that he had weed them here while pushing them to create a guild.


    They basically got the thumbs up to do more and grow in Genesis. All because the city was in need of people like them. To be fair, they had heard and seen the needs for many different professions to keep up with the ever changing city. The people were so diverse that just gathering the racial information based on history could take years!


    A nearby guard saw them panicking and walked over to help them calm down. He also understood that walker would not have met them if he hadn''t said something important/. It would be his job as a guard in the area to offer a few helpful bits of information. Plus, he would be able to share the gossipter.


    "That would mean you are the arcane architect that I heard about too." Walker had spotted the young man studying the brick and the rune carvings outside the tower. It wasn''t that he stood out very much from the mages studying them, however, what stood out was his actions inparison.


    The mages studying the tower were more focused on the mana and runes. However, this young man was focused on the stone itself. He even had a magnifying ss to examine the stone at a closer level. Enough to see if any cracks or evidence of where or how the stone might have been cut. Regardless, the young man gave Walker hsi full attention.


    "And you are the hero that managed to bring this tower here. I have questions you might be able to answer. Did the tower gain any damage from being moved/ was it damaged to a greater deal due to time and environmental aspects? Do you know what kind of stones were used? What about to meld the stones like this without many seams?? Do you know how the mana flows inside the stone and managed to also flow through runes carved on it? Is the stone absorbing mana naturally? Can you-"


    "Alright alright alright, I get it, you have a lot to learn about the mage tower. I don''t have all your answers since I have to research it all too. But I came looking for you since I heard that you have a few ideas about making smaller mage towers. Some of which might expand the mage tower effects that we have here. Condensing mana, helping in healing, and general effects simr to those."


    The young man was insanely focused. Walker could tell he had a matching mind to that of the wandering cksmith. Talented and a genius in his own right, but a little odd. "I do have ns to do that. If I can connect them then you might be able to use other forms of rune formations tomunicate through the mage tower connections. But you could also expand that to the guards so that they can help those in trouble better. If I have-"


    "If you have the information, you can make these things happen?" Walker saw him nod his head. "Then we should head to the genesis building and you can exin your ss to me better." Walker had his hands full now. But he had managed to find the arcane architect he wanted to speak with.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2222: 2222. Fire Dragon Herbs

    Chapter 2222: 2222. Fire Dragon Herbs


    "I thought you would be with Walker still. Didn''t you two coem to watch the activation of the rune formations then leave together?'' Remey was looking down at Midnight who had


    managed to somehow find ehr way in to the alchemyb.


    The issue was, she wasn''t within the alchemy guild''s alchemyb. She was within a specially built alchemyb within the fire dragon territory. It had been made specially for making unique potions that required incredibly intense heat from a fire dragon''s fire breath. Not to mention a few unique potion ideas that Remey was working on.


    The ideas that some herbs could only show their unique properties with unique mes and unique forms of mana was not umon. However, the idea that a dragon''s breath was needed was something many believed as a fantastical idea. Mostly because that only applied to forging unique metal items.


    Bit for an herb? That was considered a foolish idea since it would be too destructive. Yet, Remey had proven that to be wrong with her alchemy already. Ignus had helped her and before that, Midnight had helped her.


    Right now, Remey was trying to decide which herbs would show unique properties based on a fire dragon''s breath. The dragon race had some historical information about herbs that certain kinds of dragon would eat when they were not able to get certain manas for their growth. This in mind, Remey begun to think about why that might be.


    Was it just the fact that they ate those herbs because they had the chance to attract that mana which they needed? Or was it because they could directly use the mana within the herb? Or was there an aspect of the herb that became valuable to their bodies when they were entrenched within the naturally existing forms of dragon breath inside the dragon''s body?


    All those questions were why she had also requested simrbspletely steeped in the unique manaing from every dragon to be built. Even more, because she would be able to request the assistance of elder dragons and the royal dragons to potentially research potions made for dragons specifically using herbs that their bodies would need.


    The same idea had grown for multiple other races. However, Remey had allowed other alchemists to focus on them. Not because she was unable to do it herself. No, it was simply that she was a dragon too so it would be valuable for her to focus on that race. Plus, she had a bond with the dragons, specifically, with Ignus over the other dragons. Not to mention her friendship with Ventus, not that many people knew they had gotten closer.


    None of this was odd since this was what Remey was working on. The odd part was that Midnight had managed to sneak in to thisb which no one else really knew about. Regardless of whether Ignus was here or not, Midnight was standing watching Remey examine an herb.


    "Walker should be off hunting down some magic this or that. I heard he would keep pushing for more guilds to form properly so that less work fell on the Genesis building." Remey was trying to get Midnight to go away. Not because she was angry or unhappy that midnight was there, but because she knew that midnight was arge distraction.


    "I can help." The three simple words broke any attempts to get Midnight to head out. All because Remey still saw Midnight as a little sister and not the quick growing dragon she really was. Plus, who could really say no to Midnight? Even the grand hero of the heroic party couldn''t do that.


    "Fine, then help me try out the changes in this herb when only fire dragon mes are added. So you will need to only use fire mana inside your dragon breath. If this herb survives or shows any changes while I try to manipte it, we might be able to use it."


    The herb in question was a fairlymon herb. Not near Genesis, but from the Sigil continent. The full appraisal had been done over and over along with the separation from other herbs before Remey was able to get proper knowledge about it from the dragons who had eaten it near volcanoes.


    ''Volcanic giant''s ear


    This herb is called volcanic giant''s ear based on the mythology that there used to be various giant races. One such race known as the volcanic giants which would radiate mes stronger than volcanoes.


    Regardless of the truth behind it, this herb is known for growing its veryrge red and orange leaves near volcanoes that have erupted within thest year. They will grow only during heavierva flow periods which means they are abundant if the right time is happening. Otherwise, they are very rare unless grown through the usage of magic.


    Although, magically growing them is very taxing on the nt causing them to lose half of their fire affinity.


    These herbs are known to be eaten by young fire dragons. This is thought to be due to their fire affinity assisting in the growth of the fire dragon overall. This was never proven due to the scarcity of these herbs and the fact that dragons do not need to consume them when the volcanoes are erupting.''


    While the appraisal had literally told Remey that the herb didn''t need to be eaten by a dragon, the fact that they did was right there. So, what if conditions weren''t properly met? That could be the reason that the herb was not needed. However, if the right condition was met, then they might be needed and even desired by dragons more.


    Midn gith took a deep breath forcing only the fire mana in to her breath. Her control of her own mana had grown significantly along with her body. Now that she had that control, she could easily shift in to just a singr elemental dragon breath. Simply because she was a true dragon champion, she could mimic the purity of her breath to one single elemental mana with the proper focus and time to do so.


    It only helped that she was in an area very high in temperature along with fire mana. That was just arge helping hand to what Midnight was trying to do.


    When the brilliant red and orange mes broke free of Midnight''s maw, Remey began to focus on the herb. She easily held it by the hand without any damage, proving her strength. The orange and red leaf seemed to shrivel slightly before it expanded its leaves a little. It was evidence that the heat was what it needed.


    What struck Remey as odd though, was that a slightly white fleck appeared between the orange and the red streaks on the leaf. Its color hadn''t changed until a dragon''s breath was used. And now, this white streak proved that she had been right about the leaf having some


    other potential.


    Without hesitating in the heat, Remey used multiple all around appraisal scrolls to ensure she had information through this entire process. But before she could do more than five, she saw the leaf break apart and turn to ash. It had limits to the amount of fire mana it could absorb and use. Especially being separated from the main nt.


    This was good information though. Her eyes shined as she saw what that white fleck was.


    ''Due to being bathed in a fire dragon''s me, the dormant pure fire mana within has been freed from the stem causing changes within the leaf. As such, it is able to condensed the fire mana in to the leaf entirely making it much more easily absorbed and consumed. It is perfectly bnced to be eaten by a fire dragon due to the fact that mes of a fire dragon allowed for it to send some of this mana to its roots and cause arge growth spurt.''


    "The residual mes from a fire dragon allow for the nt as a whole to grow better! That''s why the dragons like them. They are symbiotic to a degree! It will also allow the herbalists to grow them better." Remey Wanted to nt a hundred right now where the fire dragons lived. To test the chances of the herb growing better and also to get even more. This was already happening around the other territories and Genesis as a whole. nting herbs everywhere so that they would grow the best that they could. Then they could be harvested when they grew too much or were at the opportune time. It was something that allowed the entire city to understand nature along with contributing to the future of the city.


    Midnight just sat there with her eyes shining. She was having a great day. Way better than watching Walker bring along an arcane architect design small towers.


    ----

 Chapter 2223: 2223. Reactive Herbs

    Chapter 2223: 2223. Reactive Herbs


    "Another herb request to be delivered to the fire dragon center?" there was a little curiosity in the tone of ASlma''s voice.


    There had been a lot of unique herbs grown and many of them were being separated by the elves and the echidna. Mostly because their races were able to figure out the best ces for those herbs to grow. They were more in tune with naturepared to others.


    However, It was very odd that it was only the fire dragon territory that continuously had requested for more herbs to be brought. Not just pants to be nted, but also for them to be brought for alchemical reasons. This struck Alma as very odd since it wasn''t a ce where many alchemists would be.


    That was until she noticed that it was a note sent by Remey.


    "So? You want me to bring them, don''t you?" Gil knew that look. A single look that had told him that Alma wanted him to go and see what Remey was up to. "You know that she is just going to pick a fight as soon as I start prying. And what if she and Ignus are just working on some fire affinity potions?"


    He tried with no victory in sight to avoid this. Instead, he felt a child as Alma red at him a little more. He knew very well if he were to avoid this too that he would be looking at sleeping outside for the next week. It was a proven fact that she could just use her magic to make the ntspletely block off any entrance to anywhere he wanted to be.


    Putting aside any potential punishments, Gil took the herbs that had been brought in by another one of the assistants that had been bringing them the reports on herb transportation and usages. They had to gather information to report to the alchemy guild so that the herbalists could begin altering the herb fields properly.


    This also helped bring the elves and the echidna grow together a little more. Their unique focus on herbs with a major guild allowed for them to be more open with their cultural aspects. Both had unique information about herbs that was notmonce to many people. As such, when they went to the alchemy guild, they could share what they learned about those herbs within their own culture.


    With Gil leaving, Alma focused back on the mountain of work she had to deal with. So many different aspects of her life had changed, she almost wanted to be adventuring against monsters again. Not that she thought it would be a good idea. The elemental nes were one of the ces she could go on an adventure, and even she felt that her strength was too little from what she knew of it right now.


    While Alma worked, Gil made his way through Genesis at a quick pace. He didn''t like the leisurely walks that Walker took to see the sights. He knew that he also had a lot more to do than what he could keep up with. But mostly, he wanted to focus on what he wanted to do. Nothing that came with a bad connotation, just his hobbies and interests.


    But when he managed to get to the fire dragon territory, he was distracted with how much more wheat there was now that every single fire rune formation was added. He also recognized that draconic runes had been mixed in to the morations left through therge buildings andva pool entrances.


    The slight melding with the runes being discovered and adjusted with the draconic runes made the formation more homely for the dragons. Gil could sense that the entire area had an natural aura that would exist near the dragon viges. Or at least he could sense that clearly since he had been to a dragon vige at least.


    The location to meet for the drop off of herbs was marked as the central square where the dragons and dragonkin could meet. But he spotted Midnight there instead of Remey or any of the many alchemists that would work for Remey.


    "I didn''t think you would be here. Don''t tell me Remey is putting you to work?" Gil''


    His joke made Midnight shake her head very quickly. In her dragonkin form she still stood out but Gil was pretty d she had managed to take that form since it allowed her more freedom as she grew.


    "Come see!" Midnight didn''t take the package of herbs that Gil had dragged and instead started to drag him. He didn''t have anything against it though since Allma wanted to know what Remey was up to in the first ce.


    Before he knew it, he had been dragged in to a small alchemyb prepared for a focus on fire rted alchemy. Remey looked up and didn''t say much as she had some herbs trapped in between two pieces of ss so she could copy a perfect picture of them on to a book. The nk page was mapping the veins of the herb she was looking at. It was extremely detailed and he waspletely lost as to why she would do this.


    "It''s to see the differences in the herb when there are dragon mes influencing it at a certain level to make the herbs better for a specifically created dragon fire affinity potion. If I can manage to make it, then I can make sure that all the fire dragons can grow faster. Potentially keeping them from spending years and years without a dragonkin form."


    Remey had caught on to why it was Gil that came to look. But she also noticed something the second he had entered the room. It was just out of the corner of her eye, but now that she had noticed it even more, she had to ept that Gil showing up might be valuable to other research.


    "Come over here!" she motioned for Midnight to push Gil closer. As she thought, the herb in her eyes reacted slightly.


    Most people would miss the slight changes, but Remey would not. She had multiple skills used to identifying, documenting, and just generally understanding herbs. Since that was the case, she was able to easily pick up on what she was seeing.


    "I thought that this mushroom was just a randomly sent ingredient. But it was said to be useful for fire affinity me smanders or simr monsters. So I thought that dragons might use it. But the moment you walked in here, the tiny pores on the mushroom cap started to bring in more air and absorb more fire mana."


    "Wait, are you saying that me being around made mushrooms react and grow? That''s... weird." since this was the case, Gil wondered if Remey was messing with him. That was until he witnessed the slightly white cap of the mushroom begin to turn me red.


    "Did that mushroom just be a forest me mushroom! The fire elves said that they were incredibly rare. Only the older fire elves could ever find them in thest fifty years!" Sixne Gil knew what had happened and what kind of mushroom this was, Remey was sure that they had discovered something perfectly amazing.


    "No, it was just a normal white cap mushroom that I was told could possibly be a pink cap mushroom if it was around fire mana. But I would believe that it reacted to the mana you give off and was able to absorb that mana to be what it naturally is."


    "You mean that this herb reacts to high elves? Is that even possible?''


    "Possibly? You won''t even believe what Midnight and I just learned. There are herbs that change their properties when exposed to dragon mes. They even berger and grow better with the residual dragon me mana left behind by the dragon that eats it. So, it makes sense that there are species of herbs that existed symbiotically with the high elves until their bloodlines thinned."


    Now Gil was ignoring any idea thating here was a bad thing. This would y arge role in returning some of the lost species of nts that all the elves had been looking at doing together now that they had all united again. Especially if Gil could show them that it was Remey who discovered it. This would bond them even closer to the other races too!


    "Now you aren''t thinking you need to stop with that archery drama and join the alchemy guild are you?" Remey teased Gil while Midnight bounced around looking at the mushroom which even smelled differently now and radiated a slightly glow of fire mana from within its cap. She wanted to taste it, but both Gil and Remey stopped her before she opened her mouth and bit


    it.


    ---


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2224: 2224. Herbs And Architects?

    Chapter 2224: 2224. Herbs And Architects?


    "So, you want to be called arcane architect? Nothing special?" Walker had started to talk to the typing man that he had found to be the arcane architect that he had heard about was acting a little odd. But then Walker had a moment of rity. "You are trying to be like the wandering cksmith." Heughed a bit.


    "You know, when you started asking questions I thought that you might be obsessive like him, but you are just trying to be like him. It''s fine though. He is normally extra quiet so you are on the opposite side of this. It''s good though, easier to see what you want to learn and aplish."


    The arcane architect was sitting there captured by what Walker was saying. The reason the young man had be focused on the wandering cksmith was the sheer might of his aplishments.


    The wandering cksmith had spent years honing his techniques. Disappearing for some of those years in to the most dangerous terrains just to try forging somethingpletely unique. Who wouldn''t see the dedication to forging as an amazing feat.


    Now, with a unique ss like arcane architect which hasn''t been found in another yet, this young man knew he could be the very same. If he worked properly, he could leave a legacy just like the wandering cksmith. Be dubbed not by his name, but by the job he did. It meant he would embody everything that was the arcane architect in every action.


    How amazing.


    "It''s not just that, I need to make this mine. Every single building has magical potential. When I got this ss I received a quest to bring back the glory of the arcane architects. There used to be many and now there are none. I am the only one I have heard of right now. So I will lead it all." The young man''s desire wasn''t hidden at all. But that was who he was. Clear and cut, right to the point, and ready to run head on in to his tasks.


    "Then you should do that. But first, we need to decide how we will make these smaller towers. There are new metal alloys and a new form of dwarven and earth magic stone created to cover metal. It''s experimental but with the right ingredients and magic it can be made in to stone that mana flows through better. I need towers made of that."


    Walker''s knowledge when it came to the new inventions of Genesis was massive. This wasn''t all simply from gossip, but from the genesis council meetings. He had learned the basics from the representatives reporting. Not that they were all ground breaking information, but they were new and important to learn.


    With him knowing about this, he could change the ideas of the arcane architect he was meeting. Allow him the knowledge that he needed to create a smaller mage tower which could spread the influence of the mage tower further. Not only would that help the people, but it would condense more mana around and within genesis so that other races from the elemental nes would be morefortable when they came to visit.


    "You''re saying that you have better mana conductive stone and metals than what are in that tower?!" it was clear that Walker''s words had won now.


    "It''s being developed and only needs to be purified for better quality. But the idea was made since so many rune formations break down after being used only a few times. Especially the rune formations for any form of teleportation. They degrade very quickly because of the amounts of manas brought through them. Lessening that would be the goal."


    With expanding the mage tower''s innate effects on the surroundings, it would also improve the usage of runes. Increasing their lifespans since the manas would flow more smoothly through an entire area while also being more readily avable.


    "Then why don''t you nt any of those special herbs I heard about? They would help them absorb mana better. I can''t do anything with materials until I have the records of how mana flows through the tower floors. So, why not start picking spots to build the towers and making unique elemental herb gardens?"


    This stopped Walker''s thought process. He wasn''t sure what this special herb would be. Or where the arcane architect had learned of them. But if there really were herbs that were special, wouldn''t he know about it?


    "You know, the herbs that gather mana around them? I heard there are herbs that can make an area better for manas to gather then I figured it would be perfect. When I go to build something there, the herbs will have made the perfect environment for it. And, people could harvest them. Plus, when the tower is built, those herbs will grow better so that they can be harvested even more. They also will be like a charged mana gem for the tower. Free mana to pull from."


    Now this was an idea. Walker knew that architects and anyone that built anything had to consider the nts and terrain around them. However, this was a step above that. It was considering the potential that there were herbs which naturally absorbed mana and radiated that mana. That would make them perfect for creating with a rune formation or a rune carved building.


    "Alright then, before we start getting information on building materials for you, we are hunting down an alchemist I know that might have a few ideas for these herb gardens you think we should build." Walker was ready and used wind mana to pick up the arcane architect.


    Since he had a very powerful mana sense, Walker always had the ability to search people out. He knew Remey''s unique mana easily. He just needed to focus on it and follow the feeling. That was how he managed to make it to the fire dragon territory in just a few minutes.


    He was very thankful that the little dragon hatchling Erica had fallen asleep for a little growth. She could be asleep for a week if not a whole entire month since that was just how dragons grew. They were known for sleeping a lot. Midnight had also fallen asleep and had a decent growth spurt too. If she was around, they would have needed to fly about the sky for a while longer.


    The arcane architect and freaked out at first. He had never been picked up by wind mana and flown through their air. Let alone at that speed. But he had some trust in Walker. "So, you really want to go by arcane architect? Or will you use a name until someone out there starts up a good nickname?" Walker casually made some buff skills out of his mana to defend the arcane architect from the what around him. Not everyone could easily move through this


    area.


    It was why some of the priests had started a small business buffing people as they moved to work here and there through the dragon territories. That and there were also dragonkin being born that could pursue unique sses that weren''t battle rted. Not that there would be many, it was in their blood to be warriors.


    "Mikeal, that''s the name I was born with. It will be easier then?" the arcane architect realized that he wasn''t ready yet to be the pinnacle of one aspect or ss. He had to prove it first. Mostly because he was shocked by the sight of Remey using mes to make potions in the air. Something he thought to be impossible.


    "Remey, I brought an arcane architect to learn about herbs. We need to make some herb gardens where we will build new small mage towers. You can choose the herbs of every


    elemental affinity if you want."


    Midnight leaped up from where she was sitting and watching Remey work. Their experiments with unique herbs had been going on for some time now. But it was funnier seeing that Gil had fallen asleep on a chair nearby. He has clearly been working hard too. A full analysis of an herb written out for him to bring back to Almater.


    "Good, then he can also start helping rebuild alchemybs with better flow of mana. This ce could be improved. Just tell him I will... wait, you need herbs for a building?" Now Remey had caught on to what Walker had said. Her eyes glinted with curiosity before finishing the fire dragon affinity potion she was attempting to make.


    "Go on, exin to her. That''s Remey, this is my little sister Midnight, and the sleeping archer is Gil." Mikeal was stunned to see the casual environment around three more of the Genesis heroes. It waspletely against the shocking stories that he had been told about them.


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2225: 2225. Rambling

    Chapter 2225: 2225. Rambling


    "It sounds like you are just trying to make a rune formation with herbs instead of using runes." Gil''s off handedment came when no one has realized that he had woken up from


    his nap.


    "That''s exactly it! Nature is the best rune master!" Mikeal was sure that Gil had understood the vision that he had in his head.


    "Nature might be the best at making runes, but you know that we don''t have half the amount of mana to cause natural runes to appear here. That could take another fifty years potentially." Walker''s knowledge on this fact was much clearer.


    The natural runes that they were trying to form would be impossible right now. Simply put, the worldcked the density of mana needed. No one had seen natural runes and Walker had only been able to view them and cause them to appear within certain circumstances.


    "That could just be because we haven''t given them the right chance to exist naturally. How are elemental spirits born? That''s one of the first things I learned before I realized that the spirit race could be the key to the mage tower''s creation in the first ce. Well, before they were the spirit race."


    Now Walker was interested. Mikeal had clearlye to genesis with the goal of copying the mage tower. And from the other thing she had said, his father had been an architect before passing away and leaving all his knowledge to him, his son. This left Mikeal with the incredible desire to do more. And as an arcane architect he could.


    "They are made of mana. The elemental spirits have control of mana too. They can even be dual or triple elemental spirits. I heard a story that you even met a lightning spirit which mighte to Genesis in the future. That''s insane!"


    The excitement was making it even harder to follow the speed of Mikeals'' words. "So, if they can form from various elemental manas and are somewhat the will of those manas because they are connected to them, wouldn''t herbs that grew and drew in manas cause more spirits to be born? So wouldn''t they have some sort of instinctual understanding of how an herb or nt that creates that environment should exist?"


    "You want to have the spirit race help control and guide the growth of the herb gardens I select?" Since Remey could catch on to what Mikeal was saying, she knew that he was trying to make it a partnership between him, her, and the spirit race. Not the echidna or the elves. "Not just that, we should focus on how the spirit race is born and see if they can possibly use that herb garden to form natural runes. Even if they be whatever natural mana runes they are, they would make the perfect base for a towerter. We can even leave the materials within the herb garden until we have a proper n to build. That will let the manas meld with the materials."


    The n was getting more in depth and Walker could tell that if Mikeal kept speaking he would never stop. "I get what you n on. This will take a lot more than what you have said. We need more information. But while you gather the knowledge to build a smaller form of the mage towers, we will handle the herb gardens." Walker gave a nod toward Gil.


    "That means I will take you with me. We are also stopping by my wife''s office so we can show her the herb''s reaction to my mana as part high elf. You can also start reading what Remey and Midnight have been working on. You should understand why she might pick certain herbs for what reasons." Gil was in full, drag someone along before they got too deep in conversation mode.


    Mikeal on the other hand, was seemingly bursting with ideas as they left. His mind was turning so fast that Walker wondered if the young man would explode before he even got somewhere he could begin learning about the mage tower and the new building materials being tested or used. It would be a lot for him to catch up on.


    "I think you have found another wandering cksmith. But this guy seems like he might be on the opposite end of the spectrum." Remey saw that there was a little weariness in Walker''s eyes. Not because he was truly tired, but because he had never seen someone speak so quickly.


    "You''re telling me. He has a lot of energy and was having a pretty good time. I think that he came here with the hope that he could work on the mage tower before he realized that he might be able to do more. Then he told everyone he could since he wanted to find a way to do it but had no idea. Then I showed up after hearing some gossip." There was an interesting method that Walker was sure he could trace from person to person.


    "That''s one way to do it. I didn''t think that Midnight and I researching herbs would be useful so quickly though." she sighed slightly before motioning for Walker toe over to where she and Midnight had been working. The table was full of herbs.


    However, midnight suddenly released a light dragon fire breath over all of them. "Do you see how many of these herbs change when influenced by dragon fire? It''s the unique form of their mana. But since they stopped eating them, there was less mana for them to grow, or the world changed these herbs were fewer and fewer."


    She pointed at one, "This dragon wing flower is rare. It''s also very delicate and only blooms when in contact with a dragon''s breath. We called them dragon spikes because their buds stay tight like the bristles on a young fire dragon''s back. But when it is hit with dragon mes it absorbs the mana to blossom. We always thought this was the state it was in until now."


    "You mean that when you appraised it the herb changed because it became what it should have been and not some dormant form?" Now this was a stunning piece of news. It could lead to endless research that Walker could push ahead because of the mage tower expansion potential. Plus the herb gardens with the spirit race was a bonus at that point.


    "You are going to make me start to send documents about every herb I find. Aren''t you?'' Remey knew the look that Walker had. She also understood that Genesis would love to know about this. There was a dedicated newspaper now. It created basic stories for everyone. It was one of the newest businesses to take off within the City.


    "If you insist, then you should. It might be better to set up a team of alchemists dedicated to this though. Each race will need representative alchemists that can test this. Gil will have more work since he is the only elf with high elf blood. Well, until another goes through trial. Then we will have the dragons that will need to help someone test things. But that little hatchling might make it her life''s work. She is an alchemist dragon, right?"


    From what it sounded like, Walker had already panned it out partially in his head. "Alright, fine, but Midnight has to help me. No one can say no to her. I bet there are underground herbs that only react to a dwarves sweat and blood when working in the mines for a long time. They literally changed the nature of caves. Plus the demi-humans have so many species based bloodlines that it could change every herb. Then we have-"


    Remey suddenly stopped herself. She had realized that she was raving on and on. It wasn''t normal for her and she worried that Mikeal had infected her. "I will help!" Midnight''s statement was perfectly ced to Make Remey move on and point out the herbs she had used to test a new potion.


    "While you''re here appraise this too." She tossed a small vial of red potion to Walker. It was an attempt at a fire dragon affinity potion.


    ''Defective dragon fire affinity potion


    This potion was made in an attempt to make a potion specifically for enhancing a fire dragon''s fire affinity temporarily. However, this was damaged due to theck of bncing herbs. The fire mana drawn in will be too chaotic due to the ambient water mana trapped within the dragon scale leaf used.


    It will only be usable for the older fire dragons which have greater control over fire mana within their bodies. However, it may awaken more of their innate bloodline if they do manage to consume this potion along with arger amount of fire mana.


    The chances are exceptionally slim and this potion will onlyst for an hour due to the poor quality of herb used.''


    None of the said a single word.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2226: 2226. Endless Alchemy

    Chapter 2226: 2226. Endless Alchemy


    "You really said that this can help awaken a bloodline? You mean actually help awaken innate skills and the fact that every single person has blood connected to their ancestors, right?" Remey was ready to jump at Walker and make him repeat the appraisal.


    "That''s what it sounds like. You managed to find a potion that not only helps a fire dragon absorb mana, but also potentially allows them to awaken innate aspects of their very bloodline as a fire dragon. But I wonder if it''s the herbs. Maybe you identally melded two potions that should be separated?"


    It was like lightning struck Remey. She was bouncing around looking at the herbs she had gathered on the table and trying to rack her brain from more. She had to find herbs that might be useful.


    "The quality was too low to ensure that it was a proper portion. It was defective because of the water mana left inside and also useless to us since ites with drawbacks and a short time. But what if I was able to reduce it more..."


    Her mumbling made it clear that Walker would be stuck here for some time if he didn''t start to help a little. since his all around appraisal often told him useful little bits of information that a general appraisal didn''t give them was sure that he could find something out.


    "This herb is called the dragon stalk, it''s like a small reed or a height growing grass. But it grows inyers like a dragon''s scale over the next. It says that this herb is useful for dragons to eat but the center often holds a small redyer that makes it bitter and causes damage to a dragon''s stomach if eaten too much. We should remove it before using it."


    This small piece of information from Walker was enough to help Remey develop a better way of using the herb itself. Especially since it had been called lizard scale stalk before it had been influenced by dragon fire.


    He looked at another herb which stood out asrger than the others. It was a small thin vine which grew a head sized bulb on it. Thisrge bulb didn''t make any sense until Remey had Midnight breathe a wisp of dragon me over it. In the next moment, Walker witnessed the bulb spread out and various little seeds fall out. Easily a hundred seeds fell out proving that the vine put all of its growth in to malign more seeds.


    "The seeds can be used to help a newly born dragon hatchling limate to the ambient fire mana in the air! It''s incredibly useful if they eat ten of them within the first ten days of their birth. It means that they will be slightly better than others at absorbing fire mana. For a dragon, it would mean years off of their slow growth."


    "And what about potions?" There was a hard elbow from Remey as she waited to see if the seeds were useful.


    "Oh right, don''t put them in a potion since they will lose their benefits the moment that the shell of the seed is broken because all of the mana inside rushes outside of them. It can''t be used to benefit a dragon''s body since the mana won''t be trapped within the body of the dragon and absorbed. If you try to put it in to a potion you will just lower its effectiveness."


    This was one herb she had dropped in to the potion. It was called dragon seed, odd but useful. Now, they understood that it had been just a useless addition. Basically, it had offered more chances for a failure in the potion.


    The process of going through every herb that Remey could get her hands onsted hours. But by the time that the updated lists of herbs were out, there was already a knocking on the door of the fire dragon alchemyb.


    "I came the moment that Gil left with that arcane architect. He was taking forever to leave since he knew that he would be stuck in the Genesis building for hours. I just needed to finish some paperwork. Nwo show me the herbs that change because they are around the proper manas of a certain race!"


    "We just finished working on some. Alma, you know that you should be able to grow some seeds better and if Gil is around, some of the herbs influenced by high elf mana might grow properly for the first time in generations."


    "Do you know what this means?! There are nts that literally change based on what race lives near them. Even what race eats them. It''s unprecedented. It''s proof that when the flow of mana ceased and every race changed because of that, that nature itself managed to hide away parts of itself to wait for the right time to appear again."


    This was incredibly exciting for Alma since she had dreamed of things like this. Returning species of nts back to the forest was only a small part of what her grand ambition had be. She had stepped well beyond that now. Not only had she be the next queen of the forest elves, she was the next queen of all elves.


    She had gone on adventures to fight literal armies. Battled monsters that threatened the world. Seen races that she would have never seen if she had remained within the forest. She had managed to bring species of herbs thought to be gone from the world from another continent. And now, she was finding that nature remembered the ancient times when mana flowed smoother. When their races'' ancestors were around.


    "You know. I like that. Nature remembered and waited for us to figure this out." since Remey seemed to be enjoying this. Walker understood one thing, that this would be the tag line for the education of all within genesis. That the rush to discover herbs in unique ways along with various other aspects of the world would begin.


    "What if it isn''t only herbs? What of certain trees, bushes, and even crops are just dormant aspects of what they should be" what if more are waiting to feel the right mana that they needed to grow?"


    When Alma heard what Walker said, he mind raced. "You''re Right, it might be more than just that. I need to push the elves to begin going through trials and reach the same level as Gil. only the most loyal and dedicated to the people would be able to. I should be able to with this. I can take a bigger step forward."


    From what the three of them could see, Allma had just grasped something within her that she had been missing. Not just her ambitions for the leven race, but for the world itself in a partner with the elven race. "Go do what you need to do. We will wait for the good news." Walker watched Alma rush away toward where he assumed the best ce for her to take a big step would be.


    "She''s going to do what Gil did, isn''t she?"


    "You caught on quick. I think she is going through her own sort of trial now that she has brought all of her goals together. Not just as an elf, but as a future leader of the world itself. She''s going to face the same things as Gil and potentially regain some high elf bloodline within her." thinking a little more, "if she manages it well enough, she could start a greater step for the elves. Just the same as what the echidna did when they learned about nature on their ind."


    This made a lot of sense in Walker''s mind. The echidna had not always been so close to nature that they could sense natural mana. They had to learn the bnce and flow on their ind. Once that happened, they adjusted and learned bing who they were as a race today. The elves were going through this as they united.


    "Hmm, so if the elves get more high elf lineage to return, we might be able to use that. No, if Gil helps me, I can make an awakening potion for that bloodline too." There was a mad scientist glint within Remey''s eyes now she was ready to see all of this through.


    "Don''t go crazy. Make sure you have people to work on all this. Make sure that it isn''t just you. The dragons, elves, and every other race need it too."


    "I''m fine, I''m fine. But I will need a whole lot of people. We need to test every herb again to see what might react to them. It can take years." The grin that Remey had proved yet again that she would never live to see all of alchemy discovered. What a wonderful thing to know that there was endless mystery to discover.


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2227: 2227. Broken Calm

    Chapter 2227: 2227. Broken Calm


    "Hello Onyx, good morning!" Su''s bright and cheery attitude was contagious. She had managed to help out at both the building area for the flying ship and underwater golem along with the cathedral after she had left there. She felt invigorated to have another productive


    day.


    "I have not slept yet. I spent the night teaching the little ones about darkness mana and how to use it. Also about how there will always be light within the darkness, the very same way as stars in the night sky. It seemed to help them understand our nature."


    Suughed a little at how Onyx sounded a little like Walker now. He also had described the bnce of light and darkness between night and day in a simr way. "One of the young heavenly serpents managed to dye a few scales ck with shadows. She is the first one. Aurora also did so, but she is special."


    This made su raise her eyebrows. Aurora was the first heavenly serpent born. She had a use bond with Alice because of their affinities light mana. Buttely, Aurora had been sleeping in the eves of the cathedral to go through a growth spurt. It was normal for their species since Onyx had also done something simr.


    Yet, what stood out was that Onyx called her special. As in, she wasn''t in the same league as the other heavenly serpents. They might learn to use dark mana too, but it would never be the same as Aurora. "So you consider her to be better than the other heavenly serpents?" Su hid her smirk while asking casually.


    It was easier for her to hide her face while she was preparing a small te of fruit and toasted bread for her breakfast.


    "Of course, she is only a little younger than I am. She also learns just as fast as I do and started to show me how to heal with light mana. She learned it from the healers who have light healing magic skills." The pride that oozed from onyx''s words made Su even more confident in her ideas about the two of them.


    "You should make sure you show her how d you are to train with her then. You two would make the perfect partners. Shared knowledge and the oldest of your current race. Right? You can''t stand as the leader alone, it would be better to have a partner one day." The way that Su put it was perfectly reasonable. Onyx was too in his own head to even realize where she was going with it.


    Before she could keep speaking though, there was a m from the frost door. The sounding of bells as warnings to the guards to prepare to defend the city also echoes around Genesis. "Let''s get going!" Su ignored her food and sprinted to the door. She feared what might be waiting for her.


    When she opened it, she found a haggard guard. Clearly he had been woken from his sleep and rushed here. "Hello hero, we have received an urgent report that we need to send people to the elemental nes bridge. There are beings traveling through the bridge and it''s dangerous."


    "We will handle it. The others should already know." Su and Onyx made their way toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. They knew very well that arge force would eb gathering there. The only reason genesis needed to be on alert was because whatever came through that bridge might be dangerous enough to make their way here.


    While not impossible, the chances were not as small as everyone wanted them to be right now. There were monsters that had never been seen by the world within the elemental nes. On top of this, there was the chance that there could be even more dangerous races which might want war with them.


    It was not unforeseen that there would be opposing races within the elemental nes. Walker had gathered that some races were seen as lesser since he saw a species of Orc there which was ignored by the angelic wind angels and others that could help them. They even lived in small viges where they did not have protection.


    On top of this, there were powerful races like the dragons who split themselves in to different roles to keep the bnce within the elemental nes overall. Therefore, they didn''t even have the chance to worry about any issues with other races. Their grand goals to maintain bnce was much more important in the long run.


    Many people rushed around Genesis to get home where they could be kept safe. There were many different groups of guards that would patrol the streets in times of danger like this. All of the ns set in ce to defend the city and protect everyone had been done so because of dangers like the immortal king and demon lord. Now that they weren''t around, these protection ns had not been tossed aside. Danger always grew somewhere.


    When Onyx and Su made it to the elemental rune teleportation formation, they found Walker there with Remey, Alma, and Midnight. Gil appeared within a few seconds too. "We will be the first to head there. Everyone else will being afterwards. Be ready for a fight. We have no idea what set off the rm from the guards on the ind. But they sent a warning to us to rush there and be prepared."


    There was steel in the way that Walker spoke. He had not needed to defend Genesis like this yet. They had not been directly attacked in this format. Where they might have to fight something or someone for the elemental nes who might have incredibly high control over an elemental mana. It could test him and the others in ways they never knew they could be tested.


    There were many guards that had the area cut off, but a few of the soldiers that had helped clear the ind managed to make it in full armor with their weapons ready. Walker was not forgetful of their actions and knew that they would rush when they heard. They might not be guards for Genesis, but they had a deep connection in the ind and Genesis now. The ind was effectively their territory too.


    Walker motioned for twenty of them toe toward them while letting the others that arrived know they woulde in the second group. Whatever they needed to do, they would do. The heroes would be the driving force when they arrived so that the soldiers could keep their duty to protect the people beside them.


    The familiar feeling of mana flowing and sending them away hit the party and the soldiers. They all knew that they had to be ready. But they didn''t know what for.


    "Cold." Midnight said that one word. But that summed up everything.


    "It shouldn''t be this cold. Not at this time of year." Gil prepared a fire arrow. He figured that at the very least he could prepare to counter the ice he saw covering everything. There was a frost that cloaked everything. Somerger spikes of ice were all around the ruins which were part of an exploration mission for many of those wishing to discover ancient magic or just basic history. However, the people that had been here were all huddled inside the ruins now. Walker spotted them quickly. Their small fires were enough to keep them


    warm.


    "Heroes! This began an hour ago and has progressed to this point. At first we all felt a cool breeze and then it was suddenly starting to cover everything in frost. We have no idea what is causing this, but the mana and the ice ising from the elemental nes bridge." a guard covered in multipleyers of clothing ran up to them.


    "We will handle keeping everyone warm while we investigate. The teleportation formation will bring more soldiers. Set up fires here too, we can evacuate everyone as we get soldiers here." It was better safe than sorry with this. Walker had no idea what they might be dealing with.


    "They had just begun to grow some crops in the sandy soil here. And all their hard work was lost." as Su spoke, everyone felt her disappointment. She did not wish to see the hard work


    wasted like this.


    "We can knock some sense in to whoever is causing this." Remey''s fists burst in to mes warming the area. She had plenty of fire mana to spare right now.


    "Then we will go and greet whatever is starting to arrive through the bridge." Walker could sense it. The dense water mana changing in to ice. He knew that it was powerful, but the manas would not be able to remain like this for whatever wasing through. The world couldn''t offer enough water mana in the proper density. He had the advantage.


    ....

 Chapter 2228: 2228. Impure And Pure

    Chapter 2228: 2228. Impure And Pure


    Gil began to guide the soldiers that came with them to safe spots. With his senses he was able to pick up on the best ces to hide out the cold that was increasing. It was a slight boost to his innate high elf blood within him.


    Every elf had a deep connection to nature. Gil was not an exception to this. However, he was even more in tune to it since he had high elf blood within him now. As such, he began to sense the ces that the foreign manas with higher density could not rest easily.


    That made them the perfect ces to start fires and get the people to rest before they were evacuated. His guidance for the people who had begun to settle this ind so that they could research it was very important.


    Meanwhile, Su and Remey were sharing the healing potions that they had with those who had been affected by the cold. The dropping temperature and the panic had caused various injuries. Especially to those unprepared in thinner clothing. People on an ind would not normally deal with a cold like this.


    All the while, Onyx and Midnight began to travel with Walker toward the bridge to the elemental nes. The high amount of water manaing through was incredibly dense. So much so that it turned directly in to ice.


    This wasn''t some special form of water mana, but the purist it could be at the dentist it could be. This meant that whatever or whoever wasing through were either made of water mana or had very high amounts of it within their bodies.


    "I already knew that the elemental nes moved. That''s why it will be hard to gauge where we might end up when we travel there. But it also means that monsters mighte through to meet us." Walker''s words kept Midnight and Onyx on alert. They had to be ready for whatever it was that was trying toe to their world.


    As a burst of water mana pushed through, Walker channeled his own mana. He coudln''t take control over all the water mana, it would require arger amount of his own mana and he didn''t want to waste it if he didn''t know what might be appearing from the bridge to the elemental nes.


    This didn''t mean he couldn''t gather the fire mana which was being pushed away by the water mana though. Instead, it would actually be easier since the dense water mana wanted to naturally resist the ambient fire mana in such a warm climated ind.


    The fire mana gathered and Walker condensed it in to a ball making the frost melt. It wasn''t enough to stop the water mana from spreading elsewhere, but it greatly reduced the drop in temperature. It also made the direct entrance from the bridge to the elemental nes much less enjoyable for whatever wasing.


    Dense white ws came in to view first. Easily the size of Walkers head, or at least every single w was. The hand they were attacked appeared to also be made of the same white ice. But surprisingly, the figure that stepped out was only about eight feet tall. Therge ice horns and other pieces of condensed ice armor on their body proved that they were a powerful being.


    The dense water mana kept them covered in their defensive armor, but was also a part of what they were. A species that gathered water mana to be stronger, just as the dragons did. But for these beings, the water mana created their armor over their main bodies. Not that this made them weaker, Walker could tell this thing had power.


    ''Impure Ice demon


    Having lost their mind due to the highly condensed water mana, this once pure ice demon has fallen in to madness. Seeking out whatever they can to find power, the monster that this pure ice demon has be is considered a stain on the pure ice demon race.


    Normally never leaving the deeper water elemental ne, the impure ice demons would be hunted down by the pure ice demons to ensure that they do not cause imbnces within the water elemental ne. Their hunt for power causes them to kill any monster or race that they encounter to take away any water elemental mana within them.


    Due to losing their minds and falling in to madness, the impure ice demons can not absorb water elemental mana normally. Instead, they need to consume it to be able to grow stronger. This is the dangers of their monstrous existence. They will constantly consume anything that possesses water mana, even their former family.


    Everywhere they go radiates a dangerous water mana that can cause ice spikes and shaper ice to form naturally. They also have great physical resilience because of the condensed ice armor on their bodies which is a side effect from losing control of their mana overall. Pure ice demons can control their ice armor and their skills better.


    If left alone, they can be a great evil ice demon. A being known for losing all former ice demon traits and only lives to destroy...''


    There was too much information for Walker to deal with right now. The monster that stepped out had once been a race called a pure ice demon. That was just part of everything, but right now, the madness that consumed this thing was clear in its icy blue eyes. Nothing of whatever it had once been remained.


    "It was pushed to madness by mana too powerful for it toprehend. It is a monster and not a race to reason with. Kill it." Walker immediately saw that the impure ice demon felt the vast water mana of the ocean and wanted to leap within it. But right in front of it were three beings with some water mana very unique within them.


    Even with the fact that the water mana within the world was weaker, this impure ice demon was not that affected by it, it had plenty of condensed mana that was more or less part of its body. It didn''t need more ept to grow in power. So, it could easily step away from the water elemental nes and hunt for more. A bridge had appeared perfectly there for it to do so too. As Walker, Midnight, and Onyx prepared to attack the crouching figure of the impure ice demon, they heard a shout that stopped them. "Do noty your hands on my son! I will be the one to put an end to this disgrace!"


    In a burst of ice, another figure appeared from behind the impure ice demon. It was slim and more or less like the demons that Walker was used to. However, it had blue skin that seemed to replicate the clear blue water around most beaches. There was also an aura of elegance around her as she stabbed the back of the impure ice demon with ance made of cial ice.


    ''Pure ice demon


    One of the many races within the water elemental nes, the pure ice demons live to be one with water mana at its deepest levels. They also live to serve the bnce within their ne so that it will remain pure and is not broken apart by other elemental manas.


    They are often considered cold tempered by those that have offended them, however, if they are respected, they will often make sure fire bonds. That is if one is lucky enough to meet them in the first ce. Due to their nature, they are very reclusive and live to strengthen their bodies with water mana to reach a proper singrity with that mana.


    Their control over ice is exceptional. As such, they are constantly able to create ice armor that they will spend years forging with their gathered pure water mana. They also condense it in to a singr weapon which they will spend their lives learning to use...''


    The dense ice armor all around the shoulder of the impure ice demon shattered as blue blood fell to the ground and froze in to shards of ice. The cial icence that the pure ice demon wielded had easily broken the armor like it was cutting through butter,


    "My child, you were too eager for power. You gave away your very soul to grow. I will mourn you. For now, return to the endless waters." from the wound, massive ice spikes of incredibly dense water mana formed in to cial ice.


    The incredible force pushed Walker, Midnight, and Onyx back slightly. This woman was powerful. She wasn''t just demanding of respect, she had clearly earned it through years of


    incredible effort.


    As Walker saw a slight glint of sadness in her eyes, she soon snapped to look at him. She could sense that there was more going on now than what should be. It was time to ept the consequences of what had just happened.


    ----

 Chapter 2229: 2229. No Harm Done?

    Chapter 2229: 2229. No Harm Done?


    "Take you time. I have people to tend to. And if you dare cause more damage to this ind and the people I protect..." Walker stepped away while the fire mana around him increased with his will. He was making a point.


    The fact that Midnight had kept her calm while not showing her proper dragon form was impressive. Walker was proud of her for keeping her true strength hidden. It was important when dealing with a powerful enemy. Not that they wouldn''t have been able to deal with the impure ice demon. She could have beaten it without her proper dragon form.


    Redgarless, Walker kept his mana senses focused on the woman that had appeared. She was a pure cie demon. Someone that was from the depths of the water elements nes and definitely stronger than the impure ice demon that had arrived in search of strength.


    From what Walker could sense, she was calm. Not a single bit of her dense water mana was out of her control. Not only did that show off her mental strength, but also showed off the fact that she could easily put up a decent fight if forced to.


    Right now though, she was mourning. Walker could tell. He could somewhat feel it.


    He had heard what she said. That was her child. The impure cie demon was a pure ice demon that had failed in the goal to get stronger. Had lost his mind and fallen to be a monster that can not be. Therefore, his own mother had hunted him down all the way through the bridge to the world and the elemental nes.


    The ice was receding now that there was control over the water mana in the air. Plus, Walker was using his control over fire mana to ensure that small balls of fire floated around. He didn''t use anything but his mana and the air as fuel. Meaning that he would have to remain a lot more focused to ensure that every bit of ice was melted without damaging anyone or anything.


    Not that Remey ahdn''t also started using some of her mes. She was making sure to keep them as delicate and weak mes due to her high level of control. She couldn''t make balls of fire that floated around her, but she could walk through an area and warm itpletely.


    Since Re,ey also had alchemy mes at her control, she was refining some weaker healing potions right then and there in her hands. This stunned many of the children who had not seen a sight like this. It cemented her stature as a hero but also kept them from being panicked or afraid.


    With her newfound fame, Remey was right in to the same attitude as she had when she saw her younger siblings form the orphanage. The noise and following around was soon to follow as a few parents wondered if they had just been near freezing and terror a moment ago.


    Since Walker had quickly sent the orders to return to a calm state and that there would be an exnation in a short time, the soldiers were left to handle the after effects of the sudden freezing event.


    Meanwhile, the pure ice demon came to finish her resting while mourning the loss of her child and stood waiting for Walker to return. Her eyes were solid blue like a deep cier in a tundra, but behind them, Walker could sense that she was prepared to hear what consequencese with this.


    She had sensed his deeper control over mana and even though her race was isted, she had heard the ripples of warnings from the true sages. The true water sage had met with the true earth sage leaving a grand message to every one of therge elemental ins. The result was a warning not to venture across the bridges if they wanted to live in bnce.


    A threat that meant crossing the bridge could lead to both death for the one crossing but also an imbnce in the elemental nes as a whole. While that threat was clear because she could sense the weakness in the mana around her, she also understood that this was not the reason there would be imbnce.


    It was the person she saw before her.


    If this person were to control the mana within the elemental nes with the same force as the mes she saw floating in the air being fueled by wind mana too, then it was a surety that her entire race could be on the verge of disaster.


    "This is not a ce for those of the elemental nes to travel to yet. There is not enough mana to keep all of you alive as the world and the elemental nes are still bncing. I have also not returned to the elemental nes to make deals with the elemental kings and the sages yet. So, why is it that your impure ice demon was able to escape here?"


    "It was an unforeseen event. The true water sage announced we must avoid the bridge due to the risks of imbncing everything. Unfortunately, as the bridge appeared near our homes, some believed they could use it to be as powerful as the sages. Some began foolishly gathering too much mana and lost their minds."


    "We hunted them as our bnce requires us to. I am willing to ept punishment on behalf of my people. I understand we have angered your people as well."


    "You''ll take punishment? That''s fine then. Can you represent all your people?" Walker did not withhold his piercing gaze. He had to act the part that he had created for himself. He was a leader og Genesis. A founder. He could not sound weak and pathetic. Especially to the powerful beings thate from the elemental nes.


    Even if they were too unstable to live within the world for a long time, they would surely not remain that way. Just like this pure ice demon, there may be others that can handle their mana well enough toe here. And they might have higher strength than what Walker expects. Especially the dragons that mighte looking for the royal dragons living in the world. There are plenty of races that may or may not wish toe here, whether it is for their history or just for power. Who would now? But Walker understood the risk clearly.


    "I am the current strongest warrior of my people. I am the cialncer Aie."


    "Then that means you will be the first to have a chance at joining the Genesis Alliance." she dropped her jaw breaking the steely appearance she had kept since she had arrived.


    "What? You saw your people''s mistakes and chased them down. The sages didn''t tell you you would get killed if you came here, did they?" Walker was joking but saw that her face looked somewhat relieved but also afraid.


    "They did!?" He knew that this sort of fear was a great deterrent for many, but still, that was pushing it.


    "If you hade here to kill and attack my people, yes, I would not hold back. But you fixed your mistake, everyone injured is being healed, and no one died which is a blessing for you since I would have expected a lot more to apologize for that."


    Thinking for a moment Walker realized an issue, "you won''t be able to get back to your people if you stay here alone for long. Getting you back to the water elemental nes would be more challenging. How many of you are there?"


    "We have fifteen remaining in my vige after the rebellion against ourws to avoid the


    bridge."


    "That''s easy then, bring them here and I will introduce all of you to Genesis. If everyone is like you and doesn''t need ambient mana to survive, then we are fine. Unlike some races who need the mana dense elemental nes, you should be able to survive here just fine." "Power is tempting, I know that, we will introduce you to other demons too, you are not the only kind of demon there is. Many of them live in the city we built after saving them from a poor man gone mad with grief."pletely lost, Aie wondered what was happening.


    Nothing she had lived through had prepared her for this. She had even gone toe to toe in battle with a broken tundra dragon who had lost their lineage due to their own greed. Yet here she was in front of some strange person with strength she could notprehend.


    "If you are in need of a way to get them toe here, tell them it''s an order from a young origin race being. That''s what I am after all." her face went somewhat whitepared to the deep blue it had just been before she bowed and rushed to bring her people.


    "This should be a good start."


    ....

 Chapter 2230: 2230. Your Future

    Chapter 2230: 2230. Your Future


    "So, what''s the verdict? Will we have more of those thingsing through the bridge?" Gil managed to catch Walker as he stepped away from the bridge to the elemental nes. His curiosity wasn''t hidden at all since he knew that Walker would tell them what happened.


    "Yes and no."


    "How is that a good answer?" Remey joined the two as she heard Walker answer Gil''s question. She was ready to send Walker a good smack to the head so he could get whatever proper answer out that was stuck there.


    "Yes, the race I just met will being. No, they will not be monsters that lost their mind. They are a type of demon that lives in the deeper parts of the water elemental ne. The pure ice demons are a race that spends their time trying to get stronger to maintain the bnce within the water elemental ne. But they are reclusive."


    "So they are basically just monks or mages that meditate?" There was a little disappointment in Remey''s tone since she kind of hoped it would be someone she could fight against a little.


    "No, they are warriors from what I can see. They spend their time absorbing the water mana and condensing it to make armor and a unique weapon rted to their ss. That''s part of their beliefs and why they sometimes fall in to madness when they do not control their mana. They can be monsters just like anyone else."


    Part of Walker understood this would make them dangerous. However, he also understood that this would be a risk for them at all times. If he was epting of them, he would be bringing yet another risk in to Genesis. However, this might be the perfect ce for them.


    They had knowledge about the water elemental ne that no one else had. They could share that while being able to absorb water mana within Genesis. While the mana was not as dense as the central water elemental nes, it was perfect to prevent them from losing their minds. Ensuring that they slowly gained better control of the water mana within themselves.


    Afterwards, they would be able to venture through the bridge and get abc to the water elemental nes to grow to another level themselves. It was just slowing down the pace of their growth from birth. Perfectly allowing them the proper base to ensure that fewer became impure ice demons.


    That fewer would be monsters without minds.


    With that though, came the fact that they would have to agree to this. But seeing as Walker had used his race as the reason for them to follow him, he was certain they would. The Origin race were a group of beings known for being a myth in essence. Extremely powerful and rarely intervening unless the bnce of the nes were at stake.


    So, this meant that the woman Aie he had just met was going to assume he was doing this for the best. To be fair, Walker did have the best in mind. He could see trite through the cold look and icy exterior of the warrior that came to hunt her own family after they became a monster.


    The pain and loss should not be allowed. He had witnessed it, and now he would fix it. And with this, he would also gain benefits for Genesis. He would ensure that everyone gained from these interactions. Especially since no one had perished or been brutally injured due to the mistake of the impure ice demoning here.


    "I will have them join us. They can meet demons different to them while also learning from the other water affinity races. They might even be a unique form of defense from any other monsters thate in to the world from the water elemental nes." With Walker''s excitement showing slightly, he nced to the side.


    "They will be very busy at first though. Many people will want to know everything about their previous homes." Su''s interjection was enough for everyone to realize that she must have finished checking the injured for any additional risks.


    "Everything is fine?" Since he had not been there to check on others, Walker had ensured that The put proper focus now.


    "Yes, Remey and I brought potions to those that needed them. Healers already arrived toplete the process. A few people are still sleeping, including a few infants. However, they are considered to be in full health, but they are exhausted from the sudden endeavor." Her warm smile at the end proved that there really was nothing to worry about.


    "Brother, we should be seeing them soon. Sister said she sensed theming already." Onyx had wanted at the bridge to the elemental nes with Midnight. He had been wanting to tell Walker when Midnight had sensed the water manaing again. He also knew that he should remain there to keep Midnight from rushing in to the bridge and exploring again.


    "Let''s go greet them. The next addition to the Genesis alliance." Walker smirked before stepping in to the air. He was confident that they would be waiting for him by the time he got there.


    What he hadn''t realized, Was that Midnight wanted to make an impression.


    Her full dragon form was standing watching the bridge to the elemental nes as the pure ice demons walked out led by Aie, their strongest warrior. Walker was able to see the shock and fear as they realized they were face to face with a powerful dragon who was looking right at them.


    "We have arrived as asked." Aie looked at Midnight understanding that some grains directly served the origin beings. If this was the case, then it make sense that one would be waiting for them. Either to lead them or to guide them.


    "Midnight, don''t scare them. They are the newest addition to the Genesis alliance and they have a better chance of remaining a race if theye with us. "Wee to the world, pure ice demon race. While the mana you feel is weaker here, it will increase over the years. The flow just returned after all. But as such, you and your children will have the chance to build better foundations to resist the madness thates with powerful water affinities."


    There was some silence as they looked up at Walker who was stepping through the air and then at the others arriving behind him. They were shocked with the differences they sensed between them and all that they werepletely unsure how a group like this could evene


    together.


    The world would be their home now? It would give them a better chance to remain sane without bing monsters that needed to be hunted? How was that all possible? Was this the strength of an Origin being?


    Nothing made sense to them.


    "I see we will have to take this more slowly. Let''s focus on this vige first. These ruins were remnants of an ancient race that ventured in to the elemental nes. Now it is reimed by the Genesis alliance which unites all races. Affinities, appearance, and history do not matter here. You can grow in any way you please. The only rules are eptance and peace. You''ll learn a lot but we also will learn from you. It''s better, right?"


    His question was directed at Aie who was able toprehend this better than the other blue skinned pure ice demons waiting behind her. Mostly because she had already somewhat epted Walker''s presence and the mystical idea that they were underneath an Origin being


    now.


    Walker sent out some mana to showcase his variable strength while also waving at Midnight to take her dragonkin form again. They were all stunned by this but it put them all at ease. Kept them from panicking since to them, this was someone that could change the very


    elemental nes.


    "Don''t be so stressed. I was human in the world before I started my journey and became an origin being. It was tough and definitely not normal. But it brought me to where I stand now. So rx and ask questions. Learn more. Follow your paths to wherever they take you. But let''s be clear, it alles with hard work."


    "Just as Walker said, hard work. But before that,e with us and we will help your register. You will also join us in cleaning up the ice from the impure ice demon that broke in to the ind. After that, you cane together and tour Genesis. Walker will lead you." Su sneakily put Walker in to the task since he caused this event after the impure ice demon had been


    defeated by Aie.


    He could only shrug since he had a feeling he would have to do this.


    ....


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2231: 2232. Welcome To Genesis

    Chapter 2231: 2232. Wee To Genesis


    The progress made cleaning up the homes and the damage from the ice was substantial. It had barely taken a full day with the assistance of the pure ice demons clearing the ice that built up. Not to mention the additional soldiers that came to clean along with various builders already on the ind.


    This was what led Walker to bring the, now thirty, pure ice demons. It seemed that Aie, the strongest, was not as well versed in their surviving numbers as Walker had expected. But it was easily exined that some of their people had not even bothered leaving their icy homes because they preferred to gather the mana.


    This was just the level of their growth and how they lived. Some times they would go months without seeing another of their kind. There were even tales of the longest meditating pure ice demons appearing and finding that their entire vige had moved without them.


    While this seemed odd to Walker, he felt it was simr to the dragons who could mediate or slumber for even years at times. Judging the pure ice demons in the same way would be foolish since this was just the way their people worked. Changing their culture was not his goal.


    "I gathered all of you here because we are heading to Genesis through this elemental tune element rune formation. It is always hard to handle the first teleportation but you will get used to it." The usage of space mana was shocking to the pure ice demons. They had ever been able to witness it but they had heard of it.


    The space elemental nes were very rare and those that spoke about them would talk about how those within them could be anywhere and everywhere at the same time. A terrifying ideas in the least. This shaped an awe struck feeling when it came to the tales and the existence of those that could wield such mana.


    "Once there, you will be surrounded by guards. We will escort all of you to the Genesis building. Aie will act as your race''s representative. You will register while she is brought to the meeting with all the other race''s representatives. From there, you will then learn more from her as she will remain your representative until she chooses someone to seed her one day."


    A lot of this was not fully understood because they had never seen Genesis and didn''t know the benefits or values that came with all this. However, they believed that multiple races might apply to what they were seeing here.


    The soldiers and the people that made up the vige on the ind were not all the same. They also clearly had different affinities and were not trapped within one singr elemental ne. To them, this was an odd ce.


    Rumors and stories of the world being a ce where manas naturally bnced were proven entirely correct. Now that the pure ice demons saw it, they wondered if this ce was some sort of mystical heaven. To be fair, they also could tell that they didn''t need to worry about the pressure of incredibly dense water mana.


    Their blessing of having very high water affinity was also their double edge sword of risk. They lost their minds if they did not control it enough. Therefore, they all learned that they had to grow mentally tough to handle it. If they failed even once, they would lose it all.


    Everyone gathered closer together as Walker added the space mana he could control to the rune formation. He didn''t need to do this for normal groups, but since this rune formation needed improvements and he wanted the entire group to appear at once, he gave a push.


    He also saw the rest of the party waving since they were able to spend some time handling the ind while he was the one working. He was sure that they would bragter so he made a mental note to steal some of their dessert from dinnerter. It would be his grand evil n.


    Besides his thoughts, the group he was leading appeared in Genesis surprised by armored guards. They were not in battle stances but proved the power of this ce. Meanwhile, the pure ice demons were stunned again.


    The many buildings andrge number of people were all together shocking. They had never imagined a ce like this. They could even feel the various changes in mana as it interacted and flowed. An incredible feeling of energy and health radiated from every corner!


    "Let''s keep focus. We are following now!" Aie broke them all from their wonder. She was leading them behind Walker while the guards kept them all safe.


    They couldn''t help but get caught up as scents of food made their way through the streets. The pure ice demons also drew a lot of attention from the public who wondered what was happening to have some streets blocked off.


    It quickly turned in to arge rumor and constant gossip. A new race appeared right after warnings of a potential enemy. Was the enemy these people, or were they a new group brought from the elemental nes to be allies?


    Lucky for the public, a brave kid rushed through the guards and managed to appear in front of Walker. "Hero! What are they!? Who are they? Are they joining us? Can we be friends? What should-"


    "Calm down, calm down. You were too full of energy that you didn''t even think there might be some danger." Walker lifted the boy up with a little wind mana. "If I were to go tell your race''s leader that his little goblins are rushing through the streets and potentially in to danger, what would he say?"


    The teasing made the boy''s face go a little shade of pale green. "But, you can be the first to know. Today, the pure ice demons hunted a monster that tried to sneak through the bridge to the elemental nes. As such, I have brought them to join the Genesis alliance and they will most likely make a home in the water territories. They should get along well with the water dragons."


    Wanting to have a little control over the gossip wasn''t a bad thing. Walker knew that the young goblin boy wouldn''t be able to hide his excitement. Goblins were born of unique methods and they were adapting to being a proper race now which changed a great deal for them. So, being able to rush around and share a little gossip like this as they grew very quickly would most likely guide this child''s ss and future. Who knew what he would be.


    "Is this normal for him?" Aie was unsure whether this was how all origin beings acted.


    "You''re their leader? I''m one of the guard captains. I can tell what you are thinking, but Walker is one of the heroes. He doesn''t care about status or anything like different racial biases. He cares about peaceful growth and bringing everyone together more and more. Give him respect, and he will give you respect. Ask for help, and he will guide you to where you can get that help. Just ept the impossible when you are around him."


    Aie wondered just what had happened for people to have a grand view of Walker like this. She kept walking ahead though. Her thoughts didn''t stop her from being caught by awe when she saw the Genesis building or when she saw therge amount of people waiting to help the pure ice demons register their identities.


    "Follow me, we will meet the Genesis council. Every single race is represented there. We all can exin things to you and we will take the time needed, so ask any questions you have. It won''t be all said and done today, but we can handle things as theye. At the very least, today, your people will have a safer home."


    The warmth in Walker''s tone made Aie realize that no matter what happened, she felt trust. Not the sort of trust that came from those who promised it out loud. This was the kind of trust that came from an absolute power. A promise from someone who had upheld their words over and over without doubt in themselves for their goals.


    "I understand. I look forward to meeting them."


    This was what Aie said, but when she appeared within the Council room, she felt a great deal of intimidation. The power that all of the leaders of their races had was grand. Almost suffocating. Yet, they were all looking at her, especially the demon race''s leader who immediately understood the simrities in their species.


    The conversations could go on for hours, but everyone understood that the newest addition to Genesis was going to take some time to learn. But that wouldn''t be an issue. They all saw the benefits in the pure ice demons joining them.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2232: 2232. Frustrated Growth

    Chapter 2232: 2232. Frustrated Growth


    "While Walker is busy, we can have a small vacation, right?" Gil stretched his arms over his head while looking at Su who he was sure would prefer to be doing something.


    "No, you will be training the archers here. You understand that their new homes just had a possible attack from the elemental nes. How would you feel if a monster could walk in to your living room at any moment?"


    "You should have seen thating. Su isn''t letting us leave because she wants us to rx. She wants us to help make sure that there are sage ces for the people when the bridge to the elemental nes is used." Remey was backing Su up because she knew that Su would make them both work harder if she didn''t.


    "What about midnight then? She disappeared without saying a word." The idea that Midnight would even have been kept sight of was a hard one for Su and Remey to speak on. Mostly because she had gotten very good at sneaking off using the shadow wrapping skill.


    They all knew that she had gone to Mordant to learn a little here and there. With his skill hiding in shadows and manipting them, it was a matter of time before Midnight was able to use them better too. Maybe not melting in to shadows to travel like Mordant did, but hiding away, easily done.


    "Sister is spending time with Erika. None of you noticed that Erica came with a group of soldiers behind us. She was curious and Midnight made sure to keep her safe. Now she is teaching Erica how to mix wind and light mana inside her body better. Brother was watching her but Erica was spending time in the cathedral until she saw themotion."


    "So that''s where she went!" The fact that Onyx had kept track of everything was exactly what Gil trusted him to do. Onyx might not speak out often but he had learned a lot from everyone in the group. The scouting that Onyx did was partially learned from Gil''s partnership with him while traveling. It was natural that Onyx would have kept an eye on Midnight.


    "Fine, let them be, but you! Are going to help!" Su made sure that Gil wouldn''t go running off. And so, that was the start of the heroes training the vige''s guards. Plus helping out to prepare better ns for other potential elemental visitors from the elemental nes.


    Meanwhile, Midnight was showing Erica a few of her special attacks. The little hatchling was very interested and had been very happy with herself for managing to get here. She had never been to an ind and now her sneaking had paid off.


    Well, she had gotten a small bit of reprimand from Midnight in the form of a few ps and then a lot of growling. But that was fine, because now, she was able to learn from Midnight who was older than her and stronger than many of the other dragons. Even though Midnight was still pretty young, it made Midnight a role model.


    The shes from her ws continuously left deep shes within the earth. Erica was amazed by how Midnight could breathe out some wind mana that she had stored within the body to make the ws stronger. To be able to send that gathered wind mana out with the strike of her ws themselves. It was astounding to a hatchling''s eyes since she had never seen it.


    Imitating Midnight was a challenge that Erica had taken to in an instant. The constant attempts to copy each form of sh along with each movement of her muscles was in ordance with how Midnight moved. But they appeared broken and clumsy. Enough to prove that Erica had never done such things.


    Then it came to the leaps and bits. Midnight could easily crush the small trees she targets. Naturally, she was holding back so as not to damage the trees on the ind. She wanted to ensure that there would be a tree left after all.


    But Erica left small chips in the bark of each tree. Just enough to prove that something had been there. However, she was disappointed in the fact that she couldn''t keep the wind mana within her mouth and cause the wood to shred in the ways that Midnight showed her. It only seemed more difficult the longer they worked.


    Then it was on to the light mana. Midnight could easily breathe out a dragon fire breath with light mana as the focus. Let alone a purer light mana breath that could blind people while damaging them with the intense amount of light mana within it. This was all aside from the fact that Midnight even seemed to radiate the light mana on her scales as a boost to her defenses, however minute that might be.


    The frustration that Erica had as being too small and too weak to copy what Midnight was doing only grew. Her annoyance began to show and Midnight only huffed softly since she had felt that way too. But where midnight had kept growing, Erica was still very small. She had to begin that training. Had to fight the fights needed to gain proper experience.


    That was where Midnight left off with Erica. A lesson on hope to attack with the basics while also seeing the examples of how to channel manas better form within herself. It left Erica in the clearing surrounded by trees with a single goal.


    Improve.


    While all this happened, Walker looked at the half dead pure ice demon Aie. he wondered if they had gone too hard on her at first since she had never had to deal with this much paperwork and learning at once. To be fair, she had been following her culture and focusing on the gathering of pure water mana.


    "What did you think of your first day? A representative might have a lot to do, but there are a lot of benefits when ites to being one." Walker finally broke Aie out of her stupor. He knew that he should do his best to show her some hospitality since her people had just been guided toward the water dragon and the water elf living areas.


    "It will be a very interesting change. I can already feel it, I don''t have to worry about the constant gathering of water mana whether i focus on it or not. It is more like I can cut myself off from water mana entirely if I desire it. I can think more clearly."


    Considering that the pure ice demons had always had to worry about gathering too much mana and losing their minds, this was a good thing. Being able to cut themselves off from the water mana which had been both their strength and their weakness meant that they had the chance to think calmly and without other worries.


    Arge change like that would shake their foundations, but it could also strengthen them. Especially since they had the knowledge for how to gather water mana with varying purities now. It meant that they could strengthen themselves in other ways before they worried about pushing themselves to grow using the water mana they were so close to.


    "I was very interested to hear about the coliseum that the demi-human race favors. It sounded like a very good training area when battling monsters which desire to break in to your home and feed on your body." This made Walker halt a moment.


    He had not considered the ecosystem that came with the elemental nes. The pure ice demons had to worry about monsters roaming the nes and using them as food. They were a small group and fought amongst one another too. Therefore, they definitely did not have a settled vige or safe ce.


    They had to deal with monsters in the wilderness of the elemental nes at all times. "You won''t have to worry about monsters here. In Genesis, we have plenty of guards, heroes, and even some people you might think of as myths protecting the city. Even the kingdoms allied with us were formed with some ideas of peace for those that had always feared monsters or other dangers. So make sure you take advantage of that. Find new things out about yourselves and grow stronger."


    "You know, you do not act like the origin beings we have heard of. Domineering and powerful. Demanding of respect. Untouchable. Impossible to hear speak or understand. You are closer to people than what I expected." Walker smiled very wide hearing this.


    "Then I am doing it right. The people are my family and this city is my home. We all worked hard to make it. And I will keep growing my family."


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2233: 2233. The Prepared Dragon

    Chapter 2233: 2233. The Prepared Dragon


    A week in full moved on in genesis as the pure ice demons found themselves constantly stunned by what they were learning.


    Many of the races within the elemental nes were long lived, but not all of them were. The pure ice demons boasted that they could live up to a hundred and fifty years old if they could get strong enough. But many of them did not live that long due to the dangers within the water elemental ne.


    With the fact that they could live safely within genesis, they were possibly able to live much longer. They most likely would live simr length to the demon race that had lived in the world. Not that they knew their potential lifespan since they had been treated poorly by their own people for so long.


    Regardless of lifespan, this meant that the pure ice demons had only heard of the world in a very select few handed down stories. Even a few tales here and there from those that remembered the ancient times when crossing between the world and the elemental nes was possible.


    This left the pure ice demon race confused and amazed since they had not expected things to be the way that they were. The simple things like being able to try foods that weren''t hunted with great strength was hard to grasp. The pure ice demons had never kept animals for food, nor had they farmed.


    This highlighted the facts that hunting and scavenging for herbs or foods was the focus of many races within the elemental nes. That Was if they needed food in the first ce. Many races fed on the mana itself as their nutrients since that was what made up the majority, if not all, of their bodies.


    Another aspect that shocked them was the fact that everyone wore very proper clothing. In the sense that it was made for them and did not need to be crafted from the monsters they defeated. Even more so once the pure ice demons realized that elemental runes were carved in to the fabrics themselves.


    All of these small urrences were enough to attract a few of the other races that lived there longer to start teaching them. The water elves were somewhat interested since they could sense the depth of the water affinity which the ice demons had. However, it was actually the water affinity dragonkin that came closer than the others.


    They were the ones willing to level with the pure ice demons on a warrior''smon grounds. Specifically because the dragonkin represented loyalty to their dragons. Hence why they were proud to be warriors. The pure ice demons had pride in their hard work keeping themselves sane for their entire lives.


    When the two aspects of pride and loyalty collided, they had various matches while learning about one another. It was literally a single dayter that the water affinity dragonkin were showing the majority of pure ice demons every detail about Genesis. Whether it was just the dragon territory, or how to get a home for themselves in the future through working for money.


    Besides this, the demons overall began their shouts to gain a faster chance at exploring the elemental nes. They just received a perfect example that there might be more to their race than what they knew.


    Regardless of the fact that the demons and the pure ice demons had no records of other species of the demon race within the elemental nes, they both wanted to know.


    This then prompted the other races to voice their desires for exploration again. It made the next Genesis council meetinge sooner thanter since the voices of the people demanded


    answers.


    With various reasons flying here and there from everyone''s mouths, Walker and the rest of his party had to put their feet down.


    His statement that the elemental nes would leave almost everyone who went there dead was staggering. It was true though, there were powerful monsters and races there. They would not care where the explorers came from. They would see them as potentialw breakers, food, or another race trading in their territory.


    Beyond that, Walker had also exined the fact that the elemental kings and the true sages would have met by now. Meaning that in the future there was a high chance of representatives appearing from their gathering.


    Besides the fact that the elemental kings stood to maintain bnce, they also represented various races who fell beneath their rule. Partially to help maintain that bnce, and partially because they sought allies between races.


    This was enough to call things for the time being. Especially since everyone understood that the disappearance of the pure ice demons overall might be noticed by a few others here and there. Maybe even the water elemental king since they can sense anything and everything within their ne.


    If it came to representatives from the elemental nes, Walker also knew that they might need more help than the pure ice demons. Especially if they needed mana to thrive let alone survive.


    That was where the advancement in the mage tower came in. This small aspect in the grand scheme of building and creating was enough to stop the conversations and bring full focus back.


    Since there was an arcane architect now, the smaller mage towers beginning to be constructed through unique herb gardens with the assistance of the spirit race, it would be adding to the full benefits Genesis offered.


    This would be seen in the density of manas overall. Not to mention the new additions of herbs returning to their natural state based on what race grows them or is around them.


    identally, some herb seeds had been tracked in to the dirt stage of the coliseum. When a demi-human with lizard traits had bled on the small sprouts, they had be tougher and even appeared to mimic scales. That was how the willow scale grass had been rediscovered and Remeys'' research was publicized properly.


    In addition to this news, the first test of one flying rune formation for the floating ship was tested. Not I ly was it a massive sess, it was discovered to be more efficient because Ventus had personally provided purer wind mana to the mana gems that started the runes overall. An amazing fact since she was a wind dominator dragon able to use her mana in this unique way. The positive news with clear development paths made everyone calm down over exploring the elemental nes. Mostly because there just were not enough bodies to make that happen. Losing leaders right now to explore a dangerous ce would gravely harm Genesis. Besides that, the elemental nes were in constant flow. If the team exploring went in, there was no guarantee that they would find the bridge back to the world again.


    This definitive fact meant that someone like Walker would have to go. Also, that the people with him would need to be just as or nearly as powerful as him. Meaning the royal dragons who couldn''t leave right now since they had to focus on the development of their viges


    within Genesis.


    By the end of this long meeting, Walker found himself happy to be sitting and looking at the sky. The stars were a mystery to him still.


    He knew what was outside the world, it was the elemental nes. Yet, if that was the case, what were the stars? Was it just the chaotic space between the world and the elemental nes? Or was there more to that space in between than what he could understand?


    Part of him wished he could ask the other more powerful and wise Origin beings. They would have answers he might not even be able toprehend when told. He knew that he couldn''t though, he had already been told he had to grow stronger to be able to handle the power he wielded. So, he still needed to grow.


    "I heard that the little one I left with you had taken quite a liking to the cathedral and Midnight. She''s getting training from both."


    Looking over at Ventus who settled on top of the Genesis building to look over the city with Walker, he smiled a little. "Yes, she has been learning a lot. When I took her flying she could have lived up there. Once she grows a little she might take flight and nevere back to the


    ground."


    Knowing how Ventus had returned after checking in her children, Walker was d to see her happy. "I will be the first to venture in to the elemental nes. I spoke with the others." Before Walker could speak in response, Ventus continued. "I am the only one of us that has someone who can take my ce if I am to perish or be lost. Mordant may wish to search for the missing previous royal dark dragons, and Rise wishes to see pure light mana."


    "I am the best choice though. The only one that is prepared. So when the timees, I will go." She stayed silent letting Walker ept that as fact. In the end, he could only nod in approval. Ventus was not the kind of person to make these decisions without proper thought. She was sure.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2234: 2234. Wonderful Rune Advancements

    Chapter 2234: 2234. Wonderful Rune Advancements


    It felt like events passed much quicker in the next few days. Not that Walker was actually able to notice the time passing with how busy he had be. The pure ice demons still need help here and there, but not to the same degree. His time was mostly spent on therge projects happening around the city.


    Because Walker always wished to help, he quickly became more involved in a few events happening. The herb gardens that the spirit race was working on became a focus for him as he could help provide the right manas to help each herb take root.


    Since the herb gardens had be so important to a potential ce with a natural rune, there was also a growth in people wanting to be part of that. The idea that they could study herbs then be the first to create or fully understand a natural rune entirely was the greater desire here.


    As a driving force, natural runes had always been something people would be amazed about. Especially since they had once been something thought of as almost mythicals. Now though, it had been proven to be possible, therefore, it would attract people''s attention. Especially those that wanted to carve out their own future.


    Few of the rune carvers who had made a lot of advancements in the styles of runes and the understanding of elemental runes, had brought Walker in to their workshops too. The differences in workshops between them and a cksmith was somewhat surprising. Not in the size, but the number of materials present.


    The striking number of materials for testing runes was incredible. Whether it was fabrics, stones, metals, or even different woods, there were plenty of test options. Even some monster bones had been kept to be used as carving material. The rune carvers mentioned the innate affinities of some monsters allowed for certain runes to work more efficiently.


    In part, Walker was relearning what he knew about runes. Especially since the draconic runes, ancient runes, and modern day runes had all slowly been bing something new. These newer runes had be useful formations that could do much more than what he had known of rune formations before.


    The magic locks on the doors of the adventurer''s guild upper offices had been some of the first rune formations he encountered. He had been amazed by them since they kept the offices safe along with everything within them.


    But, they were basically nothingpared to the level of rune formations now.


    Not only could a lock be made to prevent entry, the locks made with these improved runes were easily ten times better. Not only would there be a preservation function that kept the door from degrading over the years, but also a tougher defensive ability. Meaning even some dragons would struggle to break them with pure force alone.


    Just the fact that the runes had been changed from something a dragon would not even care about to something they would struggle with was spectacr. That was why so many buildings could withstand the pressure from dragons flying by or evennding on them in some parts of Genesis now.


    It would only keep growing in proportion to the research being done as well. Walker could see the many runes carved in to small tes for testing. There were variations of one rune that would be ideal for wind elemental mana to flow through. Then, that rune would be changed with smaller designs and smaller patterns.


    Each needed the right bnce of mana to be used when carving them. Not to mention many of these runes needed specific materials to even be carved, something that many people forgot to mention when it came to rune formations in general.


    Hence why the elemental teleportation rune formations were heavily maintained and a greater focus on the rune carvers. They were the ones that needed to take the time to constantly rebuild them. Their hard work was used every single day to maintain the current functions of Genesis. The development of newer and better runes would take that pressure off their shoulders.


    As he explored the rune workshop, Walker was careful not to bother those who studied and worked. He was there to learn a thing or two, but that did not mean he could ruin the progress of others. These were hardworking people, some who traveled long distances to be here and see what they had seen.


    He managed to find a section dedicated to the recreation of ancient runes. The so called, origin runes, had lost that name and just be therger umbre term of proper ancient runes. The reason they had be this was because they were not as perfect as what everyone believed at first. Just much more advanced than what had been used before they had been rediscovered.


    The ancient runes had been used in ces like the mage tower and the city it had once been connected to. Those runes had efficiently boosted the manas of what the city could use overall. Since that was the case, it also made water gathering ces possible. The same for fires to be lit in colder times.


    Not that these were proper mes being made. They were fire mana mixed with the ambient wind mana to create a ball of hovering me to put off warmth and light on the streets without much smoke at all. The water gathering runes would bring water mana from the air and force water to gather in small pools which also had a smaller light rune to purify the water so it could easily be drunk.


    These two amazing discoveries took a little time to get from the ruins within the desert due to the dangers there. However, when they made it to Genesis they were greatly used right away. Mostly for the convenience and the fact that less dwarven plumbing had to be built.


    It wasn''t that the dwarven plumbing systems were hard to create for the dwarves, but the metals and other materials were better used elsewhere at the moment. For therge building of metal ships, the floating ship. New homes, and so on. So many changes were happening every single day that most people could not keep up with them. Having homespletely renovated when they might change again was troublesome.


    Plus, with the water gathering rune formations now, people could have these small pools of safe to drink water in their homes whenever they needed them. This only went alongside the other smaller rune formations being used.


    Communication runes were beginning to take shape. They would rely on the small but know about space runes along with other aspects of runes already used within themunication crystals which were being sought after with greater need every day.


    Looking at the runes used, Walker could see how the patterns changed as different elemental manas would be channeled to ensure that a message made it to wherever needed to get it. He could also feel that the rune was missing a few things when he used his abilities to sense the mana moving through the runes.


    It wasn''t an easy puzzle either. What the rune formations were missing weren''t some small water rune here or earth rune here issues. It was finding a way for the manas to flow through certain sections without shing. Which could in turn cause manas to explode or other dangerous reactions.


    From these failed attempts good hade. Certain failed runes and produced unique mixture of manas which led to a small lighting rune being created. While it did not have a specific


    usage yet, it was part of new theories when making rune formations.


    Some people had managed to create theories about trap runes that could be applied to the walls of a city in case of attacks. Others had figured that certain runes could be used to create a proper flow of manas when someone''s body was full of chaotic manas. And even more people had assumed that these rune formations could be used during droughts to better water crops


    naturally.


    As he moved through the building to arger area where a significant number of rune carvers and rune researchers were standing, Walker realized they were all looking at the work of a


    single elf.


    On the floor, a thinner, and somewhat sickly, looking elf was drawing a rune formation that Walker could not recall seeing. "Even the hero came to watch him. I knew he was a genius. No one else is a rune formation genius like this guy." The whisper didn''t escape Walker''s ears as he watched and sensed the manas being used.


    The various herbs ground in to ink so they could be used made the area smell earthy but it also brought more manas around the elf. His work was like watching an artist draw a masterpiece they cared for greatly. Walker could only wait to ask more about it when it was finished.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2235: 2235. Rune Smith

    Chapter 2235: 2235. Rune Smith


    Ehn the rune formation being drawn finished, a small circle of wind built up within it. Someone pulled the thin elf away who had drawn it just before a spark of mes erupted within creating a small tornado of mes. It was an interesting reaction within from the runes, but clearly an intended one.


    The small wind and fire tornado did not change its course or anything else about it. Mostly because whenever it started to, earth and water mana would guide it to repel it from doing so. Effectively creating a stationary way to trap or to burn something. It could also be used as a deterrent.


    Walker could think about the farmnds which would deal with pests. The insect type monsters would easily fear the mes like this. So, if these rune formations were put around farms when a swarm of them were on the way, everyone would be a little safer. Furthermore, it would protect the crops better than having constant patrols of guards.


    In the next second, the runes cracked slightly. It was clear that the constant pull of mana was not regted enough. Before the mes and wind could fully break and cause damage, a second rune formation absorbed the mana and created an earth wall.


    The strength of the wind and mes caused the fire to push up over the wall prompting everyone to move backwards away from it. Walker just stepped forward and forced the wind and mes to dissipate while the rune formation as a whole broke down entirely.


    "That was very interesting. I didn''t expect that a rune formation could be used to make a trap like that. I bet it could even be used for heating things a little faster than basic fire runes." His worries were only slight since Walker had seen a second rune formation pop up. Meaning that this would be safer for those experimenting on these sorts of runes.


    The thin elf man eventually stopped thinking and stood up. He looked at Walker who had helped on stopping the mes from spreading. His eyes were a deep green matching what any of the forest elves had. But there was a slight spark in them that told Walker that he had a mind which never stopped running.


    "Thank you for your help. Your name is Walker, this will be the first time we have met since I came here from the forest." he paused slightly. His way of speaking seemed to be slow because of his thinner and weaker body. "The mage tower and mana here helps me a lot. I can walk and even use my mana now."


    This made Walker a bit happier that he had even a small part on the building of Genesis. Not that many people would say that he yed a small part in this. Not that it mattered right now. "I''m d that you are able to move about and even make rune formations like that. Should I assume that you are the one who made all those rune formation diagrams?"


    Not wanting to keep the man focused on his sickly body. Walker saw that it was the right decision to ask about all of the rune drawings. "I couldn''t do much, like this." he took a deeper breath, "but when I was shown runes, something felt better. I started to memorize them until the world changed and I received a ss."


    The small smile that broke out on his pale face made Walker smile too. It was a genuine smile that told him everything he ever needed to know about this man. "I am the rune smith. I carve, create, and experiment with runes. As metal is to cksmiths, runes are to me." there was a clear understanding that he was right where he needed to be. In the perfect ce for him.


    "I can tell you are right where you need to be. Especially seeing that I know where other rune carvers have used your runes. I didn''t know that you were the one who made the most recent discoveries rted to spatial runes were your doing. They are going to change a lot." while Walker talked, he had used the all around appraisal.


    He noticed that the weakness the man had likely suffered his whole life was a simple and small disease. Something that was not unheard of. Basically, it was mana sickness. A disease where the mana in the body was expelled immediately because it would build up and flow improperly. No race or being was born perfect. Everyone has ws and sometimes those ws are harder to survive.


    Luckily,ing to Genesis after surviving in the forest elf territories, this man had been affected by the whaling aspects of the mage tower and even the cathedral. As such, he could get mana from the air and it wasn''t flowing chaotically or being trapped in parts of his body causing damage or pain.


    "Since you are fitting in to Genesis so well as a rune smith, you might as well keep up making these interesting rune formations. I came here to learn a little more about how these rune formations might y a part in the mage tower expansion project. Especially since natural runes might be involved as time goes on."


    The moment that Walker said why he hade, everyone nearby paid him close attention. A natural rune was like giving them the secrets of all runes. The natural runes being created had not been solidified and the hope that one could be created in the unique herb gardens where the smaller magic towers might be built would be a spectacr advancement for rune research.


    "If we can manage that, then I think you all know what it means?" he didn''t even need to say another word as the newly met rune smith had already cleared a space on a table to begin writing.


    "I know, natural runes are mysterious." His hands began to draw out the basic runes all holding shapes simr to the flow of what many people believed the manas took in nature. He drew draconic runes that were more optimized through force but in a clearly domineering and natural way. Then finally made runes that were ancient. All that he wrote showed the differences.


    "Runes take forms we can''t fully understand because of perception. The perception of those who made them." He started to draw out the newest forms of runes which took all of these different rune forms in to ount. They were very impressive and Walker could understand them at a nce. He could feel a sort of closeness.


    "There have been people that saw natural runes. They failed to record them properly. Those people were able to learn amazing things. Mages gained knowledge of that elemental mana. Rune carvers altered entire rune formations. Forgemasters made magical weapons." His words were being hung on to by everyone, Walker included.


    The rune carvers were not verypetitive. Oad, they all seemed to possess an innate desire to learn more. Their desires were the same and their knowledge could be shared. They understood perspective was invaluable to runes and their understandings of runes.


    "If we can make a natural rune appear, it could be a very big ce to study. And, with you working with the arcane architect and the herbalists to nt the right herbs..." Walker let them gather what he was getting at.


    They would be connecting various projects to create a better flow of information. "If we work together we can change a lot more and grow rune research much faster." Walker saw that he had them hooked. "Oh, and Remey is researching the influence of certain races and their mana on herb development. So she will be there with plenty of alchemists that want to see how all


    of thises together."


    Walker was prepared to go in to detail about how the herbs being used in this mana dense area where a natural rune might form could change, but he didn''t have to. The sparkle in the rune carvers'' eyes was clear. He had made their entire workshop interested. A few of them had already gone to start spreading the news more and more.


    "I will take this project on. I have already finished the improved wind rune formations for the floating ship." With the affirmation from the rune smith, Walker knew that this would be a great endeavor. Now he just had to jump in here and there learning along the way. Once there was enoughing together, they would have results.


    What he should have realized, that as the days went on, things would move forward much faster than what he could keep up with. He had seen a lot happen due to the changes in the world. A few more changes should have been expected.


    ...


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2236: 2236. Dark Herb Planting

    Chapter 2236: 2236. Dark Herb nting


    Finding himself enjoying the progress being made, Walker had been moving around Genesis and preparing the areas they needed to clear for the potential mage towers which would connect to the main tower. His efforts in this had been revolving around magic and ensuring that those who worked on the project did not have any issues.


    Out of everything that he had done so far, he was finding a great amount of calmness in nting the many herbs that would be rted to different elemental manas. It wasn''t just that the act was calming, it was that he could take a deeper look in to the flow of elemental manas around herbs.


    He was basically meditating while he worked. Not that this was a bad thing. It was simr to what some unique mages did. Alma was one of them. She could only grow the nts she used forbat because she understood them at a deeper level. Hence how Walker Was


    considering this job.


    Right now, he had made his way in to the darkness dragon territory to nt herbs rted to dark mana. Some of which looked nothing like an herb with dark mana affinity at all. But that was nature. It changed and developed in unique ways giving birth to things a normal person couldn''t properly exin without researching for a great deal of time.


    The herbs that rted to dark mana were normally very easy to spot. Specifically those with purple or ck colorations. But this one in his hands was deceptive. It appeared to bepletely white just like some of the light elemental herbs. Yet, it housed potent dark mana which caused a greater deal of decay than what most people would realize.


    ''White rot herb


    This herb is a very unique form of dark affinity herb that only grows in deep caves. However, it can grow elsewhere with the proper care and consistent dark mana.


    The decaying mana is so potent that it causes any nutrients absorbed to be pale and white due to the breaking down of colors. This means that it can also cause the discoloration of the soil and stone around it.


    However, it surprisingly leaves behind very well fertilized soil due to the constant breaking down of materials within the soil. In turn, nts and herbs growing around it are muchrger.''


    Walker didn''t even have to read the entire part of the all around appraisal. He was nting this herb because it had been selected to make this small herb garden. He could tell the value of the white rot herb.


    It was already helping the concentration of dark mana. That and the curled trap nt which was a carnivorous nt that ate insects. The only downside was the chance of it bing a proper monster if left to grow out of control. However, there would be utmost care in this herb garden so the chances were very slim.


    "I knew you would already be here today." The sound of Mordants'' voice wasn''t a surprise at all. Especially since Walker knew he had been working in the dark dragon area of the city.


    Mordant had been working hard to bring in natural herbs and nts that attracted dark mana. He also had buildings and stone brought in resistant to dark mana so that there would be ces for others to stay. People without dark mana affinity would have afortable ce. This level of care proved a lot about Mordant''s goal with his territory. Especially with the fact that he was one of the first and most epting dragons of change when Walker had approached them. His eptance easily contributed to the other dragons adapting better. The same could be said for Current. Not that he had been very activetely. His had been a little more reclusive since his adaptation to bing a water dominator dragon had been a little slower. But that also had been good since he had brought together water elves, merfolk, and his water affinity dragonkin at the same time.


    "I thought you woulde by at some point. You were a bit more interested in the mage tower expansion than I thought you would be." Trying to make a little conversation with Mordant was easy. Walker had always beenfortable around him. But as they were always so busy they hadn''t been able to speak much to one another.


    "It''s very interesting. Ifmunication rune formations are mixed in around these small mage towers, then I expect life will be much easier." His focus onmunication meant that he was interested in whatever that would bring for the Royal dragons and their elders who like to spread out often.


    "It will be even more interesting if there is a way to make it all work from here to the Sigil continent. One day maybe even in to the elemental nes. But that could be harder. Lots more dense mana to figure out."


    The theory that Walker had was sound but the mana would be the struggle. He could only hope that as the manas became even more bnced that the runes would be able to manage through denser areas of mana. It was something that many of the rune research topics might


    cover.


    "If we manage tomunicate across all that water without needing to use a teleportation formation, I would be very d." Like many others, Mordant had taken an interest in the Sigil continent due to its somewhat unexplorednds.


    While the unexplored aspect was due to the rough rtionship between the angels over the past years, it still was a fact. There were also herbs and monsters thought to be extinct there. It was enjoyable to explore and rediscover them. The dragons could vastly assist in this.


    "I''m sure you heard the news about the rune formations being changed too. Plenty of potential." Walker noticed that Mordant was guiding dark mana around the herbs he had just nted. It would help them take root without issues.


    "I was more interested in the changes with herbs. That little red and ck here bing a vibrant purple under the influence of my mana is astounding. I would have never imagined there were nts that changed due to those races not eating them as often. Or not growing them."


    To be fair, this was a big deal since there were herbs that tied deeply in to what race was around them or eating them. The simple fact that they had been in a somewhat dormant form was considered amazing enough.


    "The next hatchlings born may have a chance to be stronger sooner because of them. There is also the increasing mana density. I would never have imagined I would see things like this in my lifetime."


    While anyone else would see this as something very unusual to say for such a long lived race like the dragons, Walker understood. The dragons were set in their ways but upon breaking them, they had broken their perceptions of the world. Even aspects of it that they hadn''t realized they set in stone in their minds had been changed.


    With Mordants'' help, Walker found that the ck venom grass, ebony root, and circling vines all began to grow within minutes of nting. It wasn''t the same as an herbalist or farmer, but these herbs had all been found to enjoy higher dark mana environments. Along with attracting dark mana more often.


    They could both sense the dark mana getting denser in the area of the dark herb garden. It would cause more of the spirit race to gather here naturally. But it would also allow the spirit race to be born from the denser dark mana which would mean a higher chance of a natural dark rune appearing.


    If everything went as nned, there would be arge focus on this project as the first small mage towers were built within the herb gardens.


    They would house elemental mana knowledge. That would allow there to be better ess to knowledge in that area where that mana was more concentrated. Also, the additional fact that teleportation formations would be around the more popr mage towers.


    Some people were even considering how the mage towers could expand in to the wilderness. It might create specific areas for monsters to live with focused manas but also allow for


    rescue points.


    Someone could go to them if there was unexpected trouble while they were outside of the


    city. Using the rune formations tomunicate their need for assistance or to even teleport themselves would be life saving.


    It could change the risk levels of adventurers as a whole. Not to mention travelers and merchants. They would have a higher level of safety than they ever had before. It would take years to achieve, however, the efforts were never going to be a waste.


    ----


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2237: 2237. Risky Experiments

    Chapter 2237: 2237. Risky Experiments


    "So that''s where they have been. I thought that they would have been lost somewhere else by now." Gil''s words were pretty calm considering he had just run through the city looking for Walker before he had found Onyx and managed to have Omyc help find Walker for him.


    "Then I will leave you to whatever you need help with." It wasn''t that Onyx didn''t want to help, but he knew if he got dragged in to whatever Walker and Gil ended up doing, he would be caught up for hours. Sometimes he could even be pulled in to a few day''s worth of events. It was just how Walker worked.


    "Thanks again." Gil


    Leaping down from the rooftops that Gil had used when moving through the city, he caught the eyes of Walker and mordant. "What brought you here? I thought that you had to scout out the best ces to make herb gardens for the forest elf section of Genesis.


    "Well, that''s the thing, we ran in to something a little odd when it came to the herb gardens." Mordant looked at Walker and then at Gil. he knew that there was clearly more to do than just stay here and finish nting herbs.


    "You go ahead, I will finish this. There are a few of my dragonkin that have recently begun training and desire to assist me in this." Mordant pointed out toward a shadow of a tree and four dragonkin wearing thin dark leather armor stepped out.


    It was very normal for the youngest dragonkin to want to prove themselves in some way. Whatever way that was, it had to be something that showed they held loyalty for the royal dragon they were born under. Therefore, they had been waiting in the shadows for the chance to assist with anything that might appear.


    "Good luck to all of you. Show Mordant what you can do to build the territory the right way." Walker saw a few slight nods. They understood why Mordant trusted Walker and would not hold back when they saw his encouragement. They did remain serious though, definitely a positive mark here.


    As Walker began to follow Gil through the air and hopping on to rooftops and then trees, he saw that Gil had been hiding some worry. His face held a very open worry now since he had managed to get away from all the others.


    "First off, it wasn''t the spirit race that caused an issue while this was happening. There were some mages that decided to boost the mana in the area along with a rune carver. It was inevitable that mistakes would happen."


    Looking at the way this might be going, Walker felt that Gil was about to tell him that there were issues with the density of mana in one ce. Or even worse, that the runes carved had interrupted the flow of mana for a small area of the forest elves'' forest.


    "We thought at first that there was a mana flow issue. Making the manas slightly chaotic and also too dense in some ces. They made an elemental rune formation that gathered all elemental manas in a ce where not every mana was equally represented naturally. So it made a few of the more sensitive elves and echidna ufortable."


    "From there, I went and found that the guards were blocked by the spirit race and a few elemental spirits that had recently awakened. They won''t let anyonee nearby. If anyone tries, even me, they will attack. They just tolerate me more than the others so I was able to tell them that I will have the guards make a perimeter while I got you."


    Now Walker understood.


    Something had happened that the spirit race and the newborn elemental spirits or those from the elemental nes had sensed. Not that many of the elemental spirits hade to the world. They didn''t like the fact that there was not denser mana to keep growing within the world right now.


    "Can you sense anything when you get closer?" he was ready to call for Feur if things didn''t go well. She had been very busy handling the elemental spirits that were growing and awakening in to full spirit race members.


    The fine line between the two was something that came from being part of the world and the changes applicable with the world as it returned to proper flow entirely. Hence why it was hard for people to fully grasp which was which. As such, the learning that the spirit race needed right now was higher and Fleur had fully dedicated herself to doing so while also utilizing the fact that her body was made from natural mana.


    "That''s just it, nothing feels wrong. It actually feels better than normal. So much so that I can feel like I should be meditating rather than doing anything else when I start to get closer." Now that was odd. Gil would rather work on arrows. Train with his bow. That was all how he meditatedpared to the sit and just sense the manas all around him as a mage would. As they began to approach the part of the forest that Gil was talking about, Walker felt a tugging at his senses. Not something bad, but like the mana wanted his attention. He also noticed that there was a line of guards keeping some prying eyes away while the spirit race moved around patrolling and pushing everyone away where the guards did not immediately do so.


    When Walker saw this, he made a show of releasing some extra mana and bringing attention to himself. The guards looked to rx visibly while the spirit race moved around him. Those that fully grasped how to properlymunicate were trying to get his attention. They also asked if he could bring Fleur here too. However, Walker shook his head before releasing more pressure by manipting manas.


    What he had learned from his time in the elemental nes was that his control over mana had grown above what the elemental spirits and the spirit race could do when they were within the world. Hence how he was able to keep them in check if they were angered or acting erratically. He could push them to snap out of it by pushing the manas around.


    "Can all of you calm down?" His eyes were sharp and none of the spirit race present wanted to push back. "Very good, Gil has told me that nothing bad happened, however, I know that some people were doing things they were not supposed to be doing."


    After a deep breath, Walker spoke again. "While I know that people are curious to move forward in life and to make a name for themselves, There are lines. I will personally speak with the mages and rune carver that took it in their own hands to experiment here in the herb garden made for the mage tower expansion project."


    "Regardless of good thingsing from it, they were risking a lot when ites to the bnce of mana within Genesis. That''s why I am d that all of you came when you sensed it. I am unhappy that you acted as guards and forced your way here though. You should understand that one of you should have gone for a leader to speak with instead of letting Gil discover it on his own."


    "Now, I will do my best to understand the situation. Please bring me to what is happening and I will evaluate what to do from there. Alright?" Walker saw the faces of the spirit race be serious and firm. They understood that Walker was both disappointed but not throwing their feelings aside. So, they treated him with the same respect he was giving them.


    As the spirit race guided him to the herb garden, Walker found that the rune carver and the mages were actually unconscious. They had used all their manas and passed out on the spot. They had also caused the newly nted herbs which represented the first elf people to be


    uprooted.


    Yet, the herbs had grown where they had been tossed and even be muchrger. On top of this, there was a broken rune pattern which had failed working entirely. All the mana brought in by it had been the culprit for therger growth in the herbs. They had the mana they needed to grow and the soil here was nutritious for them. It was perfect.


    But floating above all that in the center, was an odd mix of manas. The elemental manas were pushed together improperly but still somehow formed as one. It felt right in a way. Not wrong at all. But like it was something unfinished because not enough mana had been brought in to


    it.


    "Let''s see what this is with an appraisal first."


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2238: 2238. Partially Made

    Chapter 2238: 2238. Partially Made


    "How can they have done this?" Walker was looking at the space where all the manas hade together. He was sure that the all around appraisal had to be wrong.


    "I finally got them to let me get closer. But what is that thing?" Gil could see it too. The manas condensed to the point where they were able to be seen even without the proper mana sense. Not that Gilcked the ability to see things at a better than normal people. He had high elf blood in him now, therefore he could sense these things naturally.


    "I am trying to figure out if this is right. There is nothing that gives us an answer and the runes broken here don''t have enough strength to make all of this happen. So it has to be the herbs inbination too." Walker''s annoyance was rare to see like this.


    Gil had seen Walker frustrated before. It was nothing new since Walker would constantly work on his own strength and skill. Yet, right now Walker appeared to be a little more frustrated than usual. Especially with the fact that he didn''t believe his own all around appraisal skill which he had relied upon for a very long time.


    "Just tell me what your appraisal says and we will go from there." Gil smacked Walker on the back trying to snap him out of his own head. It was better to share the weight than to sit here and keep trying to figure it all out.


    With arge sight, Walker began to read the all around appraisal out entirely.


    ''Partial natural mana rune


    This rune was condensed ahead of natural growth due to the involvement of multiple elemental mages and a lower ss rune carver. Due to this, the mana was not sufficiently bnced nor was the mana melded together as nature would have done. Causing the manas to be forced together in a dense ball unable to settle properly.


    With this as the case, this partial natural mana rune is shifting dangerously. It could cause magic nearby to be chaotic or to fail entirely. If it flows through a rune formation, it will break the runes that were ced due to higher pressure on the formation and runes unable to handle this high density of mana.


    If anyones to attempt to channel this mana and control it, they will face the entire strength of nature. Mana in nature is not always calm and can be intensely destructive and trying to control. Therefore, this mana will push back as if it has its own will. Making this mana very hard to even touch for those that have a very high degree of control over elemental manas altogether.


    To properly bnce the manas, a great force, and control of elemental mana along with affinity and control of natural mana is needed. It will take at least a week of control and slow umtion of manas to solidify while nature adapts as well.


    This is also dependent on the materials used to bnce the direct area around the potential natural rune. There needs to be materials that bnce the core manas within the area to a higher level. A base material for each elemental mana which will remain intact and the same through the entire process without breaking or showing damage to cause the mana within them to escape.


    Beyond this, there is a higher degree of failure regardless of the materials and the person involved due to the hasty nature of this partial natural mana rune being created...''


    As Walker trailed off, Gil was already cussing out the mages that had been taken away to the healers. He also wanted to have a few words between his fist and the rune carvers face. Not that he would actually do any of this. He knew very well that he was going to be the one that needed toe check on Walker while this issue was handled.


    "You can''t even make Fleur handle this with her higher affinity for natural mana since she is made of it. She might get badly hurt while doing this." Gil knew exactly what Walker was thinking right now.


    Who would get hurt the most of this partial natural mana rine failed. How it would steal away the mana from Fleur and just make the problem worse. How she could literally die since she was of the spirit race and had a body literally made from mana. This was like a trap waiting to cause damage to the spirit race and the elemental spirits. Not to mention the angels who pulled mana from the air to be able to survive as well.


    "I am not happy with this at all. A partial natural mana rune shouldn''t even be possible, but they forced one to happen. They risked a lot of damage to the city. And they forced nature ahead of itself causing this problem."


    With all the work that the party had done to return the world to a natural flow, he felt even more hurt. Not that it was an attack on Genesis, but an attack against him and everything he had worked for. That was simply because he had seen the struggles in the world that he had tried to change. All of which could be undone if their bnce was broken.


    "What do you need?" healing Walker and seeing that he was not leaving, Gil began to work ahead. Since Walker had to put everything he had nned on hold, he would need to be the one to back him up. And, Gil was his right hand man, how could he ignore Walker''s need for an assistant.


    "Find Terron and get a dense rock with purer earth mana in it. He should have some ores or stones that will work. Also have them carved with earth runes. Then find the other dragons and do the same with materials that they ced mana in themselves. Then have the grand elemental spirits add some of their mana in to mana gems. I will use all of that. But have Fleur keep all spirit race away from here."


    Walker stepped forward and felt the fierceness within the partial natural mana rune. It felt like it could be a great power or a great havoc. Both seemed in line with the situation he was in along with the mana he could sense. He was also worried about the manas being pulled from nearby in to the partial natural mana rune.


    While the rate was slow, proving that the partial rune was not fully formed enough to have an effect on therger area, the effects were still there and might cause more issues as time goes on. It also meant that the forest elf area would suffer slightly as manas within the air were not brought to where they would have flowed ording to who Genesis was built. Instead, they would be drawn here making everything harder.


    Alchemy would be tougher and the growth of herbs would not go as smoothly. They would need a much more careful hand when working on either. This was also not including any healing, training, or other crafting that happened nearby. All of it would be slightly harder since another force was trying to draw manas away from what they were doing.


    Shaking off the frustration, Walker took a sitting position and fully dedicated himself to the manas within the air and how he could guide them to fluidly meld with the partial natural rune before it could do so of its own improper control.


    His immediate feeling of unease as he could sense his own mana being pulled at was enough to get a lot more serious. He had a week, if not more, to work on this. Nothing else could be brought to his attention nor his focus while he worked on this. As that was the case, he also began using the eternal codex to meld manas together to make natural mana which he could feed to the partial natural rune.


    This had an immediate calming effect on the manas in the air pushing against one another. It slowed the rotation within the partial natural rune without causing any waves or damage. Not only because it was properly bnced natural mana, but also because this was the mix of mana needed for the partial natural mana rune to form entirely in to a natural mana rune.


    As much as Walker wanted to keep being frustrated and annoyed, he realized he was seeing a new aspect of natural mana and nature as a whole. How it could and how it should form in to runes. He would just need to take things slow to figure it all out. It was just a matter of time.


    ----


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2239: 2239. Sus In Charge

    Chapter 2239: 2239. Su''s In Charge


    "I would have really preferred that Gil and Walker were free for this." Su had returned to the ind. Not because she was worried about the recovery, but because she had been called on since Walker could not be disturbed at all.


    Once she and the others had heard about the situation, they were both worried and somewhat amazed. The natural runes forming had been something that should have taken at least five years, not a single week of beginning the process. Yet here they were, reckless aside, there was a partial natural rune, and a natural mana one at that, not a singr elemental mana.


    This left her, Remey, Midnight, and Onyx with a little extra work. Onyx was maintaining a connection with the gathering of materials that Walker had been keeping an eye on. It wasn''t that there had to be someone doing so, but since they were avable, it was better to help here and there were smaller issues might appear.


    Remey had been deeply involved in the herbalists and the alchemists'' side of this. Especially since she had been leading the endeavors to find the right herbs to behind expanding these herb gardens. As such, she had taken an even more vocal role in approving or denying the research supporting which herbs could and could not be used.


    This was all based on a slew of different factors. But what it boiled down to was research. She had to see defined research that proved these herbs were the proper selection. One that was denied immediately was the vampiric herb known as bloody nightshade.


    She had seen the herb and thought about how valuable it would be since it was considered a useless herb only good for poisons. Or at least just as night shade it was. But the vampires proved that they had known about how to feed it proper nutrients which added a tinge of ck to the herb''s leaves and changing the poisonous tendencies of the herb in to an herb that could be used to help a vampire resist certain illnesses that came with them being somewhat rted to undead.


    Unfortunately, the cost of that change was not the manaing from a vampire, but a vampire''s blood. Upon learning the cost of blood from a vampire, she had understood that making these herb gardens with these dark and surprisingly blood affinity herbs would harm vampires more than help them.


    At first that had caused some issues since the vampires believed their knowledge was benign insulted. But when Remey brought up their dwindling numbers as a race and how losing even one was a grand harm to their new era of learning and growth, they began to understand. This was not the age where they could be brutal and push forward with force.


    They had the time. They had the support. They could take things slow and grow day after day without worries that they would be attacked or destroyed as a race. They had protection for the first time in their history.


    There was more stress on Remey when it came to everything that she did not have the time to focus on matching the herbalists and the alchemists who were traveling in to the wilderness to find herbs that might be beneficial for research with the adventurers guarding them.


    The reason that selecting the groups was so important wasn''t because they were being attacked or that there was a need to be wary. It was simply because there were inexperienced adventurers that did not have the knowledge about how to handle these sorts of jobs right now. They needed to have the experience and knowledge to be able to handle these positions.


    Midnight was working carefully with ra''s new attendants to make this happen. As such, she also got to know the newer adventures appearing. Some who were adjusting to Genesis and others who were making new starts. Midnight''s surprising maturity shocked many of them since they believed her to be an aloof young dragon.


    When it came to Su, however, she was handling a problem that was not at all expected for the recent times. She had expected something like this to happen after months potentially. Not just a few days after the pure ice demons hade to Genesis after hunting down an impure ice demon and fighting against their own kind for control of their small tribe.


    Now, she was looking at someone she had never met, but remembered her because the king of water had paid some attention to their party as they moved through the water elemental ne. "I am Su, I came to greet you once I heard that you had sent a body here to represent you."


    "I am d you are going with the flow. The water mana within the world is very low and even this body is struggling to maintain form. I have been offered water mana crystals and also given some unique armor to use as a method of controlling the loss of water mana while maintaining my bond with my true self."


    The womanly form was very fluid. Mostly because the body was made from various pieces of ice, water, and also herbs that came from the water elemental ne. "The armor is a basic womens'' knight''s armor. It''s been carved with some water elemental runes, not the newest, but they are sturdy enough to help you learn what you came to learn. I assume you havee because of recent events and wish to see a little more?"


    The nod came quickly in response, "As the true sage of water, when the water king asked why there was a disturbance within the edges of the icy depths, I went to understand it. Finding the remains of many impure ice demons did not bring us happiness. Then finding that the pure ice demons had ventured in to the world, we believed the worst had happened."


    This was all very understandable to Su. She had been wanted by Walker even though she had expected something like this, that there would be dangers. That the water elemental ne may need answers for what was happening with a race that had lived there for generations. "As you saw, there were many impure ice demons. A disagreement in leadership happened within the tribe of pure ice demons and that caused some to lose their calm. To lose themselves entirely." knowing the delicate nature of this meeting, Su didn''t hide anything. However, she did not bring any negativity either.


    "As such, one member hunted down an impure ice demon that came here and attempted to cause trouble. She seeded and we came. Walker offered them a safe ce to live where the dense water mana would not push them beyond their limits or cause their minds to break. Now the remaining pure ice demons are meeting different kinds of their races and learning in a safer environment."


    "They will be powerful and controlled enough to return to the water elemental nes one day. When that day happens, it will be a great day where we can unite the world and the elemental nes even closer. More importantly, we hope to see simr cases avoided within all of the elemental nes."


    There was a pause for consideration. It was not unknown that Walker was a member of the Origin race, even as young as he was. However, the true water sage had not just considered this as a one and done event. "It may happen again, and you can learn more about the water elemental nes by speaking with them. By bringing them in to your alliance. I see."


    The sage was not blind. They understood the state that Genesis was in now that the world had returned to the flow properly. It was changing rapidly and the more the manas grew, the more that the elemental nes would be open to the world. As such, they had to be prepared to avoid wars, violence, and general chaos.


    "We are epting of this situation, however, we can not allow this to be an immediate decision. Every race can not just travel to the world as they wish. Even with the permission of a young origin being. There is a bnce maintained due to pure ice demons absorbing mana where they were. It changed, and now another will take their ce. That can not happen with everyone."


    This made perfect sense. The bnce within the nes were always going to be delicate and would need to be monitored by those with proper power. They were there for a reason. "Can you leave from the bridge to visit Genesis? Would you have issues with teleportation formations?" Su was prepared to bring the body that the true water sage had made with her to learn about Genesis before going back and sharing this. She was acting as an ambassador


    now.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2240: 2240. Guiding A Sage

    Chapter 2240: 2240. Guiding A Sage


    Mentally, Su told herself to thank whoever had the idea to bring water rune carved armor to the true water sage. It was a very discreet way to allow the water and ice body to be hidden from view therefore allowing a little more privacy.


    This didn''t stop the focus on Su that she normally had. The true water sage witnessed many peoplee up to her or wave to her in greeting. This was unusual for the true water sage because that was not the case for her whenever she roamed the water elemental nes.


    Just the difference within culture from the water elemental nes to the world was already enough to make the true water sage wonder what Genesis was like more in depth than what she was already seeing.


    Unlike the true earth sage, the true water sage was one of the sages born within the elemental nes. She waspletely lost as to what the world was and how it came together. Only that it was a ce where all manas mixed in unique bnces without bing chaotic. She even believed that origin beings desired to create arger world.


    Why else would they always be bringing together the elemental nes from the chaotic manas?


    Regardless of these thoughts, the true water sage had not said a word while they moved through the elemental space teleportation formation. She had experienced teleportation before as she neared the space elemental nes in the past. It had been a simple check of a nearby elemental ne that had been brought nearby to be sealed.


    However, it had left some awe within her, the sheer differences between it and the water elemental ne had been enough to do so. Not that Su saw any of that, the body sent which was made from water was able to keep emotions hidden well. It was just a copy of the true water sage''s consciousness to bring memories back to her.


    "You should be able to see, but there are many races that live within genesis. It''s dusk now, so you are going to see the change from day to night. It means multiple other races who can not easily walk around in the sun wille out. The nightlife is much different here."


    Many people would call it another city altogether since the demi-humans with traits more applicable to the night and the vampires came out during the night. However, there had been a sub species of the harpy race who took after bats. The harpy queen and kept them far away since they were less weing to others.


    The issue had been resolved though as the harpy queen hadplete control over them. As such, the bat men hade to genesis and begun enjoying the night life. When the vampires arrived, they quickly began to get along very well with them. Their nocturnal habits and simr diets proved to be a grandbination for them.


    But one aspect that led the vampires to epting the bat men as their friends was that the bat man race could easilymunicate with bat monsters and bats in general. This meant that the vampires trying to form bonds with bats as familiars had a middle man that they could go to for help.


    The busy streets were slowly changing in the true water sage''s eyes. She saw the harmpies leaving and heading to their homes in the high up areas of the city along with the nearby elf forest. She also saw the arrival of the bat men and even some of the gray haired spiders. The harmony as things changed was fluid, just like the flow of a river in to another creating ake at the end.


    When she saw an elder dark dragon take dragonkin from while leaving a bundle of wood for repairs to a small shop which had been hit by a carriage earlier that day, she was even more shocked. The dragons would never lower themselves to such things in the elemental nes. Yet here she was, seeing a peaceful and clearly epting dragon.


    "It''s a lot to take in. but this is Genesis. Many of the races used to have their own negative views of one another. Theycked trust in others as a whole too. But when we started to traveling around, we started to see the solutions to their problems. It took some convincing and fair few tests, but we were able to find ways to bring everyone together."


    "Many races lost their histories to wars, the broken flow of elemental manas, and even to themselves because of their own changing views. Now, we have reimed a great deal of history to be organized within the Genesis archives and shared freely for all to learn from." It was clear that Su could keep talking forever as she began heading toward the Genesis building. The true water sage couldn''t evene up with just one question to ask. They were so numerous that her mouth remained shut while she just watched and absorbed everything. "The mage tower you see over there was from an ancient race that was almostpletely wiped out before heading in to the Sigil continent or the elemental nes. Regardless of the history being solid, we have brought it here. Eventually, an archmage will be the tower master and the effects will grow. Right now it provides mana gathering and also a revitalizing effect over the city."


    Noticing that the true water sage was focused on a demon girl walking with a few of the younger dragonkin, Su spoke up again. "That''s one of the demons that were saved from their own people. The demon lord and the sin title holders caused some demons to be monsters who enved their own people. While everyone can be a monster, they had gone too far."


    "After saving them, they joined Genesis and have made a great deal of magical investments and advancements for the city. Their mages are currently responsible for taking important roles in almost every aspect of the city. That''s why Walker extended a hand to the pure ice demons."


    "You extended an invitation so that they may live the same as another of their species. They have less risk of losing their minds and bing impure ice demons. They also can choose other paths to walk other than their tribal warrior history." It was expected that the true water sage would have knowledge about the pure ice demons and their ways.


    "Walker told me that they would be able to absorb smaller amounts of water mana here because the world had yet to adjust to the proper flow entirely. That means that they will not be at arger risk. After some time, their younger generation will be able to handle the denser water mana in the elemental nes."


    "And every generation afterwards will also have the natural resistance passed down by their parents." The true water sage finished the sentence and Su nodded along.


    "I may have missed the opportunity to meet you when you crossed through the water elemental nes. However, I am d that this event happened. I wish to see even more. I also wish to meet Walker. The true earth sage was very clear that he had respect for him and his goals."


    It was unfortunate that the true water sage was so open now that she had seen this. It was like someone seeing a chance to learn for the first time in their lives. The thirst for knowledge was


    very clear.


    "Walker is handling an issue with natural runes. An ident happened while someone experimented wrongly. Now we have to repair the issue. It should take a week or two. Will your body be able to hold up until then?" Su didn''t want the true water sage to leave unhappily. Especially since there was a great deal to be gained from this visit.


    "Then I will make my body go dormant for the time being. I came here for an answer about the bnce being slightly disturbed. I have that. Now I wish to meet the rest of those that led this city to exist. I will also learn more about the world so that I can report to the king of water


    later."


    As they walked in to the Genesis building, the true water sage froze her body solid and a slew of water runes covered the armor. From what su could tell, she could somewhat understand what happened around her, but just enough to know when her goal would be met. "Well, now I will get poem guards to keep you safe and have an archiviste and tell you about the founding of Genesis. Hopefully that helps you pass the time." Su couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation. She just knew that her life had be quite the oddity as well.


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2241: 2241. Rushing Mana

    Chapter 2241: 2241. Rushing Mana


    "ce that material over there, it''s not that important to be in front of Walker, it just needs to be nearby." Gil''s directions were in directmunication with what Walker wanted. He had exined what to do with which materials before they arrived.


    The only issue was that when the people came to deliver them, they brought with them their own mana. Everyone radiated some mana, it was inevitable. Without the highest control of mana within their own body, their mana would seep out causing them to leave mana behind.


    In turn, that mana would be absorbed by the partial natural rune causing damage to the process which Walker Was trying to control. If he lost focus at this point while talking to someone, then there would be issues with the partial rune most likely causing the mana it was made of to shoot out damaging the areaa massively. Hence why Gil was in charge right now.


    The reason that Gil was changing the cing of items was not simple. It was about how the natural rune was formed. It needed certain manas to anchor themselves in a way that allows them to flow better. If it was not a natural mana rune farming, and one singr elemental rune forming, then it would not be as dangerous. It would also require fewer materials.


    Thisrger number of materials made things harder since the manas within them needed to be perfectly aligned so that they would not break the goal that Walker was trying to aplish. As such, Walker was also following the start of making the smaller mage


    extension tower.


    The stones holding denser earth mana that Terron were able to bring had been carved so that they could be ced in a circle. The herbs that carried higher fire mana and could grow in the stone were from a mountain area where volcanoes burst in to life. The water steel brought was able to channel water mana without channeling any earth mana, a rare material but perfect to therge nails used to hold this base together.


    Furthermore, as the windswept ash was poured over everything, the wind mana that had reced the fire mana within over years of being swept through the wind currents acted as a bncer for the other materials. It all came down to the dark and light sands being used to fill the cracks of the stones before the fire herbs could take root.


    This round of materials had be the base, that was the goal, but that meant the partial naturally forming rune would not copse as it became connected to the materials taking shape together. There was also the fact that as Walker used those materials, he was pushing the manas together in a bnce.


    His mind was under heavy strain due to all this. Much higher than when he had been training to learn to make natural mana in the first ce. Simply because the density of the manas he was using was growing by the moment.


    The longer this took, the more that this partial rune would take in manas. As such, Walker needed to ensure that he was able to keep that from happening in a way that would cause a break down. There was a moment where he thought of retracting the light, dark, and fire manas. That way he could create a natural rune using just earth, water, and wind.


    He also considered doing the same so that the rune would only be earth, water, and light. That way it might mix with the forest better. However, any attempt to do so set of instinctual rm bells. His skin crawled just thinking that he could do those things. Whether it was an instinct as an origin being or not didn''t matter. It was there and he listened to it.


    This was why he was currently holding on to the manas around and stopping them entirely from flowing toward the partial rune. He knew that a rune forming naturally was rare and important. Also that it would almost always be a singr or even a dual elemental affinity rune. But this was forming whether he liked it or not. So he had to make sure the bnce was perfect.


    The manas being held back against the partial rune forming was tough. It pulled against Walker''s control and tested him. This tug of war was not something he could keep up forever, yet, it was working.


    The longer he did this, the more that he saw the mana within the partial rune calm and meld together. It was being forced to rotate and mix in a more bnced manner which would create a proper natural mana rather than the opposing chaotic form of natural mana without bnce.


    While his sense of time began to drift away, Walker was certain that the more he focused on this the better the results would be. He was even making the manas being gathered which he had held in ce mix too. He was making natural mana and even attracting the attention of weak elemental spirits. The spirit race had not stopped them since the elemental spirits naturally felt a need to help.


    A hard cracking sound suddenly echoed through Walker''s mind. He realized that he hadn''t lost control of the manas around him, but that he had just stopped holding them. He hadn''t consciously done it either. It was an instinct again. It felt right and he had done it before his mind could catch up and stop him.


    All the gathered natural mana he had held back rushed in to the partial naturally forming


    rune.


    Where he expected an explosion of mana or damage, he did not find it. Instead, he felt a suction which drew even more mana toward him. It was even seemingly resonating with the rune formations all around Genesis. Mana was being directed right to the rune.


    The sudden resonance with his own heartbeat made Walker focus with his mana senses at a level which he shouldn''t have been capable of after holding the manas back for so long. Yet he managed.


    The washing of mana through his body made Walker feel like he was taking a step forward. He could feel the ways that manas came together naturally. Not just how they melded together, but why they pushed each other away and how it gave birth to unique environments.


    How the flow of life and death touched upon natural mana to cause both the growth and the breaking down of an ecosystem in cycles. How some areas surrounded by deserts could one day be vibrant green while another area begins to corrode in to a wastnd.


    It was all a bnce that he could sense at a much grander level than that of which he had sensed before. Everything was opening his eyes to a new nature of each elemental mana and how it worked with each other.


    That was until he was snapped out of those thoughts to see a gleaming rune forming above overgrown herbs and melded together materials to make a base for the small magic tower extension. It was almost like a crystal showcasing various smaller runes which were never there long enough to grasp.


    A fountain of knowledge was right there to learn from. However, Walker had a sneaking feeling that it would not just give away that knowledge. That it was sitting there in waiting for the right people and the right time to share the knowledge it had.


    "That''s it, isn''t it. That clear crystal has a natural rune in it. And a natural mana rune to boot." The way that Gil was seeing it, this naturally formed rune was an oddly clear crystal that floated over a very strange stone base. It was surrounded by a lot of herbs that were very overgrown. It was also being focused on by various spirit race members who were exceedingly happy to see it.


    "You can''t see the runes forming inside it and moving around constantly?" Walker had not imagined this to be the case. But he also understood that the world was full of mystery. So was existence itself. So, why would it be easy to see these things.


    "Nothing at all. I should have guessed you''d see more. I bet it''s mana sense and the whole, I


    can do anything, thing that you have going on." Gil looked at Walker and offered him half of a sandwich. "That took you nine days straight of not moving and controlling mana, you should


    be hungry."


    The moment that Walker heard this, he felt the aches in his joints and a massive amount of fatigue hit him. "I''m there with you." Gil sat down where Walker had just fallen on his own butt. He had been there making sure he watched over Walker this whole time. Now they could both rest.

 Chapter 2242: 2242. A Guest

    Chapter 2242: 2242. A Guest


    The area around the nature mana natural rune was still blocked off. However, it was in a much smaller way. This was just to ensure that there were not issues as time went on. There could always be someone that had the desire to experiment again. Let alone someone who wanted to sue the rune for their own needs.


    Right this second, the best thing to do was make sure the area was safe while the arcane architect built the remainder of the tower around the odd crystal that formed when the rune fully came together.


    The news of this sessful formation was also restricted. Mosty to prevent the chances that someone else will try to force a rune like this again. While the natural runes clearly had their own rules and their own boons, they came with dangers. They could easily cause rune formations to copse. Easily cause people to be greedy. Or even worse if not used properly.


    Beyond all this, there were some races that surely had sensed the changes nearby. That being the case, they might need toe here for their own reasons. As that happened, there would have to be conversations with unbiased and fair standpoints by those not affiliated with that race. Another small challenge for Genesis to ovee.


    "You two are just sleeping here? Do you know how busy I have been!"


    Both Walker and Gil froze on the spot. They knew very well that whatever they did now would get them in trouble. "We were just recovering for a short while beforeing back to you." Gil tried his best to talk his way out of it, but they had just slept for a few hours after eating. Right in the middle of the forest before having a new guard set up.


    "Do you think I am blind? Even if I was, I can tell that the two of you could havee to the Genesis building to exin the situation right when you had finished starting a new guard patrol for this area." She looked at the odd crystal before looking at Walker.


    She had heard the situation and the details rted to it. Those who had caused it were already dealing with their punishment. The risk to Genesis sform their actions without proper protection was major. Therefore, it was being treated as seriously as any other crime would be. Not because the leaders of Genesis were cruel, but to show exactly the level of respect they have for the city and the alliance they came together to form.


    "You also have a guest waiting for you. She had been frozen in the main hall of the Genesis building for a few days now. It is rude to make them wait." Just to get back at Walker a little, Su didn''t tell him who the guest was. Besides, Gil couldn''t ruin that either since he had also missed the details associated with the true water mage.


    Hearing he had a guest, Walker wondered who it would be. And since Su wasn''t telling him, he had to rush to the Genesis building just to see.


    On his way, he noticed that the city was busy as always. Nothing appeared out of ce. There were even a few more spirit race using dwarven golems as means of transport and bonding than before. It meant that the growth and bonding of races was still on the rise. Exactly as he hoped it would be.


    But when he neared the Genesis building, Walker sensed a deeper mana. The strength of water mana that he had only sense when he was within the elemental ne of water. His mind raced to figure out if it was the pure ice demons, but he knew that the mana felt different. So, it left him with a potential for another person that came from the same ne.


    When he walked in to the building, he understood. He also saw the ice melt as if it was nothing to do so. "You are the one I have waited for. The true earth sage told me that I would sense you when you got close. But this body is only one made to carry memories and experiences. It took me too long to grasp the feeling."


    "I should take it that the true water sage came here after I weed the pure ice demons toe to Genesis. I hope that it did not cause you too much trouble. However, I do not turn away any in need." Walker made it clear that he had his reasons and the true water sage made it clear that she was not holding negativity.


    For a moment, Walker looked at the armor covered in water runes and understood that the water, ice, and water affinity herb body must have been hard to look at and understand. Therefore, someone gave her this armor to use to cover herself. Plus, the more humanoid body different from the spirit race of water affinity was challenging for other reasons to look


    at.


    "I dide here for that reason. It was not much trouble, just a relocation of a small vige of another smaller race. It happened within the hour. I came here to see what else may make them remain. To meet the young origin being that was trying to bring the world in to proper bnce with the grand nes we strive to defend in our daily lives. Even the water king is interested to hear my thoughts about you."


    This was not surprising. The elemental kings were bound to the elemental nes. They were and would always be the very embodiments of what the mana was that they stood for. The earth king was clearly impressive but even their party had only met a small part of his body. Let alone what they truly were. The odds that the elemental kings didn''t even have a true body might be higher than he thought.


    "I can feel the uniqueness of your mana. And I have seen and listened while resting here. Many people speak of you and your family. They im you are the base for all that they have be in the recent year. I have heard of the small additions you make to every growth within this alliance and city. How your interest causes growth in droves."


    "I have seen those with battle scars and suffering scars smile because they are here. That is not always the case for those within the elemental nes. The pure ice demons especially had it on the harder side. Their very own strength, their high affinity for pure water mana, was a curse to them."


    "Their tubes never grewrge. One impure ice demon would cause many to perish if it was not caught by those strong enough to do so. Here, they have a chance. It is very inspirational." He could tell that the true water sage had been listening to every single thing happening in the main hall while waiting. She knew a great deal just from sitting there as dormant ice.


    "I expect a tour of the home you created. Before I make my decisions on whether I will be an ally or will vote against an alliance. The elemental kings will stand united regardless of the logic. The true sages are there to advise as eyes beyond their sight."


    This was news to Walker. He knew that the true sages worked with the goals of the elemental kings. That was not new. However, that they did so with such closeness that they could be called their eyes, now that was new. It spoke volumes of how much the true sages could influence the elemental kings if need be.


    There was a little pressure that Walker could feel, but he also understood this was a clear warning. That if he did not show off the truth, that he would be making an enemy instead of anything else. "I can show you the very first ce we started. Then we can move through the race''s territories, then to the dragon territories that were built and are still being built."


    "We made things simr to the flow of the elemental nes and a rune formation. Mostly to increase the effects of the magic tower which helps heal, smooth the flow of manas, and generally helps the air remain clean and fresh." It was better to say that than to say purification effects. Regardless, he started exining the first moment they decided to create Genesis.


    The questions started as soon as they made it to the first market street. The next thing Walker knew, he was exining how many of the fruits and foods were either newly discovered, came from far away, or even could be called extinct a few months ago.


    The pressure he felt was soon gone as Walker began to take full pride in Genesis yet again.


    ----


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2243: 2243. The Other Sages

    Chapter 2243: 2243. The Other Sages


    "Do you expect the other true sages to visit as the elemental nes rotate and the bridge is in different locations?" Walker already knew the answer before he asked. But he was after


    something else as an answer.


    "You already understand that they will. That or others representing them wille to speak with you. And to see all this."


    There was a pause as the water body seeped out of the armor and slightly becamerger. More pure water mana radiated out as the true water sage spoke. "But you are asking me if I think that every single sage will act as I have. As the true earth sage has."


    "I didn''t think that you wouldn''t even give me a slight bit of face there. But yes, I would like your opinion on the other sages that I did not meet nor even heard about." This is important right now. If he were to meet the other true sages, then things might go very differently.


    The true earth sage had already made a decision on what he thought of the party before he had actually spoken with them properly. Their every move had been seen by the true earth sage after all. He had developed a very clear idea of who they were.


    The true water sage was different. Walker could feel that respect meant a lot. So conforming to the flow that the true water sage desired for the tour and the entire conversation gained Walker the equal respect from the true water sage to ask such questions.


    It was way too bold and risky to ask the true water sage about the other sages. Especially since they were considered some of thergest figures in bncing the elemental nes. Without their constant work and how powerful they became through their efforts, the elemental nes would not have such solid borders.


    Regardless of the origin beings, the elemental kings and the true sages were very important to the flow of all mana within the elemental nes. Specifically when it came to keeping the more wild hearted beings within them from wars. Many events had been halted with just one of their arrival or the mention of them arriving and taking the event take ce.


    "That seems simple enough." The true water sage removed the extra dense water mana from around Walker. He was sure that she was just trying to see what he would do under more pressure. But seeing that he did not push or break her flow, she chose to give him her own advice.


    "The true wind sage wille and you will need to catch him. Je will also befriend that grand wind spirit roaming about here and there. The true fire mage will destroy something. Whether intentional or not, she does so whenever she leaves the fire elemental ne."


    Walker swore he could feel an annoyed tone form the true water sage when he heard about the true fire sage. However, fire was destructive. If it was not carefully managed, then the chances of something burning or being broken were very high.


    The true wind sage sounded free spirited. That fit with what everyone believed wind to be. yet, he knew very well that wind could be exceptionally dangerous. The wrong move could show the same destructiveness that he would worry abouting from the true fire sage. "If you are to meet the twin sages of light and dark... Well, you will need to maintain your bnce. They tend to influence those around them significantly. Even the other elemental nes are affected since they are not in direct opposition and can exist within all manas." "I understand that. Even the depths of the ocean have a little light while they are also full of darkness. mes can glow white hot or a dull slow ck. The earth can be turned to sand by the sun or can be cavernous. The win will blow at any hour. Night and day."


    The true water sage nodded at Walker when he responded to her. She wanted to hear that he understood why she would say these things. They Were Partially rted to their character but also how the embodied the elemental manas that they made their bodies out of.


    "I will be exoloring on my own before returning. Send three guards with me. I will have them bring me to that ind again. You should prepare though, there may be others that find the bridge before you are prepared. It is better to remain on your toes." the true water sageughed slightly. Not because she was scarring Walker slightly, bit because she knew he also understood this.


    As the true water sage walked away from where they had stood, Walker ryed that she was following the different canals that had been cut in to the city for travel for those with aquatic dispositions. From what he could gather, she greatly enjoyed that this had been done through Genesis.


    Not only was it practical for some transportation of heavier goods, it was also a better way to get around. But for the true water sage, it allows water mana to flow smoothly. She could take some water mana and alleviate the burden on this body she made.


    That was another thing that made Walker amazed. He had not imagined that making secondary bodies were a thing for the sages. He had used skills that created temporary golems or dolls. He didn''t really have a reason to use those skills any longer because of the need to control them or just for materials. He could fight on his own. Why would he create another to do it for him?


    Whether or not that was his growing dragon pride or not, that was the case. To be fair, he also understood that the true water sage had shown him something fairly amazing. This doll or second body was able to hold a copy of herself that could return to her with gathered memories. Hence, it was like her being there herself.


    There had to be some downsides. A cost to the skill to make something like that. But it might be worth pursuing. He had plenty of things to do in a day. Whether it was a mana or material cost, if it was possible, Walker knew the benefits of skills like this.


    The annoying thing was, that the true water sage had such dense water mana, that the all around appraisal did not work on her. This was not something that has happened before. Well, he couldn''t get a proper appraisal on the origin being that he met. It spoke of how strong they were.


    But for the true water sage, it was different. Mostly because this body held a piece of her. It held a piece of mana denser than even a naturally forming rune of water. He would be able to see it and grasp something from it. The true water sage was beyond that. Beyond a being made from a naturally forming water rune. She embodied part of what water was at a very deep level only surpassed by origin beings and the water king.


    Surprisingly, when the true water sage had walked away and Walker had shaken himself out of his own thoughts about skills and the multiple bodies she might be able to have for important tasks, he realized another thing. His resistance to water mana had greatly improved.


    While these sorts of leaps and bounds were rare for him right now since he had a very close control of mana in general, Walker understood why. The true water sage, even a separated body, released potent water mana.


    As this was the case, she had unintentionally allowed Walker to strengthen his resistance to water mana at a deeper level. The dense water mana had put pressure on his body causing a tempering effect. This could be done with other pure manas. But to get them at that density and purity he would need to travel throughout the elemental nes yet again.


    That was why he took this as a small unintentional gift for the tour that he gave to the true water sage. He felt that he could trust her somewhat since she was willing to be flexible and go with the flow. She reminded him of when he met Current for the first time.


    As a water dragon, he had been flexible like water and learned from his words who Walker was. Therefore, if the true water sage was the same, Walker knew that he could offer her


    sincerity.


    What he was more worried about, would be the light and dark sages. They required someone to be impartial around them. Something that could be very hard to do. Not because of the opposing manas that had to bnce, but because they could affect the entire areas around them and the other sages had to be wary of them. Something hard to grasp.


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2244: 2244. Rough Flow

    Chapter 2244: 2244. Rough Flow


    "I did not expect to be met by a true sage. Let alone the true water sage before they left." It was Current speaking. He had been deep in the water dragon territory preparing himself to help finish a few projects.


    His progress in the water dragon territory had been major with how much he had been focusing on it. Creating ces with enough water mana so that the elder water dragons would be able to grow was the easy part. Making an area dense enough that it would freeze in to ice and create a more unique form of water mana was where his focus and skills were.


    He had been entirely focused on this because he had to be. While the elders and those beneath him could surely learn to do these things, he was dedicated to ensuring that there was a flow for the water mana as a whole.


    This meant that he also wished for the water mana within his dragon territory to be able to flow properly through the entirety of Genesis. Hence why he was so dedicated to also helping with the canal projects.


    "I simply came because of my curiosity. You are a dominator dragon. A water dominator dragon. Yet you are unlike those within the elemental nes. They are bound to a ce as the water mana flows. They are the reason that the flow remains proper within areas that could be extremely chaotic. Where the water mana could cause a break down without an origin being resting there."


    This was nothing new. Walker had learned this aspect of a dominator dragon. But he had not pushed the royal dragons to follow that path.. Mostly because they were not going to stay within the elemental nes.


    The dragons had built themselves a great deal. Had changed a great d within their time with the other races. They were not so weak that they would abandon those new ideals and what they had built. That was an insult to their pride.


    "I will not be changing who i am or altering the lives of those I stand for." Making it clear, the true water sage realized that Current was not understanding what she was getting at.


    "I am telling you this, because you have misunderstood your new connection to water. I can feel it in the flow of every water mana that you touch and that you sense. You have missed an important part of who you are, influencing all that is around you."


    The true water sage was leaving soon. Making a point toe here alone without others made a very important distinction that even the true sages valued the dragon race., "you are different than any water dragon. Your pride and your strictness is lesser, but that opened your potential significantly more. You are not controlled by a flow that was created by others."


    The simple phrase was enough to push Current a little. Just enough that he was unsure of what he was really feeling. "I see, that was enough to nudge you in the right direction." a small bubblingughter met Current''s ears. The true water sage was much older than Current.


    He could sense it now, her age and the flow of water mana much more intense than what he could grasp. Secrets and mysteries that he had never even been able to touch upon within his many years of meditation and water mana absorption.


    None of this was a bad thing, it was just evidence that he was still young. He still had a great deal of room to grow. That he was still discovering new things which could bring a greater future to others.


    "The flow of water mana you touch is deeper. It will influence the very manas within another being''s body. Even deeper than that as well. You can influence everything with the water you guide, however, water does not need to be guided. It needs to be offered a path, and it will create its own flow. Follow the water around you, sense it''s desires, then, rebuild the flow of it ording to how it should and wants to flow."


    This was thest that the true water sage left Current with before disappearing in to the depths of water around him. His mind had frozen on the spot.


    He had been changing the canals and many aspects of Genesis along with the others. But he had been doing it wrong. Right now, his mind was racing as he began to follow the flow of water mana from the massive territory covered in fresh water he lived in now.


    He followed it in to the water elven area, understanding that the water was flowing more naturally because of the open spaces. That everyone it touched became part of the current and flow he could feel. How the changes in temperature and densities of water mana were altering a new way that the water mana would affect everything within this territory.


    However, following that flow of mana outside of his territory, Current felt wrong. He felt that the first canal that the water mana flowed broke everything he was trying to grasp about flow. This water mana was no longer flowing, but just going the way that it was being pushed. And as such, it was causing damage to the stone carved walls with water mana runes on them.


    This damage was very slight, it was all new after all. Yet, he could see that there was some small damage. As Current followed his senses, this was not just in one ce. The currents that were created, were working against the earth and not part of the overall flow.


    With how the water mana had just been limated properly with everything, it made a lot of sense that the water mana itself would show a lot more of the characteristics that it had once had. That it naturally had. Without the control of another, it would eventually break the walls and flow as it should flow naturally. Causing erosion and destruction through the underground of Genesis.


    There was even one ce that Current could sense the water mana wanted to follow a small flow dowards in to those caves as if it was an underground stream or river. His mind was full of more than he could handle right now.


    "I will be changing everything." His words were to himself. A promise that he would take this new perspective which was allowing him to grow once more and begin his work yet again. As time went on, he could make sure that the harmony of elemental manas grew. That as the water flowed through Genesis, it strengthened everything and did not cause a single bit of harm.


    Current''s sudden movements got the attention of many others. Walker was busy catching up on many other things, but he soon heard about how Current had realized stark issues within the canals and how they would cause damage which needed to be constantly repaired without changes. This alone was a great thing.


    His mind rested a little easier knowing that Current had damaged to discover new issues that could be fixed with a little more hard work. This would spread the longevity of Genesis to many more years while allowing for more freedom for anyone within the city. They would not need to worry as much for their city crumbling because of simple issues.


    Beyond this, the other dragons also began to sense things. They could feel that there was another aspect of their manas that they missed. Unlike Current, they did not know what it was in particr. They had missed something and they understood that Current had found his


    something.


    It frustrated all of them. That they had be literal dominator dragons. The highest that they knew of their species right now. They could bend mana to their will as long as it was their affinity. Understand how it shaped the world and how it influenced other manas. But they


    were still blind to some aspects of it?


    How could that be? It was hard to ept.


    Current on the other hand, did not offer words to them. He couldn''t. He knew water and that was where he rested. But the other elemental manas? He was blind as what to say about them to show the others a new perspective. If they learned one from watching him fix his mistakes with water mana, then so be it. But could he?


    The idea had left him and the other dragons without answers. They too wanted to meet the true sages now. They wanted to know about the differences between them and a dominator dragon within the elemental nes. Their curiosity had begun to grow at a much greater level than ever before.


    ---


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2245: 2245. Spirits Lightning

    Chapter 2245: 2245. Spirit''s Lightning


    "There was a lot to catch up on while I was busy, but we are bnced again. I''m surprised Fleur still hasn''te back." Walker was sure that Fleur wud have sensed the natural elemental rune forming. It was made of natural mana after all and also formed way ahead of schedule.


    As the leader of the spirit race, Fleur had been growing at an immense rate. Not only had she managed to learn some of the intricacies ofmunicating between the other races, she had also begun to highlight the same characteristics within her own.


    The spirit race was a newly formed race. The only thing that had held them back was that they were intrinsically connected to the world and part of why the world had not copsed as the world was cut off from existence.


    Due to that, there was a major decrease in the elemental spirits that formed or were even active. As such, the spirits that rose to help bnce things were held back in a way. Not necessarily held back by their growth in intelligence, but the way that they could use that intelligence.


    Their instincts had stopped them from pushing beyond mana being the manas of the world and growing to control the manas of an area where they existed. Leattign them follow only the path that kept them as elemental spirits. Not that this was bad.


    The elemental spirits were still part of the world and still part of all things. They were not necessarily less than the spirit race. However, being isted within the world had allowed the elemental spirits there to grow differently. To adapt and alter themselves through their long lifespans while gathering manas and working together with other races.


    Therefore, as a spirit race now, their bonds with those races and even contracts with some tamers, or spirit mages, were very important. It literally bound the races together at a very deep level that was hard toprehend for those that did not have those bonds.


    Beyond that, the elven spirit mages who had already been rare to start with, now had partners who had be a member of the spirit race. They could share manas with one another, and use it in terrifyingly precise ways.


    That alone was why those people were considered unofficial members of the spirit race overall. Allowing for even moreplicated rulings and other small details to be taken in to ount.


    Fleur herself, had been bonded with Walker, she was family to him and vice versa. However, she had learned through her bonds with him and knew very well how to be a leader that stood for good beyond just her race. As such, she had be a somewhat hidden important figure working constantly to handle potentiallyrge issues.


    The spirit race gaining golems to have more proper physical bodies was one of these issues. While a good thing since they would be able to do more without worrying about losing their manas to unfortunate idents as the spirit race had made dense mana bodies as they ascended from being elemental spirits. These dense mana bodies were fluid and could be dragged along by the flows of manas around. They could also be harnessed by those with the skills to control manas. Not that many mages would be able to trump the control a spirit race had over their own affinity mana.


    The fact that the spirit racecked knowledge about other races had led to some awkward events. Especially those that gained golems that they could dwell within. Causing these small events had made it clear that the spirit race needed to learn rules andws to maintain bnce within the races. But it also allowed them to learn more and more.


    The different affinity spirit race beings had begun separating out in to Genesis. Those with aquatic golem bodies they dwelled in had begun to make more natural fisheries for the canals and thergeke which was the water dragon territory.


    Others worked lifting heavy things, exploring dangerous new wilderness areas, and even guarding the city in the night and day. So much was happening that it was bing a veryrge part of Genesis.


    Where things had changed suddenly, and the reason that Fleur was so focused on her tasks right now, were the elemental spiritsing from the bridge to the elemental nes. Some had been unable to move from the ind. That was simply because they endedrger amounts of purer elemental manas to maintain their forms. They were also somewhat intelligent based on their age and the nes that they came from. Therefore, they could easilymunicate to some degree using mana.


    The interesting bonds between these elemental spirits and the spirit race were leading to some unique situations. ces and times where the manas would be used to help the elemental spirits maintain their forms, or even like what was happening right now.


    Walker and the others had not believed that they would have any interaction with the lightning elemental spirit that they had seen while they were exploring the uniqueness of crossing elemental nes. The rest of the party had no idea that this had happened, but Fleur was handling it.


    This lightning spirit had managed to follow the manas as they changed and break free of the limitations much sooner than what the party would have imagined. As such, they had taken on a more solid form of stark yellow lightning which was different from the blue colored lightning that they had all seen before.


    Being able to use the manas that made lightning to change the form of its body was showing tremendous growth. That was all inspired by those that had saved its life when crossing its home. That inspiration to grow and be able to leave that small and shaky elemental ne also caused a slight ripple that even the sages had felt.


    However, before they had needed to do anything, the lightning spirit had left the nes upon following the manas to the bridge and making its way to the world. From there, it had been found by the few spirit race individuals instructed by Fleur to keep an eye for dangerous elemental spirits moving through the bridge.


    After that, they had been brought to Fleur and began absorbingrger amounts of mana. Some smaller elemental spirits and even threw themselves in to the flow of this mana absorption to be part of what was forming.


    This was not unknown for the elemental spirits, Fleur had be a nature spirit because she had been multiple high spirits of different elemental manasing together. Therefore, every single spirit and spirit race saw these sorts of events as important to their very existence. Along with returning to their roots as part of how they formed in the first ce from mana as a whole.


    Although, this moment the weak elemental spirits were benign used to purify the control and form of the lightning spirit. As such, it was limating to the flow of the world''s mana and how it was changing. Giving it a more solid form there. But it was also changing itself in to a more physical form due to all three manas which came together to make lightning too. Fleur oversaw this out of both respect and security. She knew and had also met with this spirit while within the elemental nes. She had gained a lot of strength while there too. But when she sensed that the bnce and the condensing of the lightning spirits body had changed directions, she realized that it had begun ascending to be a proper spirit race. A lightning affinity spirit race member that would be entirely unique since she had not seen any such one before.


    What they had not realized, was that the ss of these spirit race members also decided upon the forms that their mana took to be who they were. This lightning spirit was bing a proper race and gaining a ss.


    As lightning became more humanoid as it followed the desire to be like those that saved it, long crackling hair formed and a robust humanoid body. It was very simr to a human''s but clearly different. One of the most refined spirit race yet. Even nFleur was only more human like because of her bonds with walker and being able to sense how to use manas to take a form


    that looked that way.


    Right now though, a lightning staff formed along with flowing robes of various colored lightning. Fleur was able to witness the fill formation and effects of a lightning affinity spirit race member embodying their ss as a lightning storm sage.


    The first, and also one of the strongest spirit race members to appear since the discovering that they could dwell within dwarven golems as the dragon golem has shown the world. Another major step for their race.


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2246: 2246. Angels And Lightning

    Chapter 2246: 2246. Angels And Lightning


    "Do you feel that?" Gil was looking up and couldn''t spot any dark clouds.


    "Feel what?" Alma looked at the sky too before her face grew confused. "It feels like there should be thunder and lightning, but there isn''t a single cloud in the sky." That was what was odd. They both could feel the same feeling that came with thunderstorms.


    "I will go and see what it is."


    "Don''t worry, I sensed it too. It''s someone familiar to us. I can sense the same king of lightning. I just didn''t think that the little lightning spirit would get here so soon. Fleur must be helping them." Walker had been with the pair helping them prepare a n within the forest for the first small magic tower to be built.


    "Should we still go?" Gil''s curiosity was simple. He wanted to see what was happening and how the little lightning spirit was doing. They had fought a prettyrge enemy after all when they found it.


    "We can. Genesis should be a little scary for their first time in the world. I bet they didn''t care though. They followed mana to the world and then here. It''s pretty amazing." There was a little praise and pride within Walker''s tone of voice. Mostly because he knew that the lightning spirit would be one of the first toe here from the elemental nes.


    Gil followed Walker''s lead. It wasn''t where he had expected though. Instead of heading toward an open space, Walker helped Gil step in to the air above the treetops. From where he could see things, they were heading toward therger trees being grown on the edges of the elven forested area.


    "They are here, resting because Fleur just helped bring a lot more mana around for him." Now Gil was confused that Walker was calling the small lightning spirit a him. That was when he saw it.


    "Wee to Genesis, I''m d you managed to get here. It''s much sooner than I expected. But you managed to do more than that, you''re a lightning storm sage now. You outdid anything and everything that we could have predicted if we even guessed you would ascend and be a member of the spirit race."


    Now Gil could understand why he had sensed the fele of a storm. This lightning spirit had managed to take in a lot more mana while Fleur guided him. As such, the mana had be denser and shaped a body that the lightning spirit could use to match the ss that he had gained.


    The lightning storm sage didn''t speak. It appeared that it was struggling to find a way to do so. "You don''t need to try so hard. Learn slowly and enjoy the experience. You will have a lot to learn from Genesis. Fleur will teach you too after she rests a little. But for now, how about we consider a proper name that people will call you? I have a feeling that you can pick one."


    This wasn''t a lie or an assumption. Walker had used the all around appraisal to see what the little lightning spirit had be. He could also see that one particr line spoke volumes. ''The world itself has recognized the desire and bonds to the heroes that saved it. As such, the world has pleaded to the greater existence to grant it a born name.''


    That was the very same for the very same for the grand elemental spirits at one point. The world had given them names and they had not needed to be given them from others or create them for themselves. Instead, they were a part of them as they were forces of nature.


    "Strom."


    "That fits very well, Well Strom, I am Walker and This is Gil. We are d that you made it here safe. Feel free to take your time to rest and learn." Walker nudged Gil who was still staring at the newly ascended sage.


    "I would say it sounds very much like a lightning sage should be." Gil''s memories of the story about a storm god called Strom were what he came up with first.


    The story was all fantasy since it had been written by a very popr traveling story teller. Yet now, there was a real being that embodied that story. It was a part of the world given to the spirit that came from the elemental nes trying to find those that had saved it and thank them.


    "He''s going to rest." Fleur came up to them and pushed Walker away. He wasn''t unhappy with this though. He knew that this was the case and trusted Fleur to handle it.


    "We will see youter. Fleur, good work." He smiled a little and noticed that Fleur appeared to be a little more energetic with that. He felt like he didn''t see her enoughtely, but she had a major role to y. "When you have time,e and look at the runes with me."


    Meditating about natural mana and a naturally forming nature rune felt like the best way to bind with Fleur. They both respected mana and their work to gain insight on it. Therefore, that would be more than what they needed to show one another respect through their bond. Walker even felt the joy from their bond when he mentioned that before leaving.


    "I wouldn''t have thought this would happen. Pretty amazing, that a spirit followed the flow of mana and made it out of their elemental ne to get here. I doubt that any other would be able to do this."


    "Gil... did you really need to tempt fate like that?" Walker was ready to give Gil a solid p on the back of his head after herding this. Especially since there would be a lot to deal with since there were many races within the elemental nes who could appear. Not just the elemental spirits that were slowly but surely appearing from day to day.


    "Good, you two are back. One of the angels just came looking for you. They want to hear more about the angelic wind spirits. They said that they want to meet one since they are technically rted to their race." Walker looked right at Gil with an, I told you so, look.


    "Sorry, I''ll try and hold back a little more." Alma looked at Gil and Walker wondering what the two were talking and looking at one another about.


    "Gil. let Alma know about the new spirit race member and how Fleur and I will be meditating near the new naturally formed rune within the month for some bonding time." Walker stepped back in to the air and headed toward the Genesis building. He knew very well that there would be an angel waiting there for him.


    Before he even got there, an older angel with a longer white beard and slightly red tinged wings met Walker. His affinity was for fire, his wings showed that off. But his age was the surprise. From what Walker could tell, he would be recognized as an elder of the angels. Even if he only had two wings and had not risen to have more.


    Their society revolved around the growth of more wings to represent the strength and the elemental understandings of an angel. Therefore, ones with only a single pair of wings would rarely be considered wise or worth following.


    That feeling was different with this man. Walker had seen him before and now understood why. He was weak, very much so. But the reason he was weak was not because he was ignoring his training or understanding. It was because he had taken an oath to only record their


    history.


    "You are the archivist I heard about. One of the very few angels that pledged never to rise in strength as you wish to only respect the history. Even the beliefs of elemental or other manas did not affect you as long as you remained impartial and recorded history well."


    A slightugh escaped the older angel''s mouth. "I am d that you know of us. When I was a child, there were a hundred of us. Time was not kind. Only thirty remain and luckily, the city has allowed us to grow in number and pass on the information we have learned. Now, I can take a chance to find out what became of our people over the years. In ancient times." This was one of the many desires that had taken root for the angel race. They wished to know where their people went when they left the world. How they lived. How they changed. And what they were now. They wanted these answers, and Walker knew that the time woulde where they wished to venture out to find them.


    ....


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2247: 2247. Recruit A Spirit

    Chapter 2247: 2247. Recruit A Spirit


    "You should understand, that we still can not allow others to travel to the elemental nes just because they desire to do so." Walker was clear on this. He was not trying to push anything that would be dangerous for others.


    "I promise you, that we all understand that. It is a matter of safety. We also understand that the pure mana might cause us a lot of pain and even death." The angels were very careful with mana flow now.


    It wasn''t because they feared it as much as they understood the dangers they faced. The angels had to absorb mana through their wings. If they were in the wrong environment, they couldn''t ess the mana that they could channel at all. Let alone what might happen if they are overloaded with too much of a mana that they have an affinity for.


    The pure ice demons were a clear risk of that. If the angels operated in the same way, then they could lose their minds and be monsters. That would be the best case if things went poorly. At worst, they would be much worse or even just perish right then and there when they walked in to that elemental ne.


    "We want some answers though. The angels that left everything behind, even their own people. We want to know." This was to be expected. Walker knew that this would be something that they would wish to understand at some point.


    The angels of ancient times that had abandoned some of their people before the demon lord became a major issue that cut the flow of the world had to have an exnation. While many years had passed, their children had clearly survived within the elemental nes. Hence, they were not necessarily at a loss when it came to knowledge about what might have caused all of this.


    If it was ancient monsters, then there was a rity that coulde from it. However, if it was another reason such as the one that the current angels still struggled with, then Walker might not control his words.


    The issues between elemental purity and other manas had be less within the angel''s society. Especially as they were rebuilding their homes and even recovering some of their lost history. The alliance with Genesis had allowed this to happen which was partially a driving force to keep changing from their civil issues.


    "Then let me be clear, if we are able to bring contact with the wind elemental nes and create a chance to meet the angelic wind spirits, what would your n be?" Walker was not just going to say yes right away. He wanted to know the ns here. How they would be making the angelic wind angels speak with them.


    From what Walker understood, the angelic wind angels were a cold people. They were focused on the bnce of the wind elemental ne and following the will of those they served. The true wind sage or the king of wind. Either or would keep them very busy and strict with their beliefs in bncing the elemental nes.


    "I will offer the knowledge of the world from our race''s perspective for answers and history from their perspective. If they have it, then it will be a fair trade."


    "And if that gives away aspects of Genesis? Making us weaker? Risking our safety?"


    There was a seriousness in Walker''s tone that made the older angel shiver slightly. Yet, he remained sharp. Focused. "I will not do such a thing. We are deeply in gratitude to those of the Genesis alliance. Many of our small viges have been saved from potential death or destruction at the hands of nature or civil unrest. We have the same respect for this alliance and the future of it."


    With a nod, Walker began to speak again, this time with a smile. "Then I will help you with this. I will have some of the more careful wind spirit race members watch the bridge to the elemental nes. When they start to notice the changes in wind manaing from it, then I will venture there to call for someone to speak with. I won''t risk bringing any wind affinity angels until we know if it is safe for them to be there in such dense wind elemental mana."


    There had never been any distrust in Walker''s heart when it came to the angels or their archivists. Instead, he wanted to confirm the priorities. History was important to everyone. It gave the base of a race more meaning. However, losing a future for the knowledge of the past was a way to break that base in to nothing but dust. Therefore, they had to ensure that things were properly done before anything else.


    With their agreement made, the archivist angel left to gather those he could trust. Those that would uphold his words and ensure that respect was given in their situation. What the archivist did not know, was that Walker had an idea of how soon the wind elemental ne would move to be in line with the bridge to the elemental nes.


    Since he had been there and moved within the nes, Walker had a sense of which ne might appear next. He didn''t have to have the spirit race fully focus on when there would be beings or mana flowing from the wind elemental nes in to the world. He already knew it would only be a few days until the ne began to affect the bridge.


    Because of that, he also had a little sense of who mighte looking for him. The true water sage had also mentioned that there would be a visit from the true wind sage. He had to prepare for that and he knew just the person to bring.


    "I know that Gil might not have seen her for a little while, but I know a friend she has made." Walker stepped further in to the air with the cathedral as his goal.


    It was only a few minutes before he managed to get there and spot Erica sleeping in the small back garden. The little hatchling had been learning about the light side of her mana affinity, but by chance, she had met someone to help with the wind side of her affinity too. Surprisingly, Zephyr had been moving above the cathedral one day as Midnight showed off how to properly use a wind dragon breath. But Erica still struggled to bring enough mana in to her body. Mostly because of her young age.


    When Zephyr noticed this, she decided stopping was the best idea. As such, Midnight was very d to see her since she hadn''t seen Zephyr for some time. Zephyr had been busy since she was a grand wind spirit, a member of the spirit race above all other wind affinity spirits. The more that Zephyr helped Erica learn to sense and absorb the wind mana, the more that they became closer friends. Erica even looked at her like another older sister just like she did with Midnight now. Walker had been very d to hear this from Midnight one night at dinner. He didn''t have to worry about Erica since she was having the time of her life learning with the


    pair.


    "I knew I would find you here. You tired out Erica and Midnight is over there napping in the sun too." Walker saw Zephyr had solidified her body even more. The purer wind mana was better for her to change her body. The runes through Genesis had really helped.


    "I was wondering if you could help me with something." Walker slowly exined the situation uing. The visit with the true wind sage looming over them and also the fact that the angels would wish to meet with the angelic wind spirits. Both things that Zephyr would be interested in.


    Yet, Zephyr could also assist in ensuring that the angelic wind spirits would not suffer from being away from their homes within the elemental nes. On their way home, the true wind sage would be able to assist them. Therefore, their safety would be a guarantee too.


    All of thising together made Zephyr appear very excited. She wished to see the wind elemental nes and this was the perfect chance to do so again. Right this second, she would even be able to prepare herself to meet the true wind sage and others that lived within the wind elemental nes.


    Both would allow her to understand where the wind spirits wereing from as they crossed the bridge. It would also allow her to more solidly prepare her body so that she could roam around with more safety. Not to mention explore with Gil as he did his work too. She was still very fond of him since they were partners through and through.


    Her agreement was exactly what Walker needed right now.


    ....


    ....


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2248: 2248. Fickle Wind

    Chapter 2248: 2248. Fickle Wind


    "You know that it''s dangerous for Zephyr to go with you, right?" heere was a stern tone in Gil''s voice.


    "If you are that worried, why is it that you aren''ting too?" Walker''s rebuttal was enough to make Gil look around.


    He was about to say that he would be going, however, he had been told that he had his duties here in Genesis. He couldn''t just leave for the ind with Zephyr and a few angels to talk about history. Especially since he had bene shirkinge work here and there. Alma would really beat him up if he avoided that work.


    "Don''t you trust that Zephyr is strong enough to keep a sound mind while we speak with them?" Gil shook his head, he was not doubting her strength. It was just the worry that came with his closest partner from before he even knew that Zephyr was within the bow he used. Their bond was unique.


    Relying on one another in battle and sharing their mana with one another. That had created a unique bond that had been unspokenly perfect. Zephyr would worry about Gil doing exactly the same thing "If anything happens, I am going to war with the wind elemental ne."


    "That''s a war you know you won''t fight alone. But I have a feeling that everyone will be on our side if anything happens right now. Bnce is the most important thing for the elemental nes." partially serious but also a little joking, Walker made sure that his firm smile gave Gil some peace of mind.


    While the topic of war was not necessarily worthy of beingedy, it was the addition ofedy that stopped Gil from worrying too much. Sometimes some joking was just the right thing for a situation like this.


    Regardless, the week had passed them by fairly quickly for what they had been busy with. Gil''s work with the forest and the guards around the new building of a smaller magic tower had been enough to make him lose all energy. The ns were over a month long to ensure that things progressed smoothly since there was no research at all to base the architecture on yet. Things might fail or need to be changes, therefore, safety was a major focus.


    Walkthrough himself had been busy meeting with the angels. Every single member of the archivist angels chosen had been reevaluated by him. Not just in conversation, but also with mana and their affinities. Even the smallest affinity for wind mana might cause them some issues. He did not want this endeavor to be an issue at all.


    "Gil, this time Ventus will also be present. You have heard her wishes to venture in to the wind elemental nes to explore the potential of wind dragons going there one day. She will be making her ns with the true wind sage if possible. Do you expect that She will allow harm toe to Zephyr?"


    Su broke the conversation between Walker and Gil making a very clear point. "I know, that doesn''t mean I won''t be worried." Gil knew that Zephyr hade to see him to reassure him as well before she went to contact certain wind spirits. However, he still was uneasy. That was just what happened when a family member was off doing something dangerous. Anyone would feel the same.


    "Then tell us good luck and let it be. We will be back in a few days." Her tone made it clear that they were leaving and that was that.


    As Gil waved at them and shouted behind them, Walker turned to Su, "you''reing with us?"


    "Oh no, I am going to be waiting at the teleportation rune formation for when the true wind sage or anyone else gets back. I have a few wind mages and wind dragonkin that wish to wait with us." Su''s lie in front of Gil made Walker wonder just what was with her.


    The more that Su took control of different projects and helped out, the better she was getting at managing people. Let alone the fact that she could easily make many people go against their wants for the better good of a single cause. It was terrifying but also somewhat respectable.


    That aside, Walker saw that those going with him were already present. The wind spirits had also sent along a message that they had sensed a great deal of wind manaing from the bridge to the elemental nes since early in the morning. It was time to go.


    The familiar feeling of teleportation made Walker less unhappy than usual. The feeling was not overly pleasant, but his body had adjusted to it more and more as he slowly delved in to space mana. The knowledge he gained while within the elemental nes was still rooted deeply within him. He had to pursue it to gain strength to be able to venture there again, safer thanst time.


    The moment that they appeared on the ind, Walker was surprised to see a greater change in the ruins.


    There had been a struggle to move to the top where the bridge to the elemental nes was. Mostly because the rebuilding of the ruins to make it safe was just harder to maneuver through. However, now, there was a staircase built on the side surrounding the ruins. It was a separate build that allowed for safety but also speed while the researchers and builders moved in and out of the various openings of the ruins.


    Otherwise, he also noticed that the buildings had been reinforced with rune carved stones to ensure that any issues from visitors would be resisted. Whether it was mes or ice. It would be easier to recover the vige on the indter. Beyond that, many more elemental spirits and spirit race lived here now. That was a good thing though, since they could sense the mana flow better.


    "Ah! I knew you would be here." A harsh breeze hit Walker, nearly knocking him over. Walker had no idea what was happening until he saw Zephyr appear beside him and help him frompletely falling over.


    "I can sense it! You have a lot of affinity with wind. And you feel like those strong ones. Ha! This was worth it. And that stubborn icy olddy told me that I should behave. This ce is


    great!"


    Now Walker understood. The warning is about the personality from the true water sage about the true wind sage.. Just as wind was fickle and energetic at times, this was the same for the true wind sage. He even moved around using condensed wind to better copy some of the clothing that he saw people wearing.


    "You have wings. That''s new. You look like someone familiar. But what race? Can''t be angelic wind spirits. Not the gale demons either. Maybe you are rted to the griffin worshippers? Now now, so different."


    "True wind sage, these are angels. They are archivists and wished to ask you for help speaking with the angelic wind spirits about their past history. We knew that you would be able to make such things happen due to your standing within the elemental nes." Walker felt the wind mana grow slightly, an unsettling amount.


    "I would dly give you a personal tour just as I did with the true water sage. Fair is fair. She gave me advice about the elemental nes and meeting her fellow sages. She even told me about how you represent wind to such a high degree, I''m surprised that more wind spirits haven''t appeared just to see you."


    ttery. Some basic and sneaky ttery. That was how to handle dangerous people whose emotions could shift instantly like this.


    "She did? Who knew that she could care so much. Good good good. Then I will make a few of theme here. These little angels won''t survive since the area is full of razor wind piranhas. That bridge is always moving. So odd. So hard to keep track of. But I can bring more around if you need." The true wind sage was darting about in the air, his shape still changing.


    "As long as the wind elemental ne is where that bridge resides, I will control this part of my wind mana, the moment that changes, I will cease to be here. So, we have a lot to do! Start with that dragon there who looks at me like I am some mythical being. Then end with the wind spirit who''s not a wind spirit. It''s very interesting!"


    The wind spun up some sand causing everyone to wince slightly. But this was good, the true wind sage was curious and that could help them right now. Especially since he was not openly against Genesis and Walker right now. If he was curious, then he had a mind open enough to learn about Genesis.


    ....

 Chapter 2249: 2249. Playful Winds

    Chapter 2249: 2249. yful Winds


    The constant moving about of wind mana and the true wind sage while Walker exined why everyone who hade with him was there made things a little harder. It wasn''t the buffeting of the wind but the keeping up with the true wind sage. He had a million questions on top of his boundless energy.


    "You''re saying that you want this dragon to be allowed to return with me for a short time. And also for one of the angels?" The true wind sage didn''t appear to be angry at this. "No."


    Now Walker was lost. The true wind sage had not appeared to be unhappy with the suggestion. "Those angels can do their talking here. I can maintain the safety of those one their way. The wind spirit race here has the right to go to the wind elemental ne, but not to manipte it. She will be watched. The dragon, that would cause discord."


    Now this was a surprise. Ventus was the one that would cause discord?" it was a certainty that Ventus would not knowingly cause trouble for anyone unless necessary. Therefore, it meant that she would be causing the problem just by being there.


    "True wind sage, please enlighten me as to the issues that woulde from my exploration within the wind elemental ne at this time. I can not see them as I am from the world without proper understanding as you have." Ventus was polite. She maintained the respect she knew she had to give the true wind sage.


    "Your wind is calm, I appreciate this. I can feel you would bring a torrent of violent des though." Now it was Walker''s turn to cbe confused. He knew that Ventus would not go out of her way to cause trouble, but if the true wind sage believed this would happen, then there must be a reason.


    Then a single thought struck him. One they made a little more sense now. "You''re talking about the fact that the dominator dragons that grow within the elemental nes remain in a specific territory as bnces to the nes themselves. Anchors. While the other dragons grow to take a path where they use the manas around them to survive. Therefore, they can not leave their nes for long and can not cause much trouble."


    "So you do understand the wind. You understand that a battle between a dominator dragon, even as young as this child is, would cause some issues." Ventus blinked in surprise. She was a child? She was much older than some of the other dragons, yet she could still be called a child?


    "What if I guaranteed that I could not anchor myself whatsoever within the elemental nes. That way I would not be a threat to any other dragon?" Ventus spoke up, this time with some clear worry in her tone.


    "I wish to see the wind dragons who have been separated from the world where we lived. That didn''t have a home to return to and could note see those of us that remained. I wish to know their struggles. I wish to understand their flow."


    "And what are you proposing? Can you lock away your very mana and strength? Remain in that form and be considered prey below all other dragons and races within the elemental nes while I have those who serve me lead you around?" Now the true wind sage looked like he was ying a game.


    There was a slightlyx tone in his voice that basically threw the facts that ventus would have to be a weakling at her. Something that would enrage just about any dragon. Something that would make them wish that they could give in to their furry upon being insulted. It wasn''t just her being insulted, but the entire wind dragon race, no, the entire dragon race.


    "There are a few people who deal in curses within Genesis, I can have five of theme together to curse me and force me to be in this from for a certain time. It would be a risk, but one well worth the reward." her breath was calm while she looked at the true wind sage with sharp eyes.


    "I am the royal wind dominator dragon of the world. I stand for both my family and the dragon race. I also represent Genesis as a key representative of races. I am willing to make myself appear to be nothing but the weakest worm if that ensures I can bring back the smallest wisdom to ensure that my people and those I protect have a better future. Even if that means I lose myself in the process."


    Looking at Ventus, Walker realized she was willing to bet a lot on this. Her chances of seeing her children could be slim if she were to go somewhere dangerous. But he also sensed that she had made this decision with a greater amount of thought than just what she had shown him before. It was something she had decided right down to the depths of her soul.


    "A calm breeze through and through. I will take you personally after you have your curses in ce. For now, remain close to me while I tour this home you have built. I enjoy the calm breeze more than the slicing winds of a tornado." A slight wink made Walker understand that the true wind sage was enjoying himself very much. They were ying in to his hands right now. It felt weird to say the least.


    "There you have it, the angelic wind angels are here. They are some of the older in their group, they hold some value in history as those who have touched upon the true essence of their blood and how they awakened what others would have never learned." Part of Walker wanted to stay with the archivist angels and the angelic wind angels after this. He also wanted to ask about the wind devourer dragon that ventus might meet.


    None of this mattered though. He was already moving back toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. Zephyr appeared to be speaking using higher amounts of mana with the true wind sage. From what he could gather, the two were sharing experiences. It made the true wind sage react and look at Walker over and over.


    "You will introduce me to Gil as well. Regardless of his changes in race and strength, I have never imagined that a rtionship with this being here and him could havee to be without his unique personality. He also has a closeness for natural winds rather than stormy winds. I enjoy that as well."


    With a slight nod, Walker agreed. He knew that this would happen. He had just thought of it before the true wind sage had said something. But he wondered what would have happened if the grand water spirit had woken up properly and gone to speak with the true water sage. Not that it would happen as long as it rested with the sandman.


    The same feeling hit them all as the true wind sageughed. He enjoyed the space mana and the elemental manas teleporting them. Not that he needed it. Walker was sure that the mana he used to connect to his body stretched in to the world and followed many wind currents to get a better look at everything. His control of wind mana was immense.


    Yet, he was being polite. He wasn''t prying anywhere that Walker could sense. This was clearly a respectable side of the true wind sage since he was met with open arms and honesty. The fact that the true wind sage had mentioned liking the calm breezes and how he enjoyed the smooth wind rather than sharp wind was clearly a hint about how to keep him happy.


    As they appeared within Genesis, Su was right there waiting still. However, there was arge group of wind mages, wind affinity beings, and others who had managed to sneak in here and there behind a line of guards. "This is way better than that old icydy said she saw. She tried to hide herself, but I got a wee like this." The true wind sage wasughing to himself while forming an even more dense body out of wind.


    The aloof face he made while forming a flowing green coat and pants with arge hat was enough to make Walker wonder if he hadn''t copied those from the crowd and instead copied a story about a fencer from a children''s story book. A man that used wind mana along with a faster than storm des fencing technique.


    That was a story for another time. Right now, Walker waved for Su toe over.


    ....


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2250: 2250. Understanding Wind

    Chapter 2250: 2250. Understanding Wind


    ehT atconstn vogmin utboa of ndiw mana and eht teur wdin aesg liehw kWealr elxpadien wyh eyoeenry ohw had mceo with him was rhtee adme tgshni a elittl rhead.r tI w''ntas the nbufgfeit fo the wdin tub the inkepge up tihw the treu nwid sa.eg eH had a loiniml ensitusqo no otp of ish ebnssoudl nyeegr.


    "You''re saying that you want this dragon to be allowed to return with me for a short time. And also for one of the angels?" The true wind sage didn''t appear to be angry at this. "No." Now Walker was lost. The true wind sage had not appeared to be unhappy with the suggestion. "Those angels can do their talking here. I can maintain the safety of those one their way. The wind spirit race here has the right to go to the wind elemental ne, but not to manipte it. She will be watched. The dragon, that would cause discord."


    Now siht aws a isrpsuer. nteusV asw the one ttha wludo useac cd?osi"rd it was a eicayttrn ttha utnevs luodw not lwknogiyn escau toruble for anyone unless .ceessynar Trfreheeo, it naemt thta hse lduwo eb csniagu the eborlpm usjt yb ibneg hetre.


    "True wind sage, please enlighten me as to the issues that woulde from my exploration within the wind elemental ne at this time. I can not see them as I am from the world without proper understanding as you have." Ventus was polite. She maintained the respect she knew she had to give the true wind sage.


    "Your wind is calm, I appreciate this. I can feel you would bring a torrent of violent des though." Now it was Walker''s turn to cbe confused. He knew that Ventus would not go out of her way to cause trouble, but if the true wind sage believed this would happen, then there must be a reason.


    Then a sglien thuhtgo utcsrk him. noe yhte emad a ltitle meor snese .now oeYu"r tkgialn aoutb the tfca htat the imoadrotn gadonsr atth gwro iwhitn the emeealntl nlspea nameir in a fsecpcii tryerotri sa bensc ot the nalspe slmsethve.e nArsco.h liheW hte hrteo dragons worg ot ekat a phat erehw yhte eus eht namsa urnaod meht to survive To, rfhreee hyet can ton velea threi pns for lgon dna can ton saceu ucmh t.uel"rbo


    "So you do understand the wind. You understand that a battle between a dominator dragon, even as young as this child is, would cause some issues." Ventus blinked in surprise. She was a child? She was much older than some of the other dragons, yet she could still be called a child?


    "What if I guaranteed that I could not anchor myself whatsoever within the elemental nes. That way I would not be a threat to any other dragon?" Ventus spoke up, this time with some clear worry in her tone.


    I" swhi ot see the iwdn gdnsoar hwo have been etarapesd ofmr eht Irodw eherw we edivl. aTht ditnd'' ehva a hoem to rernut to and uodcl ton  see soeht fo su that n.aedeimr I hwis to ownk rieht gslg.tsreu I wihs to ennautdrds trhei flo."w


    "And what are you proposing? Can you lock away your very mana and strength? Remain in that form and be considered prey below all other dragons and races within the elemental nes while I have those who serve me lead you around?" Now the true wind sage looked like he was ying a game.


    There was a slightlyx tone in his voice that basically threw the facts that Ventus would have to be a weakling at her. Something that would enrage just about any dragon. Something that would make them wish that they could give in to their furry upon being insulted. It wasn''t just her being insulted, but the entire wind dragon race, no, the entire dragon race.


    e"Trhe rae a wef pepole ohwed in scsuer ihntiw in, seesG I can have evif of them coem htreoetg to rcues me and freoc me to be in this morf rfo a cieratn mite. It oldwu be a skir, but one well trowh het aewr"rd. erh hrtaeb aws amlc ihwel she okdleo at hte treu diwn agse htiw pahsr ey.es


    "I am the royal wind dominator dragon of the world. I stand for both my family and the dragon race. I also represent Genesis as a key representative of races. I am willing to make myself appear to be nothing but the weakest worm if that ensures I can bring back the smallest wisdom to ensure that my people and those I protect have a better future. Even if that means I lose myself in the process."


    Looking at Ventus, Walker realized she was willing to bet a lot on this. Her chances of seeing her children could be slim if she were to go somewhere dangerous. But he also sensed that she had made this decision with a greater amount of thought than just what she had shown him before. It was something she had decided right down to the depths of her soul.


    A" c breeze ourhtgh dna tghrh.uo I wlil akte ouy peyronsall retaf uyo heav oyur cursse ni lepa.c Fro,won ienarm oecsl ot me wheil I urot htis oehm uoy have il.tub I jneyo eth almc ebzere more hant the lginisc dwins fo a "nt.roado A sitlgh kinw emad kleaWr aentrusddn that eht teru dniw sage was egnjoiny helimsf very mhuc. Thye ewer aglpiyn ni to sih dnahs htgir now. It flte irwde to asy the tslea.


    "There you have it, the angelic wind angels are here. They are some of the older in their group, they hold some value in history as those who have touched upon the true essence of their blood and how they awakened what others would have never learned." Part of Walker wanted to stay with the archivist angels and the angelic wind angels after this. He also wanted to ask about the wind devourer dragon that Ventus might meet.


    None of this mattered though. He was already moving back toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. Zephyr appeared to be speaking using higher amounts of mana with the true wind sage. From what he could gather, the two were sharing experiences. It made the true wind sage react and look at Walker over and over.


    "You lwil udocretni me to iGl sa well. rledasgeRs fo ish nsheagc ni reac dna ertt, nhsg I heav enerv idmagine thta a tiialeonrhsp with ihst gnieb heer and mih luodc ehave to eb htiutwo sih qnuuei ns.pyetaoilr eH osal ash a nsseseolc for rtaulna dswin hrraet naht yrstom isd.wn I enjyo htta sa "lewl.


    With a slight nod, Walker agreed. He knew that this would happen. He had just thought of it before the true wind sage had said something. But he wondered what would have happened if the grand water spirit had woken up properly and gone to speak with the true water sage. Not that it would happen as long as it rested with the sandman.


    The same feeling hit them all as the true wind sageughed. He enjoyed the space mana and the elemental manas teleporting them. Not that he needed it. Walker was sure that the mana he used to connect to his body stretched in to the world and followed many wind currents to get a better look at everything. His control of wind mana was immense.


    Yet, he was gnieb .lpitoe eH watns'' nripyg nahywree ttha kaleWr dluoc .enses Tshi aws yaerlcl a stclebeaper ised fo eht uetr wind egas eincs eh was tem itwh eopn mrsa and e.htosny ehT fact htat the urte ndiw saeg had tnmdoeeni kignil the m besreze nad woh eh endeojy the sohmot wind rehtar than prhsa dniw saw erlylca a thin tuoba ohw ot peek hmi


    yppah.


    As they appeared within Genesis, Su was right there waiting still. However, there was arge group of wind mages, wind affinity beings, and others who had managed to sneak in here and there behind a line of guards. "This is way better than that old icydy said she saw. She tried to hide herself, but I got a wee like this." The true wind sage wasughing to himself while forming an even more dense body out of wind.


    The aloof face he made while forming a flowing green coat and pants with arge hat was enough to make Walker wonder if he hadn''t copied those from the crowd and instead copied


    a story about a fencer from a children''s story book. A man that used wind mana along with a faster than storm des fencing technique.


    Thta saw a trsoy for tonehra .emit ghirt,won Warkle ewady for Su ot ceom .revo


    ....


    ....


    ....


    nteRpe won nad go r,eeh hatvnpnu:wAsftib/ch//.c/


    CREATORS'' THOUGHTS


    1King Don1

 Chapter 2251: 2251. Curses And Arrows

    Chapter 2251: 2251. Curses And Arrows


    Walker did feel bad that Ventus was being tested so much, however, as he looked at the people that had gathered because she asked, he wondered why else she had looked in to those who could use curses.


    There weren''t just a few, Walker had managed to find ten. Apparently the wind dragonkin had been researching this for her. It proved that there were multiple sses that could use some form of curses that were not as simple as debuffs. On top of this, they were also of multiple


    races.


    The demons could be understood since they had both caused curses and also been under curses. As they were from a race that had been tortured by itself for some time. Not to mention being known for this even though it was not actually asmon as the fears of others had been.


    What Walker rested easy on was that all the people he saw appeared somewhat bright and not what you would expect from the negative tones of curses or curse users. As such, he was able to rx and open his mind a little more while deciding if he would have to start pushing for somews about sses that used curses or even more potent debuffs.


    "As you all know, Ventus has been working to meet you and bring you together. Right now, she is with the true wind sage, however,ter, you will be cursing her." They wwe all shocked at this. Being told they would be cursing a dragon who was not cruel or known for evil deeds was not normal.


    "There are other dragons within the wind elemental nes. If she goes there with her full strength, they will be threatened causing a potential battle or war. She is acting as a mediator to prevent that possibility while learning about the dragons there. So, she will weaken herself as to not be a threat in a show of sincerity."


    "But you should all wonder why I called you here for other reasons, though, right?" Walker had seen them grasp what he was saying and saw their respect for Ventus grow significantly. However, they were now looking at him with a little curiosity and loss.


    "Sir hero, we were working on how to use curses in every day life. People see them as evil just by being there, but they can prevent many issues. Ventus told us about the demi-human history with cursed potions and objects, she wanted to make sure that all forms of magic were epted, because they could help."


    One demon girl wearingrge dark robes spoke up. She was confident in her words and so were the others who nodded along. Even a demi-human who would have been oppressed by their own people because of the fact that they could use curses. They were a curse mage, already being a mage was rare for most demi-humans. But a curse mage? Even more shocking and out of the norm.


    "I understand why you are all working so hard." Walker started off simply. He knew that it would be important to ensure that he made it clear he was not devaluing them in any shape or form. They were part of Genesis and deserved the respect that every citizen should have regardless of the ss they had.


    "If you can all make curses help people, it will improve Genesis and also show people a way to handle certain situations that might seem impossible. You can also change the perspective of curses which is overall negative at first thought. That is quite the goal." It was arge wall to ovee for certain. There were very few people who viewed curses like this.


    "Lady Ventus told us that she would help change that too. We cursed one of the dragonkin and it helped them!" Now Walker was hearing why Ventus had known this. She couldn''t have thought that she would need to be cursed to go to the wind elemental nes before the true wind sage had gotten here.


    Seeing that they had Walker''s express attention, another of those brought together by Ventus spoke up. "I am a curse rune maker. I make marks simr to runes that curse people while they are fueled by mana. My curse on the dragonkin helpedbat the scale rot disease by forcing the dragonkin''s body to shed scale more often."


    The wide smile on the dark elf''s face proved that this was more than just a victory to him. It was a clear example that proved everything he had thought when he got this cursed rune maker ss.


    "I see, so you used a curse that would have been very annoying if this dragonkin was healthy. And Ventus realized that the problem would not be solved through alchemy or healers. So, I wonder what other things this can be done for?" Walker realized that the young age of most of these curse rted ss users was simply because of the fact that sses were still new to the world right now.


    "I cursed my neighbor to help him quit drinking. Every time he drinks anything he starts doing the demi-human belly dance that the serpentine swordsman uses." a much younger girl than the others jumped forward to proudly exin her cursed witch ss and how she had been cursing those who had drinking problems.


    The best part, that they had asked her for such things. Both were funny events which forced them to put down their drinks and embarrassed them. Their friends and families were finding it hysterical, but it also forced them to stop drinking every time they took a sip. To be honest, Walker was very impressed.


    "I encountered some situations rted to curses and they weren''t good. But I think all of you have a very good chance to fix that. We normally use small curses and other techniques for prisoners, but you can all help people in other ways." Besides cursing people to be unable to use their skills in prison, Walker realized some issues could be fixed with curses. Specifically, mental issues.


    The addictions to drinking or other things could be solved this way. Or, a curse to train a certain way to fix a bad habit could save a life. But there were lines not to cross and contracts needed. He knew very well that approval from all individuals for a curse to be paced should be the main focus in all this.


    Regardless, he would work on thews and regtionster. "I wanted to meet all of you because you will be cursing Ventus. She is going to go through a harsh trial that will test her will in many ways. So, she is sealing away her strength to undergo that trial. I was hoping you could exin how it will all work?"


    As Walker became immersed in this, Gil was facing a new issue of his own.


    "Pretty ordinary. Nothing special for a human. Well, high elf? Or is he a natural half elf now? Or half this half that." the true wind sageughed to himself as Zephyr showed up and the wind mana around became slightly more chaotic.


    Gil on the other hand was looking at the arrow he had just cracked after being distracted. His face showed calmness but his mana was showing clear anger. "You made me break an arrow. This arrow could have been used to make a small earthquake. The materials are valuable."


    Kmwojng Gil, Zephyr tried to get in his way. She could tell that he was very angry right now. The arrow experiments were a massive method of bonding for him and the elves. He made new arrows inpetition and to help them keep their imaginations flowing. But she didn''t want him to pick a fight with the true wind sage who could crush him.


    "It''s just an arrow. Just use mana to make them out of wind like the gale elves do. Or even better, do what the shadow wreath elves do, use your own shadow to make arrows of decaying dark mana." The true wind sage really didn''t see the value in physical arrows like this when mana arrows were easier to make while in battle.


    "Don''t care if he is some important wind sage. He''s getting his butt kicked from here to the opposite end of Genesis. You know what, I''ll send him right back home. Who cares about being nice." arger arrow began to notch in to his bow.


    "He seems pretty nd. Just gets angry about little things and isn''t even using the wind mana you bragged he could use." The shaking of the true wind sage''s head suddenly stopped as Gil focused and released the arrow.


    The true wind sage had just dodged.


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2252: 2252. Game Of Wind

    Chapter 2252: 2252. Game Of Wind


    It wasn''t just the fact that the arrow had suddenly burst with wind mana to cause its speed to move three times faster than what the true wind sage had expected. It was the fact that the mana had gathered in a single breath from Gil. That sort of skill and focus was too great for what he would expect from someone in the world.


    The world''s mana was thinner and less pure than what was within the elemental nes. There was no way that Gil should have been able to be so precise with his control over the wind mana he used in the arrow. Let alone around the arrow to boost its speed.


    "I can fire another one." Gil was already grabbing an arrow with a slight red color on the arrow shaft. His eyes were focused again, this time though, the true wind sage was actually focusing


    too.


    He had been surprised. He had not expected that Gil would be weaker than what he had been talked up to be. Not just because of thecking mana within the world but simply because they hade to the elemental nes and worked together to get through them. They were not individually strong, just as a party.


    However, that was feeling very wrong right now. Gil had just gathered extra wind mana in a single breath to speed up an arrow. Something that takes a lot of precision ad training. Meaning that Gil was much stronger than he looked. Also that he had a lot of experience hinting in this fashion.


    Predators were the ones that would learn to hide themselves until thest second without releasing a single shred of mana like that.


    "You might be better than what i thought." The true wind sageughed a little, but it didn''t feel like a happyugh. More of an annoyedugh. Not that Gil realized the annoyance was from the fact that the true wind sage had underestimated someone.


    Zephyr on the other hand, was having aplete freak out. She was watching the two get in to a fight and she knew the dangers of that. The true wind sage was powerful. He could cause a lot of damage.


    But Gil, he was using more dangerous arrows now. He had a fire arrow which was familiar to her since she had watched him make it. "I wonder how much that body will be burned up by mes." Gil''s soft mumble still reached the true wind sage. He could watch it travel through the wind mana to him before the soft twang of a bow releasing an arrow was heard.


    This time, Gil hadn''t released a single hit of wind mana before he fired. The level of control that this took proved that Gil was not as weak as the true wind sage had originally believed. Regardless of the true wind sage''s belief that Gil had been talked up too much by Zephyr, he was somehow feeling foolish now.


    The true wind sage had gone and believed that all the talk was way over the top. Not at all that this was actually being humble on Zephyr''s part and was allowing the true wind sage the mistake of underestimating the skills that Gil had developed overall.


    Before the arrow went any further past the true wind sage, it burst in to a ball of mes which rapidly consumed the air around it. The wind mana was forced to be bonded with it before arge plume of mes erupted upwards. The force was a shocking but no one else was around since Gil trained himself in privacy. This was all due to the dangers of creating arrows.


    Gil managed to make some of the strongest arrows to match the arcane archer ss he possessed. This was leaving a risk that if the process failed mana could chaotically harm others. Let alone the chance that he tested an arrow and caused damage.


    The true wind sage had not expected that Gil was actually trying to cause this explosion of fire and consume the wind mana as well. It forced the true wind sage to use even more mana than what he would have expected to use in a situation while within Genesis.


    "You aren''t that strong at all for a true sage of any kind. My arrows can handle you." Gil''s tone was devoid of anything. It was simply because of hsi level of intense focus when it came to using true archery skills which he had honed beyond that of any other elf right now.


    "Ha! You managed to burn up part of the body I condensed toe here. I nearly lost control of this wind. That was impressive. You shoulde to the wind elemental nes too. I have plenty to show you that you can learn from. What do you say!?"


    Now this unexpected change was something that made Gil break from his focussed state. He was still very angry about the arrow which had broken due to the true wind sage''s unexpected appearance, but right now he was wondering just why he would go to the wind elemental nes right now.


    "I have plenty of things to do here. And I thought that Zephyr would have already gone there to gain strength." he looked at Zephyr who was clearly worrying over him. Gil knew that this was her trying to make sure that nothing bad happened since she knew exactly the level of strength that the true wind sage had.


    "I am sure you do. That young one told me plenty about how you are always active in your small gathering here. But what if you studied the denser wind manas which could create entirely new areas of the elemental nes. Changing the very flow of wind as it was. Would you like that? You can focus your affinities and heighten a natural affinity." The true wind sage clearly was interested in what made Gil able to use arrows in the ways he did.


    But it was more than that. The way that Gil moved wind mana and used it had been taught to him by Zephyr. Not in words, but by feeling. They had bonded before Gil even knew that there was a thinking wind spirit within the bow he had used. As such, their bonding was above and beyond a level of proper understanding.


    They had not needed speech to understand the flow of one another''s manas. As such, they were able to manipte wind mana slightly different from those that learned through traditional training. Even more so, they could use it to a better speed and potency than most people.


    "Zephyr, even if it is because of the wind mana and the way that mana is used by me and you, I am not just abandoning things to go there for days on end. What if I am away for months or a year?" Zephyr had clearly not realized that the leave could be for months and years. She did not intend for that length of time to pass.


    "Time is just a slight issue for people who gain strength in this way. If youe to meet elves within the elemental nes, you will understand that lifespan for your race is much greater than what any of you realize."


    "What do you mean by lifespan?" Gil knew that the elven race lived very long. That was expected to increase with the magic tower, rune formations, and various other aspects rted to health within genesis. That was the same for other races as well as the elves. "Well, the elven race when focused properly and provided with the right kind of mana within the elemental nes can live for over a thousand years. They can even grow to rival dragons. While that is the smaller number of them, it is possible."


    "And If Ie, can you share knowledge like that with me so I can return within a single month? Things change very quickly here. If I am gone for longer than that, I will miss too much. I also have family here. More than just what you have met. I will have a future here." Gil was referring to alma who he had noticed had appeared on a nearby tree with various elven guards. She was staying away but when Gil spoke he made sure she could hear him.


    "Then you will be showing more of the way you use wind mana to me. You will not get to rest. You will then be responsible for guiding the races that I deem fit toe to this city. This dragon will also be your focus. You will be responsible for guarding her." The true wind sage had set up his game board.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2253: 2253. Hiding Potions

    Chapter 2253: 2253. Hiding Potions


    "So Gil is leaving too? I didn''t see that happening." Remey ced down a small crate of potions in front of Walker.


    He hadn''t heard this from just Remey, Alma hade personally to ask him to make Gil change his mind. She had failed to do so and as far as Alma knew, Walker was the best person to talk Gil out of it.


    Not that it worked.


    "Alma is pretty angry with me over that. I won''t talk Gil out of it. Learning from the true wind sage is a big deal. Not that Gil really needs it, he just needs it if he is going to be one of the people that leads others in to the elemental nes."


    The way that Remey looked at Walker after he said this was strange. "You know that going against Alma will end with you getting hit with some poisonous nts in revenge. Or she might not even let youe looking for the elves'' help for a while." Remey had to make sure she didn''t anger Alma since some of the herbs she used were expressly grown by them.


    It wasn''t that the herbs were too challenging to grow. It was the simple fact that she had to take very few of them due to the fact that they were still very close to extinction on their continent. It would take years toe back from that.


    "It''s a big deal though. Forget that the true wind sage seems to just be entertaining himself with all this, Gil will be able to grow alongside Zephyr. Their bond will get closer and I am sure that will lead to him being able to do much more." it was a fact that they were all still growing. Even if it was mostly theirmunication with the people of Genesis right now, it was growth.


    "So you are saying that you think he wille back stronger than me? Screw that! I will use these potions myself!" Remey was ready to take away the crate of purified affinity potions she has just brought to show off to Walker.


    "No! That''s not it at all!" Walker was ready to jump over the table and block Remey before she smirked and he understood she had been messing with him.


    "Ugh, keep at it. I''ll make sure you feel the pressureter when more people start making you experiment with individual affinity potions." Walker had already seen the many requests and knew there could be more.


    Along with the fact that Remey and many herbalists had begun experiments with the racial herb theory, there had been requests for specific potions.


    Since the idea that some herbs had connections to certain races, came the fact that their histories might hold secrets to those herbs and rtionships. Hence why many people began to research and send the alchemy guild information. As such, they were even busier than they had been before.


    Many apprentice alchemists had shown extremely high rates of growth with the pure flood of information. They were learning new aspects of herbs because of various experiments when the herbalists brought them to the guild.


    There was also the fact that the idea of race rted herb awakenings or growth forms could lead to unique potions. If an herb changed based on a certain race nearby it influencing the growth with their mana, what about using those herbs to make a potion specifically made for that person or that race altogether? It had to be possible.


    "I swear, if you make those letters double or triple, I will burn the mansion down and make you build a whole new one by yourself. Without magic!" Walker was sure that Remey wouldn''t actually do it, but he would have to face her fists if he made trouble.


    "I won''t do that. But just saying, Gil will probably bring back some herbs from the wind elemental nes. He knows that he would need to do that or he would have to fight you." he took a deep breath before looking at the potions.


    "There are some decent potions here. The fire affinity potion isn''t a grand potion but it is called a purified high potion which puts it as a pseudo grand potion. The same with the earth and the light purified high potions. The others state that they have slightly better effects than a normal portion of their level."


    While Remey already understood these aspects, she had brought them to walker since they were still kept secret to even the alchemist guild. She knew that when people heard of them, there would be anothermotion.


    Right now, the grand potions were being described as impossible to make due tock of perfect quality materials. The herbs just needed more time and care to reach that level. Not that this was entirely honest.


    It was really the mana cost and the fact that a potion of that level could be very risky. Remey knew that from the injuries that the old master alchemist had taken on. Luckily, he was fine in the end and used it as the right time to retire. Besides that, there was the economy of Genesis. They were a very young city. It still changed day by day and introducing more and more high quality products like a purified high affinity potion would lower the cost of the other potions made by younger up anding alchemists. Remey needed these potions to be held on to for the time being and unveiled as incredibly rare high ss rewards for uing festivals or tournaments.


    That way, it could be called as priceless for the time being. As the time moved on, the alchemist guild would slowly begin to produce them as more master alchemists reached the heights where they could learn the forms to make such potions. Then there would be other aspects to focus on. The grand potions.


    "Gil took some potions with him, right?" partially a method of worrying, Redmey asked Walker after he had finished looking through the potions she had brought.


    "He did, they should help him, Ventus, and Zephyr learn more about wind mana and whatever unique forms that they are going to be training with. And yes, he will give them out so that people will understand what they can get through deals with genesis."


    He knew that this was also part of it. Finding alchemists from the elemental nes wasn''t something easy to just say would happen. It was something that would have to be worked toward since potions were not what came to mind when the party had gone to the elemental


    nes.


    However, they had not gone in to any truly established territories of any race while there. That alone proved just how massive the elemental nes were. It also was partially due to their pursuit of the immortal king. They wished to follow him to deal with him and he had avoided dangers trying to get where he wished to be.


    "Good, then I will start to focus a little more on my new weapons."


    "Huh?"


    Looking at Walker''s face, Remey knew she had just won again. "I managed to convince the wandering cksmith to repair and rebuild the elemental knuckles. And this time, he used some metals that he made using some special forge furnaces. They can handle my mes and also handle weaker amounts of other manas that surround me. It even can use mana gems and mana crystals as interchangeable parts."


    After hearing this, Walker wanted to see these weapons, but Remey shook her head. "I will show you the brutal elemental gauntletster. I can''t wear them yet since the mana gems I will switch in and out are still being prepared. It will take another few hours before the proper


    testing phase."


    Thai was enough for Walker to want to stand up and go watch this process. It sounded interesting. "Don''t go running away. You have to finish what you are working on. You told everyone that you would be preparing for the forest test of the smallest floating ship model." There was a slightly threatening tone to Remey''s words. She knew very well how important the small testing floating ship was. Before the finalized building of therge floating ship could be continued, many of those who had invested heavily in the project wished to see


    proof.


    This was a fair ask since many of the representatives from Genesis also wanted to show off proof that the project was for the best of Genesis. Therefore, a smaller testing ship that could fit a single small person was being shown off today.


    It was more manageable and would allow for many to understand the benefits of the floating ship. It also would show off the downsides of the project too. It would make or break the future of this project. Even better, it was happening while the true wind sage was still present. He had yet to leave, so, he would see the true ingenuity of Genesis.


    ....


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2254: 2254. Showcase

    Chapter 2254: 2254. Showcase


    "Now, everyone present today knows exactly what we have been working on. We have invited those who have invested their time and gold in to this project. We have invited those that will need these services once they arepleted. And most of all, we have invited those who have the minds capable of being able to grow to discover new forms of this project even more in their future."


    The speech was given by the king of the surface. He had visited to see the king of the deep for certain reasons. However, he had extended his visit the moment he had heard about this project within its entirety. In his words, "this is worth standing for."


    Having that as the case, no one questioned it. Having a dwarven king take the lead as host for this event was ideal. It allowed for there to be even more evidence of why it should be improved and focused on as a project within Genesis.


    Beyond that, his presence also allowed for some other additions. Specifically for a few of the master dwarven cksmiths he had brought along to learn things to see this project. Their ideas had already made a difference within the blueprints and overall structural nning.


    But most of all, they had learned new things too. Meaning that they would bring these back to their homes when they left. Well, if they left.


    "The flying ship is a project that will avoid the dangers of the ocean waters. We have yet to be able to handle those dangers properly, even after the flow of the world returned. As such, we are limited in the teleportation rune formations we already have. What if they failed?"


    This was a major driving force behind why Genesis wanted to push the flying ship forward. Another form of safer transportation. The fact that it could move above the clouds and have wind magic protection against the wind currents meant that it could safely bring people here and there. Even between continents. Its speed might just be slower than expected.


    This was putting aside all the benefits ofrge goods being transported,rger races being transported with ease, and having the ability to scout outrge parts ofnd for a much more detailed map.


    That was still an ongoing process. The remapping of the wilderness was moving along well. However, it was not perfect and could be improved. The changes in the world as it had expanded due to fitting the flow of things better was the driving force here. Too much unknown could be risky. Especially while trying to handle the changes in mana and rtionship to the elemental nes.


    Everyone Present was staring at the open spaceid with pure white stone. It had been made specifically for demonstrating this single project and potentially more. The clean te effect was so that there would be an easier view for those that were not ustomed to looking at these sorts of prototype projects.


    As arge cloth was pulled back to present the metal floating ship, everyone was amazed.


    Fourrge rotating des were slowly moving within a circr shell. The center where they all connected was simr to a single boat, but it had been ttened out so that there was more room and also so that more runes could be carved.


    Because they had this as an experimental demonstration model, it was made to showcase the way that the wind rune formations connected to a set ofrge mana gems and even what could be golem cores. Various wind affinity spirit race members also floated around since they were also part of controlling the intricate flow of manas within this floating boat.


    There was a perfectly crafted space for a single driver to sit. They could rotate their seat to look over the edges and even had a light rune formation to view the direct bottom beneath them. This meant that they could view every single spot around them within the air.


    Even more intricate, were the metal supports demonstrating the strength of the forging. It was made so that even beyond the basic strength of the metal, there was additional strength because of how it was built. This was not just days of work. This was many mastersing together with new goals using years upon years of experience to make it happen.


    Beyond that, Walker could sense the flow of manas going in to it. The wind mana was being pulled in with clear control. Nothing was rough, everything was smooth. But surprisingly, there were even small fire rune formations on each end. Walker had heard about the idea, but he was amazed to see that it had been refined enough to be used.


    "If I were to hold everything back, then I would be insulting you. But I have one more thing to say before our team leaders begin to exin the parts working together and the many details that came together to make this work."


    "This man!" a tall man walked out, he looked somewhat thin, but from his looks, he was a half demon half dwarf, another rare mix between races which was rarely epted anywhere. "He is the first floating ship captain to be discovered. He left his isted farm where he was raised and came to Genesis to learn of his blood. Instead, he found a brand new ss while watching the first model of the flight rune formations we made."


    As the floating ship captain took his ce, the wind spirit race left the area since they had been helping to bring mana in to the mana gems. But four of them melded together with the golem coats built in to manage the flows of manas. The captain nodded as if speaking with them which was very surprising since it would be very hard to do so without an applicable skill. They were not physically there right now, they had melded with the ship itself.


    Ragradless, a burst of mes caused everyone to shout or leap back. The fire rune formations had shot the small floating boat off the ground. "You see here, that is the fire rune propulsion formations. Made for sudden bursts in the air during emergencies. Or maybe just showing off to you."


    Another voice from a rune carver echoed around as the wind began to flow and the floating boat came to life. Everyone felt the change in the wind which allowed for it to float. It wasn''t moving down with gravity or up. It was perfectly hovering using wind mana.


    "And now we have the wind rune formations which reduce the effects of falling even allowing it to float. But it can''t move like that, can it? What happens without the natural wind currents?" a small sail shot up proving that without much wind mana, the boat would still be able to move somehow.


    "If it falls in the water, it will still float due to the materials used, and can keep many alive with this attachment. But what if it is without wind mana entirely?"


    That was when the rune formations darkened. The wind affinity spirit race members had stopped the flow of wind mana entirely. This caused the floating ship to fall.


    That was, until it stopped again.


    The mechanical aspect of dwarven golems was spectacr. It used mana to focus the metals and parts made to move. It was hard toprehend with how detailed it was. And right now, everyone was seeing this again.


    The des rotated forcing air to move through them. The four kept the floating boat bnced showcasing the best forging and craftsmanship that went in to making it. "Who says you need to rely on wind mana to fly? You can make it happen with fire and water mana too. Even creating a steam that allows for you to hide better in the clouds."


    As the person speaking finished, the rune formations red back up and the boat began to move. It was not fast, but it was able to hover, change heights, swing to potentially dodge attacks, and so much more. The entire showcase was making many people wonder what else


    could be done.


    "The potential that this project possesses forrge goods to be transported is exceptionally high. But I ask you this, what about transporting the injured? This ship can be a moving cathedral whenpleted. Housing healers and carrying those injured from natural


    disasters."


    "What about an injured dragon or wyvern? They could be transported on therge scale floating ship to be able to get to proper treatment. You should be the judge, can this project provide something we are missing right now?"


    Walker didn''t even doubt that everyone here had been convinced. He knew very well that even their special guest was sitting in amazement at this creation. Something that didn''t exist within the elemental nes at all.


    ....


    ----


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2255: 2255. Peaceful Breeze

    Chapter 2255: 2255. Peaceful Breeze


    Listening to people as they moved on from the showcase of the prototype floating boat, Walker knew it was more than just a sess. It had blown them away.


    The dwarven golems had always been amazing. They could protect a dwarf and allow travel in to underwater caves. They could be made lightweight and glide while some of the monster inspired could fly now. And they were incredibly tough if they needed to be.


    Ever since the spirits had begun assisting them, the dwarven golems had begun to change much faster too. They had been able to contain more mana while also using more mana. Making their movements and mana flows more fluid all around.


    Then the other races being involved inspired new designs while also changing the existing designs to be more effective. That wasn''t even considering the changes that came from the materials that the dwarves had never had ess to before.


    All in all, the changes in the golem aspect of dwarven culture waspletely unprecedented. It was a lot to keep up with and anyone learning the trade would find himself overwhelmed right now. It would take quite a few more years to ensure that there was a proper golem master builder born.


    That was a good thing though. The longer they refined their skills, the better the quality that would be produced in the end. Hence why so many people were not unhappy with the slow progress of building therge floating ship.


    Everyone now knew what they should expect but inrger size. Along with this, they also saw the benefits that woulde from having such vehicles of transportation. Especially the dragons who had worries about their elders who could not take a more humanoid form. What if they were injured? How could anyone fit a full sized dragon on an elemental rune teleportation formation? The answer was that they couldn''t. The dragons were toorge. So were some of the monster races that might grow in the future or be discoveredter. Not to mention the serpents. The abyssal and heavenly serpents also could grow veryrge without the ability to use the teleportation formations.


    But even better were the ideas that healers could use the ship as a moving cathedral. A perfect idea. But more came from it. Different races spoke of different things. Whether it was mapping arger forest just found, identifying potential new caves, or just generally exploring the oceans from above. All of this was a new potential because of the floating ship.


    Walker himself wanted to try flying it. Getting skills to fly a flying boat or ship would be pretty amazing. However, he had to hold off and be a little more serious. He was currently watching as Ventus came to him alone. "I thought you would be too busy right now."


    She nodded to him but then looked back where the true wind sage had been a moment ago. "I was asked if there was a chance that the true wind sage could return when it was time for the proper flying ship to take to the air. He wishes to see it and understand how it is possible."


    Knowing that the true wind sage had been hooked in to investing in Genesis, Walker negan to step in to the air toward where he saw him. "Why not take a closer look? I have a feeling that one day we will have simr ships that can traverse the elemental nes. With the help of unique beings like yourself, that day coulde sooner."


    "I know you are just saying that because you wish to make me an ally. I already am though." The true wind sage was speaking softly. It reminded Walker of the slightest of breezes through a field. Just the whispers of grass barely nudging one another. Just enough to understand that nature itself might be speaking.


    "The way the wind flows here is calm. Even when it bes chaotic, there is vibrance and joy within it. I can not maintain myself here for long. The wind elemental ne is shifting. I can travel outside of it though. When the timees, I will visit with my proper form. Until the next time origin child. Guardian of the world."


    The title made Walker wonder if this was what he was being called by the other sages. Or was it the elemental kings saying this? Was he really known as a guardian of the world? Was this because he was the only origin benign here and was literally born in the world to be an origin being?


    Before he could fully grasp where his mind was going, Ventus was gone as well. She had already made the ns to stop nearby the curse users that she had gathered. Walker could also recall the curses that she would undergo.


    A curse to seal away her dragon form. Preventing her from taking on an anchoring role within the elemental nes and causing a break in bnce. A curse that sealed half of her mana affinity, stopping her from drawing onrge amounts of wind mana at once.


    The greatest curse that would take all of the curse users mana and be sealed using a curse rune, a weakening curse. So potent and harsh that she would only be able to move under her own power with significant mental fortitude.


    For any dragon, being made that weak would be considered dishonorable and pathetic. An insult to all that dragons were. Yet, for Ventus, it was a necessary price to pay so that she would be able to learn more. To grow herself in a way she had never attempted to grow.


    All that she learned while she was away with Gil, Zephyr, and the true wind sage woulde together to change the very way she acted.


    "They are gone now, aren''t they?" of all the voices that Walker expected to hear as he touched the ground again, it wasn''t Terron''s voice that he expected to hear, yet it was.


    "They are, Ventus is taking arge risk to ensure that she learns more about dragon history spo that both the wind dragons and all dragons can understand things. She might even be able to find out if some of the dragons who were once royals made it to the elemental nes at all."


    This was a major reason that every dragon wished to go to the elemental nes. Mordant in particr desired to so because of the various dark s that had delved in to the deepest of shadows and right in to the chaos between elemental nes. Attempts to reach the dark elemental nes were frequent for those powerful dark dragons, or those foolish enough to try it.


    "I know that, it''s why we will be preparing her territory with whatever is needed. I have gone to gather some wind affinity ores to be crafted in to statues of the past wind dragons. Weall desire them to be made for each of our territories just as they are where our court rests. Moving those statues is not right, this would be."


    "Do the dragons need help in this matter?" Now Walker knew what Terron was getting at and why he had waited for Walker toe back instead of leaving as the others had done. Minus a few of the other representatives who were busy speaking and asking plenty of questions.


    "As the current royal nature dragon, you are expected to be part of this effort." Terron showed a rare smirk as he looked toward where Ventus''s wind dragon territory was. "Then I guess I will need to put in a little extra work. Anything else you need while you are making a rare appearance above ground?" This was just a politeness, but Walker also understood that the underground portion of Genesis was taking shape at a rapid rate. Many of the dwarven architects who had been part of maintaining an underground city older than they were had finally been let loose. All their improvement ideas which had stagnated for generations finally had a ce to go. Instead of just building a city, they were building their


    utopia of sorts.


    Not that it would be perfect on the first try, but to them, it was quickly bing their second city improvedpared to their older city. Every issue that they remembered had been fixed or changed to suit them. It was just a matter of time before there was a time that they could


    show off even more.


    "Actually, we have some issues with ore and rock eating parasites. We could use someone with a little more focus to handle it at its core." Now this was new to Walker. He''d never heard of parasites that ate ore or rock.


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2256: 2256. Ancient Parasite

    Chapter 2256: 2256. Ancient Parasite


    It had been soem time since Walker had gone to look at the underground areas of Genesis especially the connecting parts where the earth dragon territory was being built. But he was there now and he was pretty amazed.


    The size was just one small part of everything. Well, if you could call it a small part. In actuality, it had been expanded substantially. Therge amount of supports built were expertly crafted to hold up for generations with minimal maintenance. Making the ceiling much safer.


    This wasn''t all of it though, the buildings were made to be able to handle a great deal of weight or damage. Meaning that even a naturally urring earthquake causing a copse might not cause the buildings to fall. Meaning that those within would be safe from the rocks and could be rescued.


    Hence why Walker focused on the new additions of safety escapes where those living within the underground city could escape to without much stress. From there, the hidden tunnels should be essible to them to escape as long as the maintenance on them was upkept, A perfect way to escape if there was a disaster.


    The water rune formations and movable barriers also proved an amazing resistance to any potential flooding that might ur. The chances of this were slim, but the dwarven race had learned from their mistakes. If they did not n for flooding, then they would have to deal with floods constantly.


    That''s how fate worked after all.


    Otherwise, it was a bustling underground city where the buildings had been finished. Plenty of workshops to process ores and other goods were perfectly built to efficiently allow everyone in and out. This was just the entrance area though, the inside of the underground areas were filled with various workshops for those who could not get one on the surface.


    Otherwise, there were personal workshops here that were more peaceful than those above ground. It would allow some of the people who preferred silence when crafting to have it. It was also a surprisingly vibrant area for a peaceful walk since there was already artificial light using light mana gems which gained their ability to radiate light from the light rune formations moving through the earth to the surface.


    This was all to ensure that the herbs down here grew, the herbs that needed sunlight that was. Others were inside caves to ensure that they received the darkness they needed. It was all tended to very carefully which brought an interesting aspect of beauty different from the surface.


    "Follow me, the best path is through the small market road." Terron seemed somewhat energetic.


    From Walker''s perspective, Terron had changed a lot more than the other royal dragons since he had epted Genesis and begun to grow in his own way. Besides the fact that the earth dragons were more solitary and lower in numbers because of that, he had managed to bring them together very much morepared to the past.


    On top of this, his stubbornness had calmed. There was also that prickly attitude that preferred to push people away as well. He had changed and actually be quite warm, energetic and joyful even. Not that it was clear to see this overall. He still maintained some stone faced calm on most days.


    Yet, Walker could just feel it. Terron walked with an aura of pride around him. It was good to see that he had made significant changes to his life and was working very hard to see an even better change.


    However, Walker had not expected that the small market streets here held a lot more traditional foods than what was even up on therger markets on the surface rather than underground. Plenty of cultural foods set up for all the races and not just the dwarves were ced cleanly to be bought and traded.


    The way that the underground flowed allowed everyone to move easily, along with small carts. Carriages were only allowed at certain hours for goods to be delivered and brought out of the market streets underground. It reduced the wear and tear on the ground and also kept it safer. The small carts were sold and were able to be pulled by most people with ease. It was a brilliant idea which Walker wished the surface could do. However, the sheer size of Genesis prevented that on the surface.


    "You can see some of the damages here. They were from the stones brought from dried up underground rivers and other simr ces. Most likely dormant and awakened due to the location changing." Terron was still speaking but Walker was distracted as he looked up as the portions of the ceiling cut out and carved for resting ces.


    Noticing this, Terron paused, "We knew that there would be flying races down here too, so perches were made. I can take my full form underground and rest on them If I wish. Right now, the herpes, batmen, dragons, and earth wyverns use them." his toothy grin proved that Terron really liked this.


    Being able to fly while in the underground was like being home for the earth dragons. They preferred the safety and closeness of the ground. But they were dragons and could fly, but most caves were too small. Having the underground section of Genesis built for them like this made things much better. Terron even motioned to the road connecting the dwarven city and Genesis underground.


    It was being expanded for the smaller flying races to be able to fly. A great idea yet again.


    "Sorry, there is just a lot more here that has changed than what I expected. Especially the earth wyverns here and there. They are very young so I didn''t expect that they would be here."


    "The earth wyvern queen sent some of the younger ones to live here. They are learning and well ahead of their older siblings. It''s going to be perfect when they go back to the Sigil continent and share what they have learned." Walker nodded with Terron. They were on the same page.


    ''So, you mentioned that these stones with the holes that look like they were gnawed on are the pens with these stone and ore eating parasites? Are there some dead ones or alive ones I can use all around appraisal on to get a little more information?" Walker Knew that an all around appraisal scroll or some form of appraisal might have been used, but he had a hunch that he might learn a little something extra.


    "Right this way, we are keeping them held back, but the new building area is overridden with them. They are tough to deal with and can''t just be cut up. They have to be heated and burned enough to die. Or they need to be drowned for at least a full three days."


    "I take it this problem isn''t just a tough to kill parasite problem. I have a feeling that the numbers are more than expected." Walker saw the slight nod of approval as they left the streets where people were and headed in to the areas under construction.


    He quickly saw the many guards that had been stationed keeping workers from going in to abandoned areas which looked to have frozen in time. Some shovels even stood stuck in piles of dirt where they had been left a few days before. His eyes scanned the ground before he noticed something.


    A small scratching sound caught his ears as a very small crack appeared in a fist sized brown stone. The crack soon widened as a spiky worm looking creature moved outside if it before


    pulling back in.


    ''Earth eater


    This parasite is a parasite that literally feeds on the earth and all things with earth mana itself. It is able to eat small rocks at first but will slowly grow adding new spiky sections on to its body as it does. After a certain length, it will start to follow its mana senses to find stronger earth mana within other rocks or ores.


    Eventually it will even go after monsters, races, or solid metal. As long as the earth mana is stronger, it will chase after it to consume it and grow.


    While extremely resistant physically, they are susceptible to magical attacks, this is to a small degree because of their physiology though. If pieces of them break off, they can survive. Therger portion of their body can regenerate by absorbing ambient earth mana.


    They can be dormant within a rock for hundreds of years until the right environment allows them to awaken and grow. Often being forgotten in caves where the flow of mana stagnated due to natural disasters.


    If they were to live in an extremely earth mana rich environment, they can reach sizes of immense proportion. Even being able to consume thergest dragons and earth whales. They are a gue to the world where they were born and could be an even worse gue for the


    earth elemental ne.


    Their natural predator...''


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2257: 2257. Search The Sky

    Chapter 2257: 2257. Search The Sky


    "What did you just say?" Terron was looking at Walker as if he had just heard something incredibly ridiculous.


    "It''s definitely an interesting predator to have. But I thought it would say that they were extinct since we have never seen them or heard about them." it was an interesting addition to what Walker had realized what they ahd gotten from the appraisal scrolls about these monsters.


    ''Their natural predators are normally the youngest of the sky wyverns. However, after hundreds of years of being hunted and loss of nesting grounds, the sky wyverns are nearly extinct. Their ability to use wind mana internally to shred and pulverize these parasites before releasing the earth mana and sands is incredible. This was a simple method of using the earth mana within these parasites to temper and control their lighter bodies.'' Thatst paragraph in the all around appraisal made Walker realize a few things.


    This parasite could be crushed and destroyed by incredibly potent winds.


    That this parasite had been eaten by the youngest of the sky wyverns because it would help them grow and be able to control their weight. Something that the older sky wyverns would most likely have an easier time of doing because of their age and control of wind mana growing.


    Andstly, that the sky wyverns were not an extinct monster right now.


    Unlike the heart wyverns who were protected and recognized by Genesis,, the sky wyverns were not. Mostly because they had never been seen before. That left Walker with a task of potentially finding them so that this earth eater parasite might bebatted constantly. Using the wind mages would not be a viable option to fight these monsters. Especially since the sky wyverns needed to eat them for tempering their bodies and a future growth potential. It was very different from releasing wind mana from magic all within a room orrger space. The risks were higher.


    "If those are the kind of monsters that could eat them, are there others?" Terron was very much interested in the fact that some monsters might be able to eat these earth eater parasites. Instead of slowly eating and parasitizing the entire cave and the entirety of the underground of Genesis, it would be better to let them get eaten by whatever likes them as food best. It would also be more efficient and a longer term solution to this issue.


    "The all around appraisal doesn''t give anything else. I wonder if there is another monster though." Walker wanted to look in to this a little more. However, he felt that this would be an issue that they had to handle the hard way at this rate.


    This wasn''t what Terron hoped to hear. He knew that if these parasites grew more, then they could be a risk for the dragons. Especially any of the eggs or hatchlings raised near here. They could be the first food offered up on a silver tter. Along with all the earth affinity races that came down here after the metals, ores, and dense rocks had been consumed or ruined.


    Both of them were standing there looking at the current damage and the fact that the size of the earth eaters were truly very small right now. But they would grow. And the brittle rocks that Walker could feel crumble under his feet were a perfect example of how the entirety of this area could be a desert.


    "The issue that''s bigger than just Genesis is that we could end up with the fact that these things get to the earth elemental nes. Even the smallest chance is a threat to them. They won''t ept that. Bnce is the most important aspect to everyone within the elemental nes."


    "You''re telling me that all contact with them will be blocked if we even consider letting this problem wait. Then I am d to have been alerted to it the moment it was discovered." Teron took great pride in the fact that those within this territory hade directly to him immediately. They trusted him and his opinions of these matters.


    It wasn''t just his dragonkin or the odd earth mages that came either. The king of the deep made an effort toe to him for assistance. They knew full well that it would change all of them and that one representative would be too little to handle this problem if it began to grow.


    "Let''s look at this in another way, the earth wyverns are united now and even a race. So, that means that they might have some memories of other wyvern species, even the sky wyvern which is close to being extinct." Walker knew this was a long shot, but it was a shot and he would take it.


    "I can have that information within the hour." Terron was moving before Walker had even finished his thoughts on the matter. But with how close that Terron was to the earth wyverns and how he had pledged to help them, it made a lot of sense. He was not a dragon that went back on his words. His stubbornness and draconic pride ensured that.


    While keeping pace and leaving the infected area behind, Walker found that the area where the earth wyverns were was slightlyrger than expected. But that was clear when he got there.


    He had not expected that the wyvern queen would be here right now. He expected that she would be back on the Sigil continent. Yet, he soon understood why. "Terron, you could have told us that you were expecting a little you in the future."


    "And I should expect you to use your all around appraisal to check on things." The annoyed tone felt a little too fake when Walker heard it.


    Yet, he felt that he had known this about Teron. That even with his pledge to help the earth wyverns that there was something more there. Not that he would judge. It would be an interesting event to see the first half earth dragon and half earth wyvern child flying around. They could be quite the little stubborn troublemaker.


    "You will need toe here a few more times during the next two years." Walker raised an eyebrow.


    This made him think about a few things briefly.


    The fact that healers were not the same as the dwarven methods of health. They focused on learning about the body and how it would heal without a healer or potions. Therefore, knowing the body of various monsters and races was much more important. Right now, that would be valuable information to have.


    How long it would take a wyvern or a dragon to wait for an egg to be born and then to wait for it to hatch would be useful. That was something he could work onter. Plenty of races were now pooling knowledge and sharing it, as people worked, it would alle together brilliantly.


    "If you need me, all you have to do is ask." Terron nodded in appreciation while they were noticed by the wyvern queen. She was in her full earth wyvern queen form since she needed to be for her condition. However, she was not unhappy to have Walker as a visitor. She knew how much he had put in to helping the earth wyverns when they first came to Genesis to learn.


    "We came to ask about wyverns, we are looking for sky wyverns." The wyvern queen''s eyes widened. Never had she expected that this would be something she would be asked. "I am sure that Terron has told you about the monsters we are dealing with. And we want them handled before any other dragons, wyverns, or any earth affinity racese down here. The sooner the issue is solved, the better."


    Realizing exactly what Walker was saying, this was a major risk to any child that could be nearby with earth affinity in their future.


    "Thirteen seasons ago." The grumbling tone was hard to understand, but the system of the world and existence made sure it was understood clearly. "A sky blue wyvernnded on my mountain and tried to dig around. She was traveling away toward the oceans. Toward a set of seven inds." The wyvern queen did not say it all quickly, but it was said.


    When she had stopped, Walker understood that this was all she had gathered before the sky wyvern had been chased off by the queen and the other earth wyverns. Territory was a very important thing to many of the dragons or dragon like species of the world.


    "I will go look for someone to search for these inds. I would assume they got a bitrger than what they were before the world returned to proper mana flow. But if they are still there, then these sky wyverns might have found the perfect nesting ground to hide in."


    ....


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2258: 2258. Light Horizons

    Chapter 2258: 2258. Light Horizons


    "Lady Su, is there anything you would like us to start with here?" The soldier setting up camp was leading everyone that came with Su for their hunting journey. His job was simple, maintain a camp and allow for Su''s scouts to leave in their travels safely.


    "Not at the moment, we have already gathered the proper information from various sources. The inds we are after used to be closest to this shore. Since there is a small vige just over these sand dunes, we know that the area is rtively safe."


    While it had only been three days since Su was asked to take control of the situation, a lot hade of it.


    Walker had been forced to remain within genesis, mostly because he was the one that had the best ability to deal with the earth eaters. He could use various types of mana to cause them to die while they were small. On top of that, he was also able to better keep them contained.


    As such, Su was given the lead. Partially as a way to get her out of Genesis where she had been running around a little too much, and partially so she could showcase her ability to lead the soldiers.


    Su was often the greatest of the helping hands. For many, she was a hero that did not look down on the dirty work or the small tasks. Not that the others did, but Su went out of her way to handle them, making her held in high standing for that.


    Being away from Genesis allowed Su to show her other skills that were not rted to healing and helping others. As a true draconic guardian, she had a lot more going on in rtion to defending Genesis than many knew.


    Where people would expect that she would only have the role of defending Midnight, there was more to it. The other draconic guardians and dragon champions were very busy throughout the world right now.


    The royal dragons had sent off their dragon champions to ensure that many tasks werepleted. Whether it was finding the elders to bring them to Genesis in Terron''s case, or managing the moving of viges in Current''s case, they were working very hard. Some were even off helping map the more dangerous wilderness areas to be used for the future of Genesis and the world as a whole.


    The draconic guardians were working in simr aspects. Many dragonkin would not be privy to the details that the draconic guardians'' position entailed. However, they were also responsible for managing the vige or people below them. In Su''s case, Midnight was Walker''s true dragon champion. Meaning, that she had to be in charge of defending all of Genesis.


    Was that all on her shoulders? Of course not. Plenty of races came together and representatives established proper defenses to protect Genesis and its people. But this issue was one that needed to be handled for the immediate and long term future of Genesis. Meaning that Su was more than d to step up.


    The smaller driving aspect though, was that she had been training in her personal time more. Specifically with the fact that she was technically a half dragon race now. She had wings and could breathe dragon mes. While the dragon mes were something that needed specific kinds of training, the flying was more flexible.


    Su had spoken to various races for assistance in controlling this skill. She also had begun to perfectly incorporate it in to her battle style with her twin shields. Now, she was able to take the lead in this because she could both use the smaller ships made for exploration rather than travel and fly through the air to get contact with potential sky wyverns.


    Their base was to be able to return to when they needed the time to rest. The challenge was to both map the coast and the best methods to get to these inds and also to be able to have a quick ce to return to before taking an elemental rune teleportation formation back to Genesis.


    "The inds are known to the angels as the gem inds. They said that they used to be thought of as a very dangerous ce to go near. Not just because of the monsters that live on them as nesting ces, but also because of the rocks exposed by the waves on the beach." Su''s briefing of her traveling group while they left the beach and camp behind was very important.


    The information they had gathered was why they had to keep themselves very prepared. Also why they had dark rune formations made to protect them on fabric shirts. "The light will reflect off of them depending on the gem like stones exposed. These lights will blind you and even have the chance to cause burning light to harm your skin and damage your armor." "I understand that all of you will think about light as a healing and protective mana. However, light mana is also very dangerous. it can be used to strengthen des, be used topletely and permanently blind you, and even be used to condense attacks that will break your body down entirely."


    This was very much a fact. Not many people faced the dangers of light mana nor were they able tobat them. Hence why they wore the dark rune sewn formations cloaks on their bodies. The dark mana gathered would allow them to resist the light mana if it was too condensed and potentially causing them damage.


    Beyond that, the soldiers with her had some control over either dark mana or light mana because of their affinities. Skills that were defensive in nature since they did not have the innate intentions to start battles against the sky wyverns if they found them. Yet, Su also had a strange feeling while they moved ahead in the water on the small boats.


    Call it instinct, she had a feeling that what she was beginning to notice as they traveled over the waves. She could see much better with her draconic eyes. As such, she was picking up on the strange colors reflected on the horizon''s waves.


    They were red, blue, green, yellow, pink, white, and purple. These colors were more normal to see during a sunset or a sunrise over the waves. The waters could potentially make these colors show on the waves which was why they were able to be seen as an amazing aspect of nature.


    The group with Su had only been on their several boats for an hour before seeing these colors. But it was enough for her to direct the boats to keep moving. However, she noticed that there were no clouds on the horizon either. Which meant that as the sun rose, there would be even more light reflecting on the inds that she had heard.


    "Lay down anchors while the sun rises. Rest for now, we are in a dangerous area." The soldiers followed the orders while the map makers were recording that they needed to keep an eye out for changes in the colors of distant waves around these inds. It would ensure that there would be warnings for those that came here in the future.


    The map makers took Su''s words very seriously. There was plenty of knowledge from the angels to back them up too. After the world returned to flow, there was a much greater chance that the inds and more to their gem light stone foundations.


    As Su watched the waves, she noticed multiple fish monsters moving away as the sun reached higher over the hours. The sun was not blocked at all and it was high in the air above them. The fish moving away proved that there was danger ahead.


    In the form of these colorful lights, Su realized that the light would be hitting the exposed gem like rocks of the inds over the horizon. In just a few more minutes, Su also felt that the air became heavier. "The lighting off the inds is heating the water because of how it is reflected. The gems are heating the water and would kill anything directly in it or too close. We will have a deep fog toward the end of the day as the steam from the surface cools in the setting sun."


    The soldiers took very careful notes of this while the map makers realized that this unique coast would have a fog over it every night which would settle as the night went on. Meaning that the entire area waspletely impossible to travel without some form of resistance or methods to defend against both heat and light.


    "Would wyverns really be over here?"


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2259: 2259. Dangerous Nests

    Chapter 2259: 2259. Dangerous Nests


    The heated water gave off a lot of fog, however, Su was surprised by the speed that the fog began to appear. Her questions whether or not wyverns would be over there only grew.


    The fog would make it safe for their nests. That was a clear example of how they could hide them from other predators, but would that be enough? The issue was the heat and dangerous amount of light mana all in one ce as well. The wyvern''s eggs would need to resist that. Let alone the adult wyverns.


    But when Su began to hear something over the dampening of the fog, she understood that something was over there. Comparing it to the sounds of the earth wyverns before they were a recognized race, she noted that they were simr shrieks and roars. But could they be the same?


    It was too hard to tell through the fog, sounds of waves, and general distance between them and the inds. However, Su noticed that she could feel a significant amount of water mana moving around a distance away. An odd feeling since it would be light mana that they had to focus on right now.


    The light mana should be the most prevalent because of how the inds reflected the light and caused it to feel amplified or to be gathered in reflections. Not the water mana even with the fact that it was part of the fog.


    Regardless, the sounds continued as the sun had begun to set and the fog finally started to ease up in the lowering temperature of the night. Even as the fog settled on the surface of the calm waves, Su could still feel that there was more water mana flowing than the light mana, it should take longer for the heat and light to dissipate. The fire mana that the light mana gathers alone would be much higher right now, but wasn''t.


    She was not the only one to notice it though. Mages that hade with her also noticed it. Just because this was a light focused travel did not mean that there weren''t mages of other affinities present. They could be useful in defending the boats that they took from the shore. Not to mention that the wind magic users could be the key focus to get in contact with sky wyverns as it was.


    "If there is so much water mana ahead of us, then it is more believable that some form of water monster that can resist the heat lives there. They may even have fire affinity as well." The idea that the fire affinity would resist the heat from the high amount of light causing mes and fog was clear in the mages'' analysis. But there was still an odd amount of water mana for that to be happening.


    "What if the water monsters are causing the fog? What if it isn''t natural?" Su''s returnment was a more interesting theory for the mages. Mostly because it would mean that it was an adaptation over time on and around the inds to survive them on a daily basis.


    "If that is the case, they will be highly resistant to both light and fire mana, and able to control water mana with a higher ability than we expect. There may also be many of them." The theory ahd taken a hold on the many mages listening. But as the fog changed and the night began to move on before the silence was taken over the ocean they anchored in, Su believed that they would be able to prove this sooner thanter.


    A few more hourster...


    "The moon is setting, it''s time to begin moving. Keep it slow and steady. We are going to keep it low profile to halt potential dangers moving ahead." The moonlight had cast duller colors in to the distant waves. But those calm colors still showed off the brilliance of the inds that came in to view after another hour of sailing.


    Large peaks showed off the rocky cliffs polished by the constant waves. The toughness of the stones making up this string of seven inds made it clear that they had been forged by time and the ocean. Not to mention their slightly different stone makeup due to the effects of time on their rocks.


    It wasn''t mana that changed the colors, but the difference in water currents and light mana affecting them. The crystals would be useful for using different kinds of specific light manas. It was something that Su knew instinctively. More like these inds had all been together at one point before time wore away at them causing the inds to separate and be inds rather than ind.


    Regardless, she could grasp the dangers now. The sheer size of the cliffs would direct the light from above and change the shores in to boiling saltwater with dangerous beams of colorful light that could harm many around them.


    Surprisingly, the heat and the steam around the center of the inds was allowing for the rocks to be covered with nt life. Keeping them a potentially thriving habitat for whatever was there. Not that su couldn''t see it already.


    She saw blue scales. Not the white that she expected to see or even the shades of green she thought might be there. "Those are water wyverns, aren''t they?" One of the mages asked another who was using an appraisal scroll on what they were seeing.


    The spiky scales were still angled backwards to allow for there to be an easier time diving in to the water. Along with that, there were a few that were smaller and thinner which would allow them to move through the waves faster to hunt for water living monsters as food.


    "Not just the water wyverns, there are sky wyverns too. I think I understand what is happening here." Su''s understanding was met as she noticed arger group of wyverns watching their boats. But they were not making a sound as they watched from the ind with vibrant purple hues within the crystal cliffs.


    "The water wyverns must have found homes here. They can cool the crystal inds so that their nests survive using the water around. They can also hunt the monsters thate back here after the sun sets. But it''s the sky wyverns that would be abnormal."


    Su looked around as she smiled slightly. She understood it easily due to her experience with other monsters and also with how genesis wasing together in brilliant ways between the other races.


    "The sky wyverns are fewer, but when they came here, they were able to push away the fogs sooner. This allows for another aspect of cooling and also for a sooner hunting time for the water wyverns. In turn, the sky wyverns have lived here. If you look carefully, some of them have blue and white flecked scales. They are half water and half sky wyverns. They are entirely differentpared to what they used to be."


    "Oh, and that appraisal, it says the water and sky wyvern race, right?" Su looked at the mage who had used the scrolls and he nodded. He was stunned that Su had gathered all of this right away. "That''s why they are not attacking. They have better control of their intelligence. Thoserger wyverns on each ind are the elder wyverns. I would assume there is a king or queen for each species, if not both."


    A rumbling started where the wind and the water became slightly chaotic around the boats. In response, ropes were tossed to link the boats and keep them bnced on the rumbling waves and sudden additional winds.


    The mages reacted to stabilize the boats as well. Their calming wind and water spells allowed for the boats to stop their bobbing. This made the elder wyverns of both forms look down at them more carefully. It also prompted one of the more damaged and clearly older water wyverns to p its wings.


    Su noticed the damaged scales and the fact that its body was significantly thinner. The scars all over it proved that it had worked tirelessly to defend these inds. It was clearly being sent because of its age in case there was a chance that it would be in a battle with these strangers. Its sacrifice would save the others who could attack together.


    As it fell in to the water and slowly surfaced with a mouth full of condensed saltwater, Su looked at it in the eyes and allowed her half dragon aura to radiate from her. She could strengthen herself with various manas, specifically with light mana that was very powerful


    within this area.


    "We came to offer you a safe home and also to ask for assistance in return. We will not harm a single wyvern of your race as we are already allies with the earth wyverns and various other races." Now she needed to see what they would say.


    ---


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2260: 2260. Prove Your Words

    Chapter 2260: 2260. Prove Your Words


    "It was the silence in response to what Su had said that made everyone start to feel uneasy. The water wyvern with a mouth of condensed water mana and salt water was still staring her down. "I tried to be polite, but if you are not going to respond..."


    Su mmed the twin shields together causing an ear shocking sound to echo through the air. This was a skill she had learned to use in tandem with some wind mana. While simple in the grand scheme of things, it used her taunt skill and wind mana to make a shield ring skill.


    The sound could echo through arge area and force attention on her. "My name is Su. I am a true draconic guardian. I expect your leader, whether it be queens or kings, toe and meet me. If not, we will assume hostility and block off any other race from ever nearing these inds."


    This wasn''t a threat that the wyverns would be cut off. Instead, it was a warning that all the races of Genesis would not be allowed toe near. The safety that Su and all the leaders wished for their people was more important than exploring these odd inds made of crystalized stone different in co,lor due to various light manas affecting them.


    If the wyverns were not allowing themselves tomunicate in any way shape or form, then they could attack the others that came to explore. They were also the biggest risk to the angel''s vige on the shore. Just a short flight away and the wyverns could attack them for food or just to expand territory.


    The sudden churning of water and then the buffetign of wind made su brace herself, but she didn''t feel ill will behind them. She watched as arge wyvern with purer white scalesnded on the nearby purple crystal peak. Beside it, arger water wyvern with deeper blue scales climbed up on to the cliffside and watched Su carefully.


    "Our children and elders have yet to graspnguage. We were recently blessed by existence." Therge amount of wind mana that moved around the wyvern made it very clear that she was a sky queen wyvern. But from the closer inspection with Su''s draconic eyes, she could tell that her scales were dainty. No, they were weak.


    "Your illness, we have many healers, alchemists to make potions, and even unique ss users who may be able to alleviate the symptoms. Scale rot is not umon for many of those that live within our home."


    "Luring us with false promises will lead to war between us. Do not mock us. We have carved our homes here to survive the constant hunting from other monsters. From the angels. From the me wyverns who believe themselves to be greater than dragons." anger and rage was all that could be felt from the water wyvern king''s words.


    His piercing blue eyes did not leave Su. They were looking at her for any hint that she was lying to them. For any small proof that she was looking to kill them off. "Do you know why we came here?"


    As Su looked at all the the elder wyverns who had slowly moved in to defensive positions after the sky wyvern queen and the water wyvern king had appeared. They were not going to attack, but if they saw that they needed to, they would surely throw themselves in the way of any attack.


    "Recently, we were not considering the earth wyverns a race. We actually helped the angels pursue an enemy causing trouble along with controlling the earth wyverns as monsters. Their queen was smart enough to be able tomunicate with us once we, and the dragons, entered their nests."


    "After removing the monster trying to keep a cor on them, we managed to reach an understanding. When the world was returned to flow and existence was able to reach it, they became a race officially. They gained intelligence in a clever way overall with that. Now, they are members of the Genesis alliance boasting tens of races together as one."


    "Whether you have fought with the earth wyverns before, they are a branch of the wyvern race. As the dragons stand as representatives of each elemental aspect of their races, the wyverns will be weed to do so as well. In return, we would ask you to help Genesis grow along with your own people."


    "We came looking for the sky wyverns, because we heard that in the distant past, your young consumed the earth eater''s tough body. Their parasitism of stone and metal will cause many deaths if not kept in check. It would be the best and safest way to both allow for the sky wyverns to eat more and also to help Genesis."


    "You wish to use us! As pest control no less!" The water wyvern king tensed his muscles to leap at the boats and attack Su. However, the wind mmed him off the cliffside and in to the water.


    "My children have suffered. My elders have been unable to properly feed their children. The only solution was to mix our sky wyvern blood and the water wyvern blood together in this safe haven. Years of cooling the stones of this ind and creating fogs to hide us. Moving nests and eggs every single day. Hunting only enough when the food returns after the what for the day ends."


    The sky queen wyvern looked at the few sky wyverns left. She also looked at the mixed colored wyverns who were clearly the youngest amongst every wyvern there. "Pledge to all that is. On your life itself that you will bring us prosperity."


    "Do you think I would hesitate?" Suughed. She felt her heart beating with strength. This was what it was meant to be like. Nothing should be easy. She had put her heart and soul in to her actions.


    Every single thing that she did was not just for her, but for others. That was what a guardian was. And the dragon aspect of who she was now only went to reinforce that. Her whole life she had the goal to cure her mother''s illness and take weight from her father''s shoulders. Then she had the desire to defend the people and solve the problems of the world.


    After that, she found ces that needed support. Even if shecked the skills, she did what she could. Right this second, she had been entrusted by her family who had fought beside her to grow and unite the races to grow in peace. It was who she would be and who she was now.


    "I, Su, as both a hero and as a member of Genesis, pledge that the water and sky wyverns that choose to join Genesis will be safe and have a future to grow as they see fit. The knowledge of Genesis will be free to you. The path to live as equals will be open to you. If these are lies, then let existence itself strip away my power and life!"


    Mana in the form of a dragon''s roar echoed out with her pledge to the wyverns here. The pure strength behind it stunned the water wyvern king who had recovered from being knocked aside by the sky wyvern queen.


    While the king was a powerful force, a wyvern queen was the strongest of their kind. The only reason that the king of the water wyverns was their leader was due to missing a water wyvern queen. He had taken a potent defensive position since his water wyverns needed it. And he has extended his protection to the sky wyverns in their time of need too.


    Yet, he was watching something against his understanding and beliefs.


    "Then as queen, I wee you to set foot upon the crystal inds." The sky wyvern queen pulled back her wind mana and stepped slowly down to the broken crystal beach. The sands were these broken crystal pieces mixed from the constant buffering of the water on the


    inds.


    While the inds themselves were leather than expected, they were going to be broken by the waves eventually, that was not something missed by the wyverns with their boosted intelligence after existence recognized them. They knew that their home now would notst for hundreds of years as a mainnd would.


    "Healers, meet the sky wyvern queen and look at her injuries. Mages, remain here and do not think for a second that you are allowed to walk on the ind. Their nests are to be respected and we will not risk harming them with any magic, even if it is controlled very closely." Su''s orders were both to allow the wyverns morefort but also to show the water wyvern king that they would not even dare to bring battle ready forces near their young.


    "I will begin the nning for movement and organizing the wyverns alongside their king and queen."


    ----

 Chapter 2261: 2261. Meeting A King And Queen

    Chapter 2261: 2261. Meeting A King And Queen


    "Current!" The shout was enough to get the attention of a few elder water dragons. Walker was moving pretty quickly and knew that it was more efficient to just shout and manipte some water mana. Not that he didn''t know that Current already knew that he was there. It was more of a polite thing to do to get attention rather than dive in to theke and go looking.


    As water surged, Walker watched as Current revealed himself and took his dragonkin form. He wasn''t angry, but also didn''t appear amused to be called on right away. They had just met within the Genesis building a few days ago about the issues when it came to changing some of the waterways.


    Comints were to be expected as things changed again so soon, but many people were


    calmed when they were able to see the reasons behind the changes. Also, Current was taking an active role in ensuring the longevity of Genesis and that made the dwarves like him even more. They all were taking pride in the construction of the city.


    "I thought you would be the best attendee for the arrival of the sky and the water wyverns. The water wyvern king apparently is not fond of the fact that this alliance is happening. The sky wyvern queen should be fine, but I feel bad that Ventus isn''t here to meet her." Now Current nodded and changed his expression. He did wish to be present for this.


    "I am surprised that Rise is not nning on traveling to those inds mentioned at thest meeting. I heard that they have unique light mana." This was also what Walker thought too. Many people did. But it was a focus for Current since he was wondering just what Rise would be working on next.


    "There are no light wyverns. Or at least we don''t believe that the light and the dark wyverns exist any longer in the world. Maybe within the elemental nes, but that''s still hard to say." extinct branches of certain species were hard to handle. Especially those that had struggled during the period where the world was not bnced at all.


    These were just facts of life though. Right now, the sky wyverns and the water wyverns were very small in numbers and vastly outnumbered by the earth wyverns. However, the world recognized them as races since they were wyverns and enough of their base species had survived to be recognized. Therefore, their branches for the elemental affinities would be treated the same. They would all have a chance to grow.


    "I do worry that we will have trouble allowing them to limate. From themunication we received, their daily lives were constantly challenging them." This was the main focus of Walker''s attention when it came to the wyverns that would be arriving within the hour.


    "Walker, you should trust the flow that others follow. I will ensure that this water wyvern king does not be aggressive. With me here, he will be unable to cause harm to anyone if he can not ept the way of Genesis. It sounds like the sky wyvern queen is his bnce too."


    While part of this was just to help Walker remain calm, the rest was so that Current could show off his standing as well. He was prepared to do what he needed to do for the safety of Genesis but also this new alliance with a part of the wyvern race close to the end of their existence without the alliance''s help.


    Walking with Current was not unpleasant. Current began to go in to the changes that he had made with the waterways. How he had begun to see a deeper form of water flow. How he was looking at the ways that the water flows would change over time.


    This was why Current had also picked on Terron about how he could understand the ways that earth and water would interact. Walker had no idea that the two had done this, but it was definitely something that would have made Terron very annoyed. Ge preferred his silence most of the time, not constant questions and experiments about how earth and water manas could influence one another.


    However, the evidence that Walker saw in Current''s words was clear. He could easily guess how the flow fo a river might change over the years if there was a constant flow of water. He could also clearly understand how the currents and different temperatures of water might change the overall flow of a river or even of a small stream in to ake.


    From there, he could begin to exin many more things. All starting from the ways that the water would be overall affected by the changes within the flows of different water transportation methods. For Walker, it was enlightening since he was also looking to expand his own knowledge.


    Right now though, they were looking at therge figures of the water wyvern king and the sky wyvern queen who had just arrived.


    "I am Walker and this is Current the water dominator dragon. He is one of the royal dragons on the Genesis council. I am d that Su found you two. It''s more than we expected and I hope that we can show you what you wish to see before we focus on the details of the alliance."


    "Can either of you take a smaller form? It will make it easier to move about the city." The water wyvern king looked down at Walker but retracted his gaze after feeling the flow of water mana entirely out of his control. He could sense that it wasn''t just Current who could take away the strength he could gain from water.


    "I will not do such things. I will not mock my people." The growled response was to be expected from the water wyvern king. To be fair though, he was already prickly to start with. Walker was more d that the pair had easily been found, spoken to, and even made it through the elemental rune teleportation formation.


    "Ignore him, you are in need of my kind. And for us to consume the earth eaters which we believed to be extinct long before us. That is why we have been weaker. We use those little parasites as the basis for our scales and bones when we are young." The sky wyvern queen looked at Walker carefully. She was taking in the feeling of mana flowing around Walker which she could not fully grasp.


    "We are in need of your help and we hope that we can share what we have with you as well." Walker no sooner finished speaking when a st of wind wrapped the sky wyvern queen. She looked strikingly like the earth wyvern queen in her more humanoid form, however, she had slightly sharper features. She was also walking with a limp, proving her damaged scales had an effect on this form as well.


    "The healers must have struggled to make the pain hold off, let me see what I can do." With a single movement, Walker began to stimte the life mana within the sky wyvern queen''s body. It was not the same as the healing skills he was also using, but she clearly had a better time because of it.


    "I doubt we can undo any damage already done, but we can look at healing the current problems and keeping you healthy in the future." the water wyvern king huffed seeing that he was entirely ignored now.


    "It''s not that you are unneeded. You just have no leverage other than the sky wyverns are with you. If you wish, you can return, or you can see what the city is all about. We had some dragons that wished to burn all other races or crush them before they saw things like this. It takes time, but once you realize that the limits ced on you through the years are no longer there, you might start looking toward what your children can be."


    Walker pretended that he and the sky wyvern queen could not hear a single thing that Current had just said to the water wyvern king. The two of them even left the water affinity dragon and wyvern behind as they began to speak with Walker helping the sky wyvern queen to walkfortably.


    "Those are harpies, they were not a race until Genesis had united, but they were close. Over there are some gray haired spiders and goblins, they were together living just as you and the water wyverns did until they found a way to be recognized races. You should vaguely remember it as the queen, you were the most intelligent before existence cleared your mind even more."


    The way that Walker spoke made the sky wyvern queen excited. She did not expect that this ce would be so involved. That what she had been told was true. She expected much worse but had followed her instincts. Something had told her to give it a chance, something that she


    was grateful to follow.


    Instincts were like that.


    ....


    ----


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2262: 2262. Odd Wyverns

    Chapter 2262: 2262. Odd Wyverns


    "Oh, so now you show your age and that you can take another form. You just needed to be away from a queen?" Current''s tone wasn''t as mocking as the phrase was, however, the water wyvern king was not bothering with it.


    "If you actually came here, you must understand the position your people are in and what we have to offer. Regardless of your pride. That was what it was like for dragons too. Now we are relied on as some of the most powerful within this alliance and city. We have our own territories."


    "You and your people would live within my water dragon territory. There is space, but that''s just the truth of the matter." There was a slight feeling that Current wasn''t being respected, however, he also felt that the water wyvern king before him didn''t want to admit all of this right then and there.


    "Just follow me. Theke we made is connected to every single waterway and even the nearby river was connected to it all for transportation. You saw the boats, they are an important part of what makes everything run around here. But they hadrger ones.. Ships the size of your true form, if not bigger. They are also made of metal but still float and carry dangerous weapons."


    Since Current couldn''t just get the water wyvern king to speak with his doubts, Current was showcasing the strength that Genesisis possessed. He wanted to see if that was what could make the wyvern with him finally speak up. Or at least give some form of response at all.


    "I assume Su told you and the sky wyvern queen these things. She is honest, but she could defeat you and every wyvern you have with behind you. She wouldn''t do that though. She has the power and choses to wield it only for protection. She would be protecting you too." to Current, this felt like a dangerously slow flow of conversation.


    "Territory is pointless. Even with a great deal your people can die when hunted. Have the dragons ever been hunted and watched their queen perish? Have your eggs been smashed within the nest leaving you without children for years? Would you blindly trust anyone or anything even if your instincts told you to do so? What if they were close to the earth wyverns whom you have fought in the past?"


    Current took a deep breath while looking at the water wyvern king. He and the others had assumed there was trouble between the wyverns. They were a more violent species of monster before they had be a proper race. Especially the earth wyverns who had been much higher in numbers and safe ces to live within mountains.


    While he wanted to judge them, Current understood that if the dragons were not brought together by a nature dragon in the past, they would most likely have be much more separated. They had been on that path before a nature dragon appeared to unite them and create a joint record.


    The potential for endless dragon viges fighting one another without mercy or care for whatever else was around was there. It had a pretty grave consequence too since the ancient monsters had done simr things. They had battled and killed whenever they could. This caused plenty of them not to exist any longer in today''s world.


    "While I wish to reprimand you, I will not. Your past against whatever earth wyverns that you battled or did not offer a safe haven for the sky wyverns is a past that you must learn to ovee. The sky wyvern queen is clearly looking for a way to survive in the long term. You, may want to try to understand why she desires that over other options here."


    A slight growl escaped the water wyvern king''s mouth before he looked away from Current and began to walk toward a busier street. Current didn''t feel any hostile intent and just let the qatar wyvern king walk. He couldn''t be left alone, but he didn''t need to be confined.


    "I am quite old you know, but you are lending me your side like a hatchling." The sky wyvern queen did not feel wrong saying this, nor did she feel bad. Instead, she was noticing an energy in her body that she had not felt before. Not in many years at least.


    "Helping a guest in my home is exactly what I need to do. And, you are walking much better now that you are here and are being influenced by the magic tower over there. We also have rune formations so that the mana is more condensed which should make it easier for you to do anything that revolves around your body."


    These unfamiliar things werepletely lost on the sky wyvern queen. She just looked where Walker pointed as they traveled toward the cathedral since healing was the most important part of this visit before there was any form of nning for an alliance.


    "You should have figured things out a little better by now." The sky wyvern queen looked at Walker dead in the eyes. "I will be dying sooner thanter. Whether or not I get healed, I will need to leave behind a child with the goal to be a queen as well. And that is something impossible for us as we are now. The very same for that prickly and icy king."


    "You won''t be dying any sooner or even within a short time now that you are here. We can help give you all the time that you need to be able to teach or pass on what a new queen needs to represent your people." Walker''s words made the mana vibrate slightly.


    The words that anyone would say so that someone would feel better. It was the same as the few sky wyverns left nuzzling up to the queen to show loyalty and caring, but for Walker, these words were more. As he spoke, the manas around him reacted. It was like he was speaking for the world and existence too. More like he was stating an indisputable fact that was true to the very core of all things.


    "Willing to go against what should be? Fine then, for a future that is more than the bones like the fire and light wyverns, I will give it a chance. Show me..." her words trailed off while Walker brought her within the cathedral and the myriad of colors and light as Alice sang apanied by musicians came to the sky wyvern queen''s ears.


    For the first time, she cried tears of hope and joy.


    "Look, it''s the royal water dragon, I dare you to go say hi!"


    "No way! He''s a dragon, he might eat you."


    "Both of you are dumb. Dragons only eat people who want to hurt their homes or treasures. And Genesis is a gem. My mom said so."


    Three small children argued back and forth before a fourth, yet to speak, walked up and stood in front of the water wyvern king and Current. "You don''t look like a dragon. But if you''re with a royal one, does that make you his brother?"


    "Dragon? I''m the water wyvern king. We are better and can fight more than a dragon. You should see how fast we swim too. Way better." the water wyvern king spoke and reached out a hand. Current waspletely taken aback by this.


    Where had the cold and frosty personality gone? Where had the irritated and angry words of the water wyvern king gone?


    "King? Where''s the queen then. There''s always a queen. Or are you looking for a princess to make a queen?" The small child was curious, andpletely blunt. It was just what children


    did.


    "Hmm, queen, she was strong and very powerful when she reigned over the inds filled with turtles and sharks. But she moved on from the world after a battle. You can be my princess for the day. The water wyverns have never had a princess. I know what one is though, a king should be educated you know, even reading angel''s books became easy once I looked at them long enough."


    Current was again shaken. This water wyvern king had clearly learned more as a monster than he let on. But his emotions were swaying him as a monster and as a recognized race. Now, more like he buried intelligence and who he was to ensure he was a powerhouse for his people, even as they dwindled in number.


    "That little demon is a boy, he would be a prince for a day. And I would say, these four are more interested in you than me right now. The earth wyverns do note out much, so, you would be the first wyvern many people meet within Genesis." Current''s voice was soft. He didn''t let himself see the water wyvern king as he had before.


    The price this king had paid to be what was needed by the others was clearly steeper than what Current had recognized. "We''ll show you the market! They have forest elf choctes for sale today!" The water wyvern king had no chance to understand what that even was, nor to rebuke Current. Just time to be pulled along in this strange ce and strange life.


    ----

 Chapter 2263: 2263. Risky Inspections

    Chapter 2263: 2263. Risky Inspections


    "You already know that these things came from that dried riverbed that we found. But my king, why would earth parasitic monsters have been within a riverbed and dormant there in the first ce? They should hate the water."


    The same attendant that had been running the messages to and from Walker to the king of the deep was also busy with Terron too. But right this second, the attendant was asking why the king of the deep had glossed over this important fact when Walker and Terron would both wonder the exact same thing.


    "They have no reason to care about that when we can not ess that area right now. It would be wise toe with some theories though." the king of the deep sighed as he changed his focus from one table of papers and began pulling out a few sheets that exined the discovered cave systems below Genesis.


    While many of the dwarves and workers knew of these documents because they had also referenced them as they worked, the king of the deep caves had a more detailed version. His were sharing the kinds of rock making up the cave, the projected maps of the caves, and very much more.


    All things that could help him n for what they would be working on next.


    "But... I want to know that too." The king of the deep caves had wondered how a parasite like this ended up staying within a riverbed and remaining dormant even though it had been dried up and would have been an ideal ce for them to live. Yet, they had remained dormant until


    now.


    Without waiting to hear a response of any shape or form from Walker, he began to walk in to the area that they all had been told to avoid. "My king!" The calmness from the attendant or any of the attendants who had been there waiting too was out the window. They were all worried about what might happen right now.


    "You all think that I would have stayed here even when that hero gets back here? Just stay there and I will get a few answers." It was hard to walk on the broken stones and ground because there were too many of the small earth eater parasites.


    Part of the king of the deep caves felt that it was too crazy to think that the earth itself could be parasitized. Yet, how could that be further from the truth. All races could be said to be parasites of some form. They lived off thend in some way. The dwarves even mined the valuable metals from the stones too, but this was very different.


    These little worm like things could be broken and beaten but they would keep living. They would eat apart all the stone and anything that contained earth mana as they grew. Leaving behind ces that could not recover and would be impossible for other monsters or races to survive in.


    His feet cracked and broke the stone leaving his footprints to prove just how much damage had been done to the stone carved or ced for the underground territory to grow. All the work that had been put in to it had been ruined. The evidence for thaty in the broken stone pirs carved from the ground itself too, it was high quality work that waspletely destroyed.


    However, the king of the deep caves ignored those things and walked deeper in to the cave that they had broken open. This cave no longer had an inlet or outlet. Somewhere in the past it had been sealed.


    Everyone had originally thought that they had discovered a naturally copsed cave system, something which was not unfamiliar to their race since they delved in to many caves. What stood out though, was the fact that this didn''t have any of the cracked ceilings, broken stctites or stgmites, and even the walls were too perfect. All of that together was a massive red g for them.


    He could still see this evidence while walking inside the broken open section. He also saw that many of the small stones they had identified as river rocks had been chewed apart or were just shells which hadn''t even been eatenpletely. He did notice that there were no walls or anything else touched. Which was odd, because the walls were stone too.


    Following the walls, the king of the deep caves did not see any runes or any magical means to suppress a parasitic monster. So, it begged the question, what had caused this? And was the spot sealed in some way so that the parasites would be trapped here?


    Whether he wanted the question answered or not, the king of the deep caves realized that in their panic, the dwarves who had left and alerted others of the dangers here had left behind some of theirnterns and their pickaxes. But nearby that gear, he saw an odd stone outcropping that had also never been touched.


    Noticing that the metal mining boots he was wearing were beginning to be attacked due to the fact that they were made with earth runes to attract earth mana, the king of the deep caves shook off the earth eaters which were clearly beginning to grow in size over thest few days. His focus wasn''t broken though.


    He noticed that the odd stone shape was clearly connected and not fallen or gathered by the force of nature. Which was why he pushed ahead even though he felt his boots breaking due to the speed at which they were being damaged.


    "I''ll be needing an appraisal scroll for this..." The king of the deep caves opened a scroll attached to his hip. He had made sure he carried at least five of these at all times ever since they became more avable. It had already helped him identify some high quality ores found within some of the basic ores that had been mined recently.


    ''Statue dragon remains


    One of the few ancient dragon remains left within the world. These ancient remains are considered impossible to utilize due to the fact that many of them have bepletely different than when they were alicy or recently perished. As such, they are more likely to be better considered as a relic of the past.


    The statue dragons were a less intelligent dragon species that believed that bing stone itself was the best method to be a proper earth dragon. That they would be able to be one with the earth and mountains by bing stone.


    Naturally, this was a failure causing them to be extinct over time. However, their strengthy within the incredible resistance to anything else that consumed, controlled, or manipted earth mana. Their abilities to resist and control it were much higher due to their focus on bing one with it.


    Many of the statue dragons were thought to be carved statues by ancient followers or dragonkin. However, that was false.


    While being less intelligent than other ancient dragons, their nature allowed them to understandrger threats to the overall ecosystems they lived within. Often causing them to appear in ces to prevent mountain copses, earthquakes, and even battles between powerful ancient monsters.''


    "Ha! This dragon sealed a threat it couldn''t kill and we let it out!" The king of the deep caves felt pain on his feet and realized that the earth eaters were beginning to break in to his armor overall. They would make short work of everything he wore to protect him while he mined and worked in the caves.


    "You are really risking a lot bying in here without safety in mind." The voice wasn''t the one that the king of the deep caves expected to hear.


    "A royal dragon came all the way here to look in to this? That''s unexpected." the king of the deep caves looked at the shadow where Mordant had just appeared.


    "This royal dragon just returned from his business to hear that there was a risk to the very foundation of Genesis itself. I decided that I would check and see how decaying dark dragon breath affected this parasite. Instead, I found a king trying to get his body eaten alive because it is too full of earth mana."


    The decaying dark mana was barely slowing the earth eaters down, but it did deter them enough to shoo them from the king of the deep caves and allow for Mordant to guide him outside. Clearly though, Mordant was unhappy seeing something resist his dark mana controlled shadows. He held back a lot, but the threat of his mana control was very high. "Walker is nearby, I heard that he is working on a solution right now." Mordant half growled this, he did not like the waiting game at all.


    "I will trust him then."


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2264: 2264. Alliance Growth

    Chapter 2264: 2264. Alliance Growth


    "Statue dragon?" Walker was looking at Terron with confusion. He had not heard of such a dragon but Terron was holding an appraisal scroll and Walker knew it was the real deal. Not that there was doubt that Terron would lie, just that Walker had never heard of such a dragon before.


    "The dwarven king managed to get this. We need a solution so I can have answers." Since Terron had never heard of a statue dragon, he was now dedicated to knowing more. That meant he had to be able to get in to the sealed cave.


    "And there is not a rush to do so, I know you want answers sooner thanter, but I am not rushing the sky wyverns to bring their children here when they are few and are at risk. They did not fully trust us right now. That''s why Current has been busy with the water wyvern king too. He has to be watched."


    The trust that Walker wanted was not as slow as it could be, mostly because the sky wyverns did not have much choice but to trust him. However, that did not mean that the sky wyvern queen had just decided to bring all her people there right away. She was still trying to learn about Genesis so that she knew what she was bringing them in to.


    There was also the resistance from the water wyvern king. ording to what Walker had heard from a dragonkin working under Current, the water wyvern king had yet to stop walking through the city. He had also not mentioned whether he liked a single thing or not. But the odd part was that a group of kids had somehow begun to hang out around the pair as they walked.


    Not that this could be a bad urrence. Many people were weak to children. It was just a fact of instinct. Too many people could be bent in to doing certain things to make that pure smile that children have brighten a day. Children were often innocent and a sign of a positive future after all.


    "Hmm, you are very adamant in keeping things slow and steady. I appreciate that. But I am not getting any younger and following you might not have been very wise."


    "Brother did not let you wander about alone. He asked me to follow you for your safety. I''m sorry for not introducing myself, I am Onyx." Walker smiled since he had sensed Onyxing closer but also because he knew very well that the sky wyvern queen had already epted that she would bring her people here at least.


    "I didn''t worry that you would do anything wrong, but I did worry that you would have trouble getting around with your current condition, even if you are feeling better." Walker smiled a little seeing that the sky wyvern queen was clearly able to move about much better.


    He did notice that she kept looking off to the side. "You can sense the earth wyvern queen, right? She is living here temporarily. Terron is staying here to ensure her safety and also to make sure his territory is built properly." Terron looked over from where he had been standing.


    The current situation where Mordant had pulled the king of the deep caves back out of the sealed cavern they found and the sudden notice that there were remains of an ancient dragon both made him react quickly. However, the sky wyvern queen being here right now took precedence.


    "Now we have quite the arrangement here." Mordantughed a bit realizing that there was a mix of people that would shock many others if they saw it. "King of dwarves, two royal dragons, a hero, and the father of a race. Not to mention the guests we have now. What an oddity this city is." Mordant was truly enjoying himself right now. He felt that Genesis was the best decision to join in his life.


    "All that aside, I am d that you are here. And I promise, these weirdos won''t bother you too much. You are a guest and they know how to respect people." The looks that Walker got from everyone made him wonder just what to do with these previously very high ranking people. They were definitely different than they were before.


    "This is a very good ce." The sky wyvern queen didn''t bother harping on how everyone acted or how she wanted to be treated. In fact, she was much more d to see things like this since she had never seen such things before. All of this was new, but it wasn''t scary in any shape or form. Iad, it inspired her to wish to learn about it all.


    Why all of these powerful beings were together.


    How she would fit in to this.


    What it would look like for her children''s children''s children to live here.


    "Will the other of our guest support this?" Terron looked at the sly wyvern queen. He had stopped her with this question since she was walking toward the opening in the cave and the damaged ground all outside of it.


    "If he decided to be stubborn ang go agasunt this, I will beat him in to ce again. He has plenty reason to stay here though." While she did not divulge anything else, everyone could tell from her tone that she knew the water wyvern king much better than what they expected. It wasn''t just that they had been forced together to help their young, instead, there was a bond there.


    "Now, let me see these prey for the hatchlings." The sky wyvern queen wandered in and the earth eaters seemed to flee from her presence alone. They could sense their innate predator. One of the few to still exist. "They are little, but they can be corralled. They can be a good source of food for them." she reached out and grabbed a small earth eater crushing it between her fingers then eating it like a small snack.


    A slight bit of wind mana escaped her body as if it was rxing for the first time in a long time. The earth eaters were able to help the sky wyverns adjust their inner mana flow using the natural earth mana and also help their digestive system. While not required to live, it was better to have a natural diet for everyone.


    "Reading the appraisal that the king of the deep caves got, I can tell that we will have more research on keeping these monsters for food for your people. If we can figure it all out after the issue is handled, then we can make a lot more progress." Walker calmly exined the n while he used some fire mana to keep a line to prevent the little fleeing earth eaters from moving to other parts of the ground.


    "You should just flood them and let them all die. They shouldn''t like water." The grumbled voice of the water wyvern king broke the conversation that was being had. Current also stood beside him while a few kids attempted to sneak well behind them. A few guards still managed to catch the kids and began to scold them foring to an unsafe area well away from where their parents must have known they should be.


    "You made some little friends I see. You always have a knack for getting the attention of the hatchlings. I don''t know what it is. Thest few that hatched like you better than their own mothers, is wear." The sky wyvern queen looked as if she had seen this a hundred times before.


    "They are fed well. They don''t fear the way other races look. They can handle the pressure of mana from stronger monsters passing by. They also look to learn whenever they can by asking questions. They also are not restricted even though this alliance went to war with some of the races before." The water wyvern king did not miss learning about things here and there. Current nodded along with this though.


    "So you epted it then?" The sky wyvern queen just wanted to hear it, but the water wyvern king did not say another word. "Cold and stubborn. Fine then." she looked at Walker, "As the queen of the sky and water wyverns, I ept the alliance and will help you. In return, you will give a safe nesting ground for us and also heal their wounds. We expect to be able to get food that both our young ones need."


    "As a founding member of Genesis, I ept you and your people as another race to be represented within Genesis. Both of your types of wyverns will be allowed a representative. Regardless of king or queen wyvern, that is up to you. Otherwise, wee to Genesis." Walker saw the others around all affirm this with nods and slight smiles. It was another major step for their homes.


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2265: 2265. Solutions

    Chapter 2265: 2265. Solutions


    Terron was forced to move away due to the earth mana within him attracting the earth eaters. However, Walker found it easy to fly over the ground and just avoid stepping anywhere. Niot that he worried they would go after him, he just wanted to make sure that he got a good look at the statue dragon''s remains and potential magic it used to trap the earth eaters within a


    cave.


    He was also sensing a surprising amount of water mana for a ce that was a dried up riverbed. Just looking, he could see some of the fine sands which had sat there between smoothed stones for years. Yet Walker knew that they were not holding water at all.


    The water mana wasing from around the cave, through the walls. With Walker''s mana sense, he could tell that it was there but not moving at all. Nor was it some sort of river, stream, or undergroundke that was just there all around the cavern.


    This brought him back to the portion of the wall broken in to. He could see that the stone was more porous. Or at least it looked like a spongepared to carved out by the earth eater parasites. Something that the average person would miss without the ability to sense the fine manas within this sponge like stone.


    "That stone dragon made it so small amounts of water and water mana are trapped within the stone in small pockets all around this room. It makes the earth eaters believe that there is water all around them. Forcing them to go dormant or to stop eating and perish. It was smart. A very good trick." His praise was loud enough to reach the others, but the sky wyvern queen was the only one able to walk up to him and pay attention.


    She was amazed that Walker was able to appraise and sense so many manas. It was a lot more than what she or anyone else from her inds would be able to understand right now or expect.


    "The appraisal did say that the statue dragons had a greater control of earth mana, but they were able to even make their bodies impervious to these parasites. That''s why this statue dragon is so odd." The all around appraisal that walker used always had a little more information. Specifically, he could see why the remains of this ancient dragon were the way that they were.


    ''Due to the alteration of its own scales and body, the statue dragon''s outer scales and muscles degraded leaving behind ayer of tough stone which could not be fed on bny the earth eater parasitic monsters.


    As such, it remained frozen in time as it used all the remaining mana within itself to seal the underground riverbed it had used as a trap. Even its bones have turned in to solid stone leaving the smallest amount of dragon essence within. This condensed blood deep within the stone bones is crystalized dragon blood which could go to raise powerful earth dragon hatchlings if they were to consume it second after hatching.''


    Walker shared this with the sky wyvern queen who opened her eyes wider. This sort of information was valuable and the fact that he was sharing it with her proved that he was not joking about how she would be treated as an equal within the representatives. "Thank you." Her response was all that walker needed to leave and share the information with the others. "If you want, you can visit the orphanages to help the other children who have lost parents for some reason or another. Plenty were unable to live normal lives due to war, unfortunate idents, or just bad luck in general. Another helping hand would be a miracle for them."


    The water wyvern king didn''t respond, but Walker saw a slight glint in his eyes. For many, even monsters, leaving children to fend for themselves was natural at some age. But for the wyverns and other monsters that lived closely together for their nests or otherwise, it was important to defend their young.


    Hearing that the races here had ways to ensure that those lost children could still grow was familiar. It made the water wyvern king understand that they were not as different as they might be led to expect. The wyverns just needed to catch up a little since they were a newer racepared to others.


    "Oh, and eventually, you will both need to help other races that join genesis. Every single day new monster races appear. Or, there will be races that came from the elemental nes who need help to adjust and to grow instead of fighting every single day just to take another breath." This was another unfamiliar thing for them to learn, but for now, they didn''t need to worry about it.


    How about we head to the inds together since things are handled right here for the moment. With Onyx and Mordant here, they will ensure that those parasites are handled. The king fo the deep caves and Terron will begin to n for an area where we can breed these parasites as food for the long term. We understand how to keep them corralled now."


    With a single step, earth shifted and water mana was trapped within a small wall creating an area that the earth eater did not wish to leave. Mordant and Onyx were just going to keep an eye on them using dark mana to ensure that they didn''t get wise ideas and attempt to escape. They would easily sense anything crossing the shadows around the newly created wall.


    "Attention, now that everything has been handled with the sky and water wyvern''s alliance, we can begin researching these crystal inds. Within the hour, more Genesis forces will be here to escort the wyverns and their young. We will have time to take samples of crystals, stones, nts, and other things before the sun rises."


    Back at the inds, Su had returned from where she had left the Genesis boats back on the shore again. The wyverns had also begun to fly nearby since it was clear that they would not be harmed. The pledge to the world had made them all rx since they could tell that Su had greater power than them. Since she had pledged she would lose her life if she betrayed them, they knew it would be a greater cost to their forces, so they could trust it.


    "The elder wyverns havemunicated that there are no dangerous monsters within the ind. That being said, you should maintain your awareness since there is always a chance that a weaker monster which was not a threat to them exists there. We are not of the same race, so we may be susceptible to other dangers. That goes for the unique herbs which may grow there."


    With warnings given, the boats set off again. However, one of therge ships from Genesis had been making its way here during this time. It would offer a better ce for the youngest hatchlings and the eggs to be guarded by the parents. While none of the elder wyverns of either kind could take more human like forms yet, they were still able to sink a shop if they desired. Hence why only the crew stayed with the ship.


    It was a show of trust.


    In the time that it had taken for all this to happen, there had also been some light mana researchers and water mana researchers who arrived.. They were not able to use magic in the sense that a mage could, however, they could still manipte and use it. They just focused on understanding it.


    One in particr was a mage with a unique ss called light grimoire maker. Her entire focus was on studying different forms of light mana that existed, whether it was another''s spell or not, to make grimoires. These would then be valuable teaching books to be shared with


    light mages.


    Discovering secrets within the world and the manas that made it up were part of Genesis''s focus right now. Hence why so many had flocked here when they had the opportunity. They would surely be here for years too, the inds and their unique crystals had formed due to the uniqueness of earth mana adapting to the constant light while being eroded.


    Su also wished to see what could be learned about these unique crystal rocks that formed. If she could have shields made from them, she might be able to use different forms of light mana with her shields for different effects. Making her more flexible if she paired up with light mages. An idea that tempted her while also wondering how much it would help genesis.


    ----

 Chapter 2266: 2266. Proving Winds

    "Finally escaped for a little bit." Walker had been very busy with the young wyverns arriving here and there.


    The hatchlings were chaotic to say the least. They didn''t want to listen to anyone as soon as they saw Genesis before them. Their curiosity was contagious too, their parents were very distracted with the new scenes and the many races moving around.


    It was hours before Walker had helped to manage the new arrivals and allow them to begin settling down. And then even more hours to bring the sky wyverns to have a snack to help their diets and also to help handle the earth devourers.


    With a few good ideas from the cksmiths and crafting guild, there had been a decent solution to how farming the earth eaters could go.


    Specifically, they consumed earth mana infused stones and ores. There was always arge amount of g that needed to be processed for the crafting guild to maintain its forges. The process was harder and required those with the proper skills to make usable materials. And even then, the materials made were lower sspared to something just mined or harvested.


    This being the case, the g and other waste materials could be partially used to feed the earth eaters and control their growth. Leaving only small weather eaters for the youngest sky wyverns to eat whenever they needed it. They would be kept in a specially made farm using water mana and earth mana to create a porous stone that could repel them from escaping.


    Beyond that, there would be arge chance for them to be useful rather than constantly destroying things. Along with the fact that any waste from the sky wyverns being used in the herb fields with earth rted herbs.


    While the sky wyverns would release the earth mana from their body in their own waste, they used that material from the earth eater parasites to break down food and limate their bodies to the unique wind mana within them. It was important and using everything from this process was ideal.


    Once these problems had been solved and the process of making it all happen was underway, Walker found that he was in the perfect position to hide away and work on his own projects. Specifically, beginning to understand more about space mana along with the core of other manas.


    He had learned that he was missing a greater deal of what he should have been learning about while within the elemental nes. As such, he now stood in a position where he could focus on those failings.


    It wasn''t that hecked strength overall, Walker was very confident with how he had been growing. He could easily use skills without even relying on the system of existence. It was all innate now for him. Especially the skills that focused on what he had mediated on or used with more focus in battles.


    He could easily use the lightning sword style and even add more lighting to the battle style since he had better grasped how the manas fused together to create lightning mana. Not to mention the lightning spirit race who hade to Genesis recently.


    The same was to be said for how he had learned to fuse wind and light mana better because of the little dragon hatchling Erica. He had helped her train when Midnight had been busy. As such, he now understood that there was more to making radiant wind and that it could be called its very own particr method of whaling.


    Where Erica had been trainingtely and exceeding was not within the cathedral. It was the herb fields with the herbalists. The radiant wind focused on healing was allowing for the blooming flowers to absorb more light mana and also push around their pollen to allow for better fruits to be born or more seeds to be properly grown.


    The utility of this radiant wind was more than what others had imagined at first since melding the two manas was not a simple matter until recently. Not that these were the only manas beginning to appear. Time would only tell as more uses of more fused manas came to the forefront of research within Genesis.


    Where Walker was lost, was when it came to using the space mana and the other manas together. He had never met anyone else who could do that. Even the man who hade to save them once before lived entirely isted within his own space. A ce where Walker couldn''t travel if he desired.


    This left Walker to learn by himself. While he understood there were space elemental spirits, they were not easy to learn from since Walker had yet to grasp enough understanding of space as a whole. It would just confuse him and potentially put him in to danger.


    Many ces within the city and territory around the main city were very busy. But Walker still managed to find a good spot sitting on the top of the mage tower. He couldn''t hear too muchmotion since the day was winding down. He also wouldn''t be disturbed since there was not anyone that could be called a master of the tower just yet.


    He was impressed with the guilds beginning to form. The archivists were making one along with the rune researchers and the mages in general. A Process that was much needed for where Genesis sat for their future.


    Focusing on the past experiences where Walker had used the manas within the elemental nes and also how he had assisted in the elemental rune teleportation formation, Walker began to reach out toward space mana.


    It was always there. Both part of all things and also gathering randomly as any other mana did. His mind easily grasped the smallest amounts of space mana. He had learned to do so but he could not easily manipte it as he did other manas. He had tried so before and not been as sessful.


    Something told him this time would not be the same though.


    As he had been working with others, Walker had felt that he was growing more than he had realized. The different unique manas and the mental hoops he jumped through were making him better overall. Especially the changes within the world''s mana. As it got denser, even in the tiniest bit, he felt stronger every day.


    If he were to look at his level or use the system as he had when he first gained it, he would notice that his level was much higher than when he had faced some of his hardest fights. Not to mention his status always improved.


    That wasn''t odd though, everyone was improving in some form, shape, or way right now. It was because everyone within the city was working to improve themselves. Every action came with some form of improvement.


    Just like Walker right now. He was pushing away any focus on any other form of mana other than space right now. He could feel the activation of the elemental space teleportation rune formation. He could feel the space mana and the elemental manas interacting to ensure that it was both safe and functional.


    But he also noticed the slight amount of space mana that hung on to those that teleported. That little bit of mana was able to be called toward him. It gathered more easily since it was a little denser than normal too.


    As such, when Walker began to feel how it could be brought toward him and even moved within his body, he could grasp the way space mana itself functioned. It was self bncing. As in, it was always there and would never be as dense as it was if it was a space elemental ne. That being the case, within the world, it was perfect for causing some trouble or fixing certain


    situations.


    With proper control of space mana, Walker could teleport singr elemental manaspletely halting anyone using that mana. While very hard to do, he understood that this could be done. Beyond that, he could even send people away if they were fighting. Not that


    this would be easy either.


    Right now, the only reason that the elemental rune teleportation formation worked was because two matching formations anchored the teleportation. That would be needed for Walker as well. It would not be as easy as it was in the elemental nes where he sped them up or he moved them.


    He could move himself very short distances, but it was not a guarantee. That was why he was focusing on how the space mana moved around and within him. If he could, he would be able to grasp an understanding of how he could use space mana to boost his speed, buff him in another way, or entirely dodge. It could open up a new path to teach certain ss users.


    ....

 Chapter 2267: 2267. Focus On Space

    Chapter 2267: 2267. Focus On Space


    "Midnight, keep the mes a little more steady. The heat is perfect if we don''t increase them." Remey was carefully altering some potions she had made. They were not as pure as she wanted them to be and decided to try them with dragon fire to condense them."


    The dragon breath mes from Midnight steadied as the potion became slightly clearer. It was not major to anyone else''s eyes, but to Remey and Midnight, this potion had just be better because of this process. "Perfect." Remey quickly bottled it in a small vial before she started to cool it.


    "That removed the water mana from the potion which was halting the earth mana absorption it needed. Now we can send this off to the earth dragon territory so they can see what it does for their hatchlings. It''s a little rough, but I think it will help them awaken some of their natural earth rted abilities better."


    This potion was a dragon specific affinity potion.. An earth dragon affinity potion. Remey had managed to focus on it using two herbs that had been found to have earth affinities when an earth dragon was nearby it.


    It wasn''t some amazing discovery through experimentation. Instead, Terron had brought it from the territory where the dragons had been working. He had mentioned that he noticed these small herbs growing underground and wondered if it was him or the dwarves that caused the herbs to grow.


    The three leaf y herb was an herb that normally only grew two leaves per stem. It also only grew in y. However, it grew a third leaf in the y that the dragons passed by often while they worked to maintain and grow their territory. It took them a lot of work since it was such a new endeavor.


    It was noted that these herbs smelled much better and appetizing now that the herbs had grown a third leaf. A very interesting aspect for the herbalists focusing on the changes in certain herbs depending on the race nearby them. They had taken this information and begun their own tests.


    The second herb used to be added to the earth affinity potion was another small herb that would rarely be thought of as important. Dungeon grass was an herb that was considered a weed. Yet, it grew in the dungeons of castles, caves, and anywhere dark and damp. It was often thought to be a water and earth herb too, not anymore though.


    The influence of a dragon''s mana caused the water affinity to disappear and the color to be a deeper brown. This led to it being only an earth affinity herb which was actually considered a nice snack to the earth dragon hatchlings.


    Their sudden interest in a grass of all things was what made the herbalists and dragons notice it. Hence why Remey was not working with it as a small experiment. She had taken that as a reason to make potions to help the earth dragon hatchlings. It was much better to help them grow when they were young and small and needed it the most.


    "That''s another potion done. What do you want to do now?" Remey had been working like this with Midnight for a short while, but she had promised Midnight that she would help her with something too since they had both been looking for one another for help. Remey had no idea what Midnight had wanted to do though.


    "Fight!" Remey stopped in her actions as she was setting down the potions that they had made.


    "You want to fight?" While Remey did not have any issue training with Midnight, she was unsure why this hade up so suddenly. "I thought you would want some help with training the hatchlings or something. Especially since more of them have been finding you to learn things here and there. You even helped five of them get a spot in the coliseum learning from others."


    "New skills to test." Midnight was right to the point. She had figured out a new skill after watching how Walker used his skills to create a dragon from out of elemental manas to fight. She wanted to try what she had grasped from witnessing that.


    "Then let''s go." Remey''s curiosity was piqued and she knew that they could head to the coliseum and use space to train at any time. If they interrupted others'' training or battling, it would just be a spectacle to show off to others. The people there enjoyed it. Plus, they didn''t have to worry about anypetitions since everyone knew the coliseum schedules. It was a popr subject within the city.


    Just as they entered, a group of training soldiers immediately started to shout and clear space. Midnight also shifted to her proper dragon from showing off her still growing size. She had reached muchrger than she had been thest time she and Remey had fought head to head. Not that this intimidated Remey at all. She could show off some decent dragon form too if she really wished to.


    The skeletal armor skill activated and Midnight shook her head slightly before she began breathing out hazy smoke. "No way." Remey recognized it was a skill she had seen Mordant use and how it definitely mimicked the way that Walker brought elemental manas to wrap his body when he took a dragon form.


    "You figured out how to make your scales take on different elemental forms based on the dragon breath you use!" Remey shouted out as Midnight began to breathe normal dragon mes too. The mix of dark and normal dragon mes caused her entire body to radiate a deep ck me which could easily cause a lot of damage if used properly.


    Remey was impressed.


    Meanwhile, those within the coliseum were amazed and shouting for the fight to start. "Fine fine fine. Just try and keep up."


    With a burst of fire, Remey dashed toward Midnight''s much more intimidating figure. Midnight just stood there as Remey''s fist hit the skeletal armor and her scales covered in ck mes. The burst of mes from Remey''s hit was shrugged off by Midnight who just huffed slightly. She had barely felt a thing.


    While it was not all of Remey''s strength, Midnight had made herself much more durable. Remey could also feel the danger of the ck mes causing some decaying effects which she had to force away with her own mes. "So anything that touches you will now be hurt for a while and not just a little bit. I wonder what other kinds of mes would do?"


    Midnight was showing her teeth in a grin as green mes escaped her maw causing the ck mes to grow. She had mixed dark, fire, and wind mana to cause the mes to rear up and sh away from her. If Remey didn''t leap backwards as quickly, she would have been pushed


    away.


    "And you can make distance by forcing others away!?" Remey''s excitement was matched by her sprint forward. She is unleashing abination of punches to check if Midnight''s new skills were going to be missing in any area of her body. This was what Midnight wanted Remey to fight with her.


    Remey was going to test all the different risks of this skill. Mostly, if it was actually protecting all of Midnight. Especially her back where she couldn''t easily cover without just using her tail. Which was exactly as Midnight went to do when Remey had tried to attack her back.


    The whip of Midnight''s tail threw the ck mes at Remey and gave Remey more need to dodge or roll away. This prompted Remey to bring her mes even more. Along with the me wings that flung out behind her as she jumped up to deliver a harsh downward attack using both mes and her body weight.


    Yet, Midnight met it with her horns. They were reinforced with the mes and also with the skeletal armor. Both allowing her to m her head forward with more force without damage and also to send the same ck mes right in to the attack too.


    Those witnessing this battle to test Midnight''s new defensive skill were awestruck. They knew that Remey was powerful. Her mes aside, they had heard of the alchemical brawler who used special knuckles, and now gauntlets to gather manas that directly countered one''s affinity. Beyond that, they had heard of her brutal physical attacks which could put down any of the strongest soldiers in a single punch.


    But Midnight? They had heard of her unique skills and instinctual fighting style. Letting her instincts guide her to fight harder and with brutality. That was all putting aside her ability to use elemental mana based attacks.


    They were all witnessing an educational, but more so, a fun battle of skills.


    ....

 Chapter 2268: 2268. Test of Skill

    Chapter 2268: 2268. Test of Skill


    "Midnight, keep the mes a little more steady. The heat is perfect if we don''t increase them." Remey was carefully altering some potions she had made. They were not as pure as she wanted them to be and decided to try them with dragon fire to condense them."


    The dragon breath mes from Midnight steadied as the potion became slightly clearer. It was not major to anyone else''s eyes, but to Remey and Midnight, this potion had just be better because of this process. "Perfect." Remey quickly bottled it in a small vial before she started to cool it.


    "That removed the water mana from the potion which was halting the earth mana absorption it needed. Now we can send this off to the earth dragon territory so they can see what it does for their hatchlings. It''s a little rough, but I think it will help them awaken some of their natural earth rted abilities better."


    This potion was a dragon specific affinity potion.. An earth dragon affinity potion. Remey had managed to focus on it using two herbs that had been found to have earth affinities when an earth dragon was nearby it.


    It wasn''t some amazing discovery through experimentation. Instead, Terron had brought it from the territory where the dragons had been working. He had mentioned that he noticed these small herbs growing underground and wondered if it was him or the dwarves that caused the herbs to grow.


    The three leaf y herb was an herb that normally only grew two leaves per stem. It also only grew in y. However, it grew a third leaf in the y that the dragons passed by often while they worked to maintain and grow their territory. It took them a lot of work since it was such a new endeavor.


    It was noted that these herbs smelled much better and appetizing now that the herbs had grown a third leaf. A very interesting aspect for the herbalists focusing on the changes in certain herbs depending on the race nearby them. They had taken this information and begun their own tests.


    The second herb used to be added to the earth affinity potion was another small herb that would rarely be thought of as important. Dungeon grass was an herb that was considered a weed. Yet, it grew in the dungeons of castles, caves, and anywhere dark and damp. It was often thought to be a water and earth herb too, not anymore though.


    The influence of a dragon''s mana caused the water affinity to disappear and the color to be a deeper brown. This led to it being only an earth affinity herb which was actually considered a nice snack to the earth dragon hatchlings.


    Their sudden interest in a grass of all things was what made the herbalists and dragons notice it. Hence why Remey was not working with it as a small experiment. She had taken that as a reason to make potions to help the earth dragon hatchlings. It was much better to help them grow when they were young and small and needed it the most.


    "That''s another potion done. What do you want to do now?" Remey had been working like this with Midnight for a short while, but she had promised Midnight that she would help her with something too since they had both been looking for one another for help. Remey had no idea what Midnight had wanted to do though.


    "Fight!" Remey stopped in her actions as she was setting down the potions that they had made.


    "You want to fight?" While Remey did not have any issue training with Midnight, she was unsure why this hade up so suddenly. "I thought you would want some help with training the hatchlings or something. Especially since more of them have been finding you to learn things here and there. You even helped five of them get a spot in the coliseum learning from others."


    "New skills to test." Midnight was right to the point. She had figured out a new skill after watching how Walker used his skills to create a dragon from out of elemental manas to fight. She wanted to try what she had grasped from witnessing that.


    "Then let''s go." Remey''s curiosity was piqued and she knew that they could head to the coliseum and use space to train at any time. If they interrupted others'' training or battling, it would just be a spectacle to show off to others. The people there enjoyed it. Plus, they didn''t have to worry about anypetitions since everyone knew the coliseum schedules. It was a popr subject within the city.


    Just as they entered, a group of training soldiers immediately started to shout and clear space. Midnight also shifted to her proper dragon from showing off her still growing size. She had reached muchrger than she had been thest time she and Remey had fought head to head. Not that this intimidated Remey at all. She could show off some decent dragon form too if she really wished to.


    The skeletal armor skill activated and Midnight shook her head slightly before she began breathing out hazy smoke. "No way." Remey recognized it was a skill she had seen Mordant use and how it definitely mimicked the way that Walker brought elemental manas to wrap his body when he took a dragon form.


    "You figured out how to make your scales take on different elemental forms based on the dragon breath you use!" Remey shouted out as Midnight began to breathe normal dragon mes too. The mix of dark and normal dragon mes caused her entire body to radiate a deep ck me which could easily cause a lot of damage if used properly.


    Remey was impressed.


    Meanwhile, those within the coliseum were amazed and shouting for the fight to start. "Fine fine fine. Just try and keep up."


    With a burst of fire, Remey dashed toward Midnight''s much more intimidating figure. Midnight just stood there as Remey''s fist hit the skeletal armor and her scales covered in ck mes. The burst of mes from Remey''s hit was shrugged off by Midnight who just huffed slightly. She had barely felt a thing.


    While it was not all of Remey''s strength, Midnight had made herself much more durable. Remey could also feel the danger of the ck mes causing some decaying effects which she had to force away with her own mes. "So anything that touches you will now be hurt for a while and not just a little bit. I wonder what other kinds of mes would do?"


    Midnight was showing her teeth in a grin as green mes escaped her maw causing the ck mes to grow. She had mixed dark, fire, and wind mana to cause the mes to rear up and sh away from her. If Remey didn''t leap backwards as quickly, she would have been pushed


    away.


    "And you can make distance by forcing others away!?" Remey''s excitement was matched by her sprint forward. She is unleashing abination of punches to check if Midnight''s new skills were going to be missing in any area of her body. This was what Midnight wanted Remey to fight with her.


    Remey was going to test all the different risks of this skill. Mostly, if it was actually protecting all of Midnight. Especially her back where she couldn''t easily cover without just using her tail. Which was exactly as Midnight went to do when Remey had tried to attack her back.


    The whip of Midnight''s tail threw the ck mes at Remey and gave Remey more need to dodge or roll away. This prompted Remey to bring her mes even more. Along with the me wings that flung out behind her as she jumped up to deliver a harsh downward attack using both mes and her body weight.


    Yet, Midnight met it with her horns. They were reinforced with the mes and also with the skeletal armor. Both allowing her to m her head forward with more force without damage and also to send the same ck mes right in to the attack too.


    Those witnessing this battle to test Midnight''s new defensive skill were awestruck. They knew that Remey was powerful. Her mes aside, they had heard of the alchemical brawler who used special knuckles, and now gauntlets to gather manas that directly countered one''s affinity. Beyond that, they had heard of her brutal physical attacks which could put down any of the strongest soldiers in a single punch.


    But Midnight? They had heard of her unique skills and instinctual fighting style. Letting her instincts guide her to fight harder and with brutality. That was all putting aside her ability to use elemental mana based attacks.


    They were all witnessing an educational, but more so, a fun battle of skills.


    ....

 Chapter 2269: 2269. Understanding Crystals

    Chapter 2269: 2269. Understanding Crystals


    "These red crystals are amazing. They can adjust the light thates through it and focus on the heat aspect. It''s more simr to melding fire and light mana than anything else." The researcher that came to Su was ecstatic about what they had found.


    The constant rambling from him was not as annoying as many others would see it. To Su, it was important information that allowed her to broaden her mind and understand how these inds might be useful. She had been here for five days now listening to the ways that the light altered whening in to contact with the crystals that made the ind up.


    The idea that the light mana would pass through these red crystals and cause fire mana to be attracted enough due to the growth in heat was interesting to her. It spoke of the bond between light and warmth that the world and many races living within it needed to survive.


    Along with that, the pink crystal ind had a colder effectpared to the red crystal. A piece of each crystal had been brought to the beach base where the main group of researchers had created a more solid experimental tent.


    They had this little test set up to record what they saw as the sun rose and fell on the crystals. The different lights that came through were more than just colorful. They actually altered the form of light mana that went through them.


    Some that bonded better with fire mana, or like the purple crystal, bonded better with the shadows cast nearby the crystal. The others were simr but appeared to just be harder to understand. Whether they bonded better with other manas or just were a unique form of light mana as a whole, it was enlightening.


    While the researchers had focused on the uses of these forms of light mana and how they worked overall, Su had been seeing more benefits in them for her fighting style.


    She had learned to use light as a shield. That was the best way for her to utilize the light as part of how she fought and also how she rted to the multiple affinities she had as a half dragon rted to Midnight. While it was not as powerful as a mage or as Walker, Su knew that her use of mana and magic was just as useful. Especially since she could make shields and increase her defenses in general with it.


    Since Su had learned that she could breathe mes, she had to deal with the side effects at first. Her body had been unable to handle it and even now she could not use such an attack often. However, the idea that she could use a different form of light shield to potentially bring heat and cause mes might be interesting. Maybe a dragon breath without actually using dragon breath?


    This idea came to her as she sat looking at the red crystal from the inds. The researchers had told her that the inds must be made of unique stone due to the tides breaking down the weaker stone and soil that surrounded the stronger crystals formed when the ground itself was being formed. Most likely an ancient volcano or monster.


    She was also very interested in what the dwarven golems could find. There were plenty of pieces of crystal and stone that had fallen in to the water off of the cliff sides. They could be used to carve out weapons, or just as small pieces of them could be used to enhance weapons


    or armor.


    The simple idea that some of the dwarven golem divers hade up with was that unique defensive armors could be made. Using the light aspects of the crystals, they could defend from light elemental attacks or portions of those attacks which caused damage.


    Even better, light mages might be able to use them in unique magical staffs to be able to add unique forms of light mana to their attacks. Or even alter their light based attacks overall. That aside, the chances that unique healing light skills could be used is also high.


    "We found other things on the inds. The purple ind hosts nts that are growing in to the ind and exposing more crystals. Their roots are wrapped around and crushing the purple crystal that is beneath the rocks and soil. They are seeking it out to grow."


    "Really?" Su found this interesting. Not because she was worried that the ind would be falling apart faster because of this happening. Instead, she wondered what the herbs and nts that were using their roots to absorb the crystals needed the crystals and the unique light mana they gathered for. "Show me some of them."


    Since Su had the time and she was in charge here, she didn''t hesitate to prepare to move and go toward the purple crystal ind. She knew she had plenty of time before the sun would rise high enough to cause issues and most of the wyverns had already left. Those that remained were there to help everyone keep safe since they knew the dangers of each ind better than anyone.


    After a short walk up the beach, Su was guided in to the thick brush that grew in the center. Clearly it thrived on the steam and heat that came when the sun was at the peak of the day. But she could also tell that the leaves were very tough on every single nt. Meaning that they would need to be appraised properly.


    Some of the nts were even burned around the edges of their husks or bark which proved that they had been burned by the heat when young. Now, they had reached a point where they did not suffer from that any longer and could resist the heat.


    "This here is where we dug to see if we could take this flower with us. We thought that the small number of purple and brown leaves would mena that it was young and could easily be taken for appraisal, examination, and experimentation. However, we realized that it focuses on growing roots and is actually very old."


    With the researcher showing the hole that had been dug, Su could see that the roots were easilypared to those from a fully grown tree. Large and thick along with being wrapped around small clusters of purple crystals. Some being shattered in the soil where the nt had


    grown.


    "What did the herbalists say about it? The flower looks like it will fall off at any time, so I would say that it blooms rarely or it blooms often enough that it isn''t important to the nt overall." Learning from Remey was paying off more and more as Su helped the researchers with these inds.


    "We were told that the flower is a unique species that grows a new bud every night to bloom during the day when it can better release pollen and seeds. We believe that it needs the purple crystals to somehow spread that seed or to absorb the light safely." Su nodded along with this and she noticed the color in the broken crystals had faded significantly. It meant that they had been broken down by the nt and important nutrients had been taken.


    As Su held the broken crystals, she realized that they were very tough. A lot tougher than the crystals that were broken and fallen off the sides of the inds by the waves. "This might be better than what we learned before." her hand began to show dragon scales over it as Su put her full force in to trying to break the crystal.


    She failed.


    ''The crafting guild is going to love this." She smirked and the researchers that hade seeing that su had arrived all began to murmur. "Losing the nutrients or whatever caused the color to change caused it to be much tougher. So much that I can''t break it. This sort of crystal might not have a name yet either. Let''s find more."


    Themotion brought everyone to the roots of these flowers. It also brought many that tried to test the soil to see if those nutrients could be found. The key to why the ind formed these crystals and why they might be perfect for these nts to use had to be found. It was a mystery that anyone would wish to solve.


    The curiosity that blossomed within Genesis was never ending. And right this moment, Su had just managed to help show off a solid key to what might be the answers to what could be done with these crystals, nts, and even the remnants of the inds as it changed over time.


    "The divers have brought up some pieces of crystal, apparently the base of the ind has evidence of old volcanoes. Just as the theory stated." another researcher shared this and then became caught in the current situation. Su was just smiling, she enjoyed this more than she expected.


    ....


    ----


    ....

 Chapter 2270: 2270. Only On Wind

    Chapter 2270: 2270. Only On Wind


    "Curse you and your wind sword!" Therge wind horn ogre that Gil had been fighting against had flung him away yet again.


    This had been amon sight for the wind horn ogres when Gil had arrived. He had insisted on sparring with them so that he could test his strength or at least that was what they believed. He had told them about his situation, but it wasn''t something they could focus on since they had to ensure that they had harvested enough food for the day.


    Naturally, Gil wondered why they were so focused on food, but he had somewhat already understood at the time. The ogres were a very hearty eating race. They needed a lot of food and the food they ate here had wind affinity mana within. So, it helped them grow and function in general.


    Regardless, Gil was right now, getting up again to try his hand at a fight. But the wind sword skill that used dense wind to make a sword was also able to fling him back using gusts of wind or controlled shes from a distance.


    He was at a disadvantage using the high elf dagger style. He had even put a focus on the wind style within the high elf dagger style so that he could counter the attacks based in wind. But he only got thrown back still instead of halting the force from the wind overall.


    Whether it was his personal weakness orck of understanding on the topic of wind, Gil was getting frustrated more than anything. He didn''t want to stay here too long when he should be looking to learn even more. Looking to bring more races in to Genesis. Looking to help more people grow.


    While the wind horn ogres had grown up with wind as their other hand in a sort of speaking, Giul was very much behind. He had never let himselfpletely go without other manas or properly focused on pure wind mana. Even Zephyr had not done so. Meaning, he waspletely a novice. Regardless of his level and current strength.


    Meaning, byparison, he was a baby to the wind horn ogres.


    "You can''t even beat one of the weakest. You wish us to listen to you. To abandon our home just because you think it might be safer where youe from. You are a weird monster." The wind horn ogres didn''t even see Gil as an intelligent race. It was insulting.


    While they had not contacted other races, they understood the strength of those that moves through the wind elemental nes that they called home. They also had felt the true wind sage and the king of wind who managed the bnce which allowed them chances at food or having a vige.


    Gil was nowhere near that strength, in their minds, they could not listen to him. If they were to follow someone so weak just because they said so, they would perish. It would be the end of their race and everything they had built.


    Since they often had to deal with the shifting of the wind elemental nes, the wind horn ogres had grown ustomed to this. So had many smaller and weaker races. They did not suffer the same as the demons who went mad because of too much pure water mana, but they did suffer from the brutality of wind as it shifted and powerful traveling monsters without the intelligence to be reasoned with.


    Therefore, they had the knowledge to stay alive and follow instincts which would keep them safe. It was just logical not to follow Gil. he could also see that.


    "You are always at risk here. I am offering you a ce where you can live with other races and grow to be powerful enough to travel anywhere without worry that you will have your people wiped out! You won''t lose your vige and need to rebuild, you will always have a home in Genesis!"


    Before Gil could keep talking, arger wind de was sent toward him. He watched as the wind had formed in the hands of one of the wind horn ogres. It had condensed so perfectly that it was easy to understand how the wind horn ogres and survived. Especially seeing that more wind mana was being absorbed through the wind de ogres'' horn. They never ran out of wind mana here, even though it was so dangerous, they could rely on this power.


    As Gil watched the wind de move toward him, he muttered under his breath how it was slow, but he also cursed himself a little for not being able to rival it. Hence why he wielded his dagger and decided to cut out all of the other aspects of the high elven dagger technique he had worked hard for. He would be going back to the basics.


    Casting aside the absorption of other mana sin to the technique and skill, Gil found that he was left not as weak as he could have expected. Normally, he would look at the loss of natural mana around his body and skill as a massive downside.


    That was his problem.


    He had thought that here, in an elemental ne, that it would be the same. He was very wrong about that though. He was in the wind elemental ne where he should focus on the advantages of wind mana and the style based in it which was derived from the high elf technique. He wasn''t stopped from using the parts as a singr technique rather than the whole either.


    As Gil felt his body suddenly rx, his dagger met the wind de head on. This time, the wind warped and wrapped around the dagger before bearing off in another direction. "I''m a freaking idiot." Gil''s insults to himself were quiet enough that the ogres did not hear, but the small crowd that gathered witnessed the change in his body and movements.


    The ogre that Gil was fighting seemed to have had a shot of encouragement, he stopped sending wind des and instead sprinted forward. The wind de in his hand taking the form of a sword. It was simr to holding a horn though. This struck Gil as odd, but none of the ogres could have seen a properly forged sword. So just making what they were ustomed to, a sharpened horn, made more sense.


    Not that the wind de was able to reach Gil. He had dropped any thought or feeling of using any other mana. He focused entirely on wind and allowed his elven blood to take control. This was exactly what he should have done from the beginning, but even that thought was dropped away from his mind.


    Many people tried to reach the core of who they were and their strength. Some races had a better time doing it, such as the demi-humans. However, Gil had recently embraced the elven side of him and was still exploring him. With the purer manas here, he was able to touch upon each aspect of that high elven blood which allowed him to be better in tune with each mana when needed, even natural mana.


    This being the case, Gil''s next move directly halted the wind horn ogre''s attack. It also started to draw the wind mana toward him and wrap his body as if it was bing small vines of wind wrapping and defending him. Not that Gil had noticed. He was already moving and another wind horn ogre was pushing to challenge him as well.


    Who said that fighting alone was what they were doing?


    When a monster attacked them, the wind horn ogres did not fight alone. They fought together for their lives or they ran together. That was just what needed to be done to survive. So why change it now?


    But they were shocked to find that Gil had shattered the condensed wind de sword in the first orge''s hand. The second shed at him but found that Gil had easily ducked under the attack like a soft breeze. As a result, the de of Gil''s dagger reached the neck of the ogre, stopping only to show defeat before Gil looked toward the taller and clearly older ogres.


    "So, which of you wants to test my strength now? Will you listen yet?" His taunting voice made them grumble, their naturally high tempers as ogres were pushed ahead before the


    battle erupted.


    "Hmm? That child finally began to learn about the origin of elves and how to use his blood properly. Good, I knew it would be interesting." The true wind sage had been waiting for a moment like this. He found it incredibly entertaining. Genesis Was like a box of toys just waiting to show off their skills for him.


    "What else will you show me?"


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2271: 2271. Wind And Space

    Chapter 2271: 2271. Wind And Space


    "I swear there was an apple right here." a woman was curious where the apple she had just ced on the market stall counter had just gone.


    "Sorry about that, I am experimenting with space mana and the apple was switched with me." Walker stepped down from the air and an odd wave of mana pulsed around him as he used the space mana to bring the apple back.


    The small fruit stall was right next to the magic tower. That was why Walker was able to try his theory that two items could teleport at the same time.


    He quickly handed the apple back and was aimlessly wandering now. The woman setting up the new apples on her fruit stall was very surprised and would have a decent bit of gossip for the day. Not that Walker minded that sort of thing, his mind was focused on what he had learned through meditation and the gathering of space mana.


    The same idea that he had to use elemental manas to allow for a bnce to be reached for teleportation and the use of space mana was still there. Ut worked better this way and he knew that if he wanted to have a more pure form of moving using space mana he would need to be somewhere that was purely made of space mana.


    That meant the elemental nes. He couldn''t go there to practice this though. He had been banned by the origin being watching over the area. Mostly for his safety since he was learning about the elemental manas still. He was technically not even scratching the surface of some of the manas at their truer and purer states. The world was still adjusting.


    However, he had begun to grasp the space mana better. So much so that he was able to move himself and another object using it and the surrounding elemental manas to make sure the ces that they were was not disturbed by losing manas.


    This was without the elemental rune teleportation formation too, which was pretty great for Walker''s growth. But he could still do more, he could feel it. Hence why he was wandering aimlessly while practicing.


    Looking ahead, Walker used the familiar pulling that he had when using space mana. It wasn''t enough to teleport anythingrger than himself, but when he used it to move himself, it was amazing.


    The speed that Walker could use this self teleportation or small item teleportation was spectacr. Compared to how hard it was before, he could not use it just in a few breaths while focusing properly. The only downside was that he needed to be in tune with the manas surounding him and the area that he wished to move.


    This limited him to where he could sense. Not that this was a small area. If Walker desired, he could spread his senses to most of Genesis, if not all. However, if he did that, he would be forced to only focus on that and using this short distance teleportation would be impossible. But if he could feel the mana which would swap ces and fill the emptiness where he had been, then he was able to do it. Meaning that he would be able to dodge at thest second or even manipte manas from a much greater distance. It meant that he was that much more powerful now.


    Moving items was also a benefit. For simple reasons as such that he would be able to send more to the other teleportation formations. The sooner he showed off these skills to the rune carvers and the researchers, the better things would be. He just had to do some more mediation on spatial mana first. Walker was certain that he could do even more with what he had learned.


    It was like he touched the very tip of what space mana could do, but he was held back because he was not fully grasping what he sensed when he used it. As if he was corrowing the space mana and not truly letting it flow through him as he did with natural mana.


    Otherwise, he had failed a few times before he had sessfully used the short distance teleportation skill. Where he had failed, he had been left sick a few times. His senses had been shaken so hard that he was sure that he would rather spend a full year stuck on the ships in the worst of storms than making this mistake again.


    Luckily, there were no serious injuries, but the chaotic mana within his body had taken a full hour of serious focus to properly settle. Failed teleportation was something that Walker nned to have a solution to if it happened to anyone else. He should be able to use healing skills focused on life mana to properly adjust any mana rted issues from such a condition.


    Regardless, his failed attempts had also yielded a decent buff skill which he had not expected to discover. But he had thought that he would be able to use space mana for speed and some form of expedited transportation. He had used elemental manas with minor amounts of space mana within the elemental nes to do so.


    Therefore, as Walker had used the wind walking skill, he had focused some space mana in to it causing the wind to wrap his body in a more unique way than what he had done before. The way that the wind flowed through him was closer to that of how it acted when he used the wind to work as a small deterrent for thrown attacks, such as arrows or rocks.


    Not that he needed this sort of defense often, he usually had other means of dodging or someone defending him. But knowing the feeling and then noticing how space mana worked with it, the wind sh skill he had gained was easily the best method of boosting his and other''s speed in a short time.


    While it was only a skill that could be use once per cast of the mana, Walker was sure that he would be able to use it in the most opportune times. Whether it was on an ally spo that they could leap forward for an attack at a further distance than their opponent would expect, or to dodge and create distance. Either way, the skill was great.


    The space mana fused with the wind mana to be able to cause a sudden shift in the wind in front of and around the one that was buffed with this one time use skill. As such, they could use their next movement at easily five times as fast as what it normally would be.


    It didn''t affect the casting of magical skill or anything like that, but physically, it could allow a sh or general movement to be much better. Walker just needed to test it more and see if the same could be done when under water. His mind had been racing with all these ideas since now he could manipte space just enough to bring that mana together with other elemental


    manas.


    He did feel a blockage in his attempts to mix multiple manas together with space. As if it was stopped by some unseen wall. Not necessarily a harsh barrier from him being able to move ahead in his studies, but like he was missing something that was in desperate need to make the mana flow as he desired.


    This was all chalked up to him being inexperienced with the mixing of manas in a more unique form. Such as the mixing of wind and light to make radiant wind or healing winds. He could sit and meditate on those two manas mixing and need to see where it brought him before he attempted to bring in space mana to change the unique effects of such manas again. As Walker had flitted about the sky, he had never noticed that many people had begun to gossip about the hero using odd magic in the sky. How he had even teleported a few small items from here to there. Even paying for apples with gold while not moving from a


    significant height.


    He had started quite the rumor about the experimentations of his magic. Some children had even begun to call him a ghost mage since he could disappear and appear elsewhere in the


    blink of an eye.


    While a little childish, Walker would have to exin to a few people what he had been up to. Especially Midnight and Remey who he had just spotted taking a rest within the coliseum. They had been sparring for some time now, and naturally, when Walker randomly appeared above the coliseum, their interests were piqued.


    As anyone would have been. It was natural to be curious.


    ....


    ----


    ----

 Chapter 2272: 2272. Matching Energy

    Chapter 2272: 2272. Matching Energy


    "I thought you were still locked away in your alchemyb making new potions and reviewing the herbs sent your way after being grown at faster rates with unique skills?" The casual question was very against the atmosphere within the coliseum.


    To Walker, it sounded like he was just appearing here as if on a casual stroll. But for those within the coliseum, they had been battling and fighting. They had been shouting. They had been going all out! This was the attitude the coliseum always had after all.


    "I do go out you know!" and there was Remey''s annoyance showing its face.


    However, Walker had been ncing at Midnight who was covered in some unique mes. "You are training some new skills, right? You keep mixing the skeletal armor skill with different mes that cover your whole body and are even being absorbed in to your scales." With just a little looking, Walker had followed the flow of mana.


    "Stronger!" Midnight stomped one of her feet a little as she proudly showed off the scales brimming with ck mes before she used wind mana around her body to further stoke the mes and cover her body in more heat. It could easily deter most opponents.


    "Oh, just call me a shut in and then ignore me? You think you have a chance to get away?" Walker stepped out of the way of a full me punch from Remey. He had sensed her move and the fire mana that she wielded.


    This just further pushed Remey in to anotherbination of attacks though. Jabs and right or left hooks making her seem like she was focused just on one style of her fighting. That was until Walker sensed ack of mana which was standing out.


    The sudden kick had no mana in it. Remey had used that as a test to see how Walker would react. From that point on, her movements doubled in speed while the crowd present began to go wild. They hadn''t expected this change of events and to be honest, they loved it. This was the colosseum and they were here to train and fight. So if their heroes were here, then they had to show some noise.


    The fake attacks that Remey used varied in how much fire mana she added to them. This meant that he would identally didge in to attacks or he would need to move further away to avoid sudden kicks. The worst part being, that the attacks without fire mana were easily more dangerous than what one would think.


    Remey had seriously powerful strength in general. From the simple fact that she had always been a brawler in the frost ce. Her body was geared toward being a brawler and to her, fighting was the very same as breathing. Plus, she could fight multiple opponents at once since she had done so when she was little in the orphanage.


    Now, she had just trained herself with the party to be able to do that and even more. Against monsters and enemies of Genesis. Hence why she was so powerful without even using the strength of her mana in an attack.


    Walker could resist her, but he had neglected the physical side of his training and focussed on the mana rted side. For obvious and clear reasoning. But he couldn''t match Remey''s closebat abilities. He would be way too arrogant to say that he could rival her in hand to handbat.


    "What? Can''t keep up since you have been too busy wandering around doing a whole bunch of nothing?" Remmey knew that Walker didn''t really do nothing. She also knew that he had often worked on smaller tasks that went to help the overall future of the city. But she also knew that if she taunted him, she could get a better fight out of him.


    The thing that Remey knew well, was that Walker was able to adapt to other people''s moods ordingly. Thaat was why it was enjoyable to fight with him. He could easily begin to get fired up and match her energy if she started to taunt him enough while fighting.


    "Fine, I can show off some new tricks that will make you feel pretty damn weak!" He roared out and stepped forward, entirely disappearing from her sight. Remey only barely reacted when she felt the threat from behind her.


    As she dodged for the first time realizing that if she was hit she would go down, Remey looked and noticed that the threat she felt had already disappeared and wasing from her right side. The only thing that stopped the attack was the sudden intervention from Midnight.


    "Don''t. Ignore. Me!"


    To be fair, they hadn''t been intentionally ignoring her. But also to be fair, Walker was the one that interrupted the battle between her and Remey. Now he was keeping everyone that was lucky enough to be there to witness it focused on them and not at all on Midnight''s new skill which she was training and testing.


    Remey''s me wings flung out to push her away from the attacks of Walker and Midnight. The tail narrowly missing her while Walker blinked away from them again. "I really need to work on this skill. I feel like I just ran from the dwarven city to Genesis three times." Walker had not taken in to ount how taxing his new skills were on his body. Using teleportation and sped up since they were holding back in their sparring. He was able to use his full focus to manage the mana and draw in more. But that didn''t mean that he would be able to keep it up.


    "Midnight! Catch him so I cannd a good punch!" Remey didn''t hate that Midnight had jumped in on the battle. She just smirked while dashing forward after shended again. Her fists had stopped pulling fire mana around them though. That was when Walker noticed that she was using some of the spare knuckles she had carried.


    While they would not survive her current strength, Remey had wanted to use them here and there while she waited for her gauntlets to be perfectly tuned to her. Hence why she also held back a little moretely when it came to mana usage. She wanted to keep herself calm for when she could properly test out her new gauntlets to her full capabilities.


    The wind mana gathered on her fists as Remey used it to strike a shockingly speedy jab at Walker. Midnight''s following w attack with ck mes engulfing her talons made things much harder too. But they should have expected that walker would not just sit there for it.


    The sudden sh of wind as Walker stole away the wind mana that Remey gather and used it in tandem with space mana to sh forward and appear right in front of Midnight''s nose was enough to show that the pair had been underestimating the way that Walker was sparring. Just because he had been dodging did not mean that he was just going to dodge. He had been feeling out their battle style while they fought. He had been sensing the ways that Remey had adjusted to the flow of mana that made her, her, as a trie fire dragon soul. And he had been watching how Midnight used the new skill to defend herself and ensure that she was protected from various forms of attacks with her added me defenses.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    But he had noticed how the skill would fade if Midnight moved. She was not ustomed to moving and using these mes as additional defenses yet. Therefore, when he was close enough, he used the wind he gathered to punch out at a weak point andpletely end the mes around Midnight.


    She could only sit there stunned as she also realized that Walker had used the same mana which dispersed after moving at an incredibly quick speed to then attack again. It was incredibly efficient and Midnight, nor Remey, could do what he had just done.


    It was enlightening though. "I wonder if I can do that with alchemy fire..." Remey''s mind wondered if she could keep incorporating the same waste products from making potions to make other things. Or even to enhance the potion she was making.


    Every process caused smoke or some form of waste in alchemy. Maybe, she could make something that utilized every material. Every single herb perfectly.


    Midnight on the other hand, was looking at how she had lost her skill and how she might be able to improve it. Walker just stood next to her and began to try and copy her skill so he could train it with her. The same thing they had done in the past when learning new skills. That way, they would both get stronger together.


    The crowd loved it as they began to filter in to the coliseum and begin their own training. They got to train with a few heroes today. This was the perfect chance to take advantage of it.


    ....


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2273: 2273. Knowledgeable Wind

    Chapter 2273: 2273. Knowledgeable Wind


    "Gil, I can see that you and Zephyr are doing well." Ventus surprised Gil as she had appeared next to him inplete silence. This was odd since she had multiple curses and seals preventing her from using wind mana or even absorbing it.


    "I would say you might be doing better than us with how you moved just now." Even zephyr was moving around her inplete curiosity. If Gil hadn''t felt the wind, then at least Zephyr should have. But neither of them had, and the true wind sage was still nowhere to be seen.


    "I have understood a lot. Even without being able to influence the wind mana by taking it within myself, I have been shown that the ways to move through the wind can be done if one understands how the mana is flowing. I never truly grasped why and how wind currents formed in the first ce."


    As much as Gil felt he could learn a lot form this, he didn''t have the time right this second to be able to get in to an in depth conversation about wind currents within and outside of the world. Especially with the fact that he knew they would be taken away from the wind elemental ne any moment.


    "It feels like we have only been here for a few days. But it''s been a month, hasn''t it?" he looked at Ventus who nodded her head. Her eyes appeared to be troubled slightly by leaving so soon. However, she also looked somewhat excited. She had been away from genesis, her territory, and also the children she had left to grow while she was gone.


    After taking a deep breath, Gil looked at the wind horn ogres. They were lined up in front of him, each had a decent amount to carry with them. The protection from the true wind sage during this time had allowed for them to gather foon, herbs, seeds, and many other things


    While some of them still harbored some resentment toward Gil, after fighting and realizing that he could not be beaten, even if they teamed up against him, they had fallen right in to listening to him. Their desire to be somewhere safer had always been there, but they were not trusting.


    Their lives had been very harsh since they were like many of the smaller races within the elemental nes. Even after being recognized by existence as an intelligent race, they had been in trouble. Forming a vige or even just staying together was nearly impossible at times. Their numbers constantly dwindled with very short periods of peace for them.


    On top of this, they were not the only ones.


    Other smaller races had been entirely eliminated while attempting to survive their elemental ne. They had to strive for survival since that was just the natural order. However, there was also the simple fact that they did not choose to be servants to a more powerful andrger


    race.


    This was an option to some since they could help maintain the bnce within the elemental nes. The angelic wind spirits were one such race whom Gil was somewhat d not to hear from since they were somewhat stiff when hest met them. He also understood that they had met with the angel race at the bridge to the elemental nes to speak about history. Something he was sure to hear about at another time.


    The wind horn ogres had been very unhappy when they had allowed their curiosity to ask about the ogres of the world. Gil had seemed ufortable when he had exined about them and the topic was brought up in general.


    Simply because the ogres were unintelligent monsters only known for their regeneration and the fact that they would use brute force and size to attack their prey. The party had even fought them before and killed them to ensure safety.


    This had brought some bad shouts and even threats of battle. However, Gil had managed to use this as a chance.


    He offered that the wind horn ogres might be able to do as the goblins, harpies, and the gray haired spiders had all helped themselves, eachother, and other races be known as intelligent races. The monster races of Genesis had ensured that various potential races had been scouted out and were fully focused on making that their goal for a better future.


    This alone had exined to the wind horn ogres that even though they were not exactly the same as the ogres of the world, that they could make arger difference once there. That they would have the chance to both learn and grow in to roles which could save other monsters trying to break the cycle of mindless survival.


    As Ventus caught up, she was very impressed. Not only because she could see that gil had managed to entirely adapt to the wind mana here but also because the wind horn ogres were ready to follow him.


    From her perspective, Gil had found the key to utilizing the high elf blood. But also learned why the elves had split from the beginning.


    If the high elves and their techniques and ability to focus all on one mana rather than all manas at once, then to the elves with weaker affinities, the high elves would have appeared to be forsaking other manas for the strongest. Therefore, they believed that certain manas were better than others.


    That led to the high elven dagger techniques to be split by their parts, in to elemental mana based dagger techniques. Furthermore, breaking theirmunity in to focuses on certain mana affinities rather than pushing to understand their blood and follow trials to be proper high elves as well.


    Knowing this, Gil could fill in some gaps when the elves were looking at their history. He could understand the emotions and false perspectives of others. While he could respect the viewpoints they had, the simple fact that their viewpoints were too barrow existed and affected the elves'' futures. He could exin that failure to be sure that it would not ur again.


    "I can respect your understandings. And I can see that zephyr has been able to properly grow as well. The wind mana she has gathered greatly solidified her form as a member of the spirit race and recognized grand wind spirit." Ventus saw the smaller pure wind spirits surrounding Zephyr as Ventus and Gil traded their learnings.


    "I learned why the wind dragon desired toe here. How the world was considered a dangerous abyss of struggle where species were born and escaped from. How all dragons were born there but fled from the truly powerful ancient monsters which caused the world to be destroyed and rebuilt countless times until races emerged and the manas began to settle."


    This was a simple realization that Ventus had when speaking with the true wind dominator dragon rating within the wind elemental nes. Their history was much different from the world''s. Especially since they remembered when they had broken free from the risks of the world and been told that the elemental nes were always safer and that they could grow better there.


    "The knowledge of a true dragon was lost. Of a single originator of all dragons. The one we believed was just the nature dragons. Not the original dragon. But that is enough for me. The ancient wind dragons allowed pure wind mana itself to take to their memories. That is why the dominator dragons also act as anchors for the elemental nes. They maintain both bnce and the very history of when dragons came to the nes."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The more that Gil heard, the more he realized howplicated history would be from the dragons. The fact that they lived very long lives did not appear to help. Adding in their elemental branches in their race, then their history could be extremely involved and tough to align. Not that it would be impossible. It would just take a longer time to be recorded


    properly.


    "I''m sure you could tell me a great deal more, but it feels like we are about to be sent away." Gil looked up as he saw arge amount of wind condense and take a familiar form. "You are being sent away. I only agreed to a short time here. You should stay and show me more. But you are leaving too much to wonder about." The true wind sage would have preferred to keep all three of them here to see how they could develop. But he also understood that he could leave them within the world forter.


    That there would be so much more to learn about when the bridges to the world were high rin number and ess was greater. To him, this was a short time. Even if it took a few hundred years to happen. The true sages were old and very long lived beings, so just waiting for the chance to see all of what was toe was a small thing to them.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2274: 2274. Oddity In Mana?

    Chapter 2274: 2274. Oddity In Mana?


    "You know that you three have a whole lot of people riled up, right?" Midnight, Remey, and Walker had taken a moment to eat something while many of the training soldiers took the colosseum back. They couldn''t take up all the room for long.


    Plus, they had also trained with the soldiers for some time. While they were not able topete with the three, they still were able to test their skills to the limit. Exactly what many people needed to be able to go beyond where they had been stagnating in training for however long. Sometimes an unbeatable opponent was the best opponent.


    Regardless, it was Walker, Remey, and Midnight who were the ones thrown off. They had no idea that Su would be appearing within the coliseum after the three had been there for hours and the sun was even starting to set. The night training was about to begin and the three would most likely have just kept their training going all night.


    But with Su here, they had other things to focus on. "What brought you back so soon? I thought that you would have remained near those crystal inds for another few days at least. The wyverns are already settling in so everything is running smoothly, right?"


    There was a tone of worry in Walker''s voice since he knew there was always the chance that there could be an issue he had not seen or heard yet. So much happened within Genesis that keeping tabs on every little thing could drive someone crazy.


    "It''s all moving as nned, even better actually. Especially with what we have learned about the crystals, unique nts that live on the crystal inds, and even that there is a dormant volcano beneath the inds." Su said this like she was holding something back. Enough that it made Walker stand back up and pay closer attention.


    "Butttt, with all of you here just messing around and even enjoying snacks... I''m not sure I should tell you anything else until full reports are sent to the Genesis council at the end of the week." Her smirk made the three wish that they had still been training when she arrived, however, Remey could tell she had arrived while they trained.


    "You saw that we weren''t just ying games. We were testing new skills and also helping the soldiers here get stronger. So don''t go keeping things from us when we are family." Remey''s grumbling was enough to make Su smile a little wider. She just liked hearing that she was winning every now and then.


    "Then I guess you will want to head to your alchemy guild where samples of crystals, fifteen crates of herbs that grow using those crystals, and even a few herbs that have different colors because of the different light manas they are exposed to have all been delivered. I even helped dig out some where the roots were many timesrger underground than the single flower was above ground. It''s really unique."


    "Yes!" Remey was dashing away before anyone else could utter another word. But that was just the way she was. She would get so involved with these new things that no one would be able to drag her away from the alchemyb for who knew how long now.


    "I take it that you didn''t just find the herbs and crystals. You have something else you want me to look in to?" Walker wasn''t missing the hints that Su was leaving for him to find. She was enjoying this extra knowledge she had. However, she would not just sit here holding it. She wanted someone to get a little more information about it all.


    "Exactly. I had to make sure that you were free to go take a look at what else was down at the base of the inds under the sand and broken crystal parts. Seeing that you are right now, you should be able to go for a swim with a few of the water wyverns and the dwarven diving golems."


    From what walker could tell, this wasn''t a threat, but an oddity which he was going to look in to. "I feel like more odd things might be happening. Both because ces inessible for many years during ancient times are being found and also because the world has changed so much." He sighed as Su clearly felt the same way.


    "Midnight, do you want toe or would you prefer to stay and wait for Gil, Ventus, and Zephyr to get back? They should be here within the next few days." There wasn''t much hesitation from Midnight.


    She thought about how she could go with them and check new things out, but to be fair, she really did not enjoy being submerged within the saltwater for so long. She would have to clean her scales much more in depth after that. If she stayed here she could avoid that while seeing what Ventus learned sooner than anyone else.


    "Stay and see Ventus!" Midnight also had in mind that she could bring Erica to show off how she had changed over the recent days. It would be something impressive to any dragon with how young Erica was. The control of mana at that age was something that would need another twenty years for a dragon hatchling.


    "Then that''s that, should we leave now?" Su nodded. It appeared that she had already nned to handle this right away since that just made the most sense. She knew very well that if they waited, then they would end up sidetracked again. That was their entire lives. Bouncing from one task to another whether it was nned or not.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    As Su brought Walker along toward the elemental rune teleportation formation, he grabbed her arm and before she knew it, she felt the world shift. They were standing right in front of it before she had managed to blink. She understood though, Walker had just used spatial mana.


    "I did some meditating and managed to test this out. Ites with some heavy physical and mental drawbacks since it''s a lot. But, it''s impressive and very useful." His same casual attitude about this made su shake her head before she nodded slightly. But she also gave him a knowing look.


    "And yes, I made sure to eat something after I finished meditating. I didn''t mess up too many times while I trained this skill. I also found a way to buff other people with it by letting them use something like a sh step skill." He knew that the judging look from Su was her caring about his well being. He wasn''t about to lie to her about how he had gone to train and made sure he held off on training space mana for longer.


    "Good." She looked carefully for a moment before exchanging the topic. "The reason that I found things odd was when the dwarven divers returned. The water wyverns said that they avoided the base of the inds because of it being the safe space for the monsters living near the inds during the day."


    "The bases are surrounded by very fine sands and corals. It is entirely unique. Especially since the rock formations are both crystal and evidence of cooling magma from who knows how many years ago. This is partnered by the evidence that deep below all this, there might still be some active magma flowing."


    Walker tilted his head wondering where the odd part would appear. "It''s the fact that the coral which formed creates frozen saltwater. It doesn''t make sense that a coral growing there where magma once flowed somehow produces ice after the light mana has superheated the water enough to create a fog for miles."


    "Then what you needed help with, is the mana flow and how this happens? The mages can''t figure it out, can they?" Walker knew exactly what the issues were. This would not make sense to a single mage or anyone that researched mana flow right now. It was entirely too unique. "I can think of a few things, but if the echidna were there researching they might be able to


    help."


    "We thought the same, but they can''t be spared. So many echidna had dedicated to teaching others the more natural ways of each mana along with natural mana. We would be hammering others by bringing the echidna away. Asn you are avable." Walker understood what Su was thinking and why she thought that.


    "Then I can meditate there for some time. I have a feeling that it will be able to help us understand some of the changes the world went through physically as well. If the water wyverns didn''t go down there, they might have missed seeing the smaller coral freezing things. But with the changes to mana and the world, it could be growing now."


    They both stood there for a moment before their turn to teleport came up. Curiosity sparked in their eyes.


    ----

 Chapter 2275: 2275. Fire To Ice

    Chapter 2275: 2275. Fire To Ice


    Being brought to a new and unfamiliar ce during the night was not what Waker expected from his life. However, they had moved as a party in the night before, so that did not make this the strangest traveling n that they had.


    He understood why this was important. With how fast they could travel as just the pair of them, they could do what it would take an army to do in hours versus days. That was just part of the benefits here. Walker knew he would be able to begin exploring right away with the time of day.


    The crystal inds were dangerous during the day, getting there at that time would be a limiter for him. While Walker knew that he could in fact resist the light and the heat, he would prefer not to have to work on that constantly. The less mana he used there the more he could use for other things.


    Specifically, he could use more focus on the water mana he needed to make sure he was able to move freely under water. He could focus more on the wind mana he needed to bring him fresh air to breathe while under the water. Not that he couldn''t hold his breath for a significant amount of time now. That was just a bonus fact.


    The cool night air was full of small insect monster''s making noise. The wilderness of a different continent still sounded different. The chorus of night was something that everyone could recognize from their homes, yet, it was also interesting to hear the changes as one traveled. Just that small aspect alone showed the distance traveled.


    Walker quickly sensed the small vige that the angels had nearby the base which was prepared by the Genesis soldiers. He could tell that they had been working very hard to bring the two together and even improved their existing homes and walls while the soldiers were here. It was very smart to take advantage of the help while they could.


    The more that he focused on it, the more impressed he was though.


    He could see that there were crops being farmed along the coast. Something very difficult because of the salty breeze that would halt the growth of most basic crops. Hence why some of the shore faring races would have changed their diets to support certain seaweeds and more aquatic monsters as their diets.


    When he looked for the fields using his mana sense, Walker noticed the rune formations around the fields they were growing. The angels here had been using the rune formations of wind to block the salty breeze so that the salty mist within was redirected back toward the shore. The idea was wise and the upkeep was excellent so it showed they had listened to the genesis forces who hade to help them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It showed that these angels were willing to take the time and learn respectfully. They were also very diligent in what they had learned. Therefore, they deserved politeness and respect. Hence why Walker waved to those that spotted him.


    "I didn''t bring you here so you would be dragged off by the locals." Syu reminded Walker that he was here to go for a swim and check out the base of the inds.


    "I know, I know. Let''s head that way then." he grabbed Su again and before she could yell at him, they had teleported in to the air and a distance away from the shore. They were flying along with Walker''s wind magic as if it was nothing to him. His control was just that good.


    As they neared the inds in the dark, Walker could sense one of the water wyverns looking at them. Their night vision was surprisingly good. "Thank you for waiting for us. This is Walker, he is a fellow party members of mine. He is also a founder of genesis and the one I told you about. He can use some unique skills to understand the depths of the water around your inds."


    "I know it might be odd, but you won''t have to worry about me needing to breathe under water or worry about my getting swept away. I can manipte the air and water to be able to take a close enough loom for some time." Walker knew that the look from the water wyvern was because of the weak appearance he had.


    Yet, as Walker moved his hands and the war began to calm where he lowered himself and Su, it was clear the water wyvern grasped the strength Walker had when it came to mana and manipting it. Especially with the water changing so immediately from the normal movement of waves to a perfectly t and calm surface.


    A single huff of water made Walker dive below. Su was left standing at the top before she extended her own wings and pped over to one of the inds nearby. She knew she didn''t want to go deep under the water but she felt a little lonely being left behind so suddenly.


    All of this aside, Walker followed the water wyvern who was moving carefully below. Partially because this was deeper than they would normally swim, but also because there were monsters around. Some familiar, others unfamiliar. They all felt the threat that Walker had by manipting the water mana around them though. Something the water wyvern was thankful


    for.


    "There are plenty of different monsters thate here in the night. So they have plenty of chances for food because the water is cool and there is plenty of coral." The appearance of coral growing out of the sands of the ocean was more than just ocean floor level. They rose up multiple feet above the floor of the ocean here.


    This meant that not all the corals were the ones that he was looking for. Although, the depth did not change the coloration of the corals. They were feeding off sands and pieces of the crystals falling off of the inds and meeting deep under the ocean floor. Therefore, they took on those colors creating a beautiful sight as Walker created multiple orbs of light to help him see clearer.


    He had decent ability to see in the dark, but the light would allow him to deter even more monsters who thought they could sneak up on him. It was better to be a little safer rather than be sorryter.


    But that was when he felt the change in the water. A slight stream of exceptional cold that shouted ice.


    His eyes focused as he noticed small drifting pieces of frozen saltwater. An oddity that he had rarely seen in his life. Yet, something he understood had a source.


    The water wyvern had left to go back up and wait with Su after it had seen Walker focus. It wasn''t about to remain in the depths while it could not do a single thing of help here. Looking at the coral which was touching any other coral, Walker could see that it was deeply attached to some tough ck rocks. They were solid magma which had cooled and been left here. Yet there was a perfectly white coral growing out of it and rooted within it.


    ''Snow me coral


    This coral is an oddity within the world. While it would normally be impossible, it anchored within a ce that had high fire mana. The only reason it managed to get here was the ancient melting ice it had lived in melting due to ancient monsters fighting.


    As the magma cooled, the small bits of this coral were able to begin to grow very slowly. When the magma cooled properly, the coral was bursting with life. Only slowed by the unique crystal inds causing the water to be too warm for them to grow at all and forcing them to go dormant temporarily.


    As this cycle of dormancy and growth constantly happened, over recent times, this coral burst in to life and began to cool the water around it. Even causing ice to form. It needs it so that uit can properly create ice flowers which will house small bits of itself that will eventually drift to


    an icy ce.


    This coral boasts a strange affinity for fire and ice mana. It can filter the fire mana from its surrounding sin the from of what to force the water to condense and be ice mana. This is extremely rare and would normally be found in unique volcanic environments within tundras.


    It has an extremely wide array of uses in alchemy and even just as an item that can allow certain monsters and races to develop...''


    Walker was amazed by this small coral which had somehow managed to anchor itself within the base of the inds here. It had fought for many years to reach this point. And it deserved the awe Walker felt.


    ----

 Chapter 2276: 2276. Not Extinct

    Chapter 2276: 2276. Not Extinct


    While Walker found broken pieces to procure and store away, he noticed that there were clear spots that the snowme corals had not grown at all. Since the snow me coral would most likely not grow here and have monsters that ate it here, this was odd. It clearly looked like something had broken it to eat it.


    Following this line of thinking, Walker wondered if more than just coral had been dormant here and struggling to grow in this unfamiliar area. The coral had already struggled due to the light mana being too dense and causing the water to heat and cool unnaturally.


    Well, unnatural for the coral. For this location and the form that the inds took, it was somewhat natural.


    His question was answered right after he began looking though.


    Within the broken ends of the corals, making a nest of tha snow me coral which caused bowles of frozen saltwater to form, were small eel like creatures. Walker would have assumed they were snakes or serpents of sorts if he didn''t notice their ttened tails. Meaning that they would be better off identified as eels. It was also supported by the all around appraisal he did on the spot.


    ''Deep Tundra eel


    Thought to be extinct as are their predators and their natural prey, this is an eel monster which can grow up to a hundred feet in length if able to eat properly in the proper environment. While they can survive on eating other prey and also in different environments, it will prevent them from growing properly and might cause them to lose their white ice scales which form due to the snow me coral that they require to live safely.


    They can use the uniquely powerful water mana which bes ice mana within the ice me coral to enhance the survivability of their eggs. Due to this, they will never stray far from the snow me coral that can even slowly spread up the shore of a tundra beach.


    There is also the fact that they are a delicate monster when they are not able to use the water mana to condense an icy scale armor around their bodies. This does also allow them to move in to smaller crevices to hide or toy eggs.


    Eating their meat is not rmended. They contain very dense and pure water mana in the form of ice mana. It can cause damage to the mana flow within the body and even cause ice to build up. On some asions, it can cause frozen heart illness to begin which is the slow cooling of blood around the heart leading to it entirely freezing.


    For some, the meat and the unique mana within this monster is a miracle medicine. This dense ice mana will allow for illnesses rted to fire mana to be controlled for even entirely cured depending on the amount used.


    Besides this, the small and flexible bones can be used as needles toi easily imbue ice mana on to what they are used in. While they are easily broken, they are an incredible tool for a seamstress, tailor, or other simr sses...''


    The small white scaled eel was clearly afraid to even move a foot away from the icy nest it had made. But without that nest, it could easily perish. This wasn''t all that Walker could see though.


    While the all around appraisal clearly said that these tundra eels would not leave their nest, he noticed some with cracked scales and some slightly red bodies underneath those scales. It didn''t make sense that they would be freely moving around when the others were not. Especially since they could perish if they were caught in water that was too warm.


    ''sh me eel


    These eels are a miracle within themselves. Due to them being tundra eels at one point in their lineage,. They have entire immunity to the ice and cold. Yet, they have forcefully survived the heat of boiling water and remnants of fire mana from volcanic activity. As such, they have gained a fire affinity which allows them to survive their constantly changing environment.


    They have incredible heat resistance and resistance to fire itself even though they are primarily water living species of monster. Their bodies can be coated in dense ice scales or they can release their scales to be able to move more fluidly during times when the water they are within is hotter.


    Consuming their meat is extremely dangerous and will almost always lead to severe injuries. The collision of dense ice mana and fire mana within the body as the consumer tries to absorb it can cause great damage to mana flow and internal physical organs. It requires high mana control just to attempt to consume it and may allow for training in heat and cold along with ice and fire mana resistances...''


    There was a lot to take in, but the real key here was that these monsters were thought to be extinct. Their predators and natural prey were extinct. Along with the fact that the new species, sh me eels had been able to appear just because of the unique environment here. Due to all the changes of time through the years, the snow me corral had appeared beneath these inds. It struggled to survive along with the tundra eels which had been struggling right beside it. Then out of these many years since ancient monsters roamed thends, the sh me eels had appeared to survive this environment.


    An amazing disy of nature.


    With the world expanding and returning to proper flow, it was clear that Walker was able to take a hold of this sort of amazing situation. He could use his skills and other''s desire for research to ensure these monsters survived and did not go extinct. Beyond that, he would also be able to push forward the chance of returning these monsters to a pce where they should be naturally.


    That was to assume that Genes could find that ce. From what Walker knew, they had never gone so far as to reach a proper tundra. But if they were to do so, they would certainly learn new things. Some of which might help him learn more in depth knowledge about the density of water mana bing ice mana and why that was.


    With little effort, Walker managed to capture three of each of these unique eels while also getting samples of the coral. He was sure that there would be researchers who wanted to see them. But his mind also drifted to others who might find these monsters interesting.


    It had been a while since Walker was able to check in with the tamer''s guild. While there were many people that were a part of it, it was a guild that has not changed. Much. The tamers were still known for wandering about with their tamed monsters or looking to tame monsters while they wandered.


    But these monsters here were very unique. Having someone for the tamer''s guild to care for them and research them was most likely the best option since they would respect these monsters'' current situation. They needed protection so that they would not go extinct. The tamer''s guild would grasp that and also learn as much as possible about them altogether. Continuing on, Walker was not surprised to find that su and the water wyvern were waiting for him. Their eyes focused on him the moment that he rose from the water with balls of water containing the samples trapping the monster and coral alike. He didn''t torture the eels though, they were monsters capable of growing to monstrous sizes if left be. Therefore, he ended their lives quickly.


    "These are the monsters living there because of this coral. It should have been in the coldest waters surviving near the shore of the coldestnds. But instead, they drifted due to ancient monsters andnded here. Luckily, they survived because they were all thought to be


    extinct."


    "So having youe to handle this was a good thing." Su''s eyes shed with pride. She knew that if she had not called for Walker they could have lost the chance to learn about these unique pieces of coral and monsters. Or, worse yet, the researchers could identally harm them and end the chances to learn about them at all.


    "I did help a lot. Thank you both for guiding me." Walker saw the watar wyvern looking at


    him curiously. It did not seem to speak, but it understood him. Or at the very least, it chose not to speak. But it had never expected that Walker would treat it politely. Now it considered the choices of the sky wyvern queen and water wyvern king to be more valuable than before. A step in the right direction.


    ....


    ....


    ....n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2277: 2277. Not So Warm Welcome

    Chapter 2277: 2277. Not So Warm Wee


    "Ae said-"


    "I know what she has been telling you. She is also the one that stole away wind mana from you while you rested. You did not lose enough to cause you harm, just enough that you were able to be awakened by your little one." Mordant had seen quite a bit.


    His eyes were not prying in the sense that he invaded privacy. He had just done exactly as he had been asked of by Ventus before she left. Keep his eyes on any trouble that might appear. Make sure that the slumbering dragon were safe. Ensure that the hatchlings had good care.


    He had done all of this along with the help of a few others. Even Ignus had made a point to fly through the wind dragon territory to show that a royal dragon was not far. For some of the elder wind dragons, that was a very positive event. A few others felt vited by it. Hence why Mordant remained hidden in the shadows.


    "Your little one. What are your true thoughts about her? Erica has been trained by Walker and Midnight, two heroes. But not just them. The others have met her. Eaten with her. And praised her. She has used magic well ahead of any other hatchling. She also grasps her dual affinities." Mordant understood very well this was a genius level for any hatchling.


    "I wanted to be proud but-"


    "She is a very unique little hatchling. She is going to be able to use healing winds and also winds that help herbs grow. Currently, no other dragon is doing such things. I do not wish to hear the words fed to you by a weaker elder while you were tired and unsteady in your mana flow. I wish to know what you believe before I decide if I will punish you."


    This was where Willow''s breath caught in her throat. She had been convinced to rival Ventus because they were all wind dragons. Her and Ae should be strong enough to handle Ventus. But against a darkness dragon? No, a royal dark dominator dragon... She could not handle such an opponent right now.


    Normally, dragons passed down the royal dragon title to those that are born to them or to those strong enough to handle it. Battles for the position were not unfamiliar, especially in the earth and fire dragon viges.


    However, the wind dragons rarely fought outright like this. It was an oddity that was pushed forward by Ae. Partially since she wished for the power but also because she believed that Ventus had taken on too much risk to be epted by others.


    "I only want the best for my little one. I don''t want her to be something that is bowing her head to others. I want her to be proud and strong." Willow shouted to be louder than Mordant. Her scales shivering slightly to show that she was struggling to hold the dragonkin form she was in. She was still not entirely used to it just yet.


    "Then you will meet those that your little one met. You will train with them. You will eat with them. You will experience what she did. Then you will decide whether or not there are issues. But while you slumbered for a short time, your child aplished many things. You can understand the height of those things after experiencing them."


    While he would not force her, Mordant could see the purity within Willow''s mana. She was not one to scheme or trick. Just one that felt a little too much. Being controlled with another''s words was something she should have been able to go against. However, Ventus was gone, her child had been used against her, and she had been weakened from slumber which she was woken from too early. It was all a lot to handle at once. Any dragon would struggle.


    Mordant took her with him, clearly, she didn''t seem hostile and he did not have any reason to go against the wind dragons and their love for their children. They wererger in number because of that care and always had seriously stronger children. Even to the point that some could call it cruel in a way.


    Regardless, Mordant knew that Ventus was busy and would return in due time from the outskirts of Genesis.


    "Show me what you believe is strength." Ventu remained within her dragonkin form as she watched Ae erupt in wind mana to take her elder wind dragon form. There were sharper scales proving that she had advanced significantly toward the goal of bing more.


    If she had the time, Ventus could tell that Ae could be a wind dominator dragon. This strength was simr to hers when she had begun meeting the party. When she had forged a bond with Genesis. When she had gone to battle and eventually found the lost history of the wind dragons.


    They were different though. Ventus could sense it much more clearly now. The small bits of impure wind mana that whipped around and inside of Ae''s body. Even with herrger dragon form, it wasn''t enough to shake Ventus''s expression.


    That was a hit to Ae''s pride. As a dragon who believed herself better to lead the wind dragons and eventually more than that, she should stroke fear. She should inspire awe. She should be respected above all else. Yet, Ventus was silent and unmoving.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "You have grown a bit." Ventus spoke without a single bit of wind mana fluctuating around her. Ae didn''t notice that the wind mana had absolutely no reaction around Ventus at all. It should have been moving wildly but instead, it was still. Perfectly so.


    "You are older than I am. However, I was stronger and raised for this position. To be a royal that is. You, were too weak. You were not growing as well as I was. You were too emotional. You, are still too foolish to be a royal wind dragon responsible for the others." The wind finally reacted.


    This wind, was not calm whatsoever. It felt dangerous. Dense. Powerful.


    "I have done a great deal for my children. You are correct. I even risked my very life to be at the whim of another within their territory to learn of our history and of the wind that we rely on for life itself. And you say I am the weak one? That I do not care?"


    Her wind dominator dragon form came to full heat well above that of Ae''s. Her scales had a slight glisten of pure condensed wind mana flowing over and even in to them. The pressure of that wind mana was many times more intense than what Ae could even muster.


    "You believe that Icked wind mana. No. I was sealed, but my body was bathed within pure wind mana. While I could not control it, a fellow wind dominator dragon many times older than myself gave me guidance. I can condense wind mana in the world and mimic that form of impable control. Impable strength."


    "You harmed the bond between a newly hatched child and their mother. Shook the foundation of her growth. Did you expect me too blind to notice that you stole away her stored wind mana as she slumbered? You could have killed one of your own!"


    "And now, you were prepared to kill me and became the royal wind dragon in my ce. There is no exile for a royal wind dragon. They perish in their position. They retire and be a keeper of memories before they perish. Or they attempt to venture deeper within mana to disappear or ascend."


    "Do you know that you have made your own choice to perish here?"


    All the wind mana that Ae believed she had control of was stolen from her. The entirety of her being was weak. Weaker than she had ever been. Whether it was after fighting others or when she was nothing but a hatchling looking up at the previous royal wind dragon for the first time. Nothing couldpare to the weakness she had right this moment. Looking down on the elder dragon who dared step on her toes, Ventus growled slightly causing the wind mana pressure to grow even greater than it had just a moment ago. "It is a new age. I will not kill you here. I will make you live. You will never feel the touch of wind. I will remove your strength. You will be ostracized by wind itself. You will not fly again. You will not attempt to look down on myself or another dragon again."


    What Ventus had learned about wind and who she was as a dominator dragon had be valuable. Right now, she used that knowledge in a way that she would call cruel under any circumstance.


    But for someone who desired her fall? No, this was mercy. She could easily take Ae''s life for such actions. Instead, she would live up to the future she desired within Genesis. A kind future


    for even an enemy.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2278: 2278. Price To Pay

    Chapter 2278: 2278. Price To Pay


    "Ae said-"


    "I know what she has been telling you. She is also the one that stole away wind mana from you while you rested. You did not lose enough to cause you harm, just enough that you were able to be awakened by your little one." Mordant had seen quite a bit.


    His eyes were not prying in the sense that he invaded privacy. He had just done exactly as he had been asked of by Ventus before she left. Keep his eyes on any trouble that might appear. Make sure that the slumbering dragon were safe. Ensure that the hatchlings had good care.


    He had done all of this along with the help of a few others. Even Ignus had made a point to fly through the wind dragon territory to show that a royal dragon was not far. For some of the elder wind dragons, that was a very positive event. A few others felt vited by it. Hence why Mordant remained hidden in the shadows.


    "Your little one. What are your true thoughts about her? Erica has been trained by Walker and Midnight, two heroes. But not just them. The others have met her. Eaten with her. And praised her. She has used magic well ahead of any other hatchling. She also grasps her dual affinities." Mordant understood very well this was a genius level for any hatchling.


    "I wanted to be proud but-"


    "She is a very unique little hatchling. She is going to be able to use healing winds and also winds that help herbs grow. Currently, no other dragon is doing such things. I do not wish to hear the words fed to you by a weaker elder while you were tired and unsteady in your mana flow. I wish to know what you believe before I decide if I will punish you."


    This was where Willow''s breath caught in her throat. She had been convinced to rival Ventus because they were all wind dragons. Her and Ae should be strong enough to handle Ventus. But against a darkness dragon? No, a royal dark dominator dragon... She could not handle such an opponent right now.


    Normally, dragons passed down the royal dragon title to those that are born to them or to those strong enough to handle it. Battles for the position were not unfamiliar, especially in the earth and fire dragon viges.


    However, the wind dragons rarely fought outright like this. It was an oddity that was pushed forward by Ae. Partially since she wished for the power but also because she believed that Ventus had taken on too much risk to be epted by others.


    "I only want the best for my little one. I don''t want her to be something that is bowing her head to others. I want her to be proud and strong." Willow shouted to be louder than Mordant. Her scales shivering slightly to show that she was struggling to hold the dragonkin form she was in. She was still not entirely used to it just yet.


    "Then you will meet those that your little one met. You will train with them. You will eat with them. You will experience what she did. Then you will decide whether or not there are issues. But while you slumbered for a short time, your child aplished many things. You can understand the height of those things after experiencing them."


    While he would not force her, Mordant could see the purity within Willow''s mana. She was not one to scheme or trick. Just one that felt a little too much. Being controlled with another''s words was something she should have been able to go against. However, Ventus was gone, her child had been used against her, and she had been weakened from slumber which she was woken from too early. It was all a lot to handle at once. Any dragon would struggle.


    Mordant took her with him, clearly, she didn''t seem hostile and he did not have any reason to go against the wind dragons and their love for their children. They wererger in number because of that care and always had seriously stronger children. Even to the point that some could call it cruel in a way.


    Regardless, Mordant knew that Ventus was busy and would return in due time from the outskirts of Genesis.


    "Show me what you believe is strength." Ventu remained within her dragonkin form as she watched Ae erupt in wind mana to take her elder wind dragon form. There were sharper scales proving that she had advanced significantly toward the goal of bing more.


    If she had the time, Ventus could tell that Ae could be a wind dominator dragon. This strength was simr to hers when she had begun meeting the party. When she had forged a bond with Genesis. When she had gone to battle and eventually found the lost history of the wind dragons.


    They were different though. Ventus could sense it much more clearly now. The small bits of impure wind mana that whipped around and inside of Ae''s body. Even with herrger dragon form, it wasn''t enough to shake Ventus''s expression.


    That was a hit to Ae''s pride. As a dragon who believed herself better to lead the wind dragons and eventually more than that, she should stroke fear. She should inspire awe. She should be respected above all else. Yet, Ventus was silent and unmoving.


    "You have grown a bit." Ventus spoke without a single bit of wind mana fluctuating around her. Ae didn''t notice that the wind mana had absolutely no reaction around Ventus at all. It should have been moving wildly but instead, it was still. Perfectly so.


    "You are older than I am. However, I was stronger and raised for this position. To be a royal that is. You, were too weak. You were not growing as well as I was. You were too emotional. You, are still too foolish to be a royal wind dragon responsible for the others." The wind finally reacted.


    This wind, was not calm whatsoever. It felt dangerous. Dense. Powerful.


    "I have done a great deal for my children. You are correct. I even risked my very life to be at the whim of another within their territory to learn of our history and of the wind that we rely on for life itself. And you say I am the weak one? That I do not care?"


    Her wind dominator dragon form came to full heat well above that of Ae''s. Her scales had a slight glisten of pure condensed wind mana flowing over and even in to them. The pressure of that wind mana was many times more intense than what Ae could even muster.


    "You believe that Icked wind mana. No. I was sealed, but my body was bathed within pure wind mana. While I could not control it, a fellow wind dominator dragon many times older than myself gave me guidance. I can condense wind mana in the world and mimic that form of impable control. Impable strength."


    "You harmed the bond between a newly hatched child and their mother. Shook the foundation of her growth. Did you expect me too blind to notice that you stole away her stored wind mana as she slumbered? You could have killed one of your own!"


    "And now, you were prepared to kill me and became the royal wind dragon in my ce. There is no exile for a royal wind dragon. They perish in their position. They retire and be a keeper of memories before they perish. Or they attempt to venture deeper within mana to disappear or ascend."


    "Do you know that you have made your own choice to perish here?"


    All the wind mana that Ae believed she had control of was stolen from her. The entirety of her being was weak. Weaker than she had ever been. Whether it was after fighting others or when she was nothing but a hatchling looking up at the previous royal wind dragon for the first time. Nothing couldpare to the weakness she had right this moment. Looking down on the elder dragon who dared step on her toes, Ventus growled slightly causing the wind mana pressure to grow even greater than it had just a moment ago. "It is a new age. I will not kill you here. I will make you live. You will never feel the touch of wind. I will remove your strength. You will be ostracized by wind itself. You will not fly again. You will not attempt to look down on myself or another dragon again."


    What Ventus had learned about wind and who she was as a dominator dragon had be valuable. Right now, she used that knowledge in a way that she would call cruel under any circumstance.


    But for someone who desired her fall? No, this was mercy. She could easily take Ae''s life for such actions. Instead, she would live up to the future she desired within Genesis. A kind future


    for even an enemy.


    ....


    ----n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2277 . Not So Warm Welcome

    Chapter 2277. Not So Warm Wee


    "What do you mean they left?" the confusion on Gil''s face was justified. Mostly because Midnight had mentioned that Walker and Su had left right before he got there. And by right before, he means minutes which was ridiculous. To be fair, they had left using the elemental rune teleportation formation and Gil had arrived minutes after. It was just bad luck to be off by so little in timing. While Gil, Zephyr, and Ventus were going to take a few moments to exin their experiences to Walker, they knew very well that they might not see him for a few days. If not weeks since Su had brought him to explore something new. With their luck, they would discover some underground cave or some new species of monster in the water. It could be a while before all that was recorded or handled. Gil knew that this sort of twist was fairly tame for their party. Regardless, Ventus had to go to have the curses and seals removed from her. She wanted to feel the flow of wind mana and be able to reaffirm her new knowledge. That was just part of her goals though. She wanted to share what she learned through example for the other wind dragons and those that desired to learn from her. The experiences within the elemental nes would be valuable to her and mostly, to others. She was a wind dominator dragon and she was a royal dragon. She had to share what she learned with everyone she stood for so that they could keep growing. Moreover, she had to prove that her leaving was worthwhile. She had left behind her people after all. Something very risky to do. On another note, it appeared that Zephyr had already disappeared to see other wind spirits. Gil had thought she would rest, but apparently, the pure wind mana she had gathered was not just for her. He liked that though, Zephyr was always kind to him and others, this was just more proof that she was his ideal partner when fighting any battle. "Youe back and you don''t rush to see me?" Alma''s vice broke Gil from asking Midnight anything more. He also nced at Onyx who hade to see them, but Onyx just looked at him. His gaze silently told Gil that he wouldn''t be able to save him if he tried. "I am still trying to get my bearings. All that wind mana made my head fuzzy. But now that I am-" a small vine whipped up and wrapped Gil''s arm forcing him closer to Alma who hugged him. "I''m home. Sorry for being away too long." "Better." she nodded a little before letting him go. Her eyes were a little confused since she had noticed he felt different. "What''s that look for?" He didn''t think he looked way different than what we had looked like before he left. He also knew that he didn''t grow or change clothes either. He had just switched to a second set of what he had already been wearing. "The mana around you is different. But it''s not the same as if you are just bringing mana with you from the elemental nes. I have felt how that feels. This is like it''s part of you?" her guess felt right. Especially the more she focused on it and allowed for her own mana to interact a little with the vines she had growing around Gil. While everyone has grown stronger, Alma had done so as well. The world has changed and so had sses and the system that everyone used since existence gifted it to them. Yet, Alma had done what many others did and let their instincts guide them more than focusing on the system''s words as if they were ck and white. This sort of style of learning proved better for most people since they could get better results when they epted that the system was a guide and their skills were a part of them entirely. That single thought was the best mindset to have. Strength from within could grow rather than gifted strength which would remain as such, just a gift. Alma''s strength had grown to the point that she could do more than just grow nts and use them as part of her. She could sense mana, footsteps, and even the wellbeing of an entire forest through them. She could also influence how they grew to a much more specific level. Not to mention the various new nts she had added to her portfolio of strength. All that aside, Alma had gotten in the habit of always activating small seeds she had left all around Genesis. Not because she wanted control over the city, but so she could monitor everything in an emergency. The seeds were small and weak vines anyways, they could not handle a real threat. Only help maintain damaged structures for a short while or to trip up an army if need be. They were better for surveince in dire times. Through the little vines she had brought out, she could feel the mana flowing around Gil being different. He didn''t have the same feeling of natural mana around him right now. "Oh, you might want to take a seat. A lot about elven blood and heritage you know is wrong. I managed to put together some of therger puzzle pieces of why the elves began to drift apart and lose the high elven blood along with the proper way to go through a trial to awaken that blood." But she also felt her natural dragon might pushing away all the negative lingering effects. She had learned more about wind mana and that meant about herself. Naturally, her body would reflect those changes as she returns herself to her optimal stature. As Gil delved in to the theory that the younger elves idolized the high elves when they changed their mana affinities and the manas they used to a singr mana for certain events, Ventus had just begun to encounter a few other dragons. "Thank you all again for assisting me." Ventus felt the mana beginning to flow around and through her properly again. The seals and curses being released was as if she was taking a breath of fresh air once again.


    But she also felt her natural dragon might pushing away all the negative lingering effects. She had learned more about wind mana and that meant about herself. Naturally, her body would reflect those changes as she returns herself to her optimal stature. "You are not needed. Now that you have been unsealed, you may find a small mountain and rest there." The words came and went with the wind. Ventus looked at the two elder dragons she had seen grow to be elders standing before her. "While jokes are not often a dragon''s pastime, you are adapting to other races well. However, it does not suit you." There was only soft breezes in Ventus''s words as she responded. "We do not joke. From this point on, we will represent the wind dragons. We will take the title of royal. You have already shown that you will leave behind the dragon and the dragonkin to venture in to danger. You have had your children treated better than others before all were epted within Genesis. You have stolen benefits for them. You do not represent us." "I expected this from you, Ae. From you, Willow, I did not believe you would be dragged in to such things. You normally remain in seclusion. You even left your daughter in my care. She is learning quite a bit from Genesis. Taught by the true dragon champion Midnight and by the standing nature dragon Walker." Now her words were bing sharp. The threat of a mighty dragon leaking out. Daring them to push further. "You did not care for Willow''s child. You left her as soon as she fell in to slumber and left her child with another. Then you ventured in to danger! You did not care for her or us. The stress caused Willow to awaken early when her child came near her using odd magic. She is not the same in such a short time!" Now Ventus''s eyes focused on the true problem here. While she had been gone, some who did not agree with her, no. one, who did not agree with her had stirred up the slumbering elder potentially adding to a failure in growth. Potentially breeding more distrust. "Ae, you have grown in to quite the clever elder dragon. But you are foolish. You can only dream of causing me harm. Your strength is still well below what I possess. Even as I am now, low on mana, I can bring forth greater power than you will ever reach." "I know that look, I will drag you three away, or should I only bring the one?" the shadows reared up as Mordant met eyes with Ventus. "Please just bring Ae and myself outside of Genesis. I owe you for your keen senses, Mordant." She and Mordant trusted one another. As royal dragons, they would often leave the other to handle their issues. Genesis changed that now though. Here, Mordant had kept an eye on things while Ventus was away. Out of respect and care for the future of all dragons. .¡­


    ¡­.


    ¡­. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 2279: 2279. Make It Right

    Chapter 2279: 2279. Make It Right


    "This is the new age then?" Rise looked down at the unconscious Ae. She had been watching from well in the sky above Ventus as she had returned. It was only natural that Mordant was not the only one who came looking for Ventus.


    They knew very well that she would have learned a great deal about the history of dragons within the elemental nes when they all return. But they also understood that Ventus and the others might have learned some integral parts about manas and wind mana as a whole. This could change their perspectives as well.


    "The dominator dragon there are older than even the history we have. They remember when the world was the more dangerous ce. The ancient monsters and how the elemental nes are the safer ces for dragons to live."


    Rise looked down at Ae again and wondered about safety. Right now, some of their elders were unsettled and did not believe that the royals were still strong. Especially with the fact that they had formed alliances and changed the course of dragon history as they all knew it. "The dominator dragons can not move. They help bnce mana at a level well above what we can even understand. With the world being cut off from them for so long, they are ahead of us and the ancient on ster battles that forged dragons of the world in to intensely powerful beings are no more. That means we are the weak ones."


    "We must be united if we wish to be able to meet them. Their dragonkin are not the same either. They have also changed due to the pure mana over many years. They are not even recognizable in some forms." Ventus was trying to recall what she had been told. However, she also understood she had not been brought to meet these dragonkin for a reason.


    The differences would have been there. Yet, the wind dominator dragon she had met would worry about the dragonkin he led wanting to follow another. Especially the young ones. They may have seen a dominator dragon that could move and not be anchored down. A chance for more than just maintaining a bnce. There were always some who wished for change toe.


    Rise was remaining entirely calm while she listened to Ventus speak. That was when she nced to the side and Current came flying toward them. "I thought I sensed some fighting, not that it appears to have been much."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The royal dragons dealing with a few issues with their elders now and then was normal. However, current could tell that ventus had managed to do something quite potent to handle the issue that hade to her. "I assume this is something you have learned recently?" he pointed at the copsed Ae without a hint of wind mana around her.


    "Yes, from the wind dominator dragon within the wind elemental ne, I learned how to manipte wind better. I could not test it nor use wind mana while there. I epted those terms. However, I did learn to take away the mana from dragons that serve me. Not in cruelty, but enough to show them strength over the mana and understanding of what we are as wind dragons."


    There was a lot more to it, but nothing more than that would make any sense to the other royal dragon since they had different elemental affinities. They seemed to understand this as well. "As I was saying to Rise, this is the start of our history changing. While I learned some from the wind dominator dragon within the wind elemental ne, I understand that we were descendants of extremely powerful dragons."


    "Those that could travel in to the world andpete with the chaotic manas and ever changing terrain. Those that could fight or survive the ancient monsters in their most powerful forms. They were trapped here when the world fell apart. The pure elemental dragons continued to live within the elemental nes, we grew weaker here and lost the knowledge to grow further."


    Rise looked at Current and Ventus, her eyes holding their gaze. "We have already epted a great deal. Even I have made relevant changes..." Her deep breath was enough to show her mind lingering on how she could have made different choices and had things go very mentally.


    "If we need to begin to think about the issues that may arise within or even after our lifetimes, then we should do so. Learning things as Ventus has which allows her to do what Walker is able to do. To iste the mana and cease others from using magical or even their own skills. Then we must do so overall and not just as individuals."


    Seeing that it was Rise agreeing with everyone was somewhat shocking for the group. Not that they did not trust her or that they did not expect her to remain calm. It was that Ventus and Current thought that she would have wanted to remain growing alone. She had been keeping to herself very much so since they had begun developing territories for the dragons. As they began to speak a little more in depth, Mordant was standing carefully with Willow. She had brought her to the Genesis building where Erica was currently.


    "Erica is here. You know this building is where all of the leaders of Genesis meet and where many of those that need helpe first." Mordant saw that Willow would not speak since she still was under the impression that she would be punished harshly. Align with the fact that Mordant had a clear power over her using shadows and darkness mana entirely.


    While they walked in to the Genesis building and passed the counters, Willow heard a few voices praising Erica. "She was incredibly upset after she had been told she was not your child any longer. That she was tainted." Mordant''s re could have crushed weaker beings if they were not mentally strong enough. But he still continued.


    "She came here because she knew this was where Alice was and where others would arrive after they handled their business. Midnight is like an older sister teaching her many things. Alice was like a kind teacher to her. To be said that the things she learned from them were wrong when Erica is one of the first to be able to show off a unique form of wind and light mana together. It''s insulting."


    "You, as a dragon, insulted one of those who will grow to be a pir of our race growing within Genesis. You failed as a parent. You failed what the wind dragons use to set themselves apart from us other dragons. The protection of children." Mordant saw that Erica noticed the wind mana and the dragonkin form of Willow as they entered her.


    Erica''s clearly afraid appearance as Alice took a step in front of her with light beginning to gather around her. The small hum proved that Alice would dly do more than just make some small light barrier to defend Erica from the mother who had harmed her recently.


    "Do you not see what you have done? If Ae were to be the royal wind dragon and you the first elder under her, would you wish to see all others beneath you in fear? Would you wish to see your blood like this?"


    Mordant did not stop his pressure. Dark mana was pushing down on Willow while she had to listen to every single word. She knew very well that there was nothing she could do, say, or think that would protect her. She also could feel everything much more clearly.


    "You were wronged. Your mana was taken while you slumbered. Your fellow elder, took from you. They harmed you in a state that every dragon and dragonkin protects. It is a disgrace to our race and to our position within Genesis. You should not need to worry about those that should protect you. Your dragonkin did not expect this and neither did any other wind dragon.


    "That does not mean you can wallow in this position. You have a choice right now. You will suffer the same fate as Ae. A loss of all her power as an elder and most likely her life. Or, you can attempt to right the wrongs you have done in your harmed state. You can step back and begin to learn how to walk forward."


    Alice backed off after hearing what Mordant had said. Shepletely understood some of the situation but most importantly, the reason that he hade here. She had just arrived within the Genesis building shortly before Erica came. She had her business, but had dropped that in


    a heartbeat.


    Neither Mordant nor Alice spoke a word. Even the rushing attendants that needed to get in the same room bothered to take a step as they watched a mother begin to remedy her mistake


    with her child.


    No one cared for their race as this happened. Who would?


    ---


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2280: 2280. Dragons Stand Together

    Chapter 2280: 2280. Dragons Stand Together


    By the time that Su and Walker had made their way back with a small number of water and sky wyverns, they were both somewhat exhausted.


    Between having to scour each ind to ensure that every single wyvern had been brought along, including one troublesome hatchling who tried to hide, and gathering materials to bring back, they had be very run down.


    The number of materials haad started off small, but the more that either of them thought about it, the more that they both understood that they would have to make more tips if they did not gather arge amount now.


    Since they would need more of the unique crystals, Walker had spent a lot of time under the water gathering the broken pieces which had long fallen from the cliff side of the inds. That way he did not damage the inds any more than the way nature had already done to them.


    The various herbs which he had gathered were all very interesting as well. It wasn''t just one or two herbs that had very in depth root systems relying on the mana that flowed through the crystals deeper in the soil. Hence why he had spent quite some time hunting down the youngest of those herbs and managing to put them in pots or gather seeds.


    The herbalists would be able to attempt growth using a green house made from the various forms of crystals. Then they would be able to focus on the uses that these herbs may have and so on. Su saw the value in this as well which was why she had taken the time to assist the researchers in building up the base near the inds even more.


    Their work would be brought right to Genesis as they learned more. That would change the experimentation and the format of growth for some of their herbs. She had asked the simple question about whether or not the ehr on the inds needed the heat and dense fog that rose due to the high light and heat of the day.


    It prompted a few of the present herbalists to begin their own experiments right away. Which she had naturally been dragged in to witness and assist with her intellect. Shecked the skills to manipte mana enough to help but she wasn''t foolish and could see potential changes with her dragon eyes while interpreting them.


    "You can handle everything else for now. I am going to have a long bath and then sleep for at least a day." Walker couldn''t argue with what Su wanted to do at all. She spent a lot of time around the what of the inds along with assisting others establish a base. Not to mention help create the bonds the wyverns had with them. She deserved a day to herself at the very least.


    As Su left, Walker was about to head toward the Genesis building, then to various ces to drop of materials. However, he sensed a few familiar manas approaching.


    "You were looking even before we came over the buildings." Current smirked a little noticing that Walker had sensed them as soon as they began to near him. He didn''t even look like he was intentionally doing so either.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I have been getting more ustomed to unique forms of mana. I need to if I want to keep growing." They looked at him as if he was saying something ridiculous. What reason did he have to get stronger right now? He was able to fight them all at once. Or at least that''s what they all believed.


    "I am surprised that you are all together though." Walker wasn''t sure what had caused every single royal dragon to gather. Let alone why they hade to see him since he and Su had just returned. Not that this stopped Su from walking away.


    "Well, we thought it best to update you a little." Ventus was the one to step forward. "It''s not about the new race that arrived with Gil, Myself, and Zephyr. It''s about the dragons and their elders who have decided they do not believe in the royals'' strength any longer. They believed that as dragons we should be ruling over this ce. That we are weakening because we are following others."


    Looking at all of them, Walkerughed a little. "How many dragon elders did everyone beat up?" He knew very well that out of everything, the royal dragon did not see this as some power struggle. Instead, they certainly would care more about maintaining the immense amount of growth the dragons had been undergoing.


    "I guess that makes things easier. I didn''t have a single fire dragon dumb enough to go against myself and Remey." Ignus smirked. He held his head high enough to show that he valued himself as better than the others in this respect.


    "You constantly show your strength above them. They never have the ability to go beyond you." Terron huffed a little but also continued. "I had a few that did not wish to follow my example. We are solitary dragons. We prefer our own caves and space." This made a lot of sense. It was just an earth dragon''s nature to be alone.


    "I have sent three elders to explore the coasts and oceans. They know they are unable to break my flow. Instead, they asked to be allowed to leave from here and live as they wish. The price for that is to assist in the mapping of the underwater coastlines." This was a brilliant idea from Current. These water dragons would have a lot done faster than some others could do it. It also might change these elder''s minds.


    "Rise and I took the same measures against our elders who were unsettled. They have refused to leave our territory and will not participate within battles. They are going to be keepers of history. They are assisting our great elder in his duties as we record events."


    "We felt this was better than allowing them to waste away in the sky iming pure light or pure shadows in a deep hole. I understand they are unhappy but pride simply will cause us to be monsters." Rise appeared to have learned a lot from the sin title holders and knew that these titles were still out there. A dragon could easily be the next Pride.


    "I have stripped one elder entirely of their ability to manipte and gather wind mana. She is forced to remain within a dragonkin form and will be punished as I see fit. Another has been harmed by that elder and is currently rebuilding her mana base and rtionship with her child. Erica was hurt by the reaction caused by the elder in question and her mother slumbering was as well. The damage will be repaired between them over time."


    Ventus spoke with the most steel in her voice. Walker understood that this was both a hard event to go through, but also arge decision from the dragons. They were cementing their desires to remain united with Genesis and other races. Fully stepping beyond their past and in to their future.


    "I can feel that this was arge decision by all of you. There are more details I can learn aboutter, but I trust every single one of you. I know as time goes on, you will all raise others to take your ce. Some sooner than others. I will maintain respect for you and for those who represent your dragon race in the future. And I will do my best to stand as someone deserving of your and their respect."


    They all nodded. Walker was the standing nature dragon; his eptance of this event was extremely important. Whether or not he was actually a dragon at the end of the day did not matter. He stood as one who would be a dragon no matter what. Even as an origin being.


    "I think we will be seeing many more unique dragons in the future as we go on. I didn''t realize how many dual elemental dragons had appeared due to fighting viges reaching a truce through rtionships. Or other means. What I''m saying is, that we may see a nature dragon in the future."


    "Yes yes, we know you will raise them too. A proper nature dragon and not some hero who can learn whatever happens in front or around them." Ignus waved Walker off knowing that things were getting more emotional.


    "You''re right, cut the emotions. Instead, who wants to tell me about what happened while I was away for a few days? I heard something about a new race? That could be interesting. Ventus, you should know a lot about them, right?" walking together with all the royal dragons toward the Genesis building was quite the sight to see for a few people who managed to pass them on the streets.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2281: 2281. All Wrapped Up...

    Chapter 2281: 2281. All Wrapped Up...


    Walker''s time with the royal dragon did notst very long within the Genesis building. They were all busy, as was he.


    Whoever, he was interested to hear that more hatchlings had been advancing faster than before. It wasn''t just the gathered mana being denser or the mana being of a higher purity. It was the knowledge that they were gaining from various sources.


    The elders who supported these changes and helped the hatchlings explore the city since those elders could take dragonkin forms were amazed. They witnessed hatchlings with affinities for certain sses that the dragons had never seen.


    Whether it was alchemy, forging, or even healing all of those were new to the dragon race. They had relied on strength, leadership, and territory. They rarely had to deal with other sses since they worried about their bodies. The draconic runes were even less researched as well because of that.


    Now, Genesi was advancing more than just one race. All knowledge is being traded freely and for all. This allowed the dragonkin and the younger dragons to take chances in their lives. To find ways to walk a path which never would have been walked by them if they remained in their isted viges without other races to meet with.


    Hence why there were now hatchlings taking the lead in that respect. They were young and adaptable. They were able to listen to their dragon history which was being organized properly for the first time in many generations. Learn from it, while also learning about other histories.


    That alone gave them the knowledge needed to be able to develop different ways of living in general. Whether it was learning tomunicate at a younger age. Whether it was manipting manas at a younger age. Or taking on a ss entirely, which a few had already done.


    Their growth would lead to them furthering the mark that the dragons had on history overall. Especially since the history of Genesis as a whole was going to be something more than what many had ever expected. Just looking at things as they were now, well, it was something spectacr.


    Regardless, once he had managed to speak with the dragons, Walker was d to hear about the gale horn ogres. They were a very interesting race which exceeded the ogres known to the world.


    The fact that they had significantly high intelligence which allowed them to survive within the wind elemental nes was a key factor of how they would be able to fit in to Genesis overall. Not because they were able to manipte wind mana, but because they were very different from the ogres of the world.


    The current monsters known as ogres were tough to deal with and brutal. They used physical force without magic at all. They also healed fairly quickly and could cause massive damage to a small vige or poption of other monsters. They also rarely lived together.


    The gale horn ogres were smaller and had sacrificed strength to gain intellect and mana control. Wind mana control allowed them to use their natural affinities to fight and survive. Here in Genesis, they would not need to worry about being hunted down to be consumed for the pure wind mana gathering within their horns and their bodies.


    That being the case, they also did not need to worry about being able to use their natural skills that came with their high wind affinity. Within the world, they could still gather wind mana and eat wind affinity nts, fruits, and meats. They had everything they needed.


    While those speaking with them had shown that the worry that the gale horn ogres would have nothing to do, it came to light that they wished to be able to build their own homes. Something that they had always been wanting to do but could not with the fact that the wind elemental nes shifted and brought monsters which destroyed their homes too often.


    That was when they could even take the time to settle within an area for a short time. Not that they expected to have some form of protection to be able to do that. It was already clear that Ventus, Gil, and Zephyr had learned about how the elemental nes functioned better than they had all learned before.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "They learned that the more powerful races within a single elemental ne are responsible for protecting the up anding races. Specifically, if those up anding races grew enough, they could serve the other races. Such as the angelic wind angels serving the dragons and the true wind sage. The same with the ancient wind dominator dragons serving the origin beings by maintaining bnce just be remaining in a constant ce as the wind elemental ne shifted naturally.


    All of that was not essible to small races like the gale horn ogres. They could have been driven to extinction in the time it took for them to get that powerful. A loss for everyone since a race that could bring amazing potential may have been wiped out.


    Seeing that they had desires to build a home, that might lead to new forms of building which the dwarves could use too. A way of making better homes that can handle the changing manas of the word.


    That was an issue which had been brought up more than once. As manas gathered in density and purity, materials would change. The very same as everything else within the world was changing. Therefore, new forms of stronger building would need to be done. Would need to be researched over time.


    When it came to the materials and herbs that Walker brought, the alchemy guild didn''t even go get Remey or stop to notify her. Walker had expected that she would be called right away. Instead, the old master alchemist had called for some of the leading herbalists so that Walker could leave the herbs and crystals with them.


    He also called for some of the researcher darves who were focused on discovering new characteristics of metals, materials, and other monster rted items used to forge or craft. This brought the alchemy and the crafting guilds together before Remey even got her hands on the materials he had brought.


    They all knew that if some of the higher ups like Remey or the dwarven kings saw these things, they would take them and focus on them over many other things. The old master alchemist knew very well that Remey was amazing, but she was a hyper focusing person. He saw it when she was little and focused on being able to get medicine for her siblings. Why would she be different now?


    Not wanting to be dragged in to themotion, Walker left the materials behind and hoped to hear about how they would be used. As he left, he heard about unique wands being made for young mages learning unique forms of light mana. An idea that Walker wanted to help


    with.


    He controlled himself though. If he got dragged in to all this, he would miss helping the wyverns and the gale horn ogres who were going to be limating to Genesis over the course of the next months. A lot of changes would be happening.


    There was also the fact that the sky and water wyverns needed to meet the earth wyvern queen. They hade in to quarrels before as Walker and others had learned. So making peace would be an important aspect of getting along in the future. Not just now, but for the


    long term.


    "Brother."


    "Onyx, you could have waited for me at home. I was heading there now. I even ignored the temptation to stay at the alchemy and crafting guild meeting and learn about some new materials." Walker''sughter at that was hiding his temptation to turn around and do so. He knew full well that he could be pulled back there.


    "You can''t go back home yet. Brother, we have an issue to handle." for Onyx toe looking for Walker as soon as he returned meant that this was not something small. It also meant that Onyx wanted to make sure that it was handled properly and was not just here to get Walker, but wanted to help with it as well.


    "What''s going on? You are acting a little too serious for this to be something small." Walker knew that this had to be handled carefully. He trusted Onyx and Onyx trusted him. He had grown up fast and well, so Onyx knew that Walker would match his focused and serious


    attitude.


    "We found another ruin. It has more eggs from when the ancient angels hid underground. They are different than the race I lead." This was more than enough to make Walker understand why Onyx needed him right now.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2282: 2282. Ruins Hunter

    Chapter 2282: 2282. Ruins Hunter


    "Where were the ruins found?" Walker gave his full focus on this matter. He could stay away for weeks at a time with the strength that he possessed. Why would he put this aside? Especially with how important it is to Onyx right now.


    His focus on this matter allowed Onyx to rx a little. That alone was enough for Onyx to remain focused on what he hade for. The details were already memorized since Onyx had been amazed to find who and how the ruins had been found.


    Three of the abyssal serpents had gone to explore. While they were still young, they had desires to be explorers. Their sses are called ruin hunters. A few others have discovered the very same ss since they want to find ruins of the past."


    Onyx''s pride in the three serpents that had gone off with their ruin hunter sses was clear. Walker also wondered what sorts of skills that a ruin hunter would have. Especially if those sses helped in discovering, understanding, and gathering everything about ruins.


    There were plenty of ruins hidden away from ancient times up until now. The world had not been a calm and easy ce to live in the past.


    "The ruins were found on the edge of the mountains right before the desert. The rocks there were broken after the expansion of the world with the return of mana flow. So, the crags and deeper crevices were their ess to the ruin which had been sealed by earth and time."


    "It makes a lot of sense. I wouldn''t expect that some of the ruins we will find will just remain hidden after the world changed again. Some might even be reopened because the world returned to its proper everything." The theory was sound and many people had already expected such things.


    The world had been reduced in a way. Unable to be its full potential because mana wascking. Hence why the dragons and other races had been declining in a sort of way. Their strength was lower because they could not rely on the higher amounts of mana which they needed to properly function.


    Right this moment, plenty of uniquendscapes had expended in to arger and more dangerous ce. There might not have been as many monsters since they would not


    spontaneously appear, but as time went on, that would change.


    The environments certain monster species and nt species had needed were returning. This meant that as time went on, there would surely be more of those nts and monsters. It would make certain wilderness areas much more dangerous. But also more bountiful for many people to explore. It was a bnce of sorts.


    Also a perk of expanding the magic towers. The teleportation formations that could be set up at those locations would allow for easier traveling. In turn, that would allow for easier gathering of materials or young adventurers to grow more quickly.


    "I think I want to head to this ruins with you, sounds good?" Walker wanted to think more about his theories with how growth could happen in the future. A ruin like this could allow for there to be more growth chances but also could turn in to a ce that monsters frequented.


    "I was hoping you would want to do so. There are many monsters that have been attempting to get inside and only one of the ruin hunters has been able to return while the other to maintain the safety of the area. We will not lose what was left behind to find by thete generations."


    Seeing that Onyx was focused on these things as well, Walker had no issues with it. "We will also be saving your young ones too. They were pretty brave to go off alone already. Or were they growing a little too fast?" Walker saw Onyx turn his head away. Clearly, he was trying to avoid showing his emotions here.


    "Is the third that came to get youing?" Waker was surprised he did not see this third ruins hunter. But to be clear, he also found it to be a chance that the third had been injured.


    "He does not recover as fast as we would. He is resting after managing toe here in such a rush. It took them three weeks to get where they were and he rushed back in three days." This made a lot more sense. After pushing himself beyond his limits, this little serpent had been entirely exhausted and might need weeks of rest at his level.


    "Then you made the right decision not to let hime."


    "I would want to go with you as well Brother. I forced him to stay within the cathedral under the supervision of a few strict healers." It was easy to feel that Onyx felt bad but also understood he had made the best decision for the situation.


    "I will be taking you two that way then. I have wanted to get outside the city too." Mordant grinned a little. "You both sensed me there and spoke anyway. I was just nning to speak with Walker about the feelings of dark mana increasing around the citytely. I have a feeling that it''s not just the natural flow right now."


    "We can look in to that after we help out Onyx''s ruin hunters. They found some odd eggs that are dormant and could be another race or something more. If youe along, you can also explore the ruins with us." Mordant nodded along and started to take his dragon form after leaping in to the sky. Walker let Onyx on to his shoulders and they were caught by Mordant''s ws.


    Getting used to Mordant traveling throughout the shadows was not something Walker thought he would do any time soon. It was much harder to adapt to than the feeling of moving using space mana. But something Walker did notice was that the method of shadow diving Mordant used cost slightly more mana than what it had before.


    Just the ability to sense the dark mana that Mordant was using was enough for Walker to see that it came with a greater cost. The thing was, this time Mordant was carrying fewer people. Meaning that it wasn''t Mordant or the passengers that were causing it.


    Most likely, this was that feeling where there was more dark mana around. If that was the case, it could be making using dark mana harder in general since the flow of dark mana overall was changing throughout the world. Something that Walker would need to focus on the most as time went on.


    Luckily, this journey was made much quicker by Onyx guiding Mordant. Because Onyx had the ability to use dark mana as well and even store his body in the shadows, he was able to use the location of the other little serpents as an anchor for where he felt he needed to go. While a littleplicated, Walker understood it well enough.


    The issue was that they couldn''t just move through the shadows and appear within the ruins. Doing so would massively disturb the area and also bring a lot of dark mana around where they appeared. Not to mention that Mordant''s full dark dominator form appearing there could cause a copse within the ruins due to his size.


    So, the distance that they appeared when Mordant had used enough dark mana and moved far enough, was stillrge. They would have to travel in to the mountains which overlooked part of the expanded desert.


    Whoever, the moment that they came outside of the shadows, Walker was stunned.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The sheer size of these mountains and therge cliffs was easily doubled from what he remembered from thest time he was within this area. The sand dunes were alsorger, but they did not appear as evil or expanding as they had been. The sands felt as if they were a part of the world and bnced this area better. There were even many cacti growing in the distance from what Walker could tell.


    These were good signs that the changes as the mana flow returned to the world were all as they should be. However, he also understood that this made traveling much harder. For the average adventurer, no matter the race, this would be more difficult to traverse. Even those who could fly would struggle since they would have to deal with theck of ability to see within the cracks and shadows of rocks.


    "Onyx, we will follow you while Mordant focuses on gathering some dark mana again. And Mordant, I see what you were saying. I will be focusing on your problems next. We will figure it all out sooner rather thanter." With this, they began moving again, this time towards one


    of therger outcroppings of rocks. Arger cliff broken off from the mountains.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2283: 2283. Clacking Claws

    Chapter 2283: 2283. cking ws


    This unexpected group of three was not having any trouble moving around the area. They all were strong enough to handle the broken rocks which has clearly been a result of the world returning to the flow of mana and expanding. However, they were not very happy with the fact that there were many sharper rocks.


    This presented evidence that there would be more terrain based dangers all over the world since the rocks here had been hard, but when broken, had created razor sharp edges. The same could have happened elsewhere in the mountains. This meant that every mountain could be a very dangerous ce to travel all around.


    It also meant that any ce which had been hard to travel before could have be much harder now. The icy terrain in the very far north could have broken up which was not something simple. It had been frozen and the same for many years. Therefore, the cracks and holes formed could be hidden under snow.


    Important facts to ount for when the peoples of Genesis began to explore and look for anything and everything within the world as it was now. So much had changed that the entire known world was being mapped yet again. This wasn''t just by the people living within the city of Genesis, it was every kingdom within the alliance.


    "I would not send anyone here without prior warning. The desert monsters may be creeping in to the mountains as well." Mordant could smell various monsters in the air. He knew very well that therger territory might have a lot of better hunting ces for them.


    "I think we will have to make sure that every adventurer and otherwise thates out here will need to be at the right levels. The adventurer''s guild will need to be clearer on the ranking. Maybe we will need the most experienced adventurers to do preliminary examinations of certain areas.'' Walker''s idea didn''t seem to be a bad idea.


    "Brother, if that''s the case, we would have to do that as well. We are some of the strongest within the guild even though we are more than just adventurers now." There was a slightughter in the way that Onyx responded to Walker. Mostly because he found it funny that they might end up just going out to explore after all they had done recently.


    "I guess you are right, and if we start to do that we might get in trouble with a few people. Gil might even get locked up in the forest elf territory." Theirughter was a little much as Mordant shook his head. But he also understood that the party had delved in to new aspects of their life.


    It had been a lot for them to explore and struggle through in the past years. Time moved very quickly in their world now. Or at least it could be seen that way from the outside looking in. The sheer amount done was extreme walking with the general fact that days could pass to get to their goals.


    Their strength also allowed for them to go weeks without needing to stop their pursuit of their goals. Not many people could boast that. All this was beside the fact that the party had changed so much that even their ages were ambiguous at this point. Not because they had gotten younger or overall older. It was due to the fact that their lifespans had extended well beyond that of what a human''s should be.


    "There are some monsters ahead. They might be the very same we need to deal with to get inside the ruins." Walker broke Mordant out of his thoughts. Mordant wanted to reprimand himself. He had picked up Walker''s deep thinking habit while traveling or generally doing anything.


    ''Thorny rock scorpion


    After leaving the desert caves, they have absorbed enough earth mana to revert back to their natural states. This happened so quickly due to their month long growth period which allowed for them to develop rapidly and return to their original forms.


    The sharp rock like spikes on their carapaces allow for them to charge at prey or predators and do severe damage. They also like to break apart shart rocks to carry in their ws and swing at their enemies.


    Their stingers are not full of toxic venom as other scorpions. Their stingers only contain a pain inducing venom used to cause panic within their prey so that they are easier to capture and defeat.


    They will often pursuerger rock dwelling monsters in small groups. They can even be called a swarming species if they are found during a breaking season. During the driest times of the year, they will find a cave and iste themselves from the world until it rains. After which they will leave and find a partner.


    The females are three timesrger than the males and will often be extremely violent towards anything that can possibly threaten the nests that the males who swarm with them build for them to test within...''


    Walker could have read more about them. But he grasped the reasons why the ruins the three serpents and found might be under attack by these scorpions. "It''s amazing in a way. Those scorpions left the desert and during their month long growth process returned to their natural state. They hadn''t had enough earth mana to be them in the past."


    "They also might be looking for a ce to make a nest for thatrger female scorpion since it is pretty dry right now." he looked at Mordant and Onyx. "should we do this the easy way or the hard way?" His smile said that Walker would be d to do either.


    "Whatever way is faster." Onyx had started to gather a little dark mana in preparation for a battle. He wanted to handle the issue and know that Walker would be there to support him.


    "Then the easy way it is." Walker raised a hand and arge ball of water he had begun to gather above him while he had been standing there flew in to the sky. He had gathered it in just a few minutes. His speed at doing so was much faster than it had been.


    "Let it rain and watch them head away from here. They don''t need a cave to nest in if they have rain and they can head out to find other thorny rock scorpions to mess with." As the water began to fall, the scorpions that were visible froze. Thergest began to click her ws together and then the smaller male scorpions started to move around her.


    Many more began to crawl from crevices finally exposing arge cave opening with copsed rocks around it. They could easily see that the two serpents acting as ruins hunters had broken down the rocks adobe the entrance to keep it covered. The scorpions had barely managed to break in to that stone but caused even more stone to fall and block them.


    "They were smart to break the roof above the entrance. However, they also crushed one of the scorpions. I assume there may be another inside." Mordant''s focus on the broken carapace and his look untoward Walker was more than just ament.


    "Hold on." Walker tapped his foot as earth mana surged while the fake rain began to subside. It was only onerge water ball spread out over a small area. Just enough to make the scorpions want to move elsewhere. And the earth moving was just enough to make a space for the three to move through.


    Walker didn''t miss the chance to store away the crushed spiky rock scorpion though. Someone will want to research the materials. The wandering cksmith might even go hunting for them if they didn''t bring these to him as new materials to test things here and there on. After closing the stone behind them, Walker made a light orb which floated behind the three of them. But it was easy to what the cking and scraping of stone from ahead of the copsed entrance.


    Through the stone walls which were more broken than carved any longer, Walker, Onyx, and Mordant followed the sounds. Onyx moved faster than the other two though. He only allowed a little more of his body outside of his shadow but it was enough to make arger impact on the single living thorny rock scorpion chipping away at a closed stone door which was more of rubble than door.


    The crack of carapace as spikes of shadows broke through the carapace was like music to the two injured ruins hunters. "I am here to bring you two home. And I brought my older brother and Mordant the royal dragon." Onyx''s pride in announcing this was just too perfect inn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Walker''s eyes.


    ....


    ----


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2284: 2284. A Lot Of...

    Chapter 2284: 2284. A Lot Of...


    The two serpents were not so little. They could not house their bodies the same way that Onyx did in his shadow. However, they were not the small palm sized serpents that Walker could recall. They could easily wrap around his waist three or four times now.


    It also showed how one of them could use their dark magic affinity to manipte shadows and push themselves to move through the terrain much faster for a short while by using everything they had. Or, in this case, moves through the cracks in the rocks to discover something like these ruins.


    Part of Walker wondered if their sses would influence their growth. If they remained thinner to be able to move in to the ruins that they discovered or just to slither through smaller caves it would make more sense. Onyx had to growrger to be able to follow his bloodline but also tobat monsters with the party. Not that he had had a ss growing the way that he did.


    As much as he wanted to hear about that, Walker knew that the theory about sses affecting growth would and could apply to every single race. Taking the time to think about it could be the rest of everyone''s lives. Right now, he had to focus on what was more important. Specifically, healing the two serpents before him.


    As the healing light bathed the two serpents, Mordant looked around for any other monsters that might threaten them. However, his dragon senses were telling him that there were not any other spiky rock scorpions here. Instead, he was feeling that this ruin was a littlerger than what they had expected.


    While it wasn''t some magic sense or any unique ability, it was just his hunch. Yet, he knew that it was right. Maybe it was the way that he could look ahead in to the dark passways and feel that they kept going on for a while. Or maybe it was the earth mana around them proving that there was a deeper level to these ruins.


    "You two should be mostly healed, but I can''t rush your bodies to heal. You are missing scales and will have somesting scars. Not that I think either of you care. Your third partner seemed not to mind any injuries either from what Onyx said." Walker was sure that all three would show off these scars as the time they managed to discover a unique ruin to help Genesis.


    The two didn''t say much but Onyx appeared to understand that they were just too tired. They had managed to fight off multiple spiky rock scorpions which were definitely stronger than them. They had even copsed part of the entrance to these ruins to defeat some of them. Regardless of the situation, they had overextended themselves.


    "We will leave you here to rest with a buff from my brother. We will move towards the marked area you have explored and will search for any dangers remaining. Otherwise, we will ensure that this can be properly explored and researched with your lead."


    The focus on this wasn''t to tell Mordant and Walker that they would not be allowed to explore. Instead, it was to say that neither of the three would be taking a single bit of credit here. They hade to help at their request. As in, they were taking the back row on this.


    "I don''t wish to have credit. I am honored to be able to assist anyone and everyone who wishes to better the alliance we all spend our blood, sweat and tears growing." Mordant spoke softly. His words betrayed the ferociousness that many dragons were imagined to be at all times. But it would set a tone of respect that could help the ruin hunters in the future if they helped discover any other draconic ruins such as those that housed information about the dominator dragons.


    Not that there was evidence there would be more out there. But there was always a small chance, right?


    Using his mana sense, Walker was able to tell that there was a slightlyrger room nearby. He didn''t feel the flow of air around it so there was only one way in and out. He could also see that there was a single line drawn in the dust on the ground to prove that the path had been traveled by the three ruins hunters.


    As it was already explored and safe, plus Walker didn''t sense any oddities, the three began to move away. Walker had also put up a small wall of earth to make sure that the two resting serpents would be safe even if something dide moving by them while the three explored a little.


    "This has to be the room they discovered before they had to begin defending the ruins." Looking at the cracked stone door, they all understood the state of these ruins was very poor. The changes within the world had broken it and most likely, passageways could be extremely damaged orpletely copsed.


    Not that this would be the first ruin that the people of Genesis had found which was damaged. They had already figured out that the ruins left behind by the ancient angels were mostly temporary or storage areas. ces for them to hide while there were massive ancient monsters fighting. A safe ce for them to be.


    "I believe that more ancient ruins of other races will be found as well. They could be everywhere. The world had shrunk in a way due tock of manas." Mordant was not the first to say this. A few others had mentioned this before.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was another piece of evidence to support all of this. Which led to many people believing that the world had plenty more to offer. The more that mana returned in higher concentration to the world, the more that ancient bloodlines or ancient aspects of the world might return.


    Would it be the very same as ancient times? Of course it would not. However, it would still make arge difference which had to be followed carefully. Some aspects would foster growth and brilliance while others might cause negativity and depression. Managing all of that would be the leader''s responsibility.


    "I see why they wanted us toe." Onyx had stopped as he was the first one to enter. But just as they had seen before, there were rows and rows of stone shelves.


    Some had broken and fallen causing the eggs on them to be broken and begin to turn to dust over the ages. Others held rune markings which had managed to stay intact enough to keep the eggs dormant. However, it was the sheer number of eggs which caused the three ruins hunters to need someone higher up within Genesis toe here.


    "There must be three hundred or more here. I would never have imagined." Mordant''s awe was justified. No one would have expected that a ruin like this, in such a poor state, would somehow still have so many items saved through the ages. It was miraculous to say the least.


    ''Amarok egg


    This monster egg was once known as one of the more dangerous ancient monsters. Known to remain in solitude for the majority of its life, these intelligent wolf like monsters could easilypete with many of the other smaller monsters of the ancient eras based on their earth and water affinities.


    They were experts in using the water mana in the air and the earth mana at their feet to sense prey or predators. They would only ever join together when they were forced to fight a more terrifying predator or when they wished to reproduce.


    They had a major potential to be a race within the world if they were not hunted by other monsters due to their unique earth and water dual affinities. Their fur was also collected by the vampire since it was incredibly useful for repelling the light of the day.


    These eggs were forced to go dormant due to theplete istion from water and earth manas when discovered by an ancient race that believed they could be saved or even trained in the future. Even though this never came to be...''


    Walker read this all around appraisal out loud. His confusion when he read it was clear though. "If they were so smart, then how did they die out? Wouldn''t they have been able to avoid the ancient monsters better than that?" Since Onyx had asked, Walker wished he had a better answer. But they would only be able to tell if they could go back in time. And that was not a desire that Walker possessed.


    "If we can hatch them now, they could be the next race and the next monster that returns to the world. I''m surprised they never hatched here. But if this ce was isted because ofck of mana..." Walker trailed off since they all knew what that meant.


    ....


    ****


    ....


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus

 Chapter 2285: 2285. Observing

    Chapter 2285: 2285. Observing


    There were plenty of reasons that Walker could think of that would benefit them in bringing another species back to the world.


    Part of it was that the world was changing. Plenty of nts were finally receiving the manas that they needed to grow properly. Other than that, bloodlines and ancient aspects of monsters were returning because they also had the environments and manas necessary to do


    so.


    This meant that a monster like the Amorak might have a ce in the food chains. Ensuring that certain monsters did not grow out of control. Or they would be food for a monster that needed a prey that could allow them enough nutrients and mana to grow.


    However, Walker, Onyx, and Mordant focused on the fact that Amorak were a species of monster known to be more intelligent. They could have been intelligent enough to be able to eventually be a monster race recognized by the world.


    If this was the case, then they had just been active at the wrong time. In ancient times, they had been hunted too much, therefore, they had been brought nearly to extinction.


    Because of that, the ancient angels had attempted to find their eggs and force them in to dormancy. It was somewhat simr to the eggs of the abyssal and heavenly serpents at the time.


    Seeing that even the ancient angels who hid away in underground areas did this, it was best to remain focused on the intelligence aspect. The Amorak could be a race responsible for individual hunting or exploring.


    Their characteristics being that they preferred to be solitary was not an issue at all. Some Demi-humans preferred to remain in the wilderness over moving to Genesis with the majority of their people and kingdom. Such as the rabbit trait Demi-humans who were clearly allied with Genesis and the Demi-human kingdom.


    "We can collect all the dormant eggs without issues. I will also collect the shelves with my high spatial storage since the runes are still intact. That''s the best process I can think of."


    Seeing that Onyx and Mordant agreed, Walker began doing so. Meanwhile, Onyx and Mordant focused their attention on some copsed shelving which appeared to be different.


    "The wood these shelves are made from smells like mushrooms." While Mordant would not have found this odd since wood would rot over time, it didn''t make sense that the wood was intact, did not show signs of rot, and had just fallen and broken due to shifts in mana and the world as a whole.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I agree. The wood is simr to the cedar trees within the elven forests. But it''s purple instead of red. Ever so slightly purple." This led the pair to determine it was a different species of cedar than what grew nowadays.


    Between their examination, they also found eggs and not been part of these shelves at all. There was too much wood to be shelving in general. "I see now. This wasn''t just storage for those eggs. They optimized space."


    Mordant looked at Onyx for more information. He had yet to learn from the dwarves and Demi-humans who kept focus and design on the warehouses. They had the most experience in such subjects where as the dragons did not since they preferred to hunt all year round in their territories.


    "I learned that our food is stored alongside certain herbs which prevent pests from entering those warehouses. The elves use their grain storage right next to their pink cedar trees. It''s because pests dislike the scent. So, that means these purple colored cedars may not have rotted properly because they deter mold and pests."


    "Ah, you are saying that these cut boards were stored here with rune designs in them and rotted oddly while some hat protecting the eggs in this room."


    Noticing that Mordant caught on perfectly, Onyx continued. "We can prove it by checking another room."


    The two moved down the passageway and found more crumbled walls. To them, they could see that the passageway could continue for a greater distance. Unfortunately, they were limited to their skill sets and could not move the stone without risk of breaking the ruins even


    more.


    Luckily, there were other passageways that could be explored. And another room partially broken which was nearby.


    The evidence that there had been food here was all busy dust. The smell was still there for their sensitive noses to pick up though. Whether it was years or months, the slightest bit of rot would leave a mark that sensitive noses could pick up.


    Regardless, both could tell that there had not been pests around. Neither saw that there had been evidence of digging, scratching, or nibbling by pests. Both had seen and heard of the fact that pests would do so to walls or the grounds of underground food storage if not properly protected.


    They also found the same oddly mushroom smelling dried purple ish colored cedar broken to pieces. In their sight, there were not mushrooms, but as Mordant used a w to cut a piece apart, small lines simr to root or fungus trialing was evident.


    "They dry rotted extremely slowly since they were left for generations. Theck of mana actually helped us. I''m not sure if that was lucky or just educational for those dealing with current storage to handle. I would suggest some of the seeds within these piles of dust may remain though."


    Mordant was more than right. As the stored grains and seeds had turned to dust over time, it created an airtight dust seal around some. Leaving perfectly preserved evidence that some more ancient nts, mostly food rted, could be brought back.


    "Ancient wheat? That''s a great find." The moment Walker caught up to them, he had used all around appraisal to notice the seeds that Onyx had moved out of the dust with the tip of his tail.


    "And there is also spiky leaf basil? That''s a cooking herb. I wonder what it tastes like inparison to the surviving basil and wheat. It could tell us how nts changed due tock of mana over generations. It might allow us to grow better food atrger quantities for a growing poption."


    The praise was enough to make both Onyx and Mordant proud of their actions. They had worked together to quickly follow their leads and prepare to learn more. It also showed the value of the ruins which the ruin hunters discovered.


    "I won''t go repairing the damaged walls. A team will be put together led by the ruin hunters. But for now, we can share this information with them while they rest. I believe it will encourage them to explore more and work harder after they recover fully."


    Time would tell what else could be found. Right now, it would take some weeks to develop a proper team and have them lead it. Regardless, even if they found nothing more, this was enough to make a great difference in the future.


    As the three worked on the ruins, Gil had brought together the gale horn ogres with the dragonkin. He had exined a great deal with Alma and others, but maintained rity that he and Ventus needed to help this new race limate properly.


    His and Ventus''s efforts had been directed at finding those who the defenders of the gale horn ogre tribe could connect with. While most had focused on learning to build, others had been too focused on defending that they could not change their ways.


    This left a battle ready group who were lost. As such, they were partnered with the wind affinity dragonkin under Ventus. They had been responsible for guarding territories of elder wind dragons and also struggled to adjust to Genesis right now.


    The moment the two groups had been brought together, the slightly more adjusted wind affinity dragonkin began teaching the gale horn ogre generals the ins and outs of patrolling the new dragon territory and even in to the wind elf homes.


    Gil and Ventus also joined these patrols over theing days seeing that they had a clear focused vision which spotted risks.


    Multiple dangers rted to carriages moving dangerously, risky building positioning, and even some slightly damaged roads were spotted within just a day or two. A stunning amount of care was taken proving both had extreme pride in their future and what they would be


    protecting.


    The desire to protect and foster their people from the gale horn ogres paired perfectly with the pride to protect and grow the dragon territory from the wind affinity dragonkin. Both Gil and Ventus even found themselves learning more from both about observational thinking. At Gil''s level and ability to scout, he rarely found such things that he could learn. But being humbled by newer generations and adaptations was constant within Genesis. Enough to make his own pride show in a beaming smile while he walked his patrol beside Ventus. Not that Ventus could hide her own happiness with the situation as a whole.


    ....


    ....

 Chapter 2286: 2286. Wilderness Explorers

    Chapter 2286: 2286. Wilderness Explorers


    "You just got back from those inds and you want to go out again?" Remey was sure that Su was acting a little crazy with this. She deserves a break after working away from Genesis, but instead, Su was saying that she was going back out again.


    "I know it sounds like I am trying to work myself to death, but if I go out I can find more to help Genesis. Midnight has never needed me in the sense of an actual draconic guardian. It is very different from the times the dragons needed their guardians and champions to battle against another vige. Even the royal dragons have mentioned that."


    "I should take advantage of that reality and make sure that I am pushing forward the entirety of the alliance as much as possible." From the way that Su spoke, Remey knew that the small break for snacks and tea was proving to be more of a conversation about the future. Not that this was a bad thing.


    "The world expanded and a lot of things are changing. The routes between the different kingdoms are also rougher because they need to be built. If I go out with the exploratory groups, then I will be able to make arger impact on all of it. Safer travel, more trade goods, and even more information sharing since we will be able to keep building the magic tower expansions."


    Su was making a lot of good points. But watching Su leave would be hard for everyone. Especially Remey since Su was able to easily snap her out of her hyper focus to take breaks. Just today Remey had been able to focus in on a task rted to the new herbs brought by Su and Walker recently. Yet, she hadn''t stopped for the entire day and remained focused until Su broke her out of that flow to eat and drink something.


    "It will also bring in plenty of new herbs. I have already heard that entire new forests, cave systems, and ces that look like ruins but might not be are being found." Since Su was pushing so hard, Remey was ready just to ept it, but something caught her attention. "Ruins that aren''t ruins?" That was weird to her. To be fair, it was very weird to all of the representatives on the Genesis council who had heard it. However, it was not something they had more information about. No one had been able to easily spot and begin to explore the areas which were seen from high above the ground by exploring harpies.


    "Yes, you missed that meeting, but it was more of a report about the exploration of wilderness between the kingdoms. It''s far from beingpleted and plenty of dragons and harpies are working on it. The map makers that went with them have also found that they can''t even record certain areas due to the way that manas are gathered there."


    Su was suddenly a lot more energetic. So much so that Remey realized there was more than just a desire to help Genesis. Instead, it was a desire to roam and freely explore. Something that dragons would surely rte to since they had the desires to fly freely in the open sky or travel through endless caves.


    Regardless of the type of dragon, they would revel in their element and feel at home. Right now, it appeared that Su was feeling the very same thing as a half dragon. Not to mention that most of her life had been spent helping her ill mother and always working father. Once those issues had been solved, she had dedicated to bing an adventurer.


    Unfortunately, that adventuring had be full of heroic responsibility. Even now, she had a responsibility to Genesis which limited her in some ways. Partially because she chose to let it limit her but also because she had to ensure that she lived up to that responsibility to the people of the Genesis alliance.


    With that being the case, she could only allow herself that true freedom of adventuring and exploring in certain avenues. The potential to leave and explore new and expandednds along with mysteries was huge!


    Su would scratch that itch to explore so to speak, but she would also be improving everyone''s lives. It was the best of both worlds while she could grow as a person. Arguing against her would make it impossible since Remey wanted the best for Su as well.


    "The way that these manas gather has been in fog, illusionary magic which monsters might be using, and even some weather rted events like a thunder storm that doesn''t seem to end over arger forest with arge river within it."


    "Some of the events are even being spected to be controlled entirely by monsters which have changed their shape or forms based on the manas they now have ess to. Meaning that monsters we once fought might not be recognizable now." Su bounced a little in her seat making it clear that Remey had no chance to win this.


    It was somewhatical watching Su act this way. She rarely acted so energetically. But she deserved the chance to be more involved and let herself be free like this. It was the very same thing that Remey did with alchemy and even some sparringtely. She had gone all out and followed her whims. so, why couldn''t Su do it too?


    "Fine fine fine, you have me convinced. But I don''t like the idea that you might go running in to some random magical ce that looks like a ruin but isn''t one. Who knows what might happen. So before you even think about leaving you have to have a stock of potions from me." Part of Remey wanted to say that she would also be going with Su. but that could go poorly since it was clear that Su had already nned on building her own small group to explore a certain area.


    "Alright, so the very new report I managed to see this morning said that there is an entire field with a bunch of hills all perfectly equal in size and shape. Every morning the hills are bathed in cool mist and at night the hills are the same. But when that happens there are apparently small insect monsters which crawl out of the ground."


    "That''s not the weird part. It''s the fact that walking inside that area is hard because there are no ways to easily mark the location because of the strange terrain. And the monsters thate out seemingly clean up any markers left behind. But the idea is that in the middle there is denser mana. Meaning a potential natural rune which allows all of this to happen."


    It was just enough mystery to keep anyone guessing. But it was also enough risk that Remey wanted to tell Su to be more careful. However, when she saw that Su even had the report with her, it proved that Su''s excitement had not broken the calm and careful nning Su normally


    possessed.


    "If it''s a water and wind mix of mana making that mist, then you might need to wear clothing that blocks out the mist from calling you while travelling. And those monsters might not have attacked yet, but they have the potential. You will have to have strong allies to explore that area."


    Su nodded, "My thoughts exactly. The world changed a lot so the stronger demi-humans have been pushing to join the adventurers'' guild causing a great stir in the rankings made as the kingdoms were more united. Basically, they are all striving to get stronger so they can make more money and leave a legendary mark. Partially our fault."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Remey sighed. She had heard this before. Their party had made a big mark on things, rightfully so. Regardless, this inspired a lot of groups to get together and push to make the same marks. Especially when it came to those who were lower in ss and needed money


    more.


    "So you will be making a good group to work under you. Maybe ask Barry for help? I heard he brought a lot of promising students from the Sigil continent recently." Reney had heard that rumor while she collected some materials from a delivery. Barry had been away from some time because of this. So if he was back it was best to take advantage.


    "Good idea. He would be very helpful since I heard he is taking a month long break. He might even want toe with me." If Barry went with Su, it could be even better. He was incredibly strong and would be a great body guard. Remey immediately began pushing this idea toward Su as they started to talk more in depth about other small discoveries in the wilderness


    nearby.

 Chapter 2287: 2287. Barrys Conditions

    Chapter 2287: 2287. Barry''s Conditions


    "That''s three new races joining in such a short time. Four if you count the separate types of wyverns which were just brought in." Barry had been away and waspletely awestruck by the things he was hearing.


    Multiple new races brought in, some which were monsters and still needed to hatch and


    develop but were already being called a race since it was a higher chance that it would happen anyways. Beyond that, he couldn''t even begin to grasp what might have happened with building and technology. Forget magic too.


    "I know it''s a lot to take in, but we also just heard about some of it from Walker. It is a lot." Su was keeping herself and the others who had managed to call Barry here to the Genesis building calm.


    "We know you want to talk to Walker too. But you can go bother himter. First Su is in need of your skills for another quest. This time it''s for more than just the city of Genesis, it''s for the entire alliance." Remey had stuck right by Su''s side over thest few days.


    She didn''t want to see Su leave without the best of the best to make sure she would be able to handle whatever these changing wilderness areas were. Or what the dense manas, potential naturally forming runes were, and whatever else it was which was out there.''


    She had easily raided her own potion storage to ensure that Su had multiple healing, mana, and other potions necessary for basic safety when traveling throughout the unknown. Beyond that, Remey had dragged Su to get her armor repaired along with her shields being touched up as well.


    The wandering cksmith had been dedicated to researching some materials that Gil had managed to bring back, but with Remey''s slightly more violent threats, he had epted to go over the armor. Not that this had been enough, Remey just told herself it had been. Realistically, Su had made a promise that any new materials she discovered would go to him before anyone else. Whether or not they were small orrge, they had first choice to the wandering cksmith rather than the entirety of the crafting guild.


    A small but fair cost since the odds that the wandering cksmith would discover unique and interesting aspects of those potential materials was higher than the crafting guild would. At the very least, he could discover those things much faster. It was just a gap in experiences. The wandering cksmith had so much knowledge that an entire library could be built with it, and then some.


    "A quest? So there was one already issued? Or is this one from the adventurer''s guild after being sent from the Genesis building?" Barry wasn''t sure who and where the quest wasing from. He didn''t think that Su and Remey would have called him here just to mess with him on a small time quest. But he was somewhat excited to have some free time.


    To be fair, ra had been working very hard as the head of the adventurer''s guild. She had been within Genesis and making sure that multiple sub heads were created for every single new building within every single city or kingdom. Even some small towns had been given the chance to form small guild halls so that adventurers could get local quests while traveling.


    Whoever, it was Barry who had taken such arge amount of work on to himself and given to himself. He was sure that he had earned himself a proper rest. Or at least a choice to do as he wished for a little while. Not that he would be able to do so for long with the fact that he was fairly high leveled and was never really used to sitting and doing nothing.


    "I am leading an investigation in the mirrored hills region. A small expanse of fields with identical hills and odd misty phenomenon in the morning and evening. There are also unknown monsters which need to be appraised along with a potential naturally forming rune or what we are calling a false ruins, some have been calling them monster dens though. It''s hard to understand what they are."


    "How far and how long." The switch to an even more serious tone made it clear that Barry was going to give this a fair and responsible chance. Not that either Su or Remey believed he would just t out turn them down.


    "I believe it will take a month. We can travel there with help within just a few hours. It''s between the demi-human kingdom and here. The fields should have been wide open but as the mana returned and the world adjusted this area appeared." Remey even pulled out a map to showcase the area which was thought to have been just fields before. The adjusted maps were hard to keep up with since so many new ces had been discoveredtely.


    "The risks are unknown. The size of the area is known. The monsters there are unknown. There may be some sort of magical ce within this areapletely unknown but also reflected in other areas of the world. But it could be a massive pool of resources to help every single kingdom of the alliance grow."


    It was a pretty blunt assessment but a fair one. Especially since this was just the reality that they were dealing with right now. Besides all this, there was the chance that Barry could help guide the future of these unexplored wilderness areas. Whether it was protecting or defending from them at the end of the day.


    "We can even assure you that you will be paid too. You will be primarily functioning as a bodyguard for Su. She doesn''t need one, but having someone strong like you to make sure she keeps her focus on survival in bad situations is important." Since Rmeey was saying this, Barry understood it was just Su going.


    When it came to survival, Barry was a good person to have in mind. Since he had been a soldier, then begun adventuring for many years, he had a wealth of education in wilderness survival. It was best to have him around even if he was the weakest person in the group. Not that he would be.


    "Payment is the least of my worries right now. I have personal ns to handle in three months. I would like your guarantee that you and the rest of your party will attend to those nks when theye to fruition."


    This didn''t sound like much of an odd request. Right now Remey and Su were recruiting Barry to help them so it would be fair that they helped himter. Especially since they had the strength and the know how to do so. "I want to say yes, but it might be hard depending on what you need help with. If it takes the entire party, it might be difficult?"


    Su was more asking if the task that Barry needed help with was dangerous or at least required a greater deal of strength. It would make a lot of sense that the entire party together was very powerful, but an issue that needed that sort of strength? It would have to be major and Remey nor Su, had heard of such issues recently.


    "Well, I would not force you all to wear anything different than what you would wish. But you may need time to prepare as well. I am getting married to the love of my life whom I met while training the other angels within the Sigil continent." both Su and Remey coughed trying to keep their minds intact.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was incredibly unexpected. To be honest, Remey had expected that Scy would have swooped in to steal Barry away since she had a tendency to enjoy people of strength. She could even try to use her position as general. But then again, Scy might not have done anything of the sort since she had the solid loyalty under the demi-human kingdom and lived to ensure their future as well.


    "I can introduce you two. She was fighting before the others I had trained had ever been fighting. She also helped establish seventeen small angel viges against the orders of both empires when they were in their stalemate. Honestly, she might be able to beat me in a fight." Now this was another unexpected and shockingment.


    "Stronger than you? Now that I need to see. Is she here or the Sigil continent? I want to meet her." Remey was ovee with the desire to test this theory about how strong this woman


    was.


    "She wille here in three months after establishing three more viges." Barry just smiled, breaking apart the serious essence of the conversation and even making Su wonder what they had been talking about prior to this.


    ....


    ----

 Chapter 2288: 2288. Hatching Ancients

    Chapter 2288: 2288. Hatching Ancients


    "This is where you want to do it?" Onyx was pretty dedicated to seeing how things would turn out with the Amarok eggs that they had gathered in a dormant state.


    While it had been some hour before Walker, Mordant, and he had left those ruins with the two remaining ruin hunters, it still had been even longer to get home.


    While Mordant could easily use more dark mana, he was still influenced by something nearby. It had made things difficult for him and left the ruins as something sealed off by Walker before they had begun to leave.


    As they had assured each other that the reason they were not delving in to this was that they wished to bring the two serpents who needed better resting conditions back, they all made a clear promise to go back sooner rather thanter.


    The fact that something was causing issues with mana flow, specifically dark mana flow, was important to search for. Especially since whatever it was could have an effect on Mordant''s mana flow. He is a powerful darkness dominator dragon, while still young in respect to one within the dark elemental nes, his strength was not small at all.


    The worry about that was not entirely forgotten though.. Walker kept it in his thoughts while he focused on the main aspect of returning after getting the two ruins hunters to a better ce to rest with their third member.


    Since the ruins were well kept, they would be safe for the time being. On top of that, there was a fairly well mapped out area that was left to the map makers. They could record where the dangerous areas were and encourage others not to pursue any exploration for the time being.


    This was all just part of what Walker had heard when they eventually made it back to Genesis. He had heard a lot from people right away, but he, Mordant, and Onyx had heard about therger areas now being discovered which had mana differences and other strange phenomena. All of this information had been a lot to get right when they had returned, he hadn''t even had the chance to hunt down su who was gathering a team to explore one such area which was standing out as oddpared to the other wilderness areas which had expanded in ways well beyond all of their understandings.


    "Walker!"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Mordant snapped Walker out of his thoughts. "I know a lot is going on, but we have a team of five tamer''s guild researchers ready to test whether or not we can awaken these eggs." Mordant was calm after the small shout.


    The reason this had been pushed forward more than anything was the fact that the taming guild had rushed to create the ideal area with a few contracted rune carvers. They had done so since their guild had been branching out so much in to the other kingdoms and guildstely.


    The fact that each tamer and tamed monster pair or even group could be able to take a wide array of tasks was a boon for their guild. It also created a lot of work for those that Walker knew. Their paperwork, general meetings, and just running around kept them so busy that they couldn''t evene here if they wanted to. It was unfortunate.


    Regardless, five researchers had been sent to help with hatching an ancient monster egg to see if it would be a monster or if it could bring itself beyond that to be a recognized world race. Whether or not that happened wasn''t the focus here.


    The researchers from the tamer''s guild were more interested in returning certain species found within ruins or other odd ces to the world. If it was sessful, they could be the leading group in charge of returning more extinct, at risk, or unknown species to the world. Their knowledge could even help many who encountered them as well.


    "Both water and earth runes have been gathering condensed water and earth mana so that you can use it as nutrients for the amarok egg. We also checked to see if the ground in here was cleaned properly. Since you said that they would most likely roam unique areas with the proper mana, we simted the edge of a forest which bes a desert as it spreads out. Water and earth properly mixed."


    The speaking researcher had been the one who focused on environments known by ancient monsters. The all around appraisal had been like handing him a giant piece of gold. Or a child a piece of their favorite candy. He has dedicated himself to looking in to matching environments and copying it with the right materials.


    Hence why the three of them were standing in a room with sand and small shrubbery. The small t pir in the middle was for the egg to rest on while the manas were directed toward it. Easy enough for mages but since Walker was involved, it was even simpler.


    With everyone watching carefully, Walker began to draw water mana and earth mana from the two rune formations. It flowed smoothly as the water became small droplets which gathered on the egg and the earth mana drew some sand with it to rest underneath.


    The pale coloration became more vibrant. Not that it changed colors, it was still a muddled brown color like half wet and half dried mud on the eggs. Yet, Walker could clearly see that the egg had begun toe alive in a way. The manas flowing in to it were like awakening for the first time in the morning to the sunrise. The color was fresh.


    Feeling the mana start to be taken away from his control, Walker understood that it was the egging back from a dormant state. It was just enough to show that the egg was alive but it was surprising. The speed that the mana was being pulled toward it was faster by the


    breath.


    "It seems like the dormant egg was waiting for the chance more than we realized. I would say that the dormant state is right before it would hatch. Meaning that it was pushed to go dormant due tock of proper manas right at the tipping point before it would hatch out." Thement from Walker was enough to make it clear that he researcher''s theories about the size and shapes of these eggs were correct. They had examined them based on the sizes of other monster eggs of simr wolf like, or dog like monsters. Some of which were already tamed by the guild and had copious amounts of research done already.


    "Is it just drawing in mana? Or is it processing the mana in to more condensed or purer forms?" One researcher had some mana crystals with him and he had ced them on the ground to see if the mana would change sources. If the mana drawn was weaker in purity, then the egg might not be able to handle certain purities of mana or might be the opposite and need better purity closer to ancient times.


    "The mana is being absorbed at a slightly higher purity than what is in the air right now. But since the egg is still able to gather it, the mana seems to be fine no matter what the purity is at all. But I think purity is making the awakening process faster." Walker pointed out the slight changes in the eggs color and also in the very tiny cracks appearing.


    "I see! The eggs were so close to hatching that if it was not put dormant as it was, it would have hatched. But the dormant state was possible because it was still within the egg. I wonder how this would apply to other monsters waiting for the right tamer or needing to be transported." Thisment caused a flurry from the other researchers.


    "I think we should watch more carefully. You have a new tamer with an affinity for water and earth here, right?" A young demon girl rushed forward. She was going to be the first face the amarok saw making their bond even stronger as they grew together.


    The tamers had been appearing here and there with mixed affinities. Which led to the tamer''s guild to a lot of educational sses. Especially for the newest and youngest who needed to be educated on unique species of monsters and more.


    A small wine broke out as a small brown snout made its way in to the world. The clear awe and excitement on the young girl''s face was clear. She could feel the true weight and beauty of this moment. Forget the ancient aspects of this monster, it was just the simple act of it entering the world officially that struck her heart.


    ....


    ----


    Repent now and go here, http://wbny.in/afhAus


    Drop those golden tickets!

 Chapter 2289: 2289. Pup

    Chapter 2289: 2289. Pup


    To the untrained eye, the amarok pup was small and frail. However, to those who had fought monsters before, it had very sharp teeth and the snout was long enough to be able to dig in to prey more easily. It also had tougher ws which were very telling that it was an earth affinity monster.


    On top of all of this, the fur appeared to be able to condense some of the water from the air. Proving that the water affinity senses it used to keep an eye on its surroundings was more than true. The fur was also a dull mud like brown, not that it looked bad, it was still fairly adorable as a baby.


    The young girl who had been brought to tame it and create a proper bond was barely able to hold herself back. She only remained calm as she had been taught that in being calm she would be able to solidify a better bond at first. But she didn''t hide the brilliant smile that had taken over her face as the little amarok pup watched her.


    Its eyes met hers and she didn''t look away. All she did was move to pick up a milk and meat mixed soup. It was from a red sun bull, while its light affinity would not make the red sun bull very impressive, it allowed its meat to hold a lot of nutrients. The milk was from a craggy mountain goat too, which had denser earth mana within its milk naturally.


    The food mixture reached the amarok pups'' nose and it looked at the food as if it was the only thing left in the world. While the little pup leaped at it, the tamer did as she had been taught to do.


    With a single movement, she took out a small paper with rune markings on it. For her, to tame a monster she had to prepare a unique rune made through her mana and her specific skills. The rune had to be made with her blood and simrly shaped to runes which matched the affinity to the monster she was taming.


    The moment that the symbolnded on the amarok pup, it seemed to melt in to its body fusing with the mana. The little pup didn''t even seem to feel anything as it happened. But the young tamer did feel something.


    Her mana was depleting fairly quickly as the bond between them was formed. So much so that Walker worried that she might need some mana potions toplete the process. Luckily, the entire event ceased before she had usedl of her mana. Leaving her a little pale but also somewhat stunned.


    As the little pup had just hatched and seen her while smelling the food she prepared, it naturally had a keen liking toward her already. But as the in between them was forged, the feeling grew. Walker could recall how it felt to create an equal bond with both Midnight and Onyx and knew that she was having a very important experience to her and the young amarok.


    Sitting calmly, no one said a word. The researchers who were familiar with this important step did not want to hinder it whatsoever. Especially since they had also seen the little serpents Onyx had helped raise choose to be tamed monsters rather than follow and be a race earlier.


    This wasn''t different than others of the monster race. Some had found better bonds with tamers or another race in general than their own. The situations could vary, but mostly, it was important for everyone to have their choice. Especially since most tamers would treat their partners very well.


    That was just the rules created by the tamer''s guild overall. When they were a younger group, those with power had moved with great effort to ensure that tamed monsters were treated properly. Not just because that was the right thing to do, but so that they could more easily move within different kingdoms without being ostracized.


    "Her and I will be the best!" In a sudden burst of energy after the little pup had finished eating, the young tamer leaped up and shouted. From what they could all see, they were connected and shared the feeling of happiness that came from a forged bond.


    "Everything went very smoothly here. I''m very happy to see that." mordant feared that this ancient monster would be violent right after hatching. However, it was clear that every single monster, especially this species, could be more docile. Not that it was in their nature to always be violent.


    "It might not reflect on the others when they hatch. Not that I think they will be violent, but they are solitary monsters. They will rarely join together in general. That''s what the all around appraisal said." Walker''s point was heard, but Onyx was the one shaking his head at the pair talking.


    "You are both missing the point that they will be able to grow up the same as the little ones who followed me have done. They had food, they had safety, and they had many others to guide them in whatever interested them. These monsters may not need to be solitary. They may desire to be so, but there are plenty of ces where someone can work alone within Genesis."


    His points were clear. Just as the cave explorers did, these amarok pups could grow to do simr jobs where they could venture in to ces alone safely. Besides this, the solitary existence was directly rted to safety in the wilderness, the packs would have attracted more ancient predators, now, those predators were mostly not around at all. These pups had a greater chance of surviving in general.


    "Then we should see how it will go." Since Walker knew that Onyx was not just throwing out guesses, he was ready to ept it and give the amarok pups a chance to live as they wished within Genesis. It would just take a lot of time for them to properly grow. That was where the tamer''s guild woulde in.


    They could take the lead in seeing if the amarok pups would take their own path to be a race since they were already known as more intelligent, or if they would be monsters through and through. Even if they remained monsters, they could be tamed and or trained. Beyond that, they would be a monster returning to the world and filling a ce in nature''s food chain.


    As the conversations and research grew even more in depth, there was still a lot of movement elsewhere within Genesis.


    "You sent five elves to speak with me. What do you need." Ignus''s fiery attitude seemed worse off than usual when Gil heard him.


    "What''s the problem asking for your help? The teams of gale horn ogres and the fire dragonkin who have decided that they work well as guard teams wanted to be examined by us. Your dragonkin have wanted to show you their growth with other races for a while now." Gil couldn''t help but want to see what was making Ignus unhappy. But he also knew he should tread a little lightly.


    "I have seen the remnants of the training dummy sussed. The wind de and wind gale skill that the gale horn ogres use is impressive when mixed with the me skills of the dragonkin warriors and mages." hearing a little boasting proved that Ignus could still keep some focus on the current situation.


    This wasn''t just for Ignus and Gil, but the focus on wind and fire together was something important since recently, a new field of herbs needed to be burned.


    While this would sound odd to anyone else, the herbalists and the farmers in charge of it had exined that these were herbs that grew in open fields. The herb was known as a rolling pea, not an edible nt but looked simr to the pea pods grown by farmers. When lightning strikes in the fields, it lights the nts of fire releasing the pea pods to roll.


    The ashes were the key for these peas to be able to hold in the ground and eventually sprout. Without it, then they would not grow properly nor would they even grow at all. Hence why this was both a show of control between cooperating groups and also helping the herbalists. Looking out at the field, three pairs of gale horn ogres began gathering wind for, their horns preparing to condense it. The same for the three dragonkin fire mages with them. They gathered fire mana in a condensed small fireball to be used to increase the attacks they would demonstrate.


    "So, what are you nning to work on with Remey after she finishes helping Su gather an exploration group?" Ignus growled slightly the moment that Gil said this.


    ----n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


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 Chapter 2290: 2290. Personal Matters

    Chapter 2290: 2290. Personal Matters


    Whether or not a fire dragon could be cold was proven right then and there. Ignus''s


    temperature surely dropped and the air itself seemed to get a little cooler. Gil had understood that Rmeey had been very busy with Su for some time now, but they all were busy in their own ways. Especially with so many new things happening.


    It was only a matter of time before Walker came to drag Gil off somewhere again. He just had that feeling.


    But Ignus being cold about the facts that Remey had been focused elsewhere? Now that was something Gil hadn''t expected to be like that. Mostly because his heated temper was simr to Remey''s and the two of them would definitely never act coldpared to their natural states.


    "I''m sure she will be finished with whatever it is they are working on together soon." Gil''s attempt to smooth it just made Ignus growl slightly again. Luckily, they could focus on the actions before them.


    The gale horn ogres had been greatly enhancing the mes from the dragonkin fire mages. These actions had cause a wind wall of mes to bathe the herbs within the field causing them to begin to burn easily. The temperature did not destroy the seeds within the rolling pea herbs. It proved their impable control over both manas between the two.


    This also showed that their timing was ideal as well, the timing needed to create a wall of mes from a fire ball rather than some form of fire magic without wind at all. On top of it, the other dragonkin with shields and the gale horn ogres who could also use wind based shield skills were trapping the mes. Not a single bit of fire or sparks were moving outside of the field.


    "Preparing more high fire affinity potions for my dragons has been put on hold. I am no alchemist, I am a royal fire dragon." This sounded more like an excuse of why Ignus was annoyed rather than the actual reason.


    "Then why not hunt her down and talk with her? It''s way easier than sitting here unhappy while watching your dragonkin and another race who recently arrived be instant partners. Not that you seem to unhappy about that, just in general." Giving advice, in any form. To Ignus was not something Gil would have ever imagined himself doing. He felt like he was having an out of body experience right now.


    "I do not need another fight right now. I have just repaired the damage done when mes became too great for thest alchemyb." Now this raised Gil''s eyebrows. He had not expected that the pair would fight enough to release mes which could burn up a strongly reinforced alchemyb.


    "Then don''t fight and just say whatever it is you need to say. If you think you will fight, then say you won''t and hold yourself back. You''re a fire dragon with a ton of power. You should be able to hold yourself back a little." Gil was sure that it was more amazing to see Remey and Ignus actually fighting at the end of the day rather than speak normally.


    But then he wondered if Remey could even go a few minutes without fighting in general. She always punched him in the arm whenever he joked around. So wouldn''t she always be fighting? It was too much topare right now.


    "Things would be easier if she was born a dragon." To Ignus, this would make the best sense. Then he could go about things more naturally.


    "Remey might have been a fire dragon in another life. She started raising her siblings in the orphanage and always fought with them. Then she started adventuring and beating monsters to a pulp. And now she focuses on alchemy but she basically just learned about the fire she could control over other elemental manas she maniptes using fire and other means. So, for all purposes, she somewhat followed the life of a fire dragon."


    From what Gil could see, Ignus was considering this much deeper than what Gil expected.


    "Hm, I can try that." Ignus nodded at the dragonkin making them all somewhat more serious. Whether it was because they were joyful or if they felt that their hard work was seen, was unclear. Regardless, Ignus had left Gil to handle the rest of this entirely.


    As Gil began taking a more vocal role in praising the gale horn ogres and fire mage dragonkin, Ignus had moved off toward where he could sense Remey. They had bonded close enough to have a sense of where the other was. Just part of Ignus sharing his mana and more with her. "They will be fine there. The control of wind mana from living within the wind elemental nes is greater than many others. Their wind sword and more bestial fighting styles using their horns and condensing wind mana on their body was very high ss. My dragonkin have grown many times more than they did within the vige. They were challenged and their blood set ame."


    The out loud thinking that Ignus was doing was something he had done before when left entirely alone. Even though he was a fire dragon through and through, they were not always chaotic or in a rage. He was a royal dragon and had to learn to hold back to think of his elders and the dragonkin living within their viges.


    It would be foolish to believe he was only even ranting or running wild. He wouldn''t even be able to meet with the other royal dragons let alone join the Genesis alliance and represent the dragons together with the others.


    "Ignus?" Remey was ready to wind up and give him a punch, but she had thought better of it when she realized that he was just standing there.


    "I have to meet with a small group of soldiers who wish to participate. I have to evaluate their strength and whether or not they will be able to handle setting up an outside base camp for us. Remey, don''t worry about helping and take a break."


    The way that Su looked at Ignus as she had partially helped snap him out of things. But he was internally questioning why she was grinning so widely at him as he had appeared there without much thought.


    "Really? What did youe find us for? We were busy." Remey''s response was annoyed, but clearly she was more cautious and a bit worried than anything.


    "When will you be back in yourb?"


    "That''s all? I will be in another week or two. Whenever Su is ready to leave." This was even more annoying and Remey was following her normal Remey style ofmunicating. "When are we going to make more potions?" Ignus changed the question leaving Remey a little more silent than usual.


    Her voice lost its annoyed tone as she managed to notice something else in Ignus''s tone as well. "You can help me after Su and I finish for the day. She is training tomorrow so she can train with Alice as she nned. She knows the healers she will ask to go with her better than I do since she spends all the time there anyways."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Sounds perfect to me." Su hummed to herself enjoying thest bit of conversation she heard from a distance before fully leaving the northern soldier barracks.


    The group she nned to meet with would be reporting to the training field nearby within the hour so she had time to clear a space and prepare to test their skills and interview them fully. But she had worried that Remey was worrying way too much.


    Clearly, someone else had also been worried about not seeing her in the past few days. While Su could feel the difference between her and Ignus at a dragon level, she also knew she could fight Ignus head on. Besides that, she looked at Ignus in a different light since she knew very well how much he risked and sacrificed to allow Remey a path of her own. "Now, I see you are all training. I need some room for an evaluation of a few fellow soldiers. How about I teach you all a thing or two while we wait for that time?" Su stepped on therge soldier and guard training field neary. Her words echoed a little as she had announced them so that every soldier heard her.


    Recognizing her, multiple instructors and multiple high ranked guard captains stopped their training and brought everyone in line to Su. Having training with one of the heroes who could fight with dragons, even if she was younger than them, was a true honor. They could learn to better lead and protect Genesis.


    This was one of the atmospheres that the party raised and boasted about.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2291: 2291. Genesis City Gossip

    Chapter 2291: 2291. Genesis City Gossip


    With so many new events happening or being prepared for within Genesis, there were many people talking. The news of another race joining had already stirred things up since many people had been interested in the races who came from the elemental nes.


    It led to many people wondering how many other races might appear seeking new homes. Not that they didn''t want to wee them in to the alliance and the city. However, it raised questions about how many races might eventuallye to the world and if they would all be safe to ally with.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    To be fair, many races were used to fighting for their lives constantly within the elemental nes. Hence why the risk of them being dangerous reached the minds of those from the world entirely.


    The argument was fair and many of the Genesis council had encountered the questions. Most answers had revolved around how the racesing from the elemental nes would be those who needed help. Those who struggled to survive there. Those who might not exist if they did note to the world where they could be better protected in a different waypared to how they were within the elemental nes.


    The inner workings of the elemental nes were still not cut and dry. Each ne was different and that led to a lot of spection. Especially since the leadership within the nes was focused on bnce among the elemental nes above all else. Therefore, people had to worry that they would lose allies due to that bnce being broken or potentially broken.


    As the organized ounts of how the elemental nes worked were shared, some people who had been pushing for exploration had realized it was not as simple as just walking in to the wilderness.


    The simple facts that there were beings within the elemental nes who couldy waste to Genesis easily, monsters or intelligent races, was terrifying. Beyond that, the shifting of the elemental nes and the massive size could mean that an explorer would never return. And if they did, it could be yearster.


    Just the potential that an explorer could go years without even encountering a monster intelligent race was something that sounds impossible. Even the entire world couldn''t be that big.


    Yet, when the heroes vouched for this information themselves, it was a lot more believable. Especially since there was a true sage who had already sent their secondary body to speak with some of them.


    While the true wind sage had not explicitly spoken about anything pertinent, he had mentioned the number of wind dominator dragons upying the wind elemental nes could not be counted on two hands. This meant that there were over ten powerful and ancient dragons who could upy a massive territory.


    Building off of the fact that ventus was sure she could upy thend that Genesis was on and then another fifteen viges of simr size without issue. Well, that shined a light on the sheer size of the wind elemental nes. Not to mention that it was known that the elemental nes were expanding due to the world of the mysterious and even more powerful origin


    race.


    That single fact alone had brought some unsettled rumors.


    What world would have everyone agreeing with everything and always positive? None, that''s what.


    Walker told himself that very often whenever he would catch an earful of unsavory rumors. Just the fact that a race that has never been seen by the world was around was able to make people gossip and wonder. Whether it was theories or just general talk about what that race should or could be like when it came to usage of power.


    The power that Walker held was easily over what others could use. Especially showcasing the heroic skill which had taken all of his experience and levels to use to defeat the demon king. But then, he was able to awaken as a race unknown and partially because of the system he had when the world was damaged.


    Since it wasn''t something that just anyone could do, it made it clear that there was a very small chance another of the origin race may arrive. But there was also the chance they they could. If that was the case, and they did, who would protect the world?


    Not that Walker had not said there was no chance of that happening. The origin race followed the will of existence itself in a way. They did not go around causing damage and destruction just to do so. Instead, they expanded the elemental nes and persevered through the chaotic manas beyond the elemental nes.


    In the end, he also knew that it was a very small group of people who would say things like this. The majority were good people who strived to better themselves. Especially those who had lived through the hardest of times. Those people had be the greatest supporters of a vibrant future within Genesis.


    Hence why the sudden uptick of exploration groups joining the adventurer''s guild had taken things by storm in the gossip circles.


    Today, Walker had started to hear about that very much so. So much so that he was meeting with ra for the first time in a while since she had been so busy. Not to mention how busy he had been.


    "You managed to get here just in time!" ra saw that Walker had brought handmade sandwiches and even a tea mix that Remey put together for everyone at their home. ra knew how good Walker''s mother''s food was. The tea blends that Remey made were always in strong demand since she had taught the blends to many people with a focus on minor health improvement and rest.


    "I thought the food and tea was a good perk since you have so much to do. I saw fifteen different adventurer groups looking for exploration and mapping quests on the way in." The number didn''t evenpare to what ra already knew of. But the frequency was a lot.


    "I can see from your face that you have even more people trying to go out and find their fame in discovering new areas. It''s why I came too. A lot of them are starting to hoard information about new and dangerous areas after the world expanded due to the return of proper mana flow. Your reports have been heard by the Genesis council and I am personally going to explore something odd myself in the next few days."


    Walker was referencing the odd reactions of dark mana around the newest ruins found. He had already asked Mordant to send a few dragonkin warriors to the area and keep an eye out. They didn''t need to worry about the changes in the dark mana as much since they had more focus on physical skills as warriors and as spearmen.


    There was still some effect on them since they had the natural dark affinity as Mordant''s dragonkin. They would sense the issue and have some more information for Walker when he returned to the area.


    "I have also heard about Su putting a group together to travel to an odd field, well, set of perfect hills." r sighed while she watched as Walker used a little fire magic to heat the water for their tea.


    "I have reports of over thirty different areas. All new and unexplored. Some of them are nearby kingdoms and others have been found as the wind dragon flew overrge wilderness areas to make tough maps."


    "Some are easy to explore since we can see everything. There may be caves or ruins. But what is troublesome are the fog, mana dense, and general mysteriously odd ces."


    "I take it you heard the rumors of monster dens or what others have started to call dungeons?" Walker nodded. He had heard this and wondered what the proper term for a ce like this would be called.


    "One such ce has purple skinned goblins. Theyck any and all intelligence and their skin oozes a mild poison. They leave an odd cave and travel through the canyons. It was explored by a gray haired spider scout team and they were rescued by harpies. The poison in that cave was too much for them."


    "There''s more to it though, isn''t there." Walker knew there was a probleming.


    "The issue for these new and inexperienced adventurers rushing out in to these ces is the fact that these monster dense or dungeons are being called these things for a reason. Some have traps and are torturous to travel through like a dungeon in a prison for criminals. Others are popted highly by monsters we have never seen or whock all potential for any intelligence due to the dense manas within them."


    "What I need is your views on them and you to make an announcement about their dangers."


    This was why Walker was here. To have proof to present to ensure safety for everyone rushing out to try their hand at fame. He only nodded in approval as they rested for a moment. ra could feel a little less stressed.


    He was still worried that only a very small amount of these ces had even been scouted. None had been cleaned out or properly explored. It was arge task for the future of the alliance.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2292: 2292. Odd Dark Mana

    Chapter 2292: 2292. Odd Dark Mana


    With a little more information from ra, Walker felt that he had made a few theories about what might be causing issues nearby the new ruins discovered.


    He had originally believed it might be another bridge to the elemental nes opening up. It would make sense if the dark elemental ne was on the other side of it causing a disturbance with the dark mana. Or that a monster had already passed in to the world and had manipted the dark mana because of its strong affinity for dark mana over others.


    However, even if that was the case, then the odds that a strong enough monster which could take control of dark mana over Walker and Mordant and even Onyx, was very low. They would need the dark elemental mana from the dark elemental ne more than anyone else would so they could not survive within the world without losing mana, not taking it.


    It was much more likely that a nearby area had been affected by a monster or general existence due to the expansion of the world. The very same wilderness areas were causing issues right now for those who had started to change trade routes.


    It had been exceptionally lucky that the majority of basic trade routes had gone unaffected. Not that many of the merchants had ignored the changes. They had focused on security creating many more jobs than what most people would have expected.


    All good things in a way, minus the fact that these areas were dangerous and the unknown monsters were dangerous too. The only bonus was that no randomly appearing randomly came to be. Not that a theory hadn''te up yet. But to be fair, the odds of that were so small that everyone was able to keep themselves realistic.


    The changes in the mana which Walker, Onyx, and Mordant had felt were nothingpared to what had already been recorded though.


    So many new areas and unknown wildernesses had been discovered with odd manas. Due to this, mages with the higher skills able to sense manas had been there keeping handles on what else might be learned. Many of these wilderness areas within traveling distance of mages had sent consistent information in this respect.


    Meaning that what the three of them had sensed was out of the ordinary. And also why Mordant was waiting for Walker when he had just finished with ra. Mordant wanted to find the answers.


    He had never encountered a situation where he had lost the ess to using dark mana fluidly. While he could still sense it and gather it, he had felt that his control over it was ambiguous. Since that was the case, he knew that this would greatly affect the other dragons.


    The dark dragons that followed him would have a lot more trouble if they were to encounter this situation. Especially if the elder dragons were leading the other younger dragons or the dragonkin. Even the others like mages and elemental ss users could be affected by the odd way that mana was acting. Making those who were using dark mana or had the affinity at a very weak position.


    This was also to be said for monsters as well. Any monster with dark mana affinity would struggle to live and grow there. Especially since they might have it fight these monsters in a weakened state.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Not only would weakened and cornered monsters have the potential to be even more unpredictable, it could also adapt to this situation. Causing strange mutations in their growth over time. Or even worse, they could be extinct within the area causing massive imbnces within nature itself.


    "I am ready. Onyx has chosen to begin a slower journey to the ruins with arger group of explorers. They are transporting the ruins hunters who will remain resisting while they exin the ruins. I believe that they would have traveled there himself if Onyx had not made arrangements for them to safely travel there through other means."


    This was the way that Mordant was able to praise Onyx. it wouldn''t sound that way to everyone, but Walker had gotten to know Mordant fairly well. He could tell that this was just his way of saying that Onyx had taken the right priorities here. Made the right choice in how to handle this situation overall.


    "That''s a good thing. He should be making sure that the ruins hunters are resting. They have already started a major part of what Genesis needs to do right now. Even if we don''t learn more about the past, ancient times, or the monsters there. It means we will have an understanding of ruins in general.


    Without much else, Mordant pulled the dark mana around them.


    It was quick to travel through the shadows in this way. Walker wanted to start to learn to use this and spatial mana more often as well. Especially since he had recently been able to learn more about this.


    However, just sensing the way that Mordant moved the dark mana to meld in to the shadows and travel through it. Walker understood that this was entirely different from the feeling he had when using space mana.


    The feeling wasn''t necessarily ufortable, but for Mordant, this felt like he was bing closer to himself and everything that he was. For Walker, it was like he had forced himself to adapt to a situation he was not always used to. Mostly because he was always allowing all forms of mana to flow in to his body and not one specific mana at a higher amount and purity. Not that this was impossible. Walker could easily focus entirely on one mana, but it didn''t feel as natural for him as it was for Mordant. But that was just a basic difference between someone who was born with a singr affinity for mana versus a multitude of affinities for manas. Adding space mana to dark mana did feel slightly easier since he had been through the travels within shadows with Mordant. Because of this, Walker mentally recalled the feeling she had right this moment so that he could go over it again while in meditation. Unfortunately, he was sure that he would need to focus on the suddenly fading feelings of his control over dark


    mana.


    Since even his control over dark mana was suffering here, Walker knew that this would be more serious.


    Mordant had immediately left the shadows and they rose in a familiar scenery. The jagged rocks and towering cliff sides proved that they were nearby the ruins which had been found by the ruin hunters. However, Walker could sense that the earth mana in the area was also somewhat unsettled. Like something was causing it to shift more than it should naturally.


    Following the unsettling feeling, Walker quickly spotted an area where multiple taller jagged rocks had grown out of the ground as the mountains shifted over who knew how long. He could sense the dark mana was being pulled toward that area and that the broken jagged rock made a perfect path which led right to arge cave opening.


    "Do you think this is the monster den or dungeons that were reported?" The question from Mordant was enough to make Walker wonder if they were going to be dealing with this issue here and now. If it was one such ce, then it would be arger issue to handle.


    "I want to say yes, but it feels too unsettled. The manas within those wilderness areas where monster dens and odd ruins have been found is steady. It might even be dual or triple affinity manas mixing together in unique amounts. But this, it''s just dark mana being made to be chaotic and for some reason. The earth mana is shifting since it usually has some rtionship with dark mana, especially in a cave."


    This was when Walker caught an even stronger feeling. Like the dark mana had just been pulled like it was attached to a strong. Something powerful had just pulled dark mana toward it and taken it in to control. But it stopped meaning that it couldn''t do that constantly. "Something is in there and it is gathering dark mana inrge amounts all at once. But it is not strong enough to have a constant flow of dark mana. It is not like me." The simplement from Mordant showed Walker that the worry that there was another dark dragon was gone from Mordant''s mind. A good thing.


    "No, it''s definitely not a dragon. But It might be something a little harder to deal with if we don''t tread carefully." Walker swore he saw the shadows move and pull the dark mana from the cliff shadow and the rock shadows nearby the entrance of the cave. He could only hope his mind was ying tricks on him.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2293: 2293. Shifting Darkness

    "It''s entirely dark inside there. No light beyond the entrance. Even that should not be possible." for Mordant to say this, it meant a lot. He should be able to see through the darkness and sense most things using it if need be. But he was saying he couldn''t see a thing?


    "I may have seen movement at the mouth of the cave. I am not sure yet, but I can''t see it changing now so I don''t want to say much. We should be prepared though." Walker felt that this was all he could do right this second.


    Giving a warning was never a bad thing. However, he felt that this was a worse thing to say now since he was admitting that he also did not know anything. That he was not prepared to fight whatever was inside or whatever might appear before them as an opponent.


    "You can see something moving in there?" Mordant was more surprised that he could not see something rather than the fact that Walker could.


    "Yes, I think it''s using the dark mana to hide, or it might have some unique form of body that allows it to mess with dark mana and also hide in it too. Basically, since it messes with the dark mana, then it is able to also mess with your ability to sense and see through it."


    This theory seemed very good, but that did not fix the issue that Walker and Mordant had. They were facing a cave that had the potential to have a dangerous monster or enemy within it. They also could not easily use dark mana which was readily avable. And due to the dark mana and the earth mana in nature being close, earth mana was also slightly unsettled.


    Meaning, that they had to walk in using their physical strength. Walker would need more time and effort to gather any other mana while in the cave. And that is if that other mana could influence or affect whatever they may end up fighting in the first ce.


    Things just seemed to keep getting moreplicated as the world adjusted back to the natural flow.


    In some ways, it was like the world had be an entirely different one. As if time had stopped for its growth and now the world was making up for all that missed time by expanding so much at once. Not that this was actually the truth.


    Theck of mana after ancient times had caused the world to degrade. Mana was everything''s foundation, Walker and many others believed this. It made a lot of sense as well. In times like this, it was easier to feel how that happened and why it was such an important fact.


    Yet, having these ancient ces appearing again caused a lot more issues which everyone needed to adapt to.


    As the pair moved toward the cave, another small shift in the dark mana urred, this time though, Walker just noticed the shadows shift slightly. There was nothing else that he had felt moved. But he still swore that there was more to it.


    Otherwise, he could feel some more odd mana flow ahead. He couldn''t put his thumb on it though. It was unsettled and he had no idea how to get a better grip on it. Not just the dark mana but he could feel that others manas were slightly unsettled too, even the light mana he had just condensed in to his hand as an orb so that he would be able to try to see a little better.


    "This cave is not that hard to move through. The opening isrge and it looks to have been carved out by an earth monster long ago." Mordant ran a hand over the walls and made a point at showing off the small cuts which had clearly been degraded as time went on.


    "That means we don''t have to worry about whatever that was. Especially since whatever has done it was old even in ancient times. So we just have to handle-"


    Walker leaped back away from the wall as he noticed a shadow shift. Mordant also prepared himself before they both realized nothing happened. "What was that?" Mordant was asking himself more so than asking Walker. He didn''t feel the dark mana move at all, but the shadows did, it was incredibly odd.


    "That should have been something behind the light, but it wasn''t us..." Walker''s voice trailed off in quietness as he realized the cave just ahead of them extended in to a massive room with stone outcroppings. It was like a massive dark underground rock field.


    Gathering light mana was more difficult, but since Walker was already on high alert, he didn''t worry about the fact that he had to spend more of his stored up mana. He just pulled on the light mana and sent out a myriad of light orbs to brighten the area.


    "What in all that is dark and calm is that?"


    Walker wanted to ask the very same thing. Right now, he could see many tendrils of shadow. All wrapped around rocks and even just slowly trailing on the floors. But how could they move like that? They were just shadows. None of them gave the same feeling as what he had when Onyx hid away in the shadows or when he noticed Mordant moving within the shadows. It wasn''t even simr to have the assassins or hidden body guards use dark mana to hide themselves with stealth and darkness. Now was it at all like Midnight''s shadow wrapping skill.


    ''Shadow eating octopusn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This monster normally lives within the dark elemental nes. However, they often identally move through chaotic mana as infants the size of a pea. This causes them to somehow survive the travel and get trapped in ces they should not be or struggle to survive in.


    They are known as shadow eating since they will use their tentacles to grab the dark mana within a shadow and consume it to survive. They often prefer to hide within their own shadow and stretch out their tentacles to extremely long lengths. As such, they naturally shrink or shift the shadows nearby them in their actions of eating.


    Nothing is known about their natural actions due to the few who have taken the time to understand them. This is due to the fact that once they arerge and if they are bothered by a potential predator, they release condensed dark mana to decay their enemy at a massive rate.


    If one is able to befriend them, they may find that they can easily walk through the darkness with the octopus as a guide. However, doing so is often challenging since finding one is extremely risky..."


    There was a lot more to the all around appraisal, but Walker had just noticed arger mass that the many tentacles were moving toward. He also had just read a slightly more important fact about the shadow eating octopus.


    ''This thing has more than just eight tentacles. They are born with eight and can grow up to fifty. This one has thirteen that I can see. But they are very thin and slow moving. I think it''s struggling to get enough dark mana."


    As Walker exined the all around appraisal to Mordant, Mordant understood right away.


    "You''re telling me that the little one managed to survive the chaotic mana between the world and chaotic mana, only to be trapped here as the world''s mana was too little and the cave was basically brought to non existence."


    "Then, when mana returned, it could finally start eating properly and started to pull at the mana even more. Causing ack of darr mana and a change in the flow of dark mana as a


    whole."


    "I am also saying that because it managed to get here, that I think this will be the next location where we see a bridge to the elemental nes." Walker''s whispered theory made Mordant widen his eyes. "Think about it, this little one managed to get through chaotic mana as an infant identally. Andnded here. So, there could have once been a bridge to the elemental nes there and linked to here. Hence why this ancient cave is sorge and


    developed this way."


    Mordant held a hand up and nodded. "I understand. Worry about thatter. Right now, I am choosing to take control of this little one who has lived through things we can not understand." Before Walker could say another word, Mordant had released a dense ball of dark mana from his body and in to his shadow.


    Every single tentacle of darkness moved towards it as if this monster was seeing water for the first time in a desert. It wasn''t the dark mana around it that could sustain it. It was dense and


    pure dark mana like this.


    "So you''re making friends then." Walker understood it.


    ....


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2294: 2294. Intelligent Shadows

    Chapter 2294: 2294. Intelligent Shadows


    Fifteen shadow tentacles touched the ball of dark mana that Mordant had dropped in to his own shadow. But the moment that they did, they all retracted. It was simr to a kid grabbing their favorite candy then realizing that their parents had said no to eating it right away.


    This didn''t halt Mordant''s ns, he just kept walking forward a little by little with more dark mana spilling around him. He was a dark dominator dragon. He had arge amount of dark mana that any monsters with the same affinity would find amazing. So much so that even in fear, if they needed it, they might take the risk.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Which was exactly what Mordant was hoping for.


    If he could bait the shadow eating octopus in to taking this dark mana, then he would have some bond with it. At the very least, that bind would be so small that it did not immediately run away from him. Therefore, he could push forward and be able to bring it away from this ce.


    With every step, the dark mana being let free from Mordant was even more tantalizing.


    Its tentacles were actually very weakpared to the size that they should be. It was just the exceptional talent that this shadow eating octopus had since it had always been trying to survive with the smallest amounts of dark mana.


    Due to that, it had learned to use the smaller amounts to survive. Never truly full and never truly nourished. Yet, it was enough to understand dark mana deeper than what it would normally have done if it had remained within the dark elemental nes where it could easily just get the man it needed from its surroundings without much effort.


    This was the same for many others in the world who had limited abilities to use a certain mana. Those born with weaker affinities with only one mana but were still given a mage system earlier in life before the world had changed to the proper flow again.


    Those people had managed to learn how to use that smaller affinity and smaller amounts if mana with better efficiency. Meaning that they used their skills much better than many others allowing them to rise higher.


    Nowadays, that might change, but the fact that hard training and a lot more effort in understanding would lead to higher realms was a fact no matter what. It just took the right amount of willpower for someone to grow in that way.


    Watching closely, Walker saw one of the many shadowy tentacles try to reach out. This time, it did not retreat and started to steal away some of the dark mana. In response, Mordant focused his dark mana and allowed it to take even more.


    That was when multiple of the tentacles slowly moved forward and Mordant weed it with them. Clearly, his method was working since it was showing that he could be trusted. That he was not here to hint or fight. Instead, that he was there for help.


    While the shadow eating octopus had never met another due to the strange circumstances of its infant life and now current life changing, it still understood kindness. They were an intelligent monster to some degree, even if they had yet to learn much. It could feel the way that Mordant offered the dark mana.


    He wasn''t offering it in the form of force or violence, instead, Mordant was making it easily malleable without keeping his own will attached to it. This showed the shadow eating octopus that it was being given without expectation.


    Hence why Walker was shocked when therger mass of shadows slowly rose up showing off a purple and ck smokey looking head attached to the thin tentacles.but it did appear sickly. As if its body was not properly filled out and the skin was too tight. It also had eyes which were slow. Not able to focus as they should on most things.


    Seeing all of this, Walker felt that this was the best thing that they could have done. Feeding this monster lost from the dark elemental nes where it could have lived naturally was right. But neither were ready for what happened next.


    "Many struggles. None living. Alone. Friends?"


    While blunt, the words that echoed through dark mana and were understood by both Walker and Mordant. "So you can speak. I would assume you are smart because of what you have learned while in this ce?" Mordant spoke out and also used a little more dark mana to encourage a response.


    "Learned. Old stones. Remained with bones." a few tentacles moved and rose from the shadows fully pointing behind some of therge stones jutting out from the ground in this massive cave. "Way to a better ce here once before. Not now. Maybe soon."


    "Are you saying that ancient records have been left here and you learned from them? That''s an incredible achievement. You also understand that if you stay here and learn to wait you would be able to go back to the dark elemental ne potentially."


    Mordant turned his head and looked at Walker. "My friend here also thought that a way back to the dark elemental ne and many other elemental nes might open here when he walked in. but we already have a way to get to the elemental nes. Along with a ce with many other friends you may meet. You are smart enough to do so as well."


    "Since this is all the case, I will offer to voice for you if you would wish toe with us to our home. You can learn more. You can meet others simr to you, what others would call monsters, but they have intelligence and are called monster races now and live with other races in peace."


    "You would also be allowed to venture in to the dark elemental nes if you desired once you have recovered some strength. I will even wee you in to my territory to meet my followers. I am what''s known as a dark dominator dragon."


    Impressed. That''s how Walker felt right now with what he had just watched.


    Not only had Mordant managed to immediately speak calmly and in a friendly manner with this shadow eating octopus, he had learned more about how it had grown smarter. Beyond that, he was weing it in to Genesis as if it was second nature! It was great!


    "I don''t need to say much. I am Walker and I am also one of the founders of the Genesis alliance uniting many races and kingdoms. We are searching ces like this and weing others in to our homes to grow together in peace and safety. You are wee toe with us if it is what you wish. We will also protect this ce even if you do not wish to do so. ces like this are unique."


    Backing up Mordant was important. It also had an immediate effect on the shadow eating octopus who unfurled more of his tentacles and pointed about at various ces. "Learned From those stones. Need rest. Wee you too. Friends."


    The learning had clearly only allowed a certain level ofmunication. But whatever had been here to learn from was enough to allow a lot for a monster with high intelligence in general. Beyond this, Walker also sensed that there was a weing flow of mana from this shadow eating octopus now.


    Its eyes were dropping as it slowly fell in to its own shadow. The dense dark mana it had been given had allowed it the nutrients it needed and was missing. However, because of the sudden addition of dense dark mana, it needed rest.


    "I will swear on the world that I will remain within this cave while you rest. I will personally defend it and will not cause you harm." Mordant held his hands up and made this promise clearly. The shadow eating octopus just melted in to the shadows andtched on to a fewrger rocks before moving rhythmically in slumber.


    "So, you are the new recruiter of dark affinity monsters and races to Genesis? I''m impressed." Walker teased a little and Mordant growled half heartedly. Clearly, Mordant enjoyed the praise. As any dragon would with their pride intact.


    "Shall we take a chance to learn a thing or two? Our new friend mentioned bones and ancient carved writings. I would have a guess that intelligent races or intelligent ancient monsters once lived here and carved this ce out to be able to live nearby the elemental bridge to the elemental nes. The perfect ce for them to grow or flee if need be."


    Both of them looked at the directions which had been pointed out. Understanding that these might not just be some caves but in reality, an odd form of ruins from much longer than what they had understood of other ancient events. It was exciting.


    ....


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 Chapter 2295: 2295. Insight To Ancient Earth

    Chapter 2295: 2295. Insight To Ancient Earth


    Wandering off in opposite directions and avoiding the ce where the shadow eating octopus was resting, the pair was sure that they would be finding some interesting ancient remnants.


    Walker was able to feel the movements of mana much better, but he was also able to still sense a little more. The oddity of mana being somewhat pushed away from one section of very dusty rock had piqued his attention though. Especially since he knew the chances that there could be a bridge to the elemental nes that would form here.


    As such, he reached out to the manas around it and found that the entire stone was coated in earth mana very evenly. The dust was easy to move away using a little wind mana and some additional earth mana. Revealing what had once been earth runes.


    Therefore, Walker was led to believe that whatever ancient monsters had been here were earth affinity. Also, that they had created this ce when the earth elemental nes had been moving past this area naturally.


    Regardless, this may have even been before the elemental nes were rotating and were just in more chaos due to the unbnced manas. Therefore, it could have been where the earth elemental ne linked entirely with the world and remained this way for a very long time in theory. That was if the ne did not move naturally at that time either.


    But since Walker could feel thesting imprint of mana here and could feel that he would be able to see a bridge to the elemental nes forming right here, he could have it guarded better.. He just wondered if the flow of elemental nes had caused the current situation.


    If this had been a ce where the earth elemental ne connected until the world began to be broken in flow due to the demon king''s choices, then the elemental nes could have also shifted when the connection was breaking down.


    In that time, the dark elemental ne could have connected and the mana could have flowed enough to cause this area to be doused in purer dark mana. Causing the ancient monsters to perish or for them to flee this area. Therefore, this rocky desert like mountain was left untouched before the world fully broke down and this area was lost due to unknown effects of all this.


    With this fact being somewhat more established, Walker pushed himself to ignore the remnants of what should have been a tform made by some ancient monsters with higher intelligence than what he had expected. He couldn''t go back in time and see things as they


    were.


    He avoided even trying to mess with time mana as a whole. Such things were well out of his reach and could not be easily understood. Even the thought of what might happen from fantasy stories made him and many others fear what would happen if someone capable of messing with time mana appeared.


    Nothing good, in theory, that is.


    Letting his focus shift to the stone nearby, Walker realized that those protruding from the ground naturally were not so natural. Some were very much different and even appear to have been the result of shaping using mana or sharper ws. Just the striations on them made it clearer that something had intentionally cut them rather than the stone naturally breaking up from softer stone underground.


    Knowing that this stone had been chosen specifically, Walker focused on the earth mana within it. A denser earth mana which proved that the stone had been purposefully hardened by condensing it with magic skills. He could also feel that there were some small naturally forming crystals at the base. Most likely from impurities forced out of the stone as they were brought up from the deeper earth.


    His hands ran over the stone as he felt small carvings remaining. But most were too faint that he couldn''t understand what they might be. However, he understood that there were some which the shadow eating octopus had been able to understand. And with the world adjusting, thenguage had been automatically tranted by the system of existence to allow it to speak with them when Mordant befriended it.


    But other stones were more covered in the dust from sands and also from whatever had moved around here through time passing. As such, Walker began to move that dust using light wind mana causing a breeze.


    The more he began to move, the more that carved stone was revealed. As if something or a group of somethings had been carving knowledge in to all the stones that jutted out from the ground. It could have taken years depending on what or who had done so.


    That aside, it was an impressive urrence to witness. Especially since so many stones were carved. It was very simr to the runguages that other ancients had used. Even the ancient angels had only based theirnguage off of this partially. Their symbolism was lost to some but still decipherable.


    Those that had been covered in more dust were clearer because they had been protected from whatever elemental manas and natural forces had been affecting this entire cave over time.


    Thenguage was bothplicated and broken. Seeing it, Walker knew that reading through this and grasping the symbolic meanings would be very troublesome. However, he understood how someone without any grasp could learn basic brokennguage from them. It was just a way of speaking that would not make sense without existence and the system tranting now.


    "Hmm, I can tell he found something, but he definitely hasn''t found what i did." Mordant had felt the breeze and noticed the dust in the air increase. It was a telling sign that Walker had figured a thing or two out and was making his own moves to understand it.


    But what Mordant had found prompted him to remove a few of the all around appraisal scrolls that he carried now. They were important to have since he had not been able to get the all around appraisal skill and needed more information on many things. Especially with the ways that the world was changing.


    ''Mountain devourer bones


    This is an ancient lizard once thought to be on par with the gods or other ancient monsters. As long as it had followers of some form or another, it would lead them to attack and devour entire mountains to consumerge amounts of earth mana and grow itself along with searching for other mountain devourers.


    Its followers were often the stone lizardman which were a species of lizard man who covered their spiky bodies with tough earth armor using various skills. Their usage of tools was low but they could follow orders from their more intelligent earth skin mages.


    The ability to use earth mana was very high for the mountain devourer. Often creating entire mountain ranges as it desired since it had consumed and benefited from massive amounts of heart mana which it used as it desired. Often leaving precious metals behind since it was often more interested in the earth mana crystals within the mountain as it consumed.


    The bones here are extremely dense due to the heart mana within them. They can cause a various number of effects if forged in to armor and equipment. However, they are also extremely valuable if ground up and used as fertilizer within the soil. It can even return the roughest terrain in to fertilend.


    The crystallized bone marrow within the bones could easily be used for a multitude of


    potions...''


    The scroll had led to a miraculous worth of appraisal knowledge. Mordant could only be amazed by the uses of the massive bones partially buried within the ground due to many years of being here. He did focus on one thing though.


    ''Due to losing the source of earth mana it fed on, this mountain devourer was suddenly unable to userge amounts of earth mana to move and sustain its body. Causing it to perish and the followers it had to flee elsewhere.''


    He found this as a very important fact. It proved beyond a doubt that many of the ancient monsters and even some ancient races or variations of current races had died off due to the changes in mana. Proving further, that the races and monsters would be changing at a rapid pace due to the world regaining so much puree mana.


    Taking this information to Genesis and sharing it with the Genesis council would be invaluable. Many of them would be able to take this information to their people and begin learning even more about the world changing around them. It could even be one of the first major steps to understanding some of the origins of certain races.


    Focusing on the reclusive lizardmen would also be an interesting topic for some.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2296: 2296. Mirrored Hills

    Chapter 2296: 2296. Mirrored Hills


    "This is a major step toward the future of all races within the Genesis alliance. These wilderness areas are a fact of our lives. A fact of our world. We can not just live and assume they are safe or that we are going to be able to control them. You must move with the utmost care and observation. Is this understood?"


    "Understood!" the chorus of voices echoes out in front of Su.


    They had all been traveling for a few days at this point through the fields between Genesis and the demi-human kingdom. They had not needed to face many monsters on the way since the distance had grown since the world returned to its flow. However, this was a good thing since they had the energy to begin camp set up.


    The area outside of the mirrored hills was easy to deal with. The only issue was that the grasses were all around making it a little harder to keep up the lookout without setting a taller ce for the soldiers to watch. But the mages handled a lot of these issues.


    They had many magic skills setting up a protection for the camp. This wasn''t just needed because there were normal monsters around. It was needed for the mysteries which might being from the mirrored hills.


    These monsters were the greater worries since they seemed to hide under the grasses and in the earth of the hills. Potentially meaning that some of the hills were their nests. The earth manas around the area were matched by the strangeness of the wind manas.


    The mages sent here ahead of everyone to monitor the different mana flows had found that these two manas were the focus of the oddities. At night the earth mana might surge with the appearance of monsters. But during the day, the wind mana would increase along with the odd movements of the wind around the many perfectly copied hills.


    While this area was notrge in the essence of the entirety of the grassy ins, it wasrge enough to get lost in. especially since everything looked the same. The grasses were also shorter than the normal grasses on the ins. Meaning that it stood out even more.


    "The monsters spotted had originally been called serpents, now are being called simr to rats. But they are still not captured and we still do not have an appraisal using a scroll or other skill. They are incredibly evaside along with appearing to repair the damage to a hill with great speed."


    "There are also reports that there may be small burrows which can be hidden during the day and night within some hills. They may not all be monster nests and some may just be forgotten mounds of earth after they once were used as nests."


    "The current theory is that whatever monsters live here and cause the hills to act this way along with the wind, are recently hatched from their eggs and looking to find food while building their homes. Otherwise, there may be hidden herbs or elemental crystals within the mounds. That is not confirmed yet."


    These mages had worked hard to gather this report. Their papers held many details rted to the flow of mana within the area along with the plentiful changes within other aspects of the strange area that they had marked out. Their work had also pertained to marking out the boundaries and stationing appropriate guards when Su''s group reached there.


    "You should have all heard their reports rted to the potential risks. The adventurer groups will act as the wardens of this area. You will assist the guards and pay attention to any monsters crossing in to and outside of this area. Do not feel you need to fight monsters entering. However, you must call for assistance or battle those leaving. They may not be the same as when they entered."


    The response from five adventurer group leaders was a silent nod while they took their copies and moved toward their parties. They hade because Su had recruited Barry and they had all learned from Barry carefully. Their parties had formed through his training of those on the Sigil continent.


    All that he trained had note back to Genesis with him. Many were angels who wished to help their viges and would be establishing their own branches of the adventurer''s guild. On top of that, they had their responsibilities to their own people. But that did not mean some angels had decided to forge a path elsewhere by following Barry to a continent they had never set foot on before.


    "That was very quick. We can make a lot of time up when ites to the next steps." Barry himself was watching all this and was pretty impressed with how Su had immediately begun moving everyone in to ce.


    "I had to make the move sooner rather thanter. The sun is already setting and at night we might see some unique monsters appearing. If the focus is on earth, we might be able to witness how the hills are appearing and how they are all identical. I want to capture one of the monsters too." These were some lofty goals for the first night that they would be here. But Barry was fine with that.


    "Then I will be setting out-"


    "No, you will be preparing the traps. There are rune traps prepared with both mana crystals and different monster meats. I want them set up and you are in charge of that since the rune carvers and the trap masters, or some hunters, need your groups to defend them." Su''s smile was sweet but Barry knew it was hiding a hard order. He couldn''t argue with her even though his own desire to head out and fight these unknown monsters existed.


    Fighting was what he did. He was ready for it all. He could take on a hoard of these monsters, whatever they were. Regardless, he also understood that his duty to defend these people was greater. He had the strength and his hand selected guards were moving with them while setting these traps.


    The aspects that could create these traps had focused on them during their entire journey. It was why they had taken days to get here and not sped up faster. They had brought carriages with small workshops inside. To create rune carved cages and traps with vicious metal teeth. Each needed rune carved mana gems to fuel them as well.


    While the traps needed a lot of care to set them and to adjust them, they were also very important to ensuring that some of the monsters unknown to them could be captured properly. They could also protect the guards around since there would be a very loud noise when they were set off alerting everyone to gather and prepare. Just an added bonus that the creators made.


    Su watched as Baarry set off and she focused on those she had hand chosen.


    They were a slightlyrger group of five healers able to buff their group and to heal when needed while moving. Their diverse skills would be able to be the most valuable thing for everyone working right now.


    The dragonkin that hade with her were both earth and wind affinity, specifically because Ventus and Terron had promised Su assistance when she had met them at thest Genesis council meeting. They had already heard the smaller reports of high rewind and earth manas around this mysterious area. Therefore, they wished to help in the hopes that unique materials might be found to help their fellow dragons.


    She also chose dragonkin over other soldiers because they were naturally tougher. If push came to shove, the dragonkin could use their strength to defend the other better. Especially since she had focused on the earth dragonkin shield warriors and the wind dragonkin wind


    saber users.


    Tow unique dragonkin who could fulfill defense and attacking while dodging.


    This was aside from the elves who hade because they had been training with the echidna. Their sses were varied, but they all had one thing inmon. A focus on the natural flow of manas around them. Letting their senses be their best feature when it came to


    understanding what was happening around them.


    They also had skills that could allow them to better grasp an understanding of how certain natural phenomena would affect others too. Learning with a natural mana focus was something that still would take them years to grasp, however, this was a challenge for them which could yield arger growth for them in the long run. They couldn''t turn this chance


    down.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Overall, Su was prepared as the sun started to set and the breeze seemed to cease all around them.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2297: 2297. Fluid Teams

    Chapter 2297: 2297. Fluid Teams


    The stoppage of the winds around this area was sudden. Not a gradual decrease over a longer period of time. Instead, it was within a shorter period of time just as the sun began to set. Not instant, but sudden enough to cause many to notice when they didn''t even have an affinity for wind mana.


    This wasn''t the only thing though, Su and a few with higher earth mana affinties had started to sense movement within the heart mana. Before, it had been the same as what earth mana was normally. A resting and constant flow beneath the earth everyone walked on. However, now, it was as if it was reaching up toward the air.


    The feeling was abnormal since there was not a single bit of shifting soil or stone nearby, it was just the feeling of that happening. Su even recalled that this was the feeling that came when she had seen earth mages or Walker moverger pieces of stone from the earth to battle. Like the mana was gathered but there was just nothing taking full action here.


    All of this made the group preparing camp much more observant and on edge. It made the mages more ufortable at the end of the day though. They were looking for the sources of this and trying to understand why they now faced a different obstruction to their mana usage. That was if the mage in question was an earth mage.


    "Reporting in, the earth affinity dragonkin in mymand are now struggling to gather solid stone on their shields. We will have a lesserbat ability. This is our failing."


    "No, this is not your fault. You have never trained in a situation like this. You should have the best defenses without your ability to use earth mana to its usual capability. Just maintain your formations and defend those who need it." Su had trained with these dragonkin and the soldiers which they had partnered with.


    It was the guards who she had recruited who were the clinchers to the entire group. While they were a mixed race group, they were a group who was most ustomed to dealing with various issues within Genesis. They each had been part of a roving team who handled misunderstandings between races.


    These guards had been originally trained and recruited at the founding of Genesis because they had been guards within their home kingdoms. But as time had progressed, they had be their own squad handling the hardest issues urring within the streets on a daily basis.


    Whether it was a small error in sales within the market, or something that happened insulting the values of another race. Both intentionally or unintentionally. These guards had faced it through their knowledge and ability to remedy the situations.


    Hence why they were the perfect group to split up between the multiple races within thisrge team that Su put together. They were the glue holding each smaller squad together along with keeping things moving smoothly. She also had them focusing on the trade of information between everyone since they could easily match the correct information with the right squad which could handle a situation the best.


    All of this allowed Su the peace of mind to focus on the changes in mana herself and gather a small group behind her to do an exploratory walk in to the firstyer of hills as the sun had set.


    Leading the way, Su noticed that it was very easy to see with how clear the sky was and how the moon lit everything for her. Not to mention her draconic eyes were much better at seeing through the night than many other races. There was also the additional night vision buff from one of the healers.


    The immediate feeling of unease while walking one step from the normal taller grassy ins and in to the shorter grasses of the mirrored hills was clear. Su could sense that the manas were not as bnced here. More like the manas she could sense were dimmed except for the earth mana. That was standing out right now.


    The way that the earth mana gathered though, was very strange. Su had originally possessed some earth mana affinity. So even as a guardian before, she had been able to take a path toward using earth mana to boost her defensive strength. That was if she had not be a true draconic guardian that is.


    Regardless of that, she was able to sense that the nearest hill was brimming with heart mana. Every single one was. Or at least those that she could see. "I was told that if the hills are damaged the monsters will emerge. Right now, the other groups should be finishing the first set of traps. Then the second group should be cutting in to the hills with a shovel to make dents. That way we can lure out some monsters."


    As Su finished saying this to those behind her, she mmed one of the town shields in to the ground. These were not the normal twin shields she normally carried. Those that held the baby scales from Midnight''s smaller form which had been repaired and improved were attached to her back.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The pair that Su used now were dark brown shields with earth runes covering them. She had brought these to purposefully use the strength that came from her natural affinity, her earth spirit partner resting within her spirit markings, and also counter any wind from the natural wind of the grassy ins if need be.


    With this, she also caused more than just a cut on the small hill she had set foot on when she mmed one of her twin earth shields down. She had caused a ripple which upturned the soil on the topyer of the entire small hill.


    Unsurprisingly, this also revealed some of the inner workings of the hill. In particr, smaller holes proving that this must really be or have been a monster nests. The grass had just grown over the holes in a way that covered them so that they could not be seen from the outside. Most likely this was a way for the monsters to hide their homes from a predator that might not even exist any longer.


    "No reaction anywhere on sight. The mana is also consistent and did not change after your attack." An earth mage reported what they had sensed as they looked around for any changes in nearby hills.


    "No, you just missed it. Whatever that was, it is hiding right there and managing to trick your senses." The response from a forest elf archer was not what any of them expected.


    "There is a small prey in that hole, I saw a small hair twitch just now. Not enough to change the flow of mana, but enough for me to notice. I hunt at night and I am used to the antenna of hawk moths moving from opposite sides of trees. That is the very same sight."


    Keeping the tone of their conversation light and focused was a skill any hunter would have so that they would not alert their prey. Especially as the elf moved and drew her bow to aim at the hole she had seen the movement from. "Please buff my arrow before I fire it. Leader Su, please be ready for any chaos that may follow."


    Feeling that this was a very lucky moment for Su since she was already seeing results, she prepared herself mentally. Yet, before the arrow could be fully drawn and the healer could buff the archer, movement got everyone''s attention.


    A brown figure sprung from the hole that the archer had aimed at. Its sixth sense had warned it of danger. But as it fled, it had fled right in front of one of the soldiers who had a scroll clutched in their hands. An appraisal scroll.


    "Appraisal sessful!"


    The shout was all that they needed and Su motioned for a retreat. They were not here to follow and hunt these monsters. They had set foot here in an attempt to get some beginner''s data on what they were pursuing and trying to understand. Right now, that was the appraisal which was well over what they had expected to get.


    "The earth mana is shifting, something is moving under the ground between the hills to our left." even as the mage warned them, they all saw the grass moving and the hill seemingly moving toward them. It was more apt to say that the hill was crawling under the grass in a


    way.


    "They have the skill to manipte the heart. Whatever they are, we are backing off." Su pushed for everyone to move away and watched the hills shift to absorb the hill she had damaged. But they did not move toward the group at all any more. Especially as they retreated


    back toward their camp.


    All it left was Su''s group with a single appraisal and even more questions to be asked.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2298: 2298. Bigger Problem

    Chapter 2298: 2298. Bigger Problem


    "Reporting in!" The shout was right before Su could even look at the appraisal that her group had just managed to achieve.


    "What happened?" She didn''t think that anything else major might have just happened, yet here they were, two different groups had sent back soldiers to report to her at roughly the same time.


    "These monsters can eat traps. They were able to eat right through the metals used for the traps when ites to the iron, brass, and steel alloy traps. The runes had no deterrents either for them. They also moved too fast for them to be captured by magical means. We have an appraisal."


    "We achieved an appraisal as well, there was a rune trap made to cause a cage of stone from the earth when activated. The monsters chewed through it and also used their mana to manipte the earth while doing so. The appraisal is less useful than other appraisals we have achieved."


    Both reports were invaluable right this moment. The traps not being useful were important to know. Not many monsters would be able to just chew through the metal forged by cksmiths and made by trap masters'' yet here they were.


    Breaking the rune traps was even more out of the ordinary since that required breaking the flow of whatever manas were utilized by the runes. It could be hard for many people to do, and could be showcasing the higher dangers of these monsters if the situation went poorly.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Beyond that, the appraisals were going to vary. Not because of the user''s for the scrolls. But simply because the appraisals were the all around appraisals scrolls. The information was not specific or exactly the same every time. It was why Walker would often appraise something multiple times.


    "Then I will condense the appraisals right now. You can call back the traps and begin preparing for other means if need be. I am sure there are already minds working on it." The two soldiers left, but she could see that she had thought right. Their eyes shed when she mentioned she knew that they had begun new nning to handle the monsters who could escape traps.


    Having the information in front of her, Su read it all and gathered what she could in to one finalized appraisal. She knew that others maye back soon with more information, however, she wanted an answer now. As long as she could begin her ns and the in depth research in to this area, then it would be fine.


    ''False rat


    This monster is not at all what many people would believe it to be. It was an ancient pest known to cause arge changes in thend due to the way that they live, breed, and change form over their lifespans.


    They will at most live for a year but will change and be much more dangerous when they manage to live to their full potential. This is due to them using the earth mana that they control and gather during the night within their nests to nurture a radical change once they have consumed enough prey.


    They live inrge nests which they create under the ground, often creating hills. Due to their obsessive nature, these hills are often exactly the same in whatever areas they are expanding their poption. Their eggs are also immensely durable in just about any situation. Some are even able to survive being immersed in magma for years on end.


    Using their earth affinity when they are mimicking rats, these false rats are able to manipte the earth and create their nests. They can also move the earth to trap prey within their nests along with covering the nests in the grass which normally grows in open areas where they prefer to live. It is easy to spot their nests in the early stages because they will eat the young roots of natural grasses causing them to grow shorter.


    As the false rats grow, they will begin to undergo arge change.


    This change takes the earth mana within their body and forcefully condenses it at extremely dangerous levels within its heart. As it does so, the fur it grew over its body will be a cocoon for it to grow. As such, it will also begin to cause the younger false rats to be more aggressive.


    Once dense enough, the main body will perish and be shed as a shell for the true form of the false rat to be born. The dense earth mana will be used to encounter wind mana and perform an intense trade off of mana changing the affinity from earth to wind facilitating the dramatic change.


    When taking this form, it is known as a de fly from this point onward. An extremely dangerous wind type monster with wind mana wings able to cut through some of the toughest ores and metals from the earth. Even dragon scales will be unable to avoid them when they swarm around their nests hunting for any form of meat they can consume to help them develop the eggs they will birth within thest three months of their lifecycle.


    They are extremely dangerous and known as a gue during ancient times. Even some ancient monsters would not deal with them due to their annoyance and high numbers. Some ancient monsters would purposefully seek them out to kill them.


    Their bodies in earth form are useless but for their hearts which are extremely precious alchemical materials. In their wind form, de fly, their eyes are able to be used to create incredible lenses which ancient races used for seeing vast distances.''


    This made Su''s face go pale.


    They had all believed this was just an area where the mana had begun to flow properly. Where the world had returned to the size and shape it had been when it was within ancient times.


    Yet, they were all wrong. That theory was entirely wrong.


    This was the same as what had happened underground. These weren''t parasites that ate metal and earth though. Instead, they were monsters which had managed to survive whatever happened to them as the mana of the world had degraded. They had waited and been awakened as the proper mana flow returned causing this situation.


    And the worst part was, this area was massive.


    There were so many hills, which proved these monsters had been breeding without enemies since mana flow returned to the world properly. They had been able to eat any monster that came near. They had been able to grow. They had been bing a worse and worse problem right under the noses of everyone within the world right now.


    "Get everyone immediately and bring me amunication crystal. This is a warzone now. We must exterminate every single one of these monsters or else we will lose everything." Su''s order was harsh and abrupt. It shocked everyone waiting to hear what she had to say.


    They understood though. She would not react like this if nothing was happening. To call this a warzone meant that the danger was so high it could threaten all of Genesis and every kingdom nearby. Let alone even more than that. They all understood her orders from now on were not just exploration efforts. They were not research efforts. They were a battle of life and death. "Leave? What do you mean we have to leave?" a distance away from Su, Mordant was questioning Walker as he stood there with a serious expression and mana reacting to him. It had even awoken the shadow eating octopus who had been resting to absorb the dark mana it had gained after being somewhat starved for so long.


    "Su contacted me saying an ancient swarming monster is in the mirrored hills. That it''s not a ce like this at all. It''s an area where monster eggs hatched and they are taking over. They will be extremely dangerous since there are no longer natural predators. The ancient monsters were the only ones who could easily handle them. Even dragons had trouble with


    them."


    Themunication crystals were invaluable for moments like this. Since Walker and Mordant had been hard at work going through the ancient monster bones and the writings around the cave that the shadow eating octopus called home, they had not contacted anyone. They had no way otherwise of knowing what might be happening.


    "She already contacted Genesis and everyone is being prepared. The strongest mages with the ability to use fire magic to eradicate these monsters have been called on too. We are going to thoroughly destroy the area if possible before using natural mana based magic to recover it. That''s the kind of threat that we face right now." Mordant lost any thoughts of remaining


    here.


    "I will ask our new friend to guard this area while resting. We can return here afterwards." With that, they prepared to leave immediately.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2299: 2299. All In Place

    Chapter 2299: 2299. All In ce


    The way that the forces traveled to where su was outside of the mirrored hills was simple. Those with the ability to fly partnered with the dragon or the mages to move much faster. Using wind mana to speed their movements was easily the best option for them. While those on the ground had prepared carriages or were running in formation.


    Buffs from healers were also a perfect addition to those who wanted to get there faster. It was the single biff that could improve how everyone recovered from this quicker travel while also the buff that allowed them to even get there. Other supporters felt the same and ensured that they had buffed many before they found their own way on to a carriage to maintain those buffs over the trip.


    As the forces began to gather, the information about why was shared. It was also clear that the size of the area was not as small as originally found. Those who had gotten the original research were shocked to see that the area of the mirrored hills had more than doubled. Proving that they had arge problem on their hands.


    While it took a day or more for some forces to get to the camp, Su had not faced a perfect and calm wait. Instead, the aggression of the monsters within the mirrored hills, no, within their nests, had grown.


    "I have eight teams of ten archers each. They can handle whatever flying monsters appear during the day. You mentioned that they have wings covered in wind mana, so we have forged arrows made of metals that will disrupt their wind mana control due to the runes on them." Gil didn''t hesitate the moment that hended with his archers.


    Ventus had carried a great deal of archers. All of them had multiple arrows forged for situations where they might needed tobat wind affinity monsters.


    It had been some time since the crafting guild and the elves had be closer in some ways. It was the way that the elves crafted their own arrows for archery that caught the attention of the crafters within the guild.


    They cared about the high ss techniques being used which others could not use unless they were an archer themselves. Otherwise, they also had their own ideas which were already being mixed in to forging and crafting in general. One idea was using runes to disrupt the natural mana flow of a monster or enemy.


    The idea was already used by mages to some degree since whoever had the better understanding of a mana between two mages would normally be able to take over that mana in a magical battle. Halting the ability of the other mage to use it properly. But there were also skills which disrupted mana entirely, which Walker could do.


    Therefore, the principal was used with arrows, specifically, elemental arrows which were now being readied by the archers Gil brought with him.


    "Good, That will help control any damages that we need to worry about from anything that flees and tries toy their eggs in the fields somewhere else. We need to keep this handled." Su stopped for a breath before pointing ahead at some monster bodies. "Those are the monsters that have stopped so far. Fire magic was able to cause them some issues since their wind affinity wings made the fire increase, but they can fly too fast so your archers will take the perimeter with the dragonkin to guard them from the front."


    The order was followed well since Su was the most knowledgeable of the situation. Also, since this was her expedition in the first ce. She had called everyone here for the risk which they would all face.


    "Su! Ignus and I have explosive potions, but we are setting them up so that they can be thrown and drilled in to the ground using these cheap metal tubes made by the dwarves. I thought that they would be useful for when the dwarves need to break a lot of tough stones. They loved the idea."


    Saying this casually was just stunning to Su for a moment. Remey had causally partnered with the dwarves on using the explosive potion in a more controlled method for their clearing of stone or caves. Yet right away it had be a weapon to destroy the nests of invasive monsters which could cause a great deal of death? It was hard to wrap her head around.


    "The dwarven golems can bring them in since they can be controlled with just orders. We aren''t going to let the spirit race controlled golems anywhere near these monsters since the mana they use might have some issues." Since Remey and the dwarves had already worked this out, Su just pointed at the archer squads so that Remey could start splitting up the explosive potions and other materials along with the dwarven mechanical golems.


    "Onyx is remaining with the serpents as they are beginning the excavations of the newly found ruins. They are also prepared to leave everything and use a teleportation rune formation being crafted now toe here if need be." Walker''s arrival had been quick enough to give an update. He had trusted that onyx would not be needed here since the serpents were not going to be a focus on the battle strength of these forces.


    This was not an insult to the younger serpents who had partnered with other researchers to explore the ruins. Instead. It was a sign of trust that they would remain focused on the exploration and potential betterment of Genesis while major issues were being handled. It also separated them from the dangers here since other dangers could appear. Temporary elemental tune teleportation formations were not easy to build, but the rune carvers were talented. They could only be used a few times before degrading since they were not as well nned out. However, they were valuable since they would allow there to be a better chance that reinforcements could arrive at a moment''s notice.


    Reinforcements that could surprise an enemy bying out of nowhere. Literally.


    "I finished reading the appraisal too. And the bodies were also enough to get more information. You were lucky that they have not been swarming because most of them are in their false rat form right now. But those ones recently hatched from that form in to the de flies."


    Su stopped in her tracks. "You are saying that they are going to be causing us more issues sooner rather thanter then." She was ready for this eventuality, but she had yet to put everyone in ce.


    "Ignus! Get the fire mages, the tamers with fire affinity monsters, and anyone else with the right skills. We are going to push forward faster. Before things get worse." There was arge snort from Ignus since he hated being ordered.


    But what he hated more was the fact that these small little monsters could cut through his dragon scales. Something that Terron also had found incredibly insulting. He was an earth dominator dragon, yet here he was, hearing that some monster which relied on earth mana could be a wind monster able to cut through his defenses?


    The earth dragons were some of the toughest dragons, yet some small thing could cut through them? If that was not an assault to his pride and history, then what was?


    "Simply put, Su, we need to move faster and Mordant and I will help. Rise is already keeping an eye on the sky to make sure nothing flies away and out of sight. Current and the water mages are preparing themselves to extinguish the mes. Terron has brought some of therger earth crystals to be able to break open every single nest in these mirrored hills." "Yes, I know Walker. We have the right people working the right positions. Now we need to do the work." Su set her shield down and stretched her arms out before taking a deep breath. "All forces, prepare for the extermination of ancient monster pests. We are the only ones with the preparations and knowledge to protect this world from them as we are now!"


    Her shout brought forth a shout from everyone preparing and separating to keep things under control. She had used a little bit of her mana in her voice proving that she could easily use a weaker version of a dragon''s roar if she had desired to do so. As it was, this had been more of a call to action than anything.


    The ns were in ce. The people were ready. Now they would move united to handle this problem and prevent it from bing an issue to gue them for years toe. "I''m ready." Walker nodded to Su after she said this. She would be following his movements in dropping thest pieces of the puzzles in to ce.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ----


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 Chapter 2300: 2300. Exterminated

    Chapter 2300: 2300. Exterminated


    The explosive potion had been filled in to the metal pipes. Walker was stepping through the air with extreme caution dropping the pipes in a way that they stuck in to the ground. Theirnding was enough to cause a slight disturbance, however, with a little hunter trick, the monsters did note out to change the terrain and clean up as they would.


    The hunter trick to make a prey remain within a small burrow or den was simple. Purposefully made noise nearby so that they believed a predator was around. Meanwhile, that noise was actually just a cover as a hunter would set the real trap at the entrance of the monster''s den.


    Simple but also very useful right now. The noise from other soldiers moving right beneath Walker was enough to keep the false rats from moving outside their nest to clean the area and keep their dens hidden. Walker also had the mind to keep an eye on the quick soldiers below him.


    The elven archers were at the edges watching the explosive potions being left behind. They felt that the idea was wasteful since the explosive potion could have been used in another way. Yet, they were also thinking about the damage to the area when they would be done with this.


    As all elves wished, they wanted to ensure that thend would not be destroyed to the point that it would be unable to survive. The world had just expanded too, therefore, seeing the world damaged even a little was touching on a soft spot.


    Times had changed though. There were no monsters ormon people that could consume or destroy these pests, the false rat was already strong enough to expand and make an entire area in to a different terrain. One where nothing else lived.


    Worse off yet, it was just a small stage in its life. Later, it would be an extremely destructive de fly using wind mana to kill anything and everything it needed to eat to furthery more eggs.


    Not a single part of this showed any benefits for the world. Even the materials which could be taken from these monsters were not valuable enough to keep the risk of the world being damage. The previous parasites were more easily controble because they only had one form and could be kept under control due to that. However, these were quicker in growth and could both manipte the earth and wind.


    "de flys!" The shout caught everyone''s attention as one of the hills broke open and five de flies darted out.


    They had a shinier brown exoskeleton and the wind had wrapped around small twigs which were their wings. They did not rely on actual physical wings and had formed the wind mana in to their wings. It was an odd sight. But when it came to odd, their eyes were the odd and scary part. Especially since they were sorge and multifaceted.


    The waiting archers were pulling back their wind disrupting arrows while the earth guardians mmed their shields down and forced their attention to them. As the de flies sped toward their targets, their boosted agility because of their usage of wind mana was clear.


    It would have been impossible for weaker and less trained archers to keep up with them. Even Walker had to admit that he might not be able to target them without using multiple skills since he was not a practiced archer or any form of marksman.


    Yet, as the slight whistle of wind being broken through by arrows came to his ears, he saw all five of the de flies fall to the ground. Their bodies were either slit in two or they werepletely pierced through and through by arrows.


    This let Walker keep moving as he noticed that the fire mages and four elder fire dragons were in ce. He also noticed that Terron and the earth mages had moved in to ce as well. This was paired by the feeling of water mana gathering in arger amount than before. The ns were moving forward.


    "Let''s get out of here, we are in the way." Walker grabbed the backs of the soldiers moving around on the ground as he manipted the water mana he could control to link them. He used a boost of wind mana to drag them to the closest edge before he gave a wave to the nearest fire dragon, who in turn, roared slightly.


    This was the signal that they were prepared to use their dragon breath and that the earth attack could also begin.


    The trembling of the ground was the earth mages and Terron. Their maniption of the ground was not to destroy the area but cause the upheaval of the mirrored hills which the false rats had made.


    As they did this, the nests they had made started to shift since there were hollow tunnels and burrows within. The sudden shifting caused the false rats to begin to panic since this was against what they did to keep themselves protected and hidden.


    At the very same time, the de flies hiding within had also begun to burst out. This also caused the stabbed in poles filled with explosive potions to shift and break open. Spilling out the vtile potion which would have evaporated or dried up before it was time to use them


    properly.


    "Fire!" This was not just an exmation of using the dragon breath attacks and the fireballs from the mages. It was also a warning that heat was about to st through the area.


    The wicked mes which broke through the air caused everyone to lose their breath for a moment. It was an intense change in the air which was quickly stopped by the wind mages and Ventus. They all caused changes to the wind mana flow within the area to defend the forces of Genesis from the mes and heat. But also to cause the mes to direct himself inwards.


    The entire area had be an intense furnace which could burn the false rats and the adult form de flies. The swirling mes would only be there to capture the ashes at the very end. After ten minutes of this intense wind field mes, the explosive potions had been more than burned up and Remey began to yell about the end of the fires. She had carefully done the timing so that the potions would notst longer than they needed to. She was an expert in alchemy, so she knew when the mes would have naturally died down and the best time to begin the water would be.


    Hence when the artificial rain began to fall, it was bing even more intense. The steam and the cracking ground was enough to make things much harder to see and function in. Therefore, the final step began too.


    Walker had also channeled his own mana and was beginning to walk in to therge area. He had not needed to worry about the heat so much since his prowess was much higher than others when it came to resistance.


    However, right now, he was using the artificial rain from the mages and Current. Not to use the water to cover things more, but to freeze it.


    Each step was using the dragon domain skill but in the form of ice. He was causing the steam to freeze and be snow. Causing the water pooling and cooling the ground to be sharp stabbing crystals. It was another reason that the guardians needed to remain at the


    edges of this territory.


    The eggs of these monsters were incredibly resilient. Hence why the n for intense heat and fire then directly to water and frozen cold had to be done. This change was not what they would have expensed even in ancient times. Therefore, they would cause the eggs to perish and crack as well. They would not be resilient enough to deal with this issue.


    While all this happened, it came to Midnight. The only one other than Onyx who had not had a major role to y at the mirrored hills area.


    Instead of being there, she had been put with multiple faster moving dark and light affinity soldiers. Some dragonkin, others just in general with flying and magical skills. They had been put much further away from the area. Not for safety, but to hunt.


    It was inevitable that some of the de flies had escaped or were already looking for a new nesting ce. Hence why they had been there. Midnight and some of the others had incredibly sensitive noses. They could sniff out prey from a long distance. Especially since they knew


    what they were looking for.


    That was why they had been sessfully destroying small groups of de flies without a single one escaping. The perimeter had already been marked and nned. Nothing was escaping here.


    ....


    ....n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2301: 2301. Fears

    Chapter 2301: 2301. Fears


    "Another intact egg here!" These shouts were not the only ones heard rted to surviving eggs.


    Even though the ns had created a radical and incredibly dangerous environment within the area where the false rats were nesting, some of their eggs had survived. This had stunned many of the soldiers at first, however, they understood immediately why they had been set to patrol the area.


    Therge sweeps were done in organized lines. Each with their own mages to create potent attacks which would destroy the remaining eggs. Then the egg remains were gathered and brought to the elder fire dragon who were turning them in to ashes.


    These ashes would be spread over thend where the nests had been. Those mirrored hills had been ruined because of the eating away at the roots of grasses, and the extermination process. To return some nutrients, the ashes would be hit with dark mana to help them degrade even more for the soil to absorb them after some of the frost melted back in to water.


    From there, Walker would gather the natural mana and replenish thend as best as he could while the elven archers had separated with some of the hunters present to gather seeds from the grasses of the ins. This would allow thend to return to what it should be faster.


    While thend would still be damaged and grow behind the rest of the ins, it would not be gone. Instead, it would have a fresh start which would give some of the monsters returning to the area a chance to make their homes.


    Some of the young of these monsters would not be able to eat the grasses or even dig in to the older soil where stronger roots had gathered over many years. Thisnd would be ideal for the young since the soil would be tougher without harder roots. The grasses would also not grow fully, but be spotty. Allowing for small hiding ces.


    With that woulde predators who could hunt from the sky for these smaller and weaker monsters. Creating a developmental ecosystem to help allow the monsters to grow as well. They had a lot more space here as well within the world as it was now. For the world to turn properly, they also needed to flourish.


    The sweeps being performed were easily taking care of other issues too. From what could be seen, there were some nests that had covered the bodies of the false rats. Leaving behind some of their bodies as materials. None had survived the drastic temperature changes though. They were enough to get rid of both the de fly full forms and the false rats yet to develop.


    This was a good thing though. The materials found could be used within Genesis as a way to put the costs of so many of the alliance''s forcesing here at such short notice. Especially since many of the costs were rted to making the runes, arrows, and other potions used. Everything wasn''t free even though it was for the best of the world.


    While this was proving to be a perfect response and example of the unity within the races that made up Genesis, there was more noticed here.


    Many of those who had heard the news and were getting the most recent updates had realized the dangers. The world had expected by a greater margin than what they had allowed themselves to understand at first.


    Simply put, all races and kingdoms had believed that these changes would be isted to the few areas that they had heard of so far. Not that these areas could actually be ces where ancient or extremely dangerous, world ending monsters could be.


    This was also putting aside the ancient races'' ruins. The monster dens that were discovered. Then even the potential that more unique ces seemingly part of the changing world existed.


    All of this was a greater danger for everyone within the kingdoms, towns, and viges. Along with all the routes between them.


    Just the thoughts about how some of these things were off in unexplored continents or wilderness areas which no one had ever been to was terrifying.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The representatives still within Genesis began a heightened focus on the safety of the Genesis alliance territory and the kingdom''s transportation routes. All of this was going to be the primary focus to prevent any dangers. This was the first time in many years across the world when people were more afraid of the wilderness.


    Most of the time, there were situations where guards, escorts, and armies could handle the monsters which mighte knocking. The defenses were believed to be enough or at least the strongest of that kingdom would be able to repel a threat. The greatest threats were always other races.


    That was different now. Every kingdom so far explored by one another had been united within the Genesis alliance. They did not need to stress much about the elemental nes since they were a ce strictly guarded by the most powerful forces. Who all wanted bnce.


    Yet, the wilderness within the world which were almost all showing signs of ancient monster eggs which had needed to be resilient to survive, had survived. So many monsters that could go without a natural enemy and no chance to be intelligent enough to be a race. Causing potential world wide risks.


    This was also putting aside the potential herbs, illnesses, and other things rted to the fact that existence had created ways for everyone and everything to grow and change. The sses were the perfect example of someone changing their progression in life.


    The party had shown this with their unique changes. They had changed before the world had returned to flow, however, their system''s names and their sses now matched. Evidence that they could have somehow managed to grow in a way that their ss might have changed. It even affected their races.


    To the party, this was the way the world worked. How fate itself guided them.


    But to the others of the council, they even considered that some monsters could be intelligent. In a far off ce. A race that may be against the alliance one day.


    Fears like that were an issue which even Walker had at times. That was why, while he helped clean up thend, he was brainstorming.


    As a Hero title holder, no, as a citizen of the Genesis alliance who stood for all those people struggling to grow in to a better future? Yes, he would be focusing on the problems that they would face. And the best part was, that he had plenty of leaders here thinking the exact same


    things.


    Once the soothing flow of gathered natural mana had radiated from the center of the area affected by the false rats and de flies, it was nothing like the mirrored hills made by those pests. Naturally, it was not rapidly growing since it had to survive without taking away all the nutrients in the soil at once.


    Walker quickly headed toward arge tent at the main base area. He had already learned that very few people were hurt and any injuries from de flies were being healed easily. It was the main reason why he was so proud of the mixing of the church''s healing and the dwarven knowledge of the body and natural healing.


    "Walker, we have already been speaking. We must make arger effort to explore the wilderness while ensuring that the final repairs are being done on the routes between kingdoms. We have evidence right here today that dangers are out there. We don''t need to explore everything right away, but the immediate areas of all kingdoms must happen sooner rather thanter."


    Mordant had be very set on this. The same with Risse and Current. They all nodded at this. They could see that this was just a small taste of the future. The world was growing and this meant resources and opportunity. They also saw it as a way to lose all of that. The recognized Genesis was a treasure. One that the dragons could take immense pride in.


    "Genesis and all kingdoms should be reinforced. Small viges should be consolidated. Towns should be more heavily guarded as well." It was Ignus who growled this out. Terron was clearly also behind him. He looked to be ready to leave and return to Genesis immediately. The earth wyvern queen could be in danger there. At least that was where his


    mind was.


    "Neither side is a priority over the other. This is not the time to argue over it while themunication crystals draw mana and degrade." Ventus let out a rough growl at this. She was ending the arguing which the royal dragons had been focused on for some time before Walker had arrived.


    ----


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2302: 2302. Many Future Plans

    Chapter 2302: 2302. Many Future ns


    "All of that will happen and more. But right now, if you continue to argue, I will put you all down on the ground beneath me." Walker let a harsh wave of manas leave his body. The other representatives were blocked from the conversation, however, the royal dragons were not.


    Their arguing had forced everyone else here to cower. They had been allowing their mana to flow from them uncontrolled. A dangerous pressure for those who were not prepared for it. Just walking inside the tent, Walker had seen those who struggled to stand guard at their posts because of it.


    These were their people, the royal dragons were not the entirety of the people, they were part of it. Meaning, that Walker was very angry that they had lost sight of their emotions. How they affect those around them. Even in worry, they needed to be a pir of their race and the future their race would have with all other races.


    "What do you expect to happen if you allow yourselves to lose control over your newer dominator dragon strength? You are all powerful, but power is useless right now when it is hurting those who look up to you!"


    No one had realized that Walker had still been getting stronger. Every single day, more manas flowed in to the world bncing the flow with the elemental nes. For the time being, the world was like a dried out ocean finally seeing the water return after hundreds, or even thousands, of years.


    While the arguing itself over their stances had not been the shocking aspect of this, those watching were even more stunned. They had not expected that Walker''s level had grown to the point where just him releasing mana without shape or usage of defined skills was so potent.


    He had even used different mana maniption to protect them from the force of both the royal dragons and himself. This was besides the dragons who were feeling the disruption of each of their elemental manas. They too, had not realized that they might struggle battling Walker if he were to direct his strength towards them.


    All of them together would struggle facing him.


    After a moment, the dragons looking at Walker with muddled thoughts felt his pressure subside. The mana returned to the way it was before, filled with natural warmth and the lingering effects of natural mana.


    "The dwarves began work immediately to repair and finish the transportation routes between their underground city and Genesis. This theory of more dangers had been around and most have created ns for it. When Genesis was founded, there were simr ns which will be altered."


    "The trade routes they use will be highly guarded because every single kingdom will be using Genesis as a center for trade, resting, and whatever else is needed. You all remember why Genesis was founded?"


    This was all he needed to say. Walker''s words had reminded them that Genesis was not a separate power. They were all considering that this was just a city, not an ideal or alliance. The entire city had been built for the purpose of uniting them much better than they were now.


    "How many building projects and goals have been met so far? How many of those are radically altering what many of you and others knew about how crafting in general could utilize its many different specializations? We have created metal ships and are working on flying ships. That alone should prove to you that with the trade routes carved and the forces of every kingdom united, we can do all of the things you argued here about."


    This shut the mouths of the dragons even as they considered saying anything else.


    "Every single representative of the Genesis council. Whether in front of me or throughmunication crystals. From this point on, Genesis is using every single resource we have to begin the goal of world exploration. Of kingdom defense. Of growth."


    "We are not in immediate threat from anything. We just need to act swiftly to evaluate the dangers of the unknown. Nothing has changed, we just have emotions to drive us towards your goals faster."


    It was a momentter that everyone finally had taken the breathing they needed to calm themselves enough to handle what was happening. This situation was all the dame. They had just seen some of the unknown which was moving around the world unchecked for the first time ever.


    This unknown could be incredibly unique. It could benefit all those of the Genesis alliance and bring fortune to their futures. However, it could be dangerous to the extent that it could end the world. Nothing of this was what anyone wanted to hear, but it was the truth.


    "The flying ship is going to be prepared to take to the skies escorted to areas with many small viges. We can evacuate those without close enough contact for another town or kingdom capital city. We can also move in emergencies to transport arge poption. This can be done between bringing materials to those who need them. We are not working on just one flying ship."


    The king of the deep caves finally spoke up. He had closely monitored the transportation route underground to the dwarven kingdom and Genesis. He had also constantly checked on therge projects like the ships or flying ships. Because he had done so, now they were seeing the benefits associated with such care.


    "I have also raised a force of aerial day and night fighters. The harpies and the batmen will be prepared to patrol the farms in anynds we need to venture to." The harpy queen rarely had the time to speak or focus on other things than her people being themunication experts of the entire alliance. Yet, she had managed to raise a force of fighters along with allying with one of the newest monster races.


    "I am sorry to speak ahead of others. We echidna are also prepared to show you what happens when someone disturbs the natural flow. This threat could have broken all that we believe and rely on in nature. We will be exclusively hunting ancient monsters which have no natural predators." This addition was also very outside of the norm.


    It seemed that those who had been in more precarious situations before the Genesis alliance were taking the lead on this meeting. Proving more than their worth. Instead, they were proving that they were entirely dedicated to the new home and hopes they had.


    This did not stop with just these two races, the goblins and the gray haired spiders spoke up very quickly. Even the vampires had begun to speak up and they were on the lesser side of the poption due to their poor treatment over the years. Walker''s pride in Genesis is only growing as he began to hear the ns already in motion.


    "The demi-human farming has been entirely rebuilt. We have ess to so much more, as that is the case, the farms will be doubled in the next growing season. Regardless of threats, the farms need to be doubled now." It was blunt, But Scy breaking the conversations apart felt very right. She had also begun her own preparations.


    As a representative of all demi-humans, the demi-human people looked up to her as much as they did their own king. Scy and gone beyond just a general to them. More than just their king''s right hand. She had started to sound like a legend to them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As this was the case, her race''s focus on food to feed theirrge poption had always been part of her strength. Now she was using it along with the changes methods brought together when various races'' shared their farming techniques. It was something that she could push forward with the manpower of the demi-human race as a whole.


    This would do more than feed a poption entirely focusing on progress. An emotional poption within every single kingdom which was going to be growing to survive the unknowns now putting pressure on them. Food could be grown and the excess stored to be used as the poption boom.


    This caused a whole new flurry of conversations allowing Walker and the rest of the party to begin cutting in only when needed. Only when their input could smooth out ideas in to better and more efficient ns as a whole.


    The meeting after this event was something that would be summarized and given to all


    kingdoms and people. It would be used to lower the fears everyone had while also growing their resolve to be more. Even the smallest position could make a grand difference within the world right now. It was just the chance to see where that would go. "What locations do we feel need investigation immediately?"


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2303: 2303. Where To Focus

    Chapter 2303: 2303. Where To Focus


    "The misty forest. It is one of thergest and strangest areas we have discovered." The very first suggestion came from Alma. It was natural that she and the elves would focus on the forest which had appeared.


    However, there was an odd bnce of information about this area. "The mists that cover the forest are specifically there due to the higher temperature within. Therger trees cause the moisture to build up during the day the very same as a rainforest. That goes as part of why we can not see in to it even in the heat of the day."


    "The likelihood of different monsters being there is very high. Especially monsters that will act or are nts. They could grow without control for longer than we should allow."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was a very clear threat. Many nt monsters would grow predatorilypared to other normal nts. They would eat monsters, intelligent races, and even one another to keep growing. These sorts of nts lived within the elven forests so it was nothing new.


    Yet, the idea that there were some which would be able to keep growing more and more was not a new idea. There had been monsters in the past that had grown and buried roots very deeply causing them to be extremely hard to get rid of. The dangers only increasing over time.


    "We can wait on your forests. There is a another aspect of the old water elf vige which has been torn apart by the expansion of the world. There is an entire underwater ruin and wilderness area with underwater caverns." Current had personally witnessed this area and felt the changes in water mana there. That''s how he knew there was a risk there.


    "Those caves can not be explored by just anyone. If we pursue that area, we may be finding that we focus too many mages and buffs on those who can not normally breathe underwater. Those with the qualifications should begin preliminary exploration and monitor the area. Any other nearby water sources can be examined for cavern entrances as well."


    Out of all ces, it was Ignus with the calm and organized rebuttal to what Current was worrying about. However, he looked toward themunication crystal as if he knew what would be said next after him.


    "Ignus and the fire elves also brought another location to my attention. It''s simr to the forest, but it involves the volcanoes and the magma fields." Alma''s voice trembled slightly at this. She didn''t have fear for this, but instead, it was respect for the strength of mes there.


    "The mes there are raging. Magma andva are spreading at a rapid rate taking uprger areas on the outskirts of the burning ins. Even worse, the volcano at the center appears to have grown in height by double the side and is spreading ash to the nearbynds. So far, that ash is still allowing the sun through, if it does not..."


    Everyone understood that the expansion of the volcanic mountains and the magma ins was extremely bad. Not simply because of the heat, but because the ash falling from the volcano could be toxic to those living nearby. If it expanded even more, it could block the sun causing other damages as well.


    The nts needed that light. The people needed that light. But what about the rain? Would it be contaminated with the ashes in the air and bring it in to the water causing the water to be toxic? Killing everything within?


    While these were natural dangers, the growth of them was not normal. It had to be caused by more than the world expanding since the world would not allow itself to be so treacherous that it would be entirely consumed by one volcano.


    "This sounds like the best ce to start in my opinion. I also know that we have ces in the Sigil continent, the unmoving clouds nearby one of the floating cities. Then there is the shifting caverns of thorns and darkness." Walker sighed a little, "the naming is getting out of hand, but it fits from the little I have seen."


    "All of these ces are still remaining the same. Mordant and I have information as well, about a ce we went looking in to." He saw that Mordant understood the intentions here. "We made an ally of a monster called the shadow eating octopus. Due to unusual circumstances, it was thrown through an unusual path of shadows to appear within the world then trapped when the world broke. It starved itself of dark mana until it finally had a chance to grow. Now, it is intelligent enough from learning about ancient writings on stone near where a bridge to the elemental nes once was."


    "That means that Walker and I know of a ce where a bridge to the elemental nes will be. A ce that affected the earth mana and began to affect the dark mana even though the bridge was not formed yet."


    This caused a few murmurs toe from all of the representatives. They had not considered that some if these ces would be affected by what was once bridges to the elemental nes. If this was the case, then those ces could open a bridge at any time since the manas would be condensed enough.


    "The first bridge was not able to cause arge phenomenon. We felt the flow of manas change, however, we did not see disasters or other dangers. That does not mean we will see the same. We must also be prepared to feel the radical changes in mana yet again. That is why we must learn from the elemental nes and how they handle the changes there." Su''s voice spoke up with determination to protect.


    "We already know from our experiences that those like Walker travel outside of the elemental nes and drag new nes together. They must have certain control and methods to bnce the elemental nes. As will the true sages and those working with them. We can learn those eyes and bnce the manas of the world when a bridge appears."


    She was using what they already knew to support everyone and everything that could move forward from here. "That''s why we need to find those ces too. We can focus on the volcano and break it down to size while others start to observe and figure out if a bridge will appear elsewhere." It sounded simple the way that Remey put things.


    "Those who are unable to go out in to the wilderness will begin enhancing defenses. Those who can explore will be grouped appropriately under representatives. Those who can scout will do so under another representative. And those who can potentially sense the ces bridges used to be or will appear will learn directly from Walker." Markus Raven put everything in a short and sweet few sentences for everyone.


    He had grown a significant amount and now stood confidently in his ce as a representative of the human kingdoms for the king and queen. He had stepped away from finances after training the pair of demons who had the appropriate skills. And through his personal journey, he had found a path of leadership he''d never imagined.


    "You are wrong with one thing. The Echidna race will be the best to sense the ces where bridges used to be. While they will be focused on the mana and elemental ne which they hadst been in connection with, all manas will react to those ces. Natural mana is still there as a true base of the bridges to the elemental nes. And the echidna race is the best at sensing it. Even those who can not wield natural mana can vaguely sense it."


    While an underlying panic still set on everyone''s minds and hearts, Walker was sure that this was enough to calm their inner storms. Especially since they had ns to hold on to. ns which those races of Genesis couldtch on to as their hopes and dreams.


    They had all worked very hard to create a ce within the world and even beyond that which could offer safety and brilliance. Giving it up would be a tragedy. So, they would find ways to make it an immortal existence. Not just their generation or the next, but all generations could rely on what they built here and now.


    This was the message which the representatives were going to bring down to the people they stood for.


    "Ignus, it''s safe to say that you will be taking the lead in heading to your territory. The fire elves will also y a hand in this since they were near your old vige." Walker saw that Ignus had been waiting to hear this. He was prepared to go back and see what changed in the fields of magma and flowingva.


    ....


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    ....


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 Chapter 2304: 2304. Gathering Fire Affinity

    Chapter 2304: 2304. Gathering Fire Affinity


    Assigning the right people to help investigate the ruins and monster remains within therge cavern he and Mordant hade from was easy for Walker. However, those he had called upon were going to need to hold back so that Mordant could take the lead on their new friend, the shadow eating octopus.


    It wasn''t necessarily that the researchers and soldiers would be attacked, but it would not be fair that they overwhelmed the one who had spent so much time alone. No matter the person or monster, they would struggle to handle the high number of people around them all of a sudden. It was just best for everyone.


    Walker thought that he might be insulting not to go there himself. He had made a promise as well. The only issue with that was that he was now part of the investigation of other wilderness areas and the odds of him returning to Genesis any time soon was lower by the minute.


    The benefits though was that an elemental rune teleportation formation, a temporary one, would be made there. Allowing for Walke to go there quickly and help Mordant with their friends before he had to move elsewhere.


    His part in this was much simpler in the means of building his team. There were multiple Echidna who would help him with the ability to sense where there had once been and may be bridges to the elemental nes. Taking them to the cavern where the shadow eating octopus was would actually help them a lot since they could sense what Walker sensed.


    Splitting up the echidna to go to different locations would allow the process of finding the potential bridges to the elemental nes to speed up. That alone could easily help clear some of the more mysterious wilderness areas of their dangers.


    Knowing which areas had a high risk because there were monsters or manas drawn there by the bridges could help how they were handled. Some situations where there would be monsters drawn there would mean that more forces might need to be brought. Hence why some of the echidna could use their unique skills to blend in and hide within nature.


    Their limation to natural mana allowed them to hide themselves much better than most people could. Even those without stealth skills overall had a greater ability to be able to hide away just by sensing the smallest bit of natural mana or using their instincts. Some of the youngest echidna had instinctual feelings which allowed them to better grasp whatever their sses or affinities were.


    This just came with years of the echidna relying on natural mana.


    If there were just unusual ces with ruins or evidence of ancient monsters, without any dangers, then it would be a treasure trove. It could be a ce where people could use as a base to study more of the phenomena going on within the world as it limated to the levels of mana from ancient times. It could be a valuable ce for learning about the past and how that could affect the future.


    When it came to all of this, Walker was worried about the dragons to some degree though. They had learned about the positions of their fellow dragons within the elemental nes. While some had be devouring dragons which needed elemental manas to survive the same as some of the other races within the elemental nes, the dominator dragons were chained down in a way.


    This meant that if the royal dragons went there, they could be risking the bnce of the elemental nes and be attacked right away. Their strength would be something which could grow to the point which could cause entire areas of a certain elemental ne to copse.


    This was because the dominator dragons helped maintain bnce across massive areas of the elemental nes. They could affect them as they wished with very little of their own efforts. They even spoke directly to the origin beings at times. Meaning that they were one of the most powerfulpared to the elemental kings and the true elemental sages.


    That didn''t mean that the dragons would take kindly to the fact that their race was somewhat tied down. Or even potentially chained down in a sense when it came to what they could do within the elemental nes.


    Mordant in particr wished to head in to the dark elemental nes searching for any of the royal dark dragons who had attempted to cross through the shadows and chaotic manas to reach the dark elemental ne. Something nearly impossible, but not entirely impossible within itself. There was always a chance that one of them over the course of many years has seeded and not perished to the chaotic manas in that unknown.


    Shaking his mind from this, Walker focused on Ignus who had already begun to prepare those who could handle the mes growing within he had around the volcano. The moment that Walker had focused again, he saw Ignus''s gaze fall on him.


    "Yes, I will go as well. The volcano growing without any exnation as to why or how is important. It could be monsters, a ruin, or something else entirely. The best situation would be that it is just returning to its natural size and will stop only changing a smaller amount of thendscape." Part of Walker felt this was less true of a chance than others.


    "Or it will continue because there is something ancient there. We just witnessed these small ancient monsters. They could have grown beyond our abilities if we did not have those who could explore the area now. Just a month could have been too much for all of us." Ignus had a greater seriousness around him.


    He would normally have been less serious about these threats since he knew his strength had grown along with Genesis''s strength as a whole. It was Ventus who had made him this way.


    She had mentioned to Ignus the level of strength that the de flies had when she had sensed them clearly. None had been able to harm anyone fully. Their n had seeded in every possible way. It was a testament to how efficient and united Genesis had be.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That aside, she had felt a potent wind mana which could have even cut her body if she had not been on her guard. She had been able to feel that it was a more instinctual and brutal usage of wind mana. Not the same as the dragons of now or the mages of today.


    The way she hadpared them was a babbling stream that flowed and cut thend over time. Compared to a raging flood water which sweeps away entire riverbanks in the blink of an eye.


    To put it even more clearly, the ancient monsters had a destructive quality to the way that they used mana. Due to the time they had developed and survived, ancient monsters could easily use their strength to destroy many things. While this was the case for their survival, the world had changed. These methods were not needed.


    "I understand why you want to push faster. I will make that happen." Instead of pushing away the desires that Ignus possessed to move this matter along, Walker decided to be the driving force. He could remove that pressure from Ignus allowing the leader of this exploration to keep their mind clear.


    In this, Walker meant that he would be calling on some of the Sigil continent''s angels. While the angels were handling their own risks and issues, Walker knew that the angels with fire affinity could be spared to help for a short while.


    What he had learned about the angels was that they needed to absorb mana from their surroundings. The angels did this through their wings. Basic information at this point for him


    to know.


    Where that was important though, was that if they entered areas which had denser mana matching their affinities, they would grow much stronger for the time being. It was limited to what they could handle, but that was fine. The angels had an elite group for each elemental mana for defensive purposes.


    The red wing angel squad was what he wanted to call on. Since he was able to call on them, they would be an ideal group which could gain strength from the massive amount of fire mana near the volcano andbat whatever monsters appeared there. Or even hold off the dangerous terrain.


    All Walker would have to do is pledge that the next ce he went was somewhere within the Sigil continent to help. Most likely the unmoving clouds which were worrying the floating cities of the angels. It wasn''t a ce said to be growing, but the fact that it was nearby where one of the cities floated for the time being made it a priority for them.


    ....


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 Chapter 2305: 2305. Flight Plans

    Chapter 2305: 2305. Flight ns


    Thend that they had scorched and froze was recovering well enough that Alma only stationed a few of the elves to guard it. She just wanted to have her people there who could ensure that there would not be anything that threatened the growing grasses. To be fair, a few of the other representatives also did the same.


    Besides that, once the fifth sweep had been done after the sprouts were growing, the soldiers had prepared to return along with the representatives. They all had their own ns now which had been discussed in their meeting.


    Many of the tasks at hand were important for the future of the city along with the alliance as a whole. Walker was still focused on Ignus and his preparations though. They had a bit of a distance to travel to get to the expanding volcano.


    As much as Mordant, Ventus, Current, and Terron wanted to follow them, they had their own focuses right now. The only one who had not said a word about what should be done was Rise. She had been fairly silentpared to her usual self.


    Yet, it made a lot more sense. She was a light dominator dragon. She had her own opinions of what should be done. And right now, she was focused on the fact that the volcanic smoke was causing some areas not to get any light mana at all. While her dragonkin could handle other issues within Genesis, she had decided to work separately.


    This left Ignus and Walker to speak while flying through the air. Ignus knew that flying to the volcano and the magma fields was better for him in his dragon form, so that''s the method he chose. The others woulde behind him so that they could follow the same method that Su had done.


    Having a base camp set up was extremely valuable for those who were injured while handling the dangers of the false rats and de flies. It was also a good ce to set up their ns as everyone had gotten the information about the dangers that they had faced right away.


    "You should understand that there won''t be many that can follow me to support whatever is within that volcano. Even if it is a naturally appearing fire rune, no one can handle that amount of fire mana." it was clear that Ignus felt there would be too much danger for the othersing to deal with this issue.


    The volcano was already a ce of danger. The fire elves had lived there since it had fire mana which they needed. But over time their poption had decreased and they had suffered due to other issues. Regardless, the knowledge about the area from the fire elves and Ignus was enough to know of many dangers within the area.


    What they didn''t know, was if the same monsters and other risks would still be prevalent, or if they had gotten worse. That was why the entire magma fields area which had expanded would need to be searched with a high level of scrutiny.


    "We will have monsters that we saw which have changed. I can sense it." This was outside of what Walker expected from Ignus. He wouldn''t say that Ignus was one to believe in a gut feeling like this.


    "Why do you think that?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Monsters I have not seen for a few years or when I was smaller. They were never gone, just so few that I did not see them within theva pools or crawling through the half cooled rocks. They should be taking advantage of this and living well now."


    Walker was still trying to get over the fact that Ignus was being sentimental. The fact that he was worried about the area in which he had his vige before Genesis was important. The dragons moved around to the best ces to gather their affinity mana. Meaning that they were always very attached to these ces. But for Ignus, it clearly was a little more than that.


    "It''s a good thing if these rarely seen monsters are able to recover and be seen more often. But I should know what to watch out for."


    "The obsidian scale karp, it swims in theva and uses that to temper its scales. Volcanic tortoises are like small volcanoes and can grow to the same size as an elder fire dragon. Smog sparrows, they enjoy the smoke from the volcanic pools or cooling magma. They are toxic and have wind and fire affinities."


    All three were monsters that Walker had only ever read about. He had never seen a single one. He could understand why though, as the mana of the world had lowered, they would naturally have disappeared. And since Ignus had lived for a long time, he most likely had seen them when he was a hatchling but not as he grew to be the royal fire dragon that he was now.


    "If we can find them, I will make sure that we take note of their habitats. We can make sure that they are thriving before anything else happens." A small growl came in response. It was Ignus''s approval. "Anf Rise, can youe down here and join us?"


    She had left before them, but clearly, she had been waiting for them before she went off to check ahead in the area covered in clouds of smoke. "I knew you would sense me in whatever form I was in." She had remained in her dragonkin from after the events of the mirrored hills. Yet, she was clearly worried over something.


    "We were just discussing a thing or two about monsters we might encounter. Things will be dangerous, even for you in the skies. With all the toxic smoke and ash, you will need to be more careful and use more purifying light magic." Leaving his tone casual, Walker made sure that Rise would not take any offense to what he was saying. She had a strict personality after all.


    "I will be fine. I wanted to hear about your thoughts on an area covered in poisonous darkness not caused by a growth in dark mana." This was the crux of her thoughts right here.


    Ruse was a light dominator dragon. She would naturally believe in her ability to clean and purify an area with light mana. Yet, she would also worry about the ability to do so if she was facing nature itself.


    What Walker had learned though, was that even with her strict personality, she did in fact care greatly about the world and those she defended. She just had issues with controlling those things and going a little too far. If thends around the volcano were covered in shadows due to the smoke constantlying from the volcano., she might fear that many would perish, monsters or not, within thosends.


    "The nts could diepletely without the right amount of light. Any monsters or viges nearby could also perish or be ill. Many will need to leave the area since they won''t find any food there at all. That''s if they can handle the ash and the smoke in the air. They might perish from that within the month if it continues to expand."


    Ignus huffed a little in agreement since he also believed these to be the events which would ur during this volcanic expansion. "Thends of fire and magma are not a safe and easy ce to live. You have seen my viges in the past." Ignus''s words were to agree with Walker.


    "I can use enough light mana to hold the dangers back. I can also make Ventuse and clear the air with fresh air. Change the wind currents for a short while. Evacuate any and all who need it." She was also thinking of the force she could use as a dragon. A few well times roars could scare any monsters living in thends nearby away from the volcano. Saving them from


    the danger.


    "I won''t stop you from doing any of that. As long as you can handle it without putting yourselves in danger, you and Ventus should be able to create a lot more opportunity for evacuations and safety. You can also have Ventus bring some alchemists to make purification potions and antidotes. They might also find some chances to save herbs or other nts from the unexpected situation."


    A slight nod was the only response from Rise before she flew away and began to drift ahead of them. "That is one less worry for us. We can focus on the volcano instead of worrying about anything or anyone living nearby." Ignus saw this as a way to focus on the main issue. Walker couldn''t agree more to that. He knew this might be more difficult than he expected.


    ....


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 Chapter 2306: 2306. Growing Lava Lands

    Chapter 2306: 2306. Growing Lava Lands


    Walker and Ignus were both forced to fly lower while they traveled. It wasn''t that they were unable to fly as high as they had or they were below of mana or anything of that sort. It was the dark clouds of smoke and the falling ash that was causing them more trouble.


    Just the air itself was already heavier. The ash within it was making the air taste bitter and generally bad on Walker''s tongue. That was aside from the burning acrid smell of smoke going in to his nose. It proved that this air was not safe or good to be breathing at all.


    While he could easily manipte the manas around in to keep the ash and the smoke away from him, others would struggle to do so. That was where magic items like rune sewn cloth coulde in though, it would be simple to make some cloth with a light purification rune sewn in.


    It was something which the party had used before but would be even more valuable as time went on. For the moment, Walker could easily throw these sorts of things together without much thought. Especially since he had seen his little sister make them before. That was enough knowledge to be able to utilize some of the other crafting skills he had.


    The main point though, was that he and Ignus could already sense the fire mana within the ground even though there was not any activeva flowing or magma pools right where they were.


    With their better eyesight, it was easier to see the volcano and the red outlines proving thatva was flowing from it actively. They could also see the glow ofrger magma pools from where they were. But by no means, should the soil be steaming and feel hot to the touch.


    This meant that the water within the soil was being forced out. The dead nts around were just additional proof of an issue here. Even with the expansion of the world due to proper mana flows, this area had been lush and green. Also able tobat some of the heat from fire mana. It was why there were unique fire affinity herbs in this area that could be used for potions or for monsters to feed on.


    "I can sense that the fire mana is much more potent here than what it should be. Ignus, we should expect that some underground caverns are now filled with magma too." This was Walker''s best guess.


    Since this was a nearby area to a volcano, it made a lot of sense that there would be caves. ces thatva or magma had once used to reach the surface. The caves would be left behind after it cooled or water flowed from the surface in to those cooling areas after the volcanic activity died down. It was just a natural part of this process.


    What stood out from that though, was that these ces might be picking back up in activity. Causing small volcanic eruptions slightly further away from the main volcano and causing new magma pools to form. Creating an entire underground flow of connected magma which monsters could also use to travel if they had the right resistances.


    Thinking of the magma andva flowing like water was somewhat hard toprehend. Earth was not naturally something that could swim through. However, Walker recalled the underground rivers and the muddy areas underneath the marsnds. Monsters developed to swim through that, instead of the mix of earth and water, this was a mix of fire and earth. Simr, but also very different in principle.


    Just as they were observing more, they saw a small hill of earth be dyed red as me erupted from it andva spilled out. The small spot quickly grew, proving that the theory of underground caverns filled with movingva was true. The slight shake of the ground just added to whatever fear there would be from local viges as this kept happening.


    "This is what we need to worry about. If that volcano is even more active within the month, how far will its magma spread." Ignus took a step forward and felt that the fire mana was fairly uncontrolled. It was a natural disaster due to the sheer amount of fire mana and he couldn''t just will it to halt. Doing so would cause much more in terms of a disaster.


    Walker had buffed himself and Ignus since he knew that they would need it if they were going to encounter any of the risky situations he had seen when he first came to such a ce. The fact that the ground was even more unstable because of the unseen activity was just another reason for him to rely on the senses and buffs he had for protection.


    "I can feel that there is more going on too. There''s a driving force that is pushing the magma through the caves to create theseva pools. The volcano was partially cooled when you were here. Do you think that could be it?"


    Nature was nature. It changes as time goes on. That was a fact that Walker could rely on here. And when it came to volcanos, he knew that they would not erupt forever and would go dormant or even cease forever.


    Since this volcano had been somewhat active thest time he was present, he knew that it was just the consistent state of things. Right now, it appeared there was a growth within that state causing the volcano to erupt more radically. If this was just because of the mana, then there could be a chance that this was just the progression of nature in ancient times that had been allowed to continue.


    However, Walker was thinking there was another reason. "You believe that the cooled rock is too thick in parts of the volcano causing the magma to be pushed away from the top." Ignus looked toward the volcano while he grasped what Walker was thinking.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was also questioning the theory because he could see thatva flowed from the volcano already. "Just because there isva flowing and more smoke doesn''t mean that it isn''t blocked in some way. Don''t volcanoes send uprge chunks of molten rock in to the air when they are truly erupting? Why isn''t the volcano able to do that right now? Shouldn''t there be a plume of smoke and ash and then arger flow ofva too? I read about it and heard about it from those who studied them."


    Walker was knowledgeable. He took the time to study these things. So, his theories were not just random ideas. Ignus clearly understood this was also more than just a hand trying to catch light, it was an idea with facts to back it up. One that was bing more usible the more he thought about it too.


    Another crackling echoed through thevands as arge burst of steam erupted from nearby. The gray water which also spouted in to the air was quickly blocked by Walker. He manipted the water mana and realized some of the caves must have been filled with water over the years of inactivity.


    These random guesses were yet another danger. But this water might be useful.


    ''Volcanic water


    While most can not consume this, the ground can. If cooled properly and mixed with crushed earth and light elemental mana crystals, it can be an amazing liquid fertilizer.


    It is high in unique earth manas due to the ashes dissolved within. While this is what makes it toxic, these unique pieces of earth mana can only be formed when the specific nutrients is also present. Allowing for a revitalization of certain tired farm fields...''


    It could be an unexpected boon that Walker coulde back with. He had the water maniption and earth maniption skills. He easily captured this volcanic water and stored it away within his high spatial storage while exining his reasoning.


    Meanwhile, Rise had already contacted Ventus but was also struggling with the clear evidence of destruction she already found. Too much ash had fallen in certain ces. Too much heat. Too little light already.


    She hade here to halt this sort of damage to the world they knew and she had not been fast enough. Or at least that was what she had been telling herself as she looked at the lingering clouds of ash.


    Her focus was going while she began moving above the clouds of ash mixing with normal clouds. She had to gather light mana and break through them. She could not disperse them, but if she utilized her full force as a light dominator regain, she could do much more.


    Her time studying the church''s purification magic had only improved her own.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2307: 2307. Waking Magma

    Chapter 2307: 2307. Waking Magma


    Looking upwards, Ignus noticed that Walker had been standing just above him in the air for thest few minutes. "Why did you stop?" He had no idea what had made Walker stop moving and suddenly walk in to the air only to look at the thick ck clouds of smoke and ash.


    "Ventus isn''t here yet to help Rise, but she is already wrong on the issues at hand. We can rx a little while Rise purifies the entire area." Ignus didn''t believe that Walker was saying this.


    This area was muchrger than what it had been before. Purifying all of this was not some small task. Even for Rise as a light dominator dragon, it would take a massive amount of light mana and control over that light mana. Not to mention therger amounts of fatigue it would cause afterwards.


    A bacsh from using too much mana at once was nothing new to anyone especially the royal dragons who had pushed themselves to their limits during the process of bing dominator dragons. Nor was it odd to Walker who had been at that limit many times over and forced to rx or else suffer longsting damage to his body.


    That was when all those doubts from Ignus were erased. He could sense it now. The high density of light magic being used well above his head.


    Then he began to see it.


    The clouds of ash and smoke being purified in to a pure white fluffy cloud dropping purified ash on to thend below. Nothing left of these massive lingering clouds were anything that could be called dangerous. Even breaking some of it in just left Walker with a little bit of a dry mouth. The same feeling as when dust got on his tongue and he needed to rinse it out with water.


    "She will need to sleep for a while after this. But Rise is using a skill I saw the high priest use once. He used it to purify someone of a rash that came from touching a poisonous herb. It cleansed the body andpletely allowed the person to be healed within minutes. But she is using it with a lot more light mana and channeling it to spread in arge area around her." Looking at Ignus in the eye, "I can''t use light mana whatsoever while we are fighting here. If I do, I might harm her control over it which could cause her severe damage." This meant that more powerful light type healing magic was out of Walker''s hands. He would choose to hold himself back and rely on using life mana form within him or within Ignus before using other healing magics.


    This had its own downsides since life mana was using what the body already had to heal, but it was the price they would be paying since they were going to be ensuring that this entire area was able to survive now. Rise was risking a lot to make sure that the light was able to reach the world as it needed to, so, they could take a little hit if they allowed themselves to get hurt.


    "I can''t say I know that dragon up there. She is entirely different from the dragon I met so many years ago." The mumble from Ignus was barely caught by Walker, but it didn''t need a response. Rise had clearly grown a little more in to who she was supposed to be.


    As light fell on everything above the volcano and the entire area surrounding it, the pair began to move with more speed toward the volcano causing the issues. They could both sense the built up fire mana further supporting their theories. But they could also sense that there was a little more there than just fire mana.


    With added speed, the two pushed through the air toward the volcano only to find a river ofva moving down through arge crack in the ground. It appeared to be from an underground cavern which had opened up allowing the magma to begin moving with some guidance.


    It wasn''t the river itself that struck either if them as important though. It was what was stabbing its long ws in to the movingva and pulling out smaller monsters which looked like fish.


    ''Magma shell pangolin


    This is a monster perfectly adapted to high fire mana environments like volcanoes,va fields, and even magma pools. It can use that magma to grow and cool a defensive shell simr to the earth pangolins found within certain mountain ranges.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They are known to hibernate for years on end depending on how much mana they condense within their hearts before they solidify their shells for protection. They will often only awaken when they have found enough fire and earth mana align with food to sustain them. This is why it is thought that some of them are actually from hundreds of years ago.


    Theirck of intelligence makes them a dangerous monster that relies on instinct to hunt using theirva tempered ws. Their strong defenses which burn anything that touches them, and their sharp senses allow them tobat opponents which are stronger than them. Their ws and their shells can be used for many different crafting purposes. The naturally created mana gem within their heart is also capable of purifying fire mana and even earth mana to some degree. Making it an exceptional treasure to any cksmith trying to create a rune carved weapon of the fire and earth affinities..."


    Walker shouted out the all around appraisal while they dodged the sudden w attack. The speed was surprisingly faster than what either expected. Since Ignus had taken his dragonkin form to better converse with Walker, he had to be mindful of the size of this monster. It wasrger than him right now.


    It wasn''t that Ignus was weak, he just didn''t fight as often in his dragonkin form even though he had been limited to ittely. Genesis was too small and delicate for him to just waltz around in his fire dominator dragon form. It would be destroyed way too easily.


    "This thing might be hundreds of years old because it went dormant? We should catch it then." Ignus thought this would be more valuable. This monster could have awakened because of the changes within the world. A valuable thing to study. Especially since it had an affinity for fire mana.


    Surprised that Ignus was so calm and collected, Walker just dodged and prepared to evaluate this monster a little more.


    Trapping it wouldn''t be an issue. They could use their strength, but it would be better to make some sort of cage which the monster couldn''t escape from. Even though this magma shell pangolin was so tough and had sharp ws, it was not strong enough to beat something stronger than it. Ignus''s dragon scales were definitely tougher and it would struggle to scratch them.


    It was not an option though. Walker''s didn''t just have a ton of dragon scales lying around. Using them would be overkill too. Instead, he could make earth which the magma shell pangolin couldn''t break. Dense earth which it couldn''t manipte since it clearly didn''t have the ability to actively manipte earth or fire other than on its own shell when it used magma to create the shell itself.


    "Keep it still." The small order made Ignus frown before he pped his wings and gathered fire in his hands.


    The oppressive mes caused the magma shell pangolin to fall to the cracked earth and theva began to melt yet again beneath it. Its shell also suffered and became softer. The amount it resisted the me that Ignus had just thrown at it surprised him. This monster was tougher than what he had expected even after hearing the all around appraisal information from


    Walker.


    A few breathster, Walker set foot on the ground and arge pulse of earth mana caused the somewhat cooled stone to rear up. A dense dome of ck rock shaped itself around the magma shell pangolin. Trapping it entirely, leaving only enough room for it to breathe and wait for someone to return to itter.


    "It won''t be able to channel any fire mana around that to melt it. It would have topletely envelope itself in magma for a few hours to even move a little." Walker had made the stone denser which increased its resistance to fire mana as a whole.


    "Good, the others can research it for whatever information it may hold about the ancient volcanic areas it lived in. We might learn more too." Ignus''s curiosity about the ancient times was partially because of the ancient dragons but also about how ancient fire mana might have been different from the mana he could use now. His mind waspletely upied with it right now.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2308: 2308. Earth And Fire Mixing

    Chapter 2308: 2308. Earth And Fire Mixing


    While the matter with the magma shell pangolin was finished for now, there were other matters that were appearing. Some of which Walker Was a little more skeptical about.


    "You keep staring at those rocks. Why are you so focused on them?" Ignus had noticed that Walker was slowing in their movement toward the volcano which almost loomed over them


    now.


    The pair had barely traveled an hour away from where they left the magma shell pangolin. Yet, he was slowing and stopping to look at the bubbling magma pools. They were not all flowingva and pushingva out to melt more rock.


    "I want to understand what''s happening because of our theory. It looks like there are ces where magma is being pushed out and then flowing in to other cracks in the stony ground. The changes in thisva flow are very odd since they change the way that the ground has been for a long time. Theva fields cooled when the volcano went more dormant, right? So now it is changing again."


    Ignus nodded along with this. He was sure that Walker was focusing on important aspects of what might happen with an ancient aspect of the volcano reappearing. "What do you think about that? What would change thend too much?" However, Ignus''s mind focused on the danger that appeared.


    He knew that elder fire dragons and even the younger fire dragons would wish to travel here. Not only because the fire dragon vige had been in thesends for some time prior to Geneiss''s founding, but also because of the changing fire mana and food for them to grow.


    The oldnds which had cooled left behind theva fields. ces where small amounts ofva bubbled and melted stone but reformed soon after. It also left many ces which would copse at some point fi the right foot stepped on it. But more or less, it was heated rocks and unique herbs growing here.


    That being the case, thend was very hard to traverse but offered a unique variety of food sources for fire affinity beings. It was less explored by many races making it more secluded. Only those with strong desires and true connection to fire hade here.


    Right now, that was changing. Much of the cracked stonend was being melted and reshaped by magma which then flowed in torge waves ofva. Partially due to what the pair believed to be a blockage in the main volcano, and also just general changes as mana returned to the world entirely.


    These changes could be more like things were in ancient times. But just because that was happening, did not mean that thends had not changed between ancient times and now. Thend hadyered through natural earthquakes, monster growth, nt growth, and even smaller volcanic eruptions.


    It couldn''t just go back to how it was in ancient times.


    That was impossible.


    Therefore, Ignus was worried that thesends would be too drastically different. He and the other dragons would lose their attachment since thend would be entirely different and potentially untouchable to their history. To their young and old as a bonding ce.


    Not that Walker would hear that from Ignus, instead, Walker was still focusing on what he had spotted.


    "I can''t get a solid all around appraisal on these rocks which get pushed up by the bubbling magma. I think it''s because all the earth and fire deeper in the caverns where the magma moves is changing what the rocks are and what is formed."


    "Right there, that smaller rock isn''t as heated but was pushed up. I think that is the start of a diamond. And that more square shaped one, it might be the start of iron ore before it metals together. I think deep down in the volcano, there are ores and gems being formed."


    It wasn''t that Ignus was surprised by the way that Walker thought, but it was just the simple fact of what he was thinking right now. Walker was focusing entirely on how the volcano worked and what was happening within it causing everything they saw.


    The sprouts of superheated volcanic water. The sprouts ofva. The ash and smog. All of it to Walker was just the effects of whatever was truly happening. He was using that information to trace back to the source of those events. Trying to grasp at something Ignus had never thought about properly.


    "We should have brought Terron." Walker tilted his head and furrowed his brows.


    "He would be able to tell us more about the way that the earth mana is being altered by the fire beneath us." It was easy to understand. Ignus could only sense part of this. He could sense how the fire mana around him was bing denser or thinning out. How it was moving. How he could influence it if he desired. How he could take it in to his body.


    The earth mana though? That was like trying to see in to a darkness. It was hidden from him. It was not part of his strength or understanding at all.


    "The fire mana and the earth mana are colliding. They are pushing ways from one another and also mixing in an instant. That''s what''s happening. Both are bncing and unbncing while doing a rough push and shove match. The fire is forcing the heart to change but the stubborn earth is also refusing which changes it again and makes the fire mana re up in different ces."


    Sensing this was easy for Walker. He could sense all manas, but the interactions between earth and fire? He could focus on just those to give some enlightenment about the current state of the magma.


    "When we get to the top of that volcano, can you sense the same thing?" Ignus wanted to know if he would even be able to affect what was happening. Especially with the fact that the entire volcano was a mass of earth and fire mana needing attention in some shape, way, or


    form.


    "I can, and I will take the lead on the earth side of things." Seeing that Ignus was being more open with his focus on this matter, Walker was not going to do a single thing to jeopardize that. Remaining focused right now was more important.


    "There are also some other things in the magma. Small mites. They are a small insect monster that lives in volcanic pools of magma." Walker had just casually mentioned this monster and Ignus had already flown ten feet higher in the air away from the pools of magma.


    ''Volcanic mites


    These little insect monsters are some of the most annoying pests to anything living within the magma or theva flows possible. They will try to scrape and consume whatever they can off of other monster''s bodies. Especially those with tough shells which could gather unique earth and fire particles.


    They are not harmful, but cause extreme difort to these other monsters. This is why many of the fire affinity and earth affinity monsters that encounter them will immediately leave the area or search for another monster that consumes the volcanic mites.


    As much as they are seen as a pest, they are an important species of monster which allows for the magma to remain purer rather than contaminated by...''


    He understood entirely. Ignus was a dragon and had many scales. They cared very much about their scales which was why dragons cleaned themselves often. These volcanic mites were small and could help them clean their scales, but at the cost of extreme difort.


    "So fire dragons have a weakness after all. I will have to remember that in case someone ever brings these things in to Genesis." Walkerughed a little and was rewarded with a fire ball of dragon mes sent right towards his face. He also thought he should let Remey know about


    these little monsters.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Meanwhile, Ventus had reached the area and witnessed the cascading light purifying the entireva fields and volcands. She could see the ways that the smoke moved and how it was gathered in some ces not moving at all. The wind currents were all a mess. She felt as if this was due to the changes in heat radically altering more than just thend.


    She could also tell that bothering Rise was a huge issue. She could not do so whatsoever or else. It was part of her dragon instincts and natural instincts working together as a warning. Instead, she immediately began focusing on the way the wind was trying to move and how she could use that to force the ash and smog in to a smaller space where the purification light could deal with it. That would make all of this easier for Rise and potentially halt more


    damage.


    She could see a lot of damagednd below right now.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2309: 2309. Fixing Winds

    Chapter 2309: 2309. Fixing Winds


    "This is all wrong." Ventus had said this more than ten times out loud to herself after she had floated higher in to the sky. Even above the smoke, she felt that something was very wrong with the way that the wind flowed.


    She could see that the smoke was still rising from the volcano. It wasn''t just a little either, the smokeing was inrge bursts of ck. Toxic clouds of ck ash which felt like they wouldpletely poison the air. It was entirely unnatural to her senses.


    Ventus was a wind dominator dragon, therefore, she was in tune with wind well beyond that of others. Even more so since she had gone to the wind elemental nes and learned from the true wind sage.


    Her understanding of wind mana was well beyond almost every single other wind affinity being in the world right now. Even the grand wind spirit would struggle to keep up with her at this rate. Not that Zephyr waspetitive like that, and Zephyr was made of wind mana to a degree, so she couldn''t easily be beaten in wind mana understanding.


    As Ventus spread her sense even further over the entire area, she was amazed with how much effort that Rise was putting in to this. She could tell that an immense amount of light mana was being used here and now to purify everything.


    But that was not going tost forever.


    Just pushing the smoke back in to one ce would not be enough. Right now, the bursts of smoke, fire mana, and ash were ruining the natural flow of wind currents within this entire area. So much so that the ash was falling only within the area and surroundingnds.


    Normally, ash and dust would be spread out overrger areas causing less damage and actually nourishing things. While for a time, some areas would suffer, the long term effects would be grand.


    The ahs and the smoke shouldn''t be able to cause so much damage right now. It should be more limited in the essence that the smoke would be unable to affect the rain clouds. Especially those so much higher in the sky than where the smoke could normally reach.


    This was all due to theming out in bursts with the ash and smoke. It was bringing the ash higher than normal. A campfire''s smoke would naturally cool and the ash within would fall in a smaller area or be drawn by the weaker wind currents to scatter appropriately. This was dense and able to take over entire rain clouds causing the ash to fall in thicker pieces.


    In turn, that was what was really wreaking havoc on the nearbynds. Aside from the what beneath due to caves filling with magma for the first time in an exceptionally long time.


    The heat ceased the natural flow of wind causing a build up in the steam, creating a build up in rain clouds. The continued heat would stop those clouds from moving to surroundingnds to release cooled rain. It caused even more dangers to the stronger wind currents above thend too.


    Without those currents of wind mana flowing properly, areas much further away could be affected. Mountains that needed constant flow of wind and wind mana might be weakened. ces where wind always flowed could be entirely still. It could cause excessive heat in areas that the wind would naturally cool.


    All of these things revolve within Ventus''s mind. She could consider every single aspect. She had her mind opened to therger possibilities of wind by her elder in the path of a wind dominator dragon.


    While she was still blind to thergest of possibilities that her elder on this path had long since grasped, that did not mean Ventus missed things. She had grown within the world so she could already feel insight about the flow of the wind currents everywhere she went. Now, she could spread her senses further to understand where the issues wereing from. How to touch upon them and help. How to bnce the wind mana with the other manas flowing around.


    A silent roar rippled through the air. It didn''t need to be heard by anyone in the area. It wasn''t meant for them. It was meant for the small and weakened wind spirits. Ventus was calling to them. She was using one of the many aspects of what she had learned from the wind elemental nes.


    The dense wind mana she released as she pped her wings began to revitalize the wind spirits which had been weakened. They had always been there. Always follow the wind currents. They might not have be spirit race members due to their weaker strength. Nor had they the intelligence to make many decisions. But they were part of the natural flow of the world.


    As they had been trapped here due to the radical changes in winds, they had been weakened and started to fade. Yet, with Ventus sharing her wind mana and guiding them, they began to create a flow of wind. A flow that directed itself right over the volcano trapping the smoke and ash in a massive circle of wind.


    The perfect target for purifying light mana.


    "And there Ventus goes." Walker looked up at the ring of trapped smoke. It unveiled the top of the volcano and showed off theva slowly pouring out of it. Thisva was not free to just flow though, there were random pieces of stone within it causing it to partially cool here and there. Further showing off that Ignus and Walker''s theory of a blockage was worse than what they had suspected.


    "If there are that many stones, I would say that a cap must have formed during the more dormant years. I have seen plenty of inactive volcanoes with tough stones like that. Years of magma pooling and then cooling perfectly t."


    Hearing that Ignus had knowledge about this from the many ces that fire dragons had lived over the years was perfect. Walker knew that he could better prepare himself to deal with stone formed in this way.


    The stone was tough because it had been heated and cooled in a more dense fashion than any normal stone. The myth of a volcano was perfect for forging a stone tougher than normal. Since it cooled with this heavier weight on it as well, that told Walker that the stone would be denser than normal stone, let alone what some earth mages were capable of. He would have to use a lot more of his own mana to handle this.


    This wasn''t all he learned just from listening to Ignus. He could theorize that there was some stone already broken up by the natural eruption of the volcano. However, he could also understand that the broken stones were just small parts of the issue. They could lead to more blockages because they were cooler than the magma. Potentially making a sealed up volcano entirely.


    Hence how they both understood why they were seeing these bursts of heat, smoke, andva moving from the mouth of the volcano, it was these pieces of stone making small buildups of mana all at once within the mouth of the volcano.


    "If we do not handle these issues, we will need to leave the area. An explosion of this volcano would decimate the area and kill us." Ignus was not joking either. He had witnessed a small volcano explode after it appeared on the shore of a nearby volcanic ind. It was covered up and sealed causing all the pressure to shatter the side of itself.


    The result was enough force to show off the sands deep beneath the water and alter the entire shoreline for miles. Not to mention even stirring up the volcanic inds and create a newn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    small ind after the fact.


    Seeing that Ignus understood the risks better than him, Walker used another of his buffing skills. He wanted to use some of that overflowing wind mana that Ventus had released all around to give them a faster arrival time.


    In a gust of wind, the pair was halfway up the monstrous volcano. Ignus was fleeing the denser fire mana from underneath the jagged stone and the pouringva. Every single bit of that fire mana was chaotic and under some pressure. "Herees a burst."


    Ignus moved asva spilled from the higher up mouth of the volcano. Walker had sensed the earth mana and the fore mana shift, but he had been slightly behind Ignus in saying something. Proving that Ignus was tuned in to the fire mana much more closely.


    "We will handle the issues and whatever else is up there. I can feel the manas moving oddly. They aren''t all blocked."


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2310: 2310. Ancient Problem

    Chapter 2310: 2310. Ancient Problem


    Looking carefully, Walker could tell that theva flowing from the volcano had lowered. It was being held back yet again by something. Whether a blockage or whatever he had sensed changing the flow of earth and fire mana, it didn''t matter. He and Ignus were nearly at the top so they could handle this.


    There was a shaking here and there though. Like the earth could feel the pressure which shouldn''t be there and was building up even more than before. While this could be somewhat true, Walker felt that it was all a precursor. A warning that things had gotten worse again.


    Along the rim of the volcano, Walker spotted cooling crystals and ores. They had been stuck there when they were forced up through the magma. Then they fused to the edges creating a whole ring of ores which normally would not be mixed together.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It would make an interesting harvest, unfortunately, that thought could only sit with Walker for a single breath as he noticed that the theory they had was true.


    "Half of this volcano is still sealed!"


    The stone that was blocking half of the magma from moving was nothing like what Walker or Ignus had expected. They had both expected an obsidian ck rock that had cooled from the magma. Being much more dense and t. Yet, that was not the case at all.


    The stone they were looking at looked somewhat spiky and a pale gray. As if the stone had been mixed with something else other than what normal magma would create. That was the only exnation as Walker looked at it.


    He couldn''t keep himself focused though. The only way that he was able to even see the stone was because Ventus was guiding the smoke away at a better rate allowing him the rity. Regardless, he was struggling because bubbles of magma were sending molten bits nearby.


    Just because he had a high fire and earth mana resistance, did not mean that he waspletely impervious to it. The heat would be enough to make most people fall as they were. "The fire angels have arrived." Ignus looked up as he saw the pping shapes appearing. They had used the elemental rune teleportation formation to get here from the Sigil continent. After that, they had been ying catch up to Walker and Ignus. To be fair, the pair moved very quickly, even dealing with other issues.


    However, Walker could see the strain on their faces. They had been resisting the higher amounts of fire mana than what they were used to. Their bodies could easily get the fire mana they needed to use skills, unfortunately, they were being overloaded.


    "Use your skills and release your fire mana faster. That should cut down on the pain and direct those mes at the stone right there." Walker''s n was simple, break up the blockage.


    He could see therger pieces of stone that were bubbling up from the magma too. Half of the mouth of the volcano was being caught up by it. The ores tempered by the volcanic power were incredibly tough and took time to change forms again at the top of that magma. And since there was a breeze, they were cooling and getting stuck together more easily.


    "Understood!" the angels all replied. They hade to help and they were waiting for this chance. Especially since they had managed to meet up with a few of the fire affinity dragonkin who had been moving about to handle a monster trapped by Walker and Ignus.


    Multiple sword shes using mes and condensed fire balls erupted toward the mouth of the volcano. Ignus watched and was very impressed by the changes in their strength. He had personally seen the fire affinity angels once before. A few of them had visited Genesis.


    They had the ability to take in the purer fire mana around them and use it as their own. That sort of skill was natural for them due to their species. It was simr to having the best possible buffs for whatever magic of skills were being used. But for the angels, it was buff to their natural affinity and bodies as a whole.


    A high amount of magical and fire based skills had been sent at the gray stone along with the stuck together ores. The results were not what was expected though.


    Instead of breaking the stone and freeing the magma flow to break that build up of pressure, there was another change. An unexpected change.


    Shaking began immediately. Not from the pressure of the volcano, but from the changes in the stone. Walker was witnessing the stone shift. "I see why I couldn''t get a proper all around appraisal. It wasn''t because the smoke and bubbling magma pieces were everywhere. It was because I was only seeing part of it."


    ''Volcanic horror


    This is considered one of the most terrifying of ancient volcanic monsters. Not because of its spiky legs and spider like appearance. Instead, it is due to the fact that it lives by creating nests within the mouth of a volcano and causing terror to unfold through the entire volcanic


    area.


    They purposefully build pressure to expand the volcanic area and alter it from within the mouth of the volcano. This creates a better nesting ce for their eggs and also expands the potential for their food to grow inrgervakes.


    While a hundred eggs can hatch, only one will often survive to be able to take over the mouth of a volcano. Others may attempt to travel outside of the current volcanic area and risk losing their fire affinity bing an earth affinity crag spider which carves its hidden nests in to the sides of mountains.


    These monsters can use their fire and earth affinities to create webbing made of magma itself. This allows them to force ores, stone, and other aspects of volcanic magma to fuse together. They will have a solid stone cover to block the flow of pressure so that they can forcefully expand their territory.


    Their constant changing of pressure forces monsters deep within the magmakes underneath the solid ground upwards in the belief that they feed.


    When cornered or under threat, the volcanic horror will use its immensely tough molten exoskeleton as a bashing weapon, its tempered ore legs as spears, and molten stone or ores as its venom. Theirrge size can also cause small earthquakes.


    Its body will often be dissolved in to the volcano when it dies, however, remnants of it can be found and used as nearly mythical crafting materials only written about in ancient writings...''


    Walker wished he could focus more on the all around appraisals. The massive creature moving out from under the stone cover it had made to block the magma from flowing. The legs it had glinted with unrefined ore, but the pressure they had been under caused them to be dense and much sharper regardless.


    There was a semi molten exoskeleton covering its whole back, it was more simr to a crab''s shell than what Walker had seen on a spider. Not that he could care about this right now. From what he saw, he could tell that just a few hits would not be enough to deal with it.


    The molten aspect of its exoskeleton would allow for it to absorb some of the force when it came to physical damage. Therefore, allowing it even more resistance in a battle. But what really stood out were the long and pointed fangs that glowed red hot but did not melt.


    "Ancient monsters that could even change an entirendscape. Even controlling volcanos. I can''t do that alone without ruining everything. That thing can." Walker could hear a small bit of jealousy in Ignus''s tone.


    He understood though. This monster could perfectly bnce earth and fire mana so that it would control the pressure within a volcano. On top of that, it was within that pressure as well. Tempering itself to be stronger while building the perfect environment for its food to grow and for its eggs to incubate within.


    "This one needs to be beaten right now." Walker saw one of the legs shooting through the air and digging its way up from the mouth of the volcano. It was preparing to attack those that hade to bother its nest. "But the younger pens that aren''t thisrger can be left alone. We will have to hunt those that cause issues in the future."


    While there was a risk here, Walker saw this as a species of ancient monster that did not have


    to die. They only grew this big if they were allowed to. They could be hunted at certain sizes to protect the environment and also learn from them. His focus matched Ignus''s as they prepared for a harsh battle.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2311: 2311. Volcanic Horror

    Chapter 2311: 2311. Volcanic Horror


    Speed was a shocking factor that the volcanic horror possessed. For therger size of its body, it was surprisingly quick. The legs shot out trying to stab at both Ignus and Walker. A reason that Ignus had remained in his dragonkin form instead of his fire dominator dragon form.


    He would just be arger target and damage his body sooner.


    They needed to avoid the shocking speed of these attacks while also trying their best to break through with any damage at all. Walker knew that he had to focus the buffs he gave Ignus and the angels on any mana that was not light so that it wouldn''t bother Rise.


    Losing her focus right now would be catastrophic.


    Another sharp leg shot out towards Walker this time. He noticed that there was even more trembling in the volcano as the sharp legs of the volcanic horror dug in to the stone. The sides of the volcano were being cracked and broken by its movements.


    Yet, as he worried that it might break the volcano''s mouth entirely, a few spots along its body shot out molten webbing and dragged more stone together. The gray color that formed on those stones right after was exactly how it had caused the top of the volcano to be blocked too. It wasn''t like a normal spider, it could use its webbing from multiple spaces in its body to keep its nest controlled.


    "I can''t use water mana because it will cause the copse of the volcano no matter what. There would be a violent reaction to the water and fire together. Ignus, can you force the fire mana to calm down for a moment?"


    The fact that Water mana was also on the banned list with light mana did not make things easier. Walker knew that the results of a volcano meeting a lot of water would be arger explosion. Adding that to the massive amount of pressure right now would make things just that much worse when it did explode.


    A volcano exploding with tworge factors like pressure and water mixed in with molten magma? No, that couldn''t happen.


    "I can make that happen. The fire mana is not under that things'' control alone." There was apetitive tone in Ignus''s voice. He hated that he was feeling some threat from this monster.


    While it was an ancient monster which perfectly melded the two affinities which it possessed, Ignus was a dragon! He should be able to use his strength to beat this thing without causing any issues. Even holding back his physical might and true dominator dragon form, he could beat this volcano horror in fire mana control.


    The fire affinity angels moved around Ignus and drew some of the fire mana toward them. Their skin had begun to turn a shade of red as they tried to handle the what and intense fire mana. Their red feathered wings had grown to a much deeper red color matching that of what Ignus''s scales normally were.


    The angels could feel the threat that they were under, but they could also sense the strength that Ignus had with fire mana. They could only work with him and learn more through this fight. They did not like seeing a monster with the potential to destroy an entire area like this. There were volcanic inds near the Sigil continent, meaning that there were threats to the angels too. They needed to learn from this experience to defend their own homes from ancient monsters like this.


    Their attachment to the fire mana and how they used their natural affinities and their natural racial abilities to drag it towards them gave Ignus a better handle on the fire mana around them all. He could easily have done the same, but this was like having some of the weight taken from his burden. He could take advantage of this small amount of assistance and build on it like a foundation.


    The fire mana which had been growing and running wild suddenly calmed. Not enough to make the volcano cool so the magma appears less vtile. However, it was enough that Walker could sense a rity in the air. This gave him a chance to work on what he had been trying to do.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    In a sh, he had used wind mana and a little space mana to move through the air and appear underneath the volcanic horror. His focus had not been on directly fighting the monster. He understood that it was resistant to a lot of blunt damage and the most effective magical attacks he could use were not applicable right now.


    His handnded on the gray stone created using the volcanic horrors'' webbing and the magma ores and stones. He could feel the heart mana much more than before since the fire mana was not causing a sh to a higher degree.


    While he felt his hand begin to burn, Walker just focused more on his goal knowing that he could heal any wounds like this. The sshes ofva hitting him were not enough to cause substantial damage right now. Instead, he should be able to resist that with his level and resistances.


    Searching for him, the volcanic monstrosity felt the change in the fire and then the earth mana. It knew that this was not what should be happening since it was the one controlling the volcano right now.


    Yet, as the rumbling beneath its sharp legs grew even more, it understood that the pressure was too great beneath it. Normally, it would have let out arge burst of smoke and the pressure would decrease. It couldn''t do that right now because of the fight happening. The chances of it losing control over its nest and territory were growing. Nothing good for it.


    Just as it moved to check the threat beneath it, that''s when it noticed where Walker was exactly. Moving with its higher rate of speed, it attempted to pierce Walker with its fangs. The molten magma venom dripped proactively.


    Walker''s work was done though. This monster was moving quickly, but he had already influenced the earth mana which had been left free for a moment. Just enough time for Walker to manipte it. To change the structure of the tough gray stone mixed with webbing to hold all that pressure back.


    Another sh, and Walker was right beside Ignus and the angels. His sudden maniption of wind mana dragged them all close before he pushed at the wind and the space mana around him. He had not used this much space mana before, but he had his entire mind focused on it within this moment.


    They moved somewhat further away while the ground shook with an even more frightening power.


    The fire mana reared in ferocious waves before they heard a crack that pushed wind away from the volcano. The forces at work were a mix of both earth and fire mana shooting through the only ce that had been made weak to the pressure built within.


    Walker had weakened the blockage created and now the magma and pressure had one ce to


    go.


    Up.


    The volcanic horror wasunched in to the air as well. All the magma and fire mana hitting it directly underneath causing more damage than what Ignus and Walker could have used. If Ignus had not used his fire mana affinity to quell the fire mana for a moment, then the earth mana would have been too chaotic to manipte for Walker.


    He was powerful, but Walker was battling the will of nature and the will of the volcanic horror, an ancient monster with potent mana affinities for earth and fire.


    Many stones trapped within the volcano also wereunched out causing the ground to shake with each one hitting it. Many cracks and fissures opened up in the immediate area along withrge amounts of smoke. But the light was still shining down.


    It even appeared in a massive burst which Walker could tell was some of thest light mana around. But that was not the new danger.


    Rise was falling.


    In a single burst of mana, she had lost her ability to stay conscious.


    Yet, just as things appeared to be worse for the light dominator dragon who would have fallen right in to an erupting volcano, Ventus''s roar came from the side.


    She had enough mana left to capture Rise and pull her along with her. The weariness in her own wing mes showed enough that Ignus took his full fire dominator dragon form and rushed as fast as he could.


    With the additional support and the sharing of mana from Walker, they were able to begin moving away. The fire angels also took refuge on the backs of the dragons since they were at their limits. The fire affinity dragonkin were also fleeing for the time being with everything


    they had needed.


    Plenty more had to be down here, but for the moment, they needed a ce to rest.


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 Chapter 2312: 2312. All Cleaned Up

    Chapter 2312: 2312. All Cleaned Up


    Walker used some mana to forcefully cool an area of theva fields. It wasn''t perfect, but it was enough to manage. Enough to rest. Especially with three dragons in their full dominator dragon form.


    "That was a good catch back there, Ventus." out of everyone, it was Ignus who said this. He was impressed with her speed and usage of wind mana. She has really improved within the wind elemental nes. It wasn''t normal for her to be able to control wind to pull along or even catch a fully grown dragon.


    "The exhaustion will only be temporary. The battle here will be forever." Her pride was shining through, however, she was looking at Rise who had gone well beyond her own limits. It was something that ventus had felt instinctively and respected immensely.


    None of them had expected Rise was ready to go this far. She had used almost every ounce of her own light mana to purify thends here. Especially in the end when thergest plume of smoke erupted due to pressure.


    "She will be fine. The amount of light mana that she used and absorbed just to throw it in to a purification magic skillpletely exhausted her mind and body. I can tell you one thing, she just took a major step in to getting stronger."


    Walker could sense it. Cruise had somehow managed to expand the amount of light mana that she could condense and store within her body through all of this. It might have just been what she could do naturally as a light dominator dragoon. Awakening some form of what she was as a whole.


    Regardless, this level of growth had more than led to her needing more rest. Simply put, her body was also growing and adjusting. She needed to take the time to be able to limate to this new aspect of herself and through slumber she could manage that.


    "You too Ventus. You will need a significant amount of rest. You called on the wind spirits and even a few wind spirit race members who were within the skies naturally. That was exceptional. I did not imagine you had learned tomune with the spirit race and the wind spirits in the same way that they are able tomune through wind mana."


    "I did nothing unexpected of myself as a royal dragon. I learned this from an older wind dominator dragon. No, a wiser wind dominator dragon. Many things of what we know of ourselves were lost and I am beginning to find some of them."


    With her words, a sh of curiosity and jealousy came through Ignus''s eyes. Clearly, he also felt that he should be able to make some changes. Also be able to learn some of these things as he grew. But he had yet to do so. That meant he might be behind? Something like that felt impossible.


    "We should focus on that monster. It''s not dead." Ignus growled out trying to change the subject. But to be fair, Walker''s mind was also on the volcanic horror.


    "You''re right, it''s walking towards us right now. I thought that the pressure of that magma would have killed it. But it only lost five of its legs and shattered some of that magma carapace. I doubt it has much fighting ability, and it might die soon. But it still sees us as enemies and knows that we attacked its nest."


    As much as Walker wanted to call this ancient monster a true monster, he also understood that it was just following its instincts. Its natural instincts told it where to go to create its nest. How to protect its nest. What to do when it was attacked. These were things ingrained within what it was.


    While it did not have the intelligence to be a race, it should still be respected for what it


    was.


    "Don''t think about stopping me. I will handle this with one attack now that we are able to use water mana away from the volcano." The rumbling of the erupting volcano was already out of Walker''s focus.


    The pressure had been relieved and the volcano would calm down for the next few weeks. The toxic ash and smoke would also change in to a more natural flow which thend could handle. As time went on, theva fields would return to what they should be but not grow any more than what they were. Everything could properly flow as it should be within the world here.


    Ignus stepped back as he sensed Walker pulling water mana from around them. He could tell that Walker was channeling a significantlyrger amount of mana than what he would normally use. But it was also clear that Walker had held back out of fear he would do more damage to thend and the volcano while fighting.


    The careful control of how Walker had influenced the earth mana within the stone that the volcanic horror had created. The careful control of wind mana to buff everyone. The careful control to use spatial mana to move everyone further and faster. All of that careful control had been because he knew he could react and cause harm in this delicate situation. The volcano was delicate.


    Right now though, that delicate thing was gone. That hurdle was no longer in front of him. So why would he hold back.


    The water started to take the shape of an arrow, but the wind also started to condense. The form of a bow made of wind mana took shape allowing for the water arrow condensing in to dense ice was something that Ventus and Ignus both held their breath looking at.


    The density of mana, even with the fact that fire mana and earth mana were the most prevalent here, was shocking. They had not grasped just how much more in tune with manas that walker had gotten as ofte. They knew he was still growing rapidly, but this was more than what they had even begun to expect.


    "I will not allow you to suffer. I will put you down and bring your body back to nourish Genesis. Your young will only be hunted when they could cause the destruction of thend and harm to others. That is why I am using a form of the ancient elf magic that Gil showed me in one of their records."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The dense ice arrow was propelled at the hobbling along volcanic horror. The moment that it pierced the damaged carapace, the ice was heated causing the steam and water mana to erupt outwards. The shattered remains defeated the weakened volcanic horror in less than a few blinks of an eye. And even that was still not enough for Walker.


    His mind was on the fact that he had been unable to use any attacks which could have finished the battle faster. What if they had not been able to use the pressure from the volcano as an attack? If he was in a simr situation in the future he might not be able to do anything. He could have to choose between leaving a dangerous situation causing much more damage or cause more damage for the long term good.


    Both would be bad choices, but what would the right one be? He couldn''t be sure that this would not happen again.


    "That was an ancient elf magic?" Ventus was tired, but she was still fairly amazed. She had heard that the ancient elves, the high elves, had been powerful in their historical records. So much so that any elf weaker than them in bloodline basically worshiped the ground they walked on. But this? It made sense now.


    "Their records only describe the way they used their magic. To me, that was a dual elemental attack using wind as a propelling force mimicking a bow of the hearts and an arrow of water made copying the desire to pierce the sky from blue ocean to blue sky. It was hard to


    understand."


    As much as he wanted to say that he might not have gotten it right, Walker knew that the elves were quickly learning how to use such skills. Sooner rather thanter, this might be amonce event to witness. Well, not fighting an ancient monster, but using spells like


    this.


    "This should solve the problems here. Won''t it?" Ignus felt that they had been lucky not to have any real issues other than the awakening of another ancient monster. This one could fit in to the ecosystem of thends, but others might not. Compared to theirst threat, this has just been an issue they could fix with some effort and teamwork.


    "I would say it is. We can go back to Genesis and focus on the Sigil continent''s issue. That unmoving cloud might be something worse."


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2313: 2313. Developing Wilderness

    Chapter 2313: 2313. Developing Wilderness


    While Walker and his team stayed resting for a while, others had already started to move.


    There had already been ns for some healers and farmers toe. However, to reim thends that won''t be affected by a natural volcanic eruption, they needed one of the more unique sses that appearedtely.


    The wilderness farmer was a ss that appeared as farmers were trying to learn about the changes in pants due to changes in manas. While there was the worry of chaotic mana, they had also developed new farming practices.


    In that respect, it had been a lot of time and work. To the point where many people working on these projects brought their families with them. Not that they weren''t a farming family anyways.


    Since the younger children without defined sses and skills who were still panting managed to obtain the ss wilderness farmer. A few younger farmers even managed to change sses using quests that appeared.


    Their research of wild foods which some hunters might rely on became a huge deal. They learned qualities of these natural food stuffs, some being about how they could grow them overrger areas.


    While wild food options usually can''t be grown the same ways that farm foods would grow, these methods referenced the ways that elves harvested foods. The methods that naturally allowed that wild nt to grow and not perish entirely.


    It respected the ecosystem so that nothing would suffer when the nts were taken. That''s how the wilderness farmers worked too. They followed multiple practices propagating these foods which some races preferred. Not to mention some monsters needed to survive.


    With these new sses focusing on expanding natural food stuffs like this, then they were perfect for repairing damaged areas. They could also understand how to bring nts that had been thought to be extinct back in to certain ecosystems. It would change a lot of what was happening within the continents but it would be in a more bnced way with growth of all in mind.


    As all of this was a major focus of the projects around theva fields and volcano, the other aspects were also popr.


    Themunication from Walker''s group about the various ores and partially formed earth mana crystals was enough to cause a fuss. Not a negative reaction in any way shape or form. It was because Genesis and every kingdom needed building materials.


    Just the general growth of all of them was more than what they could keep up with when it came to materials. The costs of a single flying ship was already arge portion of gold being taken from budgets. Adding on the materials too, the storages would be broken down to nothing very soon.


    The flow of new metals and potentially new ores or alloys created during a volcanic eruption could change many things.


    People like the wandering cksmith who chased new aspects of forging would be able to adapt and develop many things.


    If new metals were found, then they could expedite certain processes. Especially more research based ones like the golems being made to be inhabited by the spirit race. Having more physical bodies changed a lot of them.


    Having a race like the spirit race who were literally made of condensed elemental manas meant that they had knowledge of those manas. But to actually use that and j fence everything around them was tougher. They weren''t always able to. Hence why golem research in that niche was growing exponentially.


    It also meant that the spirit race could help the cksmiths create other unique research topics. Good things all around.


    While the wilderness farmers and the ores would be therger focuses. There was also the fact that some woulde to find, research, and hunt monsters expanding here.


    Just the volcanic horror being found proved that some monsters in this area had awakened from slumbers forced on them due to changes in mana. Ancient monsters might have their good and bad sides in the world right now, but they still needed to be studied.


    The tamers guild woulde looking for as many of them as possible. They would also be the leading guild in general monster research. They could record and advertise the changes in monsters as the denser manas awakened portions of their bloodlines.


    These changing aspects of monsters would change the dangers of the wilderness. But it was also changing the ways that people traveled. It would also change the way that materials were handled since some of them would be more dangerous to transport or store.


    Some materials were already dangerous. They could cause mana fluctuations or degrade at a very quick rate. Others might have poisons that spilled out in to the air over time. Everything had its rules to follow for the safety of the material and those around it.


    Mainly, some materials might be dangerous to transport or use which were not before the mana of the world began to grow denser. That being the case, it meant that they also might be more valuable for crafting than before.


    In turn, those monsters might be hunted more often which the taming guild would keep an eye on. They would have to make a focus on protecting those monsters from being hunted to extinction. Or worse, captured and raised by those only looking to


    Profit from them.


    The taming guild would ensure that the sisters were respected. However, their stances had also changed a bit.


    With the development of some monsters bing recognized races, it was important to realize that some monsters could remain both as a race and also as a monster.


    The difference meant that there had to be free will and mutual eptance factored in to the rtionships more so than just what a monster and normal tamer would be.


    Since intelligence was a factor, this was important. People needed to respect intelligent races because the rtionship between a bad tamer and monster could be very poor. That was all that needed to be said, everyone could usually grasp the other negative annotations. Besides that, cracking down on the general ways a tamed monster was treated would be very important. The future held a lot more potential for tamed monsters working together with wilderness exploration. Therefore, a focus on treatment was mandatory so that everyone benefited and negativity did not breed.


    While this was also a worry going forward, the volcanic monsters living here might allow for a whole new ecosystem to be utilized.


    Just the fact that Ignus and other dragons hade here to settle the issue would be more than enough reason so adventurers woulde. Adding Walker in to the mix? Well, that would encourage a small vige to be established.


    That was all putting aside the simple fact of researchers needing a base camp. Therefore, a small camp would turn in to a vige then a town in no time t. Expanding the influence of the Genesis alliance and supporting more growth in a time when people were beginning to fear the wilderness.


    All of this was on Walker''s mind while he usedmunication crystals to prepare and push for these things. All ying small parts in the grander picture in his mind.


    What did linger though, was that Gil was also busy.


    Gil had been pulled in to a somewhat unexpected avenue with Alma. Her ability to grow nts at a fast rate had been the key to many things.


    Defenses against potential threats like ancient monsters were a focus. The elves in particr went to their queen for answers.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As such, Alma had called together all those who had simr skills and sses as her. Leading way to the formation of a new squad of elves who would move kingdom to kingdom quickly growing or establishing small groups.


    They could rapidly grow dense vine or thorn defenses. Walls which could add obstacles to monsters attacking or be a defensive wall within itself. That was putting aside the potential for theirbat abilities using nts as well.


    Gil''s part in this process would be to allow him to find the people who would join the squad. It would also allow him to help rtionships with the elves and other groups. Many of them have not limated to other kingdoms yet since they''ve really only focused on Genesis. More so he had to focus on the rtionships between the representatives of the Demi humans and the elves right now, because the elves and the Demi humans both focused on nature or farming. Since that was the case, there would be some interesting differences in opinion when it came to forcing nts to grow faster and utilizing certain nts for battle defenses.


    It is why he found himself standing between Scy and Alma as they argued over who would be representing these groups. Who would bemunicating these new squads? And who would be building these new small camps of elves and also Demi-humans?


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2314: 2314. Whos In Charge

    Chapter 2314: 2314. Who''s In Charge


    "There are eighteen demi-humans with the ability to manipte nts in a simr way as you can. Just because they have simr skills does not at all mean that you are the one to lead them. You should focus on the little extinct nt recovery project you boast so much about.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Scy knew that phishing this subject to the forefront of her argument with Alma was a win for her. Everyone knew that Alma had always wished to recover the potentially extinct nts lost to the elven forest.


    That desire had only grown as Alma had found that an entire continent existed that possessed some of those thought to be extinct nts. Beyond that, some of the nts had just be dormant due to the low amount of certain manas within the world. They could be brought back!


    "You would like that, then you could make another group in to a fighting force full of brutish idiocy. But I won''t let you just order the elves around and ruin their ability tomune with thend and the forests."


    And this was what Gil was worried would happen. Now Aklma was insulting the methods that Scy used to train those soldiers under her and even that came asking for training. She had already trained multiple elves who had grown much more vicious in their styles of fighting. However, this had been received by many elves as a bad thing since it went against some of their more elegant styles and general practices. Meaning, that the elves did not all enjoy the demi-human battle styles which were being mixed in with their own more tame styles.


    This had been brought to Alma and she had begun to detest it to a degree. Enough that she had learned that when insulting the new methods used by Scy to alter other existing methods, Scy would get high tempered.


    "Oh, I forget that you would prefer that your precious elves would remain weak. It''s better to let them be the fodder for our forces rather than powerful protectors. Let''s see how that goes." Just as Scy took a step forward and Alma reached in to a bag of seed on her waist, Gil stepped between them.


    "Now that''s why either of you are the wrong choice for being in charge of this group." He looked at their res now that he had made himself the focus of both of their attention. Giul cursed himself internally a little.


    He knew that it was important to establish these groups of soldiers. Not just because they would be valuable to learn from as sses were developing in so many ways for every race that information was bing valuable to everyone. It was also because they would be groups rotating through all thends of the Genesis alliance to protect the people.


    Just a group of five could go to a single city and ensure that a whole wall of thorns or other nts limated to the environment would grow. That would defend arge area and give the local soldiers and guards a better base of overall defenses. Always a benefit when ites to the monsters within the wilderness that may not be known well enough yet.


    "I will take the lead on selecting the team leaders for each of these groups we send out. The groups going to therger cities will be less experienced with only an experienced team leader. That way they can be safer while learning and growing their skills."


    The decision made the most sense. A few of the potential ss holders were very young. That meant they would need to go with their families or even be unable to participate in much other than learning for a few years. Choosing this solution could allow the younger members a chance to rapidly grow rather than be at risk all the time.


    While being trained through hardship was often a good thing for someone, there was a line on where that hardship went from negative to positive.


    "The older and more experienced ss holders with the skills to better handle their mana, the overall wilderness situation, and alsomunicating with nearby kingdoms will go to smaller towns. They will be in pairs or groups of three depending on their strength and also on the size of the ce they are defending."


    As Gil said this, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Alma and Scy. His intentions were not to intimidate them, but to show that he had already decided this. Mostly because he knew that both were stubborn and would fight for their own beliefs to the edges of the world if they needed to.


    "And Scy, aren''t you supposed to be focusing on the Sigil continent exploration? Walker will be going there to explore the unmoving clouds. You can fly using their steps in the air. You are able to help fight head on if there is a battle in the sky. The royal dragons do not have the ability to just leave right now. They are the best group to defend the other kingdoms with their speed and power."


    This was just another important point to make. Since Gil had been busier than usual with all of the spection about wilderness areas and more, he kept a close eye on who would and would not be leaving Genesis in the next days.


    "Oh, and Alma, you mentioned that the alchemy guild had requested more herbs from the elven herbalism research. You even said that you would be visiting those treetop greenhouses to check on the progress for how many can be used to develop more antidote, healing, mana, and even light affinity potions. All for the potential dangers that might be faced in the next focus on defensive building."


    Gil had her there. She wanted to argue with him, but this wasn''t just an argument she could throw out because she didn''t like what she was hearing. She had to remain focused since this situation required her to be a ruler and representative of the elves. Not to be an emotional individual who wanted their way.


    Both turned around and Gil swore he felt a future problem forming. But if he had to take a small hit here or there, it would be fine. Instead, he could return to his thoughts about the various sses able to grow nts with speed like Alma could.


    He had been able to learn a great deal from the elves and also from Alma. where things were changing were the other races gaining simr sses. The dark mers from the demi-humannds in particr were getting the speed farmer ss or the nt weaver ss. These two sses had shown simr skills that Alma had but instead, they were more focused to ces they deemed as farnd.


    While this was a specific requirement to use some of their ss skills, it also meant that there could be a more defined line of protection between these different sses.


    If the ss requirements were met by creating a strip of thin farnd right in front of the main walls, then the nts grown and weaved or controlled would be able to remain there without constantly drawing mana. It also meant that with the right care, these walls of nts could be permanent fixtures of defense which would only grow and get stronger over a longer period of time.


    There were other benefits depending on the selected nts, but those could be worried about when it came to ater date. Especially if they had medicinal or edible qualities.


    This left Gil with a few orders to give out and ns to make. He just needed to get to work. "I wonder if Remey is suddenly stuck with all these things too?" Gilughed imagining that Remey had a desk full of paperwork waiting for her right now.


    A slight sneeze surprised Remey while she looked at the crates left in the delivery area of the alchemy guild. She had wanted to go out in to the wilderness as well. However, she had just managed to be more trapped within the alchemy guild since so many potions had been


    requested.


    She had already developed ways to take the high tier potions created and water them down to make weaker versions better used for general healing. However, the numbers were still too low for healing and mana potions. It was the ingredients though.


    They needed the herbalists to push more nts to grow. No, they needed the herbalists to just grow even higher quality herbs which could be used to make grand health or grand mana potions. If that happened, then there would be a very high chance that those grand health and mana potions could be watered down to create thousands of weaker potions.


    "I have to go to the herb fields again after checking these crates." Her mind was made up.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2315: 2315. Mana Herbs

    Chapter 2315: 2315. Mana Herbs


    Every alchemist would focus on the herbs which they used. It was just a major aspect of making a potion. However, they would usually trust what was known or focus any research on known aspects of the herbs in general.


    Even when researching newer herbs or unknown herbs, the characteristics were easily discovered by referencing rted or simr herbs. That being the case, those doing altogether new research were not actually all alchemists. It was better to say it was the herbalists who were leading that aspect of alchemy.


    The herbalists were responsible for managing more than just growing the herbs. What they did could change the herbs at the core of what they were.


    One herb grown in a slightly different soil could change the strength of healing aspects or even make a healing her poisonous. This was just the tip of the iceberg through. Changing the amount of light or the amount of mana a basic healing herb gained during growth could again change the quality and size of an herb.


    Right now, there was a small field of what were being called micro sage being grown. A cooking herb also used in some fragrant potions and even perfumes. However, when forced to grow smaller with arger amount of light mana used, the micro sage had changed color to have a yellow hued leaf. The size was smaller and less usable for cooking, however, in light affinity potions, it was perfect.


    Remey had received this herb some time ago and praised the potent light mana within the herb. That was why it became a major ingredient within the light affinity potion.


    Since she had this example to go off of, Remey could follow the clear flow of research. The herbalists she had met with constantly were focusing on the herbs which were already used within kitchens, homes, and other aspects of all kingdoms.


    Finding diversity in those herbs would allow forrger production while never worrying about the rarer herbs recently discovered or struggling to grow due to the low numbers. It also saved costs when it came to using these rarer and harder to grow herbs. Things that everyone would be happier to hear about in the long run.


    The field that Remey went to was one that most would find to be strange. Not because it looked like nothing but weeds grew there, but because it also had bone shards from monsters scattered through it.


    "I see we have a guest." A chipper voice broke the silence as Remey had been thinking about herbs and what she would be asking of the herbalists.


    The scent of various herbs and a calming general aura met Remey when she saw the woman carrying a basket of herbs. "I was just nting the bone reed stems to take over this field. From what we gathered, they grew on old battlefields because of the bones left behind in them. They also kill any other weed or nt when they grow because of the high nutrients they need from the earth. When they release their fruits, they rehabilitate the soil. But we don''t understand what other uses they may have."


    This was where that saved money went too. In to experimenting with rare herbs recently found locked away within different ruins. Specifically, some found within the undead city where Immortal king used to upy.


    "I read the report brought to the alchemy guild about them. They might be able to help the vampires stave off their need to feed on different bloods. It also might help any other undead races we discover in the future. If they exist." This was a going theory which many hoped for. Hence why the vampires closely followed it as well. Their bodies were still somewhat weak after being freed.


    "I am d to see you visiting to check on the herbs. Whenever the meets ur within the guild building, many of the high herbalists are raving about what our herbs be." The woman smiled and became more energetic as she waved to a group walking the edges of the field.


    "And here I wondered why I was being waved over. One of the guild masters came to greet us." The others with this woman had been waved at to keep moving since they had work to do. However, the demi-human woman standing tall over Remey was someone with very high


    skill.


    Even the elves had all agreed that she possessed an intuition for growing difficult herbs rarely seen in a lifetime. Hence why she had grown so quickly from a new member of the guild all the way to a managing member in charge of several experimental fields. This one being a focus. "Ingrid, you aren''t hoarding any herbs, right?" Remey let a little threat slip in her tone. Not because she disliked Ingrid as an herbalist, but because she knew that Ingrid loved to collect specimens to research in her own herbalistboratory. It was part of her river smander demi-human traits.


    Apparently, the ancient river smanders, known as the river swallowing smanders, used to keep certain underwater nts around their nests. Noth for eating and for general looks. This had been partially passed down in the demi-humans with these traits, making them prone to collecting nts or herbs. Leading them to be herbalists or farmers. "You have used me of that every single time you see me. I have not hidden away thousands of herbs. I just have my research collection." Her huffing tone was followed by a littleughter before she nced back at Remey. "You aren''t here for that though?"


    "No I am not. I came to tell you that we need more herbs to produce grand healing and grand mana potions. Then we need to thin those potions out using some other herbs of weaker quality. What I am asking of you, is to pause some research unless it can directly influence what we need right now."


    Some part of Remey was telling her that this was wrong. She too did a lot of research. But she had to stop that so she could work on grand potions to be sued to makerger numbers of weaker potions. It was the best usage of her time and effort right now. That was the same case for the herbalists right now.


    "I see. Then you cane to the istion greenhouses. We have an herb that draws manas like no tomorrow. It even kills itself if it is in a pace with too little mana because it can''t blossom." Ingrid''s tall figure came from therger growth of her ancient bloodline traits. But she was delicate and careful with every step. She had never set foot on an herb if it could be damaged. That''s why Remey trusted her words very much.


    Following her to the greenhouses which were smaller due to the isted growing methods used within each one, Remey was surprised to see the pale white leaves growing in the one she had just been ushered inside of. She could also feel the very low amount of mana within caused by multiple runes carved in to stone pirs inside.


    "We have to keep the mana flow slow or else the nts will grow rapidly and leave nothing behind for use. The seeds will even sprout and grow to the point where they can''t have their flowers pollinated to produce more seeds."


    "Do you think that these herbs were affected by the changes in mana?" Remey felt that these herbs might have been influenced since this was an herb which wouldn''t normally survive


    outside of controlled growing.


    "Actually, we believe this herb only grew in ces where mana was thin to begin with. We also think that this herb would thrive in secluded ces with odd mana flow naturally. Many ces where unique ecosystems cross have sections like that. The mana is thin so they grow slower. If they go too far, they grow too fast and die off allowing for other nts to grow or other monsters to feed on them. They also might grow where certain monsters feed on them. I want to do some tests with just one mana or-"


    "You could go on like this all day. Why do you think these small stringy nts with white leaves are useful?" Remey wasn''t ying around here at all.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Because, they help the body absorb mana naturally. The flower petals when bloomed have an odd sap inside which attracts mana. If consumed, it can help extend the strength of a mana potion. Recovering some mana from the potion itself and then pulling mana from the air as well. Making a whole new mana potion if you can manage to protect that sap in your alchemical process."


    This was the genius that Remey needed to hear. It was the king of changes that made her grin with anticipation. "Good, then prepare some for me to bring to theb. I Will have a new form of mana potion in the next week. And also, find me more healing herbs for health potions. I


    need to do that too."


    "Oh, we have an herb that might help there too." Ingrid was grinning now too.


    ....


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 Chapter 2316: 2316. In Her Head

    Chapter 2316: 2316. In Her Head


    "It''s called the dragon blood root. It''s a mutated ginger root which became scaly after we mixed in crushed earth crystals and flooded the area with water mana. The ginger changed, we think, awakening ancient aspects of itself."


    "It turned red and the inside is mostly red liquid while the outside is scaly like a dragon''s leg. As far as we can tell, if they remain in the right environment, they will reproduce and all be dragon blood roots. We can produce these fairly quickly, one can be five every three months as long as it gets enough nutrients and mana."


    "The best part is, the red sap thates out of it will start natural healing processes. Hence why we were able to rte it to the writings about how ginger used to be used as a cure all remedy. Nowadays it is just for cooking, teas, and other simr activities."


    Ingrid was grinning while picking the small finger long roots. Each was small but they did look like therger scales on a dragon''s legs. They also were dripping red sap from the small roots which had been pulled off when picked.


    "You just had this here and already knew that?" Remey was now beginning to think that these were hidden for the very reason she had started with whening here. Ingrid had hidden them for her own personal research in to what made these ginger herbs be dragon blood roots. She wanted to find the whys of every herb.


    Ancient herbs and awakening ancient traits or mutated traits were clearly taking every form of researcher by storm. Regardless, that was just something that everyone within the world would have to learn to handle appropriately.


    "No, these are all we have so far. We would need to grow them in these greenhouses. We can''t make an entire field permanently perfect for growing them. If we do that, the mana rushes off and goes with that flow everyone talks about. But we can make more greenhouses to produce them at a faster rate."


    The look that Remey was getting was one she had been given very often since she had be one of the masters within the alchemy guild. ''You want more funds." She sighed. She knew that the alchemy guild had deep pockets because potions were used everywhere now.


    Even the forgemasters woulde looking for potions. Potions made of metal and other herbs which could help purify what they were forging. It was a dependent ingredient to their overall forging when it came to unique alloys or even manipting certain monster parts. "How many greenhouses will you need and where can we build them?" Remey knew that Ingrid must already have numbers and location nned out. After all, there wererge sections ofnd already spread out and isted just waiting for the herbists or certain farmers to get approval to use them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    When everything in Genesis is being divided and organized, many of the architects and other officials n carefully. Spaces where new buildings can be added were always left. Spaces for new roads or expansions could also be added. They had proposed very clear and importantws to ensure that alleyways and unsafe distances between homes were not an issue.


    The untouched herb and farm fields were factored in already.


    "You can take these ones and we will start preparing five more greenhouses. Both for the other herb and for these herbs. Then we will also open another field for basic herbs too." Remey just sighed while she watched as Ignrid began to prepare some of therger herbs to be brought elsewhere. Remey could only agree.


    "Midnight, you should be preparing them for the rush of new projects. Prepare them for what dangers that they may face." while Remey was focused on herbs, Mordant had found Midnight and begun to give her some advice.


    "No need" Her response had been the same the first two times that Mordant had tried to get her to leave the training field.


    "Are you really going to remain here instead of getting the hatchlings ready? They may all have ces where they can learn, but you are the one in charge of them. It''s the same thing that Onyx does with the younger serpents." While Mordant felt somewhat responsible since he had also helped the hatchlingstely, he also didn''t understand why Midnight was acting this way.


    She was able to interact with all races fairly easily. She had also grown significantly in strength from when he had first met her. Yet, as soon as they returned from the mirrored hills, she had been at this training field. Exhausting herself until she passed out then waking up, eating what Walker''s mother had dropped off for her, and then starting again.


    The reason that Mordant came here was because he noticed the dark mana skills she had been training. He was also sure that one of her family members would be hearing about her actions soon. But they were busy and he could help here.


    In the midst of gathering that dark mana in to her chest to produce a dark dragon breath, Midnight looked at Mordant with firm eyes. "Too weak."


    Mordant sighed again. Midnight could easily talk a lot more but always preferred this method ofmunication. She was way ahead of growth for a dragon of her age. She had evenprehended human speech and the dragonkin form before any other in history. Even without therger help from the system of existence that all races received.


    "You are clearly not weak. Look at the scorch marks, the jagged cuts from wind, and you even caused the ground to heave with your earth dragon breath. It is well beyond your age and even nearing that of what individual elder dragons of each affinity can produce. You can even mix them and change their strengths to suit your battle style. It''s beyond weak by so much."


    He wanted to keep going on, but Midnight released her dark dragon breath causing the shadows to shift and the ground to be cracked. The perfect proof that she was using the decaying by also the shadow manipting aspects of a dark dragon breath attack.


    "Left behind to patrol. I couldn''t fight. I was weaker." Her growled out response to stop Mordant from talking again made it clear what she had felt.


    While Midnight had been left to patrol around the outer edges of the mirrored hills, she had taken that as more than just patrolling. She had been left to deal with fleeing or weakened enemies. The de flies and the false rats were dangerous. But she had not been let near the actual enemies.


    "You know that was not the reason for you being in that position. It was your physical speed and trust in you to lead those groups to make sure they did not escape. You have the nose for it because you trained it more. Not every dragon is limated to hunting with scent like you do. None of us train to track prey like you have."


    While this was true, it did not make Midnight look at him. Mordant felt like he was at a loss entirely now. He''d never realized that a young dragon who grew so quickly could be so stuck on something like this. "Do you think Walker and Su asked you to be there because they thought you were weak and could get torn apart by those monsters? Or do you think it was because they trusted you would make sure everything was perfectly cleaned up from your


    position?"


    "Whatever it is, you can''t be trapped by it right now. You are too focused on your own strength to realize that you can already fight elder dragons with many years of experience over you. So start acting like a founder of Genesis and help me settle the hatchlings who are panicked and worried. The elders and other dragons can not worry about it. They are preparing for any battles and they have a duty to defend everything within the alliance. Including their hatchlings who are under your care right now."


    "Letting some of the dark mana he controlled run amok snapped Midnight from her own mind. "You and Walker are a lot alike now. You know that? Both of you get stuck in your own head. Everyone around him is getting like that. All this thinking of the future and whatever. But right now, I have seven dark dragon hatchlings that need an elder sister to show them a ce they can learn. I also have a shadow eating octopus who isn''t familiar with the city or other races at all. So help me."


    With a small huff, Midnight took her dragonkin form again and gave a little nod. Sometimes she just needed a friend to snap her out of her own thoughts too. Plus, she liked being told she was like her older brother.


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 Chapter 2317: 2317. Unmoving Clouds And Runes

    Chapter 2317: 2317. Unmoving Clouds And Runes


    Knowing that so much was going on, Walker felt that he couldn''t be in enough ces at once. Just returning from the volcano was hard to do since so many things could still be monitored there.


    The fall of ash and smoke were still an issue, even though it had be somewhat constant now and did not epass arger area than theva fields. It was still worrying since it was an erupting volcano though.


    He also knew that he could easily be someone appraising the many unknown materials being found. The volcano was sending plenty of them out in to the wilderness when it erupted. Sending more than just molten stone around.


    That also presented a danger to those who had begun to rush there for material gathering. They could im that they would be safe all that they wanted. However, Walker would still question it since even he would take some damage from the potency of molten rock and ores. If he didn''t, he might be a little worried about himself still.


    Regardless of all this, he still had other responsibilities. He had helped get Rise back to Genesis where she was slumbering within her territory. She had definitely overextended her body and ording to the other dragons, she may sleep for months or a year at the worst. When she woke up though, there was a high chance she would be much stronger. Both Ignus and Ventus had sensed a uniqueness in the light mana and the way she manipted it. Proving to them that she most likely understood some new aspects of light mana she had not grasped before. She could have also just stepped forward on her path of being a light dominator dragon, which was also a very good thing.


    Luckily, Ventus and Ignus were still very functional. Ventus was tired, but she could just do with some rest to absorb wind mana again. Ignus, on the other hand, had a lot more energy. He focused on how he had struggled to control fire mana that the volcanic horror had taken control of.


    One of the reasons that Walker was so focused on them was simply because he wished to bring the royal dragons to explore the unmoving clouds within the Sigil continent. Ventus in particr would be important since most clouds would need to move along with wind currents. She could have a good point of view in this matter. But she might be feeling too weak right now.


    Then there was Current. He could have valuable views on the way that water mana within the cloud was acting. Why it might not be raining or why it might be growing. He could also look at the way that nearby waters were affected by this. If there was no rain at all or the natural flow of water was off, he would know right away.


    Besides those two, Ignus might also be able to help. For water to evaporate, heat was needed. Meaning fire mana yed a part in the light which came from the sky. If there was not enough fire mana, then there might be an issue of the cloud growing as it should. Or the opposite, too much was somehow causing the cloud to grow.


    Either way, all three could give some perspective on what was actually happening. If Walker could be the one that gathered all the information, then they may be able to get a clearer picture overall.


    If it was a location where a bridge to the elemental nes had once been, then that would be another location they could monitor. However, if it was monsters or worse, then they would need to call on everyone sooner thanter.


    "Walker, here''s the report you requested." The assistant who brought the report had been in contact with the floating city right next to the unmoving cloud. This update may change his ns altogether.


    Reading it carefully, he saw that the cloud had still not moved. However, the angels within the nearby city were reporting an odd feeling. Specifically the wind and water affinity angels. There were multiple ounts of them having trouble absorbing mana through their wings right now. They would try to pull it in, but it would be exceptionally slow.


    Not a good sign at all.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It made Walker think of the volcanic horror. It had a high affinity for fire and earth making it hard for even him and Ignus to manipte those manas when they were around it. If that was continued, then it would be a worse issue overall. It could be another ancient monster or ancient monsters.


    Multiple ancient monsters could be an evenrger area, not because they were harder to fight, but because they would potentially flee. Causing more issues elsewhere. This would bring them a lot more trouble and keep them all busy for longer. Eating up the resources that were needed. Valuable resources which are being used elsewhere right now.


    "I thought this was the only report?" Walker looked back up and realized that the assistant had not left and was holding another piece of paper instead.


    "This one is equally important right now." The report was handed over and Walker found himself stunned.


    "A naturally urring rune was found!?" quickly reading through, he found that there was a naturally urring water rune found. Not just found, but also affecting a small area within the Sigil continent.


    It mentioned that theke waspletely isted. Meaning that even the angels who lived nearby had never known of it until they noticed the changes in water mana bing stronger. The coincidental part was, that the angels in the smaller viges benign established were all water affinity. They had decided to live there since it feltfortable to them.


    Just that alpine proved that naturally formed runes would attract many who had matching affinities. The angels were sensitive to mana within the air around them because they absorbed it through their wings. Therefore, they felt thefort that came from the naturally urring water rune.


    Beyond that, it also meant that the natural runes would also attract other monsters or races. Potentially also attracting certain nts to grow there. This supported many theories and would be very important to further pursuing knowledge about these naturally forming runes.


    Regardless, Walker also went in to the details of the report. He could see that thiske waspletely missed simply because of the vige''s poor ability to establish until now. They had not had the people or strength to search their area. After Genesis had epted the angels in to the alliance, they had more resources and help to establish viges. This one being one of them.


    As it turned out, they also had many unique water affinity herbs nearby the vige which were already being used to help the vigers grow stronger. The vige was most likely on a route to be a very important ce for travelers and researchers. That alone made the vige important to the future growth of the angels.


    "I doubt that the two are connected in any way, but knowing that there are other discoveries on the Sigil continent is very important." Walker mumbled this out loud while he contemted his next move. He desperately wanted to see this naturally forming water rune while he was on the continent after dealing with the unmoving cloud.


    He also knew that Current would wish to stop there too. Especially since he might be able to learn something important from the naturally formed water rune. Current was a water dominator dragon after all.


    This would be a lot to do while they had to also focus on the changes between every kingdom in terms of defenses. The vige would need to be protected as well along withws or rules about how to interact with the naturally formed rune.


    Expanding the mage tower project to the Sigil continent was still well in to the future. Using natural rune to make that happen was also well outside of what could be done right now. The mana needed to keep a connection to one of the smaller magic towers would be too high to be kept right now. They needed to advance their knowledge and understanding much more.


    This led Walker to the decision that they should prepare another elemental rune teleportation formation there. Allow for those who couldmune with the rune but not those who would build around it. Allow for a grace period where only research rted to the flow of mana around it would be allowed instead of any research that would interfere.


    That way, everything would remain the same until enough knowledge and advancement were


    made. That way, the rune and the vige would not suffer.


    He had his goals and now he had to put them in motion.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2318: 2318. City In Peril

    Chapter 2318: 2318. City In Peril


    "Shouldn''t you have let Walker know that we are heading here too?" The question was posed to Su. and the one asking it was Barry of all people. He had been the one in charge of all the groups divided up when they were fighting in the mirrored hills.


    As soon as things had been proven to be even worse off, he had stepped back and just managed the groups''munications. He had a knack for it that he would never admit. Especially since he had spent time as a soldier in the army.


    That had been enough to teach him how the best flow ofmunication should be. Especially in a battle situation. But even more, how group leaders would need to receive their information to make timely decisions about leading their group to certain areas that they needed to focus on the most.


    On top of that, he had massive battle experience. With this being the case, he had even taken to instructing some of the stronger soldiers where to go and how to handle the escaping de flies and false rats.


    Afterwards, Barry and remain within the area of the mirrored hills to follow through with the cleanup, and also to instruct patrols. Those patrols would remain for a few months just in case a single one of the eggs survived or any other monsters were spotted.


    For the time being, the reports he had read stated that thend was blossoming very well and natural monsters were returning one at a time. It was all good for thend and for the people nearby. Even better for the flow of the Genesis alliance since they were able to recover thend damaged by ancient monsters.


    That was how he had been roped in to following Su again. She had stated that he had not finished the job since there were more threats. She also made it clear that they would be moving on to another major threat which might be affecting the entire Sigil continent if left alone.


    The same reports which Walker had read, Su had seen. As such, she had seen the potential that the water mana would stop reacting normally within the entire continent. Also that there might be arger issue to worry about.


    The area with the unmoving clouds was over a fairlyrge patch ofnd. Thatnd had yet to get rain since the unmoving clouds had appeared. Simply because the unmoving clouds blocked any natural rain clouds from appearing over the area. Which in turn meant that there was no rain at all.


    Some of thend could handle not getting rain. There were streams and rivers that ran through it. However, that did not speak for all of thend. There were plenty of dry sections of forest or rocks that needed the rain. Both for nature and also for the angels who had viges there.


    Three viges being built there had already been abandoned due to the wells drying up, without the wells, they didn''t have easy ess to fresh water. Next, they didn''t have the water to feed their crops or animals. End of the day, they just couldn''t live there and moved to nearby viges.


    These weren''t things that Walker had missed, but things that Su had decided to take on as a major issue. Things that she had seen and wanted to fix.


    "Walker will deal with the cloud, we will deal with everything on the ground which needs out help. Especially that natural water rune which appeared. It might be losing stability because of whatever that cloud is. If we lose that, then there might be more issues. I''m pretty sure that Walker will send reinforcements for us. He should have figured out we are headed toward the natural water rune by now." Su grinned a little as Barry wondered if she was getting even more bold by the day.


    "You know, Su is really getting ahead of metely. She even led a lot of the fight in the mirrored hills." Theints from Walker were filled with too much pride to be seen as actualints. Current, Ventus, and Ignus also shook their heads at him since it was the third time he had said it.


    "She went ahead of me with a full hundred soldiers and Barry to rescue and patrol the ground underneath. Now all I have left is to send the soldiers I brought to back her up. It''s like she is predicting what I will do and then waiting for it to actually happen."


    "Stop rambling on and on and tell us what you sense from the mana here." Ignus''s grow was enough to make Walker stop. He knew that he had to focus on the task at hand.


    "I will once we get to the city. The floating cities are stuck where they were and still not repaired enough to move as they wish. That''s the issue with all of those right now. The angels can''t leave without absconding one of their remaining homes."


    This was the crux of the matter. The angels relied on these two floating cities as links to their past. Even with the new knowledge about the ancient angels and even the angels who moved in to the elemental nes, these cities were remnants. Proof of the survival of angels during the most chaotic times of the world.


    Having the demon lord steal one which had fallen to the ground away and made it corrupted had been hard enough to handle. But having one of the two remaining functioning floating cities be trapped or even abandoned due to some unknown danger that came out of nowhere? That would be crushing.


    "I can sense that mana is flowing normally around here though." Where they hade from was thend where Walker hadst teleported. He wanted to see the growth of the base camp and vige where the gem inds were. He also wanted to see if the ocean was changing at all.


    The changes in the tide might showcase a little difference when ites to the natural water rune or the effects of the unmoving clouds on arger area. Luckily, he didn''t sense a single thing amiss. There had just been some surprises for the locals living and researching there when four important figures appeared out of nowhere.


    "You know that my full strength has not returned. I will keep myself held back until absolutely necessary." As much as Ventus wanted to help and be at the forefront, she had epted her current state.


    "You will not need to waste your breath on this problem. We will handle it and you can rest." Current was exceptionally supportive since he had spent a lot of time gathering his mana and condensing it. He had also spent arge amount of time directing those who served under him and alongside him.


    Since this was the case, the water affinity beings and aspects of Genesis had grown rapidly. It also helped that he had partnered with Terrons'' people and the dwarves to repair the canals through Genesis. That project alone had lengthened the usage of these waterways for a brighter future.


    Walker had also sensed a slight change in the way that Current used water mana. The flow of his internal mana had smoothed a little more. Proving that Current had learned a very important aspect of water to a much deeper level than what he had before this point. It was a very good thing since they needed that sort of pure understanding moving forward.


    "I can feel it now." Current broke the silence between them yet again. However, this time it was because he felt the oddity that was the water mana within the air. "The water mana is being called. No, it''s better to say it is being lured away to those clouds."


    The massive white fluff in the sky called the unmoving clouds came in to view. The shadow they cast on the ground is evenrger. And stuck in that shadow was one of the floating angel cities. It was being patrolled by various forces of angels, but the blue hued wings normally seen were not part of those groups. They had been forced to remain within the city.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That''s another tissue, the water affinity angels can''t fly now, can they?" There was annoyance in Walker''s voice now. A far cry from his pride before. He knew very well that the issue of the unmoving clouds meant that there were angels who needed to be evacuated from


    the city.


    If they could not fly themselves, how could they save themselves? This danger was putting more than just a few angels at risk. It was a major issue and Walker was annoyed that the threat was persisting.


    ....


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 Chapter 2319: 2319. Missing Angels

    Chapter 2319: 2319. Missing Angels


    Approaching the floating city, the angels made way. They knew that the group wasing and prepared for them. This was a warmer wee than thest time Walker had been here. Unfortunately, it was worse circumstances.


    Walker expected one of the older angels to meet him, however, he was met with multiple leaders instead, those who guarded the outer edges of the city and had been patrolling for weeks now. They seemed to be the front line and the most knowledgeable, so it made a lot more sense. They had the most information.


    "Wee to our home. I would like to be more polite to you four. Times do not allow that." Walker noticed that many of the symbols of the separate empires had been taken away from buildings and uniforms. Enough to prove that the angels really epted and began to turn over a new leaf.


    "I would love to explore your city properly. The time isn''t right though." Making a point to look at the unmoving clouds in the distance, Walker focused on the angels around him.


    "I can sense the way that the water mana is stagnant. No, it is refusing to move ording to the natural flow of what it should." Current spoke loudly so that the angels could hear. He also focused on those who were clearly weighed down by the added patrols of the area in case threats may appear.


    His words were resonating through the gathered angels. But it appeared that there was more to all of this than just the angels working so hard alone. "Where are the leaders of your joint empires?" Ventus asked out of pure curiosity, but partially out of anger. She knew very well that their representatives were working hard within Genesis to bring angels from theirnds and also send help to various ces within the Sigil continent. Yet here, the leaders were noting to them?


    "They are no longer standing. They have retreated in to their retirement after feeling their power wane over the empires. They have chosen the wrong paths." everyone became even more serious hearing this.


    While it was hard to handle the changes within the world, the elemental angels who believed that the main elements manas were what there was and nothing more should have not been so weak. The same for the angels who preferred the unknown and research over everything else. Yet both had stepped away and given up?


    "The representatives handled more and more every day. They sent and called for forces. Our head for all research and development no longer had a project. He did not wish to research the singr empire and a singr alliance. He preferred the unknown aspects ofpetition and battle between the two empires."


    "Our leader of elemental angels believed that all they stood for was now tainted. That our beliefs had been stomped on just to be rewritten by those who had more control. That the representatives were just ways to abdicate strength without too much bloodshed."


    Both angels from either side did not sound like they were in a good position. However, this simple act of either leader walking away and leaving a broken council of, so called powerful angels, was despicable.


    "Then they will face consequences for their actions. They will be held over the coals for their actions here. They are meant to defend their race to thest breath. They will rue the day that they forsook their oaths to their people." Ignus let off a significant heat while speaking. His rage was growing significantly.


    "Now is not the time we seek for justice. The angels here will handle it. Regardless of their former leader''s rankings within their race, they can not just walk away from them without suffering, isn''t that right?" the angels all nodded.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    While Walker did not know the exact details, it was clear that those who caused major harm to their race, for the angels, would suffer some sort of punishment. While it might be the will of existence or some other defining creating factor, this truth existed.


    These leaders who had stepped away when the world began to change for their own stubborn beliefs and desires would not be able to escape. They would be brought to justice within their own race. It was not for Genesis to decide this unless they were asked for assistance. Genesis was an alliance of various races, not a judge and jury for all that was right or wrong.


    Walker brushed this worry aside as he focused on the important parts of why they were here. "We will be making a move to investigate the moving clouds. I see that all of you are trying to maintain your strength, we have extra potions that we brought here with us. You are all wee to them. For the time being, please group up and work with one of the three royal dragons. I will be heading directly in to the clouds while Ignus holds a rope to pull me out."


    This was a simple and straight forward n. Simr to what some of the dwarves used to do when they were going exploring within the underwater caverns. They would tie each other to a rope and cover himself in a mask with a tube to provide air. This was all before they invented their underwater golems.


    The n being simple was not a bad thing. What they called a rope right now, was a metal and monster hair infused braid with extremely greater strength than some basic rope.


    The hair from the iron hide boar and the demonic boar had been taken to be weaved in to the braid while some small fments of iron were added for extra strength. Then the nt material was known as the wax cotton sprouts. They were a water affinity nt which repelled water that was not trapped within the nt itself. This would allow the rope to avoid wear and tear in the environment.


    "I know it sounds like a simple and foolhardy n. However, I have the ability to sense all the manas around me for changes. Ignus, Current, and Ventus will be focusing on manas outside of the unmoving clouds. That will give us time to prepare for any issues. On top of that, I will have potions for myself and buff myself multiple times."


    This seemed to clear the confusion. While the n was simple, it wasn''t so simple that it would just be a throw away idea which would lose Walker his life. He had it prepared with the multiple boosts that could defend him from many dangers. He was also wearing the strengthened lightweight armor which had been made by the wandering cksmith. Not many people, even on the Sigil continent, would miss the higher quality armor he wore.


    As soon as the movements began, Walker focused on the clouds. He was amazed that they weren''t moving at all. Even the shifts of the clouds themselves made it appear that they were upying the same space still.


    The clouds themselves were pure white and fluffy looking. They were also towering well above what Walker or even the royal dragons in their dragon forms would stand. He could tell that they were more likely boxed in by some unseen forces. Not expanding because they were not able to. Like they were held back by something.


    "It''s like making a bowstring. The water mana is stuck to the string and when the bow is released it pulls the water mana back."


    Current raised his head with a curious look, "That seems right. Something baits the water mana in, then it gets stuck and pulled in. That''s the best way to say how this feels." Current had released a little of his own water mana here and there. He was testing the dangers he could perceive but only got the strange feeling of losing the water mana he controlled as soon as he released it. He couldn''t let it go at all or he would lose it entirely.


    "I will have to make myself a little more well defended then. It might be stronger of a pull in the clouds. Or it might drown me." These were two possibilities. If the water in Walker''s body was pulled away it would be dangerous for him. Or, the water inside would be so dense within the clouds that there would not be a single bit of air for him to breathe. If that was the case, just trying to breathe air would be the same as diving in to ake and trying to breathe the


    water there too.


    "Just stay focused and keep the rope tight." Ignus huffed as he looked at the rope he was handed to help Walker tie around his body.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2320: 2320. Unexpected Clouds

    Chapter 2320: 2320. Unexpected Clouds


    Being tied to a rope and walking through the air toward a wall of white clouds was an odd feeling for Walker. But he trusted those that held the rope. They knew very well that they would protect him and make sure that those outside of the unmoving clouds were safe. He also understood that if things became dangerous, they would not panic.


    Since he was taking this on as an individual, Walker knew that there was a lot about whatever was within this space that might stun him. Mostly for the fact that he was still full of curiosity at the situation as a whole. It didn''t make sense that the water mana was so affected.


    He was even trying to pull some that he could sense from in front of him, but instead of getting a handle on it, he found that the water mana was tightly held in ce. But not in the sense that it was ice. More so that it was somewhat trapped where it was right now.


    He even felt that whatever was holding it in that ce might have a more solid control over water mana. Or that it might have a better water affinity than him. Not that he could doubt that being a potential fact.


    Walker was able to use all manas equally, he did not have a higher affinity for any singr mana and that would not be changing. He could tell that even before he was an origin being, that because of his actions in his early life he had managed to guide his body to that bnced state.


    Trying a little bit of everything was proving to be very valuable.


    These things aside, it was also the wind nana that was acting oddly.


    Since these were clouds, it meant that the water mana had to be mixed with some wind mana. That was normally how clouds moved and eventually ended up bing rain at some point. Besides the fire mana mixed with light mana that heated the water mana in the first ce.


    Since the water mana was stuck, the wind mana that had been within this area was also stuck. Not directly as the water mana was, but in the sense that it was in a forced bnce and unable to move. Even the wind that pushed through the open sky toward the unmoving cloud moved around this section as if it wished to avoid breaking the bnce here.


    The bnce was causing greater issues though. Walker knew that rain could not fall over arger area. Meaning this had to change. Especially when taking in to ount the potential for dark mana and decay to set in within the portions ofnd that were now always cast in shadows.


    Stepping in to the cloud, Walker was surprised to find that no water stuck to him. There was a cool feeling though. All over his skin a mist had formed which was suddenly pulled away by a slight breeze.


    To him, the clouds were moving.


    Turning around, Walker saw the rope and saw the wall of clouds covering up where he hade from. "I''m in an entirely different ce." he realized that it was only unmoving ording to what they could see from outside. He had been foolish.


    "It''s space mana!"


    All this time, Walker had ignored an important aspect of what he had been learning abouttely. That space mana could cause a lot of oddities. That it was hard to catch and hard to manipte. For him, it was even hard to sense it when he was not looking for it. Therefore, the space mana right here and now that was causing this effect of a separate area with different appearance was all about the space mana around the clouds.


    The water was being pulled in to the space affected and trapped here creating an always moving cloud inside and a seemingly unmoving cloud from the outside.


    "Space mana, that''s a good one. I haven''t heard anyone make that guess in quite some time. But it was me who isted this space when the world started to shrink and crumble. It saved our lives after all."


    The voice sent a shiver through Walker''s voice. There wasn''t a power in it that caused him fear, but it was the fact that he hadn''t sensed anywhere here. "Are you human? Did the human race survive the copse? I know there were a few races at war on the ground, but we didn''t go down there."


    Now Walker was sure that he hadn''t just imagined anything, but he still didn''t see anything. "Where are you? I like to see those who I speak with." Walker''s slight tone of threat was not missed by the way the clouds moved. They shifted a little more violently after he spoke. Proving that they were under the control of someone.


    "Well, I would have shown off what we are sooner thanter. I can make sure you don''t go running around in the real aspects of our little home in the sky. We are isted still with our little tricks from a friend. But now that the world seems to be fixed we won''t need it much more." Theughter was akin to that of an old man''s.


    The clouds condensed opening up a blue sky hidden behindrger walls of clouds. The expanse of the sky was enough to keep a few more things hidden and Walker could vaguely sense more water mana and other manas in the distance.


    "I am the old man in the sky. A god system user, now that the world is fixed, I am the one with the ss, god of the blue sky. I was born from the mana sent in prayer by the cloud fairies who grace the sky with their light wings and elegant dance. And I waited while protecting them even as the world copsed on them."


    The clouds before Walker were in the shape of an old man holding a kite. But the clouds were changing, making images of dancing cloud fairies and other monsters or races. But Walker could tell they were more ancient. They were what the god had seen many years ago.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Another god. You know, I am pretty sure I have seen the goddess of the moon before. But god system holders were too rare and hard to prove. But this really..." he wasn''t sure what to say.


    "I know, even the little fairies who brought me in to form with their beliefs did not imagine I would take from and even move to protect them. They believed and still do believe that I hold the skies in my hand like a creator holding y. It''s endearing. But time has taken its toll and with the return of the world, I really must return to the true sky. And so must they."


    All of it was hard to understand. Walker couldn''t see anything else but he could snes the manas. He also knew that fairies existed. "Fairies are a monster though, aren''t they?"


    "Oh no, they are a race. But as these fairies were separated from the others of their kind, I can assume they began down a path of loss. They are peaceful beings. They enjoy their calm flow of mana. Without it, many slumbered in their city of clouds... I was ready to wish them and myself a goodbye if that old friend of mine had not offered me a shield of sorts."


    The clouds gestured to the moving walls of clouds nearby them. "At the cost of always being awake through these many years, I held the barriers strong. Then, outside of them, everything went ck. As if nothing existed beyond them. Or as if we were folded up in to a crack in existence and left to wait. But we havee back again. And so, the world must be fixed, am I


    right?"


    "Oh, you can not use an appraising skill on me. That is what my system prevents. Or is it ss now? You should understand, it is hard for me to adapt when I am so tired. But my eyes can still look at you. I can feel how your body flows with mana. You are not human, you just look like one. But you feel like those paired serpents and dragons...strange times?" Confusion grew in the tone, but also a sense of trust in each word. Like this god of the great blue sky could sense who Walker was at the core of his being. Actually, Walker felt like he was watching someone slowly wake up from a daze. Not necessarily asleep, but more that this being, or god, had been stuck in the same monotonous existence that they were taking some time to break their stillness.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2321: 2321. Open Sky

    Chapter 2321: 2321. Open Sky


    The god system users, and now apparently the god ss holders, were things that were often thought of as myths. Or just stories. Yet, that theory had been broken when the party had bumped in to the beach with a statue said to be the body of the moon goddess.


    It wasn''t entirely proven, but Walker and the rest of the party had known. The system had even referenced it. That the gods and goddesses were real.


    However, being created through mana given by faith and something else? Well, that was a new one. Not unbelievable though. The spirit race was made of mana. Elemental spirits were made of mana. There was a theory that all things had once been mana before changing to be what the world was, and that seemed pretty true right now.


    The more that he began to focus on what might create a god or what ways there could have been gods interacting with the world, the more Walker''s head hurt.


    He knew very well that in ancient times, some races might not have fully understood the world and the mana that flowed around them. Not to mention the massive and extremely dangerous ancient monsters that could destroy their entire race. It made sense that prayers and potential gifts of their personal mana would have some effect on the world.


    But to create entire beings? Now that was hard to grasp.


    However, the idea that a being of some race or another could be a god ss user?


    That made a lot more sense. Whether it was due to their amazing natural born skill in a certain subject or if it was just that they had found what they were best at above any other in the word, then they could easily im that system or ss. It also made sense that if belief and devotion of mana yed a part in it that these beings might be able to change in to a god ss just because of the fact that they had that devotion.


    So many intelligent beings believing in them could shape that person. Or it could give them a path to follow to be exceptional.


    "It''s interesting to think about. I understand. I once contemted my existence before I realized that even I can not understand the great will that is existence and what it brings in to being. Whether existence is a being like you and I, we will never know. What we do know is that through many mysterious paths, we can grow and change. We can find meaning in those paths orpletely build new paths. The sky may look empty to you, but someone will see the path to walk along it one day."


    The god of the great blue sky spoke with a little more wit now. Clearly there was a little bit of a story behind their methods of thinking. Not just that they were a god of the sky but because they had taken a great length of time contemting these things.


    If someone was so powerful or so connected to arge aspect of the world, they would certainly question what they were or how they got there. Even those with lower intelligence, like children just learning about the world, would ask a parent why all the time.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    A sudden flurry of clouds and breeze changed the scenery around them. "I thought we should speed things up. I will need to release it all soon. Even calling in the clouds toward me is getting harder. I needed to ease the transition before this space meets the rest of the sky again."


    Now Walker could understand even more. This was a massive expanse of sky. So many other parts of the world had berger, including entirely unexplored areas. Therefore, this meant that the sky had been held back by the spatial item this god used to protect the cloud fairies.


    Before Walker could think of that, a sudden flurry of white wings came in to view. There were about twenty small humanoid figures with fluffy white fur on their bodies. Slightlyrge blue eyes stood out on their faces while focusing on him.


    "Little ones, I must return to the greater blue sky. I have waited for someone unique. Someone like those outside of the world in your time of birth as a race toe. You may rely on this person and those they introduce you to. Do not fear the cloud sharks or the vicious blue swans. I cannot sense them anywhere near us. Even the cloud serpents feel faint to my senses."


    These were monsters that Walker had never heard of. They were most likely predators of the cloud fairies from ancient times. Mostly remembered through stories. "He cannot easily walk within your city of clouds. But even that city will continue to move. There should be a ce for you to rest for longer with him."


    The clouds shivered. No, they also seemed to be dissipating. The god of the great blue sky had not been very clear about everything. Had not shown and exined enough. Unfortunately, Walker could not sense the level of which this god''s mana was disappearing. He truly had given everything and the world had returned just in time before this race had been thrust in to the unknown darkness of wherever they had been trapped for many years.


    This might have been the case for other god ss users. They could have faded due to mana loss after the flow of the world had broken. They could have also been trapped like this. Or they were just unseen while being part of the flow in which the world existed. Some might have always been around.


    Most importantly, more god ss users might appear as time goes on. The world had its mana flow back. Everything was changing and growing. Why not the god sses?


    "He has a hero title. The world smiled upon him even as it suffered. I can see it much better now. My eyes are bing clearer blue than they have been. You should introduce him..." The clouds faded before the entire space began to shiver.


    "All clouds condense! Bring the walls together! Prepare for potential dangers to the people!" The shout was louder than what Walker could have expected. But he also felt a mana within them. A force that was somewhat familiar.


    "Follow us!" The chirping voices of the cloud fairies pulled Walker along with them. They were racing towards the cloud city they had made while Walker realized that the cloud walls rushed inwards bing smaller. The manas that made them dissipated while the blue sky was released. Those outside were equally shocked.


    The three royal dragons saw the clouds shift suddenly. But they also felt their heads be light. Ignus couldn''t even imagine holding on to the rope as he felt everything around him shift. He didn''t release it, yet, the rope was severed in multiple ways while all those moving in the air witnessed the clouds erupt outwards.


    A misty rain fell all over thends while the clouded sky became perfectly clear. If anyone were to sum it up, they witnessed the entire sky be like a bubble bath before the water suddenly cleared and an ornate clouds sculpted in the shapes of spires and thin homes took


    center stage.


    Su looked up from the ground only to find that she wasn''t sure about anything. Because she had seen and felt Walker use space mana, she knew that was what had been in y now. She could just tell in her gut. Not that she could actually sense spatial mana clearly.


    To the angels, it appeared that the entire unmoving cloud had just exploded in mist then everything had be clear and empty with a wall of distant clouds well away but slightly drifting in the winds towards them. Those who had been flying nearby were unsettled due to the feeling and caught by Ventus. She was d she had been on edge enough to be able to help


    them all.


    Current was thankful that the issue was seemingly solved without needing to fight another monster. They all felt that way though. But more so, he felt d he could grasp the water mana again. The clouds weren''t pulling it anywhere away from him.


    It was all a lot to take in though. Because the angels and the royal dragons could fly, they had a sense for the sky. They could tell there was more of it even if it was seamless. This struck them


    as odd.


    Well, for Walker though, it was even more odd. Mostly because he was looking at the distant floating city. "It''s so far away from me now. How am I going to bring the cloud fairies there faster?"


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2322: 2322. Teach A Race

    Chapter 2322: 2322. Teach A Race


    "I''m d there are not any monsters..." Current trailed off while looking at the cloud fairies that were watching Walker carefully. They were somewhat attached to him while the others had remained hiding in their cloud city.


    It was hard to focus on how odd the situation was. Especially with the cloud fairies seemingly being unable to go near the dragons at all. To be fair, they were somewhat terrifying if someone had not been ustomed to them. Even within Genesis, there were those who were notfortable being around the dragons just yet.


    Luckily, it had been easier getting to the royal dragons and closer to the angel''s floating city just by asking the cloud fairies for some help.


    Walker had watched as they moved around and manipted the water and wind mana to move the clouds. From what he had felt, their methods were more simr to the way that the echidna interacted with mana. It was more natural.


    He didn''t doubt that the cloud fairies had a more natural attunement to mana though. They had been isted in a space where only the mana that they had affinities with as. The water and wind manas that they had been growing and living with for many years had allowed generations of cloud fairies to solely focus on manipting and understanding those manas. This resulted in them being able to grasp those manas without much thought. This was also why they were able to literally fashion a small floating cloud city and live in it. If Walker were to step on it and try to do the same, he would need a very high amount of mana not to cause the clouds to break apart.


    "Monsters may have been simpler than yet another race appearing." While Ventus was d to see that this issue had somehow resolved itself, she was also not sure how to handle the fact that another intelligent race had appeared. Especially one that was so small and delicatepared to the dragons.


    They were not the easiest race to handle right now. Genesis and the kingdoms which made it up were in a very fast paced state of change. Both to ensure safety, but also to ensure the growth of new aspects of the world to them. It meant that many moving things would pose even more dangers. Smaller races were already at greater riskpared to therger races like dragons.


    The cloud fairies were in a simr situation as the gale horn orcs though. The gale horn orcs were intelligent and developed elsewhere, the elemental nes. Therefore, they had intelligence and were a race whereas the orcs of the world were less developed and had be monsters.


    The cloud fairies had intelligence and could speak. They also had great mana control. However, the fairies of the world were fewer and far between while being monsters as well. They were not considered intelligent races any longer due to all the changes over so many years.


    Both of these races were in a position where they would certainly wish to help the monster side of their species return to being races, but they might not be able to. Right now, the cloud fairies might not fully understand that since they had been cut off from the world for so long.


    "Why are none of you more concerned about a god ss?" Ignus was looking at all of them with a confused and doubtful look. He believed that all of them, especially the dragons, should be more worried about this.


    Saying that a god of the great blue sky had appeared meant that the dragons who saw themselves as some of the rulers of the sky were now at risk. What if this god of the great blue sky tried to stop them from flying? It had been brought in to existence by some other race after all. So, why would it not value that race over the other races?


    "They would be more bound to the world and the proper mana flow than anything. I would even care to guess that they have rules that we can''t even grasp that they need to follow over all else." As this was more so what Walker felt and learned through what he had read, Walker did not say it with a manner of fact tone. Ignus could see that Walker entirely believed it though.


    "We don''t need to pray to some god now?" This was another thing that Ignus worried about. They had never prayed to gods that he could recall. The dragons were proud of their own strength and they believed in their own blood. Not some god here or there.


    "I doubt it. I would say that if a dragon prayed to anything, then they would be going against what the original dragons believed and taught. So you are better off not praying even if you want. Well, maybe young dragons might but that''s up to them." Walker wouldn''t crush anyone''s faith. He just figured it was easier to let the dragons keep their own methods when ites to their beliefs in strength and such.


    "So now we just need to help the angels with a few small issues and exin that they will be around a new race to help?" Current''s thought process brought him to the simple fact that they could not just bring every single cloud fairy to Genesis. They would need the time to properly adapt and learn more.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    In all essence, it would most likely be worse for the cloud fairies to rush them by bringing them right to Geneisi sooner rather thanter. They would be overwhelmed when they were clearly unsteady. The fact that they were hiding behind Walker right now was more than just proof of this.


    "I think they could stay here, but the angels can''t handle that either right now. They are changing their entire structure of leadership. They are tired. They are overworked. They are worried. If we did that to the angels then everything would only be worse for them right now. We need to take burdens off of their shoulders."


    What Walker said was also the best method. The angels needed to decide who their leaders were right now. Especially since they had to also persecute those who had stepped away and left them in such a poor position. "They should just support their representatives on the Genesis council. That would solve all their problems. They can even step away to handle work here."


    The sidement from Ignus actually sounded very good. The few angels here who were listening but didn''t feel that they should say anything looked at one another. This had been something thought about but not said. Especially as signs that their leaders had been failing due to personal beliefs.


    "With the time, they might do that. We just need to let them do what they need to do. I want to see their cities in more detail too. There''s so much that I didn''t get to see when I was herest time." Walker felt a little sad as he looked at the city nearby. The floating city was an oddity since he didn''t have the full understanding of how it worked.


    "I will float along the wind with the cloud fairies. I need to recover my strength and it will be a way for them to understand dragons. Befortable. I will also have some of the wind and water angelse with me. Those who do not wish to feel the stress of their current


    politics."


    Everyone looked at Ventus. They wished that they could tell her not to do that, however, she was right. She had a strong wind affinity as a wind dominator dragon. She had raised children and stood tall to defend other races. She had everything needed to help the cloud fairies take a step toward joining Genesis. Beyond that, she could rest while slowly making her way through the sky back toward Genesis.


    By the time that they arrived, the cloud fairies would understand the other races to the same level that ventus did. They would also have gained knowledge about the goals of Genesis along with what they could do to y a part in the future.


    This would also allow the cloud fairies the time they needed to be able to elect a representative. From there, they would have the chance to grow and develop as they wished. They could even make semi permanent homes in the clouds above towns, viges, and Genesis. Not to mention the other kingdoms.


    It was all a matter of time for them. As long as these things were taken step by step, there would be a valuable new race with a new and intricate view on water and wind mana being mixed together within the Genesis alliance. It was a very interesting event.


    ....


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 Chapter 2323: 2323. Flash Flood

    Chapter 2323: 2323. sh Flood


    "Whatever happened up there, the problem is solved. Thend still suffered here. We are going to search the viges for anyone left behind. We will check for anything that needs our attention, understood?" Su ordered the group of soldiers who followed her. She knew that there might be those in need still.


    Since she had witnessed the sky suddenly grow, she wondered what sort of magic Walker had used or what the clouds floating with small beings moving around them were. But she tore her attention away from that. She could sense that things were safe and sound up there.


    Her focus should be on the dangers on the ground right now.


    The clouds had just released a burst of water which came down over the entire area affected by the clouds. While the area had not been dry due to heat, it still hadcked water causing the ground to be dry.


    From most assumptions, this would mean that the ground would soak that water up right away. Unfortunately, that was a poor assumption for those who did not have the experiences that farmers or those who lived near rivers had.


    When water falls suddenly after a long drought, even if it was not a major amount of rain, the drynd would not immediately soak it up. Instead, the rain would roll off the dry and cracked ground causing floods.


    Some ces that were lower or inclined would have all the water run down causing broken trees, damage to homes, or even just push a lot of dead nts down with it causing a dangerous moving obstacle.


    For those that could not move or for ces that were unable to be defended, it was an exceptionally dangerous time. Su understood this very well since she had taken the time to speak with many of the church''s nuns and healers. She had learned about manu disasters which they learned about to be able to handle. This sort of training was normally for them, but anyone who asked could join in on learning it as well.


    It was natural that Su would be the kind of person who would jump at the chance to learn about helping others in various disaster situations. Since she had spent a lot of time helping others, she was always looking for ways to better help others which would further herself as a person.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Nature was arge threat to many people. She knew this well and was currently showing off a map that she had gained from the angels while announcing the threats to two viges they already knew had been abandoned for the most part. Yet, she knew people.


    People were stubborn.


    Just because everyone had left by choice due to the hard times brought on by the unmoving clouds which were now handled, she knew that some would have stayed right where they were. And since this area was not one that normally dealt with sh floods, these viges would not know how to handle the threat moving toward them. A threat that could and would easily sweep away their vige and whatever or whoever was there.


    "We are splitting up. The smaller vige was just being built and should not have any hold outs. It was being built so that they could farm some natural herbs within the rocky and sandy ground there along with harvesting some y. So be careful and have the water mages ready to redirect the water flow from you."


    This was a quick and abrupt order after calling the leaders of her group together. They split off in to two teams of five squads. Mages and healers with each prepared to move faster. The water mages taking the lead along with a few of the earth mages.


    What surprised her were the dark mages who spoke up quickly too. She had two in her close group with more energy than usual since the clouds had been hanging here and causing the dark man to gather. It would have eventually ended up with the area being full of more decay than normal.


    "We can use the shadows and the extra dark mana lingering here to make shadow walls. It will block some of the physical dangers. That''s how dense the dark mana is right now." The two dark mages who had approached her were making it clear that they would have some advantage still with the speed of their defensive skillspared to the earth mages who might be a little slower since the ground was harder and dryer. The dryness made it morepact. Good forrge walls but bad for speed.


    The vige that Su was heading toward was one where angels had been living for some time. That was why she knew that there would certainly be some of them remaining. They had homes from when they were children there. Through the hard times, they had survived and managed to persist in their growth. Why would they give up because some clouds that were stopping them for a little while? The world was changing, wasn''t it?


    The movement of Su''s group through the terrain was much faster than what anyone would expect from them. They were fluid and in perfect formation. This wasn''t some magic event for them, it was proof of their higher levels and the fact that they had all worked together before. Su didn''t just choose people to work with her randomly.


    As the vige appeared and they saw the various dead bushes which had suffered due tock of water, they also saw a small but increasing mass of brown water and branches moving towards them down a nearby hill.


    They also noticed the few elderly angels, with a few children, staring up at the oddity which was the cloud city in the sky. Anyone would look up at it with awe when they had never seen such intricate clouds like that.


    "We are moving you somewhere safe!" Su shouted and saw all of the angels look at her. The numbers were about fifteen. Mostly elderly with a few of their family members staying around. The homes were made of rougher wood that had definitelysted through many years. But that was exactly why they would not hold. This vige has struggled and remained. Meaning that the buildings were all made of time worn wood. Not at all reinforced with stone as the new buildings in other viges were made to be.


    "We can''t leave! Grandma is still-"


    "Then tell me where she is and I will carry both of you. A lot of rain ising and it might wash you away in to the ocean if we don''t move fast." The little angel that Su had picked up while running thought that this was some game at first. Since there were angels with Su, she trusted her. Plus, she could feel a warmth from Su that had developed through many times of helping others.


    In a shout and a pointing figure, the little girl pointed toward a smaller house with a dried up garden outside. Without a door and only cloth acting as the door, Su burst in and found an elderly angel with dull green wings resting. But she had clearly moved herself to look out the edge of the window at the sky.


    "There is a flooding because of all that rain. Pleasee with us so we can take you up the hill. After that, we will begin repairing the vige and repair your home." Su spoke with a soft tone. Her eyes spoke of the immediate need to move, but her smile allowed for the little girl to keep calm.


    "Of course. Take me where you need to go. These old bones won''t let me run anywhere. But you look strong." She trusted this random girl with dragon eyes and some scales on her body without a question. In all her years of life, she had never felt someone so trustworthy before. Wisdom could tell someone a great deal.


    The shake and twisting of shadows made su nce up at the working dark mages. She noticed they were not working alone though. The earth mages also worked with them and began mixing an earth wall together with the moving shadows. To defend as much of the vige as


    possible.


    The water mages leaped up on top of the shadow and earth wall to redirect some of the water. The damage could be mitigated with their efforts.


    The other soldiers were just like Su. carrying those who could not escape up the nearby hill away from the watering down from the other side of the hill. All thesebined efforts were without any hesitation. All because Su understood the myriad of risks that came with sudden weather changes and disasters. Not everything in life was about being stronger. Knowledge was key too.


    ....


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 Chapter 2324: 2324. Ancients

    Chapter 2324: 2324. Ancients


    "These ruins are near a location confirmed to have a bridge to the elemental nes in the future. The connection is there. Consider this while you begin excavating and exploring these ruins today. And be aware that there may still be monsters around the area. They may be attracted to us and not deterred."


    Since Onyx had chosen to remain with the ruin investigations and the serpents who had the ss to hunt them, he had been very busy.


    Specifically, it wasn''t the fact that the ruins held a lot of potential. Instead, it was the fact that the ruins held a lot of information being used within Genesis right now. Getting information about ancient monsters was proving to be much more valuable than the resources that might be found intact.


    Simply because these ancient monsters might have survived. Or they were ancestors to the monsters of today which were changing due to the increased mana flow of the world. Knowing was a small portion of the battle.


    "Re,eber, there may be other ruins nearby because of that bridge to the elemental nes. It is already proven that an intelligent ancient race had remained at that location. The ruins here are confirmed to be ancient angels. They most likely remained her for the same reasons. There may have been other intelligent races which made their homes. Or an ancient monster nest left behind by time."


    If the theory that an ancient monster nest was around, then there might be some materials from these ancient monsters who perished there or nearby. They could be used to study the ancient monsters and also to be used right now. Or, there might be dormant eggs as Genesis had already seen. Both important aspects that needed to be handled sooner thanter.


    In Onyx''s mind, he was doing the most important thing for the young serpents who had discovered these ruins. But he was also focusing on the people of Genesis who could use every aspect of the ruins and the location they were researching.


    Even if he was not out fighting a monster or discovering some portion of a manas'' usage, he was making his own headway. Besides, he was making it clear that there was support from the heroes even in matters that were not as terrifying as an ancient monster battle right now.


    He had received all the news about Walker''s efforts along with what Remey needed. He also knew that Gil and Su were working hard as well. Everyone was putting in more and more effort. Especially when he heard that Midnight was hard at work training with various dragonkin mages as she also helped bring every single dragon hatchling in to the perfect ces for them.


    He couldn''t just stay where he was, not that he had a choice right now.


    "One of the copsed sections of the tunnel is connected to the outside. After traveling through it, we discovered that there is another section of ruins exposed. These do not appear to be the same rock carving and painting styles as the ancient angel ruins." The sudden report made Onyx''s head shoot up and his full attention move to the earth mage.


    "How did you find out that it was different? What about the rock carvings?" Onyx haad managed to be part of various instances of ancient ruins. Simply because the otherN?v(el)B\\jnn


    serpent eggs had been discovered within one. Naturally he would spend the time reading and learning about those ruins. There might be more that hold more of his race. Just waiting to be awakened from a dormant slumber.


    "We checked the structure. The ancient angel ruins use rounded stones which are solid. They do not hollow them out at all since they use the stones from the direct area. That''s why their walls always arch upwards at doorways. They carved it out of stone that way. These ruins have hollowed out stone statues and walls with hollow sections. The other earth mages sensed that the earth mana was not flowing through them. They also don''t have any evidence that earth runes or any mana runes were used in them."


    Now this was exciting. Ancient ruins which possessed new aspects. They could be ruins that had never been seen before. If the forces with Onyx came together to prove that they had no evidence of these types of ruins, then it could be a new chapter. A whole new book even. The researchers would have a field day!


    With the speed that the mage moved and the few other researchers moved, Onyx was sure that most of the people here would be splitting off to explore these nearby ruins. "I wonder if they were nearby one another because this entire ce was so important to the developing races during ancient times?" The theory made sense as Onyx spoke.


    "No, these ruins are older and most likely were ignored because of the different craftsmanship. We can see where the ancient angels'' ruins diverted their carving and building to avoid them. They didn''t want to incorporate these ruins. Or the ancient angels were arrogant and did not see themselves as epting of these ruins. Whatever the reason-"


    "You didn''t know what ruins these were when you first saw them?" Onyx cut off the earth mage and halted every single researcher running beside and even a few who caught his words ahead of him.


    They had all been so excited and full of energy that they were not stopping to really think about the situation. Especially with the shaping of the statues. The clear carving of some stones around the broken portion of this rocky ground. He knew exactly the race responsible for these ruins.


    "Humans. These are from ancient humans. Those statues are simr to the older clothing that humans have recorded in some books. And those statues are carved to represent the god system users they believed in. That one right there is the god of mountains, a god simr to a dwarf in shape but able to lift and create mountains from the earth."


    Onyx slowly described the knowledge he had gained about how many ancient humans had believed the god system users or even the beliefs that some of the other races were gods themselves. This was all due to the differences in natural talents based on race.


    As this had be part of the human''s history,ter forgotten for the most part, it was still written. But their ruins were few and far between due to the fact that ancient humans were mostly killed and scattered. The ancient monsters and warring ancient races were too


    dangerous.


    The human ancient history also being lost due to these reasons was another major fact why those with Onyx had not realized what ruins these were. Even he would have missed it if he hadn''t taken the time to memorize a few things here and there. He had Walker as an example so Onyx felt that he had to take the time to really focus on memorizing what he read or heard


    about history.


    "You all understand that while other races were born with some innate talents or lifespans that humans were always able to adapt and be diverse to survive their surroundings in some way or another. That being the case, these ruins might show us what they did to survive the warring races and ancient monsters around them."


    What Onyx was really saying was even better.


    That the ancient human ruins may hold some naturally preserved evidence of how these ancient monsters were dealt with. Or what their predators were. If even a single wall painting remained of something like that, it could showcase methods to handle the current situations where some ancient monsters were appearing or where monsters were reverting back towards their ancient aspects.


    He also felt that this would be something very amazing. Not just because he was uncovering even more in a location nearby the previous bridge to the elemental nes. But because he was learning about aspects of the ancient era of the world. Where his ancestors roamed until they grewrger enough to open their own way to the elemental nes where they lived.


    It left Onyx with a slight bit of mncholy. He wished to find more of his ancestors within the light elemental nes. Yet, he had none of the time to do something like that. He had to remain focused on the goals of Genesis and of the young serpents living with him as their hero. He could not betray their trust by running off in to the elemental nes.


    "Let''s start to map it. Beware of monsters. The soldiers protecting everyone will take the lead." Onyx made sure that all possible steps were taken to have these ruins clear and safe. He wasn''t letting his mind wander too far.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2325: 2325. Hatchlings And Ruins

    Chapter 2325: 2325. Hatchlings And Ruins


    News of an ancient human ruin stirred up some of the researchers back in Genesis. Many of them had never expected that there would be ancient human ruins anywhere in the world. Mostly because the human race was mostly forgotten during ancient times. Not that they were not there, but they were so rarely grouped together.


    Due to that, the ancient humans would rarely be able to even build a home to be left in ruins many yearster. Instead, they would leave behind stone or wooden homes or encampments that would be ruined by nature or the changes in the ancient world over time. Therefore, no evidence would be left.


    That was the same for some other races when it came to the ancient aspects of their civilizations.


    Regardless, as these rumors about an ancient human ruin traveled, it riled up many people altogether. It was why Midnight had be very interested in what she began to do while helping one of the dragon hatchlings to use earth mana to build a wall.


    The other hatchlings aside for the time being, Midnight had found one of the young earth dragons found and returned to the dragon viges to be raised differently than their natural choices in doing so.


    Instead of being left in a cave to grow and eventually meet the other earth dragon when it was older, the parents went to find it and brought it back. They easily found a way to raise it a little more simr to the other dragons before they realized that as an earth dragon, it was much more capable of moving out of a nest earlier.


    But evidence that it was still more stable because it had an adult with it while it hatched and was still struggling to walk in the first few weeks was there. It was more active and even had sharper eyes for learning what was going on with the other earth dragons it saw.


    One example of this was when it saw the elder earth dragon mother use some earth magic to move a pile of rocks in to a t circle around their nest. In just a few minutes, the little hatchling had started to move a small piece of stone with its own magic.


    When Midnight was introduced to it, the hatchling was making holes and even breaking stones to entertain itself. She immediately saw that this was the same as a few of the young children who had gotten mage sses because they were enamored with magic due to the boom of magical research.


    As she was showing it the ways to use earth magic by demonstrating what she could do with it to cover her tail or her ws, an earth mage builder was remaking a wall and even adding more to it using earth magic.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    In less than an hour, the earth dragon hatchling was copying them while Midnight kept it from losing its focus and breaking its own small garden wall for a nearby home. The little hatchling was able to keep learning above what a dragon hatchling its age should be able to do. Further proving the fact that being within Genesis and changing the methods that dragon''s used to raise their young to some degree was incredibly valuable to them.


    When she heard the rumors for the fifth time, Midnight had finally lost her own concentration on the situation and called out to the earth mage builder helping teach the earth dragon hatchling. She knew that the dragonkin nearby were there to help the hatchling and escort it around so that it didn''t get in to trouble. So, she was more thanfortable leaving them all be.


    "I was watching you and that little one, but you are running away already?" It was Mordant who caught her. Midnight had been with him trainingst and he had kept an eye on her waiting for the next time that she might get caught in her head with training. He had also personally spent some time showing a few of the various hatchlings around.


    He was very proud to know that he had been the one to help them find ces where they could learn. Another fire dragon hatchling who could do alchemy. A wind dragon hatchling that could help nt and spread seeds but also bring nutrients to nts using the wind to disperse certain fertilizers. A dark dragon hatchling that had a talent to be a night guard within the city. All that he could brag about and watch develop over theing years.


    Most of all, he was proud of the shadow eating octopus which had settled right in the dark dragon territory. It had a lot of strength but it was exceptionally fast learning. This made it able to easily figure out that the dark mana left within the dark dragon territory was ideal food and a way for it to help.


    With just a little strength, the shadow eating octopus could use its tentacles to capture those who used the dark mana improperly. Specifically those that sued it for stealth in the wrong ways. It sensed this and reached tentacles out in to Geneisi to help capture them. While this was harder the further away and lessfortable the shadow eating octopus was, it was also valuable since certain skill sets were harder for guards to handle in the night.


    Along with this, the shadow eating octopus reported directly to Mordant and Walker. Meaning that it would quickly learn thews of Genesis bing an ideal guardian of sorts. Especially at night time when things were just as active nowadays.


    "Going to help brother." Midnight responded to Mordant as she was moving toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. Not many people were removing between them today and she knew that she could take them at any time.


    "Onyx should be fine. Even if he discovered another nearby ruin, it''s to be expected with the location they are near." Mordant was mentioning how close the ruins were to the bridge to the elemental nes. He knew very well that there might even be more ruins of some form or another nearby as well.


    "Ancient humans. All started as humans. Grew up different. But started as humans." Her broken speech was still a little annoying and Mordant wished she would just speak in the dragonnguage if she was going to be so stubborn not to use proper sentences. Yet, he understood what she meant.


    "I know that all of your family are human and used to be so. If you research the ruins with Onyx, they may be grateful. But that is not enough reason to leave Genesis right now." He was sure that he was watching Midnight get carried away. But he was also looking for a reason.


    "Ancient ruins. Ancient monsters. Ancient races." Midnight''s response just came back the same sort of blunt.


    "Even with so many ancient pieces appearing, we can only learn so much. Those there can research it and bring that information back." he stepped forward with a little more vigor to keep pace with Midnight. "But, we can learn more faster and Get Onyx back here sooner if that''s what you want to do." Mordant was failing to hide his own curiosity.


    Since humans were where things started, he sort of wanted to see what ancient humans were like. He still was learning about his own ancestors, so why not match some of the other ancient races to what his ancestors were doing in ancient times?


    Meanwhile, Onyx was witnessing therger space underground.


    "This ruin was made in the hollow of a cavern. The humans who found it must have been very lucky." A human rune researcher hade over in the hopes that the ancient human ruins would have some magical runes here or there. But he didn''t find any. Yet, he found he was still curious since he was human and these ruins were from his very distant ancestors.


    "I can see that in the way that it was carved. Before the ruins copsed and showed us the entrance, it must have been the natural cave ceiling." Onyx had also looked in awe at therge size and felt impressed that the ancient humans had shaped this cave in to a home.


    "I am more interested in the statues and what they mean. Some of them show the god ss holders, but others show monsters we haven''t seen yet." This was the key to why Onyx was here. The ancient unknown monsters that might need to be faced again in today''s life for all


    the races.


    "Yes, we found some roughly cut stone phrases about the dangers below some of the statues. It appeared this was a main hall of sorts."


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2326: 2326. Ancient Statues

    Chapter 2326: 2326. Ancient Statues


    Looking through the ruins, it was amazing to the eyes of all those that hade. Mostly because they were seeing a lot more details about ancient human living than what they had expected to see.


    Some of the stone tools found were very familiar since they were tools made out of various metals in today''s times. The knowledge that a lot of human tools had survived for many years in the same forms but began to change in materials proved that even ancient humans had developed thinking to manage their building.


    But it was quickly discovered that there were broken tools less aged by time. "We found tools that look to have been more closely rted to other ancient races. These farming tools came from the ancient angels since they have what appear to be ruined rune markings. Then we have some very rough metal tools that could have been from ancient dwarves. We just haven''t found anyplete ancient dwarf ruins yet."


    The single idea had spawned a lot of talk. "If there are ancient humans who encountered ancient dwarves, then they could have some form of joint ruin or even ruins nearby here. This area is rocky and might have had ores which even ancient dwarves would have coveted."


    The quick uptake from Onyx smoothed out the conversations from the researchers who had begun to bring what they found to Onyx at a small camp they made in therge main cavern turned home by the ancient humans.


    Everything was starting toe together. Evidence that the humans had used what was around them to adjust their tools and to keep growing despite the dangers that they faced. It was the key reason that ancient humans had survived in the first ce.


    "From what we can see here, they might have even found destroyed camps or homes of other ancient races. That way they could take knowledge and materials from there to keep surviving." This researcher was one focused on the rtionships between races. While his focus was very important here, it was a use for his historical racial rtions researcher ss which he had been lost about at first.


    As a researcher, he had focused on history to put all the puzzle pieces together. Naturally, when his ss appeared separate from his historical researcher ss, he had wondered how it could be so specific and valuable. However, as Genesis developed, he found a home there while he began to exin the differences that caused certain skirmishes and even different developments within races when interacting with one another. Especially now.


    The current day and age was living history that he was a part of. Right now, he was living that and seeing the past help the future. Especially when he found that the ancient races would learn from one another''s death at the hands of terrorizing ancient monsters. All to survive another day.


    This was also what brought Onyx on a tour following him through the hall near the statues. Some in better conditions than others. Some were even more defined since they wererger and more dangerous ancient monsters.


    "We have managed to find a series of ancient monsters carved in to stone here which we already know of." Pointing out a tall and multi horned ogre, "This was a grand ogre, the ancient ogres were muchrger with multiple horns on their heads and their skin was often covered in the blood of their prey to attract predators that they could fight against. It''s written here."


    The writing and symbols under each statue were hard to read but they could be made out utilizing many skills that the researcher possessed. "This could be a valuable piece of information for the ogres and how they developed from their ancient ancestors. But next we have the strange creatures we did not expect to find since they have always been listed as mythical creatures made up in someone''s imagination."


    The statue was more or less a depiction of a writhing pile of snakes. "We all believed that the serpent nests were just groups of snakes made during breeding seasons. But this statue shows that they existed. The better name for them would be the serpent swarm, a monster that controlled multiple serpent bodies with a nest like this hidden in a cavern controlling them to take over an area."


    "This could be very important to know. They are somewhat simr to the false rats that could take over arge area if they are left alone. But this appears to be easier to handle since they are notrger and stronger from what we know of?" There was a lot that Onyx researched himself about serpents and snake monsters.


    He had heard of the serpent swarms and the snake nests that appeared to control them. He didn''t believe them either, but in those fantasies, they were always weak swarms and never massive serpents in high numbers.


    "What about this statue here, is this a giant?" Onyx kept moving and tried not to think about the potential dangers that ancient monster swarms could cause. He would have to handle that if Genesis encountered them in the future.


    "We believe this is what is known as a giant. From what we can see, the giants were both seen as monsters and as a race. The ancient humans recognized that they could be spoken to and handled with respect but we''re better handled as monsters due to their size and habits of eating entire years worth of crops in a day."


    This exined a lot, therger statue was more defined since the giant resembled humans by quite a bit. Unfortunately, there was a significant amount of writing around the statue that stated the dangers. Many of the giants would even stomp on other smaller races and monsters like they were insects. "It is shown that the giants were very weak to magical attacks which is why we might never find evidence of their kind or their bloodlines again."


    Mana was so much of a focus on the world that this made a lot of sense to Onyx. A race without any resistance to magic at all would easily crumble next to the many races that had instinctual usage of mana and magical skills.


    "This statue here is one of the most developed though. It doesn''t appear to have aged much at all. There are red paint markings on it and no writing at all. We have no idea what monster it was but it appears to be very simr to what we believe ancient humans looked like."


    The statue was a nearly perfect carved statue with rough monster material clothing. Along with two bone daggers in its hands to show that it was some ancient human warrior. The red paint or coloring on it also appeared to be in a pattern covering the arms only. Its strangeness was making it stand outpared to a few others. But Onyx noticed that there were multiple of them around the hall. All the same markings and the same statue.


    "Was it some important leader then?" Onyx asked as he heard the scraping of stone which made him turn around.


    His tail was able to whip out of his shadow with barely enough time to stop the stone daggers carved to look like bones from stabbing in to the researcher''s neck. All around the cavern, shouts and screams as the same statues began to move as well. No, as they began to attack the researchers and soldiers there to keep an eye on the situations.


    "Everyone be at the ready! The statues can also be monsters!" Onyx was ready to m his tail against the moving statue again, but he found that it was totally focused on the researcher. Its daggers were aimed at the researcher to attack it with full force. It didn''t even appear to


    nce at Onyx.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The same scene was happening through the ancient human ruin and Onyx had a sinking


    feeling of why.


    These monsters had to be why these ancient human ruins were exactly that, ruins. Why the ancient humans didn''t even have bones left here and why the ruins were abandoned entirely without evidence that the ancient humans had perished here.


    More terrifying than that, Onyx''s attack hadn''t cracked or even visibly damaged the moving statue. Instead, he noticed that his scale had actually cracked. Something that had not happened for quite some time. It was why he began channeling the dark and light mana he had control of to cover his body in armored reinforcements.


    Another scream cut through the air as someone with an all around appraisal scroll dodged an attack and began to try and get the attention of everyone. They had just managed to get the information about this monster which had been hiding right in front of their faces.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2327: 2327. Crushing Ancient Stone

    Chapter 2327: 2327. Crushing Ancient Stone


    ''Ancient stone mimic


    This monster was known as the human hunter by ancient humans. They would follow traces of ancient humans due to the fact that the iron and other earth rted elements within their blood were delicious to them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They can survive for thousands of years in dormancy while mimicking stones or statues, they will always be identifiable by the red markings on their body though. These red markings form from the human bodies that they have consumed, some ancient humans believed this was the world cursing them as a horrendous monster undeserving of further growth.


    They will often be brought in to ancient human settlements as stones for building. From there, they will take the form of a statue or another human in stone form to hide in in sight. Over the course of months or years, they will move and kill humans to eat before resting again in wait.


    The older they are, the more urate their stone mimic skill bes and the harder their stone skin bes. This ensures that they can fight monsters muchrger and stronger than them without being crushed. It alles at the cost of being unable to manipte earth mana outside of their own bodies however...''


    As much as Onyx wanted to immediately attack with his full strength, he was forced to listen to this all around appraisal scroll result and ground his teeth. He couldn''t easily use his force to defeat them right away. Instead, he had to keep the researchers safe.


    Even the soldiers that were fighting the ancient stone mimics were being pushed back. Many had already been injured since there were five of these things all around them attacking from different directions. And they had barely been scratched by the physical attacks used against them.


    When it came to monsters, these ancient stone mimics were exceptionally dangerous. The strength that they possessed was all about defensive earth skills. Their skin was malleable to move and change to take the forms of statues but they were not taking any damage. Worse off yet, Onyx noticed that they were aiming to grab and break off any part of a human near them. They were targeting the human soldiers and researchers!


    As Onyx encircled most of the researchers with his body expanding to arger size, he felt that he was still being held back. He couldn''t take his full size from his shadow because he would crush the researchers instead of bing defenses for them. He also called the human soldiers to retreat to him.


    At the very least he knew that he could protect them with his defensive skills. The light and dark mana he made his armor and his tough scales might be enough to defend him for the time being. That would allow for the mages to take time and target the ancient stone mimics better. Their magic would be the best way to defeat these things.


    The pained hiss that Onyx released came as one of the ancient stone mimics stabbed at him with the statue dagger it held. His scales cracked again. The stone body and dagger that the ancient stone mimic had made didn''t even have a dent or chip on them. A worse result than what Onyx wanted to see right now.


    The dark mana and light mana bing his armor was shredded away. He felt way too weak even as he tried to think of how he could use dark mana to make dark spikes without hurting anyone else around him. The positioning of these monsters and the soldiers was too scattered. One wrong move and he would kill his own men!


    Breaking the air and causing every soldier to leap back, a roar echoed through the ruins.


    The next sound was a brutal shattering of stone and guttural growling as Midnight''s full dragon form broke in to the scene. "Sister!" Onyx had no idea why Midnight had arrived or what she had nned on doing. But right now, he knew that she was exceptionally angry and was prepared to tear these monsters to shreds.


    The evidence was right there, one of the ancient stone mimics had been torn asunder by her ws wreathed in dark mana. She had enhanced her attack force with the dark mana that Onyx was trying to gather and wait for an opportunity to use, but since she had trained with him so much, she had easily made it her own for an attack.


    With another growl, Midnight leaped over the heads of a few soldiers and bit in to the shoulder of another ancient stone mimic. A small dark dragon breath had gathered while she was in the air and was released while her teeth pierced the tough stone skin that others had struggled with.


    That was when Onyx realized that she was using more than just dark mana. She was using earth mana to strengthen her ws and teeth. Then on top of that, she was letting ayer of dark mana cover them to deal more damage. Both strengthening her body while also allowing for a more destructive attack. Her control over two manas without them interfering with one another had greatly grown.


    This sudden ughter of two ancient stone mimics had allowed the soldiers the time to regroup and Onyx to allow them a ce to guard the researcher he was protecting. It also allowed him to take the offensive as well since there was not a single person at risk for being struck down by him.


    Dense dark mana formed at the tip of his tail before heunched forward. The tail stabbed through the air with incredible force. While midnight had grown and he was awestruck by his older sibling, Onyx was not weak either. He was out for revenge right now, and his well trained dark tail pierce was just the improvement on his tail m skill that he needed right


    now.


    The ancient stone mimic didn''t even have the ability to react as the dark mana pierced through its arms and in to its chest causing the stone its skin was made of to decay rapidly. The remaining two ancient stone mimics finally felt the natural fear that came when their lives were at risk.


    In a single swift motion, Onyx and Midnight targeted them. Their instincts as natural predators told them that their prey had no chance to survive. The attacks from both of them caused the shards of stone and the sounds of shattering to echo through the cavernous ruins. Leaving the hustles of healers and the sounds of recovery spells being cast to be heard over all else.


    "Sister, I''m d you came to see the ruins we are researching." Onyx didn''t say anything else as Midnight sniffed him and looked at his damaged scales. She growled slightly while looking at the ancient stone mimics. If she could, she would have dly destroyed them a few more


    times.


    "It''s not your fault. They attacked out of nowhere. We should have used the all around appraisal scrolls sooner. I didn''t even think about using the general appraisal skill I gained from using the scrolls. Brother will be angry with me." he did understand his failings, but Midnight huffed a little before nudging him with her head.


    She could care less about him getting yelled at. She only cared that he was safe and sound.


    After taking a little more care in checking his wounds, Midnight took her dragonkin form again. Onyx also returned to his smaller size after drinking a healing potion. They both understood that they couldn''t upy so much space with everything going on right now. It was better to have the room to clean up and help the injured.


    "These are the ancient human ruins. Many statues here show off ancient monsters and have some information carved below. Humans even wrote how they fought or hid from them in some ces. We will be able to help a lot more if we can record it all." Onyx pointed out the researchers who had been working without rest. He was proud to show off their efforts. "Came to help you." She pointed at Onyx and then looked around for anyone that appeared to be struggling. While Midnight did not have healing skills, she knew she had strength and that was enough to move some broken statues or clean up the remains of these ancient stone mimics.


    "I missed you as well Sister. We have been very busytely." Onyx spoke before slithering off toward the injured. He wanted to check on them and see if he could help with anything while


    the healers were rushing about.


    Midnight just smiled a little while she began to move therge bodies of the ancient stone mimics. She was sure that they would be valuable crafting materials for Genesis and research materials as well.


    ----


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2328: 2328. Cloud Farming

    Chapter 2328: 2328. Cloud Farming


    "Another new race to handle too?" This was not something that Scy was ready to handle. She had been working very hard in many ways all unrted to battle right now. Especially since the things that had to be done were rted to gathering materials for the cities and their defenses.


    "This race is traveling with Lady Ventus to be educated before they reach Genesis. There are also angels moving with her who wish to undertake a grand flight to reach Genesis since they are ufortable with the elemental rune teleportation formation." This report had been given to many of the Genesis representatives.


    However, it was still odd to hear. Many people had trusted the elemental rune teleportation formations. They had been amazed by them since they worked so well and had the help of many of the heroes who founded Genesis. Beyond that, they were also proven to work safely over and over.


    But feelings were not logical. If some people who were more sensitive to mana around them were notfortable with the sudden re of manas during teleportation. This was also an issue for the echidna who were very in tune with natural mana as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "If that''s the case, then we have time to provide food for them. We have received a few different notices that the cloud fairies do not consume the same things we do. They can literally make unique crops grow on clouds in the sky. Something the herbalists and farmers are entirely lost on since these are ancient crops." Her sigh was a little longer this time.


    Scy did not want to make this seem as if she did not care. She did feel the stress associated with this though. She felt that the farming aspects of her position as representative of the demi-humans was growing more and more. She was not getting the time to train the soldiers who worked under her.


    It wasn''t imperative that she was the one doing so though. She understood this but that didn''t change her feelings. No matter how many capable assistants or high ss soldiers, or even veterans who had fought for years she put in ce, there was a lingering worry that she would not be there to ensure that certain bad habits were not picked up. Habits that would put them at risk.


    "Call the water mages, the dual water and wind mages, and some of the best farmers. We can get them together and try to make false clouds in the greenhouses yet to be used. If that can be done, we might be able to test some of the seeds sent through the elemental rune teleportation formations to us. If we seed, then the cloud fairies will have a food storage ready for them without worries that they will have a bad first year if crops."


    When it came to food storage, the demi-humans had been way better prepared than all other races. Since they produced the most food, they had always focused on learning how to store that food without needing elemental runes, magic, or anything else. Now that they had ess to all of that, they could store food for years on top of years.


    "You want to speed all of that up?" The question stopped any assistant from speaking to Scy as she stood up in surprise from the cluttered desk she felt chained totely.


    "It would be much better if we could speed this up so I can get back to training the soldiers who will be our moving forces through teleportation to every single kingdom." This was what Scy really wanted to do. She wanted to build the forces who would always be on call to teleport to any kingdom in need.


    Those who would eventually be multiple forces that would teleport to the small magic towers built one day. She had to prepare them to be the best soldiers that Genesis had. The greatest and most efficient joint racial forces that could not be harmed due to their strength. If they could be made unbreakable, then they would be the best defenders of all kingdoms within the alliance.


    "I just got back from a little work here and there, since Ventus took the lead with the cloud fairies and they trusted me to vouch for her, it only took three days to get used to her. The cloud fairies are a little touchy with the dragons but since the dragons in ancient times and their stories are long gone, they were able to ept Current and Ventus rather quickly." "The angels would have allowed me to stay to explore their floating cities if I wanted. But they are handling their own personal issues and I did not want to halt them. Their people are more important than just showing me around." Walker''s casual remarks mentioned multiple big events, but Scy didn''t take the casual tone to heart. She knew very well that Walker was always working on something, if not many somethings.


    "You cane to the greenhouses then. We will make artificial clouds, have runes ced to maintain them. Then we can grow whatever these seeds are." She had ten times the energy that she had just shown. She even grabbed Walker before leaping out the window made for harpies to fly in with mail. Energy was energy.


    This brought him and Scy to the greenhouses she had mentioned sooner than he would have taken if he wandered there normally. Walker was always one to get lost on side tasks while moving around. But that was part of what made him the best hero for Genesis. He didn''t ignore the small plights.


    The greenhouses being built were muchrger. They had to berger to handle the many herbs and crops that could not survive in the territory that Genesis upied. Some would be fitted with elemental runes that created icy environments. Others would be the same as a desert, even filled with sand on the ground. Even more would need smaller monsters to help the nts within survive so they would double as a more farm like environment that tamers assisted with.


    All of this was part of the nned future for Genesis. ces of research and growth for all races. The gathered greenhouse environments would not be anything but amazing to witness for those who came to learn for their own kingdoms.


    Therge greenhouse was already full of waiting water and wind mages. Even a few with dual affinities in those manas so that they could make clouds. They had magic skills that allowed them to make fog and mist which they could also use to condense clouds. It wasn''t impossible and even something a few of them had worked on when they were focusing on potentially making rain clouds for fields too dry at the moment.


    There were a few rune carvers as well. Prepared for whatever they needed to do when it came to the greenhouses. They were already working nearby and just had to move to this


    greenhouse.


    "Sky spinach


    This is a well known vegetable that has survived the test of time. Its descendants eventually stopped traveling on the clouds once the cloud fairies were not controlling its growth. As such, they fell to the ground and gained a slight earth affinity to grow on the ground better. The dual wind and water affinity that they have allows them to take root in clouds while absorbing some light to purify their leaves and turn them white. While they would not be nutritions to most races, to a cloud fairy, one leaf is enough to feed it for the day. This is also why they take longer to grow.


    They are exceptionally delicatepared to the normal green spinach growing..."


    Walker wanted tough. He had barely walked in when he saw the small round white seeds that could grow a nt he was familiar with but not at all. Even the nts that everyone ate today hade from ancient nts like this. He would never expect that the green spinach he saw since he was a child was descendant of the cloud spinach that literally grew on clouds!


    "There''s more here too. White dandelion, clouds cotton, and something called curled daisy. They are all seeds farmed by the cloud fairies." Scy''s knowledge about these nts were just what had been learned by the appraisal scrolls. Nothing that she had seen as of yet. Even the seeds were light and could easily blow away with a single slight gust of wind.


    "I think this might be a little more fun than we thought. It''s crazy to think that these all grow on clouds. I bet that will make the rain from those clouds even better for the fields too, right?" Scy smirked when she realized that she had managed to get Walker hooked. When he became excited like this, good things happened.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2329: 2329. Feeding Clouds

    Chapter 2329: 2329. Feeding Clouds


    "I''m here, but why did you call me out of my alchemyb? These are just greenhouses for food, not even for..." Remey trailed off while she looked at the dense white cloud floating a foot off the ground within the greenhouse. She had no idea why this was here or what was going on.


    "Good! Walker just helped the mages condense this cloud and we are working on how we could possibly provide fertilizer and other important nutrients to it. The clouds in nature would be filled with dust, ash, and whatever else is carried by the winds." The energy that Scy had threw Remey off.


    Normally, Scy was energetic in a way. She would be more focused on a brutal energy though.. Focused on battle and the ways she could fight or watch fights. That was just the essence that came with being a general who fought her way up from the bottom with the guidance of a king who focused on physical strength over all else in their kingdom.


    Right now though, Scy was genuinely interested in what was happening. As Walker had begun to use the water and wind magic to create a cloud, Scy had seen the mages begin to learn more about the manas they had affinities with. Even learning a new magical skill to create a denser cloud cover. One even gained the magic spell to create apletely white fog within arge area around them.


    This enlightenment had been because these mages had a lower understandings of wind and water elemental mana than what Walker did. Therefore, when they felt the ways that he used the water and wind elemental manas together, even the singr wind and singr water mages learned something.


    This was also the ways that some of the more experienced and wiser mages taught. Although, it was not the best way. They couldn''t easily just show off spells and use their understanding to teach. They had to focus on their own growth or had their own tasks.


    This meant that these experiences were far and in between without the right time and luck for a younger mage or a less in tough with mana mage. Meaning again, that Walker had just made these mages grow by a veryrge leap.


    And in Scy''s eyes, this became another way to train the mages that she would not have much insight on training because she was also more focused on using her instinctual mana based skill or physicalbat. Even the leviathans that lived as part of her were not able to utilize magic in a way that mages did, for them, it was part of her and instinctual.


    This meant that Scy could bait some of the more powerful mages focused on studies or vying for the magic tower toe teach the mages who worked with her forces. Expanding the soldiers that she led so that the groups she created would be even more powerful. While her mind was focused on this, Remey was getting the information from Walker. "So if I make a potion that will be easily dissolved in the air, it could feed the entire crop growing on clouds?" Remey''s questions was more for herself since she wasn''t sure she was actually following something that came out so odd. Who nted food on clouds?


    "Exactly. You told me that you and a few of the alchemists had made fog in a bottle along with a healing potion that could be dissolved in to a mist to help heal people with breathing problems. So, why not use the same idea here?"


    The principles were not the same but Remey knew that Walker had remembered that information and used it properly. He was making a lot of sense since it would be a good challenge for her to create a potion for farming that replicated something for healing or even for poisoning an entire area to debuffrge numbers of monsters.


    "I can do it, but the materials will have to be everything you want to see in it. I would say bring that volcanic ash from the volcano you just handled." Besides poison, the ashing from a volcano could be very beneficial. When not condensed inrge amounts the ash held unique nutrients that could greatly help an area grow. It was all about bnce. And since that was amon form of nutrients that could be swept up by the winds, this was a good option.


    "A potion would be better too since you would be able to let it out constantly or at certain intervals. Then you won''t need multiple mages to gather ingredients and make a big show taking longer in each greenhouse more often." The benefits that Remey saw of a potion were simple but could affect the time taken by the ones caring for this ce.


    "I have some materials. I thought grabbing a few things like materials might be useful." Walker began to pull multiple herbs, volcanic ashes, and other random stones to be burned or ground out of his high spatial storage. He was always collecting things and making sure to share them when they were needed.


    "Then just watch." Remey began to light mes in her hands while using all the materials Walker had pulled out of nowhere. She was at a level where all she needed were her highly controlled alchemy mes. She didn''t even need her partner or Ignus to help her with something like this.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Every single person wished they could get to a level of understanding where they didn''t need to even blink to work on something new or something others found incredible. For Remey, making a potion like this was just about thinking a little and then using her mana to make it. Even Scy came out from her own nning and watched her work. It was stunning to watch a potion get made in a wreath of mes barely even held in Remey''s hands. This was alchemy without the usage of a cauldron and purely out of the spectacr fire control that came with Remey''s knowledge.


    ''Cloud dust potion


    This potion is made from various materials rted to natural dusts and minerals carried by the wind. The volcanic ash and desert sands will act as a base for food for cloud farms. Due to ths addition of ground and dried herbs, this potion is able to bond without the use of water at all and only requires the use of weak wind and water mana maniption to spread.


    Using alchemy mes to purify the toxic aspects of...''


    Walker didn''t need to read anything else as he took the ball of dust and used a little wind mana to cause it to spread evenly through the greenhouse. The clouds they had made which were being held in ce by the wind and water runes soon became a dull gray color. Influenced by the potion.


    The mages watched and felt how Walker evenly used the wind mana to spread the potion out. Calling this dust a potion was hard until they felt that he was also using water mana to wet the dust and cause it to mix evenly with the already existing cloud. He was using both manas at the same time with a bnce to finish the potion.


    "Looks good, you know, you could have called some of the young alchemists and challenged them. Then they could have been the ones to start off a whole new alchemy project focusing on this kind of partial potion." This was more Remey joking about since she was happy to be out of the alchemyb and working on the same potions over and over. But she also knew that some groups of younger alchemists would jump at this.


    She stopped talking when she sensed the natural mana leave from Walker and mixed with the cloud. She didn''t realize that the small seeds had already been let to rest in the clouds. Floating perfectly hidden within the cloud while not sinking or floating anywhere.


    Small white sprouts began to grow and the clouds began to look even more fluffy than before. The mages, rune carvers, and mostly Scy were just stunned by what they were seeing. Now they would need to find cloud farmers who would specialize in growing things like this. Something that no one really understood or expected to find right away. However, it was another avenue of unexpected growth within Genesis.


    "And now the cloud fairies will have some food prepared for when they get here in a few weeks with Ventus." Before Walker had even finished, Scy had grabbed his arm. "Now you can help me collect some mages to learn from you. They can be mixed with the squads I am making." she wasn''t letting Walker get away and wander in to another random event just yet.


    ....


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 Chapter 2330: 2330. Better Understand Mana

    Chapter 2330: 2330. Better Understand Mana


    While Remey was left behind, Scy and Walker were heading toward the mage barracks. Within Genesis, everything had been built efficiently and moved around to be well suited for the best flow of use. That was just the advantage of having so many talented builders and other professions. They knew what needed to be done and where things needed to be.


    In this case, when the magic tower came to be, everything rted to mages were being changed. Not just the simple facts that there were barracks for the mages who wished to join the Genesis forces nearby, but also the adventurer''s guild created a barracks for learning and training of magic proficient adventurers.


    This was the same for some public areas that could temporarily house students and private students and teachers. Not everyone fits inside the box of an army or guild that was just life. Regardless, there were plenty of people who Scy knew she could recruit through these


    avenues.


    Walker was already an attractive bait to use when growing her forces to include more mages. But aside from that, she could now offer unique insights on mana that Walker would be handing down right now and would continue to be shared by the mages who were already in her forces. The younger mages that joined would have the chance to learn these and grow within her forces.


    The idea was good but Scy also knew that this was a hard time to recruit forces. Genesis and all kingdoms were focused on development over many other things. Therefore, they were calling many people to arms to ensure safety. And with that came a great deal of benefits to those that signed contracts to work for a certain period of time.


    For Scy, her forces were majorly made up of demi-humans. That was simply because those were the forces she had always controlled and would always follow her. Demi-human forces were some of the most loyal because of the battles they had been through. All of the coliseum fights they went through to train themselves was not just for show, they were proof of their bonds.


    With the additions of other races, Scy''s forces had only grown. However, she now led forces that were for the sake of Gneissi and not purely for the demi-human kingdom. As such, she was sending some of her forces to other kingdoms while maintaining one of thergest grapes on the Genesis army as a whole.


    While some people would believe that this was a bad thing since so many people were loyal to one person, it was clear and very true that these forces understood who and why they were part of the army in general. Their dedication to the people of Genesis vastly outweighed that of one person or of any negative potential for greed or power.


    "Listen closely! I am recruiting more mages for my forces. Squads are needed in the emergency response squads that will be stationed around the elemental rune teleportation formations. They will be leaving to defend whatever kingdoms are at risk at any hour of the day. To assist in making you the elite forces needed, the hero Walker will be hosting a lesson on understanding manas for all of you that join today!"


    The already busy magic tower area and magic training areas were suddenly full of more noise than usual. To them, a special event had just begun. No, this was like a holiday celebration. Compared to the hustle and bustle that came with the forgingpetitions that were recently held to recruit even more promising cksmiths, this was even more chaotic. So many of the promising new mages had just dropped what they were doing to begin their preparations. Even some healers had heard the loud announcement and began to call for their friends.


    Just because it was a different form of magic, didn''t mean that they had to join the cathedral. They could join whatever group they wished.


    "A five year contract with no requirements to remain within my forces afterwards. That''s enough to attract a few hundred mages, don''t you think? They could even take that five years and be good enough to vie for the magic tower''s highest positions? Right?" This was pure confidence from Scy since she knew that this was what many of the mages were thinking.


    While Walker could remember the young boy he believed would be making it to the top of the magic tower and bing its master, that was just his best guess based on pure talent and hard work to understand elemental manas. Nothing said that it was a guarantee. So, it made a lot more sense that these young mages would be working harder than ever to make themselves a candidate. Not to mention the many magic based guilds forming.


    There were elemental guilds wishing to build their own magic towers focusing just on their elemental manas. The joint magic tower guild would just be the bridge between them. A perfect ce for those with multiple affinities or those that wished to maintain bnce and harmony between mages that might butt heads.


    As if nned out, many of Scy''s attendants had brought paperwork over and cleared an entire five training areas to recruit people. Walker wanted to ask if she was nning this in some way, shape, or form before she had realized that He could help others with magic skills enlighten themselves. But he also didn''t feel that it would be worth pushing Scy''s patience right now.


    It barely took an hour to have arge group of mages, and other magic based ss users surrounding thergest center training area. Walker could only be amazed at how many people were looking to further their futures in this way. But he also could sense that some of them had immense talents.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He remembered that he was always fascinated by magic. Hence why he was so focused on the usage of elemental manas and mana in general when it came to what he worked on. Even though he could do anything to some degree, Walker knew that he was able to utilize magic skills that others would struggle to use or would never be able to use. In his mind, using those skills was the best way to fill the gaps where Genesis needed assistance.


    Putting aside his own aspirations and goals, Walker looked at the mages silently waiting to hear what he might say. But Walker had no intention of giving some grand speech or exining things verbally. That wasn''t the best way to understand mana or magic in general.


    "You should all know that magic is something without definition. You can identify a skill or a spell in some way. I know that. You know that. But what happens when you follow what''s said and written? You will wonder why your magic does not work."


    "Magic is about your understanding of your mana afif times. How they work with the world around you and how you can utilize it. You must sense everything and be able to understand what it means to you and the world. That will define your skills and the future of using those magic skills."


    "That being said, you will all be meditating while Drawing condensed manas throughout this area."


    Walker ended his introduction there and began to pull manas in. He wasn''t just going to bring mana through elemental mana maniption. He was going to mix the manas in bnce so that every single understanding of manas that he had would be demonstrated.


    How each elemental mana mixed in bnces. How water and wind could make a cloud. How fire and water could make steam. How earth and wind could make sand. How all of it coulde together in to natural mana which would spur life or death. Even some spatial mana would make everything more abstract.


    The intricate weaving of manas would enhance their senses while allowing for those who had yet toe in contact with these situations could find a feeling, however small, that feeling would allow them a potential for faster growth. Or even better, it would allow them to grasp a key aspect of their own affinities for whatever manas they could feel.


    What Walker had not realized, was that it was more than just a few mages who signed up to work under Scy. There were some who had made their way to the edges of the training areas to sense the manas. Some representatives of Genesis who wanted to understand how strong


    Walker was.


    They didn''t need to know in the sense that they wished to battle him. Instead, it was to put their and those they reported tos'' minds at ease. The times were full of stress and worries. This could ease that weight on their shoulders.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2331: 2331. Changing Healers

    Chapter 2331: 2331. Changing Healers


    "You all understand that being a healer will put you in some of the most dangerous ces you have ever been. You also may be able to maintain a safe ce within a town or city if you choose to heal the elderly or injured. Either way, you will be responsible for life itself."


    The priest giving this speech was standing in front of fifty young healers. They had various elemental affinities, not just light. As Genesis had grown, more healers or sses simr to healers had appeared with various affinities. Some even had dual elemental affinities that worked together with their skills to heal.


    This was an expansion of what the cathedral had originally believed in and founded. The change wasn''t anything that people argued against though. Most of the races were very supportive of this change in everything. Mostly since the church had been freed from the oppressive older values recently.


    As this caused a change in belief, some people felt that the amount of healing would only increase. There were no restraints on who and how healing worked within Genesis. Especially since there were healers that went right in to the forces being sent to every kingdom.


    As this was the case, there was a greater ess to healingpared to before. On top of that, there was a growth in those who came forward to learn the best methods to heal and share their skills with others.


    Within the cathedral, there were those who did not specifically have healing skills too. The nuns were some of the people closely known as healers whocked such magical skills. Instead, they had methods to work with recovery. Bandaging the wounds and applying the right medicines or potions was also part of what they learned.


    When the healers had to decide who to help, it was the nuns and others without the skills to directly use healing magic that guided those healers. Ensured that the ones with the worst injuries were treated.


    And now that the dwarven medicine was being mixed in to the cathedral, these people were also growing in number. It was partially because of Su''s legend as well. She had made it clear that no matter what ss or skills someone had, they were able to appear in any ce of healing as a helping hand which could save many lives.


    "Today you havee to learn something about healing. Whether what you take away is valuable to your skills directly, or will enlighten you otherwise is to be seen. Please allow for Saintess Alice to show you a thing or two."


    Alice had been hard at work with her own trainingtely. She had also been someone that rushed to help the injured when thest battle against the false rats had taken ce. Not to mention someone that had sent arge group of healers to the Sigil continent to move about the smaller viges and help out here and there.


    "Most of you call me by a nickname, the saintess of songs. Today I am holding back my natural ability to make light dance with my voice. I am going to show you an area healing skill simr to multi heal and multi buff." Eleven having the ability to hold back the light from moving as she spoke, Alice was normally quiet. Or at least spoke very little.


    Right now though, she had prepared and trained herself in skills that did not require her to sing. She could have learned these earlier in her life but had been extremely limited due to using her mana when speaking and singing. After gaining the saint title, she had realized that she could more easily use other healing light mana skills.


    Throwing herself in to more studies of light magic healing, Alice had taken a lot of what she already learned while trying to stop the mana from slipping away when she spoke. That high amount of studying proved to be invaluable while she read through the newer books about healing magic in rtion to elemental affinities. Specifically how skills could be mixed.


    One such book had been written by a wandering healer who witnessed Walker use the multi buff skill while also using a multi heal skill at once. They immediately wrote a theory that the light healing skill, rapid heal and double buff could be mixed in to a better version of healing and buffing skill in battle.


    Naturally, Alice had seen this and looked further. She had looked at the higher skills which she felt she could more easily used because her light affinity was so developed. She could just speak the words associated with the spells and the effects would begin to ur. Partially due to her always using mana to influence light but also because her form of light mana maniption was deeply rooted in her intention behind her words. Hence why her songs changed so much.


    "The skill, full buff uses light mana to boost speed, defense, attacks, and effects of healing, and even purifies the body slightly. The skill mana boost allows for a better recovery of mana to the target. The skill light healing wave causes a healing pulse of light around a small area which moderately heals the targets. I mixed those skills over the course of thest two weeks."


    The next moment, Alice raised her hands and arge amount of light mana surged towards her. This was due to her understanding and control of light mana. Something that a lot of healers would forget to focus on.


    A healer would often remain focused on the fact that they had to influence another''s body to allow healing. That would leave their own understanding of how they utilized mana at a loss. As in, they would not be able to draw in mana as well because they would be focussed on the mana interacting within their targets'' body instead. Not a bad thing.


    As the light mana began to form a sphere around her. In a burst, the mana washed over everyone watching and even a few who were there to perform their own duties.


    They all felt the enhancements of the buffs along with the invigorating healing. The additional mana flowing in to their bodies proved to be more amazing than what they had heard. None of them had expected that they would actually begin to recover their mana at a faster rate. Most of them even felt morefortable with their own inner mana. The flow felt smoother than normal.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I call this skill perfect light buff. It is only perfect in my eyes since it touches on every aspect of what needs to be buffed. It also uses a little less mana than separately using all of those buffing and healing skulls at the same time. It also requires me to channel light mana with myself as the center of it all. Meaning that I do not get buffed or healed at all. It can be improved, but for the intentions, it is perfect."


    Alice saw that a lot of the fifty young healers were caught up in the feeling of the skill rather than listening. But she had done what she intended to do. She knew that they would all need to experience this as a whole the first time before they began to learn more about healing or


    buffing.


    If things went as she hoped, then every single one of them would have wide open eyes to the potential abilities they had. The abilities needed to change and alter the buffs or healing that they were giving. The best thing they could do was to research their own skills, learn to control their mana, and then create better skills that would be used for bettering everyone''s


    lives.


    A healer needed to think more than just about healing those in front of them. They had to expand and improve their current ss. What it meant to be a healer had to be changed. They were the same as researchers. Or as mages. They needed to search through their knowledge and improve it as well.


    "The saintess has spent a lot of time creating this skill with knowledge we already have. What else can you do if you put your mind to it? What if you followed me? As a head nun I am limited to what I can do that is not magical in nature. So tell me, can you purify bandages, buff the healing potion, and also enhance the healing effects of the cotton filled with medicine?" The head nun that spoke up continued the lesson as Alice watched with a spark in her eyes. She was living a brilliant future right then and there. She could watch as healers were inspired to be more than what they were right now.


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 Chapter 2332: 2332. No Time To Relax

    Chapter 2332: 2332. No Time To Rx


    ?


    "I am beat." Walker flopped on the chair and looked at the food on the table. He was sure that things would only be busy every day, buttely he felt that things were only increasing. "I wonder if I can make a second me?"


    This joke wasmon with everyone within Genesis, but it also spoke to how useful it would be. Not that he would be doing that at all. Magic to make clones was not what Walker wanted to focus on in his life. There were plenty of other things to take his time up right now.


    The time he spent showing off the ways that he could bring elemental manas together had been both good for him and others. Mostly for others though.


    The mages and other magical ss users who had benefited were young and much lower leveled than he was. Walker didn''t even need to look at his stats or levels anymore. He could sense that his strength was much greater day by day with everything he was doing. Even the quests that would appear were something he wouldplete just by going about his natural actions rather than needing to go out of his way to do them.


    Part of this made him realize that he had more than growing in to the true hero title. Some people would have imagined that they had to work every single day to resist their natural urges or the negative side of their hearts. But for Walker, he acted on it before he even considered doing something else.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This was something he had thought about before. He knew that the titles given through the system of existence were not just there for show. They were able to influence important aspects of the receiver.


    It was clear that it could enhance or alter bloodlines. It could change and influence a ss. It could even change and influence the ways that someone grows overall in the future. So, it was not hard to imagine that the titles were a more in depth part of what made someone them. So for Walker, the titles he had were always ying a part in who he was on a daily basis.


    There were those out there trying to achieve titles now though.


    Something he was not sure whether he should worry about or not. On one hand, the titles that would be achieved could be gained through striving for new and amazing advances within professions or certain aspects of every day life.


    Those who spent years studying how to forge the best sword might be able to gain a title when they forge a sword better than anyone else in the world. Or possibly gain a title rted to only forging swords as a master at making swords specifically.


    Someone could gain a title for being the first to discover an amazing magical or crafting technique or advancement. Making them an expert on it and marking them in the world''s history. Not a bad thing at all for Genesis and the world.


    Where things would get bad though were the times when someone would do something reckless and put others at risk to gain a title.


    An example was that Barry had a title called one man army. He had fought against hordes of monsters by himself in outbreaks to defend viges, towns, and cities. He had gone wild and been a risk to others in the state of berserk he was. However, he had protected others.


    That came as a risk though. Gaining that title was risky since his life was on the line. Also, anyone nearby him had their life at risk too since he was unable to help protect them.


    This wasn''t the only example of titles that were risky to attempt. Some people attempted to get magic titles for creating new spells. Spells that they rained wherever they were. Not always in ces that could handle therge amounts of manas that they were gathering. There had already been some isted incidents of experimenting mages or experimenting alchemists who had tried to hide their personal research in attempts to both discover new things and get titles. As that had happened, new announcements had been posted all around Genesis.


    Part of this thinking was why Walker had made a point to tell all of those who were around when he was showing off manas and how they mixed together with one another, that they should take things slowly. That they should not overextend themselves before they had the proper understanding of the mana they wielded and the spells they were capable of.


    "I could have guessed you would be here in that state. I heard about your little teaching session at the magic tower." Walker was surprised to see his fathering in to the room. He was carrying his own te of food. But he also had the same exhausted expression as Walker did.


    "Having your own rough times I see?"


    "Rough wouldn''t be it. I would say long days. The new batch of guards have their own issues to handle. I am responsible for the walls more than anything, but those walls spread in to all different territories. Some are even in the water now. So the training changes with what shift and what race or ss the new guards have. A lot of changing schedules and putting groups together."


    Walker could tell why his father had that exhausted look now. It was one that came from endless paperwork and then trying to get in front of a rowdy group of young recruits. Anyone would get worn down by that, it was just a matter of time when that would happen.


    "So you managed to escape that for now?" Walkerughed a little when he saw his father sit down and nod. While this wasn''t either of their idea of a vacation, they both thought that having the time to just sit with good food like this was worth it.


    "There you are, Walker. Haven''t you heard about the forest elves yet? They are having some issues with a new section of the forest they found. They think that it might be something dangerous." That Was when all the wind left Walker''s sails. His peace had been stolen away so quickly after it had appeared.


    "I need you to tell me more about that Gil. Oh, Alma is here too. Then I guess we will all need to go to the Genesis building?" Walker gave an apologetic look towards his father. In response, his father gave him a shrug and went to steal Walker''s te to add the food to his own. There was no apologies from father to son when it came to the food Walker''s mother cooked. It was too good.


    Without needing to be told, Walker was already up and moving again. He had plenty of energy. The perks of getting stronger were always showing in the fact that he and others did not need to worry about sleeping and resting as much. While some people would still do so regrly, they didn''t have to be strict with it. It was just a nice benefit to prove the hard work put in to growing stronger.


    While walking, Gil started to speak, "we heardst night that the first reports of an unexplored portion of the forest had been found. It was nothing new since we all know that many areas were expanded in some way or another." Gil tried his best to show that this was partially to be expected with the state of things right now.


    "But then there was something more there. The entire forest changed drastically after walking through an archway with arge amount of mana around it. The reports were verified several times before the elves called for some assistance to block the area off and prepare walls around it. They assume it''s natural space magic or something like the theorized monster nests and dungeons reported."


    This made Walker stop for a half step. He was sure that the ce being called a dungeon was exactly what he expected right now. That it was some naturally urring ce influenced by denser manas, especially spatial man gathering.


    He knew this would happen at some point. However, he also understood that this was not nned by Genesis and their leaders to appear so soon. This was earlier than what they


    predicted.


    "I have a feeling that the flow of mana from the elemental nes is moving faster than what we expected. We already found another naturally urring elemental rune. And now a potential dungeon where the spatial mana might be the cause of a sudden change in area? We need to look more in to this." It was another task on the list. But first things first. They had to go to the elven forest.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2333: 2333. Guiding World

    Chapter 2333: 2333. Guiding World


    ?


    It was more than just Walker who had gotten this news. Unfortunately, the others were unable to drop what they were doing and rush there. But they had also heard another thing which put them at ease about the situation.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The elves were united now and they were gathering rapidly.


    The eleven race had been divided for too long. As such, they had not been there when one another needed help. They had been too bound to their own beliefs when it came to their elemental affinities. Now though, they had a much greater unity.


    The rtionship between them was started by very few but had be held together by many. Some of the elves were grateful to recover their long lost history. Knowledge that other elves had which was lost to certain groups. That alone touched many of them and went to inspire them more than anything else.


    While there had been trouble with some of the elvesing back, particrly the frost elves and their younger generation, most of the elves had fully adapted to the new situations. Even connecting their home viges or cities to Genesis. This was harder for some which were further away, but easier for some who moved to genesis entirely.


    Those who were far away were able to have the elemental teleportation rune formations built though. Allowing them to send forces directly to the forest elves'' home city just in case they were needed. It was also why Walker and the others had not dropped everything to rush there. If the situation got worse, they all knew they could get there very quickly. The forces that would help defend the forest elves if the worst happened were already on their way there. Walker and the others had been focused on meeting within the Genesis building to decide how this would be handled.


    "You have confirmed that this odd location is using spatial magic to create some change in area?" Those who were not otherwise upied hade, some of which being the vampire leader.


    Her reaction was more focused on whether or not this was true. Especially since the world gaining more mana so far had been rted to awakening of ancient monsters. Something that the vampires had been assisting with.


    Since they had the longest history and some of the oldest memories, they could give unique inputs when it came to dealing with ancient monsters. But they had also been trapped for a long time too. Lost some of what they knew and the strength to even use some of that knowledge. Even some of their records had been destroyed since they were not cared for.


    That didn''t mean that they lost everything. They were very knowledgeable about the nocturnal monsters and found a lot of sess in the ruins researchtely. Mostly because they were morefortable in the ruins which they had seen records of or even seen before in some familiar way.


    "So far the elves on location have confirmed the oddity. It is a stone archway, simr to the way that the bridge to the elemental nes looks. It appears to be a different space when looked through but you can walk behind it. Not necessarily a bridge though." Alma spoke up and Walker looked at the report.


    "There is a high amount of water, earth, fire, and light mana. Meaning that the perception that it is a jungle of some form as it appears to be when looked in to is correct. The elves of the first have sharp eyes from focusing on their archery over all else, I trust what they saw." He didn''t doubt it either. He knew this was a possibility.


    ''The world grins as mana flows smoothly and dungeons reawaken.''


    The entire table froze on the spot. It was like their words had been the key to allowing the world tomunicate through the system of existence. "I am leaving for the elemental rune teleportation formation now." this had mostly been theory but had just been proven, how could Walker stand still?


    The flurry of movement was matched by the vampire leader and her guards. The same with Alma and Gil as well. This wasn''t mentioning the goblin representatives who also followed. The others mostly starred back since they were certain that therge amount of forces had already been enough to handle it. Now with all the other groups moving there, it would be handled even faster. They could wait for the report when it was finished.


    Someone had to remain in Genesis anyways too.


    The sudden arrival of the goblin forces and the vampire forces threw the many different elves off. They had not expected that this many forces would suddenly appear with eagerness to assist. It was easier to guess that the goblins would appear since the forest elves had helped them establish their first vige within the elven forest. That had been a kindness the goblins would not forget.


    However, the goblins had been very busy gathering the scattered goblins still suffering from monsters andck of education. They had been working hard to do so and even began to discover goblins in very small viges that had hidden themselves away simr to those who Walker had first met while adventuring.


    While the vampires were heavily covered due to the daytime light being ufortable for them, they still had a strange presence to the elves who had imagined the vampires would remain struggling still. They had bounced back a lot since they had been freed, but their poption was still very low. Meaning that the vampires were forced to abstain from the gatherings of the Genesis forces for their safety.


    Now, this matter has attracted them. It was too interesting to see something that should have developed during ancient times but been halted and even undone. Their ancestors must have seen these dungeons at some point but it was a forgotten history to the vampire race due to their battles against one another and other ancient races.


    The elves who were standing at the ready to guard the teleportation formation did not say a word when they saw the Genesis representatives who had taken the lead with their forces in tow. They could tell they were here for an important reason. Not to mention they saw Alma, Gil, and Walker along with them. They were the three most important figures representing them at times.


    Walker sensed the changes in mana and felt that the report was spot on. He could tell that a dense amount of mana was moving through an area and that the flow was different. It was like the mana was being traded from ce to ce in an odd bnce. Instead of how it would normally flow around in streams, or at least that was how he interpreted it.


    Following this mana, Walker was brought to arge number of elves guarding a vine wall taller than most of the trees. They had cut off this archway just in case there was a risk that something major would ur. Not a bad idea since the vines would be controlled and used to trap any monster that appeared.


    "I can sense the manas reacting oddly. I can also feel that there is space mana in effect here. But since the world responded, I would assume this is very much natural. The world also just announced that this is a dungeon. I don''t even know how we started to call it that in the first pce." Walker felt that the world and existence must have some slight influence on them. Not necessarily a bad thing, more of a foreshadowing for those living within the world so that they could understand things better when they appeared. It was like a parent giving their children hints about how to do something. They let them learn, but it was guided a little.


    The elves made the vines move to allow Walker in and he felt that the first elf queen was also watching through the nts. She must be on her throne, but she was keeping a close eye on the situation. She could make a lot of the nts within the forest move if she were to will it and utilize her mana. She could fight off a very high number of monsters if needed. The stone archway that Walker saw was simple. Gray stones stacked together with moss covering them. However, there was a warm misty breezeing from it and Walker could see a dark green forest with hanging vines through it. Entirely different from the cooler and more rxed environment of the forest all around it.


    But that was the thing, it was different and the spatial mana was allowing this sort of thing to exist. It was natural, that was certain. Yet, it felt different and somewhat dangerous. Not that this stopped the curiosity as Walker used the all around appraisal with high hopes.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2334: 2334. Dungeon Rules

    Chapter 2334: 2334. Dungeon Rules


    ?


    ''All around appraisal failed''


    Walker''s mind went nk.


    Failed? That had never happened. He didn''t believe it was even a possibility.


    ''All around appraisal failed.''


    ''All around appraisal failed.''


    ''All around...''


    ''All around appraisal has seeded. First sessful dungeon has been appraised. The skill, dungeon appraisal is being taken from the dungeon diver ss. The skill dungeon appraisal has been incorporated within the all around appraisal skill.''


    ''Poison jungle dungeon


    This is a spatial phenomenon that is opened when appropriate mana is absorbed by it. Within is a dungeon of limited space reminiscent of another world or an isted area. Various monsters, materials, nts, and other things take shape and form within. While not always open to be entered after the mana within disperses, it does remain. It is possible to be trapped within if too much mana is removed through defeating monsters, taking materials, taking nts... No dungeon is the same and the locations the archways appear are always the same. This dungeon has various poisonous monsters and nts making it very deadly to those without the ability to resist those poisons. Some poisons are even unique to the manna affinity they possess causing alternate forms of damage. Antidotal materials can be found in high quantities due to the unique qualities of this dungeon.


    This dungeon restricts those below level fifty from entering it due to the will of the world and existence.


    This dungeon is unable to be altered and will return to its previous state after it has rested for a certain period of time. All due to the will of the world and existence.


    The dungeons are technically a form of living being created by jedfhal''


    Walker saw the words begin to scramble themselves. When he looked again with another all around appraisal, he felt like someone was holding their hand over his eyes and not allowing him to read anything past a certain point. Most likely the will of the world stopping him from digging in to information he could not handle right now.


    Regardless of that weighing on Walker''s mind, he was able to focus on other things too right now. Specifically, the fact that dungeons were somewhat unique things in the world.


    They had been awakened due to the return of mana flowing properly, meaning that they had once existed but not long enough for any ancient races to recall it.


    They were also somewhat alive in a way. They needed to gather mana to open for people to enter them. They could not be taken from to a certain degree and would close themselves if a line was crossed. Meaning that there were limits to everything. Both a good and a bad thing since dungeons sounded to be very useful.


    In that term, dungeons could also be dangerous. Forget the monsters and other dangers, it was the value that was dangerous.


    While the Genesis alliance was young, Walker still trusted everyone involved within it. They all wanted toe together to grow together. However, it would not be hard for those with these dungeons within their territory to desire the value in them. To want to monopolize those riches for their own growth. Especially if what was inside could help them more than what they could get otherwise.


    Conflicts could also arrive with who would be allowed within dungeons at what times. Especially if some only opened up rarely. That would make these opportunities much more important to each kingdom and potential younger generations in need of rare materials or experiences to grow.


    "These dungeons should have been around in ancient times. Even older than what we have recorded in any history. They are somewhat alive. By that I mean they will open from time to time. They may not always be the same. They are dangerous and restrict those that can enter. This one will not allow those below level fifty to enter since they have no chance at surviving the poisons within."


    "The will of the world and the will of existence are very much part of how these dungeonse to be and how they work. I am unable to see some information. We should study this one carefully with people who can be careful. This dungeon will close causing people to be trapped if too much happens within."


    While Walker spoke loudly to share the information, he had taken out a paper and ink pen from his high spatial storage. He was recording what he had read and his theories. He knew that it would be very helpful to those researching this ce. Especially since it was very clear that there would be sses associated with dungeons in the future.


    When those sses became more popr or frequent in appearance, then the dungeons would be even more important. So many people would have the chance to grow because of them. Not that the fact that those who might perish within could be ignored.


    These ces could also be the base for new cities or even entire kingdoms to form depending on the dungeon. Walker even considered that there could be kingdoms that want to relocate their capital cities because of them. Something that would not be impossible.


    "As we know now, there is no chance of anything leaving the dungeons and attacking us. Meaning that they are a risky chance to gain more. We should consider the benefits while also consider the potential losses."


    This was more important than anything. Walker and all the leaders of Genesis were worried that this was a brand new threat. Another ce full of ancient monsters or ancient dangers that could leap out at them. Cause all they had worked for to be nothing.


    It all appeared that this might be a massive stroke of luck for them though. A potential ce to allow the younger and uing generations the boost they needed to handle the world as


    it changed.


    Plenty of people had realized with the world changing, that those who were weaker would struggle more. They could end up facing threats that they could not even hope to handle.


    Hence why it was important to focus on building and defenses right now. The people were not all equipped to handle the monsters out in the wilderness which was more vast than before. Not that they had the chance to explore all of the wilderness in the first pce. Right now it was just a littlerger than what they had theorized to know.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I heard that there is no threat to anyone living in my first home." Alma clearly had been entirely focused on the dangers that were potentially appearing where she had been born. It was a massive weight off her shoulders that she could let everyone else know that there was nothing here harmful.


    "Don''t say it. Don''t say it. Don''t say it." Gil''s mumbling was ignored as Alma looked even more focused than before.


    "We will explore this. We can go inside and see what the rules may be. It will also allow for a better understanding because we all have the resistance to poisons. Five goblin elite warriors cane, they naturally resist poisons. The vampire guards cane as well, having your almostplete immunity to most poisons will help. Walker can heal and even make some antidotes while storing important materials."


    "Gil, and and I are the leaders of the elves, you areing with us." Alma smiled a little too sweetly while Gil internally cursed the sudden expedition.


    "While we take a few moments to n this, we should begin the search for anyone who has dungeon rted sses. Also, alert Genesis that there is a chance more locations like this will appear. That there are rules to these ces. That we need time to begin discovering everything. My all around appraisal does not entirely work on these dungeons."


    While the guards who had been here since they discovered this pce appeared to be ready to return to their normal duties, they suddenly noticed that they would have to guard this location for longer. It had just be a critical ce for their people.


    The forest elf city had a new and unique ce that would define its future. Even better, it was


    a jungle which was simr to what the forest elves already knew. That gave them arge advantage when exploring and protecting this ce. Not to mention that a few of them would be following Alma, the next elven queen, in to it as well.


    This was the first expedition in to a dungeon. Something that no race remembered from ancient times. That no race may have even had the ability to visit in ancient times. This was history being written/ another event that would be spoken of for many years. That would mark names and events for everyone around the world to see.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2335: 2335. Reason For The Name

    Chapter 2335: 2335. Reason For The Name


    ?


    Alma had arge table brought out which was used as the center for everyone to meet. There were papers showing the forces avable along with the all around appraisal and theories that Walker hade up with. It also had plenty of failed appraisal scrolls which were nothing but pieces of scroll now.


    While she had been trying to n more out before they went in to the dungeon, she was certain that there would be more who wished to explore it sooner rather thanter. "The issue is, we do not know how long it may be open or how the rules of this ce work. What will cross a line and cause it to begin closing?"


    "That''s why we are taking the risk, but we need to find someone with a dungeon rted ss. Walker said it himself, he did not have an all around appraisal right away. And he already showed us his results. They are not in depth in the way we need." Gil''s addition made everyone at the table a little more stressed.


    While they could prepare for other issues rted to the environment, this was the hard spot.


    The soldiers that were going with them would be equipped with whatever they needed. Health, mana, and antidotal potion were already being slipped in to bags and belts. Then they had their weapons, armors, and some food prepared as well. Since they all knew that poison was a theme here, they also prepared other safety measures.


    It was very easy to get some rune sewn cloth to cover faces and make basic water repellent gloves. Adding these to help defend them from any poisons in the air or that might touch their skin was a massive bonus to their safety.


    The safety aspect was only covered in that respect though. Since they did not have a dungeon rted ss user, the chance for what monsters specifically or what nts specifically were within the dungeon presented a greater stressor. Many of the soldiers preparing right now were showing clear signs that they felt that stress too.


    "The more we worry about hunting one of the sses like that down, the slower we will be to actually begin what we need to do." Walker calmly exined that he wanted everyone to mentally take a breath. They had taken some time to prepare right now, and it meant they should be heading in to the dungeon to view what they could at the very least.


    "We are exploring a potential resources for the Genesis alliance. The forest elves will handle it the most since they live here. We will have to do whatever we can to assist them. Right now, we can use the strength we have as much higher leveled representatives. We can make a map. We can get monster appraisals. We can even begin looking in to the kinds of poisons that may be found within the poison jungle dungeon."


    With Walker''s focus being on gathering as much information over anything else that might be possible, it put some of the soldiers with them watching and listening for their orders at ease. They knew very well that with biffs from Walker, they would be able to handle much more in general.


    However, adding in the potions already given to them, the abilities of the other representatives like Gil and Alma, things would be even easier for them. That was also not focusing on the goblins and the vampires who would most likely map out arge area by themselves.


    As time had gone on and the goblins adapted, they were ones to find that they had significant natural abilities in hiding and tracking. It was mostly their small size allowing them to be more agile while moving. In a jungle environment, they could most likely scout things out much better than most people overall.


    The looks around the room also became more serious while everyone realized that they were actually very well set up for this. The vampires present were strong, but two of them could also make potions if needed. They could experiment with the poisons while trying to find n ways to cure them.


    Most people would not expect that this was something easily done, and they would be correct. The vampires were a race that had suffered under their own mistakes. But they had begun to grow themselves again with different intentions than they once had. Right now, these vampires were still somewhat weak. They had knowledge though.


    "We have the forces, let''s move out property." Walker knew that if any mana changes happened, he could easily order everyone to retreat. He also had the different groups holdmunication crystals. They would be able to pull out of the poison jungle dungeon at the slightest hint of true danger.


    The movement of everyone grew as the vines had been removed from the surroundings. The space might be needed if monsters or materials were brought back. There might also be injured who needed it be treated.


    Various elves made of the most of the forces. They had split themselves between the group leaders. The representatives of Genesis. Many wanted to follow Gil and Alma since the two were their highest ranking heroes within theirmunity. But they were ordered to divide themselves evenly since there was a better chance their knowledge would be needed.


    A jungle environment was simr enough to what the forest elves knew. They had also been in the jungles along with some of the other elves having that knowledge as well. "Expect high temperatures. Expect water in the air. Potential rain. Soft ground. Many vines and tripping hazards. Do not keep silent if you smell something odd. If you feel odd, speak quickly to everyone. Be ready!"


    The final warnings were shouted loudly before Walker and everyone else with buffing skills used them on as many people as they could. The longer the buffs to boost their strength and resistance the better. It would keep them from losing their abilities while in a new and risky environment.


    When Walker took the first step forward with Akma and Gil, he felt the sudden change.


    Heat and mist hit him in the face. The archway was allowing manas through but not the feeling of the overall environment. It also did not allow sound toe through either. He could what the small drips of condensed water off of leaves. There were chirps of bird monsters that he couldn''t spot. Even cried of far off monsters.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I wonder howrge this ce is?" Alma''s wonder was simply due to the vastness in the nts she could sense. While it wasn''t naked she knew that they spread over arge area, it was because she could sense that they were all living together and sharing nutrients.


    For Alma, sensing the nts around her was normal. She could grow them rapidly and even make certain qualities they possessed stronger. Even the nts growing naturally around and some small connection to her even if she could not make them grow or change entirely. She could use her mana to get some information.


    Using these skills, she could sense that every nt around worked with another. It was a perfectly crafted environment working together with one another. All allowing for them to growrger and stronger. And most likely, the reason that poisons could develop so well.


    "Large yellow flowers ahead. They have a lot of pollen around them too." Gil was already focused on risks while he knew that Alma would be sensing for danger son her own side of


    things.


    "Pollen cloud trumpets. They disperse arge amount of pollen to kill any nts trying to grow up their stems. They are not dangerous to us but the pollen will make your fingers and toes numb if you touch them too much. We can collect some and research it." Walker''s appraisal was more than just that, he didn''t want to share it all right away though.


    There was so much to use his all around appraisal on right now. So many of them were able to cause danger to them but some of the pants looked fine. The colors were bright which made him even more on edge. Knowing that the vibrant colors could be more poisonous nts he had yet to understand was what caught Walker. That was until he began to realize that there was a slight breeze moving now.


    Another Potential issue if the pollen that flowers spread here was poisonous. The poison jungle would have had the name for a good reason. Whoever, it was even more clear to Walker that this reason was going to be after them constantly. A few of the more attuned mages already began to realize that some of the nts nearby were specifically affecting their usage of manas.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2336: 2336. Challenge Of Will

    Chapter 2336: 2336. Challenge Of Will


    ?


    "We will all keep our faces covered with the rune sewn masks. Not a single moment will any of you take them off. The runes use wind mana and light mana to purify poisons." it is not a guarantee, but here, you will need it." Alma made sure that every single group that entered heard this. Especially the elves from other viges who were not used to dealing with the forest or jungle environments like this.


    Some of the frost elves looked like they were not happy being ordered around like that, but when the dark elves and the earth elves started to carefully check their cloth masks and keep them fixed beneath their armor, the looks of unhappiness disappeared. They realized this was much riskier than they had been allowing himself to ept right away.


    Walker on the other hand, had begun to make more and more all around appraisals. He had a group of several mages looking at what Walker had them write down.


    "Those red flowers are simr to the redce flow, but instead of having ace like pattern, they curl up like horns. They are called crimson horn flowers. Each petal can kill someone at level a hundred if they consumed it without any poison resistance. But in the appraisal it says that it can be used to make medicine..."


    This rambling on about appraisals of flowers was heard by the others, however, Alma and Gil were directing the groups. "You said you would be leading the fifth group?" Alma looked over the goblin with light chain mail covering his body. The tough leather shirt over it also appeared to be perfect for resisting the sharp thorns within the jungle environment.


    "I will lead a scouting group to discover more danger. One hundred appraisal scrolls were given to us. We can gather a lot of information." The response was abrupt, however, this was one of the goblin soldiers representing the goblins as a race. He had a high level of knowledge but was not much for conversation.


    "Then we will not hold you up. The vampires are heading away as well. They have already made a decision on where they will go. They are mapping out from the left hand side of the archway in a straight line. An attempt to find the edge of a dungeon if that is possible."


    Having someone working on the size this ce may have was important to have. Point nk, if this ce was toorge to even map out for people of their level, then they would have to make it a lot more strict on who coulde here.


    That wasn''t to make it harder on anyone, but to make it safer. If this poison jungle dungeon was toorge, then it could be a hole that people vanished in to. Explorers could walk in and neve be seen again. Not because of the dangers, but simply by getting lost.


    Hence why a map and a way to differentiate areas was also important. Walker had received the information that this dungeon would return to how it was after closing and absorbing manas for some time. That means signs or marking were impossible. But that also meant a map, once made, would be perfect forever.


    Otherwise, there would be those who became experienced with the jungle within this dungeon. They would recall important locations based on the map and their experiences. Therefore, they would be able to lead those who paid them to whatever was needed.


    This would be especially valuable when hunting certain monsters or procuring certain herbs. That was if there were not also other materials here like ores, elemental mana crystals, or even gems of sorts.


    "We should worry about whatever is making these tracks. They are snakes for sure, but they look like they are alsorge enough to attack us easily." Gil was standing on a patch of smaller nts. They looked like they had grown apart, but when Gil pointed out the way the ground was partially scuffed, it proved that something had slithered through here.


    "The appraisal scrolls will be saved for other things. The tracks are older too so we won''t get much information." Gil waved off a few people who spent the time just looking at the tracks. Compared to Gil, they were not as experienced with scouting, instead, they were more focused on the archery aspect.


    Gil would not allow just any archers toe with him. He had found some of the best elven archers and even a few from other races with exceptional talent. As they had some scouting talents due to their skills, they did not ignore learning them well. However, Gil had seen their rapid archery development.


    He had specifically made some of them arrows for special asions too. That being the case, he had taken the time to see their skills. And it was why he did not react when he saw one of them pulling their bowstring taught with an arrow pointed near him.


    The twang that followed and the small chirp did not scare Gil at all as he waved for Walker toe over and look at the small green bird pinned to the tree.


    ''Rotting nectar hummingbird


    This humming bird feeds on flowers which only blossom after something dies over them. The rotting crocus is very poisonous due to the things that it feeds on while growing and


    blooming over the course of a week. The nectar is the only thing that the rotting nectar hummingbird consumed.


    The only downside is that it causes the rotting nectar hummingbird to go wild with territorial anger. It is small but its beak is exceptionally sharp. It will often carry some rotting nectar in its beak and leave it in the wounds of its prey. Effectively poisoning them.


    Its feathers are extremely resistant to water. While very few of them are on its body, they are very useful for creating very fine workmanship in water proofing...''N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Walker shared this and the rest of the all around appraisal. He was impressed that the arrow had pierced the neck of the small monster and even stabbed it in to a tree. The feathers were barely damaged. Meaning that it could be used still without any issues.


    "Thank you for your assistance. I saw it leave a few green leaves and move toward Hero Gil. I did not wish to ruin the materials you may need so much." The apology just proved to Gil he made the right choice. The skill and choice of arrow had been perfect.


    "You used a blunt arrow to keep the blood from ruining the feathers. It also trapped it against the tree if it had not died. Great shot. You managed to spot a monster able to hide in the green dense leaves easily. Now we can be on better lookout for simr monsters." As he said this, Gil moved and fired three arrows in to the treetops.


    Three more rotting nectar hummingbirds fell to the ground. The three arrows fired had been blunt tip arrows that knocked them out of the sky and to the ground killing them easily. "We may be able to do this for now, but there might be some tougher monsters ahead." He saw the archer nod. They would not always hold themselves back. They were a dangerous force.


    "Some of the monsters here don''t even use their own poison. We should watch out for cooperating monsters or monsters that use nts against us." Walker understood that the poison jungle dungeon was part of the will of the world and existence. It had its rules and was basically a living thing that prepared materials to be used by others. Hence, Walker could feel this was to encourage growth in the races.


    Potentially something created to allow for a type of training beyond the average. Able to teach mentality and physicality. Both strengthening those who underwent a trial here. Making them able to survive even better. Like the world was the perfect base for them to grow before exploring the more dangerous elemental nes.


    He calmly exined this theory and feeling to Gil who immediately nodded his head. The two of them would be focusing on dungeons a lot more after this. Both could see how this theory could be correct. They had been to the elemental nes and felt that they were not strong enough to survive there. They had barely scratched the surface of dangers when it came to the elemental nes.


    "We need to begin moving. Keep in contact using themunication crystals. Avoid anything that stands out. Use appraisal scrolls. And return here in five hours!" Walker gave the orders before Alma and Gil repeated it to the other groups. He was not taking charge of every group. His group was the smallest as he watched Gil and Alma lead their own away.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2337: 2337. Cycle Of Poisons

    Chapter 2337: 2337. Cycle Of Poisons


    ?


    Gil''s group of archers were working well with him. They were scouting out different monster tracks. Surprisingly, they were also finding incense monster tracks. The surprising part wasn''t because they were finding them, it was the size of them that surprised their group.


    "I would think that these are a monster pack and not one monster. But the tracks are too close together. They tell us that this is onerge monster with a few hundred legs." Gil''s conclusion of the small round footprints was easy to follow.


    There were giant millipedes and even venomous centipedes in some of the forest territories that the forest elves lived in. They had seen simr tracks, well, simr because they were not thisrge but the same shapes.


    The idea that there was a massive poisonous version of the venomous centipedes that they might need to fight did not put a single one of them at ease. However, it readied the question, was this jungle full of manyrger monsters? Or was it just that they were happening upon the most evident tracks because they wererger and affected the environment more?


    Watch your step, those are mushrooms. Well, they look like they are mushrooms." One of the experienced elves stopped everyone from stepping on a brown looking ball of mushroom. They blended in with the roots on the ground and the mud. They were definitely not good to touch through.


    Around them were little insect monsters. They had turned the same color brown as the mushroom balls leaving nothing but their shapes to differentiate what they were.


    "The appraisal scroll said they are spore mine mushrooms. They release spores when touched that will cause suffocation. They also will dye your skin the same color attempting to leave the spores attached to grow. They need the nutrients from dead monsters to help enrich the soil around them."


    "So they are always a pain wherever they go. We can''t even touch them." Gil was sure that some benefits coulde from these mushrooms, but he didn''t feel like experimenting. He documented what they found and was sure it would be good information for the others. He just had to get the nagging feeling that there was more in the trees above them out of his head.


    "Do not climb those trees." Gil stopped one of the demi-human archers from starting to climb the tree. He had a monkey monster trait of some sort which made climbing easier for him. Yet, every other elf had avoided their natural habits of taking to the trees while scouting and keeping an eye on the ground from above.


    The elves were natural archers by birth. They almost all had some sort of skill when it came to this. But they were also born in different ces, therefore, the forest elves in particr had incredible skill when it came to running through the trees and climbing them. They could even move in to some of the smallest branches to take a step that most people would have failed to take.


    Right now, their instincts said that they should not hea in to the treetops at all. They had yet to say it out loud, but inside their minds, the very back of their minds, they felt it. The whisper that the trees tops were not safe. That they would be at a disadvantage.


    The other elves had picked up on this and acted ordingly. "We already know that there are small bird monsters hiding up there. And if theserger monsters are on the jungle floor, there are most likely things hunting them from the treetops. Or, they are climbing those trees since we can''t find any evidence that they are somehow living in the mud or elsewhere on the ground."


    Gil made it very clear that they would be facing many dangers if they were to move in to the treetops. However, he also wondered if they could even get up there. The trees appeared to be aplicated maze of vines and branches. Much moreplicated than the forest elves made their homes.


    The poison jungle had no organization. It was nature growing wildly without any guidance. It moved where it could. Sprouted where the sun fell. And most of all, it did not stop growing no matter what. "This ce might be even more perfect for Alma than I thought before."


    While Gil was thinking about this, Alma had already realized the amazing aspects of this ce.


    The poison jungle dungeon was ideal for her. She specifically gathered and bred the poisonous nts she used to fight. She even carried their seeds everywhere so that she could let them absorb her mana. That way they could grow rapidly without any hesitation when she needed them.


    Some of the notable nts she had altered after they were discovered and brought to Genesis were even sought after by alchemists and healers. The numbing thistle was a nt that would normally be a small flowery bush before bing sharper after developing seeds. However, Alma had changed it slightly.


    With the effort of multiple generations, Alma had made the numbing sap it had even stronger, she had also crossed it with a vine called a spring tailed vine known for the round shape that caused its seeds to be sprung forward to grow a distance away. The two had be a new nt she called the spring thorn.


    This took the thistles that were tough and sharp as needles which delivered the numbing sap and gave it a method to propel itself. Causing the slightly longer ranged attack or a trap like attack which could be grown with just a few drops of seeds here and there. Alma was just getting started though.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Look at this vine, the appraisal scroll says it is called strangling vine since it can grow tightly around tree trunks over the years and strangle it to death to steal its nutrients. But what if I took the reliance it has and mix it with something else?" She was already trying to improve the vines and whatever else she could find.


    So many poisonous nts would be valuable for her experiments. She would also be able toe to the alchemy guild to have them multiplied and tested. The herbalists and the alchemists might be able to help make unique antidotes of medicines with them. Further enhancing the goals she had when cross breeding these nts together.


    "Lady Alma, we have movement over behind the nextrge tree." One of the elite elf archers had stopped and prepared an arrow. She was looking at arge mossy tree with many small bright green vines growing out of it. Whatever the vines were, they were parasitic towards therge tree. Not that this was the issue here.


    As they all watched, arge padded limb moved across the tree truck. It was somewhat simr to a frog, but on this body were the warts that a toad would have. It also appeared to shift its body color with the moss and the brown of the bark on the tree. The very same way that a chameleon would.


    "The appraisal scroll says that this is a devil toad. It hides using light mana to manipte the color of its skin in the shadows of the jungle leaves. But it also gathers the poisons of other nts within its mouth. Then secretes them as a potent venom processed within its body. Every single limp is hiding a sharp hire that can pierce whatever touches it."


    The devil toad froze as it eyes the group before slowly moving up the tree trunk. Clearly it was not hunting them. It was also not afraid that it would be attacked since it had its own defense mechanisms. "And what of the little green vines it was eating?"


    "Those are not vines. They are called leaf leeches. They are a monster that copies the color of young vines and leaves to blend in while sucking at the sap of a tree. When the temperature gets too hot they will drop down in to puddles of Mudd to hide. When cool enough, they will harm the trees. That is why some trees have so many round holes." The elite elf archers reporting this were also recording it forter.


    Alma kept on like this, finding unique aspects and using appraisal scrolls at an astonishing speed. She was d to find so much, but she also realized that there were marks on some of the nts. They had been eaten here and there by monsters. Meaning that many monsters used these nts as part of their poisons and food.


    Her mind lingered a little on the others before she began gathering the seeds of a tree nearby. They were bright red seeds which might have some interesting uses when she studied them.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2338: 2338. Many Monsters

    Chapter 2338: 2338. Many Monsters


    ?


    Looking up at the trees, Walker had already spotted many monsters. Even the monsters that most people would never make out due to the camouge that they had, his eyes had spotted. This wasn''t just the skills he had learned from Gil while learning archery or his all around appraisal. It was the mana he could feel.


    The mana flowing around him was dense and clear. He could feel the flow of it everywhere moving to ensure that this unique environment remained. But that was not all, besides the elemental manas, there were the other manas.


    Life mana wa surprisingly dense here. Walker could feel it deep in the ground beneath. This was why the poison jungle was able to have such lush greenery. The massive trees would require at least fifteen of him to circle around while holding hands.


    While he already had some knowledge that the dungeons were alive, this made it very clear that this was the case. Not necessarily in the same way that an elemental spirit was alive, this entire ce had dense manas which focused themselves on keeping it functional.


    The dungeon could return to the way it was when it had full levels of mana. Therefore, it could be able to bounce back when it came to losing parts of itself. It was like a turtle that could not have its shell broken. But its shell in this case was the space mana that Walker could also sense.


    He was feeling that the air even had ayer of space mana. He could not use space mana at all within the dungeon because he would interfere with it. Therefore, this ce became much more dangerous.


    The space mana that Walker had understood was valuable to him. It allowed him the ability to understand his positioning wherever he was. Allowing for his mana sense to grow exponentially while he understood space mana. Because even other manas took up some space when condensed. They all worked in turn with space mana, even at unseen levels Walker had yet to even scratch.


    Even more, space mana had be a trump card for Walker. If he faced a danger that he was uncertain of, he could use his control of space mana to teleport. At the very least, he could use space mana with wind mana and move at incredible speeds to escape.


    Within a dungeon, he could not.


    While it might not be every single dungeon, this one he was unable to use space mana at all because if he did, the dungeon would be harmed in some way, shape, or form. Just trying to get a sense of it, Walker could feel that there was a force stopping him. Warning him that there would be repercussions of him so much as began to take ahold of some space mana.


    Besides this, he could follow the flow of life mana. He could sense that it was moving in tandem with everything. The herbs he spotted were all higher quality than some of their counterparts that Genesis was growing. Further proving that a dungeon was an extremely valuable ce.


    It had the ability to nurture herbs, not only at a better level, but at an ideal levelpared to outside of the dungeon. This was most likely because of the ways that it drew in mana, condensed it, and then distributed it.


    All of this was assuming the dungeons that they encountered were like this one. One that remained the same everywhere that they went within it.


    "We have an urgent report from the vampire scouting group." One of the goblins who hade with Walker had a written report already. They had written word for word what the vampires had said.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Upon scouting ahead with familiar bats, we have learned there is a defined area we are deterred from. A mist gathers in that area. If we approach, we are turned around and return to where we started. We believe that the area can not expand too much further after this. It is unknown."


    "We have found a nest of purple web spiders. They are extremely venomous. Their webs are poisonous. We will record more information about them before we retreat with several eggs to be examined by the tamer''s guild. The appraisals on the eggs state that they are not bound by thews of existence within the dungeon until their life is sparked by the world. We wish to hear from the hero Walker about this."


    "Thank you. That will be all for now. I also have a few things for you to record while you are here." Walker pointed upwards, above them were several pairs of small yellow eyes watching them. "Poison gaze creature. They are fakes to say the least. Monsters that fake the look of eyes and follow movement with them. They actually follow your mana if you release it. If they have a chance, they will rain an acidic poison on to you before dropping those yellow eyeball looking seeds from their vines. Those are actually like little eggs."


    "They can not be brought from the dungeon since they are always birthed here. It does say that they are a monster lost to time, meaning potentially ancient. They have absolutely no usage in crafting or alchemy. But, they are considered ideal guards for vaults because they will always attack unless they are trained while they grow in a specific way. Tamers may be able to use them if we discover them elsewhere."


    Walker raised a hand and a wall of earth covered them as a yellow acidic poison dripped down on them. The monster had reacted to their mana when Walker had stopped hiding everyone from it. But no one was focused on the fact that Walker defended them. They were terrified by the appearance of the poison gazed creature. A monster they would surely never wish to see again.


    "Besides it, on that tree, is a venom feather sparrow. It can shoot its feathers with a p of its wings simr to a porcupine monster. The feathers are filled with a chick venom which will cause your bones to be brittle. It is ideal to use the venom in the feathers to create a bone based fertilizer for nts found within the undead ruins or the ruins of the immortal race cities."


    Walker had read the appraisal of this monster. He realized that this ce might have been connected when the immortal chasing race was around. Not that they would have used it, but maybe because this monster itself had been around. That made more sense. Especially since the appraisal mentioned the undead rted nts cultivated by the immortal chasing race. That aside, Walker did not want to linger on the immortal chasing race and how old they really had been. Instead, he was focusing on the evidence of arger monster.


    He had received a warning thatrge monsters might be on the ground to hunt. More so, they would be in the treetops remaining hidden. That every elf did not wish to travel in to the treetops. Even Gil had felt some apprehension to head in to the trees and chose not to.


    Walker, on the other hand, was not so afraid. He actually felt more curiosity now than before. Simply put, he could sense the manas of many moving things in the tree canopies. They were all monsters. He knew very well that they were more than the one he had just described and would write a better appraisal forter.


    The monsters that he could sense were not still because they were hiding from anything. They were still because they were ambush hunters. Every single monster that was notrge was an ambush hunter here. Or, it hid because there was one of thoserger monsters here waiting for them to mess up. So it could eat them.


    "That is something we have seen before. Well, not that you would recognize it. I mean my party saw one. But this one is muchrger and the all around appraisal is different. I would assume because it might have the best diet and best possible mana flow because of the poison jungle dungeon. It also has the ability to make venom and poisons in its body."


    The way that Walker was just talking while looking off in to the dense green ahead of them put all of the soldiers with him on edge. They did not know what he was seeing until another used an appraisal scroll and froze in ce. "It''s fine, this one we can''t run away from. We have to fight it. Well, I will fight it. It''s about to strike anyways."


    The calmness in Walker''s voice made them feel even more stressed out.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2339: 2339. Group Efforts

    Chapter 2339: 2339. Group Efforts


    ?


    ''Twisting vine serpent


    The bloodline of this vine serpent has changed through various processes while living in a venom and poison steeped environment. As this was the case, it developed better abilities to consume and camouge with the jungle itself. Its body had ayer of dense bark acting as scales which are extremely tough to break through.


    With its toughness defenses, the body is able to grow muchrger and resist the many other monsters capable of delivering poisons or venoms through touch or other means of attack. This has allowed for it to also resist the many nts which it would normally have been poisoned by.


    Due to ingesting the many poisonous and venomous monsters and nts, the twisting vince snake grows to have arge amount of poison within its blood. Just touching it will cause severe damage to the skin and potentially death. Its fangs are coated in a thinyer of venom that it only made stronger the longer that the twisting vine serpent lives.


    Many people would believe that the twisting vine serpent is a coiled up or twisted pile of vines. It does this to attract prey due to therge size that it can reach. Due to this, its body has immense value. Both as a mix of poisonous materials for antidotes, but also for poison resistance materials in crafting. Itsrge size allows for more materials than most monsters...''


    Walker didn''t have a chance to focus on the next half of the all around appraisal. He knew that there was a simple fact that exined why they could not ignore this monster. Simply put, it was both territorial and generally hated having other monsters anywhere nearby it. Best exin that it didn''t like groups because it was a solitary monsters would not help anyone right now.


    The twisting vine serpent had already struck out with a dense tail that broke through all the greenery in front of it.


    The earth mages had no hesitation. They mmed their magical staffs down on the ground to call a wall of earth. But the ground was too wet. Instead of a dense wall of earth, they had a soft wall of mud.


    Sensing this issue, Walker reacted and began to solidify the wall. His focus was also on the fact that the body of the serpent was still moving towards them even with its main attack being with its tail. The tail might not be the most dangerous, but it broke the defensive earth wall condensed by Walker right away.


    Three shield carrying soldiers blocked for the earth mages. The nk of their metal shields was loud enough to tell Walker that their shields had just been dented. A very impressive effect caused by the twisting vine serpent. The serpent''s bark like scales had much more weight to them. In turn, this caused the hit to be much stronger than what many people would have expected it capable of from a longer distance away.


    Walker channeled the water from the air and created a sudden st of cold air. The cold air immediately reacted with the warmth of the poison jungle air causing a white mist to block the vision of the twisting vine serpent. He knew that he had to keep his forces organized to defend from the harsh hits of thisrger monster.


    The size allowed it to attack multiple of them without even needing to try harder to make those attacks hit. That was just the benefit of beingrger. However, Walker was able to sense the manas within its body and how it moved. The frosty mist had shocked it since the twisting vine serpent had never encountered the cold.


    He also noticed a few nts which had immediately wilted. Some of them had even dropped leaves right away. This entire jungle had been held at a constant temperature. Was a constant state where the monsters and nts within could survive easily. They did not have to deal with the effects of the cold or of longer months where snow and ice built up.


    "Water mages, prepare to condense the water mana. I am going to make your water mana in to a wave of frost. Then we will use it to create ice spikes." There was easily enough mana for Walker to make this happen by himself. But that would have been pointless.


    If he did this.. He would waste all the effort and time that came with teaming up with one another. He and the others were fighting together, not just letting Walker act as a body guard. They needed to experience this since the party would not be able to lead them at all times. The representatives of Genesis were not able to always stand in front of them to lead these dungeon explorations.


    What if the party or the representatives did nothing next time? Would every single soldier be lost? Or would they have a terrifying experience while yielding almost no result whatsoever? The odds that they would be able to rely on just their training alone to fight this sudden monster would be slim to none. They had to follow the lead of someone with experience fighting suddenrge monsters like this. They would then pass that knowledge down.


    The resonating water manas allowed for Walker to easily take ahold of it. His focus was on the same level as the water mages. They had immediately acted because they heard the confidence and reassurance in Walker''s voice. Their trust was exactly what Walker wanted to


    see.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They all pulled water mana from the air and condensed it. Causing water to begin to form around like a slightly warm rain. This was their training in action. They could work alone or in a group like this. The event when Genesis had freed the vampires while working together with many to create a forest was enough evidence that working together could cause amazing things.


    This inspired many joint trainings that had led to this moment. Entire adventurer groups of mages even worked together now. They would gather manas while the one with the best control would shape it in to brutal attacks or powerful spells that could clear thend.


    Right now though, Walker used his skills to shape the water mana in to a ave of deeply cold frost. Leaves froze in a st of cold while the twisting vine serpent was thrust into a shocking experience it had never felt before.


    ''The skill tundra wave has been taken from the tundra builder ss. The skill tundra wave has been automatically learned.


    Tundra wave- inner mana for maniption required based on the amount of outer water mana manipted.


    Often a skill used within a group of tundra builders, this skill utilizes the naturally high water mana to create a nearby blizzard st of cold air. This forces the water mana in the air and whatever is hit to freeze even more of the surroundings. This then allows for frost and dense ice to begin forming. The air bes so cold that even the tougher defenses of earth monsters begin to break down.


    Therger the water mana controlled, the more mana is needed to use this spell. The ice left behind will be highly resistant to the immediate heat of the sun and even cause nearby water


    sources to begin to freeze...''


    Feeling the information of yet another skill enter his mind, Walker made note to consider what a tundra builder waster. Right now, he looked at the twisting vine serpent which had been hit by the tundra st. Its thick bark scales were cracking and even iling off. Clear it was in a lot of pain. But it had also been massively slowed down. So much so that it was partially frozen to the ground.


    This was not even mentioning the damage to the jungle around them. The tundra st was carving out arge area of green which was now frozen in to what could only be a strange winter wondend. No jungle froze like this. It was not normal. It had a unique beauty


    though.


    The melee ss user soldiers rushed in. Their spear, sword, and dagger strikes caused the twisting vine serpent to crumble. Literally and metaphorically. In just a few minutes, therge monster which had easily broken their defenses left the world and its body behind. "You all just saw how we should cooperate in an instant. You also saw that this environment is not as advantageous for earth mages. You will need to partner with the water mages. For now. We will search the frozen area for usable materials. Some small monsters were frozen too."


    With Walker pushing them onwards, the soldiers with him did not flinch or step back in fear. They drank small healing potions and kept to their duties. They had a lot more to explore here.


    ----


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 Chapter 2340: 2340. Brutal Poisons

    Chapter 2340: 2340. Brutal Poisons


    ?


    ''Spore worm


    This is a very small monster that lives in mushrooms, funguses, and even rotting woods. It has a very high amount of condensed poison depending on what it has eaten, meaning that touching it can cause death due to whatever it has eaten.


    It is called a spore worm because it carries the spore of what it has eaten all over its body due to the mucus it secretes. This allows for that spore to take hold somewhere else and grow. This worm can be responsible for entire species of mushrooms, molds, and even some smaller monsters growing at all.


    They will often grow to the size of a toothpick, by that time, they will then shed their skin and grow wings to fly in to the air andy their eggs where the rain will fall first within the jungle...''


    This was just one of the many monsters that he had found. He was seeing how the poison jungle dungeon worked. There was a flow to the way nature happened here. So many monsters were small like this to hide away. They were responsible for making sure the dungeon grew.


    While this dungeon was one that would return to what it was when it was entered. So, how did that happen?


    Walker knew that the mana would gather and feed the dungeon. It was alive in some way. He could not fully grasp how that worked but it was a surety that he did not have the strength or understanding of the world, mana, or existence to do that.


    Therefore, he was left trying to see how it might happen. So scratch the surface.


    Monsters like the spore worm would be ideal for returning the mushrooms and fungus that were growing all over. They would also multiply and be food forrger monsters. An ideal method for the dungeon to grow. Beyond that, then they would grow wings andy eggs in the treetops. Allowing for other monsters to prey on themter in the lifespan.


    This was a small portion of what he learned. He was currently looking at a bright purple and red mantis. He had seen variations of the mantis, an emerald mantis, steel mantis, and even read about an undead known as a bone skin mantis. Not to mention a few other versions he had fought or heard through the taming guild.


    ''Brilliant mantis


    This mantis has vibrant colors so it can hide in the poisonous flowers of the jungle. It will perfectly match the dueling flow, a species of bush which grows purple and red flows which will attempt to wrap and kill each other as they grow. This is due to their need for light mana as they grow higher and absorb it with theirrge leaves and petals.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    As the brilliant mantis hunts, it will rub the two poisons on to its sharpened arms. The dueling flower''s pistons can both cause sleepiness and also confusion. The dual effects of this will make a lot of prey that the brilliant mantis face fall to it as food.


    It is known to hoard its food beneath the dueling flower bush. Causing what it does not eat to be nutrients for it. Normally, this means that many brilliant mantis will live together in a nest...''


    Walker was sure that this was one of the more unique monsters he would face. Especially since he would not be able to find one that was not poisonous or venomous within the jungle. This entire ce was known for poisons. Yet, this monster used them without developing its own. When he looked further in to the flowers that were growing next to the brilliant mantis, he noticed that they also had eggs stuck to the woody parts of the nt. Proof that the brilliant mantis was doing more than just waiting for food. It was guarding its young that would hatch at some point.


    "Are we going to attack it?" One of the elf wind archers had an idea that they would be outmatched in speed against a monster that confused and caused sleep when scratching them came to battle.


    "No, we are leaving it alone. It will not leave its nest right there. It can be used for crafting, but we will not be able to make a proper antidote for the dueling flower poisons. We need the flowers and there is a young bush just over there that will be fine for us to harvest. We can even take the whole dueling flower bush because it is young and has resilience."


    The n to avoid this situation was the right one. If they fought the brilliant mantis, more would surelye. They were in the bushes hiding already. Why would one be there and no other? "We need to move away from this area." The sudden interruption from another elf was making things unsettling for the group. They had no idea why he had stopped them suddenly.


    His focus was on the trees above them though.


    ''Howler wolf


    This monster used to be a species of wolf monster that hunted on the forest floor. When it became part of the poison jungle dungeon, it slowly began to grow in line with the poison jungle dungeon as it needed to survive. Over the years, it became a new type of monster capable of running through the trees of the jungle and consuming vast amounts of poisons. Its poison resistance is second to none.


    The blood they have is exceptionally toxic unless processed to be able to be used as a very potent antidote for any poisons and many venoms.


    They hunt in packs and their eight legs allow for them to hold on to the trees and vines while they sh at their enemies with poison coated ws. They are vicious and territorial. As they use scents to track their prey, they will spend weeks hunting them if need be.


    "They will be...''


    That wasl Walker needed to see before he had gathered a ball of mes in his hand. He knew that this monster had been the only one from what he could sense. Most likely, it was a scout for the pack of howler wolves.


    They would find them if they allowed it to have their scent. So, they had to burn this enemy right now. Make sure that the area smelled like acrid smoke. No normal monster would be able to handle something with that strong of a scent. Normally, they would find that the smell was too much while they rushed away from the bad smell overall.


    "Stand back and prepare to take this one down. It might howl, but it is a scoutpared to the whole pack." Walker saw multiple wind arrows notched to help. The arrows would carry his fireball much better since they would strengthen it.


    The fireball was released as the arrows flew. The boost of their wind attribute mana causes the fire ball to be a much brighter yellow. It also caused the howler elf to fall from the vines that it had been holding on to. Even with eight legs to hold on to the trees, burning them was a perfect way to make it fall. Even a hundred legs might not work for it.


    As it fell, it tried to howl or sniff, but the arrows were not done. The archers were prepared and they were not beginners. Several arrows had pierced its body making it bleed its toxic blood


    on the ground.


    The only issue was that there was a screeching sound now. Not one from the brilliant mantis nearby though. Walker thought that he would have to handle the brilliant mantis if it thought


    they were a threat to its nest.


    ''Devil centipede


    This is the apex predator of the poison jungle. It consumes all potions and creates a brutal venom that can even dissolve prey with a few drops. It will hiss and screech to terrify others while it hunts. Each wed leg has this venom along with its pincers. It will follow and attack anything within the poisonous jungle.


    While it is not very intelligent, it is aggressive and considered evil. The name devil was taken from the myths of devils who would destroy entire nations with their malicious and brutal


    means.


    As this monster grows, it will shed its carapace leaving behind valuable...''


    There was not even a second to worry right now. The brilliant mantis had struck out at the devil centipede. The howling wolf was scrambling to get up. And Walker''s group was now looking at an all out battle on multiple sides.


    The poison jungle was nothing to scoff at. It was full of more than just poisons. It was full of chaotic survival that could create a tough fighter or create a mass of graves.


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 Chapter 2341: 2342. First Fear

    Chapter 2341: 2342. First Fear


    ?


    "That devil centipede does not care about anything else but fighting us. It will attack and destroy things just because it is aggressive. Be ready for a harsh fight. That is the apex


    predator of the poison jungle dungeon." Walker''s sudden shout was matched by double water and mud walls shooting up to defend them.


    The mages had reacted very quickly. Walker had just moved to prepare to attack on his own. This time, he did not rely on purely magical attacks. Instead, he had his codex change forms in to double swords. The lightning that began to flicker around them was proof that he did not forget the lightning swordsmanship he had learned.


    However, je had not relied on these skills and techniques for some time. His focus on magic was always because that was what Genesis needed. But right now, he was the strongest in their group. They needed him to be the the front line attacker and defender. That was the best way to avoid the venomous legs and pincers.


    In a vicious speed, the devil centipede stabbed multiple legs in to the howler wolf. It had barely fallen to the ground after being shot with arrows and attempting to howl for its pack. The smallest of howels escaped its dying mouth before the devil centipede had torn it apart. The brilliant mantis was already attacking and turning away from the nest it created within the dueling flower bush. As a result, the attention of the devil centipede was moving away from it and closer toward Walker''s group.


    It did not bode well for them.


    "Archers, use the earth arrows so that they can crack and pierce the harder shell around the devil centipede''s body. I will start to attack the joints while adding ice to the environment even more. The brilliant mantis is defending its nest. Avoid it and let it act as a distraction!"


    "Yes sir!" The resounding boom of responses further distracted the devil centipede. That and the sudden shifting of mana from the mages and the archers who were using magical arrows. Their arrows were pulling in the earth mana that the mages were guiding toward them. Their teamwork overcharged the arrows so that they would be even more brutal.


    The arrows were a modified arrow that Gil had not been able to have a hand in. He was only able to be amazed by them when they were brought to him. The elves who worked on them had taken his earth arrow and enhanced the ability to absorb earth mana while attracting stone and earth from the ground around them.


    The result was an earth piercing arrow, or, called by the elves, the earth spear arrow. It gathered the earth and stone while it flew, bing more than just an arrow. It was a flying earth spear if given the right distance and mana. Causing there to be a fast moving and very sharp earth spear attacking the target.


    With the help of the earth mages, the first earth spear arrow had already beenunched at the devil centipede. When it made contact, there was a shattering sound. The devil centipede immediately reared up and whipped its pronged tail forward the walls of mud and ice created. The following shattering sound came from the ice wall before a thud as the mud wall fell to pieces.


    The mage behind had been protected by the shield using dragonkin warriors. They had been perfectly in line to protect them. They had not waited until the attack came, they had anticipated the moment. Proving that their higher battle experience was well used here.


    This was what Walker did not look back in worry. He could feel that the mages had been guided back while the archers fired more earth spear arrows damage the armor that the devil centipede naturally grew on its body. This distraction along with the brilliant mantis striking at it, gave Walker an opening.


    In a burst of wind, Walker buffed his body to speed forward. He focused his strength and effort on shing the hundreds of legs the centipede had. Each sharp and able to cut in to anything while adding the venom. Walker could see the joints clearly though, and since he had been channeling water mana around the lighting sword style, he could stab inward while delivering speedy ice damage.


    The lighting sword style was fast. He was veryfortable with it while he added buffs rted to wind. As the swords stabbed in to the leg joints, Walker channeled water through the eternal codex. Each bing a spike of ice left behind in the shape of the sword.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This caused the legs to crack and be hanging useless limbs with every strike. And every strike was faster than thest as Walker built movement. His speed was shocking enough since it was much greater than what the devil centipede could resist right now.


    The pain it felt further distracted it when it tried to snap its pincers closed on the brilliant mantis. In that moment of distraction, the brilliant mantis shed out with its sharp arms hitting the antenna of the devil centipede. One of the most sensitive parts of its body.


    A look from Walker to the brilliant mantis made a slight feeling of eptance move through him. He was not sure of this was just in his head or if he had actually felt something. Regardless, he did not think of fighting the brilliant mantis right now. Instead, he knew that he could damage the writhing in pain devil centipede much more now.


    Since it was the right time, Walker channeled even more water mana through the eternal codex. His speed had grown and he had long ago begun mixing manas together. The mixing of wind in to this was another level of experience he was showing off.


    Since he had buffed his body with wind, that mana was already present in the condensed water mana making the ice even colder since the heat was pulled away. As a result, the cie was bing a deeper blue and freezing the devil centipede in each joint an attack was left in. further slowing it the more that Walker attacked.


    "Follow through, arrow volley!" An order for a mass attack was immediately followed. A slew of arrows shot out at once, all targeting the cold affected parts of the devil centipede.


    For a monster that never had to learn to resist the cold and winter months, this was a drastic difference. Its shell protected body, the carapace it grew to defend itself from most things, was not able to remain tough against the cold. In strict opposition, it actually had be very brittle.


    The earth spear arrows began to crack the carapace rather than shatter on contact. This gave Walker more targets to strike. They were weakened and he did not need to hit the spots where the joints were any longer. He could begin to pierce ces where the devil centipede would be damaged the most. In collusion, the brilliant mantis had also begun to attack spots the very same way that Walker had.


    It was a quick and sharp monster, the brilliant mantis was always attacking with swift strikes that damaged anything majorly. That was just how it hunted by nature. An assassin among the


    monsters.


    Feeling a threat for the first time in its life, the devil centipede began to react even more violently. Forcing Walker to leap back as a spray of venom left its mouth. He knew very well that this sort of attack was because the devil centipede wanted to save its own life. But that was the wrong move if it wanted to survive.


    It had just thrown away a lot of its venom which was holding the warriors back from jumping Walker. They saw the moment and did not even need to hear an order to sprint in and attack the weakest points. Causing even more chaos for the devil centipede to handle.


    In a sudden screech, Walker leaped forward. He saw that the devil centipede had finally been pierced by the brilliant mantis''s sharp arms. It gave Walker the ideal chance to attack its head. Its eyes with ice spikes.


    The full force attack from Walker made the air whistle. The crack of his attack sounded through the area making everyone feel a slight shiver in their spine. Nothing moved that fast without delivering a lot of damage. Just the sound of that movement was terrifying.


    The devil centipede, being the target of that attack, had no idea what had happened. It knew that it had lost its vision. That it was losing its ability to feel. And more so, that it was falling. Nothing else ever came to its mind though. Instead, Walker just stood and looked at the brilliant mantis, its body broken and bleeding from the battle. It had yed a major role to


    defend its nest.


    ....


    ****


    ....


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 Chapter 2342: 2342. Protected Species

    Chapter 2342: 2342. Protected Species


    ?


    Even when Walker looked at the brilliant mantis, he could tell that it was barely able to hold on. It did not have the right amount of poison resistance to be able to handle the brutality of the devil centipedes'' venom. Let alone the poisons covering its body from moving around all through the poison jungle dungeon.


    This left Walker with a bad feeling in the depths of his stomach. The brilliant mantis had been fine with him and his group passing. Even when they had been prepared to attack, it did not react and just watched.


    Besides this, he felt some slight connection. A slight agreement that it would fight with them when he had nced at it. Call it a feeling in the heat of the movement or call it natural intuition. Whatever it was, they had fought besides one another and defeated an apex predator of the poison jungle dungeon.


    Leaving things like this would make everything Walker cared about and valued feel pointless.


    With a step, he saw that the brilliant mantis flinched. It felt that there was a greater threat from Walker than the devil centipede. It had felt the pressure from the mana that Walker used. It could tell that it was unable to fight against his speed. That wasn''t even focusing on the facts that he had created an environment of ice which it had never seen or felt. All it could tell was that the feeling was bad.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    As much as Walker wanted to portray that he did not mean harm, he couldn''t do that. He was sure that this monster might die and leave the eggs within its nest alone to die as well. And that was not what an ally should feel. He also knew that bringing this monster out of the poison jungle dungeon would be impossible.


    Not just the rules of the dungeon stopping them from doing so, but the simple fact that the outside environment might kill it. Not because of the injuries that the brilliant mantis currently possessed but for the fact that it was not what it was used to. This monster was an adult, fully adapted to living here.


    It lived within the dueling flowers and never left its home. It hunted as an ambush predator there. It survived there. It was safe there. So taking it away would be the same as asking it to die feeling unsafe and without any support. Instead, Walker allowed the eternal codex to change form again.


    "Just hold on a moment." Walker began to channel the life mana he could sense deep beneath his feet. He also pulled in light mana.


    The two manas are the best for purification and for healing. Normally, the life mana would be used to naturally heal wounds by using the body''s nutrients. Everyone had nutrients stored within them to heal and grow, this monster was all the same. The light mana could be used to purify and help the healing process. Walker''s strength could be focused on getting rid of the poisons and the venoms of the devil centipede.


    With the eternal codex taking the form of a healing staff simr to the one that Alice carried, Walker felt the enhancement and ease that came with it. He rarely focused purely on healing with the eternal codex, it was enlightening for him. As such, he saw that the light mana bathing the brilliant mantis became denser.


    It had been terrified because it felt the strength of the mana all of the sudden. It also knew that it could not strike out to defeat Walker. Yet, it suddenly ceased feeling a threat the moment that the light touched its body.


    Instead, there was a flow of pure warmth that began to pull away the intensive burning of venom and foreign poisons flowing throughout. The brilliant mantis soon found that another flow of energy came in to it. One that made its inner body feel younger and brighter. That was all part of the healing while using the life mana.


    As this monster was attached to the poison jungle dungeon, it had always been somewhat in tune with the life mana of the dungeon. Now, Walker was facilitating the flow of that mana. He was enhancing the smoothness and ability to ept that mana that the brilliant mantis needed to throw off the injuries while even growing stronger.


    The surrounding soldiers with Walker all felt the intense purifying and life mana healing them as well. The poisons around them had been cast away while they also felt that the strain on their bodies before was gone. Even with their defensive equipment, they had gained a decent amount of damage from the poisons in the air along with the fact that they had exerted a lot of mana and force from their bodies in thisst fight.


    This was also just an example of the magic that Walker could perform. Magic that could call forth light to cleanse more than just each other or himself. It could even cleanse a monster and a surrounding area. Then the life mana which was very tough to use for anyone. He was using that to help heal a monster which should perish. Astounding to them.


    As the brilliant mantis appeared to have healed, its body also looked to have grown a luster on it. Maybe that was some youth returned to it or just many injuries over its lifetime fighting within this poison jungle dungeon being healed properly for the first time.


    Whatever it was, the brilliant mantis lowered its arms and looked at Walker for some time before retreating back in to the dueling flowers. A simple look if anyone else were to try to exin it. Yet, to Walker, he had felt a true bond of thanks.


    "In the future, it is against the rules to kill the brilliant mantis within this dungeon. If they attack you first, that is fine. But everyone who brings them out will be put on examination by those who can tell if someone is lying." Walker stated this with utmost seriousness. He was not going to y a game here. He wanted to keep the trust he had just earned.


    "That will be put as a priority." The soldiers all responded one after another. They would also enforce this. Especially the elves who now knew that they could have allies within this poison jungle dungeon, the very same that they had within their own viges and homes'' natural wilderness.


    "We will collect all the materials that came from this encounter. We will also take the small dueling flower nts outside for the alchemists and herbalists. Otherwise, we will look for more information about this ce." They had gained a lot and learned a lot just now. Walker knew there was even more though. He had to push a little more even if he did not want to leave behind the moment he had just shared.


    A distant howling made him look toward the treetops. He knew very well that this was the howler wolf yet again. But this time, there were more. They had found themselves some prey and Walker had the feeling he should go look rather than let it be.


    "What is that howling? Wolves?" Gil was also surprised to hear the same sound. He had taken some small detours after finding a little stream and gathering many herbs and water growing mushrooms. He had also noticed that even the leeches were a unique species of leech called an eternal slumber leech. One that would add a poison making their prey sleep eternal in aa. But aside from that, they had reached an odd standstill. No new materials or nts, or even monsters just yet. Now, they heard the howl of what they believed to be wolves. Something that had a veryrge variety of species. So, Gil knew that tracking this species of wolf monster would be useful to everyone.


    "We have odd tracks to follow in the direction of those sounds." one of the elves and reported after hearing the sound and also doing a check in the nearby area. He had managed to spot some tracks of odd paws. "They appear to have multiple legs and not just four. Also, their paws are more flexible and long to move in a unique environment. We believe these are


    the monsters howling."


    "Very good. We will follow them and try to see what they are howling about. I would prefer that we do not fight any dangerous monsters, but it is better to keep track of these things." They all knew that the information could be invaluable to the future explorers of the poison jungle dungeon. So, they were taking the risk now to make it better for themter. It was their duty.


    ....


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 Chapter 2343: 2343. Ringing Mana

    Chapter 2343: 2343. Ringing Mana


    ?


    The howling sound shad only increased while Walkr moved. He began to push forward with another wind speed buff. The others behind him also felt that they were approaching a more dangerous situation.


    Yet, they all understood that any little piece of information would be perfect for those who woulde after them. This would be and where there would be growth. Not only for those who harvested the nts and monsters from the dungeon but those who battled.


    Every single person who came here would leave stronger. They would be able to handle the poisons of the world much better.


    This fact was key. Not just because they might encounter dangers in life. It was because the world was changing.


    Because the world was changing, that meant that any monster or herb that had poison or venom would be stronger. They would develop more over time. This poisonous jungle dungeon would be a great ce to train the people who encountered those changes within the world.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    On top of that, this was a haven for alchemical materials. They would be able to utilize every single thing brought outside of the poison jungle dungeon as a material for making antidotes. Specifically for certain poisons and venoms or for multiple of simr types.


    "Watch those green pepper looking fruits. They are exploding tree fruits. They are actually full of small spiky poisonous seeds that burst out when the fruit is touched. They are that way to attract monsters to eat them." Walker had mentioned a few things as the group had moved. What not to touch and what they could touch. This was one of those situations.


    With his all around appraisal always being used, Walker was easily considered the best guide for any new ce. He didn''t even have to know the location well or at all to be considered one. The bonus of saving more appraisal scrolls was also major. That was a business that just could not keep up.


    The appraisal skills growing within Genesis and the entire Genesis alliance had sparked because of his all around appraisal skill. Many people could have a chance at gaining some form of lower appraisal skill if they used the scrolls made from his skill. But even more, there were sses that wereing with such a skill after a certain amount of training.


    These appraisal skills were more specific and gave more specific information. Overall though, it was another way that every single kingdom would expand from now on. Knowledge of the world around them and all the changes happening within it.


    "Walker, duck!" The shout was familiar and Walker knew that he wasing. A familiar whiz of an arrow flying above also proved that Walker had guessed it right.


    "There are over forty of these howler wolves we found. They were attacking the vampire group and chased them to a deeper section of the poison jungle. The vampires are all guarded behind me. They are poisoned by some sort of venom from a ringing nt."


    Neither sounded good. The howler wolf that had just been pierced by a wind arrow was still moving. Its eyes seemed to be dripping a little blood. Even more proof that something else was going on here. "They seem like they are poisoned as well. Have you seen anything odd?"


    "What isn''t odd?" Gil fired another arrow and wondered just how this monster was still moving. This was his fifteenth arrow to a vulnerable ce of its body. "There are flowers that are making sound, the vampires who have some of the best poison resistance are poisonous, and these monsters are acting like undead zombies."


    "They are not zombies!" Walker''s shouts stopped a few of the light mages and healers who hade with them from trying to use their skills right away. He knew that they meant well, but they needed to reserve their mana and mana potions for when they needed them. The vampires would need healing right now. Especially if it was an undiscovered kind of affliction due to an odd nt type monster.


    "Then what?" as Giol notched another arrow, Walker held his hand from letting it fly. Instead, Walker pointed out a growth of red on the back of the legs of the howler wolf.


    "Rage mushroom


    This mushroom is parasitic. It willnd on furry creatures of any species. While it slowly waits for rain and sweat, it will grow smaller roots in to the host. After it has gained enough moisture, it will begin secreting a mucus that drives the host in to a rage.


    This rage will cause all feelings of pain to cease. This is to force the host to throw the spore filled mucus around on to the things it attacks. Because of this, the mushroom can spread much more while also growingrger.


    When the host eventually perishes, the rage mushroom will turn a vibrant red in an attempt to trick monsters to eat it ore in contact. Only a few monsters will intentionally seek them out to consume since they are immune to the rage inducing effects. Such as the jungle turtle...''


    "Anyone that touches those red mushrooms or anything from them must be purified with light or healing magic. They are parasitic mushrooms that may infect you and make you full of rage. They will also make their host numb to pain. That howler wolf should be dead on the ground because of the pain, but it is just full of rage and does not even realize the depth of its wounds."


    Everyone reacted differently knowing this. There were different ways to handle a situation. Knowing that a monster was acting like a normal monster, people would not be overly brutal. They would fight and kill it properly. They would not go overboard because they knew that it felt pain and would act in a way showing that.


    This pack of howler wolves were not like this at all. They were numb. They could not feel pain. This was the very same as Barry when he used his berserk skill. He would lose his mind to a degree, if not entirely. He would not feel his injuries. He would fight until exhaustion. Just like these monsters would.


    "We encountered one scouting. I assume it was from this pack and had yet to show any signs of infection. They will keep attacking so kill them without holding back." Walker''s order was


    instant.


    Instead of the wind arrows, Gil notched an explosive fire arrow. The crack of me that came next resulted in the body of the howler wolf falling to the ground missing its head entirely. The water mages with them had cast a skill to put a water veil over all of them and protect them from the remains flying through the air.


    No one was holding their strength back. Instead, they had split themselves in to defensive positions and offensive positions. Those who would protect each other from the force of the major attackers like Gil. This was because it was the best way to deal with unfeeling opponents. Holding back would be an opening for these monsters to attack them.


    "We are rotating back to the main pack. The vampires are being guarded by the goblins. They may fall to the poisons as well. Be prepared." Gil ordered the movements of the elves and other soldiers. They knew that his ns were ideal since he had already scouted this area.


    Having scouts and specialists with scouting skills was perfect. Walker did not even need to worry about mapping everything using his mana senses. Due to that, he started to keep track of where there were other howler wolves.


    Marking them for Gil to attack through the trees with shadow arrows and sky piercing arrows. Both were able to shoot through multiple trees and obliterate their targets. Let alone move through the shadows since the shadow arrows had dark affinity.


    "I can sense them, and I can hear that ringing now." Walker had heard the ringing. But it was not ringing that most people would call a bell. More like the mana itself was vibrating making people think that it was ringing.


    The sudden stumble that Walker had proved he had no idea what was happening. It reminded him of when he had first heard a dragon''s roar. The feeling of oppression. This was different though. Instead of oppression, it was like weakness moving through his entire body. "Is this debuffing us?" He looked and saw that the others also seemed confused.


    Every single time they heard the bell chime, they all felt a little weaker. In response, Walker could only call out to his mana and use it to create a multi buff skill to resist the downsides of their situation. He had no choice but to do so since he noticed multiple howler wolves fighting each other and the goblin warriors here defending the fallen vampires.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2344: 2344. New Poisons

    Chapter 2344: 2344. New Poisons


    ?


    "Gil, fire arrow!" The moment that Walker called out, Gil was already in motion before Walker had even called up the fire mana to improve the fire arrow that Gil was letting fly.


    The added fire mana massively increased the mes swirling around the fire arrow. So much so that the arrow itself lost form. The only thing holding it together were the fire runes originally carved on the arrow to make it attract even more fire mana. This was the base that allowed Walker''s mana to gather there and enhance the effects.


    The result was a much greater fire arrow made of pure fire heading right for another of the rage filled howler wolves. When it impacted, it burst in to mes which forced the other howler wolves back. They might not have felt the pain of burns from the attack that spilled out on to them, but they still reacted to the sudden burst of fire that made them blind for a second. It was a natural instinct.


    Gil continued to fire more of the fire arrows to help a few of the still conscious mages make a small wall of me. Walker on the other hand, focused on the sound of the ringing and forced himself to buff his body more.


    He could feel his legs acting a little heavier. It was not normal for him to be so affected by some sort of poison or mana in general. It was extremely odd. He couldn''t smell anything strange and was already putting the idea that this was a pollen out of his mind. If that was the case he would have noticed the scent or seen it in the air.


    Meaning that there was something else that this nt type monster was using. Some form of mana based skill that was causing the goblins to begin to fall and for the vampires who should have been very resistant to poisons to fall before everyone else.


    Looking at the ground, Walker found one of the dragonkin warriors barely keeping himself standing. From what Walker could tell, his eyes were red and his nose was running. The same as if he had a head cold or serious sickness. Even some people with allergies would react this way, but when he tried to use a purification skill, it did nothing.


    Instead, Walker felt the mana around him change and the dragonkin soldiers seemed to be a little more active before the next ringing sound was heard. Then the dragonkin warrior stumbled to barely catch himself on one knee. He had lost his entire ability to fight. He became a sitting duck.


    But Walker was close enough now. He could see the copsed vampires and the barely functional goblin fighters who had been defending them.


    ''Sound poison flower


    This monster mixes its mana with pollen and maniptes the wind mana. By doing so, it can make its scentless and tasteless pollen flow through the wind mana and in to the body of prey around it. Even causing dangers to therger and more resistant predators that maye to eat its condensed roots.


    The pollen is less of a pollen and more simr to a venom when ites to the world of poisons and venoms. However, ingesting it will also cause damage to the one in contact with it. The pollen causes the sounds made by the hard seeds and wind mana within the moving flower to interrupt mana flow.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It is somewhat simr to a mana poisons. It will affect those who are more reliant in manas than those who are less reliant on manas. It is a natural enemy for races that need certain manas to survive. Specifically undead races or monsters that require higher amounts of mana to survive on a regr basis.


    The spirit race and elemental spirits hate this monster since they are primarily made up of mana. This caused the elemental spirits and spirit race to suffer immensely. Only those that possess opposing elemental manas can more easily resist them. Very few races and monsters can resist these creatures. Normally those that have unique...''


    Walker was feeling the effects of this mana poisons or venom or whatever the pollen of this moving flower was. The deep red flower was like a bell, inside were dark brown seeds that rang every time they touched the petals. Deep brown colored roots spread from it, proving that it was more than just a new monster.


    Even worse, Walker could tell that the flower monster he was looking at had moved its roots to begin wrapping the vampires already. It had noticed prey and begun to move. Afterwards, it had tried to pull them in to the ground where it would use their nutrients for its own benefits.


    Feeling the mana even closer, Walker could sense that the wind mana was moved exceptionally carefully. The extremely high degree of care that the sound poison flower had over wind mana was bringing the pollen which he could not even see because it was so small all around him. The flower might not have eyes as a nt type monster, but it could feel the changes in the wind mana all around it. Causing it to follow and target things nearby.


    "You think that your fine wind mana control will beat my ability to manipte it in massive amounts?" Walker ignored the feeling in his head and began to pull away the wind mana. Completely isting the flowers.


    The sudden change in wind mana and then the following entry istion caused the flowers to begin moving erratically. They tried to ring the seeds in their flowers against the petals without any sess. This made the goblins nearby immediately begin to snap out of what they had been under the influence of.


    "You were able to resist because goblins rely on the manas around them much less than other species like the vampires do." Walker smirked while saying this. He mostly said it to himself, but he was d he understood this new monster.


    The vampires relied on mana around them because they had been a magic focus species for generations. The magic they could use was rted to blood and even other manas like dark mana and the rare death mana, if they even realized it was death mana. Regardless, because their long life spans pushed them toward magic skills and magic in general, they rarely became anything else other than magic rted sses or before, magic rted system users. This was not his focus any longer. It was the roots which had begun to draw back in. With the wind mana to control, the monsters were terrified. These wind poison flowers had lost all power they had, something that would never happen for them. They would never have been in a situation like this unless very specific monsters that ate them appeared, and even then, they would have chance.


    "Have the healers with the best mana control begin to use their purification skills. Focus on the lungs and the nose. That is how they will get rid of the poison that we are under the effects of." Walker began to use his own skill. He was using life mana as well within his body to speed up his natural resistance.


    The reason that walker had not noticed this poison was because he was using a lot of mana around him. Because of the howler wolves, he was too focused on how he would enhance the mages that he did not feel the tinies of poisons in the air being manipted.


    "Walker, back off!" Gil fired five arrows in quick session. The sounds of wind breaking the normal speed that any arrow could move was shocking enough. But the targets were each of the flowers which had retreated and been moving around violently. To top it off, Gil had also hit two of the howler wolves trying to sprint at them.


    "We have injuries to handle and more things to do. The poison did not bother me much so far so stick to getting rid of that poison." Gil knew very well that whatever it was, Walker was better at right now. He was also sure that the howler wolves were easier targets for him. He just needed to use more powerful arrows against them.


    Without much of a motion, Walker started to use purification skills on the others. The vampires needed treatment since the pollen would not leave their bodies. But what Walker was also realizing, was that there were mana poisons.


    He had not missed that in the all around appraisal of the sound poison flowers. If there was such a thing, then that meant it was the enemy of the mages and anyone else who used their mana heavily. Potentially even those who just used a little mana here and there.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2345: 2345. A Worse Poison

    Chapter 2345: 2345. A Worse Poison


    ?


    The moment that the sound poison flowers were handled by Walker and Gil, every single soldier had rebounded. Not just because the flowers were not forcing their poisonous and impossible to see spores in to their bodies but also because of the purification magic being used.


    The healers had been holding on to their mana for the entire time that this expedition was taking ce. They had specifically been told to keep themselves held back and allow the rune sewn fabrics and armors to work. Those purification rune patterns had been more than helpful to everyone.


    But there was a limit to what they could do. Walker and everyone else had just seen the limit in real time. That monster had been enough to go against the careful nning for general poisons that they had assumed would exist. Not to mention gone against some of the poisons that were outside of what they had imagined.


    A poison that could be considered something called a mana poison struck Walker as exceptionally dangerous. Because that meant that the poison they were affected with had not only been perfectly made to target those who were influenced and used manas the most. The poison was also not necessarily linked to the physical spore.


    Specifically, this poison was luckily not as bad as it could have been. Walker could havee up with a hundred different worse situations with what they had just seen and experienced if this poison was something more dangerous.


    "There are still plenty of other howler wolves, but they are retreating. I do not think that they are all enraged." Gil''sment snapped Walker''s attention back to the battle. He had been using the natural mana around the healers to buff them further. The healers were working exceptionally hard.


    Their knowledge of the bodies of various races had exploded in quality. Mostly because healers and other simr sses hade together from every race. Causing their knowledge to be more refined.


    Not only this, but they had be more driven than ever since they were not locked away in a cathedral or small healing temples any longer. The healers had broken out in to the world in a way that they never had before.


    The adventurers being one specific ce that healers now flocked to. Before Genesis, healers were a hard to getmodity in an adventuring party. Mostly because they had safer and better ces to go. Their desire for exploration was often held back by themselves or by society. Now, that has radically changed.


    The howler wolves are gone for the time being." A dragonkin rushed to Walker and stood before him. He was carrying what appeared to be a broken leg from one of the howler wolves. On it was a deep red mushroom. Clearly the source of the trouble that they had dealt with.


    "Thank you, get treated and wash whatever you can off of your body with purified water that a healer is carrying. I will use this as a specimen that we will bring back. If we can make an antidote or a method to prevent any infections from this parasitic mushroom, it will be for the best." Walker did fear what he would hear.


    This rage mushroom had the potential to cause allies to turn against one another. Even worse, if this mushroom was brought out while infecting someone, then they could go and attack everyone nearby them. It would be worse if it was a stronger person who could identally attack many weaker members of their society.


    A potential nightmare. Just the high number of injuries alone would be enough to show off how much of a failure things could be. But even this simple thought brought Walker to the realization that they would need protocols to clean and purify everyone that left the poison jungle dungeon.


    "I know you have a lot to think about, but right now, you need to focus on the fact that the others just got here." Gil had noticed that a few of his group had used themunication crystals to call everyone together.


    As the remainder of the Genesis forces arrived, there were a lot of worried expressions. Not only because they had juste to an area where the four groups had begun to heal and help injured people, but also from what they had found.


    The what within the poison jungle had also begun to rise. Enough that there was an added worry about the environmental situations. They knew that rain was a chance of weather here. It was an unchanging dungeon, but not one that could not avoid weather.


    Any jungle would have rain.


    "Alma, what is wrong?" Gil''s worry was clear. He understood that Alma would not look so serious if she had not found some troubles of her own.


    "What''s wrong? You just fought monsters that were berserk, I found out on the way that there are nt monsters that can poison even vampires, and I have had multiple tamers risk their tamed monster''s lives to scout above the canopy of trees. They did not follow my orders." Alma red at a pair of hunters.


    In the hands of these two were monsters well known for scouting and even patrolling the distant walls and viges near cities. "They have the white beak falcons as their tamed monsters. They normally only hunt smaller insect monsters and the grain mice that live in farmers fields. They are a good monster to have around. But they have broken wings now." Gil became angry as well seeing that a monster he knew as helpful to farmers was so injured.


    Two of them at that!


    The wings of any flying monster or race were invaluable to them. Without their wings being of use. It was the same as telling them that they couldn''t do anything. Painful and depressing. Some tamed flying monsters would even lose their lives if they did not have the chance to fly for a prolonged amount of time. Injuries like these needed a lot more care rather than just a potion or a healing spell.


    "They sent their tamed white beak falcons up there and they were attacked by other monsters. But they also managed to find out that there is harsh mist blocking the sky so you can not go high. There are many monsters in the treetops, some of them muchrger than anything I have seen down here. The entire poison jungle is also toorge to take one day to map out. It might take three to five months."


    All of this was enough to make it clear that Alma was not trying to keep them here. She was also making very clear that they would be unable to progress much further. This was a dangerous ce and they were all not prepared for the more dangerous aspects of the poison jungle dungeon. Their current encounters was pure evidence of this.


    "Then we are going to make our way back. This is not something we can spend five months or even more on." It wasn''t even a thought before Walker had responded. He instantly knew that they would not stay here.


    Not only could this be a project for the elves and Genesis as a whole to take their time with, he had sensed it earlier. The life mana was dense within the dungeon. It could surely remain unaffected by explorers taking things for quite some time. As long as no one was extremely destructive, then it would be fine. The dungeon would not be affected negatively.


    "We are just going to leave then." Gil''s disappointment was evident, but he did not argue. He just had to get thement out before he looked at the stretchers that were being made. They couldn''t even use the fallen braces on the ground because the bark on those tree branches had different poison in them.


    "I don''t want us to encounter a worse poisons. We might have seen the apex predator of this ce. But we have only seen it because it was on the ground. What about in the trees where we have worse footing? What about other monsters that live up there and are prepared for the territorial advantage they have?" seeing that everyone had listened to him, Walker focused his mana back on healing everyone again.


    His eyes were still moving though. The all around appraisal skill was being used on every small thing. The sheer amount of information he was gathering right now would be perfect for those who would explore here next time.


    That was until he caught sight of yet another oddity. But one rted to what he had already seen and might put him on track to see the most dangerous poison within the poison jungle dungeon.


    ---


    ....


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 Chapter 2346: 2346. Familiar But New

    Chapter 2346: 2346. Familiar But New


    ?


    ''Jungle slime


    This is a variation of the poison slime species. This jungle slime naturally urs when arge amount of different poison build up. Surprisingly, its body is not as dangerous to touch as some would believe. It attracts a very unique form of poison eating moss which lives over its main body. Causing it to be slightly better defended.


    It will also be able to resist magical attacks slightly better while allowing for more of the poisons around it within the poison jungle dungeon to absorb in to its main slime body and then its slime core.


    Compared to the artificially created poison slimes, they are also slower growing. Their overall body condenses while it grows allowing it to be tougher. Its slime body is also much more toxic when used as a projectile weapon or when used to epass prey. Normally, it will not attack anything though as long as it is not bothered.


    Its greatest predator are the jungle ants. They will hunt them and keep them to eat the poison eating moss on the slime''s body. This often leads to a lot of the moss being discovered outside of their nests made within thergest of dead jungle trees. Otherwise, they fear the strongest of poison wielders within the poison jungle dungeon whose poison can not be defended by many monsters due to the mana attacking effects...''


    The jungle slime was just slowly rolling spring ahead of them. It hade through the leaves and begun to move around the Genesis forces. Everyone suddenly noticed it and began to watch it. Walker started to softly exin the all around appraisal.


    This was not the actual danger he was worried about. There was another mention of monsters that would be more dangerous. Specifically, he was paying attention to the ants. Ant type insect monsters would be higher in numbers.


    The meaning of this would be that they could overwhelm their groups if they were to be found. Especially if they hunted the jungle slimes. This was a food source for those jungle ants. A danger that was attracting more danger.


    Even worse, Walker saw that there was a mention of the mana poison again. The very dangerous mana poison that had already been mentioned when he had focused on the sound poison flowers.


    Just the fact that there was a poison that could specifically target mana was something impossible in Walker''s mind. Mostly because mana was always taking different forms. If there was a poison that would target it, then what did that mean? How could the world or existence eleven keep hold of something like that?


    From what Walker understood, the world and everything had been made up of mana to some degree, if not entirely made of manas. This being the case, that would mean that a poison that affected just mana would be extremely dangerous to all things. Potentially destroying mana itself.


    He had already been in contact with an herb that caused mana not to flow or people to be unable to sue their mana. That had been a dangerous instance but he had handled it. Yet, if he came in to contact with a position that damaged him through his own mana, he would be at an entire loss.


    "Should we capture it?" Gil''sment was because Alma had grabbed a handful of seeds ready to trap the jungle slime in a cage of vines. That way they could transport it or at least its body outside of the poison jungle dungeon.


    "No, we are still leaving. We can let this one go. We are not going to go after the jungle ants that eat the moss on its body. We will take some of that fallen moss as it moves. We can make antidotes from the poison eating moss or whatever." There was a lot a poison eating moss could do.


    Using it against other poisons, the poison eating moss might change characteristics. Making it ideal for making perfect antidotes. Walker''s thoughts about this were simply rted to what alchemists would be able to do with it. But there might be more to do with it.


    ces where a lot of poisons were released, such as a forge''s water supply, might be able to use this moss. It could be ced near the water ways around the forges. Allowing for the poison that were not handled by rune formations, magic, or other methods to be handled safely. From there, the entirety of every city would be safer and cleaner.


    "Before we worry about collecting the poison eating moss, we can worry about the sloth moving our way. It was also looking at that moss." The party had seen a sloth monster before. There were many kinds. Some of them were smaller and others wererger and mire dangerous. But right now, Gil had finally noticed the slow moving monster heading toward the equally slow rolling slime.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''Poison soaked sloth


    This monster is slow and always encountering predators. However, due to the slow moving metabolism it possesses and extremely tough fur due to its high earth affinity, it does not get poisoned in the same ways as other living beings.


    It will be able to slow the movement of its body and organs until it can find the poison eating moss to consume or to ce on its body. Therefore, it will cure its own poisons in this way. Until it does this it has been known to use the poison it is soaked in to deter every single predator within the poison jungle dungeon. Even the devil centipedes know not to tempt fate by consuming this mixed bag of unknown poisons.


    It is easily captured if one is brave enough. Collecting its fur can showcase a unique mixture of different poisons in the area that it lives. Its fur can also be used to improve the strength of some earth rted forging along with used to create a unique items for poison mages and poison assassins. A poison brewer can also utilize this item to be able to create a ss item called the fusing poison cauldron...''


    Now this was very interesting. Walker had expected that he would see more dangerous things about poisons. He did not expect that he would see a monster that specifically had fur that could help certain sses make the best item for them. Let alone see that it would also be useful for so many things.


    Surprising the others, Walker used wind mana to pull up some of the poison eating moss that wasying around the ground. The slime had rolled a little ways off now, but it had dropped many pieces of the moss. Some was saved by Walker for experimentation and growth. The rest, he held using the wind mana right in front of the sloth.


    The sloth was slow, but it looked at him without fear. It knew that if it was touched it had tough defenses and could also poison anything that touched it. But really, it is here for that moss in the first ce.


    The poison soaked sloth slowly epted the moss being left in front of it while Walker used wind mana to brush over the fur. In a few moments, he has pulled away plenty of pieces of its fur and the poison soaked sloth actually appeared to be enjoying the random attention. It didn''t fear anything really, but it also had never been treated like this. It could get used to it. "We can have rules about these monsters too. They are not violent but they are still dangerous. Many monsters try to eat it and soak it in poisons. But its fur is valuable and if groomed we can take it back to help us and others." Walker showed off the fur. It was not a lot, but for studying, it would be valuable. And it was not harming the monster or the dungeon.


    Many of the Genesis forces were watching him in admiration. This was a reason why the heroes were heroes. They did not always go to fight or battle someone or something. They cared for the world as it was. They would be kind and clear with their desires. Right now, was one such time where they believed Genesis was founded for the best reason of the best.


    This small interruption in the worry and fighting had been enough to lighten the atmosphere while the healers worked to purify poisons and help everyone. It was also enough time for Alma to take some of the moss and discover that it had the tiniest of seeds rather than having to grow from teeth like roots as normal mosses might. A very interesting species of nt. Besides all this, they were almost ready to move out. They would be leaving the poison jungle dungeon behind forter exploration. They had gotten enough information on potential size and dangers.


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 Chapter 2347: 2347. Going After Them

    Chapter 2347: 2347. Going After Them


    ?


    "That''s it, we are going." The way that Remey said this told everyone else she had gotten together that there was absolutely no question to it.


    The two dragons in front of her were Ignus and Mordant. Ignus had been dragged back to the alchemyb after he had taken some time to rest. While he still needed to store up some fire mana, he was more than fine to handle a thing or two here and there.


    On the other hand, Mordant had been spending a lot more time with the dragon hatchlings and Midnight. He was trying hard not to leave them, but he also understood why Remey would have sought him out. She had her reasons.


    "I knew they were going somewhere important. But no one was able to send me the appraisal information any time sooner? If that was not intentional so that I could stay here and keep working on the grand mana and grand health potions research..." Her fists clenched a she thought about beating a few people up to teach them a lesson.


    It was well known that she was the one with the highest chance to make the best of the best grand healing and mana potions. She had even begun to build a theory that she could make full state potion.


    A theory that had been more like an alchemy myth. A potion that could fully heal a wound and also fully replenish mana. Both would be needed in the more dire of times by anyone facing their deaths. On top of that, it would be considered something impossible for all alchemists. The reason that this was considered impossible was simply because of the quality of herbs needed. They had to be so perfect and pure that there would be nearly no room for mistakes. Even the slightest bruise on a leaf or stem would ruin the entire batch of potion.


    With that sort of small room for injury in the herbs, there was also the extremely precise skills needed to make the potion. It was barely even thought to be feasible since there were only the lowest potions for perfect state. They were just known as a waste of time.


    "The other alchemists were always pushing their theories on me in thest few days. Look at my theory on the full state potion. Do you think this all around replenishing potion is better? How can I use basic herbs to mix health and mana potions better?" She was fuming.


    "Then I find out that they hid the report of a dungeon appearing with all this information about it. Information about how it has a ton of poison that can be used for alchemy. Then the expedition that Walker, Gil, and Alma took the lead with have also been gone for a solid three days."


    "Three days and they have not sent word to anyone again. They have not brought me anything. They are clearly exploring and gathering things that they have never seen before!" This time Ignus growled a little. He too felt that they had been left behind.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His adoration for alchemy had grown because he had seen the level of care and devotion Remey had in it. Even the bonuses that came to him when he drank her potions had inspired him. "I am fine with going there to ask for some answers."


    "And you want me to go since I can use dark mana with stronger decaying effects. You want me to use that in alchemy?" Mordant had heard of some theories recently.


    There was a young alchemist who had taken a hint from the fermentation process already used in cooking and in some unique potions or medicine. As such, Remey had the idea that some herbs needed to be decayed by dark mana. Mana that would naturally have effects on the herbs in the wilderness where they grew. Influencing their qualities overall.


    "Good, then we are leaving right now." Remey and the two dragons began to make their way toward the elemental rune teleportation formation. A few alchemists tried to catch her attention to get her to stay, but they lost quickly when they saw her re.


    While Remey had her own thoughts about why she had heard nothing in three days, Walker and the others were having their own reasons for not returning.


    "We can not move back in that direction. It will cause the trees to move again." This was infuriating for Alma.


    She had always been able to control and change the nts around her. Even better when it came to them having poisons as part of what they were naturally. She had learned about them. Bonded with them. And even created new species of them. Yet, right now, there was a nt that she could not handle.


    "Are you sure it is not a monster?" This was easily the tenth time that Gil was asking this.


    "Yes, that is a guardian vine and root. The reason it is called guardian is because it is able to move and defend the area that it grows its main root. We walked too close to it and for who knows how long before it was touched and now it is trying to trap us from leaving. It is connected to all of the nts around here."


    "And you say it''s not a monster?" Gil responded again while he fired an earth arrow in to the distance. This was the best way for them to avoid the nt that Gil was calling a monster. In response, the ground trembled as tree roots shot up and pped around. Destroying the entire area where the earth arrow hadnded and created an earth spike to appear.


    "Yes. It is a nt that needs other nts to be able to survive. It is called a guardian vine because it grows vines that meld with other nts. Then it attracts mana to those nts allowing them to move and defend themselves. Just like a monster but itcks intelligence and can not hold on to that mana to be an actual monster. The best way to handle it is to destroy the base of its root which is growing at the center of this mess."


    "Where things are the most dangerous. Is that right?" There was a slightly annoyed tone when Alma spoke. She was still very frustrated that her skills were not working on this nt. Hence why she was also believing that this was a monster and not at all a nt.


    "Yes, where things will be most dangerous. We should have been able to make our way back, but we did not take the treetops and touched the roots. This guardian vine and root saw that as a monster trying to eat its roots and the roots of nts. So like any of the other carnivorous nts that exist, it began to attack to defend itself. Other nts would just make more sap to stop the monster or whatever from getting in to the wood and bark."


    The responses of nature to protect itself were always different. But this was one that felt truly monstrous. It would have even been easier if it was poison at this point. Not because they were used to poisons but because they could at least escape from it.


    Looking at some of therger trees ahead it gem. Walker made a final decision. "Only those with the best movement and stealth skills will go ahead. We do not know how dangerous this nt can be when it is attached to those evenrger roots and trees ahead."


    "You will all remain here and keep still without alerting this thing again. Those of you who still have Injuries can get additional healing as well."


    There were many that did not like this. Over thest two additional days, they had been working together to defend from pping roots, mming tree branches, and even coiling vines. All trying to destroy their group.


    Now they were supposed to just leave it all be and wait for Walker and a few people to handle the issue!?


    "You are crazy if you think I am not going after this thing. I will be figuring out how to control this guardian vine and root nt. When I do that I will be able to protect a huge part of the elven forest and Genesis. You have no say." Without a pause, Alma was already making her


    own move.


    "What? You thought she would stay behind when things are like this? That''s like asking me to stay behind." The shaking of Gil''s head was also what Walker had expected.


    A few goblins and vampires who had recovered followed him. The few elves still ready to move with a light step also came. Their group was small, but it would have to do.


    ....


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 Chapter 2348: 2348. Feeling The Nature

    Chapter 2348: 2348. Feeling The Nature


    ?


    The oddity which were the smaller groups'' movements would have been mocked if they had been doing it on the training fields. However, right here and now, no one dared make a move that was normal. If they were to walk like normally and even so much as graze a tree root, then they would be fighting a myriad of vines and branches.


    It was the roots beneath dried leaves that was the real danger. Walker was sharing directions since he and Alma could work together to share their sense of mana and her sense of nts. That allowed them to be able to feel the roots underneath the ground and even the leaves.


    From time to time, Gil wouldunch an around from his bow in to a further section of the jungle. This would stop anything from sensing them when they made a bigger move. While it was just a slight distraction for the guardian vine and root, they were relying on every single card they had to get closer.


    What was more surprising, was that as they moved, the vines were bing even more developed. The trees that the vines hung off of clearly had been connected. Not just by the vines which snaked through their branches, but some of the branches themselves had be perfectly fused.


    "It is changing this entire area of the jungle. And I can''t even sense the changes in mana moving through these trees. They would usually have different amounts of earth and water mana at the very least." Allma knew that the different forms of mana within a nt was very important.


    Since she always worked with nts and added her mana to grow them rapidly, Alma paid a lot of attention to the ways that mana flowed within a single nt through its entire growing process. Right now, she was feeling the exact same amount of earth, water, and light mana moving within the trees surrounding them.


    This would be impossible within nature. Mostly because each part of the world was different. Nature was a bnce but it was not an equilibrium. It was not so perfect that there was some strange mirror image in everything.


    With this being the case, she was following the sense of these manas and realizing that she could not control anything here or even influence them because her maa was being measured against the mana of all these nts. The guardian vine and root nt was able to unite them and the manas that every single tree and nt possessed.


    "I know that a forest can be called one nt. One single tree can be harmed and the trees nearby will send nutrients and mana through their roots to help. This is the same thing but much more extreme. It must take years... no, this nt is so developed that it can do this within a short time." It looked to Walker that Alma was on to something. He remained silent while they maneuvered around a throng of hanging vines from the higher branches.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "This nt is not able to produce anything and basically acts like a parasite. It can make sure that every single tree and nt connected is able to survive so of course the trees and everything else agree with it. But once they are connected they have to stay the same. None of these trees can grow any more. Instead, the guardian vine and root is expanding using their extra nutrients."


    "I can''t control them or break free because I am fighting every single one of these trees at once and the guardian vine and root is forcing their mana to move in a certain way. It can even use that mana to help the roots and vines and branches, everything! To move. It makes them all feel afraid and react like this as if everything that touches them is a predator trying to kill them."


    "It isn''t a monster, but I promise you, with natural abilities like this, it has the chance to be one if it growsrge enough."


    Nothing that Alma had said was wrong. Walker had managed to get the information he had from the all around appraisals of the trees affected by the guardian vine and root. He had yet to actuallyy eyes on it and get an appraisal that showed them in depth information.


    He did believe Alma. While they moved forward toward even more fused branches, he could tell this was simr to the meat eating nt monsters or even some that he had read about before. Those that developed in dangerous areas and gathered enough manas to be able to change their forms could be monsters. If this was the case, then those nts would cease to be nts and step in to a whole different world.


    Right here, this guardian nt and vine definitely had the potential. Its natural characteristics made it more than likely to be taking this path already. It was defensive and aggressive. It was able to influence other nts easily with its natural characteristics. And even more so, it almost acted as if it had the same intelligence that a monster would have anyways.


    Since Alma and Walker had the same thoughts while looking at the ways that the trees had fused together ahead. How the vines were mixing with one another and falling down where the gaps between the tree trucks were.


    They both felt that it was a little too protective of the core where the guardian vine and root could be. A little too perfect to be a nt that would stay a nt.


    "That''s where it is?" The calm words were directed at the roots entertained with one another. Making a root like defensive wall. Light could reach the area along with water, but it was clearly enough to stop monster moving toward the area.


    "That''s it, and I think this small green vines around the top are the guardian vine and root." Walker focused his eyesight more.


    ''Guardian vine and root mutating


    This guardian vine and root is absorbing massive amounts of mana and nutrients. It is attempting to alter its own form instead of its naturally growing instincts to only influence nts around it. Due to this, it is more aggressive and has a higher chance to be a


    monster.


    If it continues this way, it would break the normal rules of the dungeon. It would develop its own poisons while aging some form of intelligence. Most likely bing...''


    Walker didn''t want to read a single bit more. Not that he had the chance. He had to start moving. A small breeze had moved through the jungle showing off the wooden thorns that were slowly growing out of the roots.


    "It''s trying to change the form of the wood around it. It isn''t going to just control it. Those trees won''t even be trees any more. They will be part of it." Alma felt it. The slow loss of life mana within the trees.


    While she could not feel life mana in others or in the earth, Alma had a feeling for it in nts now. She had trained to feel it in the flow of nature. As such, she had realized she had always sensed it subconsciously within a nt. It was part of her natural skills and talents.


    Now, she could tell that the captured trees nearby were being used as part of its body. Changed to be dependable parts of its body the same as the vines and root that the guardian vine and root already grew naturally.


    "We are using fire this time. Alma, I know you have a dark affinity nt that can cause decay to other nts. You have the seeds but I know it is not one you wish to use since it makes an area very damaged. The dungeon can repair it. So don''t hold back. If this nt bes a monster, it will be worse for us and the dungeon."


    There was no need for more logic, Walker was right and Gil even nodded his own support for this. It was the best way right now.


    When the elven archers heard Walker, they switched to fire and wind arrows. They knew that breaking through the vine wall was the first major trial. Then, they would need to divide the attention of this soon to be monster.


    A simple n that would use all of their strength and effort. Not just because they were facing an intimidating being, but because they were pursuing a test of their overall strength. The guardian vine and root was powerful. There were many nts and trees connected to it. Not a single one would be left out of this battle for its life. Walker and Gil had brought fewer people for that reason. Without many people here, they could use their full strength.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2349: 2349. In Flames

    Chapter 2349: 2349. In mes


    ?


    The rumble of the earth was enough to shock them when everyone realized that the guardian vine and root had made a lot more changes than what they could see above ground.rge


    intertwined roots tore through the earth and reared up toward the sudden flurry of arrows that Gil fired from a distance.


    This major distraction had been the original n so that they could push forward. But since they were not watching such arge scale response, Walker temporarily held the fire ball he had made back. The same with the other elves and their arrows.


    "It made itself aplete safe area!" This wasn''t what a nt should be able to do. Alma knew that she had never seen a nt capable of this. If a single seed were to be found, she needed it. It could be an immense method of growth for her.


    The more that they watched the roots rear up, the more that they all realized they were watching the guardian nt and root stand up for the lost part.


    A massive ball of tree roots rose from the ground, the trees connected to those roots were standing stiff connected at the branches. The guardian vine and root had more or less made a tform of dense roots and attice of defensive fused branches to guard itself.


    "It might be closer to being a monster than what we imagined. This nt has enough innate intelligence that it was already changing." Walker''s stunned amazement came from the fact that he had never seen this happen.


    Not many people had ever seen when a nt was absorbing enough mana to change. It wasn''t even thought to be possible in some instances. Let alone something someone could facilitate either.


    Yet their group was witnessing it. Whether it was because the poison jungle dungeon had just returned to the world or if this guardian vine and root was special, didn''t seem clear. What was clear, was that this was the edge where it was either going to remain a nt destroyed by the group. Or be a monster fighting for life.


    The next boom of earth was from many smaller braided roots and vines beginning to explore the area. Attacking the ground, smaller monsters that were foolish enough toe near the sounds, and the group who were preparing to change their n.


    "The root balls need to be burned to ash. That is the best way to get rid of it, right Walker?" Gil had already released some wind gathering arrows. They had been dulled to stick in the hurt target and draw more wind mana instead of piercing.


    The difference in arrows was to prepare for a bigger fire attack. He knew that Walker was nning to do just that from the start. He hadn''t realized he would need the wind gathering arrows though.


    The arrows were few because they could not be made only with the archer. Instead, a proper rune carver was needed since the wind runes were technically a wind mana gathering formation on a very small scale. It took very high skill to make.


    Arcane archers could carve runes in arrows, but to a limit. And they could not carve them elsewhere. Meaning that they had to look outside of their ss to be able to make these arrows. In turn, that made them fewer in number than wind piercing arrows or other arrows in general.


    "I am going to climb up the trees. Gil, keep distracting with the other archers. Alma, can you grow some vines to interrupt the others? It can''t be able to control your vines so quickly since all of the mana in all the trees is being directed to natural defenses. It can''t even keep the small nts alive, it''s cannibalizing them."


    It wasn''t hard to see the smaller nts beginning to crumble and dry out. All the nutrients and mana was being stolen from them. The guardian vine and root was using them to defend itself and remain strong. It felt threatened.


    Imagining a nt life this was well beyond Walker. He questioned what else might exist within this dungeon or other dungeons. Things that even ancient times had not dealt with. Great opportunities mixed with even greater dangers.


    The fireball that Walker had made was instantly condensed. The eternal codex was in magic staff form again, channeling the fire mana and even adding a little dark mana in to it. He wanted to decay the main root ball of the guardian vine and root. That way he would do damage to it with residual dark decaying mana after the fire ball hit and if it did not continue to burn.


    Leaping in to the nearby trees that were slightly moving and withering, Walker saw their branches whip toward him. They were slow though.


    So many arrows were being shot at the nearby trees causing the manas to be spread out. If the guardian vine and root had been a monster it might have the intelligence to realize this was all a ruse to cause it to slow and weaken. It was not yet though. It had yet to be a monster at all.


    While this begged a question of whether this was a process to be a monster and one day an intelligent race, those thoughts were far from Walker''s mind.


    His movements were agile as he dodged branches and got high enough to see the risen tform of roots. Through thettice of branches, he could see a deeper green vine curled around an older looking tree. The stem was a very deep green full ofrge amounts of


    condensed manas. Profit was trying to grow even more.


    The release of condensed dark fire made the what grow in the entire area. Everyone took cover before the impact shook the air itself. But thettice was not just one tree branch. It was several condensed and fused over and over again. Walker hadn''t realized the long process of growth that the guardian vine and root had gone through over the years.


    "You are really dumb!" The roaring insult made Walker put up an even stronger defense. He brought war around everyone to block the next burst of heat.


    A draconic roar broke through the entirety of the poison jungle while the mes took on a life of their own. Remey had arrived out of nowhere with an incense aura of fire and destruction around her fist.


    The force she dealt out caused most of the defensive fused branches to be reduced to ash in seconds. If someone were to look for anyone who could be called an expert in controlling fire mana with force, Remey would be it.


    Just because she had the alchemy side of her ss and skills, did not mean she was weak at all. Brawler was her first and most experiences were in brawling. Fighting others fist to fist and using her force to break them.


    Now, she was using the defense breaking fist with the fire mana she could wield. Injecting that fire mana in to the root ball that the guardian vine and root had created and igniting fire within the very center. Walker could sense just how she had stolen the fire mana he had added from the air. She had taken control over it as soon as he had let it go. Giving her a major boost to her attack and dealing even more damage overall.


    In just a few breaths, the iling vines and branches began to seize their movements. The tform of roots and tree branches also started to fall to the ground while burning up. Dense ash fell to the ground in clumps while the smoke caused the area to be harder to see through. The perfect deterrent for other monsters which could carry some poisons toward


    their group.


    "You shall left without me. You came somewhere full of things I can use. And you didn''t even wait for me to get here when you were here." Remey''s foot stomped on the ground as the mes around her died down.


    "I thought you might need my assistance as well, I was very wrong it seems." Mordant held himself back while looking at Remey. He hade but realized that she had been ready to let loose more than anything for this small expedition.


    "All of you can worry about whatever elseter. Look for seeds in this ash. That guardian vine and root was so defensive that it has to have something protected. I ended that seed to see what else I can grow with it. I can protect an entire forest easily!" Alma was already phishing everyone apart. She had not ended to really fight, so she would use all her mana to figure this out. The others couldn''t stop her.


    ....


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2350: 2350. Worst Poison

    Chapter 2350: 2350. Worst Poison


    ?


    After a few deep breaths, Walker sensed the mana flow drastically change around them. There were plenty of trees and nts which had been forced to follow a specific flow. That had lost their ability to use their own nutrients as they needed.


    This sudden shock caused some to begin to wilt, but not to die outright. They were shocked, but that was a good thing. They were receiving all that they needed and could begin to use it for growth.


    Some small seedlings began to sprout immediately. The life mana in the soil acting as the catalyst for them to begin to grow a little faster than normal. The guardian vine and root had monopolized the manas in the ground and in the other nts. Since the life mana was able to move properly, the seedlings had what they needed to break their shells and grow.


    "Ha! I found one, one seed." The tiniest little brown seed was in Alma''s palm. She was holding it out like she had just found one of the greatest treasures anyone could have found before.


    "What if I used this in a farmer''s field? Could I make sure that we do not lose that crop? Or what about using it in an alchemy field of herbs that would be impossible to grow. This nt when controlled could be perfect for all sorts of times and ces." The amount of potential that Alma could see was endless.


    "That''s if you can handle it. Alma, you are strong, and we all know that. But you saw what that nt did when it was left without a proper predator to consume it. It grew wildly, taking over arge section of the poison jungle dungeon. It caused damage to the nts by stealing nutrients. And worse off yet, it was bing a monster due to the mana and high nutrients that it had."


    There was a slight re that was sent towards Gil from Alma. She wanted his support and not any of this doubt. But she also understood that he was worried about what might happen if this didn''t work out. The nt was definitely dangerous. Extreme Care would need to be taken as it was analyzed.


    "As long as the right precautions are taken, you should try it. And you can even take the chance on it to be a little rougher since there is a second seed right here." Walker reached in to the ash and pulled out another small dark brown seed. He knew that the seed was there because it was already trying to pull at the manas around it to grow.


    "It was trying to grow already sp if you can manage to control it, you might be able to do everything that you said. If it grows too much, it might be a monster and that would mean you need a tamer to handle it. You could lose control over it. Be careful and look for a tamer that handles nt monsters too."


    Walker turned to look at Remey who had arrived with Mordant beside her. He could also sense that Ignus hade along as well but was holding back with the main group who they had found. From his guess, Ignus and stayed there since he was able to gather that they were there due to the injured being healed and needing more rest.


    "I didn''t leave you behind because I didn''t want you toe. None of us knew how much would be here when it came to alchemy materials. And we are barely even able to scratch the surface."


    "Mhm, whatever. Alma will help me grow some herbs aspensation. She just said that nt that I burned might be able to grow better herbs and even herbs that are impossible to grow. So that is enough." The glint of greed that Remey had in her eyes was enough to tell m that she could not escape this duty.


    Not that Alma would be against this. The potions that the alchemy guild made were very useful. Many of them helped the elves with their growth and trainingtely. The elves had been training together and the affinity potions had been able to act as another way to bring them all together. Especially the elves with dual affinities who had been somewhat ignored in the past due to the rough rtionships between the elves over the years.


    "Regardless of the future of those seeds, we made a lot of noise and all those mes are already out. The trees and nts aside, that attracted some attention." Gil saw that there were a few fluttering monsters in the trees that still had proper leaves. The canopy of a jungle was nothing simple. It could take some abuse.


    Above them, there were plenty of monsters beginning to make their moves. They sensed that the area recently too dangerous to move in had changed. Tnhhey coulde here and search for new homes and food. Right now. There were many who had stumbled in and the entire section of jungle would be a battle for territory.


    "There are even weird white slugs moving in." Gik looked down at therge slug, it was brown and had slightly brighter white stripes. It moved a little faster than what he expected, but knew that the humid air must help it move about the jungle. He didn''t expect that


    something like this could survive here through.


    ''Mana burn slug


    This is considered a monster never to be touched. The devil centipede avoids this monster even though it is the top predator of the poison jungle dungeon. Simply put, the mana poison that this monster has gained through its growth is so dangerous that even the strongest monster within the poison jungle dungeon would not risk getting near it.


    The mana poison produced is not necessarily physical, it is condensed in ayer of mana and mucus on the mana burn slugs'' body. It both helps it move but also helps it break down any form of mana to consume and grow. It needs extremely little nutrients otherwise and can normally subsist off mana alone when needed.


    The mana burn poisons breaks down the mana in any form and turns it in to nutrients for the mana burn slug. The mana burn poison can cause all mana within the body for one who touched it to be erratic and unable to be utilized. This causes severe damage to the body and mind. Some even believe this damages the soul of the one afflicted by mana burn poisons.


    This form of poison monsters is very dangerous for mages and others who rely heavily on mana. It will affect everyone though to some degree.


    Even though it has such a potent unique poison, it is unable to grow much at all. The entirety of the mana burn slug species is unable to grow beyond being a monster. Their age is also limited to just a few yearspared to many other monsters that can live longer.


    Using the materials of this monster is incredibly foolish. Even attempting to make an antidote from its body will be putting the alchemist at an immense risk. It is something greater than the average grand potion. Something never done. The skin has never been sued while the meat has never been eaten. The eyes are even thought to cause mana to be erratic when...'' "Back away from that monster right now." Walker''s slightly shaky tone made Gil leap abc immediately. This did not seem like a normal reaction from Walker.


    "It is a mana burn slug. It possesses a poison that breaks down manas for it to consume. More than just a spirit, it can eat all manas. The poison will probably kill you and has no antidote as it stands right now." he was calm while he exined but proceeded to pick up a branch fallen


    on the ground nearby.


    With some wind mana, he sliced the branch in to a point before throwing it at the slug. In what appeared to be a deep breath, the slug''s body released more white mucus. The branch got caught in it and changed color immediately. It became a pale brown before cracking a little. All the mana inside had been stolen away by the mana burn slug in just a few moments. "What do you mean a poison without an antidote. Mana poison?" Remey''sck of understanding did not mean she was not taking this seriously. She was more focused on the level of danger something so weak appeared to possess.


    "Instead of being strong to survive, everything here developed some form of venom and poisons. This developed one that can make mana itself useless to you. Even make your own mana your source of death."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ....


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2351: 2351. So simple?

    Chapter 2351: 2351. So simple?


    ?


    When the small group heard that Walker was so on edge, they did not go against his warning whatsoever. This was another of the time she had been so on edge since they came in to the poison jungle dungeon. A small expedition to see what they could take as a future here had be a major risk.


    The white slug moved slowly, it had slowed its ce upon sensing the manas around. That had clearly also attracted it in the first ce. A monster that could use a unique poison to break down manas so it could eat them would need mana to sense mana and pursue it.


    There had just been arge amount of fire mana that was used. Not to mention all the mana that the guardian vine and root had used to control the entire jungle around it. That mana was now spreading out and being controlled by the nts which should have had control of it in the first ce.


    All this change in mana flow was definitely enough to attract more than just one monster or another. The more dangerous monsters would keeping. "Walker, what do you want us to do?" Gil''s arrows were sure to do damage. He knew he could fire them, but would they do enough damage?


    The attacks he could use could be down with just normal arrows made from tougher metals. This could definitely hurt the mana burn slug. But was it worth it?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Do you want to lose your arrows? because we can''t handle the poison on them. Even if you are the most careful you can be, it is still too risky." under no circumstances would Walker be letting gil touch anything that the mana burn slug touched.


    Gil was an arcane archer. He needed to use mana to make his arrows and overall skills stronger. Gil had also learned to draw in mana while utilizing the tur elven dagger techniques. If he were to be affected by mana burn poison and then use that style... Well, it might end up worse than expected.


    "I can handle it." One of the demi-human soldiers spoke out. He was a fox trait demi-human. His nose was exceptional and he had various tracking skills. But primarily, these were all skills that did not require mana.


    "What do you think stay away from that means?" Walker waved his hand and a wall of earth moved. But the soldier nodded and leaped to the top of it.


    "I am not touching it, I have these spiked balls made of condensed iron ore. There are small holes inside it. Some have poisons to confuse enemies or to disorient monsters. I am a scout that causes certain reactions to help those I work for. And I have salt on me."


    "You mean that you think that these mana burn slugs will react the same as the garden slug or the leaf melting slug will? Farmers use salt to chase them out of their fields but this is a monster with poison and poison resistance." Alma spoke for everyone, she believed that this monster would not be deterred by something like this at all.


    "And my skill, weakness sense tells me I can harm it." The demi-human pulled back a spiked ball in a slingshot. Out of all the odd weapons to be used here, Walker wanted to say that it would never work, but his gut said that he was overreacting right now.


    As the metal ball was released, it shot through the air with a slight whistle. The next moment, the spiked ball mmed in to the softer mucus covered skin of the mana burn slug. It prated and the slug began to il around. The salt within the little holes of the metal ball was actually working.


    "Well, I didn''t think that would work at all." Alma just looked at the slug as it tried to gather itself and move away from them. The soldier fired several more of the salt filled balls in to it. "I can''t say the skill is as good as the all round appraisal which tells you plenty more. But sometimes it tells me enough to get the job done."


    "A scout is the best defense against one of the most dangerous poisons that we have ever seen." As Gilughed a little, he pointed at Walker to get something to put the dying mana burn slug in. While they did not desire to research this monster, they had no choice. Since the slug would be dead soon, they had to make a move to bring it back.


    If they managed to do so, they could find things to prevent and protect them when it came to these monsters and their poisons. Especially when it came to fighting more of these in the future.


    "No one is going to move anywhere near it. I am going to use earth magic to move it in to one of the iron chests in my spatial storage. I am also going to seal it in earth as well before wrapping it in a cloth." Walker''s movements were quick and kept everyone away from the monster''s body. He also took one of the scout''s metal balls and looked at the salt.


    "Just salt, huh." he looked at the scout and the scout shrugged. "My parents are farmers. I always grew up using these things to get rid of pests. Then I became a scout and didn''t stop using them. I just do it for various reasons now." This was like a causal event for him, but to be fair, he had volunteered to work in the most dangerous group within a dangerous never explored dungeon.


    As Remey continued to bombard Walker for information after they had dealt with the mana burn slug, they also looked for other evidence of what the damage was left behind from the guardian vine and root. Not because they were worried more seeds or roots of the nt would be around, but to see what would happen if Alma grew it outside of this dungeon.


    They could see that some of the trees had been forcefully grown faster. Their bark was scarred and hadrger cracks. This meant that they had been saplings pushed to growrger and fused partially with other trees. The guardian vine and root might be a decent nt when controlled, but when let live freely, it was a pest to the forest, or in this case, the jungle.


    Once they returned to the remainder of the group that came for this expedition, Ignus also asked a few questions wanting more information. He had arrived when Remey had and gone to find the others while waiting. But he had also been in a few battles. The noise had attracted a few interesting monsters.


    "Gliding green snake, berserk rabbit, and the poison breath frog. All three attacked us while you were handling therger issue. As soon as we felt the change in the ground and the trees, they began to move through the trees. They were foolish toe near me." As far as Ignus was concerned, this was just the natural attempt for a monster to try and get territory. He was just there to stop them for the time being.


    Meanwhile, a lot of other things had begun to happen outside of the poison jungle dungeon. The information about a dungeon appearing and how it had been something around in the furthest if ancient times made a lot of gossip start. So many people had been full of fear recently because of the potential ancient monsters returning, unknown expansion of the world, and because there were monsters changing because they were finally getting the manas they needed to develop.


    Ter. right now, they saw another potential. ces of extreme value and treasure. They could discover it and be weed by that kingdom. Meaning, that all sorts of people with grandiose dreams began to push out and explore.


    The boom in adventurers, outer guards, and even mercenaries was hard to keep up with. Some issues would arise while these numbers rose. Undesirable tendencies and characters would be a sure thing. Every single kingdom had them. It would call for adjustedws while also calling for even more guards which were already being recruited and trained at all times. Another seemingly small change making waves throughout the entirety of the Genesis alliance. But that was just a second thoughtpared to the opening of the next bridge to the elemental nes. Walker would have sensed it immediately if he had not been within the poison jungle dungeon.


    Not that he didn''t know where it was. He had been there before and would be returning there much sooner than what he had expected. Mordant would be surprised as well.


    ....


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2352: 2352. Handling Situations

    Chapter 2352: 2352. Handling Situations


    ?


    "I was already pulled away from my own work." Su had been working on a few different things, but when she had been called back to the Genesis building to work on strange mana movement, she knew that Walker and the others would return from where they were at any time. Especially since Walker might sense the mana already.


    "It was first discovered near the new ruins which are still being explored and isted by the serpents under the careful watch of Onyx. The ancient human ruins are bing more of a benefit than expected. Over seventy pieces of knowledge about different ancient monsters. The false rat was discovered as a small statue and carving sas well."


    "The ruins nearby that were also found to be very active with mana. So much so that the mages are refusing to allow anyone to enter them again." This was the reason that Su had been called.


    The other representatives that were present were also very on edge. This ce had been found by Mordant and Walker. They had brought the shadow eating octopus back which was proving to be very intelligent. It was already helping the guards and learning a lot while opening up to the many people of Genesis.


    Yet, this was just evidence that the area was dangerous. Especially if there was evidence from Walker that the ce was somewhat linked to the bridges to the elemental nes. That there would most likely be a bridge there in the future, if not the near future.


    What the fear had been from the representatives when they ahead that the soldiers headed there to explore the area and guard it was that this was something from the elemental nes breaking through again.


    While things had worked out the first time because it was an intelligent race, what if it was a monster? They would be following the manas and have a bridge to return to the elemental nes after hunting if they desired. That alone could be arger possibility than what many others had expected so far.


    "Right now it is caution that is being taken. The mages have everything blocked off because we only have a few people that can handle any magical monster that may appear. That is not confirmed. When the first bridge to the elemental nes appeared, this was a simr event."


    Talking people down was what they all felt should be done right away. Especially because there were many people who wanted to rush things. It was even worse since there was a lot more pressure with the Cloud fairies approaching Genesis to be a stable race literally living above and around the alliance.


    This was all aside from other things going on right now. At the moment, Terron was building even more underground, not that they had solved most of the issues with the recent discoveries of ancient caverns. But that was causing even more worries for those beneath the ground.


    The dwarven road created to get to the dwarven city had been damaged again. Some monsters rushing through caused a change in the caverns. In turn, this caused a small copse that brought even more stress on the alliance representatives. Not that it was going poorly. There was a lot that this had shown.


    The projects that had been impacted as things changed needed more attention. The fast paced changes were causing older projected to be forgotten or put off. That needed to be addresed. "What we need right now is focus. Look at the current situation. Compare it to the changes in mana that happened on the ind where the first bridge to the elemental nes appeared. Analyze the mana and report back about what elemental ne might be in contact right now. Begin to map it out between this bridge and the other."


    "Now, we have other issues. We need to reevaluate the road to the dwarven city. We need to establish a better method for river travel since I heard there was another earthquake that caused a mudslide. I want to hear from Rise when she has finished her personal meetings. I know she had recovered more. She also sent her dragonkin to the cathedral too, I want to understand what else she may need."


    With Su being so firm with what she expected, her weight as one of the heroes had been used perfectly. Especially with the fact that she would normally be seen as the one who healed and worked with healers. But her words being used like this showed that she was not always soft and weing. Her shields could be a wall of strength that could keep helping Genesis grow on its foundations.


    "You do not need to send someone to check on me. I came here when I found out there were problems. I sent my dragonkin to the cathedral because I have grasped a purer light mana. One that allows me to change how I use my own light mana quite well."


    The entire aura that Rise had as she walked in was different. Even her words seemed a little softer. But that wasn''t all, her scales on her body in her dragonkin form appeared to be a little purer white than what they had been before she had gone to rest after thest event at the volcano.


    "Needed to confirm with Alice that the mana I felt was something she had felt. And when wepared it, I understood that it is more like the light mana that she draws by speaking. While purer, it is more naturally flowing. I have touched upon the proper flow of light mana." This made Su''s eyebrows raise. She had pushed down the panic of a rough situation when Walker was gone only to hear that Rise had made an advancement and then moved to help right away. The arrogance in Rise seemed to be much less than normal. She didn''t even have the same glint in her eye that told everyone she still believed she belonged high above them in the light of the sun rather than on the ground in the shadows.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That''s a good thing then, what do you n to do with it?"


    "Well, for first thoughts, I can sense the flow of light mana in the world. It has increased which I believe was why I could better grasp the flow of natural light mana and why the purer light mana I now wield is as such." It connected a lot better now. Su could tell what Rise was


    saying.


    "Since you believe it is the light elemental ne that is connected with that new bridge to the elemental nes, what are you suggesting?" She knew that Rise also had other ideas.


    "I wish to go to it and guard it. I believe that it was not the light elemental ne until just recently and is stabilizing itself as it should naturally be. Therge amount of light mana flowing in that area will strengthen myself and some of the younger dragons. I have two who are with child and they could require that mana. I will bring them there. And if anything is to cause a risk..."


    Her words did not need much else. For Rise to be stepping up for the benefit of the dragon race, the light dragons directly under her, meant a lot. There would be no dancing around problems or taking time. It would be handled right away and properly. She would not be allowing issues to run rampant.


    "Then you have my backing. I hope that you can also take some of the others with you to learn about what dragons need so that everyone is more familiar with your culture during times for mothers like this. I also want to make sure that there is a chance for others to learn from the mana there. The new light affinity ss users may need this to give them a better future."


    From the speed that Rise nodded, she had actually wanted this. She was a light dominator dragon who had taken an even greater step forward. As such, she believed her duty had expanded even more. Taking the lead with this was more than just part of her responsibility.


    For the dragons, Genesis had now be part of their viges. Even Rise would not look at it like it was lesser now. It just took a lot more time than the other dragons to fully understand within her mind and heart.


    "Hero Su, we have a report of the poison jungle dungeon exploration. The groups have returned. Some injuries and a massive amount of information. Otherwise, there is amunication crystal waiting for you to listen and respond to. Pleasee with me." The report was from a soldier guarding themunication crystals. His face told Su that she also could tell Walker what he needed to know about the current situation.


    ....


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2353: 2353. Lots Of Light Mana

    Chapter 2353: 2353. Lot''s Of Light Mana


    ?


    While Su handled things within the Genesis building with the representatives, Rise was already off. She had a total of five light dragons with there. Two elders carrying children within them, and three who had left others to handle things so that they could act as guards for the two vulnerable dragon elders.


    She could understand that Walker would being as soon as he was able. especially since the idea that another elemental bridge to the elemental nes was open he would want to test it.


    There was also the chance that another true sage would being through. They had yet to hear or meet the light true sage, someone that Rise both wished to meet and worried that she should not meet at all. Not because she feared them but because she was unsure.


    The depths of knowledge that the true light sage may have was more than what anyone within the world could have right now. Since Rise was still trying to understand her strength as a light dominator dragon, it could be bad for her to meet the true light sage.


    Some say that too much knowledge is a curse. For her, learning about even more aspects of light mana might cause her to be torn in too many directions. She could fail to advance properly and end up harming herself. That would leave the light dragons with either a weak leader or without one at all.


    The next royal light dragon would not even have a chance to grow properly before there was enough room for them to lead. What that would mean for the light dragons was a decline. They would not have a strong leader to be able to fight any of the other royal dragons if it came to a disagreement.


    While many would believe that the royal dragons were always bnced and at peace, they actually used their strength and age to determine a lot of issues between them.


    Risse was one of the oldest, she could fight and also held a lot of ability to heal herself using light healing skill in battle. Adding on to the buffing light skills, her naturally smaller body because she was a light dragon did not hold her back whatsoever.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This was all besides the fact that Rise had just grasped a greater understanding when it came to pure light mana. She was definitely able to grow significantly since that had happened. She would need a little more time to be able to handle those changes while also finding the path to gain more strength in her own affinity.


    The dragons carrying the metal transportation baskets with the dragonkin and other soldiers were focused on the sky ahead. The speed that the dragons could move with the mages they carried adding buffs was spectacr. They had never felt this speed before, even when they had first started flying, this was a wondrous feeling.


    The speed that they moved did not hide the flow of mana that they felt growing though. While they were light dragons they were naturally attuned to the light mana around. But that did not mean they were prepared for the strength of the light mana that they could feel right now. It was many times more intense than what they were used to feeling within the world.


    Yes, the light mana density had grown significantly because of the light runes and the formations made with them all over the light dragon territory. This was further boosted by the magic tower along with various other aspects of Genesis right now. But even that was nowhere near the purity and density of light mana that was flowing nearby.


    "There is a lot more light mana here than what I imagined. We need to prepare for what may happen." Rise knew that some of those who were too weak may be negatively affected by the purity and density of light mana. While the dragons and dragonkin would benefit, some of the other races may not. They had yet to sense this strength of mana before.


    "My serpents and I will handle that!" as the dragons had lowered their altitude to have a better view of the area and make sure theynded nearby the camps prepared by the mages already here, the voice of Onyx broke through the air. He had been traveling with arge group of serpents underneath them when he had noticed their approach.


    He had remained at the nearby ruins but when the light mana began to pour from the new bridge to the elemental nes, he had begun to help here and there. It was also an extremely valuable chance for the youngest serpents. They could grow much faster by getting so much light mana to feed on.


    "We can work together to draw in the denser light mana for our own uses. That way everyone in the camps can rest better and study what they needed to. If this is like thest time the bridge on the elemental nes opened, the flow of mana will slow down soon." The yelling between them using Onyx''s mentalmunication was enough to get the message across to everyone.


    With their n prepared,nding at the camping in to view was easy. It was also somewhat stunning that Onyx was using the shadows to help all the serpents, including the heavenly serpents, to move faster. He had clearly learned something more as ofte about utilizing the dark mana to move better. Clearly a lesson from Mordant.


    Mordant could use the shadows to travel great distances. Right now, Onyx was not in hisrgest and full form. Instead, he had many small serpents on top of him or in his shadow as well. They were moving very quicklypared to a normal speed. Meaning they reached the camp right behind the dragons who kicked up a lot of dust and sand from between the rockynd.


    "Please report to me." Rise spoke calmly while the others were hurrying to get themselves out of their transportation. The dragons began to sniff the air and sense the mana much more clearly. With Onyx''s arrival, there were many serpents that began to form groups. They would be moving all around the camp to absorb the mana and avoid its build up in any one ce. "Yes! The light mana began to burst out from the cavern ruins. We have yet to begin proper exploration and removal of all ancient materials within. The other ruins and the local monsters had kept us from doing so. Once we had this outflow of mana, we called for more mages. Now we are recording the information about how much mana topare with the amount of mana that flows out from the other bridge to the elemental nes. It is dropping her but slower than we believe thest bridge."


    It was a lot all at once but that was what Rise wanted to hear. She needed this information before she was going to go anywhere near the open bridge to the elemental nes. "You did well to set up these camps and patrols. I see that some of your fellow mages are suffering from too much light mana. Have them rest at the center of the camp since we are having those who can absorb more mana to counteract the effects." The mage began to yell these orders while Rise felt Onyxe up next to her.


    "I am going in there with you. The ruins nearby were affected. These are also ruins. I took responsibility for the information we learned from then. I can''t help but feel this is also part of my responsibilities." Onyx also did not wish to just ignore this while he knew that he would be able to help. He could do good things here and would not let that walk on by. "That will be very good. You understand light mana in a different way still, than what I can understand it. I assume that is because you had fed off of it since before you were even born and conscious. I need you to tell me how you feel about mana and what you see."


    A nod from Onyx was seen in agreement. He also understood that Rise saw things from a different view and her words were valuable too. "I have already noticed one thing. There are no elemental spirits appearing yet. When the first bridge opened, they came rushing. Out and to. Here, I see none."


    And so a point was made. What could and would stop the elemental spirits from nearing the elemental bridge. They would wish toe here since there was a lot more elemental mana for them to absorb. They would also be curious to leave the elemental nes. Meaning, that there was something halting them in their journey right now.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2354: 2354. Damaging Light

    Chapter 2354: 2354. Damaging Light


    ?


    As everyone had begun to take their positions, the mages who had already made their ways here had managed to calm themselves. Those suffering from the excess light mana overworking their bodies and mind had also shown improvement.


    The healing tent had not been able to handle this ailment. Not that it was the first time such an ailment had been found, but it was hard to handle. The healers that were handling it would need to have the light affinity and be able to draw out light mana from the body of their patient.


    This being the case meant that they had to have a lot more training than what most people had. Especially since there were plenty of people that did not have the time to gain enough training in the flow of mana through a body.


    The healers were well trained, this was not a worry at all. Especially some of the older healers who had taken the lead on this illness right now. They were showing the younger healers who the mana in various races would flow through their bodies. But that was also the issue.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They did not know how the mana flowed through every race in a detailed sense that would make this a safe method to heal them entirely. Leaving a damage to their mana flow or even causing more damage to the mana flowing improperly would be the worst case. That was a deterrent enough.


    Before Rise and Onyx even went to investigate, they had watched and felt the changes in the area as the other serpents and dragons began to pull away the multitude of purer light mana to nourish their bodies and the bodies of the children that the dragons carried within them. This would allow for the two, yet to be born, dragon eggs to be much healthier and most likely stronger once hatched.


    That somewhat positive news allowed for Onyx and Rise to focus more on the issue of being unable to help and heal those suffering right now. The excess of mana was putting a strain on some of the mages, and others with light affinities, bodies.


    If this continued, it could affect the ways that tier manas flowed for their entire lives. Some would be forced to always be in areas with higher light mana since their affinity would require it to be able to use the light mana overall. Others would be unable to handle spikes in light mana making them prone to falling unconscious when afflicted by high amounts of light mana. Their affinity would literally be a weakness for them.


    There were many people who would search out ces with these higher amounts of light mana to train. Hence why the serpents who consumed light mana were enjoying the area and would be able to be stronger. For some, this was ideal training for them. For those who could learn more about how to userger amounts of light mana or to be able to control therger amounts of light mana in general.


    While this training was risky, it was the best way for some who needed to grow like this. Walker was one person who had done exactly that. He had taken a lot of time to meditate within the deeper and purer, manas within the magic tower to understand manas.


    He also decided to do simr meditation in the rune formations and also when he was nearby the bridges to the elemental nes. Well, for the moment, he had only done it near one bridge. But now he would have the chance to do it within another.


    "Right now, the healers with the proper affinities are pulling little bits of manas from the dragonkin who are affected. The angels who were here and affected have been sent back to Genesis. They were absorbing mana through their wings which forced them to be unable to regte it. Otherwise, the humans have been handled. We have some smaller issues with a few of the white wing harpies. They are a new group of magic using harpies who are not acting as messengers."


    This was a worry since the harpy race had finally begun to branch out from being messengers. The harpy queen had made multiple groups and even began helping the harpy race enter the guard and battle side of things. But that was still mostly inmunication and scouting. Not in a direct battle.


    The white wing harpies were a small squad of harpies who had pure white wings due to their fairly high light affinity. Their growth had been important because they had purification magic skills, healing light skills, and some of them had even had battle rted skills that shaped light mana in to arrows. Allowing for there to be magic archers from the sky that could avoid ranged attacks while dealing them.


    It was another break through for the archery and magic sses. Mostly though, it was a showcase of the lengths that a younger race was taking so that they could keep pursuing another level of strength. To be a solid foundation for Genesis as a monster race that was leaving their monstrous history in the past in turn for their new future as a recognized intelligent race.


    "I can have the youngest of the abyssal serpents live around them for a few days and naturally bring out the light mana. But they are going to be unconscious for a few days if that is the case." Onyx knew that the issue within the light mana had to be held back until they handled the injuries it caused.


    This was not intentional at all. The groups that hade here originally when an issue was detected had those more sensitive to light mana because that was what had been sensed. They firstly went there to figure out why the light mana was bursting around the area. Not because they realized there was a danger for themselves. Of course the younger would wish to be there as well. It was just an ident in the overall nning since a bridge to the elemental nes opening was not, in theory, going to open so soon.


    "I can handle that. The elders who are on edge for the two who need this mana are able to draw out the mana while using healing skills. One has been able to awaken a ss called the soothing light dragon, it altered the way she used light mana as a whole while keeping her ace and overall abilities intact. She is limited to not using light mana for attacks intentionally."


    The elder light dragon that Rise spoke of was one who had always detested fighting between dragons. So much that she had actively prevented several over the course of her life just with words alone. She had perfected using light mana to create a calming and soothing atmosphere. Earning her multiple skills that were ideal for when someone was injured and in both physical and mental pain.


    As such, she had gained the soothing light dragon ss. It was a clear example of how someone''s actions and emotions could affect the ss they received as well. Especially when it came to how they used their mana and abilities.


    A dragon that preferred peace was also very helpful because they were able to act as a mediator for multiple harder conversations. She had already done so a few times between some of the elder dragons who wished to handle their issues alone without troubling the royal dragons.


    "Then I will trust her to work on this, can she handle this as the lead?" OPnyx saw an immediate affirmation from Rise. "then we can ignore the injuries while we focus on the reason we are not seeing any light elemental spirits right now." It felt a little too easy to Onyx. he had caught up to what Rise was thinking.


    They both had focused on the flow of light manaing out in seeminglyrger bursts. Not in a constant flow. Meaning that there was truly something causing the light mana to be stuck. Not just the light elemental spirits who might wish to travel through to the world. The weaker light elemental spirits would have been the first toe.


    "I do worry that there is something that is trying to take any of the light elemental spirits appearing there. If they were to sense something we could not, then that would stop then, right?" Onyx''s worries voiced something that Rise and also somewhat thought. There might be a monster trying to consume the light elemental spirits. It would deter the spirits while also meaning that they would have a harder time dealing with all this.


    "I will hope that is not the issue." Rise focused her senses entirely on light mana while she stepped forward. She was prepared to take her full light dominator dragon form at any


    second.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2355: 2355. Accidental Mix

    Chapter 2355: 2355. idental Mix


    ?


    Just nearing the ruin where the potential bridge to the elemental nes had been found, Onyx and Rise sensed something strange. It was better to describe what they felt was like


    something slipping through their fingers than just mana leaking.


    The feeling that the light mana had hit a wall and was slowly slipping through rather than being held back was a better way to describe what was going on in this situation. Especially since when they tried to pull at the light mana, they found that they could not force it to move any faster. Nor could they push the light mana to stop flowing either.


    "It is under some sort of pressure?" This was an odd feeling. Onyx had never sensed something like this. He had never felt that the light mana was under pressure.


    While he had used light mana to condense in to armor on his scales, it had been bnced by the dark mana as well, he had managed to keep it well bnced and condensed, but it was not so dense that it wanted to spread back out entirely.


    For someone to condense light mana enough that they could say it was under pressure, there would have to be something more going on. Either the light mana was surrounded by dark mana as an opposite, or something was intentionally trying to for the light mana away from the condensed state it had been pushed in to.


    "Yes it is, I can''t make it listen to me." Rise even felt that using the light mana she had stored in her body was impossible right now.


    These situations where they could not influence manas around them, not just Onyx and Rise, felt to be getting more and moremon.


    This had happened to Walker and the others when they had encountered some ancient monsters, also at the poison jungle dungeon to a degree. The fact that there were forces that even they could not influence proved that the ancient aspects of the world were much more powerful than what they realized.


    Beyond this, there was the fact that they and others would need to be able to contend with these powerful forces. Some of which could be monsters or intelligent races. The newest racesing from the elemental nes had shown that they had strength, but that they could resist some of the more powerful and dense manas.


    Considering this as a key, the races that had been within the world and seemingly suffered due to the losses in mana over many generations could try to grow differently. Could push themselves to grow faster when it came to how they were able to handle the manasing to the world.


    Not that this was a focus right this second. Onyx and Rise had just stepped inside the ruins and noticed the differences from what the reports had told them of everything within this massive stone chamber, or cave.


    "There is a lot more sand here than there was in the reports. It is more like the manas have pushed the soil in to clusters of sand." Onyx wondered why this might be. Light mana should not cause this effect on earth at all. They were not mixed like this naturally.


    "No, but if the edge of the heart elemental ne then the light ne took over it might." understanding a theory right away, Rise began to move the clustered sand which had been partially rock and dust before the burst of earth mana.


    "The heart mana rushed through the bridge as it opened. Causing the earth spirits and whatever else to begin flowing in through it. Then, the elemental nes shifted and the light and earth manas mixed before leaving only light mana."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Picking up a few pieces of the clustered sands, Rise showed Onyx that they were full of light mana. The centers of the sand clusters had condensed in to a mixture of light and earth mana crystals. While brittle, they were still holding the manas.


    "I would say that the earth mana attracted the dust and loose earth. But the change in the soil from earth mana to light being prevalent suddenly attracted the earth toward the bridge. Now, there is a blockage of earth and light mixed together. We can''t control it because it is bound with earth as well. We can''t force it because the pressure stops us. The light mana wants to flow naturally but can not."


    It was not overlyplicated. This was just what happened by ident when the shift of the elemental nes met the sudden opening of another bridge to the elemental nes. It was just an unfortunate happening of natural events. Nothing caused by monsters and nothing actually wrong.


    "So the elemental spirits can not travel safely through this bridge. They can sense that innate and avoided the area because they could be harmed." Finding the clear solution to the question of why they had not seen the elemental spirits who were not spirit race members, Onyx was sure that this would change when they found a solution to the issue at hand.


    "If we break it by force, we will cause a flood of light mana. We need to send the others away or create a more solid defense for them." Rise began to think about the flood of light mana that would push through the bridge. It had been held back from flowing naturally. If this was left alone, the other bridge to the elemental nes would most likely be affected. But also the entirety of the elemental nes would fall out of bnce as well.


    "Then what should we do when we do not have heart mages here?"


    "Just as your older brother who rushed her by himself after he heard you might need help with an opening of another bridge to the elemental nes." There was a bit of sweat on Walkers'' forehead when he spoke. He was trying to keep himself calmer than what he looked but both Onyx and Rise could tell he had sped here without a single second of holding back at all. "Brother, can you handle the heart mana?" Onyx didn''t even skip a beat and began working with Walker.


    "I can, Risse will have to handle the light mana to deflect it a little. You will have to absorb light mana to defend those at the camp. Have them all gather together. The mana will be heavy but we can handle it." there was a clear trust in Walker''s tone. He knew that they would be able to handle it without a doubt. Especially since they were all working together and had done so before.


    Knowing the light mana would only have one direction to flow, Onyx took his full sized form from his shadow. He blocked the majority of the entrance to this chamber while Rise began to gather her mental strength. This left Walker to sense the oddities within the bridge to the elemental nes.


    He could feel the mixture of light and earth mana. All smashed together without proper bnce. It was an interesting event that he would like to researchter. The brittle earth and light mana crystals would have to have some sort of name or proper exnation. This wasn''t the right time to go delving deeper in to it though.


    As he grasped the earth mana within the bridge of the elemental nes, Walker also felt some resistance from the space mana. This was an odd event but the space mana was held true by thews of existence. While this situation was not normal, the space should not be interfered with.


    This forced Walker to split his attention and use what little influence over space mana he had to change things again. To allow for the trapped pieces of light and heart mana to be freed


    from their ces.


    The more he pulled and tried to reshape the heart made light mana, the more that light mana began to push at the wall of mixed mana crystals. Rise gave a slight growl and pulled at the light mana which still somewhat refused to listen to her will as a light dominator dragon. That was until a sudden shaking of the mana reached all of them before light mana erupted forward in to the world.


    Between the three, the light mana was brutal but manageable. Onyx''s ability to absorb arge amount of dense light mana was due to his size and level. He could do much more than the younger serpents. Rise could also deflect back a lot of that light mana forcing it to flow slower out of the bridge. This left Walker who was still removing the remaining earth portions messing with the bridge.


    Everyone outside sensed this while they defended from the bursts of light mana as well. A moment of toughness that tested their overall strengths as well.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2356: 2356. Aspects Of Light

    Chapter 2356: 2356. Aspects Of Light


    ?


    Therge amount of mana changing flow around the world caused many mages to be broken from meditation. This wasn''t the only thing though. Plenty of those with a greater sensitivity for mana in general sensed it all too clearly.


    While this was nothing dangerous, it did cause the rune carvers worries. This was because the elemental rune formations were affected for a slight time. Proving that all the safeguards to protect their rune formations had been incredibly valuable. But the older rune formations were damaged causing many different reactions.


    The break down fo the peddler runes forced Genesis and other kingdoms to begin their action ns for just this situation.


    Within the Genesis building, it had been theorized that the changes in mana across the world might have various effects. Besides the chances that monsters, nts, and people would change, there was the fact that existing aspects of their kingdoms would be affected.


    Thus many kingdoms had already been altering and updating things like rune formations. Especially on the guard armors and other important defensive aspects of their cities, towns, and viges. This had been the best move since this sudden shift in mana flow caused some damage that was mostly mitigated due to the already changed rune formations.


    Those that had been damaged had been prepared to be reced and now were being reced fr shut down at a rapid rate. Many guards had mobilized to escort those with the expertise to handle these issues. The speed that it happened was immacte.


    Not that any of this was on Walker''s mind after they had managed to break the blockage of manas. He was mostly focused on their situation.


    After the light mana had flowed out, Rise and done a significant amount of effort to slow the light mana pouring out until it adjusted. While it had been only a short ten minutes, to her, it had felt like hours. That was just the result of pressure on her mind and the sheer amount of light mana that had flowed out.


    For Onyx, he was forced in to a slumber. While he had not gathered all the light mana since that would have been impossible. He had absorbed so much that his body had been unable to handle it right now. Therefore, he needed to rest so that his body could properly process it and use it as nourishment.


    Walker could sense the higher purity light mana that was within Onyx. It told him that Onyx would needed a lot longer to absorb it than what he had needed in the past. However, Walker also noticed that Onyx had not been alone at all. Instead of just Onyx, there had been another hiding in his shadow that had been pulled out when Onyx had taken his full form. Someone familiar.


    "I still don''t know what you were thinking. You came with Onyx and Alice knew it. That I understand. But you also put him and yourself at risk by taking in a lot more of that light mana too. That''s why you need to rest. So sleep and I will have a word with Alice about whether or not you will be allowed to head out of the cathedral for some time."


    Walker''s words were out of worry. He knew that Aurora had been trying to grow stronger. She had been following the healing aspects of the cathedral and bing a better heavenly serpent. However, she had be much more attached to Onyx since Onyx had shown the drive and model of someone who truly cared about their dual serpent race.


    Since Walker knew there was certainly more to it than just what could be seen from the outside, he didn''t have a chance to think about this. Aurora had learned tomunicate in the same way that Onyx had. He she had learned tomunicate mentally. But instead, she followed Alice''s lead and did not speak much.


    Regardless of that, she was following in Onyx''s footsteps. She had been the first heavenly serpent to hatch and grow, proving that she had the chance to grow to lead the heavenly serpents too. But more than that, she was clearly trying to match Onyx. hence why she hade here too with the permission of Alice. And Alice would have supported Aurora no matter what, Walker knew this.


    "I don''t know what I would do if Aurora had been injured and I had to tell Onyx that or Alice that." He was stressed out and the slightly risky situation they had been in did not help. But Rise was still conscious even though she kept saying she would properly rest, so Walker was speaking with her and avoiding his own mental fatigue.


    "You should understand it though. She wanted to grow stronger and be like him. Even if there was not more to their race, they both are the first to hatch of their aspects within their race. They are examples. I have seen it in the cathedral, you know. The two are followed around and reported to constantly."


    For Walker to have missed that the youngest of the heavenly serpents reports and made a point to follow or see Aurora meant that he had not spent enough time visiting theretely. It was a failure for him with everything being so busy.


    He knew that Onyx took the lead with the serpents, but he missed this aspect of their race? What kind of leader could he be? "I will have to look in to things better. It''s my fault if they are not properly prepared to be leaders. I also should look in to this bridge sooner thanter. The light mana is still a little odd. I think we have a visitor on the way."


    "Visitor?" As Rise began to stand, Walker made a slight gesture. He made the light mana move around her and she barely reacted.


    "You can barely sense the flow of light mana because you overexerted yourself. Rest for a while and you can meet themter. But until you can properly reim your own senses, rest just like those two." Walker knew that Rise might follow anyways. He couldn''t win so he just had to make sure he gave his advice properly.


    As Walker pushed his fatigue to the back of his mind, he saw the two elder light dragons who appeared more full of mana and even life than before. The burst of light mana had gone very far to nourish the small eggs they carried within their bodies. It made Walker think about all the progress that was happening.


    The dragons had always been a race with fewer members because of their methods, strength, and long lifespans. Yet, since Genesis was founded and they had begun to live there, it was already predicted they would have a record breaking growth within their race. Many of the dragons failing to bring new life had reported the signs that new life was on the way.


    Proof that all the efforts given to maintain and grow the manas in certain areas was having a brilliant effect. Another unforeseen solution to an issue that they had not even realized was happening because the world''s mana had been improper for a length of time.


    This positive reminder calmed Walker''s worries about other races in the future. To know that there was already a major sign that things were improving made him happy. But the feeling of light mana he senseding from the newly formed bridge to the elemental nes, that worried him a little.


    While the control of that light mana reminded him of the true sages, he knew that it was different. It was weaker. And it also did not show the same signs of when the true wind sage had visited. The false body he had created definitely did not show this sort of control over mana. Proving that it was another representative or being of simr strength but potentially not rted to the true sage at all.


    He had used mana to clear the area around the bridge to the elemental nes. Therge pile of brittle light and heart mana crystals would be researchedter. Walker had still not used his all around appraisal on them since he did not have the seconds to worry about their uses or


    qualities.


    Right now, he was focused on the fluctuations of light mana and the few light elemental spirits around. They were making way for a somewhat familiar, yet unfamiliar, scaled head breaking through the bridge to the elemental nes. One muchrger than what Walker thought of as familiar.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "You are definitely not the heavenly serpent that I would expect to know. Not one that was raised here or one that has ever been to the world I would say." The white crystalline scales proved this while the nearly clear eyes were focusing on Walker. Dense light mana coursed through and around the body of the serpent that had just arrived.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2357: 2357. Powerful Visitor

    Chapter 2357: 2357. Powerful Visitor


    ?


    ''Crystalline light serpent race


    Once of the same blood as the ancient heavenly and abyssal serpents, the heavenly serpent unable to find their perfect partner began to grow differently. They released their need for bnce in darkness mana and slowly adapted to pure light mana. This has led to their scales and majority of their bodies being made up of extremely pure and condensed light elemental crystals instead of normal scales.


    Often known for patrolling the edges of the light elemental ne when the nes shift and ovep, they are powerful forces to be reckoned with. They can often purify many manas and beings utilizing their extremely high affinity and innate knowledge of light mana. They are known to prefer peace and purity over all other things which is why they are considered the best followers for the true light sage.


    While the size they can grow is not limited by the mana around them since the atmosphere of the light elemental nes is so dense with pure light mana, it is limited by their age. They can only grow fifty feet within one year which is a rule of existence to prevent them from


    bing creatures unbound by the rules of all things.


    While very few in numbers, the crystalline light serpent race can be considered one to be respected. Mostly because they have a long history of mediating the battles between elemental nes and quelling them with overwhelming control over light mana.


    They can barely survive outside of dense pure light mana, it will cause them to shed their skin which will cause them to regress in strength significantly. Making them weak to predators and als causing them to need years to reim their former strength. They will almost never leave the light elemental ne for any length of time unless necessary...''


    "I can not stay here long. I will only remain here for a moment to ensure the safety of the light elemental ne. I followed the changes and the altered flow of manas." The voice was deep yet light. An odd mixture that came from the mind rather than from an actual vocalization. The very same way that many simr beings without the ability could speak.


    Turning its head, the crystalline light serpent looked carefully at Walker again. Its eyes widened when it felt the manas around him. Clearly it was understanding who and what Walker was now. "I see that I was not needed here."


    "No, that is not it at all. I am grateful to learn a little about your race with my all around appraisal skill. The world is adjusting and an odd moment of natural flows happened here. The mana block was repaired and I am d to see that someone so caring was nearby to examine the flow." There was only respect in Walker''s tone. He understood the care that this being must take in their own actions every day.


    "I can sense that you used quite the effort to repair the issues here. I will ensure that I spread the information to those who guide me in my path to true light mana understanding and purity."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Catching this, Walker looked a little more focused now, he forced his mind to keep calm since he knew this could be a good chance. "I know that the elemental nes are shifting as they should. If you can let the true light sage or someone who can contact them know that they are wee to visit the world, we are looking forward to it. The true wind sage recently visited so I know that the other true sages are also interested in doing so."


    This made the crystalline light serpent lower its head a little. It knew that this was not a simple request. For an origin being, even a young one, to ask this of them, it was important. "There''s no need to stress out over this. I am not demanding anything of you. It is a simple request if you have the time. Please do not worry yourself. And if you must leave, I understand you are risking a lot to be here. I do not want to see your hard work be lost while you are here."


    With this, Walker gathered more of the ambient light mana around the crystalline light serpent. He wanted to ask more questions of how the abyssal and heavenly serpents had changed over the years. He knew for sure that there were still members of their race around. However, he wondered how the crystalline light serpents came to be.


    Their history might have been caused by more than justck of partners. The all around appraisal was not concrete. It could miss things and Walker wished he could look in to getting a more detailed and consistent appraisal. Unfortunately, that did not have the benefits of the all around appraisal.


    Some information within the skill was more than what would normally be disyed. It might not necessarily fit the exact topic he was trying to glean information from. But that was fine. The more he knew overall the better. It would make him more knowledgeable along with others around him. Information was power after all.


    "I will be the carrier of your message. Young one. You have my word." There was no hesitation. Just an instant reply full of promise and trust. Walker couldn''t help but be impressed. He found that those with the belief in protecting the elemental nes purity and bnce was always a positive aspect. Or at the very least. He had only met those who took it as a positive.


    Those that may take it as a negative and more brutal action were far and few between when considering all those he had met so far. Especially out of those who had mentioned or been to the world while it adjusted.


    "Then I will not hold you up. Please go to where you need to be so that you are safe and sound. I am Walker. I hope that we see one another again some day. I know the elemental nes are vast and the chances are slim. But familiar faces are always nice to see."


    Without saying another word, the crystalline light serpent was turning around and slithering back through the bridge to the elemental ns. Walker did notice a few small crystalline light scales falling on the ground. It had not been that long, but still, the crystalline light serpent had suffered some.


    He didn''t want to leave them lying around and stored them away. While he had no idea what they would be useful from, everything had a use. Ideally, he could find a way that they would be used in the areas of the light dragon territory. Potentially helping the light mana gather there so that when others from the light mana elemental ne visited, they could rest safely. Sitting on the ground, Walker didn''t see the reason he should rush anywhere. He was able to take a proper breath for a moment. He should take it while he could. All the running around and rushing here and there was going to get to him sooner orter. Especially since he was going longer and longer without sleep.


    He started to believe that he might never need sleep as long as he had the right amount of mana. Not that he could easily push off the mental fatigue. He was feeling it right now. The mix of earth and light mana in the condensed but brittle light and earth crystals had cost a lot of mana to influence. Then now, he had met with a very powerful being from the elemental


    nes.


    The sudden arrival of light elemental spirits proved that everything was properly moving as it should. Having a slight interruption to the flow of manas as the world adjusted was potentially detrimental. It could have caused many more issues across the world. Yet. Walker also knew that this was a test.


    It was a more natural phenomenon this time. The change of the elemental nes flow and also the opening of an elemental bridge. If this situation were to concur and they had to track down the issue, things could have been worse.


    If they had considered that this was worse and was caused by a monster, then they could have been in for a major battle. A battle that could have damaged the world and also the people within. This was able to keep them on their toes for when such an instance may ur in the


    future.


    Most importantly, he had managed to get a message to the true light sage. Whether or not they visited did not matter at all. As long as it was shown that Walker was trying tomunicate, things could go well. All the true sages would know he was still weing and determined to be within full bnce.


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2358: 2358. The Situation

    Chapter 2358: 2358. The Situation


    ?


    All things aside, the hour after Walker had spoken with the crystalline light serpent, Walker had a great deal more to contemte.


    It wasn''t just the new bridges to the elemental nes opening faster than he expected. He knew that this could be caused by many things. Mostly by the fact that Genesis and all kingdoms were advancing their usage and flow of mana.


    The rune formations were of every single elemental mana. Therefore, they attracted those manas to certain areas and even contributed hugely to the flows of mana. Allowing for those manas to be denser and purer. Helping both the world adjust and the people within the world begin to awaken parts of themselves that had been dormant for generations.


    Due to this, the changes were constant and the world overall was growing faster than theorized when the first bridge to the elemental nes had opened. Not that this was a bad thing. It just meant that more attention needed to be taken.


    Scouting out more locations where the bridges to the elemental nes opened would be extremely important. While Walker meditated on this, he recalled what he had been told about the locations and how many bridges there would be.


    It was not an infinite number of bridges. They matched the core aspects of man that made up the world while ignoring the moreplicated forms of mana like space, time, life, and death. Not that it was impossible they could exist as bridges, but more so that they were unique aspects of everything causing them to be beyond being just simply part of the bridges. It meant to walker, that there would still need to be four bridges to the elemental nes that needed to reform properly. They could be anywhere within the world. The issues that he had just faced were the main concern.


    The elemental nes were still shifting. The areas that these bridges used to be might be ancient ruins like the one he was resting in. If that was the case, the same incident might happen where different manas collided when the bridge opened properly. Causing strange


    events.


    This brought his mind back to the brittle earth and light crystals.


    ''Brittle sky sand mana crystals.


    A unique form of very weakly bonded elemental mana crystal that is normally found in ces where light and earth collide. Many times this is only along the borders of the light and earth elemental nes. However, when this elemental crystal is formed, it creates a very interesting effect.


    The mixed mana of light and earth can allow for purification magic to be used with this mana crystal as a focus. It will allow the process of purifying and enhancing metals to be much easier. Especially when the crystals are burned within the forge mes.


    This is also an elemental crystal that some of the monsters living within these borders require to survive. As such, it is the core and nutrients for many of them causing them to be able to only leave or survive outside of that border if they have adequately absorbed these brittle crystals.


    The weak formation is due to the sudden collisions of the manas within these elemental crystals. They can be further refined by a mana crystal smith or an arcane crystal forger. Both are exceptionally rare sses...''


    He saw that this referenced an area of the elemental nes he had not been to. Monsters he might be able to learn about. Even further, it mentioned that the bonds could be strengthened by two sses he had not heard of.


    While crystal rted sses existed, they were few and far between. Some were even not at all rted to mana crystals and just the earth crystals or spirits that utilized certain earth crystals. Regardless of that. It meant that there were limits to what the crystals could do unless they were influenced and processed by these ss users in the future.


    It inspired Walker to bring the crystals along though. If these brittle sky sand crystals could be used, then he could push them toward the younger generations still developing. Mana crystals that had the light of the sky by the softness of sand were a great way to hook a new generation of exploration and unique ss users.


    This was just a good direction for those pursuing innovation. But there were also those who would look toward the dungeons. Another set of issues that he was worried about.


    The dungeons were something that would also be appearing. Unique aspects of the word finally returning from ancient times that almost no race had any history remaining of. Extremely ancient and had to appear right now when things were already under stress from other aspects of the world being discovered due to expansion and return of mana flow.


    People would get sses rted to dungeons though. That was a surety which could not be avoided. No one would be able to say that it would not happen. He and everyone would fully expect more dungeon explorers to rise. They would need to be strong though.


    This might be existence or the worlds'' way of providing unique methods of growth for the world since it was a bnce of all manas between the grandness of elemental nes and whatever was out in the chaos beyond that. However, it was also a clear example of how weak people were.


    Even Walker''s group of powerful people had struggled against monsters and nts within the poison jungle dungeon. Proving that there was danger greater than what the levels showed. If anyone who had less experience or training than them had gone in, there could have easily been deaths. That wasn''t even speaking to what other forms of dungeons might be out in the world awakening.


    The potential for dangers to be out there right now was very high. Especially since the word was more or less back to having unexplored and not at all mapped areas. Tasks which would take years to handle at the rate that Genesis was going.


    It wasn''t taking longer because they were not putting the effort in. Instead, it was because of all the issues riding. Every single thing that needed focus tore away attention from other aspects of growth. Time was the most valuable resource for everyone right now.


    This wasn''t ignoring the fact that there were many ways for people to train and gain the strength needed to survive these ces. Walker literally gained strength and levels the more he understood and absorbed mana. It improved many of his skills while also being part of who he was now.


    This would definitely be the same for some others who would always be working on what they could do to improve naturally. Whether or not they were pushing themselves more for Genesis to develop was up to them, but they could get stronger. He would just need to have faith and keep sharing as much information as possible to help them with that process.


    After a deep breath, he looked at his hands for a moment and felt the changes in the mana flowing around him. He could sense the manas around him a lot better now than he used to. It was why he could tell that the light mana had calmed down significantly. That all the mana around him and most likely the world was properly flowing even better than before.


    It meant that more changes to people and the world itself would ur. Not a terrible thing, just one that he would need to be prepared for. The fact that many races and monsters were awakening ancient aspects of who they were was necessary to handle as it came. He worried that some of the demi-humans would struggle more than others.


    Some had monster traits passed down in their bloodlines. Proving that they could potentially have skills and instincts that would make their lives harder. He couldn''t do too much for that depending on what that situation was. He would need to look towards those like Scy who had been brown with monster traits.


    It was just another thing on the list he worried about. Another aspect of what he might be able to do to help others while maintaining the foundation that Genesis was built on. He could rest easier knowing that many others were working alongside him.


    The mage towers had taken another step recently. All this mana had helped the condensation of naturally urring runes. Meaning that there were small herb gardens and rune formations already showing signs that a naturally urring rune may form. An ideal ce for the miniature mage towers which would be the anchors for teleportation formation and boosting the mana flow even more.


    The time was shortened and he looked forward to the building of the first. He would personally be going there regardless of the current situation to protect it. Not because he didn''t care for the other issues uring, but because he knew the importance of the smaller mage towers to the entire alliance.


    ....


    ....N?v(el)B\\jnn


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 Chapter 2359: 2359. Age Of Exploration

    Chapter 2359: 2359. Age Of Exploration


    ?


    "Today we are here to discuss a serious issue that we have faced for the first time in a very long time when ites to our remembered history." The seriousness in the Vampires'' voice was greater than what anyone would expect when there had just been some good news from the vampires.


    Originally, the vampires had exined that they would be unable to continue their building when it came to any territory. Not because theycked the materials or ability. It was because they hade to a stoppage in their numbers. Not enough vampires had survive dof their race to do so.


    Why was that good? Because they were able to rediscover their ability to grow as a poption.


    While that sounds strange, the vampires were a nearly immortal race that highly regarded their bloodline. They were able to influence other humanoid races and even change the bloodline if they passed enough of their own to that being. On top of this, they could grow as any natural being between two individuals.


    That aside, the vampires had realized that their current bonds with other races was a major benefit to them. They had lost portions of their history and their numbers. To rediscover it, they had reached out for help and found an amazing partnership in the demon race.


    Because they had been so few in numbers and suffered servitude to their strongest, members, the demons and immediately felt fro that. They too had been held in servitude to the strongest of their race, some of which even became monsters.


    This being the case, the two races got much closer and discovered many rtionships. Both growing their poptions and also proving that their bloodlines were extremelypatible. Noth leading to the first births of vampires with some demonic traits where the bloodlines did not take one side over the other by extreme levels. Allowing for healthy children and proud parents.


    It was an amazing event for the vampire race who had feared their own extinction since they had recovered and joined Genesis. They feared that they would struggle too much to recover. That they would be unable to take a step forward when the other races were so high in number. These fears were not always voiced, but they had been there keeping every other race a little held back from themselves.


    Not any longer.


    Which Was why it was odd that this was the start of their conversation. Their announcement of healthy children being born between them and another race was groundbreaking ro many. An extremely positive event for all of the Genesis alliance.


    "We have learned that a major resistance to poison that our race is known for was nothing in the recent exploration of the poison jungle dungeon. We have also heard of a monster that possesses a poison we have only two scribbled notes remaining in our history books detailing the dangers. Mana poison."


    "For us, that could mean that our advancements in growthtely may be lost entirely if we can not pursue methods to protect ourselves from these poisons. Antidotes are not as effective on our bodies due to the ways we reject light mana in most ways. The ability to process potions is weaker since we rely mostly on nutrients thate from other being''s blood or raw meat. Even more so, that we have slower metabolisms than any other race other than dragons that we know of so far."


    Now the representative knew what the vampire was getting at and why he was there to speak. He was one of the vampire researchers who focused all his efforts on handling the threats to the vampire''s health overall. And poisons that affect vampires were right in line with his focus.


    "We already have alchemists working with the pistons discovered. The monster bodies recovered, herbs, and anything else taken from the poison jungle dungeon have been isted in a special alchemyb made for things like this. For poisons in particr." while Remey had rushed there ande back to Genesis right after, she had made it clear that they would utilize something nned by the leadership of Genesis immediately.


    "We understand that, but this is a first time in generations. Maybe longer." The vampire taking the lead was very clear that he wished to hear changes. That he was only here because this was his respective position for the vampire race. Not the representative, but the one who could handle this risk.


    "Then you wille to the alchemyb that I was taken from. You will work next to me while I try to make antidotes for poisons that affect all races and not just the vampires. Then, we get to the isted alchemyb that will handle the mana poison from that monster we can''t even touch without risks, you can be there too." If the vampire could go pale, Remey would have made him do so. Especially since she knew he was now full of fear. Her instincts told her that her words had hit hard.


    "Let me make it clear. While we have a lot to worry about because of the dungeon, all of you can take a step back. Walker has already rushed off to another issue and returns. But do you think that his efforts to contain these poisons using special manas and means was wasted? No, he made sure we were safe and able to get them to nned safe areas underground."


    The alchemybs created for these situations were there also to develop other medicines, potions, and whatever else that might be too dangerous for the public. Meaning that the strongest materials and rune formations had been used to iste it all. Even cleaning processes required an hour before someone entered or left.


    "Now you should focus on what is more important. The dungeons exist. Ancient, and dangerous. So focus on what we will do when another one is found. Because existence, the world, or whatever creates all things left them there for us to use and grow. That theory is what we stuck with, so use it." putting her foot down a little made it clear that just because Remey did not always attend these meetings did not mean she would not throw her weight around.


    Remey also had a feeling that fear could govern these people. The representatives were spoken to with the worries of their people constantly. Making them more focused on fears and caution at almost all time as oftely. As this reflected in their actions, some handled it differently.


    Scy took more effort to grow and train her soldiers and elite squads. The merfolk had met with other aquatic forces and redone the entirety of how they managed waterways within and outside of Genesis. The dwarves were repairing and building at a faster rate than ever. This could go on and on with every race.


    Regardless, the changes could help and they could hurt. But what the effects were could only be decided by those who calmer minds.


    "Thank you Remey. That being the case, the elves are also handling the poison jungle dungeon with extreme caution. It has shown us that even higher level individuals will struggle with ancient situations. While we knew that, we have seen portions of that highlighted. Just like the poison. So, we have decided to establish more free information about dungeons while we discover sses potentially associated with them..."


    The focus was shifting to how the dungeon would be handled safely. Also how the mana did not leak outside of the dungeon. This included airborne poisons. It put many at ease while the conversation began to evolve even more.


    After some time, Walker eventually spoke up, "as you all also know, some of the map makers and recorders have been experiencing trouble. Their jobs became much more important since the world seems evenrger. Right now, we have found that there are sections of the world we did not know about because of the mana losses changing the size and shape." "Nothing new, why is this important?" Markus raven knew that something blogger was


    coming.


    "It is important because right now we have just found someone capable of making maps that can write themselves based on how someone travels. The arcane world map artist discovered their ss justst night. She is twelve years old and wished to be an explorer. So far five of her friends of the same age have gained the explorer, arcane scout, true adventure, and two have gained the roaming guard sses."


    "We have a new generation of explorations.. Being born. I believe this proves we can not map and record everything within a short time. So we should look at a longer form of exploration over a short and rushed format. Meaning we should turn our gaze back to internal growth rather than continuing to rush outside for fears of ancient monsters, runs, and whatever else may be out there."


    ----


    ....


    ....N?v(el)B\\jnn


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 Chapter 2360: 2360. No Idle Work

    Chapter 2360: 2360. No Idle Work


    ?


    While things had smoothed out over the next couple of days, Walker had been right. This was an exploration age. He had confirmed this more than just once. Not just within the


    adventurer''s guild, but there were even some tamers who had gotten unique sses like the wandering tamer or the ruin hunting tamer.


    While odd as the two sounded, the wandering tamer was more or less a system that existed before. Meaning that it was expected to be a ss, it had just not been the exact name for the ss after the changes in the world''s mana flow.


    However, the ruin hunting tamer was different. It was a ss that fully relied on gathering information about ancient aspects of monsters from ruins so that the tamer could awaken unique bloodlines and tame a monster.


    This alone was proof that a lot more of these ancient aspects of monsters would return. The tamers had already begun to study them since it would make their guild stronger and the people safer. Just the fact that they had mobilized their people first to begin doing so was very important.


    The tamer''s guild had brought in a massive amount of information. Their normally small groups or even solo members that traveled around hade back to their guild buildings through the kingdoms. They had all been given the very same orders from the guild master all across the Genesis alliance.


    They needed to begin exploring inrger groups and participating with other alliances. The younger tamers would receive the guidance from everyone, especially the veteran tamers who had simr skills. If they could not manage to do so they would be expelled from the guild. For those stubborn enough to usually stay outside roaming for even years on end, this was enough to put them in to a frenzy. They had to make sure they kept their connection with the tamer''s guild for the unique items and foods that came from them. Mostly because a lot of monsters tamed had very specific requirements. Some of them also caused their tamer''s trouble if they were to get too close to viges or the cities. Meaning that some tamers had been forced to be away until now.


    While presenting some issues, it actually made things much easier for many people. The tamers often had a better ability to handle the wilderness. In turn, that allowed these tamers to share that knowledge and overall increase the strength of everyone. Which was why the adventurer''s guild had begun asking for a tamer to be teaching every group of thirty young new adventurers joining in recent days. That knowledge was the key to survival today.


    With this being the case, Walker had already read a report about a group of five adventurers who just finished a set of sses with those tamers who had led sses in survival. The report was simple, the team of five wished to explore out in to the wilderness. They just needed permission to do so since the direction they were trying to head was one that Walker was familiar with.


    No one had made any intention of delving in to the undead city as ofte. Mostly because it had a lot of drama rted to it. Many people also feared what it had be. Not that they had not feared it before. It was a scary ce with an insurmountable number of undead. And now more than ever, the world was not a safe ce to be.


    What was worrying was that many mages had sensed that the undead mana and danger from that area had grown. Mages specifically skilled for sensing changes and warnings of this sort had been sure to stop many people from even starting to go near the area. Partially out of fear and partially because they knew the history. It was both dangerous and had a lot of stories attached to it.


    The changes in mana and the distance between the area had grown through. Walker had looked at that and worried that the undead would be more powerful. He looked at the increase in distance because of the world expansion to be a good thing. The further away the undead were the safer in theory.


    Unfortunately, he also looked at the undead as a problem that grew itself. More and more undead could be dense in that area. And without the immortal king keeping these undead in check, they could move a certain distance away from the undead city now. Even more beyond that, undead trapped underground who had been experiments and managed to survive the severing of ties with the immortal king might be able to escape still.


    Either way, he was worried about the five tongue adventurers wishing to explore the area. It was something that made him feel like he should push the adventurer''s guild to set up more of a mentor system moving forward. But was that his ce to force ra to change the guild as a guild master? Wouldn''t that be overstepping the freedom that certain guilds had?


    The adventurer''s guild followed thews and the flow of Genesis. It even helped it immensely. Whether it was on a daily basis for the people or for the battles that had been recently found. The adventurer''s guild had been there and worked through the entire alliance while growing and establishing its stance of protection.


    "Can you leave notice that I am making a trek to the undead city to ensure that the changes in mana have not awakened or strengthened any undead we can not handle? I will also do a general exploration of the outer areas near the city to see how far some undead may have traveled." An attendant wrote this down and gave a nod before leaving.


    As much as Walker enjoyed the Genesis building, he felt trapped there over thest few days. Everything he had been working on was all paperwork and reading. He had not mediated or seen much other than what others were doing. He felt left out and like he had tied himself up. This could be good for him.


    As much as he had hoped to hear from the true light sage in some way. The elemental nes around the second bridge to the elemental nes had shifted. Now there was a high amount of fire mana flowing near it. Lucky for them, nothing much had happened other than the normal flow and changes of mana. No monsters or even messengers from the true fire sage. It might be too early to expect that from them though.


    As he left the Genesis building and popped in to the adventurer''s guild hall, Walker made his way to ra''s office. She was a little surprised to see him until he began to show her the report he had read. That was when she expected him to ban anyone from heading there at all. She even had a form ready just in case.


    "I allowed that exploration quest because-"


    "I am going too." ra just looked at him in confusion. It made Walker want to exin a little


    more.


    "There is a lot of mana in that direction. It''s already a location I worry about. No one else had gone in that direction to explore and not five young adventurers have requested after some materials in the area are needed." ra saw where this was going.


    People requested the materials from the undead and other herbs that grew near the undead city. Therefore, the requests would just pile up more and more. Those requesting would just be more frustrated until they hired their own people to go. A less safe choice that could be detrimental to them.


    Some this was the case, both Walker and ra could see that holding off on as over of the moment. Taking the chance to expire the area and map it out again was important.


    "While your young adventurer group will continue on their quest, we will gather a map maker, several others with survival skills, and a few mages with sensing abilities. That way we can make it easier for a fresh adventurer group and also cease a ban on travel on the


    direction:"


    A seemingly small group but one that could ensure everyone was able to grow more. The wilderness areas banned were small in number butrge in size. The unknown was scary. It also held threats unknown to the people right now.


    Getting those areas explored roughly was enough to expand and ease the senses of worry or fear the people had. And having experienced people would teach these young adventurers a


    lot.


    "Then I will announce these changes and the joint exploration with the hero." ra knew how to make this situation work in her favor even more. She was proud of her standing and how much everything had growntely. She couldn''t hide her smile even though she was a little overworked.


    ....


    ----


    ----n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


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 Chapter 2361: 2361. Meeting Before

    Chapter 2361: 2361. Meeting Before


    ?


    "You need a healer to go with you." Walker had barely made it to therge room where the group of adventurers and the team following him were meeting. It had only been a few hours and that was enough to get everyone and everythinging together. Efficiency was always on the rise.


    However, that efficiency meant thatmunication was happening much faster. Specifically, gossip in some i not many ways too.


    "Alice? I thought you were busy right now?" Walker had made things clear with Alice after the events with the bridge to the elemental nes. She had been somewhat unhappy that Onyx and Aurora had gotten in to such a risky situation.


    As much as Walker had reprimanded the two of them, or at least nned to since he could only tell Alice what he would be saying, she had still made her own points clear. She had made sure to add to the reprimand and punishments for being so at risking to the pair when they woke up from their rest.


    That was not the most important part though. She had made it very clear that she was also not happy with Walker. She had yelled at him a little about him also taking these risks. He had been rushing off to everyrge problem like this in the past month at least.


    Whether it had been rted to the intense amount of manas from the elements nes, or the risky ancient ruins. He had been part of it in some shape, wary, or form. Not to mention the recent events within the poison jungle dungeon where even he had been at risk whether that risk was a poison or the fact that he had to hold himself back leaving himself somewhat vulnerable while battling there.


    As this had been the case, she let him have an earful about what she thought when it came to the way he had been acting. It was why he had been stuck at the desk for the past few days as well. Not just the fact that he had a lot of work he could help with there. Alice had made sure that he felt enough guilt to tie him down for a while.


    That was until she heard he would be rushing off to a previously dangerous ce that he had been to and always found his life in peril. She had no good words to be said about this being the case too. She knew very well that she would rather make sure he was safe herself then just trust others right now.


    "I thought you would be working with the new healers again? You were working with a dragon hatchling too. Shouldn''t you be-"


    "Busy? No. I am going with you." The light shifted slightly showing that Allice was just stubborn enough that she could not and would not bridge on this.


    "Then we will have a great small vacation to scout out the area around the undead ruins. I have a feeling that the healing skills you can use with light mana will put everyone at ease. You should know, a young healer is also part of the adventurer group that caught my eye."


    This made Alice rx a little since she knew she had won. She also wanted to have more time with just Walker and her since the pair had been running around like crazytely. That was just the life as leaders which they had epted. But that didn''t mean finding an excuse to head off on a small adventure was not against their choices to make too.


    So far, Walker saw the group of soldiers and a few adventurers who had volunteered to join him. They were familiar and they had been through different events with him. He knew they had the skills to defend themselves and also follow research. Their main duty would be to protect the smaller team making the map and recording the known changes to the area.


    After a few moments of Alice giving Walker a few more looks to make sure he wouldn''t say anything else ridiculous about her noting for her having some restrictions since it might be dangerous, there was a small knock on the door.


    Walker knew that as the door opened, it was the group of five young adventurers that had taken the job request to explore the area around the undead ruins and also the ruins themselves. They were waiting outside the door for a little while and Walke had sensed them. But they had been a little afraid toe inside, wouldn''t anyone though?


    Walker had been worried that this would make them not want toe at all. They had been able to ept a quest that was very important to a few people. Therefore, they would be able to take arge lead in their adventuring lifepared to others when they seeded. No one else had been able to get an approval to go towards the undead city ruins.


    "d you could alle so quickly. I know that this may change your ns. This isn''t to limit you or to say that you are not trusted. I just wish to see the changes that may havee because of the world returning to the proper flow and certain monsters being removed from the area in thest events near and within the undead ruins."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    While this was mostly true, Walker also understood that after Ignus had battled the former body of the immortal king, no one else had gone in to the undead city. He had caused a lot of damage and very many undead had been defeated. But to say the entire undead city was cleared out was a foolish action.


    The amounts of thesaurus there alone would still be major because of how many copsed tunnels and underground buildings there might still be. This was also putting aside the fact that the immortal king had researched undead and how to alter them in an untold number of ways while he had been trapped for more years than many could count.


    "We are honored to be able to work in any form with you. We wanted to go to the undead city because we have heard the stories about it being one of the first major challenges your party faced. Our goals were to be able to test our training from sses and attempt to learn what you learned from going to the undead city." A tall stocky boy spoke up. His armor was a little rough around the edges, but he appeared very honest.


    To his right there was a robed healer, instead of a normal staff, she was wielding what was more like a longer spiked white club. Walker could tell she might be something called a battle healer who could enhance a weapon with light mana while healing those around her.


    There was also a pair of shorter boys who had shields and short swords. Clearly they were twins who were prepared for meleebat. While their sses were a mystery to Walker for the moment, he knew that they should be somewhat unique since they both moved in tandem. They might as well be a perfect pair trying to ensure that they continued their path to perfect teamwork.


    Thest member was another girl who wore very bright red leather armor and had multiple rune carved wands on her belt. They were all radiating some fire magic and her clothing was gathering the ambient fire mana in to them. Walker had learned that some mages were struggling and had found new paths to use their spells in special ways because the mana in the air was denser.


    That''s how he picked her out as the quick fire mage capable of using certain spells very quickly by storing mana within wands that she could use as soon as she touched them. It was limited in the strength and the variety of spells, but allowed for much faster attacking without loss of motion or time in battle.


    "We will be allowing your group to move without any direction from us. This is still your quest. Do not forget that. However, when ites to any major danger, you will listen to our orders. You will also be allowed to ask any questions and concerns you may have when we rest. That will be decided by your team. You five are the lowest level and require rest more often. Is


    that clear?"


    Hearing that their hero was leaving things to them was a bit shocking. Yet, they also understood that this was just their safeguard. A chance to take a quest while also needing to show their own levels of education and preparedness. Beyond that, they were not being carried anywhere with no risk. They had to handle themselves appropriately.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2362: 2362. Seeing The Changes

    Chapter 2362: 2362. Seeing The Changes


    ?


    When the group left, Walker knew that ra had also made a few other ns. He didn''t say a word about it, but there was more than just the group he had gotten together leaving.


    He used his mana sense to check the surroundings constantly. Whether he was in the city or outside of it. This was just something he did even without thinking now. More of a passive aspect of his skills rather than an active one at this point. It was all just him being prepared and also partially at his second sight now.


    He could sense multiple people hiding themselves, or at least trying to. It only took him a second to realize that ra had the assassin trainees who were trying to join and improve themselves within the adventurer''s guild attempt to remain hidden around their group the entire way.


    A hidden set of guards who would be trained to be able to guard the most promising up anding adventurers. Walker had been the same when he and his group had joined. Even the king of the human kingdom had sent a few hidden guards to watch them. They had hidden in his shadow at one point. Not that he needed them now.


    But having them guard Walker''s group was a clear example of who they could learn. Walker could intentionally change the mana or make it harder for them to hide. Therefore, pushing them to improve faster and generally more efficiently than what they would improve just by staying within genesis and training.


    There was also the aspect that they would be encountering monsters as well while they were hiding. Could they silently handle monsters that found them rather than attacking the group out in the open? Would they even be able to handle some of the monsters out in the wilderness that they encountered?


    The nice part was that Walker would also be acting as a guard for those ying at being guards. Part of him also felt it wasedic that there were assassins in the world who acted as guards. Their stealth skills be something more protective rather than violent or killing. He didn''t dislike that though, it was a good thing.


    This was not the only group he had caught wind of. He had narrowly sensed the group of scouts gathering when he was leaving through the first gate. He could sense them because they did not try to hide at all. Also, because a fair number of tamers were with them. They had monsters that would help them scout out their targets.


    From what Walker could gather, the scouts were the least experienced and would also be guarded by a small group of hidden adventurers. They were most likely following and trying to keep a distance to document travels. This would be training for them to be able to track the new changes in how some pack monsters moved.


    This would be even more useful as time went on since many of the monster territories known before were changing. Not only that, but some monsters might expand the territories that they upied. Making the roads being rebuilt and expanded useless to people if they could not travel through them due to monsters.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The adventurers having this information would be invaluable since they would be escorting merchants. As such, when the adventurers used the adventurer''s guild to prepare for their quest, the guild would supply this information as long as it was asked for. Or a guild adventurer team manager would give it to them as preparation anyways. Both ways meant that the quest would be more sessful.


    Regardless, this was another way that the situation Walker had created when he took an interest in the exploration approval of the undead ruins was going to be better off for many more people. ra had seen the opportunity and pursued it with a lot more cleverness than what he had expected.


    Not that he doubted her. He knew that ra was always improving. That she was generally going to be a better and better guild master for the adventurer''s guild. He just hadn''t realized just how efficient and wise she had betely. Walker had assumed she was just always very busy, but maybe she was just now getting in to the perfect flow of things.


    Just leaving out in to the outskirts of Genesis showed off a lot of changes. The farms in particr stood out as a radically different ce than what Walker could recall.


    There were more developed farms with newer methods of growing. From what he saw in the fields set up for food, multiple crops were being nted in one section. While many people could find this to be a strange thing to do, Walker had seen the reports and exnations gathered by the demi-human farmers to lead this method.


    There would be one crop growing as a vine which could use a taller talkier crop as their branch to grow up. That saved space for more crops in other fields and allowed for more than one crop to be harvested in the same ce. It also offered more nutrients to be put back in to the soil after the crop was harvested.


    There were also many more farmers moving around. Even with the worries about the world changing and how there might be more monsters around, they had not stopped farming. Instead, it appeared that a few of them had found ways to innovate even more.


    There were dwarven golems made to be able to moverge amounts of earth and clear it. Or they were being used to rotate the dirt and fill it with air and fertilizer. Both proved to be perfect examples of how something used in the mines had a massive use elsewhere. Especially since the dwarves had never used them for farming in general. They relied on other means for their food within caves instead of farming on the top of thend.


    "Excuse me, is there something we should be looking for?" the voice of the healer from the young adventurer party spoke up. Walker had felt their groups'' eyes on him for some time, but he had waited to see if they would be confident and ask questions. He knew that he was not there as their protector, more just to keep an eye on things. However, he also was more than willing to help answer their questions if it would allow them to improve.


    "I am taking note of the changes. The gaming methods changed since the very beginning of Genesis. I am also taking note of the guards and farmers out here." Walker pointed out the dwarven golems.


    "Those dwarven golems are originally for mining, they were changed to be used for farming here. If the farms are attacked by monsters, then they can also be used to fight. Even though they are controlled by those without battle skills and experience. They are tough enough to do so."


    "I am also noticing the number of monsters. Pests is a better term. There are four I have seen and in lower numbers. But one is more prevalent than another. Find them and tell me why."


    He left them with a challenge. The five didn''t even ask why or argue. They immediately began looking because they hadn''t even seen a single monster pest around.


    While the harvesting mice were a species of field or game mouse pest, they were known for digging arge hole in the ground. That was annoying for farmers since they could trip and fall in to it. The harvesting mouse would hoard seeds, fruits, and other foods inside that hole to use as its own food.


    This led to strange rotting or growing of crops where they should not be. The fact that they were the most prevalent pest right now was very telling.


    There were not enough means to deal with them even though there were many farmers and guards. So, either the adventurers guild could be requested to assist or the taming guild. The adventurers could hunt them and that would be that. But the tamers guild could use the harvesting mice as food for some of their tamed monsters.


    He knew he could make this an important piece of paperworkter. For the moment though, he watched Alice also looking around and sporting the pests. She seemed to be amused by the young adventurers missing them when they were right in front of their group.


    She hadn''t been through adventuring before learning To heal. So this was a first in some ways for her. Not that she was sprinted. But going through these motions would help sharpen her own senses for the future.


    "Have you spotted them too? I bet I will find more than you before we get outside of the farms." Walker teased a bit while starting to count.


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2363: 2363. Teacher Mode

    Chapter 2363: 2363. Teacher Mode


    ?


    With Walker and Alice encouraging there to be some training when ites to perception, the rest of the group moving with them had begun their own jobs.


    Those that were making the maps had been focusing on the changes to the heart now that they had made it outside of the farmnds. Arge distance around the farmnds had been scouted out for the most part. This was to n the expansion of more fields and also of smaller outer viges since Genesis was always growing.


    The dragon territories were already a veryrge section of what Genesis had be. The space that they needed had to berger because they wererger in general. However, the dragons also had to n for their own growth, hence why it was easier to consider that Genesis needed more pace at all times.


    As such, There was a lot of space when it came to the empty and untouchednds between and around everything made. Right now, thisnd had been scouted for there to be more farms since the farmers where they were now might wish to sell theirnds to others who would be building new businesses and whatever else.


    Thend was more or less clear with small groupings of high bushes or trees here and there. Some of the eleven herbalists had even been preparing seedlings to grow in the wilderness here since there would be fewer monsters to bother them. Not to make them an herbal farm, but so that people passing through could harvest some basic herbs.


    The notes on the maps about these saplings would go in to a general report for the Genesis building staff to make note of. Proving that there was a general eptance in harvesting these wild herbs used for basic healing was a simple but great way to improve daily life. Especially for the merchants who were leaving oring to Genesis for travels.


    It was even more important for those that would being back from harsh training or tough quests. For example, if anyone was injured, there would always be some sort of medicinal herb able to be used to hopefully help someone. A small but brilliant way to be able to help everyone.


    Alice found this enjoyable since she was sure that a healer would also be able recognize these herbs as well. Yet, she found that the healer in the young adventurer group had not even given the small healing herbs a second nce.


    "Why didn''t you notice the healing herbs? You could harvest them to help your group." While soft, the battle healer who had been part of the group responded very quickly and with some nervousness.


    "I can''t use those, my skills only use some light mana to heal. I can''t use the herbs to heal anything. They would just dry out while I carry them." Alice nodded as she listened.


    This was a mistake that many young and inexperienced healers made. Especially those that did not have a pure focus and education about healing. Since this battle healer had leaned in to the battle side and not gone to the cathedral or what appeared to be many in depth sses about healing methods, she did not actually grasp the full understanding of what she should be doing.


    "You should gather them. You should let them dry out. You should be ready to use them when youck mana. Some wounds can be bandaged with the wetted leaves from that nt there. You should attend a ss about healing without mana." Walker''s attention was caught when he heard Alice speaking so much.


    When he caught on that she was teaching about healing a little, he decided to pop in with a little lesson he had learned from Alice. "When I was learning more about healing, Alice showed me that wounds wrapped and cleaned with healing herbs could be healed with less mana or none at all since the body would heal them naturally. That will allow the more life threatening wounds to be exhaled with magic. Scrapes can be dealt with by the herb she pointed out just now. Battle wounds will need a healing skill."


    The young battle healer adjusted the small backpack on her shoulders and looked at them with slightly wide eyes. "Excuse me, do you have a small extra journal?" Walker caught one of the apprentice map makers and he was quickly tossed a small extra note book. These small journals were just one of many that the map makers had. They were more than happy to share them if it would help. "Thank you!"


    Alice took the small notebook from Walker and handed it to the battle healer, "Write these things down and share them with the others. They are a little ahead and Walker will be mentioning your formation soon." She smiled at Walker before he gave a little nod. Alice had known right what he was thinking when he was thinking it. Too perfect.


    With a quick change of pace, Walker found the two shield and short sword users. He was right behind them while barely even putting the effort in to hiding his approach. On the contrary, he made it very easy for them to see him if they had been paying attention. Unfortunately, the pair was chatting away without a care in the world.


    A small stomp of his food brought the ground in to a muddy consistency. The small amount of water and earth mana he condensed there was enough to make the pair sink in to the ground a little. And with that, a small pat to their backs sent them stumbling.


    "Both of you are the defenders of your group. Both of you were snuck up on and taken out since you have no one to watch your backs. Your healer is distracted because she didn''t understand the uses of naturally urring healing herbs in the wild. And I don''t see your leader or mage close enough to help you. Care to exin?"


    "Nevermind that, where are the map makers? Where are the others of my group? Can you see them?" They had not realized how far they had run off and how they had gotten so separated. But Walker did. They had yet to go out in to the wilderness as much and were making bad mistakes. Things that their leader should have been handling but had yet to do because of their own experience.


    "Retreat back to your healer and maintain a formation. That is important in the wilderness at all times. When you are ambushed by an ogre or violent orcs, or any monster, you will be able to defend yourselves." The two appeared scared enough that they couldn''t respond. They rushed back from where they hade from. Walker soon heard a small shout proving that they found their battle healer and Alice.


    This left Walker with an easy task. Their tall leader and their mage who hid themselves in their cloak which was a little more expensive and with all her wands. Using his mana senses, Walker picked up on the fire mana surrounding the mage. He also found that the leader was also there, however, he was clearlycking some mana.


    Just a little walk by as Walker hid himself using the shadow wrapping skill, and he saw why that was.


    "So you have a fire affinity too as the leader. You have been helping recharge those wands because your quick fire magic mage here does not have enough mana to recharge the wands and does not recover mana fast enough." the two jumped as he appeared right next to them. The mage wasn''t even able to react and grab a wand in the surprised state.


    "And you are both not ready for an ambush so being so far from everyone, even further than your two chatty shield and short sword wielders were, could not help you if you cried out." The quick fire mage nced right at the ground. She had lost some of her haughty aura when Walker had found that she had a failing like this.


    "You should receive mana since you are in the wilderness. If you are not able to lead properly, then you will not make it back and neither will your team. We will talk about this alter., return to your team and prepare a formation with them in case you are attacked."


    "And you, you will be training fire magic understanding. The amount of mana you radiate proves that there is no way you can hold on to the fire mana in those wands and use it properly. You bleed away mana too much. It''s time to fix that." Walker had gone full teacher mode now. He couldn''t just let them miss everything while they had the chance to grow on this little adventure.


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 Chapter 2364: 2364. learning And Tests

    Chapter 2364: 2364. learning And Tests


    ?


    The two hours of training and tips that Walker gave to the group of younger adventurers made them perfectly understand just how far they were from being able to just go off alone. While they had wished to follow the steps of the adventurer group who became heroes, they had no idea that they had yet to even touch the surface of what they needed.


    Walker had not lied to them though. He had made it very clear that his group had made the mistakes they had made. Not in everything, but they had not been as educated. While there were some ways that Walker''s party could have grown before they became a party, they had not had the opportunities.


    There had not been so many structured methods to grow and learn as Genesis had now. That was simply because there had not been anyone to unite and establish them. As Genesis had grown in to an alliance that every kingdom currently known was a part of, it had be a wealth of knowledge.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Methods to grow and share information would make everyone stronger. Since this young adventurer party was one of those groups, they would be able to take those lessons. With them, they could be ten, if not more steps ahead of the Walker''s party than what they had been if the time was different.


    It was a lot to hear from one of the heroes that they idolized that they were already better than the heroic party at their age. Most people would not imagine them saying this unless it was to make someone feel better. But, here they were, listening to it in all honesty and rity.


    There was also the fact that walker exined to them different good tricks to help with what they werecking. Mentioning the ways that Su would keep herself alert and moving to defend anyone with a shield at any time.


    Her usage of twin shields really inspired the two shield and short sword twins. They knew that they might be able to work together to utilize simr methods while also adapting to an attacking style that used their simple fact of being two people. It would be interesting to see how they wished to develop these styles.


    Twins were not impossible and even triplets urred. Everyone knew this, but they rarely ended up with the same if not rted sses. These two were the same. They shared the same weapon skills and ability to work together. If they kept at it, they would have an amazing chance to be able to carve out new ground with teamwork and their own sses.


    This could be said for the healer too, a battle healer not learning a focus on healing who put battle first was somewhat rare since they were not being guided by someone raised around healing. The tricks and knowledge would adapt her style. Allowing for there to be a better usage of healing without mana. Allowing for that battle focus to be even greater. Waler had already seen the speed healing skill she could use.


    A skill that heals minor wounds rapidly using a small amount of mana. It was a light affinity spell. But where it would shine would be when the party was blinded or stunned by a fire or some other strong attack that did not cause major harm. The speed healing skill could help everyone recover almost instantly from that potentially death causing stun.


    The results of the leadership focus when Walker and Alice teamed up to speak to the tallest member of the young party was better. He had not realized he was putting everyone at risk by burning away his mana. He had not realized that his fire affinity could be better utilized elsewhere in learning with his skills.


    Their leader had trained mana in a way that allowed him better control over his own mana. If he were to use that to focus on the fire mana around him, he could develop a mana sense using the natural fire mana in the air or all around him. With this, he would be a better leader who could give orders before something major happened. Especially when it came to potential ambushes.


    The most change came when Walker had simply shown the wick fire mage a better method of using her fire mana. He explored how Remey had struggled with alchemy to a degree since she needed impable fire control to be able to protect a potion and the overall end result of that process.


    By exining that even the smallest amount of fire mana made in to a very small fire ball might be able to do more damage than arger fire ball, the quick fire mage had an idea that Walker had pushed her toward during his demonstration.


    The wands that she used were always full of fire mana. But they were just storage for that fire mana which she allowed to bleed out of them. If she focused on the fire mana and kept it stored better with her willpower, she could also change the size of the fire mana output by the wands. Instead of onerge fire ball, they could be many smaller fire balls that were used over time as she decided.


    Those smaller attacks could be changed to be piercing like fire arrows or fire spears. Just the idea had brought her to wish to make a fire needle. Something she would need a lot more training to do, but it made Walker feel he had gotten his point across. Especially when he saw the fireball that she had been working on the change from veryrge to half the size before identally dissipating.


    "All of you have a better idea now, so take the lead. My group will not help you.'' Alice gave Walker a nce. They had made it through the open expanses of grassy and wild areas. Now they had moved in to a small grove of trees that hade from the expansion of the world. The grove had not been known for a long time, but it was now separating where the old merchant trails used to be when they would move somewhat near the undead ruins. Making it a little harder to get there, but also bing an amazing ce for some monsters to live.


    This was also why Walker had pushed the young adventurer party to take the lead. He could sense everything ahead.


    Watching the young group take their lead, Walker was d to see the twin shield and short sword users take their positions on the sides slightly in front of the group. The leader remained in the middle keeping guard over their battle healer while the quick fire mage was prepared to release spells from the back.


    It left a little to be desired since they needed a method to defend their backs, but that could be an improvement as they grew. Right now, they were moving together and were not focused on different things. They were also not chatting any more. They had to keep their eyes open and sense free to catch anything that might sneak up on their group through the trees which were perfect for hiding enemies.


    When a flutter of what they thought was wind came from the leaves on a smaller tree nearby, the leader stopped them. A smart move since he realized he was not actually feeling the wind on his body. None of them were. But the sound of shifting leaves as if there was wind was still


    coming.


    "That little tree is moving, it shouldn''t be." He pointed out right before the wick fire mage sent out a smaller fire ball. The reaction from the leaves on the tree was to flee from the heat


    coming toward them.


    The small pping wings of what seemed to have been green leaves made the young adventurer group focus themselves even more. "Those are leaf moths! They bite and act like vampire bats. They will make you sick if they bite you too." Their leader knew these monsters. A popr pest in some forests and would fly in groups of five to ten.


    All Alice and Walker needed to do was witness what the young group was doing. How they fought here and what they were capable of. Afterwards they could advise the group. Until then, they watched a weak opponent attempt to ambush the group and fail. Already a sess for the young group.


    "I think they will start to get much stronger now. I just hope that we don''t find anything that could make them struggle too much." Walker had known these pests were here. Monsters perfect for a small test for young adventurers. His worriesy after this small grove in thends around the undead ruins. Where he would see the changes that might have urred due to more mana flowing in the world.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2365: 2365. Grave Stone?

    Chapter 2365: 2365. Grave Stone?


    ?


    Once Walker knew that the young adventurer group was doing fine, he gave Alice a nod. She knew what he had nned to do since they were nearing the area that the undead ruins were. She knew that Walker wanted to get a closer look at thend around it and discover what had changed.


    He had the best mana sense that was within the group. It only made the most sense that he would be the one checking things out. Plus, there were multiple scouts and other hidden figures with the group already. They would be taking care of anything that could cause problems while he scouted ahead alone.


    While Walker used the shadow wrapping skill to do this, he left the grove of trees and felt the change immediately.


    The distant tower which had been somewhat ominous was left half the size. The remaining had crumbled inward and around but that rubble was unseen from where Walker stood. What he felt though, that was interesting.


    The manas were flowing naturally, he could sense all the elemental manas he had sensed before. But he could also sense that the undead were still strong in the area. The uniqueness of undead mana was enough for Walker to know that there was a significant amount of it.


    Thend itself had also changed. He could see that there were more freestanding eroded stones. Definity part of ruins, but not of the undead ruins which had once been the immortal chasing race''s city turned undead city.


    While in the elemental nes, Walker had learned a lot about manas. He had learned that they mixed and created entirely unique elemental nes or even just crossroads of elemental nes which might disappear at any second.


    One such unique mana was undead. Not truly death and not life itself. Walker had always thought that undead might be a form of mana that was a mix of dark mana and death mana. But he also could understand if undead was a mixture of life and death. The only issue was that he could not understand either mana enough to understand if it was the truth that they made up undead mana.


    Regardless, Walker could still sense more clearly that the stones and the ground itself radiated undead mana to a degree. Whether it had been the experiments over the course of many years by the immortal chasing race or not, this entire area was still able to make the dead rise again as skeletons, zombies, and whatever else they could be.


    This was what lead him to look at the stones eroding in the ground more carefully. Stones that were not shaped with edges worn away by time thest time he had visited the area. It was an unusual gray color that was different from the rocks on the ground and what normally remained here as part of the earth.


    ''Gray grave stone


    This is a stone that was carved and once held runes to trap mana within. The various runes faded and broke over time causing them to absorb manas in strange ways. As this be the case and extended even longer, the degraded runes were able to absorb more unique manas until undead mana was trapped.


    Experimentation that followed on thends influenced them even more greatly causing them to fully be different forms of stone which allow for the undead to be attracted to them. This also allows for the dead bodies or dead beings nearby to be affected by the undead mana and change in to undead after a certain time. This is even possible with skeletons thatck other manas within the bones.


    The uses for gray grave stone are only applicable if there is the ability to even craft it. Having the affinity or the ability to control undead mana is very rare and requires extreme care due to the negative side effects that it can leave on a body. Some graveside craftsmen have even be undead themselves due to train mistakes while...''


    The gray grave stone was an interesting piece of stone. It could have formed over a longer period of time due to the experimentation of the immortal chasing race. What was even more astonishing was the fact that it had not always been a gray grave stone. It had once been rune covered stones which degraded their runes in such a way that undead mana had been pulled in to the stones...''


    The addition of the undead experimentation and just been the added bonus to the transformation and solidification of the stone itself. Meaning that the immortal chasing race had once used this stone as something else before their city began to crumble and the world began to shrink due to the changes in mana.


    This was something Walker knew about. The immortal chasing race was around experimenting and causing harm before the ancient world had lost the flow of mana and development. So they might have even known about things like dungeons if Walker were to get more information from whatever crumbled and isted history was trapped down underground.


    Another small fact that really caught Walker''s attention was the graveside craftsman, a ss he had never heard of or a system that he had never heard of before the world returned to its proper flow.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If there were unique craftsmen like that, then there was a high chance that there could be many more rted sses which needed toe to this area to begin their future. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was up for debate. Especially since the undead were a touchy subject already.


    On one hand, intelligent undead had a very risky reputation now that the immortal king had caused so much trouble. Just that alone would make anyone who crafted undead mana or used undead mana to be isted. Let alone, if they became undead because of their ss and retained their intelligence.


    The thing was, they could maintain intelligence and even grow to be a race. The vampires could be called half undead in a way since they did not die normally. But they were also their own race and had their own rules to sustain themselves. Making them alive, just very different because of their race.


    So that left the question of whether undead could even be properly intelligent to be a race one day. Would it be possible that those who suffered from bing some form of undead could hold their intelligence at all? The internal struggle left Walker with a lot that he wanted to study. Unfortunately, he had to keep looking around the area for threats and changs. Just the gray grave stone would be arge aspect that the map makers needed to add since it was arger area around the undead ruins.


    There was a little interference with Walker''s mana too. Not a direct, but small interference because the undead mana was clearly stronger here. If he were to try and use healing mana it might be harder. Challenging healers who came here to guard their party''s safety.


    He also noticed that some nts they had grown in rtion to the undead were here. The skeleton lily and the ghost bo were two nts that had been grown by Genesis in their experimental greenhouses. They were very tough to grow and had been found in ruins as seeds stored for the future. Here, they were already growing and in muchrger ways due to the undead mana. Something that the herbalists did not have ess to create or bring to the nts in Genesis.


    It could help enlighten the herbalists while allowing for a ce toe to harvest them. Walker would have to make sure that the appropriate all around appraisals were done to bepared with the weaker and slower growing versions within their greenhouses. It could shed a lot of light on how to maintain and use these nts in the future.


    It could also be a precursor to knowing what monsters might be able to appear here. It was surety that there would be some which needed these sorts of nts and other nts to survive. Now that they were here, they could awaken or be able to readjust from the monsters that had degraded over many years in the nearby areas.


    It would even be more interesting if the undead monsters could feed on these nts and herbs growing with undead mana. Would that have the potential to lead to intelligent


    undead?


    Walker''s thoughts nearly overtook him when he noticed the shambling figure behind arge outcropping of gray grave stone. Its movements were jerky, but its body was not as rotted as it could be. "A newer zombie undead..." He looked at it and used the all around appraisal without hesitation.


    ....


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 Chapter 2366: 2366. Larger Undead Lands

    Chapter 2366: 2366. Larger Undead Lands


    ?


    Approaching the dodge of the rocking gray grave stone area, Walker could tell that there was very much more to the undead city. Within just the way the buildings had used to be open, they were not spread out. There were eleven a lot of different areas which appeared to have popped up around them.


    "I wonder if the city was forcefully condensed when the mana left the world. It might be why some of the other ruins we have found seem so broken." Walker''s mumbling made a lot more sense to him as he said it out loud.


    They had always found ruins that had copsed and were broken. Especially the careful crafting, it was no longer holding up. So much of that was attributed to the fact that nature would take its toll on everything. Especially with naturally existing weather conditions or disasters like earthquakes.


    That wasn''t even factoring the damage done by monsters of other races over time. Yet, there was the simple idea that this world expansion had happened in reverse when the ancient world and begin to lose the proper flow of mana.


    The immortal king had spoken of a grander immortal chasing city. Everyone had believed that the city had be ruins and was always the size that it had been. However, if the truth was different, then there was even more that had been lost to the world because of the changes over the years.


    So much so that even the immortal king might not have noticed it because to him, the years had passed and everything had fallen in to ruins. His mind had shifted to focusing on experimentation with undead and attempts to free himself. Why would he notice that the world and his own city had drunk when he spent all his time trapped in his own thoughts and the ruins themselves. He wouldn''t have realized it!


    When things changed over the course of so many years, no one else would be able to prove that the ruins or that anything else was changed and broken. This ruin had beenrge already. For the long number of years that people tried to steal things, explore them, or whatever else, they had managed to only risk their lives.


    Now, Walker was beginning to scratch on the proper ruins left behind by one of thergest and final immortal chasing race''s people. The final ruin with more information than what he had expected. Now that the world had time to adapt and the battle with Ignus and other dragons had brought even more mana to the area, it had revealed much more of the true immortal chasing race ruins here.


    "This is very different." Walker couldn''t think much more as Alice and the map makers had caught up to him. He knew they wereing so that''s why he had not entered closer to the undead city. Or what had once been the undead city and now looked much different and might still be changing in a way.


    "I think that all the mana that the dragons brought here helped wake up the world kind of. Basically, there was a muchrger ruin here and the immortal king lost the control over it because even he was weakened over the years. If he had gotten to the undead elemental ne or gotten more control over mana, we would have lost."


    That was already a fact. Walker could sense and feel this. There was also a reason that another origin being had intervened. The bnce within the elemental nes was much more important. That was a fact. Regardless, there was still the clear fact that the immortal king and everything that had somehow survived from ancient times had be too weak.


    If the vampires had not lost their race''s information and history due to their own race enving them, then would they have known more? Or had they still been youngpared to the immortal chasing race?


    There was little known about their interactions in ancient times. Even the angel race had fled and gone to another continent. The ancient angels had been seen as lesser by the immortal king meaning that they were most likely not as strong. Still an opposition because of tier numbers but not enough to fight off the immortal chasing race as a whole.


    However, the vampires had been magically powerful. Meaning that they should have been able to put up some fight against the immortal chasing race. Or at least that was the best theory that Walker coulde up with.


    Even the history left behind by the immortal king was somewhat ruined though. He had been using all the resources and information to create undead and alter the subjects he had trapped. Whether they were monsters or not, they had all been victims to his race. Any information that they discovered regarding history would most likely be hical and clearly evil experiments to discern certain skills or manas.


    All their attempts to be immortal made their race known as immortal chasers. It begged the question of whether anything left in any of the ruins was truly useful to learn from or would be adding temptation to do more of this evil to the world and the races who might study it. Walker''s clear mental struggle did not appear lost on Alice as she somewhat got the gist of what he was thinking about.


    "It''s different but still broken." She leaned in to him for a moment before looking at the ruins.


    She could see different buildings that were not made of wood. Proof that the ancient aspects of the immortal chasing race they had all seen were really just the smaller parts that had been smashed together as the world changed.. The lower quality buildings where experimental subjects might be held. ces where food might be stored.


    The clear roads that had been made which the immortal king had described at one point were easier to map out. Where things had been built over time and were not broken apart again because of the shifting of space due to added mana flow was clear to Walker as well.


    "The ruins arerger and we might be able to find some lost materials or items. We also have to remember that there are undead here which could be awakening due to the undead mana. The stones around the entire area are teeming with undead mana and will continuously awaken undead or create them. We need to ensure safety." He looked back at the young adventurer group who had sat down and begun to rest since they were more than tired after getting through the grove before this area.


    The map makers had already started working furiously while a few of the hidden guards showed themselves. They had younger assassins and scouts with them by their side. When they had approached and sensed the uneasy mana all around them, they had gathered the younger ones learning their skills to ensure safety from this point on.


    "As you all understand, the word has reverted back to the size and flow of ancient times. It is still doing so. The destroyed sections of the undead ruins are just a small part. The battle here helped to awaken the truends that were once the ancient immortal chasing race''s city. The danger is still high and the highest ranked adventurers or groups are allowed to enter. The young ones are allowed to scout the outskirts but must retreat at any sign of danger." While the younger groups did not enjoy this, they understood what was being said. The scouts trusted their skills but they had not even sensed their elders around watching them and sneaking around them. A scout not knowing another scout was right behind them? That was rough on their ego and they needed to get stronger. The same could be said for the young adventurer group who didn''t know any of them had been there.


    "I will take the map makers in to the air to get a good view of thends. Remain here and make a small camp. Afterwards we will scout the area and avoid the undead like this one." Walker had used earth to trap an undead before they all got here.


    "This is a zombified wolf. This is a grayback wolf that died here and recently became a zombie. You can see evidence it was bitten and attacked by another undead. That means new undead which will have stronger bodies than the weaker and older rotting zombie undead are around. This wolf can''t feel pain and will attack no matter what."


    He used the earth he controlled as a prison to the zombie greyback wolf to trap it even more tightly while everyone examined it. There was sure to be many more undead around and while the map makers worked, he would observe.


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2367: 2367. Like A Poison

    Chapter 2367: 2367. Like A Poison


    ?


    Once in the air, the ruins that Walker knew were proven to be much further gone than he could tell.


    The tower which had been broken that remained within the center had been surrounded by a decent amount of open space. Afterwards, there were many smaller wooden buildings with some stone mixed in. but now, there were way more stone buildings.


    The wooden rotting buildings that survived because they were affected by the unique state of the ruined city had finally been agitated enough from battle sand from the change in the area again that they crumbled. The remnants were just piles of further rotting wood that could not be properly maintained by the undead mana around.


    There was also not a force of strength that was maintaining them. The immortal king had the undead so what maintained the falling apart buildings as they moved about? While imperfect because a proper focus was not given, it was still something. Just enough to keep them standing.


    The structure of the ruined city was clever now. Therge street which had been filled in by rubble over time showed that the efficiency was high. Something that Genesis could actually learn from. Even if Walker wanted to ignore it out of spite.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Then there were therger buildings which had clear faded markings of runes. Runes that he could vaguely feel pulled some mana into them to maintain the rune formations and whatever the urnes had once done.


    Since theserger stone buildings remained, Walker could tell that they were once much more important than the others. Their size prompted him to think of them as storage areas the very same that were made for food storage. And that was most likely the case.


    Yet, for the immortal chasing race, they did not focus on food. So if not that, then what could it be?


    Test subjects.


    They would have had many of their trapped test subjects isted in ces all through their city. That way the researchers could go and collect or store their experimental subjects at any time. Whether it was to get rid of them, or to start a brand new experiment. It was perfect ess that allowed them to keep developing.


    That was one of the issues. The immortal chasing race had been evil and done a lot of evil because of their twisted desire to be immortal and never die. That had pushed them to learn so much from their horrendous acts and allowed them to gain much more strength over time. So much so that they had built a much more established city than Walker had realized.


    There were also ces that had clearly been left open. What might have been fields of herbs or for training and testing? Whatever it was, Walker could sense somewhat different mana flows. The strange shapes in the soil proved that something might be underneath. Whether it was going to be roots or not, he could check for herbs from ancient times that had been awakened as well.


    They already knew that there was a very high chance that a lot of what was left from ancient times could be found alive and thriving. Monsters that had gone dormant had already been an issue. Ancient nts had begun to grow from seeds or roots already. Then there were even ancient races like the cloud fairies who had been isted because of powerful individuals.


    All proof and a chance that there was more waiting within these nowrger true ruins of an ancient race.


    Stepping down from the air, Walker made sure that all the map makers were able tond calmly. He had used a decent amount of wind mana to keep them floating in ce. Yet, he didn''t feel the least bit tired. He had actually managed to replenish more mana than he had used which could be called extraordinary.


    It was all the times he had been learning and manipting his mana that were paying off. However, he still didn''t like the feeling around here. The undead mana was a mix of life and death mana he could not ce. His sense for death mana was still very minimal. Being able to counter it with life mana might be possible, but that was just in case arge amount was there.


    If he had to counter life mana, all bets were off. Walker would have to hope that whatever happened he would have a better control of life mana than whatever he was battling again. That was just his simple truth right now. Not that he was certain life mana could be sued against someone. He wouldn''t be surprised though.


    "There are more zombies around. All of them seem like they are monsters that traveled the general area and came here after thends returned to the size they should have been. I bet that with this, there will be even more monsters we have not expected from the undead too. Not to mention whatever else appears as more manaes in to the world. We just had another bridge to the elemental nes open." Walker''s stress felt higher and higher as he learned more.


    The fact that just a battle here had spurred the replenishment of enough mana to return this entire area to how it was in ancient times told them a lot. Other areas might be stuck too. Waiting for the mana from the elemental nes to flow through and return it properly. How many ruins had they found so far that were only part of their true size?


    "While you were gone we have trouble." Alice pointed at some degrading bodies. They were different monsters, they looked like zombified felines of some kind.


    "Lady Alice used light to purify them and they began to rot much faster. I believe that they had a dark affinity before they became undead. They were nearly whole bodies so I can assume they were influenced by somethingrger or potentially living here when the undead mana became too dense for them."


    The report of a scout matched what had happened and another theory that Walker had. "Undead mana can act like a poison for people without proper resistances. Meaning we have to send everyone back. Especially those..." Walker trailed off while he was noticing theck of someone. Well, someone.


    "Where did that group go and why are there four scouts missing too?" He could count and notice that there were multiple scouts and the adventurer group missing. Even a few of the assassins in training who had been guarding had disappeared too. Meaning that they had all gone to patrol or explore.


    No one said anything. As up to thest few moments they had thought there were only weaker undead in the area. Nothing major to threaten them or others who were weaker than them. Especially since the adventurer group would be in arger group now to protect and be prepared for whatever was around them. Safety in numbers.


    But that would do nothing against the undead mana which might act as poison to them. Even theirrger numbers could not raise their levels and adjust their resistances to manas as a whole. "We are going to get them and start bringing them out. Their battle healer won''t have enough mana and knowledge to be able to give them all some buffs to resist mana flow from around them or even be able to use purify skills on all of their bodies. Anyone weaker needs to leave the area now."


    Looking at the map makers made them all understand. They were strong and had resistances to be able to go to more dangerous areas and create their maps. Whoever, map makers were not born fighters. Therefore, They could not constantly resist and handle the fighting. Meaning that they had to be escorted away from the safety of everything. Any younger members of the remaining group were also being led away.


    Alice stayed right next to Walker. She was humming slightly which made some light mana gather and move around everyone''s body. It was her way of testing to see if a little song of purification could affect everyone.


    It was slight, but everyone''s faces grew a little warmer. None of them had even realized they grew slightly paler as they hade in to this undead mana Infused area. It had been just enough to cause them to weaken but gradually. Their resistance were high enough.


    If they stayed here for longer it might be worse. If the younger members stayed... Walker didn''t even want to consider it. They already had some proof that even living monsters could be undead by staying here too long. Their darkness affinity had ended up working against them and causing internal decay which worked together with the undead mana.


    "Let''s get moving. Alice will keep a small song going the whole time." She nodded to Walker while staying close to him.


    ----


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2368: 2368. Undead All Around

    Chapter 2368: 2368. Undead All Around


    ?


    Catching signs of the young adventurer group was easy. They had already learned which direction they had begun to travel. Their footprints in the mostly untouched ground stood out for the scouting abilities that Walker possessed.


    The issue was that there were either footprints as well. Tracks that proved that the young adventurers had been followed soon after they had gotten away from where Walker had been just moments ago.


    This wasn''t a surprise with the fact that this entire area was full of undead. Some of them were newly formed and might still have better senses which could help them follow prey. For these undead monsters, everything was prey now. Even the predators that they used to have would be their prey since they couldn''t feel fear any longer.


    Judging from the number that Walker could count, there were easily twelve of whatever the monster was that would be following the younger adventurers. It could be more, but he was also trying to keep his sense spread around him, and focusing entirely on the tracks that he was following would not get him as far as he wanted.


    The reason he said this, was that he had just spotted another undead monster struggling to move through some taller perfectly dried gray grass.


    ''Skeleton crow


    This is a skeleton of a crow which has been reviewed byrger amounts of undead mana. The density was enough to fill the hollow avian bones which this monster had. It is not enough to awaken any traits that the monster had when it was known as a scarlet feather crow. It was enough to bring it back with some of its tougher aspects.


    The scarlet feather crow was known for its extremely sharp talons and the knife like beak it possessed. This skeleton crow has the same features making it a nuisance to anything that crosses its path. However, it is slower than what it used to be since it was not used to traveling on thend and morefortable in the sky. Defeating it is easily done with...''


    The all around appraisal gave Walker enough for him to know that he shouldn''t try to handle this monster. Instead, he started to channel some light mana. Not that he was quick enough. Alice changed the humming in to a short sung phrase which caused a small spike of light to condense and pierce the skeleton crow. It was purified quickly leaving behind the bones which Walker made a quick move to collect.


    There were good reasons that there would be bones around. Every singlend of the world had bones. The remains of ancient and even the monsters or races. They could always be just below the soil or just under some tree roots. Some even rested at the very bottom of the oceans where no one would ever see them again. But they were there.


    What worried Walker was that this was from many ancient monsters he already learned was not brought back as an indeed by the immortal chasing race or the immortal king when he had been here. Meaning that thisnd had been somewhat less consumed by undead mana before the mana of the world had lowered and thisnd had been isted by space.


    While this was just part of what had happened with the mana and the world, Walker wondered if there would be other monsters awakening like this. The undead might not be increasing yet because there was too much mana for them to be affected by. However, that was a higher potential as time went on. That the undead would increase in number and even strength. What could it mean if there were many monsters that wandered in to here?


    The issues with people sneaking in to scavenge the ruins or to adventure without approval had been very frequent in the past. The human kingdom had struggled to handle it and even with the speed that Genesis could get people here to patrol the outer edges, it might not be enough. Thends were veryrge and without proper building of viges or cities right next to this dangerous ce, patrolling was a waste of resources.


    It was another tricky situation that would stick Walker in the Genesis building with both paperwork and a long conversation. At least right now he could hear the young adventurers and make a change with his hands. He didn''t have to worry about thinking through a hundred different potentialws or regtions with the others.


    ''Rot dog


    This is a wild dog that has been disced by the flow of mana and changes in the world. Instead of being able to absorb the wind mana and awaken the bloodline to be wind stepping hounds, this pack was hit with a powerful wave of undead mana as the world expanded.


    This has returned the zombified doge with dark mana from ancient times that many dog and hound like races had the chance to be upon death to the world. Their bite transfers a deadly dark mana which leaves behind lingering rotting. Some even called them the cursed dogs because the dark mana must be purified by light mana. While this is simr to a curse, it is not the same.


    They have a brutal porosity the more that they are harmed. This is because the dark mana in their bodies leaks out more and more causing them to be aggressive. They do not feel pain because they are zombies. They also have an innate desire within their remaining instincts to remain with their pack. Some of the packs could range up to groups asrge as a hundred if not destroyed in...''


    "Of course they achieve the remaining instinct to stay with their pack. Everyone, the bites from these rot dogs will leave behind decaying mana which will rot your body too. Be careful and try to cut their joints to stop their movements. They can not heal."


    The two shield users in the young adventurer party had stationed themselves with the rest of the group behind them. They all were using arge broken stone from what might have been a building in ancient times as cover for their back. This left a wild and rotting pack of rot dogs at their front.


    The jerky and broken movements from the rot dogs showed how they had not been undead long, but were still dead. Their bones inside their bodies were broken and they could not move. Some of these injuries were from the party resisting their attacks. It was a good thing that despite a few bites Walker could see and sense dark mana in, they were fine.


    Surprisingly, the battle healer was not even holding her weapon. Instead, she had been focusing on healing the leader who had a severe bite to the arm. The quick fire mage clearly had very little mana left and could only send a few more small fireballs she struggled to control out. Her mind was fading because of the overuse of mana.


    But that fire was easily taken by Walker since two of the rot dogs were burning while walking forward toward their believed prey. The fire mana with Walker''s control became a wall of mes that burned much greater than what they had in the quick fire mage''s hands. It was enough to begin breaking down the rot dogs'' bodies as Alice started to sing arger song of purification to break down the rot dogs and also heal the young adventurer party who had clearly be much paler.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The only issue was, all thismotion had attracted something Walker did not wish to see.


    ''Death vulture


    A vulture that feasts on the rotting flesh of monsters and anything else it can get. While small in numbers, they are very tough and are always considered a pest to the farmers due to the attacks on livestock and eventual breeding of disease from their attacks.


    However, with the greater amount of undead mana, they have properly awakened their affinity for it and even their affinity for death mana. While small they are able to cause greater damage and even project undead and death mana in to their victims. Causing that person or being to begin to die with even smaller pecks and w attacks.


    This only gets worse as they gather together to feast inrger groups. Due to this, they are always frenzied and will attackrger groups of monsters to weaken and kill off anything. They even love to feast on zombified bodies because they are immune to the illness within. When they perish, they be five times stronger because they give up their innate and small death mana affinity to be purely undead. Their actions be even more erratic but they will still not attack one another...''


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2369: 2369. Not A Ruin

    Chapter 2369: 2369. Not A Ruin


    ?


    "Those are not normal vultures." Alice''s whisper was her pause right before changing songs. It was mostly for her to ask Walker what was going on since she had no idea what they were.


    Most people knew what a vulture was, there might be a few species, but for everyone, they were signs that something dead might be nearby. For adventurers, they were signs that there could be arger group of predators nearby.


    The vulture species would follow the pack of monsters or therge predator and eat from the remains of their hunts. A perfectly bnced rtionship that would actually help protect more people in the long run since they could avoid the dangers that came with that predator.


    However, these vultures had ink ck feathers and their beaks and talons were white. While Walker could only see one that had lost some of its body to be an undead, the dark mana around its body proved to be more of a boost to the other death vultures around.


    Meaning, that the entire flock had been attracted by the rot dogs as they could be food as long as the death vultures managed to avoid the attacks of the zombified monsters that the rot dogs were. That way, the vultures would eat from their rotting bodies and follow them in hopes of always getting a snack.


    But right now, the young adventurer party was weak because of the undead mana around and the simple fact that there was plenty of other issues they needed to worry about. Like the fact that the rot dogs were still attacking even though their bodies were burning. Not all of them had been eliminated by Walker.


    That was another terror of zombies in general. They didn''t just stop when they were burnt, they couldn''t even feel it.


    The death vultures saw this as a chance to just hunt more. And with all themotion, scent of rotting and burning, and then the changes in mana it showed signs of battles. This pushed their natural instincts toe and enjoy the feast. They could have been pushed away by the fire, but since they had death mana and naturally lived in areas with undead mana, they could care less.


    Bing an undead was just a part of their lifespan in a way. For the death vultures, when they awakened their innate affinities and changed from another species of vulture that only relied on dark mana, they had be much more powerful byparison. The fears that they had innately were gone with the wind.


    Things would just get tougher when Walker noticed that the decaying dark mana in their feathers actually managed to repel the mes a bit. Their feathers did not outright burn when he directed fire attacks at them. He had managed to utilize the fire mana that the quick fire mage had left around in the air to start a grander me wall. That was all though.


    "This is frustrating." Walker channeled the light around them that Alice gathered. He knew that her song of purification had already started to degrade and break down the rot dogs that were still moving. Her sharp changes in pitch were her signs that she was creating and sending out spikes of purifying light. Not her most powerful attack but it was focused.


    That focused light was enough to cause a lot more damage to an undead and actually caused the purification effect to radiate from the light spike. The only issue was that the attack would notst that long with the fact that the light mana bled out of it so quickly. Not that it didn''t do the job it needed to do.


    Feeling that the light mana and the fire mana were already mixing because Alice had made light mana too prevalent just by her being present, Walker made the mes change. The burst of white and the loss of the me wall shocked the young adventurer party. It also shocked the death vultures.


    While the young adventurer party waspletely unsure of how the mes changed or how they even worked, the death vultures felt fear. The sudden change in the mes had stopped the dark mana from being able to resist the fire as much as it had. Now the light mana was causing opposition to the dark mana they used and had flowing out of their bodies at all times.


    The end result was that there was a lot more damage bringing down to the death vultures. They could feel the dark mana bing erratic due to the opposing light mana brn ign away at their feathers. The fire was actually getting to them now too. And they could not rely on their slight innate death mana affinity to do anything to help them either.


    The scene of them falling to the ground and iling without being able to let the manas within them consume them and push them to be undead was also something the young adventurers were shocked to witness. They had no idea how everything worked, it just seemed like Walker moved a hand and miraculous changes urred.


    Even the remaining rot dogs had ceased their movement with light spikes still in them and white me consuming them until they left only ash behind. "Right now we are in a dangerous area that is making you sick. Your wounds can be treated as you are carried outside of this area. Just focus on your mana flow and be patient."


    That was that, a firm andmanding order that they could not argue against or resist. The young adventurers had believed that Walker was more of an older brother figure. Someone who was teaching them but also could joke around a little. Maybe even more like the researchers and the magic fanatics they had seen or met before.


    They were wrong though. He rxed because he could. He had the power to do amazing things with just a slight movement. He kept himself field back and allowed himself the joys of being part of everything he saw because that was his foundation. They could see that in his firm words and current actions, he was more of a leader residing over everything than they understood.


    The way that the young adventurer party''s leader saw it, Walker was able to shoulder burdens greater than what any normal person would ever be able to consider. Simply because that was the will behind his own action. Not because Walker was just trying to lead because it was a dream he wanted to achieve.


    The mes though, the quick fire mage could not stop thinking about those mes. They were part of her now, they rested in her mind and she had sensed the mana within them. Light mana and fire mana mixing together. She couldn''t have the affinity for light mana, but the fire mana was the key to those white mes.


    As she was moved, she wanted to see them more. Wanted to grasp why and what they really were. Forget about being the fastest fire ball attacker, if she couldn''t change mes to be what she needed, then she was always going to be weak.


    When it came to the battle healer, she was just stunned. She could feel her wounds and even her body overall bing better with every step. The soft song that Alice barely spoke was enough to clear away even the general fatigue she had felt from the entire journey. How could someone be that adept?


    When the two shields and short swords using twins looked out, they did not feel awe or wonder. They felt terrible. Their leader had been harmed because they had not been ready to attack. Their styles were weak. Their attacks were weak. They were weak.


    So what if they had been told a tiny bit of what made the true draconic guardian Su powerful was? Who cared if she had the styles and the developed training to be that strong? They couldn''t use it because they didn''t learn enough to make a single bit of it theirs.


    They needed to be ten times, if not a hundred times better. This trip wasn''t just a showing of how little they were in the world. It was proof that they should not have stepped a foot from their home without training even more than they had. Just because there were two of them did not mean they could stand on one side alone.


    Walker could see all the thoughts racing through the young adventurer''s mind. He always felt that way. Evaluating what he did wrong and how he should change his ways. He knew his family did that too. So, he let them think. He would not suggest a single way for them to improve. Instead, he focused on the problems of this entire area.


    It was and of the undead now, not a single undead ruin. But even that was part of the world''s bnce.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2370: 2370. Transparent

    Chapter 2370: 2370. Transparent


    ?


    The healing showed a lot of what needed to be learned about both dark mana and of course about undead mana. Walker could see that the more potent wounds caused from bites and the dark mana being left was very dangerous. The skin and muscle around did not instantly decay.


    He could use his mana sense and the knowledge that he gained about healing from others to see that it first caused the muscle to seize up. This caused the muscle to be too tense for blood to flow properly, it also caused bruising in the skin around it. The reaction was also due to the smaller blood vessels beginning to rot. An overall terrifying effect that would have made many healers without proper experience call for a veteran.


    Since this was a much stronger effect from a bite containing dark mana, Walker Knew that there would have to be more research in how the attacks of some monsters had changed because of the increase in dark mana. He would have Mordant focus and lead this endeavor since it was just the best option.


    Since Mordant had mana understanding of dark mana much greater than anyone else before the changes in the world, he could gather and produce a clear report about the differences. From there, they could work with dark mages and other dark affinity ss users to prove that there could be ways to handle this.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Some of the healers had been using light mana primarily, however, healers within Genesis were not bound by one mana nowadays. While rare before the world had returned to proper mana flow, it was clearer now than ever that the sses allowed for there to be healers that utilized all manas as a method of healing.


    While it was a theory that some manas were not as good at healing since they did not have purification effects innately, that was just a theory without proper proof or disproof yet due to theck of overall information. Hence why it was a big piece of gossip when there was a me healer, wind healer, and even a dark healer recently.


    All of this was still secondary when it came to the entireck of information about undead mana. There had not been a necromancer, undead mage, or undead anything that had been part of Genesis as of yet.


    This was sure to change though.


    Having and of the undead being part of the world right now was simply proof that the bnce of the world was grander than what they had all rxed. The immortal chasing race had not necessarily always been a part of thatnd but had actually been a seed on thatnd that allowed it to exist.


    The loss of mana to the world to a high degree had stunted the world and caused many ces to be lost to unknown and strange spatial phenomena. Walker was more sure that it was the world using space mana to protect itself than anything when he realized just how much the world and everything within grew after mana returned.


    If there was and that could be and of the undead, then just like the many elemental nes, there had to be areas that would eventually reflect those elemental nes. Not entirely divided but part of the perfect bnce of the world in its entirety.


    The undead mana was a mystery and could facilitate a new phase in the growth of everyone and everything. When new sses appeared, they would have to be studied with caution since the undead mana could potentially harm the wielders and those around them.


    Whoever, if used properly, the knowledge could be used to defend against undead mana in this newnd of the undead. Not to mention keep track of the newly born undead and even the ancient undead that were appearing. At the end of the day, Walker knew all of this was possible and he would have to follow closely as time went on.


    That''s why he took the time while they moved to speak through themunication crystals. Allowing for everyone to know of the undeadnds and the risks there. He also made sure that ra understood why only higher ranked adventurers would be allowed to go there. Not just because there was a risk of the younger and weaker adventurers bing ill and dying there, but because there were packs of undead monsters now.


    That was the main focus. If the undead were not bound to the area for any reason other than the undead mana that they needed in the area, they could travel. Meaning that for miles outside of the undeadnds, certain undead monsters might roam. And with therge concentration of undead monsters that surely remained within the ruins of the immortal chasing race''s city, they could leave there in droves if bothered.


    That Was a risk many did not wish to hear or take. But for the Genesis representatives, it was an important fuel. They had all pushed for the viges, towns, and cities to reinforce themselves since the wilderness was changing. The monsters outside the wilderness were very dangerous and some even changed so radically that the current information was not at all helpful to handling the risks associated with them.


    Since so much action had already been in the works for preparing these defenses, many people praised their actions. The many guards who had been brought in to different training programs became instantly reinvigorated as the Genesis representatives shared the information on the newly altered and documented undeadnds.


    So many had already heard of the dangers of undead and knew of the entire story about the immortal king''s experimentations. The immortal chasing race had also been shared, their known history and gruesome actions were well known now. Since this was the case, the transparency from the representatives had just be more inspiration.


    Being able to share this information and it not cause panic also showed a lot. Walker hadn''t even been away for an additional day on his return journey and he was receivingmunications crystal messages about how Genesis was calm and prepared to keep pushing forward their ns.


    One in particr was showing a surprising amount of new effort.


    The flying ship which had passed many tests in smaller forms and even been redesigned at a few important hurdles proved to be advanced by leaps and bounds.


    The idea that there were even more monsters with dangerous affinities like a stronger dark mana and even potential flocks of undead monsters inspired people to put in harder work. As such, they began to prove that the fly ship project was nearer and nearer to beingpleted.


    This also stemmed from the fact that the cloud fairies would be able to get above Genesis properly very soon. Their safety in the sky was a reason that the flying ship and those who could fight within the sky were more important. Not only that they needed to protect this new race who needed to learn a great deal that happened while they were isted, but because there were potential dangers resurfacing that could harm them.


    The flying ship would be the first major air based transportation and battle power other than just the forces who could fly themselves. The angels had the floating cities, but they were damaged from years of being unable to repair them. Their loss of history in that respect had been why many of the angel race flocked to help the growth and building of the flying ship.


    The simple idea that they could return to their homes and repair the floating cities along with potentially raising even more was enough. A dream that would inspire future generations of angel craftsmen and flying ship rted sses. Something that Walker wished he could see sooner rather thanter.


    But when he heard that by the time he returned, that the mana crystals, mana gems, and rune formations within the flying ship would be activated to begin the preliminary preparations and mana absorption, he knew he had to be part of it.


    So many people had worked on it. He had seen the designs. He had seen the building. He had even helped a little here and there. But he had the control of mana that would be able to assist with any issues that could destroy or break the flying ship in this important process.


    He was also certain that just having him there would reinforce the minds and will of others. While Walker did not like to admit it, he had a reputation. He could make amazing things happen even if he was just the small driving force here and there.


    If he were at the flying ship when all this happened, people would rx enough to keep their minds clear. And even that little bit would make Walker feel even greater pride in the future


    ahead.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2371: 2371. Melt Them?

    Chapter 2371: 2371. Melt Them?


    ?


    "What do you mean you are going to work on a potion that will melt undead? What does melting undead even mean?" Gil had stopped by to ask Remey for some potions.


    While this would be unusual for other times, it was not now since he was working on arrows that could deliver unique potions that would act as either poison or be full of some sort of sleeping poison to haltrger monsters.


    The need to study monsters, especially those that exhibited ancient traits, had made him understand he needed arrows that would help in that study. So, to set a proper example, he began to n and eventually went to Remey for help.


    She could easily make stronger sleeping poisons that he would be able to dilute and add to an arrow that would inject that in to whatever he shot it with. He just had to train others to be able to discern how much to use and how to utilize the arrows better overall. It would take a little time, but the better he could do this the better he could help everyone.


    Some of therger monsters that they had learned about from ancient times might be tougher to handle for the average soldier. These arrows with sleeping poisons would be much more mainstream as the guards could use them to haltrger monsters approaching the walls or even to handle anyrge monsters that rampaged through the city.


    Not to mention the security uses these arrows could have. If the guards used specific arrows like these with a specific antidote, then they could capture some criminals using the arrows easily. It was also a lot safer than using paralyzing poison on arrows since those could lead to people struggling to breathe along with other issues in the long run.


    "I mean it, I am working on adoption that will melt undead." Remey didn''t even share any other information about her ideas. She just stated it bluntly and smirked a little knowing that Gil would be annoyed by this.


    "I don''t think you can just throw some sort of purified potion at them and they will melt in to a puddle like ice." As Gil rolled his eyes, he looked at the shelves of potions that Remey had madetely.


    There were many that had been made in stages. The stages of each potion would make them weaker or higher in potency. She had intentionally made them in varying strengths to show how the quality could be changed by the different herbs used and also the different methods of controlling the manas within the herbs. This wasn''t just an example to the young alchemists and a test of her control. It was also a clear example of what she could do when producing potions for different uses.


    "Fine, I want to make a potion that could be used to help purify the body andpletely get rid of undead or dark mana causing decay. Or, it could be used to literally melt through the bodies of the undead because they will have an adverse reaction to the potion in a drastic manner." Remey started to show multiple herbs that she knew had extremely high light affinity.


    This is starlight moss, it can filter the impurities from the air using the light mana it absorbs at night from the stars. This is the twisted rose, it twists because it heals itself when it is damaged using the light mana it absorbs causing its stems to be twisted. This is the blood of a toad called the clear water toad. They can''t swim but when they fall in to deep water they cause the water to be cleaner instead of making it decay or toxic by rotting inside it."


    She went to grab another small vial or bag of herbs before Gil stopped her. "I see what you are saying but if you make something like this won''t it also be dangerous? Walker said that the undeadnds were also a part of the bnce of the world. That''s why they formed and not just because of the actions of one race. They have to be respected too."


    She looked at him like she had just heard him saying something ridiculous and insulting. "I won''t be trying to hear the undeadnds. But we have to handle the manasing from there, right? Walker said undead mana was an issue since no one has appeared that can handle it like others. He also said that we will have issues handling anything that escapes it because there are so many undead that can be there and also be born there."


    There was a short pause before Remey kept going, she wanted to make sure that Gil was following her properly now. "If I make this potion and it''s sessful, we can stop or damage the strongest undead more easily. That allows me to send herbalists there to look at new herbs growing in undeadnds. Lets us research the undead there better. And helps the adventurers who will go there because of us no matter what."


    This was a pretty good point. Gil knew that Walker hadn''t said it but thought that even more people would try to go to the undeadnds even with restrictions. Simply because of them and their history there. It just made too much sense. To the foolish it was a chance to create a legacy just as their party had.


    "Alright then, can this potion be made or do you think you need more for it?" He decided that the more he helped the better it would be. He also knew he would get his new sleeping poison for his arrow experiments sooner if he helped rather than just leave it in the stack of requests that Remey always had for when she needed a new project.


    "I need some of the white apples from the newly transnted sparkling apple tree ntedst month. I know that the trees are young and the fruits are only for the elves with light affinity, but they could be the entire base for this potion." Not a bad idea either since only those with higher ranking within the eleven race could take these.


    As the herbalists had agreed with one another, even those within the alchemy guild, they would allow for separate greenhouses and also from unique herbal methods to be kept or taught at their discretion. The method to grow the sparkling apple trees and get the pure white apples was a method kept by the elves.


    This wasn''t because they were greedy but because the apples had been something thought to be extinct until some seeds were recently found within ruins. The ancient writings found about how they grew connected a few different documents that helped exin the proper process of growth.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was a nt that needed the influence of an elf to grow and produce fruit. Hence why it had be extinct with the pure elves not being around and the elves dividing themselves so much. But that was changing. The elves and relearned how to gain the recognition of the pure elf bloodline locked within all of them. They had begun to move toward that goal. Uniting himself once again in more and more ways as they worked to be stronger within Genesis.


    Hence why the pure white apples were bing something so popr. Their light affinity and light mana within was very useful for stimting the body. It helped purify the body as a whole while also promoting growth. If it was used in Remey''s potion, she might be able to make the potion much stronger because the herbs added to it would be unified by the apple as the base.


    "You aren''t trying to make weird apple juice, right?" Gil smirked as an empty potion sk flew through the air while he darted out the door. He knew that she would do that but he just had to poke the ho''s nest a little.


    It was a somewhat odd idea. Most potions were stronger in bitter vors. That was just the reality that came with the herbs used. But of Remey looked at everything carefully, she might be able to make some potions with better tastes. While they would lose a lot of effectiveness, it could be good for children who would not drink potions or medicines otherwise. Some of the healers and other alchemists had worked toward these goals, but they still ended up with rough tasting everything. That was because they didn''t want to diminish the effects too much. However, Remey had ess to all the new herbs, monster materials, and whatever else she needed to experiment. Having another small side project like this could be fun. It would also be much easier with her knowledge than the average alchemist to try this.


    ----


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2372: 2372. Spreading News

    Chapter 2372: 2372. Spreading News


    ?


    It was more than just Remey''s new experimentation to make an undead melting potion as she called it. Genesis had taken a turn with a new idea that an entirend was filled with an odd


    mana.


    The theories about other forms of mana that could be appearing in the expanded ancient areas of the world had been born before this undeadnd was discovered to have grown from the undead ruins they already knew.


    Since this was just enhancing those theories it put fuel on the fire.


    Many people believed that theva fields would hold a hidden area where there might be more manas mixing together. The fact that earth mana and metal were considered the same for such a long time had finally been broken as some believed that metal was a condensed form of earth mana with even more unique characteristics.


    This idea came from the fact that metals had other affinities to them usually. They Were not always purely earth in nature other than the most basic of manas. One such was the white gold that had been discovered and hoarded by nobles.


    While some nobles were pursuing this theory because they enjoyed the color and boasting rights if they had items made with white gold, there was more to it.


    Light mana affinity was mixing with the earth mana in the metal. Making the white gold a dial elemental affinity material. Proving that they might be mixing well enough to be called more than just metal and more than just a light material.


    If there was an area within theva fields that gave birth to metals as the heat from magma cooled and shifted, then what if that area was shining with light from the sky? Could that make a pool ofva that constantly produced small pieces of white gold which could be harvested?


    Or would it create a monster that had white gold as part of their bodies?


    This was all a potential theory that some of the nobles passed around since they cared about the looks of white gold. However, the healers spoke about it for different reasons than that. They cared about it because it could help them.


    While a magic a staff or some other magical focus for them to use healing magic skill through were important, white gold was not prevalent enough in nature that arge amount to make an entire staff was possible.


    That didn''t mean that something else couldn''t be made.


    Using it to make jewelry or adornments for clothing was perfect. It allowed for light mana to be channeled through them which could boost the effectiveness of light mana gathered and also the spells used by the healer. It was definitely worth preparing for the best healers or those that had unique skills based in light and healing.


    Since this was something that both healers and the nobles of multiple kingdoms had begun to push forward, the gossip about the potential materials only became more and more prevalent. Even people who did not care about it had begun to mention it causally.


    Walker''s mother had been one of the people that heard this the most. As she had a restaurant and expanded it in to one of the biggest establishments in the city og Genesis right now, she had a focal point for every tiny bit of gossip. That has attracted a new guild which had just been established.


    The information guild, simple and blunt, was a guild that had avability for the librarians, scouts, and even for some of the news reporting groups to gather themselves in. While it was also for some of the independent scouts who traveled the world without being attached to anything, some people believed it was better that they established themselves than having some secret dark alley group doing this.


    Whatever information they shared was guaranteed in magical contacts or would be given with full transparency that everything may not be urate. When the Genesis representatives saw this application to make this guild, they pushed it through with the goal to have reliable information about hope to ess certain ss skills avable to all.


    They also had a major connection to the education system being built. Some of the smaller basic education courses were being created by the information guild and the Genesis representatives in tandem. Allowing for the smallest schools to be built which focused on the basicws, mathematics, and even some cultural aspects that Genesis was developing. It even focused on the Genesis map which taught the young how to navigate the city better.


    This wasn''t the important thing here. Because there was so much gossip, this newly established information guild was giving out the location to find white gold mostmonly. They were also rmending the ways of storage and constantly updating the price of this climbing in value metal.


    The idea that other metals might be able to be found because of the growth in mana also came to be. The dwarven craftsmen had recently put in requests for any new metals and other higher quality metals. Even the Wandering cksmith had taken a moment from his major projects to be present when the Genesis representatives began to consider whether they should ce rules on theva field explorations.


    Ignus could have stopped many people from going to theva fields. However, he had seen the draw of people wanting to go there. He also recognized it as one of his previous homes. He had even participated in the volcanic events there so he knew that it was changing and going to be different from now and in to the future than what he remembered.


    When he saw the wandering cksmith at the meeting, he convinced the other representatives to allow exploration but he would have some of his elder fire dragons patrol theva fields in general. They could not cover the entire area, but they could be a small peace at mind group that could keep an eye out for anyrger dangers. Specifically, if there were ancient monsters.


    It was why there were also arge amount of fire affinity dragonkin who made it a goal to return to theva fields and explore. They knew very well that there could be materials there from ancient time resurfacing. Materials that were helpful to the dragons and to them as those who followed the dragons.


    If there had not been so much activity throughout the world, many people would have already been in theva fields gathering materials. These rare metals had been sent all over the ce due to the volcanic events with an ancient monster. Since that was the case, many unique materials were there for the taking if someone went looking.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Ideally, those materials could be brought back and sold or used. The Wandering cksmith would easily pay a high price along with the other powerful craftsmen. The researchers would be willing to sponsor those who went out to explore. Even better, the Genesis council might even give awards to those who helped makerge advancements. This didn''t even consider those that were in guilds which could also give some awards.


    After hearing all of this, there were two things that perfectly matched up.


    First, that theva fields had be a focus for the people regardless of the other talks about thend of the undead and about the cloud fairy race arriving in Genesis.


    Second, that the floating ship was about to be tested and rise to the skies.


    People trusted and believed that the floating ship first of its kind would be sessful. They did not doubt it whatsoever. Everyone heard the details of how hard people had been working on it. The new sses that came to be because of it alone were miraculous.


    So, why would anyone doubt that these two things could be put together?


    "Today we announce that the first expedition and test flight for the floating ship will be to bring a total of one hundred people to the outer areas of theva fields. They will be able to explore theva fields while the floating ship has a five day test period of floating in ce, traveling the open area, and other important resistance tests to various manas in the area." That announcement became the one and only talk of Genesis. The one hundred passengers would be elected by various guilds who each had a specific number of tickets. Otherwise, everyone would get news on the tests and findings using themunications crystals and the newly formedmunication guild publishing the news and sending it out with the mail


    carriers and announcers.


    Walker and the others had gotten the same announcements when they checked themunication crystals. Remey felt that she didn''t need to bother, but Walker wondered if he should head there too since he could get Alice something she might need. Gil was ignoring it for other important things while Midnight and Onyx were the same. But Su, found it interesting.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2373: 2373. Sus Goals

    Chapter 2373: 2373. Su''s Goals


    ?


    "Hm?''"'' The sudden appearance of Su in his forge made the wandering cksmith look up.


    While he would normally be focused on his work so much so that he would not even realize that the building fell down if that happened, this time he looked up. He could sense that Su was a lot more focused right now than what he was.


    Call it intuition for those that were used to putting everything they had in their work.


    "I have something I need to ask of you." She had been thinking about this for a while.


    Su had put a lot of work in. She had helped at the crystal inds, been able to make some assistance for the new races, and now she had returned from another important job. But all that time she had noticed that many of those she had gathered were not properly equipped any longer.


    "Everyone I work with is not ready to handle the threats and dangers we are going to be facing. We have too many inexperienced craftsmen making things. They aren''t able to use enough materials with higher qualities. The best items are being made for those that won''t even be sent out of the cities and towns we position them in."


    This was something that stopped the wandering cksmith in his actions. He had been preparing a small blueprint for an idea that came to him. While it could be important to the next generation of floating ships, he knew that whatever it was could not be as valuable as what Su was bringing up.


    He had also had a small idea of this problem. In the eyes of a master cksmith, the smallest errors in even the nicest looking armors for someone of average skill were highlighted. It was like looking at at someone making their first work.


    "I want to be part of the venture to theva fields with the goal to bring back another mass of ores, mana crystals, and everything else we can get while there. If we can find extraordinary materials that are closer to the volcano, I will be the one to take the risk and go there." Her words did not show any sign of being held back by worry. Only drive.


    "What do you need?" since the wandering cksmith knew that Su would not take this to him without a good reason, he asked the only thing that was necessary. Whatever it was he understood.


    From making Su''s twin shields, repairing them, and even making new pairs for different situations, he had learned a lot about her. The way that su fought was preferably one that could protect people. She always held a small part of her back which she could release when using a more attack based style. That was her desire to make sure that those who meant harm could be halted for sure.


    This quality of focusing on defense whenever necessary and only using attack when absolutely forced showed him that she deserved everything he had to offer as a craftsman. He knew that the shields he made were doing more than just being used to fight monsters or being show off. Some weapons he had made were just disy pieces and he hated that very much.


    In his youth, he could recall making weapons and armors that were showed off and sent in to storage after whoever bought or owned them had be bored with showing them off. That was not at all his desire. He hated that. It made his very being shake with anger and disappointment.


    What he made he made for a purpose. He pushed his skills to be the very best because he wanted to see the levels beyond the horizon for forging as a whole. He wanted to step well above and be more than he was today. And those that wielding what he made should have a true and pure reason for wielding them.


    Su wielded everything to make the world a better ce for all people. Her life was just another piece of what she needed to stand as an absolute defender. Not many people could live that life and proof that they were worthy to be seen as more. Even the fact that she had been a human who became a true draconic guardian meant that she could supersede the limits of what she should be.


    "I need you to allow me to be able to procure and store many of the things I find. I also need you to make sure that I can go and discover these things myself. I don''t need a team since the numbers are limited. Walker maye, but he can not be the one tasked with gathering everything. He will need to map out the area and focus on arger picture. I need your support for this."


    It wasn''t simply a request for a shield or for armor to reset the extreme heat. Su wanted an item like Walker''s high spatial storage. She wanted a magical and highly crafted item to store a massive amount of materials she could gather within theva fields and even from the volcano if she were to go there.


    "Extreme heat resistance. Extreme mana resistance. Space mana ability and flow. Several high quality mana gems. Spatial me alloy. Limited time. Blueprints are impossible. Rune carving format is experimental. Untouched research..."


    The mumbling front he wandering cksmith as Su''s need and his curiosity took root was perfect. She could tell where his mind was bouncing to. How many topics he was touching on in his grand life of experience.


    The wandering cksmith was not just one person in a way, he was many. Someone with such a massive amount of experience and surely more than just a human at this point had to be transcending to something else. If not, Su would im that he was blessed by some powerful ss user or higher being. Because the knowledge he had of each small phrase he mumbled could not be written in even a hundred books.


    She did know that he was building. He was putting together the blueprint and assembling the things he had learned. The crux should have been the ability to make an alloy to handle spatial mana and be able to use the mes that were in the furnaces Walker helped make with him. These furnaces had unique mes that could be used to further enhance Walker''s eternal codex. Allow him the ability to better channel more unique manas through them. But he was limited by his own understanding and even the wandering cksmith was limited but he fact that he did not understand those mes just yet. Besides the fact that the mes were governed by unique elemental spirits.


    There was also the fact that proper space runes had not been made. Meaning that to even make this, the wandering cksmith had to ensure that he was able to create them. He had to find a way using the elemental runes the same ways that the elemental rune teleportation formation used them, or pursue other methods. Right now, he was finding a way.


    Suddenly, he started writing a list. Over thirty materials, metals, and even some odd herbs here and there were written. "Get them while I prepare." Su had been sent on an errand while the wandering cksmith started to clear the entire forge. Tossing tools and papers outside to make the entire room clear.


    He was clearing it all to ensure that his process would be entirely isted. Not a single instance of other mana would break his focus. Not a single piece of the materials he forged would be tainted. He could even cleanse himself before. This was a means he rarely used since he had long taken steps above what a cksmith would need this action for. That was his skill.


    This was experimental and challenging.


    He did not even trust himself to make sure that he would seed without the utmost caution.


    Making a spatial item had been possible before. Extremely rare, but possible. However, people who made them did not fully understand how and normally followed the same methods of passed down works. Mostly, it had been lost to everyone how to change that. It was only surfacing now as a potential for new research.


    "You are a material too. No armor."


    That caught Su off guard. If he was saying this, that meant that her mana and her attachment to whether it was forged would also be clear. She had heard of master craftsmen making bound items. But it was thought to be pointless since people outgrew them. Or it was only something down for celebratory events. It could alsoe at a cost if it failed.


    "I understand. I will also have a few purification spells used on me in the cathedral before Ie back." Su had to ept the potential failures that would happen. But her mind was focused. She could help everyone survive the changing world. This was her goal right now and these were the first steps to that goal.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2374: 2374. Gathering The Materials

    Chapter 2374: 2374. Gathering The Materials


    ?


    The materials were not the issue. While Su could understand that they were very spread out when it came to the different storehouses they were in, that was no issue. She could easily handle that.


    The dwarven storage in the underground sections had been set up to protect the strongest earth elemental materials. Most of them even needed to be kept in earth mana formations so that the mana within them did not deteriorate.


    The theoretical spatial mana alloy had to be made using a purified steel. Made up of three different metals that had all been purified to only contain earth mana. This was not because the heart mana itself was important but theck of other manas within.


    The purity would allow for a stronger and more intricate rune formation to be carved in to the item that would not degrade over time. From there, it could also be able to withstand the high mana flow from unique mana gems.


    The way that Su saw this, the mana gems made or used would end up beingrger. She partially believed that the wandering cksmith would end up making her an entirely new armor set with the unique ability to store more items within. A spatial armor that only focused on storage? It might be worse since it would not help her defenses but that was fine. An item that stood out to her though were the dragon talon shavings. It was an odd material to need since the dragons did not even see value in them. Nor did many cksmiths. Who would usually? The entire talon was more valuable from a dragon since there was the fact that it could be shaped and altered in to a weapon simr to the shape and size of a dragon''s talon.


    But the shavings were less so, they had no structural integrity. The only thing that Su could think of was that they did not need to be added for any structural aspects. Instead, for the fact that a dragon''s mana was very resilient. Especially for a light dragon.


    Since many materials from the various races were saved now since Genesis was bing a use everything and anything to its fullest mentality, these shavings were saved. This waste not mentality was perfect though. It meant that any wasted food was made right in topost to provide the farms with another batch of foodter. Something that many of the representatives were prideful about.


    As Su moved to the alchemy hall, she was immediately asked if she was there to see Remey. She was slightly surprised to find that Remey and Gil were in closed door processing. Therefore, Su did not inquire much about it. She simply stated to the attendant that she was there to gather several herbs that were needed by the wandering cksmith.


    This had not been the first time someone came at his request. The burst fire dandelions that he had requested were known for exploding in to mes during the dry seasons and causing small field fires. A natural part of their fire affinity herb lifespan that allowed their seeds to have the right amount of nutrients when they were to get rain after the dry season ended. "Not this time, I need the coiled serpent flower, a chilling plum branch, and the bark from the ck timber pine." all of these had different elemental affinities. This left the attendant at the alchemy storehouse confused. Not many people came asking for a variety of unrted herbs like that. Even Remey usually has a theme and her research was expansive.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The coiled serpent flowers were a bud that looked like a serpent''s head. Underneath were small vines which moved in a spring shape. They were actually the roots of the next generation of seeds within the flower beginning to grow before they would touch the ground and the flower would bloom and die within a day. Their earth affinity was strong and usually used to calm the heart mana within a potion.


    The chilling plumb branch needed to be harvested from a tree called the chilled plum blossom in the colder parts of the world. They grew absorbing water mana so dense that it became ice. Their sap would freeze once exposed to the slightest bit of open air. A tough thing to gather. But the branches themselves would trap that mana and allow for a very useful herb to cool a potion while enhancing the viscosity.


    The ck timber pine was something that almost no merchant would carry. It radiated a lot of dark mana because the core of the wood itself stored it. While in transit, the decaying mana could cause all other goods to break down in quality. This included the carriage that was carrying the material itself. The cause of many different schemes revolved around this material.


    While it was umon today, some merchants inpetition with one another would hide pieces of this wood in the carriages of theirpetitors. When they would be out on a long journey, the wheels or the important structuralponents of the carriage itself would break down. Losing the methods of transportation. Then thepetitor woulde to save the day and buy the goods at a lower price due to the emergency.


    Arge quantity of water and oils from seeds were also grabbed but they were less of a talking point. Su just had to organize them to be brought to the wandering cksmith. All of this running around caused her to spend several hours rather than the few she expected. Not just because the materials had to all be prepared, but because they were unique and needed their own formats of transport to ensure the quality.


    The wandering cksmith needed the proper quality and Su was not ying any games with that. If she mistreated the materials she knew very well that the wandering cksmith would make her item and then not give it to her. Or that the forging process would fail entirely.


    On her way back a quick stop at the cathedral gave her a few purification to her body along with a purified n set of robes. She felt odd without her armor and shields to carry, but she had been asked toe without those since they carried many manas with them. The in robes were not attached to any mana strongly and with the purification magic most manas had been forced away leaving a somewhat clean te.


    Her body also had been cleansed of impurities that she would have picked up throughout her day. Whether it be mana or dirt, she had been cleaned up well enough that when it came to the forging process she could barely attribute any error to contamination.


    Aside from this, her arrival at the forge made her realize the true level of what the wandering cksmith had prepared. Buckets of dirty water from his cleaning were outside. He had brought out different rune sewn cloth tapestries and ced them on the wall as well. All circting certain manas in the rim while isting the other forges that he would not be using.


    This was to perfectly iste the area he would be forging. But Su had not yet considered the depth of danger they could be in. The wandering cksmith was not one to experiment with certain manas just yet. The knowledge needed was important and the risks were too great. If he were to fail making something that dealt with space mana, he knew there might be consequences. He and Walker had spoken about these forges and their unique mes when they were made. While they had just gone back and forth while working on everything, he realized that Walker''s fears of these mes were warranted.


    The potential that they could cause damage was very high. Spatial mana could alter the world itself to a much grander degree than many other manas. They were seeing this now with the many areas that were affected due tock of mana and how space mana condensed the world


    so to speak.


    Those around when an item trying to utilize space mana let alone create a spatial storage failed could be subject to untold damage. Their very being could be altered or torn apart in


    unrepairable ways.


    Those risks were what Su did not grasp until she saw the level of care. The eternal codex had Walker to control mana flow and protect the area while the wandering cksmith worked. It was bound to Walker in a deeper way. This would need Su''s very being to act as a base for it to remain calm and stable.


    A different a more dangerous method. Hopefully with a better reward though. Su just had to be ready to work carefully with the wandering cksmith.


    ....


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 Chapter 2375: 2375. Damaging Work

    Chapter 2375: 2375. Damaging Work


    ?


    He could feel it.


    The moment that they even walked in to Genesis, Walker could feel it.


    His mana sense was getting stronger by the day. While this was partially because he was always focused on it, Walker knew it was part of being an origin race member. His very being was limating to more and more mana while he grew. While he understood more about the manas of the world, no of existence itself.


    The focus that Walker had on getting the young adventurers back to the adventurer''s guild and also to see healers for a full check up took precedence. The map makers also needed to get to the Genesis building before they split up and shared their newer maps with the other guilds. They would all share these maps readily and freely. The only maps that would cost anything were maps maderger or with more focus.


    A general map was a major goal for the entire Genesis alliance. Mostly for safety, but also for everyone to understand their world. Being able to share where and what was going on was an important part of the world right now. Also, those with talent might find their future after examining a map.


    That aside, Walker could sense that there was a strange change in mana. He was not far from the crafting areas of Genesis so he had always felt oddities there since so many cksmiths, leather workers, and carpenters worked on unique materialstely. There were many other craftsmen, but those three specifically made up the bulk of craftsmen in general in this day and age.


    The mana Walker could feel wasing from a familiar location which he was sure he could get to quickly. Not just with his speed but with the fact that he had arrivedter in the evening before a lot of the nocturnal races came out and as many of the day walking races went to sleep. That was just because of the times they needed to rest while traveling because of the younger people in the muchrger group they had after the scouts and potential assassin guards gathered.


    Noticing that there was arge stack of every tool, piece of furniture, and even most of the odds and ends blueprints of projects outside the forge, Walker had no idea what could be going on. He knew that the wandering cksmith wanted to travel, but there was no way that he would be walking away and leaving everything here.


    The forges alone had unique mes and even elemental spirits that had taken residence within them. They were able to share unique perspectives as the wandering cksmith and other people gained the eptance of them and the correct insight about such mes. This was a major way to improve and grow.


    Yet, the wandering cksmith could be thinking about heading out to theva fields. Just in the short few hours since he had gotten back inside Genesis, Walker had heard the new wave of rumors. Many guards sitting outside taverns were chatting about it with their evening drinks before heading home to rest.. A culture that Walker both liked and disliked for obvious reasons.


    No, that couldn''t be it.


    Walker focused his mana sense and felt that manas and other items that could have caused mana to build up had been entirely taken from the room. The forge even had rune formation attracting and pushing away manas in a unique flow. Something that the wandering cksmith knew from bringing a rune formation master to help create such a flow of necessary.


    But this awakened the idea that the wandering cksmith might be working on something extremely major.


    Should he go and see though? Would that ruin the progress? Could that ruin the item being made? Walker would have to entirely iste his own mana as he went in rendering him nearly blind when it came to mana sense. But he could not even make much of a sound meaning he would have to use the soft steps skill and also do his best to be delicate overall.


    Curiosity and the potential fact he could help led Walker to open the door carefully. The change in the light and the mana from the door was stopped with his control. He did not even allow it to shiver. While this caused him to use his own mana much more, Walker knew that he was able to do so.


    The high mana senses that he possessed allowed Walker this form of control. A control of mana much greater than most people and even beginning to rival the elemental spirits and spirit race. They would find his control suffocating and even life threatening if he were to misuse it. Especially the elemental spirits who had a natural control of elemental mana but not a highly focused one from learning over time.


    When his eyes fell on Su, Walker was even more surprised. He had not sensed her whatsoever. Something that should be nearly impossible. There she was though, standing in front of a forge with her skin showing signs of heat and damage.


    That was when he sensed the space mana running amok. Not entirely though. It was unsettled. Like a cat cornered and growling at a beast. It was angry and scared. It was trying its best not to be forced or bent to the will of another.


    Looking more carefully, Walker could see that Su had nearly nothing when it came to mana in her body. She had expended almost every single bit of her mana. Her injuries had to be because that fact had worn down her natural resistances. Losing mana flow was just one way to weaken the body overall. Then the prolonged exposure to different elemental manas and also to chaotic space mana had done its toll.


    The draconic resistance that Su gained through her bonds with Midnight and by epting the dragon side of herself now being one with her had not been able to hold up enough. Walker could see that her skill to make dragon scales more prevalent all over her body had activated and been pushed right back by the constant harm from manas.


    The wandering cksmith was slowly carving on a piece of metal. Slowly shaping. Slowly altering by taking piece by piece from the mes. The mes that appeared to be reaching out towards Su to get a little more mana. To be able to push Su a little further.


    The sudden deep breath that the wandering cksmith took proved that his focus was much greater than normal. Even when he had forged things with Walker, the wandering cksmith remembered to breathe. Now though, he had forgotten and been forced to takerge slow breaths when he realized his position.


    That was also when a burst of decaying mana moved through the room. Whatever material had just burned up had been full of dark mana which decayed one of the materials. The g that fell off allowed the wandering cksmith to fit it perfectly in ce. The effects also hit Su who flinched this time. Her body showing even more damage but clearly being fully


    connected to the me and the process.


    "no mana. Move material to forge."


    The simple words were shortened to save energy and focus. But the wandering cksmith was not speaking to Su. Instead, he was speaking to Walker. All three of them knew that, not that Su heard anything. Her entirety was focused on matching and facing the mes which were tempering her and the materials that would be an item perfectly matched to her and what she needed in the future.


    What the wandering cksmith had yet to tell her was simple.


    He was making her an item just like Walkers'' eternal codex. He was adding space affinities to it to meet her requirements, but not just for the reason that she wanted. He was forcing there to be much more than just the space mana spatial storage aspect.


    He wanted to make her something that could resist all manas. Could enhance her body. Could match her desire and fight to be able to defend others and all the values within Genesis. To ensure that there would always be safety in their world. To uphold her goals to better everything.


    He had seen her and so had Genesis. The people knew who Su was in the best way possible. Of course the wandering cksmith would channel those desires in to his work. He had every goal to do so. He had respect and even admiration for her and the others. But right now, his intenses focus was for Su''s gear. The item that would be the core of who she was in battle and even outside of battle as she progressed.


    It would not be some temporary thing. It wouldst an entire lifetime.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2376: 2376. Perfect For Su

    Chapter 2376: 2376. Perfect For Su


    ?


    Keeping his manapletely sealed and from at all influencing the materials, Su, or the wandering cksmith was taking its toll. Walker had never imagined that he would randomly be put under this much mental stress.


    He was so used to letting his mana spread out to use high mana sense that this was second nature to him. Every second of the day, Walker had mana sense working and keeping track of things all around him and even far away from him.


    This stark difference would have made it hard on anyone. Like asking them to suddenly use their non dominant hand. That would make things a lot harder. But for Walker, it was like asking him to temporarily cut off a limb entirely. He was so used to having his mana senses running and sending pout mana to examine everything, even with the all round appraisal, he was used to it.


    But having this sudden change was refining his mentality again. Allowing him to look within himself rather than outside.


    This was how he had mediated in the first pce. Focusing on his own mana and how it flowed. How it could influence the outside world and the manas always surrounding him. But returning to the basics and only focusing on his mana while he let his body follow the slight orders from the wandering cksmith?


    That was a different form of meditation. The focus was different since it was almost entirely separating his mind and inside mana from the outside world and what his physical body was doing. He had not done this form of meditation while he had grown. While he had the simr sense of meditation while he worked on paperwork or while he trained his physical skills, that was a different form.


    All of this could and would change the fact that he was able to make the best of his skills. Right now, he was helping make the best of the item prediction he had walked in on.


    The wandering cksmith was not wielding anyrger hammers. He was delicate. The pieces he put together were fused in to the onerger material he had been working on slowly but surely. Each piece had a release of mana which was sent through the area. Something that Walker worried about since it was a little more dangerous than it should be. Yet, he also could feel an aura of strength.


    He also saw that Su was reacting to each piece being added. This was deeper than just someone giving every drop of mana that their body generated in to a me. It should have been very hard to do that for someone like su who focused on physical skills and the physical side of battle.


    Since Su had spent all this time being trained in physicalbat, she was not as experienced when it came to controlling mana. Even her training to do so was more of a blunt art than one of delicacy. Therefore, Walker had wondered if she would be safe while this entire process happened. Especially since there needed to be a delicate action every few moments.


    That was when he realized that the wandering cksmith was so careful because he had taken that in to ount. Some of the pieces of metal or the bursts of mana caused damage to the tools or to Su. This was also pulling away a little mana that her body generated and attached her more to that specific piece.


    The wandering cksmith hand made all these pieces and been pulling them to slowly assemble and fuse them together because as he did so, he united the mana she added to them again. He also united the rune carvings he was doing. All while heated and still somewhat warped by the space mana within the mes they were using.


    That was when Walker sensed that he was also different. The wandering cksmith had changed his methods to match the things Su needed to perfectly bond to this creation. The same way that Walker had controlled and directedrge amounts of mana to properly bond himself to the eternal codex as his lifetime item. Su was having the same done.


    Walker was not able to influence a single thing here if he wanted. He was moving pieces of metal because he had some resistance to it and could resist the manas pulsing out. He just moved the pieces. His body was just moving the pieces.


    It allowed him to release the final metal barrier and understand that his inner mana flow wasrger. Muchrger.


    The flow was faster and every mana he had encountered was attached. Especially the more unique manas he had recently touched on. He had taken them in and grown. As an origin race member, he had done so without thinking.


    This proved he had grown so much in level because he had just absorbed manas, it was the types of manas and his growth in understanding. That was what had altered how he grew. He also finally grasped one of the key differences of what he was now as a race.


    The origin race had an inner vastness for mana and all things that made up the world which humans and other races did not have.


    When it came to Su, her focus on the material also changed things. Her strength had suddenly spiked. The pulse of mana from her as Walker handed over thest piece of metal shocked him. He maintained his focus on keeping his mana sealed up though. This was a major part of the process.


    The wandering cksmith started carving and tapping intensely. His focus only grew the lore that he looked at his work. He also pointed at Walker to bring Su over. Her mind was too weak right now to perfectly control all her motor functions. A fair failure since she had been at this for hours using everything she had.


    Every single bit of mana and physical resistance had been used. Now, her hand was being ced in the still somewhat hot new material.


    ''Medallion of inner protection- (bound)


    This medallion was forged using every ounce of mana from the true draconic guardian Su. No other has the ability or the strength to wield it. The chaotic mana that could be released due to failure in bncing it could cause severe damage.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    This medallion immensely boosts resistances to all manas and physical aspects of the wielder including their armor as well.


    Due to the addition of space mana through the entirety of the process in forging, carving, and bonding, this medallion can store items in arge inner space. They are protected from all outside forces and can only be essed by Su.


    When armor, shields, and other defensive items are stored within it allows su to use the unique skill, magic equip.


    This allows Su to equip any armor stored within the medallion of inner protection immediately. It also stores the current armor without loss. An instantaneous switch to utilize the best defensive equipment that is needed for the situation. There is very little mana cost to using this skill due to the stored mana always being absorbed by the medallion of inner protection.''


    It was spectacr. The intricate patterns of runes and circling mana gems matches the elemental affinities that each resistance protected against. These elemental runes gave form to a harder toprehend spatial rune which might have just taken space rune research to a


    whole new level.


    The effects were astounding. The magical equip skill would allow Su the best protection no matter what. And the fact that all she had to do was wear it was even better.


    Then adding the fact that there was a spatial storage at all? Perfect. That''s what this was. It was perfect for Su and her needs. Not just now but forever.


    Walker leaped forward and caught Su. The pressure had been thest thing keeping her standing. But she had done everything with flying colors. Her goal was achieved and she had a new bound item just like he did.


    "Very nicely done. She deserves everything that has to offer. My second true work of art." The soft words of the wandering cksmith as his head elevated in his hand and he fell asleep was


    exactly right.


    His pride and care in his work took him and those around him to new levels. As much as the wandering cksmith may attribute his sess to others and their work in a gathering materials or assisting, he did much more over his lifespan to deserve all the praise.


    "Both of you can rest well. I will be here to keep an eye on you." Walker pulled out some camping items and cleaned the area. It''s not the best bedroom but a great ce for them to rest. To recover j til they can both get home to a Proper bed and sleep for what could be a few days. Just enough time for them to be present in the floating ship.


    ....


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2377: 2377. Greater Understandings

    Chapter 2377: 2377. Greater Understandings


    ?


    As Walker had seen a lot and learned a lot while watching the wandering cksmith and Su, he felt he needed time to grasp those things. So much of what he had seen could shape his newfound thoughts on how forging may work at a level exceeding that of mastery.


    There would certainly be cksmiths who were able to step above the mastery level now. What Walker had believed was that mastery skills were the top of the top. Nothing could be above them.


    Yet, he now knew that the god systems, now the god sses were either appearing more or were waking back up from slumbers. The loss of mana had stopped these beings entirely made of the values that made them gods or were given the ss because they embodied those values better than others. Such things were amazing when it came to figuring out how to handle the world.


    Since the god sses were powerful due to their singr representation of something, they could easily show a much higher level of skill in that thing. So, mastery was not the end. But what if someone that was not a god ss user had the ability to step over mastery and be able to achieve that same level of skill?


    The wandering cksmith was clearly above mastery at this point and approaching something greater. Was there a god of cksmithing?


    The dwarven people believed that there was a god of forging. Someone that represented the cksmith. However, they believed that the god disappeared in to the endless mes of the world to return to it leaving behind untold riches in metals or materials for them.


    The belief was more of a story but could easily be the very aspect of why the forging god or cksmith god ss was out there in existence to be imed by the one that deserved it. If someone could rise to that level of skill they could be a fixture of the world itself. Postnatally even reaching to be a future of existence one day.


    This raised the question of whether or not there could be more for people to be out there. The god ss could be simr to the sin titles. There were titles that allowed for a ss to change and even for people to take on an entire name as their being. It influenced their


    personalities along with also changing their skills and strengths.


    Since that was possible no one else could say that other things simr were not possible. The world had been halted in development and even taken steps backwards in its growth. Now, those steps were leaping forward while the world itself returned to existence and became what it had the potential for so long ago in the most ancient of times.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Walker knew that the level above mastery was like a wall in front of everyone. They all believed that mastery skills had been the top of the potential for any race. Even dragons had never seemed to push beyond them. Those that had pushed beyond them hadn''t even realized they were going beyond.


    And since Walker was the jack of all trades ss user, he wondered if no mastery skills was more of a blessing now.


    He could not use mastery skills. He was only ever able to use one once because of his true hero title and that had been at the cost of resetting his experience entirely. Making him very weak and requiring him to enlighten himself to grow and alter who he was at the core of his being. In the end, it had been a good thing. Regardless though, it was something that he would not n to do again.


    Since he was limited to not using mastery skills, Walker had always learned more. Cared more about how skills worked together and how he could alter those skills to do more or be more powerful. The fact that he could use a buffing skill that dolled out multiple effects was already proof that he was well above what should be achieved from some of the higher ss skills someone could learn after years of education and training.


    Since that was the case, Walker felt that he could easily exceed the mastery skills if he were to put the right amount of effort in. especially when it came to his closeness with manas.


    He was learning more about the elemental and other manas constantly. Leading him to being able to push his ability to wield manas much further. How tobine them, how to halt them, how to speed them up. He even learned how to interact with manas that others could not even fathom yet.


    Just those simple reasons were enough for his mind to y on how he as an origin race member also gained the ease of touching upon those manas. How they flowed through him better because of his race now. Allowing him to achieve more understanding and utilize the control of mana that would make any mastery skill appear to be some lower ssmon skill.


    Just Walker''s understanding changing of his inner self made him see a potential.


    The potential tail that he could follow that change and grow immensely. He had thought of himself as human and still somewhat acted like that even as he lost the usually human traits.


    Yes, he still looked as he did and could eat food and whatnot. But what changed was his sleeping and energy levels.


    He was at a much higher level than he had been because the mamas flowing through and in to him made it so. That was changing him at a level that he did not realize.


    Then there was how he could feel the manas residing within him. They flowed through him constantly. Even with spaces where he felt it was mana he didn''t understand orprehend yet. Just meditating in himself looking inwardly educated him further.


    His putter focus had made him lose sight that he was not entirely the same as he had used to be. He had been told he could not fully venture through the elemental nes until he Understood other manas better. Now he also understood that he could not understand those until he reducated himself about who he was and how mamas I fenced him.


    His meditation only halted once the wandering cksmith and Su had long gone to rest. He could work on things more, but he had to finish his work regarding thends of the undead and other areas that might show unique manas as their core while the world bnced itself naturally.


    He also was focused on the floating ship. It was almost ready. Almost prepared to take off.


    The hustle and bustle around the floating ship was immense. Areas around where it would take off were cleared of all materials and tools. Cleaned so people could witness it and the proper staff could be there to guard or to protect it.


    Some children had already procured toys from toy makers copying the outward appearance. Something that Walker felt was very enjoyable since he could see people enjoying different designs in the future.


    Furthermore, there were those that were preparing for the uptake of the next floating ship. As they would all see the needs for change in this expedition if sessful, the second generation would be more amazing. It could hold better speed or battle ability.


    Some people were even going on with rumors of using a normal water floating ship and transferring it to be both air and water. A method to allow for diversity when moving across continents without using the teleportation methods.


    That could save on magic usage overall since the mana in the ships could be restored while floating in water. A good theory. It would also allow for better exploration and mapping of new inds or even continents. Not to mention study monsters and materials or herbs. All of this was buzzing in the talk of Genesis. Potential for better futures and more. As the day came, everyone was much more focused since the cloud fairies had all arrived hours before and were there to witness this event. Something that they were now very attached to. Ventus had taught them a great deal about Genesis and the world as it was today. The ability for everyone to take to the sky made the cloud fairies excited. They were a kind race. While they were afraid of others due to their long istion, they wished to share their cloud city with others. Even if it was just a look since others might not be able to touch it. Regardless, others taking to the sky meantpanions they had never met. These new friends would be their allies as they grew and moved forward as a race. Pretty amazing in their opinion.


    ----


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 Chapter 2378: 2378. Floating

    Chapter 2378: 2378. Floating


    ?


    "Ugh, hey! Stop, I am already awake!" Walker tried to get himself up but found that Midnight had jumped on him in her dragonkin form. She was trying to wake him up but instead had managed to trap him in his nkets.


    "Don''tugh at me! I know you are doing this on purpose!" The next moment, a small thud came with Midngoth being swept off the bed and tangled in Onyx''s tail. He had returned with many others to witness the floating ship.


    "Sister, you can not trap brother there or else you and he will bete to the unveiling of the floating ship." This prompted a iling escape from Midnight and Onyx''s attempt to catch her again. Walker just shook his head because he knew that the two would be messing around like this whether he wanted them to or not. It was a good start to the day, the energetic


    atmosphere was healthy.


    As Walker found that he was actually thest one awake, he realized that it had to be because he had focused so much on his meditation thest few days that his mind had needed a proper rest to reset itself. This was the case for many when they focused on mana too much, while they might be physically ready for anything, their minds were slow and tired.


    His mind instantly snapped to the fact that there would be so many people who also went to the floating ship and stood on top of it. Walker knew that Su had ns to go out exploring to gather materials.she wanted to solve the issues she saw with the armor and weapons the guards and soldiers had.


    He knew that there would be a rougher time for the production of these things. Right now so many projects had every crafter working harder than ever. While this was good because it made more experienced and stronger craftsmen overall, it was also very bad.


    The inexperienced craftsman made works that still got sold and those who could not afford anything better would take them. Lowering the quality of their protections and also lowering the average quality of everyone''s protection.


    The gear needed to be better for the fact that there were tougher opponents that could harm them. That is a fact and would have to be remembered as everyone moved forward. Therger projects like the floating ship had taken a greater deal of resources than what anyone else could imagine.


    This was just one project. Many other ces had to be rebuilt, improved, or entirely built from scratch when it came to new ces entirely. So much has happened and will continue to happen. The cost of resources was beyond what genesis had saved for any emergency now. Walker knew that and so did every single Genesis representative.


    As Walker met the others, he was d to see that everyone was ready to head to the floating ship together. "I know you and Su are going so that''s why Alma and I are staying here. No issue in that, right?'' Gil knew that he and Alma had every ability and right to go with them to theva fields while twisting the floating ship.


    "You are working on more of those arrows than you are working on anything else. Maybe you should go with them to theva fields." Alma gave a slight re to back her words up. Clearly, Gil had been missing in action for some other important events that pushed Alma to want to make sure he was present and working somewhere.


    "Oh, I have had him making things for me. He has been my errand boy in the alchemyb making sure that I gave what I needed. He wanted me to make sleeping potions and poisons for his arrows but he had other things to work on." Remey sneaked a smirk and Alma gave a little nod. She knew that the undead dissolving potions being made were something valuable. It was an idea that was bing true and Remey had halted her ns to produce them since the experiments had not beenpleted yet. It proved to be much harder than she originally nned since the purification aspects of what she ended were temperamental.


    The potion needed a lot more care and easily broke down. She had to find the right herbs to make sure it stabilized and couldst for more than just a few hours in a potion vial.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It made her focus shift to her ideal but Remey was fully trying to focus on the event they were going to. She made it clear that she wasn''t going anywhere either. Leaving it to Walker and Su was a show of trust for them.


    "I am staying as well brother. It is not time for me to go on another expedition. I have spent a lot of time in ruins and would like to rest more." Onyx has somewhat forced himself here.


    After absorbing so much light mana, he had rested and processed it. While he had grown because of it, the strain on his body was still there. He needed more time which did not involve fighting or a long adventure.


    He also had his own thoughts about aurora who had also absorbed a lot of light mana. He couldn''t really hide his worry for her nor could he hide the fact that he wanted to work with her more.


    It was a high probability that Rise would stop either of them from going to theva fields too. She knew the strain in their bodies because she was a light dominator regain and the light mana they had absorbed had affected her very much. She knew the rest needed.


    This west Alice who Walker already knew would stay behind. She had her own projects with young healers and also teaching sses at the adventurers guild after their recent expedition. She could easily make a difference when it came to the future and safety of young healers or adventurers in general.


    "Midnight, are you too busy with the young hatchlings? Or are you trying toe with me and Su?" Knowing that Su nned on venturing out alone, Walker had a feeling that he would be dragged in to his own random event. It was his luck after all.


    "Going out to stretch." Her simplement gave Walker what he needed.


    Since Midnight had focused and trained with the other dragons along with teaching the hatchlings, she had not properly been out and about. Yes some events had happened that pulled her away here and there but not fully.


    This was a chance to get out and properly take her dragon form for a while. It would allow her to test her actual strength while pushing her to get out any pent up desires to fight or explore. Especially since she knew she was strong enough to handle therger dangers within theva fields.


    "Then we will have a good time getting out and about for a while. I feel like the floating ship will be fun." As Walker said this they arrived at the crowded storage where the floating ship


    was.


    The carved metals protecting the outside were coursing with manas. Making the colors change when some exposed mana gems were filled and processed the manas to live elsewhere. Therger pieces that facilitated floating were pulsing slightly and making sure that people kept well back for safety.


    Walker, Su, and Midnight stepped forward after saying their goodbyes in excitement for theing moments. Their feelings were the same as therge crowd looking at the magical metal creation made for sailing the skies with magic and advanced rune technology.


    No one group had made this. Every bit of knowledge had been used and new geniuses had appeared because of it.


    As Walker listened to announcements of who had worked and their innovative achievements, he also noted that many new people had arisen during this time. Even mages who had been focused on magic had found ways to change their sses through quests to take up new


    mantels.


    As the mana built suddenly, Walker stood with steady feet. He could feel the mana flow through thousands of mana formations. The anyone''s mana held in over seven massive mana gems created just for this was immense.


    The elemental spirits working inside those gems regted everything. The spirit race guided them to perfection. Dwarven craftsmen monitored the moving parts. Every single position and piece worked perfectly.


    The hundreds of tests for this moment as thousands watched while holding their breath. The excitement only grew before sudden shouts erupted.


    They had managed to raise a full foot of the ground. Entirely stable. Perfectly bnced. Mana flowing smoothly. No grinding parts. Everything was as it should be. Perfectly made.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2379: 2379. Flying High

    Chapter 2379: 2379. Flying High


    ?


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "It''s bringing the wind mana around this spot here. Making it almost like a tornado, but then the wind mana is stopped from causing damage to the area and calmed down right away. It doesn''t seem to make sense unless you follow the mana and see how it moves other wind mana. But then you have the potential for the earth-"


    "Don''t go making this a lesson please." The man who spoke was not trying to be rude, he was holding the hand of a little girl which struck Walker as odd. When Walker looked at the little girl''s face, he saw her smile drifting in to boredom.


    From what it appeared, this was just like any child who had something wondrous and magical made in to a lesson. Most would not be as enthused as they had even before they knew how it worked. The man who had spoken was just keeping the wonder in the world.


    "I can, but can I first ask why you two are here?" He was curious. Walke had not worried too much about the list of passengers who would be on the floating ship as it slowly rose up. He knew very well that the chives were brought forth for many reasons and many guild leaders had taken focus on this so Walker did not have to. It was better that he didn''t need to approve of all the people either.


    "I have got that question seven times already, care to tell him?" the man shook his head slightly before moving his head to the little girl.


    "I have a ss!" Her slight hop while saying it proved that even with the wonder of being on a ship floating in to the sky that some things would definitely always feel more important. Especially when someone her age would rarely have a ss already.


    "She liked rocks, so, she always tried to break them open and figure out where good ones might be. Her ss is called the rock hunter. She has skills that help her find good ones. She already found three different unique ores mixed in to a bunch of useless rocks. Two of which we didn''t think were important. So, I am bringing her with us. We are part of the analyzing team when the materialse back." The little girl nodded a few times before making sure Walker was giving her an impressed smile.


    "So we are the people who will be ready to handle everything found. That''s good. I''m Walker, if you need anything just ask. And I won''t make you sit through hearing about how many mana gems or what spirit race individuals are in charge of what areas. I also won''t tell you about the lower flood with a ss floor that lets you see the ground below you safely because there are runes carved all over it for safety." he saw her start pulling toward the stairs to the lower floors.


    "It''s good to meet the hero, thanks for that." The man gave a wave and Walker was left watching the city get smaller and smaller in the distance.


    The height of the ship was not going to go above the clouds. It was better that it didn''t do that anywhere nearby Genesis because of the fact that the cloud fairies could build in the clouds. Not that there was proof it would disturb them since clouds could move around objects. But it would still be exceptionally rude to the new race that was arriving.


    While the real test of the floating ship had all been done to ensure that it worked before this main event, Walker felt that this unveiling was more of a celebration for those on the ground. He knew that they would be celebrating and raving for days. On the ship though, there was a very great seriousness.


    The people working to maintain the ship had their focus set up to their highest functional level. They needed to be since they now held the lives of over a hundred people in their hands. Then there were those who would be working on the ground when they reached theva fields.


    While it would be close to a day moving at full speed, this was important to note. They had to have every single thing they brought with them prepared or else they could suffer dangers. There had been special equipment made that could help them walk over the thinner cooled magma rocks that would normally crack and break at the touch. Since this was the case, it would be safer, but those rune formations on the boots had to be unkempt and cleaned. If not, then the wind mana lightning their weight could fail.


    There wasn''t much else when it came to worries about other things though. The monsters were more or less well documented. That meant that the guarding forces were prepared already to defend those that were at risk. The miners and the other materials hunters could be prepared.


    The goal was to bring back the maximum load of materials. Ores, monster materials, and even whatever nts existed within theva fields. Whatever could be used without destroying the environment or damaging it too far to be called safe to recover. There were some with expertise in these things that were with them. The fire elves and some dragonkin specifically.


    All of this did not ignore that a few wind dragons were also flying high in the sky watching the ship. Another reason it was not flying very high. Easier for the wind dragons to use their mana and abilities to help save the ship if it began to fall.


    This reassurance was only covering the one major issue of the ship failing. Many of the workers controlling the ship focused on the mana flow. If the mana flowed properly the entire ship could literally explode.


    That was the biggest worry and why Walker also allowed his mana senses to follow and take note of the smoothness in the flow.


    Utilizing the best materials and best skills clearly made a major difference. All the testing and refining of these materials led to a much better final product. The best part was that all this was recorded so new improvements or new ships could be made.


    "Are you going to stay here and wonder about the ship and the people we left down there?" Su had been waiting to get Walker''s attention.


    Since they had a full day to wait she knew that this could be a great idea to see what Walker actually thought of her new item. She had rested and Walker had not pushed her to speak with him about. He had given her and the wandering cksmith a detailed all around appraisal though.


    The appraisal was amazing and Su had tested some features. The swapping of armor was instant and perfect. No risk for being without armor in between and no risk for her being harmed by the process. Now all the armors she had, including some elemental armors she had stored could be brought along with her.


    "I wanted to sense the flow of mana. I am helping the celebration below. I''m sure it''s a lot more than what''s going on here right now." He shrugged before looking at the medallion on Su''s neck. "It looks good."


    The runes intricately carved and lines from the added pieces made the medallion look to be a circr shield with mana gems Input inside. They showed different mana affinities perfectly showing the defensive values. The general sh of mana in it also showed some mysterious connections to mana in general.


    "It does and the magic equip effects are perfect. But I want you to help me work with the storage part. I can adapt to the change in to easily, I have worn all the armor and it''s mine. But I have no idea the effects of the storage. So far I might have to everything to store it."


    Walker thought this would be her concern since Su knew some materials with poison or vtile manas might not allow her to touch them at all. Even her resistances would not be the best method to handle those dangers.


    "I think you can touch them with your shield too. Or even your armor in general. They are able to swap in to the storage space inside the medallion, right? So why wouldn''t they act as an extension of yourself?"


    A sh of understanding came to Su''s eyes before she touched a small cord of rope. Her arm had touched it by not her bare skin. It still disappeared though and was sent to her storage.


    "I am not used to being able to do this. Thank you." Her heartfelt happiness at understanding how her own item worked made Walker feel that he was losing something a little. Now he wasn''t the only one with a spatial storage. It was a little bittersweet.


    "Show off that magic equip skill. It sounded amazing."


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2380: 2380. Conference

    Chapter 2380: 2380. Conference


    ?


    "Well, that''s that. They are off and floating around." The deafening cheers had been going on for some time. A few groups had led cheers for the family members that they had working in or taking this expedition on the floating ship. It had done a lot to boost the morale of those still here.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Plenty of people were starting conversations about how they wanted to push themselves to be able to go on the next journey. Even more still were trying to push for themselves to be on the next floating ship made. They knew that another would be made and that they might have a chance to go.


    "Remey, stop trying to pugs too much. This is a celebration." Gil''s slight deflection was enough to earn another small nce from Alma who was trying to remain serious about how she was unhappy with Gil''s actionstely. But she also saw plenty of elves celebrating too and the sight made her very happy.


    "Let''s just take a little time to enjoy the celebrations. Some of the craftsmen who helped make the floating ship are already starting their conference." Gil had a good point here. A lot of what had happened earned Genesis and the craftsman a lot when it came to potential ideas and theories.


    As this was the case, the idea for a craftsman conference after had been widely supported. The entire area where the floating ship had been set up to take off had been prepared so that tents and tables could be brought it.


    There were master cksmiths, carpenters, rune carvers, and so much more brought in to have speeches. Free conversation that anyone coulde to that would happen throughout the entire day. The guilds had pooled funds and even allowed for there to be some smaller speakers who had discovered new avenues of study recently to speak.


    All of this was a goal to push for new educational goals and also to spread the current happenings in each profession. Where it became even better was when people heard that some adventurers with growing fame had a chance to speak.


    The reason this was cared about so much was that these new adventurers were somewhat of celebrities. Not because they were popr but because they had gained unique sses that had be a topic for gossip. They had managed to gain some unique sses that were not expected when it came to the terms of what had been known before.


    For example, Gil had managed toe across one man who had be an adventurer. He was a lumberjack, someone that went out to harvest trees. Since this was the case, he would normally not have cared for the man since the job wasn''t enough to really make them stand out. Not that Gil disliked those working hard, just that he never encountered such people. He valued that work very much in the grand scheme of things.


    But the lumberjack had managed to change professions after fighting off a bark snake which was a monster with scales identical to an oak tree''s bark. Able to blend in and often was an issue for lumberjacks or other people moving through oak forests.


    As the lumberjack had defeated it and cut it with his ax, he became a battle lumberjack. The hidden quest had been to change his basic lumberjack ss to something more focused on battle and reiming untouched woonds for lumber production. Meaning that he could not use more unique skills.


    This ss allowed for him to be able to identify the trees there, how long they would need to mature, and also handle the dangers of the area while preparing a lumber camp. Basically, a forward fighter that was perfectly focused on being able to help Genesis with the discovery of new forests that could be permanent wood production areas.


    The details of all the hidden requirements of changing to a battle lumberjack was not known, but after so many years of being a lumberjack, the man has definitely been able to achieve them all and thest fight for his life had been the final piece. Now. he could do so much more as an adventurer.


    He could be hired to find these locations and give advice. A much more lucrative option than just following a lumber group led by a merchant.


    But this was just one example of someone that Gil had heard speaking. He knew that the topic of new sses and how to discover them was attracting the most important group within Genesis.


    The younger generation.


    Plenty of the parents had heard Walker''s story of how he gained the jack of all trades system before the world had be as it was meant to be. Now, they understood that allowing their children to venture out and see new things meant that they had a chance of finding a ss that would benefit them their entire lives. The best possible ss could be something their child discovered themselves.


    Since the representative of the Geneisi council also pushed these ideals, many people had excitement when it came to these topics. Especially when crafting families saw that unique craftsmen were also here to exin how they gained their ss or the details about a quest they did that brought them to a ss change.


    While it was thought to be odd if anyone switched c sses from something like a maid to a magical swordsman, there were always theories that this could happen. So, with the potential for sses being so high, people were ready to leap in to action and take their chances. "Alma, you can stop ring at Gil like that. You can watch him help Ignus and I when I give my speech. I made a promise that since I am taking the day off from my experiments that I would stand and talk as the representative of the alchemy guild. They are going to see how I make a fog potion." the slightly evil grin that Remey had made it clear she knew Gil was not informed of this.


    "Oh good, you are ready then." Ignus walked up right behind them he clearly had kept an eye out for Remey and was waiting toe and meet her. He had a brilliant set of red robes on. Each dragon in attendance was wearing a new set of robes matching their elemental affinity so that they could represent themselves better.


    They also had made sure they would stand out since a few of the recently able to take dragonkin form dragon elders hade. This allowed those elders to be able to find their royal dragon if they could not handle the pressure here.


    While they were dragons, they were not used to this environment and had their own mental issues with walking among other races. Most had looked down on the other races and were mixing with them in this way for the first time. The general decisions by the royal dragons to bring them here was to ensure that they saw the celebratory and growth potential. To show the values in each race more than anything.


    Dragons were pretty greedy in some ways. They would be able to find the value in other races and wish to grow that in to something even more to show off. Por at least the hope to y these tendencies in to a positive aspect were there.


    If not, it could be apetitive chance for them. Dragons were always at odds with one another. If theypeted in helping others grow and showing it off, then that would also be


    fine.


    "Remey was just telling me about Gil and her helping you in an alchemy demonstration of a non dangerous potion called a fog potion. I have heard it is simr to the smoke bombs but it doesn''t harm anyone when it is used and can hold a fog in an area for almost a full hour. I wanted to have some of the more unique and stealthy archers use them if they can be produced. I will have to take notes." This seemed to cheer Alma up a lot.


    She had some desires to what about the herbalists associated with growing new herbs since some herbalists and also found new sses. But right this second, she was much more happy to be able to enjoy everything here. And also to see Gil helping more with these showy


    speeches.


    She loved him, but his desire to explore the things that interested him distracted him way too much. All the new things kept pulling him away from his duties. Since that was the case, she was d that he was being forced one way or another. It could help in their future if he were a little more focused on one thing now and then.


    "Fine, fine, but you can count me out of any other tests. No fire bomb potions or explosive this or that." Gil watched Remey making sure she didn''t have anything else nned before they walked toward one of the speeches about me resistant metal alloys.


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 Chapter 2381: 2831. Prepared And Ready

    Chapter 2381: 2831. Prepared And Ready


    ?


    "The wind is picking up a little more." Walker could sense the wind outside the protection of the wind magic rune formations used topletely nullify the wind as the floating ship moved. While the runes were doing their work, Walker''s senses went beyond them.


    "Is that going to be a problem?" Su knew that if Waker had stopped their sparring and her training to switch through the armors she had gathered from the wandering cksmith that this was not just a simple small issue. Walker could easily tell what issues might be attached to the fact that the winds were bing more violent outside.


    "Yes and no. The ship is made to handle any storms that may ur. The wind dragons helped test its ability to resist wind storms in general. Some small ones have already passed us in thest hour. But this is a strange change. The wind isn''t justing from one direction. Two air currents are crashing in to one another while the winds change. I think it''s one of the effects of the world returning to flow properly since more manas areing for the elemental nes."


    This was something known. The changes were already being documented and changes in wind currents had been sensed by weather mages and also by the dragons or more sensitive echidna who were in touch with natural mana. Since people knew of these dangers, they changed their ns ordingly.


    Some days the harpiers and other aerial traveling races would not take to the sky as high as they usually did. The dragons tended not to mind the changes since they had the strength and power to resist. "Should we have had Zephyre and help us?" Su''s thought was enough to keep Walker a little more upied for a moment.


    He knew that the spirit race had be much more independent. They were either focusing on growing their race in to a fully fledged standing race that bridged the gap between the elemental spirits and the more physical race, or they were resting.


    Zephyr had been with Gil and remained so since their bonds were so developed. Whereas the earth, water, light, and dark spirit race leaders were slumbering or working on their own without those that they had bonded with in spirit marks. The only ones that seemed to be the same as Zephyr was the fire spirit race leader with Remey who had be very focused on fire control and alchemy just like Remey.


    This left Walker to wonder if his partner would remain slumbering. She had been absorbing mana for a while making him worry. Yet, he also felt that it was needed. With the changes in the world, having any connection to natural mana would cause a lot of change in the way that someone acted.


    The echidna who had connections to natural mana had been struggling. They had either lost touch for some period of time or needed to go in to istion to properly adapt themselves to the changes in the world as a whole. None of this was a bad thing, just a fact that they had to endure.


    Walker was only able to adapt because of his bonds with the literal grand elemental spirit of natural mana and also because he had deeply ingrained natural mana in t his very being as a member of the origin race.


    "No, I think that this would stress out Zephyr too much. The many elemental spirits within the manages with some of the wind and fire spirit race would have caused a break up in their flow. They all have their roles and they are ying them perfectly. Having an outside spirit race change things or bother them could have caused more issues than help." He felt this was the potential issue of doing so. Hence why he also internally calmed his own mana so as not to affect the spirit marks where his partner slept and grew.


    "If the tunes are affected at all I will add my mana and have the wind dragons work with me." Walker could sense that the two elder wind dragons above them had also lowered themselves closer. They were able to be seen through small gaps in clouds now. Before they had been way too high in the sky to even be seen from the floating ship.


    Their preparations had been because they could feel more changes in the wind since they were exposed to it at all times. They did not need to sense the mana and flow around them. Every time they felt the air on their scales their instincts told them how to adjust their wings so that they could fly smoothly. Instincts were something that stood well above Walker''s mana sense right now since he was blocked by the wind rune formations calming the wind.


    "The stress on the underlying runes is not too great. We have thirty five formations still to activate. We will have several mages gather to begin the mana transfer process..." One of the working members called out this order to a few of the nearby members of the crew. From what Walker remembered, this was a dwarf working under the captain of the floating ship. The man who could feel the manas and the overall being of the floating ship by attaching his very own mana to it.


    This closeness allowed for themands to be sent out through the ship using his mana. The many stations monitored by his crew were always full of orders to make small adjustments. The spirit race also saw and heard these right away since they monitored all the mana within the ship. It was a system that was being considered to be built through all of Genesis.


    The only issue with doing that was that the connections needed to be monitored by spirit race members at all times, the mana usage was veryrge, and also people had to be attached to the system with unique skills at all times. Small scale was doable,rge scale was impossible. "They have rune formations that they are not using." Walker kicked himself internally. He had not taken that in to ount when he was thinking about being prepared.


    "They do. I came and helped for a little bit. There was a lot of worry about some of the parts that held the control over direction or even directed the wind mana to allow for floating at all. So, there are rune formations that will not activate unless another rune formation breaks or there is too much stress on those parts. It''s to save mana and also to make everything more efficient." The small smile that Su wore proved that she had been waiting for Walker to grasp this fact.


    "Oh? So you knew and wanted to let me worry about it?" He sensed arge sing of wind and felt the next wind mana rune formation activate. The wind that was buffeting the ship was forced to slit around it allowing for the floating ship to maintain its consistent speed and flow through the air.


    Walker made a small handful of fire balls and flicked them at Su. The sudden attack made her use the magic equip skill and a brilliant red armor for resisting fire mana took the ce of her previous armor. She smiled with a more violent intent and charged at him wielding one of her twin shields. The fire was nothing with her resistances and the right armor to help those resistance. This was what Walker had been testing anyways.


    As the show of Walker and Su sparring began again, more people gathered. Their sparring had showcased the speed at which a battle could take ce.


    While that would sound odd since both Walker and Su were holding back, the speed aspect was in reaction time to a changing situation. Su was changing her armors to resist the manas that Walker called up to attack.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was the perfect to educate the adventurers and guards who were present that would be traveling theva fields for materials. They could use this as an example of how they would be changing their mindsets to adapt to the tough terrain.


    Whetherva plumes erupted nearby, the ground became unstable, or even different monsters attacked they would have a better mind to react to those situations.


    For those worried and on edge, they were able to understand the strength of those going with them: the guards and adventurers who looked at Walker and Su calmly were showing off their own veteran status. They were experienced and rxed, they were not panicked and being pushed to learnst minute.


    While Walker and Su didn''t think of this as a reason for training, they were never hiding. They trained in the open and never saw an audience as an issue: they knew where they stood and weed others to learn about and from them.


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 Chapter 2382: 2382. Going Out

    Chapter 2382: 2382. Going Out


    ?


    Heat. That was the sudden change that everyone felt. The air itself had suddenly begun to grow warmer. It made sense though, the hot air from theva fields would rise. While the smoke was blocked out by the many wind rune formations, the heat couldn''t easily be washed


    away.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    No number of fire resistant runes could stop the heart from the ambient fire mana all around them. This was just what everyone would have to deal with since there was so much in theva fields and volcanic areas. The size of which was definitelyrger than what it had been before the world returned to its flow.


    "Looks like we are at the edge. The area that is nned for us tond and leave the floating ship to hover for a few days should be right over there." Walker pointed out an area with somewhat t rocks.


    Su looked carefully and slowly began to make out the tents set up on the edges of therge t area. The forward group had left days ago to get here and prepare a champ. She could also see the markings on the ground used to show where the floating ship had to float in terms of space. This would be the test to see if the ship would drift or move at all when it should remain still.


    Beyond that, there were a myriad of other tests that would be done. All of these tests were not something that Su or Walker needed to worry about. Especially since they knew that they would not necessarily know what they were testing specifically in the first ce. That was for the masters and more experienced workings who developed the floating ship from the ground


    up.


    As the floating ship found its space above therge area, it began to decrease in height above the ground. Its movements were slow and steady until it was barely one normal house length above the ground. From there, many ropes and special tforms began to be set up for everyone to take them down.


    This was the test of how quickly people could be left from the shop. Walker did not wait for them though, brighter did Su. While Walker stepped in to the air, Su pped her dragon wings and let gravity bring her downwards. She and Walker were the forts on the ground and the first to see the forward preparation group leaders.


    "Everything looks very well done. The journey for us was smooth and nothing much of an issue happened. Just a little rough air which was handled perfectly." he smiled widely to ease the stress of some of the builders who had been waiting here to get reports. They also had a lot of stress not knowing the current situations while they waited for the floating ship to get here. This was all their hard work in action after all.


    The entire atmosphere within the camp was that of relief. "We are reporting in. All temporary tents are set up for testing, for monitoring, and for resting. We also have prepared an organizational area for materials gathered. Please be ready to lead or to venture wherever you may." No issues at all, exactly what Walker and Su wished to hear. This made their lives easier as well.


    "Walker, I am going to head out. I said I would explore on my own, I have my own senses for things too." Su didn''t let Walker try and talk her in to a group or anything. She knew he would too.


    It wasn''t that she thought Walker didn''t trust her. She knew that he would trust her entirely. But he would always worry about those he saw as family. Just because they may or may not be powerful, did not mean that his feelings and desires to defend them would change.


    " then make sure you go and find something good. Don''t let me find better materials than you." Walker shook his head. He knew that su was in his head. He knew she had seen what he might want to do. But, he couldn''t go against what she wanted. She was powerful too. She could easily walk through theva fields and find whatever it was she needed.


    Eh watched as the fire resistant armor appeared on Su''s body. She was walking from the rocky area which was many times cooler than the distantva and changing terrain in the future.


    "We have healers here waiting for any injuries. We also have many fire resistance potions. Whoever is leaving had every right to take whatever they need. They are higher quality than normal so that they can be diluted with separate potions in the water sks we are handing out as well. The water mages will draw in and let the water they gather be purified by some healers..." Walker listened to everything as Su walked off. The ns were perfect and he could only check through everything once before he moved ahead himself.


    Su was able to hear just a little of this before she was too distant. Her movements were quick and her natural resistance to the heat allowed her to keep pushing ahead faster. She didn''t feel any worry about her defenses. What she did worry about were the materials she may or may not find.


    She had her own potions but using them would be against her ns. Mostly because Su nned to let the natural elemental around her push her body to get stronger. Improving her resistances in any little way possible was always the goal. She had to do this so that she could be a much better defender.


    Her mind also rested on the elemental nes where the manas would be many times greater. She could not resist those dense and pure manas without help. That hit her hard. Every time she remembered it, she knew that she had been treated with kid gloves while there. She had not truly seen the real dangers.


    While this rested harshly on her mind, Su didn''t use it as something to stress her. Instead, it was a driving force to push back against what might be walls for her development.


    She could see that Walker was getting stronger by the day. She could see that Gil had polished his skills but learned many new things. Remey had more than just learned about her body and soul, but taken it all as a path for new strength. Midnight had begun to take many years of dragon knowledge and use it for her own strength as well. Onyx was a constantly growing force of care for his


    Race.


    All of this was on her mind. All of it gave her strength.


    "They said to find the hottest flow ofva and follow it to a spout or pool. That''s what I''ll do." Su started following a small stream ofva. It had broken out of the fake rocky ck ground and was spreading out even more.


    Theva and magma flowing was like a river. Eventually, it would split up and be streams. But inside them they carried many things. While a river would carry logs, a magma river would carry ores.


    She could feel the what and knew that her innate senses would give her a better chance at


    following


    Them to the source. Since she had this, she could make sure that what she found was higher quality or entirely unique.


    The lessons that the hotter magma pools would have ores, crystals, and other changing earth materials within was fresh in her mind. Walker had exined this from the time he had looked in to a volcano. The flow and changes in manas allowed for a great deal of potential.


    While Su followed the magma''s flow, she didn''t worry about anything else. Her sense didn''t pick up on monsters or innate dangers beneath her feet.


    If she had been a little more observant, she would have noticed those following her. Something she didn''t think would be an issue. However, she was a hero too.


    "Followingdy Su is the best we can do. If she needs help carrying materials we can do that. We can also help with monsters too. How else will we be better fighters? Train like her."


    The small group of guards had worked with her before. She had inspired them to train their resistances. That was why they had tested themselves and been epted to venture here as well. Their group would gather materials too.


    Where they differed from others was that they wished to follow Su and be there when they were needed. To be able to repay her for her teachings and also to be able to grow even stronger and fight alongside the hero that took the time to assist their growth.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2383: 2383. Forming Golems

    Chapter 2383: 2383. Forming Golems


    ?


    The increase in temperature surprised Su. She had not expected that she would feel it at all. Especially since she had changed armors to a more fire resistant armor prepared for her. It was just a smart method to keep her prepared and also mindful of what each armor felt like when she wore it.


    Thefort of her in each new armor would be important while fighting. If she was notfortable then she might make a mistake. Or if there was an issue with an armor not moving properly with her body, she could find herself being harmed when trying to defend. At the worst case, she could be too slow to protect someone.


    Her fire mana resistance was very high. Naturally, she should have been able to make sure that her body resisted the heat. But even with this fire resistant armor, the heat was wearing away at her more than expected.


    This wasn''t the simple fact that the fire and magma around was hot. She wasn''even even approaching the major rivers ofva yet. Instead, it was something that was causing her body to react more than normal.


    "The weight." Su stopped and stretched a little before focusing on the feeling her muscles were under.


    She had focused herself on the fact that the armors she had received were for resisting certain element manas. She also knew that this would mean she could equip certain pieces like the gauntlets only or the boots only to build a set if she was able to learn how to use the magic equipment skill better.


    What Su had not taken ount of was the longer term effects of using these armors. The weight of the fire resistant armor was important. It had been made thicker to resist the heat and allow for there to be denser rune formations that would force the fiore mana away from her as a whole. This meant that the weight added another set of stress on her body which was causing her to feel hotter.


    It was also wearing away at her stamina in general. The results of which were her feeling the heat more as well. Her body wasn''t being kept in an optimal condition due to the extra wear and tear of movement. "I might have to have this adjusted."


    While Su focused on what she might have to have changed, she realized that there was some activity near her. The small crackling or rocks as they were broken made it feel that there might be another beak in the ground whereva might begin to flow.


    What she did not expect to see were small round smoldering rocks starting to pull their way out of magma pools. "All around appraisal scrolls." Su grabbed one of them from the new and amazing medallion she had just gained. She found that having near a hundred all around appraisal scrolls was nothing in the grand scheme of her unique spatial storage now.


    ''Smoldering gollette


    This is a smaller form of a smoldering magma golem. It is rare and hard to find but has been increasing in numbers due to the changes in mana flow within the depths of magma. They are normally peaceful creatures when left alone, however, they are sometimes territorial since they must eat metals and other molten ores to keep growing their bodies.


    They can grow in to a myriad of forms but are often found in smaller round forms with roughly connected half melted rock and alloy arms and legs. They have a molten core and are easily broken. Their bodies can be very valuable but also fairly heavy due to their bodies being made of denser molten metals and rocks.


    When they are fighting they often release sparks and shattered stone and metal. They prefer to remain partially within the magma pools they feed on because it allows them to move more easily. If they are outside of them for too long they could be a smallva rock golem...''


    Su read how these monsters would not be much of a threat to her. They were also growing in numbers due to the fact that the mana flow deep in the magma was changing. Most likely this was all due to the fact that the world was returning to mana flow and would keep changing. Meaning that this could and most likely would be one of the more prevalent monsters in this area.


    She knew that this was not a bad thing at all.


    The ores and metals, and rocks, and whatever else they consumed to make their bodies would be immensely valuable materials for harvest. So while Su equipped two dark ck shields with higher fire resistances, she thought of the value she was getting from these. The followers she had noticed her battle and watched as she leaped forward faster than the first smoldering gollette could even attempt to move. This was just because Su had trained to be able to do such things. Heavier armor or not, Su was able to use explosive force when moving in an instant to defend someone. Applying that to when she mmed a shield in to something, well, the first gollette shattered in an instant.


    But that was where the followers trying to learn from Su made their own mistakes. They stopped observing their own surroundings and did not noticed the cracking the the ground nearby them. They had managed to make enough movement above them to alert their own potential foes.


    Su felt the ground shake as she fought and felt that there might be something more dangerous. Her mind went right to another magma golem or arger smoldering gollette. It made sense that some form ofrger golem would be here where others were forming.


    When she looked back, she caught sight of the soldiers in the distance that she recognized. They were clearly the ones that had fought for and with her before. But she didn''t like that they were sitting right in front of what appeared to be a massive serpent golem.


    ''Magma river golem


    This golem formed in a cooling magma river. As it cooled all the ores and mana flowed to the center and caused the other nearby magma pools to condense in to smoldering gollettes. As such, this is a powerful golem with a very dense fire and earth mana core within its head. It uses the serpent like form to smash and swim through the molten rock.


    When consuming anything with dense fire and earth manas, it will often use that material to strengthen its body and core. If it manages to get ahold of enough earth and fire mana along with materials, its body can be more like a volcanic serpent golem which would be considered a ruler of a volcano in ancient times due to the defensive natural instincts it possesses to protect the volcano.


    Some smaller races would even worship them as a god of an area.


    Its body had extremely valuable ores, materials, and other things within since it will consume everything that has some heart and fire mana within them. That means that many other monster bodies often end up trapped and almost fossilized in its dense rocky body. This is why they can also be seen as a moving history golem...''


    She snarled as the understanding that this golem was actually the remains of what had once been a magma river below theva fields. Now it was well awake and ready to grow as much as its natural instincts told it to. But worse yet, the less experienced soldiers she had helped train were right in its line of attack. Adding on to that, they were all holding up shields that could not and would not properly defend them.


    The snarl and growl that broke the normal crackling and shifting ofva and magma was powerful enough to make even the smoldering gollettes instincts cause them to pause. It was a slow of mana and sheer power around Su.


    The sudden growth in her dragon scales underneath her armor was her natural instincts to


    using more of her dragon half. That was the same as her wings pped out and sent arge amount of force behind her. The stones beneath her feet cracked giving way for magma to ooze up from the ground.


    The resounding crack as she mmed in to the head of the magma river golem was something that made the soldire''s ears begin to ring. They had not seen or expected this amount of force. Enough that the fire resistant shields Su had held together were severely dented.


    It was the damage to the dense and powerful magma river golem that surprised them. Half of its head had been cracked and shattered away. Showing off a semi molten core for them all to


    see.


    ....


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2384: 2384. A Learned Lesson

    Chapter 2384: 2384. A Learned Lesson


    ?


    "Maybe you should all head back where you can easily fight and pay attention to your surroundings." The growled words shocked the following soldiers to their core. They did not realize that Su''s dragon eyes could be so piercing.


    The damaged head of the magma river golem was slowly melting back in to ce as therge core heated up. It was releasing fire and earth mana to be able to reform its body where it was damaged. This proved to Su that she had to keep battling it right away.


    The older age of this golem was only working in its favor. Its body was made up of arge number of different metals and rocks. This made it tougher but gave it the materials it needed to be able to reform itself if it ever got injured.


    But that was the thing, it would rarely if ever be injured due to howfortable and limated it was to the environment it was created in. it had grown here and absorbed arge amount of fire and earth mana which has allowed it to be able to grow much more. This put it at the top end of the list of powerful monsters within the entirety of theva fields.


    "You think I don''t sense what you are doing?" Su''s instincts were not just for show, she could feel the surge of earth and fire mana which allowed her opponent to reform its body. She could also generally keep the remaining smoldering gollettes in her view. She could tell that they were being weakened since the strength of a more powerful golem could consume them. It was the natural order of things within theva fields. The golems were all malleable and could consume one another in a way to grow more and more. Especially these little golems. That was why they were instinctually trying to move away.


    That was also why the tail of the magma river golem mmed down and tried to break and capture the smoldering gollettes. It could take their bodies as its own feed to repair more of the missing materials that Su had just shattered from its body.


    The soldiers saw and heard Su and watched as she leaped ahead again. This time her normal twin shields took their ce in her hands. They were her toughest shields and would not dent or break so easily. Using her fire resistant shields did not matter much right now. She didn''t need to worry about the heat or damage from that heat.


    She needed force and powerful defenses turned in to attacks.


    The next resounding crack and shattering of stone and sparks made the soldiers stop in their tracks again. They had thought the first attack from Su had been powerful, but they had been wrong. This one at closer range using the pointed bottom end of the shield was even more terrifying. She hadpletely shattered the stone and ore connection to the main body from the head. The core was still exposed and now molten ores were melting out where it had been broken.


    The golem was not defeated, it was sending out pieces of stone to reshape its body again. That was the instinctual drive of a golem like this. But it had no choice. The mana it had was being drained away constantly by the damage that Su had just done.


    "I wouldn''t try to build another body. I am going to break you apart now." The growl came as Su mmed her shields downwards and cracked the molten core of the magma river golem. The fire and earth mana being released were both fusing in to the pieces of the body that had been controlled and also spreading out in to the surroundings. It was sure to attract more trouble.


    "I felt that!" Su looked up to find Walker stepping through the air down to the ground next to her. "You really had a lot of fun with that one. Looks like you managed to get a ton more ore than anyone else just yet." Heughed a little as Su nodded.


    "I also damaged the fire resistant shield set that I was given. It wasn''t tough enough to take a hit using half my full force. I got stronger." Su looked unhappy with this as she calmed herself. The dragon scales that had spread up to her face had receded slightly.


    "Really? That''s a good thing though. We can see what the wandering cksmith says. He was going to have to adjust some of the armors anyways, right? That water armor is a little right around your neck, you said." Walker knew that this was because Su had grown due to the dragon half of her but that didn''t change the fact that the armor sets would all need to be adjusted ordingly.


    "Want me to take them with me while I''m here? They are in a little rougher area than I think they should be." Walker was looking at the soldiers who had followed Su. he knew that they would not normally be here by themselves if they had fought their way through. Proving that they might have pushed through trying to impress her or having some other foolish ideas in their heads.


    "Yes, make sure you give them a harsh talking to. They should focus on their own growth rather than follow or watch someone else. They are not me." She gave them all a hard re to make sure that they understood they should work on their own styles and not follow her every single step. But she was also a little happy that they had followed her. She had their respect and that meant she was doing something right.


    "They might be the group to start your healing escort squadron you wanted to make. For the wandering healers. Think it over." Walker mentioned this before capturing the soldiers with some wind and pulling them away. He wasn''t going to store away the materials Su had just won. He also didn''t touch the iing smoldering gollettes. He knew Su would handle them.


    While Su knew that she had only tossed the idea of forming apletely dedicated squadron for escorting healers as an idea, she had liked it even more when she heard that Alice would support that. The number of whalers that could defend themselves were low and the guards they had always came from other ces or were too few. Especially those who went with a healer when they wandered around town to town and vige to vige.


    If Su pushed for this to happen, it would happen. No doubts about it. She even hummed while contemting it before getting in to another fight against some of the smoldering gollettes. "So, you all know where you went wrong? Su was not there to defend you. She was training herself and also preparing materials for Gneiss. What have any of you done? Trained at all? Gather anything to bring back?" Walker knew that they were not all experienced guards. Theycked it which was why they had been able to learn from Su.


    That Was the issue though, they had gotten it in their heads that they needed to follow Su exactly. "We were-"


    "Yes I know what you were doing. And right now you will be left in a safer area. I expect all of you to carry enough materials back that I can look at your contributions as significant. Also, you have potions you could have used. You have the tools. You have everything you need to carry what you gain from theva fields to the floating ship. Use them and prove that you didn''t waste the spaceing here. Others would have dly taken that spot just to mine a single ore here."


    With Walker putting this on them, the soldiers realized that they had not at all considered their greater duties here. They had not pursued what they should as representatives of Genesis out in the world. They should have cared about their duty over their own desires to grow and follow a powerful fighter.


    "Understood!" they all saluted and responded instantly before Walker stepped back in to the air. They also realized though, that Walker had not told them where they were entirely. That they could only see a few smallerndmarks. They would need to follow their maps back to the floating ship. As an added test!


    "Well, that was fun. I need to stop doing this though. I keep feeling the stronger fire mana and I know there are some good fire mana crystals out there." Walker mumbled to himself while he used his mana sense to pick up on higher quality materials. With his mana senses, he could pick up more of the highest quality to be used in Genesis. For the most important projects.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2385: 2385. Midnight’s Explorer Finds

    Chapter 2385: 2385. Midnight¡¯s Explorer Finds


    ?


    Walker''s adventure had led him in to the depths of theva fields. Pulling fire crystals of higher quality than what most people had been able to find so far. He had even managed to find some ores that had innate binds with fire mana and earth mana. Otherwise, he was


    wondering if he would be able to find anything else unique.


    Originally, he had been pursuing everything to make sure that he gathered some of whatever he needed. But right this second, he did a count and realized that his mana senses had really only found fire mana crystals over more ore in bulk.


    They needed more than just a few higher quality this and thats. Genesis was in need of everything, but that''s what the others should be able to do. Yet, after he had helped Su, he realized that he needed to change his thought process to be able to focus on the monsters that were forming.


    Just the golems that he had seen were more than enough to be a massive help when it came to the rebuilding of walls and general defensive buildings. But if he wanted to think even further, Walker knew that he should be considering the building costs that woulde with more than just that.


    The territories of the dragons took the furthest outer area of Genesis. There was plenty of room between everything to keep building and even expand fields for various farming or herbalism reasons. That was not a concern.


    The concern was being able to defend the smaller viges, towns, and merchant areas outside of the major Genesis territory. An increase in the monster''s strength and an increase in everything else that came along with wilderness dangers made that a focus for everyone.


    Adding in the fact that dungeons existed and that there would be entire cities that could potentially form around them depending on when they are essible and what they could offer for resources, then there was a lot more building that might take ce.


    Just the changes that came with higher amounts of mana in the environments proved that more valuable items needed for crafting would appear. As long as nature had the time, it would provide for them. That was also a basic belief of the elves and the echidna races. Walker could see and understand that as well since he had sensed and used natural mana.


    With that being the case, Walker believed that there was more toe. The materials that they had gained so far in life and even these better higher quality materials they were gathering now were nothing much.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    His thoughtsnded right on the fact that the elemental nes clearly had better items and many mysterious things that he would have never seen in a lifetime unless he managed to go there to explore even more.


    Therefore, the idea that there was a lot more when it came to materials to be seen from the world was easy. The mana could increase and he would be able to look forward to the changes and the growth that woulde from the world fully changing. If he were to see the changes in materials when there was an opening of the third bridge to the elemental nes...


    His mind trailed off with all this thought. He knew that he could keep thinking and mindlessly gathering materials. But he had been way too focused. He hadn''t even remembered that a certain dragon was wandering around theva fields as well and had been sleeping the entire journey to theva fields until now.


    Walker had even confirmed that Midnight would go with him. But as soon as they had gotten there, he had been forced to focus on the camp being settled and how people were heading out. From there he had rescued a few overzealous people from exploring and fighting while also checking in on Su when he felt arge burst of mana.


    Midnight was finally in his view again and it seemed she had found something to snack on. ''Volcanic eagle


    This eagle is one of the many ancient monsters finally able to hatch due to the increase in earth and fire mana around them. As eggs, they require dense earth manas to grow their bones and the fire mana to warm them. When they hatch, they gain a powerful fire and wind mana affinity which unite to be able tomune with the mes and heat of volcanic eruptions.


    They will always make their nests on a volcano that is spewingva and magma. The more violent that volcanic eruption is, the happier they are.


    While they hunt various monsters, they also are known to guard and consume growing fire elemental herbs. Oftentimes they will even gather earth elemental herbs to create a nest. This allows them to grow their young better and stronger...''


    The monster did not seem to be a massive threat to the world. More so, it was one of the ancient monster species that had been harmed by the loss of mana and managed to survive now that their eggs had the manas they needed.


    Since the mana had returned and theva fields were never greatly changed from ancient times other than bing smaller, their eggs had remained dormant. They had survived as a monster species and returned to the world properly.


    "That''s a volcanic eagle you found. It''s an ancient monster species. Did it fight with you in the air?" Walker could see the soot and other ash on Midnight''s scales. From the way it looked, she would be dragging him to help her clean upter. She was very meticulous about her scales being clean otherwise. Most dragons were though.


    Midnight looked up and nodded a little. She hadn''t minded at all that \Walker was so busy. She knew that they were here for a few more days and helping the others was part of her and his responsibilities. But now, she had been training her fire resistance and also hunting monsters. She had enjoyed the exploring much more since she didn''t have to worry about anything else.


    "I was thinking we could go hunting for some unique herbs. That way we canpare them to the herbs that we gathered at other times. Or the herbs that are grown elsewhere without the constant natural fire and earth mana in this area." Walker saw that this captured Midnight''s attention. She looked toward someva flowsing from somerger groups of rocks. It appeared that she already had some ideas.


    "Follow me!" Her response was in an instant as she dashed away. Her dragon form had grown a lot more with all the mana and the proper food she had gotten. Walker was proud to see that she was stronger every single day.


    Just the fact that she was able to rival fully grown dragons and elder dragons was amazing. Beyond that, she was definitely able to give the royal dragons a good match. Even though they had all be dominator dragons, Midnight could wield manas of all forms just as Walker could. She was a true dragon champion capable of much more.


    With her ability to grow also through the binds with Walker and Su, Midnight had a greater highest ahead of her that Walker could see being much better than what she had now or would have without ess to the elemental nes.


    "Here!" The small nests that were most likely the first start to the volcanic eagles'' nesting since they were not close enough to the main volcano of theva fields were made out of some earth and even a few fire herbs. These herbs had higher affinity and one or two of them seemed to have different leaf shapes than what Walker recalled from past herbs of the same kinds that he had seen before.


    "These are great! You weren''t nning on dragging these all back yourself were you?" He wondered if Midnight was going to take them all. It was a lot to carry and bringing open out here would be tough because of the intense heat.


    Her response was a quick huff proving she had thought just that. "Really? I will store them


    away. Some of them even have seeds and flowers on them still" Walker''s smile prove she was more than fine with how much Midnight was working but also his reprimand proved he


    wished she was taking it easier on herself.


    What should we hunt For next? There should be some wind currents caused by the magma geysers over there. Maybe they have some unique fuel or triple affinity herbs. Could be interesting." This brightened Midnight''s eyes. She had definitely waited for Walker to catch up and explore with her.


    "Let''s go then." He smirked even more before getting ready to race Midnight to the nearest


    one.


    ....


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2386: 2386. Too Much

    Chapter 2386: 2386. Too Much


    ?


    "What''s all this?" Walker had returned with Midnight. They had brought arge amount of herbs they had managed to dig out along with a few monster materials they hade across while they explored theva fields.


    However, it was what he had found when he returned.


    The area for processing and spring while also organizing the materials found was overwhelmed. Not just to the point that they were too busy, busy would be a word too small to describe what they had to handle.


    The pile of ores in front of the tent was dwarfing the tent. This wasn''t even considering monster bodies, most of which were small forms of golems, and also the general herbs which herbalists were working to store properly so that they would not run out of quality due to not being held properly.


    "Good. you''re back. You need to work on this now. There are many people findingrge growth of herbs. New veins of ore formed moving and cooling magma. Then I even found that one of the golems directed this way and taken down by five different guard squads had a core with some massive crystals in it." Su''s face was covered in soot and sweat.


    She had also returned to find that this was chaos right now. Not just chaos, but to the point that the people who had been working for thest three days had not stopped for a second.


    "Reporting in..." The voice trailed off and showed to Walker that the sheer happiness to see him was enough to prove how overwhelmed they were.


    "I can listen and figure out what I can do to help. The herbs and monster materials seem to need the most attention though. They are degrading." He didn''t speak in a rush and actually felt that slowing the pace might make this more efficient. Pushing for speed would and most likely had already caused some issues.


    "Yes sir. The beginning return of groups was slow. After about a day we received significant contributions we attributed to luck. Then there was an added growth whenrger groups returned telling us about locations nearby with exceptionally high numbers of everything. One herbalist lead group found what they call theva burst magnolia grove. Another group of dwarven cave explorers found cooledva tunnels wed with pure iron. Then we have the adventurers returning with various monsters all nesting closer than we expected."


    It was a lot for them to handle and that was understandable. Especially since there was a clear example of how this would all need to be handled from this point on.


    What they had not taken in to ount was that there would be such a burst in growth within this area already. Walker knew that ores and other earth bound materials might be much moremon as theva flowed and as the magma flowed. Yet this prevalent that a literal hill or them had been gathered just after three days?


    Then the monsters growing in number should have been a sign that things in the world had progressed even faster. The amount of mana that the monsters needed wasrger but that was also more avable. Especially since the weaker ancient monsters were hatching from eggs.


    Yes there had been some more powerful ancient monsters, but they were fewer and in isted incidents. They would appear more often as a longer time went on. But right now there were many more smaller monsters that had finally, gotten what they needed to grow. Especially the types of golems in this area.


    "That''s a spiked lizard golem. Right now the all around appraisal is telling me that this golem will purposefully find herbs with heart mana so that it can make a strong body and that after some time the seeds will even take root to siphon off the extra mana in its body. It will even grow fire affinity herbs on its back to keep its body solid and not melting." The reason that Walker pointed this out was very simple.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "It can''t grow itself without many more herbs in general being around. The all around appraisal states that it is limited to the number of herbs within its direct environment. It can easily grow five times this size but this is still veryrge since it''s a golem that could not survive before the mana flow returned to the world."


    Bluntly saying that the herbs were growing at an incredible rate in the wilderness was the point of this. Walker knew that if there were that many herbs here, then what of the other wilderness areas that had yet to be explored? They would be growing exponentially and giving unseen monsters massive amounts of food to grow and awaken the past bloodlines.


    "You are worried that we will have to call for more help and that we might not be able to handle the wilderness if this is the case." Su knew that the world had changed. They had expected the terrain to be more difficult and even had theories that were spoken about to prepare for contingencies.


    This though, meant that as they grew and as the wilderness grew, that those contingency ns were a moot point. They would not be applicable if the wilderness was changing at a faster rate than what Genesis was growing by in the day to day.


    "I am saying that we should get these handled and stored away as soon as possible. Also that we are going to slow down and properly store them. Anyone tired needs to rest and the groups returning will be held back to assist with storage in the floating ship since we still have room in there."


    As much as Walker knew that he and Su could store a massive amount with his high spatial storage and her new medallion, that was not the point. The resources gained here needed to be brought through the floating ship. This would prove that the achievement of the ship and the goals had in the entire creation process were valuable. Also that it could in fact function properly to help when there was not anyone able to take all these materials or jobs on by themselves like Walker could.


    As this wasmunicated and Walker began using natural mana to hold the herbs to their quality, the information was sent bymunication crystal. It was why Remey found herself stopped from moving to another tent of the crafting event to share knowledge.


    She now found herself with a host of different attendants who needed her to act and focus on the herbs that would being in massive amounts. Not only would they be focusing on the herbs to be nts and evaluated by the herbalists, some would be going right in to potion prosecution for lower tiers of fire or earth affinity potions.


    When she had suddenly been caught up in this, Alma and Gil were also caught up. They were two prominent figures being a hero and a representative of the elves as a whole. But more so, they were brought in since someone needed to split up and focus on the monster materials and also the ores. Three routes that ended different storage and handling.


    Ity only took a few moments to get to the magical crystals used to amplify the voice and transmit the notice that the three had led to be one to handle the information they and the other representatives of Genesis had received.


    "Hello! I have exceptional news. You should all understand that we are not ending this massive conference of ideas early for negative reasons. I spoke to the Genesis Council representatives present. We have received word from theva fields that we have an unprecedented situation." Alma was taking the lead while Remey was standing to the side holding a pile of reports already. The information about what was being sent on the floating ship was too much already.


    "When ites to herbs discovered, ores and other earth bound materials harvested, and monster materials hunted, the floating ship will be full in capacity within the day. This is an amazing proof that the world is growing around us. To manage the cargoing here, we ask that everyone capable will organize the ns we will utilize now. This area will be a processing area for every item found."


    "Those with appraisal skills wille to the front here and register their names. Those with storage skills and abilities to store these materials will report to Gil. Those with archival skills will meet with Remey. Otherwise, we need others to speak with attendants about how we will transform this area before the floating ship arrives!"


    The buzz of conversation overtook the area. The sudden announcement was not negative. Instead, it offered a very high amount of potential experience that anyone could gain from processing these materials. Especially those with appraisal skills who needed a lot of real life hands on time with materials to get to the best of the best.


    ....


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2387: 2387. The Appraisals

    Chapter 2387: 2387. The Appraisals


    ?


    Appraisal skills were the tough part out of all of this. The materialsing had to be appraised to make sure they were what everyone believed them to be. It was also the key to ensure that they would be able to find new items without any waste in the chance that these items were dangerous.


    Alma, Gil, and Remey were considering this while they noticed the few people that had actuallye forward. It wasn''t that there were no people with appraisal skills avable, but the fact that those with the skills could not use them well enough.


    The lowest tiers of appraisal skills would more or less just give a name. Some of them would just say, this is an ore of higher quality. That form of appraisal was not as valuable as people realized. Just because it was a form of appraisal did not mean that the skill would give them any more information than what could be found originally.


    That was why using the all around appraisal skills was so valuable. People had them made and copied, all derived from Walker''s all around appraisal skill as magic scrolls. The other appraisals being copied to magic scrolls were often the higher tier skills which could find specific information about an ore, person, item, and so much more.


    All of these scroll took materials and the count for them in the Genesis vaults were very important. Only a certain amount of them could be produced at one time and the same from them being sold. This was to ensure that there were proper appraisal scrolls of all types for when there was a major need for them.


    If a dangerous monster appeared or a new nt that was causing a lot of danger to the people, they all needed to be appraised.


    Since the world has changed, there were already changes to materials. Some of them radiated mana at all times while other absorbed manas around them. The ones that radiated manas were dangerous because they could push that mana in to others around them. It would also potentially interrupt the flow of mana through rune formations where those materials were.


    The same could happen with any materials that absorbed mana. They could steal away mana from other things causing issues. But they could also be nts which meant that the mana absorbed would be growing those nts. Causing there to be something growing where it should not.


    The storage of these items was also an issue. Each herb, material, or even monster material found would need to be stored specifically. The appraisals would be able to ensure that these forms of storage were found and upkeep.


    "What do we do about the appraisals? You have a skill that lets you appraise herbs and potions Remey, your thoughts?" Alma and Gil had stopped what they were doing. They had everything more or less working to change the entire massive area for their processing. The floating ship couldnd and get unloaded much better even with this level of preparation being lesser than what it was going to be.


    "You want me to have an answer? I never studied more than what I needed to. I just had the knowledge to get the skill. I can''t just say what ways people could get better appraisal skills. I thought some people were lucky and got the skills from using scrolls too?" As much as Remey wanted to just help and have an answer, she didn''t have one. But that was fair.


    So many people had used the all around appraisal scrolls which were very high quality. Since that was the case, a few people had gained a basic appraisal, the all around appraisal skill, or even a different appraisal skill rted to their ss.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There was a swordsman who gained the sword appraisal skill, it was only for swords and it focused on the swords being useful to him. However, that was enough for him to have the knowledge that he needed.


    Regardless, appraisals skills were not just exactly, as what the skill in the scroll used was. And the chances to even get them were very low. "Excuse me, I was scheduled to have a talk about the future of skills and teaching. I think I can help you all."


    The voice was rough, clearly from years of talking. But the voice had a certain bit of mana that demanded some attention. That made everyone nearby waiting to report to hear from the three in charge listen as well.


    Remey, Alma, and Gil all wondered why their attention had been taken so well when they had been very focused. "Sorry for using my skill. I had a teaching system for years. But it changed a little when I came out of retirement with all the changes and moved here to retire before I saw the potential of a future." The roughugh was scratchy, but the old and thin man still held his head high when he was saying this.


    "So what brings you here to use a skill to get our attention?" Alma was not worried at all. She just hoped that this teacher was not unhappy about having their time lost for a speech about education. She knew that general education was a major aspect of Genesis right now. Many young children could use the knowledge.


    Basic knowledge about all races and the way that Genesis worked was invaluable to them. It would allow their safety within the city and also their future growth. Especially since the world was changing. Even just the general information about where the students could go to learn about specific sses was enough to help them massively in their future. "Well, my speed was about teaching. But the ss I gained when things changed is called the skill tutor. I can help teach others basic skills that would help anyone at the developmental portion of their lifespan learn certain skills. Communication skills, focus, meditation, and even basic appraisal skills. I have used the all around appraisal skill scroll and gained my teacher''s intuition skill too. So I have experience with the all around appraisal skill."


    All three were paying a lot more attention now. "So that would mean with the rime and the mana, I can teach some of those younger ss holders how to use the basic appraisals or awaken better appraisal skills if they work with me. Too many of them walked away unhappy just now."


    "This is what we were looking for then. You can help them learn the skills then? How long do you think you need/ and what is considered developmental when ites to the age range?" Gil was already getting more information. He set the papers he had been given down and was looking at the pile of people who had too weak appraisal skills for their needs. He even picked a few up.


    "I have at least forty people that can''t help but have or need an appraisal skill applicable to this entire project. What do you think?" Alma and Remey decided that even though Gil was trying to get the all around appraisal skill to a better level himself somehow, that they would let him do this. The high number of younger craftsmen that hade and found that they could only handle menial tasks was high.


    The general attitude of all this had been poor and made many other craftsmen feel unwanted. It wasn''t intentional, but there was just a feeling that they had. They couldn''t be appraising the greater materials. They could only help with some storage. Nothing enough to brag


    about.


    If they gained an appraisal skill to help though? Well, then they would be able to brag that they improved at the best time to help and improve all of Genesis through materials and more. That Was something to base their foundations as a reason to grow more and more. To say that they saw the material from the day they got it in to Genesis and then to the day it was made in to its final form.


    "Of course I want to help. I have been a teacher for sixty years. I know exactly what we need and how to teach any student. My eyes are not the best but the skills still work fine." The teacherughed with his scratchy voice, but that was nothing to frown at. He looked happier to be of help rather than anything else.


    After being a teacher and tutoring nobles or the odd rich merchant here or there, he had believed he would retire and that was that. Nothing more. But then Genesis formed and he moved to retire somewhere vibrant. After the changes in growth and teaching bing a need, he came out of retirement. He saw so much growth his heart was feeling twenty years younger.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2388: 2388. Heading Back

    Chapter 2388: 2388. Heading Back


    ?


    "Two days ahead of schedule and we have the entire floating ship full!" Walker shouted out the announcement and a cheer came from everyone who had been helping store the materials found.


    When it came to everything, Many more materials for forging and building had been found than anything else. Some rare stones aligned with many ores that were higher quality than what was normally found had been obtained.


    When it came to the herbs, there were kinds that had not been seen before mixed in to the kinds that were clearlyrger or more developed than what they would normally grow to in the wilderness. This wasn''t all because of the manas though. The entirend had been improved because of the world''s expansion.


    This was proof that the farms that grew all the food for Genesis would also be showing these results as time went on. The nutrients in the soil were perfect for them to be able to grow more food. The more food that everyone had, the less worries about the growing poption. This also meant that some of the rarer ancient foods and herbs could be grown in focus rather than the bulk produce needed for feeding everyone in general.


    Walker had sat down and talked for a while after they had taken a break with this announcement. He and Su had wondered if there would be more to worry about because of all this. But Walker had realized that even though the changes in the world would keep them busy, that it was a good thing for food production which always came up on the topics to discuss at meetings.


    Walker and Su had mentioned the new foods from the various seeds that had been found. Especially the ones from the ancient ruins which were still viable because of how they were stored and also because of how resistant some of them were to the passage of time. Seeds were always that way though, they were made to wait for the right chance to grow. That was just nature.


    Some seeds had also been from the vampires who had managed to retrieve a lot from their ruined home. The final castle and vige that they had left in ruins after their race had been isted for so long.


    One fruit was just like an apple, it was called the blood drop fruit. A fruit that apparently had gone extinct because the vampires had been stopped from producing it when they were isted and made in to ves by one of their leaders, it had seemedpletely lost.


    The blood drop fruit was just like an apple, but the insides were nearly liquid and vampires could eat them without having to worry about any negative consequences. That was because it was very simr to blood. It also held denser manas which nourished their bodies allowing them to hold themselves in a better form at most times.


    While many people had worried about the vampires as a race, the founding of more food was great for them. But it also showed that the new seeds being studied had more hope in them.


    This made the general public happier and more enticed to learn new things. They could be more knowledgeable about the world as a while while making sure that they were growing too. Put in the fact that they were able to find new paths to change ss by researching and growing food that was desperately needed, well, it was great for morale.


    "So we can just enjoy the progress for a little bit of time." Su grinned a little since she knew that Walker had said everything for the fact that he wanted to ensure they both didn''t worry about it at all.


    "Looks like we are off." Walker watched as the mana moved and the floating ship began to rise against it was slower this time. The mana cost was more for the weight added.


    Some of the monster''s materials had been taken from golems. This made sure that whether they liked it or not, they were heavy.


    Some were ideal since they were mostly made out of ores. That would go a very long way to help Genesis. However, the stones that they were made of were also valuable.


    These stones had formed as the golem formed. Meaning that they were able to allow Alma to flow through them at a better rate than any other stones. Furthermore, if they had be certain kinds of granite rock, then they could be used for making amazing rune formation bases that could be used for a very long time.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That alone convinced Walker that all this added weight was worth the extra mana. That and there were enough mages and spirit race members to ensure that the mana was gathered and replenished.


    Since this was the case, he didn''t worry too much. But since the movements of the floating ship were much slower, he began to worry. He especially since the working staff was running around much more now. They had the same worries.


    As the mana flowed, Walked saw that the stress on the main rune formations had been passed to smaller formations previously not activated. This changed the amount of mana used and also added to the overall mana being used.


    Feeling this, Walker could see how the spirit race were working to direct it. The stress on their bodies and their control was massive. The waiting spirit race members had already joined to help proving that the mages were needed next as well. There would be a lot of work toe.


    The first three hours he did not rx and observed. Su sat with him realizing that he had stopped speaking because of his mana senses and more care in using them.


    She had also noticed more though. The mana cost in the full storage areas had not been properly ounted for. Mostly because a full storage was not expected. Those in charge had done the math for partial storage of materials and ores. Notpletely full with some added weight for what people also carried in them since the storage was full.


    With how strong her senses were, Su heard every word. It made it clear to her it was time to get up and help. Where shecked the mana control that Walker had, she could move parts and hold areas. She could also use her strength of mind to boost others'' mentalities.


    "Walker."


    "I know, you can do what you need. I am starting to help too. I''ll bring mana in and release the stress from the pressured manipting spirit race members. They need help if we are going to bring speed up and also manage the materials in the same quality we harvested them in."


    It was easy to guess that if the stress became too much, the only option would be to remove the storage runes used to protect the harvested resources from the processes happening right now. The safety of everyone here and the floating ship was more important.


    As long as it did not copse to the ground, then it could be improved. It could easily be improvedter to the point that the issues happening now would never be an issue again. Especially with how quickly people were advancing their sses and knowledge in general.


    Su was off to help and Walker stood up. The mages holding themselves back to maintain their mana forter also stood. While they were not directlymanded by Walker, they understood that if he moved they should also move.


    They respected him and knew that if Walker was helping it was extremely important. Even if they slowly added their mana to make their strengthst longer, it was enough. A thousand drops in a bucket could fill it after all.


    When Walker made it to the main core of all the formations, the mana gems, and the control center of the floating ship, the staff stopped. They gave him nods since they knew he didn''t need any more information. Just his presence was a surety to them.


    His hand softly touched the main mana gem predicted just for this floating ship. He felt everything with much more rity. He could also see the errors in mana rune formations where too much mana rested at one time. It wasn''t an issue for how it was made. This was an issue of theck of overall knowledge in making the ship period.


    It would be improved over time.


    He focused on these stressed areas perfectly. He felt his mana being absorbed too but he didn''t mind. The mages had all backed him up and provided their mana which mixed with the mana gem and was guided by Walker. The immediate sense of smoothness that all the spirit races and mages felt was a true example of the strength Walker had due to all his growth and learning.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2389: 2389. Stress Cracks

    Chapter 2389: 2389. Stress Cracks


    ?


    "What is that sound?"


    That was what people were first thinking when they looked up at the partly cloudy sky. Many of the staff needed for the unloading of the floating ship had already been brought back to be ready. They knew that the floating ship would appear sooner thanter.


    What they did not know was why the earth walls had been made. Why there were wind rune dampening formations? These would stop the wind from pushing past the walls and make sure that everyone was safe.


    None of this was what they needed when the floating ship had taken off. Specifically, the floating ship had been made so that the wind it used to help it direct itself and float would not be an issue at all. So why did they need these specific rune formations and walls?


    The sound of howling wind grew more and more. The pping of dragon wings also were easily heard. The dragons were not helping the floating ship but their closeness proved their worries and how they were ready to reach out their talons at any second and grab the ship if it were to falter.


    "Move in and prepare to unload. I need the mages present ready to control excess manas. Rune carvers, get prepared for repairs and breakdowns. We need a proper evaluation!" The orders were out and the floating ship caused a whirlwind of brutal mana and dust as itnded. Some tents not better protected took to the air and mages had to use their skills to capture them before they hurt anyone.


    Even more dusty as kicked up before the floating shipnded on the prepared stone braces. The metal creaking and the other materials showing the clear wear and tear. The rune formations were constantly bleeding mana and many of the staff or soldiers on board without jobs had been put to work with watching or mending.


    The clear loss of stress from them as they all rxed for the first time in days told them everything they needed to know. Everyone waiting on the ground saw it. This included Alma, Gil, and Remey who were prepared to wee them back but now gazed on in worry for Su, Midnight, and Walker''s well being.


    "All guards, prepare for us to be relieved!" The booming voice wasn''t Walker''s but Mindights. She stood in her dragonkin form and looked a little worn out. However, she was standing on the top of the ship with her head high, for what everyone could guess, she had been the one to remain above to be able to send information elsewhere.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Su appeared a few momentster, she didn''t have her armor on and instead had a basic robe with various pockets. This was something she had been gifted for all her help with the healers. She was wearing a robe made to hold bandages, medicines, and whatever odds and ends that a healer might need when treating wounds.


    "Healers, follow me. We have mana mana based and breaking metal based injuries. I need people to also handle the steam burns from some of the moving parts of the ship. We have it prioritized by those at risk and those that are yet to stabilize. Otherwise, I need carriers to bring off some that had broken legs from shifting metal."


    Su''s orders stopped everything and made a clear path for healers. She had made sure that her voice held every ounce of authority that came with making sure the injured were healed. What Su didn''t realize was she had unintentionally used a dragon skill called dragon''s terror speech. A skill that added the feeling of fear to those who would disobey her words.


    "What happened?" Su didn''t respond but Midnight did. While Midnight did not like talking as much, she had not had the choice since she had taken a role that Walker would normally use since he was too focused on mana.


    "Damage because too heavy. Too much mana. Walker is busy. Four mana gems damaged. The main mana gem cracked. Long trip." they all got the gist but they could also tell Midnight was reserving her energy.


    What everyone had somewhat forgotten was that through her bond with Walker, Midnight could share mana. That was what she was doing even now. She had given over almost all mana while working tomunicate and share information. She had even been the one to send themunication crystal message.


    "Gil went right down in to the floating ship followed by the mages. Alma and Remey could handle the other aspects but he was going to make sure his best friend was more than safe. Especially since Gil understood that the entire floating ship required focus on mana that would easily stress Walker.


    Everyone had limits when it came toplicated control. Walker might be an origin race member now and also growing constantly. But was he all powerful? Not by a long shot. He was still Walker and needed to grow more to be able to handle everything life had to throw at him.


    Gil didn''t make it through the door before he felt the manas acting up. They were leaking from the massive mana gem made. He could also see where the rune formations had broken the metal due to the high flow of mana and stress in them as well.


    These things could and would be fixed. This was the first time the floating ship left in an expedition after all. It needed this test.


    As Gil watched, Walker forced the mana down and calmed it. He forcefully held it in ce while new mages reced the ones who were passed out or nearly passed out. But they were here in time to control the mana so Walker could step back and fall to his but gasping.


    "I think we need to increase the strength of the materials used. We had a lot more weight. It couldn''tst long but we held it together to keep from major failure." His words were still ragged but Gil smiled nheless.


    "I didn''t expect anything else. But maybe try to give us more warning that you are about to cause a tornado? The walls were a little short." With a pat on the back, Gil helped Walker back to his feet and forced him to drink another man''s potion. He wasn''t letting Walker fall asleep right here before walking out proud.


    Those outside were waiting for orders while also knowing they had to see Walker. They had seen the other leaders calling repair teams and such but not Walker yet.


    As Walker stepped out it was confirmed that everyone was safe and the situation was in control. That was just the presence he had. It was also midnight''s sign that she was free to leave where she stood and begin looking in the direction of home where she could sleep for a day at least. Not to mention the food that would be waiting for her.


    To be fair though, everyone in the floating shop and this expedition deserved a good meal and rest. The massive number of materials were their payments for a short vacation.


    With a deep breath, Walker took a little mana and made sure everyone heard.


    "As everyone knows, we put the floating ship through an extremely rigorous test behind the ns we had originally. We also carried back many times more harvested ores, stones, monster materials, and herbs than we had nned. We have brought it home with sess. Let the Genesis alliance continue its rapid growth for the races united!"


    This was what everyone needed and wanted to hear. The roar of approval echoed as mage moved the earth walls and the rune formations were dissolved. Now, repair teams were in full movements while the appraisal groups and moving groups essed the storage areas.


    It was only a few moments before shocked tells of the appraisals began to arise. Many new appraisal skills were being used. And many people were questioning if they were even able to use them properly. Yet here they were, proved correct.


    The highest quality that some people had ever seen was right there in front of them. Not just there but in high numbers as well. It was shocking. No, it was proof of a greater future. Right in their hands were materials they never imagined they would see.


    When they all began to see even better materials and the herbalists began to shout too, it was over. The energy flowed around the area and a few people with stress became the most vibrant


    people around.


    Whispers of the next craftingpetitions started immediately. How they could all use these materials. But that also started the conversations about the next herbalist and alchemy challenges. A boom of ideas a new goals.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2390: 2390. Leaving For A While

    Chapter 2390: 2390. Leaving For A While


    ?


    While things didn''t seem to be calming down whatsoever, Walker found that he managed to find himself a free moment. He also found that while he had dozed off in a small tent away from the main focus on things, Onyx had managed to find him.


    What Walker was a little surprised about, was that Onyx looked a little different. "Good morning brother. You look better now." Onyx had been more or less handling the processing of the light mana he had recently gained. While he had been awake he struggled to do too much.


    However, Walker had felt the manas that Onyx transferred to him through their bond. It was why Walker was thankful the moment that he saw Onyx. It was also how Onyx knew that Walker had been in a very stressed and tired state before he had been able to sleep a little.


    Not that Walker had a choice, the moment he had sat down to rest his body and mind had taken control and knocked him out. But that was what happened to everyone went through stress themselves too much. Sleep is always a good choice for resetting.


    The scales on Onyx''s body had be slightly sharper looking. That wasn''t it though, Walker could tell they had be denser. Much better to defend Onyx. It was also clear to him that there was mana moving through the scales. "You have made your light and dark mana armors in to a permanent skill. It''s a passive skill?"


    This meant that the skills Onyx possessed had absorbed in to his body and be nothing close to a skill at all. It had definitely changed in the clearest and most true sense. It was not at all what the skills had once been known about or when they had mingled together.


    "I have, I was sleeping and making the light mana be one with me. I realized that I needed more dark mana too so that my body could handle it. That was when I felt like something inside me was finally awake. It was more like I had just opened my eyes after hatching." The warmth Walker felt through his bond with Onyx proved that Onyx remembered that moment and this new moment with great happiness.


    "When that happened, I felt my heart rush. Everything became better. My mana moved better and my body was bigger in just a few moments." Now Walker felt that Onyx was a little ufortable.


    "How much bigger?" Now Walker could somewhat tell that Onyx and potentially had a little problem.


    "I only damaged a little of where I was resting." Now he knew. Walker could tell that he would have to help fix a few things up. "I grew another ten feet in length brother. I believe that I have awakened an ancient part of my bloodline. I also can vaguely sense that I am no longer what I was. That any of the heavenly or abyssal serpents in the elemental nes are just that, they are not me and what we are going to be by living in the world."


    Now this was something that Walker already knew. Onyx had already separated himself as a different king from his ancient ancestors who could not remain in the world with the manas changing. He and all the eggs left had been here, losing the chance to grow in dormancy because they did not receive the manas they needed. Yet, he could tell that there was a lot more going on.


    Awakening ancient aspects of a bloodline should not mean that Onyx would change this greatly and fully take on that different racial name. Instead, it had to be because of how he united the manas in him and how he had grown so much. His intelligence and bond with Walker and through Walker with Midnight should have a say in this.


    "I would say that you are more than just a patriarch to your race now. You might be considered the originator since if they get as strong as you they will look like you do now. The heavenly and the abyssal serpents I mean." The young serpents were also growing, but they didn''t have the same binds as Onyx did. They were not groaning as fast or with influence from others in the same form as him.


    "That''s fine, I wanted to show you before I went back to explore some of the new ruins found. I want to make sure that more is found. I have the ability to let all of the younger siblings hide in my shadow now." Onyx''s shadow flickered and Walker could sense at least a hundred different manas resting in Onyx''s shadow.


    He hadn''t even sensed them at all and Onyx was in the smaller form since the majority of his body was also hidden in shadow. Another Impressive aspect of his skill and the growth that Onyx had.


    "So I take it you wanted me to know you were heading out for a while and wouldn''t be home?" This was when Walker understood. Omnyx had been doing a lot more on his own, but right now, onyx wanted to lead an exploration of his own. More than just working on ruins, he wanted to find something in the wilderness greater than what he had done before. He wanted to live up to and beyond what his family did.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    This wasn''t a desire to stand equal to them, or based on worries that he was not standing with them. It was a drive to be more than what the young serpents needed. Tpo be the figure established in history and ingrained within their souls from birth. That he would be the one who they looked to even a thousand years in the future whether or not he was alive.


    He was making a legacy that would inspire every single young serpent born. "And Aurora, you know I can sense you too. I can tell you managed to get a decent bit stronger. You even managed to get some control of dark mana. You are the second strongest out of everyone. But what''s with those little wings? Trying to give the angels a run for their money?" Walker joked a little when he saw that Aurora moved outside of Onyx''s shadow.


    "Alice is not going to like that you are both running off. I understand though. You are both going to be the pens to create a legacy after the ancient ancestors of your race left and never came back. A new race. A new legacy. And a home both of you are going toe back to so I can hear all about it. But you remember, if you both need help you are to call for me immediately. With everything you have, you call."


    There was a part of Walker that knew that Alice was going to be extremely angry with him. Aurora was still the tiny little white serpent in her eyes. She cared for her the same way that Walker cared for Onyx. Yet, if Walker stopped either of them, he knew it would be the very same as cutting off their future and ruining their bonds as family.


    "How about this though, make sure that when youe home, the story is worth listening to a hundred times?" He smiled a little and watched as Onyx and Aurora melded in to the shadows and the shadow darted off.


    His mind was on the changed look in Onyx''s eyes. One that said he would surely seed. The little wings that seemed to carry Aurora in the sky setting her aside proving that she had taken same step as Onyx but was representing the female side of their race. Still a perfectly bnced dual race beyond what he could imagine.


    Now though, they had begun to properly establish themselves a new history in the world. Not worrying about the ancestors and Onyx clearly didn''t even wish to see them again. Instead, he was focused on a new path as he had always wished. But he had epted that path now. All Onyx needed was the step and strength to do it.


    "Well, I guess I should go find everyone since I am awake." Walker sighed a little as he stood up and stretched his back. Sleeping in a weird position in a chair and not in a real bed would


    make anyone stiff.


    Regardless, he could sense that a lot had been done. The manas from the floating ship were back in line and the spirit race who had been working on it were clearly at rest. They too needed to rest their minds regardless of being made of mana for the most part. They still felt the mental pressure and could make themselves go dormant willingly now. Without any negative side effects.


    This all came second to Walker though, he had to check on everything. Not just the spirit race.


    ....


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 Chapter 2391: 2391. Path Of Firsts

    Chapter 2391: 2391. Path Of Firsts


    ?


    "Is it right?" The whisper came from Aurora. Onyx had heard it with the mental


    communication that he and the other serpents had begun to develop. While he had the skill, many of the serpents had begun to gain it since they did notmunicate verbally. It was just part of their race.


    Regardless, Onyx had the skill longer and the fact that all the younger serpents were getting it very early in their lives meant that it would be the primary way they would allmunicate. Aurora just rarely used the skill since she had been close to Alice and captured some of Alice''s tendencies. One being not speaking much.


    "I think we made the right choice. Walker understands. I just had to do a lot more to figure it out myself." Onyx knew that Walker was not at all angry. While they all knew that some people would find their leaving to be wrong or hard, but that was fine. They would have to ept that while they took a new path.


    "I knew that Alice and a few of the employers or even the others we all worked with might be angry and worried. Everyone epted that risk through. They had done so because they wanted their entire race to have a history made by them and without the help of others.


    Yes, Onyx and all of them had help from many to get where they were now. But they needed a legend or a moment where their race grew and stood alone. Onyx had thought that he needed to be a hero to be important and stand beside his family. Then he had thought he had to be a patriarch to be the leader of his race. Then he had believed that he had to strive for strength.


    When in actuality, he had to unite all of them through actions. Take to the world and unite them with cooperation and growth in more than just surface level aspects. He had to grow together with them to make something that would never actually be physical which could be passed down to every serpent of their race forever.


    "I am with you." Aurora trusted Onyx very much. Enough to throw herself against a massively dangerous amount of light mana. That risk had paid off with both of them being able to grow, she even began to grasp dark mana properly and spread her strength out. But she had also changed herself at a deeper level too, just as Onyx had.


    "Thank you." Onyx focused on the shadows. Being with Mordant who was an expert in traveling through shadows had paid off a lot though. When Midnight had been training with Mordant, onyx had managed to be there here and there. This had given him deeper insight in to how Mordant used the shadows to protect him while moving vast distances through them. While Onyx knew he was far from moving vast distances, he could travel with many of the other serpents. While it was because they were the same affinities and also rted by blood in a way as a race, this was still amazing. Right now, with all of their mana, they were already what would take many hours to get for any merchant away from Genesis.


    "We are healing toward one of therger and unexplored areas. I heard that there is one that is passed where we were helping with the ruins. Where there is a lot of light mana and also tall stones makingrge shadows."


    This area was marked by one of the wind dragon elders who was exploring thends and helping map makers. The area had been named the towering stones passage. The terrain was made of towering stones that had risen from the earth where it appeared an earthquake had once caused thend to crack. The result was a lot fewer trees, if any, and alsorge shadows or ces where the sun hit constantly.


    When it came to the bnce of light and dark mana, it was ideal. They would all be able to grow a lot more than what they had been able to do in Genesis. Not because of the density of mana, it was actually less here. It was because of the bnce between the two being the focus allowing for all of the hundred serpents with Onyx to be able to focus on their natural abilities.


    This was a great ce to explore for potential ruins and also to train. They could establish themselves a legacy by training here. There were many more serpents that had decided not toe. For one reason or another. None of them were thought of as less, only that they had different priorities. Some had taken binds with the tamers, they had epted a different path already.


    Others had decided on professions and managed to get sses. They did not need to focus on other things because they had their own independent paths. Right now, these hundred young serpents were not able to have sses because they had been undecided and focused on just growing up a little.


    When they had heard Onyx speak of their legacy and the future of their race, they had been inspired. They had wished to stroke their own actions in to the history of their species. If even to be remembered for a moment, they wanted to be like Onyx and tread a path of firsts.


    Their travel was swift and only a day was needed for them to get to the start of thisnd where the rocks and dryness had subsided to be more mixed with some greenery. While some would feel thisnd was still barren to a degree, Onyx felt that it was a perfect ce. And lost to the broken aspects of the world and returned to be able to develop with the world as it grew again.


    He could sense that the dark and light manapeted for attention here. The shadows stretched and in those areas, grasses didn''t grow as much. Other nts bloomed through. In the areas where no shadow would fall,rger trees or bushes grew, but the darker leafed nts in the shadows didn''t evene near. Clear lines with clear reasoning.


    He could also sense more. With the fact that he had better united two skills using his two affinities, Onyx''s senses for those affinities grew deeper.


    The flow of light and dark manas were strict here to change with the sun and the night. It had liens. But in small ces the two ovepped allowing for different nts to grow which were not anywhere else.


    A small patch of herbs which he had never seen. Right at the base of a broken stone cliffside. The sunlight would hit it partially while the shadows would somewhat ovep. Changing through the day in strength but both never perfectly fading.


    These herbs were very enticing. They seemed like they would taste good and also that they could help them all. But before any of that, "everyone, this is the ce I want to explore. We can train here. We can eat the herbs. We can find the secrets of this area and make it our


    legacy."


    The unexplored towering stone passage was massive in size but held a lot for them to discover. Whether the monsters here would be dangerous woulde with the fact that they had to face them together. Whether the herbs were valuable to them was what they would test. The manas they epted would be up to them.


    There was nothing here topete with when it came to other races. Just them and their goals before them. Exactly what Onyx wanted so that they could establish who they were.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "There''s a lot here we can explore. I expect everyone to stay close and we will move carefully. First, we should find a ce we can rest after we explore the area. I can sense stronger flows of light and dark mana. We can follow that to a better ce to rest for a few days."


    As much as Onyx wanted to go off alone, he didn''t. Instead he took to his full size dwarfing the other young serpents and slowly slithered through the area. Enjoying the feeling of the dual manas perfectly suited to him.


    He also caught the slightly stronger flow of light and dark manaing from further away in the towering stone passage. The slight hint that there was a purer set of manas mixing behind his sight that he and they could use. "Follow me."


    No one doubted him and they checked the nts and moved in and out of the shadows. Curiosity and caution being their focus while mentalmunication spread to exin what they were finding and what they were feeling. All gathering as experience for their growth. Uniting them even more than before.


    ---


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2392: 2392. Towering Rock Passage

    Chapter 2392: 2392. Towering Rock Passage


    ?


    "Another patch of herbs?" Onyx was drawn toward the half shadow patch of herbs. The dark green leaves had white stripes on them. They wererger leaves which made them perfect for casting their own shadow here and there.


    However, they were also blooming with white and ck flowers together. Some helped the flow of dark mana and others held the flow of light mana. This was an interesting herb that Onyx was sure Remey would be very interested in since it was a bnced herb that she would not need to work hard to make bnced.


    This would in turn allow for her to make a dual affinity potion. Potentially making one of the affinity potions for the serpents that Onyx had wanted to have for the younger serpents. Especially those who hatched with dual affinities already awakened. Not only the serpents, but everyone in Genesis with the dark and light mana dual affinities.


    The herbs themselves though, had been eaten whenever they were found because of the serpents couldn''t help themselves. The two manas and the herb''s fragrances were ideal for them. This had made Onyx stop everyone and make sure they all got an equal share.


    Luckily, he had two young serpents who had managed to learn a basic appraisal skill and one who even learned Walker''s all around appraisal skill. While both were not perfect, they came together to work and keep getting answers for what they had found here in the towering stone passage.


    ''Dual cone lily


    Over the years, the white cone and the ck cone lilies grew closer and closer due to their environments being stuck together instead of perfectly isted in the sun and the shadow. Due to them growing closer and closer, they stopped battling each other with their manas and eventually began to intertwine their roots.


    Not the root balls and bulbs formed can only survive together and will only grow in partial sunlight and shadow. This is to bnce and attract both light and dark manas to grow two different flowers which will attract the flickering bees. The honey bee is a monster known to be of various affinities and live in many different environments. The flickering bee is one that has light affinity drones that go out and collect nectar from various nts.


    The dark affinity warrior bees will defend the hive and even use their dark affinity stingers to inject potent dark affinity mana to decay enemies. Often, the hives will be perfect growing ces for the dual cone lily since they have so much nutrients from rotting monster bodies...'' While they did not get a ton of new and detailed information, the pair of young appraisal serpents had managed to anchor themselves with this. They had found information that helped everyone and stopped anyone from worrying about what herbs they might eat.


    They also allowed for everyone to know that they might encounter a hive of flickering honey bees. While Onyx didn''t see the full reason they were known as flickering, if they had light and dark mana, it could be because they could make themselves hard to spot and see in general using the light and dark manas they possess.


    Just knowing about one monster that could cause them trouble was enough. Especially since there was the risk that they could still harm the youngest of the serpents because of potent dark manas that they would not be able to process or resist right now in their training.


    However, the flickering bees were not the only issues that had been found. More nts with risks were living here.


    There were nts that had be monsters, or they had always been monsters. Whatever the case, they were there and a problem to deal with since they could easily pierce the scales of every serpent that was not Onyx or Aurora.


    ''Shadow needle cluster


    This monster is a nt type monster known to grow in shadows. It will find ces where its roots and leaves can grow and absorb constant dark mana. From there it will grow long vines up stones and trees to patch a flower on to high above it.


    Then the flower senses prey below it and near the roots and leaves of its main body, it will shoot out clusters of dark needles that decay the body of the prey hit. From there the prey will die and be nutrients for the main roots that the prey was near.


    The leaves can be used to make natural cloaks to defend against dark mana but the needles will be good temporary throwing weapons since they will bleed out their dark mana as they are no longer attached to the shadow needle cluster...''


    While this was a good thing, they all knew that it was dangerous. Being more vignt was perfect training. An ideal way to slow all of the young serpents taking the lead for their race as more vignt.


    However, the danger was always a worry. Aurora had already healed five younger serpents to save them when they had moved too close to a shadow needle cluster. It was terrifying since the dark mana was very potent due to this monster always living in the shadows and absorbing very high amounts of dark mana.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The opposing light needle cluster also existed. Onyx himself had faced this one and broken it off of the opposing stone cliff face he saw the first shadow needle cluster on. Two monsters of the same species but growing in different environments.


    Luckily they had not seen a dual affinity one at all. That would have made things a little more changing since they would need to figure out how to heal wounds from it. Also, it would be living right where the dual cone lily grew.


    "There it is again. That feeling." Onyx turned his head from the dual cone lily patch some young serpents were eating from. Aurora also noticed it too this time.


    The dark and light mana in concentration that Onyx had been following was close enough that Aurora could feel it too now. The density of the dark and light mana was a high enough to be out of the normal for the herbs that Onyx had thought were the source before.


    It was also near a fewrger stone outcroppings. They towered up casting Longer shadows and being hit by more light through out the day. Clearly, this could be the most central ce within the towering stone passage.


    On the other side would be the continuation of the desert they knew of already existing here. It was odd that this area changes right before but Onyx didn''t think of that too much since the world and existence were mysterious no matter what.


    The further that he looked and started to travel toward, the lore he caught on. It wasn''t herbs or a nest of monsters. It was something else that he had just started to guess about. "Aurora, do you see how those stones towering above every other stone are all organized in a circle? I believe that''s a natural rune formation a dark and light naturally urring rune that is caused by something Brother already dealt with once."


    The serpents all stopped and paid close attention. Aurora also looked carefully at Onyx because she somewhat guess what he was thinking.


    The density of mana made sense. A natural rune would definitely form in a ce with a lot of mana of the same kind existing. Especially if the ce had been returned to proper flow with the world recently. And especially if the bridges to the elemental nes had opened and begun to send mana to the world too.


    "There''s a dungeon in the middle. I have a feeling." Trusting his instincts was normal for Onyx. He had before and been sessful. He also knew that Walker and Midnight did the same sessfully. They were instincts for a reason. And unseen and unspoken connection to all that


    was around you.


    "Call for help?" Aurora was sure that Onyx would want to get Walker here. To get anyone over here that he could. If this was really a dungeon it would be something they couldn''t handle


    alone.


    "We canmunicate it. But we will journey within. If there are two naturally forming runes around it, they are perfectly bncing the manas that leave it. We are the perfect ones to


    handle exploring it."


    Everyone knew that there was a line of risk. They could call for help and wait. But they could explore without saying a word. Or they can call for help and begin exploring to establish their


    legacy in this dungeon.


    "We will explore this and make it the dungeon of our race. We will establish it in our name and make this the first vige where we can train and grow. It is a perfectnd and perfect home to journey to for the young as they are born."


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2393: 2393. Dance Of Light And Dark

    Chapter 2393: 2393. Dance Of Light And Dark


    ?


    "Stay back a little while I check this area." Onyx was the one taking the lead. Not because he was entirely worried about the dangers, but because if there was a danger he wanted to be the one that took on the danger himself. He knew that if one of the younger sperents was harmed that it would break the morale of everyone.


    He also was using his high ability to sense the dark and light mana around. He could feel the bnce was very unique inparison to any other ce he had been. the flow of light mana was directing pushing back against the dark mana. One side had a pir of stone that cast a shadow entirely.


    The other pirs of stone which stood high would only cast their shadows in a simr direction. Making a naturally uring circle of shadows depending on the time. But part of those areas was always in shadow which allowed for the umtion of dark mana.


    In contrast, the other side also always had light mana which would be standing outpared to the shadows. This natural formation of rocks and the way that night and day cycled made this entire ce perfect for there to be the naturally forming light and dark runes.


    However, therge central pir was one that cast a shadow at all angles depending on the time of day or didn''t cast a shadow at all. It was very interesting to Onyx who could feel the changes in the heart and nts around him based on what mana they had absorbed for what could have been years.


    Just with the addition of this ce back to the world it was sure that many amazing ces just like it might be out there. The ways that Onyx had learned about the elemental nes from Walker and the others had been a clear example of how manas collided.


    The ces called the borders of the elemental nes gave birth to unique areas where many dual or even triple elemental beings could be born. Whether that meant they were herbs, monsters, or intelligent races didn''t matter. It was a ce where unique everything existed. The world within itself was one of those ces so to speak. The way that Onyx saw it, the world was the perfect mix and center of all elemental manas and all manas in general. Therefore, this ce was here not only because it was a ce where light mana and dark mana naturally came together, but because it gave way to new and unique forms of life itself.


    That was on his mind as he saw the familiar herbs he had seen the entire time. Also when he noticed the pure white and almost blinding rune floating in the air. Looking directly opposite of it, he saw a shimmering shadow of deep darkness in a rune form as well.


    "The two runes forming light and darkness naturally urring." His mental whisper was more to himself but he also realized that Aurora had not waited at all and was beside him even though he didn''t want her to slither in with him. There could have been more dangers than he wanted to risk with her being there.


    "Look at the mana moving from them." She didn''t let Onyx say anything else about how she was sticking to his side in this area they had yet to explore. Instead, she watched the light mana and dark mana moved in a natural circle and mingle. Pushing and pulling. It was like watching the densest mana they had seen in the world perform a perfect dance.


    As the mana flowed, it eventually slowed and reached the center where it hit the central rock pir which was not casting a shadow right now. The mana seemed to absorb and bounce back out secondster. Providing what felt like a purifying effect.


    Right in the center of therge stone where dark and light mana crystals grew from, Onyx and Aurora saw an opening. From what they had heard from others, this was very simr to the dungeon that had been found. However, instead of the dungeon forming in thin air, it was stuck to the pir, helping to radiate and absorb mana in this naturally bnced ce.


    Where the dungeon could have broken the bnce here, it helped instead. That meant that the will of existence or whatever it was had made this dungeon perfectly bnced in to what naturally happened here.


    "I believe that inside that dungeon is a naturally mixed rune of light and dark. The perfect bnce for us to study and learn from." Onyx didn''t doubt his words or his theory. It just made so much sense right now.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Then we find it." finding that Aurora was being so serious all the sudden and had even begun to watch the mana flowing around with a lot greater attention, Onyx felt that just being here was a perfect example of where his purple should grow.


    "All of youe closer!" Onyx mentally shouted and found that most of the younger serpents had already crept closer in the shadows. He knew they were doing it, but if he were to act so strictly all the time then he knew they would fear the exploration they would begin to undergo.


    "We are heading inside. I need those with the appropriate skills to appraise tube dungeon entrance. Others can secure the area. Once we have a camp we will call for assistance before heading inside."


    ''Dance of light and shadow dungeon


    This dungeon will only open once a month for twenty four hours. This is due to the pure light and dark mana needed to open the dungeon properly. Ites from two naturally forming light and dark runes perfectly paired. This dungeon can be harvested of any herbs, materials, and even have the eggs of unique monsters taken from it.


    While the dungeon is considered weak due to the constant state of opening, it will not entirely reset using mana every time it opens and closes. It will be altered and herbs or monsters can be added to it. This included crafted items able to withstand and absorb the light and dark dual manas.


    This dungeon is extremely beneficial for those with dual light and dark affinities because the purer dark and light mana within are bnced allowing for it to be a natural guide to those learning about them...''


    While the appraisal that Onyx was given did not share a lot of details, it reinforced his feelings and theories. He also knew that the inside would not be extremely dangerous since it did not have a level requirement. It also had a unique method of opening and closing.


    But he already knew that mana was important. Dungeons were somewhat alive in a way. They ended mana. A month long rest meant that the dungeon needed the naturally urring runes to feed it the mana it needed. Afterwards, it was open for a full day so that they could enter it.


    This gave them all a month to prepare so that they would be able to enter the dungeon and explore. Be able to learn for a full day from the ways that the dark and light manas mixed themselves together in a more peaceful way than the methods of some mages who mmed the manas together violently to make more dangerous spells.


    "Themunication has been sent about us exploring and finding this new dungeon. Those who wish to enter will follow me!" Onyx saw that those with the appropriate skills were making camp and he had done what he needed. He also saw that Aurora was ready to proceed with a few of the heavenly serpents behind her looking anxiously at the flowing manas.


    As he made his way inside the dungeon, he felt that the air itself became crisp. Not because it was cold, but because it had the bnce of manas that worked with his body best. He also sensed that they did not have a full twenty four hours to explore this. That they were limited to only eighteen until they were to be thrust out.


    Whether this was some magicalmunication from the dungeon or his instincts because of how the world worked now, Onyx didn''t mind. Eighteen hours was enough to explore and have a handle on what he could do. A good way to know what they would need to prepare for the next time they entered.


    What they saw though, wasn''t a lush green foremost or pirs of stone casting shadows. They found an entire world of ck and white. Shrubs that were ck leaves and treespletely white. Some mingled together to create unique nts that cast their own shadows which also seemed to be part light as well.


    Their senses were full of what they could feel was mana and what they could see was physical. A perfect small world of just light and dark mana mixing to make up all the nts, ground,


    and even in the air.


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2394: 2394. Mixed To Gray

    Chapter 2394: 2394. Mixed To Gray


    ?


    It wasn''t that the nts and earth itself were entirely made of dark mana. It was more so that they were so greatly full of it that they had changed appearance to match the dark and light mana. It wasn''t even inplete opposition. It came together to make a perfect bnce.


    "This is perfect." Onyx spoke out to make it clear that just existing here would be beneficial to the dual affinity both he and every young serpent had had.


    The fact that the manas were bnced and flowing calmly meant that the idea Onyx had about a naturally urring dual affinity rune had to be true. His entire being was resonating with this space and that couldn''t just be the dungeon. Instead, it had to be what was made within the dungeon.


    They all knew that the dungeon needed the pure light and dark manas from the naturally urring runes. Therefore, those manas had to go somewhere before being sent back in to the world when the dungeon was open to the world.


    Just moving around, onyx could feel that the herbs, no, the nts themselves were all useful to him. Even if he were to eat the grass which was a mixture of gray as the light and dark manas within them mixed, he could absorb the manas within them. Allowing for his body to be more limated to uniting the light and dark mana.


    This was saying a lot since Onyx had literally been through arge process changing his scales and creating a passive skill that was helping him be a better defender of everyone while also defining him as the leader of the race and future that the younger serpents could grow in


    to.


    Looking at the trees, the dark ck bark would give way to the light mana streaks eventually bing the younger and brighter pure white leaves sprouting out of the thin branches of gray. It was a showcase of how the manas protected and encapsted one another. The same happened in some magic spells or in crafting.


    This was also used by some when they wished to protect a material or others from the decaying effects of dark mana which were seen as very dangerous. Some people would also rely on the dark mana to repress the effects of light mana which could be blinding and even harmful in greater densities. Often causing the over effects on healing skills which would deplete the nutrients of a patient being healed.


    Beyond this, the heart itself had dark and light colorations. Onyx could stop what would be consideredmon soil or rocks outside in the world that, here, were dark and light affinities. It begged the question of whether they were now useful to be used in farming certain dark and light affinity herbs and foods. Or were they ideal for races that made homes for their young to use as materials now? Would that affect their overall life or would that affect their young as they grew?


    He could consider that one of his races carrying a child meant that the child and that serpent carrying it would need this purer and calmer mix of manas to develop in to a stronger being at the end of the lifespan. Therefore, would it be hard to say that building a nest out of these things would be a smart idea?


    "There is something moving there." Aurora had very few attacking skills, but one was to make small spears of light the same way that Alcie could by singing. However, Aurora just needed to feel it rather than sing it to make them appear. She did so now causing four dense light spears to appear which were stronger than her normal light spears due to the ambient light mana purity and densities.


    "Someone appraise it and tell me immediately-" Onyx didn''t need to finish the thought, the young serpent with him who had gotten a monster appraisal ss had already started to speak to him. The ss was exceptionally useful and had appeared as they met thesh shadow needle cluster nt monster. A perfect ss for someone exploring new areas and one that would help Genesis greatly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''Split rabbit


    This monster is a rabbit that has only ever grown up in an environment of bnced light and dark mana. It shed the heart affinity it once had and has been able to adapt to a perfect bnce of light and dark. Because of this it has a high light healing ability to heal basic injuries while it has a dangerous dark affinity that allows it to make shadow ws and dark infecting bites. While most people would feel ill after eating its meat, it is a delicacy for those who have dual light and dark affinities. Unless crafted well, its fur will degrade rapidly without the protection needed. Normally this monster is calm, but when facing a predator it will fight with everything it has to preserve its own life due to it knowing it can heal itself to some degree.


    Normally few and far between, when in the mating season they can be found in groups of up to fifty...''


    The appraisal was focused on the uses of this monster and even mentioned who would and would not be safe eating it. That was a new aspect that Onyx believed came from the fact that the one appraising it was a monster appraisal ss user.


    The rabbit didn''t wait for them and rushed away in the next moment. The fighting aspect that he had just been told about made Onyx question the appraisal. However, he also knew that this was one very small split rabbit and not an adult. Most likely this was a child who had been exploring for good food only to find them. He knew that he would have run away as well.


    "We know there are monsters here too now. And since the mana I feel is stronger in the direction that the split rabbit ran, we should move that way as well." The observation of the surroundings was a focus for them, but Omnyx also knew that finding the dual affinity naturally urring rune had to be a priority.


    Ahead of him, some stones broke out of the ground. Clear matches to the ways that the stones outside of the dungeon broke through the softer earth. It proved that this dungeon came from the outside too.


    "Be careful of what might be in the shadows." Knowing that this ce had kk stars meant that they might be simr to the risks of outside. Specifically, the flickering honeybees they had read about. This would be their ideal environment to live. But also there might be more threats that had lived here in perfect growth for them for many years.


    "What do you mean he found a dungeon? They''ve only been gone for a few days!"


    Meanwhile, Walker was shocked to hear the news of another dungeon discovered. He had not expected this sort of urrence. Realistically, Onyx and the other serpents should have been still traveling. Did he underestimate them?


    The new skills Onyx had were using different bnced manapared to what Walker could remember before Onyc had grown again. But this also meant that he had somewhat


    underestimated Onyx.


    "If they go inside they might have to deal with monsters we''ve never seen. They aren''t prepared." A fair worry. This was something he had recently faced in the elven forest. They were still preparing ns and proper safety measures for those who would explore that dungeon for the second attempt.


    There was so much that could be in a dungeon let alone one that was both dark and light


    mana.


    "That''s not the majority of the report. The serpents under Onyx and Aurora report a naturally urring dark rune and naturally urring light rune in perfect bnce within the towering


    stone passage."


    "What is their luck? I know it was reported as an area high in dark and light mana, but so much so..." he was done. Onyx has to have gotten some form or luck skill for this. It was exactly what


    Onyx was looking for.


    The perfect ce.


    The goofy smile on Walker''s face proved he was very happy regardless of the fear for Onyx and the others when it came to the dungeon. But this somewhat solved a problem for him. "Let Alice know that we are going out to help Onyx and Aurora."


    Now he could use this as a way to make her less angry with him. Yes she would be worried and angry still, but at least he was acting to get her and himself there to help the pair. The right


    thing to do.


    What Walker was too young to realize, was that he was going to be in even more trouble because when he let those two run off alone he hadn''t considered this risk. The danger increased and he was at fault for that as well.


    ----


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 Chapter 2395: 2395. Serpent Camp

    Chapter 2395: 2395. Serpent Camp


    ?


    "You two have been sitting in silence for a while." Gil snickered a little while he teased Wa;ker. This just earned a re from Alice towards Gil who was quick to make sure his mouth was shut.


    "We have just a little ways to go. If you are worried about getting there, maybe I can leave you on the ground and let you walk?" Walker''s magic was the reason that everyone was staying in the air. He had left his tasks and made it clear that he and anyone else who could go to make sure this dungeon wasn''t an issue was on the way too.


    Midnight was also with them since she had been ready to go the moment that she heard Onyx had discovered something like this. He was her little brother and that was just that. There was no extra anything that came with it. She would go there even if he had discovered something small.


    This left Su back in Genesis to keep up with everything still going on. Alma had also stayed behind but that was because she had actually just heard of the next ns for the dungeon expedition in to the elven forest dungeon area. The temporary camp was also being more established so she wanted to overview it before everything was solidified.


    "The statements we got frommunication crystals were about the area being more focused on light and dark mana than what we had expected. We have some ideas from the map makers and the dragon that explored but no one had gone in there yet." The scouting reports were very small and Gil had also been able to get his hands on them before they left.


    This was easily done for Gil since he had a closer rtionship with the scouts who were leaving Genesis to make these reports. Mostly because Gil had learned to mix many of the elven and human scouting tactics while managing to pick up some more naturally used scouting tactics from some of the echidna and the dragons.


    It was all because he had taken the time to get to know them in his pursuit of gaining his own strength. However, Gil had also been teaching people as he went. Not just arrows but scouting too since there were plenty of people who used the bow and arrows to hunt that needed scouting and had already started to form the basics of those skills.


    Besides this, he had been able to request the reports of newly scouted areas. The dragons and map makers who helped take down the terrain information had sensed the light and dark mana around the area. They had not noticed it was so potent that there were two naturally formed runes though.


    Even the scouts that had approached the area and noticed the two manas in higher density had note to that conclusion.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I think the stone standing so high in the area making it the towering stone passage is why you might not have gotten any information like that. It changes the flow of the light and dark mana so it stays in higher density closer to the central areas of the passage. Then there''s the fact that the serpents reporting to us said that the dungeon absorbs the pure natural manas from both the runes. So, we can''t sense what is being absorbed and put right back in to the flow of the area directly. It''s just not escaping thesends.''


    This made a lot more sense. Walker knew he could spread his mana senses thinner and thinner to pick up more. By doing so he might be able to figure out some hints of a naturally forming rune here or there. Would he though? If the manas were being absorbed and then redirected again?


    It was all a natural phenomenon.


    Approaching the towering stone passage though, even in the air with many following them, Walker could pick out the syringe light and dark mana. He could also spot some of the pants that he had read about when he was told about the area.


    "Light and dark mana affinity herbs. Monsters that have dangerous methods of attack using light and dark mana. And then I can sense that there is even some general movement ahead so other monsters that Onyx and Aurora might not have found." He pointed out areas from the sky that he could see.


    Gil also began to point things out. The areas where monsters traveled proving that there might be some more monsters they didn''t see because they had scared them. But Gil also mentioned these monsters were smaller and most likely not predators.


    It was the fact that there were more monsters here that was important though. Mostly because they had been told the serpents did not encounter much other than the potential flickering bees who hid themselves well and the shadow or light needle clusters which were an unmoving nt monster species.


    "I think we have underestimated this area. It is full of lifepared to what we all thought some of these ancient or expanded areas would have. But I don''t think we are going to be finding arge amount of predators and dangerous things that will expand beyond what they should. I feel like this entire area was isted enough due to all the stone pirs and the ways the manas are that it couldn''t develop major predators like the wolves in the fields or the tougher monsters in theva fields."


    This was not just some guess from Gil. It was an informed decision because of what he knew about predators in other areas. He had seen a lot and knew that many had developed to handle the areas they grew. This area though, was harder for the predators he normally saw to grow. The fact that the nt type monsters excelled here meant that they had to survive in certain ways.


    "I understand what you are saying. I will also say that some of these monsters you are, well, are not seeing are actually hiding from us. Even the predators hid when they felt using. Most likely Onyx felt this too and didn''t say anything because they are not a threat to him or anyone that is strong enough. They hunt the weak prey here and only the weak prey."


    Walker looked in to the shadows and the stark light that passed over some areas. This discrepancy in light and dark made hiding in shadows or blending in using light mana to be very useful. This area was perfect for weaker predators who relied on ambush hunting smaller prey to be the focus. Notrger predators.


    "In the shadows right there is a ck scythe mantis, it uses the shadows to hide itself and it hunts rabbits but can''t even make a move against us six new e ate too big. Then over there is a white death pigmy hawk, it is small and hunts for smaller monsters called shifting mice which use dark mana in the I goth and light mana during the day."


    Looking at the areas, Gil was stunned. He rarely missed all this because of how unique the area was? These predators developed to hunt smaller prey and also to hide themselves. While it was a surety they were also prey to something, this was some proof. There was more he needed to learn about unique areas.


    If he missed things like this at important times then he would be the reason someone got hurt. "Don''t worry too much. They are both perfectly using their abilities to hide. Their fifties and skills perfectly go against a scout. But if you train a little more in sensing outside mana, maybe you will spot them first."


    This was also a little challenge to make him want to keep growing. Walker wasn''t foolish enough to believe that Gil would let this pass. They were bothpetitive and wanted to be able to push one another to grow stronger for their and the future of others around them.


    "We can worry about catching and documenting some of these monsterster. They won''t bother us so that''s enough for now. But Onyx and Aurora are exploring that dungeon. I can''t sense them ahead but I already sense a few of their group." While Walker expected this, he had made sure that amunication was sent telling Oux to just set up camp. "We are going after them. They are in trouble." The sweetness of Alice''s voice was not at all the happy sound Walker normally enjoyed. Instead, he felt she was angry. Very angry. Knowing better than to say anything against it, Walker just focused and pointed himself in the right direction. The earful that Onyx and Aurora would get was just their price for being in danger like this. Even if it was the easiest and safest dungeon ever, they had to listen to Alice.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2396: 2396. World Of Black And White

    Chapter 2396: 2396. World Of ck And White


    ?


    The young serpents didn''t seem to be afraid as Walker and the others set foot. They also didn''t mind the sudden addition of the soldiersing behind carried by Mordant who had just joined them.


    Many of them had been around Mordant at various times since he was able to have a high


    control over dark mana. It was one person who had gone out of their way to help both Midnight and Onyx.


    Naturally, they trusted that he would be weing to them and also to the new chances that they had here. Especially since this area was also very valuable to them as a race. The dark dragons would be able to venture here.


    "Rise would have been very interested in this ce." Mordant mumble was soft but clear. He knew that she had to remain resting to handle the stress of thest even with a higher amount of light mana. That was why she was still holed up where she could do so.


    This hadn''t stopped her from making sure that her light dragons were working well. She had been giving orders and gathering information. But Mordant and the others had made sure that she would not leave toe here.


    As much as she would be upset with them, the dragons had begun to take one another in to ount much more than what they had in the past. Therefore, they cared for the injuries and hardships they went through. Right now they were a united race able to help one another, having the royal dragons lean in to that heavily would just help them all grow.


    "I can see why this area is so unique. If you had not allowed me toe here with my dragonkin soldiers, they would lose the chance to grow as well." mordant had focused again and was now seeing that his dragonkin were able to use a little more of their natural skills.


    They were all dark affinity and that was just the connection and reason they followed Mordant. Therefore, this area was very valuable to them. But he had also managed to take quite a few of the light affinity dragonkin with him as well since they had been doing other tasks that were able to be finished and leave them free without Rise worrying.


    "I know that their camp is in a perfect spot and that the dungeon is right there. I can also feel the natural dark and light mana moving around this whole area. A smaller magic tower there would be a perfect way to ensure we can move to this area and also to potentially boost the natural effects without changing anything." Walker knew that this project was still ongoing.


    Right this moment, a new magic tower had begun to be built in a small state as he had just mentioned on the Sigil continent. There was also a few leads on new ces or ces that already showed development.


    The starting aspects of their ns had been to nt unique herbs that enhanced the draw of natural manas in areas already dense with them. This was working in a handful of ces which was allowing for the chances of naturally forming runes. Some of these areas were the dragon territories since they were already attractingrge amounts of these manas with the rune formations made there.


    While it was seemingly sessful so far, time was still needed for all of this to even be a potential.


    "We are going in the dungeon now." Alice didn''t even leave the rest of them to begin to check in with the young serpents and their camp. They had cleared the area pretty well and made it a decent ce to rest. Most of the soldiers that came could rest here without needing to worry about clearing more nts from around them. But more so, they could see that various monsters had been sneakily taken down by the younger serpents.


    Whether it was the two different types of needle cluster nt monsters or even a few of the predators that Walker had pointed out to Gil, they had defeated them. This also saved the issues that Waler had when he had thought that they needed to defeat or capture some of these monsters.


    He even spotted an odd form that was clear, it used light mana to hide itself and its body was mostly clear like ss or the wings of a dragonfly. It was a monster that he believed he had read about or potentially seen before but this was a much clearer one that he could tell had a much higher affinity for light mana. Something that drew his attention.


    Regardless, he had no choice, Gil gave Walker a nudge to keep moving because he noticed that Walker hadn''t started to move. The a round appraisal habit that Walker had was still there but if Gil held back he knew they would both get yelled at. Alice was already humming a song to buff them as well.


    The boost from her songs would let them handle whatever they found within this dungeon. The light and dark manas that they felt the moment they stepped through was shocking. Alice could feel the light manatch on to her immediately.


    As it always did, the light mana moved around her. The simple hum of her words drew it in let alone actually speaking. But here, the light mana was denser and also was calmer. It was more weing and moldable to her natural affinity and ability to use it. Therefore, it felt like she was almost working with an elemental spirit or a spirit race rather than using her skills to manipte it.


    When she stopped humming for a moment, Walker knew she was overwhelmed. Not necessarily in a bad way, but trying to handle the mana. Alice had struggled with her own mana take away when she spoke and also sang. That was a rough childhood and a harsh Learning curve.


    Now, she had control of it but when the light mana was this close and this attached to her, she needed to sue her utmost care.


    It wasn''t just that she could be influenced and even potentially harmed by the light mana, but because it was also bnced with dark mana.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Alice didn''t have the affinity for dark mana.


    If she were were to absorb it by ident, then there would be some issues. She would need to focus on purifying her body and also focus on removing that dark mana. Beyond that, she would have to consider the fact that she couldn''t control arge amount of light mana when it surged toward her.


    "I can make the mana keep away. It''s calm now, it won''t be harmful just bying closer. But I know it''s closer than normal and stronger. So I can manipte it to slow around you." While this would take significant focus for Walker since the manas were so bnced and in their own flow, he could do it.


    When Alice grabbed his arm though, he knew she didn''t want him to make a move. She wanted to rely on her own strength and walk right up to Onyx and Aurora to make sure they knew how worried she was. To make sure they heard about what they had done wrong and how they can


    fix itter.


    After a few deep breaths, the humming was switched to a slow song. The manas moved slower. Even with the light mana slowing, the dark mana did as well. A show of their bnce and also of how Alice understood the ways that light mana interacted with other manas


    around it.


    "I can sense them ahead. I would say there''s arger gathering of dark and light mana in perfect bnce ahead. We should be wary."


    It wasn''t Gil or Walker who said this. It was Mordant. For him to feel ufortable it was a very big deal. He could sense a threat to him which was very bad.


    "Then we will live as carefully as possible." The serious change in all of them was clear. They weren''t just worried now, they were ready to fight as hard as they needed to survive.


    Even paying more attention, Walker could feel that a naturally forking rune within this dungeon was clear. The perfect bnce of light and dark manas feeding the dungeon was perfect for it to form.


    However, that instinctual flinch that he had. That was something strong enough to challenge his ability to manipte manas as a whole. Specifically, he could feel that he would be unable to fully stop the usage of the dark or light mana by whatever was ahead.


    Where Onyx and Aurora were, they were witnessing the first naturally formed dual elemental rune. They could feel every bit of awe that came with it. But they couldn''t remain focused in it because they knew there was something else watching their arrival.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2397: 2397. Powerful Predator

    Chapter 2397: 2397. Powerful Predator


    ?


    Piercing eyes. That was the first thought that Onyx had as he faced a monster that was different from him. While it had the clear affinity for both light and dark manas, it was bnced. Stronger than him and his affinities.


    It was a rare case since Onyx had not met anyone with a dual affinity like his that was stronger overall, he was surprised that he was even seeing a monster sitting right in front of the dual elements naturally uring rune. The light and dark mana were potent there and it would be hard to remain there for long periods of time.


    "This is the core of the dungeon. Isn''t it?" Onyx responded to Aurora with a soft nod. He didn''t take his eyes off the monster in front of him. The younger serpents had melted in to his shadows feeling the pressure around them and knowing that they would be unable to pursue a proper battle. In Onyx''s shadow, they could be out of the way.


    This didn''t stop the one from using the monster appraisal skill though. The young serpent had already seen the monster in front of them and was mentallymunicating every detail that he could with Onyx. The very fact that through this the young serpent who had learned appraisal skills had managed to take a step and be a monster appraiser was amazing.


    The future for him was almost endless right now. Genesis needed those that would be able to bring this information home. The temer''s guild would be incredibly excited to even get this young serpent to join them for even a few days. This was simply to be able to handle the many appraisal requests from the traveling tamers.


    So many had already reported changes in their own monster partners let alone the fact that they were seeing entire herds of monsters change in characteristics. Some would remain the same while others would change slightly. Then there were monsters that would entirely alter their form and be something that they had never seen.


    So much information could be learned and shared to help everyone who went in to the wilderness to travel. Even the merchants would being from this information sooner thanter. They needed to remain safe after all.


    But after ncing at the strikingly dark fur on one side and the almost shimmering white on the other, this tall bestial monster was simr to what some would have called a fusion between ape and man. Yet, there were differences.


    On the dark side of its fur, there were pure white ws, sharp and coursing with calm, but sharp light mana. On the white fur side, the dark ck ws radiated a soft but deadly dark decaying mana. Both could cause immense damage while the added physical buffsing from the bnced manas were clear.


    The light mana was increasing the bodily strength of this monster. The decaying dark mana made the pressure in the area feel threatening. Both were potent enough to do their own aspects clearly but together they did much more.


    ''Shadow light ape


    The dual manas of this monster are the only reason that it is not known to the world. This species of monster is barely able to survive in areas where the light and dark manas are not perfectly bnced. While some believe that it has always been a fantasy creature, it used to be numerous until the copse of the bridges to the elemental nes. Now it is mostly found in the elemental nes.


    With its unique dual affinities and ability to allow ambient dark and light mana to flow through its body, it is considered able to always use mana without needing to rest to replenish it. This is highly dependent on it being in the perfect environment however.


    While it can use the light and dark mana in both buffing and debuffing ways to itself and its opponents, it mostly uses them to enhance its ws when fighting. This is because it will always ensure that its territory is protected so that it does not lose the bnced manas it relies on to survive.


    When meditating, it can use its ability to sense light and dark mana to be able to seerger areas. This is why it can easily hunt through its territory by using vicious w shes of both light and dark mana. However, when it finds that it is against a tongue opponent, it will use light mana to blind its enemy or use dark mana to hide in the shadows. This double effect of blinding and hiding allows for it to act somewhat like an assassin even though it has a tall andrger body with significant physical strength.


    While some believed this monster to be intelligent, the unique body that it possesses forces it to remain a monster with no chance to grow to be intelligent. The dark mana and light mana sh when it is born causing damage to its inner organs which halt mental developments.


    This is also why some organs are ideal to be used as alchemy materials to create...''


    This was incredibly detailed and Onyx had no idea what to do with it. But Aurora was already sure that this was not some speaking to deal with an issue situation. Instead, she began to channel light mana and use it in the ways she had learned from Alice and others in the cathedral.


    In just a few moments she had buffed Onyx''srge body multiple times. Enhancing his ability to resist both light and dark mana while also allowing for his natural physical defenses to grow. The added buffs that allowed him to use some light mana to heal himself from smaller wounds was just one of the added benefits that came with Aurora being there as his support.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    That was also ignoring the multiple light needles and spikes that had appeared in the air since she would be using ranged attacks while Onyx fought face to face. Regardless of this monster being one of the only of its kind, it was territorial and could not be reasoned with. Onyx knew that he would have to fight it now or every young serpent that came here would be at risk to be hunted by it.


    The territory that the shadow light ape lived in wasn''t the area right next to the dual affinity light and dark rune. It was the entire dungeon.


    This ce was going to be made in to a home for the young serpents to boost their strength. To find their path of growth without having to worry about understanding their natural affinities through other means. Yes, the runes in Genesis were perfect for them to grow, but here was a more natural environment that would resonate with them to their deepest levels. A second best to follow the path of their ancestors and going to the elemental nes. Without hesitation, the shadow light ape lunged at Onyx causing the air to feel heavier. This was therge physical might that it possessed. A monster of ancient times and that could easily survive within the unique elemental nes. Its body had been damaged when born by the dual manas it had affinities for, however, that allowed it to grow much more over time. The physical might was enough to make Onyx''s tail numb from the hit.


    He felt that the w had been curled in to just hit with physical force. It was a predator ying with food. No, Omnyx felt that he was being tested to see if he would actually be a real threat or something that could be ignored.


    It made Onyx feel as if he was being insulted even though he knew that this light shadow ape was not even capable of thinking like this. Yet, in nature there was always a creature that showed its dominance over a territory with force. Just like this, if Onyx was a weak monster, then the light shadow ape would let him move about.


    That was why Onyx didn''t hesitate. He mmed his tail back against the fist that had just hit him. He didn''t want to be beaten down. He would not lose this dungeon to the monster residing within it. This was a ce for the future generations now.


    Whether or not it was won through physical might or through magical might didn''t matter. Onyx would be able to show the young serpents with him that with their strength they could all survive and build this future.


    The light and dark manas in Onyx''s body surged and he used them to enforce his own body as well. Multiplying the effects of the buffs that Aurora had given him. This was all won with time gained as Aurora began to send needles of light and spikes of light toward the light shadow ape, forcing it to retreat and begin using mana as well.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2398: 2398. Mixed Battle

    Chapter 2398: 2398. Mixed Battle


    ?


    The sound of the air splitting as Onyx''s tail mmed in to the shadow light ape was enough to make the entire area feel heavier yet again. This is his full physical might using his full size. Many timesrger than the small serpent that hatched out of an egg some time ago.


    This suddenly heavier attack shocked the shadow light ape. It had believed that it was attacking to defend its territory and assert its dominance, but it had just been attacked and pushed back with physical strength. On top of that, light spikes were being shot from above at it.


    Since it was feeling annoyed by the attacks from range, the light shadow ape leaped toward Aurora, but with her ability to slither through the air and keep moving, she was not some easy target to just grab and attack. Instead, she was quick and unburdened.


    Just as the light shadow ape lost the chance to catch her with a grab to force her to the ground, Onyx''s tail had gathered momentum again. And this time, the shadow light ape had no ground to hold itself from being mmed back.


    The cracking of the ck and white stones and soil as it came crashing to the ground proved that Onyx could gather more momentum with his tail. Hisrge size was not just there for show. It was there because he had grown and learned to use it during battle.


    The follow up light attacks from Aurora were not just light spikes, she condensed the light in to three powerful spears. These light spears had more mana which had been pulled from the air using her strength and sent with full force. Enough to cause the first actual snarl of pain firm the shadow light ape to break the silence left after thisrge attack.


    Sensing a threat, Onyx gathered dark mana around him and used his coiled stance to leap in to the air. The dark mana resisted the light mana w shes breaking through the air. The dark mana he had used to enhance his body and natural scale armor was not enough though. He felt the scales crack and the dark mana get forced away.


    Aurora had been the target of this, but the scarier thing was that Onyx could sense that some of the light mana that Aurora had just used to attack had been taken and used in those w shes thrown at them. It meant that the level of control over both dark and light mana was much more than what Onyx and Aurora had suspected based off of first sight.


    This didn''t stop Onyx from fully calling out his own mana. The cracked scales were a small injury to him. He could use the light mana from Aurora too, and for him, that would heal the small damage. But he could also see that the shoulder of the shadow light ape had already started to heal as well. Naturally, this was what happened when there was someone who could use light mana well enough.


    This was all what they had expected though. Being able to use light mana to this degree and have so much ambient light mana. It would always lean toward the purification and healing, that was the role that light mana often yed in the world. The same way that dark mana yed the decaying and the break down of things. Not that they were bad or good, just moving through their roles in the world.


    With a burst of light and dark mana, the furs began to mix on the shadow light ape''s body. The ws also became deeper dark and a more vibrant light. It was mixing the light and dark mana and changing its own turn in to a gray.


    "It''s ready to fight now." Onyx and Aurora sensed it. Onyx had only said this because he had the feeling that the young serpents needed to know that they absolutely could not approach or even think of leaving his shadow now. If they did for any reason, then they could be massively harmed by the calm manas around bing chaotic in such high amounts.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The mixing of dark and light mana was often seen as chaotic. However, with the manas here and their state, they were bnced and calm. Beyond that, the naturally forming light and dark dual elemental rune was a mystery.


    It bnced the manas and calmed them entirely. Because of this, the manas were smoothly mixing together. Onyx and Aurora had felt this and had been benefiting from this the moment that they had entered the dungeon. They had been absorbing these calmer manas and growing as well.


    Every herb and nt here was beneficial. The air itself was. Let alone what else might be within this dungeon. But mixing the manas and fusing them perfectly topletely change appearance and the way that the manas showed themselves entirely? This was a level of fusion both Onyx and Aurora had yet to use.


    Even Walker would not have been able to. He had not studied the perfect mixing of manas to this high degree. Just natural mana. Even that was still rough in the grand scheme of things.


    The speed of the shadow light ape was enough to make Onyx tense. He felt that the threat grew and his body was challenged to maintain its own speed in defense. The double handed fist m that hit his coiled body made him slide back and his scale crack.


    Even worse, it caused his own mana to be more chaotic and the dark and light mana to be pulled away from him. He had never felt this before and it was starting to make him feel ufortable.


    Aurora immediately stopped using the light spear and light spikes so that she could focus entirely on drawing manas in to buff Onyx. She could feel that she would not have the strength to do much otherwise. She was weaker than Onyx in many ways.


    While she was younger, this issue was not about age but physical light mixed with mana. The shadow light ape used a mixture of both to fight and to pursue the natural strength needed to defend itself. Onyx was capable of this so Aurora knew that she should not get in the middle which would cause potential damage.


    Onyx had learned something from this. He had felt the mixed light and dark mana stepping in to its own unique form. He had felt it directly.


    Light that also decayed. No, it was purifying darkness. Or was it a mixture of both no longer separate? The gray man''s where shadows and light were not perfectly cut form in another. This was the bounty between the shadows where one could see the sun rise and make the shadow fade. That sliver of time before the sun left the horizon and night was weed. That single small moment in morning and evening as both light and dark would be one in the world.


    The calming effect of the naturally forming light and dark rune, no, the gray naturally urring rune allowed Onyx''s mind to feel this strange state. The pain kept him focused on the battle. The manas though, they were calling to him now.


    The surge of mana that pushed against him from the shadow light ape also was like a guiding hand. While painful, it was the perfect catalyst.


    Onyx had epted a lot recently. A massive amount of light mana to feed his growth. A new view on dark and light mana fusing together which led to a key skill bing a passive and natural skill. A change in his mindset to do more Than just be some patriarch. His entire living race would establish their legend to fuel growth for generations.


    A training ground. A story. A base for their future.


    All of that was right now. So if epting some pain to be able to battle a stronger foe and take those paths for all of them? Well, what other choice was there?


    The forceful breaking of that wall in Onyx''s mind and body was full of furry. Now full of a desire to grow beyond.


    The already mixing white and ck scales on his body became a perfect gray. More than just


    matching, but exceeding the gray that was covering the shadow light ape. This wasn''t because the shadow light ape was weaker, but because Onyx had taken a route longer to get to this


    perfect mix.


    He had taken a path of mentality and physicality. Uniting the manas as he grew with the bonds of those he cared for. Whether the rtionship with a dragon or with an origin race member affected this or not didn''t matter. Onyx met the dual gray mana shing ws with his open mouth, fangs radiating potent gray mana ready to assert his own dominance.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2399: 2399. Gray Serpent

    Chapter 2399: 2399. Gray Serpent


    ?


    ''The skill, Gray Serpent lord has awakened, the world wees the one with the first title, The Gray Serpent Lord. Existence notices...''


    A perfect halt of light and dark mana flowing around the entire area caused Walker to panic. He had not noticed such a massive change in mana and did not think that the monster he had sensed ahead could be something this powerful. Even Alice grew pale when she realized the light mana had stopped moving naturally toward her.


    That never happened. The light mana always stuck to her whether she liked it or not. It was a thing that had always made her unhappy or struggled in the past. Yet here she was, wondering just what was going on while she worried about Aurora and Onyx being in greater danger.


    "We need to move faster I have no idea what is going on but I don''t like it." With Walker pushing them forward, Gil found that he was being kept behind in all this. Mordant also did not say much. Just casually walked behind them.


    While he did feel the threats associated with the sudden halt of light and dark mana, he didn''t feel threatened by it specifically. He could sense that the mana was targeting another ahead. His instincts told him it was dangerous, but that danger was not turned toward him.


    In Walker''s mind, he was forgetting that anyone by Alice was right besides him. The others at the camp with the serpents or Mordant and Gil were entirely out of his mind. That was simply his focus on making sure that he got to whatever dangerous battles were ahead.


    When he looked through therge standing pirs of stone ahead, he noticed that another figure had taken up. One that he both recognized and didn''t.


    An oppressive gray mana radiated around, drawing the light and dark mana together to sharpen scales. The slight glimmer of light and dark runes mixing together on those scales struck Walker as something nearly impossible since he had never seen two naturally urring runes mix together in to one. Let alone form temporarily on the body of something.


    The size also shocked Walker. It was surely Onyx in front of them, but his size was easily double that of what he had been before. The mana around him was also exceptionally oppressive. Like he had taken control of it and desired for all others to understand exactly who was in control. That this is his territory and no other had a right to speak against that.


    In a single movement, the gray mana flew out in brutal des of piercing and decaying might. The light was tearing away the defensive manas from the shadow light ape while the decaying mana was breaking down the body. The physical and mana resistance it had was as good as wet paper right now.


    Multiple light and dark mana spears appeared all around Onyx. He looked down at the shadow light tape as if he was looking at nothing more than just a wandering monster in his way. The light and dark spears shot down at the shadow light ape mixing together and bing chaotic gray which screamed through Walker''s mind.


    The mana was intentionally made chaotic but somehow still maintained bnce. Instead of breaking one another apart, the mana was mixing to enhance one another and make it more destructive. Both aspects of piercing light and decaying dark had been heightened this time in these gray mana spears being used to destroy an enemy.


    The next hiss of vicious intent from Onyx made the manas shiver in the air before the dark and light manas began to move. This time they moved toward his fangs as Onyx coiled his body and struck out to capture the already broken shadow light ape. In a single bite, deep decaying mana pierced through its body as Onyx''s rarely used venom dealt with the prey that had walked in to his race''s territory.


    Almost immediately, the light and dark mana began to bleed away from Onyx''s body while the remains of the shadow light ape decayed leaving nothing behind. Onyx''s size reverted to a slightly smaller version, but the mixed white and ck scale showed signs of partially remaining in gray. The perfect ck scale and hints of white had be more mixed thanst time.


    "I can see what his stats are. He gained an entirely unique skill and title. He''s basically a living legend to his race now." Walker chuckled a little as Alice red at him since she knew very well that he should be more focused on who was safe right now and if they were hurt.


    That was when she noticed Aurora using light magic to heal the small wounds left behind on Onyx''s body and how tired he looked. "They are both fine." She sighed and the light mana shivered around her as it revolved naturally now.


    Onyx turned his head feeling that Walker was nearby. He also nced at them tiredly and gave a slight nod to say that he was d they were here. Aurora looked up and seemingly hid a little knowing that Alice would be a little unhappy with them, to say the least.


    It was the young serpents who were reacting the most. They left Onyx''s shadow and swarmed him. Clearly trying to see if he was fine but also constantly eximing about how amazing the was. How there was a serpent lord powerful enough to defeat any enemy for their race. A position that cemented them as a race that could not be fought against.


    "You know we are angry with you. But, you did something pretty amazing just now." Walker saw that Alice wasn''t going to yell or give them a talk about safety just yet. So he focused on what he had learned.


    "The title serpent lordes from the first serpent of a generation to embody all that is the will of their race. They will hold that title until they pass it down to another who undergoes trials testing their will to be the one that shoulders everything of their race."


    "They will fight and grow showing that they deserve to stand as a symbol rather than an individual. And as they ept what their race can harness, they will be that example for others to grow."


    "Mastery of united light and dark mana which both sides of your race use to fight, grow, and survivee together as one. You gain strength over this mana fusing toward you. Bricking gray mana in your case. Piercing and decaying. Healing and breaking. I think you might even touch on deeper manas that hold different focuses outside of elemental."


    Walker could theorize about that and shook his head. He had to focus. "You gain the title of serpent lord but also the serpent lord transformation skill. You''ll be able to fight and demand control of a territory around you controlling the light and dark mana to enhance your race while weakening others. It''s amazing."


    There were more details about the mana costs and the additional drawbacks. Onyx was tired right now and it was clear his muscles Were worn down. He had to heal and rx a bit now. The cost of the serpent lord transformation was high.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It was also clear that instincts had been why Onyx could use it so well. He would need to learn about it and feel the changes in his body which had alle together for this moment.


    At the time being, he was better off resting in front of the naturally formed dual elemental rune of light and darkness. "A naturally formed dual elemental rune. A gray rune?" Walker smirked a little while he also felt the differences.


    The world was a strange ce and this ce in particr was stranger still. But he also felt a hand on his shoulder telling him that his amazement had to end. Now he and Alice needed to reprimand the pair who had rushed off.


    As soon as Alice took a deep breath all the young serpents tried to retreat in to Onyx''s shadow to hide but they found they were locked. Onyx was making sure they stayed around to hear the


    same reprimand as he and Aurora got.


    They had all been in this together after all.


    All things aside, Mordant and Gil felt that they had rushed here without reason. They could have kept working on other things.


    Not that there were no other benefits. Gil felt he could make better light and dark or even gray mana arrows now. Mordant just wanted to learn about natural dark mana. Both good things.


    Plenty could be gleaned from the final hours in this dungeon before they were forced out. Walker knew that once he finished this talk and saw that everyone was injury free, he could sit with Onyx and meditate. Learn a thing or two.


    ....


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2400: 2400. Letting Develop

    Chapter 2400: 2400. Letting Develop


    ?


    It was a few hours when a surge of mana radiated through the entire dungeon. Walker felt that there was a massive amount of control that he did not have over mana or anything. He could also sense that if he even tried to resist that his strength could never do a single thing against this force.


    While he knew that the dungeons had a will of their own. He also knew that the will of the world and existence itself b had a control over it as well. That meant that this was a much grander force than he could ever muster.


    As he and everyone found themselves right in front of the dungeon entrance now closed off and normally absorbing manas, they knew that this would changeter when it was full of mana and reset.


    For the time being that would be waiting here until that happened, well, most of them. Walker and the others would need to return to Genesis and announce the results of a dungeon ideal for those of both light and dark affinity. Especially those with dual affinities for both of these manas.


    Onyx was still resting but he had been somewhat stirred from his sleep. Walker had also been meditating but he had felt everything very clearly when he had noticed them being forced


    out.


    This dungeon was one that pushed everything that should not be within outside. While some things like monsters, nts, and some materials could be left, sentient races with intelligence could not remain within. The rules were clear in the appraisal but also enlightening since dungeons would all have different rules.


    Whether this was just part of how dungeons would all work as they were their own creatures in a way, or if they were meticulously created this way through the will of existence would remain unknown. Regardless of the reasoning, recording the rules and what would happen was important.


    If there was ever a dungeon where people would be trapped if they were not outside of it in time, this would be important. Especially if harm could or woulde to them if they remained within. The dungeon in the elven territory was home to a lot of poison and powerful monsters. If someone remained there they would certainly perish and the dungeon also reset itself in a way which couldpletely erase those trapped within.


    These thoughts were where Walker knew that returning with information about this dungeon and area would be important.


    While they had mostly made it to Onyx and Aurora in thest short time of the dungeon being essible, Walker had still taken some things that the younger serpents had gathered outside. They would naturally have all ess to these herbs, materials, and even some monster parts that they hunted. Only a small amount would be taken for studies unless the young serpents decided otherwise.


    On another note, there was a clear change in the young serpent booths who went inside the dungeon and remained outside.


    While the young ones who went in and hid within Onyx''s shadow showed that they had easily grown significantly because of the bnced manas, they had all awakened their dual affinities to a much stronger level than theirpanions outside of the dungeon.


    This was because the mixed manas within was extremely nourishing for them. They had been able to see how the manas came together and their natural bloodlines were stimted. This was also because they had all been influenced directly by Onyx as he had taken the serpent lord form in that final battle. The gray manas had awakened them at a much closer level than what the outside young serpents waiting had been able to understand.


    While this was the same for both sides, the abyssal and heavenly serpents, they were looking more simr to how Onyx and Aurora looked now physically. Small signs that they would follow that growthter was clear on their scales and even in the way that they slithered around now.


    Those on the outside who had waited had clearly also changed a little. They were not necessarily able to see it right now, but Walker could sense it clearly. Mordant had also given them all a strange look since he could see how the manas around them had changed.


    Every young serpent was absorbing light and dark mana now. Faster than what they had normally been able to do. All of it was subconscious though. Their bodies seemed to sense the same bloodlines awakened nearby and they were starting to match that through a growth of their own. A little push from those nearby that their subconscious used as ways to move forward more.


    Besides these changes, Walker was amazed that the young serpents who had set so much up when it came to a camp had also harvested many herbs. The herbs rted to just dark mana which had been in the shadows of the rocks and the herbs rted to just light mana which were in areas that never saw shadows amounted to more than he could have expected.


    Apparently several had managed to be light or dark herbalists. Some even had the ss name, dusk or sunrise herbalist. This meant that they specialized in the herbs which bloomed in times where manas shifted and changed, or where the light and dark manas were more bnced overall. It was a nice addition to the future gain of knowledge for herbalism growth within Genesis.


    Now, though, Mordant had focused on the naturally formed dark rune that he was looking at. It was a calm yet mysterious gathering of dark mana that he knew was potent enough to even cause him a little trouble. Not that he was going to try and control it. That would be more harmful than anything.


    "Walker, you should consider building two different magic towers here. They will be small and have to blend with the shadows and light that passes through these areas. It can''t change a thing. I know there are materials that can do that so we can make sure it happens."


    This wasn''t just Mordant wanting to protect the area. He wanted to ensure that there was something more when it came to the building of the new magic towers and their conceptions. He wanted them to more deeply mirror the bnce of nature as it was in the world to ensure that the manas would flow better as they grew stronger.


    "I agree with that. The runes are mysterious to us and tell us how to better understand each mana and the world we are part of. I don''t want us to worry about breaking anything again. If anything, these magic towers should only act as ces we can use to travel to and from and to help the world meet us more closely."


    "I won''t let anything happen here until we have a proper n though. My dragons will also not being here." Mordant knew that some of the elder dragons would make a mess of the area if they saw the herbs and felt the manas here. They could learn a lot, but they might not keep the area safe yet.


    A few of the younger serpents popped their heads out of shadows hearing this. They wanted to defend this area and would not even shy away from fighting the dragons. "See? There are already protectors of this wilderness beginning to grow. It''s not time for my dragons to roam here yet." Mordant smiled a little more than he should but it appeared the young serpents appreciated the gesture.


    "You both should stop worrying about all this heavy stuff. We have a lot more materials here and a lot more to figure out right now. Look at the arrows I can make too." Gil almost giggled as he showed off a small arrow shaft that was actively pulling a little dark mana in to it without any runes being carved on it.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Both Mordant and Walker shook their heads as they pointed out the fact that they were still in the wilderness and should at least help out preparing a more solid camp for the serpents to be able to live in. But that was when Alice noticed they were all getting distracted.


    She made it clear that there was an earful for everyone if they did not have a n to defend against her more dangerous predators here. She knew that when Onyx and Aurora were not here, that those predators would not be as afraid of all the smaller and weaker serpents that would be staying here. Her job right now would be to make sure that they all understood their


    danger.


    She was the most focused on this since she had already lectured everyone so far, but she would keep on it as much as she needed. She didn''t want to have to station a healer group here at all times. Not that she wouldn''t do that regardless of the need or not.


    ----


    ....


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 Chapter 2401: 2401. A Different Growth

    Chapter 2401: 2401. A Different Growth


    ?


    "We are heading back already? What about Onyx and Aurora? Weren''t they getting dragged back to make a presentation about the dungeon?" It wasn''t strange that Gil was confused about this. He had been told exactly this when they had been on their way.


    Alice herself had mentioned dragging them back with a song of binding light that she had written if she absolutely had to. Just the idea of Alcie doing so made it clear to Gil that she had been writing more and more songs to be ready for a battle. Just a single that made chains out of light while she sang did not make him feelfortable.


    Since she was always writing, he knew that Alice was trying toe up with more involved songs too. Just the songs that gave people boosts to their speed or to their strength had been made in to different levels of song. Some which gave weaker buffs that were easier for people to handle. Others that were much more powerful for those who had the strength and control to use them.


    "I heard you just now. This time I am bringing us all back while leaving some of my dark dragonkin warriors to guard thisnd with the young ones. They will also establish some small caves underneath the ground with the help of those mages who came along with us. It will be a better home that will not break the natural flow of mana here."


    This was something that Onyx had been discussing with Mordant since he woke up and got his wits about him. They had to ensure that there would be a proper flow for the mana that would not be ruined. That was the most important part of this entire wilderness.


    This meant that making huts or buildings were almost entirely out of the question. They would need to be in ces that were entirely of one mana and also made out of materials of that mana focus. Meaning that it would cost a lot and be very hard to maintain those homes. While people visiting using temporary tents would not be an issue, there was still this fact. The underground living arrangements protected everything and would even mean that some of the other races who visit here might feel morefortable. The dark elves for example mighte here and be able to learn more about their innate affinity since they had always lived underground and also needed tomune with the dark mana.


    While this was not the only focus, there was also the fact that Onyx and Aurora had made it clear that they wanted to stay here to be able to gather a more detailed report for all of Gneisses. It wasn''t just because they had taken ownership of the towering stone passage wilderness area and the dungeons as a ce for their race. It was because they hade here and this was their responsibility to Genesis.


    It meant a month at least where they would wait for the dungeon to reopen and they would not be in Genesis. Their detailed report would create a baseline for other dungeons being searched for while also for what was expected of future expeditions to analyze them.


    Beyond this, Walker had also known he had to go back to Genesis sooner thanter. All the materials that had been brought were being sent out on merchant caravans to go where they needed to. Some kingdoms had made it clear that they werecking in something here and there since they nned to match the same level of defenses as Genesis for the future.


    The wilderness and changes in all wilderness in particr were something that was not to be forgotten. Especially as reports from city guards about seeing monstersing closer to the walls and in to the farnds were getting more prevalent.


    This being an issue was not small. It was major. Some of the farmers could not defend themselves which meant that more guards had to be out in the fields to patrol. This was also the risk that came with the change of the world though. They alone this would happen but it was just happening faster. To some, it felt that the faster they all developed and grew the faster the world seemed to be growing around them as well.


    "You don''t want to stay here and be near the natural dark rune?'' That was another question that Gil thought should be clear. Mordant should want to stay with the natural dark rune himself to help his own growth.


    "I do, but it isn''t the right time yet. I have something in me that says I am not ready to change the flow of my own mana. I might need the time to understand myself more." The clear maturity that came from being as old as Mordant proved why he was a royal dragon and why he was one of the most epting of other races. Especially when they asked for his help.


    Mordant had always been this way. But more so, he had learned through battle that without unity his own race would suffer more. Especially since he remembered how many dragons had passed on to the next life while he lived. How few had been born until recently. How the times were changing and he needed to look outside and within himself for the future of all dark dragons.


    "Just hold yourself close and remember that I will have everyone home sooner thanter. The travel through the shadows is much easier for me now." His smile was enough to prove that everyone should hold on tighter as they left. He would be moving faster.


    It was only a short few hourster of traveling in the especially made basket style carriers that everyone found themselves right outside of Genesis. Walker had taken the time to help Mordant flow through the dark mana. He did so to test his teamwork with Mordant and see how his level of dark mana understanding was adapting after meditating around a natural dark rune for a short white. Along with the gray mana rune as well.


    While feeling it was an amazing step in growth, Walker still found himself wondering if they had managed to get to the right ce that they had left. Not so much because Genesis had changed in structure or literal size, but instead because the nts appeared to have grown a little more than normal.


    Specifically, they could see through the different dragon territories which were focused on elemental manas for each affinity the dragons had, there were trees beginning to grow muchrger than what had been there. Not to mention with keen enough sight, someone could make out different colorations and sense a clear change in the manas condensing around it. "Oh, so the n started already. The elves have given their gifts to the dragons." There was augh from Gil because he knew exactly what had happened. Walker took a moment before he started to understand.


    While saying it was a gift was true, it wasn''t an unnned event. Just an event that should have taken a little longer to be possible. The amounts of mana around though were enough to make this possible it seemed.


    Many of the trees they could see were special trees. Just like the spirit trees in the eleven forests which ended unique growth methods and manas to even live. However, these trees had been raised and influenced by certain manas to follow different growth paths to fit each area within the dragon territories.


    "You knew about this?" It wasn''t that people were kept from knowing of this n. It was mostly that Alice wouldn''t have heard about it because it wasn''t a major focus since the elves needed so much time to grow the saplings for these trees and use special techniques to fill them with mana and nutrients.


    Clearly, the group had been gone for a short while and these trees were already tall enough to be said to be seen from a fair distance. Meaning that they had been grown faster with special skills rted to growth.


    "Ah, I remember now. I saw the proposal for elemental trees to be nted next to the elemental tune formations. This way the territories will be able to grow better and also attract more natural manas. I was interested in this since the magic towers would work with


    these trees too."


    A small almost purring growl of excitement left Mordant''s mouth. Clearly he had waited for this because it would further be a help to the dragons. However, it was also a bond with the elves and even echidna in a more natural sense since they are both races that focus on naturally urring manas.


    It meant more growth for long lived races. A good thing when they will be one''s to carry and share knowledge to the youngest of every race. Something that hade up in conversation many times within the Genesis council meetings.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2402: 2402. A New tree

    Chapter 2402: 2402. A New tree


    ?


    "The elemental tree project has been fully started. It is progressing with the help of arborists, natural farmers, farmers of each affinity rted to the trees they are handling, and various other specialists. We even have a ss of students watching each of these so that they can progress their own sses sooner thanter." This was what Walker heard the moment that he set foot in to the Genesis main city.


    There was arge group of people waiting for them. More like he was being tracked than he was being waited for. But that was also not necessarily false since people like ra could always see where he was since he was rted to the adventurers'' guild and did not hide any location he was in.


    Walker didn''t see the need to hide what he was doing. He kept his actions clear and opened so that the world could see where it was. He lived in the open and he hoped that there would always be rity and truth in his actions like there was now.


    Regardless of that, he was not surprised to hear. The more information he could get to see where this project stood the better since it was sure to have cost a lot of the farm materials needed for the future.


    "Can you exin why the vote did not hold this project off for longer? There is a lot needed for the farming side of Genesis and a lot of food needs to be produced right now so that we can make sure that everyone keeps growing." The reason that Walker asked this was because he knew that he would get a proper answer.


    He could think of a few reasons why this project would take precedence, especially knowing that Alma was taking the main lead on this. She was also working closely with the echidna who were a race, small in number, but they were very close to natural mana and the way of nature.


    "The reason that this proceeded was because of the need. The growth of mana around the world is increasing and there needs to be a management for that within genesis. The monsters are bing more dangerous and this means that we, as races, must also rise to match them. The tree will assist in every race''s natural development and even the awakening of deeper and more ancient connections within their blood."


    The focus of one document handed right to Walker which Mordant, Gil, and Alice read with him were on the demi-humans specifically.


    Friom what they could see, there were many new demi-humans being born in Genesis and in their own kingdom. Thai was normal since they were a race that was of many in number already. Therefore they would have a poption growth that would be higher than most others. But in focus, this document showed at least eighteen different demi-humans who exhibited traits of known ancient or powerful monsters.


    This was just like Scy as well. She was both named after the ancient monster Svcy and had a unique rtionship with monsters born equal and attached to her. She had not been properlyplete as a person until she had managed to join with Genesis and adventure with Walker.


    That aside, it was an example of a unique situation and also of the future. These demi- humans were just the first to show off the hidden bloodline connections to ancient monsters and the power thates with that. Therefore, more and more of them and others might begin to show signs of these ancient bloodlines that may cause them to struggle in the current setting of the world right now.


    "Another reason is that we have managed to triple the food production due to the advancement of the faking ss users. As you know, the different elemental farmers were found to have sses as well and they are working with many of the herbalists. We believe that it is just a matter of time before the herbalists have a specific ss rted to only farming herbs or certain herbs. It just requires the right people and the right knowledge."


    The attendants handed another set of documents that Walker began to read with the others. This attendant was sharing all this information efficiently and even better than most of the others who reported.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    From what they could see, this attendant had owl like traits butcked wings as many of the demi-humans with the characteristics of avian monsters had. However, she was hyper focused and seemed to take in all the information around her. A trait which could be extremely valuable when managing many projects in a setting like the genesis council. "While the project began, we were able to find that there was a lot more materials than we actually needed. This meant that the advancement in skills by the groups prepared to handle the trees was higher than expected. It was something that was praised. The greatest part was that Queen Alma of the elves was able to unite the trees in to a single small sprout in the center of Genesis growing behind the Genesis building."


    Now the group faltered slightly as they realized there was a whole new sprout right behind the Genesis building in the resting garden for those that needed a moment of air. The small garden had been built with the space avable outside for general eating or breaks, the usual that most of the merchant groups orrge businesses provided for their own staff.


    Having a new tree there was odd though. It was not nned but it also made sense that this would be the ce. It did make them all walk faster. Gil because he knew that if there was anywhere that Alma would be, it would be right there with the sprout she had helped grow.


    He and the others knew that if the trees had been grown to arger young adult phase instead of the sapling phase of their life that they would have significant roots and connections. Someone like Alma could control those roots and most likely had connected them using the other seeds and nts she had ess to.


    That meant in a very short while she had used an immense amount of mana, used her skills to cause a lot of changes, and also managed to somehow cause the birth of a new tree that was connected to all of these elemental trees of one affinity. Something that was somewhat unheard of butpletely in the realm of possibility for Genesis right now.


    Just getting to the Genesis building, Walker could feel that there was more natural mana around. It was something he had expected with the fact that the nature side of Genesis was working to make the manas and the rune formation calmer and easier for all the people to ept. It was also a goal to make sure that nature, the world, and the people all were closer to prevent issues like the immortal king froming to be yet again.


    The rush to see what they could see brought them all right to the back garden where a small multi colored leafed little sapling had sprouted where there had once been a few benches. Now, it stood out and radiated a little natural mana here and there. In front of it, Alma sat while touching multiple vines and roots that came from the ground. She was controlling the flow of mana and helping the trees unite through the other nts.


    "You went and got yourself in to a little bit of a job, didn''t you? I thought you weren''t going to make yourself a throne of vines and roots like thest queen has in the forest?" Gil''s tone only sounded light. Instead, he was being very serious while trying to appear that he didn''t have any worry about this.


    "It''s not that. I just have to wait until the young roots are able to handle the mana moving through them. Until then my nts are the pens that will hold the stress." There was a slight palness on Alma''s face showing that it was her bearing the stress as well.


    "This tree is new. It was a small spirit tree sapling but I was able to change it with the


    connection to the other trees. It''s the first of its kind and it''s really a lot like the stories we told to children about world trees and the tree that held the will of the world. But I believe this would be called the rainbow leaf tree because all manas flow through it now." She smiled softly, not proud but with the joy that came from seeing the future born before her.


    Walker didn''t hesitate to use the all around appraisal immediately. He could see the elemental spirits and various spirit race members moving in the air examining the tree as well. He knew it was more than met the eye.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2403: 2403. Unity

    Chapter 2403: 2403. Unity


    ?


    ''Tree of Unity


    This tree was grown in connection with all elemental variations of the spirit tree species. While these trees are often specially cared for by unique sses and skill, the spirit trees are also deeply connected with mana and nature.


    Due to this, the sapling that was not even considered to be made in to one of the main elemental spirit trees was able to be linked to them through the deep connections of an elven queen utilizing a significant amount of mana and even a small portion of her lifespan.


    The Elf Queen Alma, will always be weed as family by the tree of unity due to this. Able to gain mana faster in its presence, able to heal faster in its presence, and be able to bond with it in the end of her life to remain as an echo of the past to share knowledge to the future


    generations.


    Due to an extremely deep connection with mana flowing through the first perfectly established and flourishing home to all races, the tree of unity will see all races as potential bonds and those that makerge enough contributions to the better ment will have portions of themselves saved within the tree of unity as a memory to be able to pass down knowledge as the elves have done with spiritual trees for generations.


    The unity of the manas connected through the roots of the tree of unity will allow for the high generation of natural mana. This will nourish all within the territories of Genesis and the spaces near the roots of the tree of unity. Due to this, the chances of awakening natural bloodline rted skills is much higher. The chance of finding unique sses rted to bloodlines is much higher. The chance to awaken sses rted to elemental manas in cooperation with the different elemental trees is higher.


    The ss, Saintess of Unity is being created, the saintess of unity will be chosen through arge scale quest to define the one best suited for carrying the health and wellbeing of the tree of unity for generations.


    This tree has significant connections to the world and will always be so. Even if it perishes, the tree itself will leave seeds that each have a chance of reviving it. In this case, all the knowledge and memories within the tee will be reborn to be shared with another generation. This tree will spawn flowers once a year, when it does so, the chances of breaking through certain barriers and understanding skills will be enhanced for everyone who smells them. This is only something that can be done once during this once a year event with the tree of unity''s assistance.


    The materials needed to help the tree of unity continue to grow...''


    Since Walker had read this all out loud, everyone ended up staring at Alma. Even a few of the attendants and guards that followed her around and stopped doing anything but staring at her.


    They knew she had spent some of her lifespan to make this tree grow and unite with the other elemental trees now. It was a cost that many people would not be able to give or would be unwilling to science they would lose other more valuable things to them.


    Yet, it made sense that Alma would do this. She had seen the elves reunited. She had been pushing in her own ways to make so much of Genesise together. Just the establishment of new homes for the elves who had lost their homes was something beyond what some of the other members of the Genesis council had done so far.


    "It was just."


    "Can you just keep your mouth shut for a minute?" Gilpletely cut anything Alma was about to day off. He didn''t sound angry though. It was hard to tell what exact emotion he was feeling with the mix of expressions crossing his face.


    "Doubt a healing skill will fix anything. You''re a born and raised elf, your life is much longer and you are managing to get through every day with a lot more stress than myself or others. You even managed to awaken the high elf bloodline like I did too. But you..."


    The weight that Gil had seen on Alma''s shoulda was nothing near normal for them or anyone else their age. Even in terms of leaders there was more in her shoulders with the unity needed to be fostered between her own race and not just all the races.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Gil had done a lot and even grabbed a lot of the soldiers who were interested in archery and learning ancient eleven techniques to unify them. While his work had just been a smaller part of the equations had made a lot of differences.


    The elves were so divided that they had been ready to argue and fight at many points in their reunions. Therefore having their defenders, soldiers, and even historians gathering because of the ancient elf ways returning was a major challenge event for them.


    The stress of unifying the average person was still a lot. The alchemists and the herbalists had been convinced due to Remey intervening and ignoring all differences in race to pursue more knowledge. Even adding to the bonds between Scy and the elves when it came to farming new herbs or returning herbs from extinction.


    The people who were none of those struggled. Those who forged using more natural mamas struggled. Those who raised families and were only ever used to the istion of their race in the forest. The frost elves were struggling to change. The fire elves couldn''t adapt easily. All had their issues handled bying together and Alma had handled it all.


    "You already did too much. I know that this is your life and you are going to keep trying to do everything in your power. But right now you are going to rest. I don''t care if I don''t have the skills but I have the blood in my body and the heart for it. So let me handle things here while you rest."


    The softness that came with Gil''s words didn''t do a single thing to devalue the price that Alma had just paid to ensured a better future for everyone. Instead, it brought the first tears to Alma''s eyes as she could feel how worried he was now that he had learned of her actions while he was away.


    Gil had never hidden the feelings he had. They had been married for a little while now. Their union another sign of elves and other racesing together, even with Gil achieving the gift of a pure elf blood being added to him and changing his race to a degree. Regardless, the his moment still showed that it wasn''t a race or anything affecting their bonds but something Beyond that.


    "Everyone can live better now too." She looked at Gil showing her desire and goals clearly. He just nodded and helped her up. The roots and vines tied themselves to Gil''s free hand so he could bnce the manas.


    Using the skills he had used to make arrows gave Gil the simr connection to mana as others might if they were a mage. It wasn''t the same but enough. Adding his elven blood and it


    would be perfectly enough to manage what Alma had set up.


    The guards and attendants moved to help her immediately as Alma showed the weakness in her body. The tree of unity also radiated a small wave of natural mana which appeared to help her slightly. But with the level of exhaustion, it was only a small amount. It was enough to make her steps form though.


    "I won''t say anything. Neither will Alice or any of the dragons. Well, wait for you to be prepared to tell us what we need to know." Walker assured Gil and Alma that they wouldn''t


    push on this matter.


    Mentally, Walker wanted to sense and experiment with Alma''s sprinter tree of unity and all the elemental trees: understand their natural aspects. Understand more about manas in new ways that would further his and everyone''s growth.


    He could wait though. He had to report the recent dungeon and new naturally urring runes he had seen. He would also meet with Rise along with Mordant to speak about those runes and protecting them. The towering stone passage needed to be kept in ideal condition to keep the natural runes from being damaged along with all the unique nts there.


    It was also going to be the ancestral triangle ground of the serpents so they could now allow that to be taken from them. Onyx and Aurora would not allow that anyways.


    "Never a dull day in Genesis. In all my life as a dragon, I''ve never been happier." Mordant sped everyone up by happily humming after hisment. A nice mentality to have.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2404: 2404. Nature Viewing

    Chapter 2404: 2404. Nature Viewing


    ?


    "I feel like there''s too much going on in my head right now." Walker was sitting behind the Genesis building keeping an eye on Gil. he didn''t want to risk the fact that Gil was not a mage and was channeling the manas through him.


    While Gil could manipte the manas because he could make them in to arrows and whatnot, it was still something that was outside of his normalfort zone. It was a risky task when it came to the amount of mana that his body needed to handle to be able to ensure that the tree of unity''s roots grew properly and were not damaged.


    While this seemed to be something that many people would overlook, it was an important aspect of this entire process. The roots were uniting every single elemental tree which meant that if they were damaged in any way, the bnce could be broken.


    That meant that the natural mana would not bepleted and given to the entirety of Genesis and the outside territories.


    That means that there would be a bacsh in the manas which could ruin the entirety of Genesis. Rune formations, people, and anything else that had any sensitivity for mana, even in the slightest.


    It meant that all the effort and emotion that went in to building all of this would be little to nothing.


    No one would let that happen, But Gil was perfectly allowing the manas to flow through him. Walker didn''t know if it was the high elven blood doing the work by instincts that Gil had been getting closer and closer with, or that Gil had reached a level of mana maniption as an arcane archer that made both his own bows and how own arrows that others would only wish to reach.


    Whatever the case was, Walker actually felt a little useless watching all of this.


    "Walker, I need you to go check on each element tree. Make sure that they are growing smoothly. I can sense that they are all worried about the tree of unity since they are not strongly in connection with it just yet. I can feel their emotions. The spirit trees are emotional."


    He didn''t say this in a loud ormanding voice. It was barely a whisper. Walker could hear it clearly though. He could hear every single word and knew very well that Gil was asking because this was important to him.


    "I will go and look at them. The spirit trees are deeply connected with the elves and they have lived with them since the elves were born as a race. I know that they aren''t just simple nts. They can bind with an elf for life and even hold the memories and what might be souls of the elves. We''ve seen it and I can''t say I don''t believe that this is more important than anything else right now. Just rx and keep yourself from getting in to trouble." He couldn''t leave without teasing Gil a little.


    Normally it was Walker who did some reckless things. This time it was Gil taking a bit of a risk to do something out of his normal archery or scouting. Walker would have even preferred that Gil was back to trying to sneak out of some work than sit here under so much pressure.


    Standing up and stepping in tot he air, Walker wondered how the elemental trees could still be called young. They seemed way too tall for a simple word as young to be the reason. They had been given arge amount of care and nutrients.


    The skills used to help them had take a great amount of mana saved up by unique ss holders. This would have drained thend and harmed everything but instead had not taken. Any toll at all. That was simply because of the effort put in to ensure that nutrients was given in perfect measure.


    The purer manas around Genesis also allowed for this to be possible. The spirit trees were able to grow fuller from their guided sapling stages without being chained back by anything that might becking.


    "Hmm, the fire elemental spirit tree is red leafed and almost radiating sparks from its bark." The first tree Walker liked at felt more like a tree made of cooling magma than anything. But the fire mana radiated from it was calm and stable.


    As soon as his mana senses reached out, it shivered slightly showing the depths of mana and the care given to it. While not wise, the trees could tell the intention behind Walker''s probing.


    This was why he didn''t flinch when more mana spilled out and those below watching it by the roots cheered. It was simple enough to remove some of the added stress as the trees felt how Walker was there keeping watch over Gil and all the trees.


    The water tree was much the same. Some buds hadn''t even begun to unfurl in to new leaves until kerbhad reached out with his mana sense. The stress relieved from feeling a new connection with someone deeply bound to mana as well was what it needed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The wind tree had uniquely thin and almost sharp leaves that fluttered around constantly. As Walker touched upon it he saw them all stop moving and gently float about instead. Less growth and more of a natural calming for flowing wind manas.


    The earth tree was the most unusual. While a spirit tree still grew tall and made a decent mana flow, the mana was slower and harsher. It showed the rigidness of stone along with the clear strength in it. The leaves were a pale brown but didn''t bend or break as mana moved through them. Almost like the fire spirit tree but cooledpletely.


    The light tree radiated a slight sparkle of white and even some rainbow around it. The pure white bark seemed to dazzle those watching it. It was also somewhat purifying the air around it making it easier to breathe and attracting those with older bodies that could use a little help.


    This was different when Walker got it the dark elemental spirit tree. It cast long wavy shadows making it feel that it was almost impossible to actually touch. But Walker felt that under the obsidian ck bark the mana was steady and cool. It had the ability to decay but instead bnced the light around to dim the area.


    This dark elemental spirit tree had sensed the others through the loose connection and begun to adapt as well. It was strange that theymunicated like living beings but were still nts at the end of the day.


    Part of Walker felt that they could not influence them since they were able to move themselves under their own will. He also felt he could somewhat grasp what they needed.


    A little water to one. A little more of a breeze to another. The desire for more soil around its base even shot through his mind. All these connections to the spirit trees and what Gil was feeling right now.


    ''The skill ntmunion has been taken from the master farmer ss.


    ntmunion (passive)


    You have an innate sense of understanding for what a nt needs. While you are not a master farmer and can not directlymunicate with nts, you are able to grasp their needs by matching their mana and sharing your mana with them.


    This will allow the ability to better guide your mana in rtion to all nts. It also allowed for farming rted skills to be more effective due to the understanding of what a nt


    needs...''


    Feeling that he could understand these shes of thoughts, Walker smiled while reading the skill. It was very useful for when he tried to help with herbs and even with managing the manas that Gil was feeling.


    Beyond just that, he would be able to always feel what the tree of unity needed in connection to all the elemental trees. He could further allow it to develop as time went on and as he became more deeply connected to mana as a whole.


    When Walker got back from flying around to all the trees and touching upon them with his mana, Gil looked up and nodded. He had also felt the emotions and connection that Walker had when he touched each tree. It fully allowed Gil to understand the hope that Walker had when it came to these trees as well.


    They were brothers as far as he and Walker were concerned. So being able to find this new way to connect in their life made them both that much more family than before. It also showed out in the open that they shared the exact same feelings of hope for all of Genesis.


    "I''ll meditate here with you for a while. Let me help with the mana too." Walker sat back to back with Gil while the pair rested and maintained the mana flow.


    ----


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 Chapter 2405: 2305. Failing Potions

    Chapter 2405: 2305. Failing Potions


    ?


    "That''s the fourth potion that failed today!" Remey mmed her fist on the table making the entire table shake along with every single vial on it.


    She had never had potions fail this much. While it wasn''t her skills that felt like they were failing her, it felt like the herbs she was using were failing her.


    This was arge batch of herbs that she had gotten from various locations. Some had evene for the Sigil continent which were found recently after exploring around the natural water rune which was now protected. The vige there had discovered that a great deal of the underwater nts growing were of very high quality.


    This made them ideal for creating the water affinity potions of higher tiers which were needed by a lot of the water elves and the water dragons. The merfolk were not as focused on it sincetely they had been developing their methods to fight physically onnd and in the water.


    That was just another small movement within Genesis for those who had weaknesses to ovee them. Many had found that they were weaker in certain environments. Some being the merfolks in question who lost some of their abilities when they were above ground. While not detrimental to their survival, the soldiers and warriors of the merfolk who found this to be an issue were some of those that had to travel the water ways and the rivers nearby the city and territories. They were also those who made sure that monsters living on the edges of the rivers which were used as merchant traveling paths were safe.


    If they had to, they would leave the water and handle the monsters, but with the unsure atmosphere of whether or not the monsters would be the same they had dealt with before, or some new monster or even one with more strength than before. This meant that they were on edge and had higher stress. Just that amount of stress and the focus on their weaker battle abilities outside the water had prompted arger order of the water affinity potions along with other potions to be carried by them for safety.


    It was why Remeye had been focusing on making potent potions of higher quality that would be able to be diluted. But she couldn''t manage that if they kept failing. Something that never really happened unless she was working on potions that were not easy to make such as the grand potion attempts or new potions.


    "It''s the herbs then. You have never had this issue since we met." While Ignus had been busytely himself, he had made time to spend with Remey in the alchemy had. Especially since she had finished some of her own personal battle training recently.


    The battle training with a few of the other elder fire dragons had surprised Ignus greatly since he had not expected her to go to them. But when he had found that she was trying to master her dragon soul abilities since that was her race now, he did not hesitate to let it happen. Remey needed to embrace herself the same way that Siu had and take another step toward being the best her she could be.


    That training against more violent fire from a direct dragon''s breath was enough to teach Remey an important step to calming fire mana beyond what she already knew. Especially when Ignus had been using some of his mes to enhance the fires already being used to boil the cauldrons or purify the herbs entirely. He''d been very surprised to feel he did not have to hold back as much as he used to hold back his mes.


    "Maybe it''s not the herbs but the mana? It might have changed here?" This wasn''t something she could say too loudly. While they were alone, the phrase of saying the manas were wrong would mean that something bigger was wrong.


    "What do you mean? There has been a lot of changes. The rune formations could need to be adapted because of the fire spirit elemental tree. No, the other spirit trees as well." This seemed somewhat usible to Ignus since he had spent a little time observing the birth of the fire spirit tree and felt the mana change slightly. Even grow in purity beyond what they were before.


    "No it is the mana. The alchemy mes are reacting strangely but regr fire isn''t." Remey held up balls of me in either hand. One the deeper red alchemy me and the other the yellow and orange normal mes. The alchemy mes shivered slightly here and there without her desire for them to do so. She had learned from her partner, the old master alchemist, Ignus, and so many more sources to understand this sort of me. And here she was, failing to manipte it perfectly?


    ''The alchemy me dungeons whispers have been sensed. The quest, pursuit of the true alchemy me has been awakened.''


    Remey''s breath caught in her throat shocking Ignus who was wondering just what was wrong with Remey all of a sudden. She never let her mes puff out and herself lose control like this.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Ignus, will you go to a new dungeon with me?" Her eyes focused solely on Ignus to the point that even Ignus understood this was not so much a question but something that must be done.


    However, through Genesis and even the entire world, themotion was great. Every single alchemist who had developed the skill to use alchemy mes had received this notice. They all felt a draw toward different directions.


    What they had not realized was that the true alchemy me dungeon was not one that just appeared in a set location, it appeared in multiple locations all connected through space magic used by the dungeon itself.


    "Walker!" The shout from Remey reached Walker less than twenty minutes after the world notification. Of course Walker was already hearing about it. But that wasn''t the focus right now. It was the fact that he could also sense the sudden shifting of manas and knew that the dungeon opening was causing small waves in mana all around the world. Something he had not felt yet since he had only seen dungeons with a single entrance.


    "I knew you would being but, Remey, that was quick- are you already in your fighting armor?" There was a stunned tone to Walker''s voice as he realized Remey was already prepared to fight through whatever.


    "Walker! I have a quest to go to this true alchemist me dungeon. I am making sure that ites back with me. Whatever it is, I am getting it." There was a fervent energy around Remey. She wouldn''t be leaving this to sit aside while she stood still.


    "I know that." Shaking his head Walker wondered if there would have ever been any other options. "This thing is that every alchemist seems to have gotten the quest and some are being drawn in different directions. I think there is more than one way to get to this dungeon and that''s why I feel the manas shifting slightly."


    He saw Remey''s face wrinkle, "it''s not that the manas are out of control or causing issues. Only small hups but I have a feeling that it will be a bigger deal to get through a dungeon that''s unique like this opening around the world." His quick exnation of what he meant put Remey back on track.


    The next nodding of Ignus''s head proved that he would also be heading there. Not just because he would be there to help Remey as he had always done, but because it was rted to


    Fire.


    "I will support you both. I don''t think this is a dungeon I can take anything from. It doesn''t feel like it''s calling me, just that I can sense it because of my mana sensitivity. I believe this is the first dungeon of many we will see that cause unique quests that attract specific people."


    This statement would be shared to many people on the study of dungeons. More so, it was also what the alchemists feeling this draw believed as well. That these dungeons created by the world and existence, whatever they were, were important to the development of


    everything.


    "It''s my turn to take the lead on whatever this is. So just sit back and y support for once." Remey smirked while mming her fists together. The me that sparked around her were


    full of determination.


    "That may mean I can not go inside either. If you learn more about mes, you will need to teach me this time." Oh is grinned seeing he wouldn''t be the one showing off the majesty of fire to Remey but the reverse. An interesting change for him.


    ....


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 Chapter 2406: 2306. True Alchemy Flames

    Chapter 2406: 2306. True Alchemy mes


    ?


    Gil was resting perfectly well in deeper meditation. With the help of several mages they had managed to get Gil to rest while in the state he had been. The mages were rotating out and taking the weight of the mana flowing through the connection Gil had with the tree of Unity. Akma had also rested for a day and managed to return. However, Gil refused to let her work with him.


    He didn''t do this because he was afraid she would burn more of her lifespan to ensure that everything went well. He did this because she had to do what Walker did and visit the other elemental spirit trees and ensure that the teams working to grow them were doing well.


    She had the keen insight that would allow a better effect than what Walker could give when rxing the worries and growth of the spirit trees. This was the same with a very small group of spirit rted ss users.


    The elven spirit priestess had managed to take a ss that was beyond what others knew. They had all thought that priests were rted to light mana and to healing skills. Instead, the elven spirit priestess was rted directly to the worship of nature and the spiritual aspects of the spirit trees.


    While Walker and the party had met some that dedicated themselves to the spirit trees which were the key to the forest elve''s lives, this was still quite a big deal.


    This specific ss allowed for her tomune with the individual spirit trees and lead others to bond with them through deep training. Uniting that person''s mana and eventually


    changing their ss to be a follower of a specific spirit tree.


    Since that would be the case, there would be people who specifically grew to be able to maintain the elemental spirit trees of all races. The echidna also had reacted greatly to this project and had gathered. Their minds were on the natural mana and some even said they believed they had the chance to be the saint or saintess of the tree of unity.


    If that were the case things would only grow even faster.


    Walker didn''t feel the need to worry as he, Remey, and Ignus made their move to go towards the true alchemy me dungeon attracting Remey. The other alchemists who let thee call and also gathered and were moving on their own. It had be a pilgrimage to reach the multiple dungeon entrances being reported. One had even shown up in the basement of an alchemyb within the human kingdom which shocked many people.


    This being the case, the news only grew more and more as the alchemists raved. Some of the youngest ever to awaken the skills to use alchemy fire had even taken leave of their learning for this grand opportunity. Even if they were able to take a quarter of a step toward bing a better user of alchemy mes, they would be able to achieve much more in their life as an alchemist. No questions asked, it was just a fact.


    While Remey had told Walker that alchemy mes were unique in the ways that they could work with the water manas and various other manas, it was true that there always felt to be lost potential. Walker had wondered and asked her once why other manas are incorporated in the mes.


    Remey had said that the theories for that were developed by impossible because the alchemy fire reacted and acted as a method of purification more than just heat. It needed to be neutral so that it did not force the fire mana it was made of to entirely effect the potion and herbs as a whole.


    Therefore, it was always an idea that manas might be added but considered impossible because it would jot be alchemy mes any more. This left the mysterious aspects of alchemy mes to those who were using it to learn from and develop. A ce made for alchemy mes through? What could that be like?


    The dungeon entrance was simr to others, the one Remey had been drawn to was in the middle of a field. Entirely open but small bits of smoke and herbal scents wafted out of the dungeon. It attracted a few nearby monsters that fled when walker, Ignus, and Remey neared the area.


    The stones that made up the entrances were almost melted but also polished. They made it seem that they had been guided in to shape rather than part of a natural structure appearing there like the other dungeons.


    ''You are not an alchemist. You are restricted from entering this space.''


    Both Ignus and Walker saw this immediately. They had entirely been halted from making their way in to this dungeon. They had no chance of walking inside. Meaning that the alchemist ss was required. A good thing though, it taught them a major aspect of the dungeons new to the world.


    ''True alchemy fire dungeon


    The true name of this dungeon should be, alchemy god''s trial.


    This dungeon can only be touched by those with the alchemy rted sses or those with the potential to ept an alchemy rted ss. While inside, the chances of elearning alchemy based skills and enhancing them is doubled.


    While inside, trials will be given based on the ancient god of alchemy, the first ever alchemist to create a medicinal potion to save another. The ss, god of alchemy, is forever bound to the dungeon that was created by the will of the world and existence after-.38eefha


    The will of existence and the will of the world halts those who are not alchemists from learning this history. Only those who truly grasp alchemy may be allowed to learn of the creation of alchemy and pass it to others.''


    "I''m not even allowed to read all the information about the dungeon. The world and existence stops me because I am not an alchemist. This is a special dungeon just for them and only for them." Walker could only say this in the most amazed way.


    This was not something he had in mind when it came to the theories of how dungeons could and would work. Did he know that there were some that had restrictions? Yes, he had seen them already. However, he had not expected that they would be so restrictive that even the information about them could not be shared.


    "You did learn something. That''s enough for me while I wait here. A god of alchemy. The one who created alchemy for the world. I want to know more." Ignus had developed a little attention toward these things. He had begun to wonder about everything alchemy, Not just because he was shown that part of the world by Remey. It was because he had neve truly epted that it was a way to strengthen his fire mana control and eptance.


    The fire dragons and dragons in general had ignored certain pathways of growth because they were so powerful. They have even lost some ability to use their own draconic runes. Their dragonkin showed the same losses.


    This meant that every step epted by the dragon race in all aspects of Genesis was a new and grand step towards their growth. Especially since they were literally changing their race by


    epting sses now.


    "So I get to go on my own, that''s fine." Remey stretched a little and stepped forward. The scent of the herbs ahead was very familiar. The feeling of the mes and other manas being manipted in alchemy were striking to what she enjoyed.


    She felt something else though. An anticipation that was more important. She could feel that just being able to make potions was not everything. She didn''t even have to say a word while walking through the dungeon entrance. Both Ignus and Walker knew that this wasn''t something that Remey would even hesitate to explore.


    The instantaneous feeling of stepping in to a new world was overwhelming. Remey found that her entire field of vision had changed.


    She expected to find some sort of alchemyb or maybe some building to enter. Instead, she found rows and rows of shelves. Every single one had pots of herbs and other dried materials. Some were even filled with vials of blood or waters from rare ces. Every single one could be used as alchemy materials.


    ''The first trial of the true alchemy fire dungeon is beginning. Identify the materials needed to create a new potion rted to you as an alchemist.''


    "What?" She had no idea what that meant. A potion rted to her as an alchemist? Using


    materials spread on over a hundred shelves she could see? But how could she choose? All she could see was that the materials were row after row and in the distance was arge door locked with a glimmering gold chain.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ----


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 Chapter 2407: 2307. Perfect Lab

    Chapter 2407: 2307. Perfect Lab


    ?


    ''You are blocked from advancing to the next stage of the trials. Pleaseplete the first trial to advance. Failure of the first trial will bar you from this dungeon for ten years.''


    "Ten years! What kind of ruthless ce is this!" The more that Remey looked at this, the worse it became. Not because this ce had so many materials, but because this ce could only be essed every ten years?


    The materials she was looking at were things he couldn''t even imagine. Some of the herbs were in rows organized by the years they were existing in the world.


    Looking at amon red leaf fern which was used to help make medicinal salves for reducing swelling, she couldn''t handle it. Not because she was seeing the red leaf fern she was always used to, but because on the same shelf were two others.


    One nt had sharper leaves and was showing qualities of being more dangerous. It has blood coagting effects which could be more of a poison if used rather than reduce swelling. But to the right was a version that she was sure had yet to appear in the world but would appear. ''Red ice leaf fern


    This is a very rare specimen of the red leaf fern species. Due to it being properly watered and enhanced with pure water mana, it has taken on the simr features of a coral while still living above the water in damp areas.


    It has the ability to cause frost and ice to form around the base of its stem while also allowing for the area it lived in to be cooler. It is an ideal herb to be used to reduce trauma rted swelling and promote the healing of bruises. It can also be purified in to various potions that require strong water mana within them...''


    Just this alone had brought Remey to a single conclusion, the herbs here were both from the past and the future.


    If she didn''t know that time mana could exist, then she would have believed this was some mysterious and untouched magic. While that was still true, the sheer number of herbs like this spread out on hundreds of shelves within a simple storage area made it clear that more was at work.


    When she had heard Walker reference that this was a dungeon rted to the god of alchemy, she wondered if this was going to be some massive ss advancement. She would never change her alchemical brawler ss though, it was who she was and she was the first one to use it.


    She had also adapted her racial change to bing a true dragon soul which was also beyond what she could have done before. So many things came together for her to be able to fight with the mes she learned during alchemy. So much came together for her to be able to pursue a dream she had for her entire life. Why give that up?


    "But this is a trial for me to select materials to make a potion for myself." She looked at the red fern leaves and turned away.


    What alchemists did was not make potions for themselves. While even the alchemists that were just after money made potions that would benefit them financially, the potions were never intended for them to sue. They were for the process of selling to those who could use them.


    Health and mana potions were always given to people who needed them. Those that needed to be healed or were going out on adventures. Some were even kept by people in case of emergencies when they would need to be healed. Lots of builders did this nowadays since it was better to use a potion to save a life than wait for a healer. Or pay a healer to be around all the time.


    "But for me... I need potions that would help me with focus and attention. If I can use the fire in my punch better, I can break the enemy apart. If I can focus better I can make sure the mana in an herb does not get out of control. If I can make sure the impurities in the monster materials added are taken outpletely I can make a better potion..."


    Her mumbling became a shopping spree. Remey was darting shelf to shelf realizing that each shelf was in better order than she even realized. They were set up in stages of what might be needed. The mostmon herbs in the front and those that were rarer and often not used inrge amounts toward the chained door.


    "Stupid potions for making someone stronger temporarily... who needs them." She knew that the temporary boosting potions were useless to her. She needed materials and ingredients to make something that would be used constantly by her to overall enhance herself.


    Potions to permanently make someone stronger were often seen as the affinity potions which could and would allow for new knowledge to be thatsting effect even when the boosted affinity aspect wore off.


    But a potion that could help the mind focus on mana sensitivity forever? That''s where her mind went. Not a focus on mana in the sense of other manas, but a focus on her own so that she could better utilize all her skills.


    It was usible but something that even the old master alchemist would tell Remey was foolish. Forget the traveling master alchemists who had gone out in to the world to help search for new herbs and new pathways for alchemy. So many of the master elven alchemists had done this to find these new paths.


    The herbs she grabbed weren''t all unfamiliar. She had seen herbs used in teas which helped clear the mind. This time,. She used that knowledge to find them. She found future and ancient versions of tea leaves or herbs used for cooking which have better qualities than those of this age.


    As much as she also wanted to just grab all the high ss herbs she had never seen, she ignored most of them. Only grabbing a few here and there that were considered useless for the majority of potions. Especially for medicinal potions since they might be called a toxin rather than a healing salve to others.


    "I did it! These herbs, monster materials, and bits of other things will be what I use to make a new potion for myself!"


    The sounds of cracking came to Remey''s ears as the golden chains broke free.


    ''You have found the herbs you believe wholeheartedly will be used to reflect your needs as an alchemist. Furthermore, you believe that this will also benefit the future of alchemy of your current world. Proceed,''


    The words were not of the system. Instead it felt as if someone''s grandfather had just woken up and whispered them to Remey. No, these words reminded her of the old master alchemist when he had been exhausted from creating new potions or when he had stayed up in to the middle of the night to help her with medicines for her younger siblings at the orphanage. They held approval and also a touch of care that came with anyone who looked and spoke to a child.


    ''The second trial. Enter the alchemyb and begin proving your strength as an alchemist. Show the potion you desire to create. The time limit is one month.''


    Her eyebrows raised as she saw an alchemyb at least ten times the size of what she used. Beyond that, there were tools made of metals and materials she couldn''t discern. But


    everything she saw inspired her.


    She saw tools made for filtration, cooling, and even methods of heating she had not imagined. The rune carvings on them also proved that a lot of magic was used here too. Alchemy that mixed runes, magic, crafting and even more was right there. If she could just take this knowledge with her, she might be able to develop things beyond what would have changed in the next ten, no, the next fifty years of alchemy research.


    Upon failure the memories of all that is within this room other than the failed potion processing will be forgotten. You will be barred from participating within this dungeon for


    ten years.''


    The cost was still high from failure.


    "You think I will mess it all up? You gave me a gold mine to use and I am going to remember


    every second of this whether you like it or not." Remey mmed her fists together and cleared her mind. She would produce the first permanent mental boost potion ever. A new potion that would show who she was as an alchemist to whatever this god of alchemy or whatever existence was looking for.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    She didn''t care who she had to prove it to. She already knew she could do it.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2408: 2408. Double Processing

    Chapter 2408: 2408. Double Processing


    ?


    Time was fine. As long as Remey had time and the multiple sets of herbs she had grabbed she knew she could achieve a sessful potion. The only issue was how viable was it with the herbs she had grabbed would the trial take this in to ount?


    She had to be sessful, or at least it seemed she had to be able to secure the win for this trial.


    ''The second trial. Enter the alchemyb and begin proving your strength as an alchemist. Show the potion you desire to create. The time limit is one month.''


    The second trial was somewhat open to interpretation. She just had to show the potion she desired to create, not necessarily seed?


    "Shut up and focus!" Remey mmed her fists down and snapped herself out of that thought. She had to seed because it would be making a new record and proof for the other alchemists. They would have even better goals they could strive for. Goals that would be immortalized in these trials too.


    She could feel that whatever sesses were made here would be an example for all of the alchemists who came here. Not just some random achievement forgotten because it was just a small test. No, this would be remembered.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Sandman herb..." The small yellow leaves on the thin stem Remey had grabbed were a dry leaf that grew in the desert. Known for having potent sleep effects when heated but could be used to help clear the mind if kept cold during the alchemy process. But that way because two separate parts of it were activated. If she could separate them, she would be able to make better potions.


    Using alchemy mes to heal and lower the temperature simultaneously was not easy by any means, but if she were to use two separate alchemy mes while doing so? Why not? The cauldrons here appeared to be exactly made for them. There was one that had runes on it clearly showing that two different heat levels could be made with either side.


    Did Remey need the cauldrons though? She could do alchemy with just the alchemy mes in her hands if she needed to. And that was what she started. Ignore the potential impurities within the cauldrons and remove the beneficial liquids from the tiny leaves. Pull heat away with one hand and add heat with the other.


    The process appeared to be her just burning some small leaves but in actuality, the smallest drops of yellow and a darker yellow liquid were being drawn out of the sandman herb. This couldn''t be thest step through, to make a potion that would enhance something like her mind forever wasn''t something that needed one process.


    She began to let the remains of the leaves burn and extract the lighter yellow drops again. Removing even more color andpletely isting the liquids and aspects of it that would allow for rity of mind in cold teas or processing. The tiny drop became just barely enough to be seen, but Remey could sense it there and isted it in another potion. Some could even say she had made a potion just now, not that it was true in all senses. To her, this was a single ingredient.


    "Now for the smoldering sage, you should be able to help increase energy but none of that swelling poison you have is needed..." The mumbling to her herbs as she worked was the same as many craftsmen would do.


    They would connect themselves to their work by speaking with it. Talking to themselves. Acting as if they were not alone in this work facing their goals head on. Whatever the reason, every one of them agreed it made them work better and with more care.


    All this aside, the sudden re of the alchemy mes would have made many alchemists who could use them cry out in worry. Mostly because Remey had just burned the smoldering sage up in to ash within just an instant. What they would not know if they didn''t have a lot of experience was that she had moved ces while doing this.


    She had specifically done this process underneath arger ss container with an open bottom. The water runes on it rapidly cooled the smoke that rose up and trapped the moisture within. In turn, this trapped the valuable aspects of what Remey needed from the smoldering sage. Removing the toxic part that caused swelling and keeping the beneficial parts that allowed for energetic boosts in small doses.


    The knowledge about how to use these different tools, some of which she had never seen, were right there for her. Whether it was some magical effects of this ce or it was her understanding of alchemy that allowed her to infer which tool was used for what didn''t matter. She was rushing around extracting the valuable parts of every herb she had grabbed. "Drowsing owl blood dried to a powder here. Then the lunar wing moth scales ground in to paste..." Any inexperienced alchemist listening to this would find that they lost themselves after just a few moments. The multitude of processes that Remey was doing then doing again and again to the same ingredient was astounding.


    But the growth in her alchemy skills should have been the focus. She was using tools she had not been able to use which allowed for her to make better quality ingredients. Better quality everything. If she had tried to make a high tier potion or even a grand potion the sess rate would have been better.


    But that wasn''t what she was capable of. She could do so much more. She knew that.


    The ingredients were right there in front of her and she didn''t care a damn about the time she was spending. Who cares if one process took a full day. She had that time to produce it. She could use that time over and over as long as she could put everything together to make her potion and have even a little sess.


    ''The skill, master alchemists''s flow has been learned.''


    ''Master alchemist''s flow allows for a mentally increased state entirely focused on the alchemical processes to be reached. Sensitivity is heightened while ability to utilize manas is also heightened. Increases in dexterity are also [possible while the sensitivity to the specific processes used for all alchemy is heightened. This alsoes with an additional enhancements to instinctual aspects of alchemy.''


    Noticing this was the same as Remey noticing how much time was left. Neither were happening as she worked. She just started to work faster and focus more. Whatever limits she had she could care less about at this moment. She felt exactly the same as when she was making a grand potion.


    "Come mix together slowly slowly slowly... just take your time your water and fire mana can be bnced in the potion and equal each other...don''t bubble don''t bubble yet..."


    The mumbling increased while the potion became thicker andrger. The tiny drops that had been condensed over and over were bing more. Theirbined amount was slowly bing a quarter of a vial of purified and condensed liquid.


    The smaller of the vials she chose form to keep this potion in had many unique runes in it. Allowing for manas to be keptpletely separate from affecting it. Both to increase length of time the potion could be stored and the chances of it degrading due to influence of outside


    forces.


    ''Permanent mental enhancement potion


    This can only be taken once in a lifetime. It enhances the ability to focus and also to manipte one''s own mana. The potion''s lifespan is extremely short at most one week from creation of stored perfectly. It can only be created by someone with high control of alchemy mes. It can only be created through a certain form created by the alchemical brawler Remey. It is the first of its kind and is tailored to the one intended to drink the potion, Remey. If taken by another it will only enhance their mental focus by a slight margin for an hour...'' There was more information but Remey looked at it in awe with her tired eyes. The moment she had finished producing it all the exhaustion had fallen on her shoulders.


    ''Due to showcasing exceptional skills and even going beyond the requirements bypleting a potion, one that has never been made in today''s age, the trial has beenpleted. The third trial will begin in three days. Rest well esteemed alchemist.''


    The room shifted all around Remey and she found a simple wooden bedroom with a single bed and water to drink. "What a ce." Remey just Walked to the bed and fell asleep before she had even touched the pillow. The voice that had told her she seeded forgotten. The potion sitting on the table beside her waiting forter.


    ----


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 Chapter 2409: 2409. First Lab

    Chapter 2409: 2409. First Lab


    ?


    The moment that Remey woke up and stood up, the room shifted yet again. However, this time she had no idea where she was. She could only register the permanent mental


    enhancement potion in her hands and that the room was warm.


    While she had the resistance that would keep herfortable in any warm environment, the fact that Remey could sense that it was warm made things truly strange. The dim lighting also made it clear that an area behind her had a lot more heat than what it should.


    Just walking to that light Remey saw a vast sea of sand dunes and endless sun. Not a single cloud in the sky was around that could bring shade to the area. Remey was smack dab in the middle of this sand in a small cave made of rock and barely piled up sands.


    "This ce is... a third trial?" Remey had thought that she would wake up and be able to leave or something else. The two trials had been to choose herbs then to make a potion or at least she believed it was more important that through making a potion whether it was a failure or sess, that she showed off her skills. This proved she was an alchemist worthy to be there. Then again, now she was back to looking around the room and she found that crude tools were made of rocks. There was a small stacked stone box, no, a furnace made holding alchemy mes. "This is an alchemyb!"


    ''The third trial has begun. Create a potion in the same environment as the first alchemist did.''


    Now this was the trial among trials. Remey had seeded in her potion and clearly, she was able to keep it. This meant that she had gained a massive advantage over others who might show off their skills and still pass but failed their potion process.


    The rough stone table, or more like a stone ced on a pile of sand, showed that some herbs had been collected. Dead dry branches that held slight amounts of water that could be extracted. The tiniest amount of leaves showing hints of green, and even a few small scales form what could have been a remnant left behind by a monster''s hunt.


    A shaking of the stone made Remey''s head snap toward the entrance where she saw sand flying in the air. She knew that it wasn''t wind that was causing this. It wasn''t nature. No, she saw something simr to the scales she had just noticed.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "So that''s the deal? Hunt an ancient monster and get my alchemy ingredients?" As much as she knew that most alchemistscked battle abilities unless they made poisons or explosive potions, Remey was not at all like them. She would not have to hide or bury her hand to make sure that she could gather ingredients in a rough ce like this.


    She could take things to the next step and battle for her ingredients. It had to be another hidden piece of these trials. Proof that she could gather materials in the harsh environment that the first event alchemist had seeded in and be the god of alchemy now being restored to the world after so many years.


    Stepping in to the sand, the yellow scaled lizard with spikes all over its body saw Remey and ran at her. But to Remey, this monster was not much other than just an easy target. Her defense breaking fist took the ambient heat and fire mana toward her and broke through with a vicious punch that delivered a harsh spark of me sin to the lizard''s body.


    She didn''t have to look at what species of lizard it was. There had been no threat to her. She was powerful and could fight literal dragons if she wanted. This monster would not be her match. But it would be her alchemy ingredients. "That''s all you have? Then I will take the gift you gave me and make you a basic potion."


    Remey and analyzed the leaves and little dried bits of nts. She saw the scales and the monster''s body here. Extracting water from it took only a moment as she pulled the heat from everything using the alchemy mes. "These leaves are actually an ancient bit of mint. Desert mint, which has a slightly cooling effect to help resist the heat and even bolster your affinity with the colder desert night air."


    She knew the herbs because she had researched so many. She removed the water because she knew the alchemy mes. She could extract the important parts of the monster''s blood to bnce the water mana and lock it in ce using the natural earth affinity within the lizard''s body. She could do all this because it was what she had trained for and learned from the old master alchemist.


    The alchemy mes just moved with her. She even noticed the resting alchemy me in the stone furnace flickering with her movements. Proving it was the same me that was once there years ago. All alchemy mes were the same, the people that sued them had just changed. Or at least that was what Remey believed. It was the alchemist that made alchemy special, not the mes.


    Remey looked at the extracted ingredients then grabbed the permanent mental enhancement potion. "I''ll take my advantage and show off a little." Her smirk would have told Walker and Ingus that they were about to watch Remey make something good. It was just how she worked. She didn''t brag just for fun anymore.


    The flood of cooling and calming potion radiated throughout Remey''s body. Her mind felt less chaotic and everything she saw felt clearer. It was like she had just woken up from a long nap more refreshed than before. An ideal position to be in as she noticed different impurities that she had not noticed before.


    She could tell that the monster material she had extracted was missing refinement that could allow it to better work in a potion. The impurities were small bits of different rocks firm with the earth elemental monster''s blood.


    The dried twigs she had discarded had some use left. Without the moisture they had be perfect ground binders she could use to hold the potion together. If she hadn''t paid attention now, she could have had a much rougher potion.


    Or she could have failed entirely. Meaning she would not make it through this trial and get any other rewards.


    But that''s how all this started toe together better. Her mama controlled the alchemy me better. Her breathing became calmer. Every part of Remey appeared to be smoother in action and thought.


    As the potion condensed and the materials were mixed, a soft yellow potion came together in


    a small storm bowl with a poorly carried water rune on it.


    ''Sun resisting potion.


    This is the lowest tier of fire resistant potions which can only help resist the heat of the sun. It can help survive the heat of the sun for a whole day while alleviating thirst as well. If not consumed immediately it can degrade within an hour...''


    The potion was not the best and Remey knew she was capable of better. She even started grabbing the remaining herbs and monster parts to try again as everything shifted yet again. "Not bad child. You didn''t even have any trouble with what I did. So many years ago..."


    It wasn''t a solid voice. It was more of an echo. More of a whisper that still resounded in Remey''s mind.


    "The alchemy god''s disciple is a ss I''ve waited to hand down. But you are not that one. You are qualified to wield the first alchemy me. That''s what I will give you. That''s what you


    deserve."


    The dark space Remey was inside of red with deep red mes. Not the same as her me or the alchemy fire she used. It was purer. More innocent but also more careful. It felt like it was young and old at the same time.


    "My race chased after immortality. I followed the path o felt was right. I tried to turn nts and monsters in to health and life. Instead I found a way to create medicines and other things. They saw me as giving up on the true path to immortality. My soul survives though. Beyond them as one with all alchemy and dreams of it."


    A deep oldughter shook the mes that hade in to contact with Remey. "You are the owner of the first alchemy me. Treat it well and if you ever meet my sessor in your life, please guide them as well.


    Make sure they do not chase immortality as sole alchemists attempt to do."


    A sh of mes and shifting of space left Remey standing outside of the dungeon. She


    looked around and found Ignus and Walker looking at her confused.


    "How are you outside already?" They both asked at the same time.


    "No... it''s been over a month..." Remey watched as Walker''s eyebrows furrowed he could sense something odd after hearing her words but he was unable to grasp it.


    ---


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2410: 2410. Improved Alchemy

    Chapter 2410: 2410. Improved Alchemy


    ?


    Standing still seemed to be the game that Ignus, Remey and Walker were ying. Or at least that was what everyone would believe since they were just standing there not moving with confused looks on their faces.


    "Is that time mana?" The thought crossed Walker''s mind. He had sensed it before but he couldn''t really ce it overall. Yet, here it was all around Remey along with a greater amount of space mana. She had been influenced by both which was stunning.


    "Yes! That''s what I was thinking when I saw all the rows of shelves. There were herbs from like a thousands of years ago then herbs from today but also from what should be tomorrow or something." Remey finally started to move and threw her hands in the air trying to describe everything she had seen.


    "There were herbs that were holding different qualities because of manas influencing them that were raised in specific ways. But we haven''t raised them like that. No one has but I know that now and they are registered in my skill so I can share the information I have and we can change how those herbs will grow. The herbalists..."


    She trailed off for a moment while some realization came to her. "If there are god ss users and they represent all of whatever they are and aren''t necessarily part of the world in a way that we can see, won''t there be an herbalist god and all that too?"


    This was what Remey had begun to think since it just made a lot more sense. She could easily see that there might be a greater deal of god ss users who had either disappeared, be isted in their own spaces like they had seen with the one of cloud fairies, or even other new gods that could appear and potentially follow unknown paths.


    "Remey! We can''t just figure all that out in an instant." Walker shouted a little but then startedughing. Mostly because he had run down this rabbit hole a hundred times in his head. He chalked the god system and now the god ss users to be people who were not necessarily governed by the same rules that everyone else was.


    They could and were able to stand as representative of an entire aspect of the world. Therefore, they had skills that worked with that. From what it seemed, there was one that had a dungeon attached to them, the alchemy god.


    By that, it seemed to be a way for that alchemy god to influence alchemists and guide them somehow. Remey clearly had gained something since Walker could tell her mana flow and the strength of her mana control had changed significantly in what seemed to be the blink of an eye to him. However, he was now understanding that it was some control of time and space manas which he didn''t have.


    Space mana, sure, Walker could use that to a degree. But time? Well, that was beyond him. Yet, if he were to think of the other origin beings out in the elemental nes and beyond them? Well, that would make a lot more sense that god ss users might be closer to those beings but only in the spiritual or the more profound aspects of a topic.


    "I also saw alchemy tools that are better than anything I have ever seen. Theb had tools I don''t think even exist. Some of them I have no idea how they worked until I touched them so that was magic or whatever. Who cares though? I can remember a lot of them and I can tell our wandering cksmith. I''ll need a ss blowing master. Oh! I''ll need a master rune carver. I need to make a whole newb. The alchemyb I need to build will be ten times the size too. Walker, you will have too."


    Neither Walker or Ignus wanted to stop Remey from her thoughts. Clearly, she was showing the pure passion for one of the things she loved. Why would they devalue that? Especially when the ideas she hade back from whatever was inside the dungeon were so amazing. "Then we need to worry about the fact that our alchemists don''t think about how to fight and get their own materials. Ancient alchemists had to do that in much worse situations. I will need to change the ways that alchemists are trained. They will go out with herbalists more and they need to have a month in the wilderness to learn. If they can''t make potions out there then they can''t be part of the Genesis forces when we need them."


    This was based on the fact that the trial had involved the monsters of the desert. Therefore, the alchemists had handled those monsters constantly and managed to create the profession as a whole. Therefore, her goal should be to inspire growth through that same way. It could be the key to developing more varieties of battle alchemists or medical alchemists, who knew what it could do.


    "Also got the first alchemy me so there''s that."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Remey flicked a finger and a deeper red me appeared. But this one changed coloration as she pulled manas toward it. It wasn''t that she manipted the mes and added mana, but she changed the manas that the mes drew in to fuel them and also to purify or influence whatever she focused on.


    ''First alchemy me- passive


    This skill influences the alchemy me skills as a whole. It allows for them to attract other manas that are naturally within the atmosphere which allows for much better purification of all materials. Thai alchemy me can be more gentle and more chaotic depending on the need due to enhanced control.


    This is an ancient skill passed on through a dungeon trial and also will increase the speed of cleaning bait alchemy mes overall. The chances of learning unique ss advancements rted to alchemy or new skills about alchemy is also higher.


    The ability to understand fire and the origin of fire is higher..''


    There were more details that worked in tandem with the skill and other alchemy skills. Increased chances of sessful potions. Increased chances of understanding new alchemy theories. Increased abilities to process delicate herbs. There was so much more too. It was a massive boon to say the very least.


    "So you basically got to see more about the alchemy world than anyone knows now or knew..." Walker thought that Remey would bepletely trapped with alchemy for a while. She would be advancing it within Genesis and the world for a long time.


    "I didn''t qualify for the alchemy god ss or the disciple ss or anything like that. I don''t think many people will though. It was a rough ce to do the trials. I can feel that I can''t tell you about it but I can kind of say general things."


    It was the system of existence limiting her. Not a forceful thing, but a rule, something to warn that doing so would harm the future of people. It would stop the alchemists fr being tested and from being able to achieve better and new futures in their path.


    "I don''t think you would have taken a different ss if it was offered to you. You''re stubborn like a dragon. Your pride would not allow you to give away your efforts'' fruit." This was Ignus''s instant reply.


    While Walker could have said this as well, Remey smiled hearing it from Ignus. She had been working closely with him. Created a bind with him. They had even shared mes from the very core of who they were. So it mattered just that bit more.


    "So I take it you''ll be busy. This dungeon even looks like it will close in a week. Don''t tell me how I know but I can feel it. It''s letting out a lot of mana very quicklypared to those other


    two dungeons."


    Walker knew that what Remey had said so far was important. While he didn''t hear about rules that stopped people from entering if they failed for set times, he could get the general feeling that this dungeon only opened after longer periods of time.


    "I have a lot more to do than you even realize Walker. So help make us get home faster and start calling people to help me. I need you to work your butt off or I''ll punch you in to next week. If Gil wasn''t off ying tree babysitter I''d have him help too." Remey was back to her normal focus. Ready to run head on in to something new and amazing.


    But that heat in her eyes was exactly what made Ignusugh. He loved this. It was so much better than what he used to do while slowly growing his fire mana.


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2411: 2411. Mixed Breath

    Chapter 2411: 2411. Mixed Breath


    ?


    "I am sorry, but Remey has left with others to maintain the investigation in the unusual events regarding the alchemy dungeon. She should return within a month from what we were led to believe." The attendant felt very bad since she had been working here long enough to recognize the members of the party when they came to look for Remey.


    She had also seen the many materials, herbs, and even new alchemists that had been brought through the party members. It wasn''t just that they would help here and there, they were supportive of everything.


    "Before you leave, thank you again for bringing those three here Miss Su. Those three nocturnal herbalists have be geniuses. They have already managed to grow to the point that they are maintaining one of the starry night greenhouses by themselves. We expect that they will be the leaders of the nocturnal herbalism group within the next few months." Su smiled even though she was a little disappointed that by the time she had made it here and from her own events that she had not been able to follow Remey. It wasn''t that she worried that Remey would be in danger so much that Su had been doing some of her own training alone along with helping other te.


    Whether she had nned on it, Su had managed to venture to a few of the younger


    competitions recently. In that, she had found talents for various different guilds and groups within Genesis.


    Whether it was a cksmith called the lunar cksmith, the nocturnal alchemists, or even the puzzle box carpenter. All three were unique but had talents that would be able to show off aspects of skills that others could learn from.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The puzzle box carpenter was a quick learner at making carpentry projects. While his focus was on making puzzles because he loved them, he had been able to use techniques that joined wood together without single seem being seen. Therefore, other carpenters had managed to learn from this much lower leveled and voyeur unique carpenter. A great thing for every carpenter in therger crafting guild.


    With this being the case, Su had seen a lot more of the younger generation and also managed to meet with some of the dragon hatchlings who had branched out. Including one of the elder dragons who had a child that was able to use both darkness and water dragon breaths.


    This has inspired her to branch out. Su could use more than one affinity of mana now. While earth was her strongest because that was her innate born with affinity, she had bonds with Midnight which allowed her to have more than just that.


    Therefore, it was only a matter of time from when Su would start to branch out and begin to work on her own affinities. This meant one of her skills which she rarely used because it was harder on her body and also she had to increase her affinities to be able to handle.


    The dragon breath skill she could use at times.


    Su had been training her affinities constantly. Every single form of training that she had was so that she could do so. Therefore, she was finally at a point where she believed her elemental affinities were able to resist the damage that coulde to her body by using these skills. She had also enhanced her eptance of the dragon half of her race as it was and been able to strengthen her body a little more through that.


    By this, she could be able to use the dragon breath skill with just dragon mes seven times without damaging her throat and mouth at all. But she also felt that this was a limit to prevent damage. Therefore, she wanted to strengthen herself by training that skill by mixing other manas in to the mes too.


    This would be a way to make her stronger and also more effective against enemies with elemental weaknesses. The reason that this could be more important were the kk stars they had faced recently. Specifically ancient monsters that were very powerful in their own specific elemental affinity.


    Su had wanted to go with Remey to be able to help her and then ask for help as well. Getting specially made affinity potions to train this while also having the chance to ask Ignus questions could help her a lot.


    The affinity potions had been made and thinned out in to hundreds of lower tier affinity potions. It had helped many increase their understanding of their own elemental affinities along with learn new skills. Some people had even managed to learn new things such as ways to get a more advanced ss using the affinity potions.


    For someone like Su, having one that was tailored to what she needed was more valuable though. Being able to have each elemental affinity potion that would smoothly work with her mana was ideal. Especially if she was learning how not to harm herself while mixing new manas in to her mes.


    It would be even more important as multiple manas mixed together too. They could cause her more damage if she wasn''t properly prepared. Let alone if she didn''t control the breath as it came out, the damage to others around her or the environment around her.


    The small dragon breath she could use before was nothingpared to what Su could do now. She could turn the entire area she fought in to a zing area of dragon mes capable of wearing down an opponent over time. A tactic she learned from a few dragons while learning from their techniques.


    She was ready to take the step and just needed some support.


    "Su! You''re back. I need your help too! Walker, Ignus, and I are going to be changing alchemy pretty much in every way. I have different tools I need to be made. I need herbs to be brought here. I heard you made more friends between the healers and herbalists so you know the best people to start this project with me."


    "I thought you were all gone for a month." The attendant was confused because she had just seen Remey leave and been told by her that she would not be back for this length of time at least.


    "Oh, yes. I was gone for over a month but that''s a bunch of dungeon rules and time man''s stuff. It''splicated and Walker can stay awake at night worrying about it. I''ll be fine." Remey talked like this was nothing while the attendant just looked extremely confused. Time mana was nowhere within her purview as a master secretary beginning to level up to get the beta skills for managing every secretary within the alchemy guild and their branches.


    "I came here for your help too. Before you drag us all in to something new, I need affinity potions for me. I mean made for me to use and only for me to use." Su didn''t want to be pulled in without Remey knowing exactly what she needed as well. She was forward and stubborn too, so Remey had to listen to her.


    "That''s fine. I''ll make whatever potions you need. I have to see if I can improve the potions first and make them mix with your mana best too. The first alchemy me skill I have no should help with that. Also, please prepare for an influx of new alchemy me users or abilities rted. We need to improve the rooms for training."


    The attendant secretary began to move immediately. Whether it was that she just happened was enough to be important to changes in the alchemy guild. Even if Remey was back in record time, that just meant the changes would follow within the next few days. Meaning there was less time for action.


    The entire alchemy guild building was full of movement in just a few minutes after Remey issued this order. The old master alchemist even came downstairs to see what was happening and smiled seeing that Remey had the same joy in her face as whenever they seeded in alchemy together. He knew the future was better yet again.


    "d you came Su. I know that Ignus and I will be out to work for a while. But from what ever it is that Remey learned, it''s going to be amazing." With Walker being so enthusiastic, Su understood that this wasn''t a small step for alchemy within Genesis. It would be a huge leap ahead for generations toe to rave about.


    Over the next few minutes more and more master alchemists appeared at the front hall to hear orders for improvements directly from Remey. They all looked eager to do so since they had not felt the draw to go to this alchemy dungeon. Whether it was their age or their skills, it didn''t matter, they were still included now and could take the lead for the young alchemists working with them.


    ....


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2412: 2412.Breathing Mana

    Chapter 2412: 2412.Breathing Mana


    ?


    "I have no idea how you just did that." It was Walker''s turn to be amazed for a little while. He had just watched Su talk Remey out of starting to reorganize her personal alchemyb and make the affinity potions for her first.


    The speed that Remmey had moved was fairly quicker than what she had been capable of before. It was also clear that she could sense the manas within the ingredients to her alchemy forms much better. Even adding a small bit more or less of certain herbs that had been part of the main process.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The simple act of limating the potions to be able to mix with Su''s body and mana as a whole better was also clearly faster. Remey had made sure to ask Su for a small bit of blood this time which was not necessarily out of the ordinary. But Remey and usually just used herbs that helped make a potion more limated to someone.


    Using blood from someone to help the potion be able to mix better for that person, especially in matters of healing major illnesses or treating them was not abnormal whatsoever. This would allow the healing to be safer and smoother for their body while also allowing for the healing to be focused on the most damaged parts of the bodypared to just healing everything with all the nutrients within the body.


    There was also a better mixing of other potions to boost the nutrients avable, reduce risks, and also enhance healing for the healers. It was a lot more of an in depth method that was time tested and very amazing to watch. Walker and Su had both see it.


    That aside, Su had several options lined up around her and she was not even worry about leaving this alchemyb. As Remey was one of the most experimental alchemists in general, herboratory had been prepared for testing the most dangerous of potions. Specifically, there was a small side section prepared to be used for these destructive potions.


    It only took a few minutes for Remey to move the tools and everything else removed from that room so that su could use it while she had different materials and nners brought in to her alchemyb. This phase was something that Remey didn''t need Walker, Ignus, or Su to help her with. She was going to clear away the things she didn''t need.


    Beyond that, she also had many people who could draw and create ns with her. They would follow what she had to say and design the equipment that she would have Walker and Su help her with. The herbs and panning that she wanted to have help from Su with could be done in a little while since Remey knew that Su wanted to have Ignus give her his input about mes. Walker was still amazed that Su had managed to get Remey to focus on these other aspects of her own ns first. Especially since Remey had been ready to rush right in to it all without hesitation at all.


    "I have seen your fire breath before, I know that you can gather the first mana to pass by your heart where your mana mixes with it. This is different from how we dragons do it, but the process is the same and will mix your mana to make the fire breath. Your dragon mes are no different other than they harm your body more because of their natural nature than because you are using too much mana."


    As much as Ignus could focus on just fire mana, he also knew a lot about dragon mes. This was even ahead of the other dragons because of the way that fire dragons were. They cared for their fire mana, but they also had a decent pride and connection with dragon mes as a whole.


    Fire dragons were the first thought of many when it came to dragon breath attacks. Specifically because fire dragons hadtched on to that piece of their innate history and skills. They had learned to refine it and use it better than any other dragons and their own elemental breath attacks. Therefore, Ignus had exined the methods to Su and many others before. Especially when Midnight hade to him before as well.


    "That''s where I can help though. The mixing of manas that you are after by drinking all of those?" Walker saw that Su had just finished drinking the first set of each elemental affinity potion. She had been doing so while Ignus spoke.


    "Yes, I want to mix the dragon breaths. I can make a ck dragon breath and A light one because I spend so much time with healers and spent a lot of time training with Midnight while she had used that after working with Mordant. The earth dragon breath feels more natural and I don''t worry about it. I can manage a little wind and a little water but they are harder for me without an affinity potion."


    It seemed that Walker and Ignus had been undervaluing the skills that Su had. They had thought that this training would be more towards Su learning to use each of the dragon breaths instead of just mixing them. Yet, she had stepped ahead of that and was able to use each elemental dragon breath in some way shape and form.


    "Then take off your armor and we will remove the bonds of any affinity rune that is drawing manas in. You should feel it all naturally without help from the equipment you use." Ignus knew very well that the body of any dragon was limated to the environment. That was the only help they had while learning their own dragon breaths.


    Without the addition of Su''s armor covered in runes that she switches on and off depending on the situation, she would be able to get more deeply in contact with her skills as a whole. And therefore, more deeply in contact with her own affinities.


    "I thought so." Su''s armor shifted and she was in a set of tougher training clothes that could resist the mes he might use but not help her very much.


    "And I will ce my hands on your back so that I can feel how you start to mix the manas. If you start to fail I will guide them." Since Walker had the ability to mix manas better than just about anyone, this also made a lot more sense. He could make sure that nothing bad happened while Su mixed manas in a way that she had never done before.


    "You can already use ck mes, but the dark dragon breath looks like mes and shadows. So let''s see that first so that we can see how bnced it is." Walker felt the flow of dark mana from Su''s body and the mes as well. The inner workings of the body were beyond him but the flow of mana was clear.


    Feeling the dark and mes mix easily, he smiled as he realized that the small stream of ck me dragon breath Su released was held back and very well controlled. "Now swap it to light and fire." This would be harder since it was changing the opposing mana added to mes.


    As Su pulled light mana in to her body to mix with the mes, Walker sensed the remaining dark mana that had not been isted or expelled react.


    "That''s where your ws are. I just isted the dark mana you had left inside your body." As Su spat out a small trail of white mes, she felt Walker using his ability to halt dark mana from reacting. "You still need to hold on to manas other than the two you want to use. Especially since it''s within your body and will cause you damage."


    Su nodded as Walker released the control and she focused more. She could do this and all she had to do was keep it in mind. It was the same as focusing on the battle around her but instead of outside it was inner.


    "Now, let''s try to mix earth, mes, and wind to make eruption dragon breath. Simr to theva fields you were just in. It should feel natural but also deadly."


    The mix was a dragon breath Walker had learned about from dragons. A volcano dragon had lived many years about and used a breath that shot dense magma orva like dragon breath. Now, he could test that mix of mana while Su learned something very old and powerful by


    mixing three manas.


    "A look at our history? I am very interested now." Ignus kept himself prepared. He thought this was going to be an exceptional experiment while he waited for Remey to be prepared. His focus had been caught and evenpletely stolen.


    ----


    ----


    ----


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 Chapter 2413: 2413. Volcanic Breath

    Chapter 2413: 2413. Volcanic Breath


    ?


    With the manas being mixed, Su felt that she was being guided a lot more than what she was doing naturally because of her own affinities.


    She was shocked when she felt that Walker could not limate his mana to somewhat match her own. This just went to prove the level of what he had learned overall. Being able to match someone else''s mana without the skills of a mage or the training was very hard. Su was by no means a mage so it was very hard to match her mana.


    Healers could do that to some degree, but only in the ways of healing. Their skills allowed them to better match those that were injured and specifically only help that person heal. Therefore, using the logic that Walker had in depth knowledge of healing that helped would also be wed to a degree.


    "You are mixing the manas too forcefully. You have the control of the earth very well right now. So use that as the base for what you are doing. That solid control will allow the fire and the wind totch together and enhance the mix entirely."


    While Walker spoke, Ignus added some of his thoughts about mes here and there. Earlier, Walker had mentioned that wind would enhance fire which was already known. But Ignus had told her that wind could put out fire too, so using the control of the inner wind mana, Su had used the wind after that to reign in the control she struggled with over increasing fire mana.


    These Small tips and hints were also partially shown to her by Walker as he pushed to mix the mana slowly and clearly through his connection with her. Just his hands on her back while doing this showed her that the natural mana he also provided her with smoothed her thinking in to a calmer and clearer process.


    The natural mana that she was feeling was also part of some skills that Walker used. He was able to focus on the mind and give people a somewhat boosted chance at enlightenment and learning. That skills as somewhat used every time it was avable, but as Walker had been focused elsewhere, he had not used it in a direct and focused mana.


    His knowledge of buffs and skills that boosted certain aspects of those around him had greatly changed. This had led to a mixing of skills like the newly improved nature buff which increased the flow of mana around others to be able to absorb it. All manas, and not just one elemental mana specifically.


    He had learned this skill when he had been working with the manas and focusing on how mana flowed. While he had been able to halt manas if he was strong enough in the surrounding area, especiallypared to others, this was the opposite.


    He had focused on what would happen if he slowed the manas a little while iming them with his skills that manipted natural mana. Therefore, the results he found was that those around him could absorb the mana better. Therefore, when he used this ability on those around him, they all had smaller areas thatpiled together to allow all manas they needed to be absorbed better for a short while.


    Adding this theory and mixing with other skills, Walker had almost entirely broken down some of the basic buff skills and even unique skills he had gotten from titles. The title allowing him to impart knowledge had been entirely taken for the skill that allowed him to pass a skill down once every so often.


    The knowledge to do so being mixed and pushed together with other skills had ended up with a new and more advanced skill that also resonated with his origin race.


    The origin race was already mysterious and hard to understand. Even for Walker. But when it came to being able to use manas and see knowledge others could not, it was much more. So when he tried to mix these skills he felt his inner workings, body and soul, resonate. It came to the conclusion of a newer skill.


    "Enlightenment territory." This skill had to be spoken and it had to be reset over and over since it only worked for an hour at a time and degraded over that hour. The idea was that it would allow for the one using it to pass down very small bits of knowledge if those around were perceptive enough. It also cleared the minds of those around him and added a chance to them learning new skills or advancements in skills.


    The skill seemed small and insignificant, but Walker could sense that he was the insignificant one. In the sense that the skills were the weakest and smallest level of what he could do with it. That if he learned and grew more, that condensing skills and using them would lead to a much higher tier that allowed him to literally impart vast knowledge on to someone as long as they could understand it and process it.


    All of this aside, the skill had been activated using high amounts of his mana which was good since Su only needed the slightest of his help when mixing and controlling the elemental


    manas.


    "Let''s try again." The deep breath Su used to take in even more manas showed Walker that Su had caught on to the amounts of earth mana needed to tie down and bond the fire and wind manas together. He also had learned a little since he had no idea who this would mix in the methods of a dragon and how he also might be able to replicate it.


    As Ignus sensed the fire mana tie together, he also felt that the fire mana radiating from Su would be able to cause mes to spread. The very same way that theva fields had happen on their edges whereva flowed in to coolernds.


    In arge movement, the thicker dragon breath that Su spat out condensed and fell quickly to the floor. It burst sending small bits of tough rocky mes out and the air was heated significantly. Walker used a single motion to stop it from wearing away at the protective rune formations of this part of Remey''s testing area.


    "You definitely just used a volcanic dragon or a magma dragon, or whatever kind of dragon''s breath. And you just seeded in breathing in double the amount of mana you were before we started this." The instant praise made Su well with pride. She also noticed that Ignus had captured some of the mes and was nodding approvingly. He could see that the fire was exactly as he thought and that Su had grasped the idea perfectly.


    "Now you should mix the water mana and the light mana, then mix it with the wind. You can make radiant frost breath. I know that could be used pretty well since someone told me about a fairytale where a radiant first dragon was able to help make a potion condense in to a single ice cube which slowly melted inside the body and head because of the light mana, and also purified. Then the potion would take effect over a longer time so that the body wasn''t drained of nutrients. I want to try that and you would be perfect to help."


    The sudden interjection from Remey made it clear she had stopped what she was doing and had focused on what was happening with Su, Walker, and Ignus. "Then you can make sure that I am also experimenting with the water and light mixed alchemy mes. The first alchemy me is actually a lot more receptive to other manas. It''s very amazing."


    In a snap of her fingers, Remey drew in ambient water mana using the forest alchemy me to do so. As that happened, the edges of the me became blue, not because of heat, but because water maa became the dominant me.


    "I can''t attack at all in this way, alchemy mes are not for attacking. But I can help those underwater herbs that we couldn''t even work with before be perfect ingredients in new forms. Especially since I have a master ss blower and master rune carver here. Now I just


    need all of you."


    She smiled as su realized that Walker and Ignus, along with her, might start getting pulled here and there sooner than what she realized. But she also realized that Remey wanted to help her make new dragon breath attacks as well.


    "Oh, and drink this potion, it''s a better health potion for you to strengthen your body as you train. I thought about it while I waited for you and your body will be strained a lot today." The care that overtook Remey''s curiosity was all because Su was family. Su felt it in every facet of


    the words.


    ....


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2414: 2414. Dragons And Potions

    Chapter 2414: 2414. Dragons And Potions


    ?


    The introduction of Remey in to the the mix of dragon breath training radically sped things up. Su had not realized that Remey and also somehow used this new alchemy me she could control to make a better health potion that would work perfectly with her body.


    The health potion felt the same as any health potion that Su had drank before, but the moment where things changed was when it focused on the ces in her body that were damaged due to using dragon breath. Instead of just healing, it was also helping to strengthen.


    The body of anyone would naturally make scar tissue, or calluses, or anything to adapt in some way to certain situations if possible. That was just the flexibility and resilience of the body. However, for Su, it was limating better to the dragon breath attacks she was training.


    Inner resistances and outer natural resistances were two different things. Right now, that inner resistance was where she struggled. The dragon breath attacks would harm her body inside and would require her to be healed or rest a longer time.


    This health potion was full of nutrients that her body easily used to repair and even strengthen the areas of her insides that were damaged by the force of her own attacks. A massive leap ahead for her training and also allowed for Walker to help her mix more vtile manas while being able to keep trying new attacks.


    Remey just watched and created small batches of this potion using only alchemy mes. Clearly, the ingredients were not that different from health potions, the only differences were the additions to the manas that su used to make the breath attacks. Remey added herbs here and there which were needed to repair that damage and resist the uing attack.


    "You can make these potions for anyone? Even the youngest dragons who would be unable to breathe their own breath attacks because of their age?" When Ignus brought this up, Remey realized that she had not ever thought of this.


    Many hatchlings would get their dragon breath attacks and have to grow in to them. Easily being able to breathe fire earlier than they could control that. Hence, a fire dragon hatchling would often harm themselves and then have to go through a harsher learning experience of how to control their fire breath from within first.


    This was a great natural way to grow but also caused some deaths orrge hold ups on the growth of the dragon hatchlings. If Remey were to use these potions for them, then they could train those breath attacks and take off a few years of waiting that came with the development of their bodies while also making them stronger in the long run. It was a good idea since the entirety of Genesis was a more weing and warm ce than the roughness of the outside world.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Remey''s dragon breath training potions, supported and advertised by the hero Su for a faster and better method of growing your dragon breath." Theughter that Walker had after saying this made it clear that he would love to hear this from the merchants shouting in the streets. But then Remey red at him.


    "You know that these will be made to order and only a few people can make them limate to that hatchling''s mana. You shouldn''t go making advertisements for my potions." A small ball of me was blocked after Remey had thrown it at Walker. He justughed harder as Su breathed out shards of sharp piercing and sparkling ice. The wind mixed in propelled them faster and harder which would make them all that much more dangerous.


    "That''s another sess and it looks like you don''t need me to help you with mixing water, wind, and light any more." There was more praise in the words from Walker, but he also said this in the means of keeping Remey cated since she wanted to start building new tools for the alchemyb.


    "Do it again, but breathe that attack on me while I mix a potion over there. I had them bring me a rough rune carved box, it should let me trap that mana better inside what I am making. I have an idea for a potion." This change in Remey''s focus made them all wonder what her ideas were. Especially since the idea focused on the breath attack that Su had just managed to get a handle on.


    "I can do that." Since she didn''t see any issues on this, Su decided to go with the flow and help. She also knew that Remey wouldn''t be hurt by this sort of attack. It wasn''t trained enough to be dangerous for Remey and her mes could easily break it away if needed.


    As they moved to see what Remey was doing, they all realized that Remey had been moving herbs to this box which was already delivered.


    It was like a small metal trap. Remey could manipte the fire and herbs within while when the breath attack from Remey came inwards it would be temporarily trapped inside. Meaning that Remey would have a chance to trap some of that mana using the first alchemy me and bring it together with the potion she was making.


    While it was all rough and there needed to be a refined process to make this tool and technique better, Remey was using it as a test. This way she would be able to better show off how to trap different manas in potentially more unique mixtures inside a potion. Or even better, how it could specifically break down or purify certain herbs which were more vtile due to the poisons or make up of manas within those herbs in the first ce.


    As Remey moved the herbs and Su took a deep breath, Walker carefully watched the mana. He saw as the radiant light breath hit the alchemy mes the mes changed to a slower and deeper blue color. The wind caused them to grow, but the water mana and the light mana changed them to a slower and calmer me.


    It was interesting to see the alchemy me adjust to carrying these manas toward the herbs already being burned and degraded for their inner materials. Walker felt that he could learn a lot from watching this since the manas reacting to one another were very different from what they had been doing before. Regardless, the process continued.


    The potion was pushed together and mixed while any ice and manas affecting Remey were shaken off. Her focus was on the potion as she brought it out and put it in to a small vial. The result was the tiniest few drops in a very small vial, but she smiled while looking at it.


    "Ignus, send a small me breath at this." She looked at him and he didn''t hesitate. He trusted whatever it was that Remey had learned and he was not nning to ignore that she had a better idea of whatever the potion she had made was or what it would do.


    The small stream of fire dragon breath spat out was right at the potion vial. The ss melted but as soon as the potion was free, it evaporated and the entire stream of me breath became nothing but a white smoke.


    "Dragon fire extinguishing potion works well. The wind and water mana trapped inside allowed it to cool the area and put the mes out while the light mana caused the remains of the potion to be purified and not toxic. It requires the addition of opposing dragon breaths mixed specifically, but it''s a theory I had a while ago. It worked too. Just hard to bnce everything. That potion only would havested ten minutes without degrading and being poisonous."


    "You mean that you just made a weapon to be used against dragons," Ignus growled slightly. He was never angry with Remey but he was on the verge of letting his anger take the lead.


    "No, I made a way for the dragons to move in to certain areas and train their dragon breath without destroying the area itself or anything else around it." The smile Remey showed was because this was an issue that shee up before.


    "Oh! I remember. There were some dragons who identally burned down part of a forest and the elves nearby got very angry. Now this will fix the problem and those dragons can be penalized by helping you make potions." Su recalled the small event that had been smoothed out. But now there was a way to avoid it happening again.


    "Then that is fine. But this potion will not be shared with anyone ever." Ignus looked at the herbs used and also saw their value was higher than every general herb. Making this small test


    was very expensive as well.


    "That''s perfect then." Remey looked around at other items brought in and the waiting masters. "Let''s all get to work now."


    ---


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2415: 2415.Bad Smells

    Chapter 2415: 2415.Bad Smells


    ?


    "What are you doing!" The scream of fear came from a mother looking at her child who had just been kicked to the side by none other than Midnight. The snarl on Midnight''s face was clear as she stepped forward toward the child on the ground.


    All this had happened in the middle of an open air market. Midnight had heard that Walker, Remey, and Ignus had gone out and returned. She knew that they wouldn''t have left for anything small so she had finished her training and time with some of the elder dragons before going their way.


    While she took the long trout to search for some new food to try, she had not just done so because she had the time for it. She enjoyed the city and she enjoyed being immersed in to the people around. Especially when they saw her andplimented her. She had her dragon''s pride after all.


    However, that was when she had smelled something horrid. Something that made every bit of her react with instant disgust. She had not smelled something like this since they had ventured in to the depths of the immortal chasing races'' ancient ruins ruled over by the immortal king.


    The things there had all been rot and decay, the smell she smelleding all around her had been the same, however, this smell was a little worse. It seemed to carry cruelty and the desire to cause trouble. No, the desire to grow that scent and make things worse.


    That was when she narrowed in on what anyone would have assumed was an innocent little girl walking while holding the handle of her parents. Someone who would appear to be the face of innocence and kindness.


    Midnight''s mind was not out of sorts though, she was still in her dragonkin form and words were not lost to her, she had not lost herself to rage or anger. She had her wits about her and she was able to shout out, "Guards, surround this family and call for Walker immediately!"


    No one had heard that midnight would do something like this. Something that would be the same as calling for the strongest. It caused some panic, but this was a market, the guards were always there and watching. Hidden guards that used the shadows as ces to wait, armored guards, and even some of the magic using guards who were there to prevent certain skills from being abused.


    All moved and acted to surround and defend the people around. "None of you are human even though you look like it. All of you smell like the undead. All of you smell like you want to kill more." her growled out words made it clear that Midnight would face all of them with the same sort of rage and viciousness she could sense.


    While others had not picked up on it, when midnight pointed out something being wrong, many of the more sensitive races nearby suddenly smelled it. Suddenly felt the instinctual fear and disgust that came with what Midnight had sensed just by walking by them.


    "Hehehe dragons. Always dragons. So easy to smell us even when we hide inside everything else so deeply." the mocking tone came from the little girl''s body, no, from the thing leaving the little girl''s body. "You won''t get to catch us through. We like it here and we will make it ours while you lose sight of us."


    Midnight saw a bat like creature p wings of slimy inky ck leave the little girl''s mouth. She knew it was not a bat at all, just copying that form. She could tell that it was not anything that was technically alive, nor was it anything good. It was some intelligent monstrous thing.


    The same happened to the mother and father walking with the girl just moments ago. They copsed and the slimy ck bat like things flew out in to the air.


    The instant it happened the guards, Midnight, and all others who had the ability moved. Arrows shot through one but the attack was doing nothing. The body just moved around it and kept flying away. The magical fire ball thrown out seems to burn off some of it as the bat like thing dodged narrowly.


    "Sessful appraisal, all other pursue and track!" one of the guard captains had their appraisal skill prepared. They had made sure to use it and send the others after them. Midnight turned her head immediately. She knew that she could not take her proper dragon form within the city for safety. She also knew that she couldn''t catch these smaller things as they darted in to alleyways and further in to the city.


    She had just been walking so calmly and having such a nice day, and then she had smelled the scent of death and blood. Now, she also looked at three members of their city that had somehow lost their lives? How else could she feel right now other than rage.


    Walker''s head jolted up from the assistance in making a unique ss tool that trapped evaporated potion liquids and separated them. He had been carefully helping the master ss blower to make certain ones with elemental sses, but he felt the rage and then heard a mournful roar from M midnight. He knew exactly what could have happened for her to feel this way. He would have felt the same.


    "Remey, Su, Ignus,e with me right now. We have something to handle. Genesis was just attacked or someone was hurt. We need details!" The two craftsmen fiercely working didn''t even feel bad when what they were working on shattered. They could ept that since they were sure that whatever was going on was much more important. They had faith in those they saw as leaders.


    Midnight didn''t even wait a few minutes when Walker came over with a slight burst of wind barely held back in his rush. Walker saw the bodies and also saw the guards. He also noticed the guard captain making way to Midnight while sensing a slightly more despicable undead mana.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "There were undead within the city?" he saw Midnight nod while motioning to the guard captain.


    "We are trying to send trackers but it appears these things are made to hide and to blend in. Here is the appraisal that I managed to get using the enemy appraisal I possess as a guard captain elite."


    The enemy appraisal was something only able to be done by criminals or the enemy of the ce the guard captain elite protected. It was a useful skill for dealing with those who broke thew or even during war times. The scroll was magical and recorded the appraisal he had done when he willed it. A valuable item for these situations and for making notices of


    criminal activity.


    ''Undead shifting slime


    This is a creature that refuses to be intelligent for the sake of their race. Instead it remained a monster and decided to be more vicious.


    While undead with intelligence are rare and often branch in to intelligent races, this monster is a monster in every sense to an intelligent race. It specifically targets intelligent races to consume from the inside out while using their bodies as shells to hide themselves.


    These shells are known as rotting shells and will often be found by the scent of the decay from within. However, every skill developed by the undead shifting slime came to be so that it can hide and grow secretly.


    Once strong enough, it can stand as a single being without a shell and wild extremely potent decaying manas with hints of death and undead mana within that corrode most things that it


    comes in contact with.


    They are extremely dangerous and intentionally...''


    Walker felt anger now too. This thing hade in to the city without being found. Had managed to harm the people and nned to do worse. Beyond that, this was a species of monster that purely chose evil instead of bing intelligent and peaceful.


    They would even go so far to prey on the weakest just to cause more harm and grow themselves. A literal parasite and gue that had appeared because of all the racesing


    together.


    "If I appraise this thing, I can find weaknesses and more. I''ll do so when I eradicate them. Then I''ll make magic so we can get rid of them forever. This is a monster without any predators because they found ways to kill them I''m sure." Midnight growled as every word Walker spoke. She was ready to hunt them.


    "I will have my elders begin searching. We will trap these things for your experiments. Then we will turn them to ash... and then burn them again." Ignus held himself with calm, but Walker could sense the mes seething beneath the surface. Remey was no different, but they all felt it right before they split up and began hunting.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2416: 2416. Immediate Response

    Chapter 2416: 2416. Immediate Response


    ?


    An uproar. That was the simple way to describe what was happening right now. The news of monsters being able to enter the city was not at all a good thing. It was unavoidable though.


    Holding the information back was impossible. The event had happened right out in the open. First from Midnight shocking the nearby crowd when attacking something vile that she smelled and knowing it was dangerous, to the fact that monsters had killed people and escaped.


    Then the news of what and how the monsters were able to hide within people''s bodies which really made the terror grow. It was terrifying though, that meant a monster could be standing right next to you in the market, at your job, or anywhere else within the city.


    What calmed the emotions though, was the fact that Kidnight had proved dragons could smell through when close enough. That the hiding skills were not entirely perfect. If the dragons could find them, then other races should be able to as well. Meaning that they could be hunted.


    This didn''t calm the anger of the representatives. Scy had been the angriest since she was more or less responsible for the entirety of defending the city.


    She personally had trained some of the most elite guards they had. Yet they had let enemies within their city? Within their home? It was appalling.


    Not only did it make her question the guards she had out in ce, it had made her question herself in every aspect. Could she have found these enemies? Was she able to handle the enemies she now knew of? Could she even find the enemy?


    The thoughts ran through her mind constantly and even caused her to begin releasing too much pressure from her strength. Winds and water around her had reacted more violently after the training she had to gain better control of them recently.


    However, she had been calmed when she realized that they always had a n in the works. She trusted those around her and those who had different strengths.


    "Walker has exined that they radiate a scent of death and rot. Their undead, death, and decaying dark manas are toxic and easily found. We will partner up with light mages, healers, and other light affinity skill users to perform tests on them to see if negative effects ur."


    "Those who would be harmed by this naturally will show us that they are open and willing to be appraised by experts with master level appraisal skills which will show us if they are being controlled by these monsters. Any refusals will lead to them being arrested."


    While this was a good start? It has caused more unrest. People were not happy to have to go through these troubles. Especially since they had believed that their guards would be able to protect them from just about everything that could be a danger.


    The preparations when it came to the walls and troops had not been small. Hours of work along with radical changes to runes and other aspects of the city. Many had even changed their personal defensive armors or weapons too.


    This was all adding stress because of the constant push for new things and drive to discover. Adding in dungeons, new wilderness, and those who had recently moved to Genesis it was even harder.


    "I announce to the entirety of Genesis, the first light angel squadron of five hundred strong has arrived!"


    This announcement was made by Walker himself through the city using high amounts of wind mana. This was not just to help people rx but also to show that the monsters were even more outnumbered.


    The other reason was even better though. Walker had already managed to find ways to hunt the undead shifting slime.


    "These undead shifting slimes radiate a little undead and decaying dark mana. Angels absorb mana through their wings meaning that they don''t even need to actively try to sense the manas around them."


    Walker was announcing this to a room with Scy and multiple guard captain elites. They all looked at him and began to understand.


    "This means that they can walk around and sense the mana without trying. We are too limited in the number of elder dragons who could smell them. This means that the moment the divided angel squadron feel ufortable with interfering mana entering their wings we must react."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    With Scy backing up the method that Walker had assembled it was perfect for them. They would be able to do much more when it came to everything rted to organizing the newly arrived angels in to their groups. This information also exined why angels might not be targeted by the dead shifting slime.


    "Our aim is to trap them and not to immediately kill them. The more we trap the more we can understand how they get inside the city, what their skills are, and how they returned. We always know they are a species of ancient monsters simr to other aliens and shifting species we know of."


    The shape shifters were a species of monster already known to be either extinct or in the verge. Some said they were a hidden race but it was never proved and could never be


    supported.


    That aside, Walker had a gut feeling that this was the best method for them. If they killed all of them off they would lose the chance to learn how tobat these monsters and also how to appraise them for future knowledge.


    In a perfect world, they could easily capture them, but Remey had begun working on this. She had already made potions that harmed the undead, and this was a perfect chance to showcase them. In top of this, many were building toughened metals that could be soaked in these potions to trap these slimes.


    While a next seems foolish because the slime could live through it, that would not be the case. The purifying light runes in the next would halt any chance the slimes had of escaping. Even if their core or bodies were small enough to love through the holes in the.


    "This is the first rough model of the next and potions. As you see they are in a small barrel of potion that''s been ruined out. If you have light affinity and can throw it, you will enhance it and be able to boost your own natural light purification skills."


    The healers and exorcists along with other rted sses that harm undead will be joining. The vampires have even used some of their rediscovered knowledge to begin hunting the undead with their bats. They can tell if there is a hollow part of a body that is abnormal by using sound."


    Hearing how many methods had been pulled together, the elite guard captains moved and began rying this information. It was just in time too. The masses of guards and troops had just spread out and the searches were growing.


    "The merfolk have partnered with the dwarves and already swept through the underground water ways and the underground city. They loved quickly because they had many golems prepared. One group of healers even protected those who it would harm, and used arge scale purification skills. That means whatever is left is above ground and not in the water."


    This report had gotten to Scy just now. She knew that Walker needed to hear it. But she was also waiting for the chance to dart out of the building and float over one part of the city. She could easily use her might to capture one of these enemies.


    "Good. Su and Ignus partnered up and Midnight went out looking along with the others. We are already moving quickly and that will calm the people. I will be going out too. I want an all around appraisal on one of these things." The grim tone Walker had only showed to Scy.


    She liked it though. It showed his seriousness and strength in the moment. The single focus on these things with his vast knowledge and constant dedication spoke volumes. These monsters had no future here.


    "We have a sighting! One fleeing now!" Amunication expert speaking throughmunication crystals caused Walker to dash to his side. He waited to hear what street and section of Genesis this enemy was in.


    He was willing to sue spatial mana to get there as fast as possible. If he had to halt the usage of mana in the area, he''d pay the mana cost to do so. The speed of finding one was all because they had the time and preparation to protect ready.


    Their speed had made what would take a normal city hours happen in just a single hour. Nothing would harm the I offer races of Genesis. Walker was a sure fire guardian of that reasoning.


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2417: 2417. Hidden

    Chapter 2417: 2417. Hidden


    ?


    Designing through the sky, Walker was making his way to where he had the report of one of the undead shifting slimes, he knew that the guards who had managed to find it would be struggling. Mostly because they had already begun to make noises from where they were.


    The benefits of having better senses and being able to boost his hearing with wind mana magic maniption allowed Walker to speed through to find that there was more to this than what he had expected.


    "The thing isn''t small like we were told!" The resounding crack was the armor of the guard who spoke benign broken.


    The second crack was the breaking of the shield that the second guard had held.


    "Call for more reinforcements, this thing has entirely taken over the body of this-"


    Walker appeared as the third guard was knocked entirely to the ground and in to a nearby brick wall which also cracked. All three had been knocked down and were not looking very good. The two healers who had managed to identify this monster were standing unable to do much since they knew that their weak purification skills could not damage their opponent enough to be able to defeat it.


    They were easy targets which made Walker stand between them first and forcefully start handling the manas around. The entire direct area was under his control just by his expending arge portion of his mana.


    "Hehehe, you can''t force me to be weaker like that. I have mana inside my body and I can resist the control of others. I am free to eat as I please!" The thing that had once been a demi- human with bull traits had clearly provided enough strength and nutrients for this undead shifting slime to take a much more powerful form than the other three reported.


    Beyond that, Walker could see that the body had been consumed to just a shell for what it had once been. Meaning that the pieces of slime that were being used as braided and potent muscles were beyond the normal for any demi-human to use.


    In the next moment, the wind cracked as Scy and appeared nearby using more force than what she normally did. The entire ground where she hadnded next to Walker had already cracked as well. But with her, hade even more pressure.


    Walker had controlled the manas around but even against Scy who was much older and had stepped toward her ancient bloodline even more since she had be properly whole, it was hard to maintain control.


    That was fine though, Walker changed his focus on to protecting the guards appearing, healers, and the surroundings. He could get Scy to force out this monster and get him more information.


    The moment that she saw that walker was letting this be in her hands, Scy ground her teeth peter and the water and air became very violent. She was going to tear this thing apart in every way possible using whatever forces she could wield so that Walker was able to see everything about this thing. That way, they could forcefully track and find the others. So they could eradicate them.


    While Walker knew that he could have handled this and even tested different forms of mana on these seemingly it negligent monsters that could and would never develop to be a proper race, he saw different things than that.


    The demi-human that had been killed by this undead shifting slime was one of Scy''s people. Those she lived to defend. Yet, one had been armed. No, one had been killed under her nose.


    That deserved her wrath for all the time she could bring herself to spare on this monster. It deserved her full and brutal attention right now and as much as she could give. Walker being able to sue the all around appraisal over and over was just a benefit.


    As wind and water formed on Scy''s hands as she and the smaller forms of the leviathans took battle stances, Walker began to use the all around appraisal skill over and over.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''Undead shifting slime


    While this undead shifting slime developed using the muscture of the demi-human bull traits as a key, it is inherently weaker in using the hiding based mana maniption skills as others of its kind... Using the nutrients of the body of its prey, this monster was able to greatly grow its size and also managed to split off pieces of its body to spawn new young indeed shifting slimes...


    There are rarely any times the undead shifting slimes will remain together. This is because there have always been those that hunt them but are not their natural predators...''


    Walker had ignored some pieces of already known information and focused on what he saw was new. Specifically when he got to the portion about things that hunted the undead shifting slimes. While the information about how it was weak to purification skills or other light based skills because it was an indeed, Walker was shocked to read more in to things that hunt them. ''The shifter race considered impossible to actually exist as a race is the prior form of these undead shifting slimes. As any living version of an undead species, they have hunted those that perished and became nothing but part of these monsters who refused to be their own separate race and multiply through cutting portions of themselves off as if they were slimes and not living beings.


    While rare that an undead shifting slime is born from the body of the shifting race, it does happen causing the birth of powerful undead shifting slimes often followed by the weaker isted ancient monsters born from other shifting slimes...''


    That was it right there. The portion of what he saw and what shocked him. He knew he could hunt them by following the mentions of decaying mana building up inyers of the shadow, and also in the fact that they preferred to remain in the darker portions of thendscape since they disliked the light.


    But learning about how they came to be and how they were part of a race hinted at and theorized to exist but also thought not to exist? That was somethingrger.


    If there were suddenly multitude of these things here, thes monsters, then would it not make sense that one of these hidden race, shifters, have died within the city and caused these undead shifting slimes toe knocking?


    Scy tore apart the undead shifting slime exposing three small cores that appeared to rotate together. One small and perfectly gray which held a little death mana, anotherrger and ck holding potent decaying dark mana, and then another with a white and gray hue that held the undead mana that was the real core of what these things were.


    "Good, you found out that they can''t survive without a bnce in their cores and that they are emitting all three of those manas at once even though they can change the form of their slime bodies to be able to replicate what they consumed to some degree. They will be hard to fight since they can strengthen their offenses or defenses but we have hunters that we did not hire looking for them too."


    Walker knew that if these things were hunted by the shifting race, he would just have to look for odd things that were not smelling like decay or hurting others. He could just look for those that hunted them and hit themselves from the world for what could have been centuries. Even if they were few and far between, one had died here and the remains were being hunted by its


    own kind.


    It was like amp lit in the middle of the night. Everyone would notice it even from a distance. Meaning that this ancient undead shifting slime monster could be dealt with. Then, the establishment with a hidden race that had most likely been part of the world for years and years might be achieved as well.


    He would make that happen. "You have the connection and feeling of their manas then?" Scy knew what that meant. She knew that with the mana sensation that Walker had, she could make sure that he hunted every single monster that harmed the people of Genesis. "I do and all I need is some other mages to help me focus my sense on only those three." The reason Walker wanted other mages was to help him cut down on the mana cost used when covering all of Genesis territories in such specific and potent mana sensing skills. He could draw manas in to himself to use. But that would end with him using all his mana and not properly searching. A joint gathering was perfect to get the job done, and leave him mana to


    hunt as well.


    "Tell everyone that I am doing thai. Let anyone who is ready to helpe to me." He also knew this would attract this hidden race to him too.


    ----


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2418: 2418. Finding Them

    Chapter 2418: 2418. Finding Them


    ?


    While the idea that Walker was going to be outside in the mains square of the Genesis building to do a tracking spell of sorts had spread, mana of the mages that were equipped to help felt that they were taking arger step.


    They had been able to talk to many more powerful than themunication guild had managed to do. Not because the guild was lesser but because the mages were a massive group that shared so much information that it was quick to travel.


    The mages that hade together to learn and to advance their understandings of magic were bing innumerable at this pout. All because of the magic tower and the smaller magic towers beginning to be constructed in areas. They wanted to learn from naturally urring runes as well.


    This simple fact was enough for them to be in a state of constant enlightenment and action. They would always be sharing what they could with one another while proving new magical theories or trying to dig deeper in to their own affinities to mana.


    When they had said that mages with dark, purifying light, and other simr affinities were toe and meet Walker to see if they could help him spread his mana senses and locate specific mana signatures rted to the cores of the undead shifting slimes, they had run with the idea.


    Arge scale resonance of their manas and affinities meant that these mages would be able to take arge leap ahead in beginning to increase their strengths. Simply because Walker would be the core of their manas for a short while.


    As much as some who did not practice magic would ignore that since it didn''t seem that grand, those who understood would feel it was a greater than anything chance for them.


    These mages would be able to glimpse the understandings of mana that Walker had. Since he had understood how manas mixed with one another and also how they all came together peacefully to form natural mana, they could glean a lot of knowledge.


    The simple ideas of how their affinities mixed with others could allow them to joint spells with other mages better in the future. But it could also allow for them to understand things they had missed because of their own perspectives.


    The key though, was that many people had been attracted to the main square. Those who had been searched by the guards and other groups of angels or healers were there. But those who had managed not to get searched yet were also there. This allowed for many more people to be searched and at the same time for Walker to spread his senses out even more.


    The all around appraisal skill might not be ideal for the fact that he was trying to found an actual hidden race specifically known for being hidden and even though not to exist at all outside of fairy tales. Regardless, he was doing this right now and making a major event to dig in to things.


    Worstes to worst, Walker would be able to locate the undead shifting slimes within the entire city anyways, especially the one that had attracted all of the smaller ones here to group up and begin feeding on the poption.


    "You are all under the proper assumption that we will be searching the entirety of Genesis territory, not just the main city, correct?" forty powerful mages hade together, the others were there to witness and sense with their own manas.


    While this seemed like a lot of extra people, it also meant that the mages would learn and those weaker mages would be a better foundation for everyone overall. Therefore, it was something that helped calme the people who were in an uproar. Especially those who felt vited knowing they had to be searched with magic and also threatened by monsters inside these walls built so strongly.


    As Walker used his skills to reach out to the powerful mages, he felt that they were allowing him to control their mana and giving him more than he realized. The adaptation of mages was usually slow, but these mages were different.


    As the most powerful dark and purifying light mages, they had been on the front line for new studies and changing how they saw themselves at all times. Union spells were a key to their personal researchers meaning that they had long ago learned to unify their mana under a main focal point or main mage to test new skills.


    Therefore, this was like Walker gaining an extra stock of mana perfectly tailored to his current needs. It allowed him to rx his mind as he spread his mana senses further. The focus on three manas was easy for him now that he had managed to be able to learn of them.


    The undead mana had been something he felt long ago, his instincts remembered it because of his first major adventure out in to the undead ruins. Ingrained in his soul when he had seen the most powerful opponent, the immortal king, when he was much weaker.


    Death mana was connected to him and Midnight, because the immortal king had once used it to taunt him and cause issues. But also because he had realized the difference and learned of life mana as well. He couldn''t manipte either to a high level, but Walker could influence them slightly. But he was not ready for such things.


    Dakar mana on the other hand, he sensed it. He could feel the dense and decaying focused dark mana from the undead shifting slime''s cores. He could sense that focus on decay that most would not stay focused on. He could ignore the herbs and mages that used simr magic, instead, he felt mana re in focus across the city.


    "Fire dragon territory, dragonkin on vending stall eight in the rope of the third street or sparks, near the seventhke of peace for water mediation, a young elven ice mage is controlled...''


    His words were said in monotone, Walker had to focus his words so that he did not let his emotions overtake him and cause any bacsh to those that were with him.


    It wasn''t the guards who moved first hearing him as he rattled over eighteen ces and descriptions. "Halt the old man in purple robes, halt the young woman and her tamed beast ember hound, and halt therger merfolk trying to hide behind the fruit stall to the left which is partially closed."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The whisper that Walker let out was controlled with wind mana to go to Scy. She had been waiting to see if Walker would find his theories while others would leave and head out toward the enemies hiding in in sight. Midnight, Su, Remey, and even Alcie were all making their moves. It was unfortunate that Gil and Alma were upied with the spirit trees, but that was a major piece of Genesis now, it could not be left alone.


    "I have them already stopped. They should not have been able to hear you easily because of the wind barrier made to keep your words dulled. But they managed to do so and move before others." Scy had her leviathans move through the air to their smaller fomes and stop the four he had seen.


    All four were watching carefully as Walker ended this connection with the mages and they began to speak chaotically. Walker even heard that one was offered a unique quest to change their ss. A good thing, but also something to worry aboutter.


    "I take it that all four of you, I would say three but you look too smart, are the hidden race that is hunting the undead shifting slimes. I have one question, did you harm anyone to enter Genesis? Actually, two questions, and will you live peacefully with us and offer a representative of your race to the council?"


    He saw their nk faces twist in to confusion before he watched them shake their heads at the thought that they harmed anyone. Then he watched as they seemed more confused. "We can talk about representationter then. Right now, I need help. I can iste those weaker ones. Even those that can split off pieces of their bodies. But if one of your race perished her naturally or not, and its body became an undead shifting slime, then I can''t sense it and I know that is the source of all this happening. Those monsters should not have been attracted to our safe homes."


    "I am Kerry, a member of the tamer''s guild for ten years since I was old enough, this is my brother Keith. We can find who you are looking for. These two are too old to help, they just came because they smelled it." The girl''s voice was like any human''s Walker had heard, but the slight worry in her eyes proved that this was touching something she feared. "Then I wee your help. Both of you in whatever form you take will have it. I want the best for the people here. The races are united and as long as you help with that, you are ones I protect as well." Walker released all the mana around him and saw understanding from all four. He had to worry about a threat first. Other thingster.


    ....


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 Chapter 2419: 2419. Hunted Before

    Chapter 2419: 2419. Hunted Before


    ?


    The two that stood back and eventually walked off were watched by Scy. She knew that this was an unknown in the mix of everything that happened within Genesis. However, she also understood that Walker was forcing the focus on the greater threat he had been unable to detect.


    "I won''t force you to tell me anything you are not ready to tell me. If you both have been with the tamer''s guild, I assume you have been wandering for a while?" He saw the shifter pretending to be the hound huff a little. But no real response was made.


    "We have, it''s easier to blend in that way. But it''s also easier to be exploring the world and fighting when we want. We like to see everything. The only reason we came here was because we were asked to help a few new tamers who haveva hounds. One little girl tamed an entire pack because they see her as their sibling." Kerryughed a little.


    Walker felt that there were no other motives in this. Just a pure and clear response that showed the joy of being within the tamer''s guild. Kerry was not some hateful monster like the undead shifting slimes. Instead, She was a shifter race. Intelligent and hidden from the other races because they could be. Because it was safer.


    "We do have a history too. Being found and needing to hide. Being thought of as monsters because of how we look without changing our appearance. So don''t go thinking we will trust you." The response wasn''t from Kerry but Kieth.


    The voice was rough and clearly he didn''t speaknguage properly often. "Oh, you got Kieth to speak out loud, he never does that. He might like it here more than I do. I''ve wanted to go back to the wilderness for a while. I heard that there''s a ce called the Embering wheat fields. Nearby theva fields but far enough that it doesn''t burn. I bet something interesting is there."


    Kerry was very bubbly and talkative as she went in to detail about the rumors she had heard and why she wanted to go there. It was hard to see if she was this way naturally or if she was just acting this way because she had some worries about the monsters they were hunting.


    "Thest time we dealt with one of these things we could smell it from a few miles away. Kieth noticed it first since he was in a better form, but when we wound it the thing had managed to take over an entire farm. Used them all as food. So, we make sure we move quickly."


    The casual change from bubbly to dark made Walker focus much more. "So you have hunted the undead shifting slimes before. That''s good for us since we are hunting one that formed naturally from the body of one of your race. Although, you already know that."


    Walker was the one in the need to know now. He could learn more than what he could share. "I know you are worried too. But we have to hunt them. It''s part of who we are. You would hunt a human that was made an undead, I believe that humans and all races hunt their own undead. It''s just instincts. The same way that the undead want to hunt for the living." Kerry turned her head a little and Kieth stopped for a moment.


    "You can''t find the strongest one because they have the same skills as us. Perfect shifting is an innate skill that can only be seen through with the highest appraisal skills focused on seeing through them. Everyone once in a while someone manages to catch on and our race leaves that ce. But right now, no one has used those skills. If any of our race is found, they will change and leave. Mostly we take the form of those we have seen a few times and can easily blend in using."


    Kerry made it clear that there were no grand reasons for who or what form they took. If they did so just for the ease of hiding, they could easily make it a form that was harder to keep up with when it came to other things.


    "There are a few of us that have grown up in viges where the people ept us, they will have their children match other children so that they are like twins raised by two sets of parents. Those ces are nice but they are always too focused on fighting monsters for survival. Not many happy memories are there even though we can live for a long time." The two began walking down an alleyway and leading Scy and Walker further in to some smaller streets. It appeared they were following a scent that neither Scy nor Walker had picked up


    on.


    However, there were guards and hidden attackers following in the shadows. They would be the pens to cut off escape routes for the more dangerous undead shifting slime when they found it.


    "Genesis can be your home too. For your race. We ept everyone and as long as we can make sure crime doesn''t happen we will not be biased. You and the undead shifting slimes are very different. One is a monster that has little intelligence and a focus on killing. The other is intelligent enough to survive and grow while also fitting in everywhere they go. I would rather work together."


    Kerry and Kieth looked at Walker very differently. Kieth''s hond form clearly showed a look of distrust, no, disdain for the fact that this was even being said. Clearly, there was more to story there with the past they had had. But it was Kerry who looked a little mournful. As if hearing this offer had made her sad rather than happy to be weed. But again, Walker couldn''t take the time to ask about the why or how they were this way.


    "It''s under there. That''s where the smell is strongest. The skill scent covering is one we also possess as a part of stealth skills we use to hide from monsters in the wilderness. Right now, the scent I smell is because I have the skill and can get around it. Also, it is the same kind as me, we have an instinct to sense it. This one... was old and passed away far from us but we smelled it and came."


    The somewhat empty street was only that way because of the multitude of construction materials here. It was used for some storage while the buildings nearby were being renovated and improved, therefore, there was not a lot of foot traffic. At most, only workers woulde by to grab what they ended for the day.


    And a worker, was the form of what they could see, well, the remaining clothes and tools under arge pile of fallen wood was what they saw. "Anyone younger would have been able to change their muscles and block that weight, but when we get older we be mirror fixed in a form and can''t change as quickly. That''s the price of us only living fifty years." Another piece of information. The shifter race had such short lifespans that it was the opposite side of the spectrum whenpared with the dragons. Walker wanted to learn more and find out how they could help or do anything to make life better for them. That wasn''t an option right now though.


    Small ck bits of slime oozed out of the stack of wood boards. Walker smelled a sudden intense roting from it. "That''s stronger than the undead shifting slimes." Scy felt it as well. More dense dark mana was within what she could sense. But poking at Walker, she could tell he sensed more.


    "That''s because it''s called a natural born undead shifting slime. It wasn''t a piece that was born off of another, it formed naturally and has denser undead and death mana as well as denser decaying dark mana."


    Multiple guards and hiding assassins showed themselves. Their focus on making sure the monster showing itself couldn''t leave at all. Especially since it had arger form than what


    they expected.


    "It used to be a half elf. So expect magical abilities and strength from copying its Demi- human half as well. It was very set in that half and half form." Kerry spoke again but she had pulled out twin daggers while Kieth stepped forward, his fur had be metallic looking and mes moved around his teeth showing his affinity.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I will enhance both of you. Just hold back if it''s too much for you." Walker let the two take


    the lead. This was their race and a problem they hunted as members of their race. But he couldn''t fail to admit to himself that he was curious. He wanted to see How strong a shifter was, even one that spent their time traveling around.


    --


    ....


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 Chapter 2420: 2420. Think About It

    Chapter 2420: 2420. Think About It


    ?


    "This is not something we need your help with. It is only menstrual that we release our kind from the pain of an endless suffering." Kerry changed. The bubbly and happy attitude she had while talking became extremely serious.


    While not odd, Walker noticed that the eyes she had were no longer the general human green, instead they had be a dull gray which seemed to be focused on the enemy much more. Then he watched as the muscles under her skin appeared to change. The body as a whole was bing bulkier while also growing slightly taller.


    This was the strength of being able to shift and change form. Kerry was a shifter race, therefore, she would be able to change the way her body worked at its innate core.


    From what he could see, Walker judged that Kerry was able to alter the physical side of her body much better than Kieth was able to. She was making her muscles stronger and changing her form to the point that it seemed even her hands became much tougher and able to better hold her daggers. As if shaped to do so.


    In a harsh crack, the stones of the road broke as Kerry sprinted at the monster ahead. Therger and somewhat twisted body of the natural born undead shifting slime. That monster had changed itself even more, copying the elf and demi-human aspects of the form it had been in for years.


    However, the additional mana and the additional strength it created were no longer bound by the normal living aspects of the race itpiled. It had lost control of itself and be a much less intelligent monster that was trying to grasp whatever intelligence it had to be able to feed.


    This being the case, it whipped out twisted limbs at Kerry who masterfully dodged them. She had the speed that came with wandering and surviving the wilderness for years. However, Walker noticed that Keith had moved as well. He was less noticeable though.


    He was focused on mana and speed where Kerry was on strength and speed. They had taken forms that they were able to handle better for their own reasons, but Kieth had enhanced his body the same way that a monster would. Whether an embering hound or whatever the actual hound had been that he grew the form he had through, it now looked nothing like it.


    The fur had turned a deep ck like cooled obsidian and the mes that radiated off the teeth and ws were wrapping around his body. The size was also three items that what it had been when Keith had started to change a little here and there. If anything, it was more simr to an alpha of whatever species it had originally been.


    His attacks always focused on where the attack on Kerry had missed. Kieth would strike the limb that had been thrown out to strike her. He was always making sure to incapacitate it from another attack or making sure that there would not be another ability to counter Kerry''s attack. He was more of a guardian than anything.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The mes left behind were what did the most damage. It was burning away the body of the natural born under shifting slime. "Hungry!" The exmation came with anger as several limbs broke out dementing the form even more. The natural born undead shifting slime was not able to grasp any memories or intelligence it once had. It was taking ount of the new form and now was under attack.


    "Just its presence attracted so much trouble. If it had be a fully mature natural born undead shifting slime it might have recalled better ways to blend in and to spread its fellow undead shifting slimes. Midnight bumping in to one has saved us a lot of trouble." Walker murmured this a little to himself but Scy heard it.


    He was thinking of how much this enemy could have grown if they had not been able to find it and learn new things this quickly. But he was also making it so that he would be able to join the fight. The mes were his focus now.


    "I understand your strengths now and I see you are willing to use a significant amount of your mana to alter your bodies." Walker had focused on the pair of shifters before him. He saw that they had used a lot of their own mana to alter their bodies and to create mes or speed. Therefore, he knew that they were not holding back in the slightest. They were not extremely powerful and could definitely win this fight, minus some injuries since they would have to take some on.


    However, Walker had just wanted to see the sincerity in their methods and words. So now, he grabbed on to the fire mana and made the smoldering mes on the body of the natural born undead shifting slimee to life. No, he made it as hot as a furnace. So much so that Kerry and Keith had to leap back away while they watched the body once of their own kind burn away.


    Three cores were soon exposed and Scy shed out with her fan causing the three cores to be split by wind des. "That is that. I will go to begin alerting the people that the monsters have been hunted. We will also wait for a proper time to discuss the shifter race." She wanted to also attend the funeral proceedings for those of the demi-human race that had been harmed in this matter. She had a responsibility to protect them. She had failed and needed to be there to give proper words for them.


    Kerry and Keith were frozen in ce looking at Walker who had just shown him exactly how much strength he had. While they understood the strength of the skills their race and the natural undead shifting slimes had to hide would be beyond many, they now understood Walker was not about searching for or hunting out monsters.


    He was about fighting.


    "I wanted to see if you both would be sincere. I see that you both used almost all of your internal mana to alter your forms. I doubt you can even go back to what you looked like before within the next two or three hours. I also can tell there is some bacsh since your bodies already look to be stiffening up." He spoke calmly, but then he smiled.


    "I can believe that you two can help me and also make sure this doesn''t happen again. Every single race has methods they follow for when someone passes on. Your race is a mystery to us since it was thought to be a fairytale. Since that''s the case, we could not n to handle an undead born from your race, which seems to be a regr urance?"


    He saw them both nod. "Then please help us find someone of your race to stand on the Genesis council. Whether we tell everyone about your race will be up to them. However, I feel the people will need to know regardless of the things that happened today. Especially since everyone was put through so much and the remnants of the undead are being dealt with now."


    He looked carefully, seeing that the pair was slightly rxing, but his words appeared to bepletely urate for the most part. "Also, take these mana and nutrient potions. I would say there''s a physical cost for doing that to your bodies."


    "You can shift, but it''s not instant and I am sure there are different natural born skills. I would even say you have a ss rted to dagger fighting and Keith has a ss to copy a specific species of fire type monster. It will expand the knowledge and even help the demi- humans since your race also takes on the weaknesses that are associated with some races or traits." He knew that this would shine a positive light on what they could do as well. A chance to be more than just a hidden race.


    Meeting Walker''s eyes, Kerry focused and took a deep breath. It was off seeing how much she had changed her muscture and Walker felt he could even learn some things about physical buffs by speaking and watching them. This wasn''t what he had to learn right now though.


    "It will be hard to do. A lot of us don''t see ourselves as our own race and see ourselves as the race we change to copy. We live with them, grow with them, and die with them. Even if our lives are short, we have to make sure that we know where we live to survive."


    "That can change. We have epting people and can make sure that the shifter race can be epted. As all others. Even monster races were epted. Come with me to one of the guest living quarters for representatives from other kingdoms. You can rx and think about it. And any questions will be answered quickly." Walker saw there was a turmoil in Kerry and Keith''s minds, but they had to figure it out themselves.


    ---


    ....


    ....


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 Chapter 2421: 2421. Aftermath

    Chapter 2421: 2421. Aftermath


    ?


    This event was not over in just a few hours after things had been brought to the Genesis council building. It had been easily an entire night of discussions as the reports of final examinations on the defeated monsters rolled in.


    Several monster analyzers and monster butchers and even brought together. This was more than just to prove that these undead shifting slimes had been defeated.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It was to ensure that everything about them was put to rest and the information that was gained about them was used to be able to ensure that this would not happen again. So many people had been affected within the Genesis territories because of the measures taken to handle all of this.


    When it came to the farms, they had their guard patrols increased and would remain as such. This was because there was no proof that more undead shifting slimes were was not attracted this way and would be focusing on methods to get in to the main city.


    There was so much food for the undead shifting slimes and they had enough intelligence so that they could managed to get inside in the first ce. While it was a worrisome event, this was a learning opportunity.


    To be fair, Walker had mentioned few times that they had increased the presence and the growth of guards overall. Just the fact that so many had acted so efficiently had proved beyond a doubt that the current efforts of everyone protecting the city was well worth it. The guards who had reacted in less than minutes were major. They had managed to break out of their rest and right ion to their armor ready for their orders. Past that, the guards had moved and gotten in to positions ryed by themunications crystals at a speed beyond the tests that they had been given prior.


    All of that was being given and shared to the public along with the measures nned to be taken at the entrance ways of every city gate and even the farming outer gates leading to the slightly separated dragon territories that helped make up the entirety of Genesis.


    Since there had been so many angels that teleported over as well, this was being shown as a way to bring the separated forces together for training and for education. The angels had a sense of mana that allowed for them to join in the battles that happened with the guards. So much so that four of the undead shifting slimes had been defeated before any of the strong individuals within the city had even gotten close enough to fight.


    Midnight had been one of the people to witness the shocking unity that the angels had when working with the guards without arge amount of prior training. Thai wasn''t because the light angel squadron sent to them was so advanced that they had been able to join in different guard groups easily.


    Instead, this was because the guards of Genesis Had be so extremely diverse and flexible that they adapted without the need for other orders.


    There had been many events where many of the guards or even the newly training guards had been involved within real battles along with being forced to adjust their actions as the world changed. This sort of aspect adde din to their training was a wildcard.


    Some would have said this was a bad thing since it wore away at the guards as they were receiving more injuries on a regr basis and potentially wishing to end their careers as guards easier than usual.


    On the contrary, it had made them some of the best guards any kingdom could even brag about having as elites. This was putting aside the elite guards trained by therger figures like Scy herself.


    Those guards had been able to fit themselves so well with the movements of the angels and how the angels sensed the manas with their wings that the angels quadron felt they were working with people they had trained with their entire lives.


    This was all putting aside the angels that had moved to Genesis and made homes there. The few angelic guards who had been with Genesis since the Sigil continent had been found and explored a bit more were well above the levels and strengths of the light angel''s squadron


    sent.


    This opened the eyes of the light angel squadron and their superiors gave them immediate permission to remain within Genesis for three months of training and follow up protection and change to bring back more knowledge and help all the angels unify better. A good choice too since this also helped put the people at ease since they still feared more undead shifting slimes.


    The rune carvers and craftsmen invited to speak with mages within the Genesis council meetings had managed toe up with a rough rune formation that operated on checking for undead mana and simr manas that the undead shifting slimes used. These would be used at the gates to register if there were any that tried to enter in to the city.


    While this was just the first measure being taken, it was a major one that the people listening to themunication guild reports wanted to what most of all. Mostly due to the fact that they wanted to see solutions. A mass of people in fear didn''t care for the causes or the events overall, they wanted to see and hear the solutions to keep them safe. While harder on leaders, this was always a reality.


    The news of the hidden race making an appearance also circted. However, Walker had been the first to speak with a representative of themunication guild and even took the lead in bringing them in to the Genesis council meeting. Surrounded by all of these powerful figures, the members of themunication guild listened carefully and noted down the joined stance on this race.


    "The shifter race is entirely separated from the monster species undead shifting slime." This was the first major announcement made in multiple areas as themunication guild received the information.


    "They are a race living among every people of every kingdom. Hunted in the past and hiding from the risks they have faced. As such, they are wee within Genesis under the pretense that they have a leader sent as a representative and educate others about their race as all races have done. In no way will they be exiled or hunted. In no way will they be betrayed by the other intelligent races. Their dead will be handled with care and ensured not to be undead shifting slimes under every possible situation."


    Thatrge announcement was made to prove that they would be treated as all others. While Walker had yet to see a representative since their announcement was made, the pride within the city had grown. Not only had they not realized that another race had been here and feared for their own safety, they took this not as the shifting race hunting their undead.


    The way this was presented showed a race that was too afraid that their undead would get them killed and that felt they were unable to reach out for help. The way that themunication guild did this was through the art of words which every single representative on the council wanted.


    Just the slight tweaking here and there had made a race that could have been seen in anger and fear in to one seen as a victim as well. Not that this was far off since the shifter race was so isted due to their history of being cast out of most ces due to the fact that they were able to take the form of others.


    While this also brought a lot of questions about how they might be rted to mimics, shapeshifters, and other monsters, it was just something that would have to be figured out at ater time. Especially since the histories of monsters were being shown in a new light now. All due to the fact that monsters were returning to more ancient forms of themselves or awakening their ancient bloodlines. So many of the things known about monsters over the years, especially ones that lost certain traits in the records of cities, were changing.


    By the end of the long meeting and the evidence brought before them, Walker examined the report given to him in depth and found that the triple cores were something that the shifter race definitely did not possess and only their undead possessed. That was because he knew they had different affinities.


    So this presented a potential change in monsters. They could be awakening their new forms as simple as having multiple affinities. Some even rarer and more dangerous. Something he and the entire council did not like to theorize about right now.


    ....


    ----


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 Chapter 2422: 2422. New Unity

    Chapter 2422: 2422. New Unity


    ?


    While the calming down of the entire city was not quick, there was a lot more that people began to discuss.


    The ideas of different cultures'' funeral rites and how to handle the dead of others in battle or outside of battle sparked a lot of conversations. Specifically, it came to the dragons and dragonkin.


    Some dragons were different because of their affinities and the environments that they lived. Fire dragons preferred to be left to the magma of wherever they had lived, while the earth dragon preferred to be left deep in caves. This was to return to the elemental manas that they had the highest affinities for.


    Rise surprised others by exining that she and the other light dragons would naturally like their dragonkin to use their bodies as materials to be stronger. It was shocking to hear that right out since Walker believed that this conversation had gone in to something that would cause issues.


    Many people had used groan materials, not just shed scales or broken off horns or teeth. They had been taken from young rogue dragons or the found bodies of dragons out in the wilderness and used to be crafted in to items. This has gone on with various races for years and could easily be seen as disrespectful or cruel in some ways.


    However, no dragon believed that to be the case. Simply put, they saw themselves as the top predators. Meaning, that if they were hunting and fighting to take food from all others, why would they halt the weaker beings from consuming their dead in some way shape or form to continue living? That would be against nature.


    The echidna were the same. While they believed that natural mana and nature was always flowing, they also believed that the bodies of their deceased needed to return to nature through some means. Some would have scales on their skin that could help enhance the understanding of natural mana and were made in to items used during the raising of a child to help them grasp natural mana better.


    A shocking thing to those like the dwarves who believed a burial in the deepest of caves or by me was the proper send off. Their entire race had been grown underground and in forging, naturally they would believe that this method was a natural way to take a proper step toward anything rted to moving from life in to whatever was next.


    When the demi-humans and the elves spoke, they found that they were almost identical. While the demi-humans believed fighting to the death was a greater honor and the elves believed a death in peace after attaining a unique understanding of manas or nature within themselves was important, both believed the body should be used in specific ways.


    They both had the thoughts that the body should nourish thend around it. Allow for nts or crops to grow better and be the base of the future to grow. This was a little shocking since the two methods of death were so different in their ideal goals, however, their beliefs of what happens to the body afterwards actually brought them together.


    The ideas that a sacred farm grounds should be made was already being written up. An idea that it would be a respected plot ofnd used for burials of this sort which would grow the most important staple food to help nourish entire generations. Pass on everything naturally to the next generation.


    All of this was a stunning way to learn from one another and many of these methods were being shared by the information guild. It brought out the simrities and also the more in depth views of each race as certain high remembers of their races were interviewed. Not only did Walker feel he was able to understand the people better, he believed that they had learned something valuable.


    They had all been in a state of unrest and fear just the day before. Felt that their homes were at risk. Yet, now they found new ways to forge new bonds and be even closer. Uniting the various races while proof that these various races were bing one was showing every day.


    Nows about marriage between races being illegal had been made. The Genesis council even went so far to make it clear that any unions would be supported between any races. Monster races were not ignored in their desires. They were intelligent and had the same rights as everyone else.


    He felt that this step towards understanding one another was proof that their societies were bing more one than anything else. That, and the general fears of other kingdoms had actually increased the numbers of people moving to Genesis.


    As much as Walker and the other leaders wanted to stop this from happening, a new stance was taken after a longer discussion.


    Some would have thought that they were crazy for wanting the peoples of the kingdoms that came together to help create Genesis not to move there. But the reasoning was simple, Genesis was growing so quickly that they needed to have some room to keep the developmental projects going. The storage for materials and other things needed to be kept in multiple areas and if the rate of new people continued to grow, the spaces for that would be gone sooner.


    They couldn''t build enough homes fast enough with the limited materias they had. Therefore, the idea for a new project came across the table for the meeting. That would allow for better teleportation abilities across the continents to the Sigil continent.


    The idea to create another city on the other continent was already there. The angels also preferred to keep their floating cities since they were so deeply rooted within their culture. At the same time, Genesis was already beginning to help rebuild and establish multiple angel viges, some of which had residents of other races now living within them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The positives seen from that had changed many of the younger angel''s minds to allow their bonds with Genesis to grow. The older angels who had more stubborn opinions could not do too much to stop the future froming no matter how much they preached or argued. The future was there and they had to handle it ordingly.


    Hence, the angel representatives on the Genesis council approved the second city project. A city built with the angels as the focal point on the grounds of the Sigil continent. Allowing for the wyvern race there to be respected more in the building of new homes while also allowing for the peoples of Genesis to spread out and assist with reiming the continent.


    This would speed up the fact that the continent had many unknowns after the world had expanded again. Beyond that, it also meant that there would be a massive amount of space to live in. a perfect way to ensure that growth was possible.


    Beyond that, the angels also made it clear that they wanted help finding and protecting the fallen floating cities of the past. Something that Walker and the other council members had immediately agreed to since they had already vowed to assist with that in the first ce.


    A major announcement to say the least for those that had not expected the chances to be able to go out and live on another continent. It had been hatred so far for people to fully grasp the actual size of the world and the reality that the other continent existed.


    Then again, there were theories of other continents out there in the vast oceans. No one had proof but since the floating ships were being made and the entirety of Genesis supporting the water faring and floating ship projects, explorations would only increase.


    That was the same with the merfolk within to explore the deep oceans. Not only to rediscover abandoned ancient merfolk cities that may still partially remain down there, but also to grow their homes. To ensure that the oceans did not hold any surprises like thends above.


    All of these topics had been discussed leaving Walker''s head feeling like it would burst. But it was well worth it. The fear that came with the undead shifting slime had brought out so much conversation that would grow and unify all the races of Genesis.


    "I believe that is enough for today. We have been here speaking for seventeen hours. I feel that we should focus on one final matter and be done for the time being." A representative of the vampire race speaking for them since they were working on their race''s private matter recently and had left to excavate more from their ruins spoke up. "I wish to request help gathering items from an ancient vampire city we know is located near the demi-human kingdom. It should be buried under the ground by now, but still there."


    ----


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 Chapter 2423: 2423. Vampire Ruin Project

    Chapter 2423: 2423. Vampire Ruin Project


    ?


    The representative from the vampires was an older man, however, it appeared youth had somewhat returned to him since they had better living conditions. While Vampires could live for thousands of years in theory, their conditions seemed to alter that a lot. Unlike many myths, the vampire race was not a true undead race that could live forever.


    That was the same for any undead, it would notst forever without the proper upkeep, hence why the immortal king and the immortal chasing race had always been looking for immortality, and also why they might have been at war with the vampire race at times in the ancient past.


    All that aside, The man who was speaking was someone that Walker had seen before. A vampire that had known some of the history of the vampires and recalled it since he had been sent to stand within what had once been a library. ording to what Walker had learned the man had once been cleaning and tending to books there until the books were burned in front of him for the amusement of their cruel lord.


    As this was the case, Walker had not even flinched when he approved this vampire to learn and protect any library within Genesis. To care for the knowledge stored within the archives and the books being written within the city was arge uptaking.


    Just making sure all of them were in good enough condition for the peopleing there to study was a major endeavor, but bringing the life back to eyes that had seemed dead by allowing that almost shattered connection to knowledge within books to be reborn? That was worth so much more.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "The ruins are a small city we used to know as the city of fields. This was because they did not make their homes in forests or in mountains. They had chosen to break the traditions and make a city in the middle of the open ins. This made them face some of the flying monsters of ancient times and other disasters I am sure. We do not know everything any longer though." the man frowned, knowing that he did not have better information for all of them when it came to the city.


    "You know the location though?" The old vampire nodded knowing that he didn''t need to exin all the details right away. "Then there is no issue. As long as it will not disturb a demi-human town or farms, we can go there and excavate your underground ruins." Scy liked that they had another way to go and explore right now. The stress of what had happened in the city had to be washed away.


    This is also within eh demi-human territories so she would have the chance to make her way back there for a short while. Visit the coliseums and challenge the other generals to a small sparring match. Not that anyone couldn''t guess her thoughts looking at her slight vicious grin. They all knew she would challenge anyone to a battle of any kind, that was just her nature and many of the demi-human''s natures.


    "I want to know what else you know of these ruins?" The standing in representative for the merfolks found that this would be another abovend mission that they could not help with. But that kept them clear to focus on the waterways and maintaining the other water based areas within Genesis. Something that he did not mindmunicating to his lord.


    "They were primarily the ruins known for battling flying monsters. They would raise the shadow wind wolves as bonded monsters at birth. A vampire and alpha shadow wind wolf would be raised together to ensure that the entire pack saw them as family. This was beyond just blood and servitude, it was an important aspect of our culture."


    "When the city was thought to have been destroyed, it was found that one of the greatest vampire shadow wind wolf breeders had single handedly destroyed a walking tornado by themselves. A feat recognized by every single vampire city at the time. Otherwise, we have no written records other than that story."


    This was not very much to go on, but it was enough. The vampires could find the information about the city and about the legend of their species who had lived there. Therefore, they wanted to uncover the ruins of what the city had been so that they could learn from it.


    Right now, Walker could tell that shadow wind wolves might not necessarily exist, but if they had the strength to fight ancient monsters that primarily attack from the sky.... Well, that would be a great way to strengthen Genesis while also recovering the history lost by the vampires in their time captive by a cruel lord.


    "I think we should uncover it. We are doing the same for the angels with some of their fallen floating cities, we have found ancient human ruins, immortal chasing races ruins, and even some hints of other races'' ruins. So, why would we stop at vampires?" Walker''s point made the room hum with agreements and nods.


    They also saw this as a chance to branch out even more and learn something. There were also small ces of wilderness nearby that could be mapped out which would help that project as well. Beyond this, the demi-human kingdom could send more forces which would allow them more time to learn from Genesis forces they had been separated from for this period of time. All good things that would increase the growth of everyone. "Then I will begin preparing a few of the vampire representatives we will send. We have recently managed to heal and awaken a few others. Those who had been too injured or were trapped in slumber have begun to explore with a little more vigor." The good news just added a bright smile to most of the representatives'' faces.


    The races like the vampires who had been harmed were a worry for many of them. The same was true for the demons before they were helped. But the vampires had many who could not even awaken yet and hearing that they had begun to awaken and be healed properly was a major step for the vampires. Especially since that also meant that they would have sses and be showing off more of the unique aspects of a vampire society and race.


    All of this was adding up to something interesting that Walker felt was well worth the trip. It also managed to bring the entire meeting to a close on a good note. "I am going to look in to some of the vampires. I know it''s about time for the sun to be setting so the night life of Genesis will be starting anyways." Walker could say he was tired, but he was not.


    Mentally, he could say that he was tired since they had been speaking for hours. But after training his mind and body, this was still nothing for him. He even had the help of other mages before when using his skills so he had not abused his strength too much leaving him in desperate need of rest. Plus, he had been able to handle the natural born undead shifting slime himself if he had needed to. He focused mainly on allowing the two shifters since he wanted to gauge their trust.


    Leaving him much more energetic and curious about these vampires.


    While the main representative was busy, she would be moving around to help within the territory of the vampires. This meant he did not worry about finding her and trusted that she would keep doing her best while the other vampires handled matters outside of their main home. A good way to organize given their circumstances.


    He also knew that the vampire district was more active at night. The demon race had helped them a lot and they had built things up very well. The vampires and demons were extremely close now because of this. They bonded over their past suffering and had begun to flourish


    because of this.


    Rumors of a few vampires finding their perfect partner in the demons also spread but that was personal so Walker didn''t go digging. Not that he wouldn''t find that to be a good thing.


    He was impressed by the theme he saw though. The buildings were made simrly to the ones found in the ruined Valorie city the vampires had been trapped in. Very innately carved stone with gargoyles, bats, wolves, and even insignias of living vampire families represented.


    It felt that Walker had ventured on to a much more ancient ce than something built recently in the history of Genesis which wasn''t even that old to begin with. The dim magterns were just enough to enhance the ambiance while not harming anyone''s night vision. A warm ce in the middle of the night.


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